Chapter 133

Mai’s new occupation

“Mai-sama, wake up!” the girl heard Kohaku’s voice. Groaning, she opened her eyes to see, that it was still pitch dark. She closed them again and rolled onto the side.

The boy sighed and tapped her shoulder.

“We have to leave now. It’s Sesshomaru-sama’s order!” the he was insisting.

Finally Mai sat up, wrapping her kimono tightly around her frame, for it was a chilly night. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. Jaken was sitting on Ah-Un, holding the reins and Rin was sleeping on the saddle, apparently as eager to get up as Mai. The campfire had been extinguished and everything packed, what meant, that she had to get up.

“All right.” She muttered, slowly standing up and stretching her limbs. 

The girl wrapped her kimono like a blanket and rushed towards the two-headed dragon, but Kohaku was faster. The boy jumped onto the beast’s back, gently supporting Rin, so that she wouldn’t fall. Mai furrowed her brows, not happy, that she’d be the only one, who would have to walk. She sighed and put on the sandals, tying her outer kimono properly. She was about to walk beside Ah-Un, when the dragon leapt into the air. The girl wrinkled her forehead, still half-asleep and confused.

“Come.” She heard Sesshomaru’s voice right behind her. 

Mai wanted to whirl around, but he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her to himself, so that he back was plastered to his armor. Then she yelped, as the ground began drifting further away from her feet, the only barrier being the cursed cloud.

“Not the cloud!” she whined. “Transform into your true form!”

She squeezed her eyes shut, so as not to see her surroundings. Riding on Ah-Un or Sesshomaru in his dog form was okay with her, for there was something solid and visible separating her from the fall, but the nearly transparent cloud made her feel horrible. She desperately clutched the demon’s arm for support.

Sesshomaru was observing the woman’s reaction with amusement. However, the journey would last a while and he would not have her that terrified all the way.

“You can turn around.” He suggested to her, but Mai shook her head, her eyes still shut.

“Transform.” She whined. 

“Not this time.” Sesshomaru replied and loosened his hold a little, giving her the pretense to turn around.

Feeling the pressure on her stomach lighten, Mai’s eyes shot open, as the girl panicked. She yelped and whirled around, desperately trapping the inu-youkai’s waist in tight embrace. She also entwined her legs around one of his, just to ensure, that she was holding on as tightly as possible.

“Do not fear.” Sesshomaru murmured, embracing her more. 

Under those circumstances she seemed to have nothing against it, more – she was glad to have him hold her tightly. The dog demon smirked to himself, satisfied, that this particular mean of transportation had such effect on the woman. It made her octopus-nature resurface, but he welcomed it. Regardless the reason of her actions, it was pleasurable to have her embrace him so willingly. The inu-youkai had the every intention of enjoying the several hours of closeness.

“Are we there?” Mai whined, feeling her muscles go numb of clutching Sesshomaru tightly for the past two hours. 

The dog demon’s patience was wearing thin.

“Not yet.” He snapped, annoyance in his voice. “Quit asking.”

The girl glanced up and narrowed her eyes at the rude demonic jerk. It was his fault, that she had to endure the torture f the cloud. She was pretty sure, that he refused assuming his true form only to have her cuddle to him. Pervert! Nevertheless, she didn’t want to fall, so she kept clutching him.

“Are we there?” Mai asked again after about five minutes, carefully glancing up. 

She met the resigned look in the golden eyes.

“Yes.” Sesshomaru replied, mentally sighing.

“Thank god!” the girl squeaked happily, when the dog demon landed and she could finally stand on the solid ground. 

She stretched the aching limbs and then stilled, gawking at the place, they were in. A town, it was definitely it. Their group was standing before a gate leading towards the rather big town, not as big as Kyoto, but about of the size of Kanazawa. The most surprising was, that the ones, who were passing the gates were not humans, but demons of all shapes and sizes – over a half of them was in their humanoid shapes, like Sesshomaru, and the others were a colorful bunch of varying creatures. Some of them were clearly animalistic, other were oni or another kinds of beasts, Mai couldn’t identify.

“Keep close to Jaken.” The inu-youkai commanded, before making his way towards the town. The girl followed him, looking around with her mouth wide opened. The place was tidy and very lively, easily matching the human towns.

