Why did I agree to this? Sesshomaru wondered to himself, his face its usual cool mask as the wench tugged on the spelled chain connected to the black leather collar around his neck. She guided him, and leashed like some common ningen pet he had no choice but to follow her lead. No matter how much he wanted to melt her with his poison.
Midoriko lead him through a hallway, the floors were covered in rich dark marroon carpet that felt nice on his bare feet. Tasteful lamps were screwed into the walls every few feet and every once in a while a portrait of landscapes would appear in varying size and image.
They soon came to the end of the hallway, the only reason Sesshomaru knew it was the end was due to the thick double doors. He could smell the mixed scents of humans and demons on the other side, the scent of lust, arousal, despair, and fear made the stench unbearably disgusting.
He crinkled his nose slightly in distaste. Any demon who takes part in this is nothing more than scum, filth. Why does my sire force me to fetch the half-breed like this? I have more than enough power to bring this place down on the heads of the filth within and take the half-breed away. What is Father planning?
Midoriko noticed the slight change in his face and gave the chain a small, but hard, tug. His neck jerked forward, closer to the wench and she hissed at him, "Don't Sesshomaru. You may not like this, you no doubt hate this, but it's the only way that your father could think of to get Inuyasha back. Be greatful that this is one of the more civilized meetings for the Trade."
"This Sesshomaru dosen't have to listen to you wench."
"Yes you do. This is the first meeting of the new Season, all the Directors are required to be in attenance to present their new merchandise. Any later and people will get suscpicsious about where you came from and I doubt that you would allow yourself to be dressed in the traditional way for any of the earlier sessions. Most of the merchandise arrives ready for use by then. A fate that neither you nor your father want to experience. Be grateful you arrogant pup that you're even clothed as nicely as you are."
'Nice' was hardly a term that Sesshomaru would use for the pieces of cloth that now covered his body. Streachy black leather pants covered his legs, however the area of his groin and rear were desined in silver and dark blue colors, bringing attention to his 'goods'. He wore no shoes or shirt, exposing a chiseled chest and adequatly pronounced six pack encased in moonlight colored skin etched with exotic maroon markings circled his body for anyone to see. Black wrist and arm bands that seemed to be made of the same material of his pants were placed on his skin, silver rings of metal embaded in the material. And last but not least, that hated collar. Black like the rest of his ensamble but made of much thicker matterial, a silver buckle kept the irritating thing on his flesh and was spelled to prevent him from taking it off. He suspected that the silver in his wrist and arm bands were spelled as well.
If this was what she called 'nice' he mentally shuddered at what would be the apparel for the earlier sessions as she called it.
"Now, behanve. Keep your head down and don't look at anyone no matter what they happen to be doing or doin got you. And for Kami sake keep your temper in check," she hissed her eyes flashing. "We don't want anyone getting interested in you till the auction starts and she shows up. If you draw any undo attention before then the only chance we have of getting him back is gone."
"Hn," he said giving the woman a small nod. He knew what he had to do, she explained it plenty fo times. The sooner he go this done the sooner he could burn what he was wearing.
The door opened and the tow of them went inside. Sesshomaru had to tighten his already amazing control the moment that he and Midoriko entered the room. It was shapped like a theater. Rows after row of seats were edged by a walkway of plush red carpet and stopped several feet from the well lit stage. Humanoid beings were already filling the seats with accurate precision. Even though the event was something he appauled, Sesshomaru had to admire the structured tradition of it all; this was what it was like when everyone knew their place.
Midorkio tugged on the chain again to get his attention and they walked towards the stage.
As they passed Sesshomaru saw that several of people had brought along some of their merchandise. The woman had been right, a terrifiying thing to admite, compared to some of the others following their masters he was drerssed 'nicely'. Several that they passed had bits of cloth that barely covered their intimate areas, out of the corner of his eye Sesshomaru thought he saw some wearing nothing at all. Their scents were saturated with hopelessness and despair; one, a tanned young demon with white hair and black eyes wearing what resembled white underwear, gave off no emotional scent at all. The closer they moved to the stage the better the condition was and more scents filled his nose. The 'Directors' as the wench called them were either wearing suits and dresses, a smaller group in the boxes above him wore formal kimonos and other formal attire. Besides the difference in dress between 'merchandise' and their owners they had dull eyes and collars of diffferent colors adorned their necks.
From what he rememberd the woman Midoriko saying from his sire's office he would hazard a guess that they had passed the lower Directors and their entourages. They were truely the scum that she had described. Quite a disturbing thing to be proven wrong by a human woman. Though he did wonder about those above, who were obliviously smaller in number, but dressed differently than the others.
