With the recent escape from Naraku things have actually gotten better for Kisho. With the defeat of Usagi and the turning of Tora it had released the land in the area of its depressing state. Everything was green and rich. The rivers flowed with its clear crystal waters and the mountains stood proud again over the village. With everything fading back to normal there was no longer a need for a barrier. Kisho had managed to find control over his youkai blood. He was able to allow one side of his blood to dominate more then the other. As in he could let his youkai blood take over more so he can change to a more hanyou like appearance. Kisho hadn’t lost any sort of control and he seemed to be handling the change without any sort of damage to his body like last time, which meant he was getting stronger. His recent disappearance had left Shippo and Kaede with a heavy shock and were extremely relieved when he returned to the village. Even though Kisho heard no end about it from Shippo, but Kisho was tired at the time and didn’t want to hear Shippo rant so he mostly ignored Shippo. Tora and Kisho had slept for several days as soon as they returned to the village and Shippo wondered what he missed out on. Tora had completely lost all his powers, even as he began to regain his strength he still remained in his human like form. After a few days of sleep Kisho felt a bit better and he had remained in his hanyou like appearance. He resembled Inuyasha on several levels and mostly enjoyed the compliments he got from the people around. Things had settled down and there wasn’t much to do at the time so Kisho mostly laid lazily out on a tree limb in the early mornings enjoying the peace and quiet.
One morning he was enjoying relaxing on the tree and saw one of the best sunrises he had ever seen. He sat up from his position as his golden eyes gazed out on the brilliant colors that stretched across the skies. He tilted his head back some basking in the warm light. He shut his eyes slightly just enjoying the moment. Back in his time you couldn’t see a sunrise like that. The buildings were mostly in the way and the sounds of cars were always filling the air no matter how early it was. His pointy ears flickered some in thought and he raised a finger to his chain and tapped it lightly, “Hmm...I wondered if my parents can see the sunrise where they are at?”
“Of course they can!” Shippo shouted with his arms in the air. The sneaky fox was perched on a branch above Kisho and he had swung upside down to shout his response.
Kisho nearly had a heart attack as he yelled with his hair standing on end. He panicked some and scurried backwards only to be met with open air and he tumbled backwards right off the tree. Kisho hit face first into the ground and he remained in that position with his ears twitching. Shippo swung down from tree branch to tree branch and landed with a soft landing next to Kisho, “Guess you should have stayed alert,” Shippo said waving a finger at him. No second later did he receive a smack on the head from Kisho, “Idiot! You shouldn’t be sneaking up on people in the first place!”
Shippo held his head as bump appeared from under his orange hair. He was beginning to complain about Kisho until he was met with a threatening glance from Kisho, which made him shut up fast. Shippo plopped down on the ground laughing some now, even though he had a huge bump on his head. Kisho raised an eyebrow to him as he leaned against the tree with his arms crossed, “Did I hit you hard enough that it shook something loose?”
Shippo shook his head as his tail moved slowly around in the grass. A look of joy fell upon his face as he looked up to Kisho. Kisho had seen Shippo laugh before, but it seemed hallow with no real emotion behind it, but this time it seemed different. This time Shippo truly seemed to feel the emotion of joy. Kisho looked at Shippo blankly, “Stop staring at me Shippo. It makes me feel uncomfortable.”
“Aw, but I like you Kisho,” Shippo said jokingly as he hugged Kisho. Shippo instantly received his second bump on the head in an instant and had his face planted firmly into the ground. When he looked up he saw Kisho walking away grumbling to himself how Shippo is an idiot and perverted. Shippo rested his head against his arms as he lied in the grass on his stomach, “Well we definitely know he’s Inuyasha’s son.”
Kisho was still talking to himself as he walked along the village path. He passed by a few huts as he walked since it was the only way down to the river where he wanted to go and try to catch some fish. Standing outside the few huts were a few young women. Each were doing a variety of task from sweeping to cleaning cloths. As he walked by a few of them lifted their heads seeing his brilliant white hair shine in the sun. Their eyes lit up seeing him and one yelled, “Kisho-san!”
