InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Invitations to Trouble ❯ A Twisted Tale ( Chapter 24 )

Chapter Twenty-Four

The slick surface of the mirror felt cool beneath her questing fingers as the observer leaned forward towards it. At first there was nothing to see save her own finely boned face and expressive blue eyes. Unconsciously tucking a midnight strand behind one ear, she peered into its depths and waited as patiently as the ghostly girl who held it.

Within moments, their efforts were rewarded with a luminous glow that made the once still surface ripple like water. When it smoothed out again, those pale blue eyes beheld sights most dear.

Kanna did not need to voice a warning to the slender hand that drifted through the air towards her mirror, for she knew that her lady would stop just short of touching it.

Nor did she need to look within the simple glass construct to know what was seen.

No childish glee or satisfaction suffused her tiny heart at the knowledge that her lord, her creator, was well.

Well, and greatly amused.

Holding less warmth than can be found in the pitiless soul of a shark, Kanna's black eyes gave away nothing of her inner thoughts. They did not even reflect the ambient light of her mirror. They merely watched dispassionately as a tremulous smile crossed the face of the woman before her.

The same ashen hue as her smock, her little ears listened without comment to the happy sounds made by her lady.

Happy sounds indeed because their lord was on his way home.

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"With that attitude and scowl, you could be that friggin' mutt." Kouga managed to put away his irritation long enough to speak civilly to the cheeky lad.

Inuyasha's dark eyes changed to suspicious slits and he fought back another of many snarls. "What mutt?"

"Inuyasha." Completely uninvited, the ookami took a seat on the bed that the two had previously occupied. "Everything about you reminds me of him." Kouga's bold blue eyes flickered once more between the people he knew as Kenami and Koinu.

Kuroi took a deep breath. 'Run for the door while I hold him back.'

'Trust me.'

'Just get ready to run.'

'Calm down.'

Unmindful of the tension between the two, Kouga rested his chin on one hand. "But there are two big differences."

This time it was Kuroi who spoke up with piqued curiosity. "Like what?"

Twirling his free hand lazily in the air, Kouga gave her his signature lopsided grin. "He doesn't smell like the mutt for one." In a lightning fast motion that brought him to his feet scant inches from the startled ningen, Kouga laughed aloud at the involuntary gasp of surprise from the other man.

"The second is that he's not wearing that beaded thing Kagome uses to keep Inuyasha in line. She told me it was permanently attached and only she could take it off." The grin turned devilish. "A pretty collar for her ugly dog."

"What?" Her ruby eyes widened comically while Inuyasha lost his good humor over Kouga's stunt.

Kuroi almost groaned aloud again. How the hell could she have overlooked the rosary?!

Wait a minute…

Memories of the last few weeks flashed through her mind and in none of them could she remember seeing it. 'Cave? No. Trees? No and we were naked so it shouldn't be so hard to forget. I know I wasn't really paying attention but I couldn't have been that out of it!!'

Quickly regaining his composure, Inuyasha's lips twitched up in a knowing grin. "Yeah, I guess it would be hard to miss someone wearing a necklace that couldn't be removed huh?"

"Yeah it would." Kouga pushed brusquely past the smiling boy as he headed for the door, letting Inuyasha know that he was still the stronger of the two. Buoyant from his successful deception, Inuyasha let the incident slide.

Kouga paused at the threshold to look back over his shoulder at them. "Just so you know, you'll be moved to separate quarters." Ocean blue eyes turned flinty. "Immediately." With that promise given, he was gone.

Kuroi rushed forward to close the door before whirling around to glare balefully at her laughing friend. 'Where the hell is the rosary?!'

His shoulders bobbed with silent mirth. 'I have no idea. Right before we fell asleep I realized that it was gone. I thought you got it off me somehow.'

'No I didn't!' She blinked in dawning understanding. 'That's how you knew he wouldn't recognize you!!'

'Yeah. A person can alter their scent and their face to some degree but that rosary would have been like a lantern in the dark.' His smile grew sheepish. 'Didn't I say not to worry?'

'I was kidding before, but now I really am going to kick your ass Inuyasha.'

'I love you too.'

