Chapter 52

A bride for the dog




"Well done, Hiroyoshi, Shinji! As a man of honor I must be true to my word. Hereby I give you Amayami-hime as your bride." The lord of Echizen announced.

Shinji stared at the lord. Amayami as his bride. He would love that, but… his gaze went to the girl, who was looking at the demon, who was slowly walking away. I suppose, that I am not the one destined for her – Shinji thought. Having made a decision, he spoke boldly.

"My lord! I did not take the head of Maeda Goemon. It was this youkai who beheaded him and saved Amayami-hime!"

The demon stopped, but he was still turned with his back to the people. The soldiers began whispering among themselves. The lord furrowed his brows, torn between his honor and handing his daughter over to a mononoke. The girl was silently observing the whole ordeal, barely conscious.
"My lord, you must not give the princess to the mononoke!" Takenagi shouted. The lord narrowed his eyes. Shinji spoke up.

"My lord, will you break your word?" the young samurai asked. The lord battled with his thought for a while and finally looked at the demon.

"Mononoke!" the lord called. The silver-haired demon glanced at him over his shoulder. "I, Asakura Sadakage, will keep my promise to offer my daughter as a bride to the man, who beheads Maeda Goemon. Accept her." He let go of the girl and gently pushed her in the direction of the youkai.
The demon didn't reply the lord nor even spare him a glance. He looked right at Mai instead.
"Do as you want." He said.

The girl stood still for a moment. Then she smiled and slowly made her way towards the demon on her wobbly legs.

Shinji sighed heavily, as he observed the huge white dog soaring into the night sky with the girl on his back.

"Be happy." He whispered.



Mai snuggled into the fluffy white fur and sighed, contented. She felt already her strength returning, she was able to breathe normally now. The girl couldn't believe herself, that Sesshomaru came to save her. She had some hope, but she didn't really expect it to happen. She furrowed her brows at the irony – she tried to escape him so many times, and in the end he was the only person she felt really safe with. Mai made a final decision. From now on she would stop running away and do her best to get along with the demon, even if it means, that she was going to end like Jaken. At least she wouldn't be a servant of some small fry, but of a really powerful youkai. Damn, I'm starting to think like Jaken already. – Mai berated herself.

The girl gripped the fur tighter, as Sesshomaru landed and transformed back, catching her in midair.
"Gah!" Mai yelped. "Put me down!"

The demon obeyed and freed her from his grip. The girl's weakened legs wobbled, but she managed to maintain the standing position. She bit her bottom lip, gathering the courage to inform Sesshomaru of her decision. To her surprise, it was the inu-youkai, who spoke first.

"Are you well?" he asked. The girl nodded, startled, that he was actually concerned about her well-being. What the hell did Myoga say to him to make him come for her in the first place and to get him to be so suspiciously nice to her? Mai cleared her throat.

"Sesshomaru, thank you for saving me. If not you, I would be..." she didn't even want to think what would happen to her. "Anyway I wanted to say, that I won't run away anymore. I'm going to stay by your side from now on, from my own free will."

The demon kept looking at her with stoic face, not making a sign, that he even acknowledged, what she just said. Then, he turned away.

"Let us go." He said. Mai furrowed her brows. That's it when it comes to the conversation with him – she thought. The girl remembered, that she had to make one more thing straight.

"Wait!" she called to him. The demon glanced at her over his shoulder. Mai gulped. "About this bride-thing, you didn't take it seriously, did you?"

"Do not be foolish, woman." Sesshomaru told her, averting his gaze. "You are my servant, nothing more."

"Oh. Good, that we agree on that one." Mai muttered, pissed, that he still refused to call her by the name. The youkai started walking and the girl wanted to follow him, but her legs gave up, as she made first two steps.

"Gah!" she whimpered, as she landed on the ground. She must have overestimated her strength. Then she felt a strong arm yanking her up. She looked up and saw, that it was Sesshomaru helping her. She opened her mouth to thank him, but she yelped instead, as he threw her over his shoulder. Mai felt pain, as her forehead bumped into Sesshomaru's armor covering his back.

"Ouch! What the hell are you doing?!" she screamed at him, pissed that she will have a bruise squarely on the middle of the forehead.

"Be silent, woman." The demon said, making his way through the forest. The girl pulled his long silver strands.

"My name is Mai! Remember that already!" she kept arguing, earning a warning growl in response.



Rin and Jaken were lying on their backs, gazing at the stars.

"Jaken-sama, do you think, that Sesshomaru-sama will manage to save Mai?" Rin asked.

