InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dog and Dragon ❯ Taking Leave ( Chapter 11 )

He had decided. He could not remain in the West for the entire duration of their leave from the battlefront. His mind swirled with thoughts of what could have been going on in the Eastern Shiro while he was away. While he was away, it was the job of his many advisors and courtiers to make sure things in the Shiro ran smoothly. These were the same people that would whisper rumors about him while his back was turned. They were his father's noblemen. After his father met his end they had turned their services to the son, but not their loyalties. He couldn't trust them for so long.
It was a lie, and he knew it.
While it was true many of them disliked Ryuukotsusei in comparison to his father before him, he could trust them with his Shiro. They may not have liked him as a man, but they recognized him as a Lord and protector. It was not for fear of his Lands that he was leaving, no matter how much he tried to convince himself that it was. He had left his court to its own devices for much longer stretches than this.
It was them. It was the sound of his friend's laughter, of their son barking orders at servants like the little lordling he was. It was beginning to eat at him from the inside. He couldn't take it anymore. Their happiness was driving him mad. But most of all it was the Lady.
Dear Kami, the Lady.
His visions of her were changing, and he did not like it at all. He could not have it. Not of his friend's wife.
He found them in the garden, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of them. They stood embracing each other among the barren trees, the snow falling around them in a delicate veil. He shuddered, and it had nothing to do with the cold. He felt like some sort of voyeur. He approached them and cleared his throat. They turned to face him, the smiles fading from their faces.
"I will be taking my leave," Ryuukotsusei said.
"Leave?" the Lady asked. "Your visit was such a short one, My Lord."
"I believe it would be best if I spent a few days time in the East before we return to battle," he said.
Touga opened his mouth to speak, but Ryuukotsusei did not wait for him. He gathered himself into a ball of youki, releasing his body into its true draconic form once he was high above the clouds.
To his dismay, the miles he put between himself and the West did nothing to quell his restless thoughts.