There was a slight knock at the study door before it opened to reveal Roan and his daughter. Roan's hand was holding tightly to his daughter's wrist as she pulled against her father's strength.
"My Lord," he bowed, "as you commanded, here is my daughter." Still she struggled to get away. Sesshomaru could smell her fear and panic, with little care he sent a blast of youki though the room forcing her to drop into submission.
"This Sesshomaru has heard of your transgressions against This One's honored guest and of your audacity to presume to know This One's will and intentions. Henceforth Emiko, Daughter of Roan, you are banished from This One's home. Thank your father for your life, his loyalty and devotion is all that keeps you breathing. You shall gather your belongings and be gone from This One's home within the hour. Setting foot in This One's home once more would be unwise and have deadly consequences. Dismissed." Sesshomaru continued doing his paperwork as father and daughter left his study. An hour later Kagome knocked on the door, he knew right away it was her, with her delicious scent and gentle knock, though he did notice the fading scent of salt, nervousness, and sadness.
"Enter." He said loud enough for her to hear. Slowly the door to the study opened and in walked the Miko.
Kagome loved her best friend, Sango had been so understanding of her situation, and she finally felt like herself again, instead a ball of anxiety. Sango had only left the family wing a few minutes before she set out to make her way to Sesshomaru's study. She was slightly nervous as she knocked on the door, what could he possibly want to talk with her about, she thought to herself. His reply sounded from the other side of the door and she carefully slid the door open. She stared at him thoughtfully as he continued his work, with one final character, he sat his brush down and motioned for her to come forward. Closing the door quietly Kagome made her way towards the chair in front of his desk.
"Emiki has received punishment for her transgressions, she has been removed from This One's home." He said staring her directly in the eyes. Kagome's face scrunched as she let his statement sink in. Upon looking at her face he spoke once more.
"Does this displease you? Would you prefer her execution? It can be a arranged easily." Kagome's eyes widened in shock.
"That's highly unnecessary. Banishment will do I suppose." She was angry at Emiki, but she hadn't expected the punishment to be so harsh. She doubted she could convince him not to take action, at least banished she was still alive.
"Is there a reason for having me come here?" She asked as she rubbed lightly around the stitches in her hand, which had started to ache. Sesshomaru nodded slightly before ringing a small bell she hadn't noticed before. A servant walked in and bowed.
"Send your best maids in, the Lady Miko is requiring a new lady in waiting." The servant bowed again and hurried of to complete his task. She looked at Sesshomaru,
"So I get to pick my own now?" He nodded slightly and replied,
"You are a hime now, choose whom ever you wish." Not much later the servant came back with six women, they stood in a line side by side, so they could all be seen. Kagome dismissed two immediately, they were staring blatantly at Sesshomaru, one more was dismissed for refusing to look at her. The last three stood patiently with their hands behind their backs, and heads turned slightly to follow her movements. Not knowing what else to do she started asking trivial questions. One more was dismissed for her answer pertaining to hanyou. Two remained, she was fighting with herself trying to decide on how to choose, one had almost pastel orange hair and piercing green eyes, she looked more like a Fox then an inu, she looked shifty. The other had glossy black hair and ocean blue eyes, she seemed to let off an aura of peacefulness, but neither woman made her feel uncomfortable.
"Last question are you," she paused trying to remember the word Sango used for youkai marriage, "mated?" She looked to Sesshomaru wanting to make sure she used the correct word with a nod she turned back to look at the two women. The orange haired woman shook her head 'no' and the dark haired one nodded. Kagome dismissed the Fox-like woman and turned to the other.
"What is your name?" She asked her, but before the girl could speak Sesshomaru spoke up.
"Her name is Yueyui, she is the last surviving member of her clan," he paused, "no, she has a niece and nephew as well if I recall
correctly." The woman nodded. "She was the daughter of a Lord, you might learn a thing or two from her. Kagome smiled curtly at Sesshomaru for his little outburst, before turning back to the woman.
"Anything else I should know?" The woman shook her head,
"Is there anything m'lady would like to know?" Kagome stopped to think.
"What's your mates name?" The woman looked down at her feet and a slight blush crept across her face.
"Morimaru." She replied quietly.
"And do you and Morimaru have any children?" Sesshomaru interrupted the woman once more, this time to correct Kagome's terminology.
"Pups, Miko, not children." Kagome glared at him.
"Again, I have a name, it's a very nice name and you should use it." She said in a mocking sarcastically cheery voice before returning her gaze to the woman. "So, any pups?" The maid shook her head,
"We've only been mated two moons, so no pups yet m'lady." Kagome nodded.
