InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A New Twist ❯ Playing Games ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I do not now nor have I ever owned Inu-Yasha or Inu-Yasha characters. Though I think I may kidnap them one day and lock them in my basement. I do own Ether and Lilly so far though…and this little pencil, and my computer, and my pets, and …:: babbles on::

 

Chapter 5

 

It had been two days already since Sesshomaru had brought Ether to his castle and already she was bored to death. She had explored with Rin, gone through a couple of the gardens, watched Lilly create beautiful kimonos and gowns for her to wear, picked flowers, chased Rin, and other random activities. One thing she hadn't really done was talk to Sesshomaru. During the two days she had been there, she had never once seen Sesshomaru. And she had never been given back her locket. When Ether had asked Jaken where Lord Sesshomaru was he had informed her that the lord had some important business to take care of that involved a certain wolf clan.

Ether sighed softly as she sat in one of the large high back chairs in her sitting room. She would have never imagined being in a huge beautiful castle could be boring. She frowned, where was Kagome and Inu-Yasha? `At least they are out doing something,' Ether murmured mentally. She had a deck of cards spread out in front of her in a game of solitaire. She sighed as she glared down at the cards. She was stuck again, unable to make a single move. She swept up the cards and shuffled them again. She started to lie out another game when there was a knock on the door leading into the hall. “Come in.” she called out, moving the first card, a red ten onto a black jack. She then flipped over the card that had been under the ten. Lilly walked in with an arm load of folded kimonos. Ether frowned slightly; she was making an awful lot for her. She continued to frown slightly as she thought about why she would be making so many kimonos and gowns. “Hey Lilly,” she said, deciding to get back to her game. She moved a black two to a red three and flipped over a card.

Lilly frowned as she walked in, her eight legs moving quickly. She set the kimonos down on a table and walked over to Ether. “Why do you say hay in greeting? Hay is for horses.”

“And straw is cheaper.” Ether said, looking up from her game. She noticed a blank confused expression in Lilly's face. “Sorry…it's a saying back home. `Hay is for horses and straw is cheaper.” Ether shook her head. “Anyway, is that the last of all the clothes you're making? I'm not going to be here forever so…it does seem like a lot.” Ether said, setting down the card she had picked up.

Lilly tore her gaze away from the strange things in Ether's hand. “I'm afraid Lord Sesshomaru asked for me to make you as many gowns and kimonos as I possibly could.” She said softly.

Ether sighed. She already had enough to last her a lifetime! The closet in her room was already filling up with kimonos and gowns of various colors and patterns, and a few other outfits that looked more for running around and training in. In fact she was wearing one of the looser kimonos now, since Lilly had insisted. It was crimson red and it made the golden swirl on her cheek stand out easily.

“What are you doing?” Lilly asked, watching as Ether moved another sheet of scroll, except that it was harder then a scroll and not as flimsy.

“I'm playing solitaire to stop boredom.” Ether said lightly. Then it dawned on her that people in the Feudal time probably didn't have playing cards. “Do you know what playing cards are?” she asked curiously.

“Playing what?” Lilly frowned and reached out for one of the `cards'. She lifted it up and sniffed it. It smelled like ink and paper.

“That, a playing card.”

Lilly turned it this way and that, looking at the double-headed lady on one side and the checker pattern on the other. “I have never seen one before.”

Ether nodded understanding. She then grinned mischievously; a little hyper with all the pent up energy that had been that had been building up over all the time she had been in her room. “Do you want to play a card game?” she asked excitedly.

Lilly looked at the cards with interest. “What kind of card game? And what would I do?”

Ether laughed and the suspicion in Lilly's voice. “Don't worry, it's just go fish. It's really easy to learn.” With that Ether stared explaining the rules and how to play to Lilly.

 

It had been over an hour before they both realized how long they had been playing cards. They were both laughing and during the time Rin had come in and the three of them had started playing a couple new games. They were just ending with go fish. “Do you have an 8?” Ether asked Rin. Ether thought this would be a great way to help teach Rin how to recognize numbers. It was a good thing she got the deck in Japanese instead of English like she had been planning.

“This is an 8 right?” Rin asked, holding up a card with 8 little diamonds.

Ether nodded and Lilly beamed. “That's right Rin! That's an 8. And with this we end the game. Lets count up our pairs.” She said looking down at her neatly piled cards.

Lilly was counting her pairs and Ether was helping Rin when the tall silver haired Dog Demon Lord walked in.

“What is going on in here?” He asked calmly and evenly.

Lilly got up from her sitting position and bowed low to the lord. Rin jumped up happily and hugged Sesshomaru around his arm.

Ether awkwardly stood and bowed to the Lord. Lilly gave her a strange look but didn't say anything.

“I will not ask again. What is going on in here?” Sesshomaru asked, glancing down at Rin, who was still very attached to his one arm.

Ether laughed nervously. “I was just teaching them a card game.” She said, not sure on how she would explain what a card game was.

“Lady Ether was teaching us how to go fishing and Rin was doing very well!” Rin grinned and danced around the room, letting go of Sesshomaru's arm in the process.

