Chapter Seventeen: The Red String of Fate

"Speaking"

Thoughts/memories/dreams

'Beast speaking'

Asterix ( * ) Term word, definition at the end

Early afternoon blanketed the country side. It was a perfect afternoon, the sun shining high, not a cloud in sight, letting rays of sunlight beam through tree leaves, giving the forest a luminescent green. However, despite the peaceful day, there were no woodland dwellers skittering around the ground.

Jaken was sure there had to be some in hiding. In tree burrows, branches even. Perhaps even hidden in mounds deeper into the tree lines. He glanced up to his lord, who was stoically silent as always, and just like always, didn't tell his faithful servant what they were doing in a forest such as this one. Rin was oblivious to the eerie setting, apparent by her humming and skipping.

Such a naïve girl, that Rin is. She has no idea the kind of danger that could be lurking in these woods. Jaken mused, just as his face met with the back of Sesshomarus leg.

"Ah! F-forgive me, my lord!" Jaken quickly jumped back and proceeded to bow his apologies, but the inulord wasn't even looking down at him. The lords amber gaze was fixated somewhere deep into the forest, seeing something that Jaken wouldn't be able to pick out unless he was right in front of it.

"Rin, stay here with Ah-Uhn," Sesshomaru barely looked at the girl

"Yes, m'lord!" She replied exuberantly, making herself at home with Ah-Uhn laying beside her.

With narrowed eyes, Sesshomaru continued onwards, Jaken following closely behind him.

"Ah… L-lord Sesshomaru, won't you tell me where exactly it is were going…?" Jaken stammered, looking up at Sesshomaru. He expected to be reprimanded in some physical way for asking his lord a question, maybe even just be ignored or glared at. What he didn't expect, was an actual answer.

"In this forest, there is a woman who lives here. It is said that she has vast knowledge about demons, knowledge that is not widely known." Sesshomaru responded. He still had his gaze fixed on an old worn out cabin deep within the settlement of trees. He smelled nothing from it. Sensed nothing from it. No life within it, no smell of a demon, not even a stench of herbs. He wondered briefly if the cabin was truly abandoned but then a foreboding feeling passed through him and he knew then something lurked inside it.

"Why are you seeking this woman out, then my lord? Do you seek knowledge to defeat the nefarious Naraku?" Jaken questioned.

Sesshomaru scoffed, as if offended by the suggestion. "I do not need assistance in dealing with him." He said.

"Then what, pray tell are we doing here then?" Jaken questioned, and Sesshomaru stopped walking long enough to stare down at the toad. He watched with mild amusement as he trembled, fearing the wrath he thought would come to him.

He considered for a moment explaining to the toad his reason for seeking out the woman in the woods, then immediately decided against it. What he didn't know wouldn't make a difference, and Sesshomaru himself wasn't sure what he sought out.

He wanted answers to questions he didn't have. He had questions to things he didn't have questions for yet. So many complications ran through his mind, its core revolving around the kit. She was a complex puzzle to him. On the surface, she was easy to understand. With the basis of his instincts, he understood her, knew what she needed. As he tried looking more into her, the less he understood. He hoped that the old woman in the woods would shed some light.

The two of them approached the cabin, looking the building over before entering. There was a hole in the straw roof, and it caved in at one corner. The wood was old and covered in moss and vines, covering the one window with its vegetation. Standing so close to it, Jaken could smell the mold coming from it, and he made a face of disgust.

He watched his lord lift up the bamboo curtain and enter the worn building, and then swiftly followed his steps. Inside was just as worn and old looking as the outside. The sun was beaming through the hole in the roof, shedding some light onto a shabby, skinny looking woman in the corner of the room. Her aged face sagged under her chin and around her neck, her eyes slanted, pupils barely visible under her heavy lids. She was skinny enough every curve of her bones was visible under her skin, and her hair was like little white wisps that were trying to escape.

"Hohoho…" The woman laughed, looking up at Sesshomaru through her slitted eyes. "An Inu Daiyokai graces me with his presence." She laughed. "What can a withered old woman like myself do for a great demon like you, hm?" She asked, her eyes never wavering from him. Sesshomaru watched her with his gaze narrowed, questioning his reasoning for being here all over again. Her eyes suddenly went wide, and her cackle filled the air tenfold. She was slapping her knee, hunched over. Sesshomaru glared down at her but she seemed fully unaware of his presence as she laughed, and he felt a growl trying to crawl its way up his throat that he shoved down.

"Listen here old woman-" Jaken started, but the old womans voice stopped him.

"The red string of fate has wormed its way around a great demon now, has it?" She laughed again, and Sesshomaru failed to see the amusement in her words, though that might have had something to do with his lack of understanding at her words.

"What are you saying, old woman?" He questioned, not hiding his annoyance from her in his voice.

"The String binds you. You have been tied to someone, someone close to you." She answered, and Sesshomaru found himself even more annoyed by her riddled response.

"Start making sense," he began to threaten, his hand and claws beginning to glow an iridescent green.

