InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Teaching Rin ❯ Chapter 41 ( Chapter 41 )

Disclaimer- It’s not mine. I don’t own the characters of Inuyasha, that honor goes to Takahashi-sama. I’m making no money off of said characters (with the exception of Kaida-who belongs to me), so don’t sue me.

Special thanks to the following:

BloodHeron: They’re both wired, and for good reasons! Thank you for the heartfelt review, and don’t worry about being long winded. I don’t mind in the least! And to answer your questions. (a) Rin’s plotting enough to get her in trouble. (b)Sesshy and Kaida will slowly start making their way out of those lands of denial soon. (c) Blood is going to start flowing…just for different reasons than before. (d) Kaze will undoubtedly be showing his face again, if only for pure comic relief.

Also, special thanks to the following for taking time to leave their thoughts: foxkit, Minage, Anna May Dreamer, jay, Tora Delerium, kitsune, Granting Love445, XmaiderXofXtheXdragonsX, Koji Jaganshi, mitsukai-san, lunabelleO, Anna’s Pastime, 123, eternalwings15, ren sage, AdorableChibi09, and Crafty

So, without further ado, I give you:

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Teaching Rin

Chapter 41

Miscalculations

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Rin was not a morning person. Never really had been. Even when she had been traveling around the lands of Japan with her Lord when she was younger, she would often climb onto Ah-Un’s back and sleep most of the morning away after they had broken camp and headed off on their daily jaunts.

But this morning was decidedly different, much like the ones of the past few weeks. Rin had made it a point to have Keisha, who was usually awake hours before dawn anyway, wake her up early. The headwoman had complied without any questions, and had woken her up just as the morning’s light was cresting over the eastern treetops. The young woman had waited until she was sure that Keisha was gone before walking over to her window and searching the courtyard for the presence of Sakaki. It didn’t take long, and when she found the head guard, he grinned and gave her a discreet thumbs up.

That was her signal.

Rin dressed quickly and grabbed a letter she had pinned the evening before, heading down to the area of the castle where the running messengers were housed. She made it through the corridors, across the short span of courtyard, and into the servant’s quarters and with no one else the wiser. After handing the letter off to the runner, with specific instructions to give it only to Shippo, she turned and slowly made her way out of the servant’s quarters.

The past few weeks had been quite hectic for the young lady, but not because of her upcoming marriage to Kentaro. No, her current problem was a bit closer to home.

And a bit more pressing as far as she was concerned. And it concerned none other than her lord and liege Sesshomaru, and her tutor Kaida. Rin had been right in assuming that something was going on between the two nobles, even if she hadn’t been able to pin point exactly what it was at the time. She had contacted both Kentaro and Shippo with her suspicions, asking what she could do to give the two stubborn nobles a push in the right direction. It might have been a bit presumptuous of her, given the fact that at the time she’d had no solid proof of anything other than solid indifference between Sesshomaru and Kaida, but she had done it anyways. But now, a little over a month and a half after she’d returned from the Eastern Lands, she was absolutely sure that she had done the right thing by getting in touch with the brace of kitsunes.

There was nothing overtly different between the Lord and Lady, but Rin had picked up on a few telling signs that something was brewing between them. The tension, although still present at all times, was slowly ebbing away. The two of them worked wonderfully together as they helped her to plan out a few of the more important details of her upcoming union to the Eastern family. The aggravation that had been so present upon her return had yet to show itself again as the telling little mark on Kaida’s neck had faded. They both continued on with their daily activities, but Rin had caught her Lord watching candidly as Kaida had trained with the elites within the courtyard, something he had never really done up until that point. He even forwent some of the less important paperwork that was slowly piling up on his desk to test out her own shielding skills during her and Kaida’s morning practices.

And Kaida seemed to be a bit more relaxed in the presence of the demon lord. Granted, she still kept a wary eye on the Western Lord at all times, almost like she was waiting for him to just grab her for no apparent reason. None the less, the Southern Lady’s sense of humor had slowly began to emerge once again, even coaxing a few rare grins from Sesshomaru during the elite’s training maneuvers. But the most telling sign that things were on the right track was the resumption of their early morning spars.

When Rin had contacted her two partners in crime, she honestly had no idea where to even begin with her plans. Thankfully, Kentaro and Shippo had been a fountain of information in tricks and not so nice deceptions. She had to admit, the two of them done their race proud as far as causing mischief was concerned. Both of them had sent back letters immediately, suggesting what she could do, along with a warning from them both that she needed to make sure Sesshomaru and Kaida weren’t aware of her sudden, constant correspondence with the two of them. After all, she didn’t need them getting suspicious of her actions at a time like this.

Hence the early morning letter runs while Kaida and Sesshomaru were conveniently occupied outside the fortress walls.

