At the same moment, at the border where the three provinces of Musashi, Sagami, and Kai met, there was a mountain village.
A bonfire burned in the plaza at the village entrance. Sparks were swept up by the mountain wind, drifting into the air before dying out.
Around the fire sat people. Seventeen or eighteen young men and women sat cross-legged on the ground. Some carried wooden spears. Some had hatchets tucked at their waists. Two were the daughters of hunters, carrying bamboo bows on their backs.
All their gazes rested upon the figure on the other side of the bonfire.
Inuyasha, now known by his human name, Inu Nobushige.
He sat there, black hair tied back, his coarse cloth tunic speckled with mud that wouldn't dry. The whetstone-polished hatchet at his waist lay across his knees.
He was bandaging a nine-year-old boy's finger.
"You idiot, how many times have I told you, when you're chopping wood, keep the blade facing outward?"
"Leader… it hurts…"
"Endure it! The wound isn't deep. Put some herbs on it and it'll be fine in a couple of days. If you don't listen next time, I'll make you scrub Granny Agin's back."
The boy's face changed dramatically, paling as though he had seen a ghost.
Granny Agin was the oldest woman in the village. Her strength was immense.
It was said the last young man who had scrubbed her back had nearly drowned when she held him under the water.
The surrounding followers burst into laughter.
"The leader is ruthless—"
"Scarier than a demon!"
Inu Nobushige scoffed, tightened the bandage, and slapped the boy on the back of the head.
"Go eat. We've got a long trip tomorrow."
The boy clutched his hand and scampered off.
These people, he had picked them up one by one over the past three months.
Refugees with nowhere to go after bandits had raided their homes. Orphans whose villages had been attacked by demons. And farm boys who simply thought following this black-haired youth was better than starving in the fields.
Not one of them had come because he was strong.
Because he was no longer particularly strong now. He didn't even have demonic power anymore.
All he had was skill in combat that was impressive by human standards, and nothing more.
They followed him simply because he would bandage their wounds, drive off hyenas and wolves with his hatchet, and keep watch by the fire at night so everyone could sleep peacefully.
Very ordinary things.
So ordinary that any human could do them.
And precisely because they were ordinary, in this era, they seemed precious.
"Brother Nobushige, that person didn't eat again today."
A boy carrying a wooden spear leaned in, lowering his voice, and jerked his chin toward the deepest thatched hut at the eastern end of the village.
Inu Nobushige's expression shifted for an instant.
"…Let him be."
Though he said that, his hand had already picked up a bowl of miso soup and two rice balls.
The thatched hut.
Doors and windows shut tight.
Sesshōmaru leaned against the corner of the wall. His silver-white hair was spread across the rough straw mat.
His severed right arm still looked the same after several days, the domain Shinji had briefly formed in the tomb had directly cut through his Phenomenon shell as a daiyōkai, inflicting irreparable damage.
Furukami's damage to "Phenomenon" far exceeded ordinary physical destruction.
And all of this, in the final analysis, was because he himself was too weak.
Sesshōmaru's golden slit-pupils were half-open, fixed on a crack in the ceiling.
Ten days.
Ten days since that half-demon, former half-demon, had dragged him back to this village.
Three meals a day. Whether he ate or not, Inuyasha left them at the door.
He had not taken a single bite.
Not out of spite. A daiyōkai would not die from not eating.
Sesshōmaru had long since forgotten how long it had been since he last ate. He also did not know what attitude to take in accepting food from someone he had despised for a hundred years.
It was at that moment.
The sliding door was pushed open a crack once more. The scent of rice balls drifted in first.
"Oi."
Inu Nobushige set the bowl and rice balls on the threshold. His voice was neither loud nor soft, just enough for the person inside to hear.
"The miso soup was made by Granny Agin. Her cooking's better than mine. If you don't want to eat, fine. There's more tomorrow."
Sesshōmaru did not respond.
Inu Nobushige said nothing more and turned to leave.
After two steps, he stopped.
"Oh, right, the sky in the north split. Did you feel it?"
Sesshōmaru's gaze finally shifted from the ceiling.
Of course he had felt it.
Half an hour ago, the demonic energy tremor from the direction of Mutsu had traveled over two thousand kms to reach this place.
The aftershock of the Five Elements unified slash, even attenuated to its extreme, was still as clear to a daiyōkai-level perception as a great bell struck beside one's ear.
Five colors converging.
And then, the presence of a daiyōkai vanished.
What replaced it, was that presence he knew exceedingly well.
Demonic energy of the Five Elements, mingled with the aura of a human soul, exploding above Mutsu, shrouding most of the northeast.
Nakai Shinji.
Sesshōmaru leaned against the wall. His golden slit-pupils reflected the moonlight seeping through the crack in the door.
That demon warrior who had stood before him in the name of Tessaiga.
The one who had torn half his body apart with Furukami.
The one who, one step faster than him, had walked the path he had always disdained to walk.
Slaying a daiyōkai in battle.
Something he, Sesshōmaru, had never accomplished to this day.
And that bastard.... was not even a true daiyōkai yet!
"…I felt it."
Sesshōmaru spoke.
Inu Nobushige blinked, this was the first time in ten days the other had responded to him directly.
"So what do you think?"
Sesshōmaru did not answer that question.
Silence for two seconds.
"Leave the rice balls. Go."
The corner of Inu Nobushige's mouth twisted.
"Oh? Finally willing to eat?"
"Shut up."
