I have to think of something quickly! These giants are too strong! There has to be a connection to them and the patron goddess... Meioshi thought, dodging a blast of yoki. None of this makes sense to me, though. Why would Tadamasa lead me to the onmyoji? Better yet... why are the demons specifically leading me to the other warrior clans? First, it was the black wall demon who led me to the Nameless General and his group. Then, it was Lord Aka who led me to Hasumi to find the sunstone. Now, Tadamasa brought me here. Was I... wrong for separating my family from the Web of Divine Might? Our family hadn't been in use for years since we made peace with many demons. But, then... what about Lord Sesshomaru? I haven't met the clan linked to his Meido Stone yet. He may have nothing to do with this at all, but there has to be some connection to it all. What is it? Even Sojuro's return is making a bit less sense.
Worse than that, Lady Rakuyama is on mortal soil, and we don't know where she is. I know that woman all too well. She'll take over territories with the excuse of avenging her pride if she can't seduce someone into doing her bidding. If Sesshomaru is right, why would she take the Meido Stone? She's a hell titan, guardian of the hell king's lands. She would have no use for it with the amount of power she has. Maybe... I pray that's not the case, but is it possible that the onmyoji's patron and Lady Rakuyama share a mind? Kinzo wants to find a new place to live for his family that's away from his goddess, but the black wall demon was not much different from him. I don't know what that demon exchanged for the body I saw, but his power was intense and highly parasitic. The fact that Rakuyama and Biancheng came to the living world to investigate his death is enough to know that he was valued higher than what was implied. It's possible there is a similar value in Kinzo. This goddess is easily distracted by him, but her powers are just as mighty as any of the untouchables and she's using them to protect Kinzo at all costs. I don't want to believe that she's like that thing that betrayed my family, but...
No, focus, Meioshi! The connection. What's the connection? Why did the onmyoji of the past manifest into these monsters? What did the goddess do to enrage them so much? Think! They don't want to harm Kinzo or his biwa, and they're herding the onmyoji to other places for safety. These giants may have enslaved the clan, but they're not... trying to destroy the clan. It's something else. They're running them ragged for something else. Purifying them won't solve my problems like I thought. These giants aren't possessed onmyoji. They are angry. So... Wait!
Meioshi dodged three attacks simultaneously and ran straight passed the giants. Maboroshi no kohime was confused by this until she unlocked her full power to attack. The doctor dismissed Shanwang's powers and used Nether Dash to bolt to and through the temple and quickly analyze her surroundings. She caught sight of incantations and scriptures along the walls, read through them rapidly, and bolted to other walls to read them for answers. There is a reason why the onmyoji of the past manifested into angry giants. Just as Meioshi was about to read more wall script, she noticed something. Every character was written in red; in fact, the scripts were carved into the gray stones that made the walls and floors. A giant tackled the wall next to her to crush her, but she managed to dodge in time and saw the red script respond through rippling effects of intense power. It wasn't the giants that needed purification. It was the temple itself!
The tackling giant rushed at Meioshi again and punched her into a wall that took her breath away. She chose not to transform this time and instead made a plan to purify the stones leaking power. The one behind the giant was going to go first. She would see the effects of her actions from there.
"Baohu qi Voluptatis, Dai Fubuki, Lantern of Akarui, unite with me to free the onmyoji. Jigoku kara inochi o sukuu..." Meioshi chanted, forming hand signs to summon the might of winter warriors.
The divine arctic sword appeared first. It shot a blast of light and fire into Meioshi's target, making the giant roar, and illuminated a pathway for the doctor to follow. Twirling her sword around, Meioshi acrobatically dodged another tackle and engaged in combat with the giant. She cut at the giant's ankle, dodge rolled away from the spluttering bouts of blood, and threw the general's dagger into the red script. Crackling could be heard before a strong wave of blood and blackened water covered the floor and forced Meioshi back until she slipped. This fumble cost a fractured rib potentially as the giant limped over to her fast enough to charge at her full force. Blood wretched out of her mouth from the impact and she was slammed into the floor. Behind the giant, she saw a disturbing image that made her gasp. An onmyoji of the past was trapped in garnet, fingers bleeding from the lack of nails able to claw at his prison! His pained screams and grunts echoed in the room. It was as Kishi had described! So, the giants... weren't enslaving the onmyoji out of evil. They were trying to free their clansmen! Meioshi shouted out a purification chant just before the giant could slam his fist into her and stopped it for a moment. When she completed her chant, the garnet broke into pieces and the temple seemed to shift. The floor shook violently and stones from above were rattling before loosening enough to barrel straight down. The giant straightened his body up and allowed a stone to strike him in the direct center of his head. Blood spluttered out, but his body was crackling open like a busted jar. From the body emerged a man trying to breathe and coughing up fluids. He clawed and scratched his way out of the shell of a body, and the soul trapped in the garnet shot straight to him.
