Chapter 78

The malicious plot



"Is it my imagination or it is a stench of a human lingering in the air?" one of the voices asked. Mai's eyes widened in panic, as she muffled a gasp with her hands. She was discovered!

"It's everywhere, since that dog dragged humans here." The other voice replied and the girl felt a wave of relief washing over her. Apparently, the crane youkai didn't have such sharp senses like Sesshomaru. The dog demon would sniff her out in a heartbeat from miles. She was lucky, that such abilities weren't that common among the demons.
The first voice snorted with disdain.

"The arrogant dog. He thinks, that he is better, than our entire clan? Our father humiliated himself and us by begging him for help." The man said.

Mai got interested, who the men were. Those voices sounded a little bit familiar, so maybe she could see, to whom they belonged. Carefully, she took a peek. Her eyes widened, as she recognized the figures – that were the twin brothers of the demoness Kasumi. Why they were meeting each other in such secluded place? Once she learnt their identity, she hid entirely behind the barrels again, as she wasn't eager to reveal her presence to them. Being found out by Sesshomaru and Kasumi was humiliating, but this situation was plainly dangerous. She continued listening to the conversation.

"The time has come for us to rule the crane clan, at last." One of the brothers chuckled.

"The old man should have passed the fate of the clan to our hands long ago. Since he stubbornly refuses to die, all we have to do is to help him a little." The other said.

Mai froze. They planned to murder their own father? She had an impression, that she was listening to the conversation, that she didn't really want to. If she was discovered, even Sesshomaru's position wouldn't help her – she has become a troublesome witness now. She shivered at the thought, that such witnesses nearly always ended dead in the movies.

"There he comes!" one of the men hissed.

Mai was curious, who was coming. She peeked to look. She saw a feminine man approaching the both crane demons, as though he appeared out of nowhere. The man had the looks of a youkai, jet-black hair tied in a ponytail and on his lips he had a red lipstick. The girl was sure, that she saw him somewhere, but she couldn't exactly tell where. She narrowed her eyes and kept observing the group.

"Did you bring it?" one of the crane demons asked the newcomer sharply. The man smiled charmingly.

"Of course, my friends." He said, handing over a small bottle. "A drop will suffice. I have to get going. Bye!"

With those words he disappeared. Then Mai remembered, where she saw him – it was Byakuya, the newest of Naraku's minions. She definitely didn't like the thought, that the evil plotting bastard was somehow involved in this. Was it another of Naraku's plans to get Sesshomaru? She turned her attention back to the crane-youkai.

"He is a suspicious man." One of the brothers stated, examining the bottle. Mai suspected, that there was poison inside.

"Who cares." The other one snorted. "The most important is, that we are finally able to carry out our plan without raising any suspicions. I think, that we should change it a bit and take into consideration one possibility…"

The first man arched his eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" he asked. The other one laughed humorlessly.

"We can kill the two birds with one stone. Luckily for us, Sesshomaru appeared at the very day. I think, that we should take advantage of that." He said.

Mai muffled her gasp. They wanted to do something to Sesshomaru?

"Do you want to kill him?"

"Precisely. Don't you think, that his arrogance should be punished? As the future leaders of the crane clan we should not let anyone disrespect us, as he did earlier. His pathetic life will end at dawn."
The brothers smirked to each other.

"Are you sure, that the poison will kill him? The bastard is resistant to the most of poisons." One of them expressed his concern.

"That Byakuya told me earlier, that the poison is so strong, that it could end even Sesshomaru's life. It was strange, though, that he mentioned the dog." The other brother said.

Mai furrowed her brows. So Naraku was behind all this, using Kasumi's brothers as his puppets to murder Sesshomaru. That was like him, not do dirty his own hands.

"We must hurry, brother. We have to pour the poison into the bottle with sake, before the farewell ceremony starts." One of them said. The other one nodded and Mai saw them leaving. She stayed a while in her hiding place, just to make sure, that they would be far enough.

