The day love found me.

 Author's Note: Here's the next chapter of The day love found me. What will happen when Izayoi comes of age and will it happen or not. Read on to find out.

Chapter Fifteen.

 

Natsuko stood on the castle walls, watching as Lady Izayoi and her father Shojiro approaching the castle for the tenth year in a row. She hurried to the courtyard where the carrier which held Lady Izayoi had stopped as she was being helped down. Natsuko knew she had grown much since she last saw her. Izayoi’s child-like appearance was now gone and in its place was a beautiful young woman. She knew that the males in the castle had started to take notice of her the previous year but kept their distance and now who knows, she may find a mate within the walls of her lordship’s castle.

Izayoi looked over to see Natsuko striding towards her. “Lady Natsuko, it is an honor to see you again.”

Natsuko smiled as she bowed her head to her. “It is good to see you again. Was your journey easy?”

“It was peaceful and the weather made it comfortable,”

“Well, it is the end of spring and summer is fast approaching,” Natsuko stated. “But I’m glad you made it here safely,”

"As am I,"

Natsuko greeted Izayoi’s father warmly, even though the Lord had started to have gray tinge his black hair around his ears. They ventured to the Great Hall where Inu no Taisho and young Sesshomaru greeted them before they retired to the guest rooms where they were to rest till evening.

Izayoi and Natsuko sat by her balcony overlooking the cherry trees. “I wish I could stay here instead of returning home to Edo,”

Natsuko looked at her. “But why, surely, you like Edo better than here?”

Izayoi turned to look at her. “Each time I leave here, I feel like I’m leaving something behind that I do not want to leave. I do not know why but I don’t want to leave when we do leave,”

Natsuko knew if she remained, Inu no Taisho would have a hard time venturing off in his dog form to mark his terrority without her seeing him turn into a giant white dog and knowing his son, who was just starting to shift to dog form around the castle, their secret of being demons would be found out to them both. She would have to encourage the young woman to leave when the time comes, but how was the question.

Izayoi kept her busy during the next few days with questions about how her year was. Natsuko could only chuckle as she talked about the long days of training new recruits in the art of battle and she even took her to the battle arena to show her where everyone would train at.

It was one of the hotter days, Natsuko decided to take her to the waterfall where they could bathe and talk without the males around them as she started to notice that they were coming around both of them a lot more than normal.

“I love this waterfall, Natsuko,” Izayoi cried out as she saw it appear over the ridge.

She smiled. “You have seen it early in the season but not when it is this lush. The spring rains have blessed this waterfall with much greenery this year around.”

“I see why it looks so lush this season,” Izayoi placed her basket down and started to remove her kimono as she eyed the water.

“The rains were plentiful and the water is chilly but refreshing,” Natsuko stated, as she quickly removed her kimono and with a hoot, leapt feet first into the water. She emerged from the water and shook her head. “That is good! Come on in, Izayoi! The water is great!”

Izayoi jumped into the water and came to the surface fast. “Oh, that is chilly but oh so refreshing,”

They swam towards the falls and with the small tub of soap that Natsuko made a week before, they got themselves lathered in the cherry blossom scented soap before they dunked under the falls to rinse the soap off.

They swam for another few minutes before they climbed back onto the land and started to dry themselves. Izayoi noticed that her hair was silky as well as being easy to brush her fingers through it. She asked the question.

“It’s the soap we used. It really helps with getting our hair nice and clean,” Natsuko stated, as she went into detail about the method of how they made their soap and during the last part of making it, they added the cherry blossoms to the mixture to add the scent to it when they make it during the time that the cherry tree blooms.

It was later, as they lounged by the waterfall’s pool; Natsuko rose and sniffed the air. She thought she scented danger and turned to Izayoi. “We better get dressed and get back to the castle, the creatures of the forest are too silent for my tastes,”

Izayoi nodded as they both quickly pulled on their kimonos, helping each other with the tying of the obi before collecting their baskets and hurrying back to the castle.

As soon as they passed the guards, Natsuko told them to be on the lookout as she scented danger coming from the direction of the waterfall. They nodded as they kept an eye in that direction.

Natsuko emerged from behind the dress shield to see one of the guards perched on the balcony railing. “Yes?”

