CHAPTER 3

Inutaisho had taken the finger from out of his mouth. Looking down both Izayoi and him saw that the bleeding from her finger had stopped. Izayoi now had to know, she wanted to know his name; the name of the beautiful skinned creature; the one with the kind heart and gorgeous eyes.

"Who are you?" She asked looking right into his eyes. Inutaisho now felt like a slave to his own feelings for her. He bowed his head to the girl, "My name is Inutaisho, and I am the de-….err lord of the west." Izayoi smiled and reached her hand out to touch his face.

"I didn't know there were kind demons out there," She said. This had made Inutaisho blush for a brief moment. She knew that he was a demon, and it had not frightened her away like the rest of the spineless humans.

"I am not afraid of you," Izayoi said with a small laugh. That made Inutaisho seem a bit easier now. He was able to be himself, well not the terrifying part of himself to say the least; her petite figure, so gracefully sitting in front of him, and her smile which warmed his heart. It really was the feeling of love that he never had.

"Inutaisho" Izayoi said breaking the silence.

"Yes?" He asked with a quick response. It was the first time he had ever heard Izayoi say his name, his own name that escaped her soft lips upon her singing voice.

"Sorry it's nothing, I just like your name. It is very unique" she responded as she laughed at her own foolishness.

With that, Inutaisho had found his smile. A small one had spread across his face. Izayoi then bowed her whole body at him. This made him surprised. "My name is Izayoi, my lord" she said as she lifted her head back up at him with her same sweet smile. This had also made him slightly blush.

Inutaisho's once cold soul seemed to be thawing out. As if the burning fire in Izayoi was heating the inside of him up, and bringing out a new side of himself that neither he nor any of the other members of his household had seen. A kinder side to a demon that no human would think existed.

"My lady, you have a visitor," one of the maids had said from the other side of the wall where the two had been chatting.

"I am sorry my lord, I must take my leave" Izayoi said to him as she arose to her feet. Inutaisho had stood up with her. He then remembered. Reaching into the breastplate of his armor, he took Izayoi's hand in one of his and placed a trinket that he had grabbed from his armor with the other. Izayoi looked down at it. It was a comb; but not just any normal comb, it had been made out of demon bone: which was the strongest material to make items out of, and there was a small lily that had been sculpted on the side of it. And painted with a gold color, Izayoi was taken aback by its beauty.

"Please my lord, I really can't accept something like this!" Izayoi said trying to hand the comb back to him. Instead Inutaisho pushed the comb right back at her and smiled. She understood; it truly was a beautiful gift. Of course being the lady of the house and being able to get whatever she so desired, the comb truly had become precious to her. She bowed her head once more and turned around the corner and was out of sight.

Inutaisho's shot nerves had now finally begin to calm down. He felt like the happiest demon in the world. There was no amount of pillaging that could ever have taken the feeling away from him.

Izayoi had tucked the comb away safely from within the folds of her kimono and followed the maid to the front of the house. Standing before her was a nobleman. He looked as if he were in his thirties or forties. It was not uncommon during that time for girls to marry older men and have children before the age of twenty. But being that Izayoi was only around the age of fourteen or fifteen, she was not required to choose a husband as of yet.

"Hello my lord" she said with a forced smile and a small bow. His features were not that remarkable either. He was a bit on the tubby end and he had wrinkles and a fat nose. Izayoi held all comments to herself though, knowing that there was a place and time for everything.

"My lady, I am Nobushiro of the north. I am here to ask you for your hand in marriage for my son," for a split second Izayoi was pleased to hear that it was for his son and not himself. She was a bit used to all of this now though. This was not the first time she had been sent a marriage proposal. There had been many a time in the past year since her parents died that she had received proposals from across the land; mostly being that she was the most beautiful princess on that side of the region.

"Of course my lord," she then turned to her maid. "Please have a meeting arranged."

