Bonds of Resonance

Chapter 7: Offday

He supposed he had eventually fallen asleep just before the sun began to peak over the horizon, if one could even call it sleeping with the amount of tossing and turning he’d done.

He woke up fully to the sound of garbled whispers just outside his door and to the realization that he occupied the opposite side of the bed that he usually slept on... nearly clinging to a pillow that smelled heavily of his sibling, yet held no recent scent that would otherwise indicate that the hanyou had snuck into his room later in the night.

It was only then that he remembered he’d requested that his brother not accompany him to bed, that – Sesshomaru flinched visibly for none but himself to witness at the very thought of having done this – he wished to retire to their room by himself.

Sitting up in bed, the daiyoukai massaged his temples, feeling as if he’d woken up in the worst possible mood he could ever remember. His foul disposition only increased as the grating bumbling of the servants scratched at his ears, clawing at his head to the point where he wanted to tear at his skull, or, more appropriately, their skulls.

With each harsh whisper he had to increase his defenses tenfold in order to avoid wrecking havoc within his own home, he thought sourly as he almost stumbled out of bed, having already begun dressing for the day. While he didn’t actively listen he still managed to catch phrases here and there of the inane murmurs the help rambled on about.

"He's never overslept!"

"It's nearly noon!"

"Something must be wrong!"

"What if he's caught that illness?"

"That disease they say even youkai can catch?"

"You mean the one that's rumored to have made its way into even one of the southern Sectional's households?"

"Ridiculous! There's no way a youkai of our High Lord's caliber could get sick!"

Sesshomaru vaguely recognized the male voice in his still-hazy state. The one which called out defiantly amongst all the numerous female voices. Though with how quickly they snapped from one reason to another as to why his door was not upon - which signaled that they could begin their chores in his chambers - he was waking up faster than he was accustomed to, and that only added to his decreasing mood all the more.

And if the pace of such a morning wasn't the beginning of his foul mood, the continuing gossip amongst his servants certainly did with their ongoing assumptions, and lack of abiding the warning they had just been given.

"Do you think they had a fight? I don't think Lord Inuyasha retired with him last night!"

"Shhh! Don't speak of that! No one knows for sure if there's something going on!"

"Right, right! If you speak of it as if they are involved like that, and it's not true, High Lord Sesshomaru will surely have your head!"

"-And if you speak of it and it is true,..."

"He'll still have your head! You mustn't gossip either way!"

"Please don't be so harsh! She's still learning. She doesn't know any better-!"

"Then she should just learn to keep her mouth shut!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the only male present outside the room bellowed authoritively. The High Lord's - or even that of the young Lord's - affairs aren't anyone's business! So, all of you, keep your tongue between your teeth!" a male hissed.

Sesshomaru had a shadow of a smirk gracing his lips as he recognized the voice - finally - to belong to Kazuki; the child was always so territorial and diligent with his work, so much so to the point of isolating himself from the other servants sometimes that they would even ignore his, usually, fair warnings.

"Do you think... do you think he may have a mistress?" one boldly suggested.

Sesshomaru's eyes snapped to the closed door, golden orbs narrowing. He had swiftly killed many that had delivered far lesser insults, but this one struck a rather sensitive part of him. As if he would even think of taking a mistress when he already had-

Youki suddenly flared from outside the demon lord's room, taking Sesshomaru by mild surprise and ceasing his current homocidal thoughts. A voice followed the youki flare the next moment, and the daiyoukai felt a sigh fall from behind his lips. It was both a blessing and a curse having taken Kazuki under his wing all those years ago, it seemed.

A blessing because the young male took the initiative to keep the other servants and household help in line when it would otherwise be beneath a demon the Sesshomaru's stature to deal with such things, and a curse because the still juvenile peacock idolized him to the point that the help would respond to the boy's disciplinary outbursts in one of two ways. Either they would cease whatever it was they were doing to deserve such a scolding, or they would snicker and move on to how they thought Kazuki was a little too overzealously passionate in his admiration of their High Lord Sesshomaru. The latter option was more often than not usually when the staff thought he was nowhere in earshot.

Sesshomaru sighed at the hushed response the boy's reprimanding received, and did not catch the one or two snickers that soon filtered out as Kazuki's somewhat muffled voice continued to go on about how their lord's affairs were of no business of their's and how instead of standing in the hallway all day they should be beginning their other chores, and that he, as Lord Sesshomaru's personal attendant, would call upon them when the daiyoukai was ready.

He then heard a few feet scuffling to leave, along with more giggles and whispering, and sputtering from Kazuki.

Sesshomaru completed dressing, and deciding not to bother opening his doors for his own personal amusement (it probably would have lifted his spirits a bit to do so, for he would then be able to view the startled and horrified looks his personnel would surely wear at his abrupt entrance into the conversation), he decided to instead do something he hadn't done since he was a child, and snuck out of his room via the balcony. Leaping easily over the railing like he'd seen his brother do so many times he checked the positioning of the sun and was surprised he'd slept as long as he (thought) he did.

