AN: Some parts of this might get annoying such as the part with the snake
youkai. But that's okay because I meant it to be and its words are still
pretty understandable although, if anyone has any real problems with it and
needs it explained, feel free to ask me about it.
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CHAPTER 3: Aftershocks
"Inuyasha, are you still upset?"
Kagome's expression was exasperated as she at the sulking hanyou crouching beside her next to the campfire. Ever since the battle with those lightning youkai, Hiten and Manten, ended yesterday, Inuyasha had been in a foul mood for some reason that she just couldn't figure out. She had clearly explained to him afterwards that the lie about them being a couple that she'd told those horrible youkai when they held her captive was just a ruse to buy some time. Surely he still wasn't holding a grudge over that? But what else could it be? In any case, she was tired of apologizing about her tiny lie. It had been a necessary measure to ensure her survival and she was determined not to apologize for it anymore. Besides, obtaining so many new Shikon shards that he was obsessed over should have more than made up for it.
"Maybe his wound is bothering him," a childish voice piped up.
Kagome turned briefly to aim a smile in the direction of the speaker, the newest addition their little traveling group, the child kitsune Shippou who had lost his father to the lightning youkai. Alone in the world now with nowhere else to go, he had attached himself to them and was coming with them as they journeyed back to Kaede's village.
"Hmm," went the old flea, nodding wisely as he sat on Shippou's shoulder. "A painful wound like that is sure to make anyone irritable. Inuyasha- sama, you should think more wisely before rushing into battle like that again. Take time out to plan a strategy before attacking."
"Shut up!" Irked, Inuyasha aimed a glare at Myouga. "I don't want to hear any advice about fighting from someone who runs away at the first sign of danger!"
"Inuyasha has a point," commented Kagome.
"Yeah," said Shippou, nodding.
"How rude!" exclaimed Myouga, hopping up and down in indignation. "Why, I've had hundreds of years of battle experience."
"More like hundreds of years of running-away-from-battles experience," Kagome said dryly.
"Now is that any way to speak to your elders?" Myouga crossed his arms. "I'll have you know I was a great help to Inuyasha's late and great father."
"I don't remember anything of the sort." Inuyasha looked at him skeptically.
"I'm much older and wiser than you, young Inuyasha-sama." Myouga gave him a superior look. "My most greatest and heroic of deeds were done before you were born so of course you wouldn't remember."
"That must have been a really, really long time ago then," Shippou commented.
"If anything like that ever really happened," Inuyasha added.
Kagome sighed but said nothing.
"Does everyone here just think of me as a coward?" Myouga squawked, insulted.
Everyone just looked at him, silent.
"Argh!" Myouga gave a frustrated cry as he bounced up and down angrily. "I don't have to take this from you youngsters who don't know any better!"
With that, he hopped off of Shippou's shoulder in indignation and into the grasses surrounding their makeshift campsite. Those left behind merely exchanged exasperated glances at the old flea's antics.
"Should we go look for him?" Kagome wondered aloud.
"He won't go far," Inuyasha snorted. "It's safer here with us than out there in this area and he knows that."
"I suppose so," Kagome sighed.
"Don't worry, Kagome," Shippou piped. "I'll go bring him back. I know this area pretty well so I'll find him in no time."
"Be careful," she called out to his retreating back.
Shippou gave a little wave of acknowledgment before he disappeared after the flea, leaving Kagome and Inuyasha alone. As silence descended upon the site, Inuyasha shifted awkwardly, uncomfortable with being left alone with her.
It still bothered him, what had happened when he'd believed in Myouga's misleading words that Kagome and Shippou's souls were going to move on to the next world. It had made him anxious and afraid and other things as well that he didn't care to examine too closely. All of it had been confusing and it irritated him because it left him unsettled and unsure of what to do or how to deal with her, the one responsible for these odd emotions he wasn't used to feeling.
Kagome.
He stared at her as she gazed into the flames of the flickering campfire, absorbed in whatever thoughts she was thinking that were a complete mystery to him. He couldn't figure her out, didn't understand her, how she could act so unlike other humans that he'd come across in his life in that she treated those with youkai blood just as she'd treat another human. It was never more apparent than now when those with youkai blood in their group outnumbered full-blooded human three to one. Despite the difference, she seemed just as relaxed with the present company as she did back in the village full of humans. Even though she'd seen, and fairly recently too, the damage and destruction youkai were capable of, she still carried on as if it were nothing out of the ordinary for her to be chatting normally with youkai as if they were friends.
It was nice.
Inuyasha had never had a friend before but, for some reason, as he spent more time in her presence since their first meeting, he'd felt something within him, some inner guard, relaxing over time. For the most part, he still didn't like humans but this one was different from the others in a way that was more than just being from another time period. She treated him like she did everyone else, teased him and argued with him even when she was fully aware of the vast differences between their physical strengths. Remembering the battle with Hiten and Manten when she put herself in danger as she tried to get the Tetsusaiga for him, he recalled other times when she'd tried to help him. It was how he'd always imagined a real friend to act. But then he also recalled how felt when he had grabbed for her when he thought she had been killed by Hiten and her soul was leaving this world for good.
