Beginning Notes:
I must say that I apologize in advance if I misuse any Japanese terms. I do not know the language or much of the history, so I'm having to do a bit of research as I go.
If you do see something that is just -wrong-, please please please, let me know!
-o-o-o-
Ikumi eventually found herself in the lower quarters. The hallways had been dark in the setting sun of late afternoon, but a light shown through the crack in the door at the end of the hall.
She approached the door slowly, thinking that she should surely be more considerate of her housemate's privacy, but finding her feet moving toward the light nonetheless. She peered through the crack and gasped under her breath as she saw Sesshomaru examining his injured waist. Her heart wrenched. A stretch of blue and purple traced from just below his ribs to his right hip bone that jutted up from the waist of slacks. It looked unbearably painful.
She watched silently as the man danced his fingertips over his bruised ribs. His body made her weak in the knees and her pulse hammered in her throat. Even with the colors he wore on his midsection he was quite beautiful. The wide, smooth expanse of his back was well toned and his skin was as pale as the moon. Her fingers gripped the door frame as she settled her hip against the wall.
Just as she was considering either gathering her nerve or dashing back to her room she heard a thunderous rumble and a squawk that seemed to come from his closet.
"Lord Sesshomaru!"
Sesshomaru jolted slightly, staring at the door for a fraction of a moment. He moved, snatching open the closet door and sidestepping as a tiny imp of a man popped out wielding a staff. Ikumi's eyes narrowed in shock. Was he a... frog? His face began to shift and change in what appeared to be a painful metamorphosis.
"Lord Sesshomaru! The eastern lands have revealed their duplicity!" Shift. Crack. Pop. "Ah, it never gets any better!" the imp cried, clutching his greenish, nearly-human face.
Ikumi swallowed hard. What the fuck is going on? she shook her head, trying to rid herself of this obvious illusion. Surely she was dreaming. She'd wake up any moment still curled up in her pile of clothes. Hell, maybe she'd wake up on a park bench...
"What are you talking about, Jaken?" Sesshomaru reached down and grabbed the front of the miniature man's traditional clothing, giving him a rough shake. Ikumi couldn't see his face, but his tone was unflinching.
"My Lord, the yokai lords of the east have lain siege to the estate! The lack of your presence must have been leaked somehow..."
Her eyebrow hitched upward and she nearly snorted. What the hell was going on? Was this some sort of weird game of dress up? The thought almost made her smile, but... there was something truthful in how the man spoke, and his urgency was frightening... Yokai?
"Now is not the time to withhold information."
"There has been unrest amongst our own lands, my Lord. I am afraid that Tobikuma and Yukio have defected," another shake, "They believe that... That you are weakened by your pursuit of Lady Rin in such tumultuous times."
Lady Rin... Rin... Why is that so damn familiar? Ikumi scrabbled with the name. She should know this name. It was very important. Something inside of her screamed to remember, but she couldn't. It was like a thought that was right on the tip of her tongue...
Sesshomaru stood, releasing him. He walked past the short man and entered the closet. "She is not aware of herself yet. Stay and tend to her. I will settle this."
"My Lord!" the tiny man exclaimed, raising his staff in his hands in a motion to dive into the room after him.
"And wait before you reveal yourself. You're still green," his voice said calmly from inside of the closet. Then the door closed...
It all happened so fast. She is not aware of herself yet? There's no one else here but me... he has to be talking about me... Ikumi stared at the door, waiting for it to reopen and for Sesshomaru to come back out. The tiny man got closer to the closet door, but before he could put his hand on the knob a vicious roar tore through the room, flinging the creature into the opposite wall.
"My apologies, Lord Sesshomaru!" he gasped, grasping where his back had collided with the wall.
The roar made her insides clang with a hollow sickness and she pressed her back flat against the wall. She understood it as if it were spoken in her own tongue.
"Do as I say, Jaken!" it had cried and was immediately silenced as if it had been carried away on the wind.
"What. The. Fuck," she panted, her forehead clammy with a fine sheen of cold sweat. Terror licked at the back of her throat and she swallowed her heart back down.
As much as she wanted to run away from this strange, strange place, she wanted to open that closet door even more. She could taste the morbid curiosity swirling in her mouth. She just couldn't decide if she needed to cut her losses and get the hell out...
