Friendly Persuasion
Freedom
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
Freedom
“Hey give it back! I need
that!”
“For what?!
You rarely even open it anymore!”
“I said to give it back!”
“No!”
“Sit!”
The unmistakable sound of Inu-Yasha’s body hitting the solid
rocky ground rang throughout the cliff that no one had dared leave in case a
certain someone came searching for them.
“You know, Lady Kagome, Inu-Yasha does have a
point. You hardly open your books
anymore.” Miroku said as he looked
longingly in Sango’s direction.
The said demon exterminator was currently scratching behind
one of Kirara’s ears. She turned her
head slightly and gave Miroku a glare.
Sighing, Miroku shrugged, admitting defeat... for the moment.
Prying himself out of the ground, Inu-Yasha glared blunt
daggers in Kagome’s direction. He’d
admitted to himself long ago that he had feelings for her, but then he’d
thought about Kikyo and his dilemma had started all over again.
“But my tests!” Kagome protested, “I have to study!
to Kaji-chan, I passed by the fridge and saw that I have a big math test
coming up! If I don’t pass it, I’ll
never get into a good school!”
“Then why don’t yost fst forsake school?”
on his side basking in the afternoon sun.
Had Kagome been the sister Ookami-sama always said she was,
Tora was certain he’d be torn to pieces by now. He stood up and arched his back, flexing his paws and then
sitting on his haunches to look Kagome in the eye.
Which was a mistake.
Her eyes burned with a fire that looked very much like
Ookami-sama’s. Yndernderneath the many
blazing embers, a sheet of ice and venom lie waiting for anyone who managed to
get past the unbearable flames of her being.
Did she realize she was too much like Ookami-sama for her own
good?
“What did you say?”
Kagome seethed, her anger coming off of her in waves.
Having spent much time with Ookami-sama, Tora stood his
ground, “Of course, it’s the only logical thing I can think of.
faces, and body language, which is a lot, I’d say that you like being
here. There’s nothing to worry about
until that well comes into view. That’s
when your reality just slams into you like a runaway bowling ball.”
By end end of Tora’s statementgomegome looked as though she
would grab the Tetsusaiga from Inu-Yasha’s waist and hack him to pieces with
it.
“Perhaps you don’t understand, Tora,” Kagome
began, Tora swearing he heard her teeth grinding together and turning them to
powder, “I need to get into a good school. If I don’t...”
Grabbing whatever bravery he had left, Tora dared jump from
the safety of his ledge and face the angry woman, “What?
If you don’t take that math test, big deal! Schoolwork, teachers, classes, who needs ’em?
but that doesn’t mean I go by the book all the time. To let you in on a little secret, I never go by the
book. My servants call me by name, my
servants argue with me and win, my cooks scold me for trying to sneak a sugar
cookie, and so on. I’m especially hard
to handle when the head cook makes white chocolate chip cookies with macadamia
nuts.”
Kagome seemed silenced by Tora’s revelation, so he felt safe
enough to turn his back on her and begin walking away towards where Lunia-sama
was sleeping atop a rock on her back snoring like nothing anyone had ever
heard.
Who knew goddesses snored?
That aside, Tora leapt onto the rock ledge next to the
goddess and was about to lay down when a tendril of fire no bigger than a blade
of grass danced before his eyesan san style="mso-spacerun: yes"> When
he looked at it directly, causing his tiger’s eyes to cross, it changed into a
symbol he knew all too well. It was one
of the four symbols he’d had to memorize as a child. One of them had been the symbol upon his own forehead when in
demon form.
His symbol was the obvious tiger’s eye, and it was tattooed
in coal-black ink in the middle of his forehead, for all those visiting the
Eastern Lands to see. The symbol of the
Northern Lands was a bear’s paw, since the Lord was named Ursa, after the
constellation Ursa Major; it was often called the Great Bear Star.
side of the world, claimed the symbol of the sun for himself.
to one person, onace.ace.
It belonged to the Lady of the South.
went on in the Council, for Ursa’s withouthough Lady of the North, had no say
at all in what her Mate said or did in the Council.
Of course, with Usu-Maru gone, that left his only living
relative to take over his Council seat: his daughter. The first woman to be given full reign of the lands that had once
been her father’s to command.
Ookami-sama herself was the Lady of the South; one of the
most outspoken women anyone had ever met.
They instantly hated her upon first meeting her, and claimed that she
was a tricky vixen in wolclotclothing and herding sheep at the same time.