That was more than friendship.
Or so he thought but he'd had little experience in that realm and couldn't say for certain. He was confused and didn't feel up to examining whatever it was that he was feeling too closely.
"Inuyasha, are you okay?"
"W-what?" he asked unsteadily, startled, looking back at her with wide eyes, wondering if she'd somehow been able to read his confused thoughts.
"Your wound." She looked wary at his odd behavior. "Is it okay?"
"Oh," he said with some relief, hand absently going to his wound. It still ached, but not as much as before. "Yeah, yeah. It's better now."
"Good." She gave him a smile full of relief. "I thought so but I just wanted to check again and make sure."
He felt his face warming and looked away. "You don't have to worry so much. I told you, my body is special and can take a lot of damage."
"That doesn't mean it has to." She wrinkled her nose in distaste, probably imagining other kinds of damage his body had taken. "And excuse me for worrying but I believe that's a natural reaction when I see a friend covered in blood."
She'd said 'friend' as if it were a natural thing.
He sank down, sitting next to her. Perhaps he didn't know what it was he was feeling but, for now, that was okay with him. At the moment, the knowledge that she considered him a friend, worried over him, cared about him, was enough for him to settle for. There were still a lot of shards to collect, a long and tedious journey, which meant that they'd be in each other's company for quite a while to come. There was a lot of time left to resolve whatever his more than friendly emotions were so, for the present, it was necessary for him to examine them too closely just yet.
For a little while, he could just sit there and enjoy being in the company of a friend.
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"Sesshoumaru-sama, if I'm not mistaken, Inuyasha passed through here recently."
Jaken's irritating squawking voice went ignored by the Great Lord of the Western Lands as he traversed across the rough terrain, darkened by the fall of night, which was obviously the site of a recent and destructive battle. He didn't need Jaken's comments to tell him that his hanyou of a half-brother had recently been here. Sesshoumaru's keen nose could easily pick up the hanyou's scent that wasn't more than a day old by his superior judgment. He could also detect traces of his father's retainer, Myouga, and the smell of kitsune and other youkai.
And also the scent of her.
Though his body language gave no clue as to his inner thoughts, Sesshoumaru was annoyed at how the human wench that traveled with that hanyou, whom he also disliked thinking about, once more found her way into his mind. He wasn't used to thinking much about humans much less one human in particular and the unnaturalness of having his mind thus preoccupied was cause for some concern.
Perhaps she was more than an ordinary girl after all.
It wasn't the first time he had thought so. The way she'd been able to shift his moods so rapidly when she'd tried to aid him made that obvious. Also, his distaste for Inuyasha aside, Sesshoumaru didn't believe the hanyou would spend his time with a human that was completely worthless. Although Sesshoumaru wasn't quite sure to make of her, she certainly hadn't behaved as other humans he'd come across had upon meeting a full youkai so there must be something else to her that could be behind his half-brother's putting up with her even though she was so irritating. Another thing, she had been able to pull the Tetsusaiga free from it's holding when no one else had been able to do so. And, despite the aspersions Sesshoumaru cast on his father's judgment for choosing a human mate, he doubted his father was so lacking in sense that he'd allow the sword to be pulled free by any random human who was able to make it to that place. No, there was probably more to that girl than he had first thought. How else was she able to occupy his mind in a way that few, human or youkai, ever had?
Had she managed to put a spell on him?
It was a possibility that had arisen in his mind before but he thought it was highly unlikely that he, with his superior sensibilities, could be that taken unawares by a mere human, no matter what kind of hidden abilities she may have. No, he doubted very much that a spell of such a sort could be placed on him without his knowledge. For the most part, little of her actions whilst she had tended to him had gone unnoticed by his keen senses and he hadn't detected anything suspicious in her movements that would set off his honed survival instincts. She was harmless, just another foolish human that a great youkai such as he shouldn't bother himself with.
Then why did he keep thinking about her?
Perhaps it was because there was some part of him that, despite believing that a youkai never had to be beholden to a human no matter what the circumstances, felt he did owe her something for trying with her puny efforts to aid him. Though it was only a very small part, the idea seemed to be at the back of his mind.
Was it because of the ass-par-rin?
Those tiny pills he had taken from the bottle she had left behind had helped to assuage his pain though he was loath to admit it. Odd things they were, each one the same size and rounded with a preciseness that he'd never seen before outside of things created with magic or other special powers. But such things always left some sort of detectable taint that the pills had lacked, marking them as made with non-otherworldly efforts. Though that had made him suspicious, he reasoned that she would hardly go through the effort of trying so hard to help him, despite her obvious fear and disgust that came with the gruesome task, to undo all her efforts by trying to poison him afterwards with the little pills. So, once he was sure she was gone, he had taken a few and had been pleasantly surprised when he felt the pain receding a bit. But it hadn't worked fast enough to suit him so, once he had discerned no ill effects they might have had on his body, he'd gone against her directive and taken triple the amount that she had instructed him to.
After all, he was a youkai and of course knew better than a human did about what was best for him.
