Chapter 15: It’s Starting

A soft, sweet taste lingered in his mouth as he lifted his cup to be filled. The sake was lighter than what he would prefer, still it was delicious. It was the only good thing about his situation. 

Females and males danced naked around lords and took pleasure in each other as they pleased.  Hands, mouths and bodies sought to bring release to each other. It was nothing like the meetings that he had taken part in Hell. Takashi was such a perv. 

Jomei smiled at a pretty female that filled his cup and offered her breasts for him to sample. It was clear that she wanted to offer him a pleasant time. He just wasn’t in the mood to enjoy her.He never was when he had to work. How could he be when his work was spying on the enemy? He glanced at Takashi to watched him as he wondered about the lord.

He had been spying on Takashi for some time. Long before the mess with his mother’s best friend’s son and his concubine. He had seen the puppets that he liked to play with, to use as spies and tools of murder. 

He alone seemed to know the truth about Sakura.

To Jomei’s eyes, the demon lord was just a child. Neglected and unloved, lashing out at the world for it. He could almost see a child sitting there, crying big fat tears instead of an adult that dominated.

Takashi was the very opposite of Jomei and was something to be pitied for it.

“You look quite lost there,” the female muttered.

He turned to look at her; she really was a pretty female that he could enjoy. Long blue hair, pale green eyes and a luscious body naked for his viewing pleasure. Why did he have to be such a good child to his parents? He should just be like his siblings and throw duty to the wind just once.

Yet seeing the concubine’s human face ripped away to reveal fangs told him that he couldn’t. Terrifying fangs filled the space of what had once been a human’s jaw. Hunger sparkled in her eyes.

“I’m thinking of the future,” he told her as he smiled. It wouldn’t be good to be exposed when he needed answers. “It feels so uncertain now with King Enma upset.”

“Lord Takashi will fix it. He fixes everything,” she said to him happily. It was her eyes though that told Jomei that she was scared.

“One demon to fix everything? That seems a bit much.” It was more than a bit much; it was near impossible. He told her so.

“I would think the same if it was anyone else. But lord Takashi has shown himself capable of doing things that even king Enma could not do. That’s why you’re here though, you don’t think king Enma is as strong as he would have you believe.”

His family was powerful and they would never betray their king. He would die for Enma so long as his king was true to his duty and people. “King Enma is the strongest.”

She shook her head as she put the bottle down and sat down in his lap.

“But that human everyone has been talking about is even stronger,” she whispered into his ear. “The rumors about her say that her soul alone kept Enma at bay.”

Jomei stared at her for a moment. Dread filled him as he questioned if there was a mole in Hell. “How did you hear of that?”

She smiled at him like a fox that got aburage. Instead of answering him though, she just kissed him. Sweet, hot with fangs; it had been a long time since he had last enjoyed a kiss. He felt blood fill his mouth as she cut his tongue with those sharp fangs. It was arousing in the best and worst ways.

Suddenly she pulled away from him. “I wish I could tell you but then I would have to kill you.”

“Oh? Why is that?” he asked her. He could see that the threat was a real one from the expression that she gave him.

“Because the gods don’t like to share.”

He stared at her, unsure that he had heard her right. The gods involved in an affair of demons? It had been centuries since the last time that they had done so. His parents had been children.

If the female in his arms could be trusted then it meant things were even more complicated. So complicated that he needed to go home as soon as possible.

He needed to warn Hell.

“With your toys again, Takashi? You’re not a child,” hissed a familiar voice. Jomei turned to see a familiar face scorning at Takashi. 

Like with his own mother, time seemed to fear touching Nori. Everything about her screamed elegance and power. It always had, even when she had been broken beyond repair.

She wasn’t broken though; she was strong as she stood her ground. Those golden eyes glared daggers at Takashi.

“If these are my toys then what are you?” Takashi questioned.

“A tired nanny trying to control a brat in need of a sore bottom,” she answered calmly. She spun in place and it was then that their eyes met for just a moment. 

He knew that she could see beyond his deception but wound never give him away. They both knew without words that they were on the same side. There were questions that needed answers. Those answers would come in time to both of them.

Takashi stood up, knocking the concubine in his lap off him. He grabbed at Nori’s throat, choking her in punishment. There wasn’t fear in Nori’s eyes, she stared at him as he continued to try choking her.

Finally, Takashi stopped to glare at Nori. “So you’re done?”

“For the moment,” Takashi said as he tried to save face by slapping her. 

