InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Yellow Brick Road ❯ To Proposition ( Chapter 5 )

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA AND COMPANY, NOR DO I OWN WIZARD OF OZ.


AN: Thank you to Nekette for beta-ing


Chapter 5: To Proposition
Sesshoumaru decided that he would order the miko to be quiet more often. The silence was very enjoyable. She had no way to endanger the tentative truce with the north. His favorite by far was when she would try and physically act out what she wanted. Really, who would have guessed that hopping from one foot to the other while making a funny face meant one needed to relieve oneself? Yes, he made sure all would play dumb to see how far she would go to communicate her needs.
He admitted that this had been one of the most entertaining travels that he had been on ever. That was saying a lot, considering that he had traveled for over 600 years of his life. The truly amazing thing was that not all of her gestures were common to humans of this region, or, well any region he had been to. At one point he had tallied up all the civilizations he had encountered, he stopped somewhere in the eight hundreds. He realized the futility of counting them, because humans tended to have a knack for overthrowing civilizations.
There was no point in trying to understand why humans were self-destructive creatures; there was an entertaining miko to watch. Currently she was trying to get someone to accompany her to the stream. He never knew that the human face could turn such a vibrate shade of red. Was that actually steam coming out of her ears? She had not even made a grunting noise, but if Kuro did not give in then he would most likely end up purified.
Kagome huffed and turn away from the infuriating dog. Oh, she knew they were all playing dumb when it came to her attempts at communication. Even the kit had noticed the fun and joined in. The little turn coat. It would not be so bad if she could take care of her own needs, but the arrogant dog had ensured that she could not. She would love to collar the dog. He would look better with dirt smeared all over him.
Her anger was fading along with the light from the sun. She had played this role long enough, and damn it she wanted tea. Walking until she was a foot in front of the great lord, she lowered her body into a full bow.
Speaking to the ground, "My lord, may I please have an escort to the stream?"
"Miko, this Sesshoumaru told you he did not wish to hear your voice for two days."
"It has been two days. Your statement was made at sunset two days ago. May I please go get some water, my lord?"
"Wench for your insolence, you will remain silent until this Sesshoumaru informs you otherwise." Really why would he allow her to speak when she was so entertaining mute?
The only acknowledgement she gave to his decree was silence. She knew that he would not force any other to take her on her requested errand. Cursing all those around her, she scoured the campsite for four suitable sticks. She fastened them together with thin strips of leather. Then she proceeded to stretch one of her smaller hides over the frame. She secured it so that was taut.
The others in the party watched her, wondering what she hoped to accomplish by these antics. Such determination in her set task, that she was not noticing their blatant staring. Finally, they began to understand as she put several small sticks in the fire only letting one side burn.
She pulled them all out, blowing out the fire on each and letting them cool slightly. Taking the charred end of the stick to the hide, she wrote out something and presented it to Tadashi. He looked at for a while and then an odd light came into his eyes.
"Miko, I am sorry but I cannot read." Tadashi was impressed with his bold-faced lie. Really, he wanted to see how she would deal with this next obstacle.
‘Oh yeah, play dumb you silver-eyed freak. I am going to bleach streaks into your brown hair. Why do I always have to get stuck with dogs?’ Then, she realized that the game would not be nearly as fun if she were the only one being insulted.
The next message was placed in front of Kuro:
A youkai of your standing would not let a mere ningen accomplish something you have not. Please, I just want to get some water.
Laughing at the tactic that the miko was imploring, he tossed the hide board to Tadashi. Kuro motioned the miko to follow him. Quickly scurrying after the youkai, she turned her head to stick her tongue out at the less than helpful one.
Sighing Tadashi placed the board down by the miko’s things. "That one does not understand that she is female."
Sesshoumaru would have snorted his agreement if the action were not so below his station. The miko came back almost skipping. Her mood had been greatly improved when she discovered a berry bush that still bore fruit this late in the season. She had decided that she could play their jester if her reward would be her favorite berries.


