Chapter 3
(SPOV)
I watch carefully as Arashi takes Rin a little ways away and sat her in the grass. I was quite surprised when she crossed her legs in a mediation position. I watched as she showed Rin how to sit and overheard her say. " Alright. Now empty your mind of everything. You must be silent and still. This will help concentrate your powers and allow you to relax. Now let's try it. " she said cheerfully. I sigh and turn back to the scrolls before me. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at the thought of Rin being silent and still.
" You worried ?" Kigeki asked with a chuckle as he leaned back against the tree. I shoot him a glare.
" Why would I be ?" I snap.
" Because. She beat Natsu hands down. " he said flatly with a smirk. I couldn't help but look at him in slight surprise. I knew that his son had yet to be beat in battle in many years.
" Well...that's interesting. " I said dully as I turn to the scrolls before me and begin to read.
Three scrolls later I look up to see Rin still in her pose having not moved in almost thirty minutes. I can see the circle that Arashi had placed around them. Past that I could see Rin's energy pushing against it trying to break free. Her energy is a pure white that is almost blinding. I turn my gaze to Arashi. She is sitting perfectly still with her back straight. The energy around her is strange for it is just barely leaving her form and it's color was ever changing. " She is strange is she not Sessho-maru-sama ?" Natsu asks from my right. I smirk and look over at him.
" Don't tell me that you are affected from losing to her ?" I ask.
" Iie Sessho-maru-sama. I see her power and know that she earned the right to win. " he says looking down at me. I smirk and turn back to the documents before me. Signing the last one I roll them up and close them. Biting my thumb I break the skin so that blood comes to the surface. Then I press it against each watch as the blood moves to form my crest. A crescent moon. I look back at the circle with Arashi's voice is heard.
( ArPOV )
"Alright Rin. Take a deep breath and let it out as you open your eyes. " I said softly. I open my own eyes not at all drained by this little practice. I was surprised when I saw that color her eyes had become. Instead of those child doe like eyes they were a deep swirling purple that vanished the moment that her eyes were fully open.
" Did Rin do good Arashi-chan ?" she asked as she yawned.
" Yes Rin you did really good. " I said cheerfully as I stand and stretch. Rin tries to stand but stumbles.
" Rin feels funny. " she mumbles as I catch her shoulder.
" Well I would be worried if you didn't. " I said smiling as I lift her easily. She was much lighter then she looked. " Well it looks like you have an earth based power. That's really good. Soon I'll teach you how to do element bending. " I said with a smile. She yawns and smiles.
" Rin has watched Sessho-maru-sama meditate before. That's how Rin knew how to do it. " she said happily. I smile down at her and chuckle.
" I just bet. " I tease as we walk back over to the small camp and toward Au-Un.
" Wench ! Au-Un won't let you touch him. He only allows Sessho-maru-sama to touch him !" Jaken snapped as I walked toward the dragon. I shot a glare at him as Kigeki and Natsu began to walk away Kigeki being pulled by his son. I can feel both Sessho-maru's and Jaken's eyes on my back as I walked toward the dragon steed.
'Nanatsu-chan ? May I ?' I asked sending to the dragon as I step toward him. I could see the smirk in his eyes as he looked at me. 'Anything to annoy Jaken. ' he replied as he actually knelt down before me so that I could easily place Rin on his back and then climb on myself to make sure that she did not fall. " Well ? Where too ?" I asked as I gripped the reigns and the dragon stood. I couldn't help but smirk at Jaken's horrified look. " What ? Oh let me guess. He doesn't let ' you ' touch him ?" I teased as I watched Jaken's face turn red in anger. But he says nothing as Sessho-maru starts to walk and we begin to follow.
Rin fell asleep after a while and I had to rearrange the way that she was sitting so that she was leaning against me and wouldn't fall off. " Why is she sleeping ?" came Sessho-maru's voice from my side. I look over at him and just now realize how tall he really was. I could turn my head and have to just barely tilt my head to look him in the eyes.
" She's never done that sort of meditating before. " I explained. I could tell that he wanted better details so I continued.