She just looked bored by it all. “Good. It’s times like this that reminds me how far the standards of real males have fallen. A lesser demon has more manners and etiquette than you do.”

“Yes, well it’s about time that we devolved a bit if we want a future for all of us.”

“For all demons? Or do you mean all the demons in the realm of man? Because the demons in Hell are doing fine,” Nori informed him stiffly.

Takashi laughed at that and Jomei was reminded of the mole. It would need to be dealt with soon or used as a tool to win their coming war. “You look too serious.”

“All of this feels quite serious,” he muttered to the female in his lap. He gave little kisses to the side of her face as his hands wandered. Jomei gave her what she wanted with gentle touches and kisses. His eyes though, stayed on the conflict before him.

“It’s only the beginning…there’s much going on. It’s just sad that Kagome is at the heart of it,” she whispered breathlessly into his ear.

His eyes turned to look at her. She had a smug smile on her full lips that had his answers. Yet those pale green eyes promised to give him none.“Will you come with me?”

“You could not be less of a demon!” Nori shouted at Takashi suddenly. She meant to say more but the ground beneath started to shake. The female with him giggled aloud with joy.

Everyone turned to stare at them as her giggles turned into true laughter. Suddenly she shouted at the top of her lungs, “IT’S STARTING!!!”

oOo

The earth beneath him shake. He could tell that something deadly had been released. He could barely stand, tired and weak from everything. It was like time had reversed itself upon him, forcing him to relive his childhood.

Hunger clawed at him like a feral animal, his head hurt with a constant headache. 

The shaking only worsened everything. He couldn’t stand anymore. Pain slammed him hard as his knees slammed into the earth that had been beneath him. He knew that if he couldn’t stand, if he couldn’t fight then he was dead. If he was dead then he couldn’t save Kagome from his brother and everything would have been for nothing.

All the pain he had endured since the moment his life began would be for nothing.

Only Kagome mattered anymore. He would gladly give his life for her after he had freed her. She would be saved from the curse that was Sesshomaru and their children.

That thought of his hand stained in his brother’s blood helped him find the strength to stand. Yet as he stood, a small voice whispered something to him. “Sesshomaru was our friend, is our brother…can’t we talk this out with him?”

“No,” he growled as the land beneath him began to shake even harder. “I can’t just talk to him. He isn’t my friend or my brother. He never was and will never be.”

“So we kill him? We kill the only family we have left? We kill his children? For what? A woman that may be dead or dying this very moment!”

“SHUT UP!!!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. The thought of her dead because of him was too much. He couldn’t continue on if she was dead; he couldn’t stand to be left behind again.

Kagome was different. She wouldn’t leave him behind, alone in a world that hated him.

Still the voice whispered to him. “No one wanted to leave us. They were forced to, you know that. We know life is unfair and unkind, we have been loved and we can continue to be so in the future.”

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!! JUST SHUT UP!!!”

“Why? So you can just kill us? Kill Kagome? You won’t look at other options, you won’t listen to your friends. You’re killing us and you don’t even care anymore.”

Tears burned his eyes as he heard the truth. He knew the words to be true and right but he couldn’t stop. If he stopped then he would die. “Why should I care? I’m just a half breed after all.”

The voice fell silent the moment he spoke the words.

“The ones that I truly love always die. First mother, then Kikyo and I’ll join her if Kagome is gone too.”

“Inuyasha?” His heart still in his chest at the call of his name.

He turned to see her standing there, tears running down her cheeks as she burned alive. Fire surround her, burning the grass beneath her and the trees around her. Her naked skin glowed from the fire that encased her yet she didn’t burn.

Her eyes were different and she almost didn’t look human. She looked so different from the woman that he had been in love with. Her hair was longer than he had ever seen, her hips and breasts had changed with motherhood. There were scars on her stomach that told him of his failure to save her. Those scars cut into him deep. Deeper than his brother’s hand ever could. 

Still, even with the distance between them…he could tell it was her. She was within his reach at last.

“Kagome,” He breathed as he took a step towards her. How that step cost him as his vision began to darken.

Tears continued to roll down her cheeks and she flinched at her name. The fear and hatred with those eyes of hers wasn’t meant to be there. He wanted to see the love, the kindness that had always shined through. It had been his lifeline in the darkest of moments.

It wasn’t there, it was just gone. Replaced by that fear, hate and those tears. This was his Kagome but she was a stranger as well. 

A stranger created by his brother.

“I’m so sorry, Inuyasha.”

Chapter 14 Sesshomaru’s Mate Chapters Chapter 16