InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hate ❯ Hate 04 ( Chapter 4 )

 

 

She was shaking so hard that she couldn't walk, the horror of what she'd promised him had made even her ever-present hatred fade. A child? Of all the things she'd feared, this fate was by far the worst. Being mortal, she hadn't thought this demon would want his blood to cross with hers. And she hadn't thought about a pregnancy.

 

In all honesty, she hadn't expected to live long enough to endure that.

 

He spoke not a word to her, carrying her down the hill in silence. Izayoi kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see the leers and grins of the soldiers as their lord walked among them. The trembling died away, leaving her numb and she didn't so much as cry out when he reached her tent and dumped her unceremoniously onto her pallet.

 

“Do what you're told,” he said, his voice stern and uncompromising. “That's all I expect from you for now.”

 

She was left alone with her fears for some time. Izayoi swung from hatred to terror more times than she could count, staring at the shadowy walls of her tent as the hours slid by. A demon's child within her body, forced to give birth to some half-breed monster. Izayoi cursed softly, having no energy left for sobs or wails.

 

It would not happen. Until now, she'd been too cowardly, too fearful. She'd accepted her weakness like she'd accepted her own violation countless times. Now with her master's plans lying over her heart like a shroud of the dead, she couldn't afford to be weak any longer.

 

Inside her tent, there was a place where the ground cloth didn't quite meet the wall, a thin sliver of hard earth. Izayoi started to dig at the ground with her bare fingertips. She'd managed to steal a small knife and hide it away. Not that it would be much use against someone like him, but it was sharp.

 

Sharp enough to slit her throat.

 

Her fingers were cold when she lifted the dirty blade. There would be no honor in her suicide, she was aware that the time had long since passed for honor. All she could do now was to end her life before being forced to give birth to an abomination. Whispering, eyes closed, she raised the blade to her throat.

 

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.”

 

Izayoi dropped the knife, cringing away from a blow that didn't come. She waited for punishment, sure that it would be swift and vicious. Her heart was pounding so hard she couldn't think, but she felt hatred building for the one who had caught her before she could drive the blade into her throat.

 

Kneeling, he picked up her pathetic little blade and she heard a dark chuckle. “Death won't save you, little girl,” the man said. “You haven't been with him long enough to realize that.”

 

She looked up, seeing a young man's lean face. She knew him as one of her master's most trusted men and flinched away from his cold eyes. His skin was pale, tinted almost green in certain lights, but she'd never heard exactly what kind of demon he was. Izayoi watched as he turned the blade over, his claws tracing over the tip that had so nearly pierced her skin.

 

“He carries a sword that cuts death,” he commented. “If you kill yourself now, he'll only bring you back and punish you for your insolence. Little girl, you'll find out that there are worse things than death. Much worse things.”

 

Quietly, he reached for her numb hands, tucking the blade between them. Her mouth was dry, her tongue felt too thick to speak. Her words were hardly more than a croak, but she forced them out just the same.

 

“Why did you stop me?” she husked. “What do you care if he punishes me? I want…I need to die.”

 

He stared at her for a long moment before looking away. “I don't care if you die or not, but he'd be an utter bastard for me to deal with. Wait for your time, human. He will kill you soon enough.”

 

She heard the truth of his words and felt his bitterness. So not all of his men were loyal, serving him in fear just as she submitted to him in fear. Hate bubbled in her chest, warmth not unlike what she'd experienced when she'd watched the slaughter the men who'd destroyed her family. Slowly, Izayoi slid the knife into her sleeve and faced her lord's man.

 

“You hate him too,” she whispered, intuition like a flash in her mind. “You died and he brought you back, same as he would have done to me.”

 

Surprise flickered in his eyes, surprise and loathing. “Yes,” he hissed, his bitter hatred slipping between his lips like a striking snake. “I hate him far more than you ever will, little girl. And I will see him destroyed long after your life has ended. You'll die a whore in his bed, but at least take comfort in the fact that he won't live forever.”

 

He stood up and went to the door, the hatred in his face melting until it slipped beneath a mask of obedience. She would wear that mask herself, for now. The dog lord had given her a taste of what revenge could be and Izayoi knew that she wouldn't be satisfied with death anymore.

 

She wanted him to watch as the son she'd borne for him died by her hands.

 

“What is your name?” she called out as he left. She might mean nothing to him, but to know she had an ally in hatred at least gave her strength.

 

He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing. Then he smiled wryly. “My real name is something I've forgotten, but it doesn't matter anymore.”

 

“You may call me Ryuukossei.”

 

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