InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten ❯ Shades of Doubt ( Chapter 51 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Black Wren 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.20.2013 | Pages: 11 | Words: 18.9K | Visits: 148 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.20.2013 | Pages: 11 | Words: 18.9K | Visits: 148 | Status: Work In Progress
A temporary halt to the fighting gives a ll sides a chance to rest and recover.&n bsp; During
this time, Kakiboufuu makes plans to visit the mainland in order to& nbsp;discover the
reason behind the unexpecte d appearance of foreign weapons on the b attlefield.
145-135 years before the&nb sp;search for the jewel shards
Chapter 40: Do Not Interfere Further
I know much o f our land‟s technology and even writing has migrated from the
mainland. However, there is a limit to how& nbsp;much change I‟m willing to allow
especially when it comes to the&nb sp;nature of war and the enemy is gettin g the
advantage. Isn‟t it& nbsp;enough to have individuals with the powe r to destroy whole
cities without spread ing that ability to the undisciplined masses?
-Inuyasha
Part 1: Shades&nb sp;of Doubt
Kakiboufuu sat upon& nbsp;the dais with his brother and his f amily sitting to his right.
Before ;him on the floor below, lined along eac h wall, were the elders, heads,
generals and guardians. The guardians were clos est to him, followed by the
generals&nbs p;then the heads and their family elders.&nbs p; Three scouts knelt in the middle of&n bsp;
the room; they had just finished rep orting on the enemy‟s activities.&nbs p;
“Are you certain of&nbs p;this?†asked Kakiboufuu.
&acir c;€œHai, Taisho,†said the lead& nbsp;scout, a dog demon of fawn hair. &n bsp;His green eyes were
not lowered but& nbsp;they didn‟t meet Kakiboufuuâ&eu ro;Ÿs. That was out of respect rat her than
from deceit. If the man&n bsp;had held his lord‟s gaze, it could have been taken as a
challen ge. Instead, he focused his gaze on&nbs p;the hanyou‟s mouth.
Kakiboufuu struggled not to twitch wi th annoyance. He did not like how the scout
refused to meet his eyes. ; He understood why but he still didn&ac irc;€Ÿt like it. It was easier&nbs p;
for him to judge people‟s ;sincerity if he held their gaze. One&n bsp;of the many down sides
of coming&nbs p;into a dog pack after growing up human was the difference in the peopleâ&euro ;Ÿs
subtle behavior. A human would not feel challenged just because someone&nbs p;met
their gaze.
Kakiboufuu pushe d away his petty gripes and focused on&n bsp;the information given to
him. All&n bsp;military operations within Tenji seemed to&nbs p;have halted for the time being.
No movement by his uncle had been noted& nbsp;in the months following his attempt to&n bsp;
take Castle Arai. A failed attempt& nbsp;at glory, or ruin, only because it had already
been destroyed by the inuyok ai clan. It seemed without knowledge of where
Kuromakaze had fallen back to,&nb sp;he wouldn‟t muster his troops ;for any further
assaults against the Ku ro Tenko. It was probably the first&nbs p;smart campaign move he
had made in&nbs p;his whole career and it was probably t he result of smooth word play by
To romaru, advisors and generals rather than bei ng solely his idea.
Kuromakazeâ&e uro;Ÿs lack of activity meant several di fferent things and not all of them
were in Kakiboufuu‟s favor. The first, and most obvious, was that the&n bsp;assault on
Castle Arai had resulted in unforeseen consequences for the devil Tenk o. He had
lost more troops than&nb sp;he had anticipated and he had lost hi s strongest fortress
along with all the& nbsp;weapons and supplies it had held.
& nbsp;
Kakiboufuu had returned to the castle&nb sp;weeks later to see it had already bee n
stripped. The hill the castle sa t upon had been stabilized and the track s of laden
men marked the pathway a way from the fallen keep. He was c ertain the Shiro
Tenko were responsible for that. It was a massive loss fo r the Kuro Tenko. No
other castle& nbsp;within their territory held half as much as Castle Arai. There was also the loss of all the workshops and arm ories that had surrounded the castle. < br>
Rebuilding those would take time along&nb sp;with reacquiring lost tools for the smiths
and carpenters. Kakiboufuu only regret ted that his clan hadn‟t been&nb sp;the ones to
strip the place but they hadn‟t been in any better&n bsp;position to secure the items within
than the Kuro Tenko had been.
The second and most troublesome reason for&n bsp;Kuromakaze‟s silence was that he& nbsp;was
preparing for something. After ;the Day of Devil‟s Awakening, K uromakaze had
gone dormant for years bef ore striking again. Kuromakaze had suffered& nbsp;a severe
setback but not enough to& nbsp;justify this quiet. He had held th e advantage over the
Shiro Tenko this&nb sp;entire war and could have pressed forward& nbsp;in victory even with the
loss of&nb sp;Castle Arai. His refusal to do so&nb sp;worried Kakiboufuu.
“Perhap s he‟s worried that if he a ttacks the Shiro Tenko we‟ll tak e him from
behind,†suggested Ses shomaru, when he had voiced his concerns ;earlier. “You
fought him ;to a draw in the last battle. Ign oring the unexpected incident with the
j ewels, you more than proved above and be yond his expectations. If not for the&n bsp;
immediate arrival of the Shiro Tenko,&nbs p;he might have pressed on with the batt le,
taking advantage of his fresh troops that had remained in the castle and&nbs p;our near
exhaustive state.â€
&nb sp;
“You‟re forgetting, Sesshomaru-sama, that Kuromakaze may have been&nbs p;worried
about the jewels going berserk ;again,†said Lord Raita, an older&nbs p;general with gray
streaked blue-black hair& nbsp;and ice-blue eyes. He had attended ;the battle and
remembered the terrifying&nbs p;moment when the Jewel of Life had trie d to reunite.
“Kaiyoshinj u had left the battlefield by that point ,†said Kakiboufuu before his
bro ther could respond. Raita may have been one of the generals who had stayed ;
with Sesshomaru during Noriko‟s ;rebellion but that was hardly because he&nbs p;liked
Sesshomaru. He had been one&nbs p;of the generals assigned to guard the young demon
after the demon slayersâ&eu ro;Ÿ raid on the castle that had le ft many, including
Sesshomaru‟s& nbsp;mother and newborn sister, dead. Raita& nbsp;continued to see Sesshomaru
as the irrational puppy he had to babysit and S esshomaru bristled whenever the
general spoke to him since Raita always addressed him in a condescending tone.
His ;view of Kakiboufuu was just as poor but the hanyou was able to brush it of f
more easily. Kakiboufuu was younger&n bsp;than all the demons of influence within&n bsp;the
clan so he didn‟t t ake it personally. He just focused on&n bsp;doing the best he could and
hoped&nb sp;he didn‟t mess up so spectacu larly again that his brother took him to task
once more.
Kakib oufuu burned every time he thought about ;the lecture he had received and his
ear throbbed in memory. What humiliated&nb sp;him more was that his brother was
right; he couldn‟t even get ba ck at Sesshomaru for it and his brother& nbsp;knew it. The
older demon had practically been skipping wherever he went si nce he put his
younger brother down.&nbs p; Kakiboufuu felt a burning need to pum mel Sesshomaru
back into place but could n‟t find the justification to do so. Instead, he held his piece and steamed whenever his brother smirked a t him.
It was tempting to see Sesshomaru lose his composure over Raita&nbs p;but this was a
clan meeting and n ot the place for the petty bickering. &n bsp;They could have that fun
outside onc e the official business was over. The&n bsp;idea of Raita pounding Sesshomaru
tickled Kakiboufuu interest and he found himself&nbs p;shuffling the idea into a corner of his mind before it brought a smirk to his face. This wasn‟t the place for private
musing either.
& nbsp;
“The risk of a second ;outburst had been mitigated,†Kakiboufuu&n bsp;continued with the
barest of pauses. ; “No, the Shiro Tenkoâ€& Yuml;s threat was what drove him away th at
time. So perhaps he is worried& nbsp;that if he goes after the Shiro Ten ko he will be
exposing his back to& nbsp;us.â€
“If ;the Shiro Tenko hadn‟t been com ing then Kenji wouldn‟t have bee n there and the
jewels wouldnâ€&Yu ml;t have reacted at all,†said a nother general.
“And we&n bsp;would have pummeled each other to a bloody, exhausted pulp and still
resulting&nb sp;in a draw,†said Kakiboufuu, droppi ng formality in favor of down to earth&n bsp;
battle descriptions. Dog demons apprecia ted the simplicity of such descriptions no&nb sp;
matter how civilized they pretended to&nbs p;be. “The only difference is& nbsp;he would have
been able to gather&n bsp;all his supplies and weapons from the&nbs p;castle and possibly even
repairing it before the Shiro Tenko became aware of t he vulnerability.â€
â€&oeli g;Speaking of weapons,†said Sesshomaru.&nb sp; Kakiboufuu kept his face neutral with&nbs p;a
touch of innocence as his brother&nb sp;stepped into the carefully laid trap. &nbs p;Who said his
cousin was the only one could set people up? â€&oelig ;When are we going to retrieve my
s words?†Kakiboufuu swallowed his grin of triumph.
“Why ar e you so fixated on them? I know&n bsp;they are powerful but this constant
whining-†snarled Raita. This was&nbs p;turning out better than he had hoped.
“That‟s because&n bsp;the Tenken is actually his celestial powe r given physical form,â€
replied K akiboufuu before his brother could respond, a gain. “If Aniue loses his ;
sword then he loses his celestial power s. So right now he‟s just& nbsp;an ordinary demon.â€
The&nbs p;entire room gasped and stared at Sesshomaru . The older Reihane‟s face ;lost all
expression as his eyes went&nb sp;cold. He refused to look at anyone.& nbsp; “Shouldn‟t we hur ry
and locate them then?†asked&n bsp;Naomi, concerned.
“They&ac irc;€Ÿre safe with Kenji and weâ&e uro;Ÿll get them back when heâ€&Yu ml;s able to return them to
us,â&e uro; replied Kakiboufuu, the corner of his&nb sp;lips twitching upward.
†œHmmm… What with that s mirk, Otouto?†asked Sesshomaru as he& nbsp;eyed his
brother.
Kakiboufuu kicked himself for not being able to con tain his glee and replied, “I&n bsp;was
just thinking this was a prime&n bsp;opportunity for you, Aniue.â€
;
“Why?†Sesshomaru drew the word out slowly, suspicious of the& nbsp;reply.
“Well, pathetic&nb sp;as you are in the art of physical&nbs p;and demon combat when it comes to
other trained fighters,†the hanyou r eplied earning a growl from his brother, ;which
caused the smirk to spread to&nbs p;a grin. “I thought you could train with… Oh sayâ&eur o;¦
General Raita here in the art of demon combat and get those wimpy&nbs p;demon muscles
of yours in shape prior& nbsp;to you having your celestial powers rest ored.â€
Sesshomaru face was white, with rage or fear, Kakiboufuu wasn&aci rc;€Ÿt sure, but he
couldnâ€& Yuml;t stop smiling either way. Several ;people choked. Naomi had buried her fa ce
in her kimono sleeve, though she ;looked like she had gone as purple as&n bsp;her favorite
kimono. Kaiyoshinju, unrefi ned woman that she was, was roaring with laughter.
Raita merely raised an incredulous eyebrow, though he hardly looked displeased.
“Why youâ&eu ro;¦!†blustered Sesshomaru.
