InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Facets of the Living Jewel ❯ Primoris: Vade retro, Sesshoumaru! ( Chapter 72 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters, Ms. Takahashi does.

 

At the end of the text is a long Authors Note which contains information on the twelve Heavenly Generals that you will need to understand the nuances of this and following chapters. Though I tried to incorporate it into the story I found that it slowed down the action. Sesshoumaru flatly refused to be so boring, and Kirara actually fled the house! Afterwards, of course, there was the requisite abasement that one has to do when one offends a cat (luckily, I have a lot of experience in that area). There is a list (formatting destroyed the table) that summarizes the information, so if you want to scroll down all the way to the end and just take a glance at that, it will be a fast way to learn the basics. Thanks again to Ranuel for pointing me in the right direction!

 

Thanks to all who voted for `Facets' in the recent IYFG awards! Now it's up for best Action/Adventure of 2008.

 

Ryuu: dragon

Tora: tiger

 

WARNING: strong suggestion of non-consensual in this chapter!

 

 

Primoris: Vade retro, Sesshoumaru!

By Licentia poetica

 

 

`I wonder if this clumsy body can leap to the top of the hei?' Kirara thought as the hair at the nape of her neck stirred and she resisted the urge to arch her back and hiss at the circle of taiyoukai. Backing up from the circle toward the minimal protection of the walls and focused on the threats around her, she gave a startled twitch when Rin stepped around her with her small hands clenched into fists.

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama, why did she say that Lady Kirara is cursed?” Rin demanded, glaring fiercely at the dragon taiyoukai directly across the circle. “She's mean!”

 

“She?” the Ryuu no Taisho snarled, taking a step forward.

 

Kirara drew Rin behind her body, hissing a warning at the menacing taiyoukai as she turned to the side and curled one arm around her protectively. Rin clutched at her hips with both arms as the dragon took another step and pointed his trident directly at them. Kirara tried to arch her back but gave it up as a lost cause in her current form. She hissed louder to try to intimidate him, but stopped abruptly as Sesshoumaru stepped gracefully between them and the advancing dragon, growling softly, “Be still, Rin.”

 

Kirara blinked at his relaxed stance; it belied the tension that she could feel coiling in his muscles. `Such grace and control…it is truly wasted on an Inu. Wait! How can I feel—`

 

Her startled thoughts were interrupted when the dragon taiyoukai hesitated and glared at Sesshoumaru. “Do not threaten me, dog,” he sneered, snarling the final epithet in a growl that indicated an extreme insult.

 

“Do not threaten those under my protection, dragon.” Sesshoumaru's voice was calm, almost conversational, but his final word dripped with such bored insolence, perfectly matching the tone and inflection of the dragon, that Kirara had to fight to keep from laughing aloud. `Not even I could have put the Cold One in his place so well!'

 

The dragon taiyoukai narrowed his eyes and his gaze flickered from Sesshoumaru to the circle of taiyoukai before settling grimly on Kirara and Rin. “Fool! I would not threaten a human child!”

 

“Yet your father was sealed by mine for breaking his sacred vows and attacking humans,” Sesshoumaru retorted coldly.

 

“And your father died from the wounds he received,” the Ryuu no Taisho snarled as his youki began to boil around him. “Metal Master, hah! He was nothing more than a weakli—“

 

He was not able to finish the sentence. In a move almost too fast for Kirara to follow, Sesshoumaru leaped forward, striking hard at the extended arm of the Ryuu no Taisho and knocking the trident loose. The snarled insult from the dragon taiyoukai ended in a startled huff of air as Sesshoumaru lanced his other hand forward and, before the spinning trident had even touched the ground, embedded his claws in a chokehold around the dragon's throat.

 

The moment Sesshoumaru moved, Kirara staggered slightly and only Rin's hold on her hips kept her upright as a sudden weakness spread through her limbs. `What is happening to me? My youki…Pfffffft Hhhsssss?'

