Disc: Okay, nope...
A/N:I am SOOO unbelievably busy. I've been up till midnight each night doing homework...(growls) I'm already up too late now working on this chapter...but it's been TOO long since the last posting...so I hope this is enough for you guys...I elaborate more on Taikokajin and Shimofuri. That may or may not matter to you...I liked writing this chapter, I hope you guys like reading it, I didn't know I could get into such depth with these characters...Taikokajin writes herself in a way I never intended and Shimofuri gets better and better...I hope you guys like them...and...Elizabeth Hemingway is reviewer 250! YAYS! (throws cookies and hands out strawberry dacquiris...) YAYS! Thanks guys...I'm pretty sure there was a rather overwhelming response to last chapter...for that I THANK YOU ALL! (bows low to her readers and reviewers) I apologize for my lateness...PLEASE FORGIVE ME! But now, on with the story...
Collateral
The servant burst into the room with a harried, panicked expression, making Shimofuri scowl, though he tried to suppress and weaken the frank show of emotion. Seeing the look on his face, the servant, dressed in a very simple, very short kimono, fell to her knees and knelt into an exceptionally low bow. "I am very grieved to disturb you so, Shishi-sama…" the servant woman looked up once, her deep brown eyes shining with worry, surely wondering if she would be punished.
Shimofuri made a noncommittal gesture, waving one slender hand, "This Shimofuri excuses you." He assured her absently, "Relay your news…" there had to be news for her to have stumbled so foolishly into his chambers. She was lucky she had caught him with all of his robes still on. It was late and the young heir was fatigued after his long hours up with the mortal mate of his hanyou cousin's, as well as the screaming baby…
The servant began speaking her lips and voice trembled, "Shishi-sama," she called him by his high title, as all servants and "lower" subordinates were required to, "The Lady Taikokajin orders your presence with her in the formal court…"
He frowned, this time letting the expression mature and linger over his features in it entirety. There's something terribly wrong…he realized. His mother wouldn't call him into the court so late—she knew that he was sleeping after his journeys and exploits on her behalf. In fact he wasn't even sure why she herself was up and in the court…that was where she generally conducted official ambassadorial business—who would come for a court appearance with her at such a late time? If they came unannounced and threatening war…that would be enough to make her call upon me at this time or any time…his mind cleared and he lowered his head, closing his blue-gray eyes wearily. Yes Mother, you have undone us already, haven't you?
The servant, apparently ready to flee at the earliest opportunity, had risen to her feet, offered a smaller, secondary bow, and was turning to leave, sliding his chamber's door shut behind her—but Shimofuri called her back with a short, barking sound. The young woman jumped to attention and leapt through the remaining very narrow space between door and the wall. She bowed again, mumbling words of absent honor and apology hurriedly and just under her breath. "What does Shishi-sama wish of this lowly one?"
"I wish to know," he began, sternly, breaking the stiff frostiness between them, "if my hanyou cousin by the name of Inuyasha—the second born son of Inutaisho—has arrived to speak with the Lady Taikokajin. Is my guess correct?"
The servant's brown eyes glittered with a strange mixture of emotions. "The guest is an inuhanyou, shishi-sama…" she whispered, and, timidly, she blinked and lowered her eyes once more, carefully avoiding his powerful, intense gray gaze, "He has the silvered hair of the Inutaisho line with the golden eyes as well…" her face flickered, apparently with something close to a tense amusement, "And white ears atop his head…but I know not his name."
Shimofuri cleared his face of expression. "Thank you—you may go." He watched her hop to her feet and dash once more through the narrow space of the door before shutting it again and hurrying away down the hall.
Alone, the young inuyoukai sighed, contemplating his mother's summoning. To go or not to go…it mattered not in the end, he supposed. Inuyasha would surely smell him out no matter what happened and kill him for his perceived crimes. Would the death be any less painful or somehow more compassionate if he failed to show his face to the legendary inuhanyou this night? Probably not considering how much he suspected his distant cousin felt about his young family—the mortal woman and the adorable pup. Any minute now and Shimofuri expected that there would be a horrendous blast through his mother's palace and the dog demon clan—his side of it anyway—would feel the legendary wrath of the Tetsuseiga, the Fang of Inutaisho.
