~Year Five~
~Who is Here and Who is Not~
~Sesshomaru~ Kazuko is not here.
It’s been five years now and the feeling hasn’t gotten any easier to deal with. I am unused to such emotions and have no idea what to do to handle them, not that I would admit this to anyone, including the two accompanying me.
The guardian, Swift, travels with me because he knows of my sealed inner demon. Thus Swift is to serve as one who could go find ‘help’ should we encounter a situation I cannot handle. The thought of needing such assistance makes disgusts me. I am the lord of the west and I have been reduced to something I do not recognize and used to look down upon.
Jaken simply tailed along and I didn’t care enough to tell him to stay at the castle. The little imp has been a nuisance since we left and it has crossed my mind to make the pest go back to the castle or leave him for rouge demons to find.
The castle is vacant now. It had always held little appeal to me, and I had left it as soon as I got a chance, only returning when business called me to. But now seems unappealing in a different way, now it seems empty and hollow.
When news of what happened at the council meeting got out, the activities in my lands increased as demons seem to prepare for war. Now that it has been a few years with Toro and Naraku appearing to keep to themselves, and my resuming patrols of my lands, the activity has dulled back down. I still hear the whispers about war, and I know that it will come eventually, most likely when Kazuko finishes her training.
I had not shown objective to her training, after the initial confrontation with the northern general because I reasoned with myself that she be able to defend herself and our future pups. But I will not allow her to fight in this war. She is obviously the main target and reason behind this war, and Naraku, Toro and all their minions will be going after her. When she returns I’ll send the most elite warriors in my army with her to hide until the war is over, or perhaps have her return to wherever it is the well near Inuyasha’s village takes her.
I know of Toro’s meeting with the Ryku and I am not surprised the panther would so easily join forces with the east. Lord Ryku and his clan have long held a hatred for the west, dating back to before our grandsires. This hatred was only increased when the panther clan became indebted to mine after my father recued Lord Ryku’s daughter.
I have also heard that Naraku made a visit to the north and that put me on edge. I had thought to go and see what the spider demon wanted, but had to remind myself of my…limitations. Plus it would only raise questions of why I would be so concerned with the north, when I had no reaction when Toro visited the south. So for now I am watchful and attentive to all around me to make sure that Naraku does not try anything.
~Shippo~ Naraku was here.
He was in the northern castle at the beginning of the year, and I have a bad feeling about it. I’m not sure if he saw me or not, but either way I don’t like him being in the North where we are. As soon as I saw him I turned and ran, because I didn’t want him to get any ideas of Ryo, Katina or Kazuko being here.
The only bright side is that no one knows where Kazuko is, besides Dagger and Koru, and Koru never comes by, and I trust Dagger to keep the secret no matter what, so even if Naraku tried to get information he couldn’t. Yet I know Naraku well enough to know that he has some trick up his sleeve. Being here training has helped me to no longer be the scared kit that I was before. I can’t stand up to a demon as powerful as Naraku, but I can help now. I’m not sure what Naraku’s plan is yet, but I plan to find out.
Dagger was here when Naraku showed up, but I don’t think Naraku is familiar enough with the Ryu-Inu clan to understand what Dagger’s presence means. Dagger has told me that he doesn’t plan to tell Kazuko about Naraku’s presence. Instead he is going to tell Koru and leave it up to the other Shogakko to decide of Kazuko needs to know or not.
Shadow, Moon and Claw showed up a few days before Naraku showed up, saying they had something for Kazuko. Dagger took it with him, and I never got a chance to see what it was. Lord Di was kind enough to allow them to stay the night, and they’ve told me about the new arrivals at the Ryu-Inu village. I introduced them to Krein and told them about how she wanted to join the clan. They’ve said that they can’t make that decision, only Kazuko can, but they seem confident that Krein will be welcomed.
Rin’s letters are gone, now there are simply reports and questions. She only writes what I believe Kagome and the others want her to ask. She doesn’t even pretend to be interested anymore. Her last letter was short and read:
Kagome and the others want to know if any news has come about Kazuko or Naraku. They have not received any recent news. That was all it had said. I told her about Naraku’s arrival and I still ask how she is even if she no longer answers. I still don’t agree with Inuyasha’s pinning over Kikyo, but I am beginning to understand how he felt. To want something, that you know in your heart could never be… it’s tough.