In any case, they had alleviated his pain for the couple of days he'd been there, enough time passing until he'd been able to move about on his own without his actions causing the bleeding to start again. Finally mobile, he had gone about as usual as the missing appendage was little hindrance to someone of his great abilities. Eventually, he had come across Jaken who, stupid vassal that he was, had somehow wound up searching for him in the opposite direction where Sesshoumaru had been sent to by Inuyasha's attack. Upon their reunion, Jaken had seen fit to apologize so profusely that Sesshoumaru had nearly been irritated enough by them that he had almost given in to the urge to violently dispose of the toad were it not for the fact that he had still not been completely healed and unnecessary movement would undoubtedly cause him pain that he was in no rush to embrace. Besides, a sharply worded command for silence had shut the toad up quickly enough before Sesshoumaru could develop a headache that, by that point, he would have had to endure since he had already finished off the contents of the bottle the human had left with him.
Thoughts of it had him resisting the urge to touch the yellow sash belted around his waist where the empty bottle was tucked away. Having made full use of the contents of the bottle, he'd felt oddly obligated somehow to return it even though he didn't really think he was beholden to the human in any other way even though the strange medicine had proved effective. Still, there was no denying the fact that thoughts of her would intrude upon him unexpectedly and he attributed it to the idea that his brand of honor was so fine that, even if she was a lowly human, he did at the very least owe her the return of what was left of her property.
What other reason was there?
Thus, he had left Jaken behind one day and journeyed closer to the village around which she had first come across his wounded form. He had stopped by a small pond nearby which bore few traces of the humans that lived nearby when he had sensed his half-brother coming closer to his location. Deeming it a nuisance to bother with the hanyou unnecessarily when the only thing he, Sesshoumaru, desired from him was the Tetsusaiga that he was unable to grasp due to his lack of human blood, he had concealed himself and, as any great strategist would, waited to observe the actions of the enemy to be stored away for future reference.
Yes, that was a brilliant tactic that any warrior of intelligence such as he was would take.
He had looked on with some surprise when the hanyou had burst onto the scene only to immediately conceal himself in the foliage of a tree. The surprise had turned to derision when the object of the hanyou's flight turned out to be the human girl whose property he had come to return. But the surprise had returned when the girl had suddenly looked in his direction where he was concealed by the bushes and had started towards him until the hanyou's cry had caused her to pause. It had puzzled him how the human had seemed to somehow sense his presence when his half-brother, who did possess some youkai blood that should have made even his hanyou senses keener than a mortal's, had not. Sesshoumaru had no explanation for it.
Other than that the hanyou was a complete idiot.
Hoping for revelations that would give him some explanation for his strange reactions to the human and answer his questions about what she was, he had observed the interaction between her and his half-brother with interest. Unfortunately, his observations had only managed to puzzle him even more as their talks of math and tests made it obvious that she was highly educated which was odd for women unless they were of elevated status. However, the way she seemed to gallivant around with his half-brother and threw herself boldly into dangerous situations, actions that no pampered female of high class would do, contradicted the elevated status that a superior education placed her in. Even her clothes were a contradiction as the bold colors and material that she wore indicated that they were finer than those of common people but the scantiness of her attire was something that a modest noble lady would never let herself be seen in.
Even stranger was how the human treated his half-brother. She yelled and argued with the hanyou as if they were equals when Sesshoumaru was positive that someone such as her, to whom all indications pointed to as being educated and, thus, possessing at least a small amount of intelligence, must be aware that she was greatly outmatched in physical strength and could easily be killed. And her voiced observation that the hanyou was as immature as a child had been testament to her intelligence and Sesshoumaru had been in complete agreement.
That is, until she had compared him to his half-brother.
Remembering how she had lumped all those bearing youkai blood together, putting he, the great Sesshoumaru, on the same level as his lowly half- brother, brought about a renewed surge of irritation. When he had heard her words, his control over his temper had loosened for a bit and he his hand, grasping one of the branches of the bushes that had been concealing him and holding it from blocking his view, had clenched and snapped off the leafy appendage. Surprised by his unconscious action, he had frozen as the human's head whipped towards the sound until she had been distracted with continuing her argument with his half-brother who still hadn't noticed anything amiss.
Truly, the hanyou was a fool.
But, still, he found it somewhat amazing that the puny human had fought verbally with his half-brother and had managed to subdue him with mention of 'the word,' whatever it was. Even so, it was surprising that the hanyou would hesitate to kill the irritant with the threat of a simple word being uttered. Obviously, the hanyou was weaker than even Sesshoumaru had originally thought to refrain from killing her when she was being so irritating and going so far as to hide from her in the first place. Sesshoumaru was confident that, were their positions reversed and she became too annoying, he would be able to kill her without a moment's hesitation.
