Guardian Ang...err...Youkai?!
Co-written by Angel and Glitter Dust
Disclaimer: We do not own Inuyasha or the cast from both the manga and anime. We do own our own characters and as such you'll know them when you see them.
She was a normal girl with a normal life. Then the oddest "accidents" started to happen and she didn't seem so normal anymore. On top of that five mysterious men come into her life, demanding she choose one to marry, and claiming to be able to protect her. All she wanted was to be normal, how much more of this madness can she stand?
Chapter 7- The Council of the Four Lords
The next day everyone was awkward around the inu youkai and the neko hanyou who now bore his mark. They sat together, both looking as regal as royalty, as they ate their breakfast nobody really discussing the noise factor of the evening before.
"So, Sesshomaru," Miroku tried to ask bravely, "what by your definition is rest?" Sesshomaru just looked at the human before him and remained silent about what he wanted to tell him.
"Maybe, if we weren't so perverted," Yuki replied for her mate, "we would have someone to mate with just as loudly." She smiled as Miroku gave her a pained grin, it was a low blow that was just too obvious not to hit. Inuyasha and Kouga chuckled together as Kagome just watched them all interact.
"Point to Yuki, want to try again?" Inuyasha asked amused as Kagome sighed and shook her head.
"I just can't believe after all that happened yesterday that Yuki had the energy to go at it like that," Sango said honestly. Yuki smiled and shrugged.
"I'd love to see if Sango had that kind of energy," Kouga muttered as Sango looked at him surprised as Yuki laughed a little.
"I'm sure she does," Yuki said amused, "but you and Inuyasha must remember, humans sometimes need more courting than youkai or hanyou do. Plus, all of the arrangements thus far don't make things easier." Kouga nodded and sighed as he thought about it.
"I wrote our parents and explained the situation," Sesshomaru said as both Inuyasha and Kouga looked at him surprised. "Since Kagome is technically spoken for, I wanted to be cleared of any responsibility but guarding her since I know that the mate I wanted was going to stay until she was completely safe." Kouga nodded, that was a brilliant idea actually, he'd have to write home later.
"Anyway," Inuyasha said now that the parents had been brought up. "Speaking of the lords, they send us their love in a response." He opened it up and read it.
"Due to the report of attack by a claimed youkai lord, Naraku, we have come to the following conclusions; first that the mating of Sesshomaru and Yuki is in fact agreeable." Inuyasha glanced at his half brother and shook his head as Kouga snorted in response. "Second, we are calling upon the heirs to report home within the next seventy-two hours to report what precisely happened from each point of view. And third, the timeline for the girl with special powers has been changed..." He stopped talking as he read.
"What do you mean changed?" Sango demanded grabbing at the letter. Yuki reached behind Sesshomaru and grabbed it from a startled Inuyasha. She read it silently and shook her head.
"They want us to bring Kagome to the village so that we can start preparations for the mating ceremony," Yuki said softly.
"But..." Kagome said softly as she tried to think of what she was being told.
"That's not possible, she's nowhere near ready," Sango said in Kagome's defense.
"Because of the severity of the attack," Yuki said as she read the writing, "it has been decided for the proper protection of the human girl with special powers that she is to be brought to the village with the youngest son of the taiyoukai, Nishi, in preparations for their mating ceremony. They will remain within the village until such time it is deemed safe for them to leave."
"That's not fair," Kagome said as she looked between Sango and Yuki as they both seemed to be thinking. "We don't actually have to go, do we?" Yuki sighed as she remained silent, getting up and pacing as she thought. "Yuki?"
"We can't just mate like that," Inuyasha said in his own defense.
"I dunno, we put you in a room next to Yuki and Sesshomaru going at it again, you might," Shinta said trying to joke. He sighed when it fell on deaf ears as even Miroku shook his head at him.
"Yuki, I'm not..." Kagome started as Yuki held her hand up.
"I know, neither of you are ready," she said as both of them looked like they were ready to fight and protest. "You're both too young for mating, but unfortunately this is not something in my control. Sesshomaru and I should go to the village first, to give our reports, and then we can figure out what the hell brought this decision about. This is no longer the safety of Kagome; if that thing gets into the youkai village it could destroy it and many lives. I'd rather not bring that home." They nodded as Yuki sighed and scratched behind one ear. "So much for being lazy today." Sesshomaru nodded in agreement as he read the letter again just in case.
"So, they want us to go and report to them what we saw, why would they think we saw something different?" Miroku asked confused.
"Because this is a new youkai, there was one a thousand years ago that could appear differently to different people," Myoga said as he sat among them. "And if it is a youkai like that, he's a shape shifter...Those are highly dangerous."
