----------
It was morning. Sesshoumaru had been up all night, as was usual for him. A few hours after Jaken and the girl had gone to sleep, he had gotten up and wandered the area at night. It was actually the first time that he had done so since he'd met the girl, though part of that was due to his own injuries. But he was fine now and just because she needed sleep was certainly no reason for him to sit in one spot all night every night, and the meadow that they were in was secure enough. He returned just after the dawn, finding her still asleep in the same spot that he had left her in, oblivious to the fact that he had ever been gone.
He wanted to leave the area before the morning passed. Sesshoumaru woke Jaken up with a kick, but was for some reason reluctant to do the same to Rin. This was the first morning that he had actually had the problem of how to wake her up. Finally, he settled on shaking her.
"Rin."
She opened her eyes. "Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"We're leaving."
She immediately jumped up and stood, ready to go.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken cried as he pulled at the dragon's reins. It was still sitting down, and was being disagreeable. The thing only listened to Jaken half of the time, and today it obviously wasn't ready to go. Sesshoumaru walked over, prepared to lead it himself, when he was intercepted by the girl.
"Jaken-sama? Let Rin try."
"You, girl?" Jaken asked. "What makes you think it will listen to the likes of you?"
The girl stepped in front of Jaken anyway. "Ah, Un, let's go." She tugged at the reins once. The dragon stood up, much to Jaken's annoyance.
Sesshoumaru looked down at the girl, who stood with a smile on her face, waiting for him to do something. "Let's go," he said. He began walking, with Rin leading the dragon on one side, and Jaken walking on the other. Later in the day she gave the reins back to Jaken, wanting to pick some berries from the bushes that had sprung up along the path. She would stop for a moment, pick some, and then catch up. Suddenly she came running up to him.
"Look, Sesshoumaru-sama!" She held something up for him to see. It was a coin piece, probably dropped accidentally on the old dirt path by some other humans. "Money of Rin's own!"
He said nothing, but she continued to dance around for the rest of the day, holding up the coin and looking at it. Personally, he couldn't see what was so great about the small piece of metal, never having to trade for or buy the things he wanted. He understood that humans had to barter, but why they got so excited over the prospect of having a great number of the metal things was something that he never cared to contemplate.
By sunset, they had traveled as far as Sesshoumaru cared to. The path crossed over the top of a hill, and a village could be seen below. He started to turn in the other direction, but the girl stopped him.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, can Rin go spend her coin?"
Sesshoumaru still didn't understand her fascination with the coin, but it would take care of feeding her for the day. He looked back at the village. It appeared that they were having some kind of local festival, though her eyes probably couldn't make out the lanterns from this distance. There would be plenty of things for her to spend the coin on.
"As long as you buy food for yourself first. Jaken, take her a bit closer. Rin, come back when you're done. We'll be over the next hill."
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama," they said in unison, one happily and the other not so happily.
Jaken came back quickly, and Rin came back long after dark. She was still eating some sort of festival cake. She had some more wrapped up in a cloth, and another container at her side, which she presented to Jaken.
"Here's the sake you wanted, Jaken-sama."
Jaken looked embarrassed as he took the container from her. He glanced at Sesshoumaru.
"Human drink, Jaken?"
"Eh, well, sake is sake, Sesshoumaru-sama."
Sesshoumaru said nothing. Jaken drank his sake, and the girl finished her cake. She was uncommonly quiet--not that that particularly bothered him, but he had expected her to come back excitedly talking about everything that she had done. But she was silent and sat mostly looking at the ground, though she kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. She also had an unusually serious look on her face, her brows drawn together in a slight frown and her mouth set in a line. He wondered what could have been so terribly thought provoking about a simple trip to a village. Suddenly, she looked at him.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, what's a youkai?"
Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrows.
Jaken nearly spit out what he was drinking. "What?!"
"What's a youkai?" she persisted.
"You crazy girl! You don't even know--"
"Quiet, Jaken," Sesshoumaru said. This could be interesting. "What do you know about youkai, Rin?"
"People tell stories about them. Youkai are scary monsters that come out at night when it's dark. They kill people," she said automatically. So she did know something. "Rin's scared of youkai," she added.
"So what do you want to know?"
"Rin's not sure," she said, frowning. "The man said youkai don't...but Rin thought...then he said they are...."
"Youkai are...?"
"Is Sesshoumaru-sama a youkai?" she finally blurted out.
Sesshoumaru looked at her, a part of him barely believing what he was hearing. She honestly didn't know. "I am."
"But Sesshoumaru-sama is nice to Rin. Youkai aren't nice."
"Sesshoumaru-sama is one of the most--"
"I said quiet, Jaken," Sesshoumaru said sharply. He wanted to see how this played out.
"Youkai aren't nice," she repeated. She was right, youkai weren't nice; actually, he wasn't that nice.
"No," he agreed.
"How can Sesshoumaru-sama be a youkai? Youkai are supposed to be mean and scary," she added in a confused voice.
"Youkai do whatever they want to."
"Then are there good youkai and bad youkai?"
"No. Sometimes youkai do things that are 'good,' and sometimes things that are 'bad.' Though they don't think about it the way that humans do."
"Sesshoumaru-sama is good to Rin."
"I suppose," he said blankly.
"Does Sesshoumaru-sama do bad things, too?"
"I suppose."
"Then Sesshoumaru-sama isn't nice to everyone?"
"No."
"Does Sesshoumaru-sama kill people, too?" she asked in a small voice.
"Sometimes." He wasn't going to lie to her.
She was quiet again, and then spoke. "Is that why Sesshoumaru-sama looks different?" she suddenly asked.
"It is."
"But youkai are supposed to be scary looking."
"Some youkai can look like what they want," he said.
"What is a youkai?"
