(A/N: Well, I know it has been a while since my last update... Sorry. July was an extremely hectic month, what with two deaths in the family, a full-time job, and preparing for a semester abroad... So, my appologies. I hope to update on a more regular schedule. Right then, on with the story. I hope you enjoy it!)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs to anyone else. However, if it doesn't, then it's mine... Logically.
Chapter 4: Dealings with Demons
It took a moment before Nanami could take in enough air to look up at her savior. She gasped for breath, staring intently at the ground in hopes to retain her consciousness. When she felt that she could breathe almost normally, she raised her eyes. Silently, she took in the elegant robes, the flowing white hair, the impressive armor, the purple markings on his cheekbones, and the emotionless golden eyes. Within moments, she realized that she was by no means safe. This creature's eyes held no sympathy for her, no desire for her survival. Mentally, she tried to ready herself to fight, but her body refused to cooperate.
"Are you going to die?" the demon asked, his voice cold as ice.
Nanami took the question with the implied threat. She sat back on her heels and looked him unwaveringly in the eyes. "I am not going to die unless you kill me. And I am not going to let you kill me."
Sesshomaru smothered his annoyance at her impudence. He was about to poison the human to put an end to her insolence, when he heard the sounds of small feet approaching from behind.
"Sesshomaru-sama?" his charge called politely, tugging ever so gently on his sleeve. He inclined his head to glance at her, keeping the woman in his sight. Having gained his attention, Rin continued sweetly, "I'm hungry. Are we going to stop for…"
His disapproving stare was enough to silence the girl, who bowed her head and subsequently caught sight of the woman on the ground.
"Oh!" the little girl exclaimed, immediately running to her side, "Who are you? Are you hurt?"
Needless to say, Nanami was a bit taken aback. The child seemed completely out of place amidst the powerful demon lord and his ugly minion. For a few moments, the injured woman scrutinized the girl, trying to decide whether or not she was a demon. Nanami could not tell.
"I will be fine," Nanami replied calmly, hoisting herself tenderly to her feet. She wobbled and crumpled back to the ground. "Damn you, Naraku!" she hissed, digging her fingers into the dirt and grass.
Before she knew what was happening, the demon had lifted her roughly by her arm so that her feet dangled helplessly above the dirt.
"What do you know of Naraku?" he demanded, his tone a threat, yet still unnervingly even.
It took all of her control to refrain from screaming in terror. She knew very well that demons were powerful beyond human capacity. But she knew that such a reaction would only irritate the demon. It would only cause her more harm. Taking deep breaths to steady herself, Nanami strained to speak clearly through the pain. "Naraku killed my father and brothers."
"The man with the demons," Sesshomaru pressed, not reacting to her answer, although he heard it. "Is that Naraku's present incarnation?"
"No," she murmured, "That is Sachio, one of my vassals. He is a traitor who has aligned himself with Naraku." She paused to shift her eyes to the side. "I hope Inuyasha has caught that bastard demon and slaughtered him." Her voice was weak, but vehement.
Sesshomaru's eyes flashed with anger. "How do you know Inuyasha?"
"He came to me with his companions, seeking assistance in their quest for Naraku. They had heard that I had some connection," she explained carefully, more than a little curious as to why he so desperately wanted to know.
He dropped her abruptly, letting her crash painfully to the ground as he turned on his heel to hide his emotions. This happened far too frequently as of late. His frustration was ever growing. How was it that his half brother, the foul mongrel, was able to uncover information about Naraku so long before he, Sesshomaru, demon lord of the Western lands, discovered the same facts? It baffled him, frustrated him, and forced him to come closer to losing his composure than anything before. The cur's blood was tainted by humanity. Why was he able to follow the trail more easily than a pure demon?
Then it dawned on the demon lord. It was through the hanyou's ties with the humans that he was able to track Naraku. This would not do. Sesshomaru refused to lose to Inuyasha in any aspect, including dealings with humans. The situation could be effortlessly remedied, though. The demon lord only needed a human liaison. Rin was too young, so the woman on the ground would have to suffice until the child came of age.
"Jaken," Sesshomaru addressed his attendant, "Bring Ah-Un. This human cannot walk."
"My lord," Jaken stammered, barely able to refrain from flapping his spindly arms. "Do you mean to load the woman on Ah-Un? For what purpose, my lord?"
Faster than Nanami's eye could follow, Sesshomaru smacked the lesser demon with the back of his hand. After the wordless reprimand, Jaken scrambled to catch hold of Ah-Un's harness and struggled to bring the reluctant creature with him. Languidly, Sesshomaru hoisted Nanami up by her shoulder and slung her across the two-headed demon's back.
The woman fought to get back to the ground. "What do you think you are doing, demon?" she demanded angrily, trying to compel her battered limbs to follow her commands. "I am not some sack of rice that you can pick up and make away with! I must go back to my palace to deal with the traitor. That is my duty and I'll not neglect it!"
