Finally I found the time to write a little - some parts of the story are already written, but I still need to work on them and to link them with the rest of the chapters.

I hope you'll like that chapter. Thank you for all your reviews and your visits ! =]

Enjoy your reading!

Chapter 10 Prey

The claws sliced through the air above her head. Rin pushed on her legs to jump backwards, thus going away from those deadly claws. They had been near her skin a bit too much for her liking, however if stepping backwards allowed her to avoid the claws, it put her straightly between another demon's paws.

Mamoru had run in the middle of the battlefield, hoping to find their superiors as quickly as possible. He should have known it wouldn't be so easy. As soon as he had lowered his speed, Rin had disappeared from his back, thrown away by a blow none of them had seen coming.

'Even if we should have,' he thought, angry with himself. Who wouldn't have tried to attack them when they were obviously so unfocused on the battle going on? Nobody.

Now he could only hope Rin would be able to stay alive by herself – he didn't doubt her capacities, but their opponents weren't there to play, but to kill.

No strategy had been decided, however it was clear they needed to stop those dog demons, whatever clan they belonged to, by all possible means.

"Try not to kill them. As long as we don't exactly know what's going on we can't afford to blindly rush into our enemy's paws. What if they are being deceived? What if they are, well innocent isn't the right word but you know what I mean don't you?"

He kept Rin's words in his mind, it was the sole solution for him not to kill those bastards – manipulated or not that was what they were, but if she was right, he wouldn't have to torment himself about his victims – not that killing really bothered him though.

Rin was used to being thrown on the ground, however it was a habit she would gladly get rid of if she could. She should have held tighter on Mamoru, or not, if she had wouldn't she have strangled him?

'How do you want to strangle a demon with your hands?' a little voice nagged her.

She sighed, then dodged a kick coming to her stomach. 'Focus!' she lectured herself. With so many soldiers fighting, it was impossible for her to reach her superiors avoiding them every blow, the best she could do was trying to dodge as much as possible.

Making her way through the battlefield while trying to catch a glimpse of a known face wasn't an easy business. If she recognised soldiers she had crossed the path of when she had been younger then, there would be no doubt, they would belong to his clan. She dreaded that eventuality and hoped to find a face belonging to Lady Natsuko's clan instead.

She jumped above a leg, ducked a sword, avoided a blow by turning around to finally end up bottom against ground. Not taking time to think about what had sent her there, Rin immediately got up, she had to keep moving - a motionless prey was always easier to target.

She couldn't clearly see her surroundings, partially blinded by all the dust whipped up by the fight. If she was discreet enough – or rather really quick – she could hope nobody would spot her long enough to take interest in her, to want her as an opponent.

In spite of her role, Rin didn't like fighting. She had chosen that path because, at some point in her life, it had appeared to be the best solution in response to her lack of understanding. Why had she been abandoned? That question, little by little, had transformed itself in why had I thought I had been abandoned? Because she hadn't been, not really. She should have understood it earlier. To abandon somebody would have been losing her in the middle of a forest, alone and without any chance to survive instead, she had been left in Inuyasha and Kagome's care, in a village where her life wouldn't be continually threatened.

Her Lord hadn't abandoned her, he had saved her.

However, once she had acknowledged that, it had been too late to leave the army, not because of Lady Natsuko, she would have understood, but because of the promises she had herself made. She would protect what Tsuyu had loved, what she had lost her life for. She would help the bear clan assuring the peace on its territory. They had accepted her, she would never be a bear demon, but she nonetheless belonged to the clan of the Northern Land.

How long had she remained, seated alone, thinking about her Lord, before being able to understand what had led him to separate them? An eternity really. And she blamed herself for that, for her lack of trust in him, how could she have dared! He had been, no, he was her life saviour! He had allowed her to stay by his side, he had protected her, not caring about the other demons' protestations, complaints, criticisms, and so on. He had put his pride aside - or had he wrapped her in it? - for her, for her safety.

A violent pain suddenly got Rin out of her thoughts. Something had... had bitten her side! She put her hand on the open wound, hoping to stop the bleeding. With luck, the demon wouldn't have liked what he had tasted and wouldn't chase after her, besides enough blood was flowing around to mask her scent.

"Focus! Focus!" she angrily repeated. She really wasn't meant to be on a battlefield, even with all her training, even if she had successfully passed all the tests, her body and her mind weren't working well together.

Physically, she was a soldier. She was small, but her musculature was firm and light, perfect when facing opponents bigger than her – what almost always happened. However, her mind wasn't craving for blood and fights. She would rather help in the villages, teach the kids what she had had the chance to learn herself, work in the fields.

She had thought about it for some time now, once this mysterious quarrel would be over, she would ask to leave the army. True, she had promised she would protect what Tsuyu had loved, but was it really her role? Being bleeding in the middle of a fight which seemed to oppose two clans she was in debt to, she could tell it wasn't something she was meant to face. All these years, she had stubbornly stuck to a path she thought was hers. She had been wrong. This path wasn't for her.

She shouldn't be dying as a soldier, but as a human woman. She was proud of what she had done in the past, she could be, however it wasn't satisfying her. There were lots of things she should have done. Things which belonged to the path she should have chosen. Not the one of vengeance, of anger and sadness, no, she should have chosen the one of faith, of comprehension, of love. She should have come back to Inuyasha's village – how much they might have been worried! - and, once she would have become stronger, with the aim of not being a burden, she should have travelled to where he was. She should have showed him how much he meant to her, how much she was willing to be by his side.

