Friendly Persuasion
Moon Song
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
Moon Song
The fire burned low and Kaede alrealready asleep in the
sleeping bag Tora had remembered to bring.
Shippo, though trying very hard to stay awake with the ‘grown-ups’,
yawned every few minutes.
“Hey Shippo,” Inu-Yasha began as he raised his fist, “I’ll
help you go to sleep.”
Shippo responded to this by immediately jumping into Kagome’s
lap and closing his eyes. Soon, he was
breathing in the soft rhythms of sleep.
moon. She smiled her thanks to
Inu-Yasha, and then turned her attention to the unusually quiet Tora.
“What’s the matter with you, Tora-kun?”
Turning his eyes of jade to Kagome’s face with its’ lines of
worry, Tora gestured to the moon, “Is it just me, Kagome-san, or does the moon
seem more full than it was last night?”
Looking at the moon, Kagome did notice a difference, “Yeah,
you’re right. It was a little less than
halfway full yesterday, and now it’s halfway.”
Nervous laughter sounded in Tora’s ears, and he looked around
wildly, noticing that Inu-Yasha was doing thee.
“Who’s there?” They
asked, standing up with their hands on their weapons.
“Calm yourselves, I’m on your side.”
At the sound of that voice, Tora immediately bowed at the
waist, hands behind his back.
“What’s the matter, Tora-kun?”
“Oh nothing’s the matter with him,” the voice said, followed
by a curse, “I told Akira that I wasn’t made for outdoor
traveling!”
Inu-Yasha and the others quirked an eyebrow as a woman in a
traveler’s cloak appeared from behind the rocks where Tora had changed his
shape.
“Who are you?”Sango
asked, the tips of her fingers just barely touching her Hiraikotsu.
The figure took the cloak off, revealing a woman with white
hair like that of Sesshomaru’s, silver eyes, a light blue kimono, and a
mischievous smile that rivaled that of Kaji herself.
“Hello,” she said cheerily, dropping the cloak onto the
ground and walking over to Tora, “you know, Lord of the East, you should be
home by now. Your bodyguard is worried
sick about you.”
Tora stood up immediately after being addressed by the woman,
“No disrespect intended, Lunia-sama, but right now all I care about is
Ookami-sama’spinepiness.”
The woman Tora had called Lunia nodded, “I see.”
Looking as though he’d just had cold water poured all over
him, Tora seemed to wake from a daze, “Everyone, I’d like you to meet
Lunia-sama, the moon goddess of the other side. Lunia-sama, these are...”
“Yes, yes, you don’t need to introduce me, Tora-san,” Lunia snap
as
as she walked over to Kagome, “so, you must be Kagome-san, yes?”
“Hai,” Kagome said shakily, “how did you know who I was?”
Lunia smiled, “Please, Kagome-san. Chan-chan talks about you all the time.”
“Huh?”
“The one you call Kaji-chan.
She prays to me every night. She
asks me to watch over all of you and keep you safe should she be unable to
carry that out herself.”
“Then is that why you’re here, Lunia-sama?”
Lunia grimaced, and had she had ears like Inu-Yasha’s, they
would have drooped, “As a matter of fact, yes, Tora-san.
“Once again no disrespect intended, but just what is
Ookami-sama occupied with that she couldn’t protect them as she promised to
do?”
Taking a deep breath, Lunia sat down on a leveled rock with
all the grace she possessed, “What he bhe busy with, you ask?
is currently occupied with dying, and that is why she is unable to carry out
her promise.”
Everyone was quiet at Lunia’s statement.
Kagura broke the silence, “Dying?”
“Hai,” Lunia sad, nodding sadly and pointing at the bracelet
on Kagura’s wrist, “when she gave you that bracelet, Kagura-san, Chan-chan
began dying.”
Inu-Yasha drew the Tetsusaiga, “Then maybe if I cut off the
wrist it’s on, we can give it back to her!”
A small blue light raced towards the upset hanyou and his
hair was once again sticking out about a foot from his head, “Fool.
of the elements except three. The
obvious one is fire, the other is spiritual, and the third shall remain a
secret until she actually uses it.”
