Chapter 2: Sesshoumaru
He had been enjoying the night when he heard her stumble through the undergrowth, headed right in his direction. Sighing inwardly he raised an eyebrow when he recognised her scent; it was that hanyous' wench. What are the chances that she would come upon him when she had the whole forest to roam? Next to nothing. So of course that was when he saw her push her way past some bushes and into his clearing, her sigh of relief was easily heard, obviously she had wanted to find a clearing for whatever reason.
She made her way forward carefully and he realised that in the darkness of the eclipse and her being a human with a human's weak eyesight, she would be close to or completely blind, but the night was too peaceful to make use of this advantage, and slaughtering someone be they human or not, was not honourable when they are unable to defend themselves.
With the direction she was heading, she would walk right by him and so he decided that it was time for some light entertainment. He was glad no one could see him do something as foolish as what he was about to do, but even demon lords need some fun every now and then. As she came past he placed a foot out in front of her and watched with some satisfaction as she tripped and sprawled face first on the ground. Apparently she trips herself up a lot as she seemed not too surprised that she had fallen even though she was walking very carefully. Smirking he watched her twist onto her back.
'Watch where you are going human.' She sat up quickly and he could see her trying to break the darkness, but she obviously could not see him. To his surprise she felt no fear; what was wrong with her? As far as he was concerned he had made it blatantly obvious he was a yokai, but she must not have caught on because she talked back to him! She even mentioned that she was blind, telling him her weakness. He knew she had no idea who he was; otherwise he would have considered killing her for her disrespect.
But to his complete surprise he suddenly heard her apologise. So he did something he normally never did with a human, he read her aura and took a long breath of her scent. She felt guilty and was truly sorry for what she had done! Very unusual, he checked the sky but remembered that it was an eclipse tonight, for he had once told someone that the day a human apologised and meant it, that night the moon would turn blue. The eclipse must be making this human do some very weird things.
'Hn.' His standard answer. The human huffed and stood up, he expected her to leave, and she seemed to be doing just that, but when she reached the other side of the clearing she stopped by a tree, and amazingly sat down. He decided to try and reinforce the point that he was yokai, and being in the same clearing as him was not a good idea.
'Human, you are not leaving?' Satisfied that he had made the word 'human' sound as if it was the worst thing to have ever bothered to exist, he waited for her to leave, but instead he got a reply,
'No, yokai, I am not.' So she knew he was yokai? Interesting. She also managed to make yokai sound even worse then human, pretty amusing, he was almost tempted to smile.
'If you know I am yokai then why do you not leave?' Most likely the longest sentence he'd said in a month.
She proceeded to explain that he would have killed her already if he wanted to and that she had, indeed, been searching for a clearing and that the possibility of being killed was not a good enough reason to leave now that she had found one. Very interesting, it was almost worth having his peaceful night interrupted just to speak to this unusual human.
He suddenly realised that he had no idea what her name was, but there was no way in the seven hells that he would ask first. At the moment the human seemed deep in thought and so he took the time to study her, she was wearing her usual horribly indecent clothing and he was surprised that she wasn't cold, indeed she seemed completely oblivious to the increasing bite of the wind, whilst he could not feel cold he could tell that the temperature was slowly dropping.
He was wrenched out of his thoughts when she mentioned Inuyasha, in fact what she said was very amusing if not confusing, apparently she was going to 'sit' him until he reached 'America', wherever that was. His curiosity increased.
'Inuyasha?' He wondered why she was so angry with his idiotic half-brother, her aura was flaring wildly, but even though he knew she was a miko, he could hardly feel her power at all, was she so weak? Her aura, whilst strong in personality, hardly contained any miko power at all. She mistook his question, apparently believing he did not know who Inuyasha was; she also blamed Inuyasha for being 'in this situation.' He did not believe she was in a situation, if he was trying to kill her, then maybe that would be a situation, but right now she was having a conversation, one he was even participating in, with the Lord of the Western Lands, and he had yet to even threaten her life.
When he questioned her she went on to explain why she was angry, for some reason he was actually interested. Then realising he could gain some information on the tetsaiga he pretended to not know who Inuyasha was, saying he had heard of him before, the hanyou who could kill 100 yokai with one sweep of his sword. The girl nodded apparently forgetting that in the darkness he should have not been able to see her. She went on the explain about the sword, but it was nothing he didn't know all ready, he was surprised that she gave up the information so easily, she must be really angry with his brother, she even mentioned the fight between Inuyasha and him.
Returning to her thoughts, he watched, contemplating leaving when all of a sudden she muttered something that nearly made him laugh, and whilst that didn't happen it did surprise a chuckle out of him. She looked at him surprised. He was very amused; she believed if she had given the sword to him she may have received gratitude? Then he realised she was being sarcastic, but he decided to continue this line of thought, it was amusing and this night he had been more interested and amused by something than in the last century, in fact he wasn't sure if a human had ever interested him this much before.
He told her that 'Lord Sesshoumaru' would not have been grateful to her, but that she should have given the sword over anyway, for some reason he did not reveal his identity and she did not seem to care who she was speaking to. Then a sudden curiosity hit him, but he forced himself to sound uninterested,
'What do you think of him?' He asked, comforted in the thought that for once he was going to get an honest answer, as the girl did not know she was speaking to Sesshoumaru himself.
