SORRY! sorry...I've been having massive writers block for this chapter. It was just SOOOOO frustrating to write! And I kept re-writing it over and over and over Until i just said: "Fuck it" and behold! here it is, I know it's short, but I just couldn't anymore.
I'm sorry if it's not up to expectations after months of not updating.
Because Rin thinks that girl is strange...
Rin was humming as A-Un strolled down the path, it was a very nice day to travel. She would miss the village, they had left two day's ago as her papa wanted to get back to searching for Naraku. She had enjoyed being able to play with children her own age, it was nice, granted the children treated her with a bit more kindness because of her mother, but still nice all the same.
Not to mention they had a new...traveling companion? Rin glanced at the strange girl that was lagging behind the group, and marveled on how slow and seemingly out of breath she was. Rin was well aware that the only reason the girl, Amanda, was with them was because she asked her mother for it to be so. She wanted a companion to play with when her mama and papa were gone, and Jaken wasn't very fun to play with. It took far too long to get the imp to play with her, which usually resorted to Rin sitting with A-Un instead. Her mother didn't seem happy at first, but once she mentioned getting a sibling to play with instead, Kaname had all been far too willing to let the teen travel with them, if only to stop Rin from suggesting making her a sibling...
Again.
To be honest, she was only suggesting it so her mama and papa would just kiss already (Granted, she may also would really like a younger sibling), and it was slightly frustrating when they changed the subject or shut her down. At least her papa would get that look in his eye's and stare at mama for a long while, that would get mama flustered and make her blush.
Anyway, the whole Amanda thing was sorely for Rin to have a playmate.
"Neh neh, Amanda-san?" Rin said, turning her head behind her to see the girl in question.
Said girl was slightly dragging her feet, sweating slightly, and seemed overall dead tired. "Hm? Yes, Rin-chan?" she asked, her brow raised in question.
"What's your home like?"
Amanda blinked, "Ah, well, it's big. The weather differs depending on where you live, there's lots of people and different food."
Rin hummed, looked down and cocked her head. "Whats that on your feet?"
"...sneakers."
She blinked, "'Sneek-urs'?" she said in confusion.
"It's footwear from my home land." she said with a smile, seeming very proud of them. Rin thought they looked ridiculous with the kimono she was wearing, and they were colorful...too colorful, so it made her look...stranger then she is. "They're fairly new, I just broke them in. If I knew this would happen I would have worn my older more comfortable shoes."
Broken in? Rin wondered what that meant. It didn't sound pleasant. Why break perfectly good footwear? She thought, bewildered that the girl wanted to ruin her shoes. Does she not like them? She wondered while cocking her head to the side. They looked...well they looked strange to her, very colorful, but she assumed they were doing a good job of protecting her feet.
Maybe they offended her somehow?
"...Oh." was all she could say. "What kind of food?"
"Oh, well there Pizza, hotdog's, hamburgers, corndogs, hot-pockets, cup-o-noodles, bacon, ramen, cookies, biscuits, all kinds of food from around the world!" she exclaimed with a dreamy smile, her stomach growling making Rin giggle slightly before a thought struck her.
"You eat dogs?" she asked in shock.
"Huh?"
"You said Hot Dog's! You eat dogs?!" she yelped, wondering if she could warn her papa about Amanda eating him. After all, her papa was a dog demon! "Are you going to try and eat papa?!"
"WHAT?" Amanda yelled, her eye's wide in shock. She held her hands up and shook her head, "NO! NONONONO I'M NOT GOING TO EAT LORD SESSHOMARU!" she denied.
"Rin," Kaname called from up ahead, causing both girls to look at her and see the bemused expression. "'Tis not actually made of canines, just the name the food was given. And even if Mason-san did eat dog's, I doubt your father would be eaten by a silly mortal girl who could not even wield a sword correctly." she informed them, gaining a raised brow from Sesshomaru as he silently questioned why they would think he could be eaten by a mortal.
When Rin thought about it like that, she admitted to herself that she was being silly. After all, the only mortal who could best papa is mama. She mused, watching her parents gravitate to one another, hands briefly touching once in a while, looking at one another from the corner of their eye's, and generally seeing the love blooming between them.
Which reminded her that she really needed to come up with a plan to get them to kiss. Maybe if they did, then they'll admit their feelings for one another? She mused. But how could she do that exactly?
"...you don't sugar coat things, do you?" Amanda asked Kaname.
