After Midnight

DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha and all the characters within it are the sole property of Rumiko Takahashi.


Chapter 8:
The Thoughts and Happenings of Night


Being a daiyoukai, Sesshomaru did not require true sleep often. While outside his castle walls he had only been forced to do so three times. Each instance had coincided with an injury to his person that required rest to heal. Now, in unfamiliar surroundings with the possibility of being attacked by hostile forces, not to mention his own discomfort with his current company, Sesshomaru found it impossible to even contemplate sleep.

He sat with his back against a tree, just outside the dying ring of firelight, watching his daughter flinch in her slumber. The demon Lord felt a surge of regret over Rin’s obvious nightmares. He never had been good at offering comfort.

When she had been younger it had been easy. The mere brush of his youki had been enough to drag her away from the unconscious realm; where she was still hunted by wolves. Now she had a whole different manner of terrors to taunt her in her sleep. She had lost a son. Her daughters were alone in the wilderness.

Another grimace from Rin, and Sesshomaru found himself pondering stroking her back. She was the only being in his long life since his father that he had considered giving physical affection to.

It should have come naturally; Inu’s being affectionate by nature, especially with pack. However, Sesshomaru had always held himself back from these impulses. Not that he was as emotionally frozen as everyone perceived. Oh no, that was a skillfully wielded facade.

‘Though most effective,’ he smirked.

The real reason the daiyoukai with held such physical contact, besides his mother, was that the only being he had seen fit to bestow it upon was human. In the beginning, it had been his experience with the capriciousness of humanity that stayed his hand. By the time he recognized, truly recognized, that Rin would not shrink away from his more animalistic side, it had been too late. She was mated, and now comforting her was not his place. However, her mate was not here to calm her.

Almost as if in answer to his thoughts a soft rose light shimmered around the sleeping girl. Her brow smoothed and her hand unconsciously rose to clasp around the delicate chain draped over her throat. She rolled over and finally fell into a peaceful sleep.

Sesshomaru’s gaze shifted to the miko and he watched her eyelids fluttered as she dreamed. He highly doubted she could ‘see’ the necklace the way he could, and many times had wondered if the woman knew exactly what she had done.

It was an utterly unique spell. One he doubted could be duplicated by any other. For all intents and purposes the charm was alive. It acted of its own accord, offering protection or comfort without the conscious thought of wearer or maker. It connected the two in a manner beyond telepathy or empathy. Almost as if the little miko had bound a part of her life force to the stone that was its centerpiece.

Which brought about the question of what would happen if it were destroyed.

The miko’s eyes flew open pulling Sesshomaru from his thoughts. Instinctively he fanned his youki, searching for the brush of unwelcome energies. The only bodily auras belonged to those in the camp. Still, he could feel something ‘other.’ Something he had felt before, briefly, on the journey to Edo. There was a charge to the air that swirled over his senses like a breeze.

The demon Lord, who had yet to shift an inch from his original relaxed position, had every muscle prepared for battle. He observed the woman still and then saw her lids lower again. Her breathing evened out and she was almost asleep when he felt a voice call.

‘Guardian.’

Sesshomaru didn’t hear it with his ears or feel the sweep of psychic energy. The foreign presence seemed to scrawl the word across his back with the pad of a finger. This was more than a specter.

‘Curious,’ the daiyoukai thought as he watched the little miko rise. She pushed the odd fabric of her bed roll down around her waist and glanced around the camp as if searching for something. ’Or someone,’ he mentally added. ’Is it possible she hears it as well?’

The miko rubbed her hands over her face before retrieving something from her pack and picking up her sword. It was obvious she was not aware of his gaze upon her as she meandered towards the nearby stream like a lumbering bear. The presence faded from the clearing with the woman’s departure, seeming to follow in her wake.

Sesshomaru waited a moment before deciding to trail her. The foolish girl may have taken a weapon, but she was clearly too unaware to use it. He could not allow harm to befall what may be Rin’s only chance at locating her cubs.

Rising gracefully to his feet, he stalked in the direction of the river. As he entered the clearing he saw the girl was on her knees, splashing water on her face. Her pale skin shimmered in the moonlight creating a stark contrast between her dark hued clothing and midnight tresses. Small hands rested themselves on her knees and she seemed agitated.

Sesshomaru could feel the power stronger here and pick up faint mumblings. He strained his hearing, but again could not decipher the words.

