Chapter 83

The checkpoint at the Shokawa river



Mai cursed, as she nearly fell after tripping over a stone again. It was still pitch black and Sesshomaru decided to march after the sunset. The girl lifted her head and saw lights ahead of them, up the mountain.

"Sesshomaru, look." She pointed it. The demon also saw the lights. Mai smiled. "That must be the checkpoint at Nara Pass."

The demon nodded and reached to the bundle on his back, taking out the sword and tucking it behind his sash. The girl observed his actions with growing uneasiness. Sesshomaru met her gaze.

"Those lights are not beacons." He explained shortly. "Be prepared to escape."

The inu-youkai made his way up towards the checkpoint, warily looking around, and Mai grabbed the handle of her knife.

As they were nearing the pass, it became apparent, that the checkpoint had been attacked – the wooden buildings were set on fire, burning to ashes. The dog demon looked around, examining the surroundings and confidently went ahead, stepping among the remains of the checkpoint. Mai stuck close to him, trying not to look at the massacred bodies. Most of killed people were soldiers, but there were civilians among them as well, including women, children and the elderly. The sengoku period was truly a horrible era. It was hard to tell which ones were more monstrous – youkai or humans.

The girl felt suddenly a rush of energy, allowing her legs to move quicker. She wanted to leave this place as quick as possible. Mai didn't utter a single word of complaint, as Sesshomaru forced his murderous pace on her once again and made her march all night, till the sun began showing on the horizon. With its first rays, other travelers began appearing on the stone road to the capital, mostly passing Mai and Sesshomaru by. The girl warily observed their faces, looking for any signs, that they saw through the demon's disguise, but apparently she did a good job. No one even spared a second glance on the two of them.

The girl yawned, dragging her feet, that seemed to be unwilling to move anymore. Then, Mai saw a commotion in front of them. A few people were struggling with a cart, which was laying on its side on the road. Apparently it turned over. An old man and a middle-aged woman were attempting to free the horse and a teenage girl was standing aside. When she noticed, that Mai and Sesshomaru were approaching, her face brightened up and she darted to them. She ran straight to the demon.

"Sir!" she called to the dog demon. "Sir, please help us! The cart turned over and we need it back on wheels!"

The inu-youkai narrowed his eyes at the girl.

"Your problems are of no concern to me." He said indifferently and kept walking, maintaining the even pace. The girl looked like she had just been slapped in the face.

"Sir, please, mother and grandfather won't manage to do it alone!" she insisted desperately, but Sesshomaru was deaf to her pleas.

Mai frowned, seeing, that the demon was his usual asshole self. She pitied the girl and thought, that it wouldn't hurt to lend a hand. She grabbed Sesshomaru's sleeve and pulled it, getting his attention.

"Maybe you could help them." She whispered to him. "If we help them, they will give us a lift, right?" she said louder, directing the last words at the girl, who nodded enthusiastically, seeing a ray of hope.

"Yes, of course we will!" she assured.

"It will be faster." Mai whispered.

As expected, Sesshomaru took the bait and marched towards the cart, visibly pissed, but at least willing to cooperate. The old man and the woman just managed to free their horse. The dog demon came closer and sent the pair a cold glare.

"Move." He said harshly.

The girl's family widened their eyes, now resembling rabbits in front of a predator. Instinctively they backed away. The inu-youkai grabbed firmly the side of the cart and pulled it up, straining his muscles. Mai noticed, how much weaker he was, compared to his usual youkai self. Nonetheless, he was horribly strong even now, probably thanks to the fact, that because of his constant training, Sesshomaru's body was all muscles. With some effort, he turned the cart back on his wheels.

The middle-aged woman bowed deeply with gratitude.
 
"Thank you so much, sir!" she exclaimed.

"Mother!" the girl exclaimed, running to her mother's side and tugging the sleeve of her kimono.
"Mother, they can travel with us on the cart, right?"

The woman nodded and looked at Sesshomaru and Mai.

"Of course, you are welcome to join us." She said, bowing again. In the meantime the old man harnessed the horse and crawled onto the cart, grabbing the reins.

"Get on, all of you!" he called to the group. "My name is Souichirou, by the way. This pretty girls are my daughter-in-law Matsuko and my granddaughter Chiyo."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Mai and this is Sesshomaru." Mai responded with a smile, deciding, that it was perfectly safe to use their real names. She and her demonic boss in disguise got on the cart and sat comfortably inside. The girl noticed, that both women were looking uneasy in Sesshomaru's presence. Mai was sure, that if only it was possible, his youki would be swirling around him now. Perhaps it was a little too much for him to get dressed as a human, be forced to help humans and travel with them on one cart. Mai twisted her lips in a fake smile, hoping to clear the heavy atmosphere.

