Chapter Thirteen: His word is Law

"I object to this decision," Kasumi's voice rang loud and clear through the halls outside her room. Usui gulped, standing just outside her room, too afraid to step inside, knowing well that Sesshomaru was with her.

"I don't recall asking for your opinion." Usui could make out the distinct drawl in her lords' voice. He didn't sound happy, but then again, did he ever?

"This is absolutely absurd. I refuse to abide by this." Within the confines of the room, Kasumi stood facing the daiyokai with her arms cross over her chest, defiantly staring into his eyes.

"You don't have a choice." Sesshomaru was staring down at the girl, his expression void of any emotion, but it was clear, to Kasumi at least, that he was annoyed with her.

Good.

"You can't make me agree to this." She declared, turning her back to face him and walking off to the other side of the room.

"I can, and will. You refuse to obey, then I no longer see a use for you." Why was he arguing back with her? He saw no reason to try and convince her to be his Lady of the House, granted she'd be an asset to him but it wasn't a necessity. What did he care anyway? Just that it would tarnish his family name if he continued to neglect his home, as if it wasn't already tarnished enough.

"But announcing me as Lady of the House… that's… that's just extreme." Her cheeks went red, and he was curious as to why. Perhaps it had something to do with the anger he smelled from her.

"How else will you gain full access and control to everything within the house?" He questioned, exasperated.

"That's…" She trailed off, her words falling short. "Y-you don't understand the affairs of a young girl's heart, Lord Sesshomaru. Asking a woman to be the Lady of the House is the same as asking her to be your wife." The redness in her cheeks intensified, and he suddenly understood the meaning. She was embarrassed.

"You and I both know that is incorrect." He stated. "I only have one use for you, and it isn't to be a wife."

"Th-That changes nothing!" She stammered. "What were to happen to me, once you return me to my father, hm?" She asked him. "Becoming your Lady of the House and later marrying you is one thing, but giving me that title and then sending me away can tarnish my name as a woman. As a noblewoman. I can't even begin to explain the backlash that would transpire afterwards." Despite that Kasumi no longer desired marriage like she once did, she still knew it was one of the duties she had to carry out. What kind of man would she be forced to marry if working for this Lord Sesshomaru ruined her name?

"Hm…" Sesshomaru watched her, intrigued. So this was something that humans worried about? He shook his head at the girls childish worries, choosing to not humor her further. "Ridiculous." He turned his own back to her and opened the door, revealing the ease dropping Usui. He barely even glanced at the court lady as he stepped past her. "The decision, is final, kit." He said sternly and walked off.

Kasumi followed after him with a fire light in her. He was all to aware of her attempt to follow him, so he lead her down stair ways, through winding hallways, over thresholds, and before she knew it, she was running right into him in her attempt to keep up with him. He turned slowly to face her, and was staring down at her with the full force of a winters evening, cold and brisk and without a hint of light. She swallowed hard, looking up into the golden eyes of the inu lord and finding herself strangely parched. She couldn't deny he was strikingly beautiful for a man... for a demon but she didn't have much experience in either, so she wasn't sure just how accurate her observation was. To her though, he was gorgeous, and she didn't mind looking. She was especially drawn to his golden eyes. They were so familiar to her, colder than she thought she recognized but the color and depth were so similar to...

"Inuyasha," She said softly, and Sesshomaru's lips drew into a small frown at the name.

"How do you know that name?" She caught him off guard in calling out his half-brothers name while staring at his persons. He had been leading her back to her rooms in a very passive aggressive and roundabout way, until he finally grew bored of playing follow the leader, and was ready to send her off. Yet all of that went right over his head now, all with the mere mention of that name.

"He stayed at my father's estate," She explained, not looking away from his eyes, which he was beginning to see she did often with him. "He and his friends tried helping us, but..." she trailed off and her pristine little face scrunched up in pure despair. It was ugly to see; she was trying so hard to hide her tears but Sesshomaru could smell her sorrow; putrid stench that was unbecoming of the kit-girl. He didn't like it, it mutated her fresh, sweet scent into something that was grotesque to him.

"You claim you are a noblewoman," he started, shoving all thoughts of her usual sweet scent aside. "But you're forgetting your place here. You aren't a guest. You are a prisoner, and your only purpose is to take care of the household while I handle my affairs outside these walls. I care very little about your opinion on how I title you, or how it may affect you in the future. All I care about is finding Naraku and killing him. I can't do that while also trying to keep this place to uphold its glory. I know you're still a child, so I will-"

"I am NOT a child." She said it so abruptly that it caused Sesshomaru to stop himself and momentarily look at her. While she didn't physically look like a child, she most certainly was in his eyes.

He set his gaze down upon her and regarded her quietly. Her eyes held a fierceness in them she hadn't shown recently, but it reminded him of her fighting for her life. They would have been deadly, if it weren't for the fact that she looked particularly adorable. For a kit. A half kit. He frowned as the thought crossed his mind and his gaze turned cold. "While you may think that, to us, you are one. And we will-"

"I am NOT a child." She insisted, stopping him once more, causing a low growl to rumble in the inu lords' chest.

