A/N: Still finding the balance between updates and professors/papers/volunteering/fighting a cold/student groups/kendo…ahem, so here's the latest.

Green Around the Gills

Demons, Rin noticed, had a strange way of coming to agreements.

"Like, would it have killed you to say we're just going to talk?"

"Hey, we did," snapped the demoness leading the way, the black length of her braid spinning around when she turned on Rin. "I can't fathom why Kichiruka's instructor got his tail in a knot." She pulled the mortal girl close. "Nothing special about you that I see. You look human enough." At the demoness' sudden intrusion of her personal space the sword at Rin's side pulsed in its scabbard. Immediately, the lurid red of irises spilled into the rest of the piscine yokai's eyes. She pulled back with a hiss and the two guards hurried forward just as Rin made to draw.

"Leave her."

All three of Rin's captors froze, plus one human girl.

"Greetings." The voice had said only two breaths' worth and already Rin felt lulled into a calm. It was as if the three other demons around her had disappeared and any tension that might have charged the water evaporated. There was only that voice. Say something else, she thought without really thinking.

A curtain of kelp swept aside and the source of the voice wound a finger through the weeds. From what Rin could see she had a woman's form, but she wasn't human, not by any stretch. Pure power shimmered along the edge of this lady's figure, radiating from every pore. Long, auburn hair the color of bright copper enshrouded her face, leaving only one sea-green eye to peek through the canopy. If the centered diamond hadn't glinted, Rin would have missed the gold chain that laced her crown. When she swam a little closer it became apparent that jewelry was the woman's only attire. Bare-breasted, she was clad simply in gold bangles and a collar of white diamonds that burned at her throat. She's so…enchanting.

There. As soon as Rin had the reason in her mind she gripped it like a life-preserve. Enchanting. Bewitching. Mind-trickery. Dumbly, her fingers sought the protection of the Shadow Teeth blade. Finding the knotted grooves of the hilt, Rin felt some of the haze cleansed from her mind like a suffocating blanket had been thrown off. Yokai glamour?

Calling upon the blade's protective properties, Rin noticed the woman suddenly looked a little less perfect. Though still nothing less of majestic. Three sets of fine gold chains slung low on her hips before a fish's form over took the humanlike one. Bespeckled with black and white scales on an orange tail identical to the lady's hair color, Rin couldn't have called it simply a koi's body. It was some other fish, with fine streamers and small fins that seemed to serve no other purpose than to enhance her ethereal appearance.

A mermaid then? When she was younger, Kagome used to pull Rin on her lap and share some of the odd fairytales from afar. Although gyonin – fish people – weren't unheard of, they were never described to be nearly as glamorous as those in Kagome's tales. And Rin never thought they could be. Until now. Orange strands swirled enough to reveal only a flash of jaw and no more than a single eye at a time. Eyes that matched Ichikawa's, Rin observed, noticing the slightly paler bluish-green that shone through.

"Oh my, I hope you haven't frightened her." With a careless gesture, the mermaid waved away the other yokai; coming halfway to their senses, they lurched away to grumble like they'd been roused from a dream. Then, with a lazy twirl of her wrist, beckoned for Rin.

"Come, come," she invited, her voice replacing its seductive undertow with unadorned friendliness. Rin simultaneously appreciated and resented the switch. That means she's aware of the effects.

Ringed fingers curled around Rin's wrist, leading her through the kelp into a new structure that as far as the girl could tell looked like an elaborate series of tunnels. She prayed she wouldn't have to find her way out alone. Touching fingertips to the ribbed surface of the shell on her face Rin tried to remember how long Kichiruka said the mask was good for.

The mermaid's head turned to glance over her shoulder. "My husband will be in soon."

"Lord Ichikawa?"

The visible eye crinkled at the corner and Rin saw the hitched edge of a smile. "Why however did you guess?"

I'm not sure if she's being sincere or sarcastic. Meeting the light tone with one of her one, she pleasantly said, "Lucky shot."

