Lessons Learned
Author Shortey 83
Chapter 21 – Protector
Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim!
Story Start:
"Oh man this is nice." Kagome sighed, sinking deeper into the warm waters of the hot springs. "Sesshomaru is going to spoil you rotten at this rate."
"What do you mean 'is going to spoil' me?" Takara laughed, "He's already spoiled me, and I don't think there is any recovering from it."
"So, what's it like?" Kagome asked, leaning forward, crossing her arms on one of the raised stones in the middle of the pool of water.
"What's what like?"
"Oh, you know what I mean. How is it with Sesshomaru?" Kagome pressed, a sly grin on her face.
Takara could only give her friend a blank stare as she processed what she could have meant before it occurred to her. "Kagome," she gasped as a blush spread across her face, "Are you really asking me that?!"
Kagome laughed at her friend's embarrassment but showed no mercy as she continued to press the issue. "Oh, come on, Takara, you can't expect me not to ask. It's Sesshomaru after all, so… how is it?"
Blushing furiously, Takara gave a hesitant reply. "I-I don't know what to tell you. I mean, I don't exactly, have anything else to go on, you know."
"That's a good point," Kagome giggled. "But has he ever left you… how do I say this? Have you ever gone to sleep after the two of you had sex and you were… unsatisfied?
"Uh…" Takara's blush continued to spread. "I'm not sure… no? Not that I know of. I'm usually tired so I just fall asleep. Sesshomaru doesn't wake me up again for the most part."
It was Kagome's turn to give her a blank stare. "You just fall asleep because your tired…?" she asked, confused. "What do you mean Sesshomaru doesn't wake you up again 'for the most part' and why are you so tired?"
Am I doing something wrong? Takara wondered. Are we doing something wrong?
"I mean, yeah I'm tired. It takes a couple hours and if I fall asleep, Sesshomaru only wakes me up sometimes." Her friend's shocked face only added to her concern that something wasn't right.
"A few hours?!" She demanded. "Wait, how many times do you…does he…what? How?!"
Ok I guess we are doing something wrong…
"Uh I don't know how many times for me… a lot though, but usually three or four for him. Is there something wrong with that?"
Takara was really worried when Kagome simply starred at her in shock, her mouth opening and then closing a few times, but nothing came out. Finally, she seemed to snap out of it. "No, nothing's wrong, but let me ask, he wakes you up for more sometimes?"
Not thinking anything of it, Takara nodded.
Kagome sat back down, the sly smile back on her face. "Takara you are one very lucky girl, let me just say that. Sesshomaru must have a whole lot of stamina, but then I guess it shouldn't be too surprising since he's such a strong demon."
"Yes, he does and yes, he is, now can we please change the subject?"
Kagome laughed, but did as Takara asked, changing the subject to lighter topics.
After their bath, Takara sat with Kagome and InuYasha out on the porch, sipping tea and discussing what needed to be done about the information leak in the main house.
"I'm trying to keep an open mind about her, but something about the woman just rubs me the wrong way. I get that she might be a 'product of her time', but from what I understand, Sesshomaru told me that they village that he saved was a poor. Is it common knowledge for women of this time to know how a house of this size should be ran?"
"I don't know about being ran, but as guests, we are all aware of how we should act, perhaps she's just pulling from that." Kagome offered.
"I'm being serious when I ask this but are you sure you don't sense that she's being possessed or controlled by something."
Kagome shook her head, "No, I'm not sure, I can't tell with Sesshomaru's demonic aura lingering around."
Takara sighed at the mention of Sesshomaru. He had only been gone two days and she missed him terribly. She missed waking up in the middle of the night to lay across his chest, or in the morning to those incredible amber eyes of his. She missed his warm body and his smell and how he made love to her. She missed simply being with him.
"Well, I'll see what I can find out from the villagers tomorrow. I think I should go to bed now. Goodnight, you two."
Try as she might that night, Takara lay in bed missing Sesshomaru. Part of her was ashamed that she was so….pitiful…needy, but there was something almost pulling her to where she needed him. She fought back tears as she hugged his pillow to her; she wouldn't let them fall. She was Sesshomaru's wife and while she was entitled to miss him, she was supposed to remain strong in his absence.
