The Sins of the Father

A/N: I have made a couple of minor edits to this story (thanks Diane). The first of which was in chapter 2. Somehow, I uploaded my first version of that chapter which had Shippo and Kenshin in Kyoto, and made their travel time to the well 3 days. I changed that once, and I've now changed it again. Just to be clear: Shippo and Kenshin travel from one side of TOKYO to the other to get to the well and it takes them a good part of ONE day to do so. Second change was made in this chapter. Instead of waiting 1 month to confront Kagome, Kouga now waits two. Again, these are minor changes to keep the story line consistant and I would like to extend a great big THANK YOU to Diane for seeing these and pointing these out. She's been a great reviewer and is fast becoming my unofficial beta ;) You rock, Diane :)

~~~

~Sengoku Jidai~

He knew that she was pregnant.

He had known since he had carried her unresponsive body away from the scene of the battle, after Naraku had fallen. He had smelled it on her - the pregnancy was so very new then, and it tore his heart in half.

He even knew whose pup she carried, and it burned him. Yet, he had not said anything about it. He was nothing if not compassionate toward this one human girl, and Kouga would rather tear out his own heart than say something to cause her additional pain. Especially in the wake of her loss.

But a part of him could not help but to hope that she would allow him to care for her and the pup, now that her mate was gone. For Kagome, he would do anything; even suppress his natural instinct to kill the pup of his rival, and raise it as his own.

If only she would love him the way that he loved her.

But first she needed to grieve, and so he had waited two full cycles of the moon before approaching the small village where she stayed.

He now stood under the canopy of the trees and watched as the young miko slipped quietly into the dark forest.

He quietly followed her, frowning to himself when he discerned her intent.

Kagome was carrying that large, yellow bag on her back and her pale cheeks were stained with tears, as she headed in the direction of the well.

His woman was stealing out in the middle of the night to go home, possibly forever.

His heart suddenly felt like it was being gripped by a fist as he raced to catch up with her.

She was almost to the edge of the well before he got to her. She turned to look at him with a frown.

"Kouga?"

"Kagome... onegai, don't go..." he pleaded.

She looked so beautiful, standing there in the light of the moon. The only thing marring her beauty was the forlorn look in her large, sapphire eyes.

Oh how he loved her, how he wanted nothing more than to take away her pain and make her smile.

"I... have to Kouga... I can't stay here, it hurts... so very much," she answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

He cautiously approached her, slowly closing the gap between them.

"But I love you, Kagome... and I need you. Please, please stay."

He was begging now. The prince of the northern wolves was prostrating himself in front of a ningen girl, and he didn't care. He'd do anything, anything at all for her to change her mind.

"I... I can't Kouga. And you don't want me now, you really don't. I'm tainted..."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PUP! Can't you see that, Kagome? I'm in love with you! I'm lost without you! Please, let me love you, let me take care of you and Inu-k..yasha's pup. I can keep you safe."

“Go to Ayame, take her as your mate, and be happy Kouga... “

“I don’t want Ayame -- I want you. Don’t you get it? Wolves mate for life, and I want a mate that I love. Ayame -- would be nothing more than a business arrangement. I want you, Kagome. You.”

"Kouga..."

But Kouga didn't want to hear any more protests. He was panicking, and so he shut her up the only way he knew how to. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with every last bit of passion he could muster.

At first, she resisted and tried to push him away. So he redoubled his efforts and a soft growl rumbled in his chest. After that, she literally melted against him, and for a few precious moments, Kouga knew what heaven was like.

They broke off the kiss when the need for air became too much, and Kouga looked at her. Her face was flushed and her lips were swollen and her chest was rising and falling delightfully as she fought to regain her breath. He couldn't help but smirk at the sight, but his smirk quickly turned into a frown as a lone tear made its way down her cheek.

"Don't you see, Kouga? Don't you understand? It... It wasn't you I was kissing. I... don't love you like that. I don't think I'll ever be able to. You deserve better, Kouga. You don't want me... for I am broken."

Kouga fell to his knees, as if he had been attacked. Her words broke his heart so thoroughly that he couldn't even voice a protest when she turned and jumped into the well and out of his life. At that moment he wished that the well would swallow him as well.

"So... she left. I figured that she would. No matter... I'll get her... in time."

In a flash, Kouga was on his feet and snarling. A young human boy stood a few feet away from him grinning malevolently; his eyes hidden by the hair which hung in front of his very young face.

"Who the fuck are you?"

The boy just snickered, and walked away. Before he disappeared into the woods completely, he looked over his shoulder at Kouga.

"I'd watch your back, wolf," he said, and Kouga caught a whiff of his scent.

'Naraku? It can't be... he's dead...'

Kouga howled, suddenly wanting blood. He lunged, but the boy was already gone.

