A/N: I am so *so* sorry you all are getting this late.
West of the Moon
Chapter Six
"Lord Sesshomaru? Lord Sesshomaru? Where are you?"
There was no answer but Jaken hadn't really expected one. "Always getting left behind," he muttered, clutching at his staff. "Never know where he gets off too. Lord Sesshomaru?"
Jaken followed after his master as well as he could…he had no real way to track him and his tiny legs could never keep up, but he was nothing if not determined. "Oh. What did you take off after this time?" he wondered aloud. "We shouldn't even be out here, not so close to the enemy, and – gah!" Jaken tripped forward, barely catching himself before he landed beak first in…blood?
It was! There, in front of his nose, was the reason Sesshomaru had taken off so quickly: a few dried specks of human blood!
"Is this Rin's blood?" he asked no one in particular. "Rin! Lord Sesshomaru! Rin!"
There was still no answer but Jaken trundled on anyway, tracking his way through the trees by moving from speck of blood to speck of blood. "Stupid girl, even grown up she's got me following after her and having to save her," he grouched. "When I get my hands on her…"
When he got his hands on her, he was going to hug her. And then he was going to kill her.
"What?" Jaken sputtered, jabbing ineffectually at the barrier before him with the Staff of Two Heads. "Lord Sesshomaru!"
He didn't know just what had happened, but he knew that if Rin had gone beyond this barrier, Sesshomaru probably had too. And he couldn't follow.
"Lord Sesshomaru, are you trying to loose me? Lord Sesshomaru! Rin!" Jaken paused but no one answered and there were no rocks tossed at his head. "Anyone? What am I supposed to do now?" he wailed.
But then there was a strange snort behind him and Jaken turned only to find that he was nearly beak-to-snout with one of Ahun's twin heads.
"Ahun!" He was torn between patting the beast he hadn't seen in so long and bashing it in the skull for sneaking up behind her. But then the head he wasn't staring him down rubbed against his side affectionately and Jaken decided friendly was the best approach. A pat it was. "Ahun, where's Rin? And have you seen Lord Sesshomaru?"
The dragon's tail lashed and both heads glared daggers at the shimmering disturbance in the air. Jaken thought he might have even heard a growl from the generally silent beast.
"What are we going to do? We can't follow them through this!" Ahun's tail lashed again. "Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken yelled again into the silent barrier.
Ahun snuffled again and both heads shoved at him and Jaken nearly stumbled through the barrier. "Hey! What did Rin teach you in that village?" Another shove. "Gah! Two heads and neither one have manners!"
Ahun snorted. And then Jaken found himself being tossed up and onto Ahun's back. "What are you-Whoa!" he cried, clutching at the nearest handful of main and lamenting the loss of the dragon's saddle as the beast took to the air. "Hey! Maybe we can find them from up here!" Jaken crowed. "And we can figure out what's being hidden behind this barrier!"
Both heads grunted in unison as though that's what they'd been suggesting all along.
"Hn." Sesshomaru's breath curled in front of his nose at the slight exhalation. Despite the fact that it was fast becoming one of the hottest summers in memory, this little bubble of air was near freezing…the grass was frosted, the flowers were wilting and there were even a few errant snow flakes.
But, Sesshomaru supposed, all of that was to be expected when you put a few ice demons together inside a barrier.
Tomoji – his former bride's father – was an exceptionally powerful ice demon from far in the north. Strength was rather an unusual trait in a demon of the elements…most of them were nothing more than low-level annoyances. Any real power over elements belonged to more god like creatures. But Tomoji and his clan were very powerful, very dangerous and very, very few in numbers.
That was part of the reason both Sesshomaru and Tomoji had been agreeable to the union. There were no direct male heirs to the northern lands and he hardly trusted his daughters to have the power or cunning to keep his kingdom after his death. There were, of course, a few cousins and the generals of his army, but no one of them matched the demonic power of his family.
If one of his daughters wed a foreign Taiyoukai and produced heirs, however, there could be no doubt that the land would be taken care of.
And Tomoji also had no doubts that his any of his daughters could produce a suitable heir and then kill off her unfortunate, unsuspecting husband, thus securing a heir to the northern lands and an indisputable heir to whatever lands the dead husband had controlled.
Sesshomaru, on the other hand, saw a quick way to gain more land. On the plus side, a powerful and unusually talented wife would produce powerful and unusually talented pups. He had no fears that he would be overthrown either, because no matter how powerful a wife he took there was doubt that he was the superior demon.
Besides, if you got right down to it, there were really no female demons of his own species available and to have heirs one had to mate with someone…The ice demons had been convenient. And, with so few of them in existence, there could be no one to contest his son's right to rule the north when the time came.
It was a shame, then, that Mitoyo had died before giving him an heir. That could have solved all of his problems.
