Preview from last chapter:
A small smile brightened the hanyou's features as he allowed the young miko to climb on his back. Racing into the woods and taking the same path Venita had taken just a few moments before, Inu-Yasha silently hoped that all would go as he had planned just five minutes ago. Quickly opening the door to the well house, Inu-Yasha jumped down the stairs and into the well.
At the lake, Tora was grinning, "Hn, Lunia-san and Ookami-sama make things way too difficult for their own good. Sure they come up with devilish plans and say that mine will never work, only because they don't believe in it. Hehe, 'good things come to those who wait', and if I wait long enough, those two'll be together before Christmas. All one has to do is manipulate a few dreams."
Chapter Twenty-Three:
Blood, Lust, & Answers
"Hey Kouga, when're Kagome and the others coming back?" Shippo asked from his place in Sango's lap.
He shrugged, "I don't know. Whenever they want to."
"Why did you not return to Lady Kagome's time once Lunia-sama returned you to normal?" Miroku asked as Sango nodded in agreement.
"I don't know, to tell you the truth," he replied, looking at the fire in the middle of Kaede's hut, "I guess I wanted to wait until she came looking for me. She hasn't seen me for a while and when she comes looking for me is when I'll know she's truly back to normal."
Suddenly Lunia— who had lain down and tuned out most of the conversation— sat up, her eyes alert as she looked to Kouga, "Well you needn't wait any longer because Chan-chan is in this world and she's not very happy."
"What do you mean?" Kouga asked, looking at the moon goddess as though she were crazy.
"It's been awhile since Chan-chan's killed something. She needs to do that every-now-and-then, you know. Add to that the fact that she needs you, and well, it equals a very difficult demoness to deal with."
"Where is she now? Do you know?"
"Difficult to say, really. She could be anywhere to tell the truth; however, there is a place not too far from here that I believe she would head to. It's the ideal place for the things she intends to do, yes, I believe she will be going there."
"Tell me where it is." Kouga demanded as he stood; ready to bolt out the door upon hearing the location.
"Now really, Kouga, do I need to tell a male where to go? Especially one as... knowledgeable as yourself?" Lunia said, almost teasingly.
"Answer!"
"My dear Kouga," Lunia smirked as she picked up her discarded weavings, "go south."
She was angry.
Never had she been so insulted in all her life. Here she was, a lone female demon, lowered aura, and they did not bother to attack her.
Finally, to her glee, a snake-like demon burst forth from its hiding place, jaws opened wide as it prepared to swallow her whole. Not even turning to look, she made a sweeping motion with her hand, only needing her index finger to cut the brave demon in half. She licked its blood from her finger, looking into the foliage and allowing her aura to spread, an action that caused the demons to attack her at full force, wanting to take down this new enemy that dared invade their space.
A cynical smirk upon her face, she alternated which fingers she used to kill the weak demons, only ever using her right hand. She killed ten with her little finger alone, and when she had killed all the demons that dared attack her, her delicate eyebrows met in the middle of her forehead in a frown.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," she said in a dark, singsong voice, waiting a few moments before shrugging, "all right, if you won't come to me, I'll just get rid of you from here."
Her aura rising at an alarming rate, Venita laughed as the temperature around 'her' clearing rose. She didn't want to affect the foliage, so she programmed the flames only to kill weak and pathetic demons, like those Naraku sometimes sent as a reminder that he was still out there plotting against them.
Bloodlust still unquenched, Venita decided she needed something bigger. Something with more stamina, something that would be worth her time and effort.
Her wish was granted when she smelled the perfect challenge behind her. Not even bothering to turn around, Venita smirked, laughter spilling from her blood-covered lips.
"Mind telling me what you find so funny?" Her challenger asked.
Still wearing the bikini from her swim, Venita ran a clawed hand through her white hair, enjoying the feel of the silky strands flowing through her fingers, "It's nothing you'd understand. Just a little cynical humor, that's all. Why are you here?"
"Looking for you."
"I see. What for?
"I needed to see you."
She looked over her shoulder at the one admitting need, the wind causing her white hair to whip around her face, "Is that so?"
"Hai."
"And just how badly did you need to see me?"
"Bad enough to come onto your territory right after you claimed it."
A smirk tugged at her lips, "I can see that."
"I'm glad you do, because I want to see you."
"That, my friend, will have to wait." She said, a strand of her hair being caught by the wind and heading towards him.
He caught it before it floated past him, the strand hitting his face and causing a stinging sensation, "What the...?"
"What's the matter?" She asked, the wind suddenly changing directions to blow her hair behind her, "Don't you like it? My hair has a mind of its own, it truly does. It thought you needed whiskers."
"Pardon?"
"Take a look." A mirror appeared and as he looked at himself, he saw that there were several cuts on his cheek from where her hair had cut him.
He didn't know what to say, he released the hair from his fingers and watched it drift away, "Funny, you don't smell any different."
"Don't I?" She asked teasingly, a glint of mischief in her eyes, "Why don't you come over here and tell me to my face that I'm not a horny little bitch right now?"
Inu-Yasha ran through the forest with Kagome on his back, intending to take her someplace they could be alone and talk. That's what they were going to do, until a dark aura stopped him in his tracks. Exchanging worried looks, both of them nodded, a silent agreement to go check it out.
Following the source of the aura to a clearing, Inu-Yasha and Kagome's eyes widened when they saw whom it was that had created the aura, and both had to stop themselves from gasping, lest she hear them.
Venita herself stood in the clearing, a smirk on her face as she stood among the corpses of the multiple demons she'd killed, their blood leaving a few streaks on her body.
