Valadium

Chapter XXIX

The following couple of days were all about damage control. Sango and Miroku didn't tell anyone, not even their fellow pack mates, what had happened that night, but mahogany and violet eyes could tell that the familiar knew that they knew. He didn't speak a word either. In fact, he hadn't spoken a single word since the time he had spent in those rooms with his Valadium and the Daiyoukai. Instead, once he was able, he joined the Dai'taikotsu and her mate guarding the entrance to the apartments that contained the two inu. And guarding it needed.

Mid-afternoon of the second day, a well-dressed tiger youkai attempted to push by them to enter the rooms where the Daiyoukai was known to be. He had been suitably surprised when the former taijiya blocked his entrance, the swell of jaki that emanated from her clearly marking her the beta of the Amazon's pack, and a female not to be trifled with as the seemingly human woman bared impressive fangs and snarled territorially.

"You will remove yourself from my path, Taijiya, if you know what is good for you." The highborn demon known as Eiji declared as he stared down at the growling woman who sat in a warrior's seiza.

Burnished mahogany eyes lightened to amber as with hardly a thought, more demonic power filled her like a waterfall to an eager spring. "You attempt to enter the rooms belonging to my Alpha, Selva-cão Kagome, Champion and Heir to the West by declaration of Sesshomaru-sama, Daiyoukai of Nippon. No one shall enter unless requested by either my Alpha, or the Daiyoukai himself. Do you understand?"

Orange eyes narrowed, and the elder demon chuffed, "You impudent-"

Sango stood gracefully to her feet, her five foot nine frame seeming taller with the weight of the Dai'taikotsu power and the darkness that trickled down her spine courtesy of her alpha. "I will not tell you again, tiger. If you continue to pursue this path, I will gladly allow my Alpha's familiar to swallow you whole into the darkness that she commands."

Eiji glanced at the longhaired male that rose to her side, his maroon eyes dancing wickedly as shadows began to move across his face showing a hint of the nightmare that lingered behind his humanoid face. A wicked grin split his lips into a grin insane enough to place fear in any youkai. The wizened Elder strategically took a step back from the trio in front of the rooms he sought to enter. Strange things hovered within them, nearly as strange as the building aura in the Champion's apartments. He had gained power as he grew older, a demon did not reach such ages without nothing to show for it, however instinct nearly forced him to withdraw from the small group. "There are other matters that must be attended to before I speak with my Lordship. If you would be so kind as to send the Daiyoukai notice of my need for an audience, it would be much appreciated, Taijiya-san."

With a stiff but brief bow, the Elder vanished from the corridor with a whisk of silken robes, not bothering to wait for her response.

Maroon eyes blinked, his malicious grin drifting from his face, "That went exceedingly well." His normally dark mellifluous tones were strained still from his connection to his Valadium and her destroyed vocal chords. "However he is only the first of many who will want to see the Daiyoukai and the Champion."

Miroku nodded at the other male. "Especially after such an intense challenge fight, they will want to harp to each other about who got to see the recovering Champion and romance about the care their Lord is taking of her."

Mahogany eyes turned curiously to the dark hanyou, "Was the fight really that bad?"

Naraku frowned, "For these insipid fools, it was likely the most entertaining Challenge Nihon has ever seen considering the damage that Kagome-sama took before she started using the reiki and the particular way she destroyed the bull youkai after getting around his natural armor. In all honesty, it is my opinion that you should be glad you were not there."

Sango frowned as she turned her eyes to the rooms she guarded. "I want the skull of her kill. If we can keep the hype up regarding the fight, I think we can buy enough time for Sesshomaru to stay out of the lime light until he pulls himself back together from finally accepting her, and give us enough time to see if we can either break the bond."

"Break what bond?"

All three pack mates whirled around, widened eyes landing on a young woman with bright brown eyes flanked by twin kittens who only stood to her shoulders, her scent so close to the Daiyoukai's it hadn't even been noticed.

"Rin."


"Wow." Ayano breathed quietly to Hitomi behind their new friend's back. "Kagome-sama is very powerful."

The human pre-teen's eyes narrowed hearing the eldest kitten's words after the situation was explained to them. "Indeed."