Kisho froze in hearing his name, “Eh?”
The shouting had gotten the other girls attention and before he knew it all the girls were running towards him. He stood there blankly as he watched the crazed women run at him with their arms open. Word had gotten around on how he revived the land and his act had given him popular status in the village. Kisho was a mellow guy and liked being antipopular. Though there was something that was worst for him. Word about how he was trying to find his parents also got had around and that story had made the girls go goofy over him. Many felt sorry for Kisho and found it a touching story.
Kisho stood there like a scared puppy. ‘Oh no, not this again!’ He thought to himself as he tried to run, but before he could one of the girls grabbed his arm, “Kisho! Come with me I have some wonderful food made.”
Before Kisho could open his mouth another girl grabbed his other arm, “No come with me I can play soothing music.”
Again Kisho tried to reply, but he suddenly felt someone touching his ears.
“Aww...they’re so soft. How cute!” Another girl yelled from behind him. All the while Kisho just had his mouth hanging open with only a few words mumbling out like ‘Uh, bbut-, wha, eh,’
It wasn’t long until they began to argue on whom he was going with. The noise got louder and Kisho couldn’t sneak off since two of the girls had a good grip on his arm. He just looking from left to right as the two sides argue.
“He wants to come with me!” The girl on the right said as she began to drag him in that direction.
“No he wants to come with me!” The other girl on the left shouted and pulled in her direction.
Kisho was in the middle of the tugging war with the girls and he yelled helplessly, “Why me!”
All the girls gasped and began to all yell at each other, “You made him angry! No we didn’t you do!”
Soon the fighting began and it was nothing but a big dust cloud with Kisho still in the middle of it.
Not to far away was Tora who was watching this go on, “Haha, to be young again. Though I’m not that old am I?” Tora pondered this question leaving Kisho’s fate to the crazed girl.
By mid afternoon everyone was relaxing back at Shippos hut except for Kisho. Tora was lying lazily on the porch. He was lying on his side with his head rested against his arm. He was enjoying the mid days sun, since it had been some time now since normal light actually shined. Shippo sat behind him with his arms crossed, leaning against the wooden walls of the hut, “Where’s Kisho?”
Tora yawned some before he answered Shippo, “Hmm...last I saw he was in the dangerous clutches of the women in this village.”
“I told him he shouldn’t walk around in his new form. He should lay low, I mean a lot of youkai are after him.”
“You sound like a worried parent Shippo. Give it a rest. The boy never had gotten the chance to live the way he wanted. In his own time people would find him strange. Here at lest he is among others who are comfortable with who he is.”
Shippo never really thought about that before. Sometimes it was hard to tell how Kisho felt he seemed to keep his emotions hidden well, “Tora, did you practice that speech of yours?”
Tora rubbed his ear some with his knuckle, “Nah, it comes naturally.”
As Shippo and Tora sat there talking some it wasn’t long before Kisho came jogging along. He was back to his normal form. His black and white hair swirled around him as he moved towards his friends. His eyes were once again their bright brown color while his ears where back to normal human ears.
Shippo and Tora both raised their heads up in seeing Kisho and Tora was the first to greet their friend home, “Welcome back, Kisho. Did you have fun?”
Kisho stopped his jogging once he reached the end of the steps. He bent down to catch his breath. His chest heaved up and down and it took a moment before his breathing slowed to its normal pace, “...Did I have fun?! I spent most of my morning being passed around and I finally ran off at lunch time and that even took another hour before I lost them.”
Tora raised his arm across his face to hide his crackling laugh that he was trying to hold back. Shippo jumped in front of Tora so Kisho wouldn’t see, “Well you did get away. How about some lunch? I bet you’re hungry.”
