InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Demon Choices ❯ Demon Choices Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: nightstar 
Demons will be demons won't they? Plots and counter plots, deceptions and lie are all part of life aren't they?
And Kagome, reflecting on the disappointments of her life, wonders if the time hasn't come to leave the one being in the world she's always loved.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Occult / Fantasy / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.31.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 12.7K | Visits: 794 | Status: Completed
Demons will be demons won't they? Plots and counter plots, deceptions and lie are all part of life aren't they?
And Kagome, reflecting on the disappointments of her life, wonders if the time hasn't come to leave the one being in the world she's always loved.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Occult / Fantasy / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.31.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 12.7K | Visits: 794 | Status: Completed
Demon Choices R Chapter 3
From the beginning of time demons had traveled by air, water and land depending on their proclivities and abilities. Land and water travel was still unregulated. Air travel was the exception. A demon coming into a part of the world it was not native to by land or sea would be seen from a good distance off and steps could be taken by local demons to assess the new comers intent. Air travel was different. Higher level demons could apparate any place they wanted at any time and there had been many incidents over the centuries where the local demons had something going and a new comer would simply apparate in and take the spoils. Therefore if a demon wanted to travel by air he or she had to put in a destination before permission was granted to travel. This system worked from country to country. Inside a demons own country of origin travel was uninhibited. The best times to travel were in the morning or just before dawn to avoid congestion. There had been several accidents over the centuries because of demons apparating into the same space at the same time and doing damage to each other. Some of these accidents had resulted in international demon wars which caused famine, pestilence and war as the fights spilled over to the humans. When the system to regulate air travel had been initiated to say resistance had been fierce was putting it mildly. The stiffest resistance was from the older demons who saw no reason their movement should be hindered in any shape, form or fashion. They had traveled to distant galaxies the humans were only now beginning to know existed the argument went so why should air travel on this measly planet be regulated. When the demons that regulated air space, the avians and wind demons showed no mercy to any demon violating their rules after a couple of centuries things calmed down and the orderly system they’d imposed functioned smoothly.
Cho had decided to leave the minute Taisho left. The sound of his car’s engine was still audible when she called and placed a reservation to leave for Ethiopiawithin the hour. Once her destination was registered she changed into jeans and sneakers and pulled her hair back before apparating to her departure point, arriving in plenty of time. She had a few minutes to wait so she picked up a popular women’s magazine for demons called “Chic” and she thumbed through it until she was notified that the way was clear for her to go. As she got up to leave she saw another demon, a male, walking in her direction. He was good looking, with long dark hair and a baseball cap perched in a way that would cover ears on the top of one’s head if one was mingling with humans. Their eyes met and he slowed down letting her catch up to him.
“Are you leaving so soon?” he asked.
“I have to get home to my Dad,” ChoEtsusaid evenly trying to ignore the fact that she was falling into the demon’s bronze colored eyes.
“Kinky.”
Cho must’ve turned six shades of red and Chomei watched fascinated as she did. He’d never seen a black woman blush before.
“It’s not that at all,” she managed to stammer out before turning to leave.
“My name is Chomei. When will you be back in Japan?” he asked.
“No time soon,” Cho said recovering somewhat from her embarrassment.
“Where are you going?”
“Ethiopia. My father is AlemNeh.”
“The Great Demon of his area. Didn’t know he had a daughter.”
“It’s not exactly something you’d take out an ad about. I really have to go…”
“I’ll be down to see you soon. What’s your name?”
“MaitaChoEtsu.”
Chomei stared at her. “You came to see Taisho,” he finally said hoping he recovered some of his cool.
Cho smiled broadly and leaned in close to Chomei.
“Leave my name out of that fuckin’ book you’re writing.”
“So you’re the one he’s throwing all his whores over for,” Chomei said looking Cho up and down and liking what he saw.
“I’m related to him you know,” Chomei said with a grin.
“I don’t, so I guess you must be one of the fourth or fifth cousins?”
Chomei laughed at her impudence.
“Taisho doesn’t like his women so feisty. I think you’d better tone yourself down MaitaChoEtsu.”
“He knows what he’s got in me,” Cho said.
“Hey, we’re both ‘Cho’. I like that.”
“Talking about cheap thrills,” ChoEtsumuttered as she walked away. Chomei watched her, loving the sway of her ass.
“Look,” he said catching up with her.
“You don’t really wanna run home to Daddy because Taisho showed you what an asshole he is do you? I know this club just for our kind where we can have a real nice time.”
“I don’t think…”
“Dancing. That’s all. You can leave during the day tomorrow.”
“I don’t think so…what was your name again?”
Chomei laughed and slipped his hand around her waist.
“I like you ChoEtsu. And with an ass like yours you should be in a club not out at that dreary estate of Taisho’s watching grass grow.”
Cho smiled in spite of herself.
“Come on. Let’s go have some fun,” Chomei said smiling broadly enough to show his incisors. Cho Etsu was impressed with them and smiled back letting him know she was no slouch in that department before linking her arm with Chomei’s and heading out of the lounge, holding on to Chomei as he apparated them away from the Demonport.
To human senses the breeze that sighed through the trees brought memories of loves present and past, of the sweet summer nights to come, and for the young, the days when the two would be combined. For the demon ruler of the North the wind brought the scent of blood and she sighed contentedly, a blissful expression on her face. Sakura, the Demon Queen of the North felt the blood rush in her veins and her body stir with emotion. The male at her side lazily traced a sharp claw down her arm making her growl deeply in her chest. In one movement he mounted her, his penis slipping into her willing body while his mouth found hers. Taking her bottom lip in his teeth he scratched it with his fangs before kissing her, the metallic taste of blood mingling with their saliva. The bloody scent on the breeze grew stronger as Sakura groaned under Kouga’s body, their motions becoming more heated as the sounds of death now followed hard on the scent of blood.
“Sakura!!!” Kouga cried, the last syllable of her name ending in a wolf’s howl of pleasure as Kouga began to transform. Sakura feeling her lover’s change began to do the same, winding up on all fours with her lover mounted on her back, his manhood knotted firmly inside of her. Sakura’s cries of pleasure mingled with the screams of the packs victims as a violent shudder shook her from head to toe. Kouga felt as if his whole being was buried in Sakura, the female he loved, the female he’d risked everything for, his standing with the wolves, with the Demon Lord of the South, and ultimately Sakura’s life. These thoughts screamed through his head as the blood lust of the pack grew stronger and the feeding frenzy began. Nothing existed now except the red haze behind his eyes, the fire in his loins, and the surrender of the female canine he was mated with. Sakura, the Demon Queen as she was called in these parts, only surrendered to him, to his need and hers which even after all this time still ruled their relationship. As their passion cooled and he was able to pull out of her both demons reverted to human form and Sakura stroked his chest, her light gold eyes still passion glazed, her white hair styled in a short spiky style identical to his black hair her head resting on his black clad chest while she looked over at the human woman who cowered in the corner, her eyes reflecting the insanity that had taken possession of her mind.
“Do you want her Kouga?” Sakura sighed.
“Do you want me to want her?” he asked nibbling her ear.
“Are you sated?”
“For now, yes.”
The woman no longer struggled but sat limply in her own waste, vacant eyes staring at her captors.
“I think we should leave her Kouga. Let the humans find her like this. I think it’ll make them think about crossing us again.”
The pack, finished feeding on what had been the Tanakafamily was now snoozing or cleaning themselves.
