For Amalie's Love

Chapter 6: Things that Go Bump in the Night

Amalie

Despite my assurances to Kameko, I was uncertain what motivated this impromptu offer to escort me home. I was still nervous as to its meaning, and when he led me to a dark BMW convertible outside of the restaurant I grew worried. He is an Inu-yokai, is it possible he has some connection to the Inu-no-Taisho Hiroshi spoke of? His last name seems to suggest there is, but why hasn't he said anything, and what's with the show of concern all of a sudden?

He moved to the driver side and left me standing on the curb. Talking over the car he said, "There is somewhere I would like to show you." his bald words alarmed me and my hand reached reflexively to my wrist. Is this some sort of trap?

"I would rather just go home." I replied as I tried to read the expression on his face in the dim streetlight I cautiously fingering the snap to my bracelet. I can have full use of my yokai well before he makes it around the car, or over it for that matter… Even with his speed I will be able to defend myself, the knowledge reassured me. Yet his expression remained unfathomable. He ground his teeth.

"I assure you, I intend to do you know harm. If it will make you feel more comfortable I swear to you that I will do you no deliberate injury, and that I will return you to your home safely." Well look at you, master words smith, you chose your words very carefully, didn't you, I thought at him sarcastically, …'no deliberate harm' what he is planning then, has the possibility of at least some unintentional harm. But on the other hand he probably wouldn't promise to return me to my apartment safely if he did not feel confident that I would walk away from it, whatever 'it' was; either way… I continued to openly study his face for several moments, no use making him feel that he had easily won my trust, or my agreement, though the plain truth was that he had.

Wordlessly I opened the passenger door and climbed into the car, but not before I saw, or thought I saw, relief cross his features and a slight nod before he to climbed in and started the car. How deep am I in and what's my escape plan? I thought apprehensively as I watched the city zip by. He sure does like to drive fast, but then with the reflexes of a yokai, I doubt that fast driving is really all that dangerous a practice. Hell it's not even the most dangerous thing that's happened to me all month, and he did promise I'd make it back safely. Ironically it was that thought that made all of my apprehension dissipate. What the hell Why not enjoy the trip? This could be fun and it's not like there's anyone but the dog waiting at home for you…I relaxed into expensive leather upholstery, and fiddled with my bracelet unconsciously as we bulleted to the city limits.

Maybe I should take it off. It's not like I'm going to hurt or frighten my present company, he already knows what I am. He might take it as a threat or a sign of distrust though…GOD! I just want to be me again, and for the first time in months 'me' meant the yokai me, the strong creature that I had spent three years being; the 'me' who had fangs and claws, and little fear. Not the human accountant that I was passing myself off as in order to hide from the DK, I wonder if my recent control problems aren't from suppressing my yokai so much. Maybe it yearns to be loose as much as I want to let it go. The idea of being wholly myself again caused a sigh to escape my lips. In the silent car it sounded deafeningly loud, and woefully depressing.

"Why do you continuously where those charms? Do you detest what you have become so much? Or do you just lack control?" The unexpected question in the silent car started me. What do I say to that, should I answer or just ignore him? Would he think it rude of me to stay quite? Why did he even ask? How do I begin to answer?

My thought whirled in my mind as the silence dragged pregnantly on, but before I could reply he spoke again, "You do not have to answer, it was just a question," and I with that, I found the words, or some words at any rate.

"Three, actually." I said softly into the car.

"Huh? Three what?"

"It was actually three questions. You asked me why I wear the charms all the time, if I detest what I have become, and if I just lacked control. That is more than jus a question."

"Indeed." He said and I saw a flash of teeth. Say what? The beast smiles at the peasant's presumption? I continued.

"I'll start backwards, because it appeals to my contrary nature. I do lack control sometimes, but never when it matters. I do not detest what I have become as much as I detest what it has done to me. And for the bonus prize, I started wearing the charms to hide myself from the DK when I came to Japan four months ago with Rinee. In the past three years I have had enough run-ins with my former comrades that they no longer expect me to appear human, and it seemed to be an affective dodge to keep them from looking to closely at any humans with my name. It is all useless now that Jacob has reported back to them."