They walked up to the edge of the stage, a marble podium stood above the. Behind it a young demoni child with lilac colored hair and red eyes wearing liliac coored haori and hakama looked down on them. "Hello there Hakudoshi," Midoriko greeted pleasently.
Hakudoshi gave the woman a dip of the head in acknowledgement, "Title and name?" he asked, voice monotone.
"Director level A of Higure House, Midoriko Higure," she answered and tugged at Sesshomaru's leash. "I'm entering my newest into the auction today."
"Midoriko-sama you know that it's against tradition to just bring in a project without prior noticifcation of the Auction Leader," Hakudoshi said, voice still momotoned but and undercurrent of frustration.
"Come now Haku-kun, it won't be the first time that spider let it slide. Just sign him up."
Hakudoshi sighed at the woman, pinching thet bridge of his nose. Sesshomaru almost smirked at the him, the pup wasn't as unemotional as he protrayed. Not surprising since he was no doubt younger than himself. He had long perfected the cool indifferent mask the pup tried to imitate. "You are very lucky that your station gives you such leway Midoriko-sama, fine." The youth took out a small brown notebook from his haori and filped thrtough it. "Name, species, sexual and origin status."
The HELLS?! "Sesshomaru, Inu, virgin in the back but not the front, wild."
Hakudoshi raised an eyebrow and scanned him before writting it down in his notebook, "Inu and a virgin? Sometimes I wonder where you find your wild ones Midoriko-sama, at least Inu are better than the Ookami you find. You've got him leashed well?"
"Come now Haku," She tugged on the chain making him bend his neck down to the smaller woman so she could grab the collar and show Hakudoshi something that he couldn't see. "I'm no novice at what we do, I had to make it more powerful than most of my others of course. He's still a bit on the wild side, if anybody but a high B-level tried to subdue him they will most likely die very painfully," she added with a excited smile.
Seeing the woman's sudden shift in attitude Sesshomaru couldn't help but wonder if she was insane, or she had very severe mood swings. Do human females actually behave this way? Outside of Rin he would admit that he had very little experience with humans, he had less patience for them than most demons so he simply never involved himself with them. He'd been forced to adjust slightly when he met his human secretary but she'd always been a calm bubbly presence. It was difficult to reconcile the image of the wench in front of him with the woman who had come to tell his father the fate of his youngest son.
Is this part of her act or how she really feels? He wondered. Sesshomaru knew it was an honest question, all he knew about the woman was that she knew his sire and she was a Director of the Trade. Lack of knowledge about the woman made him slightly uneasy, though Sesshomaru would never admit it.
"Only you Midoriko-sama could make that sound like a good thing," Hakudoshi said closing the little notebook and handing her a small red tag with a number 34 on it. "Remember to put the seal on properly, it will keep your little 'project' from killing any of the handlers and harming other merchandise with his youki. The number on the tag is his position in todays line up after the other Directors present their latest projects, are you going to participate with him?"
"Nope. His new master will probally want to show him off after they've gotten a taste."
Sesshomaru was starting to like this less and less. What in all the hells has his sire gotten him into by forcing him to aid this woman?
"Charming as ever Midoriko-sama," Hakudoshi stated with a small smirk before he reverted back to his stoic face and voice. "The auction will begin once the show is over until then he will be kept in the pen with his number. Any changes will result in the mechandise being evicted from the line up, if other merchandise is damaged because of him you will pay all necessary fees to bring them back to health and 10% of the price it would have been sold for. If he kills one he will be gifted to the owner as reparations and no protests of yours can change it.
"Hakudoshi I've been doing this for years you don't have to read me the whole rulebook.
"It's my job Midoriko-sama," He argued. "My mistress wouldn't allow me to keep doing it if I didn't do it well.
Midoriko just sighed and clipped the tag onto his collar. Sesshomaru imediatly felt the seal working, he could no longer acess his youki. It was still there, no enchantment could take it away from him, he just couldn't use it. He growled low in his chest, he dislike being tied this way, it was almost as bad as the infernal collar around his neck.
"Would you like someone to take him to his place or would you prefer to do it Midoriko-sama?"
"Could you have someone take him for me Haku? I have to go find my place before Hitan arrives, if I didn't know any better I'd say he's a pig youkai with all the salivating he does when the Season begins."
"Hai Midoriko-sama," the child demon said, taking out a small blue stone and using his youki to make if flash three times. He put it back inside his lilac haori just as another youkai appeared and the woman gave him the chain.
