Chapter 69 - The Tale of a Tail

If anyone had asked InuYasha in later years just what had transpired between the end of March and late July, he would have been hard-pressed to say. After his healing was jump-started by the Lady of the Forest Dogs, he became absorbed, body and soul, in the task of purging himself of the remaining radiation and repairing the damage it caused. His most basic life processes needed to be rebuilt, from his physical chemistry to his youki flows, and the flux of hormones and magic energies made him spacey.

He only remembered snippets: Kagome feeding him yet another fortifying brew, Nariko peering at him and declaring him "sparkly" or "swirly", various startled or worried faces, feeling like he was made of air. Everything was disjointed and none of it seemed in any way connected to him.

Finally, as summer peaked and began to fade, he found himself once more entering the humdrum rhythms of daily life. His first solid memory was of Nariko peering at him with her glasses pushed on top of her head and declaring, "Mama, he has a single color now."

InuYasha vaguely recalled Nariko talking about his colors months ago. What did it mean again?

Kagome peered into the room and looked at InuYasha carefully. "Ah, you're here," she said. "How do you feel?"

That was an interesting question. He was better, but something was different. Looking from the inside, it was hard to say what had changed, but he definitely was not what he was before the radiation ravaged him. "I don't know. Kind of like I got taken apart and put together differently. Everything seems to work, but it's not the same."

"Hmm." Kagome frowned slightly, then shook her head. "I guess we just watch how it plays out."

'Watching how it plays out' was all very well and good, but InuYasha preferred the direct approach. Now that he was back in the world, it was time to see what had changed. His first concern was finding out whether Tetsusaiga performed the same as before. He dressed, tucked the sword into his sash, then left the house for a little practice session in the forest.

The meadow in front of his house wasn't quite a meadow any more. It was now fenced into a paddock with a stable built on one side of the enclosure. He watched Bushi-sensei lead a big chestnut horse from the stable then mount it and put it through its paces. It wasn't just any horse, it was a fully-trained warhorse. Why the hell did he have a warhorse in his front yard?

"Kagome, what's the deal with the horse?"

"Oh, Bushi-sensei says it's time to start training in equestrian arts."

"Oh? Never mind that I'm faster and stronger than a horse and there isn't a horse alive that will put up with me using Tetsusaiga on its back?"

"I think he meant the children and the other students."

"Uh-huh. So we train some riders and we still only have one horse that isn't a farmer's nag. Doesn't sound too practical to me. Oy! Bushi-sensei!" InuYasha hopped the paddock fence and strode up to where Bushi-sensei was dismounting the horse.

"InuYasha-sama." Bushi-sensei bowed and waited for InuYasha to arrive.

"We really need to talk about this horse … thing. Personally, I don't need a horse, and one warhorse won't serve the needs of the rest of the village, so…"

"Papa! Check it out!" Toushi popped out of the stable and vaulted into the saddle. "Me and Tsuchiya know how to steer him with just our legs now. Bushi-sensei is going to show us how to use weapons on him next. Is that cool or what?" She proceeded to demonstrate her ability, urging the horse forward, then turning him in circles and making him back up, all the while with her hands stretched out to her sides.

"Aaah…" This was not helping. InuYasha looked at Bushi-sensei suspiciously. It would be just like the old codger to enlist Toushi to thwart his objections. Bushi-sensei looked blandly back, waiting quietly for InuYasha to continue. "We'll discuss this further when I get back. Right now, I'm going to check out where I stand with Tetsusaiga."

"As you wish, InuYasha-sama." Bushi-sensai bowed again and quietly watched InuYasha enter the forest before starting the day's equestrian lessons.

Tetsusaiga responded smoothly to all of InuYasha's commands, but the exercise left him utterly drained. He dragged himself back to the house and leaned on the fence for a few minutes, masking his exhaustion while he watched the end of the equestrian training.

Bushi-sensai dismissed his students and told Tsuchiya and Toushi to tend the horse. They led the horse back to the stable to unsaddle, clean and feed him while Bushi-sensei joined InuYasha at the fence. InuYasha knew from his glance that he wasn't fooling him.

"So, InuYasha-sama, are you fit to resume the protection of this village?"

InuYasha grimaced and looked aside, annoyed that his bluff was penetrated. "That obvious, is it?"

"To the trained eye. I did observe your progress with the sword. I expect others did also. Even so, we have been walking a delicate edge of bluff and bravado for the last few months and I have been building up our capabilities to cover us during your absence. It will be good to have you back in the mix for harvest season. I shall expect you at dawn tomorrow to begin your rehabilitation training."

It did not take long for the word to get out that InuYasha was "back." Bushi-sensai trained him hard in the early mornings, Kagome and Nariko continued to force feed him restorative tonics and and his magical resilience returned. Within a fortnight he was back on his normal schedule.

…..

"I had completely forgotten about just how stupid people can get," InuYasha grumbled as he trotted up the steps toward the house at the end of the day. He had spent the better part of the day on a wild goose chase with Yukichi, Etsu and Suyeki, three of the more spookable men in the village. They had insisted that some demon or apparition had been haunting the watch tower, and although InuYasha had snooped and sniffed the tower and all of the surrounding area thoroughly, he had found no signs of any demonic auras, unhappy souls or traces of curses or other magic. He had not had much success convincing them of this and had only managed to break free by promising he'd have Miroku come over and exorcise it.

Continuing to mutter under his breath about the bother of mollifying superstitious ignoramuses, he slid open the door to the house and stepped in. A strong aroma of sake saturated the room. Looking around, he saw Kagome seated at the table with a sake bottle and a half-filled glass in front of her. Judging by the way she smelled, she'd been drinking for quite a while.

"Umm... What are you doing?" he asked. Kagome did not normally use the sake for anything except cooking.

"I'm trying to get drunk," she replied solemnly, inspecting her glass then tipping more sake into it.

He stared at this tableau, considering. Something must have happened, and it must have been a doozy. She usually had rock-solid nerves through all of the chaos that normally filled the household.

"It looks like you're succeeding," he commented drily. "What happened?"

"Have you seen your son?" Kagome asked, then hiccuped gently. She swallowed another slug of sake and stared blearily at the bottle, frowning slightly.

"Which one?" InuYasha asked. "At last count, I had three."

She tried to look at him sternly, but her eyes would not focus. "Which one do you think?"

InuYasha sighed and prepared to seek out his eldest son, muttering, "Just once, it might be kind of interesting to deal with one of the others."

Behind him, Kagome made a half-strangled sound; he wasn't sure if it was a sob or a giggle.

Finding the boy proved to be more of a challenge than he expected. The scents of every resident permeated the whole house, with recent passages criss-crossing each other every which way. Usually, all he had to do was listen; Tsuchiya was generally in the middle of a commotion.

Today, the house was unusually quiet. No matter how well-behaved they were, having five children in a house was noisy. Right now, InuYasha could not hear a thing outside of Kagome's glass clinking.

"Kagome, where is everyone?" he called as he continued to poke through the house.

"The baby's asleep, Shippo has Nariko and Taiba, and I'm not sure where Toushi is," she replied.

