InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Vivication ❯ Kidnapped ( Chapter 57 )

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

Saori gripped her stomach as she doubled over, tears running down her cheeks as she gasped for breath and tried to get a handle on the laughter that she couldn’t control.  She couldn’t help it.  It was the funniest thing that she’d ever seen, and, at the risk of offending anyone, we-e-e-ell . . .

“Explain to me again, just why the fuck he’s wearing that,” InuYasha growled, waving a hand at Rinji.

Kagome’s lips twitched over the rim of her cup of tea.  “Oh, I don’t know, InuYasha . . . You know, maybe you should take his place.  I mean, he’s kind of too tall . . .”

“Keh!” InuYasha snorted indelicately.  “Wench!”

“No one else is going to see this, are they?” Rinji asked.

“What?  Do you think someone’s going to record it and upload it to Youtube?” Seiji countered.  “We don’t really have any other choice.  I mean, it’s tradition . . .”  Tapping an articulated claw against his chin thoughtfully, he chuckled.  “Aiko, do you have your phone handy?”

“Absolutely not,” Rinji snorted.  “No videos or pictures.  Anyway, kaa-san could take my place—or obaa-san . . .”

Aiko laughed.  “It said in the book that it should be the most ridiculous replacement, so that’s why . . .”

Rinji sighed, fussing with the long and cumbersome skirts of the antique wedding dress that Vasili had produced for them.  That it was actually long enough to brush the floor on her really tall brother was astonishing enough.  That Rinji actually didn’t look terrible in drag?  Well, that was something she had opted to keep to herself . . .

Saori stood up and eyed her brother critically, arms crossed over her chest as she slowly stepped toward him.  Then she reached out, grabbed his makeshift breasts, and shoved the right one up and pulled the left one down.  “Sorry, nii-chan . . . You were a little lopsided.”

“Thanks, Saori,” he grumbled, pinking cheeks entirely visible under the thick lace veil.

“Fucking bent,” InuYasha growled.

Sesshoumaru glanced up from the magazine he was leafing through on his e-reader.  “I confess, this is a strange tradition,” he mused.  “You aren’t wearing heels, are you, Rinji?”

Rinji growled, low in his throat.  “I feel so stupid . . .”

Kagura, to her credit, was trying not to laugh.  “Oh, I don’t know, Rinji . . . You should feel pretty—like the song . . .”

“Obaa-san . . .”

Saori burst into another round of laughter, mostly because her poor brother did really look quite ridiculous.

But the old Russian tradition was that she had to be kidnapped until Fai came to pay the ransom—whatever ransom her family deemed appropriate—and then, he’d be given his ‘bride’, but not the right bride.  That it was supposed to be a really ridiculous bride that the groom was then obligated to pretend to believe was the right one until he lifted the veil . . . Well, that’s how Rinji got suckered into it . . .

“You realize, right, that there’s a good chance that Faine has not woken up yet,” Sesshoumaru pointed out.  Last time anyone had checked, which was the middle of the night, Fai was, indeed, still sleeping it off, and that was hours ago.  The sun had just risen over the eastern horizon, and the wedding was mere hours away—if Fai woke up, that was, and if he decided to cooperate with tradition and come to claim her beforehand . . .

A very loud bellow echoed through the room from somewhere in the distance, and this time, Kagura’s lips twitched.  “Oh, I think he’s quite awake,” she remarked.

Aiko crept over, cracked open the door to the room they’d commandeered on the sixth story of the castle’s western tower to peer out into the winding stairway below.  They all heard the ruckus going on below since the entire staircase was manned by pretty much all of the houseguests—all of whom were being made to ask ridiculous questions or to demand small bribes to allow the passage through the maze of furniture and whatever else they’d found to construct barriers to block Fai’s passage.

Saori giggled.  “If he doesn’t have cash on hand, will they accept IOUs?”

InuYasha grunted.  “I could take it out of his hide,” he offered.

Saori rolled her eyes since she wasn’t entirely sure, whether or not her uncle was joking . . .


