Chapter 79

How to please a woman
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Soon the dog demon and his companions took off to continue the pursue after Naraku. The rest of the day was normal as ever – Sesshomaru was leading their small group, walking ahead the others, Rin and Kohaku were chatting with each other. That left Mai spending the time with Jaken and Ah-Un.
"You saved Sesshomaru-sama, then?" the green imp made sure for the third time during the conversation. Mai sighed and nodded, ignoring the look of jealousy on Jaken's face.
"Yes, I told you before. It was just pure luck." She explained patiently. The short demon folded his arms.
"Anyway, what were you doing outside the tent?" he inquired, sending Mai a suspicious look.
The girl blushed, having remembered what happened last night – she caught Sesshomaru with that perfect youkai whore Kasumi kissing. Unknowingly, she clenched her fist and narrowed her eyes, glaring daggers at the dog demon's back. She was still pissed about that.
"Just taking a stroll." Mai hissed through the clenched teeth.
Jaken smirked, amused by his companion's reaction to the innocent question. Lately he felt a little bit left out, as the human girl turned out to be a useful servant and she got too much attention from Sesshomaru-sama for his taste. Maybe teasing her would make him feel better. The imp noticed, the
Mai wore obi around her neck like a scarf for the last few days, even though it wasn't that cold.

"Mai?" Jaken spoke. The girl didn't look at him, her face still a little bit flushed. The imp jumped and grabbed the hem of her scarf. "Why are you wearing this?" he asked.

Mai tried to free the fabric from Jaken's hold, sending him a pissed look.

"So I don't catch a cold. It's chilly!" she snapped at him. The imp smiled wider.

"You're sweating!" he retorted. Mai let out an irritated hiss and tried to punch him on the head, but missed. Jaken made use of the moment, when she lost her balance and pulled the scarf, till it slid from the girl's neck.

"Give it back!" Mai shrieked, quickly covering her neck with her hands to keep the hickeys hidden.



Sesshomaru was slightly irritated by all the noise, that was coming from behind his back. Most of it was caused by his foolish servants. Although it was amusing to hear Jaken tease Mai – that was the kind of entertainment the dog demon appreciated too. After a while the innocent conversation between Jaken and the woman escalated, as always.

"Give it back!" Mai's shrieking was hurting the demon's eardrums. The demon looked over his shoulder, to see what was the commotion about. The green imp was running in circles, holding the woman's scarf and laughing, while she was chasing after him, awkwardly grabbing her neck.

Sesshomaru smirked inwardly, realizing what was the reason of her strange behavior – she must have been hiding the kiss marks, he placed on her neck not so long ago. The sight was hilarious, but it could prove itself troublesome if Jaken saw them – it would bring up unnecessary questions. The dog demon decided to intervene.



"Freeze!" Mai called after Jaken and kept on chasing him. Considering how short his legs were, the imp was awfully fast. The girl was running after him for a while and had the problem to catch her breath already, but he was still out of her kicking-range.

"You're slow!" Jaken shouted, just before he crashed into something solid.

Mai nearly lost her balance, as she stopped, avoiding bumping into the imp and the person, who stopped him. The thing, that Jaken crashed into, turned out to be Sesshomaru's boot, that landed flat on Jaken's face.

"Ouch." The imp whimpered, as the dog demon casually stepped on him, snatching Mai's scarf, before it fell to the dirty ground.

The inu-youkai stalked over to the girl and gently wrapped the cloth around her neck. The girl's face immediately turned red, as she was standing like paralyzed in place.

"Interesting marks." Sesshomaru said quietly, making sure, that no one beside the human woman would hear him. Apparently teasing her too amusing to resist.

Mai gawked at him, realizing, that the demonic bastard just spotted the hickeys. If it was even possible, the shade of her blush turned more scarlet. Crap! How the hell she was supposed to explain this to him?! She couldn't just tell him, that it was his own work, it would be too embarrassing.
"It's a rash!" she said quickly, trying to give Sesshomaru a serious look. The dog demon arched his eyebrow and Mai just knew, that he wasn't buying this.

"A rash." He repeated slowly. The girl nodded enthusiastically, but he was giving her "the look", that was telling her, that she was behaving like an idiot, trying to fool him. Come on, he lived for centuries – it was certain, that he would recognize a hickey if he saw one. Mai turned around from him, readjusting her scarf.

"It's not your business." She mumbled, feeling as though she would self-ignite in any moment from shame.

"Precisely, your intimate life is of no concern to me." Sesshomaru said before walking away. Mai was speechless for a moment. What the heck was that? The arrogant jerk was behaving a little bit odd for some time now, but this was it. She folded her arms, deciding not to let him have the last word.
"As yours to me." She said coldly, narrowing her eyes at the dog demon. "I don't care what you're doing with Kasumi, for example."

