The Voice {Rin, Aiko}

[Lord Sesshomaru]

Merodi smiled, and couldn't help but to lean back against him. They looked like such proud parents, but she guessed that was because they were. Even though Tempa was so exhausting sometimes. She was glad to have a little peace. The child looked so adorable sleeping.

Even Soothsayer was affected by the sleeping child and he seemed puzzled, not sure if he liked it. Well, a mix between a wolf and a deer didn't come out that bad, it seemed. If anything, the child was more wolf then deer and only some traits of Merodi were visible. Namanie had worked well with the mix. He sighed, trying not to admit to defeat. Damn his father.

((another crappy post, i'm trying))

[Rin]

(Atleast you posted, I thought I was gonna stuck in posting-limbo for months!)

Koneko smiled when she saw the little girl. She sort of wished the child was awake so she could talk to her... she liked kids, as long as they weren't totall bullies or something...

She stole a glance at Soothsayer, seeing an almost confused look on his face. Koneko looked at the child one more time then whispered. "Excuse me, I'll just be over here at the entrance." She kept her voice low and slowly walked over to the entrance of the cave and sat down, just watching the water as she began to think of all that had happend since she found this world....

[Aiko]

Contentment flooded Koga’s limbs like a warm sedative as Merodi rested against his shoulder. He slipped his hand around her waist, twisting his head so he could brush the top of her auburn head with his lips. [brown]“Beautiful,”[/brown] he whispered, quiet enough that he didn’t think it would waken Tempa. Of course, he was talking about the baby girl. Or maybe he was talking about the mother. Oh, he didn’t know! They were both beautiful in his eyes. He liked this, standing with his mate beside him, resting against him, with their daughter in their vision. He liked his arm holding her, the feeling of supporting her. Everything about this situation had a feeling of rightness about it. He almost forgot about Soothsayer and Koneko, except when the half-demon spoke quietly.

Distracted, Koga glanced up to see the hanyou departing from the group. Turning to kiss Merodi’s forehead, he whispered to her again. [brown]“We should go, let Tempa sleep a bit longer.”[/brown] He still had some ideas about the two parents getting some time to themselves, and hoped they could ditch the deer male and the half-demon somewhere along the way. It wasn’t every day he got a chance for quality alone time with Merodi, and he almost missed the days when they’d been running around the countryside together, just because it had meant the two of them could be together without any interruptions.

[Lord Sesshomaru]

Soothsayer took a note to talk to Koneko when there visit was over. Seeing Tempa he became much more serious. Green eyes narrowed, he glanced at the sweet and happy couple and wondered if it had always been like this. Soothsayer took a few steps back, going toward the entrance. Merodi followed Koga's lead in giving their daughter more sleep time. She made her way to Soothsayer and Koneko.

The deer male was quiet, waiting for the Koga and Merodi to join the distance away from the sleeping child before he spoke. "It won't last, you know. This peacefulness." Merodi frowned, a little worried over the other deer's sudden change in behavior. "The danger, the threat. It's still out there."

[Rin]

Koneko absently combed her hair out wiht her fingers. One of the wolves sniffled at her shoulder. She glanced at it, gently petting it's muzzle before goign back to combing her hair, humming a soft lullaby, singing the song in her head.

'Hush now, my baby, be still love don't cry,
Sleep as your rocked by the stream,

Sleep and remember, my last lullaby,
so I'll be with you, when you dream...'

(From the Prince of Egypt if you've seen that movie)

[Aiko]

It didn’t take Koga two seconds, after he had towed Merodi over to Soothsayer, to think of a danger, a threat, that the deer male was talking about. After all, the leader of the wolf demon tribe had been thinking of it for a while. He’d tried his best to forget, to pretend life could be fine and dandy, but the reminders were everywhere. And here one was again. Naraku was haunting his mind.

Koga’s grip on Merodi tightened involuntarily for a moment, until he slipped his arm out from around her. [brown]“You think I don’t know that?”[/brown] Koga growled under his breath. [brown]“I spent at least a year hunting him down, but never found him. It’s like he disappeared off the face of the earth, and you know what? Good riddance!”[/brown] The wolf demon glared a challenge into Soothsayer’s face, his hands flexing and crunching into fists repeatedly. But after a moment, his knotted brow loosened and he dropped his chin, looking down.

His failure was no excuse. His failing just meant that his tiny, fine and dandy family was in danger.

