REALLY important chapter, people! So read carefully!

-

Chapter VI: Potential

Inuyasha seemed to be carving his own history into that of Goshinboku Seminary. The nicer, more considerate youkai mentioned it to him. Miko told him several times a week, though she also complimented him whenever he needed consoling.

As far as his knowledge went, he was the only hanyou to have attended the seminary for a century. Sensei-sama frequently told him that he showed much promise, and that he could probably graduate to the rank of mage in matters of a year or two.

That excited him, but he also knew that it was probably true. Every year, the teachers selected up to five beginner students to graduate. He had seen them, and Inuyasha knew his power rivaled theirs.

Easily.

The nights of the new moon went always seemed to pass in slow motion, though nobody could really hurt Inuyasha here without being punished. His sense of grave danger that night of every month woke to a new height. His hair…black, his fangs gone, his claws disappeared…It took no wise man to know how vulnerable he was at the turning of the cycle.

Miko soon found out about this condition, but he supposed it couldn't be avoided. She was really his only friend, but one quite loyal. They generally enjoyed each other's company.

Generally.

So far in his year at Goshinboku Seminary, Inuyasha had fought a variety of youkai students. It seemed he fought more frequently than most of the other students.

No doubt Sensei-sama could afford to teach them a lesson to rid them of their arrogance. Inuyasha had won every single spar.

The next student after Lady Suzume had been one named Azakeru, the boy who was next door to Inuyasha's sleeping quarters and had made the racket about him being a hanyou on his first day here. He soon found out that Azakeru was sharp-witted, and had some interesting techniques that he had to learn to get around.

But he was also mostly talk. Inuyasha hadn't beaten him quickly, but when he finally understood the way Azakeru's blade-tipped whip worked, he had beaten him thoroughly and easily.

-

His next opponent was the boy named Kurohyou. Inuyasha recognized him and his smell easily; it could often be found wafting around Sesshoumaru. Like his name, "panther," would easily imply, Kurohyou's greatest asset was not his speed, like Suzume's had been, but his stealth.

When Inuyasha's mind was turned somewhere else, Kurohyou would take advantage of it by sprinting to his undefended side, and striking.

Another interesting thing Inuyasha learned from this spar was that a weapon could play a key role in a battle; Kurohyou's thin sword had an enormous reach, nearly one and a half the length of Inuyasha's untransformed Tetsusaiga. It made a great weapon for piercing armor, and Inuyasha didn't have any, so injuries inflicted were deep and serious. But the sword was also very unwieldy. Kurohyou often lost his balance holding his sword. It was a flaw that Inuyasha could easily take advantage of; Tetsusaiga was perfect to wield, and by now he knew it well.

-

Next after Kurohyou was a fierce girl named Kairi, whose mercenary parents were rumored to have been killed by rivals in the trade. Having another girl for an opponent didn't throw Inuyasha off; he treated all his sparring partners the same. Her beauty was offset by her severe expressions and a six-foot glaive she used as her sparring weapon.

She wielded the weapon like an expert halberdier would, but the weight of the glaive made her movements slow. Lack of speed went in turn with stealth, so Inuyasha could always see her attacks.

The problem was avoiding them. She had a large stock of ground-based techniques at her dispersal, so Inuyasha was constantly getting tripped and prodded in the feet.

Along with her hate for men apparently went a hate for their extremities. Several times during the match Inuyasha heard the watching students shout in unison, "Groin, groin!" Inuyasha decided not to let anybody have the satisfaction of seeing him beaten, and in that way.

Since he was much quicker than Kairi, he had her down in a series of swift attacks, although hindered by the pain of her glaive. Not surprisingly, she stayed stern even after the match, but she was a fair loser. Slowly Inuyasha began to see how women took losing differently from their male counterparts.

-

His next opponent was the man Suzume had warned him about: Wolf, also called Ookami. It was his hardest opponent so far. Wolf was a strange fighter; he had a sword hooked onto his furry belt, but never seemed to use it. So his fighting regimen consisted of only two things: strength and speed.

As the son of the Master of the Wolf Demon Clan somewhere in Onzhou, he had mastered his agility, and used it in ways most effective. It was strange to think there could be someone faster than Suzume, but there he was. The cur called Inuyasha Inu-koro, meaning "dog-turd," saying that dogs, especially inu-hanyous, gave him heartburn.

