*Over two years later.
Nanashi was rather surprised how well the Demon World had transitioned from King Enki to King Hayate. At first a good number of demon lords were up in arms with making the kingship hereditary once more and just having a king's steward in place as the competitive role. Somehow though, it had smoothed over after a few months of the growing pains period. After that period, they also managed to move the main castle to the Hayato territory rather than where former King Enki had set it up. Nanashi figured it must have been Minha's influence. While she had never seen it up close and personal, she had heard from Hiei who had seen it how she was good at influencing others and getting them to compromise.
The fact that Minha did not come with her husband and son and their two guards to visit Hikari's castle in Alaric two years later surprised Nanashi. They had arrived unannounced an hour before dinner. Hikari had come up to her office in a rush to tell her about their arrival. All she did was say that the king and the prince were here to meet her and Hiei and she was needed right away in council room. Hikari ran right off after that.
Nanashi ran after her, leaving the work on her desk midway completed. As she walked, she wondered why King Hayate came so unexpectedly and if Hiei knew about it. She reached the council room, seeing King Hayate at the head of the table. Hiei sat to his right. Surprisingly, no one else was with them; not even Prince Takashi.
"What's going on?" she asked as she came over and sat down next to Hiei. Hiei had a neutral face on, but based on his subtle body language, Nanashi could tell he was feeling apprehensive. He must not know what was going on either. King Hayate how ever looked extremely disgruntled. Whatever he was here for, it was not good news to him.
She snuck a hand down to Hiei's hand on his knee to give it a comforting squeeze. She then brought both of her hands up to the table, folded them, and sat patiently; waiting for King Hayate to start.
"It's my son..." King Hayate began. "He... he's under guard right now in one of the other rooms," he turned to Nanashi to start to explain.
He kept talking, kept explaining. Takashi had a rivalry with Shura, one he instigated from the start. He had been jealous of the bond that had formed between King Hayate and Shura as they worked together to run the world. Hayate need admit he should have been better at handling the rivalry between the two of them, but he figured both young demons could handle it maturely.
Since they had moved the main castle of operations to the Hayato territory, Shura had taken an interest in the hippogriffs that had been bred for centuries in the Hayato territory. King Hayate had even given some to Nanashi and Hiei. As a gift to Shura, King Hayate had given him six hippogriffs of to own and to breed and raise.
Takashi had gotten jealous of that gift, having never been given a gift like that from his parents in his life, or so he claimed. He had set loose all of Shura's hippogriffs. One of them scratched him across the chest in the process. He might not have been caught otherwise. Shura's hippogriffs had run off, escaping from the Hayato territory. All six were lost. Since Takashi had set them free, only one was found since then, dead.
"... and now neither I nor Minha really know what to do with him," Hayate finished. "We just... can't manage him and his jealous, immature behavior. Minha is at her wits ends, especially after this..."
"And where does that leave us?" Hiei asked, almost impatiently.
"Exile for Takashi," Hayate concluded. "Separate him from near the throne for a month and from Shura. As punishment, but not a permanent one of course. Hopefully this separation will calm him and make him mature a little."
"So you want us to take in your spoiled brat?" Hiei asked shortly. "Can handle him anymore?"
Nanashi glanced over at Hiei, knowing he was not the biggest fan of Takashi after the fight he and Hikari had after the last Demon King tournament.
"Are you sure about this?" Nanashi asked, not wanting to no with how desperate Hayate both looked and sounded. Yet she did not want to say yes and take on such a sudden and difficult ward. "He and Hikari did not get along the last time they saw each other. Ayane and I had to pull them apart."
Hayate leaned back in his chair and ran his hand through his bangs. He looked so exhausted. Nanashi felt pity for him. "I don't know what else to do, where else to send him. He can't stay, not for a little bit at least."
Nanashi leaned closer to him, feeling almost tempted to go up to him. "What if we can't handle him...?" she asked.
"If he is too much for you to handle, then he has been warned he will be disowned, Shura will be named prince in his place, and... your son Izo will be named heir to the Hayate clan. He's kin through Hiei and has nothing to inherit, unlike his sister," Hayate explained.
