Chapter Sixteen – War Stories
Kagome slept until early afternoon, and when she woke, she didn't truly register the fact that Kotono was in her room until the dragoness chuckled at a particularly wide yawn. Blinking blearily in the demoness' direction, Kagome lifted a tired brow, to which her companion shrugged and motioned toward her with a clawed hand. "You've slept the day away, and still you're tired?" A dark brow rose teasingly. "What did you and my lord do last night?" Instantly awake, Kagome hurriedly shook her head. "W-we didn't do anything!" she spluttered, flushing deeply. Kotono laughed, and Kagome ducked her head. "We didn't." "Oh I know, little one," Kotono crooned, crossing to her futon and sitting on the edge. "I only jest." Kagome looked up, and then became painfully aware that Kotono was intensely curious; she cocked her head to one side and waited, and it wasn't long until the dragoness sighed dramatically and waved a hand. "Oh spill, miko." Kagome grinned. It wasn't often that she knew something that Kotono didn't, and she reveled for a moment in the power that her knowledge gave her, twirling her thumbs as the emerald eyes staring so intently at her narrowed with each passing second. Just as a playful growl passed between the dragoness' lips, Kagome giggled. "We talked," she said finally. Kotono sat back. "Oh?" "Yes. He took me to his personal archives and we talked." "That's all?" "That's all." "Did you put Fuyu's lesson to good use?" "Well, I—" She nibbled her bottom lip, suddenly remembering very vividly that she had hugged—honestly and truly hugged—the stoic inuyoukai. "I, erm…hugged him." For a moment, Kotono was silent. "And?" she prompted. "I don't know," Kagome confessed shyly. "I sort of…erm…left before he said anything." "Well." Kotono crossed her arms over her ample bosom. "Do you feel any less nervous about going to Sesshomaru-sama's bed?" Kagome thought for a moment, and then decidedly shook her head. Kotono hummed thoughtfully, and then sighed and ushered her from beneath her covers. "I suppose it can't be helped, then," she said lightly. "Off to the springs with you, and Suzume and I will monitor you again." Kagome sighed.
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Kotono tucked her hands into her sleeves and watched with open amusement as Kagome looked around them in awe. The many bundles of silk in a myriad of colors had enchanted the tiny miko, and while she stared, enraptured, Kotono motioned to her seamstress. "Forgive me, Cho; I know I don't usually bring guests." Waving a slender hand, the swan youkai smiled. "I do not mind at all, my lady." Dark eyes flitted to where Kagome had wandered to a collection of blue silks, and the smile on her coral colored lips widened. "It is for her?" "Yes." Kotono reached to run a finger carefully over a length of green fabric. "She will be taking her place as the twelfth very soon, and I wish to have something special made for her." "Will you be designing it?" Kotono nodded. She looked around and wandered over to a collection of silver and lightly colored silks that shimmered in the sunlight streaming in through the window. She envisioned Kagome swathed in silver, with a pattern of falling sakura petals in pale pink from her shoulder to the hem of her kimono. An obi of pure white would wrap around her tiny waist, accentuating the swell of her breasts and flare of her hips. "This, for the kimono," Kotono decided, pointing out a moon silver roll of fabric. "And this, for the obi and the embroidery." Gathering the indicated silks into her arms, Cho nodded. "And the design, my lady?" "Sakura petals," she responded. "From shoulder to hem." Cho glanced at Kagome, and then nodded. "As you wish, my lady." Kotono pulled a small pouch of coin from her sleeve and placed it lightly on top of the collection of silk in Cho's arms. "As always, you have my eternal gratitude, Cho." She looked up, and saw that Kagome was coming back from her exploration of the fairly sized shop. "Come, Kagome. We have one more place to visit." "Okay." The little miko bowed slightly to the seamstress. "Goodbye Cho-san, and thank you in advance." "It is my pleasure, my lady," Cho responded with a bow of her own. As she rose, Kotono saw her dark eyes flit over Kagome's form, and the inspired light within the black depths made her smile. Lord Sesshomaru wouldn't keep the kimono on the little miko for long.