The lady laughed. "Oo, I like you already."

Rin didn't know if that was a good thing. But before she could dwell on it too long, she was swept through a curtain of strung-together seashells, whisked into an atrium, and her attention arrested. And never mind the room. Spinning round in her own space, it took Rin a full minute just to absorb the artwork that frescoed the ceiling. Who'd ever decide to put it there?

"Like it?" She laughed when the little mortal nearly jumped out of her skin. "Mm…I've been told, many times, that for someone from the East my husband's tastes run peculiar. But it makes me feel at home."

Rin tore her eyes away from the ceiling to look at the mermaid. "You aren't from here?" She speaks without any discernable accent.

Vermillion locks swished as she slowly shook her head. "I've been here for a very, very long time. It was part of a deal." She smiled. "With a charming and indulgent man." She gestured to the room, redirecting her guest's attention again.

Although she tried to keep a wary out, Rin couldn't help but marvel at the rest of chamber. Ichikawa's eye for colors and effects matched the outlay of the city. But with furnishings the likes of which she'd never seen. Tables that were insensibly high and seats in wooden frames that Rin assumed were meant to match. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion and the resulting plans were bold and fiery. Kichiruka had often said how fascinated by foreign culture his lordship was, but Rin had never anticipated his conceptions to glow such with barbaric luster.

Gesturing for Rin to have a seat in an overdone armchair, Ichikawa's wife arranged herself on an extended day-bed. Her finned tail curling about her, she reclined with her chin – or at least where Rin assumed her chin was with all the hair in the way – propped on her hand. If this were another time and place, Rin would liked to have thought they were at one of Kagome's "slumber parties" and were getting ready for some "girl talk."

"So, how does a mortal girl come to possessing an infusion blade?"

Definitely not. "It was a gift."

"From whom?"

Rin cringed at the new layer the siren's voice had coated on itself. If I don't tell her, then she'll make me. And there really wasn't much anywhere to run. Sitting erect, Rin formally declared, "I'm under the protection of Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Territories."

The visible eye widened. "Sesshomaru? The dog-demon?"

She nodded. The name had saved her many times in the past and perhaps name alone might be her only protection now without Kichiruka around.

The mermaid laughed, relaxed and amused. Rin wasn't sure if she liked that any better; unlike her dolphin friend she never liked being unintentionally funny.

"So you're the little mortal at his heels!" she squealed, rolling on her side. "How delightful!"

The shells at the cove's entrance rattled softly and Rin already knew who'd entered.

"Dear, you're going to startle her." The arm of bracelets on the lady's arm jangled as she waved to someone over her guest's shoulder.

Rin heard Ichikawa's low laughter slither behind her. And tried not to flinch. At least his voice came out normal. "Will I? She seems accustomed to demon company." Ebony wings rippling, the manta ray yokai slipped past her and settled beside his spouse. Draping himself over the siren like a black cape, Ichikawa rested his chin over her shoulder, nuzzling the hollow of the woman's collar bone.

Is this how he always conducts business?

Ichikawa suppressed a grin. Though the expression was scrawled plain on the little mortal's face, the curving horns on his forehead could feel the tremor of her discomfort reverberate through the water, just this side of addled. Good. Now they could talk.

"So then, girl…Rin, no? How have you been finding these waters? I apologize that the accommodations are not all they could have been. Why didn't you tell Kichiruka to let us know you were coming?"

The civility in his tone stopped Rin short. After barely acknowledging her during their last encounter, she hadn't expected the ocean lord to be so solicitous. "What do you want from me?"

Ichikawa laughed and pulled the lady in his lap a little closer, like a child getting ready for a good bedtime story. "What in all the realms could a little mortal like you offer me? I'm not sure if you realize it, but you, child, are in midst of taking something of mine."

Rin blinked. "I haven't—"

"He's spotted, tells jokes, and likes ducks," Ichikawa's wife filled in for her.

Kichiruka likes ducks? "How am I stealing someone—?"

