Chapter 13: The Eastern Wolf Demon Tribe Part II
Jade and his father Koga lead the way to where most of the the eastern wolf demons lived and Koga had immediately taken Moroha under his wing treating her as if she was already a close friend of his as he walked beside her and shared with her everything there was to know about the eastern wolf demons.
Like how 25 years ago the eastern tribe was almost wiped out of existence by the demon Naraku but now they were the biggest tribe of wolf demons on the continent. After spending so many years of trying to reestablish themselves after the demon Naraku's had slaughtered almost all of them in the most bloody event in their tribe's history. Koga told Moroha and the others what had happened all of those years ago and the teens listened to how Naraku's cruelty had affected even the leader of the eastern wolf demons.
"My mother's entire village was slaughtered by Naraku as well. He had orchestrated the whole event that had even murdered small children. Only my mother and uncle survived." Hisui said and now Koga walked over to him.
"Now that I get a good look at you. You look a lot like the Monk that was always traveling alongside Kagome and her friends back then." Koga smiled. "I'm glad to see that he's living well now. How about the demon slayer girl? Do any of you know if she is also living fine now also?" Koga asked.
"You're talking about his mother." Towa said.
"Really?" Koga said surprised. "I guess the two of them liked each other more than I thought. Back when I knew the two of them the monk was alway doing things that would make the slayer girl hit him. But I guess I should have realized that you were her son too since you have that woman's cat on your shoulder." Koga smiled at the memories that flashed through his mind of Kagome's close friends.
"I'm glad that they are both doing well. The few of us who lived after fighting Naraku deserve to live peaceful lives now."
The mention of Naraku during their conversations made Yuki's heart feel heavy. Yuki was no angel himself. Not with how Rain raised him but Yuki had always thought that his actions had a purpose. Everything he did had reason that would always justify his end of avenging his father.
But when it came to his father the more that he learned the more he understood that he was no great demon like Yuki had been taught to believe. His father wasn't someone that only wished to help people in exchange for their loyalty and favors later on. His father hadn't been how Rain had described in the slightest.
These wolf demons didn't even do anything to his father for him to have them slaughtered the way that he did and Yuki wondered how many more enemies his father had that he didn't know about. Naraku was a cruel and ruthless demon that was fought by multiple generations in order to put an end to his evil deeds and Yuki had no business ever trying to bring that curl legacy back.
"After Naraku's death us survivors of the eastern tribe did our best to make sure that nothing like that would ever happen again. That's why we're so much bigger now and under my leadership no one will ever wipe us out again." Koga said.
Moroha noticed Yuki detaching from the conversation hlaf way through and had subtlety gotten Koga to change the subject to something more light. She had remembered the first time that she had met Yuki and how he had spoken about being an orphan and wanting to avenge his father but now after learning more and more about who his father really was, she figured that vengeance was probably the last thing on his mind now.
The wolf demons were more lively than any of the teens would have imagined and they were surprisingly welcoming for a group that didn't normally like outsiders. The eastern wolf demons lived in a series of elaborate caves near the heart of the mountain range. The main entrance to the caves was right next to a large waterfall and the five were surprised to find so many wolf demons living in the mountains as they walked throughout the cave.
Moroha asked Koga more questions about the eastern wolf demon tribe, getting him to talk more about the things that he was proud of and now that they had arrived to the cave Koga wasted no time in introducing Moroha to Ginta and Hakkau while the others followed behind them.
"Look who Jade ran into while he was out today." Koga exclaimed excitedly and both Ginta and Hakkau immediately saw the resemblance.
"Big sis Kagome!" Hakkau, exalimed.
"She can't be big sis. Can't you smell? Kagome didn't smell like that." Ginta said.
"Are you trying to say that I smell bad?" Moroha asked, offended.
"No, you just smell different from your mom. Kagome's your mother isn't she?" Ginta asked with a smile.
Koga answered for her. "She sure is, which means that Moroha is an honorary member of this tribe and since she has decided to stay here with us for good. We're throwing a party to celebrate. let everyone know." He told Ginta and Hakkau.
"Hey, I never said tha—." Moroha started but was cut off.
"We're on it!" Both Ginta and Hakkau said.
"Father, we can't just let some outsider join us like this. She's not even a wolf demon, she can't be a part of our tribe." Jade said.
Jade has watched his father deal with and turn away outsiders who weren't other wolf demons his whole life but when it came to this half demon girl she's welcome with no questions asked? Jade didn't understand.
"Well her father is a mutt." Koga said.
"Hey!" Moroha snapped, taken aback. She had never heard anyone in her life call her father that before.
"I don't mean that. It's just a joke between me and him from when we were younger." Koga smiled like he had meant nothing by that.
He most definitely did mean that everyone else thought.
"Jade, Moroha's mother and father will always be a friend to our tribe so she is welcomed just the same as they would be." Koga spoke seriously to his son before turning back to Moroha and the others.
"Thank you all for helping with Kyuki today. As the leader of the eastern wolf demon tribe I fully extend my gratitude to you all for helping us defeat an enemy of our tribe. Tonight let's eat and drink together in celebration. After the party if you decide that you want to stay with us you can. If not then you're free to go." Koga said.
"Jade, why don't you take our guest to some of the empty rooms that we let members of the other tribes stay in when they're visiting."
"Father, welcoming outsider's is one thing but now we're throwing a party in their honor and we're letting them sleep in some of our best sleeping quarters?" Jade asked. He was still trying to wrap his head around all this.
"We are son, Kagome's daughter and her friends killed Kyuki and like I told you Kagome's daughter is not an outsider so be nice. It wouldn't be bad if the two of you become closer in the future. Then she'd have no problem staying with us forever." Koga smiled.