~Ryo~ Naraku was here.
Though I’ve never had an encounter with the cursed half-demon I’ve heard about, and the miasma that radiates off him is something that cannot be mistaken. Only pure evil could have something so toxic actually release from his pores, and not die.
He passed by the village twice; once heading to the castle and the other come from it. Each time scouts from the Ryu-Okami clan warned us and we were able to hide out scents and stay out of sight each time. The time he was leaving the castle he actually stopped by the village. We’ve been told that his eyes were narrowed as if he were searching for something or trying to figure something out, but he didn’t say anything. Hopefully the scent of wolf was so heavy that he wouldn’t be able to pick up our dog scent.
Naraku’s trip has the entire north on edge, as word has gotten around that he asked for Lord Di to consider an alliance with the east and south. Numerous clan leaders are coming and going from the north. A few ignorant ones think that they should join with the east and south, so that they can ensure victory if a war were to breakout, obviously unaware of the western lady’s presence in their lands.
Thankfully the majority of the northern clans are against joining Naraku. They’ve heard of the crimes he’s committed and do not wish to follow such a traitor, that is not a full demon, or even a true half demon.
Lord Di has yet to give an official answer, and has said that he will give his response at the next council meeting. Kiba, the Ryu-Okami leader, tells us that this is Lord Di’s way of avoiding a confrontation or conflict within his lands. Kiba has also said that as long as Lord Di remains ‘undecided’, it saves us from having Naraku begin his assault on the west. Even Naraku is smart enough to realize that if he engages before an alliance is formed; it will cost him to lose the North’s support, even though he doesn’t have it to begin with.
I’ve heard that Dagger was at the castle when Naraku showed up and I wonder if he’s told Kazuko about it. I would guess not, because they want her to focus on her training more than anything else, from what I’ve heard.
Katina seems unfazed by this and has been steadily working to get her healing better, and has even begun weakening spells. I’m not fond of the idea of having her on the front lines, but I cannot deny that her weakening spells truly work, as she has been practicing them on me. It just gives me motivation to work harder at my training, so that I can make sure when we’re on the front lines, I can protect her.
~Claw~ One of Kazuko’s weapons is here.
Totosai has crafted one of the weapons Kazuko commissioned of him and given the results over the past few years, it’s enough to keep Masaru at bay… for now. He delivered the sword just before the flowers began to bloom.
Seeing the sword that the weapons smith made, confirms why he is revered as the best there is, even if he is an old, senile slacker.
The sword was the same color violet as Kazuko’s eyes, which is amazing since as far as I know Totosai has never seen Kazuko. It had a beautiful winged, silver dog engraved on both sides of the hilt that well reflected Kazuko in her true form. It had black sheath, made from material that we had never seen before, with an engraving that read ‘A blade forged in the elements for one destined to master them’.
The meaning of the engraving was confusing since Kazuko hadn’t ordered any engraving, but Totosai was known for these kinds of things and we trusted that he knew what he was doing.
We are thankful that the sword was finished first, instead of the staff. Kazuko had requested that the sword be brought to her as soon as it was finished because she wanted to use it in her training. Shadow, Moon and I took it to the northern castle because we did not know where to find her.
Lord Di says he also does not know where she is, but Dagger comes by every few moons. The northern lord has promised us that he will give the sword to Dagger the next time he comes around.
The orphans are fitting in well. I think we all miss having non-guardians around. The older ones are training in our fighting techniques, and we’ve been able to supply them with the weapons we salvaged. They have told us they already know about the plan to go to war with the east, and they have expressed their desire to fight on our side. I’m not sure Masaru fully trust them yet, but he hasn’t hindered their training.
The ones too young to fight follow Sage and the other mages around to learn history of the clan, the western lands and Japan in general in the mornings. Just like the younger ones used to do before the massacre.
The afternoons are livelier now. The older ones are done with their training by then and the younger ones are done with their lessons. So now they walk through the village, or run as with the younger ones, removing the desolate feeling the village has had.
After nearly three decades, it almost feels like home again.
~Naraku~ That fox kit was there.
I stayed true to the story I gave Toro and stopped by the northern castle to speak with Lord Di. I know without a doubt that I saw that fox kit that had been traveling with Inuyasha and his group. Kana had said she saw him among other foxes, and now it made sense that he was there in the north, land of the foxes.