Light covered the man until he was dressed in proper white clothing. He cried with a smile on his face and whispered something so faint that Meioshi couldn't hear it. He did, however, float towards her and kissed her forehead before rushing out of the temple to Kinzo and Kishi's direction. He must be going to protect the new clan head somehow. Meioshi struggled to get up, but she used the wall as her anchor until she could rightfully stand. Another stone loosened and was on its way to crushing her, but something grabbed her and moved her in time for the stone to miss. When her aid stopped, she looked up to see...
"Sesshomaru?" Meioshi questioned, earning a raised brow and an unimpressed huff from the inu prince.
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The resemblance was striking when he saw him walking through the forest to meet with the young miko years ago. The eyes, brows, hair, jawline, persistence in combat. The child was shorter than his flirty son, but the look of love and longing could never be mistaken. His young son, Toga, lived on in the heart and spirit of another, and the child never knew him. Twas no fault of the child. The elder loathed the humans for harming his family so grossly over the years and gave no sympathy to Sesshomaru's young ward, but he wondered if his dislike of the humans was what pushed his little boy away. Seeing Inuyasha from afar now, the elder wondered if any of his actions was worth it. His Toga grew to be a wise leader, adept in showing empathy to others and using his emotional intelligence to his advantage often, but there was a dark enough secret buried underneath the crown and castle that his child kept in death. The pain of it hurt the elder. He was grateful in a way that Sesshomaru had met this... supposed holy warrior of recent days. Milady had informed him of Grand Monk Shishido's interest in Sesshomaru's new companion as well. His daughter-in-law was very particular about who she kept in her conversations and immediate memory, but she seemed to have this mischievousness laced in her voice that was almost playful when she spoke of "the creature of conflict". Though no one has met this holy warrior, the elder couldn't deny that he was curious and a bit impatient with his young one.
Though he was waiting for his young one to make his decision about reinstating the Okuri-inu, Hikozaemon II was consumed by an overwhelming sense of guilt and emotional frustration. He never wanted (or meant) to be absent from either of his grandsons' lives, but, if Sesshomaru was to continue learning about his heritage and the truth about himself, then Inuyasha was owed the same. Eventually, the older gentleman knew that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha were going to view his young pup in a different light. He hoped and prayed that perhaps there would be a way to protect the memory of his child, but Hikozaemon II could feel that lingering sense of doubt haunting him. He was forbidden from speaking about much per Toga's last will, and a great deal had befallen Milady. Despite the fact that Hikozaemon II had a dislike for Izayoi like many of the House, he remained respectful and only asked to see Inuyasha as any grandparent would. Out of fear, Izayoi had complied and Hikozaemon II was with Inuyasha for much of his early life. He had protected them both seeing so much of Toga in Inuyasha as a baby and so much discrimination against Izayoi from her own clansmen. In a way, he took great pity on the human woman. She was thrown into a secluded lifestyle that she simply wasn't prepared for with no guidance, and no one gave her or the young child mercy. It took a lot of convincing to get Milady to cease her anger and focus only on the young babe, but he was able to be present throughout Inuyasha's infancy and toddler stages...
Until the day Izayoi had forbidden him from seeing the baby. He didn't know what changed, could only surmise a few details, but it seemed he was being stopped because it was Toga's last instruction to her. He didn't want Inuyasha to be raised by any of his own kind. He strictly wanted the humans to raise him, but Toga was setting things up like this for an unknown reason. On his dying breath, when Hikozaemon II cradled his little boy in his arms and tried to take his place in battle, Toga refused him any vengeful strike and merely asked for forgiveness... and to be patient. Patient? What was Toga hiding from him? What was so wrong about raising the newborn halfling? They were not harsh. Hikozaemon II, especially! It was obvious that he would do right by the boy regardless of the tainted blood, but... Hikozaemon II feared that that may have been the reason for the separation. The natives were extremely prejudiced to outsiders and mixed children. Hikozaemon II knew that better than anyone. Times were hard when Hikozaemon II entered the lands of Nihon. He was exiled from his homelands of Dongguan as a result of the revolution, and it took years to gain any form of peace as a war refugee.
But... Toga should have known better than to fear for the boy's upbringing. There was peace in the Forest of the Flying Inu. He grew up there! If he had just explained the reason for exiling his people from the lands, Hikozaemon II could have at least understood some semblance of his flirty son's logic. But, the reasons, answers, and explanations he was looking for were never going to be heard from his little, energetic pup. Toga was a special one amongst his children. The elder had always known that. When he sat with his wife and held her in his arms to help her deliver the little one, his cries made the world seem so much brighter. Toga had a yip to his cries, one that called the rays of the sun and made them play with him. His beloved wife laughed through tiredness at the sound of Toga's small yips. She said it sounded like he had hiccups. Toga's birth was the most non-traditional one. Typically, the midwives forbade the fathers from going near the mothers, even united together to fight the fathers. Pups had to be safe from harm and many fathers had the primitive tendency of eating their young, but the midwives were familiar with the unusual behavior of Hikozaemon II and his efficiency as a father. His hunting skills made him the most lethal of the Okuri-inu, hence why the natives didn't particular like when he led the Chimei Tiangou into battle against them. When peace was achieved, Hikozaemon II reared his young with his beloved.