< br> Kakiboufuu looked away and said, †œIt worked for me, though I trained&nbs p;as a human,
not as a hanyou. &nbs p;Made a big difference in my ability to fight.†Sesshomaru growled
and& nbsp;Kakiboufuu couldn‟t resist the f inal dig. The words leapt from his ;lips before
his self-discipline could wrangl e them back to their pen. †œThen maybe the next time
we have& nbsp;a throw down it will actually be a& nbsp;challenge.â€
Sesshomaru&nb sp;rose to his knees, his youki growing with his rage. The arrogant smirk
he had worn for weeks was now officially gone from his face. Kakiboufuu swung&n bsp;his
head back and came nose to& nbsp;nose with his brother and breathed, &aci rc;€œPayback‟s a bitch,
ai n‟t it?†Sesshomaru look ed like he wanted to club him right ;there. The air in the
room crackl ed with eager anticipation even as the v arious inuyokai frowned their
disapproval. &n bsp;
Somewhere in the back of ;his mind a little voice was demanding t o know why he felt
it necessary to& nbsp;egg on his brother. Especially when&nbs p;he was in a meeting with the
vari ous heads and generals of the clan he&nb sp;was supposed to be controlling. And for it
to be over a matter that&nbs p;he fully earned and deserved. It was& nbsp;childish,
inappropriate and disrespectful. &n bsp;The nagging voice was a bucket of co ld water and
Kakiboufuu felt all his&nbs p;mirth flow out of him. However, with& nbsp;Sesshomaru snarling
in his face he was hardly in a position to back down,&n bsp;not without looking weak in
front of the whole clan.
Raita, however,&n bsp;recognized the subtle shift in the Taisho ‟s manner and gave his lord ;
a way out without him losing face. ; “Alright puppies, if you have the urge for a fight
we can d o that in a few minutes, but can we at least conclude this meeting before < br> you tear into each other?†A t least without his lord losing too much face. Raita,
though, had read Kak iboufuu well and the hanyou wasnâ€&Yuml ;t bothered by the comment
in the s lightest.
Sesshomaru flinched and retur ned to his seat his face frozen in indignation. Raita
rolled his eyes at&n bsp;the demon‟s belated attempt at&nb sp;dignity. Kakiboufuu didn‟t
w ithdraw until Sesshomaru was back in his ;seat. He also didn‟t remove&nb sp;the self-
satisfied smirk off his face ;either as he settled himself back into place.
“A wise suggestion , General Raita,†said the Taisho.&nbs p; “I guess there is a lim it to how
long I can stay serious.& nbsp; I‟ll have to remember that .†Several in the meeting
c huckled as the tension in the air retrea ted. Naomi was finally able to breathe& nbsp;
again and Kaiyoshinju had regained her composure, though, the Taisho‟s&n bsp;response
seemed poised to send her r olling back in another fit of laughter.
The whole discussion had been put& nbsp;on hold when the scouts arrived, breathl ess and
unexpected, to give their report to the gathering. Now any remaining&nb sp;humor was
gone as he heard what he feared the most. Kuromakaze was buil ding up his
strength once more and if he couldn‟t find a way t o stop it, his worst fears would be ;
realized.
The scouts had found&nb sp;the place where Kuromakaze was bringing in his foreign
goods and there were s igns that among the goods were more Chin ese rockets. He
would probably modify&n bsp;them as he had done before. While&n bsp;Kakiboufuu was aware
of them, he was certain the Shiro Tenko weren‟t . In their haste to leave Arai
Castle, Kakiboufuu had forgotten to mention ;the rockets to Kenji and all the
e vidence that might have tipped off the S hiro Tenko had been washed away. They&n bsp;
wouldn‟t be prepared for the m. If Kuromakaze was able to hit h ard and fast against
the Shiro Tenko,&nb sp;the inuyokai would not be able to rea ct before their allies were
destroyed an d then it would just be them versus ;the Kuro Tenko.
The inuyokai were strong but they didn‟t have&nbs p;the numbers they once had. If they&nb sp;
became Kuromakaze‟s primary focus, they wouldn‟t last. They had fought to a draw
but only again st part of his forces. If they wen t all-in it would be Kuromakaze‟ s
victory. His forces were more di verse and had supplies.
â€&o elig;We need to stop the importation of those rockets,†said General Raita. &n bsp;He, like the
other generals, could a lso see where this was leading. A map was placed on the
floor and the scout marked the route, including the l ocation where the ships were
making land fall.
“They‟ re using the inland sea between Shikoku and Honshu and coming ashore at
Kurashik i village. We don‟t know w here exactly they entering the inner sea.&nbs p; They
have too much control of th e water for us to follow the boats,&acir c;€ explained the scout.
â&e uro;œI imagine he has a substantial for ce at Kurashiki village,†said Sesshom aru, his
composure returned. â€&o elig;He knows our tactics are to sabotage&nbs p;his supply lines. He
wonâ€&Yuml ;t want us to interfere with this.â&eur o;
“Agreed,†said& nbsp;Kakiboufuu with a grimace. â€&oel ig;It would be suicide to attack Kurashiki&nb sp;
village. Now what is the water route?†He looked over the map&n bsp;trying to assess
risks as Kuromakaze ;would see them. “Bypassing Os aka would call the attention of
the ;local Daimyo and I know the man is ;not in favor of Tenko expansion. He&nb sp;loves
his power too much and his ;family resisted assimilation for the last th ree
generations. Any foreign ships head ing to Tenji would catch his attention a nd he
would interfere on principal. &nbs p;He would also alert both the Shogun an d Kyoto of the
movements just so he can complain about our growing power. & nbsp;Then the court would
send a message to my uncle demanding explanations.â€& nbsp;
“And what would the& nbsp;Tenko lord do?†asked Soranoko. < br>
“Something suicidal which is how I know Kuromakaze isn‟t&n bsp;going that way,â€
Kakiboufuu replie d. “If the Shiro Tenko mo ve we‟ll move which is what ;
Kuromakaze is fearing. It must be ;here, south of Kyushu and between it an d
Shikoku.â€
“ Why there and not here?†asked Se sshomaru, indicating the small waterway
betwe en the southern tip of Honshu and the&nb sp;northern side of Kyushu.
â&eur o;œBecause the channel there is narrow and we have some control on this side.&n bsp; It
would be harder to hide the passage of ships. This area is mu ch more open and
careful sailing co uld protect the ships from view,†;replied Raita, addressing
Sesshomaru with hi s usual tone. Sesshomaru growled and Ka kiboufuu flicked his
brother as a remind er he needed to stay focused. They ;already had their one
undignified moment&nbs p;for the week.
“All ;those small islands those ships have to ;pass by and they aren‟t being&n bsp;harassed
by pirates?†Raiken wonde red aloud.
“Heâ€&Yu ml;s either terrorized them, bought them, or& nbsp;killed them,†said Kakiboufuu. & acirc;€œHe
always prepares well in ;advance and a bunch of pirates are far& nbsp;too predictable to be
a threat to&n bsp;him.†He scrutinized the map ;and something tickled the back of his < br> mind. He remained quiet even as the others continued to speak, letting the
sensation spread and take him.
The inland sea filled his vision and t he paper melted into water. He saw ;the junks
sailing low in the water,&nbs p;laden with their cargo. It was dark&n bsp;and a thin mist
surrounded them as&n bsp;they moved despite the steady breeze that pushed them along,
blurring their outli ne. From above attacked a band of panther demons. The
pathway the ships&n bsp;were suspected of traveling ran parallel to the panther demon
tribe‟s&nbs p;territory. They had lost their leader ;but it appeared they were not all dead.
A sound of something flying throu gh the air filled his ears and he t hought he saw
one of the demon spli t in two before his vision went white.&n bsp; Pain pierced his
forehead and he&nb sp;sat back gripping his head as the hot agony continued to throb
through his&nb sp;brain.
As the others had contin ued to talk, Sesshomaru was the first to notice his brother
was no longer r esponding or adding to the discussion. The intense unfocused stare
warned Sesshomaru of what was happening and he wisely&nbs p;refrained from
disturbing the hanyouâ&euro ;Ÿs concentration. Unfortunately, Soranoko w asn‟t as well
informed.
The conversations fell silent when ot hers realized the Taisho wasn‟t answering
questions. The wind sorceress ;sat below the dais just to the left&nbs p;of Kakiboufuu. She
looked up and ;saw his own focused gaze and out of&nbs p;concern tapped the dais to try to
draw his attention, lightly calling him at&n bsp;the same time. When he didn†Ÿt respond
she reached up to touch& nbsp;him. Sesshomaru noticed too late.
“Soranoko, wait!†he&nb sp;cried but he was on the opposite side of Kakiboufuu and
couldn‟t ;physically stop her. The moment her ha nd touched him fire ignited over
his&nbs p;whole body. Her hand snapped back and avoided being burned but the damage
was done.
Kakiboufuu cried out, his hands coming to his forehead just as blood squirted from
an unseen wound.&nb sp; He fell backwards grimacing. Sesshomaru& nbsp;caught him as
several of the clan&n bsp;jumped to their feet suspecting an assass in. Unable to detect the
perceived ;attacker, many were beginning to panic and&n bsp;paranoia was setting in.
Accusations&nbs p;of a traitor quickly flew across the r oom.
Sesshomaru realized he ;needed to get the situation under control&nb sp;or the different
heads would try to&n bsp;kill one another. Naomi, having seen&nbs p;this before, quickly took
her fatherâ €Ÿs place beside the writhing hanyou&nbs p;as Sesshomaru stood to address the
ass embly.
“SILENCE!†he roared, filling that single word with ;every shred of power and
authority he&n bsp;could muster. The room fell quiet a s the gathering turned to face him. &nbs p;
“There is no assassin nor&nbs p;is there a traitor,†he said wi th icy calm. “Otouto did not
want to tell you, but now I&nbs p;have no choice. Otouto possesses a po wer that grants
premonitions but it is&n bsp;not a power he can control. It ;possesses him from time to
time, pushin g him into taking a course of action&nbs p;no one will understand until the
event inspiring it comes to pass. On a& nbsp;rare occasion, a possession will result in
injury to his person. Once ;the fit has passed, I will ask him ;what he saw. Until
then, no one&n bsp;will act unless in defense of our cl an.â€
The silence continued as each person tried to absorb the shock ing revelation. It was
Xeno that s poke first. “You speak of ;the Prophet‟s Eye. Never has&n bsp;there been a
more terrifying power t han it.â€
“Why ;is that?†asked Kaiyoshinju.
“As Sesshomaru said, it is n ot a power that which can be controlled& nbsp;by the one that
bears it,â€&n bsp;he replied. “Lucifer was o nce believed to have had it and Canaan&n bsp;as well.
I believe Lucifer learned& nbsp;how to suppress it, or it left him, because when I arrived
here he was no longer being affected by it.â€
“Chichiue had the e ye?†asked Sesshomaru, incredulous. & nbsp;
Xeno nodded and added, â&eur o;œPossession is an apt description for ;what it does. Just
whose eye is&n bsp;it really and what their purpose is in forcing the path that history
takes?& acirc;€
“Lucifer and ;Canaan, two of the thirteen angels and neither a pure blood,†muttered
S esshomaru. “Inuyasha is the mo st terrified of all. He doesnâ€&Y uml;t like he can‟t choose
the path he‟s taking.â€
“A wise fear,†said Xeno. “The path that ;Lucifer and Canaan were made to walk resulted in Lucifer taking the life of&nbs p;Canaan, his one time ally and friend a nd being
branded forever by the Canaanit es as a traitor and devil.â€
“What?†gasped Sesshoma ru. Several others vocalized their shock&nbs p;as well.
“I don&ac irc;€Ÿt know the real reason why th e two fought only that they did and ;that the
story the Canaanites continue to tell is being spread throughout the f ar west.â€
“Who&nbs p;or what are the Canaanites?†asked&n bsp;Sesshomaru.
“They are ;Canaan‟s descendents. They are ;like the Tenko, only not as honorable.â ;€
********
Sesshomaru sat against the wall as Naomi and Himawa ri tended to his ailing
brother. T hey had brought him into a more private& nbsp;room after Xeno‟s revelation
had ended the meeting. The taiyokai f ound himself examining and reexamining
Xeno&a circ;€Ÿs words. They ran close to& nbsp;what Kakiboufuu had expressed after the battle.
The feeling of someone using&nb sp;him to write history in their fashion.&nbs p;
No one had known anything about his father‟s history afte r the celestial war of long
ago. &n bsp;No one really knew how long ago it&n bsp;was only that it was described as a& nbsp;time
with great ice sheets and gian t animals; none of which existed today s ave for their
demon counterparts and sma ll cousins. Between the time of the&nbs p;Fallen One‟s
rebellion and whe n his father reappeared in Japan a thous and years ago, no one
knew anything.&nbs p; Xeno was the first clue to that hidden history but, before today,
had ne ver spoken a word about it.