"And Tsuchiya?"

There was a pause, then InuYasha heard the glass clink back on the table. "The last time I saw him, he was in the stillroom."

"Right." It was a good place to hide in a house full of dogs. It was dark, and the heady aromas of drying herbs befuddled the sense of smell.

InuYasha paused at the doorway for a steadying breath, then pushed his way into the room. It took a moment to find the boy. He was huddled in the far corner, his arms wrapped around his legs and his chin on his knees, staring moodily at the floor. InuYasha wasn't sure what he was expecting, but Tsuchiya didn't look that bad. He still had both arms and legs and he hadn't sprouted antlers or antennae. It took a moment, but he finally saw it in the dim light of the stillroom. Tsuchiya had lost his dog's ears and now sported a snout with a dog's black nose on the end instead of his usual nose and InuYasha could see a strong, furry tail tucked behind him.

"Uh, Tsuchiya..."

"I don't want to talk about it," Tsuchiya said sullenly.

InuYasha thought a moment. "That's quite...?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

How the Hell...? InuYasha sat on the floor beside his son and stared, verifying his initial impression. Then he looked at the floor too and just waited.

"Man, that girl cannot take a joke."

OK, that was something...

"Toushi?" InuYasha asked.

A soft snort beside him confirmed it.

"What happened?"

"Why don't you ask her? She's the one who did it."

"I'm here right now. Just tell me what you know."

"She got really mad and the next thing I know I'm waking up on the floor and I'm ... like this."

InuYasha had heard a few sketchy tales before, but that one had to take the prize. He rubbed a hand across his brow; he really didn't want to hear the details of yet another spat between Tsuchiya and Toushi, but..

"All right, son, let's cut out the chase and go right for the throat. Never mind why she did it, what did she do?"

"I... I don't really remember. She was furious, she reached for something, I saw a flash of light, then woke up on the floor."

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"What did she pick up?"

"I don't know. I never really saw it."

InuYasha leaned back against the wall, his mind churning. How had she done it? Just what had she done? He had to find Toushi.

"Papa? Did anything like this ever happen to you? How long did it last?"

"No... I've been blasted back to human a couple of times, but not ... this."

"Oh." That was a small and worried sound.

InuYasha rose and looked down at Tsuchiya. "I'm going to find your sister. Maybe I can figure something out after I've talked to her."

Tsuchiya looked miserably up at his father, with only a hint of hope in his eyes, then he resumed staring at the floor.

InuYasha found Toushi in the stable. Where the atmosphere in the stillroom had been stunned and morose, the air here crackled and seethed with hurt and resentment. She, too, was sitting in a corner with her arms around her knees. She looked at him sharply as he entered the stable, then jerked her head away, her eyes glowing fiercely, but for all the show of defiance, InuYasha could see she was barely containing a flood of tears.

The years had taught InuYasha how to get information from his children. Once again, he sat down beside her, looked at the wall across from him, and waited.

She swallowed convulsively a couple of times, then the dam broke. He slid her onto his lap as the torrent flowed, letting her cry herself out on his shoulder. The sobs continued for quite a while after the tears had stopped.

Thinking he might finally be able to get something coherent out of her, he pulled her off his shoulder and asked as gently as he could, "What's going on?"

"He... He... He hates me!" The words burst out amid another storm of sobs and hiccups. Another gust of tears blew through. "He's so mean! H... H'how could he do something so mean? Wh.. what did I ever do to him that he would...?" And she was gone again, sobbing her heart out.

Whew. Oh, damn. This wasn't just Toushi in a snit. She was truly and deeply hurt

about something. OK, try again.

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't hate you. He can be pretty thoughtless, but..."

"You didn't see-eee! You don't kno-ow!" she wailed.

"See what?" he asked.

"The... the... the pictures!" she sobbed.

"Pictures. OK, I'll go look when I go back to the house. What happened after that?"

She sniffled and blinked a few times, trying to pull herself together.

"I... I got so mad. I wanted to p'pound the meanness out of him. I pulled one of Mama's arrows out of the quiver and hit him on the head with it as hard as I could."

Kagome's arrows!

"Um, sweetheart, was the arrow glowing when you hit him?"

She blinked and thought back, her sniffles diminishing as her attention moved past her pain.

"Umm... Maybe. Yeah. Yeah, it was."

Damn. Damn! Damn! So she had managed to scramble her brother in that fit of passion.

"Papa? What difference does it make whether or not the arrow was glowing?"

He looked at her, considering.

"You know what happened."

She squirmed a bit on his lap, then confessed, "Well, really, I don't. I ran here right after I hit him. Did something happen?"

InuYasha studied her, bemused. She looked a bit anxious, but he wasn't sure if she was worried about Tsuchiya or herself.

"Toushi, when you hit him, you changed him so that now he has a dog snout and tail instead of dog ears."

"Ohhh!" she gasped, looking horrified. Or, mostly horrified - there was a small glint in the back of her eyes that looked very satisfied.

Dazed, InuYasha returned to the house. Toushi had declined the invitation to join him. Kagome was still seated at the table. She had slowed down, so she must have achieved the level of fuzz she was looking for.

"Toushi said something about some pictures?" he asked as he looked around the kitchen.

"Over there." Kagome pointed to the bookshelf. There was a stack of papers beside the art supplies.

Aunt Sakura had recently been teaching Tsuchiya the art of ink painting. InuYasha had not seen any of the results before now. He took the stack and sat down across from Kagome at the table and started to leaf slowly through them.

The boy was amazingly good. InuYasha had never though a boy as pathologically incapable of sitting still as he was could have a talent like that in him. The first picture was a charming piece of Nariko in the herb garden. He got a chuckle out of the next one, which showed Taiba surrounded by the pieces of a half-dismantled alarm clock, concentrating hard with his tongue in the corner of his mouth as he levered on the next piece. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen that clock recently. Had Tuchiya slipped it to the toddler? A picture of Kagome nursing Kenta came next, both of them looking very snuggly. InuYasha, himself, was in the next one, out in the field sniffing the air as the breeze ruffled his hair and sleeves. Did he really look like that? These were marvelous. So what was the prob... Oh.

The picture of Toushi showed her bounding in a fury, ears back and claws extended, wild-eyed and teeth bared in a snarl. It was excruciatingly funny, devastatingly accurate, and not the least bit flattering.

InuYasha looked at the picture for a while, put the others back on top of it, then looked at the bottle of sake. There wasn't nearly enough in it.

"Do we have another bottle of sake?" he asked.

"Yup," Kagome replied. "Care to join me?"

"Yup."

…..

Tsuchiya sighed and peered out the stillroom doorway into the kitchen. His original notion of staying in the stillroom until he changed back to normal was running into some snags. First off, he wasn't changing back real soon. He had solved the next problem with a midnight dash to the outhouse, but now the breakfast smells were about to shatter his resolve. He thought his nose was good before, but his new snout elevated his scent experience to exquisite heights. Who knew there were that many nuances to miso soup, that pickled vegetables had just that sharp, earthy tang, that fish was both so clean and so rich at the same time? His stomach rumbled frantically, insisting that he was surely on the edge of starvation. He was about the brave the dreaded scrutiny of the world when he noticed the ropes of drool hanging from his mouth. Oh, Gods, no, what could possibly be more embarrassing? He whimpered and withdrew back into the darkness at the back of the still room, his tail tucked tight between his legs and knocking against his knees.

