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Chapter 2
Sayuri attacked first, slashing at his chest. Sesshomaru, anticipating the strike, blocked her arm with his, then turned the block into a throw. She didn't try to free herself from his more powerful grip, instead, she shifted her weight and kicked backwards as he threw her, striking him hard in the chest.
Sesshomaru was knocked backwards by the force of the blow, but he shook it off and launched himself forward. Sayuri leapt up and came slashing down on his back, scoring first blood and earning a harsh expletive from Sesshomaru.
Angered, Sesshomaru whipped around and managed to gash her shoulder, causing her to let out a yelp of surprise.
She flipped backwards and landed on her feet. "Not bad, young warrior. But you were merely lucky." Sesshomaru arched one eyebrow, and the battle began in earnest.
The two slashed and clawed at each other. Sayuri landed many more hits than he did, but the power behind his strikes made them much more devastating on the rare occasions when he did manage to land one on her.
Covered in blood and gasping for breath, he looked up just in time to see the female coming at him. Sayuri crashed into him again, this time snapping his head to the side with a blow from the back of her hand. With the last bit of his energy, he swung at her to drive her back and dove forward, catching her about the waist and crashing her to the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of her, and in an instant, his claws were at her throat.
"Surrender," he gasped out. She smiled slightly.
"You," she replied. He glanced down to see her claws poised directly over his heart. She chuckled, coughing up some blood. The last hit had hurt her more than he thought. "You are defeated," she wheezed. "If this was a real battle, I would have taken out your heart."
Embarrassed and a bit angry at the defeat, Sesshomaru got to his feet and offered her a hand up. She accepted it, and clapped him (gently) on the back once she was up.
"I haven't fought claw to claw in a while," Sayuri teased. "I must be getting out of practice if a mere pup can throw me down like that."
"I am not a pup." he growled.
"You fought well, Sesshomaru," she said seriously. "You show much potential, and I would be honored to teach you what I know, if you desire to learn."
Sesshomaru tried to keep the proud grin off his face. "Really? That would be-" he stopped babbling and bowed. "I would be honored as well."
"Then we will meet out here at dawn tomorrow morning." she said. He was about to nod his agreement when he remembered.
"We're going to visit Taro the Mapmaker tomorrow," he told her. Sayuri shrugged.
"Then the day after tomorrow." She gathered her things and headed back to the castle.
Sesshomaru retrieved his robes from where they'd been flung on the ground, and returned to his quarters.
He was unpleasantly surprised to find Chiyo waiting for him, in the small room in front of his quarters that he used to receive people.
"Do you want something?" he asked rudely. She frowned at him.
"Your royal father wants me to inform you that he was not pleased with your absence at dinner tonight."
"I was sparring." he muttered.
"So I see." Chiyo said disdainfully. "I made my report to your father, and he thinks, as I do, that your plan to find these female warriors is both foolish and a waste of time, and you would be better served preparing a more realistic tactic."
"Your report?" Sesshomaru asked. So that was what she had been writing. Chiyo looked superior.
"Part of my job, in addition to advising you, is to…observe you in the planning and execution of a major assignment and report back to your father, so he can watch your progress." She rose and turned to leave. "Oh, and Sesshomaru? I won't leave anything out."
She slid the door shut.
Sesshomaru took several deep breaths. That bitch is so annoying, he thought angrily, as he drew the bath. Part of the reason her words stung so much, he admitted to himself, was that he had wondered the very same thing. Sayuri claimed she had learned to fight there, but she was a bit odd, to say the least.
And then there was the mystery of Sayuri's mismatched eyes. He had seen only two other inu-youkai with different colored eyes, which wasn't what bothered him, but inu-youkai simply did not have green eyes. Ever. There were some who had hazel eyes that could pass as a shade of green but none with the same brilliant green as Sayuri.
He sat in the bath until the water was cold, lost in his thoughts. When he finally got out, dried himself, and dressed, it was well past dark.
Walking to his room, he saw a small piece of paper slid under the door. It was a note, in Umeko's neat, precise handwriting.
Preparations have been made, and we will leave at dawn tomorrow. Matsunaga has decided to accompany us.
-Umeko
Matsunaga was undoubtly coming for the chance to needle Chiyo, whom he despised. Sesshomaru smiled to himself. Perhaps the trip would not be so bad.
"So how exactly do you plan to proceed if Taro actually has a map to this place?" Chiyo asked him. Sesshomaru scowled.
