Never Too Late

The trees seemed to blur together as he ran, fleeing the enslavement of his soul that was surely following on his heels. He could feel the earth shifting beneath his feet, but could barely comprehend such a shift as his mind had focused solely on his escape. He didn’t notice the figure in front of him until it was too late.

They collided with an- “oomph”- and fell to the ground. InuYasha looked up to see a figure with dark hair, pale skin and stunning blue eyes looking back at him with a smile.

“I’ve been waiting for you.” The figure said, his smile never wavering as he rose and extended a hand to help the fallen half-demon. “I had hoped we would meet under better circumstances, but alas, it seems fate had other ideas.” InuYasha looked quizzically at the man. “Who are you?” he asked brushing himself off, removing the dirt and leaves that clung to his clothes and hair.

“Oh of course, how rude of me. My name is Leai. I am a Lord from a…different land, and I had hoped to get to know you during my stay here.”

InuYasha looked skeptically. “How do you know of me? Have we met somewhere before?”

Leai shook his head. “No, young one, we haven’t. I knew your mother some years ago…I was saddened to hear that she had died. I tried to find you after that, but you were nowhere to be found. I simply assumed you died with her that dreadful night; but after I heard about this…farce of a mating that the moon goddess was trying to force you into, I knew immediately that you lived and that I had to find you; to save you from her tyranny.”

After hearing this, all suspicion left InuYasha’s eyes. “So you know…you know what she wants me to do…and you’ll help me?”

Leai smiled and brought his velvet soft hands up to cup his young face. “Of course I will. I understand what it is to be subject to the whims of the Goddess; to being tormented within an inch of sanity and then being thrown away as though you were less than garbage, but we needn’t worry about that anymore. You have slain her servant, Death, and freed the people from his grasp. Now, w must rally them against Her and wage war on the Goddess, and all her kin.”

Her kin… “Even her son?”

Leai scoffed, as though this were the most foolish question he had ever heard. “Of course we must rise against Her son as well, else he will retaliate against us for the death of his mother.”

“But Sesshomaru isn’t…”

“SESSHOMARU,” Leai screamed, “is a heartless, soulless, mockery of a man and when I am through with him he will wish he had never been born to his wretch of a mother.” Leai then narrowed his eyes on the boy in front of him. “Unless…you have feelings for the Son of the Moon.”

InuYasha’s eyes widened. “No, no, of course not its just…he seems nice enough, and he really does seem to care for…”

“’Seems’ being the operative word. He seems to be many things, compassionate, caring; loving even… but all these attributes are lies. Masks he pulls over his true face to fool young, beautiful beings like yourself into lying with him in his chambers; warming his bed, until he tires of them. Only then do they see him for the monster, neigh the traitor he truly is.” Leai’s face darkened as he turned to face away from InuYasha. “We must put an end to his charade once and for all, lest he and his mother abuse their powers further, resurrect a new Death and us him to lash out against us.” He turned his intense gaze towards InuYasha, staring straight into his eyes, allowing him to see and feel all the malice and hatred that Leai had for the beings of which he spoke. “They need to die, InuYasha, they need to be slain, to pay for all the things that they’ve done.”

He grasped the boy’s hand. “You and I can make their punishment a reality. We can bring them down together in with a fiery vengeance that will be told of for thousands of years. Help me, InuYasha, and together, you and I can conquer the gods and let them endure all the suffering they would have us suffer for the sake of their amusements. Join me, your mother would have wished it to be so.”