“I had no idea, that the demons live in towns.” She voiced her thoughts aloud. Sesshomaru glanced at her over his shoulder.

“They do not. There are few such towns and they serve mainly for the trade centers.” He offered the explanation surprisingly swiftly. 

“Oh.” Mai muttered, taken aback by discovering such a secret. She jogged to the dog demon, wanting him to satisfy her curiosity. “So this place has a name?”

“Wanouchi.” Sesshomaru replied. Mai nodded and glanced at the oni, guarding the gates. Surely the four-meter guardians looked impressive.

“What are we doing here?” She kept asking. 

The inu-youkai narrowed his eyes at the curious female.

“It is none of your business.” He said quickly, wanting to end the conversation.

Mai opened her mouth to protest, but Sesshomaru was faster.

“Jaken, you know, what to do.” He addressed the imp and turned abruptly, walking away. Mai hissed, irritated, that the damn jerk just flipped her off and wanted to follow him, but Jaken took a hold of her sleeve.

“Mai, you’re all coming with me. Apparently Sesshomaru-sama has some urgent business to attend to.” The imp explained, dragging the girl along the main street. He muttered under his nose: “I wonder, why he wanted to come here again, when we visited the town mot so long ago.”

Mai and Kohaku gawked at the imp curiously.

“You were here before, Jaken-sama?” the boy asked.

The imp sighed heavily.

“Of course, many times.” He replied. “Did you think, that Sesshomaru-sama sews his clothes and repairs his armor all by himself?”

Mai and Kohaku were still staring at Jaken. The girl cleared her throat.

“Actually I wondered where does he get his clothes from.” She muttered, thinking, that another mystery was solved. 

The girl was gazing sideways, as she was being led somewhere with Jaken. Rin didn’t seem to be that interested, as the kid apparently was here before, but Kohaku’s curiosity matched Mai’s. The town itself was barely different that the human ones – it was crowded with merchants, peddlers and customers, some of them were richly-clad and had numerous servants with them. The shops were also similar to the ones she saw in Kyoto, Kanazawa and the other towns – shops with kimono’s, jewelry, writing articles, art, furniture, everything. The food stalls were rather weird, as there were unusual things in menu as eyeballs on stick or fried lizards and insects. Thankfully she didn’t get to see humans there.

Speaking of humans… Mai was quite surprised to spot a lot of them here. They were carrying various things, serving as an entourage for the richer customers, cleaning the streets – all of them seemed to perform some tasks here.

“We’re here!” Jaken announced.

The girl turned her head to see, where Jaken had led them. Their group was standing before a high building with a signboard “Under sakura blossom” painted with pink letters. Indeed, the walls of the building were decorated sakura petals, painted on them.

“What is this place?” Kohaku asked Jaken.

“An inn. We’ll stay here for the night.” The imp announced, making Rin squeal from joy. Mai also smiled with relief. The winter was coming, so staying overnight outside was a major pain in the ass because of the biting cold. She wondered, what would they do, once the snow began to fall. Would they have to build an igloo or what?

Just the moment they stepped in, they were attacked by the overly friendly innkeeper – a widely smiling demoness, who emitted the aura of general hairyness. The woman looked like a cousin of that Chewbacca-like youkai, Mai met at the engagement feast. The only difference was, she looked rather balding and had large breasts, that were definitely a sign, that it was a female standing before them.

“Welcome, Jaken-sama!” she exclaimed happily, making a gesture for them to step inside, onto the front yard. She looked at their rather large group and her eyes widened with surprise. “Oh, it seems, that Sesshomaru-sama’s entourage grew a bit. Of course I have the best rooms for all of you!”

A human in Kohaku’s age trotted over and took the reins of Ah-Un, leaving the animal to the stables. In the meantime the Chewbacca-like innkeeper showed them to their spacious rooms, where tea and snacks were already waiting. It didn’t escape Mai’s attention that Jaken seemed to be quite revered here – apparently Sesshomaru was leaving quite a lot of gold here from time to time. She frowned. The demonic jerk must have been here a couple of times, since his clothes and armor was constantly undergoing various accidents. He was sleeping in such a comfortable place, while she and Rin had to rest their heads on the bare ground. Seriously, he was the worst.

