(ATTENTION: THIS WILL BE THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE DELETION!)

Tears Left Uncried

Raye: Okay, that last chapter? That took way too long to type.

KB: Well, I'm soooo sorry! I ran out of ideas.

Raye: You…ran out of ideas? You have all the freakin' original chapters still saved! How the hell can you 'run out of ideas'?

KB: *Glares at her* …..Oh, shut up.

-KB

Tears Left Uncried

Chapter 10:

Shortcut Through the Woods to Grandma's House

Clean, clean, clean, clean, clean, clean, clean, clean-.

"Miss Lee?"

Lee pops out of her thoughts and loosens her death grip on the cloth in her arms. Not seconds ago, Sesshomaru had stepped gracefully into their small, shared space and dropped the pile of warm cloth into her lap. It was a new kimono, identical to the one she already wore, and it was CLEAN. Instantly, Lee had snatched it up, brought it to her face and breathed in the fresh sent of the woven material. IT smelled of CLEAN. Yes, clean can be a smell.

She'd worn the same kimono for so long that it was starting to smell like sweat and blood…no matter how many times she tried to scrub it clean.

Smiling, Lee glances down at the small girl. "Yeah?"

"You look better this morning."

"Well, thank you." Lee pats her head lovingly. "I got a good night's sleep last night and I got a brand new, CLEAN, kimono this morning when I woke up. I'm feeling really better now."

"Yay!" Rin hugs her around the waist tightly and Lee returns the embrace. Two hugs in a row. Today is going to go great. At least, she hopes.

Once changed and packed up, Lee and Rin meet outside the small hut and come face to face with a naturally calm Aun who meets them with a purr. Lee scratches the beast under the chin for a second before going to tie their things onto the saddle. Out of all of the members of their freaky group, Aun seems to be the only one able to take all the chaos in easy strides, as if the dragon doesn't have a care in the world.

"Ready to go?" Lee asks the dragons as happily as she can. The beast grumbles from deep in its chest and nods its twin heads. "Huh, you really do understand me."

"Lord Sesshomaru, we're ready." Rin's joyful tone fills the air around them. Lee's back goes still the second the girl says the guy's name. The gift of a new kimono is a welcome one, she's in no position to turn down a clean outfit seeing as she's not in her own time and doesn't have the luxury of a washing machine, but it has made her a little jumpy. Why would the stuck up lord give her anything? Kagome and her company had all told her that the demon hates humans, so why is he being so nice all of a sudden?

Turning around, finding no reason for her to be rude, Lee bows respectfully to the demon. "I…um…want to thank you." She says, rising from her bow and trying her best to give her best smile. "For the kimono, I mean."

The demon lord just stares down at her, eyes flat and cold as usual, without a word. She decides that he isn't going to dignify her with a response so she bows quickly once more and goes to take Aun's reigns in her hands. In a flash, from behind her, another hand reaches around and takes the reigns from her. The larger hand swallows her for a fraction of a second, momentarily filling Lee with wonder, before the dragon is taken from her hands and lead off down the road. Sesshomaru doesn't turn around to give her a reason, nor does he bother to give her a response. He just leads the group away down the path, Rin and Jaken following behind loyally.

Lee stares after them, her eyes glued to that long silver hair of his as the wind blows at it playfully. It shimmers in the rising sunlight like real silver threads and once more she's filled with the urge to touch it. Of course she's too far away to do so, but that doesn't mean she still isn't curious about it.

Why did he do that? Lee's eyes drop to his hand, still carrying the reigns, and then to the opposite, non-existent arm. Pity touches her heart again. No, the real question is: why did I let him. I need to stop being so meek. It will only get me killed in a world like this. I need to stop being so afraid. It doesn't go well in this time period.

Lifting her chin higher, taking in the group walking even farther up the hill without her, she smiles just a bit. This group may not work, it may not be normal, but they are a sort of family. Even an outsider like her can see that; they'd just have to look.

"Miss Lee!" Rin has come to a stop at the top of the hill and waves back at her. Her calls stop the others too. Jaken mumbles something under his breath, folding his tiny arms angrily, and Sesshomaru shifts his emotionless eyes to Lee's.

In that tiny second, in that small moment, Lee feels like she knows this demon lord a little bit more. Her smile widens a bit more. Maybe this could be a good thing. Maybe it won't hurt for her to get to know him-all of them-just a slight more.

