~~CHAPTER 2~~
~The Borderlands:
The first thing that registered in Sango's mind was the taste. The taste of blood, coppery and foul in her mouth. She blinked groggily and tried to force herself up to get a drink of water to rinse out the taste-and collapsed back onto her pallet, almost blacking out.
She lay a moment and tried to remember exactly what was going on. There was a sharp, slicing pain radiating around her core and she could barely see through the red clouding her vision. She blinked to clear her vision, remembering her training. A blind knight was less useful than a dead one.
She slowly sat up, looking around her. She was in her tent; stripped of her armor but-silently she offered a thankful prayer to her god- not of her tunic or leggings. She knew she needed medical treatment if she was going to continue fighting, and sitting and nursing her wounds wasn't much help to her battalion.
Her stomach growled loudly and she realized that some of her strength would come back with food and water. She licked her cracked lips, thinking of how wonderful the water would taste, and how it would rinse out the blood. She slowly levered herself upright and unsteadily limped out the door, hoping to regain the feeling in her left leg soon.
The camp was nearly deserted, she noted, and it was dark. She must have woken up sometime in the middle of the night, she realized despairingly. She'd hoped to get news from someone, but that didn't look possible just then. She sighed. I hope there's some food somewhere, she thought. Or at least some water the horses don't have first claim to.
She pushed aside the flap for the mess tent and hobbled inside, clutching her side. She must have been wounded pretty badly, but she didn't remember getting the wound. She remembered fighting with an adversarial soldier, and finally unslinging Hiraikotsu and attacking. She loved her giant bone boomerang, it was one-of-a-kind as far as she knew, and it had saved her ass more times than she could count. Then she remembered a strange sensation at her back-and waking up with a foul taste in her mouth.
She found some bread and cheese and nibbled while taking large gulps from a half-empty flagon of poor-quality wine. When she was done, she felt stronger and more alive than she had before. She felt well enough to inspect her wound, and did so.
She gasped when she saw it. She hadn't expected that it would be that bad. After all, it really didn't hurt enough for it to look so bloody and mangled. She wet a rag and set her jaw, preparing herself to wipe away the blood. She felt a rush of pain like she'd expected to, but she was more sickened by the way her skin seemed to shift and slide where the gash was. She wondered again how she'd been cut, she'd thought her fellows were at her back.
She was wrong, she decided as she limped back to her tent to get some clean rags to bind her injury. She walked carefully so as not to jar her body, concentrating on the ground and on replaying the battle scene in her mind. She hated to see death, and she hated to cause it even more, but most of her foes had been demons, and she could handle their deaths, if it was for a good cause. But something just didn't sit right with her about how she'd gotten the gash in her side. She puzzled over it as she made her painful way back to her tent, and failed to notice that a light was on in one of the tents. It was after lights out, and it was prohibited to have the telltale glow on in one's tent after hours.
~
The general paced his tent, debating whether he should send his letter or not. The Lady Knight had in actuality shown exemplary courage and fighting skills, but if he let her set a precedent soon his camp would be overrun with women. And that wasn't the way of things, to have ladies underfoot, needing to be catered to in the middle of a battlefield.
He felt quilt, as any good Christian man should, but he also knew it was for the best. She would be happier at home, settled down with a family to raise, as a woman should. How could he feel that what he was doing was wrong if it was just the natural way of things? He had lied shamelessly about her conduct and adeptness with weapons, and said she had been a betrayer, it was true. But still, she was the first female to become a knight, and he had to squash it.
If it became a fad, he would soon be overrun with giggling females who found it fashionable to pretend they could fight. Yes, it's the only way. It will save the country, he thought. And his homeland and his king came before anything else in his life. So he said that the woman was a disrespectful harlot with a glib tongue and a disregard for the safety of her group, and that she had betrayed their whereabouts for coin, it made no difference. To save the world, truths could be altered. And so he twisted reality, reversed it, and sent off the evidence to his King, to do with it what he saw fit.
And in the morning, he told himself; he would get the woman to clear out. She could make the ride back to her Keep with the scratch he had given her, he hadn't cut her that deeply. And the sooner she was proven a failure, the sooner he could set the world straight again. She had failed on her probation. It was now illegal for women to become knights; she'd been the one to prove that. He'd made sure of it. And in the morning, regardless of her condition, he was clearing her out.
