Lurking in the darkness
Just
as she set the foot in young Maeda's room, Mai was greeted with an angry
frown. The boy was sitting behind the table and grimacing.
"A maid should get up before the master!" the kid exclaimed, furrowing his brows and attempting to look intimidating.
However,
Mai already lost her illusions, that she would able to keep up a
servant-like front and be ordered around by a bratty child. The girl
shrugged her shoulders.
"I overslept." She said, yawning. She
noticed, that on the table still stood the bowl with the radish soup,
the unsightly meal untouched. She rested her hands on the hips, smirking
at the kid. "So, ready to accept the rules?"
"Hmpf!" the young
Maeda snorted and crossed his arms, looking at Mai with all the
arrogance he could muster. "A trash like you has no right to make such
demands. I'm the daimyo's son! Hurry up and make me a breakfast!"
The
girl refrained herself from sighing. If the kid wanted it to be the
tough way… Well, she might as well take her revenge for what happened
yesterday. If the brat was set on making her existence as miserable as
possible, she would return the favor. Without a word, she left the room
and made her way to the kitchen. She stopped for a chat with Soji,
learnt the newest rumors and made the most delicious breakfast she
could, remembering to decorate the plate beautifully too. Once the meal
looked like a small work of art, she returned, holding the fancy
breakfast in one hand and the unidentified gruel in the other.
She
laughed evilly in her mind, when she saw the brat's startled face, as
she put the gruel in front of him, while sitting by the table and
beginning to taste her masterpiece. The young master gawked at her with
disbelief, when Mai helped herself and poured herself the tea, not even
bothering to offer him some too.
"What are you doing?" he demanded in a harsh tone, violently pushing his bowl away, the disgusted frown on his face.
Mai closed her eyes, emphasizing how heavenly the taste of her meal was. She even made a contented sound.
"Eating
my breakfast." She replied the kid, after she swallowed the bite. Damn,
she was good at cooking, Mai thought, congratulating herself. She
looked at the brat, faking worry. "You should eat yours too. It's
unhealthy to starve yourself, you know."
The boy's face turned red, as he clenched his teeth. He hit the table with his fist, making the dishes rock.
"Give me what you're eating, now! That's an order!" he yelled, the wild look in his eyes.
Mai sent him a horribly cheerful smile.
"No
way, It's too tasty to waste it on such a bratty child." She said to
him, still smiling kindly, and proceeded with eating her breakfast,
ignoring the infuriated sounds, the kid was giving out. Finally she made
a brief break to offer the little devil her advice. "If you don't
respect someone's work, don't expect them to slave for you. The world
doesn't work that way."
The boy grabbed the edges of the table, now resembling a tiger's cub in the cage.
"I'm a daimyo's son! You have to listen to me!" he screamed at Mai.
The girl put off her plate and looked at the kid seriously, resting her elbows on the table.
"That's
right, you're daimyo's son." The girl said. "That's why probably no one
told you yet, what I'm about to. You can make people do, what you want,
if you bully them, using your money and position. However, they won't
go into the fire after you. They will always hate you, deep down, and
will betray you, once they have the first chance. But, if you win their
hearts, being polite, respecting them, being simply a good boss for
them, they will help even when everyone would turn away from you. You
get, what you give."
Having finished lecturing the child, Mai took
a sip of tea. She absolutely believed in every word she said – the same
was with her and Sesshomaru. When he was just an ass, she didn't even
hesitate to stab him with knife. However, once he showed his good and
kind side, she would never leave him in need, just like now, when she
was sharing all the hardships with her youkai boss. The girl hoped, that
young Maeda would understand, what she tried to tell him. The kid was
rotten, but still young. He had the chance to become a respectable adult
instead of another Maeda Goemon. She looked at the boy.
The kid
was staring at the table now. He was about to reply, but gave up and
just sat in silence, his eyes set on the horrible rice gruel.
"My…
my father… He's like that and the people talk horrible things behind
his back." The child finally spoke, his voice quiet and unsure, so
completely different from the usually arrogant tone. He gulped, as
though he had difficulty with coughing out the words out of his throat.
"But he has the power and they always do, what he wants."
The boy
looked at Mai with challenge in his eyes, as though he accused her of
lying. However, the girl noticed some insecurity in his eyes, as though
he wanted to simply talk about some problems, he had. She sighed. Maybe
he was a little devil, but still just a kid.
