Disclaimer: Came Christmas and I still have nothing…
AN: Merry Christmas everybody!! Or Hanukah, or whatever it is you all celebrate…
just have a happy holiday!! I'm sorry to be posting this stuff up on Christmas,
since it's not the Christmas spirit… but can't be skipping updates now, can I?
Well, enough with the rambling, on with the chapter!!
Icari
Chapter 22
Rin turned quickly at the groan from Sesshomaru's
direction. He was waking up again… maybe this time he would listen to her when
she said not to sit up too quickly. Might as well go over and help him.
"Kagome, Sango, Sesshomaru's waking up,
and I have to go help him." She gave them a smile and ran over to her master,
and mate. He was about to sit up again. He just didn't learn.
"Lord Sesshomaru-sama!! You might not
want to do that!" He stayed that time, and kept on the ground. Turning his head
towards her, Sesshomaru noticed the two ladies behind her, alone.
"Where is everyone?" Rin giggled and sat
beside him, changing the wet cloth on his forehead.
"They went hunting. Just Kagome, Sango,
and I are here…. Of course, you too but…" She pulled some damp hairs out of his
face and checked his forehead. The slight fever was gone, and he would be
alright within minutes.
As she worked, he watched her expertly
moving her hands. The pack had taught her this in the few weeks that she had
grown, and there was already a more mature air about her, though still
youthful. Still, he really was beginning to regret staying with the group; the
repressed memories were coming back to him, ever so slowly. Yet, he didn't need
to remember those days, not his mother, or his father, or how his sister had
been taken away from him…
"Rin." His large, clawed hand covered
hers, making her look, a bit shocked, at his face. "I'm thinking about leaving
the pack."
Her eyes shot wide, and she looked over
at the two ladies talking by the fire. "But Sesshomaru, why?" It wasn't fair…
she had just gotten used to having people around to talk to where or whenever.
"Things have gotten complicated lately,
Rin, ever since we first saw my sister a few weeks back. It's not what I want to
live like, and so, we're leaving. He looked at her face, and saw that she didn't
want to leave, but he had his mind made up. He wasn't going to stay here.
"But, Sesshomaru… didn't you try this
before? It didn't work, why would you want to leave again?" She got no answer,
and saw that he was hiding something from her. Was it the depression that Icari
was talking about? How long would it last? Would she ever get the chance to
live like this again?
"I'll talk to Icari when she comes back
and let her know we're going. You can say your goodbyes or whatever it is you
like to the others. We'll be gone by nightfall tomorrow."
"Sesshomaru, what is it? What's
bothering you so much that you won't tell me?" He was ignoring her, but she was
persistent. He was asking her to leave her friends!
"It's nothing." His golden eyes darted
up to the darkening sky, and the scent of the others was beginning to show
itself. "They're coming back now, I'm going to talk to Icari." He sat up,
brushing past Rin, without much trouble. He was healthy again, so he stood up
and made his way into the foliage.
Rin watched helplessly as he walked into
the cover of the trees, and never noticed the soft footsteps until Sango spoke.
"Rin, is there something wrong?" Tears
sprung to the girl's eyes and she launched herself into the demon exterminator's
arms.
"Lord Sesshomaru… he wishes to leave
everyone, and travel in the pack we had had before." Sango nodded, and stroked
the girl's back comfortingly. What else was she to do?
"Do you wish to leave?"
"No, of course not, but I can't just
leave him! He's my…" she stopped, not sure if the slayer knew, but she nodded.
"I understand."
*~*~*~*~*
"Lady Icari, calm down." Yasuo sat
against an old tree, and watched as the dog demon paced. Her brother was
cooking their deer with the monk, slayer, miko and kitsune as the older brother
talked quietly with the girl in the floral kimono and the green midget thing.
He had just told Icari about leaving, and she had over-reacted.
"No, I will not calm down, Yasuo. My big
brother is leaving me with a difficult choice here!" She flexed her claws in
frustration and slashed at a nearby tree. It fell almost instantly, causing a
flock of birds to fly out of it.
The motions made Yasuo smile a bit,
remembering back to the days before all of this. She had always trusted him
enough to tell him everything, and that trust was beginning to build back up
again. Although, it had never been in an air of awkwardness before. "How about
you at least try?"
She growled dangerously at him, telling
him to shut up. "I cannot calm down if my brother suddenly decides to leave! I'm
his sister, and, younger or older, I care and worry for the both of them.
"If I go with one, who knows what the
other will run into? What if the either of them run into Naraku when I'm not
there? Lord knows they can fend for themselves, but they're protecting others
too."