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"Where are we going now?" Kagome asked quietly, discreetly picking up her pace to walk beside Kotono for a brief moment. "To the herbalist. There is something we must collect before returning to the grounds." Kagome nodded and fell back once more, walking a respectful step behind her mentor. They had made quite a few stops already, and the servant who'd accompanied them into town carried their purchases with no complaint despite the bulk of them. Kagome took a mental tally. 'We went to the jewelers, then the tea shop, then the butcher and the rice stand...oh and the seamstress.' She followed Kotono down onto a narrower street. 'And now the herbalists.' The dragoness stopped in front of a small looking house, dried herbs hanging from the glassless windowsills. Kagome thought that she might've liked to look at them, but before she could step forward and inspect the dark green leaves, the door opened and in the doorway stood one of the oldest women Kagome had ever seen. Her face was a mass of wrinkles, and her eyes were nearly nonexistent in the folds that her drooping eyelids created beneath bushy gray eyebrows and a heavily creased forehead. She was short and incredibly wide, filling the doorway and then some as she stood imposing and surprisingly frightening on the threshold. Kagome gulped. After what felt like an eternity, the herbalist coughed wetly, several times, and the sound reminded Kagome alarmingly of the sort of noise that a drowning man might make upon being fished out of the water. She opened her mouth to ask if the woman was alright, but Kotono's hand suddenly fell against her arm, and she looked up, confused at the mild rebuke in the dragoness' green eyes. She held her tongue nonetheless, and when the coughing fit finally subsided, the herbalist grunted, took a deep breath, and then turned around and disappeared into the dark interior of her home. Kagome could hear her heavy footsteps falling against creaky wooden floorboards, and every now and then a cough would sound out amidst the noise of clinking glass and clanking clay. After a while, the sounds stopped, and the large woman came to the door again, a pouch in one hand and a crude glass vial in the other. She held the pouch out toward Kotono, who took it with a bow an inch shallower than the one Lord Sesshomaru would've received. To Kagome, the woman offered the vial, in which swirled an odd mixture that shone pale green in the sunlight. "For...when the...time is...right," the woman said, her Japanese slow and slightly garbled. Confused, Kagome opened her mouth, but once again Kotono placed a restraining hand on her arm. "Bow," the demoness mouthed, and Kagome did so, automatically matching her show of gratitude to the one Kotono had already given. When she looked back up, the door was closed, and the soft pressure of Kotono's hand on her shoulder kept her quiet as they walked back to the main street; she abandoned protocol and walked beside the dragoness, looking up at her teacher with blatant curiosity in her gaze. "Her name is Tsu, and she has served my lord's family since his great-great grandfather was a newborn pup," Kotono began. "She provides all of the medicines and tonics for the village, though she only does so at Lord Sesshomaru's request." "Sesshomaru-sama doesn't need her in the shiro?" "My lord has become immune to many things over the centuries, and most of the servants will be allowed to leave the grounds if it is necessary," Kotono responded, nodding and smiling politely to a vendor who gave her a small piece of fine jewelry as a gift. "So no, he prefers that she puts her skills to use for those that can benefit from them." After a moment, Kagome asked, "What did she give you?" "An herb to prevent fertility, so that Lord Sesshomaru does not sire any children before anyone is ready. We have been out of it for quite some time, and the others will probably be happy that Tsu-san finally prepared more." She saw Kagome open her mouth, and leaned close to whisper the answer before the question was asked. "Because we take immense pleasure in being able to receive my lord's seed; it is a most precious gift, you see, because he will not simply give it to any who crave it." Kagome blushed and nodded, and then looked down at the little vial she still held. "What did she give me?" At that, Kotono shrugged. "That is for you to know and the rest of us to find out." She cut the human a reassuring look from the corner of her eye. "And don't worry…you will know when the vial is to be used, and what it will do when you take it." Kagome tried not to scowl, and though she failed miserably—and was terribly curious about the little vial—she decided not to worry about it. After all, Kotono knew what she was talking about. 'Or at least I hope she does…' They rounded a corner, and Kagome watched as her elegant companion took the piece of jewelry gifted to her earlier and handed it to a street urchin who watched them approach, dark eyes wide in his dirty face. The boy gave her a gap-toothed smile, and after receiving a gentle pat on the head, ran off toward the bread stall. Kagome watched him barter with the vendor for a while, and turned to catch up to Kotono as the child made off with five loaves of long bread, the extra coin from his trade passed out just as quickly as the bread to the other children who had gathered around him. "Does Sesshomaru-sama take care of the children too?" she asked, not having realized until that very moment that there were so many young ones around. Kotono smiled down at her. "Of course. The vendor who gave me the jewelry is a servant to milord, and the pin was from my lord's collection." Kagome frowned. "Why the secrecy?" "The children here have been raised proud, Kagome. Most of the ones who have no home are orphans, parentless because of the human wars being waged across the country." Her eyes gazed sadly back into the milling crowd. "They would not accept charity from my lord, but refusing a gift from me would be a slight against him." "And they wouldn't want to disrespect him that way," Kagome ventured, earning a nod. "Precisely." They walked for a while longer in silence, and eventually made it through the afternoon crowd and began the walk back to the shiro. "Kotono?" "Yes?" "I think…that I would like to go read for a while." She couldn't say why, and she couldn't seem to make herself meet the dragoness' searching gaze either, and after a moment, Kotono hummed. "Very well. I will take you to the archives."
