See notes in First Chapter.
X.
The silence of snow choked woods was always profound. Kagome was a city girl. She grew up in a world of never ending sound. There was always the hum of traffic and electric lights. Sirens serenaded the night with inconstant shrieks of alarm. Footsteps were covered by the sound of the masses talking over them. Even in the sunset shrine, a place renowned for its peace within the city couldn't touch on the amazing lack of noise that filled the trees that surrounded town after a winter storm.
Snow, Kagome had learned through the years in Hokkaido, absorbed sound so well, she fancied you could hear the flowers bud. That is, if the snow fell late enough in the year that the trees and plants had been fooled into believing spring was arriving. The woods were especially quiet after the wind died down following a storm. Though that impression could be a result of the sudden juxtaposition of still air after the howling tempest.
It made the crunching of her feet as she traipsed out on one of her shrine's most sacred and unknown duties seem like the lumbering movements of a bull in a china shop. It was moments like this that Kagome could fully understand youkai complaints over human noise. Because while she could certainly hear absolutely every move she made and nothing else, she also knew that she was not the only living thing moving about right now. Small animals and forest dwelling youkai would be out after the storm had passed to assess the damage to their hollows in the same way people down in town would be checking homes, buildings and docks. They would be out collecting food against the possibility of another storm unless they were truly hibernating still.
Her breath announced itself over the absent wind, a loud gasping sound that normally could only be heard in the creepy eerie portions of movies. The eeriness was only exacerbated by the very real warmth and presence of her current companions. Oki and Naoki were both with her and she couldn't hear either of them over her own sound. They'd been invited on this trip because the storm had spooked them a bit the night before. That and the reason for this task had wanted to meet them.
There were few who knew the history of Higurashi Jinja so well as to discover the reason for its deliberate placement. Some shrines popped up to draw attention and respect to natural phenomena, others were placed to protect them from curiosity and the natural damage constant attention could bring.
The shrine outside Nishi no Mura was a strategic effort to employ misdirection. For as long as the shrine had been present, it was the duty of the Higurashi in charge to serve the needs of the locals both human and youkai. But their biggest duty was to protect one of the rarest types of youkai still alive.
Bokusenou was one of the oldest of his species still living. He enjoyed the occasional visitor, but it was a risk to allow too many people to know of his location and existence. Most of his fellows were felled by ambitious and greedy craftsmen, cut down at a far younger age for use of their powerful wood. Tree youkai were not born of youkai trees. They were the type of youkai who became when the situation and surrounding elements were just right. Once a tree became, the wood was generally imbued with special properties that were greatly coveted.
Kagome knew for a fact the current omo had two swords sheathed in Bokusenou's own voluntarily donated wood. But there were few who would ask a tree for wood and respect if that tree said no.
As such, her most sacred and secret duty was to keep from town the existence of Bokusenou and to check on him after storms to see if he needed any help.
In the beginning, the old tree had not needed the human aid after storms. He'd had his own treaty set up with a family of forest dwellers who looked after him as he sheltered them, but they had died out years ago. Now Kagome came out as her uncle had done before to see if Bokusenou needed help shedding wind damaged limbs or removing encroaching neighbors. Anything he shed was carefully hoarded until Kagome could hand it off to Ryoichi for sale. The chiji's wider range of territory helped to obfuscate the location the wood was collected from. Hokkaido was certainly far larger in area than one small town on the coast with only a single shrine.
Oki's claws tightened around Kagome's shoulder as the old tree's youki began to be detectable. He was a powerful old tree, but he had no reason to shout his presence to the world. There was no need for him to defend his territory from other youkai as few needed the same resources as he did. There weren't many plant-based youkai this far north and what few there were seldom appear this close to the coast.
"It's all right," Kagome murmured soothingly as she gently swept her gloved hand over the striped fur. "He's expecting us and he wanted to meet you." There was no real warning before you were practically on top of where Bokusenou had taken root. His energy was tightly compacted in the space around him. Announcing his presence on a wider scale would only prove detrimental for his health.
