It was just after dawn. little pinpricks of faint morning light were beginning to be seen around the corners of the room. Inuyasha's ear twitched hearing the sound of a rooster crow some ways off. Still half asleep he pulled Kagome a little closer to him in the spoon position they had passed most of, if not all, the night in. He nestled his face into the nest of hair she made on the futon, intending to lose himself in sleep for another hour or three. They had come home late in the night from another trip. Sleeping next to his mate was the only thing he wanted to think about, and the parts of him that were somewhat awake were musing how receptive she might be to certain overtures this morning. He moved slightly and started to nuzzle her neck a little. She murmured softly in her sleep and he took this as encouragement. His hand began to brush her waist and he was about to...
Suddenly the door to the back room parted and a small set of bare feet padded over to the futon and stopped. She stood over them. Inuyasha rolled over and pretended to still be asleep as he pulled the covers over his face. He hoped the child was just checking on them and would take herself back to bed if he made no move to indicate conciousness. He might get away with it... after all this one couldn't smell his emotions.
"Papa..." She continued to stand there quietly. Inuyasha began to try to pretend he was snoring.
"I have to potty."
Inuyasha groaned and didn't look up. "Ask your mother."
"But she's sleeping."
"So is your father."
"No you're not. You're talking."
"You know where it is."
"I'm not allowed to go out by myself until it's light out" She clutched her doll to her chest.
Damn those rules he makes when he's awake... "and fatherly" he thought. "Fine." Inuyasha threw the covers off of himself in constarnation. Kagome stirred a little on her side of the futon but remained asleep. He glanced at her with more than a hint of jealousy as he stood up and stretched his arms over his head.
"Get your shoes Mikiko-chan."
The little girl held up her pink waraji sandals.
Inuyasha yawned and took her hand after she had put her shoes on at the door and led her to the outbuilding behind the four room house he had built when he and Kagome were first married. It was small by the standard of the house his wife had grown up in, but quite roomy compared to Tokyo apartments of the 21st century, to say nothing of several other neighboring homes in Edo, the majority of which were one and two rooms. There was the front sitting room, which Kagome and Inuyasha now slept in, two bedrooms, and a kitchen stocked with modern style cabinets, cupboards and shelves stuffed to capacity with foodstuffs, medicines, herbs, pots and a variety of books. Inuyasha often teased that the kitchen had become a much larger version of the yellow backpack Kagome had used when they were young.
A short distance away from where Inuyasha stood at the door of the outhouse, on the other side of the house a shrine had been built between the well and Goshinboku. The people in Edo had become quite enamored with the now legendary Miko that had taken up residence in their village following the retirement of old Kaede. Rumor had it that Kaede was the sister of the powerful miko that protected the Shikon many years before, and there were whispers that while the new Miko was the reincarnation of the old, that she was many times over more powerful. Kagome was renowned through that part of the world and people had come from so far as the continent seeking her advice, medicines, and her spiritual power. Of course, the fact that she was married to a hanyou seemed to come as a suprise to the more distant travelers, but simply further motivation for some to seek her out. Never before had youkai turned to a particular human woman for aid so frequently, but she had knowledge of remedies and techniques that had never before been seen. As such, the shrine was a very popular travel destination.
Edo itself had also flowered. It, and the surrounding villages were prospering thanks to the lack of sickness, good years of harvest, and lack of youkai harrassment. The latter was openly credited to Inuyasha, guardian of the forest, and also added to the frequently travelled path to the shrine.
Inuyasha proudly reflected on the niche in life he had created for himself and his family. Both and yet neither youkai or human, he was at last accepted by a bit of both just as he was. He wished his parents were still alive to know.
The door opened and the little girl shuffled out.
"You through Mikiko-chan?"
She nodded and yawned deeply as her brown eyes drifted closed.
Inuyasha picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she buried her face against his chest in a drowsy cuddle. The adult hanyou sighed as he carried his human daughter into the house, and tucked her back into the futon in the back room she shared with her older sister who was snoring softly. He gently brushed the strands of wild dark hair out of the little girls face before leaving the room. Back in the front room Kagome had stirred from her old position and had rolled around. Deftly he slid himself back on the futon and she snuggled close to his warmth, nestling her head next to his chest. He reflected on the evolution of his life over the last twenty years. The sun began to rise.
