Author's Notes: This chapter won't have much in terms of Sess/Kag. Please don't see yourselves out just yet! Hang out for some insight into our story's antagonist(s).

Happy reading!

Nocturne - Chapter Eighteen: Stranger Things

Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)

o - o - o - o - o : Indicates scene or POV change

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

o - o - o - o - o

Tsering fumed in her seat. She had thrown herself back into an oversized chair that she'd had moved into the main room of a particularly shabby-looking great hall. She audibly sighed as she ascertained her surroundings. Aside from the drab and barbaric decor, two yokai were battling in the middle of the large room, surrounded by several onlookers who ignored her presence while yelling and taking bets. The sound of the room was a loud cacophony of grunts, howls, and angry muttering. It was funny how easy it was to take these pathetic underlings' minds off the unfortunate circumstances following her arrival to their base.

Tsering's gaze moved around the great room, and she rolled her eyes at the sight. Savages. She'd let them have their fun for now. It was all she could do to stop the incessant groveling.

She had quietly revisited the yokai from when she'd first arrived in Nippon, the same yokai who had killed her Sonam. There had not been time to get the cretin's name, and Tsering had certainly not cared to do so. Sonam had been her trusted companion for many centuries and her favorite retainer. His death had a marked impact on her, only tempered by her fury at being passed over by her former betrothed, Sesshomaru.

How annoying it had been to learn she'd been refused. Had this been the first time, she may have sulked with her pride still intact, but this was beyond insulting. To be passed over by the same family was salt in an open wound.

Her lips pressed into a firm line, and she ground her teeth. Tsering was beautiful. It would be a lie to say otherwise, and she threw her arms together in a petulant fashion. What had turned her prospective suitors away?

Throwing her head back, she stared into the eyes of the yokai she had killed. His dark eyes stared wide with shock, permanently open. His head had been affixed to the post of the chair. She'd lodged it there after killing him. Something about those dead eyes soothed her ruffled feathers, if only a fraction.

The stupid man had been surprised by her visit and more surprised when she lopped his head clean from his shoulders with his blade. Granted, it was outside her usual preference for handling those who'd offended her, but this was a special case that called for a more personal touch.

Dried blood had dripped down the back of the chair, leaving trails of brown caked to the wood of the ornamental throne chair. Tsering stood and began to pace back in forth on the dais where the chair had been placed. The men below continued to battle and gamble, paying her as little heed as she was them. She waited impatiently for her remaining attendant to return. Keyuri, her female hanyo, had been sent out to find the extent of the great Sesshomaru's crimes.

Tsering had speculated that the human woman she'd encountered held more significance to Sesshomaru than he'd let on. She also knew that the mixed-blood whelp she'd been refused was more than it seemed. Certainly, Keyuri would bring back the news confirming her suspicions.

As soon as Sesshomaru had ostensibly refused their engagement and mating ceremony, Tsering had secretly followed him back to Nippon. She despised the idea of returning to this godforsaken place, but it had been necessary. She had to know the extent of his transgression.

Upon arriving in Nippon, Tsering sent out Keyuri to follow Sesshomaru. The hanyo had a unique ability, one that she found quite indispensable. The hanyo had no yoki, and her scent was nondiscriminatory. She was invisible to any who did not know to look for her, which made her an asset to Tsering. An asset, but an annoyance as well. The hanyo could offer nothing up in conversation because her tongue had been removed early in life. Her brother, Fan, had orchestrated that.

Fan had stated that hanyo's should be seen and not heard, so one day, when he listened to the offensive sound of laughter from Keyuri, he removed her ability to speak. Fan had made the excuse that slaves had no place to talk, and he would not tolerate the proliferation from those as low as the hanyos they had bred.

Making Keyuri mute had made her boring, at least in Tsering's opinion. Her options for companionable conversation were already limited as they were. She could speak with her brother, when and if he was present, or Sonam, who was now dead. Sonam had been the best retainer she could have ever asked for. He was meek, loyal, and cunning. The fact that some obscure Nippon yokai had slain him for no reason grated upon her and caused her to dirty her hands.