Sakura stood and Kouga followed, his arm wrapped around her waist.
“Leave the human woman alive,” Sakura said, her face partially transformed so that her eyes glowed red and her long fangs showed. Turning she walked over to where the woman cowered and licked the woman’s thigh before biting her. Turning a blood stained face to the pack she smiled, blood dripping from her fangs.
“If anyone touches her they answer to me.”
With that she and Kouga took off. The pack, gathering itself, drifted back into the forest leaving the bloody clearing to speak for itself.
Kouga had arrived at Sakura’s court during the feudal era on a mission decreed by her half brother, Yukio, Demon Lord of the South. Life-mated with Yukio’s mother Yore, he’d sired a daughter Eri with her, he’d had no intention of getting involved with Sakura, daughter of the TaiYoukaiSesshoumaruwho was the father of Yukio, son of the same Yore. Yore saw herself as the power behind the throne when it came to her son, who had been raised without his father’s influence while Yore’s father, Yemon, ruled the south backed by the power of the wolf clans. Yemon had been old but hardly infirm when Yore, annoyed that he would not cede power to her poisoned him. But the clans would not accept her and she had put her intellectually inclined, totally unprepared son into her fathers shoes figuring that he would follow her dictates. But Yukio had proven that he was indeed the son of the Great Demon and slowly outmaneuvered his mother until he was undisputed ruler of the South. Sesshoumaru had not interfered and let Yukio seize power in his own way. Once it became apparent that Yukio would succeed Sesshoumaru had stepped out of the shadows and publicly acknowledged Yukio as his. Yore had been furious but unable to stand against the two powerful demons. The only influence she still had was over his personal life, or so she thought. Yukio had taken a human lover, a scholar like himself, and despite his forced marriage to Hotaru, daughter of a prominent wolf demon who had proven to be barren, and his taking as a concubine another female Chiyo, also from an influential family, he still kept his human lover and had throughout all of the following centuries.
Kouga stirred in his sleep, he still slept canine style, wrapped in on himself except that Sakura lay entwined with him, the memories floating dream like in his mind.
A plot had been discovered quite by accident, a plot against the TaiYoukai and his family that was being fomented by Isas, an insect demon in human form, Fitai, son of a boar demon Sakura had killed during the securing of her domain, and other disgruntled demons, all of whom hated the fact that hanyou were ruling two of the four domains. The conspirators wanted to involve the wolf clans and were actively recruiting. Kouga held power over the clans in the South and knew they were loyal to Lord Yukio because of Yore, a full blooded wolf demon, and him, her life mate. Yukio wanted to know what was going on in the North and to warn Sakura of the possible threat.
But the Demon Queen, attired formally in a stiff kimono, her long white hair arranged artfully to frame her delicate face and body, had met his eyes with frank curiosity, her lips parting as she looked him over from head to toe. Her consort, Takaaki, had growled and narrowed his eyes seeing the attraction between the two canines.
“So you’re the Kouga we hear so much about,” she’d said, her voice sounding like the tinkling bells the humans were so fond of. He had bowed formally and she had accepted his obeisance.
“I come at the behest of Lord Yukio, Demon Lord of the South,” Kouga had said formally. “The matter I wish to discuss with you must be delivered privately,” Kouga said his eyes going to Takaaki, whose stance indicated that he was not moving from his lovers side.
“Takaaki is to be trusted,” Sakura said, amusement creeping into her voice as she glanced at Takaaki whose hair was standing almost on end. Looking over Kouga’s head she commanded that the trio be left alone. A sentinel, a demon able to pick up thoughts and probes directed towards the inner sanctum stood outside. If something were to go wrong inside, it was fully capable of killing almost any demon alive. Their breed made Kouga nervous but this was Sakura’s realm and she ruled as she saw fit.
Sakura kept her eyes on Kouga as he spoke barely moving a muscle and when he finished she made a show of adjusting her kimono. Kouga made note of her delicate feminine actions and had to drag his eyes away from what he could see of her body under the layers of expensive silk.
“Takaaki is uniting the wolf clans here. He’s going on a mission tonight to subdue a recalcitrant clan. I think you should go with him.”
“My Lady…”
“The matter is settled Takaaki. Kouga will go with you.”
Both Kouga and Takaaki had transformed to wolf form and left Sakura’s den just as darkness fell, the wolves loyal to Takaaki trailing behind them. The clan they were visiting tonight was a few kilometers away and the wolves ran silently through the snow, their paws breaking the thin icy crust that covered the frozen precipitation, a full moon looking down on them. Catching the other clan in its sleep the fight had been bloody but the outcome certain. As the fight ended, Kouga let Takaaki kill the clan leader. A golden wolf, her pelt glistening under the full moon crawled over to Takaaki and lay down so that her back was to him. Her gesture of submission wasn’t lost on either demon and neither were the implications of what it meant. Both Kouga and Takaaki knew she was in heat and that as the mate of the now deceased leader she, the dominant female, was giving over herself to be bred to the new clan leader, Takaaki. Takaaki knew that Kouga would go back to the den, and that he would mate Sakura. Still in wolf form, blood staining their fur and dripping from their fangs, the two male wolves looked at each other in understanding. This would be the easy way, Takaaki technically would not know since he’d be otherwise occupied, and it would save Lady Sakurafrom having to kill her consort. When Kouga left to return to the south Takaaki would return to the den. With a triumphant snort Kouga lifted his nose and howled at the sky before turning and running at full speed back to where Sakura waited.
Kouga shifted back to human form as he entered the part of the den where Sakura slept. Stink from blood and sweat he dove into the cold water of a nearby stream cleansing himself. Once he was dry he let his hair to fall free while accepting the pale blue yukata a serving demon gave him before going inside to where Sakura lay waiting for him.
Sakura had been nervous. There was always the chance that the two males, using the heat of battle as an excuse, would turn on each other with one of them ending up dead. They were both huge in wolf form and equally vicious. She knew Takaaki felt as if he deserved the title of consort and acted as if he was her official mate. Granted she’d never given him any reason to think otherwise but the title had not been formally given.
The memory of how Kouga had devoured her with his eyes made her warm all over and sighing she ordered that her maid come to her. Ema bowed deeply before entering her mistress’s room. Everyone had seen the heat between Kouga and their Queen and so Ema had come prepared with rose scented water with which to bathe Sakura and wash her hair.
“Will my lady require a formal kimono?” Emi asked, her eyes lowered as Sakura demanded she do in her presence.
“No. A sky blue yukata will suffice,” Sakura said calmly as she held out her arms for Emi to slip the blue silk over her body.
“Leave me,” she snapped and Emi did as she was told backing out of the niche that the demon Queen used as her private chamber although calling it a niche didn’t do it any justice. It was huge, and Sakura had chosen it for the privacy it afforded.
The thought had crossed her mind to send something to watch and giver her advance warning of the outcome of the sortie but that was not really what she wanted to know. She needed to know which wolf would come back to her. She had not sent anything but now she was impatient. She was just about to summon a messenger when she heard a discrete scratch outside the entrance to the niche. She was not properly dressed so she asked what the demon wolf wanted.
“My Lady, I thought you would like to know that Lord Kougahas returned.”
