InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride ❯ Chapter 2

 

Sesshoumaru growled low, angry and annoyed as he paced back and forth inside the walls of the dojo his father had trained him in. The dream still haunted him. His father's words echoing inside his mind at every waking moment. That final wish, protect your brother and his mother, if he could rid the memory from his mind he would. What his father had said about his mother.

 

That was really the issue wasn't it? The inu youkai stopped cold in his tracks and stood staring out the window at the snow falling over the lands. He couldn't truly remember his mother. Only flashes of disjointed images that made no sense to him. Glassy golden eyes that seemed somehow maddening; a woman in chains beckoning him to come closer as he crawled across a cold stone floor; angry screams that he wished to never hear again in his lifetime. Who was she? Who was his mother?

 

Rei. Yes, Sesshoumaru nodded to himself. Rei still worked in the castle. She had once been a personal servant to his mother. She could tell him the truth of his mother, of who she really was. Breathing in deeply, Sesshoumaru nodded to himself curtly once before leaving the dojo in search of the dove youkai.

 

Stopping a maid that bowed to him as she made to move past him in the hall, Sesshoumaru commanded her to take him to Rei. He followed the squirrel youkai down several different hallways until she stopped beside a door hidden deep in the shadows of a darkened hall rarely ever used.

 

“Rei-chan rarely leaves her room. She is not what she once was,” Makoto said softly before bowing low and returning to her tasks.

 

Tapping softly on the door, Sesshoumaru waited patiently for an answer from within. Moments passed by slowly, as he raised his bent knuckles to knock again the door opened slightly. Placing his snowy palm on the door Sesshoumaru pushed it slowly open and walked into the small room cast in shadows.

 

“My lord,” a strained whisper greeted from his right.

 

Turning to face the voice his eyes widened slightly before once again gaining the appearance of not caring. He remembered Rei to be beautiful, her voice as smooth as a summer stream. What had happened? Who was this scarred and broken creature before him?

 

“I offer my apologies my lord. My voice is not what it once was,” she said straining to be heard.

 

“I command you to speak freely, without hesitation and no fear of retribution - none will come.” He waited until she nodded her understanding before continuing. “First, tell me what happened to you. I remember you differently than this.”

 

“Please my lord,” Rei whispered. “The only seat I've available to offer you is my futon, so I ask you not be offended by the offer. The story is long and not a pleasant one,” she broke off coughing harshly. “Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely when a cup of water was placed in her hands.

 

Sesshoumaru sat on the floor and waited for her to tell him her tale.

 

“Kari, my lord, your mother, she was not well,” Rei spoke after a long drink of her water. “If not for your father, I would be dead and gone.”

 

 

 

“Rei come here,” a beautiful silver haired inu youkai commanded darkly.

 

“Yes my lady,” Rei said bowing low and waiting for her lady's command.

 

“What do you think of Lord Toga?” the woman asked as she ran her claws back and forth across the top of her vanity slowly, methodically. “Speak freely.”

 

“He is kind, my lady. Fair and just.”

 

“You find him attractive?” Kari raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

 

The look on the youkai's face made the feathers on the dove youkai's wings twitch and ruffle. This line of questioning was beginning to worry her, it seemed a very dangerous terrain to attempt to cross.

 

“He is not unattractive,” Rei hedged carefully.

 

Moving too fast to be seen, Rei found herself thrown across the room, four deep gashes cut into her face from temple across her face to the opposite side of her jaw. The cuts burned painfully; there had been poison in those claws. Looking up frightened as the inu approached her, Rei scooted closer to the wall trying to hide.

 

“Are you sleeping with my mate?” Kari asked her voice even though her lip curled in a snarl, her fangs bared.

 

“No!” Rei denied helpless against the mistress of the lands.

 

“Do not lie to me!” she screeched, her eyes wild as red seeped into their edges.

 

“I'm not!” Rei cried out, grunting in pain as she was kicked across the room.

 

“Why do you lie to me?! You're nothing but a worthless servant!”

 

Kari continued to beat and slash at the dove youkai with her claws and feet. Rei wasn't certain how long the abuse had gone on until she had passed out, but when she awoke she found herself lying in her bed, Lord Toga at her side, his eyes sad and angry.

 

“I'm so sorry Rei,” he spoke to her and she could hear the pain in his voice. “She is mad I've no way to help her. I tried to use Tenseiga but it refused to heal your wounds.”

 

“No,” Toga said, laying a hand gently on the once beautiful dove youkai's shoulder. “Don't try to speak. She clawed your throat…the truth is Rei; you may never have the ability to speak again. I should not have left her with her roaming free.”

 

Lord Toga watched as she made a movement with her uninjured hand and then drew a character into the floor with her claw.

 

“Adultery? She thought you and I?” he growled low. “Even if something had occurred between us she had no right to do what she did. You may remain here in this castle until you no longer wish to. You are not a servant anymore. You are free to do as you please.” Bowing his head Toga breathed in deeply before looking into the doves hazel eyes once more. “Please accept my apologies and know that she will be dealt with.”

 

 

 

“It was less than a moon later,” Rei said sadly, “that your mother was killed.”

 

“Tell me. How did my mother treat me?” Sesshoumaru asked carefully trying not to let his emotions show.

 

“You, my lord,” she said sadly, a tear slipping from her unscarred eye, “were nothing more than a means to an end to her. If she had not produced an heir, than the late lord could have rejected her and taken another mate. However if she produced on and he died, she would gain everything upon his death. Only six moons after she birthed you, did she first try to kill you. I stopped her the first time, your father did not know about it. The second time he caught her in the act. The fourth time, he had no choice but to kill her. She was trying to use her poison on you, to kill you. But as a male poison bearing youkai, your poison, even as an infant was more than ten times the strength of hers. Her poison merely weakened you for a few days before you returned to full strength once more.”

 

“Thank you for your honesty. Should you have need of anything, simply ask and it will be done.”

 

Sesshoumaru stood and left without looking back. His mother had tried to kill him, not once but four times. She had nearly killed her own hand maid due to jealousy and insanity. Where did that leave him? Would he become his mother?

 

Scoffing at the thought, Sesshoumaru returned to his chambers. He was stronger than that. He was stronger than his mother, stronger than his father. But if he hated his father so much for laying with a human and letting her bare his hanyou pup, where did that leave him? Growling silently to himself Sesshoumaru decided to leave the castle. He would see this pup before passing final judgment.

 

I promise you nothing father, Sesshoumaru thought as he looked up into the starless sky from his bedroom balcony. But know that if Inuyasha should die at anyone's hand, it will only ever be mine.