Note: The following are part of my intricate and hilarious disclaimer. You will laugh and you will like it! I don't care if banned it, so I'm talking to my characters. If you have a problem with it, then I have a problem with you and your brain damage. Thank you for your time, if you do not like my 'disclaimer' coupled with my other notes, then please don't bother reading any of my stories 'cause I just plain don't like you. For all others, I am sorry to burden you, my friend's story was taken off because of this and I was deeply offended because I don't see what's wrong with it. Thank you and I'm sorry.
Disclaimer: I'm hungry.
:Leiko shoves angry lawyers out of the door and locks it:
Leiko: DON'T MESS WITH ME TODAY! I DON'T OWN INUYASHA SO GET OFF MY CASE OR I'LL MAKE YOU GET OFF!
:Lawyers put away scary lawyer materials and retreat back to their offices of doom to wait for the next fic:
Leiko: Since no one answered, AND I HATE YOU ALL FOR IT! Gr… I'm just going to say screw it and I'm going to go as out of order as I want. So there:cough: and now, we get to meet Kouga! So yay!
-:-:-:-:-:-:-
"ACHOO!" Kagome sniffled slightly, blowing her nose on a tissue she had brought from home. Her cold had gotten worse, but she wanted to keep going so that they didn't lose their next lead.
Coughing loudly, she almost tripped on a root, that is until Inuyasha decided that he had had enough and picked her up. Now she was comfortable situated on Inuyasha's back, half asleep, and just barely awake enough to sense jewel shards should they come her way.
Feeling something tugging on her senses, she muttered that she felt some shards in the general direction of the north. Nodding, Inuyasha barked orders to Kashaku who was currently skipping along happily with Shippo in tow. The redhead nodded in agreement before scooping the small Kitsune up and running alongside the speeding Hanyou.
Seconds later they appeared in a village that was under the attack of wolves. Kashaku, being, well her, bounced up to the wolves and began to pet them, avoiding the snapping teeth. After awhile she got bored of the wolves trying to bite her, and she leapt up onto the roof where Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippo sat.
"So… What do we do now?" Inuyasha glanced at Kagome before continuing to survey the wreckage of the city. He could have stopped the wolves easily, they were just animals after all, but there had been no one in the city to protect.
Staring down, he focused his golden glare on a small group of wolves that kept getting larger. They were gathered just outside the hut he was on, and they were all growling at him. So, him being the adorably cute overgrown puppy that he is, he growled back.
Out of nowhere a whirlwind suddenly entered the village, pausing in front of the hut before the winds disappeared leaving a ruggedly handsome boy of around 17.
"Who the hell are you?" Was Inuyasha's tactful way of greeting the newcomer.
"Why the hell should I tell you mutt-face?"
"Because I asked ya! That's why!" And with that last comment, the brawl ensued.
Kagome frowned at Inuyasha, but decided to help him anyway. "Kashaku…" She muttered, coughing slightly. The bouncy redhead turned to face her longtime friend with a smile on her face.
"What is it Kagome-chan? Do you want me to get you something?"
Kagome shook her head before whispering her request in Kashaku's ear. She nodded brightly and cupped her hands around her face, yelling Kagome's warning to Inuyasha. "HEY INUYASHA! THE GUY HAS JEWEL SHARDS IN HIS LEGS AND HIS LEFT ARM!"
The dark haired boy stole a glance at the girl who had yelled, puzzling over how she had known. Dodging another of Inuyasha's punches, he threw one of his own before whistling sharply.
All the surrounding wolves began growling and advanced on Inuyasha. Kouga grinned cockily at him. "See ya later mutt-face!"
The tall demon took off, leaving in a whirlwind that swept past Kagome and surrounded Kashaku. There was a startled yelp, and then the demon leapt from the winds, a surprised redhead thrown over his shoulder as he took off, not noticing the small fox demon that was holding onto his tail, trying not to fall off.
After a few minutes of high speed running, Kouga leapt into the air, and soared over a gaping crevice. But, instead of hearing the scream he had expected from the girl over his shoulder, he received a light snore. Apparently, she had fallen asleep… What an odd girl.
Kashaku yawned widely as she woke up, but since she was still half asleep, she snuggled down on the bed of… uh… soft stuff. She didn't really feel like identifying it at the time, for all she knew it could have been a tree branch.
Upon hearing Shippo scream for help, she cracked one eye open to see what was going on. As it turned out, the little Kitsune was surrounded by a group of hungry looking wolves.
Deciding to drop her oblivious act, and not say, "Can I play with the wolves too!", Kashaku rose and snatched the kit out of harms way, towering about the wolves… though not really because she was only 5'3" after all.
Placing the little Kitsune atop her head, she glared at the wolves… or rather attempted a glare, she had always found it rather impossible to glare at anyone… unless of course they made her really mad, which didn't happen often. Overall, her glare was forced, and it really just looked like she was mildly annoyed. Sighing, she gave up on being intimidating and frowned at Kouga.
