InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Alternate Storyteller ❯ Mirror, Mirror ( Chapter 8 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

An hour after sunset I woke up to find my patient propped up and sipping a broth Jaken had managed to whip up. I gave Sesshoumaru the once-over as I dished out some food for myself. His human colouring appeared normal again and his demon arrogance had returned full force.

Unfortunately, I thought as I watched him order Jaken around and refuse to look at me. Sesshoumaru finally deigned to acknowledge my presence with:

“You will assist Jaken in preparing for my departure by giving this Sesshoumaru the herbs you used last night,” he commanded,” Then you will supply the instructions that accompany them.”

I gawked at him, fully aware that my jaw was scraping the ground. The supreme disdain in his look roused my short temper, which was much shorter because of my lack of sleep. I gave him the Ultimate Glare of Death.

“I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but you sure the fuck are not going to patronize me like that after what I had to deal with last night!” I began, building up steam and volume, “You are in no condition to move today or tomorrow or the next day. And you sure as hell are not in any position to order me around and presume I will bow down to you, you lowly, filthy human!” I finished, snarling out the last few words. My two ‘guests’ froze at my bold statements. Jaken was nonplussed and sputtering gibberish, while Sesshoumaru just looked at me. The calm before the storm.

“You dare to insult me?!” he bellowed suddenly, an ugly look marring his features as he struggled to stand up, “I still have the power to slay you where you stand, you arrogant, worthless bitch! When my Time is over, I will hunt you down and flay you until you beg for death!”

Holy shit! He turns human and his self-control goes bye-bye!!! I began backing away towards the mouth of the cave, inching towards Tomoshibi along the way. Jaken was trying desperately to calm his master down without much success. Sesshoumaru pushed him out of the way as I grabbed Tomoshibi and drew it from its sheath. I held my place as the demon lord-turned-human advanced, glaring and flexing his hands, seeming to have forgotten he had no weapons other than his own fists.

Just as he came within reach of my blade, he stumbled and collapsed in a heap at my feet. I held Tomoshibi ready anyway, in case it was a ploy to get me to lower my defences. I stared at the pile of cloth, fur and hair for a moment and wondered what to do next. After a minute, the heap stirred and the muffled words “Are you going to just stand there and stare at my shame or are you going to assist this Sesshoumaru to the bed” issued from the ground. Struggling to contain my laughter detained me long enough to make him slowly lift his head and scowl at me. I very reluctantly lowered my sword and helped him to his feet, still trying desperately to internalize my twisted amusement. He was even more reluctant to receive help, so I basically just followed him to bed and made sure he didn’t humiliate himself again.

Whatever, I sighed for the hundredth time since breakfast as he settled in again. Seeing to Sesshoumaru’s comfort - while keeping Tomoshibi at my waist- became tiresome by nightfall. He demanded anything and everything like he was still the Taiyoukai, instead of a weak, sick human. Like I can talk. I’m even whinier than he is when I get sick. At the same time, I felt really and truly sorry for him.

It must suck going from the most powerful demon in Japan to the sick thing he is now. Which is probably what set him off earlier. I wouldn’t want to be reminded of being the one thing I truly despised, either. I should probably apologize for this morning. The very thought of doing it made me shudder in horror, but it had to be done. What I’d said to him was my anger talking, and that was something I had been taught not to do from the time I was a small child. Sometimes I really hate you, Conscience. Swallowing my pride, I approached Sesshoumaru, dreading the reaction I was pretty sure I was going to get.

“Um, Sesshoumaru-sama?” I began hesitantly. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. He looked at me the first time. I’m impressed. I took a deep breath, ”I would like to apologize for what I said this morning.” No reaction. My resolve was faltering, but I went on anyway, “I really am sorry and I didn’t mean what I said. I hope you can forgive me.” There. I’d done it.

“Humph. Your words are pathetic and meaningless, human. Remove yourself from my presence,” was the reaction I got. My anger flared up full force while my face burned with it and humiliation, but I held my tongue.

Why did I think he would be understanding?! Tears of shame sprang to my eyes, Damn bastard!!! If you were lying bleeding and begging for help, I still wouldn’t befriend or rescue you or whatever the hell it would be, no matter how desperate the situation! I despise everything you stand for and I never want to see you again after this.

I turned from my object of loathing and stomped out of the cave, back stiff and straight, to hunt down some more wood and food. It took a couple of hours to get everything, so I had plenty of time to curse the power that took perverse pleasure in putting me into these situations and forcing me to live with the man that awaited my return. As I slugged my way through the snow, I pondered why I was reacting so strongly to him.