Careful not to push her body too hard, it still mending and all, Lee jog up the small hill to catch up with them.

"Keep up, you fool. Just because you're hurt doesn't mean it gives you the right to slow lord Sesshomaru down." Jaken screeches at her.

She ignore him, gazing up at Sesshomaru long enough to nod and then take the reins from his hand and wraps them around her own. "I won't," She answers Jaken's statement, "I won't slow anyone down anymore. I'm going to be stronger. I will."

With that, Lee walks away from them before she can embarrass herself any further and stares towards the horizon with a new found confidence. She's never had any before, but she's going to grab hold of it now and use it to better herself. It may disappear when she returns home, but while she's here she's going to try her best to not be a hindrance.

I will get strong, she chants to herself. Rin comes up and takes Lee's hand tightly, smiling as bright as the sun. Lee smiles back. I will.

"Agh!" Rin screams.

Lee gasps as the fire pops loudly and sends sparks flying in all direction. Both girls squeal and duck away from it, falling onto their backs. When nothing explodes and burns them alive, they both look up and find the tender burning with small flames. They share a victorious smile and climb to their feet to observe their handiwork.

"Okay, that won't last too long, so let's let Jaken mind the fire while we go find some real firewood." Lee instructs.

Rin salutes her with a play at a soldier and giggles. "Yes, ma'am."

"You go find some pinecones and I'll find some logs."

"Kay."

Jaken scoffs from his place on a nearby boulder and crosses his arms again. Lee grins at the little guy but doesn't say anything. The poor guy had stepped on a twig or something and hurt his impish foot so Lee and Rin decided to make the fire while he rested. He argued, of course, but they sat him down and insisted he sit there and be good. Lee swears the little guy blushed a bit.

Wandering in the thick forest around them, Lee starts to browse for some decent sized wood for the fire. The trees are tall, sporting a thick canopy above so thick that it blocks out any sun from getting through. It's a little weird that not even a few beams of light reach the forest floor, but Lee reminds herself that this is a different time period. There were more trees way back when…or way back now…

Ugh! So confusing, Lee rolls her eyes and leans over slowly, careful not to pull her bandages loose, and pick up a piece of wood as thick as her wrist before carrying on. The dried grass crunches under her feet with every step and Lee eyes in curiously. I know it's supposed to be getting colder, but the grass shouldn't be dead yet should it?

Shrugging, Lee overlooks it and loses her thoughts in the sound of the birds above her. She tries her hardest to spot their fluttering forms in the branches above her, but it's so dark that she can hardly even see the branches. It's all in shadow.

I wonder if my mom would let me get a bird for a pet. I mean her name is Fuu. She should have an affinity for birds. She giggles at the silent joke, the sound dropping dead around her like a corpse. Lee stops and stares at the ground. Sounds usually echo. Weird.

Glancing around, she spots another piece of wood lying on the ground off to her right and heads for it. Bending over to grab it, a cold feeling touches the tips of her fingers and she pauses. Her fingers hang there just centimeters above the branches surface. The cold feeling, from what she can tell, hovers here with her in the small space above the dead grass.

Dead grass…even sound dies here…okay, this is creepy, Lee notes. Shaking her head, she snatches up the fallen branch and carries on. I'm just being paranoid. Maybe this place just meets winter before anywhere else. That can happen. There are demons and monsters, aren't there? Anything can happen. This time period is just strange, nothing more.

"Aye. Nothing more."

Lee starts and spins around. Her heart starts to race. When had the darkness gotten so…dark? Where had that fog come from? Her eyes widen in alarm. Sure enough a fog is slowly creeping towards her from the direction she had come from, in the direction that their camp is located.

"Calm down, Lee," She growls at herself, hugging the wood to her chest tightly, "You're just jumpy because you're in another time and you've been attacked by thugs twice, tossed down a freezing cold river, and nearly killed by a mutant worm. One more night of god sleep and you'll be back to your old self."

"Now isn't that a lovely tale. Sounds like you've had quite the lovely adventure. Would you mind going into those beautiful details. I do love me a story filled with fear."

Lee gasps and spins around again, her back hitting a solid tree; the bark is frozen. "Who's there?" She demands. Her eyes stop firmly on the encroaching fog. She wouldn't be surprised if it's the fog making her think that she's hearing voices. That or the fog is the one talking…She whines. "Gaa, I really hopes that's not it."

"Now wouldn't that be perfectly terrifying."