"I would bring some of their warriors over here to aid in the training of our females."
"How many?"
Sesshomaru was thrown off by the question. "Ah…what?"
"How many warriors would you bring? Where would you house them, how would you feed them, how would you have them conuct the training?" Chiyo fired off the questions like arrows. Sesshomaru struggled for an answer, but Umeko thankfully interrupted.
"Lord Sesshomaru has confided in me that he thinks it would be bold to plan such things ahead without knowing anything of the warriors."
"Have you spoken to Sayuri, then?" Chiyo turned to Sesshomaru, shutting Umeko out of the conversation.
"I have spoken with her and she has agreed to meet me tomorrow morning to teach me more." It wasn't a complete lie, but it was enough to satisfy Chiyo. She began writing something down on the papers.
"I understand that you work for Lord Inutashio now?" Matsunaga asked Chiyo. She nodded smugly. "Ah, good. Inutashio was always so overworked. It's good that he has a secretary now, even if you are just a novice." The smug look was replaced by an angry glare, and her face was turning slightly red.
"I am his aide, not his secretary, and I have been an aide for almost a decade now." she said snappishly. Matsunaga lifted his eyebrows.
"Only a decade? I have been working for Inutashio for at least twenty years."
"Yet you were assigned to work for his son," Chiyo said sweetly.
"Oh, I consider it a high honor." Matsunaga replied.
"Oh, you do?"
"Yes. Inutashio, with his great wisdom, has plenty of lesser men to advise him. His son, however, lacks the experience of an older warrior and thus has greater need of a wiser, more intelligent advisor. Is that the way things work with aides, as well?" he inquired in the politest of tones, surreptiously winking at Umeko, who grinned as Chiyo turned a deep red and sputtered in anger. She didn't talk for the rest of the journey, leaving the other three to converse (more or less) freely on the back of the flying youkai who was taking them to Taro's hole.
Taro's Hole was exactly that, a massive hole in a mountain surrounded by a barrier of swirling winds. They had to wait a few moments before Taro lowered the barrier enough for them to land, and then they stepped into the Hole.
"Come in, come in, come in!" a voice greeted them from above. The wind youkai was seated on a cushion of air, his silky hair blowing gracefully in a breeze that circled him alone. Taro floated down and landed gently before them. Except for Matsunaga, who had met the youkai before, they all stared at him, Sesshomaru in surprise, Umeko in curiosity, and Chiyo in irritation.
Slender with pretty, effeminate features, the youkai looked anything but powerful. He was wearing a brightly colored, if rather garish kimono, and a crown of glass beads.
"Well, if it isn't Lord Sesshomaru! I haven't seen you since you were thiiiiis high." he held his hand near his knee. "What brings you all the way out here?"
"We need a map to the land where Sayuri the warrior journeyed and trained." Sesshomaru said. I…am…ice...he repeated to himself. It was a personal mantra to help him control his temper, which was flaring more and more often these days.
Taro pursed his lips and tapped one finger against his chin. "Hmmmm…I'd have to go look for that one. You must be hungry, so why don't you go get something to eat, while I go look for that map, hm?" He began rising in the air again, singing to himself. "Maaaaappp…wheeere did I put youuuuuuu?"
Ice…Sesshomaru reminded himself.
"Food's in the pantry! Help yourself!" Taro called down to them.
They all looked at each other. Sesshomaru sighed and looked around. Seeing nothing but weathered stone walls, he yelled,
"Taro, where is the pantry?" The wind youkai's laughter echoed in the Hole.
"Oh, that's right! Silly me…" Far, far above them, some doors swung open. An assortment of food floated down to them, as well as a table and some dishes. Sesshomaru and Matsunaga had to run about, catching them all before they hit the ground, while Chiyo looked on impatiently.
Taro apparently liked fish, because there was a lot of it. Fish in red sauce, fish in white sauce, grilled fish, fish roasted with nuts, fish stuffed with mushrooms and breadcrumbs, fish dried with salt, and, the main dish, spiced fish over a bed of greens.
"Fish, anyone?" Umeko asked, kneeling at the table, and indicating for the rest of them to sit down. As usual, Chiyo simply sat off to one side and nibbled while the rest of them ate and talked.
Towards the end of the meal, a strong wind blew up, nearly sending their dishes off the table, and Taro suddenly dropped down next to them.
"I found it!" he trilled. With an extravagant gesture and a gust of wind, he cleared the table--although he was careful not to spill the fish--and spread the map out before them.