The two kitsunes’ suggestions had ranged from bizarre to just plain impossible, and Rin had had to smother her laughter in her blankets when she’d gotten the responses. Kentaro opted for letting them fight it out again, and hoping for the best. Shippo suggested drugging them, locking them in a closet, and letting nature take it’s course. He had even sent a rather large amount of some kind of herbs with the letter, writing at the bottom that if the contents of the container didn’t work, nothing would. She suddenly had a feeling that Inuyasha and Kagome had been on the wrong side of this particular idea at some point in time before.

Personally, she was closest to agree with Shippo, despite the fact that she doubted there was any place strong enough to hold the combined powers of the Southern Lady and Western Lord, especially when they got angry at each other…or someone else.

But the kitsunes’ main advice, once she got past the ridiculous ideas of hiring someone to kidnap Kaida and force Sesshomaru to come to her rescue or resurrecting Kiyoshi to send him after Kaida again, she did manage to find a few of the recommendations that made sense.

Both Shippo and Kentaro agreed that the two nobles needed to find some time for themselves and away from everyone else. Of course, the only idea that popped into Rin’s mind was their sparring times. So, she had waited until the opportunity was right, and casually mentioned to her lord a few weeks before that Kaida had been leaving her quarters earlier than normal and heading into the forest. Sesshomaru had wanted to know why, but Rin had only shrugged, not willing to say anything more about it. The next morning, she received word from Sakaki, her more than willing accomplice, that Sesshomaru had taken out into the forest only a few minutes after Kaida had left. As far as she knew, they’d once again started meeting to spar outside the fortress since that morning. And with the two of them gone for a few hours, she could safely send out her letters to Shippo and Kentaro without them knowing any better.

Score one for her.

That part of her plan had worked out fine, but after two weeks of nothing to really show for it, she felt antsy to try something else. So, she took the container of herbs that Shippo had sent to her with his first letter, and dumped the contents into the cooking herbs Keisha used to season the food with before it was served. Unfortunately, the only thing that happened was every inhabitant of the fortress coming down with the worse stomach ache in the history of the Western Lands…including herself right along with Sesshomaru and Kaida.

But Rin was persistant, and would not let such a minor set back hinder her progress. Even after the store rooms had been cleaned out, and the guilty bag of herbs thrown to the four winds along with all the other opened supplies, Rin figured it would be a good idea to give Kaida and Sesshomaru some more time to themselves without her being nearby. So, for the next few evenings after everyone had seemingly gotten over the stomach aches, Rin had complained of not feeling well and would retire to her room early, leaving Kaida and Sesshomaru in the dining hall on their own.

The first night it worked.

The second night it worked.

The third night, Kaida took her to Keisha to be checked out. But the headwoman could find nothing wrong.

The fourth night, she was back in the hospital wing and having to drink some kind of bitter concotion Keisha had cooked up to help ease the imaginary pain.

Needless to say, there wasn’t a fifth night of the imaginary stomachache.

After that, Rin had stopped in her subterfuge, hoping that neither of her targets had become suspicious of her. It seemed that they hadn’t, and a few days later, she had sent letters out to Kentaro and Shippo again, asking for their ideas.

What she got back was much more than a brilliant idea, and she quickly realized that the two kitsunes had either been in correspondance with each other after she had contacted them, or Kentaro had dropped by for a little chat with Shippo. So, she had taken the steps preliminary steps to setting up the ruse, making sure than all the needed players were in place, and contacting one more crucial person who was more than happy to offer his assistance in her attempt at getting the two nobles together, and everything was set.

She just hoped that it worked.

Rin pushed the door open from the servants quarters and made her way across the courtyard to where Sakaki was leaning up against the protective wall. She smiled when he waved back at her, calling out a good morning and bowing slightly to her, along with a few of the other nearby guards.

“Early morning yet, for you to be awake and moving, isn’t it Lady?” he asked.

“I had to send a letter to someone this morning, and figured it would be best to give the messenger an early start.” she said with a grin. When she had approached Sakaki with the idea of pushing Sesshomaru and Kaida closer together, he had agreed readily with her, but had pointed out that it would be prudent for as few people as possible to know about it. So when they did speak of what was going on, they were as discreet as possible.

“I see.” he said, nodding.

“Seems unusually quiet this morning.” she commented easily. Sakaki just chuckled and tipped his head to one side.

“I wouldn’t say that, Lady. Seems like Lord Sesshomaru has his hands full this morning. The General apparently isn’t too happy with him at the moment.” he said, a knowing look on his face. Rin suddenly wished she had the power to feel out demonic auras like the soldier before her. If the grin on Sakaki’s face was anything to go on, something major was going on beyond the tree break where Kaida and Sesshomaru usually sparred.

