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(-) "Sesshoumaru" – 'The Path to Destiny' (-)

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Chapter 9: The Demon and The Deer

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The rain droplets cast out luminous shimmering pink light as the rays of the sun passed through them, creating a true to the heart rainbow over the sky above them. The droplets were pink and hazy and seemed to glisten because of the purification power still in them. As the droplets fell on earth, the ground, the trees and the leaves, they too sparkled and seemed to come alive with freshness and nature's scent. It was a sight to see.

Kikyo was thoroughly exhausted. Never before in her life had she been able to produce this much power. She had not stopped her assault to take rest in fear that the demon might attack, so she had had to keep at it. She did not feel drained of her power, but she felt weak. Her body was tired. Too tired to stand. She collapsed, her knees folding under her. But Waturaka was not dead yet! She looked to her side, placing both her hands on the ground for support. The demon was getting back up on his feet. His hair of water was gone. He was weakened but most certainly not dead. She could see that he had lost his ability to dematerialize. He was completely solid and he seemed to have been slightly bruised when the whirlpool threw him out. The rain still fell around them, dampening her hair and clothes.

"You witch!" Waturaka screamed, standing in unsteady feet. "What the hell did you do to me? I am going to kill you for this!"

With that Waturaka unsheathed his sword and charged toward the Miko, who was too tired to even stand or move. Her body was shivering, trying to forcefully relax her tensed up muscles. Kikyo could keep her head up anymore.

Suddenly there was a gust of wind, and she had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, Sesshoumaru was standing in front of her with his back to her. He had placed himself neatly between the demon and her.

"You! I thought you ran away?" Waturaka exclaimed, surprise and panic in his voice as he ceased his charge towards the Miko.

"Hm!" Sesshoumaru grunted. "This Sesshoumaru runs away from nothing. Your ability to dissolve your body was affected only by the Miko's power. As long as I was here, you would attack only me. But if I left, you would foolhardily expend all your effort to kill the Miko. You might have succeeded but you will undoubtedly have been affected. And now when I bring about your death, you will stay dead."

"You took a chance on the Miko's life?" Waturaka asked, trying desperately to stall the Taiyoukai. Without his ability to dissolve and reform, he was done for. This Taiyoukai's powers were unmatchable.

"The Miko's life is of no importance to me. I have already wasted enough of my words on you. It is time for you to die," Sesshoumaru announced coldly as he began walking towards the demon, sword in hand.

Behind him Kikyo glared at Sesshoumaru.

Waturaka was now scared, and the fact that he was scared made him angry. He let his anger take control and let go of all sanity. That was pretty easy to do since he was already quite insane. He leapt into the air releasing a powerful wave crackling with dark energy. The earth seemed shook and shattered. The rising wave obscured his view of Sesshoumaru, and kept moving forward.

Suddenly everything seemed to move in slow motion. Waturaka was still in the air. Seeing the wave keep moving forward uninterrupted, a grin graced his face and his eyes narrowed in haughtiness. But soon they were forced to go wide with fear. A thin blue flash of energy flashed upwards through the center of the wave, neatly dissecting it and ripping it in two directions. Far behind Sesshoumaru he could see the Miko get to her feet, a glare still apparent on her face.

Waturaka then saw Sesshoumaru's image lifting off into the air. It was as if he was rising out of the broken wave, like a creature of another dimension showing its power and form. Then there was a white blur. Sesshoumaru appeared right in front of him. His sword made a slash and then he was gone.

Waturaka finally landed on one knee. He was still breathing. He could see the Miko watch him from a distance, and then sensed Sesshoumaru land softly on the ground behind him. He was not dead, he realized. His sword still couldn't cut him. A smile spread across his face and Waturaka turned his head to look behind him.

"I told you that you can't kill –me?" Waturaka's vision suddenly blurred. His voice had been cut off, and that was when he realized what had happened.

A thin line of blood appeared across his neck. When he turned to look at Sesshoumaru, his head had already begun sliding off the rest of his body. He had been decapitated cleanly. Sesshoumaru made a cut with his sword in the air, removing Waturaka's blood from the bladed. Behind him, the demon's head fell off and the body slowly crumpled to the ground. Moments later it melted out of existence. The rain ceased.

