Third Time's A Charm- Chapter 6

"Ayako!" the woman laughed as the young girl jumped forward to fling arms about her. "You nearly scared my to death.

The girl pulled back worriedly. "I'm sorry Lady Akari!" she frowned then, settled her hands on her hips and studied Akari for a long while then nodded. "Well atleast you aren't hurt this time. I'm glad."

Akari smiled. "No I'm fine. I have another patient for you." She gestured towards Inuyasha and the girl turned to eye him with open hostility. He did the same to her. She looked no more then 14 or 15. Her hair was a short crop of jet-black curls that hung around her face. Pale, crystal blue eyes just bordering on silver, pale complexion sporting a slight blue tinge to it and a pair of translucent fins hung from her arms and her legs marking her as part water demon. "Inuyasha this is Mishima No Ayako. Ayako this is Inuyasha, my consort."

"Consort!?" The girl's eyes widened. "Him!? But Lady-"

"It's not permanent. Just one night. But we can talk about that later." Akari frowned a bit. "He was poisoned. By a scorpion."

"Regular or demon?" The girl asked moving through the hut to stand before a cabinet hanging on the wall and opened it.

"Demon." She smiled towards Inuyasha. "I'll leave you in Ayako's hands then." Before she turned and walked out of the hut.

Inuyasha watched her leave then sighed and flopped down onto the floor, which was covered in thin, fluffed fur rugs. He was a bit miffed now. She'd left him here. But she'd said he wouldn't be scorned. She'd tricked him. A village full of half-breeds. He looked up at the girl but she wasn't paying attention to him, instead mixing something in a small-carved wooden bowl.

"Hey."

"What?" Still not looking at him.

His ears twitched with annoyance. "Why is this place full of half demons?"

"It's not just half demons." She snapped irritably. "There are humans here too. Lady Akari saved us."

Inuyasha snorted. "Saved you. What did she do post a notice. OW!" this last part yelped then followed by a snarl when she kicked him.

"You know very little about Lady Mishima no Akari don't you? Being a half breed yourself I'd at least think you should understand what other half demons go through in the village of their birth."

"I'm not stupid." He growled, annoyed.

"You are. Or else you wouldn't talk about her so disrespectfully." She moved and sat down on the floor with the bowl so Inuyasha could see the contents, a red sticky substance that looked almost like honey. "Lady Akari is a priestess and she travels often to villages as a healer. And more often then that she brings back half demons or orphans and gives them a home here."

Inuyasha eyed her with reluctant curiosity then scoffed. "And that's what happened to me."

"Yes. Take of your shirt." Leaning forward to unwind his bandages when he obeyed and started smoothing the substance over the festering long tear across his chest. "Lady Akari came to my village when I was 12. It was small and so the coming of a priestess was like the coming for a princess for us. The village offered to let her stay there and rest from her traveling for a few days. My mother had died of a sickness...as for my father...well that lake of his origin somehow went dry and so he died with it as most water demons do so I lived by myself. Lady Akari coming to the village really was like having a princess there. She was so regal and composed. I'd seen her when she was walking through the village but I never got close up till I was hiding in the bushes in the garden of the dojo she was staying at. I was going to stay hidden but then a tiny ball of rope I'd always played with rolled out of my pocket."

He blinked when she fell silent a moment. "Yea? And what happened."

She set the bowls aside and started to wrap his would again. "Well it rolled right over to where she was sitting and she picked it up and looked right in my direction and she...she smiled. And she said that I could come out so I did. Then she asked me my name and that was...was it. She handed me back my ball and told me to be careful then went inside. The next day she was suppose to believing but before she did she went to the center of the village and called people to assemble then said that she needed...she needed a pure heart to...to take back with her to her village. A few people didn't want to leave and so they left the assembly but so many stayed and...she just looked them all over and chose me."

He twitched his ears with bitter boredom. "That's it. That's why you love her so much? Cuz she picked you?"

"She didn't just pick me Inuyasha. What she said..." She went back to the cabinet and started searching through it. "All my life I'd been hated for what I was. Lived in a village that wouldn't have cared if I ran away, if I died. And then Lady Akari came and said...not just to me but to everyone...that I...that I was a child of love."

"A child of love?"

She nodded. "Yes. She said that the union between a demon and a human was forbidden, was frowned upon, was seen as unnatural. And the offspring of that union had that same hatred and unnatural view automatically given to them despite the fact that they can't help what they are. And so for two people to risk such hatred just to be together...has to be proof of true love. A love so strong that it stands against doubt and cruelty. And any child born of that love is purer then any child born of a common union. And the hatred seen is a hate derived from that inner knowledge. The fear that your own love is weak and superficial." She walked back over handing him a wooden cup of a clear liquid. "I can't speak for the others but she gave me worth when I had none."

He took the cup but she remained standing glaring down at him. "And that's why I'm very glad I'm the first you'll talk to. I'm sure you'll probably get this a lot from people older and bigger to my but I promise none will hurt you more then I will. I don't know what Lady Akari sees in you or why she wants you as a consort but if you hurt her I will make you pay."

Inuyasha normally would have called her bluff but her eyes flashed, clear crystal blue turning stormy gray for a fraction of a second as she glared at him firmly then turned away. "Drink that. The salve I put on will heal the wound and that's to get rid of the poison." She walked towards the door and glanced back. "Oh and you shouldn't eat anything for a while after you drink it."

He sniffed the liquid then threw her a look a mixture of suspicious and irritation. "Why not?"

She shrugged. "Your decision. I was just letting you know. It's your own personal stomach though." And the she walked out, letting the flap fall behind her.

Leaving Inuyasha to contemplate and seethe alone.