"Sounds like the princeling has a lot to lose," Hiei snided. "Who's idea was it to bring him here?"
Hayate rub his right eye sleepily. "Minha's," he answered, but looked over at Nanashi rather than Hiei. That caught Nanashi by surprise. She could not imagine Minha's willingness to separate her son from her, even if only for a month. "She trusts you with him. Says she would be okay with however Hiei seems fit to discipline him," he gave a side long glance towards Hiei that was a little uneasy.
"Like lock him in the fighting pit in the sub-basement for a few days and make him fight his way out of it?" Hiei suggested. Nanashi detected a slight smirk in his voice when he said that.
Hayate grimaced at that suggestion. "He isn't as much of a fighter as I would like him to be... That would prove to be too much for him."
Nanashi spoke next. "So are we taking him on?" she asked to Hiei. She felt like she would dislike either answer he gave her.
Hiei looked over at her, clearly still thinking it over himself. After a few seconds pause, he nodded curtly.
Hayate leaned forward and slammed his elbows down on the table in relief. He rested his head in his hands, looking a mix of both sorrowful and relieved. "I don't know what we would do if you said no..."
"If he doesn't behave himself, I'll make him wish he was never born," Hiei warned Hayate in a voice reminiscent of death. His tone sent an involuntary chill down Nanashi's spine.
Hayate laid his hands down flat on the table and sat up straighter. "Agreed," he said tightly. He brought a hand up to his bangs and fluffed and straightened them out. He pushed his chair back and stood up very calmly with an air of purpose. "I will be the one to tell him," he announced.
He rose up and headed out the room without another word. Nanashi followed after him with Hiei right behind her. Nanashi knew they had arrived in the room when she could hear the demanding sound of Takashi's voice coming from behind the door.
"You are wrong!" Nanashi heard the hoarse voice say. "My mother would never authorize for me to stay with a hucker, a human, and two half breeds!" A mumbled voice answered him, but Nanashi could not make out what words were said. "Three?! How could they have three children!? They should not have even been have had more than one. They got lucky have two as twins."
Hayate sighed, turning back to both her and Hiei. "I'm sorry. For what he just said and anything he might say in the future."
He turned back and opened the door, stepping inside of the room. Hiei followed after him, so Nanashi followed suit. Both of them took places on either side of Hayate. Nanashi got a good look at Takashi, who looked outraged. Near him were two guards, one was Ayane, but the other man was unknown to her. Both of the guards looked irritated themselves. Nanashi could not blame them as Takashi likely had been shouting at them for a while.
When Takashi saw Hayate had come into the room, he rounded on his father. He demanded, "your scare tactics are over and done! I am not staying here! You can't make me!"
"Silence," Hayate ordered him. Much to Nanashi surprise, it worked. Yet she figured it would not last very long. "Her ladyship's parents have agreed that you will stay here until you've proven you can behave maturely and responsibly rather than like an envious child."
"You said it would only be a month!" Takashi whined. "Not that I will stay that long, anyway."
"Is it going to take you longer than a month to improve your behavior?" Hayate countered. Takashi tensed up his jaw. Hayate took pity on him and did not wait it out for him to answer the question. "One month surely will be enough under their influence for you to learn to act like a prince of the world should."
"I am not staying!" he shouted. "You're just doing this to scare me! It worked, now, let's go!"
Takashi did not wait for any reply. He ducked around Hayate to the side Nanashi was on and shoved passed her. She had not expected it, so she let him pass in his rude way. She gasped as she got knocked into the wall by him.
Hayate was after him before Nanashi realized he moved. He swore and then ran after him. Ayane and the other guard followed. So did Hiei and Nanashi.
They all caught up with Takashi in the front yard. Hayate got to him first, with Hiei just behind him. Nanashi stopped and watched the scene when Ayane and the other guard did so as well.
Hayate had grabbed Takashi by the upper arm with one hand. When Hiei went to punch Takashi, Hayate blocked it with his free hand. "Stand down," Hayate told him shortly.
"He shouldn't have shoved my mate," Hiei growled back.