Said priestess just smirked at her, "Nothing is gained by softening the blow, if I did then people will think it's alright to be incompetent, and not strive to better themselves."
She just received a bewildered look back, to which Kaname ignored.
"Hey, so...when are we going to take a break?" Amanda questioned.
Rin looked down at her, "Not until the sun starts setting. We've barely traveled half the day yet." she answered with furrowed brows, Amanda couldn't be tired already. It was still light out, and the sun's just reached it's peak, even children younger them herself can walk until noon if need be. When Rin received a disbelieving look, she actually gaped at her. "Are you really tired already?" she questioned in shock.
"You can say that because you're riding a dragon and not walking!" She retorted.
"A-Un likes when I ride on him," she said while petting the dragon. "and even so, I could walk the whole day, I just don't want A-Un to feel alone."
"Tired or not," Sesshomaru called out, gaining Amanda's attention- rather quickly Rin noticed, "you will walk until I deem it time to rest. If you cannot keep up then we will leave you behind to fend for yourself." he stated, not even bothering to look at the girl. "Be you Rin's playmate or not."
"You wanted to come, you should have been prepared for such long treks." Kaname pointed out.
"...you're not joking, are you?"
"I do not make a habit of making my threats empty." he said coldly.
That was another thing Rin had noticed about Amanda. Whenever her papa spoke Amanda would get this look about her as she stared at her father. It took her a while to place it, but she soon figured out it was the same look her mama gave papa. It was a look of love, but Amanda's was no where near as intensely as mama's. She did not like that Amanda apparently had feeling for her papa, he was meant to be with mama and no one else. She would have to make it clear to the girl that papa was off limits, and to make sure she didn't ruin her chance at having a little brother or sister (Specificity a brother).
"...Where did Jaken go?" Amanda questioned, making the group halt as it became apparent that the imp was not among them.
Kaname chuckled, "I was wondering why he hadn't been saying anything about a human girl traveling with us since we left. He must have missed the fact that we left the village and fallen behind." she smiled when Sesshomaru sighed. "Do not worry my lord, I shall go and retrieve him." with that she strolled towards Rin and lifted her down, before getting onto A-Un and taking off.
Rin giggled, "Silly Jaken, he can be so forgetful sometimes."
"How in the world did we not notice he was gone for two days?" Amanda questioned.
"Jaken does not say much when mama's around, so he is like a ghost and only pipes up when needed." Rin answered as she ran up to walk with her papa.
"Come, she will catch up." he stated a twitch of a smile on his face when Rin fiddled with his sleeve.
Amanda quickly caught up with them, she had tried to make conversation with Sesshomaru a few times, but stopped when she never received an answer. It was quiet until Rin decided to open her mouth.
"Do you like papa?"
Amanda's face flames red within a second before she tripped and landed face first in dirt.
Her papa seemed to grimace before quickly schooling his features. He also seemed to walk just a bit faster to get away from the teen.
Rin just smiles and awaits her answer. After all, she had to be sure about Amanda's feelings before she did anything.
Silence.
She pouts, "Amanda-san?" she questioned when the girl didn't move from the floor. "...Did Rin break her, papa?"
"She was already broken Rin." he answered, "If she desires to stay where she is and be eaten by a demon then that is her choice. Leave her be." he stated when Rin went to go collect her.
"Oh, ok."
"W-WAIT!" Amanda yelped, quickly getting up and running after them.
Sesshomaru 'tch'ed.
It was well after dusk, Jaken and Kaname had arrived back a few hours ago, apparently Jaken had fallen down a hole, resulting in him getting stuck which was why he hadn't caught up to the pack. Rin was a bit miffed that Amanda never answered her question, but she soon shrugged it off and focused on playing 'eye spy' with her new companion as her papa and mama searched for a good spot to rest for the night. Seeing as it had gotten dark, and there was little to no light now, Rin thought the game was far more challenging this way and decided that she should play it at this time more often.
"We will stop here for the night." Sesshomaru declared, he had lead them to a fairly large tree with equally large root's that shielded against attacks well enough.
"Yay!" Rin chirped, quickly starting to look around for some loos wood to start the fire. Jaken was waiting patiently, grumbling about Amanda all the while and her being dead weight, as it was his job to start the fire with his staff. Her papa was standing vigil as Kaname left to hunt for some game, he would leave once she was back so he could scout for threats.
