InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tsubaki's Revenge ❯ Collar ( Chapter 13 )

Tsubaki's Revenge, Part 13: Collar

 

Listening to the dark priestess' one-sided conversation was more interesting than listening to his thoughts. Leaning back and supporting himself with his hands, Inuyasha pretended to watch the sun sinking below the trees, one ear cocked backwards towards the woman's voice.

 

He wondered what she thought of the answer he gave to the shikigami, when he asked why he had chosen to save the villagers with the Shikon No Tama. There had been a rather long silence after his answer, and her next response had no apparent connection.

 

Her comment about someone `taking the bait' made him stiffen, both ears snapping around to point towards the voice. Surely, she was talking about Kikyo! He had to force himself to relax. `Bait' might mean a trap, he argued against his sudden fear for Kikyo, but the rest of what the dark priestess had said suggested that she was merely trying to keep Kikyo from finding them. And how could he argue with that? He'd much rather find a way to free himself, than to have Kikyo risking her life in an attempt to rescue him.

 

But that led back to the questions he'd been trying not to think of. Why hadn't he done more to try to escape? Why had he even tried to fight down his temper, when she taunted him? When the shikigami told him of how she intended to control him? A collar! A dog collar! He knew he still wasn't up to his full strength, but when had that ever stopped him? The threat of the collar made him want to rip his claws through that creature's neck, promise to mother or not.

 

His torso ached. With the slightest bit of a wince, Inuyasha leaned forward and buried his head on his knees, not caring if he looked weak or tired. He silently cursed the woman for her interference. He would have been entirely content to spend another quarter-moon or two being `coddled' by Kikyo. He wanted—just to be with her. To watch her. To listen to her. Just to hold her hand. Or sleep with his head in her lap—

 

“Hanyo-san, the miko-sama wishes you to come inside.”

 

“The name is Inuyasha.” Sitting up, Inuyasha glanced at the tree line, noticing the sun was entirely behind them.

 

“Ah. My apologies, Inuyasha-san. If you will come?”

 

He still wasn't ready to directly fight her. Standing up, Inuyasha turned and stepped up onto the porch, moving towards the door that the shikigami slid aside. Once inside, he toed off the sandals before stepping onto the floor mats. The dark priestess, he noted, was once again, already kneeling at her position. This time, however, her low table was not covered with paper and writing tools. Rather, it, and the second table were each holding several bowls of food.

 

The smell of food reminded him that it had been very long time since his last decent meal. Trying to ignore that reminder, Inuyasha kept his attention on the dark priestess. She was watching him with a slight smirk. With an internal grumble, Inuyasha steeled himself and gave her a slight bow. “You wished to see me, miko-san?”

 

There was a glint in her eyes, and below the strong odors of the food, lay her subtler scent, which was currently a mixture of lust and amusement. Her smirk widened. “Well, who knew that the puppy could know enough to try and be polite?”

 

His ears tried to flatten. Folding his arms and sliding his hands inside the sleeves of his kimono, Inuyasha met her look coldly, trying to guess how his maternal grandfather would have reacted. “You indicated that you preferred politeness, miko-san,” he replied as coolly as he could manage. “Perhaps it is something no longer desired?”

 

She gave him a startled look, then inclined her head. “Politeness is desired, hanyo-san; it is merely surprising to see it attempted by a mere—half-human.”

 

His ears tried to flatten again. Annoyed, and not able to think of a good reply, Inuyasha chose to remain silent, trying to mimic his brother's usual expression of cold disinterest.

 

She broke their staring match first, giving a flick of her hand and a patently unfelt laugh. “Oh, don't stand around looking offended, hanyo-san. Please be seated—I'm sure you are hungry—and Yukuuku is too good a cook, to let her food grow cold.

 

“Thank-you, miko-san.” Inuyasha walked over to the other place and knelt. He examined the food before him, quickly sorting through the scents. There was no suggestion of poison, nor could he sense any hint of power, youkai or human. Still—

 

“You do not need to be afraid to eat, hanyo-san,” said Tsubaki, amusement in her voice. “I would never tamper with the tanuki's excellent food.”

 

The glare escaped his control, and she responded with a smirk. She picked up her chopsticks. “Please feel free to eat as you desire, hanyo-san. I quite understand if you never learned to eat in proper human fashion.”

 

Which meant, of course, that he to prove her wrong. Picking up the chopsticks, he fiddled with them for long moments before they felt right. He had learned to use chopsticks as a child, of course. But as an outcast and frequently hunted hanyo, he rarely felt safe enough to risk a fire and the time to cook, and even then, `cooking' was usually limited to roasted meat skewered on green branches, and roots baked in the ashes. The only time he could remember using chopsticks in years was that one time last winter, after he had helped Kikyo slay a demon. By the time they had returned to her village, it was snowing heavily, and he had given in without much argument to her insistence that he stay at least long enough to have a hot meal.

