Sesshoumaru and the stranger from another time.
This is a short fanfic based on the Inuyasha manga and show. Oh how I wish they were mine. Sigh. This story is a 'what if'. For a one-syllable word 'if' carries a lot of possibilities. This 'what if' is what if it wasn't Rin who found Sesshoumaru that day in the forest after his run it with Inuyasha? I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 1
The tour group had stopped again. 'Oh boy… another shrine' Shayan sighed as she thought to herself. 'If I ever see another temple or shrine again in my life, it will be too soon.' The tour guide was blathering on about this and that and Shayan was bored. She broke off from the group to explore on her own. There across the court was a small building standing all by itself. In had all sorts of little folded papers hanging from it which usually meant that it had some special mystical connection to something-or-other. She decided to investigate on her own.
She cautiously opened the door. She didn't want to disturb the priest if he was in there. Shayan poked her head in and looked around. 'This is a strange place. There's nothing here.' She thought. 'I wonder why they would build this shrine. The only thing here is this thing that looks like it used to be a well.' She looked inside it. It was dry as a bone. As she looked something on the bottom of the well began to sparkle. "What is that?" She said aloud as she leaned in for a closer look. "Ahhhhh…" Shayan screamed as she fell into the well.
When Shayan woke the sun was in her eyes. "What?" She looked up to see a crystal blue sky and the sun almost directly overhead. "I don't understand I was in a shrine with a roof, what happened?" She climbed out of the well and got the second shock. The entire temple complex was gone. She was out in a field. There were trees nearby and in the distance she could see a village. "Where am I?" Shayan looked at the well. 'Could this be a portal to some other dimension or something?' She gave her head a shake. 'Don't be stupid Shay.' She told herself. 'I must have hit my head and this is just a dream. I'll wake up soon.' She sat down by the well and decided to take a nap. When she woke everything would be back to normal, or so she thought.
Shayan woke to find that she was still in this strange place. "Maybe the well is a portal. I have to get back." She climbed onto the top of the well and jumped in. 'THWUMP!' She landed hard on her rump. Shayan rubbed her backside as she got to her feet. She looked up. The sun had moved but there definitely was no roof there. Shayan stomped her foot. "Why can't I get back? Am I stuck here?" Again she climbed out of the well. "Someone has to know what's going oh here." And she went off to the village in the distance.
As she entered the village she noted that the people seemed to come straight out of the middle ages. 'What is this place?' She thought. 'Everyone's dressed so strangely.'
"Are ye lost young maiden?" A kindly old woman interrupted Shayan's thoughts. She was dressed in red and white and had a patch over one eye. The woman spoke again. "You don't look like ye are from around here. Come with me, young maiden mayhaps I can help ye." The woman turned and walked over to a small house at the center of the village.
Shayan fallowed her. She wasn't sure, but maybe this woman could help her. She certainly seemed nice anyway.
"My name is Kaede and I'm the priestess for this village. You came through the well, did you not?" Shayan sat stunned. The woman continued. "The well is a gateway between your time and our time. But what I don't understand is how ye could have used it. There are but two that I know of, who can."
"I don't know how it happened either. One moment I was looking into the well at a shrine and the next I was here. I tried to go back. I jumped into it, but nothing happened. I can't get back. Am I stuck here? Is there another gate that I could use instead?"
Kaede shook her head sadly. "No child, there are no others. Not that I'm aware of. Ye will have to make your home here."
Shayan stayed with the kindly old priestess for a couple of weeks but then she decided that it was time she made her own way in this new world. If she were going to have to spend the rest of her life in this strange time period, she would have to stop depending on the kindness of others and start working for herself.
She kissed Kaede on the cheek and thanked the kind woman for all her help and went off to the farm that the priestess had arranged for her to work at. Shayan thought that she would start off first, by working for food and clothing and then she would try to set up her own home.
Months passed and Shayan had learned many skills that had long been lost in her time. She learned to make cloth, start a fire without matches and she learned how to farm the different vegetables and rice that were used here. She had even earned some things for her new home that she had yet to build. A couple of cooking pots and other small utensils as well as a large oiled cloth that she had made into a tent covering. She felt that this would come in handy as she traveled from village to village looking for work.
