Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or it's characters
Minor editing 01-04-13, originally published 07-24-12
Indomitable Demurity
"Izayoi, treasure of my heart, most beautiful vision in all the lands of the west, should this be your dearest wish, how could I possibly refuse?"
She can still remember his voice, mocking the style of the court entertainers, and way his hands flourished through the air, drawing giggles from a small princess in her bedroom. The banquet had ended, and her father had excused himself from his great guests to tuck her into silk sheets and kiss her goodnight. Her head had been filled with true love and soul mates, grand deeds and rescued princesses- courtesy of the musicians hired for the occasion. Her father was smoothing a hand over her head, calluses catching ever so slightly on the ebony strands, when she had asked if she could wait to marry until she found her one true love.
She would think it odd that a memory from her childhood was so clear if the promise wasn't so dear to her. She had treasured it, and wrapped her heart around it. It was an assurance that, no matter how much her father treasured power, he treasured her more.
A voice jolted her out of reminiscence.
"If you lean any further off that balcony, you'll fall into the pond."
She whirled around, nearly losing her balance in the process. Behind her stood the Inu no Taisho, her…something…
"My lord. Please excuse me, I was thinking. I shall take my leave now."
"My, my, so formal. What were you thinking about?"
"Happier times."
She fixed him with the coldest stare she could muster, and then walked away as quickly as was politely possible.
o.o.o.o
In "happier times" she would've retreated to her room, but her room in this strange demon's palace was not the sort of refuge she sought. It kept her hidden from prying eyes and gossiping servants, but was no protection from the one she wanted to hide from the most. She would rather deal with the whispered speculations than the fear that he would come into her room and demand his right.
Instead, slippered feet traced a practiced path to the gardens, and the koi pond that she had been unknowingly staring at earlier. The gardens empty, and beneath the moonlight they were quiet and comforting. She sat on a stone bench and gazed at the rippling silver reflections in the water, relaxing. It was hard for her to act so cold and indifferent when she had been such an open person before, but it was necessary now that she was a human in a castle full of demons. A large hand touched her shoulder, and she whirled around for the second time that night, mentally cursing dog demons and their stealth.
The man with a hand on her shoulder, however, was not a dog demon, and she felt an odd mixture of relief and caution. Judging by the swirling markings he seemed to be some sort of bird, but it was still hard for her to tell the difference with the more humanoid ones.
"What do you want?"
She had replaced her cold mask, glaring at the newcomer. He looked her up and down, slowly, sneering slightly, and she had to resist the urge to back away. She was a human, but she had a higher status in the castle than most demons.
"What does anyone ever want with a human whore?"
He walked up to her slowly, a predator in a precious silk kimono, and she stood frozen to the spot.
"You know," he whispered in her ear, "You're not that bad to look at for a human. But you have nowhere to run. Even if you scream, nobody w-"
And suddenly, he was gone, and there was a sickening thud against the stone wall. She turned around to see, to her relief, the Inu no Taisho, the white silk of his kimono shining beneath the moonlight. He bent down to the other man to say something she couldn't hear, and then threw the bird demon out of the gardens. He then turned to face her with a face of affected unconcern.
"Might I inquire what you said to him, my lord?"
He scoffed at her formal speech, and told her proudly,
"I told him that he is never to lay a hand on you again, and if he returns to this castle he will leave it as a corpse."
She stared at him for a moment, her mask slipping to reveal shock and gratitude.
"Why?" Why go to such lengths for me, she wanted to ask, when the demon was clearly an important one?
"Because you belong to me."
And all of a sudden, the mask was back in place, her expression creating distance between them once more.
"Please accept my most sincere thanks," she murmured with a slight bow, before turning and walking away once more, leaving a demon behind her blinking with slight bemusement.
o.o.o.o
"You belong to me."
The words echoed through her mind as she cursed her foolish and childish thoughts. He had not saved her because he cared about her, but only because she was yet another of his possessions. And as for the one he had saved her from…
Whore. That had been the first time someone dared to say it to her face, but she had heard it many times before. Human whore. Demon's whore. She no longer belonged anywhere. And in the end she was still a virgin, although she did not know how long she could hope for it to last.
Her father's promise to her had been broken. They had not had a choice. He was a wealthy man, with many connections to the rich and powerful men of her time, but the one who had asked for her had been a demon lord. A being who, alone, could decimate an entire army. How could they refuse?
And in return for her, her father had been given wealth indeed- land and silks and precious metals, and jewels that caught the light in exquisite and enchanting ways. But her father had told her that he would rather have her than all the wealth in the world, and she believed him. He lost something priceless, he had told her, and nothing could make up for it. Neither of them had yet known that she had lost something priceless too.
Izayoi, treasure of the heart, most beautiful vision in all the lands of the west, had lost her status as a human being.
And if he tires of me, he can simply throw me away, and I will have nowhere to turn.
The words were barely spoken aloud, a thought carried on a mere breath of air, but she turned and looked around her. If there is one thing she had learned in the past months, it was that demonic senses were not to be underestimated.
And, of course, the great dog demon himself was standing behind her, leaning against a painted mural, because it seemed that he had nowhere else to be.
"Are you following me?!" she snapped, losing her composure. She realized her mistake a second later, but the laughter dancing in his eyes told her it was too late to take it back.
"Trouble follows humans when they dwell in a demon's castle. Especially young, beautiful human women."
The compliment pleased her slightly, since she could hardly compare to some of the young demonesses who visited, but he spoke to everyone that way, so she mainly ignored it. She had no time to dwell upon it, however, because she panicked at his next words.
"I heard you."
Well, she supposed, it was too late for etiquette now, wasn't it?
"Well, it's true, isn't it? I have no security in my current position, and I'd have barely any more if I bore you a child, which I am not planning on doing, and would be impossible at the moment anyways, as you have not visited me once, and my title of consort is nothing but show! I am nothing more than an idle whim, and when you're done I will have nothing!" She spat the last word at him, and paused to catch her breath. She could feel her face flush with anger and embarrassment at her childishness. The Inu no Taisho's expression was torn between amusement and anger- doubtless because she had never spoken to him with anything more or less than cold courtesy.
"Do you truly believe that of me? That I would be so honorless as to discard you, when I have taken you from your society and people?"
"You have shown no intentions of keeping me."
"I refuse to press an unwilling woman!"
"And I have no plans on being a willing one."
"How do you want me to provide you with security, then?" He laced the word with sarcasm. "What could I possibly do for you?"
The offer sounded genuine, if somewhat mocking and slightly bitter, and Izayoi took a moment to think before answering.
"Marry me."
He was about to retort with something, probably snideful and arrogant, but he saw that she was serious and came out with an incredibly intelligent answer of, "What?"
"I know that you are mated already, but I doubt that you are married. It's a completely human custom. So marry me- It will give me security."
He thought it over for all of 90 seconds before agreeing, and offering to walk her to her chambers. "To them, not into them," he assured her. As they walked off, quiet footsteps beside silent ones, he asked her,
"But aren't married couples much the same as demon mates? Wouldn't we be expected to…"
She nodded, blushing.
Inuyasha was conceived three months later.
Author's note: I really have no idea how the ratings work in terms of language, so I'm marking this as "T". I really apologize for the bad title, but it's 6 am and I can't think of anything better and I really think that "Marry Me" (which was what it was marked as when i was writing it) sounds kinda stupid. So. Tell me what you think~