JAKEN GETS POISONED AND SESSHY MAKES A MISTAKE.
It had been three days since Akane had run away from him.
And Sesshomaru wasn't sure how things would go once she returned. The entire situation that caused her to leave was something he had never been through before, and even three days later, he STILL did not know what to think.
To be angry or amused?
The girl had been too flustered to even try to lie about it, which definitely had been amusing. But the fact she had seen him bathing without permission SHOULD have him seething with anger. Anyone else wouldn't have simply been allowed to run away like she had. They would have been chased down and punished for invading his privacy.
And yet, he let her run away after barely responding at all, not like he normally would have at least. It had been far more interesting teasing her as he had rather then yelling, and he had been unable to stop himself for some reason.
In all honesty in the moment itself, Sesshomaru hadn't been angry with her about it. Not really. Which made no sense.
Yes, his beast had allowed it, had tried even putting on a show for her, until noticing she had left. Only then was he allowed out again to go after her. And it would be a long while before he let that side have control again anytime soon.
But it wasn't JUST his beasts doing. The girl had stayed.
Had watched, at least for a time.
The human was getting far too bold with him, less and less afraid. There had at least been a small hint of fear in the beginning, but after the scene at the bath house all traces of that fear had vanished in her eyes even while provoking him.
And no matter how he tried to deny it, it was not only his beast that was enjoying the interactions.
"Sesshomaru-sama… Do you think we could stop long enough for me to find something to eat? I'm really hungry." Rin asked from behind, bringing him out of his thoughts, pausing as he just now realized the sounds he'd been hearing this whole time had been the girls stomach.
Damn… He really needed to remember that sound, because he kept accidentally making the child go too long without food whenever Akane wasn't around to announce when it was time to stop, always forgetting that humans had to eat far more often then himself.
When Sesshomaru turned to see Rin eagerly staring, he felt even more guilty about it. Having been too focused on finding Akane since this morning to even think of food.
"Quiet you." Jaken scolded before he was given much chance to respond first. "We've been in this forest before and there's never been anything you can eat. You'll just have to wait for-"
"I'll be really fast!" The girl stated while sliding off Ah-Uhn, dashing back from where they'd come from. "Rin seen berries back there, and Lady Akane said they were almost ready the last time we came this way!"
"Now you get back here this instant you little-"
"Jaken." He said, loud enough to make the imp jump a good distance off the ground. "Let her go and fend for herself."
Jaken stared, either worried or confused, he couldn't exactly tell which one it was. "Ah, y-yes… Of course milord."
Was the imp thinking of the last time the girl had went off looking for food? Possibly, as it just crossed his own mind as well, but it had been safe when they'd walked past just moments ago, he even knew the berries the girl was talking about not too far off the path. There had been no scent of-
Right as Sesshomaru thought that, Rin screamed.
His body moved before Jaken even comprehended the sound, flying towards the girl just in time to see an arm coming out from the ground, reaching for her.
What in the seven hells was that? There hadn't been a single scent in the air to give away any danger just moments ago, so where had this thing come from? Surely he had not been too focused on tracking Akane's scent to notice this.
Sesshomaru pulled out Tokijin, now getting a full blast of the things scent and glaring as, in a single slice, the hand was removed from the arm and burst into a swarm of Naraku's hellish insects. The things somehow reformed into the arm once more before his eyes. He didn't know they could do that.
Another cut had the same effect, insects scattering apart just as his blade made contact.
"Amazing as always milord!" Jaken's voice came from the bushes right before he came crashing through out of breath.
"You're so dashing Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin gushed from her hiding spot, head popping out close to Jaken and causing the imp to yelp in comical surprise.
He was beyond relieved to have arrived in time before they could harm the girl, and her praise almost made him smile, but then the insects gathered and reformed into that same arm as before, once more attacking with it's claws.
"Hn… Seems Naraku has left behind some vermin." He said in disgust, wondering if they were truly just LEFT behind, or if the spider was using them to spy on him. "Jaken, there must be a hive located nearby, find it."
"Yes milord!"
As the arm dove at him, he easily moved out of the way, jumping to a tree and kicking off, sword slashing in all directions as he rammed into the arm in order to kill as many scattering insects as possible. This strategy seemed to be the most effective, as they now seemed unable to form into a new arm due to lack of numbers. In minutes over half of them were dead, and the others took off towards the imp.
