I am Artemis

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Inu

I hadn't seen Kaori for a month, maybe a little longer. She stood there unsure of what to do. She was biting her lip and I could see the exhaustion in her face. The unshed tears in her eyes. The nervousness in the way she held herself.

"Inu." Her facial expression changed.

She was worried now. I looked at Akri and he was glaring at me.

"Go talk to her." I stood up.

"No. I have nothing to say to her." A door immediately slammed shut.

I looked behind me and she was gone. I glanced at her bedroom door. Then I was face to face with an angry human? Brown eyes met mine and her grip on my ear was more painful than Akri's.

"You man up and go talk to her. So what. She kept you out of a situation to protect you. So she broke a promise. Sometimes promises aren't so easily kept. From the sounds of it she only broke it because she knew someone wouldn't approve of you being there. I barely know Kaori, and I know she is a wonderful woman. A wonderful sister and will be a wonderful mother to your child. So swallow your damn pride and suck it up. Quit hurting the mother of your child just because she has to be independent. There will come a time where you won't be there and she'll have to make the tough decisions or vice versa. So suck it up and go to her before I drag you there myself." The short woman let go of my ear.

She pointed to Kaori's door. I rubbed my ear and heard laughing behind the short woman.

"Move now." I jumped and made my way to Kaori's room quickly.

•••

After closing her door I noticed she wasn't in her bedroom. I went to the bathroom, opening the door and then closing it behind me. She was sitting in the bathtub with a blanket wrapped around her. I sat on the toilet and something hit the floor. I saw a pregnancy test. I picked it up and saw the two solid blue lines. I looked at her. She was clutching the blanket around her body staring down at the tub. I tossed the pregnancy test back in the tub and she flinched. She closed her eyes and then took a deep breath.

"I'm not going to apologize for keeping you out of harm's way. Every time I've had to make a decision without you it's because if I did involve you it could end with your death. Zeus and Leto would not take kindly to a demon from another pantheon being present in the preceding of naming a new Artemis.  Artemis had returned and it was causing me to have blackouts. They started that day and everything happened so fast. Way to fast for me to tell you or even get you involved. The truth was revealed and the old Artemis was bound to the human body she tried to trap me in. I created a new body with my own power. I'm not sure how, but the pregnancy transferred from her old body to my new one," she moved her hands under the blanket, "I love you, Inu. I want you with me, but you have to understand that there will be times where you can't be involved or in the immediate know when I have to do something. I hate that I have to, but I answer to Zeus and Leto and eventually Apollo will be a problem again. I won't always be able to involve you because there will be times when it's not safe. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

She looked up at me. She had shadows under her eyes and looked exhausted.

"How do I know this isn't a trick," suddenly she looked sick, "you bastard!"

She shot up and was out of the bathtub. Then she was in front of me.

"You are done! I am done! I came to this world after I died in mine. I lived a life where I sacrificed everything for my family. In the end I never got to see them or hold them! I never even got to say goodbye! They were my siblings, but they were also my children. I lost everything I ever loved to protect them! Over the years people, woman I knew tried to cry rape against innocent boys and men in my life and I destroyed their lives for it. I would never, ever fucking trick someone into anything with a fucking pregnancy," she sobbed, "after everything! My death and rebirth! After defending humans for decades against rapists and people who targeted children you really think I would fake a pregnancy or lie about it! To trick you! I fixed the mistakes Artemis made because she herself was a fucking rapist! She didn't care what her actions caused! I do! I fucking do! If you can't get over the fact that Leto and Zeus would have killed you if you had been there then get out!" She turned away from me.

She leaned against the sink. She was silent, but I heard the tears hitting the counter. I walked to the door and opened it. I heard her gasp and looked back to see her shoulders trembling. I shut the door and she started sobbing. She dropped to the floor and screamed into her hands. I knelt down and put my hands on her shoulders. She looked up at me confused.

"You know for a fact that Leto and Zeus would've been unhappy with me being there," she looked angry, "yes! Acheron can tell you the same thing. I know a lot about this world that I shouldn't. That includes how the gods work. They wouldn't have liked knowing I'm even with you. A demon from another pantheon, but I don't care. I love you and I would do anything to keep you safe. There are going to be times where you can't fight my battles with me. I am the new Artemis. I am the goddess of childbirth, archery, protection, and knowledge. I will have duties that I have to do on my own. There will always be times you can't be involved. So please, please, I just need you to understand. It was too dangerous, and there wasn't enough time to get you involved. So please, I need you to understand what I am saying. I love you and I will do my best to keep you in the loop even if you can't be there helping me."

She wasn't lying to me. Ash had told me the same thing when he dragged me from his mothers domain. She was waiting for me to say something. She looked down and her hair fell in front of her face.

"Kaori," her body tensed up, "I just need time. Okay?"

She nodded her head, but she didn't look up at me. I removed my hands from her shoulders and stood up. Seeing her like that worried me, but I needed time. I opened the bathroom door and found it led to Akri's domain. I looked back and Kaori was standing behind me.

"Well? If you don't go to your Akri's domain Ash will have your ass. Go." She looked angry for a moment and then looked away from me.

"I will come back, Kaori. I pr-" she put a hand over my mouth, "don't make promises you may not be able to keep. Don't do that. You've been gone a month already, and at this point it's better not to get my hopes up."

She pulled her hand away tilted her head towards the doorway, "go."

I looked her over and saw the trembling of her lips as she tried to be strong. Something in my chest was screaming at me to stay. I reached a hand out and ran my thumb across her left cheek. I felt the moisture from her tears she shed. She jerked her head away.

Stay. Just stay.

I wanted to, but I needed time. I walked through the door to Akri's domain, taking one last look at Kaori slid to the floor crying all over again before the door closed.