"Stubborn girl. That proves you're a child right there." He stated.

"Stubbornness does not equate childishness." She crossed her arms, looking every bit as a defiant child. "Stubbornness is a show of a strong will. I am grown, and won't tolerate being treated like I'm a kid."

He would have chuckled, if he weren't so annoyed with her. Her logic made no sense to him. Stubbornness to him was the inability to see things from another's perspective, refusing to even, as she was doing now. "Fine, you want to be treated as an adult here? Then you'll be treated like one. But be warned, the stunt you pulled earlier, disobeying me, is only acceptable for a kit, and I won't tolerate it from an 'adult' such as yourself. I am the lord here; my word is law. You chose not to follow it, then you will be punished according to how I see fit."

"So no one is allowed to object to you here? No one has a say so?" She seemed offended, her brow perked.

"My word is law," He said again. "And it will be obeyed. Kits get away with it, simply because most of them don't have control over what they say and do until they reach a certain maturity. If you can hold back that tongue of yours, you'll be treated like an adult. If not, well, I may be indebted to Tomosue, but that doesn't mean I don't have the right to exact out a punishment however I see fit."

Outraged by the sheer absurdity of his words, of this situation, her anger bubbled over, and her expression grew harsh with anger.

"Listen here-" She started, but cut herself off when a strong scent of peaches wafted into the room. She turned her attention to the source of the scent, and her eyes settled onto blond hair and ears.

Lord Tomosue was a tall man, as was most daiyokai's. He was taller than Sesshomaru, but that likely had more to do with their age difference than anything else. He was about as otherworldly as Sesshomaru was, as if he had a glow to him that was all his own. There was something about his presence that was calming, soothing the storm of rage that waged within Kasumi with just a single look.

She stared openly at him, hearing her heart hammering in her ears, and the world around her seemed to stop. She never did get a good look at the man's face who had saved her, and now that she did, she couldn't tear her gaze away from him. He had thin, cerulean stripes beneath his eyes, accenting the gem like color of his irises. His skin was the color of milk, looked just as smooth as it too. He had a somewhat broad body, hidden beneath expensive clothes and sturdy armor, and he had a sword at his hip that practically sung to Kasumi, and he had a long, gloriously fluffy tail hanging down past his hakama, the fur matching the gleam of his golden hair. And there were his robes. She memorized every symbol, every stitch in the one he gave her, and the one he wore now over his armor bore no inaccuracies. This was the man who saved her all those months ago. The one Sesshomaru called Tomosue.

"Lord Sesshomaru," Tomosue started, unable to tear his gaze away from the kit-girl standing inches away from the young inu lord. "What is the meaning of this?"

Suddenly, Tomosue was staring distractedly at him instead of Kasumi as Sesshomaru stepped into his view, making the kitsune lord blink away his dazed confusion.

"I could have sworn I sent a man to go look for her weeks ago, only for them both to come up missing, how is it that you, have found her?" He questioned, and Sesshomaru shrugged once. Kasumi was peering around him, and the inu could feel her terrified clutch on his sleeve.

Wasn't a kit? He scoffed at that. She wasn't fooling anyone with the reaction she was giving now. Her fear was heavy in the air, both demons could smell it now, and when Tomosue's eyes fell onto her again, she ducked behind Sesshomaru.

"Sesshomaru, is this what you wanted to talk about…?" Tomosue asked softly. "Did you find her for me?"

"No," Sesshomaru stated. "She has a use for me, that is all. Despite how much I detest the topic; Utada did have a point in regards to the issues of my house. The court lady you sent isn't doing her job the best she could be. As a trained noblewoman, she has the know how I require to bring this house back onto its feet." As he said it, he gestured to the tiny woman hiding behind him.

"But she's a child," Tomosue said slowly, stating a fact but phrasing it like a question.

"She insists otherwise," Sesshomaru drawled out equally as slowly. "Little does she know; an adult doesn't receive lessons on what she should already know about demons."

Kasumi swallowed hard and looked down at her feet. Is that why he kept insisting I was one? "I-I suppose, perhaps, in light of the situation, you will make an exception?" She questioned quietly, feeling Sesshomaru turn to stare at her.

"No. Only kits can receive proper education. Since you're an adult, you won't need those lessons." He concluded, and she grumbled to herself at the response.

"V-very well then, my lord. Perhaps I was wrong… in my insistence." She was looking down at her feet when she felt clawed fingers turning her chin skywards.

"Remember that, girl. You are a child in this house." He spoke coolly, his breath hitting her nose and a musky warm scent enveloped her nostrils.

She swallowed once, tearing her gaze away from him in favor of the floor. "Yes, my lord…" She muttered quietly, and the coolness of his fingers slipped away from her chin.

"Return to your rooms. I will send for you later." He ordered, and after a very brief direction of where she needed to go, Kasumi was off, leaving the two lords alone.

An awkward silence passed between the two of them, neither one willing to speak up first. The tension in the air reeked, wafting through the hallways as a tainted odor. Tomosue stared at the place his daughter had been standing in, as if she had been an apparition his mind fabricated, still not fully comprehending what was going on. Eventually, Sesshomaru turned away from the fox and walked down the hallway.

