3rd Person POV, Cogita

Cogita made haste back to the hidden manor of Tamayo and Yushiro, her heartbeat escalating in worry over what could be happening.

While it is news that her adopted daughter is now awake, the urgency in Tamayo's voice was not to be shrugged off.

She flung the sliding door open as the smell of blood entered her nose, thinking something terrible has happened.

The waiting room seemed to be in disarray; the tatami mat having some tears, the walls having some slash marks, even some furniture being upturned and thrown around.

Even more alarming, there were drops of blood trailing around the floor, leading into the next room.

Hurrying in, her eyes widened at the sight of Tamayo holding a hand over her mouth as Yushiro stood with a white bundle of fluff, his face angrier than usual.

"What on Earth-" Cogita cut herself off midsentence when her eyes zoomed in and identified what was in Yushiro's arms... or rather, they had their jaws clamped around Yushiro's wrist, blood seeping out from where they were biting.

"Oh... oh my..." Cogita found herself covering her mouth, not unlike Tamayo, only in her case she's trying to smother any laughter that threatened to erupt from her. It's not every day you see a pup biting a demon, especially one with a nasty temper such as Yushiro, and the angered yet pained expression was almost enough to make her drop and roll onto the floor laughing.

Then her eyes widened when she made eye contact with the small white creature, her instincts going into overdrive.

Cogita stepped forward, her arm reaching out to take the pup from Yushiro.

"Is this....?" Cogita trailed off.

"Yes," Tamayo answered, lowering her hand to reveal a slight smile of amusement on her face though it was tinged with worry. "Earlier some hours ago after you left Yushiro heard some noise coming from the child's room, and he decided to investigate. Long story short, she wasn't in the futon we last put her in, and when he went to search for her, he found her hiding in one of the closets in one of the rooms next door to hers. He found her like this-" she gestured to the small white creature in his grasp, "-and I guess he startled her and, well she tried to run. As you can see, this was the result when he finally caught her...."

Cogita nodded; so it seemed that her "newborn" daughter had already unlocked her animagus form. Given that her own animagus form is also a white canine (a white Saluki to be specific), perhaps she can get through to the little cub.

Leaning down to the pup's eye level she began to speak in a soft tone.

"Hello there, little one," she spoke softly, her eyes never leaving hers.

The pup whined, though she didn't release her toothy grip on Yushiro's arm.

"I understand you are probably confused and scared," she continued to speak in the same gentle and motherly tone. "Waking up to an unknown place... no one nearby to hold you... no one to help you understand what is going on..."

At this, the small pup whined, this one more sad than the one before. She could almost see her yellow eyes well up with moisture.

"It's okay," she cooed, reaching slowly to pick her up, her gloved hands softly petting the white fur, all the while managing to pry the pup's jaws from Yushiro's arm (who wasted no time to retract his hurt arm and take several steps away from the creature, all the while his eyebrow twitching with restrained anger and pain as his bite wound slowly healed).

Cogita held the pup in her hands, the pup letting out a few small barks as she dangled in her hands.

"See?" Cogita cooed, holding the pup close to her chest, letting her listen to the soothing sound of her heartbeat before the small creature finally ceased shaking. "Mother is here and she will not let anything hurt you..."

With some more words of affirmation and comfort, the pup dozed off in her mother's arms.

Now Cogita sat in the middle of her shared room with her cub, the pup having already changed back to her more human form (though she was naked so they had to cover her up given the clothes she was previously wearing were torn off when she changed forms) and was bundled up in a thick blanket.

"I greatly apologize for everything that had happened in my absence," Cogita spoke with Tamayo in soft tones as to not wake the child in her arms.

Yushiro was quietly seething in the background but didn't say anything as Tamayo answered her.

"It's quite all right, given the situation I suppose the young one would have been quite afraid and was only acting out on instinct..." Tamayo gazed upon the child her purple eyes sympathetic. "Have you chosen a name for her?"

That made Cogita look up, having not really thinking of that before she rushed back here. But a name did come to her right away when Tamayo asked.

