EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 118: Confrontation

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Sesshoumaru heard the door to his study slide open in one fluid motion. He kept his gaze fixed on the blank piece of parchment in front of him as Rin closed the door behind her and walked towards his desk.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked when he failed to acknowledge her arrival.

He lifted his head and locked eyes with her. The results were disappointing, to say the least. A few years ago, his stare alone would have been enough to make her resolve fold in on itself, but things had changed since then.

"Sit," he said in a tone that left little room for argument.

She plopped down on the spare cushion and tucked her ankles under her knees. Her carefree expression made him wonder if her ignorance was genuine, after all.

"So," she said to fill the silence. "Where have you been? Jaken-sama was worried sick—"

"Is there something you wish to tell me, Rin?"

Her smile disappeared. "I'm not sure what you mean, my lord."

"It involves a certain wolf youkai."

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at the sound of her breath catching. It was true, then. Her racing heart and guilty expression all but proved it.

"Who told you?" she whispered.

"You were seen disgracing yourselves in broad daylight for all to witness," he answered callously. "It's a wonder that the entire stronghold wasn't made aware of your impropriety. Have you any idea how close you came to ruining your credibility—"

"Am I supposed to care about losing the interest of those snobby aristocrats who walk around like they own the place?" she interrupted with a frown. "Where were they when the walls were breached and Tsunayoshi's men sacked the castle? They sure as hell weren't fighting on the frontlines to defend this place. They ran away like a pack of cowards—"

"The nobles are not relevant to this conversation."

Her frown deepened. "But you said—"

"I have no intention of marrying you off to any of them if that's what you're worried about."

She seemed surprised. "You don't?"

He shook his head.

"Why not?" she asked.

"You're human," he replied. When it became apparent that she required a more thorough explanation, he sighed and continued speaking. "Daiyoukai lead long lives. Humans, however, do not. You are only alive for a few short decades, then you wither and decay. Imagine watching that happen to someone you care for."

His throat tightened as he recalled Octavia's harsh yet true words. We won't grow old together. I'll age and die just like every other mortal. Not like you . . .

"Such relationships are doomed from the beginning," he said. "You could spend the rest of your life with Koga if you wanted to, but he cannot spend the rest of his with you."

Rin's brow creased. "What are you talking about?"

"I am suggesting that you reconsider your feelings—"

"I'm not in love with him."

Sesshoumaru mirrored her confused expression. "I don't understand," he admitted after a long, awkward pause. If she wasn't being driven by her heart, why was she engaging in such provocative activities with the wolf?

She blushed and averted her eyes. "No offence, Sesshoumaru-sama, but I really don't want to discuss this with you of all people."

"Did he threaten you?"

"What! No!"

"Then why were the two of you—"

"Please don't finish that sentence!" Her blush darkened as she mumbled, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but . . . You were my age once. Didn't you ever . . ."

Sesshoumaru fell silent. He knew exactly what she was alluding to, and he had a feeling that his answer wouldn't live up to her expectations. After all, the first woman he'd invited into his bed had meant nothing to him. Inna was simply a means to an end—a way to satisfy his curiosity and remind Kanetsugu of his place. He had walked away from the whole affair struggling to understand what all the fuss was about.

He'd taken other lovers after her, but the same problems arose each and every time. No matter how attractive they were, their bodies didn't interest him beyond anatomical compatibility, and their touch left him feeling used and empty. Octavia was the only exception. He wondered what that said about him.

Rin's embarrassment slowly morphed into frustration. "If I were a man, I could do whatever I wanted, and no one would give a damn. It's not fair. Why are women held to such impossibly high standards when men are allowed to fuck whoever they want—"

"Language," he chastised.

She glared at him. "Seriously? When are you going to stop treating me like a child?"

"When you stop behaving like one."

"Says the man who won't admit he's in love with a woman he spent over a month searching for after she disappeared."

His eyes widened. "That is a very serious allegation."

"Oh, please. There's no point denying it. I've seen the way you are with each other. Did you think I wouldn't notice?" When he didn't respond, she crossed her arms and sat up straight. "You're a hypocrite, Sesshoumaru-sama. You say that humans and demons shouldn't mix, but you don't really believe that, do you? Not anymore, at least."

"You overstep," he warned.

"When don't I? I learned from the best, remember?"

Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to growl. "This conversation is not about my transgressions," he said through gritted teeth. "It is about yours."

"I don't regret what I did," Rin declared stubbornly. "I won't apologise for it, so go ahead and punish me already."

His anger vanished the instant that he scented her tears. He hadn't meant to make her cry. He only wanted to protect her from the inescapable scrutiny of strangers.

"Why him?"

She blinked big, glistening eyes at him. "What?"

"Why did you choose Koga?" he elaborated. "Given your history with the wolf clans, he is the last person I would have expected you to opt for."

"As opposed to who? In case you haven't noticed, my options are pretty limited."

"Is Kohaku no longer a viable candidate for your affections?"

Her jaw tensed. "Now who's out of line?"

"I am not blind either, Rin. I remember how heartbroken you were when he stopped replying to your letters. Not that it discouraged you from writing them. How many did you send again?"

"It wasn't like that."

"Wasn't it?"

She shook her head defiantly, but the tears leaking down her face told a different story.

He reached across the table to comfort her, only for her to veer out of the way before his hand could make contact with her shoulder. Words evaded him as she stood and glowered at him through her tears. Her gaze was so cold—the kind that burns.

"You all treat me like I'm made of glass," she said bitterly. "After what happened with the usurper . . . Whenever anyone looks at me now, all they see is a victim. But I am so much more than that."

Sesshoumaru held her frigid stare as he joined her on his feet. He was beginning to understand what all of this was really about. "There are other ways to feel emancipated," he reasoned. "Do not mistake the absence of pity for evidence of a deeper connection between Koga and yourself. Especially when we both know that you are merely using him as a proxy for Kohaku."

She sucked in a sharp breath. "That's not true."

"Denial doesn't suit you—"

"I'm not in denial! But if I were, whose fault would it be? I've spent the past seven years wishing that I was more like you. I guess I finally got what I wanted, huh?"

"You are nothing like me," he hissed.

She sniffed to clear her nose. "You could at least pretend not to be insulted."

"If anyone should feel insulted by the comparison, it is you, not me."

The resounding silence made his eardrums pulse. Another round of tears rolled down Rin's cheeks, and her bottom lip quivered like a leaf in the wind.

He should never have brought her here in the first place. The stronghold was no place for a human, much less a teenage girl. Octavia and Kagome could hold their own in a fight, but Rin had no means of defending herself against supernatural forces and enemies. Her lack of powers and non-existent combat skills had landed her in trouble more times than he could count. She'd had so many close calls recently . . .

He should have listened to the elderly miko and left her in the village instead of letting fear cloud his judgement. The monk and the taijiya would have taken care of Rin in his absence. They wouldn't have allowed any harm to befall her, and they were probably much better equipped to deal with the problems she was currently facing. Was it too late to send her back? Would she hate him for it? Probably. But at least she'd be safe there.

"Can I go now?" she asked glumly. "Or are you going to lecture me some more?"

His throat felt tight again. "That will be all for now. You're dismissed."

She turned and made a beeline for the door, leaving him alone with the smell of salt and sadness.

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The water was freezing.

Asuka kept her eyes and mouth closed as the current dragged her downstream, tossing her around like a ragdoll. Pain shot through her bones as she slammed into the rocks time and time again, before being pulled underwater. She was at the mercy of the river, but she wasn't afraid. The further away it carried her, the better.

Her relief succumbed to terror when she felt something hook around her waist and tug her towards the surface. Too weak to resist, she allowed herself to be hoisted out of the water. Moments after being dumped on the ground like a sack of potatoes, she coughed up a mouthful of river water and rolled onto her stomach.

It was significantly darker than it had been before, and the ground was made entirely out of rock. The river must have carried her underground.

"Are you crazy!" barked a familiar-sounding voice. "You almost got yourself killed. What the hell were you thinking!"

Asuka's heart was in her throat. No . . .

She listened to the sound of the Daiyoukai's heavy breathing. He must have dived in after her. With wings like those, he couldn't have been falling for long. It had to have been on purpose.

It would be a waste to just kill her. We should find out what she knows first.

Closing her eyes, she willed herself to lay as still as possible.

"Are you pretending to be dead?"

