The Portal

Chapter 19 – Festival Fun

Kagome was having a pretty good time so far, and her worries over her current dilemma were put aside as she chatted with a few of the slave girls. Sesshomaru decided that it would be safe to remove the leash, so at least she wasn’t attached to his hip. Not that he wasn’t keeping an eye on her. There was no question about that. Every time she looked up, he was looking in her direction.

A couple of guys even came over to talk to her, inciting a round of giggles from the other girls. Kagome was her usual polite self, but figured that she’d had enough male attention for the time being, so she declined their invitation to dance. Not that she could dance like these people anyway. Maybe if they had a ‘Ludicrous’ CD on hand she would get up and shake her moneymaker. Unfortunately this place had just not evolved that far yet.

The night wore on, and Kagome was feeling much more relaxed. Sesshomaru would occasionally make an appearance next to her with a nice glass of punch. He was playing the role of caring owner quite well, she had to admit. Her new friends thought he was very handsome and went on and on about how lucky she was to have such a beautiful and caring master. If only they knew.

A figure caught Kagome’s attention from the corner of her eye, and she turned to see Lady Nebthet speaking to Sesshomaru. She thought that rather interesting, and also found that they were perfectly complimentary in looks. She also noticed that as time went by, Sesshomaru had stopped watching her and had focused his complete attention on Lady Nebthet. Not that she could really blame him or anything. She was a magnificently stunning woman, especially compared to a rather ordinary human miko.

Now Kagome was feeling a little down. She wasn’t one hundred percent sure why, but she had a pretty good idea that it had something to do with Sesshomaru’s newfound interest in the Lady of the temple. That thought made her slightly angry with herself, for allowing her feelings to get carried away over him in the first place. She supposed it had a lot to do with being snatched from her friends and thrust into a foreign world with only him and Naraku for comfort. Naraku just wasn’t that much comfort.

Kagome’s thoughts were suddenly shaken when the young inu boy Tai, showed up by her side, telling her to follow him as Lord Anubis had requested her presence. Feminine gasps of disbelief and surprise escaped all the young women sitting with her, and Kagome quickly said farewell and took off after Tai.

Anubis was sitting in his celebration booth watching over the festivities. Members of his court occasionally stopped by to wish him well, but he was rather bored. His mother had chosen to go chase after the new taiyoukai, in her very ladylike way, and he decided that he would allow it. Sesshomaru was strong and obviously honorable, so if his mother wished to have a tryst with the demon lord he would not interfere. Besides, if Lord Sesshomaru was busy entertaining his mother, then his delicious little slave girl was free to spend some time with him.

He immediately sent Tai to fetch the human, as he pondered what it was about her that excited him. Her body was very nice, that was to be sure, but it was something else. Her scent? Yes, she had a delightful scent. It was fresh and reminded him of the jungle after a storm. Her power was certainly exciting, and strangely familiar somehow, though he knew that he had never met the girl before. His thoughts came to a conclusion as the object of his interest appeared before him.

She bowed to him and her long raven hair fell about her shoulders. Anubis had to catch himself before he reached down to brush through it with his claws. “Rise, and be seated,” he ordered the girl, who looked rather confused as he pointed to the seat beside him. His mother normally occupied it, but Anubis was not really one to care about keeping up appearances. No one dared question him, and if he chose to sit through this festival with a human slave, then so be it.

Kagome timidly took the seat next to the inuyoukai lord. She was not only nervous, but also confused as to why he called her to him. She hoped that Sesshomaru would see that she was missing soon, and come to collect her. She couldn’t exactly refuse the Lords invitation.

Two slave girls appeared before Kagome with another delicious glass of punch, this time served in a golden goblet, instead of a wooden cup. The second girl left a plate of fruits. Kagome thanked Lord Anubis and took a few pieces that resembled grapes. It was surprisingly sweet and had a crisp texture. She was a little hungry so the food was appreciated.

Anubis watched the girl with interest. She was very well behaved, and he had to wonder at the way she carried herself. She held an aura of self-confidence and that was very unusual for a slave. Perhaps she had not been a slave her entire life? She was still innocent to the touch of a man, so that was very possible. Either way, Lord Sesshomaru was indeed a lucky taiyoukai.

“Tell me, little one, what shall I call you?” Anubis asked.

“My name is Kagome,” she replied. She was wondering what in the hell Anubis found so interesting about her, but hid it all behind her most charming of smiles.

“Kagome. A lovely name for a lovely creature.” Anubis replied with his low silken voice.

She wished her friend’s back home could get a look at this guy. On second thought, no she didn’t. Those giddy chicks would be drooling all over themselves and looking like complete fools. She certainly couldn’t point fingers, however, because she was doing a pretty good impersonation of a drooling idiot at that very moment. Finally, through all of the fuzzy thoughts, Kagome managed to say, “Doomo Arigato, Your Imminence.”

Anubis was pleased with the blush that appeared on her cheeks from his comment. Young human females were easy to tease, and very amusing to watch. Kagome’s shy little glances were driving him mad and he silently cursed the fates that placed her in the hands of Sesshomaru and not himself. As he watched her he noticed that she kept looking about the crowd. Obviously looking for someone. He asked her, “Whom do you search for, my dear?”

