Sympathy for the Devil

Chapter Two
It really was a beautiful forest, she reflected, biting into her apple. She chewed thoughtfully, and then made a face. Okay, so maybe it would take a while longer to get used to the new, completely organic, tree-stolen apples. She bit into it again, this time more carefully. Oh, good, she thought with glee. It tasted better the second time! Maybe it was just an acquired taste. Yeah, that had to be it.

Her bare foot snapped on a twig, and she cringed at the sudden assault on the comfortable silence. Ha! As if she had ever thought that she'd think that- ever! Back in Tokyo she had always talked. People had always talked to her. Hell, people talked whether she was listening or not, which was really unfortunate for her.

She paused to adjust her backpack, which she had really come about in odd circumstances. She had been walking peacefully along, ears twitching freely in the slight breeze, when suddenly an arrow went into her shoulder. Now, she preferred to think that she had handled it bravely, but that would be a bald-faced lie. Seeing as how it was her first experience with pain of that magnitude, she had cried like a baby, thoroughly astounding the villagers around her. They had taken her to a healer, who had calmly removed the arrow with a jerk, eliciting another stream of tears from the demon. The villagers had affectionately nicknamed her "Bunny", much to her annoyance and grudging amusement.

Usagi had explained to them what she was trying to do, and was puzzled when they all said that no one had ever heard of a woman named Kikyo, but that the Bone Eater's Well was just through the forest a ways. She had slaved over this mystery, and the only answer that she could come up with was that Lucy had screwed in some major kind of way. What exactly that way was, she didn't know, but she suspected that she had been placed in the wrong time. Whether it was an accident or not was the real question.

Much to her dismay, she found herself not really caring whether it was an intentional error or not. She was feeling increasingly comfortable in a different dimension's past, and was really getting a feel for their history and customs. It really wasn't all that much different from her own feudal era, except that hers never gave mention to any demon.

What little she had learned about demons was that they were generally creatures to stay away from. You always needed to be on guard, except with a choice few. ("Like yourself," someone had joked. They found a plethora of live spiders in their bed that night, and Usagi stayed awake precisely long enough to hear the scream, and then went to sleep satisfied.) Demon or not, they accepted Usagi with open arms.

At first they had begged her for her name, but to this day she refused to tell them. During her time in the village she had learned the power of a name, and made a resolution only to give hers out to a choice few. None of those few had come into her life yet, unfortunately. So, bewildered by this decision, they stuck to calling her Bunny, or Hishi-Ma, which presumably meant "demon in disguise".

She lived there happily for a while, but then one day felt the Shikon no Tama take on an ominous tone. It was foreshadowing events to come. Usagi took this as her sign to move the hell on and throw herself into the fray and most likely to her death. It didn't much matter to her, though. She was already dead, and she couldn't die twice, she thought optimistically.

They had given her a rather nice traveling kimono (AN: looks a lot like Sango's, although in red and dark blue), a backpack, and a wide brimmed straw hat. They had also equipped her with a sharp, efficient dagger and lethal looking hair clips, which she was using right then.

The "Killer Sticks of Death" as she had named them looked like perfectly ordinary, if beautifully carved, sticks that you used to hold buns up. These sticks were different in that they had a bar connecting the two sticks on each side of the bun, and little clawed (very sharp claws, as she accidentally found out) feet at the bottoms so that they would stay in her hair. They had them made for her when she complained of being able to hear quite literally everything that went on in the village. A girl suggested that she rolled her ears up in the form of black and pink spiraled buns on the top of her head. People would just think that it was a fancy cover for her buns. Everyone that didn't know her believed in her apparent humanity, which vastly amused the blonde demon. Her hearing was still unusually acute despite the rolls, but at least she could get some decent sleep.

Her hand went up and touched the sticks unconsciously. It still felt eerily similar to her old hairstyle, which she had forgone for a newer, more workable braid. She had decided to wear the braid only when she was freely in demon form, because a braid with two buns looked very peculiar. So as she walked through the edges of the lightening forest towards the next town, she had her hair tied in two loops under her ear-buns with pony- tails that hung down to her shoulders. She rather liked the feeling of hair swooping across her shoulders.

Something crunched behind her, and her ear twitched on impulse, dislodging her left stick of death. She swore under her breath and hurriedly rolled her black ears back up into the ever fashionable buns. Suddenly a hand was on her shoulder and she was spun around to face the most breathtakingly beautiful man she had ever seen.

"Uh," she said intelligently.

"Well isn't this interesting," he said softly, reaching up to smooth down some errant black rabbit hair.

