InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Secrets of the Past ❯ A Question of Protocol ( Chapter 7 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
Chapter 7: A Question of Protocol

"Murasaki sama! I will not stay in the house with him!" Jaken howled as she announced that she needed time alone with Sesshomaru.
"Jaken, you must understand. Inuyasha was forced by the dokufu to flee for his life. He never had the time for the proper training in court etiquette. Do not slight him because his manners are base and peasant-like. He had to rely on peasants for his education. If we had not been separated by the dokufu spawn, his manners would be better. "
"It is not the lack of manners befitting his station. He wants me dead! He wants Sesshomaru sama dead. He is the one who took Sesshomaru sama's arm!"
"I am aware of that. I also know I may be the one to remedy the situation."
"Jaken, I will make sure that uncle does not harm you or Rin. Besides the Bisan tree shrine we live in will make him mind."
"If Nintashiro sama says there will be no problems, I will go. But, I do not trust Inuyasha sama's companions."
" I will take care of them, Jaken." Kagome said, " as long as you keep your word."
No more words were spoken about the situation as Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Jaken, Rin, and Nintashiro made their way back to the shrine.


"We are alone." Murasaki said as she sat next to Sesshomaru.
"You should not try to make excuses for Inuyasha's lowly actions. If it were merely a case of protocol, you and I would be guilty of breaking the rules many times over."
"I realize that. I know that it is forbidden for a lady of royal blood to touch any male but her father before she is mated. If we followed that rule to the letter, you could not have shown me how to dance. You needed to take my hands to teach me the movements. You could have not saved me during the sack of my father's castle. You had to carry me out of the fire in your arms. Some rules can be bent."
"Some rules can be broken, like the night you came to my chamber."
"It hurt me to see you tormented so badly by nightmares."
"I understand, but you should not have gone there. It is forbidden for a lady of noble blood to enter a male's chamber."
"You were crying out for me. I was frightened."
"I cried out? For you?" Sesshomaru said as a slight blush came to his cheeks.
"It is also protocol that if the lord master of a lady calls to her, she must go. Your father was my liege lord. He was away. You are the next in line, making you the one I answered to. If you called to me, even in sleep, I had to go to you. "
"That is the absolute truth, what you have told me? I called to you. I want you to swear it."
"I swear upon the sovereignty of your father and the life of my only son."
Sesshomaru let out a slight sigh beneath his stoic face. The punishment for a noblewoman's wantonness was death. He knew that to be a good ruler, he must not place himself above his laws. He did not want her to die. Not his beloved Murasaki. Her confession and her oath put his mind at ease.
He could mate her, instead of executing her.
"One other thing, my love," She said as she handed Sesshomaru her staff.
"Saiminjutsu. I see, father already gave you permission to enter my chambers. I am glad."


Jaken sat in a defensive posture while those present stared at him. The shrine was eerily silent. Kagome was tending to the village girl. Shippo had nodded off to sleep, as had Rin.
Nintashiro sat in a noble posture. His face was plain and stoic, making him look more like his father. He put his hands together in a prayer like manner and closed his eyes. A small light emanated from the tips of his fingers. He rose and went over to the injured girl. The light flowed from his fingers and covered her wounds. The injuries started healing before Kagome's eyes.
"Perhaps your mother's theory was right." Kagome whispered.
"What theory is that?"
"You have miko powers, despite the fact you are a male."
"I know. I have always had a gift for healing the sick. I do not use my gift in front of mother often. It makes her nervous, and overprotective."
"She has the right. You are her son. And, you have an unusual gift for your kind."
"Feh," Inuyasha commented on the conversation," He could have gotten those powers entirely from his mother. Her theory about Sesshomaru and me having latent miko powers is too far fetched."
"Is that what Murasaki told you?" Sango asked.
"Feh"
"It would explain why your affection mark is so strong on her. " Tomoaki commented.
"Affection mark!" Miroku piped up, " Inuyasha, you animal, I Knew you had it in you to make your move!"
"Shh," Sango said as she planted her hand over his mouth," You don't want to wake the girl."
"It's not like that. An affection mark is a sign of friendship, nothing more." Nintashiro said calmly.
Tomoaki quietly walked into the shrine . "How is the girl?" He asked.
"Doing better. Is there something wrong, Tomoaki."
"I hear something strange coming from the east part of the forest. It sounds like rustling reeds, but there is no breeze, and no reeds that direction."
"Tomoaki, take Miroku and Sango with you to see what it is. If you two don't mind accompanying a tengu, that is. This is not a good time for the oni to be making trouble." Nintashiro ordered.
"Yes prince of Tomi Forest. If you two are ready, come with me."
Sango nodded and grabbed Miroku's arm. "Kirara, come. Tomoaki, Kirara can fly while carrying us. We will follow you that way."
"Ah, very wise lady. I like you. Come, this way."
Jaken mused as the four left the shrine. He could not believe what he had just seen and his ears just heard.
"Nintashiro, a healer? Murasaki thinks it possible that part of his power came from Sesshomaru sama?" he thought to himself. "Could that be why Inutaitio sama gave him Tensaiga and not Tetsusaiga?"
"What are you looking at, Jaken?"
"An ill mannered prince who can not control his expressions in mixed company."
"Feh, I have no use for court protocol."
"If you showed proper respect and protocol among Sesshomaru sama, he would not want to kill you so badly. He might even still have his arm!"
"That was his own fault! He chose to try and take what was not his. He chose to attack Kagome. You reap what you sow!"
"Your lack of manners is an embarrassment! It dishonors Sesshomaru sama so badly that killing you may be the only way to regain his honor! Worse, now he knows his beloved snuck into his chambers. It is forbidden for royal ladies to do that!"
"I would calm down, uncle, and Jaken. It is not good to.."
Ivy-like tendrils of wood came out from the walls of the shrine and quickly wound their way around both Inuyasha and Jaken. The tendrils pulled them up to the wall of the shrine.
"It is not good to struggle. He will just tighten those tendrils if you do not calm down. He will release you once you have calmed."
"Who are you talking about, Nintashiro sama?"
"The bisan tree of course. This shrine is a hollow in an enormous bisan tree. "
"Feh," Inuyasha said as he calmed himself," I don't need to be stuck to another tree."
"Jaken, is my mother in danger?"
"I, I don't know Nintashiro sama."
"I do, she had the staff, Saiminjutsu with her. All she has to do is show it to father, and everything will be fine."
"Inutaitio sama gave her a marriage staff. Oh he was so wise in the matters of love. But if he had the staff made for her, he must have known.." Jaken said as the bisan tree slowly released him.
"Known what?" Inuyasha said as he was freed from the tree's grasp as well.
"That he was not going to come back."


Murasaki walked two paces behind Sesshomaru. She held her staff in left hand and kept her right hand to her side, despite the urge to rub her stomach. Both her abdomen and her new mating mark felt warm.
It was the way proper consort mates walked behind their masters. She kept her face as expressionless as possible.
They may have only been walking the forest path, but it still felt like they were making their after-mating procession.
They were alone, but she still imagined their subjects showering them with sakura petals as they passed.
Sesshomaru was imagining much the same thing. He kept his arms to his sides and his eyes on the path.
Neither one of them spoke until they reached the door of the shrine.


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