InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mating Season ❯ The Art of War ( Chapter 97 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Blanket Disclaimer:

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.


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Chapter 97 - The Art of War




“You made me love you…I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to do it. You made me want you…and all the time you knew it, I guess you always knew it.”

Kenta had to admit it…Harry James was a pretty decent singer. Much better than himself, at least, he thought as his invisible ears lowered of their own accord.

Okay, so maybe his singing wasn’t that bad. At least Aki’s dog hadn’t started barking again. Stupid pug. He could never understand that girl’s affection for such an ugly animal. It quite literally looked as though its face had been planted on the ground by his mother’s sit boy spell. Still, the five year old pure bred was loyal, and protective (at least to the extent a dog that size was capable of) and for that, Kenta was grateful. He worried for Aki sometimes, living alone with her aging mother.

The distinctive thup thup thup of a record having reached its end quickly brought his attention back into the here and now, as he flipped his new album over, and set the needle to play “A Sinner Kissed An Angel”…which was quickly becoming another one of his favorite songs.

Sometimes, he was still baffled over all of the changes that had occurred in the last century that he’d been living in the states. While he still considered his time there an extended vacation of sorts, as he would always think of Japan as his true home, he had truly come to love the blending of cultures found in America, as well. He found the term “melting pot” to be the understatement of the century.

Of course, what had happened to the native peoples of the land was still something of a sore spot with him, but his mother had thoroughly briefed him on the “history” of the country, so it wasn’t as though anything that had happened had actually taken him by surprise. Still, he had found himself wanting to rise up against the “pale face” on several occasions, assisting his adoptive pack’s humans with their battles, though he knew he could not interfere. It wasn’t just a matter of him not interfering, either, as he’d often found himself having to convince the local wolf and coyote youkai to stay out of it, as well. Youkai could simply not get involved with human affairs…that was an underlying truth. The Japanese-born hanyou didn’t toss out the extra bit about not interfering with the course of time, as none of his local canine brethren were ever made aware of the fact that his mother was from the future, but he had still managed to get his point across with the simple reminder that their kind had to stay hidden, lest the humans ban together in an effort to remove them from existence instead of each other.

Kenta had eventually moved further West, flocking to California as many others did during the early 1850s. It was shortly after his parents had departed for Mexico that he’d made the move, but he’d given them the heads up that he was interested in heading to California after his time in Arizona was complete, which was the main reason why he hadn’t gone with them to the Mayan ruins in the first place. The young hanyou had to admit, the Gold Rush had been pretty fun, especially after he’d learned to pick up the scent of gold. While his family was extremely well-off back in Japan, he had little to no access to his family’s fortune while living in America, so it most certainly hadn’t hurt to make a small fortune of his own for the time being. It was money he spent wisely, as his remaining nest-egg, along with his small job down at the fish market, was more than enough for him to currently live rather comfortably in his modest LA apartment.

Back in the 1860s, he’d been extremely surprised when his step-nephew Hikaru had suddenly shown up on his doorstep one day, griping about how hard it had been to track his scent. He’d also been surprised to hear the kitsune speaking English, but had quickly learned that his mother had taught the language to both he and his mate prior to their leaving Osaka. That made sense. Couldn’t very well leave to go help the youkai and hanyou of America without knowing the primary language. The two hanyou had quickly hugged, before sharing a brief recap of their respective lives for the last few decades. It didn’t take long for the kitsune-hanyou to get down to business, though, as there were several youkai families living in hiding in California that he needed to assist with his concealment spells. Hikaru and his mate had only ended up staying with Kenta for a few months, before he and Hoshi then headed out towards Arizona, where the inu-hanyou had told them of the various canine packs that lived in the rocky terrain of the deserts there.

After spending some time with the local Kachinas and Skin Walkers, fulfilling the promise his Inuyasha-ojii-sama had made two decades prior, Hikaru and his mate were quick to pack up and head back out once more. They had a whole country to see, after all, with scattered youkai in need of their assistance hiding literally everywhere. There was no time to sit around getting cozy.

It was actually rather fortunate for Hikaru that Kenta was still in the states, because he quickly negotiated for his uncle’s assistance with his little “conceal the youkai of the world” campaign. All the youkai Hikaru and Hoshi met during their travels were instructed to pass on word of his existence in their country, and how he could help those who needed it with concealing their youkai selves from the eyes of humans, and because tracking him down during his travels would be somewhat difficult as cell phones wouldn’t be invented for over another century, they were also instructed to pass on word of his contact, Kenta, who resided in Los Angeles. Hikaru then made it a point to check back in with Kenta on occasion, who would collect the names and addresses of anyone who may have contacted him in the mean time. It was actually a rather functional operation for a few decades, until word had finally spread enough regarding Hikaru’s presence and purpose in America, that he and his mate could settle down, and merely have all the youkai of the country flock to them, directly. Any stragglers who showed up seeking Kenta after that, he merely instructed on how to get in touch with his nephew, since at least landline telephones existed by that point.

Hikaru had fallen in love with the advancements of modern technology rather quickly, and while Kenta had enjoyed living in what had still been considered the “Wild West” for as long as had been physically possible, the kitsune-hanyou and his mate had taken up residence in New York. Los Angeles had of course since caught up with the progress of the Eastern city, though, and Kenta had to admit that he didn’t dislike modern technology, either. He knew it would only continue to get more and more sophisticated from here on out, and in the words of his uncle, the term “adapt or perish” suddenly sprang to mind. He chose to adapt.

Of course, the road of life was not without its bumps. Having learned from Hikaru that his parents had returned to Osaka, Kenta had quickly contacted them via old fashioned ink and paper, and had stayed in touch with his family ever since, being updated regarding the affairs of his homeland. He’d learned from his mother, in a letter she’d sent ten years ago, that Japan had invaded Manchuria. It’d begun. When he’d gotten that little bit of news, he knew he was sitting on a ticking time bomb, set to go off in one decade, and he’d had every intention of heading back home before then.

Hikaru, on the other hand, hadn’t planned on leaving, having thoroughly fallen in love with the country as a whole. Of course, the kitsune-hanyou hadn’t bore witness to some of the earlier atrocities that Kenta had, either. But because he and Hoshi were kitsune, they really didn’t need to worry about fleeing the country, as they could easily alter their appearances, which they did, to look like you’re A-Typical Americans. They did revert to their Japanese selves during their times of weakness, but since that was only for one night a month, and not on the same night for the two of them, it wasn’t really that dangerous. Kenta, on the other hand, could only disguise his hanyou traits, his concealment rosary automatically making him appear as he naturally did during his monthly night of vulnerability. Not the best time to be a young Japanese male in America, he knew, as the years ticked by, and Japan launched a full scale attack of mainland China, while Hitler near simultaneously invaded Poland a mere two years later. Time was running out.