The miko’s muscles locked and the demon Lord felt confusion and shock radiate off of her. It was then he decided that despite the odd voice if the girl wanted to freeze like prey under a hunter’s gaze he would show her how unfortunate an action it could be. Had he been another youkai she would have already been ripped to shreds. He took one step forward, purposefully stepping on a twig to alert the woman that she was not alone.

As she grasped her sword and spun around the daiyoukai caught a parting comment on the breeze.

‘Beware, Guardian.’

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Kagome’s heart thudded painfully against her ribs. She watched a single drop of blood trace a course down a thickly corded neck to disappear under the demon Lord’s haori.

‘Oh Kami, I stained his clothes. He’s going to rip my throat out.’ Kagome’s inner voice climbed an octave as she realized the predicament she’d put herself in.

‘Beware!?’ She echoed the voice ruefully. ‘Thanks a lot! An angry daiyoukai is much worse than an army!’

Sapphire met narrowed gold and Kagome almost flinched at the intensity of his glare. But there was something else behind the mild annoyance in his eyes. Her lips parted in shock. It couldn’t be... approval?

Slowly Sesshomaru raised a hand and pushed her blade away from his neck. The miko allowed her sword to fall listlessly to her side.

The heat left his gaze and cool indifference slammed back into place. “It does not do to be careless. Had I been another, you would be dead.”

Kagome blinked as the daiyoukai’s cold voice split the air. She nodded dumbly and sheathed her sword, keeping wary eyes on the youkai.

He was still as a statue, piercing gaze never leaving hers. “Why did it address you as Guardian?”

That snapped Kagome out of her trance. “You heard it?”

He gave a soft snort as if her question only proved her ignorance.

Forgetting her previous fear, she placed her hands on her hips and squared her shoulders. “Well I’m sorry. It’s not everyday other people can hear a voice in your own head.”

“Had it only been in your mind I would not have heard it.”

She knew he was speaking logically, but she couldn’t help but think that every word out of his mouth made her seem stupider. She wrinkled her nose before abruptly turning and sinking to sit cross-legged on the river bank facing away from the youkai. Something inside of Kagome balked, insisting that regardless of how what the demon Lord said made her feel, it was foolish to turn one’s back on an unpredictable animal. She stuffed the voice in the back of her mind holding fast to her position.

“I don’t know. It always does.” A pout settled onto her face as she finally answered his question.

Always. That indicated she had heard it before.

“Miko, when did you first encounter this presence?” For some reason Sesshomaru found himself deigning to sit next to the diminutive female. Though his inner self informed him he really couldn’t think of it as lowering.

“When I made the wish on the jewel.”

Sesshomaru stole a glance at the miko from the corner of his eye. “When you died.”

Kagome turned a confused look toward the daiyoukai. “I didn’t die. You saved me.”

He tossed his head regally, silver hair flashing momentarily in the moonlight. “Whatever your sentimental ideas may be, you most certainly died.”

Kagome rubbed her temples. “That’s not possible.”

“I assure you, this Sesshomaru does not make mistakes.”

As hard as she tried Kagome could not keep the sarcasm from her voice. “Then how am I still alive?”

“That,” he paused, “is an intriguing question.”

The miko caught some emotion flicker in the demon Lord’s eyes. ‘Is that amusement?’ Before she could discern whether the great Ice Prince was making fun of her survival skills, Sesshomaru continued.

“The presence is the jewel.”

The miko took a moment to envy the daiyoukai’s ability to make a question seem like a statement. “It is the voice that addressed me when I made my wish on the jewel,” she affirmed.

The lull in the conversation that followed brought the sounds of crickets to Kagome’s ears. It seemed to help ease her tension with the odd situation she found herself in. Namely, sitting next to Sesshomaru, away from camp, in the middle of the night, talking.

Finally she couldn’t take it anymore. “Why do you call it a presence?”

“Because it is. Do you not feel it’s power?”

Kagome’s eyebrows drew together and she picked at her fingernails absently. “No.”

She expected him to scoff. She expected to hear a speech about how worthless ningens would naturally be unable to detect what superior youkai senses could. She expected him to say anything but what he did next.

“Perhaps it is because the power is a part of you.”

“What?!” Kagome clapped her hands over her mouth as if trying to stuff the word back inside.

Sesshomaru resisted the urge to chuckle. The little miko always was animated. He had missed this. “This Sesshomaru can sense the essence of the Shikon within you. It is much like the presence.”