So the crane bastards wanted to kill Sesshomaru. The dog demon was a real asshole sometimes, but there was no way Mai would let them murder him. Not if she could do something. They were talking about poisoning sake at the farewell ceremony. What the hell were they talking about? She focused and remembered, that Sesshomaru was to set off at dawn, along with the cane-youkai, to battle those snakes. Probably there will be some sort of ceremony before that and the killers will strike during it. Why didn't she know a thing about it? The answer instantly popped into her head – the demons wouldn't invite a human to take part in it, so there was no point in telling her. She peeked out of her hideout and looked at the sky. She cursed quietly, as she saw the sky getting brighter in the east – the sun was about to rise. She got on her feet and marched towards, presumably, the middle of the camp. Now, when it wasn't so dark anymore, she could make out a peak of the lord's tent, towering over other smaller ones. It was the most plausible place for a ceremony to take place. She hiked the hem of her kimono and ran. The time was short and she wouldn't let anyone kill Sesshomaru. Over her dead body!

In the camp was already a commotion, the demons strolling everywhere, preparing for the battle.

"Out of the way!" Mai kept shouting, sprinting. "Out of my way!"
She gained the startled looks of the youkai, but didn't pay any attention to them – she was focused on reaching her goal as fast as she could.
The lord's tent was close, she nearly reached it. She was about to run inside, but the guards blocked her way by naginatas.

"No humans are permitted to enter." One of the soldiers hissed with disdain, spitting under Mai's legs. The girl struggled to draw a breath.

"There is not time for it! Your lord's life is in danger, he will be poisoned any moment now!" she exclaimed, but the guards didn't look convinced. They exchanged looks and burst in laughter.

"Did you hear, what the human says? She must be really stupid." One of them said with a wide grin on his face.

"Don't tell us such idiotic stories, human. Go back to your tent, before something happens to you." The other told her, his last words sounded like a threat.
"You must believe me! Let me in!" Mai insisted, glancing nervously at the brightening sky.

The soldiers laughed again, taking her words as a joke. She had to think of something else. It was too late to get Kohaku, she would have to warn Sesshomaru by herself. The guards wouldn't let her in, but the ceremony took place in a tent. Mai smirked, as an idea popped into her head. Tents aren't made of solid stone or wood, but of fabric. She quickly made her way further from the guards, walking around the tent. She reached inside her kimono and took out a small knife. Usually it was used for making meals, but tonight she took it with her to feel at least a little bit safer. It seemed, that it would prove itself useful. She found a relatively quiet spot, where she was hidden from the youkai's eyes and firmly cut the fabric of the tent. She made a large cut and pushed herself through it inside.

The girl looked around. The place was crowded with demons, mostly warriors in armors, but there were also some women – probably bidding farewell to their husbands, fathers and sons. She pushed forward to see, what was happening. Everyone was gathered around a spot, where the four crane demons – the lord, both twins, along with Kasumi – and Sesshomaru sat. The black-haired siblings sat a little in the back, as their position was lower comparing to the two clan leaders.

Her eyes widened, as she saw, that Kasumi was reaching for a bottle and uncorking it. Without thinking, she leapt forward, running towards Sesshomaru, ignoring the complaints of the demons, as she was shoving them aside.

"Move!" she hissed. Kasumi was pouring sake into the two cups, before handing them to the inu-youkai and her father. Mai elbowed a demon, who was in her way. He turned around to scold her, but she managed to slip past him already. She cursed, as she was moving forward way too slow.

"The health of our honorable guest, Sesshomaru, son of Inu no Taisho!" the lord cried, bowing to the dog demon. Sesshomaru bowed back with courtesy and the both demons lifted the cups to their lips.
Mai violently shoved two demonesses out of her way, the last obstacle between her and the inu-youkai and jumped forward. The cup with poisoned sake was already touching his lips, when Mai flung herself at Sesshomaru, knocking the cup out of his hand and landing sprawled on him. The sake spilled on the ground. The dog demon looked at her with a mix of anger and surprise, but once she made sure, that he was safe, she pulled herself to the sitting position and swiftly turned to the crane lord.

"Don't drink it!" she shouted.

The demon eyed his cup suspiciously and after a moment of hesitation, he put it away. Mai sighed with relief. She managed to get in time to prevent the catastrophe.