 

But at least that meal had been a simple stew. This was closer to the kind of meals that he vaguely recalled had been served at his grandfather's table. Not that he'd ever eaten in the presence of his mother's father: at best, the disgraced daughter of a daimyo and her never-mentioned child ate behind a screen; more typically, they ate alone in her quarters.

 

With an internal sigh, Inuyasha used his chopsticks to pick up a piece of food that looked like a piece of fish wrapped around rice. It was, and he chewed slowly, acutely aware of his still uncertain stomach. At least a certain memory was too fresh, to be tempted into the habit of eating as fast as he could. Unlike that meal the winter before, when he'd looked up from his empty bowl of stew to see two faces staring at him with expressions of shock and dismay. His face had turned so red…

 

* * * * *

 

Having decided to be lenient to her prisoner meant that she could concentrate on enjoying her own meal, which was, as usual when Yukuuku cooked, delicious. However, it was both amusing and disappointing to note that the hanyo was not only trying to eat mannerly, but that he was also largely succeeding. He clearly had no sense for the order in which the food should be consumed, but he was eating neatly, if rather slowly. He set down his chopsticks moments before she did, leaning back and putting his hands back in his sleeves, half-lidded eyes focused on a spot on the floor halfway between them.

 

Yukuuku quickly appeared when Tsubaki summoned her. She quickly cleaned off Tsubaki's table. But turning to go to the other table, she froze. “M-m-mistress, p-please, c-can I l-leave the other t-table for l-later?” she whimpered. “I-I—“

 

“I'm not going to attack you, tanuki-san,” interrupted the hanyo. He gave an audible sniff. “You couldn't hurt me if you tried.”

 

“Oh!” Yukuuku froze, expression startled. “I-I-oh.” Her ears sank and she seemed to shrink in on herself. “I—“

 

“Feh.” The hanyo rose smoothly to his feet. “Tell your story-makers that Inuyasha only goes after those who are trying to kill him. Leave me alone; I'll leave you alone.”

 

“Oh! Yes, Inuyasha-sama!” she said with a quick bow. “I will tell them! I will!”

 

The hanyo snorted and jerked his head in a nod, then turned and walked towards the exit. Kuroshin moved to block him. The hanyo came to a halt. Neither said a word. Tsubaki saw the hanyo's ears rotate to point backwards.

 

“Please finish your work, Yukuuku-san,” she said to the tanuki. The youkai started a little, then quickly moved to the second table and started removing bowls. Hands full, she skittered out of the room as quickly as her legs could move her rotund body.

 

“I suggest you return to your pad, hanyo-san,” said Tsubaki, when the tanuki had disappeared. “I am not finished with you yet.”

 

The ragged white ears twitched. “I'd much rather go sleep off Yukuuku-san's excellent meal, miko-san.”

 

“And I will remind you that you are my prisoner, hanyo,” she retorted coldly, dropping the honorific.

 

The ears flattened momentarily, before resuming their restless movements. Tsubaki was beginning to think that the hanyo was going to refuse, when he finally turned around. Silently, without a sound, he returned to the pad and knelt, his hands not leaving his sleeves, and his back not deviating from the vertical. She found herself admiring the strength and grace of his moves, as well as the flow of white hair against the lighter blue, simpler kimono and hakama he was wearing this evening. The hair on top of his head, she noticed, had grown noticeably from last night, becoming long enough to start curling down towards his forehead.

 

She caught herself up, mentally shaking herself. The attractiveness of the creature before her meant nothing. She had plans for the hanyo, and no pretty hair or bright eyes would change it.

 

“I have a proposal, hanyo. I suggest you consider it well, before you refuse.”

 

The hanyo snorted but made no other reply. His eyes, slightly narrowed, watched her with an intensity that made her skin want to itch. She gave him a smirk, and rose to her feet. Moving one hand into the opposite sleeve, she pulled out the largest of the black rings out. Balancing it on two fingers, she started to saunter in an arc towards the hanyo.

 

He reacted immediately. His ears went flat, and he pulled his hands out of his sleeves, knuckles cracking as he arched his fingers.

 

Mistress…

 

She stopped and turned away, but not so much that the hanyo couldn't see the ring. Using both hands, she pretended to examine it. “You destroyed the Shikon No Tama, which should have been mine,” she told him. “You also brought back to life the miko I had cursed. You wasted the jewel's power on a handful of worthless villagers. I fully intended to make you suffer for that, and then I was going to kill you in front of that self-righteous prig of a Kikyo.”

 

A faint growl responded to her. “You mean you were going to try to kill me.”

 

She shrugged. “If it makes you feel better to think that…” she said dismissively. She turned the ring slowly, then put it back in her pocket. “However.” She turned and gave him an artificial smile. “I've had a better idea.”

