The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

Chapter 10: Safe

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent.

She looked into his eyes, grief darkening her eyes to a deep russet, "It wasn't you, it was the witch. Please forgive me."

            "This is all very sweet." Teruhi spat venomously, "but I've spent enough time here." With that Teruhi flew at the two pups. With a force unrivaled by any of the wolves, Ookamishin was shoved out of the way as Teruhi grabbed Michera around the waist and took off with her.

            However, Ookamishin was not the only thing caught by the blast, the entire clearing was blown to bits, including his father's body. Ookamishin lay, bloodied and mangled against a boulder, he looked up in time to see the witch fly off with Michera unconscious in her arms. As his vision faded he whispered, "I'm sorry too, because.. I could never…forgive…you… Michera…"

            The first rays of dawn were visible over the distant horizon hidden by the dense trees overhead. The fire had been reduced to softly glowing embers, which were easily blown away with the morning breeze. Michera let out a strangled sob as the tears, which had gradually been gathering in her golden eyes as she told the tale of her taking from her family, finally spilled. She sobbed softly as she collapsed into Sesshoumaru's side in tears. Sesshoumaru, who was completely unprepared for such a show of emotions tentatively held her as she cried all the tears she'd been collecting over the years away from her dear brothers.

            Sesshoumaru was in complete shock; having had his emotions in freeze lock for near a century now. Michera completely disregarded his discomfort with her show of emotions and instead burrowed her face into her hard shoulders. The camp was pretty mush silent, Sango could easily relate to her pain of loss and separation from her family. Miroku knew better than to try to pull something at the moment given that if he did manage to anger one of the demons, he wouldn't live very long after that. Shippo and Rin had long since fallen into a peaceful slumber sometime during the night, and now the warm rays of dawn stretched into the camp and warmed the frozen heart of the demon lord to the point that he actually lifted his arm, his right arm, given that his left arm was gone, and held Michera closer to him for comfort. From that action he heard a defeated sigh and sniffle and Michera began to calm down.

            Now Kagome was always a very emotional girl, and seeing to stoic Sesshoumaru comforting his sister, and Inuyasha just remain sitting as arrogantly as always just pissed her off. "Inuyasha," She asked softly, "Aren't you going to comfort your little sister too?"

            "Feh!" Inuyasha huffed. "I don't see why she's crying, stupid wench, just like you, crying over every little thing. And she's a demon, she should just suck it up!"

            This comment made Kagome's blood boil. "She's your baby sister!! Don't you feel just a little sad for all that she's been through?!!? Don't you care at all that she's okay!!! …. GGRRRR, SIT!!!"

            And so Inuyasha face went to have a meeting with the ground. A few seconds later, Inuyasha jumped back up onto his feet with a vengeance. "Damn it, Bitch!!!" he roared into her face. "What the hell was that for?!!"

            Little tears began to collect in Kagome's eyes as Inuyasha yelled his fury at her. " How can you be so cold?"

            "Damn it bitch, don't cry!" Inuyasha proclaimed as Kagome began to cry. "Shit, Sesshoumaru, will you just hand my sister to me?"

            "No." he answered evenly.

            "No? NO?? WHY THE HELL NOT!?!?!"

            "Because she's asleep." Inuyasha face faulted as he turned to face to his brother and indeed find Michera curled up in his and her tail on his lap, her breathing steady and quieted with sweet and peaceful slumber.

            Very far away, approximately five miles north of the camp where Inuyasha and co. were resting up after a long night of catching up, Ookamishin and his cousin Kouga were also making camp, or as far as camps go for demons, just sitting in a few trees they thought were comfortable enough. So, there were the two wolves sitting in neighboring trees completely silent as the sun completely rose over the distant horizon. Sunlight streamed through the trees' foliage, yet the wolves remained in shadow, completely hidden from even each other save for the stray light that reflected form their canine eyes.

            For the fifth time in the last half hour, Kouga growled under his breath, anxious to question his cousin he had only recently recovered from god knows where. Ookamishin had been lost for nearly sixty years from the pack he was rightfully leader of, the elders had chased him away when his father was defeated by a mere child, and have only now accepted him because they all dead, killed by Naraku's demon spawn, Kagura. The few that remained of his pack were willing to accept Ookamishin as their leader, since Kouga wanted to settle down and claim Kagome, but that was an entirely different story. At present, Ookamishin had only just returned but the morning before, and had then left to find the girl he identified as the demon bride. However, what bugged Kouga most was that Ookamishin was the only one who knew that the demon bride had been chosen. Him and only him, but how would he know before any other lord of warrior, and where he had been lost for so long?

            "You're beginning to annoy me, cousin" a stoic calm voice pierced the silence.

            "W what do you m mean?" Kouga stuttered. He feared his cousin for near the same reason the great Lord Sesshoumaru was feared, for his mercilessness and cold heart, both of which he seemed to have acquired in his absence from the pack after his father's death.

            "You're incessant stirring and growling. If you have something you want to say, just say it." Ookamishin said, never once altering his tone of voice.

            "Oh, damn, you weren't supposed to notice… Well, my apologies, my lord," Kouga faked in an honorable voice.

            "Quit your babbling, Kouga, and don't call me lord, it pisses me off. Just ask me what you wanted to say before I take away your only chance to do so." Ookamishin cut in.

            Kouga let out a suppressed breath and began once more. " Where have you been for the past sixty years?"  Kouga could see his cousin in the tree across from his, and he just barely caught the flash of pain that appeared in his eyes. Obviously, Ookamishin still had a lot of unfiltered pain from his past he had yet to face.