"Kouga-chan," she called, ignoring the weird looks she was getting for the affectionate suffix, "Tell them they can't eat poor little Shippo-chan, if nothing else they'd choke on his fluffy tail anyway."
She gave him a bright smile before skipping to the mouth of the cave, 'accidentally' kicking a medium sized rock into the face of some random evilly glaring wolf. Her skipping and happy demeanor didn't even falter when she heard someone, specifically the someone she had hit with the stone, growling at her. Though she did take the time to stick her tongue out at him in a juvenile manner.
As she was facing back to give the mean wolf a better view of her oh-so-maturely-evil action, she ran into a wall. 'Darnit! I hate caves… this ALWAYS happens'
But then she was pleasantly surprised to find that, no, she hadn't run into a wall, she had run into an annoyed looking pack leader. Much better, ne?
She gave him a questioning look, silently prodding him to tell her why he had randomly stepped into her path. And when that didn't work, she tried the more vocal method. "Um… hi?" He looked rather angry, so she thought it best to sound as innocent as possible.
"Where do you think you're going?" His voice was calm enough, but it also kind of sounded like a growl.
"To jump off a cliff?" She responded in a joking tone and she smiled blankly at him.
Before Kouga could comment further, there were yells heard from outside, as well as a piercing screech. Instantly her path was cleared as the wolf prince ran for the entrance, teeth barred and claws extended, ready for whatever awaited him outside.
Bright yellow eyes stared after him with a bit of confusion shinning in their depths. Kashaku, being the curious person that she was, grabbed Shippo by the wrist and ran out after him, ignoring the child's cry to go slower.
Bouncing up behind Kouga, she stared out at the large flock of hideously ugly birds headed their way. "Those things are ugly."
The wolf prince whirled around and faced her with an indescribable look in his blue eyes. "They're why I captured you, I know that you can sense jewel shards and one of those birds has one."
"Well… before we get into that, why do you care if a bird has one? I mean it can't make it much uglier, right?"
"They're killing off my men like flies…" He was going to continue, but it was about then when the birds reached the cliff face.
They swooped in, snapping that the wolf demons, trying to catch them in their gaping maws.
Instantly Kouga went into action, running along the mountain to wherever he was most needed. Kashaku watched all this go on for a moment before a bird saw her standing there and attacked her with some super creepy battle cry.
The redhead froze when she heard the horrendous sound; covering her ears she closed her eyes in mock pain. "OH FOR THE LOVE OF KAMI-SAMA SOMEONE PUT THAT COW OUT OF IT'S MISERY!"
Looking around, she saw that everyone was busy, and that the bird… thing… was getting closer and closer to her. Oh well, guess she gets to kill it.
Forming a fireball in one slender hand, she tossed it up and down casually until the bird was only eight feet away from her, then she threw it, instantly frying the bird. But, due to its momentum, it kept coming at her, so she leapt to the side just in time to avoid being crushed by a gigantic turkey dinner.
A quick look around told her that the wolves were losing, and that she should probably help… After all, it simply wouldn't do if her captors could be defeated by a bunch of psycho turkey wannabes, seriously, what would that say about her?
Summoning her scythe out of nowhere, she leapt into the air and made a sweeping motion causing a stream of fire to erupt from it's gleaming edge. The fire arced through the air, slicing through about twenty of the birds, roasting them alive. Due to their momentum, several of the freshly made corpses fell at the wolves' feet, and the wolves all began digging in to the now tender flesh while the wolf demons looked on in surprise.
Kashaku looked around, and seeing that they were sufficiently distracted, she plucked Shippo from atop her head, and promptly tossed him off a cliff. Smiling brightly at the pink balloonish thing that the Kitsune had transformed into, she waved a quick goodbye before telling the child to tell Kagome not to worry, and to drink the cold medicine in the third pocket of her bag… and also something about bears not being good dance partners for walruses, Shippo assumed that she had said something completely different and that it was merely the distance that was making the words sound funny.
Turning around to face the confused demons, she held her weapon behind her back one handed before she relinquished her grip; causing the scythe to fall into the pocket dimension she kept it in. Skipping over to where Kouga was, she stopped directly between him and the person he was talking to, coincidentally, it was the person she had hit with a rock earlier. But this is a coincidence, STOP READING INTO IT!
"Hi Kouga-chan!" Kashaku said happily, beaming up at the handsome pack leader for absolutely no reason whatsoever… you know, other than to make the guy he was talking with mad. No one glared at her without reason and got away with it! Sure, people glared at her all the time, like when she sang obnoxiously in elevators, or when she ducttaped them to the wall of a building, but no one ever glared at her without reason, until now, and she found it to be really irritating.
Kouga studied the girl in front of him carefully. She seemed innocent enough, but looks could be deceiving. "Do you know where the jet of fire came from?" He asked bluntly, not bothering with that pansy footing around the bush crap.
