The Coyote Child
Chapter Two
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The Coyote Child
By Terri
Disclaimer: I don’t own
Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko
Takashi. I’m poor so don’t sue.
Rating: R for later chapters.
Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome
Summary: Inuyaand and Kagome
are asked to adopt a coyote-hanyou baby from
Email feedback to:
tci100@psu.edu
Webpage:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/Botta
*******
Chapter Two
Because
speed limits were a suggestion, and he opted for his Ninja when leaving the
house, and because Kagome had stopped for gas and filled two vehicles, he was
only five minutes behind his mother and the Natives in arriving at The
Fairmont. Kagome was just signing the guest registration form at the “Ruby
Club” desk- which was code for a youkai client- when he walked into the hotel
lobby. Standing behind her, holding their sparse luggage and looking a little
stunned by the grandeur of the castle-like hotel, were
the five Natives and the hanyou pup.
“I’m here,”
he announced as Kagome turned to face the rest of them.
commented. “Did you run every stop light and break the sound barrier all the
way here?” she added sweetly in Japanese.
He gave her
a wicked grin and raised his eyebrows. “I thought my driving habits were on
your list of Things Mothers Don’t Need To Know.”
She rolled
her eyes and slapped a room key nst nst his chest. “Here. We’re on the tenth
floor.”
He giggled
as he took the pass key from her. “Love you, Kaa-san.”
She
snorted. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Then she turned to the
five humans who were still looking a bit shell-shocked, and handed them
identical pass keys. “We’re in two adjoining one-bedroom suites. Here are your
keys. I figured we’d get settled in, then order out
for dinner.”
The humans
looked at the keys in their hands but said nothing.
“The
elevator’s this way,” his mother informed them, reaching over to take the
hanyou pup from Lori’s hands, and leading the way over to the elevators.
received from the staff and clientele as they passed through the lobby on the
way to the elevators. Many of them saw the humans and their less-than-designer
clothes, and looked down their noses in distain.
“My, this
place has gone downhill. In my day, filth like that would have been stopped at
the door,” one arrogant ram-youkai sneered as they passed.
He knew the
Cree woman, Emma, had heard him because she flinched very slightly and her
scent changed. For some reason, her unhappiness triggered his protective
instincts and he whirled to face the glorified goat.
“Hold your
tongue or I’ll rip it right out of your mouth,” he threatened, snarling and
baring his teeth.
From the
corner of his eye he saw Emma’s jaw drop a little bit and smiled inwardly until
his mother called his name tersely.
becausehasnhasn’t been milked today.”
The
gyoukyoukai leered at her and licked his thin lips. “Are you volunteering?”
If he was
going to say anything else, he never got the chance because Yukio had him by
the throat and pinned to the wall in a heartbeat.
“Don’t you
dare insult my mother,” he hissed.
“Whoa! Sit
boy,” the goat-youkai choked. “Did someone let you off your leash?”
“I should
rip off those puny horns of yours and let you bleed to death right here in this
hallway,” he seethed.
“Is there a
problem?” a new voice interrupted and he turned his head to see Susan, the
assistant manager standing there. It took her all of three seconds to recognize
him and his mother, and assess the situation of him holding the goat-youkai by
the neck. “Oh! Mr. Fushikenwa. I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you at first.
“Not
really. He was just showing his poor manners,” Kagome replied coldly.
“Fushikenwa?”
the goat-youkai squeaked, his eyes going wide.
He grinned
maliciously. “Heard of us, have you?”
Susan moved
to speak into her transmitter. “I’ll call security and have him ejected f
the
the hotel.”
Yukio shook
his head and abruptly let the jerk go. He fell to the floor in a heap at
Yukio’s feet.
“Don’t
waste your time with him, Suz. I don’t think he’ll be
a problem anymore.”
“Let’s go,
Yukio. I’m hungry and I’d like to go up to our room,” his mother said, turning
away.
Casting one
last withering glare at the goat-youkai, he followed her, ushering the staring
humans ahead of him to the elevator. He knew they had heard what was said, but
aknewknew that the concealment spell the had had on him had kept them from
seeing anything more than a flashy businessman.
“You didn’t
have to do that. His prejudice is his burden to carry, not ours,” the Navajo
woman, Lori said softly as they entered the elevator.
