Kijustsu no Senyo
Author's Note- Okay, just to let you guys know I'm going to try and make these chapters longer from now on. Wish me luck! Thank you to Dragon Man 180 for repling when no one else does!
They continued traveling the next day in silence again. The only thing that was different from yesterday's traveling before Raoul showed up was that the silence was not a silence of nothing to say, but an uneasy silence. Rin was figiting on Ah-Un's back. Jaken was looking around nervously. Only Sesshoumaru seem to be untroubled by the atmosphere.
Lausanne's thoughts were jumping everywhere. One moment she would be worrying about Raoul. Was he okay? Was he still laying on the ground where they had left him? If he was, was he in danger? The next moment she would be thinking about Rin. Did she have enough for breakfast? What about dinner the night before? Was she bored? If she kept squirming like she was, would she fall off? And from thoughts of Rin came thoughts of Jaken. What in the world was that imp looking for! The way his eyes darted around was getting on her nerves. Why did Sesshoumaru keep him around anyway? He seemed like he was basically useless. Just as thoughts of Rin had changed to thoughts of Jaken, thoughts of Jaken turned to thoughts of Sesshoumaru. Why had he insisted on leaving Raoul alone, unconcious! Lausanne had thought he was a decent demon after getting through a rough beginning, but now she was beginning to doubt that. She knew that Raoul had been Sesshoumaru's opponent, but he had been Lausanne's friend! Annoying, persistant friend, yes, but a friend all the same.
It mayhave looked to Lausanne as if Sesshoumaru wasn't effected by the mood, but he was also having trouble controlling his thoughts. Unlike Lausanne, his thoughts weren't wandering, they were stuck on one subject: Lausanne. Not only had she not spoken to him since the incident with the fox demon yesterday, she hadn't even looked at him. Not since she had said "I hate you." The more and more Sesshoumaru thought about that sentence, the more he thought about his actions the day before, and the more he thought about that, the worse he felt. Feeling badly about something was a new emotion to the taiyoukai and he didn't like.
Sesshoumaru stopped. He turned to face the three behind him. "Is there something you want, milord?" Rin asked, breaking the silence.
"We will be stopping here for the night." the demon announced.
"But it's only noon!" Jaken exclaimed, "Why stop now!"
"Are you questioning my desicions?" Sesshoumaru demanded.
"No-no milord!"the imp said quickly, "I didn't mean to!"
"Good." Sesshoumaru answered, "Rin."
"Yes milord?" she questioned, looking over to Sesshoumaru.
"I want you to stay here with Jaken and Ah-Un until I return, do you understand me?"
"Yes Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Sesshoumaru's gaze turned to Lausanne finally. "Elf." he said. She didn't reply, not even bothering to look at him. Sesshoumaru sighed and continued. "Come with me."
Lausanne slipped off of Mooneclipse and walked over to Sesshoumaru, looking down to avoid him being in her vision.
The taiyoukai began walking into the forest, off of the path they had been following. Lausanne followed, still looking down. The two walked through the forest for what seemed like hours, but in reality was probably only a half an hour. Finally Sesshoumaru stopped in a small clearing with a mossy log in the middle.
"Sit down." he instructed. Lausanne did as she was told, still avoiding his gaze.
Sesshoumaru looked the girl before him over. She had put her multi colored hair into a braid. Even then it went to her knees. Her green dress, which had once been clean and spotless, was now mud splotched and frayed on the bottom. There were a few minor rips in it too. Sesshoumaru eyed the small, thin sword on Lausanne's belt. He had never seen her use it or even make a move to confirm she knew it was there, but she had never taken it off either. The most noticible thing about Lausanne was her scent though. The sweet smell of honeysuckles and pine that usually surrounded her, was mixed with the stench of dirt and sweat. She hadn't bathed since she had joined the group, but then again Rin hadn't bathed in a while either. Sesshoumaru made a mental note to send Rin and Lausanne to the hot springs he had smelled close by.
"What do you want Sesshoumaru?" Lausanne asked. Her voice was just as cold as it had been the last time she had spoken to him.
Sesshoumaru inwardly flinched. "I brought you here to ask you something." he replied.
"And what would that be?"
"What was that kitsune to you?"
