Chapter 10: Truths

"Well?" Shippo asked. Inuyasha sat back on his heels as he studied the two corpses.

"It's definitely Naraku's mark," he answered, causing Jaken to give a disdainful sniff.

"How the hell is that possible?"

"Tch, how should I know?"

Kenshin quietly watched the exchange as they debated. He looked over and saw that Namu and his sister were standing silently behind Sanosuke. Kenshin had noticed that the young hanyou and his father had barely spoken to each other since his and Inuyasha's arrival. He wondered if he dared to ask Shippo about it later.

Inuyasha looked away from Shippo to study Kenshin. The hanyou hadn't spoken to him since the initial meeting. He studied the cross-shaped scar on his face. Inuyasha could clearly see the other faint scars dotting Kenshin's exposed skin. He couldn't help wondering at them.

A faint glint of silvery blue caught Inuyasha's eye as Shippo turned around.

"Shippo, your sword's glowing blue," he said. The kitsune looked down at the Kadouki in surprise before he drew it. The sword only glowed blue when it sensed the strong spiritual powers of a human. It glowed violet for youkai energy.

"It didn't do that before," the kitsune remarked. "At least if it did, I didn't notice it."

"Is something wrong?" Kaoru asked. Inuyasha and Shippo looked at each other.

"I don't smell any other humans," Inuyasha said. He and the kitsune looked at the others. Shippo gave a broad grin.

"What is it?" Kaoru asked.

"The Kadouki only glows blue if it detects the strong spiritual energy of a human."

"Really?" Yahiko asked. The boy studied the blade curiously. Sano raised an eyebrow.

"You mean one of us is causing it?" he asked. Shippo's grin broadened.

"So, whose is it?" Kaoru asked. Shippo studied the sword for a moment before he and Inuyasha looked at each other.

"Feh, don't look at me," the hanyou said. He looked over at the other hanyou in the group. "It's not Namu either and I doubt that it's Sessh…Kenshin."

Kenshin gave a start as the hanyou looked intently at him for a brief moment. The human was still coming to terms with having a youkai soul, let alone knowing how to deal with Inuyasha. He hadn't even touched the Toukijin or the Tenseiga since Shippo first arrived. However, Shippo apparently agreed with the hanyou lord.

"It's not Kenshin. My sword glows violet around him, see?" The kitsune moved the blade in Kenshin's direction, causing it to briefly flare violet.

"What does the violet mean?" Sanosuke asked.

"It glows violet when it senses youkai energy," Inuyasha said. Kaoru gave a tiny gasp. Knowing whose soul Kenshin had was one thing, but actually seeing a demonstration of it was another matter. She placed a hand on Kenshin's arm. The red-haired swordsman just stared at the sword.

"So if I'm not causing it, who is?" Kenshin asked.

"There's three other humans here, aren't there?" Inuyasha barked. Sano thought perhaps it was his imagination, but he thought he saw Kenshin's eyes briefly flash amber. That wasn't a good sign.

Shippo glared at the hanyou, but Inuyasha ignored him. Stubborn baka, the kitsune thought. Jaken glared at him too. In the old youkai's mind, duty to Kenshin now came before duty to Inuyasha. Kenshin leveled a gaze at the hanyou, but said nothing.

Sanosuke, Kaoru, and Yahiko looked at each other before Kaoru's eyes suddenly shone in delight.

"Spiritual powers, you mean like a priestess?" Sano nudged her lightly with his elbow.

"Don't get your hopes up, Missie."

"But I might have spiritual power!" Kaoru already have visions of it dancing in her head.

"You have powers all right, but they're hardly spiritual," Sano cracked.

"Hmm, you may be righ…Hey! Exactly what is that supposed to mean?"

"I think she's the one with the youkai soul, not Kenshin," Yahiko said.

"She's certainly evil enough," Sano agreed. Shippo shook a fist at him.

"Are you implying something human!"

"I wasn't talking about you fox!" Meanwhile, Kaoru's face was reddening with anger as she glared at Sanosuke and Yahiko. Namu and Sango wisely took shelter behind a tree as she whirled on Kenshin.

"Kenshin! You're not going to let them say that about me, are you?"

"Uhh…" Kenshin said. Kaoru growled at him, causing the red-haired swordsman to jump. Inuyasha, Shippo, and Jaken had retreated by this time. Inuyasha may have only met Kaoru half an hour ago, but he'd seen that same dangerous expression on Kagome and Sango's faces before. Kenshin mentally prayed to whatever celestial forces might be nearby.

