A/N: Read and enjoy!
It's a continuation of chapter 7.
Beta: Cstorm86
The Dog and His Wife Pt 2
Hitomiko watched the steel-colored clouds hanging low over the mountain, promising a heavy snowfall. She sighed, knowing that it meant she'd have to make sure that the water for purification was not frozen the next morning. Winter was coming to claim the land and soon there was going to be more than a tiny layer of fluffy snow covering the shrine and the village hidden in the forest.
The miko was still studying the sky when she felt a wave of powerful youki approaching the shrine at a terrifying pace. She dropped her broom and ran to where her bow and quiver waited. An arrow on the bowstring, she spun around to face the approaching youkai.
Daiyoukai.
Hitomiko swallowed as she took in the gigantic white dog looming over the torii gate in front of which it landed, after emerging from the dark clouds. In the scattered daylight, against the dark background of the late autumn forest behind it, the dog seemed to glow.
"What do you want?" she asked, making sure her voice didn't falter. She was not powerful as her ancestor Midoriko, but she was still a strong priestess in her own right, a master at casting barriers. Still, a shiver ran down her spine, one not related to the chilly air, as she wondered if any of her barriers could contain this creature.
"Relax, we didn't come to fight," the dog barked and, as Hitomiko watched, still unwilling to lower her weapon, reached to its back to carefully pick something from inside its thick fur to gently put it on the ground in front of itself. "We're on a pilgrimage. This is the hundredth shrine on our way."
Hitomiko couldn't help, but stare at a woman wrapped in a thick furry mantle. The woman threw the hood of her mantle off of her head, revealing a head of black hair and a breathtakingly fair face. Youki pulsed around her, but it was not from her - it was from the dog youkai changing into a humanoid form of a tall, silver-haired male. The youkai had glowing golden eyes and a slash of blue on each cheek, he also wore armor and three swords. Just like the woman's coat, his clothing was white. yet another sign that he was no common youkai. Yet the woman seemed relaxed and serene as he stood at her back, indicating no fear or discomfort. On the opposite, it seemed they were far closer than humans and youkai used to be.
"Can we enter?" asked the beautiful woman. Hitomiko took a breath, realizing she was staring.
"Oh, as long as you mean no ill, you are allowed to enter the shrine grounds," she uttered. She watched the pair step under the gate, the wards glowing at the passing of the youkai, but not to alarm her about his ill will. This powerful being was certainly one of those rare ones who held fondness for humans and didn't have a tainted heart.
She also realized that the woman was carrying. The youkai was most attentive, supporting her elbow with a steady hand as she walked across the grounds towards first the purification water basin and then the shrine. Was it his child? Was it right to allow a mother of a half-breed pray at the shrine? The miko finally lowered her bow and hid her arrow when the woman rang the bell and clapped her hands, the youkai standing a bit away from the praying female.
"Please, don't make our child suffer loneliness," spoke a voice just behind Hitomiko and the miko dropped all she had in her hands. She was vaguely aware of the youkai looking towards her - or rather towards the one standing a few paces behind her.
Hitomiko bowed deeply. As she lowered her head she caught a glimpse of a multi-layered kimono depicting the mountain forest, with white snow around the collar and streams running down the sleeves.
"Isn't it a beautiful prayer? And coming from a heart full of pure love," continued the voice, gentle like the breeze of the summer over the bamboo thickets scattered across the mountain. "And the youkai, he doesn't pray in words, but he has the same wish in his heart."
"I... I'm sorry, they... I didn't know she's carrying a half-breed," Hitomiko stumbled over her words that came out in tiny gasps.
"Fret not, daughter," the voice said. "The child is impure of the body and blood, but we know it will be pure of heart and soul. That and the goodness of the parents outweighs the impurity. Remember, daughter, the purity of what is within always outweighs the quality of the vessel. That is why your reiki flows despite you giving birth to little Kikyou."
"I understand," Hitomiko bowed even deeper. If that was the verdict, she was going to humbly accept and be relieved. The woman seemed kind enough and the youkai was of no ill will, they didn't deserve to be cursed for coming to pray for their child's sake.
Spring came to the mountain, covering the land in fresh green of waking vegetation, the dirt smelling with a promise of a good year. Hitomiko was walking down the shrine road to the village, where she was expected in one of the huts to purify it before the birth of the new child under that roof.
"Cast away your worries, my dear, for tomorrow comes a new day..." the miko stopped when she heard a female voice singing. She looked around, wondering at the soft song, before her eyes focused on a log near the road.