“Okay, Fai, tell me: where are your mate’s crests?”

“Oh, that’s an easy question, Zelig-sensei!” Gin Zelig complained.

Cain shrugged.  “Maybe—if he knows the answer.”

Fai rolled his eyes, rubbing his forehead since he was still feeling a little run-down.  He’d be lying if he were to say that he wasn’t expecting something like this.  He was, however, hoping that they’d forego the nonsense.  No such luck . . . “She has a faint crescent moon on the back of her left ankle,” he replied.  The first time he’d noticed it, he’d thought that it was a scar or a birthmark since it was such a pale, almost white, color.  Then he’d realized later that it had to be her crest.

Cain shrugged.  “Sorry, Fai.  That’s just a scar.”

Fai grunted.  “It is not!”

Cain broke into a good-natured grin as he stepped back out of the path.  “You’re right.  It’s not.”

Fai stifled a sigh as he continued up the stairs.  He was about halfway to the top, having already managed to get past the other tai-youkai below.  In his opinion, the others were having entirely too much fun with this whole thing, and he shook his head when he hit the next landing, only to find a grinning Yerik waiting for him.

“All right, brother,” Yerik drawled, pushing himself away from the wall where he’d been lounging, stepping over to block the opening between a couple very large wardrobes.  “My question for you is, if a train leaves London heading north at—”

“Yerik!” Fai growled.

His brother relented with a chuckle.  “Okay, then.  Is it true that you had to mark her on her breast?”

He couldn’t contain the violent explosion of color under his skin, which only made Yerik laugh harder as he stepped aside to allow Fai to pass.

Just before the next landing, he found Ryomaru and his mate, Nezumi waiting for him, and he smothered the urge to sigh.  “All right.  What kind of ‘None-Of-Your-Damn-Business’ question do you have?” he asked.

Ryomaru crossed his arms over his chest and broke into the widest, shittiest grin he could possibly manage.  Beside him, his very pretty mate heaved a sigh.  “All right, Fai-sama,” the hanyou positively gloated.  “Admit that kelp is the key to a perfect borscht or you don’t fucking pass!”

“What?” Fai bellowed.

“As loudly as you can, Your Grace,” Ryomaru added for good measure.

Erupting in a growl that he just couldn’t restrain, Fai glowered at Saori’s irritating uncle.

‘Eyes on the prize, Fai . . . We want—we need—to marry that woman,’ his youkai pointed out before Fai lost his temper completely.

‘Did you hear what he just said?  Did you hear what he wants me to say?’

‘Yeah, I did, and who cares?  They’ll go home, you know, and then you can make your borscht any way you damn well please!  So, just say it so we can get a move on!’

‘Maybe you didn’t hear me right!  He wants me to—’

‘Yeah, I heard you, and you realize, right?  The official is going to be here in less than two hours, which means, if you don’t get up these stairs, pay the ransom to get your bride, make a good show of figuring out that they didn’t give you your bride, and repeat the process, we’re going to have a very angry official who will probably never agree to do another home visit as a special favor to you, ever, ever again!  Now, open your mouth, spit it out, and let’s get the hell on with it!’

Fai snapped his mouth closed on his retort and heaved a very loud sigh designed to let Ryomaru know just how much of an ass Fai really thought that he was.  “The key to a perfect . . . borscht . . . is . . . kelp,” he growled under his breath.

“What’s that?  I didn’t hear you, Fai-sama.  Yell it loud or you don’t fucking pass.”

“Damn it . . .”

“Time’s a-wastin’ . . .”

Fai sighed again.  “The key to a perfect borscht is . . . fucking kelp!” Fai bellowed.

Ryomaru’s grin widened even more—ass that he was—but he moved aside when his mate, rolling her eyes, gave him a good shove.

Stomping past him, Fai snorted.  “I lied, damn it!” he snarled as loudly as he could and without stopping as he broke for the stairs once more.  “Kelp in borscht is not a Russian dish!  Only outsiders like you think it’s good, and you eat raw fish on a regular basis, so your opinion of good food is moot!”