He still remembered the conversation he’d had with Hikaru over the phone, when he’d told him to call his youkai contacts in Hawaii, and have everybody demonic clear out from Pearl Harbor. The way he’d said it, with such conviction, had made the kitsune’s blood run cold.

***

“What do you know that I don’t know?”

“Hey, you’re the one who didn’t care to listen to your grandmother’s stories. Maybe you should have paid closer attention when you were a pup.”

“And spoil the surprise?”

“Just please, I know there are a lot of ‘gods’ living in Hawaii…just, have them stay away from Pearl Harbor.”

“Are you going to tell me why?”

“And spoil the surprise?”

“I think I’ll let you tell me how the movie ends, just this once.”

Hoshi had walked in just in time to wonder why her mate suddenly looked so pale, and just barely caught the last part of what Kenta’d said…

“…and that’s nothing compared to what will happen back home.”

***

Reflecting on his phone call with his nephew made the inu-hanyou remember that he had another call to make. Finally, thanks to the technology of radio waves, he could hear his mother’s voice once again. It’d been so long. Though it was expensive as hell, he forked over the forty bucks AT&T wanted to make a brief transpacific phone call to Japan, without hesitation. Some things just shouldn’t be said in a letter. He’d told his mother in his latest letter to be expecting his call around that time. It was six in the evening for him, which meant it was ten the following morning for her. He told her he was doing well, and that he was keeping tabs on the happenings around him. He assured her that he remembered everything she’d told him before she and his father had left him to his own devices roughly ninety years prior, and that he was being careful. He told her not to worry about him, but that he couldn’t leave America just yet. He’d intended to, at first, until he met…her.

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Kenta had seen many a mortal come and go in his day, but nobody had intrigued him quite like Aki. A single Japanese female, who lived with her mother Kiku, in the apartment down the hall from his own. He had met her quite by chance.

While they were in a fairly “Japanese” part of town, he hadn’t intended on getting close to anyone. Most of the younger Japanese-Americans that lived in his neighborhood were born there, and were 100% loyal to America. While he appreciated the country’s people, its government was another story, and he would forever remain loyal to Japan in that aspect. Besides…those were human affairs, and he was a youkai, or at least half. It wasn’t his place to interfere with how they ran the country, but that also meant that he never truly thought of the country as his. Back home, his kind stayed out of the dealings with the Japanese government, as well, but at least the Japanese government knew they existed. The ancient treaties his father and uncle had started back in the beginning of the Edo period were still standing, even today, and while their existence was kept secret from the general populous, the Youkai-Alliance and current human rulers of the country had a silent agreement of sorts. The American government, on the other hand, had no idea that creatures of magic still lived among them at all, and the American youkai were no where near as organized as the alliance his family had created back home. It was more or less every youkai for themselves…though they at least knew that meant remaining hidden. Most Kachinas and other Native American worshiped youkai still lived close to their people, at the various reservations scattered across the country. Other species were nomadic, or lived in small clusters in various pockets of undeveloped country, where they could still live in peace as their wild ancestors once did.

As far as Kenta knew, he, Hikaru and Hoshi were the only Japanese youkai living in America, and as far as the Japanese humans went, they were far too assimilated for his taste. His apartment may possess mostly Western style furnishings, but he didn’t find chairs all too comfortable, and had cut the legs short on his dining table. He still wore his fire-rat robes roughly 90% of the time, and his hair was just as long as ever, though he often wore it tied back in a high ponytail rather than allowing it to hang wild and free. That was mostly because of his job, though. He couldn’t have his hair getting in the way while he was gutting fish, after all. He was used to receiving strange looks from Americans, walking around with his long hair and in Japanese robes, rather than the bowl cut, jeans and t-shirt look of his human brethren, but he often made up for it the instant they heard him speaking English so perfectly, with virtually no hint of an accent whatsoever. There were some advantages to living for so long. He didn’t have an English accent when he spoke Japanese, either. He was truly a master of the concept of languages, being fluent in over a dozen different ones by that point, though none of his human coworkers knew that. They only knew he spoke both Japanese and English, and he was fine with keeping it that way.

He hadn’t cared what anyone thought of him, not getting close to anyone, until the day roughly five years ago that Aki and her mother moved into their apartment down the hall. It was quite shocking, he had to admit, to turn the corner and suddenly find the hallway blocked by a rather large sofa that the two women were attempting to maneuver all by themselves. He was honestly amazed that they’d apparently managed to drag the thing up the short flight of steps. He also hadn’t missed the fact that they were Japanese, although the fact that they were speaking Japanese had quickly helped him figure out that little detail. The older woman, who he would later come to learn was named Kiku Takahashi, had been instructing her daughter on which way to turn the sofa, but Kenta could already tell that if they attempted to move it at that angle, they’d never make it through the doorway.

“May I be of assistance?” he’d asked them, in Japanese, and they’d both looked up with a start, having been too distracted to realize that somebody had approached them.

He’d quickly introduced himself, explaining that he lived just down the hall, and quickly took over moving one end of the couch for the older woman, though he made sure to appear as though he was having some moderate difficulty with the piece of furniture that he could, in reality, pick up and toss with one hand. He didn’t know why he had felt so compelled to help them, but he’d continued to assist them with moving the rest of their belongings indoors throughout the remainder of the evening. Maybe it was the way Kiku had been wearing her hair in a traditional bun, something almost never seen outside of waitresses in Japanese restaurants. Maybe it had been the way her then nineteen year old daughter, Aki, had smiled at him, causing his heart to flutter. Yes, she was attractive, but he had seen many other attractive young women in his day. Never before had any of them affected him so strongly. Maybe it was because her scent seemed so pure, void of any harsh perfumes that always irritated his nose.

He had delayed his planned departure after they’d moved into his apartment building. Even when Aki brought home the ugliest puppy he’d ever seen, that hadn’t been a deterrent, as he eventually, much to Aki’s amusement, reluctantly admitted that the pug was “so ugly it was cute”, in that weird sort of way that only a dog owner would understand. She’d giggled, and suddenly, the puppy actually had seemed kinda cute.