Her yellow eyes sparkled with mischief as she replied in the most innocent voice she could muster. "Not a clue. Because I certainly didn't summon my scythe from a separate dimension in order to stop those turkey-wannabes from screaming bloody cow murder that hurt my ears and was totally creepy."
The blue-eyed wolf remembered someone yelling about putting a cow out of its misery. Raising an eyebrow, he stared down at her, his face telling her that she was being stupid and should fess up.
She inwardly smirked knowing that she had his full attention. Take that Mr. I'm-going-to-glare-at-you-for-no-freaking-reason! On the outside, she just smiled innocently and looked to the side, as if the line of ants was the most interesting thing in the world. Whoa… look at how they circle that rock… and… Ahem, sorry. Back to the story: Then she looked back at him, her smile still as innocent as ever. "Or maybe I did…"
Kouga stared at her. What a weird, weird girl she was, but she was quite powerful… Then he looked away, his gaze sweeping over his pack mates. "Alright men, tomorrow we're going to attack the birds of paradise and wipe them out once and for all."
"Oooh! Can I come!" Kashaku asked cheerfully, hoping that he would let her.
The wolf prince shrugged. "Sure, do whatever you want." He told her over his shoulder, walking back into his cave. Now, had he known Kashaku better, he would realize that saying "do whatever you want" was a very, VERY stupid thing to say to her.
Kashaku bit her lip, and seriously contemplated taking him up on that offer… But, it was just too unfair, he didn't know any better than to tell her such a thing. Besides, he was really cute… and he had a tail… A really fluffy tail… a really fluffy tail that would look good with just a hint of color… and maybe even a dash of glitter… And there go all thoughts of self-restraint on her part.
Smiling brightly, she skipped after him into the den, trying to figure out how exactly she would accomplish her new dream. Then a thought suddenly occurred to her, and she quickly made up the distance between her and the wolf prince. "Hey Kouga," She began, not feeling it necessary to add a suffix to his name, "I'm hungry."
He turned to her and his eyes narrowed in concentration as he decided what to do with his guest. Before he could decide, a woman suddenly popped up behind Kashaku and was examining her hair.
Turning around the fire demoness blinked in surprise before allowing her usual smile to appear. "Hi! I'm Kashaku!" She said brightly, wondering where the woman had come from. Earlier there had been no females in the room… and wait a second, those cave entrances weren't there before… "ACK! RANDOMLY APPEARING ENTRANCE WAYS!" She yelled, jumping behind Kouga and pointing to the newly appeared caves.
Kouga rolled his eyes, but inwardly he had to wonder if this was all an act, she seemed entirely too aware of things to be this oblivious.
The female who had been admiring her hair answered her implied question. "There's a concealing spell on them."
"Mmmkaii!" She answered cheerfully, stepping back around Kouga to hold her hand out to the brown haired woman.
"I'm Hikaru, Kouga's cousin." The woman said, smiling sweetly at Kashaku as she accepted the friendly handshake. "So…" She turned her attention to Kouga, "Is she your mate-to-be?" Her tone was conversational, and on her face was a look of pure innocence to rival Kashaku's own.
Said fire demoness, who had been watching the woman and children exit the smaller caves, suddenly chose that moment to tune back into the conversation. "What was that about a mating bee? I don't get it… why do you care about bees and their personal habits?"
Hikaru blinked in surprise, her blue eyes, so much like Kouga's own, shining in confusion. Then she blinked again, realization dawning on her. "Oh, no, I didn't say 'mating bee' I said mate-to-be." She paused here before continuing on, just so that her meaning wasn't misconstrued by the young girl, who appeared to be quite naïve. "I was just asking my dear cousin if you and he were together."
Now it was Kashaku's turn to blink. "Together doing what?" She asked, not really sure if the wolf demoness meant together together, or like, together as in they walked back into the cave together… or something… she wasn't really sure what other together the woman could mean, but she didn't want to say no and get mauled by killer whales or something.
The older woman sweatdropped, not really wanting to explain the way things worked between a male and a female. "Uh…" She stalled, searching her mind for a believable excuse to make her exit. "I believe that my mate's calling me." She said hastily, walking quickly over to a dark haired male.
Throwing her arms around him, she kissed him lightly on the lips before pouting at his questioning gaze. "Hikaru, what did you do this time?" The male demon asked, his dark green eyes dancing with mirth.
Kashaku listened to the couples' banter and smiled wistfully at them. How she longed for her sappy yaoi anime shows… But, there was time for that later, for now, she was hungry, and by Kami-sama she was going to be fed! Turning around to face Kouga, she narrowed her eyes at him and poked his stomach. "I'm still hungry." She pointed out. But honestly, she couldn't help it, she hadn't had lunch and it was almost suppertime, and she didn't usually skip meals and it was making her quite cranky.