"Then why are you still wearing this?" He asked and before I could answer he had breached the distance between us and removed the bracelet from my wrist, to discard it into the back seat. Immediately I was over come by the rush of my yokai filling me to the brink, my fangs grew in, my ears became elongated and pointed, my hearing sharper, my fingernails lengthened into their familiar claws as I watched them folded on my lap. My fatigue melted away and I felt refreshed, strong and alive again, my sense of smell became a hundred times better than it was a moment ago.

The smell of the car hit me then: leather, warm plastic and Him. His scent was everywhere surrounding me and his aura seemed to be too large and powerful for the small vehicle to contain. The sensation was overwhelming and caused my throat to constrict as I fought my own instincts to via for dominance. QUIT I yelled at myself and forced my inner nature to obey my brutal command. I hit the electric switch that rolled down the window and was delighted when the fresh night breeze assaulted my nose, and I took a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and exhaled it as a giggle. I gazed upon the landscape with my superhuman vision. We where now in the countryside surrounding Tokyo, Free! The joy of it made me grateful.

"Thank you, I would have done that sooner, but I did not want to insult you."

"Hmm." He rumbled in response. Damn, even my hair feels lighter. I thought as I suppressed a giddy joy at finally being back to my accustomed state after so much time locked away.

"So do I get to ask some questions anytime soon, or does this only go one way? To be quite frank, I am not a woman who is accustomed to prattling on about herself, or her most intimate reflections. I am extremely uncomfortable with the realization that you now know more about me than anyone living, while I still know next to nothing about you."

"And what would you ask?" He inquired, maybe it was my more sensitive ears, but his voice sounded like it had taken on a deeper, richer, more primal sound. More of a growl to it, I thought curiously, still musical and cool, but definitely huskier some how just under the range I would have heard it before. I never would have picked that up with my human ears. Hmm if he's offering, I might as well ask the thirty million dollar question.

"Are you related to the Inu-no-Taisho?" The car began to slow, we turned right down a dirt road, and the silence continued for a few more moments while I tried to decipher if it was sadness or anger that my senses where picking up from him.

"He was my father." Sadness, regret and a little anger, my ears told me. Oh, crap, sore spot. Now what? Could the son's tooth be yours then? Is this the mantle of your yokai I wear? The pieces fit to neatly for the answers to those questions to be anything more than yes on both counts. No wonder he was so insistent to know where my power came from, no wonder he followed me. I would have done the same thing in his position, and now I know why it was so hard for him to believe that I wasn't an assassin sent from the DK. I would have been mistrustful of any admitted human flaunting my yokai like that. And who said he actually believed me? He could be taking me out into the woods to kill me now that he knows the truth. The thought frightened me for only an instant before the unnatural trust I had for him fought for dominance of my logic, so far he has been a man of his word, and that is all I have to believe.

"Why did you approach me at the park yesterday?"

"Curiosity," His reply was short, but did not appear to hide anything more. I thought about asking him what he was curious about, but decided to leave it be. I felt as if I had already trespassed too far with my question about his father and the answers I had received dispersed my curiosity towards anything else. I had received plenty of answers for one night, and so I let the silence persist. Moments later he pulled the car to the side of the road near an empty field lined with trees and turned the engine off. The entire drive had taken an hour, in my true yokai form I could probably return to the city in half that time. Though I honestly did not believe anything would occur to force me to leave on foot, it was reassuring to know that it would not be a problem. "Do you not have anymore questions for me, little inquisitor?"

"No." I responded honestly.

"Not even: where are we at, or why are we here?" His voice taunted, but there was something behind it I could not read, anger, threat, or something else entirely I just can't tell.

"I'm sure you will tell me in time, or not at all. Either way you have promised that I'll make it home safely and I trust that." My calm and honest reply seemed to strike a nerve, he leaned over to me and he radiated menace. But I refused to give into fear or my yokai instinct to attack him for issuing a challenge.

"And what would your Demon Killer comrades say to their Lead Huntsman trusting the word of a demon?" He emphasized the English word harshly, as I do when I speak of those creatures that I used to hunt, torture, and kill.

I slowly and deliberately leaned forward until I could feel his breath on my lips and I calculatingly looked into his eyes before softly saying, in my silkiest and most thoughtful tone, "I suppose what they would say to anything I do these days, torture me, capture my power into some trinket, and kill me slowly for the fun of it." We sat there, our eyes locked, our faces a breath apart for seconds that lasted days, before he turned away and exited the car. My hand barely rested on the door handle before the passenger door flew open and he extended a clawed hand towards me. All right, I'll bite, I thought curiously, as I took the gallantly proffered hand and was lifted from the car with ease.

