Kagome Hurt: Chapter 11
Dinner huh? And just what should one wear to a dinner when being presented to the full demon court?
Kagome was in her room at present and on the verge of pulling out her hair. Not to mention screaming in frustration as an added measure. All of these outfits were horribly outdated!
Kagome stopped, and paused to think about what she had just thought. Then she started laughing.
"Cheh...heh hehe hehehe. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
A knock came softly on the door, abruptly cutting off the maniacal ironic laughter. Marisa poked her head in to eye the wide eyed Kagome.
"Any thing I can do for you, Kagome-sama?"
Shaking her head no, the raven tresses shivered with the movement and Kagome quirked a grin.
"Not unless you can come up with a Givennchy, matching stilettos and a choker, I don't think you can."
A little crestfallen, the spry kitsune pouted before offering, "Well, if you do need something any time soon, let me know. I'll be glad to help."
"Sure, you'll be the first I ask," Kagome nodded. When she returned to the armoire to continue sorting the outfits found there, Marisa looks appraisingly at her mistress.
She'll make a fine mate for the lord. After all, she has the right thing in mind when she asked for knives and a garrote. I have no idea what a Givennchy is though. Must be some sort of exotic weapon from her homeland.
With a smile to herself, Marisa resolved to find her mistress the weapons asked for that she knew about. Hitori would know just the kind of stilettos to give her, and maybe sheathes to match. Kagome-sama would know what to do with the garrote.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
The palace retainers had the old place humming with gossip as the news of the ningen miko's introduction at court. It was extremely rare for a human to be present during such an important noble youkai event, let alone formally presented.
Such tidbits that were tossed around included the fact that she was a) human, b) a miko, which is dangerous enough with youkai, as they generally try to purify and destroy all demons, c) one of the band which caused all sorts of grief to their beloved Sesshoumaru-sama, d) knew about, and was protective of the lord's ward, Rin, and e) was from a far away land, and had customs that were very different from their own.
All in all, Kagome was a very juicy piece of gossip. Some of the romantics had bets, secret of course, that their lord would have inherited the tendencies of his father, and would opt to make the powerful female his mate. Others of the more ambitious sort had odds that the silvered male would stick to the plan, and trade the woman for the status symbol of the Tetsaiga. All were confident that he would get the better of his younger brother.
And so it was in this manner that the main banquet hall was scrubbed and polished, candles were replaced and tables and cushions arranged in an artful manner. All was in readiness for the commencement of the demon court, which only cycled through the western Lands once every four years.
As was obvious, it was the Western Lands turn to host the gathering, and it would stay for the three month duration before it dispersed until next year. Then it would be the Northern Lord's turn to host. All of the youkai nobility would make their presence at least once during each period and would have their issues, complaints, deals, and alliances dealt with. It was both an honor and a danger to be presented at court.
Customs were vastly different in the fact that lethal measures were more accepted, but it was, of course, considered highly rude to murder the host's guest out of hand. It wasn't unacceptable, but it was rude.
Ah, hurry hurry. The noble guests would be arriving soon, and should be greeted with furbished rooms. Each servant knew the rules of the politics game. Every visiting demon would receive a room on an equal level. They would all have somewhat shabby, somewhat dusty quarters.
The guests would then have to jockey about to gain favor with the host lord in order to get better accommodations. It would be a mark in their favor if they readily received opulent chambers along a well traveled hall. They could then lord it over the other nobles as they were wont to do.
Punishment could be that the youkai would soon find himself demoted to a remote room, thus drastically increasing his chances of getting lost.
No one wanted to get lost in Sesshoumaru's palace. It had a way of keeping the unwary lost. They still hadn't found two or three of the abominably rude squid youkai that were presented eight years ago.
It was assumed that they were digested by the halls and undiscovered chambers, rather like a giant Venus fly trap, only with youkai as the prey. The tale nevertheless always sent a shiver down the spines of the demon youth who were forced to the forefront for their presentations.
Ah, it was such fun to scare the kiddies!
~-~-~-~-~-~-
On a minor unworthy note, just for those who were wondering, Kagome chose the green one. It had little gold butterflies embroidered along the hems and slashing across the chest from right shoulder to left hip. The obi was black with a similar motif in gold, and the sleeves gracefully cascaded, yet were modified to that they could hook out of the way in case of battle.