But Tora had no time to be reminiscing about how upon fourth
and fifth meeting, everyone loved her, but still said she was a vixen in wolf’s
clothing herding mindless sheep. Right
now his attention needed to be focused on the pulsing symbol before him.
He was suddenly aware that Kagome was yelling at him, but
Inu-Yasha broke into her beginning rage by suddenly standing and scenting the
air, “Someone’s coming.”
“Not just anyone,” Tora added, standing on his four legs and
immediately changing to his human form, “she comes.”
Kagome blinked, “Why is it when you changed before, you had
to put clothes on?”
gotten out of the shower and felt like running around naked.”
As of now, Kagome’s cheeks were bright pink; both from anger
and embarrassment, “So who is coming?”
“She is,” Tora said, pointing the index finger of his
right hand at the land beneath the cliff, “she who rivals Lunia in both beauty
and wit.”
At this statement, a once-snoring moon goddess shot up off
her rock, “No Mortal can rival me in beauty and wit! I shall curse you for your insults!”
“Honestly, Lunia-san, this is me we’re talking about,”
a smooth, silky voice spoke, “you had a hand in creating me, so of course
I rival the attributes that you hold so dearly.”
Everyone turned around, for the direction Thad had pointed
and the place the voice had come from were on opposite sides of the cliff.
There, behind them with a smirk on her face, was a very
different-looking Kaji. Her hair was
now more white than black, and her eyes were like burning sapphires.
Lunia scrambled off her rock, smoothed her kimono, and faced
her smiling charge, “Chan-chan?”
The smile left Kaji’s eyes and the one on her face became
wry, “Not yet, Lunia-chan; however I have a feeling that soon I shall be free.”
Seeming to analyze every word Kaji said, Lunia asked, “What
do you think the first thing you’ll do once you’re freed will be?”
grab hold of me. One can never know.”
“Either way,” Lunia began, her tone serious, “I’m sure you’ll
want to keep everyone safe, yes?”
Kaji nodded, an equally serious look on her face, “Hai,
Lunia-chan. I wouldn’t want anyone to
get hurt.”
“But couldn’t that one wolf demon, what’s-his-name, couldn’t
he keep you under control?”
ng ang a moment to think, Kaji replied, “You mean Kouga-kun?”
Lunia tapped herself in the forehead, “Yes!
Couldn’t he?”
“I..... I don’t know, Lunia-san. I just don’t know.”
“Speaking of Kouga,” Inu-Yasha started, “where is he?”
“Yes, Sama-sama, just where is your love
interest?” Tora asked, a sly look on
his face.
Kaji blushed at the mention of her ‘love interest’,
“Kouga-kun went to get some water. He
told me to come here and visit with you while he got something from somewhere
else.”
“You goin’ on a trip or somethin’?” Tora asked.
“Uh-huh!” Kaji said, a smile on her face, “Kouga-kun said he
was going to take me to his ‘secret place’.
It’s somewhere he goes when he wants to get away from Ginta, Hakkaku,
and overall annoying stuff.”
Lunia seemed to panic at this, “But what about your
linking?!”
Kaji held up her left wrist, a small scar on top of her vein,
“Done.”
“But shouldn’t you still have the plant connecting you?
“Lunia, calm down,” Kaji instructed, putting her hands on her
hips, “we bound ourselves with the plant, and fell asleep.
day, so Kouga-kun and I walked to his den to gather some stuff.
guys been? You’ve been gone for two
days!’ Which resulted in us immediately
discarding the plant and spending the next five minutes in isolation.”
“Why only five minutes?”
Tora asked, a sly tone in his voice.
Kaji smirked and blushed, “We got lonely.”
Tora laughed, “You got lovesick?”
Looking as though she were about to gnaw off his arm, Lunia
decided to interrupt Kaji’s cynical thoughts, “So, about this curse,
Kaji-chan.”
Blinking away the evil thoughts, Kaji looked to Lunia, “What
about it?”
“Do you really think you can break it?
collar breaks off?”
“What do you mean, ‘Do you really think you can break
it?’ Of course I can break it.”
“Well, when I made it, I didn’t take into account the fact
that you’re only half demon. You might
just have to wait for it to come off by itself.”
“What are you trying to say, Lunia-san?”
embers sparking to life.
