Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kazuya Minekura.
Note: Takes place before the events with the desert demon. (So about book five or six.)
Dedicated to my friend Squeakchan for her birthday.
Mollification
The demon prince knew something in the picture before him wasn't right the second he stepped into the vaulted ceiling dining room. His little half-sister amazingly was in the right spot for once and not out wandering outside the castle grounds. Currently, she was gobbling down a plate of meat buns and making quick work of it.
However, his swordsman was not supposed to be there. No. The surprised look on his face confirmed this fact. In all honesty, the prince wasn't expecting him back for another few hours. Next to him was a blank space at the dinner table where his apothecary was supposed to be, and this puzzled him.
No. "Puzzled" wasn't the right word.
Actually, he couldn't think of the right one. Down right anger has a way of jumbling up words in the mind.
"Um, Kou—!" said Dokugakuji as he stood up in alarm. It wasn't the first time the swordsman had seen that look on his face, and both knew it wouldn't be the last.
"Hi Niichan!" chirped in Lirin, her mouth covered in crumbs.
"Don't "Hi Niichan" me!" he growled, his clawed fists clenching and unclenching. "Just what are you doing in here? Where's Yaone?"
"I'm eating!" replied his half-sister in a singsong voice. "And listening to Brother and staying in the castle!"
"Heh, for once," he muttered. "Where's Yaone?"
"Kou, she had to go off on an errand."
He felt an eye twitch, and blood pressure rise.
"What's wrong, Kou? Did that bitch order you to do something again?"
He shook his head as he turned to leave. "No. Same orders. Did she say where she was going?"
"No—"
"No? Doesn't she realize how dangerous it is now? She…she just can't be going out there like that!"
Before he knew it, he had marched out of the dining room and was stomping down the hallway.
"Wait a minute, Kou!" called his swordsman as he came running out of the room. "Calm down, all right? She'll be back soon."
He stopped when he felt a large hand grab his shoulder and expelled a long sigh of frustration. Why was this getting him so upset? It wasn't like she's never gone outside the castle before. "Do…you know why she left?" he asked in a slower and calmer voice. If he said it that way, it may slow his pulse some.
"She needed to restock some of her ingredient stores. I guess she was running low on a few things."
Instantly, he was moving again, his feet taking him towards the long-distance dragon keep. If there was one thing he'd learned over the years, it was that she ran out of ingredients at the most inconvenient times. Especially with their new mission and that freak of a scientist running free around the castle.
"Do you want me to come with you?" called Dokugakuji.
"No. Stay here and watch Lirin." As an afterthought, he added, "And make sure she's still listening to me and keep her here!"
"Will do…'Oniichan'," the swordsman replied teasingly.
The demon prince felt his cheeks redden for a second as he turned the corner and broke out into a run. He still hadn't gotten used to being treated like the brother his subordinate once had.
When he arrived at the dragon keep, he was surprised to see all the long-distance dragons still tethered and sleeping. So she didn't go anywhere far. That was some positive news, at least. Frowning, he went out and strode quickly over to the short-distance dragon keep across the hall. Indeed, there was one missing.
"You, wake up!" he barked, grabbing hold of a bridle and fitting it into the nearest sleepy dragon's mouth. Reluctantly, the dragon stood and stretched, its movements slow. "Come on!" he ordered, and climbed onto its back. It immediately plopped down and yawned, completely disregarding the new weight it was carrying.
"…Okay," he sighed, a vein pulsing rapidly in his temple. "This is why we use the long-distance dragons… Unless…" he said slowly, looking around at the other dragons.
They were all asleep.
Some were even drooling.
He groaned and threw himself off the sleeping dragon and headed back over to the other keep. "She put them to sleep!" he yelled, startling one dragon as he entered and grabbed a fresh bridle from off the wall. But the others were asleep too.
It just wasn't his day.
