It's late, and I'm on a trip, so I haven't much to say. Let's just jump into the chapter, shall we?
We walk throughout the day. A blue sky with passing clouds hangs overhead while wild grass and wildflowers rustle around our feet, the breeze filling the air with nature's perfume, and before me walks the tall form of the man I've always painted. I would pinch myself except for fear that I actually would startle awake. Instead, I gladly walk a few feet behind, marveling at the fruition of the dreams I've so desperately poured into art in the past. For the first time, rather than the need to paint, I'm overwhelmed with the desire to simply bask.
At one point, a butterfly flits just before me, and I pause in my step. The tumbling yellow creature comes to an abrupt stop atop a small red flower barely as big as it. I watch intently, eying the way its tiny feet adjust themselves on the petals, and how its tongue, barely visible from where I stand, unfurls and prods around the flower's center. By the time the butterfly has finished, I've committed the image to memory. Looking up, I discover Sesshomaru has also stopped, watching me patiently. I smile and he turns, and we continue on our way.
The question of where we're headed crosses my mind once or twice, but in the end, I decide it honestly doesn't matter. I don't care where we go. It only matters that we're going together. I never thought something as small as being around someone would bring me so much peace. I don't even mind in the slightest when my arms begin to tire from carrying my clothes for so many hours.
It's late afternoon, judging by the sun, when something out of the ordinary finally appears in our path. My first thought is that we've come upon a pair of horses laying in the grass, but as we approach, it becomes clear that their bodies are green and scaled. Each creature has a muzzle over its snout, and when we're fairly close, both turn our way.
"Hm? What is it, A-Un?"
A little human head pops out from behind one of the creature's necks. A little girl with long, tangled black hair, a small part of it sticking up in a ponytail. Upon seeing Sesshomaru, she breaks out into a giant smile and hops out from behind the beasts completely.
"Lord Sesshomaru! Welcome back!"
Sesshomaru stops as she runs up, the girl skidding to a halt just short of barrelling into him, and she just beams up at him from where she stands. I step up beside him, curious, and notice that the little girl is missing one of her front teeth. I glance up at Sesshomaru and find his gaze beyond the child. I follow it to a small shape sprawled out in the grass, snoring quietly. I recognize it as the imp I previously saw with him. Stepping around the girl, Sesshomaru picks up the strange staff lying next to the imp and brings its end down on the thing's chest. He only presses harder as the imp starts and begins to panic and beg.
"I didn't give you permission to sleep, Jaken."
"N-No! Of course not My Lord! I was wrong! Forgive me! Forgive meeee!"
He presses down a moment longer, then releases the creature and lets the staff fall back to the ground, turning wordlessly away. The girl still by me giggles and taunts, "That's what you get for being lazy, Jaken."
The imp protests as he straightens himself out. "I was not being lazy! I've simply spent the last few days having to keep my eye on you, meaning I've hardly had any time— Y-You! You're that wrench that dared to touch Lord Sesshomaru! Why are you here?"
"I brought her."
"You brought her, My Lord? Then...you don't mean that this wrench is the 'interesting thing' that sorceress told you was in that village, do you?"
Sorceress? Somebody told him where to find me?
Before I can ask about this, the dragon-esque creatures suddenly rise, and I discover that their necks converge on a single body. Jaken hobbles over to grab their reigns, and as Sesshomaru begins to walk again, the band begins to follow. The little human girl falls in pace beside me, hands clasped behind her back and feet kicking slightly with every step. She watches me curiously for a bit, and just when I'm about ask if something's wrong, she says, "If Lord Sesshomaru decided you can come, I guess that means you must be alright for a human. I'm Rin!"
Rin...where have I heard that name before? Maybe her name just sounds familiar because it's only a vowel away from mine. That'll probably make things confusing. "I'm Ren. Um, are you...not a human, Rin?"
"No, I am. I just like demons better."
"Because of Lord Sesshomaru?" I ask, gazing up at his back. To anyone else her declaration would probably sound odd, but I can relate a bit. It's not that I dislike people or anything. I just never really had a place among them. Instead, I seem to have a place beside a demon.
"Yep, but there's also A-Un and Jaken. A and Un are really sweet. They carry me when I'm tired. Jaken's a total pushover, and he likes to ramble about nonsense, but he likes Lord Sesshomaru almost as much as I do, so he isn't so bad. So why do you want to follow Lord Sesshomaru?"
"That's...kind of hard to explain." I hold my clothes to my chest, eyes falling down to the grass.
"Is it complicated? I don't really like complicated things, so make it simple, please."
I guess the simplest way to put it is… "Well, I also like him."
