Ch 36 The Meeting
Silence greeted this horrible notion put forward by East and instantly Inuyasha's scent flared into one of trepidation; his body shaking in his alarm. His panic was obvious to many in the company and Kouga moved closer to him to lend him support by his very presence. Sesshoumaru although not moving from his position, used his youki to calm his brother as much as he could, never taking his eyes from the Lord of the East, who he could now see was greedily watching Inuyasha with lascivious desire. The Taiyoukai was absolutely furious at the Lord; but nobody would have known, Sesshoumaru was a master at masking his true feelings behind his well known stoic mask.
The Lord was trying to cause Inuyasha to lose his cool, to make him look like the sort of person who would strike first and ask questions later; it was imperative that Inuyasha keep his head now and trust his brother. Inuyasha became aware of a very low growl; soft and comforting and he looked to his brother who was still not looking at him, but at East. There was no outward evidence but he knew that the sound was coming from Sesshoumaru and that only one with canine ears would pick it up which let out most of the youkai sitting on the opposite to him; it was the sound that reassured and at the same time commanded obedience and it worked, Inuyasha started to calm down.
Sesshoumaru kept the company waiting; while he sat calm and serene, letting the others get hot under the collar. Then he spoke;
"Lord Kouga, how did your mate describe the approach and attack of this panther?"
"Ayame could at first see nothing but shifting darkness and she knew that something was approaching in a stealthy manner. Her words were 'creeping in the shadows'. She told me that his scent was adrenelin based, sweat and tension were also evident and she said that she recognised the scent that a hunter exudes. My mate is well qualified to identify these odours as she is a wolf and as it is well known and documented, we canines have a remarkable ability to decipher scent."
"I trust nobody doubts the veracity of Lord Kouga's account or that of his mate?" Asked Sesshoumaru. The Panther Lord answered smugly;
"No body doubts the word of a pregnant female who can be easily made nervous. No one would do her that discourtesy; but My Lords, she was in the company of a young hanyou who had that huge sword which almost obliterated the servant. I am not saying that either is lying, merely that they fed off each other's fears and over emphasized in their minds the perceived danger. It is easily understandable Lord Kouga.
"And your answer to my brother, he is neither pregnant nor neurotic?"
"Is it not a little insecure Lord Sesshoumaru? It tries to find a permanant place in your home by guarding your pups and then overreacts to a danger, in the hope to make itself indespensible to you. I tried to warn you before; it seeks to buy your allegiance; the creature is sly. Let me speak with the hanyou." East had slipped back into not even considering that Inuyasha was anything more than a thing to be bought or sold, Sesshoumaru noted and so did others; but he nodded his head to allow the boy to be questioned.
"Hanyou, your biggest fear is that once the fame of your victory over the other halfbreed dies down, that your full youkai brother will once again disown you; casting you out to the life of bare existence you had before, isn't it? So you seek any means at your disposal to give him reason to offer you shelter and yet you know too, that the day will inevitably come when something will happen to make him turn on you again. Perhaps with the words of disdain and disgust and probably a hand raised to punish or kill you; in fact as he more normally treats you.
"That panther you destroyed was acting on a suggestion I made; but not an order given. I had been speaking about the strange situation in West's household concerning you and had wondered if you were stolen from the grounds, whether or not your half brother would even care enough to search for you. I thought not; as it would show you were not adequate to look after yourself, let alone his heir. I told you then that I think you are dangeous to have around a child, you might put the heir at risk to stage a show of how good you are at protection. Sesshoumaru is still young and inexperienced in the ways of the deceitful trickery of the desperate.
"I offered you an alternative to living that way, you would have your own room and clothes, in fact anything you wish within reason and when I finish with you I will let you go wherever you wish. I might even mark you as protected by me; to be returned unspoiled and unharmed in case I wanted you back. It is a generous offer and better than you will ever get once Sesshoumaru is through with you, when the novelty of you being Naraku's slayer wears off and he finds other guards more experienced for his child's welfare.
"Come now, you did not pull away from my touch; did you hanyou? I think it pleased you and I would teach you to enjoy much more than I did in the garden. I am not cruel in the bedroom, as such. You could even probably find work in one of the higher houses, plying your trade; once you were well trained and we parted company." The panther was well aware of the silent tears falling from Inuyasha's eyes, even though the boy had bowed his head in submission to his words and had no answer for him and made no sound.