Disbelieving what was happening, he stalked down the keep, eyeing each sleeping dragon with increasing frustration until he reached the one that seemed vaguely awake. "All right, up you get," he said, pulling the dragon to its feet. It grumbled and remained standing, but gave him a slightly disgruntled look.
"Hey, you're the only one that didn't get drugged. She probably ran low when she got to you, I'm willing to bet," he said, shoving the bridle into its mouth. "Now, you're going to take me to wherever she is. It's not far—"
The dragon snorted and made a sound, its head nodding towards the other dragons. He assumed it was telling him to go use the other dragons.
"Ah hey, no," he said. "They're asleep too."
The dragon made another sound and shook its head. Puffing its chest out, it looked at the demon prince with look of pride. "Don't worry," he sighed. "I won't tell the others you did a short-distance job, okay? I'll even give you a treat in return."
With a nod of its head, the dragon's look softened and it knelt down. Taking his cue, he mounted the dragon's back and gave it a nudge with his heels. "Okay, we'll circle the castle and spread the search out in that pattern," he said, instructing the dragon as it took off.
In all honesty, there were only a few places near the castle that had what she needed, but just to be safe, he was going to check the spaces in between them. Not one spot would be missed. And if she wasn't in any of those places…he didn't want to think how he'd react then. It was best for him to think about his present search, and not a broader one that he may have to employ if she is truly missing.
Half an hour passed before he found the missing dragon resting peacefully on a large flat rock overlooking a large meadow. Thank goodness he found it when he did. There wasn't much daylight left for him to probably search the area.
He jumped off before his own dragon could land and sprinted down the grassy hill and past the large rock. Momentary relief came over him just from seeing the dragon, but until he found his apothecary, he wouldn't feel completely at ease.
"Yaone!" he yelled, blades of long grass lightly whipping his lower torso as he ran. "Yaone, where are you?"
Off to his right, he heard someone gasp and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the person stand bolt upright. Surprisingly, she wasn't too far away from him.
"Kougaiji-sama!" exclaimed his apothecary, her eyes wide in shock.
"Ya—Yaone!" he said, swiveling on his heel to run towards her.
With each step he took, his anger just melted away. In his heart, he knew she was okay, that it was needless of him to be worried or afraid of anything happening to her.
"Kougaiji-sama, what are you—!"
His arms were holding her fast against him before she could finish her sentence. She's okay, she's safe, he kept thinking to himself. After a second, she relaxed and rested against him, her head nuzzled into his neck.
"I'm sorry, I must have worried you. I didn't mean to be gone this long, Kougaiji-sa—"
"Don't…" he interrupted. "You don't have to call me that, Yaone," he said in a gentle tone. His hand hesitated and halted in midair when he raised it towards her hair.
"I…I know, but you still are my master," she said softly.
"Master, subordinate, I could care less for those terms. I'm just…just relieved that nothing happened to you," he said, his hand finally cupping the back of her head. Gently, his fingers began to stroke her dark hair, ever mindful of his claws.
For a long second, they said nothing. There wasn't much else to say, really. Anything he wanted to say earlier was meaningless.
"…Why did you drug the dragons?" he asked, pulling gently away from her.
"Um, well, I figured that whatever was in the castle posed more of a threat than anything out here. It's not like Sanzo and the others are close."
His lips twisted into a smile. "Good reason," he said, chuckling. "Want to go back now? You have what you needed, correct?"
"Well yes, but now that you've asked, I…was wondering if you could stay and watch the sunset with me. There're hardly any clouds and the moon's already out…" she said, trailing off, her cheeks reddening.
His finger trailed down her soft cheek and down under her chin, tipping it up so he could look her in the eye. "If you had asked earlier, we could have watched it all together."
She smiled her bright smile that made his heart feel so at ease and allowed herself to be folded into his arms, both of their heads tilted up towards the darkening sky.
"It sure is a beautiful sunset," she said, resting up against him.
He gave her an affectionate squeeze, his lips brushing the top of her head, and said nothing in reply.
What else was there to add?