Kagome liked it immediately, and Hitori approved of the practicality of the design when he saw it later that afternoon. The diminutive arms teacher had planned on sneaking up on his pupil to both scare and gift her with the stilettos and garrote Marisa said she asked for.
When presented with the elderly male's offerings, she only lifted a brow, which sent chills down Hitori's spine as it REALLY reminded him of Inutaisho, and to a degree, Sesshoumaru. He hoped she never learned how uneasy it made him feel, but he really wished she would use it on some of the stuffed shirts at court; throw a real scare into them, those that were old enough to remember the previous Taiyoukai.
Kagome excused herself, now that she was ready for dinner, indicating that she wanted to check up on Rin. To that purpose, she snagged Marisa who was ghosting down the hall aimlessly to show her the way.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru was feeling very pleased with himself, and felt that as this was a special occasion, he opened his eyes just a little wider and let the teensiest bit of an uplifting lilt to his lips.
This caused a minor riot in the servants around him, since Sesshoumaru never smiled unless death was nigh.
Things were going splendidly.
Now where was Rin? Jakin should have had her corralled into her suite and picked out her outfit for the upcoming banquet. He didn't want his ward to miss any of the festivities as she could be counted on to ruffle many a feather on the pompous guests who would baldly insinuate that he needed to be mated. Of course, they would also broadly hint that they had a female family member who would just love to fulfill the position.
Bakas, the lot of them.
As the dignified lord swept through the halls from the receiving room to Rin's suite close to his own, Sesshoumaru wondered as to what gratuities this round of haggling would net him and his territory. He knew the system of the courts only propagated the well being of the cardinal lords of the realm. As one such cardinal lord, it gained him numerous perks, but he also had quite a few pressing responsibilities during crunch time.
Now was crunch time, but he had always hated the jockeying and manipulation. It was his habit to ignore most of the fawning masses unless they did something spectacularly stupid. He had no patience to wade through the banal details many such requests made upon him.
Sesshoumaru finally gained his own wing, and pushed open the door to his ward's room for inquiry as to her readiness. What he found was his ward indulging in a pillow fight with his hostage.
Before announcing his presence, his eyes of golden disks darted around to search for the missing Jakin. One would have thought the measly toad would know better than to procrastinate like that. He found his personal lackey submerged under the wadded silken bedding, and if his own perceptive eyes did not deceive him, the toad was trembling!
It was Kagome whose senses finally bypassed the adrenalin of the mock fight to alert her to the presence of powerful youki. While it was there, and frightening in its ability to sneak up on her, it did not have taints of aggression as of yet. She had not yet turned to confront the demon at the doorway, and this was her downfall.
During this split second of bemusement, Rin took advantage of the opportunity and soundly belted the quiescent miko on the side of the head, sending her tumbling to the feet of the silent lord.
Opening her eyes, Kagome regained her equilibrium, even while sprawled on the floor, and immediately peered up to see whose feet stood before her.
Stormy blue grey met icy chill gold and as Kagome took in the addition of silver locks and a white kimono, she 'eeped' and scrambled lithely to her feet.
"Perhaps you should spend more time training with Hitori, miko, since you cannot keep to your feet in a fight with a child."
The regally attired ningen narrowed her baby blues and Sesshoumaru noted with some interest that the hue was quickly iced over, along with a startling change in her demeanor.
The female before him did not move, twitch or otherwise change her posture, but somehow, he got the feeling that she had gathered all of her resources and was looking upon him rather like a superior demoness would. For some reason, out of the blue, Sesshoumaru received the distinct urge to bring her something dead and edible to appease the female before him.
A moment passed, and Sesshoumaru knew that she would not respond to his subtle dig. Moving on, he broke the impromptu starting match to take in Rin's appearance. While dressed in an appropriate pink child's kimono with white sakura blossoms scattered across it, her clothing was rumpled due to the fight and a stray hank of hair stood at attention on the back of her head.
Kagome took notice of what his attention shifted to, and then realizing that free time was drawing to a close, she tut-tutted and started smoothing out Rin's attire.
Sesshoumaru was pleased to see that at least someone other than himself could effectively manage his ward. Rin just stood under her Kagome-chan's ministrations with a wide grin on her face, happy to have a mother figure in her life again. Kagome was so cheerful, and didn't mind her rambunctious-ness. She also didn't sneer at her like some of the female demons did.
When the females had finished their primping, Sesshoumaru spoke up.