"She'll be perfect. Now, I have to get Shippo and call the others back together to finish our conversation from last night." Sesshomaru dismissed the maid and motioned for Kagome too come closer. Quietly Yueyui left and Kagome made her way closer to Sesshomaru. She expected to be scolded for her tone with him, but he said nothing, he only reached for her hand and looked at her stitches.
Sesshomaru wanted to be mad, wanted to reprimand her for mocking him, however he had found humor in her annoyance, so he let it slide, her wit was amusing. He remembered her touching her hand tenderly before the maid had arrived. Calling her forward he grabbed her hand, he hadn't smelled the sour stench of infection, but he felt the need to check anyways. Seeing no signs of swelling or rot, he released her hand and returned his attention to her earlier statement.
"Shall I send for your friends or are you determined to retrieve them yourself?" He watched as her gaze hit the floor and her happy expression seemed to falter slightly.
"Send for them." She replied quietly. He reached for his bell when she stopped his hand. "Actually first, we should probably talk about this privately, before calling the group." She said before releasing his hand. Sesshomaru nodded motioned for her to continue. Kagome thoughtlessly adjusted and sat on Sesshomaru's desk then angled to look at him.
"You just told me I'm a hime, how is that possible, last I checked I didn't become your wif- er mate." Sesshomaru reached in touch the mark on her cheek, causing Kagome's hand to reach up and touch the same cheek.
"The marks on you are a symbol of status, as are the ones on Rin. They denote your status in This One's pack, making you and Rin hime." Kagome thought for a moment, she wasn't sure how she felt about becoming practically royalty.
"Will I be required to stay here indefinitely?" she asked, noting that Sesshomaru's face suddenly looked highly offended. "I mean, will I still be allowed to travel or leave on my own should I wish to?" Kagome watched his face relax slightly.
"Should you wish to leave you may, I would ask that you not leave without notifying staff or myself. It would be shameful to have to send a search party to seek you out only to find you at your slayer's home." He said dryly, Kagome nodded , it wasn't an unreasonable request, though somehow she could tell he was just giving her lip with the latter half of his statement.
"You are not forbidden to leave, however there may be times when you are required to stay within the manor walls. Such as times of war," His face fell to a look of disappointment but he continued, "royal decrees, and formal ceremonies." It was Kagome's turn to grimace, she hated formal occasions.
As the words slipped from his lips he realized there was no chance of the stubborn miko staying in the manor during combat. He watched as she grimaced at the mention of formal occasions, he was oddly satisfied to have found someone who disliked formal events as much as he did. Most youkai loved formal gatherings, especially mating ceremonies. That thought brought an unwelcome clench to his gut.
"This one must be notified if you decide to mate. Mating ceremonies must be planned and word must be sent to the other houses." he paused for a moment as he thought, "Is it against human custom for a miko to mate or," He tried to remember the human term, "wed?" Kagome just shrugged her shoulders, and he continued, "Is there currently any you wish to mate?" Her face turned bright red but she shook her head no. Sesshomaru wasn't sure why, but her answer both pleased and irritated him.
Kagome's face felt like it was on fire. She hadn't expected him to ask such a question.
"Is it really alright for Shippo and I to stay here? I wouldn't want to cause you any problems." She said, she still felt like an intruder. She'd only been here 3 days and so far she'd slept with Sesshomaru, bled all over her room, ruined multiple kimonos, required medical services, began sharing a room with Sesshomaru, and gotten a maid banished, not the greatest start. Her mind jumped back to sharing a room with him, though they weren't being intimate it could raise questions and be viewed poorly if they were found out.
"About our current sleeping arrangement," she pause, "should I move myself back into my room?" Sesshomaru stared at her like she'd grown another head before answering.
"As This Sesshomaru said before, you shall be staying with This Sesshomaru, as not to be inconvenient to another. Or do you wish to be inconvenient to those around you?" Kagome's face fell, but she responded
"But isn't it inconvenient for you to have to care for me? You are a lord after all, wouldn't most lords leave tending to the injured to their staff?" Sesshomaru made a tsking sound as if he was offended.
"You are my pack, I will care for you, do humans know nothing of loyalty?" Kagome noticed his face slightly twisted into a displeased sneer. It was strange seeing his usual cold facade crumble into actual distaste.
"Not all humans are like that." She stated tartly as she realized his statement meant all humans and not just lords.