Ryomaru’s laughter escalated, and somehow, Fai couldn’t help feeling like he hadn’t won that battle, at all . . .

“Wow . . . Ryo really got to you, didn’t he?”

Heaving another sigh as he stopped before Toga and Sierra’s blockade, Fai slowly shook his head and jerked his fingers to move the Japanese tai-youkai along.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Toga frowned, despite the smile, quirking his lips.  “Here’s the thing, Fai-san . . . I like you.  I do.  I mean, I don’t know you very well, but what I do know of you tells me that you’re an upstanding guy—a really nice guy.  Having said that . . . Well, I—Sierra, here, and I . . . We really love Saori . . . She’s like another of our children—our daughters—I have four of my own, by the way.  Did you know that?  Four precious little girls—I mean, I guess they’re not little girls anymore.  They’re grown women.  Anyway, Saori . . . She’s one of my adorable sisters’ baby . . . I feel like I’d be doing her a great disservice if I were to just stand aside and allow you to pass . . . Perhaps I could be convinced if you’d like to pledge a sizeable donation to our family’s charitable causes?”

“Oh, that was pretty good, Toga,” Sierra remarked, casting her husband a very appreciative smile.  “A little long-winded, but good!”

Fai snorted.  “Fine.  Can we discuss it after the wedding?”

Toga chuckled.  “I think that’ll be great,” he remarked, inclining his head in a quick bow before stepping out of the way.

Fai grunted and turned his body to the side to squeeze through the smaller opening in the physical barrier comprised of furniture.  “You should ask Saori later about her theory on why you failed to have an heir for so long,” he couldn’t help tossing back over his shoulder.  “It’s fascinating . . .”

‘Okay, focus, Fai.  I mean, we’re almost there, right?  Who else is left . . .?’

He sighed as he stomped up the staircase.  He wasn’t entirely sure, who was left, but, given that he still was feeling a little off from marking Saori last evening, his patience was dwindling fast.  He supposed, in hindsight, he should have paid more attention when Kichiro had given him a pitcher of orange juice and told him he’d better start drinking.  He didn’t since he was too preoccupied, watching her, trying to make sure that she was all right . . . That sickly pallor that had crept over her skin was frightening, no doubt about it.  To drain her blood to nearly fatal levels, only to replace her blood with his . . .? He hadn’t realized what that would look like—not until he’d actually witnessed it, first hand . . .

And then, he’d woken up with Konstantin, pounding on his bedroom door and no Saori to be found . . .

It figured, didn’t it?  At the rate he was going, he was never going to get married today . . .

“Well, hello, there . . . Fai-sama, isn’t it?  Guess we weren’t properly introduced.”

Stopping short, frowning at the russet-haired kitsune and the raven-haired human woman, Fai slowly shook his head.  No, he couldn’t quite remember those two, either . . . “Who . . . are you?”

The woman giggled.  “I’m Rin—Toga and Aiko’s eldest sister,” she supplied.  “This is my mate, Shippou.  We got here last night while you were marking Saori-chan . . .” she supplied.

“Yeah, about that,” Shippou remarked, digging his hands, deep into the pockets of his hopelessly expensive slacks.  “She’s very precious to us, you know—almost like a collective daughter.  So, in the interest of this little game you Russians seem to think is fun, I’d like to know just why you think that you’re good enough to be our Saori’s mate?”

“Well, Shippou, you know, he is a tai-youkai, so that should count for something,” Rin remarked thoughtfully, entirely ignoring Fai like he wasn’t even there.

“True enough, but you saw what happened when Gin married the one across the big water.  They ended up, making Evan, and we cannot let that happen again . . .”

“He’s not that bad,” Rin protested, covering her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Shippou grunted.  “He was just arrested in Amsterdam for exposing himself to a crowd of a hundred thousand, Rin—then he told them that it wasn’t his fault, that his pants just, ‘fell on their own’ . . .”

She sighed.  “Oh, yeah, there’s that, I suppose . . .”

