Chapter 26: The Backlash Wave: The Tessaiga's Ultimate Technique / By the Moon, This Can't Be Happening!
Ryukotsusei closed in on Inuyasha's prone form, his belly slithering over the abandoned Tessaiga, and Daitan clenched her hands into fists.
"I've got to get down there!"
Sango's hand caught Daitan's shirt as she made to leap off of Kirara's back.
"No, you can't! Ryukotsusei could kill you!"
"But Inuyasha's still—" Daitan argued, but Kagome, Miroku, and Shippo suddenly sucked in a gasp of air. She turned back to look at Inuyasha to see that he was now standing, crimson eyes aglow as he flexed his claws and bared his fangs at Ryukotsusei.
"Oh no, Inuyasha's already transformed!" Miroku gasped.
Inuyasha leapt forward with a bloodthirsty snarl, tearing several bloody cuts in Ryukotsusei's tough hide with his claws.
"Stop, Inuyasha!" pleaded Kagome, though Daitan wasn't sure if Inuyasha could even hear her through his bloodlust. "You have to get to the Tessaiga!"
Ryukotsusei just laughed, as if the fresh wounds in his side were only papercuts.
"Don't be so sure of yourself, little man!" his voice boomed through the mountains, and bright blue energy began to build in his gaping jaws. Inuyasha dodged the incoming ball of youki, striking back again with his claws. Ryukotsusei reeled backward, his belly lifting off of the Tessaiga. From his seat on Momo's back, Totosai sighed.
"Let's retreat."
"What?" exclaimed Kagome.
"Inuyasha has chosen to fight as a full youkai. There is no more hope for him." replied Totosai. Momo had already begun to turn around in the air, but Daitan grit her teeth and stood on Kirara's back, ignoring the dull ache in her chest.
"I can't just sit here and do nothing!" she growled.
"No, you mustn't!" panicked Myoga from atop her shoulder. "Master Inuyasha might go after you, too! And even if he chose to pick up the Tessaiga once more, Inuyasha still has to use it to surpass his father in power and pierce Ryukotsusei's heart!"
"Inuyasha only has to pierce his heart," Daitan took Myoga into her hand, leveling him with a determined gaze. "No one ever said he couldn't have help getting there."
Myoga stared up into her eyes, speechless.
"You…"
Daitan didn't waste any more time leaping off of Kirara's back. Myoga sprung off her hand, and Daitan freefell to the top of the nearest peak. Her sharp claws left deep gouges as they broke her fall, and she eventually slid to a stop to survey the area one last time from above. The mountain peaks surrounding Inuyasha and Ryukotsusei created a sort of natural arena, and Ryukotsusei's long, serpentine body took up nearly half of it. Now that she was closer, Daitan could see that Ryukotsusei's grey skin was leathery in texture, and that he had another face sitting in the middle of the forehead of the dragon's head. It looked like a human face, only it was a pale pasty white, with red slitted eyes and blue stripes crossing up and down from its forehead and jaw like fangs. Ryukotsusei glanced over at where Daitan clung to the mountain, and the face in his forehead grinned, showing rows of sharp teeth.
"What's this? Another player has arrived?" the dragon's nostrils flared. "Hmm… You too carry the scent of that wretched dog…"
"Last I heard, that 'wretched dog' was the one who sealed you away, was he not?" replied Daitan. Out of the corner of her eye, Daitan spotted Inuyasha slowly staggering toward the Tessaiga. Has he regained some of his senses? She wondered. Ryukotsusei roared with laughter.
"Ah, but he has died of his wounds, the ones that I inflicted upon him! Have you come for revenge, little pup? Your kin has already tried, and has only managed to give me mere flesh wounds!"
His head started to turn to Inuyasha, who had almost reached the Tessaiga, and Daitan quickly spoke up again.
"Revenge?" Daitan blinked, and Ryukotsusei paused, his gaze still on her. "No, I just wanted to see for myself."
"See what?" rumbled Ryukotsusei. "The might of my power as I snuff out both your life and the life of your kin?"
Daitan did her best to keep herself from trembling too much at what she was about to say in front of this, admittedly, very powerful youkai. She readied herself to unlatch from the cliffside at any moment, and spoke out in what she hoped was the most obnoxious tone of voice she could muster.
"No, it's just… I'm a little disappointed."
Ryukotsusei's lips curled in a snarl.
