Chapter 118

In the secret service of Sesshomaru



Mai slid the door open and saw Kohaku and Rin, both in their crow disguises. The little girl was sleeping soundly on the soft futon, while the boy was watching over her. Kohaku's head snapped up, when Mai entered the room. It was noticeable, that both the young demon-slayer and the older girl had dark circles under their eyes, as the night was rather hectic. Ever since she arrived at Ichizo's residence, the girl was too afraid to sleep too long – it would be suspicious. The worst was, that she had to keep herself awake for the whole next day.

She glances outside and nearly cursed out loud, for the sun had already risen. Soon she would have to go to the damn council meeting.

"Mai-sama, I found and burnt the plans, but I wasn't able to find the weak point." Kohaku said quietly, his voice barely louder than a whisper, while he handed Mai the medallion of the Alliance's leader.

The girl nodded, when she placed it around her neck.

"It's all right. I know, what to do. Master Gihei is dead." She informed her accomplice, keeping to herself, that she hadn't killed the inventor, but he had committed a suicide. Mai took a deep breath and explicitly told Kohaku, how to make the Machine explode, not leaving out a tiniest detail.
The boy was listening in silence, focused. He furrowed his brows, thinking intensely.

"We have to get near to that Machine. But there are guards everywhere." The boy whispered, worry all over his face.

Mai bit her lower lip, sharing Kohaku's feelings. It could prove difficult to get through all that security unnoticed. The girl muffled a yawn.

"Kohaku, can't you use some ninja skills?" she asked, as she had no clue, what to do.

"I'm a demon slayer, not a shinobi." The boy protested, causing Mai to sigh deeper.

She and Kohaku were about to make a brainstorm, but they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Lady Anzu!" Mai stiffened, hearing someone calling her fake name. She stood up and rushed to the door, thinking, that the voice sounded familiar.

When she opened the door, she saw Kichisaburo, polite as always. The fox demon bowed deeply with an exceptional grace.

"My lady, some council members requested to hold the meeting earlier." He said. "Your presence is needed."

Mai nodded, cursing the demons in her mind. She hoped to solve the Machine-problem before noon, but her hopes had just been ruined.

"I will come in a while." She said, sending Kichisaburo a shooing look. The kitsune-youkai got that and turned on his heel, walking away.

The girl looked over her shoulder at Kohaku.

"Wait here till I'm done with the meeting, okay?" she asked the boy and set off to take care of keeping up her front as the leader of the evil organization.




When she reached the council room, the tension was nearly sparkling in the air. Half of the demons seemed to be agitated and nearly instantly attacked Kichisaburo.

"Your plan didn't work!" feisty Oroha was the first to accuse the leader of the fox clan. The demoness bared her pointy fangs and hissed, before continuing scolding her fellow council member. "Ichizo said, that Sesshomaru will be here today at sunrise! It's three hours to the noon and he's nowhere to be seen!"

Hosen shifted in his seat, folding his muscled arms.

"Apparently it was a mistake to trust the Fox Clan." The bear youkai stated.

"Do you even have a back-up plan?!" Masahiro the Salamander hissed out.

After a while the council room divided into two camps – one was accusing the foxes of incompetence and the other was supporting Kichisaburo. Mai frowned, as the level of noise was getting higher and higher. Damn, she wouldn't take it anymore.

BAM!

Everyone stilled, when Mai hit the table with her fist. The girl did everything she could to look intimidating, despite the little fact, that her hand was hurting like hell. Maybe the gesture was cool, but it felt, as though her poor palm would be out of commission for a week now.

Anyway, she glared at the council members, straightening her back to appear taller.

"What is the problem?" She demanded. Everyone opened their mouths, ready to tell her, so she pinpointed one of them. "Lord Kou."

The swan-youkai nodded.

"We are merely distressed, because Sesshomaru is not in the trap. According to Ichizo's plan he was supposed to appear at the sunrise and yet he is still not here. We are worried, that our plan will fail." He explained, maintaining the calm demeanor.

Mai thanked him with a nod. She was sure, that Sesshomaru wouldn't appear at all, but she had to buy some time, for she needed the Machine to stand outside till the next sunrise. If the plan was aborted, the chance to destroy it would be gone. She cleared her throat.