Perhaps if I do go I can lessen the hanyou's anger or control my mother…though he doubted such a thought gloomily, Shimofuri moved to his closet and slid open the doors, picking through his most formal kimonos carefully. In the end he chose a thick fabric kimono, which was white with embroidered ripples of water—a gray ocean—on it. The obi he chose was bright yellow with black scrawling kanji that named him as the heir of Lady Taikokajin of the dog demon clan named Shimofuri. His father's name—Haiseishoku—was also scrawled over the thing, though he knew that his mother scowled unabashedly whenever she saw it…Haiseishoku had died years ago when Shimofuri was young, but even before that Taikokajin and he had gone their separate ways, despising one another. They'd come together only to produce him—though neither liked the other they both adored him and Shimofuri had been spoiled between them until Haiseishoku had passed on…
The kimono he had chosen was, in fact, one his father had had made for him. Somewhere, in Haiseishoku's family palace, an identical, although slightly broader and thicker kimono was stored, destined never to be worn beside its mate. The sadness ran through Shimofuri again but he refused to fall prey to it. With a stern face he summoned a servant to fasten and tie his obi in as ornate a style as a male could possess, and then left his chamber with his nose in the air proudly. I will serve you faithfully, Mother, though by no means will I remain quiet about my disagreements with your foolishness.
He walked beside the servant until they reached the palace's meeting hall, the main court, where Lady Taikokajin entertained dignitaries and other members of the clan. Wars had been settled—as we as begun—in that wide, dark room. As Shimofuri entered it he immediately scented the demonic heritage of the mortal woman's pup within his mother's current guest. When his eyes landed on the guest he saw the dirtied, torn and wrinkled old red Fire Rat robes, the long silvered hair, the bright, shifting gold eyes dark with rage, and the quite mobile little white dog ears perched atop the head, Shimofuri knew that this was the legendary hanyou Inuyasha—and he was so young! For a moment Shimofuri had to fight his instinct to stare in wonder at his distant cousin.
"Shimofuri." The soft yet powerful voice of his mother purred from nearby, and the young inuyoukai turned his attention swiftly to his mother's pink gaze. Taikokajin wore a pearly white kimono; the material shimmered and gleamed in the flickering light of the palace's lamps. Bright orange-red koi goldfish leapt in bright baby blue ponds across the fabric's sheen. Her obi was black and bore no kanji to proclaim her heritage—which somehow bore her into higher standing. It elevated her above her son, who needed to announce himself to Inuyasha while Lady Taikokajin of course, did not. With a quick glance at Inuyasha, Shimofuri saw that his cousin didn't wear the formal kimono but rather a haori built for business—dirt, blood and grit—and hakama pants as well that were cuffed tightly to his ankles to allow for swift movement.
Inuyasha didn't present himself like an ambassador, or as a guest, or as a person of nobility. Rather, Shimofuri realized with restrained foreboding, his hanyou cousin presented a warrior's front…in fact his gray eyes easily caught sight of the hanyou's legendary sword at his side…
"Shimofuri." His mother's voice caught him again and this time he bowed, low, from the waist up, first in the direction of his ruler and mother, then his distant cousin. He watched Inuyasha's expression while making the formal bows, but the hanyou's face remained full of some dark, deceptively quiet disgust and anger. Shimofuri tried to scent the hanyou and felt a larger shiver of unease pass through him as he realized that already Inuyasha had learned to restrain his scent from giving him away to the dog demons' noses.
"Inuyasha." Taikokajin murmured, drawing the hanyou's golden eyes away. The eyes glowed with a deeper, darker, intensely passionate emotion like rage or fury… "This is Shimofuri—my son." The amber orbs didn't leave Taikokajin, though Shimofuri bowed once more. The hanyou had little interest in her relatives apparently.
"You bitch…" he muttered, his voice a low rasping whisper. It was not a threatening sound, it was a promise of violence, "Where are Kagome and Koinu…"
As he took his spot next to his mother's side Shimofuri avoided the hanyou's amber gaze and remained silent. His face stayed cool and expressionless, though his mind was swirling frantically. Why can't he scent his pup and mate here? Surely that's how he got here…?
