AUTHOR'S NOTE PART ONE: Okay... so I upped the rating on this story to Mature. It's a little violent toward women in general, and it's only going to get worse. So... yeah. You're warned.


This was perhaps the saddest day of her life. Rasetsunyo forced herself to smile at the boy sitting across from her, blueberries smudged across his cheeks. Kougaiji grinned back, his tiny fangs stained a dark purple. All of his favorites were set on the table in the garden, the one they always had lunch together at, even in the winter. Warm blueberry cakes with vanilla ice cream, lamb kabobs with a mint glaze, fresh made grape juice. He continued to eat, occassionally remembering his manners and picking up a utensil, but today she wouldn't lecture him about table etiquette. She didn't have the heart to, not when she was close to tears every time she looked at him.

"Mama, aren't you gonna have any?" he asked innocently, while his eyes stared hopefully at the rest of the ice cream.

"No, love, not today. Go ahead and have my portion," she replied, giving him the brightest smile she could. It was a sin that the day should be so perfect. The sun was out, but the clouds were heavier and kept most of the scorching heat that was typical for this time of year at bay. The gods truly had a sense for the ironic.

"Father came home today," Kougaiji tried, legs swinging back and forth under the table.

Yes, what a shame. He couldn't have stayed away for another few months? The campaignes had been getting longer and longer, forcing Gyumaoh away for more time than usual. Apparently not all the youkai wanted to be united under one king, and so they sided with the humans who didn't wish to be enslaved or murdered. Eventually, as with every uprising that had occured over the last ten years, Gyumaoh would destroy them and they would have more land and more slaves. She wouldn't be surprised if even the gods had started to notice. Lately, when she'd made her daily prayers, she had the feeling they weren't listening to her anymore. It only added to the heavy feeling in her heart.

Kougaiji was lucky and had only seen his father a very limited amount over the ten years of his life. Gyumaoh had been furious when he heard Rasetsunyo had named their son, but it had quickly died when he saw the boy. After examining the baby closely, he'd been satisfied and had declared his son was going to be a fierce warrior. He 'had a strong grip', so clearly that was medical proof Kougaiji was going to wield a sword by his father's side. Rasetsunyo had kept her sarcasm to herself very wisely that day.

"I was thinkin', maybe we can all go fishin' or somethin'," Kougaiji continued. He knew she was upset and was trying to make her feel better.

Rasetsunyo smiled for real at him, the image of the great God of Death (as Gyumaoh had taken to calling himself now) in fishing attire and holding a pole almost making her burst into laughter. "Ah, now, love, I don't think father would enjoy that much. Maybe we can do that a little later."

He looked away, indigo eyes staring at his lap as he chewed his lower lip thoughtfully. Glancing up again through a shock of bright auburn hair, he asked, "Are ya suuure you don't want any ice cream? It's really good!"

Leaning over to ruffle his short hair, she laughed and said, "You've talked me into it. Just a little bit, Kougaiji. Whoa! That's not a little bit!" He literally dished the entire container into a small bowl, stacking it up as high as he could.

"Trust me, you don't wanna little. One bite an' you're gonna want it all," he declared certainly, pushing it across the table to her.

Rasetsunyo took a couple bites to please her son, motioning for servants to start clearing everything away. She knew she had precious few hours left with him before Gyumaoh came to collect him. The wars had one good side effect and that was that Gyumaoh remained away so long she'd gotten to keep Kougaiji for an extra year and a half. But now the rebellions were all but quelled, and Gyumaoh was not dumb enough to forget their marriage contract. She couldn't send her son away to that monster without warning. She had to tell him somehow that for the next ten years, he would hardly see her. Gods, her son... she quickly looked away to hide the tears stinging her eyes.

As luck would have it, Kougaiji gave her the perfect opportunity. Still watching her with eyes more intelligent than a ten-year-old should ever have, he put his spoon down and reached across the table, covering her folded hands with his tiny one. "Mama, why are you crying?"

Rasetsunyo sniffled, forcing a smile through the tears running down her cheeks. "Am I, love? I'm sorry, forgive me."

Kougaiji got up and went over to her, wrapping his arms around her neck like she used to do for him when he was much younger, claws running through her hair. "It's okay, mama. You don't have to eat the ice cream if you don't wanna."

She laughed bitterly, hugging him tight to her. "Kougaiji, listen to me. Things are going to be different for a while."

"Different? How?"

"Well, your father's not been here very much, and he misses you. In fact, he'll probably want you to stay with him more than me for a few years."

"YEARS! But... but that's FOREVER! I don't want you to go away for years!"

Her eyes squeezed tighter, the bitterness at the situation making her even more sick than her wedding day. "I'm sorry, Kougaiji. I'm so sorry. Just remember that I love you, no matter what, and that I will always love you. Do you understand that?"

Kougaiji nodded against her shoulder, still not letting go.

"My queen," one of the servants whispered urgently.

Rasetsunyo opened her eyes and saw Gyumaoh coming toward them with Gyokumen Koushu at his back. Not her... Seething anger boiled inside her, but she quickly swallowed it back so that her powers wouldn't surface. If that bitch did anything to her son...

"BOY! HERE! NOW!"

Kougaiji's back stiffened at the shouted order, his fingers lacing into her hair even tighter. "Mama, don't let me go," he whispered urgently.

"I have to, Kougaiji." She said this even as the mother's voice inside her head was screaming at her just to flame his bastard of a father and run with him. Gyumaoh was going to be the destruction of all that she held dear, she knew it.

"Mama, please!"

"GET OVER HERE, BOY! I WON'T SAY IT AGAIN!"

"Go, Kougaiji." Rasetsunyo untangled herself from him, pushing him lightly toward his father.

