Wings of a Butterfly

[Lord Sesshomaru]

Makoto was thinking over it already, and she had come quick to what was going on. She smiled knowingly at Takehiko. "You need to learn to listen when you're alone." It didn't seem to make sense but, she lead the tiger demon with a wave of her hand through the servant's quarters. Walking in silence, the rumors had quickly accumulated and even through hushed whispers they were easy to hear when concentrating.

Brigantia carrying a lot of supplies.
The lords coming in the next few days.
Punishment on the hanyou for vanishing!

It was surprising how accurate some servants could be once you overlooked the ridiculous. They entered the main room and for a moment the raccoon dog watched Brigantia do her chores. "You're not going to finish in time!" she accused, crossing her arms at the hanyou.

[Birdie]

As he walked a little behind the tanuki, he understood what she meant. People whispered all the time. Somethings he did not care to hear, but occasionally there was something relevant to what he needed. He could not help but smile at her cleverness. It did not last long as the guilt set it. She was being punished for something pertaining to him. If it hadn't been for him she would probably be doing something else right now, something less strenuous.

They came upon Brigantia as she was moving some plants into new pots. Her arms and dress were very dirty, but she managed to keep most of it from the floors. He watched her for a long moment, the guilt turning his stomach sour. Such a sweet little thing digging about in the dirt. There was something so wrong with the picture. Makoto spoke before Takehiko could.


Brigantia had been so hard at work she did not notice when her friend and the samurai appeared. She jumped when Makoto spoke, causing her to almost upturn a freshly repotted plant. She settled it down and went back to making sure that it was comfortable in its new bed. "I will finish. I will stay up all night if I have to. It will be fine," she said softly before moving on to the last plant. "Thank you for coming to see me though."

[Lord Sesshomaru]

"We didn't come to see you." Although it was only a half lie. "We came to help you." with that said she helped herself to Brigantia's supplies. She couldn't have the little butterfly talk her out of it. With a new bag of dirt she hoisted it up and towards another plant to be repotted. She ignored Brigantia blantantly, and even gave orders to Takehiko to bring her the new pot. There was no way the samurai could know exactly what to do without a lead. It was an ignorant Brigantia all over again.

There was nothing that was going to stop the tanuki, no matter what the little hanyou said. But just to add it in. "Did Lord Sesshoumaru say that you had to do it alone?" Makoto asked, with eyes narrowed towards the hanyou when her refusals got too annoying.

[Birdie]

She watched, shocked and helpless as her friends began to throw themselves into their work. She tried to say something, anything to get them to stop, but her voice would not work. She just sat there, all dirty as Takehiko did as exactly as he was bid. She then found it in herself to reply to the question. "No, he did not say it. But it was completely implied! It was all there in the way he spoke in the threads, I do not know how to explain it, but there was no mistaking his intentions!" But it seemed her words would fall in deaf ears.

Brigantia could take on neither of them, Takehiko was much bigger than she and Makoto was much stronger. Instead, she smiled as happy tears fell from her eyes. They both took on extra work to help her. Sniffling she went on with her tasks.

Takehiko proved to be much more capable than one would have thought. His height allowed him to easily reach the things higher up and he was extremely skilled at cleaning the weaponry which hung on the walls.

Together they worked hard, chatting and the like. Brigantia sang some songs for them as well. Songs she had learned from her stay at the temple, from the servants, from the world around her, and even a few in a language she could not remember ever learning. She could not remember where she had learned the songs either. But they were beautiful.

It was still a very long time before they had completed the work. The room shone and all that was left was the put away the supplies and take the old pots to be washed and stored. When that was finished, Brigantia bid her two friends a good night.

She went for a bath to clean all the dirt from herself and to put on clean clothes. Once properly cleaned, she walked a bit, dreading to head back to her room. Alas, sleep would have her. Instead of being able to slink into the bed, she say Sesshomaru sitting in his usual spot. Shyly she approached him, staying on the ground as she did the first night they had spoken like this. He eyes turned toward the sky, nervous.

[Lord Sesshomaru]

Sesshoumaru quirked a brow, slightly surprised to see Brigantia. Shouldn't it have taken her longer? But she wouldn't be here otherwise. "You finished." He stated, although there was a questioning tone underneath such a statement. She did look weary, however. He had reconsidered the chore he had given her the rest of the evening but it was beneath him to take it back.

Still, he should reward her. Instincts tugged at his mind, the same that had forced him her way to check on her well-being. He eyed her intently, rather curious on it all. And the instincts she provoked.

