InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon an Inuyoukai ❯ One Chinese Butterfly ( Chapter 25 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: Oh, my god. I am so sorry this took me so long. And here I thought I'd have all this time to write this summer...yeah. Really don't. I've been squeezing out drabbles whenever I have a spare minute, but this chapter required a few good hours of sit-down time and I just couldn't find it. Plus, I had writer's block. :head-->desk:

Anyway, here it is. Warning: all is not as it seems. Read right to the end.


Sesshoumaru ran.

It wasn't running away, precisely. In his mind, he was running toward something but could not quite bring himself to reach it. For now, he just wanted to be in motion, letting the pull and slide of muscles drown out the words that clawed their way around his mind.

He knew what had happened the night before. With his superior hearing, it had been impossible to miss. With every step, he hammered the earth with his need to punish someone for it. It was not right. It was not right that his noble father should have fallen so, and it was certainly not right that he showed no shame for it.

Beyond even that, he could not fathom his father's choice. The woman was ordinary and boring, if not downright distasteful. Not to mention the fact that she was human and thus obviously inferior. What did the mighty Inutaisho see in her?

Sesshoumaru ran and wished his pride would allow him to confront his father and beg him for answers. How could Inutaisho abandon his only son for that woman? The memory of being left behind to babysit his father's human companions while Inutaisho went to rescue her still stung. More recently, he burned with anger at being roundly ignored upon his father's return the night before. It seemed he now only had eyes for the woman.

What was his motivation for allowing the relationship to go further, rather than crushing it in its early stages? Had he forgotten about Sesshoumaru's mother? Did he feel any guilt for betraying her memory at all?

All these things and more Sesshoumaru wanted to ask, but he knew it would be a long time before he would bring himself to confront his father. Despite his father's lapse in judgement, Sesshoumaru still respected him and did not want to incur his wrath. Perhaps in time Inutaisho's reasoning would become clear to him.

At the moment, however, he was merely a confused, hurt adolescent and needed to run. He was sure his father had good reasons, but...

Why? Why?

The word echoed through the chambers of his mind but did not diminish as ordinary echoes do; rather, it grew stronger and more pressing the longer it reverberated. He clutched his head in his hands and ran faster, but the smell of wildflowers followed him almost mockingly. Izayoi would not leave him be.

Away. I must get away from that sickeningly sweet scent.

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

In a castle far away, the serpent lord screamed in frustration when the latest report came back exactly the same as all the others before it.

No sign of them. No trail. No indication of their location. It's as if they've vanished off the face of the land. Where are you hiding, my enemy?

Ryuukotsusei wisely remained out of his brother's way.

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

Humiliation wasn't a colour, Izayoi decided as she stood in the chilly morning air enduring the morning-after ribaldry. It was a sound. Or rather, she corrected herself, a whole lot of sounds put together.

"You might have let us sleep at least a little," Sakenmaru said reproachfully with a totally straight face.

Sound number one: calm teasing from soon-to-be-annihilated friends.

Sound number two: the cacophony of war-whoops and cat-calls from the large group of gathered soldiers. Even worse was the approving expressions on their craggy, battle-worn faces. Izayoi wished she could become a tree, blind and deaf and blessedly emotionless.

Sound number three: the tittering and strangled sniggering of the soldier's wives as they tried desperately not to laugh out loud, for fear of offending her.

Sound number four, the most infuriating one of all: the low growl of... warning? satisfaction? coming from the demon lord standing yawning behind her.

Oh, shut up. Is standing there looking tired the only thing you can do? Doesn't this bother you?

Her obliging mind kindly took her back to the night before and showed her what the giggling group must have experienced...

Inutaisho returned. Then he walked into the cabin they knew Izayoi was waiting in. Scant minutes later, a rather violent-sounding progression began of thuds, yowls, and shrieks culminating in a long, drawn-out scream that woke those who had somehow managed to fall asleep.

"Someone save me," she whispered weakly, face boiling with the most ferocious blush she had ever had the misfortune of suffering through.

"What is the matter?" Inutaisho yawned lazily and curled an arm around her midriff protectively.

She revised her opinion of the 'growl.' No self-respecting growl would ever sound that much like a purr. Self-satisfied rumbling, then. The audio equivalent of a smirk.

Ooooh. I'm going to strangle you.

"The matter," she gritted, "is that thousands of people heard us last night and they are now mercilessly making me suffer for it. Had you not noticed the bloody congregation?"

He glanced up at the knots of people holding their middles as they laughed hysterically and then looked away, unconcerned. "Were you expecting something different?"

