Ok, just warning you that the second part of this chapter will be exceptionally in Rin's POV, the reason for that will be obvious as you will be reading it XD.
Chapter 11 – Red Eyes
"What is that?" I asked when Sesshoumaru handed me something. It was evening already and a while ago he disappeared somewhere and now he returned.
"If you insist on staying in this group you won't be wearing those eccentric clothes you're wearing now." He said and I smiled.
"Is something wrong with my school uniform?" I asked innocently.
"Don't play with me girl." He said warningly.
"I have a name you know? It's Kagome." I snapped at him and turned to change to the kimono. There was no need to try my luck any further. I hid behind the tree and started to change. It was nice light blue kimono with yellow ornaments and I told to myself that I should probably thank him for that, but when I came out from behind the tree, he was already walking somewhere again so I just caught up with Rin and walked beside her again.
"You look amazing." She said and I smiled.
"Thank you Rin, but I wasn't the one who chose this kimono." I stated and she chuckled.
"I know. Lord Sesshoumaru has a good taste don't you think? I've got this one from him too." She turned around to show me hers and I watched her with interest. She obviously liked to talk about these kinds of things. She was a girl after all and Jaken or Sesshoumaru weren't the ones with whom she could talk about it.
"It's really pretty." I told her and she smiled. We just chatted about all kinds of things when the wind grew stronger and Kagura appeared in front of us. We all stopped and waited for her actions prepared to everything.
"Lord Sesshoumaru. I see you have a new company. What a surprise." She looked at me and our eyes met.
'This girl seems that she could cause some troubles, but that priestess isn't here either. I wonder where could she go.' I was in shock. Kagura was searching for me, though she didn't recognize me right now. But why? What would she want with me? And what did she mean by me causing troubles? I had a really bad feeling about that.
"What do you want?" Sesshoumaru asked and she looked at him with her usual unconcerned look.
"If you want to know then follow me." She said playfully and was already in the air on her feather. Sesshoumaru wanted to go after her, but I grabbed his arm to stop him. He turned at me and I shivered under his glare. There were no thoughts, just anger and it unsettled me.
"I'm sorry I'm stopping you, but you should know something before you leave." I started carefully. Kagura flew away not confirming if he is following her, so I knew I can talk quite freely.
"What is it?" He asked and I took a deep breath.
"I don't know why, but Kagura was searching for me. And she also thought that I could cause troubles for some reason. Naraku must be planning something." I said urgently.
"Thought?" He pointed out. 'Is she mad or is she just playing with me?' He added in his mind and I sighed. If he is to believe me, I will have to tell him the truth.
"I assure you I am not mad. I just kind of can read others thoughts and I heard Kagura as she thought that I am not here either." I said carefully and now waited for him to take it in.
'Read others thoughts? Is she serious?'
"Yes, I am serious. I can hear yours even now and I did it before." I said and quickly added. "But before you'll kill me..." I didn't finish because he stopped me.
"I'm not intending to kill you." He stated and I stared at him.
"I thought you will be angry." I said in surprise.
'I will find a way how to make you pay for your insolence later, but for now your power could be useful.'
"Useful?" I asked and he smiled. It hit me right away why. "Were you just testing me right now?" I exclaimed. He turned away from me and I frowned.
"Sorry, I can do it only when I look into your eyes." I explained.
"Good." He stated and turned at me again. 'Make sure Rin will stay safe while I'm gone.' He then set out after Kagura and I just stared at him. He just gave me command counting only on my ability to read his mind. I guess I will never understand him. I returned beside Rin and sighed.
"Maybe we should settle down for the night." I suggested. We found a nice place near the river and Jaken lit up the fire. Rin caught some fishes and after we ate them, we settled for sleep.
In the middle of the night I was woken up by the rustling among the trees. I sat up and listened more closely to those sounds. I saw some movement but couldn't point out what the moving thing was until it jumped straight towards me in attack.
It was a squirrel. But not just an ordinary squirrel. An evil, red eyed, grinning squirrel. Are you asking if squirrel can grin? Well, this definitely was grinning and I instinctively cut it in half when it was close enough to my reach. It didn't even try to dodge it and I thought that it was a little too easy.
It was now lying on the ground and I wasn't the only one who was watching it. Rin woke up and was now kneeling beside me to look at the strange squirrel and Jaken who didn't sleep at all was on the other side examining it too.