Ookami had little airborne fighting ability, as Suzume had with her two kunai, so he mostly ran around Inuyasha in circles, daring to put out a punch whenever he became confused. It was most humiliating to be beaten to the ground with only a punch here or a kick there, but Inuyasha soon learned a way to counter Ookami's running.

He had a well enough sense to know which direction Ookami was running, and so he spun with his sword in the opposite direction. This counter was completely effective; though it hit only the first two times Inuyasha used it, it made Ookami lose his balance and whatever plan that ensued in running in circles.

Instead, he became the confused one, hopping around from here to there. Inuyasha also learned that he paid less attention to things while at top speed, which made him very vulnerable.

It was uncoordinated, to say the least, and since Ookami was nearly completely defenseless in the air, Inuyasha could slash at him all he wanted, and defeated him before Ookami really got the sense of what was happening.

And because the bastard had dared to call Inuyasha a dog-turd, more amounts of spite had arisen between them than all his other opponents put together. Later, Inuyasha would learn that Ookami loved Miko, which would just heighten the ferocity of their rivalry.

-

With the forthcoming advance of spring was the tradition of Goshinboku Seminary, a full day of celebration. It was known as the Festival of Sunreturn, to rejoice at simply that- the sun's return to reign over earth.

Miko said the whole day was full of festivities, talent shows, and guests from afar. New decorations adorned the entire school- banners of blazing red and gold, the literal emblems of Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun and leader of the Shinto pantheon.

She was right about that, for sure. All the students at the school, training to become warriors and commanders and spellbinding mages, suddenly forgot themselves for a day and became children once again.

Sunreturn meant twenty-four hours of brilliant red and flashing gold kimonos. The girls, who usually spent most of their time training to outspar their counterparts and becoming incredibly tomboyish and sharp-witted, wore delightfully feminine hakamas, like decent versions of geishas.

It amused Inuyasha that it seemed that only he and Miko hadn't changed outfits. Perhaps it was because they already wore enough red. Or perhaps it was that they didn't care.

Inuyasha was antisocial by nature of his hanyou blood; but ironically, he had spent his entire life trying to make humans of demons recognize him. He figured he could do at least that, since they would never could ever tolerate him.

As much as he hated the cliché, Inuyasha was a lone warrior, a communal outcast, who had long gotten over the hopes of acceptance and love. From rejection he pulled together a new determination, to be the best, to carve out his place in life.

…And he would do it alone…

Alone? Maybe he wasn't alone anymore. He had made a good friend out a Miko, though he could never begin to understand why she had approached the idea of a friendship in the first place.

Perhaps the two were not so different; he could also see in her the desperation derived from loneliness. She was so gentle, yet; he had seen her in a moment of target practice.

Working a fierce red flame into her white-fletched arrow as she notched it onto her longbow, she let go and hit a target 30 yards across Sensei's enchanted room. Hitting the bull's-eye, the flames wrapped around the face of the target. Then, having been so absorbed in the archery, she just looked up and saw Inuyasha. She had smiled weakly, he remembered, then notched another arrow. Flying with less flame, it hit one of the outer rings on the target.

So she had the skill of archery, if not hand-to-hand combat. But he still couldn't figure out how she had beaten Sensei, if that was true. Inuyasha didn't doubt her honest, but what could she have done?

Shoot him in the leg? Or simply wait him out with patience?

A day…One whole day of marvelous jubilation…

Right now the teachers were granting the students new weapons, if they needed them. And these were not just prizes of the festival; they were brilliant handcrafted weapons. It was quite interesting to watch the students receives these deadly works of art.

Most of the boys acted thoroughly indifferent. These were the same ones who claimed that a weapon had nothing to do with an outcome of a spar. Like usual, they were wrong, and by the end of the day wore their new weapons proudly in belted sheathes around the school.

Girls were different, and seemed a lot more sincere when receiving their new weapons. He saw Suzume bow low to the ground after having received a new, longer set of kunai daggers. Maybe she would improve…He hoped to spar against her again.