"What?" he bit out. Daitan's heart pounded in her chest, but through some of her fear, she felt the strange urge to laugh.
"You're awfully slow. A whole five seconds to power up a single attack? I guess two hundred years of inactivity really did a number on you, because I could dodge those in my sleep!"
A sound like a jet engine starting up started to howl through the air, and Daitan felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as bright, crackling blue light began to form in Ryukotsusei's jaws. Ryukotsusei's attack blasted the mountainside to bits with a tremendous boom!, but Daitan had unlatched from the cliffside and Dashed away at the last moment, having summoned her whip and swung safely up onto another peak.
"See what I mean? Too easy!"
The ache in Daitan's chest began to fade when Ryukotsusei roared with frustration, and yet another one of his attacks missed her completely.
"You insolent dog!" he hissed. Daitan grinned, dodging out of the way as Ryukotsusei tried to swipe at her with his tail.
"You're pretty powerful, I'll give you that," she said. Behind Ryukotsusei, she spotted that Inuyasha had grasped the Tessaiga. "But all that power means nothing if you can't land a single hit!"
"Ah, but you haven't even tried to attack, have you? I am thousands of years old, my hide is iron, and you will tire far before I will! You have no hope of defeating me on your own!"
"On my own?" Daitan tilted her head to the side. "Where did you get that idea?"
Ryukotsusei's eyes suddenly widened with shock, and he swiftly turned his head to look behind him. Inuyasha had returned to his former self, and now clutched the Tessaiga readily in both hands. And it seemed that from the way he held it, it was now as light as a feather.
"Ryukotsusei!" shouted Inuyasha, standing tall. "It's time I took you down!"
Ryukotsusei paused… then chuckled.
"You really think that you, a mere hanyou, could defeat me? Your sword couldn't even pierce my hide, and your kin is too afraid to even— AH!"
Blood spurted from one of the dragon's huge crimson eyes, and Daitan withdrew her sword from his punctured cornea. Ryukotsusei reared back, a simultaneous roar and scream echoing through the mountains as Daitan grappled back up to perch safely on another cliff.
"Looks like it's only your hide that's tough — the rest of you is fair game!"
"You—!" But Ryukotsusei didn't have time to reply, as in the midst of the confusion, Inuyasha leapt forward and buried the Tessaiga in the wound in his chest, piercing the dragon's heart.
Great booms shook through the cliffs as Ryukotsusei writhed in pain, and his long twisting body impacted the sides of the mountains and made them tremble. Inuyasha landed safely on the ground, marveling at the Tessaiga, but Daitan retained her perch up above, watching carefully.
"How dare you pierce me with your sword!" shrieked Ryukotsusei, blood streaming down his face from his punctured eye. "You'll both pay for this, dogs!"
Power built up in Ryukotsusei's mouth, and he fired at Inuyasha first. Daitan grinned as Inuyasha dodged it easily. It's a little hard to aim with just one eye, huh? I figured that mask was just all talk — literally. It can't see forward when he's firing those things, it's on his forehead!
Inuyasha skirted to the side, leaping forward with Tessaiga held high, but it bounced uselessly off of Ryukotsusei's tough skin. Despite just being stabbed through the heart and one of his eyes, Ryukotsusei shook off the pain surprisingly quickly as he started to cackle.
"I told you, that little sword is useless against my hide!"
Inuyasha paused below, looking down at the Tessaiga, and as youki began to build in Ryukotsusei's mouth, Daitan Dashed forward into open air. She landed on the back of Ryukotsusei's neck, summoning her whip in a flash of crackling light. Taking hold of the other end, she swung it forward and looped it around the dragon's thick neck. Her muscles strained as she pulled as tight as she could, and Ryukotsusei's head bucked back as he choked on his own youki. The pain in her chest had completely gone, instead replaced with a heat that pulsed through her entire body.
"You may think that having a thick hide makes you invincible," she grunted, and a feral grin spread across her face. "But you still have to breathe, don't you?!"
The familiar light of the Wind Scar ripped through the air, and Daitan leapt away at the last second. She landed next to Inuyasha, watching as Ryukotsusei finally fell to the ground, motionless. They stood together for a few moments, just looking at the dragon's body, until Inuyasha spoke up.
"So you're finally back, huh? Really, you couldn't have come any sooner?" he raised an eyebrow at her. Daitan tilted her head, a little mischievous smile crossing her face.
