Thanks to all who reviewed! And I will take your advice and try to make my chapters much longer, thanks for the tip! Here's chapter three, which I will try to combine with other writing, if too short. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN INUYASHA SO PLEASE DON'T SUE!
Chapter 3: Meetings and Greetings
The journey to the Western lands was long and labouring, but thankfully coming to a close. Kagome signaled to the skies, and a tan coloured cat, with large fangs and black stripes gracefully descended before her, atop her back were her three other companions.
Shippo and Miroku jumped down, and Sango patted at her fire cat's fur, before doing the same. "It's okay now, we can walk from here, Thanks Kirara."
Kirara nodded and seemed to combust, only to reveal its smaller version self, which mewed. It looked much more fragile and harmless compared to its fearsome transformed state.
They began walking on, through the open grassy land, warmed by the sun that shone above. Despite the bright day, the faces of the four were gloomy, because of that one question that hung and gnawed at their heads. Who was to ask Sesshoumaru for help?
"We can do this by drawing straws. Shippo will cut three straws at varying lengths, and then hold it in a fist, so as to conceal the lengths. We'll all draw out one from his hand, and the person with the shortest string loses. Okay, ready?"
After the instructions were given, Miroku, Sango and Kagome each had a piece of straw in their hand; their deciding fate, clasped in their reach. "Ready, set, show!"....
"How about another try?" said Miroku nervously. Both the girls laughed out loud. "Sorry Honey, looks like you'll have to be the brave one today," said Sango, while tracing Miroku's jaw line. Miroku pouted. "But Sango dear!"
Sango whispered into his ear, and the monk perked up, rushing towards a hill, muttering to himself. He turned around a large smile stretched across his face. "Come on! We should get going so I may get this over with!" and with that, he rushed down the hill into a lush green forest, many trees rooted on the ground, and growing proudly to the skies.
"What made him change his mind so fast?" queried Kagome.
"Oh, just a promise," answered Sango looking up and away from Kagome's face quietly. Kagome peered at the demon slayer, who had a large blush spread across her face, and decided not to ask of what she promised the leech.
The sky was slowly darkening, and the group had just walked through the forest into another clearing. "It's getting dark, should we stop to make camp?" asked Kagome.
"This place is a little open don't you think?" answered Shippo with a question. They continued to walk the grassy land, that slowly turned into a vast field of flowers. Sango and Kagome gasped. "It's beautiful!"
"I don't think I've ever seen so many flowers of such variety and colour before!" exclaimed Sango, as she bent down to hold one. Shippo watched as Kagome also stooped down to pick a flower, and smiled. He bent down, only to stop as something sounded quietly in the area. "Do you hear that?" he asked quietly.
"What?" asked Miroku, who stopped right behind Sango in confusion.
"That sound, shush, listen." Shippo's ears moved slightly as he listened. A sweet sound came to his ears, like a small melody.
"It sounds like somebody's singing," he rose. "I'll go ahead and see who it is." Shippo took off ahead, jumping into a Sakura that stood in his way, and closed his eyes.
'That voice, it sounds so familiar...'
A teenage girl sat upon the grass, picking flowers for a handmade basket. She sat with her eyes lazily opened, and her heart pouring out a melody. A sad one at that, but one she knew was special, especially since it used to be hers. A special song from a lady given to her 'father'.
She bent her head to look at a firefly that had landed upon a daffodil, and watched as it lit the flower and flew away. Her black hair flowed naturally down to her mid torso, and a little clump of hair stuck out in an odd fashion right at the side of her head. She wore a light pink kimono adorned woth white Sakura.
The girl stopped singing and looked to the skies, which began to glow a mystical purple as it rained down to earth. She got up, but froze as she heard a small thud on the ground. Slowly she turned, a determined face upon her features as to intimidate her intruder; though this face didn't hold for long. It quickly softened, and her mouth went agape.
Shippo stopped frozen, not from fear, but from surprise... The surprise of seeing an old friend. "Rin?"
"Shippo-chan!" she breathed. "SHIPPO-CHAN!"
The teen called Rin ran up to the kitsune and threw her arms around him, catching him off guard. He smiled and slowly wrapped his arms around the girl's small waist. Rin looked up at Shippo.
"Shippo-chan! It's been such a long time since I last saw you! You've really grown!"
"As have you," answered Shippo in his smooth adults voice. "And you no longer refer to yourself in the third person,"
Rin smiled. "Yep, Sesshoumaru-sama has taught me well, and you've grown a lot cuter then before," said Rin, as she pinched the cheeks of a now red faced kitsune.
"Rin-chan!" Rin turned to see Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Kirara coming towards her.
"Miroku-niisan! Sango-neechan! Kagome-neechan! It's been a long time!" Rin went up to hug each and every one of them, smiling with tears in her eyes.
Yes, it had been some years back when they had encountered Rin, the little ward of Sesshoumaru's. It was almost impossible to believe that he had the heart to take care of a child, not to mention one that is human and female!
The group sat down by one Sakura, surrounded by the vast flowers, with only little grassy parts that snaked its way through.
"So what brings you to the Western lands?" asked Rin. Her voice was gentle, like a whisper in the wind. Kagome hesitated slightly, wondering of whether to burden Rin, but soon found herself blurting out the whole story, by the time the tale was done, there were two tear tracks, trailing down Rin's soft pale cheeks.
She stood up. "I will help you ask Sesshoumaru-sama! Whether he likes it or not, he must help nee-chan to get her friend back! And he will, because he will also be saving his brother." Rin turned around, and began walking down the grass path, the others following, and saying many thanks.
Rin stopped, just as a wind rustled through, blowing at their faces. "He's here," she breathed. "Who?" The others looked around to see what Rin had meant by 'he'. They all shut their eyes, as a gust of wind blew up and whipped at them. Cracking one eye open, Kagome could see something wispy, something that looked to be conjured from the type of magic in fairytales, float down and disappear, allowing its traveler to hold his feet on the ground.
