A/N: so i think the intro went well in the last chap, don't you? more love-hate angst coming up in the future so look forward to that! ^^ until then, here's chapter two. enjoy~
disclaimer: i don't own InuYasha; my OCs belong to me.
Chapter 02: Live Fast, Die Young: Getting Accustomed
"Father, why did you say that!?" She slammed her palms onto his desktop, a disbelieving and angered glare furrowing her thin brow.
The meeting had been over for hours, dinner having passed a few hours after the meeting; she hadn't been up to talking a lot during dinner, sitting closer to her mother's side of the dining room table and keeping quiet, noting that their guest was also quiet, leaving little room for her younger sister to hound him with questions (mostly on account of her mother's sharp threat to make her prepare dinner for a year if she so much as pestered the young lord). Dinner was quiet, save for the clinking of chopsticks against the china bowls and platters.
He blinked in slight confusion at her anger, relaxing and folding his arms across his chest.
"He's not like those other men, Getsuei. He actually seems sincere! Besides, I didn't see you complain about him when you locked gaze with him as soon as you entered the room." He saw her cheeks blush a shade of pink before she cut her gaze to the side; his silver eyes softened slightly.
"Getsuei, I don't want to leave this world with the thought that you were never wed, or gave me grandchildren. I'm doing this for you... for your own good." He stated quietly.
She folded her arms in the sleeves of her kimono top, sniffing. "I hate it when you bring up that stupid line," she grated.
He chuckled, "I'm your father; I'm allowed to say 'that stupid line', at least until it drills through your thick skull." He mused.
She looked at him with one silver eye before she sighed shakily, relaxing her sitting position and resting her weight on her left arm as she sat back a little, legs crossed as she used her right hand to scritch the back of her head.
"You might have to wait a few more centuries, Papa," she pointed out, still sore that he had almost-literally pulled the rug from under her feet, lowering her gaze.
Lord Kiba sighed patiently, head drooping a little. "Patience is one thing you still need to learn, my little moon." He remarked.
Getsu blinked at his petname and smiled wryly. "Again, in a few more centuries." She shuffled to her feet, yawning widely and stretching her arms to the ceiling.
He smiled at her and shook his head softly; perhaps it was a mistake to have put her in combat practice since she was a cub, he thought. "All I ask is that you please, for the love of the moon, be good with this one. I have a good feeling about him." He sighed.
Her ears twitched and she pouted. "I can't make solid promises on that, but I'll try." She amended quietly, moving around his desk to throw her arms around his neck and peck his cheek sweetly, letting him tousle her hair gently, before she pulled away to trot to the door.
"Play nice this time, Getsuei." He added as she slid the door open.
She waved over her shoulder absently. "I will," she said calmly, slipping out into the corridor and closing the door shut behind her leave.
The feeling of an aura being exercised roused him.
He sat up from bed, looking about the darkened guest room he had slept in, inwardly noting that dawn hadn't yet come; his ears twitched as he felt for the aura again, tuning into the owner of the aura... A wolf demon?
He shuffled to his feet with a quiet groan, tying the sash of his white sleeping yukata around his waist and securing the robe, moving to the double doors of his room.
Quietly sliding open the left door, he stuck his head out of the confines of his room to see a figure twisting and weaving in the rising sun's light that was starting to bathe the closed-in courtyard in a pale gray light; his gold eyes registered the figure and widened slightly.
The princess of the wolf clan thrust her left fist into the air, a soft grunt uttered under her breath, lowering her arm and twisting on her left heel, right foot being thrust into the air into the jaw of an invisible enemy, her muscles stiffening and releasing the kinks as she moved.
It was almost like she was dancing.
He slipped out of the room, leaving the door ajar, quietly sitting on the raised porch, getting a closer seat to watch the show; she had changed out of that kimono, he also noted, wearing a gray kosode that had the sleeves ripped off at the shoulder, a purple sash tied at her waist, the kosode barely covering her legs from the lower calf down, allowing him to see the muscles in her limbs that weren't covered by white bindings.
She was beautiful, sure, at first sight, but she was even more beautiful now that she was "dancing".