The kit saw me as well and scurried off before I could get to him. I considered taking him so that I could get information about the Shogakko’s location, but Lord Di showed up and said he was the uncle of the kit. I had mentally cursed; there was no way I could kidnap the relative of a lord without it being noticed.
Instead I’ve simply planted a hive of my Saimyoushou in the northern palace before I left. So far they haven’t fed me any information, but it’s only a matter of time before they do. In the meantime I will sit and wait while my body adjust and reforms itself to make me more powerful.
I can already tell that this newest batch of demons will push my aura past that of a mere half demon, and to the strength of a full demon. The only ones who could still beat me in a fair fight would be a TaiYoukai, but fair was never my goal.
Toro thinks that my goal is to become a lord of one of the four lands, but he is so naïve. I intend to over throw all four lands and descend Japan into chaos. From there the strongest will survive and the weaklings will be killed. Once that has happened I will rise and assert my dominance and take my rightful place as lord over all of Japan, and then I shall lead my new army to take over the mainland as well.
This pathetic little dispute between Toro and the Shogakko is simply the first step of my master plan. I have to ensure that all demons who could pose a threat to my rule kill each other off before any other part of my plan can work.
The plan is flawless. The south has already agreed to enter the war, thus I can have one of my incarnations assassinate lord Ryku. Once the war starts, and the north sees the west falling, they will either join with us or join with Sesshomaru. Either way Lord Di will suffer an ‘unfortunate’ and lethal battle wound. Sesshomaru with either kill Toro, or Toro will kill Sesshomaru and I will kill whoever lives while they are weakened.
The Shogakko I will take for myself. I had a special collar created, that over powers the mind even better than the jewel shard can and cannot be purified without purifying the wearer. I had originally had it made to for Inuyasha. I figured if I cannot kill the hanyou, I can make him work for me; but now with the surfacing of the Shogakko, I can’t think of a better use.
With the four lords dead, and a Shogakko as my pet, I cannot be stopped.
Japan will crumble beneath me.
~Inuyasha~ Kikyo is no longer here.
It’s been three years since she released her anger and bitterness and was able to find peace. I know I should be over her by now, but I haven’t been able to. Kikyo was and is the first woman I ever loved, besides my mother.
Sango and Miroku are married now, and I’m surprised that lecher has been able to stay faithful. But somehow he has managed. Miroku and Sango now live in the rebuild slayer’s village. From what I’ve heard the village has grown, and there are about two dozen or so slayers living there now. A few were original members who escaped Naraku’s trick, because they had been away. Some are just wanders who had demon slaying experience.
The last time they stopped by they told us Sango was pregnant, even though I had been able to smell it the previous time, I let them find out on their own. Kagome is in full swoon mode as he and Sango had gone off to talk about it. I had noticed Miroku’s fear scent and confronted him about it.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of becoming a father.” I snorted at the monk. He gave a solemn shake of his head and turned to me before dropping his eyes down to his cursed hand. “They’re going to have this.” He said quietly. “Naraku still lives and this curse will be passed on. This is not something I wanted to have passed down.” “What? You used to ask every woman you saw if they could have your child.” I said, though I could see the sincerity in his expression. “I was foolish then. Besides those were women that I didn’t care about. Now it’s Sango…” He trailed off. “What is it?” I questioned knowing he was leaving something out. “I never knew my mother.” Miroku started with a sigh. “When I was born, my wind tunnel…” “Damn.” I cursed silently understanding where he was going with this. “I don’t want to lose Sango.” He finished. “There has to be a way to make sure Sango comes out of it just fine, and I’ll help you.” I said. “Just don’t tell Sango or Kagome. Sango is so excited to be having a child; I don’t want to ruin it for her.” He added. “Yea I wouldn’t want to tell her anyway.” I said with a shake of my head. The two of them come by every other moon now. Mostly because Miroku and I are trying to find a way to make sure Sango gives birth safely. Kaede says she’ll probably give birth sometime around the spring next year.
Rin is starting to push that she wants to go live in the slayers village with them and learn to be a demon slayer. Thankfully we’ve all agreed that it would be better if she were to remain with Kaede. That girl is headed down a bad path; she’s shot past fear straight to hatred for demons. I’m not really sure if she can be turned around; it would be a bad idea to give her such experience at slaying.