Well, she already knew the jewel’s left-over power was housed within her. So why was she so surprised? Then a thought hit her with all the force of a speeding freight train. She brought shaky hands down to fold in her lap. “If you can sense it, other demons can sense it too.”

The daiyoukai eyed the little miko feeling the barely yoked panic in her aura. He had the strange urge to comfort her and before he could stop himself the words slipped out. “I suspect only powerful demons like myself can.”

‘Is Sesshomaru trying to make me feel better?’ Kagome was in shock. ‘Okay, the day is officially beyond repair. I passed out, woke to voices in my head, was informed I died, and am having a civil conversation with the killing perfection who, at the moment, is not trying to murder me. I think this is the most I’ve heard him talk.’

Against her better judgment Kagome decided to draw attention to the demon Lord’s odd behavior. “I thought you didn’t like me.”

He grunted and fixed her with an eerily luminous golden stare. “Were that the case, I would have beheaded you long ago.”

The statement held no humor and Kagome gulped, checking his face for signs of anger. Another shock coursed through her as she took in the tilt of his lips. He was teasing her! They had never spoken much during her visits to the castle, in fact she had rarely seen him, and when they had spoken it was mostly arguments. It hadn’t bothered her, she preferred the company of individuals capable of being more animated. But the demon Lord was certainly being animated tonight.

Emotions flitted across the little miko’s face. It had always fascinated him how fast they could change. She was observant. One of the few who caught the nuances of his verbal banter. Deciding to leave her to her thoughts the daiyoukai stood, turning his feet in the direction of camp. “We track the cubs at dawn.”

With that parting comment he slipped back into the shadows to ponder the connection between the miko, the Shikon, and the voice.

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Inuyasha lay on his bed roll gazing up at the stars. What was wrong with him? His eyes fell on his mate sleeping a bit away from him on another set of bedding. She looked peaceful, but the slight wrinkle between her brows told him otherwise. That and the fact she was not in his arms.

‘Kikyo.’ One side of his lips twitched upwards fondly. She was one of the only women he knew who could be angry in her sleep. Not even Kagome could claim that skill. He knew that from years of arguments around the campfire while shard hunting. She’d go to bed angry at him, but the sleep would smooth all lines from her face. Kagome always looked so angelic when she was sleeping.

He shook his head roughly. Why couldn’t he seem to keep her off his mind? ‘She is not mine,’ he repeated in his head. Still, when it came to Kagome that thought never seemed to penetrate.

Inuyasha knew he loved Kikyo. The years after she was resurrected in clay held some of the worst moments of his life. He had tried, at first, to love the reincarnation and ignore the golem, but even with a fraction of her original soul his Kikyo was never simple.

Contrary to popular belief Inuyasha was a deep thinker. It was only that most of the time his thoughts lead him in confusing circles. ‘Like now,’ he thought with a frown.

After her resurrection he had watched Kikyo’s actions and listened to her words. In the beginning, he had despaired, thinking her to indeed be the shell of hatred and malice Urasue had said. But over time he had realized that his tragic priestess was only complicated, as complicated as she had been in life.

Kikyo was burdened. Saddened over the loss they both shared, and angered over the fact they could be snatched from time to loose the threads of their bond to cheap, false betrayal. She was furious at herself for her mistakes, devastated by being pulled away from her rest into a half-life. The more interaction Inuyasha had with her, the more he felt the palpable veil of her suffering. For in her state Kikyo was forced into a world she could no longer touch. She was apart, an outcast, an other, and Inuyasha knew all about being the ‘other.’

Kagome had been his lifeline. The only reason he didn’t wander the Earth aimlessly like his love. The spit-fire miko from the future accepted him, gave him purpose, and taught him something he had never before been shown himself, forgiveness. She became his strength, and he was hers.

It should have been easy with all the factors drawing them together, but they were like magnates. They pushed and pulled at each other, struggling to fit, all the while dancing around the tenuous feeling of connection. The attraction was always there, but she was not Kikyo.

At first he had been angry that he was forced to be around Kagome. He could see all the things that made her like Kikyo, but the longer they spent together the more he was forced to see that she was not. Eventually he became comfortable loving both the mikos distinct personalities, but in the end, given the choice, it was always Kikyo. He couldn’t move on because he didn’t want to move on, and when everything was over he was glad he didn’t.