Then, she saw, that everyone was glaring at her with hatred. The crane lord furrowed his brows.

"Human, your presence here is an abomination and your behavior inexcusable!" he bellowed. "For this the proper punishment is death!"

Mai stared at him, not believing, what she just heard. She just saved his sorry life and he wanted to kill her? She felt the fury welling in her. The lord was about to say something more, but Mai cut in.

"Shut up, you bird-brain!" she shouted at him, causing everyone gasp in disbelief. "If I hadn't made it in time, you would have dropped dead by now. The sake, you were about to drink had been poisoned."

The silence fell after her words. The demons were gawking at her and exchanging the shocked looks with each other. Mai noticed, the both brothers tense and smirked. The lord gave her a stern look.

"Who is responsible for this?" he asked. Mai folded her arms.

"That would be your sons, along with Naraku through one of his servants, Byakuya." She explained, sending the twins a satisfied smirk. She saw Sesshomaru straightening at the mention of Naraku, but he stayed silent and merely observed the conversation between Mai and the crane lord. The clan leader glanced at his sons.

"The human is lying, we would never do such thing." One of the twins stated, sending Mai a threatening glare. The other one nodded. Mai snorted.

"If you are so sure, that I'm lying, drink a cup of this sake." She said. The brothers paled and began sweating, not eager to give their answer to her challenge. The lord lost his patience.

"It is pointless." He decided. "My sons do not need to fulfill some human's demands."
Unexpectedly, Sesshomaru spoke.

"They should drink." He insisted. The crane lord frowned at him.

"Do you trust the word of a human over a word of a youkai?" he asked, angered by Mai's accusations.

"Hn." Sesshomaru looked the lord in the eye. "I trust this human woman's judgment more than the word of all youkai gathered here. If she claims, that your sons poisoned the sake, it was so."

Mai stared at the silver-haired demon, hardly believing, what he just said. He admitted publically, that she was worth his trust more than the demons – she, a human.

"The blood of my blood would never do such treacherous thing!" the lord hisses, infuriated and insulted by Sesshomaru's statement. The dog demon smirked.

"If they are innocent and the sake is not poisoned, they could safely drink it to prove me wrong." Sesshomaru said. The crane demon's face was getting red with anger.

"Very well, if you wish to lose your dignity, Sesshomaru. Kasumi, pour your brothers sake!" he shouted.

Kasumi obediently did, what he ordered and passed the cups, filled with sake, to the twins. They took them hesitantly, pale as ghosts, not eager to bring the cups to their mouths.

"Why are you not drinking?" Sesshomaru asked in a mocking tone. "Was the woman right all along, then?"

The brothers sent him identical murderous glare.

"Human wench." One of them hissed, smashing the cup in his hand. He flexed his clawed fingers and suddenly leapt towards Mai, with the every intention to kill her. His brother followed him. They were fast, but Sesshomaru was faster. His lighting whip swirled in the air and two heads, flew in the air, separated from bodies. The dog demon looked at the shocked crane demon, whose sons had just been killed.

"I believe, that you can see the truth now." He said, standing up and yanking Mai upwards as well.

"Battle the snake youkai alone. This Sesshomaru has already killed the two of your enemies."
He turned around and left the tent, with Mai following him.



Once outside, he looked at the woman. He looked like he wanted to say something, but closed his mouth. He kept staring at Mai. The girl grinned widely, seeing how uneasy the demon behaved.

"It is that difficult to thank me for saving your life?" she asked, flashing a self-satisfied smile at him. The demon quickly looked away from her. After a longer moment of silence, he spoke.

"It is." He admitted.

Mai gawked at him, surprised, that he actually wanted to thank her. His damn pride was probably holding him back – he would probably choke faster, than say something like that. She sighed.
"All right, you don't have to say anything. I got the message." She said.

The demon nodded, relieved, that he did not have to say such humiliating words. He glanced at Mai.
"How did you came by that information?" he asked curiously. The girl smirked.

"Oh, I just made use of a human custom of spying on other people's conversations." She said smugly.