As usual
when she spoke to him, or was listening to something he was saying, she dropped
her eyes and looked away. All three of the Navajo did that, but the Cree
maintained eye contact. He had quickly decided that it was a cultural thing,
and that the Navajo viewed direct eye-contact as rude the way his mother had
said some Native tribes believed.
“I won’t
tolerate anyone insulting my mother or those under my protection. To give in to
him would have shown weakness, and in the youkai world weakness is still
something you don’t show to a potential enemy,” he answered firmly, but gently.
“Most
youkai have a propensity for violence,” his mother explained. “Some rein it in
better than others. That one was a goat-youkai. They’re known for being all
brawn and no brains.”
“Goat-youkai?”
the Navajo Michael repeated. “That means one of his parents was Goat?”
“So that’s
what you meant by ripping off his horns,” Emma commented.
He nodded.
“He had two small ones coming from his forehead. They weren’t very big and
hadn’t started to curl yet.”
“Which means
he had youth to add to his stupidity,” his mother added.
“We
couldn’t see his horns because he had a concealment spell on, right?” David
asked.
“Exactly,”
he confirmed.
The
elevator dinged and the steel doors slid open, revealing the elegantly decorated
hallway. The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel was once known as simply The Banff
Springs Hotel and it had been built in 1886 by William Van Hume, one of
great Railroad Barons. Strategically placed overlooking the
views of the
Scottish castle design.
“This way,”
his mother said, turning left and leading the way down the wide hallway.
They were
going to a specsectsection of the hotel reserved specifically for youkai
clients and their guests; rooms that were never rented to a strictly human
client or family. This ensured that the hotel’s ‘special’ clients were kept
somewhat apart from the human ones, as much for the safety of the humans as the
youkai. They turned a corner and went down to the end of the hall, and Kagome
stopped at the last door.
doors,’ he thought happily.
“Your suite
is next to ours. We’ll open the adjoining doors between them and make it one
big, two-bedroom unit,” Kagome told them, slipping her passkey into the lock to
open the door.
He watched
as Emma mimicked Kagome’s actions and opened the suite next to theirs.
“Once
you’re in, unlock and open the door to our suite,” Kagome instructed, entering
the room.
He was just
putting his bags down when the door to the adjoining suite opened and the five
humans came over to their side. He had already opened the door in their suite
so now they had essentially one unit available to them. It looked like Inuyasha
had been smart and reserved two suites with two Queen-size beds and a pull out
sofa each. Each suite had a separate bedroom with the beds and a small living
room with the sleeper sofa. Both rooms were decorated in the style of the great
European manor houses, and sported replicas of many antiques. The biggest
difference was the unit he shared with his mother had an extra set of French
doors that opened to the view of the
falling out of the hotel.
“This
parlor is the size of two hogans in my village,”
Michael commented, looking around.
Billy
nodded. “Three families could easily live in this much space.”
He agreed.
“It is a big room. The huts we lived in when I was a little pup were not even
half the size. Even the house my father built my mother was considered
monstrous by the villagers.”
“It is very
grand, but why does anyone need so much?” Billy replied critically. “There is
too much value put on things that do not matter.”
He nodded.
“You’re absolutely right about that. Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m
hungry. Pizza?”
Kagome came
out of the bedroom carrying the pup. She had changed from her white coat and
dress to a set of soft cotton pants and a long-sleeved grey T-shirt his father
had obviously bought for her because it said “Life just hasn’t been the same
since that house fell on my sister.”
“If you’re
going to order pizza, I want white vegetarian with broccoli, spinach,
mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, green peppers and feta cheese,” she
said, breezing in, opening the in-room refrigerator and taking out
“No
olives?” he quipped with a grin.
“Okay, my
mother wants… that. What would you guys like?”
The humans
looked at each other and shook their heads. “Whatever you order for us is
fine,” David replied.
“Well, I’m
partial to the Meat Lover’s with pepperoni, sausage, ground beef and ham, but
that’s just me.”
“Where
would you be ordering from?” Emma asked.
“A little
place in Canmore called Mel’s,” he answered.
He grinned.
“Yeah. They make the best pizza in
and it annoys some of the more stuck-up staff to have a little mom-n-pop pizza
place deliver to The Fairmont Banff Springs,” he said, placing haughty emphasis
on the hotel name.
Emma
smiled. “I like mushrooms and extra sauce.”
“Okay,
anyone else? Chicken? Hot peppers?