Lunia waved her hand dismissively, “You have to admit,
Kaji-chan, that your being halfblooded will certainly increase your efforts in
breaking it.”
“I’ll be able to break it, Lunia-san.
“Then why haven’t you already?” Lunia asked, knowing this would begin a sequence of events that
would put Lunia’s life in danger.
As Lunia expected, the embers in Kaji’s eyes became wild
flames, and a wall made from a mixture of ice and venom began forming around
her heart, preparing to block anyone and anything from stopping the sequence.
A strong hand gripped Kaji’s shoulder, bringing with it a
familiar scent. Kaji felt an equally
strong arm wrap around her waist, pulling her against a firm chest and numbing
all of her senses except that of feeling.
The flames in Kaji’s eyes immediately disappeared, replaced by the
original warm embers instead. Blue eyes
closing, Kaji turned her head and rubbed her cheek against the shoulder of the
one holding her.
A shoulder that bore the mark of a crescent moon.
The hand on her shoulder moved so as to wrap around her
chest, the other still firmly placed around her waist.
“Sshhh,” the one behind her whispered, “it’s all right,
Koishii. I won’t let her get to you.”
Kaji turned and allowed herself to rest her head once more on
his shoulder, her entire body relaxing in his embrace, “Arigatou, Kouga-kun.”
Nuzzling her neck, Kouga did not let go of his precious Kaji,
preferring to resting his chin atop her head and glaring at the one who had
caused her such distress.
Certain that he had calmed her through their strong link,
Kouga pulled Kaji to his side, keeping her close with his left arm while
clenching the fist of his right.
He growled at Lunia, not caring who she was and ignoring the
strong aura he felt coming from her, “How dare you upset my Kaji?”
Lunia smirked, “My, my, my, if it isn’t Kouga of the Wolf
Demon Tribe. It’s been years since
you’ve spoken to me.”
If Kouga was startled that she knew his name, he didn’t show
it, “So what if it has been? All that
matters is that you almost...”
“I almost what?” Lunia challenged, “Chan-chan knows
what I was trying to do. This is none
of your business, Wolf. Stand aside!”
About to defend his beloved she-wolf, Kaji stood on her own,
looking up at him with a mixture of gratitude and determination in her eyes,
“She’s right, Kouga-kun. If I must lose
myself to gain that which is myself, then so be it. I can only ask that you stay safe, Koishii.”
Kouga nodded, “And what of them?”
Knowing of whom he spoke, Kaji whispered, “Keep them out of
harm’s way as well. You are probably
the only one that could ever bring me back should I have a rough
transformation. This is the only way
I’ll become free. I can’t stand
the feeling of this thricebedamned collar around my neck!
have me in your arms once more. I shall
be yours, Koishii, I swear it.”
Nodding once morougaouga released his hold on Kaji and
watched as she turned to face Lunia.
Hoping she made true her words to return to him, Kouga walked over to
where Tora and the others stood, transfixed by what they were seeing.
Lunia smiled, however this was an odd contortion to her
delicate features, a cynical smile if ever one Kaji did see.
“Now, Kaji-san,” Lunia began, disgust dripping from her every
word, “now shall be your test. Can you truly
break free of this curse? Can you, a
hanyou no less, break the bonds that bind you to me?”
“I told you before, Lunia-sama, I can break free from anything.
yourself stand in the way of my completion.”
“Ha! A worthless
halbanie like you? Break free from my
curse? Never in a millennium
could you even dream of releasing thyself from one of my curses!”
A small ‘click’ was heard in Kaji’s head at the word
‘halbanie’, “What did you call me?”
“Foolish brat! I
called you a halbanie, or do you not recall what the word translates to?
the same as hanyou, except that it can also translate to ‘foul creature created
by Derivian’. And of course, you do
know who Derivian is, don’t you?”
No click had sounded at the word this time.
Kaji nodded, “Derivian is our word for devil.”
“Very good! At least
your training wasn’t a complete flop!
It appears halbanie are capable of learning after all!”
The click did sound this time, and Kaji somehow knew that the
clicks she kept hearing was the sound of the collar cracking.
Deciding to force Lunia to say the word once more, Kaji
spoke, “It seems that my ears take after my mother, for they did not hear you,
so human they are. Speak up, would
you? What did you call me?”
Lunia, upset that Kaji had not yet gone out of control,
blurted, “A halbanie, you worthless, pathetic girl!
this earth, let alone Mate and produce children!”
