InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The King's Mistress ❯ The Summer Maiden ( Chapter 10 )

Title: The King's Mistress

 

Author: dolphingirl0113

 

Chapter Nine: The Summer Maiden

 

Rating: PG-13 (for language and, at times, implied sexual situations)

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

 

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After our dance, Inuyasha and I went out of our way to avoid one another. It was like we had both sensed dangerous waters ahead if we continued to move, so instead we took the safer route by pulling in our sails. If I saw him approaching, speaking with a councilor, I would duck into the nearest room until he had passed. In church, I would sit in the very back so I couldn't feel his eyes upon me (and so I wouldn't be tempted to look at him), and on the hunting excursions I would hold back so as to avoid a situation like the first time, with just the two of us…alone, together, in the middle of a forest.

 

In all honesty, I wasn't sure of what I was so worried about. After all, it wasn't like I fancied him in love with me…he had my sister as a fiancée…and I didn't think myself to be in love with him either…but at the same time, I feared the butterflies that had begun to surface every time I heard the sound of his voice approaching.

 

Why him? Why, of all people, should my heart suddenly want him? Not only was he a King, and already spoken for, but he was rude, arrogant, and had an extremely short, childish temper.

 

And yet, I couldn't get it out of my mind, the memory of that first day, when I thought him to be nothing more then just another lord at court. His amber eyes, which were always so full of fire, haunted my dreams. Every time I saw the sun, I pictured his silver hair. And suddenly, compared to him, Kouga just seemed, well…tame.

 

My heart longed for he who I could not have…the forbidden apple…and that is why, when the time came, I could not refuse his request that I be the Summer Maiden, though that would seal my fate…

 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

 

The morning was beautiful, with mists hovering just above the ground of the farmer's fields, the sounds of neighing horses filling the air, harmonizing with the bird song. Even cows, occasionally, could be seen, although in their case one could usually smell them more than anything else. And children lined the dirt roads, dressed in their little skirts and pants spun from cheap cloth, their hands clasped before them, admiring the long train of elegantly dressed people and jeweled coaches as they slowly moved toward their destination: Miroku's summer house, located towards the East.

 

Kagome smiled elegantly as she found herself waving her hand in a slow, consistent, graceful circle, as her mother had shown her the day before. She was dressed in a gown spun of rich burgundy silk, the skirt and sleeves outlined in white velvet, and a large, solitary garnet, given to her by her father years ago, was around her neck in a choker style. Her horse, too, was draped in a blanket of burgundy, and that combined with the new polished sterling silver bridal caused everyone to pay especially close attention to her.

 

But Kagome knew it was not merely her appearance that drew their attention. It was also the unavoidable fact that she was riding beside the King.

 

As the Summer Maiden for the court's annual summer progress, it was her duty to not only oversee all the events and activities of the court, right down to the seating charts at dinner, but it was also her duty to ride beside the King as they moved, and lead all the opening dances with him during the evening festivities. Basically, she performed all the duties of a Queen, which made sense since it was the Queen who was automatically the Summer Maiden…when there was a Queen on the throne, anyway.

 

It couldn't have been a more unwelcome scenario for Kagome.

 

She had been avoiding Inuyasha like one avoided the plague for nearly two weeks, hoping to just forget about him, the dance, the sexual tension between them, and likewise, have him do the same. She assumed that, were she out of his sight, he would quickly forget their rather, well, passionate dance, and go back to worshipping her sister while she allowed Kouga to court her like a gentleman.

 

But fate was not meant to be kind, it would seem…or at least, not kind towards her already extremely confused heart, because just as she had been starting to put the entire embarrassing episode behind her, Miroku and Inuyasha had approached her one afternoon in the gardens, announcing that they had a proposition for her.

 

Naturally, Kagome's first instinctual reaction had been to say absolutely not, for surely Kikyou would be the better choice, but Inuyasha had assured her that he had tried to convince his currently depressed fiancée to take on the role, and that Kikyou had adamantly refused the request. Miroku had then proceeded to say that meant Kagome was the new best choice for the job, and had somehow managed to charm an accepting nod from her in the end.

 

At first, she had to admit, she'd hated the thought of being the second choice…second best, as always…but then, the more she'd thought about it, Kagome figured it could actually be enjoyable to be, in a sense, Queen for a summer. After all, what girl wouldn't want such an honor bestowed on her by the King?

