Faithful By: RecklessAbandon and OtakuSailorV
Chapter 6:: Good MorningNaraku woke the next morning to find Kyoyume already up and roaming about.
He rubbed his eyes and stood up.
Sliding open his shouji door, he stopped as he saw Kyoyume sitting on the rail, looking out at the rising sun.
"Good morning."
Kyoyume turned around and smiled at him brightly. "Good morning, Naraku-sama."
"You're in a good mood I see."
Kyoyume gave a small giggle before turning fully around and slipping off of the rail. "I'm in a very good mood."
"Why is that?"
Kyoyume looked toward the sun. "I'm just always happy when the sun is out."
"I see."
Kyoyume's ears twitched in curiosity for a minute. "Are you in a bad mood?" She asked, leaning around to see into his face.
"No." He told her. "I just woke up, is all."
Kyoyume smiled again, straightening up. "That's good. It wouldn't be good for me to be happy if you weren't."
"...Why not?"
She shrugged, still facing the sun. "I'm not sure, it just wouldn't be the same..."
"I see."
Kyoyume jumped nimbly back onto the rail, balancing perfectly as any cat would, and walked down the length of it before turning and coming back in the same fashion. "So, what's going on?" She asked with a childish grin.
"Nothing for today."
Her ears looked like they might lay flat in disappointment, before she smiled and jumped back down off of the rail. "That's fine. It's nice not to do things sometimes." She commented.
"Do you trust me?" He asked suddenly.
Kyoyume looked at him in astonishment. "Yes, I do now." She said with a small nod of uncertainty.
He smiled a little. "Then you'll trust me enough to let me do this?" He asked picking her up bridal style.
Kyoyume looked at him in complete and utter shock, ears standing straight up, eyes wide and mouth ajar as she drew in breath for a gasp of surprise. Her face flushed bright red; she didn't know whether to be mad at him or happy, or some mood in between.
Naraku laughed a little and put her down.
Tweaking one of her own ears, Kyoyume smiled bashfully, face still flushed. "What was that all about?" She asked curiously.
"I was just seeing if you'd kill me or not." He lied.
She gave a short laugh. "I couldn't never kill you, I'm not strong enough."
"I see."
"Hey, you two going to be all lovey-dovey, or can we have breakfast?" Hakudoushi asked irritably, shoving past them.
"Kohaku already cooked breakfast."
Kyoyume giggled as her young friend grumbled, stomping all the way to the room that they usually ate in.
Naraku rolled his eyes. "I'm not hungry."
Kyoyume looked at him quizzically, but decided that since she was hungry, she should eat. But, she wasn't entirely ready to stop talking with him at the moment.
Hakudoshi, as if reading her mind, ah what the hell, he did read her mind, brought her a plate of fried fish. "Just in case you didn't wanna move." He told her sneakily, then leaving.
"Oh, I..." Kyoyume tried to call after him to thank the young boy, but he had already disappeared with a sneaky grin. Looking down at the fish, she smiled and went out of the room again, to the roof.
Naraku followed her curiously. "What's so interesting about the roof?"
She smiled as she plopped down on the sun-warmed roof. "I just like to lay down up here. It feels nice."
"I see."
"It must be the cat demon in me, I have no idea why, but that's just what I do." She commented, unsure why she was disclosing such personal information to him.
"I prefer to be inside." He told her. 'But anywhere with you is good.' He thought to himself.
Kyoyume felt slightly guilty. "If you want to go inside, we can. I don't have to be on the roof."
"No...it feels good outside right now."
"Are you sure?" She asked, not wanting to force him to do what she wanted.
"Yeah."
Kyoyume smiled and sat back, having finished her breakfast; she stretched out on her back and let the light shine on her.
Naraku sat there, looking at the cat-hanyou like the curiosity he found her to be.
"What's so interesting?" She asked with a small smile, feeling his eyes upon her.
"Nothing." He lied.
Kyoyume still smiled, letting her ears rest, taking in all the sun's warm rays with a sigh.
Naraku looked up at the sun.
It was amazing how she could find so much pleasure in something so simple as the burning orb that burned his vision above him. He had never liked the sun much, but her love for it made him wonder what was so great about the warm rays.
Kyoyume looked at him. "Where'd you get your baboon pelt?" She asked randomly.
"From a baboon, of course." He answered.
"I mean...did you kill the baboon? Was it already dead? Did you give it a heart-attack by looking at it?"
Naraku gave a small laugh. "No, it was from a baboon demon that got in my way one day."
"I see."
"Now, you are taking my phrase." He pointed out with a smirk.
"Gomen." She said sarcastically.
Naraku smirked at her as she huffed.