Tsering's thoughts circled back to the yokai who killed Sonam. The idiot yokai had not suspected a thing. She had arrived upon his doorstep, looking demure and beautiful only to take his head after he had invited her into his bed. Men were wanton fools, eager to bed anything with a pair of breasts, and this yokai was no less a fool. She had made sure he knew who he had offended before she lopped his loathsome head from his brusque shoulders. Good riddance, she thought. At any rate, his household could serve as her base of operations now that she was no longer welcome at Sesshomaru's court.

How asinine of him to expel her so suddenly during their pilgrimage through the motherland. He had not even bothered to wait to leave in the privacy of their adjoined chambers instead of breaking things off by simply walking off wordlessly.

When she'd called after him, confused by his actions, he had not even troubled to turn around to address her, merely saying he had changed his mind and that their union was no longer in his best interest.

The fool! Her court had been gossiping nonstop right after that. Tsering Dawa had been passed over not only by the father but also by the son. How humiliating!

Tsering assumed that this is what her brother Fan had hoped to achieve. He was ever conniving and looking for a fight. He had only been too pleased to learn that Sesshomaru was looking for a bride to produce an heir. She'd thought that Fan was interested in allies, but that could not have been further from the truth. She should have known how this may play out.

It was not that Tsering was upset over the loss. She was pretty relieved not to be engaged at all, preferring the company of others, but one did as Fan told them. She, however, was quite annoyed that Sesshomaru had deposed of her so openly and coldly. It had made her wonder if her theories were correct.

So, she had sent Keyuri out shortly after following Sesshomaru back to Nippon. Tsering knew that even the great Sesshomaru could not detect Keyuri as he had overlooked her several times during their short stay at his estate.

Tsering sat back down and waited in the chair, one arm holding her chin while the other hand drummed rhythmically on the other arm. It had been over a day since Keyuri had been ordered out, and Tsering was not a patient woman. She had passed the time by ordering the household around. They had been cowed by her as soon as she'd announced their master's death. Just a few henchmen were all that were left out of the ones who had fled. Tsering could not care less. She had then ordered them to battle for her favor, which the remaining yokai were obliged to do. Still, she felt bored while they hacked one another to pieces.

Keyuri finally returned the following day. Despite being mute, the hanyo was able to share everything that Tsering had wanted to know.

"Was he with that human woman?" Tsering asked with indignation.

Keyuri, her head, and her eyes focused on the ground in deferment gave a nod of affirmation.

Tsering hissed at the insult. To have a human chosen above her was more salt in the wound, ground deep. It did not matter that Sesshomaru and the mortal may have had history or attraction. What did matter was that he had chosen the human. He could have rutted the girl, kept her as a mistress, for all Tsering cared. But to be passed over a second time was a slight that could and would not be overlooked.

"And the get?" Tsering asked, already knowing the answer. She drummed her claws even harder on the wooden chair, leaving deep score marks upon the lacquered wood.

Keyuri nodded again, never once bringing her eyes from the ground. Humility had been ingrained into the hanyo from a young age. She had learned to keep her head down to stay alive. The brother, Fan, liked to toy with her more than any of the other hanyos under his keep.

Tsering scoffed at the revelation. "I knew it," she proclaimed darkly.

She stood up and turned away from Keyuri. The sight of the hanyo only caused her irk to rise further. The dead eyes of the yokai she had killed continued to stare from where she had impaled it upon the chair. Taking her hands, she cupped the sides of the head and pulled it up. It came off the post with a squelching sound, and bits of thickened and black blood clots dropped to the ground, splattering at her feet. Tsering looked into those dead eyes, her lips turned down into a frown, and she pressed the skull between her two palms exerting just enough pressure to feel the bone cave under her touch. The skull finally gave way, and the brain matter became ooze as it squeezed through her fingers.

Satisfied, or as satisfied as she could be, she turned around and looked upon Keyuri, who still stood, head downcast and waiting. Tsering took several steps towards the woman and brought her soiled hands up. Keyuri held out her arm, and Tsering wiped her hands upon the fabric of Keyuri's sleeve. Without another word, Tsering stalked from the room.

The time had come to return home and share the news with her brother. The man was likely waiting for such communication.

o - o - o - o - o

Kagome shook her head in disbelief, pulling Setsuna closer to her chest. Sesshomaru's words echoed through her mind, 'Now, they know of you and the child.' Though he had not used any particular tone, his words still had an ominous sound to them. What were the implications?

