Apologies for the extremely long wait. I was rather busy for a while and then, to my annoyance, my document was deleted from Fanfiction, due to the life time. So, I had to rewrite everything that I'd written. Hopefully, this will not happen again!

Disclaimer:

I do not own any of the characters from Inuyasha - they belong to their respective owners.

Chapter Six

WORSHIP

This was getting boring, really fast.

Maybe he'd expected something else - maybe he was feeling impatient - but he wondered if this was what he wanted. Admittedly, it was invigorating seeing how terrified everyone was of him; the quivering and stuttering made him laugh, but he wanted to be a God. A leader. Not a tormenter.

He would save his torturous wrath for his real enemies.

The boy's death seemed to have an impact on the village, an impact that did not please him. They were quiet and weak - a state which was not fit for his rising army. He would need fine, motivated soldiers that would follow his every command. This would not do.

Inuyasha contemplated this as he reclined at his throne. Well, it wasn't really a throne, to his disappointment, just a carved chair - but he would commission a seat that was to his standards, in due course. At the moment, he was planning invasion and oblivion. He had no time to quibble on decorative details.

He'd already dispatched the Monkey God and claimed the village as his own (those Monkey Sprites would not be a bother, EVER again). He'd even heard someone commenting on how the number of attacking demons had decreased. His mere presence had sent them running.

But Inuyasha was aware that he would need to gain the loyalty and trust of the villagers. When following a tyrant, people act in fear - rebellions are considered and they are never truly obedient. If they shared the same goals, however, perhaps they would be more accepting of Inuyasha's regime.

"Enough. Leave me," He ordered the girls, who stood either side of him. They had been fanning him for the previous half-hour, without complaint, although he did notice the frightened look that one of them wore. This just underlined his ponderings - he needed them to worship him, not fear him.

"Y-yes, Master," The scared one stumbled over her words, before bowing. Inuyasha glanced at the opposite one, expecting her to be just as much of a nervous wreck. His eyes narrowed as she stiffly bowed.

"Do you require anything else," The tight-lipped girl was speaking through her teeth, "...Master?"

He considered cracking her skull for disobedience, but reconsidered. Smashing the girl's face would not gain popularity, even if it would release this unexplained aggression that tore through his blood.

The scared one gulped, but fiddled around with her kimono collar, steadily lowering it, "...w-we are here to please you...Master,"

Inuyasha snatched her hand away from the cloth, covering her skin again, but making her sob in fright, "You disgust me. I shall never require that. Go. Now!"

She gulped down another sob and fled to the bottom of the stairs, but gasped as her friend refused to move. She gestured, frantically, but the other girl stared at Inuyasha, bewildered. He fought the urge to yank her hair. He would not be as primitive as that.

"You do not want that? But we thought, I mean, we've heard that the other demons ha-"

"I am not like other demons," He hissed, "You'd best remember that. I will not mistreat you as such, but do not mistake me as lenient. There is only one woman that I would entrust that duty to,"

Now, why on Earth did he say that?!

She was silenced for a moment. But she could not keep her mouth shut. Big mistake, "You have a lover? What is she like?"

Anger glinted in his eyes, and even she seemed to realize her mistake. Her friend cried out her name, before falling to her knees, pulling the other girl down with her, as she begged forgiveness, "Please have mercy, Master. She meant nothing by it - she will never speak of such a thing again. Oh, Seiko, why would you ask that?!"

"Learn to keep your mouth shut at the right time, wench. Do not forget the fate of the boy," He was holding in his anger - constantly repeating a mantra that reminded him of what he was working for. If he managed to not kill her, he would be taking a step in gaining their trust. Remain calm. Remain calm. Remain calm.

"I...I won't," The girl, Seiko, bowed her head and glanced towards the temple's entrance. Inuyasha had decided that the Monkey God's temple would be a good place to retire. It reminded him of how far he had come, "Thank you. Thank you so much,"

Even that girl had been broken: here she was, on her knees, thanking him for sparing her. It was slightly disappointing - he'd hoped that she possessed a stronger soul than that. Still, at least no blood had been spilt.