Usagi gulped and tried to think about what, exactly, she was planning on doing. Since she didn't think she was going to be able to speak politely for some time yet, she gave a delayed yelp and jumped back.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" she demanded, hand gripping her staff tightly.

He laughed good naturedly and sat down calmly on a fallen tree at the side of the road. Still chuckling to himself, he took out a carefully packed lunch and spread it out on his lap. He grinned up at her, silver hair flashing in the sunlight.

"My wife likes to pack a lot for me," he explained. "Please, excuse me for startling you. At first I was surprised to see such a beautiful young woman traveling through this forest alone, but then I saw your ears and knew that you were a youkai, such as myself. And forgive me for touching your ears- black velvet rabbit ears are said to be immeasurably soft, and I couldn't resist. Please, share my lunch with me," he said with a smile, putting a hand beside him.

Usagi looked at him warily and then sat down on the log, keeping at least three feet between them. She wouldn't trust this man as far as you could throw Elios, which was not far at all because his soft, pampered little head would explode immediately from the pressure being put on it. Imagining this scenario, she snickered ungracefully, and then scratched the back of her head when the man looked at her curiously.

"Does something amuse you?"

Usagi laughed feebly. "Actually, it does. See, back in my world there was this jerk named Elios, and I was thinking about throwing him, and his head exploding from he pressure-" She stopped, and then smiled self- consciously. "Eh, you'd have to know him," she said lamely.

The man shrugged. "I know him. I was wondering why you were thinking about throwing him."

Usagi tripped over her mouth. "Uh," she said again.

He suddenly grinned broadly, showing all of his teeth and giving Usagi the impression he was about to go for her neck. "I like you," he announced. "Which, I hear, is vary rare. So, mystery woman, who are you?"

Usagi copied his earlier shrug. "Dunno for sure. Can't use my real name, from what I've heard. What's your name?"

"What do you think your name should be?" he questioned, ignoring her question.

Irritated, Usagi ripped a chunk of grass out of the ground and began crumbing the clump of dirt at the bottom. "I don't know! I want it to be youkai, though. I'm trying really hard to act like a youkai, and so far it's not working very well."

The man patted her on the back, and then pressed somewhere- she couldn't really feel where. "No worries. Let's see. You're very good at hiding your demon side, so let's call you Hishi-Ma, which I think you've been called before by the expression on your face. Means "Hidden Demon" or something to that effect. My given name is Shiro, and it's a pleasure to meet you, my dear Hishi-chan. Now-"

"Isn't Shiro a dog's name?" Usagi interrupted.

Shiro grinned ruefully. "Hai, it is. I'm a demon-dog, you know. You're a demon-rabbit, as ridiculous as that may sound. Oh, now don't be alarmed if you feel dizzy. You're just going to fall unconscious, and help us get a room tonight-"

And that was the last Usagi heard, because she was collapsed on the ground and seeing nothing but black.
When she woke up, her first thought was that she seemed to be a sleeping traveler. Her second thought was that she felt significantly less dressed than before. Her third thought was that she just might need to kill Shiro. She sat straight up, and looked wildly around.

She seemed to be in a regular room, which was strange. Her clothes were crumpled in a corner of a room alongside another set of clothing. A great sense of looming disaster made itself home in her stomach. It was doubled when she saw the bottles of sake lying discarded on the floor. Almost dreading what she would see, she looked jerkily to the side, and then down.

"Oh no," she moaned, and dropped back down to the sleeping pad.

"Morning sunshine," Shiro said with a grin, opening his eyes. "Great night last night, eh?"

"Aaaaaarrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhhh," Usagi said passionately.

Shiro yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Well that was terribly intelligent of you. I thought you might like to know that you have the honor of being my third wife, since you don't seem to be able to remember much."

Usagi repeated every foul word she knew, and then continued in a language that she made up on the spot to convey to him exactly what her sentiments were. Shiro grinned up at her from where he lay on his back. The sunlight slanted across his face, highlighting the beautiful silver of his hair. His brown eyes danced with good humor and an emotion she wasn't particularly keen to discover. His wide, confident smile stirred something inside of her, and she had a feeling that she was doomed.

Unknown to her, Shiro was making much the same assessment. He saw how the emotions paraded across her face, and how beautiful she was when she was thinking about something. Hell, she was beautiful when she was snoring, and he had a strong suspicion that she'd be beautiful if she was picking her nose. He saw the decision appear on her face, and went in for the kill. Might as well bring her down into the depths of love with him.

"I think you should know that I love you," he said abruptly.

Usagi sighed, all defenses gunned down. She'd follow him to hell. And what was with that? She had only met him yesterday! For Christ's sake, things like love don't happen in a day and a night! They take time!