He smiled as he bowed his head. “The danger you asked us to search for did not appear,”

Natsuko looked towards the forest. “Maybe whatever it was decided it was not a wise move to follow us back here?”

“It is possible, but I thought you should be aware of this,” He stated.

Natsuko turned to look at him. “Tell me, what should I be aware of?”

“Izayoi is in heat, we scented her as she walked past us, even with the cherry blossom soap you both had used. We could scent her cycle. You might want to keep her close to you,” He stated, before he leapt back to the wall and continued with his duties.

‘<i>Damn,</i>’ Natsuko thought. ‘<i>I now need to keep her by my side till her period shows up, she cannot get pregnant by him . . . not yet. I need to keep her busy with me and the girls,</i>’

Natsuko finished getting dressed and rushed to Izayoi’s chambers she knocked on the door hoping that she would open the door soon. But when the minutes past and she didn’t open the door, she assumed that the girl was on her balcony, so she opened the door and walked in. Immediately, she took notice that her kimono that Izayoi had worn into her chambers was not there. She rushed to where the washing ladies were at and asked if they saw Lady Izayoi as she had a dirtied kimono that she needed to wash.

They informed her that they didn’t see her and if she did come there, they’ll send one of the ladies to let her know.

Natsuko bowed to them thanking them for the offer but she’ll find the Lady and rushed off again in her search for Izayoi. She went past Inu no Taisho’s study to see Izayoi standing by his desk and a look of shock written over his face. “Izayoi, there you are. I was looking for you,”

Izayoi turned away from Touga to see Natsuko standing there. “I wanted to come thank Lord Taisho for allowing us to stay the summer,”

Natsuko smiled. “I want to show you another location that I found since you last came,”

Touga nodded. “Go with her Lady Izayoi, she has been waiting to show you her find for a long time. We will be able to talk more later on,”

Izayoi smiled as she followed Natsuko out of the study. She looked at Natsuko. “Lady Natsuko, why don’t you wait till tomorrow to show me the location you found?” She didn’t want to leave Inu no Taisho with what she had stated. She would have to figure a way to get word to him to meet up with her later.

Natsuko bit her lower lip. “We can meet up tomorrow morning but I would like to show you some of the stuff we’ll be bringing along.”

“Will anyone else be joining us?” Izayoi asked.

“No, just you and me. I haven’t been able to talk to you about how your life is going,”

Izayoi looked at her as they headed down the corridor. “But I thought we did that today?”

“I know but I really seriously want to know everything,” Natsuko stated as she looked at her. Izayoi smiled as the talk was just more girl talk as Natsuko had said. “Besides, all I have is my troops to talk with and they know everything but I want to talk about how life is in a different land,”

Izayoi glanced behind them to see Inu no Taisho standing at the door of his study watching them leave. For her plan to work; she would have to find a way to get away from Natsuko and she’ll have to do it soon too. She watched as Natsuko led her to her chambers.

Natsuko looked at the clothes that they were going to bring. “I should go get some furs for us to huddle in since where we will be at tonight it will get a bit cold. I shouldn’t be too long,”

Izayoi watched as Natsuko rushed off out of her chambers and down the hallway. She quickly rushed back to Inu no Taisho’s study and stated the words to him to his shock. “I don’t have time to get away from Natsuko right now. Where can I meet you?”

“The waterfall in the morning, I will be waiting.” He whispered as he told her to go back to her room before Natsuko returned.

Izayoi got to her chambers just in time to see Natsuko turning the corner with an arm full of fur, she went to assist her. “I hope you didn’t get all the fur from the castle supply, Natsuko?”

“No, these furs are from my personal supply of fur,” Natsuko stated. “When I hunt the animals, I always try to save the fur for later use as blankets during the winter months and when I’m off traveling further from home than I normally would.”

She smiled as she picked up some of the fur. “They feel so soft,”

“I do fairly well curing my furs, but my skill is mainly dispatching them without harming the fur itself,”

“Do you keep the heads?”

Natsuko shook her head. “Not all the time, I usually bury those since I use only the meat in the body.” ‘<i>The heads wouldn’t be possible to save since I usually slice them into chunks when I kill the beast.</i>’

It took them not long to gather everything that they needed and headed out towards the waterfall, to which Izayoi looked shocked at Natsuko. “Natsuko, I seen the waterfall before,”

Natsuko glanced behind and smiled. “But you have not been behind it. I found it by pure accident,”

“What is behind the water of the falls?” Izayoi asked.

