Ayame was going over her scrolls one last time before they set off on the journey. It would take about 4 days to get there with their youkai speed. That included getting a good a night's sleep. She was leaving a week earlier because she likes to be early to things.
"Ayame –sama leaving now means we will be there four days early." Fumiko said with a frown
"You never know what could happen. We might be delayed or something leaving early is good, better safe than sorry."
"I suppose"
"Is Mimaru and his mate ready?"
"He said he would be ready shortly"
Justas she said that Mimaru and his mate Buchi and down the stairs.
Buchi looked similar to Mimaru but instead of a bald head she had hair to her feet and her flower was orange instead of green. (They are earth sprites, about Jakens height if I failed to mention it before)
"Sorry to make you wait Ayame-sama! Buchi has a tendency to take a little long to pack."
"Be quiet" Buchi mumbled to her mate.
"Shall we leave?"
"yes Ayame sama" the group of four left the palace after Ayame made sure that everything was taken care of in the castle. When she retunred in a week and a half she made a mental note to talk to the three leaders of those packs that were thinking of war.
They arrived at Itami's palace three days early as expected.
Ayame checked and made sure she was presentable. Her wardrobe had changed. Now instead of the fur she wore a purple and light green Kimono of the finest silk that reached her ankle. She usually wears Hakama (like inuyasha's but less puffy) of the same color and material but felt it would be inappropriate to wear to such a formal meeting. She still had the chest plate but the design on it was more intricate and delicate. Where she once sported two pigtails she now had one braid that hung loosely down her back and reached the back of her knees. The braid was held together by a red bow. Her face had matured greatly over the years and her curves became more round. Her green eyes were still expressive but she learned how to control her emotions better. She now only allowed people to see what she wanted them to see about her feelings. On her hip she had a purple and green sword. The only decoration in her hair was the purple iris that she has worn for many years. Where she was once cute she was now beautiful beyond explanation. She carried herself with a grace that came along with being the ruler of the northern lands. Her aura screamed confidence.
She walked to the huge gate and stopped to talk with the guard.
"Good morning I'm…"
"Ayame-sama! Itami –sama has been expecting you! You are the second to arrive allow me to show you in."
"Thank you"
"Ayame -sama where is your travel party?"
"this is my travel party. Large groups would have slowed me down"
" I see then you are similar to Sesshomaru –sama. He travels with a small group as well."
"is that so?"
"hai. Oh! Excuse my rambling Ayame-sama. Allow me to show you and your party to your rooms."
"Thank you"
As the man showed Ayame to her room he stopped and whispered something in the ear of a servant. Ayame having a heightened sense of hearing heard what he said
"Go and inform Itami-sama that Ayame- Sama has arrived"
"This is your wing Ayame-sama. You will find that there is plenty of room for you and your party to sleep. To your right there is a private hot spring."
"I see thank you very much… what is you name?"
"Oh! Forgive my rudeness I am called Shotaro"
"Thank you very much Shotaro"
Just then the servant that Shotaro had whispered to walked up and said
"Itami-sama wishes for me to tell you that, when you are prepared you should come to the dining commons. He wishes to meet your personally before the conference"
"I am ready now. Fumiko-sama, will you come as well?"
"hai"
"Mimaru-san, Buchi -san please stay and get some rest I will be expecting you to be ready to take notes for the conference in two days."
"yes Ayame sama!" Mimaru said with a bow.
"Please follow me" the servant said
"Fumiko-sama you have already met the other three rulers haven't you?"
"hai"
They walked to a huge closed door. The servant bowed and said
"This is the dining commons please enter. Itami-sama and Bara- sama are waiting for you.
"I see, thank you very much"
The servant bowed and turned to leave
Ayame opened the door and spotted the couple sitting at the table drinking tea. They looked up at her and she smiled at them as she walked over.
She bowed to Itami as he and his mate stood and bowed in return.
"It is an Honor meeting you Itami –sama. And of course it is a great pleasure meeting you as well Bara-sama" Ayame said with a small radiant smile on her face
Itami smiled at her and said
"The paintings did you no justice Ayame- sama. I am thrilled to finally be making you acquaintance, and though it is a surprise it is always an Honor being in your presence Fumiko-sama"
Fumiko bowed to Itami and hugged Bara
Ayame looked on with a smile
"Please ladies have a seat let us talk for a while"
The four set at the table and talked before long Ayame had charmed the two and had them laughing at all of her jokes.
"When I first arrived, Shotaro-san informed me that I was the second to arrive. Which of the lords arrived before me?"
"Oh, Sesshomaru-sama and his mate arrived just yesterday! He's always been punctual but a bit dull to talk to" Bara said with a smile
"So I've heard. It will be a great pleasure meeting him. I have heard many interesting stories of him and his mate."
