The rain slapped at the city of Tirsh. The winter always brought rain. An old woman lead two children through a dark alleyway in the late evening.
"Quit laggen, ya lousy sacs a crow bait!" She called back to the wet children.
They were brothers both with pearly hair and golden eyes . The younger of the tow clung to his elder brother's leg and cried softly. Since two days ago it had been hell for them. It had started with the tall errand girl coming to the house with the news that their father had been slain. After that the would began to spin and this old woman who claimed to be their great aunt had claimed them and treated them as work dogs, making them run about with her choirs and then try to sell them. Sesshomaru, the oldest would have beaten the life from her by now but that was how he had learned of her switch and surprising strength. She had dished him a whipping he would not soon forget. He hated the idea of being sold. Being inherited by a relative was perhaps OK. Being a homeless orphan sucked but being sold made the hair on the back of his neck stand and his innards turn. She led them to a corner piled with boxes . She instructed them to sit as she fumbled with an umbrella.
"What are we doing out hear?" Sesshomaru demanded.
"Waiting." She replied bluntly.
Inuyasha cried harder and Sesshomaru wrapped his arms around him. Goos bumps rose on his arms as a figure approached from the dark back allies. As he got closer Sesshomaru became more nervous. The man had long black hair, pale skin, and bronze eyes. He wore black except for a blue vest with orange marks. "What have you brought me tonight Lane?" His voice made Sesshomaru's skin crawl.
"A bit of crow bait." She replied, "That ones got a mind and a mouth on 'im. Had to whip him already."
" I see." The man crouched down and looked in the oldest eyes, they were fearful but determined. He turned the Shields head this way and that, pinched his arms, and checked his pulse.
"He'll do." The man said handing her some coins.
She exempted the Mont greedily. "What about the other on?" She asked. "Fee. Too scrawny, too young, too easy to tears." Sesshomaru panic ed as he realized they would be separated. He wrapped his arms around his brother protectively as the man pulled on him they clung tightly to each other but were pulled away. Inuyasha sat in the rain limp and defeated as Sesshomaru looked back over his shoulder at his little brother . Once out of sight Sesshomaru looked around, these allies had the presence of danger. He looked up at the man who was constantly watching him. He smirked he could tell he had found a gem.
" What's your name?" He asked the child.
"Sesshomaru." Came the sullen reply.
"And your age?"
"I'm thirteen." The boy answered.
"I am Naraku.I am thirty."He informed him.
After a long silence Sesshomaru spoke. "Where are we going?" Naraku smiled with a creepy evilness that could crack ice. "Home." He replied smoothly. That made Sesshomaru intuition go hay wire. They approached an ally that was coated with a thick shimmering mist.
"A shield." Sesshomaru breathed.
"Good eye." Naraku smirked walking forward s and placing two fingers on the invisible wall it rippled around them as he made a sign on it. The shield dissolved admitting them. Sesshomaru's eyes were wide with curiosity, he'd never seen magic like this. Naraku nudged him.
"In."
Sesshomaru stepped in and Naraku resealed the barrier. As the mist cleared he saw this place though dark and creepy was not lonely. A girl of perhaps 13 or14 years sat on a cushion twirling a dagger looking into space. under a wooden barred that had been nailed in to the wall to guard from the whether. Another girl lay an a be of scraped blankets she was as white as the mist but looked the healthiest of them all. Next to her sat a boy of 11, he leaned on an older girl maybe 16. They were all too thin, and dirty. The girl with the dagger snapped from her daze and lunged at them.
"Food!" She demanded, waking the others. Naraku smiled, she had thrust a small but bulging purse at him. he took it and removed a loaf of bread from his shoulder bag and ave it to her, she ate hastily. "This," Naraku said, "is Kagura." She looked up at him, then returned to her food. "Kanna." he said handing the pale girl her food, "Sango and Kohaku." He passed the two others a loaf.
"This is Sesshomaru." Naraku told them. He received a murmur of welcome as everyone went back to their food.
"Alright, the rules are simple." Naraku said. "You bring in 30 fins a day, if I give an order you follow it. If you don't bring in enough or you misbehave or disrespect me, you get it." He said this pointing to a whip in the corner. He handed Sesshomaru some bread and said "Also, if you want to live very long, don't call me 'Narkies', 'Nakies', or anything in that general neighborhood."
"It was a friggin' joke." Kagura muttered. Kanna giggled.
"You shouldn't stick around Kagura, she's a bad influence." She giggled.
"Can it, Kanna!" Kagura snapped through a mouthful of bread. After Sesshomaru finished, Nakaru approached him with a hot needle, a length of gold string and a bead in the shape of a crescent moon with a cloud on it. Sesshomaru looked around and noted the gold string and bead in the ears of everyone else in the room and realized what was going to happen as Naraku knelt down and pulled Sesshomaru's ear forward, inserting the needle in and making two loops through his ear, slipping the bead on and making three more loops. He then knotted the string and cut it off.
Sesshomaru was biting his lip and it was now bleeding. Naraku laughed.
"Tough as nails I see."
That was just plain irksome! Sesshomaru thought.
Naraku then stood and brought his hand down toward Sesshomaru who immediately reacted by pulling the dagger from his boot and making a swift cut at Naraku, who grabbed his wrist and twisted hard until the silver-haired boy dropped the knife.
"Well you can competently defend yourself." He said.
'He's testing me!' Sesshomaru realized.
"Now," Naraku said, "We are the Lenume Chi." He used the words from the ancient language meaning darkened moon. "Can you write that?" Naraku asked. Sesshomaru moved his foot, making the correct symbol in the dirt.
Naraku was pleased. "That opens the barrier. You can go out but you have to use the sign to get in. Kagura will show you sign language."
The girl nodded and got up to explain how they communicated with their hands from afar when they were trying to be silent. She showed him all the various movements, such as "law enforcement to your (left/right)", "Nobleman down to blocks", "I'm hit, run for you life", and "Wait", "Ready", "Go", as well as ""Behind you" and last of all "I see the target".
"Can you use magic?" Kanna asked, creeping closer. Sesshomaru shook his head. His father had been planning on teaching him some magic, but had been killed. Kanna sighed.
"Oh well, I guess I'm the only one."
"Hey!" Kagura snapped. "So can I!" She clicked her fingers and everyone was engulfed in a cloud of smoke.
"Please refrain from doing that when you are among allies and in a closed off alley!" Naraku snapped as the smoke began to clear. It appeared to all be swirling in Kanna's direction. Once it had completely cleared, Sesshomaru could see Kanna was holding up a mirror which se set down carefully, looking up.
"I made it myself, it can hold anything. Thanks Kagura, now I'll have a bomb for anyone who tries to kill me" She said sarcastically. The older girl grunted.
Sesshomaru turned his attention to Sango and Kohaku- Neither of them had said a word and they looked...broken.
He judged them to be siblings by their skin color and shape of face. He also noticed that unlike Naraku, Kagura, Sango an Kohaku, Kanna's skin and hair, like his own, were unusually fair. She must have Mizaken blood in her, he thought. He himself had been born in the City of Snowy Rivers. After his mother's death, his father had moved them to Tirsh, City of Flowers where he had fallen in love with a native woman. The result had been InuYasha's tan skin.
Kanna had eyes of obsidian that gave him chills when she looked directly at him and she had the air of alpha female.
Naraku tossed Sesshomaru a rolled up blanket.
"Get some sleep, tomorrow may in fact be the longest day of your life." He said this with obvious amusement.
Sesshomaru settled down under the rain shelter. He knew he would need sleep to think clearly. His life was taking a drastic turn and he needed to find InuYasha.
