InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Demon Nature ❯ Demon Nature Chapter 5 Demon Chess ( Chapter 5 )

5

The Demoness stared as the body of Houshi was brough into her lair. His head was sitting on his chest.

"A gift from Lord Sesshoumaru," one of the guards said bitterly.

She stared at the lifeless body, then ordered it destroyed. She set up the force field around her lair that afternoon. The attack could come at any time she thought to herself, wondering if her enemy would wait until spring.

"Mistress!!"

She whirled at the sound of the voice, ready to berate the retainer for interrupting her meditations.

"Mistress, please, please come. Something is wrong."

She stared in shock as she saw the bodies of the men who'd brought Houshi in twisted into shapes not even demons took, green foam bubbling from their mouths. Fear was not an emotion she was used to feeling, but she felt its icy hands grip her heart as a name echoed in her brain. Sesshoumaru. He'd found a way to poison her lair. More bodies lay outside, near the pyre they'd prepared for Houshi, the same green foam on their lips.

She growled deep in her chest, understanding what he had done. The body was laced with poison, a poison that was fatal to whomever touched the corpse, and would kill her entire household if the body was burned. To bury the body would desecrate her lair and leaving it out would be a constant reminder of just who was in charge of the game.

"He is truly evil," a retainer said, and she turned, slitting his throat at the stupidity of the statement. Sesshoumaru was a demon. Of course he was evil she said to herself, shaking her head.

She threw her head back and roared, a roar of power that shook the human villages several miles away. The priests recommended sacrifices to the spirits to allay their wrath and turn their anger away from humans.

Leiko would never surrender to Sesshoumaru, he who had refused her advances, who said he was a dog, and cats were not part of his world. She had been a young demon then, and he'd been about her age. Already to human he now bedded had been with him, a little girl he'd kill anyone for. No one had really seen her in ages, he kept her hidden away in is castle. She would be the only leverage they could get over Sesshoumaru, but getting inside his castle would not be an easy task, and getting to his mate almost impossible.

Leiko roared her frustration again, and the humans cowered in fear, hoping that she would remain in her lair and not come out in a murderous rage.

Without a word she changed form, her human body assuming the form of the tiger, her eyes red, and her breath flame. She leapt into the air, disappearing towards the east. On the ground, a seemingly human girl stood watching, her golden eyes now changing to red as she growled softly to herself. Leiko had taken the bait, and was now headed east. Sakura smiled to herself, and with a leap headed for home to report to her father. With her lair empty, perhaps he'd allow she and her brother to try it's defenses.

Akemi felt the shift in the air, and sighed. His kingdom was the sea, and he could feel the vibrations from the earth like others felt earthquakes.

"Sire, the Great Demon of the North is requesting an audience."

It had taken over a year to regain his strength, and he had not been above ground, in human form, in all that time. But if Leiko had come, it meant what he had feared had begun. Sesshoumaru's pups were old enough to stand with their father, and he needed to give them land and peoples to rule. He would never split his domain, something he had fought so hard to secure, which meant that he and Leiko were threatened. The She-Tiger would now be talking about an alliance between the three Great Demons, but the south, the land of old Yemon, who had been in power since the days of Sesshoumaru's father, had never forged any alliance. His land was prosperous, and it's people strong. But all that would change if a war broke out among the demons, and Yemon would not want to be involved.

But Yemon had a daughter, full youkai, who had once mated with Sesshoumaru, before the human woman had become his life mate. There were rumors that she had borne his child, and Sesshoumaru had never moved against the south. Yemon was a wolf demon, and there would be no objection to a child born of the union of Sesshoumaru and Yore, his daughter, assuming power. But, his hanyou children were the ones he'd raised, and the ones he was fighting for. If Yore had indeed borne his pup, consolidating power in the West, North, and South would give him effective control of the country. Yemon could not defeat him, and Yore would bow to her mate, ceding power to Sesshoumaru, or their offspring.

All of this went through his head as he headed to the surface, shifting into human form as he waded to shore where the beautiful Leiko stood just past the water line.

"Akemi."

"Leiko."

"You look well."

"What is this about? Why are you here in the middle of the winter?"

"Sesshoumaru."

"I told you that you underestimated him. Now you want…what?"

"He's poisoned my lair, and killed my chief of staff."

"And?"

"You think he'll leave you alone?"

"It was already my opinion that he was behind the attack on me. You told me no."

"We have to form an alliance. It's the only way."

"If he poisoned your lair…"

"It'll be taken care of. The humans will take care of him, and they'll die. I've spelled him to appear human."

"You are so kind," he said with a smirk.

"But, you are right. I for one don't want that overgrown dog ruling my lands."

"No?"

Both demons started as Sesshoumaru walked into their midst.

"I'm hurt Akemi."

"Sesshoumaru…"

"An overgrown dog? My, my Akemi. I remember a proposition you made to me when I visited you the last time in this form. You seemed deeply disappointed that my tastes didn't run that way."

Ripples of blue coursed over Akemi's skin, his gills flaring. Two hanyou, a boy and a girl, the girl the image of her father, came and flanked Sesshoumaru.

"I think you have misread my intentions. I merely want to propose an alliance."

"An alliance? I have a body back in my lair that I can't get rid of."

"My sons idea actually. Creative isn't he?" Sesshoumaru said silkily.

"But, I digress. The south is ripe for the picking, and the three of us could share equally in its wealth."

The two other demons, one with red-gold eyes, the other with blue green ones, stared at the one with the golden eyes.

"I see five people here Sesshoumaru."

"My children? They're children still. You don't seriously think that I was going to…oh my. How devious do you think I am?"

For their part, Sakura and Taisho stayed silent, watching their father in action and learning.

"They've never seen the sea, and I thought it would be educational for them."

"It's the dead of winter Sesshoumaru. We can't go now."

"The south will be there in the spring," Sesshoumaru said with a smile that sent daggers of fear through the other demons.

"It's good to see you well Akemi," Sesshoumaru said before he, and his children transformed, taking to the air, and disappearing.

"We must find out about Yore, and her child."

"I can't send anyone…"

"I have someone I can send."

Leiko knew about Akemi's daughter with a human, who spent her time in a nearby village when she was visiting her mother. "She'll leave in the morning."