"My study," was all he needed to say for the fox to follow behind him.

"Aren't you going to explain…?" Tomosue questioned, and received silence from the lord. That silence followed behind them all the way to Sesshomaru's study, which suddenly felt like a long walk to him. Tomosue asked no other questions as the inulord sat at his desk, setting his two swords down by his side, and motioned for the fox to sit across from him. Once he did, he expected an explanation, but instead got nothing from him. He was used to Sesshomaru's long periods of silence, knowing well that if he had nothing useful to say, the inu wouldn't speak. He rubbed his forehead, sighing loudly and regarded the lord with an almost pained look in his eyes. "Perhaps you want an explanation from me then, don't you?" When all Tomosue got was silence, he continued. "Her mother was a lady of one of the human households in the east. We all make our regular rounds through our lands, even the human ones, and especially the main houses. It's where I met her, Yuriko." A gentle smile spread across the fox's' lips. "I won't bore you with the details, my lord. Yuriko and I had a child together. I was unable to get to her and our daughter before her lord discovered who fathered the child. I assumed they both had been killed… If not, I would have taken her home with me right away. I appreciate you for finding my daughter-"

"She's not your daughter." Sesshomaru said, cutting off Tomosue. "By blood, maybe. But the man who raised her, she sees more as a father than you. To call yourself her father is an insult."

"While that is true, she is still my blood, and I intend to take her back, my lord, whether you agree to it or not." Tomosue argued back, narrowing his eyes at the inulord.

"What would Sadako think then, bringing home a child that's not hers but looks exactly like you?" Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at Tomosue and the fox lord fell silent for a moment. Sadako was a woman worth fearing. She was a fox demon, much like Tomosue, but held an aura that was unlike any of their kind. She was sweet, for the most part until she felt she was crossed, and no one was safe from her fury, not even her husband, who didn't want to anger his mate.

"I will have to handle Sadako then." Tomosue said, voice sounding sure, but Sesshomaru knew better.

"And the kit? What about her, hm? Do you think she'd be capable of handling an overcrowded home like yours?" He didn't have a care in the world about what would happen to Kasumi. No matter how endearing her ferocity could be. He only wanted to keep her from being taken away when he still had a use for her.

"She is a strong girl…" Tomosue's determination to bring her home began to fall flat.

"How would you know? You haven't watched her grow; you don't know what type of girl she is." He watched as the gears turned in the fox lords' eyes, until eventually he sighed in resignation.

"What exactly do you intend to do with her...?" He asked.

"I will be making her Lady of the House, so that I don't have to worry about these pointless marriage proposal's Utada keeps mentioning, and I won't require your services anymore." Sesshomaru said simply.

"Lady of the House? Do you intend on marrying the poor girl?"

"No," Sesshomaru held back the need to roll his eyes at the suggestion.

"I can't condone that." Tomosue said sternly, his determination suddenly returning. "I may not be the father she thinks of me as, but I am still her father. I won't allow her to be tossed into that world and then come out of it with nothing to show for. You won't ruin her name as a demon before she can even make something of herself here."

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. A father's concern was too much, and he was making too much sense for his liking. Tomosue saw things from a demons' point of view, something the kit-girl would eventually have to learn herself.

"Then I will announce her as my intended." Sesshomaru said calmly, and Tomosue was stunned by the words.

"She's too young to be your intended. She hasn't even had her first-"

"I will announce her as my intended, until she has reached the proper maturity. But she will be an intended only. Discussions of a further relationship can happen after I've taken care of Naraku."

"But-" Tomosue started but Sesshomaru cut him off swiftly.

"She will live here, and run my house, and be treated as a mate to be. She will not be harmed within these walls so long as people know she is my intended. As luck would have it, so long as she remains here, Sadako will not find out about her true heritage. I will take care of her education, and proceed with her training to the best of my abilities, and no," he stopped Tomosue before he could cut in. "I will not be asking you for further help, not even when it comes to her training. Rescuing her is how I planned on paying you back for the years in which you aided me, however it stops now. You will retract your court lady and other supports you have within my home, and leave everything else to her and I."

"You can't be serious." Tomosue sat dumfounded at the young lord.

"Of course I am. And while she's here, the two of you can't be in the same room together." Sesshomaru added, and didn't miss the angered growl in the fox.

"You intend to keep us separated?!" He snarled, the suddenly serene man turning vicious in a single second.

"I do. You two look too much alike. I wonder if she'll be able to change her appearance so she doesn't look so much like you. It's too obvious just who her father is. There aren't many yellow haired demons." Sesshomaru looked at Tomosue, dead in the eye. "With that out of the way, you may leave. I no longer require your services, and see no need for your further presence."

AN Notes:

Early update, I know. It's spring break, not that Ill actually do anything over this time, but it does mess up my writing schedule a little bit (by my standards I guess). I don't know if there will be two more chapters this week, however, this one is a little longer than the others so hopefully that makes up for it. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy, and as always, thanks for the support!