~~~

~Meiji Era~

Kouga swallowed a mouthful of sake and grimaced.

That child of Naraku was after him again.

He could feel them trying to get inside of his head. The pain was intense, and the piece of pottery he was working on fell to the floor and shattered.

'C'mon, you old wolf, concentrate.'

He focused his youki inward, and pushed the nothing bitch out of his mind, but he wasn't quick enough. His current identity and location may have been discovered.

'Shit.'

They were growing stronger, the void youkai and Naraku's child. Soon, they would completely break the mental barriers Kouga had worked for years to build, and he would be found.

He swallowed another mouthful of sake, and grabbed his sword.

It was time to move, once again.

He hated the idea of it - while not happy, he had become almost comfortable during his time as Niitsu Kakunoshin, and he did not want to change it now.

It had been a long time since he gave up his position as King of the Northern wolves, all because of the brat. One by one, his wolves had fallen, as the child of Naraku would take them in the middle of the night, stealing their youki for himself. After Ayame and his eldest son had fallen, Kouga had had enough. In order to protect his tribe, he sent them to the mainland, naming his second eldest as Alpha wolf. He made a promise to retrieve them once Kohaku was dead.

That was almost two centuries ago.

For almost two centuries, the wolf king has been a lone wolf.

He had to learn how to use his youki to mask his appearance. This was a not a native skill for ookami youkai, but one that became increasingly necessary, as the number of human settlements grew. It wasn't true illusionary magic like that wielded by a kitsune, but it was good enough to hide his nature. Kouga's magic was based off of suggestion. People would only see what they expected to see when they looked at him. Anything else -- like his tail, the color of his eyes, and the points of his ears -- became erroneous. So to most humans and even most youkai, Kouga appeared as a tall human male in his early forties with dark hair, dark eyes and a cocky grin.

A damned good looking human male, if he said so himself. Which he often did.

He also had to learn to wield his katana.

He soon learned that Kohaku was immune to youki based attacks. In fact, Kohaku would feed off of them; draining strength from his enemies in the process.

Kouga barely survived that encounter.

So Kouga was forced, for the very first time, to use his sword. He hadn't had much skill with it, and he was determined not to go around swinging it at everything that moved like the mutt used to. No. If Kouga was going to have to wield the damn thing, then he would wield it like the king of the ookami youkai should.

Therefore, Kouga found the best swordsman in all of Japan -- a descendant of the houshi and taijiya that once fought with him against Naraku -- and studied under him.

Initially, his youkai speed worked against him. It was difficult to learn control, when one moves as fast as the wind. So, Kouga took to wearing mantles as he learned; only removing them when he battled for real.

The mantles helped his control immensely, and he quickly became an expert swordsman. After only a few years learning the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, he mastered its ultimate technique and his sensei bestowed him with the title Hiko Seijourou.

It was still not enough. For Naraku's brat had somehow come into possession of Toukijin, Sesshoumaru's demon blade; a sword that could slice right through any blade he owned, despite the skill in which he wielded it.

The boy was an abomination, and was fast becoming as powerful as Naraku was when they took him out. He truly feared that unless a miko of Kagome's strength came along, nothing could be done about him.

So he stayed hidden amongst the humans, masking his youki and making pottery to help pass the time. The ruse was great, and he knew it frustrated Kohaku to no ends when he suddenly disappeared. During this time, he searched for a method or a technique that would work in taking Naraku's offspring out, but to no avail.

To his surprise and great amusement, a number of humans approached him seeking to learn his sword technique. He would challenge them to a drinking contest - since no human can hold his sake like a youkai - and laugh like hell when they would pass out on him. An apprentice was the very last thing he wanted, when he couldn't even avenge his tribe.

But he had to swallow his words when he came across the kitsune's brat.

Boy was that a shocker.

It was pure chance he happened upon the kid -- the kid was at sword point when he found him, surrounded by a group of dead human slavers. Even in the midst of so much death, the kid had enough sense to pick up one of the discarded swords and point it at his attacker.

The attackers were so busy laughing at the kid that they didn't even see him coming. Kouga made quick work of them all.

Since Kagome, he really hated people who picked on little kids.

He was about to walk away when he got a good whiff of the frightened little boy. He could tell by scent that the kid was a hanyou, and also the son of that kitsune that used to hang all over his Kagome. Curious, he made a quick inquiry about the kid's parents, and he soon realized that the kid didn't know who his real folks were, or even what he was. The kid had been raised by a farming couple who died of cholera, and had been sold into slavery soon after.