"I've always had a knack for rushing into things ahead of time," he murmured, brushing hair away from her face.

"I hate you," she muttered.

"I love you too, honey."
They resumed their journey after a short breakfast. Usagi was busy trying to get used to the married life, and Shiro was trying to figure out what to say to his other wives, so they walked for a while in complete silence. There was the sound of their feet crunching over dead leaves that had fallen from the autumn trees and the sound of the birds trilling, but besides that there was no sound at all.

At last Usagi decided that the married life would take time getting used to, so she turned to Shiro, who was mentally writing an elaborate speech for his wives.

"So what did you say to the innkeeper?"

Startled, he jerked his head up and around to her. "What? Oh, I told him that you had been raped in the forest, and that I had come upon them and scared them off. He gave me a free room right away," he said, sounding very pleased with himself. He also sounded a bit apprehensive, which puzzled Usagi for a second, until she laughed.

The tension on his face cleared right away. "Hishi-chan, your laugh does wonders for stress. If I could bottle it, I'd make a fortune," he said with a blinding smile.

It was really too bad that she had spent all of her life looking for this guy, she thought to herself. If she had known that she had to die to get to him, she would have done it sooner. Usagi could see the tell-tale signs of a kiss coming over Shiro's face. Was she really that readable? Apparently she was, she decided as he kissed her again.

They walked on in companionable silence for a while, reveling in the other's company. This was the equivalent of a honeymoon, she thought with great satisfaction. Where would Mamoru have taken her, if they had gotten married? He probably would have taken her somewhere splendid, like Paris, or Rome, or Tahiti, or Maui, or Honolulu, or somewhere romantic in Spain. It would have been terribly publicized, and the world would be following every move she made.

She was suddenly very glad to be a dead person misplaced in time.

"What's bothering you?" Shiro asked quietly.

Usagi decided upon a whim that she would tell him. "See, I'm really from another time in another world. I was this super genius and invented a ton of new things. I was also a super hero, but that was pretty much a teenage thing. I was living in a fashionable apartment with my fiancé Mamoru Chiba, and I was kind of happy. Then I got hit by a car, due to a youkai sent to my world by a being called Naraku. I was killed, and then sent to this world to destroy Naraku and regain life. Only thing is that I'm not so sure if I want to come back to life. I mean, Lucy said that I'd be alive in my own world, my own time, and my own body- just like nothing had happened. I'm not sure I want that anymore."

Shiro absorbed this silently, and then nodded. "So who's this Lucy woman?"

Usagi laughed. "Lucy's his nickname. His real name is Lucifer, and he's quite literally the Devil. He's a great guy if you ignore all of the terrible things he's done, which really makes me wonder why he wants Naraku dead. If Naraku's such an evil guy, why would Lucy want him out of the way?"

"I assume that it's because this Lucifer fellow owes a good person something. Or maybe he's trying to impress someone," he suggested.

Usagi considered. "I suppose that would make sense. Oi! What's that up there?" she gasped as they reached the top of the rather mountain-like hill.

A massive fortress loomed before them, drenched artfully in mist and barricaded by a craggy line of mountains. The sun pierced the mist becomingly, and greenery left large smudges on the scenery, making the castle look like a hidden Eden.

"That," Shiro said with great satisfaction, "is my home."

He began to walk again, and it took her quite some time to gather her wits and jog after him. Shiro seemed unconcerned with the huge mountain range in their path, and simply strode along with his usual confidence. She studied him from behind, and liked what she saw. His facial features were delicate, but not feminine exactly. His narrowed brown eyes had tiny gold streaks beside them, and there was a rather large black crescent moon sitting perched on his forehead. He was dressed richly, but not ridiculously so. He looked like he was a traveling man with a purpose in mind. Usagi wasn't entirely sure what she looked like, but she was fairly certain she wasn't nearly as impressive as Shiro.

In fact, Usagi was being hard on herself. While she was still fumbling around with her staff, she had developed a peculiar way of gripping it that made others think that she knew how to use it. She could also swing it into position with relative ease, and she carried it like it was an extension of her arm. These were all marks of a good staff wielder, which was too bad since she couldn't figure out how the hell to fight with it.

She had also gained a way of walking that she had picked up from Shiro. The style was modified of course, and so Usagi managed to walk like she knew where she was going. Considering her stature and gender, most people found her pretty intimidating also. It wasn't that she was particularly forceful or anything. It was just that whenever she went anywhere she always kept her voice even and measured, and her eyes half lidded. It gave the impression that she didn't rive a rat's ass about any of them and that impression carried rather well.

