Hey, JaytheRaven! The point of Do You Remember The Time is just to shed a little light on how Sesshomaru & Inuyasha's relationship started. Most people will ask couples, "Well how did you meet?" so I'm just answering that for everyone =]
"I must go attend my duties"
"C'mon, just stay a little longer..."
"Inuyasha, my presence will be missed-"
"Just for another ten minutes"
"Father will wonder of my whereabouts"
Inuyasha opened an eye & reached up to place a hand on the cheek of the love of his life.
"He will have the servants searching for me" Sesshomaru whispered, almost...almost leaning into the touch but he removed the hand before he betrayed anything.
Inuyasha closed his eye again & exhaled through his nose. "Alright"
There was no movement for a long while & the hanyou hoped that maybe Sesshomaru would decide to stay a little longer in the nice warm bed with him but eventually he eased out of bed. Inuyasha opened both eyes & watched the prince slip back into his clothes, his skin glowing in the early morning sun. His hair closed over his face a few times & the inuyoukai tucked it behind his ear delicately, like he didn't want to get anything in those silky tresses.
"I'll see you later?" Inuyasha asked.
Sesshomaru knotted his obi. "I presume, considering you are a servant of this castle"
"Thanks for the reminder..." the half demon muttered under his breath.
With no formal goodbye, Sesshomaru opened the door to leave. Inuyasha had closed his eyes again to nod back off when he heard a gasp & a, "Prince Sesshomaru!".
Oh shit.
Just as the inuhanyou sat up to see who it was or hide he heard a wet, gurgling sound & Sesshomaru pulled a limp body into the room.
"Oh my God!" Inuyasha whispered, "You killed them!"
Sesshomaru's eyes were wider than they usually were but other than the slight look of concern, he didn't look particularly shocked he'd just murdered one of their servants. He stared at the body for a few minutes then turned to Inuyasha...before he left, closing the door quietly behind him.
As the sun peeked over the lip of the window, Inuyasha held back his panic as Old Kaede's face became clear, her face frozen is utter disbelief forever.
..
...
As midday rolled around, Inuyasha wondered if there was even any point of leaving his room that had a dead body in it. He needed to run away; when something went terribly wrong in the Palace of the West, the servants will always be blamed. It wouldn't take very long before they figured out who killed Old Kaede & then they'd have him hanged. No telling what they would do to Sesshomaru. They might strip him of his title & take away his rights to everything the Taisho family owned. He'd be exiled to some country far away, more than likely, but he'd still be alive.
But if Inuyasha ran now where would he go? He'd have to leave the country because he was more than sure the Lord of the West would be post his face everywhere, offering a reward for his head. Oh this was not good. It was not good.
The knock at the door nearly had the half demon jump out of his skin. "Inuyasha? Are you still asleep?"
Shit. Inuyasha mouthed an apology to Old Kaede's body before stuffing her into a corner where the sun's rays didn't reach & slipped right behind his bedroom door as it opened. Whoever it was called for him once more then left, closing the door inaudibly. Inuyasha sighed. He was going to be in so much trouble & all because Sesshomaru acted on impulse. He'd never acted recklessly before but there was a first for everything, apparently...
He needed to do something with the body before the smell got out of hand. He was only a half demon & he could already smell the sickly, musty smell of a body; the full fledged demons were going to pick up on the scent at any moment now.
Whatever he decided to do with the body, it [Kami forgive him for referring to Old Kaede as "it"] was going to have to leave his room since his window did not open which meant there a high chance he could be seen. In the unlikely circumstance the halls would be clear he'd still have to figure out where to dispose of it. Burn it? Hn. No, someone was always attending the fire, whether for cooking or warming the castle, not to mention the smell of burning flesh would be powerful. He could take it to an isolated place & burn it but there wasn't a forest within a seventy mile radius of the castle; he'd have to trek it out the castle, through the gates, through the large town, out of THOSE gates to even leave the city. There were thousands of opportunities to be caught.
Inuyasha jumped when the door opened & Sesshomaru slipped in & closed the door inaudibly.
"Hey you can't just bust up in here when I have a dead body I'm tryna hide!" Inuyasha whispered loudly, pressing a hand to his chest in a lame attempt to calm his racing heart.
"I am the prince, Inuyasha, I do as I please" Sesshomaru responded evenly. It infuriated Inuyasha that the demon was so incredibly calm at a time like this.
"So what do you suggest we do with the body of the head maid that you killed?!" the hanyou continued to whisper, pacing impatiently.
"Your panic will not solve anything"
"You started this shitstorm, now fix it!"
Sesshomaru frowned. "It was either kill her or have us be discovered. Which would you have preferred?"
"She wouldn't have told anyone!"
"How can you be so sure? Should my father ask her a specific question about anything she is required to tell the truth"
"He wouldn't ask a question if he didn't know what was going on!"
"& how could I have trusted her to not tell anyone? Should I have let her live she would have eventually let it be known that she knew of us"
Inuyasha ran an impatient hand through his hair. "How the fuck-ugh...fuck it. We gatta figure out what the hell we're gunna do with the body"
Sesshomaru glanced at the body for such a long time the hanyou was about to snap again. When the dog demon turned back to him, the look on his face told Inuyasha he was not going to like what his lover had to say. "It is simple, really"
...
..
.
Inuyasha tried his hardest to stop his hand from shaking as he set the entrée dish in front of Lady Inukimi & backed away slowly with a low bow. He felt like he was going to be sick as he watched the royal family make little chitchat. He couldn't believe he's actually let Sesshomaru talk him into this though it wasn't as if he had a better idea.
