InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Vivication ❯ Insomnia ( Chapter 54 )

‘Be careful who you trust.  There are many who are trying to use you, some obvious, some not, and if you put your trust into the wrong person, the repercussions can have grave effects.  Trust yourself above all others.  In the end, that’s all you’ll have—your own counsel—but listen to yourself because no one else is ever going to truly understand the weight of our office . . .’

Letting out a deep breath as he settled deeper into the plush chair—the only chair—in the small room in the second level of the basement of the Demyanov castle—the vault.  It was a dark room, a mini-fortress, of sorts.  Originally, it was a simple empty space with added locking doors that could only be opened by the recognized youki of the Demyanov family—just a barren space that was used as a storeroom for all of the things that were deemed of value.

Sometime during his great-grandfather’s time, he’d decided that a renovation of sorts was in order, so the room had been expanded, dug out of the earth beneath the castle so that the actual basement didn’t seem to be compromised or made to look too small.  As the tale went, his great-grandfather, Otham Demyanov had been almost morbidly afraid of . . . Well, they said he was afraid of pretty much everything, which was odd, given that he was also Asian tai-youkai.  Apparently, youkai dealings didn’t bother him at all, but when it came to things like the passage of germs—he believed that biological warfare was a constant threat—or the underlying promise of human war, he was positive that those ‘infertile humans’ were determined to put an end to all manner of life, period.  To that end, he’d built this: what amounted to a bomb shelter hidden away in the second level of the basement, complete with a small kitchen, a bathroom, a very large bedroom because that was apparently important to him, too . . . a smallish living room-slash-office, and this room, hidden well behind the others . . .

Fai couldn’t sleep.  After his talk with Saori, after finally getting to her tell him what had happened with Evgeni, he’d given up, trying to drift off somewhere around two in the morning.  That she hadn’t wanted to tell him anything at all was telling enough.  She’d rather have kept it all to herself and not told him anything at all than to let him know just how rude Evgeni had been to her?  He supposed on some level, he could appreciate that.  Even so, there really hadn’t been any call for that, either, and Fai . . . Well, it wasn’t all right.  After everything that Evgeni had said to him . . .

To be honest, he really didn’t know what to think.  Some part of him didn’t really want to believe that Evgeni had anything but his best interests in mind, but he knew how things seemed, too, and his behavior toward Saori?  That wasn’t going to continue; not at all. All of that aside, Fai wasn’t a pup, and he most certainly wasn’t stupid.  He might not be as old as Evgeni, but he was old enough—perceptive enough—to know that Saori certainly was his mate . . .

He didn’t know when the idea had occurred to him—to read the journal his father had left for him when he’d walked out of his and Yerik’s lives years ago.  Fai had read it all back then when he’d found it atop his father’s desk—his desk, but that was years ago, and maybe there was information contained within it that Fai had somehow missed the first time around.  Or maybe he just hadn’t understood with the same clarity that he might now.

Yerik had yet to read it.  Fai hadn’t yet mentioned it to him.  It wasn’t that he was keeping it from him, of course.  It was more that the opportunity had yet to present itself, and even then, Fai had to admit that he wasn’t entirely sure that Yerik really would want to read it, in the first place . . . If he couldn’t rightfully recall their father, then would it really matter?  Or would it make Yerik feel just a little worse about something that he literally had no control over . . .?

It didn’t mean that Fai wouldn’t let him read it, if that’s what he wanted to do.  After all, advice was advice, and, should something happen to Fai, then it would fall upon Yerik to take over in his place.  It was something that Yerik knew.  It was also something that the younger Demyanov hated to talk about . . .

Snapping the thin notebook closed with a heavy sigh, Fai scowled as he flopped back in the chair, as his gaze shifted around the room.  Book cases piled high with all manner of information—ancient reports collected over centuries about various families, groups, even countries that fell under the Asian jurisdiction . . . Shelves that housed many of the priceless antiques and artifacts that the family had gathered over time . . . Filing cabinets, full of all the important documentation—birth certificates, marriage records—everything, but there were no magic books with the answers to the questions that plagued him, either.

Grasping the arms of the chair to haul himself to his feet, he strode over, slipped the journal back into the drawer where he kept it along with the official reports from every hunt, every challenge . . . Before Fai, his father had kept records like that, too, though his tended to consist only of a record of the crimes that led to the hunts or ended in challenges, along with the official hunt order—every last one of them down here, marked as completed . . .  Fai was the only one who wrote down the details of those things . . .

Slamming the drawer closed as his temper got the better of him, he blinked and frowned when another book fell off the top of the floor-to-ceiling cabinet.  It was a thick book that reminded Fai of those ancient tomes with vellum parchment pages with fine but old leather covers that may have been a fawn color in days long past, but was now a deep, dark chocolate . . .