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Aiiro was dizzy and tired as every bone in her body seemed to be composed of ground glass. One knee crumpled, threatening to dislodge the inkwell and brush clutched tightly in her hands. Behind her, Ki and Aoiro sent silent encouragement.

With a bold slash of her brush through the air, the flimsy doors of the inner mansion twisted and warped like soft taffy, finally resettling as they finished morphing into massive sheets of hammered metal instead of the wood they had been.

Fire erupted beneath the dusky blue skin as one distant year of the handmaiden's life was snatched away in the effort.

Hands immediately reached out to steady her as she collapsed in a mass of pain and blood.

Four walls of old and splintering wood had surrounded them when the panicked servants had first arrived. Never meant to be more than simple lodgings, the inner mansion was simply the rearmost section of the great house.

Four walls that would have done little to halt the swarming mass of fiends hunting for them because the weathered panels would not have been an effective deterrent.

Unable to clutch it any longer, the inkpot fell from her fingers and the obsidian liquid splattered across the inlaid floor. Colorless and dull with exhaustion, Aiiro's eyes slid shut as exhaustion triumphantly claimed her.

Were four years of her life so much to pay to guard her beloved sisters with walls of iron and stone?

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"To Arms, Men of the West!!!" Raising a crossbow that resembled a small siege engine, the towering azure youth let loose a rain of death upon the ookami hordes. With another booming cry that shook the air, he summoned his fellow men-at-arms to heed his call.

"Don't let them surround you!! Guard the doorways and someone blast off those fucking trees that are letting them inside!!!" Re-slinging the bow, Kiso simultaneously drew forth his father's sword. The air around him roared with the vacuum caused by the weapon's deadly arc.

Falling like chaff, cleanly severed heads and torsos tumbled across the courtyard in its wake.

Before Kiso could turn around, a massive ball of flame shot by him to incinerate a wolf that had hoped to catch him off guard from behind. The dying screams of the youkai were blessedly short, but only heralded the beginning of more death cries as the fireballs blazed through the wolfen ranks.

Snapping out of his battle rage, Kiso focused on the wielder. 'Jaken-sama?'

In the short time that he had known the little man, Kiso had developed a tolerance for the abrasive voice and denigrating attitude that the imp wore so proudly.

As he watched that compact green frame bound nimbly away from razor-sharp claws and return fire with the Staff of Skulls, he felt a chuckle building.

It was good to know you could trust someone to watch your back.

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Tucked into the furthest corner of the tent, the prisoner's head was bowed as if locked within the deepest of contemplations about a life unjustly lived. Trying to find a more comfortable position, he shifted slowly on the pallet which separated his pristine attire from the hard ground.

The act itself was an exercise in futility. Clinking accusingly, the eldritch chains binding him hindered every movement with their finite length.

All around him, shafts of sunlight filtered in through numerous rents in the musty fabric. The iridescent beams poured down to create the tranquil illusion that he was merely resting beneath thick greenery on the edge of a distant meadow.

The muttered curses of passing soldiers and foul tang of horse dung just beyond the flimsy cloth marred the beauty of his fleeting fantasy.

Without warning, one of those soldiers pushed aside the flap to enter. It was done too quickly for his eyes to adjust to the sudden glare and the prisoner flinched away from the light. Mumbling a hasty apology, the soldier stepped inside to let the fabric fall back into place.

The tremulous illusion was restored.

"Ahem, sir?" A slight smile touched the prisoner's face at the timid sound. One shackled hand twitched and rose in an indication that continued speech was allowed. "L-Lord Sesshomaru-san?"

A single wave of almost palatable relief coursed through the air momentarily and stoked the pale man's confidence. However, the moment faded as quickly as it had come.

Back to the initial uneasy silence, the shackled figure continued his commissary with the ground beneath him. The soldier's words shook with a nervousness that must have been an innate talent because he reeked of fear.

"Y-Your meal's ready sir."

One would think the poor man had been assigned to court the Lord of Hell instead of just delivering food to a prisoner. Afraid or not, the soldier held the tray steady even in the face of his fear.

"My lord? Would-!"

