Chapter II – The Clash Of Wills And A Past Revealed

Mandie looked at the kimono Rin had handed her and had to admit, with its all black background and design of dark green leaves it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. But even so there was no way she was putting it on, not only was it to fine for someone like her to wear, but that would mean discarding the clothes she was wearing now, something that wouldn't only be impractical, but also improper since there wasn't exactly any place for her to change without being over seen. As she looked up into the eyes of the people and demons watching her she shoved the kimono back into Rin's arms, "Thank you but no I think I'll stick with my jeans there a little bit better for walking in the woods". Jakken looked as though the girl had slapped him in the face and he advanced on her "Why you ungrateful little brat Lord Sesshomaru give this fine kimono to you as a gift and you refuse to put it on, you should be punished straight away, why if it were me I'd…" Sesshomaru pushed the little imp demon aside and stood before her, "Your clothes displease me you will change now mutt"

Mandie laughs "oh I'm sorry I don't take orders from pompous jerks who think there better then everyone else." She stands and Jakken and Rin both stare at her in shock, but before either can react Sesshomaru swipes at the girl, leaving her unharmed but holding the pieces of her shredded clothes against herself hoping to preserve some form of dignity. "You pompous jackass what the hell did you do that for!" Sesshomaru turned his back and walked away stopping to sit at the base of a large tree, "Your clothes displeased me if you do not wish to wear the kimono then you can walk as you are now".

Mandie stared at him for a moment and her face and eyes started to turn red. Before she knew what she was doing she leaped from the ground and launched herself at the demon that had shredded her clothes. Somewhere deep in the logical part of her mind she realized a moment to late that she had made a big mistake attacking this particular demon, it might have been when he used her momentum to swing her into the tree or it might have been when he picked her crumpled body up in his claws and she felt them dig into her neck leaving behind trails of blood when they were gone, or.. it might have been when he was crouched over her his teeth bared only a few inches away from her throat his eyes glowing to match her own. When ever she realized she had made the mistake, it was indeed too late and not only did it cost her her pride but her remaining bit of clothes as well. Now as she lay naked under the very pissed off demon scared to move, she was sure that her temper was about to cost her her life. Luckily for her Sesshomaru was intrigued by the half demons strange transformation, and wasn't quite ready for her to die yet. He growled low in his throat and leaned in closer to her neck. Mandie whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut bracing herself for the pain of his fangs ripping out her neck, what she felt however was very different. Sesshomaru ran his tongue up and down the sides of her neck licking away all the blood that his claws had made and the half demon couldn't help but shiver at the sensation. To her eternal shame she could feel her body reacting to the feeling of his tongue on her neck and fought back a moan. Sooner then she would have liked (though she never would have admitted it) Sesshomaru withdrew from over the girl and returned to his tree. "Rin take her to the spring," He turns towards Mandie who is still lying on the ground too shocked to move. "If you try to run, you'll be killed" with that he closes his eyes and it's apparent that they are dismissed.

Rin ran over to the half demon and grabbed her hand "Come on Miss. Mandie." Numbly Mandie stands and lets the little girl drag her away from the clearing and after a few minutes they are at a small spring. Rin sheds her clothes and leads Mandie to the water. When the first of her scratches enters the warm water Mandie lets out a scream that echoes through the forest and Rin drops her hand to cover her ears. "Miss. Mandie you mustn't do that there are other demons in this forest and there not as kind as Lord Sesshomaru, they would gobble us up without thinking twice and then we would be dead." When she stops screaming Rin takes her hand again and though she winces every time a cut or bruise enters the water she doesn't scream again. Once they are fully in Mandie retreats behind a rock and Rin who, though young knew enough of the world to know that she waned to be alone and so left the girl be and began to wash.

Mandie sank down into the water leaving only her nose exposed and let her mind drift. Even underwater she could feel the tears leaking from her eyes and she was glad that no one could see. She had done the stupidest thing possible by attacking without keeping control of herself and she knew that she had brought herself shame by her foolishness.

Many years ago when she was just a small child, Mandie had been taken away from her family and put into a modern day hell they called a foster home. When she first got there the man and women who were suppose to be in charge of taking care of her treated her like a princess, they gave her new clothes, toys and showered her with complements, but after a time, when the social worker stopped coming, everything changed. She became like a slave to them, she was forced to clean and cook and when ever she did anything even the littlest bit wrong she was beaten. She was just like the girl in her favorite story, but with one difference, there was no prince coming to take her away, and so … she ran.