Sesshoumaru sheathed his sword, and began walking away, leaving Kikyo where she stood, wiping the water off her face.

"Where do you think you are going?" Kikyo asked him.

Sesshoumaru stopped but did not turn around to look at her.

"As much as I hate to say this, I do not think that this is over. That scorpion demon escaped with that dark orb," Kikyo continued.

As soon as she finished saying what she had to say, Sesshoumaru started walking away again. This angered her. He was ignoring her again. Arrogant Youkai.

"Listen Sesshoumaru, this is serious! That orb had an incredible amount of dark power."

"I am aware," Sesshoumaru said as he continued his forward momentum.

That was when his senses suddenly alerted him to of potential danger. He stood still as a beam of purification power shot past him, missing him by quite a distance. Was she that bad in controlling the direction of her power, or had she missed on purpose? He only had to think about that for a moment before deciding that it was probably the first. He may have given his word to protect her but that did not mean he could not her. With that he whizzed around and stood in front of her, before she even had time to think.

Kikyo looked up into his golden eyes. They were cold and hard. She knew he was thinking about how to hurt her. But before either of them had any further time to themselves, a voice echoed through the forest.

"Well done Sesshoumaru Sama. And you too Kikyo Sama," the voice congratulated.

Sesshoumaru did not remove his eyes from Kikyo as he was still angry, but this voice disturbed him even more, since he could find no trace of a demon or human scent anywhere around them.

Kikyo still angry as well and let her eyes remain on Sesshoumaru, but she too was concerned about the mysterious voice.

"Do not be alarmed," the voice continued. "I am on your side."

Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to scoff at that. How many times had heard that before. "This Sesshoumaru will not listen to a voice. If you have something to say, show yourself." He demanded in a dangerous tone. As soon as he showed himself he would kill the fool, he thought.

"Ah, but if I do that, you will not think twice about killing me. And I am more valuable to you and the Miko, if I remain alive," the voice said fully realizing the Taiyoukai's thought process. "Besides, my body is nowhere near here."

Sesshoumaru and Kikyo continued their glaring contest, but it seemed like Sesshoumaru was winning. Finally Kikyo looked away.

"Who are you?" Kikyo asked.

"I am called Shirinousai."

"What do you want?"

Sesshoumaru had had enough, and unbeknownst to Kikyo, he had started walking back in the direction they came from.

"I need to speak to you. The both of you."

That was when Kikyo noticed that Sesshoumaru was not standing beside her anymore.

"What about?" Kikyo asked watching Sesshoumaru walk away.

"It is about the black orb. There are more of them."

Sesshoumaru stopped once more. He did not turn but paid full attention to the voice.

"I cannot explain everything out here. I need the both of you to come and meet me at my home."

"The both of us?" Kikyo asked.

"Yes. As you saw, only the two of you together were able to defeat the Water Demon."

As soon as Sesshoumaru had heard the words 'two of you together' he had started walking again. He would be damned if he had to spend the day, in addition to the night, with her as well.'

"This is important Sesshoumaru Sama!" the voice urged. But Sesshoumaru did not stop, so he continued, "I knew your father Sesshoumaru Sama. I am an old friend of his. You can trust me."

At hearing this Sesshoumaru came to an immediate halt. "And how do I know that you speak the truth?"

"Well if it is proof you need, I can tell you that the sword you have was made from your father's fang. And I know that you have a half-brother. Also that you used to love racing demon hares, and-"

"That is enough," Sesshoumaru cut off the voice.

There was a good chance that the owner of the voice was lying, because many had come to know about his father's fang and his half-brother, but no one knew about his childhood passion for racing demon hares except his father. This voice knew his father alright, but for the life of him he could not figure out why his father would tell the owner of this mysterious voice about his childhood. Who knew what else father had told him, he wondered. It was too dangerous to let the voice continue talking as he was not sure what other things this fool might reveal in front of the Miko.

