Author's Corner

Thank you to Snodil for the continued support. Your reviews always put a smile on my face and encourage me to keep writing. This one's for you!

EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 78: Unrequited

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The moon seemed brighter from the grounds of the citadel. Octavia leaned against the bannister, basking in the soft white light. It had been hours since her conversation with Megumi, but daybreak was still a way off. She reached into her robes and fished out the Prophecy-Breaker, rolling the silver locket between her fingers.

The floating island was home to many wisteria trees. They swayed in the breeze, releasing petals that fluttered through the air. Despite their beauty, they still paled in comparison to the waterfalls, which flowed out of the wellspring at the top of the island before tumbling down the cliffs to fill the rivers below. The peculiar substance known as liquid night fascinated Octavia to no end. She was curious what it would taste like, but not curious enough to dry drinking it. Especially if what Kanetsugu had told her about the moon god had any semblance of truth to it.

Sighing, she let go of the bannister and turned to face the shiro. Her eyes widened when she spotted Kanetsugu watching her from the engawa. "What are you doing here?"

"I was here first."

"You know what? Forget it. I'm not in the mood to argue with you."

"What do you have hidden in your hand there?"

She stuffed the Prophecy-Breaker back into her kosode. "Nothing."

His wings shifted behind him like twin shadows. "I heard you speaking to Megumi-sama. You're the first person to stand up to her like that. I'm surprised she didn't kill you for your insolence."

"You were eavesdropping?"

"Not on purpose. You have quite the mouth on you."

Octavia bit her lip. "Why won't she help him?"

"I think she's ashamed."

"Of what?"

"I don't know, but people don't just isolate themselves for the hell of it. There tends to be a reason."

"Well, whatever it is, it's no excuse to abandon her only son."

"You've given her plenty of reasons yourself."

Octavia frowned. "I don't regret it, if that's what you're asking. I meant every word."

"I don't doubt that in the slightest." His eyes narrowed and he copied her frown. "You care about him, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"Are you in love with him?"

Her eyes grew wide with apprehension. "What?"

"You heard me."

The fear gave way to anger. "What the hell kind of—You have no right to ask me that! What's it to you, anyway? We're not friends, so mind your own fucking business."

"You're a very vulgar young woman, aren't you?"

"And you're a prying shit."

He surprised her by raising his hands in surrender. "All right. You've made your point. For what it's worth, my intention wasn't to pry. I only asked because I wanted to make sure that his feelings weren't one-sided. Love can be so flimsy, you see."

"Sesshoumaru isn't in love with me."

"No? Someone had better tell him, then."

She frowned harder. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He scoffed. "Don't play dumb with me. I'm not an idiot. I know something is going on between the two of you. I've always suspected that you were more than allies, but I'm certain of it now. He cares about you, too. More than he lets on."

Octavia's heart thumped.

"It's worse than I imagined," Kanetsugu said. "Why couldn't you have just been a whore? Why did you have to make him love you?"

"I didn't make him do anything! You're just jealous because he trusts me more than he's ever trusted you."

"Maybe I am. But I know things about him that you could never understand. That's not your fault, though. You are only human—"

"Why does everyone keep saying that I don't know him? Yeah, I'm human, but so what? We're not as different as you think."

"Don't be ridiculous. We are leagues apart."

"I breathe your air," she argued. "I eat when I'm hungry and sleep when I need rest. Cut me and I'll bleed – just like you will – so don't act like I'm inferior to you, because I'm not."

Kanetsugu rose from his seat on the engawa and marched towards her. She held his gaze as he lifted his arm and made an incision with his claw, drawing blood. Her eyes slid down to watch it trickle out of the cut, before slowing to a halt. The torn flesh knitted itself back together, and when he wiped the blood away, all evidence of the wound was gone.

"We might bleed the same," he said. "But your species will always be weaker."

"I have never been weak," she told him.

"He'll forget you, you know. Humans are temporary, but Daiyoukai are infinite. You'll see. In a thousand years, he'll have forgotten all about you."

"I know."

