Trigger Warning: violence, death
…Ume no hana…
...
Outside the post-house, beside the broken bridge, Alone, deserted, a flower blooms.
Saddened by her solitude in the falling dusk,
She is now assailed by wind and rain.
Let other flowers be envious!
She craves not spring for herself alone.
Her petals may be ground in the mud,
But her fragrance will endure.
― Lu Yu (Ode to the plum blossom)
...
In the dead of the night Sachiko found herself waking up abruptly, drenched in cold sweat despite the chill of the night. A scream hung in the back of her throat. She clamped her lips shut to trap it within her. She had dreamt of scorching heat, soot slipping through the air she breathed, noxious fumes burning-
Too late. Someone spoke within her, prompting her to sit up uneasily.
Wiping perspiration that beaded on her forehead, she frowned, erratic heartbeats never slowing. What had the nightmare been about? All her nerves were jittery, set on edge by the adrenaline coursing through her bloodstream. She felt like her innards were sloshing around within her. She felt sick.
Jaken slept peacefully to the left, leaning against the cool scales of Ah- Un. Throat parched, she gazed up at the trees were Sesshomaru had been. A new wave of panic inexplicably seized her heart as she found that he was missing. With a shaking hand, she reached out for her water bottle, gulping ungraciously, feeling like throwing up all over again. Swivelling around where she sat, she spotted the demon lord at the lip of the cliff they had set up camp in. Her body seemed to move on its own towards him.
A stray gust of wind tousled his hair, rumpling the fur wrapped around his shoulder. He was gazing at something at a distance, eyes stony. "What's wrong?" She appealed.
"There is a fire", the demon lord replied tersely, his voice hard. Eyes widening, the young woman staggered back. No way, she thought in disbelief, following his gaze, her worried eyes seeing nothing in the darkness.
It was just a bad dream, the fire must probably be somewhere else, it couldn't possibly be-
The daiyoukai spared her a sidelong glance. "Please", she said, her heart in her throat, "I need to borrow Ah- Un." Without waiting for a response, she rushed to the two- headed dragon which promptly stirred from its sleep upon her proximity, the limp body of Jaken slowly sliding to rest on the hard earth.
"I'll be back soon", she said, voice hoarse with worry, the reins gripped tightly in her hands. Sesshomaru watched her go.
Smoke, so much smoke.
Sachiko felt the buzzing within her, drowning out her thoughts, eclipsing her sense of being. Ah- Un keened sadly after her as she sleepwalked into the doomed clearing. But how, she dizzily wondered.
I was here just hours ago.
In front of her, the tiny shack crumbled, ravenous conflagration devouring the swollen wood, plumes of white smoke suffocating her, coating her mouth with soot, filling her lungs, her head - a bright, sweltering flower blossoming in the darkness. The flames licked eagerly skywards, threatening to devour the mournful crescent of the moon above, catching onto the surrounding vegetation. Ash swirled in the winds that fed the flames. Stricken, she stumbled forward into the smoke on leaden limbs. Where was he, where was he, where where where?
Tears streamed down her eyes and nose, blurring her already murky vision. She heard the creak of the roof caving in. He must have escaped, she hoped desperately,...youkai blood. Fire wouldn't hurt...A gust of wind momentarily shifted the smoke before her. There, underneath the small plum tree slowly being devoured by the flames, his arms thrown around the upturned gravestone...
Her chest burned from inhaling too much smoke. In a daze, she moved forward through the thick, poisonous air. Scooping the little boy in her hands, she staggered back, eyes and nose streaming, coughing up a whole lung. She marveled at how weightless he was. Like a baby bird, she thought. She could feel all his bones against her body.
Outside the reach of the inferno she fell to her knees, coughing and spluttering, greedily gulping air into her lungs, cradling the unmoving boy to her body.
Not breathing, her mind registered half-deliriously. Reluctant fingers searched for a pulse, finding none. Trembling all over, she tried to concentrate on her powers.
"No no", she breathed. Time seemed to stand still as she sent pulse after pulse of healing energy into his unmoving, lifeless body. It was hopeless- he was long gone, his organs dead or dying from a lack of oxygen. His heart had pumped out its last stroke of blood, his brain had given out its final commands. Mutely, with trembling hands, she touched his all too human feet. The body she held didn't have a trace of youkai in it.
Maybe it's someone else, her brain offered, desperately scrambling for an escape-hatch. She couldn't save everyone, right? Maybe it was some other boy, not the child she had known, laughed with, cooked for, worried for...Screams tore through her heart, crowding against the back of her throat. She opened her mouth but not a peep escaped her, struck mute with terror and disbelief.