Pineapple?” His questions remained unanswered, so he
shrugged and picked up the phone. “Okay. But if you don’t like what I order,
it’s your fault.”
He ended up
ordering four pizzas: his mother’s vegetarian, his Meat Lover’s, Emma’s
mushroom with extra sauce, and one additional large that was half plain and
half sausage. He also got two orders of breadsticks, two six packs of Molson,
and a 2-litre bottle of Coke. They were having a special.
While they
were waiting for the pizza to arrive, a phone call came in from Inuyasha. The
plan as his father detailed it was simple but long. He decided that the pup was
too young to fly, which came as no surprise. Inuyasha often complained that if
dog pups had to be 10-weeks old before they could be shipped anywhere, the same
should hold true for human ones, not to mention hanyou or youkai offspring that
were ten times more sensitive to pressure changes and altitude than human pups.
As such, they would drive down to
and the trip would take three days. He was already making arrangements for
and watch Ian because he wanted Yukio to come with them for extra protection.
Another
reason for driving was that it was still easier to cross the border by car
rather than go through customs in a
airport, and Inuyasha didn’t want any trouble over the pup or his family coming
into the States. Relations were still reserved between the two countries over
the war in the
still fighting five years later) and the on-going construction of 5 new
military bases on the
side of the border, just shy of Canadian territory.
Thank the
Gods Tetsu had Seen a glimpse of the events of 9/11 a
day beforehand and hadn’t been in New York when the planes struck the towers,
otherwise he might have gotten caught up in it. As it was, when it happened no
one knew that Tetsu had foreseen it and skipped town.
No one could get in touch with him, he wasn’t answering his home phone or cell
phone, and the whole family suffered 24 hours of pure anguish and panic until
driving the entire way without stopping except for gas. He’d crossed the border
in
and driven clear across
because he knew the
would be closing the gates. His brother hadn’t flown because his limited Sight
had shown him airplanes but he didn’t know which ones were ‘safe’ and which
ones weren’t. He’d never been so happy to see Tetsu
in all his life, his father even had to wipe away a tear of joy, his mother, of
course, had cried enough for all three of them.
The plan
was presented and discussed. As it so happened, the Navajos were much happier
with the driving plan. They had worried that his family would want to fly to
and that left them wondering what to do with the minivan, which turned out not
to belong to them, but to a village elder who had loaned it out. They also did
not wish to be indebted to them any more than was absolutely necessary. David
volunteered to drive back to the Enoch Cree Reserve where Emma lived and get
some things she would need for the trip. Billy opted to go with him, presumably
not comfortable staying in a place that was so obviously a statement of
over-blown wealth. They would return in the morning about the same time
Inuyasha would be getting there.
Plans made,
Yukio gave the phone to his mother, knowing his parents would want to have a
private talk because they would be spending the night apart. Kagome was just
hanging up when the pizza arrived. Yukio grabbed four slices of Meat Lover’s
and a bottle of beer then plopped down on the floor by the open French Doors to
enjoy the cool taintain air while he ate. Kagome ate two slices of her
vegetarian pizza then left the rest for the others while the Natives made
sizable dents in the remaining two pizzas. Yukio watched David carefully to
make sure he didn’t have more than one beer because he was driving, but he
didn’t stop any of the others from drinking. Michael, Billy and Emma all had at
least one beer, but Lori refused to touch it.
“Alcohol is
the bane of my people,” she explained. “It has done almost as much damage to us
as the Whites.”
He noticed
neither Billy nor Michael had anything to say about that.
“You’re
right, this is the best pizza in
Emma commented, taking a bite from a slice of vegetarian pizza.
He grabbed
a 5th slice of Meat Lover’s and another beer. “Told you,” he replied, consuming
the slice in four bites and took a swig of his beer. Out of the corner of his
eye he saw Emma shake her head. “What?”
“That’s
your fifth slice.”
“So?”
She shook
her head again. “Nothing.”
“What? You
challenged, smirking.
Emma
lowered her eyes and looked away, embarrassed. He grinned.
that about my father for years. It hasn’t happened yet.”
He was
careful to say ‘years’ so as not to allude to his parents’ actual age. Since
she knew they had been friends of her grandfather’s, she must have some idea of
their longevity, but there was always that habitual caution. He was reluctant
to lie, but that didn’t mean he had to tell the whole truth either. Behind him,
he heard his mother giggle.