"Jaken." He warned while going after them, a bit slowly to see if the insects would show him the way to the hive before the imp could spot it, but of course, it was Rin who did first.
"Look Jaken-sama! There's the hive!" She exclaimed with prideful excitement, pointing up into a tree just ahead.
"Rin! Get down now!" Jaken shouted, barely noticing the insects in time, and Sesshomaru left him to it, trying to see if there was a hint of Naraku anywhere since there indeed was a hive, but it seems they really had just been left to spy.
"Feel the wrath from my staff of two heads you persistent pests!" The imp yelled with a blast of fire, setting the swarm ablaze before they made contact.
Just as he seemed to have gotten them all, more came from the hive itself up in the tree, and since Jaken couldn't use the fire attack so close to Rin, thankfully having enough brains to think of that, he started swatting at them instead.
While the site was comical, Sesshomaru couldn't risk any getting away. He called out once more to the imp, getting his attention and causing Jaken to get out of the way just in time as he sent out a blasting attack from Tokijin. In truth, it might have been a bit overkill, as not only did he kill the insects, but took down the tree the hive was on, sending it crashing to the ground in a loud rush of cracking branches.
There was a scattering of birds in the sky, and as the dust settled he spotted a small handful of the insects escaping.
Without hesitation he followed, the danger had passed and the only one making a fuss for some reason was Jaken, but since the imp was always yelling about something, he chose to ignore it and continue on. Rin was safe, that was the important thing, and as long as they waited for his return as they always did she would remain so. No other threats were around.
Now Sesshomaru's focus could be tracking these insects, and hopefully they would lead him to Naraku. And it would seem that luck was on his side today, for they were flying off in the direction of Akane's fading scent, he could fetch her and kill two birds with one stone.
While he lost site of the tiny things shortly after leaving the forest, their scent was still heading in the same direction.
The only problem was, the closer he was getting to Akane and the insects, the stronger the scent of his idiot half brother became along with them.
So much for that so called luck...
…
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Inuyasha asked for the third time today, getting more impatient each time.
"Of course I'm sure. It's not like it was that long ago to begin with when we met Jinenji. Besides, shouldn't you know? Can't you tell by the smell or something?" She replied, huffing while pushing along her bicycle, clearly losing her own patience.
"Damn it Kagome, I'm not a dog." Was his snappy comeback.
"Well excuse me, you ARE half dog yokai, so one would think you'd be good at that sort of thing." She retorted, Shippo nodding in agreement at her shoulder.
"Yeah but I'm half human too. You don't gotta bite my head off about not being that good at tracking. And we only went there ONE time." He pointed out with a glare, the bickering enough to make Akane sigh from her spot beside Miroku and Sango.
While she was happy to have run into her friends while trying to hide from Sesshy, the past three days had her missing the aloof silence of the older brother. She knew that Rin and Jaken bickered about this much, but for some reason she had grown used to them. Maybe it was easier because she was pretty much the mom of the group and could make them stop and say sorry to each other… As opposed to these two.
"Fine then, I apologize for being rude. There, you happy?" Kagome sighed sarcastically, only making Inuyasha huff and give a side glare, not believing a word of it.
"Come on you two, let's just focus on finding this Jinenji person shall we? I'm sure Kagome knows where she's going, so have a little more faith." Miroku said from beside her, trying to keep peace while sounding slightly exhausted himself.
"Honestly…" Kagome moaned, going a bit slower in order to join Akane with a look of apology. "It's just like a guy to question a woman and her sense of direction huh? Doesn't even matter what time period they're in."
"Boys will be boys, even if they happen to be yokai boys." She agreed with a grin, making even Shippo laugh a little.
"Speaking of yokai boys… When do you plan on going back to Sesshomaru? You don't think he's still mad do you?" Sango asked with a bit of concern, but there was an undertone of amusement there too, seeing as how the girls knew exactly WHY she had run off to begin with.
"Like I said before, I don't even know if he WAS mad, because he's never acted like that before. It was a hell of a lot more intense then when he's normally messing with me."
~And as I keep saying, dear girl, what man wouldn't be a little flattered when the woman he likes decides to spy on him while naked? I can almost say without question that he was the exact opposite of mad.~
Okay, sure.
IF he liked her that way, but she still didn't know for sure, and if that was the case… Then… Well, what the fuck was that?