A low clink stilled the soldier's tongue, effectively plastering it to the roof of his mouth. Lean and smooth, the cuffed wrists lowered slowly until they were level with the ground, each finger splayed out to touch the flattened soil.

It was signal that the tray could be set down by its bearer without concern of possible attack.

If the sharp rattling of crudely baked clay was any indication, that promise was a small comfort indeed. Taking a deep breath, the soldier inched forward as close as he dared and laid the meal just shy of the young lord's feet before dashing away as quickly as he could without appearing rude.

Beneath a heavy curtain of silky white hair, tired eyes of honey gold slid open slowly. A toe shod in dragon skin kicked the tray aside with a small grunt. Closing his eyes once more, the condemned man delved back inside of himself to renew the meditation that was helping retain his sanity.

He could not afford to give in to the panic that had bloomed and grown in his chest with each passing hour as he contemplated the momentous decision that had led to him to this point.

Lifting both of his shackled hands, he smoothed his unleashed hair in a way not intended to push it aside from where it shielded his face.

Aye, he needed to remain calm and focused because if he did not, all would be lost.

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Keimba slipped out from behind the tree and directly into the path of the armored warrior with a feral smile. While her voice might have been too youthful for a growl, it carried her simmering rage quite well.

"You do know that you won't get away with this don't you?"

Unimpressed and unconcerned, the figure swept around her with nary a glance. Gathered into a high ponytail, his hair trailed out behind him in a milky banner.

While loathe to admit it, the kitten within her wanted to bat at those flowing strands. The urge was maddening for its direct conflict to her ire.

Although he topped her by more than a foot, the Bas'tian wasn't about to stand by and be so easily dismissed.

Darkening to near black, her eyes squeezed shut as she shouted after him. "I used to respect you Dog! I used to-!"

"I neither care nor wish to listen to you prattle on about your irrelevant emotional states woman." Calm and even, the cold words smothered the heat of her anger. "I have a mission of my own and precious little time to complete it." A sickly green glow suffused the wicked claws as Keimba found her wrist grabbed and held tight.

Still low and dangerous, his voice sent a shiver down her body as his face loomed closer. "Neko, you may choose to come along and aid your mistress or you may choose to die. Decide quickly because you will be getting out of my path one way or the other, Cat."

Slitted brown eyes widened as they looked into ones of keen yellow. Those sunlit orbs flickered in admiration when she found enough of her voice to give a defiant retort.

"I am a Bas'ti, not a Neko youkai or are you so blind that you cannot see, Dog?"

The firm mouth drew up in the corner, but the gesture was too slight to be called a smile. Straightening, he released her and turned to walk quickly past her.

Keimba was rubbing the tingling flesh of her arms when his voice called out from down the path.

"Are you coming or not Cat?"

Fluffed with anger, Keimba 's tail whipped back and forth as she stalked after him. Grumbling, she glared over at him as she dropped on all fours to keep up. "My name is Keimba, not Cat. Why are you in such a rush to aide my Lady?"

Unconsciously tucking a snowy strand behind his ear, the slender face rippled briefly before settling back into a mask of neutrality that was reflected in his voice.

Sesshomaru's disinterested answer stopped her dead in her tracks.

"I have to save her life."

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A/N : Okay, super sorry for the post delay. If you want to curse me out then do so in a review, I don't mind. *smile*. In fact, flames are both welcomed and encouraged. Otherwise, I wouldn't get the laugh-a-day I so richly need.

On another and much more important note, I would like to introduce my new Beta-Reader Lmacb! *huggles silly and gives a crate of home-made brownies* From now on, the Inu-tale that you loyal readers love will come to you with 75% less mistake, goof-ups and literary flubs. Of course, this part will still be full of them, but that's okay.

I'm insane so who cares?

I hope you enjoyed this twist in the story line and for those who are clamoring for the next chapter of "Trembling Roses", give me a minute. Kurama and I had a falling out because I said foxes were a bit slender.

You don't want to know the rest of the argument…

Next Chapter: Wouldn't you like to know? *grin* kidding. Two paths will cross and the outcome will not be as expected. Bonus: A bit more about the mysterious Lady Yuumei.