Sorry I had to re-list this because my e-mail was being stupid and stuff.
Speaking of new stories…many of you are saying that you want another chapter of 'First Kiss'. Originally it was a one chapter story. If you really want a second (and final) chapter that's cool but exactly how many of you want it?
Anyway on to the story!
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A small shadow slid across the morning sky. Its shape that of a bird. Wings puffed and attention directed towards the darkened forest. Never noticing the two humans below beckoning to it.
The mortals continued to call the fowl even as it darted into the deep woods. They merely giggled at the pointless effort and went on to their work.
Pulling, picking, and plucking the deep herbs that were hidden in the ground. That was their own personal target, luckily the bird call was a quick excuse for a break.
"Almost…Ah!" The teen fell backwards as the herb's exposed stem slipped from her hands.
The elderly woman smiled, "Careful now Rin dear. You mustn't rush these things. Herb picking takes time and concentration."
Rin shook her bangs from her face and sat up once more. The woman was right. She shouldn't be in such a hurry especially with this delicate situation. There were many different plants in this field. Some for medicine, some for poison. But the hardest part was deciphering which was which.
The last thing the girl wanted to do was poison her companions. She could only imagine her master and lord choking out her name in curse as their final breaths.
"Yes I suppose taking time would help." She held the green stem tighter and yanked. It plucked out of the ground easily.
"See now? You take your time and all is well."
"Uh huh," she placed the plant in her tiny basket, "that reminds me. Thank you for letting me use your fields today. We were running low on herbs and it's nice of your village to let us take some."
"Oh it's no problem, sweetie. Always happy to help the good people of this land. I'm only sorry that your friends couldn't join us."
"Yes well my lord and master don't usually do this sort of thing." She pulled another.
"Lord? Master? You are traveling with two men?" She eyed her suspiciously.
She thought about it. Her lord wasn't really a 'man', he was a dog. And the master was a mere imp. Of course Ah-Un was there to but he was…a pet?
"Uh well. I guess you could say that." She giggled with her own confusion.
"….Oh so one of them is your…father?"
"No my parents…they're not of the world any longer." She coughed slightly.
"Then one of these men, you are married to them?"
She blushed, "No. They're just my leaders."
'Pluck'.
Another herb went into the basket, filling it with even more greenery. The old woman watched this mysterious young girl as she kept going with her collecting. It just wasn't natural for a young lady to be traveling with men she only knew as "leaders". The god's only knew what they'd try to pull with a vulnerable, weak teenager.
Lords are usually princes or kings. Masters are teachers. Why would she refer them as such? And no parents to guide her from them.
"Rin why…"
"Mother?"
The two looked up to see the figure of a very pretty girl. Her brown hair in a loose ponytail as her bangs shaded her eyes. Through the tuffs of hair, Rin could see two brown, narrowed eyes glaring down upon them.
"Oh Miza my dear you startled me." She laughed.
"Don't play games mother. You know you shouldn't be out of bed. No working, remember?" She tapped her foot with disappointment.
The old woman stood, "I'm just fine. Work is in my blood."
"In your blood? You nearly broke a hand last time!"
"Well that was just an accident."
"Excuse me?" Rin stood up beside the woman.
Miza's eyes shifted to her.
"It's my fault. I had no idea she wasn't suppose to get out of bed. I asked her to help me, please forgive me." She bowed.
"Oh dear it's not your fault…Oh by the way Miza this is young Rin. Rin this is my daughter, Miza."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." She re-bowed.
"Yeah." She huffed.
Her glaring eyes digging back into her stubborn mother. The flames in her pretty eyes burning the woman to a crisp.
"I'll dig the herbs with her. You go rest." She pointed back towards the village.
"I'll do what I wish. I'm grown."
"Go mother!"
"Oh please. I don't want you getting hurt. Go relax, everything will be fine." Rin smiled.
The woman grunted, "You got lucky Miza. If such a sweet girl like Rin hadn't been here then I'd be back 'a' workin'."
"GOODBYE Mother." She kept her finger pointed until the woman hobbled out of sight.
A sighed escaped her lips as she sat down. Quickly she began pulling the sacred herbs. It was as if her younger companion wasn't there.
Silently, she sat back down and started searching for the correct plants.
"Your mother was very kind…." She spoke.
"Yeah. Yeah. She's always bringing strange people here. Next thing you know she'll let a damn demon in."
Rin stopped, "Is that bad?"
"Hell yes! If some beast gets in this village wouldn't be able to control it! That monster would crush us all."
Her cold gaze turned to Rin.
"Oh well I don't know about that. Not all demons are bad."
"What? Who told you that lie? Demons are the scum of all living things." She jerked a root up.
"No one told me…I just know that not all of them are evil."
"Foolish kid. Those damned bastards should all be killed! A demon slaughtered my father and my sister! They're all pathetic to me."
Rin narrowed her brow, "My family was killed by humans but I know that all humans aren't bad. And it just so happens that a demon saved my life."
"Of course you don't judge humans. You ARE one. And why would an evil monster save YOU?" She stopped pulling and focused on Rin's eyes.
"They're not monsters. And…I don't know why Lord Sesshomaru saved me."
She gasped, "LORD? You obey a…Why the hell would you do that! Humans are the dominate rulers of the land! Any demon should drop to it's knees and praise you!"
Rin moved back a little, "That's not true. All living things are equal."
She laughed, "You poor pathetic girl. A demon has convinced you that you're are inferior to it! How sad."
Unknowingly, the younger girl glared at her older acquaintance. How could she say such things about demons? Sure one killed her family but that doesn't mean all are bad.
"My lord never tried to convince me of anything. I decide what I what to."
"Oh please. Any greedy creature would love to have a powerful human think they're lower than them. Humans are the top rulers, demons can't stand it so they force humans like you that you can't do anything." She smirked.
"No. No you're wrong. Lord Sesshomaru wouldn't do that. He doesn't care about who's ruling."
She tried to sound more assured than she was. After all Jaken had once told her that the dog wanted supreme conquest. That his vision of an empire would be a reality and he would reign as the leader. Still…did that mean he wanted all humans gone? Did he feel they were a threat to his power?
"Look kid. You're still young and stupid. But later on you'll find that this "lord" of yours is nothing but a fraud. He lets you follow him so he can feel dominant over mortals. He doesn't care about you. Hell he may even try to devour you when you get bigger."
Rin looked at the ground. Her heart telling her that Miza was wrong, that Sesshomaru protected her because he cared for her. But her mind debated about it. Many times humans had told her that demons were bad. But after seeing the evil humans could do she could only look to demons as a guide.
But was her lord truly faithful about keeping her in his group. Or was Miza right? Did he only think of himself and dominating these lands? Did he even care about Rin?
"Hmm?"
She looked up when feeling a gentle hand on her shoulder. Miza smiled and squeezed her tighter, "Trust me. Demons and humans live worlds apart. They weren't meant to cross. And….a young girl like you shouldn't have a weak demon lord."
She took her hand off the girl's shoulder and grabbed her own basket of herbs. Rin only sat there unmoved as Miza stood up. She began walking back to her village but stopped and turned.
"Rin do you truly think you will find happiness if you stay with him?"
She said nothing.
"You won't. I promise that he'll bring you misery. You will never find love or a family if you remain with him. He'd never allow you to have a human child to bring him more threat. If you're smart than you'll leave him and join your own kind."
She glared and continued walking.
Rin slowly reached over and gripped her basket.
She…She can't be right. My savior wouldn't want me to leave, would he?
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Sorry if it was to long. I'll update as soon as I can.
Please review.