He stared down at her, an odd look in his eyes that Kashaku wasn't sure she liked… Oh wait, that was the firelight reflecting off his eyes, crisis averted. Glaring up at him, she grabbed his shoulders and repositioned him so that the creepy glint wasn't there anymore, then she smiled up at him brightly, deciding not to explain her completely crazed behavior.
Kouga flashed her a sweet grin before throwing his arm around her shoulders. "I like that idea. I'm gonna make you my woman!" He proclaimed proudly, smiling down at her.
Kashaku blinked and cocked her head to the side before reciting a long and dreary speech about how a person could not be owned, that they belonged only to themselves, and that you couldn't claim someone as property because it wasn't morally ethical. During her rant, her voice never changed from a blasé monotone as though repeating it from memory.
Then she blinked again, and continued look off the side before speaking her thoughts aloud. "That's what Mi-chan says to me every time I want to bring home a gay man to make me pretty clothes and set up with other gay men…" She said, a sad note entering her voice as she thought of all the wonderful clothes, and taped moments she could have had.
Kouga focused on her words, making sure to listen to his mate-to-be, but then he chose to ignore her argument, and instead called his cousin's mate over to them. "Shen Li, ready the men, we're starting the hunt."
Snapping out of her odd fantasy of skipping through flowers with a gay couple and some ducks, Kashaku faced Kouga. "Oooh, what're we hunting?" She inquired curiously.
The wolf prince turned to her and laughed slightly before kissing her on the forehead. "You don't have to hunt anymore, I'll take care of that for you from now on." He explained to her proudly.
Her yellow eyes narrowed, and Kouga awaited whatever angry words would come out of her, though he had absolutely no idea what could have caused her to be mad. Then, randomly she reached up and plucked a random piece of dirt from his shoulder before she smiled at him again. "Okay!" she said brightly, honestly not caring about his rather chauvinistic comment, he hadn't meant it that way, and even if he had, it was perfectly acceptable in these times. Plus, she didn't really care much about hunting; it was way easier to steal food from random villagers/passersby.
Now that she was on the track of random villagers… "Hey Kouga, why were you attacking that human village?"
His eyes darkened in anger, though she knew it wasn't directed at her. Nodding at his fellow wolves, he motioned that he would be back in a moment to lead the hunt before he lead Kashaku out of the main cave and through a hallway cave (A/N: so it sounds dumb, bite me. Unless you are a vampire, in which case disregard the insult and just sod off.). After a few moments of walking, he took her hand and drew her into a fairly large cave that contained several young wolf demons, all in bandages.
"Are they going to be okay?" She asked quietly, looking at the children, the oldest of which couldn't have been older then eight. She wasn't a very vengeful person, but attacking small children was just messed up in her opinion, but Kouga really didn't have to be so violent… wait a second… what the hell did he even do to the villagers, she certainly hadn't seen any remains there… "Wait a second! What did you even do to those villagers?"
He glared at her slightly before turning his head away and staring at the wall. "We just ran them out of our territory… they deserved a hell of a lot more, but we don't attack children." He stated venomously, obviously still quite pissed off at the villagers, but then, he had every right to be.
She watched him closely and placed her hand on his arm, smiling up at him kindly. "Aw, it's okay Kouga-chan! You'll just to have to take comfort in the fact that no one in the village will be able to sleep for weeks, and every time they hear a wolf howl they'll soil themselves!"
He looked down at her swiftly and began laughing at her words. Shaking his head he nodded to the old female healer that was in charge of the children, then he walked back to the main den, bringing Kashaku along with him.
"Hikaru, show Kashaku around, we'll return soon." Handing the girl off to his cousin, he appointed two male wolves to keep guard, then he and the rest of the wolf demons leapt out through the illusion, which would look pretty damn odd to someone on the outside.
And so began the tale of the sun and the moon, but that's totally besides the point. Back to the subject: And so began Kashaku's life with the wolf demons began, and soon we shall begin Kashaku's plot of the sparkly pink tale. But I'm tired, my friends want the chapter, and my rewires already want to kill me, so I'll save it and other kawaii moments for the next chapter.
-:-
"PUT THEM ON!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NO!"
"DO IT!"
"MAKE ME!"
"NO WAY!"
"HA! I WIN!"
"FINE! JUST PUT YOUR GODDAMN PANTS ON!"
"I DON'T WANT TO!"
"YOU HAVE TO!"
"WHY!"
Her back still facing the naked demon, Kin growled in frustration. "BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT DECENT!"
Hiten smirks and stared at the back of the blonde's head. "I'm more than decent."
Usually, this sentence would be taken with a bunch of giggles, or whatever mindless airheads do. Sadly, Kin is most definitely not a mindless airhead. "YOU PERVERT! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE JUST PUT YOUR PANTS ON!"
