For Amalie's Love
Author's Note: This one flew out pretty fast so I hope I didn't mess it up to badly, Again, this is my first Fanfic of any sort so please, tell me what you think, any suggestions you might have on how to make it better are always welcome. -KK
Chapter 3: Antagonistic Advances and Inaccurate Instincts
Amalie
I woke in a panic. A clawed hand was crushing my mouth and another held my throat firmly. His weight pinned my bedspread down, trapping my arms under the blankets. I let out a muffled cry of alarm. When he spoke his face was inches from my own, I felt his breath on my face and our eyes locked. "You will not scream and if you answer my questions, you might yet live to see the dawn. Nod if you understand my words." I nodded; wordlessly he lifted his hand from my mouth and rested it near my right hip, leaving the other on my throat. My heart pounded painfully in my chest, my yokai raged within me for release, and I was painfully aware of the bracelet on my wrist keeping it suppressed. If I lived through this I swear I will never sleep with a charm anywhere near my person again. I glared murderously at my captor, probably reveling in my fear, yokai bastard, and I was afraid. My body was covered in a cold sheet of sweat.
He sat there, eyeing me for several moments before he spoke again, "Who are the Demon Killers and what is the council?" He asked.
"Do you have a week? That's a rather long story." My hopefully, calm and flippant tone belied the pounding of my heart. I was certain he was well aware that it was threatening to jump out of my chest and that my fright was doubtlessly palpable to his keen demonic senses, it would have been for mine.
As I contemplated the nearness of my own death my terror was not for me, but the young hanyou in the very next room. If I cooperate Rinee might make it out of this safely. One thing I've heard said a lot about Sesshomaru Taisho is that when he gives his word he keeps it. The thought was hopeful, but not terribly convincing.
"Abbreviate it." His icy tone tore through my frightened thoughts. With an effort I calmed my pounding heart and slowed my breathing. He wanted information and he'd get it, "First promise me you won't harm my niece." I demanded.
"You are in no position to be making requests, ningen." The last word was an insult from his lips. He flexed the fingers on my throat to emphasize his control of the situation. Yet on this I refused to cave. My life would mean nothing if I allowed harm to come to Rinee.
"You could kill me, yokai," I shot back, returning his contempt, "but if you did then you would gain nothing."
"I would gain the satisfaction of seeing you dead at my hand, Demon Killer." From his lips the term was a taunt. I laughed a genuine and bitter laugh and with that my fear of the yokai evaporated. He let out a warning growl, "You would great your demise so readily?" He inquired furiously, the rage sparking in his eyes, causing them to turn red.
"For my niece, yokai, I would with a glad heart. What humors me, however, is that after all of these years, and after all the Demon Killer Blood I shed just last week. In front of your own eyes no less; you are foolish enough to confuse me for one of them."
"I am many things, ningen, but this Sesshomaru is not foolish. Those others knew you. One called you sister, another called you lover and you admitted to being one of them."
"And then I challenged one to combat and killed a hundred others I do not know how things work between yokai, but that is not the way humans make friends. So unless you want to sit on my chest all night I suggest, in the spirit of cooperation and expedience, that you just make the damned promise. After, I'll tell you what you want to know." The red began to fade from his eyes.
"Why is a promise so important to you?" he asked for once curiosity flickered across his otherwise infuriated visage.
"Because, I know you'll keep your word." I said this calmly. The bald statement surprised even me. Yet I had a feeling in the depths of my soul that it was true. I trusted him, but why do I trust him?
He paused at those words; the remaining red in his eyes drained completely to white and he said, "Agreed then, I promise no harm shall befall the child at my hand."
I sighed heavily and responded in my most brusque tone, "Thank you, now may I please suggest a compromise, since what I am about to tell you will take quite some time?"
"And that would be?"
"I would really rather sit up, I find this position quite uncomfortable and you are cutting off the circulation to my legs. So as to not upset your position as my captor and allow me a bit more comfort my suggestion is this: if you would take your left hand and follow my right arm down to the wrist you will encounter a bracelet. By holding on to that bracelet you will be able to obstruct me from unleashing my yokai and using it to gain my freedom. As I am obviously no match for you in strength or speed, at the moment, you will remain in control of this situation and allow me to sit more comfortably while telling you what you wish to know. I am also quite willing to tolerate any other threatening gestures you feel are necessary, during and following the aforementioned procedure, since I acknowledge that I am not capable, at this time, to stop you."
