a/n: w00t... finally got it outs... leave a review, bitches...
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Exchange
Chapter 1: An Exchange
She couldn't count how many of her people she saw taken from her realm a day. It was disgusting. She tugged on a lock of her hair thoughtfully as she watched her friend argue with her mate. A bitter smile trembled on her lips.
"Aoshi, please. If we don't start traveling away from the gate then it's only a matter of time-"
"Misao. I will not allow anything like that to happen," he assured.
"I agree with Aoshi, Misao," she said, moving towards them. "He is perfectly capable of handling a couple of meddling humans."
"Kaoru! I can't believe you're taking his side!"
She shrugged. "I refuse to move my location because a bunch of curious humans thought it would be funny to claim a demon as their pet."
"I don't want to be owned!" Misao hissed. "Not now, not ever!"
"And you won't be," Aoshi promised. "At least not by a human."
"I'm going to check the mirror," Kaoru stated absently as she turned, leaving the lovers to themselves.
Her steps were short and deliberate. It was only a matter of time before another human arrived. Once one showed up, it was like an epidemic. If a human took a demon out of their realm, said demon was theirs to claim and the demon would be helpless to stop it. They were forbidden by their law to do anything but obey them.
There was already a group gathered around the mirror when Kaoru arrived; all of her people wanted to know when a human would dare to show up again.
"Kaoru-sama," they murmured respectively as she swept past them. She smirked. They had always known who was in charge.
"Kaoru," another said, looking up.
"Megumi," she said in surprise. "Since when do you come here?"
"Since Tae was taken," she muttered darkly. "A man by the name of Tsunan."
She pat her shoulder. "It will be alright. I won't let them take you."
"You are a good friend. Is Tsubame…?"
"Still sleeping. You should go check on her though. Having her mother taken away was a traumatic experience for her," Kaoru told her, moving closer.
"Leader," a women to her right murmured.
She turned her head in her direction. "Yes?"
"He approaches."
Her eyes narrowed. "He?"
"The Battousai," the woman rasped, a grim expression growing on her features.
Kaoru hissed. That man was more interfering than any of his kind had ever been. It was time she set things straight. She didn't like watching her people huddle together in fear.
"I will handle him this time," she said finally.
"Leader?" they all asked, in wonder.
"From this moment forward, Aoshi is in charge. Take your orders from him and listen well. I am going to get rid of this human once and for all," she announced. "I shall be back."
"Kaoru! Wait," a man said. She glanced in his direction.
"Let me come with you," he pleaded.
"Enishi," she acknowledged. "No."
"He took my sister! She's dead because of him! Let me take my revenge, please, I beg of you!"
She took in his pathetic form. He was down on his hands and knees. His hate was powerful, she knew that much from watching him kill the many humans that had tried to take him. It went against her code. She didn't like it.
"No. You will take your orders from Aoshi and you shall not enter the human world unless I personally come for you. Is this understood?"
He scowled, but gave his word. "Understood, leader."
"Good."
"He is here," the elderly seer informed her.
She nodded. "Take care."
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The Battousai knew who it was he wanted this time. The defiant woman who he assumed was in control of their race. Her eyes had sparked with barely contained anger last time he'd ventured down here.
"Is there a reason you feel the need to come into the underworld?"
He looked in the direction of the voice. He hadn't even felt her ki.
"Well?" she asked again, staring at her claws with disinterest. Her eyes flashed and she looked up at him finally. "What do you seek?"
"You," he answered, a feral smile gracing his face.
"Me," she repeated with something close to amazement. "For years you have had the disgrace to torture my kind and now you want to take their leader away."
"Yes."
She glared at him then and he felt the flare of anger in the air.
"Kaoru! Kaoru! Aoshi said that you…"
"I gave up my rights as the alpha female," she finished.
"Kaoru," Misao gasped, her eyes straying towards the Battousai. "You don't mean-"
"Tell Aoshi he is to assume the duties of alpha until my return."
"But Kaoru-"
"Go. Now," she commanded.
Misao didn't have to be told twice and she disappeared into the shadows, manipulating them to her advantage.
"You can have me then," she told him once her friend had left. "But in exchange, you must keep your people at bay. Keep them out of my underworld."
"Deal," he said.
A demon's word was binding, he remembered. She was his. His to torture, kill, or anything he wanted. If he wanted her to complete his bidding, she would have to do it. She knew her fate the moment she had offered the deal. And she knew all the loopholes to the human world.
TBC