Teehee, yet another post! Aren't you all so glad?
We get to learn a little bit more about Data, some of it incredibly surprising. Loki and Sesshoumaru manage to get themselves in trouble once again and Mouse finally takes care of Aki's little scratch. I bet you all forgot about that, didn't you?
No worries or complaints to report this week. YOu didn't want to hear about it anyways. Nope, no more than you wanted to hear about the big break coming up after the end of this segment of the story. WEll too bad! Becuase I wanna talk about it. And remind you all that it's coming up. And it's going to be a bit long because I still have to finish writing the next part and then type it all up. But We're looking at about ten chapters for part 5.and if you're really desperate, you can chat with me on AIM. TerraLeeRose is the name, and I sometimes give out little hints. But you have to actually chat with me sometimes.
I bet Rumiko Takahashi would chat with me... More like yell at me through AIM for torturing her characters. heheh.
Organized Chaos
Aki was still curled up in Sesshoumaru's arms, her tears slowly drying in their tracks on her face. Sesshoumaru ran his claws gently through her hair in what he hoped was a soothing manner. Judging by the sigh that tickled his chin, it was.
The inu youkai glanced about the strange room that served as Data's private quarters. What made it so strange, aside from looking like somebody had murdered a Short Circuit robot in it, was the unusual shape of it. It looked like the architect had added the room simply to use up some left over space. Sesshoumaru thoughtt that the room would probably have been better suited to use as a storage room than the sleeping/work shop purpose it now served as.
And workshop it definitely was. The boy had bits and pieces of electronics and tools strewn over nearly every available surface. Data had actually had to remove pieces of his latest project from the space Sesshoumaru now occupied. It would seem Data's definition of his room being clean only involved be able to walk safely through it. The floor was littered with clothing and books, some of which the boy had likewise had to move upon arrival. But there was no dust. The clothing was recently washed and folded neatly despite its being on the floor. The books were stacked neatly and well cared for.
It was the first ordered chaos Sesshoumaru had ever seen, and to think Data had declared it a working system.
Aki had dismissed it all with a drowsy glance and a huge yawn before contentedly sinking back into unconsciousness, her fist firmly lodged in the hair behind his neck. Hence the reason why he was still blissfully wrapped around the sleeping female. It was rather embarrassing that he had to look for excuses to justify everything he did with or to the woman in his arms. But if he had to go slow, he could be patient.
So long as she was in sight there was no fear that something or someone could get to her before he did. As long as he extracted the promise that she would not allow another to fill the place in her life that he wanted for his own, he would have nothing to worry about. It was drawing the promise from Aki that was proving difficult. Every time the opportunity arose for him to ask, something intervened to ruin the situation. And everything had to be just right in order to ask without seeming to beg. He would not beg, he was taiyoukai, he didn't beg.
Besides Sesshoumaru was certain Aki wouldn't want a male that would beg for something she probably viewed as silly. He knew he probably wouldn't have wanted her if she begged for such a promise. One of the many things he liked and respected about her was her determination to do things despite not having everything she needed to get them done.
"How's she doing?" the strange boy asked as he reentered the room, a shiny circular object in his hand. Sesshouamru just watched him warily as he shifted Aki to a more comfortable position in his arms. She stirred briefly before emitting a sleepy "hmm" and resettling against him.
"I'm putting in some classical stuff with the volume turned down. Normally I wouldn't listen to this kind of stuff but Mouse bought for me when they were first reporting how certain kinds of music supposedly made you smarter," the boy chuckled softly as he fiddled with a box that just obediently ate the shiny disc. "Aki calls it snore music," Data laughed out loud as he remembered when Aki made that comment. It was what finally got Mouse off his back about the music he preferred, loud, brainless yelling to bad music as the healer had called it when she was feeling generous.
He wasn't lying; classical music wasn't his cup of tea. It was entirely to lame for his taste, but Data wasn't stupid. Aki needed rest, not a wake up call, whatever he played had to be quiet enough not to disturb her sleep and tame enough not to alarm her new comfort object. They were so close to each other he was certain that any tension in the body of one would easily be communicated to the other.
"What is she to you?" the taiyoukai spoke quietly, mindful of Loki's warning earlier.
Data blinked, Aki's giant comfort object was talking to him. Why would Aki's comfort object be talking to him? This was the first time Data had heard the tall inu youkai speak at all, much less to him. And what are the demon lord's first words to him? A demand for clarification of position.