So Sesshoumaru turned gracefully on one foot and walked back to stand next to the Miko, with enough distance between them.

Kikyo had raised an eyebrow when the voice mentioned something about Sesshoumaru and demon hares, but decided not to pay it much heed.

"This is a serious matter, and it concerns the both of you, as well as the fate of all the lands and all creatures living in them. My home is at Mount Hakurei. You must come and meet me as soon as possible," the voice said. "I look forward to seeing the both of you." With that the voice disappeared.

"Are you still there?" Kikyo asked. She assumed the voice was gone because silence was the reply.

Kikyo then glanced sideways to look at Sesshoumaru. He was staring into the clouds, and appeared to be deep in thought. She would have loved nothing better than to interrupt him, but she already angered him with the purification beam incident, which he had apparently chosen to forget. She supposed she should wait for him to speak.

Sesshoumaru was indeed deep in thought. Today was not a good day. Everything had started going downhill after the Miko appeared. However if what that voice said was true and if indeed his lands were in danger, he should probably hear the voice out. Strange though; He did not know that anyone lived on Mount Hakurei and even stranger that he had not heard of the name 'Shirinousai'. Father certainly had not mentioned his name before. Also if there were more of these orbs it would mean trouble. At least these demons offered somewhat of a challenge. The Miko's involvement in all of this was not going to make it pleasant for him but it seemed they would be heading for the same place at the moment.

"Let us be on our way," Sesshoumaru decided.

Kikyo fought the urge to say something about how he thought he could order her around, but she silently followed behind him. SHe had to figure out what exactly was going on. It was certain that such a thing as that black orb could be a great force of evil, and if there were more, it only worsened the situation. She felt that the voice could be trusted, but what she did not understand was Sesshoumaru's involvement in this. Why did it have to be him specifically? He had killed the demon only after she had used her powers to weaken it. Things would become clear soon enough. She'd never heard the name Mount Hakurei but Sesshoumaru seemed to know where it is. Well, she thought, just when she thought she had no purpose. Hmm.

She kept pondering her increase in power and her ability to expel them in such powerful blasts as she walked behind Sesshoumaru. Eventually her thoughts drifted to the vast beauty of nature that surrounded them. The wind was blowing, there was green all around her and the birds were singing. It was simply a beautiful day. They passed through hills and flat grassy plains and through thick forests. Slowly her gaze fell upon the white figure that was walking ahead of her. She noticed that he was never in a hurry. His steps were always paced evenly and every motion was graceful. She had to take two quick small steps to every one of his or she would have been left trailing behind. His hair swayed gently from one side to another, rising if the wind happened to pass across them. She would usually feel a little uncomfortable without her bow and arrows when she travelled through unknown lands such as this, but she felt safe, after all she had incredible power now. Something deep inside her though kept trying to tell her that that was not the only reason she felt safe, and that it might have something to do with the powerful being walking in front of her. But her mind's constant barrage of thoughts like; 'He is a Youkai, he did not care for her life, he had almost let her die, and she meant nothing to him, was enough not to put away any realizations she might have otherwise had. Who could blame her?

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It was a while later when they were walking through a forest that Kikyo spotted some demon deer a long distance directly ahead of them. They were directly in Sesshoumaru's path. They were enjoying the soft green grass and chewing away noiselessly, when one of them pricked up its ears and then turned its head immediately towards the two beings headed their way. Soon most of the adult deer were looking at them, but their young kept chewing on the grass. When the two travelers got nearer all the deer ran away except for one of the young. These deer were very much like normal deer, only they were a lot larger, perhaps the size of Kirara. The young one that remained behind was about the size of normal deer but it had long yellow fur around its neck. The rest of the deer used their incredible speed and moved very far away before stopping and looking back at the young one left behind. The small deer, which was still probably close to a baby when compared in age with the others, looked at the approaching Demon with its all black, shiny eyes, and its ears pointing down.

