Well, it's been a while. Sorry about that. Anyway, here we go.
…...
The scent was nowhere near fresh. In fact, it was almost impossible to pick up a single identifying smell on the small brush he was given for reference. He sighed; the boy had obviously not used it often, though his doting parents would have more than likely said otherwise. Had he been any other it would have been deemed unachievable, but he was Sesshoumaru. He headed south.
…...
Kagome held her breath and slid the door open slowly. In a split second she was left with a heavy, and bloody, burden in her arms. Quickly she hauled the disturbingly light bundle into the dining room. Hanta, with a motion born from practice, cleared the table in a blur, allowing her to lay out her newest patient. His blood seeped into the dark wood, tainting it darker still.
The woman's face pulled into grim lines as she began her work in silence. The bright white glow made Hanta shift forward as the feelings of tranquility and calm filled the small space and caught the young victim in its hold. It healed with the loving embrace of a mother with child, sewing the wounds in an instant with a touch. The miko was exhausted when it was over, but the boy was alive, and for that she was grateful.
She took in the high, long features of her newest charge, hair tousled about in waves of ink. He couldn't have been more then ten in human standards, but his age was probably closer to two hundred years. She moved to pick the child, no, kit, up she saw something that made her freeze in stunned terror. A small mark of a lily just behind his ear colored in royal green and laced with stripes and circles of black, the sign of the eastern lord, Okina Tora.
She looked to Hanta, a chilling emotion in her eyes that made him still instantly. She spoke three simple words then, not even a sentence, but they shook him to the core.
"A green tiger-lily."
…...
The wolf hanyou watched as his mentor tore across their home; her calm expression unyielding to the hurried and rash movements she made and the emotions it displayed. She had opened a large woven sack and was currently filling it with food, water skins, warm clothing, furs, and a small tin of strong medicines. When she was done she stood in front of him and gestured for his hand which he reluctantly gave.
She slid the gold chain from under her miko garments, pulling it over her head and free from her loose hair. Placing the valuable symbol in his outreached palm she cupped his hand around it. He gasped, looking aghast at the thought of accepting such a huge responsibility that would surely lead to her leaving. That little chain, that small insignificant thing, was only to be given away when she died. It was a gift to the successor of this temple.
"You must, Hanta; you must do this for me."
He furiously moved his head, side to side, side to side, holding back sharp, painful tears.
"Tell them I've passed, that I'm not coming back; false hope is dangerous for young hearts."
He was sobbing now, the silent cries shaking his form.
"I cannot give this child to them; I cannot endanger those here.' 'There is no other choice."
She lifted his head; wet cheeks pressed into her warm palms, watery eyes begged her not to leave. She ignored the call to give in, to give up. Her ocean-blue's meet the boy's softened café orbs.
"I'm sorry."
He watched as she shouldered the bag, cradled the boy, and walked out of their lives.
…...
The fall air stung the exposed skin of her face as she walked away from the only home she'd ever known. She pulled the boy, wrapped in a warm bear skin, closer, trying to absorb the soft heat. Her pace was a simple one, but hard won against the chill of earth's third season. Her only thoughts consisted of the glacial wind, the ache of her limbs, and putting distance between her and her home. The bundle in her arms shifted but did not wake.
…...
The sharp lines of the awakening painted sky was pleasing to the large inuyoukai, or would have been had he not discovered a group of imbeciles who seemed to not have the message on his involvement.
"You're on our territory, mutt."
He raised a haughty brow but said nothing.
"You're outnumbered; give up."
He placed one clawed hand delicately on the handle of his blade.
"You're already dead puppy!"
The rush the men made proved suicidal as they were but cooling bodies on the ground in seconds flat. Sesshoumaru walked over them without even a glance as he continued down the road, cloth dancing in the wind.
…...
Well, send reviews please, and thanks for the previous ones.