She raised an eyebrow and an ear twitched. "Why must you always smirk?" She asked innocently.
"Because that is my nature." He explained.
"...I don't see why it is appropriate for this kind of behavior." Hakudoshi said, appearing suddenly, laughing. "You two look so dull...."
Naraku's eyes narrowed, and Kyoyume's ear's laid flat in annoyance. "I don't remember asking for your input." Naraku stated.
"I don't remember romance taking this long, but oh well." He remarked sarcastically.
A bit stunned, Kyoyume could do nothing but stare. "Whoever said it was romance?"
"You two act like overly-coy lovesick puppies." Hakudoshi told her.
"N-nani?" Kyoyume asked. Naraku glared at his 'son'. "And you are an extremely nosy youkai."
"I was just being honest." He defended, disappearing.
In a pit of shock, Kyoyume stared at the thin air where he had been and wondered what she should say next. Naraku, still glaring, made a grunt-like noise as Hakudoushi disappeared.
"Little brat." He mumbled.
Kyoyume sighed with a small smile. "He's so funny sometimes..."
"Right."
"Well," Kyoyume said, getting to her feet. "I'll be moving along then." She proclaimed with a smile of content.
Naraku followed. "Great idea, my back was cramping."
Inwardly glad that he wasn't going to leave her so soon, Kyoyume waited for him to catch up with her. "You must be getting old then." She commented with a small smirk, her eyes dancing with laughter.
"Shaddup."
Kyoyume smiled wider at his anger at such a comment. "You're not that much older than me though."
"How old are you?"
Kyoyume stuck her tongue out in a smile. "It is not polite to ask a ladies age."
"What lady? Where?" He commented sarcastically.
Kyoyume gave him a small smack to the back of his head. "How rude."
He rubbed the back of his head. "How un-lady like."
"Well, as you can see, I am no 'lady', as you so rudely pointed out, so there is NO reason for me to act as one."
"Good point."
Kyoyume ruffled her own hair with a sigh. "You are hopeless."
"What do you mean by that?" He asked, mocking offense.
"I mean that you will never give a compliment to someone's face."
"Oh...of course, I'm the bad guy, am I supposed to?"
Kyoyume smiled. "It all depends on what you mean by bad guy...in my story, you're not the bad guy, but in someone else's you may be..." She commented, looking up at the clouds that billowed by.
"Well, that's a first."
Kyoyume looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"
"I dunno."
"Then why did you say it?"
"I dunno." He said looking over at her. "I said it to say it."
"Just to keep the conversation going, huh?" She asked with a small laugh.
"I guess."
Kyoyume stopped and stared out of the land again. 'Will it always be like this?' She wondered slightly. 'Will every day be nice like this?...Forever?' She smiled at Naraku again, unsure of what to say. "It turned out quite nice so far today."
"I guess so."
"Do you think it'll be like this tomorrow?"
"I dunno. Maybe." He said sighing.
Noting the melancholy sigh, she cocked one ear up. "What's the matter?"
"I'm just a little bored."
Kyoyume nodded, getting an odd, tickling sensation in her ears as a strong wind blew by.
Hakudoshi reappeared. "Um...you're just gonna stand like that aren't you?" He asked them.
"Well, what do you WANT us to do?" Kyoyume grumbled, still facing into the wind, ears flapping and blowing behind her so that it appeared she was disgruntled.
"I mean...we could go...um...well...." Hakudoshi thought. "I dunno."
"Exactly." Kyoyume said with a small smirk of triumph.
"Bah."
All three of them stood there for some time, listening to the awkward silence and wondering how they could break such a feeling that loomed in the air.
"Hehe...I have an idea." Hakudoshi told them in a singsong voice.
Ignoring the feeling that the idea was a bad one, Kyoyume turned toward him in curiosity. "What is it?"
"I know how to make sure that demon lord guy never comes back."
Kyoyume blinked at him once. "How?" Naraku asked.
Hakudoshi walked behind Kyoyume. "Like this." He said pushing her into Naraku.
Kyoyume gasped as she fell right into him, losing her balance in her shock. "Why you..." She growled angrily.
Naraku caught Kyoyume before she hit the ground after falling. Hakudoushi fell over laughing, on the other hand.
Kyoyume got to her feet, face flushed. "A-arigatou Naraku-sama..." She turned toward Hakudoushi with a growl. "Baka!"
Hakudoshi smiled. "I figure if you smell like Naraku, the demon lord will think things and not want you anymore."
Kyoyume flushed even brighter, the red starting to reach her ears, embarrassed by the circumstances of the conversation. "Right...well..." She mumbled, looking for the right words.
"Hm?"
