Chapter 32: Words
“Lord Sesshomaru, I would like to formally request a betrothal contract between my first son and heir Ken’ichi, and your first daughter and heir Mizuki.” The lord before Sesshomaru requested.
Sesshomaru wanted to chock the demon to death. But it would not do to make such rash actions, though he could see that Kagome was thinking the same thing with the glare that she was giving the demon across from them. His little moon flower was oblivious as she babbled to her mother and walked around Kagome.
“Your son is how old?” Seshomaru asked as he looked at the young demon that was behind and off to the right of his father.
Ken’ichi had pale blue hair and looked to be a handsome boy of ten if he was human. But that would mean that the boy was barely a hundred and fifty, to which the boy didn’t even look old enough to be that.
“My son is almost two hundred.” The lord proudly lied.
Sesshomaru’s hand twitched in desire to burn the demon’s head off for the lie, for the whole mess that his mother had dumped into his lap when he needed to prepare for war. “How strong is your son?”
“My son will kill any warrior that you desire, lord Sesshomaru.”
The boy paled to a deathly white at his father’s words and Sesshomaru felt pity for the boy that was being forced to do something that he did not want to do. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Kagome was enraged for the boy.
It was then that Mizuki escaped her mother’s hold and tried to walk pass him to the strangers that she saw. He was quick to grab up his little girl and give her a kiss on the cheek. “Stay with daddy, my moon flower.”
But Mizuki was becoming a force of nature in her own right and tried to break free of his hold on her. She struggled in his arms yet the smile on her sweet face told Sesshomaru that his daughter thought that they were playing a game. “Da go! Da go!”
It was poor timing for a game.
“Willful little thing…we hope that you’ll be able to break her of it before she mates with my son.”
“I have not agreed to the betrothal contract yet and there are many other offers for betrothal for my daughters so do not assume that I will give one to your bloodline.”
He had no intention of giving any of his daughters away to any male; they could all die for all he cared. The look on the lord’s face said that Sesshomaru would not be able to get away with that if the council of lords but then it would be the whole purpose of the war that he would be starting very soon.
“I’m sure that you can see that my son would be an excellent match for your daughter.”
“You are a minor lord, my daughter is heir to a lord of great power.”
“I am be a minor lord but I do have powerful connections and relatives that-”
“What think your bloodline is worth mixing with my own? Because I have yet to see that it is.” It felt so good to insult the worthless lord in front of him that it was almost sweet on his tongue like blood.
Turning towards Kagome, Sesshomaru handed over their daughter with a smile. “You need to go and feed the others soon. Take Mizuki with you, my dear.”
Kagome stared at him for a moment before taking their daughter and leaving the room without another word.
“What a rude concubine…you clearly do not whip her enough if she’s leaving without bowing to you and us with respect.”
The lord paled for a moment, which told Sesshomaru that his eyes had gone blood at the insult and threat made towards Kagome. It was good that the minor lord before him remembered who was the stronger and more powerful of the two. “My concubine is none of your concern and it will be staying that way.”
“Has she conceived again?”
“No,” the clipped answer was all that Sesshomaru would give for the moment.
The lord looked at him in confusion but said nothing more and Sesshomaru said nothing more on the matter. He knew that when his children were weaned from their mother’s milk that Kagome would be taken from him and given to the next lord that gave him the most land or treasure. It was something that he was not going to allow to happen to her.
She would remind the mother of his children alone.
oOo
“Are we going to do nothing about Nori?” Hotaka asked as he walked over to Sesshomaru’s concubine, Kagome and smiled at toddler in her arms.
The little terror smiled at him and shrieked in demand to have him hold her. He was quick to take her from her mother and Mizuki went straight for his hair, putting on the long locks with such joy that only a pup could give. But the way that the tot grabbed his hair reminded him of when his first son had been born and done the same when he had been a tot as well.
“I don’t know, that’s for Sesshomaru to decide…I want nothing to do with his mother.” Kagome told him before he sat down beside her.
“She’s a good person at heart.”
“She wanted to kill one of my children. Would you forgive something that wanted to kill your daughter?” Kagome questioned.
