Blood for Blood

Alright everyone, this is the seventh installment of Blood for Blood. I can’t tell you all how much your reviews meant to me; each one was better than the last and really made me feel overwhelmed by the sheer response I received from all my reviewers. I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to do so. And now to get on to business. I am soo sorry it took soo long for this chapter, but I started school again, desperate to finish my degree, but I hope this placates all my readers and I promise to get the next chapter out as soon as I can…….

All the usual disclaimers apply. I do NOT own Inuyasha or any subsidiaries within.

Now, to thank my beta, WiccanMethuselah for all her hard work in fixing my mistakes. Thanks so much for all your help. You give my writing that extra kick that really makes it shine, so thanks again and much love to you and yours. This next thanks goes out to my friend Amy, without whom this chapter wouldn’t be nearly as funny. Much love to you and yours my friend and I hope you come over soon to watch more anime….lol

One more note to add. To all my readers, I am using Masao, a lesser Northern Lord and white tiger demon in my story. If he seems familiar, he is from the story ‘Masquerade’ by Sada and I have her express permission to borrow him. In return, she is going to use my character, Velenor, in one of her upcoming fics. Please do not accuse either of us with plagiarism. We both agreed to a swap for our greedy little imaginations to conjure many yummy things to do to each of them. Thanks!


Blood for Blood
Chapter 7
Cruel and Unusual Punishment


Last time on Blood for Blood

“Perhaps you would like to find out for certain? That can be arranged.” This new voice is one I haven’t had the pleasure of hearing until now. Turning slightly to my right, I notice a large blood demon standing about thirty feet from Velenor. He has the common hair and eyes for a male blood demon and is not overly muscular, but his aura is flaring wildly about him in an obvious attempt to lure me into a false sense of superiority. Even from here, I know that he has vastly suppressed his aura in hopes of tricking me into accepting a battle with him at his current power level. He must think that I am beyond stupid if he thinks I would fall for something so easily but, one look to my companions, and I decide what the hell, you only live once, right?

So turning to the ignorant blood demon, I smirk back at Sango and she deliberately cowers in fear for a moment before smirking right back at me. Now I know that she senses his real power level as well and has no need to worry for me. Masao has amusement in his eyes and Velenor has a dark look of what seems like appreciation and lust. My eyes go wide for a second, but I pass it off as misreading him. Why would he feel such things now? So, disregarding my previous attempts at trying to read him, I decide to get down to business. Gathering my reiki, I center myself and ready for battle. Maybe he will be a challenge after all, but one brush of his aura says differently. Pouting slightly at the lack of anything resembling a good fight to get the juices flowing and whatnot, I look to the queen and she simply nods her head in agreement to the battle.

Well then, let the games begin.


Now

Beginning to stalk my prey, I advance slowly, deliberately antagonizing this demon whose stubborn pride is taking control, otherwise I am certain he would have already backed down. Even now, I can sense his unease as he feels the full power of my aura surrounding him, though I am still quite a few feet away. There are only a few outcomes to this and if he doesn’t back down, all look grim for him. Regardless of my regret for this eventual outcome, I will not hesitate to bring him down, although as of yet I haven’t decided whether to end his life. As a miko, I do not condone violence and abhor killing, but now that I am no longer simply a miko, perhaps my outlook on things should change as well? I never thought about it until now, but even if I am a hybrid Vampire, I am still first and foremost a miko, therefore I will not kill him, but I will make sure he never underestimates me again.

Out the corner of my eye, I can see the still heated look on Velenor’s face and I wonder if the thought of me in a battle for dominance is making him horny. Giggling internally like a giddy school girl, I quickly put that out of my mind. I will not be able to concentrate on this upcoming battle if I continue with that train of thought. Instead, I look to Masao, who is currently standing within an inch of Sango and the look in his eyes tells me that he felt an immediate attraction to my sister in arms the moment he saw her and that comforts me to know she will be taken care of. Frowning in thought for a second, I wonder what Masao, a white tiger demon, is doing within the lair of a Blood clan in the middle of the nowhere. Casting a line to hold tight to that thought until I get an answer for it, I put it out of my mind as well and finally focus on the agitated demon in front of me.

