written by Christine

Chapter 10

He held the sleeping woman in his arms. Every day he felt more enamored by her.  Is this love or just the pheromones at work? This feeling of needing to be with her all the time? No, not the pheromones. They affected the sex drive and now that she was pregnant, they're no longer a factor, Luka thought. What he was feeling now was something different, something more. Somehow he must get Isabo, and their child, their daughter, out of here.

Holding the sleeping woman close, he once again examined the collar that kept her imprisoned. Everything he had tried to set her free had failed.  He couldn't even break the chain that tied her to the wall. The collar was metal, a gold bonded metal, with no seams and no locks. He could feel it through his miko training, the static aura of magic. He was shocked the first time he felt it.  He couldn't believe a mage did this to her. It must have been a very strong, evil and uncaring mage. Luka thought about the three evil mages that were now walking the worlds creating war and destruction. The rumor was that they came back to life from Spirit World.  One of them, Jodah, would have been alive during the time of Isabo's capture and he could've created her magical bondage.

"It had to have been Jodah," the boy mused softly out loud. "Mother said he did something similar to some protector demons and I don’t know of any other mage that would be so cruel in this day and age."

Isabo stirred at his voice but Luka soothed her and she fell back to sleep. Well. it's not likely that he'd help me set her free, the boy continued silently. I'll have to find an alternative. There was the powerful mage bounded to the princess Aara here in Otherworld, and there was rumored to be a female mage in Demon World. One of them has to be able to break the spell!  Somehow I have to get in contact with them.

He brushed her beautiful hair back from her face, lifted it and kissed her lips. He saw her smile, heard her mumble something, a name he thought, but not his. He was disappointed but she had been alive a long time and has had many lovers before him. He had to accept this.

Luka rolled up the robe that was covering him and placed it under her head where his arm had been. He then rearranged the other robe to cover her better. He walked back to his clothes and put them on.

Luka busied himself with the clean up duties. Something he had forgot to take care of before their lovemaking. He once again pried the cover off the drain, took the hose and put it into the water until it was full and then he folded over the end until he reached the drain where then he released it. He was careful to keep the other end under the water as the siphoning started. He shoved the hose further down the drain so the hose wouldn't slip around and it would drain as fast as it could.

It was a slow process, draining their tub; much slower process than the filling took. Twenty minutes had gone by and the tub was still half full.

Luka was bored. He busied himself by emptying the covered and nearly full waste bucket, feeling somewhat nauseous from the rising fumes; he mused that he'd sure be glad when her morning sickness ended.  Finally, he picked up the soap and the cleaning items and hauled the items upstairs to the bathrooms there so they wouldn’t be missed.  All that was left for her needs, besides food was a cloth, a bucket of clean water, the empty waste bucket and toilet paper.

Luka sat on the top of the steps, staring at Isabo and thinking about the robes that his mother gave him when he told her about Isabo. Why did she give him two?  She was also the one who told him where the unused tub was. Did his mother suspect what would happen?

He idly wished that Isabo would wake up. Suddenly he heard a moan followed by a scream, which sent him running back down the stairs

“No!!!” Isabo yelled in her sleep, waving her arms about. At first he thought she was having a nightmare about his father or her capture.

She stopped and laid calmly for a minute.

“Sesshomaru!” Isabo yelled and thrashed about like she was running.

 “You can’t kill him! You’re brothers!” she cried, still caught up in her nightmare.

She then calmed again for a couple of minutes.

She must be talking about InuYasha too. Luka thought.  He considered waking her until suddenly she waved a hand sparking with power that made him jump back.

“INUTAISHOU!!!” She cried in anguish. She suddenly sat straight up with open black eyes that resembled horse eyes. She was trying to transform! he thought.  The collar sparked and arced as it trapped her power, and fed it back into her. She screamed again, this time in pain.  “NO…”she cried, grabbing her legs and then rolled to her side. The sparking died down and her eyes returned to normal.  Luka ran to her and lifted her  trembling body off the ground and into his lap, wrapping her tightly in his arms. She was crying hard, saying “I’m sorry” over and over again. He cooed to her until she quieted, stroking her head until her tears finally stopped.

That was some nightmare, he thought. It may even be a relived memory but he dared not ask her about it. He could only hope she would volunteer the information. She needed to talk about it because it was obviously eating her up inside.

“Thank you Luka. I haven’t had that nightmare for a long time although the event is always in my memory.”

"At first I thought you were dreaming about when you were captured. My mother still suffers from the guilt of that day." Luka said. "You must still hate her."

"Hate her? No, I don't hate her.  She was just a small child; a pawn in their plans.  I've had many years to think about what happened that day.  I think it was her that told them about me but I don't think she did it willingly.  She had a heavy handed controlling father that probably forced the information out of her and made her act as bait.  I forgave her a long time ago."

"You're an amazing woman, Isabo.  I don't think I could have done the same in your place."

"You know your mother now and what she did.  Do you judge her as guilty?"

"Well, no, but I know her."

"I knew her too.  She may have been young but the soul doesn't change that easily.  She was a sad lonely child, just like InuYasha.  It was Kikyo that brought us all together."

"Kikyo, who's Kikyo?"

"A young daughter of a prayer bead maker with the rare ability to heal hearts. I never found out what happened to her, nor to InuYasha."

"Well, I don't know about any Kikyo, but InuYasha is alive and well.  He's one of Otherworld's Protectors."

"He is? That's good. I was so afraid he had died and all my sacrificing was for nothing."

"Sacrificing?  What sacrificing?  Was he part of your nightmare?" Luka inquired.

"Yes, a small part. It's a very long and complex story." Isabo responded.

 “Will you tell me about it?  I would really like to hear it.”

Isabo nodded and began, “It happened a long time ago, years before my capture, just after my last heat cycle. I was mated to Inutaishou and he was the father to all my children of that cycle. He had brother named InuHaru….”