 

Continuing his forward momentum, Sesshoumaru knocked the Ryuu no Taisho off his feet with a vicious snap kick and followed the taiyoukai as he fell, tightening his grip and bringing his other hand back around to threaten the dragon's eyes.

 

As Kirara's youki drained from her weakened body, a vivid vision of Sesshoumaru's snarling face, blurred by increasingly deep water, flashed before her eyes. `My drowning? Why would I relive that?'

 

The trident's tines rang once from striking the ground before they were stilled abruptly by the weight of their owner's body landing on them. Another huff of air escaped from the Ryuu no Taisho as he landed on his back, but Sesshoumaru remained eerily silent throughout the entire attack.

 

Blinking her eyes rapidly to focus on Rin's hair and determinedly taking control of her enfeebled muscles, she straightened back up and froze as a slight movement from the circle of taiyoukai caught her attention. All of the Generals were watching Sesshoumaru and the Ryuu no Taisho, with one exception. The tiger general, a tall male whose orange and black facial stripes continued on into his glossy, long hair, had turned his head to look at her, interest gleaming in his golden eyes. She narrowed her eyes at him and curled her lip into a silent snarl, but he merely lowered his sculpted chin and gave her a slow smile in response, his tail curling up over his shoulder and twitching a message intended only for a female feline. `Oh, no. No, no, no! All I need is another alpha male—'

 

“You were saying?” Sesshoumaru's polite, bored voice broke through her thoughts and she forced herself to look away from the Tora no Taisho, focusing again on the two combatants in the center of the circle and clutching tightly to Rin's shoulders as she suppressed a full-body shudder. `He's still staring at me.'

 

The downed dragon had grasped Sesshoumaru's choking arm with one hand and had managed to fend off the claws threatening his eyes with the other, but his straining arm muscles were a startling contrast to Sesshoumaru's relaxed hold. Struggling to breathe, though it appeared that having the Inu no Taisho's knee embedded in his stomach was more of a hindrance than the grip around his windpipe, he choked out a growl that subsided to a sibilant hiss as Sesshoumaru smiled grimly in response.

 

“Your father's death was no execution and not of my doing, dragon.”

 

As the Ryuu no Taisho began speaking in his hissing language again Kirara stole a glance at the Tora no Taisho. `Oh…no. What is it about this ugly body that attracts males?' The tiger had tensed and he was still staring at her, his body language screaming `predator' but his tail informing her that he was not interested in having her for dinner. `I need to escape!' She took a shuddering breath as memories from her earliest life when a much smaller male Neko had given her the same signals surfaced. `I'm not in heat, am I? I have lost track of the time! Oh, if I ever get out of this I will never transform into this weak body again!'

 

Sesshoumaru's voice drew her attention back to the center again and she ruthlessly focused on him to help suppress the memories of the first and last time she had allowed a male to touch her during a heat cycle.

 

“It makes no difference to this Sesshoumaru that you were unable to defeat your father to take your rightful place as the yang aspect. It was also one of the objections to this Sesshoumaru taking the vacant position of yang Inu no Taisho, but you will not use me to gain your own ends.” He slammed the dragon taiyoukai's head to the ground and leaned heavily and abruptly on his knee as he stood up, glaring at the circle of Generals. “If ultimate power is only to be transferred by killing the nominal Taisho, the rights and power of the yang Ryuu should be ceded to my beta Pack Brother.” He looked down at the retching dragon taiyoukai and smiled derisively before glaring at each of taiyoukai while stating in a bored voice, “And you will need to seek for a male descendant of Setsuna no Takemaru if you wish to replace this Sesshoumaru.” Ignoring the suddenly tense postures of most of the taiyoukai, he turned his back on the Ryuu no Taisho and strolled nonchalantly back to his place in the circle. Once there, Kirara suppressed a shudder at the fierce “smile” on his face as he turned leisurely back to the circle and continued, “I do believe I'm going to enjoy watching this.”