 

If only, she thought with a sigh, he didn't act so glum all the time. She assumed it was because he was unhappy that it was she, and not Kikyou, currently beside him, and the thought caused her to blush with both embarrassment and frustration as she heard behind them the sound of laughter and jovial conversation, which only accented the fact that, between Kagome and her companion, the silence couldn't have been more tense or uncomfortable.

 

For at least the thousandth time since she had first assumed the role of Summer Maiden, Kagome wondered where Kikyou was, and why, of all times, she was choosing this moment to disappear from the limelight. She was the King's fiancée, she of all people should be in Kagome's place, since, once they were married, it would be her job every year thereafter.

 

Glancing down at her white riding gloves, which were barely visible because of her long, draping sleeves, Kagome allowed herself to sigh again, this time her entire upper half seeming to sag slightly for a few seconds. Her body felt weighted down by such an elegant gown, which had been commissioned, along with twenty others, under orders from the King, before the progress began. The explanation was that, as the Summer Maiden, she had to look her best in public, which basically meant she had to look her best at all hours of the day.

 

In all honesty, Kagome would have rather been seen in her undergarments than all dressed up like some primped butterfly, but she figured she had no choice in the matter. And besides, her poor horse was probably suffering more than she anyway, having to wear the silver bridal and heavy velvet blanket underneath the side-saddle.

 

With her head still inclined toward the neck of her white mare, Kagome snuck a glance to her left, trying to see if Inuyasha's bored expression had changed at all since that morning, when they had first set out from the castle. No such luck. His eyes still wandered to every place but the faces of his subjects lining the roads in respect, he never waved in acknowledgement, and his lips were pursed in a deep, obvious scowl someone would have been able to see a mile away.

 

Deciding she'd had enough of his stoic attitude, Kagome straightened her back slightly and lifted her chin into the air, placing a smile on her face for the sake of the people as she spoke. “You could act a little more excited, you know.”

 

“Keh,” He grunted and looked away from her…not that he'd really been looking at her in the first place.

 

As usual, she wasn't deterred by his standoffish attitude; but rather, found it a challenge to overcome. And so, her smile still in place, she tried again. “They are your subjects, Inuyasha,” She indicated the people, “And they have stopped plowing their fields and working in their shops for an hour just to see you.” She gave him a stern look. “You owe them something.”

 

He glared at her in reply as he slumped just a little more in his saddle. “I owe them nothing. They didn't have to come and see me.”

 

“You're their King!” she hissed, trying to make a point without causing a scene. “This is your first summer progress as ruler, and you should be taking advantage of it to earn the loyalty of your people.”

 

“Why should I need their loyalty?”

 

Her nostrils flared in irritation. “Because one day you might have to go to war, and then what? How could you expect them to come to your aid if all you've ever done is treat them cruelly?”

 

He looked at her, directly in the eyes. “If war ever came, I would fight it on my own. And I would win.” He accented every word to make his point, though his voice remained relatively calm to the passing bystander.

 

“You arrogant, stupid…”

 

“Watch yourself, Kagome. You may be the Summer Maiden, but I am still the King.” He had a smirk in place that told her he felt quite pleased with himself for making such a response, but she wasn't intimidated.

 

“That doesn't scare me…what are you going to do, send me away from court?” She looked away, her eyes clouding over in thought. “I've already been banished…to the North, by my sister…so nothing frightens me any more.”

 

It was true. Since the court made a point of traveling to all the surrounding vassals, it had been decided that, upon reaching the North, Kagome would be left behind to move in with her new husband. But first, the court would stop at the home of Inuyasha's brother, Sesshoumaru, where the new King and his fiancée would be married in the ancient structure where his father, Inutaisho, had been born.

 

Inuyasha sighed in frustration. “What the hell is so bad about marrying Kouga? I mean, he's a king in his own right, though subordinate to me. You would be a queen, like your sister.”

 

It wasn't that the hanyou wanted her to marry the wolf-man, far from it; for some reason, he felt that by their marriage Kouga was winning something and he was losing…and he hated to lose. But at the same time, it was all he could think of to say. She, like all women, was making no sense at the moment…and she was getting on his nerves.

 

Kagome rolled her eyes. “And what's so great about that?”

 

“Well…” Inuyasha didn't know what to say. “Isn't that…what every girl wants?”