…..

"Let me get this straight - you want me to come over and exorcise a watch tower that isn't haunted." Miroku was very glad he had plenty of practice maintaining a straight face. After all of the grief InuYasha had given him in the past about motive-suspect exorcisms, here he was actually asking for one.

"Yeah. Those clowns aren't gonna give me a moment's rest until I do something." InuYasha was seated opposite him at the table, clutching a cup of tea with a great deal more concentration than was normal for him. He looked rather haggard, his usual level of robust energy had a forced feel to it and his voice was about half its normal volume.

"I dunno. It just doesn't strike me as ethical, somehow." Miroku feigned a serious, thoughtful expression as he pretended to consider the ramifications of such a deceptive act. How long would it take to get InuYasha to blow? Whatever faults he had, and there were many, dishonesty was not one of them. This had to be making him squirm at his deepest level.

Miroku took another sip of tea as he continued to 'think'. "Maybe you should spend a couple of nights in the tower. Flush out that haunt, you know."

InuYasha grimaced and leaned his head on his hand. "I'm already out every night checking on things. There's nothing there. But. Until those idiots see some magic, I'm not going to have any peace. So. I'm asking you to please exorcise that damned watch tower."

InuYasha was showing an unusual amount of restraint. Normally he'd be bellowing by now, but he just sounded exasperated. Miroku, however, was in a puckish mood today; the temptation to needle was just too much. He sighed regretfully and looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then asked earnestly, "Don't you think we should be working to overcome the abysmal level of superstition in this village? We really ought to be trying harder to only perform sacred rites where the need is clearly demonstrated."

"Miroku!" InuYasha cried, then he winced. He really did look sort of green around the gills. "All right, fine." He started to dig resignedly into a pouch hanging from his sash, fishing out a few coins. "If you want paid, here, I think I can spare this."

The impulse to tease started warring with Miroku's mercenary streak. He really did have a hard time refusing money that was thrown at him. He wavered briefly, then scooped up a little over half the offering to mollify his inner money grubber. "Good enough."

He then rose and went to collect calligraphy supplies as InuYasha pocketed the remainder of his money. Returning, he refreshed his tea and sat back down, studying his old friend closer. If he didn't know better, he'd think... "Is it my imagination, or are you seriously hung over?"

InuYasha mumbled something incoherent.

"Mm-hm. I'm sure Kagome had some choice words to say about this."

"Not really. Except she threw me out of the house cuz I poured my tea too loud."

"What?"

"She's feeling a little delicate right now."

Miroku gave InuYasha a long hard stare. What on Earth was going on in their house this time?

"Um, Miroku, the exorcism? Kagome's not up for it right now." InuYasha prompted.

"Ah, yes, let's see." Miroku settled himself and added a bit of water to the ink. "About a dozen of these ought to do." He looked at the blank slips of paper, sorting spells through his mind, then decided to do a real job, just in case InuYasha had actually missed something. Meditatively, he ground the ink stick on the stone, working up a strong black ink, then chose a brush. The images of the sutras rolled into his mind and flowed onto the paper as he wrote. In the back of his eyes, he could see the power infusing the paper, then fading from view. As he laid them out on the table to dry, he told InuYasha, "Now don't brush up against them. They might just knock your ears off."

InuYasha sat up straighter and slid back, a queer look on his face.

"Um, Miroku? When we're done with the watch tower, would you come with me to the house? There's something I want your opinion on."

…..

A bowl of miso soup, a pot of tea and two extra-strength ibuprofen tablets later, Kagome's headache was reduced to a dull roar and she was ready to tackle the job of putting her household back in order. One way or another, she had to create some semblance of normality. The first order of business was to get Tsuchiya extracted from the stillroom.

"Tsu-chan, you can't live back there. It's time to come out now."

"No."

"Look, the whole household already knows what happened and they all know I will personally deal with anyone who teases you about it. I'm not going to run back and forth with food and a chamber pot, so you can just forget that idea. If you want to eat, you better just suck it up, come out and get it over with. I'll leave you to think about it. Your breakfast is waiting on the table."

Like he didn't know that - the smell was driving him mad. His embarrassment fought a long losing duel with his appetite until he finally emerged and slid onto his cushion at the table.

Toushi, Nariko and Koukori were also sitting at the table, working on arithmetic exercises. Everyone stared at him wordlessly while he fumbled his way messily through feeding himself. Nothing worked right. He dribbled soup down his front when he tried to sip, he lost about as much rice as he ate, he wasn't quite sure where he should place food with his chopsticks to prevent losing it.

"What?" he demanded. "It's not like you could do any better." They didn't have to look so shocked.

Nariko finally shrugged and plowed back into her subtraction sheets and Toushi, suddenly found that multiplication tables were a good distraction. Koukori, however, could not stop staring at him.

Tsuchiya cleared away his dishes and grabbed his lesson sheet from his box. He sat down and stared at it for a moment, then did the first few problems. Koukori did not pick up the hint.

"Quit looking at me," he hissed at her.

Koukori blushed. "Oh, but…"

"But what!?" he demanded.

"Um, you're so cute like that."

"What?" Tsuchiya stared at her, dumbfounded. "Cute?" Toushi and Nariko looked at her like she was completely insane.

"Well, he is!" Koukori insisted, blushing furiously. "He's got great teeth and his tail is gorgeous!" she added defensively.

Tsuchiya wanted to sink through the floor. Toushi and Nariko exchanged glances then fiddled with their pencils, not quite sure what to think.

"There now, you see?" Kagome said, "Not everyone thinks you look hideous, Tsuchiya. Dog Demons think you're attractive…"

"Mama!" If his buddies found about this, he would never hear the end of it. Maybe he should just kill himself now and get it over with. Koukori was fun to hang out with as a pal, but he did not want to be her crush.

"You might want to ask Koukori-chan how to manage your new dog parts." Kagome added. "She has experience with it. And we don't know how long you'll be stuck like this."

Tsuchiya swallowed hard. This was very true, but he didn't want Koukori to get the wrong idea about … him and her. He stole a glance her direction and found she had partially transformed so that she, too, had a snout and a tail. It looked really bizarre. And ominous. Like she was getting the wrong idea about him and her… He swallowed again.

"Hello, hello…" Miroku announced himself briefly, then stepped into the room. "InuYasha mentioned you were having some interesting magical problems…" His voice tailed off as he got his first look at Tsuchiya. "Well, this is interesting."

Oh, great, now Miroku-sama knew about it too. And then, pretty much everyone, since he was such a gossip…

Miroku looked across the table at Koukori's current appearance. "Er, is this problem affecting more than…?"

Koukori gasped, turned wholly human, blushed vividly, turned wholly dog, then slid under the table to hide.

"Apparently not."

