Riding above the earth on Ah-Un, having left Rin and Jaken in the forest somewhere, Sesshoumaru caught the scent of humans. He could hear them speaking-
"- and I killed the bastard. His head came clean off. He had a nice sword, though, so I took it-"
"- I heard there was a youkai around somewhere...you think we could find him and take him on?"
"I'm sure we'd win!"
Sesshoumaru jumped from Ah-Un and landed right in the middle of their camp. "So, you think that you can win against a youkai, you say?"
The men looked at him warily. Then one idiot stepped forward, obviously having had a bit too much sake for his own good.
"Yesh, we could win against any *hic* youkai that came around here. We're the most *hic* powerful bandits around!" The man then stepped right up to Sesshoumaru and belched in his face.
"Disgusting human." He summoned his energy whip and sliced the man's head off before he ever knew that it was coming.
The rest of the bandits made a generally frightened noise.
"Anyone else think that they can beat me?"
The men all cowered, and then one of them was struck with an idea. "L-lord...if you will spare us...you may have our-our c-c-concubine..."
A dirty woman with unkempt black hair wearing a bedraggled blue kimono was dragged out of a tent and kicked at him.
Sesshoumaru glared at the men. How could humans be this cruel to their own kind...Not that he cared. It was just a woman.
He sighed. "You have amused me enough for now." He then took out the Tokijin and killed every man in front of him with one swipe of the powerful sword.
The woman cowered at his feet, looking pitiful. "Thank you," she whispered softly, fearfully.
He turned and walked away.
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For the next few days, he could feel that he was being followed. He could smell that it was the woman he had saved, but paid her no attention.
Rin ran out from behind a tree and tried to surprise him. "BOO!" she half-shrieked in her young voice. He rolled her eyes at her. Children could be so annoying sometimes...
Jaken followed up behind her. "Lord Sesshoumaru, where have you been?"
"Not that it is your place to ask me, Jaken, but I was out riding Ah-Un when I decided to kill some worthless human bandits."
"Oh. Well, Rin has been quite unbearably hyper while you have been gone."
"And?" Sesshoumaru did not care at the moment if Jaken did not enjoy his job as watcher of the child. He was more concerned with why the woman was still following him.
That night, as Rin and Jaken slept, Sesshoumaru stayed awake, feigning sleep to attract the woman.
She poked her head out into the clearing where they were sleeping, and he stood up, causing the woman to run away. He casually followed her, until he reached her, sitting under a tree looking afraid.
"Woman, why are you still following me?" he asked her in an annoyed yet slightly curious tone.
"I...because you saved me. I think that I owe you something...since you rescued me from those bandits."
"I did not rescue you. I merely killed them."
"But you spared my life, lord youkai..."
"Fine. If you think that you owe me something, you may come back with me. I may find some use for you. My name is Sesshoumaru, not youkai." He thought of making her watch Rin-chan so that Jaken would stop his useless whining.
"I- I am Kanashii, Sesshoumaru-sama," came her answer, quiet and respectful.
When they reached Jaken and Rin, asleep, Kanashii curled up on the ground and fell asleep as well. Sesshoumaru leaned against a tree and let himself sleep, finally relaxing now that he knew that the woman was not trying to be a threat to him.
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The next morning, Kanashii woke up to find Sesshoumaru staring at her oddly. I can smell something familiar on this woman...
She stretched and looked at Rin and Jaken. Hm. An ugly creature and a little girl... Rin sat up as Kanashii looked at her, piping in her little voice, "Good morning, Lord Sesshoumaru! Who is this woman?" she asked, pointing.
Kanashii stared at the girl. No...it couldn't be...
"Rin-chan, this is Kanashii. She is going to be traveling with us for a while."
Kanashii gasped. Rin...
Jaken woke up at the noise around him to see Kanashii. "Sesshoumaru? Who is this human woman?"
"Kanashii. She is going to be staying with us."
"Why-"
"Because I wish for her to," came Sesshoumaru's curt response.
So when he killed those bandits...he saved a woman? Jaken was very surprised at his master's actions.
Kanashii looked up at Sesshoumaru as Rin had run off to relieve herself in the bushes.
"Sesshoumaru...is that...that girl- you called her- Rin?"
"Yes, that is the name she told me when she regained her voice."
Kanashii's eyes welled up with tears. She whispered, "Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin is my daughter."
He was struck. "Your daughter? I have cared for this girl since her village was destroyed by wolves, as was she, and I brought her back to life. Once she learned how to speak again, she told me that her family had been killed long before by bandits."
"Yes, my husband and her brother were killed, and I suppose she thought that I had been, too, since I disappeared. The bandits carried me off and treated me as their personal whore for months. I couldn't get away, and I thought that my entire family was dead, so there was really no incentive to try very hard. When you came upon us and saved me...I was overjoyed, but I thought that nothing of my old life was still here. When I saw Rin, I thought that the gleam in her eyes seemed familiar..."
He smiled very slightly. "So now you expect her back."
Kanashii dropped her head and looked worried. "Well...I...I would like her back...I mean..."
Sesshoumaru loked at her coldly. "I have taken care of her, she is like a daughter to me now. Would you take that away from both of us?"
"Well, I- no, but I want to be with my daughter!"
Sesshoumaru turned from her to think.
Rin is like my daughter...but IS hers. She is a very beautiful- NO. She is a human. Rin is the one and only human who I will ever let near me- A voice in the back of his head whispered, Then why did you save this woman? His youkai self came back with, I didn't save her! I was going to kill her, I just didn't with all of them because...because...The reasonable voice returned. Because you have lived a lonely life for long enough, and you thought that this beautiful woman seemed to have a sort of connection to you. What could be better than raising Rin-chan with her real mother?
He turned back to her.
"There...may be a way that you can have Rin...and so can I."
Kanashii's smile wavered. Sesshoumaru supposed that she had guessed what he meant.
She doesn't seem to like the idea...
"You-you can't marry Rin. She's far too young for that!"
Sesshoumaru let out a rare laugh. "No...Kanashii...I did not intend to marry Rin..."
Kanashii's eyes widened. "O-Oh."
He turned and walked away. "I'll be in the forest. You may consider my offer and then find me."
Kanashii collapsed to the ground, her tattered blue kimono rumpling as she sat in an odd sort of kneeling position. Lord Sesshoumaru is a demon...I could never...But he's got Rin...
She walked into the woods, resolved in what she would do.
A/N: So this is my first writing of Sesshoumaru, is he in character? Please R/R, tell me what you think!