"You will not touch him while I'm around," Hayate commanded.
"Good thing you're leaving soon," Hiei responded, hard gaze locked on Takashi.
Nanashi stepped over to the tense, grabbing Hiei's hand and pulling away from the father and son pair and over to stand with the guards.
Hayate turned to Takashi, saying simply, "you're here two months now. We'll send you more things to accommodate you soon." He shoved Takashi to the ground towards where Hiei and Nanashi were standing. Takashi did not move from his hands and knees on the ground with his head hung low. Hiei still stepped in front of her anyway. Hayate looked over to Nanashi and Hiei, saying, "good luck." To the two guards he nodded and said, "let's go."
Hayate and the two of them began to walk away from the castle and into the forest on the outskirts of the castle grounds. They did not get far when Takashi pulled himself off of the ground and went running after them.
"I will not stay here and you cannot make me!" he shouted.
Hayate stopped abruptly. When Takashi caught up to him, he drew a line in the dirt between the two of them. "Three months now." Takashi looked ready to yell at him some more, but Hayate was over it by now and yelling freely. "You will stay here, you will behave yourself, and you will grow up here!" He panted, bringing his volume down, but keeping up with the threatening tone. "You cross this line or upset your hosts anymore than you already have and I will disown you. I will name Shura my heir to the Demon World. I will name their son," he pointed towards where Nanashi and Hiei stood, "the heir to the Hayato Territory."
"You wouldn't," Takashi said, voice cracking.
"You said I wouldn't bring you here, and I did. What makes you think I would do that and not you leave you here?" Hayate asked.
"I..." Takashi stuttered. "I'm your son. I'm the prince-"
"You act like neither," Hayate told him tightly. "And until you can, you will stay here." When Takashi said nothing, just stood there simpering, Hayate turned around to walk away. Yet the second Takashi lifted his foot in clear indication to follow, Hayate rounded an him, bringing his foot in line with Takashi's chest and shoving to the ground and skidding back a few feet. "Stay down!" Hayate said, voice cracking. From what Nanashi could tell, he was blinking rapidly.
Hayate turned around and sprinted away into the woods, not turning back; even after Takashi shouted after him from his spot sitting on the ground. Nanashi watched, standing uncomfortably behind Hiei as he shouted himself hoarse and then started crying like a child wallowing in self pity on the ground.
Hiei seemed to have had enough of it as he moved towards Takashi, seething. Nanashi stopped him before he reached the prince. "Don't," she pleaded softly. "I'll handle it," she whispered, not sure how exactly she was going to do that though.
Takashi had seen them and their exchange. "Just leave me alone," he shouted dryly at both of them.
"As you wish," Hiei hissed down at Takashi.
Hiei took Nanashi by the hand and led her towards the castle. "I'm locking him out. He can ask nicely to come in and apologize for shoving you or he can spend the night in the cold."
When they were at the front door, Nanashi dug her heels in the ground and blurted out, "no."
"What do you mean, 'no?'" Hiei asked her.
"I'll stay outside. With him," she decided. "Until he decides to come in."
He looked at her, not liking what she said. "If he touches you..." he warned. "Or insults you again..."
"He won't catch me off guard again," she said, bringing up just enough of the wind dragon up to wind rustle her hair. "If you're really so concerned about my being out here, send someone out with the book I'm reading. It's possibly going to be a while," she half joked.
Hiei did leave her to stay outside and sit by the door to wait for Takashi to get up and come over and inside with her. He had sent Izo out with her book and then again later when it was dinner time. Both times Izo tried and failed to get her to come inside and be comfortable while the prince was moping. Izo's voice, but Hiei words. Nanashi refused both times, but she did not doubt that Hiei was watching carefully through the mind of Takashi should anything he try anything.
Nanashi had finished her meal and nearly finished her book, and yet Takashi still sat rooted to the spot he had been in after Hayate had kicked him away from the line he had drawn. He had stopped crying, probably too exhausted to do it anymore.
Nanashi started to feel her own patience wearing thin, even after she kept reminding herself she only had to outlast Takashi in patience. That she had to in this power struggle they started to have from the moment she agreed to sit out and wait him. Maybe locking him outside and waiting for him to beg to come in was a better idea...