"Be patient. Haste is the bad advisor." She said philosophically. "Perhaps Sesshomaru has been delayed and will appear later than expected. We will proceed according to the plan and wait till the next sunrise."

The demons were sitting in silence, considering her decision. Finally Goro the turtle nodded.

"Lady Anzu shared her wisdom with us. We should do as she said."

A murmur of approval followed. Mai smirked inwardly, happy, that misleading the bunch of demons was so easy.

When the most important decision had been made, the less important, but more time-consuming matters followed. The youkai began discussing treaties, recruiting new members, conquering new territories, money issues and such. Mai had no idea of those things, so she barely spoke, so that they wouldn't find out, that she had no clue, what they were talking about.

It was long past noon and she felt like falling asleep, when suddenly someone knocked forcefully on the door.

"Enter!" Kichisaburo called and a fox soldier stepped in, bowing respectfully. It didn't escape the girl's attention, that he had a strange expression on his face.

"What is the matter? Speak!" the leader of the kitsune-youkai demanded. The other fox demon scratched his palm, looking uneasy.

"There was an intrusion on the yard, where the Machine is." He spoke finally.

Mai furrowed her brows. Did Kohaku try something on his own? But she told him to wait for her!

The girl clenched her fists under the table.

"What kind of the intrusion it was?" in the meanwhile Kichisaburo kept interrogating the soldier. "Did someone get close to the Machine?"

The other fox demon stared at his feet, as sweat was glistening on his forehead. Mai saw, that his hands were slightly shaking. He bit his lower lip, before hesitantly looking at his superior.

"Actually, the intruder climbed on the machine." He said quietly.

Kichisaburo's face went red.

"WHAT?" the normally polite demon bellowed, baring his fangs. "What's the meaning of this?! Why didn't the guards intervene in time?!"

The soldier cowered in fear, taking a step back.

"It was hard to say no…" he mumbled, now his entire body shaking from fear.

Kichisaburo glared at him.

"Enough of that nonsense! Where is the intruder?!" he yelled at his subordinate.

The soldier opened his mouth to say something, but in the very moment another guard came in, carrying a small black shape.

"Here is the intruder." The soldier's companion said with a glint of amusement in his eyes, lifting the culprit, so that everyone could see him.

Mai's eyes widened, when she saw the intruder, who grinned back at her and showed her thumbs up.
"That is…" the girl began. "That is my son Eijiro."

Indeed, it was Rin in the crow disguise, who looked extremely happy with herself, despite she was dangling in a demon's hold.

Kichisaburo's frown disappeared from his face and a light smile appeared in its place.

"That is your child, lady Anzu?" he addressed Mai, simultaneously giving the guard a sign to release the kid.

The girl nodded, wondering what the hell was Rin doing outside the room. She cleared her throat.

"Indeed." She replied, standing up and snatching Rin's little hand. "The children are sometimes troublesome, aren't they?"

Mai made an attempt at apologizing smile, but failed miserably. The council members were gawking at her, Rin and the fox demons, amusement began showing on their faces. Oroha barely managed to muffle an outburst of laughter, while Kou was hiding his face, using his sleeve, but Mai perfectly well saw his red forehead. Even the intimidating and deadly-serious Hosen smiled lightly.

"It seems, that lady Anzu has other things to attend to." The bear youkai bellowed. "Perhaps we should end the meeting."

Mai discreetly let out a relieved breath. The girl reminded the council members, that they were to gather on the yard, where the Machine was, in a couple of hours – at the sunset and remain there till sunrise. Then, she excused herself and stormed off the chamber, dragging Rin after herself.

She clenched her jaws, as she was taking long strides, making the child trot by her side. Once they were in the garden, out of the demon's hearing range, Mai sent Rin a disapproving look and met her innocent chocolate-brown eyes.

"Rin, what the hell were you doing there?" she hissed out quietly. "You were supposed to stay in the room!"

The little troublemaker feigned innocence, looking like an angel.

"I just… I wanted to help too. I accidentally heard you talking to Kohaku in the morning and thought, that I can be useful too, just like you and Kohaku." Rin said quietly.