"Father, what are you saying!?" Jade asked in shock at what his father was suggesting.
Kagome's daughter or not, how could his father even suggest such a thing?
"Who knew you had such a friendly father?" Towa teased Jade. "Though I think that ship's long sailed, since you and Gin tried to kill us earlier today." Towa recalled the multiple times that they all had almost fallen off the mountain side while fighting Gin and Jade.
"That was very dangerous back there." She added.
"The only people who were in any real danger today were Gin and myself." Jade scoffed.
"Sorry Uncle Koga but my heart belongs to myself. I won't stay put just to please someone else." Moroha said.
"You are definitely your mothers daughter." Koga said. "Jade, make sure you take care of them all. I'm going to go make sure that everything's in place for the party tonight." Koga said.
"Fine, follow me." Jade told the 5 of them and they followed Jade through the deep stone halls of the cave and into a large space that was well decorated with furs and demon bones.
"You can all stay in this room. If you don't mind sharing. It's the biggest space that we have. I hope that this will be enough for you all." Jade said.
"This is fine." Hisui told him as the 5 of them walked in and made themselves comfortable.
"Look." Jade said as he closed the door behind him after the others were inside.
His father led by example and Jade needed to follow his lead if he wanted to be the next leader of their tribe. Jade took a deep breath before finally saying wanted to say.
They were all looking at him now.
"I apologize for how we met earlier today. I didn't hate fighting beside the five of you and I am very grateful to you all for helping me save my tribe. After being hit by that spell, I realize that we all might not be as different as I thought we were." Jade said and the mood changed at the mention of the dream gazing spell that almost all of them had been hit by.
"It's no big deal." Moroha said. "Your dad gave us a place to stay for the night so I'd call us even." She smiled small.
"Easy for you to say your dream wasn't as bad." Towa said.
"Towa you still fought well despite everything. I noticed that you even keep antidotes on you now. That would never happen again." Moroha told her cousin who just looked down as she remembered what everyone had seen in that memory of hers,
"It's not like we have to talk about this anymore. Let's just forget what happened." Hisui said, which made Moroha, Setsuna and Towa each turn their heads to him.
It wasn't like him to want to push things under the rug.
"Was the dream gazing spell really that bad?" Setsuna asked. All of them had been out for less than 10 minutes but everyone seemed to be so shaken.
"They were extremely personal memories from our past. We could even hear each other's thoughts so I think that we should just try to forget about what we saw today." Hisui said and Towa looked at him concerned.
"I agree." Yuki said and everyone looked at Yuki strangely and Setsuna couldn't place her finger on why.
"Well anyway back to what we have planned for tonight." Jade said, trying to lighten the mood.
"My father loves to throw big parties whenever guests are visiting. The more fun you have the happier he'll be so don't hesitate to make yourselves at home. We don't welcome many outsiders here, especially those who aren't wolf demons but I guess Moroha's mother was someone special to my dad so there's no choice but for all of us to accept that you're all basically one of us now." Jade said.
"Have you ever heard your father speak my mothers name before? I can't remember mom ever mentioning him in the past." Moroha asked and Jade shook his head.
"No but he did say that they were ex lovers or something like that, so naturally he wouldn't talk about her around my mom or she would probably hurt him." Jade smiled.
"Ohhh, it makes sense then. If they're ex lovers…" Moroha said as she imagined how her dad might treat someone who used to love her mom in that way.
"We should make sure that our father's never cross paths." Moroha said quickly. Which made both Towa and Hisui laugh.
"That would probably be for the best knowing how uncle is." Towa added as she picked up Kilala and placed her on her shoulder.
"Koga seemed to know Uncle already though, they probably have a past." Setsuna said.
"My father has always told me that he met many people over his travels so that's not impossible." Jade said.
"What will the five of you do now that Kyuki's been taken care of?" Jade asked.
"Well Kyuki was never our goal in the first place. So we'll have to set out again soon to continue our search." Hisui said. "She was an ally of the person we're looking for and we didn't gain any new information from her either." Hisui sighed. "Now we're back to square one of trying to find Rain."
"Rain?" Jade questioned.
It couldn't be. Jade thought.
"Wasn't Rain that insane puppet demon from Yuki's dream? What the hell are you all doing chasing after him? I assumed that you had long since cut ties with the guy from your memory." Jade asked, taken aback.
"It's complicated." Yuki said. He didn't like to talk about his Uncle not after what happened so he kept it brief.
"Long story short, that insane puppet demon wants to kill anyone connected to the families of Moroha, Towa and Setsuna. That demon raised me and when I came to my senses he betrayed me so we're going to kill Rain before he can kill us."
"Okay." Jade said. He could read a room and he could tell that Yuki didn't want to go into too much detail about his past with the puppet demon.
"I hope that that doesn't prove to be too difficult for you all to handle but then again after having fought alongside you I'm sure that if you're all together you'll be fine." Jade said seriously after some quick thoughts crossed his mind.
"Who are you and what have you done with the guy from earlier?" Towa asked.
"Maybe he's been replaced by a puppet." Moroha told her cousin.
"Now who's being rude." Jade scoffed annoyed.
"He's not a puppet, he couldn't be without Rain near but maybe the dream gazing spell had some adverse effects on him." Yuki commented.
"I am still in my right mind!" Jade said, annoyed. "I told you already that I simply misjudged you all earlier. I was just trying to be polite since you're our guest now."
"Taking dad's advice to get closer to Moroha?" Towa teased and Jade looked at her annoyed.