"That is obviously a trick; if I touch that bracelet my yokai will be trapped also." He growled apparently angry I tried to make a fool out of him, ok DK lesson one.
"Ah actually, that's not true. Unless the stones are very large and using an external power source or incredibly numerous, they can only confine your power if they are in direct contact with your life line, meaning a vain in the wrist, an artery or a jugular. In addition, assuming that where not the case and I was trying to trick you, do you really believe my mere human strength is any match for yours physical brawn, even without your yokai power?" That's it; hit the dog in the pride. I inwardly grinned, and outwardly smiled my sweetest smile. What I said was entirely honest, but tweaking his ego was just pure malicious fun. Like poking a sleeping bear with a stick I really wanted to see what would happen.
He moved so fast I didn't even have time to register it. One second I was pinned under the blankets and the weight of his body, the next I was slammed to a sitting position in the corner where my bed met the wall. He was crouched on the balls of his feet so close to me he was almost in my lap, one hand was tightly gripping my right wrist and the other was resting on my left shoulder. Wow, he's really close. His breath smells like chocolate. My yokai had been relatively quiet since the initial shock of waking up captive to an obviously angry Daiyokai, but now it surged forward; the over powering emotion it brought with it forced me to close my eyes for a moment.
Desire, aggression and delight wrestled inside me. Apparently it not only enjoyed being manhandled and trapped, it wanted me to push back, and do some manhandling of my own and it was angry that it was unable to take control. I felt my wrist lifted and pulled towards Sesshomaru, his breath brushed my palm, causing my eyes to fly open. He was examining the stone at my wrist intently. "I thought these stones removed your yokai, and yet you still radiate a faint aura. I had not notice before." He said in a bemused voice.
"The stones suppress it, but it is still there. My yokai is always there." I could not hide the bitterness in my soft reply; momentarily entranced by his eyes and his breath on my palm I had let him see my shame. Damn it, showing the enemy a weakness, my teachers would have whipped me for this. I let a cold mask drop back over my features.
"Why do you where these trinkets? I have seen your power, it is formidable and yet you hide it." I wanted to tell him, about the evil that lurked inside. I wanted to share with him the poorly concealed need for violence I carried everywhere with me. I fought to keep my features cool and neutral. Somehow, I feel he would understand. Why do I want him to know anything? How is it that I am so drawn to this yokai?
"You came here for answers on the council, shouldn't you be interested in obtaining them, instead of asking about my jewelry choices? It shouldn't matter to you why I wear them, since it works to your advantage it's enough that I do."
"Indeed." He stared at me expectantly for several minutes before I realized that he must have been waiting for me to begin my story. With a sigh I did.
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Sesshomaru
Moving quickly he entered the apartment and realized there where two sleeping inhabitants in different rooms, he was curious for a moment before he recalled the conversation in the restaurant, the niece. Ignoring the child's room he followed Amalie's scent to the master bedroom and moving quickly he leapt onto the bed, pinning her beneath her blankets. He covered her mouth and grabbed her throat as her eyes flew open and she cried out in fear. He grinned menacingly and moved close, "You will not scream and if you answer my questions, you might yet live to see the dawn. Nod if you understand my words."
Her lips under his hand where warm and smooth, her pulse was slamming in her neck making his other palm tingle, and her fear was so strong he could taste it. It's scent mingled with the smell of mulberries and her own unique odor. An intoxicating bouquet, this will be more enjoyable than I imagined at the beginning. I wonder what those yielding lips taste like. It is too bad that she is only a ningen, she would be a tasty treat if she were worthy of such things, but I will still enjoy making her pay for her earlier insolence. He felt her head nod against his hand and he let it fall.
"Who are the Demon Killers and what is the council?" Amalie's flippant remark annoyed him. Baka ningen, I hold her life in my hands, she radiates her fear like a furnace, and she still has the impudence to be glib! "Abbreviate it."
"First promise me you won't harm my niece." He resisted the urge to let his claws rake the soft flesh of her neck and fill the enticing body beneath him with poison. Insolent slut! Her fear was an intoxicating aroma that permeated the room and washed over him in waves. She is terrified and yet she tries to bargain. Perhaps she needs to be reminded of her position, "You are in no position to be making demands, ningen." He menaced flexing his claws. Her dismissive reply angered him less that the slowing pulse beneath his palm did.