Dimly, she registered voices- familiar and unfamiliar ones. She shut them all out, forcing herself to look at the slack body in her arms, its skin mottled in greens and blues in the firelight, limbs twisting unnaturally.
They had beat him to death- the knowledge sliced into her cleanly like a knife. They knew he was too resilient in his hanyou body, so they had waited, bided their time, kept watch, till he...turned into a human- her brain, high on adrenaline, filled in. He must have writhed like a worm as they delivered their blows, too heavy for his tiny, brittle body. Sachiko could almost see it as she were there, see the senseless violence that has forever set its marks on the cursed place. She watched him crawl to his mother's grave on broken limbs, spitting out blood, saw them wait around leisurely, watching him die, joking about with each other. Filthy half breed, she heard one of them say, poking his corpse with the handle of a plough. Sachiko felt crusted blood on the back of his head. Then the plough came down forcefully, cracking his skull- her brain reconstructed in excruciating detail. Her stomach heaved, bile rising to the back of her throat.
It must have hurt a lot, she thought numbly, gazing at his vacant silver irises. He must have curled upon himself, screamed in pain, when he couldn't hold it in anymore.
Seeping slowly into her worn- out brain that had never known such agony was the blessed fog of oblivion. She welcomed the darkness with relief, her consciousness slowly slipping away-
Oh no, no, something inside her muttered with sadistic humor, You don't get to skip this.
Jolted into alertness, she sat like a statue, scrambled thoughts streaking across her mind. I could have saved, I could have taken him with me... Only eight years old...knew he was in danger, but I left him here, turned my back on him, and now he's, he's-
I did this to him. This is on me.
The soft swish of silk woke her from her dark reverie. "Set him down", the demon lord said, his sword drawn.
"No!" She heard her voice snarl from somewhere far away. Her rage flared up, dark and deadly, and it burned her so much more than the flames that she thought she would explode into a supernova, obliterating everything around her, before she realized that he wasn't taunting her, he wasn't amused. The depth in his voice caught her unaware, triggering a sudden, veritable realization to form within her.
- that tragedies would happen, over and over again, as long as the world turned, and she was not the only one who had made foolish choices that cost precious, innocent lives-
He promised he would protect me, she thought nonsensically as she withdrew into herself. But how can he possibly protect me from this?
"Release him", the demon repeated, his voice hard.
Slowly, she placed him on the ground, defeated, her whole body slumped into itself. Her eyes widened as he brandished the sword. I should probably run, she thought distantly, then, pushed to the brink with brittle exhaustion, she closed her burning eyes.
...
It was like looking into a mirror of his past, the daiyoukai reflected, as he stepped out of the cover of trees and watched the woman tremble, folded into herself, her hands holding the dead boy in a white-knuckled grip.
Exhausted but wide- awake, beyond tears and beyond screaming, she teetered in the volatile state between denial and harrowing guilt, as the dying inferno raged one last time across her. Sesshomaru could feel her futile rage in his chest, measure her sorrow as if it were his own. How absurd, the demon lord found himself thinking, turning this notion over in his mind.
"Who the hell are you people?" One of the men demanded brusquely. "Leave right now or else-!"
Amber eyes narrowed at the human filth predatorily. The group of villagers took a frightened step back together, weapons raised- to defend, not attack- almost in comic synchronicity.
"The filthy half- breed was s-stealing our food, its birth had plunged our village in sickness and poverty! W-what were we to do?" Someone stuttered, their voice laced with fear.
Not this, Sesshomaru thought. His wrist flicked and a tree fell, its trunk cleanly sliced, almost crushing the one that had spoken.
"Leave", he said simply. The gaggle of humans scattered, not needing to be told twice. Sesshomaru watched them go, his eyes narrowed dangerously as he tracked his prey.
When he unsheathed the Tenseiga it eagerly flared, its aura humming in response to his will. Quietly, he stepped towards her. The woman lifted her face to meet his gaze with eyes so hollow that he felt she were nothing but a husk of her former impassioned self.
"Set him down", he instructed. The demon watched her expression slowly twist into a vicious snarl.
"No!" She hissed like a wounded animal, protectively tugging the corpse closer against herself, eyes wide with fury- an expression Sesshomaru hadn't expected to see in someone so mild-mannered. He must have had a similar look on his face, the demon lord thought, when he held Rin's lifeless body in the underworld.