Kyoyume fiddled with her kimono, ruffling a piece of it and releasing it, only to ruffle it again. "I just..."
"Go on." Hakudoshi urged her.
Kyoyume narrowed her eyes slightly. "I just don't like being pushed around." She growled.
"...Oh pooh."
Kyoyume nodded gruffly at him, her face still flushed in both anger and embarrassment.
"...Calm down it was just a joke." Hakudoshi grumbled.
Kyoyume ruffled her kimono again, not wanting to admit that it was not the joke that had bothered her. She simply wasn't sure if Naraku felt the same way about her or not.
Naraku was a little red faced himself. He wondered why Kyoyume had reacted like that. He concluded it was because she didn't feel the same.
They stood in awkward silence for a moment before Hakudoushi broke in. "Well, I guess I'll be going then..." He said, starting to walk away. "...Bye" He called disappearing.
"Stupid little ass." Naraku muttered still blushing.
"..." Kyoyume glanced over at him curiously, but moved her eyes away when he noticed her gaze upon him.
Then their eyes locked, and they stood in what seemed to a dead-lock for what seemed to be hours.
Nothing moved, not even Kyoyume's frantic ears, time appeared to have stopped.
Not even the wind blew through the stillness. It was all silent.
Random thoughts poured through their minds as they stared at each other, both of their faces flushed. 'What should I say? If I do something, will it upset him?' 'Does she hate me? She said I'm not the "bad guy" in her story, but what does that make me then?'
Naraku finally blinked. "It's getting dark."
Kyoyume nodded, pushing a piece of her blue hair from her face. "I wonder why it's getting so dark so early?" She wondered aloud.
"I dunno." Naraku admitted. Suddenly a small group of people were on the roof.
"Ow...I fell on my butt...." One of them whined.
"Nani?" Kyoyume asked in wonder, turning upward.
"...Are we alive again or something?" A younger voice asked from the black tangle.
"Naraku-sama...?" She asked, turning toward him, but always keeping one ear cocked in the direction of the black mound on the rooftop.
The figures got separated. "Look at the girlie with the ears!" The younger one laughed. A distinctly unhappy grumble came from one of the taller figures. "Lighten up Renkotsu!"
Kyoyume flattened her ears, becoming self-conscious suddenly. "Shut up about my ears!" She growled angrily at the figures.
"Whoa touchy." The tallest one snorted. "Leave her alone Bankotsu."
Kyoyume grumbled to herself, never having liked anyone that made fun of her ears or any of her other hanyou traits.
"Jakotsu, Bankotsu, Renkotsu and Suikotsu, didn't you...die?" Naraku asked dumbfounded.
Kyoyume narrowed her eyes in thought. She had heard of these names before, but where?
"Yeah, we did." One said, coming out of shadow to reveal a young man with a long braid and steel-blue eyes.
'Ah, yes, the Seven Man Army. I remember now.' Kyoyume thought at the same time as the young man came out of the shadows.
"This is the third time we've been alive." Another young man, Jakotsu, said coming out of the shadows with a grin.
"Who resurrected you four this time?" Naraku asked with a grumble.
"I have no clue. Some ugly chick." Renkotsu snorted.
Kyoyume looked all four of them over. 'Resurrected? But how? They've been dead for years...' She thought to herself, peering at them, ears perked forward in curiosity.
"Well...alive...dead...alive again...dead again and now alive again." Bankotsu said smirking. "How fun...maybe we won't die this time around."
'Oh, dear...' Kyoyume thought confusedly. 'Now I'm really lost...' Turning toward Naraku she gave him a small grin. "Nani?"
"Well, they died, then I resurrected them, then they died again, now they're alive...again."
Nodding, Kyoyume looked back at them, ears moving at high speed to catch every little noise around her.
"My butt hurts." Jakotsu whined.
"Then sit down." Renkotsu growled.
"That'll make it hurt more stupid!"
"Then what do you want ME to do about it?" He asked angrily.
"Why would I want you to do anything about it you big meanie?! I was just making a general statement!"
"Well, what do you want anyone ELSE to do about it you big baby?!" A vexed Renkotsu yelled.
Jakotsu just stuck out his tongue and turned his back to his superior. "Uh...may I ask what's going on?" Naraku asked raising an eyebrow.
Kyoyume nodded in unison with his question, thinking the same thing herself.
"Um...who's the kitty Naraku?" Bankotsu asked smiling at Kyoyume.
Kyoyume felt her ears move back downward onto her skull again. She hated being called that. "My names Kyoyume." She mumbled.
"Bankotsu." he said nodding. "That's Jakotsu, Renkotsu and Suikotsu." He added pointing out his men. "You're a friend of Naraku's?"