Naoki had chosen to ride on Kagome's leg, sitting on her foot and forcing her to an awkward gait that left her slightly unbalanced. Oki clung from nervousness. Naoki's clingy behavior had different sources. Kagome suspected the little male was suffering under a fear of abandonment. Oki didn't seem to remember or fear much before the time she came to Kagome's care. Naoki was older and quite determined to stay with Kagome.
The tangle of trees and underbrush abruptly cleared out as they entered Bokusenou's bower. The space sheltered under his branches was mostly clear of snow, not that there had been much of it deposited in the storm last night. It had mostly been windy fury which ended with freezing temperatures.
"Well met, Higurashi," the gruff old voice called as his face appeared in the bark of his trunk.
Kagome bowed respectfully to the tree. "Well met, Bokusenou-san," she greeted him. "I hope the storm didn't blow you about too much."
"The tantrums of the sky can offer little difficulty for a tree that knows how to bend with them," Bokusenou replied, stoically. "Though that poor sapling to the south dropped a few branches against me." The "poor sapling" was at least a hundred years old and taller than Kagome's house in Tokyo. But, everything was relative and for a tree that was over two thousand years old and had been cognizant for the majority of that time, one hundred years was as the change of a season.
"Do you need help dropping his wind fall?" Kagome asked, she was always careful to keep to the genders the old tree assigned to his neighbors. She figured a tree would be a better judge of tree sex than a non-tree person. The question was incredibly important to ask though. Bokusenou had limited capability to move on his own. Sometimes the old Magnolia tree had problems untangling things caught in his branches. That's what she was for. That and when broken branches refused to let go completely. Sometimes Bokusenou would ask for removal of a limb that was bothering him, having grown in at a bad angle putting strain on an otherwise healthy joint. Sometimes whole trees fell against him, in which case Kagome would have to call in Ryoichi for some greater muscle power.
"No, I managed to shake it loose fairly quickly," Bokusenou answered. "I'm more interested in these visitors you have brought me. Charges of my shrine should know me." Almost any other nonhuman creature to claim ownership of a shrine like that would sound arrogant whether their words were true or not. In Bokusenou, the words were more teasing than anything. The shrine had Kagome's family name on it, but the reason it existed at all was his.
"Bokusenou-san," Kagome raised her hand back up to cradle Oki's suddenly shaking paws were they clung to her coat. "This is Oki-chan and her elder brother, Naoki-kun." Her other gloved hand reached for the top of his head where he clutched her pant leg.
"You are well met, shrine charges," Bokusenou greeted both in his strange wooden way. The old tree didn't always bother with names after first acquaintances for there had been far too many of those that had not seen a repeat appearance. "I have known many of your kind in my time." The branches above them shifted and groaned. His action seemed to set off a reaction from all the local trees as more branches creaked and barked against each other.
Kagome often wondered if Bokusenou gossiped with his neighbors in a special, never understood tree language. The old youkai always seemed to know more about what was going on in the world than he should given his incredibly sedentary lifestyle. He certainly didn't talk to every nonhuman that came close to him so there was no other viable source of information. At least, not to her knowledge.
Oki ducked behind Kagome's shoulder to hide from the tree's wizened face. She could feel the little kit's claws digging into the padding of her coat. The pair were nervous around strangers. The bigger the stranger, the more nervous they became.
It wasn't surprising given the number of youkai bigger than shimarisu young that had abused them in their short lives. And the ones who hadn't outright abused them had certainly done little to put them at ease.
Kagome smiled tensely at the old magnolia tree without moving to dislodge either set of claws from her clothing. They had all the time in the world to discover their courage and face Bokusenou at their own pace. She wouldn't force them to hurry any more than she had forced the pair to join her.
The tree may have requested an introduction, but Kagome wouldn't force it. A visit wasn't necessary for his well-being and if Oki and Naoki hadn't been curious and willing, she would have left them at the shrine like she had for every storm since their first arrival.
