In desperation, Mizoshi felt her cheeks burn.
How could he have found someone else in such a short period of time? Unless…Kagura!
But, lo and behold, there was no trace of the scarlet-eyed woman in lavender. There wasn't anybody else in the room except her and him.
Now, Mizoshi's cheeks were flaming for another reason.
I'm doubly a fool.
Naraku, sensing a presence, stiffly turned around to face her. His blood crimson eyes were dancing. A smirk had appeared. "Mizoshi. You are back."
She drew herself up to her full height. Something was wrong. "Yes, I am."
"Am I to be jubilant now?" he quite nearly purred. "Am I to welcome you with loving arms? The bird takes a risk reentering a web she cleanly tore with her impetuous wings." His eyes crackled with flames.
Involuntarily, her back hit the wall under his fierce gaze. "I came back, Naraku."
"And what does that mean exactly?" Threateningly, the dark hanyou was advancing on her.
"It means that I am staying. For good," she vowed.
However, her promise did not yield the desired effect.
"But, what does that mean?" Naraku repeated. Without mercy, his sinewy arms shot out and pinned her to the spot. She was trapped against the wall. "Well?" That maniacal gleam had remanifested in his red seeing orbs. "What does that mean?"
He's crazy!
"It means that I'll never leave again!" Mizoshi cried. "I…don't want to," she added lamely.
Why did I ever come back?
"What could have ever changed your mind?" he whispered harshly. "I thought I was too untrustworthy. Too dangerous. Is this dangerous enough for you?" Effortlessly, he pressed her tighter against the wall paneling. He was toying with her.
"Y-y-yes," she stammered out. "I know that you're upset--"
At once, he gave up the game. "You don't know me that well," he hissed.
Unceremoniously, he had released her. Had the wall not given her support, she would have inevitably slid downwards. Wary now, Mizoshi watched the hell demon Naraku had become stride back to his original position; dark trailing robes of bruise-purple dragging along the very same floor that would have obligingly caught her fall had she collided with it. Carefully, he scrutinized her with those violent eyes. She decided to speak before he in a faltering pitch.
"I…thought I knew you. I want to know you." Her voice was gaining in strength.
He shook his head. "Pathetic creature," he murmured. "I could end your existence right now."
"Maybe you should!" she countered, her frozen fear melting away into a river of anger. "Everyone else wants to. The villagers, Sesshoumaru, Kouga, Inuyasha, this Band of Seven…"
Swiftly, he cut her off. "You know of the Band of Seven? How?" he demanded heatedly.
"Bankotsu told me," Mizoshi responded truthfully. "Afterwards, I believe he was contemplating ending my existence, as you just pointed out."
"The journey was difficult?" The hell demon was gauging her.
"Yes." She was studying him as intently as he was examining her. His mood appeared to lightening. Appeared to be.
"I know."
She took a step forward, peeling herself from the wall in the process. "You knew?"
"Yes. I saw that Sesshoumaru almost separated your head from your shoulders. Later, the hanyou showed up. You were extremely lucky to have escaped through the fissure that exploded the neighboring rocks." Naraku watched her imminent reaction with mixed amusement and outright arrogance.
"You saw?" The world was bending again. "How?" she suddenly blurted. "How did you see?"
"I have my own special means." That characteristic smirk she had once thought so attractive was quickly becoming unnerving.
"And you did nothing to--"
As usual, he cut across her words. "What was I to do? Make the situation worse? Send out my saimyoushou where my haven might be easily tracked? No, the risk was too high. So, I did neither. What's the matter? You are alive. You survived the confrontation. Isn't that right, dearest Mizoshi? Or, do you always need somebody stronger to save you?" His meaty hands had clenched into fists. He was on the border of snorting like a cornered boar.
"Of course not!" She was mildly offended. Not because she was being accused of a trait she did not possess, but precisely the opposite.
I am perpetually helpless, aren't I?
"You proved yourself!" He was showing his gleaming teeth now. "You scraped past without a scratch! You should be proud of your accomplishment and not have the audacity to blame me for not rescuing you for the fourth occurrence in a row." The statement was so final.
Tears were scorching her eyelids. "Do you hate me now?"
He laughed in answer. Actually laughed. At the abrasiveness and sheer volume of the disturbing sound, the screen door behind her hesitantly slid open.
"What's so funny? May be I included in on the joke?" an all-too familiar female voice intruded.
