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Chapter Ten: Rash Words
"So bring it on, cowards." Her tone brooked no refusal and goaded them into action. But the three youaki in the front were clearly smarter than the rest. And it looked like they were the ones in charge.
"Your insults will not make us rash. That was one of your secret weapons before. Make the opponent furious and he doesn't think with strategy. But its useless now since we clearly know what your up to."
".Hn. Whatever. Hurry up, I hunger for some blood." She licked her lips in pretend hunger. She really couldn't stand their uppity attitudes but right now she had more important things to attend to.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile:
A servant had brought news of a band of youkai right inside his borders, were harassing and killing his villages. Sesshoumaru had separated from Keino at the castle gate to take care of it but he didn't pay attention to the feeling of foreboding that erupted from his shielded heart. Discarding his convenient youkai cloud to walk, he pondered about the way things turned out. Maybe walking would help him set his priorities straight.
Keino. He couldn't stop thinking about her, and this was getting ridiculous. He didn't necessarily think good things but he couldn't stop nonetheless. He has spent a lifetime locking his emotions and his soul away in a place so hidden even he himself didn't think he could recover it. But one glance at Keino bleeding and the lock sprang open to let his foolish emotions spill out into the light.
This hurt his pride more than he would have liked to admit. And the only way to regain what dignity he had left was to stop seeing her. Maybe if he sent her away.
He mentally shook his head and looked around to see where he was. It appeared that he was almost to his border so the band of ruffians must be near. Summoning his youkai cloud at last without the least bit of effort he rose into the air and took a look at his surroundings from high above.
Something strange was going on toward his left. About three miles away there was a large group of youkai's congregated. A very, VERY large group. This was uncommon since most youkai cannot abide the company of others. They view others as competition for god know what. But where there is many youkai there is usually a very unlucky victim. Which happens to be under his protection.
* * * * * * * * * * *
She watched warily as the three leaders backed away smiling. But her attention was forced away as the wall of demons began to advance. Being distracted she still couldn't risk forgetting about the three other youkai.
She turned her sight inward for just a moment and then the youkai fell on to her.
The three youkai hung back and let the others do the dirty work. Quite puzzled one asked his comrades, "What is she doing?" but they didn't know. They watched in glee as the youkai fell on to her and the sheer number of them seemed to overwhelm her. "We don't have to stay. We'll come back later to get her heart and soon, my friends, soon we'll be invincible!" and with their nods of agreement they ambled off. They didn't notice the shadow that didn't connect to anything follow them.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Sesshoumaru sped up as he saw three youkai exiting the forest. He briefly considered chasing them but right then there was a more pressing problem. As he sped past them unnoticed, he noticed something a bit out of the ordinary. A transparent dark blotch sped across the ground after the fleeing youkai. Sesshoumaru looked up at the sky for the source of the shadow but the blue sky remained unblemished, aside form the few faraway clouds. He had no time to ponder such train of thought, not when the people depended on him but he would not forget. He alighted off his cloud to travel even more swiftly through the dense forest.
The smell of spilt blood began to overpower his sensitive nose and brought back some unwanted memories of a girl sorely wounded and the advice he would never forget. He quickly banished them and proceeded to carefully pick his way through the tightly packed trees.
A cheer went up around Keino. She had fallen, but not without a great price. Out of the two thousand some youkai, only nine hundred and sixty two survived.
Sesshoumaru didn't like the sound of the sudden cheer that erupted from in front of him. As he parted the last branches that separated him form the mob, he felt a chill run down his spine then a cold fury erupted in his blood.
He had just finished healing her and they did..did this to her. Assuming this was her, of course. What he saw was a prone figure lying on the decaying leaves that consisted of a floor. Its black hair had broken free of its restraint and its dark kimono stained in blood and gore beyond recognition. Two long daggers were clutched in its pale hands. Stepping closer he noticed a glint as moonlight struck something shiny.
Heedless of the celebrating youkai around him, he continued to walk closer to the corpse. Upon closer inspection he make out a silver moon torn and stained past fixing oh the figures garments.
Keino. This still figure was Keino. So. He was right. But what was she doing all the way out here? Suddenly he sensed something coming from behind him. He quickly leapt away and the bumbling youkai's had soon disappeared. It reappeared a few feet away. The hapless youkai blinked a few times before realizing it didn't have a hand anymore.
"Y-Y-Ya-Yaaaaaaaaaaaah!!" It held its hand and fell writhing to the floor. The rest of the celebrating youkai stilled and looked at the pain riddled one, then back at Sesshoumaru. A huge hulking muscle bound one stepped out from their midst. "Why'd you do that?! He was just trying to slap you on the back!"