Usagi was also becoming somewhat less of a klutz. Mountain climbing did that to you, and so did rebounding off of trees to get where you want to go quickly. If she was always falling she would probably manage to get herself killed, which would be impossible and most likely terribly inconvenient.

She stopped her train of thought, and then pursued another. What would happen if she did die? Say someone blew a hole through her chest. What the hell was she supposed to do then, eh? Cover it up? Die? She suddenly found herself thinking that it would be good for Lucifer to come and answer some of her questions.

He wouldn't though, she thought with a silent sigh. He'd laugh at her and explain at length how the challenge of risking your life was part of the whole experience for her. She would then demand to know why she couldn't use the near death traumas she had when she was Sailor Moon, and he'd give her a martini and get her blissfully drunk.

Lucifer was a highly effective Devil.

"You're thinking again."

Usagi flinched, and then laughed. "I stand accused. So how do you think your wives are going to accept me?"

Shiro grimaced. "I'm really not all that sure, to tell you the truth Hishi- koi. The two get along very well. The tall one with the red hair is Suzuku, and the other is named Hina. Hina is a very nice woman, and she's pregnant with my second son, who's is due to be born sometime soon. Suzuku on the other hand just gave birth to a boy, who she named Sesshomaru. Beautiful boy," he said with a grin.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, she smiled nervously and looked up at the approaching castle. Could she measure up to the two other women- one of which was a mother of Shiro's child? Probably not. But she could try. Suddenly Shiro leaned close to her and slipped an arm around her slim waist.

"You need to work on your poker face. I can read every thought that crosses through your mind. I also thought you should know that you're pregnant," he said with a soft smile.

Usagi's heart fell headlong into her stomach, and then snapped back up into its rightful place, where it ran wildly around in circles. "A-are you sure? I'm p-pregnant?"

He nodded and took her hand. "I hope you're not upset. I thought you would be happy," he explained worriedly.

Usagi nodded faintly. "I'll be ecstatic once I get over the shock. Hold on, my heart is still trying to dive bomb my stomach-"

"Shiro. How pleasant of you to finally return," murmured a voice.

"And with another wife in tow, yes?"

Shiro and Usagi stopped in their tracks, and Usagi's heart passed out. Before them were the two most beautiful women she had ever seen in her life. One had lustrous black hair and the fine features of an educated lady. The other was fiercely beautiful, like a burning bush of rubies. They were reclining on a misty white cloud, and their eyes were solely on Usagi's new husband. Shiro quailed.

"Hello beautiful ladies," he began.

"Oh quiet, you!" Suzuku suddenly snapped. "You can climb into the castle for all I care! You there- what's your name?"

Usagi's mind wheeled for a moment, and then she got a grip on herself. "Um, my name's Hishi-Ma. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Lady Suzuku and Lady Hina. Shiro has been toting your praises since we met."

Hina laughed lightly and held a hand out to Usagi. "You're not the usual type he'd pick for a wife. Please, come with us and we'll show you your rooms and get you settled in. One must always be ready for everything. Isn't that true, Shiro-koi?"

Shiro frowned. "Come on, girls! I wasn't gone for that long!"

Suzuku pulled the unresisting Usagi onto the cloud with them and instantly rose into the air. "We got married again during your absence, love. We gave them rooms inside the castle, and there's one that would like to meet Hishi-san here very much."

Shiro growled something out, but the three women were already zooming through the air. Usagi was sure they made a very impressive sight, if one was ultimately concerned with that, which she wasn't.

"Did you really get married to someone else?" she shouted over the wind.

Hina laughed again. "Do you think we could? The two of us love that fool too much to ever marry anyone else. Usagi, since you're the third and since he's entrusted you with his arrow, we're going to need to perform a ceremony on you."

Usagi gurgled intelligently. Why did things like to happen to her? Was she a "weird incident" magnet? What was wrong with her? And to top it all off, she seemed to go into these things willingly! There had to be some crime associated with that! This time it was Suzuku who laughed.

"Your face is ridiculously easy to read! Look, here we are! The layer of the fearsome demon dog and his three formidable wives," she said with a prideful grin as they landed on a smooth landing spot.

Usagi was still having coping difficulties. Everything had changed so quickly! It had been what, July when she died? And then she was suddenly shown that she was a demon, and then she was thrust into a world where she suddenly found herself pregnant and expecting! Jesus, she was only eighteen! Still a kid! Only just able to vote!

Suzuku was saying something to her, Usagi belatedly realized. "Oh, sorry! I wasn't paying attention," Usagi said sheepishly.