'Well he tried to melt me.' She stated immediately, and for some reason he almost felt guilty…almost. Watching her carefully he listened as she continued, and was shocked as from what she said it almost sounded like she forgave him.
'You have forgiven him?' He was unable to hide the surprise from his voice, he had to know if she had, he had never met a demon, let alone a human; who had forgiven and understood the motivation of why another would try to kill them.
She explained that she had and why, and how it didn't seem to matter because the Tetsaiga had protected her, she even insinuated that it might have been painless.
He couldn't believe it, sounding as sarcastic as possible he replied,
'He tried to melt you, I don't call that any form of painless.' And to his amazement, she defended him. She went into a long speech about why it didn't matter, about his probable motivations and she even went so far as to blame herself for Sesshoumaru nearly killing her. It touched him. He was actually touched that someone would set aside her anger and even try to understand the reasons behind his actions.
Watching her he could smell her changing emotions, it seems she was as confused about her defending him as he was. Suddenly she drew her knees up and even he could clearly see her shivering from across the clearing, apparently the cold had finally gotten to her.
He tried to convince himself it didn't matter, but it became obvious that the cold may be too much for her weak human body to withstand, and his honour wouldn't let him watch her die from the cold after she defended him so thoroughly. Standing he silently made his way over to her, unruffled by the cold breeze flowing over the grass. Keeping his senses aware he noticed no demons nearby, he had been horribly distracted and had even let his guard down whilst talking to her, a mistake he hadn't made since he was a child. It was unnerving that she could do this to him. Putting his mouth right next to her ear he whispered to her,
'You are cold ningen.' Normally he would have been satisfied as her heart stuttered over a few beats, but for some reason it annoyed him that he had scared her, but she quickly regained herself, and the slight whiff of fear he had smelt coming off of her disappeared, replaced with wary annoyance then even…happiness?
'Yeah, but don't worry I shouldn't die from a breeze.' She joked with him. Again he was slightly surprised, even though she did not know who he was, no one had ever joked with him, even his father had always been serious around him.
'Yes, you might.' He replied, recovering. Reaching round her he picked her up, put her in his lap, and wrapped his pelt around her. He tried, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't be disgusted with the thought of this human sitting in his lap, not when she had defended his honour whilst believing she would get nothing in return.
'No, you don't have to. I know yokai don't like ningen, you don't need to do this.' At first he thought she objected because she didn't wish to be in the lap of a yokai, but then he realised that she truly meant what she said, her aura was one of understanding, not disgust. Pulling her closer he was relieved to see that her shaking had stopped as had her teeth chattering.
'This is for forgiving m…Sesshoumaru, not many understand what he is like.' He had nearly slipped up, that also didn't happen often, she inspired the most interesting reactions from him, and for some reason he didn't want her to know who he was, she would probably run, scream, throw insults at him, all the usual things and for some reason he didn't want that to come from her.
Relaxing he let his senses analyze the surroundings, finding no threat nearby he refocused his attention on the girl in his arms when he suddenly felt her stiffen, wondering what was wrong he absently rubbed circles on her back through his pelt, as she slowly relaxed he asked her,
'What now ningen?'
'I have no idea who you are.' She replied to his amusement.
'Neither I, you.' He responded, he saw her aura shift and the faint smell of guilt and embarrassment wafted through to him. Shifting in his lap she stuck out her hand to him, he regarded it curiously, wondering what she thought him to do with it. Then she introduced herself, at first he wondered what to do, tell her who he was or not, he sensed her alarm when she realised she had let slip about the shikon no tama, but he was not interested in trivialities such as the jewel.
Taking her hand he kissed it as a lord would a lady, amazingly a blush spread over her features, clearly she had not expected that, he wondered again what she had expected him to do with her hand. As she regained her hand he decided to give her a clue on who he was, if she could figure it out then good for her if not then good for him. Quickly working it out he told her his name backwards and even said he was the lord of the western lands, his proper title; but still she remained none the wiser. At first he was disappointed by her apparent lack of intelligence, but then he realised it was not a lack of intelligence, merely her too trusting nature that led her to be so easily deceived, after that he was relieved as he did not know how she would react to knowing who he was and that thought was not a good one, he prided himself in his ability to always know how others would react to a situation.
He was pulled roughly from his thoughts when her miko aura suddenly started to rub against his yokai, stiffening he waited for her to attempt to purify him, but it never came, instead her miko aura now considerably stronger than before, continued to caress his yokai, it created the most curious sensation, but the purity of it only reminded him that he was less then pure both physically and mentally, mentally he was less as he had killed more then he could count and physically he was missing his arm, yes less than pure. Slowly relaxing again he enjoyed the sensation, liking the feeling of her resting against him and trying to drown out his dark thoughts. This was the first time a female of any species sat in his lap and did not try to seduce him; it was a rather pleasant experience.
