Chapter 24

Previously…

Sesshoumaru and Kagome arrived at the castle after the long journey.

Now…

It had been quite a few months since Sesshoumaru had returned to the palace, with everything primarily as it should be. While Kagome bathed, he was briefed on tactical maneuvers and alliances that were in consideration, as the human population continued to rise. When he arrived at his study, he noticed his mother already sitting at the large sized kotatsu, covered with a silver drape and surrounded with navy blue pillows for sublime comfort. The goal was to be as comfortable as possible when drafting action items and managing everyday operations, but honestly, how comfy can one be filing, sorting, and signing paperwork all day? Withholding a sigh, he addressed his mother with a nod. "Mother". He knew why she was there and really didn't intend to play partisan to her theatrics, but the situation needed to be addressed. In his mind, the thought of Tokijen cleaving her head from her shoulders during a frontal attack, provided a small comfort for the lack of patience he felt when dealing with her.

"Do not think you can hide the human from me, Sesshoumaru. One human goes, and another comes. You are more like your father than you think," Inu Kimi stated while sipping her rose tea. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly at her statement. If killing his mother wouldn't weaken the West, she would have been dead ages ago.

"This Sesshoumaru has no intention of hiding his intended. As such, you will remove the filths that linger". A challenge presented itself in his eyes, as his mother held his gaze for a moment longer, gauging the seriousness of her son's words. She could deduce he would not, in good sense, joke about a mating with no potential, which is why her curiosity was peaked even further, though she gave nothing away. Thinking back, her web of spies were amongst the finest in the four cardinal lands, and she had done her research on the girl. She knew the girl was a priestess, possessing a dormant, higher level of power. Unfortunately, she was never able to confirm the depths of her strength. But, If she had Midoriko's strength, at least it would be easier to win the West and its' elders over by raw power. She recalled watching the incident with Naraku through her mirror, and the girl had potential… for a human. If she was weak, well… a few thousand deaths would probably quell her sons rage after the girl's assassination. Inu Kimi mentally sighed. 'A mother's work was never done.' She gracefully nodded her head to the side in submission of the challenge presented.

"Will she produce powerful pups?" his mother asked, noticing the added conviction in her son's voice. She had spent decades and centuries searching for the perfect mate for her son, a powerful, purebred demon with the capability of ruling the West by his side. And here, he waltz's in with a human. Other than her potential untapped power, there were no visible intriguing qualities. Her looks were above average for a human she supposed, but her usual state of dress insisted that she seduced her way to Sesshoumaru. But her son was not so callous. 'Looks like I should have observed a little longer,' Kimi thought.

Sesshoumaru arched a perfect eyebrow as he watched his mother contemplate and strategize in her own mind, as if to say 'Have you met me?' but alas, he did not. His mother's power as a female demon and Lady of the West was formidable, but her intelligence network was in a category of its' own. He assumed she grew weary of watching him thru her mirror if she was asking this question now. But Kagome was more than her power, this he knew, for he spent months carefully observing her, trying to make one piece of the puzzle fit the other, only to scrounge through more middle pieces than end pieces. She was an endless conundrum and yet, still a pleasant thorn in his side.

"Our mate would be our equal in all things. We would not seek those who only want claim to this One's wealth and title." Inu Kimi eyes drifted close as she tilted her head slightly in acknowledgement. She understood the depth of her son's feelings with just one of the words in his statement. 'Equal'… Whether or not she approved of the human made no difference. He and his beast had chosen, and to even attempt to separate her from him would most assuredly cause her son to rampage and trample his own lands. In a moment's consideration, she wondered if Toga ever considered her an equal. His demonic lineage was strong, fierce with power. A blind demon would willing follow his magnificence, and she would help guide any others in absolute loyalty. And there lies the answer to her question. She would never be enough, and could have never been his equal, as it was not her who made his soul complete. As disappointed as she was, she would not hold it against him. Perhaps in another life, things would be different, but for now, she could only continue to live in the present, while planning for the future.

"This one expects to meet the human for breakfast on the morrow, seeing as how she is currently… indisposed." As in afterthought, she added that she could not simply remove the females that were invited into the palace as potential mates, as that would be discourteous and could cause civil unrest within the court. "Instead, have your human prove that they should not be here, and no one would question it."