-o-o-o-
"He didn't even tell me the brat's name," Jaken mumbled, patting his coat with his hands. In a few claps his kimono had transformed into a small brown suit coat. His hakama soon followed, becoming suit pants. "Ack!" he growled, noticing that his feet were still in their tiny, demon forms. He stomped his feet a few times for good measure and they shifted into their human-like counterparts with little brown shoes popping into existence on them. As he stomped is feet, his frame gained a few inches in height.
"Ugh," he moaned, shuddering. He hated that.
His coloring was that of a mud puddle. Brown eyes, brown hair, brown suit, brown shoes. It was fortunate for him that he cared not for physical beauty because he was sorely lacking it in either of his forms. The fact that he had no choice but to relinquish his demonic form when he entered the humans' realm still infuriated him. He was an imp, not a bookkeeper! He examined himself in the floor-length mirror to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Nose? Check. Lips? Check. Five fingers per hand? Check.
He buttoned his suit and smoothed the bottom with his hands, looking around his master's chambers. They still looked exactly the same as they had the last time he had crossed through the gateway. Impossibly dark wooden furniture. White walls. White linens. Expensive looking, but completely devoid of color.
Jaken straightened his coat and headed toward the door, pausing momentarily to tap his staff against the floor. It shifted as well, turning into a cane. He supposed he better introduce himself to the new Lady.
-o-o-o-
Ikumi had hurried back to her room after what she had seen. She sat on her bed, her hands shakily folded in her lap. Lady Rin... she turned the name over in her head for what felt like the thousandth time. Was she... Lady Rin? What a ridiculous proposition. They surely had her mistaken for someone else because her name was Ikumi and she was definitely not a Lady of anything.
The patter of rain on the eaves of the house made her turn toward her window. Suddenly sheets of rain poured down against the windows and a flash of lightning illuminated her room in a sharp blue-white light. She stared blankly at the glass.
What was in the closet? Maybe a secret passageway? she thought.
"Yokai," she said quietly. This was all too weird. She knew that Sesshomaru had to be too good to be true. It turned out he was a psychotic freak. Just her luck.
Still... The imp man. She had seen his body shifting, changing. It looked so real. Her mind simply couldn't wrap around the idea that there could possibly be things outside of the everyday, but what she had seen was almost irrefutable proof, wasn't it? She considered seeking him out, after all, he was charged with caring for her, not killing her, right? And the little man seemed respectful toward Sesshomaru. Lord Sesshomaru. The title made her think of tiny bare feet and woods and impossibly soft fur in her hands. Her heart clenched at the ridiculous, false memory.
Her bedside clock read 7:32 at her in bright red letters. She pushed the clock off onto the floor in frustration and stood. She couldn't be here anymore.
She tugged off her fancy clothes and left them in a pile next to her bed before digging through her closet, pulling out her old jeans and t-shirt and putting them on. She tugged on her light jacket and toed on her shoes. She paused for a moment, eyeing herself in the mirror.
"This had to end sometime, you know," she said sadly at her reflection and headed toward the hall. Her fingers circled the doorknob, popping the door open. She nearly jumped out of her skin as she almost collided with the imp man.
"Excuse me. Lord Sesshomaru has stepped out for the evening and has left me in charge of seeing to your needs," the tiny man said from in front of her. He held his hands to the small of his back and peered at her from over his nose, which was quite a feat considering how much shorter he was than her. He held a tiny cane in his hands, though he didn't seem to need one.
"Who... Who are you? Are you Sesshomaru's butler?" Ikumi asked quietly, pointing at him
His eyes seemed to bug out in a comical fashion. "What! Butler? I'll have you know that I am Sesshomaru's most trusted advisor!"
"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed at his obvious distaste for her confusion over his role. Please, don't set me on fire, you little weirdo, she moaned in her head. "What may I call you?"
"You may call me Jaken," he said, seemingly appeased by her apology.
"I'm Ikumi," she offered, still staring down at him while pressed up against her door. When she realized that he wasn't going to say anything, she continued, "Where did Sesshomaru go?"
"His outing is his own business and it is not my place to discuss it with you," he said curtly.
"O...kay," Ikumi swallowed.
"I will order dinner for you," he said, eyeing her momentarily. "Follow me."