"It looks like an ordinary squirrel, why would it attack us?" Rin asked looking from me at Jaken and then back at the squirrel.
"Maybe it was possessed by something." I suggested. "Anyway, it wasn't very strong so we don't have to worry." I added and Rin nodded.
"But still, there's something strange with that squirrel." Jaken pointed out and tilted his head. Suddenly everything fell completely silent. Unnaturally silent. No bird, no insects, even the trees seemed to quieten a little. The only sound was the river floating around us. I had a bad feeling about it and so I put Rin on Ah-Un's back.
"What's wrong Kagome?" She asked confusedly.
"I don't know, but I think we'll find out soon." I then told to Ah-Un to fly up where it should be safer and me and Jaken stayed on the ground in defensive position prepared for everything. Well, maybe not for everything.
A horde of squirrels shot out from the surrounding trees and headed straight at us. Jaken burned them with the flame from his staff of the two heads but it was like if there was no effect at all. There was just no end to them. They were now coming from every direction and me and Jaken tried to keep them away from us with our all might.
Jaken used his fire and I did everything what just came to my mind. I fought with my spiritual powers, with my claws and even with the poison but our all efforts seemed to be useless. No matter how many did we kill, some more were still coming.
I felt them all around me. When I cleared them from my one side, they were already hanging on me on my other side. They were bitting me and scratching me and one random question popped in my mind. Aren't the squirrels vegetarians? They should eat nuts, not bitting me.
They were everywhere and I was now completely surrounded by them. It was too much and I was tired and scared and I will probably never call a squirrel cute again. I heard Rin scream my and Jaken's name and then only one thought replaced all the others in my mind. 'Survive! Survive at any cost!'
Switch to Rin's POV
When Kagome put me on Ah-Un I was startled. I didn't know what was going on. She was tense and on alert all the time.
"What's wrong Kagome?" I asked. She didn't even look at me and instead kept watching the trees around us.
"I don't know, but I think we'll find out soon." I didn't understand what she mean and before I could ask she told Ah-Un to fly up. We were now floating high right above our camp and I watched what was going on down there. Both Kagome and Jaken seemed to be uneasy as if some attack should come soon and then I saw it.
I lot of little bodies ran and jumped out from the trees towards them. I deduced that those were probably the same squirrels as the one Kagome took down before. But I couldn't tell for sure because there were too many of them and I was too high to see them properly.
They both fought really fiercely but there wasn't even a second when would I think that they are winning. Even though that the squirrels weren't really dangerous with their strength, they compensated it very well with their numbers. Soon I couldn't see either of my friends anymore, only the little moving bodies where our camp once was.
"Kagome! Master Jaken!" I cried but I've got no response. I wished Lord Sesshoumaru would be here, he would know what to do. I was shivering and I felt the tears in my eyes. I didn't know what to do. I've never felt so alone before, even when I was still living in the village.
Something caught the attention of the squirrels. They all stopped moving at once and focused on something I couldn't see or hear. Jaken jumped out of the squirrels and he was looking towards the place where I last saw Kagome. He was scared because of something but not because of the squirrels.
Ah-Un must have noticed something too because he immediately dove down to Jaken who quickly jumped on his tail and then we were raising again. At the same time a huge blast of pink and green light rose from the middle of the squirrels and they all disappeared once they were caught in that blast. When we were high enough that Ah-Un considered that we won't be caught in that too, I turned to Jaken who just finished his climbing on Ah-Un's back.
"Master Jaken, what was that? What have just happened?" He didn't answer me and instead looked down. In the center of that blast there was standing Kagome. She had her head lowered and I was glad that she survived.
"Kagome!" I shouted happily but Jaken put his hand over my mouth to keep me silent. What does it mean? Is he scared of her? Why? I didn't understand, but then Kagome raised her head and looked at us. Even from this distance I could see her eyes flaring red and suddenly I felt scared of her too. Something was different about her and I knew that it wasn't anything good.
"Ah-Un! Fly higher!" Jaken shouted and Ah-Un didn't need to be told twice. Kagome jumped and was approaching us with her clawed hand prepared to attack us.
"What's happening? Why is Kagome attacking us?" I asked. Ah-Un managed to fly high enough and Kagome was now descending back on the ground. She didn't even give us second glance and instead focused her attention on the few survived squirrels who were running aimlessly around the camp confused by the sudden loss of superiority.