Lord Sesshomaru had done so much for her, he had proved more than once, in his own way, that he cared for her and how had she thanked him? She had let her faith in him falter.

She pressed harder on her wound. Her energy was dangerously decreasing. Her heart was loudly pounding in her ears, it was deafening, terrorising.

"I... I... have to... to find... them..."

Her superiors would know what to do. They would be able to help her, wouldn't they?

She was slowly but surely slowing down. Soon, her feet wouldn't carry her any more. A motionless prey was easier to target.

Wounded and motionless, in other words, dead.

Even though Jaken kept struggling, the kid's hold on him didn't weaken.

"Stop fidgeting!" the little boy ordered in a hush tone. "Or else they will find us."

"Where are you leading me?" Jaken asked with the same tone – he didn't want to know who they was referring to.

"It depends."

Jaken's eyes went wide. "Sorry?" he exclaimed, obvious indignation in his voice.

"Why were you spying on them?"

"Why... Why was I what?"

The kid sighed. "You're slow! Why were you spying on them? In the bushes? Don't tell me that where you live!"

"Not your business you stupid human!" Jaken mumbled.

Indeed, he had grown fond of Rin, however it didn't mean his feelings towards human children had changed, not at all in fact. He still found them irking, rude, and, well, ugly.

"It is," the child affirmed, "because they are protecting my village. If you're against them, you're against my village, so you're my enemy."

"What a way to talk for a child!"

The kid shook him a little. "Stop using that tone with me. Your fate depends on me."

"Are you threatening me?" Jaken gasped.

"Watch your tone!" the boy ordered through greeted teeth.

Although they were now far enough from the camp to be out of hearing range, he wouldn't take any risk.

"Where are we going anyway?"

The kid sighed. What had he brought the toad with him really? Oh yes, he had been asked to.

'Perhaps I didn't find the good toad,' he thought while glancing at the demon. This one didn't seem to be an efficient messenger, he didn't seem to be more than several centuries either. 'He can just be a magic toad.'

"Eh! Why aren't you answering? Eh! Stupid human! I need to go! I need to go so let go of me! Let go of me!"

"Tsuyoshi! Here!"

The kid suddenly turned to his left to meet another boy, a little taller than him, but probably of the same age.

"Nori! You were supposed to wait for me closer!" the named Tsuyoshi – Jaken's tormentor – scolded.

"I know. I know. But they found me. It's Miss Rin who saved me," the boy explained, eyes lowered to the ground with shame.

At the mention of Rin's name, Jaken lost control over his mouth. "Miss Rin? Rin? You know her? You know her, don't you?"

The kids gave him puzzled looks, but kept silent.

"You know her? Can you talk to her? I mean, I mean, will she listen to you? I mean-"

"Is he crazy?" Nori asked his friend.

Tsuyoshi shrugged. "Probably. He has been strange since I found him."

Nori's face came closer to Jaken's. "Is he really a powerful demon?" He poked him lightly on the head. "I mean, he doesn't really look dangerous, not at all in fact. Have you mistaken?"

"I don't think," Tsuyoshi frowned. "There was only him in the bushes surrounding the camp. And he fits the description."

Jaken was going crazy. They were doing as if he wasn't there! But Rin, if they knew her, then they might help him, he had to calm down a little, enough to stop calling them harshly at least. However, if the boy – the one named Nori – kept poking him, he wouldn't be able to be more, well, more, a little less grumpy?

"Well, it's not our business so let's bring the toad to him," Tsuyoshi decided.

"Bring what to who?" Jaken shouted angrily – was he not supposed to be calmer? To hell what he had said! Those kids were getting too much on his nerves.

"I said let's bring the toad, it means you, to him, it means to the guy who wants to you," the boy repeated as if he were talking to a baby.

Jaken glared at him. "Who is that guy?" In spite of his appearance, the little demon was more anxious than angry. Who could that be? Who would know where he was?

The two boys started to walk again, Tsuyoshi still carrying Jaken by the collar. "We don't have the right to say it," Nori said. "So we won't tell."

Jaken didn't bother to ask again. He could tell by himself it would get him nowhere. Those boys, as young as they seemed to be – ten or twelve at most, would not betray that guy. It was something years had taught him, humans of that age, boys mostly, were more likely not to give up on an idea as long as they considered it as a mission, they had surely been sent by someone important enough to give orders – to impress them – their pride would prevent them from failing.

Failure, to demons or humans, was something that all feared, because it could hurt your pride, deprive you of the others' respect, of their trust. Failure was something young boys dreaded more than others, they still had their reputation to build, they wouldn't allow its foundations to be shaken by such a thing.

"When will I meet him?" Jaken finally muttered after several minutes.

"Soon," they answered together.

Black, all she could see was black. Everywhere. To the right, to the left. Black. But she still walked forwards. She needed to find them. It was her sole chance, their sole chance. If she didn't find them... She stumbled over, well, over something. How did she keep her balance? She didn't care, at least she was still on her feet. As long as they were set on the ground a chance - her chance - would exist.

As long as she walked, hope would be there.

As long as she walked, she wasn't dead.

As long as... Damn... She was falling...

TBC