Aki had always said to answer demands for information by acting dumb, or asking a question. At least, she said to do so with strangers, especially when the question was the first thing out of their mouth. She said it was the safest way to protect himself and everybody he knew.
Besides, Data had the distinct impression he wasn't going to like this guy. "She who?" Data asked smugly as he pretended to fiddle with the CD player some more. "There are a lot of 'she's in the building: Kaoru, Mouse, Aki, Silver, Jackie, Harmony, Kiki…" he trailed off when Aki's comfort object growled. The building really was a lot bigger than it looked. Still he wasn't really sure if the last two females were still in the building and Jackie was only a severely effeminate gay male, but he did get his point across.
"You and Aki insist on being entirely too particular about simple inquiries. And you both annoyingly answer questions with questions," the inu youkai groused, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Data almost laughed both at the statement and in pleasant surprise. The boy was pleased to have been compared to Aki. She was his favorite person, after all. Sesshoumaru began again, "What is Aki to you?" he nearly sighed at the, to his mind, unneeded repetition of the question.
"It depends," Data answered vaguely. "What kind of answer are you looking for? Mental, emotional, instinctual…romantic?" Data finished delighted with the growl he received at the last word. A wicked grin settled over his features as he turned to look at the pureblooded inu youkai sitting on his futon. "Mentally and intellectually I recognize her as an intelligent, kind, and generous woman that has a lot to teach me. She is a teacher from experience. Emotionally, she is my favorite person; I view her like family, Kind of an eccentric aunt who visits once a month. Instinctually," here the boy's eyes began to dilate as he delved into the workings of his private beast and primitive motivations. "Instinctually, I recognize her to be a female more powerful than myself who is also suffering through a great deal of pain. That's where it gets confusing. My youkai can't decide whether to lock her away from pain and protect her until she is better or attacking her in her weakened condition. It's even more confusing because I know both are wrong." Sesshoumaru held Aki a little tighter in alarm, the boy was mad. "Aki already knows this."
That made the elder youkai pause. Aki knew? The female was crazier than he thought.
"When I first met Aki, my instincts were continually pulling me in different directions. I physically was unable to spend much time with her before I would lose control. Aki wasn't blind; she noticed my trouble though she didn't know why I had this problem. I started to avoid her, which wasn't hard with her gone through the well so much," Data grinned nostalgically. "Aki noticed that too, and it didn't make sense. I was developing medical instrumentation specifically for her. She cornered me in the Big Room for full youkai and forced me to react."
"You attacked her," Sesshoumaru stated tightening his hold on the female in his arms even more.
"I was trapped in a room with something that made me extremely uneasy," Data defended himself. "Of course I attacked her, not even you would've been able to avoid acting the same way." The boy shifted uncomfortably under the older demon's cold stare. "Well in any case, Aki found out what my problem was. She instinctively took care of the problem." The youth snorted, "She kicked my ass rather soundly. Now I know on an instinctual level, that even when she's wounded and weakened she's still stronger than me, still quite capable of painting the walls with me. So the issue has basically become defunct. I'm not strong enough to take her out even when she's injured and I can't protect her from anything that could actually harm her." Data shifted and looked away. "Don't get me wrong, the instincts are still there, the clamor just isn't as confusing anymore."
Sesshoumaru looked down at Aki's sleeping face and wondered if she had known there was no other way to alleviate Data's problem.
Data looked back at the demon holding his favorite person and bit back a laugh as he remembered the rest of the answer he was giving. "As for my romantic interest in Aki," here the demon lord growled and his eyes flashed red briefly, "there is none. Courting Aki would be like kissing my baby sister. It just isn't something I'm into. I'm no pedophile."
"Aki is no child," Sesshoumaru stated firmly.
"Oh yeah, then what am I?" Data asked.
"A child, a youth," the inu youkai replied with conviction.
"Then Aki is a child."
Sesshouamru growled wildly. It amazed some locked away logical part of his brain how fragile his renowned control had become. Here he was forgetting himself and allowing the words of some impertinent, albeit highly intelligent, brat provoke him.
"I may not look it, but I am forty years older than her," Data informed him deliberately stressing the age. "She wasn't even a gleam in her father's eye when I was born. Hell her human parents hadn't even been born yet."
"Then why does she appear older than you?" Sesshoumaru challenged the information.