“I wonder why. They seemed civil enough last night.” she commented, worry creeping into her voice.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Lady.” Sakaki chuckled. “Let’em have their fun.”

“Of course, we wouldn’t want to interrupt that, now would we?” she asked, turning back towards the fortresss as Sakaki’s laughter rang all around the empty courtyard.

-----

Sesshomaru wasn’t exactly sure of what he did, if he’d done anything at all, that had caused Kaida to lapse into her fully demonic form.

But he suddenly wished he hadn’t done it.

Unless this was her form of payback for him following her out into the woods a few weeks ago. He had been intrigued when Rin mentioned that Kaida had been disappearing into the woods before dawn, and he had wanted to know why. So, he had followed, and consequently walked up on her bathing in the natural springs that surrounded the area.

If this was because of that, then he would candidly admit, if only to himself, that he deserved whatever she was giving him.

A blur of silver flew towards him, and he managed to duck out of the way in time for the throwing knife to miss his head, but not in time to miss the downward swing of Kaida’s scimitar as it tried to cleave him in two. He instinctively pulled Toukijinn up, thanking whatever gods may be present that he had managed to knock the other curved blade away from it’s owner not long after the spar had started….and only minutes after she’d turned on him.

The Southern demoness was in fine form this morning….and apparently bound and determined to take his head off while she was at it.

“Tsk…tsk…tsk…” she taunted him as they stood in a stand off with crossed blades between them. “You should have seen that one coming from a mile away, Sesshomaru. What’s wrong? Are you not quite awake yet this morning?”

“I am perfectly fine.” he growled, throwing her backwards without another thought. Kaida’s laughter was sinister, and she pulled herself into the shadows of the forest, dampening her aura until it was almost non-existent and he couldn’t trace her.

Something was wrong with her, that much he realized. They had been fighting for nearly forty-five minutes, and she didn’t seem to be slowing down in the least. The few times before when she had turned full demon and they had fought, her increased speed and strength had waned after fifteen minutes at the most. But this morning it was hanging on for dear life.

“What’s wrong, Sesshomaru? Can’t find me?” her mocking voice spilled out all around him.

That was another thing he didn’t particularly care for. Kaida turned full demon, and she had a rather annoying habit of taunting him with the most asinine of things. He steeled himself as he caught a flash of her aura off to his left, ready for her attack. She’d been using the same strategy all morning. She’d get a few good hits in, and then disappear into the shadows before he could inflict any real damage to her.

It was quite annoying. But he wasn’t keen on chasing her all around the place, preferring to keep her corralled in one area as long as possible.

“I know exactly where you’re at, Lady.” he said calmly. His only response was her laughter. Sesshomaru caught another flickering of her aura and slashed out with Toukijinn, cutting down a half dozen twisted cherry trees that had been in his way only to have Kaida’s voice ring out once again and a solid blow land on his back.

Sesshomaru stumbled forward but quickly regained his stability and struck out at Kaida as she landed neatly in front of him a few feet out of swinging range. The sounds of clanging metal pierced the surrounding area. Heavy blows were exchanged, and Sesshomaru thought he could sense her aura weakening a little bit under the strain of holding her full demon form. Once again, he used his brute strength to push her back towards the forest. One quick flick of his wrist, and he managed to immobilize Kaida’s feet before she could dart into the waning shadows again. He yanked on the energy whip, and she fell to the ground in a cloud of dirt on her back. Before she could pose another threat, he planted his foot in the middle of her stomach and pushed down hard, using Toukijinn to knock her remaining weapon away from her grasp. Her hands went to the sides automatically in a show of deferment.

He’d had just about enough of her playing around this morning.

“Ohh, come now, Sesshomaru. You’re taking our little spar much to seriously. Surely you wouldn‘t hurt a friend?” she asked, grinning up at him, her pupil-less jade eyes sparking from the fervor of her fighting and her wings rustled uncomfortably from where they were spread out behind her.

“Friends are just enemies who don’t have enough guts stab you in the back.” he replied coldly. She just smiled and nodded.

“It’s a good thing I aim for the front then.” Before Sesshomaru could let the words sink in, Kaida doubled her body up and maneuvered her feet around the leg that was keeping her pinned to the ground, pushing her heels into his stomach and kicking him off her. Sesshomaru fell to the ground on his behind with just enough time to see Kaida take to the trees again.

He growled in aggravation.

It was time to put an end to this childish game.

He picked himself up and waited patiently for her to show herself again, knowing from past experience that her energy had to be waning by now. He had noticed the past few mornings that their spars were turning more and more intense, and he had caught a few times when her energy levels had soared, almost pushing her over the threshhold into her full demon status. But he still didn’t understand why it had happened this morning.

One minute he was throwing her into the trees and the next she had sprouted wings and used her tail to jerk his feet out from under him. He resigned himself to figuring it out once he knocked her back into reality.

