04. Unexpected Alliance II
"This must be it." Sango states as her friends and the nine tails along with her vessel look upon the massive castle in front of them. The estate is tightly guarded with many mortal soldiers and in comparison to the last castle they visited this one is much grander in size.
"No doubt. I can feel…one…two…three jewel shards!" With Kagome's proclamation Inuyasha clutches his fist in determination and draws his blade out with the other, "Great. Lets go slay that demon and get our jewel shards!"
"Inuyasha…wait…we can't just charge in."
"Hey you there! The one that just drew your weapon! State yourself!" Inuyasha's brashness attracted the gate guard's attention causing them to yell towards the group.
"I apologize for the commotion good men, I am the daughter of the Prince of Wei from the continent. These are my escorts through the long journey here. I am here to meet your lord. Your lord will understand when he sees this." Momoka came forth, now in her human disguise and a demure smile in place of her usual haughty expression. She hands them a scroll she takes out from the sleeves of her silk robes. The gate guard's immediately complied with her request and apologizes for their harsh tone.
"This is impressive and so much more effective than Inuyasha's dumb idea of charging in." Shippo says matter-o-factly as he nods in agreement to himself.
Mei smirks, now also in her human form, "a beauty's scheme. It works every time."
"More like the sly of a fox," grunts Inuyasha as he retracts his fang back into its sheath.
The two guards scamper back, returning behind four male servants and a finely dressed man appearing to be an official of the court.
"Forgive our discourtesy my lady, it is our mistake we did not prepare before your arrival. Please accept our humble apologies and come in to the castle…" The four servants behind him took care of the travellers' load: Sango's hiraikotsu, Miroku's staff, Kagome's backpack and such. "…Please…this way." The official then escorts the travellers' through the gates of the castle as honored guests.
"This is definitely special treatment we've never gotten before." Miroku whispers beside Sango, who nods, "Good thing we have Momoka-san come along with us. It might've been difficult if we had tried to get through ourselves. This is certainly a castle of a very high-standing lord."
…
The group of travellers enters into the grand hall of the castle; the walls were decorated with portraits of beautiful women and landscape, the balcony easily accessible and displaying the exquisite garden of cherry blossoms, bonsais and willows. The servant women knelt by the screen doors to attend to the ins and outs, while at the front of the grand hall a luxuriously dressed older man in his forties seated on the tatami mat, most surely the lord of the castle. Beside him a beautiful woman dressed in a nine-layer kimono of plum, red and different peony embroideries. She has flowing long black hair, pale complexion, wide-set ebony eyes and pursed painted red lips. Her pale fingers grasped onto the lord's forearm, as she looks over the visitors in a moderate look of distaste.
Momoka stares at the woman seated next to the lord in a slight smirk. She will be damned, if it isn't a kitsune. Fox demons are by nature skillful when it comes to hiding their scents so it wasn't like she is a dead give away, but with her eyes Momoka can see through any disguise…And that woman just cannot hide her long snout and slithering red-orange tail from her sight. Momoka and her companions head towards the lord and respectfully bows. Although he paid no interest moments earlier, with a whiff of the sudden pleasant smell of fresh peach blossoms he turns his attention away from brushing the hair of the beauty in his arms. His advisor who escorted the visitors kneels in front of the lord and bows, his forehead grazing the tatami mat beneath him.
"Lord Sugiyama this is the lady of Wei of the continent."
Momoka slowly flutters her eyes with a gentle smile, egging on not only the dirty looks from the kitsune in disguise but also the lewd eyes of the human lord.
"This lord's lecherous eyes can rival with Miroku's…" Sango mumbles under her breath. Kagome nods beside her taking nervous glances at the woman beside the man of her friend's dismayed interest. She has them…the jewel shards.
"It is an honor to meet Lord Sugiyama, Tao Hua has heard many of your fine victories."
"Tao Hua is your name?" The lord bellows in content laughter, "a fine name for a fine woman…I do not have to see you to know you are a beauty beyond compare," he takes another whiff of the scent that has enveloped the room, "I can smell how absolutely intoxicating beautiful you are." He bursts into another fit of satisfied laughs.
Kagome and Sango's face pales as they continue listening to the lord.
"What an old creep." Kagome whispers.
"That's how you sound like when you hit on woman, Miroku." Shippo states only to have the monk display an expression of innocence and utmost denial.
"Here I am wondering why the Prince of Wei would send me such a fine woman? I would think he desires something from me…" The lord quirks his thick brow and he leans towards Momoka.
"My lord, do not be bewitched by this woman…for all we know she might be a demon—look she travels with demons!" The kitsune reasons and points her pale pointy fingers towards Inuyasha, Shippo and Kirara.
"Now, now my love, do not be jealous…there is enough of this lord to go around!" Lord Sugiyama chuckles as he pats the kitsune's lap. The companions of Momoka cannot help but be taken aback by the human lord's bewildering behavior.
"I think he might actually be worse than you Miroku." The half demon comments in a matter-o-fact manner.
"My lord is a generous, clever man and Tao Hua is a giving woman…I have happily accepted to come be in the lord's company in exchange for the lord to send the Prince—the Jade Moon."
