If Kagome thought Marika’s tantrums would be her last trial of the day, she was sorely mistaken.

Worn down to the bone, she longed for nothing more than to rest. But seeing the maids clustered, wary and whispering, on the veranda outside her rooms made her stomach sink in dread. Squaring her shoulders, she approached them. Frowning and pale, they saw her and drew back.

“What’s going on?” Kagome demanded.

“Milady,” the eldest of the maids began, “Natsuko…-dono is within.”

Kagome glowered. “What do you mean she’s ‘within’? I told you I didn’t want any disturbances tonight.”

“Yes, milady—we told her as such, yet should would not heed us.” The elder maid’s features grew drawn. “She is in a frightful temper…”

Kagome sighed tersely. Dismissing them with a wave, she braced herself for whatever scene awaited her within these rooms that were supposed to be her one private sanctum in this infernal place. Natsuko was never one to disappoint when it came to theatrics. Shoving the screen aside, Kagome saw this was no exception—

The room lay in total chaos.

Kagome’s eye didn’t even know where to land in all the disorder. Vases were smashed. Wall hangings were ripped down. Silks were shredded. Jewels and trinkets lay scattered. Cabinet drawers had been ripped out, and tables and chairs overturned. In the midst of all this lovely rubble, Natsuko sat crossed-armed and glaring at her from a silk settee, which had clearly taken a vicious slash or two.

From the threshold, Kagome glared back. “Nice work, Natsuko-chan. Pleased with yourself?”

Natsuko rose in a fury. Her eyes flashed as watery and bright as the gems that glimmered from her hair, neck and fingers. Wrenching one of the rings off—a golden one with a sapphire the size of a small grape—she chucked it at Kagome. It missed by a longshot and thudded to the tatami floor instead. Natsuko growled in frustration. In a flurry of silks, she stalked unsteadily toward Kagome, her round cheeks flushed with far too much drink.

“That’s for your little slut,” Natsuko slurred, the scarlet curve of her lips dripping with malice. “Let her have my scraps, if she’s so desperate for them.”

Kagome closed her eyes swiftly for restraint. “You’re drunk out of your mind. Go to your quarters. We’ll talk in the morning.”

At this cold dismissal, Natsuko wilted, sobering slightly. “No, we won’t. You’ll just ignore me again, like you’ve been doing for days. All because of that—that stupid chit. Chiyako,” she spat, her mouth twisting at Kagome’s stormy expression. “I thought she was a passing fling, but she isn’t, is she? You’re going to move her in here—you’re going to replace me with her, aren’t you? Give her my court probably, all of my things—aren’t you? Well?”

Kagome strode past her. “I’m not having this discussion with you now.”

Seizing Kagome from behind by the waist, Natsuko clung to her with trembling desperation. “What’s so special about her?—tell me! What can she do for you, Kagome-sama? What can she do for you that I can’t?”

“She minds what I tell her, for one,” Kagome said angrily, shaking her off. “I’ve spoiled you too much. You never used to be this whiny. It’s annoying.”

Behind her Natsuko whimpered, “You’re so cruel.”

Kagome turned back, exasperated. “Cruel? If I were cruel, Natsuko-chan, I’d say that you were getting fat.” As Natsuko’s face fell like she’d been run through with a blade, Kagome sighed, relenting. “Listen, I—”

“No!” Natsuko wailed, shrinking back like a wounded animal. “Do you think I can’t see it? I’m not a fool! I’m old to you now—old, even though I’m younger! But it’s true—I’ve dimmed, and you haven’t. You still look like a fresh young maid.”

Kagome grit her teeth in dismay. It was a lie, this glowing vitality of hers. A symptom of the very disease that was killing her.

“That’s all in your head,” she ground out.

“No, it isn’t!” Natsuko cried. “It’s unnatural—you’re unnatural.” Fear and loathing shivered in her dark almond eyes. “…You’re a monster.”

Stumbling back, Natsuko turned and lurched toward the door.

“Natsuko!” Kagome shouted after her, as she fled heedless into the night.

It was only then, in the still dark thereafter, that Kagome realized her flesh had begun to burn. With difficulty, she quelled the reddish glow emanating from her, and sank down onto the torn settee. Lying there alone in the wreckage, Kagome almost wished that Kanako were here. No matter how black Kagome’s mood, or how frightful her displays of power, the waif never quailed for long. If she were here, she’d already be scrambling about to clear things up, and distract Kagome with her prattle.

But then if Kanako were here, Natsuko would be long dead, Kagome thought grimly, her leaden eyelids dragging downward.

It was then that she heard a strangled scream from the courtyard beyond.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi