(A/N) Hello again! Thank you to the wonderful people who spared a moment of their time to review the first chapter! I am eternally grateful! I really enjoyed hearing your comments.Hopefully, I can live up to your expectations!
Vindication
By Cygne
Chapter Two: Unexpected Rival
Nanami was not the only one who was a bit shocked by the behavior of the visitors. Seishiro looked to be on the brink of an angry explosion. Hikaru could not decide whether to laugh at the newcomers, or throw them from his lord's presence.
Nobuhiro was thoroughly annoyed. He fixed the monk with a withering glower and menacingly growled, "My lord's time is not to be wasted by lowly travelers. Give my lord the respect that he deserves and state your business, or you will all be removed from this palace."
The monk swallowed forcibly. Nobuhiro was always more than a little intimidating, even when he was relaxed. When he actually put effort into being hostile, he was positively terrifying.
The young monk brought his head to the floor, honoring the nobleman on the dais. "Masao-sama," he began calmly and respectfully, "I am the humble monk, Miroku. My traveling companions and I have come to seek your assistance and offer ours in return."
"Hold on!" the dog-eared man began, recovering from his collision with the floor. "You're saying that this is the lord of the domain?" He gestured to Nanami, but directed his comment to the generals.
All three generals fixed steadfast glares on the offending young man. Nanami tried her best to look affronted rather than reveal her true nervousness.
"This is the honorable Lord Masao," Hikaru growled dangerously, daring the visitors to challenge his statement.
"What are you trying to pull, here?" the tempestuous newcomer asked, stepping closer to the dais. Nanami's generals half unsheathed their weapons. "This is no lord," the man claimed, "This is a girl!"
The silence that fell over the chamber was thick enough to cut.
"Are you sure, Inuyasha?" the severely underdressed girl whispered.
The dog-eared boy rounded on his companion. "Of course I'm sure! Don't you think I can smell the difference between a girl and a man?"
The little boy with the tail leaned over the girl's shoulder and sniffed rapidly. "Yeah," he affirmed, "I can smell it too! That lord is actually a woman."
"Nanami-sama," Hikaru hissed, "What would you have us do? Should we kill them to protect your secret?"
"That would be wise," Seishiro whispered in agreement.
"No," Nanami said firmly. She cleared her throat and addressed the band of travelers for the first time. "Was your business with us only to reveal that you know of our secret, or had you some other reason for coming?"
"Then it is true," murmured the fully-clothed woman in awe. Nanami was surprised to find her eyes filled with respect and not abhorrence.
The younger woman was also regarding her with admiration. "A female daimyo? That's amazing!" She bowed low. "I am honored to meet you. My name is Higurashi Kagome. This is Sango, the demon exterminator."
"A demon exterminator?" Nanami asked, "We heard that the village was attacked by demons, that all of the exterminators had been slaughtered."
Pain flashed in Sango's eyes. "All of my clan was slaughtered, except for two, Masao-sama."
"We are called Nanami... and we are sorry for your loss," the noblewoman said softly, sincere compassion echoing in her voice. "The demon exterminators came to the aid of our people many a time." She turned to the young man who had discovered her secret. "You are called Inuyasha, are you not?"
"I am," he answered proudly, hands tucked into his sleeves.
"And the boy?" Nanami prompted.
"I'm Shippo, Nanami-sama," the boy said shyly.
"What is your business in our realm?" Nanami asked, retaining her impervious air.
"We have been searching for a certain palace for a long time," Miroku explained solemnly, "Though many have heard of or seen the palace and the young lord who lives there, none of them can ever remember how to get to the palace again."
Nanami cocked her head to the side. "A mysterious young lord?" she echoed, intrigued. "Tell us, is this young lord aligned with either the Mizuki family or a demon?"
The visitors seemed taken aback by her question. The monk hesitated before replying. "The young lord… is a demon… a powerful, evil demon by the name of Naraku. We came here after an audience with the lord Mizuki."
"Mizuki sent you!" Hikaru interrupted angrily, leaping to his feet. "You conniving band of miscreants, attempting to win my lord's favor with talk of providing information to help in her quest for vengeance! How dare you!"
"Hikaru-san!" Nanami commanded, "Calm yourself and let the monk finish."
The young warrior flushed slightly and resumed his kneeling position beside his embarrassed father.
"Continue, sir monk."
Miroku blinked nervously. "Ah, yes… Well, we had heard that Mizuki was strengthening his alliance with a mysterious young lord and had the support of a horde of demons. We went to convince him of the folly in his ways. He… Well, he laughed in our faces, Nanami-sama, and told us that he was going to become the most powerful daimyo, and that no 'foul little mob of vagabonds' was going to stand in his way. Someone outside the palace told us that the lord of this domain might be more interested in our cause."
Inuyasha, who had been brooding some distance away from the conversation, suddenly spoke up. "What vengeance are you seeking?"
Nanami had been earnestly wishing that none of the visitors had picked up on Hikaru's little slip. It did not help the plans for revenge to have everyone and their brother approaching the palace with unreliable tips and hopes for a sizable reward. They would never get anywhere if the search was thwarted by an overabundance of useless information.
