Chapter 2:
Lord Sesshomaru
The ground underneath his steps gave under his confidence. The night before had seen more rain than he could remember in many years—not that he took particular note of such things. Weather was often of little importance to him as long as it didn't obstruct his path. So he strode on despite the shifting ground, unconcerned for the carnage the mud wreaked on his pants.
Behind him, his servant Jaken stumbled along with his Staff of Two Heads barely off the ground. He breathed frantically, panting intermittently, and crying out to his Lord to slow down. He tripped over his robes and tumbled to the ground with some regularity, beseeching rest with each fall, though his cries went unanswered.
When Lord Sesshomaru did finally stop on the edge of a cliff overlooking his newly acquired land in the East, Jaken stumbled into his legs, propelling himself over the cliff and dangling over the chasm below. He grasped onto Lord Sesshomaru's pant leg, trying desperately to claw himself up. The mud on Lord Sesshomaru's pant impeded his progress so that each reach upwards only caused him to slip down further until, at the last inch of thread, his cries for help had become so loud that Lord Sesshomaru kicked his leg up, casting Jaken and the mud up and over his shoulder into a clump of bushes in the distance behind. Jaken landed with a 'thud,' but other than a few bumps seemed fine.
Gazing over his new land, Lord Sesshomaru gritted his teeth bitterly. He wasn't pleased at all with the way he'd acquired his newest parcel neither of land nor with the quality of it. Everything looked sickly and small. Even the looming trees that cast night-darkening shadows on the forest floor below seemed somehow lighter than they should have. The great beasts that roamed the forest were smaller and weaker than he'd expected monsters of their size to be. Even the puny humans in the villages along the cliffs were more disgusting than elsewhere. Frowning, he turned and charged back to the forest to make his way home.
He stopped to see Jaken in front of him, dusting himself off and blocking the pass.
"My Lord," Jaken said with a trembling voice and a cheeky grin, "Are you not pleased with your new land?"
"It is land," he replied after some time in his same, harsh tone, "What should I be pleased about?"
"Is it not vast and lush?"
"Is not all the land in this country?"
Jaken looked taken aback. "But sir! This land is your prize! It is your dowry. Shouldn't you be pleased with it?"
"Nothing they could have given me would have pleased me," Lord Sesshomaru replied with frustration edging in his voice. "I shall return to my castle now. Follow or don't."
"My liege," Jaken cried as Lord Sesshomaru walked away, "You must remember to visit your—"
Before Jaken could finish, Lord Sesshomaru turned on his heel and hissed red-eyed, "Do not speak another word. If you do—if you even consider it—I shall remember your tongue from your skill and cast it down into the wood."
Jaken clasped his hands over his mouth and clinched his eyes closed, allowing Lord Sesshomaru to pass without another word. When the coast seemed clear, he moved along behind his master, struggling to keep up and tripping over himself just the same as before.