Natsu pov:

I watched the man who was called Lord Sesshomaru. His long straight silver hair swayed behind him and I observed his attire. He wore a white haori with red prints on the neck portion and hakama pants. The common kind of clothes that old people in my world wore. On that he had a black armor which extended to spikes over his left shoulder. He had a fluffy thing wrapped around his right shoulder and 2 swords at his waist.

I also observed that he had only one arm. His left sleeve fluttered and was a giveaway to his missing arm.

And yet, back at the market, the people who passed by him bowed and showed fear and respect. And the minute his money quotation was given, no one objected and we were immediately given off to him. And just by looking at the way he carried himself, I could tell he was powerful and belonged to royalty.

I looked back at the other girls who were sold with me. They looked younger than me, and they were probably the youngest of the lot that were being auctioned. They looked relieved and even though they were a little scared, it seemed they didn’t mind being this way at all. Taking up some courage, I walked a little closer to one of them.

“Hey,” I whispered. “Who is the demon who bought us?” She gasped softly. “You don’t know? That’s Lord Sesshomaru, the Lord of the west and the most powerful demon alive!” She whispered back. “He’s the son of the great dog demon, Inu no Taishou!” I noticed his ears twitch. Dog demon huh? So if my theory is correct, it would mean he would have excellent hearing and smell.

I moved back to where I was initially walking and sighed. I felt Kaito clutch my kimono and I looked down. I felt my motherly instincts pick up just looking at him. He was holding my dress in one hand and rubbing his eyes in the other. He was obviously tired and sleepy and I laughed softly. “C’mon you.”

Lord Sesshomaru stopped walking and turned around to watch me. I picked up Kaito and he wrapped his arms around my neck and rested his chin on my shoulder. He was almost immediately asleep. I gave a small bow with my head. “Sorry, he was getting tired and couldn’t walk anymore.” We stared and each other and I noticed the other girls shiver in my peripheral vision.

The demon was observing me, and I showed that I wasn’t afraid of him. I knew I couldn’t fight him, but that doesn’t mean I have to be afraid of him, right? He just stared for a few moments and swiftly turned around. And we began our journey again.

>>Timeskip

By the time we reached the castle, it was midnight.

Honestly speaking, I didn’t really expect a castle. I didn’t know what to expect, but the castle was pretty surprising anyway. When we entered the castle, several male and female servants greeted Lord Sesshomaru and the guards bowed low. Most of the servants looked human and most of the guards looked like demons.

We were all led into the castle and we stood in a huge hall in a line, with me still having Kaito in my arms. He was sound asleep and I didn’t have the heart to wake him up.

The overgrown frog tottered up to us and we looked down at him. “You will address me as master Jaken and my master as Lord Sesshomaru. He will now assign your chores.” Lord Sesshomaru appeared and stood in front of us. I stared at the ground in front of me and continued to pat Kaito’s back soothingly.

Sesshomaru pov:

I stood in front of the 4, or rather 5 slaves in front of me. 4 were human and one was a half breed child. A dark angel. And he was sold as a pair with the slave who was holding him now.

When we were travelling to the castle, she had stopped to pick up the child saying that he was tired. When I had stopped to watch her, she had merely apologized but didn’t seem defiant or afraid in any respect. She just watched me as if I were of her same status. It had angered me at first, but when I watched closely, she didn’t seem to show any disrespect.

And even now she was holding onto the child and unlike the other slaves who were shivering in my presence, she stood calmly and waited to be told what to do.

The way she cared for the half demon child was rather interesting. And the demon child himself was very attached to her. Somehow, when I thought of separating them, an image of myself and Rin flashed through my mind. Ever since I had taken over the rule of my lands and had a castle built, I had tried to get guardians for Rin. But everytime I bought a slave, whether it be human or demon, they foolishly said they loved me and ended up treating Rin badly.

Even if those foolish slaves had children of their own, they never treated Rin well and because of that, she never left my side. At times when I had to have war meetings and secret meetings, I would leave her alone and she would be hurt by the servants. And the worst time was when her guardian was a weak demon female who had injured her arm. I had gone into a fit of rage and killed her mercilessly.

But when I saw this girl in front of me, the emotions she showed to a half demon….she didn’t seem the type to harm a child. I narrowed my eyes as she just stared at the ground and continued to pat the half demon’s back. “You girl.” I called and she looked up. Her gaze met mine and I saw a sort of gentleness in her gaze. “You will be Rin’s new guardian and caretaker. I expect her to be treated as a princess and if she comes to harm in any way, I wont hesitate to kill you.”

