Chapter 7

The weather had for the past week been windy and cold and therefore the toad youkai had been longing for his home lands a little more than usual. His master had insisted on staying around the area where their former companion resided and they had occupied a cave fairly closely located to a smaller village in which a couple of very quiet and introvert, for which Jaken was thankful, peasants lived.

The Lord of the Western Lands had regularly been heading out around the same time every morning and arrived back at the cave late every night. The toad youkai happily used the free time to visit the woman called Rin. He stayed in the outskirts of her yard for several hours and watched her life passing by.

The woman seemed to live a fairly happy life considering her age and the toad was happy to notice that she moved swiftly and nimbly. A fair amount of people were always in her presence; meanwhile two boys practised their sword skills in the backyard Rin sat about, sometimes cradling an infant or two, but most of the time she just shouted orders and instructed the boys in their work. At nightfall, when the cold had become just too cold the family retired into the house and that was when the green toad took the opportunity to make his way to the porch and leave subtle gifts. Most of the gift were gifts like the first one he had offered: kimonos and jewellery, but there were also beautifully worked weapons and food.

Upon returning to the cave one especially stormy night the toad youkai stood face to face to the Lord of the Western Lands. His master sat still and expressionless as ever but Jaken's patience had run out.

"S-Sesshoumaru-sama!" the toad croaked loudly. The Lord of the Western Lands gave the toad youkai an irritable look and then closed his eyes. "Sesshoumaru-sama", he tried again, this time more carefully. "Why are we staying here? Rin is doing well, there is no reason for us to stay. And she does not wish to go with us. We should leave for the Western Lands. I do not think that there is anything we can do to make her come with us... " The Lord of the Western Lands tensed as his servant spoke.

"You smell of her! Have you seen her in these last few days?" The toad opened his mouth wide in discomfort and elatedly turned around. "Jaken. Have you seen her?" his master once again demanded.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, I went to see her one more time just to make sure she is all right! And I thought I should return her things! And I..." he was interrupted.

"You have returned her things to her? What things?" His eyes narrowed and turned toward the strap bags on the ground of the cave. "Gifts?" he said with aversion. The toad stuttered and shifted his focus to his feet. However, the Lord of the Western Lands said no more and silence engulfed the cave. The imp sat down against the wall of the cave to try and sleep but an irking thought tickled his mind and kept him inevitably awake. He knew he must not bother his lord but the thought would not leave him alone and he tentatively tried his luck.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" The youkai lord gave no token of recognition but the imp still continued. "Sesshoumaru-sama, you should go see her. Go see her, and talk to her and give her back her yukata. The one she wore when she walked with us. Go see her and she will understand!"

A stone as big as a fist flew through the air and landed on the imp's head with skilful perfection, causing the toad youkai to lose his conciousness.

In the morning when the toad youkai woke up there was only the two-headed monster sleeping beside him. The imp shuddered and lifted himself from the ground. Without exertion he walked up to the strap bags lying on the bottom of the cave and carefully taking a look inside them he quickly concluded that something was missing. A few humans' utensils such as a tinderbox and a rough wakizashi were gone, but most noticeably: the beige and orange chequered children's yukata, which has once belonged to the woman called Rin.

Lol, I'm so, so, so sorry for being this late with this chapter. I could spout excuses for the rest of the day, but I won't since you probably don't want to hear them. All I'm going to say is: the next chapter will be up fairly soon. Hope you enjoyed this one!