She sat up, taking breaths to calm herself down, but refused to let go of his pillow. She would be strong in his absence and resolved to be the woman…the lady he deserved. She would figure out who was leaking the information and gain the trust of the…
That's when it occurred to her. If she wanted to find out where the leak originated by tracing it back to his source. She just needed to find the two women and question them where/who they had heard Sesshomaru was leaving from… in the morning and after she had a good cry.
Sesshomaru watched from the cliff above the mansion as Takara spoke with InuYasha and his woman. He couldn't hear what they spoke about while in the hot springs due to how close they were to the waterfall, but he could feel through their bond that Takara was embarrassed. Through that, he deduced that they were talking about their mating, he could also sense her confusion. When he chose to come back to the mansion, he would have to ask her what the two of them were speaking about.
It was difficult for him not to go to her that night. His inner demon could feel her longing for him and Sesshomaru fought with it to stay where he was. The feeling of her sadness and loneliness was driving it and him nearly mad, but as she solidified her resolve until he could only feel her determination his beast calmed.
His mate was young and inexperienced in many things, but, if nothing else, she had a strong will and was eager to do whatever it took for her to feel worthy of him.
That thought made him chuckle. He found it perplexing that she felt unworthy of him even though he had been the one to seek her out and pursue her until she had agreed to be his mate. Why would she think herself unworthy if he had been the one chasing her? Perhaps she just needed this victory to realize that. Either way, he would sit back and watch her act… for now.
The following day, Takara set out to do just what she had planned the night before. She sought out the two women and asked them where they had heard the news that Sesshomaru had left from and back tracked her way through the village. Luckily for her, most of the villagers were simply eager to help their lady in any way. A few of them were curious as to why she was asking, probably for fear she would be angry. She simply explained it as a way of getting to know the people around the village. "What better way to do so than to follow a chain of information?" she had asked them. They couldn't argue with that logic especially since it had brought her as far as she did.
However, as she grew closer to the source the chain got messier. It took most of the day to figure out who was who since she got tangled up when she spoke to several of the older villagers. It seemed that they had a hard time remembering where they had heard the information from as well as sit and listen to several different stories of their lives and such. She actually enjoyed it because she didn't have the opportunity to spend with her own grandparents. They had all passed away before she had reached twelve, so the memories she did have of them, she cherished.
Just as she had expected, the source of the information lead back to the main house, but what surprised her was that Ayako was not mentioned. The next person she needed to question was Ai; for that she needed to find Ayako.
She found her out in the courtyard, speaking with a few of the men who were working on building a garden to liven up the landscape around the main house.
"Ayako, I need to speak with you for a moment." Takara called over to her. For a moment, the old woman's face twisted in confusion, but she made her way over to where Takara, Kagome and InuYasha stood.
"Yes, My Lady?" she asked, her voice also conveying her perplexity.
"Have you seen Ai anywhere? I need to ask her a few questions."
"She asked to take a trip to the next town over and left this morning. She mentioned something about her order being ready from their herbalist."
Herbalist?
"I see…" Takara said, glancing at InuYasha who nodded, "Thank you"
"Is something wrong, My Lady?"
Takara debated whether or not she should tell the woman what was going on or not. "I'm not sure. We're still looking into something to see if there is a problem or not. You'll know when we do."
If she was part of the scheme, Ayako was a damn good actress because the look of confusion she had on her face only continued to grow. She didn't argue or respond, but simply gave Takara a bow and excused herself back to instructing the men building the gardens.
"You two want to check it out first thing tomorrow?" She asked InuYasha and Kagome. "I say tomorrow because it would be after dark before you got back. It's about half a day's trip there and back for you InuYasha. Probably an entire day for Ai."
They both nodded, and together they spent the evening going over what had been found. It made no sense, of all the help in the house, Takara had assumed that if anything foul would be afoot, it would be due to Ayako since the woman loved to get on her case more than anything. For it to potentially be Ai was unexpected to say the least. Either way, the three of them would get to the bottom of it.
Sesshomaru listened to their discussion about the girl visiting the next village and decided he would seek her out first and find out what kind of herbs she had been purchasing. If she had been the one slipping them into Takara's tea, he would find out why and kill her depending on the answer.
The thought of someone trying to hurt his mate had allowed painful memories to resurface and he was not about to relive that nightmare again.
If it came down to killing the girl though, he would prefer it to be done away from the eyes and knowledge of the villagers. He did not want a rebellion of any sort to quell or find new humans to tend the village, the house and Takara- that would be too much trouble.
