Chapter 77

A meeting in the moonlight



Mai opened her eyes wider, seeing Sesshomaru together with Kasumi in such secluded place. What the hell was he doing here? She covered her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from making any noise, having decided, that it would be better to conceal her presence. She knew, that she should just go back, but her curiosity was stronger. She slowly assumed a comfortable position and watched the scene.

The both demons were standing motionless, according to Mai too close to each other. Kasumi looked at Sesshomaru with sadness in her eyes.

"Sesshomaru, how could you break our promise?" she questioned him. "We were betrothed since childhood!"

The demon didn't avert his gaze from her eyes.

"Do you wish to marry me so badly, Kasumi?" he asked, causing her to look up at him with hope in her eyes.

Damn. – Mai cursed in her thoughts, as she was feeling like witnessing some love scene from a cheap soap opera. Why the hell Sesshomaru was so nice to her? The girl clenched her fist, noticing how beautifully the moonlight reflected in Kasumi's dark hair.

The demoness came closer to the inu-youkai and reached out to caress his cheek with her slim fingers. Mai couldn't not notice, that he didn't make any move to pull back from her or slap her hand. Right, she was a youkai like him. – the human girl thought. Kasumi closed the remaining distance between her and Sesshomaru with one graceful step.

"It was my dream for centuries." She whispered seductively, the melody of her voice was alluring. "Will you make my dream come true, Sesshomaru?"

The demon stood silent, simply gazing at the beautiful demoness. For the moment both just lingered there. Mai thought, that were looking like a perfectly matched couple – both were powerful demons, both possessed this ethereal kind of beauty and grace – as though destined for each other.

Unexpectedly the girl felt a stab of jealousy in her heart. Why would she feel so strange? It was not like Sesshomaru belonged to her… True, he was a handsome man and had this habit of saving her, whenever she was in trouble… and… she touched her neck, blushing fiercely at the memory of last night. She shook her head, trying to forget it and continued spying on the two demons.

Sesshomaru still was silent. Kasumi sighed lightly, sliding her hand from his cheek to the shoulder.
"I will never give up on you." She said, climbing on her toes. The demoness moved her face closer to Sesshomaru's and placed a light kiss upon his lips.

Seeing this, the blood in Mai's veins boiled. So the demonic asshole had a habit of kissing every girl, he stumbled upon. Bastard! And Kasumi's a bitch too! – she thought with anger. Unfortunately, she completely forgot about the need to stay hidden. While glaring daggers at the pair, she emitted an angered sound form her throat. It wasn't that loud, but loud enough for the sensitive youkai's ears. Sesshomaru and Kasumi immediately pulled back from each other and looked towards the source of the noise. Mai quickly hid behind a tent, panicked, that she had been spotted. She was about to dart off to run from the demon's, but both of them suddenly appeared in front of them, the dog demon faster though.

Mai was in a compromising situation, to say at least. Sesshomaru and Kasumi were glaring at her with such a malice, that she wished to just disappear. The youkai woman folded her arms and smiled mockingly.

"Is that not one of your humans, Sesshomaru?" she asked. "You should train them better, so that they would not spy on private conversations anymore."

Mai was torn between the anger at her words and ultimate embarrassment for being found out. To her horror, the dog demon was giving her his most murderous look. He seemed to be extremely pissed for seeing him and Kasumi together. Sesshomaru cast her a cold look and turned to the demoness.
"You should leave, Kasumi." He said. Mai was half-grateful, that he wanted the crane-youkai to leave, but she was also scared out of her wits, that he didn't want to have any witnesses. Did he plan on strangling her again? The girl noticed also, that he called the demoness by her name, something he almost never did with Mai. She figured out, that obviously she didn't have as much his respect as Kasumi to be called by her name.

The demoness frowned.

"I do not see any reason for me leaving. I will stay." She retorted, giving Mai a mocking smile.
The human girl glared at the demoness, but clenched her teeth, stopping herself from saying anything stupid. If she did, Sesshomaru would surely take Kasumi's side and her humiliation would be doubled. The dog demon turned his attention back to Mai. The cold look in his eyed made Mai shiver, she didn't feel like this around Sesshomaru for a long time – and she didn't have a good hunch.

"I must discipline my servant." He said. Mai gulped. If he said this, he would definitely throttle her. He demon sent a sharp look at Kasumi. "Alone."

