Sympathy for the Devil

Chapter Three

"Ain't no Sunshine"

"What would you do for love?" Usagi asked softly.

Beside her, Shiro grunted and tightened his grip around her waist.  "Well," he said huskily, "I guess it would depend on the circumstances, I guess.  What about you, hmm?  What do you think you'd do for love?"

Usagi snuggled closer to his warm body.  "Ummm, I don't think I need to think about it, since you're right here," she said finally.

He laughed, and she looked crossly at his heaving chest.  Once she was certain that he had quite finished with the laughter, she ran her hand across his chest and then laid her head down.  His hands found her hair, and she closed her eyes to the soothing sensation of his fingers running through her blonde hair, which had grown much longer in the months that she had been there.

Many things had changed since she had been accidentally dropped into her current world.  She had been a teenage genius with a promising future— but she had not experienced the supreme happiness that accompanied true love.  Since she had become a demon, she had found herself changed into the kind of woman that she had always admired.  Incidentally, she was also the woman that all of her former friends would have hated… and feared.

The life Usagi lived now… it had demands.  It demanded strength from her.  Agility.  Poise.  Grace.  Wits.  Love.  And, sometimes most importantly, a sense of humor.  She found that she rather liked life next to Shiro and her best friends Hina and Suzuku, and… and the life growing inside of her.

As if sensing her thoughts, it kicked out in irritation, making her wince.  Shiro was instantly fully awake and massaging her palm.

"You doing alright?"

And the one downside, she thought darkly.  She was constantly being pampered to the point of suffocation.  Suzuku had confided to her at one point that Shiro had gotten to be so unbearable that she had been forced to retreat to a mountain cave midwife to live out the rest of her pregnancy in peace.  Hina, on the other hand, had no such qualms to being pampered.  In fact, she took full advantage of it, and would have been considerably disappointed at the loss of comfort if she hadn't been lavishing nonstop attention on her new baby boy.  The child was adorable, Usagi had to admit.  The child was also the polar opposite of Suzuku's full demon child.

Inu Yasha (the newborn baby of Hina) was…  Usagi searched in her mind for the right word.  Well, he was like a normal baby.  In the three months that he had been alive, he had aged approximately to the age of three, no doubt because of the atmosphere surrounding the mountain fortress.  He had soft white hair that had a maddening tendency of fluffing out, driving his blonde aunt completely insane.  He was already arrogant and spoiled, thanks to Hina, and had a total aversion to any kind of learning.

In contrast, Sesshomaru was cold and silent.  Eight years to Inu Yasha's three, Sesshomaru was already more learned than Usagi had been in junior high.  His silver hair fell straight as sticks to his chin, and his bangs framed his tiny crescent moon perfectly.  His cold eyes stared silently out from under those bangs, and they already sent shivers down Usagi's spine.  It was like he knew about her.  He knew about what would happen to her.  He knew about the arrow.  He knew about her past.  It felt like he was always watching her.  Everywhere she went, she could feel his eyes on her face. 

That was what it felt like, anyways.  It was unlikely that he was watching her, and it was impossible for him to know about her past— he would have to have spent a great deal of time around Usagi, which he hadn't.  He was already beginning long excursions outward into the world, which filled Usagi with an endless amount of worry.  Neither Shiro nor Suzuku seemed concerned with it however, so Usagi kept her worries to herself.

"Hishi?"

Shiro's voice broke through her thoughts, suddenly reminding her that he had asked her a question quite some time ago.  She rolled over onto her side, facing towards him.

"Just thinking about pregnancy and wondering why the hell you never told me that demons had such a fast pregnancy," she lied.  Well, at least it wasn't quite a lie.  Pregnancy *had* been on her mind; just not *her* pregnancy.

Shiro laughed sheepishly.  "Sorry, love.  I had completely forgotten that you're only a new demon.  You put up such a convincing act that even I forget sometimes.  But…. You're still a terrible liar.  So why don't you tell me what's really on your mind?"

Usagi grimaced.  She had never been able to get a lie past the damn man.  "I was thinking about Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru, and how different they were."

