Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put them in. Everything else belongs to somebody else and that's just the way its gotta be, people. Thanks for all the reviews, hope you enjoy this latest chapter and your day.
Special thanks goes out to Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Fan and MyWishIsOfTheNight for nagging me constantly to update. This one's for you.
Also, this chapter contains some spoilage for the last book of Harry Potter concerning a character death.
For The Glory of Gryffindor
The sons and daughter of the demon lord and slayer watched their parents coming towards them with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Just what had they missed? Their father looked like his normal self, but there was an aura around him that didn't contain half as much chill as it usually did. Their mother's feelings on the other hand were written all over her face. She was blushing bright red, and she kept looking back and forth between their father and the ground. If she weren't walking right behind Sesshoumaru, she'd probably run into a tree without realizing it, so out of it did she seem. Just what had happened to their parents during the meeting, Sora, Kohaku and Dare wondered, knowing better than to ask.
Freaked out by the change in his brother's demure, Inu yasha made no attempt to approach either of them.
"Ferio's is hiding out in the Elysian Valley." Sesshoumaru announced, ignoring the looks on everyone else's faces. He was also too busy being amused by Sango to pay much attention to the others anyway.
"That's take two or three days, depending on the weather and who we run into." Sora estimated, wondering if she should go over and give her mother a hug. The older woman looked like she could use one.
Agreeing with her estimate Sesshoumaru gave a curt nod. "Go and pack. We'll meet in the front hallway. Anyone not there in twenty minutes gets left behind."
Since he never made threats he didn't intend to do his damnest to keep everyone knew to kick it in gear. Without argument everyone but Inu yasha headed back towards the wing they'd been staying in, Sango practically leading the way in her eagerness to have a few minutes to catch her breath and think without a certain demon lord beside her.
Watching Sango and the rest go out of the corner of his eye Inu yasha waited until they were all out of general ear shot before turning his attention to his older brother. Unsure where to start, since he never really talked to his brother, Inu yasha barely bit back the urge to shuffle his feet like a little kid in front of a strict parent he'd disappointed.
And just what was going through his moron little brother's head, Sesshoumaru wondered. Or perhaps he was just thinking about more than one thing, and the strain was causing that look of annoyed panic.
"What's so funny!?" Inu yasha demanded to know, feeling that his brother was amused by something. He couldn't say why he thought that, since Sesshoumaru's face gave nothing away. It was just instinct, correct if the brief hint of surprise he saw on Sesshoumaru's face was anything to go by.
"You're always an amusement."
"I hope she makes a eunuch out of you." Marching off Inu yasha forgot all about the fact that he was going to warn his brother about that prince guy who had a thing for Sango, and whose lands they were likely to be going through, if they took the most direct route from here. No, he'd just let the assehole find that out for himself and enjoy the fireworks.
Everyone arriving in time Sesshoumaru asked the servants to pass along his thanks for their hospitality, no one sorry not to see Satsuki before they left. They'd been walking for about ten minutes or so when the air around them seemed to change, a feeling that had everyone reaching to place testing hands on their assorted weapons. Keen eyes, ears and noses accessed their surroundings, and none could shake the feeling that they weren't alone even as their senses failed to pick up anything.
"It must be Satsuki." Sesshoumaru said carefully, waiting for her to make her move. They didn't have long to wait.
They'd only taken a few more steps when they froze in place, unable to move any further. There was nothing physical holding them, their bodies quiet simply refused to move from the shoulder down. Everyone trying unsuccessfully to even struggle, no one was surprised when the sound of a high, purring laughter filled their ears. Trying to turn their bodies to face the sound they watched Satsuki walk into the clearing looking quite pleased with herself. Dressed to the nines she was dripping with jewels and a furious venom she made no effort to hide. Behind her was a skeletal looking demon, whose eyes were as hollow and as dead as his overall appearance. One of Satsuki's former suitors was the general consensus. He stood so still and silent, he might have been a scarecrow she'd propped up to ward off future would be suitors.
"Going so soon?" Smiling darkly it was obvious Satsuki knew they'd tried to leave without giving her another chance to get at them. "Really, such rudeness. I'd expect it from the filthy humans but, Sesshoumaru sama, you too? Have they infected you already with their vileness? How the mighty have fallen."
"What do you want?" Was Sesshoumaru's blunt question, not about to play along with her little games. The best way to handle Satsuki was to stand on firm ground, since as soon as she scented weakness she turned into a hyena faced with a fresh kill. He'd prefer to avoid killing her if possible.
"What I always want, Sesshoumaru sama. To have as much fun as possible."