"I've never heard of a Naraku," Kouga said as the others nodded in agreement. "Nor do I remember reading about him in any of father's ledgers." Sesshomaru nodded in agreement, his father's memoirs never mentioned a shape shifter.
"Naraku is a fairly new moniker," Myoga said as he thought about it. "There are rumors of a youkai; he looks exactly like a human, until you attack him. He's always followed by hoards of youkai as well, all of them such a lower class they aren't really much to beat. But that is also from the continent." Yuki nodded as she listened.
"Any of those reports bring up the idea of the main youkai having tentacles?" she asked him curiously.
"No, but there is the report that he absorbs youkai," Myoga said as Yuki looked at him stunned. "You are lucky he threw your body aside, a youkai that dangerous with your poisons could be more dangerous than most can handle." Yuki nodded as she sat down and thought.
"Mate," Sesshomaru said as he got up and pulled her into his arms. He could sense her fear at the thought that they could be absorbed by this monstrosity.
"I can't leave Kagome here if we're gone," she said softly as the others looked to protest.
"Remember who was killed here," Miroku said in protest.
"Yeah, remember who fought with him," Sango said looking at him. "She's the only one who knows what he can do hit for hit. Beyond he doesn't know she's alive." Miroku thought about it as he looked at Yuki.
"I'm sure a screwed up monk, an inu hanyou, two youkai, and a taiji-ya can handle guarding one girl," Shinta said sourly. "For once, the monk is right."
"There may be a book in the library," Kagome said softly as she looked at them all.
"I don't think so," Shinta said smirking and shaking his head.
"Wait, she's right," Sango said as she realized it, "there are several books hidden in the library about the various youkai. The Inu no Taisho is in it, I'm sure this youkai would be if he were thought to be a big enough threat."
"Inu no Taisho?" Kagome repeated confused.
"Yeah, he likes to hold that over both our heads some days," Inuyasha grumbled as he thought about it. Kagome looked at him surprised. "It's our old man, can't get much bigger of an ego than him either."
"There are days I wonder," Sango said amused. "He is one of the four great lords; Nishi of the West, Higashi of the East, Kita of the North, and Minami of the South. Kouga's father is Kita and Miroku and Shinta's is Minami."
"There are no princes in the East?" Kagome asked curiously.
"Oh yes, I have five brothers," Yuki answered as Kagome looked at her surprised. "But they are mostly paired off at this point. They thought it best for the weird princess to go." Sango sighed as Yuki shrugged. "I'm weird, I've accepted it. Look, I can't be too weird, I found a mate." Sango laughed as Yuki pointed to Sesshomaru, who rolled his eyes.
"You are not weird, they are," Sesshomaru said as Yuki snorted in amusement. "Maybe Inuyasha and Kouga can escort Kagome to the library to see about this book." Sango nodded as the two nodded in agreement as well.
"We'll bring it back here, I'm sure Yuki would be the best to identify him at this point," Sango said as Yuki sighed and nodded. "Sorry."
"No apologies needed, I was the crazy enough to go after what looked to be a human," Yuki said as Sango nodded in agreement. "We'll go to the village; hopefully we'll be back before nightfall." With that they split up, Yuki and Sesshomaru getting changed and heading out as the others went off to the library.
"So, what do you think will happen if we question their decisions too much," Yuki asked Sesshomaru as they walked in to the village a few hours later. Sesshomaru sighed and shook his head. As they walked through the village people bowed to them, happy to see their return from the human world.
"Yuki!" one of her brothers called.
"Seiji!" she said waving as he laughed and walked up to them.
"Or should I say, Lady Takahashi," he joked as he hugged her before he shook hands with Sesshomaru. "Finally, someone is making an honest female out of her." Sesshomaru nodded as Yuki rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, we're here to give our reports," she said as he nodded.
"How are you feeling?" he asked her as they walked together towards the palaces.
"Fine, I couldn't say that yesterday," Yuki said as he brother nodded in agreement.
"When Lord Nishi told us Sesshomaru had written that you were killed, I swear I thought father was going to head over there himself and skin someone alive." Seiji said as Yuki smirked amused.
"Unless he wants to find this Naraku creature for us and take care of that," Yuki said as her brother snorted and shook his head, "there's really no one else to skin."
"You're bringing up myths again," he warned her. Yuki stopped and grabbed her brother's arm.
"What do you mean?" she demanded.
"Father had the five of us look through the library all night last night, there is no demon of which you described in your report." he said as Yuki growled annoyed. He looked at his sister surprised.
"I know what I fought," she said shaking her head. "He looked human; as tall as Sesshomaru, dark wavy hair, black eyes, a smooth as a river stone voice with a metallic edge to it. He attacked with swarms of low grade youkai and then mutated when I hit him." Seiji looked at her as he thought.