"I feel like I'm missing something. What does Sesshomaru have to be mad at you for exactly?" Miroku asked with interest, since she had only told the girls about it after her arrival.
Akane was pretty sure that Sesshy would eat her for dinner if she ever told something so personal to Inuyasha.
And she didn't want to risk the monk OR the fox child from accidentally saying something. However, girl code between the three of them was unbreakable, so she trusted that both Kagome and Sango would take the story to their graves.
And before Miroku or Shippo could press their curiosity any farther, Inuyasha froze up ahead of them, sniffing enough to catch all of their attention.
"That's gotta be them, Naraku's poisonous insects." He said while looking around, eyes locking onto a spot in the sky that they all quickly followed.
Sure enough, two of those Siamyosho thingies were buzzing around not too far behind them, and Inuyasha pulled out his sword, which was funny to her since one would think his claws alone would be more then enough for just two of them.
"Wait a minute." Miroku cut in. "Kagome, do you sense any shards of the Shikon Jewel nearby?"
"Huh?" She stared, but seemed to focus for a second after he asked her, shaking her head. "No. I don't feel anything."
"And no Naraku puppets either." He stated as they simply watched the insects fly by without attacking. "Then perhaps these two are heading BACK to Naraku."
The insects went right past them without paying them any attention at all. Seemingly on a one track minded destination.
"I see, if we follow them instead of killing them…" Sango caught on just as Akane did, and the group started off after the buzzing little things.
"They'll lead us right to Naraku!" Inuyasha finished with a grin, sheathing the blade again as they broke into a jog to keep up.
~Let us hope a certain someone won't mind you going off after his enemy without him?~ Shen suddenly pointed out.
That made her stop in her tracks, Miroku passing by with a glance and slowing in his run. "Everything okay, Akane?"
"I think… I might have to leave. I need to tell him where you guys are headed." Akane felt a little conflicted, not just because she was nervous to see him again, but also because she felt like Naraku would have a better chance of getting away if Sesshy wasn't joined up with her friends.
And she knew even THINKING this made her a bad person.
But if she had some more time with the spider, there was a small chance she could… Maybe… Find a way for peace.
She didn't even know why she wanted to save Naraku in the first place, but after the past couple visits of seeing him not in his crazed maniac mode, acting like some selfish lonely kid, she didn't want to see him dead yet either.
If she went with them now, she could maybe help Naraku escape, but then she knew Sesshomaru WOULD be mad at her for not going back to get him first. So the real question was, which of the two men was she more worried about?
"If you want to go find Sesshomaru, none of us will be upset with you about it. We're all heading the same way." Miroku said with a reassuring pat on her arm, having no clue just what was going on in her head, but clearly able to sense just how horrible she felt about herself.
~Ever the empathetic monk…~
True, and his words were all it took for her to make the choice.
After all, while there was a chance for Naraku's redemption, it was Sesshomaru who had earned her loyalty.
Mind made up and about to turn and leave, Akane paused as Inuyasha said something loudly from up ahead, both she and Miroku turned in time to see the two insects wobble in the air, like they were dizzy or tired. This went on for a few seconds right before they both dropped like rocks to the ground.
~That can't be good.~ Shen voiced her very thoughts as they all ran up to the fallen bugs, who remained still.
"Are they dead?" Shippo asked from his perch on Kagome, sniffing the air just as Inuyasha went over and kicked one.
"I don't get it. What the hell…" Inuyasha paused, and Akane sensed why just seconds before a ball of white light zoomed past them, circling back around to land and take the form of none other then Sesshomaru.
~Since when could he do that?~
She wasn't too sure, but guessed it must take allot of his power to fly around in that state, because to her at least, the Western Lord looked a little out of breath. And PISSED.
He wasn't that mad at her was he? He hadn't even looked this angry when he first caught her watching! So what had him giving that death glare of his all of a sudden?
"Sesshomaru-sama... I'm sorry for being gone so long, we kinda got a little distracted-"
"Did HE kill them?" He cut her off, now clearly more pissed about the dead bugs then her running off. Thank goodness.
"Excuse me?" Inuyasha snapped, offended for no real reason yet but she was sure there would be soon enough, she could already sense the oncoming fight.
Sesshomaru continued to glare, stepping closer without looking at Akane once. "You're so short sighted. I was going to follow them to Naraku, but now I have nothing to lead me."