Apparently he doesn’t take kindly to being ignored and I have been doing just that. Smiling brightly in his direction, I call upon my reiki and feel it bubble right beneath the surface. My skin begins to glow a light pink and I immediately feel empowered. There is a massive well of magick flowing within my veins that did not previously exist. Whatever happened, I have no time to think on it as the impulsive demon before me lunges toward my supposedly unprotected back. Just because I turned my back on him doesn’t mean I am not paying attention. He is after all an enemy at the moment, and the first rule of battle is to keep at least one eye on your enemy at all times. So, it came as a shock to everyone around me when the demon lunging toward me literally hit a brick wall of pure unadulterated power that sent him sailing toward the far wall within this keep.

I can’t help the smirk that appears on my face at his audacity. He obviously thinks that I am much less of a warrior. I may not be the Legendary Miko, Midoriko, but that doesn’t make me weak, especially considering it was the purity within my very soul that destroyed the demon within. How dare this pathetic excuse for a demon think so lowly of me! I can feel my aura flare around me as my anger takes hold and I revel in the feeling of such power at my fingertips. I have never had such limitless reserves on my reiki until now and the feel of it wrapping itself around me in a sensual caress has me keening in response. My eyes begin to glow with a holy light and before I can stop myself, a large burst of power separates from my body and hits the attacking demon in the chest with such force that he shatters into hundreds of pieces before dissolving into ash. His remains float softly to the floor and I don’t give him another look as I turn to the other blood demons in the crowd that moments before had threatening auras. Now all I can sense is a vast unease surrounding me and the smirk that overtakes my face has no hope of being hidden.

I allow my power to slowly flow back into my soul and when it settles I smile in contentment before turning my gaze to Sango. She is smiling brightly in amazement at my abilities and I feel a sudden sense of pride overtake me. A glance to Masao tells me that he is vastly impressed with my abilities and one look to Velenor and his heated gaze has my breath catching in my throat. Quickly averting my eyes, I find my attention being drawn to the Queen before me and I suddenly realize that not only do I not know her name, but she is holding a long thickly braided rope in her hand and she is beckoning my forward. Allowing my feet to guide me to her position, I feel a sudden sense of unease for only a moment and then I am falling down a long tunnel with limited lighting. Hitting hard, I stumble and fall, desperately trying to brace myself for the inevitable. Shooting pain runs the length of my spine as I finally settle on the cold unforgiving ground and I groan inaudibly at the sensations coursing through my body. Gently lifting my hands to roam my extremities, I check for any broken bones and am surprised to find I have none. That fall must have been at least thirty feet. Of course, now that I am a hybrid of sorts, I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked I am unharmed, but this is still somewhat surprising.

Realizing that I have been laying on the cold hard ground for a few minutes now, I slowly begin to rise and look up to the tunnel I recently vacated. I can see the face of the Queen who is gonna get an ass whooping when I am out of here and looking to her immediate left, I see Velenor. My shocked eyes widen noticeably when I see that his face shows no emotion, but his eyes hold a vast amount of regret. I shake my head to clear it of useless thoughts and then I hear the voice of the Queen. Practically snarling under my breath, I wait for her to finish before I relieve her of her life.

“Priestess Kagome, you are now entering a right of passage. Before you is a maze of deadly traps; danger at every turn. You must find your way out of it alive as a demonstration that you are worthy of becoming part of our clan. Do this, and I will name you heir to my throne, for I have no immediate blood ties and I believe you to be the strongest blood demon among us. Should you pass this test, all you see will be yours and you may pick any male you deem worthy to be your King, or rule alone. One last thing priestess, I have yet to introduce you to my King’s son, Velenor. He was the Prince of the Blood Clan and heir to the throne until you showed me your power. As Queen, I decide who will reign supreme and I have chosen you. Do not fail me priestess and I will crown you this night.”