Smirking, the dripping male stepped closer to her, and bent his head down to whisper in her ear. "But there's so much more I could do without them…"
Kin's ear twitched backwards to hear him before it jerked back foreword, her body becoming rigid as heat rose into her face coloring it a nice crimson. Whirling around and slapping the offending demon on the cheek, she completely forgot why she had been turned around.
"PERVERT!" Seeing Hiten's rather amused face, her glare intensified before it grew shocked. Stealing a glance down, Kin "eep"ed and turned back around, her face coloring shades darker out of pure embarrassment.
Bending down stiffly, she grabbed a pair of clean pants from the grassy ground and held them over her shoulder. "Hiten, just take the goddamn pants."
Hiten, having had his fun, accepted them with an amused smirk still in place. "You really should give up your human notions of modesty. It would be easier if I just air dried."
"No, it would be easier if you would just wear the damn pants!"
Hiten shrugged slightly, crossing his arms over his still bare chest. "Done."
"Whoopdee freakin' doo. And it only took you an hour… I'm so proud." An air of annoyance easily masked Kin's embarrassment, though the annoyance was also genuine. "Now let's get going."
Hiten, deciding he'd made it to easy for her, chose to be as annoying as possible. Though, doing so in a dignified, bloodthirsty, superfine demon way (of course). "Aren't you going to take a bath?"
"No. Reason 1) you're a perverted bastard. 2) I wasn't the one covered in blood. And 3) I don't have my bathing supplies here anyway… actually; I don't even HAVE any bathing supplies at your house."
"What does number 1 have to do with anything, you smell, and can't you just use the soap herbs that are surrounding the spring?"
"Number one is crucial because I don't need a perverted bastard watching me while I bathe, I do not, and they smell funny."
"Why would I want to watch such a scrawny girl bathe? Yes, you do smell, and they smell like soap."
"I'M NOT A SCRAWNY GIRL!"
"So you want me to watch you bathe?"
"I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE A BATH!"
"But if you were I could watch?"
"NO!"
Hiten gives her a rather creepy smile before nodding at... well, nothing. Kin glares in return before smacking him on the back of the head. "STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT! IT'S CREEPY!"
The thunder brother stared at her for a moment more, a critical look taking the place of the creepy one. Taking a step foreword his arm swept out and snatched something from around the lightning Kitsune's neck. Holding it up to the sun, the golden chain sparkled and the locket itself shone to it's full potential.
Turning his body deftly, he avoided the wild blow Kin had made to get the necklace back. "What's this?"
"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! NOW GIVE IT BACK!" Kin lunged at the boy again, her claws extended, lightening crackling around her aura.
Hiten growled at her violent act and rewarded her by slamming her against a tree, his hand wrapped firmly around her throat. "What is it?"
Kin glared at the demon heatedly. "It's a locket my father gave me before he disappeared. Now give it back you MPD jerk!"
Hiten held their position for a moment before he stepped back and allowed her to breathe. "Don't defy me again."
"Whatever… damn bipolar psycho…" Frowning, she glared up at the still serious demon through a curtain of silken gold. Reaching out a hand, she snatched the locket that he had been holding, suspended in a light grasp. Bringing the locket to her chest, she glared at him, daring him to try and take it again.
"Let's go. I'm bored." While he said this, Hiten turned around on his heel, pushing off the ground and soaring back to his home, not waiting for her to follow, knowing that she would.
"Damn bastard…" Kin glared at his fading figure. Sighing, she too took to the air, streaking after her captor, like a bolt of lightning.
She landed a few seconds later with Hiten nowhere in sight. Twirling a piece of her hair idly, she walked over to the front door, feeling decidedly… bored. Sliding the shoji door open, she suddenly found herself being tackled by a fat toad thing with scissors.
"BWAHAHAHA!" Manten crowed, reaching for her hair.
"ACK! GET OFFA ME YOU PERVERT!" Kicking the annoying hair-obsessed demon over her head, she used her momentum to flip herself over into crouching position before she stood up and faced Manten, fire burning in her eyes. "I. Am. Going. To. KILL YOU!"
Running at the surprised demon, she grabbed his shirt, lifted him up, and hurled him back through the door of the house before storming in after him. Once she got inside, nothing was safe, everything she could get her hands on was picked up and broken over Manten's head… He passed out sometime after the couch, but before the chimney.
After about five minutes of repetitive thumping noises, Hiten got creeped out and decided to see what the fuck was going on in his home. Storming into the room, he found his hostage, beating the crap out of his brother with a vast array of miscellaneous objects.
Rolling his eyes he walked over to them and wrapped his arms around Kin, effectively restraining her. "What do you think you're doing?" he ground out, more than mildly annoyed at being disturbed while he was TRYING to sleep.
The angry Kitsune twisted slightly in his grasp so she could look him in the eyes while she glared evilly. "I am trying to kill your brother."
Hiten rolled his eyes again. "Why?" He questioned in an annoyed/tired voice.
