InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Vivication ❯ Blessings ( Chapter 55 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Thud.

Fai blinked and slowly lifted his gaze from the report he was looking over to the very familiar sight of the old, chipped earthenware jug that Konstantin had plunked down on the desk before him.

But it wasn’t the old jug.  It was a new jug.  A . . . pink jug . . . A huge pink jug, easily double the size of the old one . . . “Pink, Kostya?”

Konstantin rumbled out that full belly-laugh.  “My father sends this in appreciation of the invitation to your most sacred day of joy and gladness!”

“He sent me a huge pink jug of Devildown for a wedding present?” Fai asked.

“Devildown?  Hmm . . . It’s a good name!” Konstantin decided after careful deliberation.  “Is strong and mighty!  Is warning and promise of the best of times—and perhaps the worst, come the morn!”

Fai sighed.  “You can’t challenge me today,” he pointed out, settling back in his chair as he handed the report across the desk.  Konstantin took it and frowned as he glanced at it.  “The tai-youkai will be arriving, starting tomorrow, and I cannot possibly greet them if I’m fighting off a hangover.”

Konstantin chuckled.  “A real man—a real Russian—endures!”

Fai grunted.  “Does this mean your father and mother aren’t coming?”

“No, no, no!  They simply asked me to deliver this for them since Father wants to bring Mother on his motorcycle.”

Fain slowly shook his head.  “They’re riding a motorcycle all the way down here from Siberia?”

“He’s a real man!” Konstantin boomed proudly.

“But your mother isn’t,” Fai added.

Konstantin chuckled.  “Mother . . . likes the motorcycle.  She says she likes the bumps, and when my father turns a corner, she—”

“And I’m pretty sure you should stop right there,” Fai cut in with a grimace.

“Hmm . . . What is this?” Konstantin asked, rattling the report in Fai’s direction.

Fai shook his head.  From what he’d gathered in that report, there were some rumbles to be heard about a couple human disappearances lately that may or may not be youkai-related.  As regent, it would technically fall to Konstantin to find out and report it if it did happen to have something to do with the local youkai.  It was only sent to him because Konstantin hadn’t been in place long enough for it to be common knowledge . . . “I was hoping you could tell me.  This report came out of your regency . . .”

He shook his head.  “I have heard nothing of this.  I will look into this immediately!”

Fai waved a hand when Konstantin turned to go.  “It can wait a few days.  Besides, I wanted to . . . to ask you something.”

Konstantin didn’t look like he was quite ready to give up on the idea of charging off to right all wrongs in his regency, but he nodded once and relaxed his stance slightly.  “Your Grace?”

Fai rolled his eyes, mostly because he still hadn’t been able to talk Konstantin out of using the formal term of address.  “I wondered . . . I need a svideteli . . . If you would . . .”

Konstantin blinked, slowly shook his head.  “You . . .?  You want me . . .?”  He choked, looking horrifyingly like he just might burst into tears.  “But I am just your lowly regent!  Surely there is one more fitting for this most sacred of tasks!”

“Well, technically, I asked Yerik, but he said that arranging the whole entertainment part afterward was too much for him, so he suggested that I ask you.”

“It is my honor!” he breathed reverently, thumping a thickly balled-up fist against his chest to emphasize his words.  “Yes, I—Konstantin Korinovich—will do this for you, oh, great and benevolent Brother of Mother Russia!”

Fai grunted when the huge bear rounded the desk, hauled him to his feet, and wrapped him into the tightest, most uncomfortable hug that he’d ever been forced into in his life—his whole life—the entire damned thing.  “Kostya!  Kostya, let go!” he gasped out with a grimace since the hulking man was crushing the stuffing out of him in his exuberance.

A very loud throat-clearing drew their attention, and Fai managed to glance over in time to see Gunnar Inutaisho, leaning in the doorway, arching an eyebrow in silent question.  “I can come back if you’re . . . busy,” he offered dryly.

“Is that man or woman?” Konstantin whispered, just loud enough for Fai to hear.

Fai shrugged Konstantin off.  “Gunnar is the future Japanese tai-youkai,” he replied.  “Gunnar, this is Konstantin, one of my regents.”

“And his svideteli,” Konstantin added, puffing his chest up proudly and dealing himself yet another healthy thump with that ham hock he called a fist.

Gunnar didn’t look overly impressed, probably because he had no idea what svideteli meant . . . Even so, he still inclined his head.  “Pleased to meet you,” he said.

