"Go on and find him, ny beautiful enchantress!" Hansuke hastily nudged the woman away. "Oh, wait! You're going to need a name..."
As he frantically tried to think of something, the woman bent down to pick some flowers and put a purple and yellow one in her hair. She looked around and noticed a bed of roses up ahead surrounded by some green stuff. She walked towards it.
"Stop! That's poison ivy!"
The woman obeyed but with a puzzled look on her face.
Hansuke's mouth dropped. "That's it! You shall be known as Ivy!" He looked awfully pleased with himself and drew his hands into fists. "It's perfect."
The owl turned woman, who now had a name, nodded her approval of the quickly given name.
Hansuke waved her off again. "Hurry and go fill your purpose."
The woman took a few steps and froze. Her voice was soft and delicate when she spoke. "Just where am I to find him? He could be anywhere."
Hanuske laughed. "Oh, you needn't worry about finding him my dear Ivy, for he will be the one to find you. You have the scent of the woman he cares for after all."
Bewildered, Ivy gave him a challenging look. "I do?! Wait, I'm confused. I'm supposed to be Rin? Why the different name?" Demanded Ivy.
Hansuke's expression turned serious as he held up a finger. "Ah, you're not actually posing as Rin, but rather someone who will replace her."
Ivy frowned. "I'm afraid I don't follow. He will know I'm not..."
Hansuke held up his hand to silence her. "Hush! Your job is not to question my plan but to carry it out. Don't worry, when you see him, you will know what to do from there. Now go!" He quickly stepped forward to her and slipped something in her yellow dress pocket.
Ivy realized it was pointless to try and figure his plan out further. So, she flashed him an evil smile and did a little wave as she headed off to hunt for Sesshomaru.
Or rather, pretend she was searching for him.
Not too far off, Sesshomaru let his whip fly once more as a head from a demon fell disgracefully in front of his feet. Blood and guts scattered everywhere. Sesshomaru looked down at the skull which was melting fast from the poisonous whip he just wielded. A glare set in across his face. He was disgusted with all the filth he had to destroy. Really, ever since he had left Rin, he had been busy taking care of some nasty demons. He drew his attention upward as birds traveled across the sky. He thoughtfully considered they were coming from the northern realm but wasn't quite sure. This particular group of demons were usually known to be peaceful. So why now had they decided to launch an attack on human villages? Sesshomaru suspected foul play was at work here. Perhaps they had been bewitched by someone. Though Sesshomaru didn't care. He just wanted to kill them and leave. He had much more pressing things to occupy his time with.
Like getting back to Rin.
And yes, Sesshomaru cared about this human village he had just protected from demons because Rin had a couple friends there she would see. He wanted her to have friends other than that mutt Inuyasha and his gang.
Kicking some random demon parts out of the way, he began the journey back to Rin. He knew she was fine, but could sense something was off and different. Perhaps it had something to do with the demon attacks and was somehow tied with it. He had to find out.
He took off into the air at his usual fast speed. He could sense her presence close by and soon began his descent through an opening among the trees. He landed gracefully on the ground. In front of him was a woman who had his back to him, but there was no mistaking who it was. He wasted no time in calling out to her.
"Rin." Sesshomaru had barely uttered the words when he realized...
Slowly, the woman turned around and smiled sweetly at Sesshomaru. "I knew you would come." She started walking to him.
For a moment, Sesshomaru felt befuddled but didn't show it. Standing in front of him was someone who looked a lot like Rin and also strongly smelled of her. He blinked at her cautiously and seemed interested in her but annoyed at the same time. He was smart and could tell something was up. There was no way he would ever let his guard down. That wasn't his style. For a moment, he kept his focus on her, while his brilliant wheels on the inside turned.
He knew what to do.
Ivy was standing in front of Sesshomaru. Upon seeing what she took to be confusion, she began laughing evilly inside.
I've got him!
Even though she was not made fully aware of what exactly her job was, she had a feeling Sesshomaru was fooled by her smell and appearance! She had been anxious for Hansuke instructed her to follow his plan through but didn't explain what all of it was. Obviously, she had been sent here to trick him and it seemed like she had but then what? However, Sesshomaru gave her little to no time to think hard on this matter.
"Ready? Let's go." Sesshomaru obviously could care less about what was going on in her head. He walked away from her to show he was ready to leave and didn't want to continue standing there.
At that, Ivy had an uneasy feeling something was off. Thinking back on Hansuke's words where he had mentioned she would know what to do, Ivy had a funny feeling she should start acting more seriously the part of Rin. "So, um where were you? I haven't seen you in um, quite some time now." She smiled sweetly at him as she thought Rin might do.
However, instead of answering her, Sesshomaru stopped and glared in front of him. With Ivy a few feet back, he could still hear her anxious heartbeat.
Typical.
"Let's just get back."
"Oh." Was all she could think to say.
Ivy had to come up with a plan or her mission would fail. She didn't want to fail Hansuke. Feeling desperate, she looked down at her hands and noticed purple sand from earlier was still on her. Her eyes grew wide with excitement.
Bingo! It hit her and she knew exactly what to do.
She jogged up to him until she was at his side. She reached out and placed her hand on his which brought about amazement on his face, and she watched with evil glee as more of the magic purple sand came off and blew in his face.
This was it! She knew what Hansuke had planned for her.
Now, thanks to the magic of the purple sand Hansuke had supplied to her, Sesshomaru now would look at her as if she was Rin. For Ivy's appearance now completely resembled Rin. Sesshomaru would unfortunately be under the spell of the evil magic and unable to figure it out.
Uh huh, sure. This is Sesshomaru we're talking about.