N o one knew how to pronounce Chichiueâ&e uro;Ÿs name from the ancient texts, they just
knew what it meant, Angel of& nbsp;Light and it became the origins of my clan name,
Light Wing, Reihane, he&nb sp;thought. How could something so terrible& nbsp;happen? How
could Chichiue be forc ed to kill his own friend and ally? ; What happened? Were
they both re ally being controlled by the Prophetâ€& Yuml;s Eye? Was it the Eye that ma de
them enemies? For what purpose? ; He looked over at his brother.
&n bsp;
“But who is deciding t his? It isn‟t me! Someone else is using me to write history. ;
I‟m not even being truste d with the decision. I donâ€&Yuml ;t know what will happen I just
say or do things at random and it happ ens to work out, but what if the en d of the
journey isn‟t what any of us actually wanted?â€
“He is being forced to&n bsp;walk a lonely road, one that is fill ed with jagged rocks,
barefoot. His&nbs p;suffering has just begun and I shudder ;at what‟s yet to come.â€& nbsp;
What nightmares are awaiting us?&n bsp;Sesshomaru thought with his own shudder.
Gods of mercy, I beg of you, spare my brother from these horrors!
&nb sp;
*****
A week went by witho ut improvement from Kakiboufuu. Sesshomaru f eared
Soranoko‟s polite interruption& nbsp;had unintentional hurt his brother beyond&nbs p;what the
possession would have done. & nbsp;Though, he never said such to her, she walked around
with an air of gu ilt and wouldn‟t meet his eyes.& nbsp;
Several of the young bloods w ere anxious to attack after the contents ;of the meeting
were shared by the heads with their families. Sesshomaru refuse d to sanction any
such attacks, certain& nbsp;the vision Kakiboufuu had involved the j unks. They needed to
wait until th e Taisho had recovered so he can explain what he saw. The generals
initial ly agreed but each passing day was one&n bsp;day closer to Kuromakaze‟s final& nbsp;
attack against the ailing Shiro Tenko.&n bsp; They were growing more impatient for&nbs p;the
raid as well.
Xeno, how ever, had distanced himself from the others&n bsp;and withdrawn into
meditation and prayer. Like Sesshomaru, the potential threat in the Prophet‟s Eye
worried&nbs p;him as well. He was the only one not pressing Sesshomaru for action;
tho ugh, he offered no support in placating the others.
“I under stand the need for caution against such an enemy as Kuromakaze,†said
Rai ta, once more trying to convince the tai yokai of the need for action. â&e uro;œBut we may
be losing our wind ow of opportunity. If we donâ€&Yu ml;t act soon we could lose everything.â ;€
“If we act t oo soon we could lose everything,â€&nbs p;countered Sesshomaru.
“With& nbsp;all due respect, Sesshomaru-sama,†sai d Raita with his condescending tone in < br> full force, “you are not a& nbsp;great military leader. I say we ne ed to strike now and sink
those shi ps before Kuromakaze can gain another rocket. â€
“You canâ& euro;Ÿt make that decision!†snapped&n bsp;Sesshomaru. He suddenly found spears in& nbsp;
his face forcing him to take a ;step back from General Raita.
&ac irc;€œI will take full responsibility f or this. I will explain my reasoning&nb sp;to the Taisho
when I return as w ell as present him the heads of the ;Chinese captains,†said Raita.
Sesshomaru growled and reached for the spears to push them away. Instead, a
third dog demon took hold of his arms& nbsp;and tied his hands behind his back. ;
“Raita!†howled S esshomaru. He pulled at the bindings bu t they refused to give.
Demons kne w how to restrain other demons.
“You‟re just an ordi nary demon now and the Taisho was correc t about you needing
to improve this ;side of your fighting ability,†said& nbsp;Raita.
“However, I a m not an ordinary demon,†snarled ;Naomi as she left the Temple
followed&n bsp;by her vexed mother and the frightened&nb sp;Himawari.
“Peace, Naomi-sam a. I have no intention of harming your father,†said Raita
raising his hands to placate the young dragoness.&nbs p; “I just don‟t w ant him getting in
my way. I& nbsp;already have several volunteers, more than&nb sp;enough for this raid. These
three&nb sp;will remain here to make sure Sesshomaru-s ama does not follow. I wish for you to remain as well, Naomi-sama. T he clan will need protection while weâ& euro;Ÿre away
and I feel you are&nb sp;presently are best warrior. However, Kaiy oshinju-sama, I would
be honored if you& nbsp;joined us as this raid will be cond ucted over the ocean.â€
Kaiy oshinju stared at the general, her violet&nbs p;eyes gazing deep into his icy blue one s
and held them in challenge. Howe ver, she was the first to look away ;and sighed.
“I‟l l go.â€
“Mother!&ac irc;€ cried Naomi.
“ Kaiyo,†said Sesshomaru.
She&nbs p;fixed him with a steely cold stare but it softened into sad regret as she ;gazed
into his sad eyes. She walk ed over to him and kissed him as sh e once did long ago
when they had&n bsp;been young and in love. His respons e told her that he still
remembered ;those days and treasured them. He was& nbsp;reluctant to let their lips part
as she pulled back and held his face in her hands.
“You a re not even sure of your choices, even&n bsp;now,†said Kaiyoshinju as she held his
golden eyes. “If&nbs p;you were, you wouldn‟t have al lowed this humiliation.†She
bro ught her face forward, pressing her cheek&nbs p;against his and whispered, “You&nb sp;may
not be the strongest among us,&nb sp;Sesshomaru, but you aren‟t weak&nb sp;either. You‟ve
been doubting yourself for decades.†She sepa rated their faces and met his golden
gaze, unreadable in their pain.
Naomi blushed; surprised her mother could sti ll do that with Sesshomaru after all
the centuries of hate. Himawari stared&nbs p;in awe and sadness at the tenderness h er
husband-to-be expressed for his lost love. She would have to accept those&nb sp;feelings
would never leave but she&nb sp;became more determined to find away to&nbs p;turn those
affections toward her. Oth erwise, he would never truly be happy wi th her.
“As y ou say, I am Kaiyo, The Ocean. The ir best chance of returning is if I ;go with
them,†she said and ;pulled away. He watched her leave with General Raita before
he was gentle ;guided indoors to the sealed room where ;he would await whatever
fate lay before the general and his men.
*** ***
“I‟m sor ry, Chichiue,†said Naomi, kneeling ou tside the cell where her father was
being kept. He sat leaning against one of the walls looking only slightly irri tated by
the whole scandal. The th ree guards left to watch over him had&nb sp;untied his hands
before he entered th e cell so he wouldn‟t be un comfortable. They took turns resting,
m aking sure there were at least two stati oned by his cell at all times.
&nbs p;
The room was covered in spiritualist s eals that had been found in the temple&a circ;€Ÿs
storehouse. The cells wer e created for demon prisoners or for dem ons who just
needed a place to cool off. Sesshomaru hadn‟t resiste d being put in the cell, he
didn&ac irc;€Ÿt see the point. Raita was&n bsp;already on his way and though he onl y had a small
number accompanying him&nb sp;on his mission, most in the clan agre ed with the older
demon. Forcing t he issue would only divide the clan furt her. Sesshomaru just
hoped that nothing would happen.
“About&nbs p;what?†he asked in response to his daughter‟s words.
&aci rc;€œI shouldn‟t have let Raita do this to you,†replied Na omi. “With Oji-san down, you&n bsp;
are in charge. If you said to& nbsp;wait, they should have waited.†< br>
Sesshomaru sighed. “ Forget it, Naomi. General Raita is only doing what he
believes necessary for&nb sp;the sake of clan and country. He&aci rc;€Ÿs a warrior with many
centurie s of experience behind him and he held&n bsp;Chichiue‟s trust. What right&nbs p;did I
have to nay say him?â&euro ;
“But you werenâ&e uro;Ÿt making your decisions on a whim,& acirc;€ retorted Naomi. “You&n bsp;honestly
believed your decision was the&n bsp;best for both clan and country as we ll.â€
“And we had a difference of opinion and so I&nbs p;am here and he is not,†said&nb sp;
Sesshomaru. Naomi opened her mouth a gain, hurting to see him putting himself ;
down. Sesshomaru cut her off. &a circ;€œLeave it be, Naomi. It is& nbsp;done. I just hope I really
am the one who is wrong.â€
&nbs p;
“Wrong about what?â€
The guards immediately prostrated themsel ves as Naomi spun around. Kakiboufuu stood in the hall entrance with Himawari&n bsp;a step behind. He was dressed only& nbsp;in his
sleeping kimono of pale blue . His hair was undone and fell to& nbsp;mid-thigh in a
tangled mess. Dark& nbsp;circles lined the underside of his eyes& nbsp;as if he hadn‟t slept for&n bsp;a
week instead of the opposite. &nbs p;He rubbed his eyes to rid them of ;grime; he had just
risen from his futon.
“Aniue,†sa id Kakiboufuu in a tired voice. â €œWhat did you do to earn a t ime-out in
the cooling box?â€
Sesshomaru rose to his feet and s tepped toward the cell door. â€&o elig;I disagreed with
Raita. I said&nbs p;we needed to stay put until you awoke& nbsp;and he said we needed to
attack&nbs p;the foreign ships before Kuromakaze gets ev erything he needs to attack the
Shiro&nb sp;Tenko.â€
Kakiboufuu was s uddenly fully awake and alert, lowering his&n bsp;hand to stare at
Sesshomaru. â ;€œHe wants to do what?â€
Sesshomaru grimaced at his brotherâ €Ÿs concern. “Heâ€& Yuml;s taken several of the young
fighte rs and is going to raid the Chinese ;junks. Probably before they can enter the
inland sea. Kaiyoshinju went with&n bsp;them.â€
“Open t he cell,†the Taisho ordered. Th e guards hurried to free Sesshomaru but
Kakiboufuu didn‟t wait. He ;rushed back to his room to dress. ;When his brother
arrived, he was alread y tying off his hakama.
â&eu ro;œWhen did they leave?†asked Kakiboufuu as Himawari helped to place his&nb sp;armor.
“Just this morn ing,†replied Naomi.
â&eur o;œKaiyoshinju only went with them because&n bsp;she believed she was their best hope ;for
survival,†added Sesshomaru as&nb sp;he kicked himself for not being more forceful, for
bowing to Raita‟s& nbsp;demands instead of exercising his authority&n bsp;over him.
Kaiyoshinju‟s whi spered words echoed in his mind.
< br> “You may not be the stronge st among us, Sesshomaru, but you arenâ& euro;Ÿt weak either.
You‟v e been doubting yourself for decades.â€
It‟s hard not to doubt my decisions of authority when every one of them has led to
disaster and everyone reminds me of that ;whenever possible, he thought as he
rub bed his face.
“Thatâ ;€Ÿs the only reason why Iâ€& Yuml;m racing after them,†said Kakibo ufuu, sliding on
Rokukafuga. â€&o elig;There would be no way to reach them before they‟re killed
otherwise .â€
“Killed?⠀ Naomi went pale.
â&e uro;œDemon slayers are protecting the waterw ay,†replied the Taisho in a soft voice.
“Demon slayers?&a circ;€ Sesshomaru‟s mind flashe d upon that terrible day when the
c astle had been attacked and he had found his mother‟s headless body. &nb sp;Everything
spun as his heart raced wi th rage and grief and the image of his mother was
replaced with that of&nbs p;Kaiyoshinju.
He didn‟t r ealize he had moved until he felt his&nb sp;back slam into the wall and an arm&nb sp;
pinning him there. He stared into&nb sp;golden eyes and thought it was his fa ther.
“Release me, Chichiue!&n bsp; I have to kill them! Release me!†shouted Sesshomaru, lost
to the past.
A slap landed&nbs p;on his right cheek and a voice that&nb sp;wasn‟t his father‟s s poke. “Wake
up, Aniue!â& euro;
Sesshomaru‟s mind returned to the present and all his rage vanished. Shame filled
the v oid as he realized how fast he has fallen. He slid down the wall and the arm
pulled away. He gazed up&n bsp;at his brother but it wasn‟t rage or disgust in his eyes
only&n bsp;sorrow. Sesshomaru lowered his eyes and& nbsp;punched the floor.