“Your
father and his ramen,” she said fondly, rocking the pup gently as he nursed
from his bottle. “I swear the two of you could eat a whole case in one sitting.”
“Just one
case?” he jibed back.
Kagome
rolled her eyes and smiled. He smiled back, reached over to pick up a piece of
her vegetarian, and took a bite.
“Yuck!” he
spat, grimacing. “How do you
He
considered her words and shrugged. “Point,” he conceded.
“So we’ll
leave in the morning?” David asked, finishing off the last slice of sausage
pizza.
He nodded.
“Inuyasha
will be here by
shortly thereafter. Check out is at 11am,” Kagome
added, burping the pup on her shoulder. “Hmmm, he needs changed.”
Lori stood
and retrieved a diaper from one of the bags that they had brought from the
medical office as Kagome got a towel from the bathroom to lay the pup on.
“Is there
anything special about changing a… hanyou baby?” the Navajo asked.
Kagome
smiled at her as she unwrapped the pup from his
blanket and took him out of his soiled one-piece.
“Not
really. Just make sure he is clean and dry before you put the new diaper on
him. Hanyou babies aren’t as susceptible to sores and infections but if there’s
too much moisture trapped against the skin, he could get a rash just like any
baby. You’ll find him to be pretty easy to take care of once you understand his
instincts. I’d take a hanyou baby over a human one on any day. They’re easy
keepers, highly intelligent and develop almost three times as fas a s a human
infant.”
Now that
the pup was naked, Yukio could see that he had claws on his fingers and on his
toes, unlike inu-hanyous who only had claws on their
hands. He could also see that the pup was painfully thin, and began to feel
some of the anger his father must have been feeling at the pup’s situation.
idea what they were dealing with. It isn’t their fault,’ he reminded
himself.
“You said
he’s gained weight since he was born?” his mother questioned.
“Yes. But
he was very small when he was born. He only weighed 6 pounds,” Lori answered.
premature?”
Lori shook
her head. “Not that I know of.”
“The baby
was born four days after his due date,” Michael replied.
Kagome
shook her head. “I don’t know enough about coyote-youkai, but my guess would be
that he’s underweight. I’m going to increase the frequency of his feedings and
get as much han-i-lac in him as I can. How long did
he nurse from his mother?”
important for a newborn,” Michael said.
reasoned, then his heart sank. ‘They gave him a week with his mother then ripped him away from her.
She must be… in agony.’ He couldn’t imagine what the poor girl must be
going through without her pup and the uncertainty of ever seeing her son again.
‘The sooner we get to the bottom of this,
the better. I wouldn’t be surprised if Otou-san offers to take her in or sets
her up in a place where she can stay with her pup.’
His father
was a good man who had strong feelings about family and pups. If this one and
its teenage mother were in jeopardy, he knew his father would do whatever he
could to make it right.
si
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>‘I know they came to us in order to ask us
to take the pup, but this might work out better than anyone ever hoped it
could.’
He stood
and went into the bedroom, rummaging in the bag he had brought from the house,
and returned carrying some clean clothes for the pup that he had taken out of
Ian’s baby things.
“Oh, Ian’s
‘Dog-Do Happens’ shirt,” Kagome said with a smile as he gave her the shirt.
“I thought
some of Ian’s stuff would fit him.”
Kagome
finished changing the pup and slipped the shirt over his head. “Fit him? He’s
practically swimming in it.”
She was
right, the shirt swamped the poor little pup but the little guy didn’t seem to
mind. He kicked and gave Kagome a smile for the first time. The smile she gave
him back was bittersweet.
pup to raise, but she knows he’s better off with his mother and father if they
can keep him.’
“Billy and
I are going to go,” David announced.
“I gave him
directions,” Emma assured her.
“We’ll be
back before
Kagome
nodded. “Have the front desk call up when you arrive.”
“We will.”
He stood,
consolidated the remainder of the pizzas (except for his Meat Lover’s because
he knew he’d finish it off later) and gave the box to Billy. “Here, this is too
much for us.”
The Navajo
man nodded his head in thanks and accepted the box. “Thank you.”
“We’ll see
you in the morning.”
“Yes,”
Billy agreed.
“Be safe,”
Kagome said as the two men headed out the door.
Lori picked
up the pup and held him. He thought his mother would protest but she didn’t
seem to mind.
“If this
child’s father is Coyote, what must we know?”
