The Pain Within

Chapter Three: Sweet Revenge

Two months had passed surprisingly quickly since Sakuto was first dragged into the Western Lord's army. She had managed to fall into a typical routine, which composed of sleeping, eating and training. It is grueling and tiresome work, but she could tell her mortal skills were dramatically improving. She knew she had nothing better to do with her time anyway, and focused on the next time she would have to face Sesshomaru in battle, imagining his expression when he found himself beaten by a human.

Secretly she knew she was the best-supposed human in Sesshomaru's army and most had come to respect her for her seemingly amazing skills, even the older soldiers and the trainers and instructors. Yet she never spoke a word. Of the two months she had been here, she had said a total of two sentences since the incident with Sesshomaru. She preferred to keep to herself, quietly planning her revenge on the demon lord who seemed only to care for humiliating his human servants. She had seen very little of Sesshomaru during the passing months, except when he wandered the fields, watching his men train, criticizing or glaring. He seemed to remain silent most of the time, merely observing others with his emotionless amber gaze, which could freeze even the strongest of men. Even Sakuto found herself shivering nervously whenever she felt his eyes brush over her. He was remarkably unpredictable if he was angered, often killing someone without a second thought when on other days he would merely backhand them.

With each passing day, Sakuto found her life expectancy dramatically decreasing, made worse on the days she found Sesshomaru's claws wrapped tightly around her neck when she refused to bow to him. For some reason, her mere presence seemed to irritate him. Sakuto could not understand it, she had always been an expert at irritating him back when she used to know him, but now that she wasn't even trying, he would growl under his breath at the sight of her. Each time it happened, she couldn't help but get the feeling that he could see straight through her masquerade.

It had been a surprisingly warm afternoon when Sesshomaru had stalked onto the field, a murderous glint in his eyes as he had glanced around, clearly searching for someone. Sakuto and the other men had been down by the lake, swimming laps. Since Sakuto often woke early to swim in the morning, Jasuto would allow her to sit by the lake and rest in the shade. Yet on this day, she caught the scent of Sesshomaru rapidly approaching and quickly stripped and dived into the cool water. Jasuto raised an eyebrow curiously, but did not say a word as he watched her join the other men. Moments later Sakuto saw Sesshomaru break through the line of trees and ask something of Jasuto. He promptly nodded towards the water, his eyes quickly meeting hers. Sakuto did not need the hint to know she would be in trouble if Sesshomaru caught sight of her and promptly dived under the water. She quickly swam over to an outcropping of rocks where she hid until Sesshomaru's impatience clearly overtook his desire to find her and he left. Once she was sure he was gone, she hesitantly joined the others again.

Jasuto managed to pulled her aside once she climbed from the water to dry herself. "Lord Sesshomaru was looking for you." He whispered as she pulled her clothes back on. Sakuto raised an eyebrow in question.

"I have a feeling he wanted to take out some of his frustration." She nodded sharply at this and quickly melted into the group of men, careful to blend in. For the rest of the afternoon Sakuto had been very careful to avoid Sesshomaru at all costs. After dinner she heard that he had killed one of the older soldiers who had gotten in his way. Nervously she had swallowed and turned in for the night, thankful she had managed to survive another day.

Apart from such instances, Sakuto found life to be surprisingly peaceful, if not a little dull from the constant repetition. She chose not to befriend any of the humans, preferring to keep mostly to herself, with Jasuto being the only exception. Most of the other humans, although in awe of her, were mostly afraid of such skill, and found it wise to simply avoid her after seeing how capable she was with any weapon. She had the uncanny ability to master any weapon within a day. The very first arrow she ever fired had nearly hit Jasuto, who had been standing a few yards from the targets. After he had pulled the arrow from the tree he had been leaning against, he had stormed over to her, brutally adjusted her stance and hand positioning on the bow before retreating behind her. She had tried a second time and managed to hit the edge of the target. Five shots later, she could hit nothing but the center of the target.

