Chapter 10

"Where did you get information like that?" Sesshomaru growled glancing at the man who shrugged. "Its simple really. As a Yokai slayer you'd think that you'd have to know the quickest uptake of information possible about your opponent." He smiled shrugging.

"You're lying." Sesshomaru growled as the man nodded.

"Alright you've caught me, we were actually set up to kill you." He laughed as Sesshomaru looked up already having the pinpointed location of each of the onslaughters. "And how will that help you?" He growled his internal weapons already to the edge of his nails as they glew inthe dark causing the man to shrivel back. Humans these days. No fear. No logic. When he was younger this human would've had at least some logical sense on how quickly he should be running to escape right now. He could've sighed at him right now. They had only grown to fill themselves with idiocy. With their times of peace and happiness. "We want Rin, and you keep getting in the way." The man growled towards him.

"Rin is not a prize to be kept."

"But she is something we need!" The man shouted as Sesshomaru pulled back.

"You can't have her than!" Sesshomaru growled there was no way anyone would endanger someone important to him.

"You do realize that we killed her parents? I slaughtered each of her so called brother's slowly...but you should know it was for a good purpose, they were researching where she came from and were finding yokai within the city, she has to stay completely with humans." One of the man smiled, he was standing there with a bow, as the entire pack of people surrounded him he stared up at them. Mere humans, whom thought if they could outnumber him they would probably kill him. Fools. He blinked looking up from the ground. It was a look full of elegance, but behind that beautiful mischievous elegance that extremely few had lived to see. Something else lingered within his yellow eyes that almost looked soft as a smile twitched to his face. "And you're next to go, you can't have her." The man with a blue bow was smiling pulling back his bow as if he had found a target that he knew he would hit. A hunt. The man thought he had the upper hand in the hunt, how funny that was. The arrow fizzed right past him cutting through his hair, the parts were the man didn't even manage to catch a single hair as it flew past. The man next to him staring down towards the ground stayed silent as he observed the streets not really paying attention to the people who had surrounded them. As if he knew them. "Friends of your's?" Sesshomaru asked as the man who claimed to be Rin's uncle shrugged. "More or less acquaintances, never liked the one with a bow anyway." The man said holding up his binoculars as he observed the city streets apparently staring at nothing once more. "Good, than I won't have to worry about those pesky goodbyes." Sesshomaru smiled suddenly he appeared in front of the archer. Sesshomaru appeared as if he were floating down towards the roof top levitating even.

"Y-You're a m-monster, look at you moving unnaturally fast like that! You're a cretan you've got to be disposed of!" The archer said reaching for something that was from KoHaku long, long ago. It would have to be returned that sword there. The archer begun preparing another arrow as Sesshomaru stepped down onto the concrete. "Care to repeat the words you were uttering so obnoxiously a second ago?" Sesshomaru said looking towards the man something about his eyes were gentle, but that was the dangerous part, the sense of security he had built by learning to control the look of the emotions that passed through his eyes. "I said I tortured her fucking family to death!" The archer shouted as Sesshomaru smiled reaching towards the man's neck. "Thank you, for telling me who I have to hunt for making her safe haven, smell of all that death."

"MONSTER! GET AWAY FROM ME!" The man shouted even though nothing had happened. "You have no idea what you're doing i k-know some people" The man continued shouted as it was almost laughable towards Sesshomaru. These were probably hollow threats. "I don't think you really understand how old I am, in yokai years yes I may look around twenty, maybe a little older than that, that's what I am, but in human years? Its higher than five hundred years."

Sesshomaru said as the the man with the binoculars glanced away from the scene. A well deserved scene, more than any of them knew. "Anything for Rin" seemed to be the motto, as long as she didn't have to know such horrid things. "One of the famous dog-kami-sama-guards?" The man choked out as his final words, Sesshomaru dropped him back to the ground. "Take him with you when you leave, he's unconscious." Sesshomaru said jumping back to the building where Rin's "uncle" was standing.

"How many times have you done that for my niece?"

"As far as she knows none. That will be as far as you know"

The two nodded in agreement and begun to find the two teens as the organization surrounding them retreated discussing what their next move should be. Sesshomaru called one of his less human clients telling him of the problem that should be taken care of if deemed a threat, not a word, but the phone clicked on and off. They understood, and this would be taken care of. It was not relying on someone else, especially not when it came to Rin, it was using his resources to his advantage until he could handle it himself. "Found them." The uncle said as Sesshomaru nodded glancing towards the man. "I'll tell her the honest truth in the morning." The uncle sighed. It was obvious he himself wasn't ready to accept such a fate for his brother or sister and nephews. It was also obvious that he had been told they were missing and part of the plan to keep a close eye on her had come up, this is why he hadn't bothered interrogating such a man. "Head home." Sesshomaru said as the man nodded. Sesshomaru planned to do the same, after making sure Rin was okay. She was. Holding papers as Rin and KoHaku wandered helplessly around the streets muttering to each other how empty the streets were this night. Sesshomaru felt the pressing of his foot right against the edge of the tall building wanting to jump down and speak to the two. Sesshomaru turned and head home. This was her own affair and in her own time she would discover her answers. Not the ones that someone was trying to feed her. He walked into the door, slipping off his coat as he glanced at it once again. A small barely visible jagged cut on the right shoulder. The archer had actually cut him, impressive, but he had no time to be impressed as he looked at the papers poorly left out all over his kitchen table.