The Western Lord didn’t have to wait long, as Kaida rushed him once again, coming from her cover and striking out at him with all her strength. Sesshomaru easily parried the attacks, punched her in the stomach, and quickly disarmed her within the time it took to blink once. He came up from behind and grabbed a handful of her hair, forcing her to her knees in front of him, his sword at her throat while she hissed at him.

“It’s over. Concede defeat.” he ordered icily.

“Never.” she barked.

“Do it.” he commanded, pulling her hair painfully and causing her neck to snap backwards.

“No.”

“You have lost. Give in.”

“Not to you.”

“Stubborn thing, aren’t you?”

“You have no idea.”

“You will concede to me.”

“Says you.” she growled. Sesshomaru was about to knock some sense into the itinerant woman at his feet when he noticed that her wings were retracting in on themselves, not only that, but she had grown quiet. He let her go and she immediately hunched forward, her arms wrapping around her midsection as her tail receeded as well.

She was reverting back to normal.

That was odd. Her demonic side had ended the battle by retreating back into itself. Sesshomaru had never known her to take such a risk before, and it only made him more curious as to what exactly she was thinking…if she was thinking at all by this point.

He sheathed Toukijinn and waited for her energy to settle. Less than a minute later, she was sitting on her rear end and rubbing the back of her head, shooting glares up at him.

-----

“Since when did you start pulling your opponent’s hair?” she asked crossly, rubbing the back of her head to help stop the throbbing.

“Since when did you start turning full demon on your opponents without a warning?” he countered calmly, staring at her coolly.

“You need a warning for that?” she asked sarcastically, staggering over to recover her scimitars, then sheathing them at her side. “Nobody told me.”

“You do realize that you….”

“Yeah. I know.” she ground out.

“Why?”

“No clue.” she answered wearily, shrugging. She had no idea why she had changed this morning. It had just happened. It’s not like she was mad at anything or anyone in particular, and her life hadn’t been threatened…at least not anymore so than when Sesshomaru was sparring with her. But she had realized when she fell across the precipice and felt when her demon blood had taken over. Every think else was just a blur, at least until Sesshomaru had forced her to the ground, demanding her concession. It was only then that things started to come into focus again. “Although I am pleased to see I’m still standing afterwards.” Which was the truth itself. Usually her changes back to her more stable form left her broken and passed out for a few hours. This turn of events was a pleasant surprise, even if she still didn’t feel all together afterwards.

“Undoubtedly.” Sesshomaru nodded. Kaida said nothing, and slowly took in their surroundings. They hadn’t caused much major damage to their arena, surprisingly. She tried to remember what had happened right before Sesshomaru had forced her to change back, but her head was nothing but a whirling of darkened colors and a feeling of superiority at being able to avoid the demon lord. Sesshomaru continued to regard her with a look of quiet interest, causing her to wonder if she’d said or done something utterly ridiculous while under the influence of her demonic side.

“What’d I do this time?” she demanded, arms folded across her chest as she leaned against a tree. She still felt a little woozy about the transformation and could use the stability to ground her for a few more minutes….not that Sesshomaru needed to know that.

“Nothing.” he said calmly.

“Right. And you’re staring at me like I’ve grown a second why?” she queried.

She’d done something out of the ordinary, and she knew it. Kaida suddenly cursed herself for not being able to control the baser side of her psyche, along with it’s perchance to throw out most inhibitions that she had come to rely on through the years.

“It would be prudent to learn some semblance of control if you are arbitrarily sliding into your demonic form.” he said finally. Kaida shook her head and called for Ishika, not wanting to think about that topic.

“Not going to happen in this lifetime.” she muttered.

“Am I to assume you‘ve attempted it before?”

“What we did to your dojo is nothing compared to what happened the last time anyone tried to help me get control of my demonic side. After two minutes the majority of the buildings around the courtyard of my home were reduced to splinters and Keiji and Ryuichi were sitting in the hospital wing for two days, and father was left wondering if there was anything he could do to prevent such a thing from happening again. Needless to say, we didn’t try again.” she said calmly. She wasn’t exaggerating either, remembering all to well the mess she had woken up to once she’d regained consciousness.

“You’re blood is unstable.” he pointed out. She flushed unintentionally at his words.

“A fact I am well aware of. It‘s never been a problem.” Kaida answered, forcing herself not to get any redder than she already was. She knew her blood was unstable, everyone did. It was quite another thing to have him throw it back in her face.

They had been getting along rather well the past few weeks, and Kaida honestly didn’t feel like reverting back into the bite-and-slash attitudes that had been set aside. Planning the details for Rin’s union had been at the forefront of their interactions, along with getting the fortress ready to house the incoming Council members for the meeting in a few days. Combined with Rin’s archery and shielding lessons, and the evening routines with the elites, Kaida had managed to keep herself busy. But the increasing amount of time she’d been forced to spend with the stoic Western Lord had forced her to admit, if only to herself, that she liked their conversations and interactions.

