Disclaimer: If I owned Inu Yasha I would be getting paid for this.


Chapter Four: The Fire Escape

The sight of the flames enthralled Yuki, entertaining her in a time of sadness. The crackling of the wood distracted her, keeping her attention so that her mind would not wander to worse thoughts. The warmth of the light soothed her, making her feel less lonely than she had felt without it. Otherwise, there was little action in the campsite, Yuki being one of the major contributors to this stillness as she sat with her head resting on her knees, her violet eyes in a sort of trance as the licks of fire danced in them. This one fire was maybe the only thing that Yuki had access to that could distract her from the fact that her kidnapper was so near, dwelling just on the opposite side of the clearing, sitting in his usual spot against a tree. But when the moving colors could not allow her mind to wander, it eased it so that she could think instead of worry. She thought about what the others were doing right now. She thought about what her mother would think once she didn't come home. But most of all, she thought about escape. She had gone over what seemed like hundreds, maybe thousands of scenarios of performing such an act, but all ended with sad failure. Then the silence, along with Yuki's stream of thought, was broken by Rin as she asked Sesshomaru to play with her. He at first, didn't seem in the mood as he stared at her for a moment, then turned his head away from her as he let out a heavy sigh. "Why do you not want to play with the girl?" he asked.

"She's fun and all, but I haven't played with you in a really long time! Please, Lord Sesshomaru? Please...?" she begged, desperately pulling on his sleeve.

It seemed to Yuki that no one could have resisted such pitiful cries or the begging that those big brown eyes so emotively portrayed. This too could have been said for the heartless demon that was named Sesshomaru for he then gave a sigh of defeat and submitted to the child's pleads. "Let's go, Rin."

Sounds of rejoice came from Rin as she immediately stopped the tugging on her master's sleeve so that she could clap her hands together in happiness."Yay!" she exclaimed, "Lord Sesshomaru is going to play with me!"

With that, she ran off ahead of him on the path, eager to get going. Sesshomaru, of course, seemed less hurried and arose from his spot in a very reserved manner only to follow after the girl just as slowly. Thus only Yuki and Jaken were left, the newly formed fire's popping sounds beginning to die down a little, allowing a more still sort of silence to fill the air. This was perhaps the opportunity that Yuki would get for a chance to loosen up a bit now that she was rid of the ever stern presence of Sesshomaru who had just recently left, much to Yuki's pleasure. So she straightened, her legs still hugged to her chest. What was going on here anyway? From Sesshomaru's earlier display with her friend, Sango, he obviously hated humans. And yet, here he was, traveling with one as an ally... and child none the less! And now he was demanding that Yuki be his companion! No... Yuki was not nor would she ever join him. She was not his ally. She was his prisoner and only that.

So, if she could not configure Sesshomaru's motives by herself, there was only one option left to her: she had to ask Jaken about it. "Jaken... What does Sesshomaru think of me?"

"That's Lord Sesshomaru to you!" Jaken corrected as he didn't so much as even look up from the meal that he was now preparing. And in those few moments that followed that comment, something must have dawned on him for the green imp looked up from the beef stew he was brewing and narrowed his eyes in a suspicious manner. "Why do you want to know?" he interrogated, "You don't have feelings for him, do you?"

Yuki couldn't help but to show the complete and utter surprise and disgust that she felt at this absurd statement. In fact, she could have gagged at that very moement 'How could anyone ever love that cold-hearted kidnapper?' she thought to herself. In this case Yuki was able to immediately and truthfully answer, "No way! How could you even think that?"

But then she had to pause for a moment and ponder the matter. It wasn't even possible… Or was it?

"Because if you did…" came Jaken's annoying voice, pulling Yuki out of her thoughts,"…you know that that sort behavior would never be allowed because of your low rank compared to his superior one... That and because he would never take interest in any woman, especially one as hideous as you are."

Yuki closed your eyes in frustration at the toad's unacceptable insult, a burst of anger spreading through her. Then, just as suddenly as her anger had appeared, the flames of the fire grew along with the blaze of her anger. The flames grew to the extent that they where going high above the pot, nearly scaring Jaken to death as he fell back. Opening her eyes in wonder, Yuki saw a frightened Jaken about a foot away from the pot where he had fallen back to, clutching his chest and gasping heavily. He looked over towards Yuki, still in shock and asked, "D-did you do that?"

