Chapter 14: The Trust

(Flashback)

Eldest of the three southern brother's bravely ask the Southern Lord, their father.

"Father, is it necessary to build an alliance with him through trust? With your power, you could easily manipulate him and have him tied around your hand." A young Kin asked. Watching the small army of the Western Lands and their Lord leave their castle.

"Fool." His father scolded. "Trust is the key to building an alliance. You need to learn how to trust if you want to be my successor, from the three of you, Kai is the most probable successor."

"Kai is the Fool for trusting so much."

"Son, a Great Leader is trusted by his followers, you must have compassion and the charisma of a great commander. If you rely on your power to take advantage of your people, then you are not worthy of commanding an empire let alone my people."

"Tsk." Kin glowered, hands curled into fists by his sides.

"And besides, Touga's too powerful to manipulate anyway." His father turned around at his frowning child, and smiled sheepishly.

(End of Flashback)

"Curses, Sesshomaru's power seemed to increase. My power can't even manipulate him anymore. "Gin muttered to himself through gritted teeth, stomping in their castle's hallways looking for any servant available. He remembered pieces of memory form centuries ago where the former Lords of the West and South were alive, they were still very young and Sesshomaru was weaker then, Kin and Gin were able to manipulate him but not Kai, they made the poor pup do their biddings when their fathers are not looking, commanding him like a servant. Take this to Kin, Pick me those flowers, answer these stupid questions, sit, stay, beg, and bark! Gin snickered but then realized that if Sesshomaru were to remember what they did, they'd be more than dead. Also the current Western Lord acquired a sword that can resurrect the dead, Gin gulped. 'He could kill us for how many times he wants.'

Suddenly, Gin bumped into someone huge, causing him to trip and fall backwards.

"Ouch! Watch where you're going you idiot!" He glared at the person. It was Kai.

"Sorry Gin nii-san, I was calling you ten times already but you weren't paying attention."

"And you decided to bump into me?" Gin pushed himself up and fixed his robe.

"Uhhh… no, it was you who bumped into me."

Gin glared and Kai shuddered. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to ask what I should do to the human, should I kidnap her or kill her."

"Sesshomaru can't be manipulated, he's set on cancelling the arranged mating, and he's not in his happy mood right now since I can't find a single servant in this stupid castle to attend to him!"

"The servants are in the meeting hall, it seems that one of the generals saw Sesshomaru-sama and requested all the servants to prepare it."

"What!? Who's the general!?"

"I believe the leader of the Crow Tengu clan, a few mountains to the north from here."

"Lord Kyo? He is not able to make decisions before us! Was Kin's spell removed?"

"Actually it was you who manipulated him not Kin nii-san…"

Gin's eyes twitched and dashed towards the meeting hall, he blasted open the huge wooden door and saw almost all the castle servants in there. He glared at them and the poor servants shuddered.

"Leave this and attend to our visitor!" He commanded but the servants didn't left their work.

"But Lord Kyo strictly said that we should finish preparing the hall." A servant countered, Gin grew nerves again.

His blood red eyes started to glow, and had his sclera tainted in orange. He glared at the servants and called all their attentions, as their eyes met with Gin's their eyes too started to glow but dimmer.

"Leave this and attend to our visitor! Now!" Gin commanded again and this time the servants dropped everything they were doing and bowed at Gin, all proceeded to leave the meeting hall like nothing happened.

Gin's eyes returned to normal, and he sighed. Kai, who was following him, whistled in awe.

"What are you still doing here?" He asked his huge little brother.

"Uhm, what should I do with the human?"

Gin thought for a minute. "Well, we can't kill her unless Kin's here, Sesshomaru might kill us, kidnap her I guess?"

"And?"

"Think of something that'll not involve us getting killed while making Sesshomaru agree with the arranged mating."

Kirara kept purring whenever Kagome pets her, A-Un saw this and got jealous so both heads lay on Kagome's lap and Kirara lay on Un's head instead.

Kagome grew dread lines on her forehead, suffocating from the weight her companions are giving her. Minutes have passed since both the Western and Southern Lords left them. She decided to wander a bit together with A-Un and Kirara and saw a large patch of flowers and cool thick shady trees. They decided to relax there.

"A, Un you're really heavy…" she tried to smile but failed. The dragon's sensed her heavy breathing and lifted their weight, shifting around her and lay behind her instead, giving Kagome a comfortable place to sit down and lean on.

Picking up the letter that was tied around Kirara's neck, she giggled at what was written on it. It was from Sango.

"Kagome-chan, I don't really trust Sesshomaru-sama protecting you so I asked Kirara to accompany you and happily agreed. If ever Mr. Ice-prince left you alone in danger, don't be surprised if Kirara suddenly scoop you up away from him. Stay safe Kagome-chan!

-Sango"

"Mr. Ice prince." Kagome giggled at her sister-like friend's remark. She paused mid-way from her giggle when she heard the bushes move and an unfamiliar presence.

A-Un slowly stood up and faced the direction of the presence, covering Kagome. Kirara jumped off of Un's head and transformed into her tiger form. Growling at the same direction.

Kagome stood wary, her arms ready to grab her weapon, until she remembered. "What if it's the servant? You three calm down."

The suddenly Kagome dashed forward and squealed like a little girl. "AAAAW, they're so CUUUUTE!" She grabbed three domestic white rabbits and crushed hug them. The rabbits squirmed and tried to get away from the human.

A-Un and Kirara widened their eyes at Kagome. The nekomata transformed back to its kitten form and A-Un sat.

Kagome ran towards her companion with three rabbits grasping for air in her embrace. "Kirara! A-Un! Look at them! Aren't they adowable!" She cooed. "They're so cute I could just eat them!"

Kirara, A-Un, and the three rabbits all shuddered at Kagome. "Hahaha, it was just an expression, I'm not really going to eat them."

Kirara and A-Un rolled their eyes at Kagome, the three rabbits sighed in relief. They seem to understand the priestess.

(Somewhere in the forest)

Kai scratched his left ear with his huge furry paw. "What the!? Why wasn't she controlled!? Did I make the bunny puppets wrong?" He asked his self from a few miles away where Kagome and her youkai companions were, being able to see what happened through the puppets eyes.

(Back at Kagome and co.)

The three rabbits' fur were being brushed by Kagome's hand, hard, getting squeezed by the force. Unkowingly, one of the rabbits were able to shift around and stared at Kirara and A-Un. The youkais stared back and their eyes glowed red for a few seconds.

(Back at Kai)

"Great, am I that weak?" Kai cried. "I could control those two beast but not the stupid wench!?" He pinched his temples, frowning at his power. "Darn it." Now he was thinking of what he'll do with two controlled beast, three puppet rabbits and an unaware priestess wench.