" When you meditate your body releases energy. For a youkai it their yokai that is released. But for a human with strong magic it is their actual life energy that is released. Over time I'll show her how to control how much is released and when it can be released. " I said. I could see that he now understood fully but he didn't show it.
" What did you mean when you said that she had an earth based power ?" he asked as we continued along our way. I noticed that Jaken had fallen back so that he was walking behind Sessho-maru.
" Well that means once she is trained better she'll be able to control plants and the earth. Like I can with air and weather. I'll also teach her some bending skills. Do you know the five basic elements that make everything ?" I asked wondering how much he knew.
" Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Mind or Spirit. " he said dismissively. I grinned.
" Yes. But there are some others, like metal, cloth, ice, and paper even. There of course are others but they all branch off from the main ones. Cloth and paper are mostly connect to Earth. While Metal is connected to Fire and Ice to either Air or Water. " I said. I could tell that he was quite surprised when he looked away from the road ahead to look me in the eye.
I had stayed silent as she spoke and her words sunk in. I couldn't help but be surprised and awed. Rin could actually one day be that powerful ? I looked up at her into her eyes to see only truth and fact. " And you know how to bend these and others ?" I ask.. I couldn't suppress my curiosity about some of the things that she would be teaching Rin in the coming days. She grinned and glanced over her shoulder at Jaken.
" Watch. " she whispered as she concentrated on Jaken. I glanced over at Jaken to see that the stones behind him were hoping up and down as they followed. Then I watched as a single stray thread of his small haori catch on a bush. Jaken stopped and turned to look at the stones which had fallen lifeless to the ground. He looked confused before he turned back to the road and continued to follow me. This went on for a couple of moments and every time that he would turn around they would stop moving. And every time that he would turn back to the road his pace would get faster and the loose thread would get longer. Soon he was running as the stones followed easily.
I couldn't help but find this all funny as the toad began to run behind me and the dragon. " Impressive. " I said dully.
" It's not as cool as what Rin will be able to do when I teach her what I know. From there she can learn the old fashion way of trail and error. But she'll know how to control it so that no one will get hurt. But believe me when I say that she'll be very powerful. " she said with a smile as she gently stroked her hair.
I couldn't help but mess with Jaken. He was just so easy to play with. I mean he also scared so easily apparently. I looked down at Rin with pride. I was her teacher and she would be my first real student and I would be so happy when she started to show the results. I wasn't surprised when Rin had fallen sound asleep. I mean I would have really been worried if she hadn't been tired. I peek over at Jaken to see that he has stopped again and is looking down at his over kimono. I follow his gaze and my eyes widen slightly. His haori was only half the length that it once was. I followed the long piece of string with my eyes. 'Nantasu-chan, can we stop for a second ?' I asked the dragon. One of his head nodded as he stopped and crouched so that I could get off.
I watched as she slid off Au-Un and walked to Jaken who looked pretty upset about his haori being ripped. " Let me see your haori. " she said. Jaken looked up at her in annoyance probably thinking that she had done this but handed it to her. She took it and carefully followed the string. " Hang on, this won't take long. " she called back to us as she hurried off.
" Sessho-maru-sama, what is she doing ?" Jaken asked coming up to me.
" I believe Jaken that she is assisting you. " I said looking down at him. His eyes grew wide as we watched her hurry after the string.
'She is taking much to long. ' I thought. It had been a couple of minutes and Rin had awoken already. Suddenly every thing became dark and the wind picked up. I looked up at the sky to see dark clouds gathering quicker then I had ever seen before. I furrowed my brow in slight confusion. What was going on ? Then something seemed to brush past my ear. A soft whisper followed.
" Help me. "
" Jaken, stay here and keep Rin safe. " I said as I hurried off in the same direction that Arashi had gone in. I was not even eight feet past where Rin and Jaken were when the scent of hog youkai met my nose. A growl escaped my throat. I hated hog youkai.