Sesshoumaru sneered at the mention of the court and elders. He could care less about their opinions; any who challenged them would meet their end, quickly and swiftly, and he would enjoy it too, like a sadistic maniac, basking in the blood and gore of his kill. Then again, he could also enjoy the show of Kagome displaying her power and purifying the greedy bitches into nothingness. That in itself would be more than arousing. But for now, he would maintain control of his aura, and refocus his attention on his mother.

"There is another matter. This Sesshoumaru has sensed an unfamiliar power and presence, twice since began our return." And with that, she knew the conversation about the girl was over. Typical. But, hearing the seriousness of this information, she looked to him once more.

"Not completely unfamiliar, but very surprising, nonetheless." Inu Kimi sat her tea down.

"Explain," Sesshoumaru demanded.

"I am not surprised that you felt the energy, however, most demons would not. Only higher caliber demons are able to feel it, but even this One is surprised. The sources of this power were known to have been eliminated, sealed most likely, following an encounter with the priestess Midoriko. This was several centuries ago, when your father was Lord of the West. Even I wanted to claim the power. You see, they have this uncanny ability to manifest out of nowhere, mostly undetected until they are upon you, but by then, the target's has already been decapitated; the most efficient way to kill, if you ask me." She shrugged her shoulder as she sipped more tea from the articulate, silver cup.

His eyes urged her to continue, and so he knew she would oblige. "Obviously, there were others who wanted the Voids power for themselves, which is why the clan died out. They were the supply, and they could not meet demand. This one knows the Northern Lord and his underlings eventually decided if he couldn't get what he wanted, then no one would. The Lord attempted to annihilate the clan secretly and blame the West by word of mouth, pillaging their villages while some of his soldiers claimed to be generals of the Western lands." Her eyes narrowed mentioning this, and the tea cup fractured in her hand, but it did not spill the contents. "But we know the last remaining members engaged in battle with Midoriko, near the southern lands, where she supposedly defeated them, but no purifying light was visible."

"They were sealed, then?" Sesshoumaru posed the rhetorical question.

Standing and turning gracefully, Inu Kimi began gliding across the room to the shoji doors. "This one suspects as much. A battle may be upon us Sesshoumaru. This one will make certain preparations."

This is not what he was expecting. He could feel his beast's hackles rise. It reminded him of cats whose fur stood on ends, warning you not to approach. The thought that someone would try to take what was his angered him, making him want kill for the sake of it. 'I've killed for less.' As an afterthought, he mentioned that the Miko could sense the voids, and that would help to alleviate some of the tension in his shoulders, knowing that she was not weak, and could protect herself if need be. Inu Kimi stopped, eyes sparkling with mischief, though her face remained passive. "Is that so?" she asked. A small smile tugged at her lips, but Sesshoumaru caught it just before she cleared the doors threshold. 'We will warn the Miko to be weary of this One's mother as well.'

'Hn.' The beast agreed.

Meanwhile, a ways down the hall and tucked around a few corners, Kagome lay bathing in the guest hot spring. The minerals in the water soaked and soothed her skin, relieving the pressure and knots acquired during her travels. The feeling was glorious and absolute bliss. Even Ryoko couldn't ruin it by reaching out for her at the end of the hall. She wondered why the girl didn't come to her, but remembered that this was Sesshoumaru's personal hot spring, so no one was probably allowed. Kagome hoped to high hell that she was not here for Mira again. She already had to concern herself with two females in the palace who probably wanted to rip her face off. She didn't have the patience to add another. Intent on grabbing her towel and yukata, she began to step up and out of the spring, only to slip on her favorite lavender bar of soap. "Aaahh," Kagome screamed, unable to catch her balance, quickly falling down with a thud.

"Darn it," she exclaimed , rolling over on an elbow while glaring at the bar of soap, as if it magically walked under her foot because it wanted her to fall. At the same time, Saku heard the noise and flashed his way to the spring.

"Kagome-sama, are you alr-" WHAM!