 

``I'? In front of the Generals? What is Pfffffft Hhhsssss up to? ' His casual tone was at such odds with the level of tension she could feel in his muscles that she couldn't help trying to move Rin behind her body again. `I must protect My-Rin from whatever is about to happen.' When the child stubbornly glared at her and stayed in position she gave a soft growl and slipped her body between Rin and Sesshoumaru, trying to ignore the fact that her back was now almost touching his and she could no longer see the Generals. `A Neko does not turn her back on enemies, but he is my Pride Leader.' She could feel the heat radiating from his body and every hair on the back of her neck stood up. `I have fought at his back…surely he will guard mine, but damn this weak body! If I were the right size and shape I could just take My-Rin away like the kitten she is!'

 

The Ryuu no Taisho hissed something and Kirara's entire body stiffened involuntarily as Sesshoumaru's tension increased exponentially. `Why can I feel what is happening to his body? What is wrong with me?'

 

Trying to remain calm, she braced herself for whatever Sesshoumaru knew was coming when he answered nonchalantly, “I am merely going to be amused when I watch my mother and your sister tear into this august assembly for saddling them with yang aspects that are…” he paused and she could physically feel the intense youki of the Generals focus on their point of the circle just before he continued, “…human and Inuhanyou.”

 

The cacophony that erupted from the Generals at this statement was drowned out by the sound of Sesshoumaru's powerful, compelling Call. Kirara could not help leaning backwards and allowing her head and shoulders to touch his back as he drew on her youki again and Called to the sky. Reeling from the drain on her power, Kirara heard a sardonic laugh and then a dragon's three-toned roar joined Sesshoumaru's Call. Clutching Rin to her stomach, she tried to remain conscious as Sesshoumaru effortlessly drew from her strength. `Pfffffft Hhhsssss! Does he know what he is doing to me? Is this a spell he placed on me when we landed? Am I a pawn in his game again?' The thought that he might be using her for his own ends once more created a familiar pain in her chest and she focused on it to keep herself from slipping into blackness. `I am Neko. It should not matter what he does. I thought I was…Pack, and I have acknowledged him as Pride Leader, but it does not matter. A Neko stands alone.'

 

A vision of the end of her second life; the struggle to remain conscious as her injuries sapped her energy and forced her into kitten form as she was tumbled downstream away from the ongoing battle, glowed brighter than the world around her. `My-Midoriko! I was not strong enough and the hanyou is trapping you in the cave! Wait…this is…I am not in that time!' As her memory-self managed to claw her way on to a floating log she shook her head to bring herself back to the current moment.

 

She had just managed to focus on Rin's upturned, worried face before Sesshoumaru took a breath and Called again, sapping her remaining strength. Broken fragments of sentences impinged on her consciousness as she slipped further into the dark shadows narrowing her vision.

 

“Not the Bitch! She'll tear us—”

 

“Lady Kirara?”

 

`My-Rin is calling me?'

 

“—allow that vicious sister of his—“

 

“Lady Kirara?”

 

She tried to focus her eyes on Rin. `Is she…shaking me?'

 

“—East ally with the Lords of the West!”

 

She felt Sesshoumaru's back expand behind her as he took another breath to Call again, and as he drew effortlessly from her diminished youki she had the odd thought, ``Cursed Neko' must…be true…,' she felt herself begin to crumple as the thought finished, `...always…too weak.'

 

“Lady Kirara!”

 

`My-Rin!' She retained just enough control to suppress a small whimper as everything went black.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Calmer words and comforting warmth ushered her back into consciousness again, though her drained body still wouldn't respond to her will.

 

Cradled in a warm nest, she first became aware of a deep, obviously male voice that purred, “So, you protect this little spitfire and a Pack? I understand that the humans include a miko and a houshi. The orphan kitsune I approve of and one can hardly fault the bloodline of the hanyou, though some…ah well, the fact that you have finally adhered to the Generals' vow will certainly help your negotiating position. There are worse things in some of the other General's herds.”

 

`Hmmph. Someone loves to hear himself speak.'