Hotaka had no answer for that would not paint him as a hypocrite for he would never forgive a threat to any of his children either. But Nori had given herself to the enemy five months ago in an attempt to atone to her family for her actions and he felt that needed to be at least acknowledged by the human woman in from of him.
“She left to save-”
“My family? No, she did it to save Sesshomaru and so that he could keep me for longer…because I’m a thing to them.”
There was fear in her eyes when she said that to him and it was so clear that she felt that way even though, he had never seen Sesshomaru treat her in that way. But the fear told him that that had been the treatment given to her in the past by Sesshomaru and his mother. What could he said to her that would help take that pain that stained her away?
It might be odd that he wanted to help her but she was in the same place that Rie’s mother had once been in and there was the child that he held in his arms. He was not indifference to this person or to her family for the last few months had seen him spending time with them and being apart of their lives. He needed to help in some way, in any small way that might help them in the long run of everything.
He could see the strength in her and knew that the love she had inside her for others, for her children was a rare thing.
But the love was buried under the pain that tainted that beautiful blue glaze that he saw. She needed to be cleansed of the pain…not rid of it but cleansed of it’s stain. There was little doubt in Hotaka’s mind that Sesshomaru hoped to rid Kagome of her pain but the boy didn’t know that such a task was impossible.
Pain was never rid of…only cleansed so that one could be capable of returning to their life and moving pass the pain that they would forever carry within them.
He had seen it with others and had been cleansed himself of the pain that had poisoned his childhood mind once. Hotaka could only hope that he could be of aid to her as he had once been helped.
“You are not a thing, Kagome.”
“No, I’m being honored to be in Sesshomaru’s bed.”
The pain that stained her voice filled the room with tension. Mizuki fell silent in his arms, her joy turned to the quiet of a fearful baby waiting to see what will happen next. It was clear that the tot was not used to this kind of voice or at least not used to this kind of voice coming from her mother.
“No, you have not been honored because you do not feel honored being in his bed.”
It had been too quiet. He had meant to say it louder but it had come out so quiet that he had to wonder if she had been able to hear it at all.
His answer was given in the way of tears.
oOo
The tears just flowed and she couldn’t stop them even though she was trying so hard to do just that. She thought that she had put all this behind her; that she wasn’t going to let this hurt her anymore but those words.
Those words bought just such a relief.
But it had come from a stranger and though she had known him for a few months, he was still a stranger to her though Sesshomaru treated the demon otherwise. The past two years had taught her that she was too trusting and that being such would only bring pain. Only bring her pain.
She wiped at her eyes with fury at the weakness that she was showing to lord Hotaka. This wasn’t the time or place for tear or weakness. She needed to be strong for the day of battle to come. She had promised herself and her children that she would be stronger. That she would be like her own mother and push the pain away to care for herself and her children.
When she finally got her tears under control, she looked at the lord and spoke to him. “You’re the only person to say that to me since all this started.”
“You’re poisoned by pain, Kagome. Pain of the mind and soul; I too have been poisoned by this pain. Its not easy to heal from it alone, nearly impossible for the best of us.”
Pain of the mind and soul? It sounded so like he was talking about psychological pain and that she was a victim of it. She was a survivor of rape but she had never thought she suffered from a psychological aspect. But then her pain wasn’t physical in nature. It was her mind being tortured by the actions done to her; that was replayed in her mind again and again at the oddest of times.
How would she be cured of the pain that filled her if it was psychological?
“You think I’m poison by pain…if so then how do we drain the poison from me?” Kagome questioned.
“We talk.”
“Talk? Talk has done nothing but cause more pain for me so far.”
“You were talking with the wrong people. You were talk with people that were closed off and knew nothing of the poison inside you.” He informed calmly.
It was like he had done this before but Kagome didn’t know what to think of that. Was she the first that the lord had done this with before or was he an old hand at helping people with this? Was it safe for her to talk with him? She didn’t know, it was something that she would have to talk with Sesshomaru about it at another time.
“What makes you the right person to talk to? What makes you different from all the others?” She questioned calmly.
“Because I lived with that poison myself and has been given help with it myself…often something that has lived with the poison can only truly be healed by another like them.”