For some reason, during Sunreturn, it was mandatory to attend all three meals in the grand hall. It was one of the few times Inuyasha had even been there, but it remembered him a little bit of Hosusori.

The students sifted into the room in sporadic bunches and were sorted according to their rank. Status was not only based on combat skills. Goshinboku had other divisions of magic craft, like weather working and and metal working. Combat magic was the most prestigious, however.

Inuyasha sat with Miko and most of the other students from his combat class. He made a point of avoiding the youkai that hated him particularly, but somehow ended sitting across from Ookami because the cur insisted upon sitting near Kagome.

Sensei stood up as soon as the bulk of the students were settled and had stopped talking.

"I am glad to hear that you all are enjoying the festivities Goshinboku offers. In a few minutes we will commence with our dinner feast and the ranking ceremony. Joining us for the end of the glorious festival of Sunreturn are Lord Mizaburi and his beautiful wife, rulers of the Ryukyu Islands."

Abruptly the servants ushered food out to the tables. Inuyasha didn't have much of an appetite, but most of the dinner time was spent conversing with the students at his table, which were Miko, Ookami, Suzume, and two brothers called Amiku and Gengo.

He found himself talking to Suzume most of the time, because the brothers were generally the prejudicial type, and Ookami was only interested in talking to Miko.

Sensei gestured to two figures at the head table, who stood up. The man had long, grey hair, sharp features, and a condescending look written on his face. The woman, on the other hand, had lustrous black hair hidden in a small headdress, and had a glittering jewel on her forehead. She looked kind and as if she had good humor.

"For such a one…" he heard the boy next to him say, "I could work vast enchantments." He was awestruck. Inuyasha almost saw large stars glitter in his eyes.

"She's only a woman," put in Miko, annoyed.

The brother of the awestruck boy spoke now, almost angrily at Inuyasha, as if he had offended him by saying that.

"The High Priestess Kikyou was only a woman…And for her sake, all of Onzhou was laid waste for a century of chaos, the Shogunate of the West died, and the islands of Mishiku sank deep beneath the sea," he said dramatically.

"It's only a fairy tale, Gengo," said Miko lightly, sipping her glass of water. "Don't tell me you believe in them still?"

"I've never heard of the story," interrupted Inuyasha.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's strange. It's like a part of everybody's childhood, practically…"

"So…?" asked Inuyasha.

"Oh, right, the story. Once upon a time…"

"Spare me and cut to the point," said Inuyasha abruptly.

"Fairy tales have no point," Miko objected, "So you'll just have to bear with me…But once you hear the story, it can be quite believable. Once upon a time, the island of Okinawa was a prospering land. As I remember the story going, the people were under a good ruler, trade and economy was perfect, and so on."

"Okinawa…This Okinawa?" asked Inuyasha. He could hardly imagine what she was saying. But then again, he had not seen anymore of this island than the cliffside entrance and the interior of the school.

"What other could there be?" countered Miko. "But anyways, there used to be many little villages along the coast. There was one, and I forget the name, but it was supposedly not too far from here. A girl named Kikyou grew up in the village."

"And became High Priestess?"

"Not quite. It's said that as a child she possessed extraordinary spiritual powers, and routinely drove away the demons wherever they would be. But she also traveled many miles every day to tend a tree far away from her village. She would talk to it, she would take care of it like a child of hers, but whatever happened, some of her soul was poured into the tree. And it became sacred."

"Goshin…boku?" asked Inuyasha curiously, saying the words "Sacred Tree" in the old Japanese language.

"Exactly. Goshinboku. It's still planted in the seminary. For many years, Kikyou served as the High Priestess of her local temple. When Kikyou became older, her sister volunteered to become the successor. And thus, she was freed of all responsibility. So, on her own, she began the creation of a wish she had fostered for years: to create a school that taught the arts of magic to its young students."

"Hadn't it been done before?"

"Of course, but she wished to found a school of the highest possible caliber. She easily found volunteers to build the place, and she built it around the tree Goshinboku. She found teachers of the highest magical and combat-based skill, and the teaching begun. It used to be so that the students could roam around the island, free of the confinement spells. They had originally accepted human students, and people much older. Nowadays, everyone is so adept at finding hints of magical ability that they're sent here went they're about ten years or so, but then...Magic was a very exclusive teaching.

