One Thousand and One Nights

Story Twelve- The Fox and the King, Part II

She sat with her back straight, the hard press of metal cutting into her clothed back. The throne was made to be grand and imposing, not comfortable. When she shifted for the tenth time since their arrival, her husband shot a look her way, his eyebrow raised in an inquisitive gesture. Se just tilted her head and looked forward, her face hardening. He seemed to understand her unspoken problem. And when she was waiting for the Council member currently speaking, she felt the blush of silk over her bare shoulders.

His over shirt was plenty big and covered the annoying piece of metal that was shoved into her back. A small smile covered her lips and she was happy everyone was to enthralled with the leader to notice their brief exchange. He had been rambling off the positive point of a war with the rebels that descended from the mountains.

"They are savages who have no sense of civilization or society. They need to be pushed from our city, if we snip ties and stop allowing trade wares into our city, they will be forced to retreat back to the pits of hell from whence they came," He slammed his hand on the table and Kagome could feel the flood of anger that poured through her veins. It was only the firm grip Sesshomaru had on her arm that stopped her from jumping from her chair and claw his eyes out.

"Use your words," He chided. His lips brushed her ear as he let the words linger between them. She glanced over and was surprised to see the harsh look he was sending to the leader. So he rebutted the thought of war as well. Doing as he asked, she politely cut in.

"War would deplete already low stock levels. Due to the rebellion that was crushed, we lost farm land they burned. Taxes would have to be levied and the people are already paying for our armies as it now. You wish to quash a rebellion than you best make sure it is not one in your own city," Her eloquent words stilled the room and Sesshoamru wished they were alone so he might congratulate her. The days she was forced to meet the Council always ended with her feeling horrid about herself and he aimed to make it the opposite. "Furthermore, these men you speak of with such hate bring fine wool, much like the shirt you are wearing, not to mention the ink for your quills and the lumber. If you must declare war, please frame a group that gives us nothing."

"You overstep your bounds, Lady," The leader's eyes flashed with anger but he could feel the disgust flare in his gut when The Lord simply waved his hand, forgoing punishment. He wanted to snarl, to spit. The woman had crawled inside their stoic Lord and he had hoped he could untangle them before her harlot ways stuck.

"I believe my Lady had brought up many valid points. We shall reconvene within the week," He stood fluidly, holding a hand for Kagome. She took it with and with a trained grace, followed her husband out of the chambers. Next they would hear the people's requests.

They traversed the halls in silence, her arm tucked demurely into his elbow, his hand placed over hers. The excited bubbling of voices told her they were close to the room in which the people had gathered to talk about their grievances. Her lip was stuck between her teeth, her nervous habit catching his eye.

"Worry not," He demanded, pulling at her chin to get her to release her pink lip. She just nodded and moved away to straighten her dress. When she looked up at him, he knew what she had asked silently and responded just as she wanted. "You look fine."

"So you say, but you are not keeping me around for my appearance," She huffed.

"Oh my dear, you must know by now that I am a very selfish creature, I may have accepted your hand in marriage for the shine of fire in your eyes but that is not the only motivator," He smirked and wanted her to know. A light smack to his arm came before she placed her fingers in the curve of his elbow, they started into the room and awed gasped followed in their wake. He listened to the woman fawning over Kagome. Good.

"We stand before you to hear the grievances in the hope that we may relieve some. Proceed," He waved for the first to step forward, a young man, his ragged hat was clutched in his grimy hands. A farmer than. "What ails you?"

"My wife is expecting a child and...I can't find a job, Milord," He rubbed his neck and Kagome watched the blush that flowed up his throat to color his cheeks crimson. She looked to her husband only to she him look to her. She almost gasped but held it back, her insecurities flooding to the front of her mind.

"Surly you have tried the armies?" Sesshomaru started and she could feel the fear of failure curling in her gut. She ran the problem through her mind as if it were a story. How would she allow them to have a happy ending?

"Of corse! It's just that... I had the Sickness as a child." He tugged his pant leg up and she noted the molted skin that marked the survivors of the deadly virus. She could feel sadness for this man and the thoughts clicked into place as Sesshomru opened with mouth to talk. She placed a gentle hand on his arm and he watched her nod her head once, a determined sheen to her eyes.

"When is your child due?" She asked, crossing and uncrossing her legs. He watched her with wide eyes. When he responded within the fortnight, she hummed. "When your child is born, bring your wife here. I am in need of a new maid and as for you, I believe we have openings within the kitchen staff. It is hard but honest work."

"Yes, Milady, thank you Milady. Thank you," He went on for a few second, his grimy cheeks cleaned by the tears that flowed in tracks through the dirt, leaving pink trails behind and showing just how young the man truly was.