What could she say to that? Kagome was desperate for this pain to end, desperate to understand her own emotions again. She didn’t want to feel lost anymore; she wanted to feel certain of herself and others again but was talking with a stranger really the only option that she had at the moment?
“I don’t know what to do.” She told him honestly.
“Then we do nothing. I cannot help you heal until you chose to take the help.” Lord Hotaka told her softly before handing over Mizuki. “But I will be waiting to help you when you chose to take the help and want to heal.”
It was a soothing balm to hold her baby girl. Mizuki was so quiet and stared at her as if she was unsure if it would be okay to be her usual happy baby self. It hurt to know that she had done that her daughter. How she wished that she was stronger than she was. Stronger than the person that she was; to be strong enough to be someone that deserved her children.
“Why? You don’t know me at all.”
She hadn’t meant to ask but the words came out before she could stop them.
“I may not know you, Kagome but I know all that I need to know about you.”
OoOo
Pain sliced down her back and blood flowed free down her back again. The sounds of fucking filled the room but it was the scent of it that she found to be most unpleasant. She chewed on the bit of dragon hide between her teeth and so wished that it was her new mate‘s cock that she was chewing on instead.
But sadly, the male was too much of a coward to ever let her mouth be around his precious manhood. No, he preferred to watch his servant harm her with a dragon hide whip as he turned his fists and cock to his concubines.
Thank the gods that she had given herself to Takashi as a mate since of allowing her son the chance to turn Kagome over to Takashi as he had promised Kagome.
Another slice down her back and she felt even more blood flow. Her body would not be able to endure the blood loss for much longer, which would mean that she pass out again soon. She couldn’t help but look down at her clothes and hated how the beautiful silk was ruined beyond repair again.
“Must you always ruin my clothes, my dear asshole? It such a waste of good silk.”
The room fell silent and Nori smiled inwardly for the insult given to Takashi. He would never live up to her former mate or her son, both of who were the superior males in all ways. He knew, she knew and she reminded everyone around them of the fact every time she insulted him. He could hurt her as much as he wanted but the pleasure of insulting him soothed away any pain he would give her.
After all, he could not kill her and she was barren to his seed.
The delicious irony was not lost on her that her own son had been in the situation on some time ago with his own mate. The difference between this and that was that Sesshomaru could do far worse than this but never needed to.
He came up behind her, his hot breath on her neck was sickening as was the hand that gently touched the open wounds on her back. He whispered into her ear, making sure that she felt his hot breath on the shell of her ear. “But it’s such an improvement to how they looked before, my dear bitch. The beautiful silk was ruined the moment it touched your skin.”
“I’m so much older than you…you’re no different that my granddaughter besides the fact that she has better manners than you.” She told him with a smile. “Nothing you can do to me will ever scare me. I was born in hell and was raised there; a child like you can play torture with me as much as you want but it will do nothing in the end.”
He grabbed her silver locks and pulled her head back, causing pain to heat her roped trapped wrists to protests. She looked into his eyes, seeing only a weak child that thought he was powerful. “Should I put baby to bed now? Has his cock been sucked enough for him to sleep?”
He punched her for her words but they had tasted so good that blood that filled her mouth made her laugh. He was nothing to her and that would forever be the case for her.
He punched her stomach for her laughing and she spit her blood at his face before giving him a big bloody smile.
“You cannot do anything to me. Kick me, punch me, kill me…I’ll still have the greater power between us.” She laughed at him.
It was then that he cut the rope before he started kicking her. She just laughed and laughed at him despite the pain that bloomed through her flesh. He ripped the remaining silk from her before he got on top of her. She knew what he was going to do to her now but it meant nothing to her.
Nori was the sacrifice to see her family’s survival and that gave her such strength.
“What is this power, you bitch?!” he demanded of her as he forced himself inside of her.
She just smiled as darkness edged her vision, which meant that she would pass out in mere minutes.
“That power would be words, my dear asshole. Words.”
With those words spoken, Nori fell into the darkness of slumber as she passed out from the loss of blood. his snarl of rage was a sweet lullaby for her.