Despite his inward derision at his half-brother's weakness towards the human girl, Sesshoumaru had continued to watch the odd way they argued. At times, aside from the obvious waves of hostility they radiated while they yelled, it almost seemed as though they took some sort of strange enjoyment from the interaction. After all, while he kept observing them, the human had started to laugh when there had been no cause for it as far as he could see. It had made him flash back briefly to when she had smiled at him when they had last parted, when he had told her that he would kill her if she got in the way upon their next meeting. The memory had disturbed him somehow as he watched her laugh and the angry aura around his half-brother had gradually dissipated. Eventually, they had appeared to relax in each other's company as, from his clear vantage point, he was able to observe the human's facial expression which had softened with some emotion towards the hanyou that Sesshoumaru couldn't quite decipher.
It had been strangely irritating.
He had left the clearing after they had gone, puzzling over his findings that had shed no more light on the topic of the odd mystery that seemed to surround the human. But his preoccupation with the human was still troubling and he wondered if he should kill her after all and stop these odd thoughts he was having. Still, there was the matter of returning the bottle to her. Perhaps he could return it and clear the miniscule bit of obligation his fine sense of honor felt towards her and then kill her.
Yes, that was an excellent solution.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Thoughts interrupted by Jaken's squawking cries, Sesshoumaru turned in the direction of the sound to see the toad rushing towards him over the rough terrain with a long, twisting length of wriggling flesh clutched in his hands. It was obviously one of the low-leveled snake-type youkai that burrowed underground and waited for weaker prey to come along and feast upon.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken stopped before him, panting and waving the snake youkai in his hand. "Look what I found!"
Sesshoumaru's look was cool. "Why would one such as I be interested in such a lowly beast?"
"Well, certainly this thing is far below Your Mightiness. I meant no insult." Jaken looked up at him. "But if My Lord still desires to wrest the Tetsusaiga away from his half-brother, then it would be best to procure as much information as possible about him so that a plan can be developed."
"And how can this," Sesshoumaru aimed a cold glance at the snake youkai that went stiff in fear, "be of help?"
"My Lord," Jaken said, dropping the snake youkai onto the ground, "he was here to witness Inuyasha's battle on these grounds. Perhaps we can discern just how much skill your half-brother has acquired with the Tetsusaiga through this thing's account of it."
"Yesssss," hissed the snake youkai, shaking in its anxiety to do anything that would make the feared Lord of the Western Lands spare its life. "I can tell you anything you desssire to know. Whatever it isssss."
"Just tell us about the battle that took place here," squawked Jaken, pointing at the thing imperiously and taking over the trying task of questioning it while his beloved lord listened on.
"Ah, yesssss," hissed the snake youkai, bobbing its head rapidly. "That wasss a great battle indeed; a fight to the death between the hanyou called Inuyasssha and the fierce lightning youkai brothersss, Hiten and Manten."
"We don't care about who Inuyasha fought!" Jaken shook an impatient fist at the slow speaking youkai. "Tell us about the battle!"
"It wasss a battle for the Ssshikon ssshards and the hisss human woman."
"Inuyasha's woman?!" Jaken squawked in surprise, flapping his arms. "Do mean to say that he's had the bad taste to mate with that human wench he travels with?" The last words were spit out with much distaste.
"Yesssss." The slithering form bobbed its head, worriedly weaving back and forth as it slithered in supplication at the feet of the youkai lord who, for some reason, was suddenly radiating a much more dangerous aura. "From what I was able to hear, the human is clearly Inuyasssha'sss woman."
"Well," Jaken snorted in disgust. "He is a hanyou after all." Jaken glared at the other youkai. "But what happened in the battle?"
"Inuyasssha wasss mossst impressssive asss he defeated the lightning youkai; firssst Hiten and then Manten."
"How did Inuyasha defeat them?" Jaken asked, eagerly awaiting knowledge that would reveal Inuyasha's skill with the sword to his beloved lord.
"Inuyasssha killed them." The snake youkai bobbed its head, satisfied with its explanation.
"How did he kill them?" Jaken's voice was impatient.
"With a sssword."
"How did he kill them with the sword?" Jaken was hopping mad now.
"That I am not sssure of."
"What?!" Jaken squawked. "How can you not be sure?!"
"I wasss underground." The form writhed, slithering in apology on the ground. "I did not sssee the battle fought, only heard."
"Then what good are you?" Jaken glared. "We should just dispose of worthless trash like you. You've provided nothing useful!"
"Pleassse, wait!" the lowly youkai pleaded. "Thisss Inuyasssha doesss have an obviousss weaknesss I was able to dissscover."
"Oh?" Jaken was skeptical. "What is it?"
"The woman." The snake youkai bobbed more. "Inuyasssha obviousssly holdsss great affection for her to risssk his life in sssuch a manner. Ssshe isss hisss great weaknessss, essspecially if the two are in love-"
The lowly youkai's words were abruptly cut off as a slashing claw rendered him to bits, sending flesh and blood splattering across a nearby Jaken who automatically jumped back with a surprised squawk. Stumbling back, Jaken tripped over a rock that sent him sprawling backwards to stare up in shock at his impassive beloved lord who stood there calmly.
"S-S-Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken stuttered haltingly, looking up at him with a questioning gaze that could discern nothing from the youkai lord's inscrutable features.