"If you're done gawking, breakfast will start in an hour." Her calm voice jarred him from his thoughts, making his ears twitch and a slight start escape him.
He scowled at being surprised, seeing that she'd stopped moving, the dance ending, now standing still, a hand on her left hip as she stood yards away from him, the gray light of dawn slowly bathing her petite body. "I wasn't staring." He defended.
She sniffed and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, her hand leaving her hip to cross her arms across her slightly-flat bust. "That's what all men say, before they pull something they'd surely regret." She scowled back.
He bristled a little at basically being called lecherous.
"How would you know? You've passed judgment on men before they could even speak." He retorted.
Ah, so he does have a bite, she thought with an inward smirk. "You lot are all the same: you think with your damn dick. Just because my father likes you doesn't mean I'm going to swoon so easily, dog breath." She growled softly.
He bristled again and huffed, arms folding across his chest. "I didn't expect as such from a spoiled princess like you, wolf. And for the record, you should be grateful I came when I did; you would've grown oldand barren as a damn brick if your father didn't deem that I am suitable to be your husband." He rumbled.
She flashed a fang in her grimace. "Don't act so damn pious, I know what kind of demon you are. Sooner or later you'll slip and show your true colors. And my father will see that you were another mistake." She snapped in a brittle tone, turning on her heel to storm back inside, hopping onto the porch and retreating inside the mansion.
He snorted reflexively and stood to his feet, storming back inside his room and slamming the door shut behind him. "Women!"
:::::::::xXx:::::::::
She looked pissed.
"So how did training go?" She wondered, sidling to her right side as they made their way to breakfast.
Her shoulders were tense, a scowl set on her brow, her silver eyes looking like she wanted to kill something. "Peachy; just. fucking. peachy." She ground out between sharpened teeth.
She knew that tone; she sighed and crossed her arms in the sleeves of her kimono. "What happened?" She asked patiently.
She clenched and unclenched her fists. "T-that… dog! Sesshomaru… He's such a jerk! He's a damn letch, spyin' on me while I was training. And then he had the bleeding nerve to try and say that he wasn't spying on me! God, I don't see why Father had him stay here…" She explained between a frustrated growl that was caught between her teeth, her claws digging into her palms.
She nodded wisely. "Well, maybe Father's tired of seeing you turn down so many suitors and he thinks this might work." She guessed quietly.
Her ears twitched and she growled, knotting her fingers in the bangs of ebony on her head. "Sometimes I wonder if I wasn't meant to be the firstborn," she grumbled.
Korihime laughed sheepishly and smiled. "Don't act like that, Getsu-onee! I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding and you two will get along after today." Or at least I hope so, before he gets his ass burned off by her fire, she inwardly winced.
Getsu blinked and then sighed, her hand slowly dropping from her forehead. "Yeah, maybe it was just that." She mused aloud, still pissy.
Sesshomaru was a one-hundred-percent lecherous jackass bastard and he wasn't worth her grinding her teeth over: it was as simple as that.
Then why did he get under my skin like that? She wondered with an inward growl of frustration, gritting her teeth.
Breakfast was quiet, just as dinner had been the previous night.
He was still pissed with that wolf princess. He didn't talk with her during most of the morning and into the afternoon, which he spent time reading up on a book his father had recommended before his departure.
The birds chirped lightly in the trees around the mansion, adding to the hum of noises in the calm afternoon as he sat on the porch looking out at the closed-in courtyard, book in hand.
Her aura was close.
He tensed slightly before he willed himself to calm, keeping his focus on the words written on the page.
"Sesshomaru?" She began quietly, making his ears twitch.
"Come to insult me again?" He wondered, never removing his eyes from the page.
She huffed reflexively and her hands curled into fists at her sides. "Look, I just came to apologize for this morning. I… I didn't mean to judge you too quickly. Or call you a letch." She added the last bit quietly, perking his ears.
He stole a fleeting glance up at her; her gaze was lowered, her ebony hair (he noted) down and gracefully fallen down her back to her waist, a lilac kimono top with crescents embroidered on the right shoulder covered her torso, a gray vest cropped short of the wide green obi at her waist, navy hakama being cropped short of her knees as bandages covered her legs from the shin down to her ankles.
