"You should make sure your brain is working before opening your mouth, Sesshoumaru," Jigokuyari teased his old friend once the audience was over and they were alone in Sesshoumaru’s chambers.
        His remarks were met with an angry snarl. "Drop it," Sesshoumaru warned, then called out the door for Jaken, who was never far from his Lord’s presence. The little toad demon hurried into the room and bowed to Sesshoumaru then to Jigokuyari. "Bring us sake and be quick about it! I’m in a foul temper tonight," Sesshoumaru commanded.
        Jaken gulped and bowed. "Y-yes, My Lord!" He dashed out of the room, barely remembering to shut the screen behind him.
        Sesshoumaru put his swords on their rack by the Chinese chest that stored his futon, then began to remove his armor and arrange it on its stand. Caring for his armaments usually calmed his mind, but there wasn’t anything that could cool his head tonight. He’d embarrassed himself and endured his father’s reproach—not just in front of Lord Nishi’s vassals but in front of a human serving girl, as well. How humiliating! Jigokuyari’s words rang in his ears, and he grudgingly admitted his friend’s advice was pretty solid: Engage brain before opening mouth. He must try to remember to do that in future.
        Jigokuyari’s hand on his shoulder caused every muscle in his body to tense, and the hand was quickly removed. "Sorry, friend. If you want to be alone—"
        "No," Sesshoumaru cut him off and forced himself to smile a little. It came out as an impatient smirk. "Stay and drink with me. I’ve spent too much time alone since Lady Shinju arrived." He sat down near the little scroll chest, picked up the dragon statue and held it up for his friend to see. "Kuailong. My father trained with her under the guidance of her father, the dragon warlord Yazi."
        Jigokuyari sat down across from Sesshoumaru and nodded. "You’ve told me those stories many times. It’s a pity all you have are statues and paintings. She sounds like she’s quite a woman."
        Sesshoumaru sighed and put the statue back atop the chest. He couldn’t speak his opinion of his father’s recent behavior aloud. Though Jigokuyari was his most trusted friend, the walls of the den were thin and someone else might hear. Someone who might tell Lord Nishi that his son dared disapprove of his behavior. Umeko, perhaps. Though his father seemed to trust the girl, Sesshoumaru didn’t. How could a servant have slipped away from Lord Yomitora’s palace during a funeral? She would have had to leave before the ceremony was over to reach Lord Nishi’s den when she did—even if she’d run the whole way without stopping, which he doubted she, a mere human, could have done. Furthermore, her presence at the funeral would be missed because it was her Lady’s funeral, and she would have been expected to be present for the entire affair and serve her Lady’s family. What if Umeko had been sent by Lord Yomitora to spy on Lord Nishi? That didn’t seem too far-fetched to Sesshoumaru. He just wished he’d thought of it in the audience chamber.
        "What is it, Sesshoumaru?"
        He shook his head. "I don’t trust that handmaiden," he replied, then confided his thoughts to Jigokuyari. "I must tell my father what I’m thinking," Sesshoumaru declared.
        Jigokuyari nodded. "I agree. Do you want me to come with you?"
        "Do you agree with me that she shouldn’t be trusted?" Sesshoumaru asked him.
        His friend nodded again. "I think it’s suspicious that she was able to leave her Lady’s funeral, and no one was sent to look for her. How far did you search to see if she was followed?"
        "All the way to Lord Yomitora’s palace," Sesshoumaru replied grimly. "I saw no one, and the house was quiet. A servant like Umeko would certainly be missed by whoever she was expected to assist into bed tonight."
        Jigokuyari smirked. "I should think so. Shall we go, then?"
        Jaken arrived with the sake just as the two demons were getting up to leave. Sesshoumaru ordered him to leave the sake and wait for his return. "I am going to speak with Lord Nishi. Don’t drink my sake, toad!"
        Jaken cowered by the bottle and cups. "N-no, My Lord! I wouldn’t dream of it!"
        "Not a drop, Jaken," Jigokuyari teased him with a wink. "We’ll know if you took so much as a sip, then it’ll be…" he drew his thumb across his throat to make his point.
        Jaken grabbed for his throat and trembled. "Yes, Lord Jigokuyari!"