"Come, come," Bokusenou coaxed them from their nerves. "I have no need to harm the squirrels that nest in my boughs, or the birds that peck insects and worms from my branches. There have been shimarisu I held close ties to. I have always enjoyed the young ones that danced with my leaves and tickled the ground around my roots."
Kagome wanted to sigh as both kits tugged more urgently on her person in response. Oki's shifting pulled Kagome's hair causing her scalp to prickle with the abuse. Her scalp prickled uncomfortably before Kagome determinedly dismissed the sensation. Naoki's tightened grip on her pant leg threatened to cut off the circulation. The limb was beginning to tingle uncomfortably.
Bokusenou made the same mistake when Kagome was first introduced to him.
Then she'd been fresh from the trauma of Inuyasha's assault, still reeling from the consequences of a few moments and a set of careless claws. The tree had told her to let go of her loss and be happy for what she still had.
Good advice to be delivered by a sage, intimate friend or a counselor after a therapy session. Even an unknown counselor delivering such words after a period of mourning would have been more acceptable.
Nobody was going to be receptive to such words delivered by a complete stranger in any setting on the immediate heels of the initial injurious incident.
You couldn't tell someone not to be depressed, or nervous, or frightened and have the desired effect upon first introduction. It would often have the opposite effect. When Bokusenou had told Kagome to cheer up, she'd spiraled into a deeper depression. When the tree told her charges not to be afraid, they worked harder to hide from him.
It was actually a common error among some of the older youkai Kagome had occasion to observe throughout her life. It was almost like they forgot you couldn't jump from first meeting to a well-established relationship in ten seconds. Trust and understanding were built slowly, through mutual experiences filled with the awkwardness of learning. Many situations may reoccur, but rarely did even the same two people react exactly the same to a recurring event or situation. Time changed perception.
But, Kagome understood that pointing out his mistake wouldn't fix Bokusenou's habit of trying to assume he knew more about the people who appeared in his glade than he actually did. Every human was not the same as all the ones he had met in his past. Every shimarisu was not the same as the family he had known and sheltered.
He had little chance of practicing a new strategy for making friends. Even if his old one was only ever successful by virtue of duty and necessity. Kagome developed a better understanding of the old tree because she had to work with him and tend his health. Her predecessor had told her it was the same with him. The people who developed close ties with the Honoki usually did so as more of a working relationship than because of his initial effort to make friends.
There was also the simple reality that a tree had little reason to fully understand the motivations of more mobile creatures. Bokusenou didn't have to hunt for food to survive. He was a tree, a plant, and all he needed was found in the sun, rain and soil that had always nurtured him. He didn't need to breed like other creatures did, as trees reproduced via a very long distance technique that either utilized wind or small creatures to carry the necessary pollen and seeds to their ultimate destinations. Which also left him out of the need to nurture offspring or much of anything else.
Bokusenou had no need to seek shelter from the weather as the chances a cold snap could damage him much was minimal and hot weather only increased his thirst for moisture he could find in the soil without having to move. The tree didn't have to fight for space among his fellows and depending on when Bokusenou became self-aware he likely never knew that he'd ever had to.
Oh, the Honoki could observe such behaviors, he could study them and possibly identify their usual conclusions, but he couldn't understand them. Bokusenou likely didn't understand ambition, heartbreak, fear, or a host of other widely experienced debilitating emotions that didn't have simple fixes. Such feelings could perhaps be identified by a thorough study of facial expressions and associated behaviors, even sociopaths were capable of as much. That didn't mean empathy or even sympathy automatically followed.
In which case, age probably wasn't much of a factor in Bokusenou's ineptitude at making friends, Kagome concluded absently.
Kagome was only thankful it wasn't later in the year. Bokusenou was more active during the warmer months, assisted by flexible new growth and the added hours of sunlight. He certainly didn't uproot and move around, but he had more energy to reach for things with his branches and a sort of prehensile system of vines that appeared every spring.