"Why you, I've had it, the party will start soon. You outsiders can find your own way there." Jade said fast as he turned to leave the room.
"Hello everyone! Welcome to the eastern wolf demon lands." A beautiful red headed wolf demon who wore white wolf furs said as she came into the room.
"Wow you're father was right you did bring home a lot of new friends." Ayame smiled.
"Mother, they are nothing more than outsiders to me." Jade said.
His mother laughed. "Don't be like that, whatever you're mad about, I'm sure that you're new friends were only just teasing you. Introduce me to all of them." She smiled and Jade sighed.
He knew that it was better to comply over receiving a scolding for making his mother ask twice.
"Hisui, Setsuna, Yuki, Towa and Moroha." Jade pointed each of them all out to his mother.
"I'm Ayama, Jade's mother and the second in command around here. Jade doesn't have a lot of friends his age so please forgive him if he's a little short tempered. He's like his dad and can be a bit of a lone wolf sometimes but he's a good boy." She smiled.
"Mom, what are you saying in front of so many people? Stop it." Jade said embarrassed.
"It's okay, we're used to dealing with short tempers. It was an honor to fight beside the next leader of the eastern wolf demon tribe." Hisui told her politely.
"My, now you could teach Jade a lot about manners." Ayame joked. Continuing to embarrass her son further. Her eyes landed on Moroha a moment later.
"You look a lot like your mother." Ayame smiled. "I'm glad to hear that she's now happily married as well. I don't mind you marrying into our family but I don't think that Inuyasha's going to like that very much." Ayame said.
"Him and I both." Moroha said with a sarcastic smile on her face.
"Mom please, the two of us want nothing to do with each other. " Jade said.
"That's only because you don't know each other well enough yet." She smiled. "Is everyone ready for the party?"Ayame asked. "Let's get you all some clothes that will help you fit in a little more around here."
Ayame then took the girls to get changed into some traditional wolf demon clothing while Jade took the boys with him.
Moroha and Setsuna both wore silver wolf demon furs and both of them wore silver fur skirts and leg warmers. Moroha's fur cape was similar to how her usual red cape was with how it wrapped around and her outfit had red accents as well that fit her style.
Setsuna's fur cape was more minimal and was shorter sleeved than her cousin's and she wore her hair up in a bun rather than her usual ponytail. The bun was held in place by a silver fur hair band that matched her outfit and looked nice against her black hair. Setsuna's outfit looked very elegant and suited her style as well.
Ayame gave Towa black furs to wear since Towa had silver hair Ayame had been worried about there being too much silver. The black furs looked great on Towa much better than the silver furs had that Ayame had her try on first just to be sure.
Towa wore a black fur skirt and a black fur cape that was longer and more mid length than what Moroha and Setsuna had on. Towa's fur cape was also sleeveless in comparison to the other two and Towa's outfit had red accents as well.
The boys both wore brown furs in a similar style to how jade and his father dressed. The outfits looked nice on them but they didn't look quite as good as the girls did which made Ayame scold her son for not putting as much thought into their outfits as she did for the girls and Jade replied that guy's don't really care as much about that kind of stuff. It had taken the boys half the time to get ready and Ayame only sighed at her son's answer before taking everyone to where they would have the party.
The wolf demon party was already so lively by the time that they got there and it hadn't even officially started yet.
The large cave space where the party was being held was decorated with multiple torches across the stone walls that made the cave glow naturally. Which only improved the party more.
This was definitely not a normal party and the group could tell. From the lively dancing and spirited games that were being played as cups of sake went back and friends laughed around them, and on top of all of that the food all tasted amazing.
First Koga gave a speech about how Moroha and her friends had defeated Kyuki with Jade which made all of the other wolves who weren't used to the presence of outsiders more willing to welcome them to the gathering.
After Koga's speech they all soon got swept up into the party.
They had all been eating next to each other along with Jade while Koga gave his speech. Almost immediately after Koga was done speaking. Moroha had gotten up to get another drink and a wolf demon girl approached her and complimented her bow. The two hit it off instantly and the girl asked Moroha if she wanted to come and dance with her and her friends which led to the two of them becoming fast friends.
All of the teens were appreciative of the eastern tribes hospitality and Koga made sure that they were all having a good time by checking in on them every now and then.
Koga spent most of the party with his wife and it was clear to all of them just how much he adored the woman from the way that he spoke to her to how he acted. The two of them were still so in love after years of being married.
The wolf demons were teaching Moroha all kinds of new dances that she'd never seen before and she was a fast learner.
Moroha caught on quickly and was having fun alongside her new friends as other wolf demons played the drums and other instruments around them. She even learned the group dances that required her to move her feet fast and insync with others very quickly and a huge smile graced her face as she danced.
"You should go dance to Setsuna." Towa teased.
Towa, Setsuna, Hisui, Yuki, and Jade all stayed put at their table finishing what was left of their food while Moroha was becoming the best of friends with the eastern wolf demons. They only looked over at her back and forth briefly as they had been chatting away.
"I'm having all the fun that I need right here." Setsuna said as she brought her cup of water to her face before taking a drink.
"Come on Setsuna, you dance beautifully. Are you just afraid that you won't catch on to the new dances as fast as Moroha?" Hisui teased. "If you go then I'll go." He smiled.
"The traditional dances aren't particularly difficult to learn. If you're uncertain I can teach you." Jade said as he finished his food.
"No need." Setsuna told him and Towa rolled her eyes.
"Don't mind her, she's boring. Come on Jade, you can teach me." Towa said as she stood up and pulled him to the dance floor.
"You're probably better than me at dancing so you should be happy that you can win this time." Towa said.
