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"KAGOME-CHAN!" Rin screamed, hopping onto Kagome's soft bed, jumping up and down until the miko cracked an eye open.
"Rin? What time is it?" She moaned grumpily.
"It's time to get up of course, nee-chan!" Rin replied happily, dragging the silken sheets off her. The cool castle air hit her warm body and she groaned again. She quickly shielded her closed eyes with the back of her arm as Rin bounded off the soft, down bed and threw open the intricately engraved balcony doors. The blindingly bright morning sun painfully shrank her pupils. They had been comfortably accustomed to the darkness of under her covers, which were probably half way across the room at the moment.
"C'mon Kagome-chan! Breakfast is ready!" Rin announced to the half-awake miko. "Sesshoumaru-sama is probably already there!" Kagome slid out of the heavenly bed and staggered, heavy lidded, across her quarters to the bathroom. She noted blithely that everything was either marble or stone. Obviously Sesshoumaru demanded only the best furnishings to be present in his castle.
His place of residence probably had the most advanced technology of the feudal time. The bathroom had a sink which poured out water, and a tub that did the same. It looked like a small hot spring with a miniature waterfall that discharged the temperature of your choosing into the pool. No other place, castle or not, that she knew of in this time period had pipe structures to bring water out of the pure gold spouts.
It was either technology or magic, which Kagome had a small sneaking suspicion it might be. The feudal era had youkai, monks and priestesses with spiritual powers—why not mages with magical powers?
When Kagome freshened up and changed from her clothes, the two girls made their way to the dining hall, Rin leading the way. Kagome tried to map out the route in her head, but the castle was absolutely gargantuan. Kagome truly wondered how long it took to build it.
Sesshoumaru likely inherited it from his father, passed down the line of dog demon lords, along with the inheritance of all of the western lands, which someday Sesshoumaru's heir would have to take over. For some reason Kagome had a hard time picturing that. Icy, impassive, cold, ruthless, emotionless Sesshoumaru having an heir, it was simply hard to grasp.
But then again, he was the most beautiful demon in all the land and his sensual voice accompanied with those piercing, x-ray eyes would make any demoness of his choosing fairly melt.
Rin asked Kagome to go see where Sesshoumaru was when he was no where to be seen at the breakfast table. So, she asked one of the servants to take her up to his study.
oOo
Sesshoumaru awoke in his desk chair in a downright undignified position. His legs were spaciously wide apart, his head was lolling backwards, and his mouth was sagging open. Swiftly fixing his posture, thanking the gods he had not been discovered by anyone in such a pose, he realized what had brought back into consciousness: the sweet scent of jasmine. Then he picked up the sounds of a steady heart beat and soft breathing right outside the door to his study, then a small voice floated through the doors.
"Sesshoumaru?" She sounded timid and quiet, not wanted to disturb him.
He looked out of the stained glass window of his study. It was the break of dawn.
"Sesshoumaru, Rin says breakfast is prepared to be served." Kagome declared softly.
"Hai." He answered simply. Sesshoumaru waited until he heard the echoes of the miko's light footsteps retreating back to the dining hall. After a few seconds he stood up and stretched his sore, stiff muscles. Being in a sitting position for the whole night was never easy on the muscles in his back, of course in only bothered him a tiny bit, but it was still uncomfortable.
As he passed one of his large mirrors, he stopped dead in his tracks and stared at his appearance, shocked. Looking at the mirror he saw that his clothes were disheveled and his hair was fuzzy and knotted, instead of straight and silken.
He fixed his unlordly appearance quickly before he opened the door to go to breakfast. He was usually the first one down, even before Rin. But this was one of the few occasions where the necessity for sleep overcame him. He hadn't slept in probably over a week.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Good morning!" Rin announced loudly as soon as he set foot in the dining hall. Her earsplitting greeting bounced and echoed off of the heavy stone walls.
"Good morning, Rin." He said, wincing slightly as the deafening noise hit his delicate, elf-looking demon ears.
Waltzing straight passed where Kagome sat, he seated himself at the head of the long table with Rin and Kagome on either side of him. Rin started her joyful talk of how she had a chat with her favorite servants and told them the things they missed while they were out and what not. Kagome nodded now and then to show Rin she was listening, but in truth she only heard about the first sentence. Kagome drifted off into her own little place in her mind for a while.
Miroku chose that moment to stroll into the dining hall, robes askew, and hair all over the place. He yawned, scratched the back of his head, and stretched his other arm simultaneously.
The houshi sauntered to the chair next to Kagome, drew it out for himself and plopped down on its cushiony surface. He reached for the many various provisions off a serving platter and piled his plate high with breakfast items.
