The sound of grass softly crunches underneath the weight of footsteps that seem to echo and reverberate throughout the quiet setting of the forest. The sight of a village enters their field of vision as the group halts at the top of the hill in order to survey their surroundings.
One of the cloaked figures withdrew a piece of parchment from a compartment, unfolded the sheet, and read the information in a masculine tone, "Target: A village that's nestled between two mountains' valleys."
"Did recon report yet?" a feminine voice inquisitively inquires as she casually peers over one of her shoulders as a gesture to show that the male with the paper in his hands currently has her attention.
"My lady," another masculine voice surfaces from a similar cloak materializes in the midst of the group with a message, "It appears as if all of the townspeople have gather together for what I assume is an annual festival. Every single last one of the homes are completely cleared."
The woman in the cloak idly lifts her head towards the sky, briefly catches a glimpse of a crescent moon at its zenith when the scent of a inu-youkai unexpectedly hits her nose, and mentally assumes, 'There's something not right about this village. What is it?'
Her eyes eventually descended on the village that was their assigned target after her consciousness abruptly told her that there was only one to figure out the truth and that was to discover it on her own accord.
"If anyone of you are seized, don't reveal anything! Also in a time period of three days, we will return and burn down the village if we discover any abominations. Understood?" the woman dutifully spiels about the procedure's routine whenever they start a mission.
"Yes ma'am." The group unanimously response before the woman promptly adds, "If you come in to any contact with innocent bystanders stick to the shadows unless you spot the criminal." "Take their heads in order to secure their bounty."
The group simultaneously nods their heads after they closely listen to the mission's objectives from their leader, who points her index finger toward the village after she extends one of her arms in the air.
"Try to eliminate as many as you possibly can before the festival is over! Now let's go!" The woman loudly bellows while she quickly draws her arm back inside of her cloak and speedily advances toward the village below them.
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"Lord Sesshomaru, they simply adore you!" a small green toad that resembles a miniature man shrieked as he leaned his weight on to his wooden two headed staff. He was dressed in a formal brown monk's suit with a black hat.
The green toad sights land on what appears to be a human male with waist-length snow white hair, pale skin, a purple crescent moon adores his forehead, with two small red fangs on each cheek, and bold red stripes across each upper eyelid. Golden yellow eyes bore in to the toad's yellow eyes as he begun to resent what he just said to his lord.
Since the toad did not want to be on the bad end of his lord's hand, he quickly apologizes for his sudden outburst. He simply watches as his lord leisurely ambles away from him and onto the wooden stage, which was recently built for this special occasion.
As the male name Sesshomaru settles down on a rather large purple cushion that was his spot on the stage, the crowd seems to be in pure ecstasy since the Lord Sesshomaru graces their village with his presence.
'What am I really doing here? I don't really care about human life…so why do these people worship me like I am God or something?' These were the series of thoughts that passes through his head until he overhears the voice of his companion.
"Lord Sesshomaru has fought millions of youkais for as long as I have traveled alongside him! I have seen no youkai to ever draw blood from any part of the Lord's pristine face! As for I, my name is Jaken, but that is not important. May Lord Sesshomaru never be defeated in this life or in the afterlife!" The green toad name Jaken, happily expresses his utmost praises for lord.
The heartfelt stories Jaken had disclosed to the crowd left them completely enumerate with the lord. It was nothing but mere words to him since often times the toad demon was a burden a complete nuisance. On the other hand, he diligently serves as Rin's babysitter.
An unfamiliar demonic scent passes through his nostrils, which leaves him to wonder where the source of the odor emits from, 'It's nothing but humans here. So why do I smell…a neko youkai?'
Sesshomaru silently scopes out the entire crowd of human bodies that presently stands before him yet there were no youkai let only a neko youkai within his immediate sight. He immediately removes himself from the surface of the oversize pillow and gracefully leaps from the stage.
Jaken hastily whirls his head in his Lord Sesshomaru direction only to watch Sesshomaru flies away from the stage while his loud cries of "My Lord!" falls on deaf ears.
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The cloaked figure critically studies her current surroundings when they inwardly conceives, 'This traditional Japanese style mansion really lives up to its intended potential.'