She barely managed to stretch her legs and devour some steamed buns, when she noticed Jaken leaving.

“You’re off?” she asked her companion. The imp straightened his back, trying to appear taller and more important.

“You may rest here for the rest of the day, but I have some important errands to run. Sesshomaru-sama is counting on me.” He said proudly.

Mai furrowed her brows, thinking intensely.

“Errands…” she muttered, making a mental list. “Speaking of errands, we nearly run out of food, we have only a little soap left. The winter is coming, so I and the kids will need warm boots and thicker clothes. Crap, my kimono is horribly worn too and I can’t march in the one, Sesshomaru’s mother gave me… we don’t have any paper too and maybe some pencils…”

Jaken’s eyelid was twitching, as Mai kept on enumerating the things, he was supposed to buy. In the half way he got seriously confused. He would never be able to even remember all of this – that was the special ability, only the women possessed.

“Umm… Mai… maybe you should come along?” he suggested. The girl wrinkled her forehead, surely thinking of another items, she should add to the mental list.

“Sure. I’d like to sightsee a bit anyway.” She agreed and stood up, straightening her wrinkled kimono.

Kohaku sighed heavily, looking out of the window with a dreamy look on his face.

“I’d like to go too, but…” he began with a hint of hope in his voice, before glancing at Rin. “Rin shouldn’t stay here alone.”

Mai glanced at the kids, both with pleading looks in their eyes. She turned to Jaken.

“Maybe all of us should go. The more the merrier.” She suggested.

The imp rolled his eyes, thinking, that there was no moment of peace for him. However, he decided to agree. The more people to carry the packs, the better.

“Fine, let’s go. But remember to stick close to me!” he reminded the humans and they set off to the town.

Mai and the kids were having a good time, observing all those demons and looking at the stalls. The pouch, Sesshomaru gave Jaken this morning, was getting empty quickly, mainly thanks to Mai’s efforts. Once the girl discovered, that it was possible to order the delivery to the inn, her breaks disappeared and she was mercilessly taking advantage of the inu-youkai’s money. Of course all those expenses were absolutely necessary. Jaken was whimpering, but he did nothing to stop the girl.

“Where now?” Mai asked, breathless and happy, because she just managed to buy umbrellas for everyone. Surely Ah-Un wouldn’t be pleased to have to carry all of this on his back.

“I have to order a new armor for Sesshomaru-sama. The old one is chirped.” Jaken replied, leading them into one of the narrow side-alleys. The group followed him, curiously looking around.

Mai and Kohaku stopped for a while, glancing at one of the stalls, before going into the alley, trying to catch up with Jaken. The imp vanished behind a corner. The three humans carelessly made their way in that direction, when Kohaku looked under his feet. Something was strange. Beneath their feet was neither stone nor wood or dirt. It was a delicate net made of metal.

“Mai-sama…” he began, grabbing the hands of Mai and Rin, but it was already too late.

Suddenly the metallic net flared and the strong current shot through the bodies of three companions. All Mai’s muscles twitched uncontrollably and her eyes rolled back, as she limply fell on the ground, losing consciousness.

“Done!” A ratty-looking youkai emerged from shadows, grabbing Kohaku, who was the nearest and flinging the boy over his shoulder. “Take them quickly. I think, that we’ll get a good price for those humans.”

His accomplices crawled out of the dark corners of the ally – three other rat demons. Two of them grabbed unconscious Mai and Rin, while the other carefully, but quickly folded the metallic net. In a blink of the eye they disappeared, darting into the other back alley.

“Deliver it tomorrow at dawn.” Jaken told the armor-maker and left the shop, counting the coins, that were left in the pouch. Not good, it was nearly empty. It’s everything that woman’s fault. Good, that Mai planned to release Sesshomaru-sama from the marital oath, because his master was on a good way to go bankrupt with a wife like that. The imp lifted his eyes, looking for Mai and the children. 

He stopped, looking around. This was the place, where he last saw them, but they weren’t there.

