A Love Story
Inu no Taisho was most likely a few thousand years old by the time he met Izayoi. He had already fathered a son, Sesshoumaru, with a youkai woman
known simply as "Sesshoumaru's Mother". She first appears late in the manga and is very similar to Sesshoumaru
in appearance and nature (6). It is not revealed as to whether or not she and
Inu no Taisho' relationship had ended prior to Izayoi's appearance, or if Izayoi and the eventual pregnancy that would follow perhaps caused the
relationship's end. There is also speculation that perhaps Izayoi was a concubine of sorts, since it was not uncommon for a man (or in this case, youkai)
to take one chief wive, with numerous lesser wives and concubines.Izayoi is given very little backstory and there is nothing known about her family. She does not appear very old and some have even suggested that Izayoi appears to be in her late teens or early twenties. Unless her immediate family members were deceased, it is likely that her relatives disaproved of thier daughter's relationship with a youkai, but is it up to the imagination as to how they reacted to it. There is slight speculation on my part that Inu no Taisho knew Izayoi when she was a young child, similar to how Rin knows Sesshoumaru now. A remark made by Sesshoumaru's mother first led me to this idea. Although vague in actual meaning, she says that "[Sesshoumaru] becomes like his father in the strangest of ways" (6). Perhaps she simply meant Sesshoumaru's growing compassion for humans; the statement is made after Sesshoumaru realized that Rin, who had died during his journey to the dead world, would live thanks to a bit of help from Sesshoumaru's mother. Or perhaps it was that Rin, the young girl following a powerful youkai, reminded her of Izayoi following Inu no Taisho. If this were no the case, well, a good imagination and you could probably come up with a dozen or so different ideas as to how a powerful youkai lord and a young human woman met, although the only idea tha truly matters is how Takahashi describes it - and it seems she has yet to say anything on the subject.
Regardless of how or when Inu no Taisho and Izayoi met, it would appear that each deeply loved and cared for the other. An
example of this would be the Tessaiga, a sword created by the swordsmith Totosai by a request from Inu no Taisho,
The sword is able "to protect the body of the hand that wields it" because it is surrounded by a barrier that
prevents someone with youkai power from breaking through (2).
The Tessaiga was given to Izayoi as a way of protecting her. The sword is later used by InuYasha as an heirloom from his father.
Also given to Izayoi was the Hinezumi no Koromo, the Robe of the Fire Rat. The robe "serves as tough armor and has the ability to
regenerate itself". It can also "withstand intense fire under which a normal human would be burnt to cinders"
(2). Izayoi is only seen wearing the robe
during the introduction of Tenka Hadou no Ken (Swords of an Honorable Rule), after Inu no Taisho drapes it over her head
as protection from the heat and flames. Izayoi appears to have given the garment to InuYasha at a fairly young age, he is seen wearing it
during his childhood, and continues to wear it now (Although I have no explanation as to how the sizes changes).
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