"Because she's a later breed on the evolutionary scale. The more recent a demon was born the faster a demon reaches physical maturity, it's a survival tactic somewhat tied to the human blood diluting our heritage. Every once in a while somebody's born without this particular trait," Data explained. "That'd be someone like me, which is part of the reason I'm stuck here living with the torture of Mouse's good intentions," he made a face indicating what he thought of that.
The sound of soft, tired chuckling filled the room. "You wouldn't know what to do without her and you know it!"
The inu youkai glanced down at Aki to find her yawning hugely and attempting to disengage her hand from his hair to finish her stretch. She frowned sleepily up at him as the crimp in his hair caused by her unconscious grip made the silver tresses twist and tangle around her fingers.
Data laughed as he got up to help her tug the appendage free. "You are such a kid," the child-like demon teased her fondly.
"And you're a cantankerous old fart," Aki mumbled back as Sesshoumaru growled at the approach of the other male. "Granted you're nowhere near as bad or as old as this demon right here." She distractedly tried to move into a better angle to work her hand free. Her body still shook with her earlier weakness when she tried to move, so Sesshoumaru helped to lift her where she wanted. Hell, she was moving closer so he wasn't complaining.
Data stopped at the inu youkai's growl and glared at him. Really, he was just trying to help Aki.
Aki sleepily gave up, deciding it wasn't worth the effort when she wasn't really uncomfortable and Sesshoumaru didn't seem upset by it. She finally allowed her straining muscles to relax and began to doze off.
"Data!" Mouse's voice suddenly broke the ambiance created by the classical music causing Aki to jump back into wakefulness with a groaning protest. "Why are you still in here?" the healer demanded, her tone about as sharp as the blunt end of a hammer.
"Why wouldn't I be here? It's my room," Data stretched distractedly and began to retreat to the corner most filled with electronic doo-dads.
"Data!" the child-like youkai ducked at her tone. "Out!"
"You're kicking me out of my own room?" Data asked incredulously.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
"I don't believe this! This is my room!"
"Should've thought of that before you offered it for a sick room," Mouse calmly pointed out.
"Oh for crying out loud! Either both of you shut up or I'm leaving!" Aki declared.
"Oh good you're up," Mouse commented with purpose. Sesshoumaru looked at the white demon askance. She didn't actually believe anyone could sleep through all that, did she?
"Now I don't have to wake you."
That statement earned a snort from Data who promptly received a fierce glare. "All right, I'm going, I'm going!" he exclaimed and wandered out the door all the while mumbling under his breath about the injustice of the world.
"Yes, I'm awake," Aki sat up with a burst of annoyed energy, finally pulling her hand free of Sesshoumaru's hair. "Did you want something Mouse?"
"Just thought we should take a shot at getting that scrape to stop bleeding."
"And I needed to be awake for that?" Aki raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Normally, no," Mouse conceded, "but I had a few things to say to you about it."
"And you had to go over it now?" Aki grumbled in annoyance.
"How long do you think I can keep this room clear?" Mouse asked incredulously. This time it was her eyebrow that headed north. "Once people find out you're awake, they'll start piling in here to ask if you're alright. After that it'll be impossible to tend to that scratch because Mr. Rainbows-and-sunshine here isn't likely to let me under your shirt with everybody in here.
Sesshoumaru growled at her condescending reference to his person, but had to admit her supposition was correct.
"I see your point," Aki sighed tiredly. "So what ideas did you come up with?"
"Does it matter?" Mouse narrowed her eyes at the bleeding female still encased in the inu youkai's arms. "No matter what it is we're going to try it. You've been bleeding nonstop for the last 24 hours or so. That's bad news whether the wound is small or not."
It was Aki's turn to growl, she didn't need a lecture! Sesshoumaru's hold on her tightened warningly, it seems he thought she needed the lecture.
"Lucky for you I'm an experienced healer or you might be stuck with just Sesshoumaru's suggested solutions," Mouse continued, ignoring the taiyoukai's displeased growl. "I came up with this," the white demon held up a small vial of clear liquid.
"And what is that?" Aki gave the appropriate response. She really didn't care what it was, but knew Mouse wouldn't let her go back to sleep until the whole to do was over. Mouse would have her fake little dramas. Aki cursed Data for introducing the healer to daytime television. Now every visit was a Soap Opera.
"This," Mouse shook the vial, "is distilled inu youkai saliva combined with a small amount of Band-Aid brand liquid band aid."
"So you want to paint my shoulder with," Aki fought to keep her face straight and failed with a yawn, "dog spit and liquid band aid."