Over the next five years he’d gotten to know the women quite well. He’d learned that Kiku was Japanese born, her and her young husband having moved to the states to try and find that American Dream that everybody was after. He also learned that she was widowed, her husband having died from some sickness or another, while Aki had just been a small child. What a brave, courageous woman, to remain in America, and raise her daughter alone, he had thought, until he’d learned that her family back in Japan had actually disowned her when she and her husband had more or less eloped and ran off to America without their families’ permission. She’d had no choice but to remain in the States, struggling every step of the way, but they’d managed it, somehow. He’d learned that she was a waitress in a Japanese restaurant, often sporting the kimono-esque clothing she wore there, although he got the distinct impression that her job had been chosen for the style of dress, rather than the other way around. Aki, on the other hand, worked in an American diner, serving burgers and fries, and dressed accordingly, at least while on the job. While Aki was technically an American citizen, having been born and raised in California, she also spoke fluent Japanese, and was familiar with many aspects of her peoples’ culture and beliefs. They were Buddhist, another thing that set them apart from the norm in Los Angeles, though they hid it well.

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“I’m sorry, mother.” Kenta apologized over the phone. “I just…I can’t leave…not yet.” I can’t leave Aki. he added in his mind.

“I understand.” Kagome answered softly, worrying for her baby. “Just…just be careful, all right? You know we all love you, and that you have a place here whenever you’re ready to return.”

Kenta had explained to his mother that he couldn’t just up and head back to Japan, not now, since he so strongly felt as though it was his duty to protect both Aki and her mother…even if they didn’t know it. He just couldn’t help it. Something was propelling him to act that way from deeply within himself. He always sniffed their apartment whenever he walked passed the door, making sure there were no strange scents he didn’t recognize. He’d had a heart to heart with “Baby”…the pug…when nobody was around, and had turned the dog into just about the best damn guard dog a pug could be, with threat of dismemberment if he ever let a stranger get too close to the women without his permission. Once, when Kiku had gotten sick, he’d even paid for the medicine he knew Aki couldn’t afford with her job serving hamburgers. That single incident had been a major milestone in their relationship, as his status in their lives was elevated from neighbor/acquaintance…to friend.

He knew what was yet to come, and he honestly had no idea how he was going to deal with it when it happened. Although…maybe he could bring them back to Japan with him? But Aki was an American citizen, she’d need to file paperwork. Maybe…maybe he should start looking into that.

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Han ging up the phone, Kagome rubbed her temples, trying not to become too overly emotional or worried for their son.

“What’d he say?” asked Inuyasha, as he walked into the room.

“He’s…staying.”

“What ?! But he…” Seeing his mate’s expression, the elder hanyou quickly calmed himself, and then asked “Why?”

“I think…” Kagome muttered quietly, a small smile playing at her lips despite herself, “…he’s found his mate.”

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“No!” Emi screamed, bolting upright in a cold sweat, instantly awakening the inu-hanyou at her right.

“What is it?” Kazuki asked, quickly grabbing his sobbing mate and pulling her into a tight embrace. “The dream again?” he asked.

She nodded against him. “It was the same…it’s always the same.”

Emi’s gift of receiving visions in her dreams hadn’t stopped with the prediction of her mother’s near death during Kichiro’s birth. Even all throughout her childhood she had been plagued with various nightmares that had later come true in one way or another, and over the centuries, it’d never stopped. Most of the time, she knew to think of her gift as precisely that, often using her visions as a means of warning those against what she’d seen, hopefully then preventing it from happening, or at least from being as bad as it would have been otherwise.

But unfortunately, her visions didn’t always occur in linear sequence, and she’d sometimes be plagued by dreams of something that wouldn’t come to be for over a century, if not more. She still remembered the first time she’d dreamt of two giant explosions destroying large portions of her homeland. She’d still been quite young at the time, unmated and living with her parents in the feudal era. While she had later been briefed by her future mother-in-law regarding certain aspects of the future, the vision had traumatized her for quite some time before then. But even now, understanding what she saw, and why it happened, didn’t make the images any less disturbing. Per one of Kagome’s earliest suggestions, Emi had started jotting down her visions in a journal, back when she’d still been a small child. The futuristic miko had had among her belongings a blank diary she’d yet to start writing in, one of many she’d brought with her during her final trip through the well, thinking that they may one day come in handy. As it would turn out, she’d been right. Emi had made quick work of her journal, filling its pages with dream after dream. She often used it as a reference if she started noticing that certain dreams were repeating themselves, which was often the case as the events they foretold grew closer to occurring.

While her original diary had long ago been aged beyond repair due to the passage of time, as had the first few generations after it, she always transferred her entries, in their entirety, to a new log before her old journal became too weathered to handle without crumbling. Now, clicking on the bedside lamp, she pulled open a small drawer next to her side of the bed, and pulled out her current diary, rapidly flipping through it for the entry she sought.

“It’s happening.” she sobbed, “It’s actually happening.”

Kazuki didn’t know what to say, so he merely held his mate, and let her cry.

The next morning, however, he had quickly decided that if her visions truly were a blessing in disguise, a warning of things yet to come, that they would not look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth. The first thing he did was enlist the aid of their four children, instructing Izumi and Riku to go to Hiroshima, and Mayu and Shin to go to Nagasaki, quickly seeking out every youkai and hanyou living in both places, and informing them of the vision their mother had experienced. Even though Kazuki and Emi’s children were only one-quarter youkai, and their eldest two showed it in how much they had aged over the years, all four “pups” were still fairly strong, despite their appearances, and had noses powerful enough to sniff out those of youkai blood. Fortunately, unlike humans, youkai and hanyou believed in the concept of a “seer”, and since most knew who they were, who their parents and grandparents were, the four siblings were all taken rather seriously. A quiet, unauthorized door-to-door evacuation was quick to follow, as the local youkai and hanyou of both cities attempted to get as many humans as possible to flee the area, without alerting the Alliance, and without starting a widespread panic. They still had a few years in which to do the best they could in a relatively quiet fashion; the time would not be wasted.

