Chapter 99

The primal urges
 


The heir of Maeda clan had a nightmarish day indeed. After another round of harsh training with his teacher, he nearly fell asleep during the classes with master Sekiguchi, as it felt so pleasant to simply sit and not to do any exhausting exercise. Never in his life he appreciated the hours spent with the scholar so. Late on, it turned out, that Sasaki faked sea sickness to avoid conducting Akira's political studies. Normally the boy would be glad, but he bumped into his demonic fencing instructor. Once he saw, that the boy had free time, he made him perform more horrifying exercise, till he literally dropped unconscious to the floor.



Sesshomaru flung the brat over his shoulder and carried the human child to his bedroom. When he slid the door to the quarters open, Mai attacked him like a furious tigress.
"What did you do the brat?!" she began screaming, panic in her eyes.

Her loud voice made the boy wriggle and moan something, as he apparently was not dead, but dead asleep. The woman sighed with relieved and ushered the dog demon to lay the child on his bedding. Sesshomaru watched, as she carefully covered the boy. It crossed the demon's mind, that she looked motherly at the moment, just as when she was with Rin. Perhaps it was just because she was a female – females tend to show such instincts towards other children than their own. When she was done, the demon yanked her up, surprising her with the sudden action and pushed towards the cabin, they shared. He patiently waited outside till she changed her clothing and joined her in the room, she usually called the closet.

The demon expected her to grace him with another one of her annoying tirades, given her angered face expression, but instead she pouted and laid down, demonstratively turning her back to him. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, feeling slightly bothered by her behavior. He positioned himself on his side of futon and was considering if he should demand the woman to cease her irritating actions. Sesshomaru came to conclusion, that it would only lead to another argument. The inu-youkai glared at the ceiling. Women were indeed men's curse.

Fortunately, tonight Mai did not have any dreams, that caused her octopus-like nature to resurface and torture him. Sharing the bed was bearable – she took hold of all the bedcovers and used them to build a barricade between their bodies. Maybe in other situation it would displease Sesshomaru, but after the experiences of the previous night he welcomed it with gladness. The less temptation the better.

However, it was not his destiny to evade the nature's tortures tonight. Because of the issue with Shomyo's trial and the dangerous journey to Saga, the dog demon neglected one essential matter and now it was fighting to gain his attention. He did not expect this need to be that urgent, but his body must have been weakened in more than one way. The inu-youkai gritted his teeth, knowing, that it was coming.

His stomach rumbled.

Sesshomaru felt his intestines twisting, as his body kept demanding nourishment. As every living creature, he needed to feed. He did not have to do it frequently like humans and most demons, but he was no exception from the laws of nature. The inu-youkai frowned. Normally he would just hunt his preferred food, but now it could prove itself problematic – the ship was full of humans. They would serve well for a meal, but he ceased feeding on them two hundred years ago. Not to mention, that he would not be able to look Mai in the eye ever again. Perhaps he could endure those few days and hunt after the disembarking.

Sesshomaru pressed his traitorous stomach, as it called for food again.



Mai yawned and stretched her limbs, as she began returning from the dreamland. Lazily she rubbed her eyes and turned her head. The place beside her was empty. The girl placed her hand on where Sesshomaru was laying before, but she didn't feel the warmth. Where the hell did he wander off so early in the morning? Never mind. Nothing bad would happen to him anyway, now, when he had all the people scared to death of him and the daimyo's son doing his bidding. Speaking of which… she groaned, unhappy, that she couldn't stay in bed a while longer. She had to wake the brat up, before the inu-youkai comes for him. Muttering curses and with her eyes still half-closed she did all the morning activities – get dressed, clean the closet, wash herself. Once refreshed, she set off to give Akira a wakeup call. Not bothering to knock, she came in and went straight to the kid's bedroom. She looked inside, but the bed was empty already, with the bedcovers neatly straightened. She furrowed her brows, quickly linking one empty bed with another. She had a general idea, where the young Maeda was.

After a detour to the kitchen to make some riceballs for the breakfast, she made her way to the deck and was nearly knocked out by the small shape, that darted right before her eyes. It was Akira doing his exercise. She also spotted Sesshomaru resting nearby. She waved to the demon. He looked at her, but he seemed… pissed.

