The Heir (Final Title)

Original titles:

Taiyoukai no Nishitaisho InuYasha(The Great Lord, InuYasha Nishitaisho)

The Next Taiyoukai of the West

Pairing: InuYasha/Kagome, Miroku/Sango, SesshoMaru/Sara, Toga/Izayoi and few others, who knows.

Characters:

Original:

Takemaru no Sestuna

SesshoMaru-Sama

InuYasha

Kagome

Miroku

Sango

Shippo

Kaede

Rin

Jaken

Naraku

Kagura

Kanna

Naraku’s Offsprings Etc.

Kagome’s Family Etc.

Hyoga

Memomaru

Toga (Inu/Sess’ father)

Izayoi

Sara

New Characters:

Court of Nishitaisho:

Court Counils (governors – advisors of the taiyoukai. Four for the taiyoukai and one to each daimyos, they are basically retainers, like Jaken and Myoga.)

North: Myoga

West: Jaken

East: Takasuki (female kuro inuyoukai)

South: Kanaye (male ookami youkai)

Daimyos (the taiyoukai has four generals in his court, they rule divided providence of the Western Land, each has samurais and armies, much like Knights to the Kings in England. They all live at the West’s Hold, the main city of the taiyoukai in the Western Land. Each have their own retainers.)

North: Kanesho (tiger)

Retainer: Jirokun (tiger)

South: Toriko (female eagle) – SesshoMaru’s mother’s most loyal friend and general.

Retainer: Kiyoshi (kitsune)

West: Kenji (inu) – SesshoMaru’s uncle from his mother’s side.

Retainer: Zenshiku (wolf)

East: Harukazu (wolf) Kouga’s father, Kouga will be next in line after him.

Retainer: Tadako (female inu)

Taiyoukai of the Four Lands:

North: Kanetora (tiger)

South: Shoujun (eagle)

East: Kohroami (wolf ) Kouga’s uncle, Kouga is the 4th in line for title after him

West: SesshoMaru (inu)

The Enemy:

Akairyujin/Honglong

Back in Fedual Japan, just before the rise of Oda Nodabunga, the world was at constant war against each other, human upon human, youkai upon youkai, human upon youkai or the other way around. War is war, nothing else could define it.

Yet, in some area, peace is known, for semblance time of it. Lines are drawn here and there, everyone respected that. There are a great line between youkai and human, for they are two different races, but it wasn’t impossible to mix the two, yet it was highly looked down upon between the two races. For one, InuYasha was a result of two races, a hanyou inu-youkai. He was a son of a highly esteemed lord who ruled the better part of Japan, the Western Land and a beautiful human princess. Yet, he was cast out by both society and forced to live his life alone, an outcast prince of the Western Land.

He came around to having a legendary adventure when he turned a hundred and fifty years old, all starting with a bauble that promised a great power, the Shikon no Tama. He went out to search for it and met a miko who guarded it, and in the process, fell in love, or so he thought, with her, and vice versa. There was another hanyou who wanted the power and got in the middle of everything, quiet left a mess.

The two were betrayed, the miko Kikyo died, and InuYasha was sealed to the tree for eternity unless one came along and freed him. Which happened in short fifty year by a girl, supposedly Kikyo’s reincarnation from five hundred years in the future, transporting through a mean of a magic well.

Their fate was tied beforehand, the Shikon no Tama was in picture again, yet got shattered and they set out on an adventure to gather the shards. In the process of the adventure, they met with a kitsune kit, Shippo, Miroku, the buddish monk who had a roving hand, Sango, the last of her people, the demon exterminators, the taijya with a youkai cat, Kiara. Together, they faced and fought many who were after the shards. They shared a nemesis Naraku, the hanyou who had caused each one of them grief in their lives for the Shikon no Tama.

The story came to close end for the Shikon no Tama and little they knew it wasn’t the end of the adventure for InuYasha, but a beginning of a new one. Fate had something else planned for him, which changed the face of the entire youkai and human society, bringing us to how the world Kagome came from to be.

“Ouswari!” Kagome shouted as she made a dash toward the well, it had become a routine, her shout was half-hearted and she heard him crash on the ground behind her. Reaching the well, she turned and saw InuYasha peeling himself off from the ground.

“Damn it! Kagome, did you really have to go back now?” InuYasha scowled as he got up.

Kagome gave apologetic smile and nodded, “Please, I miss my family; I’ll be back in three days, like usual.” She perched onto the well’s lid and watched InuYasha’s reaction.