Kazuki, in the mean time, was quick to contact Hachiemon, who still lived among the remaining Taijiya in existence, though being a youkai slayer that day and age had to be kept just as secret as being a youkai. In reality, the practice was only still kept by one family now, the original family. All remaining Taijiya were directly descendent from Sango’s family line in one fashion or another, either being a direct descendent of herself and Miroku, or of her brother Kohaku and his wife Kaori. Any and all “new blood” added to the family over the generations had to prove their loyalty to the secret they were marrying into. Hachiemon “assisted” his humans in that regard, enjoying being able to utilize his shape-shifting ability from time to time, as well as performing his more mundane duty of record keeping, which was the reason Kazuki had contacted him. The inu-hanyou needed a list of each and every living descendent of the original slayers, and he needed it now.

In addition to the family scrolls, Hachi was quick to put the mate of Miroku’s first-born in contact with his wife’s brother, who was all too eager to assist his sister when it came to her visions. Yes, Kichiro was still around, he and his butterfly-hanyou mate, Chouko, living in secret from the rest of society, but protected by the family who knew who and what they were. Chouko’s parents were also still alive and kicking, her mother Etsuko often acting as a liaison of sorts, between the Youkai-Alliance and the slayers. While one may not think that Taijiya would be needed in the 20th century, as the lower “beastly” youkai were all long extinct, it was a rare, but not unheard of occurrence, when some random young youkai or hanyou would wish to rebel against the human world around them, and having a large array of humans at their disposal to extinguish the crisis before it began worked in the Alliance’s favor. They had weapons that would neutralize a demonic threat without killing anybody. Stink pellets and the like… Plus, with Etsuko and Chouko’s abilities to create illusions of the mind, any humans who may have witnessed something unusual were quickly assured otherwise, in an almost “Men In Black” type fashion, although neither butterfly would understand Kagome’s humorous reference for another sixty years or so.

While the Youkai-Alliance as a whole merely believed that Kagome was also a “seer”, certain individuals who had proven trust worthy over the years, including Etsuko and Hideki, were eventually informed of the truth regarding the miko’s origins. Because everyone entrusted with that secret knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that what Emi had seen in her dreams was a vision of things yet to come, word was quickly spread throughout the Alliance as a whole that both “seers” had experienced the same vision, and everybody needed to clear out, no ands, ifs, or buts. The Alliance was unaware of the evacuation, on the human level, that Kazuki and Emi had started with their children, but they had eventually informed Kagome and Inuyasha of the project. Neither could fault their children’s desire to save as many lives as possible, and while it was written that youkai did not “get involved” in the affairs of mankind, something on the level in which they were operating - in no way revealing to the human populous the concept of youkai or that certain events had been “foretold” in any fashion - was not technically against the law. The attempt wasn’t as successful as it may have been otherwise, since they were merely functioning on the “I just have a feeling” line of logic that most humans chose to ignore, but there were a few, such as friends and neighbors of the various local youkai and hanyou, who believed in the “gut instinct” of their friends, and did indeed clear out. It was better than nothing. Emi would rather she and her children appeared like crazy dooms day preachers wearing signs that read “The end is near” than to sit back and do nothing at all. It didn’t surprise Inuyasha, not in the slightest, when his wife and mate suddenly decided to join in the efforts, herself. His only concern was that they were out of harm’s way prior to August of 1945, but he would allow Kagome to try and save as many lives as she could before then. Then he would pick her up and drag her away, kicking and screaming if he had to.

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Crap, time isn’t ‘running out’…it’s run out. Kenta cursed, as he walked down the unusually quiet streets of LA. He’d done what he’d set out to do, looking into what it would take to bring Aki and her mother home with him to Japan, but would he still be able to pull something like that off through official channels now that America had joined the war? It wasn’t exactly like they could just hop on board a 747, as his mother had so eloquently pointed out, as the first commercial jetliner wouldn’t be in operation for another eleven years. Because of the war, oceanic travel for civilians between Japan and America was off limits, so they’d have to take the long way around. Maybe he should just say to hell with the “no unlawful displays of youki” policy they had running in Japan, since American youkai had no such official laws, and find himself somebody who could transform into something large and airborne, paying them the rest of his gold for their services. He snorted to himself…now he was just being ridiculous. What to do…what to do… Hmmm, maybe he could-

“What’s this?” he interrupted himself, as he saw a few other local Japanese-Americans reading what appeared to be some sort of poster nailed up to a pole a few meters away. Glancing around himself, he quickly noted that another one of said posters was nailed to a pole right next to where he stood.

“What the hell…?” he mumbled to himself as he read the notice, while skimming it with a concealed claw. “Instructions to all persons of Japanese ancestry…?”

He continued reading silently, All of that portion of the City of Los Angeles, State of California, within that boundary beginning at…blah blah such and such street, south and following blah blah…they’re mapping out a whole damn section of the city… he read on, aloud, “…will be evacuated from the above area by twelve o’clock noon May 9th...? That’s this Saturday!”

He went on to read how he was supposed to report to the ‘Civil Control Station’ to receive further instructions. “Fuck that…” he muttered, “Time to get our asses out of the country, is more like it.”

Maybe that dragon his mother had befriended down in Mexico would offer them sanctuary? Whatever they did, they had to do it now.

Rushing back home as quickly as he dared in the light of day, Kenta quickly noted upon entering his apartment building that both Kiku and Aki were still out at their jobs. Where he was supposed to be…but that was neither here nor there. He already had most of his belongings packed up, save for his sword, and quickly rushed everything to the nearest Post Office, shipping it not to Japan, as that would look a little weird at the moment, but instead, to Hikaru and Hoshi under their American aliases in New York. He’d already briefed them of his evacuation plan over the phone, and they had assured him that they could hold onto his belongings for the next few years, shipping them home to him in Japan once they could safely do so. He’d simply collected a few things, like his albums, that he didn’t want to get lost in the passage of time.

With that taken care of, Kenta quickly headed back home once more. He didn’t really have a plan, per se, when it came to Aki and her mother, but he knew he needed to get them out of the city as quickly and as quietly as possible, and then he’d worry about how to sneak all three of them across the ocean, or at least across the border.

Unfortunately, both Aki and Kiku had apparently left work early, returning home sometime while he’d been at the Post Office. Unfortunately also, a few officials had been doing door-to-door notifications, for those who may have happened to “miss” the flyers that had been posted all over town. By the time Kenta stepped foot in the apartment building downstairs, he could already smell the stench of strangers among them. Rushing up the stairs and down his hallway, he had to suppress the growl that wanted to rip from his throat at the sight of a rather nervous Kiku speaking with some official looking older man wearing a uniform. Baby was barking at the man something fierce, which he briefly nodded in approval of, before tuning out the dog in an attempt to hear what the human was saying.