"Doesn't that bother you?" She shook her head. "Why not?"

"Because things aren't meant to last forever."

He clenched his jaw. "You're not the first. There were others before you. Dozens, in fact. Nobles, warriors, even some of the staff. None of them lasted long, though. He'll soon tire of you. Assuming that he hasn't already."

"Who he chooses to sleep with is none of my business. Or yours, for that matter. Unless . . ."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you had feelings for one of them." He balled his hands into fists. "You did, didn't you?" she gasped. "Who was it?"

She didn't expect him to answer, but he did. "One of Megumi-sama's handmaids," he replied. "Her name was Inna. Touga-sama rescued her from a country in the north and brought her back with him. Her true form was a bird."

"What was she like?"

"Kind," he said, still frowning. "She didn't care that Kannika and I were the offspring of a traitor. She had a gentle soul. And she was beautiful. Half the people I knew were in love with her, but she only had eyes for Sesshoumaru-sama."

Octavia's throat felt tight when she spoke. "What happened?"

"Isn't it obvious? He broke her heart. He'll break yours too if you're not careful."

Octavia kept her mouth shut as Kanetsugu unballed his fists and marched away. She didn't bother telling him that her heart had been broken long ago, when her memories had been devoured by butterflies.

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Shippo was a great actor. He was polite and subservient, and his timing was flawless whenever the usurper spoke the word of subjugation to bind him in place. Anyone with holy powers would have clocked that the necklace was a sham right away, but Tsunayoshi didn't allow priests or priestesses into his ranks, so the charade went unnoticed.

"What's his deal, anyway?" Shippo asked between mouthfuls of stew. "Why does he have it out for Sesshoumaru so much?"

Rin told him about Ryukotsusei and Rayna, and how Tsunayoshi blamed Sesshoumaru for their deaths.

Shippo scowled. "Then how come he never came after Inuyasha? He was the one who killed that crusty old snake, after all."

"I don't know," Rin admitted. "I never asked."

Shippo finished eating and slammed his bowl on the table. "This sucks," he grumbled. "I'm tired of pretending that I can't kick that jerk's ass. How long do we have to keep doing this?"

"The duel is in four days."

"What does that mean for us?"

"He said the battlefield is no place for a bride, so you'll be staying here to watch over me."

"Isn't he worried that we'll make a break for it as soon as he leaves?"

She shook her head. "I told him that the beads would subjugate you if you tried to leave the stronghold without his permission. Plus, he's assigned a squadron to stay behind and keep an eye on us, so we'd have to fight our way out."

"So, our only option is to hope that Sesshoumaru wins the duel?"

"Not quite." She lowered her voice and said, "I've been trying to get into the library, but Tsunayoshi says I shouldn't burden myself with worthless pastimes like reading."

"Why do you want to get into the library?"

"There are books in there with information on plants. I need to find out which ones are poisonous, and if any of them grow in this area."

"Why in the world would you need to—" His eyes widened when he realised what she was getting at. "You can't be serious."

"We have to do something, Shippo-chan. It doesn't have to kill him, but if we can just weaken him a bit—"

"I didn't come here to watch you get yourself killed," Shippo cut her off. "I came to save you. We all did. Things didn't exactly go according to plan, but you're out of your mind if you think I'm gonna let you put yourself in danger like that."

"Then help me. Please." Her eyes filled with tears. "Sesshoumaru-sama has saved my life more times than I can count. I can't let him down. Imagine it was someone you cared about. Wouldn't you do everything you could to keep them safe?"

Shippo's expression softened. Rin wondered if he was thinking about his father. She knew that he'd been murdered by a pair of demons called the Raiju Kyodai in their pursuit of a jewel shard. She remembered Kagome telling her that Shippo had been trying to avenge his father's death when she and Inuyasha had met him for the very first time. Rin suspected that Shippo's desire to become stronger had spawned from him being unable to save his father. She could sympathise with him in that regard. She hadn't been able to save her family, either.