He frowned looking at his papers a mug of something he drank within his hands, the poorly sorted papers must've been sorted through by Jaken sometime ago. Laying upon that table with papers was an invitation to go to another party that he would have to sort out amongst his empire. He let out a slight sigh picking up the paper. This person even their ancestors had insisted upon having a party called it "rekindling old flames" while laughing hysterically. There was something about this peculiar human's ancestors that he couldn't help but add to his empire. Charisma was important in making deals and that is why he had added such humans into his empire. Connections were important in such a way. And natural charisma was something that attracted people to such places. Luckily for him that called several more deals with other people who were also interested in joining the empire. And so his empire grew. He also got another stroke of luck when the daughter, grandson, and continued generations after that man also possessed this natural charisma as if it were a family trait as similar as his white hair. He cast a glance over towards Persephone's picture hanging on the wall. Maybe she would like something like this, she was at the age where most girls liked to try to go to dances. He picked up the phone slowly wondering how the phone conversation would go, it obviously wasn't the first time he used a phone but at the same time Persephone had been so forceful about wanting to go to America, surely it was curious that right after finding her that she would disappear off to some foreign country. Which he had visited back in the early 1920s, they were wandering the streets with drugs, crime, violence, and flappers. He sighed remembering the images and then wondering why he had even let his daughter go over to such a place. No, she was his daughter. She would be absolutely fine. He could picture her now standing on top of a pile of crooks her heel stuffed into one of their backs, laughing maniacally, waiting for the police to show up. An image that made him proud. He remembered quickly, even though her childhood was shorter than most, especially a hanyous, it had past like a normal childhood behind her eyes. And that's what he had tried to give her. Even if the way she had met her mother was by meeting her reincarnation, even if he wasn't the best with situations such as the one he was in now, he was still trying.

"Dad, I think I understand now." Sesshomaru said casting a glance over towards the swords that were neatly kept on the wall. A simple situation that he clearly didn't understand for quite a while. He picked up the phone, dialing Persephone's cell number. "Hi ya!" Persephone's voice answered from the other side of the phone, her voice was cheery, she was definitely more like her mother. "Hi" Sesshomaru said back as Persephone begun babbling away about how she had joined a college and was learning a lot of things, not to overly worry too much about her ears in public she had been managing her way around it with fake wigs which were really hard to find, and hats. How she liked cutting holes in the hats that gave her ears a place to breathe. She also talked about how Americans barely looked at her hair funny because there were a lot of them who dyed their hair a bunch of unnatural colors there was even one that had a giant mohawk colored like a rainbow and he was human, defientally human. "Here, here...give me a second!" She was smiling over the phone still talking at a rapid pace when his computer gave a ringing sounded, he opened the email up, it was from her phone. There was a picture of her, she had turned the pearl he had given her into a necklace, her hair was cut to just above her shoulders now, as she stood there smiling with another man in the picture who was shooting them the american "peace-sign" he was wearing an open t-shirt that seemed to be from the tropics and had sunglasses on himself. Approximately her age. Son of one of the people he kept under his command. Sesshomaru blinked looking at this boy unsure what seemed so unsettling about him in the photo with his daughter. He put the phone back to his ear wondering how Persephone would hold a phone with the ears on top of her head. "He's my boyfriend!" Her voice echoed thru the phone as he felt a strange form of malice almost causing him to flinch that would've crushed the phone, he restrained it. "What is this malice i'm feeling?" Was the boy evil? He looked at the boy closely. Innocent eyes, a little goofy, he had eyes relatively similar to Shippo not in yokai shape but more of a similar situation. "Get this he sews! Look at the second picture,"-Sesshomaru clicked open the second picture threw the many sent in the e-mail-there was a dog. That actually extremely close to his full form that was being contained in his own human vassal, well at least his human form. "He says its a giant from our cryptozoology class, beautiful white dogs that remind him of the ears on my hats, I wear hats with holes in them, ops, did I already say that? Well anyway, he was explaining them and it sounded as if they were revered as forms of gods and goddess with castles that floated somewhere high above the sky!" Persephone's excited voice echoed through the phone. She must've not known. Her instincts were automatically giving her images of his own mother's castle that floated high above the sky, too high for any mere human to reach. "My boyfriend is actually supposed to be coming over later and we're going to be heading out for ice cream-how's mom?" Her voice changed suddenly. Rin's reincarnation, which was still Rin, Persephone was still insecure on exactly how to treat her mother after learning the story. She wasn't sure if she wanted to treat Rin as her mother or not, but Rin was the only one that she had ever known. "Rin's out looking for her family, they disappeared after an attack one day." There was a sigh over the phone, Persephone obviously slightly disappointed but at the same time it gave her hope it gave her time. There was no way that Rin could easily explain why Persephone was already Rin's age herself even if she was possibly her daughter. There would have to be time before she could meet her own "grandparents".