"Yes!" she cried. "I was sort of hoping they would have the courtesy not to say anything, and failing that, I was really hoping you would notice and shut them up!"

"Does it bother you that much?" he asked softly into her hair, surprised. "I am not ashamed of what we did last night, and I hope you are not."

She stopped and thought about that for a moment. "I'm not ashamed," she said at last, "I'm just not accustomed to this many people having such direct knowledge of my carnal... er, exploits?"

Inutaisho was silent for an incredulous moment, then burst out laughing. "Exploits?" he howled. "Oh, that is a good one."

"Oh, will you please shut up already?" she snapped, upset all over again.

Something was wrong. Her friends were usually very considerate, going no further than gentle teasing. This was far beyond their usual limits, and she felt attacked and wounded. The fact that they had chosen this day of all days to make her miserable gave birth to a spew of anger. She glared up at her oblivious mate and willed him to understand.

He paused at the tone in her voice and loosened his arms. "You are truly angry."

Yes, she damned well was! For good reason!

"No," Izayoi lied tiredly. "I'm not really angry. I'm just... fragile, right now. Please make them stop?"

She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was grinning now. That made her even angrier.

"As you wish, Izayoi-hime."

"Don't call me that."

He let go of her and stepped forward, shielding her with his massive height. "Do not be afraid. I may have to resort to... spectacular means to subdue them."

Spectacular... means?

"Silence!" he bellowed, powerful voice reverberating across the valley walls.

The startled crowd gasped and stumbled.

"Now that I have your attention," he continued mildly, "I will ask you to desist in your ribaldry. You are making my mate uncomfortable, and I will not tolerate that."

For a few blessed moments, there was total silence. Izayoi's head swam with relief.

Then... "'Uncomfortable?'" Sakenmaru asked disbelievingly.

"Izayoi-hime?" Katsuro continued.

The two men looked at each other, then burst out laughing all over again. Taking that as permission, the army followed suit. Within seconds a good thousand people were once again howling with laughter at her discomfiture.

Izayoi buried her nails in her palms and tried not to cry. Insensitive, boilfaced, pestilent scum of the earth! she thought angrily. This isn't like them! What's going on? I'm so confused!

"Time for spectacular means," Inutaisho said over his shoulder, under his breath so only she could hear.

She quirked an eyebrow in confusion, attempting to hide her burgeoning tears behind her sleeve.

What does... Oh!

Inutaisho was suddenly surrounded by a storm of silver mist, which proceeded to explode. Curling tendrils of the mist shot in all directions, but they had no solidity and so no one was hurt.

When the fog cleared, Inutaisho was gone. So was the sun. Slowly, fearfully, the army looked up into a shiny new silver-furred 'sky'. In reality, it was a demon dog so large Izayoi had trouble wrapping her mind around it.

The army and she-- indeed, the entire encampment-- were dwarfed by the shadow of his belly. His paws braced against the side of the valley, and trees splintered like twigs wherever those massive limbs landed. His head was easily the size of the two largest cabins put together. There was enough room to have a small battle within his ribcage.

Battle...ribcage...

She froze.

The world around her suddenly became misty and tinged with violet, a colour she knew very well. A vision!

Her mind filled with pictures. First came terrifying images of dripping bilious green and fierce yellow eyes narrowed in hate. Two figures, one in white and one in red, danced around each other on a carpet of skulls. They shared the same eyes. It dawned on her that she knew the figure in white...

My goddess! Sesshoumaru! What is this?

The other, the brash young challenger, snarled and cried something, and she noted with shock the triangular canine ears perched atop his head. Hanyou...!

As quickly as they had come, the visions faded, and she was left shaking beneath the belly of the beast.

The suddenly tiny-looking soldiers stared up in awed disbelief, silent again.

Then, as if to drive his point home, Inutaisho snarled. It created a rank, organic wind that gusted through the valley, plastering every man, woman, and child with his scent. "You will cease your blathering," he growled, but his voice was so low it almost sounded like a particularly articulate earthquake, rather than a voice.

"Show-off," Izayoi heard Sakenmaru grumble.

"My god," Katsuro whispered.

Izayoi looked over at them and saw Naruka race for Katsuro's side, grasping his arm with fingers so pale they were nearly blue. He pulled her into his arms, shielding her, and she burrowed into his chest in terror.

"Shh, shh," he murmured, stroking her hair soothingly.

Izayoi could see that she was shivering with fear. She winced and felt pity. Enough! she thought.

"Inutaisho!" she yelled, as loudly as she could.

"I am not deaf, woman," he rumbled irritably.