“ This is why no one trusts my judgment,&a circ;€ said Sesshomaru with emotion. &a circ;€œI let
them leave without pu tting up a fight. I should have ta ken a stronger stance but no
one be lieves I know what I‟m doing.&ac irc;€
“It isnâ&euro ;Ÿt your fault, Aniue,†said Kaki boufuu, kneeling down to be at eye level with
his brother. “They& nbsp;made their choice.â€
&a circ;€œWe are losing our clansmen becau se I couldn‟t step up as yo ur relief when you
needed me to.â& euro;
“They made their&nb sp;choice,†repeated Kakiboufuu, shaking hi s brother‟s shoulder.
â&e uro;œBesides, if I had been more open&n bsp;about the Prophet‟s Eye instead&n bsp;of hiding it…â€
&nbs p;
Sesshomaru shook his head and looked a way as he spoke. “When yo u collapsed, I
told them about the Prophet‟s Eye. Xeno knew about& nbsp;that power… You were
right… It isn‟t&nbs p;a power we can trust. It at one& nbsp;time possessed Chichiue and drove
him&nb sp;to kill his own friend and be forever branded as a traitor by the people ;of the
west.â€
Kakiboufuu&n bsp;didn‟t move for several seconds&n bsp;then he reached forward and embraced
his older brother. “Stay,â&e uro; he commanded in a low voice. He rose to his feet and
headed towa rd the main entrance, saying in passing. ; “Himawari, Naomi, remain
here and take care of Sesshomaru. Iâ& euro;Ÿm going alone.â€
Sessh omaru‟s eyes widen in alarm. &nb sp;“You are forgetting your responsi bilities again,â€
he said. He&nbs p;tried to rise only to find his movemen ts were slow as if he moved
through mud, his limbs felt many times heavier& nbsp;than they should. “What d id you do
to me?â€
Kakiboufuu didn‟t respond, disappearing&n bsp;out the front door into the courtyard.&nb sp;
Naomi tried to follow but once she was five feet from her father she&nb sp;fell to ground,
her own limbs suddenl y heavy. When she scooted back toward&n bsp;her father, their
condition returned to&n bsp;normal.
“Damn you! &n bsp;Oji-san!†she shouted in fury. &nb sp;
“What happened?â ;€ asked Himawari. She hadnâ€&Yum l;t tried to follow the Taisho so hadn&a circ;€Ÿt
felt the strange affects.
“It‟s hypnosis,&n bsp;hitenko can use it because of the fi re‟s natural hypnotic allure. T he
commands he issued can‟t ;be disobeyed, a part of our minds sees& nbsp;them as absolute.
Until he takes&n bsp;it off, we can‟t do anything but obey. Our bodies will resist any
disobedience,†replied Naomi, hiss ing the whole while.
â€&oeli g;I‟m going to kill him,†muttered Sesshomaru, rage filling every aspe ct of his being
but still his body& nbsp;struggled to move.
*****
&nbs p;
Night had fallen and General Raita, Ka iyoshinju and their party waited at a ne arby
inlet for the junks to arrive. ; The scouts‟ information had st ated they appeared
every two weeks, once on the full moon and once on the&n bsp;new moon when the tides
were their&n bsp;highest. Tonight was a new moon and the tide was rising as the night < br> approached its zenith.
A mist appeared on the water despite the light breeze that should have swept it
away.&n bsp; The wane light of the stars became& nbsp;almost useless as the dark sea was
swallowed by the spreading fog. However , neither dogs nor dragons required sight&nbs p;
to find their prey. The creak of wood, the splash of water and the whisper of foreign
words before they saw the glowing lanterns told them the ship s were here.
General Raita gave&nb sp;a low growl and everyone lunged toward&nbs p;the dark ships. The
men shouted as they spotted the demons and panicked. ; Their own spiritualists
tried to cast& nbsp;their wards but foreign spells had minim um effect on native demons.
For ar istocratic demons, they were less than useles s. It would have easiest to just < br> let Kaiyoshinju sink the ships but they&n bsp;needed answers. They needed to know ;who
the supplier was or else this& nbsp;would never end. If they could fin d and destroy the
supplier then the ;all shipments would stop.
The onl y remaining problem was the language barrier. General Raita was sure
someone on board had to speak Japanese or else&nbs p;there would be no way for them to ;
barter with the Kuro Tenko. Raita ;wasn‟t aware of the imperial co urt‟s practice of
learning Chine se and didn‟t realize that many& nbsp;of the Tenko could speak to the cre w
directly. There were no Japanese ;speakers onboard.
As Raita pressured&n bsp;the crew seeking a translator that wasn&a circ;€Ÿt there, Kaiyoshinju
stayed on&nb sp;the ocean‟s surface, creating smal l whirlpools that prevented the ships
fr om riding the tide further in. She ;could here General Raita‟s growing&n bsp;frustration.
“Raita!â&eur o; she called, growing more anxious to b e away. “If you canâ&eur o;Ÿt find the
translator then capture&nb sp;the most important looking ones and let&ac irc;€Ÿs sink the ships.
We ca n figure out how to extract the informat ion we need once we return to the < br> temple.â€
Kaiyoshinju heard a strange whistling sound a second before ;she was struck from
behind. She c ried out and lost control of the whirlpo ols before collapsing and
sinking below the surface, unconscious. The swirling curre nts increased
momentarily in size and me rged, throwing the junks together and capsizi ng two of
them. Chinese men and&nb sp;the inuyokai were thrown into the water.&n bsp; Three of the
remaining ships suffer ed damage at the waterline and began sin king. Another two
lost their sails ;as they became entangled in the rigging ;of other vessels and were
torn. A nother lost its rudder. Only one escape d with minor damage.
General Raita had not been thrown into the water ;but the ship he stood upon was
sin king fast. The Chinese were now more&nb sp;concerned in escaping their doomed
ve ssel than in the demon that had been&nbs p;terrorizing them a moment before. The ;
general ignored the men in turn and&nbs p;ran to the side.
“ Kaiyoshinju-sama!†he shouted to the b lack water. There was no response. &nbs p;“Who‟s
there?†he shouted to the dark sky. Stars flickered as something passed before
th em, too fast for him to catch with his sight in the night. He caught a whiff of cat
before one of his&nb sp;men shouted a warning from the sea. < br>
He spun around in time to see& nbsp;a transformed twin-tail cat charging him.&nbs p; On its
back was a woman dressed& nbsp;in black and red and above her head was a weapon as
big as she wa s and shaped like a boomerang, a haraiko tsu. A demon slayer? he
thought in shock and then he thought no more. ;
******
Kakiboufuu flew as&n bsp;fast as he could, trying to catch hi s clansmen but knowing he
wouldn†Ÿt make it in time. As night fell, he was met with a more horrifying& nbsp;surprise.
He had left without real izing how long he had been asleep. ;With the setting sun his
demon and ;attach celestial power vanished. His wings& nbsp;disappeared with his claws
and fangs,&nb sp;his sight and hearing weakened and his&nbs p;nose went dead. He dropped ten
f eet before Hotaru enlarged herself and took&n bsp;hold of his armor, becoming his new
wings. She carried him forward as he stared at his clawless hands.
& nbsp;
Damn it! he thought. A new mo on, tonight! This isn‟t good.&n bsp; If anything comes up, I
wonâ& euro;Ÿt be able to handle it. I&nb sp;only have my spiritual power tonight. &nbs p;Despite all his
training, he had never been able to separate his celestial pow er from his demon
power and now he& nbsp;suspected it had everything to do with&n bsp;his grandfather‟s blood.
Ka nzaki Jounochi‟s powers had waxed&nbs p;and waned with the moon and Kakiboufuu ;
feared his were forever doomed to do&nb sp;the same.
“Hotaru,&aci rc;€ he said as he looked over his& nbsp;shoulder. “Can you carry me all the way to
the sea entrance? †The phoenix squawked her affir mative. “Please hurry then. &n bsp;I
need to order them away from those ships. I just hope theyâ€&Y uml;ll listen even though I‟m like this right now.â€
** ****
“Yade yade,â€& nbsp;said Lady Kou as Xeno worked to bre ak the spell on Sesshomaru.
â&eur o;œYou could have shouted at the Taisho , „It‟s a new moon& nbsp;tonight!‟ or something. He ;
was unconscious for a whole week, so&nb sp;why would he realize that tonight was ;a new
moon. The scouts only told& nbsp;the details of the timing after he collapsed so he
wouldn‟t realize the significance of General Raita going ;now.â€
“Maybe he&a circ;€Ÿll return once he transforms,â&e uro; suggested Himawari.
â€&oelig ;I doubt he‟ll be that rational, †said Naomi.
â€&oeli g;Taisho or no Taisho, I am beating him& nbsp;„til he begs,†snarled&nb sp;Sesshomaru. “He‟s s till
too young to be thinking he ca n go around doing what he wants unchalle nged when
there‟s so much a t stake.â€
“I agree,†said Lady Kou, “ but do you believe he‟ll just&nb sp;sit there and let you get a
hold of him after last time.â€
&n bsp;
Sesshomaru blinked in confusion until he& nbsp;realized what she was talking about. &nb sp;
“You were eavesdropping?!â€
The elder unfurled her fan a nd let her eyes peek over the edge. ; “I was on my way to ;
scold him soundly for the very same&nbs p;thing. You were just faster that I&nb sp;was.â€
“I v olunteer to hold him down,†said Naomi. “I have lots of pr actice is knocking
daiyokai to the groun d.†Sesshomaru‟s eyebrow ;twitched but he made no comment
on ;the matter. He knew well her ability&n bsp;to bring down daiyokai; he was her f avorite
practice dummy.
Xeno sat&n bsp;back and said, “The spell o n Sesshomaru-sama has been removed. Naomi- sama see if you can move around freel y now. He may have tied the spells together.â€
Naomi rose and began to walk away only to fall to her knees five feet from her
father.&nbs p; Xeno sighed.
“I f ear part of the spell on the ladies ;is to remain here or I would suggest&nb sp;you go
after him in mass,â€&nbs p;said the fire demon as he turned his&n bsp;attention on Naomi. “His < br> spell is subtle and hard to locate. I cannot remove these with any great&nb sp;speed.â€
Sesshomaru rose to&nb sp;his feet. “And I cannot&nbs p;wait any longer.â€
“You are hardly in a better&nbs p;position yourself,†said Lady Kou. & nbsp;“You don‟t have yo ur
celestial power.â€
â ;€œI am hardly weaker than you or& nbsp;anyone else here,†said Sesshomaru.&nb sp; “On the other
hand, Ot outo‟s Tenko powers disappear on ;this night as well as his demon power.& nbsp;
He‟s no better than a mere mortal and he‟s out t here by himself.â€
â€& oelig;You are not used to being without your celestial powers while myself and the&nb sp;
others know no other way,†sta ted Lady Kou, lowering her fan. â €œYou were never the
greatest of&n bsp;warriors simply because you take your inh erited strength for granted.
Admittedly ;there are few outside of Tenji who can& nbsp;match that strength but you
shouldn&acir c;€Ÿt count on not crossing paths w ith them this night.â€
Sesshomaru closed his eyes then began to ;walk away without responding. Lady
Kou was right but her arguments only confir med the need for him to hurry. As& nbsp;
dangerous as it was for him, his&nb sp;brother was in even greater danger and&nbs p;arguing
was only wasting time. Lady&n bsp;Kou pressed her lips together but said&nb sp;no more, she
had voiced her piece&nbs p;and the young demon was going anyway.
He took a few steps then hear d Himawari gasp. He turned back to ;find her bent
forward. “ Please go, my lord,†she said, wa ving him away. “Iâ€&Yuml ;m not in pain, it‟s just < br> startling.â€
“Gomena sai,†he said and hurried out of& nbsp;the temple.