It was slightly yellowed but still clear. There was a dotted line running through an ocean represented by some wavy lines, connecting their land, denoted as "Here", to another one labeled "There".
"Ah…" Sesshomaru said hesitantly. "Is that all?"
Taro scowled at him. "What's wrong with it?" he asked. "It's perfectly clear; a pup could read it. You are here, you want to go there, so you go this way." He traced the dotted line.
"It is rather…simplistic." Matsunaga observed, studying the map. "Perhaps you could tell us what kind of terrain we will be traveling through?"
"Well, those are waves," Umeko said, pointing to the wavy lines.
"Actually, that's just ink I spilled," Taro admitted. Chiyo let out a sound between a laugh and an exasperated huff.
"Isn't this appropriate? A badly drawn map to a mythical island of imaginary female warriors. As long as we're at it, why don't we search for the Spring of Youth, or the city of gold?" she scoffed.
Taro turned slowly to look at her, the cheer gone from his demeanor. The air turned cold as the winds picked up and swirled around them.
"The map," he said coldly, "will guide you to the lands you seek. It does not matter whether you believe they exist or not, Chiyo, but the female warriors are very real."
"You have seen them?" Sesshomaru asked, his excitement betraying itself in his voice. Taro smiled at him, his anger forgotten.
"Oh yes, several times. They are quite remarkable." he told the younger youkai. "If you would like, I could tell you what I know of them." Sesshomaru and Matsunaga both nodded eagerly, and Taro motioned them away from Chiyo. Umeko cast a worried glance at Chiyo, who was writing on her tablet and casting dark looks toward the three males.
"The female warriors," Taro began, "don't really welcome outsiders in, so this is mostly what I have observed."
"Wait, you've never spoken with them?" Sesshomaru interrupted.
"I have tried," Taro replied, "but they don't speak our language, and they're rather hostile."
"Wonderful," Matsunaga muttered. "And I don't suppose that they are eager to give up their fighting secrets?"
"Oh, they'll train anyone they believe to have potential. That's how dear Sayuri learned, of course. They are completely dedicated to fighting. In fact, their entire lives revolve around it: everything they do, from training, to hunting, to playing and sleeping, is in some way connected to the constant improvement of their skills. They're really almost obsessive." he added.
Sesshomaru couldn't think of anything intelligent to say to this, so he just nodded for the wind youkai to continue.
"They're youkai, every one of them, although they're all really strange types that I've never seen before. What I think is that they're a compilation of many different clans, who are all dedicated to the fighting arts. Like…" he trailed off, looking for a good comaprison.
"Like an army?" Matsunaga offered.
"I suppose…" Taro said doubtfully. Then he brightened. "Like a circus troup!"
"A circus troup?" Sesshomaru repeated. The wind youkai nodded vigorously.
"Yes, exactly. A circus troup is made up of actors, and musicians, and acrobats, and clowns, and dancing girls, and magicians, and-"
"Yes, yes, we get the picture." Sesshomaru interrupted.
"They are all performers and entertainers, just of different types. They share a common goal, a single dream-"
"To make money?" suggested Matsunaga. Taro glared at him.
"To lift people from the bleakness of the mundane and brighten their lives with the sun of their creative vision."
"To entertain," Sesshomaru summed for him.
"Well, if you want to reduce a lofty and noble goal to a few words, then yes," Taro huffed. "I always wanted to be in the circus," he told them sadly. He glanced outside. "You'd better get going if you're going to be home before tomorrow."
"There's more I wanted to ask you," Sesshomaru protested. Taro was pushing them towards the exit with a powerful wind.
"That's really all I know." he said. "You could try asking Sayuri, but she's sworn to secrecy, or so she claims. She might tell you more than me, because you're her lord's heir, and also you didn't try to borrow her sword-"
"Is she that possessive of the sword?"
"I didn't exactly tell her I was borrowing it." Taro patted Sesshomaru on the head and slipped the map into his hands. They climbed aboard the flying youkai and Taro waved to them. "I'll give you a nice wind to speed you on your way!"
"But why did you want her sword?" Sesshomaru called down to Taro. He fixed the inu youkai with a patronizing look, and yelled back,
"Because I would look dashing with a sword!" The wind youkai waved an enthusiastic goodbye as they sped off to Inutashio's palace.
A/N: Yes, there is a line blatantly stolen from Mulan.