With one hand, Sesshomaru held the human on the dragon's back as she bucked and pushed. "You shall henceforth be the human liaison of the demon lord of the western lands."
The young girl appeared on the other side of the dragon. "That means you're coming with us," she added helpfully.
"Your further duties are to teach the child, Rin, the manners and customs of humans," Sesshomaru decreed.
Anger flared in Nanami's heart. "Sweet as the child appears and merciful as you have been, demon," she hissed, "I am not going to resign myself into servitude. My duty is to my father and my people."
"You seek to avenge your family, do you not?" Sesshomaru cut in coolly.
"I do…" she begrudgingly replied.
He kept her resolutely pinned to the creature's back. "You will never defeat Naraku with human strength. Therefore, the only way you could possibly avenge your family is to serve me."
"But my people, my domain…" she pressed, already realizing that the demon was correct. "Who are you?"
"I am Sesshomaru, demon lord of the Western lands," he said without the slightest hint of arrogance, or any emotion for that matter. "And now, Rin, we will eat."
"Hooray!" the little girl cried, throwing her arms into the air.
"I trust you know how to cook, woman," Sesshomaru implied rather bluntly.
She was silent for a moment. "In truth, I do not." The outrage she had expected never came, in its place was a waiting silence, as much of a prompt to explain as she would ever get. "I was not raised to perform a woman's chores. I am the lord of my domain, my father's rightful heir."
Sesshomaru blinked. "You do not know how to cook," he clarified, seeming to have chosen that piece of information as most pressing.
"Not in the traditional sense, Sesshomaru-sama," Nanami reiterated carefully, "However, I have, on occasion, prepared food for myself during a hunt or military excursion. The food is not very good, but it is filling."
"Rin is accustomed to such meals," the demon stated blandly. "There is a clearing ahead where we shall make camp." With that, he strode away, leaving Jaken to frantically tug on the dragon's reigns while Rin skipped near Nanami's head.
With an endearing smile that only a child can produce, Rin addressed the woman draped over Ah-Un. "Sesshomaru-sama doesn't eat what I eat," she told her rather solemnly, "I get human food. He eats other things, I think…"
Nanami tried in vain to keep her head up rather than flopping against the beast's side as she responded. "Where do you get your food, then?" Surely the child did not cook for herself.
The girl made a face. "Jaken makes it… Or, at least he tries. He is not a very good cook. His rice is so mushy and he always burns everything."
"Humph!" was the disgruntled retort from the undersized demon. "You should be grateful that I feed you at all, human," he squawked irritably.
Rin turned to Nanami conspiratorially. "He has to because Sesshomaru-sama tells him to."
Nanami's brow knit above her tired brown eyes. How unlike a demon to care for a helpless human girl. She could not see any benefit that the demon gleaned from the child. Everyone knew that demons were exceptionally selfish creatures.
The demon in question had come to a halt in a small thicket. He waited in silence until the rest of his group came up beside him. Then, without turning to face the others, he began to delegate. "Jaken, Rin, gather water, kindling, and anything the woman asks for." The underlings dashed off to do their tasks.
"I have a name," Nanami said with firm politeness as she pushed herself tenderly off the dragon's back.
Sesshomaru made no indication that he had heard her speak. Stoically, he settled himself on a fallen tree where he had a good view of the entire campsite as well as the surrounding forest.
Nanami shook out her limbs tentatively, testing out their injuries and fatigue. Then, with her shoulders back and head held high, the posture of a proud man rather than a demure woman, Nanami stepped up to the demon. "Sesshomaru-sama," she began with a slight bow, the kind given to equals. "My name is Nanami. I am the lord of my domain, not some woman who may be ordered around like a—"
He cut her off as he stood, intimidating as he loomed over her. Nanami's stomach sank into her feet, but she stood her ground.
"Do not speak to me as though you are my equal, human. Whatever respect you command in the human world has no meaning in dealings with demons. I am by far your superior." His voice never rose above a normal level.
Nanami met his cold eyes, but her gaze held no challenge. She was happy that her knees remained strong enough to hold her upright. "Nonetheless," she stated as calmly as she could, "My name is Nanami."
Not waiting for a response, which she doubted she would be granted in any case, she turned to where the girl had returned with kindling. Feeling slightly safer, she smiled slightly as Rin fumbled with her arrangement of firewood.
"Here," Nanami said gently, picking up some pieces of dry wood from the pile. She carefully propped them up against each other and held them upright as she added other branches to form a cone-shape. "Now, do you have dry grass and small pieces of bark?"
Rin looked perplexed and nervous as she shook her head.
"Small bits of kindling that burn easier than sticks help get the fire started more surely," Nanami explained. "If you find a few dead, dry leaves and small twigs, we can use them."