"No," she lied, locking her jaw in a fruitless attempt to stop her teeth from chattering. "How s-stupid do you th-think I am?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

She craned her head to glare at him; bones rattling from the cold. In addition to the trembling, her body felt strangely heavy, and the lower halves of her legs had gone completely numb. Death by exposure wasn't the most thrilling way to go, but it was better than being tortured for information and then dying as a traitor.

"You're going to have to take your clothes off."

She bared her teeth at him. "Touch me and I won't h-hesitate to castrate you."

"Save your pathetic threats for someone else, human. This is a matter of survival. If you stay in those wet clothes, you'll be dead within the hour."

"And? W-Why do you care?"

"I can't interrogate a corpse."

He stood and walked towards the centre of the cavern, where a gaggle of tree roots were dangling from a hole in the ceiling. She watched as he sliced through the roots with his claws and arranged them in a pile on the ground, which he lit by striking two stones together to generate sparks. The firelight cast an imposing shadow on the wall behind where he was crouching, made all the more terrifying by the two monstrous appendages growing out of his back.

"Strip," he ordered. "Or I will do it for you."

Fear muddied her senses. "There's nothing to ch-change into."

He made a noise akin to a sigh before removing his outer haori.

"I meant s-something dry," she protested.

"It's waterproof," he said.

"It c-can't be. Waterproof clothes won't b-be invented for another—" She stopped herself before she could reveal the Church's greatest secret. Time travel wasn't exactly a common method of transportation.

Scowling, the Daiyoukai threw his haori at her. "See for yourself."

Her lips parted in surprise. He was right. The fabric was bone dry.

She arched an eyebrow. "How is this p-possible?"

He rolled his eyes. "Put it on first. Then we'll talk."

He turned so that he was sitting with his back to her and waited for her to change. Keeping her gaze fixed on the base of his skull, Asuka removed her weapons and peeled off her soaking wet clothes. She laid them flat on the ground next to the fire, then slid her arms into the Daiyoukai's strange haori. It looked ridiculous on her – the sleeves were far too long, and the bottom half swamped her legs – but it was warm, so she didn't care.

"Are you decent?"

She recoiled at the sound of his voice. "Yes," she said, eyes flitting between him and her limited stash of weapons.

He followed her gaze to the Shikonstone dagger. Before she could react, he reached over and pocketed it. Her mouth twisted into a frown, until she saw his hand inching towards her whip. The miko blood in the fibres flared to life and fired a pulse of concentrated reiki into his palm. Asuka smirked as he snatched his hand back and inspected the damage.

"What the hell was that?" he growled.

"Maybe you shouldn't touch other people's things without asking."

He shot her a venomous stare. "I saved your life, human. Don't make me regret it."

She was too cold to argue with him. Luckily, her teeth had stopped chattering, but her veins still felt like they were clogged with ice. She shuffled closer to the fire and wrapped her arms around herself protectively.

"It's you, isn't it?" he murmured.

"Hmm?"

"You're the one who spared Rafu."

She wrinkled her forehead. "Who?"

"Lord Taiki's youngest son."

Her breath hitched. "How do you know about that?"

"He said that the woman in question had a glowing whip." His hand gestured to the aforementioned weapon. "Case in point."

Asuka swallowed. So the boy was called Rafu. The knowledge made her cringe. It was bad enough that she couldn't make it through the night without dreaming of his trembling hands and terrified expression. Knowing his name just made her feel worse.

". . . Is he alive?"

"He is," the Daiyoukai confirmed. "And so is his brother."

"Which one?"

"You tell me."

Her pulse quickened at the implication behind his words.

"Why'd you do it?" he asked. "Or rather, why didn't you? You murdered Toshiyuki easily enough. What was different about Rafu?"

She forced herself to meet his gaze. He seemed genuinely curious.

Sighing, she looked away and muttered, "He was just a kid."

The Daiyoukai snorted.

Her lips curled into a grimace. What the hell was his problem?

"Did I miss the punchline or something?"

"You could say that." His expression instantly hardened. "Answer me this – how many children has your institution taken and moulded into living weapons? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? I bet none of them even got a say in the matter. Why would they? They're only foot soldiers, after all. Disposable, even."

Her patience was at the end of its tether. "Get to the point, demon."

"What gives you the right to decide who lives and dies? How do you sleep at night knowing you're the reason those children are going to die in battle? All because you and the mage forced them into a life of servitude—"

"We didn't force them to do anything! They chose this life."