Once he already wolfed down a fillet of fish and started on a bowl of rice, he looked up. Everyone was staring at him. Kagome had her chopsticks half way to her mouth which was hanging open a bit. Sesshoumaru, on the other hand was staring at him with a fixed expression, his utensils resting on his plate with the handles held delicately between his fingers. Rin was softly snickering.
"Wha-Whas efferie wun wookin it?" Miroku choked out, mouth full of food.
"Monk," Sesshoumaru addressed him curtly, "if you are going to stay here you are going to present yourself in a dignified manner." He ordered; looking reasonably disgusted by Miroku's etiquette.
He wasn't used to people being so loose around him, except for Rin. He was used to people being up tight in his presence and scared of him. That's probably why he loved Rin so much, she was never afraid of him, and he didn't want her to be. The monk, however, did not extract that emotion from him.
"Oh, uh, right." The shameless monk mumbled. He gave a great gulp and swallowed all the food in his mouth, then quickly fixed his disorganized robes and smoothed out his dark, spiky hair.
Miroku grinned at Rin, and then put on a face duplicate of Sesshoumaru's impassive features; he straightened his back to sit up with better posture.
Rin giggled and looked back and forth between Sesshoumaru and the monk, as if trying to spot something he missed. The great inu taiyoukai looked as if he would honestly like nothing better than to take the golden chopsticks that were now held delicately in Miroku's hand, mirroring his own, and thrust them into his upturned nose.
After the…interesting…breakfast was finished, Sesshoumaru disappeared into his study again. Rin bounced up to Kagome and took her hand, and then Miroku's and led them to the Entrance Hall, to the great oak front doors.
Both double doors where painstakingly engraved with all kinds of designs of dragons and inu youkai in their true forms. The gigantic dogs that looked sort of like cocker spaniels where rearing on their hind legs and some where even sinking their meter-and-half long fangs into the nearest dragon. Rin pulled the two staggering people out of the Entrance Hall and out into the castle grounds.
To Kagome's total astonishment the vast grounds were covered with all types of flowers: most likely Rin's influence. Roses, daffodils, tulips, you name it and it was there, swaying in the morning breeze.
The small girl hauled Miroku and Kagome out into the grounds with surprising strength for a seven year old child. It was a magnificently temperate day.
Birds were chirping, the bubbling and gurgling sound signaling a stream nearby could be audibly heard, the sky was bright blue and not a cloud was to be seen. Kagome, being from the future didn't get to appreciate the beauty of nature very often.
Kagome grinned down at the little girl who had grown on her so fast then suddenly both of them took off at once, leaving the clueless monk, Miroku, in the dust.
"Ah! Hey! Come back you two!" he cried desperately. Miroku took two half hearted steps in the direction Kagome and Rin had shot off in.
Since his little shenanigan that morning he guessed Sesshoumaru wasn't going to be too fond of him from now on and he didn't fancy running into him on his own without Rin's presence to protect him.
oOo
Sesshoumaru positively hated paperwork. While he was alone he would always let his emotionless mask slip. Specifically when he was alone or around Rin was when he would get off his high horse and act like a normal person would. But alas, he grudgingly had his hind parts parked in his velvet, high backed, regal-looking desk chair. He was signing long pieces of parchment containing all kinds of petty things from the villages in his lands, demon and human, when he heard the sounds of joyful playing outside. He stood up and walked to the balcony of the study. He sighed deeply.
"Such a day should not be wasted," he said under his breath in justification of leaving his work behind. He glanced from the open skies and rolling hills of grass and flowers, then to his monotonous, tedious paperwork. Easy choice.
He leapt lightly and easily onto the balcony's stone railing, balancing masterfully on it, and then in the blink of an eye his long, powerful legs sprung from the rail. He effortlessly jumped about thirty feet in the air before starting to descend. The strikingly handsome taiyoukai landed soundlessly amid the soft grasses and vibrant colored, fragrant flowers of all kinds. He quickly spotted his favorite stone bench a small distance to his right. He strolled slowly to it and let out a long, slow breath as he sat down, letting all his stress flow out. Sesshoumaru leant back his head and closed his eyes…
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A/N: Haha funny stuff with Miroku. I wonder what would happen if Sessh decided to repay him? lol that coulda been fun, too bad I didn't think of that before. So anyway this chapter we got a little look around the castle. I imagined something similar to Hogwarts castle when I was writing this, so maybe that helps you get a picture.
Sooo yeah. Not much to say here…next chapter will be up soon like always, send me a nice review, I like to hear all your thoughts! Thanks for reading
JA NE!