(POVC Author )
Sessho-maru was silent in his movements as he crept closer. Quicker then he would have liked he reached the place where the piece of string had first gotten caught. Arashi was propped against a tree bound and gagged. The back of her head was bleeding heavily and she looked as if she was drifting in and out of consciousness. One hog held a spiked mace that dripped with her blood as they stood there and talked about what to do. Arashi lifted her head and he saw that a knife in each shoulder held her to the tree.
Arashi looked up and saw Sessho-maru standing in the trees. Her eye sight was fuzzy as she tried to focus on his form. 'Ses-sho-ma-ru ' came her broken voice that was carried to him on the wind. He could see that she was trying to keep conscious as she lost more blood. " What should we do with her ?" one asked another.
" I say we sell her. " he answered.
" Should we have some fun with her first. " the one with the mace said with a smirk. The other grinned as they looked at her. Sessho-maru growled in disgust. He raised his hand and released his whip which shot forward taking all the hog's heads off. As he walked out of the trees he summoned his whip back to him.
Arashi looked up at him as he kneeled before her and sliced the ropes that bound her and then the cloth around her mouth. " Be-hind y-ou. " she said weakly as she saw the creature and man come out of the trees. Sessho-maru turned and growled as he laid eyes on Naraku and some new thing behind him.
" What do you want ?" he said coolly as his glare hardened as he looked at him. Naraku looked past him at Arashi who glared fuzzily back at him still pinned by the knives to the tree.
" Forgive me my lady. It would seem that some of my messengers tend to want to do things on their own. " he said with a smirk. Sessho-maru was surprised when a growl came from Arashi.
" So tho-se bas-tards we-re yo-urs ?" she gasped as she swiftly pulled the knives out of her shoulders with a grimace of pain.
" Why hai they were. " Naraku said with a smirk. " And now thanks to Sessho-maru-sama I have lost some of my quickest messengers. " he said as he glanced a Sessho-maru.
" Y-ou bet-ter be th-ank-ful he go-t aho-ld of th-em fir-st. " she said as she pushed herself up and leaned against the tree.
" Oh ? And what would you have done ?" Naraku said smirking. Arashi said nothing but narrowed her eyes. Thunder sounded as lightening struck not two feet away from Naraku. " Oh I see. " Naraku said with a smirk.
" Wh-at wa-s th-e mess-age ?" Arashi asked as she glared at the hanyou.
" My message was an invitation for you to come and take a job under me. " he said with a grin.
" H-ow ab-out no. " she said as the sky darkened even more.
" Aw. But I was hoping oh so much that you would accept. " he said with a grin crossing his arms
" We-ll I'm no-t. " she said fiercely.
ArPOV
I could not believe this jerk. Just who did he think he was ? First almost knocking me out and then freaking stabbing me. If Sessho-maru hadn't turned up when he did I would have fried those pigs. Now here this man was telling me that he had ordered that. He must be an idiot. I glance past him to see that the thing that had come with him had left. 'Rin. Jaken. Nantasu. ' were the first thing that came to my mind. Before I could alert Sessho-maru of my suspicion Rin and Jaken's shouts reached our ears. " LET ME GO ! ARASHI-CHAN ! SESSHO-MARU-SAMA ! LET ME GO YOU MEANIE !" Rin cried as she thrashed in the creature's arms while Jaken shouted threats. The creature looked like an overly large elf to me. It's muscles were that of an ox youkai and it's eyes were blank as an empty chalk board. I felt Sessho-maru tense up beside me as he saw Rin and a growl emit from his throat his hand clenching so tightly that blood began to stream down his knuckles.
" I thought it would be nice if we brought the whole gang in for this meeting. " he said with a grin as a woman came up with a gold glowing muzzle around Nantasu.
" Le-t th-em go. " I said as the sky became impossibly dark.
" Maybe, we'll just see how fast Sessho-maru-sama's reaction time is. " he said as he snapped his fingers. Suddenly the thing threw Rin as hard as it could. Then it dropped Jaken and started at me. I was quicker then it and was able to dodge as Sessho-maru instantly went after Rin catching her in his arm and shielding her with his body as I turned to look at the thing that was still coming after me.