"Uhh…this one does not believe you to be evil, that he doesn't. This one thinks that Miss Kaoru is very generous and kindhearted to allow all of us to stay here, that he does," he said with as much humility that he could muster. Fortunately, it worked. Kaoru immediately brightened into a smile.

"It's nice to know that someone around here is an excellent judge of character. So…" she glared over at where Shippo, Jaken, and Inuyasha were currently hiding behind their drawn weapons, "…you three can come out of hiding now!" All three of them jumped.

"I think she really is evil," Inuyasha whispered as Jaken nodded in agreement.

"Shut up, she might hear you," Shippo muttered back.

They returned to the others. Knowing that there was only one way to settle the debate, Shippo walked over to the humans. He held out his sword to Sanosuke, but nothing happened. The kitsune repeated this same action with Kaoru, but again nothing happened. Her face became disappointed.

All eyes turned to Yahiko.

"You're not saying…" Sano began. Shippo held the blade out to the boy and it glowed blue.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Raizel smirked to herself. Kagura expected her to kill Inuyasha and his brother's reincarnation. Kagura expected her to destroy the sword. Kagura expected Raizel to obey her.

Raizel had other plans.

The female youkai examined a small, shiny jewel in her hand. It was nothing more than an imitation of the Shikon jewel, but it still held power. Kagura had discovered that a hanyou had once tried to recreate the Sacred Jewel. Inuyasha had killed the hanyou many years ago, but what he and his friends had failed to realized was that he had hidden away his research notes and some of his imitation jewels.

Kagura didn't know that Raizel possessed one of those imitation jewels.

The female youkai tossed the jewel and caught it with her pale fingers. She would wait until nightfall, she decided. Then she would catch the hanyou and the Battousai off guard. Her green lips turned up in a cold smile.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"I have spiritual powers?" Yahiko exclaimed. Sanosuke, Kaoru, and Kenshin gaped down at the young boy.

"Oro?" Kenshin asked in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me," Sano and Kaoru both said at the same time. Yahiko stuck his tongue out at them. Inuyasha walked over and placed a clawed hand on Yahiko's head.

"Shippo's sword doesn't lie. This little kid could be a monk or a shrine keeper," Inuyasha said.

"I'M NOT LITTLE!" Yahiko yelled in dismay.

"Shut up kid, you're little!"

"NO I'M NOT!"

"You're pretty brash for a pipsqueak," the hanyou told him. Yahiko's face reddened. Inuyasha threw a few more taunts at him until the boy couldn't stand it anymore. He leapt at the hanyou and tried to hit him. Tried. Inuyasha held him out by the collar as Yahiko thrashed around in anger.

"Oh cut it out, will ya? Shippo was even more of a pipsqueak than you are now," Inuyasha barked. The kitsune growled at him. It did cause Yahiko to calm down as he eyed Shippo.

"Really?" the boy asked. Shippo answered him with a single reply.

"Feh."

Inuyasha set Yahiko back on the ground. It was then that Yahiko noticed that his older friends were whispering among themselves.

"What?" Yahiko asked icily. Kenshin threw up his hands in defense and gave an innocent smile.

"We're talking about nothing, that we are."

"Do I look stupid Kenshin?"

"You really want him to answer that?" Sano asked.

"SHUT UP!"

"Could you really imagine Yahiko as a monk?" Kaoru asked. The three friends looked at each other as they tried to picture it. Kaoru giggled. Seconds later, Kenshin and Sanosuke began to snicker. Then all three of them began to laugh hysterically.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Yahiko yelled. He hit Sanosuke over the head with his bokken.

"He couldn't be any worse than Miroku," Inuyasha muttered. Shippo agreed before giving a start.

"What?" Inuyasha asked.

"The sword, the blue turned slightly violet when Yahiko became angry," he answered. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as he looked at the sword. The kitsune and the hanyou looked at each other.

"You think that maybe he has youkai in his blood?" Shippo asked. Inuyasha grunted as he looked at the boy, who was currently harassing Sanosuke.

"It's possible," Inuyasha agreed. "If he does, it couldn't be more than a few drops." The hanyou continued to watch the boy, new possibilities turning in his mind.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Nighttime again. Megumi had come over for dinner and had walked in to find Inuyasha lounging on the floor. Kenshin had been in the kitchen, attempting to teach Namu and Sango how to cook. Kaoru had been giving Yahiko more lessons at the time, which Inuyasha had watched briefly. Sanosuke had tried to get Shippo to gamble with him.

The doctor had tried to examine Inuyasha's ears, but the stubborn hanyou had refused. Disappointed, Megumi had then cornered Namu in the kitchen and talked him into letting her look at his. Sanosuke had taken one look at the embarrassed red-haired fox hanyou before stepping in. He had then proceeded to drag a protesting Megumi away from the relieved teenager.