(Play video here)

"Kyoshiro."

"Hm?" Even Yushiro looked at Cogita, his anger momentarily replaced with curiosity.

"Her name is Kyoshiro." Cogita spoke with finality, as if it settled everything.

"Isn't that," Yushiro began, "more of a masculine name?"

Cogita gave him a cold look with an equally cold smile.

Yushiro gulped at the sudden temperature drop in the room.

"What was that, Yushiro dear?" Cogita asked a little too sweetly. "Do speak up, I believe I might have misheard you..."

"N-nothing!" Yushiro squeaked in terror. "Nothing at all!"

"I thought so." Cogita gave him a close-eyed smile before she turned back to Tamayo, her deadly cold aura disappearing like a switch had been flipped.

Tamayo merely shook her head at her friend's actions towards her apprentice.

"I apologize for the mess," Yushiro sweatdropped at the massive understatement but chose not to say anything to correct her, "and if there is anything-"

"No need," Tamayo waved off whatever Cogita was about to offer before becoming serious once more, "but since we're on the subject, how did it go....?"

Tamayo's voice trailed off seeing Cogita's face become shadowed, the atmosphere becoming heavy.

"Perhaps we should move this to my office..." Tamayo offered.

Timeskip

The newly named Kyoshiro laid in a futon with a blanket draped over her body as Cogita, Tamayo, and Yushiro sat in the main room as Susan Susanoo cleaned away the "mess" Kyoshiro made in his Lady's absence.

"So that's what happened..." Tamayo spoke in a low voice. Despite her poker face, Yushiro could see the veins in his mentor's forehead bulge with thinly veiled anger. It was enough to make him nervous but also angry for both Tamayo's sake and the information brought to her.

"This is why I don't like humans...." Yushiro thought crossly. While he may seem to dislike Kyoshiro, he couldn't help but feel vindictive for the girl's sake.

And many claim that demons are real monsters when humans can be so much worse....

"So what will you do?" Tamayo asked, bringing Yushiro's attention back to the topic at hand.

"First," Cogita began, "I'll oversee my child's recovery until you give her the go ahead to let me take her home with me. Then after I get her settled, I'll go back to the present to see about dealing with the pests who harmed her so..." Cogita took a cleansing breath to calm herself. "And if the authorities won't take action..." She left the sentence hanging, a severe dark undertone attached. Yushiro shivered.

Tamayo nodded in understanding. "If you ever need help bringing these cowards to justice..."

Cogita hummed, agreeing. "I'll keep that in mind." She then stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see to my pup..."

Tamayo nodded. "You and Susanoo are welcome to use the guest rooms for your stay."

Cogita let a soft smile reach her lips. "Thank you, my dear friend."

With that, Cogita excused herself to see to Kyoshiro in her room.

Opening the door, she was met with the sight of her pup curled into a fetal position, shaking violently as whimpers escaped her throat.

Hurrying over, Cogita was at her cub's side, bringing her to her side in a warm embrace as she laid next to Kyoshiro.

Stroking her white/silver locks, she hummed a sweet melody into the pup's ear, making her whines subside before her breathing resumed it's more natural pace.

Cogita didn't have the heart to leave the bed so she placed the warm duvet over the two of them.

"About time I took a nap anyway..." Cogita thought to herself jokingly as her kind don't necessarily need sleep.

Holding her child to her chest, she let her eyes close as a peaceful ambience filled the room.

She'll figure everything out starting tomorrow...

Aaaaaaannndddd CUT!

There you have it, the next chapter of Kyoshiro the Vengeful Silver!

This may be a slow burn story, as we have to get adjusted to the alternate time periods and Kyoshiro starts to discover her new powers, plus there's meeting Moroha, Setsuna, and Towa (not necessarily in that order).

Plus there's the rest of Cogita's "family" that we have to meet.

So I hope you enjoy this chapter and I apologize for the shortness of it.

This ArtVampire signing off!

Ja ne!