Jaken stuttered halfway through his speech. "Th-the western lands! They have undergone several attacks by many packs of demons! Lord Sesshomaru, I suggest you go there right away!"
Sesshomaru took in the questionable words that Jaken had spoken. "And where did you hear this from, Jaken?" he asked. "Some others were speaking of it! Others could not handle the demons, but I am sure that with your power you could defeat them easily!" Jaken said. Sesshomaru pondered the information once more. He decided to see exactly what was happening to his lands out in the west; which was conveniently not far from where they were now. "Fine then," he said, not sounding the least bit worried, "Go notify Hanako and Rin of our departure."
Jaken went to the river where Hanako was and soon returned with her behind him.
"You are…leaving?" she asked sadly.
He turned to face her. "Yes I am. I would like my shirt back now if you don't mind."
She stared at him. This was something she had never noticed about him before. Where… where is his other arm? She thought. She gaped at him for long silent moments at the shoulder which had no arm extended from it. He grew annoyed at her gazes and said, "It got cut off…" She snapped out of her wonder and bowed. "I'm sorry Lord Sesshomaru! I didn't mean to stare!" she apologized.
"Don't mind it. I would just like my shirt back. Go hurry and change." He commanded. And with that, she ran off back to where she had hung her frock to change. Rin came through some bushes, seeing Sesshomaru and Jaken looking as if they were about to leave. She frowned. "Are we leaving here already?" she asked.
Jaken snorted. "No, Rin. You are not coming with us."
"I'm not? But I want to go! Lord Sesshomaru, tell Jaken I can go!" she pleaded.
"We are going to fight a war, perhaps, Rin. I am sure that is not something you would be interested in." Sesshomaru told her. Rin pouted, "A war? So me and Hanako have to stay here?" she asked again. "Yes," Jaken replied, "Yes you do."
Hanako came up behind Sesshomaru and handed him his shirt. He took it slowly, almost wanting to leave it with Hanako, since her clothes were still soaked and now she had to wear them wet, but he ignored his sudden kindness and put on the shirt. He took Aun and climbed on top of him, Jaken following. He was about to leave but Hanako grabbed his arm. He was forced toward her and found himself looking her right in her face, which was stricken with loneliness.
"Do you promise you'll come back soon?" she murmured. He said nothing and turned away from her. He tugged on Aun twice, signaling him to leave, and Aun flew up into the sky, leaving Hanako and Rin on the ground waving to him. Rin tapped on Hanako's arm. "They said they were going to fight in a war…" she said, "They may not be back for a while…". Hanako looked back up into the sky at the disappearing image of Sesshomaru on Aun. She let her hand droop back down to her side and went off once more to make herself useful in some way…
…
Sesshomaru had arrived in the lands of the west, and indeed, they had undergone several attacks. He found himself staring at the ruins of what had once been a village. Jaken quivered slightly at his side. "This looks terrible! It's a good thing we came when we did…" he said thankfully. Sesshomaru walked through the collapsed structures and all of the dirt, until he approached a large demon. The demon looked at him with death in his eyes, his face fat and gross looking, a displeasing sight to behold. The demon let out an ear-piercing noise and all at once many more demons like that one appeared out of nowhere, surrounding Sesshomaru and Jaken. They all charged at them at once. Jaken clung to his lord's leg in fear, while he drew his sword, slaying all of the gross demons that approached him. It soon became and ambush; so many of them all coming at once. Sesshomaru carelessly took single perfectly aimed swings at them, destroying them all without even getting tired. This is what I came all this way for? He thought to himself. He had been expecting something more than these obese demons to have to face. But he did have to admit; there were a lot of them. They all continued to stupidly come out of wherever they were hiding to try to defeat him, but each one pathetically failed. Sesshomaru continued to become more and more bored with them, wanting to get someone else to do it so he would not have to waste his own time. He remembered Jaken at his side. "Jaken," he called, "Use the staff of heads. I grow bored with these demons." Jaken sprang into action. "Aye, m'lord!" he raised the staff, allowing the old man on the staff the spew fires at all the demons, charring them until they were dust. "Behold the power of the staff of two heads!" he shouted to them, as they all perished. But still, they continued to come out of absolutely nowhere. One particularly large demon that looked even more grotesque than the others, stormed over to Sesshomaru angrily. "Why?" it shouted, its voice deep and ear shattering, "Why are you killing my children?" He looked at the demon before him, even though he did not want to behold its ugliness. "Why are you raiding my western lands?" he asked calmly. "These lands will soon be mine!" the demon boomed. It threw a punch at Sesshomaru, but did not succeed to hit him. Sesshomaru was much to fast for these demons, and he knew that, but he would continue to play along with the demon's little foolish game. It threw many more punches and kicks at him, but never once hit him. Sesshomaru swiftly dodged each blow without a second thought. "It would be best for you to leave here," Sesshomaru laughed at the demon. The demon still continued to fight. Sesshomaru became bored of this as well, and soon single handedly killed the demon, and watched the monstrosity fall to the ground before him. The rest of the demons began to go back into hiding, whispering among each other that they would come back tomorrow.