"The last time there was a report of a huge swarm of low grade youkai, like what was described, was during the time Lord Nishi was protecting Lady Izayoi," Seiji told her. "They were banded around a dead human named Onigumo, but nothing ever came from it. He had been burned alive and was a notorious thief." Yuki nodded as she sighed and thought about it.
"There were a lot of youkai there," Yuki told her brother. He nodded as they walked into the palace and noticed the four lords seated in the great study. They all stopped as they noticed the three of them. The younger three bowed to the older lords before Seiji left them.
"Yuki," her father said as he walked up to her and hugged her, "I thank the stars you are safe. After that report Sesshomaru sent yesterday..."
"Yeah, we all are grateful that it didn't go that way," Yuki said shakily as her father shook hands with Sesshomaru.
"And my new son-in-law, this is a day to celebrate," he said as they walked further into the room. Yuki bowed to the other lords as Sesshomaru shook hands with them all.
"Maybe once this whole mess is over with," Sesshomaru said as Higashi nodded in agreement, "then maybe we'll have more matings to celebrate." Yuki nodded in agreement to this statement, she was sure Kouga was writing home for permission to mate Sango as they spoke.
"What happened yesterday?" Minami asked them. Yuki sighed and nodded as she thought.
"We had been keeping Kagome pretty much completely under wraps," she said as she thought about it. "The girl was going stir crazy, she asked it if was too much for just us girls to go shopping together."
"Yuki..." her father said sternly as she held her hand up to finish.
"Please, I know," she said as he nodded. "I informed Sesshomaru that Kagome wanted to go out, I thought a public place like the mall would be safer than going down the street. I also knew that it would be easier to fight; if needed, in that larger space. I informed him of where we were going, when we'd be back, we couldn't have done anymore than we did."
"Minus staying home and on the course that you were doing," Kita informed her.
"You're right, and right now that poor girl sits at home crying thinking it's her fault for me being hurt," Yuki snapped back. "Do not challenge my judgment, I am not going soft. She was right; we needed a little time away from the guys."
"I agreed with the decision to go," Sesshomaru said as they all looked at him and nodded. "I figured she might be calmer upon her return with a trip to the mall just for the females. Lately, because of being cooped up, Kagome had been getting temperamental and even argued a bit with Inuyasha."
"Anyway," Nishi said asking them to continue.
"We were fine, the mall was going smoothly, until Sesshomaru called saying that we needed to get out then and there because we were being attacked," Yuki said as they looked at him surprised.
"The news reports were about a dark cloud dropping monsters over the mall," Sesshomaru said as they nodded. "As soon as I heard this I urged Yuki to bring Kagome back to the shrine, which they were in the process of doing when they were fully attacked."
"Sango and I were without weapons, we fought to the best of our abilities and held them back as long as possible from Kagome while we waited for our backup to arrive," Yuki said as they nodded. "When Naraku emerged from the waves of youkai, I took off my disguise and handed the ring to Kagome."
"One final act of protection," her father said as Yuki nodded while the other lords looked at her confused.
"My disguise is linked to this ring," she said holding it up, "it's also covered in engravings, mainly barrier spells." They all looked at her surprised. "If the youkai touches the protected, it works like the acids in my blood; it'll melt them skin, bone, and all. He grabbed at Kagome while we were distracted. The more we refused to corporate, the angrier he got."
"Part of him melted?" Higashi asked surprised.
"His right arm, he had grabbed at her hand. I got between them afterwards, but it grew back almost immediately. We hit each other repeatedly, he didn't hit for much," Yuki said as they nodded. "I used my claws and ripped at his chest, angering him further," Yuki continued as she thought about it. "The mall shook violently and he ended up a good fifteen feet in the air, tentacles pouring out of him where his legs should have been. I jumped up, slashing his side and melting more skin. That's when four tentacles grabbed me and pulled me in four different directions. He was furious because of how much of a fight I was putting. I couldn't believe how quickly he was regenerating."
"When did the other guardians appear?" Kita asked her curiously.
"I barely registered they were there," Yuki said as she thought about it. "I think I heard them when the mall shook, but I'm not sure, I was so focused on the task at hand. He kept throwing insults my way, as if to knock down my confidence. I didn't care what he said; I was halfway melted through the tentacles holding my hands when..." Yuki stopped talking as Sesshomaru looked at her. The four lords were obviously on the edge of their seats and anxious to hear her story.
"When?" Minami pushed.
"I died," she said weakly. Higashi shook his head as he heard this.
"Naraku threw her body to the side," Sesshomaru said as he looked at Yuki, "and vanished off, but it was obvious he was hurt from their fight. He's bound and determined for Kagome at this point."
"How did you know to use Tenseiga?" Nishi asked his son.
