InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silver-Haired Beauty ❯ Hangovers and Confusion ( Chapter 5 )

Week One

Day Four

Hangovers are God's way of saying 'Now let me remind you what stupid REALLY means…'

Kuroi moaned, cut the sound short and tried to make the world stand still. 'Have I been eating live ducks?' she wondered blearily. Her tongue felt fuzzy and her stomach was roiling enough to lend credence to the theory. Trying to sit up produced startling new concepts about gravity. "It hurts..." exhausted from merely thinking about moving, she fell limply back in bed under her covers.

"I hope that you are well today my Lady." the smooth voice wasn't loud, thankfully. However, it was accompanied by twittering that was.

Grabbing the sides of her head in an effort to keep her brain from rattling out of it, Kuroi took a deep breath. Oh hell no, it was time to lay down the law. Her voice was muffled from the covers, but emotionless and direct, "From the practiced subservient tone of your voice, I'm going to assume you're one of my new hand maidens. That's fine. It's all part an parcel of the whole Lady-to-be gig. To the one who spoke first, we might just be friends. To the other idiots trying to imitate bird calls with their laughter, don't be here when I pull the blanket back. You won't like it, trust me."

The floor vibrated as a number of people left the room in a hurry, setting her teeth on edge. 'Thank goodness somebody listens.' Pushing the blanket back, Kuroi winced when the sun made itself forcefully known to her. As she struggled to sit up, she made a vow not to drink the way she had the night before. 'Now if I can only remember how much that had been!'

Finally adjusting to the light, the poor girl held her head in one hand, 'You are getting too old for this stupid. Cut out anything harder than cider and give your body a break.' Rolling over to her knees, she began the torturous process of getting onto her feet. Through the entire ordeal, the remaining hand maiden had stayed blessedly silent.

Blinking rapidly to clear the sleep out, Kuroi looked at her new 'shadow'. A pleasant face smiled back at her. 'Not human,' Kuroi thought sluggishly, noting the greenish tint to the skin, 'and are those snakes in her hair?'

"Are you well this morning my Lady?", the question was just low enough not to incite a painful mental riot, but audible enough to be heard.

Kuroi thanked her lucky stars. A handmaiden who knew how to handle hangovers. "I'm sort of fine. My mouth is nasty, my head is killing me and I might go blind soon. Other than that, I think my death will be quick." Following that cheerful announcement, the future Lady of the West stumbled over to the small table that had been set up near the outer doors. Mentally cursing all that healthy sunlight trying to blind her, Kuroi welcomed the fresh air that cleared the webs in her mind.

She sat down, fully braced for a bout of nausea from whatever was laid out for her repast, but was delightfully surprised by what she did see. A cup of hot tea and fresh honey sat on a small tray.

"It is unwise after a night as...robust as the Lady's, to eat too heavily." Kuroi applauded the subtle change in the middle of the sentence. 'Robust huh? Oh, you're well trained kid.' Sipping the tea after a healthy dollop of the viscous sweetener, Kuroi sighed. Oh yes, she was feeling much better. "What's your name kid?"

Green eyes *no surprise* smiled back. "My name is Midori!"

The cup paused halfway to her lips. 'Her name is GREEN?' Glancing over, she took in the whole picture the other girl presented. 'Greenish skin, leaf green eyes, flowing black hair with a decidedly green sheen, those snakes are green too. Kimono is more shades of green than I thought existed, and I swear those socks are sea green as well. Okay Kuroi, Midori is a PERFECT name for her.'

"My names Kuroi Hana. Just Kuroi, none of that My Lady stuff." She gulped down the rest of her tea to speed up the recovery, rejoicing as heat flooded every limb with welcome relief. Oh yeah, she could take on the world now. Turning to the side, she gave Midori a friendly grin, "Why are you here kid?"

'As if I don't already know.'

Midori stood and whisked the tray away. "The Lord Sesshomaru sent for us last night. He said we were to help you no matter what." She lowered her voice conspiratorially, "He is most handsome, is he not?"

