Yay for stories of something I haven't read in ages... anyway. If you have read Angel Diary, you will see some (a) similarity. good series, highly recommended.

She bit her lip hard enough to almost draw blood to keep from whimpering. My poor little spitfire. Normally, she was brave, but I had seen even the bravest men wet themselves as the hell hounds fed off their fear. She, a small woman chained to a stone wall surrounded by thee of them, was doing quiet well.

"You know," I purred. "I don't like it when my slaves try to run away."

"I did run away," she informed me, then flinched when a clod nose slid under her hakama to press against her smooth skin. Teeth slid over her, and she froze. The hell hounds wouldn't attack her unless I gave the commands, but she didn't know that.

"Now," I continued. "Either you can tell me why you left… or I can force it from your mind and let the hounds eat their fill." She and I both knew that not even bones would be left from that.

"Tomoe… she said that you wouldn't be able to track me to the human realm," she finished quickly as a hound sniffed at her legs. Scared, she may be, but I was ever thankful she wasn't hysterical.

My eyes narrowed at the mention of my wife's name. I whistled sharply and the hound reluctantly moved away from the warm human flesh that was their favorite food. Now I strode forward and gripped her chin between two fingers. Not hard enough to hurt her, but with enough force to make her look at me.

'Show me', I ordered from inside her mind. Our eyes met, allowing the clearest connection for the magic. The memories would still be foggy, coming from a human mind, but it would suffice.

Laying on the floor, ribs in pain, looking up at Tomoe. Fear and hatred echoed through the memory.

"Either you go quietly to the human realm, or your last night will be spent with my guard." The memory was slightly blurred after that, but Tomoe walked away, and my little spitfire decided she would run. Love entered at the thought of myself, and fear that I wouldn't be able to protect her from my wife.

I broke the magic, and she went limp. My arm slid around her waist, holding her up when I broke the chains. Lifting her bridal style, I mentally called a guard, and left the hell hound's pit, leaving the dogs behind to trek through the palace.

My spitfire, Kaoru, had been gone a month. She was pale, and tired, but not much lighter, for which I was thankful. The guard that met me outside my bedroom, Sanosuke, was a friend of hers and would guard her well.

"Come," I ordered, entering the room. He stopped right inside the door as I set Kaoru down on my bed, pausing the smell the skin where her neck met her collar bone. The scent that I left on her skin and her jasmine scented soap were barely detected, but still there. No other man had gotten close enough long enough to leave his scent on her. Good. I licked the skin once, then turned and left the room to deal with my wife.

My squire, Yahiko, met up with me just a few feet away from the door.

"Where is Tomoe?" I demanded.

"Her sitting room, Battousai." He had to half run to keep up with me. "Is ug- Kaoru alright?"

"There is nothing wrong with her that sleep will not cure. I had Megumi look her over when I first found her." I came to a staircase, and merely jumped to reach the top. Yahiko took two jumps, but he was improving.

I brushed my hand over my hip, and my sword materialized. My squire took the hint, and materialized his own into his hand, then slung it over his back.

I nearly broke my wife's door as I entered her sitting room. "Why?"

Tomoe looked up from her brother, Enishi, and raised an eyebrow. "It is unseemly for the king of demons to dote so greatly upon a mere human.

Enishi had been born without the moon's blessing, leaving his hair stark white. I myself had been born under an eclipse, leaving my hair fire-red… and as the one person he would never be stronger than. I would have liked the boy more if his sister had not indoctrinated him so thoroughly to her way of thinking.

"And you think the entire court does not know of you and your lover, Akira?" I demanded.

She scowled. "That is different."

My reply was very soft. "Not if you want to keep your head, it isn't." I turned and left. Yahiko waited until I was out of the room before following. I, the demon king, one so powerful that humans whispered my name in fear, was unable to control any of the women in my life. My wife plotted against me, my lover could escape me, and I was not allowed to kill the healer.

Maybe Sano was right. Maybe the month of sleeping alone had shorted my temper. But that did not change humiliating facts.

Time to go kill something.