The red haired demon opened her mouth to snap at her, but Hina beat her to words. "That's alright Hishi-chan. I understand that everything must be very hard for you to accept. It all must be such a shock. Now, let me explain about this ceremony. Remember the arrow that Shiro gave you?"

Usagi nodded slowly, not seeing where this was all leading.

Hina smiled consolingly and led Usagi into the castle. The inside was actually pretty nice, considering its location. There were large skylights blasted into the ceiling, walled off my gauzy barriers of magic. Tapestries hung from the walls, and there was a large glowing ball of light suspended from the ceiling by a silver chain.

Suzuku and Hina completely ignored the splendor and led her further into their home. They walked briskly towards a tapestry, lifted it, and walked though the yawning hole in front of them. Usagi felt a tingle race over her skin as she passed through the entrance, and realized that she had just passed through another barrier.

They exited the long, dark hallway and entered a large, well light room. There was a stone altar in the center, and Usagi got the uncomfortable feeling that she was going to be spending a lot of time there. Suzuku and Hina each slipped strange necklaces on over their heads and turned towards the increasingly nervous young demon.

"That arrow is something very special. He entrusts it to only the one he thinks can take care of it. That arrow binds a person to his soul. If he lives, you live. If he dies, you will be sent into a deep, deep sleep, only to be awakened by true loves' kiss, which is highly unlikely," Hina said regretfully.

"The other way," Suzuku continued after giving Hina a glare, "is that some powerful artifact must wake you from your sleep. We all know you're in the wrong time, Hishi-Ma Usagi," she said softly.

"And we know that you're here for vengeance. So when your time for revenge comes, you will be woken up. This is also very improbable, because revenge has a peculiar way of slipping by your guard," Hina said with a bitter smile.

"Is there a plus side?" Usagi asked weakly.

Suzuku nodded, now seeming very businesslike. "Of course there is. You will be very, very close to him. You will most likely be able to read his thoughts, and will have a direct tie with this castle and his bones, wherever they will lay. You will also be highly respected as the other fourth of his soul; and even more as the dominant quarter."

Usagi frowned. "But what about you two? Where will this leave you? Why haven't you done this ceremony on yourselves? Why me?"

Hina took Usagi's hand and squeezed it. "Shiro is a strange man in the fact that he makes room in his heart for as many people want in. There will always be a place for us. As to why we haven't done this on ourselves, it's because we don't have the room in our souls to fit the spell into. You have an unusually enormous heart and soul, and that makes you a perfect candidate. Do you understand?"

Usagi nodded, beginning to see the pattern Lucifer had laid out for her. Every day during her quest for Naraku would be a trial. A test of spirit. A measuring of faith. He was setting obstacles in her path and forcing her to learn things that she never would have in the other world. She knew the tests hadn't even begun yet- hell, Kikyo hadn't even been born as far as she could tell.

Suzuku and Hina were looking at her expectantly, awaiting her answer. Usagi was surprised that she hadn't given it to them already. Marshalling her courage, she nodded again.

"I'll do it."
The ceremony itself was remarkably insignificant in the fact that Usagi didn't feel any major difference, except that she felt a different heart beating in her chest. It was really distracting at first, having two heartbeats, but that was nothing compared to the bubbling in her soul she felt constantly. It was the spirit of the mountain castle stirring inside of her, and it was one very creepy feeling.

Usagi wandered aimlessly around the mansion for a few hours, familiarizing herself with the servants and the layout, and getting used to the feeling of being pregnant and having all of the new things that had happened to her in the last few days. A great shout filled the hall, and then the sound of doors slamming.

The blonde peeked over the banister to see Shiro opening and slamming doors wildly. Someone giggled behind her, and Usagi spun to find Hina returning a large painting to its original position. The stately woman crossed over to the banister and looked down on Shiro. She giggled again.

"He's looking for our husbands," Hina whispered with a muffled giggle.

Usagi lifted to the sleeve of her beautiful new kimono to her mouth to hide her wide grin. It was too funny. In his rage, Shiro failed to notice the carpet on the floor and tripped on it. Suzuku materialized and caught him in the nick of time. He recovered from the shock quickly and began to rage at her.

"WHERE ARE THOSE BASTARDS? I'LL RIP THEIR THROATS OUT! I'LL-"

"Love, we were joking. Go to your room and take a cold shower," Suzuku suggested calmly before vanishing.

Shiro stood there frozen in stupefied amazement, and then lashed out at the air. He danced around lividly for quite a while and then slid down the wall to the floor. He shook his head, and chuckled.

"Women," he muttered.

He couldn't for the life of him figure out why several pieces of jewelry suddenly rained down on him from above.