Inuyasha looked over at his mate again and smiled. He loved her, and he wouldn’t want any other. At the end of the final battle, as he held her fatally injured body in his arms, that epiphany had come upon him as if someone had moved the clouds from in front of the sun. He had been heartbroken to loose Kikyo again, and then Kagome had given her back. The girl’s selflessness never ceased to amaze him, but that was why she had to be protected. She was precious.

If left to her own devises Kagome would undoubtedly get hurt. It didn’t matter she had lived on her own in this world for so long, or that she repeatedly demonstrated she could take care of herself. Kagome was simply too easy to break, and Inuyasha couldn’t bear for that to happen.

He rolled over to look at the little miko who gave him a second chance at his life only to find her sleeping bag empty. Inuyasha sat up and scented the air. Kagome had been gone for awhile, and so had his bastard half-brother. From the smell of things they went in the same direction. He scowled and was on the verge of going after them when the youkai in question silently re-entered camp.

“Where’s Kagome?” Inuyasha’s voice was low and suspicious. He watched his brother’s cold golden eyes lock on his own with distain. The demon Lord settled himself gracefully next to a tree.

Inuyasha growled, “What did you do with her?”

Sesshomaru merely settled his gaze on the lightening sky over the tree tops looking bored. “Perhaps if you are so concerned, little brother, you should investigate yourself.”

The dog eared hanyou narrowed his eyes at his half-brother in a threatening manner before leaping off in the direction Kagome had gone.

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‘I died.’ The statement hadn’t sunk in until Sesshomaru had departed back to camp. Now Kagome sat on the bank of the river trying to quell the shaking in her limbs. ‘How is that possible?’ Perhaps he had used Tenseiga on her?

Kagome doubted it, the sword had been firmly in its sheathe when she returned from wherever it was she had been while making the wish on the jewel. ‘Scratch that,’ she thought, ‘his CLAWS were still in my LEG when I got back.’

When reality had faded back in, it had seemed to Kagome as if no time had passed between when she had left and when she returned. At first she had been distracted by the searing pain, and then the cries of surprised joy from her friends at the revival of Kikyo and Kohaku had filtered to her ears.

As the agony from the venom had finally dulled down, Sesshomaru had removed his claws, sat back and watched her. She had thought the odd look he had been giving her was because of the sudden reappearance of his left arm. Now though...

‘Could it have been because I died and then suddenly woke up?’ He had never mentioned her death before this night. ‘Perhaps he thought I knew?’ An odd, slightly hysterical voice in her mind pointed out the humor in the idea of the demon Lord encountering an individual who was dead one minute and alive the next without his intervention. ‘Bet he was surprised.’

It was all getting to be a bit much. Her head was starting to hurt. ‘How can I be alive if I DIED? I know crazier things have happened in the Sengoku Jidai but this is just too weird.’ She shook her head furiously and growled.

Kagome didn’t know how to feel about the new revelation. Sure it had happened fifty years ago but it was news to her! And if she had died then how did she come back to life? Was it perhaps something that modern medical science could explain, something an individual like Sesshomaru had not yet discovered about the human body? Or maybe it was caused by the jewel. It had obviously changed all of them, and if it could bring back to life Kohaku and Kikyo then certainly it could do the same for her. That had to be it. But then why did it feel like there was something more, something she was missing?

The miko leaned forward onto her knees and stuck her whole head underwater like an ostrich. It didn’t help to block out her thoughts. ‘And that, that, JERK just drops this on me like it’s no big deal!’ She scrubbed her hair vigorously before popping up for air.

Kagome sighed and stood up to disrobe. ‘If I keep thinking about this I’m going to go crazy.’ She stepped into the river and submerged herself, wondering if she was shivering harder from the bite of the cold water or her thoughts. Soaping herself down quickly she made an attempt to clear her mind.

‘That voice, he heard it too.’ Kagome bit her lip and rinsed herself off. No one else had ever been around and awake when she had heard it before. Did that mean that the others could hear it as well? She pondered. ‘But what did it mean ‘she comes?’’

The sky was lightening to the dark purple that precedes sunrise. Kagome got out of the river and dried off, slipping on her clean suit and pulling the loose shirt over her head. The belt clicked into place, her nerves settling at the whispering sound her sword made when she positioned it on her hip.

Though it was still dark the birds in the forest began singing, signaling the start of the day. For a moment she stood there enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. It was abruptly shattered when she felt Inuyasha’s aura moving toward her. She turned to face him as he leapt from the trees.

