Gonna get cramps in my hands and aches in my head from typing too much…but I must continue! Ever onward, Teresa! The readers must know what will happen! Will Kouga end up having to rip out Kagura's throat, as he so charmingly put it, or will she be as good as her word? Will Kagura skip out on chores much as she did with Naraku? Will Kikyo threaten to stab her if she's lazy? Will the new episode of Inuyasha ever download? It's sometimes hard for me to remember what has really happened in the show and what I've only read or written, and it all blurs together at about three in the morning, when everything seems slightly hazy, but you have to know, always remember…
*****
Something Is Real
Part 13
*****
"Shush, don't be loud, Ah-Un." Rin whispered, patting one of the large youkai's heads. "I need a favor." The animal blinked at her, snorting and snuffling in quiet consideration before dipping its heads in acquiescence. Rin smiled so brightly that her eyes were forced shut by her cheeks. "Come on then. We can't wake anyone up." Rin would be upset if she were caught trying to sneak away again. Jaken would surely tell Sesshoumaru this time, and she hated to disobey him. So if he never forbid her from leaving to find Kohaku, it was all okay.
At least, that was what logic told her. And that was what made her limit her escape attempts to nights when Sesshoumaru left her under Jaken's care. With only one sleeping caretaker, she had a much better chance of getting away unnoticed. And she had to find Kohaku. He was her friend, and he had Kanna with him, and she was a friend as well, even if she was really quiet. They probably wouldn't be that far away, and Ah-Un could definitely sniff them out. She explained all of this to the two-headed beast once they had put a good distance between Jaken and themselves.
"Can you help me, Ah-Un?" Rin knew that he could help, but she was being polite, letting him make the choice. Ah-Un was her friend too, and she cared for all of her friends. She could remember the time after the bad men killed her family and before she met Sesshoumaru-sama. That time had been lonely and cold, and it taught her to value all the friendships she made. That was why she had to find Kohaku.
Ah-Un gave a rumble in acceptance of his mission, and Rin hugged one of his great necks in joy before climbing on his back so that they might move along faster. Ah-Un leapt to the air to head back to the last place they'd both seen the boy in question, and Rin smiled once more, trying not to worry about what Sesshoumaru would think.
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"Jaken." Sesshoumaru stood to one side of the dead fire he had left his retainers to sleep around. Only one was still there. He wanted answers, and he wanted them immediately. Pulling his foot back, he kicked the snoozing toad sharply, effectively waking him up.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! I don't—what's going on?" Jaken looked around at the empty clearing with a growing sense of dread.
"I had hoped that you might tell me that." Sesshoumaru tried to bite back on the panic and anger that was seeping through him at that moment. His Rin was gone. She was missing. Again. And people would die for it. Again. "I left you to watch over Rin. You are aware that she is only a human child, are you not? She needs constant protection."
"I…I know that, Sesshoumaru-sama." Jaken felt that his life was suddenly in jeopardy. "And I have always watched over her while you had to be gone."
"Then where is she?" the demand in his tone was stronger than he had intended, and it made Jaken leap back with a startled cry of fright.
"I am sorry! I told her not to do it, that you would be angry, but I can't always watch her. I have to sleep, too! She has been plotting ever since he left, there was nothing I could have done." Jaken was nearly begging for his life, trembling in fear as Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes in question.
"Speak clearly and plainly, Jaken." The lord commanded. "Excuses will not avail you."
"I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama. Ever since Kohaku left here as you surely commanded, Rin has been wishing to find him." Jaken bowed his head. He didn't like the feel of Sesshoumaru's glare burning into him. And he definitely did not want to face it.
"Rin ran away." He simplified Jaken's explanation, anger seething through his voice clearly. "And you let her."
"I never would, Sesshoumaru-sama! This would be her fourth attempt." Jaken tried again, but Sesshoumaru did not seem to care for his explanations.
"It seems more like a success than an attempt, does it not?" Sesshoumaru was never snide. Jaken whimpered in fear. "Why did you not tell me of this?"
"I didn't want to trouble you, my most honorable lord!" Jaken felt like crying. He wondered if it would save his neck. He wondered if anything could save him now.
"Very thoughtful, Jaken." Sesshoumaru hissed. "And because of your care, she is gone."
"Ah-Un should have stopped her!" Jaken cast about for a
scapegoat. "Instead, he's carried her
off!"
"Yes, he should have refused her." Jaken's relief was short-lived as the youkai lord went on. "That way, she would wander off on her own, utterly defenseless. You know as well as I do that Ah-Un would take Rin to the ends of the earth if she wanted to go there, rather than let her off by herself. At least one of you are an adequate protector in my absence."
"Would you have me follow her?" Jaken asked, eyes bulging in worry. He had never honestly thought that Sesshoumaru would kill him. But at that moment, he sounded as though he desperately wanted to kill anything and everything he could blame for Rin's disappearance. And at that moment, Jaken seemed to top the list.
"I would have you notify me of such matters of importance." Sesshoumaru's voice was cold steel. Jaken decided it was time for the last resort argument.
"But Sesshoumaru-sama, why should it be so important? Rin is a liability, retainer or not. Only look at what has happened this morning. What use does she serve except as a weakness? She is useless in battle, offers an easy target to your enemies, and constantly undermines your authority." Jaken felt that maybe, just maybe, Sesshoumaru would listen to his words and finally realize how ridiculous this whole business was. That or he'd cut him into pieces. "If you will forgive me for saying so, Sesshoumaru-sama."