Subduing her voice a little bit, she continued. "You're scaring them. Can you stop now? Thank you, I think they listened this time."

"You're impossible to please." Inutaisho sounded nonplussed, but in a moment he was his normal size and grinning.

She sighed in relief and grasped his sleeve in damp fingers. The relief was short-lived, however.

"Izayoi-hime!"

Oh, no. Please, gods, no.

"Congratulations! I was beginning to wonder if you two would ever..."

"Katsuro-san," she said in her best don't-even-go-there voice. "Don't."

His mouth shut with an audible snap.

Sakenmaru sauntered up and clapped Inutaisho condescendingly on the back. "So you finally got over yourself, did you, old dog? Good for you, princess. I personally think you deserve better, but as long as he treats you well I won't have to kill him."

All three of the others stared at him, biting their lips frantically. Inutaisho glared at him coldly.

Sakenmaru scoffed. "Oh, quit making faces. Everyone here has known for ages that you two should end up together... the only question was if you could overcome your damned taiyoukai pride and take the step. Glad to see I didn't underestimate you."

"Sakenmaru, if you do not..."

"Close your mouth, Inutaisho, before it gets you in trouble. I'd suggest getting your new mate some breakfast before she faints, and then..."

"Sakenmaru-sama!" Izayoi yelped, sensing what he had been about to say.

The lion demon grinned wickedly. "Whatever you want, I'm just saying..."

"Don't. Don't say anything."

"Well, if you want I will be quiet. However, I am awfully curious as to what you're going to name the child..."

Izayoi felt her limbs freeze and become brittle. If anyone laid so much as a fingertip on her, she was sure she would splinter and break. "Child? What child? We haven't even talked about that yet!"

"A little late for talking, isn't it?" Sakenmaru asked silkily, coming close enough to lay a warm hand on her belly. "Seeing as how you're already pregnant."

The world spun before her eyes. "Impossible...how could you know that?"

The lion demon smiled mysteriously. "I know many things, my dear. Many, many things."

She looked at him askance. Something was very off. Were his eyes turning emerald and glittering like a serpent's? Were those braids in his hair? And were they turning purple? She had to be imagining these things...but they did not go away.

Before her eyes, her beloved friend Sakenmaru blurred and morphed into Ryuunomei. Then he grinned and touched her cheek.

Her heart burst in her chest and a scream swelled her throat. Help me! What is this?

Katsuro and Naruka smiled and touched each other in a decidedly intimate way, all the while never taking their eyes off of her.

Tears spilled down Izayoi's face and she retreated, shaking. "I don't understand..." she moaned aloud. "Stop it! Stop all of this! What are you doing? Why are you here, Ryuunomei-sama? Why is everyone being so cruel?"

(Izayoi)

"Someone help! I'm afraid, I'm so afraid, someone help me please..."

(Izayoi!)

"Go away! Everyone leave me alone!" She grasped her head in her hands and turned to run. However, where before there had been solid, muddy ground there was now a dizzying precipice leading to nothing but an endless stretch of cloudy nothingness. She wavered on the edge, beyond terror, and then fell wailing into the pale golden mist below.

Inutaisho! Save me!

(Izayoi!)

The sharp-edged bottom rushed up to meet her. She closed her eyes...

OoooO

...and opened them to streaming sunlight and concerned golden eyes. "Izayoi?"

She stared uncomprehendingly into those eyes and searched for the pieces of her mind. Nothing made sense. Where had the cliff gone? Where were the laughing soldiers? Why was she warm now? The wind had been so cold. Where had the wind gone?

"Are you all right, beloved?" said a beautiful voice in her ear, fluttering through her hair. "You were weeping in your sleep just now." Strong arms pulled her tightly against a hard, warm chest.

She shuddered and pressed her tearstained face to bare, heated skin. "Is this a dream?" she whispered, terrified of the answer but unable to stop herself from asking.

Long fingers caressed her back soothingly. "No, you are not dreaming. See?"

There were soft lips at her throat, and then fangs. It hurt, just a little bit, but it was the most welcome pain she had ever felt. There was no pain in dreaming.

Izayoi gasped in inexpressible relief and clenched her arms around Inutaisho. "Goddess be praised." A fresh wave of tears trickled down her cheek and dripped into their mingled hair.

Inutaisho gently kissed them away, his rough tongue lapping at her damp skin. "Was it a dream?" he murmured.

She nodded inarticulately and drew circles around his dark nipple with a finger.

"A nightmare?"

Izayoi nodded again, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

The rhythm of his words was soothing. She closed her eyes, listened to him breathe, and felt her heartbeat slow to synchronize with his.