Everybody looked up to see, the one and only heir of the Western Lands. There he stood, soft white hair flicking and dancing with the wind, standing proud and tall. Wearing his normal attire of a soft white material clothing, with slight red patterns going about his sleeve, two swords at his side, and armour across his chest. His eyes were unseen as he was not too close, but they would easily know that his molten amber eyes were always hard, and seemed incapable of love. This demon lord, how would he ever be able to help them?
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin shouted out and ran to her 'father' hugging his waist, which was as far as she could go on the largely stature demon. She looked up, a smile on her face as Sesshoumaru silently patted her dark head. He looked to the others, watching uneasily from behind and stepped in front of Rin.
"What are you all doing within the boundaries of my lands? Is my dear half brother here to give up Tetsusaiga...No, he's too stubborn for that, then is he here to die?" Sesshoumaru slowly reached for one of the swords at its hilt, and looked around in slight confusion; his nose delicately moving in the air.
"Where is my half-brother?" he asked.
"He's not here." Kagome took a step forward, standing tall, her face hard. "He isn't with us anymore because Naraku had captured him while he was down and out."
"Naraku has caught him?" Sesshoumaru answered, hiding his great surprise, but allowing his words to lace with amusement. Kagome growled slightly, making the demon lord raise one eyebrow.
Kagome shook her head. 'We're here to get help! Not to get kicked out.' Kagome swallowed as she approached the demon lord who always looked terrifying and intimidating up close. Kagome swallowed her pride. 'Boy Inuyasha you owe me a hell of a lot.'
She fell to her knees, looking to the grass before her. "We've come to ask of your aid. Sesshoumaru-sama" she said through gritted teeth. She placed out her hands and put her forehead to the ground. Kagome really hated this, having the pride she did, but it was possibly the only way she could get help from such an arrogant demon lord. She had mental images of Sesshoumaru laughing at her, and then she being able to somehow tear at him without getting killed.
"Chotto o-negai itashimasu. Inuyasha is really important to me, and he has a duty to fulfill with me to complete the Shikon no Tama. Please, we've come to ask that you aid us to bring Inuyasha back. We've not enough power, and you are the only who will be able to defeat Inuyasha, and bring him back, please help us."
Sesshoumaru suppressed a grin. He had seen this female many times before, and knew of what a proud creature she was. To purposely degrade herself for help was all amusing.
While Sesshoumaru was thinking this, Miroku, Sango and Shippo were shrinking away.
"Kagome won't normally act like this around him!"
"Sango... Has Kagome lost it?"
"Is she going to explode?"
They looked back to Kagome, who had stood now.
"You think this is funny??? I'm begging for help ON MY KNEES and you think that this is a time to laugh? You bastard! It's not funny! I'm degrading myself to kneel down before the likes of you, to help your poor half brother who might even have his soul tortured by all this, and all you can do is laugh!"
Kagome felt all the wind rush out of her lungs, and tears spring out her eyes. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and she looked to see golden eyes tinge red. Bad move. "You will not speak to me with such disrespect wench. If you wish for your life, as well as for help, you will learn to be humble!" barked Sesshoumaru, slightly squeezing her hold on her neck as an affirmative for what he said. Kagome gasped, anguish clearly written all over her face.
"STOP!" Sesshoumaru turned his head at the sound of the voice of his ward. "Please, otu-san, don't do this. Nee-chan came for help, she's asking you to help your brother. Don't you care? Even if you don't, don't you have a sense of duty to protect him as an older brother? P-" Rin was cut off with a warning growl, and she shrank back.
Sesshoumaru turned to a still struggling Kagome, and slowly let her go. He turned his back to them all. Kagome slid to the ground, and her companions came to see if she was okay. Rin ran towards them, to see to Kagome.
With everybody watching and tending Kagome, bombarding her with questions, only Kagome could have a clear view of Sesshoumaru. He looked up to the heavens, his face slightly twisted, as if he were internally battling with himself, or a decision. She looked to his lips, and managed to read what he said... All that could be heard from Sesshoumaru's mouth was 'Inuyasha'...
'Inuyasha... Is this true? Have you been captured by that despicable hanyou? What a fool you are, exposing your responsibility like this, and leaving yourself so vulnerable. I shouldn't always have to be there, you are grown! Damn you Inuyasha.....' Sesshoumaru mentally growled. Something inside of him was whispering to Sesshoumaru, he didn't know what it was, and so he couldn't help but to obey, and before he knew it, words which he had never expected from himself spilled out.
"Very well then, follow me."
Everybody stopped, surprised at the very words that spilled form his mouth. Could this really be Sesshoumaru? Or did he suddenly switch places with someone? Sesshoumaru began walking. "Will you follow me? Or sit out here like fools?" asked Sesshoumaru irritably. Everybody sprung up and confused, followed the demon lord. Rin smiled broadly, and ran to catch up with her 'father'. "Domo arigatou gozaimasu otu-san,"
Sesshoumaru gave a dignified grunt as she fell back and held Shippo's hand. (which caused him to blush)
"I'm sure glad we have Rin here," breathed Miroku to Sango. Sango nodded in response. Kagome looked to her companions, and to the moving back of the demon lord, and thought. 'No, there is something else. It wasn't Rin, but Sesshoumaru himself...But why would he agree to help us out in the end?"...
Yeah! Done! And it's much longer! See you all when I can next update!
Little translations:
Domo arigatou gozaimasu: (most polite way of saying thankyou)
Chotto o-negai itashimasu: Please help me a little.
Nii-san (or nii-chan) : older brother
Nee-chan: older sister/ young lady