And there it was, the sound of a sword being unsheathed. Before he had time to protest, Jaken was sliced to pieces, twitching on the ground as the initial shock wore off and he realized it had been the healing sword.
"Get up, Jaken." Sesshoumaru sounded cold, weary, and beyond anger. "We must retrieve her."
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken pulled himself together quickly. He had been lucky this morning. In the future, it might not be that way.
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Sango carefully cleaned the roots Kagome wanted to use for the rabbit stew they would make for dinner that night. Her friend was back at the campsite, skinning the rabbits that Hakkaku and Ginta had caught and proudly carried around for nearly twenty minutes before relinquishing their prizes. Sango had left Kagome skinning one rabbit as Kikyo instructed Kagura on the preparation of the second one and discussed the best herbs to be used to compliment the meat's natural flavor with Kagome.
"It is strange, do you not think so, Sango?" Miroku's voice caused her to whirl in surprise.
"I thought you were looking for firewood, Houshi-sama." Sango spoke, suspicion easily detected in her voice. Ever since the cooking incident almost a week ago, Miroku's dinner responsibilities were limited to firewood gathering.
"And look how destiny has placed suitable wood so close to the river, bringing us together in spite of our separate chores." Miroku told her, and Sango pursed her lips. When he was poetic, it usually meant he was going to grope her. Actually, with Miroku, he was nearly always going to grope her. Or any other female, for that matter. He had already asked Kikyo and Kagura to bear his children as a sort of welcoming gesture. The first had led to an attack from Inuyasha, and the second had led to a rather painful close encounter with Kagura's wind blades. Because of that, he seemed to think twice before groping either woman. "I was only noting how our group of travelers has grown, and yet one thing has yet to change."
"What's that, Houshi-sama?" Sango asked, scooping up the clean roots so she could focus her attention on avoiding Miroku's hands.
"You are still my most beautiful companion, of course." He told her, utterly straight-faced. Sango flushed slightly before shaking her head sharply.
"Whatever you want, the answer is no." she told him in annoyance at his behavior and at her own wavering heart. Miroku wasn't sincere. He never would be. He had proven that time and time again.
"Sango," the way he said her name, like he was caressing it with his voice, made her knees feel weak, and she stumbled toward him. He caught her arms in both of his notorious hands, and she felt her mouth go dry and her mind go utterly blank. "Do you remember, I once asked you to bear my children, and you said yes."
"I…" Sango was having a hard time speaking. She wanted to tell him that she had foolishly believed that if she agreed, he would leave other women alone, but since he was completely unfaithful, she owed him nothing at all. She wanted to tell him to stop holding her arms so desperately, to stop looking at her as though she was the only woman in the world. Or maybe just in his world.
"I disappoint you, I know." Miroku told her, his voice quiet and breathless. "I make you worry that your decision meant nothing to me. I want you to know that is not true. It means everything."
"Liar." Sango couldn't help it. It was the only word that would come, and it was as close as she could come to expressing how she felt at that moment when they stood so close she was suffocating in his scent.
"I am sorry, Sango. I should never have given you reason to doubt. And so I will make you a deal." Miroku's eyes were soft, a purple so dark they seemed black in the failing light. "I will never treat other women inappropriately, if you will promise me to do something in return."
"What?" Sango was sure she could guess. It would definitely be something perverted. He seemed so sincere at the moment, but it always had to end with a slap. She wondered if his cheek stung as sharply as her heart every time he teased her like that.
"Only that when you address me, use my name." The demand took a few moments for Sango to compute. Say his name? That was it? Surely he was teasing her. "Please, promise me that."
"Why should that matter so much?" she breathed, her fingers trembling at her sides. "If you already got my consent…"
"Sango, dear," Miroku let one arm go, his hand drifting up to her face. He tilted his head slightly as he traced her jaw line with two fingers, Sango's lips parting as she exhaled shakily. "I would hate for you to mistake me. I could never force you to do anything against your will. If you told me you had changed your mind, I would leave you be, though my heart would always remain with you. And if you would but give me a few kind words…some hope that you feel as strongly as I do now, then I would call down the very stars from the heavens if that was what you wanted from me."
"Miroku," Sango's breath caught as his fingers tilted her chin, drawing her face toward his. Slowly, her heart fluttered as they moved closer together, so slowly it felt as though time had stopped and the world around them was slowly blurring at the edges, fading, paling, focusing on that one point that seemed the center of her vision, her attention, and her world. Miroku. He was going to kiss her. And she wouldn't stop him. She didn't want to stop him.
"Sango!" Kagome's voice broke through the moment, and Miroku let her go, a small, disappointed smile on his lips as he turned his attention to the bug-eyed girl tumbling out of the bushes and nearly landing on the other woman. "Sango, you won't believe it!"
"I…already don't." Sango was a bit lost on how she'd gone from in Miroku's arms to holding up an over-excited Kagome.
"Come on, wait till you see who it is!" Kagome recovered her balance and pulled Sango toward the campsite so vigorously that she almost knocked the taijiya over. Miroku pursed his lips and started picking up the roots Sango had dropped. At least she'd said his name. So softly, so passionately. It had been…so close.
"Another day." He sighed sadly before walking after Sango and Kagome. "Another day."
*****
The End (Of Part 13, That Is)
As an added note to all those concerned, yes, the episode finished downloading. Obviously, writing solves all problems.