The woman didn't seem fazed by the sight of his threat, still sitting in front of him with amusement on her face. "It has been over a hundred years since the red string has tied a daiyokai. Second time it has leashed a mutt." She grinned, showing the gaps in her smile where teeth were missing. He considered her words for a moment, coming to his own conclusion she must be talking about his father. It was his only logical conclusion since there wasn't very many Inu Daiyokai. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, it seems." She looked up at him fully now, her eyes open revealing one black iris with a white pupil, and one white iris with a black pupil. He could barely make out the curved tail of each mark in her eyes under the curve of her sagging eyelid, but he recognized the symbol now.

"This… string," he started, slowly taking her more serious now. "What does it mean?"

"It means you are tied. Leashed to another soul. It's slowly wrapping itself around you. It doesn't seem to have fully tied yet, but it will. Soon." She answered, and Sesshomaru looked away from her, his annoyance again returning at the riddled response.

"I didn't come here for riddles," he said.

"You came for answers. It's not my fault you don't understand them. Such a stupid and naïve young pup." The woman stated, an amused smirk stretching her wrinkles up.

A growl ripped through the air, and suddenly, his poison whip lashed out at the woman, slicing her in two. Jaken squeaked out his surprise, quickly hiding behind his red eyed lord, and peeked out from behind his hakama. They watched as the old womans body slowly dissipated, but there was no blood, no horror scene, the woman was simply not there anymore. He looked up at Sesshomaru, and swallowed hard. The whites of his eyes had turned a fearful blood red, the amber irises morphing into a terrible green, and his teeth had elongated enough they stuck out beneath his lip.

Lord Sesshomaru never gets angry enough he starts to change shape, Jaken examined, turning his eyes over to where the woman had been sitting not too long ago. And just what exactly did she mean by the red string of fate? This most definitely doesn't seem good for my lord.

Rin screamed, her tiny arms held against her chest as Sesshomaru slashed through a giant demon with his whip.

"Help, help, help!" She was squealing, and Jaken watched her, slightly confused. She was clearly not in danger with Sesshomaru around, but as he watched her more, he shook her head in disapproval. She was playing at being scared. She was squealing and yelling for help but there was an air of amusement around her at the actions.

When the demon was dead, Sesshomaru stood there for a moment, just breathing hard. From behind him, Jaken thought his lord seemed exhausted, but as he focused more on him, he soon realized that the beast his lord constantly kept a tight lid on was rearing its head, and was lying just beneath the surface of his skin. His eyes were slowly fading back to their normal hue, and when the color was back, he looked over his shoulder at the still squealing Rin.

"Rin, Jaken, let's go." He ordered and walked away.

Rin immediately shaped up, standing straight. "Yes, my lord!" She declared and quickly ran after him, Ah-Uhn right behind her, and eventually Jaken followed behind the dragon.

The next few days that followed were the same. A demon would come out with the intentions of attacking the group, and Sesshomaru would kill them without hesitation. It wasn't unusual for him to do such a thing. What was unusual was the amount of demons that would come out to attack them, and how easily the inulord seemed to succumb to his more beastly side. Jaken remained fearful for his lord, unsure what it meant for him to so quickly begin to shift with demons as minor as onikuma*. There was hardly any talk about Naraku either, making Jaken suspect that Sesshomaru wasn't thinking about him presently. Rin didn't notice any changes in her lord, which Jaken suspected, and he seemed more and more irritable but tolerated Rin and her minor annoyances. When those few days turned into a few weeks, the changes in him grew worse, and eventually, even Rin couldn't hold his attention anymore. One morning when the group woke up, their lord was gone.

Utada Hikazemon. Staring at the man now, talking to the kit, sent an anger rumbling through Sesshomaru that he never felt before. He watched as Utada spoke to her, watched the way the kits face light up with pure joy at whatever it was Utada said to her. He couldn't hear anything over the sound of the blood rushing to his head, and he tried to calm himself. He was better than his anger. The last month may have suggested otherwise, but he could control his anger. Even if it seemed he couldn't contain it when it came to the kit.

Focus on what they are saying. He reasoned with himself, and narrowed his eyes towards them, as if it would make his hearing better.

"So you see, my dear, the alpha eats first, then the mate, then the pups, and then the guests. No one must ever eat before the alpha. In this case, the lord of the house." Utada was explaining.

"You mean all this time; I've expressed rude table manners to him?" Kasumi's face paled.

Sesshomaru growled at the sight. She has no reason to be afraid. He grumbled.

"No, you haven't been." Sesshomaru chimed in, stepping into the room. All eyes turned to him, as if now realizing he had been standing behind the door, and for the first time, he felt like a stranger in his own home. There were four new court lady's following Kasumi around, intrigued in the kit's lessons, Usui by her side. There were two guards lingering on either side of her as well, and of course the fellow inulord. They all seemed surprised to see him, but there was none of that instant fear he usually got when he entered the room. It's not that he wanted his subjects to fear him, but it seemed the only way any of them were capable of showing respect.

