As everyone slept in the castle, Inuko wandered the halls. She was used to this, 8 hours or so a day with no one to talk to. No friends, no Urashima, no family, just her. But she was fine. Bored, though. Bored and lonely.
The Emperor and the Shoguns had not yet arrived, but were scheduled to do so at 7:00 am. It was about midnight now. Oh, what was she going to do? Perhaps something unusual would catch her attention and provide her amusement. As soon as that thought passed through her mind, she caught whiff of a familiar scent. Alcohol? She sniffed again. It smelled like someone had mixed many brands of sake together, like in the cave where Kiba had accidentally seen her naked.
Shaking that thought from her mind, she followed the scent of alcohol through the long hallways. The way it was spread, it was if someone was trying to make sure they could be followed by scent. Inuko grabbed the handle of her nodachi nervously. Oh, what good would it do her? Ever since she killed Kiba, she didn’t have the spirit to fight, not even for herself. Maybe this would make her look intimidating enough to scare away anything she might find. She could say the same thing about her armor, but it was back in her room, in a sealed box.
After what seemed an eternity, she found the room where the smell was coming from. Inuko wondered if she should be here. The room was right next to the chamber of the Shogun; obviously intended for a spouse or close family members. Creeping forward cautiously, she entered the room. It was a large tatami floored room, with traditional sliding paper and wood fusuma door. It had a modest sized closet, also with a fusuma door. Essentially, it was the same design as every other living/bedroom in the building...except it was almost 3 times larger, had an attached bathroom, and just felt more like a small house than any of the other rooms. It was the sort of room you could start a family in…it had all the features a pair of canines might look for in a den to birth and raise their brood. She took a few more careful steps forward. The most noticeable difference, however, was not the design of the room but how it was furnished. Where she expected to see a futon mattress, there was a pile of furs. The table was surrounded by zabuton made out of animal hides instead of bamboo fiber. As her eyes rolled up to the ceiling, she spotted a large pinup….of herself! This disturbed her greatly, making her take a step back.
Suddenly, the fusuma door quickly slid shut, pushed by an unseen hand. Too scared to move, Inuko did not turn around to see who had closed it. Footsteps, starting from right next to the door, sounded. They were quiet, but still audible with no other noises to drown them out. Whoever was making them was definitely a large, barefooted man, one with a sword on his hip. As the foot steps stopped right behind her and she felt his hot breath on the back of her neck, she braced herself for whatever was coming next. Beating. Cutting. Slashing. Rape. Death. She could take it. Then she caught scent of the man who had trapped her in his room; it was Kiba.