His chin jerked up again defiantly. [brown]“I won’t let anything happen to Merodi and Tempa and my tribe,”[/brown] Koga promised. [brown]“I swear it.”[/brown] His pale blue eyes were grimly set with his eyebrows low over them, and his lips pressed together with solemn certainty. Again, his arm snaked around Merodi’s shoulders, and he pulled her close. [brown]“You hear me? I’ll do whatever it takes to keep them safe. Whatever it takes!”[/brown]

[Lord Sesshomaru]

Merodi glanced at Koneko, hearing her humming a song she had learned once in her dreams. The urge to suddenly burst in song was strong, since she had not taken the time to sing in a long while. Seemed Soothsayer was also having a hard time fighting the urge as well but he handled himself well. He payed close attention to Koga's response. The serious face stayed in place as he looked at the wolf. The deer male could care less about the wolf pack. Merodi and Tempa were what he worried over.

Either way, Soothsayer nodded and smiled. "Good." and the sudden facade was gone and he was grinning. "Merodi, I was thinking that; you know when Tempa got older; she could go to the shika island. Or maybe I could bring a male here to her so that she can breed and shikas might finally come back to this area." he continued to grin, proud of himself for thinking of such a plan.

[Rin]

'You sound like a breeder trying to make indangered animals reproduce to try and increase the population...' Koneko thought to herself with a small scowl.

Thought sof going home and away form Soothsayer began teasing he rbrain... but she couldn't right now, it was almost 2 hours till sunset, and she couldn't run all the way to the well from here, even with demonic powers.

'Besides... I don't want to leave Soothsayer that much.' She thought with a soft sigh.

[Aiko]

Koga was sincerely shocked, and totally caught off guard, when Soothsayer consented so quickly. Then the wolf demon grinned, feeling immensely proud of himself. See? At least somebody knew that he meant serious business! It felt good that the deer male had so quickly accepted that Koga really was strong enough to protect his precious Merodi. The feeling washed away Koga’s agitation, and the urgency he had felt. For a moment there, it had seemed like Koga should go galavanting off in search of Naraku, just to ensure his family’s safety, but now Koga wasn’t feeling the urge. Life was good again.

The moment only lasted until Koga figured out what Soothsayer was then saying to Merodi. The wolf demon’s smugly happy face quickly dissolved into a scowl, and his grip unintentionally tightened around his deer demon mate’s shoulders. [brown]“Don’t talk about my daughter like that!”[/brown] Koga growled at the deer male. When some nearby wolf demons glanced over to see what the fuss was, Koga lowered his voice a notch. [brown]“It’s not your place to pick this kind of stuff! It’s not up to you!”[/brown] Actually, come to think of it, wouldn’t that kind of thing be left up to the father? That’s right! It was actually Koga’s place to pick out an appropriate mate! Not that he’d thought about it. Tempa was still just a kid!

[Lord Sesshomaru]

Soothsayer frowned, confused on why Koga was so angry with what he said. He looked at Merodi for answers. She knew what he was talking about, right? She frowned too, and he assumed it was because she was as confused as he was. But that wasn't it.

"Well, yes, it's up to you, I just thought I'd give in some ideas since you have to choose sooner or later. Or are you going to choose from one of...?" he paused, glancing around the den and toward the other wolves. Merodi glanced around to, trying to imagine her cute daughter with any of them made her fearful. Sure, there was nothing wrong with them, but giving her daughter to anyone seemed something to be scared of.

[Rin]

Koneko had it, she coudln't and wouldn't listen to them discussing thigns so early. "My only opinoin is that you wait for ehr to be old enoguh to even have a mate, and ask her what she wants." Koneko commented over her shoulder before leapign out of the cave and onto the rocks outside.

From there, she scrambled down the boulders till she came to the river, then leaned against a nearby tree.
She threw rocks and pebbles in, deceding to wait there for Soothsayer to finish his buisness with Merodi.

