Otherworld 2 - 2 - Pillow Talk



Chapter 2 - Pillow Talk

Hiei was in his beloved Princess' arms, afraid to go to sleep. His head was in the crook of her neck and he was buried in the warmth of her body. His eyes kept closing and he kept forcing them open. "Hiei, what is wrong? You are half asleep yet you will not let yourself relax." He didn't say anything, just snuggled deeper. Aara pulled his face away from her to look deep into his garnet eyes. "Answer me."

	"You were with me first tonight and when I fall asleep you will leave me, and I don't want you to leave." He confessed. "I was not planning to leave until morning, Love." He looked at her, surprise written on his face, "You are staying with me all night?" "Well, for now, I can spend more time with each of you. When I take back the rest, I will not be able to and it will go back to as before." Hiei snuggled back into his sleeping position; head tucked into the curve of her neck, arms wrapped around her, sighing with relief, "I love you so much!"

"I feel guilty about leaving you for so long when I didn't have to. I ignored my own feelings. I felt that after I found Vash, I should not have more than him. And I hurt you because of it." "No, it is not your fault. We didn't say anything either. We just accepted our lot. Don't feel guilty, please don't feel anything other than happiness." then he muttered something else. "What was the last?" "I cannot believe that Vash is so understanding. I would not be in his place." "He is very special," she said, running her fingers through the peaks of his hair. "Very special indeed."

Kenshin and Kaoru were in bed, talking over the day's events, as was their wont. And tonight's subject was Toyna. He was once more in Kaede's Village, once more following their daughter around, and their daughter seemed totally oblivious of his feelings. After living in Otherworld for almost seventeen years, they were used to Demons and a Demon in love with their daughter was no longer a concern. Besides Toyna was the son of Yukina, the ice maiden turned healer, and her mate, Toya, one of the Protectors of Otherworld. Toyna had known Kenru almost all his life, but never paid much attention to her until a year ago when his hormones kicked in. Ever since then he spent as much time as he could in the Village, always following their daughter around. Kenru was a complete tomboy, learning swordplay from both her mother and then her father. Kenshin had sworn he was not going to teach anyone his method of sword fighting, but that vow was made before he had a daughter. Kenru could talk her father into anything. She ran poor Toyna ragged trying to keep up with her. Kenshin fondly remembered what a sweet, quiet baby she had been. What a difference!

	Across the road, in the guest bedroom of Kagome and Kouga, Toyna restlessly tossed back and forth. He could not sleep. Would Kenru ever realize that he was in love with her? Would she ever feel anything at all for him? Thoughts like these plagued the young man and made sleep impossible. He ran his fingers through his long dark blue hair. Maybe she didn't like his blue hair? He groaned and threw the covers over his head.

In the main bedroom, Kouga listened to their guest toss and turn. Sometimes having a wolf's hearing was not a good thing. Kagome looked at her mate and he told her that Toyna was tossing and turning again. Kagome gave a small laugh. Toyna reminded her of Kouga when he was courting her -- wearing his heart on his sleeve. She only hoped that he would end up as happy as she and Kouga were. For over 19 years they had been happily mated. She loved her wolf even more now than when she had married him. He was watching her, trying to read her thoughts, with those wonderful blue ovals he had for eyes. "I was just thinking of poor Toyna. Does Kenru even realize that he is in love with her?" "Probably not." Kouga replied, then wryly added, "At least he is interested in someone." He was, of course, referring to his own son, Kome, who had yet to show interest in any female. Kome was almost an exact replica of his father. It didn't help that Kome insisted on wearing the almost exactly the same outfit as his father. Kome idolized his father and did everything that Kouga did. More than anything he wanted crystal shards to be able to run as fast as Kouga could. "Remember that you were 126 years old when you mated with me. Kome is only 16," she reminded him. "I guess I just want him to be happy. I was alone for so many years." "Give him time. He will find just the right person." She smiled at her mate, "Just like you did."

	"Yes, I did!" Kouga said as he took her into his arms, "And I am grateful for that every single day!" Nineteen years had bred a deep familiarity and they both knew exactly where to touch the other. Kouga was soon growling deep inside his throat, which made certain parts of him vibrate. Kagome had long since learned that having him growl was very exciting indeed.

Rin and Mirago grew up alike in temperament, even though they were not biological sisters. Both of them had followed Miroku's path and had become healers. They had started at an early age apprenticing under Kaede and in a just couple of days, they would go to the Castle to apprentice under the great healer mage, Kaiba. It was very late at night and they were quietly talking in their shared bedroom about the upcoming trip. It was exciting and frightening at the same time. Neither had ever been away from their parents and Mirago had visited the Castle only a couple of times. Rin had lived in the Castle for a few months when she was young and Mirago pumped her sister for information. "Tell me about the mages." she begged.

	"When they walk into the room, you can feel their power. You feel a tingle down your spine. Kaiba is very nice and he is the one we will be studying under." "No, I mean, what do they look like?" "Oh, Kaiba is tall with long dark purple hair and sky blue eyes. He is young looking, but that means nothing. I don't know how old he really is. He wears purple robes and carries a staff."