Occasionally Sakuto managed to catch Sesshomaru's scent as he was lurking around the forest that bordered the fields. She had come to realize that he liked to position himself in particular trees so he could watch his army train. And it was always the same trees. She had grinned inwardly at this realization. It had been while sword training when Jasuto had sworn at her for brutally beating everyone again and threatened to sit her out while he trained the other men. Sakuto, or Makita, as they had grown to know her as, was clearly more advanced than the others, and Jasuto had informed her that he was considering sending her one of the other groups who were closer to her standards. She had given him a small smile when he told her this. It was a waste of time to be participating in this useless swordplay; she knew she was too advanced, and it was doing nothing for the moral of the other soldiers to be continually beaten by a younger, fitter man. Especially since this younger, fitter man was really a demon lady in disguise.

While she sat under the tree, watching the others getting beaten and abused by Jasuto, Sakuto carefully managed to sniff out where Sesshomaru was hiding. She found him sitting in a tree not too far from there. He always seemed to be in that tree, and always on the same branch. Sakuto couldn't help but smile as her plan slowly began forming. Sesshomaru always seemed to watch her group when they were working on their swordsmanship. Tomorrow, she decided, would be the day to get even with Sesshomaru. The day when the group spent the entire morning doing nothing but swordsmanship, since that was what they needed to work on the most, since none of them were capable of beating Jasuto, even after two months of work. However, Sakuto had been given a different agenda, which was to help train the others under Jasuto, before swimming and running laps for the remaining time. This suited Sakuto perfectly. Satisfied with her plan, she leant back against the tree, her thoughts wandering to the blade she had hidden nearby a few days ago.

Once the full moon was high overheard, Sakuto silently and swiftly crept out of the barracks, using her demon stealth to avoid waking anyone. Using the line of trees as cover, she slunk around in the shadows, making sure none from the castle could see her if they chanced a look out their windows at this time of night. Once Sakuto reached the tree she had in mind, she carefully sniffed the air, making sure everything was clear as she worked out exactly which branch Sesshomaru favored. The thickest branch, roughly half way up the trunk held his scent the strongest and she effortlessly leapt onto the branch once she had pulled the hidden sword out from its hiding place in the nearby bushes.

Sakuto set to work, hacking into the branch right near the trunk of the tree. It wasn't an easy job since the sword she had stolen was only a blunt training sword, but it was all she had managed to find short of breaking into the castle and searching around for something sharper. A smile flickered in the corners of her lips as she continued working, hearing the branch creak slightly under her weight. She continued carving into it until she was sure that one heavy jump onto it and it would break for sure. Gingerly she lowered herself to the ground, feeling the branch shake and creak some more at the shifting of body weight.

With a wide smirk, Sakuto made her way to the lake and quickly threw the sword in. This way if it were found, the water would have washed away her scent away. Quickly she stripped and jump into the freezing water to make sure the wood chips and shavings from the carvings were out of her hair and off her skin. It would only take a single flake of wood for Sesshomaru to be suspicious. She quickly shook her clothes out and dressed before creeping back around the fields, following the line of trees until she was back inside the barracks. She smiled to herself at the snoring of the men around her as she snuck back to her bunk and carefully lay back down. She turned over and slowly drifted off to sleep with a smirk on her lips, anticipating the coming day and the sight of Sesshomaru falling flat on his face lingering into her dreams.

'That arrogant dog will regret the day he made Sakuto look the fool!'

The following morning Sakuto was the first up, as usual, to go for her morning swim. Only this time, she could smell Sesshomaru nearby. Sakuto shivered at the thought of him approaching her when she was alone, especially if he was in a bad mood. She sighed, not in the mood to die at his hands until she had the chance to see the look on his face when he fell out of that tree. She grinned sadistically to herself as she continued her laps, aware that Sesshomaru was nearby, watching the entire time. She had no idea why, deciding he was either some kind of sick pervert, or that maybe he suspicious of her true identity. Sakuto couldn't help but shiver violently at the thought. She could think of no reason for Sesshomaru to suspect her of anything, not of cutting the tree, nor of lying about her identity. She believed she had been successful in masking her true image so far, even when he was choking her in fury at her disobedience. Yet even so, she could not help but feel that, whenever he looked to her, he could see straight through her mortal disguise. Thankfully, without any proof of this, he could do little about it. Maybe this was his reason for watching her, waiting for a sign, some form of evidence. The hairs on the back of her neck rose at the thought.