"Then we can like him together!"
A small smile tweaks my lips. "Yeah."
Rin continues her mostly one sided conversation throughout the evening. She talks about whatever it is that first comes to her mind, from animals, to stories, to food, but she always seems to return to Sesshomaru. It seems like she, too, was captivated by his inhuman beauty, and she mentions multiple times how he's never lifted a hand to hurt her. That fact makes me wonder a bit about how she was treated before she joined him. I can hardly believe such a happy child was abused.
I don't notice the dark clouds, having mistaken the failing light for the onset of night, until the sky opens and I'm suddenly drenched. I hug my clothes tighter to my chest in a futile attempt to keep them dry. The others hardly appear to notice the change, however, and Rin goes on chattering, so I mention nothing about seeking shelter and settle for shoving my dripping hair out of my face. It may be unpleasant, but the feeling isn't new to me. Before Kagura gave me a jewel shard, all the days I could go outside were almost always in danger of breaking out into rain. It's just that I always had my umbrella, so even if it caught me off guard, I never had to spend more than a few seconds without protection. But you know what? I don't think I really mind getting soaked. It somehow feels freeing to walk so unabashedly through the rain.
However, as the rain comes down, the land beneath us begins to slope. With the ground muddy and a full day of walking behind me, my footing begins to slip. I'm undeniably relieved when Sesshomaru turns us towards a cliff overhang that's almost deep enough to be considered a cave. He sits against the wall where it's driest, and the rest of us find our own spaces beneath the roofing.
Rin plops down by A-Un, coughing. "Hey Jaken, do you think we should make a fire?"
"Mm, yes, that would dry us faster, but that would mean going back in the rain to find fuel, and I'm not about to do that."
The girl grumbles, but says nothing more.
"I could do it," I offer, staring out at the water dripping from the tip of the overhang. "I don't know if I can find anything dry, though."
"Oh, you needn't worry about that!" Jaken dismisses. "The fire from my staff will dry whatever you find right up!"
"Okay then." I nod and set down my stuff, eyes drawn upwards when Rin gives a particularly deep cough. She curls up against the two-headed dragon and clears her throat more quietly. I guess the rain has dropped the temperature enough to bother her lungs, or maybe it's the rise in humidity. I'm kind of surprised. Don't little kids usually complain about this sort of thing? Maybe it's just that she's never had anyone to complain to.
With a glance at Sesshomaru and a quiet, "I'll be back soon," I plunge back into the heavy rain. There are hardly any trees around, so I search out shrubs instead. I also keep an eye out for anything purple. Unfortunately, with it so dark that I can barely make out bushes through the rain, I can't really find any flowers. That same darkness also forces me to soon return with what little fire fuel I've been able to tear off and uproot. With Jaken's staff and a little help from a still coughing Rin, we're able to start a small fire, although Jaken says it won't last very long with the pathetic, measly amount of wood I managed to scrape together.
Once we have the fire going, I scoot over to Rin and ask, "Are you feeling alright?"
She clears her throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. This happens sometimes."
"Can I...um…," I point towards her forehead, "check if you have a fever?"
"A fever?"
"I just want to make sure you aren't sick."
"Oh, okay."
I tentatively press a hand to her forehead. She's warm, but she doesn't feel particularly hot. The sudden change in air quality must be just bothering her lungs. "You feel okay," I decide, lowering my hand. She smiles, and I smile in return. I think I'll enjoy traveling with Rin.
The rest of the night passes rather quietly. A-Un is the first to fall asleep. As the fire dies, Rin crawls over to Sesshomaru, who silently watches the girl as she curls up in the fur he has stretched out beside him. I can't help but feel endeared by the sight. I don't understand how Shippo could have said Lord Sesshomaru hates humans, not when he so clearly cares enough about this little girl to allow her to sleep on him.
I lay myself out on the ground in the final light of the embers and use my arm as a pillow. It's still so strange to be sleeping outside. The thought that I'll wake up to a sky in full bloom, it still makes my heart race. Or maybe my heart is racing out of the fear that when I wake up in the morning, I'll open my eyes to that faded, off white ceiling of my bedroom. That I'll wake up once again confined to darkness. That I'll wake up and Sesshomaru will once again have been a dream.
I breathe in the reassuring scent of rain and soil and let my eyes flutter shut.
It's not a very eventful chapter, but I'm happy with it, and I hope you guys are, too. Not every chapter needs some big happening, right? It's good to sometimes just sit back for a bit. As always, I'm open and ready for any thoughts you guys might have, and I'll get back to work so I can serve up the next chapter!