"Because he JUMPED ME when I came in!" Here she turned back around and lunged at Manten, her desire to kill him coming back tenfold. But luckily for the unconscious demon, Hiten still had her in his grasp so she couldn't do more than flail her arms in an attempt to reach him.
"You can't kill him." Hiten stated coldly.
"Sure I can! Are you calling me weak!"
Now his headache was getting even worse… "Would you just shut up?" he mumbled, dropping his head onto her shoulder. Then he forced himself back onto his seat, releasing her from his grasp. "Okay… I'm going back to sleep, don't kill my brother, and shut the hell up because if I have to get up again I'm going to have to kill you both." Then he walked back to his room, fell onto his futon, and then into dream world.
Kin blinked, staring at the door Hiten had just left through before she turned her contemplative gaze to the bruised and battered body that littered the floor. Well, he was already unconscious without hope getting up without great pain, so he could be allowed to live… for now. Then she looked around the room and bit her lip. Splintered and broken objects littered the floor, and it would be virtually impossible to traverse the room without getting your feet torn to shreds. Perhaps she should clean it up… Nah, why bother?
After all, she could fly, so she had absolutely not problem floating out of the room without a second thought. Out of sheer laziness, she continued floating down the halls until she reached the kitchen. Seeing that it was empty, as were her arms, she slapped a hand to her forehead and muttered a string of curses ranging from Japanese to Spanish continuing on until she ran out of languages she knew curses in.
Running out of the kitchen, she sped past Hiten's room, through the living room-luckily running so fast that her feet barely even touched the ground-and out the door before leaping off the cliff and blazing through the sky. Landing in the hot spring clearing, she suddenly found herself pressed up against a tree with someone's arm cutting off her air supply. Well looky, if it isn't our favorite bloodthirsty thunder demon!
Glaring at him, she used all of her strength to push him back a few feet. "Stop doing that!" She yelled, more than mildly annoyed that this was the second time that day that her back had collided with a tree.
His eyes were narrowed and he looked really angry, which kind of surprised her because she hadn't seen him genuinely angry, borderline psychotic, yes, but apparently he hadn't been truly angry until now. "Who said you could leave?" His voice was deceptively calm, and she barely managed to repress the shudder that threatened to run through her body.
Blushing slightly, she shot a glance at the abandoned grocery bags before turning her head in the other direction, not really wanting to answer his question, nor the meaning behind it.
Hiten followed her furtive glance before nodding slightly, accepting her excuse. Crossing his arms, he watched her silently, making it clear that he planed to stay as long as she did.
Seeing that he wasn't leaving without her, Kin walked over to the bags and scooped them up before returning Hiten's gaze. Floating up slowly, she watched him for any sign of reaction before she began flying back towards the mansion, aware that he was flying right behind her watching her every move in what she could only assume was a suspicious manner.
-:-
The silence of the great hall was broken only by the sound chewing coming from both Rin and the viper Youkai. The other three members of the hall were perfectly silent as they ate.
"Rin, do not eat so quickly, you will give yourself a stomachache." Rin nodded brightly at Mizuna's order and slowed down to a more reasonable pace.
"Send that human away, it is ruining my appetite."
Before Sesshoumaru could open his mouth, or kill the Youkai, or do anything else that might potentially damage their carefully constructed lie, Mizuna spoke. "Shut up you worthless piece of filth, if anything it is you who is ruining everyone's appetite. The concept is called 'chewing' it comes naturally to those who are not mentally incompetent. Rin is not an 'it' that would be you, and if you speak out against my charge one more time I shall not hesitate to eradicate you." She looked completely serious, from her slightly angry face, and her flashing sapphire eyes. Not even the bravest of Youkai would mess with her tone of voice, especially not when she was holding a very sharp steak knife in a white knuckled grip.
In an instance of pathetic fallacy, the rain intensified and lightning cracked casting her alabaster face into shadow so that only the icy glare of her eyes could be seen.
"Wow, Mizuna-obasan you look like Sesshoumaru-sama whenever he sees that guy with the weird baboon pelt!" Rin commented brightly.
Mizuna, forgetting her anger in a moment of actual shock, turned to the young girl. "A baboon pelt…?" She inquired with an incredulous air, seriously though, what kind of nut job would wear a baboon pelt…?
Rin nodded as she munched on a slice of bread. Swallowing, she restated her comment. "Uh-huh, he's really scary, and he always says 'kukuku', and there are these weird hornet things that follow him around!" During her imitation, she scrunched up her nose and tried her hardest to get it just right.
The stoic demoness couldn't help it, she laughed. The silvery sound reverberated throughout the otherwise silent room.
"And when did you see this baboon pelted man with Sesshoumaru?" The Prince of the South inquired mildly, wondering what exactly the little girl's real connection to the demon lord was.