"Boy, come here!" he called to Akira, who trotted to him like a puppy. Sesshomaru shoved a wooden sword into his hands. "You will practice swings now. Follow my example."

The demon demonstrated few times, how the proper swings should look like and told the brat to repeat it one thousand times without a break. Akira immediately got to swinging, aiming pleading looks at Mai, as though he was trying to send SOS. Damn, Sesshomaru really got the boy scared today. The brat was literarily shivering with fear. She took a step closer.

"Maybe you two should take a break?" she asked with a smile. "I brought the breakfast."

She showed the onigiri, she made a while earlier. Young Maeda stared at them with desire in his eyes, never stopping the swinging, as though his life depended on it. He discreetly nodded. However, life was brutal.

"The boy must finish the morning exercise first." Sesshomaru decided, speaking in a tone, that suggested, his words were final.

Mai frowned slightly and glanced at Akira, who looked really desperate.

"You know, he really should eat his breakfast. He's a growing boy. You don't want to starve him, do you?" she asked.

At the mention of eating and starving, a wild gleam flashed in Sesshomaru's golden eyes. Mai flinched as she noticed it, even though it was there only for a split second. In that moment his eyes truly looked like ones of a demon.

"The boy will eat, once the training is over. No sooner." The inu-youkai stated calmly.

Mai put the plate away and approached Sesshomaru. She placed her hand on the hips and glared him poisonously. She was just about to tell him exactly, what did she think of his behavior, when he simply walked away, leaving startled Mai alone.

"Tch!" she hissed, getting even more angry, when she saw the demon's swift evacuation. She stalked after him, not wanting to let him escape her wrath.

"Sesshomaru, you can't treat this kid like that! He's a daimyo's son, we'll be in trouble if you keep on torturing him as you do! And he's a human. He doesn't have yours stamina and strength." She scolded the demon, who sent her a look over his shoulder.

"Hn." He finally stopped, making Mai nearly bump into his back. "Being a human is no excuse. Inuyasha is a hanyou and he is stronger than most of the youkai despite his diluted blood."

Mai rolled her eyes, circling the dog demon, so that she was facing him now.

"You can't compare Inuyasha to the human eleven-year-old boy." She muttered.

"Why not?" Sesshomaru counterattacked with a question.

Mai looked up at him, making a mental face palm.

"Because not." She answered in the most idiotic way imaginable, avoiding looking up at the inu-youkai, whose face was now adorned with a triumphant smirk. Really, she had this impression, that today his goal was to make the lives of everyone around him miserable.

Mai slightly pitied Akira, who fell victim of Sesshomaru's foul mood, but at the same time she was glad, that it was not her. The girl tried to avoid the dog demon during the daytime by cleaning, doing laundry, preparing elaborate dishes – everything, that took some time and served as an excuse for not being at the young Maeda's side. She only met the little devil and the genuine demon during meals, they were eating together. Or at least she and Akira were eating, while Sesshomaru was making her to serve him tea. Damn, she had that urge to spill it atop his head, when he used that head-of –family tone.

However, the very victim – Akira – was not as unhappy, as Mai thought he would be. True, the boy barely was standing on his feet, but was eagerly doing every exercise, Sesshomaru demanded him to do and he was happy as a puppy when he was praised by a mere nod. Actually, the spoiled brat began resembling a normal boy. Still arrogant, but not that monstrous anymore. The girl also noticed, that Akira picked up a habit of adding a characteristic "hn" to almost every sentence. It was said, that copying was the highest form of admiration, but it was quite funny. Apparently the boy was treating Sesshomaru more like a foster parent, than a teacher… Mai remembered, how Rin always adored the dog demon and came to conclusion, that despite his intimidating demeanor he was a magnet for children – they seemed to be drawn to him in some magical way. She giggled, thinking, that her observation was amusing.

After the whole day of simulating work, the girl went to her almost-private-closet and laid down, making herself comfortable on her side of futon. She was already half-asleep, when she heard the sound of opening and closing the door. Then the door of the actual closet was opening and closing and there was a rustling sound. Mai cuddled closer to the wall, making more place for Sesshomaru.

"Sesshomaru?" she mumbled, making sure, that it was really the demon, who was about to lay down next to her.

