Fallen Star
by Jessa
Chapter 3: Revelations.
"Tried to kill him? Any demon with half a mind to could kill Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru snorted.
"So why isn't he dead yet?" Hoshi countered. "He couldn't possibly be that lucky. Maybe he's stronger than you want to believe."
Sesshoumaru glared at the woman before him. How dare she, youkai or not, lecture him on what he wanted to believe. She was more irritating than Rin in one of her 'pick on Jaken' moods.
Speaking of the child, she needed to be taken to safety. Sesshoumaru turned and headed off in the direction of the boulder where he'd left his young ward.
Hoshi wondered idly if she'd said something she shouldn't have. Not like I care, she thought. His opinion of me hardly matters. She was beginning to head off in a different direction when the taiyoukai spoke again.
"Come with me." It didn't sound like a request.
Hoshi sighed and followed the demon lord.
:o:o:o:o:o:
"What do you mean, 'stop'? I thought you wanted to catch that woman, Kagome," Inuyasha griped, but he stopped.
The human members of the group promptly sat on the ground and tried to catch their breath. Kagome gasped a few times and answered, "Yes, Inu gasp yasha. gasp I want to catch gasp her, but gasp I don't want gasp to die in the process. gasp Not everyone here has gasp demon blood, you know." The hanyou had been leading the group at an inhuman pace after his half-brother and the youkai woman.
"We've only been after them for an hour. Now you want to stop. I suppose you want to take a nap and have breakfast, too?"
"Inuyasha?" Kagome said sweetly, finally having caught that elusive breath of hers.
The hanyou gulped audibly and said, "Ka-Kagome?" His voice cracked.
"Osuwari!"
:o:o:o:o:o:
"So where are we going?" Hoshi asked.
Sesshoumaru repressed the urge to growl at her. "For the twelfth time, wench, we are going to my home. And if you ask again, I will kill you." At least she hadn't been babbling the whole time they'd been traveling. He might've killed her already if she had.
The woman was a mystery to him. On one hand, she was lighthearted and bubbly, almost a ditz, while on the other, she was as cold and calculating as himself. She would vary between extremes, one moment being loud, talkative, and obnoxious, the next, silent and withdrawn, with an expression saying 'don't mess with me' loud and clear.
Rin had taken to Hoshi immediately, much to Sesshoumaru's consternation. To make matters worse, Hoshi had pronounced the little girl 'adorable' as soon as she saw Rin, and was now getting the low-down on life in Sesshoumaru's castle from the child's point of view.
Sesshoumaru sensed a question coming from the woman, and posed one of his own before she could ask. "Why did you attempt to kill Inuyasha? I am certain he was not the one who murdered your brother."
Hoshi set her question aside for the moment. "No, he didn't kill my brother. Some jerk called Ma... no, that's not it... Ba... not that either...Na...yeah, Na...something did that. Inuyasha killed a friend of mine. Fifty-odd years ago. I hunted him down then, but by the time I found him, he was sealed to a tree. Dead, for all intents and purposes. Then, a couple of years ago I guess it was, I heard that he was back. Naturally, I hunted him down again."
Flashback
I ran across a grassy field in the direction my nose told me my quarry lay. My clothes, at the moment, were loose and didn't restrict my movements, although when I stopped moving so quickly, they would revert back to a traditional kimono.
The hanyou's scent floated to me on the slight breeze. He was close, just ahead in the forest. He was not alone, however, as I'd hoped he would be. Three ningen and two youkai were in the hanyou's immediate vicinity. I did not particularly want to kill the others, but would have to since they would more than likely try to protect the hanyou.
Well, I should be able to take them all. I was an inu-youkai, after all, and the new heir to the Northern Lands since that awful shapeshifter had murdered my brother. The others should be no problem since I was now close enough to tell that the group was comprised of the hanyou, a male ningen and two females, a fire-neko youkai, and a kitsune child.
I was getting close enough that the hanyou would be able to smell me, despite the fact that I was downwind. I quickly chanted a spell that I'd learned from my late brother, conjuring up an enormous purple bolt of lightning as a distraction.
I swept in just after the lightning struck, claws extended and swinging. A blow to the head knocked the kitsune out, and a couple of well-placed swipes took the man out of the fight, injured but not dead. That left the two women, the neko, and the hanyou.
With my left hand, I grabbed the throat of the nearest woman, who was also the more imminent threat, judging by the large boomerang she carried. The neko launched itself at me, fearsome in its rage. But I was inu-youkai, and I would not be daunted by a mere fire-neko. With my right hand, I struck it a square blow on the ribcage as I pivoted out of the neko's attack vector. Since the woman I was choking had stopped struggling, I dropped her and finished off my opponent with a stunning blow just behind the ear, knocking the neko unconscious. Then I turned to the second woman.
The hanyou had finally realized what was going on and drew his sword. He stood protectively in front of the remaining human.
"Kagome, run!" he shouted.
The woman didn't get very far before I slashed her back open, the force of my blow spinning her around to face me as she fell.
I left her there and finally turned my full attention to the hanyou. I knew I was faster than he, but from the look in his eyes, I knew I'd only get to make one mistake. His eyes told me I'd die if I messed up.
I didn't doubt him. The second woman I'd taken out must've been his mate, or something equally special. I wished the hanyou hadn't killed my close friend. Then I wouldn't be obligated to kill him for vengeance. I wished I hadn't had to kill his mate. But, if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.
I heard a yell from behind me. Surprised, I turned and saw the young woman standing with a bow in her hands and an arrow aimed straight at my heart. "Sayonara," she said, her raven black hair billowing around her head and her stormy gray eyes flashing. Then she loosed the arrow.
End Flashback
Hoshi sighed as she finished her story. "Now that I've answered your question, will you answer one of mine?"
"Perhaps," Sesshoumaru said, deep in thought. "Ask, and we will see."
"Okay." Hoshi seemed to gather her confidence around her, then asked, "Sesshoumaru-sama, are you always this stuffy?"
