Chapter 9: Presentations: The One Called Sesshomaru
Disclaimer: I have no claim over anything to do with the "Inuyasha" manga or anime. This includes the anime series, and the movies. This story is for entertainment only, and no copyright infringement is intended in any case. Copyright over "Inuyasha" belongs to the creator Rumiko Takahashi.
You still have a couple hours until you have to go down to the Hall. You would love to go outside and just do something, anything, other than be stuck inside, listening to the commotion the servants are making downstairs getting ready for the Ball. However, Kisa is not about to give you that option. She insists that you must start to get ready in order to look acceptable and make it on time.
"But Kisa!" You argue. "The Ball is not for a few more hours! How long could it possibly take to put on a kimono?"
"My Lady, this Ball must be very important, and there will be many important aristocrats attending! You must look your best! And besides, you are not going to wear just a kimono; I want you to look breathtaking! Now go and take a bath, My Lady, and I will prepare everything else."
"What else can there be!?" You yell in amazement. But she just ushers you to the bathroom and closes the door on you, leaving you staring at the dark oak door. Now taking a bath has become your only option.
You can already feel the warmth of steam creeping up your body; Kisa must have already drawn the bath for you. You turn around and come to see a beautiful pool of elegant white marble, sunk into the ground, steam lazily rising into the air. There are petals from roses and cherry blossoms floating gently on the surface of the water. You can't help but smile gleefully at the amazing pool of pure water. Back at the Temple, you had never really thought about bathing in such a manner. You bathed, sure, but you were more of the athletic type, so simple water was good enough for you on most occasions.
You gently take off the kimono you had been wearing for only a few hours and let it drop at the side of the pool. You slowly maneuver yourself into the water, wary of entering too quickly. When you feel that the water has taken to you, you sink in all the way and let out a soft sigh.
'I wonder why I never did this back at the Temple.' You think to yourself. 'It's wonderful!' You let your head rest on the edge of the pool and you begin to feel that the alluring warmth of the water has become too much for you, and so you quickly doze off...
"My Lady! My Lady! Wake up! You can't sit in this heat forever!" Kisa's voice immediately wakes you up; she is standing right behind you.
"Oops! Kisa, I'm sorry! I fell asleep!" You apologize.
"I can see that My Lady, but we can't worry about that now! We must hurry; the Ball begins in an hour! You've been sleeping all this time!"
"Oh no!" You yell and quickly grab the towel that Kisa is holding. You both hurry into your room and you dry yourself off and at the same time grab the royal purple kimono that you are to wear and run behind the changing screen. You allow the towel to fall and you gently, but quickly, pull on the kimono. When you are finished tying the golden obi around your waist, you walk over to Kisa. She is running around, finding whatever it is that she wants you to put on.
"I guess it's a good thing you had me take a bath so many hours before the Ball." You say with a guilty laugh.
"Yes. See, I can be right at times." Kisa replies, still moving around your room, gathering all sorts of bowls and jars and little wooden boxes that you have never seen before.
"Kisa? What are those jars? And what's in them?" You ask her.
"Some of the Lord's servants brought them here while you were sleeping in the bath. They are for you to use, you'll see what they are." Is the only answer she gives you.
She then walks you over to a chair where you sit, giving her a look that says "what the hell are you going to do to me?"
She reads your face and says "Just sit still, My Lady. We only have a short amount of time now, so I ask you to sit still."
You just nod to her, but your eyebrows furrow and your eyes look at her warily. But you close your eyes and allow her to do whatever she has planned.
"There, My Lady! You look wonderful!" She says as she hands you a small mirror so you can look at yourself.
Your mouth drops. Your face has been powdered, your lips are rose-red, and you have been showered in beautiful diamonds that sparkle in the light with any sudden movement you make. There is a diamond necklace that rests on your collarbone, and diamonds that make up a sort of head-dress that accentuate your gracefully pointed ears and your midnight black hair.
"Wow! The Lord certainly is generous to his guests!" You say to Kisa with a small laugh.
She smiles, but merely says "My Lady, you must go down to the Hall now! The Ball is going to start soon!"
You sigh. You feel that getting ready for the Ball will have been ten times more fun than what you have to look forward to for the rest of the evening. "I guess you're right." You say. "Thanks for helping me, Kisa."
"You're welcome, My Lady. Now hurry, you can't be late!" She says. And with that, you close your bedroom door and walk down the gilded corridor, down the stairs, and follow the amazingly vociferous music coming from what you can only assume to be the Hall.
You quietly enter the Hall and see that there is already quite a number of people there as it is. There are men, demons really, in their best armor, sword included, and women, demonesses, that look stunning in amazing kimonos and elaborate hair styles. You feel so out of place, and even commonplace compared to all these demons. First of all, they are all demons, and second, they all appear to be much older than you, and they most likely are. You may be 500, but you have a feeling that these demons and demonesses are so much older.
'These must all be Inu No Taisho's friends and allies.' You think.
Just then, the only familiar face you know walks up to you. You breathe a sigh of relief, hopefully Inu No Taisho can at least get you into a more comfortable setting for you to survive the night.
"Ah, Akaria, there you are, my child! It is wonderful that you came!" Lord Inu No Taisho says to you in a jovial manner.
"Yes, My Lord, but..." You hesitate, you really don't want to offend him, but you really don't want to be here, sitting doing absolutely nothing.
He seems to catch the hint. "Oh, yes, of course!" He says with a hearty laugh. "We can't have you sitting on your own this whole time! Now if only I could find my son, it's unbelievable, this is his Ball and I can't locate him anywhere! Well, let's just have you sit here, I'm sure Sesshomaru will turn up some time." He then leads you to a corner table where you then sit on one of the small cushions.