Taikokajin made a soft sound, clearing her throat gently, "Inuyasha-ituko." She nodded her head to him in a formal acknowledgement, "Why such anger? No harm has come to your mate or your pup." She offered him a small smile and gestured with one hand at Shimofuri at her side, "My son saved them both from Garou…"
The hanyou scowled, his ears flicked backward, pressing hard against his head, the amber eyes felt like a ton of burning hot bricks on Shimofuri, "What do you want from me damn it!" he jumped to his feet, hands curling into fists until Shimofuri scented blood escaping from the hanyou. "I know that you have Kagome and Koinu—either fucking lead me to them and let us all go or to hell with the both of your asses!" his hands flew to the hilt of his sword and Shimofuri opened his mouth to give Inuyasha exactly what he wanted, no matter what his mother had to say about it—but Taikokajin made her move first.
Getting gracefully to her feet the she-demon bowed deeply, her silvered hair slipped over her shoulders and hung down before her, shrouding her face. "Please, Inuyasha-ituko…" she began, her tone placating, but the hanyou would have none of her words.
The hanyou moved forward threateningly, his hand tightened over Tetsuseiga's Hilt and ripped the sword out of its sheath with the grate of metal on metal. "You're both dead!" he snarled, handling the thin, chipped sword with both hands, leveling it at them with a growling sneer at them both.
Taikokajin stared back at Inuyasha and suddenly smirked. "You stupid brute…" she laughed—laughed—at the hanyou, and Shimofuri glanced quickly at her with wide eyes, terrified. Have you lost your mind Mother!
Then, to Shimofuri's shock, Inuyasha blinked and his expression changed, the features blurring and warping as he frowned thickly. For several moments Shimofuri was the only one left out of the secret that was transpiring between his mother and distant half-demon cousin. Only when he noticed that Inuyasha had lowered the sword—which was still pathetically thin, chipped, and utterly unimpressive—did the realization hit the gray-eyed inuyoukai like a jolt of electricity. He looked to his cousin with a sudden, pitying gaze, and when he inhaled sharply, taking in the hanyou's scent carefully, he noticed what his mother had from the moment that Inuyasha had entered her palace.
He's losing his demonic powers…Outside the moon was rising—but it was shadowed and sheltered from the refracting sunlight that normally colored it so brilliantly. And just as the eerie light had shifted and vanished from the surface of the moon, so had the mysterious power that surged through Inuyasha's veins. It didn't vanish, merely became dormant…
Knowing that this was a most inopportune of nights in which to battle hadn't swayed Inuyasha's protective and loyal nature. His desperate need to find and protect his mate as well as his very young offspring, had been enough to delay his transformation—but not for long. As the moon rose higher over the earth his demonic blood grew more and more sluggish. His senses had all slipped away by the time he'd found Taikokajin's castle. As he sat and waited for her and her son to enter the room, Inuyasha hadn't been able to scent anything. It was as if he'd been blinded. Month after month the hanyou rediscovered the torture that humans suffered through, their blindness, their ignorant senses…but he had goaded his inner demon-self along with his memories of his mate and son. It had been enough to make his appearance remain normal thus far—but not his senses or his strength…
"Guards!" Taikokajin suddenly yelled while Inuyasha was still confused and fumbling with his sword, "Restrain this hanyou!"
Footsteps echoed through the halls, and crashing through the sliding doors came a dozen armored men, their daggers and swords drawn, faces grim and tight with the anticipation of violence. Shimofuri watched it happen in shock, dumb and mute to stop it…his grayish-blue eyes slid to his mother's form, tall, erect, proud…and cruel…the young inuyoukai lord looked toward the red-robed hanyou—who shared many of the same family features as Taikokajin did!—and something inside him seemed to move or tighten, and he felt as if he might vomit. What have I allowed to happen?
The guards raced at Inuyasha, who appeared to have lost his wits…that is, until the first of the men reached him—then the hanyou sprung into action. Whirling on the man he slashed him with his still clawed hands, screeching, "Iron Reaver!" as blood spurted into the air, assaulting the inuyoukai mother and son's noses. Another man gripped Inuyasha, trying to slash the hanyou with a small rapier-like sword, but the half-demon was faster. Twisting round and underneath the other man's grip, kicking a third man away with one foot as he went, Inuyasha rammed his skinny, chipped un-transformed Tetsuseiga through the guard's body. He fell away, clutching at the wound as blood spilled out onto the otherwise clean and polished wooden floors.
