SAGE UNDER THE MOON

-by Kittymui-

Prologue

Was it the end for the honorable dog demon family?

The same question had been haunting his mind over and over again the moment he entered the forest. He stopped walking when he reached higher ground, hoping to find a bit of pride left in overseeing the land they ruled over. But even the setting sun seemed to be laughing at him as it peeked from behind the mountains at the horizon.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?"

He sighed inwardly at the interruption of the quietness and closed his eyes.

"Leave me."

The green servant approached him despite his order. "Forgive Jaken's impudence, Sesshoumaru-sama, but you should go back to the fortress.

"I'm twelve, old enough to defend myself. Now leave."

"But the lord will worry about you."

"No he won't," he replied angrily, slashing some silver hair over his shoulder.

"If the lord didn't care about you, he wouldn't have taken another mate. The lord didn't want you to be motherless after all," Jaken reasoned, which almost instantly earned him a cold glare from the young dog demon. "F-forgive me...!" he cringed.

"I'd rather be motherless than have a human as a surrogate," Sesshoumaru retorted. "He should have at least asked what I, his son, wanted."

'When the time comes for you to take a mate, Sesshoumaru, you will understand that race would be no longer an issue to be considered.'

He couldn't believe that these words were spoken by his father, the mighty lord of the Western Lands. He was the strongest dog demon in history and Sesshoumaru had always taken pride in being his son and only heir. He respected him and looked up to him, but he had never imagined that the one he worshipped would degrade himself by taking a human as a mate. It was a disgrace. Their family had practically become a joke amongst the demon kind.

Sesshoumaru breathed out calmly. But, not all was lost...not yet. He, the rightful heir to the Western Lands was a full blood. As soon as he reached the right age, he would definitely restore their family honor.

"...by taking a full-blood demoness as the lady of the West..." he mumbled under his breath. "I will never follow the disgraceful footsteps of my father."

"Uhm...Sesshoumaru-sama?"

He glanced sidelong at his short servant. "Speak."

His servant nodded. "Forgive me for interrupting, but I thought that Sesshoumaru-sama might be interested in knowing about his future mate..."

Sesshoumaru cocked an arrogant brow. 'About my future mate...? Ridiculous...as if someone could possible know that beforehand. Even father would not dare to pave my future...' he thought to himself. "I will choose my mate by myself," he snarled.

Jaken cringed again. "Eh yes of course...Sesshoumaru-sama...please forgive me..." Although he said that, some unspoken words still registered on his face.

"Go on," Sesshoumaru ordered impatiently.

"H-hai," the servant continued. "You see...there is this folklore among the humans..." His voice faltered a little as he stole a quick glance at the dog demon, who was still giving him an expectant look. "...the folklore's about a certain sage that governs all destiny between men and woman. They say if you're able to meet him, he will tell you about your future soul mate."

An awkward silence fell after he finished.

"A sage huh?" Sesshoumaru responded full of indifference. "There's no way this Sesshoumaru will be tempted to believe a mere human folklore." With that said, he turned around and started walking away.

"Wait for me Sesshoumaru-sama!" the servant hastily followed with his two-headed staff secured in his scrawny hands.

.-.-. that night .-.-.

By the time Sesshoumaru snapped back into reality, he already found himself walking over the moonlit forest floor. The forest was very quiet and unusually serene, as if all creatures had decided to sleep. A slightly confused expression registered on the dog demon's face as he scanned his surroundings.

He couldn't possibly be interested in the folklore, could he?

Sesshoumaru quickly shook off the thought. 'I'm simply patrolling in my father's stead...' he persuaded himself and nodded. 'Yes...for he no longer cares about the land he rules over...only about that wench of his...'

After some walking, several strings of fog caught his attention and he halted himself. 'Fog...?' He narrowed his eyes in alert as he found no scent of water in the vicinity. Although he didn't move an inch, the mist gradually grew thicker by the second and eventually separated him from the surrounding flora.

Sesshoumaru instinctively jumped into a fighting stance at the unusual phenomenon. Much to his surprise, the mist began to dissipate as soon as it came, revealing an unfamiliar area.

