InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Deception ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not owned by me but this idea an original

The brother's past revealed!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Kagome slowly woke up and just as slowly realized that she was not in the hut like she was supposed to be. Once she was awake enough to know she was outside, she began to realize that she was sleeping on someone. Blinking, she looked up and saw Sesshoumaru staring to space one more while deep in thought. Kagome started to shift and the dog demon shifted as well to let her up. It was only when his fur off of her that she was she remembered his small act of kindness by wrapping her in it as she cried. “Thank you Sesshoumaru,” she smiled and to her amazement, he turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye.

“You're companions are worried about you,” was all he said but the priestess didn't mind; last night he had shown her a side of him that only Rin knew existed.

“Kagome!” Shippo jumped into her arms, “where were you? We were worried about you!” Kagome mentally snorted at that because she somehow doubted that Inuyasha had been worried about her.

“I fell asleep trying to convince Sesshoumaru to come inside,” she lied but everyone seemed to buy it.

“Why do you care about that jackass so much?” Inuyasha demanded.

“Because I do,” she replied shortly. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo looked at each other with worried expressions and all hoped Kagome wasn't picking up some of the more undesirable personality traits of a certain dog lord.

I hope that is not the case Miroku thought and looked out the window as where Sesshoumaru was still sitting.

The journey to the unknown destination was a silent and awkward one. No one could pry out of Sesshoumaru where they were going and it looked like the demon was going out of his way to ignore Inuyasha. Really, the only one who seemed immune to the situation was Rin who ran around her lord, happily singing. It amused almost everyone in the group to watch this cheery little girl run around her protector and to watch said protector navigate so as not to hit her.

“I'm getting of that kid singing,” Inuyasha grumbled.

“You will simply have to learn to tolerate it little brother,” Sesshoumaru replied shortly. Sesshoumaru would ignore Inuyasha unless it involved Rin and then Sesshoumaru wouldn't let you out of sight. Inuyasha mumbled something under his breath but there was no reaction from the demon lord. The only sound was Rin singing.

“Shut the hell up!” Inuyasha yelled at the little girl. Rin stopped singing and even stopped moving out of shock. No one had ever told her to shut up before. Jaken moved just in time to get out of his lord's way. Sesshoumaru had Tokijin drawn and brought it down on the half demon that had been foolish enough to try and upset Rin. Another battle between brothers had begun,

“So Kagome, why are you mad at Inuyasha?” Sango asked. Kagome teared a bit and told them everything she saw and heard Inuyasha and Kikyo talk about. She told them that she been crying on Sesshoumaru most of the night but intentionally left out the bit of kindness he had shown her.

“That's horrible!” Shippo whispered fiercely before glancing at the still battling brothers. The group almost wished it was Sesshoumaru's personality was contagious.

“Inuyasha doesn't know that I know,” Kagome warned and the rest nodded, this had to be kept a secret from Inuyasha. The fight ended and Sesshoumaru was once again the victor of the two.

“Naraku seems to have changed his tactics,” Miroku commented.

“I wonder what he is planning now,” Sango wondered out loud. Despite the fact that they could hold their own against the fake half demon, they all silently hoped that where they were going had an army behind them.

All were of the Inugroup were in awe when they saw the building that was the destination of the journey Sesshoumaru had taken them on.

“Wow!” Shippo was right on the edge of the basket, “what a place!”

“Calm down Shippo,” Shippo giggled, “you aren't even inside yet!”

“What is this place called?” Sango asked?

“It's called the `Heavenly Palace' by the locals,” Jaken explained and looked very happy to see the massive building. They group watched as people bowed when Sesshoumaru walked past them.

We're in the west! Kagome thought excitedly. A pair of demons stopped in front of Sesshoumaru and bowed, “your council is needed at once my lord,” one replied and waited for orders.

Sesshoumaru looked at the demon who hadn't spoken, “see to it they are given proper accommodations.” The demon nodded and Sesshoumaru was led away to where he was needed.

The other demon turned to see everyone that did not know him staring at him. “Shikobira!” Rin cried out happily and ran into his arms.

“Hey kiddo!” the demon picked up the girl, “you're getting big.” Everyone stared in awe as Rin chattered away to the light brown haired demon that was no longer paying attention. “Well, as Rin said, my name is Shikobira and welcome to the heavenly Palace,” he greeted and began to lead the way to a set of extremely large old oak doors.

“Why is everything so big?” Shippo asked.

Shikobira chuckled, “this building was built to house dog demons in their true form.” He stopped to pull open the doors. What greeted them were hoards of creatures, human and demon alike, walking through the halls. “But that was long ago,” he continued, “now it's barely more than a very large inn.”

“What happened to the dog demons that used to live here?” Kagome asked.

“They died and because dog demons all over Japan were dying, few came to fill the rooms,” he answered and navigated them through the halls and through the people.

“So why make it an inn?” Sango asked.

“More money was leaving the west than entering so Sesshoumaru had it converted into an inn in hopes of bringing money back in,” Shikobira lanced at the beings all around them, “you can see just how successful his idea was.”

“So that's how the building got its name” Myoga mused, “I was always curious.”

“Hardly,” Shikobira laughed, “I'm afraid the answer is much simpler. The reason it's called the `Heavenly Palace' is because the flowers that the grow on the walls only bloom at night and to look at the place at night gives people the impression that they are looking at the gods' palace.”

“Still a good reason I'm assuming,” Myoga shrugged and Shikobira nodded. Shippo and the others weren't really sure how to feel. The palace was teeming with people almost to the point of overflowing.