"Please, Miroku-sama, sit down. I'll make some tea," Kagome said, placing another cushion at the table, then turning to put the kettle on the fire. "I really don't know what to do."

The girls took that as a cue to leave. This was turning into adult business.

"Ah, well, let's start with reviewing just what happened in the first place."

"The short version is that Toushi got her feelings very badly hurt and she whacked Tsuchiya on the head with one of my arrows."

"Ah. You're a priestess. Have you tried using an arrow to purify him of the lingering anger?"

"No," Kagome admitted. "I feel kind of squeamish about the idea of shooting my own child."

"Shoot?" Tsuchiya yelped.

"We shouldn't have to go so far as shooting," Miroku remarked. "Just touch him with an arrow that's under your control."

"Oh. Right. Well, then…" Kagome fetched an arrow from her quiver and placed it on Tsuchiya's head. Tsuchiya winced in anticipation, then slowly opened his eyes and looked down his nose. No good. Kagome tried poking his snout and tail directly, but it was still no good.

"I have a couple of spare sutras," Miroku fished the papers out of his sleeve and held them up. "Let's see what we get with these." He cast them at Tsuchiya. With a sizzling crack, Tsuchiya's features shifted briefly toward human, but within a minute he was back how he started. A faint smell of singed hair drifted from him.

"Ow!" Tsuchiya cried. "That hurt!" He rubbed the spot on his nose where one of the sutras had landed. "Can I leave now?" he asked plaintively a moment later.

Kagome looked at Miroku, who shrugged. "Um, sure. We don't have anything for you right now."

Tsuchiya made his escape. Kagome refilled the tea cups and both she and Miroku swirled their tea pensively.

"If you don't mind my asking," Miroku said, "what got Toushi so riled up?"

Kagome sighed. "Tsu-chan painted a picture of her that wasn't flattering."

"Is that all?"

"You kind of have to see it. It's really not flattering." She rose from the table and retrieved the stack of papers.

Miroku leafed through the pictures slowly, savoring each of them. "I had no idea he could paint this well. Look at that, just a suggestion of your features, but still, it's unmistakably you. And InuYasha - you can almost feel the breeze…Oh… " Toushi's picture had turned up. "You know, there's a certain flare in the way the spittle is flying…"

"That's kind of the problem, don't you think?" Kagome snapped.

"Well, yes, but speaking purely as connoisseur of artistic expression, this truly captures a fierceness of feeling, a dynamic moment of…

"Miroku-sama!"

"All right, all right. So, what's in the rest of the pile? Maybe there's something a bit more acceptable…" He resumed leafing through the pictures and snorted. "Check out this one of Shippo - is he still transforming with his tail showing like that?"

"He hasn't done that in years. Still, Tsuchiya can always see through his illusions. Drives Shippo crazy."

Bushi-sensei was featured in the next picture, standing with naginata in guard position. Miroku slid that picture aside, looked at the next and yelped, "Hey! That's not funny!"

Actually, it was. The picture portrayed a leering Miroku strolling down a village street with his arm around one woman's waist while he groped another woman's butt. Neither of the women was Sango. "How dare that little imp mock an upstanding member of society like that!"

Kagome closed her eyes so Miroku couldn't see the eye roll that was bursting from her. Everyone in the village knew about Miroku's wandering eye (and hands). She also bit her lip to keep from adding a pithy comment about the "artistic qualities" of this work - really, the expression depicted on Miroku's face was priceless. Breathe, Kagome, breathe… Don't laugh… "I expect you can see how Toushi got so bent out of shape, now. No, I don't really blame her for lashing out, and I expect neither do you. But, this is where we are. What do we do going forward to unravel this?"

Kagome had to hand it to Miroku for one thing - he didn't wallow in an injury, unlike certain people… "Yes, this does put me in the right frame of mind. Toushi has marked him with the sign of her suffering. She needs to resolve the suffering, let go of the injury, then the mark will dissipate and Tsuchiya should return to normal."

"OK, so you're saying we can't do anything independently. Until Toushi lets go of the hurt, we're powerless."

"Yes."

"Great. The only person who holds a grudge longer than Toushi is InuYasha. Actually, that's not quite true, but thankfully, this is Toushi, not Nariko."

"Sweet little Nariko?"

"Oh, gods, yes. Sweet little Nariko until you piss her off, then even the Buddha wouldn't be safe."

"Really."

"Trust me on this one, you do not want to be on Nariko's list."

"Right. …and we're straying off topic. We need to focus on Toushi's suffering and how to release it. The simplest path would be to find an instance where Tsuchiya appreciates Toushi's good qualities and expresses that appreciation. I was hoping to find something like that in these pictures."

"You were an only child, weren't you?"

"Well, yes. What does that have to do with anything?'

"You really don't understand the competition between siblings, do you, especially those close in age?"

"What do you mean?"

"About the last thing either one of them is going to do is 'appreciate' the other one. Sota and I had a big age gap, but he still got on my nerves. That's nothing compared to the chafing that goes on between siblings with a narrow age gap, and Tsuchiya and Toushi are very close in age. They've been in each other's hair since the day that Toushi was born. Tsuchiya is the first son and the eldest, and Toushi won't give him an inch of deference over it. She's the one with obvious priestly powers, but he's not about to give her any reverence for that. They're both competing for that place in the sun, and neither of them has figured out that they can both have it."

"Ah, that. We all do it - after Father died, I was desperate for someone, anyone, to acknowledge and value me. All I had was that degenerate old priest Mushin, and you know how that went… "

Three hours later, after discussing life, the universe and everything over tea and peach cakes, they were still no closer to any notion of what to do next. Miroku took his leave and Kagome turned her thoughts toward how to cope with the problem, rather than fix it.

…..

Tsuchiya lingered at the door of the wellhouse and peered out cautiously. Why did there have to be so many people out there? What was this, a festival day? He was already late for his session with Aunt Sakura, but there was a wide expanse of temple grounds between the sacred well and the family house, and it was crowded with people just milling around. There was no way he was going to make across without somebody seeing him. His tail curled tight between his legs, making to prospect of a fast dash even more unlikely. Still, missing his session with Aunt Sakura was going to hurt worse than … well … anything he could think of. He took a deep breath and studied the terrain. If he ran along the fence tops and took to the temple roof, he should be able to avoid the crowd. And he was fast, so no one would have much of a look… Right. He took another deep breath and launched before he had a chance to think better of it. There was a bit of bother dodging his way to the fence itself, and a lot of shouting as he ran over the temple roof, but he made it to the house and through the door before anyone had a real chance to react.

"Good afternoon, Tsu-chan," Grandma called from the kitchen. She stuck her head through the door to greet him as he launched up the stairs and blinked. "Oh, my."

"Later, Grandma," he called, "I'm already late."

"You are indeed," Aunt Sakura said as he slid open the door to her room and entered. She looked up from whisking the tea and her eyebrows rose. "Perhaps a tea bowl will serve better." She rummaged in her tea chest for a moment and brought out a broad bowl that supported lapping, and poured his tea into that without further comment. They went through the form of a tea ceremony, drinking the tea in silent contemplation, then Aunt Sakura put aside the tea implements and said, "So, tell me about it."