Kuroi blinked as the youkai giggled coquettishly into her sleeve. 'Oh my god, I am so glad I don't act like that!' But a response was in order, "Yeah, he's cute. Unfortunately being a complete asshole kind of screws up the image, don't you think?" She smiled inwardly when the other gasped.

"Well, I'm sure the Lady, um, mistress Kuroi knows him best." Unsure, Midori slipped gracefully out the door. Two more pleasant faces replaced her. From the way they were watching her, Kuroi assumed the two had been among the 'twitters'. When they didn't seem inclined to enter, she called out, "Come in, I won't bite damn it." When they continued to stay put she idly mused, 'If they've worked for youkai before, they know that may not be entirely true.'

"I'm human, so just come in."

Glancing at each other, they crept slowly into the room, but stayed within safe distance of the door. "Is the Lady alright now?" The speaker was a tall girl with rosy skin and long auburn hair. Her eyes were cast down, so Kuroi couldn't see them. Next to her, the shorter of the two kept looking around as if she expected an attack from somewhere. Her hair was done in a short bob and was a startling shade of gold. Kuroi had to fight the urge to laugh at how skittish she seemed, instead asking kindly, "What are your names?"

"Oh, I am Aka." gesturing to the nervous girl beside her, she finished, "And this is Ki. You met our sister Midori." Aka shifted nervously and kept her eyes averted, but Ki darted fearful golden brown eyes towards her. All Kuroi could do was stare slack-jawed at the now obvious rosy and saffron tones of the girls' appearances. 'Red and Yellow? Good grief, I think that snowy bastard might actually have a sense of humor somewhere. Since my name means Black, he gives me a rainbow.' She shook her head and rested it on a hand. Her handmaids were colors. Cute.

"Look you two, it's been real nice to meet you, but I'm going to get dressed," when they moved towards her, she held up a restraining hand, "by myself! Then I am going to leave, by myself! All of you can stay here and do whatever you want." Standing, Kuroi went to the closet to get her robe. It was empty. "What the hell?" A look in the other closets and chests revealed a similarly bare state.

Nice flew out the window.

"Where in the fuck are my clothes?!" Rounding on the terrified girls, she snarled in icy rage. "Where are my things?"

Ki squeaked and fled while Aka gathered her courage and stammered out, "T-t-the L-Lord S-s-Sesshomaru ordered us t-to burn them..." her words trailed off as common sense whispered, 'Flee.' She listened.

Kuroi didn't see her leave, she was too deep in her mounting fury. "How dare he....how dare he!?!" With an incoherent shriek, she stormed out of the room. The household staff who saw her coming suddenly remembered something that needed their immediate attention. On the other side of the mansion.

Barreling around a corner, she stumbled over a small body. It almost killed her to pause and apologize, but when she saw who it was, she broke into a large chilly smile.

"Jaken, you're just the person who can help me out..."

{}

"So Inuyasha, tell me more about you friend Kuroi." Miroku poked the fire with a stick, ignoring the dangerous growl building behind him. Satisfied with the blaze, the young monk set a pot of rice over it to boil. "We are alone here, so you needn't worry about one of the girls hearing anything." He turned and regarded his friend with calm violet eyes. "Besides, I think you had better practice with me before trying to explain anything to Kagome."

The growl died. 'Shit, I hate it when he's right.' Muttering curses under his breath, the hanyou looked hard at his friend. "You heard her yesterday. She's my friend and that's it."

Miroku looked back without comment.

After a long stretch of silence, Inuyasha snapped, "What the fuck are you looking at bouzo?!" A dark brow rose at the outburst, but the monk didn't say a word. Inuyasha growled, 'Fuck this.' Snatching a fistful of purple robe, Inuyasha dragged him closer. "Look, Kuroi is my friend. Just my friend! We've never done anything."

When both brows rose, he gave the monk a hard shake, "Especially not that you damned hentai!" Releasing his hold in disgust, Inuyasha turned to look out the door. "We love each other, but not the way I love Kagome." A derisive grunt colored his next admission, "And definitely not the way I loved Kikyo." He pushed a clawed hand through his bangs, "Shit, now I don't even think I ever really loved that woman."