Then her face crumpled, a mask of devastation, her posture slumped.
"Release him." Impatience crept into his voice.
Ever so slowly, she set the dead boy down. The woman gazed at the drawn sword in his hand with tired jade eyes, before they disappeared behind drowsy eyelids.
...
Sachiko felt a brief sigh of wind brush against her cheeks. Involuntarily, her eyes opened, staggered to see that the dog- demon had struck Umeo's body. Too exhausted for rage, too stunned for grief, all she could feel was a yawning emptiness within as the daiyoukai mutilated the already broken body, a sob rising at the back of her throat.
The goblin- like creatures vanished right in front of her eyes. How had she not seen them before, Sachiko wondered listlessly. The sun was rising, casting long shadows over them. The fire had died down and there was nothing to show for the shack except for a few pieces of fuming charcoal. She watched the sunrays touch Umeo's body. Strange, his wounds seem to have healed. His jet black mane was slowly lightening to deep burgundy. Sachiko watched in wordless disbelief as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Sachiko?" He gazed at her with a quizzical expression. "What are you doing here?" Then, worry softening his eyes, "Why are you crying?"
Her arms opened like the wings of a bird and she drew him to herself, her body shaking uncontrollably, both laughing and crying a little at the same time.
"H-hey! What the-" The boy went rigid for a moment, a violent crimson blush streaking across his face, before his memory reasserted itself and he went deathly quiet.
"I was dead", he breathed disbelievingly, his body going slack in her arms. "They killed me."
"Those bastards!" He screeched in a fit of anger and sorrow, swiveling around in her lap to look at the fuming remains of what was once his home. "How could they?!" His body slumped in torpor as he gazed at the upturned gravestone.
"How could they do that to me?" He spoke wearily, his voice full of tears. The helplessness in his eyes broke her heart. A shudder passed through his emaciated body and his face crumpled, the corners of his mouth curling downward as she watched. Then he began wailing, the anguished, broken cry of a wronged child. Sachiko gently ran her fingers through his hair as he clung to her, silently letting her own tears fall.
And when she looked up in search of the daiyoukai, tears flowing down her cheeks and gratitude brimming in her heart, she found that he had disappeared, leaving them to each others' company.
Sachiko single-mindedly cut through the fabric of her spare yukata, displaying impressive tenacity. Her needle swiftly ran through the seams, neat stitches lining the hem of the cloth. Hoping she got the proportions right, she held it out to a grouchy Jaken. "Here", she said.
"Why do I have to cater to a stupid hanyou brat?" Jaken groused, averting his eyes when she let her face fall. Muttering darkly to himself, he grabbed the cloth from her and stalked off in the direction of the stream where Umeo bathed.
Sachiko smiled in approval when she saw the boy dressed in clean clothes. "So handsome", she cooed, combing out his damp hair with her fingers.
"Cut it out", the boy muttered in embarrassment, swatting her hand away.
"Shall we?" She said brightly, holding out her hand. He nodded solemnly and slipped his hand into hers.
The events of the previous night felt like a terrible nightmare now, in the brightness of a brand new day with its promises of a fresh start. Her fingers tightened around his. It felt nice, she thought, to be able walk with him hand-in- hand through the grass that crunched merrily underfoot. It was like he was her own little brother.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy of the trees, casting dappled shadows on the human woman and the hanyou child walking beneath. Coaxing out snippets of information with occasional, innocuous questions, she learned his story little by little.
Umeo never knew his father. "He was a bastard who forced himself on my mother", he had said bitterly. When the villagers had banished his mother for the crime of being raped by the boar demon, she had come to the forest. Her family made her the shack near the plum tree and supplied her with few choice necessities before entirely turning their backs on her forever. She had worked as a midwife, so she gave birth on her own, with no one to help her, no one to hold her hand as she went into labor. Everyday she worked hard, foraging, hunting and even stealing, to make sure her son had enough to eat. Somedays when the pickings were slim, she would give all her food to him, often going hungry herself.
"Then she became weak, then she fell ill and died", Umeo finished uncomfortably. "It's true what everyone says, I really did kill her."
"Don't say that."
"Farmer Taki's daughter died last month of some disease", he muttered bitterly, "I've never even seen the girl, but he thinks it is because of me. People are always blaming me for their problems. They think it is because a hanyou lives nearby that the village has such crap luck."
"Those people are insane", she seethed. "When there is a scapegoat, everyone dumps their issues onto them. You were just a child living alone- an easy target."
