Chapter 41

Truth or dare




Mai felt the demon releasing her from his grip. The girl wiped her tears and looked at him. The youkai glanced at her for a moment and turned to Jaken.

"Jaken! Fetch the woman food." He commanded sharply and the green imp ran to the woods. The demon scanned the girl up and down critically, went to Ah-Un and retrieved something from the travelling bag. He turned to the girl and tossed her a piece of fabric. Mai looked at it and gasped, recognizing one of her kimonos.

"Wear it." He said shortly. "I will not have you dress in such an unsightly attire."
Mai looked down at her pink dress, she got from Kagome, shrugging with her shoulders. She folded her arms.

"There's nothing wrong with it." She said stubbornly, set on making Sesshomaru's life as difficult as possible from now on. To her surprise, the demon didn't growl at her or even glare angrily. Instead he approached her and grabbed the dress on her chest. Mai was about to scream at him, but she heard the sound of ripped fabric and stared down. Dumbfounded, she observed as he ripped the pink dress in shreds, exposing her underwear. Mai yelped and desperately covered herself with her hands.

"What are you doing?!" She shrieked. However, the demon's face was stoic as ever. He handed her kimono once more.

"Will you wear it now?" he asked calmly. Mai, her face bright red, snatched the clothes and covered herself with them. She stared at Sesshomaru, so shocked, that she wasn't even able to scream at him. How messed up he was? The girl had a hunch, that her life will be much more difficult from now on.



When Jaken returned with some fruit, Sesshomaru set off, telling his group to wait, putting emphasize on not escaping. Mai sighed. She didn't even had a place to run off to – the well wouldn't let her through, Inuyasha wouldn't help her and on top of that Sesshomaru always could track her down. Wait…

Mai reached out for her neck and made sure that the pouch with herbs was still in place. Right, that thing could mask her scent for couple of months. Brilliant. Now, where should she escape? Kaede's village was out of question – Inuyasha would probably walk her back to his brother.

The girl took another bite of a melon, when Rin distracted her from developing the master plan.
"Mai, did you read the letter? And did you see the picture?" the child asked, staring at Mai with puppy eyes, waiting for a praise.

"Sure. I'm very proud of you, Rin. You have a talent." The girl said, making the kid grin widely. Rin insisted on showing her all the drawings the child made while Mai was away. In the meanwhile Jaken summarized their adventures during the past two months. Short before nightfall Sesshomaru came back, clad in his usual attire and armor. Mai wondered, where did he get exactly the same ones, but she had to climb on Ah-Un, along with Rin, and depart.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Jaken asked, trotting to his master. "Where are we going Sesshomaru-sama?"
The demon didn't answer. He kept walking in silence. Then, to Mai's surprise he spoke.

"We are going to retrieve a weapon." He said, smiling. Jaken shrieked, terrified. One was sure – something horrible will happen.



Meanwhile…

Kagome jumped into the well. Once on the other side, she climbed up, cursing the heavy backpack. If only Mai didn't insist on bringing her so much books! Panting, she crawled out of the well, tossing the yellow backpack on the ground.

"Kagome! Kagome!" she heard a child's voice and lifted her head, noticing Shippo, who was darting towards her. She waved to the little fox-demon.

"Hello, Shippo-chan!" she called.

"Kagome." Panted Shippo, as he finally reached her. "Kagome, there is a problem."

The girl furrowed her brows. What was that about? Naraku? Some rogue youkai? Kikyo, perhaps?

"It's about Mai." Shippo uttered finally. Kagome's eyes widened. Her friend was in danger?

"What happened, Shippo-chan? Is she hurt? Where is she?" she asked, gripping the kid. Shippo looked at her for a while, as though considering, which of the questions should he answer. He cleared his throat.

"She's fine, but she's with Sesshomaru right now." The little youkai answered.

"What?! Inuyasha let him kidnap her?" Kagome exclaimed, as she clenched her fist. She was away only for a few days and he lost her friend already? She will "sit" him till he reaches the core of the Earth.

"Umm…" Shippo hesitantly began explaining the situation. "She was kind of kidnapped, but… The Actually, it was Inuyasha who told Sesshomaru to keep her."

Kagome stared at the fox-demon, needing some time to grasp, what he just said, and felt anger welling in her. She gritted her teeth, grabbed Shippo and stalked towards the village.

It wasn't long before she reached Kaede's hut, where the hanyou and their two companions sat. When seeing her, Inuyasha stood up to greet her, but she glared daggers at him.

"Inuyasha." She said in the voice, that indicated that his end was near. "Osuwari!" she screamed atop her lungs.

The hanyou landed on the ground with a loud thud. He glared back at Kagome.

"Goddamit, what was that for?!" he yelled at the girl. She took a deep breath.

"You know – OSUWARI – what that – OSUWARI – was for! Osuwari!"

The group observed with fear, how Inuyasha was being slammed into the ground.

"I think, that Kagome-chan found out about Mai." Sango said to the monk. Miroku nodded.