Shimofuri looked to his mother, his lips pursed, eyes narrowed. Stop this…he willed her silently, but she did nothing of the kind, just watched, stiff as a rod. Her pink gaze was locked on the hanyou's movements in something akin to fascination, and her pearly, shiny kimono made her like a goddess, a slice of perfection on the earth…but what she was doing was madness!
Inuyasha, free of the guards for a second—which was all he needed really—leapt high into the air, his thin Tetsuseiga aimed fatally at Taikokajin's chest where her heart beat under the ribs without effort or worry. The hanyou screamed his rage out as he flew through the space that separated him from the inuyoukai woman…
"Mother!" Shimofuri managed to call, leaping to his feet, reaching for the small knife he had stored inside his obi, but even as he moved as fast as he could he knew it was too late…
Taikokajin ducked and tumbled, without any effort seemingly, avoiding the hanyou's crazed, maddened attack. When she rose to her feet again she was on the other side of the room, surrounded by three of her guards, her own sword drawn. Shimofuri knew the blade well enough, it was from his mother's father, the now deceased, but former great lord of the Middle Lands, called Koshoshiro. A long, curvaceous, slender blade, it was designed to leave deep gashes that bled their victims to death. Taikokajin didn't employ strength so much as she did speed and quick, clever thinking, thus her father's sword had served her well over the years—though Shimofuri had only rarely seen her using it. Now he stared at it as the blade shimmered, held high in the air by his mother's strong right hand and arm.
Inuyasha landed in a heap, his bare feet skidding over the smooth floor. The only thing that kept him from smacking into the screens of the wall where Taikokajin had only moments ago been sitting, was the hanyou's quick work with the chipped Tetsuseiga. He slammed it into the floorboards, growling as his feet slipped out from underneath him. He used the sword as a crutch to help himself up—Shimofuri noticed that his cousin was noticeably slower than only moments before. Had he hurt himself in the fall, or was it…?
The answer came to all of them right before their eyes. Shaking, Inuyasha looked up at them as he regained his footing, his golden eyes gleaming at them with a deadly glint—and then they dulled and darkened. It wasn't emotion that tinted the rich amber coloration, but the passage of the nearly invisible moon through the sky. Even as he bore his teeth at the others savagely, Inuyasha's fangs seemed to waver and then suddenly disappear altogether. The clawed hands gripping his sword's hilt shrunk and shriveled. The ears stop his head, turned backward with rage, withered, rounded, and began migrating downward. Spurts of black fought with the hanyou's silvered hair…and suddenly Shimofuri was staring not at an inuhanyou that clearly belonged inside his own clan, even within his own family—but at a human, a young mortal man.
"Revealed at last Inuyasha!" Taikokajin grinned savagely—making even her own son blink at her in muddled confusion and surprise—as she lifted the blade higher still, her body seeming to twist with the agility of a feline. "Do you still wish to fight me?" she taunted, her pink eyes glimmering.
Inuyasha's glare was as fierce as it had been before his transformation, but no fangs glittered beneath his lips to send his emotions and intentions home to the inuyoukais. "You bitch!" he spluttered, and ripped Tetsuseiga from out of the floorboards, leveling it at her. "You can't go any lower than stealing someone's mate and baby pup…" he snarled, "If your fight is with me then you'd damn well better fight me, don't bring my family into this!"
The guards around Taikokajin bristled and started to step forward; ready to defend their mistress—but the inuyoukai woman halted their progress with a single barked word, "Halt!" they obeyed, looking toward her obediently but with noticeable confusion. Despite the fact that Inuyasha had already easily killed several of their comrades—or perhaps that encouraged their willingness to return the favor—they were eager to throw themselves in harm's way.
Taikokajin lowered her slender blade, though she didn't sheath it. Her pink eyes looked toward Shimofuri and a small smile formed on her lips. "I don't wish to fight you, Inuyasha-ituko—"
"Stop calling me your fucking cousin—bitch!" the hanyou shouted, his human eyes narrowing at her in fury, Tetsuseiga sent a small pulse through the room, punctuating his words. The guards and both inuyoukai froze at it. "It's fucking insulting to think I'm related to you."
At his outburst Taikokajin looked significantly annoyed, but she didn't dispute him. Her eyes flicked once to Shimofuri briefly before she continued, "I should think you'd be grateful that my son rescued your mate and pup from the claws of Garou." She snorted, "Where were you? If my son had not been following Garou…" she pinned the suddenly shaking hanyou-turned-human with a calculated glance, "I shudder to imagine what would've happened to them…" she narrowed her eyes at Inuyasha as his grip on Tetsuseiga faded—the sword wobbled a bit in his grasp.