With one last glance around the village and Takara, Sesshomaru headed out in search of the girl. He may not have been sure which one she was, but he was familiar with the scent of all the servants in the main house at least. The girl had just better pray she was not involved in whatever scheme was taking place.
Takara watch InuYasha and Kagome leave with directions to the village. They had promised to hurry back but that didn't put Takara any more at ease. The feeling she had in the pit of her stomach just wouldn't go away so she felt it would be best if she was prepared for the worst while she hoped for the best.
She entered her rooms and opened the chest that held her armor. Since it was made out of dragon bone, she didn't have to worry about it being stolen by any of the servants since, like her weapons, they would be unable to lift it. She took her time inspecting and cleaning the bit of dust off each piece, setting it to the side and then moving onto the next.
The thought of having to use that armor scared her though. She didn't want to fight anyone, but she would if it came down to it. Perhaps Sesshomaru would return in the next few hours and he could tell her there was nothing to worry about, and while that may have been unlikely, it was still plausible.
Next, she moved to her weapons; Both of which were in fine condition from their regular use. She still practiced with Sesshomaru on her sword skills and while she was ever improving, he would undoubtedly always have the upper hand. He was simply to graceful and fluid in his movements, not to mention how quick he was. The question was, did she have the resolve to actually follow through for a kill strike or not? She had never even gotten close with Sesshomaru, unless he allowed it of course, so that she would know where and how to strike. It never occurred to her that she may one day have to put her skills to the test and potentially end another person's life.
As far as the bow went, she was more skilled than Kagome, but that may have been due to her unfair advantage of hitting whatever she looked at. Whether it was the bow, or she just had incredible aim, she wasn't sure. Probably the bow she had thought on more than one occasion.
Sesshomaru had often taken her into various forests throughout his lands to teach her how to track game as best he could. In this he was not the best teacher, but with Takara being such an eager student and a fast learner, she was beginning to pick up on what he was attempting to teach her.
Attempting is the best word to use she thought, a little frustrated. Sesshomaru was a demon of very few words to begin with, but when he was teaching her something it was like being thrown in the water and being told "Swim". That was just about the extent of her instruction. He was at least thoughtful enough to give her a brief list of things to look for: Tracks, broken shrubbery, disturbed grass, scat, and water sources. At one point she had gotten so frustrated that she had actually used a Shout to find something and slowly she had begun to put together the signs she had seen with what wildlife had been in what area.
To make matters worse, Sesshomaru followed behind her quietly and simply watched her which bothered Takara beyond reason.
"If you're going to follow me, can you please say something" she told him. "Anything. This following me without making a sound is driving me crazy."
"Making a lot of noise would defeat the purpose of hunting." He told her.
"Uh huh, it would, but how many signs have I missed in the last few minutes?"
"Over a dozen."
"Now, you see, I think that defeats the purpose of hunting. You know, not catching anything."
"Then you should pay more attention to the task at hand instead of me."
Takara had stopped before turning to give him a suspicious look. "Wait. How did you know I was thinking about you?"
"If you weren't then my following you wouldn't be a bother."
Damn she thought He's got a point. But to him she replied with a simple "Oh" before turning around going back to her task, a bit irritated that he was right on the money.
She was only successful in about one in every six hunts to begin with, but Sesshomaru had told her she would get better with time. Honestly, she thought the only reason she had gotten the few kills that she had was due to him setting her up for success in some ways. Needless to say, the more down she got about being unsuccessful her previous attempts, the more signs of wildlife appeared on the following hunt. She figured out quickly enough that he was taking her places that held more game than the last, so if she didn't want to spend all day out when he planned to take her out, she simply pouted quietly about the last trip they went on. But she figured he would catch on to that sooner or later.
With an unhappy sigh, she stood and dressed in a pair of her jeans and a t-shirt. It would be easier to put her armor on with those clothes as opposed to a kimono, but that also meant she couldn't go wandering about in the village since she would stand out too much.
Instead, she decided to spend the day practicing her calligraphy. Sesshomaru's writing, like his swordsmanship was near flawless and Takara never wanted to send a letter on his behalf and it look like it was written by an incompetent child. She did stay in her rooms however, where her weapons and armor were readily accessible. Kaos, seemed to sense her unease because he decided to lay pressed against her side while she working on her writing.
By noon, she was beginning to relax. InuYasha and Kagome should return soon with news one way or the other and if something did happen, InuYasha would be there to help resolve whatever situation arose.
Besides, she thought, what could happen in the middle of the day?
It wasn't long before the warning bell went off at the village gate. She opened the screen door that lead to the porch and tried her best to listen. From the village all she could hear were the screams of the women and children crying as the men began to shout.
Famous last words, Takara you idiot!
She closed the screen door and began hurriedly strapping on her armor. Chainmail, followed by boots, leg armor, then came the body armor, followed by gauntlets. Before she could put on her helmet, the screen door to her room was flung open by Ayako, who was panting, her face terrified before shifting to shock.
"My Lady! Bandits are attacking the village! What are you doing?! We have to get you to safety!" She yelled in a panic.
"Do any of the men here know how to use a sword?"
"I- I don't think so." She stammered "Most of the men are farmers but-"
"But nothing!" Takara yelled, putting on her helmet and strapping her arrows to her back. "I'm not going to run while people are pillaging my home! I'll deal with Sesshomaru when he get's here and tell him you tried to stop me."
With that, Takara slid her sword through her belt loop and picked up her bow, drawing and readying an arrow. To her disdain, as she moved to the wall of the main house, she saw at least twenty men in armor pursing the villagers while wielding various weapons.
She ran behind a row of houses for cover, not wanting to draw the entire band of them at once but try to do what she could to pick them off one by one. Peeking around a corner, she could see a one of them, sword raised to one of the men she had spoken to the day before.
She didn't hesitate, taking aim and striking her target in the neck.
These were her people and she was responsible for them. They cared for her every day and she wouldn't let that go unrewarded. She ducked behind the house again as bandits came to inspect their fallen comrade, looking for the source of the shot. She moved a few houses down and ducked into a narrow alleyway.
Recalling her arrow only confused them since it disappeared before their eyes, leaving them unable to trace the source of the shot. But as they looked around, they line up nicely. Takara took aim again and released her second shot, this time her arrow flew through the neck of one man and came to rest in the chest of another.
With three men down and no source pin pointed, the bandits put a halt to their raiding and terrorizing the villagers. Now they were becoming anxious.
"What the hell?!" one shouted.
"Find the archer!" came a second voice.
"Archer?" the third voice sounded further away than the previous two. "I don't see any arrows!"
The approaching pounding of footsteps drew her attention. She ducked behind a crate in the alleyway, bow at the ready. One man stopped in the middle of the street, looking this way and that, but by the time he looked into the alley, it was too late. As his eyes met Takara's, she released her arrow, nailing the bastard right in his chest.
A shuffling behind her caught her attention and she drew yet another arrow, spinning around ready to take aim. She paused when her bow wouldn't draw back though.
It was a group of villagers, fleeing the bandits.
"My Lady?" they questioned, stunned.
"Go to the main house!" she instructed them. "Now!"
They didn't question her, but obeyed immediately, running to the safety of the secondary wall.
"Come out you bastard!" someone yelled, one of the bandit's she presumed. "Come out or we start burning homes!"
Sure enough, as she peeked out from her hiding spot, there were at least ten men grouped together, two of them holding torches to homes on either side of the street. She didn't want to give them the opportunity to start torching houses since it wouldn't take much for the fire to spread to other homes.
Sesshomaru! Where are you?! She thought as she panicked.
"Last chance!" the man yelled.
Takara took a breath to calm her nerves and stepped out of the alley, arrow at the ready as she kept her bow to the ground. She wanted them to think they had the upper hand.
"You're going to pay for killing my men." He yelled as soon as she came into view, but he seemed to hesitate. "Now that I think about it, I'll forgive you if you join me. It'd be real nice to have a good shot on our side."
"I think you better leave before my husband returns, if you know what's good for you."
She could see the shock register across his face. "A woman?" one of men questioned and they began to talk amongst themselves.
The leader's face twisted into a disgusting grin. "Even better" he laughed. "Where is he? Had to go find his pride? Tell me are you the man of the house and he's your bitch?"
Takara saw red. "FUS RO DAH!" She Shouted, knocking the men back. She didn't give them a chance to recover, drawing her bow and firing an arrow at each of the men. She showed them no mercy, but nearly failed to realize the other group of men running at her from her right.