“ Sesshomaru-sama!†called Soranoko. She&nbs p;had been patrolling earlier in the day ;
and had returned after Raita had left.& nbsp; “Let me go with you, ;you‟ll conserve strength
if you ride my feather.†Sesshomaru co nsented and they were soon flying through&nbs p;
the air.
this time, Kakiboufuu makes plans to visit the mainland in order to& nbsp;discover the
reason behind the unexpecte d appearance of foreign weapons on the b attlefield.
145-135 years before the&nb sp;search for the jewel shards
Chapter 40: Do Not Interfere Further
I know much o f our land‟s technology and even writing has migrated from the
mainland. However, there is a limit to how& nbsp;much change I‟m willing to allow
especially when it comes to the&nb sp;nature of war and the enemy is gettin g the
advantage. Isn‟t it& nbsp;enough to have individuals with the powe r to destroy whole
cities without spread ing that ability to the undisciplined masses?
-Inuyasha
Part 1: Shades&nb sp;of Doubt
Kakiboufuu sat upon& nbsp;the dais with his brother and his f amily sitting to his right.
Before ;him on the floor below, lined along eac h wall, were the elders, heads,
generals and guardians. The guardians were clos est to him, followed by the
generals&nbs p;then the heads and their family elders.&nbs p; Three scouts knelt in the middle of&n bsp;
the room; they had just finished rep orting on the enemy‟s activities.&nbs p;
“Are you certain of&nbs p;this?†asked Kakiboufuu.
&acir c;€œHai, Taisho,†said the lead& nbsp;scout, a dog demon of fawn hair. &n bsp;His green eyes were
not lowered but& nbsp;they didn‟t meet Kakiboufuuâ&eu ro;Ÿs. That was out of respect rat her than
from deceit. If the man&n bsp;had held his lord‟s gaze, it could have been taken as a
challen ge. Instead, he focused his gaze on&nbs p;the hanyou‟s mouth.
Kakiboufuu struggled not to twitch wi th annoyance. He did not like how the scout
refused to meet his eyes. ; He understood why but he still didn&ac irc;€Ÿt like it. It was easier&nbs p;
for him to judge people‟s ;sincerity if he held their gaze. One&n bsp;of the many down sides
of coming&nbs p;into a dog pack after growing up human was the difference in the peopleâ&euro ;Ÿs
subtle behavior. A human would not feel challenged just because someone&nbs p;met
their gaze.
Kakiboufuu pushe d away his petty gripes and focused on&n bsp;the information given to
him. All&n bsp;military operations within Tenji seemed to&nbs p;have halted for the time being.
No movement by his uncle had been noted& nbsp;in the months following his attempt to&n bsp;
take Castle Arai. A failed attempt& nbsp;at glory, or ruin, only because it had already
been destroyed by the inuyok ai clan. It seemed without knowledge of where
Kuromakaze had fallen back to,&nb sp;he wouldn‟t muster his troops ;for any further
assaults against the Ku ro Tenko. It was probably the first&nbs p;smart campaign move he
had made in&nbs p;his whole career and it was probably t he result of smooth word play by
To romaru, advisors and generals rather than bei ng solely his idea.
Kuromakazeâ&e uro;Ÿs lack of activity meant several di fferent things and not all of them
were in Kakiboufuu‟s favor. The first, and most obvious, was that the&n bsp;assault on
Castle Arai had resulted in unforeseen consequences for the devil Tenk o. He had
lost more troops than&nb sp;he had anticipated and he had lost hi s strongest fortress
along with all the& nbsp;weapons and supplies it had held.
& nbsp;
Kakiboufuu had returned to the castle&nb sp;weeks later to see it had already bee n
stripped. The hill the castle sa t upon had been stabilized and the track s of laden
men marked the pathway a way from the fallen keep. He was c ertain the Shiro
Tenko were responsible for that. It was a massive loss fo r the Kuro Tenko. No
other castle& nbsp;within their territory held half as much as Castle Arai. There was also the loss of all the workshops and arm ories that had surrounded the castle. < br>
Rebuilding those would take time along&nb sp;with reacquiring lost tools for the smiths
and carpenters. Kakiboufuu only regret ted that his clan hadn‟t been&nb sp;the ones to
strip the place but they hadn‟t been in any better&n bsp;position to secure the items within
than the Kuro Tenko had been.
The second and most troublesome reason for&n bsp;Kuromakaze‟s silence was that he& nbsp;was
preparing for something. After ;the Day of Devil‟s Awakening, K uromakaze had
gone dormant for years bef ore striking again. Kuromakaze had suffered& nbsp;a severe
setback but not enough to& nbsp;justify this quiet. He had held th e advantage over the
Shiro Tenko this&nb sp;entire war and could have pressed forward& nbsp;in victory even with the
loss of&nb sp;Castle Arai. His refusal to do so&nb sp;worried Kakiboufuu.
“Perhap s he‟s worried that if he a ttacks the Shiro Tenko we‟ll tak e him from
behind,†suggested Ses shomaru, when he had voiced his concerns ;earlier. “You
fought him ;to a draw in the last battle. Ign oring the unexpected incident with the
j ewels, you more than proved above and be yond his expectations. If not for the&n bsp;
immediate arrival of the Shiro Tenko,&nbs p;he might have pressed on with the batt le,
taking advantage of his fresh troops that had remained in the castle and&nbs p;our near
exhaustive state.â€
&nb sp;
“You‟re forgetting, Sesshomaru-sama, that Kuromakaze may have been&nbs p;worried
about the jewels going berserk ;again,†said Lord Raita, an older&nbs p;general with gray
streaked blue-black hair& nbsp;and ice-blue eyes. He had attended ;the battle and
remembered the terrifying&nbs p;moment when the Jewel of Life had trie d to reunite.
“Kaiyoshinj u had left the battlefield by that point ,†said Kakiboufuu before his
bro ther could respond. Raita may have been one of the generals who had stayed ;
with Sesshomaru during Noriko‟s ;rebellion but that was hardly because he&nbs p;liked
Sesshomaru. He had been one&nbs p;of the generals assigned to guard the young demon
after the demon slayersâ&eu ro;Ÿ raid on the castle that had le ft many, including
Sesshomaru‟s& nbsp;mother and newborn sister, dead. Raita& nbsp;continued to see Sesshomaru
as the irrational puppy he had to babysit and S esshomaru bristled whenever the
general spoke to him since Raita always addressed him in a condescending tone.
His ;view of Kakiboufuu was just as poor but the hanyou was able to brush it of f
more easily. Kakiboufuu was younger&n bsp;than all the demons of influence within&n bsp;the
clan so he didn‟t t ake it personally. He just focused on&n bsp;doing the best he could and
hoped&nb sp;he didn‟t mess up so spectacu larly again that his brother took him to task
once more.
Kakib oufuu burned every time he thought about ;the lecture he had received and his
ear throbbed in memory. What humiliated&nb sp;him more was that his brother was
right; he couldn‟t even get ba ck at Sesshomaru for it and his brother& nbsp;knew it. The
older demon had practically been skipping wherever he went si nce he put his
younger brother down.&nbs p; Kakiboufuu felt a burning need to pum mel Sesshomaru
back into place but could n‟t find the justification to do so. Instead, he held his piece and steamed whenever his brother smirked a t him.
It was tempting to see Sesshomaru lose his composure over Raita&nbs p;but this was a
clan meeting and n ot the place for the petty bickering. &n bsp;They could have that fun
outside onc e the official business was over. The&n bsp;idea of Raita pounding Sesshomaru
tickled Kakiboufuu interest and he found himself&nbs p;shuffling the idea into a corner of his mind before it brought a smirk to his face. This wasn‟t the place for private
musing either.
& nbsp;
“The risk of a second ;outburst had been mitigated,†Kakiboufuu&n bsp;continued with the
barest of pauses. ; “No, the Shiro Tenkoâ€& Yuml;s threat was what drove him away th at
time. So perhaps he is worried& nbsp;that if he goes after the Shiro Ten ko he will be
exposing his back to& nbsp;us.â€
“If ;the Shiro Tenko hadn‟t been com ing then Kenji wouldn‟t have bee n there and the
jewels wouldnâ€&Yu ml;t have reacted at all,†said a nother general.
“And we&n bsp;would have pummeled each other to a bloody, exhausted pulp and still
resulting&nb sp;in a draw,†said Kakiboufuu, droppi ng formality in favor of down to earth&n bsp;
battle descriptions. Dog demons apprecia ted the simplicity of such descriptions no&nb sp;
matter how civilized they pretended to&nbs p;be. “The only difference is& nbsp;he would have
been able to gather&n bsp;all his supplies and weapons from the&nbs p;castle and possibly even
repairing it before the Shiro Tenko became aware of t he vulnerability.â€
â€&oeli g;Speaking of weapons,†said Sesshomaru.&nb sp; Kakiboufuu kept his face neutral with&nbs p;a
touch of innocence as his brother&nb sp;stepped into the carefully laid trap. &nbs p;Who said his
cousin was the only one could set people up? â€&oelig ;When are we going to retrieve my
s words?†Kakiboufuu swallowed his grin of triumph.
“Why ar e you so fixated on them? I know&n bsp;they are powerful but this constant
whining-†snarled Raita. This was&nbs p;turning out better than he had hoped.
“That‟s because&n bsp;the Tenken is actually his celestial powe r given physical form,â€
replied K akiboufuu before his brother could respond, a gain. “If Aniue loses his ;
sword then he loses his celestial power s. So right now he‟s just& nbsp;an ordinary demon.â€
The&nbs p;entire room gasped and stared at Sesshomaru . The older Reihane‟s face ;lost all
expression as his eyes went&nb sp;cold. He refused to look at anyone.& nbsp; “Shouldn‟t we hur ry
and locate them then?†asked&n bsp;Naomi, concerned.
“They&ac irc;€Ÿre safe with Kenji and weâ&e uro;Ÿll get them back when heâ€&Yu ml;s able to return them to
us,â&e uro; replied Kakiboufuu, the corner of his&nb sp;lips twitching upward.
†œHmmm… What with that s mirk, Otouto?†asked Sesshomaru as he& nbsp;eyed his
brother.
Kakiboufuu kicked himself for not being able to con tain his glee and replied, “I&n bsp;was
just thinking this was a prime&n bsp;opportunity for you, Aniue.â€
;
“Why?†Sesshomaru drew the word out slowly, suspicious of the& nbsp;reply.
“Well, pathetic&nb sp;as you are in the art of physical&nbs p;and demon combat when it comes to
other trained fighters,†the hanyou r eplied earning a growl from his brother, ;which
caused the smirk to spread to&nbs p;a grin. “I thought you could train with… Oh sayâ&eur o;¦
General Raita here in the art of demon combat and get those wimpy&nbs p;demon muscles
of yours in shape prior& nbsp;to you having your celestial powers rest ored.â€
Sesshomaru face was white, with rage or fear, Kakiboufuu wasn&aci rc;€Ÿt sure, but he
couldnâ€& Yuml;t stop smiling either way. Several ;people choked. Naomi had buried her fa ce
in her kimono sleeve, though she ;looked like she had gone as purple as&n bsp;her favorite
kimono. Kaiyoshinju, unrefi ned woman that she was, was roaring with laughter.
Raita merely raised an incredulous eyebrow, though he hardly looked displeased.
“Why youâ&eu ro;¦!†blustered Sesshomaru.
< br> Kakiboufuu looked away and said, †œIt worked for me, though I trained&nbs p;as a human,
not as a hanyou. &nbs p;Made a big difference in my ability to fight.†Sesshomaru growled
and& nbsp;Kakiboufuu couldn‟t resist the f inal dig. The words leapt from his ;lips before
his self-discipline could wrangl e them back to their pen. †œThen maybe the next time
we have& nbsp;a throw down it will actually be a& nbsp;challenge.â€
Sesshomaru&nb sp;rose to his knees, his youki growing with his rage. The arrogant smirk
he had worn for weeks was now officially gone from his face. Kakiboufuu swung&n bsp;his
head back and came nose to& nbsp;nose with his brother and breathed, &aci rc;€œPayback‟s a bitch,
ai n‟t it?†Sesshomaru look ed like he wanted to club him right ;there. The air in the
room crackl ed with eager anticipation even as the v arious inuyokai frowned their
disapproval. &n bsp;
Somewhere in the back of ;his mind a little voice was demanding t o know why he felt
it necessary to& nbsp;egg on his brother. Especially when&nbs p;he was in a meeting with the
vari ous heads and generals of the clan he&nb sp;was supposed to be controlling. And for it
to be over a matter that&nbs p;he fully earned and deserved. It was& nbsp;childish,
inappropriate and disrespectful. &n bsp;The nagging voice was a bucket of co ld water and
Kakiboufuu felt all his&nbs p;mirth flow out of him. However, with& nbsp;Sesshomaru snarling
in his face he was hardly in a position to back down,&n bsp;not without looking weak in
front of the whole clan.