He couldn't imagine Kagome on her knees, like that. He wasn't sure that he wanted to see that. The idea of her completely at his mercy, begging him to spare her, was strangely alluring - but it diminished her, in some way. She was raw and pure, with all courage and no doubt. Breaking her would be tarnishing for her determination.

But of course, he couldn't allow her to roam free. She was far too meddlesome - Inuyasha knew that she was plotting something, right at this very moment.

The girls were retreating out of the temple, when he spoke up, "She's like you. Confident and unaware of her place,"

Why did the idea of killing Kagome not fill him with excitement?

The idea came to him, as Inuyasha pondered the prospect of hunting.

He'd heard complaints that the harvest was drying out, as the weather had been nothing but hot sun for the last few weeks. He really couldn't give a crap about the villagers' petty problems - although, a food shortage would affect him too - but it would give him the opportunity to gain respect. Part of him shuddered at this; the last thing he required was their respect, but he remained rational.

His idea would also give him an adrenaline boost, something that he felt hollow without.

The demon tore through the fields again, sending up a wind that made the villagers gasp. They watched him with a confused look, but said nothing in fear of being attacked. He seemed to be on a mission - they knew better than to stop him.

He quickly exited the village's boarder, dashing back into the forest that surrounded it. He ignored the branches which he had previously leapt from; this was more important. He wanted to complete this before sundown, as he would be on the move tomorrow.

A deranged chuckle bubbled out of no where, as he slashed his claws against a tree. It made a sharp slicing sound, as bark flew off, although his hands were unscathed. He repeated this several times, until he heard a rustle from one of the bushes.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," He sang, lowly, waiting for something to pounce on him. He needed to get the attention of these hiding demons. He certainly wasn't running around after them.

As he expected, something darted out of the foliage and snapped at his shoulder. He smashed it's face in, leaping into the air before slicing it's eye with razor sharp claws. It hissed and writhed as he composed himself.

"You're an ugly thing," He smirked, kicking the worm-like entity that was nearly triple his size, "I'll put ya out of your misery,"

It screeched, "A mere demon that stinks of humans? No better than a half demon!"

The light died from it's eyes, as blood gushed out of it's newly acquired wound. Inuyasha flicked the blood from his claws, wondering if he would need to wash it off later. He grabbed it's tail, completely uncaring that it had been in pain, moments ago, before dragging it in another direction, "Check again. The half demon is dead,"

One down. Several to go.

They all seemed rather confused, as he finally dragged the last demon corpse into the pile. Sweat glistened under his hair, but he quickly wiped it off. He'd underestimated how fat and heavy these things were.

Murmurs and mutters rose from the crowd of villagers, as they stared at the demon in shock. He remained still, eventually folding his arms and raising an eyebrow at their expressions.

A brave villager stepped forward, quickly bowing, "M-master, forgive my ignorance, but...w-what is this?"

He frowned. Were they stupid? "Demon bodies,"

"A-ah, yes, well, I did suspect as much. Perhaps...perhaps I should have rephrased that question..."

The man's babbling was irritating him, "Just spit it out,"

"...u-uh, why have you gathered all these bodies?"

There was an ominous silence, as Inuyasha eyed up the rest of the villagers. They all seemed keen for his answer, but dared not rush him. He was curious about their reaction, so he explained, "Your harvest is weak. Demon corpses taste good when cooked. I'm sure you can prepare something,"

He turned and started to stroll in the direction of his temple, when a female villager spoke up, "B-but, why would you do this for us?"

"Why?" Inuyasha turned his head back and saw that the villagers visibly tensed. He resisted a smirk, "Because you cannot survive without food. I do not wish to see you starve,"

And I need a healthy army to lead. But he decided to keep that thought to himself.

"...t-thank you," Another stuttered. They seemed unsure of how to react. A few of them also called out their gratitude, but others seemed indecisive. Eventually, there was a simultaneous agreement amongst them and they began to equally divide the demons between them, sharing out the portions.

Satisfied with his plan, the demon continued on his way, but called out, "Oh, and whatever you do, don't boil it."

A/C - Thank you to: ihavetoriblenews, Ariel-Mystic-Siren and nane-chan! Thank you very much for compliments! And the next chapter should be quicker than the last ;) ~B.O.I