Her Own Eudaemon by kaoruhana
Honor, Seals, and Shadows
Prompt: Chicanery
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The Tachibana household was a mess. Akira Tachibana- the head of the house and the eldest of the three sons- gathered everyone around and assessed the situation. There were three brothers who made up the Tachibana clan- Akira, Hiro, and Sano. Akira was a widower with two children- Sango and Kohaku, the latter of whom had died in a car accident a year prior. Hiro was second oldest and had two teenage high school daughters with his wife. The last was Sano, who being twelve years younger than Akira, was the last to have a family and kids. His seven year old son and three year old daughter were spoiled rotten by the family much to their parents’ displeasure.
“We have a problem.” Akira announced when the entire family of ten had gathered in the living room. “Dr. Taisho called us earlier today. His recent client is being possessed by a demon- our demon.”
The Tachibana family paled in horror. The children may not know the importance of the chest, but the parents and teenagers did. To have lost that chest was a disgrace to the Tachibana name. It was a taint on their honor and a shame because they had failed in their task. The family looked at each other apprehensively. Only they, and a select few members of the outside community knew the location of the artifact that they housed. To think that someone might have infiltrated their ranks was scary.
“Look,” Akira began in a commanding voice, “I don’t want to accuse anyone of anything but please, does anyone remember seeing anything suspicious? Or does anyone remember anyone going near the back room?”
Tomoe, the youngest of the gathered children perked up at the latter question. “Kohaku-nii san went there a few months ago. I told him he’d be in trouble but he didn’t listen to me!” The family jerked at the sentence and her mother quickly confronted her.
“Tomoe darling, what are you saying? Kohaku-nii san is not coming back remember?” Her mother had tears in her eyes as the family tried to piece together what was being heard. It was impossible for the dead to come back to life right?
“But I saw him!” Tomoe insisted tears falling down her cheeks. She understood that something wrong had happened but she didn’t understand what had made everyone so sad. “Mama, I’m scared!” Gently picking up her daughter the youngest Tachibana in-law calmed her down. She turned confused eyes towards her eldest brother in-law who had collapsed into a nearby chair.
“I thought he died.” Akira whispered his voice haggard. “But it makes sense- there was no body to be found after the accident. I just-“ Akira didn’t have to say anything for the family to understand what he was implying. Hiro and Sano felt for their elder brother. The rest of the family however was not so believing.
“I don’t think he was a traitor.” Midori- one of the teenagers spoke. “Kohaku nii-chan wasn’t that kind of guy. It’s got to be some form of sorcery, or chicanery. We keep this a secret but honestly any demon- or human- who wants to find out about Naraku can. Someone’s trying to make us fall apart so that they can get the chest.”
“That’s the problem.” Sango finally put in laying a hand on her father’s shoulder. “Someone had it and it somehow ended up in the possession of a young woman who didn’t know what she had. She’s possessed and she can’t do anything about it.” It was Hiro who spoke next.
“There’s nothing we can do about that now. I know a friend- a miko who can tell us what to do. I think our best bet is to seal him the way we did before.”
“I agree.” Sango amended getting nods from the rest of the family as well. With a resigned air the family slowly split apart to continue their day.
* * * * *
Sesshomaru looked at the tiny shop in front of him. Kagome wasn’t with him today. He had instructed the cook to place sedatives in her lunch so that she could sleep peacefully. The past two days had been hard on him. The first day his suspicions had been confirmed and Kagome had only ventured out of her room for dinner. The day after he had seen her at breakfast and analyzed her. It seemed that she was in control of most of her body but if the demon inside of her felt threatened then she attacked.
Yesterday he had taken her to the library and instructed her to pick whatever books she wanted. She managed to spend the day reading Jane Austen and others and he left her alone except for meals much as he had the other day. Today, he had taken her to the library again in the morning and after ensuring her stability and his staff’s safety had stepped out to investigate the origin of the chest. It had led him to the store that Kagome had worked at part time on the weekends.
Entering it, he was greeted by layers of dust, seals, and magic. Sesshomaru scanned the shop quickly, sorting through scents until he found the woman who owned the shop hunched in the back. He walked towards her and stopped waiting for her to greet him. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Hello,” the woman greeted, “my name is Kaede. May I help you?”