[Birdie]

She reached up, running fingers through her still damp hair. She was very nervous, her heart was beating rapidly and she felt as if she might faint. She wanted very much to run away, but could not. At last he spoke and she almost flinched. "Yes my lord. The task is complete." Her reply was small. She felt as if she should tell him that she had help, but he had not asked and was not willing to give up the information unless he should specify. She did not like to be so sneaky though. This situation was extremely uncomfortable.

Brigantia finally turned away from the garden and the skyline and searched the demon's face. It was much calmer than it had been earlier. His aura had also settled. Despite his placid demenor, she was still nervous. He could suddenly switch, it happened before. She would say something wrong and suddenly he was mad at her and she couldn't fathom why. He was such a complicated creature, such an enigma. "I... I hope it is to your liking."

[Lord Sesshomaru]

It still seemed rather odd for the little hanyou to be able to complete such a task. Maybe there was more to her than he thought. Some ability of speed? It didn't matter, as long as the task hadn't been too strenuous. He seemed satisfied in her answer, maybe even slightly relieved. "I have yet to see." he responded simply. He did not consider looking over her work, not wanting to face his guilt on watching her overwork herself.

Still, it didn't satisfy him to respond so simply. Not after all the work she put into it. "I am sure you did well." He turned his head away from her, too prideful to look her in the eyes. She was being much more cautious around him, and Sesshoumaru wasn't sure if he liked it or not. It was an appropriate change after his punishment.

All the more reason why he regretted it. She was already rumored as an exception, he couldn't accept her being fidgety and frightened like the rest of his servants. It was unacceptable.

[Birdie]

His responses were just as short as her own had been. While this was normally, she certainly hoped he could pick up where she was obviously deficient at the moment. Brigantia, usually quite the chatterbox at this time of night, suddenly could not think of a single thing to say. Her throat felt dry and her heart was just a flutter.

Looking him over again she decided he was somewhat approachable at this point. Her legs were very tired. In fact she was just very tired in general. She brought herself up to the open hall and sat down. She did not sit as near Sesshomaru as she normally might have and her body faced directly toward the garden rather than toward him. Brigantia clasped her hands in her lap, staring down at them.

"I ah..." She felt stupid that she could not speak. Maybe she should just go to bed. The tiredness ate down at her weary bones. She could have fallen asleep sitting up, but forced herself awake lest she find herself in a potentially dangerous and extremely uncomfortable situation. "I had help," she fianlly said, unable to keep it a secret. She was trembling again, her finger working to smooth out any and all wrinkles in the fabric of her dress.

[Lord Sesshomaru]

"Hnn..." Now that made more sense. It eased his guilt and he studied her more closely. If she had helped it made her behavior a little more worrying. He had assumed it was only fatigue. There was something very wrong with her demeaner, and although she had helped she was still struggling. Letting out a light huff he forced himself up and stood beside her.

"You should sleep." It was almost a command, and even more so a dismissal. And yet he was holding his hand out to her. Whether she took it or not he found hers and held it gently, but gave a firm squeeze as if to fight off her frailty. He lead her to her room, sliding the door open. He would put her to bed. He would set things right.

"Who helped you?" He asked distractingly, as he set on his task. This whole situation reminded him of Rin. When the girl would try and spend her nights awake with her lord until she could barely walk and was dozing in her spot. It was nice to go back to familiarity.

[Birdie]

His reply was so very noncommittal. It seemed he was not upset with the help she had received. This eased her worry only slightly. So she sat in silence, listening to everything around her. The sound of clothing moving startled her and she looked up to find Sesshomaru standing beside her. Brigantia quickly stood and found a hand held out. She stared at it a long moment, confused until finally she placed her own tiny hand in his. His warmth should not have been so surprising and the squeeze sent shivers down her spine. A hot blush covered her cheeks and she found that her eyes could not moved toward his face.

She allowed him to lead her into her room. Something rung wrong with having a man in here, but her tired mind could not quite make the connection. When his hand let go of hers, something welled in her stomach. Something like disappointment or unhappiness. Her surprise was heightened by his willingness to tuck her into bed. This was something that had never been done for her in the entirety of her memory. It was confusing but highly comforting at the same time.

The futon held her weight softly and the comforter drawn over her was so very warm. It made her eyelids so heavy. No, she couldn't sleep yet! "Aaah... It was Makoto-san and Takehiko-san who helped me. Please don't be mad at them... they were just..." It was so hard to speak and so hard to stay awake. She could not even finish her sentence before Morpheus came to whisk her away to dream land.