Sesshomaru looked to Ether for a better explanation. Ether tried to smile warmly, but for some reason she had become very shy and nervous. “It's called go fish and well…it's just a game that teaches how to count and recognize numbers.” She said, playing with the tip of her long hair. He was looking at her strangely, not even blinking.

“Lilly, Rin, you may leave us.” Sesshomaru ordered, not unkindly or harshly.

Lilly bowed and left the room, quickly followed by Rin.

Sesshomaru watched Ether as she gathered up the so called cards and placed them in a little box. “Did this Sesshomaru give you permission to teach Rin numbers? Or to stop Lilly from her work?” he asked seriously. He looked at the cards with interest for a moment. He had been watching their game for some time and had been getting jealous that Lilly and Rin had been getting all the attention from Ether. He frowned inwardly. Why had he gotten jealous of Rin and Lilly exactly? Ether was the sister of his brother's bitch; he shouldn't be interested in her. He growled softly and reached out to grab Ether's wrist when she tried to put the cards away from view. “You will teach this Sesshomaru these cards.” He said softly, looking down into Ether's gaze. He again frowned inwardly. Those amber eyes reminded him of someone he hadn't thought about in a long time. His first real love, whom had died before either he or her had reached mating age.

Ether gulped softly and shivered slightly as she felt his hand on her wrist. What would she teach him? Not go fish, which was for little kids.

“I wish for you to teach me something you have not yet taught Lilly or Rin.” He said, averting his gaze to an empty chair. “Sit.” He commanded as he himself took a seat.

Ether didn't say anything as she thought about what he would be interested in learning. Then she suddenly got an image of the painting of a bunch of dogs playing poker. That image was too funny to ignore. “How about poker?” she asked with a big grin.

Sesshomaru looked at her confused. “Poke her? That does not sound like a game.” He said, still looking confused.
Ether giggled softly, her dark amber eyes lighting up slightly. “Not poke her, Poker. It's a card game that I learned in the orphanage.” She said, her voice getting soft at the word orphanage.

Sesshomaru noticed this change and reached out to pick up the cards in his hand to try and distract her from her thoughts. “Explain the game then. I grow impatient.” It wasn't true. The truth was he was really enjoying her company, even if it was for her to teach him something.

Ether smiled and took the cards back to shuffle them. “Poker is really easy. Each person gets five cards. Then each person has to try and arrange them in a way that would make them win the round. You can have pairs, that's when two cards are the same, triples, that's when three cards are the same, runs, that when you have cards that count up like 4 5 6 7 8, and royal flush, that's when you have cards of all the same suite. I think there's also a full house but that's sort of like a run.”(if you know more about poker, please tell me in a review) She hadn't played in awhile so it was difficult to remember all the ways to win. She started to show him examples. She placed down two fives. “This is a pair.” She pulled out three threes “This is a triple.” She then pulled out a 4 5 6 7 8 “Like I said, that's a run.” She then pulled out 5 hearts “And that is a royal flush. Each person gets five cards and one chance to exchange those cards. After I deal you five cards you choose the cards you want to keep and discard up to 3 of them. If you have an ace you want to discard then you can discard 4. I will then give you an equal amount back and we compare our cards to see who wins.” She said looking up and gathering the cards back up. “Does that make sense?”

Sesshomaru nodded and then took the cards from her. “Explain what each card is.” He said, pulling out one with an “A” and a lady with two heads.

“Alright,” Ether told him exactly which card was which every time he pulled on out to show her. After awhile he understood the rules and handed her the cards back.

“This game intrigues this Sesshomaru.” He said with a wicked grin. “It is a betting game I would guess.”
Ether looked at him shocked. “Yeah, it is a betting game. Usually people bet with money or just random things,” like clothes, she thought to herself with a sudden blush. Clothes had never been a betting object at the orphanage…though some of the older kids did joke about it.

Sesshomaru nodded and motioned for her to shuffle. “Let us play then.”

Ether shuffled and then dealt the cards. Sesshomaru was confused at first, but after a couple rounds of losing, and some very angry glares at the cards, which made him look like a very silly puppy, he finally caught on. By the end of the tenth game Sesshomaru was very smug and didn't want to stop playing.
“This truly is a very interesting game.” He said as he placed two cards down and received two more cards.

By this time Ether was cursing softly to herself. For some odd reason he always seemed to get just the cards he wanted. Then it hit her…he was counting the cards. “You're counting the cards! You're cheating!” she said in shock. How could he count the cards when he just started to play?

Sesshomaru frowned. “You said nothing about `counting cards' and I am simply using mathematical calculations to figure out what I need and don't need.”

“Yeah, that's counting cards!” Ether then laughed happily. “Wow, who would have thought a Feudal time Demon Lord would count cards!”

Sesshomaru looked at her strangely, and that just sent her into more gales of laughter.

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Ok then, 5th chapter is up and ready for reviews!!!!! I hope people enjoy the image of Sesshomaru trying to learn to play Poker. I know I did when I imagined him in the picture with all the dogs :: Snickers:: ANYWAY. I got One ONE review for the 4 previous chapters so I shall continue to update. Though I would like more reviews…did I mention I want more reviews?