"Aw, it almost sounds like you missed me. Can I start calling you Uncle Inuyasha now?" she teased, and Inuyasha immediately flinched back with disgust.
"Ugh, no way! Having more people around is just more convenient, that's it!" he turned to look up at Totosai, who was still perched safely in the air on Momo. "Hey Totosai, did you see that? I just wasted that guy!"
"I mean, you had a little help." mentioned Daitan, and Inuyasha waved her away.
"Yeah, whatever, thanks for taking his eye out. But I was the one who made him keel over."
Daitan shrugged with a little smile on her face. Her intent was to provide more of an assist anyway. It was ultimately Inuyasha's fight. From up above, Totosai stroked his beard.
"I'll give you the credit you deserve, I suppose… but don't rest on your laurels just yet."
"Eh?"
Both Daitan and Inuyasha's eyes widened when the ground began to shake beneath their feet. Ryukotsusei's huge serpentine body shifted, and he lifted his head and hissed, poised like a snake ready to strike. Despite having just been hit straight on with the Wind Scar, there wasn't a mark on him.
"Is that really your best?" he rumbled, baring rows of sharp fangs. "You disappoint me. Did you really think that dismal attempt would destroy me? I told you, my body is much harder than armor. Now, it's my turn!"
Another bright ball of youki began to concentrate in Ryukotsusei's mouth, only this one was much larger than the previous ones. Daitan darted to the side, looking to take shelter behind one of the mountains, but when she looked back, she saw that Inuyasha hadn't moved a step from where he stood.
"What the hell are you doing, Inuyasha? You'll get caught in the blast!" she yelled. Under the sound of Ryukotsusei building up his attack, she could barely hear the sounds of the others desperately pleading with him to do the same. Inuyasha just grit his teeth, tossing his hair out of his face.
"You don't get it — I can do this!" he replied, keeping his eyes on the dragon in front of him. Inuyasha readied the Tessaiga. "If I kill this thing, I'll surpass my old man in power!" As he dashed straight toward Ryukotsusei, his teeth bared in a grin, Daitan almost jumped down to join him. But something about the sheer conviction in his voice, and the strange energy she sensed coiling around the Tessaiga… She clung to the rock with one hand and just watched as Inuyasha ran forward, and Ryukotsusei fired.
The gigantic ball of Ryukotsusei's pure, concentrated youki was so bright that Daitan almost had to shield her eyes. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as it shrieked toward Inuyasha, who looked the size of an ant compared to it. And then something incredible happened. Inuyasha swung the Tessaiga with purpose, and with the sound of sparking metal, the ball of youki was engulfed in bright, golden energy before it split apart into dozens of howling tornadoes, all seemingly magnetized to Ryukotsusei's body.
It was no use for Ryukotsusei as he tried to scramble away from the tornadoes. The wind screamed with the sheer amount of youki in the air, and Daitan could only watch, open-mouthed in shock as the roaring tornadoes twisted the dragon's body apart as easily as clay. This must be the Backlash Wave that Totosai was talking about! She thought as huge chunks of Ryukotsusei's body fell to the ground with several large booms. She glanced down at her own sword and sighed. If only…
The remains of Ryukotsusei's body began to disintegrate into dust, and Daitan took that as her cue to make her way back down the mountain. She slid all the way to the bottom to join Inuyasha, watching as the last bits of what used to be Ryukotsusei dissolved into the wind.
"Woah…" she muttered. The Tessaiga shrank back into its depowered form, but Inuyasha still looked down at it in wonder.
"Huh… that wasn't like any of the other Wind Scars…" he said, turning the sword over in his hand. Daitan tilted her head.
"Well, Totosai mentioned another technique that the Tessaiga could do earlier."
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow.
"Another technique?"
"What?!" shouted Totosai's creaky voice. Inuyasha and Daitan turned to see that he and the rest of their friends had landed on solid ground, and Totosai now pointed a disbelieving finger at Inuyasha. "You mean that you used the Backlash Wave without even knowing about it?!"
Inuyasha smacked Totosai's hand away.
"What do you mean? What's the Backlash Wave?" he asked, annoyed. Totosai sat down on the ground cross legged, and began to explain.
"The Backlash Wave is a technique that uses the enemy's blast of youki, ensnaring it with the Wind Scar and reversing the flow. The Wind Scar and the youki become like whirlpools. In other words, the enemy is simultaneously blasted by the Wind Scar, and by his own youki! The trick is to discern where exactly to cut, and the user's aura must be much stronger than his enemy's. Anyway, that's the theory…"
"That's more than a theory," Daitan huffed out a laugh. "It just tore Ryukotsusei to pieces!"