"What about Bakura and Suzuki?" "Well, Suzuki is Bakura's apprentice and he has changed a lot since I met him when I was a child. He has let his hair grow long and now wears mage's robes. Suzuki is blond and very handsome." "And Bakura?" Mirago asked, "Tell me everything you know about Bakura." "Bakura is very powerful. He is possibly the most powerful mage there is. I don't think anyone knows anything about him -- maybe Princess Aara does, but she keeps his secrets, if secrets there are to keep. Bakura took away the curse on our father's air void, but you know this. Bakura almost died to save him." "What does he look like?" "Bakura has been described as frightening to look at, but he never frightened me. He was always kind to me. I think he is very shy -- he doesn't like to be among people, but Princess Aara forces him to join the dinners and outings." "Looks?" "Oh, sorry. Bakura is blue skinned with long black hair. He has dark Demon markings on his face. I've never seen anything else of him because his armor covers everything. He wears black armor instead of a robe and is very tall and very thin. His eyes are the worst; they are red with yellow where our whites are. That's all I know about Bakura. Now, we need to get some sleep. The day after tomorrow we start on our journey and I would like to be rested before we start." Rin turned over and went to sleep while Mirago pondered her sister's words. She didn't know why but the Demon mage had always fascinated her.

The next night was Kurama's turn and Aara lay wrapped in his arms. She still couldn't believe that she had them back. And in a couple of days, when Ashara returned, she would take back Tasuki and Bankotsu. Whether or not her daughter wanted it! Ashara would no longer mistreat them! "Remember when you could turn into a fox?" She asked Kurama, "I loved running my hands through your soft fur. I wish you could still change into that form." "And it would drive me nearly insane. You have no idea what it feels like to have your fur stroked like that!" he exclaimed, but he smiled at the memory of her fingers and what they did to him. "Well, I can pretend you have fur," she teased, playing with his long red hair. Then she reached below and entangled her fingers into the hair there.

	"No! Don't!" he exclaimed, abruptly pulling away her hand and turning over. "What happened? Did I hurt you?" "No," he whispered, "Karasu touched me like that. He loved my hair…" his voice broke.

"I am so sorry!" she said, "I did not realize it still bothered you. You hide your emotions so well and you never need to hide them with me. You know that, don't you?" Even though she was an empath, Aara did not believe in violating someone's personal space unless she asked permission or it was an emergency. "Yes, I know." Kurama answered, and after a few moments, continued, "Karasu violated more than my body -- that was nothing! He violated my boundaries. When Arina's males took me to you, it was still my fault -- I invited Kaleffe to my den -- but Karasu. I hated even being near him and he knew it. And when he saw I had no control over myself, he still did what he wanted to with me." His voice grew bitter. "I hated him for that. And I'm glad I killed him!" He was trembling with all the pent up feelings. Aara turned him back to face her and cradled him in her arms. "Oh, my poor fox!" she crooned to him. She could feel the tears falling. She held him tight while he silently cried in her arms.

	About a day's journey from Kaede's Village, two other childhood friends were camped out in a clearing in the forest. Kome and Souten could always be found together. Kome was a bit jealous of Souten since he had recently been given fire wheels like those of his father and could now fly. Of course, it wasn't up to Kouga to give him crystal shards. Kurama, the head of Protectors, controlled the shards. If he could do something spectacular, some brave deed, maybe he could get a pair of shards for his legs. It was embarrassing to be carried by Souten all over the place. With shards, he could run as fast as his friend flew

Souten was the more mature of the two, but tales of his antics when he was a baby were still a favorite topic of discussion. He must have been terrible as a baby. Getting into everything! He always blushed deep red when his mother started one of her tales, because inevitably his constant nursing would be brought up. But Souten loved hearing about how his parents met -- his father had actually kidnapped his mother and they had fallen in love. He thought it was very romantic. Kome also liked hearing tales of his father and his pursuit of his mother. And the way they still looked at each other -- he only hoped he could find someone to love like that. Tomorrow they would head home. Maybe something exciting would happen on their way home...

	Sango was very sad. Tomorrow she would lose both of her daughters for years as they apprenticed to Kaiba. She knew that it was a great honor to be chosen by Kaiba, but she would miss them terribly. She never expected this life for them. She wanted them to mate and be happy, not spend their lives in the care of others. Miroku reminded her that both Rin and Mirago could mate and continue to heal. And who knows, maybe two handsome young men would appear at the Castle's gates and fall in love with their daughters. And perhaps, Miroku suggested, it was time to have a second child?

InuYasha was so happy his felt like his heart would burst. His Princess, his beloved Princess, was back with him. Just like before! She had brushed his long hair like she used to, she touched that special place on his ears, and she told him that he was beautiful. Even though it made him blush and he knew he was not beautiful, it made him happy to think that she thought he was. As kind as Vara had been to him, she did not do the special things that his Princess did. He was too excited to sleep and bounded out to his balcony. The night was alive with the call of owls, insects serenading in the dark, and frogs singing in the streams below. Aara came out to the balcony after him and stood there looking at him, his body gleaming silver in the moonlight. She went close to him and lifted her face to his for a deep kiss. "InuYasha." she whispered, "I missed you." He wrapped her tightly in his arms, covering her face with tiny kisses, then suddenly swept her in his strong arms and took her back to his bed. Life was perfect!

[Author's Note: Toyna is pronounced "toe-e-nah" and Kome is "co-may"]