"Sensei, where is this place?" asked Takashi, falling in the air before Madara caught him.
"My grandfather's grave. I've heard about it, but never bothered to find it," said Madara.
"He's massive!"
Even Misuzu wasn't this big!
Madara chuckled under Natsume.
"I've heard that among my siblings, I've always resembled him the most. My grandsire I mean. I don't see the resemblance though," said Madara.
"Why did you never go looking?"
"I'm the middle son. Everyone knows that the middle children are just spares with no real purpose. The youngest is always the most heroic, the eldest are the ones who take over, and the middle ones are left to their own devices. So I left before I got dragged into the family squabble over who would inherit. Ironically it turned out that it was the best move I could have made, because the others killed themselves off with no help from me in the long run trying to take the title of Lord of the West," explained Madara. He landed lightly on the shoulder of his grandfather, as he had no interest in watching the family drama unfold.
When his paws touched the aged metal, he could feel something thrum in his old bones. This place was out of the way, but it also thrummed for power to those who knew what to look for. His grandfather might have died long ago, but his power was still there.
Not that Madara cared to try and take it. He was perfectly content with his current lot in life. And strangely, the fact he didn't try to steal the last remaining power left in the faded bones seemed to make the thrum in his own stronger. Takashi gently touched down, and even he could feel it.
"What is that?"
"No idea. It's not malicious though."
Hearing the sounds of battle, Takashi took in the landscape around them.
He was still frowning.
"These remains...they almost feel sad."
"Sad? They're just old bones, baka," said Madara.
"I know that, but it's the feeling I'm getting from them. Maybe his spirit is sad that his sons are fighting over the inheritance," said Takashi, looking at the skull.
"Whatever, it's not my problem until they try to threaten you. Let Inuyasha and his human girl settle the squabble themselves. I only came here because I followed you," said Madara, settling around Takashi. The thrum was rising in intensity, and it was starting to annoy him greatly.
Then Sesshomaru broke out, and he saw the true form of Madara. Age old instincts came into play, as his demon self demanded he protect his territory from an intruder. Never mind that this was the grave of his sire, never mind about the fact he was trying to murder his half brother for a sword... there was a youkai of equal strength in HISterritory without permission.
Sesshomaru was many things, but ignoring such a clear and obvious threat to his power was something he refused to do.
His terrifying howl had Madara stand up and make an answering call of his own. Kagome and Inuyasha stood close to a very confused Takashi.
"What's going on? Why is he acting like that?" asked Takashi.
Inuyasha was the one supplying the answer.
"Territorial dispute. Since this is our old man's grave, Sesshomaru thinks of it as his territory, and it doesn't help he's in his true form at the moment. The fact there's a powerful youkai in 'his' territory means that his instincts demand he defend it from a potential intruder," said the hanyou. He had never had territory to call his own, so he had never developed that instinct to defend "his" territory. It didn't help he was half human either.
Takashi winced. This was not going to end well, he just knew it. Especially since Madara was clearly in the same state as his father.
Watching the two Inu Youkai clash, Takashi was suddenly reminded of why most youkai tended to show "Nyanko" such respect despite his bad habits, and why the weaker ones bowed down around him in his true form. Even Misuzu considered Nyanko his equal, and he was one of the strongest ayakashi Takashi knew.
Inuyasha whistled. He had never seen his brother put into a stalemate before. It was nice to see Sesshomaru being taken down a few pegs for a change, even if he wasn't the one doing it.
"Enough! I've had it up to here with you!" roared Madara. He rose higher, so high that the sun almost blotted him out. Sesshomaru couldn't fly like Madara could, so he was unable to follow.
Gale force winds gathered around the younger demon, as they took on a sickle like quality. Takashi watched in alarm, and wished he had wings to knock some sense back into Madara. If he killed Sesshomaru now, then he'd never be born!
As if in response to his distress, the thrum that had been in the background rose in response to the massive attack Madara was prepared to unleash.
It was then that he finally realized what was happening.
The remains they were so casually standing on were resonating with Madara.
Takashi could only watch in shock as the winds around Madara started to die down...as he began to grow in size. His form became at least half the size of the bones they were standing on.
"No! That's impossible! How could a mere outsider possibly..." roared Sesshomaru.
It was clear what was happening to Madara, despite the fact he had nothing to do with it.
Madara was somehow absorbing the last remnants of the corpse that dominated the landscape. Which was only possible because he shared the bloodline.
Finally the abrupt and strange growth stopped, as did the weird humming in their bones.
"Huh. Is anyone else noticing..." asked Inuyasha, once they were over their shock.
"The weird lack of humming?" finished Takashi. It was setting his teeth on edge, to be honest. He had just grown used to the weird feeling and now suddenly it was gone.
The sudden shock was enough to break Sesshomaru of his current state.
He was clearly displeased with the fact that a mere mutt (at least as far as he knew) had somehow manage to absorb the last remnants of his father's spiritual energy. The only reason he wasn't going to kill the dog for the affront came back to one simple fact.
The mystery youkai gave as good as he got, and he matched or countered Sesshomaru's attacks with disturbing ease.
"Jakan! We're leaving!" snarled Sesshomaru. After what happened, he was in no mood to deal with Inuyasha's stupidity. He could reclaim the sword later at his leisure.
Nyanko was irate for days and refused to answer any of Inuyasha's questions. All he would tell the hanyou was that they were related by blood, but he really didn't want to know how. Mostly because it would risk the timeline and all that nonsense, but generally because he disliked talking about his family.
