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Chaper Two:
Rin was running. She had been for, oh, she couldn't even remember how long she had been running anymore. She also forgot why. It felt like she was supposed to run. So, she kept running.
She made it a few more yards before realizing that she was being stupid and wasting her energy; she skidded to a halt. Her hair was wild, not that she noticed or truly cared, and stray branches had torn scratches into her previously scratch-less skin. She thought she would pass out- her legs were aching, her heart was pounding and, well, she didn't know why, but she was feeling bad. Awful, to be more specific.
Rin wiped her face with the collar of her soiled light-blue haori and sank down to the fall foliage. The finely-wrought leaves were soft against her back and she was rather glad that she was away from the village. Sunlight was filtered out through the crispy yellow-shaded leaves and there was hardly any sound, except for Rin's heavy panting and the whisper of the wind through the plant growth. The warm sky was hardly visible through the canopy of trees but Rin could estimate it to be around midday, for she had left soon after speaking to Kaede well in the morning. Rin was thankful to be away from people, questioning stares and angry reprimands-though she would have to bear those after she went back.
This was, perhaps, one of those moments when she understood her Lord's seemingly favorite cold remark, silence is golden.
Her Lord. There he was in her thoughts. Again.
Rin groaned and sat up. You pathetic weakling. She began what looked like a faint grin when she realized how much she sounded like her Lord. Leaves clung to her frizzy hair and dirtied clothes. She wondered what he was doing nowadays. Did he still remember the clumsy little runt that trailed behind him? She doubted it. Tears began to waver her vision. Stop it, you moron.
She hated herself for being so... ignorant, hopeful, what ever the heck she was feeling. And how the metal dagger was strapped to her arm beneath her haori like, pathetic isn't it, like a memento? Rin hastily wiped away her blurry eyes before the tears could actually form.
It took her awhile before she could calm back down and retire to the previously-made imprint of her body in the forest floor.
"Lady Kaede?" Kohaku was upset that Rin had not shown as promised. "Where is Rin?"
It did not help that the old priestess was also upset for some unknown reason. The miko pointed in some vague direction and warned him that she would not be pleased to see anybody. Then she stepped back into the hut leaving a bewildered Kohaku behind on the steps.
Kohaku was not in a good mood. It was hard to be, after spending a mere twenty minutes, which felt like hours, with the twins. How he wanted to wring their tiny necks! Reminding himself that Rin adored the two and would be thoroughly distressed to find them strangled, he exercised his self control and, for safety measures, stuffed his hands back into his pockets.
Now, where was I? The sun was high in the sky. Oh, right. Rin.
He quickly changed into his demon slayer uniform, something that he had come quite accustomed to doing, and dashed towards the edge of the village. The twins chased after him for awhile, but gave up when they saw a young man carrying a barrel of wheat and scampered off to do some devilish thing they always did. He, the awful person he was, didn't even have time to feel sorry for the man.
He prayed to Kami that Rin did not go slaying herself. He'd never let her know, she was hardly able to fend off a low-level demon, without out the help of Kirara and he. I hope she didn't do something reckless.
He realized that he would need Kirara to help him track her. In his anxiety to get to Rin, he forgot that he had no way to track her down. He cursed his idiocy and ran back the way he had come.
Rin woke. She assumed a few hours had passed, after all, she had been "out" for what felt like days. She pressed a palm against her temple and stood up.
If someone had been watching her from afar, it may have been quite humorous to watch her stumble around like a drunk. Rin, however, did not find it amusing in any way and was frustrated that she had no idea where the heck she was. Her sword was, thankfully, still strapped her her waist. Her bow and arrows were stowed away on her back-she wondered how she'd slept with them pressing against her spine- and her dagger, well, was concealed under her sleeve like always, and had still had yet to be used.
Her canteen, however, was empty. She would have cursed, except her throat was too dry and scratchy to produce any type of sound whatsoever. She began her search for a stream nearby. And while I'm at it, she moaned while picking dried mud and leaves off of her clothes, a bath couldn't hurt, either.
Kohaku grabbed the kitten and was on his way out when Sango insisted on him bringing food with him. "You're looking for Rin?" she had asked. "Well, here, bring something for her too. She'll be hungry."
The food smelled good.
Ah, well.
He climbed onto Kirara's back and they were off. The wind nearly knocked him off of Kirara's back and he quickly grabbed onto the fire-cat's coat, careful not to yank out any of her furs. She would be grumpy.