 

A quiet, subtle rumble vibrated through her and that, coupled with the scent of the soft fur she could now feel next to her cheek, made her aware that she was wrapped in Sesshoumaru's kegawa and held against his chest. She had the oddest sensation that she was wrapped in his youki as well, and the similarity to the time when he had saved her from drowning made her wonder, `Did I just use up another life? Being around Pfffffft Hhhsssss is truly going to kill me.' The gentle rumble ceased and she tried not to whimper at the loss of that comfort, but the quiet warning growl that followed was somehow even more of a threat than a snarl and she tried to force her brain to concentrate so that her body would obey. `I cannot afford to let down my guard!'

 

The purring voice ignored the warning and responded amicably, “I do apologize for the disturbance, but I was sent to tell you that the Lords and Ladies of the East, including myself, have formed an alliance with the West to assure your ascension and that of my young ally to the rank of yang Taisho. You are requested to join your mother, though I suspect the Generals of the North and South are only trying to protect themselves from her rather infamous temper.”

 

`Who is speaking? It must be a Taisho, but I am saturated in Pfffffft Hhhsssss' scent.'

 

Sesshoumaru's deep growl vibrated her entire body and the kegawa slipped away from one side, allowing her to clearly hear his low-voiced, angry response. “No. Leave.”

 

`Why is he furious?'

 

The deep, purring voice gave a smooth chuckle at Sesshoumaru's monosyllabic responses. “Come. You must take your place as yang Taisho! Your ascension is a mere formality of course, given your bloodlines and your obvious power, but if you are worried for the little one here, I will guard her for you. I'll make sure she's…taken care of. It is the least I can do for a fellow feline.”

 

The tone of the `taken care of' and the word `feline' confirmed her already developing suspicions that the owner of the purring voice was the Tora no Taisho. Terrified that Sesshoumaru would leave her alone with the tiger, Kirara began to struggle for control of her enervated muscles. `No! Do not leave me alone with him!'

 

“You will not speak of her as `the Little One',” Sesshoumaru snarled, placing an emphasis on the last two words.

 

`What? He calls me little all the time!'

 

The Tora no Taisho hissed slightly and answered, “It is only an insult in your language.” A certain note crept into the tiger's voice and she knew the tip of his tail was twitching as he growled, “She is petite…and surely you are aware she is beginning her heat.”

 

`No! It can't possibly be the right time, can it? I've always made sure to find a safe place to escape—' her thoughts were interrupted by the tiger's growling voice.

 

Not bothering to repress a rumbling sexual purr he added, “For one so small, she is certainly…well endowed. May I commend you on your exquisite taste? To have feline sensuality in such a beautiful form would attract any male taiyoukai. The other male Generals were interested, but…well you know. Most of them are not predators by nature and she must be a fighter in bed, especially in heat.” He paused as Sesshoumaru's growl, which had been low and almost subsonic, completely stopped. “Still, it was wise of you to control her with your youki and bring her in here away from the others, or there would have been a mating contest.” He chuckled and continued, “That Boar. I had to be rather rude, I'm afraid.” His words took on a disbelieving tone as he added, “But surely, given your past, you are not interested in having…what do you call them? Ah yes, pups. Surely you are seeking an alpha bitch for your pups, and not this little plaything?”

 

`Plaything? If I could move you would be dead.'

 

She would have been terrified to face Sesshoumaru given the tense, predatory stillness she could feel permeating his body, but the Tora no Taisho continued amiably, “I want a few cubs to bring my mate into line. Are you…amenable?”

 

`Cubs! Fool. My being in heat does not guarantee you any success.'

 

Almost as if he could hear her thoughts, the tiger switched to his species' dialect and growled under his breath, “Don't think your current body will allow you to escape having my cubs, little spitfire. I have barbs just like one of your males so I'll trigger your response, and I'm sure our size difference will ensure that you're pleasurably tight for me. I'll have my gratification and ensure my cubs, but you will only feel pain. This far into the tono no one will hear your cries.”

