Chapter 5:"The Beginning of a Journey"

"How exactly do you plan to rescue Lord Sesshomaru and all the others?" Kohaku asked wile following Rin to the 'weapons room'. Rin lightly ran over to a small door, opened it, and inside was a decent sized samurai sword. Rin took out the sword and unsheathed it. She spoke calmly to Kohaku, "I'm going to ride Ah-Un and follow close behind Miroku and Sango and those other demons and head towards the North where the mountain, which they say is where the dragon demons are."

Kohaku now becoming even more nervous, "And you're going to go in that kimono?" Kohaku gestured his head at the blue kimono with it's yellow flower designs on it. Rin became annoyed, "of course not, silly! I'm not some baka! I have a miko-type kimono with blue pants and a white shirt. It's easy to move and fight in I'll be wearing that."

She began to hurry up to her chamber. Kohaku, speechless watched her go then sighed heavily. He began to head outside.

A few moments later Rin came out in the miko outfit with the samurai sword in it's black sheathed tied around her waist with a blue ribbon. Kohaku had been standing holding Ah-Un's reigns patiently waiting just outside. Rin was surprised to see him holding Ah-Un and also his weapon with the chain. Rin walked up to him and took the reigns from Kohaku, "Arigato Kohaku. I can take it from here." Just as she mounted Ah-Un Kohaku jumped on behind her. "What'd you think you're dong, Kohaku?!"

Kohaku smiled sweetly, "You think I'd let you go on your own?" Rin groaned in annoyance, 'Men.' She thought to her self, 'Always thinking so highly of themselves'. With that Rin gave a command to Ah-Un and the two headed beast began to rise off the ground and fly over the castle walls.

Jinten saw them going and yelled at them to stop....but it was too late. They had reached out of sight. So Jinten absently waved his hand off at them in a 'forget-about-it' way and continued gathering up his men and giving orders. He'd do this till he heard other whys.


~~~
The seven demons were traveling at a fast pace with Sango and Miroku riding on Kilara with them. Isil spoke, "We shouldn't waste our energy running at too fast a pace. We should save our strength and walk. Running insanely will get us there no quicker." The others agreed and all slowed down to a more reasonable pace.

Kikai and Rokon walked in the back of the group taking to each other in too low of voices for Sango and Miroku's human ears to hear. The forest in which they walked through was filled with tall, magnificent trees who's branches were blessed with lush green leaves. The occasional movement of a small animal or even a small lowly demon dart through the bushes and other various plants of the forest. The air was cool as the light wind played with the demon's and human's hair. The sun light which seemed to creep it's way in between the leaves and branches seemed to give the illusion of it dancing in the air.

It was becoming far into the afternoon and as Maranwe gazed up through the trees, the sky was changing color. The sun was going down. Vijen noticed the light dissipating too, "It's becoming dark. To save us and the humans trouble we should rest." Sango spoke with kindness, "Oh no it's ok, we'll manage. We'll get there faster if we keep going."

"No he's right. We should rest during nighttime," Isil said calmly, "We'll stop here. Who wants to make a fire so that the humans don't freeze from the night cold?" Suddenly as Sango and Miroku got off Kilara they both began to realize just how fragile they both really were to these demons. Even though they both had good training, Sango being a demon exterminator and Miroku being a trained monk they still, in the eye's of these demons, were nothing more than helpless mortals. But Sango and Miroku were careful at not to let this bother them. For they would become too vulnerable if they did.

"I'll make a fire." said Rokon. He was a cat demon who was able to create fire, no where near as powerful as Ashaina, but powerful enough for protection. Kikai, Vijen, and Kikente went to gather fallen branches suitable enough to create a camp fire. Once the fire was up they all sat around it. Itarilde looked at Sango and Miroku sitting silently with each other. Miroku with his arm around Sango and Sango held Kilara (now in her little form) sleeping comfortably in her arms.

"Tell me..." Began Itarilde towards Sango and Miroku. Her face un-readable, "Why were you two so persistent in coming with us to fight these dragon demons and rescue our Lords and Ladies? You do know the risks, correct? Especially for mere humans such as yourself, you'll be killed with no doubt. Even if you are well trained in what ever it is you both are trained in. In truth you both shouldn't even be with us. A demonic war should has nothing to do with humans."

Sango and Miroku looked at the elvish demon, Itarilde. The other demons waited for their answer.

"Ashaina," Began Sango, "Is our friend and she took in Inu-Yasha and Kagome's daughter when they were killed. We all were friends and traveling companions. We helped each other defeat Naraku. We can't just sit around and do nothing when our only friend left in this world is out in heaven's knows where ever. Wouldn't be surprised if it WAS Hell where she and The others are at."

"So you see" Miroku began, "It would be dishonorable of us to do nothing. And I hope maybe sometime on this journey that you all will see that there's a lot more to us than you think and that we hope maybe we can forget our differences and actually become strong allies with each other." Miroku finished with a simple and calm tone which had the sense of intelligence in it as always.

Itarilde was the only one who gave a soft smile wile the others simply stared with their hard, cold expressions. "Domo Arigato for answering my question. It is always fascinating to me to see a human with such a will such as yourselves. That is not often seen in humans. And perhaps someday demons will understand humans and humans will understand demons.....but maybe not. However that does not matter now. What matters is that we destroy the dragon demons and rescue our Lords and Ladies from what ever it is the dragon demons plan to do to them."

Sango and Miroku nodded, relief over took them. "You two should sleep. Unlike demons, humans do need more rest." Maranwe said trying her best not to sound too arrogant, cause whether she liked it or not she was going to have to be nice to these humans. And so Sango and Miroku lied down, both falling into deep sleep.