Seeing the way the bitch was looking at her uncle kicked Mika in to full bitchy gear. This demoness might be a Grade A bitch, but Mika considered herself a queen in the timeless art and she had no problems demonstrating her superior skills. "So this is how you get your men, huh? I suddenly feel really bad for all the names I called those demons I thought actually desired a self absorbed cess pool of ego like you. Though I have to give you credit, at least you've recognized the fact that you're nothing but a hasbin old hag, who has to use the powers of another demon to get men to stay near you. It's really no wonder, that you STILL LIVE AT HOME WITH YOUR FATHER!"
Watching the demoness's face turn an interesting shade of puce Kyou really had to hand it to his sister. She knew how to make life time enemies like nobody's business.
Oh yeah, that had hit some serious nerves. In fact, there was quite a bit of twitching going on all over Satsuki's body as she struggled to control her volcanic rage of mass proportions. She was failing miserably at it. Her finger shaking she pointed at Mika in a way that suggested she was envisioning shoving her clawed finger straight through Mika's chest. "As soon...as I kill the slayer...you're next." She ground out through clenched teeth, her rage a palatable thing.
"Bring it." Sango called out, having had just about enough of this demoness's attitude. "Let me go and we'll just see who takes down who."
Having never seriously fought Sango himself Sesshoumaru had no idea if his mate was actually capable of following through with that threat and so his eyes promised slow, torturous death as they drilled into Satsuki's. His eyes said it all. Harm a hair on her head and I will show you no mercy.
"Like I'd stain my fingers with your filthy blood." Satsuki scoffed, doing her best not to look at Sesshoumaru as she tried to shake off the fear his eyes had flared in her gut. She was in control here and it was going to stay that way, damn it. "Besides, do you have any idea how hard it is to get your disgusting fluids out of clothing? No, I leave the killing of humans to others, I would never waste my time on something so beneath me."
Would the twit never shut up, Mika thought in annoyance, wishing desperately that her hand would work for just ten seconds. Just long enough to bath the bitch in her own blood and body fluids. See how she liked them apples. But since she couldn't do that..heckling her was the next best thing. "So not only can't you get your own men, you can't kill weakling humans? What can you do, besides come up with stupid, amateur villain monologues?" Mika asked with the famous Inu yasha smirk on her lips. "Oh I'm sorry, I forgot. You can also dress badly too. My mistake, sorry about that."
That was just too much for her to take. Marching over Satsuki stood directly in front of the half demon and backhanded Mika across the face. "Just for that, I'm going to kill them one at a time in front of you. I'll bath you in their blood before I finally send you to your human hell after them. Starting with your little human boy, girl." With a swish of her robes Satsuki turned to face her scarecrow like servant. Release the human boy from your hold."
Having been mentally struggling to get free like everyone else Aiden was very surprised when he suddenly feel forward, landing with a thud on all fours on the ground. Looking up at the furious demoness watching him so smugly, Aiden had a pretty good idea what a mouse must feel like, looking up at the cocked head of a snake. Definitely not a positive experience. And he was so screwed. Getting cautiously to his feet Aiden never took his eyes off her for a moment. Maybe he could bluff his way out of this. Somehow.
No such luck. "So I hear that you have a fear of women, weakling. I suppose most consider it a foolish, embarrassing phobia to have. After all you've gone through, I suppose its really only fitting that you prove your fear justified." Snapping her fingers Satsuki enjoyed watching all the blood drain from the human's face as three of her handmaidens walked into the clearing, all wearing leather and bearing a fun assortment of..toys to play with.
In times like this there was only one piece of advice Dare could think to give his best friend. "RUN!"
If only running were possible. But he wasn't stupid enough to think he'd get far, and even if by some miracle she let him go, that would still mean leaving everyone else behind. Hi might be weak, and sometimes downright pathetic, but he wasn't a coward. And family meant everything to him. Standing as tall as he could Aiden stuck out his chin, trying to stop the trembling he couldn't quite stop as Satsuki backed away and her handmaidens approached with looks on their faces that he didn't like one little bit.
Everyone calling out various forms of encouragement and or suggestions as to how he might go about surviving this, Mika's voice was the loudest and rather than suggesting anything, she was demanding he come over to where she was for a moment. Years of training kicking in Aiden hurried over to stand in front of her, his executioners watching with amused looks on their faces. They obviously didn't expect to have any problems with him and weren't in that big of a hurry to begin, especially since there was so much male eye candy to be admired stuck helpless in front of them. Talk about your turn ons.