            "You want to know where I've been?" he asked, his voice betraying nothing of the pain that had just subsided from his brilliant green eyes. When he saw Kouga nod, he jumped from the tree he was in down to the forest floor below. Kouga soon followed, landing soundlessly by Ookamishin's side.  The two wolves began to walk away, one silent in recollection, the other in suspenseful waiting. They walked for a while, parallel to the golden star that was the sun that rose to their right, reaching high for the endless blue of the sky. After walking for a while Ookamishin stated, "I was never anywhere, for more than a few days that is."

            Kouga was startled by his younger cousin's abrupt start to speaking. He had begun to think that he would completely disregard his question and was taking him to a nice place to kill him, or something along those lines. "Why didn't you ever come back?" Kouga asked, his voiced pained as he recalled a childhood long past when he played by his young cousin's side, several years older than his cousin, Ookamishin used to gaze up at Kouga in high respect, as though he was invincible.  Ookamishin stayed silent under Kouga's gaze, as though if he made a sound, his cousin's stare would pierce all that remained of his defenses and kill his stoic facade.

            Ookamishin took a deep breath, steadying himself for the torrent emotion that was to come, All I have to do is remain calm, just breathe deeply and hide it all, just hold it in. "Didn't they ever tell you?" he asked, his voice betraying nothing of his inner turmoil.  He turned in order to face Kouga,  just in time to see him shake his head in confusion. "When my father lost to the daughter of the Demon Lord of the West, he was exiled, as was I, and then killed by the witch who controlled him and the pack. You remember those days, right? When that witch, Teruhi, would command every soul within the pack, rule our every whim, and order us around like slaves?" With an affirmative nod from Kouga he continued once more, "Well, she didn't want us, she wanted the demon lord's daughter, the daughter who survived her most powerful curse, possessed vast amounts of power, a supposed gift from the demon lord's first wife, and also a pure soul, unaffected by any sort of evil."

            "You mean that half-breed girl that was with the dog-turd?"

            "Yes, she is the Demon Bride, the girl of legend who will grant unsurpassable power to he who becomes her mate."

            "Wait a minute." Kouga interrupted. "Do you mean she was made the demon bride by Teruhi?"

            "No, she was born the demon bride, and she survived the curse because of it."

            "Wow…." Kouga whispered in awe.

            "To answer your question," Ookamishin stated, "For the past fifty years, I've had been trying to break into Teruhi's fortress and kill the demon bride. However, I never succeeded in killing her."

            "What about the witch?" Kouga asked.

            "After my father died, and I was exiled, she dismissed the pack, and tried to kill me. She left with the Demon bride, leaving me half dead in the fields below. When I healed and tried to go after her, the Demon Bride would always find me first, and use the spells Teruhi taught her to keep me away. Before you ask why, I'll answer. When my father died, she asked my forgiveness, but I did not give it. Therefore, whenever I came after her, she would still try to gain my forgiveness by protecting me from the witch. When she failed, I would be left fighting the witch, and usually barely getting away alive. It all ended a few months ago, she took advantage of Teruhi's attempts to gather the shikon shards, and killed her when she returned from one of her jewel searching excursions, and escaped before I could get to her."

            Kouga was nodding, as though he understood. "Anymore questions?" Ookamishin asked.

            "Just two." Kouga responded. As Ookamishin rolled his eyes, Kouga grinned and asked, "Why'd you kiss her?"

            With that question, Ookamishin just about lost his stoic mask and fell over. However, he only tripped lightly, and blushed. He quickly turned away from his cousin, coughing into his hand as if to clear his throat. "ahem… Well, since I have failed to kill her as of yet, I decided instead to take advantage of her being the demon bride. I would train to the point of being undefeatable, and  then claim her as my own, and with her then at my mercy, extract my revenge as I wish."

            "Oh, I see, you developed a little crush on her, didn't you?" Ookamishin finally lost his mask and fell to the ground.

            He jumped back up, face pitch red, and roared, "SHUT UP!!" Ookamishin turned back around and once again tried to regain his composure. "Anything else?"

            "Yeah, can I call you Mishin? You know, just like the old days, cause I'm sorry, but you haven't changed enough for me to go run away with my tail between my legs, you're still as silly a the pup I used to know. Not to mention, your full name is just too plain long for my tastes." Kouga finished.

            Ookamishin turned around, and simply stared at Kouga, mouth agape. Suddenly, he burst out laughing, bending over and grasping his stomach as he laughed harder than he had in years. "Sure," He gasped out between laughs, "And I'll call you Girly!"

            "WHAT?!?!?!" Kouga yelled.

            "yeah, you look just like a girl with you little pony tail, and skirt!"

            "No, You didn't! You're the one who looks like the girl!!" However Mishin didn't hear him, for he was still laughing, as though for no apparent reason, as if he hadn't laughed in so long, he just released it all now, in an unstoppable torrent of laughter and happiness at finally being reunited with his cousin and broken pack.  After a while, Kouga started laughing too, drawn in by Mishin's happiness. They tackled each other, and played like pups, for they lacked in those days, and they most definitely needed to catch up.

Author's note:     I know, it took me forever to get this one chapter done, several months actually. I'm sorry, but I can't guarantee I'll have the time to actually work on it, I barely have the time, but I'll try! Please review, maybe I'll be encouraged to write more!

~Crystal Arrow