'Whoever lives here…has a lot of money.' The woman mentally concludes before an extremely bright light blinds her and a child's voice speaks from what she assumes was the living room.
"I can't go to the festival! That's no fair!" A little girl's voice unexpectedly rings in the woman's ears.
"You're in absolutely no type of condition to go! Do you want to run the risk of getting worse, Lady Rin?" another female's voice was heard while the cloaked figure glanced to her left and right before she retraced her steps.
'So that was what I smelt earlier when I was outside the house…a little girl with her nanny?' the woman deduces when she passes over a hollow spot under the wooden platform.
'I must be dreaming.' She thinks before she backtracks her steps to confirm whether or not she imagines the sound and once again a different noise emits from the floor unlike the other parts of the house.
'It's only one way to find out.' The woman inwardly suggests after she quickly squats and slowly lifts her right hand's index and middle finger while her ring and pinkie fingers bend in to her palm while the thumb rests against the index finger.
"What are you doing in my home?" A male voice's questions as claws threateningly presses against her neck right before she was about to open the hidden door. Her nose immediately registers the scent as that of a very strong and powerful inu-youkai.
'How were they able to completely mask their scent?' she irritably wonders when she slowly releases a held breath while she mentally conjures up a plan to escape with her life and limbs still intact.
Sesshomaru finally located the scent of a powerful neko youkai, who presently stands in front of him. His suspensions were accurate after he witnessed a shadowy figure attempt to pry inside of his storage area.
He merely tightens his firm grip around his intruder's neck since he purposely poise his grip over the figure's jugular vein.
The cloaked figure simply rolled backward in order to create an open space between her and the owner of the home when she came face to face with who the house belongs to.
'I must be lucky…I hit the Lord of the West vacation home…Lord Sesshomaru.' She contemplates to herself while she fights down the urge to smirk at the turn of events due to her luck.
She carefully observes the white haired inu-youkai leisurely withdraw his outstretch arm and gently rests at his side.
"Tell me your name, robber?" the dog demon demands for a name as he tries to figure out the identity of the assailant, who hides behind a pair of black goggles and a beige cloak that radiates the scent of a neko-youkai.
Sesshomaru listens to the robber chuckle to themselves at the question that they were just asked, "...and why would the Lord of the West show interest in a mere criminal whose goal is to earn a little money so that they can eat? That's not like you."
His eyes narrowed in on the cloaked figure before he threw his hand toward the assailant, which emitted a white lights from his fingertips. He observes the intruder dash toward the huge wall that encompasses his entire property.
Sesshomaru directs his other hand, which is now stain green due the poison from his claws, at the figure clad in a cloak. He notices that the only damage his claws manage to do results in a small hole in their cloak. This leads him to assume, 'They must have side step at the last minute.'
'So much for me being a gracious uninvited guest. When I tried to leave, he burned a hole through my cloak.' She mulls over to herself as she inspects the now rather large hole in her cloak when a flash of white captures her attention.
'How are they able to dodge majority of my attacks?' Sesshomaru curiously ponders to himself as the figure abruptly veers left toward the garden after he repeatedly emits the white whips from his fingertips.
"Is that all the Lord of the West has to offer?" the cloak woman defiantly taunts him after she suddenly manifests in front of him and hastily executes a quick draw, deeply slashes his cheek, and safely lands a favorable distance away from the inu-youkai.
He raises his hand to his face when he realizes that there was something that drips from his cheek and on to the floor. He inspects his fingertips to see that it was his blood. 'Whoever this is have some fighting experience.'
The cloaked figure closely witnesses the inu youkai's skin suddenly burn until the cut that she creates was no longer visible. 'I really may have to go all out here in order to stay alive.'
The figure quickly assess the battlefield when an idea surfaces to the forefront of her mind while she recovers her entire body within the beige cloak.
Sesshomaru critically observes the movements of his opponent in front of him when he instantly notices that they now rapidly dashes in his direction. The pond water soon forms the shape of a wall that travels toward him.
The figure's shadow hides behind the wall, which prompts him to fire a whip to split the wall of water right down the middle when it reveals the intruder's cloak instead of their body.