Kagura had a sad look on her face, “Som thm the reason that
she began dying?”
“If you wish to be hard on yourself, then yes,” Lunia said,
“however, I want you to know that Chan-chan would never have given that
bracelet up without a fight. For her to
give it to you without having you prove your worth is extraordinary.
you, Kagura-san.”
Picking up the Tetsusaiga from where he’d dropped it,
Inu-Yasha sheathed it and sat cross-legged near Kagome, who had to scoot away
from him slightly because the shock Lunia had given him was causing her hair to
be pulled towards him.
Taking a seat, Tora looked at Lunia, “Ookami-sama worships
you, doesn’t she?”
“Hai.” Lunia agreed,
nodding her head.
“Then isn’t there something you can do?
since she was old enough to walk!
And we all know that Ookami-sama was walking before all the other
children.”
“That’s because she wanted to escape all of the time.”
to show.
“Well, we know that, too; however, Lunia-sama, that is beside
the point. Since she has served
you so well, why can’t you do anything about this?”
Losing momentary control of her anger and emotions in
general, Lunia snapped as she stood up, glaring daggers at Tora, “Well if I
could stop her from dying, I would, but that wouldn’t be very fair for
Kibun! If I didn’t even put in my all
to save his life, then why should I try saving hers? I wasn’t successful in saving Kibun, and if I succeed at saving
Chan-chan, where will that put me?! Do
you think it’s easy being a Moon Goddess? And Venita-chan’s guardian at the same time?!
Tora was nothing short of stunned. He’d always heard that Lunia was a kind and gentle spirit.
like this.
“N-No, Lunia-sama.
I’m sorry to have broached the subject.
Will you forgive me?”
Lunia looked as though she were considering going against her
Goddess Vows and moving to kill him, “What would you say if I had your
descendants cursed with the inability to produce heirs of the male persuasion?”
Eyes widening to the size of boulders, Tora’s mouth opened to
protest, but he found that he could not speak.
“I forgot that Lunia-sama was an expert in curses!”
“That was not wise of you to forget, Tora-san.
Chan-chan is. She just hasn’t used one
in a while. The last person she ed
ed
was one of her former friends.”
“Who would that be?”
“Ura-Melokai. You
remember him, don’t you? He was your
age and an annoying dog demon besides.”
“Oh! Yes, I remember
Melokai. Whatever happened to him
anyway?”
“Chan-chan cursed him with the inability to move and he sat
in the same spot until he died of starvation and loneliness.”
occurred everyday.
“What would cause Kaji-chan to do something like that?”
capable of such things.
Lunia looked Kagome in the eye before answering, “Seeing as
how you are the reincarnation of a betrayed priestess, you should understand
this concept quite well, Kagome-san.
Melokai and his love interest did not want my Chan-chan to have
children, which she was bound to have once she mated with the second fiancé to
have been chosen for her, by her.
Melokai and his chosen girlfriend, a fox demon by the
original name of Vixen, killed the second man Chan-chan ever fell in love
with. Seeing as how ‘third time’s a
charm’, I am hoping that all will go well this time around.”
“They were jealous of her happiness, and how ‘easy’ it had
been for her to ‘snag’ Aaron. As
Lunia-sama mentioned, Aaron was Ookami-sama’s second fi, he, he died of a fever
the day of their wedding. Her first
fiancé was a wolf demon by the name of Zan-Ari, but he too died prior to their
joining. I forgot to mention that Aaron
was the first one to teach Ookami-sama that humans weren’t as bad as her father
had led her to believe.” Tora
explained.
“Indeed he did,” Lunia ag, “U, “Usu-Maru, whom had fallen in
love with a human himself, taught Chan-chan to hate them because of their
inferiority to the demon race. Of
course, Chan-chan being half human herself, it took her a while to start practicing
what her father told her but...”
“What did you say?”
Inu-Yasha interrupted, a curious look on his face.
“You mean the part about Chan-chan being half human herself?”
“Hai.”
“I thought you would have identified it as soon as you met
her, Inu-Yasha. Chan-chan is just like
you. She is half demon, but she leveled
her way up to the rank of demon. If you
had been born on our side of the world, you, too, would have had that option.”