"Fine," he said. "But let me do it. I'll transform into one of the soldiers and find the information for you. I've already fooled them once, and I doubt they'll notice if one or two books go missing. Or better yet, I'll sneak into the jail sector and ask Kohaku about it. I might even bust him and Kirara out whilst I'm down there—"

Rin's chest constricted at the mention of Kohaku's name. "Don't. If you get caught, I won't be able to protect you."

He flashed her a sad smile. "I never asked you to."

"Neither did I. You shouldn't have come here. Why didn't you stay away?"

"We came because you're our friend. And friends look out for each other, no matter what."

She blinked away her tears. Shippo was as stubborn as they came, so arguing with him was pretty much pointless, but there was no way she was letting him do her dirty work.

"Can I ask you something?"

He nodded. "Go for it."

"When you transform, is it just your appearance that changes? Or can you copy scents, as well?"

He looked offended that she'd even asked. "Of course I can. The best illusions rely on more than just sight. There are four other senses to consider when shifting into something else. For it to be convincing, I can't just look and sound like someone. I have to become them."

"I guess that makes sense."

"The hardest part is mimicking behaviour. People have distinct ways of speaking that are hard to replicate unless I've spent a lot of time with them. If I make even the tiniest mistake, the jig is up." His eyes narrowed. "Why do you ask?"

"Do you think you could pretend to be me? Just for a couple of hours?"

His eyes widened.

"It's okay if you don't want to. I hate to ask, but Tsunayoshi refuses to take me anywhere near the jail sector. The only way I'd be able to get close is if he was under the impression that I was with him, or more specifically, someone who looked like me." Her guilt quadrupled. "Never mind. It was a stupid idea—"

"I'll do it."

Her brows lifted in surprise. "Are you sure?"

A cloud of smoke enveloped Shippo's body. When the smoke cleared, he'd been replaced by a teenage girl with dark hair and brown eyes. Her smile was full of mischief, but there was an element of smugness there, too. Rin couldn't believe her eyes. It was as if she was sitting in front of a mirror. The white face powder and blackened teeth made her skin crawl. Was that really what she looked like?

"Impressive, right?"

She nodded. "It's a shame about the tail."

Shippo wandered over to the wardrobe and pulled out a midnight blue haori with yellow orchids on it. Draping it around his shoulders, he made sure that his tail was covered before giving her a twirl. "Better?"

"You look like you've done that before."

"No comment."

She rose from her cushion and joined him in front of the wardrobe. Gazing into his eyes – which were identical to hers – she reached behind her neck to unclasp the necklace Tsunayoshi had given her. She tucked the rosary beads inside the haori and secured the locket around his neck.

"He'll be suspicious if I'm not wearing it," she explained.

"What is it?" he asked.

"A keepsake from his mother."

"It feels kind of weird. It's hard to explain, but there's something . . . off about it." He touched the curved edge of the locket. "What's inside?"

Rin shrugged. "I don't know. It won't open."

He tried to prise it apart, but the mechanism remained stiff and unyielding. "Some gift," he muttered. "You aren't really gonna marry him, are you?"

"I might not have a choice."

Shippo's bottom lip trembled, and he shifted back into his true form. The oversized haori fell from his shoulders and landed in a heap by his feet. His emerald eyes inflated, filling with tears, before he leapt into her arms and hugged her. Rin cursed herself for being so weak. Lord Sesshoumaru never allowed his emotions to get the better of him. Why couldn't she be more like him? She'd once berated Octavia for treating her like a child, but that was exactly what she was. Despite her best efforts to deny it, she was still the same fragile girl who'd died the same way she'd lived—alone and without witness.

Tsunayoshi had called her a savage, but there was nothing dangerous about her.

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Author's Corner

I hope you all enjoyed this one. The dynamic between Octavia and Kanetsugu is one of my favourites. Their personalities are so similar but they can't effing stand each other, so their interactions are always really fun to write lol.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm off to play more Legends Arceus (my current save file consists mostly of drowning and getting my face ripped off by feral sand hippos). See you next time!

Raiju Kyodai = Thunder Brothers