A Lie Called 'Legacy'

Kaijou watched from his spot in the grasses further downwind from the half‐breed, eyes blazing. He'd woken some time ago to find she was still gone and hadn't been back to camp even once to check-in. It'd been hours. She had either run off or been injured, and both were an opportunity for him. Like a pup, she had left an easy enough trail to follow, even over all the salt in the air, and it didn't take him long to catch up.

He had half a mind to march in, knock her out, and drag her back with him to meet Sesshoumaru at the valley as they had been ordered to do. This whole excursion had been her idea; she could face the consequences of it, not him. He could spare a few moments to listen, though. After all, if it was sedition she was planning with this other two--and he wouldn't blame her if it was‐‐, he was more than happy to let dig her grave a little deeper first. Then, perhaps Lord Sesshoumaru would be finished with the stupid woman, and Kaijou would be allowed to return to his peaceful service in the stables with his animals. He longed for nothing else.

As he listened, though, even he felt his heartbreak a little, and he couldn't bring himself to interrupt.

***

Kuroihi blinked down at the pendant resting in her palm, fighting the urge to shift in her seat.

"Why did you keep me around, then, when I was young? I mean, if you didn't want me…" she trailed off.

The two other hanyou exchanged unhappy glances.

"It's…it ain't that easy of a thing to explain," the man, her 'father,' began, "you don't just abandon your pup if there's nothing wrong with 'em, and aside from‐ …well, there was nothing wrong with you."

"Aside from my being female."

They both shifted uncomfortably.

"Kuroihi," the woman said softly, "it wasn't, and isn't, anything personal. It's just that I can't have another child if I already have one still around. We tried, we did, and it just doesn't happen. Half‐breeds don't live terribly long or well as it is, and we wanted a boy before we died, so‐"

"So when the chance came, you were more than pleased to be rid of me so you could try again."

Kuroihi's voice was empty as she cut the woman off.

Her mind raced to put the shattered pieces of her dreams back together, but there was nothing left to hold them in place. She had been unwanted, pure, and simple, discarded at the first acceptable opportunity. Not for anything she had done or could control, or for any real concern for her future, but for selfish convenience.

Kuroihi felt herself falling, weightless, into the void left where the dreams had once been, trying to fill it somehow so she could find her bearings again. She barely heard them as they continued to speak, trying to explain themselves over and over.

They thought she would have a better life, better than fighting and running all the time like they had to endure; almost as though they thought their hollow, regretful sentiments would make any of it better. Deep inside, Kuroihi felt her demon blood begin to boil with rage.

"How many are there?" she asked calmly.

The man cocked his head.

"How many what?"

"Like me. Pups you abandoned. How many are there? You said you tried more than once."

She lifted her head just enough to fix a wrathful gaze on them. The two exchanged glances again, the woman speaking up this time.

"Well, I mean, it's... That is to say‐"

The cowardly hesitation in her voice only added to the maelstrom of volatile emotions Kuroihi was fighting. She finally snapped, fire bursting from her fists as she rushed to her feet.

"HOW MANY ARE THERE?!"

She watched them flinch, ears flattening, their own fear thick on the air in an instant, and she felt disgusted with how it pleased her demon soul. Once the echo from her scream subsided, the man finally answered.

"Three. There were three."

"Were?"

He hesitated.

"They didn't make it."

She narrowed her eyes as the pieces fell into place, but not into the picture she wanted them to make. She forced herself to calm, pushing the thing inside back down and extinguishing her flames as she breathed.

"You let them die on the road with you, didn't you? To serve the same purpose as throwing me at the general's feet."

The man growled ears still flat.

"Hey, we don't need any judgment from the likes of you, all safe and warm in that castle. You have no idea what it's like out here‐ "

"I don't give a damn about any of your excuses," Kuroihi snapped, "and neither of us is in a place to judge the other, so let's not."

She held the pendant with its half-circle and sunburst design, which was unharmed by her fire, aloft.

"This. What does this mean?"

The woman made a helpless motion.

"It's just a reminder of when your time comes, and where you came from. The half‐circle is for the moon phase, the sunburst lines to remind you that you're a day‐changer. They're also…" she worried at her lip a bit. "They're also the marks your grandfather bears across his eyes."

"Grandfather?"

The woman nodded.

"My father, where I got my demon blood. Unfortunately, he isn't around anymore. He left to the continent some time ago, didn't want anything to do with us really, so, there you go. He had a bit of territory here in the southern province when he was around. This is home to us, your father and me."

Kuroihi looked to the man.

"And your lineage?"

He shook his head, still on the defensive.

"Nothing to mention."

Kuroihi nodded slowly.

"I see. Then, there really is nothing more to be found here. Just one last question, I feel I'm owed an answer to. Did you ever intend to give me a name?"

The woman looked puzzled. "We did. We gave you a name, 'Kuroihi'."

She sneered. "That is no more a name than Haiirokaze or Shiroiyuki. I mean a name, a real name, something of significance."

The woman seemed to flounder, the man moving to embrace her protectively as he snarled.

"How can you expect us to give what we don't even have ourselves, selfish brat!"

Kuroihi cocked her head to the side, considering for a moment before extending her arm toward them and opening her palm to drop the pendant into the sand.

"Then none of us, we three, truly exist. I have no need or want for things that do not exist. Thank you both for your time."

Kuroihi made sure to bow before she left.

Her mind swam with all that had been said. She had her answers now, so why did she still feel empty and aimless? Perhaps she had expected too much, she ought to be happy that she'd found them at all.

Yes. I must make myself satisfied. I'm just a hanyou, after all. I cannot expect anything more than this.