Something was off with Sesshomaru when he came to visit a few years back. Normally I get a chill from his aura. Yet this time his aura felt so much weaker than normal that I knew I could take him down in a fair fight. I wonder if that’s what happens to a bonded male who doesn’t have their mate around for so long. It kind of reminds me of the way I feel when Kagome stays in her time for so long.
Kagome is waiting, and I know it, but I just can’t be with her yet. I’m not even sure if I deserve to be with her. I’ve heard her and Sango talking about the Hojo guy from her time and sometimes I think it would be better if she just stayed in her time with him. She wouldn’t have to worry about constant life-threatening attacks and people from her time live longer.
I think the best thing will be to just let her go once Naraku is taken care of.
~Kazuko~ I pretty sure my sanity is no longer here.
Or at least it has thinned considerably. Koru had been sparing me for the past few months straight.
“What is that Dagger?” I had questioned when I woke up to see the guardian scratching at something tied around his neck. ‘I don’t know that’s what I was trying to figure out.’ He growled. ‘Lord Di said Moon, Claw and Shadow brought it to the northern castle, and asked that it be delivered to you.’ “So you’re trying to get into what is meant for me?” I questioned as I came over and untied the bundle. ‘Uh well I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a distraction!’ He barked suddenly and dipped his head. “It’s all good, I was just teasing you.” I responded as I removed the cloth to reveal the sheathed sword. “So Totosai has finished.” ‘Well he’s only finished the sword; they say he is still working on the staff.’ Dagger mumbled. The sword was beautiful as I looked over the handle and the sheath and its’ engraving. I placed my hand on the handle and noticed Koru watching from a distance. “Just on time as always, Totosai.” He said quietly then looked towards Dagger. “I would step away if I were you.” Dagger gave him a confused look, but still moved back to stand next to Koru. “Why do you two need to be so far away?” I questioned. “I believe you were about to inspect the blade of your sword.” Koru said, completely ignoring the question. “Stupid wolf never answering my questions…” I mumbled and pulled the sword from its sheath. The blade was stunning, but I only got to enjoy it shortly. I focused on the light that was forming around the blade. The light was a mixture of red, blue, white, yellow and brown, but I could still see each individual color. I noticed a change in the wind and a trembling of the ground as the light began to spin around the blade, picking up speed as it did. ‘What the hell’
I thought before the light burst and sent me flying, my grip on the sword releasing. I was slammed into the side of the clearing just beside the waterfall and pond. “What the hell was that?!” I growled as I stood, feeling a dull buzzing running through my body. I looked to see my sword lying on the ground where I had been, only now it was inside of a sizable crater. “You haven’t mastered your abilities yet thus the sword is rejecting you.” Koru guessed as he went over to pick up the sword, but brought his hand back as the same light engulfed his hand. “And it would seem it is made only for you.” He added, giving his hand a shake. “So I have a sword I can’t use? Great.” I sighed as I walked back over. “You will in time.” He said with a shrug. “Totosai has always made Shogakko weapons that he feels are meant for them. The weapons of each are contained within the boxes at the foot of each statue.” I looked over and nodded. “Some of them don’t have boxes.” I pointed out. “Yes and that is for one of two reasons. You have the statues of the Shogakkos who are still living such as you, the Ryu-Neko Shogakko, and me, who are still using their weapons. Then there are those who kept the weapons and passed them down through the generations. The blades your pack mate Ryo carries are the Claw and Fang Blades that originally belonged to the first Ryu-Inu Shogakko, Huro. I would imagine he is having a difficult time mastering them. Other than Huro, there is only one other who I know of to have fully mastered the blades, and that was Ryo’s father.” “So Ryo is a descendant of the first Ryu-Inu Shogakko?” I asked in quiet awe. “As are you, Ryo’s father and yours were brothers.” Koru reminded me. “But enough with talking, you have much to learn. Now it’s time to learn how to engage your mastered elements, and how to become one with them.” “What do you mean become one with them? I just mastered them, isn’t that the same thing?” I questioned. “No. To put it simply, you learned to control them, now it’s time to learn how to use them.” He said as he got into a fighting stance. His five dragon tattoos began to glow and I stepped back. Each tattoo exploded with their respective elements. His torso became engulfed in fire, his right arm ice, his left arm lightening, his right leg dirt and his left leg had a small tornado wrapped around it. “This is level two.” He said as his eyes turned a dark red, bordering on black. The aura now radiating off of him was so strong that I had to brace myself from the initial blast. Even now his aura was overwhelming as I battled him.