Kaida pushed the thoughts from her mind when Ishika set down not far from the area she and Sesshomaru had been sparring in. Walking over to the dragon, Kaida pulled out a fresh drying cloth and wiped the sweat off of her face. Ishika needed a bath, and Kaida had brought her along this morning, knowing it would be an opportune time to groom the beast after the morning spar.

“No one you have ever met, with the exception of your father, has ever had the capability to buffer themselves against your raw power. But after your first initial transformation, I have no doubt that Ryu never wanted to see you go so far again. It’s not that he couldn’t teach you to harness your power and stabilize it, he would not.” Sesshomaru said suddenly, causing Kaida to start. She hadn’t even noticed that he’d followed her. She turned around and pinned him with a scathing look. She really didn’t want to talk about this right now.

“Wouldn’t? And what exactly is your reasoning for that, Sesshomaru?”

“He did not want to see you go through the pain he knew it would take to stabilize your blood. He was not willing to physically restrain you should things get out of hand, to hurt you if the need arose.”

“Of course you’ve proven time and time again that you don’t exactly mind tossing me around when said need arises.” she quipped, turning her attention back to Ishika.

“I am not wary of doing that which needs to be done in order to achieve the desired result.” he said simply. “There is a way to condense your energy and control the changes.”

“You’ve got enough to keep you busy right now. Between the arrangements for Rin’s union, and the upcoming Council meeting, you don’t have time to teach me anything…..even if I did agree to it.” she said calmly, picking up on the round about offer he was giving her. Kaida had taken note of a few of his more…interesting characteristics within the past few weeks. Sesshomaru was not one to outright offer assistance to anyone for any reason. But his casual mention of possible solutions to problems she didn’t know how to handle were more than helpful. Of course, he never came right out and asked if she needed assistance, but he usually wound up in the thick of whatever she was doing once she followed his suggestion and started it herself. Odd though it was, Kaida had figured it was just one of his little quirks. Kami knew he had a lot of them!

“You need to learn to control yourself. You have been on the verge of snapping the past few mornings. I do not like the idea of Rin being around you if you have the possibility of turning on her.” he said.

Kaida actually swung around and glared at him for that. Thinking she was going to attack him was one thing. But attacking Rin?! She wouldn’t…couldn’t do that to the young woman. And it stung to think he even considered she would do such a thing.

“I’m not going to hurt Rin. She’s no threat to me.” Kaida answered coldly.

“I don’t know that for a fact.” he countered.

Kaida’s arms crossed at her chest again, and she quickly realized that she’d just fell for another one of his ‘quirks’, as she’d dubbed them. Sesshomaru had taken to using Rin as a bargaining piece when she seemed set against doing something he wanted. The dog lord had realized that Kaida would swallow her belligerence and do what needed to be done to keep Rin safe and in happy spirits, even if the task set before her was one she didn’t particularly care for.

One day, Kaida vowed was going to throw Sesshomaru’s perception off by adamantly refusing to do as he suggested, even if Rin was involved somehow.

“Fine.” she acquitted after a stare down that lasted for nearly a minute before she looked away. “When?”

“After dinner. In the dojo.”

“The dojo? Are you asking for it to be destroyed again?” she demanded. They hadn’t met in the dojo but once since it had been rebuilt, and what had happened when they’d been in there hadn’t been brought up since it occurred.

“Be there.” he ordered, turning with another word and slipping into the waning darkness of the forest.

“Yeah. Yeah. Fine.” she muttered, turning her attention back to Ishika, and the hand sized spot of dried scales on the dragon’s back. “Jerk. He probably just wants someone to take out his aggravation on after all the members of Council get here. Kami knows he doesn’t like those meetings and being cramped up in the fortress anymore than I do!”

-----

Sesshomaru eyed the innocuous piece of parchment in his hands with utter distaste, only to let it go as the acidic poison from his claws began to eat away at it, leaving it smoldering on the desk top before him, fluttering to a halt on top of other letters of importance.

It seemed that one of his Council members from the Western Land’s southernmost territories had suddenly taken ill, and would not be coming to the Council meetings that were scheduled for the next three days, but would instead be sending an emissary in his place. Under normal circumstances, Sesshomaru would not have minded the substitution. The material of the Council meeting was not direly important at the time being, and it was commonplace to send an emissary, usually a son, when the members were indisposed of. The problem with that tradition was that the dog demon Otogi had no sons, only a daughter named Asami.