The minion couldn’t see the smile that crossed Sakura’s face even as her female body reacted to what she knew was now to come. Kouga had tamed Yore, a hellion even her sire had not wanted any part of, and now she was going to find out why. Even if he hadn’t been attracted to her she would’ve found a way to mate with him, even if it had to be in spirit form in the open. There was no way Kouga was going back south without sharing her bed, and hopefully siring a pup with her.
The last image Kouga had had of Sakura had been in her formal white and red silk kimono, her hair formally done. She was not formally dressed now, her yukata of sky blue silk matched his and she reclined on her side watching him, her golden eyes now having a smoky tint. His nose told him she was ready for him, that she was in heat. Sakura sat up and held out a cup of sake to him.
“I trust things went well,” she said watching him drink.
“Yes. The clan is subdued and they know that the wolves of the south are united with the wolf clans under Takaaki’s sway.”
Sakura smiled a deadly smile and leaned back so that Kouga could see the swell of her breasts. The yukata left nothing to the imagination and she saw his reaction to what he was seeing.
“Takaaki has no sway,” she said licking her lips. “He works for me.”
“My Queen, I thought…”
“He shares my bed, nothing more.”
Kouga now understood why she had no pups for Takaaki and he wondered if the demon knew his true status.
“My Lady, you are truly a ruler.”
“I was raised by the TaiYoukaiSesshoumaruto be his equal in every way. What else can I be?” she snapped, her eyes blazing.
“A female that needs to be shown what it’s like to be loved by a demon worthy of her,” Kouga said putting his cup aside and crawling over to her. Taking her in his arms he kissed the unresisting female deeply, his clawed fingers raking over her distended nipples while his penis lay between them. His tongue linked with hers as they sucked and licked each other in anticipation of their joining. Sakura arched her back asking for him to take her but Kouga ignored her movement instead gently laying her back and using his long rough tongue licking her from her neck to her breasts. His tongue wrapped around each nipple in turn making Sakura cry out in spite of herself as her body betrayed her and spasmed in orgasm, her fluids coating her inner thighs. Before she could catch her breath she felt his tongue tickle at her navel before brushing across her dripping wet labia. When his tongue plunged deep inside of her even as his fangs raked her clitoris Sakura’s body ended up off the ground, her long hair hanging down on it as she shuddered in Kouga’s arms. He lapped her dry and then kissed her mouth letting her taste herself for the first time. The position of his body over hers let her feel the heat from his rock hard flesh and she raked her claws over his back. That could not be her calling some demon’s name, begging him to take her, to fuck her, to make her his. Low class demons begged, not Sakura, Demoness of the North, Queen of all she surveyed. She, Sakura did not beg.
But beg she did, her eyes open and pleading with the blue eyed wolf to make her his, to plant his seed in her and be her lover. With triumph in his eyes Kouga shifted his hips back and in one motion buried himself inside of his Queen, the lover he’d been looking for. There was no Kagome, no Yore, no one but this beauty, hanyou daughter of the demon called TaiYoukai by all of demon kind. Her head was flailing side to side, her white silken hair a sweat dampened mess and the golden eyes were gone from view, rolled back in her head as she gave him the ride of his life. Again and again he bottomed out in her, again and again she came now screaming his name and writhing like a female should in submission to his lust. As his penis leapt depositing his seed into her womb she was babbling incoherently, her legs now pulled back against her chest as she whimpered and cried in joy. Knot firmly in place now he continued to cum inside of her still moving, still needy body. Sakura’s arms and legs fell bonelessly to her side as waves of pleasure swept through her body. Never had she been sexed like this, and she never wanted it to end. When Kouga’s knot went down their mixed fluids flowed into the now sodden straw underneath them. Sakura felt empty without him inside of her but right now she couldn’t move, closing her eyes and moving into his warmth, his arms around her holding her to him. He could never leave her.
But late the next morning he did. Sakura stood at her private entrance watching until even his dust cloud faded from view. Hair down, dressed in a yukata, she turned sad eyes away from the scene outside her home. Both demons knew the meaning of her surrender and that right now nothing except the life growing inside of her could be done about it. In a few weeks she would be heavy with his pup and unable to leave and lead her forces, something Takaaki had to do for her. Seven months from the day they’d mated Sakura went into labor, attended by Emi and no one else. Not even her mother had been told of her pregnancy because Rin would’ve told Sesshoumaru who would know the pup was Kouga’s and probably kill it. The birth was as hard as her own had been but Sakura was determined to tough it out. Her cries of pain echoed in her den and finally one of the older females took it upon herself to get a human midwife from the nearby village. The pup was turned the wrong way and while Sakura snarled and tried to bite the human woman the woman put her hands inside and turned the pup around. Less than a minute after being turned the right way the pup came into the world. Sakura looked down at the baby demon, a female like her but with Kouga’s coloring. Shifting form she licked her pup dry before reverting to human form and placing her at her breast. She looked at the human woman and then at the one who had brought her.
“Thank you,” she said to the female wolf. “You may do with her as you please.”
“Thank you My Lady,” the older female said bowing before dragging the human woman out into the main court. Her death was merciful and she provided food for he female and her family for a few days. In spite of her will Sakura had been laid up for over a month during which time she bonded with her daughter, Sakue, who showed every day that she would be a worthy grand daughter to the TaiYoukai.
Sakura shifted and sighed Kouga’s name in her sleep and Kouga slitted his eyes open, pulling her closer and resting his head on her back before falling into what for both of them was now dreamless sleep.
Katai, youngest son of Kouga and Sakura, sat at a table near the back of the club sipping an imported single malt whiskey. His silky white hair fell to his shoulders and covered his ears allowing only his lobes to show. In them he wore plain gold hoops which showed when he turned his head the right way. Despite the earrings there was nothing effeminate about Katai, something many demons had found out the hard way. The youkai marks on his face were partially hidden by the hair and the ones on his hips by his jeans which hung just low enough to be in style. Sakue had the slim build handed down by the TaiYoukai but Katai had the powerful build of the his sire so while he was slim, every inch of him was pure toned muscle. He also had his mother’s golden eyes which were now hidden behind sunglasses that cost some humans yearly salary.
Katai sat alone watching the scene, his face a mask. After Chomei he was considered the most ruthless of the younger set and only because he was younger than Chomei by about twenty human years. In fact the reason he was even in this club was because he’d heard Chomei was in town and Chomei loved this place. If Chomei was in town again it meant the last shit he’d pulled had been if not forgiven at least put aside for now by the family and once again Chomei was being given a chance at redemption by Yukio. The young female demon at his side slid her hand over his thigh and caressed his penis interrupting his thoughts and making him look up sharply. He removed her hand and leaned over kissing her cheek trying to remember her name.
“Later sweet,” he said softly before turning his eyes back to the dance floor.
Chomei had gone to the Demonport to see an old friend, another demon scholar he knew, off for a visit to what was now called Korea but what had been known as Chosun at one point. This demon was trying to promote a conference of scholars of ancient demon history which many scholars both human and demon were interested in all across Asia. There were some human scholars involved but the demons, not wanting to expose too much to non demon eyes kept them on the fringes of their movement. Many of these humans were involved romantically with demons and wanted to know more. Haru felt that the conference would come off by the end of the year and was very excited about it.