Definitely a tomboy, he thought with an inward smirk.
"Since when are you so repentant?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the book.
She blinked and then blushed slightly, spluttering a huff as she straightened her posture and crossed her arms at her chest.
"Don't flatter yourself, I just felt like doing it. Besides, my sister wouldn't stop hounding me about apologizing to keep the peace for Father." She answered curtly, feeling like a flustered teenager.
He huffed quietly and inwardly cursed his lack of attention on the book, inwardly exhaling as he marked the page and closed the book. "So that's why you came with your tail between your legs," he mused.
Getsu cocked a brow before she bristled a little, the blush darkening on her cheeks. "Let's get one thing straight, shall we?" She had to fight the urge to burn off that pretty hair of his with her claws. "Not once will I ever let someone like you make me tuck in my tail." She ground out between her fangs.
Sesshomaru looked up at her out of the corner of his eye. "'Someone like me'? And just what kind of man do you take me for?" He challenged quietly; even in his youth he always relished a good challenge, and this feisty she-wolf was as much of a good challenge as anything he'd ever been presented with.
She snorted. "Oh so now you ask my opinion? The almighty Lord Sesshomaru asking the opinion of a female! I'm honored, truly I am," she spat with heavy sarcasm.
He bristled at her insult, both gold eyes scowling up at her. "Just answer the question." He growled.
She huffed again, tapping her chin with a finger. "Let's see… ah what was it I thought of earlier…? Now I remember!" She glared at him. "You, sir, are a one-hundred-percent lecherous. jackass. bastard." She stated.
His ears twitched and he bristled again, huffing as he jerked his gaze away. "You're delusional." He snapped.
"You're impossible." She fired back.
He was trying really hard to refrain from beating her upside the head with his book. "Annoying mongrel." He ground out between his teeth.
"Jackass letch," she grated stiffly. I gotta admit, he's not half bad when it comes to insults; if this ever passes, I'll have to request he spar with me, she thought.
"Shouldn't you be arranging flowers or something to remind you that you're clearly a female and not an atrocious tomboy?" He sneered brazenly, knowing he'd hit a nerve by saying that she was an 'atrocious tomboy'.
Her fists shook. "Why should I; you're clearly more feminine-lookin' than me. All you're missing is lipstick!" She grounded angrily as she could distinctly feel smoke rising from the top of her head.
He flashed his teeth. "Bitch," he growled.
"Dickhead," she spat at him.
He growled again and made to jump to his feet to get at her; she bared her teeth threateningly, bristling.
"Why did I have a feeling you two would do this?" A patient sigh sounded before a feminine hand pushed on his chest, forcing him to almost stagger on the porch, a second feminine hand halting the she-wolf from flying at him.
Getsu blinked in surprise, her anger subsiding, as she stared at the soft blue eyes of her younger sister. "K-Kori-chan," she fumbled.
Korihime sighed again, shoulders slumping, as she turned her gaze to the dog demon she'd kept at bay.
"If you two want to kill each other, great; do it in the woods or something. Don't do it here, not with Father so close by." Her blue eyes met his disgruntled gold and she smiled apologetically. "Please forgive my sister; she sometimes doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut." She lowered her arms to her sides, bowing slightly to him out of courtesy, before she rounded on her sister.
"C'mon, we're gonna be late for practice." She declared, hooking her left arm through her right elbow and dragging her away down the porch back inside the mansion.
She looked over her shoulder at him, silver eyes still slightly dazed.
He stared after the sisters' leave, his gold eyes catching her silver stare, before he looked down and picked up his book, pausing to see his claws had grown out of anger, or frustration; either way, she brought out one of those two emotions in him, dismantling his cool aloof composure single-handedly. He balled his hand into a fist.
Why does she bring this out in me? He wondered, his lip curling in frustration at the conundrum she posed.
A/N: ahah i love putting my characters in love-hate relationships.. /gets bricked
Korihime: please review this chap! thank you~ /bows