Life with Koga
Chapter 8
By Alicia Maxwell
"Koga, Koga-kun, I think I'm going to go on a trip soon," I told him.
"A trip?" he yawned. "Where do you intend to go?"
"I think I'm going to go see Sesshomaru and Rem," I said.
"Not that dog and his wench again…" Koga grumbled.
"Rem is my friend! No matter how much you hate Sesshomaru!" I yelled.
"Well I'm telling ya I don't trust her or that bastard so you can't go!" Koga fumed.
"Say whatever you want! I'M GOING!" I shouted.
"Oh great… another fight… well, I'm turning back right now. How about you?" Hakkaku, who was only a few steps away from joining us, paused and turned toward Ginta.
"I learned after that last incident to keep my nose out of their business," Ginta said, fingering the scar on his cheek. "Let's go."
"Where do you two think you're going?" Koga asked. His two comrades froze. "Feh. Alicia, what do you say to letting them decide it?"
"Fine," I huffed. "I'll give my side of the story first. Koga isn't letting me visit my good friend because she lives with a half-wit bastard. I'm done."
"This 'half-wit bastard' is after my life and he wouldn't mind having Alicia's instead," Koga argued.
"So? Who do you two side with?" we asked together.
"Koga," the two said plainly.
"Nothing against your friend Alicia but we need to keep our leaders safe and this journey of yours sounds dangerous," Ginta explained.
"Exactly," Hakkaku agreed.
"Whatever…," I mumbled and stormed off.
About twenty minutes passed before I was already disobeying Koga's orders. I started off on my journey to visit Rem and Sesshomaru. I had little respect for Sesshomaru myself, so I could understand Koga's objection, but Rem was different. She wasn't much stronger than Sesshomaru but her determination speed and accuracy made her twice the fighter he was. Unfortunately, she also had more of a temper than him. Rem was a good person though. Strange, he was a noble dog yet I saw him as scum, and she was a mongrel and yet I saw her as ten times the person he could ever hope to be.
Rem was closely tied to Sesshomaru when I first met her- the two were best friends- and this put me on guard. However, I realized I had nothing to fear from Rem quite quickly. She was just a sweet person who found Sesshomaru interesting and thus followed him around like a stalker. Now that I'm recounting it, it does sound rather odd….
Rem and I existed as close allies for many years despite the animosity between Sesshomaru and Koga. She was a low-class mutt but a great ally and trusted friend. Unfortunately, her social standing showed in her eating habits, dress, and hygiene. Her table manners were worse than those of a starved wolf. She wore baggy old clothes and her dark brown hair was always heading in all possible directions at once. I'd say it's fair to say she was the opposite of Sesshomaru who was always clean, tidy, well-groomed, and well-dressed. That's why it came as such a surprise.
Three years after we started to grow apart slightly, I received a message from Rem. In the letter, two names I had never heard before appeared- Kaijimaru[1] and Yume. From what I could gather from the poor grammar and numerous misspellings, she and Sesshomaru had wed and she had given birth to two pups- that's where the names Kaijimaru and Yume came in.
By the time I had received this message, I was about to begin carrying my fifteenth litter, placing the message approximately six months previous to my venture to go see Rem. I wrote back but I had wanted to see for myself what no mind could imagine all too well- Rem as a mother. She was never very careful and was usually more reckless than any child you placed in her care. The real issue about Rem being a mother, though, was that she wasn't very effeminate at all, which made both her being a mother and Sesshomaru being attracted to her scary. All the same, I knew what I read.
It was about three days after I started my expedition when I came upon their home. It was a simple little house in the mountains, which is more than I had expected. I stepped up to the door and knocked.
"Ohayo gozaimass! Sesshomaru? Rem?" I called out. Suddenly the door swung open and there was Rin, thirty years old.
"Oh, ohayo Alicia-san. I suppose you're here to see Okaasan?" Rin asked. It was simple to see why Sesshomaru insisted on keeping Rin out of human sights- she'd grown into a lovely woman and he probably thought her beauty would be wasted on any human male. "Okaasan!"
"May I come in, Rin?" I asked.
"Oh sure," Rin lead me into the house. "Okaasan! You can sit down over there, Alicia-san."
"Thanks," I moved toward the nearest chair and sat down.
"Kaasan!" Rin yelled up the stairs.
"She isn't here Rin!" Sesshomaru called back down.
"Well where is she, Tousan? Alicia-san is here!"
"Where else? The lake."
"Down there again?" Rin sighed. "My apologies, Alicia-san. You know Kaasan- once she decides to go swimming it's hours before she comes back. So, how have you been?"
"Fine, just fine. I haven't seen you in a while."
"I'm… not allowed to go out much. Tousan forces the scholastics on me and he doesn't want me associating with humans so…"
"Do you think he understands the difference between you and a demon, Rin?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, demons can be centuries old and still have children. Humans are different. You only have about ten more years before you'll lose your ability to have children. Do you think your father realizes that?"
"He doesn't need to realize that because it isn't true!" Rin giggled. "Didn't Kaasan tell you about what Tousan did with a jewel shard he found?"
"Huh?" I blinked.
"Tousan gave me a shard of the Shikon no Tama and I used it to become a demon," Rin smiled, fingering her now slightly-pointed ear.
"Wow… I didn't know a shard could do that much," I said.
"We're back!" Rem burst in the front door, carrying two little dog demon pups. "What did we miss?"
[1] Yes I do realize that name translates, more or less, to "Fire man." So the name makes him sound like a pyromaniac? So what?