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Damn, if the girl was not inventive. She could use the board to convey her every need. She used the pride of her traveling companions to her advantage as well. Now, none would deny her what she asked for, because none wanted to see her institute her retribution.
All they had to do was remember a determined miko, bound to silence, teach Tadashi how to read. He had lasted a half an hour of her lesson before he recanted his former claim to illiteracy. Kagome then proceeded to write something that both found humorous, after which all ill will was swept aside.
The elementals had been harder for her to corral, but seemed to gain respect for her shortly after the arrival of the kit. Then on the third night of her forced silence, Kagome won the elementals.
The kit had been eager in his want to help his new provider, so much so that he burned her when trying to start her fire for dinner. Horrified that he was now going to find himself all alone in the world again, he went running off into the brush. Kagome followed her natural maternal instinct to run off after him. Short moments later both reappeared with the miko trying to rub soothing circles on the kit’s back while carrying him. Her hands were charred and blistered; they needed to be taken care. However, the miko did not notice this fact, she saw a child in need.
Taking her board and kit, she marched up in front of the elementals, insisting on their help. Scoffing, turning away, Hikaru was stopped when the miko’s now bloody hands pulled the front of his armor to face her. She furiously scribbled out another message. Hikaru raised a brow out her.
"You admit, miko, which have no way of helping him yourself?" She nodded vigorously. "You admit that you are inferior?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously at him, but then she turned to the kit and nodded her head again. "You would put an orphaned kit, that you don’t even know his name, before your own pride?" With this, she kneeled down, placing her damaged hands on the ground forming a triangle.
Her bow was in complete reverence to one that had treated her with nothing but contempt. All this was done for a kit she had taken in three days ago. Hikaru turned his violet eyes from the subjugated miko, to the kit.
"Kit, your name."
"Yuichi."
"Come, Yuichi, you need to learn to control that fox fire."
The magenta haired elemental lead the orange haired kit away from the camp, it was the first time that Kagome had taken any real noticed of Hikaru’s features. She decided that his features were far too rough to allow his eye and hair colors to make him look feminine. Yes, she was stalling. Her hands hurt and she did not want to face Sesshoumaru. However, Kagome had learned the hard way what it meant to ignore one’s responsibilities, she would not make him wait any more.
Walking to his side of the camp, she knelt down before him. Hands folded neatly in her lap, eyes and head cast towards the ground, her neck bent to bare it before her alpha. She had ignored one of his orders, although she believed it was for a good reason, she must submit to whatever punishment he deemed necessary.
"Miko, tend to your hands first. The smell offends this Sesshoumaru."
Kagome retreated from him to comply with his wish as fast as possible.
Sesshoumaru had watched the whole scene and was had hard time containing his rage. Was the bitch stupid? Did she not know that she had offered herself to Hikaru? First, she runs off without an escort, and then she touches another male. Not just touches, but also acknowledges that he can have a claim on her body without consent from her alpha. Was the bitch looking to get beat? Is trading favors how she survived so long outside of the protection of his brother? He would deal with her, and then he would deal with the damn elemental that corralled her into the offering. Finally, he would figure out why he cared so much. Why did he have to be responsible for all the insufferable bitches?
After she had bandaged her hands, Kagome resumed her position in front of tai-youkai. He rose quickly and cast one word her way.
"Follow."
She gulped. Going to a secluded area with an angry Sesshoumaru did not hold much promise for her health. Oh, he was mad; she could barely keep up with his pace. Finally, after a half an hour of walking he stopped turned around and backhanded her. Kagome fell hard to the forest floor. She was too stunned at the moment to feel the pain from the blow.
The whole way from the camp all Sesshoumaru could think about was how she offered herself with such ease. It had infuriated him to the point making his blood boil. Beast and master were both in accordance that the bitch must be held accountable.
"Miko, are you a whore?"
She could think straight. Why would he ask that question? She was so confused. Sesshoumaru on the other hand took her silence as affirmation.
"Whore, you will answer this Sesshoumaru when he questions you."
"I don’t understand. How does my running after a frighten kit make me a whore?"
"You will not play obtuse. You know very well that you offered yourself to the elemental. What other payment would you have for his aid?"
"He will request payment? I offered no such payment."
Ignoring her comment, he pressed the issue that was truly bothering him. "The ease, with which you offered yourself to him, makes this Sesshoumaru believe you have done so several times before. Again, this Sesshoumaru wishes to know if you are a whore, so he can treat you accordingly."
Now all her confusion slipped away, to be replaced by a rush of anger. He questioned her virtue. "I have never offered anyone those kinds of favors." She spit through clenched teeth.
"You just did. You offered yourself to that male without any hesitation or reference to your alpha." She was on her feet glowing pink swirling with a dark blackish purple in an instant. Her face was as close she could get it to his. "I don’t know what having an alpha means. I am human. I do not have instincts that guide me. What you saw back there was me refusing to allow another under my protection to fall because I am too stubborn to learn from the past."
He was growling at her audacity. Kagome was unaware, too lost in pain of a memory as she turned her back on him. She was pinned to the ground beneath him, his hand placed between her shoulder blades while her hands were trapped under her chest.
"You think me so weak that you can turn your back on me?" The hand wrapped in her hair jerked her head backwards.
"No, my lord. You do not understand because you never failed Rin. Shippo died because I refused to admit that I needed help in raising him. He never learned the things he should have because I did not understand them myself. I understand the world as a ningen would, for youkai that is a fatal mistake. Those under my protection will learn how to live in the world, if they need help with something I cannot teach them, then I will find a teacher that can."
Pulling her hair harder, "Bitch, you will refer to alpha for guidance."
Surely, not all humans were this stupid? No, Rin had understood to come to him. Rin had trusted totally in his protection and guidance. OH, he wished that Mother was giving Inuyasha as hard of a time as this annoying miko was giving him.