Sesshomaru frowned at her greeting but answered. “I came here to ask about a certain employee of yours- a Kagome Higurashi.” Kaede paled and her eyes took on a veiled glint.
“What do you need to know about her demon?” Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes but let the woman’s words slide.
“She encountered a chest here and shortly after that she became possessed by the demon inside it.” He spoke the next few words in a deadly calm. “That chest holds an evil demon that has been locked away for seven centuries. It was stolen; can you tell me how you came to possess it?”
Kaede glared some more at the demon before she sighed and led him to a backroom. Stepping inside she hobbled over to a corner and brought out a lacquered wooden box that had seen better days. It was open and even from afar Sesshomaru could feel the evil taint pouring off it in waves. When it was placed in front of him he noticed that Kaede obviously knew what it was- she had tried to seal it unsuccessfully.
“Three months ago, Kagome was asked to move this box to the backroom. I noticed it contained a tainted aura and I wanted to send it back to the owners because I refused to sell something like it. As she was placing it away, she touched the seal and it disintegrated. I know not what happened after that- last I saw, Kagome ran out of the shop.”
Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and studied the remnants of the old seal that were still stuck to the lock. “Have you heard of Naraku?” Kaede’s eyes widened and her gaze slid down to the chest before her. Seeing her response, Sesshomaru continued. “Someone stole this to make sure that the demon was unsealed. I doubt they meant for it to end up in Kagome.” Kaede nodded as she sat down in a chair.
“Aye, the only thing to do now is seal him away.” She pursed her lips before assessing the demon across from her with a glare. “A young lad by the name of Inuyasha brought it to me, said his sire left it for him. You think he was trying to possess it?”
“Yes,” Sesshomaru growled his words having a dark edge to them, “my half-brother lied to you and he has been using someone.” Sesshomaru cursed in is head and rubbed his forehead absently. Why did Inuyasha want the damn thing? And where did he get access to the chest in the first place? Standing, he addressed the old caretaker.
“I have some business to attend to. Do you think you can guard that chest?” Kaede nodded and with a gruff show of acceptance Sesshomaru left.
* * * * *
“Inuyasha,” a female voice called from the living room, “what are you doing?” The young half-demon didn’t look away from the microwave as he answered.
“Ramen.” He shuffled around and grabbed the bowl out of the microwave as soon as it dinged. Taking it into the living room, he settled down next to his fiancé and waited for it to cool. “Hey Kikyo,” he asked watching the steam rise from the bowl, “do you think what we’re doing is right? I mean, letting someone be possessed just so we can defeat it?”
Kikyo turned her attention from the television show she was watching to regard him. “It’s for the best Inuyasha remember? I can’t live in the shadow of my grandmother and you can’t stay in the shadow of your half-brother. What better way to step out than to say we were the ones who resealed the demon Naraku?”
Inuyasha sighed and reached for his bowl inhaling the first few bites of ramen. It just felt wrong to do this. Part of him wondered if it was right, but the other part, the part that Kikyo was able to convince urged him to put his half-brother in place. They had already performed some dark spells to get a body to do their bidding but even he wasn’t sure what else could be done and he didn’t know why they had to resort to such trickery. The phone rang then and Kikyo got up to answer it. He half-heartedly listened to the conversation trying to give Kikyo the privacy she wanted. It was the least he could do.
“Inuyasha,” Kikyo stated sitting down next to him once the call ended, “Naraku’s been found.” Inuyasha sputtered on his bite of ramen.
“Found?” He asked feeling that sense of apprehension and dread again.
“Yes, that was Hiro Tachibana- he is calling the best mikos and monks he knows together to discuss the fate of the demon. The meeting is tomorrow at the Tachibana house.” Inuyasha groused but nodded.
“Go by yourself. Your grandma knows what I look like anyway.” Kikyo smiled and then lovingly ran a hand over his hair.
“You’ll find information about Kagome Higurashi all right? That’s the name of the girl who Naraku has taken over.”
“Keh.” Inuyasha finished his ramen and stood to put his bowl in the kitchen. He wanted to go out of the shadow of his brother but still he wondered- was he doing the right thing?
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A/N: And there- all the main characters are here. Stay tuned for the prompts and the rest of the story!