"All went well, of course, until a human bandit named Onigumo took his first step into school. He had made a living in Onzhou from pillaging villages, and all before he reached the age of twenty-five or so. Nobody here questions a person's past, so he was admitted. Any questions?"

"No," Inuyasha said simply. "But I can guess that he was a low-life brigand, who hardly had any magical abilities but insisted the opposite. Right?"

"Right," said Miko. "It was immediately discovered. Kikyou was still something like seventeen at the time, and though it may seem strange, she did attempt to teach him. But, old dogs don't learn new tricks, right?"

Inuyasha shot Miko a look for the "dog" phrase.

"My point is that he was completely ignorant. And only stayed here because he began to fall in love with his teacher."

"But wasn't he a little…" Inuyasha searched for the words. "Out of her league?"

Miko nodded vigorously. "One time, Onigumo infuriated a youkai opponent of his. The demon sent him to the best herbalist in the school after a fierce battle- Kikyou. She basically had to nurse him back to life after what happened.

"After that…He sold his soul to demons."

"How? Didn't they have protection over that sort of thing?" asked Inuyasha incredulously.

"They do now," answered Miko gravely. "Because of what happened. He sold his soul to demons because Kikyou constantly resisted his advances, his suggestions, and the longing festered inside of him and became a crucible for the demons to take him. He allowed them to, at one circumstance: To give him the power in his reborn body to make Kikyou his.

"It was a mystery the next day, because where Onigumo's body had been there was nothing but a scorch mark on his blanket in the shape of a spider. She guessed what happened, put the school under the most protection she could spare; the rest she needed for herself."

"She left, didn't she?" he guessed.

"That's exactly what she did. She left the seminary under the other teachers' control, and fled Okinawa. From here she traveled to Onzhou, encountering Onigumo's reborn form once, and learning that it was named Naraku.

"The Shogunate of the Western Lands…That would be, your ancestor, took pity upon Kikyou's story, and offered her protection. Kikyou was better off with her own powers, but she indulged herself and stayed in his court.

"It was then learned that the priestess held a mythical object that granted unimaginable power to its user. She never used it, however; just protected it."

"What was it called?"

Miko shrugged. "To this day the object has just been called 'The Treasure.'"

"Couldn't Kikyou have used it to strengthen her powers?" Inuyasha asked, amazed that he hadn't thought of it sooner.

"Yes…and no," said Miko, beginning to play with her food. "While it granted power, the individuals who had come across it before it went into her care had tragic demises. They tended to become lost souls.

"So finally, when this truth comes out, a subordinate of the Shogun attempted to steal The Treasure from Kikyou. While Kikyou had unimaginable spiritual powers, her physical strength was that of an average woman. Not fully able to defend herself, she ran again. Because she thought that the Shogunate had ordered the act, she swore upon her spilled blood that he and the assailant would die young and in a painful manner.

"He was a victim, and died of battle wounds inflicted the next week. Naraku soon came in pursuit, and killed the subordinate. Kikyou fled to the Islands of Mishiku, a completely uninhabited territory. They met for a second time in a forest, and she blasted him with an arrow, destroying his body. His aura lingered."

"Islands of Mishiku? I've never heard of them," said Inuyasha.

"Remember, Gengo even said the Islands sank. It could be true. Maybe not. There aren't any historic accounts of it.

"Thinking he was dead, Kikyou returned to Goshinboku, but her safety was short-lived. Naraku's evil aura returned to the seminary, soon overpowering the protection upon it. Kikyou lured him away, because he wasn't after the death of the students…

"They met in the wilderness near her village. She, knowing that if arrows could affect him, they would have in their previous encounter. So Kikyou simply raised an aura shield.

"Naraku was foolish, and attempted to penetrate her shield. The purity and goodness of her aura was simply too much for him. His evil could not come in contact with her good. There was no fierce battle; he supposedly just withered away in front of her eyes.

"Kikyou could have survived then and there, but in all that happened, she realized the evil intents of The Treasure. She could not allow its existence in the world. So, she prayed her heart and soul into the jewel, like she had to Goshinboku, prayed that it would leave the earth and never come back.