Lowering her head Mika spoke in a low whisper. Advice wouldn't do him any good, especially since women tended to wipe his brain clean every times they got near him. In other words, she had to give him one hell of a good reason not to let that happen. And it just so happened, she had just the hook to bait him with. After all, no one knew Aiden better than she did. "Aiden. You do realize that if you die here...you'll never, ever, see the last two Harry Potter books on the big screen. You'll never see what they cut out or whether they even bother to bring Dobby back for the final film. They might cut out his death completely."
Aiden had cried when Dobby had died, the little house elf having been his favorite character in the whole series. The fact that all the films since Chamber of Secrets had cut out Dobby had really pissed him off, to the point where he had written letters to everyone he could think of involved with the films, begging them to rectify the situation. The idea that he might never know how his elf would be depicted in the movies was simply unconceivable. Die? He couldn't die. He was going to live if he had to sell his soul to the devil himself. Or herself, the women in his family having long since convinced him of the likelihood that Satan was in fact a female.
And now for the icing on the proverbial cake, Mika thought smugly. "And, Aiden." Making her voice as low as it could get, Mika made him a little promise of her own.
"You will? Really? Costumes and everything? And you'll wear it the whole time?" His face lighting up like a Christmas tree it was obvious that Aiden had forgotten all about the life or death situation he was in.
"On my word as a half demon."
Grinning like an idiot Aiden nodded his head in silent acknowledgement, and then turned to face his opponents with an aura of focused determination, which was not something often seen on his face. "Well all right then. For the honour of Gryffindor!"
No one was more surprised than Satsuki when Aiden won. You see, she'd had no idea that he possessed a wind tunnel just like his father, having assumed he was just a typical human male, easily disposed of. Using a special wind technique, one of his sisters had come up with, Aiden shot out hard blasts of air in the direction of each of the maids, throwing them straight into the trees that had hid them from view. The key was complete mental focus, which, had he been afraid of them, he wouldn't have had. But so focused was he on insuring his continuing enjoyment of Harry Potter than Aiden was able to pull it all off with more than usual accuracy. Even better, Satsuki was so surprised and pissed off that she forgot one of her servant's fatal flaws, and one of the various reasons why he'd gone from her boy toy to a mere thing to be occasionally hauled out for shits and giggles.
That fatal flaw became glaringly apparent when she lost her head and ordered the demon to attack Aiden. As soon as the demon moved to do so, everyone discovered that their ability to move had been returned to them. The demon couldn't do two different things at once.
In a flash Dare was between Aiden and the demon, slicing the pathetic creature in half, hopefully sending his soul to a better place where he would never have to see Satsuki or her likes ever again.
Satsuki also was to find herself flying through the air and into a tree, as both Mika and Hermione simultaneously punched her in the head, knocking her flat and unconscious. They were only stop from finishing her off by a restraining hand on both their shoulders. One look from Sesshoumaru was enough to have them reluctantly forgoing the pleasure of kicking the bitch while she was down and out.
Since everyone was looking at him like he was nuts to stop them Sesshoumaru did something he very rarely did. He actually explained why he was doing something that made perfect sense to him. "Her father's help might be needed again if Ferio moves from his present hideaway."
Well that made sense. Since she couldn't beat on the old hag Mika changed directions and running over threw herself at Aiden, giving him a great big hug. "Way to go, Champ. Dumbledore would be proud."
Chuckling Aiden grinned widely, swinging her around for the fun of it. "Well I couldn't have done it without you, Slytherin."
"And that's not something a Gryffindor gets to say often." Mika agreed with a wink.
Noticing that Kyou was looking at them and grimacing Aiden sent him a questioning look. After all, they had won here. So there hadn't been much of a show, but showing off tended to get you killed. "What's wrong, Kyou?"
"Sorry, mental images. Her being my sister and all." Costumes, by the gods. He was going to have nightmares for months. For years maybe. Now Ren wasn't going to be the only one needing Doctor Phil. Kyou thought with an even bigger grimace. And he didn't even like the guy.
"Huh?" Both Aiden and Mika looked very confused now. When Kyou was no more forthcoming the two turned their questioning gazes in Dare's direction.
"Don't look at me, she's my cousin you know. I'm going to have some bad moments later myself." Shaking his head Dare went over to help Kohaku tie up all their would be tormentors in order to ensure that they wouldn't be following them any time soon.
Curious as to what he was missing along with Aiden and Mika Triton made a quick cursory of Kyou's mind, his eyebrows raising as he realized just what Kyou had taken Mika and Aiden's conversation to be about. But since that didn't fit with his knowledge of either Aiden or Mika...skimming Aiden's mind Triton gave a short laugh as he found out the truth of the matter.
Meanwhile, Aiden was still completely at sea. Why was everyone so upset about Mika promising to dress up as a Slytherin for the premiere of 'Harry Potter, The Half Blooded Prince'?