“Anyway,” the kitsune went on, “we have to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.  After all, Saori’s as innocent and pure as Gin . . . used to be . . . so any real perversion is going to come from—” he jerked his head at Fai, “—him.”

Fai rolled his eyes, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest.  “You realize, don’t you, that your sweet and innocent Saori appropriated me within minutes of our initial meeting,” he pointed out.

Shippou grinned.  “Yeah, I do!  Totally awesome, really, but I gotta tell you, it doesn’t speak well of your ability to protect her if you can’t even protect yourself from her . . .”

Fai sighed, rubbing his forehead as he tried to remind himself that losing his patience with his potential wife’s family would be a bad way to start things out.  “I think that the question of whether or not I’m good enough for Saori would be something you’d have to ask her,” he pointed out.  “She seems to think that I am.”

“Yeah, but she’s always loved pretty things, and you kind of fit into that category,” Shippou remarked.  “So, in your opinion, what do you have to recommend yourself, as far as mates go?”

Narrowing his eyes on the kitsune, shook his head.  “I love her—everything about her—everything.  Is that not enough?”

Shippou opened his mouth to respond to that, but snapped it closed with a sigh.  “Damn,” he muttered, shaking his head.  “Yeah, I guess it is.”

They stepped back to allow Fai to pass.  Rin giggled, leaning up to kiss her mate on the cheek to console him for giving in so easily.

When he stepped onto the next landing, Fai stifled a sigh when he came face-to-face with a grinning Kichiro Izayoi and his mate, Bellaniece.

“You look a little peeked,” Kichiro remarked pleasantly.  “Didn’t drink your juice like I told you to, huh?”

“Hmm, do you think he’ll be up to performing his husbandly duties tonight?” Bellaniece nearly purred into her mate’s ear.

Kichiro chuckled.  “Not my problem, princess,” he told her.  “Though Saori might be pretty disappointed if he can’t . . .”

Bellaniece giggled.  “I have to hand it to you, Fai-sama . . . You actually managed to refrain from sex before your wedding?  I can’t think of many who accomplished that . . . I mean, we certainly didn’t . . .”

Kichiro nodded.  “What does that mean, anyway?  Don’t you want my niece, Your Grace?”

Fighting down the livid blush that rushed into his cheeks, Fai snorted.  “Isn’t that how things are supposed to be done?” he growled, unable to repress the defensiveness in his tone.

Kichiro broke into a wide grin.  “It’s how it should be done, yes, but very few of us are able to actually do that . . . unless you’ve had sex and just used condoms . . .?”

“Is that your question?” Fai bit out.

“One of many, I think . . .” Kichiro remarked, idly scratching his chin.

Fai glared at Saori’s beloved uncle.  “No, we haven’t,” he bit out, unable to staunch the blush that rose in his cheeks.

“Wow, lover,” Bellaniece breathed.  “That’s pretty impressive, don’t you think?”

Kichiro shrugged.  “Not sure if I respect him more or less for that,” he admitted.  “In any case, I guess you pass . . . Good luck with the last obstacle, though.  It’s a doozy.”

Stomping past the doctors, Fai didn’t trust himself to reply.  One more obstacle?  Somehow, he felt like this one might well be the worst of them thus far, and, given that the others were all embarrassing on some level, he suspected that this last one might well be one that caused him to completely lose what was left of his temper . . .

Rounding the spiraling staircase, Fai blinked and shook his head when he spotted Sebastian Zelig and Gunnar Inutaisho waiting for him.  There was no barricade on the landing.  Behind them was the door—the room where Saori waited.  There was a table, though, and two chairs, one on each side, and that was enough to make him raise his eyebrows as he stopped and crossed his arms over his chest.  “What’s that?” he asked, nodding at the table.

Bas grinned, but Gunnar was the one who spoke.  “We took a page out of your Siberian bear’s book,” the future Japanese tai-youkai said.  “Have a seat, if you will.”

