Bark at the Moon
an Inuyasha fanfiction
by: Sakura Onna
Chapter 6: Let's make a Deal
Sesshomaru blinked as he lifted his head to look at the overcast sky that promised rain later in the day. Her words had reminded him of Kagura, the wind sorceress, when she tried to convince him to aid her in her betrayal of the vile Naraku two years ago with the bribe of two Shikon jewel shards. He had told Kagura that if she wasn't strong enough to rebel on her own than she shouldn't rebel at all. He had no interest in the jewel shards and no personal interest in the situation. The problem created with the female inu youkai Kimiko was a bit different though. Her little war held the whole of the youkai lands in the backlash no matter the outcome of it. With the coming turmoil in the Eastern lands, the greedy lords of the northern and southern lands will be poised waiting to scoop up the eastern lands the moment it appears its weakest and add them to their holdings. That in turn would shift the balance of power among the four lords of the lands causing a giant civil war between the youkai. Having the humans constantly going after each other was bad enough to deal with on a daily basis. This fight over the eastern lands was going to be a nightmare.
'At least her attempt to convince this Sesshomaru to aid her gave this Sesshomaru information that would have taken weeks for this Sesshomaru's informants to find out.' Sesshomaru thinks as he impassively watches one section of the clouds swirl above. 'And she was the one that set Oruku's mansion on fire.'
Rin sat on Ah-Un's back watching as her lord stared silently into space for a few moments then turned away to stare at the ground by her dirty bare feet. They had stopped for a break and Sesshomaru sat atop a boulder much too high for her or Jaken to climb up, granting him some degree of separation from the other two, but that didn't stop Jaken from whining louder to try to get the silent taiyoukai to say something. Rin ignored both not really even acknowledging their presence. Rin had refused to talk for the past week because Lord Sesshomaru had refused to aid Lady Kimiko or even thank her for saving Rin. Rin was more than a little mad and disappointed in Lord Sesshomaru for it. What made Rin even more upset was that Lord Sesshomaru didn't even ask Rin why she was upset and refused to talk to anyone. Rin wanted Lady Kimiko with them right now. She was sure Lady Kimiko would have noticed Rin's sulk and inquired about it by now instead of ignoring her like Lord Sesshomaru was doing. Rin's stomach rumbled in hunger but she ignored it.
"Rin," Sesshomaru called to the girl turning to look at her. His brows slightly furrowed when she didn't acknowledge that she heard him. Her stomach rumbled again, but still the girl made no sign of noticing. Sesshomaru repeated the girl's name a bit louder than the first time. Maybe she did not hear him? "Rin." Again she made no sign of hearing. Impatience rose in him and he allowed a bit of his displeasure to creep into his tone as he barked out the child's name. "Rin!"
Rin jumped at the turn in her lord's voice and looked up at him with slightly wide eyes, but remained silent.
"Rin, if you are hungry, you should eat," Sesshomaru tried to soften his harsh angry voice a bit once he had Rin's attention. Usually that was all he needed to say to get the kid to take care of herself, but her response this time worried him.
"No! I'm not hungry!" Rin pouted crossing her arms around her small chest even though her stomach rumbled yet again not even a second later belying her words.
Though it didn't really show on his face, Sesshomaru was frowning in his mind at Rin's recent behavior. Rin had not spoken a word to him, Jaken, or the two-headed horse like dragon youkai Ah-Un until just now since he had said basically the same thing to Kimiko as he had Kagura. He was starting to feel truly concerned for his adopted pup. She was acting so unlike herself now. Normally she would be talking so much that she drowned out Jaken's constant whining and was such a happy child that this change was unsettling for the taiyoukai . . .