Rin put a finger to her chin and tilted her head in consideration. "Well… there was that one time right before Sesshoumaru-sama faced this one guy that kind of looked like him, and Mizuna-obasan saved Rin from these light thingies, oh, and then Jaken went crazy and Rin's obasan knocked him into the forest, but then he came back, but then obasan took his staff and hit him with it and he hasn't come back yet." Overall, Rin's analogy made it seem like the visiting monarch had asked about Jaken's history of run-ins with Mizuna for the day.
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…" The Southern lord muttered, somehow managing to sound more reflective than condescending. He looked between Mizuna and Sesshoumaru and back again with a contemplative look in his eyes.
Giving Mizuna a lazy half smile, he gestured to the large window behind her. "It's stopped raining."
She nodded slightly before setting her silverware down. "If that is indeed the case, then I have a promise to keep. Rin, are you finished eating?"
"Yes Mizuna-obasan!" The little girl said dutifully as she stood up and grabbed the older woman's hand. Leading her over to Sesshoumaru's chair, she bowed to him cutely before asking to be excused, though she had already gotten up.
He nodded at her before shooting her new keeper a veiled look that simply said to watch her, no threat whatsoever, unless of course you consider a painful death by Chinese water torture a threat. Mizuna nodded to him, though to the guests it seemed as if she was thanking him for supper.
Leading the cheerful little girl out of the room, Mizuna paused at the door. "If any of you are planning on a trip outside, I would recommend that it be within this half hour interval. Once the rain starts again it will be of hurricane proportions." She advised in a soft voice. Then she left the room, Rin at her heels.
Then the snake Youkai rose, and followed them, an angry look on his face, leaving Sesshoumaru and Ryuu alone. "So Sesshoumaru… nice girlfriend you've got there."
"Do not speak of matters-"
"Of which I know nothing, yeah, yeah. We've known each other since we were kids Sesshoumaru, and you know very well that I'm not speaking about matters, I am simply asking in a tactful manner whether or not she is available. So stop being a high and mighty asshole and answer the question." Ryuu stated calmly, leaning back in his chair as he watched his longtime friend.
Sesshoumaru smirked and shook his head. "She's not taken to the extent of my knowledge."
"Which we all know is infinite." Ryuu said sarcastically, returning his smirk. "Where's she from, why is she visiting, and other pointless questions that I demand you answer."
The Western Lord shrugged, before motioning at the door she had left through. "Go ask her yourself…"
His friend stared at him for a second, in a decidedly sulky manner before he sighed in frustration. "You're really going to make me ask her aren't you?"
The silver haired Inu Youkai smirked once again and inclined his head slightly, silently agreeing with his friend's accusation.
Ryuu rolled his eyes and heaved himself out of the chair as if it was the most challenging thing he had ever had to do. "Now look what you've made me do… I can't believe I had to get up."
Sesshoumaru smirked at him once again. "Damn lazy cat." He pointed out calmly.
"Fucking hyper dog." The Southern prince countered smoothly. They had been insulting each other like that since they were mere children.
Sesshoumaru hadn't always been so cold; he was actually a very playful child… if not a bit too serious at times. But the man just had family issues coming out his ass. Ryuu had always thought his hatred of Inuyasha was warranted, it was taken a bit to far sometimes, but he could relate. He himself hated his family with an unparalleled passion, but unluckily for him, they were both alive, and living with him… Stupid freeloading leeches.
Shaking his head to rid it of its less-than-happy thoughts, he waved his goodbye to Sesshoumaru before leaving the room. Walking down the halls, he noticed that his second-in-command's scent just 'randomly' happened to be going the same exact direction as the person he was looking for. My, how interesting.
-:-
Rin skipped happily along the dark path, humming a mismatched tune that had just randomly come into her mind. Suddenly she stopped and turned to Mizuna and grabbed her hand before pointing to a small bush with delicate white flowers. "Rin likes this plant! But Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't… Do you like it Rin's obasan?"
Mizuna smiled at the little girl before glancing back at the small bush. "That is a gardenia bush Rin, it's flowers are quite fragrant, perhaps a bit too much so for a demon with a keen sense of smell such as Lord Sesshoumaru."
Rin nodded and stared at the flower bush for a moment longer, memorizing its name, then she continued on down the path, dragging Mizuna along with her.
Twenty minutes of being followed by the stupid snake Youkai later, they walked out of the garden, through about two feet of trees, and arrived in a clearing with a four foot waterfall emptying itself into a small, rock-bordered pool.
"This is Rin's favorite place in the whole garden!" And Mizuna could see why, the green grass looked quite comfortable, and just a few trees away was a large field full of wild flowers-making this spot absolutely ideal for making flower chains.
"Alright Rin, it is time to go in now, it's going to begin raining in a few minutes."
"There's no hurry, you won't even feel the rain when I'm done with you!" Mizuna rolled her eyes before stepping around Rin and facing the Snake Youkai. Canceling the spell that made her human, she reverted to her demon form.