"What kind of man is your father?" she asked, gentleness in her voice. "Tell me."
The boy looked at her distrustfully, as though he was expecting some trap.
"He's
rich and powerful, has many servants and mistresses to do his bidding."
He said with pride resounding in the way, he was speaking. But, seeing
Mai arch her eyebrow, he averted his gaze. "He mainly fools around with
his whores."
The last words were muttered almost inaudibly. The girl stretched her legs under the table.
"Do
you want to be like him in the future? Or maybe you want to be better
than him, the greatest ruler, Kaga province ever had?" she asked the
boy.
Young Maeda looked at her sharply and bit his lower lip, having difficulty with coming up with the answer.
"I want… I want to be… I will surpass him." The kid said with a determined gleam in his eyes.
Mai
smiled slightly. Maybe she would make a human out of this little devil
after all. She reached for a second cup and poured tea into it, before
passing it to the kid. The boy hesitantly took it.
"Good boy." She
praised him, stuffing the rest of her breakfast in her mouth, what made
the kid exclaim with protest, as his stomach rumbled.
Mai swallowed the food and stood up, laughing at the child, who was glaring at her again.
"Come on, we're leaving." She said to the kid, making the gesture for him to follow her.
The boy furrowed his brows.
"Leaving where?" he asked slowly, looking at her, as though she was crazy.
The girl folded her arms and flashed a smile at him.
"Isn't that obvious? To the kitchen. I'll make you the breakfast." She shrugged her shoulders.
Young
Maeda stared at her with wide-opened eyes, as though she was an alien,
who just demanded a meeting with the president of the United States of
America. Mai rolled her eyes, growing impatient with the kid. She
grabbed him by the fabric of his kimono and pulled him up, dragging him
towards the door.
"You can't expect me to go to the kitchen! It's
good for the servants!" the boy protested, once again trying to strike
Mai down with his supposedly intimidating glare.
"If you want to
get that meal, you'll go to the kitchen with me. End of discussion." Mai
stated, never letting go of his clothes and dragged the struggling boy
to the lower level.
The kid put up quite a resistance, but the
girl had already some practice with getting Rin bathe against her will,
so she could handle him. Once they reached the kitchen, Mai pushed the
boy inside. Soji, who was just making another disgusting meal for the
sailors, turned around. He beamed a smile at Mai, his favorite companion
on this ship, but the smile fell from his face, as his eyes rested on
the pouting boy, who was standing with his eyes folded and was glaring
daggers at everyone.
"Sit there. I'll make the scrambled eggs,
okay?" Mai ushered the daimyo's son to sit on the wobbly stool in the
corner of the kitchen, while she got to preparing the meal, getting the
ingredients herself.
Soji was glancing nervously at the boy, who
was covering his nose with the sleeve of his richly embroidered kimono.
The cook looked as though he was about to have a heart attack.
"Mai, you can't bring the young master to the kitchen!" he whispered hastily to the girl.
She looked back at him and waved her hand casually, dismissing his worried remark.
"Relax,
Soji. Oh, and by the way, his name is Akira." She said, gaining Sogi's
terrified glance and a glare from the boy, who was shocked, that she
dared to call him by his name.
However, his belly rumbled again
and young Maeda refrained himself from angering Mai. After all, the fate
of his nearest meal was resting in her hands.
The girl was
humming while frying the eggs, trying to ignore the tense atmosphere in
the kitchen. Then, she waited for the kid to finish eating, even though
he made a fuss about having his breakfast in "an unsightly place."
Dealing
with the spoiled young master proved to be manageable, but quite
troublesome. The boy gave up his sadistic pranks and attempted to
improve his horrible attitude, but it was hard to change his character
in a few hours. Fortunately, Akira's schedule was quite busy and was
including fencing lessons, classes with master Sekiguchi and some
political lessons conducted by Sasaki. It meant, that
Mai had quite a
lot of free time during the day. There was no point in cleaning the
whole room thoroughly everyday – she just quickly put everything on its
place and went to master Sekiguchi's quarters, searching for Sesshomaru.
She decided, that it was best to check on the demon every now and then.