Jaken began visiting the neighboring shops and stalls, but they weren’t there either. To make the matters worse, he found some witness, who told him, that he last saw the humans go into the alley, the imp came from. But, he was there a while ago and it was absolutely no sign of the humans. Nonetheless, he came back, carefully looking for the tiniest traces of his companions. Aside from dirt, there was nothing there. Then, something, that was glistening in the darkness caught his eye. Jaken crouched beside the item and took it. He draw a sharp breath, recognizing it. It was Mai’s hairpin! The girl was careless at times, but there was no possibility, that she would lose her favorite belonging and didn’t notice. No… Mai wouldn’t let go of it willingly. It must have meant one – she lost it while struggling or escaping. The imp had the bad hunch, that it was the first.

He slapped his forehead.

“Not again.” He wailed. This time Sesshomaru-sama would skin him alive.

Mai moaned, as a horrible headache woke her up. She opened her eyes and blinked, till seeing nothing. After a while she began accustoming to the darkness. She gasped, sitting up abruptly. The last thing she remembered was walking along the narrow alley with Rin and Kohaku, then her mind went blank. Damn, where was she?

“Mai-sama, you’re awake.” She heard Kohaku’s voice whispering to her ear. 

She turned to see the boy. Rin was still unconscious, laying on his lap. It didn’t escape Mai’s attention, that the both children had metal collars around their necks with chains attached to them. Her palm wandered to her own neck and she discovered, that she wore exactly the same damned thing. She looked around at the dimly lit room, they were in. Besides them, here were a lot of other people, all humans in various ages, but the majority of them was quite young. Aside their three-people group, at least thirty others were chained here. Mai gazed at Kohaku, who seemed to be awake for quite a long time.

“What happened?” she asked, having absolutely no clue, how did they get in here.

Kohaku sighed.

“It seems, that some youkai caught us in a trap and sold to slave traders.” He explained. 

Mai’s eyes widened.

“Slave traders?” she repeated. 

Kohaku nodded, before offering a more thorough answer.

“Yes. I managed to find out, that the slave trade is quite a profitable business in this town. The youkai buy humans here and make them work for them as the slaves. Unfortunately we are about to be sold too.” He said with a bitter smile.

Mai winced, angry at herself, that they managed to get captured by some suspicious bunch again. If only she hadn’t had the urge to go shopping…

“We have to escape.” She stated the obvious, but Kohaku shook his head.

“It’s not so simple. I saw one man trying that before you woke up. Do you see the collars?” he pointed the metal ring around his neck. “Every collar had a device to control it. The one, who has it, can shock you with it at will. You’ll feel a great pain or lose consciousness. Moreover, I heard, that if you step outside the town walls, the collar will instantly kill you.”

Mai muttered a curse under her nose.

“So we have to get rid of those things first.” She whispered, scratching it with dismay. Damn, it was solid metal. “It’ll be hard to cut it.”

Kohaku sighed again, leaning against the wall.

“I guess, that we have to count on Sesshomaru-sama on this one. Without his claws we can’t dream of escape. We just have to hold on till he finds us. Sooner or later he will learn, that we’re gone and will start looking. We can’t leave the town, so it’s just a matter of time till he finds us.”

Mai groaned with irritation. She hated to stay here, but there was no other choice. Kohaku’s words were making sense. She leaned against the wall next to Kohaku and waited.

Not long later Rin regained consciousness and cuddled to the older girl, scared, but anticipating the rescue with hope. Mai embraced the child tighter, trying to give her courage.

“STAND UP, YOU LAZY HUMANS!” A load voice bellowed in the room, making the girl’s head snap up. She squinted her eyes, as the door to their prison opened with creak and a large scaled youkai appeared in the doorframe. He scanned the prisoners, his long tail swishing behind his back. 

Then, another demon showed up. He was much smaller than his companion and had black leathery wings, so Mai assumed, that he must be some sort of bat.

“It’s time for the auction for the male slaves.” He said slowly, his voice quiet and calm, in the opposite to the lizard-youkai.

“MOVE!” the reptile yelled and began gathering the chains, that were linked to the collars of men and boys. Some of them tried to put up a resistance, but the bat demon had a bunch of devices and was pressing a lever on all of them randomly, shocking the random men with the current. After such demonstration of power, the slaves became much more docile and began leaving the chamber after the lizard demon, one by one.

“Kohaku.” Mai said the boy’s name, gripping his arm – she didn’t want the three of them get separated. The boy glanced at the prison guards nervously.

“You there! Come over here.” The bat demon called to Kohaku making an impatient gesture with his hand. 