Konstantin grunted.  “He does not look like he can hold the Devildown,” he remarked to Fai and without taking his gaze off of the very pretty Inutaisho.

Gunnar narrowed his eyes.  He might not really understand what Devildown was, but he did understand the idea that Konstantin had rather deliberately disparaged him on some level.

“Kostya . . .” Fai began in a warning tone that was summarily and utterly ignored.

Konstantin strode over to Gunnar, crossing his thick arms over his even thicker chest.  “You might be pretty man, Your Grace, but are you manly like Russian men?”

“Oh, boy,” Fai muttered with a sigh.

Gunnar looked properly offended.  “I’m not sure what you’re implying, but I don’t stand down from anyone or anything,” he stated.

Not surprisingly, Konstantin grinned.

Fai stifled another sigh.


“That . . . That looks like a really bad idea . . .”

Glancing up from the final itineraries she was putting together for the welcome packets she’d made for the arriving potential adopters, Saori frowned.  Nezumi was standing near the sheet glass windows that enclosed the patio and looked out over the back gardens.  “What’s that?”

She shook her head.  “I don’t know, but they’re all passing around a huge pink jug of . . . something . . .”

Saori grimaced, dropping the papers she’d been holding as she slowly pushed herself to her feet.  “Oh . . . no . . . Is there a really big bear-youkai out there?  One that’s almost as large as Bas-san?”

“Well, there’s a huge guy out there that I’ve not seen before,” Nezumi said.

Stopping beside Nezumi, Saori heaved another sigh.  “Uh-huh . . . That’s Kostya and his homemade vodka, guaranteed to knock every last one of those guys out there on their asses . . .”

Nezumi’s frown turned a little confused.  “Why’s that jug pink?”

“I don’t know . . . The usual one is more of a brown color . . . and about half the size of that one . . .”

“Oh, please tell me that InuYasha’s not drinking that,” Kagome half-sighed, half-groaned as she stuck a neat compilation of papers into one of the folders.

“Not at the moment . . . but he just drew Tetsusaiga,” Nezumi remarked.

The miko heaved a heavy sigh as she quickly pushed herself to her feet and hurried toward the doors, muttering under her breath about baka mates and moonshine vodka.  Kagura, however, just sat back, a rather knowing smile tugging on her lips as she flicked open one of her fans and slowly fanned herself.

“Tell me if they start sumo-wrestling again,” Aiko added brightly.

Saori shook her head as InuYasha unleashed a very respectable kongousouha.  He grinned widely for all of fifteen seconds until Kagome stomped over to him and yanked the sword out of his hands.

“Did she just . . . take away Tetsusaiga . . .?”

Saori giggled as Fai stepped up behind her, peering over her head at the goings-on outside.  “She did.”

He grunted.  “He doesn’t look very happy about it . . .”

Nezumi sighed.  “It’s either that or they’ll take turns, tearing your garden up to the point that you’ll end up, having to hire someone to redo your landscaping . . .”

Fai sighed.  “Your jii-chan is a damn menace,” he grumbled.

“Well,” Kagura drawled, “he’s better behaved these days than he used to be.  That’s got to be worth something . . .”

Aiko giggled.  “Do you remember when he taught nii-chan the word, ‘bastard’?”

Kagura smiled despite the slow shake of her head.

“What’s that?” Nezumi asked, turning around to face the matriarch of the family—well, one of them, anyway.  The other one was still outside, apparently giving InuYasha an earful.

Aiko still looked entirely amused.  “He called tou-chan a bastard, and nii-chan heard him, so when he asked what that meant, Yasha-oji-chan said that it was his way of telling tou-chan how much he liked him.”

Nezumi raised her eyebrows.  They disappeared under the thick fringe of her eyebrows.  “And he’s still alive?  Huh . . .”

“I let him live because I like Kagome-chan,” Kagura said.

Fai shook his head.  “Your entire family is a strange lot,” he told Saori, purposefully saying it in Russian.

She laughed.  “Yes, and soon, they’ll all be your family, too.”

He looked positively appalled by that, which only made her giggle more.  “God forbid . . .”

“Pardon me, Your Grace . . . His Grace, Sebastian Zelig and Her Grace, Sydnie have arrived.”

