A/N: For the 'Popularity' theme on Dokuga's LJ comm - this was for the one-shot contest, so there was only a minimum of 500 words. This one is 1715 words - the longest one yet, I believe!

All due recognition to Hans Christian Anderson for the inspiration.

Originally posted on January 28, 2010. It won third place!

Release

He was fortunate that no one was looking at him when the two, human women came into the room for their performance. Anger, annoyance and even morbid enjoyment of the death of a foe were acceptable emotions from the taiyoukai - surprise was not.

She had denied him. Again.

The miko - his brother's beloved - wore the gift he had intended for Kagome. Kikyo shimmered in the purple kimono, drawing appreciative glances from every other male in the room and gasps of envy from the females. It had done precisely what he had wanted it to do - it had turned a pretty, human girl with a lovely voice into a goddess. Unfortunately, it was the wrong human girl that had used his gift so successfully.

Beside Kikyo, Kagome wore a kimono that seemed to have been specifically chosen to fade into the background. He knew what she would say, if he chose to question her about it - the miko was the guest, the trained singer, the one of importance. She had chosen not to see the message behind the gift - the mark of his highest favor. She persisted in keeping at arm's length, and it was beginning to irritate him.

He had asked nothing of her this time - nothing - and she had refused him anyway. Publicly.

The only thing that seemed to cut through his seething anger was the fact that she didn't seem to be able to meet his eyes. Kagome wasn't alone in her nervousness - even Kikyo's usual, cool demeanor seemed shaky as she bowed before the taiyoukai. "We would be pleased to sing for you, Lord Sesshoumaru," she said. Her eyes darted towards the downcast Kagome. "Shall I begin?"

If any other demon was looking at Kagome when she came in the room, he wasn't by the time Sesshoumaru had given his assent and Kikyo began to sing. The taiyoukai felt as if everyone else had become blind to him and the slave girl. Despite his anger, he kept watching her. In a moment, he became fixated on the need for some sign of true contrition - some sign that she regretted the action she knew would hurt him. He hated that she could do that to him, but if she felt some guilt, it would be easier for him to bear.

He was only shaken from his careful study of Kagome when the hall erupted in applause - Kikyo had finished her debut, and the taiyoukai hadn't heard a note of it. Excited whispers surrounded him. It seemed that Kikyo was an instant hit with his courtiers - he had to take a moment to wonder if the kimono had helped the popularity of a human girl among youkai and damned Kagome once again when he settled that it had. It would be Kagome that the court appreciated so much if she had simply done as he wished!

"A duet! A duet between the two songbirds!" came the inevitable call.

Concern threatened to take place of his simmering anger as Kagome obediently moved to sit beside Kikyo. She looked so small and drab beside the brilliance of Kikyo, and he realized that their voices might be just as poor of a pairing. Kikyo's voice was beautiful and measured and even - everything that a trained singer's voice should be. But Kagome's was sweet and passionate and lyrical - she was innocent of a tutor's strict rules. In Kikyo's hut, the disparity had been negligible, but in the grand hall, Kagome was likely to be overpowered.

The duet itself only lasted a verse and a half. Kagome held her own more admirably than Sesshoumaru had expected, but the whispering of the courtiers was quickly more than he could bear. Just as he had not listened to Kikyo, they did not listen to Kagome. They only saw the miko and her pale imitation.

He got to his feet and all singing and murmurs came to a halt. "Lady Kikyo," he said, "please continue for my court's entertainment. I will return shortly."

As the door slid closed behind him, the music began again with the miko's voice alone. He could imagine Kagome sliding back into the crowd and letting the courtiers close in around her in their efforts to inch towards Kikyo. He didn't think it would take her long to follow him outside, but it surprised him when he heard her soft footfalls behind him in the corridor.

"You couldn't even bear to listen to me?" she asked, hurrying her pace when he opened to door to the garden. "Lord Sesshoumaru?"

He finally looked at her, seeing the desperation in her eyes. She was seriously damaging his ability to remain angry. "You misjudge my reasons," he murmured.

"I thought you'd be furious," she said.