"Come."
And then turned around for the door, fully expecting compliance.
What he got was a silent Japanese raspberry at his back although he didn't know it. Rin laughed gaily at the action and dashed to close the widening distance between her and her Sesshoumaru-sama. Kagome had to give up her enjoyable pastime in order to keep the odd duo in sight. She had no idea where the banquet hall was.
~-~-~-~-~-
A.N. - To point out something that may not be clear, it is about this time that Taki meets up with the Inu-tachi. What happened last chapter and this one are occurring concurrently. Just thought to let you know.
~-~-~-~-~-~
Whispers once again floated around the warmly lit hall. Light gleamed merrily of the polished woodwork of the floor and support posts, and the tables were delicately set with priceless china and well crafted utensils.
The head table followed along the back wall, and had four other longer tables projecting from it perpendicularly. Only the cardinal lords and their immediate entourage were permitted to be seated at the head, and the four lower tables provided food and seating for the nobles. The closer to the head table you were, the more important your status. A foolish noble would immediately jump for a highly placed position. If his lord did not feel that the seat suited the noble, it was his right to displace the baka, thus making the noble's faux pas that much more noticeable. A wily political contender would seat himself near the middle to low section. If the lord was favorable to him, then his position was also noticeably elevated, garnering the attention of the others. But there was risk in this maneuver, since it was not guaranteed that the lord would notice.
Kagome, who was not as conversant with the way feudal Japanese nobility, and demon nobility at that, acted, ended up following Sesshoumaru into the room before pausing on the threshold. Sesshoumaru noticed her hesitation, but did not cease his way to the front table with Rin in tow. He wanted to see her choice in seating.
The low hum of conversation slowed, faltered, and then ground to a stop upon the sight of the much talked about ningen miko. Quite a few of the Northern, Southern, and Eastern nobles tensed, but the Western somehow took an odd sense of pride in the human's entrance. Not every Territory could claim a powerful priestess that rivals their lord, and yet allowed herself to be under his care.
That, and the fact that Western nobles had the advantage in knowing the miko's reputation in not killing unless provoked. Still, she cast a pretty striking picture, there in the doorway, highlighted by the lanterns in the corridor behind her. Her inky black tresses were done up in an intricate fashion, courtesy of Marisa, while the lower portion was left to fall freely over her shoulders and down her back. The black, green and gold combined to give her skin a flawless hue and her eyes sparkled a curious blue as they slowly spiraled into a pale glacier blue.
Despite her human status, a few of the males at the lower end of the table quietly salivated to themselves.
Sariota, Lady of the Eastern Lands leaned over from Sesshoumaru's left.
"So, Sesshoumaru-sama. Was this the 'guest' you wanted presented to the court? People have been saying that you find her intriguing."
The white haired lord looked over to his opposite. Sariota was a study in blacks, from her hair to her clothes, and was just as cold and ruthless as a cardinal 'Lord' must be. But, she had an incorrigible habit of causing mischief for her Western counterpart, ever since they had fostered together with the previous Southern Lord for a year. Sariota was also a leopard youkai, and her full form was that of a two story tall panther. One can guess the color.
"Perhaps, Sariota-sama, I only wished to see her flail about before being slaughtered for a misstep," he proposed with nary a flicker of emotion in his eyes.
The green eyes of the feline youkai crinkled before a quirked grin found its way to her lips. Her entire posture could be read as 'sure, I'll believe that when her blood sprays the walls and you do nothing to avenge the girl.'
The panther knew the icy lord well enough to see his faint look of possessiveness when gazing at the miko. If the haughty lord did not have feelings for her at the moment, he would later, once propinquity took its toll, or she'd shave her head and steal some of Sesshou's poufy pants and robe.
Shaking her own black tresses, the dark lady of the East laughed at her own absurdity. Like she would show up in anything other than the darkest of colors!
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
A.N. Well, whatcha think? Still rather slow on the action part, but I like to have things well written and well thought out. Maybe when its all over and done with, I'll go back and reedit the chapters so that they're longer and have more action than writing pretty much scene by scene.
I like Sariota. She seems fun. Definitely a demented character that can inform Kagome all sorts of soft spots Sesshoumaru has. He'll have his revenge for it later, of course, if Kagome does use 'em, but revenge can be so sweet for both participants, yes?
Wow, two chapters in as many days. I'm on a roll!
