Disclaimer: This fanfiction is based on "Inuyasha", copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi. No infringement of copyright intended or implied.

Author's Note: This is the third story in an alternative history. I encourage you to read "The Arrow Not Burning" and "Tsubaki's Revenge" before this story.

Prolog

News traveled slowly in the human society of the Senduki Judai. No faster could any news go, than that with a man on a galloping horse, and most news, much slower. Most humans never heard more than vague rumors carried by itinerant monks or peddlers, or truly, unless war threatened, knew much of what went beyond the confines of the next closest village.

The youkai gossip network was another thing entirely. News traveled on the breath of the breeze, or the shift of youki winds. Youkai were not limited to mortal senses, and some had ranges that extended far beyond human capability.

Of course, few events even in the youkai world traveled past local concentrations of youkai life. Who cared about a fight between two ogres, as to who was stronger? But the fate of a jewel that could grant any youkai enormous power—ah, now that was a different thing. So was the scandal attached to the taiyoukai who had once ruled the Western Lands, even two centuries after his death.

The pure-blooded son of that taiyoukai would never admit awareness that the youkai grapevine even existed, let alone ever acknowledge that he might conceivably make use of it. For the most part, he had no need of it, with the refinement of senses that no ordinary youkai could match. For the rest, well, that was one reason for tolerating the imp who had decided to follow him around. Jaken gossiped with the best of them, and on rare occasions learned something of possible interest to the youkai lord.

Had it not been for the rumors coming out of the west, he might have paid more attention to the latest whispers about the half-breed. He'd been thoroughly disgusted to hear of the hanyo's involvement with a ningen woman—a priestess, no less! But it was only one more demonstration that the half-breed had only inherited the weakest part of his father's blood. It hadn't been important enough to divert from his path, to seek the youngster out and destroy him, no matter how amply the boy demonstrated his unfitness to carry the Inu no Taisho's blood.

The news that the half-breed had somehow made both the Shikon No Tama and himself vanish was puzzling, but he saw no reason to react. The jewel was of no interest. If the half-breed had somehow managed to disappear for good, that was an annoyance, but not worth wasting any thoughts on it.

The reappearance of the hanyo, as a captive of yet another miko, did attract his attention longer than the time it took to consider the whispers and dismiss them. The thought that anything with a bit of his father's blood should be so weak as to be captured by a ningen was rather revolting. He even shifted his pattern of wandering to range closer to where the execrable hanyo was being held, though he had no plans to rescue the miserable, disgusting creature. Besides, there were still those indications of something happening on the western borders. That needed, and deserved, more of his time, than one mis-born half-breed.

But something carried on the breeze this morning brought him to a halt. It was a ghost of a scent, once familiar and strange. It was his brother's scent, and yet, it wasn't. It had shifted, dropping something, adding something. He paused, concentrating on that ghost, eyes narrowing ever so slightly. He finally realized what the difference was.

It was entirely youkai, that ghost of a scent. It could have been his father's, or his. Strange, and vaguely disturbing. Sesshomaru stood still, puzzling over the oddity, then made a decision. He changed course. He ignored the impertinent, unimportant question squawked by his follower.

He wasn't going to try and find the hanyo. Not yet. But this direction was as good as any other…