"They all hate me, Sachiko." His voice was pained.
"I don't", she said gently, "Neither would anyone who truly knew you." She put her hand around his shoulders, pulling him close. "Infact, I think I like you a little too much", she cooed. "You are so adorable- I could cuddle you forever!"
"Ew, weirdo! Get your hands off me!" He squirmed away, fighting a giggle. Sachiko grinned. Although her silly antics could never really heal the scars in his heart, she was content they could at least bring a smile to his face.
Sachiko snoozed lightly, leaning against the cool body of Ah-Un, when a bundle was tossed onto her lap, jolting her into wakefulness. Flabbergasted, she gazed at Jaken who was giving her a strange look. Sesshomaru walked over to the far end of the clearing with nary a look at her.
"Honestly, at least try to be a little aware of your surroundings", the imp admonished.
"Oh, uh- welcome back! What is this?" She gestured at the bundle wrapped in a white cloth. Jaken huffed.
"Why don't you see for yourself?"
Fingers fumbling awhile with the knot, the young woman was surprised to find bolts of colorful fabric in it.
"It's for the brat", Jaken clarified. Sachiko gazed at the little hanyou curled up next to her, caught in the embrace of a deep, restful sleep.
"Where did you get this from?"
"From the village- where else?" Jaken snapped. "Lord Sesshomaru had some...business there", the retainer elaborated upon her questioning glance. "Relax! Nobody was killed!" Only maimed, Jaken muttered under his breath.
"Thank you", Sachiko breathed, her eyes misting over.
"I had nothing to do with this. You should thank lord Sesshomaru." The imp stalked off. Sachiko gazed in wonder at the impassive demon lord at the edge of the clearing, his eyes closed in what appeared to be meditation. Conflicting feelings swirled in her heart as she watched him. He thought of everything, unlike me.
Why though? She wondered in befuddlement. Why go to such lengths for the child? She thought he hated hanyou, from what Kagome and the others had told her. She doubted Sesshomaru even knew the boy's name.
Why such kindness, to someone he barely knows?
Her heart skipped a beat. Startled at the direction her train of thought was taking off in, she shook her head, as if pulling the brakes on her wayward musing, trying to focus on the matter at hand.
Jaw set, she stood up and walked over to the demon lord. Standing in front of him, a blush colored her cheeks at the thought of running her fingers over the delicate burgundy stripes that adorned his eyelids. She was just about to announce her presence when-
"No", the demon lord said, eyes still closed.
"But I haven't even said anything yet", she protested, understandably taken aback.
"I know what you are about to say", Sesshomaru gazed at her with inscrutable amber eyes, drawing himself to his full height and looking down at her.
"The boy cannot follow you."
Squashing the brief sense of disappointment in her heart, she said, "But he is only a child. He has nowhere else to go-"
"Are you certain that you can protect him from the dangers of your path?" Sesshomaru cut her off, his placid mask in place.
"Tenseiga can revive a being but once", the demon lord continued imperiously at her stunned silence. "Do not let careless compassion cloud your judgement." He turned his back to her in dismissal.
Do not make the same mistake as I did.
The young woman seemed to be taken aback. "I left him in that shack all by himself", she said at the end of a poignant silence, "although I knew that he wasn't safe there." Emotion made her voice falter. "I didn't think those men would attack him in his home, that too on the night when he..."
"Turned into a mortal", Sesshomaru said simply.
"I didn't know that!" She cried. "I didn't know hanyou changed into humans! If I knew, I would never have..." A sob prevented her from finishing what she wanted to say.
"You interfered despite your ignorance, only to bring suffering to yourself", the demon lord observed.
Breathing deeply, Sachiko gathered her thoughts, shaking her head as if to dispel the dark memories clamoring there. "I did this to him", she said, "I am now responsible for his safety." Sesshomaru watched silently as she struggled for an answer. " But... you are right. I cannot bring him with me. If anything happens to him, I won't be able to bear it. I will find some other way."
She asked to borrow Ah- Un again and set off.
They sat before the gravestone, hands folded in prayer. Sachiko gazed at the hanyou, sniffling and murmuring with closed eyes, seeking comfort from his mother after the harrowing events the child had gone through.
Don't get too attached, she reminded herself as he watched him, the torment in his heart evident in each taut line of his face. It was going to be difficult for her to let him go, she realized. How was it possible that she felt so attached to someone she only met yesterday? Was it because he was only a child?