"A win off the battlefield means nothing." Jade said as he taught Towa how to do one of his favorite group dances moving his feet slowly at first and Moroha came over to them.
"It's easy Towa you don't need a teacher." She teased as she perfectly did the dance and moved about as if she had done this many before today.
Jade laughed as Towa mis stepped and he grabbed her hand gently tugging her towards him so that she was paying attention again. "Just watch me." Jade said his green eyes meeting hers as others danced around them.
"Move your feet when I do, just follow my lead." He said and she gave him her full attention now getting the hang of it her second time around even remembering the spin before the start over.
"This sucks." Jade huffed. "Why are you good at dancing too?" Jade asked, annoyed.
"I'm naturally talented at anything I do." Towa said with a cheeky smile.
"How long have you been traveling with that group of yours? I bet they're ready to send you home about now." Jade said.
"Just a little over a month." Towa smiled. "Moroha, Setsuna and Hisui are all family so they have no choice but to stay with me."
"You've been traveling for a month and still haven't found who you're looking for?" Jade asked.
"Well we did find him not too long ago but then our goal changed so we had to keep going but searching for Rain hasn't been too bad, not when I'm with my closest friends." Towa said and Jade was quiet for a moment as the two of them continued to dance until the song ended.
Jade didn't have any close friends. People respected him because of who his father was and he could say that he had a few surface level friends that he mind being around but people didn't act easy around him. Not like the way that those girls who asked Moroha to dance did and people his age didn't usually speak to him frankly the way that Towa and her friends did earlier.
Gin always spoke to him frankly but Gin wasn't his friend he was his rival. But even Gin had Al and Lian. A pang of envy hit Jade's chest, he wondered what it would be like to have friends like Towa did. His father had close friends that he was willing to die for but Jade didn't have anyone like that. Jade always tried to mirror the good qualities that people saw from his father but deep down he had always feared that he'd never be a good leader because no matter how much he wanted to be like his father he just wasn't him.
The song changed and Towa tapping the front of his shoulder brought him back to his senses.
"The song's changed. Why are you just standing there? Teach me how to do this one too." She asked with a smile and Jade smiled nervously at her.
"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something. This dance is slower paced so it won't be as difficult to learn." Jade said.
Hisui and Setsuna had long since gone to dance as well. Setsuna had been watching everyone move from her place at their table and once she felt that she had memorized all of the steps and sequences she stood up and asked Hisui if he was coming to dance with her. She was confident now that she had realized that most of the dances moved similarly to one another.
"Do you even have to ask?" He smiled before remembering Yuki and turning to him. "Do you want to come with us? I'm sure it's not as difficult as it looks." Hisui told his friend and Yuki shook his head.
"No I'm fine here, you two enjoy the party." Yuki stated unbothered.
"Okay." Hisui said before happily following Setsuna to dance with the others.
Yuki had never been to a party before so to say that he was out of his element would be an understatement. He had shape shifted into someone before going to a party as them, though back then the party had barely lasted an hour before he had killed most of the guests in attendance.
But Yuki had never been to an actual party as himself before, not one that he was allowed to enjoy. He was fine when he was sitting next to Moroha and Towa who both were good at unintentionally forcing smiles out of him as they spoke together but one by one his friends all got pulled away to go dance and play games and now he was alone. Even Kilala was enjoying the party as she played with some wolf demon children.
Yuki had thought that at least he'd be spending the rest of the night with Hisui and Setsuna talking idly as they were for the rest of party but then they too went to dance and Yuki had no idea how to cross that bridge to be with his friends.
He'd make a fool of himself for sure if he even attempted dancing and he knew it. So Yuki just sat alone on the sidelines watching everyone have fun.
Towa and Jade were dancing well together. Jade's head moving back as Towa made him laugh and from the look on Jade's face Yuki was sure that he had no hard feelings towards Towa after their fight earlier. Which was good after seeing both of their memories earlier it was clear to Yuki that Jade and Towa seemed to be similar to each other in that they both want to be like their fathers to some extent.
Setsuna and Hisui looked like they were having fun as well as Setsuna danced perfectly, never missing a beat and keeping Hisui on track as they learned the wolf demon dances. Hisui managed to surprise Setsuna by kissing her quick when he thought that no one was looking and Yuki moved his eyes from them.
Yuki knew that his friend loved Setsuna and it was especially clear after seeing Hisui's memory. He wondered how Hisui had gotten the impression that Setsuna's feelings for him were linked to his strength as a demon slayer.
Yuki knew nothing of romance and love in that way but he could tell that Setsuna's love for Hisui was not as fragile as strength and weakness.
Then Yuki's eyes went back to where they had been for most of the night back to Moroha as she smiled next to her new friends who kept praising her for how fast she had learned their dances. Yuki couldn't hear much of what they were saying over the sound of the loud drums but he didn't need to hear them because just watching Moroha have fun like that and smile the way that she did made him feel like he wasn't missing out on anything at all and he actually wouldn't mind sitting here alone for the rest of the night as long as she kept smiling the way that she did.
Then the song changed to something slower and things changed as everyone got closer to each other and a tall wolf demon boy with light hair asked Moroha to dance. She agreed with a smile and Yuki's heart stopped.
The boy smiled back at her and pulled her close placing his hand on the small of her back and leading her in a dance and now Yuki's mood had changed drastically. He stood up fast.
Who does that demon think he is?
She wasn't smiling at him because she liked him, she just smiles at everyone. Yuki thought.
That idiot wolf. Yuki clenched his fist as he walked over to where Moroha was dancing.
Did this wolf demon who was dancing with Moroha want to die? He thought dangerously as his feet moved on their own and he purposely stood in the way of Moroha and her partner who's back bumped into Yuki.
