Friendly Persuasion
Heart of the Fire
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A/N: all right, before you threaten
to set my house on fire with all of the flame reviews that I’m bound to get if
I don’t announce this… here it is:
---There
is no lemon in this chapter!---
It just didn’t fit ere,ere, no matter
how hard I tried. If I’d put the lemon
in this chapter, then it would have been 15 pages long….. or probably damn
close. Anyhow, thanks to all that reviewed, and I’m sorry it took so long to
update!
Heart of the Fire
“Chan-chan?
Chan-chan, wake up, Dearest.
It’s almost noon. Why don’t you
wake up?”
Opening her eyes of cobalt blue, she looked up at the one
who called, “I feel too warm to get up, Lunia-chan. I think I’m sick.”
Lunia’s eyes showed doubt, “Venita-chan, you’re half wolf
demon. You don’t get sick.”
“What do you think the other half is?!”
Sighing, Lunia put forth her hand and felt her precious
ward’s forehead, “Oh my! You are
warm!”
“See? I told you!”
Venita sed fed from her bed as she let loose a torrent of coughs, “I keep
telling you that someone is making me sick!
It’s someone from the Outside, I know it is!”
“Venita-chan, I understand why you think that may
be the case...”
“No! It’s
true! My forehead is warm, I can barely
open my eyes, my throat’s all itchy, my chest hurts...”
This last statement caught Lunia’s full attention, “What?”
Venita stopped her long list of complaints as she blinked,
“My chest hurts.”
“What does it feel like?
Like someone is squeezing your heart and pulling it out of your chest,
or ?”
“It feels like someone has placed a white-hot piece of
metal straight through my heart, Lunia-chan.
That’s what it feels like.”
Lunia did not bother to hide her shock, “But you’re so
young..... I don’t understand. How
could it be happening now? You’re the
equivalent of a twenty-one-year-old human, why would it be happening now?”
“What’s happening, Lunia-chan, huh?” Venita asked as she
tried to sit up, ignoring the jab of pain her heart sent her, “Please tell me
what’s happening. Why does my heart
hurt?”
Lunia looked at her little white-haired charge with
saddened eyes. She’d been visiting
Venita for a little while now, and for a little more than a week Venita had
been complaining of chest pains.
However, whenever Lunia took her to the physician, he said that all was
well.
“Venita-chan, it’s hard to...”
“That’s the look you gave me before you told me Ki-kun
died.” Venita said softly.
If she hadn’t been so used to the younger woman speaking
so softly, Lunia would have missed it, “Pardon me?”
“The look you’ve got on your face, and the tone in your
voice. It’s the same combination you
used when you told me Kibun died.
What’s happening to me, Lunia-san?
Please tell me?”
Sighing, Lunia began, “You’re right when you say someone
from the Outside is making you sick.
More precisely, it’s called the Other Side. Anyhow, the one causing this to happen to you, does not mean for
you to become sick. That’s just what
happens when someone from the Outside calls one from the Inside to be their
Mate.”
Venita blinked, “So you mean to tell me that because a
male from the Outside is calling me to be his bride, it’s making me sick?”
“Hai.”
“How can I find him?
Which Outside is he calling from?
Is he calling from the Mortal World, or from the side that damned wench
of a priestess is from?”
“You mean Kik-....”
Lunia stopped after Venita sent her a glare.
“Don’t mention that woman’s name in front of
me. She has caused too much pain here
on this side. She who kills demons on
this side when it is she that trespasses here. It is she who wants that hanyou boy, Inu-Ya to to become human
for her because as a hanyou, she says that they can never be together.”
“You mean to tell me that it’s her that said
that?!”
“Hai, Lunia-chan. She
said it.”
“That’s preposterous!
Your father married a hu-....”
Again, Lunia was sent a bone-chilling glare, “She’s your mother,
Venita-chan.”
“I don’t care who she is.
If I have not yet been graced with her presence, then it must mean she
has rejected me as her child.”
“I want you tow tow that you’re wrong.”
“Wrong or not, I am entitled to my opinion,” Venita gave
her guardian a warning glance so as not to continue with that subject, “you
never answered me when I asked how I can find this male that calls for me.”
“The only thing I can tell you, Venita-chan, is that you
have to search for him. The pain will
increase the closer you get to him. You
just have to look.”
“You’re a meddler, Lunia-san. Why don’t you give me a clue?”
“Don’t tempt me like that! There’s nothing I want more than to see you and he together!”
Lunia exclaimed, shocked that her ward would ask such a thing, “All right, you
want a clue?”
Venita smiled, despite the constant pain from her heart,
“Yes, yes, Lunia-san! Please!”