Bringing up one pale hand, she cracked her knuckles and gave him a chilling smile. "That has got to be the stupidest death threat I've yet to encounter." She pointed out coolly, knowing that it would anger the demon into doing something stupid, not that challenging her had been smart in the first place.
Lightning cracked through the heavens, illuminating the clearing before torrents of rain being pouring down, soaking the earth in an instant. Rin squeaked when this happened, but the water gently slid around her as it did the water demoness.
Mizuna gave the demon a calculating look before snapping open her pair of bladed fans. Throwing one up into the air, it sliced through the rain before hovering in midair, creating a barrier around the clearing that the rain disappeared into. Then she tossed Rin her silver charm bracelet. "Rin, take that and go to your room, I'll join you shortly."
Sliding down into a defensive position, Mizuna turned her attention to her broadsword bearing opponent. "Let's get this party started, shall we?"
The snake Youkai ran at her, swinging his sword down with brutal force. But she was too quick for him, twirling gracefully out of the attack's way, she then leapt backwards, knowing that the sheer force would destroy that part of the ground.
She really hadn't wanted to use her special attack because it was quite painful, but she knew that, though she could probably kill the demon on her own, it would be a long and arduous task, one that the coming hurricane wouldn't allow for. Her power would keep the rain at bay, but not the gale force winds. A water barrier would do the trick, but it would also seal off air and take up more of her concentration than could be spared were she to fight the demon.
As she looked at the angry demon, pity flashed through her eyes. "I am allowing you one chance. You can either admit defeat, or you can wait until this hurricane is over… The other option is quite painful, and a measure I would not choose to resort too."
The demon hissed at her and charged, using the exact same attack… Okay, apparently she had overestimated him. Then he swung the sword around, and only her quick reflexes saved her from having her arm severed off.
Wincing slightly, she looked at the shallow cut, it wasn't life threatening, but it hurt and it greatly annoyed her that she hadn't seen that coming. Feeling the gentle tug on her psyche, she knew that she had absorbed enough power to use her attack. Leaping high into the air, she completely avoided the demon's next attack while snatching her second fan out of the air.
As a result, the rain instantly soaked them both to the bone. Keeping a wary eye on him, Mizuna bowed slightly to him, as any honorable opponent would before a match. Slipping one fan back into her obi, she held the one that had previously been absorbing the rain up, covering half of her face so that only her eyes were visible. She was standing upright and more or less at ease, not bothering to go into fighting stance, as it really wasn't necessary for her next attack.
Her hands held the fan tightly as her eyes glowed unnaturally bright. Then she spoke in a long dead tongue, a flowing language that was reminiscent of water. As the silvery words fell from her lips, her fan began to shine a faint blue, becoming stronger and stronger as the power began to collect in the air. Then, that same power began to drift to where the snake Youkai stood, his eyes widened in terror.
It slowly coalesced around his form, seeping into his skin. Then, the glow was gone, the power had immersed itself inside him, it flowed through his blood stream and then the last word of the ancient spell was spoken.
The demon fell to the ground, writhing in agony as all the water in his body was drawn out of him, leaking through his pores before traveling upwards and forming a slowly growing sphere of water. Though it only lasted for a few seconds, it seemed as if it was prolonged for hours. The last thing the Youkai saw before shriveling into dust, was a pair of glowing blue eyes that, for a mere instant, flashed with pity.
Mizuna stepped foreword shakily before deciding that moving was not necessarily a good thing. Pressing her hand to her forehead, she steadied herself and drew together what remained of her strength for the trip back to the castle, remaining completely and totally oblivious to the tall figure that had been watching her since the fight began.
The Southern Prince continued following her until she was only a few yards away from the castle doors, then he phased out using his speed and went inside swiftly, without drawing her notice.
When Mizuna came through the doors, her body decided that, discipline be damned, she was out of energy and it wasn't going to cooperate anymore. And so, she passed out, straight into the prince's arms without really registering his presence at all.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Leiko: Okie! That chapter was largely about Kashaku, because it is also dedicated to her! Because she never once stopped harassing me to finish this, so yay her!
:Leiko looks nervously at readers:
Leiko: Oh… and uh… can I… I don't know… like… not die?
Readers: Doubtful.
Leiko: RYUU-CHAN! SAVE ME!
:Ryuu ignores her and continues discussing politics with Mizuna:
Kin: Quick Leiko, in here!
:Kin opens random door and Leiko runs in before Kin slams it shut and locks it:
Kin: THAT'S FOR PUTTING THAT STUPID ASS SEAL ON THE FREAKING DOOR!
:"Leiko is now locked in a closet, but she doesn't even have a totally sexy demon to share it with:
Leiko: You suck… you could've at least locked someone hot in here with me…
:Kashaku opens door and shoves the real Renkotsu into the closet with her:
Kashaku: There ya go!
Leiko: Cool, thanks!
Rin: Rin thinks that everyone should review the nice lady's story!
Readers: AW! SHE'S SO CUTE!