“Feh! Three days and I’m coming to get you!” InuYasha plopped himself on the ground next to the well, crossing his arms inside his sleeves. His argument was also half-hearted for they had gone through the same routine every single time, often every few weeks.

Kagome reached and gave his ear a soft tweak and he looked up to her, she held a sigh as she saw his eyes was full of forlorn and knew, he did not want her to go back. She felt the same thing, she wanted to stay with him, travel and find the shards. It had become her whole world but she missed her family and needed to see them. Finding no need to say any words, she gave him a smile and slipped down the well, allowing herself to pass through time to her era.

InuYasha let out a soft sigh, already feeling the strange feeling in his chest, missing Kagome. Shippo bounced into the area and stopped before him, giving him a look. InuYasha returned with a scowl and a grunt.

“Where should we go after Kagome gets back?” Miroku asked as he came into view.

“Wherever there’s a rumor.” InuYasha replied.

Sango joined Miroku’s side. “Rumors had been growing thin with the shards, Naraku has most of them.”

InuYasha gave a nod, staring at the horizon, complementing as he sat his back to the well. After a long while, he finally answered, “We’ll see when Kagome come back.” Then suddenly, his head snapped to the side, facing west, he frowned and his ears swiveled toward west. The others watched in confusion, curious to what InuYasha heard that they could not hear.

“What is it?” Miroku asked.

InuYasha stood up and turned, he was crouched, ready to run. “I’m being called. I will be back soon.” Then, in red and white blur, he was gone.

“Called?” Sango asked with confusion.

Shippo hopped onto her shoulder, “I heard it too. There was howling from the west, calling for InuYasha to come.”
Miroku turned to the kitsune on the taijiya shoulder, “You understand what the howling was saying?” He asked, his curiosity added another notch.

Shippo shrugged, “All it was telling InuYasha to come to someplace, sound like West Hold, and it is urgent.”

“That sounds serious. I suppose we should wait until either InuYasha or Kagome return.” Sango commented, turning to return to the village. Shippo held onto her shoulder as Miroku lagged behind, following Sango, studying her butt.

“You better not be looking at my rear end.” Sango muttered as she went down the hill and Miroku chuckled, “Nah, just enjoying the scenery.”

“Hentai!” And a sound of flesh meeting flesh rang in the air, sending the birds away from the tree.

InuYasha ran with all of his speed he had for a hanyou, for he was fast as a full blooded demon and strong, he was nothing but a red and silver blur among the tree and mountain. It was almost as if he were flying, skimming the top of the forest as he went. The large mountainous area loomed before him and he knew, he had to go there. The howling was becoming louder and louder, he decided to reply with his own, howling in reply that he is near.

The howling ended and InuYasha stood at the base of a dense forestry that was nestled in the mountain. He could see towering tiers of castle peeking out of the tree top on the side of the mountain, here and there, buildings lined and scattered. He knew it was a grand castle ground on the mountain. He made his way through the dense forest and came to the other end to find the view of the valley ahead, sprawling out a massive fortress that looked like a city. It was majestic with a huge castle on the other end of the fortress, sitting at the base of the rocky mountain.

He made his way down to the fortress and reached the large gate, standing there, he looked up and barked, “Hey, open up!”

One of the youkai sentry asked from the top of the tower on the left side of the gate asked, “Who there and for what?”

InuYasha drew out the Tessaiga and hoisted it on his shoulder, standing with a cocky attitude, “InuYasha, I was called here. Open up or I’ll blast through!”

“Whoa, whoa, that’s not necessary.” InuYasha turned to see a tall inuyoukai with gray hair tied up in topknot. He was dressed like a daimyo. “InuYasha, thank you for coming, I am Keiji.” The gate opened and InuYasha sheathed Tessaiga back into its scabbard.

“What’s going on? Why am I here?” InuYasha asked as he followed Keiji through the fortress toward the massive castle on the other side.

“We called you here because SesshoMaru-Sama requested for you.”

“What? What the hell he wants with me? Why didn’t he come to me like he usually do, you know, fighting and all that shit.”

Keiji cracked a grin, hinted with sadness, “You will see.”

“Feh.” InuYasha snorted and decided to change tactics, “So, who you?”

“Hm? Ah, I’m one of SesshoMaru-sama’s Daimyo, I handle the western part of Japan for him. You are Touga’s son and you do not know the system of lordship?”

InuYasha shrugged, “Never did learn, no one taught me. So, a Daimyo? This is SesshoMaru’s place, eh?” He looked about.
“Rather, this is the Nishitaisho Castle,” Keiji gestured to the massive castle and with a wave of his hand around them, “This is the Western Hold, yes, basically it is SesshoMaru-sama’s home, was your father’s and his father before that.”