        Sesshoumaru growled at his friend, who hurried after him and closed the screen. "Leave him be, Yari. We have more important things to worry about." Like how to express his concerns to Lord Nishi without going through the same embarrassment as he had in the audience chamber earlier and without Lady Shinju or Umeko overhearing. He stopped, and Jigokuyari stopped with him.
        "What is it now?" Jigokuyari sighed.
        Sesshoumaru gave him an impatient glare. "Perhaps we should go to Lord Kontonkaze first and see what he thinks."
        Jigokuyari gave it some thought, then nodded his assent. "I think you’re right, though…"
        "Though what?" Sesshoumaru pressed.
        "He might be with Lord Nishi," Jigokuyari finished with an embarrassed shrug.
        "Or he might not be," Sesshoumaru snapped back. It would just be his luck that Lord Nishi and his best friend had had the same idea he and Jigokuyari had had about spending some quality time with a bottle of sake. In any event, he had to tell one of the older demons about his distrust of Umeko. Surely his father would see he was only thinking of his best interest and not be angry about the intrusion. That decided, Sesshoumaru started walking toward his father’s apartments again.
        "So…we’re going to speak to Lord Nishi, then?" Jigokuyari ventured cautiously.
        "I have to tell him what I’m thinking," Sesshoumaru replied shortly.
        "If we’re lucky, more than just Lord Kontonkaze will be there, though I think Lord Nishi will wonder why you didn’t bring this up before."
        He got growled at for that. "I wasn’t able to put a finger on what was troubling me until a few minutes ago!" The truth was, he’d been so absorbed in the idea of terrorizing and killing some of Lord Yomitora’s minions that he hadn’t been able to think of anything else until the rush had died down once he started trying to relax in his bedroom. He always thought better alone, in a quiet place where he could concentrate. That was a very difficult thing to do with his father and the old Lords watching him. Those were the people he’d admired and sought to emulate as he’d grown up, especially Lord Nishi and the brothers Kontonkaze and Samuishi. Only his father was better with a sword than the horse-demon twins. Those two bore the scars of many hard battles, though they weren’t in the habit of taking trophies, as Lord Nishi was. They ate their defeated enemies in order to absorb their power, leaving nothing behind, not even bone. Lord Nishi always left something to display as a trophy. His audience chamber was testament to that.
        The young demons found Gintsuki and Ryuuko talking to Kedamono and Ushiyasha in the main hall, which lay between Sesshoumaru’s apartments and the wing containing his father’s. There was no sign of the twins. When they saw Sesshoumaru, they stopped their conversation to bow to him.
        "Where is Lord Kontonkaze?" Sesshoumaru asked abruptly.
        "He is with Lord Nishi and Lord Samuishi in Lord Nishi’s chambers," Gintsuki told him in her soft, purring voice. It had sent shivers down Sesshoumaru’s spine as a child and gave him a slightly different sort of a shiver now. The lithe cat demon wasn’t in the habit of wearing much clothing and always had a sensuous gleam in her green eyes for her Lord’s heir. Or perhaps she looked at everyone that way, and Sesshoumaru was just vain enough to imagine the look was for him alone. Her sultry gaze fell upon Jigokuyari, who smiled in return. "Ah, that’s right," Sesshoumaru thought with an embarrassed twinge in his gut, "she was keeping Jigokuyari’s bed warm these days." How easily he forgot the nature of her magic: Gintsuki drew her victims close with the promise of seduction, then tore out their throats with her sharp fangs and gutted them with her claws. Jigokuyari was a brave man.
        Sesshoumaru started to say he needed to speak to his father and leave the unnerving cat demon to her previous conversation, then he changed his mind. "Tell me," he asked, taking in all of them with his cool gaze, "what do you make of the handmaiden Umeko?"
        Ushiyasha’s jaw tightened. "That’s what we were discussing when you arrived, My Lord."
        "And?" Sesshoumaru prompted him.
        Ryuuko said: "We do not trussst the girl, My Lord."
        "I worried when you said you found no sign that she had been followed," Kedamono added. "That seemed odd to me the more I thought about it."
        Sesshoumaru nodded, schooling his features so they wouldn’t betray his enormous relief. With the support of five of his father’s vassals, Sesshoumaru felt more confident about approaching Lord Nishi with his new worries.
        "And yet you ssssaid nothing, Lord Kedamono," Ryuuko hissed in coldly polite tone.