As he stooped down to pick it up, he stopped, his hands hovering just above it as the vaguest slip of memory flickered to life like a candle set under a glass chimney.  That memory slowly gained strength—something he’d almost forgotten: his father, sitting at his desk while Fai played on the floor with a couple wooden trucks . . . He wasn’t more than maybe three at that time, and yet, he could remember that book.  Alexei had written in it once a week, on Saturday nights, as faithfully as clockwork.  He’d said once that it was a diary when Fai asked.

His father’s diary . . .?

He had no idea, just what his father might have written inside those pages, and a part of him didn’t really want to look—didn’t want to invade Alexei’s privacy, even though he was long gone from this earth.  But having a chance to gain a better understanding of the man that rarely expressed any kind of real emotion unless it involved Fai’s mother . . .

Carefully, almost reverently, he lifted it and carried it back with him to the chair . . .

“So, oyaji should be here with the pups and Ryo sometime today, right?”

Glancing up from the phone as she shot off an email to confirm reservations for the South American potential adopters, Saori nodded.  “That’s right.”

Kichiro Izayoi reached over her shoulder for the slim-file that contained the files of all the orphans.  He and his mate, Bellaniece had volunteered to give all the children extensive physicals to ensure that they were completely healthy and ready to go to their new countries, as long as the meetings went well, but the main reason he was here was so that he could oversee Saori’s official marking—something that they were planning on doing later on today before everyone else started to trickle in.  They’d just arrived about half an hour ago along with Gunnar, who was currently out on the enclosed patio with the rest of the men, and Bellaniece was still up in their room, taking a short nap since they’d flown out very early this morning.  He tapped the file against his thigh and leaned down to give Saori a quick squeeze.  He, like Ryomaru, was technically more of a second-cousin, but, since they were older and closer, she referred to them both as uncles, instead . . .

Kichiro frowned.  “And where is this mate of yours?” he asked, arching an eyebrow as his hanyou ears twitched.

Saori’s smile faded, only to be replaced with a thoughtful scowl.  “I don’t know,” she admitted.  “I mean, he was already up when I woke up, and Vasili said he wasn’t sure . . . But it seems like he’s . . . here . . .”

Kichiro nodded slowly, scratching his chin as he considered what she’d said.  “Well, this place is big enough, I guess.  You could probably go a month without having to see each other, if you didn’t want to . . .”

She rolled her eyes but giggled.  “I think I probably should go see if I can find him,” she remarked, standing up and sparing a moment to give Kichiro a proper hug.

“All right . . . Oh, do you know what room would be best to use for the examinations?”

“Hmm, maybe ask Vasili?  He’s better at that kind of thing, and since the other tai-youkai are set to start arriving, I’m not entirely sure where he’s planning on putting them, either . . .”

“Apologies for interrupting, but I heard my name, Your Grace?”

Saori giggled at the sudden formality that the butler had taken to using whenever he addressed her, but she didn’t correct him.  “Kichiro-oji-chan needs use of a spare room to conduct physicals on the children after they arrive,” she said.  “Can you arrange that?”

The butler nodded.  “Of course.  This way, Master Kichiro.”

She watched them go, her smile slowly fading.  Her mood was still surprisingly upbeat.  It was more that she really had no idea, just where Fai had gone, that concerned her.

The odd thing was, she really could tell that he wasn’t that far away, but he wasn’t in his office—she’d already looked—and he wasn’t on the back patio with the other men who were currently having breakfast and discussion things that tended to bore Saori just a little bit.

‘Well, track him down, then, Saori . . . Put your lessons to some practical use.’

She nodded, to herself, pausing long enough to get her bearings, trying to get a feel for just where he seemed to be.

It wasn’t her nose that led her, though, when she finally headed into the foyer.  She could sense his youki as well as she could feel her own, and that was what she followed.  Pausing at the head of the stairs that she’d never actually been down before, she frowned.  The stairway was lit by something far below around a corner.  It looked safe enough, which was kind of a silly thought, given that this was Fai’s home.  Even so, the fleeting memory of those stories of hauntings that Yerik had mentioned back in the beginning, lingered in the recesses of her mind.  He hadn’t mentioned anything about a haunted basement, though . . .

‘Haunted?  Oh, please!  There’s no such thing, you realize.  It’d be kind of cool if there were, though . . . Do you think that you could convince nii-chan that it’s haunted?  If you could, do you think it’d freak him out a little?’

Wrinkling her nose at her wayward youkai’s words, she stopped, looked around at the large basement corridor that stretched out before her.

Fai wasn’t there, she thought, her frown deepening as her gaze shifted to the second set of downward stairs.  It seemed to her that the feel of his youki was thicker there, and without another thought, she took those stairs, too, a little faster than she’d descended the first set.