She lived in America then and fled to a place called New York hundreds of miles away from where she lived her storybook nightmare. She ended up at a place called The Learning House, a place where she was promised to learn skills that would let her live in the world by herself. Everything was good there for a while, she learned her lessons along with five other girls her age and they were all safe and happy. But when she turned thirteen she graduated and the real lessons began. Every night she was taken into a room separate from the others and beaten by three men because she wouldn't give them her body. When she wasn't in the room she was locked away in a closet and given hardly anything to eat or drink. It didn't take long before she weakened, but luckily she had someone watching out for her. One night before the men came to take her to the horrid room where they beat her, one of the girls she had become friends with before she turned thirteen, a girl named Rachael unlocked the door to her closet and kneeled before her. "Mandie you have to stop fighting them please if you fight they'll kill you. Just let them do what they please and then this torture will stop, it will be just like it was when we were little please Mandie stop fighting!" After arguing with her for several minutes she finally got her point across and Rachael helped her escape. As quickly as she could run with her failing strength Mandie ran from that place that had turned into another nightmare and never looked back. Mandie ran as far as she could and lucky for her the house was near the edge of the state. She ran as far as she could until her body couldn't take it anymore and then passed out leaving herself completely defenseless to whatever would come.

Away from Mandie's memories a noise sounded near the spring but Rin took no mind of it thinking it to be Jakken who Sesshomaru sometimes sent to watch over her.

When Mandie next woke she was laying on the floor of a strange room covered by a heavy blanket with a wet cloth on her forehead, and sitting next to her was an old man dressed in strange clothes. "Ah I see your awake already I didn't think you would be able to move for quite a while yet." Mandie looked up at the old man and saw kindness in his eyes, "Where am I, who are you?" The old man smiled at her "You are at the Hoshi Shrine in Vermont and I am Hitoshi Fujima the caretaker. Mandie sat up and winced while she had been laying all her mussels had stiffened and the old man took notice. "Still in pain I see well that's to be expected. I'm not sure where you came from but by the looks of it you had a hard time." The old man walked into a room connected to the one Mandie was in and came back with a bowl of hot soup. "Eat this child it will give you some strength." When she had eaten the soup the old man took the bowl away and helped her to sit up more fully. "There now why don't you tell me your name it's hard to speak with someone whose name you don't know. Mandie nodded "My name is Mandie, thank you for taking care of me but, I'm afraid I don't have any money to give you." The old man laughed then and Mandie noticed how his eyes crinkled in a way that made it look as if his eyes were smiling too. "That is not something you need to concern yourself with young one, I did not help you for wish of money." Mandie looks at him puzzled "what other reason could you have for helping me then?" the old man looks at her thoughtfully for a moment "I helped you because I felt that there was much I could teach you and because you really looked like you could use a hand."

After that first day Mandie stayed at the shrine with the old man and in return for his kindness she helped him clean and deal with the visitors that came to the shrine to pray. Little by little without her knowing it Hitoshi taught the girl how to calm her emotions and master her body. She stayed living at the shrine for four years and people came to know her as a shrine madden though she didn't think herself worthy of the title. On her seventeenth birthday Hitoshi surprised her by telling her that she would be going to Japan as an exchange student for the rest of the school year, and although she had become deeply interested in Japanese culture while living at the shrine she was sad to leave her friend and the only place she had ever called home.

As Mandie brought herself from the memories of the past she heard a scream and her head shot above the water. Quickly she climbed on top of the rock and took in what was happening. While she had been lost in her memories a demon had come up to the water and captured Rin. Now she was being held high above in the hand of a slimy green demon and screaming at the top of her lungs. "LORD SESSHOMARU !" But Mandie knew that by the time her precious Lord Sesshomaru came, the little girl would already be dead.

Using her newly shaped mussels Mandie launched herself off of the rock and attacked the demon. He was a big demon but his size gave him a great disadvantage, it made him slow, it also didn't hurt any that he was stupid, because when Mandie bit down on his arm he threw Rin away (luckily into the water) and smacked her hard enough to crush a normal humans skull. As she lay dazed on the ground her injuries adding up, the demon advanced on her, drool practically coming out of its mouth. But Mandie wasn't done for yet, when the demon picked her up in its oversized hand (if you could call it that) she used the last bit of her energy to lash out and claw the beast in the eye, successfully blinding it. Her energy gone she passed out again and prepared to die, praying that Rin at least had had the sense to run away.