Contemplating his options, he decided on the top two most prudent; meeting up with his sibling, and filling his belly with food. He turned left abruptly, having chartered his course toward the dining hall in hopes of meeting up with his brother for the noon meal.

However, upon his arrival he is somewhat taken aback when he finds his brother not in attendance. He had sat down as if he were going to go on with his meal alone, but in reflection that was pure and automatic reaction to habits he had long since established. Yet this time, while running on autopilot, his mind was solely taken up by the fact that his brother was missing a meal, and the noon hour one at that. As the servants began placing steaming bowls of rice and soup down before him, he stood up without a word and began walking out of the hall without so little as a word, surely leaving the staff perplexed.

Before Sesshomaru consciously realized it he was heading down the hall to his and his brother's two adjacent rooms, ready to drag the overgrown hanyou brat to partake in the meal.

Walking down one of the last two corridors to his and his sibling's rooms, the youkai felt his ire rise as he could still hear the servants arguing with Kazuki outside his room, their aggravating ruckus quelling only when he surprised them by walking around the sharp corner directly to their right and over to his brothers room.

Sesshomaru stopped abruptly in front of his sibling's door before throwing a rather nasty glare in the general direction of the group.

They shriek hysterically before scurry into his room to begin their long overdue morning chores, leaving behind one lone figure. While the person remained there it was still fairly obvious by the nervous twitching of his feathers every so often, that Kazuki was incredibly insecure under his master's daunting stare, yet still dutifully awaiting his instructions for the day.

Sesshomaru doesn't spare him a word and turns to knock on Inuyasha's door, and before he realizes it, the door opened, his hand still raised though now paused in midair.

Large brown eyes blink up at the daiyoukai before recognition of the situation dawns.

"Lord Sesshomaru! My apologies, my lord!" Mizumi says quickly, bowing and stepping out of his way.

Sesshomaru frowns, brow creasing at how uncomfortable the girl still was within his presence, despite her relationship and meaning to his little brother. Granted, such a distance was necessary when one was a leader, yet somehow the fact of her near panic attacks at the sight of him was disconcerting to him.

He noted she seemed to be finishing up with her afternoon chores of tending to Inuyasha's room; the hanyou put up one of the most irritating fights he'd ever remembered, ranting on about how, and listing who, he didn't trust enough in the castle to go through his room and clean it daily. Everyone was included in that untrustworthy list (among the servants), everyone except the servant named Mizumi.

Sesshomaru had given in merely due to the fact that he wanted to shut the hanyou up about the topic (but truly, he wished his brother to feel secure, so he'd granted Inuyasha's request to have the girl as his personal attendant, much like Kazuki was for him). He realized later that perhaps he should have had had the girl as his personal attendant as well considering how diligent and prompt she was in her duties.

The demon lord cast a thoughtful glance at the girl once more before entering Inuyasha's room, noticing her blush an attractive shade of pink.

The youkai thought to himself briefly, remembering a time a while back when his brother had scolded him for being too intimidating (though however unintentional as it may be sometimes) toward the girl, and chill the fuck out and be more relaxed around her. Granted, he was amending his brother's original statement. His had been more along the lines of, "Why do you always gotta do that? Stop being so intimidating! Why do you gotta be... too... too you?!"

Sesshomaru scowled slightly to himself. He wasn't sure how he'd go about such a thing but perhaps commenting on her job performance would be a start...

"You've dropped one," he said, burning stare briefly flickering down to the dirty linen on the floor that he'd only now just taken note of; apparently he'd stepped over it when passing her.

If possible, the girl's eyes grew larger and she tried to look to either side of the massive laundry pile she held, her face deepening from the color of a cheery blossom to that of a sunburned peach.

"I'm so sorry, my lord! I'll-!" the girl said quickly, trying to step around the sheet she'd dropped but instead got tangled up in it and began to fall.

It was pure reaction on his part when his arm shot out, catching her by the elbow before she fell completely.

"I... I..." Mizumi stammered, utterly embarrassed that her lord had to lower himself to touch a servant of her rank! She wished to pull away but regardless of whether he'd intended to grab her or not, he was the lord, and was ultimately the only one who could decide when the contact was no longer necessary.

So for now, she settled for simply flapping her mouth soundlessly and hoped her face didn't actually catch fire at this point with how hot it felt!

"Are you alright?" the demon asked, his voice deep and impassive despite the fact that his face looked annoyed (well, it always seemed to look annoyed). Mizumi's mouth snapped shut, blinking up at the daiyoukai curiously as she thought she saw something- almost like..

Sesshomaru straightened up, righting the girl slightly as he let go of her elbow once he was sure she wouldn't just crumble to the floor out of sheer embarrassment (females for some reason were very prone to such odd reactions).

"Y-yes, my lord! Thank you! You didn't have to do-"

"Mizumi!" came a reprimanding voice from behind them.