It was on one of her travels that the young woman came across an injured man. He was dressed in fine white silk clothes with a thick fur draped over one shoulder. She thought that he must be someone of some importance. What was he doing out in the woods alone? She wondered to herself. He was beautiful for a man. He had stunning silver white hair down to his waist. He also seemed to have stripes on his cheeks but she was sure that must be just a trick of the light. She approached the sleeping form. She studied him for a moment and that's when she noticed the blood. The man had been injured by something and was bleeding from his side. Shayan came close to the man and knelt down. That's when he woke. His eyes went red as he sat up and snared like a dog at her. She pulled her hand away for a second and then put them on his chest.
"It's ok, I wont hurt you. I'm here now. Don't be afraid. Here let me help you." She pressed the man back down. "You're injured, let me help you." She set to work. She reached into the bag that she carried and pulled out a flask of clean water and some bandages.
The man looked on with suspicion. "Leave me be woman. I don't need your help."
Shayan looked at him and said flatly. "Don't be foolish. You're injured and need some help. I wont leave until I'm satisfied you're all right. Now here let me look at this." She made to move aside the man's clothing to get to where it was bleeding when he made a grab for her hand. She slapped it lightly and said. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. Now lay still and let me tend this wound."
The man was shocked. No one ever spoke to him like that. 'Who is this woman? Doesn't she know who I am?' He thought as he watched her work.
"You have a claw stuck in your side. I have to take it out or it will fester. This might hurt a bit." Shayan carefully pulled the claw out that had embedded itself it the man's side. The wound began to bleed a lot and she had to work quickly to stop the bleeding. When she was done she looked at the man. He was sweating. "Oh, I'm sorry. That must have really hurt."
She looked up. Shayan was now used to things here in the feudal era and could read the weather pretty well and she could tell by the sky that it was going to rain that night. She would need to build a shelter.
"Can I borrow your sword for a moment?" She noted the look on the man's face. She crouched down. "Don't worry I wont hurt you with it. I just need it for a moment to cut down some bamboo for a shelter. It's going to rain tonight and if I don't get a shelter built soon you will catch your death of cold. I promise I'll bring it back soon and it wont have a scratch on it." She bend down and took the sword. "I won't be long."
Half an hour later Shayan returned. He was sleeping. She set to work on the shelter. She had built these many times and had gotten very good at it. She placed three long bamboo poles in the soft ground and bent them over to meet in the center. She lashed them together with some vines she had collected. Next she built a platform. The rains in Japan can really soak things and she needed to get the man off the ground. She then laid the bamboo leaves that she had trimmed off, onto the platform to provide him with some cushion. The final part was to drape the large oiled cloth over the frame and lash it down to keep the rain out.
The man was now awake. "Hi there." She said cheerfully. "Here is your sword as promised and not a single scratch on it." She held the sword out in front of the man and turned it for his inspection. Then she replaced the sword to its scabbard.
"The shelter is ready. It wont be as comfortable as your bed but it will do in a pinch." She approached and crouched down. "I'll have to lift you into it. I want you to put your arms around me and hold on tight but let me do all the lifting ok?" The man nodded. Shayan got the man to a sitting position and put her arms around him. "On three. One, two, three." She heaved and brought him the couple of feet to the shelter. She had built it close for just that reason. As she laid him down he growled.
"I'm so sorry. I hurt you didn't I. Here let me look." She pushed aside his clothing again.
"Stop that. I'm fine. Leave me be."
"Nonsense! I have to check and see if it's bleeding again." She checked and sure enough it was bleeding. She cleaned the wound and put a fresh bandage in place. "There. That's better isn't it?"
He turned his head away. He did feel better but he hated that this strange woman was seeing him in this weakened condition.
Shayan knew that the man was probably feeling a bit odd having her look after him so she just ignored his rudeness and continued in what she felt needed to be done. "I'm going to make something to eat. Are you hungry?"
"No." Was all he said.
Shayan just shrugged and went off to get some water to boil and some wood for the fire. In a few minutes she had a pot of vegetables chopped up and in the steaming water. She looked over at the man he was sleeping fitfully and seemed to be in pain. She wished that there were more she could do for him. She was making a tea of special herbs that the priestess had shown her. The tea would reduce fever and pain. But it took time to prepare and it wasn't ready yet.