"Nanami-sama's personal affairs are none of your business, half-breed," Seishiro hissed to patch up his son's mistake.
Half-breed? Nanami saw the dog-eared boy flinch and heard his offended growl. It must be true then…
"Inuyasha," the young woman said evenly, effectively silencing her general. Insults and threats, though excellent defensive instincts, were not the most practical of tools when forging potential alliances. Then again, neither was emphasizing one's superior birth by referring to oneself in the plural. "Please, take no offense by my general's words. He wishes to protect me from those who seek to do me harm."
"I apologize," Seishiro said stiffly. Nanami was decidedly proud of him. He had easily detected the change in the visitors' status. They were no longer strangers to be wary of, but tentative co-conspirators.
"In answer to your question," the girl-lord continued, "I seek to avenge the deaths of my father and three brothers. They were betrayed by Mizuki and slain by the demons controlled by his anonymous ally, who may well be the one you call Naraku."
"Feh," was the only answer that the half-demon gave her.
His young companions were far more vocal, though.
"That's awful!" Kagome declared, "I mean; I knew that Naraku was an evil bastard, but why would he do that?"
"Good question," Miroku mumbled in agreement. "Why would he aid a human lord in his petty grasping for power?"
"It is rather unlike him to have any dealings with normal humans," Sango added. She pondered for a moment, stroking the cat-demon that had crept into her lap. Then an idea dawned on her. "Unless this has something to do with the jewel shards!"
Inuyasha sprang to his feet. "They have jewel shards?" he cried, turning his attention on Nanami.
"I'm afraid you have lost me," she said simply.
"Do you know anything about the Shikon Jewel?" Kagome asked, hoping that the question would clear up the confusion.
"No."
The girl's face fell. She took a deep breath. "Well, it gives great power to anyone who uses it. Demons use it to do terrible things. The jewel was accidentally shattered… Let's not go into that… And we are searching for the shards. Naraku also wants the shards. He uses them to give him the strength he needs to carry out all his evil plans."
Nanami didn't really feel any more enlightened about this jewel, but she accepted the girl's vague explanation and did not pry. Instead, she tried to distract Inuyasha from his antagonistic posturing by pursuing a course of action. "This Naraku masquerades as a young daimyo, correct?"
She successfully captured the young man's attention, but it was the demon slayer who responded. "That is true, Nanami-sama. Naraku disguises himself as a young lord. His palace is well hidden by some sort of enchantment. Only those he is luring to him or has business with can find their way to it. For all others, it is impossible to come across."
"Nanami-sama," Nobuhiro interjected, "Our sources informed us that Mizuki is on the verge of launching a diplomatic mission to go meet this mysterious lord. If this Naraku is the same young lord, then it is possible that we could track Mizuki's force and thus be led to the disappearing palace."
"I believe that would be the best choice of action. Do you agree?"
Her new allies nodded.
OoOoO
Nanami was aching to relax in the privacy of her chambers. The details of the plan for the next day had finally been completely hammered out. She had sent her guests away with servants who were instructed to give them baths, dinner, and sleeping accommodations for the night. Nanami, her generals, a small scouting force, and the mismatched group would set out for Mizuki's domain the next morning. Her generals were about to bow their ways out of the room when Akiko's voice halted them.
"My lords," she said carefully, "Sachio-sama humbly requests an audience."
Nanami valiantly fought the urge to roll her eyes in exasperation. This was not something she wanted tacked onto the end of a rather taxing day. Sachio was one of her generals. He came from an honorable and prestigious family, but had never demonstrated much personal merit.
The middle-aged man could barely stand that Kozue had left his properties and title to a girl and seemed resolved that marrying Nanami was the only way to mend the situation. He had not waited for the bodies of her family to grow cold in the ground before he had begun a single-minded pursuit of her hand. Nanami knew that she could not ever marry Sachio. She would never consent to giving power over her family's domain to one as unworthy as he so obviously was. Hikaru had offered, more than once, to scare the slimy man away, but Nanami would not stoop to that. She hoped that gentle, consistent refusals would be enough to deter the man. So far, they had not.
"Show him in," Nanami said tiredly.
The slightly balding man bowed low before the raised platform, somehow ignoring the disdainful glowers he was receiving from the three very daunting warriors in front of him. "Nanami-sama," Sachio said silkily, "I was wondering if it would be possible to speak with you alone."
This was a new tactic. She deliberated for a moment, but eventually nodded.
Her general gave her disapproving scowls, but rose to leave all the same.
"We shall be talking with my daughter, Akiko, in the next room, Nanami-sama," Nobuhiro assured her bluntly as he slid the door closed.
"Ah, alone at last," Sachio sighed with a sickening smile.
Nanami remained coldly aloof. "What is it that you wished to speak about, Sachio-san?"
He evaded her question by asking, "My lord, whatever happened to your noble father's kazaori-eboshi? Did someone steal it?"
Something about the way that his voice sounded and the fact that he called the head adornment her father's, not hers, made Nanami's stomach flip. He sounded so utterly unsurprised to see her without the ceremonial hat… and had the audacity to ask about it… "Sachio-san, do you know something about the theft of our lordly attire?" Nanami's voice was deadly, but the man hadn't the wits to notice the danger he was in.