"I'm so impressed, Inuyasha!" piped up Kagome. Inuyasha shrugged.
"It's not that impressive, I just used my instincts and followed my nose."
Miroku stepped forward, a relieved smile on his face.
"Well, it looks like you'll be able to use the Tessaiga more effectively in battle."
A smirk spread across Inuyasha's face as he drew the Tessaiga, powering it up to its full size.
"It's even better than that… I can invoke the Wind Scar whenever I want!"
With one swing, he had summoned a Wind Scar and made the ground quake when he cut through it. Chunks of rock crashed to the ground from an outcropping several feet above him, and Inuyasha's excitement proved contagious when a smile crossed Daitan's face.
"Hey, we get it already!" shouted Sango, flinching when Inuyasha used the Wind Scar on another innocent cliff. Miroku seemed to be of a similar mind.
"That's not the kind of thing you should be flinging around like some kind of toy! …How is he even able to do that?"
Daitan rubbed her chin, grin widening as another boom echoed through the air.
"I think that since Tessaiga was repaired with Inuyasha's own fang, it must be able to create some of his own youki independently from his body, thus allowing him to summon the Wind Scar at will as the youki from his body and sword clash together… but more importantly…" She ran forward and called out, pointing to a large boulder perched precariously at the top of one of the surrounding cliffs. "Hey, Inuyasha! Do that one next!"
They both cheered when the boulder exploded into thousands of tiny pieces, and the next few minutes were spent with Inuyasha running around and blasting whatever Daitan pointed to with the Wind Scar. After a while though, Daitan fell back with the others, still grinning giddily. Kagome came to stand next to her, eyes bright.
"I'm so glad everything turned out okay." she said, watching as Inuyasha blew several chunks of rock into even smaller bits. Daitan nodded, hands on her hips.
"Tell me about it. It sounded like you guys had a rough time while I was away, I'm glad I'm back now."
"So your father finally let you go?" asked Sango. "Kagome told me that he wouldn't let you come back after he heard about Inuyasha's transformations."
Daitan didn't say anything, and only grinned widely at her friends. Kagome's mouth dropped open in shock.
"Daitan… you didn't…"
"I ran away on my own!" Daitan proclaimed proudly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I've never done anything like this before, it's so exciting!"
Her friends didn't seem to share her excitement, however, as they all went very pale. It was then that Inuyasha sidled over, apparently finished playing around with his new ability.
"Eh? What's going on? What're you so smiley about?"
A tiny voice spoke up from Miroku's shoulder.
"Lady Daitan has just informed us that she ran away from home!" said Myoga, worriedly bouncing up and down in place. Inuyasha whistled, looking over at Daitan.
"Woah, you ran away? Nice." he sounded almost impressed, but Myoga certainly did not. He bounced up onto Daitan's shoulder to start shouting in her ear.
"No, this isn't good! You just defied one of the most powerful youkai in existence!" he squeaked.
"Your dad must be going nuclear right now…" muttered Kagome, but Daitan just waved her off.
"Pssh, what's he gonna do? Come after me? I'll deal with the consequences when I get back through the well, it'll be fine."
"Well… if you say so… I mean, he'd need a jewel shard to come through, anyway. Ah, and speaking of jewel shards," Kagome pulled out the little jar she had on her necklace. "Could you…?"
"Sure!"
Daitan dug around in her pocket, almost humming with glee. Her fingers brushed the jewel shard in her pocket, and she dropped it into Kagome's hand. Kagome stared down at the shard in her hand.
"Um, Daitan?"
"Hm? Something wrong?"
"Didn't I give you two jewel shards?"
The smile on Daitan's face froze.
"...Two…?"
Kagome nodded slowly, and Daitan thought back.
"You're one of our heavy hitters!" Kagome had said. "We won't be as strong back in this time, so I'd feel better if you took these with you while you're in modern times, just in case someone steals from me again — then they'll only have one!"
"…With conviction like that, I'm sure your father has nothing to worry about. And I feel confident enough in you to give you this." She reached into the sleeve of her kimono, and to Daitan's shock, pulled out a familiar, glittering Shikon Jewel shard.