Kisho’s jaw stiffened some, as he knew Tora was laughing, but he chose to ignore it. Tora was beginning to relax and ease into things with them and Kisho didn’t want to ruin the moment, “Alright,” He replied to Shippo as he walked inside with them Tora following from behind.
Shippo had already prepared a light meal of rice and fish as the three sat down to eat. They all sat and ate quietly, but as Shippo sat there a question rose in the fox youkai’s mind. He stared at Tora who was eating slowly. The tiger hanyou felt Shippo’s stare and knew there was something bothering him, “Shippo, if you have a question why don’t you just ask me?”
“Ah, well...I didn’t want to bother you.”
Tora took one last bite of his fish and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, “Its no bother. Go ahead and ask.”
Kisho listened to the two speak as he ate. He had stuffed a lot of rice and fish in his mouth at the same time making it difficult for him to really comment. His cheeks bulged out from the sides of his face though he didn’t care since he was starving. His eyes drifted to Shippo and then to Tora.
Shippo set his bowl down as he faced Tora completely, “You were the leader of this little clan of people that are sort of like you, right?”
Tora nodded, “Yeah I was...”
“Right, well you seemed to be a good guy Tora. How did you fall into Naraku’s hand? You seem smart enough to know better.”
“Well...you see...” Tora said stuttering some. He was trying to find a good way of explaining himself though the right words just didn’t seem to come to him. “Well, there’s no way I can explain it exactly. The clan I am head of are special beings who have the powers and appearance of zodiac animals from the Chinese Zodiac. They are not youkai powered, but something higher and unexplainable. It’s not a real curse on us, but it’s a burden to some of us. Many people think we are miracle workers and come to us with their problems. Sure we can help them with are unique abilities, but one time we all failed miserably in a request. All off us were caught up in our guilt. I suppose our once pure hearts became corrupted with the darkness of our failure. We were blinded to Naraku’s offer, even I was. Though no one is perfect, right? I can see that it was a wrong choice and I’m sorry that I can not stop my old comrades, but they are now much further gone then I am.”
Shippo nodded his head as Kisho swallowed the last bit of his food. ‘I wonder what happened to make them feel that bad? I better not ask though.’ Kisho thought to himself as he gazed at Tora’s face. His eyes seemed strained with the thought of his tragic past, even Shippo noticed and let Tora collect himself.
“Thanks Tora. I understand better now. Don’t worry about it now thought. You’re with us, you can always redeem yourself for what ever happened.”
Tora nodded his head lightly as a smile creased his face, “You’re right.”
The three smiled warmly to each other before they were interrupted by a soft knock at the door. Shippo was the first to stand up so he went to go answer their guest. Tora and Kisho both crawled over to the corner to see who it was. They peeked out a bit before they were thwaped in the head by Kaede, “Ye boys need to keep their eyes to ye self.”
Kisho and Tora rubbed their heads as the quickly backed away from the old miko. She was holding onto Shippos arm as he assisted her inside, “You both just couldn’t wait could you?”
“Well you know curiosity kills the tiger right?” Tora said with a light grin, Kisho really didn’t have an excuse to make since he was a dog, not a cat.
“So what brings you here?” Kisho said to Kaede as he made room for her to sit.
She slowly got down on the floor as the boys gathered around her to hear what she had to say.
“There are some wolf youkai over in the other village across the river. They need Kisho and Shippo for assistance.”
Shippo sighed loudly, “Why Kisho and me-?” Shippo suddenly stopped mid sentence realizing what she was talking about, “Ohhh.”
Kisho didn’t get it, but he also didn’t see the harm in going to help the village, “Sure I’m all for helping them. What’s the deal with these wolf youkai?”
Kaede cleared her throat lightly, “They are looking for you Kisho. They strongly believe that their mother is Kagome and you are an imposter.”
“What?” Kisho said fully annoyed with a pissed off looking face. His eyes twitched with annoyance and his face was turning colors from anger.
