Chapter 111

Mai undercover



Mai did everything to maintain her composure, as a servant led her towards the huge pavilion. She barely restrained herself from gasping with awe, when she saw the elegant gardens and the impressive palace. The walk was quite long, so she had time to discreetly observe the surroundings. The front yard was swirling with servants, who were taking care of the sophisticatedly designed gardens. It didn't escape Mai's attention, that all the servants were humans, or rather they appeared to be human. She suspected, that they were youkai in disguise.

She feared, that her eyes would fall out of the sockets, when the door to the main building opened and she had been led inside. Such luxury was unimaginable for her. Asakura castle seemed like a shabby hut compared to the interior of the palace. The mere size of the hall was impressive, not to mention the ornaments leaking with gold and the marble floors. She suspected, that they had to be replaced after every tiny earthquake, as she couldn't discern even a scratch on the polished surface. So that was the imperial court about… She followed the servant to a considerably large room, that was directly linked to a garden. The man motioned her to sit on the silk cushion and poured her tea to the golden cup.

"My lady, please rest here till lord Ichizo arrives." The servant bowed deeply and left, crouching backwards, not to show her his back.

Mai narrowed her eyes, but didn't reply. She felt, that they were treating her like empress herself. She jumped and nearly knocked the cup off the small table, when music began to play. She closed her eyes, trying to calm down, as she had been simply startled. Apparently there were musicians behind the wall and they were supposed to entertain her, while she was waiting. The girl frowned. What did she get herself into this time? She just had to wait for that Ichizo guy and make him spill the info, where the kids were being held. Simple as that. If a guy, who was a martini-addict could do it, she could too, right?

Mai stiffened, when she heard the footsteps. Hastily, she took off the brown robe and stuffed it under the table. She brushed her fake black hair, now as long as Sesshomaru's. She straightened her back and attempted to make a poker face.

"Lord Ichizo!" a servant's voice sounded from behind the door and the music fell silent. The door slid open and a tall man confidently stepped in, slightly bowing his head. Mai copied his gesture, unsure what should she exactly do – still sit or stand up. She decided to wait for the Ichizo guy to make a move.

Speaking of Ichizo himself, he looked like a regular human being, with absolutely no demonic traits.

He wore fancy clothes, characteristic for the court members – sokutai.

"Greetings, lady Anzu. I am honored by your arrival." The nobleman stated in a formal way.

"Lord Ichizo, I presume?" Mai covered her mouth with her sleeve, making the elegant gesture mainly to hide the fact, that she had no fangs. "The pleasure is all mine."
Ichizo smiled slightly – apparently the introductions went well. Mai mentally took a deep breath, knowing, that the worst part was still to come. In order to get through this, she had to summon all her princessing skill and copy her arrogant boss a bit.

"I am pleased, that the Crow Clan agreed to join the new Alliance." Ichizo spoke, sitting by the opposite side of the table, confidence nearly beaming from him. "The details of the pact will be discussed this evening during the first meeting of the council. Your presence is indeed comforting, as the strength of your clan is."

Mai furrowed her brows. With this pointless talking she would never find out, where those bastards held the hostages.

"Not so fast." She protested, making her voice sound harshly. "I did not agree to join yet."
Ichizo visibly tensed, the contented smile slightly dropping from his face, but he forced the corners of his mouth twist up again.

"I presumed, that you agree, since you came." He said slowly, perfectly maintaining his calm demeanor.

In the meanwhile, Mai was getting in character. Damn, she deserved Oscar for this. The girl smirked.

"Oh my, it seems, that you presumed wrong." She retorted, making Ichizo stiffen a bit. "It takes more than a letter filled with idealistic nonsense to convince me."

Ichizo took a sip of tea to hide his uneasiness. Apparently he really counted on the reinforcements from the crow clan. He put the golden cup back on the table and looked at Mai seriously.

"Lady Anzu," he began. "I believed, that we had the common goal – to break the domination of the dog clan and grasp the power in order to rule all of the youkai tribes."

Mai grazed the surface of the table with her silver claws, faking boredom.