The voice is light, giddy. Like an overly friendly person that has one of those creepy personalities. Like the Joker in Batman.

"Geez," Lee laughs weakly, "I'm really losing my mind." Turning on her toes, she moves off the tree and carries on into the trees, maneuvering to her right so that she can head around the fog and back towards camp. There's no way she's going into that fog. "I just need more sleep. And possibly a vacation. Maybe stay away from the red meats. I'm definitely going to see a good movie when I get home. I could go to the beach for the day too. Heck I could take mom and Rini with me and we could all go see a movie together. Yeah, we could all laugh about it for days afterwards. It would certainly get rid of all these nerves I've picked up the last few days." Lee continues to ramble, trying her best to ignore the way her voice dies around her or the way the fog turns and follows her like a stalker. Her laugh starts to break up, sounding more like a nervous chattering of teeth.

The voice she had heard starts to laugh, become the only sound echoing anywhere. "Beautiful. I can feel your fear rising. These 'movies' you speak of must be pretty scary. Tell me about them."

Lee is about to scream, the sound working up the back of her throat, but then she remembers what she promised herself: to become strong. She lodges the scream in the back of her throat and tightens her grip on the wood as she forces her shaking legs to keep walking. Her knees are starting to tremble and she can feel the cold around her ankles turn to icy fingers. She fights the urge to squirm. Swallowing hard, Lee draws in a deep breath, hating the way the cold air claws uncomfortably at her lungs.

"N-no, thank you." Lee calls to the voice. "I've made it my personal goal to ignore imaginary strangers."

"Imaginary?"

This time the voice sounds close and Lee can't stop the squeak that escapes her mouth or the way she jumps a tad bit out of her skin. There, leaning casually against a big tree, is a tall man with pale green hair pulled into a thick braid that hangs over his left shoulder. He grins in that creepy, overfriendly way that Lee had imagined and his yellow eyes dance with mischief. Lee digs her fingernails into the dried bark of the branches in her arms nervously.

"U-um…h-hello." Lee forces out. "I-I d-d-didn't know t-there was s-s-someone else out h-here."

"Yes," The man grins wider, so much like the Joker in Batman that it's not even funny anymore. "I live here." His kimono is sleeveless, lined in gold silk with blue and red flowery patterns, and folded tightly to his body so that his thin features are revealed. Her wears white hakama pants that go down to his bare feet that hardly look like they've been used. He may dress all flashy and look nice, but Lee is getting a creepy feeling from the guy; usual for someone with this type of personality.

"W-well it's a n-nice forest." Lee smiles back at him weakly, wanting nothing more than to get away from this weirdo, and steadies her feet so that she can walk away casually. She passes by two trees before his voice pops up again.

"I'm glad you like it. It's out a lovely place to stay forever isn't it? I know you'll have a charming time here." He pops up beside the next tree Lee passes and she's forced to stop.

Again, she swallows the lump of a blood-curdling scream building at the back of her throat. "S-stay? I-I…uh...really should b-be getting home. I-I'll be sure to c-come visit though." She smiles again. Like never, she finishes in her thoughts.

"Oh, but you'll miss all the divine fun we have here." He smiles wider, lifting his long fingers so that Lee has a perfect view of his fingernails as they extend to dagger length.

Demon, Lee screams in her mind. She keeps it in though, barely containing the panic that is already beginning to knock her knees together. A shiver is starting at the base of her spine and winding its way up to her neck with every passing second, fueled by the quivering cold air rising around them.

Taking another big gulp of frosty air, Lee braces herself. "L-let's just…cut the chat…okay? Are you g-going to…k-kill me?"

The demon smiles wider, this time parting his lips and revealing shark-like teeth, and his eyes finally opening to reveal red, cat-like irises. "Why, yes. Yes, I am."

Author's Note

So, sadly this may be the last chapter I do. I'm going to be giving it about a month before I delete the whole story off of here. I'm think I'm done with the story; I believe it's become another failed project for me. I'm really sorry to the readers who have left me so many wonderful reviews. I thank you so much for your words of encouragement-they really are the only thing that kept me going on this story.

Regrettably though, I feel as if this story was an epic fail from the very beginning.

I can promise more stories in the future though, but this time I think I'm just going to finish the whole story first and then just post one chapter a week or something so as to drag out the suspense.

Again, thanks to all my reviewers and I hope to hear from you all on my next new story.

-KB