Why? Why am I taking everything so personally? Well, besides the righteous anger the stupid bastard ignited today. I tossed the question around in my head for a bit. The answer hit me like the bullet trains of Japan.

I expected it to be like those corny romance fanfics I used to read! He would see me, fall in love, and we would live happily ever after. I snorted. Hell, yeah! Before yesterday, I totally would’ve gone for it. He’s hot, powerful, and tall. And a complete and utter asshole. I scowled. My fan-girling is officially dead as of this moment. I looked down at my wrist and sighed with regret. Too bad it costs so much to get this damn tattoo removed. That is, if I ever make it home.

My thoughts turned to my family and friends. I missed them so much. If I were home when Sesshoumaru pissed me off, I could’ve called my friends. We would’ve hung out and abused him roundly, maybe even to his face and then gotten over it. But not here, in this cold, desolate place with the ultimate ass waiting for me to get back to feed him and then ignore me. That final thought brought me to the incline in front of the cave. I looked up, prepared myself, and made the climb. Jaken was waiting for me at the entrance, tapping his foot impatiently and making threatening gestures with the Staff.

“Where have you been, you stupid wench?” he screeched, “Sesshoumaru-sama has been waiting for an hour to have his evening meal!” I simply looked at him, face blank, and went about setting the wood to dry and preparing the evening meal. My lack of response aggravated him even more, but before he could make good on his unspoken threats, Sesshoumaru told him to back down.

“Do not waste your energy berating her, Jaken. She has returned with heat and food. That is all that matters at this time.”

Blink. Blink, blink.

I paused for a moment. Oooookay. That was almost nice. For him, anyway. Where did the uncontrollable temper and disdain go? Wondering if I had walked into the wrong cave, I returned to my work. A short time later, dinner was ready and we sat down to some meagre fare. It was a silent meal, punctuated by the occasional cough from the bed and Jaken’s inhaling everything in his bowl. I was relieved when it was over, for the tension and awkwardness that smothered the small cave made it almost unbearable to stay put. I washed the dishes quickly and headed out for some fresh air. A short while later, I was joined by Jaken, who sat surprisingly close to me, even though he had made it abundantly clear that he loathed me. I looked at him as he made himself comfortable.

After a relatively uncomfortable short silence, he suddenly blurted out, “This Jaken thanks you for caring for Sesshoumaru-sama these past days.”

I whipped around to look at him, totally off-guard. He got all defensive when he saw my face.

“What? This Jaken is capable of being grateful when the time calls for it.”

I swallowed to collect my thoughts and answered, “I realize that, Jaken-san. I’m surprised because you have made it clear that you absolutely despise, loathe, and detest me with a hatred that is unrivalled by anything else.” He looked placated and returned to gazing into the darkness.


“That is true. However, you saved my lord’s life, which raises my esteem for humans by the tiniest amount possible.” I rolled my eyes. Talk about backhanded compliments. I sighed and went back to gazing at the dark landscape as well. We sat in silence for a while longer, but my curiosity got the better of me.

“What happened to Sesshoumaru-sama?” I asked, and braced myself for the onslaught of indignation. Surprisingly, it never came. Instead, Jaken looked at me, as though he were appraising my intelligence, turned forward again, and began speaking.

“Two years ago this past Fall, an elderly miko arrived at Sesshoumaru-sama’s palace, claiming she had an audience with him. She was refused permission to even enter the courtyard, but stayed outside the gates for two days before milord himself came out to send her on her way. They spoke briefly, and Sesshoumaru-sama actually permitted her entrance, and even an audience! To allow such a powerful human into his presence was unusual, but he did it, to his later regret.” The retainer sighed and continued.

“Before they reached the palace door, she began prophesying about milord’s future existence, claiming he was to take a human as his mate. ’The mate of your heart or Death,’ she warned him. He scoffed her words, telling her he would never lower himself to mate with a weak, filthy human. She warned him again, this time reminding him of his honoured father’s choice and subsequent death. Milord became angered at this and threatened her life if she continued on with such nonsense. The miko did not seem to hear him, speaking as though three people spoke at once. Her words were of his half-breed children, bloodshed, his so-called mate, and ultimately, his low and untimely death if he did not heed the final words and deeds of both his father, and her,” Jaken stopped and was silent for a moment, seeming to steel himself for the next part of his story.