"Good morning Koneko-chan" He whispered as they lay there together.
Sango had a lot on her plate. On one hand, her husband frequently complained that he was bored. Twenty years ago, he couldn't wait to off a certain Naraku, dispose of his wind tunnnel, and sire lots and lots of children. As it turns out, two children was plenty, the lack of a wind tunnel meant that exorcisms were a bit more problematic than they used to be, and having no ancestral arch enemy left one with a lot of free time. On top of that, he had been at Kagome and Inuyasha's home visiting recently and as he chanced to glance at Kagome's looking glass he noticed. He had laugh lines and crows feet begining to show on his face, and his hair was just a little thinner than it once was. From that sunday afternoon on, poor Sango had been trying to survive her Hoshi's bouts of attempting to recapture his youth.
While Sango did not look at all near her age, truth be told in wet weather, broken bones from years past sometimes ached a little bit more than they used to.
Futher, her apprenticeship of taijiya was a full time job. She had to reject many pupils that had come from destroyed and destitute villages that had been ravaged by youkai. She felt for their sorrows, and did her best to help, but more often than not the young men and women from such circumstances harbored too much hate to be the reasonable students she demanded. Youkai, like human beings after all could be good, or evil, and a student that would not distinguish them was a very dangerous liability.
She currently had four apprentices this year. One from 2 years before continuing training, a new one; local to the village, one in his final season of training and the most difficult student of all. Her own daughter. Shina was 17 years old. She resembled Sango strongly, but for the lightness of her milk chocolate hair and freckles from days spent in the sun, and her father's violet eyes. She had taken a shine to her mother's line of work from an early age and had an amazing affinity for the slaying business. Her strong body was well adapted to any number of weapons her mother put her to, and she served as an example and tutor to the younger students in form and excercises. However, Shina's greatest asset as a taijiya was her beauty and her warm manner.The worst of it however, was that Shina had inherited a bit too much of her father's personality. She was an enormous flirt and took great delight in inciting men of any pedigree to take notice of her considerable good looks and endowed features.
Her son, thank whatever forces that were in her favor, was considerably less worrisome. He was content to study sutras and meditate, and his 'sacred journies' were no longer than the path from their house, to Kagome's shrine.
This morning, Miroku was hard at work scratching out more sutras and charms. It was just coming onto dawn but he had been up most of the night working away.
He, Sango, Inuyasha and Kagome had just returned late the night before from an herb supply trip to Jinenji's garden. On the way home they had stopped in a rural city market, and he chatted with, and allowed his eyes to linger on some of the young ladies that were vendoring jewelry and his wife would not let him share their futon that night as consequence. He glanced over at her on the bed and silently gave thanks to the buddah for the provacative way she was positioned in her sleep with her yukata starting to slip. He sighed and blew out the candle before crawling into the futon behind her anyway. He was just settling in and begining to drift off when he heard footsteps and voices outside his door. He groaned as a woman's voice called out. "Sango-sama, I know it is early but there is a youkai in the village and I don't know what to do! Onegaishimas Sango-sama, Sumimasen!" He shut his eyes more tightly as his wife bolted upright and moved swiftly to the door, smoothing her hair and adjusting her yukata just before she lifted the door and greeted the older woman and her adult sons outside. He could barely make out hushed but hurried whispers followed by the sound of the door being parted again. She hurridly began to pull on her black armor.
"Houshi, I know you are awake, so you'd best get up and dress. The Ngai family lost a cow last night and we need to investigate. I am waking up Shina, and we will leave when she is ready."
"So a wolf ate one of their old cows and I have to miss out on my sleep?"
"Wolves don't scorch the cowshed" She said with a sigh while tying her belt around her waist.
Miroku sat up and rubbed his eyes and scratched his head as his wife dissapeared into the back room. It was going to be another very long day. He could just tell.
Shina bent down and traced the footprint in the dust as she studied it. Her mother and sensei was taking note of the cooled burn marks on the walls of the cowshed, and then to the animal's corpse. She had expected to find that the creature was killed in a way that most animal youkai would dispose of it's prey. However this corpse had been sliced open, gutted, hastily and clumsily butchered and partially incinerated.
