Before I could ask InuKimi about what she meant by "entertaining," I felt something cold land on my nose. Both of us looked up in time to see the darkened clouds above us before more specks of white began to fall.
"Snow?" I said, allowing my voice to take a confused tone. Was it winter already?
When I looked over to InuKimi, she motioned for me to return with her to the manor. Before she was able to wipe away her facial expression, I noticed the scrunch in her brow and her narrowed eyes. Something was not right, and the shiver that ran down my spine served as clarification of the unsettling feeling. I felt like I was being watched, and it creeped me out. Before I could look around to see what was staring at me, InuKimi took my wrist and led me back to the manor. When we were inside, we soon found out that majority of those who work under Sesshomaru had made their way inside as well. The snow had taken us all by surprise.
InuKimi sighed as she let go of my wrist.
"I really did hope something like this would not happen."
"What's going on?" I asked.
She stared at me, seeming to analyze what was happening before responding.
"I believe it is for you to speak with Sesshomaru about. This does not fall under my jurisdiction."
"It seems to me that you know more about this situation than you are letting on."
She gave me a small smile before turning away from me.
"It is better to let things work out themselves than to state it bluntly. I believe you would prefer to have your thoughts and actions to be unbiased."
"I would prefer to have this dealt with if it is going to be a problem." I said blankly.
"My dear, only experience leads to wisdom." She said as she made her exit.
I watched as the back of her purple and white kimono was blocked by her personal guards. Not soon after her silent departure, I found myself speed-walking toward Sesshomaru's scent. I wanted to know why this snow felt so unnatural to me, and I had a feeling that Sesshomaru had part of the answer to that question. I found him in his study, reading over an ancient looking scroll. I walked over to him and sat down next to him. It took a while, but he eventually looked from the paper to look at me before returning his gaze to the paper.
"Sesshomaru, I have a bad feeling about this snow." I voiced.
"It will pass."
"Sesshomaru…" I started, showing him that I wasn't naïve enough to believe things were as simple as he made it seem. "We're in this together. I won't let you keep all the details to yourself."
I stared at him, refusing to move until he told me what I wanted and needed to know. I watched him carefully as he pulled me closer to him. He ran his hand down my back before holding me at my waist and nuzzling my neck. When I refused to give him the reaction he wanted, I could hear him give an extremely soft sigh as he gave in.
"Many years ago, a pact was made with neighboring youkai demons. The west agreed to allow them to keep their own rule so long as they abided to the basic laws of the Western lands and refrained from creating irregular weather."
"Are they infringing this pact?"
"No, not as of yet. They are allotted twenty days. If the snow is not cleared by then, there will be a problem."
"I'm not getting a good feeling from this snow. I feel like it's watching me."
"Do not think of it. It will pass soon."
"Hopefully." I added.
He gazed at me as I stood up and stretched.
"I really don't know how you can stay in this room for so long." I said with a yawn before giving him a light kiss on the cheek.
At my movement, Sesshomaru let out a soft growl before pulling me back down. I gazed at him, perplexed by his rather tough tug on me. Sesshomaru stole a short kiss from my lips, and waited for my response. I blushed and averted my eyes, but did not push him away. He pulled me closer to him and brought my gaze back onto him before gracing my lips with his own again. I could feel his hands slip into my kimono. I placed myself on his chest, satisfied with simply hearing the beating of his heart. I could sit there with him for the entire day, but I could hear the pitter-patter of Rin's feet as she came closer. I forced myself away from Sesshomaru, longing to be able to stay with him longer.
"I should go, Rin is looking for me." I said a couple of minutes later before removing myself from him.
We were both reluctant to leave our embrace, but Sesshomaru eventually let go of me. Just as I exited Sesshomaru's study, Rin ran into me, instantly catching my hand, and pulling me along behind her. Her excitement was palpable as she eagerly walked toward whatever her destination was.
"Kazumi-san, it's snowing!" the girl explained as she attempted to lead me outside.
"Yes, I know." I replied as I stopped her for continuing any further.
She let go of my hand and went to the nearest window to have a look outside. "Look at it! Everything is so white!"
"Rin, do you plan on playing in it?"
She turned to face me with a concerned face. "Am I not allowed to because I'm too old?"
"It's not because you're too old, Rin… It's just…"
"Kazumi-san, is something wrong?"
"I don't trust this snow; I don't want you running around in it."
"Why don't you trust it?"
"It gives me a bad feeling that I can't explain. It makes me want to be extremely alert."
"Oh, well, if you don't think it's a good idea..."
