A/N: All Inuyasha characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi!

The Long Awaited Adventure

By Ivaliny

Chapter 5

"Flying Sticks of Possible Disembowelment"

Miroku had come into her room and woken her up after what seemed like only a few minutes of closing her eyes for sleep. He was cheery and smiling from ear to ear, which Rin found surprisingly pleasant. She never had been a morning person, but since Miroku was in such a good mood, it filled her morning with hope, and after finally rubbing away her crusty tears from her eyes, she even was excited about the start of their journey. Well, that dwindled away when they all met in the front courtyard where Inuyasha's stoic and slightly impatient brother waited, which make Inuyasha's surprisingly good mood vanish as well, leaving behind a dreary gray cloud above their heads.

Sesshoumaru led them out the front gate, stiff and rigid with his nose high up in the sky. Rin wondered with a disgusted frown if having his nose so high was for catching the scents, or if he just loved being an ass. He walked at a fast pace, causing Miroku and Rin to slightly job to keep up. The farther they got from the castle, Rin wondered if she could do this for a month of longer. By high noon her feet were sore, her stomach was growling, and she had wished she hadn't coaxed Frednicio to follow above. A good long ride on his back would be so good right now, she thought with a long, tired sigh.

She looked behind her at Inuyasha who seemed to walk casually behind her, arms crossed, lost in a day dream world. The hard, fast pace of Sesshoumaru seemed to not have any effect on him, and Rin wished she had that kind of energy. She wasn't a complainer, but inside her head she was screaming for Sesshoumaru to slow down, but her silent pleading went unnoticed as his back was still rigid and tense.

"How are you fairing?" Miroku asked, noticing her discomfort.

"My feet hurt and I'm hungry, but I guess I'm okay."

Miroku smiled,"You'll get used to it."

Rin rolled her eyes,"He's never going to stop!"

He chuckled,"He might not." Rin gave a slight, displeased groan. "So, are you ready to start learning some spells?"

She choked back her non-existant spit,"What, right now!"

Sesshoumaru, some 15 feet ahead, slowed down his pace, still rigid, turned his head to the side and looked at the two humans, which sent chills down her spine. He narrowed his eyes at them, then turned around facing forward again, picking up his before pace.

"Why not now?" Miroku added. "We have nothing better to do." He bent down, picked up a stick, and handed it to her. She looked at it, puzzled, wondering what she would have to do with a stick. "Close your eyes," he ordered. "Concentrate really hard." She did as ordered and scrunched her nose to show she was concentrating, which made Miroku smile in amusement.

"Now yell, 'Fetch, Inuyasha!'"

A growl and projectile rock from behind hit Miroku in the head. "I heard that, you jerk!"

Miroku rubbed the lump on his head and began to laugh," I had to see if you were a live somehow, didn't I?"

"Mm, whatever," Inuyasha grumbled.

Returning his attention back to Rin, Miroku said, "Now seriously, place the stick flat on your palm and concentrate on lifting it up in the air with your mind."

She quirked and eyebrow at the blue-eyed man beside here,"What?"

"Just do it,"he said, still equipped with a smile from the lame joke he had placed on his dog-eared friend.

"How have my monsters been doing, tearing up Efeu?" Warrik asked Torent, shoving meat into his mouth and draining his goblet of wine.

Torent's face grew angry, not wanting to be the one who was the bearer of bad news. "Not well, milord, Efeu's pathetic excuse of an army has somehow defeated each one of the monsters, leaving little damage to the city."

"What?" roared Warrik, slamming his goblet down on the table. "How is that possible? Those were some of my best!" Warrik motioned for more wine and a servant filled his cup,"What about the spied? Have they found Inuyasha and the swords?"

Torent stood beside his master and shook his head,"No, milord, but some have reported that they saw him fly off towards the west. Have you not been able to locate them through the pool?"

Warrik grumbled,"Something is blocking him, and I can't get around it." He sat there chewing his food and thinking. "To the West you say? Perhaps he's going to Mondlicht to see Lord Sesshoumaru. I hear they're brothers." He went silent again.

"Fetch me the 'Breathers and have them fly to Mondlicht and pay the notorious Lord and his brother a little visit. Have them find Inuyasha and bring him to me as soon as possible." Warrik wiped him mouth and stood up from the table,"and in the meantime, I'll pay another visit to our Princess Kagome. I know she knows more than what she's letting us know."