He poured out his tale of woe, well seasoned with all of his complaints about the difficulties of managing in a human world with a dog's snout and tail. When Aunt Sakura asked about what had been done to fix the situation, he added his adventures with his mother and Miroku and the comments and speculations he had overheard while he hid out in the still room.

"Truth is a tricky thing, Tsuchiya-kun," she remarked after she had thought about his story for a while. "People won't thank you for showing it. Your pictures are true, but they are not the whole truth and little snippets of truth can be as bad as a lie, so you must be careful. Sakura-chan is hot-tempered, but that is not all she is. She is a young lady of great determination who has been working for years to leash that temper. She is a deep thinker and a talented scholar and, unfortunately for you, a powerful magician. You found the one piece of her truth that cuts her the deepest and painted that and there were consequences."

"So I'm just supposed to paint the stuff people like?" Tsuchiya grumbled.

"No. No, I wouldn't say that. Truth is important, and showing an ugly truth is sometimes critical. You just need to remember the consequences can also be ugly and be ready to accept them."

"Geez, how is that supposed to fix anything? I want my body back."

"I don't have any magic, Tsuchiya-kun. We both know that. You are clearly stuck like this for an unknown time and moaning about it won't change anything. Zen is about seeing clearly what is before you in the here and now, and learning to accept it. Nothing is permanent. Let go of what you were and learn to be what you are now."

"So, I just roll over and take it? That sucks."

"No, you get up and explore what you are. Tell me about your nose right now. Is it the same?"

"Well, no. It's sooo much stronger. Man, the things I can smell now… Some of which I'd really rather not."

"What does it tell you that you never knew before?"

"Oh." Tsuchiya blinked. He hadn't thought of it that way before. "Um…" He sniffed deeply, letting the air flow gently through his nose and linger while he absorbed the nuances. "Well, Grandma's cookies are drowning out most of the smells but the temple incense is getting musty and there's a leak in a sewer somewhere. Grampa's medicines aren't working quite right, he has a funny sour smell now. And there's a lot of stuff I can't figure out."

"So, you see? Different, yes, but maybe not all bad. Maybe this is something you can make work for you. Think about it. In the meantime, I will talk with young Sakura and see if we can work out a solution. Still, apologizing won't hurt your prospects."

…..

When Toushi presented herself for her next zen lesson, the girl was a picture of simmering indignation. She popped a perfunctory bow and plopped down in front of the tea table with a stiff back, laid back ears and flaring nostrils. Aunt Sakura served the tea as always, absolutely to form, and silently observed her pupil. The interlude of the tea ceremony had done nothing to dispel Toushi's resentment.

"You seem out of sorts today, Sakura-chan," Aunt Sakura remarked.

"I guess," Toushi shrugged.

"I take it the situation at home has not changed."

She shrugged again.

"No one else may see it this way, but I'm pleased with your progress."

"What progress?"

"You didn't try to kill him this time. That's a definite step forward."

Toushi huffed and grumbled, "Yeah, I guess, but you'd think I'd done something worse than kill him the way everyone is carrying on."

"You did something outside of their experience and they don't know how to fix it. Of course they find it alarming. But your brother is alive and healthy, so we have time to work out a solution. How is he doing, by the way? I suggested he spend his time his time exploring his changed abilities rather than wallowing in self-pity."

"Oh, he's doing that all right. You should hear him." She imitated his affected manner. " 'These eggs are over three days old, you know. You should have gotten a discount. Oh, right, I guess you don't know, your nose can't pick it up.' and 'Ew, Toushi, when was the last time you cleaned that naginata handle. It just reeks of sweat. Even you should be able to pick that up.' and 'Just what did you step in walking across the square? Let's see, there's goose turd and horse piss and fish guts that must be at least 5 days old. Ugh, how can you stand yourself right now?' It makes me want to hit him again. Next time, I think I'll give him paws. I'd love to see how he makes that so wonderful."

"Can you give him paws? I thought you didn't know how you changed him."

"Well, I'd try really hard to give him paws," Toushi insisted.

"But you don't know what would happen," Aunt Sakura clarified.

"No, not really," Toushi admitted.

"And it sounds like you're not quite ready to change him back anyway."

"Well, he is still being a butthead."

"He resents what you did to him about as much as you resent his picture. If he had changed your shape, would you let him know how much it was bothering you or would you put on a big act about how it's no big deal?"

It was obvious from the grumpy look on Toushi's face which way she would go.

"I'll leave you with that. I can't make you forgive him; you have to decide for yourself when this has gone far enough. All I can add is that I've had my share of resentments in the past and I've always felt better when I let them go."

…..

"Hold!" Bushi-sensei bellowed and all the sparring students froze in place. "Disengage!" he added when motion had stopped and the dust had settled. The students stepped back and faced their sparring partners and bowed.

Tsuchiya carefully shook his tail; he wasn't sure if Akiharu had whacked it or if his tail had whacked Akiharu's bokken, but either way, it stung like hell. That extra appendage was causing havoc with his training. His balance was off and he just couldn't seem to keep it out of the way. Akiharu was finding this all too much to his liking; he gave Tsuchiya a feral grin and asked, "Ready for round two? You're gonna eat dust this time."

"In your dreams," Tsuchiya retorted, although it seemed very much like a possibility. He returned the feral grin, knowing very well how much it was enhanced by his array of dog teeth.

Akiharu blanched and moved back a step.

"Change out your bokken for staffs," Bushi-sensei ordered.

Tsuchiya cringed inside; his chances for eating dust had just doubled. It was a pretty sure bet that Akiharu was going to hook his tail with the staff and dump him. He could feel his tail curling down between his legs at the thought, which just meant he was going to trip over the damned thing himself and save Akiharu the trouble.

Bushi-sensei glared at him as he hesitated. "No dawdling - hop to it."

"Yes." Tsuchiya scrambled to obey.

He returned to the field with the staff and studied Akiharu. His best chance of making it through this was to finish it quickly. Akiharu was weak on his left side, so a feint to his right should leave him sufficiently open for a bold whack to his left…

"Honor your partner." Everyone bowed.

"Begin!"

Tsuchiya stepped forward quickly and did his feint, then rotated the staff quickly for the blow to Akiharu's left. Akiharu blocked the feint, then flipped his staff so it thrust between Tsuchiya's legs and swept it hard. Never mind the tail, Tsuchiya's leg was hooked behind the knee and he went flying. He came down hard on his back and stared up at the dust swirling around him, knocked breathless.

"Hold!"

Bushi-sensei's face appeared above him in the dust. "Tail on the brain again? You moved before you were ready and you didn't guard yourself at all. Akiharu took advantage of your bad stance. Mind the basics and the tail will take care of itself."

Tsuchia scowled back up at Bushi-sensei, then rolled back to his feet. That was easy for him to say, he wasn't feeling off balance every time he moved. He shook himself off and tried to get his mind back on the proper forms for staff. Akiharu rewarded him with some smartly rapped knuckles, and a thrust at his solar plexus which Tsuchiya barely dodged before tagging Akiharu on the ribs.