Smothering a sigh since he saw no way around it, Fai sat down as Gunnar slipped into the chair on the other side of the table.  Bas stepped over, plunking down a large, ornate decanter of something along with two tiny, shallow cups.  “Goal’s simple, Fai.  Match Gunnar, drink for drink, and you’ve passed his challenge.  If you can’t, then . . .” Bas grinned pleasantly, weaving his fingers together and turning his hands, palms out, cracking his knuckles in a rather obscene way.

“You had to choose sake, didn’t you, Bas-tard?” Gunnar muttered.

Bas chuckled.  “Call it payback, Gunsie.”

“Payback?” Fai echoed, shifting his suspect glare from one to the other.

Bas shrugged.  “Lose this round, and you’ll see.”

Gunnar chuckled, too—and why it sounded entirely ominous was entirely beyond Fai . . .

It was simple, wasn’t it?  Just match Gunnar drink for drink?  But Fai hadn’t counted on the idea that the sake in the decanter was more akin to liquid fire, and the first sip had him choking and gasping and pretty well ready to die, and Gunnar?  Damned if he didn’t drain his cup, set it down and just stare at Fai without a change in expression, not even a blink . . .

By the fourth cup, Fai waved his hands, unable to stomach the idea of trying to force down another swallow.  Only then did Gunnar break into the barest hint of a smile as he pushed away from the table and gestured for Bas to take his place.

Fai, however, was too busy, coughing and hacking to pay much attention as Gunnar chuckled rather nastily.  “It’s a new evolution in sake,” he said, raising his voice to be heard over Fai’s coughing.  “They make it with horseradish that they’ve aged for fifty years in giant casks below ground.  To be truthful, I’m impressed that you were able to drink that many of them.”

“Nasty shit,” Bas added, his smile widening as he slowly shook his head.  “You couldn’t pay me to drink that stuff.  No fucking way . . .”

“Thanks,” Fai wheezed out, finally able to sit up straight.  “Save some of that for Konstantin, will you?”

Gunnar smiled rather lazily.  “So, since Bas thought it’d be great to make me drink that junk with you, I decided that for Bas’ part, I’d take advantage of what he does best.  All you have to do to pass this last obstacle is . . . beat that tank in an arm wrestling match.”

Fai blinked, gaze shifting over to meet Bas’, and he sighed.  The man’s arms were easily the size of Saori’s waist, and, while Fai certainly was no slouch, he wasn’t built like a mountain, either . . .

It was actually rather embarrassing.  Ten minutes later, Bas’ arm hadn’t budged at all, and Fai was sweating buckets.  He’d like to blame his inability to move Bas’ arm on the marking process yesterday or even the exertion of being forced to climb the stairs.  There really was no real excuse, however, except that Sebastian Zelig was built like one of Egypt’s great pyramids, and Fai . . . Fai was not . . .

And then, just to make the whole thing that much worse, everyone from the lower areas started to fill the hallway landing, and didn’t that just figure?  Fai tried to ignore them, muscles straining and shaking, as he tried to move Bas’ arm . . .

“Oh, that just doesn’t look fair, now does it?” Yerik remarked.  He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.

“If he put kelp in his borscht, he’d have better muscle tone,” Ryomaru added.

“Bastian, if you keep it up, he’ll be too exhausted to do his thing on his wedding night,” Bellaniece intoned for good measure.

“Hmm, my puppy’s so strong!” Sydnie remarked, slipping through the assembly, sidling up behind her mate.  “You could sit there like this all day, couldn’t you, puppy?”

Bas grunted.  True enough, Fai hadn’t been able to move his arm at all, but Bas hadn’t been able to do it to Fai, either.

Sydnie giggled and leaned down.  “Come on, puppy . . . Is this really the best you can do?” she goaded, the hand that rested on his back slowly sliding downward.

All the sudden, Bas barked out a weird kind of half-yelp, his arm slackening just enough that Fai was able to slam it down against the table top.

Gunnar rolled his eyes.  “Kitty, that was entirely unfair,” he muttered, shaking his head as he dropped his arms and stepped back.

