Chapter 63

A misfortunate encounter



"Remember, what we were talking about!" Kagura called to Mai, flying away.
Mai blushed fiercely again. If it keeps up, her face color would change to red permanently. To make the matters worse, Sesshomaru's hand was still wrapped around her waist and the demon would form that damn could again.

"Woman." The inu-youkai spoke. Mai didn't feel up to any conversation with him right now. What does he want from her? Mai stared at her feet and mumbled something, hoping that it wouldn't be something important or troublesome. However, she was wrong.

"About what were you talking with Kagura?" he asked. Mai kept her gaze set on her toes.

"Nothing important, just some girl's talk." She said quickly, hoping that he would drop the topic. Sadly, she wasn't right this time either.

"That woman is one of Naraku's minions. What did you tell her?" he inquired, annoyance and a hint of another anger display discernible in his voice. Mai gulped, still not looking at him. How could she possibly do that? Her face was the same shade of red as Inuyasha's fire rat robe right now.

"Nothing. It doesn't concern you." She mumbled. Technically it was a lie, but she couldn't just tell the demon straight into his face, that Kagura kept asking her about his… um, no way she would tell him that.

The demon suddenly released her from his grip and whirled around, so that she was facing him now.
"You will tell me, now." He demanded calmly, but Mai already knew that it was the calm before the storm. She shook her head.

"No way." She said and got interested in her sandals and Sesshomaru's boots. She flinched as she heard him growling above her head. Then he grabbed her chin and lifted her face, forcing her look at him. She felt her blush changing the color to scarlet. The demon kept glaring at her and showed no intention to let her go anytime soon. Stubborn asshole! When she tried to free herself, he gripped her more firmly, his clawed hand almost around her neck. Luckily he didn't squeeze, he was just holding her head in place. Sesshomaru arched his eyebrow.

"All right, you won!" Mai exclaimed as the shitty bastard Sesshomaru made her yield once more. The demon released her from his grip and was awaiting her answer. The girl wriggled her fingers, gathering the courage and fighting the embarrassment. She looked down again. "Kagura was asking about your… about the size…"

Unwillingly her eyes wandered from her feet to the place she was talking about. Luckily it was covered with Sesshomaru's armor. She sighed and started over again.

"She asked how… how big…" she kept stuttering. At this rate she would die of embarrassment!
"Say it already!" Sesshomaru hissed impatiently and lifted her chin again, boring his eyes into her own. Mai couldn't stand the stare and shut her eyes tightly.

"She asked me how big your manhood is!" she recited it as fast as she could, so that the statement was barely understandable. She sighed with relief as Sesshomaru let go of her chin and she opened her eyes to peek at the demon. The inu-youkai's face was stoic at first, but them amusement began to show. Mai narrowed her eyes. The asshole had fun of her! She hissed, as he wrapped his arm around her and formed the cursed cloud beneath their feet.

"The women were always very pleased with the size of it." He stated calmly before taking off. Mai moaned.

"I didn't want to know that!" She whimpered.



Elsewhere…

"You failed to bring an ordinary human woman to me, Kagura?" the man with long tangled black hair asked in a quiet voice.

Kagura shivered before her master, not being able to look him in the eye.

"Yes, Naraku." She answered. Naraku studied her face and dismissed her with a flip of his hand. Kagura fled the room, not looking back.

Naraku looked at the mountains.

"My, my, what a nuisance." He said to himself, deciding it was the time for more drastic measures. "Kohaku, come here."

The boy of the age of about eleven stepped closer to Naraku, waiting for his masters order. Naraku smirked, playing with a strand of his hair.

"Kill the woman named Mai, who travels with Sesshomaru." He said coldly. Kohaku bowed stiffly, like a puppet.

"Yes, Naraku." The boy said in a hollow, emotionless tone.



Meanwhile…
 
"I'm going alone." Mai stated, looking at the silver-haired demon and trying to figure out how to stop him from following her to the human town. She wanted to buy a few items and the last thing she needed, was Sesshomaru tagging along and causing panic.

"You need to be protected." The inu-youkai told her. Mai sighed heavily, thinking how stubborn her demonic boss was. She would have to use some kind of trick to get him to let her go alone. She had one in mind – he had this human-demon issue and was very prideful, so why not use it against him?

"You know, if you insist on going with me everywhere people might get some strange ideas and spread rumors, you wouldn't like." She said folding her arms. The demon glared at her.

"Hn. What rumors?" he asked. Mai grinned inwardly. Good, that she had his attention.

"It's suspicious, than a man walks with a woman, even in a company of a child." She added, not wanting to be mistaken for a happy family either. "People may start thinking, that you're in love with me, a pathetic human. Do you imagine, how terrible for your reputation would it be? The idea of you, a powerful demon with a human is disgusting!" after she finished her tirade she looked at Sesshomaru. She nearly jumped from joy seeing the uneasiness on his face – he must really fear for his reputation!

Finally the demon nodded, giving his permission. Mai extorted the money from him and happily skipped to the town, eager to get away from the group for a while, especially from Sesshomaru. She would really use a moment apart from her boss.



Sesshomaru was looking at the woman, who set off to the human town. The demon should not have let her go alone, but her words convinced him. It was apparent, that linking him with the human woman would have terrible effects on his reputation, not to mention that it was the sign of weakness. Sesshomaru despised the inferior humans from all his cold demonic heart, as he always did. The demon felt anger at the thought, that a human had to remind him of that. What was happening to him lately?

He clenched his fist. Everything was her fault. That cursed woman, Mai. It was she who made him feel like losing his mind. The last night he was about to succumb to his desire and claim her as his woman, her – a weak pathetic human. How could Sesshomaru let this come that far? Instead of gaining the control over the situation, he was losing it.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin tugged his sleeve. The demon averted his thoughts from his problem and glanced at the child. The little girl sighed and looked back at him with pity. "It looks like Mai tricked you again."



Mai felt blissfully relaxed, being in the lively town among the normal people. She was visiting all the malls along her way and in the effect bought much more than she needed. The girl cursed under her nose, finding it difficult to cope with the all heavy packages. Maybe it was a mistake not to let Sesshomaru tag along – she could at least make him be her mule right now.

She made her way to the vegetable stall, wanting to buy some carrots. The packages swayed and Mai tried to move with them to prevent them from falling to the ground, but utterly failed and they scattered all over the street.

"Crap!" she cursed, as she began picking them up, one by one.

"Let me help you, lady!" a childish voice called. Mai looked up and saw a boy helping her collect her things.

"Thanks. Oh, by the way, I'm Mai. What's your name?" she asked her helper. The boy smiled at her shyly.

"Kohaku."