Asami had, at one time, been his intended mate; at least according to an agreement between his father InuTaisho, his mother Asacia, and Otogi not long after his birth. After Sesshomaru had taken the title of Western Lord, said betrothal papers had disappeared somewhere in the chaos of his coronation, and rumor had it that Asami had not been pleased. The persistent demoness had caused more trouble for him than he’d felt like putting up with during the few brief years afterwards when they‘d been nothing more than occasional lovers. But instead of outright killing her, Sesshomaru had sent her and her father to watch over some of the territories furthest away from the fortress, effectively ending their station as lovers, and any possible chance of Asami taking the role as his mate any time in the near future. He was regretting that decision now, and sincerely wished he would have just killed her decades before and saved himself the headache of having to deal with her again.

Well, if she started harping again, he could always trick Kaida into kill her.

At least then he would have something enjoyable to watch.

Sesshomaru growled in aggravation and picked up the next scroll that was addressed directly to him. He flipped it over, breaking the small wax seal that bore the Northern Lord’s crest, and wondering what the Northern rulers wanted with him. He scanned the notice, noting that it was an invitation to the ceremony for Saburo’s ascension into his father’s position as Northern Lord.

Well, it seemed as though the eldest son of Haruto at least had enough political sense to want to smooth things over with the rest of the reigning demon lords by inviting them to the ceremony. He glanced down at the bottom of the scroll, noting that there was a post-script.

‘Lord Sesshomaru, please extend our invitation to Lady Kaida as well, since I am under the assumption that she is still within your borders.’

Sesshomaru surely doubted that Kaida wanted to step foot within a hundred yards of the Northern Lands, no matter who was ruling over them. He tossed the letter to the side, and reached for the last one on his desk, the proud crest of the Eastern family staring up at him. Granted, Sesshomaru had been in systematically more contact with Ronin and Yoshe due to Rin’s impending union to Kentaro, but he could think of no reason the kitsune lord would be contacting him again so soon. He had already grudgingly agreed to let Kentaro come visit with Rin for the duration of the Council meetings, if only to keep the girl out from underfoot.

But the date for the union was set, as were all of the arrangements. What could he possibly want now?

Sesshomaru slit the seal and quickly read over the letter, only to read it again to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. When his second perusal gifted him no information any different from the first time he read over it, Sesshomaru growled and felt his demonic side start to overtake his more common senses.

It seemed Kentaro would not be arriving alone tomorrow.

The letter, written in Ronin’s familiar slanted writing no less, informed Sesshomaru that they had played host to one of the mainland lords for the past few days who was interested in meeting Kaida, and would therefore be accompanying Kentaro on his trip westward.

“Seiti.” he hissed, his fist crumbling the paper up at its edges as green acid pour freely from his claws, not even bothering to verify the identity of the lord in question. Sesshomaru knew that’s who it was, who it had to be. Seiti was the only lord arrogant enough to come to Japan and insert himself into the Eastern family right when he’d manage a convenient excuse to come to the Western Lands and speak with Kaida.

Oh yes, Sesshomaru knew well this man’s thinking. It hadn’t been long after the last arrival of Kaze with the trading caravan, and Kaida’s mention to Sakaki that Seiti wanted to see her, that Sesshomaru had sent word to his spies on the mainland to find out what the bastard falcon demon wanted with her. When information had started to filter back, it had been contradictory at best.

His informants sent word of Seiti wishing to employ Kaida as a mercenary to help guard his furthest borders. There was a story that he wished to take the fiery demoness as his mate. And there was even the theory that Seiti wished to give Kaida the command of his army and ready them for battle against some Mongolian invaders. Yet another had heard of Seiti’s want to keep Kaida as one of his harem girls in an attempt to keep her at his side.

Sesshomaru would like to see Seiti attempt to tie Kaida up. Kaida would not let the itinerant falcon leave the room with his head still attached, he knew that much was for certain.

In short, no one really knew what the falcon demon wanted with Kaida, despite his spies attempts to gather information. And Sesshomaru wasn’t exactly comfortable with having the prying bastard digging around his fortress and speaking with Kaida while he was tied up in Council meetings and unable to supervise the perverted Chinese demon.

There was a knock on the shoji screen that led into his council room, and he called them in, thinking it was just one of the servants. Instead, Rin stepped through and walked up to his side, a pleasant smile on her face as she habitually peered over his seated position at the smoking papers, only to look up at him in question.

“Is something the matter, Lord Sesshomaru?” she asked quietly.

“Nothing of any importance.” he waved it off, turning his attention to his ward, who still looked concerned. “What did you need, Rin?”

“I just wanted to tell you that the arrangements for the Council members have been finished. Is there anything else that needs to be done at this time?” she said, reaching over to carefully pick up what remained of Otogi’s letter, scanning it quickly. Of course, she didn’t get very far considering his acid had destroyed the entire left hand side of the letter.