Torent bowed and left his master alone in the dining hall. He cringed at the thought of summoning the 'breathers. "Stupid 'Breathers, always so damn noesy."

Sesshoumaru slowed down his pace for the humans with annoyance. He wasn't totally bored, but his company wasn't coming up with any real interesting coversations. He was used to the mindless dribble of his faithful servant, Jaken. It wasn't like him to miss his servant, but for a while he did, which only irritated him more. He felt a headache coming on a little before noon. He had to keep reminding himself why he was traveling with these three: Tenoh's sword. Dreaming of what he could do with the sword, he walked almost in a trance, until he was snapped back to reality by Miroku's question.

"So, are you ready to start learning some spells?" he had asked.

What? Sesshoumaru had wondered, I thought he said they were sorcerers. He did mention the girl was an apprentice, but I didn't know she was a brand new one. He turned his head to look at the two, narrowing his eyes. He saw the girl's eyes widen in what looked like fear, but it quickly turned into a glare, so he turned his head back around.

Damnit, this is going to be a long journey, and his headache exploded even more, but he ignored it, making his face a look of boredom and walked on.

Now hours had passed since Miroku had first told her to move the stick from her palm. He could hear her aggrivated sighs, her huffs and puffs of distress, and grew even more irritated. A quick slice to the throat would make it quiet. Telling she was tired, which for some reason made her work even harder, he decided to find a suitable place to make camp, hoping it would keep her quiet, but also dissapointing him that now they would far behind schedule. That's expected, he reasoned, humans are weak, and not for the first time, he cursed them.

Intently focused upon trying to levitate the stick she now hated, Rin hadn't noticed the long, silver-
haired demon in front of them stop until she walked straight into his back. Quickly, she threw the stick behind her and looked at the demon slightly embarrassed and slightly in fear. He made no indication of their collision, but looked down at her, and in a monotone voice announced they were to make camp.

Quickly, Inuyasha and Miroku gathered up firewood and made a fire. Sesshoumaru stood about 10 feet away, next to a tree, watching without interest. Once the fire was big enough, Rin sat down next to it with a heavy sigh. Her feet were screaming for a massage, but for some reason she felt slightly reluctant to massage them in front of the men. What if it shows I'm weak, she pondered, and decided she would not touch her feet, and live with the dull ache. Actually, she was quite surprised that Sesshoumaru decided on making camp so early. The sun had just begun to set, and she thought they would have traveled more in the dark, because he seemed to not want to waste any more time than necessary.

Miroku opened up the pack of supplies he had gathered at Sesshoumaru's castle that held all of their food for the journey. "Rin, make the food while Inuyasha and I gather more firewood." He put a hand on her shoulder,"Don't forget to keep practicing your levitating while we're gone. We shouldn't be too long."

Rin rolled her eyes, wishing she didn't have to."Don't get mad at me if your food is burnt."

Inuyasha made a grumbling noise,"Aw, man! Not the food!"

The sorcerer snorted,"You and your food." He gave and exhausted sigh. "I'll make the food when we come back with the firewood,"he paused,"unless Lord Sesshoumaru would like to make the food."

Sesshoumaru turned his head slightly towards them, expressionless. "I don't eat."

"Don't worry, I wont burn the food! I was just teasing," Rin stated with a grin.

The two boys left to look for more firewood and Rin began to cook some bland looking pasta. While the was the boiling a small pot, out of the corner of her eye she saw Sesshoumaru sit down and lean up against the tree he was standing next to. He was so quiet, it almost annoyed her. They sat in uncomfortable silence while she practiced levitating the stick, which seemed almost impossible, but she persevered on. Concentrating so hard this time she flet as if this would be the moment where the stick would hoover off her hand, and it did. It hung in suspended animation. She held her breath with excitement, too afraid to breath just in case the waft of air would knock the stick out of it's levitating trance.

"You were the spy in the woods the other day, weren't you?"

Too excited, too scared, too shocked, her concentration on the stick broke and somehow, someway, the stick flew across the fire as she let out a nervous,"huh?"