Kouga was able to read between the lines. Naraku's offspring had also gone after the fox and his human mate, and they put their kit in the hands of humans to protect him. Both the fox and his mate were dead or in hiding; much like he was.

Kitsune no baka -- like that plan was ever going to work. If the humans didn't kill him when they found out what he was, Kohaku would as soon as he found the brat -- and he would find him, sooner or later. That was a given.

They should've sent him to the mainland if they wanted to keep him safe.

Whatever. It wasn't his problem and he wasn't planning on getting involved.

But despite himself, he watched the kid for a while, and the kid surprised him. He couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 at the time, yet he gathered all the dead bodies -- even the bodies of the guys that tried to kill him -- and buried them all, leaving markers for each and every one of them.

Kouga was damned impressed. The boy had honor, potential, and balls.

But his name had to go. For he'd be very easy to track, if Kohaku ever found out his birth name. The kid did have very distinctive features after all.

So he changed the kid's name to Kenshin, and took him on the apprentice he never thought he'd have.

'Besides, Kagome would have been proud of you for taking care of her kitsune's kid.'

Over the span of five years, Kouga trained Kenshin with the same sword technique that he'd picked up from the old taijiya. He figured that if and when the kid met up with Kohaku, he'd at least have a fighting chance.

Damned if that wasn't a mistake.

He had set two rules for the kid, and only two; don't fuck around with human affairs, and don't get into fights on the night of the full moon.

The stubborn kitsune-hanyou didn't listen to either one of them, and when his bloodlust hit, the kitsune-hanyou got all self-righteous and went off to join the Imperialists.

If there was one thing he had seen in his many centuries, it was a lot of fucking human wars. Kouga knew damned well that all they resulted in was the death of innocents -- on both sides. But Kenshin wouldn't see it.

He was almost as stubborn as the damned mutt used to be.

He had heard tales of the boy's involvement in the revolution, and winced, knowing full well that the boy was putting a nice big X on himself for Kohaku to find him.

Literally.

So, Kouga had washed his hands of him, and hadn't thought about him for years. That is, until recently.

He had gotten news of the fall of the last of the taijiyas - Kohaku had burned the whole village to the ground.

All their knowledge, heritage and history - gone.

He briefly wondered if Kohaku even knew that he used to be one of them.

Probably not. The kid was not a human boy anymore, and hadn't been one for a long, long time. Besides, Naraku had seriously fucked with the kid's head when he was alive anyway. He probably doesn't remember anything at all before he came into Naraku's service.

Kouga had found out who he was after that day by the well -- the day the miko from the future broke his heart so completely.

'Oh, Kagome. If only you had stayed...'

He should have killed the fucking boy right then and there. But no; the boy disappeared into the forest, leaving only the faintest scent of Naraku behind him.

Once he had managed to pull himself together, he had gone back to the village and described the boy to the taijiya and the houshi.

The big, strong, brave taijiya promptly fell to the ground and cried, and Kouga learned the tragic story of Kohaku.

But this child of Naraku was not that boy. No. The brother of Sango the taijiya was long dead, and the monster left in his place is actively killing the survivors of the Battle of the Shikon and their kin.

It was time to find Kenshin and let him know exactly what kind of danger he was in. For he at least owed the boy that, if nothing else.

Who knows, perhaps if the kid’s mellowed out a bit, he could be a useful ally.

Kami knows, he could use one.

Kouga focused his youki and transformed, becoming a large brown wolf with ice blue eyes. He looked to the moon and howled before taking off to the east; feeling truly free for the first time in many, many years.

~~~

A/N: Oh, yes: I am totally setting this up to be very, very hard on both Kagome and Kenshin when they go back to the Meiji era. . And yes, Kouga still holds a torch for Kagome.

About the whole sword thing: hey, do you ever notice that on the show, Kouga always wears a sword but NEVER uses it? I wonder why they even bother to illustrate it...

BTW -- If anyone is curious as to what Hiko Seijirou looks like, here is a good fan art, and the inspiration for my 'merge', before I outlined this story: http://www.angelfire.com/anime/Information/hiko.jpg

Japanese Words:

onegai – please
ningen – human
ookami – wolf
youkai – demon
hanyou – half demon
miko – shrine maiden/preistess
houshi – monk
taijiya – demon slayer
sensei – teacher
baka – fool, idiot
kitsune – fox
youki – demonic energy
Hiko Seijirou – This is actually a nickname, according to the VERY informative Kenshin site 'Let It Burn'. It is given to anyone who learns the ultimate technique of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. There have been 13 Hiko Seijurou's before Kenshin began his training.
Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu – technique, translates to "Sword of the Soaring Heavens"
Kami – god/gods