"Hey, you can't stand there while people are dancing." The light haired wolf demon said to Yuki and Moroha smiled.
"I didn't think that you were going to dance." Moroha said to Yuki.
"I was waiting to ask you until you were done with your new friends." He lied.
"Sato, I think I'm going to dance with my friend for a little while now. Thanks for being my partner." Moroha told the light haired wolf demon.
"But we just star—." Sato started to say but Yuki quickly pulled Moroha away before he could finish.
"I was actually going to come get you after this song. I just noticed you by yourself over there a moment ago." Moroha said.
"You didn't need to do that, I was fine." Yuki said nervously. Now he was actually going to have to dance and he didn't have the slightest clue how he was going to do that.
He hadn't even been paying attention to the dance moves.
"Yes I did, parties aren't meant to be spent alone. They're meant to be spent dancing and laughing like this." She said as she spun the both of them around.
"Do you know this dance? It's actually similar to another common party dance that most people outside of the wolf demon tribe would already know." Moroha smiled.
"Yes I recognize it." Yuki lied.
"Good." Moroha got close to him and he put his arms around her the way that the wolf demon before had and after about thirty seconds it was clear to Moroha that Yuki had no idea what he was doing and she couldn't hold in the small laughs that escaped her in response to his actions as Yuki felt embarrassed.
"Why didn't you tell me that you didn't know that dance? I would have helped you." She laughed with a smiled.
"I didn't think that you'd want to dance with me if I didn't know how and I didn't like seeing you dance with that wolf demon. He doesn't know you well enough to be close to you like that." Yuki said his jealousy spilling out just a little.
"You should have told me. I would have danced with you more so that you could learn how to dance better. Don't tell me that you never dance when you go to party's Yuki." She asked.
"I've never been to a real party before." He said honestly and her eyes softened.
"You dummy, don't keep secrets like that from me anymore. I would have made sure that you had fun from the start, and not spent so much time alone." She said with a smile. "I mean it, Yuki, your first party would have been the best." She scolded and he laughed at her serious expression.
"I'm serious." She said annoyed and now all of the nervousness that he had felt before was slipping away as he only focused on her now.
"I know but my first party was already the best. I was here with all of you and I got to watch my friends have fun. Now you're teaching me how to dance and I'm not nervous at all anymore." Yuki smiled and a light blush covered Moroha's cheeks.
That was the first time that he had ever called them his friends.
"Fine then, put your arms around me again and pay attention or you won't learn anything." She said and Yuki followed her lead.
From a far Gin was sitting with Al and Lian absolutely livid at how everything had played out. First the outsiders and Jade had stolen his victory over Kyuki from him by finding her first and then their great leader was welcoming them with open arms after the Silver haired girl had beaten both him and Jade earlier.
And then now Jade had the nerve to dance with her and act like he was having fun with someone normal in front of their entire tribe. That girl was a monster. She had to be. No normal demon could fight like she did today and she claimed to be only half demon there was no way.
Gin had to do something about this. He couldn't let that silver haired girl beat him like that and get away with it. If Koga was welcoming her to the tribe who's to say that she wouldn't try to steal leadership form himself or Jade one day. Losing to Jade one day would be one thing but Gin couldn't stand the thought of losing to her again.
He needed to do something that would bring Jade back to his senses and show that silver haired girl that she had only gotten lucky earlier as she had only caught him on a bad day.
Gin got up with a scowl on his face and walked straight to Towa who was still dancing with Jade.
"Hey silver!" Gin said to Towa, interrupting her dance and conversations with Jade.
Towa took one look at his face and smirked which pissed Gin off even more.
"Hi, I almost forgot that you're my personal servant since I kicked your ass earlier today. Come to receive your first orders?" Towa asked with a smirk.
"What?!" Gin gasped as the memory came back to him. "As if I would ever agree to such a thing."
"But you did and now. You're at my beck and call until I decide otherwise. You better hold up your end of the deal if you don't want me to beat you up again." Towa teased and Jade laughed in response which made Gin even more mad.
"Why isn't Jade expected to be your servant too? He lost just like me?" Gin asked.
"Jade said sorry."
"We'll in that case, I'm sorry too." Gin said quickly.
"No good, you don't mean that." Towa smirked annoyingly at Gin.
"How do you know?"
"I just know." Towa said and Gin had had enough.
"Fine, I can admit that you got the upper hand on me out there earlier but I would like a rematch off of the battlefield this time. I challenge you to drink sake. The terms are the same as before." Gin said and Towa smiled.
"Don't do it." Jade said immediately. "He's shameless when he's drunk." Jade added.
"You only say that because you can barely keep a straight head after only a few cups Jade. I may not have beaten you in battle but I know that I can outdrink you. I bet you can't get lucky twice in one day." Gin smirked but so did Towa and much more wickedly.
"You're on." Towa said.
"Maybe I'll join as well." Hisui said he hadn't been too far from them when Gin challenged Towa and the both of them welcomed him to join if he wanted.
"Don't you dare." Setsuna told Hisui. "That last thing that I want is to be trapped in a room with her all night when she's drunk because she had to try and beat you." Setsuna scolded before Gin made a big announcement that he was going to be drinking against one of their guests.
Towa and Gin both went to the sake table for their competition. Only two other wolf demons joined in along with Moroha who barely lasted until the third round of drinks before she was at her limit and had to quit.
The other two wolf demons lasted until the eighth and tenth round before it was just Gin and Towa and after round fourteen Gin had passed out while Towa was still seemingly fine aside from her lightly pinked cheeks.