With a gentle tug on my captured hand Sesshomaru guided me to the field. The air was heady with the perfumed scent of lilies we passed and the sky was filled with gloriously bright stars, a full moon presided over its court of gems, it was a truly magical night. Stopping in the center of the field he turned to face me, my hand still held prisoner by his own. Trepidation fluttered in my stomach at what a romantic scene this was, and I fought to hide the tentative spark of desire that stirred within me as I simultaneously tried not to entertain thoughts of the smooth warm hand resting in my own, or its matching friend. Calm yourself, My inner voice commanded my emotions as I school myself to impassive serenity, and like a statue, I waited for the Daiyokai to reveal his scheme.

"I wish for you to change into the form you mentioned earlier this evening, the inu-yokai." It was like a blow, I'm not sure to this day what I expected him to say, but I was shocked to here him ask me that, nay not ask, order he ordered me to change. Seething with rage I pulled my hand free from him forcefully as I took several steps back, distancing myself from him and his unthinkable demand.

To change into the inu-yokai form was to give myself over completely to my yokai and the bloodlust. In that form I was as strong and as powerful as I would ever be, the form was the manifestation of my power itself, but to take that form meant I would have to relinquish my intellectual power to the primal beast that was at the very core of my being, at the center of my power. It meant I would have to surrender to the bloodlust.

The suggestion was seductive and repulsive all at once and I was conflicted knowing that this was also his form, that my aura must nearly match his own and revealing myself to him seemed far to intimate, especially since he would know the flaws, he would be able to know by looking at my form if I had become a true yokai or if something human remained. If something of who I once was remained. He could tell me if I had become the monster of my nightmares. That's when his reasoning occurred to me. That is exactly why we are here. He needs to determine for himself just how much of a yokai I am, but why? Of what use is it to him to know what sort of abomination I have let myself become?

As the thoughts, fears and self loathing churned in me my rage built. I rapped my aura around me like a shroud. "WHY?" I yelled at him, not caring if some of the pain escaped with the rage as my eyes began to glow scarlet from the ferocity of it and I turned my complete wrath filled gaze upon him, but he did not answer. A wind picked up and blew my hair around me wildly and I turned a fled into the waiting woods. I fled from his calm countenance, his insane requests, and his enticing aura. I fled from my body's reaction to him, I fled from the pain he had inflicted on my soul and most importantly, I fled from the truth that I kept hidden deep in my core, where I did not have to face it.

He caught up to me easily, tackled me to the ground, pinning me not only with his strength and his body but wrapping his aura around me as well, its icy familiarity smothering and subduing my frantic power before in surged up and pushed his aura back and away from me, but his body and his hands remained and I did not struggle against them. "Baka, ningen, have you not yet learned that you will never be able to elude This Sesshomaru? I swore I would not intentionally harm you, but do not run or I will do what I must to restrain you." His hand tightened on my wrists to emphasize his point.

"Get off of me." Every ounce of power and rage in me was behind the command as my aura pushed against his and I physically struggled to throw him off, and it worked. As my body leapt to a standing position he was hurled forcefully away from me and landed hard against a near by tree smashing its trunk to pieces. As he angrily pulled himself to his feet with a furious growl I pulled foliage from my shirt and straightened my skirt, displaying a calm I did not feel. The sleeve of his expensive silk shirt was torn revealing a muscular bicep but no blood or obvious wounds. I felt ridiculously comforted that I had only harmed his pride and his wardrobe.

I straitened myself to my full height and tried my best to look regal and commanding, "You swore not to harm me, and I promised you nothing in return. How dare you drag me out here and order me around, making demands upon me as if I where some sort of entertainer here to perform for your amusement. Stupid human you call me. Yet, you are not a very intelligent yokai yourself to try to coerce me with threats when I have my full power at my command and your own honor stating no harm would intentionally come to me by your hand. I'm not asking you to go so far as to be humble, but at least try to be considerate! You have many more years of experience on me and the advantage of being born to this power. I'm certain if it actually came to a fight I would not walk away from it, but I guarantee you this, I would do everything in my power to make sure your body held scars to remind you of my passing." I spat the words at him with all the venom and energy I could muster, trying to broadcast my underlying meaning at the most primal level, DO NOT FUCK WITH ME.