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Kimiko sat with her back against the trunk of a tall tree near a river glaring death at the water both hands folded in the sleeves of her haori. His callous words echoed in her ears: "If you are not strong enough to succeed on your own, don't even bother trying at all." A growl escaped her throat and her fingers dug into the fabric of her sleeve wanting to destroy something. He hadn't even said anything in the way of thanks for saving the girl who clearly held importance to him. The way he had placed his hand on top of her head reminded Kimiko of how her father had done the same thing whenever she was with him when he spoke to other taiyoukai; especially when it was one of the other high lords of the lands or one of the taiyoukai whose allegiance changed as frequently as the wind. She remembered quite clearly just how protective her father had been of her, his only pup to live past its second year of life. She remembered that she had a lot of brothers and sisters, but couldn't remember any of them as clearly as the youngest two. The thought of her two youngest siblings sent a wave of pain through Kimiko's chest and distracted her, for now at least, from her anger with Sesshomaru. She closed her eyes and allowed her head to fall back hitting the tree trunk as the memory came fully back to the surface once again. They had been killed less than 24 hours after Yukimaru in the attack on their palace.
X Flashback X
'Father is dead not even a day yet and the lesser lords already turn their sights on the household,' Kimiko, who looks to be no more than thirteen years old but in truth is already much older, thinks as she crouches near the shoji screen that opens to the family room waiting for the first of the attackers to come. The sounds of weapon clashing against weapon and the smell of blood fill the air, soon they would be to her position. Behind her, her last brother and sister cower in a corner holding on to each other in fear, and beneath the sounds of combat she can hear their terrified whimpers. Kimiko's stance shifts to an even more defensive one. It was her self-appointed duty to protect them if it was the last thing she did. Her father would want her to look after them now that he was gone.
"Mizuki, Kazuki, I won't let them lay a claw or fang on you. Stay as far back as you can at all times. If it seems that I am going to fall, I want the two of you to run as far away as you can and hide. Is that understood?"
Kimiko heard the twin boy and girl whine an affirmative to her command though whether they could obey or not would be soon discovered. Moments after she had given her command to the motherless twins the first of the attackers smashed through the shoji screen. Kimiko snarled and slew the youkai with little effort and the next two came followed by four more and so forth. Soon Kimiko was surrounded and hard pressed to defeat the foes. As she killed two more with her claws, she caught a glimpse of movement to the side. She turned to face it just in time to catch a right hook to the side of her face and get knocked off her feet and sent airborne for a few seconds. She landed impacting hard enough into a column for her to see black spots. The twins cried out in pure horror and terror in that moment seeing their older sister, their only line of defense, fall to the floor in a semi-limp heap unintentionally drawing the attacking youkai's attention to them. Horror shot through Kimiko as she saw the youkai turn on her little brother Kazuki and sister Mizuki and she struggled to regain her feet. Before Kimiko could raise her claws again, the twins were already no more just like Yukimaru. Even though Kimiko knew this from the smell of the blood she was still compelled to fight toward them, slay the attackers, as if, if she could do so it would put things back the way they were supposed to be. Tears blurred her eyes as she fought the horde, fought until blood lose had knocked her unconscious.
"What should we do with the pup that still lives? Keeping her alive will do us no good in the future. I say we kill her now and save us the trouble later," she heard a voice say as she came back to the waking world an unknown amount of time later.
"No. She stays alive. You hear me! She is the only one that lived past the second year and nears maturity. There must be something unique about her blood that none of the other of Yukimaru's pups inherited. She has more uses if kept alive than dead. No one may lay a finger on her without my say so. I am the strongest of the vassals of that weak fool Yukimaru so it's only natural that I become the new Lord of the East. Oruku, you shall keep an eye on the girl in the years to come. Is that clear?" a different voice spoke. A vague familiarity came with that voice and then it hit her just seconds before Oruku spoke.
"Yes, Lord Bakusui," Oruku replied though his voice was sullen and unhappy with his new duty . . .
