Kyandi: Hey everyone! I laughed until I fell out of my chair, while writing this chapter!
Hamoni: I didn't laugh.
Kyandi: I didn't expect you to. It would be mortifying to be in the position you had been in.
Hamoni: Mortifying is one word for it.
Kyandi: But I laughed!
Hamoni: Of course you did. Can we just get this over with?
Kyandi: Right! Everyone, please enjoy and review!
Hamoni: Kyandi-sama does not own Inuyasha.
Chapter 9 Aggravating
This was safe, this was safe, this was safe...
Hamoni peered over the side. This was so not safe!
Far below Hamoni the ground spread out, just waiting for her to fall. Hamoni leaned back and shot Sesshomaru's back a glare. To speed up travel, Sesshomaru had decided to rely on the flight abilities he had, using his mokomoko to carry her. Hamoni, who had always had a small fear of heights, was not happy with the choice. But being so high off the ground, all she could do was sit back and try not to look down at the ground.
She reached up, tugging on her ears to try to focus on something other than the ground below. She could feel the jewel shards hanging from her ears again.
Since he had no use for the jewel shards, Sesshomaru had returned them to her. Though he hadn't been too happy about her telling Rin to hide them from him. Not that she had listened to him. With her mind off the ground, she was able to focus her attention on the white fur below her instead. She let her thoughts take her away.
Instead of focusing on the ground far below, she focused on that fur. She wondered, if the mokomoko was part of Sesshomaru, did he feel it when someone touched it or stabbed it? Hamoni ran her hand through the fur, letting the silkiness of the fur slip between her fingers. It was certainly soft that was for sure. She found herself continuing to run her fingers through the fur, sometimes lightly tugging on it.
He had to be able to feel something from it, right? After all the thing was never separated from him and it moved when he wanted it to. It was a part of him. Had to be.
Yet...she got no reaction from the tugging.
What Hamoni didn't know was that Sesshomaru had turned to watch her out of the side of his eyes. He hadn't reacted because truthfully, the feeling of her petting the fur, even with the tugging, was strangely soothing. He had never really let anyone touch the mokomoko the way she was now. It was strange but he wound't say anything to her. As long as she didn't try to stab it or anything, he was fine with allowing her to continue.
And she continued to pet the fur until they came into sight of where Sesshomaru had left Rin, Jaken, and A-Uh. Hamoni heard Rin before they ever landed.
"Miss Hamoni!"
Hamoni, against her better judgment, peered over the side to see Rin waving up at her. Hamoni couldn't help a smile. Before Sesshomaru ever touched the ground, Hamoni jumped from her seat. The action was not a smart one. She landed on her feet, but the sudden movement and lack of food, caused her world to spin as dizziness overtook her.
She swayed before her knees gave out and she fell backwards. Sesshomaru caught her, with his arm around her shoulders and held her tightly to his chest, helping her to walk the rest of the way to the camp Rin and Jaken had made.
Hamoni really didn't want to accept his help, but he didn't give her a choice, dragging her along with him until he could ease her to a seat on the ground by the fire.
"Rin." he said turning to the little girl.
"Yes, my lord?" Rin asked, concerned eyes on Hamoni.
"Fine her food. As much as you can." he ordered.
Rin gave him a "Yes, Lord Sesshomaru!" before taking off to as told. Sesshomaru turned away from Hamoni, finding himself a tree to sit under. Hamoni watched him but soon Jaken's aggravating chattering drew her attention away from him.
"I can still see straight enough to throw something at you." Hamoni informed the imp.
Jaken instantly shut up.
Hamoni heaved a sigh. As much as she disliked Sesshomaru and Jaken, she still preferred to be there with them rather than locked away in Naraku's castle. Though she would never admit it to either Sesshomaru or Jaken. She would never hear the end of it from Jaken. No, she was just fine keeping her silence. But apparently Jaken couldn't leave well enough alone. He just had to nose into it.
"Should be glad Lord Sesshomaru wasted his precious time to go save you. Who knows what that Naraku fellow would have done to you! Now are you not grateful?" Jaken rambled.
Grateful!?
Hamoni was a little bit grateful, but she wasn't going to say so. Instead she lied. It wasn't something she usually did, but she felt spiteful when it came to these two demons. Another thing she didn't usually feel was spiteful, but Sesshomaru brought out the worst in her.
"No, I'm not. If it wasn't for Rin, I would much prefer to be back there." Hamoni retorted, much to Jaken's disbelief and anger.
She didn't even bother to look up from her wrist as Jaken flew into a rage. Sesshomaru had looked up at the girl, but she was looking after her wrist. He, in all honestly, didn't believe Hamoni for a second. She no more wanted to go back to Naraku than Sesshomaru wanted to be stuck with Tenseiga.
"I do not believe you!" Jaken told Hamoni, shaking a finger at her.
Hamoni's eyes snapped to Jaken and the demon put more space between them.
"I don't care if you believe me or not. I have no reason to like being around you and or your master." Hamoni told him.
Sesshomaru didn't even look up at her when she said this. He had no delusions that she liked being around him. Or did he really want her to like being around him.
Rin returned then dragging along four fish and an arm full of berries and edible mushrooms. She placed the food next to Hamoni before bringing her, her bag. Hamoni dug an energy bar out of her bag that she had been keeping for emergencies. This seemed like one to her. She ate that as she gutted the fish, spearing the meat on sticks and placing them over the fire. There were several times when she had to stop because her hands were shaking. She was so hungry that she could have ate the fish raw.
But the mere idea made her sick to her stomach.
While they waited for the mushrooms and fish to finish, Hamoni and Rin snacked on berries. It took all the manners her mother had ever taught her, for Hamoni not to basically inhale her food. Rin only ate one of the fish, leaving the other three to Hamoni. Which she managed to eat all of. As the food settled into her stomach, the shakiness of her hands settled and Hamoni began to feel much better. Of course, that also meant that another wave of drowsiness overcame her. She took the time to bandage her wrist and lay out her sleeping roll, before she climbed in and promptly passed out.
Sesshomaru watched her closely. Her coloring was already starting to a little bit better and the more she ate, the more she would get back to normal. Rin climbed in with Hamoni, gratefully snuggling close to the young woman until, in her sleep, Hamoni had to drape an arm around her. With both human females down for the night, Jaken had nothing else to do but rest himself. Sesshomaru was going to keep a close eye on Hamoni for now on. He was not going to allow her to be taken from him again.
-0-0-0-0-
Sesshomaru had never been more annoyed in his long life. Over the course of four days, several demons had begun to pick up on Hamoni's scent and had some seeking to claim her for themselves. With the young woman still recovering, her spiritual powers were weak. She could barely conjur up a shield. Sesshomaru had to kill more low class demons with each day and he was growing frustrated with the whole thing. He was really starting to wonder if the Tessaiga was worth this.
Each time a demon showed up, it declared it would claim the girl as it's and would attack, trying to carry Hamoni off. To her credit, Hamoni wasn't easy to catch, but Sesshomaru was getting awfully tired of fighting off these weak demons. Finally, he decided to do something about it. Leaving Rin in Jaken's care, Sesshomaru took Hamoni and split off from them. He captured and kept hold of Hamoni's hair, forcing her to stay at his side as he led her through the forest they were currently in.
Hamoni tried, unsuccessfully, to yank her hair free several times. Sesshomaru kept a tight grip on her hair. She had no choice but to follow him.
"Where are we going? And will you release my hair for crying out loud! What is your fascination with my hair anyway?" Hamoni asked, stumbling over a tree root and having her hair yanked when she didn't catch her feet in time to keep up with him.
Finally Sesshomaru had enough. He rounded on Hamoni with speed she could never hope to match, trapping her against a tree. Hamoni gasped in shock as her back hit the tree trunk and reared a fist back instinctively. Sesshomaru's hand dived into the very roots of her hair then, yanking her head back to bare her throat. Hamoni felt adrenaline flood her system as he bared his fangs at her. She had only a fraction of a secon before he clamped those fangs down on her neck.
Hamoni stiffened, letting out a strangled noise as his fangs pierced the skin of her neck. But almost as quickly, she started fighting him, trying to push him away from her. Sesshomaru crowded closer to her, his bigger body pinning her to the tree. She couldn't budge him no matter how hard she tried. With him that close all she could smell was his scent. She didn't know what to do, how to get him away. With her body still recovering and her strength still weak, she couldn't form any kind of sheild. Not that she really knew how to do that again anyway.
And then he released her, stepping back from her.
Hamoni slid down to the ground, her hand flying up to clamp over the bite on her neck. The spot was burning and she could feel blood there. She stared at Sesshomaru as he watched her before turning to her back and digging through it. Out of it she pulled a compact, popping it open to look in the mirror. She removed her hands to reveal fang marks in her neck surrounded by a large purple-blue bruise. It was high enough up on her neck that there would be no hiding it. Blood trickled down from the puncture marks.
A blush had spread over her face as well. She was probably a sight to see, sitting there on the ground, a blush on her face and bite marks and a bruise on her neck. It looked like she had a hickie. A hickie! What in the world would she have told her mother or Kagome if they had seen it? Oh yeah, a dog demon lord with a serious attitude problem suddenly gave me a hickie when he doesn't even like me in the smallest bit.