“Have a room in the Lord’s chambers made up.” Sesshomaru said, taking the paper from her and crumbling it up into a small ball.

“The Lord’s chambers?” Rin asked.

“Seiti from the mainland will be accompanying your kitsune on his trip here.” Sesshomaru said coldly.

“What is a mainland lord coming here for? Especially Lord Seiti?” Rin asked. “And during the week of Council meetings no less?”

“I have a vague idea.” he said evasively, not looking back at Rin as he shuffled the papers left before him into a neat stack.

“Do you think it has something to do with Kaida?” Rin asked, apparently suddenly remembering where she’d heard the falcon’s name before. “I remember Kaze saying that Lord Seiti wanted to meet with her personally about something at the ceremony for her sisters’ unions. You don’t think he came all the way here just for that, do you, Lord Sesshomaru?”

“I am not sure. Although I have a suspicion of what he wants.”

“Is Councilman Otogi not coming?” she asked, nodding at the wad of parchment he’d taken from her. “It is not like him to miss a Council meeting.”

“He seems to have mysteriously taken ill. So he will be sending an emissary in his place.”

“I didn’t think he had any sons.” Rin said, her brow furrowing.

“He doesn’t.” Sesshomaru answered, his voice laced with ice.

“So who’s he going to send in his place? His mate?”

“No. It will more than likely be his daughter Asami.”

“Should I prepare a special room for her then?”

“She’ll be fine wherever she is put.” he growled, apparently startling Rin at the showing of such emotion. The wide eyed girl just nodded and Sesshomaru suddenly wondered if he’d scared her. Thankfully, she seemed to recover a few seconds later, and nodded.

“Will there anything else we need to prepare for?” she asked quietly.

“No.”

“Well then, I’ll see to Lord Seiti’s room personally.” she said, bowing her way out. Sesshomaru paid no notice to her as she slipped out of the doors, heading back towards the kitchens to more than likely inform Keisha of the needed changes.

He sat back and forced himself to calm down. Having Seiti in the fortress was not as big of a dilemma as it could be. Sure, the bird brained idiot would probably annoy Kaida to no end, but Sesshomaru knew the demoness could take care of herself. And Rin would be under no threat because word had spread that she was promised to Kentaro, and Kentaro would be attached to her side the entire time. Seiti was a randy old bastard, but not even he would incite a feud over human woman who was all but marked, and a demoness who wanted nothing to do with him.

Or did she? Kaida had not exactly spoken her thoughts about the perverse falcon, instead deferring her answer to his questions until she had some answers of her own. Sesshomaru didn’t know what she thought about Seiti, actually. But surely the demoness would have enough sense not to get herself tied in with someone like Seiti! The mainland lord’s reputation was littered with stories of him weaseling his way into even the most cold-hearted female’s graces, despite their protests, only to use them for his own gain and then push them aside for whatever reason. Surely Kaida knew this!

Sesshomaru felt his energy rising to spike once again, and forcibly calmed it down. No, as long as he could deal with Asami, his own jilted ex-lover, he had every confidence that Kaida could deal with one overbearing bird brain who had his sights on taking her as a lover.

-----

“What?” Kaida demanded hotly. “What’s Seiti doing, coming here?”

“I don’t know. But Lord Sesshomaru told me he would be arriving with Kentaro sometime tomorrow.” Rin said as she checked over the Lord’s chambers that Seiti would be staying in while he was in the Western Lands. Rin had run into Kaida just a few minutes ago, and had quickly relayed the message that the falcon lord was enroute to the Western lands to see her.

“Of all the…” the demoness started, her eyes growing into narrow slits. “Who does he think he….”

“And that’s not the half of it, either.” Rin said, her worried face scrunching down into a look of annoyance. Kaida let her cursing subside, turning instead to hear what else her pupil had to say. Not that it could get much worse as far as she was concerned.

“It gets worse?” Kaida asked.

“I don’t think Councilman Otogi is going to show up.”

“So?” Kaida asked, shrugging. “He’ll just send someone in his place.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” Rin said, absently checking the supplies in front of her. “Otogi’s never missed a meeting. And the only emissary he trusts enough to send in his place is his daughter Asami.”

“So what’s the problem?” Kaida asked. She couldn’t figure out why Rin seemed so upset over the possibility of Otogi missing the meeting.

“It’s not exactly a problem, per say. At least not for us.” she said, shrugging. “More of an annoyance for Lord Sesshomaru, really.”

“Why is that?”

“Lord Sesshomaru was betrothed to Asami some years ago.”

“What?!” Kaida asked, only to quickly reign her outburst in, hoping she didn’t sound to jealous. Her mind quickly went through the rumors she’d heard during her trips throughout the Southern Lands. There had been rumors that Sesshomaru was to be mated at one time. But she’d never believed it. Maybe she should have listened a little more.