"I might know something," he replied in what he thought was cryptic speech, "I might also know about a secret plot to overthrow you, Nanami-sama."
"Tell us what you know," she growled, resisting the urge to throttle him on the spot. It was a shame that such a noble bloodline had diminished to this repulsive specimen of filth.
He grinned at her, completely oblivious. "I would be thrilled to tell you everything that I know, to call it all off… if you will consent to be my wife, Nanami-san."
It was his presumptuous use of a more familiar form of her name that sent her calm demeanor out the window. He thought he had won. He thought he could frighten her. He thought wrong.
"You impudent little swine," she hissed, "You have the insolence to bring your reprehensible self before our presence and not only ask for our hand in marriage, but also have the gall to threaten us with overthrow if we do not comply with your despicable provisions! How dare you?"
His confident smirk had slipped and now hung, lopsided, from the corner of his mouth.
"Hear this," Nanami declared furiously, "We will never allow our family's land to fall into the hands of one so utterly unworthy as you, Sachio-san. Thank all that is holy that your honorable father never lived to see his bloodline reduced to such disgraceful behavior."
Sachio was shocked by her rage. He should have prostrated himself before the enraged lord, and would have readily, had the lord been male. However, he would have rather died before humbling himself before this girl posing as a great lord. He hated that his superior, to whom he was expected to show such respect, was a woman. Women, Sachio ardently maintained, were inferior to men, always, no matter how high their birth.
"You'll see, woman! When you are at my mercy, you will wish you had heeded me today! You will see that I am more than worthy of this title! You will see that you always were, and always will be, A WORTHLESS WOMAN!" With that, Sachio freed his blade from its sheath and charged the young woman.
Nanami drew her sword, ready to cut down the incensed man. She had no need because her generals burst through the sliding door to her aid. Nobuhiro took hold of Sachio's arms and held him fast despite his struggles. Seishiro took a defensive position between the aggravated suitor and Nanami. Akiko abandoned all societal expectations and rushed to her friend's side. Hikaru stood fuming before the presumptuous warrior, his blade hovering at the captive's throat.
"Wait, Hikaru-san!" Nanami barked, sheathing her sword.
The young general did not lower his weapon, but his grip relaxed.
Nanami rose from her kneeling position and stood in front of her would-be attacker. "What did you think would happen?" she asked bitterly, "Did you expect me to cower and give in like the little girl you obviously think I am?" She turned her attention to Nobuhiro. "Out of respect for the noble family he descended from, we shall not kill him. Lock him away. Tomorrow, we will decide his fate." Having said her piece, Nanami swept from the chamber with Akiko following at a respectful distance.
OoOoO
Not too far away, in a darkened palace chamber, a demon chuckled, the sound slithering through the room like a deadly snake. "Well said, my unexpected rival, well said," he murmured as he looked into a mirror held by a ghostly child. "To think that I was just going to let your rule sink slowly into chaos... Oh, no, this will be so much better."
He turned to a small wooden figurine wrapped with a strand of hair and tapped it with one lithe finger. Dark power began to radiate from it. With a sinister slight smile, Naraku fished a shimmering jewel shard from his robes and gazed at it intently.
"This should be more than enough to help our new friend Sachio achieve his vicious little goals." He handed the shard to the figure hidden in a baboon hide. "Pay our new pawn a visit. Offer him our assistance as one who also believes that women should never have power over men."
The golem bounded away.
OoOoO
Sachio knelt in the center of his empty cell fuming at his absent captor. "How dare she mock me like this? She, a woman posing as a man, not just any man, but a daimyo! And she dares to call me shameful, disgraceful? Stupid, arrogant woman! I'll get out of this, and then I'll teach her the proper place of a woman. She'll regret what she said to me!"
"And just how do you plan to escape this prison?" a voice asked from the shadows of his room.
Sachio nearly jumped out of his skin. He leapt to his feet and scanned the room. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
A baboon skin melted from the shadows. Sachio drew back, disturbed by the strange sight.
"I am, like you, one who does not believe that a woman should hold power over a man," the creature replied smoothly, "I can give you all that you need to overthrow the young lady-lord and I only ask one thing in return."
"What's that?"
"Only that you make sure that she suffers greatly and dies in shame."
An evil smile stretched across Sachio's round face. "I would be more than happy to do that for you. What will you give me?"
The masked figure raised a hand from beneath his baboon hide to display a small jewel fragment. "This is the piece of a powerful jewel," he explained evenly, "It will give you all the power you could possibly need to overthrow the lord and to do away with her irksome generals."
Sachio reached out a greedy hand to grasp the jewel, but the stranger held it out of reach. "You must return it to me when your goal is achieved."
"Of course, of course!" Sachio would have sold his soul for that power… perhaps he already had.
(A/N) And the plot thickens... Well, I hope you have enjoyed chapter two of my story. For those of you who are rightfully wondering where Sesshomaru is in this SessOC story, fear not, he will make his grand entrance very shortly. First, Nanami and the plot had to be set into motion... Reviews, as always, are more than welcome.