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< br>
Inuyasha was amazed that she had not been killed before. Sesshoumaru did not have this much patience. The conniving bitch was trying to get him assassinated.
Ok, he could not prove it, but he would have been able to if she had not killed all those that could connect her. Yet again, he could not prove it was her killing them. How were there any left in the western domain with this bitch scheming for the past thousand years or so?
He was so gonna kick fluffy’s ass when the pompous dog returned.


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~< br> "Sesshoumaru-sama, you already made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with Yuichi."
Did Inuyasha teach her nothing of pack? Even most humans understood hierarchies of this level. Did the girl not have a father?
"Miko, you claim me as your alpha?"
The silence was deafening. She did not want to say it again. She did not understand what it meant. Why could not arrogant dogs be a little more forth coming with information?
He yanked her hair some more. "Yes, I did." Her voice was straining under the pain of the position she was in.
"This Sesshoumaru allowed you to offer the kit protection?"
"Yes."
"You are under this Sesshoumaru’s protection?"
"Yes."
"Then is it so hard for you to understand that the kit is now under the protection of this Sesshoumaru as well?"
He would do that? Why? She just could not understand this pack stuff. She wished that Inuyasha had never found her. If he had not then she would be quietly talking to herself in the deep woods somewhere. She would be avoiding all others in the world. Solitude seemed like a very nice option right now considering the pissed off tai-youkai pining her to the ground.
She heard the growling above, then remembered she had not answered him. Huh. It was not as if he was the one in the uncomfortable arrangement.
"I do not presume to know what you will and will not protect. My memory still holds the feeling of someone's poison claws trying to melt me. Yet here I am being reprimanded for unintentionally impugning my own virtue. My lord this inferior human is incapable of being able to guess Sesshoumaru-sama’s motives, and thought it would be insulting if I tried."
She was going to test his control beyond the limits of even the Kami. Leaning over and nipped her ear harshly. Her response was a startled cry, followed by a glowing miko.
Pulling her hair so hard that her back practically snapped in half, the miko immediately stopped glowing to start whimpering. Sesshoumaru had wrapped his fangs around her now exposed throat. He would not let the warning go so lightly, the minutest amount of pressure brought her blood into his mouth.
Immediately dropping her to ground, Sesshoumaru had to force himself away from the slumping body. Her blood had flowed more smoothly than any sake, with the slow burn that slid down his throat. Damn she was a confounding bitch. Even in a position of complete submission, she finds a way to be still defiant. There had never been a challenge quite like her.
Inuyasha was not going to be able to walk for month upon his return


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When they returned to camp with a much bloodier miko than departed, he order her silence again. He also ordered that all her reasonable requests be carried out. His mood was slightly improved it was discovered that Hikaru was trying to ensure that he would not be purified for the type of training the kit would be put through. Hikaru wanted to make sure that she was turning over complete responsibility of training to him.