The man next to her coughed, and then smiled.  "What are you thinking of naming yours?"

An embarrassed smile crept onto her face.  "Well I don't really know anything about this place's names, or what names are suitable for a demon… but my favorite names are Felicity and Lana," she said quickly.  Then she closed her eyes, preparing herself for the inevitable onslaught of laughter.

Not to her surprise, the laughter did come.  "Trust you to pick names like that.  Felicity and Lana… oddly enough, I like them.  Do you have any male names of choice?"

Usagi was taken aback— she hadn't even thought about male names.  "W… well to tell you the truth, no one in my family has ever had a girl.  It's kind of a tradition in the royal line…" she muttered, trailing off.

He raised an eyebrow.  "Royal line?"

Usagi's cheeks went bright red.  "Uhhh, nothing.  Never mind.  It doesn't matter," she said, noting Shiro's curious expression with growing dismay.

"No, I think it *does* matter," he said, moving onto his stomach and propping himself up on his elbows.  "Pray tell," he said encouragingly.

"Baby names," Usagi said firmly.  "I like the name Seil for a boy.  Seil or Andrew."

Shiro's eyebrows drew together.  "Shay…el?  What an odd name.  Again, much like you to choose something like that.  Definitely, however, not "Andrew".  It's much to commonplace to ever name one of our children that.  I approve of the names Felicity and Shael.  And Lana."

He groaned and scrubbed at his face.  "I hope you have triplets," he mumbled into his hands.

Usagi went to sleep minutes later with an intense feeling of satisfaction as she replayed his hurt yelp as her palm connected with his cheek.  Triplets my ass, she thought sourly.

There was a soft thud.  Usagi tensed up immediately, senses straining to hear something else.  A weight dropped onto the bed right next to her, and her eyes flew open to find Inu Yasha crouching there.  He watched her with those sharp eyes of his, measuring her every move.  He looked uncertain as to whether he was allowed to be there or not.  Wanting immediately to soothe his fears, she reached out and touched him on the head.

"Are you okay?" she whispered, trying to see better through the all encompassing darkness.

He shifted uncertainly.  "I had a bad dream," he admitted finally.

Hiding a small smile, she drew him into a hug.  "Do you want to talk about it?"

The small boy was silent for a long time, and then he nodded.  "It was really dark," he mumbled into her shirt.  "And you and Mommy and Aunt Suzuku and Daddy and Sesshomaru were all there.  Daddy was yelling something at you, and you looked mad.  Then you started crying.  Then Daddy looked sad, and then he disappeared.  Then you were still there, but you looked see-through.  I think there was a man standing behind you, holding onto your shoulders.  Then Aunt Suzuku left.  Then Sesshomaru wasn't there.  And then Mommy went away.  I was all by myself, and then these two little girls came up to me, but I ran away from them, and—"

He stopped, and dug his fingers into Usagi's skin.  "Promise you won't leave," he pleaded.

Usagi wrapped her arms around him.  "I won't ever leave you.  I love you all too much.  Now let's go to sleep, 'kay?"

Inu Yasha looked much better.  "I'll go back to my room now.  Sesshomaru will yell at me if I'm not there in the morning," he explained as he walked to the door.  Then he paused, looked a bit undecided, and then ran over to her, pecked her on the cheek, and ran out of the room.

Smiling softly to herself, she nestled back down into the large bed.  He was a cute kid, she thought before oblivion claimed her.

The next morning, Usagi awoke to Shiro's concerned face hovering anxiously above her.  Perplexed, her eyebrows drew together as she frowned at him.  What on earth was he staring at her for?  She reached up and tried furtively to brush his face away.

"Are you alright?" he asked tremblingly.

That was it.  "Oh for the love of God, Shiro!  This pregnancy isn't that difficult!"

He shook his head and took one of her hands nervously.  "It's not the pregnancy, love.  Sometime last night you grew wings, and you began screaming.  You don't remember?"

Surprised, Usagi sat up and reached over her shoulder to finger the coal black feathers sprouting from her shoulder blades.  They were soft too… but, luckily, not as soft as her ears.  With that thought, she reached up to smooth the velvet hair on her ears down.