“I'm glad Sess opened it up as an inn. This place was eerie when it was almost empty,” Shikobira laughed.

Kagome paused, “did you just call Sesshoumaru `Sess'?”

“Yeah, Sess only let three people call him that and I'm the only one who does,” the demon shrugged, “Sess and I go way back.”

“I heard stories that Lord Sesshoumaru had a childhood friend,” Myoga commented, “but that would make you a mixed breed.”

“Shikobira nodded, “half wolf demon, half dog demon.” It was only now that the group took a good look at the demon guiding them. They saw his light brown hair that was cut so it was barely above his shoulders and the deep brown eyes with gold rimmed irises. As demon go, he was an average height and just a head shorter than the demon lord himself.

“So how did you come to meet Sesshoumaru?” Kagome asked.

“My brother Kiba and I lived with our father in his pack until I was five. The only tolerated us because of our father and after he died, we were banished,” he started and turned into an emptier hallway, “by some stroke of luck, we managed to find our mother. Sess's father was going to cast us out but Sess spoke out for us on our behalf. The other children looked down on us but Sess didn't, so the three of us started to hang out together. None of us even realized it until much later that we had become close friends.”

“What about now? How can you put up with that bastard?” Inuyasha asked.

“Sess has always had some ice around the edges,” Shikobira shrugged, “I can't picture him without it.”

“So he's always that icicle?” Miroku questioned.

“There was a time when he didn't have it but humans changed that,” he answered.

“How did they do that?” Shippo enquired.

Shikobira shook his head, “this is something only he can answer.” The group was slightly disappointed that Shikobira couldn't tell them.

He knows. I know he does but he won't tell us Kagome thought to herself, and so the mystery surrounding Sesshoumaru becomes a little thicker. Kagome sighed and then gasped when she saw the rooms. Each room was the very definition of luxury; with hard wood floors, large oak wardrobes, and a marble fireplace.

“These are our rooms?” Sango asked in awe

“Yup, unfortunately they are the only two rooms left because of the upcoming celebration,” Shikobira apologized.

“What celebration?” Shippo requested anxiously.

“The Celebration of Rebirth. It used to be a time when usurpers could challenge the current ruler but now it's just a sparring match for young males. It just isn't sparring though, there's a huge breakfast, all sorts of entertainment, a twilight dance, and fireworks at midnight,” the wolfdog explained.

“When is this celebration?” Shippo could barely contain his excitement.

“In a couple of days,” he shrugged, “it's something people from all over come to take part in.” Shikobira left after that to let the group explore their new surroundings.

“We're not staying for the celebration,” Inuyasha ordered.

That's what you think Kagome mentally smirked and laid down on one of the futons to let everything sink in. She didn't get to long because soon there was an argument going about who would sleep where. Miroku wanted to sleep with Sango (obviously) and Sango wanted no part in that and Inuyasha wanted to stay near Kagome. The priestess sighed a little and sat up, “Miroku and Inuyasha will get the other room,” she stated and flopped back onto the small mattress. Inuyasha and Miroku weren't happy and were even less happy when they were shoved out of the room and the door shut behind them. Shippo was already exploring the wardrobe and getting filthy in the fireplace.

Sango laughed a little when Kilala decided to join, “you both are going to get filthy.” Kagome looked over and laughed a little herself before wondering of there was any place to bathe. The demon slayer seemed to be thinking the same thing because she stuck her head out of the door to see if there was a place to bathe. “Would have been nice for Shikobira to tell us where the bath is,” she sighed.

Kagome stood up, “I remember passing one on the way here.” She grabbed some towels from her backpack and led the way to the bath. Of course it was a public bath but there were screens separating each one. “This is more like a bath house!” Kagome could hardly believe it.

“It is a bath house,” a servant meekly replied from beside them, “Lord Sesshoumaru was convinced to have one built because the council believed it would help attract customers.” The servant kept her head bowed, “this way please.” She led them to an open bath and left a small bucket of herbs beside the bath if they wanted to add any to the hot water.

Kagome, Sango, and Shippo slid into the water and felt the stress simply melt away. “I could get used to this,” Kagome sighed happily and grabbed some of the herbs and tossed them into the water.

Sango nodded, “it is nice to spoiled every now and then isn't it?” Shippo wasn't even paying attention to them because he was happily floating around in the water and adding herbs to the water. A servant came by later and gathered their dirty clothing silently and left some yukatas (if I remember right, these are japanse bathrobes) for the customers after they left the soothing waters.

“How can Sesshoumaru be wound so tight if he lives here?” Shippo lifted his head up to look at Sango and Kagome.

“I'm sure he has his reasons,” Kagome laughed but she too was having trouble finding a reason.

It was at least an hour before the three decided to leave the comforting waters and put on their yukatas. Heading back to their room, they discovered their clothes to be neatly drying by a window and three kimonos folded and waiting to be worn. “They really do pamper you here don't they?” Sango was impressed and dried herself off.

Kagome nodded, “I guess its all part of the whole `inn' appeal.” She dressed into her kimono and was shocked to discover that it was made of a durable silk, “they probably could just sell these kimonos and get a lot.”

“More than likely,” Sango was also impressed by the durability of the silk as she watched Shippo run around in the kimono. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

When it was opened, a servant stood there bowing, “excuse me, but it is time for dinner, if you would follow me to the Great Hall please.” The three nodded and followed the servant but could smell the delicious food from where they were.

Why would anyone want to leave this? Kagome wondered but she had yet to learn of the secrets the Heavenly palace possessed.