"It pulsed," Sesshomaru answered as his father nodded.
"I think, young lady, you are very lucky today," Kita said as Nishi and Higashi nodded in agreement. Yuki looked at them as she thought.
"Lucky?" she repeated as she thought about it.
"That sword is the Tenseiga," Nishi explained as he held his hand out. Sesshomaru handed it to his father who unsheathed it. "It was formed from one of my fangs, Totosai did an amazing job at what I wanted, this fang in particular is quite powerful but not in the sense of the other fang." Yuki looked at him curiously. "It can, with a single swing, bring back a thousand dead."
"Makes sense," Yuki said as he nodded, "Inuyasha had boasted that his could kill a thousand in a single swing." Nishi nodded in agreement.
"They both work particularly well when they are in use of protecting someone important to the owner," Nishi said as Yuki nodded. "Obviously, my son wanted you as his mate; you are probably his only weakness."
"Please, my lord, be it true or not, at this time I don't think it safe to say such things," Yuki said weakly as they looked at her. "Naraku spoke to us before appearing, I don't know if he was always in the building with us, but he did not throw off anything for me to sense him as a youkai. Even as I fought him, I knew he was not human, but he still registered human." The four youkai looked at each other concerned.
"What I want to explain is, this sword may not bring you back if you die again, it should not have brought you back this time," Nishi explained to her as Yuki nodded while both Higashi and Sesshomaru looked at him surprised. "If you have truly angered this creature, which by the sounds of it you did, you may also be a target as well." Yuki stood up and looked at all four lords seriously.
"I am a guardian of a human with special powers," she said and then pulled on her yukata revealing her mark, "I am the daughter of the Neko no Taisho, particularly trained in poisons. I am also the mate of a particularly powerful youkai, son to two particularly powerful youkai. I do not fear this spineless creature...this spider..." They all looked at her surprised. "I will not lose to him again, my lords. I also protest pushing up the timeline for Kagome."
"Yuki, we need to guarantee her safety, she is safest as a mate in this village," Kita said smoothly.
"Until he decides to attack here," Yuki said angrily as she crossed her arms. "Why is it no one else sees the faults in this plan?"
"You question your lords?" Minami asked her warily.
"I question the four males sitting before me!" Yuki said angrily. "You demand that my mate, my friends, and I protect this girl with our lives and when it comes down that one of us gets hurt you pull back and change those plans. You will put not only that girl, but everyone in this village in danger."
"You are not trained enough to see all angles," Kita said quietly.
"I was trained by one of you! You question my training, you question the training of one of you!" she said angrily. Higashi looked at his daughter surprised. "I will not avoid a battle I am to partake in because someone else is scared."
"We are the four lords here," Higashi said.
"Yes, I know who you are," Yuki said as she eyed them all. "You are my father, my father-in-law, and the four males who I looked up to as a child. The four males who stories were told of your bravery and heroics. Why is it when it is our time to show that same bravery, we are to be put in a corner? Why are we to be protected with it is our time to create our own stories?" Sesshomaru walked up and put his hand on Yuki's shoulder.
"Sesshomaru, your mate is..." his father started.
"Absolutely correct," he finished as his father looked at him stunned. "We have been inundated with stories of what you four did when protecting Lady Izayoi a thousand years ago, we did not want this task but it was handed to us." The four lords looked beaten; the three looked at Higashi who just looked at his daughter proudly.
"You two are convicted of everything you believe in," Kita said after a few moments. "You wish to see this through to the end."
"The appropriate ending," Yuki said nodding. "Kagome is a human girl, of anyone, Lords Higashi, Nishi, and Minami should understand that there is a certain finesse of courting that is involved for Inuyasha. He cannot just take her." The three nodded in agreement. "She is scared as it is, she is uncertain of her path, and I promised her that she would be able to mate on her own terms."
"A promise that is not yours to make," Minami reminded her.
"Do your mates know you want to push her time line up, to make her mate before she is ready?" Yuki asked them. No one answered her and she nodded. "Perhaps we should tell them? I'm sure that Lady Izayoi would be interested in hearing this in particular." Nishi groaned at the thought of what his mate would say.
"No, that is definitely not needed," he said as Sesshomaru just watched. He wanted to laugh; he was fighting to remain emotionless as his mate threw around four great lords with ease. "We will discuss what we have heard here today, I do not advise leaving the village just yet."
"I have to be back tonight, Sango and Kagome were doing a bit of research for me," Yuki said as they looked at her warily and nodded. "We'll wait to hear anything else before leaving, my lords." She bowed and turned to walk out, Sesshomaru following in suit. The three lords looked at Higashi as he chuckled and shrugged.
"Guess she learned better than I figured," he said with a shrug.