If it got out that he was the grandson of the great Daiyoukai and the last true heir to the Lands of the West, people might expect things from him. Or worse, come after him with the intent to open up the title for themselves.
It took Takashi three days for him to get Nyanko to open up even a hint of his family life.
"I'm the fourth son of the family, and I left the second I realized that if I stuck around I'd be dragged into the squabble over who's inherit our father's title and lands. Since he had eight children and I was one of the middle ones, he allowed me to go unharmed. Last I heard from him, I was the only one left," said Nyanko, irritable and chowing down on steamed buns.
"That's awful," said Kagome.
"Not really. If he's the middle son it makes sense to let him go off and possibly make a name for himself...and the smart ones usually last well enough on their own. I take it the others were killed off by rival youkai?"
"Or they pissed off our father by being too full of themselves and attempted to take the title before they were fully ready. Ironically out of all my siblings, I was the one who took after our paternal grandfather the strongest, a fact that my father was quick to note. I'm not going to bother trying for the title though. I happen to like my current conditions."
"You're trapped in a lucky cat statue. How could you possibly like being stuck in that?" asked Kagome.
"I could get out of this at any time, but I find my human pet most amusing. Besides, if I use Takashi's Book I would stand a far better chance at taking the title from my father, because I'd have an army behind me."
"Sensei!"
"You've seen him. Can you honestly say you'd be comfortable fighting him for such a lofty title without some damn good back up?" said Nyanko.
"...I hate it when you prove a point. I'm still going to get rid of it before I die though."
"Just save the really strong ones like Misuzu for last, brat. I have no idea why Reiko bothered with so many weaklings," said Nyanko.
"So what was the deal with the fact you absorbed my old man's power?" asked Inuyasha.
Nyanko became slightly shifty.
"My only guess is that whatever was left of his spirit in those old bones was displeased with the fact you and Sesshomaru were fighting, so he gave it to the one descendant who wasn't involved outside of a minor territorial dispute with his oldest son and had no actual interest in arguing over the inheritance like you two were."
"It makes sense... I wouldn't be happy about any future kids I might have fighting over anything I left them either," said Kagome.
It was the perfect way to settle the dispute without favoring either side. Give it to the one party not involved.
"Either that or I simply resonated with the bones to the point that it went into the nearest possible vessel. Like I said before, I favored my grandsire far more than any of my siblings."
Nyanko was somewhat younger than his grandfather was before his death. The power boost put him almost at the level his grandfather was at his age. If he really put in the effort, he could achieve it.
But he was a lazy dog, and he preferred the quieter life around Takashi. The weaker youkai he faced around the kid was more than enough excitement for him...if he became Lord of the West he'd have no end of headaches.
Let Sesshomaru deal with that crap until he got bored enough that he even considered it an option.
"So where are we going now?"
"Well I overheard from some of the bird youkai in the area that the Thunder brothers have a few shards,"offered Takashi.
Inuyasha stared at him.
"You haven't even been here a month, and you already have contacts?"
Takashi took out a rather strange mask, and slid it on.
"Can you tell I'm a human with this on?" he asked.
Inuyasha sniffed. There was a strange sort of power around the kid now, and it was difficult to tell if he was human or youkai.
"What the hell is that?"
"I got it as a gift for helping another youkai. As long as I'm wearing this, no one can tell if I'm a youkai or a human. I just never bothered with it because the youkai in my time generally know I'm more likely to at least listen to them because of the reputation attached to my family name."
Kagome stared at him.
"Reputation?"
"His grandmother was a great beauty, but there's no mistake in that she was also a bit of a bully. She used to challenge random youkai she met in simple games and if they lost she forced them to be her subordinates. Takashi just happens to look like a male version of his grandmother, and those she beat have been harassing him for years because of it. It's only recently he took a proactive approach and started gaining a reputation of his own."
Unspoken was the fact that if and when Takashi had children, and they inherited the Sight as well, that it was quite possible he could start up an Exorcist or Spiritualist line.
"So, we track down the Thunder brothers then?" said Takashi changing the subject.
"Let's get going then," said Inuyasha.
Takashi found him highly amused by the childish Shippo, who reminded him strongly of a slightly older, more cynical version of Rakan. The fact that Rakan promptly took to his fellow kitsune (surprising the fox child seeing someone roughly his own 'age') was something he enjoyed watching.
The fact Shippo mostly wanted the jewel shards to avenge his father, however, wasn't amusing in the least. It looked like he would get a chance to use his shikigami for once.
"I know that look. What are you planning Takashi?" asked Inuyasha.
"Just wondering how these thunder brothers would react to being attacked by paper birds."
Inuyasha grinned viciously.
"Get to folding! I've been wanting to see what those things can do since you mentioned them!"
Takashi had a lot of practice making cranes by now. Or at least bird shape.
The Thunder brothers were in for a nasty surprise...and Takashi's life was about to become much more complicated once he found out the true power of the summoning technique he had found by accident.
There was a reason why Reiko had never used these particular shikigami after the first time she summoned one.
For some reason the first thing that came to mind when he folded the birds wasn't a wagtail, but the tiny bird he had summoned to deal with the five-day mark. He still remembered the incantation for it too.
And for some reason the incantation to summon the wagtail was getting mixed up with that one in his head. He had no idea what mixing them would do.
But he was about to find out.