"I own him." Ichikawa's tone dropped to a darkly possessive note. Then flitted back up to its softer register. "Oh, you can have him." He laughed, but the careless cacophony sent shivers up Rin's spine. "After all, who am I to stand in the way? It's not every day that a yokai – much less an ocean-based one – finds himself a human love." He considered the mermaid in his embrace with unguarded tenderness. "Or one so seemingly out of reach…But we'll need an exchange, don't you think?"

And there's the hook. "Exchange?"

The tiny brows over Ichikawa's eyes rose incredulously, but pale fingers smoothed over his wings. "Remember, darling," his lady sighed, "she's only human."

"Ah, yes – human. You always expect to get something for nothing," Ichikawa said in a sing-song voice. "Hnn…well, then to be frank, what I want is a partnership."

The revulsion must have shown on Rin's face because Ichikawa's wife suddenly snickered and clarified, "Not with you, dear. An agreement with Lord Sesshomaru." She laughed, deep and throaty – a bedroom laugh. Rin shifted. Damn – Kichiruka's one thing, but these ocean demons practically radiate sensuality. Looking back and forth between Ichikawa and the lady, she couldn't help wondering what kind of sex life the two had. She took in the mermaid's tail. Is that even possible?

"If you're that interested in an alliance then why don't you take it up with him?" Rin remembered just in time to respectfully add, "Lord Ichikawa?"

He smirked and a slender, purple triangle on his cheek quirked with it. "Because you're the one who wants Kichiruka, no?"

Rin felt a flush creep up her throat.

Her ladyship's eye scrunched up at the bottom as if she were smiling. "I told you that's where he's been all this time."

"So it is true." Ichikawa smirked. "Well, don't you want him?" The tip of one wing brushed aside auburn hair, exposing the pale stretch of the lady's neck. Ichikawa kissed her softly, but kept his eyes on Rin.

She fidgeted uncomfortably. He's got weird intimidation tactics. Plucking up her own stern reserve, she primly remarked, "It's not my place to make decisions on Lord Sesshomaru's behalf."

Ichikawa smiled. "He must be very proud of you."

She held her silence.

"Well, then, if there's nothing to be had of this you're free to go…Just don't expect to see our resident mock-fish again after today."

Rin's face fell. "What's that mean?"

Ichikawa shrugged. "At this point he's outlived his utility. I have no further use for him."

I thought everyone's saying this guy isn't excessively cruel.

"I promise to make it a quick death." Ichikawa spread his wings magnanimously.

Ah. "That doesn't make any sense. I don't see why you'd have to kill him."

"If he isn't going to help our situation, then he'll only damage it," the lady explained in gentle even tones, the kind reserved for markedly slow children. "Someone of my lord's status can't have a court's exile giving the wrong impression to Lord Sesshomaru.…Hm, but it does seem a bit extreme, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but we can't have any loose ends," Ichikawa huffed matter-of-factly. "Besides I saw him first, so he's mine."

"And whose idea was it to assign him that role?"

Black horns tipped to one side. "He's still better suited to magic arts."

"See? So why don't we keep him?"

Why do they sound like children bickering about toys in a box? Rin sighed. Maybe the stories were true: life, in the eyes of yokai, was just one grand, splendid game. And they sure like winning. Then two sets of sea-green eyes resettled on her. Rin tried thinking quickly. It sucked being under the pressure of an ocean lord. So, she said the first thing that came to mind and decided to wing it from there. "You're kinda spoiled, you know that?"

Crap. Did that have to be the first?

Ichikawa laughed. "And yet it is because of my privilege that I maintain this kingdom. We aren't very large, you see." Rin didn't. "Hence all the trade. But many neighboring regions" – he grumbled and Rin picked up "all the half-witted copycats" – "are starting to quibble over our long-established ties to the Occident. We need the protection of a terrestrial yokai to stay afloat. And that little bridge between our realm and the one above is you, Rin dear."