"Perhaps Inuyasha, what you felt for Kikyo was more of a bond between kindred spirits." Spooning up a bowl of rice and topping it with a thick stew from another pot warming to the side of the blaze, Miroku came and sat next to his friend. "From what mistress Kaede told me of the relationship you and her sister shared, it sounded to me more like the relief of loneliness than love between you."

"But I wasn't all that lonely, I had Kuroi."

"Kikyo had no one. Perhaps you felt her solitude and wanted to ease it for her the way Kuroi had eased yours?" He offered the food in his hands with a serene smile. Stunned at the insightful conclusion, Inuyasha accepted the bowl without comment.

Dark violet eyes looked out in the direction of the distant river where the girls were bathing. "With Kagome, it seems like two halves completing the other. You both are whole now. But last night with Kuroi, it was more like long lost twins being reunited." Miroku closed his eyes and sighed wistfully. "You are very lucky my friend. You have known the love of three beautiful women, while I can't seem to get even one girl to spare me a passing glance."

"Maybe if you weren't grabbing ass every two seconds, you'd have better luck."

Placing a hand to his heart in affronted dignity, Miroku retorted, "Inuyasha! I am a holy man! Just because I appreciate the female form my god made in his infinite wisdom, it doesn't mean I enjoy doing it!"

Half-lidded eyes slid his way, "Need a shovel for that pile monk?"

Smirking at the knowledge that the hanyou and Kagome had a falling out the previous night, Miroku said confidently, "At least I'm not in the proverbial dog house."

WHAM!

"That's because you spend so much time under it!" Knuckles cracking, the hanyou used his foot to step on the monk's swollen head. "And I am not in the dog house! Kagome should just trust me about Kuroi and let the shit go!"

"Why? After Kikyo, I think I have a right to know about any old flame who might want to kill me to get you back."

Ulp. When the fuck did Kagome get here? Tossing his hair back with a hand, Inuyasha straightened and strode past the quietly fuming girl. "She's a friend. I admitted that Kikyo used to be an old love, didn't I? Well Cuckoo isn't! You should just leave it at that woman." Turning from the two young women, he leapt away.

Kagome felt a tic start in one eye. 'I'm not going to sit him, I'm not going to sit him, I'm not going to sit him, I'm not going to sit him.' chanting the phrase over and over helped some.

Shippo screwed up his little face in a deep frown. "BAKA!"

A calm voice rose up to them from the ground, "Now, now Shippo. Inuyasha might be hot-headed,"

"Rude." huffed Sango.

"Mean" Kagome supplied.

"And a total BAKA!" screamed the kitsune.

"But he has always been upfront with us about his emotions, even when he wasn't aware of it." Miroku finished in exasperation. Finally getting to his feet, he pointed a finger at Kagome and queried, "How did you know when he had been to see Kikyo?"

Blinking thoughtfully, she placed a finger to her chin. "I just did. He never came right out an told me, but he'd slink around acting evasive and uptight. Not to mention he wouldn't look me in the eyes." Her head bobbed, "Pretty much guilty behavior."

"Exactly. Has he done that since Kuroi arrived?" having turn his attention back to the fire and now burnt rice, Miroku missed the dawning look of comprehension. "No, he hasn't! If anything, he seems kind of..." Kagome searched for the word to describe the absent hanyou's behavior as of late.

Sango beat her to it. "He's as relaxed as a full cat in a patch of sun."

"Yeah! It's a little creepy."

They both stared at the source of a wistful sigh. Shippo was sprawled on his back wearing a goofy smile. "Kuroi can relax me anytime."

"Traitor." Scooping him up, Kagome kissed his cheek to soften the barb. When Miroku smiled slightly, she asked him, "Are you sure about this Miroku? Do I really have nothing to worry about?