"Hold!" Once again, everyone froze. "Honor your partners and put away your weapons." The class bowed, put away the weapons, cleared the field and assembled once again before Bushi-sensei. He looked over the condition of the training field, nodded, then said, "Class dismissed." The class bowed to him, then dispersed to their family chores.

Tsuchiya retreated to the stable to tend to the horse. He'd had enough public exposure for a while and wanted to get the bad taste out of his mouth before reengaging with the world. He pitched some hay into the manger, then pulled out the curry comb to groom the horse while it ate.

"The old man is only half right, you know."

Tsuchiya looked up into the hay loft at Koukori, who was sprawled over the hay looking down at him. When did she sneak in here?

"What?"

"You know - what Bushi-sensei said about your tail. If you don't think about it, it'll do whatever comes naturally, and that is to help you maintain balance."

"It does?" Tsuchiya wasn't so sure about that. It really wasn't helping during training this morning.

Koukori rolled her eyes and glared at Tsuchiya. "Yeah, it does. Things like making tight turns at speed… Stuff like that, tails definitely help. Anyway, that's just half of it - what you get when you just let it be. Now, there's also using it. Nobody sparring out there is expecting another limb on your butt - and if you train it, it can be another weapon."

"You've done that?" Tsuchiya didn't remember ever seeing one of the dog clan fighting with his tail.

"Not really," Koukori admitted. "We don't usually do anything while half shape-shifted. Nothing works naturally, and it's really disorienting."

"So what makes you think it would work?"

"What makes you think it won't?"

Tuschiya looked back at his tail. It swept back from his butt like a green stick, stiff but still mildly springy. It moved back and forth readily, up and down with more effort. It had nowhere near the flexibility of a cat's tail, which he wished he had.

"OK, so it's not like I can hold anything, or wrap it around something…"

"No, but it makes a mean rod."

Well, maybe, if he could get it aimed right and swing it at someone's arm or leg… He waved his tail back and forth experimentally, aiming higher and lower, checking the range of its swing. "You think?"

"It won't hurt much to try. I want to try it out too, so we can practice on each other."

"Why do you want to try?"

"Like I said, no one expects you to have another active limb on your butt, and that includes other dog demons. I'm all for having a little secret in my toolkit. Meet me in the forest meadow near the well about an hour before sunset and let's see what we can do."

…..

Not much, as it turned out. At least, Tsuchiya couldn't. If he concentrated on his tail, Koukori had no trouble whacking him up side the head. If he concentrated on fighting, like normal, his tail went every which way, tripping him or getting tangled in the weapons. Koukori was doing marginally better. At least she didn't trip over her tail, but she wasn't hitting much she was aiming at either.

They called it quits when the sun slid behind the mountains. On the walk back to the house, Tsuchiya noticed that Koukori was staring at his tail quizzically.

"What's so weird about my tail? You've got one too." Well, did. Sometime during the walk back, she'd gone completely back to human shape.

"You aren't moving right."

"What?"

"You move like your tail isn't part of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that. It's like your tail is something you're carrying, not like it's you."

Tsuchiya stared at her for a long moment, trying to make sense of that statement. "So what?"

"So you're not going to get your best work out of it until it's really part of you."

Tsuchiya rolled his eyes. "Look, it's not like you were doing very well either."

"I told you it's disorienting being half-transformed. Still, it's not like I'm tripping over it. Unlike some people."

Right on cue, Tsuchiya's tail slid between his legs. "Look, I don't like the way it just tells everything I'm feeling."

"Oh, like your ears didn't?" Koukori's ears transformed into dog ears, then she ran through a routine of pricking and laying them back. "Fan signals, anyone?"

Tsuchiya had been watching his father and his siblings do this for years. It was so commonplace that he'd never considered it before. "OK, fine."

"Seriously - ears, tail, what's the difference?"

"Well, I notice the tail."

"And that's your problem. We need to fix that."

"How?"

"Same way as always. You use it until you can't remember not having it."

…and they were back full circle again. "How?"

"Well…" She paused suddenly, mid-thought. "Um, let me think about it."

Tsuchiya rolled his eyes. Everyone was an expert about how he should handle his tail despite not having one himself.

…..

Whack! Tsuchiya woke from a sound sleep to find a pillow in his face. Dazed, he clawed it off his head and looked around wildly to see who had done the dirty deed. Something slithered out from under him, then he caught a glimpse at Koukori in the doorway dangling his stuffed monkey before her.

"Hey!"

"You want it back? Better catch me!" She twirled it impudently, then bolted out the door as Tsuchiya lunged for her. Hot on her tail, Tsuchiya chased her all around the compound, dodging around the outhouse, through the gardens, around the stable, back and forth through the paddock fence, over the woodshed, and finally into the forest where she flitted between the trees like a squirrel. Every time he thought he'd get a hand on her, she changed direction unexpectedly, swooping under his arm or bouncing out of reach faster than he could react. Grimly, he continued the hunt, ignoring the rocks that tripped him, the branches that scraped him as he passed, even the bird that burst out of a bush he was jumping, until Koukori suddenly stopped and tossed him the monkey.

"Enough for today."

"Why did you do that?" he demanded as he caught his breath.

"Tail training."

He gaped at her. "What?"

"Tail training. I'm forcing you to use your tail to keep up with me."

He glanced back at his tail; he really didn't remember doing anything of the sort. "Yeah, right."

"Really. There's no way you could have kept up with me without some tail action."

Two hours later, Tsuchiya winced his way through stretching exercises before weapons training. Man, he was stiff in places he'd never experienced before. He carefully wagged his tail back and forth, gingerly loosening the muscles in his back, his butt, his hips and where his tail joined the base of his spine. Maybe there was something to this tail action nonsense. He was going to feel everything he did today in that area of his body. Was that part of Koukori's training too? He didn't get much time to ponder that notion; a few moments later, he had a bokken shoved into his hand and was practicing sword-drawing attacks.

…..

Tsuchiya did not like the speculative look in Koukori's eye. She was crouched at the entrance to the stable waiting for him after training.

"So how does your butt feel?" she asked.

"Stiff, achy," he grunted.

"You're moving better," she observed.

He shrugged. Maybe if he didn't acknowledge anything, she wouldn't go ahead with whatever it was she was contemplating. He'd had enough humiliation for a while. The word had gotten out that he still had his stuffed monkey, and training today had been seasoned with snickering taunts about it. Most of the smart-mouths were now sporting some impressive bruises, but it didn't really make up for it.

"You didn't trip over your tail once," she added.

"Don't you do laundry today?" he asked pointedly.

Undeterred, Koukori replied, "I'll find you this evening. We have some new things to try." She uncoiled from her crouch and trotted to the house to fetch the laundry, leaving Tsuchiya feeling decidedly uneasy about what she was going to spring on him next.

…..

"I thought you knew what you were doing," Tsuchiya snarled as he waited for Koukori to untangle herself sufficiently to allow him to get up. He spat out a mouthful of grass and tried to get a few lingering pebbles dislodged from between his teeth. When she finally got her elbow out of the small of his back and her knee out of his armpit, he shook her off and climbed to his feet.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" she asked.