Those deer sensed Sesshoumaru's Youki, which was why they ran. But this little one? Why would it not get out of his way? Kikyo wondered, apprehensively. She stopped walking and watched as Sesshoumaru continued on his path, the path which the young deer was standing on. Kikyo knew Sesshoumaru's nature. All the stories she had heard about him and his ruthlessness resurfaced. Run away little one, run away. Although she hated demons, Kikyo had nothing against the harmless types, especially not one as cute and innocent as this. She was not the type to get emotional over the possible death of this deer, but at the same time she did not like to see meaningless slaughter either.

Sesshoumaru stopped a short distance from the deer. Kikyo held her breath, waiting for the inevitable. She could see only his back but had a very good view of the deer. The deer could sense his Youki, but it did not move. Its legs trembled as it lifted its head to probably look Sesshoumaru directly in the eye. It stared at him, and he seemed to regard it with interest. Then to her anguish anguish, the deer took small shaky steps towards Sesshoumaru, almost touching his hakama. A sudden gust of wind passed across the three of them. The deer suddenly sprinted away behind a huge rock in the forest to the left. Sesshoumaru flexed his claws. She prepared for the worst.

"Stay here, Miko," Sesshoumaru commanded as he walked into the forest, following the deer's path.

Kikyo stood still. He was going to kill it! Her body of flesh and blood made subjected her to more intense emotions, she realized. She really should not be bothered by something like this. It was not clear to her whether she did not like what was going to happen to the deer, the fact that it was Sesshoumaru that was about to do it, or both. She did not know what to do, so she dimply stood there watching the rock behind which they disappeared. A while later she heard a 'crunch' sound like that of a tree being cracked through… by claws! Her hands fisted, anger seething through her body, and her face showed it. The demon, he must have killed it, she thought. He probably brought down a tree when attacking it. What a beast! Why would he go to such lengths?

Sesshoumaru appeared shortly after, his stoic expression ever present, as if nothing worth mentioning had happened.

He did not look at Kikyo, but he could hear her rapid heartbeat and feel the heat from her body. So she was angry. Typical human judgment. He was about to turn to continue on the path he had left, when Kikyo shouted at him.

"You beast! How could you kill a little animal like that? Just because it stood in your way?! You had no better way to spend your power than to kill a defenseless animal, a young one at that! You are nothing but a cold blooded murderer! Tell me Sesshoumaru, Lord of the West, was it really worth killing that deer?"

"Do not question what I do, and why I do it, Miko," Sesshoumaru's response was slow and measured. "This Sesshoumaru has no reason to explain himself to a human," Sesshoumaru said dangerously, facing away from Kikyo as he began walking forward. "It will be wise for you to put a stop to your incessant babbling and mindless rantings. Do not presume that you understand this Sesshoumaru. You never will. Now shut your cantankerous mouth and walk."

Sesshoumaru said all this as though he was talking about the weather; cool calm and collected. Had anyone else even dared to talk to him like this, they would have been melted by poison and left pooling on the ground. But he had to keep his honor, and the fact that the Miko was able to affect the demon from the orb also played in the back of his mind. But he was beginning to find her more and more unbearable. Damn! If only he had been able to prevent Rin's kidnapping then it would have never come to this. But dwelling on the past served no purpose. He had to face the consequences, no matter how terribly human like they were.

Kikyo watched Sesshoumaru continue on. The last few comments he made had stung her, but what made her even angrier was that he was not the least affected by what she had told him, or what he had done. Maybe they were right. Maybe he was just a soulless demon. The threat the black orbs presented left her with no choice but to put up with him and so she followed behind him with her head down. If she even caught sight of him she was sure her anger would certainly burst out again. As she walked she remembered the face of the little deer demon, with its big innocent eyes and freckled features. Again her anger grew, so she decided not to think about it anymore. There was nothing she could do. It was already over. She decided to concentrate on something else to take her mind off the sad incident, so she looked at the trees and noticed that the majority of them were Cocolaam trees. These were huge trees that secreted thick yellow sap which many people applied on the walls of their wooden houses to keep the water from weakening the wood. But, soon enough though, her thoughts drifted back to the dead deer. Suddenly she hated the fact that, since having been brought back to flesh, she felt things more intensely. Maybe it was because she had a heart again and a complete soul. Maybe she should try and fry the demon walking in front of her. Perhaps that would make her feel better. No, she would only end up being hurt really badly since he would not kill her.

