I arrived back to my home city early in the afternoon. The sun was blotted out by clouds that shrouded it like wet paint running down a wall. Sharp flecks of sunlight still pierced the cloudy veil to dance upon the shoulders and faces of the servants. Most of the wealthy women around shaded themselves with colorful umbrellas. They flitted around on land as the ornamental fish do in the many ponds scattering the town.
My father had left me in a state of suspicion; his earlier actions seemed unusual. He didn't look me straight in the eyes the last time he spoke to me, contradicting his normal sincerity. He also seemed a touch nervous. During my pondering, I encountered Eva, a young female whose parents had fled from a country called Spain because they had committed murder and high treason. Supposedly they had the princess-to-be murdered so that Eva could be wed to the prince. Wanting nothing to do with him, she told the King in anonymous letters of the incident and also that her father was plotting against him, but that is another story entirely. Eva was liberal in telling her family's secrets, (much to the dismay of her parents) so conversations with her were always somewhat entertaining. My mother never liked her for her foul mouth and almost psychotic aggressiveness, but I could tolerate her in small doses.
"Whaddup, jerk?" she asked, using her ever-vile language. Although fluent in her parents' native tongue and Japanese, she used the basest words with almost as much frequency as her heart beats. And to think her parents aspired for her to be a princess.
Of course, I had no desire to be in her company with my own problems brewing on the horizon like a looming tempest. I glared at her sternly and ignored her rude greeting.
"Shit, Fluffy. What kind of thorn is stuck in your ass today?" she inquired using a childish nickname to taunt me, again as was her habit.
"I have neither the time nor patience to deal with you today. Save me the trouble and silence yourself."
"Feh. Whatever. See ya around, asshole," she told me and walked away.
After the brief interlude, I found my mother. She was musing in a garden, staring into the water of a small pond as I approached. Beautiful as usual, she lie on her side, propping herself up with an arm. Her hair dangled at her shoulders in loose bunches that resembled fine silk which had not yet woven into cloth. The few available shards of sunlight seemed to favor her company and thus lingered by her, illuminating her against the overcast weather.
"Hello, Sesshomaru. Where might your father be?" she calmly asked my reflection. I could smell her suspicion already as her deep emerald eyes turned and gazed upon my form, searching for an answer.
"He is finalizing a treaty...or something of the sort."
"Come now. You are not one to be hesitant and you are certainly no good at lying to your own mother."
"There is nothing to be suspicious about," I snapped, raising my voice a bit too much to be convincing. She knew that I could always keep calm unless something was extremely vexing, so this response only made her more worried.
Kirei smirked slyly and rose to my level. She extended a hand and with gentle fingers pushed a small strand of my hair aside.
"Suspicious? I never hinted of any such thing. But now that you mention it, would you like to tell me what I should be suspicious about?" she asked, using her power over words to get out of me something which I never intended to leak through.
"It is none of my business," I explained. In the midst of my own uncertainty I had been trapped. Not willing to lie to my mother or condemn my father for the adultery I was almost certain he committed, I kept my mouth shut. I was certain, however that Kirei would pry it out of him.
"Alright. I will just talk it over with him when he returns. I'm sure it's nothing otherwise you would have told me. So how was the trip, love?" she asked, still trying to squeeze a confession out of me. Kirei was making me feel guilty and anxious. Instead of lingering, I wanted to leave and clear my mind of everything. This tension was truly picking me apart and although I showed no outward signs, Kirei, being my mother who had known me for my whole life, could read me as if I were children's book. It felt as though things were out of my control, which annoyed me to no end.
"Fine...except I am fatigued. I will retire early," I lied, then bowed slightly and turned to leave, my mother's piercing eyes burrowing into me the most painful wounds of guilt I had ever felt.
