Honestly...

This was tiring and so troublesome.

This hanyou was a tenacious one.

It started when Hokusai left Lady Kaede's village that morning. He had spent the night, a bit reluctantly. At the first light of dawn, the monk tried to leave but Lady Kaede managed to catch him.

"Ye will not stay?"

Hokusai shook his head, black eyes half-lidded. "No, I do not wish to impose."

The Lady seemed to hum, "If ye don't mind. I have a request."

Hokusai raised an eyebrow.

"I know ye said ye were capable of taking the beads of submission off of Inuyasha. However, I feel like it isn't safe."

"You want me to keep them on him?"

"I want ye to make sure he doesn't go on a rampage. Ye know the special word to use to force him in submission. Ye are the only one capable of doing it because I cannot leave the village."

Ah, he saw where this was going.

"In other words, you want me to make sure he doesn't go around killing things. Or more specifically, you don't want him to turn around and come back around here." He states bluntly, black eyes boring into hers with an intense gaze. Lady Kaede flinched a bit but nodded.

"Fine." With that, he left.

He wished he should have asked for a spare change of clothes. He was still wearing a Miko's outfit and there were men in the village but he had been in such a rush to find the hanyou. When he tried looking for him and could not find him he thought the half-demon just ran far away. He was wrong.

Probably an hour into walking away from Lady Kaede's village he could feel the other's youkai following him. It did not help the hanyou that the bushes and trees shook whenever he moved which made it more obvious.

"Seriously." Hokusai breathed out feeling a bit of amusement. He turns into the direction of the hanyou's youkai. "I know you're there the least you could do is try to be quiet about it."

There's a moment of silence before the treetops shook and the hanyou landed on the ground. Hakusai lets out a sigh. "If you're going to follow me don't stalk me like that. Be a good pup and walk."

"I am not a pup!" The hanyou hissed, ears standing up on edge.

"Your attitude tells me otherwise."

"You-"

"Are you coming or not. I don't want to babysit you but the Lady asked me to not let you run around killing people." The monk says in disinterest. The hanyou growled. Who did this human think he was? He didn't care if he was a monk or not. He flexed his claws and readied to pounce-

"Sit."

-and met the earth.

He could taste the soil, dirt, grass and dead leaves, His nose practically breathed the ground and his head ranged with an echo.

What the hell!?

"Listen," Hokusai walked towards him, grabbing the back of the necklace and somehow yanked the hanyou up. The necklace is still glowing, still adding weight and to add salt to the wound he grabbed one of the dog ears on his head and pulled towards him.

"That was a demonstration of those beads at work. It causes a fuck ton of spiritual energy to connect with the ground as you just intimately became acquainted with. What you're going to do is act like a civilized demon- or human I don't give a damn- and after a years time I will release the necklace."

He lets go of Inuyasha's ear and he fell to the ground again. Not as hard as the first time but it was enough to keep him grounded.

"Every time you try to kill without a good reason I'll be using that necklace. Mind you your reason needs to be justified. Don't go around picking fights and flaring that youkai of yours for no reason. Other than that I don't care what you do."

The weight was gone and the hanyou growled as he placed his hands flat on the ground and pushed himself up. Canines were visible in all.

"So we're stuck together for a year until you can prove you're not a rabid pup. If you try to run I will do more than just cleanse you." The monk states while looking down at him. Their gazes held for a few moments, gold against black before the hanyou turned away.

Hokusai snorts before extending his hand.

"I can get up myself!"

"Hai, hai... " Hokusai turned around and began to walk.

"And I have a name!"

~~~~~~~

"If you keep moping this is going to be a long trip." The monk says.

"I ain't moping."

"You're dragging your feet and you keep growling."

Inuyasha doesn't say anything after that. He just wants to leave but the problem was he had no place to go.

Instead, he just sighs and decides to listen to their surroundings for anything out the ordinary.

"If I am correct there used to be a village a few hours North. It's close to the mountains though." The monk turns toward Inuyasha, "Do you feel like going that way?"

Inuyasha shrugs. It's not like he had a say in it anyway. He was basically following the other around for a year until he was free. Why should it matter?

"That's not an answer. I asked you because it's a human village and I know how they treat your kind. I don't need to go, I just wanted a change of clothing. We can go somewhere else."

The hanyou's ears twitch. "I don't care..."

"Now now, be a bit more cooperative. If you don't then this will be a long year."

xXx

"Kotodama no Nenju," Hokusai says suddenly. It's night time, they are seated near a stream and have a small fire going. Inuyasha already ate most of the fish but Hokusai has yet to touch his.

"What?" The hanyou raises an eyebrow.

Hokusai points to his beads, "Kotodama no Nenju or the Language Power Rosary. It's called the Beads of Subjugation. It's supposed to use is to control the wearer not bring pain. Whoever made that was aiming for physical pain, not mind or yokai control." Hokusai says it blandly with a frown.

"If someone wanted to take control of a force it would have been better to use spiritual energy to tame a demon's but instead it just shoves someone in the ground. Quite sad."

Inuyasha's ear twitches as he takes another fish off the stake he was using. Hokusai places his hands in his sleeves.

"Why ya telling me this?"

"It's flawed to an extent. It was made specifically for you as well. Did you know that?"

Inuyasha snaps his mouth shut and lowers the fish.

"Lady Kaede told me that the woman, Kikyo made it specifically for you. In my head, the way she made it was meant to treat you like some form of animal."

"I'm not an animal!" The hanyou hissed and Hokusai rolled his eyes.

"I did not say you were an animal. You are a human and a demon, more civilized than animals and most demons out there." Hokusai waved his hand in a dismissal tone. Inuyasha's eye twitched and he stares at the fire. His appetite is gone for now and he has a bitter taste in his mouth.

Were these beads really made for him? Would- Would Kikyo really trick him into wearing them? Did she really not trust him that much back then?

Hokusai grabs the stick his fish was on and bites into it, keeping mindful of bones. Inuyasha has fallen silent and is staring at the fire. Hokusai has to refrain from shaking his head.

"I will say one thing, humans," - the monk says it in a weird tone- "Are probably the worst animals out there Inuyasha."