Well, here is your chapter. Happy Reading to you!
Chapter 20: Foolish AttemptsThe sun finally broke through the clouds of night. Its rays came through the trees and warmed Sesshomaru's back as he walked toward a sleeping Rin, and Jaken tapping his foot with impatience. Chika stared at him as well as she ripped bark off a tree, to try to make it look like she was doing something useful.
"Lord Sesshomaru? Where did you disappear to all of a sudden?" Jaken asked angrily, "You left early last night and did not say a word of where you were going."
Sesshomaru walked past him, without answering. He would never tell where he had been.
"Sesshomaru?" Chika asked, "Do you know where that blanket and pillow of mine went? I had to sleep on the ground last night, and that really sucked."
Sesshomaru shook his head. "And please do something more useful than ripping the bark off a tree."
Damn, he noticed, Chika cursed to herself while dropping the bark. She rolled her eyes with most annoyance. She went over to an already dry article of clothing that belonged to Rin that was blowing in the wind and pretended to ring out the water. She hated slavery. She thought that she would've been paid for hard labor. That was why she did not flee when she was captured to become a slave.
Sesshomaru once more
noticed Chika pretending to work. "Go and wake up
Rin," he
ordered. Seeing her pathetically trying to fool him annoyed him.
Chika flinched. "There is no way in hell that I'm touching some human kid again!" She nearly gagged at the thought.
"I am in no mood to argue with you, Chika. You will do as I say or I will dismember you; piece by smallest piece." He shot her a glance, daring her to disobey him again.
She gladly accepted the dare. "No you won't. You are too depressed about Hanako to bother with me." She placed her hands on her hips. She knew he could not argue with her there.
It was about time someone told Chika the breaking news: she could never cross a demon lord; especially one of the most powerful of them all.
He threw a fist at her, hitting her jaw. She flew across the clearing and slammed against a tree. Her entire body quivered with pain. Blood streamed from her mouth. Her eyes widened with fear as Sesshomaru came closer to her. Tears streamed out of her eyes and she flattened against the tree, as if it was the only thing there to save her. His eyes narrowed, but soon softened.
The image of a frightened girl curled up into a tree reminded him of Hanako.
"I-I'm sorry, Lord Sesshomaru! I-I'm r-really sorry… please, I beg of you to forgive my most terrible actions! I swear to you that from now on I will give you my utmost respect!" Chika bent forward in pain to attempt to grovel to him. Blood dribbled from her mouth as she sobbed.
Wow, Jaken thought, watching the scene with amusement, and I thought she was much too proud…
Sesshomaru wanted so badly to hit her again, but something stopped him. He had a newfound weakness for innocent girls. And it was Hanako's fault. He could never get over the fact that she had done so much damage to the person that he used to be, and yet he could never get enough of her.
He could see it now: If Hanako had been here and had seen him hit Chika, she most likely would have slapped him again. He looked away from her.
"If only you had done that to Hanako," Jaken commented, coming up behind him.
Sesshomaru said nothing and turned around, making sure and putting extra effort into stepping on Jaken as he walked away. Jaken squeaked slightly and squished into the ground.
Chika staggered upward and limped over to Rin. Every muscle in her body wanted so badly to sit down, but she ignored them out of fear of being hit again. She shook Rin slightly.
"Rin, wake up. I believe we are leaving," she said silently, her jaw continuously falling out of place.
Rin blinked and looked up at Chika. Seeing her marred face shocked her.
"Chika! What happened?" she asked, sitting up.
Chika shook her head. "Do not worry about me, child. Get up before you anger Lord Sesshomaru as well…" She stood up quickly, and limped as fast as she could over to him. He stared at her with amusement.
Rin was confused. Chika had once had such an attitude but it had suddenly disappeared. And she had blood running down her mouth. What had happened while she was sleeping?
Rin got up and dragged her blanket at her side and caught up to Sesshomaru. They began walking without further interruption.
Chika lagged behind them, having difficult time walking. Blood still continued to fall from her mouth. She became slightly drowsy, but still trudged on.
Rin watched her closely. Then she looked over to Sesshomaru. It all became clear to her. Sesshomaru had struck Chika. Rin looked upon Chika with sorrow.
Chika dragged her aching body along the path. Such unbearable pains going up and down her arms and legs. He had hit her so hard. She began to shake again. Didn't anyone notice that she was suffering so? Didn't anyone care?
The smell of dampness clung to the air. The dew sprinkled along the grass was just beginning to dry. Rin stretched her arms into the warming rays of the sun. The summer would be coming soon, and Rin silently rejoiced at the thought of spending another lovely summer season with Sesshomaru. She had wanted Hanako to be there as well, but that was obviously not possible. A single cloud that lingered in the sky blocked the sun, and the earth was dimmed.
Normally, Sesshomaru followed any trace of Naraku he could find, but a new and yet old scent filled his nose that interested him more. Inuyasha.
Wherever Inuyasha was, Hanako was too.
He turned toward it. It was a new day, and perhaps she was no longer at angry with him anymore. According to how close the scent was they were not too far. Jaken became slightly confused when Sesshomaru suddenly changed direction, but shrugged and followed anyway.
He could feel it: Hanako's strange aura. He was coming closer to them. He walked faster.
All too soon, he could see figures beyond some shrubbery. He came closer to them. He could slightly make out Inuyasha's face. It looked towards them.
"What is it, Inuyasha?" he heard a voice say.
Hanako turned around. She gasped.
Rin saw Hanako on the other side of the bushes. "Hanako-chan!" she shouted happily, running off Aun and through the bushes and to Hanako. "Will you come back now, please?"
Hanako smiled at the child. "I… didn't expect to see you again so soon…!" She was slightly confused. She glanced quickly at Sesshomaru, who was staring at her as well, and quickly looked away, remembering that she had said she no longer knew him.
"Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked, "Why the hell are you here?" He laughed slightly. "I didn't think you'd show your face so soon."
Kagome studied Sesshomaru. Why had he come all of a sudden? Had he wanted to see Hanako so badly?
Hanako bowed to Jaken. "Good morning, Master Jaken. I am pleased to see you again." She made an extra effort to ignore Sesshomaru. She kept her eyes from holding his glance; even though she knew that he had not stopped looking at her since he arrived.
Hanako's eyes suddenly caught something that they had not before. A girl with short black hair came limping forward. Dried blood marked the edges of her mouth. She glared at the girl. Who was she?
"Chika," Sesshomaru called, "I will allow you a seat on Aun." She nodded and smiled slightly.
Hanako's temper flared. This girl was a slave. His slave. He had found himself a replacement already. This made her even angrier with him.
Sesshomaru decided to speak to her. "Hanako," he began, "I am expecting your return."
He comes waltzing in here all of a sudden with a new slave and expects me to think nothing of it? And is now even asking me to go back with him even though I already told him no? How dense can this man possibly get? Her mind ran wild with anger. Jealousy.
Hanako spoke quickly. "Rin-chan, you look quite tired." And it was true. Rin looked exhausted. But she only spoke to pretend not to hear his words.
Rin's happy face faded. "You are still angry… Hanako-chan?"
Hanako smiled, still ignoring Sesshomaru's presence. "Why ever would I be angry? I don't see any reason to be."
"Don't be that way. You know very well why. You just are pretending you don't know him!" Rin raised her voice.
Hanako smiled an extremely fake smile. "Um… know who?"
Rin pulled Hanako toward Sesshomaru and pushed her close to him. She backed away immediately. Sesshomaru kept a solemn face.
Hanako lowered her gaze. Rin had gone too far with her temper. Her voice became low and cold.
"Do not get involved, Rin," she boomed. She walked back over to Kagome's side. Kagome placed her hand on her shoulder. They began to walk away, Hanako never looking back or saying goodbye to Rin.
Chika had noticed Hanako glaring at her. I hope she didn't get the wrong idea… she thought to herself. Heh. Or maybe my jaw just looked funny… She touched her jaw slightly, feeling how crooked it was now. She imagined how stupid it probably looked. She began giggling. Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder at her. She stopped immediately.
Sesshomaru looked down at the ground. He was beginning to appear desperate. He hated this. How much longer would she remain angry with him?
What if she never forgave him?
(…)
"Oh! A hot spring!" Kagome shrieked with excitement, "Oh I just have to go in!"
"I would like to as well!" Sango said.
Miroku smirked. Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Do you want to come, Hanako?" Kagome asked.
"Um… I guess…" she stuttered. She had never been in a hot spring before. "Does it hurt?"
Kagome laughed. "No! Don't tell me you've never been!" She pulled her along to the hot springs. She yelled at Inuyasha and Miroku over her shoulder. "And don't peek!"
"We don't want to!" Inuyasha yelled back.
"I do!" Miroku added.
Kagome stripped off her clothes and was the first to get in the water. "Its so warm," she stated.
Sango soon joined her in the water. "Aren't you coming, Hanako?"
Hanako smiled shyly. She was nervous to be completely nude in front of people she had just only met. She had always been overly shy. "I-I don't know… maybe…"
"We won't laugh or anything," Kagome said.
Hanako could feel her pale face become scarlet red. She reluctantly removed her clothing. Sango and Kagome gasped.
Scars. Scars covered her entire body. Some were large, others, frighteningly, were small cuts, all lined up perfectly straight. One particularly large one was on her thigh. Scars that looked like they were from a whip covered her back. They both became increasingly worried, their imaginations wandering into possibilities from where the scars had come from, especially the smaller ones all lined up in perfect rows.
Hanako ignored their expected stares and sat down. No one said a word.
Hanako could feel their eyes watching her every move, looking her over, gazing with disgusted wonder at every blemish and marking on her body. It was most awkward, and most insulting.
"I'm a slave," she said finally, "I have scars from the past. Does it repel you all that much?" She was slightly surprised at how well she was learning to stand up for herself.
"N-no," Kagome said, "I'm sorry."
"I have a scar on my back too," Sango added, hoping to make her feel better.
With no words escaping their mouths, she could here the question being asked one hundred times over.
"I have been… treated badly in the past."
Kagome and Sango gasped.
"I'm… I'm so sorry," Kagome said. Sango nodded.
"What happened?" Sango asked. She realized her own nosiness and covered her mouth. "I'm sorry, you don't need to answer that!"
Hanako relaxed a little. She was among friends. "An old lord of mine beat me every night," she said, "And… other things too."
"Like what?" Kagome asked.
Hanako looked down. "If I say so, you may fear me…"
They both shook their heads.
"…"
She could not say it. The words were there, but they would not come out. If she tried to speak, if would most likely come out as a muffled cry.
They looked closer.
"I… I apologize," Hanako said, "I cannot talk about it any longer. May we discuss something else, if you don't mind?"
"Yes, of course," Kagome said. Her and Sango both understood what she had been implying anyway.
Kagome and Sango began to discuss things that seemed important, but Hanako did not pay any attention.
And after he found out what they did to me, he destroyed them. He helped me so much… no one has ever done anything kinder…
But that didn't matter anymore. She despised him and would never think otherwise. And she did not want to think otherwise either…
She somewhat listened to Kagome and Sango chatting about. Out of pure boredom, she wet her hair in the water and braided it into two separate braids. She tied them tight with ribbons and would take them out tomorrow so her hair would be curly.
She occasionally nodded whenever she heard one of them "Isn't that right?" or "Do you agree?"
She sighed. So bored.