Sesshoumaru paused. It was not as easy to explain as one might think. "Youkai are beings that are stronger, faster, and more powerful than humans, and can do things humans can't. There are also many different kinds of youkai. Humans would do best to stay away from youkai, because youkai generally don't care what happens to them. Youkai are also better than humans," he added as an afterthought.
"Are Jaken-sama and Ah and Un youkai, too?"
"They are."
"Were the scary dog man and things in the woods youkai?"
"They were."
"Those youkai wanted to eat Rin?"
"They did."
"Why?"
"I have no idea. Some youkai just do," he answered truthfully. Consuming humans was something that he had never been able to understand. While Sesshoumaru might take the occasional pleasure in killing those that trifled with him, the thought of actually eating one had always revolted him. The lower creatures were disgusting and annoying, and it was too far beneath him to even possibly consider. Besides, eating in any way, shape, or form was bothersome and a waste of time.
"Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't want to eat Rin," she said.
He noticed that it wasn't a question, but more like her vocalizing her thoughts to solve a problem. He answered anyway. "No."
"And Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't want to kill Rin."
He paused. No, he didn't want to kill her. "No."
She frowned. "Then why should Rin be afraid of Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Should you?"
"The man said so. Because Sesshoumaru-sama is a youkai."
"Most humans are afraid of youkai. Are you?"
"Yes." Then she thought for a moment. "Scary ones. But not Sesshoumaru-sama--or Jaken-sama and Ah and Un. Sesshoumaru-sama was nice to Rin. Rin doesn't like mean and scary people, either," she added.
"I see. You may speak now, Jaken."
Jaken, apparently having nothing else to say, muttered something about sleep and walked off. Sesshoumaru watched Rin, who, apparently satisfied by (or contemplating) her answers, had fallen silent again and was poking at the ground with a stick. That had certainly been an interesting exchange. The girl was supposedly afraid of youkai, even though she really had no idea what they were, beyond what was told in stories. Then she had blindly followed one of the most dangerous and unsafe ones in existence. And he had let her. The whole thing was beyond amusing--ironic really.
At first, he had even questioned the fact if she knew that he was a youkai, but had quickly abandoned that idea. It had seemed impossible to him that she wouldn't have instantly recognized him for what he was. But it had never occurred to her that he was a youkai, because he wasn't "scary." The "scary dog man" was how she had referred to Mazou. Sesshoumaru wondered if she would apply the label "scary dog man" to himself. He supposed that he didn't look particularly scary at the moment, though it was all a matter of opinion. He briefly wondered what she would do if she saw his other form. Apparently the only things that were youkai through the eyes of the child were things that were totally beyond her experience. Right now he did look human enough, except for the few things that she had already noticed. It seems that she found him different, but not different enough to consider him something else. And even adults had mistaken him for human before, until they realized their error. But by then it was usually too late.
She hadn't realized that he wasn't human until someone in the village that day had obviously told her. It made sense now that she had been unafraid in the beginning. He seemed no more of a threat than anyone else she encountered. But she was still unafraid. Even though she knew for certain what he was, she still didn't fear him. All because he had been "nice" to her, which he supposed he had. For him, 'nice' was basically not killing something on the spot. Regarding his current situation with the girl, he was being phenomenally nice, now that he thought about it. Still, nice or not, it should have bothered her on some level--any level--that he was a youkai. Didn't it worry her that he was one of the monsters that she had heard stories about? One of the things that she claimed to be afraid of? Besides the fact that she had seemed surprised (and slightly confused) by the information, she seemed not to care.
He had watched her face carefully throughout the conversation, and not once did the look of frightened realization come over it. He knew that look well--the look that humans (and occasionally other youkai) got on their faces when they realized just exactly what was looking back at them. He had expected some sort of a reaction from her when he had answered her questions, but she had just accepted it. Even now she apparently trusted that he wouldn't do anything to her. What surprised Sesshoumaru more was the realization that he didn't want to, and probably wouldn't.
Suddenly, Rin wordlessly moved, and came over to lie beside him. She moved her hand through the grass to reach for his, and rested hers on the top of it. He was somewhat surprised that she did so, despite her almost nonexistent reaction to what he had said. He looked down at her, but she only closed her eyes and went to sleep. He thought back to the other nights, when he had wondered how she could sleep next to a youkai. Now he knew that she hadn't thought herself sleeping next to a youkai, but simply him. Though she slept just as contently now, even after what she had just heard. He realized that she was latched on to him, not caring whether he was human or youkai, simply because he was the first person that had been (though unintentionally on his part) nice to her. Sesshoumaru looked at her sleeping form.
What was he going to do with her? He had said before that she was his, but that didn't necessarily mean as it sounded. She was his to do with what he wanted, for however long he wanted, until he no longer cared or found her of use. His, as was Jaken. However, Jaken remained useful, and she had never been useful. She was curious and interesting, nothing more. He had already found out why she was following him, and the rest of that little curiosity had been solved tonight. There was no value left in her except possibly amusement. There was no real reason that she should stay.
But what was he going to do with her? Leave her somewhere? Keep her? Kill her? Leaving this one somewhere would really have the same outcome as the last option, he decided. Even left in another village, she was probably as good as dead. And he didn't particularly need a tag along girl for any extended amount of time. But despite his dislike of humans, Sesshoumaru couldn't bring himself to kill this one that had really done nothing to him, that was so completely defenseless against him. This one that had actually tried to help him, that he had brought back to life, that had been following him for the past week. This one that even now slept fearlessly next to him.
Having no other options that he felt satisfied with, Sesshoumaru settled on keeping her again, at least until one of them grew completely bored with the other. He had planned to keep her for a while ever since the third night, but now he knew that she would stay for an amount of time far beyond what he had originally intended.