Lunia cleared her throat, “The man you seek has eyes like
the calmest spring sky framed by tresses that are the color of the jewels in
Kupaka’s Pit.”
“All right, so his hair is black.”
“Ah, mayhap you are correct, but Venita-chan, have yover ver seen the jewels in Kupaka’s Pit?”
“Not up close.”
Venita admitted, her mind telling her that the cobblestone floor of her
room was the most interesting thing to look at right then.
Lunia laughed, “The stones vary from the deepest black, to
a color that is like the smoke from a fire of leaves.”
“Big selection.”
“When it comes to hair, Venita-chan, the beings on the
Outside do indeed have such varying shades.”
“Dammit.”
“Ah well, wish you for me to continue?”
“Yes! Anything
that will help me find him!”
“All right. His
skin is like that of the newborn fawn.”
“Whose pelt is as bronze as the Mineral Sands on our
coast.”
“That’s right!
See? You are learning him, and
your geography, just perfectly!”
“Is there anything else I should know of him,
Lunia-san? Likes, dislikes, anything
else you can tell me?”
Lunia looked at Venita with a parental look on her face,
“Now if I did that, where would my fun be when I get to sit back and
watch you meeting him and passing him by several hundred times before you
actually take time to even notice him?”
“Lunia...”
Venita said, trying to sound threatening.
“All right! If you
must know, he will have with him pieces of a most cursed stone which, to
the most able eyes, shall glow a color that which you despise most.”
Blinking, Venita then glared at the Moon Goddess, who had
made sure not to mention to her which side her future Mate resided.
“You make things so difficult.”
Lunia smiled, “Ah well, it would not be any fun for those
of us watching if we told you who he was and what he looked like
word-for-word. He calls to you by
singing to the moon, asking me to send him a woman that differs from the bitches
on his side. If your chest hurts now,
well, it will only hurt more the closer to are to him.”
No longer caring about the pain in her chest, Venita got
up and dressed herself in clothes better suited for crossing a desert, “Then
that makes up my mind for me.”
“What ever do you mean, Dearest?”
“I must find this one who calls to me, and fulfill his
desire. After all, is it not written in
the Laws that if a male should call, a female has no choice but to answer?
he has not found another.”
“Oh he will,” Lunia began, but hurried after Venita sent
her a growl of malice, “but he will soon relinquish his claim on her and follow
you wherever you may go!”
“Good. I would not
wish for him to gather a love he will soon tire of as soon as his bride’s
flowers begin to wilt. That would be
most unpleasant to all three of us.”
Lunia couldn’t help but smile, “Where are you going to
look first?”
“I don’t know.
While I’m running from that man Father had chosen for me, I think I shall
go off to the Mortal World to search.”
“Very well, Chan-chan.
You’re doing the right thing.
You did the best womanly thing you could have done before you sat down
to meet him: you ‘fainted’. Then, while
you’re ‘recovering’, you make your escape to the Mortal World.
“I am only glad you thought of it when you did,
Lunia-chan. I thank you for assuming
the role of my mother when she left.
Someday, I shall reward your kindness and meddling.”
walked towards her mirror.
“Yes, well, find your man and just make sure you get him
to sing to me again. That shall make me
happy. You singing in harmony with your
Mate. Yes, that will truly make me
smile.”
“Then that is what you shall have, Lunia-chan,” the now
human Venita said as she put her foot into her mirror to cross over to the
Mortal World, “and hopefully healthy pups to continue the tradition.”
Smiling, Lunia watched as Venita disappeared into her
mirror.
Her eyes snapping open as though she’d been struck by
lightning, Kaji sat up, heedless of the sunlight that blinded her for several
moments.
“You’re an early riser.”
Came a gruff voice beside her.
Eyes adjusting quickly, Kaji looked over to her left,
“How...?”
Kouga lay on his back, eyes still closed with a grin on his
face, “How long have I been awake?”
“Hai.”
“Just a few minutes.
Long enough to hear you whimpering in your sleep.”
Had she been in her hanyou form, Kaji’s ears would have
plastered themselves to the side of her head, “I’m sorry about that,
Kouga-kun.”
“It’s all right,” Kouga smirked, his eyes opening lazily to
show amusement, “we did it.”
Confusion made its way onto Kaji’s face, “What?”
“Can’t you feel it?”
Searching herself for anything of the sort he could be
talking about, Kaji felt as though she’d just been smacked in the head by
Kouga’s growing presence in her heart.
“The link...” She
breathed.
“Ah! You remember!”
