Snow Pearl

Chapter Ten

By PhoenixBlade

Youkai can hear well and see well in the dark, much better than ningens could. That was why I left this morning. It mattered not if you attacked them day or night so to get the day over with, might as well start early.

Yura was a comb/hair youkai and was obsessed with hair, like Hiten's brother, Manten, who was ugly and bald, but had an obsession with hair. Unlike Yura though, Manten was picky, he wanted the hair of virgin females to make a hair tonic for him so he could grow hair to become handsome.

The thought of hair on that thing was atrocious, but far safer than Yura as I could tell. She used anyone's hair (and skulls) that she took a liking to and killed the person for it. Her attacks were done with hair so the question was, how do I take care of a youkai with hair power?

I stopped. I was in a forest and all was quiet. That was unusual. There was someone following me, and had done so since I had entered the forest a while back. I unsheathed my sword and turned around to face whoever it was. There was noone there. I felt a dark presence beside me and recognized it right away. I quickly struck the side and fell a large tree, but the person who was there jumped away to where my gaze was originally. I turned back on him as the loud sound of the fallen tree hit the ground.

Leaves and dirt flew up everywhere around us as we stared at each other in silence. He wore a white baboon pelt and had all his face, save for his mouth, covered. I saw a faint smile on the other figure's lips. He thought it was funny.

I narrowed my eyes on him, "Naraku! Why have you followed me!"

He laughed and pulled back his mask. I held back a gasp as I looked upon Naraku's lovely but pale face. Sure enough, it was Naraku, from his long wavy black tresses down to the black soles of his boots. He looked ghostly amongst the scenery, making him look more eerie. My miko powers inside of me were stirring at the presence of him.

"Just as I had expected from a miko! I'm impressed Kagome!" he chuckled.

Kagome?

I scoffed, "You waste my time Naraku!"

"Oh? And just where were you going?" he asked.

"…You are in my way," I told him.

I raised my sword and got into an attack stance.

"…I do not let things stand in my way."

He smirked at me.

I frowned and started forward quickly. As I came up to Naraku, I twirled quickly to the side to surprise him there. He dodged it and I ripped of his baboon pelt instead but somehow, he grabbed me from behind. My sword clanked to the ground as he wrapped his arms tighter around me. I struggled and he held on even tighter, tight enough to hold me, but not enough to make me not be able to breathe.

Damn! I let down my defense around him!

I tried using his weight to pull myself up and over him, but he lifted me off the ground. He was at least a head taller than me but shorter than Sesshoumaru, so I was left helpless and dangling in his hold. I became aware of a warm breath at my ear.

"What-what are you doing?" I yelled and struggled even more.

Naraku chuckled, but refused to answer. Instead, he dug his nose into my hair and took a large whiff of it. He then moved his lips down to my neck and caressed one spot with his lips. I felt a smile tug on his lips against my skin and he kissed it before pulling away to my ear.

In a quiet and lustful voice, he said, "You smell wonderful… kitten..."

I felt his tongue lick around the shell of my ear and settled back down to my neck, taking a taste there as well. I went still and quiet in his arms, waiting for a chance to strike back.

"And you taste delicious…. So sweet…" he murmured near my ear.

Just a little longer… just a little bit longer…

His grip on me relaxed a little. A weakness!

I felt his tongue work its way in the patch of skin over my collarbone and…

"It's no wonder why you belong to Sesshoumaru…"

When I felt the graze of his fangs over my neck and his hands loosen to turn me around, I took the chance and jumped away before he could grab me, but his fangs had cut into my skin. Retrieving my sword, but my hand automatically went up to the bleeding cut. I winced in pain as I stared up at Naraku from several meters away. There was blood dripping on his lips, MY blood. He licked his lips, but a small trickle of blood escaped his tongue. He lifted a finger and wiped it off.

I growled at him.

"Temper, temper or else I'll have to take more of your blood to calm you…" he smirked.

He looked at the blood on his finger and like a seductive lover, he lovingly licked it away and moaned while staring at me all the while.

"Mmm… Sweet and tangy… Delicious…" he grinned.

I began to tremble. I didn't know why, but I just started to. I wasn't afraid of him, but I didn't like him at all. I hated him, but not enough. There were three men in this world whom I hated: Kami-sama, Sesshoumaru and… that man… but Naraku, surprisingly enough, wasn't hated enough to fit in there anywhere… but nevertheless, if there was a fourth, he would be in that slot.