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Of all the places he expected to find her this late at night, here had not been one of them. Yet here she was, sitting on a cushion in the sitting area of the room and reading silently from the scroll held carefully across her lap. He stepped more fully into the room and closed the shoji screen behind him with an audible snap; the miko instantly looked up, blue eyes wide. "My lord!" She floundered for a moment, unsure of whether to set aside the scroll to greet him or simply bow as best she could—she eventually settled on the latter, and bent somewhat awkwardly over the delicate parchment, the movement shallow and stilted. He inclined his head, and once more respected her for her care of his possessions. "Good eve, miko." Her eyes widened further, and she glanced toward the window in dismay. "I-I'm sorry, milord, I didn't mean to stay here so late…I got caught up in reading, and—" "It matters not," he interrupted, idly observing the cream colored silk kimono that went so well with her skin and made her eyes stand out against her dark lashes. He did not recall gifting her that particular garment, and made a mental note to request for more in varying shades of cream and off-white. "This one would be a fool to demand that you limit your time here when he gave you permission to visit." Her cheeks reddened, and ignoring her nervousness, he crossed the room and settled on a cushion a comfortable—for her—distance away. He was briefly reminded of the hug she had given him in the early hours of the morning, but pushed away the memory of dainty arms and soft breasts. "What have you been reading?" An odd expression settled over her face, one that was a mixture of sadness and anger, and her reiki snapped at him before she took a deep breath and settled it. He admired her control, and then focused on her words as she spoke. "Kotono told me something about the orphaned children in town, and I…I was curious about the wars, so I came to read about them." "Hn." He watched the torchlight flicker over the delicate lines of her face. "And what have you learned so far?" Her lips twisted into a wry smile. "I think I understand now why you hate humans so much," she responded. "They fight for nothing but power, and they don't care who gets hurt in the process." "Youkai are no different," he said, "we simply do not fight as often." She hummed thoughtfully at that, and he continued, "And I do not hate all humans." "Is that why you took Rin in?" "Rin was an experiment," he said, and continued before the immediate flare of anger in her eyes could manifest itself as words from her mouth. "But she has proven herself to be much more than that since I first took her as my ward." The miko's eyes went from angry to curious, and though he did not mind her questions—he admitted to himself that her company was remarkable—he did not wish to speak of Rin nor his motivations for keeping her. "When was the last youkai war?" she asked after a moment, bringing the subject back to where it had been before. "Three centuries ago." "Did…you fight in it?" For a brief instant, the image of his father, back turned and hair waving in a dragon-scented breeze, flashed before his mind's eye, and then he nodded. "I fought for my father, yes." Kagome opened her mouth, closed it, and then nibbled her bottom lip and looked away. "You wish to know about it," he stated after a while, watching as her cheeks heated and her eyes remained shyly on the floor. A single, hesitant nod was all she gave in response, and he resisted the urge to chuckle. "Very well, miko. Return the scroll to its place and come with me." She smiled brightly at him, and Sesshomaru watched her as she carefully rolled the scroll and nearly leapt to her feet. He idly entertained the idea that she would be just as enthusiastic when he took her, and then stood and walked to the door as she returned, that smile still on her lips. He thought, again, that he enjoyed her smile. Too bad it wouldn't remain on her face for much longer.