Her voice fades from my hearing and I nearly scream my frustration to the night. I just became a hybrid DAMIT! I don’t even know the extent of my abilities and I am being tested so I can become a freakin’ royal? What the hell am I supposed to do now? What if I don’t want to become a princess and then later a queen?? This isn’t fair at all!!! And to top it all off, how the fuck do I even get out of here?? Getting angrier by the second, I feel my reiki stir to life underneath my skin. I begin to glow a bright pink in response to my tumultuous emotions and the light I emit helps me see more clearly down the long hallway, tunnel, thing I am standing in. Suddenly, I get this incredibly creepy dejavu feeling as I remember a movie I watched once that scared the shit out of me. I believe it was called ‘The Cube,’ and I was about eleven. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards and suddenly they all come rushing back as I see the high walls, sleek surfaces and the powerful scent of jyaki in the air.

From behind my position, I suddenly feel another flare of jyaki, but this energy is extremely familiar. Turning to look, I am shocked and appalled to see a floating eye before me. It is the color of the coldest amber and the feeling of his jyaki coupled with his eye, tell me that this is the work of Sesshomaru and I instantly feel relief. Don’t ask me why, but knowing that I am now not the only one going through this ridiculous maze is a comforting thought.

I take a deep breath in an attempt to steady myself, “a test, well, how bad can it be, right? I take tests on a bimonthly basis, most of them I don’t even have time to study for,” I nod to assure myself, “right, I can do this.” The walls around me are dank and smell very acrid, as though death and decay are the area’s closest friends. My nose wrinkles in spite of the uncertainty settling in the pit of my stomach, “nice place, this…” I step lightly through a patch of indeterminate liquid. I can see the spectral eye ease down to the liquid, then float back to it’s usual place of just a few inches behind my shoulder, “hope you’re enjoying the show,” I roll my eyes and keep walking.

It isn’t long until I hit a wall; my eyes adjusting to the near absence of light tell me I am in a room with four walls, fairly close together, “ohhhhkaaay,” I look around, “I don’t see any doors or passages, so there must be-oh!” One of my hands reach out to the wall nearest to me in an effort to steady the body attached to it, and the rune under my hand begins to glow, “glowing wall runes… I wonder…” inspecting the wall, I find three more runes. Touching them makes them all light up, but no door opens. Instead, I hear the sound of very old stones grinding against one another, trying to maneuver to some unknown end. In the center of the four runes was once an open space, small holes are now opening in this space, “I can’t fit through there!” I inform them.

The holes don’t seem to care and respond by sending out a multitude of sharp, jagged spikes, “SHIT!!” My right hand flies behind me, pulling my arm and subsequently my body to the left, narrowly missing the spikes. Of course, such a sudden jerk sends the momentum into my left arm before I can stop it and quite presently, there is a nice gash in my left sleeve, sliced clean through to my bicep, “ah!” The left-most spike stops just centimeters from the spectral eye behind my shoulder. Somewhere, far away, the mighty demon lord nearly jumps right out of his skin.

I reach across my torso and grip the injury, “what was that for?!” I yell at the now retreating spikes, “I light up the runes and you try to skewer me?!” The runes lose their glow, becoming dim once more, inviting me to touch them again, “Oh, I’m REALLY motivated to try again,” I grumble, assessing the amount of blood I am losing from my arm.

About ten minutes and 6 near misses later, I light up the runes in the correct order and hear more stone shifting, “oh, come on! You’re not going to make me go through every possible combination, are you?!” My hands flex as my heels dig into the ground, ready to spring out of harm’s way again. Astoundingly, though, the spikes don’t pop out. Instead, stones shift into a very obvious portal to my left. “Left, that’s all you give me is left?” Silence. “…okay, left it is,” I heave a sigh and step into the newly formed passageway. The path is circular and I have to step up into it, “the fun never stops…” at the end of the passage is another room, much like the one I was just in, only there are no runes.
“No runes, no marks, no… nothing,” I sigh as I hop down into the new room, “so, what now?” I demand of the faceless walls, “I go back and play ‘touch the rune’ some more until a different door opens up?” A sharpened spear falls down from the ceiling, coming within inches of my nose, making me go cross-eyed as it shoots down my length. As it strikes fast in the ground, I swallow and peer around it. Ten more just like it are still wiggling with force, now stuck fast in the ground.