Sesshomaru promptly feels the sharp edge of the intruder's blade harshly press up against his neck.
"Don't move or your head is mine." the now uncloaked figure threaten not aware that he utilized his free hand in order to spray a cloud of acid behind him that forced the intruder to remove the blade from his neck.
'Now let's see who this robber really is.' He inwardly presumes once he emerges from inside of his acid cloud. He then blocks a kick with his forearm that was aim at his head before he pushes a weightless body away from him.
Sesshomaru sharply follows their scented trail only to discover that the person escaped inside of the house that led him to suspect, 'Is their target Rin?'
He swiftly selects an alternative yet faster route toward where Rin currently rests up due to her being ill.
'Should I take hostages?' the figure wondered since she knew that that would give her some type of leeway for a bargain plus a guaranteed means of escape.
She halts in the middle of her path when she realizes that this was where she needs to be because the filthy odor of that inu-youkai grows stronger and stronger. She proceeds to regularly search for the nearest exit to her potential freedom when her instincts abruptly advises her to jump upward.
'Good thing I jumped or that would've been my leg.' She considers while she observes from the air a white whip retracts back to its user, Lord Sesshomaru.
Sesshomaru eventually catches a glimpse of the robber's long jet black hair due to the light that slightly peeks through the crack from where Rin currently rests up at.
'Do they plan on taking a hostage?' he considers when he notices that the assailant halts at Rin's room before they continue to run throughout his house.
'So that's where they were going all along then.'
'This is way too easy…' she deems as a spherical white light ensnares her attention when it develops in to none other but the Lord of the West himself, Sesshomaru.
'I knew it.' She mentally confirms to herself while she confidently stares down Sesshomaru. He silently appraised the individual, who broke inside of his home, tried to rob him and ended up with a good spar.
Sesshomaru shockingly behold a woman with long jet black hair with blonde tips that was styled in a ponytail but it was her red eyes that intensively glared at him that captures his attention.
She was clad in a tight black body suit that had red shoulder pads, a mesh protector that guards her stomach with a black sash that holds it in place, red kneepads over her knees and black gauntlets around her wrists.
Her cat's eyes contract due to the small amount of light that radiates from the crescent moon in the night sky.
Sesshomaru identified the weapon that she had used to cut his cheek with was a small wakizashi that rest against the back of her waist. Her skin was slightly tanned and she stood about five foot six tall.
'I was fighting a woman all along?' he wonders to himself while he retraces the entire fight with this woman and swears he seen her fight somewhere before.
"So what do you do now Lord Sesshomaru, the Lord of the West? Do you strike down an innocent woman, whose a bounty hunter, and was merely doing her intended job?" the woman in front of him questions his intentions for her as she displays no signs of fear in her tone.
'A bounty hunter…' he repeats to himself since for some reason her story did not align up to his beliefs.
"As my fellow warriors would gladly tell you if they were near this vicinity that they could confirm the validity of my job." The woman voices as she rests her left hand on her left hip and shifts her weight to the right.
"You expect me to believe that story?" Sesshomaru calmly inquires about what was really her purpose for being at one of his vacation homes.
"The proof is on my arm. However, as you can see I am fully clothe at the moment and there's no way for me to show it to you without revealing some of my feminine features to you." The woman firmly asserts as she maintains what he deems as her poker face.
"Lord Sesshomaru, is this a friend of yours?" A little girl's voice unexpectedly interrupts their conversation when their attention swiftly whirls toward her.
Out of the blue, the sound of a empty stomach loudly growls emit from the woman's stomach as she blushes out embarrassment at the moment.
'This is so freaking embarrassing…' she broods to herself as she attempts to muffle the loud noise, "Lord Sesshomaru, can this lady come in and eat dinner with us?"
"It's up to her, since she will be your guest." He expresses in a nonchalant manner while Rin canters toward the jet black haired woman and secures her hand after Sesshomaru bypasses the pair.
"Come on in, Maiko-chan cooked a lot of food!" The little girl happily proclaims while she drags her inside of Sesshomaru's house.
'I am hungry…so I don't see why not…'