She
knocked at the neighboring door and invited herself in. She saw the old
scholar, sitting in his spacious cabin, leaning over some scrolls, that
looked ancient. However, Sesshomaru was nowhere to be seen. Sekiguchi
was furrowing his brows, comparing a plant with the sketches in his
scrolls. Finally, he noticed Mai.
"Oh, good to see you here, pri…
Mai. Perhaps you could lend me hand." He said, inviting her inside and
making a gesture to sit down. The girl did as requested, looking around
with growing impatience. The scholar passed her a small plant. "This
plant was brought to be before the ship set sails. Sadly, it is unknown
to me and I am unable to indentify it. Maybe it has some wondrous curing
properties."
Mai sighed heavily, seeing how Sekiguchi was focused
on his work. She took the plant from him and examined it. The shape of
leaves was somewhat familiar. She brought it closer to her nose and
sniffed it – she detected no scent, not the faint smell of leaves, but
absolutely nothing. She smiled to the scholar.
"I know this plant.
It's used by the demon-slayers to mask their scent, so that the youkai
would not sniff them out." She came up with the reply.
"Oh." The old scholar looked slightly disappointed. "So it is of no use for me. You can keep it."
Mai
nodded and stuffed the plant into her sleeve, thinking, that it could
come in handy later. After all, she and Sesshomaru would have to travel a
bit more from Hizen coast to Saga, so they needed all the protection,
they could get. Speaking of Sesshomaru…
"Where's Sesshomaru?" she asked the old man.
Sekiguchi shrugged his shoulders.
"He refused to sit with me." He replied, the sorry expression on his face.
Mai
furrowed her brows, feeling, that she was getting irritated with the
inu-youkai's stubbornness and stupidity. He should have known, that
sitting with the scholar was safest for him. She excused herself and
left Sekiguchi's room, now seriously pissed. Now she would have to look
for that idiot. If he gets into trouble again…
She checked the
closet, she shared with Sesshomaru, but it was empty of course. She
looked at the futon with the tangled bedcovers on it. Right, the damn
demon didn't bother to roll it and put back into the closet. Why the
hell was she always doing all the work?!
Mai was about to start
her search, when she bumped into the young Maeda and the general. She
cursed under her nose, as she had to get the brat back to his quarters
and patiently wait till he washed himself and changed the clothes. All
the time she was waiting at the door, tapping with her foot, worrying
for Sesshomaru. What was he thinking? She was sure he got himself into
some mess.
Once Akira was refreshed and dressed back in his
kimono, he made his way towards the bedroom, wanting to take a nap. Mai
made an angry sound. If he left the kid, Sasaki will be furious like
Godzilla. However, she really had to find the demonic asshole. Well, it
was no other choice.
"Hey!" the boy protested, as he got dragged out of his room again.
"We'll take a walk." Mai said to him.
The
child was protesting, but the girl was deaf for his ranting. After
threatening him with the radish soup, she made the kid run around the
deck. Most of the crew members and soldiers were there, but not
Sesshomaru. She circled the place three times, before returning to the
superstructure. Akira kept jogging after her, visibly unhappy.
"What are you doing?" he kept asking, but Mai shushed him.
She
checked her private closet and Sekiguchi's quarters once again, before
running downstairs. Akira tugged her sleeve, trying to gain her
attention.
"Are you looking for someone?" he asked.
Mai
nodded, as she bit her lower lip nervously. Sesshomaru wasn't on the
deck and on the upper level. Damn, this wasn't good. Maybe the sailors
ganged up on him and… she shook her head, chasing away the thought. The
demon was too tough to let himself be beaten up. He would rather murder
every single person on this ship. The girl began checking every room
methodically – the laundry room, kitchen, the big chamber, where the
sailors slept. But, Sesshomaru was still missing. Her heart began
pounding faster, as she developed some bad feelings about this. There
was only the lowest level left. The girl dragged Akira after herself and
went downstairs.
Unlike as on the other two levels, on the lowest
one was completely dark, as there wasn't neither windows nor any lamps
lit. Fortunately right beside the stairs Mai found candles and lit two,
one of which she passed to Akira, who was looking a little scared.
"Shouldn't we go back?" he whispered, trying to hide the trembling of his voice.
Mai shook her head.
"You can wait here if you want." She whispered back.