"That man must have done something to you, then," Shiro said finally, after one long, searching look into her face.

Usagi paused.  "What man?"

Shiro flushed embarrassedly.  "He didn't give us his name.  I wouldn't let him in, so he knocked me out.  You sure you're alright?"

The blonde sat up straighter.  The only man who would give a rat's ass about her and who had the power to knock out Shiro was…

"That son of a bitch," Usagi said quietly.  "Shiro, did he have black hair and eyes?  Did he act like a total asshole?  Did he make any weird comments about the Rolling Stones?"

Shiro, utterly bewildered by this point, nodded.  Usagi exploded off the bed angrily.  Well.  She *would* have exploded off the bed if her belly hadn't been so goddamn swollen.  She more like… pulled her way out of bed by way of Shiro's arm and waddled irately toward the window.

"You know who it was?" Shiro asked curiously.

Usagi, caught up in her ranting, didn't hear him.  Her mind was shaking with trauma.  So Lucifer had known she was here the entire time.  He had deliberately placed her in this time, regardless of the fact that Kikyo and Naraku weren't even born yet!  But why?  What was the use of that?   Why hadn't he just placed her in the right time for her revenge?  Did he want her to learn something?  Why wouldn't he tell her what was going on?

"Hishi?" Shiro asked softly.

Usagi whirled on him.  "Yes I know who it was!  It was Lucifer, that asshole who promised me revenge and then placed me in the wrong time!  I can't believe he did that!  And he won't even contact me about anything!  I don't know why I'm here, I don't know how I'm supposed to get my revenge, and I don't even know what it is that I'm supposed to be doing!"

Shiro looked taken aback, and then angry.  "So you're telling me that you're pissed because he just dropped you here with me?  That you can't believe he's leaving you alone with your husband and child?  You're angry because he's leaving you in peace?  Why can't you just leave be?" he roared furiously, eyes blazing.

Stunned at his outburst, Usagi's initial reaction was to withdraw, but something inside made her rise to the confrontation.  "I AM HERE FOR REVENGE!  I DON'T WANT TO REST IN PEACE!  I WANT TO GET MY REVENGE!" she yelled, tears springing to her eyes.

"And what then, hmm?  You are reborn in your own place and time, with your boyfriend?"

Usagi's eyes dropped to the floor.

There was a long silence from Shiro.  When he spoke, his voice was cold and empty.  "Fine then.  I'm leaving," he said shortly, and vanished.  Usagi's eyes stayed at the place where Shiro's face had been, and then she burst into tears.

She heard the door open, and looked up quickly in hope that it was Shiro.  When she saw Hina, her face crumpled and fresh tears rolled down her face.  Hina made a small noise in her throat and gathered Usagi up in a tender hug.

"Shhhhh," Hina said soothingly.

Usagi's small frame was wracked by another gasping sob.  "Oh god Hina-chan….  That was our first f… f…fight," she said, dissolving into more tears.  "And what makes it even worse," she whispered hollowly, "is that I meant every word.  I want my revenge so badly… but I love Shiro so much…"

Hina's arms around Usagi tightened, and Usagi wept into her embrace with will.

A few miles away from his castle (which had recently been taken over by women—all of whom had been pregnant recently), Shiro kicked a foot at a clod of dirt.  Women.  They were so damn unpredictable.  He had pretty much figured out Suzuku and Hina— Suzuku wanted passion, Hina wanted to be pampered, and Usagi….

He was kidding himself if he thought that he had Usagi down to a science.  He had been pretty confident when they had first wed— what she wanted was unconditional love, a devoted husband, and someone warm to hold.  But then he had gotten to know her, and he belatedly realized that this third wife of his was multi-layered.  She wanted to be pampered, but not smothered.  She was a wonderful, loving wife, but she wanted to kill some man who hadn't even been created yet.  She was fiercely independent... but needed people around her.  She was prone to explosive fits of rage, but hated fighting.  So he couldn't do one thing without---

That was about when the pain split through his head.  He went to his knees clutching his head, gasping for breath.  Red filled his mind, and then the pain pierced him again.  Distant agony shuddered through his bones, leaving him lying on the ground sucking in a hard-won breath.

