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Beta: Silimaira
Rating for this chapter: K
Summary: Misplaced somewhere I did not belong to, in a body that should have never been mine, I could only wait for the world to finally stop turning. [SI, Self-Insert/OC-Insert as Sesshomaru's daughter]
Have fun
Till The World Stops Turning
Chapter 11
A Father's Protection
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Where She Met A Stranger
"You're something between a dream and a miracle."
― Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"He drew the dagger and laid it on the table between them; a length of dragonbone and Valyrian steel, as sharp as the difference between right and wrong, between true and false, between life and death."
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
Year 3 Day 50
Spending time in her so called 'real' form took a while getting used to. Shizuka thought that it would never feel as natural to her as it was actually meant to be. The life she had spent as a human made sure of that.
Still, that didn't mean that she did not enjoy changing into her dog form. There was something very exhilarating about the way her senses sharpened even more when she did that and not much could compare to the feeling of freely running on four paws. For now, Shizuka was faster that way and as a whole probably also more dangerous. Although she was no match for other demons right now, the girl would certainly be capable of beating a human while changed.
Nevertheless, there were a few things she would never get used to in that form, her father's daily grooming of her was one of them. In the last few months it had become a tradition that they repeated every morning before doing anything else. Sesshomaru was very meticulous about the whole thing and Shizuka could not even fault him for that. The grooming did not serve to clean the child - though it certainly destroyed all the dirt and bacteria on her skin - but to drench her in her father's poisonous acid. Its sweet smell was even more effective than the grown demon's own scent against other predators.
Many demons would stay away from her because of the acid she herself produced, but there were still those who could combat it. There were only a few demons in the world that could combat an adult Inuyokai's poison, which was way more potent than her own.
Despite knowing that, Shizuka was still rather reluctant when it came to letting her father take care of their routine. Understandably, the girl found being drenched in what could be considered Sesshomaru's spit rather unpleasant. At the beginning she had tried to get away from her father, but she was forced to accept that the other demon was even more stubborn than she was very quickly.
After a while the young child just gave up and let the adult protect her in every way possible. Shizuka knew that the world she had been born into was a dangerous one. A world without a place for frivolous sentimentality.
A fortunate thing was that the acid wasn't sticky and did not need long to dry. Sometimes Shizuka had the feeling that the process took longer than was actually necessary because her father knew how much she disliked it and he enjoyed teasing her.
Sesshomaru was very subtle with his reactions and incredibly hard to read; however, Shizuka had spent enough time with the man to recognize some of his discreet reactions.
Her father was a very stoic man, but that did not make him heartless.
''I've found some berries for Shizuka-hime, Sesshomaru-sama!'' Jaken shrieked as he entered the large clearing they were occupying. When they chose to change their forms, they either had to find a clearing large enough to contain her father's true form or the older demon just ended up creating his own free space. All the trees Shizuka had seen him destroy could probably create a small forest.
Canting his head to the side, Sesshomaru regarded the positively tiny imp with his large red eyes. Normally, Shizuka was just roughly a head taller than the imp, but in her current form she towered over the smaller demon. This meant that she actually had to be careful when she approached Jaken and with how she behaved around him. Despite his irritating personality, both Sesshomaru and Shizuka cared about the imp. Finding a valet as loyal and devoted as him was a rarity. The young girl did not doubt the fact that if it came to it, Jaken would willingly lay down his life for her.
A nudge to her side informed the girl that her father had finished his ministrations and that she was finally allowed to move away from him.
She did just that, bounding happily over to Jaken and lowering her snout to scent the small bag in his hands. Shizuka yipped excitedly when she realized that he had found and gathered some cherries and strawberries for her. Within seconds she stood on her human feet once again and regarded her caretaker with large and imploring eyes.
''Can I?'' inquired Shizuka as she held out a hand.
Jaken nodded his head proudly and handed over the bag without further ado. The little imp knew that he had managed to gather some of her favorite fruits and in his opinion making his master's daughter happy was something to be proud of.
