Masquerade

Chapter Two- How to Fool a Taiyoukai

“Are you ready, Kagome-san?”

“Yes.”

“Good, let's go.”

Masao hooked her arm through his and started walking toward the small teahouse. He was confident Kagome could pull off the ploy. She was confident in her abilities as well, he was sure. Her poise and grace were natural, conversations were easy and flowing. Her etiquette was impeccable and her wit incredibly sharp. If she respected the right people tonight and stayed close to him, all would go well. All she had to do was:

Stop walking away from him.

“I can't do this.” Kagome twirled around and started walking the other way, her head bowed.

“Kagome.”

“I can't. It won't work. I'm not a youkai. I'm just not. I can’t pull it off! I just-”

“Kagome.”

“It will be the death of both of us. Then all the kingdoms will fall and people will die and it'll be all my fault. No-”

“Kagome!”

“What! You know I'm right!”

“You'll be fine,” Masao assured, patting the hand he'd placed once more on his arm. “Now, I want to shock and amaze all the other lords and ladies with my fantastic sister. Come, come!”

Kagome, while being dragged toward the teahouse, paled under the concealment spell and gulped. “Masao, I really don't think-”

“Masao-kun!” A girlish voice called out from behind them.

The two spun around in sync, Kagome's face falling completely blank in a mimic of Masao's. Behind them stood a short youkai woman-or at least Kagome thought it was a woman, you could never be sure with demons- adorning the arm of-

Sesshoumaru?

Blinking at the sight the two demons made together- they were both pretty feminine- Kagome failed to notice Masao's panicked expression.

He cleared his throat, pulling at the suddenly very tight collar, and offered a shallow bow. “Sesshoumaru-sama and... Leiko-san... it’s a pleasure to see you this fine evening.”

Kagome glanced between the two, eying Masao's stiff frame and Leiko's smug smile. Obviously I've missed a very important part of this interaction...

Leiko was short and shapeless with a light complexion and dark hair. The only incredibly remarkable thing about her were her eyes-a fascinating peach color mixed with small tendrils of sparkling green. She was a traditional beauty, unmatched in splendor in this era but nothing special to Kagome.

Kagome turned her bright eyes to Masao, who had turned to stare down at her, an almost pleading look in his endless violet eyes. Kagome blinked rapidly as realization dawned.

Leiko was a past girlfriend... courting woman... thing of Masao's!

She looked between the two of them, and eventually settled on Masao. A small, coy smile came over her painted features.

And obviously he doesn't want me to be his sibling anymore...

Pulling all the things she'd learned about demon court to the front of her mind, she swayed in front of Masao and bowed deeply. “It is an honor to meet you, Lord Sesshoumaru, Lord Sesshoumaru's guest. I am Satu, Masao's mate-to-be.”

Leiko looked shocked and furious. Masao looked pleasantly surprised. Sesshoumaru was staring at her-or, rather, her youkai disguise-in a dark, contemplative way.

Kagome let her lips fall back into a grin, revealing the abnormally sharp fangs cat demons possessed.

Apparently, when Kagome's magic melded into the concealment spell, it had made her demonic guise even more powerful and unmistakable. She was something akin to a saber-tooth, but not as... barbaric.

Her hair remained black and still held the same blue sheen, but two shocks of pure white hair fell over her shoulders and framed her face in a tantalizing way that accented her exotic features and emerald eyes. Her body remained the same- slender, tall, and powerful, with the curves women shied away from in Sengoku Jidai. Her hands were not tipped in claws, but a neko's retractable talons, so Kagome didn’t have to worry about them constantly.

She bowed once more and backed up to stand slightly behind Masao, her head bowed respectfully. Masao leaned toward her and whispered quietly in her pointed ear, “Mamotte ageru.”

Relieved and slightly flustered, she nodded slightly in response. He nodded to the lord and his guest and slung an arm over Kagome's shoulder.