Kaji hit his shoulder playfully as she giggled, “Now I
do. If you wouldn’t speak in such
riddles to me as soon as I get up, mayhap I would have a chance at remembering
what it is you speak!”
“Pardon me,” Kouga said sitting up and crossing his legs,
“maybe you shoulda told me you weren’t a morning person.”
“Hn,” Kaji said, looking the other way, “do you realthatthat
we’re stuck together like this for the whole day?
Kouga’s eyes held laughter, “You’re just now realizing that?”
Smiling softly, Kaji began thinking over the dream she’d had
before she woke, “Kouga-kun, is it all right if I ask you a question other than
this one?”
Chuckling at the way she cut him off from telling her she
already had, Kouga smirked, “Like what?”
“It’s kinda personal, and I...”
“Just ask it, Koishii.
Anything you ask, I’ll answer it.”
Hoping he knew what he was getting himself into, Kaji asked,
“When I asked you to sing with me to the moon, you said that you hadn’t sung in
a long time. Why did you stop singing?”
It was obvious to Kaji that he felt paiand and startled by
the question, for the small link that had begun forming between them told her
his emotions.
“I stopped ‘singing’, as you put it, to the moon because....
well, she just...”
“What is it, Kouga-kun?
I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.
“No, no, I’ll tell you,” Kouga said, turning to face her as
best he could, “I stopped because she didn’t give me what I asked for.
that one thing, and she never did, so I stopped.”
Remembering her dream, which was an actual portion of her
life being played back to her, Kaji’s mouth dropped slightly as her eyes
widened, “‘The man you seek has eyes like the calmest spring sky framed by
tresses that are the color of the jewels in Kupaka’s Pit’.”
“What?” Kouga asked,
turning confused eyes to his beloved.
“You match the description Lunia-chan gave me.
sky, your hair is dark like the jewels of Kupaka’s pit, and your skin is indeed
the color of the newborn fawn’s coat, which just happens to match the sand on
our southwestern coast. So then the
pieces of the cursed stone you carry are the shards of the Shikon Jewel, which
glow the color that which I despise most: pink.
And then the one you loved before me but then gave up to be with
me was K-chan. Yes, you have to
be the one! You fit the description
perfectly! You’re just like Lunia-chan
said you would be!”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
Sighing with slight annoyance, Kaji began speaking as fast as
she had when Kagome had accepted the fact she was a girl, “Don’t you
understand, Kouga-kun? You found
me! I am the one for whom you
called. You summoned me from the
Southern Realm of the Inside all the way here. Every time you sang for me, my heart would ache something
terrible, telling me just how close I was to you. You sent for me, and now I am here. I am the woman that differs from all the other bitches here.
It took Kouga a moment to piece together all the things Kaji
was saying, “I can’t believe it... after all this time?”
Kaji took a moment to glare at him before smiling, “It took
me a while to find you, you know. The
less you sang, the harder it was to find you.
Plus, you moved too much.”
“Huh?”
Poking him in the chest lightly with every word she spoke,
Kaji smiled, “You. Move.
Much. And too often, if I might
add. When you’re chasing a guy that
runs faster than you can feel, it makes things all the more difficult.
Moon Goddess following you, ugh! all, my dearest Kouga-kun, you were one tough wolf to find.
Kouga was still too surprised by what Kaji revealed to say
anything more than one-syllable words.
“After all these years,” he thought, remembering the
days when he’d sung to the moon to bring him a mate, “she’s finally come
from the Other Side! Who would have
thought that the woman of my dreams was the one I called to?
As thougadinading his thoughts, Kaji spoke, “Wolf magic can
do wondrous things, Koishii. It amazes
me every time I think about all the things the magic of wolves has been able to
accomplish. I only wish it could be
used to help others.”
Coming out of his reverie, Kouga cocked his head at her,
“What do you mean?”
“I wish it were possible for me to work wolf magic on other
people. Perchance bring two people
closer together.”
“Like?”
Kaji smirked, “As if you need telling.
other! All we’d have to do is get rid
of the walking piece of pottery, and everything’d be just peachy!”
“The ‘walking piece of pottery’?” Kouga questioned.
Sighing, Kaji spoke with a hint of annoyance and disgust in
her voice, “Kikyo. Inu-Yasha’s
old girlfriend. If we could just get
him to kill her or something, that would leave a huge gap for K-chan to
walk right into!”
“What about that damn promise he made?
he’d go to hell with her.”
“Well then to hell with her!
Byselfself, of course,” Kaji smirked, but then sighed, “I just want
what’s best for the both of them. I may
be from the Other Side, but K-chan is still my best friend,
Kouga-kun. How can I live a life of
happiness if she is not happy? We made
a promise to be happy together, and she took a risk not too long ago.
that one could either soar above the clouds, or crash to the ground and hurt
one’s wings. I asked her which she
chose.”