Neither did Sesshoumaru make any move towards his brother, although he too was totally aware of Inuyasha's upset frame of mind; at least not until he made a movement with his hand to alert a servant who carried a bowl to place in front of Inuyasha, just in time. Once again the poor pup lost his stomach contents and he only just heard the voice saying that that reaction, should be beaten out of him as soon as possible. Inuyasha could take no more and despite his desire to stay seated to please Sesshoumaru, he had to get out.
Kouga came to find him and he held the silver mane out of Inuyasha's face as the boy heaved until he had nothing left. Kouga rubbed his back gently and came to sit beside him when he'd finished, utterly exhausted and offered him a square of silk to wipe his face that bore Sesshoumaru's scent, carrying the hidden message that Sesshoumaru understood and was not angry for his disobedience. When Inuyasha was a little more composed, Kouga went with him to the tents where he helped him clean up and change into fresh clothes; a little concerned that the boy had not spoken at all.
Suddenly though, Inuyasha pulled himself straight; adjusted his clothes so they were fitting him perfectly and combed his hair. He looked at himself in the glass and apart from the slightly blotchy face and pinked eyes; he was presentable again and gave a small smile to Kouga. In truth he felt terrible, his whole reason for existence kept being paraded in front of everyone's eyes, as if he were nothing at all except some dumb animal that didn't know or care for anything better. Either he was to be a whore or else not more than a child's slave; he would never have any respect and it made him yearn for his tree or his cave.
As Inuyasha re-entered the tent, Sesshoumaru could pick up the scent of resigned despondency easily; plus his brother's whole demeaner was defeated and the youkai cursed the Panther Lord yet again for feeding the self doubts, the boy had in abundance. Yet he could also see the determination that had set in around the eyes and mouth of his brother that indicated that Inuyasha had come to a conclusion. It had better just be the right one. Everyone waited until Inuyasha was seated again before the advisor who was heading the proceedings spoke again.
"My Lords, does anyone else wish to speak or have anything to say that has not been said? It is not disputed that a servant of My Lord East was killed, but it is also acknowledged that he was acting unwisely on his own behest in trying to curry favour with his Lord. He has paid the price for that; but in saying this, My Lord East feels somewhat responsible for putting forward an idea that was then acted upon independantly. The requirements for reparation shall now be put forward. Lord Kouga?
"No harm came to my mate or pup this time and it is admitted that murder was not the intent. I require no further satisfactionthan than that a repeat will not be tolerated." Lord East looked smugly across at Inuyasha from Kouga and the advisor asked Sesshoumaru to speak next.
"I think my brother should have the next say."
"The hanyou My Lord? Very well, he may answer My Lord East's proposal for him; but he is not entitled to any form of retribution; if you feel that as your property he has been damaged in any way you may make your claim to cover that. Inuyasha raised his head and looked directly for the first time to Lord East. He spoke quietly and solomnly;
"I am no one's property nor will I become yours, neither can I deny that I did not resist you; but it was not for the reason you suspect. I can deny your assumption about my motives for the things I do, I can say you are mistaken. But I know you believe you speak the truth now. You did stretch your knowledge when you insulted me the first time about my parents, but insults can also be true even if not pleasant. I do not know what my future holds; but it does lie with my brother Sesshoumaru and not you, because whatever happens, one thing about my brother I do know and that is that he doesn't lie. You do not know all the things he has said to me and you don't know him well enough to make any judgement on what he intends to do.
I came here wanting to kill you for the things you have said and done to me. But I cannot kill someone for acting on what he believes, however much I despise him. I just want to go home and never see you again." Only then did Inuyasha look away from the eyes of his would be seducer who gave him a vicious look back before saying;
"I can wait hanyou, one day I will pick you up when your brother has finished with you and thrown you out with the waste, then I shall see if you are redeemable."
"Lord Sesshoumaru, how can we settle your honour? Would you like to speak now?" The advisor took charge once again and Sesshoumaru stood.