Raita, however,&n bsp;recognized the subtle shift in the Taisho ‟s manner and gave his lord ;
a way out without him losing face. ; “Alright puppies, if you have the urge for a fight
we can d o that in a few minutes, but can we at least conclude this meeting before < br> you tear into each other?†A t least without his lord losing too much face. Raita,
though, had read Kak iboufuu well and the hanyou wasnâ€&Yuml ;t bothered by the comment
in the s lightest.
Sesshomaru flinched and retur ned to his seat his face frozen in indignation. Raita
rolled his eyes at&n bsp;the demon‟s belated attempt at&nb sp;dignity. Kakiboufuu didn‟t
w ithdraw until Sesshomaru was back in his ;seat. He also didn‟t remove&nb sp;the self-
satisfied smirk off his face ;either as he settled himself back into place.
“A wise suggestion , General Raita,†said the Taisho.&nbs p; “I guess there is a lim it to how
long I can stay serious.& nbsp; I‟ll have to remember that .†Several in the meeting
c huckled as the tension in the air retrea ted. Naomi was finally able to breathe& nbsp;
again and Kaiyoshinju had regained her composure, though, the Taisho‟s&n bsp;response
seemed poised to send her r olling back in another fit of laughter.
The whole discussion had been put& nbsp;on hold when the scouts arrived, breathl ess and
unexpected, to give their report to the gathering. Now any remaining&nb sp;humor was
gone as he heard what he feared the most. Kuromakaze was buil ding up his
strength once more and if he couldn‟t find a way t o stop it, his worst fears would be ;
realized.
The scouts had found&nb sp;the place where Kuromakaze was bringing in his foreign
goods and there were s igns that among the goods were more Chin ese rockets. He
would probably modify&n bsp;them as he had done before. While&n bsp;Kakiboufuu was aware
of them, he was certain the Shiro Tenko weren‟t . In their haste to leave Arai
Castle, Kakiboufuu had forgotten to mention ;the rockets to Kenji and all the
e vidence that might have tipped off the S hiro Tenko had been washed away. They&n bsp;
wouldn‟t be prepared for the m. If Kuromakaze was able to hit h ard and fast against
the Shiro Tenko,&nb sp;the inuyokai would not be able to rea ct before their allies were
destroyed an d then it would just be them versus ;the Kuro Tenko.
The inuyokai were strong but they didn‟t have&nbs p;the numbers they once had. If they&nb sp;
became Kuromakaze‟s primary focus, they wouldn‟t last. They had fought to a draw
but only again st part of his forces. If they wen t all-in it would be Kuromakaze‟ s
victory. His forces were more di verse and had supplies.
â€&o elig;We need to stop the importation of those rockets,†said General Raita. &n bsp;He, like the
other generals, could a lso see where this was leading. A map was placed on the
floor and the scout marked the route, including the l ocation where the ships were
making land fall.
“They‟ re using the inland sea between Shikoku and Honshu and coming ashore at
Kurashik i village. We don‟t know w here exactly they entering the inner sea.&nbs p; They
have too much control of th e water for us to follow the boats,&acir c;€ explained the scout.
â&e uro;œI imagine he has a substantial for ce at Kurashiki village,†said Sesshom aru, his
composure returned. â€&o elig;He knows our tactics are to sabotage&nbs p;his supply lines. He
wonâ€&Yuml ;t want us to interfere with this.â&eur o;
“Agreed,†said& nbsp;Kakiboufuu with a grimace. â€&oel ig;It would be suicide to attack Kurashiki&nb sp;
village. Now what is the water route?†He looked over the map&n bsp;trying to assess
risks as Kuromakaze ;would see them. “Bypassing Os aka would call the attention of
the ;local Daimyo and I know the man is ;not in favor of Tenko expansion. He&nb sp;loves
his power too much and his ;family resisted assimilation for the last th ree
generations. Any foreign ships head ing to Tenji would catch his attention a nd he
would interfere on principal. &nbs p;He would also alert both the Shogun an d Kyoto of the
movements just so he can complain about our growing power. & nbsp;Then the court would
send a message to my uncle demanding explanations.â€& nbsp;
“And what would the& nbsp;Tenko lord do?†asked Soranoko. < br>
“Something suicidal which is how I know Kuromakaze isn‟t&n bsp;going that way,â€
Kakiboufuu replie d. “If the Shiro Tenko mo ve we‟ll move which is what ;
Kuromakaze is fearing. It must be ;here, south of Kyushu and between it an d
Shikoku.â€
“ Why there and not here?†asked Se sshomaru, indicating the small waterway
betwe en the southern tip of Honshu and the&nb sp;northern side of Kyushu.
â&eur o;œBecause the channel there is narrow and we have some control on this side.&n bsp; It
would be harder to hide the passage of ships. This area is mu ch more open and
careful sailing co uld protect the ships from view,†;replied Raita, addressing
Sesshomaru with hi s usual tone. Sesshomaru growled and Ka kiboufuu flicked his
brother as a remind er he needed to stay focused. They ;already had their one
undignified moment&nbs p;for the week.
“All ;those small islands those ships have to ;pass by and they aren‟t being&n bsp;harassed
by pirates?†Raiken wonde red aloud.
“Heâ€&Yu ml;s either terrorized them, bought them, or& nbsp;killed them,†said Kakiboufuu. & acirc;€œHe
always prepares well in ;advance and a bunch of pirates are far& nbsp;too predictable to be
a threat to&n bsp;him.†He scrutinized the map ;and something tickled the back of his < br> mind. He remained quiet even as the others continued to speak, letting the
sensation spread and take him.
The inland sea filled his vision and t he paper melted into water. He saw ;the junks
sailing low in the water,&nbs p;laden with their cargo. It was dark&n bsp;and a thin mist
surrounded them as&n bsp;they moved despite the steady breeze that pushed them along,
blurring their outli ne. From above attacked a band of panther demons. The
pathway the ships&n bsp;were suspected of traveling ran parallel to the panther demon
tribe‟s&nbs p;territory. They had lost their leader ;but it appeared they were not all dead.
A sound of something flying throu gh the air filled his ears and he t hought he saw
one of the demon spli t in two before his vision went white.&n bsp; Pain pierced his
forehead and he&nb sp;sat back gripping his head as the hot agony continued to throb
through his&nb sp;brain.
As the others had contin ued to talk, Sesshomaru was the first to notice his brother
was no longer r esponding or adding to the discussion. The intense unfocused stare
warned Sesshomaru of what was happening and he wisely&nbs p;refrained from
disturbing the hanyouâ&euro ;Ÿs concentration. Unfortunately, Soranoko w asn‟t as well
informed.
The conversations fell silent when ot hers realized the Taisho wasn‟t answering
questions. The wind sorceress ;sat below the dais just to the left&nbs p;of Kakiboufuu. She
looked up and ;saw his own focused gaze and out of&nbs p;concern tapped the dais to try to
draw his attention, lightly calling him at&n bsp;the same time. When he didn†Ÿt respond
she reached up to touch& nbsp;him. Sesshomaru noticed too late.
“Soranoko, wait!†he&nb sp;cried but he was on the opposite side of Kakiboufuu and
couldn‟t ;physically stop her. The moment her ha nd touched him fire ignited over
his&nbs p;whole body. Her hand snapped back and avoided being burned but the damage
was done.
Kakiboufuu cried out, his hands coming to his forehead just as blood squirted from
an unseen wound.&nb sp; He fell backwards grimacing. Sesshomaru& nbsp;caught him as
several of the clan&n bsp;jumped to their feet suspecting an assass in. Unable to detect the
perceived ;attacker, many were beginning to panic and&n bsp;paranoia was setting in.
Accusations&nbs p;of a traitor quickly flew across the r oom.
Sesshomaru realized he ;needed to get the situation under control&nb sp;or the different
heads would try to&n bsp;kill one another. Naomi, having seen&nbs p;this before, quickly took
her fatherâ €Ÿs place beside the writhing hanyou&nbs p;as Sesshomaru stood to address the
ass embly.
“SILENCE!†he roared, filling that single word with ;every shred of power and
authority he&n bsp;could muster. The room fell quiet a s the gathering turned to face him. &nbs p;
“There is no assassin nor&nbs p;is there a traitor,†he said wi th icy calm. “Otouto did not
want to tell you, but now I&nbs p;have no choice. Otouto possesses a po wer that grants
premonitions but it is&n bsp;not a power he can control. It ;possesses him from time to
time, pushin g him into taking a course of action&nbs p;no one will understand until the
event inspiring it comes to pass. On a& nbsp;rare occasion, a possession will result in
injury to his person. Once ;the fit has passed, I will ask him ;what he saw. Until
then, no one&n bsp;will act unless in defense of our cl an.â€
The silence continued as each person tried to absorb the shock ing revelation. It was
Xeno that s poke first. “You speak of ;the Prophet‟s Eye. Never has&n bsp;there been a
more terrifying power t han it.â€
“Why ;is that?†asked Kaiyoshinju.
“As Sesshomaru said, it is n ot a power that which can be controlled& nbsp;by the one that
bears it,â€&n bsp;he replied. “Lucifer was o nce believed to have had it and Canaan&n bsp;as well.
I believe Lucifer learned& nbsp;how to suppress it, or it left him, because when I arrived
here he was no longer being affected by it.â€
“Chichiue had the e ye?†asked Sesshomaru, incredulous. & nbsp;
Xeno nodded and added, â&eur o;œPossession is an apt description for ;what it does. Just
whose eye is&n bsp;it really and what their purpose is in forcing the path that history
takes?& acirc;€
“Lucifer and ;Canaan, two of the thirteen angels and neither a pure blood,†muttered
S esshomaru. “Inuyasha is the mo st terrified of all. He doesnâ€&Y uml;t like he can‟t choose
the path he‟s taking.â€
“A wise fear,†said Xeno. “The path that ;Lucifer and Canaan were made to walk resulted in Lucifer taking the life of&nbs p;Canaan, his one time ally and friend a nd being
branded forever by the Canaanit es as a traitor and devil.â€
“What?†gasped Sesshoma ru. Several others vocalized their shock&nbs p;as well.
“I don&ac irc;€Ÿt know the real reason why th e two fought only that they did and ;that the
story the Canaanites continue to tell is being spread throughout the f ar west.â€
“Who&nbs p;or what are the Canaanites?†asked&n bsp;Sesshomaru.
“They are ;Canaan‟s descendents. They are ;like the Tenko, only not as honorable.â ;€
********
Sesshomaru sat against the wall as Naomi and Himawa ri tended to his ailing
brother. T hey had brought him into a more private& nbsp;room after Xeno‟s revelation
had ended the meeting. The taiyokai f ound himself examining and reexamining
Xeno&a circ;€Ÿs words. They ran close to& nbsp;what Kakiboufuu had expressed after the battle.
The feeling of someone using&nb sp;him to write history in their fashion.&nbs p;
No one had known anything about his father‟s history afte r the celestial war of long
ago. &n bsp;No one really knew how long ago it&n bsp;was only that it was described as a& nbsp;time
with great ice sheets and gian t animals; none of which existed today s ave for their
demon counterparts and sma ll cousins. Between the time of the&nbs p;Fallen One‟s
rebellion and whe n his father reappeared in Japan a thous and years ago, no one
knew anything.&nbs p; Xeno was the first clue to that hidden history but, before today,
had ne ver spoken a word about it.