"I was actually going to..." Ikumi watched as the little man headed to the stairs without a second glance. "Follow you, I guess," she mumbled, dragging her feet on the runner as she walked down the hall.
-o-o-o-
The scent of blood was overpowering and there was the distinct smell of smoke. From what he could see, the estate was unharmed for the most part, but the bodies of his loyal servants were strewn about the grounds. Sesshomaru eyed the scene with anger.
His first order of business was to find Tobikuma and Yukio and tear them to pieces.
"Fuyu!" he roared into the halls of the estate. Before he even finished speaking the name, a young man appeared at his side.
"My Lord!"
"Tell me what has happened," Sesshomaru ordered, turning to face him.
"We have lost many to the attackers," the man fell to his knee at Sesshomaru's feet, his long, pale hair brushing the floor. "I have failed."
"Stand up," Sesshomaru barked.
"Yes, my Lord," the man complied, standing, his hand already on the hilt of his blade.
"Where is Tsukiko?" Sesshomaru asked, moving past the man and heading toward the paper slider that lead to the front courtyard.
"She is calming the last of the servants in the main hall."
"Tobikuma? Yukio?"
"They're working for the East. They ran after I cut down half of their men," he sighed, shaking his head. "I gave chase, but they already had a good head start. I came back to help put out the fires and save who I could. There are still a few traitors left among us."
"What of the Eastern tribe?"
"They sent in Tobikuma and Yukio first. I think they may have backed off after they saw them retreating. I could smell them toward the north when I had followed the two out of the estate," the man paused, swallowing.
"How do we know that it is the East?" Sesshomaru asked. There had been great tension among the two tribes since the miasma had settled over a portion of his lands. The East believed that Sesshomaru's lands would surely crumble under the blight, and though they hadn't actively pursued, they had been circling him like sharks.
"Tobikuma and Yukio wore their colors, my Lord," Fuyu explained. "They burned the West's black sashes in the courtyard before they started to slaughter the workers and guards..."
"I see." Sesshomaru slid the paper slider open with a 'snick!' and surveyed his estate. There was some minor damage to the grounds, but it was not extensive. His eyes shifted to Rin's pond. Her gazebo was ruined, flames still licking the blackened wood. He gripped the hilt of his sword a bit tighter. Still, Fuyu gave himself too little credit. He had done well considering.
He inhaled deeply, seeming to find what he was looking for as he stared toward the northern mountains. "Gather what is left of our guards. Find the rest of the traitors. Show them no mercy," he stated blandly and started toward the gates. "You did well."
Fuyu was quiet for a moment. "Did you find her?"
Sesshomaru spared the smallest of glances over his shoulder. "I did." And he was gone.
-o-o-o-
100 Years Ago
"The humans become bolder each year! We have no choice but to issue a culling," a thin, wiry yokai hissed.
"Oi! I don't know how they do it in the mountains,Tsuchigumo (1), but we can't just kill off whole towns of humans because you don't like them!" Kagome cried. Inuyasha wrapped his hand around her wrist and looked into her eyes in warning. Now was not the time to cause any more conflict.
"Inuyasha! Keep your human in check," the spider man growled, looking positively murderous.
"What do you think, Sesshomaru?" He felt Rin's tiny hands rest on top of his arm.
Sesshomaru turned his golden eyes to his mate. "I think we will do what is necessary to live."
"Our numbers dwindle. Our homes are destroyed. You tell me who you think the real monster is here, human," the Tsuchigumo asked, shaking his head. "We have never been so few! We cannot keep them in check!"
Kagome worried her lip between her teeth. His words were true. It was almost impossible to survive these days. Permanent residences were nearly unheard of for any beings other than humans. It was always moving, running, or blending in. Never living. It had been the same in her time as well. No one even believed that yokai, hanyou or otherwise even existed...
"Still. We can't kill them," Kagome protested.
"How will we handle it then, hm? We are all but forgotten, but still they tread on us. Good and bad alike, we all suffer. We'll be all but extinguished within the decade!"
The other high yokai at the meeting nodded in agreement.
Kagome paused a moment. "Isn't there a way to, I don't know, create another realm? You know, like the spirit realm and the living realm? Past and present?"