Sakuto eventually pulled herself from the water, drying off just as the suns rays hit the roof of the castle, barely visible over the line of trees. Slowly she made her way back through the forest, the smell rice slowly reaching her nose. She thankfully sped up, mainly because of her rumbling stomach, and also because of the scent that was rapidly approaching her. Her stomach growled loudly once more just as she broke into a jog, eager to reach the fields. Unfortunately, Sesshomaru sped up at the same time. Just before she broke through the line of trees onto the fields, Sesshomaru leapt to the treetops and managed to overtake her. In one swift movement he had dropped from the trees, landing directly in front of her.

She cried out in fright as she barely managed to stop before running straight into him. Nearly managing to trip over her own feet, Sakuto took a few stumbled steps backwards before collapsing against a nearby tree, a hand clutched to her pounding heart.

"Oh don't do that to me!" She gasped, trying to slow her ragged breathing.

"What were you doing?" He demanded, no emotion to his hard, amber eyes.

"Swimming laps, like I always do." She answered blankly, keeping her eyes on the ground. Sesshomaru stood before her, his arms folded as he regarded her. She could feel his rage rising and suddenly understood what he was waiting for. With a sneer, you raise an eyebrow, turning our sapphire gaze towards him.

"What can I do for you, my lord?" She ask, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She knew she would regret it. The thought confirmed as his hand collided with her face, sending her crashing to the ground. She moved her jaw from side to side, fearing for a moment he may have dislocated it.

"Do not use that tone with me, boy." He stated coolly before turning and vanishing into the trees. She snorted as she pulled herself to her feet. The entire scene seemed almost pointless, but Sakuto shrugged wearily, merely thankful that he had only struck her, and not gone further. Quickly she continued on to breakfast, even more anxious to see Sesshomaru fall flat on his face.

Sakuto growled to herself as she grabbed a bowlful of rice and scoffed it down. The side of her face was still burning as she rubbed it, willing the mark to leave her skin. Jasuto was quick to catch her eye before making his way over to her.

"What happened?" He asked, nodding to the mark.

"Stumbled across Lord Sesshomaru this morning." She muttered in reply.

"He's not in a good mood, I'll take it." He sighed as she shook her head, finishing the rest of her breakfast in one swallow.

Eagerly she jumped up and made her way out onto the field, dragging the training swords with her. She dumped them near Sesshomaru's tree as she began to shuffle through the weapons; throwing aside half of them until she came across one that stood apart from the rest. It had an elegant beauty to it, and was amazingly well balanced. She drew the blade from its sheath to study it carefully. It was polished and clean, unlike the rest of the swords, which were scuffed and dented, a true weapon, unlike the remaining scrap metal pieces. She stood, eyeing this new sword hungrily before quickly sheathing it again and tying it around her waist with her obi. The mortal men slowly drag themselves over, only to grab the first sword that caught their eye, oblivious to any of the technical details that differentiate a sword as a weapon, rather than a metal stick.

"Pathetic." She muttered, sensing Sesshomaru wandering nearby. She couldn't help but smirk as he began heading for his usual tree branch. The men began their workouts, preparing themselves for the grueling training just as Jasuto arrived. He quickly separated them into pairs, leaving her to be paired with himself. Sakuto sighed in frustration as, to her annoyance, Sesshomaru wandered right past the tree and vanished deeper into the forest. She found herself so distracted, searching for his scent, that Jasuto was screaming at her to pay attention. It wasn't until the sword landed directly on her hand, causing quite a nasty bruise, that she began to focus on defeating Jasuto. He had always been careful not to underestimate her skills like before, and proved to be quite a formidable partner. So much so, that Sakuto had a small level of respect for him, even though he was human.

Jasuto and Sakuto furiously fought, swords clashing and sweat running as the others quickly crowed around, eager to see which would be the first to fall this time. Sakuto was so deeply in concentration after ten minutes in mock battle, that she failed to pick up the scent of Sesshomaru, who was standing nearby, amber eyes watching emotionlessly. It was not until she leapt behind Jasuto, aiming a kick at his knees to knock him off balance, did her eyes meet with Sesshomaru's. In her surprise, she hadn't counted on Jasuto suddenly spinning around. She managed to catch herself, pulling away just in time as she sliced her sword across Jasuto's stomach, saving him from what could have been a fatal blow. The force may have been lessened, but the sword still did its damage. Jasuto's eyes cast down to the blood quickly soaking his torn clothing as he dropped his sword. You weren't sure if it was the shock, or the blood loss, but he seemed to pale considerably as you hurried to his side to check the wound.