InuYasha was stunned into silence as they kept walking toward the large castle. The hold was very massive and there was many youkai around, he saw there was different species of youkai, ranging from dogs to tigers, birds and down to reptilians. He noticed they were wearing similar uniforms and guessed they were soldiers. Some looked better dressed, much like samurai.

He saw houses, where children and women were, he then knew they were families of the soldiers. There was very scare human among them, but they were dressed as servants. InuYasha felt disgusted a bit at this.

Keiji noticed InuYasha’s confusion and explained, “The first ground is basically village, and the first bailey surrounds the whole place. Soldiers and their families live there. Within the second bailey, is where the storehouse is, for crops and weapons. Dojos are here as well for the soldiers to train. There are others up there within the other baileys. The third bailey is nothing but forest and gardens, separating the second and first from the rest. Fourth one is where the members of the court live. The court’s councils and Daimyos along with higher class are privileged to live here if they wish. Under SesshoMaru-sama’s court, nearly every member lives here, some part time.” They entered a third level, getting closer to the castle, InuYasha noticed, like most castles had three baileys, or rather, gates with walls within the place, but this one had five in total.

As they reached to the next level of the hold, the buildings were much fancier, decorated with beautiful garden. There were ladies dressed in their finest in the court; few children ran here and there, they were dressed in colorful silk as well. For a moment then, he wondered if this was where his mother had once stayed.

As if Keiji read his thought, “If you are thinking if your mother once lived here on this level, you’re wrong. She never lived here, for the relationship between her and your father did not last very long. She did stay here for short time, in the castle with Touga.” He opened the gate as they entered a large garden that led up to the castle door. They entered a long hallway and soon, they met with Jaken.

The toad demon had a scowl on his face but he bowed and turned, waving his staff in gesture for InuYasha to follow him. Keiji gave a nod, telling InuYasha to do so. InuYasha obliged without words and followed Jaken deeper into the castle, soon, he got lost after many turns and stairs, and reached the large wooden door with carved image of dogs prancing or leaping over the scenery of Japan. Jaken gave a small knock, calling in, “SesshoMaru-Sama?”
InuYasha heard soft voice answering back; he recognized his older half brother’s voice and wondered why he sounded rather meek. Jaken slid the door open and bowed, stepping back to let InuYasha in. “InuYasha.” SesshoMaru said as he stepped in.

InuYasha wasn’t prepared for the shock as he stepped into the room. The room was grand and beautiful, tastefully Spartan, but in the center laid a grand futon and SesshoMaru was lying on it, looking worse to wear, bandaged with blood seeping through, he was bare from chest up, the blanket was already stained with blood. He looked as if he was beaten up pretty badly and indeed which it was. He practually looked like he was on death’s door. The room stank of old and fresh blood, mingled with poison. InuYasha had to refrain from scrunching his face at the scent.

InuYasha wasn’t sure what to do and hesitatingly made his way to the futon and knelt beside the bed. He stared at SesshoMaru, wondering and reeling from the shock of ever seeing SesshoMaru in such state. Finally after a while, he blurted, “What the hell happened?”

SesshoMaru cracked a grin and chuckled darkly before coughing. InuYasha watched as SesshoMaru’s hand coated with blood after he coughed. The taiyoukai turned his head and his amber eyes were dull, without luster or shine, “Ah, I’m sure you remember Menomaru,” he saw InuYasha give a nod. “Apparently, his defeat was brought back to the land over sea. They’ve heard of Hyoga’s defeat as well and now they’re thirsty for revenge.”

InuYasha sat there, complementing what SesshoMaru had just told him. He knew Hyoga, Menomaru’s father had once went against their father, Touga Inutaisho, and was defeated. Menomaru wanted revenge and InuYasha defeated him then, putting it all to end. But apparently, it wasn’t the end and he wondered who. “Who? Menomaru has some brother or whatever?”
SesshoMaru tilted his head to stare at the ceiling, “No. Honglong, or in our language, Akairyujin, is the Taiyoukai over sea and he had sent Hyoga years ago. When he heard that Hyoga failed, he waited for Menomaru to do his job. Now the news returned to him and both failed. Akairyujin wanted to take Western Land from the Nishitaisho line. He came over sea with his army…” SesshoMaru paused and winced as his body shot with pain. InuYasha felt himself wince along; knowing pain is not the most pleasurable thing to experience. “Ah… They came, it was an ambush, I was able to push them back, but Akairyujin was too powerful, he’s really hell bent to capture Western Land.”