~ Sesshomaru was worried. He couldn't get to sleep as his thoughts seemed to nearly tumble through his head, completely the opposite of their usual conduct. As the lord of the western lands (his father still controlled the manor but he'd relinquished the lands to his eldest son) he knew he shouldn't care about a pathetic human. But he was struck by the unfairness of what had happened to the Lady Knight.
He'd heard the general talking with one of the other soldiers and with his sensitive ears he'd heard everything. The man was writing a letter to the crown prince that said that Lady Sango had betrayed the army and lacked scruples or fighting skills. He'd made the woman out to be some kind of traitorous harlot, which was exactly the opposite of the truth.
Sango was brave, gracious and had a keen sense of right and wrong. Like some humans, she disliked killing, but still she did it, and did it well for her country and for her honor. She hadn't shirked in battle and the general had struck her down from behind, after he betrayed their location. And now she was to be sent home in disgrace in the morning without more than a day to rest, and her wound untended. He would be easy prey for travelers, and she would be lucky if she survived long enough to be attacked by bandits.
He normally didn't care about humans, knowing that they were low-level scum. It was bad enough that he'd weakened and opened his heart to Rin, although he wouldn't give up his foster-daughter for anything. He didn't need to look any further than their treatment of the Lady knight to know that people were weak and pathetic, always afraid that they could be overpowered. Nonetheless, he decided that in the morning he would take Sango to his father's castle to heal her wounds. It was the least he could do for her, after she'd shown such an admirable spirit. A warrior's spirit, so very rare among the human race. And she didn't deserve to be treated that way. It grated on his nerves. Hardly anything ever grated on his nerves, and he was always surprised when he felt the need to right a wrong. He had no qualms taking the house of a lazy peasant, or their food for the winter if they under-produced. But he didn't go back on his word, or compromise his honor. And unlike his general, he didn't compromise the honor of others. Honor was sacred.
In the morning, he would make sure she was safe. Even if it meant disobeying his orders and taking her to his manor, he would make sure that bastard didn't take everything from her. She was a fellow warrior, and he was duty bound to help her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, I know it's a little short and melodramatic, and Sesshomaru's kinda OOC but I'm trying!
And also to my ONLY reviewer (shame on you all!) NO!! Kouga's not wacko-I love that insane jerk!
And im sorry I took this long to update I'm kinda sorta grounded and this is the first chance I got to sneak down and finish-don't forget about me!!
^_^
Keep-castle; manor
~The Borderlands:
The first thing that registered in Sango's mind was the taste. The taste of blood, coppery and foul in her mouth. She blinked groggily and tried to force herself up to get a drink of water to rinse out the taste-and collapsed back onto her pallet, almost blacking out.
She lay a moment and tried to remember exactly what was going on. There was a sharp, slicing pain radiating around her core and she could barely see through the red clouding her vision. She blinked to clear her vision, remembering her training. A blind knight was less useful than a dead one.
She slowly sat up, looking around her. She was in her tent; stripped of her armor but-silently she offered a thankful prayer to her god- not of her tunic or leggings. She knew she needed medical treatment if she was going to continue fighting, and sitting and nursing her wounds wasn't much help to her battalion.
Her stomach growled loudly and she realized that some of her strength would come back with food and water. She licked her cracked lips, thinking of how wonderful the water would taste, and how it would rinse out the blood. She slowly levered herself upright and unsteadily limped out the door, hoping to regain the feeling in her left leg soon.
The camp was nearly deserted, she noted, and it was dark. She must have woken up sometime in the middle of the night, she realized despairingly. She'd hoped to get news from someone, but that didn't look possible just then. She sighed. I hope there's some food somewhere, she thought. Or at least some water the horses don't have first claim to.
She pushed aside the flap for the mess tent and hobbled inside, clutching her side. She must have been wounded pretty badly, but she didn't remember getting the wound. She remembered fighting with an adversarial soldier, and finally unslinging Hiraikotsu and attacking. She loved her giant bone boomerang, it was one-of-a-kind as far as she knew, and it had saved her ass more times than she could count. Then she remembered a strange sensation at her back-and waking up with a foul taste in her mouth.
She found some bread and cheese and nibbled while taking large gulps from a half-empty flagon of poor-quality wine. When she was done, she felt stronger and more alive than she had before. She felt well enough to inspect her wound, and did so.
She gasped when she saw it. She hadn't expected that it would be that bad. After all, it really didn't hurt enough for it to look so bloody and mangled. She wet a rag and set her jaw, preparing herself to wipe away the blood. She felt a rush of pain like she'd expected to, but she was more sickened by the way her skin seemed to shift and slide where the gash was. She wondered again how she'd been cut, she'd thought her fellows were at her back.
She was wrong, she decided as she limped back to her tent to get some clean rags to bind her injury. She walked carefully so as not to jar her body, concentrating on the ground and on replaying the battle scene in her mind. She hated to see death, and she hated to cause it even more, but most of her foes had been demons, and she could handle their deaths, if it was for a good cause. But something just didn't sit right with her about how she'd gotten the gash in her side. She puzzled over it as she made her painful way back to her tent, and failed to notice that a light was on in one of the tents. It was after lights out, and it was prohibited to have the telltale glow on in one's tent after hours.
~
The general paced his tent, debating whether he should send his letter or not. The Lady Knight had in actuality shown exemplary courage and fighting skills, but if he let her set a precedent soon his camp would be overrun with women. And that wasn't the way of things, to have ladies underfoot, needing to be catered to in the middle of a battlefield.
He felt quilt, as any good Christian man should, but he also knew it was for the best. She would be happier at home, settled down with a family to raise, as a woman should. How could he feel that what he was doing was wrong if it was just the natural way of things? He had lied shamelessly about her conduct and adeptness with weapons, and said she had been a betrayer, it was true. But still, she was the first female to become a knight, and he had to squash it.
If it became a fad, he would soon be overrun with giggling females who found it fashionable to pretend they could fight. Yes, it's the only way. It will save the country, he thought. And his homeland and his king came before anything else in his life. So he said that the woman was a disrespectful harlot with a glib tongue and a disregard for the safety of her group, and that she had betrayed their whereabouts for coin, it made no difference. To save the world, truths could be altered. And so he twisted reality, reversed it, and sent off the evidence to his King, to do with it what he saw fit.
And in the morning, he told himself; he would get the woman to clear out. She could make the ride back to her Keep with the scratch he had given her, he hadn't cut her that deeply. And the sooner she was proven a failure, the sooner he could set the world straight again. She had failed on her probation. It was now illegal for women to become knights; she'd been the one to prove that. He'd made sure of it. And in the morning, regardless of her condition, he was clearing her out.
~ Sesshomaru was worried. He couldn't get to sleep as his thoughts seemed to nearly tumble through his head, completely the opposite of their usual conduct. As the lord of the western lands (his father still controlled the manor but he'd relinquished the lands to his eldest son) he knew he shouldn't care about a pathetic human. But he was struck by the unfairness of what had happened to the Lady Knight.
He'd heard the general talking with one of the other soldiers and with his sensitive ears he'd heard everything. The man was writing a letter to the crown prince that said that Lady Sango had betrayed the army and lacked scruples or fighting skills. He'd made the woman out to be some kind of traitorous harlot, which was exactly the opposite of the truth.
Sango was brave, gracious and had a keen sense of right and wrong. Like some humans, she disliked killing, but still she did it, and did it well for her country and for her honor. She hadn't shirked in battle and the general had struck her down from behind, after he betrayed their location. And now she was to be sent home in disgrace in the morning without more than a day to rest, and her wound untended. He would be easy prey for travelers, and she would be lucky if she survived long enough to be attacked by bandits.
He normally didn't care about humans, knowing that they were low-level scum. It was bad enough that he'd weakened and opened his heart to Rin, although he wouldn't give up his foster-daughter for anything. He didn't need to look any further than their treatment of the Lady knight to know that people were weak and pathetic, always afraid that they could be overpowered. Nonetheless, he decided that in the morning he would take Sango to his father's castle to heal her wounds. It was the least he could do for her, after she'd shown such an admirable spirit. A warrior's spirit, so very rare among the human race. And she didn't deserve to be treated that way. It grated on his nerves. Hardly anything ever grated on his nerves, and he was always surprised when he felt the need to right a wrong. He had no qualms taking the house of a lazy peasant, or their food for the winter if they under-produced. But he didn't go back on his word, or compromise his honor. And unlike his general, he didn't compromise the honor of others. Honor was sacred.
In the morning, he would make sure she was safe. Even if it meant disobeying his orders and taking her to his manor, he would make sure that bastard didn't take everything from her. She was a fellow warrior, and he was duty bound to help her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, I know it's a little short and melodramatic, and Sesshomaru's kinda OOC but I'm trying!
And also to my ONLY reviewer (shame on you all!) NO!! Kouga's not wacko-I love that insane jerk!
And im sorry I took this long to update I'm kinda sorta grounded and this is the first chance I got to sneak down and finish-don't forget about me!!
^_^
Keep-castle; manor