A/N: I am planning on continuing this story, and hope to get into a habit of updating more often starting now, despite finals starting today.

Thanks to my beta Azzie for cleaning this up for me!

Melting the Ice:

Chapter Two: Rescue!

Melody regained consciousness in a darkened building. Looking up, she noticed stars through the ceiling and realized it must be nighttime—and the building wasn't in very good shape. She glanced around as best she could while only moving her eyes. Seeing nothing of importance even after her eyes had adjusted, she sat up as quietly as she could and looked around freely.

Firelight flickered on the far wall, and shadows danced through the light, indicating that the night robbers slept there. Melody twisted, but her wrists and ankles were bound tightly. Stifling a sigh, she slowly eased her wrists from side to side, trying to ease the knot. When that didn't work fast enough, she bent forward, bringing her ankles to her face, and bit into the rope, tugging on it until she fell over. Pausing, she listened carefully for any sign she'd been heard. When none came, she squirmed carefully over to the lit wall, just close enough for her to see the rope tied around her ankles well enough to undo the knot with her teeth—but not close enough for anyone outside to see her.

Once her feet were untied, she flipped over onto her back, arching her spine as she hooked her feet through her arms, wriggling until she had both arms in front of her. That accomplished, the young teen set to work with her teeth once more, though they had started to ache.

Ignore the pain, Melody told herself firmly. Things could be so much worse right now.

Sesshomaru watched curiously as the village collapsed on itself. The girl reminded him of the flames devouring her home in so many ways. He'd seen it—the light in her eyes as she fought to save her friend. And yet, when it was her own virtue at stake, she'd given up. Why? Humans always put themselves before others. It was something he never understood about them. When it came down to their lives or their packmates' lives, they always saved their own first. They had no sense of honor. But this girl...suddenly, the demon could at least try to understand why Rin wanted to save her so badly. Besides, Rin was getting to that age now where having another female companion along might smooth things over a bit. He snorted and shook his head slightly, turning to rejoin his companions.

"Rin, Jaken. Find someplace safe to camp for a few days." He fixed Jaken with a cold glare, and the smaller demon gulped. He knew what that look meant. Look after Rin or it's your life on the line.

"Are you going to save her?" Rin asked excitedly, smiling up at him like she always did.

"I will try." he admitted after a brief hesitation. Jaken stared at him with a strange, almost amusing mixture of shock and concern in his expression. These females must really be messing with Sesshomaru-sama's head. "Wait nearby." The demon lord ordered curtly before disappearing into the shadows. Jaken gulped, but led the way into the trees. Rin skipped along happily beside him, completely unaware of the danger the little demon was in.

The scent was easy enough to follow, and the distance to the hideout surprisingly short. Sesshomaru stopped in the edge of the shadows on the outskirts of the ramshackle town. It had clearly been just another quiet, respectable village before the robbers had taken it over, but now it was most definitely not. Not that he cared in the slightest.

He edged in towards the main building, not wanting to alert any of the robbers before he'd located the girl. To his surprise, she found him first.

Once free of her bonds, Melody scouted the space until she found a gap just big enough that she could see through it easily. No one was around, and the gap could be enlarged so that she might be able to squirm through. She carefully and slowly shifted some of the boards around until she had a decent-sized hole in the wall, but couldn't quite get her shoulders through. She pulled some boards away from the bottom of the hole and used them to scrape an indent in the ground, making a larger gap that she could crawl through on her hands and knees.

Once out, she looked around once more, carefully, before darting from shadow to shadow on her way to the treeline. Once she was far away she could figure out where she was.

She wasn't expecting to meet the demon halfway through the village. And from his expression, he hadn't expected to find her there either.