Without a word, the Great Lord of the Western Lands turned and calmly strode away, leaving a confused vassal behind to stare in bewilderment after his beloved lord.
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CHAPTER 3: Aftershocks
"Inuyasha, are you still upset?"
Kagome's expression was exasperated as she at the sulking hanyou crouching beside her next to the campfire. Ever since the battle with those lightning youkai, Hiten and Manten, ended yesterday, Inuyasha had been in a foul mood for some reason that she just couldn't figure out. She had clearly explained to him afterwards that the lie about them being a couple that she'd told those horrible youkai when they held her captive was just a ruse to buy some time. Surely he still wasn't holding a grudge over that? But what else could it be? In any case, she was tired of apologizing about her tiny lie. It had been a necessary measure to ensure her survival and she was determined not to apologize for it anymore. Besides, obtaining so many new Shikon shards that he was obsessed over should have more than made up for it.
"Maybe his wound is bothering him," a childish voice piped up.
Kagome turned briefly to aim a smile in the direction of the speaker, the newest addition their little traveling group, the child kitsune Shippou who had lost his father to the lightning youkai. Alone in the world now with nowhere else to go, he had attached himself to them and was coming with them as they journeyed back to Kaede's village.
"Hmm," went the old flea, nodding wisely as he sat on Shippou's shoulder. "A painful wound like that is sure to make anyone irritable. Inuyasha- sama, you should think more wisely before rushing into battle like that again. Take time out to plan a strategy before attacking."
"Shut up!" Irked, Inuyasha aimed a glare at Myouga. "I don't want to hear any advice about fighting from someone who runs away at the first sign of danger!"
"Inuyasha has a point," commented Kagome.
"Yeah," said Shippou, nodding.
"How rude!" exclaimed Myouga, hopping up and down in indignation. "Why, I've had hundreds of years of battle experience."
"More like hundreds of years of running-away-from-battles experience," Kagome said dryly.
"Now is that any way to speak to your elders?" Myouga crossed his arms. "I'll have you know I was a great help to Inuyasha's late and great father."
"I don't remember anything of the sort." Inuyasha looked at him skeptically.
"I'm much older and wiser than you, young Inuyasha-sama." Myouga gave him a superior look. "My most greatest and heroic of deeds were done before you were born so of course you wouldn't remember."
"That must have been a really, really long time ago then," Shippou commented.
"If anything like that ever really happened," Inuyasha added.
Kagome sighed but said nothing.
"Does everyone here just think of me as a coward?" Myouga squawked, insulted.
Everyone just looked at him, silent.
"Argh!" Myouga gave a frustrated cry as he bounced up and down angrily. "I don't have to take this from you youngsters who don't know any better!"
With that, he hopped off of Shippou's shoulder in indignation and into the grasses surrounding their makeshift campsite. Those left behind merely exchanged exasperated glances at the old flea's antics.
"Should we go look for him?" Kagome wondered aloud.
"He won't go far," Inuyasha snorted. "It's safer here with us than out there in this area and he knows that."
"I suppose so," Kagome sighed.
"Don't worry, Kagome," Shippou piped. "I'll go bring him back. I know this area pretty well so I'll find him in no time."
"Be careful," she called out to his retreating back.
Shippou gave a little wave of acknowledgment before he disappeared after the flea, leaving Kagome and Inuyasha alone. As silence descended upon the site, Inuyasha shifted awkwardly, uncomfortable with being left alone with her.
It still bothered him, what had happened when he'd believed in Myouga's misleading words that Kagome and Shippou's souls were going to move on to the next world. It had made him anxious and afraid and other things as well that he didn't care to examine too closely. All of it had been confusing and it irritated him because it left him unsettled and unsure of what to do or how to deal with her, the one responsible for these odd emotions he wasn't used to feeling.
Kagome.
He stared at her as she gazed into the flames of the flickering campfire, absorbed in whatever thoughts she was thinking that were a complete mystery to him. He couldn't figure her out, didn't understand her, how she could act so unlike other humans that he'd come across in his life in that she treated those with youkai blood just as she'd treat another human. It was never more apparent than now when those with youkai blood in their group outnumbered full-blooded human three to one. Despite the difference, she seemed just as relaxed with the present company as she did back in the village full of humans. Even though she'd seen, and fairly recently too, the damage and destruction youkai were capable of, she still carried on as if it were nothing out of the ordinary for her to be chatting normally with youkai as if they were friends.
It was nice.
Inuyasha had never had a friend before but, for some reason, as he spent more time in her presence since their first meeting, he'd felt something within him, some inner guard, relaxing over time. For the most part, he still didn't like humans but this one was different from the others in a way that was more than just being from another time period. She treated him like she did everyone else, teased him and argued with him even when she was fully aware of the vast differences between their physical strengths. Remembering the battle with Hiten and Manten when she put herself in danger as she tried to get the Tetsusaiga for him, he recalled other times when she'd tried to help him. It was how he'd always imagined a real friend to act. But then he also recalled how felt when he had grabbed for her when he thought she had been killed by Hiten and her soul was leaving this world for good.
That was more than friendship.
