Nocturne - Chapter Nineteen: Things Stranger
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.
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Fan Tsenpo watched the pair approach in bemusement. He'd sent his sister just earlier this year to solidify her union with the male Inu from Nippon, and here she was, returning empty-handed with her tail between her legs. Tsering had tried her best to look unbothered, but she was never any good at disguising her feelings. The woman was transparent for any who knew where to look, and Fan always knew. He could tell by the shift in her eyes that she had failed in her endeavors.
He could have cared less about the union. The alliance brought by the union would not have helped him in any fashion. Fan was already powerful and well connected. What use was the alliance of some barbarian warlord? No, Fan was not the least bit upset by his sister's abrupt arrival in his court. He'd secretly hoped for something like this to happen—anything for an excuse to challenge the man whose lineage had slighted his family not once but twice.
Fan had centuries to plan this, and all of the pieces were falling into place quite nicely. He grinned a jovial smile, which was well known across the land to have an ulterior meaning.
Tsering approached and dipped her head in reverence, her lackey behind her. Fan raised a brow at his sister. It had not gone beneath his notice of her missing hanyo. She always traveled with a pair, which she considered to be a sign of good luck. Good luck, indeed. There was never any balance with his sister, for she was as tumultuous as the sea.
Fan laughed a bright and hearty laugh that resonated through the grand hall. "You go through your retainers like a child through clothes. I do not have any to spare at the moment. Perhaps if I am so inclined, I can make one for you later."
Tsering shrugged nonchalantly. She struggled to assume that the loss had not bothered her. "That will not be necessary, brother. I quite liked Sonam."
Fan stretched upon his pillows, strewn about on a dais, located at the end of a long and airy hall. He threw up a leg and propped his head upon his hand. "Suit yourself," he waved his other hand with disinterest. "Pray tell, why are you returned, dear sister? Are you not wedded and with child by now?"
Tsering quivered before answering. He had hit a sensitive nerve, it would seem. His smile deepened while he waited for her answer. "The bastard Sesshomaru. He has taken up a human woman," she explained through gritted teeth.
Everything was falling into place. "I see. How amusing. I'd heard his father, your former fiance," he said, knowing it would cut a nerve, "fell victim to a similar penchant. It would seem the apple does not fall far from the tree."
Tsering rolled her eyes and looked away. She would not meet Fan's eyes to admit the rest of her story. "He has bred with the woman as well."
Fan shrugged. Now, this was exciting news to learn. "Why should I care where the bastard sticks his dick?"
She threw a glare at her brother. Her eyes soon turned cold. "Have you heard tell of the younger brother? Also, the progeny of Inu Taisho?"
No, he had not heard of another whelp born from the bastard Inu Taisho. His smile faded before it was caught and put back in place. "Brother?"
Now it was Tsering's turn to give a small smile knowing she had provided information her all-knowing brother lacked. "Yes, a hanyo."
"Why is that of any concern of mine?" Fan rolled onto his back and allowed his legs to splay out before him. The news was intriguing and beguiling. Hanyos had been used by their family for centuries but looked down upon by yokai and humans alike everywhere else. Fan had a proclivity for the creation of hanyos, one that he'd discovered centuries ago.
"You recall a certain dragon, do you not?" Tsering asked, breaking Fan out of his thoughts.
He considered for a moment. "If memory serves, I sent a dragon to pester Nippon centuries ago." Why was this woman bringing that up now, he wondered. "And the dragon served its purpose."
Tsering allowed a small smile to deepen upon her features. She seemed to know more than she was letting on and giving out information bit by bit. It was enough to drive anyone mad, but something Fan was accustomed to. He recalled the dragon. How could he not? It had taken long enough to put those pieces into play. "Yes, but the dragon had only been sealed until recently," she toyed.
Fan felt his irk rise, but his face did not belie his inner feelings. He smiled but growled, his eyes gleaming with cold anger. "Dammit, woman. Why do you taunt me with bits and pieces? I grow annoyed with this banter. Explain!"
His sister bit her lip to keep from grinning. "It was the younger brother who killed what the father could not."
Fan smirked. "You jest." Then he laughed aloud. With his experience of hanyos, there was not a chance in hell one could best what a daiyokai - even that of the stature of Inu Taisho - could not.
"You know I do not." Tsering shook her head.
The woman was serious, Fan noted. Her eyes told it all. Fan looked over at the mute woman behind his sister. She had not moved once since walking up to his throne. Fan wondered if such potential lay underneath her unassuming exterior. "Defeated? By a mere hanyo?" He was incredulous. The thought was absurd.
"Yes."
"And you say he has whelped one of his own?" 'He' being the Sesshomaru.
"Yes," Tsering repeated.
Fan clapped his hands above his head. The sound resonated through the hall, and a lesser yokai appeared, hurrying down the long hall.
Fan sat up and stared at the servant who was now prostrate before him. "Summon the great Sesshomaru," he instructed. "Do ensure that you inform him that to refuse will only serve to displease me."
It was Tsering's turn to laugh. "What if he does not come, brother?"
"He will come." There was naught else to it. The daiyokai Sesshomaru would come and kneel at Fan's feet, and Fan would have the man right where he wanted him.
"What makes you so certain?" Skeptical, Tsering's brow rose.
Fan brought a thoughtful hand to his chin, stroking his smooth face with a thumb. "I should think I know him well enough to entice his appearance."
"And what will happen should he refuse? You must realize he will."