“I was... um... I was worried that Sesshomaru Mikoto (Lord, Prince) would worry of where I went, My Lord,” Kagome answered softly. Jeez she felt like a blundering idiot in front of this Lord. She couldn’t even talk with out stuttering. ‘How embarrassing!’

Anubis registered her answer and found that her loyalty to her master was noble and refreshing. He couldn’t help the stab of jealousy over such, and wondered if she would be so concerned if she thought that her master had found another playmate for the evening. He then allowed his childish fancy and pointed it out to her. “Your master, Lord Sesshomaru, is just over there, sitting beneath the palm, with my mother.”

Kagome looked in the direction that Anubis pointed and found Sesshomaru exactly as he said, sitting nice and cozy with Lady Nebthet. Her heart ached a little at the sight of him sitting there with that beautiful inuyoukai, but she made up her mind to let her anger go, and enjoy her time here with Lord Anubis. Besides, it’s not every day a girl gets to hang out with the God of the Dead, right? So Kagome returned her, now full, attention to the handsome inu sitting beside her. At least he found her interesting enough to spend time with.

“So he is. Maybe they are enjoying themselves,” she said with a smile. Kagome then decided to ask him some questions. She would love to know more about this place.

Kagome and Lord Anubis spent the next hour discussing how many human’s versus hanyou it take’s to build a pyramid. Where in Abu Simbel one could grow the best fruits for wine, and many other meaningless, but interesting things. Kagome had finally begun to relax around this lord, and she found that she was actually enjoying herself... until he showed up.

“Kagome, what is the meaning of this?” Sesshomaru demanded.

Kagome let out a “EEK,” when she heard his voice below the booth where they were sitting. She looked over the edge, and the ground seemed to jump up to her and then fall again at an alarming rate. Suddenly she felt really strange. Kind of... light headed. “Oh, hello Sesshomaru-sama! How are you doing this lovely evening?”

Sesshomaru growled in frustration. Apparently he was not the only one feeding her ‘punch’ this evening. Before he could snatch her down from her perch, Lord Anubis stood up and smirked down to him. ‘So the great Lord Anubis was attempting to get closer to my property?’ This bit of information was rather disturbing, even though Kagome was not, in truth, his property at all. The fact of the matter was that Anubis ‘thought’ that she was, and therefore had stepped very close to the edge of ‘stepping out of line’. Prince Gods were always such arrogant snots.

“Greetings Lord Anubis,” Sesshomaru said with narrowed eyes of fiery gold.

“Greetings Lord Sesshomaru of Japan. Do not be angered at Kagome here, for it was I who summoned her. I would like to send you my thanks for a lovely evening, Sesshomaru, as Kagome has proven to be very engaging in conversation,” Anubis declared with a smirk, when Kagome giggled. He had hoped that his mother would make better headway with Sesshomaru this evening, than perhaps the new taiyoukai would have forgetten about his little crumpet for this evening. Unfortunately mother was just to ladylike.

Sesshomaru could have sworn that Anubis was trying to goad his wrath. He would not give in so easily. “I am gladdened that Kagome has been amusing, however, the hour grows late and I wish to retire. Come Kagome.”

Kagome pushed herself off of the rail and stood up to say sayonara to Anubis-sama. She hiccuped and quickly covered her mouth with her tiny hand while giggling lightly. “Ooops, suminasen (pardon me).” She giggled once more, and said, “Doomo arigato, my lord, for a wonderful evening.” His eyes held her gaze and she caught her breath in her throat. She could have sworn that his beauty had doubled since she sat down with him only an hour ago.

“It is I who should thank you. You saved me from a night of wretched boredom, lovely Kagome,” Anubis replied. He would have kissed her then, had not that damnable taiyoukai been waiting impatiently below. Her rosy lips looked so soft and he could just imagine what they would feel like against his own.

“Good evening, Lord Anubis,” Sesshomaru said with finality.

Kagome got the message with Sesshomaru’s demanding final words, and bowed once more to the handsome Lord Anubis, before turning to leave. The second step was there one minute and gone the next, sending Kagome off balance and heading for a nasty spill. She squealed when she missed the step and braced herself to hit the ground, but just as quickly as it happened two powerful arms caught her. She looked up to Sesshomaru, who held her crushed to his chest. He had a strange look in his eyes, and Kagome thought that he was perhaps the most handsome man she had ever seen. ‘Wait a minute, Kagome, didn’t you just say that about someone else a minute ago?’ Try as she might, she couldn’t remember at the moment. All she could think about was how warm Sesshomaru was and how good he smelled.

“Come, my little breeder, I believe you have had enough ‘punch’ for one night.” As Sesshomaru said this, he looked over his shoulder to Anubis, who raised one eyebrow innocently. Sesshomaru released Kagome and walked slowly away.

Kagome walked along behind him. She was amazed at how his long hair danced from side to side. It appeared to be waving at her, and she soon found herself waving back, which was proceeded by a fit of giggles.

Sesshomaru almost glanced back to see what she was laughing at, but figured that it may be best if he didn’t know.

Before long they had woven their way through the many corridors and made it back to their bedchambers. Unlike the first time they were here, Kagome was all too happy to fall down onto the huge comfortable bed, and Sesshomaru could hardly believe how beautiful she looked.

He had just spent the evening talking to another beautiful female, and although Nebthet was very lovely, and charming, she was nothing compared to the little miko vixen spread out before him.