InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bound to Tomorrow ❯ Private, Courtly Things ( Chapter 20 )

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Sesshoumaru had vanished along the way to the castle within a gaggle of servants, politicians, and noblemen. The moment his brother had stepped past the charred front gate they had descended upon him. At first he had thought that his brother would swat the simpering humans away like flies but instead the proud demon began to speak with them; ferreting orders to panicked civilians with almost practiced ease. InuYasha would never have believed the sight of his anti-social half-brother speaking with them if he hadn't seen it just then with his own eyes. And then, just as he was being mind boggled,  the great demon vanished within the crowd; swept away to gods knew where.
"So... where the hell is my bastard of a brother anyway?" InuYasha grumped, his claws idly scratched at the base of his left ear.
Kagome squinted into the throng of people. "I have no idea... he's not exactly difficult to spot."
The sound of someone clearing their throat drew their attention. Jaken had appeared suddenly beside them his huge bug eyes blinked slowly back at them, bloodshot from several days without sleep.
"The master is busy at the moment. He instructs me to take you to your quarters." He seemed less than enthused with the task he had been assigned, as if it was beneath him.
"What the hell, Jaken?" InuYasha snapped, "I thought we were supposed to get some answers? Now he's left us?"
The frog-faced demon rolled his eyes. "As you can see, the castle is in a bit of disarray at the moment. Lord Sesshoumaru will find you when he is ready to speak with you."
"Keh! Forget it then, I'm going back to camp!" The hanyou grunted and turned to leave. Kagome placed a hand on his arm to give him pause.
"Hold on, InuYasha, let's wait... besides, Jaken said he had something to treat that gunk you and Shippo have been coughing up." Her dark eyes turned towards the lesser demon, cold and piercing. "Right, Jaken?"
Jaken shivered under her cold stare and her icy voice. "Y-yes ma'am!" He spluttered "P-please, this way."
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"This stuff tastes like shit." InuYasha huffed. He sat cross-legged next to Shippo and sipped gingerly from a mug of gods-awful tea.
"Totally." Shippo commiserated. Jaken had ushered them into a tatami room near by where they now sat and drank the tinctures provided by the imp demon.  
"Drink. It. Up." Kagome drilled. She loomed over them, arms crossed stiffly over her chest.
Sango thumped Hirakotsu against the floor behind them. It made an ominous "whump" sound with each tap that made the two unruly demons wince. Kagome had already sat InuYasha twice before he cooperated. Shippo sported a few lumps on the head for his lack of cooperation as well.
Miroku sighed and shook his head "This would all go much faster if you simply got it over with and downed the whole thing."
"I'd like to see you drink this crap any faster." The hanyou shot back. Shippo nodded in silent agreement.
"He will get the chance, master Miroku." The sound of Jaken's voice drew all eyes to the entrance to the tatami room. The imp shuffled into the room bearing a tray of mugs. As he passed them out he talked. "I apologize for the delay, but we had to alter the recipe to accommodate humans. These will help you expel the soot from your chests the same way they will help those two." He sniffed dismissively at InuYasha and Shippo.
InuYasha growled back his lack of appreciation for his snub. Shippo burst into fits of laughter. "Ha! Now you have to drink it too!"
Not wanting to show weakness, Kagome and Sango both grabbed their mugs without another word and downed the contents immediately. Kagome quickly realized that the two had not exaggerated the taste. It was awful. Yet, she kept her poker face in place the entire time, as did Sango. They couldn't show the boys any weakness. They would easily try and use the knowledge to guilt them the next time something for their own good came up.
InuYasha scowled at them. Shippo's face wrinkled into a look of shock and disgust. They always had to prove a point. It was so unfair! Jaken's alarmed squawk brought his attention to the other side of the room where Miroku was bent over a small potted plant. He appeared to be surreptitiously trying to pour his drink into the pot. Jaken had apparently caught him in the act of doing so and chattered chastisingly at him.
"Sir Miroku, please don't pour that out. You must drink your potion! It is for your own benefit! If you are not all up to peak physical fitness the Master will have my head!"
Miroku blinked back at him and smiled benevolently, "My good sir, I was only admiring this lovely bonsai over here, why, just the other day I--"
*Blam!* Sango's boomerang slammed into her husband's skull with a resounding thump. The monk crumbled to the floor, his wife followed him down. With a deft sweep of her hand and a turn of her hips the monster slayer had the monk pinned to the floor with the mug in hand. She quickly proceeded to pinch he husband's nose, waited for the inevitable gasp from him when he ran out of air, then dumped the contents of the drink down his throat. He gurgled and thrashed as she bellowed "SWALLOW IT!" Finally, he gulped and went limp.
"So cruel, my love." Miroku moaned from the floor, moments later.
Sango rolled her eyes and rose to her feet. She primly pressed the folds of her kimono back in place. Kagome shrugged. Shippo, InuYasha, and Jaken looked on in terror. There was a period of awkward silence, then Kagome asked. "So, Jaken, what does this stuff we drank do, exactly?"
Jaken blinked stupidly at the miko. "Do wha...?" Then he shook himself, "Ah, yes, that. Well, it should help you expel the rest of that soot in your lungs safely. You will likely cough a little bit more for a while but it should all be gone in a day or so."
Kagome pursed her lips, a second thought bothered her. "Will we still be able to tend the dead and help the injured?"
"Ah. Yes, miko, my Lord encourages your help as much as possible but requests you return to the castle at night." He nodded emphatically, then added. "Except for the occasional cough the potion won't hinder your work in the slightest."