All the while Amanda was standing awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
Rin noticed this and waved the teen over, "Amanda-san, you can help Rin with the fire. Here, you can gather the rocks that will go around the fire, make sure to get big ones like this one, and you can help Rin with digging out the hole it will go in." she stated, picking up a decent sized rock and putting it in the teens hands.
"Ah, ok." she muttered, squinting through the fading light for any more good rocks. "Do you always do this Rin?"
"Mhm!" she nodded, standing up with her haul and walking towards the center of camp. "we all have to do our part. Mama said it's only fair, because we're the ones who need it." she said, pointing between the two of them. "Mortals I mean. Papa, A-Un, and Jaken don't need fire to keep warm at night. Mama said they have their Youkai that keeps their body nice and warm, Rin couldn't see it like mama does, so papa showed his to Rin, it's thin and covers his whole body. It's really pretty to see, papa's youkai reminds me a clear sky." she said, daydreaming for a bit about the blue color of her papa's aura, only snapping out of it when Amanda kept staring at her. "mama say's they don't need to sleep for a long time unlike mortals do because of the youkai, but papa can stay up longer then Jaken because he has more and is more powerful then him. So, because of that, it's only right that we prepare our own camp site to rest in since we're the ones that actually need sleep!" she finished with a chirp.
Amanda was amazed by how much Rin knew, "But...shouldn't your mother being doing this?" she questioned, brows furrowed and frowning at a rock she picked up. She continued at Rin's questioning expression. "I mean, she's your mother right? She shouldn't be making you do so much work."
Rin stared at her, bewildered. "Eh? Why?" she questioned as they went back to the middle of the campsite.
"Because you're far too young." she said in concern as she put the rocks around the hole.
Rin just furrowed her brows at her, because 'too young' was four or five, and Rin was eight years old. She was the appropriate age to help with these types of tasks. It was expected of her, because this would help her get ready for when she got a husband and a home of her own, just like all the other children. Children from poor villages like her at least knew the bare basics of how to cook, clean, gather/chop wood, fishing, and foraging just in case they ended up being alone or the villagers get slaughtered. Case in point, herself in both scenarios, her family had died but she knew enough to survive by herself, and then her village was slaughtered by wolves, which she would have had the necessary skills to still survive before finding another village to reside in. So menial tasks such as what she is doing that she is deemed 'too young' for bye the other girl is concerning.
"Rin," Kaname called as she came back into the clearing, a string of rabbits over her shoulder. "pay no mind to what she say's to you, 'tis not important." she stated while sitting down and preparing to skin her kills.
"Ok mama!" Rin chirped, placing the wood in it's pit before quickly grabbing the pot from A-Un's saddle. She also grabbed the bag of herbs and spices, along with some vegetables, before heading back and setting them down.
"N-Not important?" she spluttered. "Of course it's important! You're making a little girl work! It's immoral to do such a thing! It's not right!"
Rin could see that what Amanda was saying was irritating her mama, it made her a bit irritated as well. She liked to help her mama and papa, she liked that she was old enough for some responsibility, and that she was learning more from these tasks! She also didn't like the accusing tone she was using on her mama, like she did something bad when she wasn't.
Her papa narrowed his eyes at Amanda, but other then that left to go scouting. Rin understood why her papa didn't really like Amanda, she was ignorant of plenty of things girls her age should know of. She thought it was because Amanda didn't have a husband yet with a child or one on the way, like most girls did at that age. She understood why mama didn't have a husband yet, papa would have killed any man that tried for mama's hand because they were meant to be together (She firmly believed this). And miko's usually don't marry men, but papa wasn't a man, he was a male daiyoukai, thus it should be alright to marry him.
She tuned out her mama berating and teaching Amanda on why she was wrong and such, instead she watched as Jaken set fire to the wood and called out insults to Amanda. It was the one time he could insult and speak such a way since mama and papa didn't necessarily care much about the teen. He was going to milk this as much as he could.
Maybe we should find her a husband? Rin thought while dragging Jaken with her so she could get some water for the road and the soup. But first she should be educated. Rin decided with a nod, "Neh, neh, Jaken?"
"Hm? What?" he grumbled as they walked.
"What do you think of Amanda-san?"
Jaken scoffed, "Disrespectful and fairly stupid. I do not know why m'Lord allowed such-such a thing to travel with us. She is slow, and tires easily, how she survived on her own I do not know. Must have been pure luck." he answered.