"Then…she died," said Miko, with a wistful, sad smile on her face. "The villagers found her body and buried her in the cliff catacombs. The end."

-

"Not hungry?" Suzume asked Inuyasha, watching him playing with a piece of waterfowl in his honey sauce dish.

"How could you tell?" he asked. He put the waterfowl back on his plate. He was thinking about the story of Kikyou. Suzume was silent after that. Then, suddenly, she burst out.

"Hey, are you getting promoted tonight?"

"Me? Are you kidding?" Inuyasha asked incredulously. "I heard the quickest anybody green was promoted was one and a half years."

"Yeah, that's true," Suzume nodded. "But you're different, you know."

"Lucky me," Inuyasha said sullenly. He wished that he could fit in sometimes, if it would mean youkai strength.

"Lucky you," Suzume agreed. "You know, people are beginning to notice. The days you're gone, Sensei is always praising you."

"The days I'm gone? What do you mean?" Inuyasha asked in disbelief. He had tried his best to hide his…secret.

"Oh, come on. You think I haven't noticed?" she asked apathetically. "Fine, do you want me to tell you a secret of mine? To make us even?"

"I couldn't care less," he answered.

Suzume went on anyways. "Have you ever heard of faer-seers?"

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Everything. About my secret, anyways. Just answer the question," she said sternly.

"Never heard of them."

"Faer-seers are people who can see the fear of anyone, anything, through their eyes," Suzume said matter-of-factly.

"And…?" Inuyasha looked at her impatiently.

"And I'm a faer-seer…"

"Oh."

"Yeah. It was strange, because right after Sensei got through telling me that you were my next opponent, you walked in. And I made a point of being polite and saying hello."

"Nobody does that, I notice," he pointed out.

"Because, for one, you are a hanyou," Suzume countered, "and also because, as opponents, you must be hostile, right?"

"Whatever you say," Inuyasha said sullenly. Suzume had an annoying habit of pointing out his hanyou blood quite often, even if she didn't mean it in a bad way.

"Well, I do that every time I spar. That way, if my opponent's afraid of something I'm capable of doing, I make sure I do it during the fight."

"Isn't that…cheating?"

Suzume cringed. "You could say that. To me it's just a prior advantage. But with you, I had none. It was so strange. I looked you dead in the eye, and then…nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"Did that ever happen to you before?" Inuyasha asked.

"No, never. Even the bravest of fighters I met had mortal fears. It confused me so much. Even if I can't touch a person's fear during a spar, being able to see them will tell me about-"

"What type of person they are…" he finished.

"Right. So with you, I was just so thrown off by it. I couldn't concentrate. If a fear was a flaw, I was scared you had none. I was too used to it."

"And after that, you interpreted the nothingness further and got the New Moon…" Inuyasha said.

"Exactly…"

Inuyasha sat back in his chair, thoughts racing through his brain so quickly he didn't understand them all.

"I didn't tell anyone, of course not," Suzume said, much to his relief.

"So no one else knows?"

"As far as I know. Otherwise, they'd be talking about it. The smarter ones aren't interested about you. They think you're not a threat, and so they don't care."

"As always…" Inuyasha said, returning to dipping the waterfowl into the sauce.

"But I did my research, so ha," she said finally. "Did Miko do that, too? Or did you tell her."

"Both. Neither. I don't know. I forget," he answered, stealing a glance at Miko smiling at whatever Ookami had just said.

Suzume took a long hard look at Inuyasha, then Ookami, then Miko.

"Ooh, somebody's jealous?" she teased lightly.

"What do you mean, jealous? Jealous of him? Him? What would I be jealous at him for?" he spat. "I'm not jealous," he muttered.

"You go on believing whatever you want," said Suzume, smiling widely.

"Why, you..." Inuyasha would have called her a name if Sensei hadn't stood up again and motioned for everyone to quiet down and finish their last bites of dinner.

"Wench. I know," Suzume answered, turning in her chair to face Sensei.

"The time has come for the promotion. Settle down, and our teachers will begin handing out items for those with raised positions."

He gestured to Master Herbal and Master Weather. Master Herbal held a basket of rosary beads, a sign of the rank of mage. Master Weather held a few white habits, the garments used to symbolize the edgemaster rank.