"It is not your goal I doubt, but the methods." She answered, sounding clam. "All the things you say seem to be very tempting, but before I entrust the future of my clan to the Alliance, I must know, how exactly you want to achieve this goal of yours."

Ichizo stared at her, furrowing his brows, his good mood obviously gone.

"It is understandable." He agreed after a moment of silence. "It is true, what you say about you, lady Anzu – calm and calculating, not easy to fool or outsmart."
Mai waved her clawed hand impatiently.

"Get to the merit, lord Ichizo." She snapped at the man, irritated, that he was complimenting her instead of giving her some useful information.

Seeing her reaction, the nobleman laughed.

"You are truly a witty adversary. I would hate to have you as my opponent, so I presume, that I will have to convince you to join me." He said and then his appearance suddenly changed. His jet black hair turned red, dark eyes became vividly green. His nails grew longer and sharper, just as his fangs, while he was smiling widely. Apparently he showed just his true colors. Mai remembered, that he was supposed to be a fox demon. Ichizo stood up and offered the girl his hand. She took it and let the kitsune-youkai help her up.

"I shall show you the core of my plan, then." He said.

"Very well." Mai replied and followed him, trying to stop her hands from shaking. It was a miracle, that she wasn't found out yet, so it would be an ultimate stupidity to screw it up now. Anyway, she was curious, what plan Ichizo had in mind.

Fortunately for the beginner in spying, who Mai was, the leader of the Fox Clan was unexpectedly talkative – he wanted to make the Crow Clan his ally at all costs.

"Defeating Sesshomaru would be only a tiny step, that will open the path to greatness." He talked along the way, while he was leading Mai through the endless corridors. "It will enable us to grasp the power to dominate the youkai tribes on the islands. Once all the demons are either our allies or dead, we will do the same with humans, making this land the exclusive property of the Alliance of a Flame. Naturally, the power will rest only in the hands of the council members, what will grant their clans a great advantage."

The girl glanced at the fox demon. So he was just greedy, only in a bigger scale.

"So you want us to rule demons and humans?" she made sure.

Ichizo nodded.

"Precisely. But first we have to eliminate the most powerful clans, that oppose us. Our main opponent is the Dog Clan. The days of its greatness passed with the death of the Dog General two hundred years ago, but it is still a major threat. We cannot ignore the strength, the current leader possesses."

"Of course we cannot." Mai agreed.

To think of it, she never saw Sesshomaru doing any clan-leading activities. All he did was chasing Naraku and beating up Inuyasha from time to time. Maybe her boss was just slacking off? Nonetheless, the conversation was flowing in the right direction.

"How would eliminating Sesshomaru help us obtain the power?" she asked curiously.
Ichizo laughed.

"Soon you will see." He replied and stopped before heavy iron door, guarded by numerous fox soldiers.

Mai glanced at the man. The fox demon fished out a medallion from under his robe and pressed it to the certain place on the door. The girl heard the sound of some mechanism and the door opened with a loud creak. She saw, that they were horribly thick, like a door leading to a treasury in a casino. Ichizo stepped inside and hid his medallion. The girl followed him.

"Interesting medallion." She said.

Ichizo patted his chest.

"Indeed." He agreed with a self-satisfied smirk playing on his lips. "It is the only key to the treasury and it can belong exclusively to the leader of Alliance. An useful toy, isn't it?"

Mai muttered an answer, while looking around. The place was dimly lit by the oil lamps. It didn't escape her attention, that the walls were made of solid metal, as well as thick bars covering the ventilation shafts. She also saw some suspicious charms carved on the wall, probably to make the place completely impenetrable for demons. Ichizo opened another door and the girl saw a strange structure.

It looked like some kind of a machine, built of the metal elements, here and there mirrors and large quartz fragments woven into the construction.

"What is it?" she asked, narrowing eyes at the machine, not eager to come closer.

"That, lady Anzu, is the tool, that shall enable us to conquer this land." He said proudly, as though he was a father praising his child.

"The tool?" Mai repeated.

Ichizo nodded.

"After centuries of research, it became possible to construct a Machine, that is finally operative. It shall grant us huge power. Do you see the crystals?" he asked, pointing at the large quartz structures.