She raised her arms in victory and Moroha hugged her. Looping her arm behind her cousin's shoulders in support as she cheered for her cousin.
"I knew you'd win, you always win." Moroha slurred and Setsuna shook her head in disapproval.
"I think it's time for you to go to bed." Setsuna said.
"Why would I do that? The party's just stated. Come on Yuki why don't you drink some too. Sake always makes parties better." She said excitedly.
"No thank you." He said.
"Booo, you're no fun. Let's go dance again." Moroha said before dragging Yuki back to the dance with her.
"See what you did." Setsuna said to her sister. "Now we've all got to share a room with her like that." She told her sister.
"I didn't tell her to drink, maybe you should have some sake too. It will lighten your mood a bit. You never drink Setsuna. Come on, let loose just this once." Towa said, trying to persuade her sister.
"Someone has got to stay responsible. What if something happens and we're all out of it." Setsuna said seriously.
"My father would never let anything happen to a guest that's staying under our protection. Father fought alongside side Moroha's parents so you should feel comfortable that they're all probably pretty similar in strength if they're old friends. You truly have nothing to worry about here." Jade told her.
"Yeah Setsuna, and Yuki and I haven't drank much tonight either, so we'll be more than fine to watch over everyone if we need to. Just relax, you don't have to take care of us all of the time." Hisui added and after a little more back and forth between her and Towa especially when it comes to tolerance and how they probably had a similar tolerance since they were twins.
Setsuna gave in and they all found out soon that Setsuna did not in fact have a similar tolerance to Towa not in the slightest.
It only took three cups of sake for them to realize that they should have stopped her sooner.
"Towa you act too impulsively and the next time that you do that I'm not going to save you." Setsuna said now in a drunken state. "It wouldn't kill you to agree with me every now and then."
"Oh no, Setsu you're drunk, That was so quick!" Towa exclaimed.
"And you." She turned to Hisui. "Everytime sake is brought up you can't wait to drink with Towa and show off. It's not that impressive." Setsuna crossed her arms.
"Wow." Hisui said as he looked at Setsuna's red cheeks from the sake and her unwavering expression.
"I think that you and I should retire early tonight." Hisui said. "I didn't think that you'd be affected like this after so few drinks." Hisui said apologetically.
"No, I want to drink with you like Towa does and I want to win. I'm putting the two of you in your place with this, pour the sake." Setsuna said, determined as she placed her cup for sake down hard and both Towa and Hisui looked at each other silently contemplating on what to do.
Jade only laughed in response after processing everything that had just happened from how they had convinced Setsuna to drink to how they were now regretting their actions.
"You five sure know how to have fun." Jade said.
"Shut up, now's not the time to make jokes." Towa scolded. She didn't like having to be the more responsible sibling, not one bit but she had to look after her sister while she was drunk. She always did the same for her in the rare occurrence that Towa actually drank too much.
"Setsuna." Hisui said seriously to her. "Why don't we call it a night together? I'm really tired. Would you please come with me?" Hisui asked embarrassed to be saying this infront of Jade and Towa.
Towa would for sure tease him about this later.
Setsuna's cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink that wasn't from the sake this time in response to what Hisui had said but she wasn't as combative now since Hisui had asked her.
"Okay, Hisui, let's go to bed." She said and she let him take her hand and guide them through all of the stone halls that lead back to the room that they were all staying in.
And despite Hisui's embarrassment before they left Towa had given him a small thanks for taking care of Setsuna so that she could still enjoy the party but of course he didn't mind doing this. He would do anything for Setsuna and he didn't need to be asked or thanked. You just do things like this for the people that you love.
It was a good thing that Setsuna didn't usually drink. Hisui thought. She was way more of a lightweight than he and Towa had expected.
After walking for some time they finally were back to their room and Hisui closed the door behind him now with a sigh.
Hopefully Setsuna wouldn't be too much of a handful for him tonight and she would just sleep like Moroha typically would when she was drunk. Hisui thought this as he turned around to Setsuna who immediately pressed her lips to his desperately as she pushed him back against the door and held his face in her hands.
He could taste the sake on her tongue as she kissed him with more hunger and he opened his eyes slightly to look at her flushed face as she was completely lost in their closeness.
Damn he wished that he and Towa hadn't pushed her to drink. He wanted to get just as lost as she was but he couldn't not when she was like this. He held her shoulders firmly, kissing her back for just a few moments and caressing her back underneath the furs of the wolf clothing that she was wearing before extending his arms and gently pushing her away from him. Giving them some distance.
He looked at her with slightly pink cheeks and she looked pretty satisfied with herself at having gotten this reaction from him.
"I.. um… We need to go to bed." Hisui said finding it difficult to speak words right now.
"Why? The others are still at the party." Setsuna said before leaning close to his ear.
"Don't you like it when we're alone, Hisui? No one will be back for a while." she whispered and He removed himself from her completely, quickly letting go of her shoulders.
He was Regretting his past choices more than he had ever anticipated.
"I promise that I will never ask you to drink like this again. Just please go to bed. I don't want to do anything when you're in this state that would be irresponsible of me." Hisui pleaded honestly and Setsuna just looked at him for a long time staring into his eyes as her heart calmed.
She got close to him again but only kissed his face. She danced tender kisses across his cheeks that made his breath hitch before kissing his lips again but this time was different.
She kissed him sweeter than before and though it was still incredibly hard for him to think under these conditions. He at least knew that she had accepted what he was saying. She looped her arms around his neck now to hold him close as she pulled away from their kiss.
"I love you, Hisui." Setsuna smiled close to his face. "You always keep a cool head even when I can't. It's a little annoying sometimes." She said the last part with a sigh.