"K-Kazuki-san..." Mizumi said as she noticed him for the first time.

"You should know by now - that with how clumsy you are - to not carry so many linens at once!"

"I'm so sorry! I'll remember next time, I promise!" the girl professed sincerely toward both males.

"Now you've inconvenienced Lord Sesshomaru, and-" Kazuki went on to say, his face holding a look of arrogance, yet his eyes refusing to meet that of either Sesshomaru's, or Mizumi's.

"Kazuki," Sesshomaru said, immediately ceasing the boy's reprimand. "That will be enough."

"But, my lord!"

"Do not make yourself comparable to Jaken, Kazuki."

The boy flinched at the silent indication.

Mizumi looked between the two before bowing lowly to Sesshomaru. "Uh-m... Please forgive me, my lord. I will be more careful next time."

Sesshomaru regarded her for a moment. "I do not doubt that, Mizumi."

He turned then to glance back at Kazuki. "Your assignments for today will be canceled."

The boy sputtered and Sesshomaru had to turn around and walk into his brother's room past Mizumi in order to hide the smirk.

"Instead you will be helping Mizumi with her tasks for however long it takes to complete them all. You're to start with carrying these linens for her to the springs where you'll help her wash and hang them."

Just as the boy looked ready to say something, the demon lord added, "You ought to hurry, Kazuki; it's already noon, and while I said 'for however long it takes', my expectations for your success are set at twilight."

The boy shut his mouth and zipped forward, grabbing all of the linens and rushing down the hallway without so much as waiting for Mizumi.

Sesshomaru looked around the room, not seeing his brother anywhere... His brow scrunched. Perhaps he was in the bath?

Mizumi was sure to hear about this, but with how confused he seemed, she did what any good person would do, and threw the dog a bone. "Um, my lord?"

Sesshomaru blinked, not showing he'd been startled out of his ponderings, merely shifting his head to the side to briefly acknowledge he was listening.

"Inuyasha-san hasn't... He didn't stay in his room last night."

Sesshomaru turned and looked at her fully now, brow creased more apparently. "The linens," he prompted.

"T-Those were accumulated from other rooms, my lord, of the guests that arrived last week. I didn't have to change out Inuyasha-san's at all this morning."

He did not return to his room after they'd parted last night?

"Um... p-permission to speak freely, my lord?" At Sesshomaru's slight nod, Mizumi continued. "I do not presume to know a-anything about your personal life, my lord, but when Inuyasha-san gets upset or needs to think, he goes to spend time with Kiminari. Sometimes he even spends the night there."

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed at the mention of an unknown female's name.

Mizumi quickly caught on to his train of thought and amended herself. "K-Kiminari is a godtree, my lord!" Sesshomaru seemed to instantly release the strange tension that had been building within. "Kiminari is like the godtree located in the forest outside of Inuyasha-san's village. He has mentioned it several times, and he seems to have an odd sort of fondness for sleeping in trees, what with being a dog demon."

The High Lord's eyes grew soft at the thought of his brother, and before he realized it he was making something Mizumi could only construe as a joke, however impossible and unheard of it may have been. "Half-inuyoukai..." he instantly corrected, looking into his brother room.

"H-hai," Mizumi could only agree, wondering if she'd overstepped her boundaries.

"Perhaps... it's his human side that prefers a tree to a warm bed," came words that did not fit the earlier soft warmth he held in his voice. Now, it seemed it had melted into something far more sad, something that also seemed full of regret.

Mizumi felt her heart clench at how sad her lord sounded. "If I may, my lord? M-Maybe it's not that he prefers to sleep in trees, but... that he prefers to sleep in a warm bed... when there's a warm body beside him..."

Sesshomaru looked at her then with an expression that clearly stated how surprised he was with her reply. A few moments passed before that soft, warm glow came back to his eyes, elevating any panic attack she might have self-induced with her bold words. Though, were she honest with herself, she nearly did fall into one the next moment when she just barely caught the slight smile tugging lightly at the side of his mouth; it nearly paralyzed Mizumi in amazement (for it was thought impossible and unheard of before), and having witnessed such an event, for him to lose himself in thought so much as to share such a beautiful thing with her- whether he realized it or not-... Well, that was enough of a thank you.

"This... godtree, in which way is it found," Sesshomaru asked, his usual countenance falling back into place.

"N-Northeast, my lord," she said shortly, and - not a moment later - watched him literally disappear from in front of her as he transformed from physical form to raw energy and flew out the window.

She stood there for what felt like hours before uttering, "I've got to tell Kazuki about this! He'll never believe it!"


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Author's Notes: Not edited... (I so suck; my attention span rarely lets me look this over more than once so I apologize for suckiness), but I hope you still enjoyed it! This is my birthday present to you for me (I was born today!)... yah. lol. Will edit this chapter and last chapter while I move on to write next ch of Servant Boy.