X End Flashback X
Kimiko slowly opened her eyes to stare into the distance. Tears silently ran down her face leaving twin trails of salty water on her cheeks. She had never carried any ill will toward any of her brothers and sisters, not even the half-breeds, because they had all been important to Yukimaru, and yet they were all gone to dust. She failed to look after and protect them all. She had failed her duty as the eldest to protect the younger ones. Now she was alone in this fight and without even a weapon besides her claws and fangs to rely on. She had no army, no pack, nothing but herself . . .
Kimiko's nose burned from the scent of the salt in her own tears forcing her to take notice of them. She roughly scrubbed them away trying to erase the evidence of her weakness and pull herself together. She couldn't afford this weakness and vulnerability. Soon Oruku and Bakusui's hunting parties would catch up to her and she had to get moving once more. Focusing her mind on the safer emotion of her anger at Sesshomaru's harsh words she leaped from the tree and began to run further in a westward direction away from the youkai hunting her and further into the Western lands.
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Rin decided she couldn't take being near Lord Sesshomaru any more and snuck off when it seemed he and Jaken were paying the least attention to her. Now Rin picked her way through the rocky landscape near a gorge working her way in a mostly eastern direction, back the way the group had traveled over the past week. It didn't mean much of anything at the moment to Rin that she was pretty much defenseless without the others. She couldn't focus on that or go back if she wanted to find the person she was looking for. Rin had to find Lady Kimiko again, she was bound and determined to. Too focused on her goal Rin didn't notice the group of lightly armored youkai that circled her and watched her every move until they had her trapped in the living net they formed. When Rin finally saw the circling youkai, she knew there was no way she could escape them no matter how fast she ran. A scream of fear escaped Rin's throat before she could think about the implications of it . . .
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Unease ate at Sesshomaru's insides as he tried to catch his missing pup's scent with no luck. She had been missing for over three hours and the thoughts of what could happen to a small unprotected child kept creeping into his mind along with guilt. If he had paid a bit closer attention to her, this wouldn't have happened. What was making matters worse was that he could sense two fairly large concentrations of jaki coming from the southeast and northeast. They were clearly two groups of youkai made up of at least ten members each meaning they were either two packs or they were hunting parties. Either way if Rin had gone eastward, she would be bound to run into one of those two groups.
"Wait! East?" Sesshomaru said in sudden realization to no one in particular even though Jaken looked up at him uncomprehending until Sesshomaru continued his thoughts. "Rin started acting strange after that encounter with that female inu youkai Kimiko. If she was going to try to find that woman she would have gone east to retrace our steps. Shit!"
Sesshomaru loosed a growl and immediately took off to the southeast hoping to find Rin before that group of youkai did.
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Kimiko sensed both groups of youkai chasing her trying to catch her in a pincer formation and head her off at the same time. The group closest to her was toward the north of her by about a mile, much too close for comfort, but something seemed to have caught their attention. That would have been fine with her and she would have continued to run if her sensitive ears had not heard the terrified scream of a child. A human child whose voice sounded too familiar for comfort. Kimiko almost instantly switched directions and ran toward the position the north hunting group. She would not let another pup die because of her even if he didn't thank her or aid her for it.
She wove between the rocks that rose up from the earth, casting a spell to mask her scent. She spotted the first of the youkai and pounced on her crushing her neck before she could make a sound. One of the other youkai saw Kimiko's attack on the now dead female youkai and shouted an alert to the others . . .
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What remained of the south eastern hunting party was nothing but a pile of gore at Sesshomaru's feet and on his claws and scattered around the surrounding area. A growl of annoyance escaped his throat. Rin hadn't come this way at all. He had just wasted precious time on a group of weaklings that had not been worth the fight. He turned to the north toward the other group. He could feel clashes in jaki from that direction and the strongest jaki which was rising higher by the second felt familiar: Kimiko. If Kimiko was in that direction fighting that group, it was more than reasonable his pup was there too. Faster than the human eye can follow Sesshomaru runs in the direction of the fight.