“A cave, a lovely cave,” Natsuko stated as they started to climb up the side of the cliff till they reached where a brush was at. Natsuko motioned her to follow her in as she pushed her way through.

Izayoi followed behind her and she saw a cave appear behind the waterfall. She could tell that the ground was damp as she followed Natsuko deeper into the cave itself. Once deep within the cave, they both started to set up where they were going to sleep at. Natsuko gathered stones to create a barrier to keep the fire somewhat off the ground.

“Natsuko, this is a lovely little cave,” Izayoi stated.

“It is but wait till we get this fire going, there are some markings on the wall that you should look at,” Natsuko said as she placed the burning materials onto the rocks and started to strike the rocks she had with her to get a spark onto the materials. After five minutes of trying it finally caught and the fire was growing. Natsuko got a small torch and lit it as she led Izayoi down deeper into the case to show her the markings.

They looked at them and wondered who made them and what some of the markings meant as the light of the torch flickered in the darkness of the cave.

They sat around the small fire talking and eating the meal that Natsuko made. Izayoi was amazed by the cooking skills of hers. She smiled as she looked at the meal that they had. “I love what you made, Natsuko. Your husband probably loves your cooking skills,”

Natsuko looked away from her. “I do not have a mate yet, I am . . . unattached to anyone as they find me too much of an Ice Princess to even consider asking for my hand from my father . . . if they knew where he was.”

“Ice Princess?” Izayoi asked. “Why would they call you such a name?”

Natsuko shrugged. “Probably because I seem so untouchable by the males in the castle, I’m just not interested in having a man at this time,”

“You are young and you should really focus getting a man and having kids,” Izayoi stated.

“I’ll find him, he’s being hard to find and yet, I have high standards for a man to be by my side,”

“Like what?”

“Strong; he must be able to protect me and my pups, loving and yet not demanding, can understand me when I do not want to talk and well, must be handsome.”

“Sounds like Inu no Taisho to me,” Izayoi replied.

Natsuko felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. “Yes, but he’s taken and till he’s not, I’m not even going to try to go for him, the one is out there just waiting for me. Like he is for you, Izayoi, the right man will come into your life and it will happen when you least expect it to.”

She looked at her. “Are you sure, Natsuko, that he will come when I least expect it?”

“Yes, a friend of mine never expected to fall in love and when her friend introduced her to his friend, he liked what he saw in her. He approached her parents for her hand to court and after a courtship of two years, they married. She never expected to fall in love or to get married, she was just happy doing what she did best, sewing,” Natsuko stated, retelling how her sister Manta found love when she least expected.

It was later, they started to get ready for bed, they placed the padding that they brought from the castle and placed couple furs down to cover the padding before getting the outer fur to cover themselves during the night.