Dinner huh? And just what should one wear to a dinner when being presented to the full demon court?
Kagome was in her room at present and on the verge of pulling out her hair. Not to mention screaming in frustration as an added measure. All of these outfits were horribly outdated!
Kagome stopped, and paused to think about what she had just thought. Then she started laughing.
"Cheh...heh hehe hehehe. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
A knock came softly on the door, abruptly cutting off the maniacal ironic laughter. Marisa poked her head in to eye the wide eyed Kagome.
"Any thing I can do for you, Kagome-sama?"
Shaking her head no, the raven tresses shivered with the movement and Kagome quirked a grin.
"Not unless you can come up with a Givennchy, matching stilettos and a choker, I don't think you can."
A little crestfallen, the spry kitsune pouted before offering, "Well, if you do need something any time soon, let me know. I'll be glad to help."
"Sure, you'll be the first I ask," Kagome nodded. When she returned to the armoire to continue sorting the outfits found there, Marisa looks appraisingly at her mistress.
She'll make a fine mate for the lord. After all, she has the right thing in mind when she asked for knives and a garrote. I have no idea what a Givennchy is though. Must be some sort of exotic weapon from her homeland.
With a smile to herself, Marisa resolved to find her mistress the weapons asked for that she knew about. Hitori would know just the kind of stilettos to give her, and maybe sheathes to match. Kagome-sama would know what to do with the garrote.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
The palace retainers had the old place humming with gossip as the news of the ningen miko's introduction at court. It was extremely rare for a human to be present during such an important noble youkai event, let alone formally presented.
Such tidbits that were tossed around included the fact that she was a) human, b) a miko, which is dangerous enough with youkai, as they generally try to purify and destroy all demons, c) one of the band which caused all sorts of grief to their beloved Sesshoumaru-sama, d) knew about, and was protective of the lord's ward, Rin, and e) was from a far away land, and had customs that were very different from their own.
All in all, Kagome was a very juicy piece of gossip. Some of the romantics had bets, secret of course, that their lord would have inherited the tendencies of his father, and would opt to make the powerful female his mate. Others of the more ambitious sort had odds that the silvered male would stick to the plan, and trade the woman for the status symbol of the Tetsaiga. All were confident that he would get the better of his younger brother.
And so it was in this manner that the main banquet hall was scrubbed and polished, candles were replaced and tables and cushions arranged in an artful manner. All was in readiness for the commencement of the demon court, which only cycled through the western Lands once every four years.
As was obvious, it was the Western Lands turn to host the gathering, and it would stay for the three month duration before it dispersed until next year. Then it would be the Northern Lord's turn to host. All of the youkai nobility would make their presence at least once during each period and would have their issues, complaints, deals, and alliances dealt with. It was both an honor and a danger to be presented at court.
Customs were vastly different in the fact that lethal measures were more accepted, but it was, of course, considered highly rude to murder the host's guest out of hand. It wasn't unacceptable, but it was rude.
Ah, hurry hurry. The noble guests would be arriving soon, and should be greeted with furbished rooms. Each servant knew the rules of the politics game. Every visiting demon would receive a room on an equal level. They would all have somewhat shabby, somewhat dusty quarters.
The guests would then have to jockey about to gain favor with the host lord in order to get better accommodations. It would be a mark in their favor if they readily received opulent chambers along a well traveled hall. They could then lord it over the other nobles as they were wont to do.
Punishment could be that the youkai would soon find himself demoted to a remote room, thus drastically increasing his chances of getting lost.
No one wanted to get lost in Sesshoumaru's palace. It had a way of keeping the unwary lost. They still hadn't found two or three of the abominably rude squid youkai that were presented eight years ago.
It was assumed that they were digested by the halls and undiscovered chambers, rather like a giant Venus fly trap, only with youkai as the prey. The tale nevertheless always sent a shiver down the spines of the demon youth who were forced to the forefront for their presentations.
Ah, it was such fun to scare the kiddies!
~-~-~-~-~-~-
On a minor unworthy note, just for those who were wondering, Kagome chose the green one. It had little gold butterflies embroidered along the hems and slashing across the chest from right shoulder to left hip. The obi was black with a similar motif in gold, and the sleeves gracefully cascaded, yet were modified to that they could hook out of the way in case of battle.
