Treason

1339, early-Muromachi Period, Summer

Kuroihi ran her fingers across the scaled pattern of her dragon skin body suit as she inspected it. Finally, after years of gathering the materials and bribing the castle smiths, her armor was finished. She pressed each piece of equipment against herself to make sure they all fit, grinning as she found them perfect. She expressed her gratitude to the smiths, gathered her gear, and stepped inside the proper dressing areas to give it all a try at once.

She was amazed by the cool, comfortable feel of the dragon hide as she shimmied into her suit. It clung to her form, so light she could barely tell it was even there. Each piece of armor seemed to attach to the hide without being strapped in place, but once they were on they were difficult to shift. Try as she might, she just couldn't get it all to lie correctly. There was no way it was going to function properly like this under her clothes...

She was in the general fitting section fighting with one of her shin guards again when the war master slipped in under the noren divider to the outside. The dirt and chinks taken from his own armor told her he'd been sparring with Sesshoumaru again, and sure enough, the scent of poison followed him. Judging from his demeanor, he had lost the match, but his expression of displeasure molded into one of critique when his eyes fell on the dragon-clad hanyou leaning against the wall, knee drawn up.

She bowed respectfully as he stepped up and began examining her.

"Dragon's hide… I see. If I remember correctly when you first asked me for gear, you wanted it concealed under your traveling clothes."

She nodded, a little surprised he had remembered. He waved a hand to indicate her armor.

"Then this is all wrong. Take it off."

She hesitated a moment but did so, plucking each piece from her suit and laying it aside. With Rekkonji's guidance, she managed to fit each piece properly so they laid flat and hidden under her yukata. He paced around her, inspecting once more, and gave an approving nod and pat on her back. He didn't seem to notice or care that it had knocked the wind out of her as he settled into a spot nearby to remove his own damaged armor.

"Thank you, war master," she said with a hint of uncertainty.

She wasn't sure what to make of this. It seemed like he had given her the same regard he gave his new trainees.

"Un." he grunted but didn't look at her. "You heading out again soon?"

"Lord Sesshoumaru has not yet found another task for me."

"Been a week, hasn't it? Unusual."

Kuroihi seemed to shrug.

"I am but his humble vassal, at his command."

Rekkonji chuckled, and something in his tone told her he didn't completely believe her. The silence that fell between them how felt awkward, so she thanked him again for his help and left.

The sun was beginning to set on yet another uneventful day as she crossed the courtyard, and she couldn't but feel…bored now. She had her armor, her weapons were on the way, why hadn't Sesshoumaru set a task for her? It had been nearly a year since the general returned home with his new weapon, and ever since Sesshoumaru's attention had been elsewhere, often seeming to forget about her for weeks at a time.

She hadn't sat idle during those times, though. She'd insured Sesshoumaru wouldn't be needing her and struck out on her own, not that he noticed, to keep up with business and relationships she'd be cultivating for herself through the years. A couple of times she had nearly run into the dueling father-son pair and had witnessed first-hand Sesshoumaru's near-obsession with the Tessaiga sword his father now carried.

He wasn't the only one, either. As the lesser demons and ambitious humans lusted after the Jewel of Four Souls she'd heard about so often on the road, so, too, did demons crave the power of the fang-sword the great Inu no Taishou wielded.

Kuroihi could understand the attraction, even she'd had a moment of consideration when she'd first heard of the jewel, but she couldn't truly grasp why people would obsess over external items of power like these. They were fleeting, impermanent, and all the gain one found in its use would quickly crumble and consume them when it inevitably fell from their grasp. To Kuroihi, it just didn't seem worth it.

The sky was dark when a soft tugging in her belly brought her out of her thoughts. Finally, he called for her; and she answered.

***

Sesshoumaru felt her approach before he even caught her scent on the breeze. Out here far from the castle, all was dark as the moon turned its face away, but still, he could see her eyes shining like yellow jade as she stepped out of the trees to greet him.

"My hanyou."

The way she shivered pleased him.

"You called, Lord Sesshoumaru?"

"Indeed, I did."

He considered her for a moment, catching the changes in her scent as she awaited his word. She smelled of dragon, more so than usual for she often returned home with the scent on her, and that of the war master. He inquired about it and was satisfied with the answer, if not slightly entertained. His enterprising little half-breed had managed to obtain a set of armor of her own; made from dragons, no less. It was almost as though she was-.