"Where to start? I shall not employ rhetoric, I will just state the facts. You were invited to my house to partake of the celebration of the naming and presenting of my firstborn heir. During that time you made obnoxious assertions about my father and Inuyasha's mother in front of the boy; then you carried on about my own intentions towards him, some of which you have all heard quite obviously repeated here. In doing so you have in effect called me a liar several times, undermining my rule; in a vain attempt to seduce Inuyasha to your own carnal desires, by making him feel unsafe in his own home and trying to cause dissension between us.
"Not only have you assaulted him with degrading speech and then by intimate touch, you have subjected my brother to danger from an uncontrolled servant that you had suggested kidnap him and watched as you made no attempt to stop said servant. What would have happened to my brother had such an attempt been successful? I do not for one moment think that Inuyasha would have had any say in what would happen to him. Given Your Lord's proclivity for treating the boy as an object and not as a being with rights; I know that he would have been raped as soon as possible; in the hopes that it would make me disinclined to care about and retrieve him.
"Inuyasha could not fight back against the personal attack he was subjected to, as he had in his arms my newborn pup and he didn't know if any other assassins were around. He put himself in jeopardy rather than risk harm coming to my heir. Now I have a question for each of you Lords. Should I come to your homes and do such things as were done to my brother, but to one of your pack marked maiden children, including attempted kidnap with the intention of raping and spoiling the child, what would you demand be done to me?"
Silence greeted his question and declaration.
"All of you would consider such actions as acts of war; as do I and yet because my brother is a hanyou, some of you consider him as expendable. I do not. He is the marked and presented son of our great father as much as I am. He is a minor under my acknowledged protection; a fact of which East was fully aware at the time he assaulted my underaged brother. East has in fact violated my trust and declared my protection as worthless; even going so far as suggesting his own mark would be more protective of my brother in my stead.
"Hear my terms for reparation. Unless you wish for all out war with many of your innocent subjects killed and your maidens and women at risk of rape and pillage; you will hand East over to me. I demand he die."
This time the silence was deafening. Nobody could refute Sesshoumaru's logic nor righteous anger at the insults as he saw them. In truth they all agreed, it was just the fact that the hanyou was involved that was the problem. Had it been a full child of Sesshoumaru's or his full brother, there would have been no question of the guilt and retribution would have been carried out. But in the end it was the fact that Sesshoumaru's own mark having been discarded, that was the deciding factor.
No youkai however great or small should ignore a mark of protection be it a pack or a mating mark. Marks were sacrosanct and East had called the viability of West's honour in denouncing publicly, Sesshoumaru's intention to safeguard his marked pack no matter whom he had decided to mark. He had inferred that Inuyasha would not be cared for as a pack member by his brother and had tried to steal the boy away, expecting impunity because Inuyasha was a worthless hanyou. No youkai would stand for that; certainly not one who ruled and whose word was trusted and relied on. East had underestimated Sesshoumaru.
The eldest son of the Panther stood up. So far he had said nothing but had watched all the proceedings.
"We do not want war with West and we understand the implications of your condemnation of my father and fully endorse your reasons. I would like to apologise on behalf of the Eastern Lands for the slander you suffered and a personal apology from us for the treatment of Inuyasha. I recognise the symptoms your brother suffers My Lord, as my own mate's sister underwent abuse; she still has nightmares too." Sesshoumaru nodded by way of answer to East's heir.
"My Lord Sesshoumaru, may I beg clemency for my father's life. He is not an evil man in reality, just foolish and lecherous; but I do not believe he realised that he was causing actual harm to your brother." Sesshoumaru wasn't so sure about that statement, he'd heard some of the words that had been said to Inuyasha.
"I could place him in a house of exile on my lands Sesshoumaru." Volunteered South. "He could be kept safe there with only family as visitors."
"It would have to be understood that if any of the conditions placed on him were broken, his life would be immediately forfeit and that clemency would not be seen as a sign of weakness. The moment East mobilised for attack, the former Lord and all his household would be executed and war would not be averted a second time."
"That would be acceptable Lord Sesshoumaru and I thank you for your mercy."
"See that it is not abused. You are now the Lord of the East and I trust you will be a more satisfactory leader than your father. My advisors will sort out the details, I am now taking my pup home.
TBC