 

Kagome laughed at that, though it was a harsh, cold, sarcastic sound. The hanyou didn't like it one bit. “So you think every girl only dreams of wealth, jewels, and rolls of fabric?” She looked away. “Well, as surprising as it may sound, some of us are modest in our desires.”

 

“And what would yours be?” The question escaped his lips before he could hold it back, and now he impatiently waited for her answer. He really didn't know. After all, he'd only know women in his life who desired a crown. Everyone, that is, except his mother.

 

Kagome had returned her attention to the subjects lining the road, though their numbers were dwindling as the court reached the end of the village, and at first Inuyasha thought she hadn't heard him. But then she turned back to him.

 

“I want to always be close to my mother, brother, and grandfather. I want someone who will love me for who I am, and who I can love in return.” Her eyes softened and her lips turned upward slightly, as though in a dream, clearly lost in her fantasies. “I want a man who will protect me, but still let me be myself. I want…” She trailed off into silence.

 

“What?” Now he had to know what was going through her mind. “You want what Kagome?”

 

“I want to feel that kind of love that is so powerful, so incredible, that it hurts. I want to be so in love with the man I marry that I can't stand the thought of living without him. And I want to love him that way for the rest of my life.”

 

She went silent, and Inuyasha could only stare for several seconds before a thought came into his mind. “And…you don't think you could love Kouga this way?” He could have smacked himself for asking such a blatant, sentimental question.

 

A blush came to her cheeks, and Kagome felt like perhaps she had said too much in front of this hanyou King. But then, for some reason she felt like she could talk to him. “I don't really know yet…though for some reason my heart says no.”

 

“Why would it say that?” Damn it, he was doing it again!

 

She shrugged. “I don't know, it's just a feeling I guess. I mean, I know I could love him, just not the way I've always dreamed of.”

 

“And do you? Love him, I mean?” Inwardly Inuyasha envisioned himself jumping into a river for his stupidity and loose tongue.

 

“What?” She looked over, shocked that he had even asked that question, and Inuyasha realized how that must have sounded coming from a man who was engaged to her sister. But he couldn't take it back any more then he could deny that, in his heart, he suddenly, desperately needed to know her answer.

 

Their eyes met, and the rest of the world stopped, save for the horses, who kept walking of their own accord. Inuyasha felt himself falling deeper into her gaze, which was always so warm and welcoming and kind, and he recalled how it had felt to stare into those same eyes when he'd held her small body against his in the dance. His blood turned hot at the memory, and he felt an involuntary sigh escape his lips.

 

She didn't desire to be a Queen…she just wanted her family and she wanted love. Isn't that all he had wanted when he was a child, before he'd learned about the cruelties and prejudices of the world towards hanyous like him?

 

“No…” She whispered, and he blinked, trying to focus on the reality that there were at least a hundred people behind him, and that Kikyou herself was riding in a carriage not too far away.

 

“No what?” Frankly, he'd almost forgotten what he'd asked her.

 

She smiled softly, not quite knowing why, and looked away with a slight, maidenly blush on her cheeks. “No, Inuyasha…I don't love him.”

 

Surprisingly, he felt elated at those words, more then he had felt in a long time. And he felt, strangely enough, hope kindle in his heart, as though hearing her response had given him cause to think he still had some kind of chance.

 

Wait…chance?

 

Shaking his head and quickly looking away, Inuyasha felt suddenly very nervous. He had no chance with her, because he was engaged to her sister, and Kagome was engaged to Kouga. He had to stop thinking of such things. Perhaps it had been a mistake to make her the Summer Maiden after all.

 

“Are you alright?” She had a concerned look on her face, and he groaned, trying not to be drawn into her gaze again.

 

“No, of course I'm not,” he replied gruffly.

 

“Why not? What's wrong? Is there something I can do?”

 

Shit, now he was in for it…how the hell was he supposed to answer that? He could see it now: yes, Kagome, you can help me, by ending my engagement to your sister and in the process shaming your family. Finally he settled for a trivial response. “Keh, not unless you can change the rules of etiquette and let me walk the rest of the way.”

 

She cocked her head curiously, blinking in confusion as she tried to catch the quick, and somewhat random, change of topic. “You…don't like riding?”

 

“As a hanyou, I could run faster than any horse,” he replied simply, for once not sounding arrogant, but rather like a man stating the facts. “And, well, it's just not as comfortable for me this way.”