She shook her head, in something close to disgust, "If I were your mate I'd leave you, Inuyasha, for showing such cruelty to the ones that rescued me while you weren't around to protect me…" the sword dropped to the ground with a dull thunk-like sound, Inuyasha's expression was one of shock and horror abruptly.
Watching the scene Shimofuri felt his fists curl into balls of outrage. His mother was committing a slight crime against all inuyoukai males everywhere and he knew that she knew it. Inuyasha was so blinded by his biological need to protect his family that when she accused him of having failed that mission the hanyou was left defenseless and blinded to her trickery. It was as good as casting a spell on their poor legendary cousin—and it made Shimofuri's blood boil. That his mother could be so manipulative, so dishonest, made him sick inside. She was sinking so incredibly low that she was using the hanyou's own dog demon biological heritage against him. He wondered, silently; if one day when he ruled the Middle Lands in her stead and was happily mated with offspring of his own, would Taikokajin use these sorts of tricks on him too?
When Shimofuri's gaze planted itself on Inuyasha's sagging, despaired form, he didn't see the black-haired, blue-eyed human form of his cousin's hanyou self—he saw his own blue-black hair and his own gray-blue eyes. When he looked to his mother's triumphant pink irises, he felt an inner pain and turmoil that threatened to make him scream. He had always wondered why his parents had chosen to separate after his birth so quickly. Most youkai that needed to make heirs for an important position chose to carry on as mates—for both pleasure (emotions wasn't really needed in an heir-producing relationship, only decent sex…) and for the added bonus of more offspring, more potential heirs. Taikokajin, for instance, had been one of many pups born to Shimofuri's grandfather, Koshoshiro. Unless one mate died—as was the case in Sesshomaru's line where he was Inutaisho's only heir—there were usually multiple pups. Now, seeing his mother as if for the first time, Shimofuri felt a coldness growing within him. Haiseishoku—Father—I see now why you left the Lady of the Middle Lands behind…
When Taikokajin spoke again it was to quietly send the guards away and meet her son's accusing glare with annoyance. "Shimofuri—chakunan—" she barked, signaling him to join her.
Burying his outrage the young inuyoukai moved serenely across the room, forcing himself to ignore the overwhelming iron tang of human blood in the air as he stepped over the felled bodies of at least four guards. In a few moments he stood beside his mother, though he bristled at it, and he knew Taikokajin could sense it. She would put him in his place later he was sure…but for now he had to watch her manipulate the unfortunate Inuyasha further, all the while he wondered at his mother's real intentions. Not only do you want Inuyasha to slay Garou for you and retrieve Tsukiyume, you also crave the thought of keeping from him what is his by all rights in both human, demon, and the laws of nature Herself. The mortal woman doesn't wish to serve you, Mother, and the pup…the child is Inuyasha's own blood!
"Inuyasha…" Taikokajin called, softly, and the now human half-demon jerked his gaze up at her, a mixture of irritation and despair lingering in his eyes.
"What is it bitch?" he growled, the sword lifted from the ground again. "Where are you keeping Kagome and Koinu? Tell me or I'll have to kill you…"
"While you're human?" Taikokajin snorted and rolled her pink eyes, unimpressed, "I should think not! I'm afraid that you're just going to have to do what I say…and worry not for your mate or your pup—I shall see to it that they are treated as guests of honor within my palace. Garou shan't get near them—nor anyone else that may pose a threat to them."
Inuyasha scowled at her, unbelievingly, "If that's true, bitch, then how did this Garou thing get a hold of your daughter?"
Taikokajin and Shimofuri both stiffened against that verbal challenge. Though her son looked away, Taikokajin didn't. Her gaze locked firmly with the rebellious hanyou's. "Tsuki—" she bit her tongue and paused, taking a deep breath before speaking again, "My daughter was visiting her human father at the time…" she couldn't stop her voice from shaking as she finished the sentence, "…his grave…"
The emotion in her words left Inuyasha disarmed and unable to doubt her words. Tetsuseiga shifted into a far less menacing position as he regarded the inuyoukai couple before him. For the first time his eyes slid to Shimofuri, who was standing beside his mother silently, his eyes cold and bland as he stared at the space between his mother and the hanyou, deep in thought.