 

`He knows I am aware!' She panicked as the memories of her one painful, frustrating experience with a male of her species surfaced. `Oh, you will not touch me! How could I have possibly thought you should be the leader of the Generals!' Still trapped in her unresponsive body in spite of her efforts to move, her terror built as she felt Sesshoumaru's hold begin to relax. `I thought he was angry at…oh, I know he understands Neko, but he…he must not have understood what was just said. He would not..surely, my Pride Leader would not leave me in heat with a strange male?'

 

She felt Sesshoumaru turn to the side as he began lowering her to the surface that he had been sitting on. The tiger taiyoukai continued, “Ah, it is as I thought. You have no interest in a cursed Nekomata, even one as powerful as this. I thank you for your…hospitality.” He paused for an instant and his sexual purr thrummed in the enclosed space before he continued, “It will certainly further our current alliance.”

 

`I am a pawn for securing an alliance?' Desperately hoping that she was wrong, Kirara struggled to open her eyes as she felt Sesshoumaru's warmth continue to withdraw from her. `Pfffffft Hhhsssss! Do not break my trust again!'

 

“Is she just whimsy on your part, or is she trained in certain arts?” The Tora no Taisho apparently took Sesshoumaru's continued silence for some sort of answer as he continued, “Ah, that would explain why she has remained in her most vulnerable form for you. Don't you agree that she is so much more…” he paused and purred again, “responsive in this body? Though with that beautiful hair I'm sure she must have silken fur. I would enjoy tangling my claws in it.”

 

`If I could move I'd show you just how well `trained in certain arts' I am, you bastard!' Kirara's body finally responded as she began to pant, both in fear and from the pain of betrayal, as Sesshoumaru gently laid her down on a soft surface. `How can…I trusted…I must move!' She managed to shake her head slightly, desperately trying to communicate with her Pride Leader as he removed his arms from underneath her back and knees and began to pull the kegawa free. He did not respond to her movement and the sexual purr coming from the Tora no Taisho increased in volume as the warmth of Sesshoumaru's body diminished. `No!' Kirara shuddered, though her debilitated body still could not adequately convey her inner revulsion.

 

“I am a Wood Master…perhaps that is why the spitfire has already made my blood burn!” the Tora no Taisho laughed crudely. “I wonder what talents she'll pass on to my cubs? Fire would be useful.”

 

Sesshoumaru remained silent as he moved away and the betrayal hurt her more than any treachery in all of her past lives. `You…I submitted to you! In your way, Pride Leader! You desert me when I can't even move to reject his touch?'

 

“I'll take the cubs as soon as they're weaned.” the Tora no Taisho continued genially. “Oh, and we tigers tend to be solitary, so you won't mind keeping her within your Pack until she gives birth, will you? You Inuyoukai are good protectors and she'll need that, especially with taiyoukai cubs.”

 

`Cursed am I? You lay one claw on me and I'll show you cursed!' Kirara used the anger pulsing through her to fuel enough energy to turn her head and open her eyes. The Tora no Taisho was staring at her body hungrily from just inside the door to the well-appointed room she found herself in, the rumbling purr of his Mating Call escalating in power. Sesshoumaru appeared to be strolling out of the room and was one step away from the tiger taiyoukai. She tried to utter a hissing insult to convey her disgust with both males but the words died on her lips as her youki was abruptly drained again.

 

In a move much too fast for her to follow, Sesshoumaru clawed a furrow from the tiger's neck down to his groin. The taiyoukai gave a yowling scream and fell to his knees as blood spurted from his body.

 

Kirara fought to stay conscious again as Sesshoumaru raised his hand in the two-fingered gesture that usually formed his seishou whip, but her youki drained abruptly as his fingers glowed bright red instead of the normal green. Fire blasted from his hand as he snapped it forward and the Tora no Taisho yowled again as his wounds were unintentionally cauterized.