Mouth agape, Kagome stared at the open door in abject horror. She had unleashed too much of her power while embarrassed and naked, just to prevent Saku from seeing her. She immediately jumped up, threw on the yukata, then ran to the outer door. "OH MY GOD! Saku!" she cried out, realizing that she'd forced him through a stone wall, and wounded his torso with her purification powers. "I am so, so sorry. Please allow me to heal you?" she asked with a crest fallen face.

"Well, at least I know you're safe now," he joked as he began to pull himself out of the rubble. "But seriously, was that full power? With prolonged exposure, you might've actually killed me," he smirked. Although he was teasing her, he could tell she felt really bad about the entire situation. But if she could heal him, then no harm no foul. He knew it wasn't intentional, and didn't want her to beat herself up over it. As he stood up straight, she lifted her hands and let her healing powers flow.

Down the hall, Ryoko sensed the reiki and her nerves were immediately frazzled. She took two steps backwards and about-faced. 'The priestess seems busy. I'll speak with her at a later time.' She began walking back towards the way she came.

At another end of the castle, Sesshoumaru felt Kagome's power and his instincts demanded he check on her wellbeing. He knew she could handle herself, plus Saku was with her, so he hesitated. And then he smelt her blood, though only a very miniscule amount. After that, his beast would not relent and he quickly ran to her location. His brain could not translate the scene before him quickly enough, so before either of them could explain, Sesshoumaru was charging at Saku, eyes red, sword drawn and forcing him back through the hole Kagome had caused. Fortunately, Saku was able to stop the blow. He wasn't a general for nothing, but he would not last forever against his Lord and he knew it. "My Lord, you know I would never be disloyal." Saku could only hope to talk some sense into him.

"Sesshoumaru wait! It's not what it looks like". And even though the statement was true, her mind couldn't help but find it humorous, recalling the numerous amount of times you would hear those same words romantic comedies from her time period. It was almost always, exactly what it looked like. But this was not the time for a mental checkout. She had a misunderstanding to correct. Realizing that words were not working, Kagome used her powers to accelerate in front of him, and trap him in a barrier with her, as she began to reach for his clawed hand.

"Look at me and let me explain." She demanded. And he did. "Saku heard me scream when I was getting out of the hot springs and attempted to come and save me. I realized he was going to come through the door while I was indecent, and flared my reiki a bit too much and knocked him into the wall. When you saw my hands on his chest, it was so that I could heal the burns faster, to keep the other demons that live here from noticing. That's it, I swear." She took the initiative and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Sesshoumaru listened to the events while keeping his eyes on the general. His logical side knew that she would never betray him, even his beast instinctively knew. Having her scent surround him in the barrier he she placed, allowed him more focus and control. He could smell that the only scent of Saku that lingered was on her hands, as she mentioned. "You are bleeding," he stated, and she looked around trying to identify the location. He grabbed her elbow to show her, eyes still on the general, and licked it gently so that it would heal. As the heat from his tongue soothed the wound, his eyes told the general exactly who she belonged to: 'Mine!' "Tell this One how it happened," he commanded, the scent of her embarrassment increasing ten-fold.

'Dang it. I was hoping to avoid telling anyone about it. But he's starting to calm down, and the whole thing is my fault anyway.'

With a huge sigh she began to tell him that when she emerged from the spring, she slipped on the bar of soap. She immediately scowled and looked away in shame and embarrassment. He looked down at her incredulously. "My powerful Miko. You were bested by a soap bar?" He believed her. How could he not? The situation was just so unbelievable, that it could only happen to her. Saku was just as surprised as his Lord, though he kept all his senses tuned on him in preparation for another attack.

Kagome sighed, putting both hands on her face in exasperation. "I know, I know. Don't you think it's more embarrassing for me? Can't we just drop it now?" she pleaded, begging to be put out of her misery. "Hn," Sesshoumaru acknowledged and picked her up to take her to his quarters. His eyes returned to their amber hue, then he nodded at the general, understanding passing between them.

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And another chapter is complete. I really wanted to get the meeting with Inu Kimi and Kagome underway in this chapter, but I thought of the soap scene with Kagome, and it was further delayed. Looks like it'll be next chapter though for sure.

Thanks to everyone still keeping up with the story.