"Let me make this clear, I DIDN'T kill those bugs." Inuyasha actually had the nerve to flip him off, Kagome snatching at his hand, but not before the gesture was made.
"Why lie when they are dead at your feet? At least make an excuse for this act of stupidity." Sesshomaru wasn't even bothering to sound calm, irritation in his tone, pulling out his sword and she seriously couldn't believe they were going to cross blades over BUGS.
"Keh! I don't have to make excuses for you, I'm telling the truth damn it!" Inuyasha went for his own blade while his friends stepped back a bit, knowing from experience that these two hardly had an argument WITHOUT full on fighting.
Akane was the only one still standing close, and she purposely stepped between the two stubborn brothers, hands out, using her best mom voice like when between Rin and Jaken.
"Sesshomaru-sama, he really didn't kill them, they dropped without warning, and we thought to follow them too. As a matter of fact, I was about to head off to go find you-"
"Stay out of this Akane." Inuyasha snapped while pulling her to the side. "He's too thick headed to understand."
The moment he let go of her arm, a low growl could be heard coming from Sesshomaru. One she only ever heard once before, and it sent shivers up her spine.
~Oh shit…~
"Oh shit is right." Akane muttered. If there had been a shot of Sesshy deciding to behave and hold in his temper, it was gone.
And a part of her wondered if it was the insult or the way Yasha had yanked her arm that now had the Western Lord's eyes flashing red. Even the younger brother looked a little surprised by this different then usual reaction.
"Inuyasha…" Sesshomaru slowly stepped forward, eyes going back to normal, death glare still in place. "I'm not feeling very magnanimous today. And won't be going easy like I have been until now. So back down."
Even if he was smart enough to be a little worried, his mouth got the best of him, and Inuyasha snapped right back without thinking. "Like you've seriously been going easy on me."
~Oh yes he has, you foolish boy...~
There was almost a perfectly timed collective sigh from everyone in the group, as now both brothers had their swords drawn, and the idiotic reason for this little fight made her groan out loud as they went head on into attacking one another. Sparks flying with each clash, knocking each other back and going at it all over again.
"Come on you two, stop it." Kagome tried to go out into the fight, but Sango held her back by the arm. Not that it stopped her from trying to call out to them again over the loudness of their swords, but they ignored her.
"You're wasting your breath Kagome." Sango gave her a little pat on the shoulder, looking about as frustrated as the rest of them were feeling.
"Those two are constantly at ends with each other…" Miroku sighed once again, leaning on his staff and bored.
Akane couldn't agree more, and crossed her arms while watching, knowing that Sesshy would have to vent at least a little of his anger before he might listen to reason. And it was kinda funny that nobody was even a little bit worried about the two brothers possibly killing one another.
~Ahhh… The stubborn minds of youth.~
Both Sesshy and Yasha went on swinging and snapping at one another, but despite the threats, neither of them were using any of their swords more powerful abilities. It really was just a simple bickering match like always, which in a way she was grateful for, even if it was beyond immature.
Ack, crap… Never mind her previous thoughts. Inuyasha just tried a horribly timed Wind Scar.
"Seriously…" Both she and Kagome face palmed at the same time as Sesshomaru deflected the attack with ease, taking that moment to get close and knock the Tessaiga away.
Inuyasha landed on his back, Tokijin's blade at his throat while the older brother looked as arrogant as could be about it.
"Are you ready to die?" He said, although Akane could hear the boredom in his voice. Sesshomaru was already done venting his irritation, and now simply seeing what the other would do.
"Just kill me and get it over with." Inuyasha bit out, and even a part of him must have known he really wouldn't do it, sounding more pissed at losing then afraid of dying.
"Sesshy-sama, come on now. You won, very clearly I might add, so stop messing with him." Akane said while releasing a deep breath, approaching Sesshy as he glared at her as if she were ordering him around, which she totally wasn't.
Unfazed by the glare, Akane walked right up and patted his arm, the sword easily moving from Inuyasha's throat as she did so, and they all knew it was only because he allowed it.
"Listen, while I was visiting we learned the direction Naraku was last seen headed towards. If you stop playing with Yasha we can go get the others and head off right away. I won't be needing to go home for a while, we'll cover allot of ground."
"This one was not playing." He stated indignantly, and she could tell he was annoyed she wasn't even worried he might kill his idiot brother. But she continued to smile anyway.