Maybe it was just because the Demyanov Castle was so large, so old, but the strange sense of vulnerability crept up her spine.  As these stairs descended, the sense of decay grew, too—the dark and rich scent of earth and all those hidden things—things that were held at bay by the thick stone walls, but even those walls themselves were slowly crumbling, weren’t they?

Stepping onto the landing in another long hallway, a maze of closed doors, of secret things . . . Her overactive imagination wondered if this area had ever been used as a jail or a dungeon.  Then again, maybe it was best, not to know the answer to that.  Given that she’d been arrested and held here, then it was a good thing that there were no active facilities here now . . .

She didn’t go far along the corridor.  Stopping suddenly, a frown drawing her brows together as she turned and stared at a blank stretch of stone wall, she shook her head.  For some reason, she felt like he was right there, didn’t she?  Just on the other side of that wall, but there were no doors there—not one that she could see as she leaned back, stared down the hallway . . .

Leaning in, she rested her hands against the stones, slowly examined the wall, even though she really didn’t know what she was looking for . . .

Letting out a deep breath, she stepped back, dug her phone out of her pocket to fire off a text to the missing tai-youkai, hoping that he’d at least taken his phone with him, too . . .

‘Where are you?  I’m in the basement, and I can tell you’re here, but why can’t I find the door?’

She waited for a couple minutes.  She was about to give up, to go back upstairs, when a soft click sounded.  A moment later, the stones scraped open, and Fai slowly shook his head at her, but he had a wan smile on his face, and she stepped past him into the hidden rooms . . .

“What’s this?” she asked, face upturned as she took in the rather cozy interior.

He sighed.  “My great-grandfather was a little . . . eccentric,” he explained.  “This is the vault.  Everything important is kept here, which reminds me . . .” Taking her hand, he pulled her over to a very large, standing chest with very short drawers.  It almost reminded her of an apothecary cabinet, but the drawers weren’t quite that tall, and most of them were as wide as the cabinet itself.  Toward the bottom of the ten-foot-tall cabinet were narrower drawers that were taller—Two rows of three across and one large cabinet built into the bottom.  “These are the Demyanov jewels.  The ones that were left in your room were just a small portion of them.  These are all the real ones.  They’re yours, of course.”

She nodded, eyes widening as he opened drawer after drawer.  They were all full of gorgeous gems, of beautiful, shining pieces, all laid out on thick black velvet.  Rings, necklaces, matching bracelets and earrings . . . Tiaras in the lower drawers . . . She shook her head.  “Kami,” she breathed, taking a step back in retreat.  “All of those . . .?”

He shrugged, obviously not that impressed with the jewelry as he closed the drawers once more.  “I’ve only seen some of these worn in pictures,” he admitted.  “Mother’s favorites are the ones that are in the chest in your room.”  Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he shrugged.  “We can change the identilocks on the chests later on so you can open them . . . Oh, did your uncle make it?”

She nodded.  “Gunnar-san, too . . .” She bit her lip.  “Tell me why you’re down here?”

He sighed.  “Father left a journal for me when he left,” he explained.  “I thought maybe there was something in it that might clear some things up for me, but . . . but there really wasn’t . . .”

“About . . . Evgeni-san, you mean?”

He nodded.  “Then I found Father’s diary . . . I’ve been reading it, but . . .”

Letting her head fall to the side as she stared at Fai, she reached up, brushed his unruly bangs out of his face.  “Do you feel like you’re prying into his thoughts?”

He grimaced.  “Something like that.”

She stepped over to him, slipped her arms up around him.  “It’s okay if you want to remain friends with him, you know,” she said.  “I mean, once we’re mates, he’ll see that . . . that he was wrong about me . . .”

Fai didn’t look entirely convinced, but he nodded slowly, wrapping his arms around her, gently kissing her forehead.  She had a feeling that there was something that he wanted to say, but, in the end, he just held her . . . and sighed.

Standing with his arms crossed over his chest, a very small smile, toying with the corners of his lips as he watched the orphans as they ran around, playing and hollering, exploring and laughing, dragging the adults—Saori and her family and Yerik—all over the place.  To his surprise, InuYasha seemed to have made some small friends, which amused him, given that the hanyou tended to be a lot on the surly side most of the time.  Even more surprising, in his estimation, was watching as Sesshoumaru sat in the grass, allowing a couple of the very small girls to pick flowers and stick them into his hair, much to his mate’s undisguised amusement . . .

A small tug on the leg of his slacks drew his attention, and his smile widened as Galinia peered up at him.  Dressed in an old but very clean and pressed yellow dress, she dug the toe of her little white patent leather Mary Janes into the grass under her feet.  “Saori said you’re getting married,” she said, slowly, sadly shaking her head.  “But I wanted to marry you . . .”

He chuckled, tugging on his slacks as he hunkered down beside her and drew her into his arms.  “I’m sorry, Galinia . . . Saori’s making me do it.”