"Don't look so sad! We can do something else. Being indoors can be just as fun as being outdoors." I told her with a smile.
I followed Rin as she went back to her room. She sat at her table and returned to her studies while I sat on her bed, combing my hair with my nails as she silently read. It was then that it occurred to me. Rin was twelve. I'm nineteen. I'm married at nineteen, and in three more years, someone will come to marry Rin. I instantly cringed at the thought. My little Rin? Getting married? I didn't want to think of it. She was only nine in my eyes. I missed three years of her life. Three years' worth of memories, lost. I'll just have to make up for those lost memories. There's no way I'm going to let Rin leave here until I've engrained more than enough of my wisdom and my love for her in her memory.
"I never really asked, but what are you learning about, Rin?" I asked after staring at the girl for about ten minutes.
"Right now, boring stuff."
"Like what?"
"Politics."
"It can't be that boring."
"Kazumi-san, I'm not an adult like you and Lord Sesshomaru. I prefer to learn about stuff I can find in nature."
"Well, it's good to know about stuff like this too. C'mon, I'll help you out."
I took one look at the book and instantly appreciated the Japanese lessons I had taken during high school. The script was slightly different from the ones I had learned, but they were similar enough for me to understand. After getting Rin to read the illegible to me, I got the gist of what it was saying. Once I did get the gist, I realized that Rin had been right. To be honest, she had labeled it nicely. If I had to describe it, I would say that it was agonizingly difficult to immerse oneself in, making me question if the author wanted people to read it, not that I could do any better.
"How about we go to a more interesting section?" I asked as I turned to the front of the book, praying that it had a table of contents. I sighed with relief after stumbling upon the table of contents. "Minor and major infractions, that sounds fun."
I turned the pages without getting a complaint from Rin. When I got to the section I was aiming for, it instantly peeked my curiosity.
"If one were to threaten a being under the lord's protection, they are subject to punishments ranging from loss of an appendage to public execution." I read off, slightly raising my eyebrow. "Well that's nice to know."
"Look here." Rin said as she pointed out another passage. "Based on the value of the item that has been stolen, there are three possible penances: replacement of the stolen property, payment as reparation, or servitude, the amount of time to serve depending on how valuable the stolen item was."
We continued to read off what caught our eyes, soaking in the information that intrigued us. I was surprised by what I didn't know. This place definitely wasn't run like the democratic government I was accustomed to, and it scared me slightly. If Sesshomaru or I felt like someone didn't deserve to live, we could have them executed or execute them on the spot. I pray I keep my patience.
Before I knew it, I was the only one reading aloud. Rin had fallen asleep on me. I sighed before closing the book and putting Rin in bed as a maid came in the room with tea. I happily drank it, seeing it as the perfect drink to warm me up a bit. It definitely helped me calm down. I still couldn't shake off the feeling that I was being watched. I even had the instinct to look out windows and doors when I passed them. It was horrible. I sighed again before taking another sip of the tea. I wanted the feeling to be caused by a figment of my imagination, but I knew it wasn't. Something is lurking about, and it's watching, waiting. I know Sesshomaru feels it too; why else would he have taken out that scroll? Whoever's causing this has to be a demon from that neighboring youkai clan, their reason for doing this is still unknown to me though.
I laid my head on the table and sighed again. I was full of sighs today, probably because I didn't even get a day to relax and enjoy being Lady of the West before having something undesirable happen. You'd think people would have the decency to give me peace for a week… Wait, could that be it? Does someone still think I shouldn't be at Sesshomaru's side? No. I'm just trying to make things revolve around me… but, why else would they do it? Why would they chose now of all times to break their agreement? Did they think I would soften Sesshomaru up enough to let it slip by? Why would they take the chance?
I softly banged my head on the table a couple of times, trying to scramble up what I was thinking to make a logical explanation. Nothing I thought of made sense. There were too many risks, and not enough motives for someone to sanely break the treaty. Maybe that was it, the person was insane.
"My Lady, is everything alright?" A maid asked as she came to take my empty tea cup.
"Yes, I am fine." I replied. "I am simply thinking."
"If I may ask, of what are you thinking?"
I was silent as I sat up and looked at the maid. "How often does it snow here?"
"Oh, yes. This is My Lady's first winter here. The longest I have seen it snow here was for around fourteen moons. It is very rare that we see snow that sticks and piles though."
"Two weeks… Is the snow… irregular to you?"
"Other than its early fall this year, I sense nothing wrong with it."
"Thank you." I said as a dismissal.
She didn't sense a bad omen in the air like I do. Could it just be me?