“And?”
“She chose to fly and admit that she loved Inu-Yasha.
her down. She’s up on the moon with me
in pure bliss, Kouga-kun. I won’t
let him drag her down to hell with him and that walking clay pot!”
Through their link, Kouga felt just how strongly Kaji thought
about all of this, “You say you’re not only above the clouds, but on the moon
as well?”
Blushing slightly, Kaji nodded, “Yes, I did.
“Because you’re in love with me?”
A grin on her face, Kaji nodded once more, “Head over heels
tumbling down a mountainside.”
Feeling nothing but pure elation at Kaji’s statement, Kouga
beamed, “Let’s go back to the den. I
want to pack a few things.”
“Pack? What for?”
“I want to take you somewhere.”
“Like?”
Sighing because she had no other choice but to follow him,
Kaji stood next to him, “All right, Kouga-kun, but take it easy on me.
“That’s all right, Koishii, we’re going to walk.”
Quirking an eyebrow at what would be called her fiancé, Kaji
looked slightly puzzled, “Walk? But by
the time we get to your den, it will be very late and...”
“And we’ll be fully linked.”
Kouga said simply.
Realization dawned on Kaji like a baseball thrown at her
head, “You intend to use a walk as a way to spend time.
we’ll be able to take out this stupid plant and run our own way.”
“And if we walk, we’ll be less likely to run into things,”
Kouga smirked, “after all, you do seem a little dizzy.”
“Dizzy?” Kaji thought, her eyes narrowing at him, “I’ll
show him dizzy when I run circles around him; wind spell or no!”
Kouga had reason to believe that the mischievous glint in
Kaji’s eyes, which were looking slightly away from him, was not a good omen.
“You’re plotting something aren’t you?”
She looked up at him with such a look of childlike innocence
that, had it not been for the small remnant of a sparkle of mischief, Kouga
would have believed in it.
“Plotting? Me?
plotting with scheming. They are two
completely different things, dearest Kouga-kun.”
It was Kouga’s turn to quirk an eyebrow at his chosen mate,
“Does it really matter what the difference is?
You’re concocting something devious in that mind of yours that’s going
to be used against me.”
Kaji shrugged, “Damn, you have me figured out already.
have held you over for a little while longer.
I daresay I have run out of secrets to hide from you.”
“Now, now, Kaji-chan, I highly doubt that.”
rocks.
“But you looked into my eyes, Kouga-kun,” Kaji protested,
“you know everything there is about me.”
“No, Kaji-chan, I don’t.
I only know what you look like as your true self; I don’t know anything
about what you’re like.”
Kaji stopped in her tracks and put her right hand on Kouga’s
left shoulder, slowly running it up his neck and onto his cheek, “I give you my
word of honor, Kouga-kun: as my true self, I am exactly the same as I am
now. In fact, I may be a lot more fun
as myself. I’m a lot less cautious, and
I usually don’t worry about the consequences of my actions.”
Taking her hand with his free one, Kouga kissed her palm and
felt an unintentional shudder envelop her body, “So long as you’re still,
t,
that’s all that matters. I couldn’t
care less about what you looked like, Koishii; so long as you’re the same as
you are now, that’s what matters most to me.”
Stopping herself from wrapping her free arm around his neck,
Kaji smiled up at him, “For all that it’s worth, Koishii, I promise that
whatever I possess is as much yours as it ever was mine.
you require, shall be at your disposal.
As it always has been.”
Seeing such sincerity in her eyes, Kouga knew that the words
she spoke were the truth, but it was more than just sincerity that lingered
there: her heart was right there, out in the open for anyone to see, if they
had just looked in her eyes.
Kouga smiled back at her, remembering the countless nights he
had spent just singing his heart out for a woman he could call his, “You are
all I ever wanted, Kaji-chan. All I
ever asked of your Lunia was to give to me someone like you that differed from
the rest of the bitches at the den.
What more can I say, Kaji-chan?
You are my perfect bitch.”
Kaji smiled, one of her
newly-lengthened fangs protruding over her bottom lip, “When you first came to Kaede-sama’s
village, I wanted to protect something from your presence.
was K-chan because you were after her at the time. But, later, when you found me in the woods when I collapsed, I
realized that it hadn’t been K-chan I was trying to protect.
a little longer to have it all to myself.
Now, though, all that was ever mine is yours.”
A/N: Woohoo! It’s finished!
Finally! Thanks again for your reviews!