A tic jumped in Rin's jaw. That's only cute when Kichiruka says it. "You sure are expecting a lot to happen all at once. I might be mortal, but I'm not going to die tomorrow."

Ichikawa canted his head to one side. "Your point, short-life?"

"You can't expect me to get married to Kichiruka and think a perfectly harmonious alliance between you and the Western Territories is gonna spring out of nowhere."

"And what would you know what it takes to accomplish this?"

"Well…if he's acting as your liaison, then Kichiruka…" Damn, there was no easy way to say this.

"Then Kichiruka…?" the lady prompted.

"…Would have to meet Lord Sesshomaru first."

Rin didn't think too many people actually got to see it in their lifetime, but Ichikawa's eyes widened.

He swallowed. "I see…"

oOo

The water before Tensai sucked in on itself and his fine nose quivered at the tug of transition. Swirling out of the vortex, Kichiruka spun gracefully into the alcove, a grin strung wide across his face.

"Hey, Rin, didja get to see—Master Tensai!"

Slouched in a corner, the old demon didn't prohibit his student from making a fuss over him. For about three seconds. "Enough, fool. We have to talk."

"But…who did this?" Crouching so they were at eye level, Kichiruka dabbed at a corner of his teacher's mouth. "You're bleeding."

Tensai touched his lips and red threads trailed from his fingers to the water, the taste of copper suddenly sharp on his tongue. They'd struck him hard enough for internal bleeding. Bastards.

Then the swordfish came to himself and smacked away Kichiruka's hand. "Don't mind me! Think about—"

"And where's Rin?"

Probably with Ichikawa. Tensai sighed. "She's…fine." If she's telling them everything I hope she will.

"Then why the…?"

"We need to talk," Tensai repeated, stretching into his normal stance. At this point the damage was already done and the best he could do would be to prepare his protégé for the worst. "I didn't want to drag you into any of this. You'll have more than enough problems with a human l—Will you listen up and sit still?"

Kichiruka fidgeted, tugging on a long, silver bang and glancing at the cavern's exit. On another day he would have done exactly as his instructor said. But this concerned Rin and time was of the essence. Especially for humans.

"Where the hell are you going?"

Already halfway out of the cavern, Kichiruka called out, "To find Rin!"

Swearing enough to make a sailor blush, Tensai pushed himself out after the fool. And hacked until the water clouded crimson before him.

Kichiruka, you're digging yourself a grave and I'm going to beat you to it.

oOo

Before the stillness of Ichikawa's dismay could completely settle in the water, there was a heavy-handed thudding on the threshold to the ocean lord's quarters. "Lord Ichikawa," a guard announced, his red pincher waving into the room. "Kichiruka wishes to have your audience."

He came for me? Rin's pulse leapt into her throat, but she fought to keep her expression cool. Sometimes she really wished she were Lord Sesshomaru.

Rather than Ichikawa answering the sentinel, her ladyship spoke. "Send for him."

Rin moved to get up with them, but a large, ebony wing blocked her path.

"You will wait here." Suddenly, something thin and black whipped from behind Ichikawa and tapped the back of Rin's hand. She felt a little zing, then a creeping numbness. Paralysis?

"Oh, don't look so afraid, dear, or your face will stay that way – truly." Gold bracelets jingled as a creamy hand patted Rin's shoulder. "We'll release you when it's appropriate."

"Kichiruka," she heard Ichikawa greet, "you made good time."

"Where's Rin?"

"I've never recalled you being this impertinent." Delicately, with the tip of his wing, Ichikawa lazily adjusted his collar. When Kichiruka held his silence, he rewarded him with further information. "She's fine. Say, did you bring company?"

Kichiruka turned and Tensai lurched into the cavern, his fists clenched to avoid clutching his side. He'd needed to come here quickly and speed took priority over mending his injuries. The ache in his abdomen had subsided, but a stray bloodstain still smeared across the white border of a square on his robe.

"My dear Tensai, what happened to you?" At least Ichikawa's wife sounded genuinely concerned.

