Arrival
"Do I look alright?" asked the princess in the carriage as she looked in the mirror, arranging her hair. She smiled to herself; it was an elusive smile which revealed hints of her joy. She was finally able to see her childhood friend, her lover, her lord. Her hair was beautifully tied and she wore a stylish silk kimono.
"You look beautiful." Koemi, the lady in waiting said reassuringly. She would be accompanying the lady in the carriage throughout her stay in the Western Castle. Koemi was a few decades older than Sakara, and treated the princess like her young sister.
"Alright, I'm ready." The princess said softly as she took a last look in the mirror before shoving open the curtains to descend from the carriage.
She was Lady Sakara, the daughter of Lord Tsunanari. They too were Inu youkais and had relatively the same power and influence as the Western Lord.
"Do not be nervous," her father told her as he lifted a hand to help her down the carriage.
"Thank you, father." the princess descended from the carriage gracefully.
"Welcome," the Western Lady of the Golden Pavilion greeted them with warm welcome. "Nice to meet you again, Lord Tsunanari," she bowed slightly to him while the lord bowed back.
"My pleasure, Lady," Lord Tsunanari said.
"Ah, you must be Sakara," the Lady said as she turned to look at Sakara.
"Yes my lady, it is my pleasure to see you." Lady Sakara bowed with precise angle and style, a perfect greeting stance for a lady.
"Ho-ho-ho, you've grown so beautiful."
"Thank you, my lady," Sakara said as her face flushed.
"Grandmother~!"
Both Lord Tsunanari and Sakara was shocked to find a little boy which looked so much like the Western lord appeared in front of them. The boy ran straight pass them towards the Lady.
"Oh, Yoshiaki. Here, greet the guests; this is Lord Tsunanari and his daughter Lady Sakara. They are from the Northern Lands."
Yoshiaki greeted them with the usual formality and turned his attention back to his grandmother. "Can I go to the garden after my lessons?"
"Of course, you can. And since today is a special day, you can have your free time after lunch."
"Thank you grandmother," the boy was delighted. Usually, he could only rest after all his lessons and training, which last until dinnertime. He was overjoyed to be able to play for half the day. Excitedly, he greeted goodbye to his grandmother and the guests before running off jumpily out of the main building.
"The boy is your grandson?" Lord Tsunanari asked momentarily. He was shocked. He had never heard of the young Western Lord being married.
"Yes, Yoshiaki is the child of my son, Sesshoumaru." The Lady answered in a matter of fact way.
That only made Lord Tsunanari more confused and bewildered. He had never heard of anything about the Lady of the Western Land. Sakara was supposed to be the Lady of the Western Lands. Surely, the young lord would not cancel off the proposal. "Sesshoumaru was married?" he asked, trying not to hold back his puzzlement.
"Of course not. That's right, you wouldn't know about it, would you? " The Lady chuckled before she continued. "Though Yoshiaki was truly my grandson, Sesshoumaru was not married yet."
"An infatuation to a girl then," Lord Tsunanari commented as he heaved a sign of relieve.
"You may say that, Lord Tsunanari."
On the other hand, Sakara who kept quiet throughout the whole conversation, spoke softy, "Who is the girl, my lady?"
Sakara was curious. She knew that girls in this ungentle era were considered nothing but political alliance, a chess piece that allowed different lords to form alliance. A tactic, a strategy to protect relations between each province, each land. Everything was a mere transaction. Game played by men. Women were seen as something to gain power, women are those who suffered under this cruel fate.
Still, Sakara felt betrayed, cheated and humiliated. Unlike other girls, she knew who she was going to marry, she knew who was this young lord she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She knew him. She had seen him before and they were actually playmates during their childhood. She knew Sesshoumaru was not someone who would tell you everything and share his thoughts with you. Yet, Sakara felt that he should have at least told her father that he had a son.
She was shocked that Sesshoumaru even had a son. She knew he would never show any interest to woman. He did not even lift an eye to look at her like the rest of the young lords when he came with the Inutaisho to their northern lands.
"Hmm… Sakara, you aren't interested in her, are you?" said the Lady playfully.
"No…Not really, I think we could be friends."
Hearing this, the Lady almost laughed. Sakara would be angered to know this girl. How could the two ever be friends? "Kagome," she said finally.
"Pardon?" Sakara did not catch it.
"Kagome Higurashi, that's the girl who bore my grandson."
"Is she the daughter of any high ranking attendant?" Sakara guessed. That was the only way a girl could get to be in close contact with the young lord.
"No, she was just a commoner. In fact, a human, if you want to know."
A human? Sakara was dumbfounded. Sesshoumaru was a demon, an aristocratic and from her understanding of him, he would not sink himself so low to fall for a human. Sakara felt even more humiliated. She was puzzled.
"You must be kidding, my Lady." This time Lord Tsunanari interrupted. He hypothesised that the young Western Lord must had showed interest in one of the high ranking scholar's daughter or the general's daughter who was rumored to be very pretty. He knew the young lord disliked humans. Surely there was a mistake.
"Ho-ho-ho. Does this one enjoy joking?"