Looking up to the ceiling from whence the spike came, broken words can be read, “only, when, 11 becomes 9, will the way, forward… be revealed,” I read brokenly as the letters are obviously ancient and beaten. “11 becomes 9…” I look at the spikes. Promptly, I take two of them out of the ground and toss them into the passageway I came through, “okay; 11 just became 9; let me out of here!” I ram my fist onto a nearby wall when absolutely nothing happens.

“She never was one for subtlety…” Sesshomaru sighs, having already figured out the solution. Back in the puzzle, his spectral eye floats down to the sticks in the hallway and begin to spin violently. “What’s with you?” I ask the eye, looking quizzically at it.
The eye bobs up and down, gazing from the sticks in the passage to the sticks still stuck fast in the ground. “What… you’re saying I need those?” The eye bobs in place. “But, 11 becomes 9… if I bring those two back in here, it’ll still be 11.” The eye nearly falls out of the air.

“Unless… unless, it doesn’t mean LITERALLY 11…” I pick up the sticks from the passage and lay them on the ground. Methodically, I pull out each of the remaining 9 sticks and lay them next to the original 2, “11 becomes 9, 11 becomes 9… how can 11 become 9…”

Sesshomaru is cultivating an aneurysm from the tricks he has made the eye perform, “…damn the eye, what I need is a spectral hand,” his left hand flexes and crackles, just itching to reach out, solve the puzzle, and move on. “I can’t think of any numbers I can make with sticks!” I yell out in frustration, “wait a second… numbers might not be written with sticks but words are…” A few minutes of man-handling spears into position on my knees produce “|\| | |\| |=.” “There, 11 sticks spell out 9, something better-” Stones begin to grate on one another, and a passageway opens up to my right, “great… another ‘go this way or don’t’ option. Whoever built this place was real imaginative.”

“Here we go again….this better be the way out or I am going to get pissed!” Looking around this new room, I see a message scrawled on the ceiling that is no longer legible. Taking a closer look, I see that the message was probably written with one of the large rocks littering the ground surrounding me. Growling under my breath, I look back at the supposedly ‘invisible spectral eye’ with growing apprehension. When nothing is forthcoming, I give the ‘eye’ a pointed look and even it does a simple move as if to shrug as well. Of course, Sesshomaru would now be of no use to me. Great! What the hell am I supposed to do now???

A loud thundering growl suddenly rips through the room and I turn around to face whatever just snuck up on me, only to discover there is nothing there. What the hell?? Whipping around violently, I turn around and around, but nothing is forthcoming. Deciding I should center myself, I take a deep breath and then send out my aura in a massive sweep of this despicable maze. A few seconds later, I find a large powerful jyaki in the room adjacent to mine. So, the growl came from the beast beyond this door? Another loud growl shakes the foundation of this room and I know instantly that there is more than one demon just ahead. Shaking my head in disbelief, I only prey to all the Kami that I make it out of this alive. Because when I do, I am gonna kick the ‘so-called’ Queen’s ASS!!!

The room in which I stand, aside from whatever is written on the far wall, is completely void of anything. The walls are clear of what I would use to open a hidden door and the way is shut so I can’t go back from where I came. I tiredly sit down on the floor beneath me and put my head in my hands. Sesshomaru’s spectral eye slowly lowers itself to eye level with me (no pun intended, LOL) and I look to it boredly. When there are no answers hidden deep within the cold amber gaze, I feel the stress of the day begin to make short work of what little energy I have left. Wariness settles in my bones and I feel my eyelids begin to drift shut. I am falling into a reluctant sleep and though I am still wary of my surroundings, I can do nothing to stop myself from drifting off.

Seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years, could have passed for all the good my instincts do for me when I am literally picked up and thrown into the far wall. Hearing a definite crack and knowing I just broke something, but not having the faintest clue as to what exactly, probably due to the fact that my whole body aches, my eyes fly open and they land upon a large dragon-like creature. I can see Sesshomaru’s ‘eye’ warily floating just a few inches from my face. But I am delighted when I realize that this demon before me cannot see him. There are long thick scales covering this being and what little light illuminates him show me they are a sickly green color. His coloring looks to be a mixture of pea soup and vomit and his face is even less appealing with bright yellow eyes and a large nose currently expelling tendrils of smoke that rise above him before dispersing in the air. He has a long mighty tail with large scales covering his thick hide. One hiss from him and I see that his tongue is also split much like a snakes would be. He is built much like that of a body builder from my time and the finishing touch on this monstrosity before me is his long razor sharp talons that look like they will skin me alive in seconds.

He is slowly circling me as if he is trying to determine whether I am an immediate threat. As If Dragon Boy! You just broke my spine, or at least part of it from what I can tell and I don’t think I will be getting up for a few moments, but that doesn’t mean I can’t purify you from here. Shuddering lightly as a wave of pain rips through my body and makes me cry out; I literally feel my spine repairing itself. So, it seems I did acquire the healing ability of my demon. I take comfort in that thought before another wave of pain crashes into me. Practically seizing on the floor now, I look out of my squinted eyes and see that the demon has a sadistic smirk on his face. It seems that my pain is amusing to him, so as soon as I am healed, I fully intend on wiping that smirk of his face. Growling quietly, I look on in interest as Sesshomaru’s eye begins to circle the beast before me, as if sizing up his opponent. Not much help at the moment, but it could become useful if he is immune to my purification.

*With Sesshomaru*

On the outside of the Blood Clan’s keep, Sesshomaru paces in agitation as he determines the best way to exterminate the immediate threat. Unfortunately, he realizes that even if he does discover its weakness, there is no real way to communicate his findings to the miko. Growling under his breath as he loses even more patience and considers barging in there after her, he suddenly stops short and his eyes widen in shock. Of course! Why didn’t he think of this before? Closing his eyes in concentration for a moment, he brings his hands together as if to prey and then abruptly opens them to form a cup in the palms of his hand. Blowing softly in the middle of them, he waits patiently as a bright flash of light nearly blinds him and then in its place is a dagger made of the finest materials and imbued with his poison. He had this dagger specially made long ago, before he had mastered his poisonous attributes. He needed to use this in place of his abilities until such time as he felt confident in himself. He had been very young, just coming into his powers and training at the time and nearly forgot he still kept it with him, safely tucked away in a special containment field within his person, locked away with powerful magic. It was as sharp as his claws and just as deadly. This would do nicely to help the miko out of this situation if his suspicion that her purification would be useless against this demon was correct. Grabbing the hilt, he began to whisper the words of his traveling spell. Usually, he needed to be at full strength to use this incantation, but this trifle object was far smaller than his great size and would hardly scratch the surface of his well of power.

Cutting his finger to use a drop of his blood as the power source for the spell, he called upon the magic within him, inherited from his mother. She was born from a long line of powerful Sorceresses, usually only given to the women of the line, but every thousand years, a Sorcerer was born within the family that was far stronger than his predecessors. He was taught at a young age to harness his gift and by the time he was twenty years old by human standards, he had already surpassed his mother in power. He smiled wistfully at the memory of her smiling face after telling him that she had never been more proud of her son than at that moment.

Coming back to the present, he watches in satisfaction as the dagger disappears from his fingertips. Moments later, his spectral eye watches as it appears right in front of the miko. She looks shocked for a moment before she quickly snatches it out of the air and tightens her grip on the hilt and slowly begins to stand. The dragon before her growls in rage at seeing his prey able to move and then lunges for her throat in desperation as she just as quickly dodges. Slashing the demon in his forearm with a quickness he didn’t realize she had, she jumps out of the way as she barely misses getting cut in half when he swipes at her in retaliation. Sesshomaru smiles at the miko’s show of strength after all she has been through in the last few hours and then all of the sudden, everything goes dark. His spectral eye has nothing in his vision, almost as if something as been thrown over it. He uses his magic to try and shake whatever is hindering the eye and then suddenly he can see inside that small room again. Glancing around it quickly, he sees that Kagome is looking at him with what appears to be gratefulness. He sees something lying near her feet and then realizes that she somehow killed the demon while he couldn’t see.

