Summoning the Familiar
"Guardian?" Reijiro questioned aloud.
"He means the creatures that daughter summoned," Hikozaemon II clarified. "The natives, or Nihon inu, all have a unique ability that unfortunately has been lost to time. Typically, the ancestors of the inu clan choose certain members of active generations to learn how to summon their powers and manifest them into physical forms. The humans from what I understand called these ancestors inugami, specifically. These ancestral inu are able to form covenants with humans and young generations of the inu clan. They were once divine servants of the gods and in charge of judgment of one's character. Those with good character were blessed with gifts from them. Those with bad character were devoured whole. Ultimate death was once their task. There were four inugami within the House of Inu, each representing the cardinal directions: Yukiyama of the North, the twins, Anettai of the East and Tanoshī bīchi of the West, and Ōame of the South. These ancestors visited certain inu children and passed down their powers by training them to develop the ability to summon a guardian from within. Inu children who complete the ancestral training are considered True Guardians. Daughter, as you can see, was visited by one of the inugami as a child, so she is able to summon these 'familiars' or inner inugami. Along with the ability to summon guardians at will, the ancestral inu gifted her with the ability to judge one's character. In summary, she was chosen to be one of the True Guardians of her generation."
Sesshomaru's eyes widened at that. His mother!? A guardian? An inugami?
"Who are the other three then?" Sanraku asked in Sesshomaru's place.
"This, I do not know. Only the natives can sense it. I find it odd that the dragon in this territory knows of such a thing," Hikozaemon II said with some suspicion, turning to the direction of the dragon looking at them.
"Worse than that. How do we know who he's talking to?" Reijiro asked, growling a bit at the dragon watching them.
"... You are strange," the dragon said without moving his mouth. "I saw the one you call daughter first learn how to summon her inugami. She was here with a young man. He looked like you."
"My Toga?" Hikozaemon II questioned, eyes widening with genuine surprise.
"Ah, that's the one," the dragon replied, nodding slowly. "Your daughter has grown much. She was younger when I saw her. So was the boy. He is with you?"
"... My... My Toga passed away some time ago," Hikozaemon II said sadly.
"My condolences," the dragon said, leaning forward so Hikozaemon II could touch his nose. The elder did out of courtesy. It then said, "Your 'Toga' came this way on his journey to Zhongguo. The girl was a stowaway. He battled my brother. Your son was quite the fighter!"
"He didn't... well..." Hikozaemon II questioned, waving a finger around to get to the point.
"Oh, no, brother deserved it. Pity him not," the dragon said. "His pride was merely hurt. He did not perish. What are the inu doing on our lands today?"
"My cute grandson lost his servant to a whirlpool there. Daughter went after him. Oh, I suppose his girlfriend is lost to the tides as well," Hikozaemon II answered.
"She is not my - !"
"He means it literally, Maru-sama," Yamashi said, interrupting Sesshomaru. "Doc is a girl and your friend."
"I did not claim such a thing and don't call me that!" Sesshomaru roared, eyes burning red.
"Oh, both shall be returned in due time. I believe there was a man on that boat who was of interest, not her or the servant. I'm just here because I smelled an inugami among you. I thought the boy may have learned that technique at last," the dragon informed.
"Toga had no native ancestors from those lands. He wouldn't have had that ability. He was born in Nihon, yes, but his powers hailed from elsewhere. His ceremonial transition to manhood unlocked his birthright to the native powers of Nihon. His fangs were a result of this. The uniqueness of his fighting prowess lent him abilities that even my kind had not seen, and his ability to judge both character and tactical movement gained favor from the gods. Our fangs are mighty, but they were not as magical as his. As for the many blessings bestowed upon him, I would say that was part of his birthright from his mother and me. Daughter was different. Her father was Nihonese. You must have smelled her familiar first," Hikozaemon II explained.
"I smelled two, actually, but there is also the scent of emptiness among you. One of you was meant to have something similar to an inugami, but that ability has not been discovered properly yet. I wonder if these ancestral inu you speak of have other plans for this emptiness I'm sensing," the dragon informed.
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Almost 800 years ago...
"Yūn!" Toga called.
A great thunderstorm was coming, and he couldn't find his lover anywhere. Her scent just disappeared all of a sudden. That usually meant she was either masking herself to find a safe place or something was wrong. That was his greatest fear. She was having his baby. He didn't want to lose them both in one night! Calling her name again, the sky was opening like a large mouth showing luminescent teeth parting. Light was dancing across many clouds, and thunder was rolling through. Toga had been searching for Rìluò Yūn for what felt like hours due to his adrenaline rushing to his ears. Where else could he even look? She wasn't at their home, she wasn't in the Okuri-inu territory, she wasn't near the House of Inu. Where could she have gone? Was she in labor already? Did she sense danger? What the hell happened?
"Yūn!" Toga called again.
Flash, crackle, crackle, bellow, BANG!
The roar of thunder from the skies shook the earth enough for him to dive to the ground for cover. His ears started ringing violently before he shook his head and kept going to find his lover. Toga was really in a state of panic now. It wasn't until he heard Yūn's voice echoing in the distance that he gasped and ran with sonic speed to its location.
Yūn could feel the baby dropping, but she had to push on. The contractions were getting worse, and the pain was growing greater. She could barely breathe. Worst of all were the headaches and muscle weakness. Voices kept calling her to this other nest. She had to obey them, but it was so hard to do. She stopped a couple of times just to cry for some form of pain relief. When she mustered up enough strength, she trundled on until she made it to this nest these voices were leading her to. From her perspective, she wasn't going to make it if it was any further than where she was. The baby was coming AND SOON. Catching her breath after screaming, Yūn forced herself up and crawled the rest of the way. She was nearly there. It was a mountain shaped like a needle with coverage that made the needle look like it had been threaded. When Milady saw it, she picked herself up and cried all the way there until she was under the covering. The pain grew worse, the baby dropped more. From the skies, another burst of lightning and thunder shook the earth. The contractions came in. Yūn screamed. They stopped. She caught her breath.
"Yūn!" Toga called, running to her side.
"Toga!" Yūn cried, scared and shaking. The baby shifted again.
"Yūn!" Toga called.
Traditionally, mates were never with each other during labor of new pups, but Toga's parents were the exception to the rule and so was he. Yūn loved that about Toga and his family. Her love wanted to be with her. All she could do was hold him for leverage, and all he knew how to do was calm her down. What neither was prepared for was the burst of lightning running down straight to the needle. A bright light surrounded them and hit them both to where Toga was stunned then paralyzed and Yūn let out a blood-curdling scream. Unable to do anything, Toga was truly in a panicked state. All he could do was barely reach out to Yūn, letting out choice tears at his failure to protect his lover and child. Yūn, however, was not hurt. Neither was the baby. In fact, the baby was born and surrounded by catatumbo lightning. The umbilical cord was burned off and the baby let out small cries. When Milady and Toga were able to move, they struggled to gain enough strength to get the baby. The bright light that blinded them from before turned into a physical form that couldn't be readily seen. The catatumbo lightning covering the baby went to Toga's hand to form a stronger claw able to touch lightning without harm to him and Yūn's heart to form a coat with fur lining at the top. The light and creature disappeared quickly, and all was quiet with only mother and father trying to catch their breath. Yūn pulled her kimono down to breast feed her newborn son with shaking arms, and Toga held them both to steady his own shaking limbs.
What on Earth was that creature? What did it do to them?
'I will return when he has ascended. His life will be forfeit to me...'
Toga gasped out of fear from that. The creature that controls lightning will kill his son one day...? Who knows what it will do to his lover...?