 

“Oh, I see.” She smiled suddenly. “Then why not just run for a while?”

 

“What? Are you crazy?” Inuyasha couldn't believe what she was proposing. She was so polite and kind that he often forgot how clueless she was when it came to court manners and protocol. “That would go against everything my parents ever taught me growing up. As a King, I need to appear as someone to be respected, not as someone who is the same as everyone else.”

 

She looked puzzled. “But you are the same as everyone else.”

 

He chuckled, though it was dry. “Not really.” He pointed at his ears and indicated his silver hair.

 

Kagome huffed and, if she could have, would have placed her hands on her hips. Unfortunately, that would have resulted in her falling to the ground, so she settled for a hard stare instead. “Inuyasha, you are no different then anyone else. You're just…”

 

“Just what?”

 

“Just gifted, that's all.”

 

“Gifted?” he spat. “That's not exactly the term I would use.”

 

She rolled her eyes. “Please, you're everything I wish I was.” He gave her a strange look, so Kagome rushed to explain herself. “You can hear things from miles away, you can tell things just by how they smell, you have super-human strength, and you can run faster than any horse could ever hope to go.” She sighed. “I wish I could move that fast, with the wind through my hair, watching the countryside fly by.”

 

Inuyasha stared at her, his annoyance fading quickly as he felt his mouth slowly curving upward into a gentle smile. He couldn't help it. He'd never met a woman who described exactly how it felt to run so fast, or express such a desire to do so.

 

“You forgot to mention how soft the grass feels under your feet,” he added, trying to sound gruff, but clearly not succeeding when she gave him a sweet smile which melted the surface of the protective ice around his heart. But that only made him even more wary.

Kikyou had done that too…in the beginning.

 

“Well excuse me,” she giggled. “You know what I mean.”

 

“Yeah, I do,” he sighed, looking down the now empty road and deciding to ignore the feeling of foreboding for the moment. After all, there was no harm in just talking to her, right? He looked at her again. “But why would you want something like that? You've had a great life, with a mother who loves you, and a nice brother, and all the comforts you could ever want.” And you're beautiful…he silently added, knowing it was her beauty, both inward and outward, that caused people to be so drawn to her presence.

 

Kagome just shrugged. “My life isn't as perfect as you may think, Inuyasha,” she looked at him, remembering that moment in her room when something strange had happened to him, “Just like yours isn't the way I would have imagined.”

 

He grunted and looked away again, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. “Fair enough.” He went silent for a minute before speaking again. “You know, I, um…” He shrugged, a shy blush painting his cheeks red, “I could take you with me some time.”

 

She looked at him curiously. “Take me with you where?”

 

Damn, damn, damn! What was wrong with him? How did this simple woman manage to turn him into a bumbling idiot all the time? “Running…I could, well, put you on my back, like my father used to do with my mother.”

 

Kagome's eyes lit up in excitement. “Oh Inuyasha, really?”

 

Her smile was contagious, and he felt himself grinning in return, despite the fact that he was pounding himself into a pulp inside, his eyes going soft, if only for an instant. “Yeah…really…”

 

She sighed. “I wish we could go now, and just ignore everyone else.”

 

Inuyasha grunted. “I wish I could ignore everyone else all the time.”

 

Kagome laughed. “Aren't you being a little dramatic?”

 

“No, why?”

 

“Well, I certainly wish I could just leave the rest of the world behind sometimes, but…I would never wish my family or friends away forever.”

 

“Then you're lucky.”

 

“Lucky? No, I think I'm just normal. I think, if you searched deep down, you'd find someone you'd miss if you were to leave for good.”

 

He stared at her, trying to process what she had said. He, miss someone else? Not likely. Well…perhaps he'd miss Kikyou, the woman he still loved, despite her frequent cold shoulder treatment…

 

And yet, even more then with Kikyou, strangely at the thought of leaving Kagome behind, with her laugh, her smile, her beaming eyes, and her beautiful voice, he felt something clench in his gut.

 

“I just feel so trapped sometimes,” He muttered, not meaning to say it aloud, but realizing he did when she looked at him in sympathetic understanding.

 

“I know, I think we're both prisoners in our lives.”

 

“How is that?”