Umeo opened his eyes, wiping his damp cheek with his sleeve. His face fell when he gazed at the burnt plum tree. The little leaves that still clung to the brittle branches were a sad, dark brown, curled into themselves from the heat. The trunk was charred badly, the bark falling off in flakes. It looked like it would die soon. Sighing, he let his head fall, a silent sob at the base of his throat, unable to gaze at the state of his mother's treasured yabai.
"Oops, I may have overdone it a little."
Cracking open, his silver eyes caught sight of a pale petal fluttering slowly to his lap. His nose quivered as it registered a familiar flowery scent. Straightening ever so slowly, a breath caught in his chest, he looked at the plum tree burst into a profusion of white and blush blossoms, perfuming the air with their subtle fragrance.
"How?" He gasped, rubbing his eyes as if to confirm he wasn't dreaming. Words failed him as he gazed, with dewy-eyed wonder, at the young woman, her palm pressed against the rough bark of the trunk.
"It is not the season for plum to hold flowers, but the power should be enough to keep the tree alive for a while till it regenerates", she said, straightening up. "Lovely, aren't they? Too bad the flowers start to fall in a week ", she said with a smile, scanning the wide expanse of blossoms above.
A pair of arms wrapped tightly around her legs. "Thank you!" Umeo was whispering fervently, "Thank you, thank you, thank you", he said over and over. After her initial surprise, Sachiko gently brought a hand to rest on top of his head.
"Your mother must have wanted you to be happy, Umeo. To be safe. Whatever she said about defending your lands, it doesn't count if your life is in danger."
"I know", he admitted, burying his face in the fabric of her pants. "I knew all this time, but...I just didn't want to leave her, like everyone else did."
She knelt down before the boy so that she could look him in the eye. "You are not leaving her. She's always with you, watching over her dearest son", she took his tiny hand in hers. "When you get hurt, she feels the pain as well. And there is nothing for you here, except more suffering", she said earnestly.
The boy gazed at her with pained eyes. "But I can't leave mama! I-"
"You need to leave", Sachiko asserted, cutting him off. "I don't know your mother, but if she truly loved you, she would want you to be with people who do not isolate and shun you. Not here, where they would attack a child alone in his home." She squashed the rage flaring up in her chest at the memory. "If you are a good son, if you truly cherish her wishes, you will leave this place." She put all her heart into her words, willing him to relent.
The child looked torn. Sachiko waited, wondering if she had gone too far. But she had to give it all she got. I am responsible, she told herself. Perhaps it was a selfish move on her part, but she damn well wasn't going to leave him again, in this place where he was seen as nothing more than a threat that had to be eliminated.
At long last, Umeo sighed. "Alright", he breathed. "I'll go."
A small sigh of relief escaped her as Sachiko looked at the blossomed plum tree, the petals falling like snow towards the ground. Wherever Umeo's mother was, Sachiko imagined she must be smiling right now.
"Promise me."
"But-"
"Umeo."
"I will run away if I feel threatened", he said sullenly. "Or if I feel like I can't win."
"He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day", Sachiko whispered. Umeo rolled his eyes.
"Sure", he said flatly. "What a dorky saying." The bright sunshine pleasantly warmed them like a blessing. Butterflies fluttered languidly above the copper grass. Freshly bloomed morning glories shined blue and purple on their twisting, leafy vines.
"Life is the most precious thing, Umeo. Nothing is more important than preserving it". She ran a thumb over the smooth skin of the hand she held, "You'll look after yourself, won't you?" Umeo looked like he wanted to reply with a witty retort, but refrained on seeing the look on her face.
"I will", he said solemnly, shifting the tiny bundle of his possessions on his shoulder.
"And meanwhile, you'll try to be as strong as you possibly can?"
"Hai!" He enthused. "The strongest! Like Sesshomaru- sama!" Sachiko smiled at this.
"And you will stay here until I come to get you?"
"I will", he said, "But you will be back, won't you?" He fixed her with an expectant stare.
Sachiko gazed down at the boy's hands and traced the tip of a tiny claw. "Of course", she said, "But just in case I don't, make sure you do as I said." The boy looked at her like he wanted to protest, but held his tongue.
"Priestess Kaede", Umeo sighed. "In the village of Edo."
"Yup", she said with a sad smile. "I guess this is it then."
"Goodbye", she breathed, pulling him into a tight hug.
"I'll miss you", he put his arms around her, despite his seeming aversion to being touched. "Thank you... for everything."
A distance behind them stood the spindly old owner of the tea-shop and his plump, matronly wife. They returned her smile as she straightened up, holding Umeo's hand.