Schuck! Kikyo heard a small sound behind her. Well behind her. For some reason her heart started beating faster, as if she already knew what had made that noise. She stopped mid-step and slowly turned her head around with her head still lowered. Slowly she lifted her gaze. Up ahead, stood the little deer, healthy as ever, its ears up, and its little bushy tail wagging furiously. Her lips parted in surprise. She did not know whether her mind was making things up or whether she was seeing a ghost. But soon enough she realized that the young deer was indeed well and alive. Soon after, an extremely large deer, much bigger than the others, limped up to it and stood behind it. It was holding its back right leg off the ground. There was dried blood and -lots of dried sap!

Realization hit Kikyo like a bolt of lightning.

The broken leg, the sap from the tree, the sound of claws breaking through a tree! He had rescued its mother who must have been trapped under a Cocolaam tree! But -if so –then- she had thought- Oh no!

Kikyo swung around to see Sesshoumaru getting further away from her. She looked back at the deer and its mother. But he could have said something. If he had just told her. Why had he said nothing to defend himself when she had accused him so terribly? Of course he did not care what she thought, but still, how could anyone do 'good' and then not defend themselves when falsely accused? She knew her opinion of him was something he could care less about, and yet, to walk away with false blame.

Kikyo felt a smile come to her lips as the two deer walked away in the other direction. She again looked back to see Sesshoumaru's form fade into the distance, fading out of her anger, fading out and over the level of human understanding.

She took off on a slight run to catch up with him. Her hair shifted and changed shape, her heart beat slowed down and her face flushed pink. Cool air rushed across her face. Deep breaths of air went in and came out as her her eyes sparkled. She was wrong. She had misjudged him. She should not have judged him at all. After all it was not the first time that he had proved that he was not like other beings, human or demon. Yet she had let her emotions get the better of her. Her need to see this Taiyoukai as something of pure evil and cruelness had outweighed her ability to reason. If she had taken the time to understand, or at least to try to understand him. But no. He was evil -she had made up her mind. Maybe he was evil, but she had used that against him at the wrong time, at the wrong instant, and definitely for the wrong reason, and she realized that. She had no problem admitting she was wrong, but in this case with this Taiyoukai, what will that cost her….?

She broke into a walk when she neared him. She could see the left side of his face as they continued their journey. She sneaked a peek at him by slowly shifting her gaze towards him from under the safety of her bangs. He seemed as cold and unemotional as usual, and it looked like nothing could bother him.

"Sesshoumaru…." she began. "…. I am sorry, I … misjudged you. I should not have said those things."

"Your apologies are of no use to me human, neither are they any worth."

"But I insulted you by saying all those things. How could you not care?"

"Hm! I do not pay attention to what an insignificant human thinks about me. And as for your pathetic off the hand insults, consider yourself lucky, for having been in a position to save Rin. If not for that, I would have scattered the parts of your body all over this land and fed your blood to demon bats."

Kikyo stood still, shocked at how well he had planned her death in his head, and at how calmly he told her about it. Her eyes narrowed again as she started walking. He was not used to letting anyone who insulted him live. But she knew that after what she did to him, if not for his sense of honor, he would have done exactly what he had said. Thank you Rin, she thought. She wanted to think about something else other than the demon who just described how she might have died at his hands, but her brain would not let her. She had to know why?

"Sesshoumaru tell me why, you did not tell me that you helped save a life, that you did a good deed, even after I accused you of the opposite?"

"This Sesshoumaru need not explain anything to you human. My reasons are my own. Now stop talking."

Kikyo managed to control her anger. Why was he being so purposefully evasive? He almost sounded vulnerable. Why was he like this? She could not explain her incredible urge to find out why. She was overcome with this urge to somehow figure out Sesshoumaru. Maybe it was because he said that she could not. Maybe she did not like not knowing things about him. Either way she was determined to find out...

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