N o one knew how to pronounce Chichiueâ&e uro;Ÿs name from the ancient texts, they just
knew what it meant, Angel of& nbsp;Light and it became the origins of my clan name,
Light Wing, Reihane, he&nb sp;thought. How could something so terrible& nbsp;happen? How
could Chichiue be forc ed to kill his own friend and ally? ; What happened? Were
they both re ally being controlled by the Prophetâ€& Yuml;s Eye? Was it the Eye that ma de
them enemies? For what purpose? ; He looked over at his brother.
&n bsp;
“But who is deciding t his? It isn‟t me! Someone else is using me to write history. ;
I‟m not even being truste d with the decision. I donâ€&Yuml ;t know what will happen I just
say or do things at random and it happ ens to work out, but what if the en d of the
journey isn‟t what any of us actually wanted?â€
“He is being forced to&n bsp;walk a lonely road, one that is fill ed with jagged rocks,
barefoot. His&nbs p;suffering has just begun and I shudder ;at what‟s yet to come.â€& nbsp;
What nightmares are awaiting us?&n bsp;Sesshomaru thought with his own shudder.
Gods of mercy, I beg of you, spare my brother from these horrors!
&nb sp;
*****
A week went by witho ut improvement from Kakiboufuu. Sesshomaru f eared
Soranoko‟s polite interruption& nbsp;had unintentional hurt his brother beyond&nbs p;what the
possession would have done. & nbsp;Though, he never said such to her, she walked around
with an air of gu ilt and wouldn‟t meet his eyes.& nbsp;
Several of the young bloods w ere anxious to attack after the contents ;of the meeting
were shared by the heads with their families. Sesshomaru refuse d to sanction any
such attacks, certain& nbsp;the vision Kakiboufuu had involved the j unks. They needed to
wait until th e Taisho had recovered so he can explain what he saw. The generals
initial ly agreed but each passing day was one&n bsp;day closer to Kuromakaze‟s final& nbsp;
attack against the ailing Shiro Tenko.&n bsp; They were growing more impatient for&nbs p;the
raid as well.
Xeno, how ever, had distanced himself from the others&n bsp;and withdrawn into
meditation and prayer. Like Sesshomaru, the potential threat in the Prophet‟s Eye
worried&nbs p;him as well. He was the only one not pressing Sesshomaru for action;
tho ugh, he offered no support in placating the others.
“I under stand the need for caution against such an enemy as Kuromakaze,†said
Rai ta, once more trying to convince the tai yokai of the need for action. â&e uro;œBut we may
be losing our wind ow of opportunity. If we donâ€&Yu ml;t act soon we could lose everything.â ;€
“If we act t oo soon we could lose everything,â€&nbs p;countered Sesshomaru.
“With& nbsp;all due respect, Sesshomaru-sama,†sai d Raita with his condescending tone in < br> full force, “you are not a& nbsp;great military leader. I say we ne ed to strike now and sink
those shi ps before Kuromakaze can gain another rocket. â€
“You canâ& euro;Ÿt make that decision!†snapped&n bsp;Sesshomaru. He suddenly found spears in& nbsp;
his face forcing him to take a ;step back from General Raita.
&ac irc;€œI will take full responsibility f or this. I will explain my reasoning&nb sp;to the Taisho
when I return as w ell as present him the heads of the ;Chinese captains,†said Raita.
Sesshomaru growled and reached for the spears to push them away. Instead, a
third dog demon took hold of his arms& nbsp;and tied his hands behind his back. ;
“Raita!†howled S esshomaru. He pulled at the bindings bu t they refused to give.
Demons kne w how to restrain other demons.
“You‟re just an ordi nary demon now and the Taisho was correc t about you needing
to improve this ;side of your fighting ability,†said& nbsp;Raita.
“However, I a m not an ordinary demon,†snarled ;Naomi as she left the Temple
followed&n bsp;by her vexed mother and the frightened&nb sp;Himawari.
“Peace, Naomi-sam a. I have no intention of harming your father,†said Raita
raising his hands to placate the young dragoness.&nbs p; “I just don‟t w ant him getting in
my way. I& nbsp;already have several volunteers, more than&nb sp;enough for this raid. These
three&nb sp;will remain here to make sure Sesshomaru-s ama does not follow. I wish for you to remain as well, Naomi-sama. T he clan will need protection while weâ& euro;Ÿre away
and I feel you are&nb sp;presently are best warrior. However, Kaiy oshinju-sama, I would
be honored if you& nbsp;joined us as this raid will be cond ucted over the ocean.â€
Kaiy oshinju stared at the general, her violet&nbs p;eyes gazing deep into his icy blue one s
and held them in challenge. Howe ver, she was the first to look away ;and sighed.
“I‟l l go.â€
“Mother!&ac irc;€ cried Naomi.
“ Kaiyo,†said Sesshomaru.
She&nbs p;fixed him with a steely cold stare but it softened into sad regret as she ;gazed
into his sad eyes. She walk ed over to him and kissed him as sh e once did long ago
when they had&n bsp;been young and in love. His respons e told her that he still
remembered ;those days and treasured them. He was& nbsp;reluctant to let their lips part
as she pulled back and held his face in her hands.
“You a re not even sure of your choices, even&n bsp;now,†said Kaiyoshinju as she held his
golden eyes. “If&nbs p;you were, you wouldn‟t have al lowed this humiliation.†She
bro ught her face forward, pressing her cheek&nbs p;against his and whispered, “You&nb sp;may
not be the strongest among us,&nb sp;Sesshomaru, but you aren‟t weak&nb sp;either. You‟ve
been doubting yourself for decades.†She sepa rated their faces and met his golden
gaze, unreadable in their pain.
Naomi blushed; surprised her mother could sti ll do that with Sesshomaru after all
the centuries of hate. Himawari stared&nbs p;in awe and sadness at the tenderness h er
husband-to-be expressed for his lost love. She would have to accept those&nb sp;feelings
would never leave but she&nb sp;became more determined to find away to&nbs p;turn those
affections toward her. Oth erwise, he would never truly be happy wi th her.
“As y ou say, I am Kaiyo, The Ocean. The ir best chance of returning is if I ;go with
them,†she said and ;pulled away. He watched her leave with General Raita before
he was gentle ;guided indoors to the sealed room where ;he would await whatever
fate lay before the general and his men.
*** ***
“I‟m sor ry, Chichiue,†said Naomi, kneeling ou tside the cell where her father was
being kept. He sat leaning against one of the walls looking only slightly irri tated by
the whole scandal. The th ree guards left to watch over him had&nb sp;untied his hands
before he entered th e cell so he wouldn‟t be un comfortable. They took turns resting,
m aking sure there were at least two stati oned by his cell at all times.
&nbs p;
The room was covered in spiritualist s eals that had been found in the temple&a circ;€Ÿs
storehouse. The cells wer e created for demon prisoners or for dem ons who just
needed a place to cool off. Sesshomaru hadn‟t resiste d being put in the cell, he
didn&ac irc;€Ÿt see the point. Raita was&n bsp;already on his way and though he onl y had a small
number accompanying him&nb sp;on his mission, most in the clan agre ed with the older
demon. Forcing t he issue would only divide the clan furt her. Sesshomaru just
hoped that nothing would happen.
“About&nbs p;what?†he asked in response to his daughter‟s words.
&aci rc;€œI shouldn‟t have let Raita do this to you,†replied Na omi. “With Oji-san down, you&n bsp;
are in charge. If you said to& nbsp;wait, they should have waited.†< br>
Sesshomaru sighed. “ Forget it, Naomi. General Raita is only doing what he
believes necessary for&nb sp;the sake of clan and country. He&aci rc;€Ÿs a warrior with many
centurie s of experience behind him and he held&n bsp;Chichiue‟s trust. What right&nbs p;did I
have to nay say him?â&euro ;
“But you werenâ&e uro;Ÿt making your decisions on a whim,& acirc;€ retorted Naomi. “You&n bsp;honestly
believed your decision was the&n bsp;best for both clan and country as we ll.â€
“And we had a difference of opinion and so I&nbs p;am here and he is not,†said&nb sp;
Sesshomaru. Naomi opened her mouth a gain, hurting to see him putting himself ;
down. Sesshomaru cut her off. &a circ;€œLeave it be, Naomi. It is& nbsp;done. I just hope I really
am the one who is wrong.â€
&nbs p;
“Wrong about what?â€
The guards immediately prostrated themsel ves as Naomi spun around. Kakiboufuu stood in the hall entrance with Himawari&n bsp;a step behind. He was dressed only& nbsp;in his
sleeping kimono of pale blue . His hair was undone and fell to& nbsp;mid-thigh in a
tangled mess. Dark& nbsp;circles lined the underside of his eyes& nbsp;as if he hadn‟t slept for&n bsp;a
week instead of the opposite. &nbs p;He rubbed his eyes to rid them of ;grime; he had just
risen from his futon.
“Aniue,†sa id Kakiboufuu in a tired voice. â €œWhat did you do to earn a t ime-out in
the cooling box?â€
Sesshomaru rose to his feet and s tepped toward the cell door. â€&o elig;I disagreed with
Raita. I said&nbs p;we needed to stay put until you awoke& nbsp;and he said we needed to
attack&nbs p;the foreign ships before Kuromakaze gets ev erything he needs to attack the
Shiro&nb sp;Tenko.â€
Kakiboufuu was s uddenly fully awake and alert, lowering his&n bsp;hand to stare at
Sesshomaru. â ;€œHe wants to do what?â€
Sesshomaru grimaced at his brotherâ €Ÿs concern. “Heâ€& Yuml;s taken several of the young
fighte rs and is going to raid the Chinese ;junks. Probably before they can enter the
inland sea. Kaiyoshinju went with&n bsp;them.â€
“Open t he cell,†the Taisho ordered. Th e guards hurried to free Sesshomaru but
Kakiboufuu didn‟t wait. He ;rushed back to his room to dress. ;When his brother
arrived, he was alread y tying off his hakama.
â&eu ro;œWhen did they leave?†asked Kakiboufuu as Himawari helped to place his&nb sp;armor.
“Just this morn ing,†replied Naomi.
â&eur o;œKaiyoshinju only went with them because&n bsp;she believed she was their best hope ;for
survival,†added Sesshomaru as&nb sp;he kicked himself for not being more forceful, for
bowing to Raita‟s& nbsp;demands instead of exercising his authority&n bsp;over him.
Kaiyoshinju‟s whi spered words echoed in his mind.
< br> “You may not be the stronge st among us, Sesshomaru, but you arenâ& euro;Ÿt weak either.
You‟v e been doubting yourself for decades.â€
It‟s hard not to doubt my decisions of authority when every one of them has led to
disaster and everyone reminds me of that ;whenever possible, he thought as he
rub bed his face.
“Thatâ ;€Ÿs the only reason why Iâ€& Yuml;m racing after them,†said Kakibo ufuu, sliding on
Rokukafuga. â€&o elig;There would be no way to reach them before they‟re killed
otherwise .â€
“Killed?⠀ Naomi went pale.
â&e uro;œDemon slayers are protecting the waterw ay,†replied the Taisho in a soft voice.
“Demon slayers?&a circ;€ Sesshomaru‟s mind flashe d upon that terrible day when the
c astle had been attacked and he had found his mother‟s headless body. &nb sp;Everything
spun as his heart raced wi th rage and grief and the image of his mother was
replaced with that of&nbs p;Kaiyoshinju.
He didn‟t r ealize he had moved until he felt his&nb sp;back slam into the wall and an arm&nb sp;
pinning him there. He stared into&nb sp;golden eyes and thought it was his fa ther.
“Release me, Chichiue!&n bsp; I have to kill them! Release me!†shouted Sesshomaru, lost
to the past.
A slap landed&nbs p;on his right cheek and a voice that&nb sp;wasn‟t his father‟s s poke. “Wake
up, Aniue!â& euro;
Sesshomaru‟s mind returned to the present and all his rage vanished. Shame filled
the v oid as he realized how fast he has fallen. He slid down the wall and the arm
pulled away. He gazed up&n bsp;at his brother but it wasn‟t rage or disgust in his eyes
only&n bsp;sorrow. Sesshomaru lowered his eyes and& nbsp;punched the floor.
