Auruyasha: sniffles I... I got something in my eye.

Bankotsu: Just tell them that you're crying because you can't beat Nightmare on Devil May Cry.

Auruyasha: glares and sniffs Just because that's true doesn't mean that I'm crying. Now shut up and do the disclaimer.

Bankotsu: grumbles Fine... Auruyasha only owns Angie and Alex Warr, and not the Inuyasha cast.

Chapter 2: Sunken Forest

Sesshoumaru sat before the fire that Jaken had prepared for the long, cold night ahead, with his charge, Rin, having already fallen asleep next to him. He sighed and reflected back upon the events of the day, lingering on that one vision of the girl with strange hair that looked to be neither youkai, nor any human species he was familiar with.

He sighed, which was very unlike him, and looked down at Rin's angelic sleeping face. She was a human, yet she was not afraid of him, even at their first meeting, she'd only helped him. He'd sensed Rin's good nature with the emotional smell radiating off her, and what he'd smelled off of the strange human girl had been similar, yet somehow different. She'd smelled like a person waiting for her life to end, but still wanted to make sure others were all right. He could tell she was a normally selfless girl, much like Rin was...

Maybe that girl is Rin in another form? Or perhaps a family relation . . . I doubt both those prospects. Anyhow, if I were to meet that girl, I'd take her for Rin's surrogate mother so that Jaken can get back to more important business besides babysitting my charge.

Having made up his mind, he stared back into the fire, wondering where that infuriating toad had gotten too, when, all of a sudden, a light body landed on top of his head, sending him face first into the hot ash surrounding the fire bed.

He shot up, knocking the body off him and brushed the ash from his face, growling all the while at whom would dare to send the Lord of the Western Lands into a fire pit. He turned around, blinking to clear his eyes of the hot ash.

"Shit! It's cold here!" The person who'd fallen on him exclaimed, clutching a strange garment about her shoulders that looked to be red, puffy, and slightly woolen on the inside. He blinked again as he noticed her facial traits that did not coincide with the humans around here. Her eyes were open wider, with a slight almond shape to them, and they were so dark they seemed almost black. Her hair was a dark brown color, with a faint touch of red, black, and yellow. It was short and fluffy at the nape of her neck, long and straight at the top of head. She looked very strange, but at the same time a refreshing sight to the normal annoying humans that inhabited the area.

Also, he noticed, was that her smell was not of normal humans. He knew of only two humans that did not have the normal dirty smell that usually permeated the air surrounding a human, and one was his Rin. The other had been the miko that traveled with his half-brother. The girl's smell was quite strange, but he placed it as raspberry and a slight forest smell, as if she were tied with nature in more ways then on the outside.

He stared at her body next, blinking rapidly. He didn't know that a human woman could be strong looking and not super-thin, as a lot of females tended to half-starve themselves to have small waists. She appeared at ease with what nature had given her, yet she had large breasts that were perky with youth, and he could tell that, despite their size, they would stay firm even in old age. The human girl was quite strange indeed.

That was when she noticed him.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she screamed out one confusing sentence: "You can't be Sesshoumaru!" She pointed a finger at him, her face in a comical expression of disbelief. "Sesshoumaru doesn't exist!"

He flinched at her loud words, but he only started to get annoyed when Rin started to arouse, obviously wondering what all the yelling about was. "Be quiet, wench," he said in a tone that was meant to put even the strongest of people to silence.

Her hands covered her mouth, her already super wide eyes going wider. "Ack! You ARE real!"

He kept his face stoic, though he was getting quite pissed off. "Shut your mouth, human," he said again, cracking his knuckles as part of the last warning.

She started breathing rapidly, and he could hear her heartbeat flutter under the strain, as it was rather loud, pounding as it tried to pour blood through her lungs to gain enough oxygen for enough support to her body. She looked at him worriedly, clutching a small necklace at her throat. The hand that was free was groping around inside of her pocket, looking for something.

He watched as she pulled out a strange looking device and checked it, her breathing slowing as her heartbeat slowed to a dull thud. "Shit," he heard her whimper as she collapsed to her knees.

He watched her relax her grip on the necklace and transfer her hands to the ground, scraping the dirt under her sharpened nails. "How could this happen?" She whispered aloud, and a slightly salty smell tainted her smell and the air. "How could this happen to me? This can't be real . . ."

He recognized it as tears, and his only thought then was to get her to stop. In a mere millisecond, he stood before her with her chin in his grip so that he could look into her dark colored eyes. "Girl," he said in an almost scolding tone. "How can you think this isn't real when you stand right here, having pushed me into the fire pit?"

She stared into the amber eyes that had haunted her dreams since the first she'd seen him, which hadn't been in this world. She blinked, her tears stopping as her brain worked feverishly to explain something, but it was beyond her contemplation for once in her life. "Wh . . . why? Why am I here?" She questioned, her voice going back to its normal deep feminine tone, devoid of any panic.

He blinked, having not expected her voice to be so low, but still like a woman's. It was husky, yet he could tell that her voice could be very expressive. "I do not know that, wench. But you will come with to take care of my charge now that you are here," he told her, dropping her head and turning to stride away. "Stay here tonight and make sure nothing gets to her, else you shall pay dearly. I shall return late the next day. Keep her safe."

He disappeared with those last words, making the girl's heart beat faster, but not with panic. "I really am here . . . in this world that I never dreamed could exist in actuality."

†

Later after that strange meeting, I felt my anger rise again as the hours went on and on, but I kept vigil. I didn't know why, but I wanted to prove to Sesshoumaru that I could keep the orphan girl safe throughout the night. It wasn't like I've stayed up all night before, but the school days have always tired me out so that I had to just fall on my bed to fall asleep.