Inu-Yasha looked at Kagome, a certain kind of pleading look
in his eyes. She knew what he was
thinking. If he’d just been born on
that side of the world, he wouldn’t need the Shikon Jewel, and then he would
never have met Kikyo.
“And he never would have met me either.”
reason why he lookeddeprdepressed.
She would never have guessed just how far from the truth she
was.
“I got it!”
Kouga immediately looked up from the flower he’d been staring
at, “Got what?”
Kaji sighed, “Oh nothing, just the plant that will link us
that I’ve been searching for for the past hour and a half!”
Kouga grimaced, “Right, that.
“You’re all right,” Kaji said, kneeling down beside him, “you
looked absolutely absorbed by the sight of that flower.
“The only thing I’ve been able to think about ever since I
met you.”
“And what would that be, might I ask?”
Kouga looked up at her, an emotion she’d learned to identify
as love shining in his eyes, “You.”
Trying as best she could to hide her shock, Kaji covered it
with a warm smile. That wasn’t what
she’d thought he’d say. She’d thou
he
he had been thinking about the Shikon Jewel or perhaps how desperately he
wanted to just get up and run away from her.
“Now why would you be thinking about me?”
hand.
“If you only knew just how precious you are to me,
Kaji-chan,” Kouga smiled, “maybe you’d think differently.”
“Kouga-kun, I haven’t been able to think about anything at all
since the day you barged into Kaede-sama’s village demanding to see K-chan.
longer function. I’ve been thinking of
no one and nothing but you since I first started attacking you.”
Kouga chuckled, “I must say, Koishii, you’re beautiful when
you’re angry; however, I’d much rather it not be me on the other end of
your anger.”
Grinning, Kaji laughed, “I’m sorry, Kouga-kun.
to come between myself and my best friend, whom I consider my sister.
circle. I will let no woman come within
fifty feet of you. Be it my Moon
Goddess herself, I shan’t hesitate to drive a female away from you.”
“That is kind of you to say, Kaji-chan, and I shall do the
same for you. No male will even so much
as look at you before I have determined his intentions.”
Both of them smiling, Kouga pulled Kaji into his lap.
Kaji held the plant in front of her face, looking at it as
though searching for something, “Do you see the stem of this plant, Kouga-kun?”
“Hai. What’s so
special about it? It has thorns just
like most plants do out here.”
“There are two thorns on this stem that are different than
the rest. Once found, they must be
placed into the vein on the wrist of each person the plant is to link.
then wrapped around both wrists, acting as a rope to bind the two
together. Only after a full day has
passed can the plant be removed, for after twenty-four hours are through, the
linking is finished.”
That’s
all there is to it?” Kouga asked,
amazed that something so complicated-sounding as linking could be so easy.
“Believe me, Kouga-kun, I have heard that it is a very
painful process. We might not be able
to sleep tonight.”
“What’s a little sleep if it meaow ou won’t die?”
nose.
“The process requires those involved to sleep at least
six of the twenty-four hours. The sleep
cannot be induced by pressure points, salves, or liquids.
“Don’t worry, Koishii, we’ll manage.
manage to sleep for the six hours it requires, we’ll be preparing for all the
years to come.” Kouga smiled.
“I suppose you’re right,” Kaji said softly, looking up at the
moon as she did so, “Kouga-kun, does the moon seem bigger than it was yesterday
night?”
“Hai, it does, Kaji-chan.
I wonder why?”
“Could Lunia be up to something? She only ever messes up the moon’s cycle when she’s plotting
something. I don’t want to sound
conceited, but I have the feeling that it has something to do with me.
rate that it is growing, and that means...
Kle>Kaji gasped inwardly.
The full moon would mean she would go into heat, and whenever that
happened, she got herself into trouble.
Lots of trouble.
“Something the matter, Koishii?”
Kaji looked into Kouga’s eyes, hoping her own looked sincere,
“No, Kouga-kun. Everything’s fine.”
“Good.”
“I can’t let Kouga-kun be near me when I lose
myself. I just can’t!” Kaji
thought, looking back to the plant, l?