Mai gritted her teeth and glared at their captors viciously.

“We’re staying together!” she talked back, making the both youkai frown.

“YOU BITCH!” the reptile yelled, but the bat outstretched his hand, stopping his companion form doing anything reckless.

“Damaging the merchandise is out of question.” He said quickly to the lizard, cooling his anger. 

Then, the bat turned to the humans. “Male and female auctions are held separately. It was the last warning.”

Mai opened her mouth to protest, but Kohaku freed his arm from her grip.

“It’s fine with me, Mai-sama. Take care of Rin.” He said, looking Mai in the eye seriously and left the chamber, following the demons.

“Kohaku!” Rin exclaimed after the boy. The older girl embraced her tighter.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be okay.” She assured the child, praying for her words to be true.

After over an hour the situation repeated, when it came the time for all the females to go the auction. The prison guards began leading the women outside, one by one. Mai’s nervousness reached its peak, when it came their turn.

“Now the child.” The bat demon decided, pointing Rin and tugging the chain, that was linked with the girl’s collar. Mai instantly grabbed the chain and pulled it, so that the pressure on the child’s neck lessened. She jumped on her feet and held Rin close to herself. The terrified kid put her arms around Mai’s waist, tears welling in her eyes.

“I don’t want to go!” she whimpered.

Mai glared at the two youkai with pure hatred mixed with her congenital stubbornness.

“She is going nowhere without me!” She stated firmly, using most confident tone she could muster. The demons scowled, displeased by her defiance. The bat lifted his hand with the device, that presumably was meant to control her collar.

“Let go off the child or I’ll…” he began threatening her, but Mai interrupted him. While having Sesshomaru for her boss, she experienced numerous stressful and extremely dangerous situations. Therefore it wasn’t that easy to bully her now.

“I don’t care what you’ll do!” she retorted. “Shock me, kill me, I don’t care! We’re going together or you’re going to have some serious trouble with me. I’m not the kind of woman, who is quiet and obedient. If you try to sell me alone, I guarantee, that you’ll get no money for me!”

The bat-youkai was glaring at her for some time, as though trying to determine, whether she was serious or not. The fierce look in her eyes made her look like a tigress defending her cub – this was the look of a woman, that was ready for anything to stir up some trouble. The demon weighed his options.

“We’ll sell those two as a set.” He decided finally, before sending Mai a harsh look. “Behave properly.”

The girl took Rin’s hand and followed the lizard demon, repeating to herself, that she had to endure a day at most. Nothing bad would happen to her or the kid, she’d cope with everything and then Sesshomaru would come and save them, as he always did. No need to panic. He would come.

Mai squinted her eyes, as she was led outside. On the wooden platform stood a woman, who left the dark chamber right before her and Rin. She was standing still, her lips trembling and eyes tearing. 

When another youkai, looking like a tanuki, ordered her to turn around she did it obediently. Before the platform a large crowd was gathered, consisting of demons, who were there to purchase slaves, suiting their needs. 

“Now you.” The lizard demon hissed out, pushing Mai onto the platform. The girl winced, as her chain had been pulled forcefully. She stepped forward, holding Rin’s little palm tightly. She looked up, refusing to show her fear to the onlookers.

“Next is…” the tanuki began, glancing at the girls. “A set consisting of two females! Both are well-kept, healthy and pretty! They could perform any task you wish! Let us start the bidding.”

Mai clenched her teeth, as couple of youkai stated their offers, not high ones. She prayed for this farce to end quickly. 

“Forty golden coins!” one of the demons offered a fairly high price, three times higher than the previous ones. Mai eyes wandered down to see her probable future owner and she froze in terror. The demon was fat and gave off a slimy air, but it wasn’t his appearance, that scared her so. It was the look in his eyes – in them a flame of hunger and lust was burning, leaving the girl no delusions, what would happen to her and maybe to Rin too. She barely controlled the trembling of her hands.

Please, not him. Everyone but him.

“Forty-two!” Mai felt a little hope, when she heard someone outbid the loathful demon, but her happiness didn’t last long.

“Forty-three!” he yelled, licking his lips in an obscene gesture, that made the girl a shiver go down her spine. She pressed Rin tighter to herself, so that the child wouldn’t see the crowd.