"I did not say that I wasn't," Sesshoumaru replied with a frown, displeased that they weren't discussing this far from prying ears and eyes. At least the hallway seemed to be deserted for the moment. "You reject my favor at every opportunity."

Her eyebrows drew together, and the nervous desperation disappeared. "I don't mean any disrespect, my lord, but that kimono wasn't 'favor'. It was ornamentation for your favorite possession. If it was truly a gift to show your favor, it shouldn't be a problem that I passed it on to Kikyo-sama. Gifts belong to the one they are given to, don't they? If you were ordering me to wear it, you should have clarified."

"It is not just my favor you should seek!" he snapped. "It is the miko that enjoys the court's attentions now, not you. You threw away that opportunity for the sake of what? Proving that you don't like being a slave? Something that you have reminded me of on countless occasions?"

Her cheeks colored as she turned her eyes away. "Why should it matter what the court thinks of me now? I've been here for months."

Just as soon as he thought he had caught her, she had easily flipped him onto his back and made him vulnerable. Why did it matter? "The will of the people," he said slowly, "informs the actions of the leader. I wish for you to stay." At least, it was true.

"I followed you to tell you that I want to leave," she murmured.

"I suspected as much," he replied. "What do you expect my answer will be?"

She moved her gaze from the blank, rice paper wall and back to his face. "You have never be called predictable, my lord," she said. "I don't know."

He nodded once. "Where would you go, if you achieved the seemingly impossible task of securing your freedom?"

"Home," Kagome said immediately. "I've missed my family, and they need me."

"And Naraku?" he asked, making her bite at her lip. "He is nearby, and he has taken an interest in you."

She took a deep breath. "Lord Inuyasha has agreed to escort me as far as I wish." She paused. "He's waiting for me by the back gate with my belongings. I only took one other kimono. The simplest one you gave to me. But I guess I've asked for a favor from him before I needed it."

"So, that is where that idiotic, mongrel of a..."

"Please," she interrupted.

He closed his eyes against the image of her twisting her hands together, anxious for his answer. "I meant to say that you can take whatever you wish. They were gifts," he said.

Kagome's brown eyes widened. The spark of hope was all that it took to destroy his willpower. "Sesshoumaru-sama?"

He didn't want to let her go. He wanted to fight - to win this argument. But he also knew that it didn't matter. She had broken him down just far enough that he would anything that she asked, except do the one thing that would let her stay. It was probably best that she leave, he knew. A human slave should never have this sort of power over a taiyoukai. "You are miserable here," he said, not able to stop himself from giving her another chance to change her mind.

"Not here," she whispered. "Not with you."

"With the circumstances of your presence here," he corrected.

She sighed. "Yes."

He shook his head. "I make enemies suffer, not my own subjects. Not even my slaves." He took a step away from the still open door. "And so, you are free of those circumstances. Go and meet my half-brother."

Her mouth opened, but she seemed to have lost the words for a moment. "I thought you'd try to convince me," she said at last.

"Would you prefer to have to put forth all of your reasoning?" he said rather waspishly.

"No," she said quickly. "I just... well, I want you to understand why I have to leave. It's important to me that you do, my lord."

"The one thing we have never lacked is understanding of each other," he murmured.

Kagome gave him a faint smile, stepping closer to the door that led to her freedom. "I wish," she said, pausing in front of him, "that it could be different."

He wanted to reach out, take away the combs that held her hair and run his hands through the smooth, black strands. She would lean into his touch, he knew - she would lean into it, and she would never leave. But Sesshoumaru kept his hands at his sides.

"May I ask," she started again, "what it is that prevents it from being different? Is it because I'm human? Or because I'm a commoner?"

"Both," he replied truthfully.

"I thought so," she said with a nod. "There's not a lot we can do about that, then."

He expected a proper farewell, but she simply gave him a graceful bow and slipped out the door, threading her way through the flower beds with the assistance of the golden lanterns. Sesshoumaru could have stood on the threshold, watching her until she disappeared into the trees, but he forced himself to turn away and close the door with a snap of his wrist.

Shut her out of your life, he thought to himself. Even in his head, there was no conviction.

He had a feeling that he had not even begun to conceive of the depth of his loss.