The skies were heavy with thick clouds. It would begin to rain at any moment. Shayan looked up and decided that she had little time left before it poured. She gathered her things and stowed them under the platform that the man was sleeping on. She put the tea she had made into a small container for later and brought he stew she had made into the shelter. Before long she was sitting in the shelter eating stew and watching the rain through a gap in the cloth that served as a door to the shelter.
"Uhnnnn…" The man moaned in his sleep. Shayan looked at him. He was drenched in sweat. He had a fever. She took a cloth and dipped in a bucket of water that she had brought into the shelter earlier. She wrung it out and began bathing the man's forehead. He woke instantly and tried to rise. She pressed him down.
"You have a fever. Stay still and let me wash you." She wet the cloth again and opened the man's top to bathe his chest.
"What are you doing woman? Leave me be. I will heal on my own. I don't need any help from a human." He tried to replace his clothes but the girl was not going to be deterred.
"Don't be shy. I'm not going to look at anything I shouldn't. Come now, I've got to do this or your fever will get worse." She went ahead and started to wash down the man's chest and face. She washed one arm but when she went to wash the other he stopped her.
"I have no arm on that side." He said flatly.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know. How did you loose it?" She asked as she busily rinsed and wrung the cloth for another wipe of his forehead.
"I lost it in battle." And he turned his head away.
"That must have been painful." She was trying to get his mind off what she was doing.
"I don't need your pity girl. Now stop fussing over me and leave me be." His temper was showing.
"I promise to stop once your fever goes down. Here drink this. It will help." She handed him a small bowl with some of the tea she had made earlier.
"No! I don't need your help."
"Yes you do. Look at you. You are hurt and now you have a fever. Drink this. I promise it won't hurt you. It's a tea that will reduce the fever and help with the pain." She tried to put the bowl to his lips.
He pushed her hand away. "You think I am weak do you? I will show you…" he tried to rise but she pushed him back down.
"Yah, yah you can beat me later once you're well enough. At this rate, that may never happen. Don't you know that fevers can kill? I'm not about to sit idly by and let you die. Not when I can help you. And as far as thinking badly of you is concerned, I don't. I can tell that you are used to doing things on your own and I can see how strong you are. I just want to get you well. Once that is done you can get back to your usual self. Now please just let me help you."
"Hmmfff… Fine." He relented and took the tea. "But I will take you up on your offer to beat you once I am well."
She wasn't sure if he meant what he said or whether he was just talking though his pain. Either way at least he was letting her look after him.
All night Shayan worked to reduce the man's fever. Finally some time in the night the fever broke. The man was now sleeping peacefully and she covered him up with a blanket and curled up beside him and went to sleep.
The next morning Shayan woke to someone moving beside her. She raised her head to see the man sitting up.
"You're awake. Are you feeling better?" She reached out to touch his forehead. He grabbed her hand. "I just want to check for fever." She reached out with her other hand and felt his head. "Good, you feel normal. Are you hungry?"
"I told you girl I don't need any thing from you. Don't you know what I am you foolish girl?"
Shayan cocked her head a bit not understanding the question. "What do you mean 'what you are'? You're a man. What else would you be?"
"I'm a demon, fool. I am Sesshoumaru, Lord of the western realm."
Shayan smiled at him. "Sesshoumaru. Nice name. But I'm not so sure about the demon part. Are you sure you're feeling alright?"
Sesshoumaru scowled. What manner of woman is this that she knows nothing of demons? Everyone for miles around knew of and feared the great lord. "How is it you don't know that I'm a demon? What is your name girl?"
Shayan explained who she was and how she had come to this time and what she had been doing here now that she was stuck in this time period.
"So, you have no home or family here. Where will you go now?" Sesshoumaru's curiosity was peaked. He had not met a human so relaxed around him. He was a great demon even his servants were afraid to speak freely with him. But this girl showed nothing of that. Even after explaining what a demon was she still had no fear of him.
"I plan to continue working at various farms until I get enough saved up to build my own home."
Sesshoumaru thought about this for a moment. How could a girl survive on her own in this difficult time without any family? As strong as this girl was she would find the winter harsh.