Under a Silver Moon

 I do not own Inuyasha, any associated Characters or rights to the material. I do own my original characters and plot lines so I'll thank you not to use them without permission. I make no profit from these writings which are purely for entertainment.

 

Long minutes passed in silence, the two running through forests of Makai as fast as they could.

“Why don’t we stop and fight them?” she demanded against the wind.

“We will” Youko assured her, never losing his grip on her.

“When?”

He suddenly dragged her to stop before a large clearing. “Here” was all he said. He pushed her behind him. “Get ready.”

A group of seven broke through the trees, weapons drawn. Sadly more than half were demons that Youko knew.

“Oi. Give us the Mekharat and you can go.” One called to him. A large blue demon.

“Lord Delno said to kill them” one of the others said to him.

The blue demon chuckled, “I have seen this bastard fight. I don’t want to tangle with him.”

Youko smirked and gave a half bow, “Why thank you.” He said good naturedly, “But I am afraid this scenario has one problem.”

“Whats that?”

Golden eyes narrowed and Youko sprang forward to quickly Lillian couldn’t track him.

Youko struck swiftly, standing over the dying demon. “You don’t get to choose whether you fight me or not.”



A few had crept closer to Lillian and she had engaged them with her blade. Sesshoumaru would have been proud of her skill. Youko reached into his hair and withdrew a small seed. “Rose whip.” He whispered.

The thorny weapon snapped and sliced through the air, followed by shrieks of pain or wet ripping sounds. Lillian did her best not to look too closely. She had killed two demons on her own and was battling a third. When he slapped her blade with his she felt the jolt of brute force sing along her arm. He knocked the blade from numb and tingling fingers and stepped forward. Lillian allowed him to. Instinct taking over now.

When he grabbed her arm, she slammed her hand into the massive wall of his chest. That red light leaping to life beneath her touch. He tried to back away, to throw her off. She was immovable and followed him backwards, towering over him when he fell to his knees and then to his stomach.

His screams slowly faded to gasps and gurgles and still she held on. Her grip having moved to his face and she poured her rage at having her life taken from her into him. Her sorrow at never being normal.

Another demon approached from behind and she lashed out at her. The long green hair wrapping around her wrist and Lillian doubled her resolve.

Youko looked up to see Lillian, her hands on two demons. The three of them surrounded by a dome of red glowing energy. He knew what this was. Had only ever seen it twice before. This was the cruelest, most painful way that a Mekharat could fight. And his lover seemed to have a natural knack for it.

The demons in her grasp would have long since perished, however so long as she kept contact with them, she prolonged their lives and suffering.

“Lillian!” he called over the roar and crackle of her powers. “Lillian!”

Her eyes lifted to him.

“Let them go! Let them die!”

Her eyes widened and she looked at the two demons, snatching her hands away as though she’d been burned. The light swirled, flickered and faded. She took in the scorched hand prints on their face and scalp. The look of pain and terror frozen in place and she took a step backwards.

“I…” she stuttered, “I…noo…I …did…”

Her stomach rebelled a moment later as the scent of blackened flesh and blood reached her. She dashed behind a clump of greenery and her pitiful retching filled the silence.

Her mind, when Youko attempted to reach it was a wall of despair. ‘Didn’t mean. Didn’t mean. Didn’t mean Didn’t mean Didn’t mean’.

Youko let his senses flare, no threat approaching. In the distance he felt Sesshoumaru. That battle had long been over. Sesshoumaru was lumbering towards them.

Lillian finally returned to his field of vision. Her eyes were red and puffy from puking and crying. She was terribly pale. Youko tossed her a water container. “Drink slowly” he cautioned.

She rinsed her mouth, spat and then drank.

“What was that?” she asked, not daring to look at the poor demons to her left.

“It’s called Kihart. It is the killing essence of the Mekharat amplified to weapon form.”

“English. Please.”

“Whenever a Mekharat touches a demon, there is killing intent. It is instinct. The Mekharat can control it. At her will, on her whim it can stroke like a lover or punish like a god. Those demons could have died the instant you touched them, you held on and that kept them alive to feel the pain. A formidable weapon indeed.”

“I…”

“You let your darker emotions into it” he said cutting her off, “and that amplified the killing nature of the power. Do you see?”

He stepped towards her and she stepped away from him. He noted that she shoved her hands behind her back.

“Lillian?”

“Don’t come near me!” She barked at him. “If I…. I couldn’t bear it… if I…accidently…”

Youko nodded, “That power is you. You control it, not the other way around.”

“I didn’t want them to suffer.” She said then.

“I know.”

“But a part of me wouldn’t let go…”

“I know that too.”

He had taken steps closer to her with each statement. She back away until her back hit a tree.

“Youko please.”

He placed a clawed hand on the tree beside her face, his eyes searching for madness. He saw fear but no madness. “Do you want to hurt me?” he asked her then. His voice whisper soft.

Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head rapidly. He reached between them, catching her hand and though she fought him, he pulled it to his face. Pressing his face into her bloodied palm. “Then don’t.”

Her breath was coming in great shaking gasps and Youko rumbled to soothe her. She shivered against him. But he knew it was lingering fear of herself and her powers. When she went limp against him and began to slide down the tree, he caught her and eased her down.

Beside her head, the soil churned and he narrowed his eyes. A plant. It was a plant. No threat. When the small blossoms of the Kitsbloom appeared and the plant wrapped itself around her he shook his head.

He watched as the plant managed to pull itself, pot and all from the entombing soil. “You are not supposed to have that kind of power my friend” he told the plant. It shook its velvety leaves at him and passed vivid petals over the bloodied form of it’s mistress. As though ascertaining her well-being.

Youko sat beside her for nearly an hour. Sesshoumaru was nearly to them now. They needed to decide what to do now. The den was obliterated. The plants would help repair it swiftly. However the location was known, no doubt the party that had attacked had sent word of it. It was no longer safe.

Sesshoumaru stepped into a patch of watery moonlight and paused. His golden eyes took in Youko, looking tired and troubled. Lillian lay beside him, her damn plant draped over her, her skin marred with blood. It didn’t carry the smell of being all of her own.

The tattered remains of the rose whip’s victims lay about like dark splashes of paint on the grass. Then there were the others. His eyes moved critically over them. Verifying the agony of their final moments.

“Is she hurt?”

Youko shrugged, “Inside mostly. She used it and it scared the hell out of her.”

“And you?”

“Well yeah it scared  me too. I thought we were losing her to the madness.”

“I meant are you hurt?”

“No, you insulting bastard. You?”

“The question is laughable.”

There was a pregnant pause and then Sesshoumaru asked softly, “Was it there? Did you see it?” He prayed madness was absent.

Youko swallowed, “When she held them. For a split second it might have been there. But I did not see it in her eyes.”

Sesshoumaru released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He cared too much for this little mate of his and he had no desire to kill another Mekharat.

He stepped closer to her and the Kitsbloom slowly unfurled itself from her, retuning to look rather innocuous in its pot.

“We have to return. Kagome and Inuyasha can help us in this fight. The manor would be the safest place at present.”

Youko nodded, “Thought you’d say that. I’ve prepared the way. Tell your brother.”