"She is not Kagome right now." Jaken started keeping his eyes on her. "You must not go anywhere close to her until I will tell you that it is safe again." I nodded though I still didn't understand. Kagome was always very nice person, what reason would she have to attack us? I watched her as she furiously tried to catch and kill every last squirrel until I heard a loud scream from beside me and then I saw Jaken to fall down. Ah-Un wanted to go for him but Kagura appeared between us and him and he had to stop.
"No, no little dragon, you're not going anywhere." She said with smirk and I saw Jaken lying on the ground.
"Why did you do that to him?" I shouted at her but she just chuckled.
"I guess that the fall will be the least problem for him." She looked carelessly over her shoulder and I saw what she meant. Kagome turned at Jaken, who attracted her attention by his scream and she was now approaching him slowly with evil smile on her face. I never thought that she could look so scary.
"And you should focus more on yourself than on that green little imp." Kagura turned back at me and wanted to get hold of me. I wanted to scream and tell her to let go of me but before I could do it I heard the voice which I wanted to hear the most.
"Kagura." He said warningly.
"Lord Sesshoumaru!" I squeaked happily and Kagura turned from me at him.
"I hoped that you will stay occupied for a little longer. Well, I guess I'll take my leave now." A strong wind blew around us and the next second she was gone. I looked at Jaken who was still lying unconscious and Kagome was now standing right next to him with tilted head as if she was trying to decide what to do next.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, please save Master Jaken. Kagome was acting strangely. She tried to attack us and now she probably wants to attack him." I tried to explain as fast as possible. He turned at them and then landed a few steps behind Kagome. She turned at him and without much time left for thinking she attacked him.
He easily dodged her, but she kept attacking. I saw some fights before and it was obvious that she didn't think about her next move at all. She was just attacking without aim or purpose. Lord Sesshoumaru knocked her down, but she quickly stood up and continued striking at him. I didn't know what was going to happen. Lord Sesshoumaru seemed that he doesn't want to hurt her but it could go forever like this.
She stopped attacking and I hoped that maybe she returned to herself, but I was mistaken and I realized that very soon. Lord Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes slightly at her action and then she attacked again. Her claws were glowing with pink and green light and when she stroke at Lord Sesshoumaru, he dodged the straight attack, but the light let out of her fingers and it hit Lord Sesshoumaru in the neck and he was now bleeding.
"Lord Sesshoumaru!" I screamed but he didn't pay me any attention and instead he grabbed her by the throat and pressed her against the nearest tree. She was struggling frantically and I saw that she caused even more scratches to Lord Sesshoumaru as she tried to free herself. He didn't mind anything of it and held her tight. She slowly started to fall into unconsciousness and I understood at once what was going on.
He was suffocating her. I gasped and tried to find anything what I could say to stop him, but I knew that it wasn't in my power. She was now focused only at his arm which was the only thing keeping her from getting the air, but he didn't let go. Even though that his arm was now full of scratches and bleeding quite badly. Kagome stopped struggling and when I thought that he is really going to kill her for sure, he released her and caught her falling body into his hands preventing her from falling on the ground.
Ah-Un landed on the ground and I quickly hopped down from him. I ran towards Kagome to see if she is alright but then I remembered Jaken's words and stopped looking questioningly at Lord Sesshoumaru. He laid her down under the tree and then turned at me.
"You may go to her now, once she will wake up she will be herself again." He stated and then went to Jaken. I quickly ran to her and sat down next to her. She looked so peacefully now as if nothing happened at all. I still wondered if she is alright, but Lord Sesshoumaru said that after she will wake up she will be herself again. That also meant that she will wake up and that was all I cared about now.
I glanced at Jaken, who already stood up and was telling something to Lord Sesshoumaru. I didn't hear him but he was either saying what happened here or something what wasn't important. I knew I didn't need to care about Lord Sesshoumaru, there wasn't anything what I could do for him anyway and so I took Kagome's hand into mine and waited until she will wake up.
So, how did you like the evil squirrels XD? Well, anyway, if you have any suggestion what would you want in this story to happen next, please tell me. I have a few ideas, but they are poor.
Thanks for all your reviews until now and also for all that will come yet. They are really great help.