*Back in the Maze*

I am watching the dragon warily as he circles me very slowly, eyes watching my every move. I am just about to call on my power when suddenly a glowing green dagger appears before my face. I am beyond shocked for a moment before I realize that this too has the scent of Sesshomaru surrounding it and I grab it without hesitation, gripping the hilt of the dagger until my knuckles turn white. I begin to stand as non threatening as possible so as not to get attacked before I am on my feet, but my foe growls suddenly in anger and then lunges at me, intent on ripping my throat out from the looks of it, but I move away at the last second and manage to slash the demon across his arm in the process. Of course, this only makes him angrier and I jump away just in time not to get sliced in half. This game of cat and mouse is quickly getting old though, so I decide to finish this fight as fast as I can. Using the dagger as a throwing knife, I throw it as hard as I can a second after I flood it to overflowing with my reiki. It hits my dragon opponent right between the eyes when it was in the process of lunging toward me again. Once I am certain he is dead, I glance around the room and notice that apparently during one of his lunges, he dropped a piece of cloth and it just happened to land on the ‘spectral eye’. Quickly removing the offending object, I smile gratefully toward my demon protector when I see that the ‘eye’ has finally looked to me after making sure the demon is dead.

Looking around the room once more, I still see nothing to indicate a way out of here and I begin to get very agitated. Sitting on the floor once more, I suddenly remember the piece of cloth that the demon attacking me dropped and pull it out of my pocket. Looking it over and hoping against hope that there will be something to help me escape this hell, I nearly squeal in glee when I see that there are some letters on it. Squinting my eyes to read whatever language this is, I scowl in frustration when I see that it is no language I have ever read before, nor do I recognize the dialect. Holy hell! This is going to take forever. Glancing toward my ‘eye’ friend, I turn the tissue type cloth in my hand so that it can see the writing as well. It bobs for a few minutes before it begins to spin violently, as if trying to tell me that it knows what I must do to get out of this situation. Anxiety rips through me when I realize that it isn’t nearly as quiet as it was a few minutes ago and I quickly give the room another once over.

To the left of my position, I see a door begin to slide away from the seamless wall of only moments ago. Knowing ahead of time that this was the second powerful demon I sensed before my first surprise guest, I quickly gain my feet and lunge for the dagger still in the exposed throat of the dragon demon I just defeated. Turning quickly, I stare in shock when I come face to face with another demon that has been dead for many years, or so I was told. Tall, broad shouldered, devilishly handsome and extremely familiar, before me stood none other than Lord InuTaisho. Mouth gaping open in shock, I quickly look toward Sesshomaru’s eye and see the anger and distrust within. Whatever this demon before me was, it was not nor would it ever be Lord InuTaisho, which was the clear message being transmitted from the eye before me. Gathering my power around me, I flood the passageway and room with my reiki, feeling my energy flow over this imposter, I smile gleefully when I suddenly realize that not only is this not InuTaisho, but it is a mischievous fox demon with a very powerful illusion spell cloaking his usual scent and power signature, masking his deceit and thinking that because I am human, I will not smell the lie. Well, I might have once been human, but I am no longer and my nose is as good or better than Sesshomaru’s own. It will take more than a simple concealing spell to trick this miko and for underestimating me, he will pay dearly.