After senselessly shaking her head no, Yuki returned her attention back to the fire with just as much awe as Jaken felt. The flames by now had been reduced to their normal size and state. "Ooooh…" came the interested comment of the returning Rin.

Yuki's attention snapped over to the edge of the path where the duo made up of Sesshomaru and Rin were now standing so still, neither of them wanting to move from their spot as Rin with amazed eyes stared at the fire whilst Sesshomaru gazed with his detached golden orbs conspicuously and unashamedly at Yuki.

Jaken looked up at them and exclaimed, "Lord Sesshomaru! Did you see that?"

Sesshomaru was set into motion by what could have possibly been curiosity, walking into the camp without taking that hard and piercing gaze off of his target and replied, "I did see, Jaken. I am not blind."

Yuki could only helplessly stare back at the demon, petrified with fear at the thought of what he would do. Had she done something wrong? What was he going to do? Could she possibly be punished for what just happened?

But her dread was all for not, for Sesshomaru only crouched down next to Yuki, staring at her for only a moment before he harshly grabbing her chin and begining to search her eyes as if they held the reason to why the explosion had occurred at all. It almost seemed that those demonic eyes were penetrating Yuki's very soul, piercing into it and weakening it. In fact, as Yuki returned the gaze, she noticed his own eyes as well. Like a setting sun they were and just as beautiful, so smooth and enchanting..."Are you positive that you are merely a human?" he questioned in a low voice.

But Yuki found herself not able to answer… those eyes took all words, sense, and thought from her mind… Only the heavy beating of her heart and the silent shallow breaths she took told her that she was alive anymore.

Jaken now standing thankfully answered for her, "Her scent and aura is that of a human, Mi'Lord, is it not? And no demon can rid itself of those traits. Besides, she certainly looks and acts human enough. I'm sure that she wasn't the cause of the little incident at all!"

Sesshomaru lingered in his spot for a moment and mulled this over in his mind, but eventually released Yuki from his hold both physical and mental. And as he rose, Yuki suddenly realized what had happened. But what HAD happened really? One moment she was scared to death of him and the next she was... was.. SWOONING! What sort of enchanted demon charm had he cast on her in those few moments? It was horrible! Yuki could only have peace once the man returned to his usual spot that was on the other side of the clearing. However, this is not what he did. The seat he took was in front of a tree, that much had not changed, but the tree he that he chose this time was directly behind Yuki where she could not see him.

Now it was a hard thing for Yuki to feel comfortable for she could feel those eyes fixed on her back, monitoring her every move. The nerves that formed in Yuki's gut caused the rest of her body to tense and freeze up as that icy man chilled her through with his obviously felt gawking. This newer side of Sesshomaru was not Yuki's favorite. She actually preferred the first one that said nothing, told her nothing, and cared about nothing. She would give anything to go back in time and prevent anything that would change him into this suspicious and curious man! She wanted the man that ignored her back!

So, in desperate need to get away from him, Yuki decided to try the same tactic she had performed with the perverted monk. She slowly rose from her seat and began making her way towards the path that led out of the campsite, thinking that taking a walk would relax her and give her enough time away from her problem. This was proved very difficult for her to do, however, for suddenly Sesshomaru spontaneously appeared in front of her, blocking her pathway to salvation. "Where are you going?" he asked with the slightest of sneers.

"I'm just going for a walk," was Yuki's nervous reply.

"No, you're not," Jaken corrected the human, "It's dinnertime."

Yuki began to try and go around Sesshomaru, but still it seemed impossible for Sesshmaru's inhuman speed and reflexes managed to block her each and every attempt. "I'm not hungry," Yuki called over to the other servant.

"You are not leaving here alone," the lower-class demon retorted, almost speaking for Sesshomaru now, "Someone must go with you and make sure that you do not run away."

By this point, Yuki was beginning to become very annoyed with all of these restraining and restricting rules. So, she turned around to once again face the clearing to address to two figures in it. "Okay. Fine," she submitted, "Rin, do you want to come with me?"

The little girl looked up at Yuki with regret and weakness in her expression and replied, "I would, but I'm really hungry, Miss Yuki."