"Oh," Kaname mumbled as she held out her hand and looked to the morning sky. A white dot landed on her hand, "It's starting to snow."
"Oooooh~! Look Jaken, winter is here!" Rin said excitedly as she chased snowflake after snowflake in delight.
"...It was a month away for summer before I got here..." Amanda mumbled blankly.
"Rin, so not go too far." Sesshomaru said, then looked at Jaken and Amanda. "Jaken, Onna, go."
"R-Right my Lord!" Jaken then grabbed the sleeve of Amanda's and dragged her off with him. "Come girl!"
"Eh- ah wait-!"
Kaname sighed as she saw Amanda trip, "A-Un, please go and watch over them." she got a nuzzle from the dragon, before it too left to look over it's charges. "well, now that the pups are playing, it's just you and me now my lord."
Sesshomaru hummed in agreement, his brows furrowing in thought. "warmer clothes will be needed for winter."
"yes, a thick blanket should tied us over before we have to resort to proper shelter for the nights. We may also have to gather food as the animals will be going into hibernation." she mused as they walked. "Bathing is going to be a hassle, but it is worth being clean, so Rin and I can put up with the work necessary for it, and hotsprings will work fine if we come by any."
"...and yet?" Sesshomaru questioned, knowing it was coming.
Kaname frowned, looking towards the American. "Well, I'm not sure if the girl will take this well. She is use to hot-water available at any time, along with a warm house and bed, so I fear she may complain about being cold. And seeing as she is not use to this, she might do something stupid which will result in her dying from the cold or starving despite us being here."
They looked at Amanda just as she let out a sneeze and shivered.
Sesshomaru closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. "If she dies then she dies, it is of no concern for us."
"True." Kaname hummed. They fell into a comfortable silence with one another, not minding the snowflakes that landed on them. She would have thought it romantic if she and Sesshomaru were together, which they were not. Yet, she had been noticing that Sesshomaru has been acting...different around her lately. He has been giving her gifts, books, scrolls, some jewelry that doubled as weapons, clothing and such. His hand would sometimes linger on her longer then usual, he was watching her more, and had started to sleep next to her at nights. Not that she was complaining, she was enjoying his attention, it was starting to give her the idea that he may want her as a wife. She would not deny him if he asked, she couldn't as she was already in love with him. And she was a Higurashi, give them an inch and they will push until they have what they desired, Kaname would fight to keep her prospective husband and eliminate any who had a problem with them.
Unless it's Kagome, she corrected mentally. I wouldn't rip her apart, but I shall try and get her to see reason. Thinking of her sister, she wondered if Kagome had anyone in her love life right now that she had to test.
Said girl had just dodged an attack from a fairly handsome demon. She knocked an arrow and aimed it at him, but paused as the demon grinned charmingly at her. She blushed when his eye's looked her up and down appreciatively, making her throw her bow onto the ground. "WHY THE HELL IS EVERY OTHER DEMON WE FACE SO STUPIDLY HANDSOME OR PRETTY AS FUCK?!" she yelled.
"What the fuck?! KAGOME WHAT THE HELL ARE YA TALKIN' ABOUT?!"
"EXACTLY WHAT I SAID! THEY ARE ALL SO FUCKING ATTRACTIVE IT'S NOT EVEN FAIR!" she pointed her finger at said attractive demon, "STOP LICKING YOUR LIPS! IT'S DISTRACTING AND I AM NOT GOING TO BE EATEN BY YOU!"
"Lady Kagome I don't think-" Miroku started.
"SHUT IT MIROKU!" she snarled.
"Shutting up now."
The demon only looked amused, "Oh? I'm fairly certain you would enjoy being eaten by me." he stated casually as he dodged another swing of Tetsusaiga.
Kagome stared at him, her mind going blank not understanding what he meant, until she saw the suggestive look being sent. Suddenly her mind into overdrive, her face flushing a new type of red.
She fucking choked.
"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!" Inuyasha yelled. "ARE YOU REALLY FLIRTING WHILE FIGHTING?!"
Sango had put down her weapon and was just staring at the scene with Miroku and Shippo. "...Is this really happening?"
"It would seem so." Miroku commented, looking back and forth between the fighting males and a frozen miko. "aaaaaand there she goes." he stated as Kagome fainted. "Well, this has been an interesting day."