“Sesshoumaru-sama, Leiko-san. Satu and I have traveled far, and are both in need of refreshments. Once again, it was a pleasure.” Though he sounded carefree with the right dose of respect, the tense muscles of the arm curled around Kagome's shoulders' proved differently. As they walked into the grand entry, Kagome ignored the looks they received and stared at the two stripes decorating Masao's arm. They were a glittering metallic color, like those on his face, but these curled together in an arc, sharp and slightly jagged but never touching one another on his wrist.

The two received many stares, some because of their beauty, some because of their power, some because Kagome was wearing a haori over the intricate patterns on the many layers of kimonos she wore.

Eventually they found a table, surrounded by influential demons and silent geisha; they were served sake and often indulged in conversation.

After several hours of Kagome’s mingling with the different lords and ladies, she stood and walked from the room, keeping her head bowed. She slid the screen open and exited into the dark hall, savoring the cooler air and letting the haori sleeves drop from around her shoulders, though the magic stayed effective.

With a sigh she pushed off the wall she'd been leaning against and began walking down the narrow corridor, her head bowed in thought.

The Southern lord is jovial and kind beneath his facade, his mate beautiful and wise. The Eastern lord is a distant cousin of Kouga's, he is unmated but has a horrid intended. The Western lord is... well, he's Sesshoumaru.

She remained lost in her thoughts, the emerald eyes of her guise radiantly bright in the dimly lit corridor as she faithfully ignored her surroundings. That is, until she was but a few inches from the Western lord’s unarmored chest.

“Sesshoumaru-sama,” She intoned calmly, not at all surprised by his sudden appearance.

Hey, everything was out of character for Sesshoumaru.

He inclined his head slightly, never breaking her gaze. “Satu, was it?”

“Yes.”

They stared at one another a few more minutes before she took a step to the side and began walking once more, ignoring the strange sense of being watched. Eventually she came to the door she had been searching for: the door that led to the courtyard. It was raining lightly, a warm, calming shower that left a sweet scent in the air. But the rain was unbecoming in the summer, the sky appearing filled with smoke as the wispy clouds rolled overhead. Thick raindrops fell softly to the ground, making the koi ponds in the courtyard echo hauntingly.

She stepped outside of the teahouse, ignored her bare feet and priceless silks, and tossed her head back and savored the droplets on her face.

God I hate formals...

The sound of footsteps brought her attention to the entryway she'd left open. Masao, Sesshoumaru, and Leiko stood there, staring at her with different expressions.

“Satu, we are leaving now.”

Kagome's eyes narrowed slightly from the rain falling on her face, and she was aware of how ridiculous she must look.

Masao’s gaze stayed on her briefly, before he pulled it away to trail over the other scenery.

She looked beautiful to him, and that's all the adjectives he allowed himself to conjure; it would not be helpful if he happened to form some sort of attraction to the small miko. Not at all.

She turned fully to them and approached slowly, sending one last longing look to the smooth stones and small koi ponds.

When they all stood in the receiving hall, putting on shoes and saying goodbyes, Kagome remained silent, looking at all the different faces, studying their different expressions, and putting into memory how they looked tonight, without the matters of court pressing down on them. Wondering how they'd react when she would meet them as Kagome, the human.

While walking back through the forest, the haori pulled tight around her, Kagome stopped abruptly and looked up at Masao.

He returned the look, silently transmitting his questioning.

“How can people be like that, so happy and unrestrained one minute, and turn into cruel, merciless killers the next? I understand it is the way of this time, of how we live now, but...”

Masao studied her, a calculating look in his old eyes, “Sometimes, Kagome, I believe you are not from this world.”

Shocked, eyes widening and hands wringing nervously, Kagome glanced around before meeting his gaze squarely. “That's... preposterous!”

She stomped ahead, back toward where they'd last camped and hid her face from him, and bit her lip, because not only wasn't it preposterous, but also because she'd never live to see her family again. And because she never really accepted this.

“Kagome-san! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you!”

She whirled around with a bright- and completely fake- smile lighting up her face and said, “Its okay! It was kind of funny...”

Masao watched as she pasted on her pretense, then watched as it crumbled and she turned around, hiding her grief.