Dumping the pot out behind a bush, he patted her shoulder encouragingly, "Yes Kagome. I'd say this is one instance where Inuyasha might actually have a female companion who won't try to steal him or kill you. But if you don't believe me, then feel it out for yourself."

Making her way to her bike and awaiting bag, she nodded. 'I'll trust in him and our love. That's all I can really do.' But that and the monk's assurances didn't really assuage her fears.

{}

"Jaken, I need you..."

In another place and time, the sultry purr of his name by a scantily-clad, beautiful woman would have been more than welcome. But now was as far from that place and time as the terrified youkai could imagine.

Lord Yamatsu made him tremble in awe, Lord Sesshomaru frightened him, but the expression on Lady Kuroi's face made the poor retainer long for a safe spot in hell.

"Where is your Lord toad?" Eyes colder and darker than a void dared him to refuse her. Swallowing convulsively, Jaken stammered, "H-he's in the bath at the moment and cannot be disturbed!" the sentence ended in a cry as she yanked him along with her.

"Bath my ass! I have a few words for your Lord, and he's going to hear every last one of them!!"

A few well timed squeezes got the directions to Sesshomaru's room easily enough. Confronted with the panel between her and her goal, Kuroi didn't even pause. A downwards slash tore it out of her way and she stalked through the remains. 'Let's see. Closet, closet, outer garden door, ah...bathroom.' It proved no more of an obstacle than the other door had been. Her body froze in shock when all she saw was the stark and painfully empty room.

Gagging noises pierced her rage shrouded brain and she slammed the little youkai against the stone edge of the tub. "WHERE IS HE!?"

The fingers around his throat were like unmovable iron bands, but it didn't stop Jaken from trying to pry them loose. "I don't know!! The Lord has never told me where he goes to bathe. He just returns when he's finished!" The bands tightened, "I SWEAR!! I swear I don't know!!" Exasperated, Kuroi flung him aside.

After all, her fight wasn't with Jaken, it was with Sesshomaru.

'He is insufferable. I can't believe he had the sheer gall to burn my clothes! Like they were trash or something. Like...' she hadn't thought it was possible to get any angrier, but her fury built to new heights as she reviewed the actions of her intended over the last few days. The tutor, the handmaidens, disposing of her clothes. 'He doesn't think I'm good enough for him!?'

"Fuck this..." a portion of the tub crumbled under her punch. Storming out the way she had come, Kuroi screamed for Midori as she stomped through the empty halls. Entering her room, she took a seat on the floor by the small table from that morning and waited. To the girl's credit, the maiden actually showed up.

"Y-yes Mistress Kuroi?" Gutsy, but still terrified.

Gripping the edges of the table hard enough to split the lacquered finish, Kuroi said in the sweetest voice she could manage while grinding her teeth into powder. "Please be a dear and help me get dressed. I wish to look my best for the Lord Sesshomaru."

{}

"Thanks for the cakes Lord Yamatsu!"

The Lord smiled and waved at the group of children gathered around him to receive one of the many cakes Shinaki had given him. One little redhead in particular danced gleefully at the cake it held. "Enjoying yourself Shippo?" laughing at the flush on the little guy's face, he folded his large frame to sit by the kitsune.

Smiling around a large bite, Shippo nodded. "I love these things! And I really like spending time with you Lord Yamatsu." His large eyes watched the crowd of children racing down the hill disperse to their homes. "I never knew there were so many youkai villages around! And everyone here is so nice." His expression grew sad and pensive thinking about the time he'd spent with his new 'family' since his father had been killed. "All the one's I've met have been trying to kill me or my friends." The cake disappeared into his mouth.

With a sigh, the old Lord asked quietly, "Shippo, are there bad humans in the world?"

A bit startled, the child looked up at the large man watching the clouds overhead. "Well, yeah. There have been humans who did bad things. Especially a few who got a hold of a jewel shard."

Kindly gold eyes lowered to watch him as Yamatsu smiled sadly. "And would you say your father was a nice youkai?"

"Yeah, he was the best!" Understanding dawned. "Oh."

