Disclaimer: I do not own any part of InuYasha, only my own character Kakiya.
Chapter 9
InuYasha was running through the trees, following the scent of his older brother and Kakiya. It was the sickly sweet scent of her blood mixed with the overwhelming strong scent of his brother. His nose crinkled as he continued on the trail of the two. Following behind him were his companions; despite what InuYasha had told them to do earlier, they decided to follow anyway after Kagome had woken up.
"Wait up!" Kagome called from Kirara's back.
Miroku quickly caught up to InuYasha and was now running beside him, "Why are you in such a rush? I'm sure that she's fine."
Kirara now caught up too and was flying over InuYasha. Shippo hopped onto Kirara's head, "She should be because that girl Rin always follows him around and she's still alive."
"That bastard of a demon, you never know what he's thinking; he might decide to kill her at any time." InuYasha growled.
Miroku smirked, "I think that someone's a little jealous..." he swiftly avoided a blow by InuYasha by jumping away, "Besides," he grinned, "I bet he already patched her up all nice a tidy by now; no more wounds or anything." He only gained a growl from InuYasha as a reply, he sighed, "Just stop worrying over nothing; I'm sure that Kakiya can handle herself."
At the castle, Rin had woken up. She saw Kakiya was still sleeping beside her, with an arm wrapped around her own shoulder. She tried to more her arm gently, not to wake her up, but failed as Kakiya felt it and awoken. Kakiya slowly sat up, yawning while rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes. Beside her, Rin quickly got up, out of the futon and went to the wardrobe in the room. She pulled out a pastel purple yukata and handed it to Kakiya when she finished folding the futon away. Kakiya opened the large rice paper doors that led to the outside and breathed in the fresh morning air before turning back to Rin.
"Thank you Rin." Kakiya told the little girl as she took the piece of clothing.
"You're welcome!" she piped.
Kakiya smiled and changed into the yukata. She folded her white night gown away. Kakiya frowned as she looked down at her legs; constricted by the way the yukata folded.
"Rin, who's yukata is this?"
"I don't know..."
Looking down at her legs again, she tugged on the fabric and pulled up the fabric, revealing her bare feet, "This is a little hard to walk around in, and I certainly would not be able to move freely during a fight."
Rin looked at Kakiya, "That's true,"
Kakiya went to the wardrobe and found that all the rest of the clothing found was similar to hers, although different only in pattern. She walked to the door leading to the hallway and opened it, but looking back at Rin instead of the hallway "Do you think the owner would mind if I adjust this a little?"
Rin had a look of surprise on her face, "Ah..."
"No."
Kakiya heard a voice directly in front of her which puzzled her. She looked to where the voice came from and almost jumped when she saw who was standing at the door. Sesshomaru, who was about to enter Kakiya's room, was standing at the door staring down at Kakiya.
"Good morning Lo-, ah," she caught herself, remembering what he told her last night, "Sesshomaru." She smiled and quickly moved out of his way.
He entered the room, but only to leave it again when he stepped out onto the hallway outside of the room. He leaned on the wooden railing and looked at Kakiya, "You can do whatever you like with those, they are now yours."
Kakiya had unconsciously followed Sesshomaru outside the room and finally realized what she just did, "Right then," she said, slightly red in the face.
Rin quickly ran over to see what Kakiya was going to do and was glad she did. Kakiya hand was wrapped in a pale green and what seemed like a foggy, sparkly mist flowed from her hand. She touched the fabric and slowly it changed to what she had desired. The hem was greatly shortened up to the middle of her thighs and the rest of the fabric changed to a pair of fabric shoes. The fabric footwear came up to the top of her calf and was held in place by a long piece of ribbon that wound a couple of times up her calf until it ended in a neat bow.
"This will have to do for now." She smiled.
Rin clapped her hands, "That was amazing!" she giggled.
Kakiya returned her laugh and picked her up, sitting Rin on her arm while Rin held onto her neck. "Let's go exploring like I had promised last night, Rin."