Once Haru left Chomei had turned to see the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on walking towards him, the very same woman who was now sitting next to him in his car, her legs crossed and her eyes fixed on the road in front of her. That his cousin had been with her, that he was in fact planning to marry her made his possible liaison with her that much more exciting for him. Taisho was a pompous ass as far as Chomei was concerned. Brutal, yes, murderous, yes, double faced, yes, but pompous still described him to a tee. The only one of the cousins able to pull off humble were Higurashi Aiko and her brother , Hideo, Inu Yasha’s first children with the miko Kagome and they did it because they were truly more human than not since Inu Yasha was hanyou. But the youngest of the Higurashi’s, Inu Ken, or Ken, was true youkai, something no one could or would explain to anyone’s satisfaction. Ken, the baby Higurashi, had been raised by Sesshoumaru as a demon much to Kagome’s ire. His age was the only thing keeping him out of the competition between the older group of cousins. They’d all have to watch their backs when he finally matured.
“Second thoughts?” Chomei asked Cho, who turned her eyes from the road to meet his.
“Why should I be having second thoughts? I’m going dancing, nothing more.”
“What has Taisho told you about his family?”
“Not much.”
“I see.”
“If you want to chicken out…”
Chomei laughed exposing his sharp canines again and Cho wondered what it would be like to kiss him and have those fangs rake over her body while he made love to her. She quickly pushed the thought out of her mind, he was a relative of Taisho’s after all, and uncrossed her legs before crossing them again. The move gave nothing away but Chomei scented her desire and knew that by the time this night was over the beauty next to him would be riding his cock. Maybe the idiot Taisho hadn’t had her yet and the thought of Taisho having to go through his cum to have her thrilled him to no end. He had been angry at Sesshoumaru for putting him under his protection. He could take care of himself Chomei thought to himself. If Sakura and Taisho ganged up on Yukio he felt that Sakura and Taisho combined could beat their brother and leave the way open for him, Chomei, to attain power. He knew he might have to kill his father on his own but he also felt that it would be a case of kill or be killed. Yukio was sick of the “problems” Chomei and his family caused him and killing them was his only option.
“That word is only in my vocabulary because the animal exists,” Chomei said in response to Cho’s comment that he wanted to chicken out. Just to mess with Cho Chomei hit the next turn sharply causing her to lose her poise and slide into him, her hands as he knew they would, ending up sliding over his partial erection. Cho gasped and pulled her hands away as if she’d touched hot coals. Seeing she was blushing Chomei decided to play it cool for now and pretended he hadn’t noticed the well manicured fingers slight caress before they’d pulled away from his groin.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” she said her voice husky.
“I’m fine.”
“Good. Sorry about that.”
As he parked Chomei wondered to himself if he was ready to take on the TaiYoukai, who would not let his son’s death go unpunished if it came to be, and if he was the one to do it.
“You know you can still chicken out,” Cho said pushing her hair back as she fell in next to him.
“And if you say that one more time I’m going to have to punish you,” Chomei said taking her hand and pulling her close before wrapping his arm around her waist. Their lips were too close not to kiss and they did, Chomei feeling his control slip as he tasted the sweetest honey he’d ever known. For her part Cho felt as if she were drowning and when their lips parted she was grateful for the strong arm still around her waist.
“The night is young Cho. Let’s dance. We’ve got time for anything else afterwards.”
Nodding, not trusting herself to speak, Cho let Chomei lead her into the club. There was no line outside like in some places. This was a demon’s only club. There had always been demon groupies, they’d just never been called that before, and so there were some humans in the club but demon’s predominated. As canines they both reacted to the number of scents which assailed them and while Cho didn’t recognize any of them Chomei did and looked around the club, his eyes searching for the white hair that predominated in some parts of his family. When he found it he saw the possessor staring right at him, a smirk playing on his lips. Chomei began to walk and Cho followed him to where another extremely handsome man sat with some female at his side who looked very annoyed at their sitting down at the table.
Katai knew who Cho was the minute he laid eyes on her. The only surprise was that she was with Chomei and not Taisho. Katai smiled but not wide enough to show his fangs. This was a public place after all.
“Chomei. When did you get in?”
“Yesterday actually,” he said ordering himself a beer and Cho a white wine.
“Cho, this is my cousin, Katai. Katai, Cho Etsu.”
“Cho Etsu. You’re not from around here are you? »
“I’m from Ethiopia,” she said calmly, her poise back. “Why are you wearing sunglasses inside?” she asked making Chomei smile.
“I feel like it,” Katai stated. “Are you always so bold?”
Chomei was openly grinning now.
“I’ve told her some demons don’t like their females so feisty.”
“And you do?” Katai asked raising an eyebrow before turning to look directly at Cho, who felt uncomfortable under his stare even if it was coming from behind expensive sunglasses.
“I’m not changing myself for anyone. I wasn’t raised totally in Japanso I don’t know how to be what some expect of me. I’m sure if they wanted that they would stick with what they have here.”
Katai laughed and Chomei joined in. Cho took the time to try and probe both of them while they were distracted by their own cleverness. Their drinks arrived and Cho stopped her probe not sure what the young Lords could and could not do. They were not part of the mer race like Kado, Kame, and Kiyoshi so maybe they didn’t have the ability to probe or stop a probe she thought to herself sipping her drink. The female with Katai had gone back to massaging his groin and he to enjoying it so Cho turned her attention to Chomei.
“You like this place,” she said giving him a smile. She knew from her preliminary probe that this was his favorite hang out.
“It’s okay. I used to come here a lot when I lived here full time.”
“Why don’t you live here? I was wondering why you were at the Demonport?”
“I was seeing a friend off. This may surprise you but I’m really more well known in demon intellectual circles than the party circuit.”
“You seem to fit in well here for a nerd.”
“I didn’t say I was a nerd…”
“Bah. All those long manuscripts where no monk ever said what they meant are boring.”
“There are some very interesting demon scrolls in your country.”
“I know. The humans are fascinated with us even as they want to restrict us. Let something go wrong and see how fast they high tail it to us.”
“That is true all over the world. The Gods hate us for that.”
“Them?”
“They have given us a lot of problems and with the Exterminators now a world wide phenomenon...”
Cho leaned in and this time didn’t pretend that it was an accident that she touched him.
“I thought we came here to have fun?” she said softly. “I want to dance.”
“Then let’s,” he said, taking her hand and leading her to the floor. By the time they left the club they had flirted and teased each other to the point that there was no question where they would end up. Taking her in his arms and with hers draped around his neck while her head rested on his chest he apparated into his apartment. No Yukio was waiting this time so he put her down gently before pulling her close.
“You can still leave with your virtue intact and my uncle still first in your heart.”
“Virtue?” Cho asked using her fangs to nip his bottom lip before slipping her hand on his now unashamedly hard penis.
“I want this inside of me,” she sighed into his mouth. In one motion Chomei lifted her from the floor using one clawed finger to slice her clothes from her body before floating the two of them into his bedroom. She was pulling his clothes off and when he lowered her to the bed they were both naked. Chomei suckled one breast while he rolled the other nipple between his fingers. Cho had already shuddered through two orgasms when with no warning he slid into her, bottoming out at the entrance to her womb. Her nails dug deep into his back as she responded to him with a part of herself she’d never known was there. Later as they lingered in the afterglow of their lovemaking she wondered if that part of her, the part that had screamed and begged and clawed had been held back for a demon like this one. Despite his bluster he was a sensitive and attentive lover and she knew now that what he’d said about himself was true, that he was an intellectually inclined being. It was also true that he was very angry about the slights he felt the rest of the family gave to him and his siblings as well as his Lady mother and that a large part of his seducing her had been about getting back at Taisho. Now it was about something else, something neither one of them had been looking for when they’d begun this little game. She felt him shift and move slightly away from her and she cried out her eyes flashing open wondering what she’d done to make him want to leave her.