The youkais shifted from foot to foot in sudden discomfort. The taiyoukai in front of them began to look a little too dangerous to disturb and they told the outspoken one that. (A/N: I'm gonna call the big ugly muscle bound youkai 'the Hulk' kay?)
"I don't care if he's a taiyoukai or scum! He crippled my brother!"
'The Hulk' turned back to Sesshoumaru but he wasn't there anymore. "Nani?!" He looked wildly around. And caught him kneeling next to the still figure of Keino.
Sesshoumaru was going to try to bring Keino back to life. As 'The Hulk' let out an outraged rumble, Sesshoumaru searched for the little death minions he must slay. 'The Hulk' was really nothing to Sesshoumaru, small fry really, but nonetheless, a problem. He didn't hurry as 'the Hulk' bore down on him. He just quietly stood up.
The Hulk came to a sudden stop in alarm when he saw Sesshoumaru stand up. Something was wrong with the way the taiyoukai looked. The Hulk slowly began to get a bit nervous and wondered if he knew what exactly he was getting himself into. But by then it was too late for him, his fate was already sealed.
Sesshoumaru kept his head down and his luxurious silvery hair hid his feminine face. "I just finished taking care of this girl, and she was on her way to her future again." His eyes glowed a cold color as he raised his head to glare at the unfortunate youkai. "You just had to ruin her again!! He stepped menacingly forward. "I could have been rid of her. Now I'm stuck with her again!!" (Bwahahahaha!! Don't y'all just hate me now.)
The Hulk backed up two steps for every step Sesshoumaru took toward him. None of them noticed the slight movement from the otherwise prone body behind Sesshoumaru, so engrossed they were in each other.
"You couldn't even just knock her around a little..you had to almost KILL HER!!! Leaving her stuck with ME!" Sesshoumaru roared in frustration and leapt forward, intent on mauling this idiot into little pieces.
But before he got there the Hulks eye widened just a tad bit and that was all the warning Sesshoumaru got. The Hulk's body erupted into little cubes, smaller than even what Sesshoumaru had in mind, and it rained blood, as it sprayed all over the surrounding floor and Sesshoumaru's impeccable kimono received some re-coloring. Momentarily stunned, Sesshoumaru froze in mid- leap and stared. Then, when the blood bath began to abate he straightened up and settled his blank look over his face once again.
The last few droplets of crimson water trickled down, and through the empty spaces he couldn't quite believe what he saw, but he had to. He stood there in disbelief and his hands began to clench into fists. Blood dripped from his hand when the clawed fingers accidentally pierced through skin. Just on the other side, Keino stood with her back to him, her legs were slightly bent forward, her arms in back of her, and her head was bent down. In her hands were two long daggers, the hilts designed to look like dragons wrapped around the beginning of the blade.
Keino stood there for a moment. The pose forever imprinted in his mind. She slowly lowered her arms as she turned around. When her eyes saw him she didn't meet his eyes. Slowly, she eyed his body and spotted the bloodstains on his otherwise impeccable kimono. This somehow amused her and she let a small smile tease her lips.
Sesshoumaru, on the other hand, felt her gaze more than he saw it and felt a bit violated at the intensity of her stare. Then when she smiled he fought an instinctive compulsion to step back in alarm. The smile disappeared seconds after it appeared when she finally met his unemotional eyes.
She gracefully cocked her head to the side, a gesture he remembered her often doing when she was thinking about something disturbing. "You have beautiful eyes, you know that?" she quietly said. Sesshoumaru was uncertain why she said that and narrowed the subject of conversation.
"But they lie so much. They lie when you become so emotionless and they lie when you lose control. They speak of an inner kindness that wishes to break free of the restraints you put on them. But it is all lies. You are ruthless, and unforgiving through and through." She shook her head sadly. "Heh.." She chuckled. "You already know that. But after all that you said and done, I can't hate you. You see, we're more alike than you care to admit, you and I." She threw her head back suddenly roaring in laughter. Her laughter soon died off to a small chuckle and she continued.
"But I'm a loner so it doesn't bother anybody. You, on the other hand. You have a so-called family..god.." she shook her head, this time in amusement. "You'll destroy them someday, and then..then you'll know why I became a loner." Still slightly chuckling she pulled out a surprisingly clean, but bloodstained cloth from her shredded kimono and began to methodically clean her blades.
Sesshoumaru watched as she slowly walked around the clearing, plucking blades from the dead and ignoring the living. As she finished cleaning the last blade, a throwing star, continuing to ignore the restless youkai, she threw one more parting remark to Sesshoumaru as she walked off. The youkai slowly parted to let her through.
"I wish you the best of luck..and god knows you'll need it."
There. Done with Chapter Ten.
Awwww..how perfectly hateful of me.maybe now she dies and fluffy in forever tormented by her death.HEY! No throwing stuff at the author.jeez.