"Don't I?" She'd asked, an amused tone to her voice as she addressed whomever it was that neither Inu-Yasha nor Kagome could see, "Why don't you come over here and tell me to my face that I'm not a horny little bitch right now?"
Once again exchanging worried looks, both miko and hanyou didn't have to think twice about whether they should stay or leave, but just as they were about to go, a familiar voice stopped them.
"Come now, Venia-chan. If you were truly horny, would you not have pounced on me by now?"
Venita laughed, sounding like a hundred silver bells, "Ah my dear Kouga-kun, I feel as though I've known you my whole life, and yet you still don't know when I want to play."
"And just what do you want to play?" Kouga asked, stepping closer to her.
"Oh I don't know," she shrugged before disappearing, moments later a claw appearing at Kouga's throat, "I was thinking something along the lines of 'hard to get'."
Kouga smirked, "Really? You feel like playing 'hard to get'? Hn, isn't that the game you play all the time?"
A clawed finger played upon his uninjured cheek, and Kouga could feel as this last statement was made false. A small tongue lapped the fresh blood away.
"Hmmm, Kouga-kun," Venita purred, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his back, "your blood tastes especially good today. Heheh."
Kouga couldn't contain a chuckle. He wasn't used to his mate acting so seductively. Of course, he also wasn't used to her getting excited by blood and death, either. It was, in a word:
Sexy.
Kouga blinked. He suddenly felt slightly chilled and was surprised as he watched his armor sail past him and onto the ground several feet away. Funny, he hadn't felt her fingers as they worked the strings to his armor. He did, however, notice that the garments Venita had been wearing were now hanging from a tree branch.
Inu-Yasha and Kagome couldn't have looked away if their lives depended on it. They couldn't believe how quickly this was all transpiring. First they had sensed a dark, menacing aura, and now it was pulsing with such force, Inu-Yasha had unknowingly grabbed onto a tree for support.
Kagome, on the other hand, stood there in pure awe of what she was seeing. Her best friend and her mate were caressing one another. Soon, Venita was on her back in a pool of blood, turning her head every-now-and-then to lick the still-bleeding flesh of one of the demons she had killed. Kagome just couldn't believe it. Here she was, just watching her best friend making love to her mate in the middle of a bloodied clearing still filled with the corpses of the lesser demons.
"My, my, my... if I'd known you two liked to watch, I'd have loaned you some of my dirty movies of the neighbors. You should see 'em; those people do some kinky stuff."
Whirling around at the familiar voice, Inu-Yasha and Kagome's eyes widened. They stumbled over their words as they attempted to explain themselves to the grinning tiger. Both were blushing profusely, something that great amused the tiger.
"Tora-san!" Kagome exclaimed in an excited whisper.
The tiger grinned, "You don't have to whisper, K-chan. You could scream and they wouldn't hear you."
"With Venia-chan's ears as sharp as they are?" Kagome asked as she quirked an eyebrow.
"Sure. Watch and listen." The tiger opened his mouth and let out a sound like that of a screaming woman.
Inu-Yasha had to cover his ears and Kagome did as well. The couple in the clearing, however, did not even slow down in their... activities.
When Tora finished, Inu-Yasha looked at him as thought he were crazy, "What in the seven hells was that!"
"Cougar," Tora replied, as though such a thing were common knowledge, "see? Not even a twitch. They're completely oblivious."
"How can they ignore something like that!" Kagome exclaimed.
Tora blinked, "The same way they ignored your exclamation just now."
"Uh..." Kagome's face turned a few shades of red.
Inu-Yasha was still watching Venita and Kouga in the clearing. He was wondering just how they could rut in the middle of a forest when demons could attack at any time. That's when the scent of blood and death reached his sensitive nose. Venita must have put up a barrier and it had faltered, for Inu-Yasha also started to see the corpses as well as smell them. His eyes took in the sight of the demons' bodies that had been torn, burnt, or just plain maimed. The scent of blood was overwhelming, and some of the larger demons were still bleeding.
Suddenly, the barrier was back, and Inu-Yasha was left watching the two wolf demons rutting. He hadn't realized he'd been staring until he felt Tora's hand on his shoulder.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you either wanted to join in, or you wanted to get a little action for yourself. So, Inu-san, which is it gonna be? Join the two in the blood bath, or make your own? What's it gonna be?"
Inu-Yasha had turned five shades of red the more Tora talked. Sure he'd had a few lecherous thoughts that would make even the monk blush, but how could the tiger be so open about such things?
"Are you all right, Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked, taking a step forward.
The hanyou looked at the grinning tiger, "Did you really think I'd embarrass you by speaking loud enough for mortal ears? Please, Inu-san, I'm not that cruel, Ookami-sama, though, she is."
"Tora?"
"Hm?"
"Do you remember when you asked me if I loved Kagome?"
"Hai, of course I do. How could I forget a conversation like that? I cussed at you."
Looking from Kagome to Tora, Inu-Yasha spoke softly as his eyes looked fatigued, "I finally have a straight answer for you."
((March 21, 2005)) A/N: Woohoo! Finally I've overcome my writer's block for this chapter without my precious Oreos! I didn't know such a thing could happen, but it has! Hallelujah! Hehe… I'm done…. :dances: now I'm done…
I'm sorry that there aren't any spaces when shifting point-of-views, but FanFiction wouldn't let me put any... I hope you didn't have any troubles telling the scenes apart... I know I would... but oh well...
Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, & don't you worry! A lemon is coming up probably in the next chapter. I felt I've had enough Kouga/Venita lemons & that it's time to move on to "bigger" subjects… muahaha… ;-)
See you all for Chapter Twenty-Four!