“Chomei…”
“Shhh. I just moved so I could hold you better,” he said, his bronze eyes memorizing every part of her face.
“Do you want me to leave?” she asked unable to keep the hurt she felt out of her voice. It was a while before he answered with his voice after kissing her so passionately he brought her close to climax again.
“My mother is a wolf demon and that part of me wants this to be a life mating. But I can’t do that yet Cho. There’s so much I have to do…”
He stroked the hair out of her face and brushed her swollen lips with his.
“And you belong to another demon, my uncle.”
“He…”
“He’s an asshole sometimes, especially when his little plans don’t go like he wants them to, but he’s talked about you nonstop since he met you. He’s put aside his consort for you…”
“He treated me like an idiot when I came here with my news.”
“News?”
“My stepmother Brehane seems to be involved in some worldwide plot to bring down the TaiYoukai and all of your family.” Chomei noticed the shift in her words from teasingly uncertain of his lineage to certainty but kept it to himself deciding he’d have to find out more about this woman he was close to life mating.
“Why?”
“They feel we’re settling for too little, that the world is ripe for us to do what we do best, create havoc and dissension. The existing order is too conservative in their opinion.” Chomei could think of six wars that had been fomented by demon kind and wondered where the too conservative talk was coming from. Did they want another atomic bomb dropped somewhere?
“You told this to Taisho?” Chomei asked, surprised that this demoness was at the center of his reasons for being back in Japan.
“He told me it was nonsense but he took me to see Lord Inu Yasha, who was very interested in my news,” Cho said bitterly.
“I see.”
Chomei sat up and Cho knew what was coming.
“You’re going to tell me we can’t see each other again aren’t you?”
Chomei looked at her and cupped her face between his hands.
“I didn’t think it would be like this between us Cho. I thought it would be fun, a way to get back at Taisho for all the shit he’s done to us over the years, but you…”
He cut himself off and they sat holding each other for a while in silence.
“I stay in enough trouble with the family and from what you’re saying the last thing we need right now is for more dissension between us. This happened, we can’t say it didn’t, but it doesn’t have to happen again.”
“Oh yes it does Chomei. Make love to me one more time before we part. Please?”
Later he watched as she showered, dressed and picked up her bag.
“Where will you go now?”
“Home to my father. When Taisho is ready he’ll come for me.”
The thought of Cho in bed with Taisho made his eyes go red in anger. Cho saw his reaction and smiled.
“The TaiYoukai has spoken to my father already Chomei. I can’t shame him.”
With that she was gone and Chomei walked over to the window looking out at the city now called Tokyo. He was a demon, he had no human blood in his veins, and yet he had acted like a human right out of one of their movies. He knew if he moved fast enough he could get to the Demonport and bring her back home to him. He also knew if he did that he would split the family wide open. He was alive because of the TaiYoukai. His uncle and aunt had wanted to kill him at the end of the nineteenth human century. It was now the twenty first century, he was back in Japan, and he’d fallen for a demoness who was forbidden to him. That she seemed to love him too didn’t make it any easier for him to live with this choice he’d made. If he split the family it would make it easy for their enemies to pick them off. His sire was giving him another chance and right now it was all he had to hold onto. Maybe, in time, he’d forget about the beautiful woman who had taken his heart with her when she left.
Taisho watched the tapes from the club in silence. The Higa family had an unstated piece of this place and every morning a tape of the previous night’s goings on was delivered to him. Inu Yasha’s son Hideo also reviewed the tape. Katai had been there, a family member was always somewhere in the club and not wanting to see Katai’s latest girlfriend in action he was ready to forward when he saw Chomei come in with a very familiar female in tow. Taisho growled as he saw the two flirt and kiss. The Demon Lord’s eyes were blood red by the time he saw them leave and he wasted no time in going to Chomei’s apartment not even thinking of the propriety of the Demon Lord of the East barging into his nephew’s apartment in a fit of jealous rage. Chomei was stretched out on the floor watching some pornographic anime when Taisho appeared in front of him blocking his view.
“Where is she?” Taisho roared, grabbing the younger demon by the throat.
“Who???” Chomei asked eyes wide.
“ChoEtsu. Don’t fuck with me Chomei. Where the hell is she???”
”My Lord, calm down. We danced, we had some fun, but she was very upset about something and she left for her home after we left the club. Nothing happened.” Chomei was glad he’d showered and put the bed linens through the wash. “She was here damn it. Her scent is everywhere.” “Look, I’m not gonna say I didn’t try but she’s yours. She told me what would she want with me when she loved the Demon Lord? It hurt, but I let her go.” There was a lie in there, Taisho knew it, but like the lies he told to angry fiancés or the husbands of the many females he’d bedded it was so mixed in with the truth he, the cuckold this time, couldn’t prove anything. Taisho threw the younger demon to the floor. “If I ever find out you laid a finger on her I will kill you, my sire be damned.” With that Taisho left and Chomei stood up and went into his kitchen to get a beer. It was early, but he needed one. He knew Taisho and he knew that if he did ever find out that he and Cho had slept together his life would be forfeit. He’d heard the TaiYoukai say once that Taisho was an egoist and that that was his weakness. Despite himself Chomei found himself thinking about Cho and hoping that she would appreciate the lie he’d told to save both their lives. Matsu looked up from her canvas and closed her eyes, listening to the quiet. There had been a noise, one that human ears wouldn’t have picked up and she had been raised to pay attention to every noise no matter how slight. It was one of the things her sire had pounded into her and her brother, one of the only things he’d taught all five of his offspring. It seemed the noise was that of a bird alighting on a nearby branch and causing some of the snow to fall. Relaxing she opened her eyes and looked at what she had been painting. Over the years Matsuhad used many names in order to sell her artwork. Her cousin Jiro would choose the name and create the biography for her incarnations so it was funny sometimes to pick up a book or read an article on Japanese art and see one of her older identities mentioned. Her three siblings, Lords Yukio and Taisho as well as the Demon Queen Sakurawent to great lengths to keep her existence a secret. They did the same thing for her brother Akihiro, the baby of their family. At the present time her name was MaedaJun.Akihiroand his wife Gin were renowned scholars and they needed aliases too. Akihiro’s was KozueYamato. His wife was KozueRuito the public. Thinking of Gin made Matsu think of her husband Manobu, a man she had married in the 1970’s, she was bad with years thinking more in terms of decades, when he was close to forty and who had died a little over three years ago. The loneliness inside of her hurt sometimes but she had decided not to marry another human. Manobu had been her third human husband and after seeing three humans die she didn’t want to go through the pain again. But she had never even considered being with a demon much to her father’s chagrin and her mother’s worry. She had not seen her siblings in a long time and she knew that meant things were not good for the family. They often visited even if for a short time just to talk to her. They often told her about their feelings, about the loneliness of being heads of domains, of their mates, the disappointments with their offspring, and they also talked about their childhoods. Of the three Yukio seemed to have the happiest memories because he was deemed too stupid to run a domain by his mother and allowed to pursue knowledge until circumstances overtook him. Her full brother and sister told her stories of her sire that made her blood run cold. She wondered how Rin-sama had allowed such barbarism to be used against her children when she’d done nothing but make sure the Renjiro showed her and Akihiro the world and all its glories. “You don’t know our sire,” Sakura had told her during one such visit. “He is a demon, a demon that is feared and loathed by all demon kind which is what he wants.” “But he was only father to us.” Sadness had come into Sakura’s eyes and she’d looked away. “You don’t know how many nights all I wanted was my father and mother.” Akihiro said that Taisho and Sakura were jealous of them and she had asked him how that could be when they were the ones their father doted on, not the two of them. That had been until Sesshoumaru, she thought about him as an abstract being when she dealt with his excesses, had been annoyed at something Taisho had done. She had been at the house talking to her sire when Taisho apparated in. Without even breaking his train of thought Sesshoumaru had knocked Taisho through the wall of his house before moving with speed she’d never seen before and proceeding to beat his son unmercifully. When he let up Taisho left the same way he’d come and Sesshoumaru had arranged his yukata and resumed his conversation with her. It had been the first time she’d seen that side of him and to this day it shook her to her core to know that all the things her brother and sister said were true. “Matsuare you all right?” Startled by the unexpected male voice Matsusnarled and partially transformed until she saw the voice belonged to her brother Akihiro. “Don’t scare me like that Aki!!!” “I told you I was coming Matsu. You were really looking like you were going through changes.” “I was,” she smiled, now back in human form. “I was thinking about that time Father beat the shit out of Taisho and how he scared me. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen him like that.” “Why are you thinking about that now?” Aki asked taking a seat on one of the pillows his sister had placed on the floor. “When is the last time you saw Sakura or Taisho?” Aki leaned back on his elbow and looked at his sister. He had the white hair and golden eyes that ran in the family but he wore his mother’s face. He didn’t hide his crescent moon and let his hair fall so that it framed his face. Like his father and uncle, he wore it very long. “It has been awhile. I wonder if everything is all right?” “They haven’t come to tell us to disappear so barring that I think we’re okay.” “Maybe, maybe not. I got a strange e-mail from a friend in Pyongyang. It seems that they’re holding some kind of conference in Seouland all the top demon scholars are coming.” “And not you?” “I didn’t know anything about it.” “Did you talk to Uncle Inu Yasha?” “Not yet.” “Of course he may be on it.” “Of course.” They were silent for a few minutes, something they often did that unnerved their siblings. Because they had been raised together and often only had each other for company they’d grown used to letting each other think and work something out without interruption or speech passing between them. “What about our family could be so special that you would be excluded by your peers Aki? It doesn’t make sense.” He stretched out and looked at his sister, his eyes neutral. “Our sire has lots of secrets and so does Uncle Inu Yasha.” “Not the swords…” “More than that Matsu. There’s always been something they’ve kept hidden. Our Lady mother shouldn’t be alive now and she is. We’re full demon, born from a supposedly human woman. We should be hanyou like our siblings, leaving Yukio out of course.” “So something happened between Sakura and Taisho being born and us being born.” “Other than the matter of a few hundred years? Hell yeah.” “So what do you intend to do?” “Talk to our Uncle and find out what the hell they’re discussing in Seoul.” Haru was met at the Seoul Demonport by several friends, fellow scholars who had come from Japan to discuss something one of them had found while reading a manuscript he’d found in the ruins of a Shinto temple. Seeing that Haru was distressed the others held their questions until they arrived in the dimension where the conference would be held. “What the hell is wrong?” one of his friends asked. “HigaChomeicame to see me off.” “And?” “It’s as if he knew about the conference, about what we’re going to discuss.” “What are we going to discuss Haru? You called this meeting and put all the restrictions on it.” Haru looked at his three friends and took a deep breath. “What if I told you that there is an artifact, a jewel that holds the secret of why Sesshoumaru was able to seize power and hold it? That this bauble is the reason all demon kind bow to him and his family, and may be the reason why he’s been able to keep his human pet alive all these years?” Waotaka looked skeptical. “If something like that existed wouldn’t everyone know about it?” he sneered. “Not necessarily. It’s called the Shikon Jewel, and was guarded by a miko. According to the scroll there was a titanic battle for possession of it and all the manuscript says is that the “son of the great Inu Gami took possession of it and joined with the miko. Thus it was lost to the world and youkai”. “And?” “Isn’t it obvious?” “No Haru, it’s not,” Waotaka sighed. “Let’s sit down and look at the evidence you’ve gathered.” Two hours later Haru had convinced two of his peers that further research into this jewel was warranted. Waotaka was still not sure. Haru met everyone’s eyes before speaking again. “I’ve contacted a priest who says that he’s done research into this particular shrine and said that it was once guarded by a male and a female priest, and that they guarded one thing, and that it was human. I have a meeting with him tomorrow.” “You’re not going alone?” Waotaka asked. “I have to. He’s old and he says he needs to pass his secret on. He said I was sent to him and therefore I’m the only one he can talk to. If he dies the secret dies with him.” “So how will we know what you tell us is what he tells you?” “Since when is my word not good my friend?” Waotaka backed down. “When will you meet him?”
”Next week. I’ll tell you whatever I can as soon as I can.” Inu Yasha listened as the demon talked about the conference near Seoul. Waotaka was one of the informants, Inu Yasha hated to use the word spy, he had in the intellectual world. He’d started recruiting people there because of Akihiro and Matsuwho were active in intellectual circles no matter the age. He hated them because they tended to be arrogant and dismissive of anyone who wasn’t like them. The last thing he’d expected was to find out that some of the egg heads were on the trail of the Shikon Jewel. “Do you think any of this wild story is legit? Some jewel that magnifies power?” Inu Yasha said disdainfully. “Who knows? Haru has been acting really crazy lately, obsessed. I guess this jewel thing has him excited.” Inu Yasha knew he had to play this right or all would be lost. “Do you know what priest he’s going to talk to?” Inu Yasha asked looking down at his claws. “No. He made a point not to tell us. Said the priest was living near what had been an old shrine that housed a very precious human. He thinks it’s the TaiYoukai’s mate who was hidden there.” Inu Yasha turned and looked at Waotaka, the golden eyes sharp. “Keep me informed.” “Of course my Lord,” Waotaka bowed. As Waotaka left he scratched idly at his neck. Inu Yasha smiled and went back inside his compound. Kagome looked at herself in the 360 degree mirror. The skirt fit her perfectly and showed off her slim figure. She smiled as Inu Yasha came in and leaned against the door frame watching her. “Do you like?” He smiled and walked over to her wrapping his arms around her tiny waist. “I like.” “Inu Yasha…” Kagome smiled reaching back to touch the silken white hair that she loved. She turned to face him and fell into his kiss letting him take her bottom lip in his teeth while his fangs scraped their inner flesh. “Do you realize we’ve been together longer than most people live?” “And?” “Do you still find me beautiful?” He laughed and buried his fingers in her thick black hair. “What do you think?” he asked his voice heavy with the need she made him feel. Kagome had come a long way from the preteen girl who’d fallen through a well and freed a dog demon from a fifty year sleep. She’d been fifteen and while he’d looked her age he had been an old man in human terms. She ground her hips into his erection and parted her lips to give his tongue access to her mouth. She had been born Kikyo, a miko who had been given the charge of guarding the sacred Shikon Jewel, a jewel that in the right hands was a force for good. In evil hands it was the exact opposite becoming as corrupt and evil as its owner. She had been the one to inadvertently break it into millions of pieces and the one, along with Kikyo’s lover, Inu Yasha, to find it and put it back together. Many demons had also been searching for it and some had found one of its many shards. After many trials they had reassembled it and it was once again under her protection. During the battle Inu Yasha had reconciled with his older full youkai brother Sesshoumaru who had been maimed in a fight with Inu Yasha. Sesshoumaru had not mellowed but instead had entered into an uneasy alliance with the brother he hated because of his human mother, a miko like Kikyo had been. And in Kagome’s mind, in the end Sesshoumaru had won. Inu Yasha had come to live with his brother as a form of protection for Kagome when she was pregnant with Ken and over the years he’d become comfortable with his brother’s world view to Kagome’s unending displeasure. Later as she lay in his arms, his hair covering her nakedness she thought about her life, and how it had changed so drastically. All of her childhood friends were aged now with grand children. She used to visit them and play with their children but it became too uncomfortable for her. She still looked as if she were in her twenties and they were in their late forties and early fifties. So Souta had put it out that she had been killed in a freak accident a few years back even going so far as to hold a funeral for her where her “ashes” were interred in the family shrine. When Souta had passed Kagome, dressed in Western style black from head to toe, a veil covering her face, had sat quietly in the back watching as his children with Keiko, who had already died, performed the traditional rites. Before her nieces and nephews could approach Kagome left, joining Inu Yasha in the black Mercedes sedan that had waited outside. Inu Yasha had not said anything, driving away from the scene in silence. With Souta gone there was nothing to tie her to humans anymore and Kagome settled into living in a world where she and Rin were the only beings who had once been human. There were other humans in their world, Renjiro, Hana, Miya, all descendants of the original humans Sesshoumaru had taken in to serve his needs. They lived in a separate compound located in between Sesshoumaru’s and Inu Yasha’s. They traveled and brought knowledge back to be absorbed by the beings who lived in the vast area that made up their world. Inu Yasha shifted position in his sleep and Kagome moved deeper into his embrace. Maybe it was because she’d lived so long. Maybe it was because her soul had once been human. There was no doubt in her mind that she still loved Inu Yasha. But Kagome was bored. Tired and bored. Maybe she needed time away from here, from the compound, and from her love.