Jaken gasped for breath. "Those demons don't know when to quit. They are not even near powerful but its best we stay the night, since there are so many,"
They walked to a nearby castle where they could possibly stay the night. Jaken carefully opened the doors, allowing Sesshomaru to pass in front of him, and then shutting them. The castle was dark and abandoned, and the scent of death hung in the air. "Hello?" Jaken shouted, "Is anyone here?" No one answered, but they could both fell the presence of the demons, watching their every move. They were not going to bother the intruders for they had watched them defeat their comrades. They stayed quiet and hidden in the shadows.
Sesshomaru sat down at the corner of al wall. "We will stay in this castle, I suppose, since whoever lived here seems to have been killed…" he said, his voice echoing throughout the castle that only looked empty. He wondered how anyone who had fought those pathetic demons could have died, since they had been so weak, and then thought of Hanako and Rin back where he had left them. He could've brought them along if he had known the demons were to be so weak. He closed his eyes, beginning to breathe in deeper and deeper. He felt almost saddened because Hanako was not with him, but dismissed his feelings once more. He did not understand why he felt he almost missed the sound of the girl playing with Rin and seeing her happily frolicking around the flower fields, and what these feelings meant. He wondered about them when a sudden and most outrageous idea popped into his head…
Love?His mind began to shut down and he fell asleep, Jaken resting on the opposite corner of the wall.
…
There was noise all around him, many pairs of eyes looking at him from so many different places, voices whispering. He opened his eyes ever so slightly to see the same demons observing him curiously. Lifting his hand, he ripped all of them apart, their shreds all falling to he ground. Jaken awoke startled at all of the blood falling around him. Sesshomaru stood up quickly, but still weary and tired. Everywhere, once more, were the demons. They were all beginning to ambush him again, and he rolled his eyes. I do not feel like dealing with this… he thought. "Jaken, take care of them would you?" he asked, slumping back down into the corner of the castle. "Yes Lord Sesshomaru," Jaken said, raising the staff and having it burn all of them. Sesshomaru watched, completely bored. He began to remember what Hanako had said to him:
"Do you promise you will come back soon?"He wanted to go back. Things with her were even more eventful than this. He decided that after Jaken was finished with these demons, they could go back to see Hanako and Rin, and then return later.
He had to have waited about an hour, and Jaken was still not finished.
"Jaken," he said impatiently, "We are leaving. We will return later."
Jaken turned to him happily. "That's good." He gasped, tired from fighting all the demons. "I don't think I could handle fighting another one!" Jaken collapsed to the ground. Sesshomaru stepped over him and began making his way through the demons, until he reached outside of the castle. He hurried over to where he had left
Aun, pushing several of the demons aside, not even bothering to kill them. Jaken followed and climbed on Aun, and they left. Sesshomaru felt completely stressed and annoyed. That had to be the worst battle he had ever fought in. His mind and body completely drained of all energy. And the worst part was, the battle was not even over yet. He was exhausted.
He flew over to more familiar ground, away from the ruins and the demons. He began to see where he had left Hanako and Rin. Aun landed on the ground, allowing Sesshomaru and Jaken to lower themselves to the ground. Rin saw them first.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" she yelled happily, running over to them. Sesshomaru looked down at the excited, happy child before him. "Rin," he asked, "Go fetch me water."
"Yes Sir!" she said, running to the river.
Jaken walked off after her to get some water for himself.
Hanako entered toward him carrying a bucket. She glanced over to him. Completely and pleasantly surprised, she dropped the bucket and ran over to him, a big smile across her face.
"Lord Sesshomaru! You came back!" she said.
She came closer to him, and much to his surprise, embraced him.
His heart stopped. She was hugging him. At the moment of her touch, he felt all of his pains and troubles dissipate into her arms. This had never happened before.
"Hanako…" he began, "What are you…?"
She looked up to him. "How was your trip? Were there really demons attacking the west? Did you get hurt? Are you all right? Why do you look so tired?" she was asking so many questions all at once. She led him under a tree and sat him down.
"You look tired…" she said, concerned for him. "Was it that bad?"
"No. I am fine. I don't need your concern." He said, still completely surprised that she had hugged him. A strange thing had come over her right then. Why had she done that?
He almost wanted her to do it again…
He looked down at the ground. She was sitting next to him, hugging her knees, looking at him. "Are you sure you are okay, Lord Sesshomaru?" she questioned him once more.
"I'm fine…" he said, reassuring her, "I am now…"