She was certain that both Oki and Naoki would have bolted from the area if the tree could reach for them right now. If their first encounter with Bokusenou had ended that way, she doubted they'd ever come back to try again. The experience could be so traumatic the pair might even refuse to step foot in the forest again, which would permanently cripple their future. Shimarisu generally weren't skilled at disguising themselves and most youkai who couldn't didn't do very well in close proximity of human society.
They would never find mates, never raise kits of their own. Their lives would inevitably be shorter than if they had lived in their traditional habitat among their own people. It would be harder for them to eat an appropriate diet and the likelihood of chronic depression was greatly increased. Kagome would prefer if her charges could avoid that.
Introducing the pair to Bokusenou was a risk. Kagome hoped Oki and Naoki would develop some form of connection with him so they would always have a safe haven to retreat to when there was need. That wouldn't happen if he instilled in them a fear of trees.
"You are scaring them, Bokusenou-san," Kagome murmured gently.
"I am?" the tree questioned. His confusion was evident as the bark creased slightly more between the mossy lines of his brows and the barking of branches swept though the neighboring trees again. Fear wasn't an emotion the old tree was likely to easily empathize with.
"You are a great deal bigger than they are," Kagome confirmed, trying to couch her explanation in terms that were simple and easy to understand for someone who had likely never had cause to fear. "Most of the youkai they have encountered that were also larger than they have done them harm." Oki and Naoki's fear was both rational and irrational, but it was reasonable to expect it.
"AH!" The trees face smoothed slightly as if he recalled something that helped him understand. "It is the nature of small things to be wary of that which is larger than themselves." Bokusenou's epiphany sent another series of barking branches rustling around the local trees. "I shall strive to gain their trust by continuing to be inert. You will bring them by more often to help reassure them that I will not harm them."
Kagome simply nodded without making any promises. She would not force her charges out here again. She doubted very much that she would have to, Naoki was quite determined to overcome is fears and Oki followed his lead out of curiosity. They would set the pace, individually or as a pair. If it was a slow pace, that was fine. The passing of time was hardly noticed by trees as old as Bokusenou.
That was part of the reason Naoki was being so clingy. Kagome doubted he was as scared as he was portraying. Kagome had informed the pair they would be taking lessons in the forest towards the end that they would eventually return to live there in the future. He didn't want to accept that he wouldn't always be living with Kagome. He didn't seem to realize that change was inevitable, that even if Kagome were able to allow him to stay forever, she wouldn't live that long.
A sudden disruption of the Seishin-tekina shouheki caught her attention. The barrier had a limited range, and normally when Kagome wasn't immediately on the grounds disruptions couldn't reach her. But she was still pretty close and there wasn't much currently distracting her.
"Visitor?" Bokusenou inquired.
"Hmm," Kagome acknowledged. Many reiki users weren't able to distinguish between youkai species from youki feel alone. It required a certain heightened attention to what for most was a minor sense. It was like an inu paying more attention to the look of something than the scent. Humans with reiki seldom relied strongly on what their spirit senses told them about the world around them. The normal senses were usual more present and more than enough.
Kagome was among the rare set of people that couldn't ignore what her reiki told her. It was too strong so she always knew when youkai, mononoke, and other reiki users were about. With the benefit of having grown up in Tokyo, one of the biggest species mixing pots in the country, she'd had a great deal of exposure to various species. Closer familiarity could also allow her tell the difference between individuals within the same family and species.
AS such, even at this distance she could identify that the shrine visitor was a kitsune that was not local. It felt familiar, but Kagome was having trouble placing it.
"Local?" the tree asked in curiosity.
"Not from town," Kagome shook her head absently still trying to place where she knew this particular youki from. With a mental shake, she turned back the tree. "Should I return to the shrine?" It was polite to look towards the Honoki for direction. It was his safety that would be most at risk if the visiting youkai went in search of the shrine keeper.
"Perhaps it would be prudent," Bokusenou agreed. Although foxes are not commonly agents for wood poacher; it wasn't unheard of. This fox was unknown and the foxes in town hadn't been trusted with the secret of the tree's existence yet, by his own choice.