In a flurry of red and silver he landed in front of her, grabbing her arms and looking her over. “Kagome, are you alright? Did that bastard hurt you? If he did I’ll kill him!”

The miko was amazed he had gotten it all out in one breath. Realizing that her friend was staring expectantly at her, Kagome took a deep breath and dived in. “Inuyasha, I’m fine,” she placated. “No, he didn’t hurt me, as weird as it sounds we talked. We didn’t even argue.”

Inuyasha stared at her like she’d been hit on the head. “Talked?”

“Yes.” She looked down at his hands, raising her eyebrows. “You can let me go now,” she continued in a soft voice.

He snatched back his claws as if he’d been burned. “Keh.” Inuyasha turned to the side, looking away from her, but natural curiosity got the better of him. He darted a glance at her from the corner of his eyes. “What did you talk about?”

Kagome gathered her things together watching Inuyasha‘s ears flick. She was reluctant to inform him about the voice, though she didn’t understand why, so she settled on a half-truth. “He informed me we’re searching for Rin’s cubs at dawn.” She looked up at the sky and then back to her friend. “We should get the others up to have breakfast before we leave.”

He nodded absently and they both made their way back to camp.

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Out of four children Sayuri was most like her mother. She put faith in the orders of those she trusted and followed them without question. Though her time with the miko Kagome had been short she did trust her, because her mother trusted her, and she could tell the woman had a good heart.

“It’ll just be for a second!” Akitsuki insisted.

“No!” Sayuri exclaimed. Arms akimbo, and only a hair’s breadth from her sister’s nose, the hanyou steadfastly refused to remove the chain from around the older girl’s neck.

Akitsuki tugged fruitlessly at the charm. “Why won’t this stupid thing come off?” She hissed, ears flicking in agitation.

“Because it’s supposed to protect us. Only the owner can remove it.”

“Then remove it,” the elder half-demon growled.

Sayuri’s eyes were wide and stubborn and she gave a clipped, “No.”

“But I’m hungry and I can’t hunt with you on my back!”

“Then don’t hunt. It’s only been two days. Do you always have to think with your stomach?”

“I do not always think with my stomach!” Akitsuki shot back. “Besides, you can’t tell me you’re not hungry too.”

“I am, but we can search for berries.”

“Fine.” The elder hanyou made a face. “I hate berries,” she grumbled.

Satisfied with her momentary victory, Sayuri swung around behind her sister and hopped up onto her back. They wandered around a small area of forest where Akitsuki had discovered an old dead oak they had used for shelter in the night.

“I don’t see any,” the elder sister said in a faintly pouting tone.

“There!” Sayuri pointed to the left of them toward a low copse of bushes.

Akitsuki made her way over to the brambles and let her sister off her back. She kneeled so that the chain of the necklace wouldn’t cut into their necks due to their difference in height.

The younger panther hanyou munched happily, staining her fingers purple with juice. “How much longer until we reach the den?”

The elder bit her lip and looked to the sky. Night was ending. The light of false dawn tinting the horizon a glowing pale blue. “Maybe if we leave at sunrise we can reach it by noon.” Akitsuki tilted her head back and threw some berries into her mouth. “I don’t know why we’re going to the ookami,” she griped in a way reminiscent of a certain red-clad hanyou. “We could make it back to the Western citadel on our own. Then we could get-” She broke off her rant as she realized that Sayuri had gone stone still beside her. “What is it?”

Sayuri pointed over the top of the thicket with her mouth gaping open and her eyes wide.

The other panther hanyou followed her gaze. A stray moonbeam glinted off the top of the lone soldiers breast plate. Akitsuki felt her mouth grow dry. She grabbed her younger sister and threw them both to the ground. They crawled as far into the undergrowth as they could.

‘Please don’t let him see us,’ Sayuri prayed. She clasped her hands over her mouth, ears pinned back against her skull.

The leopard youkai circled the area sniffing and peering through the darkness. His bodyline was not stiff in a way that suggested he had located his quarry. Instead it seemed as if he were nonchalantly searching.

‘Oh, please, oh please, oh please.’ Akitsuki chanted.

The soldier paused, then headed away from them disappearing into the trees. The two girls let out twin sighs of relief. Sayuri started to crawl out from under the prickly cover only to have Akitsuki’s hand clamp on her arm. A sharp shake of her sister’s head indicated the need to be still. ‘Not yet,’ the elder half-demon mouthed.

