You and Me After All
Chapter 37: Poison
The two armies, one black and the other white, were at each other's throat immediately.
The inuyōkai lord and lady stepped out from behind the soldiers to assess the situation. It seemed they had found their cousin in time, and though the atmosphere was rife with tension, no one was hurt — yet.
"Well. If it isn't Lord Sanzomaru and his Northern warriors," Rinnosuke said. "You've brought quite a welcome committee to greet my cousin. How generous."
"Hmm. The rest of the dogs are here," the genbu daiyōkai said, his mouth twisting into a moue of distaste. "What happy occasion it is for Lord Sesshōmaru to be reunited with his cousins. Just when he is taking a bride home."
For a moment, it looked like both sides could continue in this line of false civility for some time, until Seirin took a tiny step forward.
"Ani'ue," she said quietly. "We need to hurry."
Furtively, Rinnosuke followed her gaze and saw the woman hidden behind his cousin. The bride, no doubt. It was not the woman's garb that troubled him, or the fact that she was human. It was not even that she was already pregnant.
It was her aura, and how weak it was.
Without wasting time, he threw a poisonous dart at their opponent, who caught it with a deft hand.
"You need to do better than to employ such paltry tricks to bring me down," Lord Sanzomaru taunted, hurling the dart to the ground.
"Perhaps I do," Rinnosuke replied. "But my sister certainly does not."
A flicker of uncertainty crossed Lord Sanzomaru's eyes before his hand checked the side of his neck, and found the poison needle she had thrown the same time her brother flung the dart. His silver eyes clashed with her golden ones.
"Poisonous cunt," he spat.
More insults would have been hurled had her brother not flexed his fingers. The genbu stiffened and grimaced. Beads of blood emerged from the inner corners of his eyes and nostrils and trickled down his face.
"You cannot kill unless it is during Pandemonium," Lord Sanzomaru hissed, revealing teeth pink with blood. "It is forbidden."
"I do not need to kill you," Rinnosuke said. "I can put you under constant state of immense pain, keep you alive and in the brink of death until Pandemonium arrives and then kill you." He smiled. "Certainly, not even the Emperor will find fault with my method."
He fetched a tiny square of paper envelope from within the folds of his sash and held it between his fingers.
"But we will gladly relinquish the antidote, as long as you take your men and leave this place."
The genbu lord spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva. "Damn cowardly dogs," he hissed. "But what can you expect from a bunch of curs who use poison as their weapon—"
Sesshōmaru's poison whip glowed green and menacing in the darkness, and he swung it swiftly to lick the genbu lord across the face. The flesh sizzled, and the scent of scorched meat rose in the air.
"The inuyōkai clan might have been defeated in the last Pandemonium," Sesshōmaru said. "But I have returned to this realm much stronger than when I left. Continue to underestimate me, and it may prove to be your undoing."
The tension intensified as the genbu lord took one menacing step forward.
"Is that a threat, Lord Sesshōmaru?"
"Leave now," Sesshōmaru said, the steel in his voice palpable. "When we see each other again, let it be underneath the full moon during the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons."
Lips pulled back, his smile took on a feral appearance. "I will kill you myself then."