Tora took a sip of tea, “Ah, family matters. Well I’ll take a nap then.”
Kisho stood up and grabbed Shippo by the wrist dragging him out. Shippo was crying some since Kisho had a tight grip on him, “Ow...do we have to go now?”
“Yes!” Kisho yelled as the two disappeared down the path leaving Tora and Kaede to their tea.
“Rushes in like an idiot,” Kaede commented.
Tora smirked and nodded silently as the two sat there.
The walk to the village didn’t take long; Kisho and Shippo arrived in a few minutes. The time had given Kisho some time to cool off, “Tell me again, why do they believe this?”
“No one knows for sure. Their father is Kouga and he loved Kagome though I don’t think the feeling was mutual. Maybe he drove that idea into their heads.”
“Where is he at?”
“Disappeared, just like your parents really, but he gave his jewel shards to them.”
“Jewel shards?” Kisho said not entirely up to date on everything still.
“Are you an idiot?” An unknown voice shouted.
“He sure looks like one,” An unknown female voice now shouted out.
Kisho narrowed his eyes some as he turned around to see the two-wolf youkai standing there.
The female wore a fur like top leaving her mid region expose while her waist was wrapped firmly with a skirt like cloth. Hanging around her hips loosely was a long sash. Her hands were covered in long gloves while near her shoulder joint was tightly secured bracelet made from beads and teeth. Her boots seemed to be made from fine leather youkai hide while the tops were lined with soft fur. In her hand she had a short type bow while she had her quiver slung on her back. Her pointed ears twitched at the sight of Kisho. Her hair was long, but some of it was partly tired back.
Next to her stood the male who seemed to reassemble her some. His hair was bit shorter in the front, but towards the back it was a bit longer which was tied neatly. He wore a few decorative pieced over his shoulders. Around his neck hung a necklace that seemed to a tooth of some kind. His pants were lightly loose, but not baggy. His boots were made out of leather as well and the bottoms had the light fur around them. On his back he had a large sword of some kind. What caught Kisho’s attention by them was the fact that they both had a lot of scars on their body. He wondered what the two had done to receive those, but right now wasn’t the time to be wondering such questions.
“Who the hell are you two?” Kisho said rather bluntly.
“We should be asking you that,” The male said as he shook his fist at Kisho.
Shippo waved his arms in the air, “Ok lets just calm down not we don’t want a fight-“
“Maybe we do!” The female said this time.
Kisho growled at them, “I’ll take you both down you sack of wolf crap.”
“Oh yea?!” The male had jumped down right in front of Kisho, “Like a worthless mutt can do that.”
Kisho growled at him as the youkai wolf growled back. The two both were face to face with each other, pushing to see who had the best intimidation act. Shippo sighed as he stood there watching them argue, “Stop!”
Everyone suddenly froze in their spots as they turned their heads to look at Shippo.
“Ok, thank you. Now lets get everything straight here. This is Kisho,” He said pointed to him.
“And that is Keiji,” pointing to the male wolf youkai who was next to Kisho now, “and she is Kyoko. They are twins. Oh yea and lets not forget I’m Shippo.”
The three of them stared at Shippo all with sweat drops.
Kisho stared at Keiji, “So I heard that you think my mother is yours.”
“That’s right. We’re strong and hold the honorable blood. You are a weakling not worth of such honor. Plus, why would she want a son who is dog crap?”
“Who should want twin wolf bastards?”
“Hey, Kisho aren’t you a bastard? You’re parents weren’t married when they had you,” Shippo so kindly pointed out.
Kisho growled at Shippo, “Not the best time to be pointing that out!”
Kyoko laughed lightly and Keiji stared at her, “What? It was funny.”
He snorted as he turned back to Kisho, “How about a friendly spar? We’ll see who is stronger then.”
“Against both of you?” Kisho wondered.