Mizoshi spun around where her golden eyes clashed with the wind witch's eyes of vermillion. She was leaning in the doorway, head cocked, eyes blazing. The lilac feather riding her tresses fluttered in a wide arc in her overt attempt to listen in. Immediately, those blazing ruby eyes fastened on her.
"Oh." The door slid shut as soon as the dark hanyou had shot her a murderous glare whereupon it was transferred to Mizoshi. Apparently, once Naraku's temper had been aroused, none were safe.
"Do you want me to leave, Naraku-sama?" She had automatically reverted to calling him that. It seemed like the best thing to do when an incensed spider was clicking his jaws.
"Call…me…by…my…name!" he drew out the command haltingly for emphasis.
She quieted. He was enraged. Anything she said would eventually be her undoing.
"Stupid wench," he muttered. "Why do you stay? Why do I want you to stay?"
Her lips moved before her brain could process them. "Because I feel safe here. This is one of the few places where I did not have to worry about my welfare and…"
She stopped.
I'm lying. I was and am still worried about the wind witch and her pale pink fan, the soul-stealing mirror, and even the master himself. Weeks ago, I was miserable. Until…
"How cute." Naraku had averted his gaze with evident disgust. As if staving off a chill, he crossed his arms over his chest and began to pace. "I can see your falsehoods. If this was a haven, why did you ever leave? You should put more thought into your poorly crafted lies. I am starting to lose my patience."
Such a logical mind. So complicated and incomprehensible. Too wily for me.
"It wasn't so much the place," she hastily corrected herself, "it was you."
This declaration rooted the dark hanyou to the floor. Regardless of this abrupt change, she continued.
"Constantly, I feared an attack launched by your incarnations, but I knew that you would never let that happen. In fact, I felt the safest I ever felt in your domain when you slept by my side." Unlike before, these words actually were true.
"You bring my incarnations into this?" His red eyes were unflinching and hard. The softness of her speech made no impression on them whatsoever.
Slowly, she was being deflated.
I can't reason with Naraku. Anything I say is just used against me. I'm just getting myself deeper and deeper in the poisonous miasma that is his nature…
It was then she realized just how precarious her situation was. How precarious her situation always had been, but she'd just been too blind to see it.
I was silent before. I was a little bird in a gilded cage that cheeped only when commanded. Now, that I'm flying, the spider can't handle that. The arachnid has realized that I am no longer a "castle pet" to him.
How will he handle this?
As if on cue, he began to vocalize his musings out loud. "I've watched you, Mizoshi. Watched what you have become. At first, I knew a simpering lost little girl with dirt in her hair. She was obedient and naïve. She came to my castle and provided me with amusement, or rather, a new territory to conquer." His lips curved seductively.
More anger was brimming.
I'm an object to him? A new toy that is played with, broken, and thrown aside?
But, the crimson-eyed demon wasn't finished. Not by far. "Now, under my very eyes, you have matured into an inquisitive, adventurous, often-times disturbing woman."
A pause.
"And, I did it. I did it all," he uttered mostly to himself while those penetrating eyes glazed over dreamily.
Mizoshi was about to open her mouth to protest, but he interrupted. As usual.
"I awakened your power with my touch. I trained you to channel that power of flame properly. Indeed, you are my creation. You may not be born of my flesh, but you have been directly reared by me." Obscenely, those vermillion eyes were searching her swaying form.
I'm going to faint. Is that…pride in his eyes?
He was till speaking. "It was my doing," he said softly. "I created what you are now. Don't you see that, Mizoshi?" A wide was taking hold of the dark hanyou's mouth. He looked victorious. Accomplished. Almost as when he held the still incomplete Shikon jewel in his long fingers.
Is this sudden change of demeanor a good thing?
"Naraku," she tried. "I don't--"
He broke into her dialogue yet again. "And, even now as you stand here, you want to be with me. Such loyalty. How beautiful."
I need that wall again. Something to support me. It's too much…
When Mizoshi had walked into this muted chamber that smelled of ancient dust and moldering finery; the dark hanyou—soon to be dark youkai—had been enraged. It had only been minutes when she had been expecting her own demise so great had been Naraku's irrational temper. Now, his features were glowing with so much adoration and personal accomplishment that a nervous smile tugged at her lips as well.
Let me back up just a little…
"Don't be shy, Mizoshi."
As it turned out, she needn't have worried about toppling over. Not when his cold arms were around her waist.
