The walk to Akabeko Temple was quiet. Sesshomaru could admit to this, but his companion on this journey actually reminded him of his rival. The only difference was that Sesshomaru wasn't uncomfortable with the silence. Reijiro was as militant and focused as Meioshi was when she and Sesshomaru allied themselves together to fight the black wall demon. Sesshomaru wasn't sure if he was more at ease because of the similarity or if he was more curious because Reijiro was planning on leaving the inu army. The dark inu never did answer his questions from earlier. Perhaps, in this short walk, he could ask again. He took into account what Meioshi asked him earlier and what Sanraku had told him before all of this mess with his father's oath. Reijiro seemed to be quite close to Takamuku. Sesshomaru had no idea that Takamuku had become a recruiter after they split up. He had no reason to care for a traitor, but it sounded like he might have been able to accomplish his dream in life unlike everyone else. Feeling the energy of the sacred grounds prickling against his skin, Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and caught the scent of blood in the air before he stopped to look into the sky. Everything was gray like a storm was coming, but the entryway was just ahead.
"My lord?" Reijiro asked softly. Sesshomaru turned to the man only slightly to show his attention had been gained. The dark inu then asked, "That old man from before... what is he?"
"A simple human," Sesshomaru answered plainly.
"No, I mean... as a fighter in the past. What was he?" Reijiro asked quietly.
"He mentioned being a naval officer in his younger years. The 'oni girl' is like a granddaughter to him. He knew her grandfather quite well and fought alongside him in battle. He used to train other soldiers before his supposed retirement. Now, he's just a gardener," Sesshomaru answered, returning his gaze to the sky above.
"Is he like that with all of his students?" Reijiro asked, making Sesshomaru turn to look at him. He wasn't sulking like before, but he seemed to be recovering from the shock and/or disgrace. "Questioning their sense of honor?"
"I am not his pupil. The foolish witch is. You have to ask her that," Sesshomaru said dismissively. Something stopped him from walking forward and dropping the conversation entirely, though. He couldn't put his finger on why if you asked him to, but he could feel his face soften as he said, "He does not question your code of honor, only your completion of the training involving it. He has said that I am incomplete in correlation to the code of honor that he follows. We follow the Shimabukuro Law in the House of Inu. I have completed my training for this. You are a different story. You have yet to answer why you joined the army if you weren't going to stay."
"I did want to join the army!" Reijiro started, blushing minutely from an overwhelming resurgence of emotions. "I just didn't want to serve Lord Toga! I wanted to serve someone else among the nobles. I joined the army to be his bodyguard someday because he did something for me that Lord Toga couldn't. Since you're next in line for the throne, maybe you know him. He... saved my mom. Takamuku-sensei said that he knew the guy that helped her when we met. I lived with my mom along the outskirts of the kingdom as a farmhand. She worked for this man that I couldn't stand. He always tried to force himself on my mom, and, for a moment, I thought he was my father. I didn't want to believe that, but... who was going to tell me different? I remember the night when the guy attacked my mom... I tried to stop him. He just beat me up and locked me in an underground space. We both tried screaming for help... and for each other. I don't know who heard us, but a man came in and threw the guy out. He tried to bring my mother to safety before she told him where I was. This man... he didn't say much to me, but... I think... he might have been my real dad. His hair was like mine, kinda spotted."
Sesshomaru watched as Reijiro took down his topknot and revealed the black and white spots on the back and sides of his hair. Like Sesshomaru, he had white hair, but it was underneath the black locks. As if the memories were within his hair tie, Reijiro looked down at it and continued with a remorseful look in his eyes.
"He took us into the kingdom and helped my mother get a new job. I met Sanraku once we found work. He was orphaned. Mom adopted him, and we became brothers and grew up together," Reijiro said, letting out a quick chuckle and smirk before it disappeared. "Sanraku and I were just country boys either working with the farmhands at the palace or with the humans in the fields. One day... I want to say it was somewhere around Sanraku's birthday... some men had tried to capture some of us, but we fought them off together and ran to the kingdom grounds with my mom and a few others. When we came back, we met Takamuku, and he recruited us while we were practicing self-defense. He taught us a lot! Right as we were working during the summer day, someone told us that a new law had just been passed that allowed the women to live freely. You had never seen so many smiling faces in one place! But... the biggest smile of all and the most tears to come from the pit of a soul was from my mother. That beautiful angel, whoever he was, ... made it illegal for men like that guy to hurt my mother just because they can! And those who ratted them out were rewarded and protected! It was the best year of our lives! I don't know if the reason why the gates of our kingdom had closed to the humans because of that law, but... I don't care. I want to meet the man who made that law. The reason why I don't know if I'll stay in the army is because doing all of that work won't mean anything if I don't get to serve that man who helped so many women and children. If I have to take up the sword and serve anyone, I want to serve the man who helped us. All this mission is doing is telling me what I already knew: that serving in this army isn't worth a damn. No one even cares that Takamuku-sensei might be in trouble! He was a loyal warrior. He'd never betray the House of Inu without a damn good reason! He didn't recognize anyone during the siege, not even us and we were his only recruits at the time. The general stopped him from gathering anymore people since his position had changed, but he allowed us to train at the dojo and continue to study under Takamuku-sensei's wings. We were enlisted into the army after the war against the Panther Tribe."
"The man who saved you and your mother - the one with spotted hair - was a farmhand as well?" Sesshomaru asked out of curiosity.
"He was a sailor, I think," Reijiro answered, looking down at his feet. "I never really got to know him, not even his name. That's why I wondered about the old man. If the reason he was so defensive about honor was just because that's how men at sea are. The guy with spotted hair attacked that cretin who went after my mom. He was a seaman. The old man came at me like I was a thing of nightmares. You just said he was a naval officer in the past. Maybe it's a common thing with them. I guess that's why... I... felt scared. Like I didn't just let him down, I let everyone down. Every man that I've called a hero was in the old man at that moment. When he said I wasn't worthy enough to see one of my heroes get their justice, it was like... I don't know... like I wasn't worthy at all. Like I didn't deserve to be at their side or among their ranks. I lost the will to fight then. I don't want to go up to that old man again until I make this right."
Sesshomaru's eyes lowered when Reijiro said those last words. He felt a similar sentiment when it came to Meioshi. Really, not just her but his father, his mother, the kingdom, his grandfather, and anyone else he had failed at some point. He may not have wanted to fight alongside any of the people he named, but he did want something out of each one of them. He wanted an apology out of half of them. The smell of blood in the air gained both inu men's attention. They turned sharply to see a creature of hair and shadow covering the sky in darkness. Soon, screams sounded, and a tendril of hair swept over the land and covered it in a dome. Salt acid filled the air following after. The holy people were being eaten alive!
"Reijiro, with me!" Sesshomaru ordered, leaping over to the temple with haste.
"On it!" the dark inu replied, rushing behind Sesshomaru.
Whether the situation was too serious for the dark inu to realize it or not, it was clear that Sesshomaru had regarded him as an ally... temporarily, of course. After all, he said his name...