Her companions slightly gasped at her bold choice of tactics.
The situation pales as the laughter drops from the human lord's face. His thick eyebrows knit as he watches the continent beauty before him in silence. Among the humans the Jade Moon is still a treasure beyond value and holds auspicious meaning. How could one just give away such a rare commodity?
Momoka felt a breath hitch in her throat. Did she make the wrong choice?
An instant of silence sliced through the now, thin air. All eyes were expecting the lord's reaction.
The lord than erupts into roars of laughter again.
"Is that it? Takada instantly prepare to send the Jade Moon to the Prince of Wei!"
The advisor bows from his sitting up right position, "yes my lord!"
The human lord gets up from his seat and leisurely treads towards the foreign woman in front of him. He offers his hand, " What can a piece of jade do for me? Surely a woman beyond any beauty is more valuable…" Momoka takes his hand and stands up from her bow, directly facing him. Once meeting her eyes the human man drowns in the windows of her soul.
"What an awfully lecherous lord." Shippo sits in awe at how the situation played out.
"Show my new lady to her residence! And her companions shall be heavily rewarded for safely bringing the divine lady to Sugiyama castle. Have a fine residence be prepared for them as well—and a feast!"
The evening passes with a grand feast as the lord had ordered. It was a feast beyond imaginations—surely when he had said grand the group of travellers had imagined some seafood, some chicken like the last castle they had visited. However a whole roasted boar, roasted ducks and twelve other entrées including chicken and seafood were definitely beyond their expectations. Yet…the night was not complete without a dance displayed by the divine nine tailed fox. If she had not seduced this human lord enough—next he would gladly be offering his heart and liver. The way she danced in her continental clothing of flowing fine silk, barefooted to just the rhythm of drums was nothing like anyone from the island of the rising sun has seen. How can anyone believe this is a demon and not a celestial maiden fallen from the heavens?
...
Her beauty is her weapon…
...
Her wisdom is from her experience…
...
And her determination seeded from her desperation.
...
Momoka watches the movements of the night sky from her window. The stillness of the crescent moon and the twinkle of the stars indicate the deep of dusk.
"Mei, let's go."
The quiet of the night is the time for all who have intentions to set in motion.
"Yes my lady. Do we sweep the rooms of the main residence?" Mei complies as she follows Momoka out of the room.
"No. The lecherous human willingly told me the Jade Moon would be in the castle treasury for preparations. We will go there."
"Yes my lady."
She had all the attention from the lord of the castle before that sly vixen arrived. The kitsune snarls as she paces down the halls of her residence, her servant anxiously following after her.
"Lady Asada please restrain from your anger! Please my lady, the lord will return!"
"Shut up you wench!" The kitsune screams as she kicks the servant girl to the side.
She could have had that human lord offer his soul by now but that continental fox is reaping everything she had worked hard for. The only solution is to get rid of that continental bitch…Then she would be able to continue collecting souls of lords and…
She turns to the weeping servant girl on the floor.
…But first, she might as well replenish her powers.
"You would listen to your lady, right?" The kitsune asks with a gentle voice as she extends her hand to reveal her claws. The servant girl on the floor sniffles as she meekly nods, "Yes my lady, I am to serve you for the rest of my life. I shall do anything my lady wishes."
The kitsune smirks, "good. I am hungry."
"P-pardon...?" The servant girl looks up to catch the fox demon's tail pinning her to the wall. The beautiful woman in front of her draws her claws and swipes it across the girl's neck.
"Your sacrifice is for the greater good." The kitsune cackles as she tears through the flesh of the limp body between her freshly soiled claws.
The treasury is located among the main residence of the castle. Due to her status as a lady of the castle now, no one questioned why her and her vessel strolled through the night towards the main residence. Inuyasha and his band of friends should be off in the night around the castle looking for the fox demon that holds the jewel shards…their whereabouts were not of her concern as she has her own task to act upon.
"Zhu zi, this should be the treasury." Mei announces after she checks into a room among the two other they had looked in. They enter the room and on a table the Jade Moon glows as it is enclosed in a silver casket. Momoka cannot help but be wary…the last one she sought turned out to be nothing but a fake. Momoka reaches to open the casket…
"Now I was wondering where you were, continental bitch." A sinister female voice approaches the treasury, from out of the shadows reveals the face of the kitsune; a snout now revealed, dripping with blood from what seems to be from a previous meal moments fresh and a lively red-orange bushy tail peeks out from under her kimono.
Momoka retrieves her hand from the casket and sighs. She didn't want to waste her time dealing with a low-life like her. Who was she to think she can compare her mediocre kitsune demon blood with that of a descendant of the nine-tailed foxes bloodline?
"Perhaps you can wipe your soiled snout before you speak to me."
"YOU SHUT UP! Don't talk to me like you are superior!"
Momoka snorted into a smirk, " I am superior…"
"Lady Momoka is of the great thousand year nine-tailed fox bloodline, you common kitsunes are nothing compared to the celestial nine-tails!" Mei snarls.