“…and your name Ma’am?” the gentleman asked politely enough, to which Kiku hesitantly answered “Kiku Takahashi” in a rather heavy accent. “Where is your husband?” he asked her next, and Kenta did growl - though fortunately it was so quiet that nobody heard him. Where did this guy get off?

Kiku answered that her husband was deceased. Peering inside the apartment through the semi-opened door, the official could not miss the rather large statue of Buddha, and wrinkled his brow. There was a good chance this woman was a loyalist to Japan.

Kenta could smell his distrust of Kiku, but more than that, he could smell the stench of fear coming from within the apartment. Aki’s fear. That alone was enough to spring him into action, even if he hadn’t really thought out what he was doing, when he heard the man in uniform ask Kiku if there was no man of the family whatsoever. Apparently he knew what such a thing meant for Japanese women…bastard.

“I am the man of the family.” Kenta stated matter-of-factly, stepping forward, surprising the man who hadn’t even noticed that there’d been anyone in the hallway behind him. “I am her son.” he added, his youthful appearance making the lie seem plausible.

Both Kiku and Aki stared at him wide-eyed, but the man didn’t notice their surprise as he asked him “Name?”

Kenta identified himself as “Kenta Takahashi”…quickly stating that he had “lost” his papers of identification when the man asked to see them. The man glared daggers, but Kenta merely shrugged, and stated that it had happened only last night, and that he was going to report it today, but became distracted upon seeing the posters over town, and had hurried home to be sure his mother and sister were okay.

What were they going to do? Search his apartment? That apartment was only registered to a “K. Taisho” so they’d have no way of knowing it was even his.

Eventually, the man took his word for it, and in the eyes of the law, Kenta was now officially Kiku’s son and Aki’s older brother, and was legally responsible for the two women as the eldest “man of the family”. He was told where to report to on Monday for further instructions, and what the family was required to pack and bring with them. Unfortunately, pets were not allowed, so Aki would have to say goodbye to Baby.

“What happens now?” Aki asked him in a quiet, uneasy tone, once they were finally alone.

Damn it. he cursed to himself. Were it just him, he could easily skip out, using his youkai abilities to be halfway across the country before anyone of authority even realized he was gone. He could stay hidden in the middle of nowhere if he had to, or he could easily sneak across either the Mexican or Canadian border…another option he’d been toying with as leaving the country via boat hadn’t seemed too likely for the time being. But what did he do now that he had to watch over two human women whose names had already been listed by authorities, and who would become fugitives if they failed to report on schedule? He closed his eyes, and attempted to calm his inner youkai by secretly breathing in Aki’s soothing scent. What happens now…indeed. He couldn’t very well sneak across the country as he’d originally been planning with two human women in tow. At least not without revealing to them what he was. He’d originally planned on taking them and leaving rather casually, just strolling along as though everything was fine, but it was too late for that now. Roosevelt had already signed the order. Japanese-Americans couldn’t go anywhere now, except to the stations they’d been ordered to report to, for “further instructions.” What happens now?

“Now…” he answered slowly, looking Aki square in the eye, “…we go to one of their internment camps.” he told her truthfully.

The scent of her fear spiked again, but he quickly put his arms around her, pulling her into the first embrace they’d ever shared in all the five years they’d known each other. Aki’s mother was very traditional, and such things simply weren’t done. But under the circumstances, he didn’t think the older woman would mind. He had grown to care for Aki very much, and he knew Aki returned his feelings at least on some level. He’d even gone to the diner she worked at on a few occasions, just to see her, although he had to admit he also loved their burgers.

“Don’t worry…” he assured her in merely a whisper, carefully running his fingers through her hair, mindful of his invisible claws. “I’ll take care of you. Both of you.” he quickly added, pulling away from the embrace to again meet Kiku’s eyes.

The woman held nothing but admiration for him in her gaze. She’d always liked this young man, who was now quite suddenly their official protector. His sense of honor was very high, she could tell. He’d always respected the unspoken boundaries she’d set regarding his level of familiarity with her daughter, who she could tell had feelings for him as well. She’d honestly been half expecting him to one day officially ask her permission to court Aki. It was permission she would grant without a second thought, if he ever did. If she’d ever doubted how sincere he was with regard to looking after her daughter, those feelings had left the day he’d started talking about bringing both she and Aki back with him to Japan, as if he’d known something bad was about to happen to them in the states. If only returning to her homeland was still possible…but everyone knew it was too late for that now.

They had a few days to pack, so the time was spent wisely. Kiku and Aki packed up any and all belongings they wished to keep, and along with Kenta’s sword, the items were prepared to be put into storage. He didn’t trust the storage system the government had in place for detainees’ personal effects, but it didn’t look as though they had a choice in the matter. He’d made it a point to hide his sword within a chest of clothing and other items belonging to the women, though. He needed to make sure his katana was safe, after all. That was one item that could not become lost to the hands of time, or his father would skin him alive. Even Aki could tell how valuable the katana must have been, from how old it clearly was, so his desire for hiding it among their things, lest it turn up missing, did not strike her as odd. Being in possession of such a sword to begin with, on the other hand…

Aki had also started to notice a few other things about Kenta that seemed out of the ordinary, now that they were spending literally hours upon hours in each other’s company non-stop, as they worked over the next few days to prepare for relocation. Little things that she never would have noticed had their relationship remained more casual were now becoming blatantly obvious as the days went by, although she kept her observations from her mother. One thing Aki could not help but to notice was how he’d sometimes appear to have less difficulty than he should while lifting something fairly heavy. He didn’t do it often, almost as if he was deliberately being cautious regarding how much of his strength he revealed, and had merely slipped up on a few occasions, but she knew what she saw. It wasn’t her imagination. She’d also never really paid much attention to the beaded necklace he always wore, until she saw him for the first time without a shirt, as he moved boxes. After calming the fluttering of her heart over the mere sight of him topless, Aki couldn’t help but to notice how ancient that rosary actually appeared. She knew a thing or two about the old legends and folklore of her people, and she knew magatama beads when she saw them. The ancient Shinto believed that such curved, almost fang-shaped beads possessed magical powers, and they were used for many different purposes a few centuries ago. How was it that he had an antique, supposedly magic necklace, and an antique katana that appeared to be just as old, if not even older? Were they perhaps passed down from his family? He’d never spoken of them. That was something else that suddenly struck her as odd. He’d never spoken of his family, except only to say that they lived in Japan, as if he hadn’t seen them for years upon years, and yet suddenly he knew that they would have welcomed both she and her mother had they returned with him to his family’s home? And what an odd kimono he usually wore. While she’d seen the red garment on countless occasions, she hadn’t known it was made from fur until he’d pulled her into their brief embrace, and she’d felt the fabric against her skin for the first time. How on Earth was animal fur died such a vibrant color? And who ever heard of making a kimono from animal fur to begin with?