Nanashi looked up from her book she had been reading when she saw the front door open. She thought at first it was Izo again, coming to get her dishes, but much to her surprise, it was Izo and he was not alone. He was holding Kaze, who was squirming and whimpering in his older brother's arms.
"I'm sorry, Mother," Izo said as Nanashi stood up. "Father said not to bring him to you, but he's been fussing and asking for you. Inconsolable for how he is," Izo added as she took Kaze from his arms.
When Kaze realized he was being passed off to her, he practically jumped into her arms. She gasped in near fear when she almost dropped him in his haste. "What's wrong with him?" she asked, pulling him in close. He was shaky, but did not feel neither warm nor cold, so he must not have been sick.
"We couldn't figure it out," Izo said slowly. "Just kept asking for you. Father did read his mind..." Nanashi shot him a look that should how little she approved of him doing that. "And all he wanted was you. Nothing else."
Nanashi sighed, sitting down with Kaze, leaning her back against the outer wall next to the door. Kaze cuddled as close to her as he possibly could, whimpering still as he buried his face into her neck and shoulder. She ran her hand through his hair, absentmindedly thinking she should have it trimmed soon as it was getting shaggy.
"He can stay with me," she said, not sure what else to say. She did not want the prince to outlast her, not at the expense of Kaze.
"He should not stay outside when the sun sets," Izo reminded her. "It's warm during the day, but it gets too cold at night."
She sighed, thinking it over as she looked over at Takashi. He had moved now, but slightly. He was looking back over at her and her sons with a half curious, half scowling face. "If we don't come in by then, come out and get him, please," she decided.
Izo nodded reluctantly in agreement. He knelt down beside, asking softly, "how old is he," he nodded his head sideways over at Takashi, "exactly?"
Nanashi sighed, thinking it over. "Demon age, is around twenty something, but I'm not sure. Your father would know. Demons do age slower though. So he could be around human age eighteen maturity wise."
Izo shook his head, but did not voice what he thought about that. "I will come to get Kaze at sun set," he said before he left the three of them out there.
Kaze kept crying and clinging to her, which was surprising, even for him. He rarely cried, and even then only over something major. She kept trying to get her to tell him what was wrong, but he just kept saying he was scared, but not of what or anything. She wondered if he had heard all the shouting earlier and that that was what had scared him. She would not blame him.
She was so focused on comforting Kaze, that she had not realized that Takashi had not moved until he stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the front door. She looked down at him, unsure what to make of his movement.
Kaze turned and looked over at Takashi, blinking over and studying this stranger to him. "Who... this?" he lisped out the question.
"Our... new guest," Nanashi said slowly. "A friend's son," she added.
"Hello," Kaze called over to Takashi, a mix of shy and curious and yet scared.
Takashi looked back and forth between Nanashi and Kaze, scowling. "He looks like you," he finally said.
"He's my son," she said back. "Second... living son."
Kaze turned his head back to Nanashi, burying it in her shoulder and whimpering. "Dad said bad," he lisped out.
Nanashi frowned, annoyed with hearing that. She was no longer surprised that he was upset and wanted her. She shook her head slightly at the thought of it.
Takahi blinked his red and swollen eyes up at her and Kaze. "How is that possible?"
She frowned gently over to him, "what do you mean...?" She was not quite sure what he was asking.
"My mother said humans could not have more than one child... or... whatever... with a demon. How do you have three?" His tone was a bit too demanding for her taste.
"I don't know..." she said slowly. "He was a miracle," she said, running her hand through Kaze's hair gently. "He was never expected or planned or anything like. He shouldn't have been, but I'm glad he was." She paused, checking to see if Kaze was still awake. She was unsure how aware he was about what was said around him. She looked down at Takashi, who had settled himself down to sit on the stairs near, but below her. "He's not our third child..." she added hollowly and softly. "I... miscarried around the time Hikari and Izo were toddlers. I tried to keep him, but after months of trying everything possible, I didn't." A hushed silenced fell over them. Nanashi broke it, half squirming under it. "I should have never been able to have Kaze... but I can't imagine never having him, even if I shouldn't have... if that makes any sense."