"Really?" His tone was incredulous. "All of them?"

She sighed. "Okay, not all of them. There are always a few that reject the Radiant One's love at first, but they come around eventually. It's usually the ones we get from auctions. They're more wary than most because of what they've been through in the past. But that all changes when they realise that the Church is more than just an institution, it's a family."

"You mean after they've been brainwashed?"

Asuka frowned again. "Don't be stupid. They haven't been brainwashed—"

"Are you blind? Of course they have." His dark eyes burned with hatred. "You take them away from their old lives and fill their heads with nonsensical ideas that lead to them getting killed. You make them your puppets. It's barbaric. You're no better than those shadow monsters in that regard—"

"We saved them!" she yelled, silencing him. "You don't get it, do you? Their new lives might not be perfect, but they would have been a hell of a lot worse off if we hadn't taken them! Their main buyers at those auctions were restaurants and brothels. Little children! Raped or eaten with a side of rice and vegetables! How could I just stand by and let that happen? Look me in the eye and tell me that you wouldn't have done the same."

The Daiyoukai scoffed. "And yet the money that you used to 'liberate' these children filled the purses of the very creatures you claim to despise. Why pay them at all? Why not simply slaughter them and take all the merchandise you want, free of charge?"

Her throat felt like it was made of sandpaper. "Stop it."

"I'm serious. I want to know why a demon-hating zealot such as yourself would even consider associating with—"

"I said stop it!" she screamed. "You don't understand! We were only using the slavers to secure more shipments! As soon as the Commander gave the order, we were going to kill every last one of them and burn the city of Ebisu to the ground!"

The Daiyoukai flashed her a mocking smile. "I see. What a good little slave you are."

She flinched. "I'm not a slave."

He didn't reply. Asuka should have been relieved, but his silence was somehow a thousand times worse than anything he could have said.

I'm not a slave, she repeated in her mind. As worshippers of the Radiant One, they lived to serve, but they weren't slaves. How did she know that? Because slaves have no free will.

The Commander had warned her about this. Demons were expert manipulators. They wormed their way inside your head and made you question everything. This was the life she had chosen for herself. Becoming one of the Devoured was the best thing that had ever happened to her. She was lucky to be a part of something so wonderful—lucky that Augustus had recognised her potential and picked her to be his second-in-command over everyone else. Everything that she was now, she owed it all to him.

"What would you know?" she grumbled. "You're just a—"

"Monster?" he guessed. "I had a feeling you might say that." She held her breath when he leaned forwards and whispered, "But if I'm the monster, what does that make you?"

Anger churned deep in her stomach, filling her with welcomed heat. "I feel sorry for you," she said cruelly. "It's not your fault you were born a demon. Unfortunately, the new world has no room for the likes of you. It's a shame you won't be around to see it. It's going to be beautiful."

"How do you know?" he asked. She was surprised by how earnest his voice sounded.

Asuka shrugged. "I just do."

"And if you're wrong? What if it isn't everything you dreamed it'd be?"

"It will be," she insisted. "My master said—"

"Master?" he echoed, before snorting incredulously. "And you say you're not a slave."

Glaring, Asuka shot to her feet and shimmied out of his disgusting haori. It landed in a heap on the cavern floor, exposing her naked body to the cold air of the underground. The Daiyoukai didn't waver as she bent to pick up the haori before promptly throwing it at his head. He caught it easily.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," she sneered. "The Commander and I share a bond unlike anything you've ever known. I'm not just a soldier. I'm his closest friend and confidant."

"I find that hard to believe," drawled the Daiyoukai.

Her rage increased tenfold. "Oh, really? What if I told you that I knew all about his plan to track down the Endless and steal its powers?"

"The what?"

"The Endless," she rambled feverishly, recalling Augustus's explanation of the creature. "It's a being of incomprehensible power. A deity, even. Legend has it that the Endless can be found at a location known as the Eternity Desert, but no one knows where it is or how to get there. Once we've found it, my master will become timeless and use the comet's power as fuel for the Awakening Ritual. Then he really will be a god."

The Daiyoukai stared at her in silence. The firelight licked across his face, casting shadows that danced and dove like eels swimming through murky waters.

Asuka gulped. She shouldn't have told him any of that.

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