A Gift for You
By: Aile Anna
Ok. I do not own ANYTHING…except for the fish!
The sun shone brightly on the land. A gentle breeze, warm and caressing, blew cooling the hot summer day. Beside a shallow creek that winded its way through the small valley a child played, skipping happily amongst the lazy flowers growing across the fields. In silent prayer, they bent their petaled heads as the child danced around them.
"Jaken-san," she giggled, "come pick flowers with Rin!" It was more a demand than a request.
The toad like youkai rolled his eyes at the annoying girl. Why did Sesshoumaru-Sama keep the brainless human around? "I do not pick flowers, girl!" His squeaky voice replied. He did not even try to mask his disgust.
Pick flowers in deed! He was Jaken, servant to Sesshoumaru-sama, Great InuYoukai of the Western Lands! He did not pick flowers with witless human girls. Yet, here he stood babysitting his master's ward.
The girl plopped down in the tall grass edging the stream and dangled her feet into the cooling waters. Her black hair lifted slightly in the soft breeze. "Rin wants Sesshoumaru-sama." She sighed. She hated it when he left her alone with the ugly Jaken. He was no fun, except when she was allowed to pick on him. But she was not in the mood to pick a fight with Jaken now. She truly missed her Sesshoumaru-sama.
Jaken eyed the girl suspiciously. Her head was bent down, her hands fidgeting in her lap. Her simple blue kimono adorned with only a cream obi was smudged with dirt and grass stains. He cringed inwardly, knowing how his master disapproved of her soiling her clothes. "What are you doing now, stupid girl?" He did not trust her.
The girl in question looked up, a bright smile on her round face. Jumping up from her seat by the creek, spilling forth a pile of the sweet smelling blossoms she had collected earlier, she skipped over to him. A mischievous twinkle in her large brown eyes alerted the tiny youkai that all was not right here.
"ACK!" He cried out as the girl pounced upon him, crashing him to the ground. His strange staff of two heads flew from his hand to lie harmlessly in the grass a few feet away. As he struggled under the child's weight he screeched out "Get off me, you brat!"
Joyous giggles filled the air and carried on the breeze. "Rin has a gift for Jaken-san!" With great enthusiasm she slipped a floral wreath about the still squirming creature's neck. Once satisfied that her "gift" was secure she leaped off him. Her vibrant smile split her mouth and spread into the depths of her eyes. She truly enjoyed making her guardian's servant miserable!
"What have you done?" Putrid green hands pulled at the wreath. "A ward, a ward!" He exclaimed frantically as he tried to rip Rin's tightly woven flower wreath from his neck. "You stupid wench! Get this thing off me!"
Her eyes only lit up more, if it were at all possible, at Jaken's paranoid cries. "Jaken-san does not like Rin's gift?" The innocence of her voice was followed by her mocking laughter.
"I will make you pay for this, girl!" And with that he scrambled as fast as his little legs could carry him to where his staff lay. Snatching it from the ground he swung it high preparing to bring it down upon the small child's head. Before he could put thought into action the staff was suddenly snatched from his hands and all he swung was air.
"Rin, do leave Jaken alone." Sesshoumaru glared at his servant with malevolent, golden eyes as he spoke to his charge in an almost bored tone.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" She squealed as she rushed up to him. Her eyes beheld him with awe. Standing there in the bright sunlight, his long white hair flowed like water down his back. Amber eyes shone like liquid gold in the sun's glare. Over his shoulder lain his long white tail. "Rin made Sesshoumaru-Sama a gift!" She exclaimed presenting the demon lord with another of the floral wreaths.
"NO, master, it is a…" the stark cold glare of his master ceased his words. Jaken swallowed hard the lump that now stuck like a rock in his throat. He scowled as the child turned to him and stuck out her soft pink tongue. He only narrowed his large bulbous eyes, for fear his master would hurt him if he retaliated against the brat.
Sesshoumaru looked down at her, his face a mask showing no emotion. But his cold yellow eyes flashed his surprise for barely a second before softening on the girl's gift to him. "What is this, Rin?" He asked as if disinterested without, reaching for her offered wreath.
"Rin made Sesshoumaru-sama a flower wreath!" She produced still another of the twisted flower creations and placed it on top of her own head.
"Stupid girl!" Jaken finally managed to squeak out. "The Great InuYoukai does not wear such silly things! I should be…ACK!" His ranting was cut abruptly short. With one swift and graceful motion of his clawed hand the dog demon had swatted the annoying bug eyed servant into the stream. His sputtering and splashing about the only sound he now made.
"Come, Rin. It is cooler in the shade of the trees." He walked off with the girl skipping behind him, leaving a very irate and soaked Jaken to stare after them.
He sprawled beneath the shade of a tall tree, resting his back against the smooth bark. Rin sat next to him, her eyes glistening with joy. She really did not like it when her Sesshoumaru- Sama went wandering off.
He looked down at her. The sweet scent of the flowers crowning her head filled his nostrils. It was a pleasant smell. Their bright white contrasted against the black of her long hair. Reaching out a hand, he picked up the wreath she had made for him. The stems had been woven and tied into tight knots. "Does Sesshoumaru-sama like Rin's gift?" She asked.
What should he say? He was unfamiliar with human customs and ways. He looked at her smiling face and eyes. She seemed very pleased with her present to him. "It is…" Sesshoumaru searched for something to say. "…Nice."
Quite pleased with herself, Rin yawned widely and lay down in the grass next to him. No sooner had her lids closed than she was asleep, curled on her side, hands cushioned beneath her head.
Yes, nice, he thought setting the wreath down next to Rin's sleeping form before he himself succumbed to sleep.
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As for Jaken, he stood neck deep in the slow running water of the stream, staring after the two retreating forms of his master and the human girl. "Stupid girl! I'll get that brat for this. I'll clomp her on her empty head so hard…ACK!" But the rest of the nasty servant's words would never be heard by any except the wind. A large coi, larger than any he had ever seen opened its mottled gold, cream, and white jaws swallowing the foul youkai servant whole…
"KYYYAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!" His croaking scream rent the air. Splat! Slamming into a tree only a few short yards from where his master and the child lay sleeping, his now flattened body peeled to the ground. "Stupid fish! How the hell did he spit me out so far?" He mumbled to himself before he succumbed to the throbbing pain in his head and the ebbing darkness of unconsciousness.
Fin!
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