"Fine, fine. Enjoy your meal, young master—"
Inu Nobushige pushed the rice balls a little further past the threshold and walked off, whistling in a way that was utterly insufferable.
The thatched hut was quiet for a moment.
Then, a pale left hand reached out from the darkness and took the rice balls.
The next morning.
Inu Nobushige was leading a few of his men to fetch water by the stream when a creaking, squeaking sound suddenly rose from the mountain path in the distance.
Like something short and small running over at great speed.
Then a ball of green tumbled out from the bend in the path.
A two-headed staff.
A brown short robe.
A face like a wrinkled toad.
Jaken. Sesshōmaru's retainer.
"Lord—LORD SESSHŌMARU! WHERE IS LORD SESSHŌMARU!?"
The little demon's voice was so shrill it could scare birds from the trees.
His two stubby legs churned furiously. He waved the two-headed staff over his head.
Inu Nobushige's followers were startled by the sudden appearance of the green-skinned little monster.
The boy with the wooden spear instinctively raised his weapon to thrust.
"Wait—"
Inu Nobushige pressed down on the spear shaft with one hand.
He crouched and looked at Jaken. His amber eyes blinked.
"Jaken?"
"You—you—you… INUYASHA?!"
Jaken recognized him and froze on the spot.
His round eyes bulged as though about to pop out.
Then his face crumpled. He squatted on the ground and wailed.
"Lord Sesshōmaru was injured and disappeared… I searched everywhere, everywhere… and to find him in a place like this, with YOU of all—"
His crying suddenly choked off.
Because Inu Nobushige had lifted him up. One hand, by the back of his collar.
"You're too loud. It's early morning."
Inu Nobushige pointed toward the thatched hut.
"Your young master's over there. Go on."
Jaken was set on the ground.
He stumbled and scrambled toward the thatched hut.
Inu Nobushige watched that green silhouette disappear through the doorway of the thatched hut.
From within, he heard Jaken's wailing and Sesshōmaru's exceedingly faint "Shut up."
He smiled.
Then he turned and went back to drawing water.
That afternoon.
Sesshōmaru stood at the entrance of the thatched hut. His silver-white hair drifted in the wind.
His robes hung loose.
The long sleeve on his right shoulder folded and fluttered in the wind, empty within.
Jaken stood at his feet, clutching the two-headed staff, his nose still running.
Inu Nobushige leaned against a wooden post at the village entrance. A stalk of grass was clenched between his lips.
His arms were folded across his chest.
"Leaving?"
Sesshōmaru did not look back.
His golden slit-pupils gazed north, toward the direction of that rift which, though already dissipated, still left a faint trace upon the horizon.
"…That one took Tessaiga."
Inu Nobushige gave a Mn.
"He also took the last remnant of that man's demonic energy."
Inu Nobushige gave another Mn.
Sesshōmaru's voice was very soft, as though speaking to himself.
"So I need a blade that truly belongs to me. Not one forged by that man. Not one taken by another—"
He had no intention of revenge.
A loss was a loss.
But he would not admit that he would forever be inferior.
Since that man had refused to give him the blade, then he would forge one himself.
And then he would defeat that one, to prove that his choice had been wrong.
Inu Nobushige spat out the grass stalk and straightened.
His amber eyes looked at his half-brother, that silver-haired daiyōkai who had only one arm left, yet still stood perfectly straight.
"Then go do it."
He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"You're Sesshōmaru. The noble heir of the Western dog-demon clan. A daiyōkai in your own right, what blade could you possibly fail to find?"
Sesshōmaru finally tilted his head over.
His golden slit-pupils met the amber irises.
Within them, there was no mockery.
No provocation.
Only something he had never before seen in the eyes of that half-demon called Inuyasha.
Candor.
And ease.
Sesshōmaru's lips moved.
But in the end, he said nothing.
He merely turned and stepped toward the mountain path.
Jaken scrambled after him, his stubby legs pattering furiously.
"L-Lord Sesshōmaru! WAIT FOR ME!"
The silver-white figure receded along the mountain path, disappearing into the interplay of light and shadow within the forest.
Inu Nobushige watched that silhouette until he could see it no longer.
Then he bent down and picked up the empty bowl Sesshōmaru had left at the door when he departed.
The rice balls had been eaten clean.
The miso soup had been finished as well.
Not a drop remained.
"That guy…"
Inu Nobushige shook his head with a smile and put the empty bowl back into the basket.
Behind him, seventeen or eighteen followers had gathered at some point.
"Boss, that silver-haired big brother left?"
"He left."
"Was he really a demon? He looked pretty handsome—"
"Shut up."
Inu Nobushige clapped the dust from his hands and turned to look at this group of ordinary humans who had followed him through thick and thin.
"Pack up. We need to move on too, heading north. I hear the Takeda retainers in Kai are recruiting laborers. They're sending people to Shinano to cultivate new land. We're just the right size to go take a look!"
If it had been the old Inuyasha, he would have scoffed.
But now, he was also a leader.
The boss of nearly twenty people.
He would naturally shoulder the responsibility.
"Oh—!"
Cheers echoed through the mountains.
Inu Nobushige walked at the very front, hands clasped behind his back, the hatchet at his waist clinking softly.
No demonic power.
No Tessaiga, as in the original trajectory.
But behind him, there were people following.
That was enough.
"Lord Sesshōmaru, that Inuyasha has really changed so much…"
"Shut up."
"Yes."