"May I inquire as to why, exactly we are here, Jaken?" Miroku spoke from the floor, he had rolled onto his side, a bent elbow helped prop his head against his fist. He acted as though his wife had not just assaulted him mere minutes before. Instead he appeared to be merely bored and lying down for respite.
Jaken was silent. It was easy to see the wheels turning in his little green head. InuYasha growled in irritation. Whatever his bastard brother wanted couldn't be anything good if his most loyal (and cowardly) subject was reluctant to answer.
“We-well, you see... ah... the Master...” The imp lapsed into silence again. Clearly re-thinking just how to phrase exactly what it was he wanted to say.
“This one would like to offer you a job.” The sound of Sesshoumaru's voice gave everyone a start. Jaken gave an appreciative bleat, relieved to have been spared explanation.
“Offer?” InuYasha scoffed. “Why the hell would you offer anything to a worthless half-demon like me?” To Kagome, the faint hint of bitterness that tinted his words was obvious.
“This Sesshoumaru offers this job on the behest of another one.” His palatable boredom was apparent in his droll, rolling speech, as if he were asking a maid to fold his laundry.
“Oh really? And who would that be?” InuYasha spat back.
“Me, my Lord.” Rin spoke as she shuffled out from behind Sesshoumaru's back. InuYasha noted the way the great demon bristled when she appeared and the way he released his arms from the fold of his robe, akimbo, a loose stance of readiness. Then Rin's scent hit him. Shippo beat him to the punch.
“Rin! You've got a kit!”
Sango gaped openly. Kagome gasped in shock. Miroku looked confused.
InuYasha, of course, broke the ice in the worst possible way. “You let her get knocked up?” He sniffed the air again. His eyes widened. “It's yours?” His voice was incredulous.
“You...” Shippo joined in. “...With a human? But I thought you hated humans?”
“This Sesshoumaru can do whatever he wishes.” The demon lord rumbled.
Rin's cheeks turned a shade of pink, even as she turned up her chin and replied. “What's wrong with my being a human, anyway?”
“Nothing's wrong!” Kagome interjected. Her eyes turned pointedly towards her husband. “We... ah... We're just surprised... that's all...” She fumbled.
“Tch! Idiot. You should have waited to whelp her.” InuYasha shook his head, his claws on his hips. “We're not even going to think about pups until a safer time period...”
“InuYasha!” Kagome hissed. The blood rushed to her cheeks in an instant.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. “A safer time period...?”
“Ah...well... Kagome, you know. She has visions. You see.” Miroku broke in quickly as he shot the hanyou a dirty look.  
“Visions of the future?” Sesshoumaru queried.
Kagome shot her husband a withering look, to which he winced in apology. “Ah... Yes, I do. Sort of...”
Sesshoumaru nodded for her to continue. “It's not perfect... I don't...” She hesitated. Sure, she could predict what could happen in history, but as Noboru had proven, what was in the history textbooks she had poured over in high school and what had happened in reality were two things entirely. “The details are very foggy.”
“But you could divine to this one something that happens, say, fifty years from today?”
Kagome did not like where this line of questioning was going. InuYasha intercepted.
“Oi, she doesn't know everything. Okay? It's only the major stuff—...”
“--And it can't change history.” Kagome added. “If it does then... what I see won't come true... and the visions... they'll stop.”
Kagome looked to her husband. Technically, what she said was the truth, so she hoped Sesshoumaru couldn't smell any deception off of her. One look to the hanyou and she had her answer. His small nod of approval brought a wash of relief over her heart.
Miroku's polite cough brought their attention back to the monk. “Lord Sesshoumaru, you didn't call us here to speak of Kagome's vague visions, did you not?”
The great demon shook his head in the negative.
“You wish for us to guard Rin, perhaps?” Miroku queried.
Sesshoumaru scoffed. “This one wishes no such thing. This one's mate requested it.”
Rin nodded and stepped forward. Her brightly-colored kimono's silken whispers followed. “Lord Sesshoumaru can bully and scare his way into getting me some protection but I'd much prefer the company of friends.
“Are you in immediate danger?” Sango queried.
Rin shook her head. “No, Lady Sango, not directly...not overtly...”
“But seeing as Lord Sesshoumaru has many enemies it seems wise that the girl might be guarded by those she trusts.” Jaken interjected. “And, since she refuses to leave while Edo is rebuilt...” He shot a critical eye at the woman to remind her of how little he thought of her decision. “... We need those we can trust more than ever to watch her through this... time.”
“Hmph! I just think that the castle should be rebuilt last. That's all. My Lord thinks we should make the politicians happy here first... not the common folk.”
“This one wonders what the miko thinks of my Rin's decision?” He turned his golden eyes back to Kagome, an eyebrow raised.
Internally, she cursed. The great demon surely wouldn't forget that she knew of the future. Still, if he obeyed what she had to say; and what, exactly must happen for history to properly unfold. It couldn't hurt...
“Ah, Rin's correct. Edo should be repaired before the castle. At least, that's the way I saw it.” She hedged.
The great demon sighed and swept out of the room. “As you say, miko. Jaken, make arrangements for our guests. I must see to the city builder that my will is done.”
“Hey wait a second!” InuYasha took a step forward. “We never said we were stayin'!”
Sesshoumaru never looked back at him as he walked away. “So you would abandon this one's request? I thought you more honorable than that... perhaps I was wrong...?”
InuYasha had no time to argue back. The great Lord was gone.
“Damn it!” He squatted down onto the floor and punched his fist into the tatami. The mat beneath his fist dented slightly but was otherwise unharmed. Kagome noted that he hadn't really tried to hit it that hard, which meant he wasn't that angry about their situation. He sighed and looked up at his wife wearily. “So I guess that means we're staying, huh?”