Your nails were broken. They were the result of fighting against him.

But his nails were long, and grazed against everything as if it were a knife.

Your knees were spread and bent as you rested them against the floorboard, your wrists tied to the elbows of the other arm. It was an uncomfortable and unfamiliar feeling. After all, you were a noble.

And you didn't deserve to be treated like this.

When you first saw him, you were terrified. He was demonic- satanic. His lips were black, the color of his eyes and nails.

You swallowed and tried to use your maiko training to perhaps trick him. But he kicked you in the jaw, and you kept quiet with the lingering metallic flavor invading your mouth.

All he did was stare at you from his throne. His nails tapping, tapping, tapping against the chair. You could do nothing but cower under his figure.

"What do you want, yokai?" You said the last word as if it were the equivalent of "pig."

He gave you a wild grin and an unpredictable look. You teared up but refused to cry.

He grabbed you by your sleeping kimono. You felt so exposed to him. He brought you into his lap and breathed in the scent of your hair. The moon poured through the paper doors, illuminating his devilish features.

A tongue found it's way to your neck and you protested trying to push him away. But you knew, that he could do whatever he wanted to you.

You were at his mercy.

~~~

Akura-Ou refused to explain to you why he took you from your home in the dead of night. He refused to say why he laid claim to your skin, and why whenever he embraced you, he called you "his."

And he refused to tell you how long he had been watching you.

Every day would greet you by gracefully coming up behind you and wrapping his arms around your middle. He would kiss the back of your neck, and then tell you about the gifts he brought you.

Soon, you felt as if he was.... Not gentler. Definitely not gentler, but there was a bit more love in every time he attacked your skin. He'd whisper things into your thighs and while his lips grazed your more sensitive skin.

You found yourself reciprocating his love. You used to just lay there, but then you found yourself aching for his touch.

'The skin of a yokai causes delirium, and their nails are filled with a powerful aphrodisiac. Addicting, and leaves you feeling empty when you don't have your drug.'

Your mother used to say that to you. You never believed her but then, you found it true. Some days you'd lay there, just waiting for him to get home, so you could have him dig his nails inside you and satisfy you again.

He loved your desperation, he loved that wanting- needing face.

~~~

Akura-Ou~~~

What more do I need but my spoiled little pet? I didn't want her. I needed her.

She was my blood, but that didn't matter in my eyes.

My father's other son, a yokai quite similar to myself, was the result of a drunk virgin who stumbled into the streets on the wrong night. My half beother fell in love with her mother, and fucked the bitch until she told him that she was pregnant. He wanted the child for himself, but the man of the house would have nothing to do with it. He slayed the boy.

My father was upset and ordered that I take the child and drown it in the lake, after slaughtering the rest of the house. But I couldn't being myself to do it. At the age of 16, I had wanted to own her.

And then I did.

I killed the family, but I kept her as mine. She was such a good, frail thing. I gave her everything.

Everything.

And she had only just begun to trust me.

~~~

For the first time, in the two years you had known Akura-Ou, you kissed him. He was leaning against your chest, staring at the ceiling. You don't know why you did it.

But he liked it.

And you did too.

Raising a hand to tangle it in your hair, he forced your head more onto his lips. You found his tongue in your mouth. You snuck your hands under the tops of his robes and for the first time, you really felt his body.

He grinned against your lips and said into your mouth, "What a spoiled little pet...."

He sat up and pushed your back against the wall, "You're trying to get dessert before dinner."

His hand found his way into your robes and travelled down.

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you kissed him, "Akura.... I think I might be in love with you...."

He seemed caught off guard but recomposed himself. Smirking, he began to suck your neck. "Perfect.... because you will always be mine...."

~~~

He was upset and angry. He ripped the room to shreds and you saw the plants outside begin to wither and die. You were terrified.

"Tomoe left again...." That was the only thing he said when he entered the palace you two shared.

He only stood there and shook. You walked up to him slowly and hugged him from behind, kissing his neck.

He relaxed and turned around, stroking your hair. "I'm sorry.... I'm not upset at you.... No don't cry...."

He tilted your head up and smiled down at you, "You're so good...."

You grabbed his kimono and he stroked your hair.

~~~

Soon, you felt as if he was.... less kind. It hurt and you found yourself crying as he touched you. Sobbing even.

And there was no love. He saw you less as the person he said he loved and more as an object. More as a pet.

But for some reason, you only believed him when he said "I love you."

Then one night, you bled. You bled so much. The hands around your neck, bruised and eventually cut an important vein.

He was too blinded by his own lust to realize that you were dying as he fucked you.

So you cried and silently wept.

"Akura...."

You saw the look in his eyes change from glazed over to intent and sharp. He felt your weakening pulse as you coughed up blood. He grabbed your head and tried to kiss you, tried to breathe life into you.

But soon you fell asleep, and you could not wake up.

~~~

"Humans are like glass..." I said, forcing myself to smile. "So fragile it's almost pathetic. Even their women can't take the cock of a demon without being torn to shreds."

"I'm going on a journey for a few months," my friend and comrade Tomoe said this while grabbing his kimono.

I frowned as he left. He did not want to be around me while I mourned for my lover. Humans made him sick. I only wanted her, but maybe I will find her again.

Sometime in the future.