InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bitter Blood ❯ Chapter 19

Bitter Blood

Chapter 19

So that was why her mother had endured all the skinned knees and scraped elbows, trying to drag her drunken husband into the house . . .

She rolled off of him and onto her back, staring up at the ceiling, blissfully exhausted and damp with sweat.

"Are you well?"

She turned to face him and smiled. "Never better," she said.

He reached over and put his hand on her stomach, closing his eyes, a rather serious expression on his face.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Listening," he said.

She laughed to herself. "Listening for what?"

He opened his eyes and stared at her, his expression softened as before. "New life," he said. "The combining and division of cells."

"You can hear that?" she laughed.

He closed his eyes again.

"What do you hear?"

He smiled to himself. "It was an unwise time for us to be together."

"And why's that?" she laughed, somewhat nervously.

"You are in heat," he said. "And now you are pregnant."

She sat up and stared down at him, still laughing. "You can't know that. So soon, so quickly."

He didn't take his eyes from her.

"Can you?"

"I knew the instant you were pregnant with Daichi."

All the color left her face. "Well . . ." She took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "I suppose congratulations are in order."

He grabbed her hand. "I am sorry."

"Don't be silly," she squeezed his hand. "This is good news. Happy news. Why should anybody be sorry?"

He kept his gaze fixed on her. "Then why do you look so troubled?" he asked. "Why has all the color gone out of your face? Why is your heart beating so fast?"

She laughed, nervously, to herself. "Shock," she said. "Shocked . . . I'm in shock."

He pulled her down to him, bracing her head against his chest. "I will not lose you."

She laughed uneasily. "Of course not. Where would I go?"

He stroked the back of her head.

"So, you're sure?" she asked. "You couldn't be hearing gas or something?"

He laughed to himself. "No," he said. "My ears miss nothing. It is not 'gas.'"

She laughed again. "Well, I had to ask, didn't I?"

They were quiet for awhile.

"Is my lord displeased?"

He was slow to reply. "Your lord is concerned."

She smiled to herself.

"Is my lady displeased?"

She shook her head.

"I know not what to do for you," he said.

She ran her hand across his bare chest. There were many fresh, but sealed wounds there. From the recent battle, she assumed. "What is there to do?" she asked. "Were you not happy to welcome Daichi into the world?"

His grip on her tightened. "I was very pleased," he said.

"Then, can you be any less pleased now?"

He frowned thoughtfully. "I did not know then what I know now. I would not have you leave me."

She laughed good-naturedly. "And where would I go, my lord?"

"Away from me," he said.

"Nonsense."

They were quiet again.

"I would like a girl this time," Rin said.

"A girl?" he repeated.

She buried her head in his head. "Yes," she said. "And I already know what I want to call her."

"And what would that be?" he asked.

"Mame," she said.

"'Faithful,'" he said.

She nodded.

He fell silent.

"My lord?" she looked up at him.

He looked down at her.

"I don't want you going anywhere near her, ever again . . . She can stay, if she must. But she must stay away from you, and you from her."

He nodded his understanding.

"I will not be cheated on again."

He nodded again.

"I'd like a verbal response," she said. "I want to hear you say you'll never go near her again."

"I will never touch her again."

"'Go near,'" she repeated. "You will never 'go near' her again."

"I will never go near her again," he said.

She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. "It still makes me sick," she said. "Perhaps I am too quick to forgive you."

He lowered his eyes. "That is something you must judge for yourself."

She glanced over her shoulder at him. "If I die," she said. "You'll bring me back, won't you?"

He met her gaze. "Do you have to question such a thing?"

"My lord? Cannot Tenseiga heal me? Can it not fix whatever is wrong?"

He shook his head, slowly. "No. It heals, and it revives. It does not cure."

Rin sighed. "Well, I guess I'll just have to put my life in your hands, won't I?"

It seemed he wanted to smile, but didn't. "I will not fail you again."

She smiled, then yawned and stretched. "That's good enough for me, then. I'm going to go take a bath." She slipped past him and onto the floor.

He nodded his ascension.

"And you should eat that," she nodded to the slain beast by their bedside. "I'm sure it's not so good as it was, but you need to feed . . . You're not healing right. All those marks on your chest."

"They were deep wounds," he said. "They'll disappear soon enough . . . My lady is kind to worry about me."