Yeah that would be awesome.
And if the sarcasm wasn't clear, it was there. Along with anger, lots and lots of anger.
"You...you marked me!?"
Hamoni's gaze flew back to Sesshomaru and she could swear there was a smug look on Sesshomaru's face as he looked down at her. Which only managed to really annoy her. Her eye twitching, Hamoni snatched up a rock and threw it at him. Sesshomaru batted it away and Hamoni flew to her feet stalking to him like a cat who had just run across another cat on it's turf. She pulled a fist back to punch him. Sesshomaru grabbed the hand before she could and she slapped him with the other.
"You bastard! How dare you mark me! I'm not your property, you mangy mutt!" she snapped at him.
Sesshomaru did not like that. He released her hand, grabbing her by the throat and tilted her head to the side with his thumb. It put her head at an angle that really hurt. His eyes went to marks now on her neck. Any demon that came near her, would see the fang marks and know she belonged to another, but that wasn't the only purpose.
While making the marks, he had gotten close to her, rubbing his scent off on her. Every demon that came within smelling distance of her, would smell his scent on her and know that Sesshomaru had claimed her as his. None of those weak, lower class demons would lay a claw on her now. As long as he kept that mark and his scent on her, they would stop attacking them to try to claim her.
Not that Hamoni saw the genius of his plan, or she would be thanking him, not calling him names.
What she failed to realize was that until Inuyasha handed over his sword for her safe return...she was his property. And he never let someone take what was his. Naraku had managed it and that had seriously angered him.
"Until Inuyasha hands over the Tessaiga, you are mine. Meaning I will do with you as I see fit." he told her, his grip on her throat tightening just enough to greatly reduce the amount air getting to her lungs.
Hamoni gripped his wrist and struggled against him, her teeth gritting as she glared at him. Sesshomaru didn't release her. He wasn't going to excuse her behavior.
"You...jerk! Let...me...go..." she hissed.
Sesshomaru stared at her before letting go. Hamoni slid to the ground, sucking in air as she raised a hand to her throat. Between his bite and his strangling grip, her throat had faced more abuse in the last five minutes, then it had in her whole life.
"I do not have to explain myself to you. The mark will stay there for however long you remain with me and you will not try to hide it." he told her.
Hamoni glared at him. She couldn't even begin to discribe her annoyance with him. There was no language on the earth that could come up with a word that could sum up the amount of her annoyance and anger. No word that could perfect describe how much distaste she felt. Oh wait...she did have a word for all of that.
Sesshomaru.
Yeah, that about summed it all up.
-0-0-0-0-
"Miss Hamoni...what happened to your neck?"
Hamoni's eyes twitched. That had been the first thing out of Rin when Hamoni and Sesshomaru finally met back up with the little girl and Jaken. It had instantly made Hamoni's annoyance rocket up another notch and it was already pretty high up as it was. It wasn't that she was annoyed with Rin. Heaven forbid! She could never be annoyed with that sweet, little girl. No, that was saved for the white haired male currently standing behind Hamoni.
"A mangy mutt bit me." Hamoni replied.
Sesshomaru shot her a look, but she simply lift her chin and turned her back on him. Rin looked between the two but couldn't connect the two. Jaken then though and stared with wide eyes between the two. Rin just let it go and went about her usual activities. Jaken looked up at Hamoni, eyes on the mark on her neck.
"You do realize that Lord Sesshomaru did that to protect you from the other demons that have come seeking you." Jaken told her.
"No, he did it to be a complete pain in my side, the jerk." Hamoni replied.
Jaken went on his usual tirade about how Sesshomaru was all great and mighty. How the male was nothing short of perfect. Hamoni was rubbing her temples by the time he came to an end of that tirade.
"Oh he's perfect alright...perfectly aggravating." Hamoni retorted, walking away from Jaken.
Sesshomaru watched this whole thing with amusement. He hadn't been too pleased with the insults she had flung his way, but it had been entertaining to see the effect his marking had on her. Her face had flushed and she had looked so shocked. And then her pale eyes had blazed to life with her anger. He had never met a creature, human or demon, who willingly stood against him. Aside from Inuyasha. None had ever had the courage to storm up to him and hit him like she had.
For some strange, weird reason...he was starting to like her.
END
Kyandi: Hahaha!
Hamoni: Are you going to stop laughing soon?
Kyandi: Hahahahaha!
Hamoni: Seriously, anytime now would be good.
Kyandi: Hahahahahahahaha!
Hamoni: You're turning purple.
Kyandi: I...can't...breathe!
Hamoni: Go figure. Lets just wrap this up.
Kyandi: Enjoy...and review...
Hamoni: We'll be back soon.
Kyandi: Bye!