What the hell was going on?  The wave of pain rolled over him again, and again, and again--  it seemed to go on forever.  Wondering feverishly whether he was going to die here like this— from some kind of mental attack, he spent hours wondering if he would ever see his wives or children again.

Suddenly release from the pain was granted to him.  He staggered unevenly to his feet, and leaned heavily against a tree on the road beside him.  There was a moment of painlessness, and then a foreign hollow feeling swept through him.  Then mind-numbing grief washed through him.

At that time, something occurred to demon.  Usagi.

He burst into the main foyer and looked around wildly.  Seeing no one, he sprinted down to the infirmary.  Sure enough, Suzuku was sitting in front of the door.  From behind the wood he could hear Usagi sobbing.  He skidded to a stop in front of the door.  Suzuku didn't look up.

"Is she in there?" he asked breathlessly.

Suzuku nodded her head mutely, still refusing to meet his eyes.  It was about then that he realized that something was wrong.  He sat back on his heels and took the hands of his first wife.

"Suzu-koi.  What happened?"

She finally raised her head, and he was appalled to see tears dripping slowly down her cheeks.  Her hand was covering her mouth tightly.  She took her hand away, opened her mouth, and then snapped it shut again as a new wave of tears poured from her eyes.  The woman removed her hand and grabbed a fistful of the fabric that made her skirt.

"Miscarriage," she whispered finally.

The work was like a sledgehammer to his head.  Dead.  His baby… was dead.  Shiro felt unfamiliar tears rise inside of him, but he forced them back down.  He had to be strong.

The door opened, and Suzuku climbed to her feet, turning anxiously to greet Hina, who closed the door softly behind her.  The brown-haired woman stood still for a moment, and then turned to face them.  Her eyes were red from crying as well.

"She's cried herself to sleep," she said quietly.

"What happened?" Sesshomaru demanded in chorus with Inu Yasha, appearing in front of his mother.  "What are those?" he inquired of his aunt's tears.

Suzuku tried vainly to push them away.  "They're called tears.  It's called crying.  When people are very sad, this is what happens," she tried to explain.  "It's like sadness boils up inside, and you have to let it out."

He looked critically at her tears.  "So… why are you… crying?" he asked, trying out the new word.

"Well," Suzuku said with great difficulty, "you know how your Aunt Hishima was going to have a baby?"

"Yes…." Sesshomaru and Inu Yasha said together  Sesshomaru eyed his mother warily, unsure of where this was going.  What did Hishima have to do with sadness, and the baby?

"The baby's dead," she whispered, evoking another onslaught of tears.

Sesshomaru fell back to reflect on this, but Inu Yasha wasn't done.  "They were twins, right?  I felt them!  Were they girls or boys?"

Shiro looked up sharply.  "Twins?" he echoed hoarsely.

Hina dropped her head.  Suzuku looked away.  Shiro felt a new pang of sadness.  Usagi would have gotten to use two of her favorite names.

"Were they boys?" Inu Yasha asked again, not understanding why Shiro had such a reaction to the news that they were twins.

"She had baby girls," Hina said finally.

"Felicity and Lana," Shiro said quietly.  "That's what she wanted to name them."

Silence reigned for a long time.

Usagi did not recover from the loss of her children.  Shiro, unable to break through her shell of grief, left to go destroy a rampaging dragon.  Unable to completely destroy the dragon, he settled by sealing it away in eternal slumber.  Having used all his strength to battle the demon, Shiro died.  Usagi immediately fell into a deep sleep that Suzuku and Hina were unable to rouse her from.  Seeing no other choice, they traveled to Shiro's gravesite and suspended Usagi inside one of his bones.  As a result of Shiro's death, the mountain castle crumbled away, leaving nothing but a pile of rocks.  Hina took Inu Yasha to her human town, where she struggled to raise him on her own.  Suzuku went back to the demon world alone, leaving Sesshomaru to himself.

Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru grew.  Inu Yasha met the woman Kikyo, and the fated events followed, ending in Kikyo's death.  Inu Yasha remained bound to the tree for fifty years, until Kagome Higurashi pulled the arrow from his chest.  The Shikon no Tama shattered, and spread to the ends of earth.  Kagome and Inu Yasha set out on their quest, eventually leading them to the confrontation over the sword in Inu Yasha's father's tomb.

And then inside Shiro's bones life stirred for the first time in fifty years.

Author's Note:

The dumb in-between chapter!  It's BETWEEN when Usagi is happily married and when Usagi… well, she essentially goes through withdrawl.  She can't handle the knowledge of the deaths of her children, and that grief added to the shock of waking up fifty some years later WITHOUT the love of your entire existence….  Expect to see her acting… oddly.  Searching for… love, I guess.  *shrugs*  Don't blame me.  That's just how it happened. 

NOW FOR THE LONG AWAITED REVIEWER'S THING!!!!!!!

Kaeoke: Eh heh… well see I was grounded when I started it… and I dunno.  I've heard that Inutaisho is the title… name… gah!  I'll actually have to look it up.  Nooooo!

Gackt Camui:  AAAAAHHHHH!!!  Thanks for your review!!!  Heehee, I'm glad you like Shiro… but then you won't have liked this chapter very much.  I didn't like writing it either.  *pouts*  I liked him too.  AND LUCIFER!  *glomp*  Doncha just wanna… like… let him get you drunk? 

Sugarhigh maniac:  Whoa… tone down on the sugar…  *backs away nervously* 

Kage-Shadow-of-Darkness:  YAY!!  I threw you for a LOOP!  Heh… I like Shiro tooooo…. But now he's DEAD!  *weeps pathetically*

Sapphireskies:  EVERYONE LOVES SHIRO!  NOW I FEEL BAD FOR KILLING HIM!

Lilaclight:  GLAD YOU LIKED IT!  YAY!  Have fun reading my other fabulous story!  *cough*

Anknee/Kitteen:  You didn't like Shiro?  That's so sad….  Well, you'll probably like the following chapters.  HE'S NOT IN THEM.  *tries to contain tears*

Dee-chan:  *holds Shiro protectively* YOU CAN'T HURT HIM!  Well, no worries.  Usagi gets a lot meaner now.  Sort of.  I dunno.  Just wait and see.  AND I LIKED IT WHEN SHE DIED, TOO!  Not in the morbid sense or anything.  *laughs*  And of COURSE she has a new love interest after Shiro.  She has like… fifteen billion.  Well… not quite.  That's why you need to VOTE!

Ladylove: HAHAHAHAHA!  I'LL NEVER TELL!  You'll have to SEE who wakes her up!  *whispers* No true love, sorry.  We've got SHARD action. *end whisper*

Chide:  JESUS PETE!  You and Pern should talk, you guys both voted for Usa/Kouga… and those are the only votes so far!!!!!  VOTE, DAMN YOU PEOPLE!!! 

Celestial DreamBlaze: I love your reviews!  And yes, I agree!  The baddies are most… tasty.  *grins*  So do I hear a vote for Kouga?  (And of COURSE you love Lucy!  *laughs madly*)

Oracale: Okies, the wing transformation is a thing she got from her mother's side.  Wings pop out of her.  She can FLY!  Whee.  She can do that anyways, but it looks cool when she has black wings.  And the black streaks at her eyes… youkai markings.  Thanks for the review!

Additional thanks tooooo:

Sailor_Kaio_Cannon, jen, F.A. Star Hawk, Ginzou Tuski, dragon-wing3, Moon-n-Universe-Goddess, amily, Chrys-chan, Shirley, Usa Yui, Sage: the Dark Dryad, Moon Ryoko, celesmoonprincess, Lhia, Ayden, Pern, Luna2, Crystal Raindrop, Invisible Rain, SilverQuick, Angellus Lee, Celtic Guardian Gurl, and Zpan Sven!!!!