Chapter Five- One Hidden Beauty
"Lord Sesshomaru, you haven't once said anything about how I look tonight~" a demoness whined with a pout. Not even sparing the demoness a glance, Sesshomaru kept his eyes straight ahead.
"So cold~" the demoness voiced sounding aroused.
The scent of the demoness' arousal in the mixture of her thick perfume caused Sesshomaru's annoyance to heighten. Holding in a growl, he was tempted to leave. Yet the Miko would be formally introduced to the 'Mu' ranked demons, and he was curious to see how they would receive her. Finally spotting the Miko enter into the hall, Sesshomaru watched her walk towards the kitsune she had befriended.
"The Shikon Miko?" The elder scholar exclaimed in shock at her appearance. Bowing in respect to all the scholars, Kagome said, "I am here to share with you Akihiro's debut novel."
Kagome observed all the demons look at her with the same expression Akihiro first expressed; shock. Ignoring their looks, Kagome explained a summary of the story. As the shocked expressions upon the demons changed into interest, Kagome knew she had captured their full attention.
"Overall, this book will make you want to appreciate the beauty of your current location and give you a set of new eyes to see the hidden beauties you were not able to see before," Kagome continued on to say, "For me, this book has motivated me to search for the hidden beauty within the demon society. And I wish to share these new set of eyes with someone dear to me." Scanning the crowd of demons, she saw them nodding their heads in acceptance. With a slight smile upon her lips she looked at Akihiro with happiness.
Akihiro's eyes were already dripping with tears as he said, "Thank you, Lady Miko!"
"Kagome," she whispered to Akihiro, "you can call me, Kagome."
Sesshomaru observed as the scholars clung onto every word the Miko spoke. She spoke about the novel while her tone and words held sincerity and appreciation. It was as if she had read many books to be knowledgeable on what was considered 'good literature'.
"What has captured your attention, Lord Sesshomaru?" the demoness beside him asked in a sultry voice. Ignoring the demoness, Sesshomaru continued to watch the Miko speak with the elder scholar.
"Ah, the Shikon Miko capture's your attention, Lord Sesshomaru?" the demoness points out as she follows his gaze.
Angered by his silence and lack of attention, the demoness says bitterly, "She is still a human, Milord. Also, I heard that she's the intended mate of your half-brother. She does not even possess any beauty. How could a thing such as her be interesting?"
Sesshomaru held back the temptation to roll his eyes. He knew that females loved to belittle other females to make themselves feel better. A cowardly way is what he thought of it. Though the unknown demoness beside him was attempting to make him lose interest in the Miko, she had only made herself a fool. Finding no need to explain or indulge her foolish actions, Sesshomaru ignored her.
Feeling the demoness grab his outer haori to make him face her, Sesshomaru for the first time turned towards her.
Golden eyes glazed with ice narrowed dangerously at the demoness that dared touch his person. Sensing fear emit from the demoness' aura, her grasp around his haori immediately fell away.
"Elder, who is the one that holds knowledge in numbers?" Lady Inari announced to the crowd of scholars.
Kagome saw the nice demon she had just been talking with voice, "I am the one you are looking for, Milady." Detecting the atmosphere drastically tense, Kagome noticed all the scholars held a distressed expression on their faces. Confused by this, she asked Akihiro what was happening.
"Lady Inari tends to test our knowledge by giving us problems to solve," Akihiro answered in a hushed voice. Furrowing her brows, she knew that there was more to the situation than Akihiro's answer. Walking closer towards the elder who received a paper from Lady Inari, she heard him state, "No one come near me. I do not wish for anyone to be involved."
"But elder!" some of the scholars protested. Observing that all the scholars had created a circle to surround the elder, Kagome also noticed the 'Gon' ranked demons snickering. Recalling the information Inuyasha had told her, she knew that if the problem Lady Inari gave the scholars wasn't solved then the 'Gon' rank would be held above and not equal to the 'Mu' rank.
Realization flashed through her stormy blue eyes as to why the elder did not wish to have other scholars help him with the problem.
"Will the elder leave the rank if he cannot solve the problem?" Kagome asked softly towards Akihiro. Once again catching a surprised expression upon his face, Akihiro nodded in response.
"If the problem is not solved and no other scholar looks at it, then the reputation of the 'Mu' holds for their intelligence is not soiled. Instead, the scholar that saw the problem and confesses he cannot solve it is labeled as unfit to be within the 'Mu' rank and is stripped of his title," Akihiro said.
Kagome narrowed her eyes at Lady Inari. She knew that Lady Inari was doing this to feed off of the scholar's knowledge. It was her silent strategy to make it look like a test when really it was just to attain more knowledge. Though she did not wish to give Lady Inari the answers to the problem, Kagome didn't want anyone to be kicked out from their rank. Kagome noted that Lady Inari was not paying attention to them so she silently approached the elder who was reading over the problem.
"I do not know the answer," the elder breathed out in defeat. Kagome saw the crestfallen faces of the scholars and felt her heart warmed by their worry for the elder.
Tapping the elder's shoulder, Kagome asked, "Could I look at the paper? I'm not a 'Mu' rank, so it doesn't matter, right?"
Kagome had once again sent several scholars into shock by her words. The math she learned from her era was much more advanced, so she hoped that the number problem wasn't too difficult. Looking at the paper the elder decided to reveal to her, Kagome smiled. It was only asking for an easier way to add large numbers. Knowing that multiplication would be the answer, Kagome took the paper and pen from the elder and wrote down the explanation on how to use multiplication. Finished, Kagome looked to see if anyone aside from the scholars had seen her write down the answer and was satisfied that no one else had been paying attention. Yet unknown to Kagome, Sesshomaru had watched the entire thing.