The dog demon froze for a split second, gazing at Mai warily. He thought, that she was already asleep. Quickly, before she would have the chance to glance his way, he tied the sash of his sleeping kimono and hid the daytime clothing into the closet, berating himself from not checking if the woman was asleep.

"Hm?" Sesshomaru made a noise, still tense.

Mai muttered something and, having recognized his voice, she buried herself deeper under the covers, beginning to drift to the dreamland.

Then, the dog demon took his place on the futon beside her. It was not long, till his malicious stomach decided to announce his growing demands. The rumbling of it resounded throughout the room – to Sesshomaru it was as loud as a thunder.

Being not completely asleep, Mai heard the sound, but wasn't able to identify the source of it. She shifted under the covers.

"What was that?" she mumbled, lifting her head off the pillow.
Sesshomaru closed his eyes, mentally cursing his body for getting him into such humiliating situation.

"It is nothing. Sleep." He said quietly, hoping, that the woman would ignore it and fall asleep.

Unfortunately, he was not that lucky.

Mai turned around, so that she was now facing the demon. She flinched slightly, when she saw, how close to each other they were – merely two inches away.

"Maybe it's a storm coming." She made a guess, the mysterious sound still bugging her.

"Do not let it bother you. Sleep." Sesshomaru insisted, but the girl was already fully awake and couldn't fall asleep just like that.

"You sure, that it's not a storm?" she asked the dog demon.

He glared at the ceiling, feeling the twisting in his stomach.

"Yes." He hissed out, his irritation fueled both by the hunger, that was slowly driving him mad, and the fact, that Mai could hear the shameful noise.

The girl yawned and was about to turn around, when IT occurred.

She heard the very same rumbling sound, but this time she was able to locate the source. She stared at Sesshomaru in disbelief, her eyes opened widely. The dog demon avoided her gaze and kept his at the ceiling, the vein in his neck pulsing. When Mai fully comprehended, what just happened, she began to giggle.

"I can't believe it! Your belly…" she uttered in between the laughter attacks. "You're hungry!"

"Hn." The demon sent her a furious glare, wanting to silence her giggling.

When Mai managed to take hold of herself, she rested her head on the arm, grinning at the inu-youkai widely.

"If you're hungry, you should just eat something." She offered the most obvious advice.

"No need." The dog demon ended the discussion, turning with his back to Mai. "Go back to sleep at last."

Mai made a pouting face, still inwardly giggling and rolled onto her back. She closed her eyes, when Sesshomaru's stomach rumbled again. Her eyes snapped open.

"Sesshomaru, for god's sake, just go to the damn kitchen and eat something!" she nearly shouted at the demon. "I can't sleep, when your belly is giving those concerts."

Fortunately, this time he listened to her advice. After gracing her with a displeased look, he crawled out their closet. Mai smiled under her nose, as she heard the creaking of the stairs. To think, that Sesshomaru actually ate and could be hungry like everyone else… She was learning new things about him with each passing day.



The next morning Mai decided to spoil herself with some extra sleep. Sesshomaru was already gone, probably making Akira's life a hell, so she wasn't needed for two more hours. She had enough time to take a nap and proceed with the usual set of morning activities dress-clean-wash. She finished the first two and slowly made her way towards the laundry room, that was serving as makeshift washroom, as it was usually empty. In her mind she counted down the days till the deadline – six , what made only three more days of the sea travel. It was disturbing, that the half of the twelve days was up, but everything indicated, that they would make in time.

Once on the middle level, the girl saw the huge commotion – everyone was running, making a commotion like bees in a hive. She wondered, what was going on, that the crew got that excited. She approached the laundry room and opened the door. However, the usually empty room was now occupied. The skinny youngster was washing some rags like crazy, what was strange. The man was supposed to take care of those things, but during the four days Mai never saw him doing any actual work here. She thought of asking him about that, but he seemed to be too busy to offer her an answer. Then, her eyes rested on the rags, he was washing. Red. Everything was red – the water in the basin and the pile of the fabric, waiting to be washed.

The girl hissed, when someone accidentally hit her, as he delivered another basin filled with crimson, soaked rags, unceremoniously dumping them onto the floor. Mai covered her nose with her sleeve, when she realized, what the red liquid was. She knew this scent almost too good – it was the scent of blood.


Author Note:

Thank you for commenting? You surprised me very positively with this. It's been like a push to update more. Please keep reviewing!