InuYasha frowned, curious, “why are you not healing? What’s wrong with your body?”

SesshoMaru snarled, exposing his fangs as he turned his head to InuYasha and his eyes seeped red slightly, “I cannot heal. Akairyujin has poison that I cannot recover from. It’s eating me up inside, that’s why I am like this!” He growled and started to cough once again, blood spilled from his mouth and he didn’t bother to cover up. InuYasha winced once again.

SesshoMaru laid there, staring at the ceiling and realized his half brother was silent and complemented on how much InuYasha had grown, maturing. He sighed and turned his head once again, “I asked for you to come. I have no heir; you are the next in line to take my place.”

InuYasha sputtered and waved his hands, “No, no way, I’m not going to become the next Taiyoukai! I’m a hanyou!”

Sesshomaru snarled and InuYasha shut up immediately, “Insolent as always!” He barked and coughed again, slumped back on his pillow. “You must! The Western Land must stay under the Nishitaisho rule, or else, Western Land would come to worse. You are the blood of the Nishitaisho, even if it is tainted with human blood.”

InuYasha stared with wide eyes; SesshoMaru had admitted that InuYasha is part of his blood and wanted him to take his place. He bowed his head and softly asked, “How can I? I know nothing of ruling and you’re stronger than I am.”

SesshoMaru gave a short derisive barking laugh, “Right. That is where you are wrong. You don’t realize it, you’re already powerful than any daimyo or samurai with your raw talents. And now, in past couple of years, you brought yourself higher, becoming equal as I. Despite your human blood, you’re equal as a taiyoukai.” He looked once back to InuYasha and his eyes were molten soft, “Seeing how far you came, you are worthy of my heir, worthy of father’s blood. Only I wished things would have been different.”

InuYasha dropped his head, feeling regret, “Me too… me too, Aniki. Why did you hate me?”

SesshoMaru reached with his only arm and lifted InuYasha’s face to meet his eyes, “I never hated you.” He saw disbelief in his younger brother’s eyes, “You never heard my side of the story. Listen hard and carefully.” He let go, letting his hand fall to the bed. “Father only lived long enough to name you. It is in inu code to protect their pack. I tried to find you after I heard father had died, Izayoi fled with you. I searched for a long time, and by the time I found Izayoi, she had died and the village told me that they drove you out. After they told me,” He then snarled at the moment, “of how they treated you. The village was no more.”

InuYasha gasped softly. He remembered when he was younger, he had gone back to find the village where he and his mother stayed and found it in ruins and had wondered what had happened. Now he understood that it was SesshoMaru who had razed the village to ground, killing everyone in rage of how they treated him when he was younger. He felt flurries of emotions swirling within, from regret, sadness and pride.

“By the time I found you, you were hanging around in the forest that now is named after you. Smitten with the priestess there, seeing that you were fine, fending on your own. I figured I’d wait until time was better.” His eyes closed in regret.

“But it was too late… was it?” InuYasha asked, knowing that he had gotten himself pinned to the tree and stayed there for fifty years.

“Hai. When I learned your intention to get the Shikon no Tama, it was too late; you were already pinned to the tree, dead to the world. I failed again then. Father must be displeased with me. When you were revived after fifty years, I saw that you had taken the duty to regather the Shikon no tama, formed your own pack. I did all these things to train you.”

InuYasha spat, “What? You mean, you stuck your claw in my eyes so you’d get the sword for me? Put a hole in my gut, what for? Fought me to get the sword but, you were really training me all along? You bastard!”

SesshoMaru laughed, “You’re an insolent pup, what else can I do? It was the best way to teach you and it worked. Did it?”

“Oh, I suppose.” InuYasha muttered.

SesshoMaru turned his head and studied his brother’s face, seeing different emotions and a small grin flitted across his lips, “There are things you have that I don’t have. Things that father wanted. You just don’t realize it that it is a gift that father gave it to you and wanting to become a full demon takes away that gift.” He murmured and saw InuYasha’s surprising confusing look. “You wonder. Yes. It is emotions, we do have emotions but we do not express it freely as you can. That is what you are bestowed. It took me a long time to learn that it is not only weakness but strength as well. InuYasha, use it,” He reached up once again and touched his brother’s cheek, finding it was wet. “See, tears… how I sometime wonder what it is like to cry… We can’t cry, because it would have made us too powerful. Humans are mortal because being immortal, they would be too powerful, and the balance would be shifted. But you,” He gripped InuYasha’s chin hard, nearly yanking him down. He snarled, “Do not ever give that up. You are the only hanyou that ever made it out of adolescent with the power of a full youkai. You had made yourself a name. Now I give you your rightful name, Nishitaisho InuYasha.”