Shall we get this thricebedamned linking over with?”
“Hai.” Kouga said as
Kaji began plucking the leaves to have only the stem remain.
It didn’t take long for Kaji to find the two thorns that were
different from the others. The biggest
difference she could see was that the base of the two were a violet color,
while the rest of the thorns were purely green.
Taking one of the thorns and inserting it into her left
wrist, Kaji winced; but she always made sure to keep eye contact with the man
she loved. Looking down once, Kouga
took the other portion of the stem that held the second thorn and placed it
into the vein of his right wrist.
Already feeling a tingling up and down her arm, Kaji took the
ends of the stem and wrapped them around her and Kouga’s wrists, making sure to
tie it tightly enough so as to be sure it would not come undone whilst they
slept.
“I wish I would have known just how much it would hurt,” Kaji
said, biting her tongue and grimacing when she tasted her own blood, “how’s
your end of things?”
Kouga looked at Kaji as though she were crazy, “I don’t know
what you’re talking about. I don’t feel
anything.”
Kaji quirked an eyebrow, “But, I don’t understand... I was
told that both parties involved would feel pain.”
“I’m telling you that I don’t feel anyth...”
eyes widened and he doubled over, his eyes screwed shut and his nose touching
Kaji’s stomach due to the fact that she was still in his lap.
Not liking to see her beloved in pain, Kaji placed her right
hand on Kouga’s neck as a gesture to show him that she was there for him.
catch his fleeting breath, Kaji lifted his chin with her right hand and forced
him to look into her eyes.
Kouga could only watch as he witnessed shields and barriers
crashing down from within Kaji’s eyes.
Once all obstacles were removed, Kouga saw that she was experiencing the
same amount of pain he was. Being the
one threatened with losing her life, Kouga noticed that she was feeling a
little more pain than he was.
Seeing that his breathing had returned to normal once Kaji
revealed to him her own pain, Kouga smiled apologetically.
“I suppose sometimes it helps just to know that I’m just as
vulnerable to pain as anyone else. I
guess I can just hide it a little better than most people.”
“Don’t hide it from me, Koishii, please.
it in your eyes so that I can comfort you in anyway I can.”
Kaji smiled, despite her pain, and indicated with her eyes
for Kouga to look up with her at the moon.
Looking back to him, Kaji whispered, “Will you sing with me?”
“Sing?”
“Hai,” Kaji nodded, as though it were the easiest thing to
understand, “sometimes I’ll just sing all of my pain to the moon, knowing that
Lunia-chan is always listening. Don’t
you ever howl to the moon?”
“Not in a long time, Kaji-chan. Go ahead and sing without me.”
“All right, but you have to promise me you won’t get all
depressed on me.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I have been told many a time that my song is one of the
saddest those that have listened to ive eve ever heard.”
“Kaji-chan, only if you were to sing of your death would I
become depressed.”
Kaji’s eyes flickered with sadness for a moment, “It is not
of my death I sing, Kouga-kun; however it is the death of my brother that led
me to sing my first and only song. For
you know as well as I that the first song to be sung by a wolf is theirs for
all time, and that a wolf’s song is like a fingerprint is to humans.
“I do know that, Kaji-chan, and I won’t mind listening to
your song. No matter how sad it is or
of what sadness it tells.”
Eyes alight with love for her raven-haired wolf, Kaji looked
up at the moon and let loose her wolf’s song.
Though not allowing his face to show his surprise, Kouga had
to agree with those that had heard the song before him: it was the
saddest song he’d ever heard. It was
like that of a trapped and wounded wolf.
“But she is trapped andndednded,” Kouga reminded
himself, “she is trapped in the world of the living and wounded by the fact
that her family is gone. Hopefully,
though, if all of this comes out right, I shall be the one to heal her wounds
and set her free without having to loose her to Death’s cold hands.”
yle>Kouga vowed right then that he would stay with his thought
promise. He would try as best he could
ill ill the holes her family had left on his love’s heart.
it mattered not what she would need, for he would be there to give it to her.
Regardless of what it might cost him.