Chapter Twenty Three

The New Addition

Disclaimer: Go whine at someone else already! I already KNOW I don't know InuYasha and Co. Idiots, all of you!

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InuTashio sighed a little bit as he looked out the window. It had been raining for days and there was something stirring in his gut that was unsettling him. Shaking his head a little, he looked from the window and started down the hallway where he suddenly came across an extremely flustered and obviously shocked female wolf demon.

What was her name again? Oh, right, of course! How could he forget! She was only the girl who married his first grandson.

"Is there something wrong, dear?" She jumped a little and gave a sigh of relief and smiled at him.

"Oh, no sir." InuTashio smiled a little.

"You can call me grandfather, you know." Ai smiled and nodded a little.

"Alright but, no, I am just fine, grandfather." InuTashio nodded a little to her and smiled before continuing his walk.

Ai sighed a little bit and softly laid a hand on her abdomen, looking down at the floor. No one could know yet.

InuTashio could easily sense her unease but decided just to ignore it for the time being. Stretching, he walked out into the rain, being so lost in thought that he didn't notice that he was being followed.

He just kept walking and walking, thinking about why he was brought back and a few other things before an arrow nearly took his head off. With a startled yelp, he fell over, landing on his butt on the wet ground, still confused on what just happened when a beautiful woman stepped out.

"Die, demon!" InuTashio blinked again.

"Say what?"

"Die!" She walked up to him and was about to slice him in two before Haku came skidding to a halt between them, his arms spread and his eyes begging her to stop.

InuTashio blinked a little and stood up, causing the woman to come to halt.

Demon and human eyed one another for a while.

"What's your business with this human child?" She snapped. InuTashio growled a little and crossed his arms.

"He is family."

"How could a human be part of a demon's family?" She snapped again. She was absolutely gorgeous, InuTashio noted. Dark black hair and bright blue eyes that was surprising in women these days. She was short for her age but she had a tough air about her, indicating that she was no push over.

"Not all demons are ruthless killers." He stated, turning away and beginning to walk back. This surprised her and her guard went down for a minute but was quickly brought back up.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going!" She demanded, running after him. InuTashio chuckled a little bit; his fondness for humans still hadn't diminished.

"Home." He said simply, not slowing down or even stopping though he looked at her over his shoulder.

Haku bowed a little. "Arigato." He told her right before running off and catching up with InuTashio.

Hope blinked a little bit, just standing in the rain and watching the two walk off.

What had just happened here? Why didn't she kill him when she had the chance and take the boy? He was a demon … a murderer just like all the others.

Or was he?

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Ai had to make a trip back to her clan's den despite the ran and she didn't even notice that she was being followed, lost deep in her own thoughts of the little thing that was growing inside of her … a true sign of hers and Kasei's love for one another.

There was a problem with this, though, they were not yet married, but they were going to be married in just a few short weeks. In a few short weeks, she would start showing …

Ai smiled a little bit, recalling the first time they had met especially since she had been extremely attracted to him, seeing him just stepping out of the bathing room with only a towel hung loosely on his hips and the hot water leaving his skin warm and some water droplets gently running down his firm chest …

She shook her head violently, blushing madly as she looked to the ground beneath her feet, concentrating on walking for a little as her body calmed itself. When she felt more in control, she gave a sigh, a smile working it's way on her lips.

No matter what, she wouldn't feel bad about this. Not now, not ever.

A snapping of a twig brought her out of her thoughts and she clutched the handle of the umbrella tighter as she looked around, desperately searching for the source of the noise. When she found none, she sighed a little, convincing herself that it must have been some small demon or something that was of no threat to her.

Looking up, she smiled to see that she had nearly reached the half way point between her father's home and her current home with Kasei and the others. In her excitement, she scurried a little faster, losing contact with her surroundings and giving the perfect opportunity for someone to strike.