Or so he thought but he'd had little experience in that realm and couldn't say for certain. He was confused and didn't feel up to examining whatever it was that he was feeling too closely.
"Inuyasha, are you okay?"
"W-what?" he asked unsteadily, startled, looking back at her with wide eyes, wondering if she'd somehow been able to read his confused thoughts.
"Your wound." She looked wary at his odd behavior. "Is it okay?"
"Oh," he said with some relief, hand absently going to his wound. It still ached, but not as much as before. "Yeah, yeah. It's better now."
"Good." She gave him a smile full of relief. "I thought so but I just wanted to check again and make sure."
He felt his face warming and looked away. "You don't have to worry so much. I told you, my body is special and can take a lot of damage."
"That doesn't mean it has to." She wrinkled her nose in distaste, probably imagining other kinds of damage his body had taken. "And excuse me for worrying but I believe that's a natural reaction when I see a friend covered in blood."
She'd said 'friend' as if it were a natural thing.
He sank down, sitting next to her. Perhaps he didn't know what it was he was feeling but, for now, that was okay with him. At the moment, the knowledge that she considered him a friend, worried over him, cared about him, was enough for him to settle for. There were still a lot of shards to collect, a long and tedious journey, which meant that they'd be in each other's company for quite a while to come. There was a lot of time left to resolve whatever his more than friendly emotions were so, for the present, it was necessary for him to examine them too closely just yet.
For a little while, he could just sit there and enjoy being in the company of a friend.
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"Sesshoumaru-sama, if I'm not mistaken, Inuyasha passed through here recently."
Jaken's irritating squawking voice went ignored by the Great Lord of the Western Lands as he traversed across the rough terrain, darkened by the fall of night, which was obviously the site of a recent and destructive battle. He didn't need Jaken's comments to tell him that his hanyou of a half-brother had recently been here. Sesshoumaru's keen nose could easily pick up the hanyou's scent that wasn't more than a day old by his superior judgment. He could also detect traces of his father's retainer, Myouga, and the smell of kitsune and other youkai.
And also the scent of her.
Though his body language gave no clue as to his inner thoughts, Sesshoumaru was annoyed at how the human wench that traveled with that hanyou, whom he also disliked thinking about, once more found her way into his mind. He wasn't used to thinking much about humans much less one human in particular and the unnaturalness of having his mind thus preoccupied was cause for some concern.
Perhaps she was more than an ordinary girl after all.
It wasn't the first time he had thought so. The way she'd been able to shift his moods so rapidly when she'd tried to aid him made that obvious. Also, his distaste for Inuyasha aside, Sesshoumaru didn't believe the hanyou would spend his time with a human that was completely worthless. Although Sesshoumaru wasn't quite sure to make of her, she certainly hadn't behaved as other humans he'd come across had upon meeting a full youkai so there must be something else to her that could be behind his half-brother's putting up with her even though she was so irritating. Another thing, she had been able to pull the Tetsusaiga free from it's holding when no one else had been able to do so. And, despite the aspersions Sesshoumaru cast on his father's judgment for choosing a human mate, he doubted his father was so lacking in sense that he'd allow the sword to be pulled free by any random human who was able to make it to that place. No, there was probably more to that girl than he had first thought. How else was she able to occupy his mind in a way that few, human or youkai, ever had?
Had she managed to put a spell on him?
It was a possibility that had arisen in his mind before but he thought it was highly unlikely that he, with his superior sensibilities, could be that taken unawares by a mere human, no matter what kind of hidden abilities she may have. No, he doubted very much that a spell of such a sort could be placed on him without his knowledge. For the most part, little of her actions whilst she had tended to him had gone unnoticed by his keen senses and he hadn't detected anything suspicious in her movements that would set off his honed survival instincts. She was harmless, just another foolish human that a great youkai such as he shouldn't bother himself with.
Then why did he keep thinking about her?
Perhaps it was because there was some part of him that, despite believing that a youkai never had to be beholden to a human no matter what the circumstances, felt he did owe her something for trying with her puny efforts to aid him. Though it was only a very small part, the idea seemed to be at the back of his mind.
Was it because of the ass-par-rin?
Those tiny pills he had taken from the bottle she had left behind had helped to assuage his pain though he was loath to admit it. Odd things they were, each one the same size and rounded with a preciseness that he'd never seen before outside of things created with magic or other special powers. But such things always left some sort of detectable taint that the pills had lacked, marking them as made with non-otherworldly efforts. Though that had made him suspicious, he reasoned that she would hardly go through the effort of trying so hard to help him, despite her obvious fear and disgust that came with the gruesome task, to undo all her efforts by trying to poison him afterwards with the little pills. So, once he was sure she was gone, he had taken a few and had been pleasantly surprised when he felt the pain receding a bit. But it hadn't worked fast enough to suit him so, once he had discerned no ill effects they might have had on his body, he'd gone against her directive and taken triple the amount that she had instructed him to.
After all, he was a youkai and of course knew better than a human did about what was best for him.