Mai furrowed her brows, finding it impossible to glare properly at the adorable kid.

"So… what exactly did you do?" she asked, sighing.

Rin's eyes brightened, as she flashed a bright and self-satisfied smile at Mai. The child took a deep breath and began informing Mai of her deeds.

"I sneaked out when Kohaku fell asleep and then I went to this Machine, but there were guards there. They told me to go away, but I told them, that I'm the son of their boss and I just wanted to take a look at that thing. They agreed and made me promise not to tell anyone. When they began chatting with each other, I climbed on the Machine and did exactly as you told Kohaku in the morning. The soldiers didn't notice a thing, they thought, that I was just playing. And then the guards brought me to you." Rin finished, happiness radiating from her.

Mai stared at the kid in disbelief. It was so hard to figure out, how to approach the Machine without raising any suspicions and Rin did it effortless. Without doubt she used the advantage of her cute appearance and the fact, that she was a kid. Maybe the children were supposed to be innocent and Rin looked like an incarnation of an angel, but the girl perfectly knew, that Rin used to be a thief before she began travelling with Sesshomaru. Apparently she was not the only one, who was a super-spy here.

"Are you sure, that you did everything as I told?" Mai made sure.

Rin nodded energetically and gave her thumbs-up.

"Yes! I turned the transparent crystal in the middle upside-down." The child confirmed.
Mai sighed heavily and shook her head.

"I guess, that you did well. Good job, Rin." She praised the little girl. Then, Mai narrowed her eyes, trying to look serious. "But never do such dangerous things on your own, okay?"

Rin blinked, a surprised look on her face.

"But you do the same." The child retorted.

Mai opened her mouth to protest and wanted to come with a good reply, but closed her mouth. Damn, she was being a bad example for the kid.

"You got me worried for a while." She muttered to Rin, taking her hand and leading towards the quarters.

The little girl shrugged.

"I'm sure, that you made Sesshomaru-sama worry about you too." The child answered instantly.




"Wait for me, Sesshomaru-sama!" Jaken called after his master, as they reached the nest of youkai birds. The inu-youkai insisted on finding a swift mean of transportation with the help of Nintoujou and as a result, they were about to hijack a demonic hawk. Jaken didn't have good feelings about the journey. From what he knew, the deadline would pass at the sunrise and the sun was low over the horizon, reminding how little time remained till Sesshomaru-sama would lose his youki forever. The green-skinned imp tried to make his master reconsider many times, but he failed. The stubborn dog demon insisted on getting to Mai and Rin instead of saving his own power. Nevertheless, he, Jaken would remain at his side no matter what!

The imp gathered all his strength and sprinted after the inu-youkai, who fortunately stopped and was observing the nest from the distance. Jaken joined him and stared at two bird-youkai and a couple of eggs.

Sesshomaru shot a quick look at his servant.

"Stay close." He ordered Jaken and stepped out of the hiding, confidently approaching the nest. The huge birds hissed and covered their eggs with their bodies, wanting to chase the intruder away However, Sesshomaru wasn't fazed by it. He glared at the birds.

"One of you will take me to Kyoto." He stated, speaking slowly. The birds still looked defiant, though. The dog demon narrowed his eyes. "Shall you disobey… Jaken, Nintoujou."

The faithful servant nodded and sent a blaze of flame into the sky, demonstrating the terrifying power of the staff. The youkai birds cuddled closer to each other, fear in his eyes. Sesshomaru glared at them, growing impatient.

"Decide now or die." He said dryly, while Jaken was already lifting the staff, aiming it at the pair in the nest and their eggs.

The male bird immediately sprang out of it, squeaking something to his female and positioned himself before Sesshomaru, yielding.

"Wise choice." The dog demon said and mounted the bird.

Jaken barely managed to grab the feathers on the tail, before the newly obtained mean of transportation took off, heading to Kyoto.


Author Note:

Ok, Anonymous... I know, that you're the one who wrote all the comments. That's clearly cheating.Don't do that anymore please (although you made me smile).

Anyway, I'm uploading the next chapter. Have fun reading, folks and review!