"You said you had some things to try."

"Ye-es, and we have been trying them." Koukori rolled to her feet and shook out her limbs.

"None of it works!" Tsuchiya snapped.

"And now we know that," she replied with infuriating logic. "So, when did it go wrong this time and how do we fix it?"

"It went wrong when I let you drag me out here," Tsuchiya muttered.

"Psh. We're creating a new technique. You can't expect it to go right the first time." Koukori bent over to loosen her back, then rose and wagged her tail vigorously, making the air whoosh from the force of her strokes. "If I can just land this thing on someone's arm or leg…"

"Yeah, well, that spin kick sure didn't work."

He scrambled out of the way as Koukori ignored him and started stepping slowly through the motions of the spin kick. Step, pivot, lash out foot, then her balance failed as her extended tail threw her out of her intended trajectory and she landed hard on her butt. "Oww. I think I jammed my tail that time."

"Are we done yet?"

"We're done when someone hits something with their tail, on purpose."

Tsuchiya walked up to where she sat in the grass and smacked her on the back of the head with his tail. "There. That should do it."

"Ha ha. Still, stationary target practice is a good place to go. We'll do that next time."

And so they did. They took turns standing in various poses and lashing out at small hanging targets set at graded heights. Tsuchiya learned his reach extended from the lower abdomen through mid thigh of his opponent for landing blows of any force. Once they got the hang of standing still, they tried walking through a field of targets and striking as many as they could reach. When that got boring, they tried simple sparring, practicing tail strikes and blocks. When Tsuchiya began to feel he had a handle on his new technique, he started looking for opportunities to try it out during Bushi-sensei's classes.

…..

Today's practice was with naginata, a pole weapon with a sword-like blade on one end and a counterweight on the other which gave it superb balance. It was a versatile weapon, with a long reach useful for tackling a mounted opponent and for giving a small warrior the distance he needed to handle larger, heavier opponents. It also took a fair bit of training and practice before it could be used effectively. Most of the class did not yet have that level of training, so sparring was often awkward and hazardous.

Bushi-sensei warmed them up with standard exercises - thrusting, blocking and slicing attacks. He then demonstrated a technique inspired by staff fighting which combined a slashing attack from the blade with a counter-blow from the weighted end of the naginata. Each student then had to try the technique against Bushi-sensei, who fended them off with his own naginata.

Tsuchiya watched his fellow students make their run, one after another. It was pretty pathetic, in his considered opinion. They usually got the slash right, but fumbled badly on the follow-through with the counterweight. He stepped out of the line and ran through a couple of practice passes, just to make sure he had the sequence set in his muscle-memory.

When he looked back at the progress in the queue, he saw that Toushi was on deck. Like pretty much everyone else, she took her swing, was blocked, then rotated the butt end of the staff for the counter-blow. Her shot was true, but Bushi-sensei caught this one too and powered her staff back toward her. This was where most of the students that had correctly aimed their second blow had failed and Tsuchiya figured she was going to wind up with her weapon forced to the ground like everyone else. Toushi was not everyone else - when she realized she wasn't going to power her way out of this, she abruptly reversed her stance and shot a kick at Bushi-sensei's crotch. He dodged it, but that freed Toushi's naginata from his control. She reversed her grip, spun around and aimed her blade for his neck. He recovered and swept his shaft behind her knees and lifted her feet out from under her. She landed hard on her back, her naginata flying out of reach. Bushi-sensei stood over her with his blade at her throat until she yielded, then he gave her a brief nod of approval and a hand up. Tshuchiya sighed. One could always count on Toushi to raise the bar.

Two more students, then it was Tsuchiya's turn. Bushi-sensei looked him over then said, "Feeling cocky, boy? You've got that look."

Damn. That meant Bushi-sensei was going to send him flying again. Still… "I guess we'll find out, sir."

Tsuchiya stepped forward and took his stance. Bushi-sensei took his place opposite him. The attack was Tsuchiya's, so he lunged forward, taking his thrust at Bushi-sensei's chest. Bushi-sensei blocked, providing the opening for the next move, the strike from the butt end of the naginata. Tsuchiya put some extra snap into his swing, hoping to bounce Bushi-sensei's shaft away from his own. It looked good until Bushi-sensei's blade whipped around just missing his nose. Yeah, that thing about pole weapons having two working ends… it bit him again. Dodging the blade threw him off balance; he scrambled to fend off Bushi-sensei's weapon until he recovered. After a few more awkward thrusts and parries on his side he found himself crammed up against Bush-sensei's side with his weapon immobilized by Bushi-sensei's. Tsuchiya tested his weapon's range of motion - not good, Bushi-sensei had it locked down hard. He squirmed a little, shifting his feet and trying to adjust his grip. Bushi-sensei shifted his naginata, knocking Tsuchiya's support out from under him. He lurched to the side and whipped his tail around to try to recover his balance again. His tail banged against the back of Bushi-sensei's thigh; the unexpected attack startled the old man, causing him to momentarily lose his focus. Tsuchiya used the moment to jump free and reengage. He knocked Bushi-sensei's naginata high and to the side, leaving him wide open for a thrust to the chest for the take-down.

He wasn't sure who was more surprised, Bushi-sensei or himself. They stared at each other for a long moment, then Bushi-sensei glowered at his tail.

"So that's what you've been up to with that little girl-pup. Well done. I'll expect you this afternoon for special instruction."

Tsuchiya's stomach lurched. Bushi-sensei was going to kill him. "Er, yes sir."

…..

Never, ever, ever pique Bushi-sensei's interest with a new technique. Tsuchiya was positive he had never been so sore in so many places before in his life. First, Bushi-sensei made Tsuchiya attack him from all conceivable directions with his tail, arms and legs together until Bushi-sensei had trained himself to guard against tails as well as all other available limbs using every weapon at his disposal. Then he worked on refining Tsuchiya's ability to use his tail effectively. Tsuchiya learned all sorts of thing that he and Koukori had not even considered. When Tsuchiya complained about the more radical training, he was informed that his tail training would be complete when he could handle himself surrounded by adversaries in chaotic circumstances.

Training exercises changed suddenly when InuYasha reported finding signs of people skulking about the hills above the village. Harvest was approaching and brigand season was nearly upon them. Bushi-sensei oversaw the construction of defensive walls and ditches and organized drills so that the villagers could get practice using them. Some of his students were assigned to play the part of the brigands and try to penetrate the defenses. Tsuchiya found the drills tremendous fun; it was rough, exciting play that gave him a chance to actually work the skills he had been spending so much time learning.

For today's drill, he was on the defending team. Everyone was doing their everyday chores when the cry came from the watch tower that horsemen were approaching from the west. Everyone left their work and ran to their stations, grabbing practice weapons on the way. Tsuchiya grabbed his bokken and stationed himself at the edge of the fortified ditch that served as a gate into the village.