        The beast gave his companion a smug look. "Nor did you, Lord Ryuuko." He nodded to Sesshoumaru and added: "Nor did any of us. Lord Nishi seems to trust her, and Lord Kontonkaze said nothing, so I kept my thoughts to myself." He looked down with a small sigh. "However, since Lord Sesshoumaru doesn’t trust the girl, we must bring it to Lord Nishi’s attention immediately."
        The others nodded their agreement and looked to Sesshoumaru for direction from there. "Then let us bring our concerns to our Lord," he said and led the way to his father’s apartments, feeling the delicious rush he always got when his father’s vassals deferred to him. All but Jigokuyari were older and more experienced than he was. They hadn’t begun to treat him with this kind of respect until thirty-four years ago, when he’d defeated the highest ranking vassal of the Great Demon of the East and brought home his horned head for a trophy. Then they bowed to him and called him "My Lord" because he’d earned it, not just because he was the heir. And it was on that day that his place in his father’s councils moved from Samuishi’s right to Lord Nishi’s, above even Lord Kontonkaze.
        Still, Sesshoumaru bowed to their superior experience and valued their opinions and support. Especially in these days with Lord Nishi behaving so strangely because of his mate. He was touchy, always thinking of how Shinju would react to what was being said or done around her, like a worried mother hen. Sesshoumaru still couldn’t believe his father had taken such a fragile creature for his mate. Maybe Shinju had him under some kind of a spell that made him her slave. If that was the case, the little bitch had better pray to her human gods that Sesshoumaru didn’t find out about it, or he would eat her alive and put her head on Lord Nishi’s throne to remind him of his folly!
        It was with that gratifying thought in his head that Sesshoumaru and his little entourage arrived outside Lord Nishi’s apartments and were intercepted by a servant. The wolf demon bowed to Sesshoumaru.
        "I must speak with My Lord immediately," Sesshoumaru informed the servant before he could open his mouth to speak.
        "Forgive me, My Lord," the servant told him nervously, his anxious eyes noting the company Sesshoumaru was keeping, "but Lord Nishi has commanded that he not be disturbed."
        Sesshoumaru’s jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Tell him Lord Sesshoumaru and My Lord’s vassals must speak with him on a matter of security."
        The servant hesitated, weighed the immediate threat of Sesshoumaru against the less immediate threat of the Great Demon from whom he took his orders, then decided it was better to be safe than sorry. He bowed to his master’s heir and said humbly: "I will inform the Great Demon," then he turned on his heel and pulled back the screen to Lord Nishi’s room, stepped inside and shut it behind him.
        "Insolent fool…" Sesshoumaru growled under his breath as he watched the servant go, painfully aware of his father’s vassals behind him. Knowing they were watching him, he said no more lest he break Jigokuyari’s sage admonition to make sure he thought before opening his mouth. From the other side of the screen he could hear his father’s gruff voice scolding the servant for disturbing him, then the servant’s more subdued voice delivering Sesshoumaru’s message. A short pause followed, then Lord Nishi commanded the servant to allow Sesshoumaru and the vassals to enter, much to Sesshoumaru’s enormous relief. However, his relief turn to irritation when he saw Shinju and Umeko serving drinks for his father and the twins.
        Sesshoumaru and the others got on their knees and bowed to Lord Nishi, then Sesshoumaru spoke: "My Lord, we must speak to you privately," he looked at Lady Shinju, then Umeko, hoping his father would take the hint to dismiss the women.
        The Great Demon looked up from watching his mate pour him a cup of sake to give Sesshoumaru a long, dark, level stare. "You make speak freely in My Lady’s presence."
        Sesshoumaru looked at Umeko again, drawing Lord Nishi’s gaze there. The girl paused with a decanter in her hand, ready to top off Lord Samuishi’s drink, and blinked innocently at Sesshoumaru. She then turned to Lord Nishi and her Lady to see what their command might be, since Sesshoumaru obviously wanted her to leave. After what seemed like an endless pause, Lord Nishi took the hint and asked Lady Shinju and her servant to leave them.
        "Umeko has had a busy day, My Lady," he told Lady Shinju gently, "I think she would enjoy the Zen garden I created for you in the south wing. It might soothe her mind." He turned to his own servant and added: "Accompany them, Shiro."