 

He glowered at her. Smirking, she started to walk towards him again. “What I want, hanyo, is power. Power to ensure eternal youth, and eternal beauty. The Shikon No Tama would have given me that.”

 

“Keh.” The hanyo's voice was derisive. “The jewel would have turned you into a hideous monster before you could scream.”

 

“Oh, really? You think because you accidentally destroyed it, you are somehow an expert?” she sneered.

 

He turned his head to meet her eyes directly. Darkened gold eyes stared at her. “No,” he said after a long moment. “I don't understand half of what Kikyo says about the jewel. But I know what I felt.” His lip curled, baring a fang. “The demon soul inside that jewel would have sucked you into its control the moment you invoked its power.”

 

She glared at him, affronted by the very suggestion. “You have no idea what you're talking about, hanyo. And it makes no difference, anyways. The jewel is gone, thanks to you.”

 

He only looked at her, ears pricked forward.

 

Tsubaki drew a deep breath to settle her emotions. “As I said, you owe me for the jewel. I had thought I would have to satisfy myself with simply getting revenge on you. But last night, I learned the real value of what I had captured. A hanyo with taiyoukai blood. A creature that, merely by being what it is, mingles the blood and the power of both human and youkai. Human and youkai power don't mix well, as I've discovered. And yet, in you, it does.”

 

She paused, and regarded the hanyo. He watched her silently and intently, his fingers flexing slowly. “I intend to take your power. If you cooperate with me, it should be fairly painless. You may die, you may turn human; at this point I don't know. But you won't suffer, if I can help it.” She smiled thinly, “I'll even be generous and agree to let Kikyo and those worthless villagers live.”

 

His ears lowered. “If I say no?”

 

Tsubaki smiled. “I'll go back to my original plan, with some changes. Would you like the list?” She moved towards him, taking due note of the faint rumble emanating from him. She had strengthened her barriers considerably from the day before; she was confident he would be unable to penetrate them. “Inu hanyo. A puppy should have a collar, don't you think? A nice, pretty collar to go with those puppy ears.” She reached out and touched the nearest ear.

 

She never saw him move. Between one eyeblink and the next, he was on his feet, a length away from her, ears completely flat against his head, and snarling. His hands were arched before him, the claws glowing yellow. “Don't try that again, bitch,” he spat.

 

Smirking, she removed the collar from her sleeve. “You didn't object to it last night. You were practically purring when I scratched your ears.”

 

He started, eyes flaring wide, before narrowing to slits. “You—dared!“ His stance deepened into a crouch, his growl continuous.

 

“Of course I did. I am Tsubaki, a dark priestess. You are merely a vulgar, disgusting hanyo.”

 

The volume of his growl increased. She could see the tension in his body, the temptation to strike at her. She smirked, knowing that he was afraid to make a move, afraid of the collar. She held it up so he could see it plainly, rubbing her thumb along it. His hands flexed, his claws growing brighter. His ears were almost hidden in his hair. She let her smirk grow wider, thinking how much she was going to enjoy tormenting him by stroking his ears, his hair, everywhere that he obviously hated being touched. She wouldn't even have to hurt him…

 

His growling stopped, as his eyes widened. Her smile faded somewhat in puzzlement as he straightened. He sniffed deeply, obviously, then drew his lips back in a sneer. “You're not a priestess,” he declared. “You're a bitch—a rutting bitch. You want me. I can smell it—you're stinking up the room with your lust. A bitch. A panting, rutting bitch, who has to kidnap because she can't get it for free.”

 

Tsubaki jerked. Her smirk and her color vanished, her hands dropping to her side in shock. He knew! Her thoughts whirled senselessly for a long moment. He couldn't! How? But-she—“

 

“Sankon Tessou!” The hanyo lashed out as she stood frozen in shock, golden arches of light flashing from his claws. She flinched instinctively, but her protections, drawn in close to her body held as the claws slammed into them. Except one place, where the collar dangled from her fingers, its circle partly outside the protections. The lower half of the black ring exploded as the eldritch claws tore it apart, and Tsubaki yelped in pain as her fingers burned. She staggered at little from the impact of the eldritch claws on her shields, and then felt the spells on the remaining rings trigger. The hanyo shattered the roof with his upward leap, and then yelped as light flared around wrists and ankles.

 

He plummeted straight down, pulled by the rings encircling his extremities. He landed hard, with a grunt of expelled air. Arms and legs were snapped out by the bands, as the spell controlling their outer surfaces forced them apart. The hanyo snarled and fought against the pull. His face twisted with the effort, teeth bared and clenched, eyes shut and ears flattened against his skull. Tsubaki watched him, cradling her burned hand, wondering how long the hanyo was going to fight the bonds. She'd put a lot of her borrowed youki energy into those spells; enough to hold an ogre, it should be.

 

She hoped.