"Naraku is apparently after your younger
brother, so why not stay with him?" Quite frankly, he didn't care. His job was
to protect Lady Icari, and that was his only priority right now.
"Yes, but Sesshomaru is insecure, and no
matter how old Rin looks, she's still a child, and cannot do this all by herself." He wasn't about to ask
what that had meant, but he had the feeling that it had something to do with
the Tensinshi, and that girl not originally being in that form.
"Then go with him." Icari stopped and
sputtered.
"You just said that Inuyasha was being targeted
by Naraku! From what he heard, and since I only battled his spawn, he's more
than just a handful." She just wasn't going to make up her mind…
"Take turns with them?"
"Do you have any idea how far away from
each other they could be??" She was turning down every single one of his
suggestions… What now? "I got it." Icari announced triumphantly, though, Yasuo
noticed, not completely to her liking.
"Inuyasha!" As he watched, she turned on
her heel and stalked towards the younger of her two brothers. With a sigh,
Yasuo brushed a hand through his purple hair and followed her.
*~*~*~*~*
"What!?" Kagome covered Shippo's ears as
Shippo covered hers from his spot on top of her head. Sango and Miroku did
their own, neither being close enough to touch the other, on Sango's doing. It
was close to morning now, since Icari had lost her courage and stalled for a
bit.
"Inuyasha! Calm down and take a few
breaths. You know what happened last time we had this conversation." The said
hanyou's golden eyes turned to Kagome, who was still covering Shippo's head
with her hands.
"But why do you want to go with him?" He
wanted to add more, but he knew that Icari was not very patent today.
"Inuyasha, it is the hardest thing for
me to choose, you know that? But Sesshomaru's got his hands full, and I worry
for him. Everyone in your group is pretty, strong, and you all will take care
of each other…"
"Except Myouga." Inuyasha muttered under
his breath, but knowing his sister had heard him.
"Listen, we'll meet up again someday, I
promise that, but please, just try to understand that no matter how it seems, I
love you just as much as him, and I don't favor the either, but I have to go
with him for now."
"But when is someday?" He was whining
now, as much as he didn't want to be, but he was. Icari placed a gentle hand on
his cheek, and smiled at him, some kind of pride in her eyes.
"Some day soon, I hope." She hugged him
tightly, and went on to hug the rest of the group, except for Miroku, whose
hand she simply shook. As she backed away from the last person, Yasuo came up
to her, holding the last sword and the four talismans.
"Inuyasha, Keep the fourth sword and the
two talismans that go along with it. Sesshomaru and I are going to hold on to
the other two. Be wary of what happens around you, I want to hear a few more
clues and a couple of stories next time we meet up, okay?"
"Alright…" Inuyasha muttered, but perked
up ad Kagome's hands wrapped around him from behind.
"Say goodbye properly, Inuyasha." She
sounded like she was reprimanding a little boy, making Inuyasha feel childish,
but he listened anyways. With a forced smile, he started to do a special howl,
one that his sister had made up with him when they were kids. Starting with a
high note, the howl went lower, until suddenly ending off with a high note. She
smiled, and did her own, except it was the opposite.
"Odd enough goodbye." Shippo muttered as
they finished. Inuyasha made to stomp on the kitsune, until there was a loud
shriek from the bushes, where Rin had disappeared into earlier.
Sesshomaru ran in, before walking
hurriedly away with an uncharacteristic blush on his face. He muttered
something to Icari before she ran in, with laughing as she did so. Inuyasha and
Shippo both sniffed the air, before turning away with their own blushes.
"What is it?" Kagome eyed the two.
"Poor Sesshomaru!" Shippo exclaimed, and
Inuyasha snickered.
"What is it?" Sango echoed Kagome's
earlier question with slightly a bit more force. Shippo and Inuyasha eyed each other,
then stuck their index fingers together in a guilty fashion.
"Well…" Shippo started.
"You know that one time…" Inuyasha continued.
"That, you know…" Kagome and Sango both
realized what they were implying and blushed too, but Miroku was still
clueless.
"What??" The rest simply shook their
heads and walked off, making the monk run after them, repeating the same
question over and over again. Nearly an hour later, he stopped and fell to the
ground laughing, making them all stop.
*~*~*~*~*
I was wondering where to put that last
scene… anyways! The fluid-ness of the story had really stumped for a while
there, and I finally figure out what I'm gonna do
about it. The next chapter takes place a year from this on, when they next meet
up. Now, I can finally concentrate on just the swords, and Icari and Yasuo's
relationship. See you next update! (oh, and the voting
will be on for a while)
A) 5 votes
B) 2 Votes
C) 0 votes.