CHAPTER THREE
BIG BAD WOLF
The short yet stout little man trotted up on his old paint pony to the place where InuYasha had been thrown to the terra. The seven year old half-brother of Lord Sesshomaru was nothing short of undignified, and he looked back at the guard and Jaken as they approached, dirt all over his façade. Sweat dribbled down the back of the bald man's head and he stopped his pony right in front of the youngest son. "Why hello there young prince! Pushing a horse like that will certainly get you thrown- no doubted." InuYasha's golden eyes narrowed with fury and he got up (despite all the bruises and cuts he harbored) and punched the small man in the head, knocking him clean out of the saddle.
"DON'T TELL ME THESE THINGS WHEN I ALREADY LIVED THEM!" he growled, infuriated with the fact that Sesshomaru could stay on a horse better than he ever would. The guard stayed back and (from horseback) held onto Buyo's reins even though it was obvious the old fellow wasn't going anywhere. One of his back hooves was cocked up on its toe. A clear sign that he was resting.
"Well! Aren't you just…" A quick look at the white haired boy and the short man took back his reins from the guard and re-adjusted his lips so that he spoke no words Jaken scrambled back up into his saddle, and tapped his heels against the fat pony, trotting a little ways off before talking again. A large red bump was obvious on his bald cranial. Alas... he could not hold it in."HOW DARE YOU-BRAT!" It was well known that InuYasha had begun to take pride in his height, for he had just recently passed that of Jaken's… and the guard that had held Buyo sighed loudly and raised his hoarse voice into the mix, sure that they weren't going to get anywhere if Sesshomaru's loyal servant and the tenacious royal boy were in a fight.
"In any case, where is your brother, Lord Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha sniffed and crossed his arms, turned his nose up in the air and spat out sharp words in reply to what the guard had inquired upon him, causing Buyo to jump a little in surprise at the tone of his young master's voice.
"HALF-brother. Where the hell do you think he is?" A loud THUMP followed his curt words and the trio turned around to face the direction in which Sesshomaru had gone. It wasn't a footfall- nor was it the sound of horse hooves… it was more like moving wood across a hollow platform. With cricks and cracks mixed into it. "You guys heard that… right?" It wasn't necessarily a question. They all must have heard it for the horses ears were flicked away from the sound, and even old Buyo was tugging against the hand that stayed his reins. Jaken, on the other hand, did not wish to give into the princeling … he felt it batter to shame the boy than to give him exactly what he wanted to hear.
"N-no… I think it was just your imagination- after all, young InuYasha, you had an imaginary girlfriend with striking pink hair when you were five! Who knows what kind of things you think nowadays in that-" InuYasha opened his mouth, blushing somewhat- about to say something in reply to the man… but suddenly, the light from the stars above them was obscured and all of them looked up, curious as to why this would occur. Nothing could be seen but the swaying trees… but there was no wind. Another loud THUMP followed that of the first and Jaken tightened his sweaty grip on the pony's leather reins. It is needless to say that odd little InuYasha, who adorned his father's head of silver hair, caught a glimpse of this and his chest swelled with pride.
"YOU DID HEAR IT!" Inuyasha had brushed himself off, inwardly pleased that he had worn one of Sesshomaru's creamy loose tops to go hunting with- for it now had mud all over it- and he was now strutting towards Buyo's saddle, having totally forgotten about his quiver (now empty because all the arrows had been wasted in vain on trying to injure his half-sibling) and his bow, now laying upon the earthen floor, covered by fallen leaves.
"I HEARD NO SUCH THING!" cried the little man, flailing his hands in the atmosphere. A crack sounded this time, followed by a THUMP and InuYasha mounted Buyo, grabbing his reins away from the guard. "B-b-but I b-b-believe it is t-time t-to go…. NOW!" Jaken stuttered, then sped off on his short and fat pony- riding like a chicken with his elbows going up and down, and the guard fell in behind Buyo at a trot… for even the gelding knew that there are times of need when one must push past their age and keep going. It should be said now that they were lucky to have had such a cowardly little man in their presence, for if the trio had gone in the direction of Sesshomaru, they would have surely met their nightmare's deadly inhabitant… a keeper of the cursed trees and wanderer of the 'enchanted' forest.
Sesshomaru kept walking. It didn't really matter where he was heading (not that he knew), but the forest must end somewhere. It had been an hour now that he'd been separated from his stupid ass half-brother, and the annoying little fat man, Jaken, who followed the elder of the brothers around and waited on him hand and foot. Scowling (per usual), the white haired soldier turned and looked back, sure that he'd heard something come from behind him. A-Un, a bulky soul, flicked his audettes in a 180 degree movement to also try and pick up on what both he and his master had heard. Needless to say, the thirteen year olds heart did not even speed up at all. He just made sure to toss the reins back over his horse's head should he need to make a quick mount. At that moment, a small form rushed from out of the underbrush about two yards ahead of the royal heir, and A-Un stepped back, his nostrils flaring as he snorted in surprise. The figure, cloaked in a rich velvety hood, turned and look in Sesshomaru's direction. In that second of their optics meeting one another's, the lad (or who the prince suspected to be male) stumbled on his bare feet and the contents of the basket he was carrying bounced to the ground. Sesshomaru made no movement to help the boy get his bearings, merely raising an eyebrow in his direction.
Only when the child stood back up to his full height did Sesshomaru call out to him. "You there." The boy froze, his hood covering his eyes. Stalking forward, the teenager came closer to the little one. "I said you there. What are you doing out here alo-?" he didn't have time to finish his sentence. Two wolf followers, young men who lived in the forest despite its oddities, crashed through the same place that the little one had just come from.