Bushi-sensei led a charge of his students on horseback; he rode the warhorse while every one else followed him on the farm nags. Tsuchiya and his fellow defenders thrust soft-tipped spears at the attackers as they approached the gate. Bushi-sensei swept through the assault, knocking over some of the farmers in his path, but the rest of the horses spooked and threw their riders. While the horses bolted for the pasture, the student-brigands scrambled to their feet to fight off the farmer-defenders. One of the 'brigands' was proving scrappier than the rest. He had already dispatched three of the farmers by the time Tsuchiya had dealt with his first opponent. He turned to join the rest of his team in tackling the 'brigand' and found himself facing his sister. She was wielding a naginata to great effect, 'slicing' one of the farmers through his middle and using the butt end to knock another hard on his tailbone. The blade swung around again to thrust at Tsuchiya. He jumped back slightly and whacked her blade off to the side, then took a swing at her with the bokken. She spun out of his range and tried again to engage him with her blade, but he crowded close, getting past the sweet spot of her weapon. He saw a brief flicker of consternation in her eyes, then her game face snapped back into place and she shifted her grip on the shaft and tried to bring the butt into play, sweeping it down and around. It caught him on the shin; the flash of pain threw him off balance and he spun away to her side and continued on around, whacking her across the back with his tail. She sprawled flat out in the dirt, face down. He recovered his balance and put his blade to her neck.

"Yield."

She lay there, panting, with her ears back, looking like she wasn't through with the fight.

Tsuchiya pushed harder on her neck and said more firmly, "Yield!"

She shuddered and nodded. He lifted the bokken and she scrambled to her feet and ran off, wiping tears from her eyes.

What the… Tsuchiya watched her vanish around a house, dumbfounded. It was just a training melee. Why was she so upset? Then he became dizzy and had to sit down. He felt queer all over, like his body was being pushed and prodded into a different shape. When the dizziness passed, his face felt flat and his ears felt huge. He climbed to his feet and checked himself over, finding that his tail was gone too. Well, darn, just when he was getting to where he could really embrace his change, Toushi lifted her spell.

…..

"So, I see your brother is back to normal." Aunt Sakura set the tea service aside, signaling the end of the tea ceremony and opening today's discussion. "May I ask how that happened?"

"I don't know. I.. Well, we were doing a brigand drill and we, um, wound up fighting each other and he hit me with his tail and knocked me down into the dirt. I, I never thought he would be able to hit me back with it. I was laying there thinking it just kept getting worse and I just wanted it over with."

"So, once again, you didn't really do anything consciously, you just had a surge of emotion. Do you at least feel better now?"

"Not really. Nothing's changed. He's still a jerk."

"That's not something you can change. The only thing you can change is yourself. Believe me, that's more of a challenge than most people can handle. So, since you have to live with him and you can't change him, we now need to consider how to cultivate a tolerant attitude for his character."

"What, I'm just supposed to let him get away with all that stuff he dumps on me and be happy about it?

"Let's not forget that you have dumped plenty of stuff on him too, young lady. I said 'Tolerate' and that does not mean 'celebrate'. There's a lot of 'suck it up and deal' in tolerance. The part that requires deep insight is deciding where you draw the line between what is an unimportant irritant and what is an unacceptable offense and what you're going to do when that line is crossed. Remember, you still have to live with each other afterwards. That will be our meditation for the day."

Toushi's ears drooped. Why did everything have to be so hard?

…..

Kagome looked again at the note Toushi had brought home with her and bit her lip in consternation. It was addressed to her and InuYasha and it said:

I would be very pleased if you would join me for tea tomorrow.

Sakura

Aunt Sakura wanted to discuss something. Why did she always feel like she was being sent to the headmaster when Aunt Sakura summoned her like this?

"Did Aunt Sakura say anything when she gave you the note?" she asked Toushi.

Toushi shook her head. "She just said this was for you."

"Oh. How did today's session go?"

Toushi wrinkled her nose in distaste. "We worked on practicing tolerance. Why am I the one who needs to suck it up? Tsuchiya could show a little more consideration too."

"I'm quite sure Aunt Sakura is leaning on him about that."

Toushi sniffed dubiously.

"She doesn't discuss his lessons with you, any more than she discusses your lessons with him. Anyway, it looks like Papa and I are going to find out more tomorrow. We've been invited to tea."

Kagome and InuYasha climbed out of the well the next afternoon and walked to the house. InuYasha was making snide comments on the way, like he usually did when he was nervous. Kagome wanted to smack him, but that was just her nerves coming out. They said hello briefly to Mama and Grandpa, then went back to present themselves to Aunt Sakura.

Aunt Sakura's room was arranged for a tea ceremony. The kettle steamed gently on its hot pad and the table was all ready for the tea to be mixed and served. Aunt Sakura smiled graciously and asked them to sit, then prepared the tea, frothing the matcha for each cup and offering them to her guests, then preparing her own. They sat together in silence, sipping the tea, and trying to absorb serenity from the ritual. It was only partially successful; InuYasha pulled a face at the bitterness of the tea and Kagome could not get the butterflies in her stomach to settle down. Only Aunt Sakura seemed to be getting any benefit from the ceremony.

Finally the period of silent appreciation was over. Aunt Sakura put aside the tea implements and opened the discussion.

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you receive your training in magic?"

"Oh, um, I didn't really," Kagome confessed. "I pretty much blundered my way through. Kaede is not very strong. I mostly learned healing and herbs from her. Miroku did teach me to write magical sutras and I mostly figured out for myself exorcisms."

"InuYasha?"

"You're joking, right? I'm trash in the youkai world. No one was going to teach me anything. I learned it all by getting desperate and just trying shit until something worked."

"Ah, that's unfortunate."

"Why?" InuYasha asked.

"Young Sakura is much too powerful to remain untrained. Our last little episode was the result of an emotional upheaval. She got upset, and she changed Tsuchiya's shape. It was pure luck that she managed to change him back. Don't get me wrong, she's showing remarkable progress in managing her emotions for a child her age, but she needs serious help in learning to control her magic, and I cannot do that. We're going to continue to have these random eruptions if she doesn't get some real training, and she isn't anywhere close to her full power yet. Just think what might happen when she hits puberty."

That was a sobering thought.

"We're not going to find anyone here," Kagome remarked. She knew the modern era too well.

"No," Aunt Sakura agreed. "There are just old charlatans like your grandfather. He's harmless enough managing a shrine, but actually teaching magic?" No one had to say that was a catastrophe waiting to happen. "I'm sorry I can't help you more, but I have no magic and I don't know anyone I truly believe does."

That left it squarely in Kagome and InuYasha's laps.

"So what do you think?" Kagome asked later, as she brushed InuYasha's hair before bed.

"The old biddy does have a point. Toushi's doing things I've never seen before and she's just a kid."

"So, who do we know that's proficient in magic? Shippo might…"

"Fox magic is just illusion."

"Miroku?"

"Like I'd leave my daughter in his hands for teaching!" InuYasha snorted.

"Kaede isn't strong enough. Do you suppose Karimaru could help?"

"I really don't want to get more tangled in the Dog clans. The last thing we need is Sesshomaru's mother getting her back hair up about us."

"Good point Do you suppose Myoga knows someone?"

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