She felt bittersweet when she finished talking. Kaze had fallen asleep in her arms, all warm with sleep. She look over at the sun, seeing it getting ready to set. She hoped Izo would come for him soon so Kaze could get a proper rest. She was still determined to outlast Takashi to get him to come into the castle under her leadership.
"My mother was like that. When my sister died when I was young," Takashi blurted out. "She got sick so suddenly, that not even my mother's blessing her to live worked." He looked suddenly shy with himself after he said it. "I didn't really understand what was happening. I do recall touching her and seeing she wouldn't survive the illness that took her."
Nanashi shifted uncomfortably with Kaze in her arms. She was not really sure what to make of Takashi's confession. "I'm sorry..." she said softly to break the silence. "Um, what do you mean by you touching her...?"
"You don't know?" he asked her with a dash of shortness. "Your mate does. When I touch someone, I can see a brief glimpse of their future. Only once though, as far as I know. Hard to put it into context though." He tone shifted to have more bite to it. "I saw your mate with my father, running through the woods when I saw his future. They were trying to save a woman who was screaming. As a child I thought it was princess."
Nanashi felt a chill run down her spine at the thought of how eerily familiar that sounded. "I don't think it was a princess," she said.
"My mother said it ended up being you," Takashi added in.
Nanashi shook her head, trying not to think about... him. Determined not to think about him. She change the subject to the first thing that popped into her mind. "Does what you see cause a change in the future?"
"I don't think so. Mother told me not to use it unless necessary. Even though doesn't affect anyone unlike her ability to bless or my late uncle's ability to order people around," he explained. He looked over at her, curious. "I could do it for you. See a glimpse of your future if you wanted me to. And tell you what it is, too."
He looked less morose and more excited at the idea. Nanashi eyed him curiously, thinking it over. The idea was seriously tempting. Only a glimpse, what could it hurt?
"It won't change anything? The future?" she asked carefully.
"No. Mother said it was like a watered down version of what something similar to what she could do. I'm a rare kind of demon that inherited weakened abilities from both parents, rather than one dominantly over the other. That's why I can do some things with the wind," he held up his hands, showing off a mini whirlwind in his palm. "But I can't seem to be able to conjure wings to fly like my father. Or much more of anything else beyond a bow and arrows..."
She figured Hiei was in Takashi's mind. If he did not want her to ask Takashi for the future's glimpse, he would stop it before it happened.
She shifted Kaze over to her left side and held her right hand out to him. "Show me," she said in a hushed whisper.
Takashi came up to her, willingly. He reached over to her hand with both of his, but stopped. "Are you sure?" he asked to clarify.
She nodded. He took her hand tentatively in his two hands. His hands felt cool to the touch. He closed his eyes briefly and then reopened them. "Do you want to know?" he asked her solemnly. She nodded, the desire to know overrode the fear of knowing. "You were... very old with grey hair... I think near blind... with cloudy eyes... you were reaching up to your wind dragon on your neck..."
"That's it," she asked, feeling bold to say something like that in response.
"I don't see much, my lady," he said. "Only a glimpse is all."
She hummed under her breath. "Thank you," she said. It did not seem like much to be told anything beyond she'll get grey hair. That was something that would naturally happen eventually. The idea of becoming near blind was not at all appealing though. Maybe she could take steps to prevent that. She kind of wished he had left that later part out.
"He's quite tired, isn't he?" Takashi asked her softly. He nodded down towards Kaze.
"Hopefully Izo will come out to fetch him soon," she said, meeting his eyes in a dead stare.
Takashi blinked first and looked away. "Wouldn't it be better if... we go in...?" He said slowly. "You and him would be more comfortable," he rushed out.
Nanashi watched him carefully before she began to stand up. By the time she had leaned forward to stand up, Takashi was already standing. By the time she was fully standing, he had stepped over to the front door, opening it for her.
"Follow me," she instructed him dominantly as she carried Kaze into the castle.