Now that you all know I'm not lying when I say I didn't forget about Kagome…even though she's been around for quite some time, and no one really noticed it except Jade…we'll be able to move on with the plot and perhaps I'll hear less of the redundant "Where are Kagome?" reviews that I was thinking of building a bonfire with. Anyway, someone suggested we up the rating to R over here, and I can definitely understand the concern, so if you would all be so kind as to voice your views on the subject, I will either change or keep the current rating for next time. Therefore, if you do not read the author's notes, you'll be shit out of luck next week when you can't find this story because it's now rated R, but if you do read them, you'll know to check. And thus, I let the number of readers dwindle ever closer to nil. Though I'll always have Jade. Good old Jade. She doesn't ask where Kagome is unless she's joking. And how come no one asks after Sango or Miroku? You guys are so…primary-character-centric…it hurts my feelings…no, okay, that's a lie. I clearly don't have feelings. Bwahahaha!
Gossamer Dreams
Part 18
"What story shall I tell you today, Your Majesty?" Rin spoke as politely as ever whilst addressing the emperor. No matter how many stories she acted out for him, she could not make herself address him casually, as she felt positive that no matter what he insisted, he would be offended by her lack of honorific while addressing him.
"Rin, why not tell me a true story this time?" he suggested, annoyed that she still referred to him so deferentially. "Something from your life, perhaps."
"My life is not very exciting, I'm afraid." She demurred, looking into her teacup as if it were positively the most fascinating example of drink ware she had ever seen. "There are no stories to tell that are exciting or adventurous like the ones I usually tell."
"I do not need it to be an adventure if you are in it." Sesshoumaru told her. "You needn't act it out, either. Why not tell me an experience that changed you especially?"
"Changed me…" Rin paused to think, taking a deep drink from her cup and glancing at Sesshoumaru doubtfully. "Would Your Majesty truly finding something so tedious entertaining? Surely you would prefer something with dragons and damsels?"
"The imagination can only go so far in helping us to escape our own lives." He told her softly. "I find it fitting that Inuyasha knows so many tales, as his life has been rather strife-ridden. I can only assume the same is true for you."
"My life is not so hard, really." Rin turned back to her tea. "For a Gifted in Fukumaden, I suppose."
"Surely you can tell me of one experience?" he entreated her again. "I know so little of your life, Rin. Only of your stories, and none of those have shaped you as surely as your own experiences must have. Please, I would very much like to hear such a tale."
"I am sorry." She sighed deeply and set her teacup down, standing up with no small amount of will. "I cannot do that."
"Why not?" Sesshoumaru was baffled. What part of her life was so horrible that she was unwilling to reveal any of it? "Surely it cannot have all been horrible."
"No, it was not." She told him, her mouth set and her hands clenched tightly as he stood up to face her more easily. Of course, now she was forced to look up to see him correctly. "But you are the Emperor of Fukumaden, and my kind are fugitives in your land, damned by our own misfortunes at birth. My whole life I have been shaped and changed by others of my sort, and to tell you of these people would only bring your hatred for Gifted down upon them as well. I do not mind serving in the Chambers, even though I will be put to death when I grow old in any case. However, I would not wish it on any of my most beloved friends and family, and therefore, I cannot tell my stories to one such as you. I do not mind your disdain, but please, spare my memories from your mockery. As Emperor, do you not reign over enough without that as well?"
"I do not want that, Rin." Sesshoumaru seemed a bit set back by her sudden speech. "So this is what you have thought of me, because of my insensitive words from so long ago. I apologize now as I should have done more properly then." To Rin's amazement, the man lowered himself to his knees, head bent as he reached for her right hand and kissed the back of it so gently it made her feel as though she were floating. "Dearest Rin, you have shown me that what I have learned is not always true, and that just as there is bad to be found in Youkai, there is good in Gifted, and I should never judge based on what my eyes can see, but on what my heart tells me."
"Please," she entreated after a moment more of shock on her part. "Get up, that isn't necessary."
"If you truly think I disdain you, then it must be more than necessary." He countered. "Do you truly think I bring you here most every night to privately mock you and your grand stories? I spend time with you because it makes me happier than anything else can, and if you would only see that I care for you such a great deal, it would make my heart rest much easier."
"Your Majesty…" Rin was blushing deeply, and then he finally stood, his hand reaching to cradle the side of her face.
"Please, you may call me Sesshoumaru." He whispered it, but she was so close that she had no trouble hearing. "Just Sesshoumaru." And he leaned closer, until he could taste her breath, his lips quivering slightly in anticipation of meeting hers at long last.
