Chapter III - Old friends

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha, the characters, the plot, etc.

A.N.: Yeah, I know, it's been ages since my last chapter. I hope this one is good enough to be considered an apology.

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Warmth... it kept floating through her body... even though she knew she wasn't there anymore. She was gone... her sister, Koe, was gone...

With a small yawn, Rin risked a short look at her cold surroundings. The fire had already gone out and thick fog crept across the ground. "Good morning, Rin." She opened her eyes again, this time facing her master. It had been a long time since he had talked to her like that. "Good morning... Sesshomaru-sama."

"She is gone, you know." He added, as he noticed the disappointment within her voice. "She said you shouldn't worry about her...and you can keep the coat."

A bright smile stretched across Rin's face. "Just so typical..." Clutching the coat she got up an took a look around. As far as she could tell, it was early in the morning, just before sunrise. A few meters away from her the trees already vanished in the fog - a typical autumn morning, but much colder than usual. "What's that cold?" She asked between some shivering. Koe's coat kept her quite warm, but still the fog made her tremble.

"Stupid human child." Jaken's voice answered. "It's always cold on autumn mornings." Just at that moment, a small stone hit his face. "What did you do that for, Sesshomaru-sama?" the green demon cried, while his master sighed in disappointment. "She is right, Jaken." Sesshomaru mentioned absently, while staring into the fog. "That's no nomral cold. And if you took a closer look at the fog, you'd see that this isn't normal fog either." With a short glance at Rin and another faint sigh, he started to make his way through the white. "Let's go. We haven't come here to talk about fog and seasons."

A raven's call broke through the silence, startling both Rin and Jaken. As they had realized what had just happened, a familiar, timid look crept across Jaken's face. "Sesshomaru-sama! Wait for me, Sesshomaru-sama!" 'Always such a cry baby...' She thought glumly, as she finally followed her master. It was always fun to see what an idiot a royal demon could be... or royal people in general.

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The sun had already risen over the mountains, as he turned around for the first time. They had already gone deep into the valley's heart and, what add even more to the growing unpleasant feeling in his stomach, the fog was still as thick as it had been the hours before. It was like the fog devoured all the sunlight and just left a curtain of grey and white for the forest.

Next to him, his master was still walking silently, his head held high and his cold gaze still lingering on what might be before them, as the fog didn't leave any space for visible paths. On the other side of his master, Rin was still walking silently, too, curled up into the coat her sister head left for her. She looked strange this time. Not like the curious little girl that always soaked up all the smells, sounds and colours around her. She was drowning... drowning in heavy thought. Even the sideways glances of her master didn't catch her attention...

"Don't dare doing this, you hear me, Jaken?" the white-haired demon stated quickly as if he had read the mind of his servant. "In contrast to you, Rin is in real trouble and in contrast to you, she is using her brain to figure out what to do next, so don't interrupt her."

His gaze froze, partly from shock, partly from disbelieve, partly from anger. 'Why did he always have to favour that ... human?'

For a few moments, Jaken kept following his master silently, trying to ignore the creepy atmosphere created by the valley's own silence. The raven's call earlier that morning had been the last sound he had heard beside their own walking and talking.

"So what is that fog, Sesshomaru-sama?" Jaken finally questioned. Of course it was a crazy idea. Ever since he had been with his master, the answers to such questions had been sarcastic phrases that told him to shut up. And with Rin walking next to him and the order not to disturb her, it almost felt like suicide. A fact that– as always – came to his mind much too late.

"It's a demon called Kumori." His master answered to Jaken's surprise, although the little demon still waited for him to at least smack him or asking. "He has lots of different names. Some call him mist-master, some bone-eater..."

"Bone-eater?" Rin asked skeptically. A strange expression covered her now pale face. "It's a name humans gave him." Her master explained. "Due to his habit to only eat the bones of his victims and use the rest as..." He gave a short glance at Rin's face, but then quickly turned away again. Deciding that he had said enough, or maybe even too much, he kept walking in silence again.

"But... if he really is that demon you just called him, Sesshomaru-sama, shouldn't we better... get out of here as fast as we can?" His second servant answered quite timidly. Another stupid question. "Jaken... why do you think I got here..." His master answered in that sarcastic, dangerous tone again, making his servant frown in defeat. And again Jaken wondered why they hadn't left Rin somewhere else. A little human child was definitely not going to improve their situation, except his master would allow HIM to kill her.

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Long hours had passed by as Sesshomaru finally stopped walking. Right in front of them a large cave reached into the fog. "Hey, wait! Has that thing been here before?" A strange expression crept across Jaken's face. Did she always have to ask such stupid questions? "Your memory is good." Her master interrupted. "It had not been here yesterday. Same as the fog."

"Kumori has built that cave?" Jaken asked skeptically. "but of what?" He took a closer look at the wall and touched it. "That's definitely neither stone nor clay."

"Remember what I told you about is habit that gave him the name "bone-eater"?" His master answered before turning to Rin again. "Rin, it is your decision whether you go farther or stop here. If you hide here, you'll be quite safe. Even most of the elder demons aren't brave enough to challenge him. If you follow us, you'll be on your own in there. He may be an old friend of mine, but still... you're human." Wide eyes looked at him in shock. Since when... "It is his cave and even my powers are limited within."

For a few moments, all was quiet again. What kind of demon was that, anyway? Strong enough to defeat their master? Impossible...

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A.N.: Yeah, here we go again! Hope you liked chapter III, next one will be coming soon, I promise.