With a big smile on her face, the child grabbed a hold of his hand and started dragging him towards her father. There, the both of them promptly sat down, Shizuka leaning her back against Sesshomaru's body while Jaken made himself comfortable in front of her.
Despite her best efforts, the young demon still managed to stain her newly acquired yukata with the fruit's red juices. It wasn't the first and neither would it be the last garment that she dirtied beyond saving.
Year 3 Day 298
When her father told her that they would be meeting an old acquaintance of his, this was not what Shizuka had in mind. For all the strangeness she had experienced in this world, the girl had somehow never imagined that one of her father's associates would end up being an old and senile sword smith who very obviously feared Sesshomaru.
Perhaps it was the wrong use of 'acquaintance' that bothered Shizuka because this man was neither her father's acquaintance nor someone who actually wanted to have something to do with them.
Or it might have just been the older demon's overall weirdness that presented Shizuka's biggest problem.
Totosai was a demon whose actual nature she could not place. Normally, demons had some traits that could be attributed to normal animals, but the elderly man did not. There was also something overly exuberant about his behavior that made him seem fake.
Shizuka could not claim that she truly disliked the unknown demon, but she certainly did not trust him.
''I didn't know whether to believe the rumors or not, but it seems that they were indeed true. Your clan has been blessed with a new member―an heiress nonetheless,'' Totosai said after greeting both of them seemingly respectfully. ''What is it that I can do for you, Sesshomaru-sama?''
''My daughter's fourth birthday is approaching. I require of you to take care of her gift,'' the dog demon explained. Then he reached inside the pocket of his hakama to retrieve an object hidden by a soft cloth. He gave it to Totosai. ''A part of my claw.
''I see.'' Totosai hummed thoughtfully. ''What exactly do you want me to forge for her?''
Sesshomaru's head tilted and his gaze wandered towards his daughter. ''I believe that a dagger would be the most fitting. We will discuss the price when I see the result.''
Shizuka watched how the unknown demon accepted her father's demands without any protest and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Even if Totosai feared her father, he was still representing his own business. Shouldn't he have had some demands of his own? Or was his fear so overpowering that he did not dare to utter anything?
Although she knew that her father was a scary demon, she had not expected that he would inspire such fear in someone. Maybe she just couldn't fathom how a person could be terrified of the man who had taken care of her so gently since the day she had been reborn into this world.
''It will take me about a months time to finish it.'' The elderly man set the claw fragment on a table near the wall. ''You are welcome to come and get it then.''
Sesshomaru inclined his head in agreement and reached down to pick Shizuka up from her spot on the ground next to him. Now that the two adults had taken care of their business, the dog demons would be leaving.
A while ago Shizuka had found out that a demon's fourth birthday was a very special occasion. It was at that time that children of their kind finally stopped aging so rapidly and started growing older at an incredibly slow rate. Everyone was different which meant that the aging never stopped at exactly the same time, but it was always around a demon's fourth birthday. To celebrate this most demon children received their first weapons around that time. Considering their small frames - Shizuka herself looked around six or seven years old - those weapons were mostly knives or daggers, no swords.
She could not help but question the wisdom of giving such young children sharp weapons. In their world this was probably a necessity and yet it did seem to be a double-edged sword. A child, after all, could not be trusted to not harm itself.
The girl also did not quite know what she should think about the events that had transpired inside this volcano - how did Totosai come to the conclusion that building his forge inside a volcano was actually a good idea? - however, she did know that there was something that bothered her about Totosai.
And as her father turned his back on the other male and she saw the way the look in the stranger's eyes changed, Shizuka realized what exactly that something was.
Totosai might have feared her father, but he certainly did not respect him.
Quite the opposite actually.
He even seemed to hold him in contempt.
Meeting his eyes, Shizuka sneered at him. Whatever he might have done in the past, Sesshomaru would always be her hero and she would not just stand by and watch someone disrespect him.