"Believe me you make it very difficult for me to do." He sighed too.
"I need to change." Setsuna said before walking over to where she had placed her clothes earlier and started to change into something looser to sleep in. She took her hair down and her midnight locks fell around her shoulders and Hisui quickly turned around as she went to take off her top and Setsuna laughed.
"I knew you would do that." She teased. "You don't have to turn away."
"I would never look at you without your proper permission. We are not married so I would never do that without your proper consent." Hisui said and Setsuna soon finished changing before getting close to Hisui again immediately after and wrapping her arms around him from behind to let him know that she was done changing.
"Are you going to change now as well?" She asked.
"Not with you in the room with me."
"Why not I'll just turn around, Those wolf furs will make you feel hot while you're sleeping. Especially with it being summer like this." She said and Hisui paused for a minute. She did have a point and he was already starting to sweat a little under the wolf furs and it would only get worse over night.
"Fine, just turn around." Hisui said as he went to change his clothes. He began to start changing but after he had taken his shirt off Setsuna had turned around again making eye contact with him as soon as she turned.
"Setsuna!" He said in shock.
"I lied. I'm not turning around, I couldn't stop thinking about you being behind me, Hisui. That's why I said that you didn't have to turn around because I didn't want to. Don't you get curious sometimes?" She asked innocently.
"You are never allowed to get this drunk again for the rest of your life." Hisui exclaimed red faced as Setsuna's eyes trailed over his upper body.
"You look good without a shirt on. But I already knew that." Setsuna said.
She was definitely going to regret her actions the next morning.
"I don't want to hear it." Hisui turned around and quickly got dressed as she waited patiently behind him now while watching the whole time. This was proving to be more difficult than he had originally anticipated. He should have had Towa look after her.
What was that sake doing to her? Hisui thought.
After Hisui finished changing the two of them laid down. Hisui laid next to her but kept a decent gap between them and faced away from her. Already knowing that he wouldn't get away with suggesting that they sleep separately while she was like this.
Despite trying to keep a healthy distance apart from her, as soon as he laid down Setsuna had gotten close to him, folding him in her arms and kissing the back of his neck and he couldn't help but turn to her and kiss her again before wrapping his arms around her as well and tenderly kissing her forehead.
"I mean it Set, I'm really tired." He lied and she placed her right hand his face cupping his cheek before kissing him one more time.
"You've been lying a lot lately." She said sad. "First earlier today and then now. Makes me wish that I had gotten hit by that dream gazing spell too." She told him.
"Setsuna." He said.
"You never say to push things under the rug. If everyone already knows except for me, then how did you expect me to not notice that you were trying to hide something from me?" She said seriously.
"I just didn't want to talk about it. It's already bad enough that everyone else saw that memory of mine. The last thing I needed was for you to be made aware."
"If something is bothering you, you tell me. You tell me and we talk. That's how this works. That's what you tell me. Let me do that for you too." She said with kind eyes as she held his face in her hand.
"Setsuna." He took her hand that was on his face into his and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. "Let's talk tomorrow when you sober up okay?"
She looked at him for a long time in response to his request. "Okay, but I'm not letting this go. I really want us to talk about this especially if it has something to do with me." She said.
"Then I promise to talk about it if you ask me to. Now go to bed or you won't feel too good in the morning."
"Fine. I love you." She said.
"I love you too." Hisui said and it didn't take long for either of them to fall asleep.
XXXX
Yuki hadn't been quite as good at dancing as Moroha but she didn't seem to mind. Even less so now that she has had too much to drink.
"I think we should be done with the party for the night." Yuki said.
"No, I want to stay here and have fun with you and Towa and everyone else." Moroha exclaimed with excitement. She felt like she was just waking up.
"Okay." Yuki said. He couldn't make her do anything that she didn't want to so he simply just kept her company as everyone soon cleared out even Towa had retired before the two of them and eventually Moroha was finally ready to go to bed but she didn't want to walk back to their room she wanted to be carried like she had been in her memory and of course Yuki compiled letting Moroha climb on to his back and carrying her up the hallway.
"You know this is my dream right to travel the world?" Moroha asked him sleepily.
"I remember."
"Did you hear what Koga and Ayame said to me earlier about getting married to Jade? It feels like everywhere I go people want me to accept that kind of life but I don't want that. I don't want to take mom's place at the temple or get married and stay put forever." She took a deep breath.
"I want to travel the world and be as free as the wind." She called excitedly, having surprisingly gained a bit of energy just for that statement.
"Shhh, people are sleeping now." Yuki told her.
"You understand, don't you Yuki? I'm just not made to live like that. I would go mad if I lived the way that Yuna wants to. I was made to be free and to forever go on adventures." Moroha said.
Yuki smiled. "I see that. You are free to do whatever makes you happy so calm down. At least that Shinji guy's probably got your message now that you've left home. But I'm sure if you wanted you could always change your mind later with him." Yuki smiled.
"You think you're so funny." Moroha told him.
"Because I am so funny." He teased her completely at ease in her presence.
"Yuki…" she paused. "Is your dream still to get revenge for your father?"
"No." He said immediately. "I'm not sure what my dream is anymore. If I avenged my fathers death that would cause you a lot of grief. I don't intend to ever cause you any harm again so revenge is something that I no longer want. To be honest now that I know who my father really was I don't think he deserves for me to do that for him anyway. I guess after I kill Rain. I'll just leave you all alone if you want me to so you won't have to worry about Naraku or his son after all this is done."
"I hate when you talk like that. Yuki if you run away from me again I'll find you and kill you for leaving us we're your friends. I won't let you go back to living like you did before."