"Clearly the mark is intelligent, and a higher form of the usual. But why on earth would it dare to come here?" Shina mused aloud
"To take food from a settlement reputed to be home to Taijiya, and under the protection on Inuyasha? foolhardy" stated the monk before yawning.
Sango glanced at the faint prints. "a youngling. That does not know better."
"Should I get Inuyasha to help track it?"
"Nai. We can track a youkai child just fine without waking him."
"He'd be too cranky to be good company anyway" Miroku chuckled.
"So we are hunting a kitsuni? Interesting." smirked Shina. She had learned many lessons from Shippo in reguards to the fox youkai and looked forward to testing herself on it.
"The damage is similar to foxfire, but I don't think so. A kitsuni, even a young one would rather disguise itself and take prepared food openly than to kill it themselves. This child is of a race of hunters by nature. Taking what one needs by any means nessesary is his earliest education."
"Wolf?" She queried.
"More likely."
Miroku leaned on his staff and rested his eyes for a moment.
"Hoshi! I just asked you what you think!"
The monk bolted awake.
"Yes my dearest heart, I agree with you."
Shina rolled her eyes and adjusted the blade at her side. "West, Otosan. Into the woods unless you have anything to add." She tossed her hair before mounting her horse swiftly and prodding it into a canter.
Miroku shook his head to clear it before taking his wife's hand to climb onto Kirara's back.
As the fire cat took to the air to watch Shina from a safe distance the aging monk sidled closer to Sango, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"My sweetest one...you forgive me?"
Sango softened and blushed a little. Until she felt a very familiar hand roam over her thigh to her backside.
Her hand reflexivly came into contact with her husbands cheek. "Perhaps by tonight I shall."
Miroku sighed. "I believe one of the things I love the most about you is that after nearly twenty years you are still so modest with me in the presence of others." he glanced at the back of the great cat's head and nestled his face into the back of her exposed neck. "It makes me so look forward to when I will next be alone with you."
"Hopefully by tonight" she thought to herself.
At least the child was no longer hungry. He was however; still cold, his shoes were wet and he missed his mother. He considered once more giving up and returning to the comforts of home, but instead he told himself that quests of honor and other adventures were serious business and that his honored father had probably bourn much worse.
He had taken meat from the cow he had killed, as much as he could carry without soiling his kimono, and cooked it through trial and error of trying to first, start a fire, and second, setting the food itself on fire. In the end he had come up with some burned, some mostly raw meat, and opted for the more well done portions. Some youkai had a taste for raw meat, and although that would have saved him a good deal of trouble, it just didn't seem like it was food until it was cooked. He sat perched on the tree limb he had slept in and was cleaning his weapon when he heard and smelled something different in the woods that was not there before. He retreated higher into the tree and peered through the leaves trying to locate the creature that was making such a racket. A thicket rustled and a large brown four legged creature with a long face like a deer pushed it's way out before putting it's muzzle to the ground to graze the forest floor. The child relaxed and leaned back into the tree. Suddenly something reached around the tree and grabbed his arm.
"Gotcha."
Sango and Miroku watch the scene from above the thin forest canopy, the sensei critiquing the manner in which the student apprehended the mark.
The mother shook her head and requested the cat to land.
The girl had the child squirming over her shoulder as she hog tied his feet together, all the while he shouted and demanded to be released.
"That was careless. You underestimated your opponent far too much."
"You said it was a little kid Sensei."
"Even younglings can be dangerous, you can't just treat them like your little brother when you don't know what you're up against."
"Let me go!!! you bitch! You're getting your human stink all over me!!!
"What a mouth on that one... reminds me of someone we know" chuckled Miroku
"Funny that... Shina, set our quarry down for a moment" Sango studied the smallish squirming bundle.
"With pleasure." The child landed with a thud on the ground, his hands were now tied as well and he was about to release another long string of protest until Shina popped a seal over his mouth.
"If only that worked on Teijo-kun when he was that age..." she mused.
"Hoshi?" Sango questioned.
Miroku raised an eyebrow and brought his hand up to his chin to study the child. "I see we will be rousing Inuyasha after all."
"That was my thought. This would clearly concern him."
"Clearly."
The child quieted himself. "Inuyasha? then the end of my quest is nearly in sight!"