My anger dissolving I waited for his reply and I determined at that moment that I would be damned to the lowest level of hell before I spoke another word without hearing an answer from his lips first. In the long silence the trees swayed in the wind, an owl hooted, a tree branch fell, and mice ran through the near by grass. It began to appear that the world would end before the Daiyokai would stop his wordless consideration of me and spoke, but I held firm and he eventually he said, "Very well. Would you please change your form, so that I might see it?" The politeness cost him something of his pride and the words where forced, but he said them nonetheless.

"Why?" I asked again, knowing the answer but needing him to admit the truth.

"Because, I suspect the power my father embedded in that jewel was my own, and I wish to see the fullness of the change it has wrought." Again, his pained look told me the revelation cost him more of his dignity, he was not one to explain his motivations, but he paid the price unflinchingly and I admired him more for it.

"I know that, I knew that when you told me the Inu-no-Taisho was your father, and I suspected hours ago back in the booth at the dinner." I revealed evenly, "What I want to know is why it is important to you to know how complete the transformation is."

"I wish know in order to determine my fathers impetus behind having the jewel created in the first place." It was my turn to gaze at him thoughtfully before wordlessly turning and walking back to the field. It took him a moment to start after me and I made it to the middle of the field only seconds before he cleared the trees. Without warning I changed.

An instant that took an eon, time seemed to freeze as my power enveloped me and the bloodlust took control. It forcing my face, body and limbs to lengthen, my torso soon reach a massive height towering over the near by trees as muscles contorted to fit my new frame, red fur enveloped my body and I became a giant formidable inu-yokai. Evil Clifford, the thought came unbidden to me as my laugh turned into a roaring, growling bark that shook the earth. Far bellow me; Sesshomaru was nothing more than a dark speck with white hair, no taller than my knee and I could smell his fear. My form terrified him and it was intoxicating. I resisted the bloodlust's call to stomp him, kill him flat and chew his bones.

Instead, I forced it down deeper and deeper into my core, pushing the power back into my center and reversing the transformation. It raged against me, and fought the change, our enemy in weak and afraid, we could crush him easily now, its seductive petition touched me, but I continued to fight it. I would not give into the primal urge and let it control me, and as quickly as it occurred my transformation was reversed, and I stood once more in an open field in front of the Daiyokai Sesshomaru in my red top, skirt and knee high boots, somewhere in the struggle my hair clip had been lost and my locks where tossed wildly by the wind, but I was myself once more. My yokai does not change everything about my physical attributes, human or yokai I still have hazel eyes, auburn hair, though slightly redder as a yokai, and I am still five foot two, weighing one hundred and fifteen pounds. Sesshomaru was much taller than I, he far out weighed me and yet, he was actually trembling before me and his fear was a tangible thing between us.

I couldn't take his inscrutable gaze a second longer; surly he is not afraid of my true form! He is hundreds of year older than I and my power came from one of his baby teeth! In his true form he should be able to tear me up like a chew toy. What did he see, what is wrong with me? I could not bring myself to voice the question, nor could I continue standing there, letting him stare at me with that look in his eyes. This time I did not flee, I just calmly turned and walking past the car; I began the trek back to the city. Emotionally empty, alone and on foot I thought, so I am no longer human, but instead I am a monster that monsters fear. Ah Hiroshi, I would have died in your place gladly to avoid all of this.

----

Sesshomaru

"There is somewhere I would like to show you." He did not miss her reflexive grab for her bracelet as he made the demand. She suspects a trap. He thought amusedly.

"I would rather just go home." She continued to cautiously fingering the snap to her bracelet. I would have opened the door, but for my plan to work she needs the sense of security distance would provide, He sighed heavily, and perhaps a piece of my honor. "I assure you, I intend to do you know harm. If it will make you feel more comfortable I swear to you that I will do you no deliberate injury, and that I will return you to your home safely." But if you fail this task and injure yourself that is another matter.