Saori smiled as she hurried over to greet her second-cousin and his mate.  Sydnie, true to form, stepped in front of Bas before finally allowing that Saori could, in fact, give Bas a hug.  Bas gave her a quick squeeze—not nearly long enough to offend his gorgeous kitty-cat, before stepping over to shake Fai’s hand in greeting.  “Thank you for the invitation, Fai . . . Dad and Mom are flying in later tonight.”

“I’m glad you could make it,” Fai nodded.  “Vasili, would you show them to their room?”

The butler bowed, and Sydnie followed him.  Bas started to, but then, he noticed what was happening in the garden, golden eyes widening when he noticed that Gunnar was stumbling just a little bit.  “What’s going on out there?” he asked, nodding at the future Japanese tai-youkai.

Fai sighed.  “My regent,” he explained, wondering if Konstantin was inadvertently going to start some sort of international incident for which Fai would likely have to apologize profusely for the next thousand years or so.

Saori crossed her arms over her chest.  “Tell me he didn’t challenge Gunnar-san to a manliness contest?”

Fai shrugged.  “All right.  I won’t.”

She groaned.

“Manliness contest?” Bas echoed.  “Well, no way on earth Gunnar’ll win anything like that . . .”

Saori opened her mouth to argue with Bas’ assertion.  Then she cocked her head to the side.  “Oh, I don’t know, Bas-san . . . I mean, he’s been able to go drink-for-drink so far . . .”

“That’s the contest?” Bas queried, arching a golden brow to emphasize his point.

She nodded.

Bas seemed to consider it for all of ten seconds.  Then he nodded at Fai and strode toward the doors.

“I feel like this is a really bad idea,” Fai remarked, though he made no move to intercept the big man.

“Probably,” she replied.

“Well, Sebastian is bigger than Mamoruzen,” Kagura mused thoughtfully.  “He should be able to hold his own.”

Saori giggled, winking at Fai when he shot her a very droll look.

Nezumi heaved a sigh.  “Oh, and there goes Ryo . . . That can’t be good,” she muttered, slowly shaking her head.  “And, of course, anything Ryo can do, Kichiro can do better . . .”

“Hmm, he doesn’t look like he approves of the taste,” Bellaniece remarked, stepping over beside Nezumi to gaze out the window, too.

Nezumi grimaced.  “I really didn’t need to see that . . .”

“Who got pantsed this time?” Kagura asked rather dryly from her seat at the table.

“Toga-oji-chan,” Saori replied, just before smashing her hand over her mouth to stifle a round of giggles as she whipped to the side to avoid seeing more than she already had.  True to form, the baka twins had rounded on their cousin, neatly pantsing him in one fluid motion.

Kagura heaved a sigh and said nothing.  Saori didn’t miss the way the corners of her lips were twitching, though, as she lifted a delicate mug of tea.

Fai snorted indelicately, narrowed his eyes and shook his head as he watched the antics continuing outside, but when she glanced at him a moment later, he was smiling just a little . . .


Fai leaned back in the desk chair, scowling at Sesshoumaru as the Inu no Taisho settled into the chair across from him, amber eyes taking on a magnified glow.  They were the only ones in the office.  Fai was actually on his way out of the room for the night when Sesshoumaru had approached him, asked him if he had a moment to speak.

So, they’d retired to the privacy of Fai’s office, but just now . . .

Letting out a deep breath, Fai slowly shook his head.  “You know what you’re saying,” he finally said as he slowly started to get a full grasp on the things that Sesshoumaru had said.  “Of course, you do,” he muttered.  “Damn . . .”

“I would not have brought this to your attention if I wasn’t absolutely certain, Faine,” Sesshoumaru said.  “He was known to be posing a threat back in your father’s time, too.”

Standing up so abruptly that the chair scraped back and almost tipped over, Fai strode over to the wet bar, sloshing vodka into a glass.  He started to head back, but thought better of it, tipping it back, emptying the glass before refilling it again.  “I should have known,” he growled, filling a glass for Sesshoumaru.  “I cannot remember Father ever speaking of him, and I don’t remember him ever visiting.  Granted, I was away at boarding school and later, college . . .” Setting the glass on the desk before the Inu no Taisho, Fai uttered a terse growl as he paced the floor, unable—unwilling—to sit back down again.  “How could I be so stupid?  So gullible?  Accepting his story at face-value?  I—”

“He wanted to convince you, Faine . . . And he did.  You cannot fault yourself for . . . perhaps needing to believe him.  At that time . . . Your mother had died; your father had just disappeared . . . You were dropped into your office and left to sink or swim.  Perhaps you simply needed someone to believe in.  it’s just that simple.  Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Fai blinked, scowled at Sesshoumaru.  The being who was well known for being terse, even cold . . . It was almost as though he were trying to . . . to comfort Fai . . .?  “But I haven’t done that with anyone else.  Trust them right off?”