"Sure, okay, not playing. Now can we go? I'll even let you yell about me running away." Akane batted her eyes up at him.
He actually growled at her! And if looks could kill…
While it wasn't the death glare reserved for his brother and Naraku, is was still pretty damn scary. And SEXY.
"Or you can mercilessly tease me about what happened back there." She added, tempting him with anything she could think of so he'd stop pointlessly fighting.
"Huh? Tease you? Since when does this guy even know how to tease somebody? What happened?" Inuyasha was obviously confused while watching the exchange between them, and since Sesshomaru would do anything to avoid further questioning, she knew she'd played her cards right.
"That is none of your concern." Sesshomaru ground between his fangs, golden gaze telling Akane that he ALSO knew she had said this to make him stop, and did not approve.
Without another word he turned and started off, sword going back to his side and not bothering to look back.
"That's that I guess... Later guys!" Akane waved while following after him, grinning her ass off at getting him to listen to her so easily for once. Even if she'd played dirty.
"Be safe Akane! Tell Rin I said hi!" Kagome called out, both she and Sango waving back as Miroku helped Inuyasha up from the ground. The younger brother still looking very confused as to what just happened, which had Akane grinning like crazy as they left the group.
…..
Walking in silence for a while, even after telling him the direction Naraku was last seen to try and brighten things up a little, almost worried that he hadn't said a word about the whole naked thing, Akane could tell that Sesshomaru was brooding about something. And when she dared to move close enough to peek up at his face...
Yep. BROODING.
~At least he's off on another train of thought. It seems that peeping session is now forgotten.~
Yeah, but what train of thought? She was about to just go ahead and poke him for an answer, but he gave it before she even had her hand all the way up.
"I wasn't playing." He repeated from before, sounding a bit more haughty about it now that nobody was around to hear.
That made her grin.
Ohhhh! He wasn't brooding, he was POUTING about that little scene in front of Inuyasha! How cute!
"Alright then, maybe not playing, but you obviously had no intention of actually kill him, so what else would it be? Venting off steam while sparing?" She teased a bit, trying not to smirk but that cute little hmph he just did made it hard.
"Call it whatever you desire, as long as it does not make this one sound like some child." He stated, again not looking at her. And she was about to make a little remark about him certainly being able to pout like a child, when he came to such a sudden stop she took three steps past him.
"Sesshy-sama? Are you- YEEP!" Akane almost choked on her own damn yelp as once again he came up from behind and pulled her to his side without warning, arm tight at her waist as she instinctively clutched onto his spiked armor.
"The child is not where she should be." He stated simply, words clipped and rushed, mind already focused on task.
"Rin? Wait, you didn't leave them at Shika's village?" She tried not to sound accusing, but damn, hadn't he learned from the last time not to just leave the little ones on their own?
Sesshomaru still heard the hint in her tone though, and he at least stiffened a little as they took off into the late afternoon sky, the only sign he might feel guilty. The two said nothing more to one another during the search, even Shen kept quiet to avoid getting snapped at, as her anxiety quickly started to rise the longer they flew, avoiding the forest and taking off towards a rocky ravine.
They spotted her, high up on the cliff side for some crazy ass reason, and Akane instantly felt herself go into mom mode as the anxiety hit it's boiling point as Sesshomaru set her down on her feet. It took everything she had not to punch him in the arm or something for allowing this to happen.
"Rin!" She shouted, catching the girls attention as she looked down, reaching for some strange looking plant while doing so and looking scared out of her mind.
Sesshomaru took off just as the rocks beneath the girls feet began to crumble away, sending her falling with an ear piercing scream that made Akane's heart stop.
In the split second it took for Rin to call out his name, Sesshy had once more become that ball of light from earlier, catching her on the way down into the chasm bellow.
~Can you say, Superman?~
"Really Shen? Now?" Akane half groaned, heart thumping as emotions swirled so fast it hurt. Fear, anger, relief, and now the random urge to laugh at his horrible joke.
Sesshomaru's ball of light landed by her side, bright and unnaturally pretty, taking his normal form again with Rin passed out in his tight hold. Akane watched him scan her small body, the look of fear he wasn't bothering to hide slowly fading back to his fallback calm expression, not that she was gonna let him play this off cool.
"What the hell Sesshomaru!" Akane bit out in English, not bothering with honorifics and too pissed to care. Right now she was a mama dragon that almost lost her child. And until this very moment she hadn't even realized that's exactly how she viewed Rin, as HER child. And this big moron had let her wonder around by herself again!