Mai words made Sesshomaru freeze in place. The girl smirked to herself, somehow satisfied.
"Do not drag Kasumi into anything." The dog demon said calmly, even though on the inside he was far from being calm. The idiot woman was provoking him again by bringing up the unfortunate event from the last night, when Kasumi kissed him. To Sesshomaru was it devoid of all meaning, as the demoness acted on her own accord, but having been seen by Mai made him feel guilt.

The inu-youkai furrowed his brows. There was no reason for him to be ashamed, as he did nothing wrong. He decided not be dragged into the human woman's foolish games. Sesshomaru was not the one, who would do such a humiliating thing as explaining himself to the woman. The dog demon exhaled slowly and continued marching.

"Jerk." Mai muttered under her nose and followed her boss, walking beside Ah-Un. She failed to notice the looks, that Kohaku and Jaken were giving her and the inu-youkai. The green imp was massaging his aching forehead and gawked at his master. There was definitely something strange happening. Maybe he wasn't wrong about Mai seducing Sesshomaru-sama after all?



As the hours dragged on, the tension between Mai and Sesshomaru was getting stronger, making the rest of companions feel uneasy. Even usually cheerful Rin got silent. Mai sighed heavily. Lately travelling with the dog demon was like a rollercoaster ride – just when their relations were getting slightly better, they quarreled again. One thing was sure – she wouldn't even think of apologizing to him this time. Maybe bringing up Kasumi was like a kick below waist, but the damn demon was asking himself for it.

Sesshomaru did not have to look back to know, that the woman was still angry at him. Her mood swings have gotten worse lately, any remark could make her a nuisance. Was she expecting him to explain himself to her like a pup? The inu-youkai clenched his fist. If she did, she would die of old age faster, as he would never lower himself to groveling before a female. She should know better than to act that foolish and appreciate how lenient he was. He even spared her shame today and all she did was quarrelling with him.

Suddenly, his youkai senses picked up a signs of a danger approaching, making him forget his trouble with the human female. Slowly, Sesshomaru drew Tenseiga and waited for the attack. Alarmed by the inu-youkai's behavior, the group stopped immediately. Mai grabbed Rin and put her on Ah-Un's back, while Kohaku drew his weapon, ready to aid the dog demon in battle.

"Help!" a man's voice called and soon a fat rat-demon emerged from between the trees. The youkai was running towards their group at amazing speed, considering that he was pulling a heavy loaded cart. Mere seconds later, Mai saw, what he was running away from – a whole dozen of abnormally big tree-eyed bears was chasing him. The predator youkai were nearly catching up to him, when Sesshomaru readied himself to strike. The girl cleared her throat.

"Duck, rat!" she called to the rat-demon as loud as she could. Luckily, he obeyed her without a moment of hesitation and ducked just in time to avoid Meidou Zangetsuha gliding right above his head. Sesshomaru's attack effortlessly obliterated three bear youkai and successfully gained the attention of the rest of attackers. Now disinterested in their previous prey, the bears rushed directly at the inu-youkai, ready to rip him to pieces. Maintaining the stoic face expression, Sesshomaru swung Tenseiga once more and a jet black crescent moon got another two. The dog demon managed to defeat three more opponents with Meidou Zangetsuha, till the bears got too close to fire another attack.

"Tch!" he hissed, irritated and jumped, temporarily avoiding the enemies and slid Tenseiga back into its sheath. Before the bears realized, where he was, Sesshomaru leaped on them from above, making use of his claws and speed, slicing the remaining demons with the usual ease. Once done, he stepped over the dead bodies, shaking the blood off his claws, as he made his way back to the group.

However, the fat rat-demon found himself between the inu-youkai and his companions, falling to his knees before Sesshomaru and banging his forehead against the ground.

"Thank you, my lord, thank you for saving me!" he shrieked, groveling at the dog-demon's feet. The inu-youkai sent him a disgusted look.

"Move." He said shortly, but the rat seemed not to pay any attention.

"I am most grateful for saving my life, my lord!" he kept on thanking. Sesshomaru furrowed his brows.

"Move before I will cut you." He repeated.

The rat immediately stopped thanking and banging his forehead against the ground at the threat. He stood up right away and moved himself from the dog-demon's way, grabbing his cart, or rather its remains, as Sesshomaru's Meidou Zangetsuha sent the upper half of it into the netherworld.

"How can I repay you, my lord?" the rat-demon kept blabbering, following the irritated inu-youkai.
"Disappear." Sesshomaru growled to the irritating pest. He felt an urge to cut down the noisy rat, but he could not do it in front of Rin. Killing the unarmed peddler was different from obliterating the attacking enemy. This was no sight for the young child. Besides, the inu-youkai was not eager to be lectured by the woman if he would do that. He was not that stupid to add the oil to the fire.