"So, where are you heading?" she asked the woman called Matsuko. She smiled sadly.

"There, where everyone is nowadays – to the capital. It's being rebuilt now, so there's plenty of job there and free housing. I heard, that the town was deserted for a couple of months." She said, sighing.

"My husband is dead and I have no money saved. I have to make ends meet somehow."
Mai nodded with compassion.

"I see." He replied and decided to change a topic. "Matsuko-san, you said, that the capital was deserted."

The teenage girl Chiyo nodded enthusiastically.

"People left it, because they were afraid, that the monster will come back and destroy everything to the ground." She hurried with the explanation.

" The monster?" Mai repeated. Matsuko nodded.

"Yes, there was a youkai attack. The demon murdered the half of the army and burnt the castle to the ashes." She said.

"Stupid woman!" the old Souichiro's voice called. "The demon wasn't the one, who set the castle on fire. It was the crazy daimyo."

"There's no way a lord would burn his own castle!" Chiyo protested. The grandfather looked over his shoulder with disapproval.

"They say, that he was a madman." Souichiro explained patiently. His granddaughter pouted.

"Still the demon…" she began, but her mother cut in.

"Chiyo, a young woman should be seen, not heard." Matsuko scolded her daughter.

"They say, that the lord tried to steal a woman from the demon. That's why he destroyed the capital." Souichiro said, before turning his attention back to the road.

"The capital was so beautiful before…" Matsuko sighed.
Mai felt a drop of sweat making its way through her forehead, as she listened to the family dispute.

"Um… the capital we're heading to…" she began, feeling horribly uneasy. "It's the capital of Kaga, right?"

The two pairs of surprised eyes stared at her.

"Of course, Kanazawa. Didn't you know?" Matsuko answered with a question.

Mai mumbled something in response, remembering the horrible incident, that occurred in Kanazawa. It was there, where the madman Maeda Goemon tried to murder her by burning her along with his castle and his brother's corpse. She glanced swiftly at Sesshomaru, the very culprit responsible for wrecking the capital of Kaga. As expected of him, he maintained his poker face.

To make the matters worse, they were on the enemy's territory. To a whole bunch of people, Mai was princess Amayami and she was pretty sure, that she and Sesshomaru were enemies number one in Kaga province. If there wasn't any trouble besides this!

"Mai-san, you're feeling well?" Chiyo asked, worry on her face. "You're a little bit pale."

"I'm alright." Mai said quickly, forcing herself to smile. "Just a little bit tired. I think, I'll have a nap."

The girl tried to relax and get a little sleep to be ready to march and focused later. Now they had additional motivation to make this journey fast – she and Sesshomaru needed to get the hell out of here as fast as possible.



Mai's eyes snapped open, as her head bumped into the wooden side of the cart.

"Ouch!" She carefully touched the aching place. There will be a bruise.

The girl looked up and saw, that the sun was high on the horizon, it must have been noon already.

"You woke up." Sesshomaru's deep voice spoke, waking Mai completely. She sat up and straightened her wrinkled clothing. She saw, that Matsuko and Chiyo shivered slightly, when the dog demon spoke. It seemed to Mai, that they subconsciously sensed the danger.

"Did I miss something?" she asked, stretching her back. She turned her head, when she heard the sound of the hooves and a pair of samurai galloped by at the top speed. Mai furrowed her brows.
"They're riding there and back again for the last hours." Chiyo said.

"The post at Nara Pass was attacked in the night." Matsuko added. "It must be the work of those Echizen scum. It's become dangerous since the war broke out."

Mai didn't comment, as she was the one who was practically the reason of this conflict. However, the soldiers on the road were worrying her.

"What is it?" Souichiro mumbled, furrowing his thick brows. Mai and the two other women rushed to look over the old man's shoulder. There were quite a lot of people on the road, all standing in a line. The grandfather spotted a man, who was walking from the opposite direction. "Hey, good man! What is this commotion about?"

The man took off a straw hat.

"A checkpoint." He answered. "The soldiers made a couple of makeshift checkpoints on the road to Kanazawa. It seems, that they're looking for some outlaws from Echizen and other suspicious people!"

With that words the stranger put his hat on and was on his way.

"We'll have to wait patiently." Souichiro sighed heavily.

