AN EXPLANATION
A very short chapter with a long Author's Note following;
Inuyasha grew very suspicious of Xing-fu offering to coach Hiroto, their whispered asides and glances at him made the hanyou alert to the panda manipulating the younger pup. At first he put his concerns down to the fact that he didn't like Xing-fu and that it didn't matter that Hiroto seemed to listen to him a lot.
This is part of the story so that I can make this for me rare Author's note legal for the site.
A/N
Usually in my stories I have youkai age similarly as humans to the age of ten, physically and in maturity. Thereafter they slow right down in both areas and although knowledge and experience will take them beyond their seeming years, they will still be comparatively immature. For example I think Rin is about seven years old when we first meet her; Inuyasha according to his creator is about the equivalent of fifteen, therefore comparatively he is only about twice her age, although of course his life has given him far more experience.
It is evident by Inuyasha's personality and behaviour that he is only mid adolescent and yet he is over two hundred years old; and Shippou is over fifty years, yet appears to be about seven. I am not going to quote all the episodes to prove my point; you no doubt know them all well. I source from manga primarily, but I do take from the anime if it doesn't contradict canon and if it suits my story to do so, as I am only writing fan fiction; although I am sure I have made mistakes.
Therefore in my story How It Could Have Been, Inuyasha grows far more slowly in physical and mature growth than his human siblings, and eventually his nieces and nephews and then their children; in accord with the stronger blood inherited from his youkai parent. I am not being specific with how old he is actually, i.e. he is not aging one year to every ten human. But he has not yet reached puberty; in chapter two I mention he will still be considered a young pup at eighty or so, when he might be assumed to have lost his mother.
Also I assume that Sesshoumaru is only about the equivalent of fourteen to fifteen when Inuyasha is born in many of my stories, including this one. I base this on the depiction of him in the third film, and to me it makes sense that he is only a youth when he succeeds his father. He is in that age where he is not yet adult and not a small child; he is clever, opinionated, arrogant and bereaved. I believe a lot of his behaviour towards everyone and of course Inuyasha comes from the fact he has lost his beloved father's influence.
I have to be careful here as I don't mean to insult my readers, but I have three children, (two boys), all now in their teens, my youngest is a boy of thirteen...just. I base a lot of incidents and behaviour of the characters on my own children and my nephews.
So much for age and maturity, and now onto Inuyasha specifically; regarding his size and perhaps his attitudes. I depict him at this point in time as about the size of a small ten year old human. Children all vary in size naturally, but I envisage him as just below average in height and build. I put this down to his heritage in my story; at the moment he is smaller than youkai of his type and age because he is half human. Therefore when his youkai siblings also reach ten and slow down, they are taller than him naturally, having undiluted blood and Hiroto is bigger anyway in build; this I mentioned when he was a baby and Inuyasha remarked on it to Sesshoumaru.
Again this is normal in humans too; boys and girls grow at roughly the same rate until puberty and vary in size even within the family; many girls are bigger and taller than their brothers in early childhood. But Inuyasha is also slightly small for a human of physical ten years, mainly because of his youkai blood which has slowed his growth down, so where his human siblings will rapidly have grown he has halted for a long time. He is not tiny like Shippou, for his age, just not as tall as Makoto's sons who take after their tall father.
Inuyasha will grow when he reaches puberty, as do all things and probably in fits and starts; my son added six inches over eighteen months, he actually grew four of those in six weeks, and was quite ill at the time because of it. My sons are two years apart and the eldest is now over a foot taller than his brother, because my thirteen year old hasn't had a growth spurt yet.
In manga and anime, Inuyasha and Miroku are shown to be about the same height with Kouga a few inches taller. I base this on the anime, but also a height chart drawing I have sourced from the internet. Therefore Inuyasha, including his ears, is the same height as a human male but as yet he is not fully grown. He is clearly depicted as having the body of a youth, not fully mature; if you notice the difference in upper torso images of the brothers that indicate Sesshoumaru has become physically adult by the time of Inuyasha's unsealing.
Although Inuyasha is physically very strong due to his father's blood and his wiry build, he still puts more effort into his attacks, in comparison to Sesshoumaru, I feel this is more due to maturity than his humanity, although that has to be a considering factor. The indications are that he will only gain as he becomes adult.
Inuyasha's personality in this story and many of my others is that of a well behaved and mannered small child. The indications are seen in anime specifically, that his mother is very ladylike and has brought her son up to be a respectful boy. Often in manga and sometimes in anime we are shown a thoughtful and contemplative boy who has an innocence still clinging to him; and that to me indicates the rudeness and brash persona is a result of having to survive a very deprived childhood.
In my story he does not suffer in this way and is being brought up with the manners of a Prince. Although the manners and language of adolescence itself when they are together, leaves a lot to be desired in my adult opinion and Inuyasha will undoubtedly revert to type at some point later in the story.
Now I come to a point that is perhaps controversial to many; I do not make Inuyasha Alpha in nature. Whatever the reason in manga or anime, he is not depicted as a natural leader, in my opinion again. He might become one as he grows up in manga, but as far as we know he is swayed by Kagome, and the necklace wouldn't stop a true Alpha from making or enforcing decisions for the group. Can anyone imagine Sesshoumaru being stopped from doing anything by a rosary? Inuyasha also defers to both Miroku and Kagome.
Kouga too is Alpha and Inuyasha in manga and anime knows this, even though he fights the wolf, the hanyou can be trodden on, or told firmly what to do by Kouga. Although it is Inuyasha who chooses whether to accept the advice or not; mainly because he doesn't recognise Kouga as his Alpha and will fight him, until Kagome intervenes. Even though Kouga eventually likes and accepts Inuyasha and is not as physically strong perhaps, his nature is more dominant; pack positions do not rely solely on physical strength in non animals, see how Kouga's pack follow him without fail.
That is not to say Inuyasha can't lead, or make decisions, of course he can, but by nature he is not dominant, he is only noisy. Any of the others can threaten or coerce him, so therefore in my stories, Inuyasha recognizes instinctively that he is Beta to his father and Sesshoumaru, his stepfather and his now adult brothers. That doesn't make him immediately Beta to anyone else however. His protective Inu nature will make him fight for what he believes is right or look after those in his care.
This is only my take on understanding of course but it is how I see it and what I base my writings on. So I hope that has helped to clear things up but if it is still as clear as mud, please let me know and I'll try to make it easier. As ever I have got carried away in my reply. Thanks for reading. Sue