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Kagura pursed her lips as she looked down at the hastily scrawled note that Kouga had just sent only five minutes before he was expected to come for a private tea. It was like all the others, and it was clearly not something she wanted to see from the angry twitch of her eyebrow. Rising in a huff, she swept into the other room and burst into Sesshoumaru's chambers without so much as a knock of warning. She ignored the fact that her husband looked like he was very nearly blushing, and the fact that he had been clearly about to kiss the crimson-faced Rin who was now busying herself with the task of smoothing down already perfectly attended skirts.
"You. You are a man, explain this to me in a way that I might understand." Kagura thrust the note in Sesshoumaru's face, and he took it, still a bit off balance.
"Poor penmanship." He managed after a moment in a very dry tone. Kagura was not entertained. Rin looked like she wanted very much to leave, though she knew well enough she could not walk the corridors safely on her own. "I believe it says, 'I regret to inform you that I am unable to attend our appointed meeting, as I am needed elsewhere.' Who is this from?"
"Kouga ka'Ookami." She answered, her face flushed with anger almost as dark as Rin's still was from embarrassment. "He has not been by once since the announcement, and that night when I approached him for a dance, he fled the scene as though he could not get away from me fast enough. Explain to me, my dear husband, why it is that the father of our child wants nothing to do with me."
"He is surely…" Rin cut herself off by clapping both hands over her mouth and turning bright purple eyes to Sesshoumaru who afforded her the briefest of nods. She dropped her hands and began blushing all over again. Clearly, they had not yet discussed the depth of Kagura's relationship with the Lord ka'Ookami.
"Kagura, I think that first, you must calm yourself. It does the situation no good if you storm about as though every unfortunate event is an intentional attack upon your person. You must learn to control yourself." He advised, at which point she picked up the nearest chalice and threw it straight at his head. Clearly used to this sort of behavior, Sesshoumaru ducked and moved Rin out of the way in one neatly controlled move.
"Control myself? I am pregnant, if you had forgotten, oh great Emperor of Fukumaden, and I may behave however I please. If I insist that Kouga is acting like a complete miscreant, then that is the truth of it. Now, as you are male, and utterly insensitive to my delicate condition, I will forgive you your lack of tact if you will only tell me what is wrong with that idiotic man."
"Maybe he heard that you have taken to throwing chalices, and decided most wisely to avoid you until this unpleasant phase of the pregnancy has ended." Sesshoumaru guessed, earning him another broken chalice. "Now, if you please, I was entertaining the young lady here, and if you have nothing more to say to me, I suggest you see to your young man and leave me out of it, as I cannot control his actions, despite what you apparently believe."
"I hate you." Kagura turned on her heel and left, heading straight out the door of the Imperial Chambers and following a path that she had long-since memorized and was even able to walk in the dead of night. In fact, that had been the most common time she had taken this path. She was in a rage, and it seemed clear to all those she passed, who quickly bowed, curtsied, and ran away. And then, there she was, pounding the door so hard that her fist hurt with the texture of the wood. The servant who opened the door took one look at her and squeaked before looking as though he might wet himself.
"I am here for the young lord ka'Ookami." She told him in a tone that brooked absolutely no arguments or excuses. "Lead me to him."
"He is not…I mean…come in." the servant was clearly torn between fear of his master and fear of this terrifyingly hormonal empress standing before him. The empress won, and so in a matter of moments, she was led to the room she had spent so many evenings, and there he was, looking shocked, confused, and a bit angry (probably with the servant, who quickly ran away.)
"How did you get in here?" was the first thing he thought to ask.
"In case you could not recall, I am the Empress of Fukumaden, and in my own Palace, my word carries a bit more weight than that of an irresponsible young lord who cannot even deem to keep his appointments." She started in on her grievances at once. "You are, without a doubt, young Lord ka'Ookami, the worst father ever. And I am the daughter of the Lord Naraku. Where is it that you are so urgently required to go that you might not spend a scant hour of your highly busy schedule with your lover and her unborn child. Had you forgotten that I was pregnant, perhaps? Maybe it slipped your mind, as did all your apparently meaningless declarations of love and eternal devotion to me."
"Are you quite done?" Kouga seemed ready to explode himself. "Maybe you had forgotten that your father's spy, Kodoku, was suspicious of our close relationship even before you conceived, leading to our secret trysts. Perhaps you thought he would not notice if I came to spend a few hours a day cuddling with a very pregnant empress while her husband is in the next room busying himself with that new concubine of his."
"You know about her?" Kagura's eyes widened.