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Lord Sesshomaru led her out into the main courtyard, and then held out a hand that shone in the moonlight. She took it shyly and marveled at the thrill that shuddered up her arm and down her spine, and then blushed heavily when he pulled her practically into his side and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Do not scream," he warned, and she frowned slightly before she realized that they were slowly leaving the ground. She could feel the warm pulse of his youki thrumming at her feet, and she looked down only to see a cloud forming beneath them. She gasped, and then remembered his warning as they steadily climbed higher and higher. She could see over the wall that surrounded the shiro now, and she couldn't hold back the squeak of surprise when they first began to move through the sky. As a reflex, she huddled closer to the big inu at her side, swallowing thickly as the cool night air began to blow past her cheeks. "S-Sesshomaru-sama," she whispered hesitantly, "don't drop me." The arm around her waist tightened in response, and she closed her eyes for a moment, knowing that there was nothing but his cloud and his arm to keep her from plummeting hundreds of feet to the ground. 'Humans aren't meant to fly!' her mind screeched hysterically, fear and uncertainty warring for attention in her gut. She tried to take a few deep breaths, but the air felt thin and insubstantial, and she couldn't get enough of it to calm her racing heart. "Miko, open your eyes." Lord Sesshomaru's voice was close and almost reassuring in its deep, steady cadence, and she slowly cracked open one eye, and then the other, and was shocked to find herself staring into Lord Sesshomaru's bright eyes. From the short distance between them, she could see every speck of color that made up the amber hue of his gaze; there was a ring of darker color around his pupil, and in the iris itself were flecks of brilliant gold and deep, dark orange. 'Beautiful.' Her breath calmed, and her heart stopped beating so forcefully against her ribs, and when he murmured "look up", she did so without hesitation and gasped. Above her head was a myriad of stars, all twinkling brightly, as though happy to see her. "Oh, Sesshomaru-sama…it's beautiful." She looked toward the horizon, no longer afraid, and didn't quite know whether she wanted to stare at the mountains or watch the moonlight dip and duck along the trees and hills of the land. They flew in silence then, and Kagome felt a small bit of disappointment when they began a slow descent. She shuffled closer to Sesshomaru, and then reluctantly stepped out of the ring of his arm as her feet lighted on solid ground once more. She covered her suddenly irrational desire to stay close to him by looking around, and hoped he didn't notice the longing that her skin emitted. "Where are we?" Behind them, a line of tall trees blocked out any defining characteristics—not that she would've recognized them anyway—and before them was the edge of a cliff. She could see that the valley on the other side of it extended for quite some way, and as she ventured closer to its edge, an inkling of a memory long forgotten tickled at her thoughts. 'This is…' "The battle that raged between the lords of the West and North was fought in a deep chasm, because nothing short of a canyon could withhold the combined force of their power." Tanaka-sama's words echoed through her thoughts just as she stepped close enough to see over the edge of the cliff. She gasped. The land had suffered here, that much was clear. Deep gouges and enormous craters dotted the landscape, and the grass had only just begun to grow back around the edges of a many mile wide swath of brown, damaged dirt. Lord Sesshomaru stepped up beside her, and she looked up at him. "Sesshomaru-sama…you fought here?" "Yes," he responded quietly. The moon's glow didn't reach his eyes, and the shadowed depths of them made Kagome feel almost melancholy for the proud demon. "My father called the armed forces to war after the Northern lord bypassed a peace treaty and invaded the Western lands. Lord Ryokotsusei and my father fought many miles from here, but this is where I led our forces against the Northern army." Suddenly, the name and the history settled and connected in her mind with a gasp, and she turned wide eyes to the battlefield and then looked at Lord Sesshomaru again. He nodded. "Kotono led the Northern forces then, and we fought against each other with death in mind." His eyes flitted back to the torn land in front of them, and the faraway look of memories filled his gaze. "Her father fell first to my father's sword; and then they burned the shiro to the ground and my father died from his injuries shortly afterward." Kagome didn't know what to say. Somehow, the pieces of the puzzle that was Kotono and Sesshomaru didn't match up with the way she saw them today. They were more than lord and concubine, even she could see that, but their story gave way for hatred, not for the affection they shared together. She frowned. 'So what happened in between?' she wanted to ask. 'Why is she so fond of you now, when your father killed hers and vice versa?' Another, darker thought followed. 'I would have hated you.' Even now, many years after the fact, she despised the fire that took her parents away from her. She was afraid of the destructive force sometimes, and when the summer heat sparked fires all around the country, she prayed to any kami who would listen that her village remained safe; she couldn't bear to lose her friends to the same menace that had taken her loved ones away from her. 'Yes,' she concluded, looking up into eyes that glittered like flames, 'I would have hated you.' "There were heavy losses on both sides," Lord Sesshomaru resumed, bringing her out of her thoughts. "But with the fall of Ryukotsusei came the end of the fighting, with the West as the victor." Something in his tone gave away the fact that he was proud of that moment, and Kagome found herself wondering if he'd known that his father was going to die. "My father ordered them back to the mountains, and when we returned to the shiro, it was naught but a pile of rubble. The Inu no Taisho perished soon after." They stood in silence for a while longer, nothing but the breeze ruffling through the treetops. Unsure of what to say and needing to digest what she'd learned, Kagome glanced up at Sesshomaru again. His eyes were trained on the horizon, and she realized that his gaze was not as blank as it usually was. 'Is he…sad?' But she had no time to examine that thought; he held out a hand, and as they lifted once more into the air, she huddled a little closer and nibbled her lip. "I don't know what the shiro looked like before," she murmured lightly as they turned back the way they'd come, "but milord rebuilt it beautifully." The hand draped over her hip tightened just a little. "Hn." She smiled.
Author's Note: Hey all! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! And thank you to my reviewers! For a while there, I thought only a few people liked this despite all the hits to the story!
~Aubrey