“Maybe therein lies your problem.”

Fai shot Sesshoumaru a withering glower.  “What do you mean?”

The Inu no Taisho slowly shook his head.  “It was not a criticism, Faine,” he pointed out.  “It’s a lesson I’ve learned over the years, too.”

Fai snorted.  “You?  You, more than anyone, rely upon no one.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Sesshoumaru stated simply.  “It may seem otherwise, but I assure you, I do have my own trusted circle.  It is just very limited.”

Fai wasn’t sure what to say to that.  To be perfectly honest, he wasn’t sure what he thought about anything anymore; not really.

Sesshoumaru exhaled sharply.  It wasn’t a sigh, per se, but . . . “To be tai-youkai is to be alone.  That’s what your father told you, and, to some extent, it’s true.  After all, the decisions you must make are entirely at your discretion.  No one else can carry that burden for you . . . However, if you can find a few whom you can trust implicitly?  Then do so—and defend those few with everything you have.”

Fai grimaced, desperately wanting to smash something.  He restrained himself—barely.  “Trust . . .” he echoed, his emotions spiking, spiraling in such an ugly way.  “Isn’t that what got me into this mess, to start with?”

Sesshoumaru reached forward, took the glass, stared at the liquid inside for an inordinately long time as he considered Fai’s words.  “You live, and you learn, but it’s what you make of the lessons that define who you are . . .” he remarked quietly.  “That’s the way of it, and it has always been so.  If it means anything to you, however . . . Konstantin . . . I believe you can trust him—perhaps not his liquor . . . He, you understand, is easy to read.  He is one you can have faith in.”  He downed the vodka and set the glass back down once more as he rose to his feet.  “Your mother’s label has always been an impeccable brand,” he said, nodding at the empty glass.  “By the way, Saori has always been a good judge of character, as well.”

“Except when she doesn’t want to tell me things because she thinks it’ll . . . hurt me . . .” he muttered, still unable to shake the irritation that she hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him about Evgeni sooner.

Sesshoumaru nodded slowly.  “I have found over time that there are instances where Kagura has told me things in a much subtler way.  All you have to do is to pay attention to what she isn’t saying at those times—when she smiles, and you can see the shadows, lingering in her gaze, even when she tells you that there is nothing amiss at all . . . We have mates for a reason.  They often see the things we can’t—or don’t want—to see . . . and in many ways, Saori has always been more like Kagura than anyone else.  Both of them have the gift of sight, you see.  They can see past the exterior to what’s lingering in those hidden places, deep inside.  I imagine it’s ultimately what Saori first saw in you, Faine.  Kagura . . . She did the same thing with me, back in the beginning.  It isn’t a bad thing.”

Fai sighed, shaking his head as he slowly turned, met Sesshoumaru’s steady gaze.  “And how, exactly, am I supposed to protect her when I can’t even see a snake when he’s right in front of me?”

Sesshoumaru headed toward the door in his slow, sweeping gait.  He stopped, though, with his hand on the door handle, peering over his shoulder at Fai once more.  He stared at him for several moments.  Then he gave one curt nod, as though he’d figured something out, but whatever it was, Fai had no idea.  “Again, you’ve entirely missed the point.”

“Then what is the point?” Fai growled, hating the constant feeling as though he were being tested—and failing miserably.  “You say these things, and I—”

He cut Fai off with a narrowing of his gaze, with an almost imperceptible shake of his head.  As subtle as he was, his every movement held value.  It was an art that the man had developed—the reason why he was the undisputed leader of them all, maybe . . . “It isn’t about you, protecting her, Faine, nor is it about you, being perfect.  The point is that you protect each other.  Perhaps you’re stronger, but I promise you, she is likely wiser, and that is the way of it.  Do not presume that simply because you can win against your enemies that she should not be heard.  That is how mates protect each other—in every possibly way.  You should know that.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that she didn’t protect you now.  Just . . . return the favor every day . . . for the rest of your lives.”