He watched the demon prince slowly begin eating & felt the color drain from his face. This was so morally wrong.
Please, Kami, don't let anyone find out about thi-
"Servant!"
The poor hanyou nearly gave up the ghost when InuTaisho snapped at him & scrambled to collect himself before he pissed the powerful lord off. "Y-yes, sire?"
"Fetch me some water"
"R-r-right away, sir" Inuyasha said & backed away into the kitchen. He glanced up very briefly to find Sesshomaru looking at him, his expression blank but his mouth set into a grim line. He actually looked worried.
The hanyou quickly grabbed the glass pitcher of cold water & poured it. His hands were shaking so badly, he was spilling the water everywhere. He set the pitcher down & took several deep breaths. All this panicking was making things worse. He needed to get himself together & quickly. As long as the family enjoyed their food, it didn't matter what [or rather who, in this case] they were eating.
Inuyasha took the glass to InuTaisho & backed against the wall for further instructions.
"You have not been spending as much time training as you used to" InuTaisho commented, sipping from his glass & waiting for his son to answer.
Sesshomaru delicately patted his mouth with a napkin, probably stalling, before he answered. "It does not interest me as much"
Inukimi looked a little concerned. "My Lord, with the possible war with the dragon tribe, shouldn't we train every able bodied man to be a soldier in your army?"
Inuyasha hated how now she was required to talk to her husband like she was some lowly concubine or something, kissing his ass & whatnot. A spouse shouldn't have to do that but after the counsel had a meeting about the pact with the dragon tribe being broken & they didn't like the lord & lady's interaction with each other, they made it a rule that Inukimi had to speak to InuTaisho with the utmost respect. Inuyasha wondered if in his little world, if he & Sesshomaru ever got a chance to be married, would they have to follow such dumb rules.
Lord InuTaisho shifted in his seat. "It would benefit you more if you got into your training again. You are old enough to attend the counsel meetings with me now & understand what is going on so you know how likely it is that we will go to war"
"I simply do not care" Sesshomaru said casually, staring his father right in the face.
Inuyasha shuddered when InuTaisho's eyes lit like fire & his huge hands balled up into tight fists. "But you care more to read, as if that will help you in the battlefield?!"
"We are a formidable army for even the dragon tribe, Father, it would make no sense-"
"What does not make sense is the fact that you are so arrogant, you do not even take this seriously! You think you are so strong that that you could not be killed in battle? That arrogance will kill you quickly, boy!"
Sesshomaru frowned as his own temper began to flare. "I am a man grown-"
"With the maturity of a brat! You still have milk in the corners of your mouth from your mother's teat!"
"My lord!" Inukimi exclaimed, offended.
"You are not trained for pleasure, Sesshomaru, you are trained to be a warrior when your country needs you & you will fight when the time comes!"
The inuyoukai prince glared down at his barely touched plate before he shot up & stormed out of the dining room, brushing past Inuyasha without a word or even a glance. InuTaisho called out to him, telling him he'd better come sit back down or else while Inukimi tried to call him back to get them both to calm down. It was then Inuyasha noticed his heart was racing & he was even more nervous than before.
"Servant!"
"Y-yes, sire?"
"Tell Kaede to make me her sleep milk tea" InuTaisho said softly, rubbing his forehead. He began to speak under his breath to Lady Inukimi about how he just didn't understand why Sesshomaru was acting this way.
The hanyou gulped thickly. "Yes...sir. Right away"
Inuyasha backed out of the dining room slowly before he half ran/half skipped to the kitchen. What was he going to do? No one really knew how to make any of Old Kaede's original recipes! Jeninji might but he was suffering from some sort of illness that made him forget things easily so he wasn't exactly dependable.
The half breed walked into the kitchen & paced back & forth. He had no idea where to even start. A few maids were finishing the dishes while others were bringing back the plates from dinner. They were all fairly new...the last one had been hired just shy of three turns of the moon...but it was worth a shot...
"Kikyou! Kikyou, I need to ask you somethin'..."
The dark haired woman gave Inuyasha a level stare. "Make it quick. We have a lot of areas to cover since Old Kaede didn't show up this morning. You have any idea where she is?"
A lump wedged itself into Inuyasha's esophagus. It took him a few swallows for it to go back down enough so he could speak. "I-I haven't seen her b-but InuTaisho needs her sleep milk tea. Do you know how to make it?"
Kikyou glanced down at the floor, thinking. "All I know is she harvests moonflowers to go into the tea but I also know a lot more goes into it than that. Just tell him you can't find her"
"I can't go back to him with that kinda news! He'll probably behead all of us!"
"Well what do you expect me to do?" she asked then walked out as if there was no possible way this could affect her. Oh man he was in so much shit.
Inuyasha saw a white flash out of the corner of his eyes. When he looked around the corner from the kitchen he saw Sesshomaru walking briskly in the direction of his bathhouse. "Sessh! Sessh, wait up!"
The hanyou spoken in a loud whisper, too afraid of being caught out in the hallway to speak any louder. Sesshomaru turned to him, his eyes still on fire.
"Sessh, your dad's asking for Kaede's sleep milk tea, please, tell me you know what's in it" the inuhanyou pleaded.
The silver haired beauty frowned. "How would I know what is in that vile drink?"
"I dunno! I'm kinda outta options here! I sure as hell can't go tell your dad what's really going on!"
"What is really going on?"
The blood drained from Inuyasha's face so quickly he felt light headed as he watched InuTaisho slowly walk towards him, his eyes narrowed & switching from him to his son. Even Sesshomaru looked like he was going to throw up.
If there was a word that was ten times more intense than the word trouble, that would probably come close to describing the shit they were in now.