"Inu youkai, not dog," Mouse corrected. "More specifically the coagulant found in the saliva of the canine youkai." The healer settled herself in front of Sesshoumaru, firmly pressing Aki's front against the demon as she moved the female's shirt to expose her injured shoulder and bra.
"So exactly where did you get this dog drool, again?" Aki asked purposely ignoring Mouse's correction. "Who did you find that was willing to donate a sample for use in a bandage?"
Mouse removed the sterilized swab she'd stashed in the pocket of her sleeve and opened the bottle of her homemade remedy. As soon as the cap was removed it released the damning scent into the room.
Sesshoumaru growled as he pulled Aki away from the saturated cotton ball tip. No one was going to put anything that smelled of the hanyou on her while he had anything to say about it.
"Would you hold still," Mouse demanded to which the inu youkai only growled louder. "What is your problem?"
"It smells like Inuyasha," Aki's muffled voice informed her. She was desperately trying to stifle the giddy laughter the situation filled her with. How did Mouse get Inuyasha's saliva anyway?
"So?" Mouse demanded.
"So Sesshoumaru doesn't exactly like his brother," Aki continued.
"What does that have to do with me healing you?" Mouse asked, seeing the whole issue as being very childish. Of course she wasn't actually going to say so.
"Hanyou," Sesshoumaru growled shortly and Aki stiffened. He was still hung up on Inuyasha's human blood? What does that say for Aki? She was part human, in more ways than one.
Aki dismissed the thought for the time being as Mouse rebutted the taiyoukai's objection. "Hanyou or not, the required chemical is still there, and the potency of it is not an issue because I distilled it. It is as pure as it gets. It should be effective once applied. Now stop moving around and let me do my job."
The taiyoukai growled viciously, "It still smells like the bastard!"
Aki rolled her eyes, she was still tired and their argument was getting on her nerves. She gave a petulant growl of her own and shoved away from Sesshoumaru's chest hard enough to break his hold. She swung a hand back to lay her forefinger on the bottle and released a little puff of purifying energy before either could react.
"There, now it's settled. Can we please get this over with?" she turned her shoulder back to the healer. Inuyasha's scent had died a sudden unexpected death in the room. It was replaced with a strong scent that only Sesshoumaru could identify.
Aki's scent had never been so strong. He was so enraptured with the surprise he barely reacted when Mouse again pressed the female to his chest. He even missed part of their argument.
"…I even know all my work hasn't just been ruined by what you just did?" Mouse grumbled.
"I didn't remove anything, just got rid of the smell," Aki replied into his shoulder.
"What if you purified the coagulant right out of the solution?" Mouse continued.
Aki sighed in annoyance, "Then you apply it now and test it to your heart's content afterwards. If it's not there we just get to do this all over again later, no big loss, I just get more sleep."
Mouse clicked her tongue in disapproval as she finished up and left the room.
Aki rubbed the bridge of her noise and mumbled. "Sometimes I'm glad I can't have kids." She expelled the breath in her lungs tiredly and slumped against his front. The female subconsciously rubbed her cheek over his shoulder, futilely attempting to soothe his reaction to her words.
Sesshoumaru's shoulders relaxed slowly. He wasn't certain what bothered him more, her repeated allusions to her inability to conceive or her sudden comparison of himself to an errant child she did not want. Despite his confusion he pulled her closer and rested his cheek against the crown of her head. His clawed hand, with a will of its own, began dragging though her long hair, gently raking up clouds of her gentle scent as it grew more and more faint.
Aki relaxed bonelessly in his arms with a tuneless hum of contentment. "If I were any more shallow I might have fallen in love with you just for holding me like this," the girl drowsily mumbled.
"If you could love me for such small things we wouldn't be sitting here like this," Sesshoumaru replied around the gentle warmth of her, "and you most assuredly would not be wearing so many clothes."
He felt more than saw the slow sadness of her smile, "If I could love you for such small things, you would be well on your path to the afterlife with Inuyasha, Kagome, Kagome's mom, brother, grandfather and uncle close on your heals." Aki sighed tiredly; "It is probably a good thing I am not so easily swayed."
Sesshoumaru tensed, "Why would the rest have anything to do with it?"
Aki expelled her breath with feeling, "Inuyasha because he is connected to you by blood, Kagome and Kagome's family because Inuyasha loves Kagome and it wouldn't stop there," Aki pushed him away to catch his eye. "It would spread to Sango Miroku, and Shippou, Rin and Azusa, and Kaede. It would spread until there's nothing left but me to watch."