"Civil duty," the old swordfish snorted. He folded his hands into his sleeves. The point was moot now. And there was no chance in hell he was going to admit the lady's servant had bested him. Tensai knew a few good hexes for baldness and boils, anyway. "Lord Ichikawa," he said, getting to the heart of the matter, "what use have you for some mortal filly?"

With a delighted, thin-lipped smile the ocean lord chuckled, "I like her."

Tensai sighed. He was afraid Ichikawa would say that.

Kichiruka chirruped something and, with a gentle laugh, Ichikawa replied likewise. Slowly, like undoing a series of knots, the tension diffused with one exchange to another. Even though they'd switched to their strange tongue of clicks and trills, Rin listened intently in case she could pick up on something. I think I just heard my name.

Abruptly, Ichikawa moved aside and flourished a great fin in her direction. Kichiruka's face came into view, his eyes lighting up the moment he spotted her.

"Rin!" Dragging her away from the crowd, he caught her up in his arms and, if only for a second, Rin believed the rest of the world had melted away. Then she opened her eyes and saw the look Ichikawa and his lady exchanged behind the jester's back. This isn't helping my side, is it?

Still holding her close as if she would dissolve the moment they broke contact, Kichiruka peered into Rin's face. It was truly home to see those soft, earthen eyes again. "Do you know all that's going on right now?"

"Isn't that what you were just talking about?"

Kichiruka rolled his eyes. "Like social niceties ever tell anything. I just wanted to find you." He jostled her a bit. "Now, maybe you could fill me in?"

Rin chewed her lip and was glad half of her face was hidden by the shell mask. How to get to the crux of this? "Kichiruka, what do you know about the Western Lord?"

Blue eyes blinked. "The who?"

"Lord Sesshomaru? A dog—"

"Oh!" He smacked his palm into his fist. "Lord Sesshomaru! Haven't heard that name in years now! Lord Ichikawa and her ladyship have long sought to curry favor with the great daiyokai of the west, but none know where to have him." Kichiruka shrugged. "From what I've heard, the first messengers that we've sent have returned without response and the last two haven't come back at all. Rumor's going around that the next land-walker among us will approach him once more." He chuckled. "Sure hope it isn't me! Word has it he's the most intolerant of the land-prowling yokai. A territorial dog-demon through and through. Is something the matter, Rin? You look green around the gills."

Silence stretched in the space of his pause. And Kichiruka's eyes dulled as he started to connect the dots.

"Kichiruka, I've been meaning to tell you…"

Just then a black wing wrapped around Kichiruka's shoulder. Eyes flashing, Ichikawa smiled down at him. "Well done, boy."

"Erm…for?"

"For selecting the finest human on land! Don't tell me you didn't know this girl is none other than the charge of Lord Sesshomaru of the West."

Now it was Kichiruka's turn to blanch. What was worse was that he looked at Rin like he'd been slapped. "You never…never said…"

"You knew my guardian was a demon," Rin hedged.

"Well, yeah, but not…"

Eyes sliding to the corners of their sockets, Ichikawa gave the girl a drab look. "You didn't even tell him that much?"

Rin shook her head.

Gray-green eyes rolled heavenward. Apparently, Kichiruka wasn't as clever as he'd hoped. He just stupidly fell in love. This was going to take a lot of work. "Kichiruka."

The yokai in question gulped. "M'lord?" No more surprises, please.

"You're promoted."

Kichiruka's heart stopped. "I'm wha…?"

"While we were speaking – heh, in the midst of your own little reunion here – your teacher brought up a valid point – your present status as jester won't do in addressing the Lord of the West. Congratulations" – Ichikawa's voice was a far cry from thrilled – "you've been promoted to ambassador. Though I have no idea what difference it makes if you haven't even met—"

Ichikawa's wife tugged at a black lock of his hair. "Don't discourage him now." Her eye glittered in Kichiruka's direction. "Good luck, dear." The implicit "you'll need it" hung amongst them.