Another twenty minutes passed in silence as both girls scanned their surroundings, every so often scenting the air. Light yellows and pinks edged into the sky. Morning mist crept along the ground making the girls shiver. The younger hanyou was just about to dose off when her sister shook her, lifted her chin toward the forest, and began crawling out.

Once they were on their feet Akitsuki hoisted her sister onto her back. “We should get out of here,” she whispered.

Sayuri nodded her agreement. The panther hanyous traveled two steps further toward the North before the leopard jumped down from the tree in front of them.

“Hello little girls,” he purred flashing his fangs.

Akitsuki backed away as he reached his claws out to grab them.

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“How much longer?” The youkai asked, her black and burgundy hair snapping in her wake as she paced. A sole window allowed the light from the stars and moon to filter into the dark room. Stubs of candles and a low burning fire failed to dispel the shadows clinging stubbornly in their corners.

“It is almost done, Mistress.” Jun poured the congealing white liquid from the pot slung over the flames into a bamboo container. “We must only wait for it dry.” The creases on her hands smoothed and folded when she screwed the lid on the jug.

The demoness paused with her back to the window and she scrutinized her servant. “And you are certain it will have the needed effect?”

“Yes,” the human woman’s sallow face drew tight. She gazed at the container warily. “When it is dry, give the mixture a vigorous shake. But be sure to keep it closed until you encounter your target lest you be effected.”

A fang peeked out between rosy full lips. “Excellent.” The youkai glided across the room to accept the proffered mixture. The vessel fit neatly in the palm of her hand and she weighed it thoughtfully.

Jun was more curious than she should have been, but she simply couldn‘t wrap her mind around her mistress‘ plan. What was the point in pursuing her goal in such a round-about manner, and to involve the daiyoukai? It was unlikely to work. “If I may ask, my Lady, how do you plan to administer it? The daiyoukai is not easily fooled.”

Cold bronze colored eyes narrowed on the servant, and an eyebrow rose in challenge. “Do you doubt me?” Claws clicked together menacingly in the stillness.

“N-no my Lady,” Jun cried as she prostrated herself at her mistress’ feet. “This lowly servant simply does not understand. Forgive my impudence.”

The youkai scoffed. “You, a human, understand me?” Her voice rippled through the fumes of the room, a bemused tint riding its edge. “Of course you don‘t,” she answered flippantly. “Now,” the demoness snapped her fingers.

A moment later a short lumpy servant appeared, whiskers twitching and matted black fur clinging to his back. “Yes, my Mistress,” he squeaked.

The woman turned to address the rat youkai. “Has Naboru returned?” She asked with a high-handed air. The bamboo container was tucked snuggly into a loop of the belt hanging low on her hip.

“Yes, my Mistress,” the stout demon answered his eyes averted to the stone floor.

“Tell him to meet me in my study.”

The servant bowed and scurried away.

The female youkai turned to the still somewhat cowering human woman. “Today will be an interesting day.” A smile crossed her face as she watched the first threads of light snake their way over the horizon.

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AN:

Indigo: ::slumped on couch:: Ugh, that was a horrible chapter to write. It doesn’t seem like anything happened!! It was like 98% thoughts of different characters and 2% action. I need a battle!

Sessho: ::mutters:: You are not the only one.

Indigo: ::stands up and glares accusingly at Sess:: You are giving me fits! Do you know how hard you are to write for!?

Sessho: ::smirks:: Of course it is difficult to write perfection.

Indigo: Whatever. ::shakes head:: Anyway, this chapter was kind of a bomb to me. I can’t find my muse. She’s been hiding ever since I went on the writing rampage up to chapter 6. I don’t know what I’m going to do if she doesn’t show up soon.

Koga: Hey! I thought you said I was gonna show up in this story. Why are the mutt-faces getting all the scenes with my woman?

Indigo: Calm down, Koga. Your chapter is coming up real soon. ::cups hands and whispers to readers:: As soon as my muse shows back up. She promised to write the Koga chapter for me.

Koga: What!?

Indigo: ::waves hands:: Never mind him. Read and review!

Preview!

Chapter 9: Slight of Hand

The lizard hanyou drew a small bamboo container from his waist and held it out to Sesshomaru, as if in offering. A wrinkle formed on the daiyoukai’s forehead. The male had yet to state his business. His instincts had almost succeeded in causing him to pull away when suddenly the lizard crushed the container in his hand releasing a cloud of white powder.