Cataloging all such oddities to store in the back of her mind for the time being, Aki tried hard to focus on the reality of the situation at hand. Getting rid of Baby had been the hardest part for her to deal with, and she appreciated it beyond words when Kenta offered to take the dog to the shelter for her. Another thing she had never failed to notice, even during all the years she’d only more casually known Kenta as her neighbor and friend, was the unusual connection he’d seemed to develop with her dog. Now granted, he’d down right insulted the pug the day she’d first brought Baby home, much to her amusement, to be perfectly honest. But eventually, he’d warmed up to the pug, and surprisingly enough, Baby had warmed up to him, as well. He was a rather protective little thing, Aki had come to realize over the years, barking at everybody, and even attempting to bite a few people on occasion, like the day the mailman had delivered a package too large to fit in their mail box down in the lobby. But Baby had always liked Kenta, and despite his comical grumbling, she knew that Kenta liked Baby as well. If “the most overly protective pug in the world” as her mother often jokingly called Baby, had decided that Kenta was a trustworthy individual, then that was honestly good enough for her, all his oddities aside.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he goes to a good home.” Kenta assured her, as he held Baby securely in his arms, the dog’s disposition matching that of his mistress.

“But what if he doesn’t understand? What if he thinks I’m just abandoning him?”

Maneuvering his grip of Baby to support the small dog’s form with one arm, he reached forward and placed a gentle had on Aki’s shoulder, before stating quietly “Dogs are a lot smarter than they look. He knows you love him, and he knows you are sad right now, to see him go. He understands that you’re not giving him up by choice.” he assured her.

Sniffling and nodding, she backed into the nearly empty apartment, as Kenta exited and headed down the hall. Preoccupied as he was with the whimpering pug in his arms, he failed to notice when Aki stuck her head back out through the open doorway, having been drawn by the sound of Baby’s whimpers. But before she could call out to her dog, saying whatever goodbyes had been on her tongue, she was struck silent by the surprising sound of Kenta barking softly to the dog in his arms. What was even more surprising was when Baby looked up and barked back, almost as if the two were having a conversation. Then, to her utter disbelief, Kenta suddenly said “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, she’ll miss you too.” What could possibly have been dismissed as just your standard play-talk that anyone may do with their pet was made less likely when, after Baby barked once more, she could still hear from their spot at the end of the hall, Kenta’s reply of “If only it were that simple.”

What on Earth…?

Shaking her head, Aki merely added the incident to her list of strange things about Kenta.

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What a way to return to Arizona…Kenta grumbled to himself, not amused, as they were bused to a camp that had been constructed in the desert remarkably close to a spot where he’d once lived with the coyote.

He wasn’t worried for himself, he knew he could survive anything, but he was worried for the women under his care. He was doing this for them, and they knew it. Not just the whole “man of the family” thing, either, but more than that, actually staying in America, and allowing himself to be shipped off to the camp, at all. He knew that Aki had grown closer to him as they’d started spending more time together, and he knew also that his feelings showed on his face a lot easier than they did with his father. There had been a quiet sort of resolved understanding that had washed over him, as he’d accepted the instructions they received from the American official, and he was sure that Aki had caught the determination he knew he’d felt at that moment, to protect both she and her mother at all costs. He knew that Aki knew that he’d originally planned on skipping town long ago, and that he’d changed his plans solely because of them.

Glancing sideways at the man sitting beside her on the bus, her “brother”, Aki’s thoughts began to wander along similar lines. She knew he’d been looking into bring her and her mother with him to Japan, though she hadn’t known why, and had told him at the time that it wasn’t necessary. Had he known this was going to happen? And then when the moment came, when she and her mother leaving was no longer an option, rather than skipping out and saving himself as had been his original plan before ever meeting them, he stayed. To change his mind like that, to stay when he’d had the opportunity to run, that gesture had truly touched Aki more than she figured he even realized.

Kenta caught his “sister” glancing in his direction, and turning his eyes to meet her own, he offered her a small smile. There was a plus side to all of this mess, at least, if it meant he would get to spend all of his time with her, though he realized that everyone thought they were siblings, and they would have to act accordingly. That was fine, though, considering he had no intention of dishonoring her family by disrespecting the boundaries set by her mother, regardless of their recorded status as family. But stating to the authorities that he was Kiku’s son was the only way to make sure he could keep an eye on them. Since they could no longer avoid going to camp, he had decided then and there that if they were going, then so was he, and if they weren’t related, then there’d be no guarantee that he would be shipped to the same place as them. Claiming himself as a part of their family had only made sense. Besides, he knew how dangerous it could possibly be for two single women with no man of the family to speak for them, and it was his job to make sure they were protected.