Chapter Ten: Rash Words
"So bring it on, cowards." Her tone brooked no refusal and goaded them into action. But the three youaki in the front were clearly smarter than the rest. And it looked like they were the ones in charge.
"Your insults will not make us rash. That was one of your secret weapons before. Make the opponent furious and he doesn't think with strategy. But its useless now since we clearly know what your up to."
".Hn. Whatever. Hurry up, I hunger for some blood." She licked her lips in pretend hunger. She really couldn't stand their uppity attitudes but right now she had more important things to attend to.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile:
A servant had brought news of a band of youkai right inside his borders, were harassing and killing his villages. Sesshoumaru had separated from Keino at the castle gate to take care of it but he didn't pay attention to the feeling of foreboding that erupted from his shielded heart. Discarding his convenient youkai cloud to walk, he pondered about the way things turned out. Maybe walking would help him set his priorities straight.
Keino. He couldn't stop thinking about her, and this was getting ridiculous. He didn't necessarily think good things but he couldn't stop nonetheless. He has spent a lifetime locking his emotions and his soul away in a place so hidden even he himself didn't think he could recover it. But one glance at Keino bleeding and the lock sprang open to let his foolish emotions spill out into the light.
This hurt his pride more than he would have liked to admit. And the only way to regain what dignity he had left was to stop seeing her. Maybe if he sent her away.
He mentally shook his head and looked around to see where he was. It appeared that he was almost to his border so the band of ruffians must be near. Summoning his youkai cloud at last without the least bit of effort he rose into the air and took a look at his surroundings from high above.
Something strange was going on toward his left. About three miles away there was a large group of youkai's congregated. A very, VERY large group. This was uncommon since most youkai cannot abide the company of others. They view others as competition for god know what. But where there is many youkai there is usually a very unlucky victim. Which happens to be under his protection.
* * * * * * * * * * *
She watched warily as the three leaders backed away smiling. But her attention was forced away as the wall of demons began to advance. Being distracted she still couldn't risk forgetting about the three other youkai.
She turned her sight inward for just a moment and then the youkai fell on to her.
The three youkai hung back and let the others do the dirty work. Quite puzzled one asked his comrades, "What is she doing?" but they didn't know. They watched in glee as the youkai fell on to her and the sheer number of them seemed to overwhelm her. "We don't have to stay. We'll come back later to get her heart and soon, my friends, soon we'll be invincible!" and with their nods of agreement they ambled off. They didn't notice the shadow that didn't connect to anything follow them.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Sesshoumaru sped up as he saw three youkai exiting the forest. He briefly considered chasing them but right then there was a more pressing problem. As he sped past them unnoticed, he noticed something a bit out of the ordinary. A transparent dark blotch sped across the ground after the fleeing youkai. Sesshoumaru looked up at the sky for the source of the shadow but the blue sky remained unblemished, aside form the few faraway clouds. He had no time to ponder such train of thought, not when the people depended on him but he would not forget. He alighted off his cloud to travel even more swiftly through the dense forest.
The smell of spilt blood began to overpower his sensitive nose and brought back some unwanted memories of a girl sorely wounded and the advice he would never forget. He quickly banished them and proceeded to carefully pick his way through the tightly packed trees.
A cheer went up around Keino. She had fallen, but not without a great price. Out of the two thousand some youkai, only nine hundred and sixty two survived.
Sesshoumaru didn't like the sound of the sudden cheer that erupted from in front of him. As he parted the last branches that separated him form the mob, he felt a chill run down his spine then a cold fury erupted in his blood.
He had just finished healing her and they did..did this to her. Assuming this was her, of course. What he saw was a prone figure lying on the decaying leaves that consisted of a floor. Its black hair had broken free of its restraint and its dark kimono stained in blood and gore beyond recognition. Two long daggers were clutched in its pale hands. Stepping closer he noticed a glint as moonlight struck something shiny.
Heedless of the celebrating youkai around him, he continued to walk closer to the corpse. Upon closer inspection he make out a silver moon torn and stained past fixing oh the figures garments.
Keino. This still figure was Keino. So. He was right. But what was she doing all the way out here? Suddenly he sensed something coming from behind him. He quickly leapt away and the bumbling youkai's had soon disappeared. It reappeared a few feet away. The hapless youkai blinked a few times before realizing it didn't have a hand anymore.
"Y-Y-Ya-Yaaaaaaaaaaaah!!" It held its hand and fell writhing to the floor. The rest of the celebrating youkai stilled and looked at the pain riddled one, then back at Sesshoumaru. A huge hulking muscle bound one stepped out from their midst. "Why'd you do that?! He was just trying to slap you on the back!"