“Kagome, how can you act the way you do day in and day out, then still persuade the most intelligent beings in Japan you're someone you’re not?” He wondered aloud, trying to get her to forget whatever it was that was troubling her.

She shrugged, straightened, and walked forward-

Then tripped-gracefully!-on a root, cursing loudly.

“Come on, Kagome-san. I believe it's time you go to sleep.”

He bent down and picked her up, settled her in his arms and spit away the stray kimono sleeve that slapped him in the face, before walking smoothly to try to find some form of shelter. Or even a nice tree, he was a cat.

Tomorrow wasn't going to be any less uneventful, unfortunately.

Kagome, slightly surprised at being touched so familiarly by the strange youkai, turned her head away from him and watched as the scenery passed. She wasn’t exactly dressed appropriately to go on a walk, so this would have to do.

“Masao-san?”

Masao looked down at her briefly, and suddenly Kagome was struck with how feline his facial structure really was. “Yes, Kagome-san?”

She was silent and blinked a few times, turned her face away again and sighed softly at the beauty of the time. The moon peeked through the clouds, full and much bigger than she remembered it ever being in her time.

Masao made an expert jump off a large tree limb, shooting them into the air. Kagome barely noticed the movement, and couldn’t help but vaguely compare it to her former method of travel on Inuyasha’s back, when she was jolted around from his choppy moves and tried not to choke on his hair. Masao, on the other hand, had a fluid, rhythmic gait even when he ran and jumped, and slowly Kagome’s head began to droop against his chest.

“Nevermind…” She mumbled in the silk of his haori, her head filled with the freshly crushed pine needle scent, somehow more calming and velvety than she remembered.

Masao looked down at her, his face serene but still empty, as he landed softly at the base of a knoll, surrounded by thick plant life. Carefully he set her down on a grassy patch of ground and quickly backed away from her. He sat down against a fallen log and gave her one last lingering look, then forcefully pulled his gaze away and off into the forest.

Leiko’s appearance tonight had unsettled him, made him remember things he wished would remain dead. The woman they’d seen tonight was not the Leiko he remembered, not the Leiko he knew fondly. She was different, so very different. It scared him; he feared maybe she had simply changed. And, though it was unhealthy, he feared maybe he would never change.

His gaze was drawn to the miko once again as Kagome sighed and shifted in her sleep, a layer of the kimonos pulling back to reveal a slice of pale, muscled thighs, turning his mind in a direction it didn’t need to turn. Too fixated on the small bit of flesh shown for his peace of mind, he willed his eyes to move, but they didn’t. Wouldn’t. Muscled and scarred, but still so feminine, they looked so silky soft-

Oh, look, a firefly.

It’s so pretty and glowing and-

Going to die by the… tongue… of the toad. No! No, little firefly, fly away! Fly-!

Damn.

Masao sighed and turned to the right, stretching his long legs and wincing when his back let out a particularly loud pop. He really was too old to be sleeping on the forest floor. It just wasn’t healthy for someone of his age. Why, he was probably contracting a disease right n-

Oh, look. Leg.

Ack! No!

His head bowed, he glared, absorbed, at the ground. Don’tlookdon’tlookdon’tlook…

His eyes moved to the left slowly, cautiously looking at her face, his studying orbs unusually violet. Kagome’s brows were drawn together slightly, her lips tight; his gaze dropped further, to the gentle arc of the whitish skin on her neck, down to her covered shoulders, down, down, down, down-leg! Err, that is to say hand. She had pretty hands. They were calloused- from shooting the bow and wielding her katana, he assumed- but they were pale and fine, with long, tapering calves and-

Masao grunted and laid down on his side, away from the girl and her pretty, pretty thighs-

Ankles!

They were such pretty ankles.


Sesshoumaru: I don’t like where this is going. When am I coming in? It had better be soon.

Kagome: Why?

Sesshoumaru: … Because… without I, Sesshoumaru, half of the females reading this drivel would run. I bring depth, intelligence, charis-

Masao: You bring headaches. To me. And the rest of the male population.


Catching. Up. Very far behind, but catching up.