Chapter two: Faded Memories
Right from the start the other women watched her like a hawk. She was in the room for no longer than five minutes when Kaede came into the room and brought her and her roommates to the bathing quarters. Quickly they undressed and dove into the water while she slowly striped and dipped herself into the soothing water until she was fully emerged. Underneath the water she could feel the static wrap around her and her body renewed itself. When she stood she breathed in the air is deeply. Gasps sounded behind her as she turned around and smiled at the girls as they now looked upon a slender woman. She stood 5"7, an average height for a human woman. She had no bruises, no cuts and her skin shone like an angel's.
The strange woman only smiled and turned around, beginning to wash her hair. She washed it quickly but efficiently, remembering to let the conditioner sit for a minute before washing it out. After ten minutes they were called out of the water so another room of maids could wash off the grime from the day's work.
In the room the newcomer was given sheets and a bed. Her uniform was set out on her empty cot when she entered into the room and she quickly picked it on and put it on the old desk that was set in the corner of the room. After that she made her bed. The other women watched her wearily as she said nothing to them. Each of them was afraid to talk to her as they were still slightly frightened about what they had witnessed in the hot spring. Only one other girl in the palace was a miko and her name was Kikyou. She also slept in the next room over, but like the newcomer Kikyou did not talk to anyone.
After her bed was done Kaede called her out of the room to evaluate her higher skills to see what she was able to do. Upon seeing her, the older woman smiled at her healthiness and complimented her again on her looks and asked her about her ability to heal, cook, clean, sew, fight and train. By the end of the night Kaede had come to the conclusion that the new girl was a master at all of them.
After the evaluation the miko found her way back to the room and to her cot and fell asleep heavily, dreaming of a time that no longer seemed real to her.
[The dream]
The east and west were at war for territory and the fires burned rich against the farmer's crops. Once again the East had snuck into West territory and begun to steal the women to use them as slaves. The men of the village were killed. Their deaths were watched by their loved ones.
She stood alone, digging through the rubble screaming the names of her mother and father, listening to her baby brother who was settled beside her in a small basket crying. Her fiancé had been lucky enough to survive and dug eagerly beside her.
By the end of the day she had found her father's bloody body, but her mother's was never found. Her fiancé held her crying form tight, cooing soft gentle words into her hair as tears filled in his eyes. He stared at the little boy beside him and begun to stroke her hair. The terrorizing screams just outside their hideout echoed sickly as more raids passed through, slaughtering everyone.
[End of dream]
The woman woke with a start as she gasped. Hot tears ran down her face as she wished that time had not changed.
It was still dark outside but she put on her uniform anyway and walked out of the dorm, following her instincts that guided her through the halls that she had ran as a child. She walked outside and smiled when she found the path to the dojo were the child's pact was made. Out of a child's innocence it was made unbreakable and even to this day, no matter what she felt towards the lord, she knew she could never hurt nor kill him. The memory of the innocent promise seemed to be ages ago and she knew then logically he thought she was dead. It was his narrow mindedness that stopped him from believing it was her. He knew her as a human because her miko powers had suppressed all signs of being a demon, but she, just like her brother, her mother and father, was a demon none the less. She had her mother's miko powers, but somehow even they had been magnified.
"Excuse me servant." She heard someone say, but she paid no attention to the voice and continued her way down the path to the dojo. "Wench!" the demon yelled, grabbing her hand and whirling her around until she was facing him. She could hear him gasp and watched as he licked his lips. She recognized him, as he had been the one that she had zapped last night at the party. Roughly she pulled her hand away and scowled.
"Let go of me this instant you disgusting creature" She said calmly, not afraid of the demon in front of her. His eyes widened as he recognized her voice, but she was already walking away from him towards the dojo. He ran to catch her but as he approached her she swung around and brought the heel of her hand up, breaking his nose. Blood gushed from the injury and she only smiled and walked the rest of the way to the dojo, laughing to herself at the guard who was on the ground, tears in his eyes. Soon after he went running to the nearest companion and told him to get the lord.
She entered the dojo and stared at the weapons. There were more then there was before and she remembered his hesitant answer when she asked him if he would ever hurt or kill anyone. The world was not as beautiful as she had thought it once was. Her happiness was gone. She had fought and killed many men on her capture. Anger surged in her when she thought about how she was taken from her home, taken from her brother and betrothed and brought here to this pathetic place that could not even protect its people.