As they continued north to the island, Sesshoumaru began reflecting on his life. He was trying to discover at least one thing that was as enigmatic as the miko. She would submit yet at the same time challenge. She was intelligent and did the most moronic things. She was female but thought it her place to stand next to, not behind, a male.
Her origins were still a mystery. Which was probably good for the people who lived there, he could not harm her, but he would relish the ability to ensure that no more of her were produced. He supposed he could force her to tell him but that would involve talking to her.
The question of what society decides to educate their common women was a puzzling one. He had never heard of it before, and his knowledge extended beyond the continent.
Sesshoumaru had been born in the reign of his great-grandsire. While he was not alive for the great banishment, in his youth there had still been a few shadow that needed to gathered and banished. The First banishment, while thought to be one big to trail, had actually taken close to 1200 years to accomplish.
It had been Sesshoumaru’s close proximity to his sire’s age that forced Sesshoumaru to spend centuries on his own, traveling foreign lands. His father was only about a hundred and fifty years older than he was. Most of his kind waited until at least five to eight hundred years before siring progeny. This would allow the older inu to establish dominance. The other thing it allowed for was the search for a proper mate.
His grandsire had died a premature death when his father was still in his youth. His great-grandsire did not want to see his empire fall, so pressured his father to sire an heir as soon as possible. Introduce Mother, the breeder from hell, and now there was not only an heir but also an heir for the heir.
Around Sesshoumaru’s 100th year, his great-grandsire died in battle. His father was young to take control of the clan and domain. Having not truly had a chance to prove himself, his father felt it was best to remove the closest rival, Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru was sent to discover the world beyond the continent on his own. If he survived then that would be his test. Sesshoumaru knew that he could have just settled down just outside of his father's reach and awaited his time of return. He did not. He was bitter about his situation in life, but also saw the great opportunity to learn different fighting styles. He was positive that upon his return he could challenge his father and win. His success would be ensured by the wealth of knowledge that only he would have access.
Sesshoumaru wandered through the continent, its southern jungles and eastern deserts, a great mountain range beyond. The humans of each area began to take on different appearances, the building techniques differed, the fighting styles differed, the knowledge differed, and the further west he went the less yokai and human interacted. He began to wonder if this was sign of things to come. While many of the advances humans did not come up with, they manipulated and improved on these ideas.
It took one intelligent human every generation or so to improve the society as a whole. He also noticed that fewer humans interacted with the youkai of the region, the less entrenched in traditions the society was.
His complete dislike of humanity as a whole began with the fair-skinned humans of the far west. Their great society had fallen not more than a few centuries before, yet they wallowed in darkness and filth. Judgment being passed that all that refued to adhere to their beliefs were to be exiled, beaten into submission, or put to death. He passed through their lands as fast as possible, killing as many as possible.
That was his early adulthood. While his father stayed on familiar ground waging battle after battle to build his name and honor, Sesshoumaru was alone. His father found glory in the eyes of the clan. Sesshoumaru learned to sleep with one eye open. His father was loved and cherished, while he was all but forgotten. Upon his return, he heard the whispers that he should have stayed to fight by his father’s side. What son did not fight by his father? The son left when he was told to leave.
For all his father’s great conquests, Sesshoumaru realized that he accomplished something none in their clan could claim. He survived over six centuries by himself in foreign lands without the support of a pack. Inuyasha was the closest, but Inuyasha’s was a self-imposed purgatory. Sesshoumaru left dutifully and upon his return was ridiculed for his abandonment.
Upon the end of this trip down memory lane Sesshoumaru concluded that he really did not like either of his parents. He looked at the one that helped all these thoughts come to the surface. Her eyes looked in his direction for a moment.
Her eye color. It more than likely pointed to the fact that somewhere in her ancestry there was mixed blood with those of the far west. Now that was interesting, since the humans here barely knew of those on the continent.
Well, she was now immortal and his responsibility. If it really bothered him so much then he would simple force the information out of her. Besides, he needed something to look forward to during his down times.


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AN: Please review. Thank you for reading.

Emily