"I dreamed--" she started haltingly, then choked. It took several minutes of back-rubbing and massaging to clear her throat enough to allow her to speak again. "I dreamed that they were teasing me, and you didn't care. Then Sakenmaru was Ryuunomei, and there was a cliff and I fell..."

Inutaisho chuckled and placed a finger over her lips. "Slow down, love. You are not making any sense."

Izayoi took a deep, strangled breath and let it flow out into the space between them. Then, she tried again. "My dream was about what happens after we get up and go outside. Katsuro and Naruka and Sakenmaru and the entire army were standing there laughing at us. They were saying such cruel things! And then you transformed into this enormous dog and yelled at them, and I had a vision of Sesshoumaru and a half-demon boy who looks like you fighting in what looked like your own ribcage. You transformed back, but they kept teasing me. They said I was pregnant! And then...and then..." The words died in her throat at the memory of coldly amused green eyes.

"And then," she forced herself to continue, "Sakenmaru-sama turned into Ryuunomei-sama and laughed at me. Katsuro and Naruka were acting so strangely... I turned to run away, but there was a cliff, and I fell. Then I woke up."

"Oh, love," Inutaisho whispered. "Are you truly that afraid of their reactions?"

Izayoi thought about it.

She knew now how she would feel if they reacted with mere rudeness, and it was more terrible than she could ever have imagined. How would she feel if they reacted outright badly? What if they actually found the thought of humans and demons having such relations unnatural or disgusting, despite all their prior words and actions?

It was unlikely in the extreme, but that did not prevent her from envisioning it. She almost vomited. Her reaction to such an event would be visceral and simple.

She would die of a broken heart.

"Yes," she answered truthfully. "I'm more terrified than I can say."

She had hardly even finished the sentence when Inutaisho tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her fiercely. His lips said what words could not.

Do I have the courage to try this again? Logically I know they won't react like they did in my dream, but I can't help my fear.

"I promise you it will be all right," Inutaisho said fiercely, seizing her eyes with his own. "I would never let them hurt you like that. I swear it!" Every line of his face screamed sincerity and love.

Why can't I stop crying? she wondered absently as yet more warm tears spilled. These were tears of joy and fulfillment, however, and so she did not mind them overmuch.

"All right?"

She nodded and smiled helplessly. He smiled back and trailed his claws along her cheek.

"Good. It is late morning and I am rather hungry. Are you up to going outside as long as I am there to shield you?"

Izayoi wanted nothing more than to stay in bed, cradled in his arms, and totally content for the next forever. However, her stomach was also grumbling and she knew she could not deny it sustenance forever.

"All right," she said in the strongest voice she could muster. Unfortunately, it still came out small and strangled.

Inutaisho braced his arms around her and did something that sent them flying. After a dizzying moment they were upright and naked as the day they were born. It felt totally natural to be bare and vulnerable in his presence.

Did that mean she trusted him? Yes, she realized with wonder. I do trust him! I really do! She had known that before, of course, but it really hit home in that moment. The knowledge moved from being intellectual to being intrinsic. Her trust for him was part of her now.

They helped each other dress. It was such a sensual thing to both of them that they came very close to tearing the newly donned clothing right off again. However, their stomachs would not be ignored.

It was with great trepidation that they stepped out at last into the mild morning air. Despite Izayoi's fear, there was no army waiting to unleash its cruel mirth upon her. Katsuro, Naruka, and Sakenmaru were there, as she'd expected, but they did not have the harsh light in their eyes that she remembered from her dream.

Instead, they broke into wide smiles as she and Inutaisho emerged.

"Aneue!" Naruka cried, hurtling across the short distance between them to envelop Izayoi in a tight embrace. "I'm so glad!" Her dark eyes sparkled with joy and tears.

Katsuro only smiled and gripped Inutaisho's shoulder in his warrior's hand. They had an understanding of each other that went beyond words, and so they said nothing. Where had her vision of him cruelly planning mass humiliation for her come from?

Sakenmaru laughed jovially and clapped Inutaisho and Izayoi heartily on their backs hard enough to make the latter stagger. How had she ever thought he would be unkind to her?

Izayoi wept openly with an enormous smile on her face.

I had nothing to fear after all, she thought. I was so stupid to think they would ever do something like that.

Lost in a sea of loving embraces, Izayoi smiled and released the very last of her fear.

All was right with the world.

A/N: Mwahaha! Did I scare you?

A good half of the next chapter is already written, so hopefully the wait won't be nearly as long this time.