His muscular arm bent at a 90 degree angle beneath the wrinkles on his long, indigo patterned sleeves as the other one pulled the string backwards with force and situated strength, his golden eyes marked on his target. A reflection of the white and red spiral round board glossed in his golden orbs as he finally let the string fly off, exerting a sharp arrow that swiftly hit the center of the bulls eye.
The gentle wind blew his silver strands; the autumn's chill air was a foot. Winter was not far, he could smell the cooler winds approaching.
"Lady Rin. Lady Rin."
"Lady Rin! What is the answer?"
A thin and lanky thickly-dressed man of about ancient looked up from his right hand that held a book about as ancient as him, and calligraphy brush in the other. His eyes barely looked like they were open; his thick circular glasses wrapped tightly around his ears by a band caused him to squint.
The young woman with the silky raven hair glanced up from her daze. Her eyes widened, as though something suddenly ticked in her head.
"Ah!"
She stood up abruptly and left the gazebo just as abruptly as she got up from her seat.
"Lady Rin!" an old man's voice trailed behind her pattering footsteps in the stone-paved pathway – something about the class not finishing yet, though she didn't hear it completely.
Rin stopped running as soon as she saw what was ahead of her.
Her lord, poised with grace, shooting arrows in the large forest-like gardens of the castle. It was indeed around this time during the early afternoons he would practice a sport of his choosing – not for the actual practice, as he was simply genius in every one of them, but for the entertainment, she guessed. Her Lord Sesshoumaru was the great dog demon lord that now reigned over the western lands of Japan. She smiled as she crouched near a large barberry shrub. Today was archery. She enjoyed watching her lord immerse himself in these sports, as it was nearly impossible to see him do them otherwise. He usually used one of his swords, or his whip or just his bare hands when he slaughtered his foes. He was elegant; he was the definition of grace, especially when he was focused. Though Rin thought she just enjoyed seeing him in kyujutsu attire.
"You might as well sit in the grass in front of me if you're going to watch every day."
She looked up; her eyes caught that of her lord's. She smiled, embarrassingly, and stood up from her position behind the series of thick shrubs.
"My lord," Rin smiled as she brushed a length of her long black hair behind her hair. She obliged as she sat down in the soft short grass a few feet away from her lord. Rin's gaze never left her lord as he continued to shoot the arrows, each time hitting a different bullseye set up in a row in front of him.
Each time he shot the center, he would catch Rin's expression turn into that of admiration and happiness. This pleased Sesshoumaru for some unspoken reason. He secretly really enjoyed it whenever his ward was impressed.
"Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord Sesshoumaru!" came the little imp running towards the lord and his ward.
"Jaken, speak." He said calmly as the panting green kappa sweated beads from running.
"The Generals," Jaken breathed, "have urgent news." Sesshoumaru set his bow and arrow down, following the way Jaken led when he stopped to slightly turn. "Finish your lesson, Rin." He said right before he skipped ahead in front of Jaken into the inner premises of the palace.
As the human girl watched as her demon lord and the little imp leave, she walked towards the bow and arrow he set down before he left. She gently touched the mahogany-colored glossed wood of the bow, the parts where Sesshoumaru's hands had grasped it tightly just moments before. It was still warm. She paced back hesitantly towards the gazebo where her scholar professor shot a disapproving look at the young maiden.
The demon then sighed, a forgiving expression across his face. "Do you always have to be so restless, young one?" He sighed, and flipped to the page he recited famous verses from.
"And it won't be enough," urged the General. "This war that's coming, it might be the end of it. For years they've reckoned and recently it got entirely out of hand that leaders are slyly murdering each other."
Sesshoumaru rested his chin wearily on his palms, the chatter of the large room echoed in pieces through his ears.
He clearly looked bored.
"My Lord, if we don't initiate attack on the warlords now it might be too late. They've already broken through the neighboring territories and it'll just be a matter of time before they cross into ours."
"There must be some kind of ring leader in all of this. What do you know?" Sesshoumaru calmly said as he glanced at the main General.
The main General, a well-built husky man looked at his lord with curiosity. "A ring leader? The demons out there are only fending for themselves and taking what they want. I don't think there's some kind of ring leader."
"No, but there must be." His hazy eyes skimmed the long table and lingered towards the very end of the table, where the co-leaders sat. Sesshoumaru recognized all the demons, and one in particular – he was Shiamaru, fox demon who was one of the lower ranks. As he observed closer, it began to shed its skin, almost serpent-like. His crescent eyes were turquoise and bloodlust, his silvery hair matched that of his lord's if not for the unkempt and slickness of it. He was staring off in space, when suddenly a claw forced itself on his neck, and a keen lord's hot breath sank into his bubbling skin.
"You have some nerve to be here." The demon lord scowled with fury as his grip began to tighten, almost seconds after with what sounded like the beginning of a snap. With a grit of his fangs, the serpent demon retreated into his clothing and his skin melted into a void within the hakama, all traces of the organism gone but for the remaining shell of the clothes.
Sesshoumaru's army looked in awe at what just happened, their eyes glancing at one another, searching for explanation. As the demon lord made his way back to his throne, he eyed all of his soldiers again, as if double-checking something.
"He won't be the last of them. Whoever is leading this war has spread spies everywhere."
"We will send out troops immediately on offense, and search our army for any potential spies." The General offered apologetically, as if someone took something right under his nose.
"That won't be necessary. I will lead the army myself to the borders. There's something I must check. Prepare the trip there. We will leave tomorrow before sunrise." As the demon lord stood from his seat, the remaining soldiers stood up and bowed, waiting for his exit.