Kagome sighed, her lips turned down in a sullen pout. Next to her, Izayoi's expression was not any happier. "They're so loud," Kagome muttered as she turned a small, custom made tessen over and over between restless fingers.
'They' were a small cluster of noble daughters, the children of the court, and they were crowded along all walls of the dojo as they watched Sesshoumaru practice his katas. They 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed at every movement of his young, lithe frame and the way his muscles, though still small and gaining definition as he grew older, shifted and bunched and released.
Wisely, Izayoi didn't say a word. Sesshoumaru might not be to hertaste and they may have grown up as adopted siblings for the last few hundred years, but even she couldn't deny the simple beauty of his frame. Especially when said young lord continued to sneak glances in their general direction, which Kagome seemed mostly oblivious to as she was far too focused on the other females in the room. "It's not their fault our instructor is late again," she said finally.
A sigh, and Kagome slouched from her formal seating and dropped the tessen in her lap. "Atsuki is always late," she mumbled, a slight hint of color cresting over her cheeks as she thought of the healer and teacher Fuiasu had assigned her, "And he never teachers me in the infirmary anymore. He always pushes me off on some underling."
Izayoi might not have been a demon, or had the enhanced senses and form that Kagome had, but even she noticed the abrupt stop of the young daiyoukai in the center of the dojo as he heard those words. Telling herself not to look, her brown eyes remained poised on her friends lap and the discarded tessen. "Atsuki is the Head Healer," she reasoned, and poked Kagome in the side lightly. "He probably doesn't have much free time to himself—especially since Lady Fuiasu made him our instructor in everything from defense to arithmetics."
"Be quiet!" The snarl effectively silenced the entire gaggle of chittering females, Kagome and Izayoi included, before he shoved his katana roughly back into the sheath at his waist. "The infernal sound of your inane chattering does not belong in a dojo! This one will personally see to your lessons, so stand up and form a line. The next one to open her mouth for anyreason willbe banned from the remaining classes." And here he sneered at Izayoi and Kagome, a clear warning that they were not exempt from this decree.
Both girls, having spent inordinate amounts of time with the young Lord, were well aware of just how serious he was. Several of the other females were not, however, and were stunned when he all but dragged them out of the dojo and slid the shoji screen closed in their faces.
The lesson ended up being the most grueling Kagome had experienced in some time and it took an extreme effort on her part not to bite off Sesshoumaru's hands every time he roughly adjusted her pose. But she did learn and he never had to make the same change twice, which was more than could be said for most of the other girls. So at the end when he strode out and left them all (the ones whom he hadn't banished at any rate) to clean up the dojo, she made a mental note thank him later.
No sooner had that thought crossed her mind though, than Atsuki entered the dojo. She hated the tell tale way her heart sped up at the sight of him even as she couldn't take her eyes off him. For the past year or so, she'd had the most unfortunate crush on the healer and Izayoi was the only one who knew, the only one Kagome had felt comfortable talking about it with. It was odd to feel so strongly about someone who had seen her at her worst and who knew almost everything there was to know about her, but she'd just looked up at him one day and...noticed. And hadn't been able to unnoticeno matter how hard she tried.
As he stepped into the room though, all of his attention was for Izayoi. At first, Kagome had been unbearably jealous of the human girl. Izayoi was stunning, even at twelve years old. Everything about her was so small and delicate and calm and soothing, that even if Atsuki had developed feelings for her, Kagome couldn't have blamed him. But she was still glad when she'd managed to talk her unreasonable heart out of those shameful feelings and remember that Izayoi had special attention because she was special.
When the Princess had first joined them, no one noticed right away. Years passed and things kept going the way they always did for the children, with lessons and playing and growing. The West was a kingdom of youkai, so it was only natural when no one noticed that the human wasn't aging—no one aged as quickly as a human in the western Citadel anyway. It wasn't until they realized the seven to eight years that had been predicted had passed and Izayoi still very much looked eight years old that anyone began to wonder what was wrong with her. And so Fuiasu and Toga-sama and given her to Atsuki for quarterly check-ups to make sure all was fine. He was the one who realized that she was growing at the same pace Kagome was.
Her father was brought here, and the eight years had not aged him well. The Setsuna lands were in turmoil and he'd had a heart attack a year or two prior—he looked like a man with one foot already in the grave. Ultimately, Toga-sama and Fuiasu had agreed to keep the child until whatever aging process had passed and she was old enough to be courted.
And so Atsuki took special care of her, always worried about her otherwise human body and the changes she might or might not go through. In truth, he always seemed to be unbearably curious about the Princess and Kagome had to remind herself that Izayoi was just a patient.
Biting her lip, she shoved her rag into the hands of another girl and restrained herself to a sedate walk to join them. "Atsuki!" she said, trying hard to work up an almost breathless voice (she'd over-heard one of the other girls talking about flirting like that), "You finally came!" Izayoi, bless her, didn't say a word about the change of voice but Kagome could see the humor in her warm brown eyes.
"Kagome-sama," he said, and frowned. "I told you last week while you practiced making poultices I would be unavailable for the lesson this morning, and to let Sesshoumaru-sama know. Did you forget?"
She blushed and looked down, thick black braid falling over her shoulder. Kagome had been so excited to just be around the healer, she'd plum forgotten all about that. Of course, she couldn't tell him that. "Yes. I'm sorry."
"Hn. It seems Sesshoumaru-sama managed anyway." Atsuki wasn't blind, or stupid, and the poor girl wore her heart on her sleeve and in her eyes. He knew that, and he tried to avoid her until she out-grew her little crush, but he'd never liked to hear her sound so sad. He'd always had a soft spot for her, from the moment she'd first come to the citadel and been thrust into his arms. He hoped she outgrew her feelings soon—especially since there was a certain young daiyoukai who all but growled at him anytime they crossed paths. He cleared his throat. "I was just coming to pick up Izayoi-sama for her exam. Then we'll continue your history lesson after lunch. Don't be late again, or I'll have you write out a history of the House of the Moon by memory."
"I won't be late!" she agreed, immediately perking up as she saw the slightestof quirk on his lips even as he threatened her with extra homework.
"Very well." He turned to Izayoi-sama and stepped aside, but not before he bowed low to Kagome. "Izayoi-sama, if you please?"
And so Kagome watched them leave and for a moment, wished she and Izayoi could switch places.
o.O.o
Word Count - 1,386