Bas’ cheeks were flushed as he shot his mate a chagrined kind of look.  “Sydnie—”

She giggled.  “Was it something I did, puppy?”

He grunted, standing up as his chair groaned against the floor.  “You win, Fai . . . Claim your mate,” he said.

He stifled a sigh as he stood up, wondering vaguely just how offended Saori would be if he told her that he never, ever wanted her family visiting here again . . .

He drew a deep breath as he raised his fist to knock on the door.  He supposed that it’d be too much to hope that they’d just hand her over without a fuss.

The door opened, and, of course, Sesshoumaru peered at him, looking entirely bored.  “Is there something you needed, Faine?”

Fai smothered a sigh.  “I’m here to collect my bride,” he said, as per tradition.

Sesshoumaru considered that.  “And what do you have to offer as her ransom?”

“Your entire damn family,” he growled.

Sesshoumaru almost smiled at that.  He didn’t, but his eyes brightened as he shifted his gaze over Fai’s shoulder at the assembled people on the landing and stairwell.  “I don’t particularly want some of them back,” he remarked in an offhanded kind of way.  “The kitsune in particular . . .”

“Oh, now, that’s cold,” Shippou said with a chuckle.

“Besides,” the Inu no Taisho went on calmly, “they allowed you passage much easier than they should have.  Seems to me that you should have had to fight harder to get past them . . .”

“Do you want a donation to a charity or something?” Fai demanded as his patience threshold shortened dramatically.  “You name it, and I’ll go write the check right now.”

Sesshoumaru considered that, then nodded slowly.  “I’m sure Kagura can make good use of your donation, Faine.”  Peering over his shoulder, he stepped back as someone who was entirely too tall to be Saori but was covered in much too much lace and silk and frills stepped forward.  “Here’s your bride,” he said, shoving the person into the hall and promptly closing the door.

Fai sighed, but played along, tossing the veil up and over the person’s head, only to heave a sigh when Rinji scowled back at him.  “I . . . don’t want to marry you,” Fai remarked dryly.

Rinji snorted as the good-natured jeering began—the catcalls and wolf-whistles that made him blush despite his best efforts to ignore it all.  “Don’t worry, Fai-sama.  You’re a little too . . . male . . . for my tastes, too . . .”

“He looks a lot like Aiko on her wedding day, doesn’t he?”

Rinji made a face as he yanked the veil off of his head.  “Shut up, Shippou-oji-san,” he grumbled.

Thumping on the door again, Fai sighed.

This time, however, the door opened to reveal Seiji, who stood, arms crossed over his chest, and, while he didn’t look unhappy, he did look very, very serious.

Fai cleared his throat.  “I believe you . . . gave me the wrong bride,” he pointed out.

“Did we?” Seiji countered, arching an eyebrow.

Fai nodded.  “I’d like to barter for the real bride, please.”

“What are you offering?”

Fai shook his head, mostly because, with a family as wealthy as hers, money wasn’t really an object.  Still, he really didn’t know what to offer, and therein lay the problem.  “Why don’t you tell me what you want in exchange?” he said.

Seiji considered that for a long moment, then he nodded.  “I’ll tell you want I want—what we want, Fai-sama,” he said, his gaze taking on a gravity that settled into Fai’s very bones.  “It’s very simple, really.  We want your life.”

Fai blinked.  “I beg your pardon?”

Seiji crossed his arms over his chest, gaze narrowing thoughtfully.  “Your life,” he repeated.  “I want you to promise me on your life . . . I want you to swear that you will take care of my daughter as I would.  That you’ll protect her and cherish her and love her with every last breath in your body—with your life.”

Fai could feel himself relax a little, felt the smile that came from somewhere deep inside long before it touched his lips.  Beyond her father, he could feel Saori’s youki, reaching out to him, and he spared a moment, allowing his to cosset hers, to buffer hers, as he turned his full attention to Seiji once more.  “You have it,” he replied without hesitation.  “My life . . . My promise . . .”

Only then did Seiji smile as he stepped back to allow his daughter to finally join Fai . . .