"Then I'll see you after the next storm," Kagome bowed to her charge, finally managing to loosen Naoki's claws in her pants. And if there wasn't a storm before the season ended, she would be back out here again after the thaw was over. "C'mon Oki-chan, Naoki-kun, duty calls."
Kagome felt Oki turn to stare back at the tree as they headed home until the forest closed in to block the old magnolia from view. "He's a bit unique," Kagome addressed the nervous shimarisu, "but Bokusenou has no reason to hurt you or anyone else." She didn't add anything more. She didn't have the time as her attention was increasingly focused on the approaching fox.
It was a good thing the storm hadn't brought a load of snow with it. Kagome didn't have time to cover her tracks right now. The wind and Bokusenou's own defenses could blow her scent around, but a straight line of broken snow would have been harder to hide.
"Keep up Naoki-kun," Kagome called to the lagging kit, pausing to turn and allow him to catch up. "Part of our job is to make sure other, unwanted people don't find our tree. He's trusting you to keep him safe." Naoki darted forward to climb up beside his sister on her back. "There are bad people that would do irreparable damage if they knew."
Naoki tugged at her hair and Kagome briefly gritted her teeth at the slight pain before continuing to explain. "This new kitsune may not be one of the bad people. But some good people are bad secret keepers," was her explanation. It was a given that a pair of shimarisu that hadn't said a single word to anyone in the past several months were very good secret keepers. "Until we know better, we'll just assume every new person fits in that type."
"Hey!" they heard as the neared the shrine grounds. "Anybody home!" the sound was distant. The volume of it increased with their movement and the assumed travel of the curious visitor trailing after the most recent scent. "I was sent from Tokyo by the Northern daijin."
Kagome slowed down and relaxed. If Sesshoumaru sent him, it was likely this new youkai was intended to teach her charges how to live in the forest properly. How effective a kitsune would be was slightly questionable since most lived in human settlements, but she was willing to keep an open mind. "Hello," she called back. "We've just been out on a walk."
"A walk?" The red-head questioned as the two parties came into view of each other. "In these temperatures? Surely, you haven't taken up such unhealthy habits in the time we've been apart Kagome-chan!"
"Shippou-kun!" Kagome exclaimed as she recognized him. "It's been ages! When did you start taking on tutoring jobs?"
"This would be my first one," Shippou smiled up at her as the pair affectionately hugged. Naoki growled at the fox while Oki struggled to avoid the arm thrown around Kagome. "I suppose these are supposed to be my pupils."
"Yes," Kagome agreed as she turned the combined group back towards the shrine. "Oki-chan and Naoki-kun came into my custody last fall and we've had a very comfortable winter together. But they both need to spend more time in the forest and get back to their natural habitat before they become too dependent on human aid."
Naoki scowled at them both and leapt from Kagome to race towards their shared quarters as soon as the shrine came into view. "Naoki-kun disagrees," she quietly informed her poorly disguised friend.
Shippou had never mastered his illusions due to a lack of necessary teachers as he was growing up. His parents had been free youkai because the Reynard of their leash had wanted to mate the female and she had chosen to mate a different male in the leash. Shippou had been born after the separation. He could have developed normally still, if both his parents hadn't died shortly after his birth.
It was actually a wonder the fox kit had survived at all. Nature had intervened on his behalf by supplying him with an usagi mother and extended tribe that had taught him how to forage, burrow, and hide. He'd lived with them until human expansion had proven too much for the warrens and few of his sheltering family had adapted to living among humans as well as he had adapted to living among bunnies.
It had left him feeling guilty to survive where so many of those that had raised Shippou failed to. He'd quickly made it his mission to help other free youkai assimilate to human cohabitation and independence. He'd founded a few communities and outreach programs in Tokyo to make it easier. Shippou had also worked with the Shrine school and youkai government to spread understanding of the special needs of free youkai communities and groups. Before Shippou had started his programs the omo's policy was to treat free youkai like criminals neglecting to consider corrupt leadership, youkai born outside of species groupings – like Shippou -, and those who left for other, personal reasons – like mating across species, choosing not to mate, or choosing to mate against the clans interests.