Sesshoumaru stared into the darkness of her eyes feeling them draw him down into the abyss left in the wake of her curse to where he found the broken little girl screaming out her loneliness and pain. Then Aki closed her eyes in a light doze and locked him out, only now he knew that in locking him and the rest of their world out she locked herself in, alone. He had never truly appreciated how much her strength, her seeming detachment, cost her. He pulled her flush against his chest, tucking her head under his chin.
"She's so very strong, yet so very broken," Inuyasha commented, his ears flicked forward as he peeked through the partially open door. The taiyoukai blinked to clear the raw, pained look from his eyes. "How can she stand it?"
"She is not completely broken," Sesshoumaru corrected him.
Inuyasha knelt down in front of his brother and Aki. He reached out and gently ran his own hand over her hair. Sesshoumaru's growl caused the hanyou to growl back. "She is my sister, you stuck up block of ice, and has been since long before you took an interest in her."
"You can't expect me to believe she agreed to that," the youkai lord growled quietly.
Inuyasha smirked, "She didn't have a choice in the matter. She needed a family to look after her and worry about her, and I decided to form one around her because she wouldn't."
"What would lead you to…"
"Her smiles were fake. In a strange moment of clarity I saw that much and figured the rest out," Inuyasha interrupted the older male.
"You glimpsed what was underneath," the young lord uttered in no small amount of surprise.
"Not to the extent that you have I'm sure," Inuyasha continued to finger comb Aki's hair. "I think that in some small way we have all sensed a piece of it, but she hides it so well I doubt that even Fred knows the full impact of her losses."
Sesshoumaru allowed his cheek to rub over the crown of her head.
"There you are!" A feminine voice accused from the hallway causing Inuyasha to jump. His eyes shot round the room desperately look for somewhere to hide. The pink haired bane of his existence walked in behind him and latched onto his left ear. "Come on, you can help run errands with me," she informed him over the hanyou's pained yelp. "Maybe by the time we're done we can go pick up Kagome from school."
"Where's Loki?" Aki's amused voice questioned the entrepreneur.
"Business," Kaoru informed her shortly. "Wow, Aki, there might be hope for you yet! I didn't realize you participated in threesomes with brothers on the other side of the well."
Aki snorted tiredly, "It's completely against my will, I tell you.
"Then you won't mind if I borrow one for my own purposes," Kaoru reached down and seized Inuyasha's arm to haul him up on his feet.
"It doesn't bother me much, but you really should take it up with him," Aki attempted to shrug and failed; Sesshoumaru's hold restricted such movement.
"Maybe I should take them both then, I'm sure I can find something for them to do. I mean, since you won't be in need of either one of them for a while. You are supposed to be resting after all," Kaoru teased merrily eyeing Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru didn't need to hear Aki's response. He wasn't going to leave, could not be convinced she didn't need him, and she couldn't make him let go, so he really didn't need to hear her words. He likewise didn't want to listen to her attempts to convince him otherwise. So, the taiyoukai stopped the flow of words at the source. He pressed a toe-curling, firework-filled, mind-numbing kiss on Aki's very kissable mouth.
"Oh gods!" Inuyasha groaned in exaggerated disgust. "Get me out of here! I don't need to see this!"
"Wow!" Kaoru practically squealed like a schoolgirl. "I want one!" Whatever else she might have said was cut off as Inuyasha pointedly hurried her down the hall.
It was some minutes before Sesshoumaru finally released Aki's lips to let her breath. Immediately the female slumped against his chest panting to refill her straining lungs. "You," Aki gasped out quietly, "are bad for my health!"
Sesshoumaru only nuzzled her cheek quietly before shifting her so they could both lounge more comfortably. He began to growl low in his chest pitched just right to encourage Aki's descent into slumber.
The taiyoukai tenderly drew his calloused thumb over the wispy lines of her eyebrows. He studied the delicate features of her face and immediately felt her slipping away like wind. He tightened his arm around her waist and rubbed his cheek along hers. She made him desperate to lock her away from the rest of the world. Deep down he was just a selfish little pup afraid of being left without her.
He double-checked that she truly was unconscious as he sucked down more of her scent. Sesshoumaru hoped she would never find out, that she would never see this needy insecure part of him. Taiyoukai had to be above need and insecurity. Weakness, an opening for his enemies to exploit, all the ambitious and ruthless would sniff it out and use it. He used to abhor weakness before it had a face, a name, a voice. He'd hated it and it still snuck into his life and proved to be a sharper double-edged sword than any weapon his foes could use.