"The only way I know of to enter another realm is to die," the Tsuchigumo snorted. A few other barks of laughter cropped up across the room. "Though at this rate, that may come sooner than we all imagined."
Kagome's cheeks turned red. "But..."
"I believe that Kagome may have a point," Rin spoke in her defense. The other yokai turned to her, including Sesshomaru. It was incredibly rare for Lady Rin to speak. Even the Tsuchigumo seemed to close his mouth. Her years with Sesshomaru had tempered her. Her words were not often wasted, so what she had to say was at least worth hearing.
"I don't say this because I wish to save humans, though I am one. I say this because to have a realm to ourselves, to thrive and flourish unhindered is at least appealing, yes?" Rin paused, worrying her fingers over the fabric of her husband's sleeve. "Kagome has already seen the future. Even if we take back villages, towns, she knows the power that humans will eventually have. How long do you think we would survive? We must find a way to live peacefully, even if that means we must do it separately."
The room seemed ripe to bubble over with protests, but Rin continued. "Besides, you have all lived long enough to know that magic beyond our comprehension always exists. Kagome's mere presence attests to that. Who would have thought it possible to leave one's time?"
"Do you have any ideas on how to go about doing this, Lady Rin?" a kitsune yokai piped up. He seemed very sure that she would have no response.
"I remember once, very long ago in my previous life, Lord Sesshomaru and I were traveling in the mountains of the north, near where you hail from Lord Katashi," she nodded toward the Tsuchigumo. "We encountered a witch in the caves of the tallest peaks," Rin paused, glancing to Sesshomaru. He remembered the meeting perfectly.
"She had cast a spell across the whole mountain range. We were confused by this magic at first, for when we entered the mountains, it was morning, and after we traveled only a short distance, it become the dark of night. Lord Sesshomaru quickly discerned that there were magics involved and feared that we had fallen into a trap. However, after we located the old sage, we found that she was no malevolent creature, merely an old yokai witch who wished to be left alone.
"She explained to us that she had bewitched the very air of the mountains, making her space exist parallel to the world that was touched by humans. Humans could visit the same space and see nothing of her and she saw nothing of them," Rin finished, swallowing lightly.
"You lie!" Lord Katashi hissed. "If this is true, how could you enter this realm? You are human."
In the space of no more than a breath, Sesshomaru had his fingers poised at the yokai's throat. "You should watch your tongue, spider." Venom dripped from his fingertips and fell onto the yokai's kimono, singing the cloth with a sickly sizzle.
"Lord Katashi, I am Lord Sesshomaru's mate. I was able to walk freely into the witch's lands because I am his and he is a yokai," Rin explained calmly, watching her husband. "Sesshomaru," she coaxed quietly.
He pulled his fingers away from the yokai's throat, but his eyes remained trained on the wary spider.
"If you do not believe my word, visit the mountains yourself. Certainly she is still there."
-o-o-o-
Sesshomaru bounded over another tree, his toes barely brushing over the tops of the leaves. He could smell the treachery of his past allies. Their tainted scent assaulted his senses unmercifully. He would not rest until he had their heads.
Treachery had never been particularly surprising to Sesshomaru. He had seen it before and he was certain to see it again, but these yokai were allied not only to him, but his father before him. Their duplicity was an embarrassment to his leadership. If they stood so readily beside his father, yet fell so easily under his own rule...? It would set a foul example for the lesser yokai under his command. He would not stand to be humiliated. He refused. He would have to deal with them swiftly and harshly to quell any potential uprisings that may bubble from this.
Sesshomaru paused, resting on the limb of a tall tree. He sniffed the air deeply, raising his nose to the wind. It didn't help. The wind made it almost impossible to discern their location, and their scent was so thick here that he couldn't gain his bearings.
The leaves of the trees fluttered away in the night wind, brushing past him. The noise that they made was distracting, shifting, falling, and clamoring to the forest floor. He needed to be able to pay attention...
Sesshomaru raised his fingers to the bridge of his nose, pinching the flesh between his thumb and forefinger. Why was he so disoriented?
"Eh, Sesshomaru!"
He turned quickly, his balance faltering for only a moment and he sank to a crouch on the limb to compensate for this. "Tobikuma, you traitorous pig!" he barked, blinking hard.