It relieved him when she opened the door and he nodded in acknowledgement of the bargain as he slid behind the steering wheel and started the engine. They sped out of the city towards the open country farm he owned and a field he knew would be perfect for his plans. After a moment she relaxed into her seat and the unguarded look of inquisitiveness on her face was enchanting. She continues to worry that bracelet, why does she not remove it already? When the heartbreaking sigh escaped her lips he could not take the silence any longer.

"Why do you continuously where those charms? Do you detest what you have become so much? Or do you just lack control?" His expectant silence became unbearable and he decided she would remain mute, so be it, "You do not have to answer, it was just a question." And then her flippant reply about the number of the questions he asked and her enigmatic rejoinders gave him much to chuckle over and think about. As they drove he considered her, what has your power done to you that you detest it so? But he did not ask the question. Instead he gave into his wicked urge, "Then why are you still wearing this?" He asked and moving quickly he tore the bracelet from her wrist and tossed it into the back seat. Immediately her ears became elongated and pointed, her fingernails lengthened into claws, her hair brightened and her skin shone with the intensity of the aura that filled the car like a drug and wrestled with his own for control momentarily before she forced it down. She then took a deep breath before opening a window and letting the light evening breeze into the car. She giggled and the musical tinkle of it sent a flutter of emotion through him and he resisted the urge to smile.

"Thank you, I would have done that sooner, but I did not want to insult you."

For a moment I thought I would have to snuff her aura with my own to keep from being over powered, her control is indeed impressive over such a powerful yokai. Glancing sideways at her yokai form he was struck with how attractive she really was, all but her hands where hidden at the bank, I was unable to see any of this. She is magnificent; it is a true shame that she felt so compelled to hide herself. I wonder if that hair is as soft as it looks. "Hmm." Breathing deeply he took in her scent, that too has changed slightly, she now even smells like a full inu-yokai, but it is not like my scent, the scent of my father nor Inuyasha's, but something similar. Now I must see her in the altered form she spoke of. His hands gripped the steering wheel tighter with his resolve.

"So do I get to ask some questions anytime soon, or does this only go one way? To be quite frank, I am not a woman who is accustomed to prattling on about herself, or her most intimate reflections, and I am extremely uncomfortable with the realization that you now know more about me than anyone living, while I still know next to nothing about you."

"And what would you ask?" His voice sounded rough to his own ears, as he struggled the desires her yokai form incited in him. How does her very presence affect me so?

"Are you related to the Inu-no-Taisho?" Taking the right turn to the farm, he considered her question. As it always did, thoughts of his father stirred a plethora of confused emotions. Do I really wish to discuss this with her? But then thoughts of my father may distract me from the others, and I can always refuse to answer her feeble questions.

"He was my father."

"Why did you approach me at the park yesterday?"

"Curiosity," he replied honestly, curiosity was the best explanation he had for himself. He had seen her through the window of his office, and his feet had carried him to her involuntarily. Just curiosity, a Daiyokai needs no more reason than that. But instead of bombarding him with questions has he expected she lapsed into a thoughtful silence that continued until he stopped the vehicle; it annoyed him. Am I so uninteresting to her that her curiosity is spent, or am I simply that easy for her to dismiss. He wanted to punish her in some way for making him so flustered and confused.

"Do you not have anymore questions for me, little inquisitor?"

"No."

"Not even: where are we at or why are we here?" His voice taunted her, but with the car motionless and the distraction of it's operation taken from him he found her scent over whelming him and again desire for her body threatened to be his undoing. Focus on the task. He thought angrily to himself, wanting to transfer some of his frustration to her, wanting to make her pay for her inadvertent power over his wants.

"I'm sure you will tell me in time, or not at all. Either way you have promised that I'll make it home safely and I trust that." Thinking to frighten her he leaned towards Amalie, making the confined space even more of a trap.

"And what would your Demon Killer comrades say to their Lead Huntsman trusting the word of a demon?" He emphasized the foreign word as she did, with contempt and malice.Slowly, seductively, she leaned forward until he could feel the heat from her lips on his own, he smelled coffee on her breath and she met his eyes coolly, her voice was silk, "I suppose what they would say to anything I do these days, torture me, capture my power into some trinket, and kill me slowly for the fun of it." He sat frozen in the moment, powerless to make himself turn away, and fighting a losing battle against his own body's passion. Unable to stand the excruciating closeness any longer he turned from her tantalizing form and fled the car. The sooner this is finished, the sooner I can be rid of her forever. He thought, roughly tearing the passenger door open and extending his hand towards her.