"My lord, you're back already?" Kasumi spoke up, and his attention refocused on the tiny kit. She had her hair up again, revealing her slender neck, and the way it curved into her shoulders, which were hidden beneath plain pink kimonos. She had a smile on her lips that calmed his growing anger, as if it swept through him and cleaned out those emotions.

Pink suits her… He mused as he admired the way the pink kimonos wrapped around her thin frame. No, she's not as thin now… She was fuller in face, and perhaps a bit in body, but the tiny stick of a girl he brought home wasn't as stick like now.

"I'm happy to see you've returned, my lord." She smiled wider at him, and he felt a twinge in his chest that made him growl audibly in approval. She looked taken aback by the sound, but didn't let it stray her. "I've learned an awful lot while you were gone. I'm so sorry to have behaved so rudely before, my lord…" She trailed off, and he could smell her embarrassment and shame.

He shook his head at her words, instantly dismissing the motion. "I let you eat first, because you are weak, and sickly. You needed to hurry up and get stronger. It was easier to make sure you ate if you went first." He turned his eyes towards Utada, who had a smug look on his withered face.

"Thank you, for worrying about my health, my lord." Kasumi said, but her words fell to deaf ears. The two inu's were staring at one another, locked in a battle of eyes.

Sesshomaru turned away, leaving the room, and Utada followed behind him, slowly.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Lady Kasumi." He said to the kit.

Sesshomaru could hear her smile. "It was an honor, Lord Hikazemon." He could hear shuffling as she bowed to him in departure, and then Utada was outside the room, with the door closed behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Sesshomaru whisked around, cornering the lord. He could feel the anger of his beast trying to rip through him again now that the kit's calming presence was absent. He could smell the slight fear coming off of Utada, but it didn't seem to deter him.

"I came here to once again offer my daughter to you, my lord. As a wife." Utada explained slowly. "I wasn't aware that you had a young lady like that Halfling in there." He pointed towards the room Kasumi was in. Sesshomaru growled again, surprising Utada. "You seem to have taken a liking to that one in there. I hear she's your intended mate."

"A lie I spread," he growled, unable to stop the sound now. It somehow made him angrier at admitting it.

"A lie, you say." Utada said, an inclination in his voice that said he didn't believe a word of it.

"She has only one use for me. Once I have no more use of her, I will dispose of her appropriately." Sesshomaru explained.

'Like hell you will!' He felt the voice roar through him, and the usually calm inu was replaced by the beast that laid hidden. He grabbed Utada's robes, claws sinking into the cloth and tearing it. He was standing so close to the other lord now, there was no denying the intentions in Sesshomarus eyes. He looked ready to kill.

"You are not a very good liar, my lord." Utada said, prying Sesshomarus fingers from his clothes, walking a little down the hall until he stood in front of the sliding door. "You want to keep the girl and mold her into the perfect wife, don't you? She's young enough, it won't be difficult. She's a half breed. She should be killed, not raised into a mate for a daiyokai like you, my lord. I will happily get rid of her for you and-" His words stopped shortly as clawed fingers cut through his throat, Sesshomaru's red glare beating down on the man.

"You will not threaten what is mine, Utada Hikazemon." He growled. "That girl is mine to do with as I please." He pushed his fingers in deeper until his claws peeked out the back of his neck. He held them there until he could see the life draining from his eyes, and smirked at the sight. "I no longer require your services," he yanked his hand free and Utada's body slowly dropped, revealing behind him a wide eyed kit, Utada's blood splattered onto her cheek and the front of her kimono.

The red in his eyes was gone in a flash as the stench of her fear slammed into him. His mouth was dry as he looked into her wide green eyes, shame and regret filling his being now. She was terrified of him. He took a small step towards her trembling frame, and she quickly turned to the side and ran down the hall, Usui emerging from the room.

"M'lady!" She yelled, not even looking towards her lord and running after the kit. Slowly the four court ladies filed out of the room, walking around the body until they were clear of it and then followed after Kasumi and Usui. Even the guards ran after her. Sesshomaru closed his eyes and sighed loudly, looking down at the dead body and kicking it with his toes.

"Fool, was this your plan all along? Driving a wedge between me and my kit?" He growled, pushing the bottom of his boot against the body until he heard the ribs cracking, and then kicked it away. "Clean this up." He ordered to a nearby servant, and strode off towards his kit's rooms.

He heard her crying before he even reached the family wing of the estate. The same two guards and four ladies were standing outside the archway of the wing, knowing full well they weren't allowed inside. He was pleased at that, not having want anyone in there to console her but himself.

He slowly stopped walking when the thought crossed his mind and he frowned. Console her? He questioned. Why would I want to console her? Frustrated, he turned back around choosing to ignore his instinct to make her feel better in favor of his work. He had more important things to worry about than his kit – the kit and her fragile feelings. Despite how much his decision angered him, he just kept going until he was inside his study.

"Why should I care if she fears me or not?" He wondered aloud.

Oniukuma: Bear demon

Author Note: Short chapter today, but I hope yall enjoy nonetheless. As always, thank you for the follows and the reviews!