Yes. Lord Tsunanari thought silently. "This boy will be the heir of the Western Lands then?" Lord Tsunanari asked warily. He disliked the idea very much. The boy would pose a threat to the position of Sakara. The heir was supposed to be the blood of the two lands.
"Do not worry, my Lord. Sesshoumaru knows exactly what he needs to do," the Lady continued while she just shrugged off the question as if the matter was not of any importance.
Lord Tsunanari's heart lightened slightly at this information. Yes, such a creature would not pose much threat to his daughter. Sakara had known the young lord for so long, more than three hundred years. She was so devoted to him, refusing all the affections of other young, handsome lords. Surely, Sesshoumaru would understand her feelings. Surely, he would not turn her away.
Sakara would be the one who would be standing beside this young lord, Sesshoumaru one day. And so would their children.
Later that day, Sakara and the other people resided in the guest rooms. Her father had gone to meet the young lord. It was noted that another Pavilion would be specially built for the soon-to-be Lady of the Western Lands. Meanwhile, Sakara was considered a guest and she would reside in the Golden Pavilion with the older Lady. She would also be learning about the lifestyle and traditions in the Western Lands. The Lady would be mentoring her on the dos and don'ts. It may seem troublesome to some but that was the rule of the lands.
Sakara was actually looking forward to her lessons with the Lady. She liked the Lady a lot. She was still kind and humorous. Though she was still puzzled by the situation, she would also want to meet with the little boy, Yoshiaki. She learnt that the boy too reside in the Pavilion. There would be much time for them to know each other.
Koemi's room was situated next door and she had already unpacked her belongings for her. Koemi was close to her. She had been her tutor since she was young, acting like an older sister. Sakara did not have any sister; she was the only princess in the northern lands. Her brothers was always teasing her and pushing her around.
She would also want to meet the girl, Kagome Higurashi. Just how did Sesshoumaru fall for her? Nonetheless, the girl must be really special. She still could not believe Sesshoumaru showing affections to any female.
Since young, Sesshoumaru was not a talkative boy. The first day she saw him, he was standing at the side of the garden alone. Her brothers and her were busy playing swordsmanship and catching. Yet, he did not seem to be interest in games at all. He just looked towards the sky and remained silent. Neither asking to join in the game nor practicing anything. Just standing there. Alone.
It was only when her eldest brother noticed him, that he was the son of the great western lord, then he accepted their invitation to join in their games. Sakara was surprised to know that he was fast and skillful. He beat her second brother in combat and even managed to outrun her eldest brother who was known to be the fastest runner in the castle.
Yet, Sesshoumaru never showed any sign of victory or accomplishment. He did not even smile when he won, unlike her brothers who jumped up in joy each time they outrun the other. Maybe it was because of his personality, his composure that attracted Sakara and she slowly grown to like him a lot.
She was still a kid then. However, as she grew older, her feelings for him grew. And her heart blossomed when she realized she was engaged to him, her lover. She did not know how Sesshoumaru felt about her and wished he would love her too. She would train hard and be the perfect mate for him.
Once she peeped out of the balcony to take a glimpse of him when the Western lord came for a visit in the Northern Lands. She could remember clearly his face, his features, the way he swung his swords. She wanted to see him so much.
...
Another week passed and Kagome was returning to the other side of the well again. She would only be there for a day of so. She felt that she was something like what they say in the modern slang- weekend dad. Only that she was a "weekend mum."
As usual, Jaken and Ah Un would be waiting for her dutifully at the side of the well. However, when they reached the Western Castle, there was something different about the place. The servants and officials in the Castle were all running up and down, preparing this and that. Also, all the demons in the Castle were nicely dressed, even the low ranking servants wore their best clothes and the maids put on make up.
"Huh? What's going on, Jaken?" asked Kagome as she climbed down from Ah Un and walked beside Jaken into the Golden Pavilion to her assigned room.
"Oh, forgive your forgetful servant, my lady," the little green toad bowed apologetically.
"Stop it, Jaken, you know how I hate all this formalities." Kagome said impatiently.
"All right. The lord of the Northern Land had arrived. He was Lord Tsunanari. He had come with his daughter, Lady Sakara to discuss some important matters. They were here four days ago."
"A political forum?"
She was excited and anxious. There was actually something of great importance happening here. She still did not have a chance to attend any political forum for her news writing. Most of the information were sent or reported to her by her colleagues while she read through and edit them. Then, she compiled the necessary information and typed it out as a single page newspaper article for the editors.
She was anxious to experience what is it like to be in the front line of the news. She smiled as she thought of a picture of an article with the headline, "The political alliance between the Western and Northern Lands."
"That is right. Lord Sesshoumaru had said this was an important event and Lord Tsunanari had been a vital ally for the Western Land since the deceased Inutaisho. "
"I see, then why was his daughter here?" Kagome knew that ladies of this era would not usually travel out of their lands to visit guests. It was not appropriate for the customs. This meeting must be really important.
"This one does not know," Jaken said hesitantly. Jaken had vaguely heard about the political alliance between the two lands, they are the rulers of the Inuyoukai and he was not familiar with this kind. After all, he was a toad youkai, which had much simpler ruling system.
Kagome felt that there was something that Jaken was hiding, but shrugged it off. Maybe it was just her imagination.