 

Kirara's vision grayed out and her first and most painful drowning, one in which she had been a nubile, young Neko with little wisdom and experience, played out from her memory. `NO! My kittens! If I had just clawed the sack open faster I might have saved—'

 

There was a sudden shift in the drain on her youki and a blazing light nearly blinded her. She could feel Sesshoumaru's presence more acutely, an almost painful awareness of his body and youki that both frightened and excited her. As the light waxed in power she felt a corresponding increase in her youki and gasped in relief. `Now to change back!' She willed her transformation but growled in frustration when her body remained in its current form. `What has happened to me!'

 

As the light faded she was able to see that she was floating in complete blackness with a strange web of power radiating out from her body. `Is this the spell that holds me in this form?' Following the thickest strand with her eyes she gave a startled mew when she found Sesshoumaru at the other end, staring at her with both eyebrows raised.

 

“Pfffffft Hhhsssss?” she hissed, too softly for it to be a threat.

 

He quirked one eyebrow and turned from her without responding as he examined the strands of power that radiated away from his body. Cocking his head curiously, he reached down with his right hand and grasped one, tugging on it firmly.

 

The light faded completely and she lost sight of him, but her head turned suddenly as movement registered in her peripheral vision. A dim, far off glimmer of light flickered as a body moved through it and the hackles on the back of her neck rose as jyaki registered on her senses.

 

After a brief moment of extreme disorientation she found herself reliving the end of her first life. The distraught mewing of her kittens abruptly cut off as the laughing humans threw the loosely tied sack into icy cold water. `No! I swear I will never have kittens again unless I am strong enough to protect them! I shall become Nekomata!' As the cold water stole her warmth and life she struggled within the dark sack, clawing desperately toward the far off glimmer of light to gain her freedom as her vision grayed out. Finally starved of oxygen, she took a deep, shuddering breath and almost choked as she breathed in great gulps of air instead of the expected water. `What? Where am I?' She forced herself back into consciousness, her breathing rapid and shallow, but as her vision cleared she found herself holding a lovely taiyoukai kitten with calico markings, the pain of giving birth in her weakest body receding rapidly. She laughed wearily, “Did I not tell you she would manifest as a Neko?” The kitten mewled softly, rooting for nourishment, and she heard a low, growling laugh that gave her a feeling of joy that she had never experienced in all of her lives. She looked up at her mate and had a brief impression of golden eyes before the disorientation rearranged her perceptions again and she was suddenly staring straight into the angry golden eyes of the Tora no Taisho.

 

“No! Not you!”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Translation:

Primoris: Vade retro, Sesshoumaru! Latin; First: Get thee behind me, Satan….err, I mean, Get thee behind me, Sesshoumaru! This is meant to be a statement that represses sinful desires and temptations, but it's also a wonderful play on words because of the way most mammals mate.

 

Scientific note: The significance of the Tora no Taisho telling Kirara that he'll trigger her response with his barbs: ovulation in felines is initiated by stimulation of the anterior vagina and cervix by the backward-pointing barbs which cover the feline penis behind the glans. The reason that the female gives an angry cry and turns around to swat the male after he has his fun is probably that the “stimulation” hurts and it's over so fast there isn't enough time to give her a human-style orgasm. Yeah, I know, poor Kirara! Can you imagine how frustrated female cats get?

 

Review thanks:

PM: Neko-sama, Fenikkusuken

MM: doggieearlover, Ranuel, sakuralovesinuyasha, Lunabell, Knittingknots, angel-up-above-heaven, Snowfall, xochitl

FF: aradow, Forest Sentry Koneji, TaiYoukai-Lover, Surfy (I promise…three updates this week!), Folle, and thanks to all the readers who put me and/or Facets on their favorites list there.

 

A/N: Background for understanding the twelve Heavenly Generals

The twelve Heavenly Generals are fierce warriors who are guardian spirits of nature and protectors of Buddhist teachings. When acting as protectors of Buddhism, they are soldiers in the army of Tamonten, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. They are also protectors of Yakushi Nyorai (the Buddha of Healing and Medicine) and in Japanese art are almost always grouped in a protective circle around the Yakushi Nyorai. It is said that they were present when the historical Buddha introduced the "Healing Sutra," offer protection during the hours of the day, represent the 12 months and 12 cosmic directions, and are represented by the 12 animals of the 12-year Chinese zodiac.