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Three more of the hunting party lay dead on the ground each kill more gruesome than the last. A fairly large panther youkai charges Kimiko as she dodges the swing of a sword by a horse youkai. She grabs the panther in passing and throws him over the edge of the gorge head first, a sickening crunch follows. The panther does not rise ever again. Another inu youkai tries to sever Kimiko's legs but gets a roundhouse kick to the face smashing its nose into its brain cavity. The horse tries again to slash her but she removes its sword arm with a swipe of her claws then its head goes rolling across the ground. Twin kitsune attack Kimiko one trying to create an opening for the other. As she dodges the one and grabs the other and throws it into the first she sees the tenth youkai circle close to Rin a naginata in his hands. Yukimaru's naginata, Shunken no Kyuuten, was in his hands to be exact. The twin kitsune collide and fall to the ground. When they begin to rise and see Kimiko's reddened eyes and feel a sudden spike in her jaki, pure terror runs through them and they flee the bloodied rocky ground not so far from the gorge. Their lord could order them to go after her all he wished but they would never obey such an order again. Oruku could go to hell for all they cared now.
The last youkai had remained in the background during the time Kimiko fought the other nine members of the hunting party sent by Oruku to capture or kill her. He now stepped forward a bit to challenge her thinking he would have an easy victory against her. Kimiko snarled barely retaining her humanoid form. Her stripes on her cheeks were jagged, and the whites of her eyes were infused with red surrounding the blue of her irises. This youkai had been there in the attack on her home all those years ago. He was one of the ones that had killed her brother and sister and escaped her claws that day. He would get his just desserts now. She stepped forward to meet his challenge wiping away some of the splattered blood from her face. Soon he would join the others in hell.
They stood facing each other from not twenty feet away each thirsting to spill the other's blood. Only one would walk away alive from this fight.
"I could never understand why Lord Bakusui let you live. I warned him what would happen, but he ignored reason. Now I will rectify his mistake and kill you like I wanted to all those years ago. After I crush you like the insignificant bug you are, I'm gonna drag your dead body back to Lord Oruku to do with as he sees fit, and to see the look on our foolish Lord of the East's face." The last youkai said practically rubbing his hands together in his eagerness a smile spread from ear to ear. "The kid will make a very good snack after I'm through with you."
"We'll see about that vermin!" Kimiko spat like venom at the youkai.
After her words were spat out they both went into fighting stances. They circled trying to find an opening in the others defense to make the first strike. The youkai had his tongue hanging out of his mouth as if he was savoring his victory over Kimiko before he even had it and was licking his lips as if he was licking away her blood from his face. Kimiko kept her eyes more focused on the Shunken no Kyuuten which he had at the ready to jab at her at any moment. She had to fight with her wits and not let her rage get the better of her. Due to the youkai having the Shunken no Kyuuten in his possession he had a much greater attack range than her in her unarmed state. She couldn't just flat out go wild and straight out attack him unless she wanted to lose and get severely injured. Yukimaru had taught her better than to do something so stupid as that. She would have to wait for him to attack then block his attack and counter attack in one step followed by a placing of distance between them.
The youkai let out a loud grunt as he swung the Shunken no Kyuuten towards Kimiko's chest in a slashing motion. Kimiko blocked the attack by trapping the pole of the Shunken no Kyuuten between her side and left arm and then held onto the pole with her hand. With her free hand she sliced across the youkai's hips with her razor sharp claws. The youkai backed away as Kimiko kicked him back to get away from the blade of the Shunken no Kyuuten. The youkai let out a small cry of pain from the wound she had inflicted on him. While holding the Shunken no Kyuuten about half way up the pole in front of him making feeble jabs at Kimiko, he placed his hand across the wound checking the amount of damage. The cut was deep and he could feel some of his guts trying to escape from the ripped open hole in his abdomen. When he made another feeble jab at Kimiko she kicked the pole of the Shunken no Kyuuten making it fly out of his hand landing several yards away. Kimiko came right behind the kick with a downward slash from upper chest all the way past the first slash removing most of some of his fingers from the hand that had been pressed to the first wound in the process. The youkai instantly pressed his other hand against the first and the place his guts were trying to spill out of the most while blood poured from the large gaping wound, and forgot about Kimiko.