"What is your bloody name again?" he frowned at Taikokajin's son, his tone irritated.
The gray-blue gaze jerked upward, met Inuyasha's carefully. "Shimofuri." He answered, lips pursed.
"Shimofuri?" his mother murmured his name gently beside him, "You may leave us now…" she didn't like it when Inuyasha turned his attention to her own flesh and blood, Shimofuri thought wryly. Without expression he bowed lightly to both his mother and Inuyasha, and started to leave quietly. Already behind him he heard Taikokajin speaking, announcing what she wanted Inuyasha to do for her…
"If you can find Garou and slay him, and recover my daughter, Inuyasha, I would gladly release your mate and your pup from my protective custody…"
Inuyasha snorted, "Feh! You bitch! As if I was fucking stupid enough to trust your miserable lying ass, I'll…" though the hanyou wasn't finished, Shimofuri had abruptly turned round and was bowing low to Inuyasha, acting out on a whim that he knew would help both of them.
"Inuyasha-ituko," he murmured quietly, giving his mother a careful glare once to make sure she understood that what he was about to do was planned at least partly out of a desire to anger her. For a brief moment he saw a thrill of alarm shoot through her, thought he could almost scent it…and then he looked away, pinning Inuyasha with his gaze instead. "I am the heir to these lands…the only heir…if you would do this thing that my mother asks of you, I would travel beside you as a servant…and if my mother should refuse to return your mate and pup, or should any harm come to either of them," he straightened from his bow and faced his cousin proudly, noble and true, "Then you shall have my life in atonement, my life and thus the future of the Middle Lands as well…"
Taikokajin's pink eyes were wide with horror. "Shimofuri!" she hissed suddenly, her face was as pale as the snow on the highest mountains. "What do you think you're doing!"
Blandly he answered, "I am making things fair, Mother, I am helping you get Tsukiyume returned safely…she is my sister as well as your child."
Their exchange drew the suddenly keen and avid interest of Inuyasha's human eyes.
Still the pink-eyed inuyoukai woman seemed somewhere between wild fear and outrage. "You are my heir!" she was whispering her words now; her voice had failed her. The sweet, ruler's diplomatic tone was banished in her mortified shock. "I cannot let you go…" here she narrowed her eyes at him, silently letting him know that she understood that his actions were some form of rebellion. Could she fathom that he was doing this not only for their cousin's sake, but also for all males everywhere? Taikokajin had played unfairly, cheated. Shimofuri wasn't going to let her get away with it without a few battle wounds…
"Look bitch—you let your daughter go to wherever the hell her human father's grave is, right?" Inuyasha's voice rose now, as he fixed Taikokajin with a suspicious glance.
The inuyoukai woman flinched at his words and she closed her eyes. Her breathing was just slightly erratic, Shimofuri could see and scent—she was in great distress. Inuyasha's comment had been cutting and accurate. The guilt and worry and shame his mother felt for the loss of one child was enough—but the thought of both her pups being possibly lost…? It was almost more than a mother could handle—and almost enough to make Shimofuri relinquish his offer, almost.
"Besides," Inuyasha growled as Taikokajin opened her pink eyes again and leveled her gaze to meet the hanyou's, "I think that Shimo-kun here is old enough and strong enough to keep up with me…" he smirked as Shimofuri scowled momentarily over the none-too subtle jab. "If…" Inuyasha paused a moment and bit his lip, suddenly a little uncomfortable, "If you let me see Kagome and Koinu before I go—and as long as your little Shimo-kun comes with me as collateral," he stared frankly at Taikokajin, his eyes glittering hard, "Then I'll do what you ask…" he thrust a human hand out toward her, "We got a deal, bitch?"
Taikokajin still seemed stricken, and she was slow to react. With a lingering look of something close to despair thrown between Shimofuri and Inuyasha, she stuck out one lender but thoroughly clawed hand out to her distant cousin. "We have a deal—ituko…" their hands clasped together and the inuyoukai woman's pink gaze grew firm and stern on the hanyou, her grip on his hand became deathly tight, "Listen now Inuyasha, if you fail to return my pups to me safely…" her eyes narrowed cruelly, hatefully, "I'll kill your mate and that pup—is that clear…?"