And just like that, the joy in Daitan's heart curdled into an ice cold wash down her spine, and her once bright grin melted into horror.
"...Oh no…"
Kagome's eyebrows knit together, worry in her big brown eyes.
"Daitan? Did you drop it on the way here?" She asked. Slowly, Daitan closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands, mumbling into them. "...What was that?"
Daitan's voice was strangled in a whine when she spoke, her face still buried in her hands.
"I knew it was too good to be true…"
Sango approached cautiously, as if Daitan was a frightened animal.
"Too good to be true? What happened?"
"Just spit it out already!" snapped Inuyasha impatiently. Daitan looked up from her hands, mouth dry and eyes wide.
"My grandmother! She only gave me one! I should have known, she lives for this kind of drama!"
"So if Sesshomaru took your shards, and your grandmother only gave you one of them…" Miroku's face turned an almost sickly shade of green. "That must mean he has the other one!"
"What was I thinking?!" panicked Daitan, and to everyone's horror, a terrifyingly familiar voice answered.
"Yes, pray tell, what were you thinking?"
Sesshomaru, the one that Daitan immediately knew was from her time, stood at the top of the cliff, looking down at her with a gaze so sharp it could cut diamonds. He had donned his armor for the first time in decades, and his two swords were tucked into his belt. The version of him from the Feudal Era was certainly dangerous, but the one that Daitan knew as her father… She had never felt this amount of dread when facing the Sesshomaru of the past. Something shriveled up inside of her as he leapt down to the ground.
"I— I'm so—"
He didn't let her finish.
"You're apologizing? Now that you know you no longer have any control over when to face the consequences of your actions?"
Everyone, even Inuyasha, had fallen dead silent. They all just watched the scene in front of them with varying levels of terror, concern, and certainly in Inuyasha's case, intrigue. They parted automatically when Sesshomaru stalked forward, and he didn't even spare them so much as a glance, his burning gaze locked solely on his daughter. Daitan shrank back, her feet rooted to the spot when he came to stand directly in front of her.
"I didn't think—"
"No, you didn't think," Sesshomaru interrupted again. "Now come. You're not coming back here until I say so, and this time, I'll make sure you won't pull any more stunts like this one." Sessomaru stepped forward, his expression as thunderous as she had ever seen it, and in a move of pure instinct, Daitan turned tail and ran.
Panic flooded through Daitan's system as she fled, her feet moving so quickly that she barely had time to look at where she was stepping. Pebbles flew into the air and bright flashes of light illuminated her surroundings as she used multiple Dashes to zig zag her way through the mountain peaks. But despite her attempted evasion, she could hear her father's quick footsteps hot on her tail.
Something soft brushed at her hand, and Daitan shrieked and Dashed away from her father's mokomoko, narrowly avoiding becoming entangled in it. Summoning her whip, she frantically slashed away at the cliffs around her, creating a cascade of boulders in her wake, but it hardly seemed to slow him down as he merely cut or melted through them with his claws.
And then, Daitan made the grievous mistake of glancing back, and when she saw just how close behind her he was, she stumbled. Just that small error closed the gap between them almost entirely, and his hand clamped around her wrist right when she swung her whip to grapple to the top of a nearby cliff. The opposing forces of her whip and her father's hand around her wrist yanked her harshly in two different directions, and she let out a cry as a sharp pain pulled through one of her shoulders. The whip flickered and died, and Daitan dropped heavily to the ground, holding her shoulder as tears started to gather in the corners of her eyes and a strange simmering heat spread throughout her body.
"Daitan… I didn't mean to…" All the rage had gone from her father's voice as he knelt down next to her. She felt his hand gently rest on her arm, but he suddenly pulled back with a quiet hiss. Her father paused, then removed one of the swords from his belt, gingerly sliding it into Daitan's lap. Almost immediately, the pulsing ache in her shoulder started to fade. Daitan sniffed, tears starting to spill onto her cheeks. She didn't pay much attention to the way they hissed into steam before they made it to her chin, and only hugged Tenseiga close to her chest. The throbbing ache in her shoulder was already disappearing, but the tears kept hissing down her cheeks, leaving trails of salt behind.
"I try so h—hard to be strong enough… but no matter what I do… I never… I'll never be able to…" Daitan didn't finish the sentence as she sobbed, pressing her cheek into Tenseiga's sheathe. "...I wish I was a daughter th—that you w—wouldn't have to be ashamed of… I'm sorry…"
Fabric shifted beside Daitan as her father sat down next to her. A few moments of silence passed between them, only broken by the sounds of Daitan's soft, defeated crying and the hiss of her tears. Sesshomaru let out a sigh, and spoke.