Rin's eyes sparkled. She squealed and hugged Kakiya, "Let's take Ah-Un with us too, Mommy!"
Sesshomaru shot Kakiya a questioning glance, but she only returned his look with a smile and turned her attention back to the child. "Yes, of course." Kakiya put a free hand on the wooden fence and quickly hoped over it, landing softly on the ground, two stories below. Ah-Un was already there, Kakiya assumed that he had slept there last night as well. She gently sat Rin on Ah-Un and climbed on him herself. Kakiya looked up at Sesshomaru and saw that he was watching them, "I'll be back before noon." She told him and left, flying away with Rin leading the way.
Sesshomaru stood there and watched them go. He found that a small smile had grown on his face, 'So this is the feeling of having... a family.' He thought to himself as he watched the small flying speck finally disappear from sight. 'It's not as bad as I thought; I enjoy this feeling.' He mused.
A shrieking sound came from within the room, disrupting his thoughts.
He angrily glared at the incoming creature, staring him down with the look of pure annoyance, 'Can he never give me a moment of peace and quiet?' he thought, "What."
"Ah! Lord Sesshomaru I didn't see you there when I entered the room." He quickly bowed, and then quickly remembered what he was here for, "Lord Sesshomaru! I was looking for Rin this morning and when I came into this room to check up on that woman, I found that she was gone!"
"What?" Sesshomaru repeated, wondering why Jaken was stating the obvious.
"They're both gone!" he exclaimed.
Sesshomaru let out a long metal sigh, "I know." He calmly told him, trying to hide his irritation without much success, "They are out... exploring." Saying the last word with a bit of wonder in his tone.
"Yes, of course, they are out exploring- what?" Jaken fumed, "Don't they know that Lord Sesshomaru has better things to do instead of waiting for them to go exploring." He almost spat, "Those pitiful human girls."
Sesshomaru almost killed him on the spot for what he had said, but he restraint himself, "Jaken, you'd best leave me this instant."
"Umm, milord?" He questioned, but instantly regretted it when his master glared at him. He quickly left the room to leave his angry master with his thoughts.
Holding out hand towards the sun, he looked up at it. 'What has gotten into me? Normally, Jaken's action would only annoy me, but what he had said...' a mental image of Kakiya floated in the sky. He grabbed at it, making it disappear, "Kakiya may not exactly be a demon, but she is certainly not human." He muttered, wondering who she really was.
Above the forest, Rin led Ah-Un towards a spot that she knew her mommy would like; a quiet lake at the end of the long river. Kakiya noticed that they passed the waterfall she was at last night and were now headed towards the larger body of water. Rin quickly landed at the shore and hopped down from the demon.
"We haven't had breakfast yet, and this place has the best fish!" Rin giggled and ran into the water, "Help me catch some!" then she caught herself, "Please." She added.
Kakiya climbed down from Ah-Un's saddle and quickly took off her cloth shoes, "I'm coming!" she ran into the water after Rin only pausing for a moment because of a familiar scent, 'InuYasha?' she looked around but failed to spot anything red that might have been him. Sighing, she waded deeper into the lake where Rin was patiently watching for fish, "Even InuYasha wouldn't follow me this far."
"Mommy, you finally came!"
She smiled at the little girl, "Did you find anything?"
Rin frowned, "I did... but I can't seem to catch it; it keeps slipping out of my hand." She pointed to the large fish swimming around her, taunting her.
"Ah. Let's see what we can do then," she hovered her hand over the water and slowly moved it up. A large bubble of water followed her hand and finally broke free from the surface. Kakiya moved the bubbled over towards Rin and it was now softly floating above Rin's outstretched hands. "There, I've caught your fishy." She smiled.
Rin looked at the bubble in awe, the fish she saw was now swimming around the water bubble, "Let's bring it to shore!" she was about to run back, but then the bubble popped, slashing them both. Rin caught the fish before it had the chance to dive back into the water again.