"Uhm, sort of..." She said with a small smile. "Nice to meet all of you."
"Yeah." They all nodded.
"Why ARE you here?" Kyoyume asked curiously, noticing that the question had been left unanswered.
"We don't know." They chorused.
'Right....' Kyoyume thought in exasperation.
"Well, see, we were dead, then we were resurrected, then we were falling out of the sky."
'Oh dear...' Kyoyume thought to herself. "Did you get hurt?"
"No. We're fine." They said smiling, except for Renkotsu of course.
"That's good." Kyoyume said with a small smile still on her own face.
"Yeah. Now...I'm gonna go kill Inuyasha." Bankotsu said casually lifting Banryuu onto his shoulder and beginning to walk away.
Kyoyume sweatdropped as all four of them started to walk away as well. "Inuyasha?!" Jakotsu asked with a squeal. "I'm coming too!!"
Bankotsu sweatdropped as he walked. Then they disappeared into the forest.
Kyoyume smiled slightly at their retreating forms. "That was very...random."
"They'll be back looking for somewhere to crash." Naraku grumbled.
'Oh dear...' Kyoyume thought again, noticing the annoyance in his voice. "They didn't seem all that bad..."
"Would you like a few twenty year olds living with you when you have plots to come up with?"
Kyoyume felt her grin spread across her face. "No, now that you mention it."
"Well then, it's getting dark, let's go inside."
With one final look at the forest, Kyoyume hurried after him.
Naraku collapsed onto his bed, snoring.
Wondering what she should do, Kyoyume carefully curled up under the blankets next to him, slightly afraid still to stay by herself.
Naraku didn't stir; he must've been tired.
With a sigh, Kyoyume closed her eyes and let deep sleep take her.
When they woke in the morning, Naraku was hugging the neko-hanyou to his chest. She was still asleep so he didn't wake her, and fell back asleep.
'A heartbeat...so close...' Kyoyume noted, one of her ears twitching as she started to wake. 'Something smells....like...Naraku...' Her eyes started to open, her vision blurry at first in the morning light. 'Nice and warm.' She thought with approval, blinking once as she started to see the fuzzy forms around her.
Naraku was snoring again, which gave Kyoyume the urge to giggle. But she didn't want to wake him, now, did she?
She wondered lightly if he had meant to grab hold of her during the night, but didn't mind at all, as long as he was holding her. That was the only thing that mattered to her at the moment.
Naraku shifted and opened his eyes lazily. "Well...you're awake I see..." He mumbled with a yawn.
Kyoyume blushed furiously, not expecting him to wake up so soon, and while her own eyes were open as well. "Yes." She answered softly.
"Comfortable?"
Kyoyume nodded, face still red with embarrassment.
He hastily let go of her, a little red-faced himself. "I see you two slept well." A voice from the doorway stated. "I didn't get the chance to kill Inuyasha." He added, so it was obviously Bankotsu.
"We were so close too." Jakotsu moaned behind him.
"I couldn't kill him cause YOU kept trying to kiss him!" Bankotsu told him, jealousy all too obvious.
"I couldn't help it, Bankotsu. I didn't think it would hurt if you were going to kill him anyway."
"...Right."
Kyoyume's ears stood straight up; she hadn't thought that the warriors would be back so soon, or that they would so suddenly appear.
"I think they were on their way here, seeing as we found them so quickly." Suikotsu mused.
Naraku glared suddenly. "Are they still on their way?" He asked, standing up.
"No, we stopped them and they had to turn back cause Inuyasha got scared of Jakotsu." Renkotsu said with a mean laugh.
Jakotsu gave a pouty look at Renkotsu's words. "He was wounded, he was not scared."
"Hell, I would be scared if you squealed my name and tried to kiss me." Renkotsu snapped.
Jakotsu gave him an angry look. "Well, you're lucky, cause you're ugly and mean!"
"Renkotsu, Jakotsu, stop it." Bankotsu said rubbing his temples.
Kyoyume, the blush starting to fade from her cheeks, looked from one to the other, and found them to be amusing, but could see where Naraku would not like them to hang around all the time. "Do you guys usually fight?" She asked, hoping to direct their attention away from what had happened between her and Naraku moments before.
"They do." Bankotsu said. "Suikotsu isn't one to argue, he's rather quiet...and I get along with most everyone!" he said with a laugh. "Unless I'm in a bad mood of course...."
Kyoyume smiled at him. "That's nice..."
"Yeah...do you guys usually cuddle like that or was this a special occasion?" He asked with a laugh.
Kyoyume felt the blush extend all the way up her face, to the tips of her black ears, engulfing her whole being in embarrassment. "No..." She mumbled softly.
{End Chapter}