Sesshomaru heard the change in her voice and he watched as she glowered at him. He had no clue what had happened, everything had been going well, then suddenly everything changed and her apple blossom scent changed to licorice root. He ran through his words trying to find what had caused the change. He suddenly realized it was his last statement, he'd seemingly implied humans weren't loyal, that she wasn't loyal. He watched her as she emanated anger, he was starting to get light headed from the off putting scent. If he had learned anything in raising Rin, it was that when one unintentionally offended Rin the best response was to make her feel special. He hoped the same would be true for the Miko was well.
"That is true," He said pausing briefly to see what effect his statement had, "more than once you've protected those you care for, you've put your life on the line protecting my ward, you've even gone so far as to put your life on your line for complete strangers." Her scent mellowed back out with only a slight hint of lemongrass. He wasn't sure what he had said this time to embarrass her but it's scent was much more preferable to licorice root. He inhaled deeply before returning to the original conversation.
"Back to the topic at hand, you shall be staying with This Sesshomaru, unless such a thing makes you uncomfortable." Her scent shifted again but this time there were so many scents at once he wasn't sure what was going through her mind, but her cheeks suddenly reddened before she spoke.
"It doesn't make me uncomfortable." She said shyly. Sesshomaru was still trying to sort through her scents he could smell the lemongrass much stronger than before, it almost completely engulfed the other scents, he caught light wisps of honey, meaning she was happy, but when the final scent tickled his nose his blood once again felt like it was on fire, the peach/clover scent was etched into his memory of the other night. Before he thought better of it he turned and captured the Miko's lips, she responded with a surprised moan and leaned in to wrap her arms around his neck.
Kagome knew she should have pulled herself away instead of leaning into him, she wasn't sure what had come over her. She suddenly felt Sesshomaru's hand slide into the top of her kimono as he cupped her breast and moved from her lips to her neck. Her body shivered in excitement as his other hand moved slowly up her leg to caress her thigh. A knock sounded at the door causing Kagome to jump, when Sesshomaru didn't respond the person outside the door knocked again and then spoke,
"My Lord, if you are in there, it is very important I have a message from the scouts to the north." Only then did Sesshomaru stop lavishing her neck. Carefully he removed his hands from her body and adjusted her wardrobe. She started to move to slide off of his desk but he laid his arm across her lap to keep her from moving.
"Enter." He called to the servant. With permission the servant opened the door and froze.
"Very sorry to interrupt My Lord, but you asked to be immediately be informed when the report came in." He bowed then moved to hand the parchment to Sesshomaru. A sigh of relief fell from Kagome's lips as she realized it was a bird youkai, they had a notoriously terrible sense of smell and could only guess what had been going on before hand. Sesshomaru took the scroll and opened it a growl came from him as he read, startling Kagome.
"Summon General Kaii and send word to the scouts to hold their position, reinforcements will arrive in a fortnight." With that the servant bowed and quickly left the room.
"Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked, tilting her head slightly to look at his face which was still turned to the scroll, "What's going on?" Sesshomaru pinched the bridge of his nose before handing her the scroll.
'Dragons have made their move, currently headed South West.
Estimated forces number in the thousands.'
Kagome remembered Myoga telling her of the great battle between the Inu no Taisho and the dragons, and how it had ultimately cost Sesshomaru and InuYasha's father his life. A knock sounded at the door and a youkai she didn't know entered, unlike the last servant to enter she could without a doubt tell this man was inu youkai.
"You summoned, my lord?" he asked in a gruff voice, he stood at attention, but Kagome noticed his eyes fell on her once before they stared directly at Sesshomaru.
"Ready the first wave, the dragons have made their first move." The demon's eyes widened slightly at the news. "This One will have you take point of the first wave, This One will lead in the second wave." The demon looked skeptically at her.
"Will the Lady Miko be fighting as well?" He asked rather rudely. Kagome glared then turned to look at Sesshomaru who in turn looked to her, she could almost see the gears turning in his head before looking back at the General.
"If the miko wishes she may." Kagome turned her head to make a taunting face at him.
"You betcha I'll be fighting." She said in an irritated tone. The General looked like he wished to dispute his lord's choice to allow her to fight but he wisely held his tongue. Quietly he bowed and exited the room but not before throwing her a nasty glare before closing the door. "Charming one, that one." She said sarcastically, nothing a few zaps with holy power wouldn't fix, she thought sadistically.
"Looks like our big group talk might have to wait." Kagome said as she looked down at her hands folded on her lap. Sesshomaru nodded in agreement.