The child beamed, nodded, and dashed back into the woods, nearly taking out Jaken as he stumbled back into the clearing under a full pot of water. He squealed and danced around, trying not to drop his cumbersome load. After setting down his quarry beside Nanami, he sighed in relief and cast a nasty look in the direction that Rin had taken.
"Thank you," Nanami said as she cleared grass away from her kindling.
Jaken huffed as he crossed his arms snootily. "What else do you need, woman?"
Nanami cast him her well-practiced look of disapproval. "I need to see your food stores, demon."
Scowling, Jaken retrieved a small bag from Ah-Un's back. He tossed it roughly to the ground, almost knocking over Nanami's firewood.
"You will take care not to be a hindrance," the human woman said icily.
The puny demon did not respond, but he stepped away from the cooking area. Rin rushed back into the clearing with two good sized handfuls of dry debris. Nanami smiled at the girl as she offered her kindling.
"Very good," she told the child honestly. "Now, have you anything to start a fire with? Any flint?"
"We don't use flint," Rin said with a little laugh. "Jaken starts the fire with his staff."
"With his staff?" Nanami repeated with a blank expression.
Rin nodded rapidly, oblivious to the incredulous mask on her new companion's face. "Jaken," she called to the pouting demon, "We need you to start the fire!"
"Ha! Why would I consent to do the bidding of two worthless humans?" he grumbled loudly, crossing his arms stubbornly. "You two can start your own—"
"Jaken." The one word from Sesshomaru was enough to silence the minion and make him shudder. Without further protest, Jaken took up his staff and set the fire pit ablaze.
Nanami blinked several times to both clear her vision of the bright spots and to make sure that the fire was real. The flames soon died down to the easily burnable kindling and Nanami bent down to blow on the dwindling flames, coaxing them to take on the larger sticks. Rin had collected some taller, sturdier sticks for the pot to hang from. Soon the water was boiling, cooking the small amount of rice Nanami had found in the pack.
When the rice was done, she scooped it into the crude bowls Rin held out. The child seemed over impressed by the novelty of unburned, non-mushy rice, but Nanami was not done. In the pitiful food pack, Nanami had discovered nattō wrapped in straw. Happily, she divided the little portion of fermented soy beans onto the two piles of rice.
"There," she sighed, a hint of self-satisfaction evident in her voice.
Rin was radiating happiness as she ate her strong-scented dish. Nanami was amazed at how quickly the food disappeared, and by the fact that there was not a grain of rice left in the girl's bowl.
The little girl bowed deeply. "Thank you, Nanami-sensei."
"You are very welcome, Rin-chan."
Apart from the word of reprimand Sesshomaru had uttered, he had not made a sound during the whole evening. He sat like a stone sentinel on his log perch, looking both relaxed and poised at the same time. On occasion, Nanami thought she could feel his eyes on her back, but she doubted herself when she looked at his still form.
When the dishes had been cleaned and the fire stoked for the night, he roused from his silence long enough to say, "Rin, go to bed."
Rin immediately spread out her rolled mat and removed her outer layer of clothing. "Goodnight, Sesshomaru-sama!" she chirped as she pulled the kimono over her.
For a moment, the demon lord turned his full attention on the girl, but he said nothing. Nanami thought that his eyes might have softened for a moment, until the light shifted. After what seemed like a long time sitting in mutual silence, he rose from his seat.
"You have no bedding," he stated blandly, approaching her so that he did not need to raise his voice.
She met his eyes boldly, but he could still see a hint of fear. "I don't need any. I have slept without it many times over the years."
He gave her the briefest of nods. "Very well. I shall wake you early in the morning to continue." Having said that, he turned to go back to his log. He paused halfway to his destination. "You will not serve that paste again. Its scent is foul." He had not moved to address her.
With a confused scowl, Nanami stalked over to the other side of the clearing. She found a place where she could have some privacy behind a tree. Angry thoughts tumbled through her mind as she removed her hakama. Wearing her yukata, she settled herself between the roots of a large tree on the perimeter of the campsite. Although her body ached with fatigue, her mind was too full of aggravating thoughts for her to drift to sleep. She sighed in frustration, then began to clear her mind with a little meditation. Meditation soon became a slightly troubled sleep.
Sesshomaru watched the human he had recently acquired. She was an odd specimen of the female side of humanity. She lacked the irritating habits that human women had. She did not force her voice to be higher pitched so that it hurt his sensitive ears. She did not retreat or cower before anything remotely male. Yet, she was tactful and poised. He had made a good decision, Sesshomaru affirmed for himself. This was a suitable woman to teach his charge.
(A/N: And there you have it, chapter four. Please, please, please review with comments, questions, and suggestions. I really look at each one and take what you write to heart.)