"Why, my little one, you're shivering? Perhaps I will have to warm your naked body by rubbing it against mine in the throes of passion-"

"Shut it!" I screamed.

His smirked. Screw this, even if he was Sesshoumaru's ally or some shit, I was going to kill the guy for being an annoyance!

"Why are you following me, you bastard?" I demanded to know.

The man was infuriating. He looked up and smiled, as if he knew some deep dark secret and wanted me to beg for it.

I gripped tightly onto my sword, "Answer me!"

He looked back at me with the same smile, but his eyes were mischievous, "They've arrived."

I gave him a questioning look, "Who's arrived?"

What was he doing?

Then I felt it. Seven presences, all dark and were radiating immense strength. Perhaps, I could take two or three of them, but seven?

"Seven, seven of them… Where are they, Naraku? Who are they?"

Naraku's smirk refused to waver, "They are… here for you…"

I immediately got into a defense stance. Was he going to have me be killed by them?

"Chi-chikuso…" I swore under my breath.

"Relax my little feline," Naraku assured me, which really wasn't comforting coming from him, "My men are here to be yours to command."

"What?"

I was surprised. Was he joking? What the hell was he talking about?

There was suddenly a rush of such dark power that it made me feel nauseous. My miko powers were on edge the whole time Naraku was here, but these seven were making it flare about wildly inside me. I felt like I was going to explode from it. When the nausea went away a little, I looked back up and saw seven men bowing down behind Naraku. That overconfident smirk was still plastered on his lips.

"They are a little, shall we say, present for you from me. These men will serve you in my stead. They will be loyal to you and only you, though, I may have need of them once in a while, but when they are not with me, they shall be yours to command and to protect you," explained Naraku.

"I need no such help-" I started.

"My lady," came the voice of the one who was bowing beside Naraku and apparently, I assumed, was the leader of the group.

He sat up and I got a good look at him. He had long dark hair that was braided and a cross-shaped mark on his forehead. He wore white clothes and armor. On the ground beside him was a large sword, presumably his.

"I am Bankotsu, leader of the Shinchinin-Tai," he introduced himself.

I held back a gasp of surprise, "Shinchinin-Tai? Are you not the great mercenary scourge of the Northeast Provinces?"

He nodded, "My lady has heard of us. Yes, we are the… "scourge" of the Northeastern Provinces. We were mercenaries, but we were hunted down by the daimyo like dogs because we were becoming too powerful and they feared us. They chased us and had us trapped, but luckily, Naraku came and helped us free. We are indebted to him and have given him our services."

I looked at Naraku but he just looked back at me with a smirk. Naraku? A savior?

"As we are indebted to Naraku-sama for our lives, if he wishes us to pledge our loyalty to you as well, you must be someone of worth in his standing. As we have no choice but to give you our services as well, please accept us, my lady," he pleaded and bowed to me.

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. What could I say? I was being offered the Shinchinin-Tai, one of the most ruthless and powerful mercenary groups in the land, and here they were, bowing at my heels to accept them… They could be useful… but what did Naraku want? What scheme did he have up his sleeves?

"What game are you playing at, Naraku? What manner of trickery is this?" I accused at him.

He chuckled, "Kagome-dono, surely you cannot be so disrespectful as to treat me with such discourtesy, a guest of your great Sesshoumaru-sama. What I am doing is being nice."

"Nice? I highly doubt that," I bit down on nice.

His smarmy look was replaced with one of intense seriousness and dissatisfaction.

"You insult me, Shikon," his voice lowered darkly, "I am giving you gifts and yet you accuse me of trickery."

He was serious. A dark and angry aura was flickering about madly around Naraku. My miko powers were reacting violently to it, wanting to fight it and purify it, but I couldn't. If it somehow killed Naraku, it was more than possible that the Shinchinin-Tai would kill me. I could take at most three of them perhaps maybe even four if I held up my strength, but the rest would kill me.

I sighed and bowed my head in apology, "My apologies Naraku-sama, but I am someone who is not so quick and trusting to accept things from people who are of your…. standards…. For your forgiveness, I will accept your gift."

I looked up and saw Naraku's lips spread into a grin of satisfaction. He was playing me. He wanted me to accept his so-called "gifts," and acted serious on purpose. I doubt it that he was actually offended.

"Very well. You shall have my forgiveness, but in return, I would like you to cease calling me with such distaste in your voice, is that understood?"

I nodded, "As you wish… Naraku."

