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Chapter Five
Waking Up!
First thing first, he had to get rid of the kitsune. The kid was a nuisance, as all children are, but on top of that he'd ruin everything. The brat's demon aura would attract Inu-Yasha much faster, plus he would serve to remind the girl of her friends. He was not about to have everything he'd gone through in the last twenty-four hours put to waste because the girl held a belief that his half-brother might eventually come for her. Inu-Yasha would come, and he would pay the Halfling with the one thing he now had in abundance; the Shikon shards.
The spell had gone off perfectly. He watched from a shaded corner of the room as the girl and kitsune slept away the pre-dawn hours. They would dream until he touched them, thus breaking the spell. It had been a fortunate event that'd he'd run into that foreigner and equally unfortunate that the spell had brought the kitsune too. Well, he'd already figured out what to do about that.
A panel in the wall behind the resting forms shook and slid open. Jaken entered, casting a disgusted look at the slumbering pair. He carried a tray loaded with tea necessities and a plate of bread-cakes. Walking past where the futon lay, he placed the breakfast on a low table surrounded with sitting mats. Skirting the room on his way back around to the door, he turned to face his lord.
"Shall I send a servant to serve the meal, Lord Sessho-Maru?"
His eyes never left the girl. "Yes. Make sure they're appropriate."
"Of course, milord." The panel slide shut and he was again the lone conscious person in the room.
Rising gracefully from his seat, he walked around the futon until he could see her face. She looked as she had that night in the cottage. Her black hair cast a net over the pillow she held to her face with one of those delicate hands. Kneeling beside them, he reached out and gently took her hand. The five slender digits were warm to the touch and curled around his talons in a natural relaxed state. He tilted his head slightly, his gaze tracing along her fingers to the end, where carefully sculpted, yet rather short, claws (!?) grew...
Claws? If she had these why didn't she use them before? She could have defended herself...well, not really defended, but at least fought. He came to the conclusion that she was not as stupid as some mortals. She must have known she would lose.
He reached up with his other hand and touched one of the rounded tips. Her entire hand drew away from his and he heard a gasp. He did not look at her immediately but rather sat back, repositioning himself on his knees, then casually brought up his gaze.
They were both awake and starring at him in complete terror. The kitsune's adrenaline was beginning to kick in and the scent assaulted his senses mercilessly. Actually, it was the way most demon conflicts began. One would become excited, thus exciting the other, and the spark that started it all would be the one to lose control first. Demon rage was a matter of willpower versus instincts. He calmly focused on the cub and lifted a single brow.
"Getting excited will not help your situation." His focused stare made it obvious who he was addressing.
They swallowed in unison.
The girl was able to pull it together first. She got to her feet and moved back towards the corner he'd previously occupied. Though not the most graceful action he'd ever witnessed, he had to admit that that she was somewhat nimble and quick-witted. She'd managed to put distance between herself and an immediate danger, proximity to him, but backing into a corner was not always the most advantageous of strategies.
Coming to a stand, he moved to the table where her breakfast had been left. Looking down at it, he realized that the fare was probably not what she was used to. Try as he might, in the last two days he had been unable to determine where she was from. Had his Halfling brother not begged her to stay she would have gone home. All he got from eavesdropping on that conversation was that she lived near the Bone Eater's Well. There were only three villages within mortal walking distance of the well, and none of them had seemed to be her home. The bread-cakes Jaken had brought were common to the regional menu so he assumed that she had eaten them before. He would find out more about her and then instruct the meals to be prepared as she liked, but first he had to take care of the kitsune.
The instant she realized she was trapped was the moment he looked up from the table. There were a few windows to the room, nothing big enough for her to fit out of, and the paper panel door. With the door behind him to the left, and her situated in his line of sight, the three (him, her, and the door) made a triangle. Unfortunately for her, reaching the door would take her past him within an arm's reach.
"Come here, fox."
The tiny hands tightened on her shirt and the girl turned into the corner, shielding the cub with her body. He suddenly had the impulse to rip the brat from her arms, just to smite them both. Instead he smiled. So, testing my patience? The longer the kitsune stayed, the easier it would be for Inu-Yasha.
The urgency of the situation won out over his curiosity. He came to them in a wink, grabbing the girl by the shoulder and the cub by the scruff of the neck. He wrenched the two bodies apart, casting the kitsune across the room behind him. The cub landed hard and bounced to a stop near the panel door. In his clenched hand was the red cloth tie off the front of the girl's strange clothes.
Doesn't matter. I hate those clothes anyway.
"Shippo...," she whispered. He turned to look at her. She was completely focused on the motionless form of her companion. "SHIPPO!!!" He was slightly amazed that she would center her attention so adamantly on one thing when the situation was composed of so many elements. She shouted again for the cub, a new tone of desperation in her voice.
He held her pinned to the wall by the shoulder. Even though she must know he could kill her now, she struggled to get out from under his hand. Her claws did not really scratch him, but rather helped to get the tips of her fingers under his hand. Her shouts began to alternate between callings for 'Shippo' and demanding to be let go. He could feel her fear, but more powerfully he could feel a chaotic sense of panic. She was on the point of being hysterical, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, but she continued battling to get out of his hold. The near frenzy caused impatience in him he had never known. All the shouting, and struggling, and smells were creating an overload in his mind.