“So, what do we have here?” Turning away from my invisible protector and toward this imposter, I narrow my eyes and await his response. Thankfully, I don’t have to wait long. A few moments later, he speaks in a low and commanding voice, probably the perfect imitation of InuTaisho himself, but it matters not to me. “I am Lord InuTaisho, father to Sesshomaru of the Western Lands and I am here to warn you of things to come should you follow down this dangerous path.” Snorting derisively, I try to cover my humor so that I can get as much information out of him as possible before ending this game. “You are InuTaisho, you say? Well then, I am Kagome, reincarnation of the Miko Midoriko and keeper of the Shikon Jewel. I am a friend to both your sons and look forward to talking with you about your shared pasts.” InuTaisho’s eyes widen comically suddenly, as if he didn’t realize I knew both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. Nearly breaking my impassive stance to laugh fitfully, I steel my resolve and continue this charade. Perhaps deciding on another tactic, he drops his concealing spell. So, the fox has caught on sooner than I hoped. Oh well, maybe I can get more out of him the hard way. Gleefully, I gather my replenished energies around me in an impenetrable shield. Wow. I totally dig this whole hybrid thing. Maybe I can fly or something. Snorting in merriment, I come back to my senses when I feel his jyaki begin to swirl around the room in obvious fury at my amusement at his expense. He snarls loudly and lunges toward me, oblivious to my shield, or perhaps thinking he can break it. Waiting patiently for him to wear himself out, I stand relatively at ease as he continues to charge my shield, without success. Smelling the burning of flesh, I wrinkle my nose as he refuses to back down. Deciding to try my hand at getting him to stop, I gather a large energy ball in my palms and condense the power as much as possible. When I am satisfied that it will only stun him into submission, I throw it at his charging form and watch with baited breath as I see the impact to his chest. The reaction is immediate. His limbs lock up instantly and his eyes widen in astonishment as he realizes that he cannot escape my trap until I dispel the energy. His jyaki flaring wildly about him in an attempt to free himself, I see the resignation cross his face before he stares at me with something akin to defiance.

Nodding once, I remove my barrier and approach the fox demon. His eyes narrow into slits and suspicion is easy to read on his features as I come within inches of him. Having frozen everything save his face so that he may speak in answer of my questions, I give him a few moments before saying anything. Thinking the best way to get him talking is the direct approach; I look him straight in the eyes and begin my interrogation. “What is your real name?” I figure I might be able to get some information from him if I treat him as a friend. His eyes widen at my question, but then his face softens noticeably at the sincerity in my voice. “I am called Hiroshi.” Sensing no deceit from him, I nod once and ask my next question. “Why did you try and deceive me into thinking that you were InuTaisho?” “That is a simple answer priestess. InuTaisho was a powerful demon lord and was able to sway lesser beings with ease. I thought that you would be as easily fooled as the rest that have fallen on my sword. I was mistaken.”

Thinking on his answer, I decide that I might be able to use this demon to my advantage, considering his answer just informed me in no uncertain terms that he has been here for years at the least. Smiling my most winning smile, I release the barrier holding him with a wave of my hand and hope that he is willing to hear me out before trying to unsuccessfully kill me again. His incredulous eyes are upon me in a second, while his hands immediately flex, claws outstretched in a position that I can only assume is designed to take off my head. Frowning in displeasure, I call forth my reiki and then suddenly feel a second jyaki in the air, only this time it is directly behind me. SHIT!


@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@


Emerging from the hellish cube that has been my prison for Kami only knows how long, exhausted, drenched in blood, sweat and tears, I practically crawl on my hands and knees to the throne off to my left. Standing slowly, albeit a bit shakily, I approach the Queen with nothing but contempt and disdain on my face, determined to tell her exactly what I think about her. But suddenly, I see movement from the corner of my eye, with no hope of defending myself with my waning strength, I merely turn toward my attacker, intent on using the last ounce of power I possess to take the bastard with me, when suddenly, I see a silver flash of light and then I am being swept into the arms of a deliciously handsome Taiyoukai. Squealing suddenly at the abrupt change of events, I feel the last vestiges of sanity I possess leave me and with it my consciousness.

I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but when I woke, the most glorious site to ever be seen is gracing me with his naked backside as he bathes in what I only assume is a spring of some sort. My eyes widen comically and I can’t help the surprised gasp that escapes me when I suddenly realize that he is turning around.

OH MY GOD!!!!!

Alright everyone, that is gonna do it for now. I am sorry again about the long delay, but I couldn’t help it. I was caught up in massive amounts of homework, but I promise to get the next installment out in a much more timely manner. Take care until next time and in case any of you are wondering, yes I purposefully paused back in the cube and yes there will be a flashback about what happened afterward, but that is for another time and place.
Lots of luv!!!