Inuyasha looked across the room; a group of maybe fifteen students already wore the white habit, in a congregation of something like a thousand.

Sensei began calling out the names for those graduating to mage, also known as sorcerer or sorceress. There was something near to seventy names called; Inuyasha didn't bother to keep count after fifty. He clapped when Suzume's name had been called, and she smiled gratefully at that.

The promotion of greens, which is what they called the beginners, to mages stopped. A look of disappointment clouded Inuyasha's face, which held the same for several others, like Ookami.

Inuyasha was also surprised that Miko had not been promoted; what she lacked in combat she made up in archery and complicated spellbinding magic. She did not appear disappointed, however; she remained smiling as she congratulated Suzume when she sat down.

"So you weren't lying," Inuyasha said.

"You hate to admit it, don't you?" said Suzume, smiling brightly.

"What's there to admit?" he asked.

"That a person you beat, and a girl of all things, got promoted before you did. Don't feel bad," she said with a touch of sincerity in her voice. "Sensei must have a reason for these things."

"Yeah, probably." Somehow hearing himself say it solidified the thought.

"Hey, there's good news!" Suzume said, her eyes glittering.

"Right. Care to enlighten me?" he asked sarcastically.

"Sure. You won't have to miss me, since I'll still see you at combat class."

"Hey, weren't you telling me the good news?" Inuyasha said with a loud laugh. Miko asked for a look at Suzume's rosary, which had sparrows on each bead.

"Continuing our ceremony are the five mages that we tonight will have the pleasure of promoting to the rank of edgemaster. They are the few who will join their peers, all of whom who have mastered the arts of the blade and earthly spellbinding. Congratulations to the following:"

Sensei went on to call three names, all of which were boys, or men, because they seemed so serious. There was an individual clapping after the speeches that followed each person's walk to the front of the room.

Then, he called, "Tatsugami," and the woman who so often accompanied Sesshoumaru stood up and walked to the stage. Sensei talked about her talents of being able to control the wind, as well as use her fan as an interesting weapon that had many a time caught her opponents off guard.

With a flourish, she had donned the white habit and began walking back to her seat.

"The next name I call is that of one of the most promising students this school has ever seen. Seishou, please step forward."

Inuyasha heart stopped for a moment, then resumed its beating, but now the laughter and merriment stored inside was gone. Now he was filled with dread.

"Seishou came to me in the peak of his youth, when he was of fourteen years. He came here with a profound skill of the blade, but lacked the magic that put edgemasters aside from a talented swordsman.

"He made no humble beginnings- in our combat classes he won every single spar against his opponents, until a certain individual came to Goshinboku…Who looked so unpromising as a warrior, but ended up defeating Seishou with barely having touched a katana…

"So, he came to me, and asked for relentless training, and I yielded to his wish, because he looked like such a promising student. And with toil and blood…He learned. He learned what some have by grace. He learned, and so he has a more profound understanding of magic wielded in combat.

"And I use him as an example to portray what you all can become…When you pity yourselves for what you lack, you fail to find a way to solve your flaws. There is much hope for all of you, because within all of you there is potential, and within some of you that potential is unlimited."

Inuyasha stared up at Sensei to find that he was looking straight at him, into his eyes. The speech had been short and simple, but Inuyasha had hated every moment of it. And he hated the sort of smile Sesshoumaru wore when he walked to Master Weather to receive his white habit.

"And now, Seishou will perform a spell exhibition for Lord and Lady Mizaburi," said Sensei. Inuyasha groaned inwardly.

Sesshoumaru stood in the center of the hall, a wide and empty space that, up until now, Inuyasha had been wondering what was for. He started immediately, drawing his blade and beginning a furious sort of sword dance.

Inuyasha watched along with everybody else. Sesshoumaru was made for this sort of thing, now that he thought about it. He certainly was the essence of superior presentation, what with his new white robes and the silver hair to match.

"He looks like a woman," Miko whispered. Inuyasha had to smile. A little bit.

It was an intricate sword dance inspired probably by Chinese technique; it was all about the thick, liquid movements and the held poses. Suddenly the edge of his blade began to saturate with blue energy. He stopped his leg movement and waved his sword like a staff.