"There you go, my dear. I will return shortly, but I must attend to the arriving guests."
You nod in understanding and he walks off, leaving you there feeling stupid with nothing to do.
You see that there is some food on the table, though. You find it surprising, though, since you think that demons must not eat, like you do not need to eat.
'It must just be here for show.' You think. However, you look at the fruits and the meat, which you can't tell from what sort of animal it came from and you decide to content yourself with just an apple. You chew slowly on it and begin to look around again at these demons, but your eyes fall on to the door frame, or more so, outside the door frame. The door leads outside to the gardens and as you focus your eyes you see something, or more so, someone out there, sitting beside a tree.
Well, you aren't exactly having the time of your life inside, listening to these demons talk about wars and lands, or the demonesses talking about senseless gossip, so you figure that you should go talk to this person and ask why they think that they are so special to be exempt from listening to this torture.
You silently walk outside, but you don't know why you're walking so quietly, it's not exactly like you'll be missed in there. You make it to this person and finally see them in the light pouring out from the Hall. It is a man the most beautiful man you have ever seen. He has beautiful silver-white hair, not unlike your own, that cascades down his back, it is longer than yours, falling nearly to his knees. He has 2 odd purple-pink stripes running down each cheek and along each wrist. He is also wearing a snow white kimono that has a red design on his shoulder and an odd sort of armor with some type of fur that circles his right shoulder. He also has a katana strapped to his waist. His eyes are closed, almost like he is bathing in the light. He is unlike anything other being you have seen in your whole life.
You can't help but look at him in fascination, but you nearly fly out of your skin when he takes notice of your presence.
"What do you want, wench?" He asks, jerking his head to you and staring at you with piercing golden eyes.
Well, your gaping soon turns to anger at the 'wench' remark, but you breathe heavily to yourself and walk up to him. "Nothing, I was just wondering why you are out here when everyone is inside. Do you not want to see the Lord's son? Are you not a friend of his?"
He snorts at your questions and replies. "You must be clueless. I am the Lord's son."
Your mouth could have dropped a good five feet if it wasn't blocked by your chin. "Wait, you're his son, you're Sesshomaru!?"
"That is Lord Sesshomaru to you, and yes I am his son, what of it, wench?"
After the second time of being called a wench, you know that breathing to calm yourself wasn't going to work, and it doesn't, your mouth just loves to get its way.
"Now wait a second, I have a name you know, and it's not wench! It's Akaria!" You yell at him.
"Heh. So you're that goddess that my father was weak enough to take under his care. It seems my father gets weaker and weaker as time goes by." He says, you can tell that he is talking to himself, rather than to you. It's almost like he doesn't really care whether you are there or not.
"Your father weak? Well, only if being weak means that he has better manners than his son, than I guess he is weak!" You throw at him, your mouth is on a roll now.
"You wench, are you saying that I am less than him?!" He says to you, and you can hear a low growl escape his lips at the same time.
Now you know that things have gotten out of hand and you think things through one more time, this is this guy's Ball, in his father's palace, which you are living in now, so you know that you have to be on this guy's good side, whether you like it or not. You breathe heavily and sigh, then you walk closer to him and sit next to him. The second you do, the sun completely vanishes and the moon begins to rise, and with that your hair changes to match that of Sesshomaru's. It falls silkily over your shoulders as you sit beside him.
"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make anything out of what I said." You say, kindly to him.
He just snorts and turns his head away from you, as if doing so will make you disappear.
You sigh and blow some loose hair out of your face in frustration and try your attempt at peace making again. "Look, I am sorry, sometimes my mouth runs away with me, and I can't control it, but I am sorry, so can we start over? My name is Akaria." You say cheerfully.
He just stares at you like you are the ugliest thing that ever lived.
"Well, don't rush your response." You say sarcastically.
"Why must you insist on pestering me so, woman?" He merely says.
"Well, it's a step above wench, I guess. But I'm not trying to pester you, I just saw that you were out here all alone, and I was wondering why, and I'm even more confused now, seeing as how this is your Ball." You say, shrugging your shoulders.
"This Ball is nothing but foolish antics. Just a way for my father's allies to flaunt their wealth in front of each other."
"Well, I can't say I disagree, but still..." You drift off, but you change the subject. "Anyways, you said your father was getting weaker by allowing me to live here? What makes him so weak in the first place?" You ask him.
He again produces another snort to you and says "My father is constantly getting more compassionate to others, especially those that aren't demons."
That makes you feel even more out of place but you're getting some words out of him so you continue the conversation.
"I still don't understand what you mean." You say.
He sighs, he seems reluctant to tell you, but by some miracle he does. "My mother died giving birth to me, and now my father has found another mate in a human woman."
"What's wrong with that?" You ask, but as soon as you ask it, he gives you such a look that you know that you could not have asked a stupider question. You feel that you have pushed his buttons enough, so you get up and brush yourself off. You let out a long sigh and turn to look down at him as he is still sitting. "Well, it was nice to talk to you, Lord Sesshomaru." You say, with a playful accent of sarcasm on the 'Lord'.
He lets out a low growl but merely leans his head against the tree and closes his eyes, resuming the position he had before you had walked to him. You roll your eyes and walk away, the music and talking has died down, so you figure that the Ball must just about be over, you hadn't realized how long you had really been talking to Sesshomaru, if you could call it talking, it was mostly you trying to get some words out of him, but you hadn't thought that it had taken that long.
'It's also funny how they didn't seem to realize that Sesshomaru wasn't at his own Ball.' You think with a small laugh, but you figure that demons are just like that.
You continue to slowly walk away from the tree, and head inside, but you can't help feeling that there is a set of golden yellow eyes watching you.