“After she finished, Sesshoumaru-sama was so enraged, he slew all who had heard the prophesy, leaving the miko unharmed. After everyone lay dead, he wrapped his poison hand around her throat, accusing her of lying to him and coming to him with the sole purpose of humiliating him and desecrating his father‘s memory. She warned him one last time to take the prophesy to heart even as the poison ate her throat, telling him he would shame his and InuYasha‘s father by not believing her. When she realized he would not listen, she cursed him with her final breath, ’Only as that which you despise will you find your life. Live as the half-brother you loathe and find the Truth about which I speak.’ The moment she died, Sesshoumaru-sama collapsed, writhing in pain,” Jaken looked shaken as he relived that day, but continued on.

“After several moments, he returned to his feet as though nothing had happened and returned to his chambers.”

“How is it,” I interrupted, “that he killed everyone who heard the prophesy, and yet here you are, alive and kicking?”

“I hid myself throughout the entire ordeal,” he said, put out that I had interrupted him and continued with his story, “Milord did not believe the miko, and life continued as it had before her arrival. However, two moon cycles after that day, I awoke to loud noises emanating from Sesshoumaru-sama’s chambers. Afraid that milord was being attacked, I rushed into his room, only to find what I thought was his half-breed brother, on his human night, destroying the room.” I could see where this was going, “But when he turned to see who had interrupted his rampage, it was none other than my lord, as human as Rin and cursing the miko with every breath he took! The ordeal lasted half a moon cycle, during which milord did not leave his chambers and permitted no one but this lowly Jaken to see him. Ever since then, he becomes easily angered in the days before his change and is unpredictable during his human Time.”

Well, that explains a lot, I thought, stunned by Jaken’s incredible tale. Another thought intruded, which brought much amusement with it.

He’s no better than a human woman during her period! I realized with glee, He suffers from PMS worse than anyone I know, too! Eeeexcellent, I cackled evilly in my head. That wonderful miko had given him a double dose of human life. Not only did he now have a time of vulnerability like InuYasha, it also acted close enough to a woman’s fertility cycle to give him a look at what a human female had to go through every month. Internally, I was beside myself with laughter. Oh, if only he was well enough to torture and tease! The dude wouldn’t know what hit him! However, I reigned in my amusement, and realized almost three hours had passed and I should be getting back to my ‘patient‘.

“We should be heading back in,” I said, getting to my feet and brushing myself off, “I need to check up on Sesshoumaru-sama before he goes to sleep.” I headed back inside, Jaken close behind. Sesshoumaru was sitting on the bed, shivering next to the fire, still suffering from the effects of a serious illness. I took off my outer kimono and made to put it around his trembling shoulders, but he tried to smack my arms back when I came into range. Put out, I squatted down and planted myself next to him.

“I don’t care if you’re temporarily human! You’re still human and prone to a relapse right now,” I looked at him sternly, as I would a wayward child, “You need to keep warm, so take my kimono and put it on.” He looked at me, disgust plainly written on his face.

“This Sesshoumaru will not dirty himself by wearing the rags of a human like you,” he spat out.

“Oh, you will, whether you like it or not, you insolent child,” I shot back, “especially since you already smell like a sewer from all the sweat you’ve put out over the last day.” From the look on his face, I seriously though he was going to try and hit me. He seemed to find some of his control, though, and I reached over and put the kimono around him. Satisfied, I crawled over to a spot close to the fire within reaching distance of him, and began warming my hands.

As I held them up to the fire I said, “Tomorrow, I’m going to see if I can’t get a bath going so you can wash yourself.” I didn’t get any comments from either camp, and when I looked up, I saw that both of my guests had laid down and fallen asleep. Shaking my head, I got up and sighed. After a moment’s contemplation, I went to my bag and dug through it. Finding what I was looking for, I went to the cave entrance and placed a protective seal by the opening, quietly chanting the activation spell as I smoothed it onto the wall. Satisfied, I checked on Jaken and Sesshoumaru one last time, and then made myself as comfortable as was possible and went to sleep.

I woke up to the sun shining brightly outside the door and the sounds of Jaken fumbling around trying to get breakfast going. Yawning hugely and rubbing my blurry eyes, I reluctantly pushed myself up to greet the new day.

“Get up, you lazy human! We need food and Sesshoumaru-sama needs to wash,” Jaken screeched at me, making me wince at the sound of his nauseating voice. Grumbling about bossy toads and men not doing things for themselves, I got up and went about my daily routine. After breakfast, I removed the protective seal and packed the small pot full of ice from the creek so I could wash up.

I thought about how to get Sesshoumaru cleaned up as the ice melted over the fire and I washed myself. Jaken brought up the topic as I checked on the demon lord.

“Milord needs to bathe, human. Do something about it!” the toad demanded. I glared at him as I looked at the bedding and clothes Sesshoumaru was wrapped in.