Yahiko stared up at the ceiling. He'd never guessed that he could ever be anything else than a swordsman. All Yahiko had ever wanted to do was be a samurai like his father.

He rolled over and tucked his bokken under his arm. The sword that protects people. The boy might insult his master a lot, but he did truly respect Kaoru. Someday he would master the Kamiya Kasshin. Someday he was going to be like the closest man he now had to a father. Someday he wanted to be like Kenshin.

The boy's eyes slowly closed as he drifted off into sleep.

Up above him on the roof, Shippo and Inuyasha lay on their backs as they stared up at the stars. Everyone else had gone to sleep.

"What do you think?" Shippo asked softly.

"About the Sesshoumaru or the kid?"

"Both." Inuyasha was silent for a time.

"He's not like I expected him to be."
"Is that a compliment?"

"I don't know yet."

"The sword he carries is a reverse-blade sword. I guess he made an oath a while back to never take another human life."

Inuyasha looked at him with surprise and Shippo told him about everything that had happened. The kitsune could see him turning everything over in his mind. Shippo decided to ask him another question.

"What do you think about the kid?"

"Who knows? If he does have youkai blood, it's not very much. There's really no way to tell for sure if he has any," Inuyasha replied. They stared silently up at the stars. Shippo knew what was on Inuyasha's mind.

"You think he's Inutari's descendant, don't you?" he asked. Inuyasha sighed.

"It's probably just wishful thinking."

"Yahiko has latent spiritual powers and possibly even a tiny bit of youkai blood. I'd say it's possible Inuyasha."

Inuyasha didn't say anything. His son had died during the Great Youkai War, and Inuyasha had never really gotten over it. They had found the body of Inutari's wife, but never that of their daughter's. Inuyasha, Amaya, Shippo, Souten, Kirara, and Kouryuu had spent months after the war scoring the countryside for the child, but had never found her. Even Kouga and Ayame had sent their wolves out searching, but no body had ever been found. They had all eventually come to the heartbreaking conclusion that Inutari's daughter had been killed. But maybe they had been wrong.

Maybe she had survived.

However, as Inuyasha had pointed out, there was really no way to tell.

The two of them dozed off for a while until Inuyasha rose to an elbow and looked at Shippo. The kitsune opened an eye to look at the older man.

"What?"

Inuyasha grunted as he lay back down. Shippo waited and finally the hanyou spoke up.

"You know, I never knew my old man growing up. I don't know if my life would have been easier if I had, but…"

"Inuyasha." Shippo had an idea where this was going.

"Namu needs you Shippo."

"Funny, he seems to prefer you."

"Do I detect a hint of bitterness, fox?" Shippo sighed at that. He slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. A pair of amber eyes bore into him.

"I don't blame you Inuyasha," Shippo finally said. "I'm glad Namu is staying with you. You know what he's going through as a hanyou. You can help him in ways that I can't." Inuyasha's eyes continued to stare at him.

"Souten doesn't have a problem with him. Kagome, Nariko, and Sango don't have a problem with him. Namu gets along a helluva lot better with his half sisters than I ever did with Sesshoumaru. Why is it that you two have a problem with each other?" Inuyasha asked quietly. Shippo flinched.

"Namu doesn't want me; he's made that clear Inuyasha. I know he resents me for not being there for him and his mother."

"Namu thinks you don't want him."

"That's not true."

"You need to talk to him."

"Namu won't listen to me, you know that."

"Dammit Shippo!" Inuyasha yelled. The hanyou realized how loud he was getting and immediately lowered his voice.

"Shippo, Kagome and I raised you as if you were our own son. I didn't think that I would have to raise your son too."

"Inuyasha…"

"Look, Shippo, I'm not complaining. I care for Namu as if he was mine. I'm not complaining about taking care of him. What I am complaining about is the fact that he has a chance to know his father, a chance that I never had. I'm complaining about the fact that I can't be in my own son's life anymore and that you won't be in the life of the one you have."

"Inuyasha, just drop it okay?"

Inuyasha gave a 'feh'. He decided to drop it for the night, but this wasn't the end of it. The hanyou rolled over onto his side, facing away from the kitsune. Because of that, he failed to see the silent tear that rolled down the kitsune's face.

Underneath them, an awake Sanosuke and Kenshin exchanged looks in the darkness. They had heard every word.

……………………………………………………………..

Author's note: Kouryuu is the dragon that hung out with Souten in an episode of Inuyasha.

Next time on Chapter 11: Possession- Raizel makes her move and a familiar face appears. Or is that two familiar faces? I will try to update sooner than usual.