Chapter 14: Road Trip
"Jaken!" Rin gasped, attempting to turn in Inuyasha's grasp to face the toad imp. "This isn't anything!" She was briefly grateful that the imp had virtually no sense of smell, otherwise the campsite would be fairly incriminating. Who am I kidding, it's pretty incriminating now! "For god's sake, Inuyasha, let me go!" She added a punch to his gut for emphasis, and his grip slackened a little bit. The hanyou shook himself a little bit as if to clear his head. Rin knew that being interrupted when he was about to...do that...would cause his instincts to go haywire.
"Why are you letting this creature touch you!" Jaken demanded, leveling the staff of two heads at Inuyasha, who bristled.
"Hey, don't call me creature, you creepy little wart!" He spat out. "What we were doing was no business of yours or Sesshoumaru's!"
"We weren't doing anything!" Rin protested to both demons. "Inuyasha if you don't let me go I'll knock you out. You know I can!"
"All right, girl—" Inuyasha said, and released her. Rin straightened her clothing, which was alarmingly disheveled.
"Jaken," She said to the sputtering toad imp. "Jaken I'm looking for Sesshoumaru. Where did he go?"
"My Lord will be most displeased when he finds out—" Jaken began shakily, but Rin cut in.
"He's not going to find out," She said, her voice deceptively sweet. "Because there is nothing to find out. Inuyasha kept me warm last night and that was it. Now, tell me, where did Lord Sesshoumaru go?"
"He did not intend for you to follow him."
"Tell me, toad."
"I am under strict instructions not to tell you."
"I'll bake you into a pie, Jaken."
"Idle threats will not induce me to betray my Lord's confidence!"
"I'll let Inuyasha have his way with you."
"I will not tell."
"Sesshoumaru needs me, Jaken."
"He certainly does not or he would not have left you."
"Then why did he leave you?"
The toad imp stiffened a moment, and then drooped. Rin seized her chance. "He needs us both, Jaken. Can't you see that? But sometimes he does not admit what he needs."
"Hmmm. For a human you are perceptive."
"Tell me where he is and we can both go make sure he is safe."
The toad sighed. "He has gone...to his ancestral home."
"The fortress?" Rin asked. "Why? That doesn't seem like that big a deal."
"You are displaying your ignorance, human." Jaken scoffed. "You are unaware of the reason he left to begin with."
"Then enlighten me."
"No need. I'd rather you found out on your own. Are you going to go to him?"
Rin stood up, brushing herself off. "Yes. Show me the way."
Inuyasha stood and barred her path. "Oi, wait up. You are forgetting me!" he said.
"Yes I am," Rin said, "Go away." She tossed her hair over her shoulder, driving him mad.
"Girl if you go to him he'll skin me alive for letting you. I was supposed to keep you safe and for whatever reason, it isn't safe for you there!"
"You can't stop me. I'll drop you so fast you'll forget everything in that fat head of yours." Rin snarled, pushing past him.
Inuyasha stood still for just a few moments, watching her gather her belongings and make ready to leave with the irritating toad imp. As she started moving out, he fell into step beside her. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow, much like his half-brother would have done.
"Can't let you have all the fun," He said. "I can at least keep you safe until you get there. Besides, I haven't been to the fortress since I was a baby. Kinda want to see it." He tucked his hands into his sleeves.
Rin smiled to herself, but readied a knife in her palm in case the hanyou decided to try to drag her off.