"You're freezing," he noted.
"It's winter," she croaked in an apologetic tone.
"You shouldn't have left."
The argument was over. Naraku himself had ended it with no input of hers that had impacted it. Any of her differing opinions would be cast aside—along with she herself if she persisted.
More likely physically case aside over the mountain's edge.
In Naraku's soft-as-silk embrace, she was once more rendered a love-struck idiot. All of her previous grievances were forgotten. Not that she had any in the first place. After all, he had attacked her.
Why did I ever leave?
Then, whilst enclosed in his web-like appendages, she remembered one previous grievance. One major grievance. The one that had spurred her into defiance against Naraku and his entire household.
I feel his heartbeat now. Right against my chest. His human heartbeat that defines him as a hanyou. Will I be in this seemingly tender embrace when he is a youkai?
"I know," she replied belatedly. "I shouldn't have left."
Will Naraku turn against me with no heart beating in his chest? With that too, I'll just have to wait and see. Who said that a relationship with a dark demon lord would be perfect?
However, what he said next tore her newfound veil of security to shreds. "Unfortunately, you may have to leave again." He sighed heavily. This too reverberated inside his chest.
Cautiously, she pillowed her head on his shoulder. "Why?" she asked sleepily. However, she wasn't as tired as she let on. No. She was alert to anything that concerned her wellbeing.
What is his meaning now?
This relationship is going to be tiring…
"For your protection. Soon—mere days even—this mountain may crumble into dust. I fear unwelcome company may be approaching. Three of the Band of Seven remain. When the last one dies…" Purposefully, he let the sentence hang in the damp air.
"Naraku?"
"Hmm?" He still had not let go of her.
"What were you doing when I first entered?"
"Beholding something that I will not see again for as long as I live. The scar on my back is directly connected to my painfully human heart, you see."
This worked out. Not even bothering pursuing the matter, Mizoshi made another inquiry about a suspicion she had been harboring for a while now.
"Naraku?"
"What?" His hand was running up and down her back. He wasn't quite peeved yet…
"What is keeping the Band of Seven alive?"
"Figure it out," he replied harshly right before his lips crushed hers. He had grown tired of talking, and so had she.
Wonderful.
Once more being led to the sleeping mattress she knew so well by now; Mizoshi was left vulnerable to the sensations that Naraku and Naraku alone could cause. Somehow, their full-blown argument that had nearly come to blows or worse had pleasantly transformed into this.
Rolling, tugging, and gasping--Mizoshi soon found herself clinging onto Naraku's well-made shoulders for some sense of equilibrium afterwards. So. Her sagely mother was correct. There was a hair-thin line between passion and anger.
Limbs now in repose, Naraku carefully traced patterns on her bare back as if trying to sketch a picture there. He continued this until light snoring was heard and the hand lay still. Slightly teary-eyed, she gazed down at both her greatest love and her greatest danger.
Snuggling against him, she too closed her eyes. But, this darkness did nothing to cease the flow of her thoughts. Not right away.
Jewel shards. The jewel shards are keeping the Band of Seven alive.
She yawned.
And, Naraku now considers me as important as those jewel shards.
Still, while this development had been welcome, what would it entail?
Must I be perfect now? Pristine? Exactly how he wants me to act? It's pretty hard to love someone for who they really are when you just think them a reflection of yourself or some artificially created mold.
They would work it out. They always would. They would have to.
She was still gazing at him. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from his flawless pale skin and sinfully soft trailing tresses of deepest evening black. While he slumbered, she idly threaded her tapered fingers through them, just as she had on other nights of pure bliss.
He considers me his creation?
A cold wind blew. She could feel the draft, even beneath the twisted silken sheets. It was going to be a cold night. An exceptionally cold night.
Ignoring the whistling and groaning of the castle, she rested her cheek on his chest. He didn't even stir. Naraku had fallen into a deep sleep. His steady breathing lifted her cheek higher and higher.
Why was he so tired? Didn't he sleep while I was gone?
Speaking of which, she herself was feeling sleepy now.
Gratefully entering the globe of shadowy unconsciousness with Naraku by her side, Mizoshi prepared herself for another day.
Author's Note: Some girls are just loyal to a fault, although, I consider this part of Mizoshi's charm. Anyhoo, Naraku's new form should be showing up in two or so chapters. This chapter was entirely devoted to Naraku and Mizoshi. There will be no more appearances of the Band of Seven.