She flinched and I saw a look of fear momentarily pass through her eyes, but it was gone soon enough. She bent her head a little in a bow. “I understand Lord Sesshomaru. But….what about Kaito?” She looked sideways at the half demon in her arms. I frowned. I didn’t understand why I didn’t separate them, but my mind seemed to disagree on the idea. “He will be responsible for cleaning Rin’s room.”

She bowed again and thanked me. “You will start your duties tomorrow, and you will stay with Rin at all times. For tonight, you will stay in the servant quarters, but from tomorrow, you will be shifted to Rin’s room.” She nodded again and after I had assigned duties to the other slaves, Jaken took them away to the servant quarters.

I couldn’t take my eyes off that slave. She intrigued me. She was the first slave to not tremble in fear when I was seen. In fact, even the young human males who served me trembled in my presence. Curious to know, I hid my demon scent and aura and followed Jaken and the new slaves to the slave’s quarters.

Natsu pov:

We all followed Jaken out of the hall and to the servant rooms. They were outside the castle, but within the castle compound. “Master Jaken? Who is Rin?” I asked and he glared at me. I rolled my eyes and glared back at him. He blinked at my expression and I sighed. “Look, if you don’t tell me who this Rin person is, I wont be able to do my job properly.”

He scoffed and turned back in front. I raised an eyebrow and narrowed my eyes when he momentarily froze and looked into some bushes. I followed his gaze and I was almost sure that I saw something silver there. But it was gone in a split second and I just shrugged.

Jaken cleared his throat. “She is like Lord Sesshomaru’s daughter. She is a human child and if anything happens to her, it will cost your life.” I made a small ‘o’ with my mouth and nodded. Didn’t seem like a difficult task. We finally made it to the servant rooms and we were assigned rooms.

I went into the room that was assigned to me for the night, but before I entered, I was stopped by a voice. “Well! If it isn’t the new servants! C’mon, gather around, I have some rules to mention.” There was a girl with fire red hair and violet eyes standing there. From her looks, I could tell she was a demon, and all the 4 of us gathered in front of her.

The other male and female slaves who were there appeared out of their rooms and some watched and some glared. But the weird looks we were getting from the men who looked like demons was slightly unnerving.

“My name is Mina, and I am a forest elf demon. I have the power to control the wind and I have good fighting skills.” She smirked at the ones who shivered when she spoke, including the slaves who were already here but frowned when she didn’t get a reaction from me. She approached me and the 3 other girls stepped a little away.

She held her nose and put on a face of disgust. “Are you holding that disgusting creature with or without knowing he’s a half breed?” She scorned. “I know he’s a half demon.” I said simply and people around me gasped. “How disgusting!” She tried to claw Kaito with her sharp nails, but I caught her wrist in a tight hold. “I’d appreciate if you don’t try and hurt him.”

She growled and slapped me. I clenched my jaw and let out an annoyed breath. “Foolish wench! You will obey me! I am the leader of all the slaves here, and if anyone goes against me, I will hurt them!” She growled and I scoffed and laughed. The others watched surprised and I sent her a challenging look. I had the strange feeling that I was being watched, but I pushed it aside.

“Look, I’m not really interested in your little ‘follow-the-leader’ game, ok? And just cuz you’re a demon, perhaps just a little stronger than the rest, don’t think you can tell me what to do. I’m not like the other servants who’s gonna keep her mouth shut and follow you like a little lost puppy. Stay away from me and you wont get hurt.” The others gasped as I just turned around and walked away.

Before I entered the room, I turned my head to look at her as she stared with her mouth open. “One more thing. I take orders only from Lord Sesshomaru, master Jaken and probably Lord Sesshomaru’s army general. And close your mouth before you catch flies.” I walked into the room and slammed the door behind me.

I sighed and shook my head. “I’ve never seen anyone stand up against her, let alone a human girl.” I looked to the side of the room and saw a boy about my age with black hair and gray eyes. “And you are?” “I’m Aiko. I work at the royal stables.” He seemed friendly enough and I smiled as I softly laid down Kaito on the mattress on the floor. “Nice to meet you Aiko. I’m Natsu.”

“So, you really weren’t afraid when you spoke to her?” I chuckled and rolled my eyes. “No way. I may be a human, but I’m not weak and I don’t take orders from anyone. She’s just another slave, she should know her place too instead of bossing around people.” “Wow….” He just said and chuckled. “I like you already!”

I giggled and stretched as I yawned. “Well, I’m going to sleep now.” I smiled at him and got next to Kaito. He hummed in his sleep and snuggled into my side. I smiled softly and patted his head. “Yeah, me too. Well, goodnight Natsu san. I hope we can be friends.” I chuckled softly. “Sure.”

Aiko put out the lamp that lit the room and I shut my eyes. tired from the days travel, I soon fell into dreamless sleep.

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