"So tell me" Bara said as she leaned in closer to Ayame
"Why is it that you have not found a mate? Your beauty goes unrivaled"
"I am flattered but I am afraid I must disagree there are two women in this room who put my appearance to shame" Ayame replied dramatically
Bara laughed at her. It was really a pleasure being in Ayame's company
"Do not try and avoid the question Ayame- sama"
"You certainly are a quick one, Bara-sama. You saw right through my objective"
"Answer the question"
"I suppose the right male has not come about as of yet"
"I tell her that she is too unapproachable"
"That is not true Fumiko –sama! I respect everyone"
"Yeah but respecting someone and appealing to someone are two different things"
"Itami-sama make them stop!" Ayame said pouting playfully
"I do not interfere with my mates affairs. I prefer my bed to the floor" He said with a laugh
Ayame laughed at him
"You are going to let them double team me?!" she asked jokingly
"I fully intend to"
Ayame laughed along with the others in the room when they heard the door open they turned around to see two dog Youkai walk in. A male and a female the four stood to greet them. When everyone bowed to show their respect Ayame spoke first
"Sesshomaru-sama, Rin-sama what a pleasure it is to finally meet you!" she said with a smile
Rin smiled back and Sesshomaru said in his low monotone voice
"It is interesting meeting you as well, Ayame-sama"
Rin spoke up
"It's more than interesting, it is a pleasure! I have heard the most interesting stories of you!"
"I have heard my share of stores of you a well Rin-sama! We simply must have a private chat sometime"
"I would love that"
Itami spoke up
"What brings you in Sesshomaru-sama?"
"Rin heard all of the laughter and wanted to join in"
Ayame looked at her, smiled, and said
"I like your style already"
Everyone settled down and the conversation started again. The chatted happily, with the exception of Sesshomaru who just answered the occasional question that came his way.
"Rin-sama, excuse me if I am being rude but you have an interesting scent on you. Tell me do you know of a woman named Kagome?"
"Hai! She is Sesshomaru's brother's mate"
"Interesting, Sesshomaru and Inuyasha are brothers. I thought they looked similar"
"Yes, but I am surprised you know of Kagome and Inuyasha. How may I ask?"
"Well, we met on interesting terms a while back."
"Really like how?"
Ayame smiled. It was still sort of a touchy subject for her.
"I do not wish to bore you with the bland details let us change the subject to something more interesting shall we?"
Rin got the hint and changed the subject.
They heard yelling in the hallway the person yelled
"Damn wolf youkai!"
Ayame smiled and said
"Interesting"
Itami blushed Bara bowed her head. Rin looked at her apologetically and Sesshomaru was normal.
"You guys look as if I just lost a pet" Ayame said laughing
"Please excuse Sou- sama. It seems as though he does not know you have arrived." Itami said as he sweat dropped and Sou burst into the room.
He looked at Ayame and froze
Ayame smiled at him and bowed
"It's a pleasure to meet you Sou-sama" Ayame said with a giggle.
"This must be your mate Warai, It's truly an honor"
Ayame said with a wide grin
Warai looked at Sou and said
"Sou! I told you to watch what you say!"
Ayame said with a giggle
"It's seems you have had some animosity where wolf youkai are concerned. We can be a hand full"
That lightened the mood.
"Please excuse him; we've had some trouble with the Eastern wolf tribe"
"Eastern wolf tribe you say?"
"Their leader Kouga is quite the hand full, running around wreaking havoc all over the lands" Sou said gruffly
Ayame stopped short but hurriedly put a smile on
"Really? Maybe I can help, what is the situation?"
"As a leader you need to be able to track all the clans in your lands"
"True" Ayame said with a nod of understanding
"But about every three months he moves his clan and starts a war with the clan that resides on that area"
Ayame laughed at him
"I am afraid this is not a situation I can help you with. But I can shed some light on the circumstances. You see Wolf youkai tend to get… how you say… antsy, when in the same spot too long. We are in a dire need of travel otherwise we feel trapped."
"So why does he go around starting wars everywhere?!"
"Well, not only are we travelers we are territorial as well. We do not share. So when we move to a spot we expect the person there before us to get out of our way"
"That is so dumb" Sou said while rubbing his head
"Sou!" Warai yelled at her mate
Ayame laughed
"I would not call it dumb Sou-sama. As you know youkai takes some of the traits of which kind of Youkai they are. For example, a wolf youkai has some traits of a wolf. It is our nature to be that way. You are a butterfly youkai, it is in your nature to coexist with other beings, and this is why I understand you misunderstanding, however it is a wolf youkai's nature to be territorial."
Fumiko spoke up
"Because Ayame-sama's clan traveled so much Fuzen tried to kill her clan many times"
"It is hard to control us wolf youkai, but you get used to it"
"At least I understand it now thank you Ayame-sama" Sou said with a sigh
"Anytime Sou-sama"
"Did you know this Kouga? I hear that the Northern wolf tribe and Eastern wolf tribe are sister tribes"
"Yes, I knew Kouga-san quite well" Ayame said normally but the women in the room could not help but notice that her smile disappeared from her face.
