A/N: I couldn't figure out when to bring back the great soldier Lord Takemaru, though he may be used as a comedian at present, I'm sure he will mature into the Takemaru of Setsuna we know and love to hate.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Inuyasha's characters.
Claimer: I do however own the story idea.
Past Attractions
Chapter Nine
"Goodness Lord Takemaru, what were you thinking?" an annoyed Izayoi asked the solider; though she smiled and seemed pleasant he could sense her annoyance.
Lord Takemaru sat beside the lady as she tended to his wounds, the earlier encounter ended much quicker than he had ever imagined possible but then he had never challenged a demon like the lord of the west. Without even blinking his sword had been split into two and all he could remember was the balled up fist from the demon himself coming towards his face.
When the man awoke, the lady sat beside him but her attention laid elsewhere. He clenched his jams together, gritting his teeth as he remembered the look upon her face as she stared off at the demon that had been on the lookout. Takemaru felt the skin tighten along his arms as he balled his own hands into fists, feeling a rush of anger and embarrassment.
"Honestly now, Lord Takemaru, I don't understand what you thought you could accomplish charging in as you did." Izayoi now said, she gave a tilt to her head and smiled at him. She was really annoyed. Her smile was well put in place and was very convincing but Takemaru had grown to know a few things about this woman and even though her smile said one thing, the aura she gave terrified the soldier.
He laughed uneasily at her, rubbing the back of his head he tried to figure out what to say to her scolding. His smile faded as he watched her stand from where she sat and looked over to the demon lord, "Taisho, are you sure it's okay to let Takemaru be here?" she asked him.
What did she mean? Takemaru looked up to his lady in surprise and confusion. Why was she asking permission from a demon to have her general be there to protect her?! He stood up without thinking, angered by the events thus far, "Milady, you should bother questioning him what you need. Of course I will be staying by your side until I take you back to the palace. We should leave immediately now." He took hold of her wrist and began to drag her the opposite way but was stopped almost as soon as the words came out and the action was done, Taisho stood a couple of inches taller than Takemaru, towering over him with a power Takemaru was not used too.
"She stays." The demon lord stated. "You can go though."
Takemaru had jumped back a bit by the sudden appearance of his lordship but with the words the lord spoke brought back the anger Takemaru had temporarily forgotten. "You have no right to keep neither Lady Izayoi here nor do you have any right to lay a single finger on her you demon!" he spat coldly.
Taisho merely looked down upon the man from his nose, he was not impressed, and in fact he was more annoyed with the human than anything. Without so much as a thought or hesitation Taisho had Takemaru's throat within his grip, he held him a few inches from the ground wondering what he should do to eliminate the problem at hand.
Izayoi gasped when Takemaru abruptly let her hand go and he was hanging from the air, her eyes widen with perhaps fear but not for Takemaru it seemed it was directed at Taisho but she could not yet figure out to why. "T-Taisho..." she began.
The human was dropped immediately with a thud to the ground. Taisho turned away and shrugged, "I have no time for such trivial issues human." Taisho grumbled. He glanced over his shoulder to see Izayoi had not run to the side of her knight as the demon had thought, he arched a brow at her, her eyes looking to him with a strange emotion that he could not understand. "Izayoi…" he called quietly; he saw her form jerk a little in anticipation. "Go find I'yun." Izayoi nodded with a relief smile and took off leaving the two male soldiers alone.
"You bastard…" coughed Takemaru he sat up slowly and brought a hand to his neck. "How dare you use Lady Izayoi as if she were a servant!" he snapped.
Before he could continue, a howling sound resounded over the forest as if echoed from somewhere like a mountain pass or something. Takemaru looked around, nothing but forest surrounded the two men so he wondered what made that sound and the echo that followed. He narrowed his gaze towards a thinner part of trees to notice a gap within the mountain wall the two were near, similar to a cave yet smaller Takemaru decided this to be the cause. Taking hold of his sword, he forced himself up ignoring the pain he was feeling to prepare for whatever battle may come when his eyes spotted twin monstrous heads coming from the blackness of the cave. Takemaru backed away instinctively at first but allowed his mind to stop such cowardly responses almost immediately.
Taisho, to his right, hadn't moved one bit. He did not seem to be concerned nor bothered by the appearance of such a creature. Takemaru glared over at the demon, Just watch! I will defeat this monster and Lady Izayoi will see just the kind of weakling you are! He thought smugly. At this point the beast had emerged completely yet Takemaru stared in awe to see his Lady and Princess atop it. His sword wavered as he watched Izayoi caress the monsters mane; he could see she spoke to it with a smile.
"L-lady Izayoi…" he began, feeling unable to do anything for her.
The beast, I'yun stopped before the two and Izayoi smiled up at them. "She seemed to be resting, I felt bad to wake her." She stated softly, looking back down to the beast with the same smile.
Takemaru could feel himself fall in love all over again with the princess, even creatures like these she was kind and gentle with. He could only find things to despise about these demons, like the man who stood a few inches from him, Taisho. That demon held a frown on his face all the time it seemed, he even appeared to be glaring at the lady as she spoke, then again he seemed to be glaring at everything he looked at in Takemaru's opinion.
"Now with that we must go." Taisho suddenly announced walking towards the two females.