"My lord, I'm just a poor merchant, but maybe one of these may be to your liking!" the rat kept pestering Sesshomaru, pointing his ruined cart. The inu-youkai narrowed his eyes at him in a silent threat, but the peddler was stupidly bold and began showing his merchandise, what turned out to be umbrellas. The rat cast a quick glance at the group, accompanying his savior and grinned at the dog demon. "My lord, maybe the beautiful miss would like one of my umbrellas?"

Sesshomaru was close to ignoring the voice of common sense and cut down the annoying peddler anyway, but his last words made him change his mind. Perhaps it would be wise to get the woman a gift. It was known, that females liked those things and Mai was no different in this matter. Surely a simple item would please her, maybe enough to make her forget about being insufferably angry at him.

"Show me your best merchandise." The dog demon commanded the rat. The peddler immediately clapped his hands and jumped to his cart, as he began pulling out one umbrella after another, letting Sesshomaru examined them.

Mai folded her arms, feeling a little bit impatient. What the hell was Sesshomaru thinking, dawdling like that? Well, at least he didn't murder the poor merchant. Finally, the dog demon picked one of the umbrellas and the peddler was on his way. The inu-youkai began walking away in the opposite direction, holding the folded umbrella. Mai furrowed her brows, wondering why did he need an umbrella.

"Wait for us, Sesshomaru-sama!" Jaken called after his master and all the companions followed their leader.

After another hour of walking, the inu-youkai called Mai.

"Woman, come here." He said loudly, without looking back. The girl narrowed her eyes at him, additionally pissed by his rudeness. She thought, that the tone he used was close to whistling on a dog, so she stubbornly refused to listen to him. "Woman!"

Sesshomaru furrowed his brows, after he called the insufferable female for the second time. He was certain, that she heard him what meant, that she was ignoring him. The urge to throttle her was rising, but the demon managed to keep it under control. From experience he knew, that it was nearly impossible to discipline her.

"Mai, come." He called, trying to sound as polite as possible, avoiding to show his annoyance.

Mai's eyes widened, when she heard Sesshomaru call her by her name. She gulped. Crap. This meant she was in trouble now. Everything indicated, that she had overdone it a bit and pissed the demonic asshole. She hiked the hem of her kimono and ran to him without delay, praying, that there wouldn't be any strangling or other means of showing his dominance involved. The girl slowed down, once she was side by side with Sesshomaru and looked at his face, trying to figure out, how scared she should be. The inu-youkai had his usual poker face, but Mai could tell, that his teeth were slightly clenched – so he was pissed. Her thoughts began racing. How could she end this unpleasant situation fast? Apologize and tell him, that he's the boss? Wouldn't it sound fake?

Before the girl decided on anything, Sesshomaru spoke.

"This is for you." He said, almost inaudibly. The demon's voice sounded, as though he forced the words to come out of his throat.

"Eh?" Mai gawked at his face, baffled by his strange behavior. Then she looked down and saw Sesshomaru outstretching his hand, holding the umbrella he just bought. The girl furrowed her brows. Don't tell me, that…

"Take it!" Sesshomaru growled, irritated by how long took the woman to understand his offer.

Mai instantly grabbed the item and stared at it, before examining the gift, she just received. The umbrella was beautiful – it was made of the finest fabric and wood, decorated with delicate golden ornament. The cloth wasn't a plain one – there were colorful autumn leaves embroidered on it. Green, yellow, orange and red mixed with each other, creating a perfect symphony of shades. There was no doubt about it – she was holding a masterpiece in her hands. More importantly, it was a gift from Sesshomaru. She stole a glance at the demon's face, but it was pretty much unreadable. Nevertheless, she had a feeling, that he was slightly embarrassed, as he was stubbornly avoiding her gaze. Mai smiled to herself. Apparently, he gave her this umbrella to make up for the earlier. It was a cheap trick, but at least he was trying. She decided to let him off the hook for a while.

"I like it very much. Thank you." She said honestly to the demon. Sesshomaru glanced at her briefly, with a strange look in his eyes, before quickly breaking the eye-contact.

"Hn."

Mai rolled her eyes. Some things never change.



Jaken narrowed his eyes, while observing Sesshomaru-sama and Mai. He figured out, that earlier he was close to discovering the truth, but got one thing wrong – it wasn't Mai seducing his master, it was the opposite. There were signs earlier, but he, Jaken, failed to interpret them right. Sesshomaru-sama was exceptionally lenient towards her unforgivable behavior, was protecting her no matter what and now showering her with gifts. That were the typical actions of a man, who's courting a woman. The imp wondered if his master was even aware of what he was doing. Jaken knew for sure, that Mai was oblivious for it. Nothing good would come out of it…