[Aiko]

Caught off guard again by Soothsayer’s easy consent, Koga found himself fumbling for an appropriate reply. He was staring at the male deer, jaw working over words he might say, when Koneko’s voice chimed into the conversation. Having half-forgotten that the half-demon was there, the wolf demon stared at the hanyou with a dumb expression on his face as the female made her comment and whisked out of the cave, past the waterfall. Koga stared after her for a moment, then turned his pale eyes to Merodi, his thick eyebrows shooting up as he gave his mate a baffled look. The wolf demon’s eyes asked, in the plainest of terms, [brown]What the hell?[/brown]

After a moment of looking at his mate, Koga looked back at Soothsayer. [brown]“You heard your little friend,”[/brown] he said gruffly, lowering one eyebrow in a look that suggested a challenge. [brown]“She’s still a kid. I don’t have to go looking for a mate yet.”[/brown] Still, in a way he hoped was sly, he let his eyes flick around the cavernous home of the wolf demon tribe. Even though he hadn’t given it much conscious thought, Koga guessed it had kind of been a given that he expected his daughter to end up with a wolf demon. Still, none of his tribe seemed quite good enough for his daughter, anyway, not that he’d let them know that. He’d probably have to go looking into one of the other tribes and hope to find a wolf male who was good enough for the daughter of a demon leader such as Koga.

Nodding at the waterfall that marked the entrance to the cave, Koga added to Soothsayer, [brown]“Why don’t you go find out where that half-breed went?”[/brown] (He didn’t mean to say half-breed in a condescending way, but it’s just what he called Koneko.) The wolf demon hoped the deer male would go and leave Koga’s tribe in peace. Not to mention that he’d be leaving the young couple, the wolf and the deer, alone to do what they pleased with their time, the way it had been before the tribe.

[Lord Sesshomaru]

Soothsayer glanced at Koneko, taken back by her opinion on the matter. She couldn't be serious. Seeing what the girl wanted? It didn't work like that! Well, it wasn't supposed to. The deer male frowned, shaking his head and ignoring Koga's talk of leaving to go with Koneko. He did take the time to answer the question though. "I will in a minute." he said, waving his hand as if to toss aside the issue. He was too much in the mood for chatting to leave.

"I've been looking for Merodi for fifteen years and you think I'm going to leave so quickly?" he said, a disbelieving smile on his face. Soothsayer turned his attention to Merodi. "Do you remember when your father had chosen your mate?" Merodi blinked, frowning in thought before she nodded. "What was his name again?" She looked down for a moment, having a hard time remember. "Um...Skoll." He grinned. "Oh yeah, that was it."

[Rin]

Koneko sat down next to the river and dipped her hand in to check the temprature. it was VERY cold!
she quickly dried her hand on her pant leg.
She could hear muffled talking from the cave thanks to her demonic hearing, but she didn't try listening... the waterfall was making it too hard.

She leaned against the tree again and sighed, remembering a song from a movie, she began singing again.

"I am not a child now,
I can take care of my self,
mustn't let them down now,
Mustn't let them see me cry,
I'm fine,
I'm fine,
Cause I've tried,
But it's so hard to belive,
I've tried,
I've tried..."

(From peter pan 2:Return to neverland.)

[Aiko]

Well, at least Koga tried to get rid of the obstinately obnoxious Soothsayer. The wolf demon crossed his arms over his armor-plated chest, clearly annoyed with the deer male who kept rambling on, taking up Merodi’s precious time. You might say Koga was a little jealous that Soothsayer was stealing all the attention, and the wolf demon was about to resume his earlier attempted to get rid of him when he made a comment that had Koga whipping his head around so fast he got whiplash.

[brown]“Your what?!”[/brown] cried Koga. Had he heard correctly? Merodi’s mate?! [brown]“Wait a second, slow down!”[/brown] Wow, it wasn’t often that Koga said that one. [brown]“What mate? Who’s this Skull guy? Since when did you have a mate?”[/brown] Koga’s voice had taken on a very strange squeaky quality. When did Merodi have a mate? Where had this guy been all this time? Merodi didn’t seem to like talking about her past, so Koga didn’t make a point to weasel her life’s story out of her, but seriously! Wasn’t this something important? Why had she never even told him?

Uncrossing his arms, Koga gripped Merodi by the shoulders and turned her to face him. He wasn’t holding her so hard it would hurt, but he was trying very hard to loosen the unusual tension in his fingers. [brown]“You had a mate?”[/brown] he kept saying hoarsely, but finally, he was able to ask the one question that burned in his mind. [brown]“Did you… you know…?”[/brown] Well, that was the best way Koga could phrase his question. It was too much of a thought! Merodi, his sweet, innocent, deer demon mate Merodi, had had a mate before him?