The crane-youkai also seemed to be scared a little bit by Sesshomaru's attitude and nodded, leaving instantly. Soon after that, Mai was left with the dog demon alone. She gulped, seeing his calm face. He was scary, when he showed anger or irritation, but the cold fury was the worst – when he was in this state, he seemed to be able to murder without batting an eyelid. Mai wasn't sure, whether she should be explaining herself or stay quiet. Both weren't the best option. She waited for him to say something. The demon was only glaring at her for a longer while, before he spoke.

"What are you doing here?" he asked harshly. Mai gulped and decided to tell him the truth, instead of making up excuses.

"You weren't in the tent, so I came looking for you and I didn't want to interrupt anything…" she babbled, noticing, that his glare was getting more and more intense. She decided to add an apology.
"Sorry for that, I didn't mean to…"

"Is it a custom among humans to spy?" he asked, arching his eyebrow. Mai snapped at the mention of humans in such a mocking tone. He was again at the talk of the superiority of demons over humans. She narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on the hips, suddenly gaining courage.

"What else would you expect from my kind, that you despise so much?" she was feeling more and more pissed. "I'm sorry for not being your beautiful and demure Kasumi, I'm just a pathetic human, that lets her curiosity make her watch your touching love moments!"

On Sesshomaru's face showed anger, as he sent Mai a warning look, that she ignored.
"Do not drag Kasumi in this." He hissed through the clenched teeth.

"Why not?" Mai asked. "From what I saw, you two are a well-matched pair, so maybe you should marry her and have a lot of demonic kids, you will raise to be arrogant assholes like you are! It must be such a humiliation for you to drag along a bunch humans. You're even ashamed to tell those bird-youkai, that Rin is your ward!"

She huffed heavily, while stopping her tirade to catch a breath. Sesshomaru stood silent, as though surprised by her sudden outburst. Mai inhaled the air and opened her mouth to continue telling the bastard, what she was thinking about him.

"Actually, I came here to apologize to you for earlier, but it seems, that I was right all along! Me and Rin are just some pets for you! That's why you're so ashamed of us! I wish I've never met you!"
Having finished her tirade she sent a final glare at Sesshomaru and turned around to walk away.

"Woman, stop." The demon hissed, while reaching out his hand to grab her wrist. Mai slapped it by the back of her hand.

"Don't touch me. Ever." She said and walked away. He didn't even follow her.




Mai wasn't looking, where she was walking. She was just extremely pissed! She was angry at Sesshomaru for being his usual asshole self – she thought, that he became more human-friendly, but it turned out eventually, that in his world the humans could be divided in two categories: food and pets. Additionally, the scene with Kasumi made her blood boil, most probably because she just couldn't stand the demoness. Why else? It would be ridiculous to be jealous because of Sesshomaru, wouldn't it? That time… it meant nothing, especially for him.

The girl suddenly stopped, realizing, that instead by their tent, she was on the outskirts of the camp again. Damn, she was lost. The camp was pretty big, so it wasn't that hard to lose the way, especially with Mai's horrible sense of direction. She was about to turn around and go back, when she heard voices. What should she do? She was a human in the middle of a camp full of youkai, probably just waiting to eat her. Being Sesshomaru's servant could grant her some protection, but she could also be killed and they would tell the dog demon, that she disappeared or he would think, that she ran away again. The voices were closer and closer. She looked around for some escape route, but there was none – she was in a dead end. She spotted some barrels and decided to hide behind them, till the youkai go away.

Quickly, she crouched behind the barrels and did her best not to make any noise. The girl could make out now, that the voices belonged to the two males. She hoped, that they were only passing by, but it seemed, that they were heading straight to the place, where she was hiding. Mai cursed inwardly.

"Are you entirely sure, that this place is safe?" one of the voices asked.

"No one ever comes here." The other voice, very similar to the first one, replied. The girl heard the footsteps nearing and finally stopping, a few meters from her hideout. Then, a silence fell. Mai tried to draw her breaths as quietly as she could and was using all her willpower to steady her racing heart. It seemed to pound way too loudly. The men didn't show any intention of moving – they just stood in silence, as if waiting for something. Then, one of them spoke.

"Is it my imagination or it is a stench of a human lingering in the air?" one them asked.