        Lady Shinju smiled warmly. "Yes, My Lord." She bowed, then collected the servants and left.
        Sesshoumaru breathed a discrete sigh of relief. Lord Nishi was sending them too far away to overhear their conversation. Good. The last thing he wanted was for Umeko to know just how suspicious he was of her.
        The Great Demon waited until he could no longer hear the women’s footfalls, then set his sake cup on the small table in front of his knees and said almost casually: "This is about Umeko, isn’t it, Sesshoumaru."
        "Yes, My Lord," Sesshoumaru replied. "I have spoken with Lady Gintsuki and Lords Ryuuko, Kedamono, Ushiyasha and Jigokuyari, and they are in agreement with me that the handmaiden might not be worthy of the trust My Lord has given her."
        "Explain," Lord Nishi commanded in a tight voice.
        His son clenched and unclenched his fists in his lap as his heart began to race. "I told My Lord that I could find no evidence that Umeko had been followed. I searched all the way to Lord Yomitora’s palace, but saw no one. After returning to my rooms tonight, it occurred to me how odd that was. Umeko is Lady Shinju’s servant. Lord Yomitora held a funeral today for Lady Shinju. Wouldn’t her servant be expected to attend the entire ceremony and serve those in attendance? Wouldn’t she also be expected to serve when the guests were preparing to retire for the night? In order to reach My Lord’s den when she did, Umeko would have had to leave Lord Yomitora’s palace in the middle of the funeral service and be missing after that. Why did no one note her absence and report it to Lord Yomitora? And if they did, why didn’t Lord Yomitora order a search party, since Umeko knows Lady Shinju is not dead but is My Lord’s mate? Wouldn’t he realize she would try to go to her Lady and take the opportunity to follow her to My Lord’s den?"
        As he spoke, Lord Nishi and the twins considered his words, then Lord Kontonkaze asked the obvious question: "Why didn’t you bring this up in the war council, Lord Sesshoumaru?"
        Sesshoumaru licked his lips. "I wasn’t able to put a finger on what was troubling me until later. I was not the only one who thought of it after the council."
        Behind him, the other vassals nodded, and Ushiyasha said: "We were discussing that very thing when Lord Sesshoumaru asked us to come with him to speak to My Lord about this matter."
        Lord Nishi picked up his cup and took a sip, his eyes never leaving his son’s. He smiled as he set down his cup. "Excellent reasoning, Sesshoumaru. You please me. What do you recommend we do about Umeko now?"
        Another test! Sesshoumaru cursed to himself. Had his father already found the fault in Umeko’s story and had sat here drinking with his friends to see if his son could make the same deduction? Damn! If only he had thought of it the council hall, then Lord Nishi would really be impressed. At least the other vassals hadn’t thought of it until later, either, so he didn’t look too bad. Now another test: He had to come up with an alternate plan. Think! After a long while, in which Lord Nishi finished his sake with infuriating casualness, Sesshoumaru got an idea.
        "My Lord," he began carefully, "I recommend we continue with My Lord’s original plan, but use the handmaiden to provide false information to the Yomitora about My Lord’s battle preparations."
        Lord Nishi grinned. "Well done, Sesshoumaru. That very plan was in my own mind. Come, sit beside me and drink! All of you, let us make plans." With a wave of his hand, he directed Sesshoumaru to bring out more cups from a cabinet behind him and pass them around.
        Kontonkaze moved over so Sesshoumaru could sit at his father’s right hand and poured the young Lord a drink. Sesshoumaru accepted it, flushed with pride and looking forward to beginning his assignment as the receiver of Umeko’s information. Likely, the girl would give him false information, as well. Much as he disdained Lord Yomitora because of his daughter, he knew the man was no fool. Yomitora was a skillful warrior and ruthless statesman with many loyal vassals, quite a few of them with small armies of their own. It was rumored that Lord Yomitora retained ninja, as well. If that were so, Sesshoumaru knew he must be especially alert. Even he had a grudging respect for the human shadow warriors, though he knew of them only through legends. He would bring that up to his father as they talked and drank. It was then that he remembered Jaken, but there was nothing to be done about him now. Sesshoumaru decided not to punish the toad demon if he lost his self-control and dipped into the sake when his Lord was gone longer than expected. He was suddenly feeling extremely generous.