Though, that night I did not let it bother me. If my eyes started to close on me, due to weariness, I would simply either pinch myself or take out an M&M and chew on it slowly, letting the chocolate and sugar flow through my blood stream and revitalize my system.

The fire had dimmed, but I found a few dry branches near the campsite to compensate for the lack of good firewood for the rest of the night. By the time the sun peaked into the sheltered woods, I was extremely tired and was down to half of my secret M&M stash. I checked my cell phone again and groaned when it read out 8: 35 AM. Great. I was late for school, and I'd yet to actually figure out what was wrong.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" The little girl asked drowsily, and I was again surprised that I could understand her, cause I knew she was speaking Japanese. I hadn't learned any Japanese to understand, yet I did so perfectly, and they understood me. This was quite a weird world.

I smiled at her and offered my hand. "I'm Angela Warr, but you can call me Angie. Your Sesshoumaru-sama told me to watch over you for today," I told her as gently as I could.

She smiled brightly, grasping my hand and giving it a vigorous shake. "Rin's name is Rin! Rin is glad that Rin doesn't have to play with Jaken- sama anymore!" She grinned toothily at me, but I wrinkled my nose as I smelled how unclean she was.

"Hey, kid," I smiled nervously, hoping that she'd understand me. "I think that we should find a hot spring or something to take a bath, I'm sure we're offending at least one animal's nose with our stinky bodies."

She cocked her head at me, trying to grasp my meaning.

I sighed, getting up and stretching the cricks from my body. Yup, I definitely needed to take a cold bath. I grinned down at her, offering her a hand up. "We're going to go look for a small lake or spring to wash ourselves in, okay, Rin?"

She nodded, finally understanding. "Rin knows a good one! Rin saw one yesterday before Sesshoumaru-sama told Rin to go to sleep for the night! Follow Rin!" The kid was cute, I had to admit. She bounded ahead, dragging me by my hand to get me to follow.

I smiled, feeling a little more light-hearted then I'd had in years as I watched the carefree child smile and laugh. We reached the small springs in a few minutes. It was absolutely beautiful, complete with a small waterfall. I was absolutely enamored with the hot spring.

I smiled at the kid who'd followed me to the edge, and squealed like a little girl. I hadn't been so happy to see water in my entire life!

I started taking off my sneakers, carefully unlacing them so as not to rip them off in my haste. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rin start to dangle her feet in the water like a small child, kicking the surface of the water.

I finished with my shoes and took off my thick red woolen jacket, trying not to feel the cold on my bare shoulders. Sometimes I really hated wearing my little black tank top, but it would prove ample covering in this strange world for any hentai's to come in and look in on me.

"Angie-sama!" Rin cried as something dragged her beneath the water's surface.

I gasped and started flinging off my jeans, glad I was wearing my bicycle shorts underneath, and dove into the water, ignoring the sting as water touched my unprotected eyes and nose. I wasn't used to swimming with my nose and eyes open underwater without the aid of a mask, but I hadn't the time; Rin was in danger and I was acting completely on instinct.

I saw Rin right in front of me, struggling to get out of the grasp of an octopus-like youkai. I could tell it was a youkai by its screeching voice and glowing red eyes. I did not hesitate; I propelled myself fast enough to ram into the thing's tentacles that were wrapped around the small girl and I use what strength I had to pull them off her, pushing her to the surface with one hand as the youkai wrapped itself around me, not going to loose another free meal.

I struggled with it, but I was beginning to loose air, and my lungs started to burn horribly. I wasn't even thinking about myself then. I kept thinking about how I'd promised Sesshoumaru to protect Rin, and that by dying this way I was somehow failing him. My conscience would not let me to allow that to happen, and I fought for all I was worth, feeling a strange warm feeling envelope me.

I would not let that thing kill me!

I gasped as a bright light shimmered before me, and a familiar energy whip cut the octopus-thing into several bite-size chunks before my eyes.

Without the air in my lungs, I started to sink slowly, but I was adamant not to let Sesshoumaru down. I would not let him down . . . I would not let him down . . . I kicked my feet, regretting somewhat that I hadn't learned to swim properly. I would not let that get in my way, though, and kicked my feet harder, desperate for air and to make sure the girl Rin was alright.

I inhaled the precious air as I broke the surface, but I had only enough time to get a mouthful before my weight dragged me back down. I blinked underwater and searched for the edge of the spring, and swam towards it with all my might, breaking to the surface for more air once I reached it.

Before I could haul my ass out of there, a clawed hand shot out and lifted me from the water and held me about a foot off the ground as I met a pair of very angry amber eyes. "What the hell do you think your doing with getting my charge almost drowned by a octopus-youkai, wench?!"

I coughed, but directed it downwards so as not to offend him. I was as good as dead by then, so it didn't really matter if I answered.

"But, Sesshoumaru-sama! Angie-sama saved Rin!" I heard from behind him, and my face visibly fell. I didn't want Rin to know that I'd failed her surrogate father...

He looked me in the eye, but I looked away. I've never been able to look anyone in the eye. "Is that true, wench?"

I gasped, finding my voice, but it was sad that is sounded so small compared to his angry one. "I . . . yes, Lord." I added, feeling very insignificant at the moment.

I could tell he was staring at my face, and a moment later I was dropped to the ground. "Put on you strange garments and hurry up. We are returning to my castle."

I nodded, glad that my life was spared for now. I don't know what happened to the Angie who'd dove in after the little girl, or even the one that had slapped my own twin, but I knew at that moment, I was myself around Sesshoumaru, who was now my lord and master.

How strange my life had become.

End Chapter 2: Sunken Forest

Auruyasha: yawns I need to go get more of my triple-chocolate ice cream.

Bankotsu: is still tied to her bed When are you going to let me go?

Auruyasha: grins Whenever I feel like it.

Bankotsu: Crud...

Adios!