It was true about what had been said about Sesshoumaru not being as good of a ruler as his father, but he was still growing into the position. He did not know the truth about the East and she knew in due time she would have to tell him. She would have to get him to listen somehow. She could feel him behind her, even though his aura was blocked, she could smell him. When he dove at her and dodged easily and laughed lightly at him.
Sesshoumaru listened intently on her giggling as he was sure he had heard it before. He had not slept easily and when his guard had woken him just to tell him that his new maid was loose of the palace grounds and breaking his guard's noses this was the last place he thought he would find her. He thought that she would have tried to escape, but when he had watched she seemed to be taking in something that brought back memories.
She was watching him now, staring at him with pretty blue eyes. He could see her bruises were healed and the bags under her eyes were gone. Her face startled him with its beauty and she smiled at him. She had caught him staring, not something you could usually catch the great lord of the west doing. Gracefully she walked over and bowed mockingly. "It is great to see you this morning Sesshoumaru."
He growled at her again and gripped her wrist, moving quickly as she slammed up against a bare wall. She gasped for air and something ached in Sesshoumaru's heart as he watched her small body gasping for the air that had been knocked out of her. "I told you to use my proper title. You are to respect me."
Through clenched teeth the gasping woman scowled. "I will give respect to whom it is deserved." Sesshoumaru could feel the anger rolling off of her, but her eyes shone with sadness. Again his heart contracted painfully, forcing him to let go of her. Why was it that he could not hurt this woman in front of him? He knew that in his mind, death would have came to her a long time ago, but something echoed in his mind, telling him, reminding him that promises were meant to be kept.
She watched him, but her vision changed. No longer was she staring at him, but once more she was staring through him. It was like she knew him from another time, another place that had once allowed him to be himself.
Weren't you yourself? You were once so young, stubborn and free. His mind asked him. The woman before him gave him a slight smile then turned away from him, walking out of the dojo. He followed her, too shocked to be angry. She looked so sure of herself on where to go, he knew she would have had to been here before.
Her head turned slightly as she smiled at him. Sounds entered his mind, giggling, running, footsteps echoing down a stone hall. There was love in the sounds. Friendship he didn't remember, but now he wished he had. "You have changed much Sesshoumaru, but in changing you have become blind to what has been happening to your lands. There is a reason your father did not make a treaty with them so quickly. There were things your father knew about them and was not willing to except."
Sesshoumaru's head shot up as he looked at the human in front of him. She did not look towards him, but he had a feeling that it was her who was speaking to him. "What do you know of my father and the deal with the courts?"
She looked at him slowly, seeming to take him in. "If you were not so blind to the facts that you believe to be real, then you would have already figured it out." "Do you have pictures of your father and mother when they were both still alive?"
The question was so random that it shocked Sesshoumaru and a deep anger grew within him. How did a mere human know that his mother had died? His mother's death was almost three hundred years old. "Is that a yes?"
He didn't know why, but he nodded and turned away from her. "Follow me. You will need a tour of the palace anyways since you are to become a maid in it."
She followed him, but kept a fair distance between him for a reason she did not know of. He did not ask her why she did this so she did not feel the need to tell him. As he led her around the palace he told her were things were, but she already knew most of it. She was only really curious about the pictures. There was no conversation between them and only he spoke. When finally he led her down a hall that she did not recognize she started to look at the art. She could see herself as a small girl, her mother, and father and sometimes even her brother would show up in the pictures.
There was one picture that she had found. It had been painted of the both of them when she had just turned ten. It was that same year that Sesshoumaru's mother had died. She stopped in front of the picture and stopped and stared at the little girl that she no longer remembered. "Who is this girl? Is she a sister?"
Sesshoumaru stopped and walked back towards her and looked at the same picture. Upon seeing the girl in the photo his heart stopped for a moment and constricted. "No she was not a sister, only a friend of the family. She died shortly after the picture."
The woman nodded and tried to smile. So that was what he had been told. She was dead to him, and yet she was standing right in front of him at that very moment and still he could not see the resemblance. "What was her name?"
Sesshoumaru looked at the strange human and again he felt his heart constrict once more at the thought of his first and only friend, the one who had seen the world in such an innocent way. Death had not affected her world, when his mother had died. She had been strong for him. That was until she had died herself. When she had passed away his world had come crashing down. He had started to hate her for being human, for being so weak and pathetic. That's all humans were something beneath him who was meant to do his bidding. "Her name…" He took a deep breath and looked at the picture. A hand came up slowly as he tried to remember her voice, and her laugh. Images of her smiling at him played in his head every day. "Her name was-…"
Footsteps pounded the hallway floor. "Milord!" boomed a deep voice. Sesshoumaru turned his attention to the demon that rounded the corner and stared at him.