"HEY! YOU- GET OFF OF OUR LAND!" one barked, his shameless outfit causing Sesshomaru to draw back a little. A shaggy deer pelt clung to their lower bodies, while a breast plate, no doubted stolen from a passing soldier on patrol… well… at least Sesshomaru knew now why his father's border patrol kept coming back half naked… The younger child looked back in dismay and started to run off again, but the white haired teenager caught his arm in a steel grip and pulled him close to him, a fraud look of relief crossing his usually emotionless features. The hood on the child fell and Sesshomaru was actually mildly surprised to see that the long hair of this one belonged to a girl… no older than eight or nine… perhaps even younger.
"Great- now you've done it… look who you've gotten in trouble with this time- why did you run off like that?" The child bit her lip and dropped her face again, shaking her head as if she didn't know. All an act… and it was enough to fool the brainless wolf followers that was for sure. The two dumbasses looked at the tack on A-Un, made the connection to the white haired princeling, and stepped back a little bit. Sesshomaru raised from the kneeling position he'd taken on so he could fake a worried look at the child. He turned his blank eyes back to the wolf followers after hoisting the child up onto A-Un's saddle along with her basket. She was heavier than she looked… A mere peasant should be lighter than that… shouldn't they?
"You. You're a royal- aren't you?" asked the wolf follower who wasn't the one that had yelled out before. Sesshomaru stuck his left foot in the leathery stirrup and raised himself up, motioning for the girl to be seated behind him. She willingly followed his gestures and sat on A-Un's ebon rump, sliding back into the saddle behind Sesshomaru after he'd put his other foot in the stirrup and gathered up the white-maned horse's reins.
"That is my business." The look of worry had disappeared from his pale features, his golden suns now harsh again and nearly able to spear the wolf followers through their stolen armor with just a gaze.
"Yeah-yeah. By the way you talk- I bet you're one of them asswipes. And whose this- the girl you're ibetrothed/i to?" This was the sneering one… the girl wrapped her arms around Sesshomaru's waist, gripping the soft cloth of his creamy tunic with a drive that could only match that of a timid doe awaiting her fawn to rise from the ground… all the while, predators loomed around.
Sesshomaru did nothing. Made no show of emotion that would give away anything at all. "It would seem that our business lies elsewhere." Tapping his heels lightly to the stallion's sides, Sesshomaru turned his steed around and urged A-Un into a gallop, leaving the two men on foot behind in the darkness of the night.
"RUN, RUN, AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" The two wolf followers laughed manically behind the duo as A-Un held his head close to his chest cavity and galloped through the trees. "THE TREES WILL CATCH YOU!"
Rin turned her head back from where she was clutching the silver-haired prince's sides, her basket riding up on her arm, rubbing the skin raw with its poorly made handle. Her bare feet were getting to be blue and brown, cold and dirty. Not that she hadn't had her fair share of the latter before. This horse beneath the two… he was magnificent. With her legs pressed up against his warm sides, Rin could feel his power surge through him, his muscles flexed with an intensity that was ineffable. She bit her lip and looked up with cautious chocolate stargazers at the boy who had saved her from the hard punishments of the wolf followers. She'd run into them not minutes before she'd stumbled onto this guy's path. He had sharp cheekbones, definitely visible… his mother and father must be beautiful… his silver hair was down to the crook of his back, and it was hard to not get it caught in her dry lips as the horse continued to go at a canter to who knows where. And… if she leaned in close enough, she could smell him. It was a sickly scent. Sweat mixed with lavender and… what else? Another herb that Rin had touched before… but nothing that she could put her finger on.
Her mind drifted back to the wolf men… and she clutched the nameless one's frame tighter, quiet words, fearful and very childlike- flew from her lips.
"What did they mean… the trees will catch us?" The black haired child had never felt so terrified of the night. Or of anything, for that matter. She was usually the one to go running into danger, knowing that she could get out of it by pronouncing who she was. But this… this was uncharted terrain. The "enchanted" forest was for those who were willing to lay their lives on the line… Rin pressed her cranial into the boy's back and hunched her shoulders over so that she couldn't see anything but darkness.
He didn't answer her. But when the horse started to slow down, coming to a dignified slow walk, the prince (or who she assumed to be based on his stoic reaction to the wolf men) parted his pale lips and spilled out some lyrics for the ess to hear. "The trees move."
"They… they move?!"
"Yes. They move. They walk- just like you and I do." He sounded so serious… was he just toying with her because she was younger and she was most definitely frightened? "Who are you?" It was Rin's turn to be silent. The big black horse with the white mane stepped around a tree that had fallen to the ground. This was not the same path he and his master had taken to where they met the girl. But they had gone straight… so it had to be. "What are you doing here?" Still, no answer. Rin was afraid to answer… for he might just take her home… and if he was from a different kingdom… she would be in grave danger if not already. And she couldn't just blab out that she was looking for the witch… "Are you alone?"
"… yes." A sigh from the teenager was huffed out into the awaiting atmosphere.
"Then I'll accompany and protect you through this forest." The words were so out-mindingly crazy… that Rin nearly lost her balance and fell off of the big stallion's back. "I am Sesshomaru, eldest son of the Great Dog Demon, and heir to the Kingdom of the West." What should she say to that? He was of a neighboring Kingdom- and one of the most powerful- should Rin be remembering her lessons correctly. There were a million different ways to answer that. She could state her own title… whose daughter she was… and who she was… but… wouldn't that be even more troublesome? So- she stuck with the most nonchalant of answers. Simple.
"Hi."