A smack and a thunk was heard from across her, and to her horror she figured out what it was: stick crashing against skull. She couldn't see him behind the fire, but her stomach sunk to the ground in dread.

His eyes widened, obviously caught off guard by the invading stick attacking his cranium. Did her annoying stick just hit me in the head?

Rin gave an embarrassed giggle,"Eh, oops." Oh no! He knows I was spying on him, but how?

Expecting to be disemboweled at any moment, already mourning the loss of her entrails as her extrails, she closed her eyes, holding her breath for the painful blow to come, but it never did. He said nothing, did nothing as Rin played the horrible ways she was going to be a human shish kabob, but nothing happened.

"Can I have my stick back?" Rin asked impatiently, but still slightly nervous.

No answer.

Suspicious and relieved, she concluded that stick levitating was annoying anyways, and now she could fully concentrate on her cooking, which paid off in the end. Just before the boys came back with the firewood, she finished her perfectly bland pasta noodles.

"We have returned with firewood," announced Miroku victoriously.

Inuyasha tossed the firewood in a pile,"Yeah, and we're starving!"

"Just in time,"Rin said with a smile.

Soon the three of them were seated around the fire slurping down the pasta, sitting in companiable silence. Rin was glad she had this opportunity to go on an adventure with her new friends, even if she did complain, and found that just sitting with them was just fun enough. She looked behind her Sesshoumaru's direction and noticed he was still staring up towards the sky with almost a thoughtful expression illuminated by the moon. For the first time he looked almost a pleasant, at least until he returned her stare with a snobbish glare. He's impossible to figure out!

"Where's your stick, Rin?" Miroku asked.

She turned around with eyes wide open, "Well, I made it levitate, but I don't know where it levitated to." Ha! Yeah I do, it levitated towards Sesshoumaru's head. She giggled at the thought.

Ignoring her giggling, he smiled,"Excellent! Show me! It took me 3 days to learn how to do that!"

She picked up another stick and rested it on her palm. Please work! No more levitating stick after this, so please work! She pleaded with the stick. Behind her, she heard Sesshoumaru get up and walk away from them. Why is he so high and mighty? She asked herself, and without even noticing through her heightened emotions towards Sesshoumaru, the stick flew off her palm and back behind her.

"Sorry, I don't know how to control-" and before she could finish her sentence, a grunt was heard behind her. Oh no! Not again! She gasped.

Behind her a clawed hand with two stripes across the wrist appeared in her peripheral vision. She lout out a silent "eep" as her heart stopped. Then she noticed the hand wasn't going to slice her open, but drop the stick in her lap. She looked up at him with wide eyes, directly up his nose. Oh wow, it's so clean!

"Th-thank you," she stuttered, trying to ignore the fact she was still staring up his nose.

"Please," he paused, showing his irritation,"control the stick." He turned around and walked away.

Miroku's jaw dropped,"I feel like I missed something."

Rin gave an embarrassed smile, blushing bright red.

"Right, no more hitting Sesshoumaru with sticks," and with that he grabbed all the sticks around her and threw them away, finishing his pasta noodles. "Before bed, I must tell you something first. First, to be a great sorceress, you must know the limits of your emotions. There are some things that can be benefitted by emotions, but some times it can lead to disaster. Emotions can be a very powerful thing. I just want you to be very careful. Already, I see great things in you. Just be careful." He pulled out a blanket from the pack and got it situated for sleep. "Now, get some rest tonight, we'll have a long day tomorrow."

Rin nodded and watched as he crawled underneath and closed his eyes. She cleaned up their supper and washed the dishes in the stream when she was startled by Inuyasha when he appeared beside her, handing her a stick.

"Mind doing that again?" he grinned. She burst into laughter as he joined in, both of their bodies shaking with the overcoming laugher inside of them.

A/N: Welp, that's Chapter 5! This still is probably my favorite chapter! I had great joy in throwing sticks at Sesshoumaru, can you tell? hehe! Yes, it was always my dream to throw sticks at Sesshoumaru. J/K! But anywhoo! Chapter 6 is an exciting chapter, so i'll start typing that tomorrow! YAY! If anyone cares, Chapter 6 is called "When Nightmares Come True". Thanks for reading this, and send your comments and reviews, because i loveth them so much! Oh and before i forget, thank you to all of you who have left reviews! Thank you!