"Are you done yet?" Lady Inari asked.
Passing the paper and pen to the shell shocked elder, Kagome answered, "Yes!"
Hoisting the elder up, Kagome gave him a little push towards Lady Inari. Watching the elder stiffly pass the paper to Lady Inari, Kagome found several of the younger scholars looking at her with wide eyes.
"Are you sure you wrote this?" Lady Inari inquired suspiciously towards the elder. Mentally smacking her head, Kagome forgot that her writing must have caused Lady Inari to feel suspicious.
"Well," the elder responded hesitantly. Realizing that the elder was looking straight at her, she knew he was about to tell Lady Inari that she was the one to answer the question. Placing a light barrier around herself, Kagome lied, "Of course he did! I saw him with my own two eyes!"
Golden eyes widened as he heard the Miko's words. Had she confessed that it was her that answered the problem, she would have automatically gained the respect of many demons. Slightly narrowing his eyes, her unpredictable actions had once again caught him off guard and left him feeling more confused.
"Humph," Lady Inari scoffed before turning around to leave. Releasing a sigh of relief, Kagome was glad that her barrier had successfully covered the scent of her lie. Walking away from the shocked crowd of scholars, Kagome made her way out towards the gardens.
"Lady Kagome! Lady Kagome!" she heard Akihiro call out just as she reached the garden bench. Staring at her friend whom had entered into the clearing, she saw him rush towards her.
"You were amazing, Lady Kagome! How did you know such advanced-" Akihiro was quickly cut off by her gesture to stop.
"Do not tell anyone, Akihiro, that I did it," she whispered.
Nodding his head, he asked, "Why did you do that for our rank though?"
Smiling warmly towards Akihiro, Kagome responded, "I found one hidden beauty, Akihiro."
"Hidden…beauty?" Akihiro whispered in awe.
"Yes, the hidden beauty within the demon society. I found it with the new set of eyes your book has gifted me," Kagome answered warmly.
Looking up into the night sky, Kagome replayed the scene as she voiced her thoughts, "I saw the elder ready to give up his rank to protect the other 'Mu' ranked scholars. And I saw the younger scholars worrying for the elder when he confessed that he didn't know the answer. That kind of care and dedication was beautiful."
Bowing before Kagome, Akihiro voiced seriously, "On behalf of the 'Mu' rank, I would like to thank you, Lady Kagome, for solving the problem, for protecting our elder and our rank."
Akihiro looked up to see the most beautiful smile. As the moonlight struck against her pale skin, Akihiro's eyes were enchanted by the glow around her.
"Where is your book, Akihiro?" Kagome asked breaking the spell he was under. Remembering that he left his precious book inside the hall, Akihiro quickly ran back.
Softly giggling, Kagome leaned her arms against the bench and scanned the thick trees.
Noticing silver hair glimmer in the moonlight, she called out hesitantly, "Sesshomaru?" Watching him enter into the clearing, Kagome noted that this was the first time being alone with him. Though she held no ill feelings towards him, she had no idea how she was supposed to act around him.
"Miko, did you not wish to become 'Hime'?" he said stoically.
Surprise flashed across her blue eyes. She did not think anyone but Inuyasha knew of her plans to become 'Hime'.
Surprise was soon replaced with a soft look as she said, "There's nothing you don't know, Sesshomaru." After hearing from Inuyasha the way all demons had to gather their own knowledge and power, she knew her respect for Sesshomaru only grew.
"Why did you not reveal that it was you who solved the question?" he asked, notifying her that he knew who had answered the question Lady Inari had given. Overhearing her conversation with the kitsune, it still did not answer why she would choose to protect the 'Mu' scholars and lose the chance to be respected for her intelligence. To know the answer to something when a scholar did not would have brought her much respect.
"Did you think that I lost my chance to prove that my intelligence is above a scholar's?" Kagome asked as she caught Sesshomaru's stoic eyes briefly widen. Once again allowing her eyes to look up into the dark sky, she said hollowly, "I would surely gain the respect of many demons that way. But, I do not wish for that type of respect, Sesshomaru."
Staring straight at her with his stoic eyes, Sesshomaru hide his confusion. Slowly, her blue eyes looked straight into his without a flinch and noted the determination within them.
"How can you respect someone that steps on people's pride and rank out of arrogance? I know I could never respect the person who does. I will only go about this my own way where I stay true to myself. And hopefully, be deserving of the sincere respect that people may have for me," Kagome said.
'Deserving of one's sincere respect…' Sesshomaru echoed in his mind as the image of the kitsune bowing before the Miko flashed through his mind. The kitsune's gratitude for protecting the 'Mu' rank was definitely a sign of his sincere respect for the Miko. But, the Miko would conceal her intelligence just to gain the deep respect from one mere kitsune?
"Foolish," Sesshomaru voiced impassively. Her naïve and innocence would only deter her from gaining the title of 'Hime', while the rest of the demonesses used every dirty trick. Yet, the word he spoke did not seem to sink in. Her honorable actions only increased his interest towards the Miko even more so.
Sensing that his words were not spoken sincerely, Kagome smirked.
"I'm surprised that after so many encounters in the past you have just realized this," she voiced playfully.
As Sesshomaru turned to leave, a ghost of a smirk slightly pulled at the corner of his lips. The Miko had managed to capture his interest longer than anyone else had.
The Hime Tradition may not be dreaded for as he initially thought.
Author's Note: What did you like about this chapter? I know my dear readers had high expectations for this chapter. I hope I did not disappoint anyone.
Thank you for reading,
Your reviews are cherished.