"How would I know?" the green imp sighed heavily. Jaken himself hoped, that the dog demon would rescue Mai. Although she was a human, her company was enjoyable, not to say that she kept Rin from bothering him and Sesshomaru-sama. On the other hand she kept constantly disobeying their master, even escaping him, that Jaken was surprised, that she lived so long. Normally Sesshomaru-sama would just kill the troublesome person, especially a human. Then why did the powerful demon let her live and was rushing to save her every time, Mai got in trouble?

"Jaken-sama, I think, that Sesshomaru-sama likes Mai." Rin said abruptly. Jaken squeaked.

"Stupid! Sesshomaru-sama would never lower himself to that!" he scolded that foolish child. To even think of that! It was well known, that the dog demon despised humans.

"LET ME DOWN!" Jaken and Rin sat up, gawking in the direction of the voice. Rin smiled, as she recognized the voice.

"It's Mai!" the child exclaimed happily. Rin was right. From between the trees emerged Sesshomaru-sama, carrying the struggling woman on his shoulder, the look of ultimate annoyance on his face. The girl kept punching his back with her small clenched fists, screaming the demands to let her down.

Jaken sighed heavily and made a face palm.
"Oh my, it's going to be tough." He groaned.



The next few days were filled with the routine of hunt for Naraku – Sesshomaru's group would be on their way for the most of the day and would stop only for a brief night rest. Mai spent most of her time playing with Rin and chatting with Jaken, rarely interacting with the dog demon. Much to her relief the relations between her and her demonic boss remained the same despite the ordeal with her great – and last – escape. Sesshomaru was glaring at her as usual, mostly ignoring the girl, but at least didn't show any malicious intentions of throttling or ripping her arm from the joint. Clearly he was satisfied, that Mai finally acknowledged his dominating position as her boss. What a pompous jerk.
The girl woke up in the morning and looked at the sky. She gasped in surprise, when she saw how high the sun already was and frantically looked around, searching for her companions. Most of them were there – Jaken was watching Rin, who was making a flower garland and Ah-Un was eating grass nearby. However, one was missing. Mai stretched her arms and got up.

"Jaken, where's Sesshomaru?" she asked.

"Sesshomaru-sama departed at dawn, but he didn't tell me where." The imp answered with a heavy sigh.

"Oh." Mai muttered, wondering where did the demon go. Was he battling with Naraku perhaps? The girl came over to Rin to keep the kid company and Jaken went looking for some food. The child gave her some flowers and encouraged to make garlands too. Mai did her best, but the results were miserable.

"Mai, what do you think of Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin asked after some time. Mai bit her lip, focusing on making the damn garland.

"Nothing much." She said.

"Sesshomaru-sama is strong and nice, don't you think so?" Rin said, looking at Mai with a smile.
"Mhmm." The girl muttered, struggling with the flowers.

"Do you like Sesshomaru-sama?" the kid asked abruptly, squinting her eyes and gawking at Mai.
"Mhmm." Mai mumbled, not paying attention to what was Rin saying. Then she realized what was the child's question. "What?!"

"Do you like Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin repeated, patiently, thinking that Mai didn't heard the first time. Mai narrowed her eyes at the kid. What got into the kid to ask such stupid questions? How could she possibly like someone like him?! He as the most infuriating guy she ever met!

"Of course not!" Mai exclaimed, giving the kid a scolding look. "How did you get that idea?!"
Rin sighed, a little bit disappointed.

"It's just… when Rin was in the town with Mai and Sesshomaru-sama… Rin was so happy to see you get along… " the child began, tears starting to well in her eyes. Mai looked at her, all anger vanishing from her face. Right, the kid was an orphan, she lost her family when the bandits attacked their village. She must have treated Sesshomaru as a father-figure and it would be natural, that he wanted the two closest persons to get along – Mai couldn't blame her for that.

The older girl hugged the kid and combed her hair with the fingers.

"Rin, it doesn't work like that, but both me and Sesshomaru will always be with you, so don't worry. Now, don't cry, you'll have a red nose." Mai said to Rin, holding her in her arms, till the child stooped sobbing. "Come on, let's go find Ah-Un. It seems, that he wandered off somewhere."
Mai stood up and gripped Rin's little hand. The kid smiled at her brightly again. Both girls began walking. The older girl looked at a bird, that was flying nearby, when she felt Rin tugging her hand. She glanced at the kid.

The little girl was behaving like never before – her eyes were wide open, her face had fear all over it. The child looked like a scared animal. Her breath hitched and she hid behind Mai. Unnerved Mai turned her head to see what terrified Rin so.