”My Lord, calm down. We danced, we had some fun, but she was very upset about something and she left for her home after we left the club. Nothing happened.” Chomei was glad he’d showered and put the bed linens through the wash. “She was here damn it. Her scent is everywhere.” “Look, I’m not gonna say I didn’t try but she’s yours. She told me what would she want with me when she loved the Demon Lord? It hurt, but I let her go.” There was a lie in there, Taisho knew it, but like the lies he told to angry fiancés or the husbands of the many females he’d bedded it was so mixed in with the truth he, the cuckold this time, couldn’t prove anything. Taisho threw the younger demon to the floor. “If I ever find out you laid a finger on her I will kill you, my sire be damned.” With that Taisho left and Chomei stood up and went into his kitchen to get a beer. It was early, but he needed one. He knew Taisho and he knew that if he did ever find out that he and Cho had slept together his life would be forfeit. He’d heard the TaiYoukai say once that Taisho was an egoist and that that was his weakness. Despite himself Chomei found himself thinking about Cho and hoping that she would appreciate the lie he’d told to save both their lives. Matsu looked up from her canvas and closed her eyes, listening to the quiet. There had been a noise, one that human ears wouldn’t have picked up and she had been raised to pay attention to every noise no matter how slight. It was one of the things her sire had pounded into her and her brother, one of the only things he’d taught all five of his offspring. It seemed the noise was that of a bird alighting on a nearby branch and causing some of the snow to fall. Relaxing she opened her eyes and looked at what she had been painting. Over the years Matsuhad used many names in order to sell her artwork. Her cousin Jiro would choose the name and create the biography for her incarnations so it was funny sometimes to pick up a book or read an article on Japanese art and see one of her older identities mentioned. Her three siblings, Lords Yukio and Taisho as well as the Demon Queen Sakurawent to great lengths to keep her existence a secret. They did the same thing for her brother Akihiro, the baby of their family. At the present time her name was MaedaJun.Akihiroand his wife Gin were renowned scholars and they needed aliases too. Akihiro’s was KozueYamato. His wife was KozueRuito the public. Thinking of Gin made Matsu think of her husband Manobu, a man she had married in the 1970’s, she was bad with years thinking more in terms of decades, when he was close to forty and who had died a little over three years ago. The loneliness inside of her hurt sometimes but she had decided not to marry another human. Manobu had been her third human husband and after seeing three humans die she didn’t want to go through the pain again. But she had never even considered being with a demon much to her father’s chagrin and her mother’s worry. She had not seen her siblings in a long time and she knew that meant things were not good for the family. They often visited even if for a short time just to talk to her. They often told her about their feelings, about the loneliness of being heads of domains, of their mates, the disappointments with their offspring, and they also talked about their childhoods. Of the three Yukio seemed to have the happiest memories because he was deemed too stupid to run a domain by his mother and allowed to pursue knowledge until circumstances overtook him. Her full brother and sister told her stories of her sire that made her blood run cold. She wondered how Rin-sama had allowed such barbarism to be used against her children when she’d done nothing but make sure the Renjiro showed her and Akihiro the world and all its glories. “You don’t know our sire,” Sakura had told her during one such visit. “He is a demon, a demon that is feared and loathed by all demon kind which is what he wants.” “But he was only father to us.” Sadness had come into Sakura’s eyes and she’d looked away. “You don’t know how many nights all I wanted was my father and mother.” Akihiro said that Taisho and Sakura were jealous of them and she had asked him how that could be when they were the ones their father doted on, not the two of them. That had been until Sesshoumaru, she thought about him as an abstract being when she dealt with his excesses, had been annoyed at something Taisho had done. She had been at the house talking to her sire when Taisho apparated in. Without even breaking his train of thought Sesshoumaru had knocked Taisho through the wall of his house before moving with speed she’d never seen before and proceeding to beat his son unmercifully. When he let up Taisho left the same way he’d come and Sesshoumaru had arranged his yukata and resumed his conversation with her. It had been the first time she’d seen that side of him and to this day it shook her to her core to know that all the things her brother and sister said were true. “Matsuare you all right?” Startled by the unexpected male voice Matsusnarled and partially transformed until she saw the voice belonged to her brother Akihiro. “Don’t scare me like that Aki!!!” “I told you I was coming Matsu. You were really looking like you were going through changes.” “I was,” she smiled, now back in human form. “I was thinking about that time Father beat the shit out of Taisho and how he scared me. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen him like that.” “Why are you thinking about that now?” Aki asked taking a seat on one of the pillows his sister had placed on the floor. “When is the last time you saw Sakura or Taisho?” Aki leaned back on his elbow and looked at his sister. He had the white hair and golden eyes that ran in the family but he wore his mother’s face. He didn’t hide his crescent moon and let his hair fall so that it framed his face. Like his father and uncle, he wore it very long. “It has been awhile. I wonder if everything is all right?” “They haven’t come to tell us to disappear so barring that I think we’re okay.” “Maybe, maybe not. I got a strange e-mail from a friend in Pyongyang. It seems that they’re holding some kind of conference in Seouland all the top demon scholars are coming.” “And not you?” “I didn’t know anything about it.” “Did you talk to Uncle Inu Yasha?” “Not yet.” “Of course he may be on it.” “Of course.” They were silent for a few minutes, something they often did that unnerved their siblings. Because they had been raised together and often only had each other for company they’d grown used to letting each other think and work something out without interruption or speech passing between them. “What about our family could be so special that you would be excluded by your peers Aki? It doesn’t make sense.” He stretched out and looked at his sister, his eyes neutral. “Our sire has lots of secrets and so does Uncle Inu Yasha.” “Not the swords…” “More than that Matsu. There’s always been something they’ve kept hidden. Our Lady mother shouldn’t be alive now and she is. We’re full demon, born from a supposedly human woman. We should be hanyou like our siblings, leaving Yukio out of course.” “So something happened between Sakura and Taisho being born and us being born.” “Other than the matter of a few hundred years? Hell yeah.” “So what do you intend to do?” “Talk to our Uncle and find out what the hell they’re discussing in Seoul.” Haru was met at the Seoul Demonport by several friends, fellow scholars who had come from Japan to discuss something one of them