The look on his face was in shock, his knees shook in terror. The female stepped forward and stared at the man. "You have a delivery Sesshoumaru. He doesn't know how to say it, because the delivery is someone's head." The woman looked at Sesshoumaru to see if he understood. A growl sounded throughout the halls as Sesshoumaru began to move forward at a walk.
"Woman come with me." He barked at his new servant.
The woman looked at him and bowed, understanding the seriousness of the situation. "Yes Milord." She said as she followed him, almost at a human jog.
Sesshoumaru stormed into the meeting room with a scowl on his face. The woman followed him obediently into the room, then stopped and stood by the door. Inside the room the lord of the East stood there, a serious expression on his face. "Your lordship, this was sent to us this morning." The lord help up the head and she couldn't help but stared at expression that had been plastered on its face.
Shock hit her as she stared at the soft blonde hair. His eyes were closed and his mouth was open. It was like he was screaming she thought "Jin." The woman whispered as she walked slowly up to the decapitated head. Her eyes flashed to the lord of the East. "Who did this?" Her voice was loud and cold. There was something in it that made everybody turn and look at her. Blue miko power flowed out of her body as she stood there in anger. "Who is responsible for this?"
The lord just looked at her and smirked. "Well if it isn't that little slave that I gave away. We miss you at the market place. I hope Lord Sesshoumaru is using you well." Sesshoumaru looked at him and decided to ignore the comment.
Deadly blue crystal eyes turned onto the Lord of the East. "The funniest part is I have never been to the market in the east." With that said she turned to Sesshoumaru. "Milord, I asked to be excused." Sesshoumaru only nodded, knowing that he would get the answers out of her later.
She left the room, tears pooling in her eyes. How long had she wandered around after the separation looking for her fiancé? What was left of Souta if the person she had left him with was here, dead? Where were they found and why would someone want to hurt such a gentle man? Thoughts rushed into her head as her feet led her subconsciously outside to the gardens she once played in as a child.
[Flashback]
Her stomach was pressed right down into the dirt, her breath steady and silent. She was ready for him to come find her. She had hidden her scent so that she could hide from him, and she knew that is she made any noise at all he would find her.
She could hear his footsteps on the grass walking her way, and she forced herself not to panic. This was a game of cat and mouse, and she was the mouse there was no doubt about it. She wanted to prove herself to Sesshoumaru. She wanted to show him that she could be good at something too. But in order to do that she had to be completely silent.
Something grabbed her leg causing her to jump. A scream left her mouth and he quickly covered it. "It's ok, but I found you."
Disappointment squeezed her heart and she frowned. She crawled from under the bush and stood up. She looked at him with a sad look on her face as she started to walk away, Sesshoumaru following her. "I'm not any good at this. I wish I could be as good as you, I can never find you."
A chuckle left his mouth and he grabbed her hand gently. "You were pretty good for a human. Covering your scent was a good tactic. I couldn't even hear you until the very end. You must have started thinking or something because you sighed and that's how I found you."
A blush found a way onto her cheeks. "Yeah, I was thinking that I wanted to prove that I could be as good as you were." She said, looking away from him. It was his twelfth birthday today and she was once again the only one he invited to his birthday party.
He squeezed her hand again and smiled at her. "You were great, for a human that is."
"A human?" The thought that they were different had never crossed her mind. Was it just because she was human that made weaker then Sesshoumaru?
"Sesshoumaru, come in so you can open your gifts." The two looked at each other and she smiled and started to run. She had become a lot faster then she used to be and sometimes it took all Sesshoumaru had to catch up to her.
[End of flashback]
A smile graced her lips. That little girl didn't exist anymore. She had asked Sesshoumaru what the girls name was just to see if he remembered. The little girl, her name was Kagome. It was when she turned ten that her mother and father had told her that she was a demon too. That year Sesshoumaru's mother had died and she never did find the time to tell him, and still he did not know.
Jin was her fiancé that she had loved after all contact between the Taisho and Higurashi households was broken. He was the only other person who knew her secret. And now, Jin was dead. Anger built up inside her again and this time she released.
Eyes watched her with interest. What was she thinking? She held so much power and yet he had given her away, but he knew she was the only way into the Taisho palace. Soon she would because the only weak point that Sesshoumaru had. She had to be. And now what he had her brother, she would bend at his will.