Kagome
smiled and rubbed the pup’s ears. “Well, you can expect him to get up to all
kinds of mischief. Coyote is a trickster after all.”
The pup
sighed and closed his amber eyes, seemingly denying Kagome’s suggestion that he
would be a troublemaker.
“Don’t let
that innocent face fool you. He’ll be crawling his way into trouble before you
know it.”
Lori smiled
softly and brought the pup up to her shoulder. “Don’t all children do that?”
Kagome
patted the pup’s back. “Not like this one, trust me.”
Lori
chuckled. “Thank you for all of your help.”
“It’s no
trouble. The baby’s health and safety come first.”
“If only
all people believed as you do, the world would be a much better place.”
“The world
changes one person at a time. If we all do what we can, then we help create the
world we dream,” Kagome replied.
< sty style='mso-tab-count:1'> “You speak
like a Medicine Woman.”
“I have
been known as a miko in the past.”
“Ah,” Lori
answered, nodding. “I understand.”
Kagome gave
a chuckle of her own and stood up, stretching. “Well, it’s close to
take him?” she said, offering to take the pup.
Lori stood
and handed him to her. “You have more experience than I in these matters.”
Kagome
nodded and accepted the pup, turning and carrying him into the bedroom.
“I think I
will go too,” Lori said. “We drove a long way today and spent a long time in
the car.”
“Okay,” he
replied.
The Navajo
woman bid them goodnight and went through the conjoining door to her side of
the suite. Michael went with her, presumably either to retire as well or to
talk to her about the trip in the morning.
“How late
do you normally stay up?” Emma asked him when they were alone.
He took a
moment to really look at her because he hadn’t had much of an opportunity to
study their new acquaintances. Unlike the Navajos whose skin was sun-wizened by
the
was smooth and clear, although it was still the darker complexion of her race.
Her hair was black and she had braided it into two braids on either side of her
head. At the top of each braid, where the hair met the skull, she had pinned
two small round ornaments made of many tiny, colored beads. She wore a
long-sleeved, plain white cotton shirt with the top two buttons undone
revealing a bone-bead choker at her throat. Instead of jeans, she had on a long
denim skirt with a back-slit up to her knee, and there were soft brown leather
boots on her feet. Her face was round with a pointed chin and she sported the
high cheekbones of the Natives. Her hands were strong but fine, her fingers
long and flexible, and her dark brown eyes were gentle.
Yukio
decided that she wasn’t cover-girl, drop-dead gorgeous, but she wasn’t bad to
look at either as he shrugged and answered, “It varies. I don’t need much
sleep.”
“Neither do
I. College student.”
He smiled.
She smiled
back and there was something in her eyes that sent a small shiver down his
spine. He recognized it as a sensation he hadn’t felt since his courting days
before he mated Miaka. There had been a look in hisd wid wife’s eyes as a
fresh, young girl that had made his heart twinge and his spirits lighten. Only
Miaka had ever looked at him in quite that way and gotten the response from him
that she had. Now this stranger had managed to illicit such a reaction from him
on the first night that they met. it hit him suddenly, making him flush with an
unexpected wave of heat, then cold.
relationship. I’m not. I’m not. I’m not,’
as his heart pounded a little faster.
“So, you
went to college too?” she questioned, stepping a bit closer to him.
“Ah. Yeah.
Numerous times,” he replied, stepping back and trying to quell his sudden
nervousness, even as his mind betrayed him. ‘She
is pretty in an Earthy sort of way. No! No and no and no and no and
you are at home with your family. You don’t need this in your life right now!’
“Oh? What
did you study?”
“Architecture,
Finance. Business Management. Stuff like that. What
are you studying?” ‘Keep her talking
about herself.’
That puts her around 20. Kami-sama, she’s three years
older than Miaka was when we got married,’
“I want to
be a lawyer and help my people by becoming an advocate for the tribe.”
He nodded.
“That’s great.” ‘I need another beer.’
“What do
you do?” she asked.
“I work for
my father. We design houses.” ‘All over the world.
Maybe we can transfer to the
office for a couple of months. Ian can learn French.’
“You’re an
architect.”
“That’s
really interesting,” she commented, stepping close again. Her scent wafted into
his nose and made his head spin.
the bedroom was his salvation. “I think
I hear my mother calling me. I’d better go see if she needs help. Please excuse
me.”
the morning.”
She backed
off but seemed disappointed. All he felt was relief.
