After a week of practice and planning, the gauntlet had come. Just from looking at my competitors' faces, I could tell that they were "upset" with me. I imagine that majority of them are cursing me in their heads. I could see their scorn toward me written clearly on their faces, but they wouldn't dare act on it, not until the competition starts. I'm not going to try to anger them since having angry demonesses chase me around isn't what I want. But of course, that's inevitable. I often think that they forget that I am a demoness as well. I forget I am all the time. I'm not a high-ranked, or noble demoness, but I've endured training by Sesshomaru's best. That has to count for something, right?
After walking into a dense forest with the other demonesses, we waited in a clearing until told that it was time to disperse, and the test would begin not long after. The first thing I did was find a river. Some of the others wandered in groups, some strayed deep into the forest, others basically ran toward Sesshomaru. The ones that ran toward Sesshomaru probably expected him to come straight after me, seeing them, skipping them, and thus having an advantage over others. Seeing that it's not uncommon for the "chaser's" beast to come out during this "test," it was a good idea. The thing is, Sesshomaru won't lose himself to his beast. He has a good hold on it. That plan is bound to fail, unless their plan was to lose because they don't want to mate Sesshomaru.
The demonesses going farthest away might plan on Sesshomaru using all of his energy catching those closest to him, and thus making their lives easier. However, Sesshomaru can pace himself to catch everyone with ease. Or maybe they planned on running away from their families and obligations during this time.
The ones wandering in groups, they could be sticking together so when Sesshomaru does find them, they can split up. Sesshomaru can only catch so many at a time, so at least one of the group has the chance of getting away.
The group of girls that was following me probably wanted to pick a fight. It's not against the rules or anything; it's just highly advised against. Considering the fact that Sesshomaru kind of likes me, not to boast, makes the idea of attacking me much more stupid. Then again, this is the only time act violently toward me without reparation. I'll let them have it, but I'm not going to go down without a fight. I kept walking beside the river until my suspicion on the group behind me was confirmed. I found myself sidestepping one of their poisonous whips sooner than I thought I would.
"I knew it would happen eventually, but not at the get go." I said as I evaded another whip.
There were four of them total. One with short deep blue hair and sea green eyes, another with medium length curly red-orange hair and smoky gray eyes, one more with short hair that was whitish-gray and copper eyes, and finally, one with long black hair and orange eyes. They were all pretty, and all had some sort of marking like Sesshomaru, but were missing one or the other. For example, instead of having two stripes on each cheek and a symbol on the middle of their forehead, one would have one stripe on each cheek and nothing else. From that, I deducted that they were removed relatives of royalty.
"Who are you to have Lord Sesshomaru's favor?!" The one with short red-orange hair asked me.
"Well, I guess we've known each other for some time now... and then there's the fact that I'm part of a disappearing race." I replied as I dodged another whip.
"Do not tell me that you are just another sob story!" green eyes exclaimed.
"No, I'm not."
"Then I will assume that there is nothing else that is special about you."
"Well, I'm not pampered demoness that gets upset when she doesn't get what she wants."
"Watch your tongue, commoner." The raven hissed.
"I am no more common than you." I replied.
"That comes from the one without a single mark on her face." The red head mocked.
"The marks on my face don't matter, the one on my neck does. As you four show perfectly, the want for the markings on your faces is insignificant compared to your wishes to bear the one Sesshomaru gave to me."
"You whore!" the gray haired girl shouted at me.
"Whore? How did you come to that conclusion? Not that it matters. If Sesshomaru only wanted my body, he would have taken it long before now."
"You say that as though he has never bedded a woman." Green eyes commented.
"Everybody makes mistakes, simply ask your parents about your births."
That was when they lost their cool. They all attacked me at once. Now that wasn't very nice of them. As they attacked, I weaved my way back to the forest. Once we were deep enough, I used my claws to take down trees in a single swipe, separating the four and keeping them from attacking together. The red head was much more bark than bite, same with green eyes. The raven and white hair were different cases. They got out the trees out of the way and attacked me in succession.
I waited until one of them messed up, and took the opportunity to attack. After leg sweeping the raven and flipping the white haired one into a tree, I realized that almost all of the other competitors were out, and Sesshomaru was making his way toward us, rapidly. I jumped into a tree and looked in the direction Sesshomaru was coming from. When I looked back at the girls that had attacked me, they were all staring up at me with so much hate in their eyes. I had to choke back my laugh.
"I'm sorry to have to stop your venting session, but I don't want to lose this."
As they barked at me, I started running again. Though things didn't start as planned, I would have to make do with it. At least they would prove to be a decent distraction for a moment. Hopefully, I could pull things back together and get the end result I wanted. The way things are going now, the slightest screw up could be the end of all of this. If those demonesses are as smart as I'm giving them credit for, they're going to come straight after me with Sesshomaru not too far behind. I needed to cover the distance between us and the demonesses at the farthest edge of the forest. My plan right now was to put as many different people in the equation as possible, simply because it would buy me more time to think out the rest of a plan.
I know I said I would plan things out, but I didn't really plan past the get to water part. I actually don't know where I was going to go with that, maybe I wanted some nice scenery. I tried to plan things out, I really did, but it just didn't work out. Well, I don't think I'll need that much planning outside of keeping Sesshomaru from pouncing on me. That's what I spent most of my time on. I can only pray that that's all I'll need.
As I closed the gap between the resuming players, I noticed that they were being picked off one by one. I stopped in my tracks and focused behind me. Only two were following me. Why were the demonesses in front of me being picked off? Wasn't Sesshomaru behind me? What was he trying to do? Was he trying to trap me? I didn't know whether to look forward or behind. The remaining two of the group that I encountered before eventually caught up as I thought desperately on what to do.
"Look at the lost rat." the red hair snarled.
"I am no rat, I am a dog." I replied.
"Oh, how I hate you." Green eyes informed me.
"Do you two not have anything better to do than to try to offend me?" I asked as I started to come up with ways of keeping myself from getting caught before the two in front of me.
"Ha! You are not worth our insults!" Red hair laughed.
"I am not worth them, yet you continue in your attempts to insult me. I see no sense in your logic. Perhaps you can speak to me again once you have completely thought out what you wish to say."
"Why will you not shut up?"
I looked at her, confused. "Were you not the ones who approached me?"
"I have had enough of you!" She yelled as she lunged at me.
I planned to only jump over her, but my instinct told me better. Beast immediately took hold of me and got me as far away from the girl as she could. Not soon after she lunged at me, Sesshomaru pounced on her, sending her to the ground.