 

“Well, you're a King, and as such your every move is watched. Like right now, all you want to do is run through the fields of the country with the wind in your hair and the sun on your face, but you can't because it's not appropriate. And I, well, I want to find love on my own, and live the way I want to, and marry whom I choose, but instead I have been forced into a situation I would rather avoid, and am now on a journey that, at the end, will close a chapter of my life for good and separate me from my family by hundreds of miles.”

 

She looked up at the sky, and Inuyasha found himself enraptured by her profile, tracing the outlines of her intricately braided hair and studying the garnet brooch at her throat, as she spoke again. “Sometimes…sometimes I just wish I had been born a milkmaid, with a loving father, mother, sister, and brother, and have a handsome man come to my door with flowers he picked himself from his fields, a genuine smile on his face because he loved me for me, and not for the political advantages it would bring him.”

 

It was funny.

 

All his life Inuyasha had told himself he was abnormal for hating his life as a prince. What man in his right mind would ever resent being wealthy and second in line to the throne…second in line to becoming the most powerful man in the country?

 

Of course, he had been shunned by many because he was a hanyou, and his mother had only been able to protect him from such cruelty so much, which had turned him bitter about life in general in many ways, but it was more then that…it was the whole caged in feeling he hated; the feeling that his whole life was planned out for him without his consent. And now, after so many years, he had at last found someone else who felt the same way he did.

 

For the first time, the hanyou found himself gazing at Kagome in a new light as a foreign thought entered his mind: was it truly just chance that had brought them together?

 

Watching his father, Inuyasha had scoffed at the idea that a man could love a woman so much. Inutaisho would do anything for his wife. He would sometimes even dress up as a pauper just so he could go and buy fresh fruit from the markets in the city, rather then relying on the day-old food the servants would bring to the palace.

 

Love was foolish…that's what he'd always believed. After all, wasn't it his naïve attempt at love that had gotten him entangled with the beautifully seductive Kikyou Higurashi in the first place? He had developed the opinion that love was unnecessary. Until now, anyway, as he looked at Kagome, who had plastered another smile onto her face as they approached a new village full of people. He couldn't help but notice that burgundy was a color that sat well on her complexion.

 

Kagome.

 

She was the kind of woman a man could marry and be happy with. She was the kind of woman a man could go to battle for and have no regrets. She was the kind of woman, he had to admit with a hidden smile that was gone almost as instantly as it came, that a man could love.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

 

The wind rustled through the trees that had grown tall enough to reach the high, stone balcony, and Sesshoumaru, Lord of the West, closed his eyes briefly to listen as the wind told him its secrets. For half his life this palace had been his home, in the summers of his childhood coming here to learn from his tutors in the arts of combat and war. Secretly, he loved it more than the great palace where his brother reigned as King, though he did nothing to change the rumors that he hated his brother and sought to gain the throne for himself. After all, he didn't like Inuyasha, so why bother?

 

“Sesshoumaru?” A soft, feminine voice called to him from within his bedchamber, and he opened his eyes again, though his body did not shift at all as he replied.

 

“Yes, Rin?”

 

“Someone is here to see you.”

 

He nodded. “I know.”

 

A soft hand went to his shoulder, and he turned his head slightly to look into the warm, chocolate brown eyes of his wife, her long brown hair framing her beautiful face, her gown of gold causing her skin to almost glow in the light of the newly risen moon.

 

They had married secretly two months ago, not because he was ashamed of her, but because Sesshoumaru wished to protect her from the prying eyes of the public for as long as possible. He had met her two years ago, when she had been working at the palace of his father, and had known himself to be in love when she had asked to be allowed to move with him to the castle of the west when Inuyasha was declared the heir six months ago.

 

Of all the women he had ever known, only Rin seemed to understand him for what he was: a silent, brooding man who had the capacity to love, but still needed his own private time and space. She always seemed to know when he needed to be left alone, and when it was alright to speak with him, and since she had become his wife she had turned his home into a secluded Eden, taking care of the flowers, the trees, and the plants that grew in the main yard. There were even roses now, when there had been none before, and sometimes he wondered how he had lived for twenty-six years without her.

 

At that moment, she was giving him a questioning gaze. “Will you meet with him, my lord?”

 

He looked away and thought for a moment. He had heard of the pardon of the six prisoners nearly a month ago, and had also caught rumors that one of them, Naraku, had gone missing. And then, tonight he had seen a lone man approaching his castle under cover of darkness, which gave him a pretty good idea of who had come to call. “What do you think I should do, Rin?”