"No! I don't wanna! NO!" His eyes widened when one of the servants came forward, gripping his shoulder firmly and pulling him away from the table. "I DON'T WANNA GO! MAMA!"

Rasetsunyo covered her eyes with one hand, sobbing as quietly as she could until the sounds of her son screaming for her finally faded to nothing. Once she was sure they were gone, she gave in and fell from her chair to her knees, hugging herself. Why, why, WHY? Why did she do it? Why didn't she take him and leave when he was away? She could have, she SHOULD have. They could have disappeared into the countryside, lived together peacefully. Gyumaoh would never have found them. Except... she knew he would have. Kougaiji was Gyumaoh's heir, the one to continue his legacy of pain and death into years to come. Gyumaoh would have tracked them to the ends of the earth and slaughtered her for even daring. At least now she was alive. She was here and she would always be here for her child.

Arms came around her as she continued to sob on the ground. She noticed rough spun fabric and knew it was the servant who had dragged her son away. "I'm so sorry, my queen! Please, forgive me, but he would have killed you if Prince Kougaiji didn't go. Please, have mercy, I beg you."

She couldn't form the words to say she understood, so she simply clung tighter to the smaller woman's frame, seeking comfort for the horrible act of giving her child to a monster.


"You BITCH! You filthy little WHORE!"

Rasetsunyo looked up from her vanity top, pinning Gyumaoh with an angry glare. Her door was more than half ripped from the hinges at his brutal arrival into her room. "Do you forget my name, my lord? It's Rasetsunyo, not Koushu," she replied sweetly. She fell to the floor when he slapped her from her chair, standing over her with clenched fists. Luckily, he'd only backhanded her. Anything with a closed fist would have made her pass out. As it was, her cheek was burning, her lip was cracked and bleeding and tiny fuzzy spots were eating at her vision.

"You turned him against me! I'm his FATHER, wench, and he doesn't even know me," Gyumaoh continued to roar.

"Well of course he doesn't," she snapped, getting to her feet. She could feel the fire entering her eyes, saw it reflected back in the perfect black of his. All the pent up anger and pain from earlier that day finally cascaded over at this outburst from her husband. She did many things for this man with no thanks, and no one, least of all HIM, would ever slap her and get away with it. EVER! "You're too busy screwing anything that resembles a woman to pay attention to him. Too busy butchering people because they would rather fight than submit to a brutal, crude, vile man like yourself! Of COURSE he doesn't want to be with you and that harlot you're fucking!"

"Change that tone now or I'm going to do worse than slap you," he threatened.

"DO WHAT YOU WANT!" she screamed, taking two steps back as fire came to her hands. A wind picked up around her, blowing her ankle length hair around like solid flames. Gyumaoh didn't back down, but it was obvious her display of power rattled him quite a bit. "Do you think I'm afraid of you?" she continued, voice rising above the wind and flames circling her. Gyumaoh threw an arm across his face as the heat finally began to beat at him. "Do you think I'm afraid to die at your hand? If you think you're man enough to do it, then DO IT!"

Snarling, defiant to the bitter end, Gyumaoh grabbed at her through the flames, ignoring the metal and leather covering his thick arms as it melted to his skin, burned in twisted scars along his forearm. Rasetsunyo gasped when that hand closed around her throat, squeezing. "Keep the fire going, bitch, I dare you," he growled back, the room darkening around him as his power began to flood around hers. His was the power to create terror in his enemies, and she could feel it winding through the fire magic, sinking into her gut as his hand tightened further. "You want to see that pathetically weak child you gave me again, you'll learn your place and quickly. I'm not in the mood for your games! You think I'm a fool, that I don't know you've been passing laws in my place, undoing all that I've bled for?" His voice was getting louder and louder with each sentence. "By the gods, woman, you should be thanking me on your knees that I haven't killed you for treason!"

Rasetsunyo was now fighting for breath, hands clawing at the grip around her throat. She was starting to lose consciousness, her entire head aching with the need for air. Slowly, the flames and wind faded and went out completely. Her hands fell to her side, eyes rolling back, ready to either die or pass out from lack of oxygen.

She gasped in pain as she was flung hard into the wall by her bed, sinking down onto the ground and choking for even breaths. Rasetsunyo still tried to fight as her husband jerked her to her feet by her hair and tossed her on the bed, falling on her a moment later to keep her from moving.

"If you won't thank me with words, you're gonna thank me like this," his voice ground in her ear.

She screamed and struggled to get away from him as his hands ripped her skirts wide open.

Unknown to either of them, a wide eyed and very young Kougaiji peeked from behind the broken door, shaking as he witnessed his parents fight for the first time ever. Little did his innocent mind know, this was only the first of many to come. He continued to watch, horrified, as his beautiful mother screamed and cried and begged his father to stop whatever he was doing that hurt her so badly. His mother... anger unlike any anger he'd ever had burned inside him, made his breathing speed up, eyes narrow and stinging as he fought back tears. His mother...

Footsteps coming toward him finally broke his frightened trance and made him run for his room. Gyokumen Koushu stopped, staring in at the display before her with a little smile. Her gaze dropped with a frown, however and she stooped next to the broken door frame to see more clearly.

There, burned into the wood, was a perfect child sized hand print. She touched it, drawing back when she realized it was still hot. Standing up fully again, staring after the boy prince sprinting for his room, a malicious little smile returned to her face as she continued to watch her lord shame that overly proud woman he married.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry this chapter is pathetically short, but it's kind of acting as a bridge for the next series of chapters. Anyway, now I'm very sad and I'm gonna go get some ice cream of my own. Cookies'n'Cream, baby!