Aki had suspected that Kenta had grown somewhat protective over her and her mother over the years, but nothing had prepared her for the level of sacrifice the man had so readily accepted in order to ensure their safety.

```

Life in the internment camp was…boring as hell, to be honest. They were one step up from being criminal prisoners, living in a tiny amount of square footage with whatever measly belongings they had brought with them, which consisted only of necessities such as blankets, toiletries and clothing. Had Kenta somehow found himself in such a place through any other means, and by himself, he wouldn’t have hesitated to use his youkai abilities to escape in the middle of the night, but because he was looking after both Aki and her mother, he stayed. Now he knew what dogs at the pound felt like.

At least things got a little more interesting whenever they occasionally pulled him aside for questioning, as they did with everybody throughout the day, rotating through the various people staying at the camp. The questions were always the same. “Who do you think is going to win the war?” and “What do you think of America?” His answers were always the same. “I can’t say who’ll win the war.”and “I had thought America was a fair and just place.”

He made it perfectly clear that he held no ties, nor wished to possess any, with regard to military decisions whatsoever. He neither confirmed nor denied his loyalty to either Japan or American, and when the topic of religion came up, he denied that he followed any sort of faith, from either land. Yes, they knew his “mother and sister” were Buddhist, but that didn’t mean he was. His claim was no more unusual than the child of a Christian family growing up to be Atheist. They certainly couldn’t prove otherwise. He knew how to work it so that he remained suspended in neutral territory. While he wouldn’t start some sort of Japanese-Pride rally, he made sure he wasn’t some American kiss-ass, either, as some of the young men there were. If you spouted off your undivided loyalty to the greatness that was America, and volunteered to join the Army and fight, you were released from camp. Hmmm…he joked in his mind, holding out his hands and raising and lowering them respectively in a ‘weighing scales’ type manner. Live a crappy life in camp for a few years, or join the Army and most likely die a horrible, untimely death. Decisions decisions. Although it wasn’t exactly as though he could join the Army, even if he wanted to. That was very against the law, the laws of the Youkai-Alliance, to join a human military and fight in a human war. Of course, it wasn’t as though he could tell the American soldiers that…or could he? Yeah…that’d go over real well, he snickered to himself.

It was another day of questioning that found him early one morning, as somebody showed up to escort him to the briefing room yet again. They kept going back for him because he had yet to be swayed in either direction, and apparently, that wasn’t acceptable. Oh well…he shrugged. Telling both Kiku and Aki that he’d be back soon, remembering to keep up the pretence that they were his blood family with how he addressed them, he then rose to his feet and moved to follow the guard. Here we go again. But it was something to do…

Kenta was just glad they’d taken him again that time, rather than Aki. Poor Aki. The scent of her tears still haunted his dreams from the day she’d returned quietly crying, after being interrogated for several hours. Did these idiots think she was a spy for the Japanese military or what? He was there to protect his woman, and protect his woman he would. So angered was he, that he failed to notice how he’d just referred to Aki as his within his mind.

Questioning started out like normal.

“Who do you think will win this war?” the man in the uniform asked him.

Gods…what a stupid question. Kenta tried hard not to roll his eyes.

“I couldn’t say.” he answered, shrugging.

“Do you doubt the strength of the American military?”

Well, that was new…

“I don’t agree with the concept of modern war. Of military forces using their civilian people as involuntary pawns in some giant game of chess. If two rulers of two different countries wish to battle each other to the death, then they should do so, honorably. Having an army of those who wish to fight for the ruler they admire is one thing, but forcing those of age and health to do battle against their will is quite another. Both the American and Japanese governments are guilty of this selfish act.”

The man narrowed his eyes at him, and Kenta did his best not to smirk. He loved pissing them off. He knew they were looking for him to either outright denounce his loyalty to Japan, or outright denounce his loyalty to America, and he would do neither.

The man stood and moved to leave, and Kenta knew the routine. It was time for the “shift change” as the first man had figured he couldn’t get anywhere with him, so they’d bring in somebody fresh who hadn’t yet had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. Exactly who walked into the small plain room in place of the first man was quite a surprise, however.

This is interesting… he thought, observing the rather olive complected man with curiosity.

He looks Navajo…he thought, and then it suddenly struck him Of course! How could I have forgotten? This would work to his advantage, greatly. He seriously doubted anyone would bother him or his “family” again after today.

The Native man in uniform got right down to business.

“What do you think of America?”

“What do you think of America? Despite all the squabbles, your people were better off when this land still belonged to Mexico.”

Taken aback, the soldier straightened his posture, and said “We are not hear to discuss my people, we are hear to discuss yours.”

“These are not my people.” he answered matter-of-factly, gambling on revealing himself to the Native man. Hopefully, he wasn’t a devout Christian as some Natives were those days. “I am here to protect Kiku-san and Aki-chan, and that is all. I couldn’t care less about your war. If you want to talk about my people, I have grown quite close to Coyote over the last century, but speaking of his kind is a bad omen, is it not?”

It was a gamble, he knew. Speaking of such things with that man could either be the best decision he’d ever made, or the worst. If all went according to plan, then he and his “family” would be left alone, remaining safe throughout the rest of their stay there. If his plan backfired, well…then he’d grab Aki and her mother, and bust through the nearest wall, figuring out how to explain himself to them along the way. Of course, he’d have to stop by the storage facility to retrieve his sword, can’t leave that lying around. Already formulating a plan of escape should armed guards suddenly bust through the door at any moment, Kenta briefly missed the look of shock that splashed across the Navajo’s face, although the slight scent of fear easily reached his nose, drawing him back into the here and now. Good, it was working.

“Who…who are you?” he asked, his voice slightly hesitant despite himself. No Japanese man should be familiar with the concept of Coyote to his people, and had he just implied that he was over a century old?

“Who I am is not important.” Kenta began, kicking it up a notch by deciding to speak in the native Navajo tongue, relishing in the scent of fear that was steadily increasing in the human man before him.

“But know this.” he continued, still in Navajo, “I have no intention of interfering in the natural course of things yet to come. You ask who I think will win this war? I could tell you, not who I think, but who I know will win, but that, too, is not my place to say. Rest assured, your people will perform a great honor with their assistance, Code Talker.”

If he could have pulled off a stunt like his father was capable of doing, and shifted something minor about his appearance, like say, the color of his eyes, he would have eagerly done so in that moment. As it was, with his rosary securely in place around his neck, Kenta decided while he was talking to lazily permit his invisible claws to carve a quick, traditionally Navajo style image of a dog-spirit, into the metal tray they’d used to serve him his complimentary meal. Having reached the end of his little speech, he casually slid the tray across the table, and as the soldier reached down to retrieve it, his face paled as much as an olive complected face could pale, at the sight of the ancient drawing his people used to represent the canine form of a skin walker.

“I will give Coyote your regards.” he said, in English, before rising to exit the room. Mutely, the man nodded, gulping.

That night, when everyone was asleep, Kenta managed to slip away, and howled into the night. Several mortal coyote answered his call, howling back in chorus. In the military bunkers on base, a lone soldier was disturbed by the sound, as he pulled his blanket closer.

Kenta’s prediction had been right, in that nobody ever bothered himself or the women again.

