The room was silent, except maybe for the low whispers that seemed to intoxicate the air. All the eyes in the room were pointed at him.
"How did this come to be?" He wondered…How?...It wasn't quite a lot to think about actually. When you are the only heir of a pair of very respected demons, great things are expected from you. And great things he has done.
In the few hundreds of years that he has walked the earth, he has waged wars against many adversaries, countless armies. And he had never failed to emerge victorious.
For his good, and the welfare of those that followed and put their beliefs in him and theirs arms, strength and weapons at his disposal, he must prevail each time. Along with years of battle comes wisdom, cunningness, the ability to formulate strategies, think ahead of your opponents and use each little piece of information to ensure your success.
For hundreds of years he has done this remarkably well. This is the exact reason for the current situation in which he finds himself.
Seated on a wooden makeshift throne( he has no concern for such things when he is during a war campaign), his eyes shift from the one waiting directly in front of him, and the ones that seem to barricade him…their captor.
It was truly a remarkable turn of events for this particular war campaign. After 3 years of war led on the snow (his preferred terrain to wage battles), his adversary, another demon king as he himself was, decided to, surprisingly, sacrifice his trump card.
Shifting his molten gold eyes back to the demon in front of him, he couldn't help the tiniest of smirks to grace those noble lips. Angry golden eyes watched him with annoyance. It was really quite surprising actually. They were so similar and yet so….such worlds apart.
Not much of the physical aspect could be perceived from the demon in front of him, due to the thick layers of winter clothing…the pelts of numerous winter animals had been used to create a coat so insulating that it could keep the coldest of winds away from the body of the person wearing it. But there was a singular, most important issue with such a coat…it hindered the one wearing it, making it very difficult to move, inside a room but outside in the snow, you would have to have a trained body to be able to maneuver yourself through the ever growing snow that fell ever so gracefully on the dormant landscape.
The coat did not reveal much about the body of the one in front of him, but the face that could barely be seen from beneath the hood could. Barely seen by those with eyes not so keen as those of a noble demon king such as himself.
A quite delicate constitution, but not lacking in power, a slightly feminine under note. Golden eyes, matching his own, and thick, long, silver hair.
But the king didn't dwell on such things. For as much as they looked alike, his beauty was unmatched, not even by the hooded figure in front of him.
The silver haired one in front of him thrashed for a few seconds, trying to release his arms, coming to a halt very soon. As the king had observed from the moment he was brought before him, his hands had been tied securely behind his back.
It was a mystery, really, for the king, why his opponent would choose to offer his best warrior so freely. But he knew better. After 3 years of war, the results were looking tragic for the ones that inhabited this land. Maybe it was indeed coming to an end.
The uncomfortable silence in the room was lifted, as one of the guards barricading the hooded figure chose to voice his request.
"Permission to speak? My lord" The guard asked clumsily, not knowing what better term would suit the leader of his enemies.
The king eyed him bored, one quick assessment told him that this particular guard had nothing special about him, just another useless demon to walk the earth. Not really caring what the guard had to say, the king nodded his head.
"My lord…we came to you on behalf of our king, who wishes, to put an end to this war."
At this statement, the whole room was silent, any whispers were long gone and a menacing feeling made some of those present shudder. The guard continued.
"Our king wishes to come to an accord with you, my lord. He is willing to give up many valuables and even slaves, if you would call of the attack and be willing to leave the lands." His voice faltered at the end, cold eyes judging his every word.
"As a first example of important matters he wishes to gift to you, we bring you this fox demon." At this, he grabbed the hooded figure and gently pulled him to make his point.
"This is the one that has caused you so many casualties, my lord." The guard added.
"He is the one that killed many of your warriors and brought nothing but misfortunes to your troupes."
The king didn't show any sign or emotion. He knew quite well who the hooded figure was. His spies, and those who survived the encounters with the silver shadow, as they named him(and they were not many in number), had informed him of the skilled way in which this particular demon caused so much trouble in the kings army.
The king suddenly stood up from his wooden throne and made his way to the one in front of him. A graceful, clawed hand, almost marble white, made its way to the hood of the figure in front of him. Ever so gently, he pulled the hood back, to reveal a young demon, unfazed, looking back at him, no fear showing in those golden orbs. The hair stood up on the back of the kings neck but it went unobserved by anyone. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the demon in front of him was a kitsune, a fox demon, while he was a inu youkai, a dog demon. Natural enemies….maybe that was it?
The king eyed the demon in front of him a while longer, then returned to sit on his throne. A battle was taking place inside the king. Should he kill the prisoner? After all, he had caused quite a lot of loss in his party. But the other part of him knew that he would do no such thing. The demon in front of him appeared to be very young, even challenged to a battle, he would be no match for the inu king, and it might be considered foolish of him to challenge such an inexperienced demon to a fight. And, he knew this quite well, his people were all warriors and even though this demon was their enemy, they respected the silver shadow.
"I accept to meet your king, to discuss the future of the ongoing war and a possible treaty". The silver inu king told no one in particular. He eyed the 6 guards surrounding the kitsune and a slow but deadly smile formed on his lips.
"Kashi?"
"Yes lord Sesshomaru?" One of the kings own warriors made a step forward.
"How many demons those it take to deliver that message?"
"One, lord Sesshomaru". Kashi answered.
At that same moment, 5 of the guards around the kitsune gasped, being sliced, stabbed and impaled by Sesshomaru's men. The only remaining guard cowered for his life.
Sesshomaru was watching the scene unfolding with interest. His eyes turned to the kitsune in front of him. The kitsune's eyes widened in shock at the sudden massacre of his captors but that only lasted fractions of seconds. Sesshomaru's eyes widened a fraction, understanding that the fox was already aware of the fact that, in the confusion created, he could try an escape.
While the kitsune had somehow managed to make it past a few of his own men, he would not make a single step further. A clawed hand made its way to the back of the kitsune's neck and the fox suddenly found himself turned around and knocked back flat on the floor. The sudden turn of events left his gasping for air. Blinking wildly, he realized he had his back on the floor, his hands caught underneath him and a deadly inu youkay peering down at him. The dog demon king quickly grabbed the kitsune by the collar of his winter coat and dragged him to a sitting position, locking their eyesight.
"You are going nowhere" Sesshomaru snarled, and pushed roughly on the collar, sending the bewildered kitsune into the ready arms of two of his guards.
"Take him to my quarters" the inu youkai said eyeing his men.
They wasted no time in getting away from the angered king, taking the captor with them.