The youkais shifted from foot to foot in sudden discomfort. The taiyoukai in front of them began to look a little too dangerous to disturb and they told the outspoken one that. (A/N: I'm gonna call the big ugly muscle bound youkai 'the Hulk' kay?)
"I don't care if he's a taiyoukai or scum! He crippled my brother!"
'The Hulk' turned back to Sesshoumaru but he wasn't there anymore. "Nani?!" He looked wildly around. And caught him kneeling next to the still figure of Keino.
Sesshoumaru was going to try to bring Keino back to life. As 'The Hulk' let out an outraged rumble, Sesshoumaru searched for the little death minions he must slay. 'The Hulk' was really nothing to Sesshoumaru, small fry really, but nonetheless, a problem. He didn't hurry as 'the Hulk' bore down on him. He just quietly stood up.
The Hulk came to a sudden stop in alarm when he saw Sesshoumaru stand up. Something was wrong with the way the taiyoukai looked. The Hulk slowly began to get a bit nervous and wondered if he knew what exactly he was getting himself into. But by then it was too late for him, his fate was already sealed.
Sesshoumaru kept his head down and his luxurious silvery hair hid his feminine face. "I just finished taking care of this girl, and she was on her way to her future again." His eyes glowed a cold color as he raised his head to glare at the unfortunate youkai. "You just had to ruin her again!! He stepped menacingly forward. "I could have been rid of her. Now I'm stuck with her again!!" (Bwahahahaha!! Don't y'all just hate me now.)
The Hulk backed up two steps for every step Sesshoumaru took toward him. None of them noticed the slight movement from the otherwise prone body behind Sesshoumaru, so engrossed they were in each other.
"You couldn't even just knock her around a little..you had to almost KILL HER!!! Leaving her stuck with ME!" Sesshoumaru roared in frustration and leapt forward, intent on mauling this idiot into little pieces.
But before he got there the Hulks eye widened just a tad bit and that was all the warning Sesshoumaru got. The Hulk's body erupted into little cubes, smaller than even what Sesshoumaru had in mind, and it rained blood, as it sprayed all over the surrounding floor and Sesshoumaru's impeccable kimono received some re-coloring. Momentarily stunned, Sesshoumaru froze in mid- leap and stared. Then, when the blood bath began to abate he straightened up and settled his blank look over his face once again.
The last few droplets of crimson water trickled down, and through the empty spaces he couldn't quite believe what he saw, but he had to. He stood there in disbelief and his hands began to clench into fists. Blood dripped from his hand when the clawed fingers accidentally pierced through skin. Just on the other side, Keino stood with her back to him, her legs were slightly bent forward, her arms in back of her, and her head was bent down. In her hands were two long daggers, the hilts designed to look like dragons wrapped around the beginning of the blade.
Keino stood there for a moment. The pose forever imprinted in his mind. She slowly lowered her arms as she turned around. When her eyes saw him she didn't meet his eyes. Slowly, she eyed his body and spotted the bloodstains on his otherwise impeccable kimono. This somehow amused her and she let a small smile tease her lips.
Sesshoumaru, on the other hand, felt her gaze more than he saw it and felt a bit violated at the intensity of her stare. Then when she smiled he fought an instinctive compulsion to step back in alarm. The smile disappeared seconds after it appeared when she finally met his unemotional eyes.
She gracefully cocked her head to the side, a gesture he remembered her often doing when she was thinking about something disturbing. "You have beautiful eyes, you know that?" she quietly said. Sesshoumaru was uncertain why she said that and narrowed the subject of conversation.
"But they lie so much. They lie when you become so emotionless and they lie when you lose control. They speak of an inner kindness that wishes to break free of the restraints you put on them. But it is all lies. You are ruthless, and unforgiving through and through." She shook her head sadly. "Heh.." She chuckled. "You already know that. But after all that you said and done, I can't hate you. You see, we're more alike than you care to admit, you and I." She threw her head back suddenly roaring in laughter. Her laughter soon died off to a small chuckle and she continued.
"But I'm a loner so it doesn't bother anybody. You, on the other hand. You have a so-called family..god.." she shook her head, this time in amusement. "You'll destroy them someday, and then..then you'll know why I became a loner." Still slightly chuckling she pulled out a surprisingly clean, but bloodstained cloth from her shredded kimono and began to methodically clean her blades.
Sesshoumaru watched as she slowly walked around the clearing, plucking blades from the dead and ignoring the living. As she finished cleaning the last blade, a throwing star, continuing to ignore the restless youkai, she threw one more parting remark to Sesshoumaru as she walked off. The youkai slowly parted to let her through.
"I wish you the best of luck..and god knows you'll need it."
There. Done with Chapter Ten.
Awwww..how perfectly hateful of me.maybe now she dies and fluffy in forever tormented by her death.HEY! No throwing stuff at the author.jeez.