Kagome liked it immediately, and Hitori approved of the practicality of the design when he saw it later that afternoon. The diminutive arms teacher had planned on sneaking up on his pupil to both scare and gift her with the stilettos and garrote Marisa said she asked for.
When presented with the elderly male's offerings, she only lifted a brow, which sent chills down Hitori's spine as it REALLY reminded him of Inutaisho, and to a degree, Sesshoumaru. He hoped she never learned how uneasy it made him feel, but he really wished she would use it on some of the stuffed shirts at court; throw a real scare into them, those that were old enough to remember the previous Taiyoukai.
Kagome excused herself, now that she was ready for dinner, indicating that she wanted to check up on Rin. To that purpose, she snagged Marisa who was ghosting down the hall aimlessly to show her the way.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru was feeling very pleased with himself, and felt that as this was a special occasion, he opened his eyes just a little wider and let the teensiest bit of an uplifting lilt to his lips.
This caused a minor riot in the servants around him, since Sesshoumaru never smiled unless death was nigh.
Things were going splendidly.
Now where was Rin? Jakin should have had her corralled into her suite and picked out her outfit for the upcoming banquet. He didn't want his ward to miss any of the festivities as she could be counted on to ruffle many a feather on the pompous guests who would baldly insinuate that he needed to be mated. Of course, they would also broadly hint that they had a female family member who would just love to fulfill the position.
Bakas, the lot of them.
As the dignified lord swept through the halls from the receiving room to Rin's suite close to his own, Sesshoumaru wondered as to what gratuities this round of haggling would net him and his territory. He knew the system of the courts only propagated the well being of the cardinal lords of the realm. As one such cardinal lord, it gained him numerous perks, but he also had quite a few pressing responsibilities during crunch time.
Now was crunch time, but he had always hated the jockeying and manipulation. It was his habit to ignore most of the fawning masses unless they did something spectacularly stupid. He had no patience to wade through the banal details many such requests made upon him.
Sesshoumaru finally gained his own wing, and pushed open the door to his ward's room for inquiry as to her readiness. What he found was his ward indulging in a pillow fight with his hostage.
Before announcing his presence, his eyes of golden disks darted around to search for the missing Jakin. One would have thought the measly toad would know better than to procrastinate like that. He found his personal lackey submerged under the wadded silken bedding, and if his own perceptive eyes did not deceive him, the toad was trembling!
It was Kagome whose senses finally bypassed the adrenalin of the mock fight to alert her to the presence of powerful youki. While it was there, and frightening in its ability to sneak up on her, it did not have taints of aggression as of yet. She had not yet turned to confront the demon at the doorway, and this was her downfall.
During this split second of bemusement, Rin took advantage of the opportunity and soundly belted the quiescent miko on the side of the head, sending her tumbling to the feet of the silent lord.
Opening her eyes, Kagome regained her equilibrium, even while sprawled on the floor, and immediately peered up to see whose feet stood before her.
Stormy blue grey met icy chill gold and as Kagome took in the addition of silver locks and a white kimono, she 'eeped' and scrambled lithely to her feet.
"Perhaps you should spend more time training with Hitori, miko, since you cannot keep to your feet in a fight with a child."
The regally attired ningen narrowed her baby blues and Sesshoumaru noted with some interest that the hue was quickly iced over, along with a startling change in her demeanor.
The female before him did not move, twitch or otherwise change her posture, but somehow, he got the feeling that she had gathered all of her resources and was looking upon him rather like a superior demoness would. For some reason, out of the blue, Sesshoumaru received the distinct urge to bring her something dead and edible to appease the female before him.
A moment passed, and Sesshoumaru knew that she would not respond to his subtle dig. Moving on, he broke the impromptu starting match to take in Rin's appearance. While dressed in an appropriate pink child's kimono with white sakura blossoms scattered across it, her clothing was rumpled due to the fight and a stray hank of hair stood at attention on the back of her head.
Kagome took notice of what his attention shifted to, and then realizing that free time was drawing to a close, she tut-tutted and started smoothing out Rin's attire.
Sesshoumaru was pleased to see that at least someone other than himself could effectively manage his ward. Rin just stood under her Kagome-chan's ministrations with a wide grin on her face, happy to have a mother figure in her life again. Kagome was so cheerful, and didn't mind her rambunctious-ness. She also didn't sneer at her like some of the female demons did.
When the females had finished their primping, Sesshoumaru spoke up.