The silver head nodded. "There is good and bad in all of us." He waved a hand towards the village where the children had gone. "A village is a village and a farmer is a farmer. Whether he is human, youkai or hanyou, he is still a farmer. We are who we are, nothing more. The decisions we make are our own, no one else's. However, if they happen to be bad ones, that should not reflect on everyone like us." Placing a hand lightly on the rust colored head, he asked gently, "Do you understand?"

Shippo nodded solemnly. "The youkai we fight want power, so they do bad things to get it. We try to stop them and the bad things they do. We're the good guys stopping the bad ones, not matter what we are, or they happen to be." He gave a delighted laugh. "Thanks Lord Yamatsu!"

Tossing back his head and laughing, Yamatsu picked up the startled cub and bounced him in the air with one large hand.

"Call me Grandpa."

{}

Night

'Where did I go wrong?'

The simple, yet poignant question had been repeating endlessly though Yamatsu's mind all evening, keeping him from much needed sleep. He still didn't have an answer.

}

When he'd come home from his day with Shippo, the old lord had been in a really good mood. Kagome had greeted him warmly before having to leave on a trip back through the well and Inuyasha had even managed to call him 'dad' instead of 'you old fart'. It had seemed like a really great day.

Upon reflection, that should have been the warning.

}

The mansion had been quiet when he'd returned later that evening, almost spooky. All the servants were still moving so he had assumed they were alive and healthy. Guards guarding, maids cleaning, pages delivering messages. Everyone had been doing their job, they had just been as silent as the grave while they did them.

It had confused Yamatsu greatly, right up until he'd sat down for dinner with Sesshomaru and Kuroi. Punctual as ever, his son had already been in the room and spared him a glance for his tardiness. Taking a seat at the head of the table, Yamatsu had waited with him for Kuroi to show up as well.

Someone had shown up eventually, just not exactly Kuroi.

}

"I swear, I am getting too old for this shit." Shifting to lay on his side, he groaned and asked himself again where he'd gone wrong.

}

Drifting into the room in a lavish cloud of delicately perfumed silk, had been the most stunning woman he'd ever seen. Gleaming black hair coiffed and perfectly set with pins and combs of gold inlaid lapis lazuli, she wore a series of flowing kimonos in various shades of blue. He swore she floated rather than merely sitting down. When she demurely bowed her head to both of them, sending out a wave of the most intoxicating perfume, his heart almost stopped.

A hand, which seemed far too heavy for her dainty wrist, had proceeded to make a plate for the strange young woman who hadn't once looked up. Instead, she had shifted her head to the side as she searched for a particular food, revealing a slim milky column of neck. At the sight of it, Yamatsu had to forcefully resist the urge to lean over and smell her.

It took about ten minutes for his nose and brain to get together. "Kuroi?"

"Yes my Lord?" Like her appearance, her voice was smooth, delicate and flawless. He almost bit off his tongue.

Something wasn't coming together.

The Kuroi who had used an axe that had made his back hurt to split an ogre in half in battle.

This Kuroi who looked as though a small wind could shatter her into dust.

The one who had once dragged an entire pot of stew off to the barracks and ate it all with no sweat.

This one who made a plate a sparrow would have snubbed as unfulfilling.

One who was loud and carefree.

One that was demure and quiet.

Suddenly, his head hurt.

"Um, are you feeling alright my dear?"

"I am quite well. Thank you so much for asking my Lord." that same silky voice.

At the sound of it, Yamatsu had known one thing for sure. Shinaki was going to have his balls.

Whipping his head around, he turned heated eyes on Sesshomaru. "What did you do to her? Was it a spell? Some sort of charm or something?" He'd given one more distraught glance to the girl before crying out, "Gods in heaven boy, I knew you didn't like humans, but did you have to enchant her!?"

Sesshomaru had only raised a brow, "I have done nothing. Her transformation is of her own design." Taking in the picture of stately femininity she presented, his lips hard curled into a small smile. "Although I must say, I do approve of it."

}

'Oh, there had been no help from that quarter.' Giving up all hope of sleep, Yamatsu sat up and called for a cup of tea. "Where did I go wrong?"