Whatever was on her face had the Western Lord staring, eyebrows shooting up as she approached him, only keeping her voice in a harsh whisper to not wake the girl as she went ahead and whacked him in the shoulder.
"This one was going after Naraku." He stated, turning to leave, but Ah-Uhn came from nowhere, almost crashing into him and it was kinda funny to catch that kind of open surprise on his face. The dragon horse got all up in his business with sounds of concern, both heads reaching out to sniff at the girl.
~Why didn't she use THEM to reach the berries?~
Shen's question had her wondering as well, attention now on whatever strange plant Rin had in her small hand.
"Just what the heck made her risk her life for these things anyway? What are they?" She asked, leaning over to look at the almost blueberry looking things, and Sesshy tensed as if expecting another hit. Funny, but she was calming down a little since Rin was safe again.
"They are a cure for yokai… For when one is poisoned." He answered with a bit of hesitation, glancing at Akane while setting Rin up onto Ah-Uhn's back.
Akane felt stupid for the count of ten before putting things together. The berries, the insects, and the distinct lack of…
"Jaken!"
…
They had made it in time. And she was a little surprised how fast Sesshomaru went to get there. He obviously didn't want the imp to die, even if all he tended to do was step on him when annoyed. But this proved he cared… Deep DEEP down.
Sesshomaru had just tossed the berries at Jaken, who gulped them down in a tearful rush of joy and grateful relief, babbling between swallows and the site made Akane laugh.
And magically, somehow, all the tension from earlier had faded away by the time the imp was fully recovered. All that was left now was for Rin to wake up, and since she wasn't injured in the fall, none of them were too worried about her sleeping away the stress of the day.
Akane was standing with Sesshomaru now, closer then she ever thought he would ever let her just casually stand, watching the sun slip bellow the horizon as the sky above went into darker shades of blue, at last settling into the nightly star speckled black.
Sometimes she found it odd how they could have such stressful moments like today, or attacks from so many different enemies, life and death battles, and yet somehow they almost always ended days in this silent kind of peace.
And how strange did it make her to be perfectly fine with it?
Akane paused in her deep thinking when hearing Rin's voice at last, looking back to see the girl slowly sitting up next to Jaken, who hadn't left her side this entire time. Not that the imp would ever admit out loud to being concerned.
"Jaken-sama, you're alive!" Rin yelped in surprise before pausing to look at herself. "Either that… Or I died…"
Could this kid be any more adorable?
"Don't be stupid, you didn't die! Sesshomaru-sama saved you of course!" Jaken scoffed, but was clearly happy.
"He saved me? So I didn't imagine it." She said in awe, turning to see Akane watching. The little girl looked both happy and sheepish all at once, and it was just too cute, and Akane was relieved all over again at seeing her alive.
"Don't you ever do something so reckless ever again!" Akane all but shouted as she ran to the girl, glomping tightly and nuzzling her cheek enough to make Rin wiggle helplessly in her hold. "Honestly sweetie, let the imp die next time..."
"HEY!"
"I'm joking, OBVIOUSLY." Akane stuck her tongue out, still clinging to the now giggling girl. "While what you did was brave, next time find some help. But really, after today I'm hoping a certain SOMEONE doesn't leave the two of you alone like that again anytime soon."
This caused an audible huff from the man in question, the first sound he had made since they got back, standing right were she'd left him without looking. But the sound caused the little girl to stare curiously as she wiggled free of Akane.
"Did you two have a fight because of me?" She asked timidly, looking guilty and far too worried for a kid.
~Oh those big brown eyes couldn't get any bigger could they?~
Akane said nothing at first. She knew that look in Rin's eyes all too well, had felt what she was feeling right now in her own childhood when her parents fought like loud beasts downstairs as she and Akito hid away in the attic.
She didn't want to see this child with that look, and hated to have put it there, reaching a hand out and cupping her face.
"No, no we didn't fight." Akane leaned close with a smile, nodding over to the man who was intently listening as if she hadn't seen the little head tilt. "I'm pretty sure that one has learned a lesson today, but hopefully my hits to the shoulder will help him not forget. He is a little thick headed you know."
And while the girl burst into laughter at her side, Akane looked up in time to catch that all too familiar golden eyed glare.