~~~
Rin slowly opened her eye's to the bright morning and the sound of birds singing with a pleasant tune. Rin remembered the also pleasant dream she had had last night. She had dreamed she was 7 years old again and traveling with Lord Sesshomaru as she used to. Boy! Had she missed those days. Even though Lord Sesshomaru had often left her either on her own or with Jaken and Ah-Un to go off to do what ever it was that he did. She'd always wait patiently for him to return. She had dreamed she was running through the pink and white flowers. Laughing and giggling wile she had sang her song she had made up for Lord Sesshomaru.

Rin inwardly laughed as she remembered the silly little song she had sang for her Lord, her adoptive Father. She had always wondered what Sesshomaru had thought of her song. She could never tell with his always emotionless face. But she had gotten use to that. She was content with him that way.

Rin felt a thin blanket over her and she also felt someone lying next to her. Rin turned her head to see Kohaku's sleeping face EXTREMELY close to her own face. Rin felt her face grow very warm and turn red as she gave a little yelp and bolted up to scramble away from Kohaku. 'Why in the seven hells had he been sleeping that close to me!' She thought.

Her quick movements had awoken Kohaku and he bolted up right where he was looking a little frightened but then realized nothing was wrong, "Why did you jump up like that?" He asked Rin, "You gave me a fright!" Rin was dumb-founded, "*I* gave *you* a fright?!" Rin exclaimed, "Try waking up to a man sleeping next to you and you don't even know how he got there!!" She then looked at a perplex Kohaku and added rather skeptical, "And just what right do you think you have to be sleeping that close to me like that?!"

Rin was standing with her fists on her hips looking down at Kohaku, waiting for an answer. Kohaku feeling a little odd looked up at her then felt his own face beginning to blush so he looked away and answered, "I...uh...gomen nasai, Rin. You were asleep and I just fell asleep next to you...." "Well don't do it again!" snapped Rin, but then after a moments pause of silence Rin saw the hurt on Kohaku's face. Rin felt her stomach turn. Rin knelt down next to Kohaku. Kohaku did not look at her, instead he looked away at the grass-filled ground. "Hey, I'm sorry," Rin said kindly, "I shouldn't have yelled like that it's no big deal."