"Don't be so sore, Sesshomaru. You did this to yourself, you know," he heard from directly below him.
"I'm going to gut you and strangle you with your innards," he whispered. Or shouted. He couldn't quite tell.
"Now, that's no way to speak to your superiors," he heard before he lost his footing on the branch. His fingers scrabbled with the limb and he took chunks of the bark with him as he fell.
Red and gold and brown shifted before his eyes rapidly before he slammed into the forest floor.
"Pretty long way down," the lightning yokai said, clucking his tongue. "You should be more careful."
Sesshomaru growled under his breath as he watched his former vassal saunter toward him. His royal purple coat flowed down to his calves and reached up his throat in a high collar. A sash of pearls cinched his bird-like waist and felt in stands at his side. Sesshomaru tried to focus on the man's face. He was wearing a black mask over his mouth and nose, no doubt covering a smug smile.
Sesshomaru's world was slashes and speckles of color. He made a move for his sword, but he found that his arm was definitely broken and wedged under his body. He hadn't even felt it...
Tobikuma neared closer, resting his foot on his former master's chest. "Just like a dog. Your nose will get you in trouble," he grinned, the apples of his cheeks shifting his mask forward as he tweaked Sesshomaru's nose. His long black hair brushed Sesshomaru's cheek and the dog lord shook it away from his face.
"Where is Yukio?" Sesshomaru heaved. His lungs felt heavy and full and he choked up what felt like... phlegm? No... A coppery taste burst in his mouth and he spit the gob of blood out onto the ground next to him. "What have you done to me?"
Tobikuma clapped in excitement at his display. "Who would have thought it would be so easy to kill the great Sesshomaru? You truly are a dolt." He pressed his heel into Sesshomaru's chest, accentuating the heavy and very wrong feeling there.
"Answer me!" Sesshomaru barked, another stream of blood bubbling down his cheek.
"Yukio is headed back to your estate as we speak. I just had to lure the big dog away. To here. Where my own special miasma was waiting for you," the yokai chuckled, leaning down and waving a vial of sickly gray liquid in his face. "Now Yukio will go and destroy your entire line. Wipe all of you wretched dogs off of the face of the earth in one night! Not a bad haul if I say so myself!"
"I will destroy you," Sesshomaru growled louder, shifting under the yokai's heel.
"Well, we'll see about that," the lightning demon replied saucily, blue crackles of light snapping to life in his eyes.
-o-o-o-
Ikumi sat at the bar in the kitchen. "This really is unnecessary," she said, blinking at the mountain of dishes that were spread over the island.
Jaken didn't reply. He was busy shoveling rice into his mouth.
Ikumi glanced at the tiny man and sighed. "I have to go to the bathroom," she said quietly, standing up and heading to the hall.
Still, the tiny man said nothing.
An uneasy feeling had settled over her gut since she had sat down. She felt nauseous and her chest thudded heavily, her heart seeming to pump so hard that she could feel the blood rushing in her ears.
"I'm gonna be sick," she mumbled, heading for the bathroom. She stumbled down the hallway in a blur, her hand connecting with a doorknob. She turned it and stumbled inside, landing heavily on the floor.
Sesshomaru's room? her addled mind struggled to keep up with her. She glanced around, stopping dead as she looked at the closet. There was a purple light filtering in around the edges of the door, shining impossibly bright in the gloom of night.
She stood shakily, heading toward the door. Something inside her was was being pulled toward it and she followed like a moth to the flame, helpless against her rebellious body's choice. Her fingertips brushed the knob and opened the door, spilling the bright light into the room. It was blindingly bright!
"What the hell?" she asked, her head pounding even harder as her confusion began to turn into fear. She raised her arm to cover her eyes. Her foot moved forward and fell straight through where the floor should have been, and she swallowed a scream as she tumbled forward and down...
-o-o-o-
1) Tsuchigumo: Spider yokai.
Ending Notes: And there's chapter 2! Sorry for the slight delay, I've been quite busy
writing papers and wanting to kill myself because of said papers! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
What do you think so far? What you think will happen to Sesshomaru? Do you want to punch Tobikuma in the face?
Also! Keep your eyes open on the Beginning/Ending notes. I will be linking some art of my original characters, and perhaps a few of Rin/Sesshy.
See you soon!
