InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silver-Haired Beauty ❯ Intriguing ( Chapter 12 )

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Week Two

Day Three: Morning

"Inuyasha, I'm fine!"

"No you're not! Get back to bed!"

"I said I'm FINE!"

"GET in BED BITCH!"

"SIT BAKA!"

*SLAM* "Fine Kagome, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"Thank you I won…" *retch*

*smirk* "Told you."

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Afternoon

"Lady Kuroi?"

"Yeah Midori?"

"Um, I was wondering…"

"Yes?"

"Is…is sir Kiso promised…to a young lady?"

*grin*

*blush*

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Jaken paced the room nervously as he awaited Lord Sesshomaru's return later that night. His staff made scuffing sounds as he dragged it across the floor. Two weeks. It had been barely two weeks since Kuroi had moved into the mansion and effectively turned it on its head. In all that time, no one had learned anything about her that she wasn't willing to tell. He'd even done his best to appear friendly, but she'd snorted and told him to go back to his master and quit trying to pry.

"The explosion and damage to the house, the rumors flying all over, and that thing with the clothes! She is trouble!"

A deep sigh escaped him. She got along with master Yamatsu quite nicely, as well as the lower staff. It was with the head servants that the frictions arose. She'd terrorized almost every single one of the handmaidens who came near her or her room. Youkai or not, they all trembled in fear at the thought of being around her or in her line of sight. Only Midori, Ki and Aka came near her, but in his personal opinion it was because they were too stupid to know better.

The poor hairdresser who now had to wear her own wigs since being scalped by the future Lady of the west after a burn on the ear, also refused to come back.

Soft sobs escaped as Sesshomaru's retainer remembered the fate of the dressmaker. He'd hung himself with a bolt of cloth when Kuroi had told him what she wanted to wear instead of the court fashions he'd shown her. But the height of disgrace had been a week ago at the dinner party where Lord Yamatsu had introduced her to the rest of the family.

When Lord Yamatsu had introduced the former Lady Ukiyo, the immediate family had smiled in the Lord's presence, but whispered maliciously when she'd been alone and out of his range of hearing. Nervous and a little intimidated, Lady Ukiyo had borne the taunts and slings in pained silence.

Not the Lady Kuroi.

When someone had spoken a bit too loudly about the family 'marrying down again', she'd snapped. Kicking her finely crafted shoes to the nether regions of the room, she'd snatched off her carefully coiffed wig and flung it to the ground before stripping down to her under robe and grabbing a sword off the wall. After getting armed and unclothed, she'd stood on the table and issued a challenge to the whole room.

Jaken still felt a bit woozy when he recalled her exact words.

"Anyone of you misbegotten bastards who has a problem with me can come meet me in the courtyard if you even have the balls needed to be called true youkai!! I promise, if any of you motherfuckers survive that I will never tell that you got the shit kicked out of you by a mere human girl!"

Her eyes had been colder than the blade she had held, "But, if no one comes, then the whole lot of you whispering mealy-mouthed sons of bitches can just kiss my ass!!"

Challenge issued, she'd walked through the sea of growling forms and out to the courtyard with a bottle of wine in hand. Unconcerned, Kuroi had sat down to await the challengers. Needless to say, there had been a LOT of them.

Expecting to see the future bride eviscerated with extreme prejudice, the rest of the family instead bore witness as she dispatched the challengers in a way that was frightening for its speed, ferocity and apparent ease. Lord Yamatsu had arranged a impromptu mass funeral for the ones who refused revival with the Tensaiga, after which Kuroi had inexplicably proceeded to get as drunk as possible and pass out in the corner of the room.

The bloodied sword had still been clutched in her hand!

With a howl of aggravation, Jaken stopped and shook his tiny fist in the air. "That woman is impossible! She drinks like a fish, swears like a sailor and fights like a demon possessed!! Where in the nine hells did Lord Yamatsu find her?"

"That is what you are supposed to tell me, Jaken." the voice near his ear whispered in calm tones.

"ARRGH!! L-Lord S-Sesshomaru! I didn't hear you come in." shrieked Jaken as tried to stop his hammering heart. Half-lidded eyes dismissed his comment as the young Lord swept into the room. "As if you ever could." Discarding his over robe, he sat down fluidly to regard the garden outside his bedroom window. Still and serene in the moonlight, he wished he felt half as steady as it looked.

"Jaken, you are supposed to be my advisor on those rare moments when I have a question for you." A steely gaze locked onto the trembling youkai, "My question is simple, even for you. Who is Kuroi Hana?"

Though mild, Jaken knew from the subtle inflection of a word that his Lord was very, very angry. He hurried to reassure his master, "I-I will do my best to find out my Lord. No stone shall escape my diligent search for the answer." Beginning to really warm up to the grandness of his speech, Jaken practically danced in enthusiasm. "I shall not fail you in this duty my Lord. I shall not rest until…"

"Just go Jaken."

Cut short of what he felt was one of his better declarations, Jaken visibly deflated. "Y-Yes my Lord." and slunk out of the room.

Sesshomaru waited until all of his senses confirmed that he was alone before slumping against the wall. His head hurt. Worrying the inside of his cheek, he watched the silent night. Too many scents coupled with constantly fighting the urge to just let himself go were probably the cause. The whole thing with Kuroi wasn't helping either. She was starting to become…delightful.

Stopping before he chewed a hole in his own face, Sesshomaru sighed. Kuroi was infuriating, but intelligent. Talkative, but not boring. Shameless, but there was a definite sense of purpose to her that was as innocent as it was unshakable. There was nothing cowardly about her, especially not after that dinner party. It had taken everything he had and some newly discovered reserves not to applaud and kiss her right then. He'd finally seen what his father had. A fierce mate worthy of him. It made him tingle thinking about it.

Now, if he could just do something about his brother.

Dressing himself slowly, Sesshomaru prepared to go to dinner.