You and Me After All
Chapter 31: Demon
He offered her a hand. Perhaps because she was shocked, or because the incident took her mind off the brutal truth of what had happened between them, she accepted his help. He pulled the miko to her feet and held onto her elbow to steady her.
"What was that?" She asked again. Her grip on his hand was surprisingly strong. He could see her fingertips turning white. He could also feel how her body was trembling, and he wondered: if he offered her the use of his mokomoko, would she accept?
"That creature was called a Leyak," Sesshōmaru explained. "It is a demon who masquerades in its humanoid form during the day, but separates its head from its body at night to fly around in search for food. It feeds on yōkai fetus as its main source of sustenance."
Then, he paused as his gaze landed on her belly for a few seconds. "It was attracted to the child you are carrying."
The miko paled even more. Her hands instinctively flew to her midsection to hug her stomach.
Though their child was not conceived in love but in violence, she still exhibited protective instincts towards their child. Something like relief, or… hope emerged within him.
Is it possible… for her to still love the pup?
The hope was short lived. The moment she trained those pair of eyes on him, anger shone in those blue depths, and any positive emotions he experienced vanished into thin air.
"Why didn't you tell me?" The miko asked.
A/N: Leyak is a demon from Balinese legend. It is also known as Manananggal or Krasue in other South East Asian countries. It has the appearance of a regular human during the day, which is why it is difficult to detect them. The head can detached itself from the body — heart and entrails still attached — and it flies around looking for pregnant women so it could devour the fetus.
The closest Japanese demon I could find is either Rokurokubi (a yōkai with neck that can stretch very long, but is still attached to the body), or Nukekubi (a yōkai with neck that can detach itself from the body). Neither one can take its heart and entrails with its head, and I rather like that part, and so I break tradition here to include yōkai from a different part of the world.