With the combination of the upper and lower slash his stomach area had been opened wide and his guts were starting to come out of the large wound. The youkai bent forward doing his best to keep his guts inside him. Kimiko noticed a spiked piece of chest armor from one of the other youkai she had already killed earlier on the ground not too far behind the wounded youkai, and an idea came to her. She swept the feet out from under the youkai making him fall to the ground on his back. The youkai did his best to slide backwards away from Kimiko as he lay on the ground. Kimiko watched the youkai's weak attempt at fleeing impassively and waited for him to move passed the area where the spiked armor lay. She kept pace with the wounded youkai easily and just to taunt him and give him even move pain, she kicked him in the side from time to time. Blood spurted up from the youkai's wound each time she did so. A wicked grin almost curved her lips as she watched the youkai's blood run. Almost. The youkai continued trying to escape in vain. When he was close enough for her liking Kimiko when over to the body and ripped the spiked chest armor off of it and set it in her hands so the spikes were outward then returned to where the wounded youkai lay. She may as well make some use of the fool.
The youkai started to cough and with each cough blood began to come up with each and every one. He knew he had to get away from her in order to survive and heal. No youkai let its victims live after injuring them like she had. Sure enough she came to stand over him with the spiked armor in her hands and one foot on either side of him. She aligns the armor over his lower wound and stabs down with the armor piercing his hands and organs then sits on him so that part of her weight is on the spikes and holding down his legs. Part of the armor is under her making it almost impossible for him to try to push up on the armor and remove it. A loud cry of pain and a large splatter of blood came from the youkai. The youkai was trapped and he was completely defenseless to stop Kimiko from doing whatever she wanted to him and from killing him on the spot. She was going to kill him yet though she wanted answers to some questions first. Blood was pooling beneath them on the ground as it spurted out of his wounds.
"Who were the ones that killed my father? Where did you get Father's naginata, Shunken no Kyuuten?" She asked in a tight growl restraining from the killing blow. "Why did you have to kill the pups even though they were too young to be any kind of threat?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." The youkai responded.
"Not good enough. Do not play dumb with me."To try to force the answers out of the youkai Kimiko squeezed her knees tighter on the youkai's sides while pushing down on the spiked armor with her hands digging the spikes deeper into his squished up guts. A loud bellowing scream came from the youkai along with a large gush of blood from the wounds and from his mouth. The youkai grunted while trying to catch his breath and clear his throat of the blood to try to keep from drowning in it. She squeezed her legs again to show she was not playing around. "Are you going to tell me the truth now?"
"I'm not going to tell you anything you bitch," The youkai said. "You may as well just kill me. Go on and do it or let me go, damn you!"
Kimiko grabbed a hold of his throat. He was making it very difficult for her to maintain her control. She wanted answers but she wanted to kill him just as badly. Her rage had not subsided one bit. She was not about to let this piece of filth go so he could heal and harm other defenseless beings. She was not going to let a child killer go, not when he had harmed those that meant the most to her. He was going to die one way or another. Either she'd finish him off or she'd make sure he bled out like a stuffed pig.
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Rin had hid behind one of the scattered boulders when Kimiko and the youkai had started to circle each other. She stayed behind the boulder hoping Kimiko was the one winning the fight. She could look around the boulder to see what was happening but was too afraid.
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The first thing Sesshomaru noticed as he approached the area of the second group was the twin kitsune as they ran past him. They stank of blood and fear, but there was an under note that came from them that allowed him to ignore them for now: Kimiko. They had fought her and were now taking the smart path by running. They clearly valued their lives over their taiyoukai's orders. He continued closer to where he felt the concentration of jaki. The next thing he noticed was the corpses of the youkai Kimiko had killed and the blood soaked ground he walked on. Finally it was the two youkai on the ground that were still alive in the distance that he noticed. As he drew closer, he saw that it was Kimiko who straddled the youkai on the ground.