"It is not too deep." She muttered more to herself, annoyed at her wavering concentration. With ease she started to tear the shirt from his body, using shreds of it to stem the flow of blood, which continued to leak from the wound.

A sudden loud snap and crash behind caught everyone's attention as they spun around in surprise. Sakuto's head snapped up in annoyance only to behold Sesshomaru lying face down in the dirt beneath his usual tree. He leaped up quickly and glared around, while dusting himself off. The men around were torn whether to laugh at the sight of the mighty demon falling from the tree, or cower in fear at the glare in his cold, amber eyes. Sakuto's eyes danced with laughter, and she knew that if he saw her face right, he'd know it had been her. His eyes flashed a dangerous red as he jumped forward, slowly eyeing everyone around him. She heard him growl and fear overtook Sakuto's sense of accomplishment as she turned her gaze back to Jasuto's wound. She dreaded the thought of what he would do if he found out it had been her.

"My Lord, are you all right?" Jasuto asked, generally concerned. Sesshomaru ignored him and Sakuto felt his poisonous glare alight on her back.

"You need to see this wound is treated." She stated, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as she began to make her way up to the castle. To her horror, Sesshomaru followed, walking on the other side of Jasuto. She glanced over at him and realized he was limping quite badly. She bit her lip, feeling the guilt begin to creep into your conscious at the thought that she had managed to hurt more than just his pride.

"Lord Sesshomaru, are you injured?" She asked hesitantly, trying to sound as though she really didn't care that much. He didn't answer, and she just shrugged it off dismissively, knowing that with his demon strength, any injury would heal overnight.

Sakuto continued to drag Jasuto towards the castle, pausing only at the entrance to ask where his chambers are located. He gave her a small smile as he motioned up the stairs and around the corner, while his wound continued to weep. It was not that she had cut him deeply, but that the wound was as long as half a sword blade, horizontally across his mid stomach. She quickly helped him into his chambers, which were surprisingly large, as she motioned for him to take a seat on the bed.

"There are bandages in the chest behind the door." She nodded and retrieved them with a bowl of water to clean the wound. Just as Sakuto set about cleaning and bandaging, she realized that Sesshomaru had been standing beside the door the entire time, his hard eyes watching her every movement. She swallowed nervously as she glanced at him, his expression unreadable.

"Can I help you?" She commented, raising an eyebrow. His eyes narrow dangerously and she could sense his rising anger.

"I know you are responsible."

"Excuse me?"

"You cut the branch."

"You cannot prove that."

"My lord," Jasuto interrupted. 'I do not see how Makita could have cut the branch, how would he have known you would jump onto that one branch?" Sesshomaru refused to comment, but his hardened gaze never left hers. Finally she broke eye contact as a nervous shiver raced across her skin, fearing he was staring straight through her disguise. Quickly she resumed bandaging Jasuto's middle, trying desperately to ignore Sesshomaru's searching eyes.

"Besides, what motive would I have?" She remarked in annoyance, turning back to Sesshomaru only to find that he had vanished. She bit her tongue as Jasuto motioned for her to continue her bandaging. Quickly she finished and rose to leave.

"I do not care if you did cut the branch or not, but if you know what is good for you, you will watch your back." Jasuto commented, just as she opened the door. She cast him a weak smile before gingerly closing the door, leaving him to rest.

Sakuto's mind was so preoccupied, that when she turned to leave, she walked straight into someone. She stumbled back before glancing up into the amber eyes of Sesshomaru. She bit her tongue as he growled softly, causing her to back away slowly, her eyes wide in fright.

"There is something about you, boy. I cannot tell what it is yet, but I shall find out." He hissed in warning before turning and leaving as quickly as he had appeared. Sakuto cannot help but notice his limp and quickly fought to contain her smirk of pride. Yet his words worried her deeply. She dreaded to imagine exactly what Sesshomaru is capable of, especially if he ever suspected her of being a shape shifter. He would know how to deal with her, one way or another.


Thank you for reading! And don't worry, Sesshomaru's revenge is quite a bit better than Sakuto's. What can I say? He has more imagination than Sakuto does