She dropped her bow to the ground and drew her sword, blocking the man who swung at her like Sesshomaru had taught her. Any doubts she had about being able to defend herself disappeared. These men weren't nearly as skilled as Sesshomaru, making them easy to dispatch. A limb sliced off here, her sword through the gut there.
Takara was furious!
These low lives were trying to kill her people, destroy her home, kill her and had insulted Sesshomaru. She wasn't going to forgive them. Out the corner of her eye, she saw the leader of the group charging her, but she doubted she could stop his momentum. She kicked away the man who had locked swords with her, bent down and scooped up her bow. The anger in his face subsided in the wake of confusion as she tossed her bow to him. He held out a hand in reaction to catch it, pulling it towards his chest.
Gotcha! She thought triumphantly, and she watched him buckle under the weight of the bow, struggling to lift it off his chest like a man trying to bench-press weights.
Panting hard, she saw the man she had just kicked away coming back for more. The adrenaline flooding her system gave her the extra edge she needed to take his head off with a swing, her sword gliding through flesh and bone like warm butter.
Shaking, Takara was fast becoming exhausted and her attackers knew it. There were only three left, not including the struggling leader, but she was backed against the walls to one of the houses.
"Kill her!" the leader yelled at them from where he laid pinned to the ground.
Sesshomaru! She thought, dodging one attack and blocking a second. She was not about to die now…maybe later when Sesshomaru got his hands on her, but she refused to give up to these pathetic murderers!
A roar tore through the air, but that roar didn't belong to a dragon.
"You guys are dead, now" she panted, rolling out of the way of a sword stroke and into the middle of the street, her back to the main house.
A large shadow suddenly blocked out the sun, but she knew what…or rather who it was. Two massive white, fur covered legs landed on either side of her, shaking the ground, and the men who had been prepared to attack her froze in terror.
Not only did they get an angry Sesshomaru, they had the unfortunate luck to get a fully transformed Sesshomaru as well. Relief welled up inside her at his arrival, but there was still fear present. She couldn't be sure, but she had a good feeling she was going to be in trouble when he finished off the bandits.
It only took one bite for him to snap the men in half, and Takara winced a bit at that, but it was effective. He opened his mouth and let their upper halves fall out, and she could hear their flesh sizzling as it was slowly being eaten away by his acidic saliva. He was going for the leader next, and she felt her heart racing.
"Sesshomaru!" she shouted. "My bow!"
She wasn't sure if he understood her or not, but his massive head turned in her direction and he paused. She ran forward enough to snatch her bow off the man's chest and quickly backed away. Before the man could sit up, Sesshomaru had brought his massive paw down on the man's lower legs, a sickening crunch following the boom of his foot landing.
The man screamed in agony but Sesshomaru didn't finish him off. Instead he lifted his paw and stepped aside before being engulfed in a bright light, transforming back to his usual self.
"You chose the wrong village to plunder, vermin." Sesshomaru growled to the man, but Takara took her opportunity and ran. She only stopped long enough to quickly slip out of her armor, dropping it in a heaping, bloody pile in her room, before rushing out past the village wall and into the forest. She didn't have to worry about what was in the forest, since she was pretty sure anything within ten square miles had heard Sesshomaru and, if it was smart, ran for its' life.
Now she was scared… not for her life, but for her ass.
"TAKARA!" He roared her name and she knew it was only a matter of time before he found her. Quickly, she leapt into the river, running upstream where there was a small waterfall, and ducked behind it. The cool water, cooling her heated flesh as she ducked behind a rock. Her hiding spot wouldn't be safe for long, he would find her sooner or later.
She was terrified of what would happen when he found her… well perhaps terrified wasn't the correct word. She knew he would never truly harm her, but at the same time, she had no doubts that when he found her, she wouldn't be able to sit down for a week. That was scary enough to send her hiding from his wrath.
She was also upset because she knew he was angry with her, furious even, but she couldn't help it. Takara couldn't just sit idly by while the people of the village were killed. As far as she was concerned, it was a lose -lose situation. A few tears slipped from her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away, trying her best to calm herself.
"TAKARA!" Sesshomaru called to her again, this time much closer. "DO NOT MAKE ME HUNT YOU DOWN!"
Considering her options, she felt that hiding from him was probably not the best idea, after running from him while he was in a rage. So, she crept out of her hiding spot behind the waterfall and waited for him to find her. It was just a matter of time.