had found while reading a manuscript he’d found in the ruins of a Shinto temple. Seeing that Haru was distressed the others held their questions until they arrived in the dimension where the conference would be held. “What the hell is wrong?” one of his friends asked. “HigaChomeicame to see me off.” “And?” “It’s as if he knew about the conference, about what we’re going to discuss.” “What are we going to discuss Haru? You called this meeting and put all the restrictions on it.” Haru looked at his three friends and took a deep breath. “What if I told you that there is an artifact, a jewel that holds the secret of why Sesshoumaru was able to seize power and hold it? That this bauble is the reason all demon kind bow to him and his family, and may be the reason why he’s been able to keep his human pet alive all these years?” Waotaka looked skeptical. “If something like that existed wouldn’t everyone know about it?” he sneered. “Not necessarily. It’s called the Shikon Jewel, and was guarded by a miko. According to the scroll there was a titanic battle for possession of it and all the manuscript says is that the “son of the great Inu Gami took possession of it and joined with the miko. Thus it was lost to the world and youkai”. “And?” “Isn’t it obvious?” “No Haru, it’s not,” Waotaka sighed. “Let’s sit down and look at the evidence you’ve gathered.” Two hours later Haru had convinced two of his peers that further research into this jewel was warranted. Waotaka was still not sure. Haru met everyone’s eyes before speaking again. “I’ve contacted a priest who says that he’s done research into this particular shrine and said that it was once guarded by a male and a female priest, and that they guarded one thing, and that it was human. I have a meeting with him tomorrow.” “You’re not going alone?” Waotaka asked. “I have to. He’s old and he says he needs to pass his secret on. He said I was sent to him and therefore I’m the only one he can talk to. If he dies the secret dies with him.” “So how will we know what you tell us is what he tells you?” “Since when is my word not good my friend?” Waotaka backed down. “When will you meet him?”
”Next week. I’ll tell you whatever I can as soon as I can.” Inu Yasha listened as the demon talked about the conference near Seoul. Waotaka was one of the informants, Inu Yasha hated to use the word spy, he had in the intellectual world. He’d started recruiting people there because of Akihiro and Matsuwho were active in intellectual circles no matter the age. He hated them because they tended to be arrogant and dismissive of anyone who wasn’t like them. The last thing he’d expected was to find out that some of the egg heads were on the trail of the Shikon Jewel. “Do you think any of this wild story is legit? Some jewel that magnifies power?” Inu Yasha said disdainfully. “Who knows? Haru has been acting really crazy lately, obsessed. I guess this jewel thing has him excited.” Inu Yasha knew he had to play this right or all would be lost. “Do you know what priest he’s going to talk to?” Inu Yasha asked looking down at his claws. “No. He made a point not to tell us. Said the priest was living near what had been an old shrine that housed a very precious human. He thinks it’s the TaiYoukai’s mate who was hidden there.” Inu Yasha turned and looked at Waotaka, the golden eyes sharp. “Keep me informed.” “Of course my Lord,” Waotaka bowed. As Waotaka left he scratched idly at his neck. Inu Yasha smiled and went back inside his compound. Kagome looked at herself in the 360 degree mirror. The skirt fit her perfectly and showed off her slim figure. She smiled as Inu Yasha came in and leaned against the door frame watching her. “Do you like?” He smiled and walked over to her wrapping his arms around her tiny waist. “I like.” “Inu Yasha…” Kagome smiled reaching back to touch the silken white hair that she loved. She turned to face him and fell into his kiss letting him take her bottom lip in his teeth while his fangs scraped their inner flesh. “Do you realize we’ve been together longer than most people live?” “And?” “Do you still find me beautiful?” He laughed and buried his fingers in her thick black hair. “What do you think?” he asked his voice heavy with the need she made him feel. Kagome had come a long way from the preteen girl who’d fallen through a well and freed a dog demon from a fifty year sleep. She’d been fifteen and while he’d looked her age he had been an old man in human terms. She ground her hips into his erection and parted her lips to give his tongue access to her mouth. She had been born Kikyo, a miko who had been given the charge of guarding the sacred Shikon Jewel, a jewel that in the right hands was a force for good. In evil hands it was the exact opposite becoming as corrupt and evil as its owner. She had been the one to inadvertently break it into millions of pieces and the one, along with Kikyo’s lover, Inu Yasha, to find it and put it back together. Many demons had also been searching for it and some had found one of its many shards. After many trials they had reassembled it and it was once again under her protection. During the battle Inu Yasha had reconciled with his older full youkai brother Sesshoumaru who had been maimed in a fight with Inu Yasha. Sesshoumaru had not mellowed but instead had entered into an uneasy alliance with the brother he hated because of his human mother, a miko like Kikyo had been. And in Kagome’s mind, in the end Sesshoumaru had won. Inu Yasha had come to live with his brother as a form of protection for Kagome when she was pregnant with Ken and over the years he’d become comfortable with his brother’s world view to Kagome’s unending displeasure. Later as she lay in his arms, his hair covering her nakedness she thought about her life, and how it had changed so drastically. All of her childhood friends were aged now with grand children. She used to visit them and play with their children but it became too uncomfortable for her. She still looked as if she were in her twenties and they were in their late forties and early fifties. So Souta had put it out that she had been killed in a freak accident a few years back even going so far as to hold a funeral for her where her “ashes” were interred in the family shrine. When Souta had passed Kagome, dressed in Western style black from head to toe, a veil covering her face, had sat quietly in the back watching as his children with Keiko, who had already died, performed the traditional rites. Before her nieces and nephews could approach Kagome left, joining Inu Yasha in the black Mercedes sedan that had waited outside. Inu Yasha had not said anything, driving away from the scene in silence. With Souta gone there was nothing to tie her to humans anymore and Kagome settled into living in a world where she and Rin were the only beings who had once been human. There were other humans in their world, Renjiro, Hana, Miya, all descendants of the original humans Sesshoumaru had taken in to serve his needs. They lived in a separate compound located in between Sesshoumaru’s and Inu Yasha’s. They traveled and brought knowledge back to be absorbed by the beings who lived in the vast area that made up their world. Inu Yasha shifted position in his sleep and Kagome moved deeper into his embrace. Maybe it was because she’d lived so long. Maybe it was because her soul had once been human. There was no doubt in her mind that she still loved Inu Yasha. But Kagome was bored. Tired and bored. Maybe she needed time away from here, from the compound, and from her love.