"...Nothing in my notes mentioned anything about you after Tessaiga was broken, and before Ryukotsusei was slain," he admitted quietly. Daitan sniffed and opened her eyes, looking over at him. They sat near the edge of the cliff, and her father's eyes gazed into the distance. Shafts of soft yellow sunlight broke through the cloudy skies to illuminate patches of the forest beyond, bathing the trees in a lush, green glow. "When you told me about the situation with Inuyasha, I felt… fearful, in not knowing what your whereabouts or condition would be."
Daitan looked back down at the ground, clutching Tenseiga a little closer to her chest.
"So you really… didn't think I could handle it… did you?"
"Daitan," her father finally looked over at her, his golden eyes sad. "I will always worry about you, no matter how strong you become. And I will never, ever be ashamed of having you as a daughter."
Daitan huffed a humorless laugh, curling in on herself.
"Sure… let's see how you feel in sixty more years, when I'm still just as weak as I am now… I'll never be respected as much as you are."
"You're not being fair to yourself." Sesshomaru sighed, irritation creeping into his tone. Daitan looked back over at him, face set in a hard frown.
"Really? Then I must have imagined the last sixty years when my mokomoko was supposed to have manifested already, or when all the other heirs to the other houses that are my age developed their amazing abilities and got their powerful swords, and I'm still left waiting! You and Grandmother always say that everything happens in its own time, but how would you know? All I've ever heard people talk about is how powerful you've always been, even when you were younger than me!" Daitan's voice had risen to a shout, and she looked down at her knees. "What would you know, huh? When everything has always come so easy to you?!"
Sesshomaru fell silent for a moment.
"...You're right. I never did have as much struggle as you when it came to my strength. But… I do know one thing."
"Yeah?" huffed Daitan.
"Your time is closer at hand than you may think."
Daitan looked over at her father, her frown dropping into shock.
"Wh-What? How do you know?"
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed in a tiny, secret smile.
"How do you think? I was there." he said simply. Daitan's mouth dropped open slightly.
"You mean that… that I…"
Her father nodded.
"There is nothing for you to worry about, Daitan. Your growth in power will come soon enough. In fact," he extended his right palm. "I believe you're well on your way already."
The skin of Sesshomaru's palm was covered with angry red blisters, and Daitan's eyes almost popped out of her skull. She hadn't ever seen anything more than a scratch on her father's skin, yet it looked as if he had put his hand against a hot kettle and left it there.
"What—What happened? Are you okay?!"
Sesshomaru pulled his hand back, letting a single huff of amusement out through his nose.
"I'll be fine. Take a look at yourself — you're glowing."
Daitan tilted her head in confusion once again… before she realized that she was, indeed, literally glowing. A pale light emanated from every inch of her skin, and when she shifted in place, she saw that the rock where she had once sat had become discolored and burnt. The heat she had felt spread throughout her body… it still coursed under her skin. Daitan looked down at her father's hand again, horrified.
"You mean I burned you that badly?!" she squeaked, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. Daitan almost tried to shove Tenseiga into his lap, but faltered when she realized how hot it had become from having contact with her skin. She instead just laid it down on the ground next to him to cool. Sesshomaru sighed, but his eyes remained soft.
"I'll be alright. Instead focus on cooling down."
"But how do I do it?" she looked down at her glowing hands. "This has never happened before…"
"The heat comes from inside you, doesn't it? Try to draw it back in."
Daitan glanced down at her father's burned hand once again, but didn't say anything more. The heat had spread from her chest to every part of her body… She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, imagining a drain in the middle of her solar plexus. The heat under her skin spiralled around and around… and slowly withdrew. First from her fingers and toes… then her limbs… and finally from her head and back into her chest. When Daitan opened her eyes again, the glow had gone. Her father nodded approvingly, standing up.
"Very good. That was quicker than I expected."
A grin spread across Daitan's face at his praise, but it fell a little when she remembered the reason her father was even in the past to begin with. She got to her feet as well, though her eyes turned downcast.
"Um… I guess that you want to take me back home now… don't you?" she asked, her shoulders slumping a little. A long pause stretched between them, and Daitan couldn't look her father in the eye. Finally, she heard Sesshomaru take a small breath.