"One word should suffice. Ryūkotsusei. And if that does not serve a good enough reason - which will - tell him that I shall help myself to his human and create a hanyo to replace the one you lost."
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Tsering watched as the servant yokai was dispatched with a message to Nippon. It would not take long for the messenger to reach Nippon and deliver the message to Sesshomaru. If only she could be there when he learned the news. How she would love to be near to taunt him. He would dare to deny her? The man would learn his place in the order of the world. The DaiOzuko reigned supreme, and the lesser yokai, even those who deigned to call themselves daiyokai, were lesser beings.
She had left her brother to his machinations and dismissed Keyuri to do whatever it was the woman did when she was dismissed. Tsering had only ever seen the woman stand around in corners, which caused her to scoff at the sight. To think of the blood that ran through the hanyo's veins. That was another reason that she hated being saddled with the hanyo. Her retainer was so dull that Tsering could not stand to be around her any more than necessary. She needed to replace Sonam and soon. The monotony of Keyuri's company was enough to drive anyone insane.
Walking through the vast halls was eerily quiet. Fan preferred it that way, and none of his indentured servants would ever speak even if they had been directly addressed. Tsering found the entire estate quite macabre. As she walked down the hall to her private rooms, she could hear the grunting of someone. The voice was feminine but low. Tsering looked around to confirm that no one was about. No one would stop her, the sister of their lord, from going where she pleased, but Tsering preferred not to let the gossip spread in her brother's foreign court. Even though things were eerily quiet and the castle residents were stricken mute, either by design or by predilection, gossip would still spread like wildfire behind closed doors.
She walked up to a set of sliding doors that had not been closed all the way. Through the paper walls, she could see a pacing figure. Tsering stopped just outside the door and peered inside. There were several lesser yokai mingling in the room, watching the pacing figure with hungry eyes. Another grunt of pain erupted from the lips of the woman, and she turned to walk the other way, revealing her large, distended belly that poked through barely tied robes. The woman had long dark hair that flew behind her unbound as she walked the floor. Her skin was creamy, white, and devoid of facial markings, and she bore perfectly red lips that parted to let out heavy breaths.
A human woman. An expectant mother and one that looked every bit a royal princess. Tsering's brows drew together in perturbation and cocked her head to the side, causing her coronet to tinkle with sound. The sound, soft as it was, drew the attention of the yokai in the room, whose heads swiveled in her direction. They noticed the slightly opened door and finally, who peered into the room. Without rising, they all bowed their heads in deference at their lord's most honorable sister. The human woman followed her onlookers' gazes and saw Tsering staring back at her. The woman grabbed at her large middle and looked at Tsering with pleading eyes but dared not speak a word. Their eyes remained locked until the human's eyes squeezed shut, and she doubled over with pain. Tsering took the opportunity to move on with haste.
It would seem her brother had not quit the practice of making hanyos after all. It had been a relatively long time since Sonam and Keyuri's creation, but then again, Tsering made it a habit to keep out of her brother's affairs. She'd learned long ago that his rage knew no bounds. Not even family were spared his invoked wrath. She shook her head and the thoughts from it. There was more to worry about that directly affected her. As long as she kept in Fan's good graces, she would be free from his irk. This only meant she could not idle long here before he drew her into his machinations.
A sigh escaped her as soon as she reached her rooms. Tsering did not typically linger at her brother's court, but she held rooms here for privacy. She much preferred the cold air palace she kept in the eastern Himalayan mountains. It was the land of her birth, and she quite preferred it to the dryer climate of the south. Her brother had liked the pomp and circumstance surrounding that of the lowlands and had left their family's ancestral home as soon as he was able. His lust for power always at war with his pride and sense of honor.
Tsering stalked through her room and stopped at the window overlooking the gardens outside. Her brother's palace was a sprawling one, nearly dwarfing the human imperial palace located in the Forbidden City. Tsering chuckled at the thought. Humans. They were so short-lived and could not even come up with ideas of their own, instead preferring to mimic the designs of the superior daiyokai. It was a mockery of something divine, but Fan had not cared to put the humans in their rightful place. He assured Tsering that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, even if it was unintended. That was true, at least. Anytime she had cause to be near humans, she could not help but notice that their fashion ideas resembled her own. Could they be faulted for aspiring for something entirely outside of their reach? Like her brother said, let them have this, for they have nothing else.
The sun was beginning to set upon the grounds, casting golden lights upon the palace and the gardens. Tsering had sat in her room, thinking hard about her next move. She had chosen not to divulge to her brother news of the healing sword. She had milked the imp retainer for all the information he had, and still, she was sure she had not learned everything she desired. She only found that the sword was named Tensaiga, and it even had a sibling blade, though the hanyo brother wielded that one, and the imp described it as useless to daiyokai. The blade Tensaiga could resurrect 100 beings back with one swing. That was useful information that Tsering could not allow to fall into her brother's hands. Not yet.
She determined it was prudent to remain for when Sesshomaru answered his summons. Tsering wondered what her conniving brother had planned. He would not extend an invitation arbitrarily. There was something else at play, and she knew it must be figured out before those plans were put in motion.
A/N: Now you all are getting some insight into our newbie characters. Also, if you are an Inuyasha nerd, you may catch some of the more subtle name drops I'm doing to get a sense of just how enmeshed these characters have been in the story since before we (or our MCs) even knew they existed! I'm just spinning a yarn here!
Oh, by the way. Please leave a review on your way out.