"I'm sorry; I lost control of the water. I still haven't mastered water control yet." She apologized.
Rin smiled, "It's okay! We still caught the fish!"
"You're right." Kakiya picked up Rin and flew her out of the water. She gently landed and placed Rin down beside her, quickly drying them both, "Are we going to cook it now?"
"Yup!"
They soon had a blazing fire going and had the fish cooking. It wasn't long until both their bellies were full and laughter filled the forest air. They had been talking about random topics that happened to cross their minds; Kakiya learned of Rin's sad past, and Kakiya revealed parts of her own. However, Rin soon found herself talking about her Lord Sesshomaru and how great he is.
"It seems that you like him a lot." Kakiya smiled as she weaved a pair of flower crowns together.
Rin nodded eagerly, "Yup! But I like you now too!"
She pulled the child into her arms; "Even though we only just met?" she placed a crown on top of her head and one on herself as well.
Rin nodded again.
"I like you too, Rin." Kakiya pat her on her head, "Let's get back now." She said and looked up at the sun, 'It's almost noon.'
"Okay!" Rin got up and quickly climbed onto Ah-Un.
Kakiya quickly put out the fire before jumping onto the demon as well. They lifted into the sky and slowly made their way back to the castle. Once there, they let Ah-Un graze the grass and they both went inside. Rin showed Kakiya the way back to her room and left Kakiya alone, running off to safely store the flowers crows, which Kakiya also gave Rin her own to keep, in her room before returning outside to play with Ah-Un. Kakiya walked out onto the balcony and soaked in the sun's warm rays. She walked down the hallway outside and eventually saw a field. Kakiya quickly jumped down and saw that Sesshomaru was already there, resting in the shade of a tree. Gazing at the peaceful looking lord, she wondered if he was sleeping. She flew over and gently landed on the field far from him. Sesshomaru sensed her presence and opened his eyes. He quickly stood up and walked towards her, drawing Tokijin.
"Draw your sword." He said simply.
Kakiya quietly materialized a dark sword in her right hand and instantly started the battle. Charging towards him, she raised her sword above her head and brought it down with as much force as she could muster. Sesshomaru easily blocked the attack and swung back, forcing her own arm to swing back, leaving Kakiya's body an open target for his sword. He swung at her, but she used her other hand and created a small barrier around it, catching the blow before it left a fatal wound. The barrier gave way, but it gave her enough time to stab at Sesshomaru. He jumped back and dodged it, quickly charging back towards Kakiya after. Their swords clashed again, Kakiya bracing herself with both her hands, while Sesshomaru easily over powered her with his one and pushed her back. She jumped at him, but he used the power from his sword to knock her back into the air, knocking the sword out of her hand, and send her crashing onto her back. He ran towards her and was about to stab her while she was down, but she quickly rolled out of the way just in time, making Sesshomaru stab the ground.
Kakiya jumped back and was kneeling down. She formed more blades in her hands; twin blades of fire. She jumped into the air, spinning around once before crossing her swords and swung down towards the ground. A large X made of fire flew from her blades and headed towards Sesshomaru. He swiped the attack away with his Tokijin. Kakiya, still in the air, threw both her swords at Sesshomaru then quickly formed a dark sword in her hand and brought it down on Sesshomaru, hopping to gain extra strength with her fall. Sesshomaru blew the fire swords away with Tokijin's power and used his whip to grab Kakiya's incoming swing and ripped the swords from her hands. He pointed his sword towards her and jumped up, attempting to stab her while she was falling. Kakiya, who was not unarmed, kicked the sword to divert its direction and tried to land a punch on Sesshomaru, but missed. Sesshomaru used the hilt of the sword, and sideways jabbed Kakiya's stomach, sending her twisting to the ground below.
"I'm surprised that you lasted this long." Sesshomaru smirked.