However, Sesshomaru gave no indication he was suspicious of any illicit activity taking place. Rather, in record time, he was back to where Rin had originally disappeared. He stopped and looked around. Unfortunately, he could not smell Rin anywhere. Peculiar.
He's trying to sniff her out!
Ivy realized with increased anxiousness. However, she could not tell if Sesshomaru was onto her or not. It seemed like it, but she wanted to test him to find out for sure.
"Uh Lord Sesshomaru, why are you acting distant? It's me. I'm Rin."
Sesshomaru looked down at the ground. His eyes locked into the spot Rin had fallen through.
"So you are."
"So." Ivy said frowning at the ground and came forward to him. 'What are we doing here?"
…...
A little while ago and down below the ground, Hanuske was back with Rin.
"Any moment now Sesshomaru will be here." He informed Rin before going back to the special wall.
Rin didn't look up or reply to him. She was sitting by herself and trying her best to understand what Hansuke's plan might be. She thought it best to look at or attempt to read the wall Hansuke was so hung up on. She waited a few minutes for Hansuke to leave again before walking over to the wall that held the mysterious pictures.
Once she got to the wall however, there was nothing to be seen.
"Confused?" Hansuke had appeared beside her. Rin had not heard him come up.
"What is it? Why were you staring at this thing?"
"Ah, you cannot see it can you?" Hanuske put his hand on Rin's shoulder gently.
"No." Rin shook her head.
'It's better this way." Hanuske lifted his hand from Rin. He walked away from Rin and looked up at the ceiling.
Rin stared after him, waiting for his next move.
"He's here."
What he did next terrified Rin.
He went back to the special wall and uttered quietly some words Rin could not hear. Then, he placed his right hand in the middle and waited. A moment later, and to her surprise, Hansuke reached into the wall and pulled out a pointed and very sharp looking sword that was also quite long. It glowed bright blue. He held it up to Rin who was standing about thirty feet from him.
Rin gasped. "What are you going to do with that?"
Hanuke laughed. "Isn't it obvious? This is after a demon slaying sword. It's meant for demon lords in particular."
Rin was hoping he wasn't talking about Sesshomaru.
Hansuke looked her dead in the eyes.
"Yes, this is for Sesshomaru." He whistled and another owl showed up. This one was black with tiny white spots and gray eyes.
"Take this and give it to Ivy. She will know to plunge it into his evil, deranged heart. It's perfect because he will never expect it from someone he loves. Now hurry!"
The owl took the sword in its claws and began to fly away.
"Hahahahahaha!" Hansuke's laughter filled the tunnel and echoed off the walls.
"No, you can't!" Rin screamed. She ran toward the owl and and leaping for it, attempted to prevent it from flying away.
She was unsuccessful. It flew away down the tunnel and out of sight.
Rin looked back at Hansuke.
"You're a monster." She whispered.
Hansuke stopped laughing. For a moment, He looked offended and hurt, but his expression soon turned serious once more.
"It won't be long now till the world is free of him!"
…...
Up above the ground, the owl didn't have any trouble locating Sesshomaru, He could see Sesshomaru standing next to a woman, who the owl guessed was Ivy. He knew his next task was to attract her attention somehow and get her to come to him. It took him longer that Hanuske would have liked for him to get an idea on what he could do. He landed on the ground behind a bushy bush and hooted his call for Ivy to come to him. Ivy's true form after all, was an owl like him.
Ivy heard a familiar sound and glanced nervously away from Sesshomaru.
Big mistake for her.
Sesshomaru leaped past her with lighting speed and pulled out his whip. Before anyone could blink, Sesshomaru slashed the owl in half and caught the sword with his right hand that fell from the unfortunate demon.
Ivy screamed.
Sesshomaru glared at her. "Enough of this!" He flew past her and using the sword he caught, the sword meant to destroy him, threw it into the ground. Dirt and rocks flew up as the ground opened up and Sesshomaru dove down with a quickness.
He found Hansuke with his mouth open wide with surprise and clearly showing he thought the owl and Ivy would be able to outwit Sesshomaru.
"Sesshomaru!" Rin was so happy to see him.
Sesshomaru looked at her and saw she was not harmed. He held Hansuke's sword up.
"Tell me," Sesshomaru said as he locked intimidating eyes with Hansuke, "Did you intend for me to be slain with this here sword?"
Hansuke closed his mouth and managed to find some of his courage.
"You need to be stopped." Hansuke glared at Sesshomaru as he indirectly answered the question.
That was all he needed. Sesshomaru ran at Hansuke and using his sword swung it at Hansuke.
It did nothing.
Hansuke didn't die or even get pushed over.
"Hahahahaha!" Hanuske laughed again.
Sesshomaru looked at the sword to see why it had failed to kill him. He could see markings on it and a reflection of some writing and images. Looking up, he noticed the special wall Hansuke was always pondering. With his keen eyes, Sesshomaru could make out the truth.
He leaped above the opening he came through and found Ivy standing over it. She had some black sand that was supposed to blind Sesshomaru and threw it at him.
Sesshomaru dodged and without thinking twice used the sword, meant to destroy him, and slashed Ivy in half. As she fell apart, Sesshomaru kicked her body parts far away.
Back below, Rin stared at where Hansuke had once stood. He was no more.
Sesshomaru appeared. Rin ran to him and stopped in front of him.
"He just vanished, Sesshomaru! I don't know how or what happened to him. He just disappeared!"
Sesshomaru smiled slightly as he made his way to the special wall.
"This wall told me what I needed to know."
Rin was amazed. She was starting to understand why she couldn't read what was on the wall. She was only a human woman.
"Apparantly, he is nothing without his little owls."
Rin grinned. Sesshomaru was a genius to think deciphering the wall was crucial in order to defeat his foe.
"Only you would know to do that, Sesshomaru."