"Please", she asked them, "A month is all I need."
"It's no trouble, young missy", the old man said thoughtfully, "It'll be good to have a kid around. Sometimes it gets way too quiet around here."
"Excuse me, sir, ma'am", Umeo said soberly, lifting the hem of his yukata a little and showing his cleft feet, "You do know I am half- demon, right?" The old woman gasped. Slowly, her stiff joints seemingly protesting, she bent down to the hanyou's level.
"Does it hurt, my child?" She asked in a concerned whisper, gazing at his oddly shaped feet. The boy seemed to be taken aback.
"No", Umeo breathed, his stoic features melting into an expression of surprise, "It doesn't hurt at all."
"Don't worry yer pretty little head, young lady", the old man said, as if sensing her distress, "He'll be safe here. We didn't live to this ripe old age in this troubled era by being a bunch of fools 'bout it." She handed him the pouch of coins Kagome had insisted she take along. From all of us- the miko had said.
"For your troubles", the young woman offered, "Please take good care of him."
With a last nod to a teary Umeo, whose hand now held the old woman's, she descended the path down the mountainside. She stopped just before she rounded the bend, looking up the length of the path she had already traversed. "See you soon, Sachiko!" Umeo called down to her, a warm breeze tousling his hair, and she steadied her shaking hand, inevitably thinking back to all that had happened since their last goodbye. Pushing back her apprehension, Sachiko waved, blinking back tears, and continued down the mountain path. At the foot of the mountain, her strange entourage waited for her.
"Did you have to come back here?" Jaken, his usual green, caustic self, asked. "We passed by this area two days ago! All that traveling for nothing!"
"Well, I really don't know whatever lies in the path ahead", she commented. The demon lord slipped out of the shadows and proceeded to the north, not bothering to see if anyone followed.
"Sesshomaru", she called. The Lord of the West stopped in his tracks and turned to glance behind him.
The woman lowered herself the ground on her knees, bending so that her chest pressed against her lap. Palms flat on the floor, thumbs and index fingers forming a triangle, she bowed deeply, reverently. Her form has improved, the demon lord noted with mild amusement.
"Thank you, Sesshomaru- sama", she said with utmost sincerity, "For your kindness, your counsel and care, I consider my debts paid ten times over. You have gone out of your way, done so much for me that now I am the one in your debt. There- there is no reason that compels you to accompany me on this journey anymore." Sachiko screwed her eyes shut, strange pangs of sadness rising over and over in her heart.
"Thank you for everything. Thank you for saving Umeo's life. Thank you for keeping me safe-"
"So", Sesshomaru folded his hands against his chest, tucking his arms into his sleeves. "You are planning to travel to the northern mountains on your own?"
"Y-yes", she said, still bowed. "I'll try to make it on my own." I have no real reason to bother him anymore, the young woman thought melancholically. "I'll take my leave now."
"Tell me woman, do you think of me as a mere valet that you can dispose of on a whim?"
What? Her eyes flew open in surprise, the ire in his voice making her intestines knot uneasily in her belly.
"I do as I please", the daiyoukai asseverated. "A mortal will not dismiss me. I shall remain steadfast in my obligation, whether you like it or not."
She stared up at him in goggle- eyed confusion, her muscles straining from holding the unfamiliar position for so long. "I-I don't understand, I thought-", she gasped. Against the rays of sunlight, his hair glowed around him in an alluring halo of white, amber eyes shimmered luminously in the shadow. Words died down in her lips. He looks like an angel, she thought, her errant heart speeding up, No, he looks like a god.
His eyelids briefly fluttered in subtle exasperation as he watched her. Sachiko thought she saw a gentle curve in his lips. She forgot how to breathe.
"Get up Sachiko", the demon lord said lightly, an effervescent glimmer in his eye hinting at the amusement concealed within. "You are starting to look like a fool."
Hastily Sachiko unfolded herself, her face hot, and returned to the seiza position.
"Stop wasting our time, would you?" Jaken commented thornily as he treaded past with Ah-Un.
There was a whirlwind in her head. She stayed there, unable to move, unable to tear her gaze away from him. What just happened? A still functioning part of her brain puzzled about, while all the other parts displayed large, red, blinking "error!" messages.
"We are leaving", the demon lord announced.
Wordlessly she nodded, and as she watched him walk away, realized that the expression blossoming in her heart was one of happiness.
Review if you liked! Thanks to my lovely reviewers for motivating me to write :3