In any case, they had alleviated his pain for the couple of days he'd been there, enough time passing until he'd been able to move about on his own without his actions causing the bleeding to start again. Finally mobile, he had gone about as usual as the missing appendage was little hindrance to someone of his great abilities. Eventually, he had come across Jaken who, stupid vassal that he was, had somehow wound up searching for him in the opposite direction where Sesshoumaru had been sent to by Inuyasha's attack. Upon their reunion, Jaken had seen fit to apologize so profusely that Sesshoumaru had nearly been irritated enough by them that he had almost given in to the urge to violently dispose of the toad were it not for the fact that he had still not been completely healed and unnecessary movement would undoubtedly cause him pain that he was in no rush to embrace. Besides, a sharply worded command for silence had shut the toad up quickly enough before Sesshoumaru could develop a headache that, by that point, he would have had to endure since he had already finished off the contents of the bottle the human had left with him.
Thoughts of it had him resisting the urge to touch the yellow sash belted around his waist where the empty bottle was tucked away. Having made full use of the contents of the bottle, he'd felt oddly obligated somehow to return it even though he didn't really think he was beholden to the human in any other way even though the strange medicine had proved effective. Still, there was no denying the fact that thoughts of her would intrude upon him unexpectedly and he attributed it to the idea that his brand of honor was so fine that, even if she was a lowly human, he did at the very least owe her the return of what was left of her property.
What other reason was there?
Thus, he had left Jaken behind one day and journeyed closer to the village around which she had first come across his wounded form. He had stopped by a small pond nearby which bore few traces of the humans that lived nearby when he had sensed his half-brother coming closer to his location. Deeming it a nuisance to bother with the hanyou unnecessarily when the only thing he, Sesshoumaru, desired from him was the Tetsusaiga that he was unable to grasp due to his lack of human blood, he had concealed himself and, as any great strategist would, waited to observe the actions of the enemy to be stored away for future reference.
Yes, that was a brilliant tactic that any warrior of intelligence such as he was would take.
He had looked on with some surprise when the hanyou had burst onto the scene only to immediately conceal himself in the foliage of a tree. The surprise had turned to derision when the object of the hanyou's flight turned out to be the human girl whose property he had come to return. But the surprise had returned when the girl had suddenly looked in his direction where he was concealed by the bushes and had started towards him until the hanyou's cry had caused her to pause. It had puzzled him how the human had seemed to somehow sense his presence when his half-brother, who did possess some youkai blood that should have made even his hanyou senses keener than a mortal's, had not. Sesshoumaru had no explanation for it.
Other than that the hanyou was a complete idiot.
Hoping for revelations that would give him some explanation for his strange reactions to the human and answer his questions about what she was, he had observed the interaction between her and his half-brother with interest. Unfortunately, his observations had only managed to puzzle him even more as their talks of math and tests made it obvious that she was highly educated which was odd for women unless they were of elevated status. However, the way she seemed to gallivant around with his half-brother and threw herself boldly into dangerous situations, actions that no pampered female of high class would do, contradicted the elevated status that a superior education placed her in. Even her clothes were a contradiction as the bold colors and material that she wore indicated that they were finer than those of common people but the scantiness of her attire was something that a modest noble lady would never let herself be seen in.
Even stranger was how the human treated his half-brother. She yelled and argued with the hanyou as if they were equals when Sesshoumaru was positive that someone such as her, to whom all indications pointed to as being educated and, thus, possessing at least a small amount of intelligence, must be aware that she was greatly outmatched in physical strength and could easily be killed. And her voiced observation that the hanyou was as immature as a child had been testament to her intelligence and Sesshoumaru had been in complete agreement.
That is, until she had compared him to his half-brother.
Remembering how she had lumped all those bearing youkai blood together, putting he, the great Sesshoumaru, on the same level as his lowly half- brother, brought about a renewed surge of irritation. When he had heard her words, his control over his temper had loosened for a bit and he his hand, grasping one of the branches of the bushes that had been concealing him and holding it from blocking his view, had clenched and snapped off the leafy appendage. Surprised by his unconscious action, he had frozen as the human's head whipped towards the sound until she had been distracted with continuing her argument with his half-brother who still hadn't noticed anything amiss.
Truly, the hanyou was a fool.
But, still, he found it somewhat amazing that the puny human had fought verbally with his half-brother and had managed to subdue him with mention of 'the word,' whatever it was. Even so, it was surprising that the hanyou would hesitate to kill the irritant with the threat of a simple word being uttered. Obviously, the hanyou was weaker than even Sesshoumaru had originally thought to refrain from killing her when she was being so irritating and going so far as to hide from her in the first place. Sesshoumaru was confident that, were their positions reversed and she became too annoying, he would be able to kill her without a moment's hesitation.
Despite his inward derision at his half-brother's weakness towards the human girl, Sesshoumaru had continued to watch the odd way they argued. At times, aside from the obvious waves of hostility they radiated while they yelled, it almost seemed as though they took some sort of strange enjoyment from the interaction. After all, while he kept observing them, the human had started to laugh when there had been no cause for it as far as he could see. It had made him flash back briefly to when she had smiled at him when they had last parted, when he had told her that he would kill her if she got in the way upon their next meeting. The memory had disturbed him somehow as he watched her laugh and the angry aura around his half-brother had gradually dissipated. Eventually, they had appeared to relax in each other's company as, from his clear vantage point, he was able to observe the human's facial expression which had softened with some emotion towards the hanyou that Sesshoumaru couldn't quite decipher.