Inuyasha ripped his hand from hers and stepped backward, Tetsuseiga, although not transformed still, readied again. "If you harm one hair on either of their heads bitch I'll—"
Shimofuri stepped between them and, bowing, directed Inuyasha's attention toward the door, "I shall lead you to your mate and pup…"
Still glaring at Taikokajin, who returned the heated gaze, Inuyasha snorted, "It's about damn time!"
As Inuyasha crossed the floor to where the large bundle of white furs kept his wife and child safe and bundled warmly, Taikokajin grabbed her son's shoulder with one clawed fist—her talons pierced skin. Shimofuri watched the hanyou kneel beside his mate and child, reach out tenderly to them, and steadily ignored the scent of his own blood as his mother hissed in his ear. "I want you to make sure Garou is slain, and then, whether Tsukiyume is rescued or not…kill Inuyasha…"
The gray-eyed inuyoukai blinked, despite his best efforts to remain stoic and unaffected, "If he succeeds, Mother, why?" he tried to keep his voice uninterested, "And if you're so frightened of him—why aren't you calling the guards right now to make sure he doesn't take his mate and pup and try to escape you now, hmm?"
Her breath was hot in his ear; "You watch your tone with me—chakunan." He felt his stomach tighten with something close to nausea as she chuckled harshly, "He wouldn't dare now, not while he's human—and not after he feels he's failed in protecting them the first time. He can't now—not until the threat that Garou poses is gone…"
"But why kill him Mother?" the hanyou's mate had woken, groggily, and immediately thrown herself into Inuyasha's arms. Shimofuri wondered about the mortal woman briefly—she should be weakening with Garou having a grip on her soul…why did she still appear only fatigued? Those who no longer possessed their souls could do anything—from becoming physically ill, to falling into a coma, or, more likely, being used or possessed by the creature that held sway over their soul. Why hadn't this woman succumbed yet…?
"Because," Taikokajin whispered, suddenly soft in his ear, her claws withdrawing from the tiny wounds they'd made on him, "I want that child…"
A terrible freezing sensation reached up Shimofuri's esophagus. "It is the hanyou's pup…" he snarled, unable to contain his disgust.
Her claws closed once more over his shoulder, resuming her previous punishment. He winced briefly but otherwise made no sign. Inuyasha and his mate were conversing quietly, staring down in mutual awe and adoration of their pup. The child was now human in appearance, just like his father, Shimofuri could easily see the black hair and lack of bright white dog-ears. The scene of innocent happiness between mother and father and pup burned into his brain, straight from his retinas, and he tried to calm the tide of outrage at his mother's thoughtless desire…she wants their pup…their child…why?
"The hanyou is blind. That pup will be raised alone, away from the clan because Inuyasha is bitter over his past…" Taikokajin growled in his ear, he sensed rather than saw her rolling her pinkish eyes.
"The pup is theirs…" Shimofuri repeated, his voice hissing at her in disgust, "Theirs, Mother. Have more of your own if you so wish—but leave theirs with them." He tried, delicately, to extricate himself from her cruel claws, but ruthlessly, she tightened them.
"Watch yourself, Shimofuri…" she warned, and abruptly her claws were gone. His mother's powerful, brooding presence also vanished, leaving the only guard to watch over Inuyasha's behavior as Shimofuri. The young inuyoukai watched the couple together with something twisting inside him, emotions he'd never known he'd possessed. Try as he might he couldn't imagine his mother acting so loving with his own father. He'd always seen them as separate fortresses of solitude as a young pup before his father had passed on. And his mother's human lover had been nothing short of a toy…when Tsukiyume had been born Taikokajin had all but lost interest in her mortal lover.
Watching his hanyou cousin's obvious love of both the pup and his mate, Shimofuri felt a strange, bittersweet feeling blossom inside him, while at the same time the thought of pledging himself to Inuyasha as collateral solidified. It would be the right thing to do…Mother couldn't harm either the mate or the pup as long as I am at risk.
Or, at least he hoped that she couldn't…
Endnote: I am VERY SORRY! But I've been so unbelievably busy...I hope this chapter is enough...I don't have time to write out thank yous...anything that was important to you PLEASE...send me it again in a review...I hope next week (and this weekend maybe, I have a few plans then too GRR!) that I'll have the time...I'm VERY sorry again! PLEASE stick with me...graduation catching up...less time...gotta go now, it's way too late as it is, never...any...sleep!