Chapter 9 – Further consequences of the action
Sesshomaru studies me with a disbelief in his eyes as I get into sitting position. In the end I'm quite satisfied with the result, after all it could have ended a lot worse for me. I meet his gaze and gives him a slight smile at which his expression changes back to his 'famous' annoyance.
"I cannot say I am surprised by this outcome," comes a voice from the side, and I re-realise that Lord Inutaisho was watching the whole time, which I completely left out of my mind during the fight. When I look at him, he adds: "But you did better than I expected you to... Who trained you?"
"My grandfather did," I reply as I stand up, while looking back at the times when I used to complain about how strict my grandpa used to be during the lessons he gave me. 'Well, today I'm glad he did, and all the hard training seemed to pay off,' I smile to myself.
"Human, I suppose..." he continues to which I simply nod and move to collect the swords that have been thrown out of my hands because I deduce that the sparing time is over. I place them back to the other weapons and then turn back to the two demons. Both of them are still watching me, yet one with interest, while the other one with distaste - I suppose I don't need to specify which one with which.
"You seem to have good basics and your own style as well..." the former notes, "...we could work on that if you want." My eyes widen slightly at his words, 'Is he truly offering to help me with the training?' I can't help feeling happy about it. "It would be an honour," I reply thankfully.
"Very well," Inutaisho nods at that, "I suppose that is all I wanted this morning from you, Natsuki." I smile at him, joyful at being called by my name regularly after such a long time. Then as I turn to leave my eyes once again meets Sesshomaru's gaze, and unintentionally, my smile even widens. Surprisingly, this time his expression remains unchanged, and I can't help but wonder what could possibly run in his head right now.
Unlike on the way in the morning, this time I'm walking through the palace rather relaxed and positive. 'Hey, I even managed to get out of my first trouble quite easily,' I think to myself a bit cheerfully. Unconsciously, I make my way to the library, which I only noticed when I'm in front of it's doors, and I suddenly sense a familiar scent.
'Seriously, right now?' My eyes narrow slightly, but considering the fact, that she is probably already aware of me being here, I enter nevertheless.
I am immediately 'welcomed' by another glare, but time coming from no one else, but Akemi herself. "What brings you here?" she asks, and I notice that this time she is more self-aware and calmer than the other day. 'Maybe she did think slightly over my advice to act more lady-like in the end…'
I decide to follow the lead and act in a mature and responsible way as well. "I would like to return to the book I started reading yesterday," I reply and get to the specific shelf to get it. Then I sit at a table and turn to the part where I stopped reading.
After a few paragraphs, I raise my head up because I find the feeling of being closely watched the whole time rather disturbing, and I ask Akemi with a raised eyebrow: "Yes?" She frowns a bit, but then replies: "You're strange." I do my best to refrain myself from smiling, and I nod: "Yes, I've told so…"
"Why weren't you bothered by anything I told you?" she blurts out suddenly, and I turn my head to look directly at her. I can see that she obviously didn't mean to ask that, but at the same time I realise that it has probably been confusing her even since. "Should I have been?" I ask her in return silently. She roses an eyebrow: "I expected you to be."
At first, I considered not replying to that, for I didn't feel like sharing that information with her, however, seeing that Akemi is serious I sigh slightly and answer honestly: "You see, when you'd been insulted countless times already, you built a kind of resistance to it, and you stop caring about a bunch of a few more taunts."
"So, you claim yourself to be resistant to them? No matter what I would call you?" she challenges. I actually smile at that, but it's more of a sad smile than a happy one. 'That depends on what you would come up with,' I think to myself, but aloud I say: "Who knows?"
She frowns once more, but it seems that she decided to drop the matter for now. Nevertheless, something in her expression tells me that it is far from over. She stands up, and says: "Well, since it does seem that you will not be leaving anytime soon, I suppose it means we will have enough time to settle this."
Wondering if she is trying to provoke me with it I send her a questioning look. Realising that I won't answer to that she turns to leave. "See you later, hanyou," she whispers to which I reply even quietly: "See you... Akemi."
She freezes at that, seemingly fighting with herself whether to react, but then she hardly noticeably shakes her head and walks away, leaving me to speculate what she could come up with at me in the nearest future.
'Well, things are going to get fairly interesting here…'
A/N: A brand new chapter is here for you! Big thanks to liv-chan, my 3rd reviewer, and also to everyone who supports this story because it keeps me motivated to continue writting!
Published: April 12, 2018