“Okay. Have
a good night,” he said a little too quickly and hurried to the bedroom.
“Is
everything all right?” Kagome asked as he closed the bedroom door and leaned
against it. She was walking with the whimpering pup against her shoulder and
patting his back.
Need any help?”
“I think I
can handle it. It’s just leftover gas from the formula they were feeding him,”
she replied. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
He nodded.
She gave
him a Look and a frown. “Yukio, I know you better than that. What’s wrong?”
“It’s
nothing, Kaa-san,” he answered, pushing off the door
and going to her.
“I thought
we were done wsecrsecrets,” she reminded gently, making him cringe, but he was
saved from answering by the pup’s distressed cries of discomfort.
“Here, let
me take him. I can make the calming noise better than you,” he offered.
She sighed
and handed him the pup. “I’ll get you later.”
He stuck
his tongue out at her and turned his back as he bounced the colicky pup and whistled
high through his teeth, higher than human ears could hear. Now that he was away
from the object of his anxiety, he was calming down and the pup against his
chest was a welcome weight. He’d always loved holding pups; their tiny bodies
warm in his arms. Every time his parents would adopt a new pup, they had always
looked to him as a back-up babysitter and he had leapt at the chance every time
they offered.
In the
beginning Miaka had found his paternal instincts endearing, but as the years
wore on and their childlessness was marked by all of her sisters’ babies, her
viewpoint had changed to one of impatience and frustration. She resented his
eagerness to care for the pups but rejected his suggestion that they adopt
hanyous as well. He would have loved to raise some pups of
their own. He’d often wished that Miaka had been amicable to it. If she
had been, he had dreams of all of them together: his parents, his siblings,
Miaka, their pups and himself, raising their families
side-by-side. For him it would have been heaven, but instead reality was much
less ideal. Much like a woman who was always a bridesmaid and never a bride, he
was always ‘Aniki’ and n ‘Ot ‘Otou.’
Reacting to
his ministrations, the pup began to settle after about twenty minutes; although
it might also have had something to do with the warm pack his mother had placed
he phe pup’s abdomen.
“As always,
you have the magic touch,” Kagome praised fondly, coming up to rub the pup’s
back.
“And you
had nothing to do with it,” he countered jokingly.
“I gave you
the bed by the window. I know you like to be close to the outdoors and it’s
best for the baby to be kept out of a draft.”
He nodded,
bouncing the pup a little more. “Thanks.” He looked down at the soft grey puppy
ears poking up from the hair. “Y’know, he is
Loki. Whaddya
His mother
smiled and took the pup from him, checking his diaper and removing the warm
pack. “I’m not even thinking that far ahead at this point. I’m not going to get
my hopes up until after I’ve talked to his mother.”
He lowered
his ears at the gentle reprimand. “Of course. Do you
think his mother will want to keep him?”
She gave him
a look that was both disappointed and anguished. “If this was my son, I’d want
him.” She rocked the sleepy pup gently. “If this pup were you…”
“I
understand,” he said, sitting down on the bed closest to the window.
“Now, are
you going to tell me what’s going on or will I have to
ask your father to pry it out of you?”
“Otou-san
would tell you to respect my privacy,” he countered.
“I know,
but I have ways of persuading him. Wouldn’t it jus eas easier to tell me now
and save yourself the trouble?”
He sighed
heavily and let himself fall back to the mattress, landing with a plop and a
groan.
“Yukio…”
Kagome pressed.
He feigned
a snore in answer and was soon hit by a flying pillow. He’d heard it coming
though, so it wasn’t a surprise. He took the offending thing and rolled his
back to her, squeezing the pillow and murmuring a thanks. A moment later, his
mother proved that she hadn’t lost any of her touch.
“That Emma
girl seems very nice.”
He
stiffened and swiveled his ears backward. “What makes you say that?” he asked,
trying to keep his voice neutral.
“No reason.
I just noticed that she seemed to like you. She asked me a number of questions
about you while she was driving the car for me today.”
‘
“She did?”
to be a little protective of her as well. That little display in the lobby?”
“That
stupid goat insulted them, then you. Was I supposed to just let that go?” he
demanded, getting a little defensive.
“Well, your
father wouldn’t have, and you are your father’s son,” she replied with some
amusement.
“See?
“I’m just
saying that I think she’s a nice girl. She’s very smart. She’s alegelege
student at Concordia,” his mother commented innocently.