Sadly, the shrines were more willing to change their perception than Masashi had been, but he had eventually seen the light.
"I thought you'd never give up fighting for your cause," Kagome squeezed her friends arm to communicate she wasn't judging his choices, just curious over this change.
"There are plenty of well-trained advocates for our communities that don't have to fight the perception of being immature or untrained," Shippou shrugged. The kitsune was fully grown, but his disguise still had a very obvious tail, paws, and lacked the usual added height that was common for grown fox disguises. Shippou had been an inch taller than Kagome when she met him at the shrine school. Within two years she'd over taken his height. "Besides, I might have an easier time of helping them adapt to forest life than helping some fresh-faced,disassociated frogs learn to deal with human life." A lot of species still found the transition to city and town living extremely difficult.
"I believe Oki-chan is more open to learning anything you have to teach, but Naoki-kun will be difficult to persuade," Kagome smiled at her visitor she ushered inside her home. Naoki was already settled, pouting in the corner. She was rather pleased with Sesshoumaru selection of teacher. It was likely that the shimarisu's education would take years, which meant their teacher would likely be staying with her for that long. It was a discomfort she'd been prepared to weather for their sake regardless of who was chosen, but it was a wonderful surprise her long-term guest was also an old friend.
"So what do you need from me?" Shippou asked her as he settled under the kotatsu while she collected the makings of tea. He quickly found the cord to the heater and switched it on, earning a pleased grin from Oki as she also sat at the heated table.
"You'll probably need to keep them mostly out of sight," Kagome told as she finally was able to join the table. Tea was poured round and happily savored before she continued. "This isn't the city, these people do not tolerate the idea that youkai walk beside them, forget the reality. All the youkai in town are well disguised. All the surrounding areas stay wellaway from town for mutual safety."
Shippou scowled but didn't interrupt.
"You may be seen on your own, if you don't mind dealing with the consequences," Kagome allowed. "But I should warn you that Sesshoumaru was here overtly over New Year and we had an incident that could have cost lives without some careful maneuvering."
The fox's expression changed from disgusted anger to utterly flabbergasted.
"I would not advise attempting to approach any of the hidden families in town unless they come up to the shrine and no one else is about," she added. "You are never to purposely expose Oki and Naoki to the town's people knowledge. Their chances of coming through the encounter unscathed are minuscule."
"Not to mention the risk it'll bring you," Shippou pondered.
"I accepted that risk when I brought them here," her words were sharp. "However, exposing this shrine as a harbor for orphaned youkai would quickly end the shrine's effectiveness in its original capacity as a mediator between the human and the non-human. So lets not do it if we don't need to."
"I got it," Shippou huffed at her scolding and Kagome admitted she might have over done it. He was many years her senior, even if he did look younger than her brother.
"I'm not saying it wouldn't be possible to publicly take in someone of youkai blood if they had the right backing, as I could explain away your appearance by mentioning Sesshoumaru sent you without detailing the reason he sent you," Kagome shrugged. "But these two appeared randomly in the night. Bigoted humans can only accept so much."
"True," Shippou sighed as he studied Oki blowing over the steam emanating from her small cup of tea. "Youkai can be the same." He sipped more tea before changing subject, "How much do they know?"
"I'm not certain, but from what I saw when I collected them, I would start from the beginning," Kagome reached over to rub over Oki's furred cheek affectionately. "Whatever they learned before either wasn't cohesively taught or demonstrated, or they'd gone so long between lessons everything had been forgotten. Plus they've been with me the last few months."
"All right, the basics then," Shippou nodded. "We'll start with stealth. It's the wrong season for burrowing and foraging won't do them any good if they get eaten before they find food." It was also the hardest to master, took the longest to teach, and often frustrated the teacher and student enough to completely ingrain itself once learned. "Besides, they've got this cushy home to come back to and food readily available for now," Shippou grinned.
"You just don't want to sleep outdoors until you have to," Kagome teased.
"You know it!" He agreed unabashedly.