InuYasha gasped softly as SesshoMaru let his face go. He watched SesshoMaru labor his breathing, closing his eyes trying to regain his composure from so much pain. As the oldest brother calmed down, his eyes opened once again. “There is a ritual you must do to become a taiyoukai, I have no doubt that you will succeed. Four things you must do for me that I regret not doing myself…” He then exhaled a labored breath.

InuYasha sat there, his hands in his lap, “Aniki…” His voice was so soft and for a moment there, SesshoMaru in his delusion state, saw a very young InuYasha with innocent staring up at him with pride. He almost smiled and shook his head then, trying to clear his mind, he knew he was close to death for he was seeing things that weren’t real.

“InuYasha, as you become the taiyoukai, you must take a mate. I would prefer you to mate with that girl of your, the one with indecent kimono.” He then chuckled ruefully as he saw InuYasha blush. “Hai, she is rather very powerful Miko, good assets to the Nishitaisho house. Together, you both are powerful being, you would have never been able to defeat Naraku without her help.”

“Hey… I can… “ InuYasha stopped as SesshoMaru scowled and quieted once again.

“Stubborn pup! Have you not learned that pride will be your downfall?” Sesshomaru snarled softly and waved his hand to dismiss the comment, “I see it that you two have love for one another, the other thing that I am jealous of about you. The ability to love and receive love, it is not a weakness but the most powerful ally you can ever have, if you know how to use it. This is what Rin taught me.”

“Hai… but, if I mate with Kagome, our child would be more human than demon…”

SesshoMaru chuckled, “I do not believe so. You are hanyou, a product of both human and youkai, combination between both worlds; you have the power of both worlds, making you much more powerful than youkai or human alone. Your wrench has immense Miko power, which makes astounding possibility, even if your child would be quarter demon; he would be very strong indeed. But there’s another case with involving demon and miko. That’s what you will have to find out later.”

“Oh.” InuYasha murmured, never thought of such thing and yet, coming from SesshoMaru, it made sense, in the strangest way.

“That is the second thing I ask you to do, produce an heir right away, to keep the Nishitaisho line going. You are going to be the last surviving Nishitaisho and it is up to you to keep Japan in balance. Thirdly, protect Rin as if she is your own.”

InuYasha nodded, knowing the young human ward, “Hai, Kagome would love her.”

“Last thing, kill Akairyujin. He was the one responsible for endangering our clan. He is why you are the last of the Silver Inu.” SesshoMaru reached and grasped the two swords from the other side and pulled it closer to InuYasha’s knees, “Take these, they will recognize you as the new master. Tokijin is not strong enough, but with So’Unga, you will have a stronger sword and you will be able to kill Akairyujin.”

“But, the So’Unga is in hell… it’s gone forever.” InuYasha said as he stared at the two swords by his knees.

“The So’Unga is from Hell and that’s where Father got it from. You will know what to do, because it is in you to call upon the sword of hell, it is not complete when you have swords of heaven and men.”

InuYasha nodded, deciding to humor his brother because he had absolutely no clue. “Aniki… I… I don’t want this.” He whispered at last.

SesshoMaru glanced at his brother, “Do you have doubts when Father or I have no doubts in you?”

InuYasha’s eyes widened at the question and gave a nod, “For you and Father, I’ll do it. I’ll do it for Japan. I promise.”

SesshoMaru turned his head back on the pillow and gave a soft sigh, his eyes glazed bright gold and his breath came short as he whispered, staring up to heaven, “Chihi-ue…” With last breath, his eyes fluttered close.

InuYasha stared, watching the dark lashes of his elder brother flitter to his cheeks, and as if the world came crashing down around him, he felt his chest clenches and realization hit him, his only blood family is gone and after all the fighting, wishing that he’d be dead, he actually was dead and now he wished he wasn’t. Throwing back his head, he let loose a long mournful howl of sorrow, regret and anger. The entire fortress heard and they all knew then, their Lord was dead.

This is definitely the next story I will work on pretty soon. I’ve worked out so many details and the plot line for this story. I also wrote about three chapters but gave you only the first one. You saw the list of the characters and you can see how detailed the story will be. It will be a bit long, but not too long. There is five things InuYasha need to do in this story and each will provide a problem/challenge for him. I can also clue you in that one of the lords (not saying who) will turn against the entire Nishitaisho House during the story arch. I’m excited for this story!