He had been searching for hours, even the kitten was tired. He had been looking for so long that he wanted to add Rin to his "strangle list" behind the twins. But, for some odd reason, he chuckled with the realization, he just wanted to see her smiling face, hear her light, chime-y laughter and... and... He just wanted to be next to her.
He mentally slapped himself. Soon, he would have trouble convincing himself that all she was was his little-kid sister. He tightened his grip on his weapon when he heard a low growl from the woods.
Please stay safe, Rin.
Rin was sitting beside the river. She had no intention of heading back to the village, even though the sun was starting to set. She knew that Kaede and Kagome wouldn't be so lenient this time. This was her third "excursion" in a week, and the villagers were probably getting tired of having to scavenger hunt for a disoriented teenage girl every evening. Ah. Well, I didn't ask for them to waste their breath. Birds were flying overhead- all she could make of them was a fuzzy outline of their silhouette in contrast to the orange-streaked sky. She wondered where they were going. Well. Duh. They were flying to their home. Something Rin felt that she still didn't have.
She sighed and shook the droplets out of her wet hair, before she let herself get too sentimental. Rin enjoyed feeling clean. She stood up and brushed off the water on her legs. It was cold, and she wanted to find something to do before freezing herself to death.
The wind was tousling her hair, tugging it this way and that. Her hair was straight, something that she hadn't known until after her travels with her Lord were over. She had always longed for the smooth, silky hair that the rich girls in her previous village had, as opposed to the dirt-streaked, mud-coated fringe that covered her head. After a nice, thorough wash one day in the stream, she noticed that it was something she did in fact inherit, and she marveled in how her hair would swirl and twist and do all of those fun things the "prissy" girls did with their hair.
Not that she did much with her beautiful hair. On good days, she put it in a loose pony-tail, like the ones that most common village girls wore, and one others, she just left it down and cursed when it got in her way. On one particularly bad day, she took out her sword and hacked off a good ten inches of her hair and tossed it into a campfire. Kagome then helped her fix her lousily cut hair and made her swear not to get "crazy explosive moments" like that.
Hn.
She spotted a daisy. And another. Another. The flowers smiled at her and she smiled back.
For once in her life, she felt completely care-free as she looked for daisies to make a chain with.
Mental correction. For once in the past decade, she felt completely care-free.
Before that- well. She didn't even want to think about before that. Rin left that trail of thought behind and busied herself with the glowing patch of daisies before her.
Stupid girl. Kohaku cursed. Her friggin' trail dissappeared?
Kirara was circling around a certain river, growling, or making that weird sound she always made when she was confused and worried. He picked her up, she was in tiny mode, and cradled her in his arms. "She'll come back, don't worry Kirara."
Feh. He was having trouble believing that.
He sat down on the riverbank, the kitten curled up in his lap. "I wonder where she ran off to."
The cat purred in response. Or what Kohaku thought was a response. Maybe she was just purring because he was stroking her.
He sat silently for awhile, enjoying the peace that he knew was soon to be left behind, lest he head back to the village. The river was so clear that he could see the pebbles beneath the flowing water. There was one that looked like it was shaped like a heart.
He wadded up his pant and slowly inched into the water. Kohaku waded through the current, keeping his eye on the tiny pebble, and prayed that the miniature heart wouldn't be swept away. Kirara watched him wide-eyed on the bank.
Ha! Got it! He leaned over the grab the pebble and grinned triumphantly when he reached it.
Kohaku didn't really know what happened next. It took him awhile to let his mind catch up when he noticed that he was sitting on his rear end in the cold water. Kirara was... He swore he was the first person to ever see a laughing kitten. "Kirara! It's not funny!"
He groaned. Where were his demon slayer reflexes when he needed them?
Rin completed the last of her daisy chain when she heard a strange noise behind her. Dropping her masterpiece, she turned to see a demon.
A low level one, of course.
Eh. Make that two.
She had no idea how the heck the demons snuck up on her while she was making the flower chain- it had been completely silent because she had been listening to the wind for secret messages from the spirits. She blushed at how stupid that sounded.
Rin stood there, completely frozen. Idiot! Move! She screamed in her mind. Nobody is gonna save your ass this time! She winced at the realization. Her Lord wouldn't be there for her. Neither would Kohaku. She had never faced a demon alone before, well, actually, she did, and that ended with her dying.
She had no idea how she would get out of this.
The demons seemed to be multiplying by the second.
She cursed/screamed in her mind. Do something you idiot!
I'll wait for one to lunge at me first, then I'll kill it.
Nice game plan there, wimp.
Shut up.
She had no idea how she would get out of this.
