Whispers bounced across the hall from courtier to courtier as the royal family strode through the court and settled atop the dais. The court was in a state of disarray, barely dressed appropriately and recovering from wounds and half dragged from sleep. There were cries of outrage and discontent as they watched the family and remarked on the Heir's short hair—the dishonor he must have brought to the clan at such a display.
The Inu no Tashio stood and addressed them and his words bellowed out across the hall in all his fury. He spoke of the cowards who had attacked them, terrorizing their people. He praised the two young females of his pack, as they sat quietly beside Fuiasu, for their bravery and perseverance under horrible conditions.
And then he was kneeling before them all and Sesshoumaru-sama was behind their Lord, a short blade in his hand.
Silence echoed around the hall as he cut his father's hair and the Inu no Tashio admitted his own dishonor in his failure to fulfil his duties as their lord.
As each silver hank of hair fluttered to the ground as Sesshoumaru sliced the thick masses to pieces, tension in the hall grew to a crescendo until the last of it was gone and his hair was even shorter than his son's.
Sesshoumaru, for his part, struggled to remain impassive. Cutting off the long white locks of his father's hair was like destroying the memories of the father he most admired and what was left was a man almost bowed by shamed.
In that moment, he promised himself that he would never fail again—never let his father fail, either. And so he locked away the boy he been only that morning and all the love and playfulness he'd still indulged in and became the young Lord his court expected of him.
Never again would he allow failure to taint them.
o.O.o
Word Count - 320