“Well, they were supposed to be mated. But after Lord InuTaisho died, and Lord Sesshomaru took over ruling of the Western Lands, the official betrothal papers came up missing.” Rin said quietly, almost like she was afraid someone would overhear.

“You mean Sesshomaru shredded them.” Kaida clarified with a wave of her hand.

“Possibly.”

“I still don’t see a problem.” Kaida pointed out.

“Well, it wouldn’t be. But rumor has it that Asami and Lord Sesshomaru were lovers for a while despite the missing documents. I even heard from some people that they were together before InuTaisho ever died, but I’m not sure how true that is.”

“Lovers? Sesshomaru actually had a lover?” Kaida asked.

“At least until he sent Otogi and his family to watch over one of the territories south of here a few decades ago. That’s what I’ve heard anyways.”

Sure, Kaida knew that dog demons were…lively…in the loosest sense of the term. And she knew it was possible that Sesshomaru had bedded another demoness before, but to actually have her suspicions confirmed….well that was something else entirely.

Kaida suddenly felt very jealous of this Asami character, right along with an urge to claw the other demoness’ eyes out.

“You’re joking?” she coughed, pulling her thoughts from the homicidal turn they were taking before there was blood shed. She doubted Seiti would appreciate blood stains on the floor when he took up residence in the room.

“I wish I was.” Rin said, checking for drying cloths and sleeping yukatas in the nearby chest. “But he didn’t seem to happy to find out Otogi was ill. And I asked Keisha about it, and she didn’t seem like she wanted to say much of anything. The only other one that would know would be Jaken. And I‘ll take my chances and assume the rumors were true before I ask him anything.”

Kaida silently agreed with the young woman. Jaken would be anything but a fountain of helpful knowledge to either of them. The toad still considered Rin a disgrace to the Western family, and she a disgrace to all females in general, so asking him anything would prove futile. As Rin finished her inspection and walked out, Kaida grumbled out that she was going to be late for practice with the elites if she didn’t get a move on. Rin bid her a cheerful farewell, disappearing down one of the many hallways while Kaida stalked the opposite way, headed for the training grounds.

So Sesshomaru’s old lover was going to show her face in the fortress tomorrow, was she? Seiti too from the sound of it. Well, she could deal with that.

Kaida palmed one of her throwing knives and sent it flying out ahead of her, releasing some of her tension with the wicked blade. The kunai embedded itself into the wooden part of the door she was about to pass under. She yanked it out as she passed by, letting herself out into the courtyard. It was still a bit early to start the elite’s practicing, but she needed someone to take her agression out on. Knowing that Sesshomaru’s jilted lover was coming to the fortress was one thing. But knowing that Seiti was right on her heels only made it worse.

‘Someone up there is laughing at me right now.’ she thought grimly, violently pushing her way into the elite’s quarters and starting to call them to attention. The soldiers, apparently shocked that she was standing there glaring at them to get a move on nearly two hours before their regular training time, jumped to do as ordered. In a flury of boots and weapons, Kaida turned on her heel and walked out onto the training field, waiting for those under her command to get out there and into formation.

The raging jealousy that was coursing through her veins was not a new feeling to her, just one she’d thought had been buried years ago. Boy was she ever more wrong.

Dealing with Sesshomaru was one thing. She could handle his little quirks, and his dry if morbid sense of humor. She knew how he handled those around him, be it soldiers, servants, Rin, or even the humans from the village. But how would he handle being around an ex-lover? Would the two of them be formal to each other, or would they just revert back to the way they had been before?

Oh yes…Kaida was jealous.

“Grrrrrrrr.” Kaida growled, tapping her foot impatiently as the elites started to filter into the bright daylight. She calmed herself a little, knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop Asami’s arrival in the fortress. Well, short of disappearing for a few hours and heading the carriage off in an attempt to scaring the demoness off. But something told her that any female who managed to bag Sesshomaru as a lover, no matter for how long, was not one that was given to intimadation tactics.

‘I could always just kill the wench and hide the…Oh, Kami! What am I thinking!’ she started, shaking her head in disgust. Kaida had never taken the life of an innocent person, and now here she was planning the death of Sesshomaru’s old lover just because she was jealous of the other demoness.

If Kaze knew about this, he’d he die of laughter and give her one of his I told you so looks.

And it was then, as the last of Sesshomaru’s elites filed into formation in front of her, that Kaida realized exactly how bad she had it for the white headed dog lord.

This Council meeting wasn’t going to end pretty.

She was almost sure of that.

-------

A/N - So, our little Kaida can get jealous. ;) Hang in there for the next chapter. It’s going to be a riot of laughs and tension.

Until next time,

A.A.

Oh, and remember to review. I’d like to know what you think.