Mai felt her hands sweating. She and Sesshomaru were screwed. Her boss definitely looked suspicious… damn, he was a youkai! Who can be possibly more suspicious than him? To make the matters worse, she was like the princess of Echizen province. What if someone recognizes her face? Mai's thoughts were racing. It was certain, that they had to go through the checkpoint, it was the sense of making checkpoints – you can't avoid them. Holy crap! She closed her eyes and tried to calm the racing heart. If she keeps to be so stressed, they'll be labeled as "suspicious" for sure. She hoped, that Sesshomaru would keep a low profile too…



They were stuck in the line for over an hour, before their turn came.

"Leave the cart, please!" one of the soldiers commanded. Sesshomaru helped Mai down.

"Relax, woman." He murmured to her ear, seeing how tense she was. The girl smiled faintly to him and waited by his side. One of the guards was thoroughly examining the cart and two others were questioning Souichiro's family. Finally it was Mai's and Sesshomaru's turn.

"Your passes, please!" the man, who looked like an official called.

"Passes?" Mai repeated. The official scanned her and the dog demon up and down.

"Country bumpkins." He mumbled to himself, before turning his attention fully to the pair. "If you don't have passes, you can get them once you answer couple of questions."

Mai nodded and opened her mouth to state a question, but the official cut in.
"Names." He said in a monotone voice.

"Sesshomaru. Mai." The inu-youkai said before the girl had chance to say something. The man scribbled something on the paper.

"Where're you headed?" he kept questioning.

"Saga." Sesshomaru replied. Mai noticed the annoyance on his face. She was sure, that the dog demon was doing his best not to cut down the irritating official.

"Saga?" the man repeated. "That's far. You want to board a ship in Kanazawa, huh?"

"Yes." Mai nodded.

"Where do you come from?"

"Tsunogawa village." The girl said the name of the village, they passed through, trying to sound as confident as possible. The official wrote it down.

"Hida province then. Headed to Saga." He kept scribbling. "What's the purpose of your journey?"
Mai discreetly wiped her sweaty hands in the fabric of the kimono.

"Family visit." She told a lie as simple as possible. The official furrowed his brows.

"Isn't your family in Hida province?" he asked suspiciously. Mai opened her mouth, too nervous to produce a coherent lie.

"She is from Hida." Sesshomaru came with help. "My family is in Saga."

"You're not siblings then." The official stated. "You're husband and wife?"

"Yes." The inu-youkai replied.

"No!" Mai protested at the same time. Both of them looked at each other. The girl gulped, realizing, that they just gave contradictory answers. The man furrowed his brows, beginning to have suspicions.

"You are married or not? Which is it?" he questioned impatiently.

"We're…" Mai began.

"Betrothed." Sesshomaru finished for her. "I am taking her to Saga for the wedding."
The official relaxed a little and even smiled slightly.

"No wonder she's so nervous. My wife was also like that before our wedding. Couldn't hold a cup of tea without spilling." He said, writing down something more, before turning his attention fully to Sesshomaru, as though Mai was transparent.

The other guard tugged the bundle the demon was carrying on his back.

"We must inspect this." He said shortly. Sesshomaru sent him a look full of murderous intent, but let go of the bundle. The guard took a look inside and whistled.

"Swords, boss!" he called to the official. The man arched his eyebrow.

"Why are you carrying the weapon?" he questioned harshly.

"Hn." The demon barely controlled his temper. "I need it to protect my… betrothed."

The official weighed his words for a while, before gesturing the guard to return the belongings to their owner. He narrowed his eyes, seeing the magenta stripes on the inu-youkai's cheeks.

"Interesting tattoos you have there." He said. "I've seen similar before. Makes you look like a demon. A mercenary, huh? Which province do you serve?"

Sesshomaru sent him a cold look.

"None." He said dryly. The official returned the look, before glancing at the inu-youkai's empty sleeve.

"Retired?" he more stated than asked. The official took out a stamp and left marks on a document. He handed it to the dog demon. "Be sure to get out of Kanazawa as fast as possible. Your kind is not welcomed in Kaga."



After a while both of them were walking away from the checkpoint towards the Souichiro's cart. Mai couldn't believe their luck. Fortunately, Sesshomaru's poker face was useful. It was a gift from fate, that he could tell all those embarrassing lies with a straight face. At the mere thought she was blushing. The girl took a quick look at the papers to see, what was written on them and almost instantly regretted it – it was fair and square written, that she was supposedly Sesshomaru's betrothed. Her cheeks felt, as though they were set on fire.

"Betrothed?" she coughed out. "Couldn't you come up with something else?"

The dog demon glared at her.

"As you could have." He retorted. "Do not stay behind."

They got on Souichiro's cart and left the checkpoint at the Shokawa river behind their backs.