A brow lifted on the dark hanyou's face at the stunning similarity between the ward and her caretaker.

"So let me get this straight, you are going to try to break Lord Sesshomaru and Kagome-sama's bond because if it gets out that the Daiyoukai of Nihon has submitted to a younger and female Alpha, his honor will be dead in the dirt and Kagome-sama will be contested, like, a lot as she has indirectly made herself Empress of Nippon?"

Miroku scratched the back of his head and laughed slightly, "Well yes…"

The deceptively young girl frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "I won't allow you to do it."

Sango shifted, "To be honest, Rin-chan, you're not in a position to say if we do this or not."

The young girl chuckled lightly; a smirk that once again reminded the pack-mates of the girl's caretaker tilted her naturally gentle lips. "Typically you'd be right, Sango-san, but you forget something. Even though you've been living youkai, I've been living with these youkai."

The Dai'taikotsu's frown deepened as her confusion showed in the furrow of her brows.

"She's right." Naraku stated from his place leaning casually against the formal entrance chambers to the apartments, his arms crossed over his chest as his maroon eyes starred intensely at the human child. "Due to her living conditions, the child has more experience in this society than we do at this point."

An annoyed growl worked its way up the beta's throat before a sharp elbow to her rib stopped it. The Slayer glanced at her mate in disbelief.

"Let's just hear her out, Sango." The monk sighed.

"Look, its simple." Rin started, "Have you heard how much they gossip about the relationship between Lord Sesshomaru and Kagome-sama? About where he found her and how such a female has the Alpha power and a pack? They find this type of stuff romantically tragic. These youkai don't understand emotions how humans do, but they do have an intense interest in anything that can be romanticized into a gushy and sordid story."

"So what you're saying is that they'll eat this up?" Sango rubbed her neck.

The kittens and Rin began giggling to themselves. "They'll fall in love with this and sing praises of the two Inu for millennia."

"That actually makes sense in a twisted way." Miroku said thoughtfully, "But we have one problem."

"What could possibly be an issue now?" Rin asked confused.

"Kagome-sama doesn't actually know yet that she's taken your Lord." Naraku answered.

"Oh-" Hitomi started with a surprised gasp.

"Shit." Rin finished.

Ayano stepped forward, "Wait, what do you mean that she doesn't know? She's Kagome-sama."

Violet eyes gazed at the rougher of the two kittens and smiled lightly. Her words were so definite as if she couldn't believe that her new alpha didn't know something. Her implicit trust in the amazon demoness that had taken her and her sister into the pack was a little more than awe-inspiring. 'Like Shippo and Kohaku, they believe Kagome is all-powerful and all knowing. Perhaps it is the natural way that children look up to their parents in blind faith?' "Her beast did it many months ago when the Lord Sesshomaru was in a very vulnerable state and had no choice but to submit to her will."

"And her beast kept that information from her?" Rin asked in disbelief, both eyebrows creeping higher into her hairline.

"Unfortunately it is common in adolescent Inuyoukai for the beast to hide something if it believes it will serve the master better not knowing." Sango answered.

"So two things, why does it believe she's better off not knowing and how do we go about telling her?" The kittens asked, eyeing each other before looking at the rest of the circle of people.

"Telling who what?" The raspy and choppy words sound more like broken growls and chuffing than actual intelligible language, but it was enough to cause Sango to nearly jump out of her skin as everyone whipped around to stare at the mid-night figure that sat in the threshold of the shoji door going into the bedroom of the apartments.

The Dai'taikotsu cursed vehemently, stomping her booted foot to add emphasis. "Goddamnit, people need to stop sneaking up on us while we're plotting!"


A/N: A little bit of humor, but our injured Heroine is finally awake! Sango apparently can't stand people sneaking up on her.

So some people have a question as to what Naraku actually is. Well he's literally a child of Darkness. I would say that if Kagome is the pinnacle and essence of the Dark, Naraku is her Avatar that specializes in Nightmares. Personally in a battle, I would rather have my worst nightmares on my side, and Naraku was the nightmare for the majority of her pack. Does any one see the correlation there? I hope so.