"This meeting is adjourned." Ichikawa waved his wing dismissively. "Keep me posted on your progress, dolphin."

"Of course, m'lord," Kichiruka said absently. He stared at Tensai, who could only close his eyes and sigh. It was a resigned expression. Is this what he wanted me to know?

He looked back at Rin. "I suppose I should return you."

After Ichikawa's discourse about the underwater give-take system, she stiffened at Kichiruka's choice in words.

Bowing one last time to his lordship, he scooped Rin up in his arms and swept them out the tunnels. "Let your mind rely on mine," he instructed.

Pushing back a million cluttering questions, Rin tried to clear her mind with an idea of what Kichiruka wanted to do. She half-remembered the beach from earlier that day, before everything got complicated. How pretty and perfect everything was. How simple.

Suddenly, it was as if the water surrounding them a second ago had gone. For an instant there was nothingness except the feeling of Kichiruka's fabric between Rin's fingers. Can't we stay here? Then the force of the ocean returned full blast and Rin came spluttering to the surface. The shell mask shrunk back to its original state, cradled in her palms, and Rin encircled in her own set to protective hands.

Wading through waist-high waves, Kichiruka slogged to shore. Carefully, as if she might break, he set Rin down. He glanced at the setting sun and back at the young woman sitting in the sand, bathed in the soft russet tones of the day's end. What he wouldn't give to stay beside her. He frowned and set to work, not bothering another look toward the west.

Rin noticed the stiffness in his motions. "Kichiruka…?"

He didn't answer, drawing breath only to recite an incantation and dry her clothes.

"Hey," Rin said more assertively. "Are you upset?"

Finally, blue eyes locked with brown. "If I say yes will you tell me how you feel or is that knowledge off limits, too?" The tart reply took Rin aback.

"Well, you never told me about your situation in your lord's court either," she retorted.

"Why? What's that got to do with anything?" Kichiruka's voice pitched with emotion. "Is it too low a position for the Lord of the West?" His yoki lashed out, forcing Rin to scoot back. She'd never seen Kichiruka angry before. Withdrawn, sure. At least then she knew what to expect and how to coax him out of it. With his aura thrumming like the tide itself…it was a little terrifying. "I didn't come in with the mind to be enslaved as a popinjay's diplomat – I work for the devilfish, but I sure as hell don't live for him."

"Hey! If you say that Ichikawa will kill you."

"And you care because…?" He broke the sarcastic pause and stood up, distancing himself. "I don't think my chances of survival are much improved with your guard dog there."

Resting her chin on her knees, Rin tried sifting through the flurry of emotions he was emitting. And doing her best not to confuse them with her own. "Kichiruka…?"

"What?" He turned spiked end of the conch staff over and over in his palms.

"What are you afraid of?" She looked up and tried to catch his eye. "I wouldn't let Lord Sesshomaru kill you, you know."

"He came terribly close once enough."

"He didn't know you yet." Though Rin knew Sesshomaru had little qualms about killing even with familiarity.

"The last two liaisons never returned." He slipped the staff through his sash. "And even if I'm left alive…" His face pinched tightly, then – as if suddenly self-aware – Kichiruka forced the taut muscles to go lax. "Is it wrong that maybe I don't want to be loved and then left behind at a spur of the moment?" He finally met Rin's eyes and she found it a gaze too painful to hold. Ashamed, she looked down first.

I guess I do owe him that much. But would it have killed him to try? Maybe. "You once said, 'love isn't something you think about.'"

"Yeah…but life is." His left ear twitched and his eyes flicked in that direction. "Your friends are coming," he said, and Rin didn't miss the distinction.

She watched his back as he walked away, waiting for the second he'd turn around and race back. To offer an apology, to demand one from her, just to come back. She watched the water yokai until the ocean swept over him, reclaiming Kichiruka like a lost love.

.

A/N: Thank you for reading. The story will continue as scheduled. Reviews are always appreciated.