“ This is why no one trusts my judgment,&a circ;€ said Sesshomaru with emotion. &a circ;€œI let
them leave without pu tting up a fight. I should have ta ken a stronger stance but no
one be lieves I know what I‟m doing.&ac irc;€
“It isnâ&euro ;Ÿt your fault, Aniue,†said Kaki boufuu, kneeling down to be at eye level with
his brother. “They& nbsp;made their choice.â€
&a circ;€œWe are losing our clansmen becau se I couldn‟t step up as yo ur relief when you
needed me to.â& euro;
“They made their&nb sp;choice,†repeated Kakiboufuu, shaking hi s brother‟s shoulder.
â&e uro;œBesides, if I had been more open&n bsp;about the Prophet‟s Eye instead&n bsp;of hiding it…â€
&nbs p;
Sesshomaru shook his head and looked a way as he spoke. “When yo u collapsed, I
told them about the Prophet‟s Eye. Xeno knew about& nbsp;that power… You were
right… It isn‟t&nbs p;a power we can trust. It at one& nbsp;time possessed Chichiue and drove
him&nb sp;to kill his own friend and be forever branded as a traitor by the people ;of the
west.â€
Kakiboufuu&n bsp;didn‟t move for several seconds&n bsp;then he reached forward and embraced
his older brother. “Stay,â&e uro; he commanded in a low voice. He rose to his feet and
headed towa rd the main entrance, saying in passing. ; “Himawari, Naomi, remain
here and take care of Sesshomaru. Iâ& euro;Ÿm going alone.â€
Sessh omaru‟s eyes widen in alarm. &nb sp;“You are forgetting your responsi bilities again,â€
he said. He&nbs p;tried to rise only to find his movemen ts were slow as if he moved
through mud, his limbs felt many times heavier& nbsp;than they should. “What d id you do
to me?â€
Kakiboufuu didn‟t respond, disappearing&n bsp;out the front door into the courtyard.&nb sp;
Naomi tried to follow but once she was five feet from her father she&nb sp;fell to ground,
her own limbs suddenl y heavy. When she scooted back toward&n bsp;her father, their
condition returned to&n bsp;normal.
“Damn you! &n bsp;Oji-san!†she shouted in fury. &nb sp;
“What happened?â ;€ asked Himawari. She hadnâ€&Yum l;t tried to follow the Taisho so hadn&a circ;€Ÿt
felt the strange affects.
“It‟s hypnosis,&n bsp;hitenko can use it because of the fi re‟s natural hypnotic allure. T he
commands he issued can‟t ;be disobeyed, a part of our minds sees& nbsp;them as absolute.
Until he takes&n bsp;it off, we can‟t do anything but obey. Our bodies will resist any
disobedience,†replied Naomi, hiss ing the whole while.
â€&oeli g;I‟m going to kill him,†muttered Sesshomaru, rage filling every aspe ct of his being
but still his body& nbsp;struggled to move.
*****
&nbs p;
Night had fallen and General Raita, Ka iyoshinju and their party waited at a ne arby
inlet for the junks to arrive. ; The scouts‟ information had st ated they appeared
every two weeks, once on the full moon and once on the&n bsp;new moon when the tides
were their&n bsp;highest. Tonight was a new moon and the tide was rising as the night < br> approached its zenith.
A mist appeared on the water despite the light breeze that should have swept it
away.&n bsp; The wane light of the stars became& nbsp;almost useless as the dark sea was
swallowed by the spreading fog. However , neither dogs nor dragons required sight&nbs p;
to find their prey. The creak of wood, the splash of water and the whisper of foreign
words before they saw the glowing lanterns told them the ship s were here.
General Raita gave&nb sp;a low growl and everyone lunged toward&nbs p;the dark ships. The
men shouted as they spotted the demons and panicked. ; Their own spiritualists
tried to cast& nbsp;their wards but foreign spells had minim um effect on native demons.
For ar istocratic demons, they were less than useles s. It would have easiest to just < br> let Kaiyoshinju sink the ships but they&n bsp;needed answers. They needed to know ;who
the supplier was or else this& nbsp;would never end. If they could fin d and destroy the
supplier then the ;all shipments would stop.
The onl y remaining problem was the language barrier. General Raita was sure
someone on board had to speak Japanese or else&nbs p;there would be no way for them to ;
barter with the Kuro Tenko. Raita ;wasn‟t aware of the imperial co urt‟s practice of
learning Chine se and didn‟t realize that many& nbsp;of the Tenko could speak to the cre w
directly. There were no Japanese ;speakers onboard.
As Raita pressured&n bsp;the crew seeking a translator that wasn&a circ;€Ÿt there, Kaiyoshinju
stayed on&nb sp;the ocean‟s surface, creating smal l whirlpools that prevented the ships
fr om riding the tide further in. She ;could here General Raita‟s growing&n bsp;frustration.
“Raita!â&eur o; she called, growing more anxious to b e away. “If you canâ&eur o;Ÿt find the
translator then capture&nb sp;the most important looking ones and let&ac irc;€Ÿs sink the ships.
We ca n figure out how to extract the informat ion we need once we return to the < br> temple.â€
Kaiyoshinju heard a strange whistling sound a second before ;she was struck from
behind. She c ried out and lost control of the whirlpo ols before collapsing and
sinking below the surface, unconscious. The swirling curre nts increased
momentarily in size and me rged, throwing the junks together and capsizi ng two of
them. Chinese men and&nb sp;the inuyokai were thrown into the water.&n bsp; Three of the
remaining ships suffer ed damage at the waterline and began sin king. Another two
lost their sails ;as they became entangled in the rigging ;of other vessels and were
torn. A nother lost its rudder. Only one escape d with minor damage.
General Raita had not been thrown into the water ;but the ship he stood upon was
sin king fast. The Chinese were now more&nb sp;concerned in escaping their doomed
ve ssel than in the demon that had been&nbs p;terrorizing them a moment before. The ;
general ignored the men in turn and&nbs p;ran to the side.
“ Kaiyoshinju-sama!†he shouted to the b lack water. There was no response. &nbs p;“Who‟s
there?†he shouted to the dark sky. Stars flickered as something passed before
th em, too fast for him to catch with his sight in the night. He caught a whiff of cat
before one of his&nb sp;men shouted a warning from the sea. < br>
He spun around in time to see& nbsp;a transformed twin-tail cat charging him.&nbs p; On its
back was a woman dressed& nbsp;in black and red and above her head was a weapon as
big as she wa s and shaped like a boomerang, a haraiko tsu. A demon slayer? he
thought in shock and then he thought no more. ;
******
Kakiboufuu flew as&n bsp;fast as he could, trying to catch hi s clansmen but knowing he
wouldn†Ÿt make it in time. As night fell, he was met with a more horrifying& nbsp;surprise.
He had left without real izing how long he had been asleep. ;With the setting sun his
demon and ;attach celestial power vanished. His wings& nbsp;disappeared with his claws
and fangs,&nb sp;his sight and hearing weakened and his&nbs p;nose went dead. He dropped ten
f eet before Hotaru enlarged herself and took&n bsp;hold of his armor, becoming his new
wings. She carried him forward as he stared at his clawless hands.
& nbsp;
Damn it! he thought. A new mo on, tonight! This isn‟t good.&n bsp; If anything comes up, I
wonâ& euro;Ÿt be able to handle it. I&nb sp;only have my spiritual power tonight. &nbs p;Despite all his
training, he had never been able to separate his celestial pow er from his demon
power and now he& nbsp;suspected it had everything to do with&n bsp;his grandfather‟s blood.
Ka nzaki Jounochi‟s powers had waxed&nbs p;and waned with the moon and Kakiboufuu ;
feared his were forever doomed to do&nb sp;the same.
“Hotaru,&aci rc;€ he said as he looked over his& nbsp;shoulder. “Can you carry me all the way to
the sea entrance? †The phoenix squawked her affir mative. “Please hurry then. &n bsp;I
need to order them away from those ships. I just hope theyâ€&Y uml;ll listen even though I‟m like this right now.â€
** ****
“Yade yade,â€& nbsp;said Lady Kou as Xeno worked to bre ak the spell on Sesshomaru.
â&eur o;œYou could have shouted at the Taisho , „It‟s a new moon& nbsp;tonight!‟ or something. He ;
was unconscious for a whole week, so&nb sp;why would he realize that tonight was ;a new
moon. The scouts only told& nbsp;the details of the timing after he collapsed so he
wouldn‟t realize the significance of General Raita going ;now.â€
“Maybe he&a circ;€Ÿll return once he transforms,â&e uro; suggested Himawari.
â€&oelig ;I doubt he‟ll be that rational, †said Naomi.
â€&oeli g;Taisho or no Taisho, I am beating him& nbsp;„til he begs,†snarled&nb sp;Sesshomaru. “He‟s s till
too young to be thinking he ca n go around doing what he wants unchalle nged when
there‟s so much a t stake.â€
“I agree,†said Lady Kou, “ but do you believe he‟ll just&nb sp;sit there and let you get a
hold of him after last time.â€
&n bsp;
Sesshomaru blinked in confusion until he& nbsp;realized what she was talking about. &nb sp;
“You were eavesdropping?!â€
The elder unfurled her fan a nd let her eyes peek over the edge. ; “I was on my way to ;
scold him soundly for the very same&nbs p;thing. You were just faster that I&nb sp;was.â€
“I v olunteer to hold him down,†said Naomi. “I have lots of pr actice is knocking
daiyokai to the groun d.†Sesshomaru‟s eyebrow ;twitched but he made no comment
on ;the matter. He knew well her ability&n bsp;to bring down daiyokai; he was her f avorite
practice dummy.
Xeno sat&n bsp;back and said, “The spell o n Sesshomaru-sama has been removed. Naomi- sama see if you can move around freel y now. He may have tied the spells together.â€
Naomi rose and began to walk away only to fall to her knees five feet from her
father.&nbs p; Xeno sighed.
“I f ear part of the spell on the ladies ;is to remain here or I would suggest&nb sp;you go
after him in mass,â€&nbs p;said the fire demon as he turned his&n bsp;attention on Naomi. “His < br> spell is subtle and hard to locate. I cannot remove these with any great&nb sp;speed.â€
Sesshomaru rose to&nb sp;his feet. “And I cannot&nbs p;wait any longer.â€
“You are hardly in a better&nbs p;position yourself,†said Lady Kou. & nbsp;“You don‟t have yo ur
celestial power.â€
â ;€œI am hardly weaker than you or& nbsp;anyone else here,†said Sesshomaru.&nb sp; “On the other
hand, Ot outo‟s Tenko powers disappear on ;this night as well as his demon power.& nbsp;
He‟s no better than a mere mortal and he‟s out t here by himself.â€
â€& oelig;You are not used to being without your celestial powers while myself and the&nb sp;
others know no other way,†sta ted Lady Kou, lowering her fan. â €œYou were never the
greatest of&n bsp;warriors simply because you take your inh erited strength for granted.
Admittedly ;there are few outside of Tenji who can& nbsp;match that strength but you
shouldn&acir c;€Ÿt count on not crossing paths w ith them this night.â€
Sesshomaru closed his eyes then began to ;walk away without responding. Lady
Kou was right but her arguments only confir med the need for him to hurry. As& nbsp;
dangerous as it was for him, his&nb sp;brother was in even greater danger and&nbs p;arguing
was only wasting time. Lady&n bsp;Kou pressed her lips together but said&nb sp;no more, she
had voiced her piece&nbs p;and the young demon was going anyway.
He took a few steps then hear d Himawari gasp. He turned back to ;find her bent
forward. “ Please go, my lord,†she said, wa ving him away. “Iâ€&Yuml ;m not in pain, it‟s just < br> startling.â€
“Gomena sai,†he said and hurried out of& nbsp;the temple.
“ Sesshomaru-sama!†called Soranoko. She&nbs p;had been patrolling earlier in the day ;
and had returned after Raita had left.& nbsp; “Let me go with you, ;you‟ll conserve strength
if you ride my feather.†Sesshomaru co nsented and they were soon flying through&nbs p;
the air.