"I would gain the satisfaction of seeing you dead at my hand, Demon Killer." His response was meant to send her back into a panic. He wanted to taste that overwhelming fear again and feel her pulse race under his palm once more. Instead she laughed with genuine mirth. Rage filled him and he growled low in his throat. Baka, I hold her life in my hands and she laughs! Does she truly wish to die so easily? Rage filled him, "You would great your demise so readily?" Even his fury did not renew her terror, instead she continued to plead for her niece's life, and insulted him!
This Sesshomaru is no fool! Her fear seamed to have completely evaporated and she almost appeared to trust him. While it was true that he would abide by any promise he gave it confused Sesshomaru that she seem so certain of that fact, considering that in the DK lair she was so contemptuous of his kind and recalling that he found a reply. "I am many things, ningen, but this Sesshomaru is not foolish. Those others knew you. One called you sister, another called you lover and you admitted to being one of them."
She may not fight by there sides, she may kill them, but she shares the same opinion of her betters that those others did and she at least will learn to acknowledge the truth.
The conversation continued her demeanor changing considerably she was now like the businessmen he dealt with everyday. Her tone was matter of fact and calm, her words made him curious, why does she trust me? She was skillfully composed, making him long for the delicious flavor of her fear again. Her proposal surprised him and his mind announced, ah ha, here is the trick, but his instincts told him she was not playing him false and he wondered, why do I trust her? He learned about some of the stones' properties and promised himself he would guard against them the next time he encountered emissaries of the DK.
Then she smiled and he made his decision. Sesshomaru shifted his weight and with all his yokai speed he moved her, grabbing the braceleted wrist and shoving her into a sitting position in the corner. He felt it then, her aura rolling inside her body, fluttering just beneath her pale skin, burning against his own flesh it called to him like a familiar lover. Amalie's body radiated warmth from the bed. She smelled of sleep and slightly of desire, the need these sensations brought forth in his own treacherous body overwhelmed him as she closed her eyes and he felt robbed of the window to her soul, to the depth where her yokai was held captive, his throat went dry. Amalie's lips tightened over her internal struggle. How can this ningen have this kind of power over me? As he resisted the urge to lean forward and capture those lips and force them back to relaxed fullness with his own, perhaps even bringing back that tantalizing smile. His hand, unbidden, brought her braceleted wrist close to his face. The smell of her skin was a sweet temptation, but he turned his attention to the small red stone over the vain, no larger that a dime and it held that formidable yokai in check; Inuyasha needed an entire sword to do that with less. Her hazel eyes flew open and he captured them with his own, curiously grateful that he could once again stare into their depths. "I thought these stones removed your yokai, and yet you still radiate a faint aura. I had not notice before." He was curious now.
"I thought these stones removed your yokai, and yet you still radiate a faint aura. I had not notice before." He said in a bemused voice.
"The stones suppress it, but it is still there. My yokai is always there." The bitter shame in her voice drew his attention. Could it be that she did not want the power? That this is some sort of curse, which was laid upon her? And then images of her lithe form using that power in the fight at the bank, her aura radiating off of her in waves making the death of a hundred ningen seem like a simple and well executed dance, rushed unbidden from his memory and he was filled with contempt for her embarrassment.
She should be grateful, her power is magnificent, and she should flaunt her gift, using it to her advantage. Regular ningen would bow before her and honor her magnificence, as they should. Yet she conceals and abuses her yokai, regarding it as something to be ashamed of, baka ningen, why? "Why do you where these trinkets? I have seen your power, it is formidable and yet you hide it." He needed to know the answer to that question, he was drawn to this ningen in ways that he had never been drawn to any other living creature before and an understanding of her might explain why he was so compelled, but she balked.
"You came here for answers on the council, shouldn't you be interested in obtaining them, instead of asking about my jewelry choices? It shouldn't matter to you why I wear them, since it works to your advantage it's enough that I do." Her insolence and her rejection stung him, he felt the answer to that question was pivotal in understanding the hold Amalie had on him, but he saw the logic in it. He was showing to much curiosity in her person. It would not do to indulge such idiocy on his part. So he answered her instead, "indeed," and while he waited to begin her story he examined her.
She was wearing a soft, red, cotton t-shirt and black cotton sleeping shorts. Her nipples where hard against the fabric of her shirt, but since the scent of desire had faded he assumed it was due to the cold rather than his own nearness. The light from the street made her auburn tresses glow in a halo around her thin face and she wore an expression of serous determination. The sigh that escaped her lips made him long to draw more from that tempting form, but he suppressed the desire angrily and quickly, as she began to speak. What is wrong with me? Am I suffering a fever that she affects me so, or is it some sort of enchantment she placed when I wasn't noticing?