When Buddhism arrived in Japan in the mid-6th century AD, the Japanese imported both the Buddhist teachings and the zodiac calendar (it was officially adopted in 604 AD). Each zodiac animal represents one year in a 12-year cycle, a day in a 12-day cycle, a 2-hour period in each day, and a compass direction. To make it a bit clearer for the purposes of this and the following chapters, the day starts at twelve midnight, and the corresponding general (taisho) is the rat. Every two hours, a new zodiac animal “takes over” responsibility, with twelve noon associated with the Horse (Uma no Taisho). The sixty-year calendar gets even more complicated in that the aspects of yin and yang (six yin, six yang and they change dependent on the year) and five elements (fire, water, earth, wood, and metal) are assigned to each animal. Yin and yang are easy (female and male), but the five elements had to be incorporated into the four elements (fire, water, earth, and air) of alchemy in `Facets'. I therefore chose to exercise the power of my name (poetic license) and declare wood to be a Wood Master (combination of earth and water, think of a tree) and metal to be a Metal Master (earth, fire, and water, think of how a sword is made). Thus the Tiger (Tora no Taisho) and Rabbit (Usagi no Taisho) with the zodiac element of wood are Masters of both earth and water in `Facets'. The “Metal Masters” Rat (Nezumi no Taisho), Monkey (Saru no Taisho), and Rooster (Tori no Taisho) have mastered earth, fire, and water. The only taiyoukai to master all four elements is, of course, Sensei Yourei Taisei.

When it comes to compass directions, the Rat signifies due north and every 30 degrees clockwise a new zodiac animal takes precedence. Thus Sesshoumaru, depicted by Sensei Takahashi as the “Lord of the West”, is actually “Lord of the Northwest 1” and the Rooster (Tori no Taisho) is “Lord of the True West”. I have chosen to have the three generals in one direction grouped together in a loose alliance; thus Sesshoumaru is still a “Lord of the West” but is one of three (Monkey, Rooster, Dog).

Please refer to the following table; I've placed each animal with its corresponding Japanese name, time, compass direction, element mastery, and weapon.

 

 

 

Animal: Japanese Name, Time, Compass Direction, Element Mastery, Weapon

Rat: Nezumi, 12-2 a.m., North, Metal (earth, fire, water), Vajra

Ox: Ushi, 2-4 a.m., Northeast 1, Earth, Katana

Tiger: Tora, 4-6 a.m., Northeast 3, Wood (earth, water), Vajra

Rabbit: Usagi, 6-8 a.m., East, Wood (earth, water), Fly-whisk

Dragon: Ryuu, 8-10 a.m., Southeast 1, Earth, Trident

Snake: Hebi, 10-noon, Southeast 3, Fire, Katana/Conch

Horse: Uma, 12-2 p.m., South, Fire, Halberd

Ram/Sheep: Hitsuji, 2-4 p.m., Southwest 1, Earth, Bow/Arrow

Monkey: Saru, 4-6 p.m., Southwest 3, Metal (earth, fire, water), Axe

Rooster: Tori, 6-8 p.m., West, Metal (earth, fire, water), Shakujou

Dog: Inu, 8-10 p.m., Northwest 1, Earth, Katana

Boar: Inoshishi, 10-12 p.m., Northwest 3, Water, Vajra

 

A vajra is a five-spoked weapon that symbolizes the five Buddhist wisdoms. It is carried in the left hand and represents the male principle (yang).

The conch represents the sound of spreading the dharma teachings.

A fly-whisk is a Buddhist symbol for brushing away the illusions of the world and is indicative of a creed not to kill.

 

WHEW! Believe it or not, it was worth the research.

 

Thanks for reading!

iPoe