He used his speed and flew at Kakiya's body. Looking up from her crimpled state, she saw the incoming danger with his sword ready to swing at her. Ignoring the pain for a moment, she jumped out of the way, but the sword managed to graze her left leg. She jumped back as far as she could; putting as much distance between them as she could. Tending her leg with one hand, she formed another sword in the other and pointed it towards Sesshomaru.
A dark lightning ball formed at the tip and only grew larger, "Dark Lightning-Sphere Form." She whispered and then whipped the ball towards Sesshomaru.
"Such a weak attack cannot harm me." He growled and easily blocked the attack.
Sesshomaru came at her again, but he missed, hitting the ground and making it explode from the impact. Kakiya got caught in the explosion and wounded her even more. She avoided another blow from the ground by pole vaulting with her sword and landed on her feet, only to collapse from fatigue. She breathed heavily on the ground; she could smell Sesshomaru's growing demonic power.
"This will be the finish." He sent his Dragon Strike underground and directed it towards Kakiya.
Kakiya pushed herself up and slapped both of her hands onto the ground in front of her, "I'm not done yet!" She sent the last of her energy surging into the ground; spikes of solid rock erupted from the earth as she shielded herself from his attack. The spikes continued to grow from the ground; headed towards Sesshomaru's Dragon Strike.
"Wind Scar!"
It arrived just in time to cut off both of Kakiya's rock spikes and Sesshomaru's Dragon strike from colliding. The energy released from the three attacks set off a large explosion which sent a large dust cloud that covered the field.
'That InuYasha interfered...' Kakiya thought hostilely, but was too exhausted to do anything about it.
The dust cloud quickly disappeared and Kakiya could hear his now annoying voice in the air, "Sesshomaru, you bastard! How dare you hurt Kakiya like this!" InuYasha growled, she heard another Wind Scar and pictured that it was headed towards Sesshomaru, who easily blocked it.
Kakiya tried to pull herself up, but only collapsed again onto the ground, which brought her to the attention of Sesshomaru. He was now moving towards her.
To her surprise, Sesshomaru knelt down next to her, "Can you get up?" She heard him quietly chuckle, "I guess not." He whispered. He lifted her up into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder; he slowly started walking towards InuYasha.
"Sesshomaru..."
"I'm bringing you back to him."
Kakiya buried her head into his boa and grasped at her clothes, "I don't want to go back." She whispered.
That made him stop dead in his tracks, he looked down at her battered form, "You want to stay. Here." He stated, still wondering if he heard right. A simple nod was received as his answer.
"Kakiya!" InuYasha ran up to her, "Let go of her." He snarled.
She tiredly turned to look at the half-demon, "InuYasha that was rude of you to interrupt our battle." Kakiya's eyes started to droop, "I'm disappointed."
"But Sesshomaru would have killed you," he protested, "I bet he even forced you into that battle!"
Kakiya leaned her head against Sesshomaru's boa and saw him glare at InuYasha from the corner of her eye, "Your assumptions will be your doom some day, InuYasha. Perhaps... for now, you should... leave" she ended almost inaudibly before falling asleep.
"What do you mean?" InuYasha was reaching towards, before Sesshomaru stopped him.
"InuYasha, do not bother her any longer: you will wake her." He turned and started walking back to his castle.
"Wait! What did she mean?" he pointed his sword at his older brother; "You did force her into a battle didn't you!"
Sesshomaru stopped, turning around to give him a death glare, "I did not force anything. I simply gave her an invitation, in which she accepted." With that, he turned around once more and left.
InuYasha returned to his group of friends, who were waiting on the sidelines, after watching Sesshomaru carry Kakiya back into his castle. He felt disappointed in himself, but at the same time, he thought he wasn't wrong. He didn't know that they were sparring, he couldn't have known. The group left the area to return to their original quest of finding Naraku.
'I'll come back to you, Kakiya.' InuYasha thought, 'I will come and clear things up with you no matter what it takes.' He promised himself.
XXX
There once was a time when 'Catching them All' was possible...