"There is no openings within the kitchen staff," He chuckled into her ear and the wide grin she sent his way had the crowd in awe. She positively shined, her thick hair drifting across one shoulder to pool just below her breast. Her mouth was pulled into a smile so radiant, a few wives had to smack their husbands. "Clever, nonetheless."

"You see," She said, placing her chin on her folded hand. "That is why you picked me."

"I do believe it was you who chose me," He defended and was rewarded with yet another shining smile.

()()()()

That night was met with a relaxed air. They had built, not trust, but a mutual understanding of the situation at hand. She was to be the key to getting himself back into the good graces of the people and he was her path to saving women from senseless slaughter. They both had to be alive to do that.

She moved around the room as normal, her dress swishing around her ankles and drawing focus to the small slit that made its way up her calf. A small show a skin but one he questioned. She was modest if even when using her wiles.

"You seem more at ease today," It was not a statement nor a question, but rather almost an accusation. She opened the last of the windows and shot a glare in his direction. He twirled the quill around between his fingers. It was not yet dark.

"Only you could make something so calming as billowing curtains and good company to become sour," She hissed in annoyance. He almost wondered if her story would reflect her attitude. He was not disappointed when she huffed into the corner and shrugged out of her gown. He listened to her annoyed grunts and growls. She let out a string of curses that made even him raise an eyebrow.

"I feel as if you have your mind elsewhere. Even I am not talented enough to raise your anger to these heights," He stood and moved to a bookcase, returning the tome to its proper place. He watched the bundle of cloth that was once her carefully ironed dress make a beautiful arch in the air before landing in a crumpled heap by the door. He watched her peek around the screen to see where it landed. She smiled at her aim. "These are the pursuits you followed in my absence?"

"Don't give me those eyes, it is a noble calling, the art of dirty clothing tossing," She raised her chin in clear lack of diffidence. Her hair was layered with braids and he caught himself watching her fingers as she plucked he earrings from her lobes and the bands from her wrists. "One you should take up, milord."

"You use my title to mock me," He tried to dig up some feeling of anger but was met with a steady stream of something akin to...affection. Well this was strange. "I have killed for less."

"I have insulted for more," She laughed, her previously dreary outlook overshadowed with her now chipper attitude. She bundled her pins, ties, and ribbons before raising her arms over her head and chucking it across the room. The tightly packed bundle became undone midair, the contents scattered about the middle of the room. She huffed. "Damn."

"You have a wide vocabulary for a supposed Lady," He judged. He shrugged out of his outer shirt and balled it up. With a wide sweep of his wrist, the bundle landed with an exact precision. The small slice of emotion cleared from his face when darker thoughts came to mind. He looked at her as he started undressing. "I wish for you to begin defense training."

"What worries you, milord?" She asked, tugging his sleeping attire from its place, freshly folded and starched. She watched his eye become hooded.

"It seems the other nations are not responding well to our success in not not only battles but in economic growth. The slaying of a new Lady is a quick and effective way to stager a country," He turned to face her. He watched as she tugged the ties into place with deft fingers. He noticed the slight calluses that had begun to grow at the tips of her fingers and her palm. "However, it seems you are not as helpless as you would like us all to think."

"Don't assume I keep things hidden and cease giving me those disapproving glares. I hardly call shooting a bow and arrow anything worth mentioning all things considered, I thought it would be unbecoming of a lady," She sighed and stood back to admire her work. "If you would like to teach me, I would be more than happy to satisfy your worries."

"I worry not."

"Of course," She smirked and began braiding her hair behind her back. The thick locks held together for all of a minute before curling out of their bonds. After a few tries, she picked up a slip of string and wound it around the end. She sighed as she threw the brain over her shoulder. "So, if you deem it time?"

She gestured to the bed but he pulled his chair from the small desk. The look she shot him paired with the over-exaggerated eye roll perfected the picture. Her hand waved his way, if it had been through her leniency he was granted permission to sit in his chair. She was lucky he found her amusing.

"The King had just seen the light, correct?" She glanced over her shoulder but payed him no mind, not even to let him answer her question. The small train on her nightgown made a stark contrast between the floor, her dark skinned toes, and the pale of the fabric. "The man had answered an unanswerable question, at least for this particular god, and as such, he granted he man the one thing he had wanted. A wife."

"That is where most of your stories end, what makes this one different?" He tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice. He had hoped this would prove to be as captivating as her pervious tales but he was sorrily disappointed. It was only when she threw him a grin as sly as the fox she was portraying that his in teats was peeked.