"Is that so?"
"hai"
"Well what…" Sou started but was cut off by his mate
"How about we change the subject? Ayame- Sama, tell us, what brought about your decision to take over the northern lands?"
"It started off that I felt I needed to be stronger. You have heard of the Hanyou Naraku I assume?"
They all nodded
"Well he was responsible for killing off a large number of my pack and I felt weak because I could not protect them. So I trained, hard. Then it became sort of a hobby for me to battle the strongest youkai in the land. I had many near death experiences as you can imagine" Ayame said with a laugh
She continued
"After the strongest youkai in the land were no longer a challenge I came up with the idea of challenging Fuzen- Sama, rest his soul. I was tired of the northern lands being ran the way it was and I thought, 'who better to run it than I?'. So I challenged Fuzen and won"
"She sounds so modest, she beat him easily. In less than an hour" Fumiko said with a scoff remembering her ignorant mate.
"Fuzen –sama was just over confident in his abilities. He let his emotions get in the way of his fighting strategy. He would have been a bit more of a challenge if he would have kept his emotions in check."
"I see" bara said interested
"no offence Fumiko-sama, but I was wondering Ayame-sama why is it that you decided to keep her around?" Warai asked
"I was the leader of the Northern wolf tribe. That small clan was nothing compared to all of the northern lands. I needed someone around with the knowledge of running the northern lands. Who better than the woman that helped run them for 300 years?"
"What made you trust her? She is the mate of the man you killed." Sesshomaru asked in his normal voice to the surprise of every one in the room.
"Honestly, before I met her, I figured I would bribe her with the position that she already had and just keep a close eye on her. But when she walked into the room she had an aura about her that screamed kindness. We wolf youkai have sort of a sixth sense when it comes to knowing when we are in danger. It also helps when judging characters. I knew right away that Fumiko-sama was a kind person. We became the best of friends immediately"
"aww I'm flattered" Fumiko said with a laugh.
"are you certain that ruling your lands with the kindness that you show is the best idea?' Itami asked with concern
"I do not show my kindness to many, but everyone has my respect as long as the deserve it. I believe that if you are firm yet kind then you will get the desired results. It has been working out nicely so far. But people do like to test me and that is when I get serious"
"When you say test you…" Sou said
"I get challenged a lot probably more than any of you could imagine"
"Really, how often?" Itami said interested
"As opposed to your, maybe, one fool a year, I get 1 fool a day" Ayame said with a smile
The three men were appalled (though Sesshomaru did not show it)
Ayame laughed
"I do not see it as a bad thing. It keeps me on my toes and it is slowing down a bit. I expected this when I defeated Fuzen, they would challenge me, not only because I am new, but also because I am female"
"I think it is more because she does not kill them" Fumiko said gruffly
"You do not kill the fools?!" Sou shouted at her
Ayame laughed
"For the first time, no, I understand that they feel that they can defeat me. I do not hold that against them. I do not have it in my heart to kill someone who is groveling at my feet begging for forgiveness and to be spared"
"All the more reason to kill the coward" Sesshomaru said disgusted that someone would do that
"At that point most of them learn that I am not to be tested, but for the select few that feel they should come back and try again, I do not waste anytime cutting their head off and feeding the remains to my wolves"
Sesshomaru gave her his evil smirk, almost to say that he approves.
It was getting late and Itami said
"Well it is time we retired. We have interrogated Ayame-sama enough for the day. Tomorrow we will get down to business about our lands"
Ayame smiled and said
"I came fully prepared for an interrogation, sweet dreams everyone"
They all bowed to each other and turned to leave
A/N: I know you all were expecting Kouga in this chapter but he was just sort of mentioned. I need to let everyone know where Ayame stands. The story is mainly about her and her response to Kouga's advances and her trials of being a ruler. But you will see a lot of Kouga in the future probably around the end of chapter 2 he will appear. You probably notice that Ayame is slightly different than what she was in the anime. That's because I was going for a more High class version. But I still want to portray a spicy dynamic girl like she was in the real story. I hope I'm doing a good job with that. Please let me know what you think of the story and Ayame's slightly different Character. In other words review!!!!!!!!!
Cultural notes:
Buchi means dots/dot
Bara means rose
Warai means smile
Rin means companion (her and Sesshomaru's story is the story that I will write after I finish this one. I hope you like me enough as a writer to finish this one and read any story that I write after this)
Hakama are pants. Each pair is different but I wanted Ayame's to look like Inuyasha's with less puff at the bottom and a different color and a bit more puffy than Sesshomaru's. Her top looks like a normal Kimono top but is covered by the armor that she always wears no matter what outfit she is wearing.