"Times so cruel." Persephone whispered. It was a common line for that girl. Understable too. Her entire childhood had been ripped away from her in a flash. Her birth mother, the time she was born to, Persephone was easily over five hundred and two years old, and only now several months experiencing her life. She had startled the heck out of him the first time he woke up and found a three year old instead of a two month old sitting in the crib. Which was literally the next day. He had no idea what to do with the girl, but she learned at extremely fast paces she would be alright. "Oh and look at the third picture!" Persephone cheered he clicked it open. It seemed to be her hand held out in front of her, but instead there was a giant green orb in the center of it, within it were a pair of keys floating in mid-air. "You can levitate things?" He asked as a confused sigh came from his only precious little girl. "Its not exactly levitating, I've tried to do that. I was hoping you could explain it, since ya know, you've explained that were different from mom. What seems to be happening is everything within this orb...time's stopping on it, like time isn't there." She sounded scared slightly, confused, and a tidbit of excitement edging threw her voice as she described this power she had discovered. "Is time sped up when you let it out?" He asked precautions would have to be taken if it did, and he might've had to keep a closer eye upon Persephone, no this was her power, it couldn't negatively affect her. There was no point in taking chances. Not with his only daughter. "That's the funny part, only if I have the impulse to do so. LIke it stays exactly the same...but I'm afraid of the idea of using it on a human." Her voice, it was logical that she would wonder if she would ever need to use it on a human, a yokai would probably lose maybe one or two years of their life, a human? "Don't use it on a human yet, we'll make something similar that ages like a human in one of the plants than we'll see how that object reacts." He explained as he could hear her nodding over the phone, footsteps approaching the door, her boyfriend must've been showing up to take her out, he did his best to suppress a strange growl that was rumbling within his throat. "Are you sure its going to be okay?" She whispered lowering her voice she heard the boy too. "Do you trust in your father?" He asked waiting for her reply.

"I trust you daddy. Love you!"

Than the phone went silent. Sesshomaru sighed rubbing his forehead. "What a weird form of malice." He sighed walking towards the kitchen as he waited for Rin to arrive so that they could go to the meeting. He had sent her a text message earlier in which she hastily replied. It seemed so distant asking her to go threw that thing called a phone, but at the same time these parties weren't the kind of parties you had fun at these were the kind that you asked who was who and resorted territories while exchanging ideas with others. A time he hated. A time that came quicker than he expected it to as he heard the doorbell ring. Rin was standing there, KoHaku was driving away upon his motorcycle after stuffing some form of invite into his pocket...something that Sesshomaru would probably hear mention of later. Especially since KoHaku was wearing the uniform, underneath his lather jacket and pants, that reeked of demon hunting and the hanyou-hunters organization. He was hunting the last of them. To protect his precious daughter Persephone. Sesshomaru felt his feet twitch unsure how he felt about leaving it up to KoHaku. But he handled it well, for now, but that boy was too full of malice, unlike himself during the feudal era. A different time had changed him. Maybe that sister he hadn't found yet caused such softness that he contained during the feudal era or maybe it was the time itself in which was already attempting to rip away so much from his own hands. "Ready?" He asked as Rin nodded, Sesshomaru drove to the dance, parked, and they had gotten out. Quickly were they at the door, introduced, and ushered inside. He glanced at Rin wondering if he should usher a word of thanks for attending such a painfully uneventful event. In comparison to the feudal era when he would've just handled it and demanded how it should be handled by a large showing of power now he had to win their trust. What a painfully dreadful comparison. This was now less effective, longer, and repetitive.

As suddenly he felt someone pull upon his hand. Rin. She was smiling as she pulled him out towards where everyone who wasn't drinking was twirling their partner and attempting to sloppily dance. Something that had plummeted within the years of his life. The attention a lot of the humans put into their dance classes amongst the higher classes, but it was still at least an attempt. Rin smiled pulling him closer. Of all places for her to suddenly be closer, it had to be a company dance. But at the current moment in time it didn't even matter what mattered was her standing there right now in front of him. Smiling there in her seafoam green dress as she held onto his hands clumsy attempting to dance the waltz. Her steps going back and forth as she stumbled for it, he brought her closer.

"I'll lead."

"You're laughing!"

She was covered in blush of embarrassment as she must've been wondering if he was taught the waltz as a kid. Over the centuries dance was something that was basically picked up, especially if you were creating an empire socializing was absolutely a necessary thing. But at this moment in time, the dance, wasn't a burden nor a responsibility. This dance. Right there. Was something that he wanted. Not because of the dance itself nor the closeness of bodies that another human would automatically presume. No, the reason was simple. It was in bright in the moonlight that was echoing within the room that was adjusted to a low hue of light. Something that only he would understand. It was right there upon Rin's face as she clumsily tried to keep up. She was having fun. It was that smile she kept. No matter what. No matter how happy she looked. On the inside she was still looking for them

He was going to make sure she was happy

no matter what.

End