He shoved the thought away. How absurd; a mere half-breed, in any way similar to a true demon? He almost laughed at his own moment of naivety.

She would refuse this task at first, he knew. He was well aware of how his father had taken a moment here or there through the years to speak with the creature, trying to soften it, distract it. Sesshoumaru had been mindful to always follow those moments with a call to his hanyou, reminding her of her duty and loyalty to him. His father, despite this, seemed to have left some lingering effect. Sesshoumaru would remedy that here and now. She would bend to his will completely. Whatever his father's silly plan, it would not come to fruition.

"I have a task. You are prepared, I take it."

He barely waited for a reply.

"I have noticed, as of late, my father has developed a rather disturbing habit for which I cannot pinpoint the exact cause, neither have I the time to waste on it. You will discover it in my stead."

Her heart skipped.

"My…lord?"

"Was my order unclear?"

"No, my lord, I-"

He turned his cold expression on her.

"Then I do not see why you hesitate, or why you are still here."

She pursed her lips and he could almost hear her mind race to piece together what she wanted to say. He had to admit, he had almost come to look forward to these little debates of theirs. Her paltry arguments were sometimes entertaining.

"My lord, if your servant may dare to ask, to clarify… You wish for this one to follow the great lord general, to watch him, to spy on him?"

"I do."

"I… My lord, that is…that is perfidious. Your humble vassal cannot-."

"I see."

He cut her off, his expression softening maliciously as he inspected his claws.

"Attempting to discover what has made my father behave strangely is dishonorable, yet manipulating the reputation of this Sesshoumaru to one's own advantage is not?"

He watched her mouth open and close, eyes casting down in defeat. He was almost disappointed at how easy it had been this time; but then she took a breath to steady herself. There was more, it seemed.

"My Lord Sesshoumaru, this one cannot knowingly and willfully deceive the great general, your honorable father, without cause to suspect he has somehow been corrupted, compromised, or harmed. A suspicion, a pondering, even from your honorable self cannot justify-."

He was a blur of motion, taking hold of her left wrist and yanking her to her knees as his free hand locked and iron grip around that delicate throat.

"Again you seem to be enjoying a fair amount of freedom with your words, my half-breed. Perhaps you have forgotten your lessons and I should demonstrate again the fruits such wanton disrespect bears for one of your station."

Her blood beat rebelliously in her throat as his hand at her wrist began to glow its noxious green, distress oozing into her scent as her dragon hide began to sizzle away.

"Perhaps, in reality," he continued, "you enjoy bearing the mark of my displeasure?"

Still struggling to breathe, her eyes flashed jade fire up at him as she tried to twist her wrist in his grip; she was challenging him.

Instantly, his inner demon gnarled; this game was over. He lifted her by her throat until their noses just barely touched, feet dangling in the air as he held her gaze. Word by word, he dripped his toxic desire into her very soul.

"Do not think yourself to be more than you are simply because I choose to make use of you in this manner. Your sun and moon rise and set, the very air within sustains your miserable existence only because I, Sesshoumaru, allow it to be so. My every whim and fancy is your command, half-breed. Know. Your. Place."

Slowly, her medley of scents changed. At this distance, he could almost taste as defiance fled, leaving her submission, dragon hide, cotton and silk, anxiety, molten anger, and the rich tang of female.

His entire body tensed against the rush of heat that crashed through him as the scent that had always been there finally registered to him on a primal level.

'Female,' his demon snarled again.

The closeness of her writhing form ignited him in that uncomfortable way again. He needed to put space between them quickly but his body would not heed his commands. Her pulse thundered in his ears, taunting. He struggled for only a moment, red creeping into the edges of his eyes as he finally forced his hand to release, letting her crumple at his feet to choke and gasp. The sensation eased but did not pass.

She looked up at him again with those yellow jade eyes still so full of fight and fire, goading the alpha side of his nature. He clenched his fist hard against the urge to fall upon this obstinate female and force her submission by fang and claw, to take her to the brink of death and let her crawl back to him in pieces, begging for her life. The very thought pleased him soft, his claws tingling in anticipation.

He needed to leave. Now.

"You have two months to complete your task," was all he said before he stepped and was gone.