You're going to lose it..., a voice in his head warned.
The breaking point came when the girl finally managed to get some leverage under his hand. The little claws he had previously though harmless, dug painfully into his palm. That, combined with everything else, pushed him too far.
"SILENCE!!"
He jerked his hand away, causing the girl to stumble forward. She caught her balance but did not move fast enough to escape him. Grabbing her left wrist, he raised it over her head and slammed it, and her, back into the wall. The wood cracked under the force of his blow and he felt something in her hand snap.
She cried out in pain and grasped for what held her in reflex. She latched onto his arm, squeezing slightly.
The room became silent after that. He eventually got control of his rage and was able to focus again.
She was sobbing softly, her face hidden from him behind her arm. Where he held her to the wall a tiny stream of blood flowed. It curved around her fingers, over his hand, and as he watched, down along his arm to drip to the floor.
It was the blood that shocked him. He had not meant to hurt her quite yet, if at all. He had envisioned this morning occurring in a manner similar to the night of the blizzard. He would scare her so completely that she would be as a doll, allowing him to satisfy his interest in a leisurely manner. He had planned to actually ask her questions and civilly seek to understand why he was so damned intrigued. And maybe, he had hoped, she would settle down enough, become accustomed enough, so that he might know another side of her. The side that wasn't utterly terrified.
Damn fox! This wasn't supposed to happen! And me? What the hell happened to me? I never lose control and especially not around HUMANS! Damn it, why did this happen?
Behind him the panel door slid open and Jaken entered the room. His lord was still in that same corner, but now the kitsune cub was lying unconscious near the door, and the girl was...? He couldn't see the girl in the room anywhere, but he could smell her. There was blood too, somewhere.
"Jaken," Sessho-Maru's voice was strong despite his state of unravel. "Take the cub and leave him back in InuYasha'a Forest. Make sure he doesn't know how to get back."
"Yes, milord." Jaken clicked his staff, and one of the servants behind him came forward and gathered up the kitsune cub. "Put him in a sack and ready a messenger."
The servant merely bowed and left.
When Jaken again focused his attention on Lord Sessho-Maru, he was able to see the girl. Sessho-Maru had lowered the arm he held to the wall and turned so that his body no longer blocked Jaken's view. The girl seemed to crumble to her knees, her head bent, hugging her wrist. Sessho-Maru was standing to the side, looking down at her, and enabling Jaken to see why he smelt blood. Coming forward to the middle of the room, he studied the wall, his lord, and the sobbing girl, easily amassing what had happened in his mind. What confused him, though, was where Sessho-Maru's enraged shout of 'silence' came into it all.
"Jaken, see to it that she is cleaned and fed. Move her to the southern most rooms and see to her wrist." Sessho-Maru gave his order then dropped to one knee beside her. With the hand streaked in her blood he raised her chin until two wet, tear-sparkling eyes met his. He starred into her, searching with all his senses for the power in her. She had affected him somehow and he would know it before anything else happened.
He spoke in a voice low enough to be private, but loud enough for her to hear. "You will not cause a problem. I will not tolerate it. Do as I order and I may someday let you go home." He increased the pressure on her chin, causing the color of her eyes to darken into gray; the same way they did that night a month ago. Studying her face, he suddenly recognized the look; he understood the message she was sending him.
"I hate you."
Were it possible, he felt a shiver of concern tickle down his back. Her words would not normally concern him, but coupled with her appearance, the menace that radiated from her, he took her with every degree of seriousness.
Letting go of her face, he rose and left. Jaken gave him an approving nod as he passed and then followed him out of the room and down the hall.
"Shall I prepare a bath to clean your lordship of her stench?" The toad-like demon hurried to keep up with his master, keeping track of all the spots where the witch's blood dripped on the floor. His lord's silence was confirmation enough that Jaken was to draw water and clean clothes, so the demon increased his pace, coming abreast with Sessho-Maru, then scurrying ahead. He rounded the corner and disappeared from Sessho-Maru's sight.
Coming to his rooms, Sessho-Maru began undressing, removing everything besides his pants. Glancing into an adjoining room, he saw that the bath was still in preparation, his minions rushing to do as Jaken commanded. Turning from the scene, Sessho-Maru left the main chamber, strolling through the bed room and onto the balcony.
A brisk wind came up the mountain side, capturing his hair and casting it back from his face. Extending his arms, palms up, he tilted back his head and soaked in the first rays of sunlight. The golden orb rose before him, blanketing the entire eastern side of the mountain-castle in light.
From here Sessho-Maru could look out across his heritage, the Western Lands. Every day he greeted his kingdom from this perch, surveying the vast horizon, sometimes for hours. This morning though, as the sun began its ascent, he studied his hand.
Her blood had dried into the fur.
What happened? He mused again.
Looking the length of the balcony, his gaze came to rest on the far end. Another door into the castle gaped blackness to the dawning day. He walked down to it and stepped inside. A series of rooms similar to, only smaller than his own greeted him. The southern most rooms of the castle.