What Kenta had not predicted, however, was that somebody else had heard his howls, sleepily recognizing the voice that made them. Somebody who had awoken upon sensing his absence in their quarters. Somebody who had grown quite accustomed to his presence over the last few months they’d been living together so closely, and who could no longer find peace when he wasn’t near. In her sleep-hazed mind, it didn’t strike her as odd that Kenta was howling with the coyotes. Rather, Aki seemed to accept that her dear friend and “brother” had an unusual kinship with dogs. Sleepily, she recalled the stories her mother used to tell her as a child, of the age centuries ago when great inu-youkai ruled their homeland. But those were just legends…

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The war was progressing rapidly, but while the Japanese government worked to counterattack against the encroaching American forces that were slowly taking over island after island, the Youkai-Alliance had more important things to worry about. Air raids were just as devastating to youkai communities as they were to human areas, and after everything their home had already been through over the centuries, being burned twice, once by lightning of all things, Sesshoumaru’s castle was now falling victim to a not so petty human squabble. What good was a non-interference policy if you still found yourself caught in the middle of it all, regardless? Kagome hadn’t been kidding when she’d warned him all those centuries ago about how humans would develop weapons beyond his imagination.

Desperately seeking assistance to save their own kind, Kagome did something she had never done in all the centuries she’d been mated into the Taisho clan, she sought out and contacted fellow Shinto priests and miko. She and Emi were the only miko officially in league with the Alliance, after all, and the two of them alone were simply not strong enough to offer the type of protection that the Alliance needed. While word of mouth over the centuries had provided the rising Spiritual Sect with knowledge of the Alliance’s existence, they had an unspoken position on the matter similar to the “Watchers” from the “Highlander” series. As for the youkai of Japan, they knew that those with spiritual powers still existed, watching over them, but so long as they stayed out of their way, nobody had ever really cared enough to want to do something about it. Kagome and Emi were proof to the Alliance that miko could be loyal to their cause. In an ironic sort of way, it was a flipped version of how Inuyasha had once proven to Kikyou and young Kaede that not all youkai were evil. But seeking out the Spiritual Sect now, Inuyasha accompanying his wife in his human form, it didn’t take long for Kagome to find an active temple of powerful miko, her own aura able to detect theirs like a beacon. She remembered what that priest had told her at her and Inuyasha’s wedding, that he was one of the good ones. She knew now that while slayers also still existed, they essentially worked for the Alliance, so it only made sense that there would, in reality, be a separate organization that took it upon themselves to make sure the Alliance itself stayed in line.

The miko were surprised, to put it mildly, when they felt how powerful Kagome’s aura was, not to mention the trace amounts of youki that emanated from her being, as well. While the concept of blood-bonds between mated youkai and human pairs was kept secret from the Japanese Government, because back in the day the Alliance had feared humans seeking out that ability as some sort of fountain of youth, it was a practice that the Spiritual Sect knew existed, from their old-world knowledge that had been passed down through the generations. The Sect had been in existence for nearly as long as the Alliance itself, and there was virtually nothing they didn’t know. That Kagome was from the future, however, was one of the few things they were unaware of, and it was kept that way, as she and Inuyasha told the Sect of her “visions” which had been growing more and more pronounced as the war continued. Because weapons fire was already a daily occurrence across nearly all of Japan, she was taken a lot more seriously than she might have been prior to the war breaking out. They knew that America had nuclear technology.

She didn’t know if it was interfering with history or not, but quite frankly, as Kagome continued to watch people dying all around her, she just didn’t care. Maybe she was meant to do this, just as Shippo had turned out to be that famous painter. A treaty was quickly signed between the Alliance and the Sect, and for the first time in centuries, for the first time ever, youkai and those of spiritual power worked together, creating safe havens for those of magic. Inuyasha had had a rather compelling argument, even as they temporarily believed him human, when he pointed out how most powerful youkai reverted to their “true forms” upon their death. How would it look, in the aftermath, if during “clean-up” the Japanese people stumbled upon the gigantic remains of various youkai corpses? He briefly mentioned something about the size of “his father’s” remains, which earned several raised eyebrows from those who attempted, but failed, to sense through any sort of concealment spell. “My apologies” he’d stated then, reverting himself back into his hanyou form, which earned him several drop-jaw expressions from those who could suddenly sense just how powerful he truly was. Far more powerful than a hanyou should be, his aura near rivaling that of a Taiyoukai, as it became instantly clear that he was the mate of the miko before them. Upon learning who his father was, who is brother was, terms for the treaty were quick to be discussed.

Safe havens were constructed in areas of Japan that Kagome remembered from school had suffered the least amount of damage during the war. Spiritual barriers were quickly erected over what remained of Osaka Castle, which had lost many of its out-buildings, as well as several other temples and shrines, where youkai with human mates flocked with their hanyou children. Those with human blood were more vulnerable than pure youkai to weapons as powerful as dropping bombs, and while it meant that they were temporarily trapped within the “safe grounds” the miko and priests had created, it also ensured that they would live to see the day when the barriers could come down. Other youkai families, especially those who didn’t have any weaker members possessing human blood, fled to the far off remote regions of Japan that Kagome knew would still remain standing after everything was said and done.

It was unfortunate, everyone knew, regarding how many human lives were inevitably going to be lost, but the Sect strived to save as many as they could. They had no such rules regarding non-interference with their fellow mortals, and as a result, they quickly took it upon themselves to erect protective barriers over several temples and other holy places, stating that those who flocked to those temples and shrines would be saved. It wasn’t long before representatives of the Sect were sent out across all areas of Japan that were within range of American weapons fire, including Tokyo, protecting all of the various shrines and holy places that had so far survived through the passage of time. One such place, a humble and ancient shrine at the edge of Tokyo, whose caretakers lived on the property in a modern home that had been constructed behind the shrine, was no exception to the rule. The priestess who had been assigned to that particular shrine could instantly recognize the spiritual powers within the immortal tree of ages that lived on the property, and though she didn’t know how she knew it, she trusted in her miko instincts when they told her that that shrine was one of the ones that must be saved, at all costs.


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A/N:

I will be the first to admit that I’m no history buff, but I know that at least a few of you out there actually are, so I hope you appreciated the time I spent researching the various little tidbits of information I tossed out here and there throughout this chapter.

Translations…

The name Aki actually has several different meanings. By itself, the word as a whole can mean either “sparkle”, “bright” or “autumn“. However, Aki can also be derived from a, meaning “second, Asia” (I’m presuming this is an abbreviation of sorts, though I don’t know of what larger word) and ki, meaning “hope”. I felt it was an appropriate enough name for Kiku to give her daughter, the child having been born in America, after all. She was like her hope for the future in the second chance at life that she had made for herself.

As for Kiku herself, I picked a random, though fairly pretty name. Kiku is literally “chrysanthemum”. We might not name girls after that particular flower in English (at least probably not very often) but naming girls after various flowers in general is certainly common enough.