"Hn… perhaps not." he uttered. Daitan looked up, a tentative hope starting to kindle inside of her.
"Wait, really? You're not going to ground me again?"
"You were doing what you thought was best. I will admit, I was… frightened… when your grandmother told me you had gone—" he said, and a small smile flitted across his face when Daitan grumbled under her breath. I knew she'd rat me out. "—But seeing you today… I see that my fears were mostly unwarranted."
Daitan twisted her hands together, bashful.
"Well, it was Inuyasha who did most of the fighting… and I didn't actually fight him, which is what you were worried about…"
"Don't sell yourself short," her father said. "Ryukotsusei was still a deadly enemy. You may not have the power that most daiyoukai your age do, but you certainly make up for it in versatility. Without your quick thinking, Inuyasha may have been cut down by Ryukotsusei before he had the chance to master the Tessaiga further."
"You don't know that for sure…" mumbled Daitan, her cheeks warm.
Sesshomaru sighed a little.
"I don't. But that doesn't make what I said about you untrue, does it?"
Daitan looked down at her shoes, a little shy smile on her face. That is, until the sound of rustling and whispers caught her attention. She looked to the side just in time to see the rest of her friends all topple out from behind a large boulder, with Inuyasha unfortunately getting trapped at the very bottom. They frantically scrambled back out of sight, having been caught in their eavesdropping. Daitan's face turned bright red, and she glanced worriedly up at her father, expecting to see him scowling again. To her surprise, however, her father's good mood was far from ruined as he actually chuckled. Well, it was less of a chuckle, and more of a small huff out his nose. But it gave Daitan enough confidence to call out to her friends.
"Hey, you guys don't need to hide, we already saw you!" she said, her voice breaking off in a little laugh.
One by one, her friends emerged from behind the rock. First Kagome, who had already met the present version of Sesshomaru, then Sango with caution in her eyes, then Miroku, who looked a little too at ease for it to be natural. Shippo rode on Miroku's back, his wide green eyes peeking out from behind his shoulder. And finally Inuyasha, who crept out from behind the boulder, his eyes narrowed with sour suspicion. Kagome smiled and bowed politely.
"It's nice to meet you again." she said. Sesshomaru's expression was mostly impassive, but amusement still glinted in his eyes.
"Hn." he replied simply. Sango let out a breath.
"Um… forgive me, but this is a little strange, seeing as you tried to kill us not too long ago…"
"Multiple times." piped up Miroku. Sesshomaru tilted his head a little.
"I don't see the issue. I haven't tried to kill any of you in centuries."
Inuyasha growled, his nose wrinkling into a scowl as he marched right up to Sesshomaru.
"Ugh, what does it matter?! Daitan may think highly of you, but you still look like just the same holier-than-thou bastard that you've always been!" he shouted. Sesshomaru just sighed through his nose.
"Hn. If you say so."
Daitan wouldn't be surprised if steam started coming out of Inuyasha's ears at Sesshomaru's blasé response.
"Why you—!"
"So!" interrupted Kagome, stepping gracefully in front of a fuming Inuyasha. "We, um, heard that you were going to let Daitan stay with us, right?"
Sesshomaru nodded, turning to Daitan.
"Yes. Since this is your first offense, I am inclined to let it slide. However," he fixed her with a stern look. "If you ever pull a stunt like that again, there will be consequences."
Daitan shivered a little at his cold stare, and nodded quickly.
"I understand."
—-
Since Sesshomaru still needed a jewel shard to get back home, Daitan and her friends had decided to all travel back to Edo. Kagome had mentioned something about restocking on supplies, but part of Daitan suspected that the rest only followed after them because of the novelty of actually being able to be in the same vicinity as Sesshomaru without fear of him trying to kill them. He didn't seem to think anything of their strange behavior, however, though the flight back certainly wouldn't have been as awkward if he hadn't insisted on Daitan flying back with him. At least Kagome and Sango had the tact to hide their grins behind their hands as Sesshomaru's mokomoko wrapped tightly around Daitan to keep her anchored to his side when he took off into the sky. As for Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippo, however…
Daitan glared over at them from behind her fuzzy prison, unable to do anything else as Inuyasha didn't even bother to stifle his boisterous laugh, and Miroku and Shippo practically giggled at her predicament. It was a relief when they finally touched down next to the Bone-Eater's Well, and Daitan untangled herself from her father's mokomoko as quickly as she could. She brushed off imaginary dust, placing her hands on her hips.