“I’m thinking about that, you arrogant ass! And if you think he smells so bad, then you do something about it,” I snapped. The retainer began sputtering something about not meaning to say his master was a slovenly human, while the subject of our conversation watched the exchange in, surprisingly, absolute silence.

I took a harder look at Sesshoumaru. He had bags under his eyes, like he’d barely gotten any sleep last night. I wondered at that, but before I could contemplate any further, the demon lord gave me a scorching look. Mentally shaking my head, I went back to the problem at hand.

I came to a decision and began making good on last night’s idea. I managed to rope Jaken into helping me after a few threats, and together we hauled ice and snow in every conceivable container into the cave to melt. It took us the better part of the morning to get it all melted, and then we had to heat it. At the very, very back of the cave was an indentation deep enough to serve as a small, shallow pool. We heated up as much water as possible and dumped it into our makeshift bath. By the time it was as full as we could get it, my arms felt like they had died, but at least we could be somewhat clean now.

“Bath’s ready,” I called to the figure by the fire. He looked at the bath, then me, the bath again, and finally hauled himself up and shuffled over to where we were waiting. He stopped when he reached us, and then we spent several moments just staring at each other.

Finally, I cleared my throat and asked, “Well, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to partake of our hard work?” Jaken and Sesshoumaru looked at me like I’d grown an extra head. I was just confused.

“What?” I asked. I had no idea what we were waiting for and wanted to get on with it.

Jaken cleared everything up by screeching, “Sesshoumaru-sama is not going to disrobe in front of the likes of you, you filthy human!”

Ah, now I understood, even if Jaken’s way of explaining it pissed me off. I turned my back, intending to go for the fire to heat up water for the laundry. To my complete and utter surprise, Sesshoumaru caught my arm and said,

“You will assist me with my bath, human.”

I don’t know who was more flabbergasted, me or Jaken. Jaken fainted. I just stared. I had gotten used to his unpredictable temper and chronic attitude problems, but this was totally out of the blue.

“Well? What are you stupidly staring at?” he asked impatiently, “Bathe this Sesshoumaru, so this disgusting stench is removed.” I nodded dumbly and helped him get undressed. My brain didn’t kick in until we’d gotten him down to his fundoshi, and then I realized that I had this hot guy stripped down to his underwear, and that was coming off in about five seconds. My face felt like it had burst into flames as he took the loincloth off, and I quickly looked down at the floor. As he sat down in the water, I whipped my vision up to a point on the wall above his head. When I was sure I wasn’t going to see anything wagging around, I picked up my lone clean cloth and began washing his back.

My friends would die of jealousy if they knew what I was doing now, I thought as I scrubbed away the sweat and grime off Sesshoumaru’s smooth, hard back. I moved onto his hair, washing it out as best I could with my paltry bar of homemade soap. The black strands felt as though they were the softest silk, gliding between my fingers like a gentle breeze. I thoroughly enjoyed running my fingers through his long hair, most of the time just pretending to wash it. I noticed after a while that he seemed to be getting uncomfortable for some reason, even though I was only stroking his hair. I sadly let go when he had finished washing the rest of himself, averting my gaze again as I handed him a cloth so he could dry off. I headed back to the bed corner and picked up the grungy bedding and clothing, and took it to the bath to clean them up.

As I picked up the hot water from the fire on my way by, I glanced at Sesshoumaru and almost passed out. He was rewrapping the cloth around his waist, but not fast enough to cover the fact that he had a massive hard-on! I felt my face burn with embarrassment, but at the same time, the perverted part of me was gratified to know that I could turn a guy -especially him- on like that. I snorted, and shaking my head, went back to my work, feeling like the temperature in the cave had gone up about ten degrees, but determined not to go any farther with something that sure as hell wasn’t ever going to happen. I put all my energy into scrubbing the laundry instead, and had it finished in no time.

After everything had been hung up to dry and Sesshoumaru was wrapped up securely in my haori and an extra blanket, we sat down to an early supper. I watched him closely while he ate, and saw definite signs of improvement in his health. His appetite was growing and he wasn’t as weak as before, making me wonder if he wasn’t going to go full demon on me any day now. No one I knew of recovered that quickly from so serious an illness, which gave me hope that he and his rotten lackey would be out of my hair shortly. I didn’t know how much longer I could put up with his unpredictable temper, apparently raging hormones, and the gas giant he had for an ego.