Since he'd come across Aki he'd learned there were many kinds of weakness, all of which could be exploited. In his time with and without Aki, Sesshoumaru had learned he'd had the worst kind of weakness. He was lonely and proud.
His loneliness. A cynical laugh sounded in his mind. It was his own fault. In his efforts to ensure there was no one that could be used against him he had created a void around himself where no one stood. No friends, no lovers, not even what was left of his family was allowed inside the void. In what he had thought would be his greatest strength grew his greatest most exploitable weakness. Sesshoumaru had found himself entirely too susceptible to forming strong attachment to anyone that spent some time without trying to harm him. First Rin, then Aki and he was now finding himself growing closer to his younger brother and his group. Hell, he even missed the prattle of Aki's pet ghost.
And sadly, because there were so few that held his affection, he was desperate to keep them. He could so easily be broken by even one of them coming to harm or leaving for good. To lose Rin, to lose Aki, would leave him broken on the floor. Therein lie his greatest weakness. He was lucky in his loneliness to have been found by them and not some plot of his more devious rivals.
Sesshoumaru should be grateful, he supposed. Grateful that Rin was young enough to be kept close and under constant watch. He should be grateful that Aki was so terribly independent and capable of taking care of herself. He should be grateful that Inuyasha and his friends work well as a team and took care of each other. But he found himself wishing Aki needed him more. He wished Rin was a bit older and stronger and he wished Inuyasha and his friends were better able to stand as individuals in case they ever got caught without the others. Funny he wished Aki was weaker and the rest were stronger.
As much as he wanted her close, his pride wouldn't allow him to declare his need. As hard as he worked to track her down his own arrogance kept pushing her away. She was evidence of his weakness. She was food for it and Aki simply by being herself, illustrated how his own pride could be used against him, but more especially against her. In his pride he had cut her away from him with thoughtless words, eliminating what little headway he might have made with her before then.
He was drawn from his thoughts by the anonymous clicking sound the little music box made as the music ceased.
"What are you doing in here with Aki?" a voice broke the silence created after the music's cessation. "I left specific instructions that you were not to be left alone with Aki!" Loki said angrily.
Sesshoumaru disentangled himself from his lovely distraction and stalked across the room to growl at the younger, weaker male. "What right have you to dictate who spends time alone with her?" the inu youkai demanded.
Loki snorted, "On this side of the city I protect Aki. It's my turf," the youth gave his own growl. "Considering that being alone with you is what put her in this condition, you're lucky I said you could be anywhere near her at all!"
"What makes you think you can tell this Sesshoumaru what he can do?" the taller male slipped into his lordly persona. This pup obviously didn't realize that he ruled the land at his feet.
Aki rolled over and cracked open an eye. She silently snarled as she shoved herself onto her feet, swaying gently before recovering her balance. She glared at the two males posturing loudly when she was supposed to be sleeping. And what pray tell was so very important that it demanded their devout attention? Nothing more than their idiotic need to prove who was alpha. Fine. If they wanted to duke it out, that was their prerogative, but that didn't mean she had to be witness to it. And nothing said she had to necessarily care how it turned out.
Aki's eyes hardened as she strode across the room and out the door latching on to an ear of both to drag them with her. She hauled them down the hall to one of the Big Rooms normally reserved for larger youkai. The female threw them both inside before stepping in herself.
Aki closed her eyes and called her youki to pool around her. It came slowly due to her fatigue but she could still feel it tugging at her hair as she felt her ears migrating across her head. She felt her wings unfurl. She could feel her tail as all her senses heightened. Then she opened her eyes and turned to Loki. The look she sent him was reproachful as she shoved him with her youki, silently telling him she could protect herself.
Loki fell back into the wall behind him as he stared at her stunned. She'd grown in strength and skill since the last time he'd seen her like this. Then she'd had no idea what or who she had become, that wasn't the case anymore.
Aki then turned to Sesshoumaru. She'd had quite enough of his childish behavior already. She was tired and angry and she let it all show on her face as she slapped her power his way as well. She didn't say anything as he stepped back in surprise.
Then the exhausted female turned on her heel and exited the room slamming the door behind her, ensuring it locked firmly. There was no way either one of them was getting out until someone let them. The room had been built to withstand the full, uncontrolled rage of a pureblood youkai transformed.
Aki sighed before going back down the hall to curl up on the floor of Data's room, decidedly quieter and definitely more tired.