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"Tell me what I want to know!" Kimiko growled to the youkai with much more anger and force in her voice.
"With one of my last breaths I draw the answer is: Go to hell!" The youkai shouted as best as he could in her face.
With that Kimiko came to the conclusion that he was not going to tell her anything and that he was of no use any more. Even while facing death he was keeping the information she wanted to himself. No wonder he had her father's naginata. Kimiko had enough of this. She dug into his throat with her claws and drew them from one side of his throat to the other. The youkai's wind pipe burst out of his throat with what remaining blood he had in him. Kimiko got off the dead youkai and walked over to where her father's naginata was laying and picked it up. She was covered in blood from all the fighting and killing she had done. She held the Shunken no Kyuuten before her and inspected its condition. It seemed that it had been pretty well taken care of over the past 250 years. Sunlight gleamed off the blade bringing back memories of her father and her.
Yukimaru had trained her in the art of combat personally, never trusting anyone else enough to do it and not kill her in the process. He trained her in every weapon he could think of from bow and arrow to ax and from sword to kusarigama and even war fan. Yukimaru had hovered multiple times when she had spared with others. He had brought her with him a few times when he went on campaigns, including one to the continent in the west. She remembered his pride when she mastered each weapon, even more so with the interest she had shown in the naginata she now held in her hands, and her desire to learn of it as well. Yukimaru had gotten it forged by Totosai only a few days before she had wanted to work with it. Before then he had used a regular youkai made naginata that was not all that special. This weapon had been forged of Yukimaru's fang to protect her and her brothers and sisters . . .
Sesshomaru moved to walk passed the bloody corpse of the youkai she had just killed and she snapped out of her memories. A growl escaped her throat and she swung around to face him. Sesshomaru noticed that she was close to transforming still and froze. That partially explained why her jaki was so high and made even him wary and the hair on his arms stand on end. She was stronger than she had seemed the last time he encountered her. She saw that it was Sesshomaru and lowers the Shunken no Kyuuten marginally though she was wary of him. She didn't quite trust herself right now to not run him through to for his callous words before and for leaving Rin alone and vulnerable yet again. He clearly wasn't doing that great a job keeping the girl safe and was being a failure as a guardian for her.
Sesshomaru remained silent as he waited for the female inu youkai to calm and say something. She had fought the youkai that would have harmed his pup and protected her in his failure. If she had not been there, Rin would surely be dead right now. This was the second time Kimiko the daughter of Yukimaru had saved Rin for him without even being asked or having to do so. She had saved Rin even after he had told her he wouldn't aid her in her war. Was she that much of a gentle nature? No, no one of the gentle nurturing nature could do that much damage and kill so easily, but she was female and women do operate a bit differently than men even among youkai. Is it her desire for revenge that lets her fight so? Even though he wouldn't say so he had been impressed by her skill. He remembered that naginata from all those years ago back when that life debt to her father was created: it had been Yukimaru's back then. Oddly enough the weapon looked like it fit more in her and her hands than it had in her father and his hands.
Kimiko glared at Sesshomaru and her grip on the Shunken no Kyuuten increased. She was not impressed with his double failure with the girl. If she hadn't heard the child's scream and gone to her, Rin would be dead right now. He was clearly not the type who could handle having a growing child near them. Sesshomaru was as his name meant: killing perfection. Too bad she needed to have someone for an ally and he was still the best candidate. There was only one other way she could think of to get his aid. She slowly allowed part of her anger to disperse and her eyes to return to normal. Shunken no Kyuuten also radiated a slight comforting warmth into her hands almost in encouragement as well as welcome. If worst came to worst she was now on a more equal footing with him now that she had her father's fang.
When she thought she was in enough control she called out to the child," Rin! It is safe now. Your lord is here for you."