“Forty-four!” the other demon tried, but it was useless.

“Fifty!” The lecher stated with a self-satisfied grin on his face. Mai paled, as her whole body stiffened in terror. The demon was undressing her with his eyes. To make the matters worse, he kept sending lustful glances at Rin too.

The tanuki-youkai, who was conducting the auction looked at the crows, searching for anyone, who would want to outbid the winner, but no one was eager to pay more gold.

“Sold with fif…” he called, but a female voice from the crowd outshouted him.

“One hundred!” some woman shouted firmly, gaining the slimy demon’s hateful glare. 

Mai’s eyes brightened, as she saw her savior – an elegant demoness, elaborately dressed, fanning herself with a fan made of the peacock feathers. She casually swished her flamingly red locks and made her way towards the platform, followed by a bunch of youkai minions. Her scarlet eyes met Mai’s.

“Sold to the lady in red!” the tanuki announced. 

Then, Mai and Rin were quickly ushered out of the platform into another chamber. However, this one was bright and richly furnished, apparently prepared for the customers. It didn’t took long the lady in red to get to the room. She stormed in and scanned Mai up and down.

“A little too short and not the most beautiful, but will do. At least she has curves here and there. My customers should be satisfied.” She muttered partially to the lizard demon, but mostly to herself, before shifting her attention to Rin. “Oh, this one had a pretty little face. Surely will grow up to be a fine courtesan.” 

Mai stiffened, as she found out, what kind of business the woman in red was running. It wasn’t making her situation much better than falling into the slimy hands of the loathsome youkai. Hopefully Sesshomaru would hurry up.

“Follow me!” the demoness commanded, once she paid the exact amount of money and received the devices, which were controlling the collars. 

The chains were removed, but Mai knew, that the demoness still had the power to shock her or the kid. They had to keep a low profile for the time being. She squeezed Rin’s hand in a reassuring way and followed their new owner. They passed through the main street and got to the suspicious area, which seemed to be spiked with places serving for entertainment – mainly bars and brothels. Women were trying to lure customers from behind the bars. Mai narrowed her eyes at them. They were dressed like whores, so it had to be their profession.

The red demoness ushered the girls inside the magnificent, richly decorated building and led them to the room with a lot of soft cushions inside. She casually sat on one of them and made an elegant gesture for the human females to sit down. Mai lowered herself onto the pillow and made Rin sit beside her. The lady in red flipped the stray lock out of her face.

“My name is Akako and I am the owner of this place. Surely you figured out already, what kind of activity is performed here. Your duty will be to pleasure our customers.” The demoness said slowly, twisting her scarlet lips in a smile.

Mai stiffened and anger flared in her. She would never do such things!

“It’s impossible! I’m married, so I really can’t do such things, but I can cook, sew and do all kind of housework.” Mai quickly protested, not wanting to be a whore at all costs.

Akako scowled.

“Do not lie, girl. I am so long in this business, that I can tell apart a virgin from a woman, who lost her innocence. You belong to the first category.” She snapped, lazily fanning herself. She sent Mai a warning look with the red eyes of hers. “As for your proposals, I am short on virgins, not maids. That was the reason I bought you. First, you’ll undergo a short training and once you are prepared, you will take your first customer. As for the child, she should be able to make her debut in a couple of years. It is final, so do not try to defy me. Try to get along with the other girls and you will accustom quickly. That is all.”

After making this short speech, Akako stood up and left the room, swishing with her red robes. Mai gulped. At least Rin was safe. Actually, she was relatively safe too, as the “training”, whatever it meant should last at least a couple of days and she expected Sesshomaru to come sooner than that. She embraced Rin.

“It’s going to be all right. We’ll be safe here, while waiting for Sesshomaru.” She said to the child. Rin looked at her and smiled back.

“He’ll come, right?” she made sure. Mai smiled and nodded.

“He always does.”


Author Note:

Hello, everyone! Thanks for your comments. Oh, about the new background: do you feel absolutely comefortable while reading? No headache or exploding eyeballs?

Anyway, tomorrow morning I'm setting for a quest (more like for a trip with my Viking), so I won't be able to update in a while. Nevertheless, please do make me a pleasant surprise and review. Yeah... how was the chapter?