 

She looked away, over her shoulder, as though checking to make sure no one was behind her, before replying. “If it were me, my love, I would meet with him only to find out his intentions.” She lowered her eyes. “I do not trust him.”

 

“You have met him before?”

 

“No, but I saw him just a few moments ago, waiting in the antechamber, and the look in his eyes was enough to cause a shiver to run through my body.”

 

Sesshoumaru nodded. “Then I shall see him. I respect your judgment above all others.” Rin nodded and stepped aside to allow him to pass, but he stopped and put an arm on her shoulder. “Will you come with me, Rin?”

 

She smiled. “If it would help you, my lord.”

 

He nodded simply and his face became passive once more. “It would.”

 

“As you wish.”

 

Together they made their way through the door and into the throne room of the castle, draped in tapestries that depicted long-ago battle scenes, as well as a large portrait of the old royal family, with Inutaisho, his wife (Inuyasha's mother), Sesshoumaru, and Inuyasha himself, though the hanyou was very young when the portrait was painted.

 

Slowly he took a seat in the ancient golden throne that had once belonged to his father, his arms at his sides loosely, his outward appearance showing nothing but poise and calm. He turned and nodded to the soldiers standing before the massive doors leading into the antechamber, and nodded slightly. They quickly moved and opened the doors, a third walking through and announcing, in a strong voice, “Lord Sesshoumaru will see you now.”

 

Naraku stepped over the threshold with a certain amount of excitement, knowing he was stepping into the presence of one of the strongest demons in the land, if not the strongest. Why Inutaisho had made the younger son King, he would never understand, but that was not what he had come here to deliberate, so he pushed it aside for later.

 

Sesshoumaru looked just as he remembered, with a powerful presence that radiated confidence in all directions, long silver hair falling down far past his waist, his amber eyes hard like flint and practically exploding with intelligence. At the very least, Naraku thought to himself, if the demon lord refused to help him, he would be a very formidable adversary.

 

A young woman stood at his side, which he found odd. His memory failed to recall Sesshoumaru ever having a wife, or even a mistress, and that threw off his thinking momentarily. She was certainly beautiful, everything about her seeming soft, and the part of him that remained a womanizer couldn't help but feel a little excited, even with Kikyou in the back of his mind.

 

“Greetings, Lord Sesshoumaru,” He called out politely, stopping just short of the steps leading up to the throne and bowing his head slightly.

 

The demon lord waved his right hand as though to cast aside anything the man before him said. “Spare me the formalities, I know who you are. Now I want to know why you have come.”

 

“As you wish,” Naraku rose back up to his full height. “I come to you with a proposal.”

 

“And why should I listen to an ex-convict?”

 

Naraku smirked. “Because it could help you gain the throne of your father, the throne your brother somehow managed to usurp and steal from you.” He waited for the demon lord to say something, but the room remained silent, so he decided to proceed. “The King, Inuyasha, is to marry a woman by the name of Kikyou. She is a woman of…importance to me, you might say, and I very much desire to keep her from becoming Queen.”

 

Sesshoumaru barely raised an eyebrow. “And how does this help me?”

 

“I would, of course, deal with Inuyasha at the time that I dealt with Kikyou…neither must be allowed to live, for I see them both as guilty.”

 

The woman spoke up then, her voice low and warm. “Guilty of what?”

 

Naraku felt his voice go cold as he remembered every day he had been forced to spend in the Tower, the stone walls shutting out all signs of life and light. “Guilty of locking me away. Guilty of ruining my life.”

 

“As far as I know,” Sesshoumaru commented casually, his voice revealing nothing, “It was you who started that fire, and the only reason you were caught is because the house burnt to the ground before you could escape.”

 

Clenching his teeth to withhold his temper, Naraku stared at the ground, fearing that if he looked up his eyes would betray his inner rage. “I was not guilty of intentional murder, but the one woman who could have cleared me, who could have saved me, fled in fear of scandal, leaving me to rot in prison. And now, I will have my vengeance.” He looked up at the proud demon lord before him. “I have grown strong since then, Lord Sesshoumaru, strong enough, I think, to be useful to you. So what do you say? Will you help me?”

 

Sesshoumaru remained passive and silent as he gazed at some place on the far wall, his amber eyes betraying nothing of what he was thinking over in his mind. Minute after minute passed, Naraku waited, and the silence continued.