"They will be used to accumulate the power, that will be transfered to the council members equally. Our strength will increase thousand fold!"

Mai furrowed her brows, not liking the sound of it. It seemed like a plan of some crazed doctor.

"How it is exactly supposed to work?" she asked.
Ichizo cleared his throat, looking ecstatic to share the knowledge with her.

"The Machine is able to extract the youki from the demon, of course killing the victim in the process. Then, the youki is accumulated in the crystals and can be transferred back to the receiver, making him more powerful than ever. However, to start it up for the first time, the light of the moon is needed, along with the huge amount of the demonic energy. That is when Sesshomaru steps in."

Mai's eyes widened, when she realized, that the demons constructed a youki-stealing machine, that will allow them to control the entire Japan. The plot was thicker, than she originally thought and Sesshomaru wasn't the real target, he was only a mean to start the hellish machine. Nevertheless, his life was in a grave danger. As Rin and Kohaku were. She had to use the opportunity, that the kitsune-youkai was so talkative and get him to tell her, where the kids were held.

"I presume, that you have a plan to lure Sesshomaru here?" she asked in a tone, that was supposed to sound casually. Ichizo nodded, smiling widely.

"Of course. I was informed of his weakness and already used it against the dog." He said confidently.

"He will definitely come and when he does, the trap is already set. Even someone as powerful as Sesshomaru will not escape our clutches."

Mai clenched her fists, careful not to hurt herself with the silver claws. Those bastards!

"Sesshomaru's weakness?" she repeated, trying to sound half-interested, not to raise too much suspicions.
"Two humans, that travel with him." Ichizo replied immediately.
Mai blinked. The demons had a good information's source, but not precise enough. True, there were two humans with the inu-youkai – Rin and herself, but then Kohaku joined, what made three. Apparently they didn't even bother to determine the sex of Sesshomaru's companions. Not that it was to her disadvantage… quite the opposite actually.

"Humans? That is interesting." She said in a casual tone, refraining from punching the fox demon and yelling at him.

Fortunately, Ichizo took the bait.

"Do you wish to take a look at them?" he asked.

Mai shrugged her shoulders, feigning indifference.

"Why not." She replied and followed the leader of the fox clan.

Ichizo led her along the iron corridor to its very end. He used his medallion to open another door and Mai saw only darkness inside. The fox lit the oil lamp and shed some light. There were bars in front of the girl. On the other side of them she spotted two small figures sitting in the corner. Seeing the youkai, Kohaku pulled Rin closer to himself, as though he wanted to shield the little girl with his own body.

"Such weak pathetic creatures." Ichizo commented, looking at the children with disgust.

Mai clenched her teeth, wanting to break out the kids as soon as possible, but she was painfully aware, that if she attacked now, she would not only blow her cover, but also jeopardize the chance to free the kids. Even if she managed to take Ichizo down, using the element of surprise, she wouldn't be able to get them out of the treasury safely, as there were guards outside. Surely they would get suspicious if Ichizo didn't leave with her. Shit! She was so close and yet so far from solving the problem! She will have to find another way to free Rin and Kohaku, maybe once the children leave the huge safe. She wanted to wail from her powerlessness. She underestimated those youkai – she hoped them to be rather dumb, but they turned out to be quite sly.

"Come, lady Anzu, our time here is out." Ichizo stated and ushered her out of the dark room.

Mai followed him, wanting to murder the guy on the spot. When they left the treasury, the fox demon turned his undivided attention back to her.

"I hope, that you are satisfied with, what you saw." He said solemnly. "Will the Crow Clan join the Alliance?"

Mai did her best to smile and hide her foul mood.

"It appears, that you have convinced me. I will support your cause." She answered.

"I am glad, that we have the agreement." Ichizo said, as they walked out of the building and headed along the path in the garden. "Now, lady Anzu, it is the time for you to meet the other clan leaders."
Mai cursed inwardly, as they turned around the corner and bumped into a bunch of youkai. Will she be able to keep her cover intact?


Author Note:

Oh my gosh, you're starting to review more! I'm so touched... please keep commenting. It always makes my mood much better every morning (evening too, sometimes afternoon). Thank you for all the support, everyone!
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