Chapter 6

Inuyasha sat very still, watching the woman out of the corner of his eye. After returning from the bath house, she invited them both to sit down and have a meal with her. Inuyasha really didn't have a problem with that, but what about Sesshomaru? He didn't eat human food.

Now that I think about it, I really don't know what he eats, he thought as the woman asked Sesshomaru something and he heard his brother answer.

"Well, Inuyasha," he heard the woman say a moment later. "I trust you are calmer than you were earlier?"

"Much calmer, thank you," he said, trying to be as polite as possible. He didn't want her to take offense and turn him into a toad or something. He felt his ears twitch, and he hoped that she thought it was something they did once in a while, rather than a sign that he was annoyed almost to the breaking point.

At that point, more of the furry servants came in, carrying trays of food and dishes. A table was set, and they gathered around it at her invitation. Sesshomaru was watching everything the servants did with rapt attention.

What, has he never seen a table be set before? Inuyasha wondered. He thought about it, and realized that he probably hadn't. After all, he was a full demon, and he wouldn't need to eat or probably eat at a table like everybody else.

The woman served them both, and Inuyasha noticed that she served Sesshomaru out of blue dishes while she served him out of red ones. Perhaps the blue ones contained special food? He looked, but it looked like ordinary food to him. With rice, korokke, nikujaga, sashimi, pickled vegetables, and sweet dumplings, he was beginning to feel much better. Whoever this woman had cooking for her, he or she was a genius and a master!

"Excuse me," Inuyasha said as she poured tea for them both. "May I know your name, please?"

She looked at him and smiled the slightest bit. "Sesshomaru told me that you hadn't the slightest idea of good manners, but you seem to be doing all right," she said, sounding amused. "Why did you tell such tales, Sesshomaru? I'm actually impressed with him."

Inuyasha didn't know if he should be embarrassed or angry. Of course he had manners! His mother had taught him when he'd been a whelp and now that Kagome was around, he was never allowed to be anything but excruciatingly polite.

"Sesshomaru and I aren't exactly close, and he never met the ones who taught me manners," he said as politely as he could. "It's all right that he didn't know." He felt his ears twitch again.

The woman chuckled. "Well, you'll have a chance to become closer here," the woman said, handing them both their cups. "I am Kimi, and I am pleased to have you both."

Inuyasha didn't say anything but sipped his tea in reply. Kimi, "she who is without equal." He didn't know why that name worried him, but it did. Perhaps it was speaking about her magical abilities? He sincerely hoped not.

Kimi and Sesshomaru talked, and Inuyasha wondered if his brother was all right. "Sesshomaru" and "small talk" just did not go together, but there he was, chatting with the sorceress. What if there were something in the tea? He sniffed it, tasted it, but it was just like regular tea. What if it were just his tea? It was possible.

"Oh, good heavens," Inuyasha heard some time later. Had he fallen asleep or something? It felt like it.

"I must apologize," Kimi said, rising. "I've kept you here all this time when you're probably dying for some rest."

Inuyasha rose as well, certain that he had been dozing the slightest bit. "It's all right," he said, not quite awake and not quite sure what to say. Should he apologize for falling asleep?

"Sesshomaru, would you show your brother to where the two of you are staying so that he may rest?" Kimi requested. She turned to Inuyasha. "Go with Sesshomaru," she ordered. "Rest up, and I'll see you later."

Inuyasha did as she ordered, too sleepy all of a sudden to argue or remember that he should thank her. Yep, Kagome's got me under her thumb, he thought. I'm worried about being polite to my jailer! Boy, I've gotten soft!

He followed Sesshomaru down halls, up some stairs, and into a set of rooms. Screens separated the spaces from one another, and Sesshomaru showed him where he could sleep. Shrugging off his weariness, Inuyasha turned to face his brother.

"Could we talk?"

"If you can manage to get the words out of your mouth, then yes, we could," Sesshomaru snarled, beginning to pace. "I'm going to go mad here!"

Inuyasha remembered that Kimi had said "where the two of you are staying." So he and Sesshomaru were roommates? Oh, this promised to be interesting.

"I don't know how you've lasted this long and managed to remain so nice to her," Inuyasha said, having a seat on the floor. "How are you doing it?"

Sesshomaru stopped his pacing and looked at him. "I remind myself that if she takes offense, she could order me to do a lot of things I'd rather not do. She once ordered me to take a nap, and I did! A nap, as if I were a child! It's insufferable!"

Inuyasha stared at him, surprised. He knew Sesshomaru slept, but a nap? He couldn't believe it. "She can even order you to sleep?"

"Yes, she can," he snarled. "She can also order you to do anything else. There are other demons here, and one of them was ordered to stay the night with her after he tried to defy her several times. I don't know what happened that night, but he's been perfectly obedient ever since. I want to avoid that at all costs!"

Inuyasha felt himself go cold as his imagination supplied him with lots of possibilities that could have happened.

"You'd better rest," Sesshomaru said after a few moments. "She'd want you to, and defiance is the surest way to get a collar. If a chance to escape presents itself, I'd want one of us to have his own will unimpeded."