As soon as the words passed her lips, Lunia’s hand went to
her mouth; however, it was too late.
The pupils of Kaji’s eyes had shrunk to small black slits,
making her eyes look even more like deep pools of blue.
and Lunia wished now more than ever that she could drown in them,
for it would save her what was about to happen.
Flames danced in Kaji’s eyes just as they had before Kouga
arrived, except that now there was nothing to stop them.
surrounded Kaji’s heart, shielding it from any outside influence...... Kouga
included.
Right now, any rational thought Kaji might have had was
drowned by instinct. The one thing she
thought of now was survival. Someone
had just now dared wished her barren, unable to provide pups for a mate she had
also been told not to have. Kaji would
have none of this, for she knew that somewhere, some part of her loved the mate
she had decided upon.
Kagome and the others could only watch as tendrils of crimson
flame began to swirl around Kaji, giving her the appearance of being bathed in
blood. The portions of hair that
weren’t already white became as such, and those cobalt eyes deepened, not in
color, but in understanding anotiootion.
Kaji’s canines lengthened and so did the nails of her fingers
and toes. To Kagome, she looked like a
youngnd snd shorter version of Sesshomaru, but the face was too different to be
confused with him. It was too full of
emotion to be him.
Finally, the crimson flames dispersed and the last element
fell away: the silver collar that had contained Kaji’s aura and power crumbled
to the ground and turned to dust, allowing the aura that was Kaji to fan out
and spread over them all.
Everyone watching shuddered, for the aura was so dark and it
felt like ten Tokijin, the sword Sesshomaru commissioned Kaijin-bo to make out
of the fang of Goshinki, an incarnation of Naraku that had split the Tetsusaiga
in two.
Raising her head, the new eyes of Kaji looked to every face
present. They finally rested on Kagome,
who was standing next to Kouga.
Knowing that look from not too far back, Kouga whispered,
“Kagome.”
“Hai?” Kagome
whispered back, fearful of being heard.
“Get away from me.”
“What?”
“You’re too close to me for Kaji-chan’s liking.
will get annihilated.”
Kagome gasped as she stepped closer to Inu-Yasha, taking slow
steps so as not to bring Kaji down upon her.
The other woman merely looked on, her gaze now falling on Sango, who
instinctively moved back and stood next to Miroku, who was too stunned by the increasing
aura to move so much as an eyelash.
The cold gaze now fell on Kagura, who stood directly behind
Kouga, “What? You don’t think I
have any interest, do you?”
At Kagura’s question, Kaji’s lip raised slightly in a quiet
snarl, the fingers of her right hand twitching. Upon seeing this, even Kagura took a few steps back, and Kaji’s
face returned to that of a calm exterior.
Kaji’s gaze finally landed on Lunia, who still stood where
she had been, far enough from the group to be known as separate.
“So, Chan-chan, at least I meet you once more.
spoke, you and I.” Lunia said, her
voice holding respect and a little fear in it.
Kaji’s only reply was to bring her right hand up to her face,
as though too bored with Lunia’s presence, and began to look at it.
Tora inched his way close enough to Lunia so as to be heard
by her, but not Kaji, “Lunia-san, if you don’t engage her in some sort of
interaction, she’s gonna slice you to pieces.”
“You think I don’t know that?!” Lunia hissed, “If this
form of her hasn’t spoken for five hundred years, think how raw her throat must
be!”
“But Lunia-san! If
she doesn’t speak, then she is too much like a demon and will react to primal
instincts. And you know what could
happen if...”
“Enough talk.”
Lunia and Tora were frozen in place by the cold voice that drifted
over to them. Slowly, both of them
turned to look at Kaji, who was still looking at her hand.
Kagome was afraid of what Kaji had become.
forward to becoming? If so, why?
the friend Kagome had known since she had been five?
And, most importantly: what was going to do now that she was
freed?
A/N: so sorry it took so long to
update! I’ve been trying to think up of stuff, and it just wasn’t coming, so I
exhausted my supply of Oreos just to bring this chapter to you!
don’t know when the lemon will be, but I know that it will be here!----
someday….
As to those of you who are wondering
when this story will end, then that makes 2 of us!
---Did you know??---
When I started this story back on
April 19th, I had intended it to be a one-shot, but then it had 2
chapters, so I thought, “Okay, twenty-some pages and it’ll be done.”
Oh how wrong I was…
:-)
Anyhow, I hope you like it!