Her hand was smooth and warm without any sign of fear or trepidation. Her entire person radiated calm and trust as he led her quietly to the field's center. This would be a truly magnificent night for so many other things, if she where more than a ningen, and not one of my enemy's spawn. Placing those thought from his mind he focus and demanded of her quietly. "I wish for you to change into the form you mentioned earlier this evening, the inu-yokai."

When she ripped her hand from his the loss was a tangible entity, he wanted that connection back. He had expected fear, he expected to have to coax and entreat her to change. He did not expect the rage and disgust that boiled off of her in waves as she moved away from him. "WHY?" she screamed in her furry and pain, but he had no answer, and then she fled. Oh, Amalie, thank you, you have given me the most perfect distraction from my turmoil. He thought delightedly as he gave chaise. Following her enticing scent and lured on by her aura it did not take long for him to reach her, and less time to restrain her bringing the full force of his will to bear. Submit. Was the command in every element of his being, and for a moment, out of either surprise or shock, she did.

"Baka, ningen, have you not yet learned that you will never be able to elude This Sesshomaru? I swore I would not intentionally harm you, but do not run or I will do what I must to restrain you." His hand tightened reflexively on her wrists to emphasize who was in control.

"Get off of me." The command was quiet and chilling but powerful. He was immediately hurled forcefully into a near by tree. Smashing its trunk to pieces and ripping his shirt, how dare she! Presumptuous bitch! He seethed as he stood, his outrage almost making his forget his earlier promise, but then she spoke, and her words where a slap in the face reminding him of his oath and making him feel ashamed of his actions. It was not a feeling he was accustomed too, and she had provoked it in him twice in one evening. "I guarantee you this; I would do everything in my power to make sure your body held scars to remind you of my passing." Ah my dear, if you but knew that those scars are already forming on my soul. With a great effort he pushed aside his customary pride and his arrogance and asked. "Very well. Would you please change your form, so that I might see it?" The words choked him, but he forced the request out and waited with barely contained impatiently for her answer, and had to fight down the surge of arrogant outrage as she began to question him about his motives and his intent.

It was a struggle beyond any he had, had to endure in years to not lose his temper and answer her questions honestly and calmly. Because of my honor, and because of my promise, but when I return you to your home, all bets are off. He mutely threatened as her icy consideration did anything but cool his raging blood, then she turned from him and began to walk away in silence. Impudent, bitch, you dare to dismiss me? He stood stalk still for several seconds watching her receding back as he fought to control his desire to tear her apart. I have sworn and oath, but I will see your form before this night is through or you will taste my vengeance. He thought as he gained enough command of his emotions to follow her.

He was astonished not to be met by demands for return, and his astonishment turned to awe as he was instead met by her transformation and the power of her bloodlust washed over him as she became truly massive. Her true form was a thing of beauty and the embodiment of terror. Kami, it is even stronger in her than it is in me! How can she possibly contain it? Why is she not driven completely mad by it? How can she be stronger than I, if mine is the power from which hers is derived? And then she barked a laugh that shook the earth and rocked Sesshomaru to the core, it forced primal and uncompromising panic to course through his veins as her ruby countenance turned to him and he was rooted to the ground, and only a single thought was in his mind. She is going to kill me.

Yet, as quickly as it happened, she reversed her transformation and Sesshomaru felt the battle for control with in her, and was only slightly relieved when restraint won over instinct and she was once more a woman standing before him.

He fought with his fear and awe He grappled to regain control of his senses and say something, anything to the creature before him. You are magnificent. You are truly amazing. Your control is astounding. You are not a ningen, but a true Daiyokai of immense power. How dare you cause this Sesshomaru to fear. But nothing came out, the hurt and dismay in her eyes was smothering any words he could have spoken to her in that moment, and then it passed and she left him.

When her footsteps had disappeared into the night, he crumpled to the ground and hugging his knees to his chest he tried to sort his chaotic thoughts. I should go after her. No, I cannot lower myself to chase her like a puppy. I must see her again, and how would that be accomplished now? I want her. She will never consent to speak to me again. Kami, her power! I need her. Wrapped in his own turmoil, he let her go.