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A smirk came to his face as he watched the young female wolf youkai scurry up the pathway and he moved slightly, bringing himself out of the bushes and in her path. He watched her stop and smelt her fear. He watched her take a step back and felt her defenses come up. He heard her excuse herself and ask for his name but he did not reply. Instead, he walked up to her, his long black hair soaked with the rain as it ran down his face in little droplets. A small grin was on his face, his fangs showing slightly as he moved closer to her and finally spoke.

"My name is of no importance. You, however, are of great value. I understand that you are with child and marrying a hanyou son of the great demon Sesshomaru." He spoke slow and his voice dangerous. He was enjoying her fear and reaction very much. Sickeningly much. It excited him in ways that it shouldn't. It made him want her in ways that one could only imagine. Dangerous thoughts ran through his dangerous mind and all involved him taking what he wanted from her and the family she was going to marry into and then ending her life once he had gotten what he had wanted. All involved him being victorious over that so-called Lord Sesshomaru.

All involving tasting her sweet and metallic blood, feeling it run down his throat, feeling it run over his hands and cover them and then feeling it over his lips and then his fangs, bringing the sweet smelling liquid to his nose and getting lost in it's living ecstasy.

Ai was beginning to get more afraid now, she could see the evil glint and feel the evil aura that he had surrounding him. She began not only fearing for her own life but fearing for her unborn child's life as well.

"I fail to understand what you're talking about." She responded, trying to keep her wits about her.

Now, his demeanor changed from sickly excited to anger and he stepped closer to her within seconds and the back of his hand landed across her cheek.

"Do not lie to me, wench." The sick smirk came back to his face when he saw her fall to the ground and his body became excited once again as he dragged her up to face him by her hair.

"You will do as I say or I shall kill you now rather than later."

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Takara sighed a little bit as she finally lay the sleeping infant down in her bed. The rain hadn't stopped for the past five days, occasionally lightening to a sprinkle but continuing still. It had been making everyone in the castle restless and cranky, which hadn't helped with the infant who felt everyone's uneasiness and began to grow cranky herself. At least she had others to talk to and Haku had a few other children to play with other than just her bother.

Falling onto her bed, she threw an arm over her eyes, the sound of the rain falling slowly lulling to sleep because when she woke up again, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining brightly and the sound of laughter floated to her ears. Yawning, she stood and went to the window that she promptly opened to let some air flow.

Looking down, she saw Haku and her youngest brother playing outside, laughing and singing to some song that she recognized as a song from the modern movie 'The Lion King' from back when they were staying in the modern time.

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts all standing in a row. Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head!" Katsu sang, gigging along with Haku. Takara smiled a little and recalled the night that she and her brother found out that they were from 500 years in the past …

She frowned, remembering the letter that was wrapped around the rock that had struck her brother in the head. Whoever threw it had really good aim but that wasn't the point.

"I wonder what the threat was … " She wondered out loud, absently watching the kids play. She lightly tapped her clawed fingers against the marble window frame, thinking. She hadn't really seen anything that was supposedly out of the usual …

"Takara, do you know where Ai is?" Takara blinked a little, turning to see her twin brother, Kasei.

"Huh?" He rolled his eyes.

"Do you know where Ai is?"

"Oh … um … she said something about needing to go see her tribe or whatever they're called."

Kasei frowned a little. "Yeah but that was hours ago. She should have been back by now."

Takara shrugged. "Maybe she decided to stay the night."

"Maybe but … I don't know … something's not sitting right."

"Well, go look for her." Kasei nodded a little.

"Alright." With that, he left in search of Ai. He could faintly pick up her scent along the roads so he followed that. He still couldn't figure out why she wasn't back yet, she was always back within a few hours of being gone.

He skidded to a halt when he could faintly smell blood and he followed the scent as it got stronger and stronger. Soon, he found a small little puddle of it though it was mostly mixed with rainwater, it was still strong. Crouching down, he sniffed it and growled.

It was Ai's blood.

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"I see you've got our bait, Kuritomo." The demon nodded a little, bowing.

"Yes, my master." He smirked a little, his red eyes glinting.

"Good. Keep her alive and well fed in one of our finest rooms. We wouldn't our guest to be uncomfortable during her stay." With that, he turned on his heel and walked away. The other demon, the one that captured her, laughed, dragging Ai to her feet.