Actually,
she didn't know, why she was whispering. Perhaps it was the atmosphere
of this place. She began walking, lightning the way with her candle. She
was passing the countless boxes, it also turned out, that about twenty
horses were crammed down here as well. Mai pitied the animals – they had
to spend a week in complete darkness. The place was creepy, but she was
determined to search every inch of this ship.
In the meantime,
Akira was having a hard time whether he should follow Mai, stay where he
was or go back to his quarters. Finally he concluded, that he would
follow the girl, as he would turn out to be a coward if she wasn't
scared and he was. However, she vanished behind the boxes already, so he
would have to find her somehow in this creepy, dark place. The boy
rushed in the direction, where Mai went, or he only thought so.
Actually, he lost his way and wandered towards the opposite end of the
ship. Akira was carefully stepping, as the floor was rocking slightly
under his feet. He wanted to call out to Mai, but the atmosphere of the
place simply trapped his voice in the throat. He was walking forward,
unknowingly making the distance between the girl and himself bigger with
every step he took.
The boy nearly jumped, when a mouse ran near
his feet. He clenched his teeth, not to squeak from fear and disgust.
From now on, he decided to look under his feet more carefully. Then, he
noticed something disturbing. The floor was covered with a layer of
dust. The further he was going, the thicker it was getting. Apparently
this part of the ship wasn't used frequently. The boy flinched, when he
saw footprints. He crouched and examined them, feeling, that his heart
began pounding like crazy. The footprints weren't covered with dust –
they were fresh. Someone was walking here recently. Or maybe he was
still lurking in the shadows. Akira felt a shiver go down his spine, as
suddenly all the ghost stories, he ever heard, flowed into his mind.
The
boy shook his head, telling himself to calm down. There was not
possible, that the ghosts were roaming around the ship. Anyway, a ghost
wouldn't leave footprints. However, Akira's mind fed him with another
scary thought. A demon would leave footprints. He shook his head again.
He was being stupid. The footprint was big, so it must have belonged to
one of the sailors. No need to panic. Akira noticed, that his hand began
trembling. Suddenly he regretted not staying by the stairs. The boy
froze in place, as he heard the creak of wooden planks somewhere around
him. It must have been just his imagination. Then, he heard the sound
again, this time it was closer.
Panic took over. The boy whirled
around and made a run for it, wanting to go back from where he came.
However, he bumped into something and fell back, landing on his back.
The whole time he was clutching the candle, afraid, that the only source
of light would go out. Moaning form pain, slowly he looked up.
Akira froze, as he stared into cold, golden eyes, that glared at him maliciously.
Mai heard a child's scream. She whirled around, estimating, that it came from the opposite side of the ship.
"Akira!" she called him by his name, running towards the source of the scream and checking if she had her knife with her.
Akira
stared at the face of the man, who was towering above him… no, not man…
he must be a demon. This murderous glare, the magenta stripes on his
cheeks… he couldn't be human. The boy dropped the candle, making all the
light go out, while he ran for his life. He didn't manage to get away
far, when something grabbed him by his collar and held in place. Akira
whimpered, scared out of his wits and began struggling, not wanting to
die.
"Akira!" she heard Mai's voice calling his name again and
again, but he was too frightened to answer. Just when the girl made her
presence known, the demon began walking in her direction, dragging the
boy along with himself. Akira gasped, coming to conclusion, that he
probably wanted to get rid of all the witnesses. He would kill both him
and the maid.
"Akira!" Mai's voice sounded again, this time fairly
close. The boy's thoughts were racing through his head. Should he warn
her? Should he tell her to run? However, it was too late for that now.
The
boy saw his maid emerging from the shadows, as she ran around the
corner. Then, she stopped, staring at the monster, who captured him.
Akira saw, that she was holding a knife in her hand.
Everything,
that happened later, was just simply strange. His maid sent the demon a
challenging glare, as though she was about to battle him, but sheathed
the blade at the same time. Akira furrowed his brows, wondering what was
she doing. Her weird behavior distracted him from his own desperate
position. When Mai noticed the boy, she relaxed visibly. Akira widened
his eyes. What was that supposed to mean?! She was at ease, when the
demon was about to devour him?!
Mai hid the knife and rested her hand on the hip.