"Kill me for leaving? I'm sure that from the grave I would surely regret my actions." He said sarcastically.
"I understand why you didn't tell me the truth that night at the well. You thought that Rain might kill me if you were my friend. You thought that what happened in the past might happen again. Didn't you?" She asked and Yuki was quiet for a long moment so she spoke again.
"You don't have to worry about Rain killing me Yuki, because unlike Rai, I can fight back and I know that my life is not meant to end by his hands. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that in the past but the days where Rain was your only ally are over because now you have real friends and we fight together." Moroha smiled as she hugged Yuki tight from his back and his heart beat faster.
"I know that Rain won't kill you because I would never let that happen to you or any of my other friends." Yuki said.
"I know." Moroha told him. "So stop making me remind you that we're all your real friends every other day and just believe me already."
"Fine, from this day on I'll believe you when you say that." Yuki said.
"You better." She told him before inevitably falling asleep on his back before getting back to the room. Maybe Yuki was out of place without Rain but Moroha was making it clear to him that that didn't matter because with her they would always be in place together as friends.
XXXX
The morning was early and after Moroha had assured Koga that she would definitely be back to visit them all again since the party had in fact not convinced her to stay with the eastern wolf demons he and Ayame, along with Ginta and Hakkau had all sent them off with well wishes.
Koga had wanted them to stay for another day but the 5 knew that Rain would soon know that Kyuki was dead and would be making his next move soon so they needed to not waste anymore time when it came to their search.
The group set off and were now making their way out of the eastern wolf demon tribes territory.
Towa and Moroha had both been upset that Jade hadn't come to see them off but Setsuna quickly told them that not everyone they meet is going to drop everything just to see off strangers that they met only a day ago.
"But he's not a stranger. We were friends." Moroha said.
"Maybe he's still mad that Towa beat him up." Hisui added.
"But he didn't seem mad last night at the party." Towa said as she tried to think of a good reason why Jade wouldn't come to see them off.
"Wait up!" Jade called from behind them after they had been walking now for over 15 minutes. They all turned around.
"I've decided that I'll be joining you all on your journey to find this Rain demon." Jade smiled.
"Absolutely not." Setsuna said.
"Hey come on aren't we all friends now?" Jade asked.
"Well I don't care if you come with us. You seem strong enough." Moroha said with a shrug.
"It's dangerous to bring someone inexperienced along to find a demon like Rain. Nothing against you Jade, you just haven't been trained. Even if you are a demon yourself, Rain isn't a light threat. He's dangerous, there's no predicting what dangers might come our way once we find him." Hisui said, trying to persuade Jade to go home.
"That's why I want to go with you. My father spent a few years traveling when he was young and it made him stronger. I want to travel to get stronger for my tribe so that I can become the kind of leader that they deserve and then once I'm stronger I'll ask Towa for a rematch when the time's right." Jade said and Towa smirked.
She was never one to shy away from a challenge and it would be nice to have someone new around to train with.
"I vote that he comes with us." Towa smiled. "Come on you all, he'll gain more experience fighting demons along the way. He's already pretty strong. We did fight Kyuki together."
"We don't know anything about him Towa. We can't just have everyone we meet tagging along with us." Setsuna said.
"Well Yuki what do you think? You've got to see what Setsuna and I are talking about here." Hisui asked.
"Sorry Hisui but I think that Jade should come with us." Yuki said and Hisui let out a long sigh. While both Towa and Moroha smiled wide.
"Welcome to the team Jade." Moroha smiled.
"Can I really go with you?" Jade asked dumbfounded by what just happened between them.
"Yeah, we settle everything like that and now that we don't have ties anymore things have been pretty easy lately." Towa said.
"We didn't have ties but now that Jade's coming with us we're back to being even again so we'll have ties again now." Setsuna told her sister.
"That doesn't matter." Moroha said. "We've already decided. So let's get going."
XXXX
Koga wasn't surprised when his son had asked him if he could go with Moroha and her friends. Jade had never been too good at making friends his age and had turned into quite the loner over his 19 years. Koga was hoping that traveling with them would help Jade learn how to open up to others and connect with people his age.
Koga and Ayame were proud of their son and wanted him to go if that would make him happy. Koga hadn't been surprised that his son had wanted to go with them but he was surprised to smell a scent so similar to Naraku's coming off of the silver haired demon boy that was traveling with Kagome's daughter.
That did concern Koga but as he watched the boy and saw him with Moroha and her friends he could see that he wasn't a threat and he remembered how not all of Naraku's incarnations had been bad in the end all of those years ago.
Maybe the kid wasn't related to Naraku. He had thought.
It had been so many years and Kagome and Inuyasha had for sure killed Naraku back then so why would Naraku wait until now to show up again? That was impossible. Koga had thought, but that scent didn't lie.
Koga had thought this through all night before coming to the conclusion that Naruka had to be dead for sure or he would have heard something by now especially after all this time. Naraku had to be dead for sure and if this Yuki demon bore any relation to Naraku he had to be alright because there was no way that Kagome and Inuyasha would ever let their daughter anywhere near someone who was related to Naraku if they were dangerous.
So that's why when the sun came up and his son let him know that he wanted to go with them Koga fully encouraged him and let Jade go with less strain on his heart.
A.N:
This update came a little later than I had initially planned due my schedule being a little busier than I had anticipated but I did write a companion story for this titled Say That We'll Be Together. It's a 4 chapter short story about how Hisui and Setsuna got together and is a prequel to Yashahime Bloodlines. I posted it yesterday if anyone would like to read the first chapter. Thank you for reading and thank you for the follows and Favs.