Izayoi was proper for her age. Being that she was young, she needed to grow up fast. She knew all the customs and knew not to turn down any proposal that came her way. But this time she didn't feel like she wanted to marry of the bachelors that had come to meet with her. Her hear t was now set only on the lord of the west. The great demon.; But being as she was, she really never was taught about the heritage of most of the demon lords in the region.

She turned and went inside of her home. From there she went to the library where there was scroll upon scroll of the history of humans while on another shelf the history of demons. She wanted to learn more about Inutaisho, and if he was there in history, there must have been something about him written down somewhere.

Inutaisho had returned back to the cliff. It was frosted over, but his senses were telling him that there was a prediction of an early spring that was to come. He watched the mansion and then returned to his own home. He only had taken one step inside of the door and his son was standing right there, like he had been waiting for his father to return.

"Sesshomaru?" His father asked. Inutaisho had gone from a soft expression back to his original hated one once entering his home. And like father like son Sesshomaru held that exact same expression as well. His son only frowned and turned his head away. Inutaisho glared his eyes as they sharpened on Sesshomaru's actions.

He brushed by his son and walked to his chambers. Sesshomaru was hurting more and more on the inside. It was not the same kind of hurt humans felt when they believed they had been wronged. For a demon, this type of hurt would cause them to become an angrier power once they came closer and closer of age.

Inside of the chamber Inutaisho went right back to the window. He had made that his spot.

Again Sesshomaru was left on his own; Hatred building inside of him, now too far along for any person to heal him. He had been abandoned by both parents, it felt, and he was now his own person; someone who would no longer follow the orders of any demon nor human ever.

What did not make sense was why his father's scent had a drastic change. He used to smell of humans and blood, but now he had a sweet smell coming off of him. He remembered the smell from a year ago, and now it had come back. But Sesshomaru acted as if he didn't care; he was only a kid so he didn't want to know any more about it.

Inutaisho sat in his chamber. Leaning against the frame of his large window, he didn't care is the winter wind was leaking into the room; as long as he could keep an eye on her, he cared not what happened to him. It was almost as if he was letting his guard down.

"I found it" Izayoi said to herself as she was flipping through one of the scrolls. It held the story of a terrifying demon that would kill anyone that would come near. She didn't want to read any further. She didn't think that Inutaisho really was the demon that she was reading about in the scroll, and with that she folded the scroll back up and put it on the shelf. Trying to deny all and any facts she read about in that scroll and trying to but a brand on Inutaisho, making him a terrifying demon that would kill without remorse. She knew that wasn't the case. And even if he was like that he didn't seem like that same person. Izayoi began to regret even trying to learn more about him, she shook her head and left the reading room.

The only image she had of that demon was a gentler one. The way he smiled and talked was not that of a monster.

Takemaru had watched her enter and then leave the reading room. He wanted to know what she was doing in there, since the lady really never had an interest in old stories in the first place. He looked around the room as quickly as he could, since the caretaker could catch him at anytime. He was not allowed to be in there but his curiosity was killing him a bit. The woman he loved, the one he protected; there was something defiantly on her mind and he wanted to see if he could help in any way.

Though, looking around the room it was neat and spotless. About to give up, he noticed one scroll out of place. Pulling it out and spreading it across his lap he began to read the story of the demon of the west. The great dog demon who's howls could be heard from within the deepest of dark nights, and its fangs and claws ripping into the flesh of its victims.

He looked back out the door, "Is she terrified of living so close to this demon?" He asked himself. Taking no more time than he needed he put back the scroll the way it was and walked back out of the room. From what he read, he had made an oath to make sure the demon from the story would not descend from the mountain to kill the lady, or take her as its bride. There was no way he was going to let a creature like that take her away from him.

its sounds like a love triangle going on now. poor takemaru, and ah young love lol. i kind of feel bad for sesshomaru now. I guess this explains so far why he has such a hate towards humans since they drove him and his father apart from eachother; they must have a had a good relationship before all of this. well i hope to have the next chapter up real quick here. thanks for reading.

TO BE CONTINUED...

~~KAZU~~