"I don't understand. Who is the 'DaiŌzoku,' and who is the hanyo woman?" What had transpired, she wondered, that gave Sesshomaru pause? He did not seem perturbed, per se, but the way he stared off into the distance gave her enough cause to worry.

Rin stared at the trio in perplexion. "Lord Sesshomaru?" The girl had only just walked into the madness of the situation, but even she could tell that something was amiss.

He expelled a breath through his nose, flashing a glance to the women and infant child. His hand gripped the hilt of Bakusaiga, the only physical tell of his disturbance. "In coming here, I have forsworn the engagement arranged with Tsering Dawa."

Even though Kagome figured - had hoped - that Sesshomaru had called off his engagement, it was reassuring to hear it stated aloud. It was not the appropriate time to preen under that knowledge, though. "So, why would they come back here?"

"It is not just the woman I've scorned, but her brother," he explained. "It will only be a matter of time before he learns of my transgression against him."

Brother? Kagome wondered. What would that have to do with anything? "What's the significance behind that? Why should this brother care so much? He wasn't marrying you."

Sesshomaru expelled another quick breath. "This is not the first time Tsering has been passed over. She had first been betrothed to my most honorable father; however, he settled upon my mother instead."

"You-you're mother?" Kagome asked exasperatedly. That would mean that Tsering was even older than Sesshomaru, who she'd believed was just over nine centuries. The thought of that much time passing caused a slight twinge of regret to course through her — just another thing she had no time to worry about just yet.

Sesshomaru continued, "The first insult was a slight overlooked only because of the status of my mother, though, I doubt that the slight was truly forgotten nor forgiven."

Rin laughed, her voice a tinkling sound that broke the severity of the situation. "Eww. You almost married a lady that your father was a suitor for, Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru shot the girl a displeased look. "Marriage alliances work differently for yokai, Rin. Bear in mind that Tsering is still of marriageable age in terms of Mononoke. Our union was not for love but to broker an alliance between our two families."

Kagome shook her head. None of this made sense yet. "Who was that then, if not Tsering?" Just saying the woman's name made her tongue feel ashen. There was no reason to feel jealous, but she couldn't help but feel a twinge of bitterness when she thought of Sesshomaru with someone else, someone who could give him what she could not.

"The DaiŌzoku have a different, lesser appealing, stance on hanyos than I. They use them as slaves. The hanyo woman was Tsering's retainer, called Keyuri. The hanyo woman does not have any detectable yoki, and I am unable to sense her."

"And, she...she was here. What did she see?" Kagome asked nervously. Her cheeks began to burn as she thought of the event that had happened just moments ago. That was embarrassing to think that someone had watched or listened to them during their throes of passion. Even young Rin didn't know the extent of it, though she had just walked up.

Sesshomaru's brow piqued. "All she needed to take back to her master."

"What does that mean for us?" Kagome asked, lifting the baby in a gesturing motion.

He looked down at the child who'd begun to dose in her mother's arms. "I do not know. Nothing good, presumably."

Kagome thought about it for a moment. "Are we in danger then?"

"Likely," was his one-worded response. Again, though the word by itself was not damning, the way he said it made it sound inevitable.

Rin looked between Sesshomaru and Kagome with a worried expression marring her delicate features. "This is troubling news Lord Sesshomaru."

Her lord responded with a 'Hnn.'

Kagome was not one to sit around and wait. She had to busy herself someway, somehow. "Then what should we do? We can't wait around for this Tsering woman to do something."

"It is not Tsering that poses the most immediate threat," Sesshomaru advised. "Tsering is subtle and conniving, and while she should not be underestimated, It is her brother that I would deem the largest threat."

"Her brother?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, he is called Fan Tsenpo."

A/N: Fan Tsenpo is Tsering's twin brother! *Gasp* What GOTery is this?! No. There will be none of 'that,' so get it out of your mind. Honestly, the reason I went with twins is because of the Chinese Foo Dogs! There's always one male and one female. Now they are not Foo Dogs, but I thought it was a neat tie-in.