Instead of earth, he felt stone underneath his feet, and when he looked around, he realized that the forest was gone. It was replaced by an empty open area surrounded by the dark sky.

In a distance, he suddenly noticed a giant tree, but for some strange reason, its leaves were glowing red while it should have been pale green.

Curious, yet wary, Sesshoumaru approached the peculiar tree, but stopped several feet away from it as he suddenly noticed a presence. 'How could I not have noticed it?' he scolded himself inwardly as he stood there and glanced at the individual.

From the posture and the long gray hair that was resting against a white robed back, he knew it was an old man. He was sitting on a small stone bench near the tree's trunk. From the way he was bent forward, Sesshoumaru assumed he was too entranced with something on the stone table before him to notice his nearness.

As his stoic face remained, Sesshoumaru made a turn around the table and stopped when he was facing the elder. 'This person doesn't smell like a human or demon...' he thought to himself. The old man was holding a long feathery pen and gazing down at a book containing to Sesshoumaru unfamiliar characters.

"Why do you not try asking me, young demon?" the elder suddenly croaked without looking up.

Sesshoumaru's brows twitched. For a moment, he almost let himself believe that his thoughts were being read, but he quickly shook off the idea. "What are you doing here?" he said with a composed voice.

"Why do you care? Can you not see I am busy? Why not just let an old man like me continue his work quietly?"

"Not if you're on the property of the lord of the West," he argued.

The elder finally looked up at him. "Oh...well...have you noticed? I am working on no one's property," he smiled, creating an array of wrinkles around his eyes.

Startled by his answer, the young dog demon turned to look around him. A short glance toward the sky made him notice the unusual large size of the moon. Then he realized that they were actually standing on a giant canopy, floating in the dark starry sky.

He immediately turned back to the elder and growled. "What are you?"

"My my...such an anger in your voice," the old man coughed as he finally stood up from his seat. "And I thought you wanted to meet me yourself..."

Sesshoumaru narrowed his gold-amber eyes warily. "You are...the Sage...?" he mumbled.

"The one and only..." the Sage smiled, making a polite bow. "...Sage under the moon..."

"So you're the one said to govern all destinies between men and women huh?" Sesshoumaru allowed a slight amusement to form on his face. "So...if I tear you apart this very moment...chaos would befall every single living being bound by fate..."

The Sage folded his arms together as he hid his hands in his long sleeves. "I would like to see you try," he smirked with his gray eyes fixed on Sesshoumaru.

The dog demon's amusement perished under the Sage's gaze. Something in his eyes made Sesshoumaru wonder if there was more than just the wrinkled appearance.

"There is something you want to ask me, is it not?" the elder asked, gaining his attention again.

Sesshoumaru remained silent.

"Hm, even if you hold your tongue, I can already guess why you wanted to see me." As he said that, he reached out his hand and revealed his palm.

Sesshoumaru was surprised when a thin red thread suddenly appeared out of nowhere and landed on the Sage's hand. In a split second, one of the thread's end tied itself to the dog demon's ankle, while the other end flew to an unfamiliar direction. A moment later, the thread tensed, as if it had found and tied itself to something.

"The other end of this red string will be tied to the left ankle of your destined soul mate," the Sage predicted.

Annoyed at the word, Sesshoumaru brought a clawed hand down to the thread, only to realize that he couldn't feel or touch it.

"Do not worry," the elder explained. "The thread will automatically perish in a short while. If you really wish to know the identity of your future mate, you had better find the other end of the thread before it disappears."

"This Sesshoumaru will not be restricted by time or fate," growled Sesshoumaru displeased.

"Suit yourself, but your purpose here is done. You should take your leave now." That said, the Sage sat down on stone bench and picked up the feather pen again.

The young dog demon widened his eyes. "Insolence!"

"Call it whatever you may, but heed my warning young...foolish demon," he said haughtily. "Defy fate and you shall regret it..."

After he said that, a gush of wind caught Sesshoumaru off guard and forced him to close his eyes.

When his eyes reopened, he found himself standing in the forest again. 'Was it just an illusion...?' he thought, but his pondering ended when a faint red glimmer caught his attention. It was the red string. Though it was still tied to his ankle, it was starting to fade away into the darkness. Just as the Sage had predicted; time was running out.