"Inuyasha should have seen that coming." He added, as Kagome shouted another "osuwari".
The whole grouped sighed heavily.

"Inuyasha-sama!" they heard a familiar voice, but no one was to be seen. Kagome stopped tormenting Inuyasha and the hanyou laid face-flat in the dirt, groaning.

"It's good to see you, Inuyasha-sama!" the voice exclaimed again and the hanyou sat up, slapping his neck and examining his palm.

"It's Myoga-jiji! " exclaimed Shippo, pointing at the tiny flea-demon on Inuyasha's hand. The hanyou furrowed his brows.

"What are you doing here, Myoga-jiji?" he asked, rubbing the aching forehead. Myoga straightened his clothing and cleared the throat.

"I have come to ask for Inuyasha-sama's help." The whole group came closer to listen to the flea's tale. "Long ago, your honorable father defeated a fearsome enemy and sealed his weapon in the cave. However, the seal is about to break! Anyone, who touches the weapon could become possessed by your father's enemy's spirit!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Sounds awfully familiar. Another evil sword, Myoga-jiji?" asked bored hanyou. The flea shook his head.

"No, it's a spear this time." Myoga answered and scolded the half-demon. "It is a serious matter, Inuyasha-sama! The spear literally annihilates everything, that lives. If such a power is unleashed, no one will be able to stop the one, who wields it! We must destroy it before the seal is broken."
Inuyasha arched his brow, still not taking Myoga entirely seriously.

"Then how did the old man defeat that guy?" Inuyasha asked. The flea-youkai averted his eyes.
"Umm… I… don't really know." Myoga answered. Kagome sighed heavily.

"You ran away, didn't you?" she asked.

"Anyway we have to destroy the weapon, before a descendant of your father's enemy comes and begins wrecking havoc." Myoga stated.

"A descendant?" Miroku repeated. Myoga nodded.

"Yes, only a descendant can wield the spear. It has a barrier – if it hadn't, Inu no Taisho would wield it himself."

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Inuyasha, standing up. "Let's go!"



Elsewhere…

"Mai!" called Rin. "Your turn."

"Okay." The girl answered. "Truth."

The child furrowed her brows, thinking of a question. "I've got it! Did you ever kiss a boy?" she asked. Mai smiled. That wasn't a troublesome one.

"Nope." She answered and smirked evilly. "Now you, snips. Truth or dare?"

"Dare." The kid answered bravely. Mai's grin widened. Now she will execute her plan to make Sesshomaru's life miserable – she will have her payback for the incident with the dress.

"Go to Sesshomaru and ask him, where do babies come from. And don't go back until he answers you." She whispered to Rin's ear. The child nodded and ran to the silver-haired demon.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin exclaimed, tugging his sleeve. The inu-youkai looked at the child.

"What is it, Rin?"He asked.

"Where do babies come from?" she asked the demon, staring at him with pure innocence in her chocolate eyes. Sesshomaru looked at the child for a while and then he averted his eyes. Mai cursed his unreadable face expression. He was silent for couple of minutes, having decided, that the best solution would be to ignore the child's question. However, Rin was persistent.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" she urged him to respond, tugging his sleeve again.

"Mai will tell you." He answered. Rin still stared at him expectantly.

"Mai said, that I should ask you." The child said. At the statement, Sesshomaru sent Mai a threatening glare, the one which said "your death will be long and painful." The girl smiled at him innocently, happy to have him pissed. Good thing, that she managed to get rid of Jaken – now Sesshomaru will have to answer.

"Woman." He hissed through the gritted teeth. Mai arched her eyebrow, inwardly rolling with laughter.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked in mockingly polite voice, mimicking Jaken. The demon sent her an icy glare.

"You are to explain… those matters to Rin." He commanded harshly. Mai decided to play dumb.

"What matters, Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked with all cluelessness, she could manage. The demon kept glaring at her.

"You know which matters." He said, maintaining his composure. Mai tried not to burst in laughter.

"I don't know, what you are talking about. Perhaps you could enlighten me as well?"

Mai's head was turning from Sesshomaru to Mai and back to the demon. The girl saw, that the inu-youkai glared daggers at her.

"Sesshomaru-sama, tell us." Rin whined. The demon narrowed his eyes at the child.

"You are too young to know." He said quickly and was about to turn around, but Rin gripped the fabric of his haori.

"But Mai is old enough, right?" the kid asked. Sesshomaru stopped and looked at the child. Then he gazed into Mai's eyes and arched his eyebrow.

"Should I enlighten you tonight, Mai?" he asked in a low tone, that made Mai a shiver go down her spine. Whoops… it seemed, that her plan backfired again. She felt, that the blood was rushing to her face. Her cheeks burned.

"No need." She mumbled, looking away and struggling to control the blush with her willpower. Mai cursed Sesshomaru inwardly – he won again. She doubted, that she could ever beat the four hundred years of experience in being an ass.