She pulled on her under robe. "I can't help it," she said.

He smiled to himself. "Then I am glad my lady cannot help it."

She pulled on her second layer. "Oh, and if you're able to move around after eating that, I wouldn't go near the door."

His eyes narrowed. "Why is that?"

"I put a warding on it," she said. "I'm sure once you get your strength back, it won't have much affect. But it works quite well on Dokumi . . ."

"What have you done to her?" he asked. "Surely, my lady is no murderer."

She straightened her spine. "No," she said. "Your lady is not . . . Though she wanted to very badly."

He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "I would not have my lady soil her hands with the blood of others . . . If she truly wishes someone dead, she should have one of the servants do it. Or ask myself."

She laughed to herself. "Would you really kill her if I asked you to, my lord?"

"With provocation," he said. "I will not stand her to harm you."

She laughed again. "Physically, you mean. You won't stand her to harm me PHYSICALLY."

He nodded. "To take her life otherwise would be murder . . . I would not murder one of my own servants."

She drew in a deep breath and pushed it out. "Very well. If she raises a hand against me, I'll be sure to tell you." She made her way to the door after pulling her third layer in place.

"And I ask that you not provoke her."

She turned on her heels. "Provoke her how?"

"I ask that you treat her with the same respect as the other servants."

She scoffed. "With all due respect, my lord. The other servants aren't fucking my husband."

His gaze remained steady, even. "You've already done something."

She laughed out loud. "I made her bow to me," she said. "And then I made her kneel at my feet and lick the floor . . . After that, I refused to let her feed, then I called her several foul names while dangling a warding in front of her face."

"My lady . . ."

"Can you blame?" she asked. "Can you fault me for hating that woman?"

That familiar smirk appeared on his face. "Did you enjoy yourself?" he asked. "Lording your power over her? Threatening her life? Having her grovel at your feet?"

She tossed her head back. "I refuse to feel bad for tormenting that woman," she said. "If Daichi had not been there, I would've done much worse."

His amber eyes narrowed. "You did such a thing in front of our son?"

She shrugged. "It was unavoidable," she said. Then more quietly, "He was just a bystander."

"An innocent bystander," he said.

She lowered her head. "I will not subject him to such a thing again. It was a spur of the moment thing, and I . . ."

His gaze remained fixed on her. "You what?"

"I wanted to hurt somebody," she said. "I would not hurt Daichi . . . But I do hate that woman and want her to suffer most horribly."

He laughed dryly. "Perhaps we are more alike than I first thought," he said.

She tilted her head to the side. "Is that a compliment?" she asked.

"Take it as you will." He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. "I wish to rest now. Go take your bath."

She lingered for a moment, then pulled the door open, passing through the barrier. "Don't let the demon go to waste," she said. "I killed it especially for you."

If he heard her, he didn't reply, so she closed the door behind and crept downstairs to the bathhouse.

So, she sighed to herself, I'm to have another child . . .

She moved from the stairs to the great hall. If it were left up to me, she thought, I wouldn't have known for another two weeks . . . My lord never ceases to amaze me.

She laughed to herself. To think he could HEAR such a thing--the joining and division of cells . . . I wonder what that sounds like? Is it very noisy and obvious, or does it take a more refined ear to hear such things? Can you hear it all the time, or do you have to listen for it? Is it a terrifying sound? Or is it gentle and soothing? And how can you tell that sound from all the others? As she had asked--how do you know it's not gas?

She passed through the great hall and entered the corridor that led to the dining room, the study, the servants' quarters, and lastly, the bathhouse.

Truly, demons were remarkable creatures. She'd have to teach Daichi how special he really was . . . and the new baby, of course.

She passed the dining room and the study. A chill ran down her spine.

She didn't know what she was so nervous about. This wouldn't be her first child; she'd gone through this all before, but . . . She'd had such a rough time with Daichi--turning wrong and the umbilical cord, him not breathing . . . And now there was the added complication of her condition . . .

She passed the hall that led to the servants' quarters.

Surely, if things went really wrong, her lord would revive her . . . But what about the child?

What if it's unhealthy because of her, and never draws in its first breath? What if it's weak and frail and sickly? You could return the dead to their former lives, but if they'd never lived . . . To go through all that trouble for nothing . . . The fretting and the planning and the pushing . . . All for nothing . . . A stillbirth, she thought they called it. Could there be anything more tragic?

