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!
Oh my God! what is that blood? please tell me, thus I'm sure Sesshy didn't kill anyone... can't wait for the next chapter! yep cliffhangers are a cool thing)))
ReplyDeleteAH! Yes I agree with Natalia, I'm worried he did something bad... who knows what anyone would do, a youkai no less, when they're hungry! ><
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. . . .Did one of the crew mates piss Sessh off?? Or did something happen to the brat? Would love to find out!!!
ReplyDelete-Nikina