A slight frown that most wouldn't see played at the corners of Sesshomaru's mouth at her words as the girl popped up from behind a boulder and came running toward them. Rin hesitated for a few seconds when she was a few feet from the both of them trying to decide who she wanted to go to the most, but in the end it was Kimiko the girl ran to and hugged around the waist. Kimiko managed to get the blade of the Shunken no Kyuuten out of the way before the girl practically jumped on her. Sesshomaru's hands clenched into fists for a few moments at the sight of his pup hugging a strange youkai so happily. Rin had never hugged him like that.
"Lady Kimiko!" Rin cried happily as she hugged Kimiko, oblivious of Sesshomaru's reaction to it. "Are you okay?"
"I am fine, little one. What of you?"
"Rin is unhurt. Lady Kimiko came before they could hurt Rin." Rin released Kimiko as she said that. When she glanced down at herself to say something else, she noticed the blood on her and her clothes. Rin's eyes widened. "Lady Kimiko! There's blood! Are you sure you're not hurt, Lady Kimiko? "
Kimiko sighed as she tried to clean a bit of the blood from Rin's face. "It isn't mine. Most of it came from the wretch that had my father's fang."
Kimiko's action and the softening of her voice to speak to Rin reminded him a bit of how his mother was when he was a boy, and that thought disturbed him a bit.
"Gah! The only way this blood is going to come off completely is if there's a river involved! You just had to find the thickest concentration of it!" Kimiko muttered loud enough for both the human child and taiyoukai to hear. "Lord Sesshomaru, if you do not mind I'll have to borrow the girl to get her clean enough for an inu youkai nose to handle. After that I need to speak with you."
"Hmph. Do as you wish." Sesshomaru stated blandly turning away from the pair, he needed a bit of time to himself to think anyways.
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Kimiko found the closest stream and took Rin there. They bathed in the cool water and Kimiko did her best to get the blood out of both their clothes before setting them on a sun bathed rock to dry. Kimiko unintentionally found herself trying to get every speck of blood out of her golden hair when Rin took a portion of it and braided it.
"What do you think you're doing, girl?" Kimiko asked as she pulled the hair Rin was braiding out of her grasp and narrowed her eyes.
Rin instantly started pouting, "I was making your pretty hair even prettier, Lady Kimiko. It's such a shiny and warm color like sunlight!"
Kimiko rolled her eyes and undid the braid Rin had done before she went back to cleaning her hair, "Everyone says that but I fail to see what's so significant about it. My father had the same color hair so it can't be that special."
"And your eyes are like the sky in summer when there isn't a cloud in the sky!"
"Again I've heard that plenty of times and don't see what the big deal is."
Rin pouted even more, she wanted to do something to make Kimiko's hair shine like the heavenly body it reminded her of a cause Sesshomaru to at least try to get to know Kimiko.
Kimiko paused in her washing as she thought of Mizuki, and how she always played with her hair, and Kazuki always hanging on her left sleeve when Yukimaru wasn't around. What harm would it do to let someone mess with her hair again? "Alright. You can braid my hair on one condition: I'm the one who says if you're clean enough to get out of the stream."
Rin let out a happy cry and instantly began putting Kimiko's hair into multiple braids.
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Sesshomaru stood with his back to a tree just in hearing range of the stream where the two females bathed listening to them. Kimiko and Rin were clearly already starting to form a bond. For that he would hear whatever it was she wanted to say to him instead of just brushing her off and leaving with Rin. Rin had already shown that if she wasn't given a fair voice that she would do something really stupid that would hurt him in the end.