But, they had wed, she had died and here they were…fighting over land that Sesshomaru wanted and Tomoji would not relinquish. Of course, technically, Tomoji had invaded Sesshomaru's territories in a preemptive move, but that didn't change the fact that this war was unavoidable. Besides, Sesshomaru preferred to fight on his own ground anyway.
And yet none of that had anything to do with why he was here. He was here – trekking through unnatural winter in a spiritually shielded bubble occupied by an invading enemy army – in search of Rin. His Rin.
His wounded, probably frozen, kidnapped Rin.
Huh. Perhaps he was quite like his father…he was all but giving himself to the enemy for the sake of a human woman.
Not, of course, that he had any intention of giving himself up, or even being discovered in this place.
Nor did he love the human woman he was here to rescue.
Perhaps they weren't so similar then.
The glass like ice on the grass shattered beneath his boots and Sesshomaru marveled again at the sheer strength of the family he had married into. Elemental demons were rarely strong but Tomoji, and his family, were incapable of containing their power. Even when they didn't mean to they radiated cold…In the two months in which his wife had lived in his palace she had managed to kill all but the hardiest of the plants in his garden.
That development had bothered him, but as he rarely had the time or inclination to enjoy the gardens he had said nothing. It had annoyed his mother to no end, though, which was a slight comfort. At least the cold had not actually physically bothered either him or his mother…They both registered the change, but neither felt it to be an annoyance.
This barrier, however, was much colder than the palace had been. It might have been because it was enclosed, but Sesshomaru suspected it had more to do with the fact that Tomoji had gathered together as much of his family and generals for this fight as he could manage.
It seemed another side effect of being one of the last of his kind was a determination to fight an all out battle for survival. And to employ dirty tactics to keep themselves safe. Sacred barrier indeed. Ridiculous.
But then a new scent struck Sesshomaru's sensitive nose…he had been following Rin's trail, a trail that was remarkably preserved in the cold air, but now it was all but overlaid by the scent of lilies. How odd.
Any animal with a sense of smell could tell you that Lilies were a terribly malodorous flower that should be avoided at all coasts. They confused scent trails, stopped up sensitive noses and generally left scent reliant hunters going in circles. Ice demons weren't known for their sense of smell.
Dog demons were.
The flowers explained why there were panther demons camping out side of the barrier. The cold explained why the snakes were. The ogre…well, ogres weren't known for being terribly bright.
But had Tomoji planned this? Did he intend to force Sesshomaru to come to him with only a portion of his army, those that could survive the barrier, and then confuse him in the stench? Or was it all coincidence?
Sesshomaru doubted that somehow. Tomoji was nothing if not devious. And he was probably smart enough to know that even frozen, dead lilies still stank enough to cause serious problems.
It was fortunate then that Sesshomaru was here scouting the area out. It was also fortunate that no one had yet realized he was here or laid a trap for him. This unexpected visit might prove very beneficial to Sesshomaru's victory.
Unfortunately, it was doing nothing for accomplishing his more immediate goal: locate, retrieve and deposit Rin back at his palace.
The scent of the flowers was concealing her location. Damn.
They were also going to hide the scent of any attacker that may come across him. Double damn.
"Just how big is this stupid barrier, anyway?" Jaken groused. From the air the enclosed area seemed enormous…It was at the very least large enough to enclose most of the forest. "And where has Sesshomaru gotten to?"
Ahun dipped a little lower, nearly skimming the wavering air with his talons and Jaken all but tumbled from his back. "Idiot! I could have fallen and…is that snow?" Ignoring the fact that he was holding on to the dragon with only one small hand Jaken leaned further towards the spiritual energy. "It is! Look, Ahun, snow! In summer! But…that must mean that there are more ice demons in there than we thought. What if they've captured Lord Sesshomaru?"
Jaken knew without a doubt that Sesshomaru was ridiculously strong and fully capable of destroying an ice demon. He also knew, although he'd never admit it, that Sesshomaru could not destroy an ice demon with out injury. And two ice demons would be too much for Sesshomaru to destroy alone. So if his lord had encountered an ice demon in there…there was every possibility that Jaken was never going to get that position in the new empire because there was every possibility that Sesshomaru wouldn't be around to give it to him.
"Why couldn't you have waited for your generals?" Jaken railed at the barrier. "Stupid dog demons thinking they can do everything by them selves! Wait!" Jaken nearly tumbled off the dragon again in his sudden excitement. "Sesshomaru's generals! Quick, Ahun, if we go back to them now we can tell them about Sesshomaru and the barrier and how there's a whole bunch of those stupid snow makers! They'll know what to do about all this!"
Ahun huffed but Jaken just tugged on their manes, trying to turn them back the way they had come. "Let's go, let's go! Faster! Don't you want to help Lord Sesshomaru?" The dragon paused mid flight as though thinking about it. "It'll help Rin too!" Jaken added. Ahun huffed again and wasted no time in turning around.