"Celestial? Hah, don't make me laugh, " The red-orange kitsune cackles, "last time I checked the nine-tails have all been demeaned to the status of demons. You are no different from me!"
Momoka narrows her eyes. Insolent fox wench…
"Over there! I sense the jewel shards over there!" Kagome's voice bellows through the halls. Inuyasha and Kagome wreck through the entrance, crashing through the sliding doors and tearing a hole into the wall.
They always have to make such a boisterous entrance.
"Hand the jewel shards over, you ugly fox!" Inuyasha shouts as he points his weapon towards the kitsune.
"So you all were in on this together as I have presumed, how sickeningly adorable, demons, half-demons and humans are all coming together to work together," The vixen sarcastically scowls just when Sango, Miroku, Kirara and Shippo arrives, "with three jewel shards you can't touch me, I will finish you all off and then finish that cocky nine-tailed vixen off!" The fox demon outgrows her kimono and transforms into her true form, an overgrown red fox with a serious need for dental work. She swipes her unforgiving sharp claws at Kagome and Inuyasha only to have Inuyasha block with his Tessaiga. Although he did block the blow the huge claw is pushing him back. Sango throws her hiraikotsu only to have it thrown back at her with the fox demons other agile claw. As the band of odd travelers and the fox demon fight they gradually tear down the room and rooms surrounding the vicinity they are battling in.
"WIND SC—"
"INUYASHA! You can't use the wind scar! You're going to put the human lives in the castle in danger!" Kagome yells as she just barely dodges a sweep of the fox demon's giant tail.
"DAMN IT ALL!" Inuyasha shouts as he withdraws the disastrous attack in the nick of time.
Miroku throws something at the fox demon, "purification sutras!"
The fox demon snarls in pain as the sutras stick onto her fur, but it proves useless when she swipes it off with her tail.
"Mei, retrieve the Jade Moon," Momoka had what she needs…she could just leave but it also doesn't take much effort for her to bring down a measly kitsune.
"Yes, my lady!"
"I've had enough of you, you low-life…"
From the sleeves of her hanfu, twin daggers fall into Momoka's hands as she flips into the air as if in the middle of a graceful dance. Yet her movements fleetingly becomes offensive as she draws the twin daggers down into a murderous angle tears through the pelt of the fox demon before the vixen can even react; all in the matter of seconds. The demon yelps in utter pain once her pelt is shredded with a blink of an eye.
"CURSE YOU!" She shrieks as she topples onto the floor, drowning in her own blood.
"Inuyasha! The jewel shards are in her forehead!" Kagome yells as she points towards the fox's helpless figure on the floor, still snarling in detests. Inuyasha however did not possess the swift grace Momoka possesses and before he can even step to act on it the nine-tails had already flipped into a back motion and slashed the shards out of the red vixen's forehead. The vixen screeches in misery as she deteriorates into ashes.
Momoka lands on her feet softly just as the three jewel shards fall into Kagome's hands.
Inuyasha balls his hands into a fist, "I could've done fine on my own!"
Momoka blinks and teases him with a guiltless expression, "but you didn't."
"Why you—!"
"Thank you Momoka-san, we couldn't have done it without you." Kagome smiles as she puts the three shards she just obtained into a little jar with the rest of her collection.
Shouts start to emerge throughout the castle, "what happened?! There must've been an attack!"
"One side of the residence has been torn down!"
"Report to the lord at once!"
"Protect the lord!"
Momoka look towards Inuyasha and his comrades, "we should leave right away…it would be troublesome to have to explain."
Kagome, Sango and Miroku nods as they prepare to flee the scene along with Momoka and Mei.
…
Now distance away from the castle the group of travellers along with the nine-tails and her companion stares at the glowing jade orb within the casket.
"So is that the real Jade Moon?" Shippo asks with curiosity as his wide emerald eyes are glued to the mystical orb in awe.
"I guess…we'll find out."
Momoka receives the orb into her hands as Mei opens the casket for her. It looked no different from the previous one she had seen—the realist in Momoka can only doubt her luck is out with this one too. However as she holds the radiant green and purple in her palms energy surges through her body as the jade pulsed in her palms. The warmth of the Jade Moon flows through her something she had never felt before…this is the bond between the nine-tailed fox and the heirloom.
"This is it—This is the Jade Moon."
"So…what are you going to do now?" Sango asks.
"I am going to return to the continent—"
"Wait…I know that scent—Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha looks in the direction his keen nose sense the scent of a newcomer.
...
Sesshoumaru…? That…Sesshoumaru?
...
Momoka blinks and looks towards the forest where a figure with long silky hair emerges from the shadows.
"Sesshoumaru…?" Momoka utters between her lips almost in a whisper as her clear silver eyes meet with a pair of golden—all the memories of the past flooding into her mind. The memories she had long preferred to close away.
His expression gave no indication of what is on his mind as a low evoking, "Momoka…" slips through his lips.
[End of Chapter 04]
[Author's Note]
Please kindly review and favourite/follow if you like what you are reading! The support means a lot :) Please stay tuned for chapter 5 as Sesshoumaru finally crosses path with the heroine.