"Well, I guess this is it," she said. "It's been quite a day, huh? Fought a dragon, discovered some new powers…"
One of Sesshomaru's tiny smiles crossed his face.
"You don't have to pretend you don't want me gone as soon as possible." he replied. Daitan blanched, raising her hands defensively.
"Hey, I never said that! …It's just a little awkward, having you here… I never expected you to come through the well."
"Hn," he reached into the sleeve of his kimono and pulled out a familiar journal, flipping to a particular page. His eyes narrowed a little, annoyed. "And I never expected you to run away like you did. How irritating, then, that my moron of a source had conveniently forgotten to mention that."
Daitan blinked.
"What do you mean your 'source'…?"
Sesshomaru looked up from his journal.
"I'm not present for all of your adventures, am I?"
Daitan gave him a deadpan look.
"You're never going to give me a straight answer, are you?"
Her father only replied with a little 'hn', but that was as good as a confirmation in Daitan's mind. She sighed, rubbing her forehead, and Miroku spoke up.
"Wait… You kept Daitan from coming here because you didn't see anything about her in the book for the past few weeks… But what if there isn't anything written in there for that time frame specifically because you kept her at home?"
"Like a paradox!" gasped Kagome. Inuyasha wrinkled his nose at her.
"You gotta stop making up words, Kagome."
Daitan tilted her head, considering Miroku's theory. It… actually made a lot of sense. If there were no journal entries mentioning her in the book, then she must have been absent from those events in that certain timeframe. Her father probably assumed that she had gotten terribly injured somehow, and kept her away from her friends… thus completing the cycle and making her gone for that amount of time. Then again, there was still the matter of his mystery informant…
Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at Miroku, who shied away a little.
"...Hn. Interesting. In any case," he turned back to Daitan, slipping the journal back into his sleeve. "The only advice I can give you for now is to practice with that new ability of yours."
"Ah, what?" Daitan groaned. "You can't give us just a teeny hint about the future?" Her father huffed a little through his nose.
"Not now. Focus on mastering this new power. It has more varied uses than you know, though I doubt you will have much trouble discovering them."
Daitan nodded, a little disappointed, but hopeful.
"I will."
—-
Daitan escorted her father back through the well to the present, seeing him off after he returned the remaining Shikon Jewel shard to her. Back in the past, she finally dropped the shard back into the bottle around Kagome's neck. They now sat down in the grass next to the well with Sango, Miroku, and Shippo, just looking out at the landscape in front of them
"I'm glad that's over with." sighed Daitan, crossing her legs. She chuckled when she spotted Inuyasha laying flat on his back several feet away, his mouth slightly open as he snoozed in the sun. Kagome nodded, smiling softly.
"Yeah, you looked really scared when your dad first showed up. But you guys made up in the end, huh?"
"I think so. And both Inuyasha and I got some new abilities."
"Speaking of that," said Sango, looking up from tending to her Hiraikotsu. "What exactly is this new power you have? You were glowing all over, but that was about all I saw."
Daitan rubbed her chin, thinking.
"Well… I'm not one hundred percent positive, but I think my skin got super hot. My dad touched my arm for less than a second, but his hand still got pretty badly burned."
"Maybe you've got a fire element like me, Daitan!" chirped Shippo. Daitan ruffled his hair and pulled him into her lap.
"That could explain why we get along so well!" she grinned, but Sango just hummed thoughtfully, her eyebrows drawn together.
"First your attunement to souls… and now fire? Or light? Whatever it is, I've never heard of such a combination before…" she said. Everyone fell silent, and Daitan was pretty sure she knew exactly what they were thinking. Just what kind of youkai was your mother?
Miroku was the first to break the silence.
"That's all well and good, but there's yet another thing that no one else has mentioned, and it utterly baffles me…" he said. He suddenly rounded on Daitan, pinching curiously at her shirt. "How come none of your clothes burnt off?"
Needless to say, Miroku retired to bed early that evening with a very sore head.
A/N: I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long. Daitan gets a new ability! I've hinted at it in a couple previous chapters, and now it's here! There will be more along the way - this is only the beginning :D Not Daitan's grandmother having her back and then snitching on her a couple hours later. Daitan did mention that her grandmother was more likely to stir the pot than to actually take sides...