"Be good Sesshomaru, I'll see you later when your new buyer comes to claim you," Midoriko said before she walked away.
The youkai tugged on the chain, an indicatioon that he was to follow. He did, all the while cursing his sire and that woman for getting him involved with his unwanted half breed brother. So engroased with his thoughts he didn't see what was around him till the youkai guiding him stopped. He seemed to be behind a curtain with many other youkai, all of them wearing little clothing. Some had a proud look in their face while others were blank and broken. But all of them wore collars and all of them were connectded to chains that stopped at a single pipe seperated by a yellow flage with black numbers on it. The youkai quickly attachted himself to the flag that was the same number as his tag and left him alone.
None of the other youkai talked to him but Sesshomaru couldn't bring himself to care. It wasn't long before he could hear noises coming from the front of the stage behind a thick curtain. "-and now ladies and gentelmen, we of the Tokyo Trade House are proud to present the projects of the season! Starting with Lady Kikyo's-"
Sesshomaru tuned out the other names that were called and the breif descriptions that were given with each. None of them were the one responsilbe for his presence here, he could care less if one could sing so well that one would weep or how another was well practiced at creating ink paintings that seemed to come alive in front of their eyes. None of them were who he saught. The sooner that woman's daughter was called the sooner he'd find the half breed and never come back again.
He would return to his duties as Vice President and pretend the whole thing never happened.
"And now as a special treat before the auction, the first project that Lady Kagome has ever entered in the show!" His elfin ears twitched at the name, and Sesshomaru smirked lightly. Found you.
The crowd gasped, murmuring sounds of praise and amazement, if was difficult to tell who had been brought up to the stage there were so many scents clinging to the air around him. "The only piece ever that has been extensively trained in the dominating and illusionary arts. As you can see ladies and gentlemen by his fiery red hair and emerald colored eyes Shippo as he's been called truly is a treasure. He can bring anyone even the most willful, to the height of pleasure without the pheromones that other Kitsune are known for. A well trained and true gem for anyone to poses."
Kitsune? How in the world they get a kitsune? The woman who held his half-brother's life in her hands was either more devious and cold blooded than he anticipated, or more powerful. Sesshomaru didn't know which one would hinder him to his goal the most. Kitsune youkai were known for their cleverness, even their youngest kits knew how to get away from situations that resulted in their capture. Not that many kits left their parents before maturity. They protected their young with as much furocity as Inu youkai.
"Unfortuanaly ladies and gentelmen Lady Kagome will not be putting him up to auction at this time" The sound of booing and denial were clealrly ringing throught the theature "-but she has given us permission to allow Shippo to demonstrate his skills in either talent." Cheers once agian rose through the theature. "Now that our volunteer is here let the show begin!"
The sound of a whip meeting flesh lashed out in the air, silencing he audience. More strikes followed and some were met with pleasure filled gasps or screams, Sesshomaru didn't care which. The crowd roared with glee after a few seonds of silence. Loud slaps, different of those of a whip met the crowd with equal volume. A loud scream tore through the air, and there was no more. "Well, wasn't, wow... Everyone give a hand for Lady Kagome's first project, Shippo. An let the auction begin!" And so it started.
The metal pipe hummed to life, the vibrations went all the way down from the collar around his neck to his ankels, a pusle of magic following not far behind. Sesshomaru's eyes widened in surprise when the bindings around his wrists and arms suddenly came together. The ones one his wrists forced his arms behind his back and the ones on his bicepts forced them together behind his back as well, making him thrust his chest out. Forceing him to show off his chest to the elements.
Sesshomaru growled against the restraints, trying to force the metal to give against his superior stregth. When it didn't, he snarled, twisting his neck against the collar and chain. The area of pipe that his chain was connected seemed to react to his actions, suddenly moving higher, the chain following dutifully behind. It stopped moving just sort of the collor being at such an angel that would cut off his oxygen, but if he fought against it anymore his oxygen would be gone till he complyed.
The youkai in front of him didn't seem to have any problems, but none of them had tried to fight against their restraints. Soon the pipe began to move and the others followed along at a steady pace. Sesshomaru was forced to follow as well, the pipe didn't move from it's new position focing him to come along like a disobedient pup being pulled along by his master's leash!
This was beeath him! He was Sesshomaru Taishou, heir to the western lands and Vice President to his sire's company! He would not be shamed like this!
Soon, too soon he was forced into the light of the stage, eyes bleeding red and markings jagged. More like the wild dog that had been captured and caged to be shown off for it's violent beauty, than a puppy