Ties to Nowhere

Over the squabbling voice of his so-called advisor, Jaken, Lord Sesshomaru closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. How could she have done this? The Lady Kagome had abandoned her territory seemingly overnight - her castle gone, a portion of his border left unprotected for over a week…a life-long ally had vanished into thin air. He was starting to get a headache.

“Jaken.”

Immediately, the squabbling stopped, and Jaken stared at his lord with eyes bulging, Staff of Heads in his trembling grasp. Eyes still closed, Lord Sesshomaru gave orders to dispatch a missive to his other allies relaying the news, and then in a swirl of white hair and robes, he quickly left the room. The other lords would not be pleased with the news. He took some comfort in the fact that he would not be the only one to suffer a headache that day. His fists tightly clenched in his sleeves, he departed the castle for the closest wild beast he could sense. He could use a good killing right about now.

=Flashback to 5 years prior=

Sitting eerily still on a large red cushion, Kagome stared at a speck on the floor while the voices of the lords surrounding her droned on. Her schooled, blank stare and cold countenance disguised the utter boredom she felt. Council meetings were entirely too tedious for their own good. As a woman and a Lady, her opinion was rarely asked, except on matters of magic – Kagome was one of the more powerful witches in the council. There was little reason for her to be here beyond making an appearance to ensure that the other lords knew that she was a committed member of the council, though she knew that many of them preferred that she not be there at all, as they felt that females at meetings were distractions. As an ally to a few of the lords, it was important that she fill them in on any matters concerning her territory that might affect theirs. There was always very little to report. Well, there hadn’t always been nothing to report. Her eyes shifted to the silk-clad thigh and knee of Lord Sesshomaru to her left, and she wondered what his muscles were like underneath that pristine white fabric.

=Flashback to 10 years prior=

The blade was slippery in her bloodied hand as she drove it home into the throat of the cat attacking her at the moment. She dodged an arrow shot from somewhere to her left and hurled a dagger at the offending archer, hitting him squarely in the forehead. An agonizing howl of pain broke through the metallic sounds of battle around her. Kagome swung around to see her father clutching the limp, dead body of her mother, before he too was cut down by the feline Lord Yuudai. Kagome stared dully as her parents became nothing but glittering ash that dispersed swiftly with the winds stirred by the battle. She could not think; she felt nothing at that moment; her eyes bled crimson and her last memory of that moment was watching a speck of ash land on the hand holding her bloodied blade. When she awoke from her haze of bloodlust some hours later, every cat on the battlefield was dead. Lord Yuudai had apparently retreated in defeat.

Her injuries were minor, and she managed to make it back to her palace before collapsing in a heap in the entryway. The scene of her parents’ death flashed before her eyes before she succumbed to the comforting blackness of sleep.

The next day, she released all of the household’s servants from their duties, and dispatched missives to her father’s allies notifying them of her parents’ demise. She was now the Lady of the Northern Forest - a very tedious position indeed.