It had been strangely irritating.
He had left the clearing after they had gone, puzzling over his findings that had shed no more light on the topic of the odd mystery that seemed to surround the human. But his preoccupation with the human was still troubling and he wondered if he should kill her after all and stop these odd thoughts he was having. Still, there was the matter of returning the bottle to her. Perhaps he could return it and clear the miniscule bit of obligation his fine sense of honor felt towards her and then kill her.
Yes, that was an excellent solution.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Thoughts interrupted by Jaken's squawking cries, Sesshoumaru turned in the direction of the sound to see the toad rushing towards him over the rough terrain with a long, twisting length of wriggling flesh clutched in his hands. It was obviously one of the low-leveled snake-type youkai that burrowed underground and waited for weaker prey to come along and feast upon.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken stopped before him, panting and waving the snake youkai in his hand. "Look what I found!"
Sesshoumaru's look was cool. "Why would one such as I be interested in such a lowly beast?"
"Well, certainly this thing is far below Your Mightiness. I meant no insult." Jaken looked up at him. "But if My Lord still desires to wrest the Tetsusaiga away from his half-brother, then it would be best to procure as much information as possible about him so that a plan can be developed."
"And how can this," Sesshoumaru aimed a cold glance at the snake youkai that went stiff in fear, "be of help?"
"My Lord," Jaken said, dropping the snake youkai onto the ground, "he was here to witness Inuyasha's battle on these grounds. Perhaps we can discern just how much skill your half-brother has acquired with the Tetsusaiga through this thing's account of it."
"Yesssss," hissed the snake youkai, shaking in its anxiety to do anything that would make the feared Lord of the Western Lands spare its life. "I can tell you anything you desssire to know. Whatever it isssss."
"Just tell us about the battle that took place here," squawked Jaken, pointing at the thing imperiously and taking over the trying task of questioning it while his beloved lord listened on.
"Ah, yesssss," hissed the snake youkai, bobbing its head rapidly. "That wasss a great battle indeed; a fight to the death between the hanyou called Inuyasssha and the fierce lightning youkai brothersss, Hiten and Manten."
"We don't care about who Inuyasha fought!" Jaken shook an impatient fist at the slow speaking youkai. "Tell us about the battle!"
"It wasss a battle for the Ssshikon ssshards and the hisss human woman."
"Inuyasha's woman?!" Jaken squawked in surprise, flapping his arms. "Do mean to say that he's had the bad taste to mate with that human wench he travels with?" The last words were spit out with much distaste.
"Yesssss." The slithering form bobbed its head, worriedly weaving back and forth as it slithered in supplication at the feet of the youkai lord who, for some reason, was suddenly radiating a much more dangerous aura. "From what I was able to hear, the human is clearly Inuyasssha'sss woman."
"Well," Jaken snorted in disgust. "He is a hanyou after all." Jaken glared at the other youkai. "But what happened in the battle?"
"Inuyasssha wasss mossst impressssive asss he defeated the lightning youkai; firssst Hiten and then Manten."
"How did Inuyasha defeat them?" Jaken asked, eagerly awaiting knowledge that would reveal Inuyasha's skill with the sword to his beloved lord.
"Inuyasssha killed them." The snake youkai bobbed its head, satisfied with its explanation.
"How did he kill them?" Jaken's voice was impatient.
"With a sssword."
"How did he kill them with the sword?" Jaken was hopping mad now.
"That I am not sssure of."
"What?!" Jaken squawked. "How can you not be sure?!"
"I wasss underground." The form writhed, slithering in apology on the ground. "I did not sssee the battle fought, only heard."
"Then what good are you?" Jaken glared. "We should just dispose of worthless trash like you. You've provided nothing useful!"
"Pleassse, wait!" the lowly youkai pleaded. "Thisss Inuyasssha doesss have an obviousss weaknesss I was able to dissscover."
"Oh?" Jaken was skeptical. "What is it?"
"The woman." The snake youkai bobbed more. "Inuyasssha obviousssly holdsss great affection for her to risssk his life in sssuch a manner. Ssshe isss hisss great weaknessss, essspecially if the two are in love-"
The lowly youkai's words were abruptly cut off as a slashing claw rendered him to bits, sending flesh and blood splattering across a nearby Jaken who automatically jumped back with a surprised squawk. Stumbling back, Jaken tripped over a rock that sent him sprawling backwards to stare up in shock at his impassive beloved lord who stood there calmly.
"S-S-Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken stuttered haltingly, looking up at him with a questioning gaze that could discern nothing from the youkai lord's inscrutable features.
Without a word, the Great Lord of the Western Lands turned and calmly strode away, leaving a confused vassal behind to stare in bewilderment after his beloved lord.