It was only a few paces within the forest, in plain sight. A woman sat there, wrapped in a red fabric so bright, that Hitomiko was surprised she hadn't noticed her right away. She was rocking forward and back a bit, holding a bundle in her arms, looking down at it as she sang. Hitomiko could sense youki coming from the bundle.
She knew this woman, she could remember her soft voice, her fair face. Now that face was thinned and dirty, but the dark eyes remained kind and stubborn.
"Lady...?" Hitomiko dared to approach, sending her senses around. There was no sight of the youkai dog anywhere near her. The woman looked up and cuddled her bundle closer. "I mean no harm. What... Where is your husband?"
There was a pause, a flash of sorrow in those dark eyes.
"He was killed," the lady said, her voice toneless and her eyes blank. "A man kidnapped me and lured him in a trap, already weakened from battle. He died protecting us."
Hitomiko thought about the powerful youkai and could not imagine how one could kill such a strong being. She looked at the lady and her baby hidden in the blanket, sleeping peacefully. How terrible it had to be, to be alone with a newborn child, alone and shunned for having a hanyou? But there was no hate, no contempt in the lady's eyes as she looked at her, only sorrow and worry.
"When my family cast me out I came here," the woman said quietly. "Toga said that this mountain has a good aura and I thought that maybe... Maybe we could live here. I can teach or tend to gardens... Or if I wasn't welcome in the village, I thought I could just live in the forest."
"I am sure we can find a place for you to stay," Hitomiko said with a soft smile. She knew how hard it was to raise a baby with the support of a husband and without hate of the whole world, she couldn't imagine how hard it was to be an outcast, fleeing and trying to survive.
"There is a hut left by a woodcutter," said a voice like the summer breeze. Hitomiko gasped and bowed to the one who stood beside her. Alarm flashed across the lady's face when she saw the newcomer, but a lifted hand soothed her fright. "Fret not, daughter. You are among friends. Hitomiko, you will show Lady Izayoi her new home and supply her with what she and her son need. And make sure to stop by the headman's home, I am sure he will be delighted to learn that there is one that can give his daughters the court training.
"Of course, Lord Yama" the miko bowed once more. The person clad in the kimono resembling a spring forest covered mountain gave them both a radiant smile.
That was how Lady Izayoi and Inuyasha came to live on the mountain, in a hut close to the village. Many a time the miko saw the person in the mountain forest kimono watching the silver-haired boy, that seemed to find more peace in the forest than in the village. His mother taught the headman's daughters how to play koto, how to write and how to act as a princess, so she was accepted and even somewhat respected, but her son was at best ignored. Even other children didn't want to play with him. Hitomiko was doing her best to make them, especially her daughters, see that the hanyou was not an impure creature, but she felt they were only tolerating him around her.
That was why, when seven years later an illness struck the village, claiming many lives, she wasn't surprised when the villagers started pointing at the boy as the reason for the illness. No matter what she told them, they just didn't want to listen.
And when Lady Izayoi died, they chased the boy away from the village. Hitomiko came too late to do more than to stop the men from following the boy into the forest. She watched the silver hair and dog ears disappear in the shadow of the trees, her heart aching.
Almost ten years passed before she saw the boy again.
She found him beside the dry well, badly injured and bruised, unconscious as he lay in the grass, his hands gripping an old sword. Little Kaede led her to him and helped her tend to his wounds, She stayed watching over him until he woke, then she ran to bring Hitomiko to him. Kikyou accompanied them, her young perfect heir miko, kind and strong, but lacking the warmth that shone in Kaede's eyes.
As they approached, they saw the person in a summer forest kimono standing over the boy, a fatherly smile on the person's face. The hanyou was crouching low next to the well, ears laid back, eyes wary.
"Come and become our komainu. Come and we will grant you our divine blessing. We will make a place for you under our roof. We will grant you power, if you swear to stand guard to our dwelling and priests. And if you serve us well, we will grant your deepest wish. Surrender your name in the service of our priests and in return find a place where you can live, prove that you are more than the world thinks of your kind. Your breed is known to be territorial and fierce, we will allow you to consider our shrine your territory. Protect it against those who want to take control over it, who want to steal the artifacts stored here, who want to kill our chosen priests."
The three females watched in silence as the person outstretched a hand towards the hanyou, who first tilted his head, ears twitching, then lifted his clawed hand to put in the grip that Hitomiko knew was strong, but gentle.