Then she looked look over at Jaken. "How about you, Jaken?" Yuki requested with a bite to her tone. It had taken all of her self-restraint not to refer to him as a toad just because of her unhappy state that she had been put in by him. Rudeness from someone like Sesshomaru who was of higher rank was one thing that she could handle. Being bossed around by an imp that did not even reach her waist in height was something that she became very irritated by.

But said fiend only looked away in snobbish denial and answered, "I don't want to be blamed for your escape just because you could easily run away from me. If you truly want to go and if you are smart, you will ask Lord Sesshomaru."

Yuki looked down at her feet for an instant only, sighing at her last option. Then she turned to look back up at Sesshomaru. This was the very man she wanted to get away from. Why go WITH him? Unfortunately though, Yuki actually did need the walk. It felt too constricting staying in the same spot of forest for so long! So sighing with regret at what she was about to do, Yuki asked him, "Lord Sesshomaru?"

To show his reply to the intended question, Sesshomaru moved aside to let his prisoner pass by him so that she may lead. Yuki felt a great weight lifted as she finally was able to pass by him and out of the campsite, back into the wilderness. Sesshomaru then followed close behind her, not giving her so much as a four foot lead.

As much as she hated the situation, Yuki managed to deal with it well enough, thankful that she was at least away from that place of nothingness. The two of them walked for a good amount of time, not uttering so much as single word to each other or otherwise. But then, something wonderful happened. The next clearing they came to was the familiar space that Yuki had first found herself after coming to this era. And sure enough, there was the well, right in the middle of it! This might be her chance! By this time, Sesshomaru had begun to think Yuki harmless enough that he could give her some slack, so he had let ten feet of space come between them.

This was the chance that Yuki had to take. It was her only opportunity to flee Sesshomaru and his hold on her. So, without thinking, she darted towards the well, hoping to be able to jump in before her captor could stop her. But it was only five feet later that Yuki found Sesshomaru in front of her again, causing her to bump into him abruptly. But when she looked up at him, Sesshomaru was glaring wildly down at her. "What did I say about running away?" he growled as he grabbed Yuki's shoulders, his rage apparent in his voice, his expression, and especially his grip.

In his rage, he quickly threw Yuki to the ground, causing her to cry out. And now having been released once more, she frantically tried running towards the well again. Sesshomaru replied with the same reaction that he had before: sending Yuki to the ground, but this time the fall was caused by a full-on blow.

Tears of rage and hopelessness started to form in her violet eyes and with her voice becoming choked up, Yuki questioned, "If you hate me so much, then why are you trying so hard to keep me here?!"

He pulled Yuki up by the front of her kimono and lifted her completely off of the ground and above his head, looking into those weeping eyes without remorse. Sesshomaru glared at the human before him and countered her. "How dare you question me?" he said before backhanding her across the face with his free hand.

As Yuki dared to return the glare, she also had gathered up the hatred to mock him, "I just did, didn't I? Or are you too stupid to understand that?" Then she hopelessly gave him a kick, hoping it would do SOMETHING, but of course, it did nothing to hurt him.

Then he did something extraordinary: he dropped Yuki so that she landed into a sitting position before him. She looked up to him as he crouched down so that his glaring eyes met with Yuki's confused and scared ones. "Five seconds," he simply told her, "I will give you five seconds only to run. Starting now." He was playing with her!

Yuki gladly took this opportunity, though, and stood up and darted for the well. But when she was about halfway there, she glanced back to see Sesshomaru chasing after her, but not at his full speed. Instead, he was toying with her, like a dog chasing a cat just for sport!

And at this moment of sudden and rapid fear, something incredible occurred: Sesshomaru's shoulder caught fire! He was so totally surprised that he let the shock actually show on his face as he started to try and extinguish the flame.

Another fortunate mishap! Because of this distraction, Yuki was able to actually jump into the well and escape. But as she fell, she looked back to the well's mouth and saw Sesshomaru jumping right in after her, then grabbing her body and pulling Yuki towards himself. Then the lights surrounded the both of them, pulling them back into the future and gently landing on future soil.

Just then, Yuki felt herself being turned around and slammed against the wall of the well by Sesshomaru who was now glowering at her. But what struck the fear into Yuki's heart was not the fact that the anger was still visible in his eyes, but instead it was the fact that the fury had been increased so that his eyes screamed bloody murder.