“I know.”
“She told
you?”
He was
silent for a while, then said very softly, “I’m just
not ready for a relationship, Okaa-san.”
He heard
her approach then sit down on the bed next to him, one hand gently stroking the
back of his head.
“I
understand,” was all she said.
He sighed
and curled up a little more, the ache in his heart growing as he remembered
Miaka and the end of their marriage. His mother rubbed his back,
“I love
you,” she told him.
“I love you
too, Okaa-san,” he replied, relaxing.
He stayed
on the bed listening as his mother performed her evening toilet, one ear on the
pup she had left on the other bed, and a few minutes later he heard her get
into bed with the pup.
“I’m going
to turn out the light,” she said.
“Okay.
Sleep well, Okaa-san.”
“I’ll
probably keep watch.”
went out and the room was shrouded in darkness.
A couple of
hours passed and he found that he really couldn’t sleep or even rest. Members
of the pack were missing and his youkai side knew it. Like a dog that won’t
rest until everyone in the family is home, he kept reaching out his senses for
the missing scents. He finally gave up all semblance of trying to get any sleep
and left the bedroom after making a quick check on his mother and the pup. Both
were slng png peacefully. Back in the parlor area of the suite, he grabbed a
beer from the fridge and opened the French Doors to feel the mountain air. His
mother had asked him to close them earlier to keep the cool draft off the pup.
Standing in the open doorway, he breathed deep and took in the scents of the
night and the forest. Above him, the clear night sky shone sta stars and a
crescent moon.
gibbous. It’ll be New Moon soon,’
beer. One of the real plusses of concealment spells was that the monthly change
to human for hanyous was significantly downplayed. Now all they had to worry
about were those who could see through the illusions.
He heard
her, but because he had his nose in the night air, he didn’t really smell her.
The breeze coming in through the open doors swept back sce scents that were
behind him, and he was grateful for that. Scent was the strongest sense linked
to memory, doubly so for the inu-youkai who
practically saw through their nose/p>
/p>
“Is
everything alright?” Emma asked him.
“Yeah,” he
said softly. “I’m sorry if I woke you. I’m restless tonight.”
“I don’t
sleep well in a strange place,” she admitted. “I let Michael and Lori
“
She came to
stand next to him in the doorway and he cast a glace down at her. She’d let her
hair down from the braids and now it hung loose over her shoulders. The wind
blew through it softly.
“
breeze took tendrils of her hair and made them fly around her face. “Ah, the
air in the mountains always smells so sweet.”
Looking at
her, he suddenly experienced a flash of memory from his days in the Sengoku
ankle-deep in the river as she washed her clothes, her hair held back with a
multi-colored scarf, and her face shining up at him.
He winced
as the pain seared through his heart and he took a small step forward to put
his nose in the wind. Unfortunately, Emma stepped up too.
“I’ve hiked
this valley since I was a little girl, and I’ve seen this hotel hundreds of
times, but I must admit, I never dreamed I’d ever be a
guest here.”
“We don’t
stay here because it’s nice,” he told her, wrapping himself in the wind,
letting its coldness surround him with layer upon layer of invisible fabric,
cutting scenscent off from his nose and steeling his heart from the pain of his
past. “My uncle owns the parent company that owns this chain of hotels. The
we are in is never rented to a human client.
“A “You make He turned “It is. We “Like the “Huh?” “Our lives “Until She smiled She gave He looked “Like your “My uncle He shook “And you? “I did have Predictably “She chose He didn’t “Yukio?” she “I can’t She nodded “Can I hold She gave He sat There in
ti
time ago youkai figured out that money bought safety in the human world. As
humans increased in population and became the governing race, youkai who wanted
to survive needed to join them. It wasn’t enough to stake out a mountaintop and
kill anyone who ventured up there. No, resources had to be gathered: land,
investments, identities. To do that in this age
requires money, lots of it. Our lives are ruled by secrecy, illusion and
duality, but it is how we ee.”
it sound like something out of Mission Impossi Sec Secret lives, codes and
disguises.”
his head to face her, confident in his defenses’ ability to protect him. He
knew what she saw when she looked at him: a barefoot Asian male in his early
twenties with long, straight black hair and black eyes ded ied in low-rider
jeans and a sleeveless, white muscle shirt. His concealment spell was
attractive to most human females and most hanyou or youkai females found his
genuine appearance pleasing to the eye as well. The appreciative light in
Emma’s eyes as she looked him over told him that she was no exception. He stood
up a little straig, no, not displaying but drawing himself up as a dominant
male assessinpotepotential female and finding her wanting. Not that there was
anything wrong with her per se; it was just that he was resolved to leave his
life uncomplicated and peaceful, and that plan didn’t inclu new new mate. He
knew that there was a good chance that, someday, he’d be interested in the
companionship of a female, but that time wasn’t now.
live two lives: one in the shadow and one in the light,” he replied.