"Yes, my master." Ai looked around, trying to figure out where she was. All she could make out was that she was in an old castle, made entirely out of marble.

She was then shown to a room, which she thought she would have considered beautiful, if not for the circumstances under which she was seeing the room.

"A tray of food will be sent up to you." Ai's capturer told her, closing the door and locking it right after he said that. Ai watched him and heard the lock click and tears welled up in her eyes.

She was so afraid …

She missed Kasei and everyone else. She was in such an unfamiliar place …

With a heavy sigh, Ai refused to let her tears fall and she walked to the window that opened to her complete and total surprise. Slowly, she looked at the scenery and recognized most of it and found her landmark.

If she could get to that then she could find her way back to the castle and Kasei! Slowly opening the door, Ai gulped a little and slowly stepped out onto the slick marble edge. She never had been good with heights and she was at least three stories up …

The rain had made everything slippery and wet and it was a very small ledge. Slowly, she began walking sideways along the ledge, praying that she wouldn't slip and she slowly got a little more confidant. Walking a little faster, some of the rock had been eroded and a little bit of the ledge crumbled beneath her foot, throwing her off balance and she quickly grabbed onto some strong vines that were anchored into the side of the castle.

Catching her breath again, she closed her eyes, nearly crying but feeling the adrenaline pumping through her body. She looked to the gap, frowning. It was too big to just step over but … how else would she get across? She could jump …

She shook her head. No! No way was she going to jump. She looked at the gap again and gently bit her lip. Did she really have much of a choice? She gulped and nodded a little. She was going to have to jump; she didn't have any other choice. She couldn't climb down on the vines since she didn't know if the vines went all the way down or could even hold her weight.

Sighing, she looked at the gap again and gathered her courage. Okay … she had to. If she wanted to get back so badly, she had to jump. Thinking of everyone that she missed already gave her a little bit more courage but didn't make it any less scary.

She mentally counted to three and jumped the gap, landing on the other side of the ledge but unable to keep her balance, she rocked back and fourth, her arms flailing around and she stepped to the side and her foot slipped.

Managing to catch herself on the ledge, she dug her claws in and slowly pulled herself up. Slowly standing on the ledge again, she wrapped her hands around the vines and closed her eyes, tears running down her cheeks, her heart pounding in her chest. She was okay. She made it. She was back on the ledge again. Her hands were shaking and she had to take some deep, calming breaths to make them stop and, finally, she was ready to continue on.

After a while, she spotted a tree that was so close, she held onto a branch and climbed to the trunk of the tree. She felt a lot safer in the tree than on the ledge now, a whole lot more. The tree wasn't going to crumble anytime soon and she slowly made her way down it.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of climbing down the tree, she touched solid ground and silently rejoiced for a few minutes before running towards her landmark. She had stopped in the tree and found the landmark and figured out which way she needed to go once she got on the ground.

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"We have an escapee, master." The demon that had captured Ai said, coming into another room. The obviously more powerful demon was standing in front of the window, his hands behind his back. He could easily see Ai running and he looked to where she was headed.

"So it seems." The other demon slowly walked further into the room, crouching down and showing submission to the more powerful demon.

"Shall I go and fetch her, master?"

He didn't reply, he just watched Ai. The other demon got closer, crouching down even lower.

"Master?"

"Do what you will but keep her alive. She's no use to us dead." The lower demon nodded.

"Yes master." He said before running out, changing into his true form, which was a wolf and began running after Ai.

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A/N: Sorry for taking so long, everyone! I've finally got my flow back! I'm sorry for not using the ideas that I got but they were very, very much appreciated! They will be used sometime so don't think that they are going to go unnoticed.

Thank you to:

Crimson Blade66

inugirl4ever

Brittany

k4g0me

sana

teiboi

mangadreams

pandoraskeeper

hakomakura

DarkDemoness14

Replies:

hakomakura: Marking is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It's like how animals mark their territory but with placing a bite mark on a certain spot on a female/male's neck.