She reached the bathhouse and pushed all such thoughts from her head. As she slipped off her robes, she forced herself to smile. Everything will be fine, she told herself. Look at Daichi; isn't he fine? Isn't he strong and happy and healthy? Isn't he half yours?

But, of course, Sesshomaru's demon blood probably made up for any deficiency in her own... And every pregnancy was different, they'd said. What held true for one, may not hold true for another.

She sighed heavily and slid out of her final robe. Perhaps she had been too hasty hopping into bed with her lord . . . Perhaps he'd been right all along . . . Perhaps it was best they didn't have any more children . . .

But, of course, it was too late for that, now.

She slid the screen open that separated the dressing area from the actual bath and closed it behind her.

Why did she have to be so hard-headed? Hadn't it occurred to her that a man who'd lived for centuries on end, might just know a bit more about the world than her and her seventeen years?

"You stupid, stupid girl."

Rin jumped and turned to the direction of the voice. "Dokumi?"

She emerged from the shadows at the corner of the room, her silver eyes burning brightly. "I tried to be merciful," she said. "I tried to spare your pathetic, little life. But you just wouldn't run off, would you?"

Rin backed away from her, sidestepping the edges of the bath. She was unarmed. She'd left the wardings in the sleeves her robe, and her robes were now in the other room. "What do you want, Dokumi?"

She continued to advance. "So, you and your beloved man have kissed and made up, eh?" she sniffed at the air in front of her.

"I don't know what you intend, but . . ."

"You should've just run off," she said. "Things would've been so much simpler that way. But your kind never knows how to take hint, do they?"

She backed along the side edge of the bath. It was the size of a large lake, large enough for her entire village to bathe in it at once, and still have room left over. "I don't know what you mean," Rin said.

"That's not surprising," she said. "But since you still wish to live with him, you can die with him."

"Nobody's dying."

"Oh?" she pulled a scalpel from the sleeve of her robe. "You first. Then your lord. And then I'll take the child to live with me."

Rin glanced over her shoulder. There was still quite a distance between her and the back wall. "You're talking nonsense," she said. "It's pointless trying to kill me. You know he'll just bring me back . . . And then he'll kill you."

She laughed to herself. "Is that so?" she asked. "In his condition? He was half-dead when I helped you drag him up the stairs. And I doubt that one feeding could've cured him so completely that quickly."

She continued to back away from her. "My lord is strong," she said. "He won't be defeated so easily."

"Easy?" she said. "No. Nothing in this life is ever easy. But the other lords did work him over quite a bit. He wasn't even supposed to live through that battle. He was never to see this castle again. And as for him reviving you, you cannot revive what is not there."

"You make no sense," she said.

She smiled in reply. "Don't I?" she asked. "Do you not recall that my people deal in human organs?"

Her heart jumped, but she refused to show fear.

"Get in the bath," she stopped a few feet in front of her and gestured with the blade of the knife.

"Why?" she demanded.

"It's a special bath," she said. "The last one you'll ever take . . ."

Rin scoffed. "You don't scare me."

Dokumi smiled. "I don't mean to scare you, my lady. I mean to kill you . . . Now, stop being so silly and get the bath."

She took a few more steps away from Dokumi, away from the water. "What did you do to it?"

"I dissolved a sleeping powder into it. You'll get in, you'll get sleepy, and you'll drown."

"Why?" she eyed Dokumi closely. "Why not just cut me into pieces, now?"

"Because you'll scream," she said. "You'll scream and you'll bleed, and he'll want to come see what's wrong." She again advanced on her. "Now, into the bath."

She edged backwards, slowly, but defiantly. She met her gaze straight on. "Why do you do this?" she asked. "Surely, you've wronged me more than I've ever wronged you. Do you want my life that badly?"

"No," she said. "I don't want your life, at all; I want my own. I want my own life back. I want your lord to suffer. And I want to raise Daichi as my own."

"Why! Because I made you beg? I made you cower? I called you all those vile names?"

Dokumi shrugged. "Irrelevant," she said.

"Then why do you do this to me?"

"As I said, I wish your lord to suffer . . ."

"Over a doll! Over rejection?"

She stopped before her and smiled, waving the scalpel inches in front of her throat. "Don't be so silly," she said. "I want revenge for my son."

She shoved Rin into the bath and laughed.