But that quickly ended when she turned and straddled him, he was immediately wary, he had thought she was better than this. Waiting for her to begin some form of seduction or another he actually felt regretful, but she completely surprised him, telling him he was missing something and she wanted to help.
'This Se…Ohses does not require healing.' He told her, angry that she thought him weak enough to require healing from a human. But apparently she was going to ignore him because her aura pushed past his yokai and started to move over him, he was taken completely by surprise, stiffening he growled warningly, it actually seemed as if she didn't realise the position she was in, she could purify him right now and there was nothing he could do to stop it, he briefly considered dumping her off his lap and leaving, but no sooner had he had this thought when her aura came upon his stump, it stopped moving and swirled around and her aura changed from curiosity and determination to shock,
'Sesshoumaru.' He heard his name come from her filled with surprise, he waited for the surprise to turn to anger or disgust, but then realised if it did, he couldn't deal with it, she was the first being who had actually treated him like a person (except Rin, but she didn't count, she was too young to realise the danger he represented), for the first time in centuries he decided to retreat, to run, to escape before she changed into someone he didn't want to know, the angry, distrustful person all beings became around demons.
But before he could move a hand was placed on his chest, looking down he saw her looking blindly into the space she supposed his face to be,
'Don't you dare run Sesshoumaru,' He glared at her, how did she know he was going to run? 'How am I supposed to heal you arm if you leave?'
He was taken by surprise… again. She did not fear him? She still wished to help? But… that didn't make sense, sure she said she had forgiven him, but that was before she knew who she was talking too, could it be true? He had tried to kill her and she brushed it aside and now wished to heal the very arm his brother had taken whilst protecting her.
The placement of her hands on his shoulders brought him crashing back to reality, he watched as she suddenly started to glow, and then it hit him, the full power of her miko aura, it was as if she had opened a door and the full power could now come out, she must keep it locked away in her mind until she needs it, she was in no way as weak as he had first believed her to be.
Then the incredible power that was her miko aura was pushed through her hands and into him, and it hurt, his yokai automatically went to his defence, reaching out for the girl it started smothering her, and even though her power was large it was not as big as his, as it smothered her he could feel her strength waning and he was very tempted to just let his yokai do away with her, but then she spoke,
'Control yourself Sesshoumaru; I am not going to purify you.' At first he was incensed that she believed she could speak to him like that, she had no excuse now that she knew who he was, but as he felt his yokai continue to eat at her he realised he couldn't kill her this way, not when she was apparently trying to help him. Reaching out he gathered his yokai to him and forced it back into it's cage, as soon as he did he felt her sag against him, but then her miko aura continued its journey down both his arms and it burnt, like having fire on the inside of his skin, but he voiced no complaint, as she had as of yet to purify him and he had felt worse, not that he could remember it right now but he was sure to later.
That was when she began the healing, it was the most curious of sensations, his skin expanded as a new arm was grown and pushed out, he felt his veins being made and new blood flowing through them, his bones stretched and grated against each other as they formed, funny enough the actual growing of the arm hurt no where near as much as the miko power in him, it was more a welcome distraction. But he could also feel her tiring, she was putting her all into this, he had wasted her power needlessly in fighting his yokai, and so he would do something that far surpassed the trust of not purifying him.
He raised his right arm and placed it on her back underneath the pelt, then taking his yokai he formed a flow of it and passed it through his arm into her, telling her to use it to complete her task he felt her surprise and awe, he was surprised when her aura did not attack him but instead he felt her tentatively grip his yokai, then more firmly. He could feel her exhaustion as she used the last of her aura to form his wrist, almost immediately she sent his yokai back to him but commanded it to heal him, he was amazed when it did her task without complaint, he had expected a fight and some help needed from him, but instead his yokai went to work for this human miko, forming his hand and even the magenta stripes which would have appeared on their own given time.
The exhaustion surrounded her like a blanket; it was so strong it almost affected him.
'All done Sesshoumaru… thanks for… letting me…use your…yokai…I…wouldn't have…finished…without it…' She did not blame him for using up her strength in the first place?
He wondered whether she understood the significance of what he had done. By sharing their aura's like they had a bond will now have been formed, their souls will entwine throughout the night. Sighing he considered the consequences, by tomorrow they would be linked mentally, if they nurtured the bond they would be able to speak with each other in their minds, if they did not they would only feel the others emotions, no matter how far away from the other they were. Sighing inaudibly he regarded her, already he could feel the bond forming, by tomorrow he would know exactly how she was feeling, and considering their past experiences he knew she was a very emotional person, just what he needed he thought sarcastically, he was the king of being emotionless and he had bonded with the queen of emotion.
Feeling her slipping off of him he caught her in his arms and brought her back to him, re-wrapping the pelt around her he ordered her to sleep, he would let no harm come to her, how could he now that they were bonded? He refused to acknowledge the traitorous thought that he would have protected her whether they were bonded or not.
As he heard her slipping into sleep, abiding his wishes, he vaguely heard her mutter something, concentrating he heard her say,
'Uramohsses? Should have realised…your name backwards…sometimes…feel so…stupid…'
Unable to stop it a smile formed as he looked at this miko in the darkness, so she had figured it out in the end.
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