I started off through the trees after the girl who had run us. There was something that called out to me, something familiar. My hair streaked out behind me as I leapt from branch to branch. I ducked as Higure swung from the branch above me aiming for my head. I caught Higure by the back of her throat and held her out over the gap between the branches. Higure clawed at my hand but I refused to loosen my grip. "Understand this koinu; I am not one of those who condemned you. Should you continue to act like this spoiled koinu you shall do nothing but shame your mother."

"What do you know of my mother? And don't you EVER call me koinu! I am not a puppy!" Higure snarled kicking out at me.

"Your father was a dog lord wasn't he? Kuroinu." I said shaking her slightly. "I know because the red stripes in the tail were his distinct marks."

Higure stopped fighting. "You knew my father?"

"You could say that. I killed him anyway." I said and pulled Higure back to the branch and she sat tensely beside me.

"He abandoned my mother and me, he deserved to die." She growled watching me from under the bangs of her hair.

"Well your mother wasn't the only one he abandoned. He raped a number of inu women under my protection. I had to kill him." I said and reached over and tweaked Higure ears.

Higure jumped a foot into the air at the unexpected contact and out of reflex swung a clawed hand at my face. I leaned back away from the paw and back flipped as I fell to land on my feet on the ground. I looked up at Higure through my bangs as she glared down at me. "You know koinu, I don't think you are so tough. I think I'll adopt you."

Higures eyes flashed red and she began growling. "What makes you think you can treat me this way?"

I smiled at her and sat beneath the same tree she was in. "I am not treating you badly. You are simply taking it badly."

Higure landed on all fours in front of me growling. She turned into a giant dog and darted at me feet first. I didn't move I just sat staring at her. She stopped with her face a foot from mine staring at me confused. She returned to her human form and sat across from me unable to speak.

I leaned forward and grabbed one of her ears and stroked it softly. "You are a koinu, your mother was a kind woman, I can tell. Don't let what your father was be what you become."

Higure stared at me with wide eyes and tried to move her ears from my reach. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to join us in the battle against the evil being that rose from its resting place. I want you to be happy. Both go hand in hand in this case." I said and pulled her closer to my side. Hesitantly Higure lay down and rested her head in my lap as I continued to scratch her ears. "Life isn't easy koinu, and it seems to have been especially hard for you but I have decided to be your new mother and I shall do my best to make it better for you."

"Why don't I want to kill you right now?" Higure growled at me.

I laughed and patted her shoulder as we stood and started slowly through the woods. "Because I am not the one who you're really mad at. That and because I am just so entertaining." I said twirling a knife in my palm.

"Where did that come from?" Higure asked as she watched the knife spin.

"My waist. I thought maybe you might like to learn some new ways of fighting while we travel." I handed her one of my knives and her hands closed around the hilt reverently.

"You would just give this to me. As simple as that?" She asked studying my face.

"Yes. You're my daughter now, what I decide you need, I'll provide." I said pushing aside a tree branch.

Higure stared at the knife deep in thought then glanced at me and back to the knife. She slipped the knife and sheath into her waist band and followed me as we made our way to the scents that we got from the rest of the group.

That night we still had not caught up to the others, so we sat beneath a large oak tree we had found that lay close to the bank of . I made Higure sit across from me as I pulled out one of my more elaborate knives. "What are you doing?" Higure asked me.

"Adopting you, by blood." I said and drew the edge of my knife across my palm making it bleed then pressed a drop to the rising sun on my forehead.

Higure eyed me suspiciously. "Your going to cut me?" She winced as I gave her a small cut on her forehead. "Hey!"

"Stop complaining. You barely have a nick." I said and pressed my bleeding hand to the small cut on her forehead. "With blood to blood, I make you blood. My daughter, your mother, blood to blood." Higure eyes started to go red and she swayed. I laid her down gently then rested with my back against the tree. I feel asleep making sure that there was nothing that could threaten us was close.

I woke when I suddenly felt a sharp pain at the base of my spin and I stood and looked behind me. A tail was growing from my back, it was the same red as my hair. I looked at Higure. She was stirring and I could see that on her forehead was a setting sun. Just as I had given her a unique marking of mine, she had given me something of hers.

I helped the drowsy pup to the hot spring and we stripped and slipped inside. I noticed that she had a large sun burst over her right shoulder. It was the same mark that my mother had had. I knew that she was truly my daughter now. Once she was awake enough to notice all the new changes she was even more lost in her own thoughts. I let her keep her silence, I knew when she wanted to talk she would ask me. We started off again and as I walked I practiced using my new tail. It was as useable as a new hand, and I loved it.