"You
seem to have lost this." The demon spoke in a deep voice and suddenly
threw the startled boy under the girl's feet. Immediately, she yanked
him up and began removing the dust from his clothes, still glaring at
the terrifying youkai, who was looking back at her with those scary
golden eyes. Akira tugged Mai's sleeve, trying to point out, that they
were in grave danger, but she didn't pay any attention to the boy.
"Sesshomaru, don't throw the kid like a sack of potatoes!" she scolded the demon.
Young Maeda furrowed his brows. Sesshomaru? She knew the demon? The situation was getting weirder with every passing second.
"Hn." The youkai came closer. "Perhaps you should watch the brat better."
Akira
felt insulted, but kept gawking at his maid and the demon. What was
with the two of them chatting, as though nothing happened?!
Mai narrowed her eyes, as she looked up stubbornly and with two steps closed the distance between her and the youkai.
"Do
you have any idea, that you nearly made me having a heart attack?!" she
hissed out, clenching her fist. "I had to search the entire ship to
find you! I thought something bad happened!"
"Be silent, woman." The demon said in a low warning tone, but Mai carried on with her tirade.
"You
were supposed to stay at Sekiguchi's quarters! You could have at least
told him, where're you going! You didn't even roll the futon!"
Akira tilted his head, now completely confused. Was his maid just lecturing the youkai?
Sesshomaru's
patience wore thin. The young Maeda could have sworn, that he saw him
baring his fangs. The demon snatched Mai's neck, immobilizing her head,
as he brought his face close to hers, leaning over her, for he was much
taller than the small woman. Her eyes widened from surprise. He narrowed
his eyes.
"Do not insult me again." He said in a calm voice, so
calm, that it was scary. Apparently it affected Mai, because she shut
her mouth. Pleased, that he reached his goal, the youkai released her
from his hold and pulled back.
"You're not going back to master Sekiguchi?" the girl made sure, this time talking quieter.
"The old man talks too much. I will find you later." Sesshomaru replied.
"Okay." Mai agreed, thinking, that it was rather better than he was sitting here – at least no one would provoke him.
In
the meantime, Akira was listening to the conversation and the mess in
his head was getting bigger and bigger. The atmosphere between those two
was too amiable!
"Mai, who is he?" the boy asked his maid, when he decided, that his life was probably not endangered.
The girl and the demon looked at him, as though both of them were surprised, that he was present here.
Mai offered the answer.
"Oh,
he's my bo…" she bit her tongue, as she wanted to say boss. The girl
felt her face glow red in the darkness, when she had to tell this
embarrassing lie. "Betrothed. He's my betrothed."
Akira opened his mouth, gawking at the man. He didn't expect something like that coming.
"B… Betrothed?" he repeated, making sure. "He's not a demon?"
Mai and Sesshomaru quickly exchanged glances, before the girl turned the boy around, pushing him towards the stairway.
"What are you saying? Of course not! He's a human, just a human." She said fast with a smile glued to her face.
Akira thought, that her smile looked somewhat fake.
yey another one! feel so happy! thanks a lot))
ReplyDeletehello, sorry to disturb you. do you mind telling me your opinion about my story? a no is also ok. I just wanted your opinion since I admire your writing skills. http:// www. fanfiction.net/s/9051151/1/ sorry if i bothered you)) i decided to write only after reading your story. thanks for your time))
ReplyDeleteHey, I'd take a look at your story, but the link is not working.
Deletehttp://www.fanfiction.net/s/9051151/1/Faith-s-curse
ReplyDeletetry this one. the beginning will be a little slow since I liked that in your story, they will not fall in love just after a few chapters. your story is well constructed and developed so I would like to do that as well. honestly! the characters are well written and Sesshy really is a demon not a softie, well i think you know what i mean. Mai is strong girl with a interesting personality. i really was inspired reading your story and I thank you for that.
Hey, I happened upon your story and fell in love with it!! By chance do you have 95+ up anywhere?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I keep uploading the chapers here daily
DeleteToo bad that in actuality, the moment Mai started having even the slightest hint of a snippy attitude toward the Lord's son, she'd have been thrown overboard and left to drown or eaten by sharks.
ReplyDeleteSesshomaru's making efforts to not annihilate the entirety of the crewmen on board, but Mai can act the complete opposite of a maid and receives zero repercussions for it? Great continuity..