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They finished the bath and dressed. The braids felt strange in Kimiko's hair but she left them in to keep from hurting the child's feelings. Kimiko tracked Sesshomaru via his scent and his jaki to a small clearing in a forest far enough from the battle field that the stench of blood wouldn't offend the sensitive noses of the two inu youkai, but close enough to still be findable. Sesshomaru sat at the base of a tree staring at the sky and watched as clouds began to mar the sky here too when they walked into the clearing. The wind gently blew Rin and Kimiko's scents to him putting him on alert as he tried to ignore that Kimiko's scent reminded him a bit of some long forgotten memory of comfort from many years ago. Kimiko's booted feet made a lot less noise on the grass than Rin's bare feet. Sesshomaru waited until the females stopped in front of him before he turned from the sky above to run a critical eye over Rin's appearance. Rin had been cleared up well, better in fact than he ever actually remembered her being. Then his gaze turned to Kimiko and for the first time he noticed just how dark her clothing was. The haori she wore was the same dark blue color as the stripes on her cheeks and wrists with even darker blue patterns on it. Her hakama may as well be black with how dark it was, he couldn't even tell with his sharp eyes what color besides black it could be. The only light colors she wore were her obi of light blue with orangish-red at the ends. He also noticed that she looked no older than a 17-year-old human. She had to be at least 50 years younger than him.
Kimiko noticed Sesshomaru's scrutiny of her and held her words in check to see what he would have to say first.
Sesshomaru took a few deep breaths and blinked a couple times to regain his slightly lost focus. When he felt he had himself enough in check he spoke. "You saved Rin yet again even though this Sesshomaru already told you this Sesshomaru will not help you with your war. Why?"
Kimiko averted her eyes a bit, "Children are something that should be cherished and protected by their elders. Too many die due to the lacking of the elders upholding their duties. It doesn't matter if the child is human, youkai, or hanyou."
"What did you wish to say to this Sesshomaru?"
"A proposal. The kind that would benefit the both of us."
"Is that so?" Sesshomaru asked suspicious.
"You scratch my back, and I scratch yours. In other words you help me take back my family's lands, and I'll help you bring down your enemies. It's a win-win scenario."
"Are you trying to bargain with this Sesshomaru?" He was stunned by her audacity.
"Yes. There must be some foe that has proven quite the thorn in your side that you want to get rid of. My strength could be all you need to bring them low. So what do you say, Lord Sesshomaru?"
The images of Inuyasha and Naraku instantly came to mind at her words. If she could be of use in killing those two insolent bastards . . . it just might be worth his time and energy to help her kill a few taiyoukai. She just might be strong enough to handle those two.
If he was anyone else, he would have smirked as he said his next words, "Very well, a deal it is, Lady Kimiko the daughter of Yukimaru."
A/N: Finally Sesshomaru and Kimiko have teamed up and the breaking of barriers can begin. :rubs hands together: Sorry it took so long to get this up. I hit a snag trying to write the fight scene between Kimiko and the youkai that had her father's naginata, and I've been sick for like the past week. I still have an annoying cough from it. I've been wanting to write the scene about the day Kimiko's family was annihilated since I first made her in my mind. Please don't hate me for the deaths of innocent youkai children! Longest chapter to date! I'm gonna be looking for a beta for this and one of my other stories so if any of you are interested let me know! I hope I didn't make Sesshomaru OOC at the end of this. -_-" Sorry if anyone found the sneak peek chapter annoying it's a very rough piece of work that I really have to sit down and think over really hard. Thank you, CRdragonPyro and gnarley-, for your extreme patience with this Sakura Onna and support. This chapter goes to you all! Tell me what you think of this chapter. Review if you hate it. Review if you like it. And before anyone asks I deleted the poll about the sneak peek chapter's story and it isn't coming back. Also I know the way Kimiko gets the naginata wasn't on that poll, I just got this idea from my dad of all people. The naginata's name is Shunken no Kyuuten if that wasn't made clear enough in the chapter. If I'm thinking right it should roughly translate to "Heaven's Great Wisdom" or something to that effect. If any of you are better versed in Japanese let me now if I'm wrong or not in translating it or the word order I would greatly appreciate it.
See ya'll next time
~Sakura Onna