The bedding was still damp when I checked after supper, so I took a seat by the fire and pulled out Tomoshibi. The poor thing had needed looking after for a while, so I busied myself with it, content to ignore my companions for a time. Just as I was finishing up, I had the sneaking suspicion that I was being stared at, and turned around. Sure enough, I caught Sesshoumaru right before he turned away. Mentally shrugging, I got up and put it next to my bedding. The laundry was dry when I look at it this time, so I set the bed up in the corner again and handed Sesshoumaru his clothes.

“Get changed and go to bed, please,” I said pleasantly, and went back to my seat by the fire, stepping over a now-sleeping Jaken and knowing I was going to get some kind of retort. Needless to say, I got a grunted, “This Sesshoumaru is not a child to be ordered to bed, woman. This Sesshoumaru will sleep when I believe it to be necessary.” I sighed.

“You just can’t make my life easy, can you?” I asked, gazing into the fire while he came and sat across from me. I could feel him staring at me again, so I looked up at him.

He didn’t avert his eyes this time, staring at me with an intensity I’d never experienced, nor ever seen in him. I tried to break our gaze, but my body seemed to have lost its connection with my brain. Never taking his eyes away from mine, he got to his feet and slowly made his way to around the fire to me. When he got to me, he knelt down next to me, and his gaze intensified. I felt as though I was drowning in his dark eyes, and felt them caressing my face. Even when I suddenly felt something warm on my left cheek, I couldn’t break free of his look to see what it was. After a moment, I realized that he was, in fact, caressing my face with his fingertips. He leaned closer, and abruptly the air began throbbing around us. I could barely breathe with him so close to me.

“So beautiful,” he whispered, startling me, “This Sesshoumaru wishes for you to become my mate, to bear the heirs of the Western Lands.”

“Uuuh,” was all I got out.

“You are perfect as a mate. Intelligent, resourceful, caring. I wish to take you this night.”

“What?” I couldn’t believe this was happening. The thought of being taken by this man made my body feel like it was on fire.

“You are so much like her,” he said, sorrow entering his eyes. Eh? My brain was reconnecting with the rest of me, and I managed to avert my gaze.

“Like who?” I couldn’t resist asking because my stupid curiosity got the better of me.

“Kagura,” he whispered. My brain kicked in on all thrusters and I shoved him away. Fury took hold of me and I jumped up, ramrod straight with my hands clenched.

“You no-good son of a bitch!” I hissed, baring down on him, “How dare you toy with me like that! I will not be any kind of replacement, especially for the likes of you, you heartless, shallow bastard. You‘re no better than your brother!” Sesshoumaru stood up then, anger playing across his face.

“I was mistaken, it appears,” he stated coldly, all traced of his previous warmth gone, “She would have been honoured to become my mate.”

“Yeah, well she is dead, so fat chance of that happening!” I shot back. His face turned red, and I knew I had crossed a line. By now, though, I didn’t care and kept going, “She had to have been the most idiotic broad on the face of the planet to want to mate with someone as arrogant, egotistical, apathetic, stupid, and selfish as you!” I finished, panting from the amount of energy I had put out.

Sesshoumaru’s face darkened and froze into the scariest example of anger I had ever seen on a human being. As he advanced on me, I searched for some means of escape or defence, but couldn’t find anything to help me. Jaken wasn’t going to be any good, since he would side with his master, and my weapons were next to the bed on the other side of the cave. When Sesshoumaru reached for my throat, I did the only thing I knew would work.

I slugged him across the face. Hard.

He grunted and fell to his knees, clearly stunned by my actions. A bruise was already blossoming on his cheek, and he looked like he was in a significant amount of pain. The rage in me was satisfied, but the humanity in me was ashamed. However, my stubborn and wounded pride got the better of me, and I walked over to my gear, ignoring him. I hauled it over to where I sat watch, dug out the protection seal, and plastered it to the side of the entrance.

Turning to Sesshoumaru, I said quietly, “You’re well enough to make it out of the mountains, now.”

“I will be full demon again at sunrise, human,” he spat out.

“Then I expect you to be gone shortly after,” I continued as I sat down and tucked my legs under me, “and I don’t ever want to see you or that miserable toad of yours for as long as I live.”

“You have made that perfectly clear,” he said, getting to his feet, “It will not be difficult to achieve, as this Sesshoumaru will punish you for your insolence once my powers have returned.” I snorted softly.

“So, the only way you can handle a weak, stupid human is when you’re a big, bad demon who’s a hundred times stronger than I am?” I mocked, “You’re pathetic!” He growled at me, but headed for the bed as I settled down to keep watch.

“I will not forget this, you worthless human,” he threatened from his place on the floor. I just looked away and focused on my duty.

It’s gonna be a long night, I sighed as I gazed into the darkness once more.