"Come."
And then turned around for the door, fully expecting compliance.
What he got was a silent Japanese raspberry at his back although he didn't know it. Rin laughed gaily at the action and dashed to close the widening distance between her and her Sesshoumaru-sama. Kagome had to give up her enjoyable pastime in order to keep the odd duo in sight. She had no idea where the banquet hall was.
~-~-~-~-~-
A.N. - To point out something that may not be clear, it is about this time that Taki meets up with the Inu-tachi. What happened last chapter and this one are occurring concurrently. Just thought to let you know.
~-~-~-~-~-~
Whispers once again floated around the warmly lit hall. Light gleamed merrily of the polished woodwork of the floor and support posts, and the tables were delicately set with priceless china and well crafted utensils.
The head table followed along the back wall, and had four other longer tables projecting from it perpendicularly. Only the cardinal lords and their immediate entourage were permitted to be seated at the head, and the four lower tables provided food and seating for the nobles. The closer to the head table you were, the more important your status. A foolish noble would immediately jump for a highly placed position. If his lord did not feel that the seat suited the noble, it was his right to displace the baka, thus making the noble's faux pas that much more noticeable. A wily political contender would seat himself near the middle to low section. If the lord was favorable to him, then his position was also noticeably elevated, garnering the attention of the others. But there was risk in this maneuver, since it was not guaranteed that the lord would notice.
Kagome, who was not as conversant with the way feudal Japanese nobility, and demon nobility at that, acted, ended up following Sesshoumaru into the room before pausing on the threshold. Sesshoumaru noticed her hesitation, but did not cease his way to the front table with Rin in tow. He wanted to see her choice in seating.
The low hum of conversation slowed, faltered, and then ground to a stop upon the sight of the much talked about ningen miko. Quite a few of the Northern, Southern, and Eastern nobles tensed, but the Western somehow took an odd sense of pride in the human's entrance. Not every Territory could claim a powerful priestess that rivals their lord, and yet allowed herself to be under his care.
That, and the fact that Western nobles had the advantage in knowing the miko's reputation in not killing unless provoked. Still, she cast a pretty striking picture, there in the doorway, highlighted by the lanterns in the corridor behind her. Her inky black tresses were done up in an intricate fashion, courtesy of Marisa, while the lower portion was left to fall freely over her shoulders and down her back. The black, green and gold combined to give her skin a flawless hue and her eyes sparkled a curious blue as they slowly spiraled into a pale glacier blue.
Despite her human status, a few of the males at the lower end of the table quietly salivated to themselves.
Sariota, Lady of the Eastern Lands leaned over from Sesshoumaru's left.
"So, Sesshoumaru-sama. Was this the 'guest' you wanted presented to the court? People have been saying that you find her intriguing."
The white haired lord looked over to his opposite. Sariota was a study in blacks, from her hair to her clothes, and was just as cold and ruthless as a cardinal 'Lord' must be. But, she had an incorrigible habit of causing mischief for her Western counterpart, ever since they had fostered together with the previous Southern Lord for a year. Sariota was also a leopard youkai, and her full form was that of a two story tall panther. One can guess the color.
"Perhaps, Sariota-sama, I only wished to see her flail about before being slaughtered for a misstep," he proposed with nary a flicker of emotion in his eyes.
The green eyes of the feline youkai crinkled before a quirked grin found its way to her lips. Her entire posture could be read as 'sure, I'll believe that when her blood sprays the walls and you do nothing to avenge the girl.'
The panther knew the icy lord well enough to see his faint look of possessiveness when gazing at the miko. If the haughty lord did not have feelings for her at the moment, he would later, once propinquity took its toll, or she'd shave her head and steal some of Sesshou's poufy pants and robe.
Shaking her own black tresses, the dark lady of the East laughed at her own absurdity. Like she would show up in anything other than the darkest of colors!
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
A.N. Well, whatcha think? Still rather slow on the action part, but I like to have things well written and well thought out. Maybe when its all over and done with, I'll go back and reedit the chapters so that they're longer and have more action than writing pretty much scene by scene.
I like Sariota. She seems fun. Definitely a demented character that can inform Kagome all sorts of soft spots Sesshoumaru has. He'll have his revenge for it later, of course, if Kagome does use 'em, but revenge can be so sweet for both participants, yes?
Wow, two chapters in as many days. I'm on a roll!