Thankfully my natural affinity for lightening allowed me to at least summon the lighting, which surrounded my torso like an extra layer of armor. Yet it drained so much energy to maintain, coupled with the fact that I was engaged in hand to hand combat, that I had to drop it after a few minutes and it took a day or so to summon the energy to do again.
Koru clarified that the only one that I should maintain is my lighting, since it’s was around my torso and would provide protection for my vital organs. The others I would learn to activate when engaging that particular limb, and how to deactivate when I wasn’t using it.
He also explained that the usual training method was to allow the Shogakko to meditate for years to become one with their element, then to training them in fighting using what they meditated on. But we didn’t have that much time, so he said I would just have to go through a crash course and learn to focus while I fight. It was something that was proving to be much more difficult than I had expected, and I had already thought it would be hard enough.
I could get sparks of power every so often when I focused hard enough. But with time and attention it took to get the sparks, I left myself vulnerable and unaware, something Koru took great advantage of.
We continued this battle well into the fall, and as far as I could tell we weren’t making any progress. Sure I could spark the elements, but they died down after one hit and it took weeks before I could build up enough energy to spark it again. Plus not once did I manage to get on offense, but instead I was defending from his attacks the entire time.
Towards the end of fall I felt a massive spike energy level and strength one day. The feeling felt familiar but I couldn’t quite place it. Thanks to the spark I was able to sustain my elements and begin some offensive strikes.
“Damn, I forgot about that.” Koru had growled at some point, but when I had questioned him about it he simply shook his head and continued his attacks. Then the following day, as the last full moon of fall rose, it hit me like a dragon had opened its maw and unleashed a fiery turret at me. The force of it was so powerful that my legs gave out on me and I sunk to the ground with heavy breathing that was not from my training. My strength quickly dwindled down to almost non-existent.
‘My heat!’ I growled in my head.
‘I can’t believe I forgot about it after how bad it was last time!’ I felt at least a hundred times hotter than I had last time, so much so that I felt like running to the pond and just staying there forever. Yet I knew it wouldn’t relieve the heat stemming from within, only one thing, could do that. Besides as I tried to stand my legs would not cooperate and I slid back down again.
“You have to get Sesshomaru!” I growled, feeling my claws and fangs lengthen along with my eyes bleeding red.
“There is no time.” Koru stated glancing at me, although even his gaze looked unnerved. “You must continue your training.”
“I can’t train when I can hardly stand!” I snapped. “And why does it hurt so badly this time?!”
“You’ve meditated through four heats now. Doing so has stored those desires and bodily responses; it didn’t get rid of them. Now that you’re out of meditation you’re feeling the effects of this heat, plus the four you’ve stored up.” Koru stated still seeming weary of me.
“What’s wrong with you?” I snarled.
“While I am aware that you are mated to a Lord Sesshomaru, my instincts are still those of a male.” He explained.
I couldn’t believe the words that came from my mouth. It was as if I was watching someone else control my mouth.
“You’re my trainer. You’re supposed to make sure that I am able to train, correct?” I growled finding the strength to stand and walk over to the Ryu-Okami Shogakko.
“Well, yes, that’s one way of putting it.” He said holding his breath at my closeness. I gave a light growl and aimed a swipe of my claws across his shoulder, which caused him to release his breath and give a sharp growl, when he was forced to inhale the heat scent he had been trying to ignore.
“I’m not going to be able to train while my heat is interfering, and we both know what it will take to get it to go away.” I heard my voice growl seductively.
“I would never disgrace you in such a way, Lady Kazuko. You are Lord Sesshomaru’s mate and lady of the western lands.” Koru said, sounding as if he were trying to settle his own mind.
“Sesshomaru is not here, and we don’t have to tell him.” I snarled.
“Dagger is…” Koru said quickly, only to look around for the missing guardian.
“Dagger is at the northern castle for the week.” I finished for him.
Koru seemed at a loss for words as his eyes flashed from their usual green to red.