Natsuko banked the fire so it would not die out too fast and climbed under her fur. She listened to the sounds in the cave to hear Izayoi whispering to herself before her words stopped and her breathing went shallow as she drifted off to sleep. Natsuko smiled to herself before she followed suit as well.

~~~~~~~~~

Natsuko woke before dawn and stoked the fire before looking at Izayoi to notice that she was still asleep. She decided to rush out and go hunt for couple rabbits since it would be a good fresh meat for their morning meal. As she left the cave, she didn’t see Izayoi’s eyes flicker open.

Natsuko emerged from the brush, sniffed the air before dashing out into the forest to stalk and kill couple rabbits, skin them and gut them before she returns to the cave.

It was hard hunting for the rabbits as she missed three rabbits, right from the start and had to stalk them carefully before she nailed the two rabbits with one hit. She quickly skinned and gutted them when the wind blew a scent to her that smelled very familiar and she heard the moans and grunts. She bagged up her two kills and took the skin before rushing off towards the scent and the sounds.

By the time she got to the waterfall, she immediately dropped behind some rocks and brush to hide as she bore witness to a sight she had hoped she could prevent. There on one of the rocks by the pool was Izayoi and Inu no Taisho in the heat of the moment and by the sounds of their grunts and moans, they were getting close to release.

She watched and started to get breathless as she bore witness to a mating of an Inu-Yokai Lord and a human female. Her own body was now showing the signs of her own hunger for a male, which she tried so hard to suppress, watching as Inu no Taisho’s hips thrust hard against Izayoi’s hips, she was wishing that it was her who was under him.

The cries started to get louder as it broke her mental evaluation of her own sexual desires to start looking around making sure that his personal bodyguards would not come into view and end up revealing to Lady Kannon that the human bitch just mated with her mate.

She knew by the way Touga was holding her hips that he had just started to expel his seeds within Izayoi. She hoped that their true side of being dog demons was not there as in the male swells within the bitch to confirm that he is the only one to plant seeds within the bitch as she had to make a noise to yank them apart. She reached down and picked up a pebble and threw it hard at one of the trees by Touga’s head.

She planned on ducking but decided to stay standing with another rock in hand. Touga turned his head towards the sound and then towards her, eyes showing red. “Taisho,”

Inu no Taisho saw his mate’s bodyguard standing there and then he heard the gasp coming from Izayoi and her struggle to get free of him. He turned to look at her, eyes still red and his demon markings were very clearly defined.

“What are you?” Izayoi cried out as she looked down to her waist to see his naked body touching hers. “Get away from me!” and she pulled herself away from him clutching her kimono as she dashed towards the castle, whispering to herself about getting away from there.

“Izayoi!” Yelled Inu no Taisho, as he tried to catch her but was blocked by Natsuko. Her own desire had scented the air around her, in a way made his attention turned from chasing after Izayoi to try to pleasure the bitch before him.

Natsuko felt his hands on her obi and it was a swift slap across his face which sent his demon side away, he looked at her and backed away. “You mated Izayoi, Touga.”

“Did we tie?” He asked in a whisper.

“I think your body knew the bitch before you was not of our kind and did not tie her to you, though you did expel seeds within her before she saw your true side and fled from you,” Natsuko stated.

Inu no Taisho turned and dashed into the forest. Natsuko turned and raced back to the castle knowing that she had to catch up to Izayoi. By the time she got to the castle, she could see the servants were upset as they asked her what happened to Lady Izayoi. Natsuko refused to state anything as she hurried to Izayoi’s room to see her rushing about the room grabbing her belongings. “Izayoi, what did you do!” she whispered loudly.

She stopped and looked at her. “He’s a demon!”

“So?” Natsuko stated. “You should have known as he has not aged since you first met him,”

“Are you one?” She asked.

“Yes, but I never treated you differently,” Natsuko stated.

“I need to leave before I do something worse than what I ended up doing, soiling myself with a Yokai,”

“Don’t leave before I see you again, I need to speak with Lady Kannon,” Natsuko rushed out of her chambers towards Lady Kannon. Once, within her chambers she ordered everyone out of the room and not to listen in. She told her what she had seen and what happened.

“My orders are . . . this, Natsuko,” Lady Kannon stated, as her hands lie on her belly. It was known that she had spent a night with Inu no Taisho and they were tied for an hour before they went their own way. “Understand what my orders are?”

“Yes, my lady. If you see me in five months from this date, the seeds your husband planted within her, did not bear fruit, but if I do return in eight months from now, the seed of your husband bore fruit,” Natsuko stated.

“Yes, if she is not pupped, return and if she is, remain there to protect her and the unborn pup,” She replied softly. “Now go and do not return before the time allotted.”

Natsuko bowed to her and went to find Izayoi to see her finalizing her packing. Her father was not even aware of what had happened between Izayoi and Inu no Taisho and why she demanded them to return home. “Izayoi, if you do not mind, I would like to come with you and your father to your home and stay a while as I would like to know how it is in a different castle other than my Lord’s,”

Izayoi looked up at her. “I would like that even though you are . . . well, you know,” she glanced off at her father as he was unaware what everyone was in the castle.

Natsuko bowed to her. “Thank you, for allowing me to go with you,” she went to her friend and whispered. “I will not let anyone harm you,”

A few minutes later, they were all on their way back to Edo. Natsuko glanced behind her to see on top of one of the towers a young male watching them leave, she knew who it was the young prince – Sesshomaru.

What will happen when Izayoi's father finds out about her mating with another male who is not her husband? Will he send her away or will he keep her close to him? What will Inu No Taisho do when he finds out that he possibly got her with pup?

Sorry, you'll just have to wait for the next chapter.