The Long Road to Freedom Part 1: The Dastardly Prince

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1255, mid‐Kamakura Period, Spring

Kuroihi slid the comb through the last section of Sesshoumaru's ever‐lengthening hair, smoothing it into the rest of the silvery mass. She winced as he examined her work for a moment before tossing his head a bit to resettle it all in a way he preferred.

'Every goddamned time.'

As he rose to leave, she shifted to respond, arranging herself to be where she was needed as he prepared to depart on his journey. At the entrance to the courtyard, she knelt to fashion his traveling shoes, making sure his hakama didn't bunch uncomfortably around his ankles. She listened as he and his father exchanged tense pleasantries, his father turning to leave almost as soon as the words left him. She was busy gauging the near‐hostility between them and forgot for a moment that she was still Sesshoumaru's path. She realized too late and flinched for the kick...that did not come.

Instead, he opted to nudge firmly at her knee with his toe, which produced the same desired result; she shifted out of his way. She ignored the slight wrench in her gut as he rose gracefully into the blue, his mokomoko wrapping around him and trailing along behind as he faded into the distance. Slowly, his scent of lacquer, polish, silk, and poison dispersed as well. She drew deeply from the air, taking in the last of the lingering hint of it all. An image appeared in her mind's eye, a kanji that read 'poison.'

Yes, she could read now.

She closed her eyes, reveling in that fact.

She could read and even write some, a skill reserved for the higher classes. She had continued to bide her time in this place, taking advantage of every opportunity that seemed to skirt around her ankles. Being attendant to a lord offered certain privileges and allowances to go with the responsibilities and sufferings, and Lord Sesshoumaru seemed disinclined to care what his attendants did with these so long as they were present when he desired them to be and bent to his demands.

If he commented on her lack of grace, she took advantage of his displeasure to be included in

Rekkonji's form exercises. If she fumbled in her combat when she accompanied Sesshoumaru on one of his excursions, she 'somehow' found herself 'ordered' to join the other warriors on the practice field for a time. If he wrinkled his nose at her 'half‐breed stench,' she happily procured some of the finely and delicately scented oils from Fuyutoka's collection; much to the hawk‐demon's irritation, but his fear of Sesshoumaru's displeasure was greater than his own irritation with 'wasting' such a resource on the half‐breed.

Indeed, in the last five years since Sesshoumaru had first discovered her, Kuroihi had trimmed and polished herself into something resembling a being of some measure of honor and dignity. For a moment, she allowed herself to swell with pride and hope. She found the most pleasure in recalling how she had managed the feat of literacy.

Roughly two years prior, the Inu no Taishou had begun the preparations for arranging a suitable future mate for his son, as was the practice of even demon aristocracy. It strengthened alliances, ensured a legitimate and competent heir was produced for the dominant family, and once complete freed the involved pair to pursue their own desires afterward. Sesshoumaru was well aware that he himself, in all his superior grandeur, was the product of such an arrangement.

Despite this, he could not seem to be bothered to concern himself with his father's political games at the moment.

Any distraction from his own goals was 'ridiculous,' a 'waste of his time,' and eventually, he stopped speaking to his father, for the General always seemed to have a comment about some lord and the advantages of mating his daughter over some other lesser lord's. He took his meals in his room, delayed or hastened to maneuver around his father, and in all other ways, avoided him.

When Sesshoumaru refused even his father's own messengers, the Taishou began, instead, scribing to his son the information he wished to impart. Sesshoumaru was just as disinclined to even unfurl these scrolls as he was to speak a truly kind word to anyone. This further frustrated the busy General, who had no such time or patience to waste on his son's impudence. Kuroihi found her opportunity here with a daring gamble, offering meekly to have, instead, one of his trusted attendants read and summarize the lengthy scrolls for him so he could continue with his current tasks and still appease his father. The look he'd given her had been incredulous, almost angry.

Surprisingly, however, he had consented. In such a way, she was able to secure lessons for herself and her fellow attendant Aoki‐from one of the more clerically inclined vassals that often visited for the Inu no Taishou's use. It had been difficult, for she lacked even the General education required to grasp the more intricate concepts.

Even now, she misread a character here and there, but the vassal had, for some reason, taken a sort of liking to the females, and took time to drill them at least once during his visits. In his absence, the four attendants practiced together. True, the past two years had been tense due to the strained relation between the two lords, but it had been a bit easier as well, as Sesshoumaru had begun to change. Kuroihi was truly surprised.