The blue torrents of flame shimmered up in the air. After glinting brightly for a few moments, the blue tint gave way to a transparent crystalline color and shape, and suddenly they were clearly diamonds.

Lady Mizaburi was smiling with enjoyment.

All illusion, of course; but it took a skilled sorcerer to conduct it in the eyes of so many people.

The jewels fell to the ground, clattering and clicking like pebbles. The sound as an illusion would be harder to create.

They were swallowed up by the ground around him with another wave of his sword; they looked like seeds to Inuyasha.

To even greater awe, Sesshoumaru continued with his act; he appeared to be concentrating hard on the ground where the "diamonds" had disappeared. He put one hand out in front of him, as if summoning them back into the air.

But something miraculous happened. Instead, the audience could begin to see the ground rippling with force. Finally the first of a root surfaced, then the next, and they began to intertwine, spiraling upwards as if to reach heaven.

More roots amassed with the original two, until there were so many that it could be considered the base of a tree. In fact, it was.

Sesshoumaru continued, waving his sword from time to time in order to usher the illusion along. Finally, the roots were tall enough so that you couldn't tell them apart, and they began to grow out horizontally in branches.

This continued until Sesshoumaru had created a young sakura tree, and a miniature of the Goshinboku outside in the courtyard. He stepped forward and laid the flat part of his sword on one branch of the tree and lifted it. A pink cherry blossom bloomed at that spot, and soon the flowers were bursting on every branch and twig.

Sesshoumaru smiled widely, then plucked a blossom off one of the lower branches. He began walking towards Lady Mizaburi, and when he reached the head table, he dropped the flower into her outstretched hands.

It took a moment for the pink hue of the flower to become a snow white, as if touched by a frail winter.

While the lady was beginning to put the flower in her hair, the petals became the wings of a bird, and a white dove fluttered from her hands and around the room for a minute, then returned to Sesshoumaru's hand.

And suddenly, it was gone.

Then the other illusions vanished, in order of most recent creation; the blossoms disappeared first, then the branches, and the base of the tree.

After a few minutes of what seemed like total, captivated silence, Lady Mizaburi started clapping her delicate pale hands, beaming.

The teachers came next, then Lord Mizaburi, and the students.

Inuyasha just sat there, staring hatefully at his older brother, thoughts stewing in his mind, telling himself that if it had been him, he could've done much better.

-

Phew, I got that done with. 5,800 words, can you believe it?

I hope I covered enough for today. After all, I told you:

Who Inuyasha sparred with in his year at the Seminary, and how those battles went. Sorry I couldn't go into more detail; this time I needed it concise. That stuff would just drag on and on…

About the festival of Sunreturn. Since I made the holiday up, it should be in my honor. (Once it's real, that is.)

The legend of Kikyou and Naraku. I tried to make it as closely related to the anime/manga as possible, so in the future you guys wouldn't get so confused. It's easier, ne?

A little bit more about Suzume. Isn't she a cool character? I'm trying to make her in-depth. The faer-seer thing I created on my own. My sister (xkumaxchanx) told me it was a great idea, so…Tell me if I'm creating a Mary Sue. I'm trying really hard not to. (Mary-Sue: A female character made up by the author, with bright, conquering qualities, beauty, personality, and so on. They're perfect, and they take over the plots. They're usually based on the authors. Thus, there are a lot of Mary Sues in Lord of the Rings fanfiction when it concerns Legolas.)

Inuyasha's jealousy of Ookami, otherwise known as Kouga. There's just a hint, though.

The ranks: Acolytes, Mages, and Edgemasters. I call the acolytes "greens." You're probably wondering why. People new to a trade or place are sometimes called "greenhands." It's a derogatory term, like what seniors would call you in your freshman year of high school. Not that they would, though.

The respect Sesshoumaru has. A lot, obviously.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The seventh one will be a SHOCKER, I promise you. I mean, really. You might even begin flaming me. Think of the most outrageous thing I could do to the plot. And you're probably on the right track.

And to leave you hanging on that…um, cliffhanger, I'm going to go now.

Alohaturtle

V The button likes to be pressed.