Chapter 8

Affections of an Inu Youkai

"Lady Arashi! Lady Arashi!" I heard someone calling me.

My eyes snapped open, and I turned my head to the right, to see that it was none other than Rin. And she was also rushing towards me, with a hand full of flowers.

She kneeled down on the ground next to my mat, and held up the bouquet full of flowers in front of my face with a big smile.

"These are for you Lady Arashi!"

I sat up, ignoring the slight pain in my abdomen, and used one of my clawed hands to reach out and take them from her.

"Thank you Rin." I said, giving her a small smile. Automatically, I lifted them to my nose, and took in the sweet scents of the different types of flowers.

"I hope you get better soon Lady Arashi, then we can pick flowers together!"

"Don't you enjoy picking flowers with Kaname?" I asked bewildered.

"Yes, I do, but it's NOTHING like picking flowers with YOU Lady Arashi!"

She was so sure of herself! In all of my years, I had NEVER met a human child so sure of herself!

"Lady Arashi?" Rin asked.

"Hmm?" I was too busy taking in the scent of the flowers that I had not noticed what she said.

"May I call you AUNT Arashi?"

I flinched slightly, my eyes snapping open in shock.

No Arashi! Say no!

But as I looked at Rin's cheerful, and pleading expression, I realized that I couldn't be cruel to a child.

"Do as you wish." I whispered, setting the flowers down, and trying to look as proper and as firm as possible.

My eyes snapped open again in shock, when I felt little arms wrap tightly around my waist.

"Oh thank you Lady-ur I mean-Aunt Arashi!"

"Um-Rin?" I gasped."Can you please let go of my waist, you're-kind of hurting me."

"Oh! Sorry Aunt Arashi." Rin immediately unwound her arms, stood up, and folded her hands in front of her.

My eyes wandered around, and I spotted Sesshomaru standing a few yards away, in the shadow of the trees. He looked as if he wished to speak with me.

"Run along and play now," I ordered to Rin.

"Ok Aunt Arashi!" she said with a smile. With golden eyes, I saw her skip off into the meadow, to pick more flowers.

I sighed in relief, and slowly lay back down onto my mat. The wounds were healing, but they still ached a lot. Sighing again, I closed my eyes, and tried to fall back asleep.

"You do have a way with kids."

The voice surprised me slightly, and my eyes snapped open in alert, only to be reassured that it was simply Edward. He stood only a few feet away from me, and I appreciated the personal space.

"Like I told you before, I always wanted to be a mother."

"Someday you will be." he whispered.

Instead of feeling glad like a normal person, my heart ached, and a frown crossed my face. "But I want to stay with you!" I wanted to say, but didn't.

"What's wrong?" he asked me.

"Nothing." I quickly said, my eyes downcast.

"Come on Arashi, you know you can tell me anything. That's what I'm here for."

"You will be angry." I stated simply.

"No I won't."

I let out a sigh of defeat, "Alright." I turned so I could face him, and he sat down on the ground, closer to my level. "I'm…..betrothed…"

"You're what?" Edward asked again, seeming to be in disbelief.

"I'm betrothed." I stated again, looking at him with sheepish eyes.

"May I ask to whom?" he persisted after a few moments of silence.

"InuMaru." I said in one breath, "He's one of the very few suitable dog demons left in the world."

"Why are you betrothed to him?"

"To keep the bloodline going of course," I stated. "The race of dog demons is dying out, and there are only a few of us left on the earth."

"I see." Edward said looking down, seeming to be sad as well.

"He is nothing more than a friend Edward, but once he gives me his mating mark, we are bound to each other until death."

I could feel Edward's tension rising, the anger in the air was too obvious.

"But it's still many years away." I quickly interjected, and I felt the anger in the air calm slightly.

"There's one thing I don't understand though," he said after a few moments of silence.

I turned my head towards him, and looked up at him with questioning eyes, "And what might that be?"

"After all that we've been through, and after all that you and I have done for each other, why is it that when you are in your demon form, you do not show affection for me like you did in your human form?"

His words made my eyes widen, and I immediately looked down, slightly blushing.

Deadly silence was all around us, the only sound was the birds chirping in the trees around us, and off in the distance, I could hear Rin and the others speaking.

"T-that's a very good question." I stuttered in a whisper after a while. I hadn't really thought about it that much.

"Are you embarrassed to show affection for me here?" he pressed on.

I shook my head quickly. "No."

"Do your friends not want you to show affection for me?"

"No."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No."

"Are you angry with me?"

"NO!" I shouted, losing patience. Edward fell silent, and I sighed in defeat. "I don't know why actually. Maybe it's because I'm so used to being alone, that I just don't know how to act."

"But back in Forks you acted just fine." he protested, a frown grazing his face.

"But at times I screwed up. You even noticed that at times I was a bit strange."

"But why?" he still pressed on. I couldn't believe that he still couldn't understand, and I pressed a clawed hand to my heart. For the first time in 500 years, it was truly aching.

"Oh my God…" he breathed after a few moments of silence. Was he truly understanding it now? "You-DON'T know how to show affection for me do you?"

I closed my eyes, and sighed, slightly nodding my head in comprehension.

"The reason I would mess up sometimes, is because it felt weird showing affection towards you in the way I was doing it."

"You mean like-the human way?"

"Yes." I replied solemnly. "The 'kissing' is NOT the way youkai-demons show affection. It was highly confusing."

A smug smile spread across Edward's face, and at first I thought I was missing out on some inside joke.

"What?" I asked, a smile lightly touching my lips.

"I was just thinking. Since I always show affection for YOU, I think it's time that YOU start showing affection towards ME. In whatever way you prefer of course."

My eyes widened, and I looked at him dumbfounded. "You REALLY want me to do this don't you." I said my eyes narrowing slightly.

He smiled again, and nodded. An exasperated sigh escaped through my lips. I moved over a little bit, and patted a spot on the mat next to me.

Edward slowly sat down next to me, our arms nearly touching.

A few moments of silence went by, before I began.

I very slowly leaned up towards his ear, ignoring the slight ache in my side, and began to growl contently or purr.

His eyebrows lifted in surprise, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head when I lightly nipped at his ear.

My one arm moved behind his head to gently stroke through his hair, while my other arm reached across my body to stroke the side of his face.

My nose lightly trailed from his collarbone to his jaw line as I breathed in his scent. My natural instincts were to grab hold of him, or do something to get my scent on him-but I fought my instincts, and tried to be as gentle as possible.

His eyes closed in contentment and I slowly pushed him down onto the mat.

Once his body was lying flat, I also laid down next to him, pulling the blanket over both of us. The entire time my eyes never left him.

I rested my head underneath his chin and began to nuzzle into his neck-still purring. My eyes closed, and just when I was on the brink of sleep I felt cold arms wrap around me.

A grin spread across my face as I only knew whose arms they could be. I coddled into Edward's embrace even further, as I let sleep take over me.