The girl’s wide blue eyes widened even more.  “She is?”

He nodded.  “But I promise you’ll meet someone better than me one day . . .”

She didn’t look like she believed him as her bottom lip jutted out in a marked pout.

He chuckled, turning her around and pointing at Rinji.  “What about him?  He’s pretty, right?  You could marry him if you wanted . . .”

She shook her head.  “Viktoriya wants to marry him.  She said so . . .”

Fai chuckled again, wondering vaguely if Rinji had any idea that he’d been so unceremoniously claimed . . . “What about Yerik?  He just broke up with his fiancée . . .”

Galinia quickly shook her head.  “He’s scary!” she whispered.

Fai blinked.  “He is?”

She nodded.

“Yerik is?”

She nodded again.

“Oh . . .”

“Fai-san . . . Have you seen otou-san?”

Fai glanced up at Gunnar Inutaisho, who was frowning slightly as he took in the sight of the children, romping all over the yard.   A few of them had wrestled InuYasha to the ground, and the hanyou was allowing them to climb all over him like he was a living, breathing jungle gym . . . “Um . . . I think he was making a few phone calls in my office . . .”

Gunnar bowed slightly.  “Thank you,” he said as he turned to leave.

Galinia leaned toward him.  “I want to marry him,” she whispered, unable to tear her eyes off of Gunnar.

“Hey, Gunnar . . .”

The hanyou who would one day be the tai-youkai of Japan stopped and turned to face him.  “Yes?”

Fai stood up.  “This is Galinia . . . She wants to marry you.  Congratulations.”

The hanyou blinked, mouth dropping open, as Fai gently pushed the girl toward him and headed over to intercept Saori . . .

“Galinia’s mad at you,” he said, slipping his arms around his mate, pulling her back against his chest.  She was watching some of the older boys as they tried to hand fish in the small stream.  The fish in that stream were tiny, so even if they caught them, they’d let them go again.

She giggled.  “Galinia?  Why?”

He shrugged.  “I might have let it slip that you’re forcing me to marry you.”

She gasped and craned her neck to pin him with a very stern look that was ruined a second later when she giggled.  “You didn’t!”

“I did,” he told her.  “Don’t worry, though.  I helped her out.  She’s now engaged to your cousin.”

“My what?”

He chuckled.  “Your cousin.  His response was about the same as yours.”

She looked around and finally laughed when she spotted Gunnar, walking along with Galinia, hanging onto his finger.  “Oh . . . That’s cute . . .” she breathed.

Fai nodded.  “It rather is . . .”

She sighed.  “Considering he’s not really that fond of children?  Well, he says he doesn’t mind them.  He just doesn’t like babies very much . . .”

He kissed her temple.  “Saori?”

She was still watching Gunnar and Galinia.  The little girl let go of his hand, long enough to pluck a flower before darting back to him and taking his finger again.  “Hmm?”

He frowned.  She didn’t see it.  “Where is that uncle of yours?  Ryomaru?”

She shook her head.  “I don’t know . . . I think he might have said something about checking on supper . . .”

His arms dropped away.  “I’ll be back.”

She blinked and grabbed his hand before he could make a break for it.  “Oh, no, you’re not going to go and cause a fight over kelp in borsht.”

He grunted.  “It doesn’t belong in there,” he growled.

She shook her head and hung on tighter.  “Fai, he’s your guest.”

“Exactly, which is why he shouldn’t be in my damn kitchen.  In fact—”

A sudden ruckus broke out, the boys who had been fishing, suddenly turning and running.  Fai narrowed his eyes when he saw it, too: Sesshoumaru was standing now—he still had a couple flowers entwined in his hair—and was standing there, glowering at his half-brother, who had drawn his sword and was pointing it directly at the Inu no Taisho . . .

Saori sighed.  “I knew it . . . Those two can’t be in the same country without starting a fight over something—usually InuYasha-jii-chan starts it, though . . . You’d think by now that ojii-chan would have learned how to ignore him . . .”

Fai grunted, narrowing his gaze as the children’s excitement spiraled out of control.  Standing back in a wide circle around the two, they looked like they were all hoping for a lot of blood and possibly some gore, too . . . “They’re not really going to fight, are they?”

“Probably,” she replied with another sigh.

InuYasha started to heft his sword, the giant blade, glinting in the sunshine.  Off to the side, Kagura sighed and flicked open a fan, neatly sending a single wind blade, crashing into Tetsusaiga.  The legendary sword flew out of InuYasha’s hand, sailing end over end, and finally impaling itself deep into the earth as it reverted back to its old and rusty state once more.  “You’re setting a terrible example for the children,” she said in a much drier tone than Fai could credit.

The half-brothers glared at one another for another long minute as Kagome heaved a sigh and slowly shook her head . . .