Rin began to feel worse when he didn't answer. Instead he stood up silently and walked over to Ah-Un, who had stand guard all night, took hold of the reigns and said quietly to Rin, "Come on, they probably have already taken off we better hurry or we'll loose them." His face was unreadable. Rin let out a small sigh with tiredness. "Hai." she said as she walked over to Kohaku and mounted Ah-Un wile Kohaku sat on the demon behind her. Rin and Kohaku couldn't tell where the demons, Sango and Miroku were but Rin had commanded Ah-Un to follow them himself(since Ah-Un was a demon) wile staying far behind the group. Soon they were traveling through the forests again.


~~~
The group had indeed already been on the rode again. The forest they were traveling in had opened up a bit more into a wider path. The early morning sun was once again creeping pass the tree branches and leaves. Rays of golden sunlight could be seen along with small dust particles that moved in an almost systematic way.

Wile they walked they all could hear the chirping of birds and the small scurrying noises of rodents. The wind was descent and the trees swayed a bit.

Suddenly all this stopped. Everything went dead quiet and everything seemed to froze. Both the demons and the two humans stopped abruptly sensing something was wrong. Then a vicious roar pierced the air like a thousand daggers.
It was a dragon. A dragon with it's being that rode it.

The group bolted in the direction of the horrific sound. All had their weapons ready. Sango and Miroku rode Kilara. The then found themselves in a large opening in the forest and that's where they saw what was happening...

"Rin!!!!! Kohaku!!!!!" Miroku and Sango yelled in both fear and dumbstruck surprise. There was a dragon being ridden by his' female dragon demon who was whipping her chain at Rin and Kohaku. Rin was still on Ah-Un who she was flying and as Ah-Un sent an energy blast at the dragon stunning them for a moment. Kohaku managed to whip his own chain around the dragon's long neck.

But to no avail. The dragon demon wrenched the chain loose and her dragon was free again and she charged at Kohaku. But the dragon demon did not see the giant boomerang coming towards them. "Hiroukutso!!!" Sango bellowed with all her strength as she flung the boomerang at the dragon which hit it in the head.

Both the dragon demon and the dragon hissed in the group's direction. That's when Rin and Kohaku realized they were found out. Rokon threw a blast of ice daggers at the dragon injuring it. The dragon breathed fire at them but they dodged the attach. Itarilde then chanted in a language unknown to the others except the other two elf demons. And Itarilde sent a gigantic wave of green poison at the dragon killing it instantly.

"That dragon was surprisingly week compared to the ones we fought back at Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Ashaina's castle." quirked Maranwe.

"Indeed the dragon and his rider were weaker." agreed Miroku stepping forward. Sango then glared at Rin and Kohaku who were standing side by side, Ah-Un behind the, both looking as guilty as they were.

"What in the world are you two doing here!" Sango exclaimed. She looked from Rin to Kohaku, "Kohaku I told you before I left that you were stay with Rin and keep her safe at the castle. I should be able to trust you!"

"Sango, it wasn't his fault! It was mine....I wanted to go and help stop the dragon demons and rescue Lord Sesshomaru, Lady Ashaina and the others! If there's someone you must be mad at it's me. Kohaku just came along cause he wanted to protect me and I was too stubborn to stay at the castle." "I want you to go straight back to the castle! Both of you!" said Sango sternly, "You have no idea of the danger you're in! You both could have been KILLED!"

"Please let us come!" Rin pleaded with all her heart, "I'm strong! I promise I won't be in the way...." "We don't care if you're in the way Rin," said Miroku calmly but stern, "we just don't want you or Kohaku to get hurt or even worse, killed. It is best if you stay at the castle."

Rin wasn't going to stand for this, "I'm not going to back up and stand behind everyone else and expect to be protected! I'm going to come with you all to the dragon demon place where ever in all the hells it is and defeat the dragon demons and Rescue Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Ashaina!! Why?!!! Cause they are my foster parents and I love them!! I'm not going to just sit and wait at some stupid castle as if everything is going to be alright!! And No matter how dangerous or life threatening it is I'm going to come with you! And there is NOTHING that will stop me!!!"

Rin finished breathing heavily from her little speech she so bravely gave. Isil gave a smirk, "Well since you are so determined to come and since you truly believe you are strong than by all means come with us." Everyone was surprised by this. Including Rin.

Maranwe then said quite annoyed, "Oh great! Just what we need! More humans to take care of!" Sango was very reluctant but she allowed Rin and Kohaku to come. "I can not believe I'm letting you two to come." said a bewildered Sango, "You just better hope Sesshomaru doesn't get to mad." Rin giggled, "I'll take the blame, Sango." Sango gave out a heavy sigh.

They all turned towards the direction of the great mountain to the North. The sky seemed to glow red only around the mountain. The Mountain where the demon dragons were seemed to always be shadowed.

"Well," said Isil, "Guess this is the beginning of our journey. And a dangerous one at that."

"Yes it is." replied Rin, "Yes it is."