Should he or should he not seek the other end of the string?

Cursing the torment that the question was giving him, Sesshoumaru ultimately gave up fighting it and began dashing through the forest, following the shimmering crimson trail.

-.-.-

After some quick running and leaping, he found himself facing a place he had expected the least. He had heard about these kind of places from his father's so-called comrades. It was a disgusting hostel, where demon or human could find...pleasure. Despite his complete rejection, Sesshoumaru gazed down in defeat at the faint thread that was pointing into the building.

He had already come this far, there's no way he could turn back now. 'Let's get this over with...' he sighed inwardly and entered quietly.

Being a master in hiding his presence and scent, Sesshoumaru successfully moved through the place without being noticed. Eventually, he arrived at a door at the end of one of the corridors. Without hesitation, he pushed it open, slipped inside and closed it behind him.

The crates and barrels that stood against the walls told him that it was a room for storage, but he couldn't help wondering why the thread had led him to this place. There were two elderly humans sleeping amidst the goods, but he need not look at the thread to make sure they weren't the ones he was looking for. His eyes followed the red string until it disappeared into a brown cloth that lay on the floor before him.

Sesshoumaru immediately noticed someone sleeping underneath it and froze. No matter how shameful it would be if his future mate were someone of this brothel; what he saw was infuriating beyond words.

There she was, oblivious to his presence. With the fading thread still attached to her left ankle, she continued sleeping. She was young, tiny, fragile and unmistakably...

'...human...' he realized stupefied. This was ridiculous. A human is to become the mate of the pure-blooded Sesshoumaru? 'This Sesshoumaru would never...!' He thought as he reached out his clawed hand.

Just before his sharp claws reached her skin, she stirred. Her small sleepy eyes fluttered open, but the strange presence she felt before had already disappeared into the darkness, leaving nothing behind.

-.-.- back at the fortress -.-.-

"Are you sure, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Sesshoumaru glanced sidelong at his green servant. "Are you questioning me?"

Jaken cringed and took a step backwards. "N-no, I wouldn't dare," he squealed submissively. "B-but I just...I never thought people of those places would devise such impudent scheme as an uprising against your father... S-should we not inform him about this?"

"No," he replied sternly. "I don't want to bother father with such trivial matter."

"I-I see..."

Sesshoumaru turned to his servant. "I don't care how, just make sure you've wiped out the entire place and everyone in it. Do I make myself clear?"

"H-hai!" Jaken nodded and bowed before excusing himself from the chamber.

A moment of silence ensued before Sesshoumaru walked towards the sliding doors leading to the inner garden. He calmly slid them open and gazed up at the full pale moon.

'Sage...you will pay for mocking this Sesshoumaru...'

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey everyone! It's been a while! I can't believe I took a break of more than four months! I guess my muses were a bit too exhausted of my last story, but here I am again! To those who couldn't send me a signed review for my last story (which I couldn't or forgot to reply to), I thank you all for your support! I appreciate all your reviews! Now for my next story, those who know the Chinese translation of the story title (not literally) might know what it's going to be about. To those who haven't got a clue (yet), this story is based on a Chinese myth/fairytale I heard about when I was little. I've decided to use a Sess/Kag pairing this time, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do writing it! I'll try to update as soon as possible, but I can't promise anything since I'm still having some trouble with my muses.

Lots of greets,

Kittymui

'Italic': thought
"...": spoken words
-.-.-.-: time gap
CAPSLOCKED WORDS: noises

-.-.-.-

Next chapter:

-.-

Sesshoumaru, who refused to be restricted by fate, seems to have defied it after all. Fifteen years have passed when the next chapter begins, and Sesshoumaru will have to select the future lady of the West. Will the Sage remain quiet about his crime?

-.-

Vocabulary:

-sama: honorific suffix you add to someone's name whom you respect very much
hai: yes

-.-.-.-

Posted: 3 June 2006
Last Edited: 3 June 2006
Spelling check: YES

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Inuyasha characters or plot. Nor do I own anything of the Chinese myth/fairytale I'm basing my story on. If there's anything similar between my story and that of another author or artist, I swear sincerely that I have no intention of copying or stealing anything!