Watching Inuyasha think about something on his mind made Hikozaemon II remember times when he snuck around to visit the child. Izayoi may have formally forbade the elder from seeing Inuyasha, but she didn't formally know the kind of man and killer that Hikozaemon II was. He was a lethal hunter for a reason and moved with the shadows to lure Inuyasha away. He saw his humankind mistreat him when he wanted to play, so Hikozaemon II remedied that from time to time. The elder enjoyed putting fear into them and couldn't care less when Izayoi tried to reprimand him for it if she caught him. He would go away for a while, but Inuyasha learned how to find his scent and Hikozaemon II taught him how to hunt. He still had some refining to do, but his Iron Reaper Soul Stealer technique was proficient enough to hunt for food without a weapon. His young Tiny Tooth... He wondered if Inuyasha even remembered the nickname he had given him. Hikozaemon II let out a huff akin to a small laugh and softened his features at the memory of Inuyasha chewing on teething sticks the elder had brought from home and the little one nudging his Moki Moki ball to him with his nose. He didn't mind playing with the tot as it reminded him of when he played with Sesshomaru.
Lifting the child's ball in his hand, Hikozaemon II looked at the toy for the last time before throwing it in Inuyasha's direction from the miles' long distance. His old eyes may not have been able to see as far as they used to, but he could sense the child's alertness when a noise stirred his attentions. The scent of emotions coming from his direction made the elder's heart flutter. So, he did remember him, after all. Odd that he didn't sense him before when the elder visited Inuyasha on his wedding day. Albeit, the distance was great then, too, but he was there. Largely out of curiosity of the new miko the boy chose for the marriage bed. The look of love and longing was just as strong as before.
"You have grown much, my Tiny Tooth. May this creature of conflict visit you someday to rattle the foundations of our family once more..."
"It can't be...!" Inuyasha whispered sharply, eyes moving rapidly and burning.
He sniffed the ball quickly and immediately caught the scent of the man from his childhood. The one with no name who lived among the shadows but who seemed to enjoy the sunlight. He was an odd one - contradictory to shade dwellers - but he was kind to him. He didn't smile much, but his eyes were always soft and warm. He had wished to be like him as a child and wanted to stay with him, even begged his mother to live with him... until the day he just didn't come back. Not until his mother had died and he had coached him to say "It wasn't her fault" repeatedly. When anyone asked about his mother, even Kagome, he repeated those same words taught to him. It wasn't her fault. That man was still very much alive. Inuyasha rushed to sniff the ground to catch the man's direction, but it evaded him and all he could do was run to where he might be. Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes as he dashed through the forest. He thought he heard Kagome's voice, but her soft calls turned to the masculine voice of his past.
"Where are you? Please... don't go again... please..." Inuyasha begged, using his full speed to dash in a direction where the scent was strongest. To no avail, the ball was all he had. Inuyasha shook his head violently, running in a different direction to catch the scent. "Come back!"
Hikozaemon II heard him. Though Inuyasha wouldn't be able to hear his voice from the distance, the elder said softly, "I will, Inuyasha..., but my young one needs me right now. Be patient, my Tiny Tooth..."
With that, he left. Inuyasha didn't return home to Kagome that night... The scent was faint, but Inuyasha refused to give up until he found him... Punching trees, stones, and other objects to alleviate some of his anger, Inuyasha finally let the weight of sorrow consume him and wept. It may seem justified to cry at the loss of a father figure, it may even seem fair to cry for the loss of a loved one, but Inuyasha knew how odd it would seem to be in mourning for a man he once loved dearly. He missed Hikozaemon II greatly and didn't even know his name, but he clung to that ball as if the man himself was in his arms again. He remembered the times when he would crawl into the man's lap to show him something or play with him, times when the man would twist or braid his hair after a bath, times when he didn't wear his bright red hankimono and had other clothes to change into, times when he felt safe and slept with some chewing toy still in his mouth. His one wish - his only wish - was to live in the forests with that man instead of the castle with the humans. He treated his mother fairly, spoke with her at length about things he didn't understand at the time but spoke to her respectfully regardless, and gave them a place to belong. He was unlike most demons, and Inuyasha could really see that now after everything that happened with Naraku.
"Please come back," Inuyasha begged, holding the Moki Moki ball tightly. "Please... please..."