He smiled again, "Good, then I shall leave you with another present. One that I think you will like very much."

Another present?

From behind him, he pulled a bag and threw it at me. I was cautious in case it was something bad. I looked at him and he gave me a go-ahead-and-open-it smirk. Slowly but hesitantly, I picked it up and opened it. Inside was a crushed red skull and pieces of a broken comb. A few strands of hair were woven into the broken teeth of pieces of the comb. Wait a minute… This was…

I looked back up at Naraku who was, all the while, smiling.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

I gulped and looked back in to make sure. Sure enough, it was. It was the skull of Yura of the Hair and her infamous comb, supposedly said to be her soul. What was shocking and disturbing was that he had killed her. What was even more shocking and disturbing was that he had done it for me. He had something up his sleeve, I was sure of it, but whatever the reason was, I didn't know.

I tied the bag up and nodded at Naraku, who seemed pleased with himself. How he knew I was supposed to go after her was a mystery and the thought of him watching Sesshoumaru and me fuck or hearing us makes noises in his room was disturbing. He was some sort of pervert and got his kicks out of strange things. No, I didn't want to know if he did or didn't see or hear us, but I did want to know how he found out about Sesshoumaru's mission for me. Yura was no big deal for a mission assigned only to me, but the fact remains that he could hear everything and it put all my plans in jeopardy. The man was more than he seemed.

Naraku bowed to me slightly with a smile on his face, "Until then, my feisty wildcat…"

He disappeared in a wisp of dark smoke. I shuddered, feeling goosebumps and my hair rise up from the time spent on talking with Naraku. The Shinchinin-Tai remained where they were. What was I to do with them?

"Rise," I commanded.

They all rose from their positions and gave me their undivided attention. They were all of different shapes and sizes. All were marked, had markings, armor and strange weapons among other strange things. The only one in my eyes who looked normal or average, if you could even call it that, was the leader who introduced himself as Bankotsu and another who had brown hair.

"What are your names?" I asked them.

Bankotsu came forward to me and got down to one knee, "As said before, I am Bankotsu, the leader of the Shinchinin-Tai."

Another man in a blue outfit and a blue cloth wrapped around his head came forward. He had two purple markings beginning at his forehead and going down past his eyes down his cheeks. "I am Renkotsu, the second in command of the Shinchinin-Tai."

The next looked much like a girl with pins in his hair, wearing a purple outfit and scarf. From the bottom of his eyelids running down his cheeks were also two purple streaks. "I am Jakotsu, third in command of the Shinchinin-Tai."

A fat, small round man wearing white and a white cloth across his face came forward, "I am Mukotsu, Poison Specialist of the Shinchinin-Tai."

A man who looked to be plain came and rested in front of me. Though he looked to be kind and gentle, I suspected that he was more than he seemed. "I am called Suikotsu of the Shinchinin-Tai."

A large brute with green hair stepped forward and presented himself. "I am Kyoukotsu of the Shinchinin-Tai."

The last, a very large man or thing made partly of metal, bowed and bellowed, "I… Ginkotsu!"

They all got to their knees and Bankotsu came forward and took my hand. He got down on one knee, as if he was proposing, but instead, he held my hand in both of his. Compared to his hands, mine were smaller. He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it.

He looked up and me and pressed the palm of my hand to his heart, "As long as this heart beats, we shall follow you as Naraku-sama has ordered us to, and guard you with our lives if yours depends on it. We will follow you to the ends of the Earth, our lady, Kagome-sama. What you tell us to do, we will do so without hesitation."

I looked at all of them, bowing down at me again. What was I to do? Sesshoumaru would get suspicious if he saw them prancing around with me.

"…Very well. Shinchinin-Tai, I order you all to stay in the shadows. I want none of you to be in contact with me directly or even be near me unless if I call for you, understood?" I ordered them.

A unison of "Yes, Kagome-sama," rang through my ears.

"Good, dismiss!"

They all got up, bowed to me and disappeared. I then collapsed down to my knees. This was too intense… Naraku seemed to want me. Sesshoumaru already had me and Hiten, in his own way, hated and lusted after me. What more could men, whom I detested, want to do with me? On top of that, I gained control of the Shinchinin-tai, one of the most feared groups around. What was I to do with them?…

A sudden thought came to mind and I liked it. A smile came to my lips. Perhaps… perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all…

chikuso - an exclamation, similar examples in english are: Damn! Shit! Darn it! etc...