"Everyone knows, my Lady." He rolled his eyes at her in irritation. "Nothing stays secret for long in the Palace, but we have escaped scrutiny so far, and I had hoped to spare you embarrassment by further spurning onlookers, but clearly, you find my attempts at secrecy nothing short of cruel, and so I must apologize."
"Apology not accepted, on the grounds that it was issued in an extremely caustic manner of which I do not approve." She told him, stomping one slippered foot in annoyance. "Also, you should additionally apologize for lying to me on repeated occasions, not only by telling me you were busy with other obligations when you were not, but prior to that, your vows of love and devotion were also, clearly, nothing but fabrications."
"Why would you care if they were lies, seeing as you yourself could not find the heart in you to return them?" Kouga shot back, and she blinked at him in surprise.
"You are a very cold lover, you know?" she asked him.
"And you are not?" he returned. She snorted in irritation and seemed about to leave when she flung herself in his arms instead.
"I missed you." She admitted, burying her face in his chest as he wrapped arms around her and noted that he still could only just feel a jut in her stomach speaking of pregnancy in her physical form, though her emotions spoke volumes alone. "And yet, you never came to see me. It was a horrible trick to play, making me need you so much."
"You need me now, do you?" he asked, and she nodded slightly. "Well, that's a start I suppose. This is new." He let his hand move to the slight roundness that had not been there the last time they had embraced.
"I hate it." She pouted, and he kissed her until the frown melted away.
"I love it." He countered. "It is what you wanted from me, and now you have it. It is proof that we were together. Though it is a bit sad, knowing there is no reason for us to sleep together ever again now that I have given you your heir."
"That, my dear lord." She told him with a slight smile. "Is utterly ridiculous. I am Empress, and if I want to sleep with you, I shall do precisely that." Kouga did not say anything to that. There was no need arguing with the Empress, after all.
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"Thank you, once again." Kagome smiled breathlessly up at her rescuer as Lord Naraku stalked away from the floor looking very put-out indeed. "A lady needn't fear the dreaded High Lord when such a gallant Prince is near."
"There is no woman that I could honestly wish him upon. Other than the Empress Mother, perhaps, but I think they are already a bit closer than siblings should be." Inuyasha told her with a bitter twist of his mouth.
"Surely not!" Kagome would have laughed had the idea not seemed entirely plausible. "Do you know this for sure?"
"Sesshoumaru speaks of it on occasion. I do not question whether it is true or not, as I honestly do not want to know." Inuyasha admitted, and she had to smother a bout of scandalized giggles.
"It would explain some things, I am sure." Kagome told him. "Although it really does not bear thinking about."
"Truly." He seemed to find this to be the end of the conversation, as he then switched topics entirely. "So then, I take it that my Lady is an only child."
"Indeed I am, and my cousins are all girls. It is driving my aunts straight to distraction, and they are pushing me to find a suitable husband as fast as I possibly can." She did not know why she spoke so honestly with Inuyasha, but it seemed only right, as he was always perfectly open with her.
"That must not be any fun." Inuyasha seemed rather sympathetic. "I know my brother and Kagura wanted nothing to do with each other, but they had no choice in the matter. Even now, they are nothing more than good friends, married only by coincidence."
"But the Empress is pregnant." Kagome corrected him. "So clearly, behind closed doors…"
"Oh…yes, well clearly." Inuyasha felt an utter idiot for almost dropping such a closely guarded bit of information even he was not sure of, though Rin swore it was true. Kouga ka'Ookami the father of the heir to the throne? Again, it simply did not bear thinking about in Inuyasha's opinion.
"I would love to marry to someone I could be close friends with, as well." Kagome seemed to think that Kagura and Sesshoumaru were now even more of a fairy tale couple, and Inuyasha felt stupid for even bringing it up. "How about you, Prince Inuyasha?"
"I would marry for love, as I have no other reason to enter a union." He told her.
"Does the prince fancy any noblewoman of the court?" her ears perked up immediately. "You must tell me!"
"No one…of the court, no." he coughed slightly. It was not quite a lie. "Oh…it is dreadfully late, and I will never be able to rise in the morning if I do not retire now." He excused himself swiftly. "Always a pleasure, my lady."
"My Lord." Kagome curtsied deeply and blushed when he kissed her hand before walking away. Perhaps it was insane…but she was beginning to formulate a plan.
Kouga ka'Ookami was clearly ignoring her, and she might as well give up on it. It would take a great man to stand against the High Lord Naraku. And perhaps, in the Prince Inuyasha, she had found such a man.
"Someone I could be friends with…"
The End (Of Part 18, That Is)