Kudaranai was still being held captive in the prison hut, but she enjoyed it. From her last beating from Sesshomaru, she was still in much pain, and loved getting rest through the day. Sesshomaru too had noticed her changed and was pleased. Slowly he was starting to win. He now ordered the girl gave two meals a day with plenty of water so she can heal faster if he still wanted her to go the Takemisho's event. Three days had now passed, and Kudaranai was comfortably laying a on mat a maid had also brought for her. She stuck on arm behind her head, and bit into an apple, chewing thoughtfully. But soon she got bored, and decided to give a little 'concert' to her guards who was standing outside the window.

"Oh, there once was a girl, who only lived in her world,

until two bad men came and caught her! One was named Dum

and the other was named Lir, and both were very stupid indeed!"

Kudaranai smirked as she caught the guard shifting on his feet angrily. She began again another different song for the guard.

"I once knew a guard, who looked like a tub of lard,

who had no choice but to gaaaurd my window! And since he was so fat, so very very fat,

his wife left him and she became a happy widoooow!"

"I am not fat, and I was never married to begin with!" The guard turned sharply and yelled through the window.

Kudaranai gave one last bite to her apple and threw it at the guard, the apple core hitting him right on his face. "I never said I was talking about you, right?" She said grinning.

"You said a guard who was guarding your window! Who is guarding your window, uh?" He replied.

"So, did you gain weight after your wife left you, or you were always fat to begin with?" She asked.

"I am not fat, I was always a chubby since I was a little boy! And for your information, my wife has not left me!" He yelled angrily.

"Oh, I feel for her then. I mean, just imagine, every night making love with a tub of lard!" She said and pretended to shudder. "That would be just wrong!" She flung her arms into the air exaggerating. "Plus, you said you had no wife to begin with. To make up an imaginary wife, you must be a very looooonely man!" Kudaranai burst into laughter as the guard's face went completely red and as his cheeks puffed up with air.

As nightfall came, a unlocking sound from the door awoke Kudaranai. Kudaranai sat as the person's shadow walked inside. She rubbed her eyes and stared up at the person who had awoken her. The hut was too dark to make out the person, and just as she was about to demand who she or he was, a hand clamped around her mouth. Another hand crashed on her chest, throwing her back onto the mat. To keep her from getting up again, the person threw its body on top of her, and she instantly knew who the person was. It was the very same guard who she had made fun of in the afternoon, and he was after a little revenge of his own. As she started to fight back with her arms, she felt a sharp prick at her throat. He now held a dagger against her. "If you yell, even whisper something, I will kill you!" He hissed in her ear. "Tell me you're just doing this for a fright!" She replied, and he dug the dagger a little more into her neck, making her gasp as she felt it break through her skin. "No, this is the real deal." He hissed again. Kudaranai knew that she going to get raped, but not if I can help it, she thought. As he pulled back and sat on her legs to keep her from moving, he positioned the dagger on top of her new kimono to rip it open. "Don't even think of it! This is new!" She instantly grabbed his wrist and twisted it sharply to a side, the wrist making an awful crack. As he dropped the dagger and was about to scream, she leapt up and pounced on him like a cat after catching its prey, and held the dagger his throat. "If you scream now, even much less whisper, I will not hesitate to kill you." She flatly to him. He simply nodded, and still holding the dagger to his throat, she demanded, "Now stand up you disgusting looonely man."...Sometime passed, and the guard was crying out of coldness, pain, and humiliation, and Kudaranai had gotten the best seat in the house to watch his humiliating show.

Sesshomaru awoke rather too early, not even the sun was up yet at the most. What really woke him was laughter that rang through out his castle, and especially outside in his courtyard. He stood quickly, knowing something was wrong. His servants were never laughing or even in a happy mood even after the sun had risen. He walked over to balcony to take a look outside, but saw nothing more and than a crowd of people laughing at a pole that stood in the middle. He growled angrily as he shut he door and walked out of his room angrily to the courtyard. He had no doubt that it would be another rude act from the girl. As he walked through the inner courtyard, he stopped in his track, noticing his imported cactus was pulled from the ground with all of the pot and a dirt trail following outside to the courtyard. He now knew the girl had done something. Throwing the door opened, he walked out to the crowd barefooted and only wearing his nightwear pants. He pushed the to-busy-laughing-people-to-notice-their-lord-and-had-bow aside and stopped once more dead in his tracks, this time making his body jerk a little. The laughter only ceased a bit. The guard was tied to the cactus that was held firm by a pole, the guard actually tied-hugging the splintery plant. What made the scene worse and funny, was that the guard was absolutely butt-naked. Sesshomaru looked at Kudaranai who was sitting against her hut, arms crossed behind her head and one leg crossed over the other. She threw a smile at Sesshomaru as he looked at her.

"He, my good Lord,-please excuse me- DANCE YOU OLD LONELY MAN!" The guard gave one jump and cried out of pain, his legs almost giving out on him and making slide down the needle-plant. "He came in last into my hut and tried to rape me straight out. He even held a dagger against my neck, see!" Kudaranai said pointing at the cut on her neck.

Sesshomaru looked at the guard, who shut his eyes out of humiliation. "Is this true?" Sesshomaru asked him.

He gave a short cry, and when he was about to lie, Kudaranai said, "Lie if you want, and I'll just right over and push you right into that plant!"

He gasped, and cried out, "Yes, My Lord, I tried to rape her! Now please, My Lord, release me for here at once and I will not touch another woman in this castle again!"

Kudaranai and everyone else gasped, except for Sesshomaru and about five women who lowered their heads and tried to retreat back into the castle. Kudaranai shot on her feet, jogging towards the guard. "You had the nerve to touch, no, rape other women as well? Shame on you!" Then, just as Kudaranai was about to push him into the plant, Sesshomaru got a hold on her and held her back. The guard sighed relieved.

"Let me go, let me go Sesshomaru! Let me at him, I'm going to pushed the damn bastard so hard that the needles will hopefully cut off his-" Sesshomaru spun her around, taking a strong grasp on her shoulders.

"I will take care this of myself." He said, and released her. The guard gasped, while the crowd waited eagerly to see what their Lord will do.

Sesshomaru proudly strode up to naked guard, raised his foot and kicked the guard on back so hard, that it sent him and the cactus rolling away far from them. The guard screamed in agony, and even as the rolling came to a stop, the guard was still yelling and crying loudly. Everyone chuckled, and Kudaranai gave a strong nod and a small 'hn' of satisfaction.

"As of now you are relieved of your duties. If you are not gone by midday today, you will be killed on premises." Sesshomaru said, and then added before he turned and walked back to his chambers to get properly dressed, "And make sure you pay back that exotic plant within a year or I will personally come and hunt you down." With the end of the show, the crowd quickly went back to their work and jobs, leaving a girl still standing in the middle of a courtyard, and a crying man tied to a cactus on the floor.

"Kudaranai, come." Sesshomaru ordered without stopping or even turning to look at her.

Kudaranai raised an eyebrow curiously and ran to catch up with him, walking silently behind him.