Lausanne stared at Sesshoumaru. "Why do you ask?" she asked, surprised at the question.
"I do not know what to think of him." he replied, "He seemed to be annoying you, but when I attacked him, you became upset."
"Did you attack him for me?" Lausanne half exclaimed, her eyes widening.
"Yes." Sesshoumaru said, "He was disturbing my property."
Wrong word.
"Your what!" she yelled, standing up.
Sesshoumaru noticed his mistake a second too late. Any female demon would have taken the word 'property' as a subtle compliment. Even Rin and Jaken would have taken it that way. Unfortunatly Lausanne was no demon, nor Rin or Jaken, and the word 'property' was a very large insult.
"Sesshoumaru." Lausanne said, "I want to make sure you understand this. I am not your property and I never will be. I am my own person. I do not appriciate being called 'property' Do not call me that again."
Sesshoumaru watched the elf as she talked. He couldn't see her power, but he could feel it radiating off of her. She was beyond mad. She was furious. There was only one thing left to do... "I'm sorry."
Lausanne stopped talking. "What?" she asked.
"I am sorry." Sesshoumaru said again.
"For what?" Lausanne questioned. Her temper was starting to cool. She had never expected Sesshoumaru to appologize.
"For what I have said and done to you." he explained, "You are right, you are not my property, only an elf in my traveling party. I may have had a right to attack your friend, but I had no right to keep you from tending to him."
The elf sat back down on the log and stared at Sesshoumaru in disbelief. Sesshoumaru stared back, waiting for her reply.
"I accept your appology." Lausanne finally said, giving him a little smile.
Sesshoumaru nodded in response. "And I will change my travel habits because I suppose you will not stop nagging me until I do." he continued, "You also seem to have more knowlage on humans than I. We will leave an hour after Rin awakes so that there is time for the breakfast you insist upon. At noon we will stop again, but only for a few minutes. Then we will stop for the night an hour after sun down. Does that meet your standards?"
"Yes." she replied, "And I know that you will not give me any more time anyways so there is no point trying to argue."
Sesshoumaru smirked. "You are right there, elf." he said, "Let us return to Rin and Jaken." He turned and began walking back towards the camp.
"Lausanne." she said quietly.
"What?"
"I have a name." Lausanne said, walking up to Sesshoumaru, "It is Lausanne, not 'elf'."
"Lausanne." the taiyoukai repeated. She smiled.
Suddenly there was a crash and a huge youkai of over fifteen feet was in the clearing. It looked like a mix between a praying mantis and an ant. "Look what I found." It cackled, "Two lovers in the middle of a forest alone! How tastey!"
Sesshoumaru growled, putting his hand on Tokijin's hilt. Lausanne blushed, her hand also going to her sword.
"Leave and I won't kill you." Sesshoumaru warned the youkai.
"Why should I listen to you?" it asked
"Because I will kill you." he replied. Sesshoumaru drew Tokijin and lept toward the demon.
It dodged the attack, landing right in front of Lausanne. She jumped backwards, drawing her sword. There was no need for her to attack though because Sesshoumaru turned and attacked again, easily killing the bug demon. It collapsed to the ground. Lausanne took another step backwards to avoid being crushed underneith the demon.
"Are you alright?" Sesshoumaru asked, sheathing Tokijin.
"Yes." she replied, putting her own sword away, "Thank you."
"Why didn't you freeze the demon like you did me?" he questioned.
"I do not have enough power to do it now." she explained, "Freezing a human would be no problem, but freezing a demon is much harder than that. Unlike a human, they have the ability to fight, causing the spell to freeze a demon very power consuming. Freezing you and Inuyasha used up most of my powers and I was interupted when I last tried to regain my powers."
Sesshoumaru nodded, understanding what she said. "I will try not to disturb you next time."
"You have better not." Lausanne told him, "If you do I will be very angry."
He ignored the comment and began walking back through the woods. "Let us return." he commanded.
Kagome: They made up! How sweet!
Miroku: Yes, how very nice.
Inuyasha: Why are you guys so happy!
Kagome: Because something good happened!
Inuyasha: And you are happy because?
Kagome: Oh be quiet.
Clear Waters: Yes Inuyasha, be quiet. You ruined the mood. R and R everyone!
Inuyasha: How'd I do that!