“Why not? Where is your other-“
Shippo suddenly lunched his Fox Fire right at Keiji face to stop what he was going to say. The young youkai sat on the ground stunned and rubbed his face lightly of the burn, “Oww.”
“How about Keiji and Kisho fight? Men against men, its fair since we don’t want uneven genders, right?”
Kyoko nodded as she sat down in the grass, “Its fine with me. It should be a good show.”
Kisho wondered why Shippo acted so hasty all of a sudden, but he had other things to worry about right now, “Sounds good to me.”
Keiji raised his right hand behind his head to grip the hilt of his sword, “Alright then. Do you have a weapon?”
Kisho frowned lightly, “No...not really,” Kisho glanced to Tetsusaiga, but he couldn’t use it. It was his father’s sword and only he could wield its power. The only thing it was good for was defense.
“Be careful of his shard!” Shippo yelled down.
Kisho rolled his eyes since he still didn’t know what these so called shards did. Keiji smiled to Kisho since this was advantage to him. With his hand still on his hilt of his sword he quickly drew it out with the blunt side of the blade aimed to Kisho. With the power of his shard it fueled his speed in his quick draw of his sword. In one swift movement the sword struck Kisho’s left side in the ribs. It was so fast Kisho didn’t have anytime to react and he tumbled to the ground. The pain burned at his side as he coughed lightly. The strike was hard enough to break a few ribs, but Kisho stayed on the ground for a moment as his body quick healing went into action.
Keiji stood over him basking in glory over Kisho, “That move almost always finishes off my opponents. I didn’t want to kill you just yet so I hit you with the blunt side. I don’t think you’ll get up anytime soon so you can just admit you’re not the child of Kagome and my sister and I can be on our way.”
“I’d never do that. Even if I was about to die I wouldn’t admit to that because it’s a lie. I am their son, you’re the one who’s under some strange illusion. Also your strike hardly did anything.”
“That’s some bold words for someone who’s laying on the ground.”
Kisho leaped into the air with his claws barred out at Keiji, “Who’s on the ground now?” Kisho had also transformed to his hanyou like appearance. His hair was a blazing white with his dog like ears stuck straight up. His claws were much more lethal now as they extended out to claim Keiji flesh.
Keiji stood there letting Kisho have one hit on him, but Kyoko realized something her brother didn’t, “Keiji, you idiot don’t let him touch you!”
Keiji frowned slightly, but did what his sister told him and he thrusted forward to get out of the way, but Kisho knew he would and had adjusted himself to strike further ahead then he intended. Even though Keiji was fast Kisho manage to slice his shoulder some.
Keiji skidded to a stop as he gripped his shoulder. Even though it was a small cut it burned a lot. The wound festered some and Keiji growled at Kisho from the sudden pain of the attack, “What in seven hells did you do!”
“He has purifying powers in his claws,” Kyoko yelled, “I noticed he can adapted his body so his youkai half takes over more, but his human half is always going to be there so his human powers are concentrated in his fingertips or his claws. He must have a pure human soul to do that.”
Keiji turned to stare at Kisho, “You sneaky little mutt.”
“Sneaky? What about you and your damn shard thingy.”
“Everyone knows about them!”
“Well I don’t!”
Shippo sighed, “I thought they were going to fight.”
“They are fighting in a way,” Kyoko added as she watched them continue arguing.
Keiji and Kisho were both yelling at each other face to face when suddenly the two were broken up by a snap of a sickle with a chain attach to it. The two had to leap back to avoid it as it came between the two.
Keiji snorted to this new item, “What is this thing? Did you do something?” He accused Kisho.
“Hardly you moron, I was right in front of you plus it almost hit me.”
Shippo and Kyoko joined the two arguing boys and looked to the shadows to see who their attacker was at. With another snap of the chain the sickle returned to its owners hand.
Shippo’s eyes focused some to see who it was, but as the figures outline became more visible Shippo knew who it was, “Kohaku...”
