Chapter Two

Directly after the events of the previous chapter

Sesshoumaru's good mood from the previous encounter evaporated as he realized he wouldn't be able to join the trackers in their hunt. He would have to report to his father to explain the night's events to him. He enjoyed working with the trackers, actually hunters; they were the elites of the castle, faster, stronger, and far more skilled than any other youkai, except for himself and his father. They were of one of the highest rank of dog demon, although some were rumored to have wolf or feline blood in them as they had such great ferocity, speed, or stealth. They each had the same uniform identifying them as troops of the Lord of the Western Lands. And each had their own weapons of choice to use in their hunts. They were know to possess strange weapons, from 7 foot blades without a handle to swords that bent of at odd angles from the hilts, to strangely shaped metal knives that when thrown properly, could pass through a victim disrupted several internal organs and emerging with vital arteries and veins from the heart that rendered the prey's death instantaneous. Some didn't even use weapons other than their own insanely sharp claws, reasoning that the hunt was more enjoyable when they felt their kill, more connected to it as it was done with their hands.

Not being able to work beside such skilled warriors in an actual hunt was disappointing. He strode over to the gatehouse and into the courtyard, he saw Inutaisho already there waiting for him.

He walked up to him and as he neared Inutaisho he assumed attention position, and saluted.

"What happened?" The question was more like a demand than anything else, Sesshoumaru knew that Inutaisho had already been informed of everything that happened, he just wanted to hear it from him.

"There was an attempted infiltration, the purpose and lords who organized this attack are unknown." Sesshoumaru calmly replied.

"Why didn't you keep one alive for interrogation."

"It would be to our tactical advantage to find out where these demons came from, not who sent them, as they were highly trained and could lie about their intentions, all but the leader are useless as they would be killed by their own partners, or by themselves. The leader wouldn't let himself be slain by anyone other than a high ranking demon, carrying his honor on even in death."

"Then why did you not follow him?"

Sesshoumaru noted a trace of anger, or irritation at these words, what had he done? Inutaisho knew he would of wanted him to report to him, so he could gain a full account of what had happened, not be running around the countryside on an errand that could easily be taken care of professionals instead of continuing his training and studies.

"The trackers would have done just as well as I would have, you would of wanted me to report to you."

"That's would have been what you should of done, not what you did." It was almost a growl.

He was puzzled by the last bit, he had sent a message to the trackers to be ready, and his anger began to grow as he realized he was taking responsibility for a lazy watchman.

"I sent a message to them, telling them to begin hunting the demon running south." Still having a calm, yet slightly more business-like voice.

"No message was received, if there was a message then you are speaking of the dead guard found minutes after the alarm was raised, which wasn't raised by you."

Still angry…

"An alarm being raised would only of let the intruders know we knew of them. I had all the troops I needed, the trackers would of easily hunted down the spider-demon, no alarm was needed.

Inutaisho knew this was logical but the intruder had still gotten away. So instead he asked a different question, a more important one.

"Why did they advance as they did?" If he did not know the answer then he would be punished, as he would of failed the guarding assignment he had been giving.

"They were expecting to be let in, suspicious guards that are regularly stationed there should be executed."

His son was beginning to develop, the training was turning him into a rightful heir to him, almost.

"No, all the guards on duty will be executed, the corrupted ones will be dead and the ones that were innocent were to stupid to see their companions treachery, and so will die for their stupidity."

Sesshoumaru nodded

Later on that afternoon, Sesshoumaru was inspecting the bodies of the dead demons, three of them were nothing but scraps from their attacks, but one was only sliced in two.

It was garbed in complete black with no emblems. There were no records of any demon lord having arachnid forces in the castle archives. Nor did the demons have any marks identifying them to any lord.

He would have to gain knowledge of a general area it came from by the residue and such that one would get from crossing certain areas of the environment. When he examined the pincers, he noticed there was a large quantity of blood on them. He leaned closer and inhaled the scent, his demonic senses telling him that the blood was mainly that of birds.

They must of slaughtered the birds and other animals that would begin a natural alarm, this would require great speed and skill, although he could flit among the trees at great speed and agility, most other demon races couldn't.

He walked out the castle to examine the area where the intruders came from. He war correct as he noticed the various bodies of birds littered along the floor of the forest.

They must of gone thought great pain to make sure every bird was dead. But they wouldn't go through all that trouble if they weren't expecting to gain easy access to the inside of the castle.

That was one area that required more examination

He had inspected all the rooms in the castle, and hadn't found a scent anywhere in the castle that resembled that of the spider demon.

He knew that at least someone in the castle had to be involved in the infiltration. If no one was discovered soon he would have to find a way to draw them out.

With nothing at the castle being out of the norm, he decided to begin tracking the demon himself, after ordering a slight rearrangement of guards so that his spies would be able to note the actions of the castles high ranking personnel.

With nine trackers ordered to accompany him, he began his quest

With that bit of castle politics out of the way, the real action can start.