}

They had dined in silence. Sesshomaru ate with a distinctly pleased expression on his regal face, and the 'new' Lady Kuroi supped in her cloud of refined silence. Yamatsu had just eaten mechanically, wrapped in a state of confusion because despite the calm scene before him, his battle-hardened senses told him there was a war on the horizon.

He should have listened to his instincts.

Seeing that Sesshomaru's cup was empty, Kuroi had risen gracefully to her feet and gone to his side with a bottle of wine. "Do you wish for more my Lord?" Her voice had been as polished as glass. When the young Lord held his cup aloft with an air of inborn superiority, she had lifted the bottle in response to his gesture. Then she poured the whole thing on his head.

'Ah, battle cry.' thought Yamatsu with a sigh.

"YOU BURNED MY CLOTHES!!" Twisting her grip on the slim neck, she brought the bottle crashing down on the place Sesshomaru's head would have been if he had not moved. As it was, she was still fast enough to shatter it against his shoulder.

Flinging the jagged pieces cutting into her palm aside, Kuroi lunged after him, still screaming obscenities. "You son of a bitch! I cannot believe you did that! How dare you judge my things, how dare you judge me!? You don't have the right to judge anybody!!"

Kuroi had chosen a rather large platter as her weapon of choice and forcefully flung it in the drenched youkai's general vicinity. Sesshomaru deflected it easily, but since Kuroi had been heading in his direction, it hit her in the side of the jaw as it rebounded off a wall. Ignoring the blow, she shrieked. "You inconsiderate bastard! What made you think you could do something like that to me?"

"I tried to better you before we wed. I do not see how that is cause for this outburst." Flicking a sodden silver tendril over his shoulder, he had managed to project affronted dignity even soaking wet.

Yamatsu had prayed for a heart attack, a bolt of lightning, anything to get him out of the room. Instead, he had gotten to watch his dinner become long range projectiles while Kuroi continued chewing out her fiancée.

"Better me?! Like I need to be bettered by a snobbish, arrogant, boorish pretty boy with a stick up his ass!?!" As she's stood there trembling and panting, her eyes had burned as blue as the heart of flames.

"I am NOT a joke or some kind of thing you can just throw away when it doesn't work out the way you wanted it to!" Her appearance had started falling apart as her anger was replaced by genuine hurt. "You're supposed to learn about me, not make me into what you want me to be! I can't believe I'm going to be stuck with you for the rest of my life!" Having run out of plates, she stuck to words since the food had all missed. Sesshomaru was many things, but slow wasn't one of them.

Panting and sniffling alternatively, Kuroi squeezed her eyes tight and screamed out, "I HATE YOU!!" before she left in a fit of angry tears.

Sesshomaru had looked at his father's thunderous face and said innocently, "I was only trying to help her. Some people just don't appreciate good advice."

}

Sipping the tea set before him, Yamatsu wondered again where he'd gone wrong.

{}

Taking to the rooftops after her screaming fit, Kuroi let her feet and her hurt take over her body. She was too numb to care where she went. She had to get away from there. She hated it! She hated him!

Leaping up to a tree limb, she didn't flinch when the smaller branches tore deeply at her flimsy sleeves and the flesh beneath.

"Why him? Why did Yamatsu pick ME to be with him?" she moaned in misery. Landing in a clearing, she wove her way across the ground, still whispering distractedly to herself. "Why me? I just wanted to live my life my way." Stumbling over some loose gravel, she fell hard and skinned her legs and forearms. The dust kicked up by the fall made her cough painfully, bringing fresh tears as it stung her eyes and throat.

"I want to go home. He doesn't want me and I don't want him." Dragging herself to her feet, she looked around. The darkness obscured any familiar landmarks, and the dust in her eyes made it worse. Spotting a large tree, she wobbled over and sat down heavily beneath it. "I hate him."

Exhausted both mentally and physically, she pitched sideways unconscious across the ground.

That was how Inuyasha found her.