"Who said it ended here? Oh no, this is just the beginning," The almost manic look in her eye had him leaning forward. "The woman was the most stunning thing he had ever seen, with hair as bright as the sun and as supple as the earth. The woman's eyes shone like jewels of the highest caliber and her skin was blemish free, as silky and smooth as the day she was born," This time, the rueful curve to her lip made him wonder how strong she would be in battle. It was a wonder no leaders before him had not fallen into her web. "The poor King never stood a chance."

"The man treated the mystery woman with the finest life could offer. The richest dresses made from the most treasured silk worms, food prepared by world-renowned chiefs, and as many jewels as her long fingers could hold. She was proposed to by men dozens of times but only the King seemed assured to receive her hand."

"This is sounding like-" Before he continued, her finger was pressed firmly to his lips. He raised an eyebrow and she just stared as him until he released a huff. The smile she sent his way made it worth it.

"She called herself Sinsi and her name became the mark of beauty that set standards to which the likes of all women tried to achieve. This beautiful woman frequented the king's bedchamber and after a long courtship, he brought a ring. It was only when she turned down the kings offer of marriage did he wonder to which side did her loyalties lie, the money or him. It was after his twelfth rebuttal did he ask the gods to explain to him the Devine Providence as to their sending her to him. He asked why she refused the one thing he had asked for. The gods were only to happy to explain.

"With voices like the raging sandstorms and as powerful as a downpour, they asked a simple question that left the King with an empty pit in his stomach and a pale face," She stopped, pulling a chair out so as to sit before him before thinking better of it and pushing all of the papers and things to the far side of the desk to make room for her. She remained quiets even after planting herself next to him. She raised an eyebrow as if to ask if he wanted to know the question. "They said 'Who said she was the one we sent?'"

Sesshomaru remained silent. She had yet again drawn him into her storytelling. Damn her in he best ways possible.

"It was then he could see Sinsi for her true colors. She had skin as green as a snake and a tongue just as forked. With serrated teeth sharp enough to glint malevolently in the low light of his chambers that night. The fluttering white nightgown did nothing to hide the long tail that swirled across the floor after her, its red fur looking like fire in the candlelight. She was a monster that had found its way into his bed."

She moved with a fluid grace she present nowhere else but when storytelling. Her hips swayed to her rhythm created by the syllables she spoke in a voice too gravelly to even be considered conventionally attractive. He wondered if this King she described so vividly felt anything like the pull the felt for this proletariat. He was yanked from his musings by the woman slamming her hands onto the wooden armrests. A single eyebrow was raised into his bangs and her serpentine smile made the hair on the back of his neck rise.

"She seduced him with her facade and when he woke in the morning, realizing what he had done, he threw her from the castle after beating her. As she lay bleeding from the inflicted wounds, she cursed him to never find the woman he truly sought, the woman with skin as rich as the earth, hair was tawny as a fox, and eyes the color of Mother Earth herself. She spewed her words and muttered her oaths and from her bleeding from the pact was made and the deal was struck. He found the woman he sought many years later, a beautiful woman who worked in the kitchens. Her name was Tiliki and she refused to marry him upon hearing of his cruelty. Life is a little twisted in that way, don't you agree? This King who thought not with his mind and used his knowledge too loosely, was forced to live a life he had tried to hard to escape."

"Was this story a threat?" He asked, a cruel twist to his lips as he watched her plant herself right in front of him, her eyes a smolder. Her hair was wild, the curls springing from their bonds to wrap their way around her face. If he blinked, it almost looked like she could have been this monster she spoke of with her eyes that held promises of pleasure and a mouth that looked sinfully wicked when curved as so. "Warning me off of adultery for fear of your black magic?"

"Please, I would kill you myself, Nevermind using something so underhanded as magic. But no, the story held another purpose," Her fingers trailed up his arm and gripped the small hairs at the base of his skull. Her other hand gripped uncomfortably at his wrists. She leaned forward, her lips pulled back into a snarl before she pressed her lips to the small strands at his hairline. Her breath whispered across his ear. "Best watch what monsters find their way into your bed."

The woman stood, her back straight, before smiling coyly and laying back on the bed. She rubbed the comforter to her side and he stood, moving to slid under the covers while she begain another story of a brave knight who was cursed with the inability to heft a bow or sword. He could feel the magnetism she secreted, a pull that made people stop and stare.

Not for the first time, he watched her hair swirl around with the wind and the plump motions of her lips and wondered if she was right. Just what kind of creature was warming his bed?

A/N
Tilki is Turkish and roughly translated means fox while Sinsi means something along the lines of sly or devious and also can mean fox.

Both late and short! Chapter beta'd by TenchiLover1229.