First Peoples,” she mused thoughtfully.
are full of duality too. There is our tribal life and our lives in the White
Man’s world. The two don’t always mix well. Our traditions and beliefs are
often in conflict with the ‘accepted’ viewpoints. Even the way we vand and mark
the passing of time is fundamentally different from the Europeans. Until
recently we lived a life of conflict with the world, with each other, and with
ourselves.”
recently?” he asked, his own curiosity getting the better of him.
softly. “It became okay to be Indian. With the increased popularity of Native
spirituality and culture, our ways gained more attention. The First Peoples
were able to rally support for their native traditions in ways they had never
been able to before. More and more of our young people stopped shunning our
ways and beliefs, and returned to their heritage. We still live double lives
buw whw when we say that we are Cree or Ojibwa or
or any other native tribe, we are treated with more tolerance and the pressure
for us to conform to the White World is no longer quite so strong. There’s
still a lot of prejudice and conflict, and we still have a great deal further
to go, but it’s a little bettee are are a proud, resilient people, and we are
patient. That is how we endure.”
him a hooded look and added, “Perhaps our lives aren’t so different.”
away, reaching out to the wind to keep him calm. Her voice was lulling and his
heart took notice, but his mind rebelled and began to kick and scream in
protest.
never finding out what you really are. Although, I think humanity would shudder
to know how many of us there are walking and living among them. As I said, most
of us have money and money buys all kinds of power. Few of us are politicians,
but many of us hold high ranking positions in most of the Fortune 500
companies.”
uncle,” she mused.
owns almost everything and I expect him to keep building his empire until he
own everything. I’ve never seen anyone more ruthless in acquisitions. Well…
except for my brother Ryoukan, but his is a different
sort of ruthless. Ryou doesn’t care who he tramples,
and, oddly, Uncle does. But I blame that on my Aunt. She’s his heart.”
his head. “My father has a big heart all on his own.
She just reminds him that he has it.”
Do you have someone who reminds you of your heart?”
love with him, then contorting to the bitter, angry woman she had become.
a mate once,” he admitted.
her face fell then filled with sympathy. “I’m sorry. What happened to her?”
to die rather than stay with me. Excuse me, I need to go. I think I hear the
pup fussing and I don’t want him waking my mother. I hope you can get some
sleep. I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.”
give her a chance to answer him as he brushed past her and reentered the
bedroom. He hadn’t been completely lying. He had heard the pup begin to fuss,
but his mother had immediately responded and was already getting up by the time
he entered the room. Wordlessly, he went into the en-suite bathroom and turned
on the tap for hot water, then he brought a cup of it
into the bedroom and mixed the formula in the bottle while Kagome changed the
pup’s diaper.
asked him as the pup started eating. She must have seen his pained face and
tense body language.
talk about it right now, Okaa.”
and wisely dropped the subject.
him?” he requested softly.
him the pup without a word and he held the tiny body close,
lifting the bottle so the pup would consume less air when he fed. His pup-scent
came to his nose, and Yukio could feel the fast tempo of the little heart
pattering against his chest. It felt good to cradle the little one. The pup was
the epitome of the future with all its unspoken promise whereas his memories
were full of disappointment and broken dreams.
facing the large window, staring out at the inky blackness of the pre-dawn
night, and held the pup long after he had finished his bottle and been burped.
There was no gas this time so the last of the formula the Natives had given him
must have passed out of his system. His mother turned out the light and got
back into bed, but did not ask him to surrender his now sleeping bundle. She
probably knew that the pup was the only thing keeping him from breaking down,
one thin tendril of control he held onto as he counted the beats of the pup’s
heart and felt the soft breath caress his skin.
the darkness, the only source of light being the starlight and the ambient
light from the hotel, Yukio sat in silence, cradling the newborn hanyou in lax
arms, and tried to ignore the wetness that rolled down his cheeks.