The soldier ran over to Izayoi with a smile, "Allow me to help you milad-…" He was interrupted when the woman he was offering a hand too merely hoped off the back of the beast with a smile to the creature behind her. Takemaru found the corner of his mouth giving a twitch, "M-milady… I did not mind giving you a hand." He now said.
Izayoi looked up to the man her smile fading as she met his eyes, why did he have to baby her like she was a child? She hated it, he never gave her a chance to do anything for herself within the palace and now he wanted to do the same on her small journey. She purses her lips together frustratingly when she realized that here outside those walls, traveling with a demon her title and Takemaru's ranks were nothing. Her smiled returned to her face, "I don't need your help here." She turned from him and walked after Taisho who had continued onward.
Takemaru stared after Izayoi for a moment with his mouth hung open from her statement, however it did not last too long for he realized they were leaving without him. "W-wait a minute!" he called out, running after them. "As long as Lady Izayoi is here, I will be here!" he snapped over to Taisho who wasn't even listening to him.
-x-
The night was getting colder, Taisho could sense Izayoi's shudders from the head of the group, if she were not there he would continue but she was and so he would stop. Turning to the group he watched as the three came to a swift halt, "We'll rest here for a bit." He said now, looking away from them and over to one of the larger trees Taisho jumped.
Takemaru was dumbfounded. They were going to rest… here?! Out doors?! This was preposterous to say the least! 'How could he make Lady Izayoi sleep outside in such a place?! Have they been doing this since the day he took her?!' he thought angry with the situation. "Lady Izayoi, let us find shelter somewhere." He turned to her with a smile, it only grew to twitch at the fact that Izayoi had already taken to finding a place to lay near the twin headed beast I'yun. "Where are you doing!?" he cried out angrily, "Don't let that demon tell you what to do!"
"Lord Takemaru, shut up and go to sleep." Izayoi replied, yawning and stretching before curling up close to her companion for the night.
Taisho chuckled up upon the branch he had taken residence upon as he listened to the conversation between Izayoi and Takemaru. He truly was annoyed with this human, it agitated him to watch the soldier bother Izayoi constantly, and he didn't like the man following them either however he did not know why. Taisho could hear Takemaru moving over towards the tree in which he sat, the demon lord wasn't sure why he would even bother coming towards the lord of the west.
"You still awake, demon?"
'How I wish I weren't…' thought Taisho in response, he sighed and glanced down at the human who looked up at him with a serious expression."What do you want?" he asked, though he really didn't care one bit.
"We need to talk."
"Oh?"
Takemaru's eyes narrowed at the demon, "Come down here. I will not attack you demon, I just wish to speak with you." The man pointed up at Taisho, almost as if accusing him of something. The demon lord stood up upon the branch and dropped down beside the human which seemed to take the man by surprise by the reaction he gave. Takemaru cleared his throat and straightened himself up a bit, he glanced over his shoulder at Izayoi who was a great distance away from the two and then turned back to the demon lord. "What have you done to Lady Izayoi?"
This irked the demon a bit. Why? Taisho wasn't sure nor did he care at that moment.
"What do you mean? I have done nothing to her." He replied simply.
"Liar!" snapped Takemaru quietly. "She is resisting my help on everything. She has never been so disobedient about this!"
Taisho smirked. The man was angry that Izayoi wasn't leaning on him, that she wasn't relying on him as she had no choice before. This, for some odd reason, pleased Taisho more than it should have and it baffled him a bit, he found questioning the feeling though only made it more confusing. He shook the minor confusion away to Takemaru and his problem which really wasn't a problem at all, "She's finally able to rely on herself. What's wrong with that?" he now said.
"She shouldn't have too! She is a princess! A lady of noble, she should not have to dirty her hands when many are willing to for her!" snapped Takemaru.
The demon frowned at the man that was nearly a few inches shorter than him. How could Takemaru not see why Izayoi acted the way she did towards his help? "She isn't a child anymore." Taisho muttered, catching the dark hairs attention in a jerking manner. "What is she to you?" he now suddenly asked, agitated more than he wanted to be. "Not just simply loyalties for a lady of a noble family I take it." He glanced over from the corner of his eye to Takemaru.
Takemaru felt his cheeks burn a little, he turned away from Taisho's glance but he knew the demon was piercing him with it even harder. "I was one of Lady Izayoi's suitors chosen by her parents before their passing." He murmured quietly, he sighed and looked back to Taisho, "Of course they died before she chose one and so she never wed like planned." Takemaru shrugged as if he didn't care but Taisho could see that the soldier indeed cared to the point of trying to cover it up. As he had spoke of it, the demon lord could sense the aura of rage that warped itself around him, it certainly was not something he like obviously.
Taisho didn't pressure him at first, wanting the man to calm down, when he felt it simmer down he turned to him and asked, "You love her more than just a chosen suitor and yet you treat her like you were her father." He paused and watched as Takemaru was about to argue so continued, "Though I have no business nor care what you do in the future however I will say this to you human. You cannot expect to be her suitor and her father as once. If you love her at all you would see that she isn't a child anymore but a woman trying to learn on her own. Why not start treating her like one and not like some stupid royal?"
"W-why you-..!" Takemaru went to swing at Taisho but Taisho jumped up into the tree where he had been earlier.
"As I said before I have no need for such trivial matters, fool." Taisho called down, glaring down at the human, he hated this person with a rage he did not understand. "Do better to heed what is said to you or you might get killed."
Takemaru gritted his teeth and glared right back at the demon. "Damn you… you demon."
