wHoAh!

Okay, so if you did not read my profile, my floppy drive is broken so I could not upload this chapter. BUT my cousins let me use their floppy drive! In your reviews, say thankyou to Kelley and Chris! Yay to them, and here is chapter 37, a little filler chapter so its not even that great anyway... I thought Sesshomaru and hanako needed a little break!

Wellanyway, on with the chapter!

Chapter 37: Spiders

"Across a pond?" Rin asked Jaken curiously, "But we don't have a boat… do we?"

"No, we don't," Jaken answered. He looked up at Sesshomaru, who was walking in front of him and Rin. He could see a human village drawing nearer that was once in the distance. "But… I think he's about to take care of that little problem…"

"How's he going to do that?" Hanako asked, looking down at Jaken.

"Eh…" Jaken said, remembering the last time he needed a boat. He had killed a number of samurai in order to obtain it. Is he really planning to kill an entire village in front of Rin's eyes?

"Well?"

"I'm not entirely sure…"

Rin sighed. "Why do we even have to cross over it anyway?"

"Because," Jaken lectured, "When we last saw Naraku, Lord Sesshomaru sniffed out his scent wavering across this pond." His eyes narrowed into a serious stare. "Legend says that this pond that we must cross is a burial ground for the dead bodies of demons who were killed in this village."

"Creepy…" Rin said becoming only slightly nervous, "But I should not fear the dead, right Hanako-chan? That's what you told me a little while ago."

Hanako did not respond. Death and ponds did not sit well with her. The image of the corpse that she had seen in that other pond came into the back of her mind.

The village was right in front of them now. Hanako stared at all of the women and children working in the fields, then to Sesshomaru. If it weren't for him, she would be doing that kind of work right now. But why were they here? Sesshomaru did not like humans, and would never set foot in one of their villages.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Hanako asked quietly, "How are you going to get us a boat?"

He said nothing as if he did not hear her. He began to approach the human village.

"Oh no…" Jaken said, a little shocked, "Shield your eyes Rin!"

"Why should she do that, Master Jaken?" Hanako asked. She re-thought the situation. Sesshomaru was most certainly not going to politely ask for a boat. He would most likely take it by force.

Lord Sesshomaru isn't going to… kill them is he?

Her eyes widened. "Lord Sesshomaru!" she called, running up behind him and grabbing the back of his shirt. He spun around immediately. Some of the villagers turned around from their labors to see a demon before them.

"A demon!" a man shouted, "EVERYONE HIDE! LEAVE THE VILLAGE! IT WILL DESTROY US!"

Everyone ran about in a panic. Sesshomaru stared at Hanako with an irked expression.

"W-wait!" she called to the screaming villagers, running halfway to them. They continued to flee, no matter how loud she yelled. "W-we just wanted to borrow-"

Everyone was gone. The village was bare. There was no sound.

She stood before the empty houses and abandoned animals in stalls and coops. "…A boat…" She didn't understand. Why did they react that way before they even knew for sure that he was to kill them? Were humans all so skittish? She was never that skittish. But then again, she may not be human. She stopped herself from recalling the memories of her meeting with Naraku…

Sesshomaru walked over to the boat, which was now completely available to him, thanks to Hanako's usual foolishness. He untied the rope that was holding it to a post. The boat was unusually small.

"No, this won't do at all!" Jaken exclaimed, running over to Sesshomaru, examining the boat, "This boat can only seat two!" He grumbled and glared at the creaky old boat. How unfitting…

"Then how can we all get in?" Rin asked innocently, "And what about Aun?" She held the demons ropes tightly in her hand. Aun moaned and gazed at him as well.

Sesshomaru glanced at the small boat, then to Hanako, Jaken, Rin and Aun. "Only two can ride this boat… one of you and I will share it." He pulled the boat over to the shore.

He could feel their eyes looking at him, wanting so much to get inside that old wooden boat with him. They were all thinking the same thing. He observed them, looking at each one of their pathetic little faces staring miserably back at him hoping to get the privilege of just sitting with him. Only sitting. And the choice was his. Who will be the lucky contestant?

"Jaken."

He perked up immediately, feeling triumphant that he was Sesshomaru's favorite out of the three. He beamed a proud smile. "Yes my lord! I am most pleased that you have chosen me to ride this-"

"You and Rin will take Aun across the pond by sky."

Jaken's excitement faded. His shoulders drooped. His smile left. His eyes lost their yellow-ish glowing delight. "I suppose… since Rin and I are less weight for Aun to carry…" And I wanted so badly to share a boat with Lord Sesshomaru… He lackadaisically took Aun's ropes from Rin.

Hanako's eyes widened. She could hardly believe her ears. "You want me to go on the boat with you Lord Sesshomaru?"

He turned his head. "Yes, in fact I do. And what of it?"

She blushed a deep red. She was so excited she could barely stand it. A boat ride with Lord Sesshomaru… that's… so romantic… despite this pond being a graveyard for dead demons… and I know he doesn't mean it like that… but… but… She held in girlish squeals of pleasure. She happily ran over behind him. Jaken and Rin climbed on Aun. Rin watched Hanako and Sesshomaru closely before she took off into the sky.

"I don't think I've ever been on a boat before," she said, still blushing.

"You're scared of a tiny boat?" He eyed her with a look of teasing. "Should I go get Aun back for you then?"

She stopped herself. "Oh, no! I-I'm not scared! Not at all!" She was scared of the pond, but there was no way she would pass up an opportunity like this. She was afraid of looking into the water and seeing the reflection of that haunting corpse, whose image remained in the back of her mind…

Sesshomaru got in first and sat on one of the provided seats. Hanako got in afterward, blushing more and more, but her light bangs hid her face, and she put her head down to hide it even better. The ground of the boat was wobbly, and she could barely keep her balance, but she still managed to sit down. Sesshomaru pushed the boat away from the post and they glided upon the water.

She felt a bit nervous, and wanted to turn back, but she ignored her fears. She knew she would be okay. She picked up the paddle from the bottom of the boat and placed it in the water. She stroked through the thick water with most of her strength, digging through seaweed and lily pads, and the boat went forward. It was hard work, but it was okay. Each moment spent with him took her mind off the pain in her arms.

Sesshomaru was surprised at her actions. Why had she decided to paddle the boat? Normally, he would make someone else do the job, but it did not seem right in this case for some reason. It felt wrong, as if he made himself look weak by letting a woman do work that he was perfectly capable of doing. He had never felt that way before. He had never felt such unnecessary mercy.

"Hanako," he said, watching her struggle with the paddle, "Why are you paddling the boat?"

She looked up, sweat dripping down her face. "Why?" She thought it to be an absurd question. "Well… if I don't paddle the boat then we will just sit here in the middle of the pond and not go anywhere."

He shook his head. "That's not what I meant." His gaze hit her dead on. Sometimes she was afraid to look at him in the eye. "Why are you paddling the boat?"

She cocked her head to one side. "Well if I don't do it then who will?"

He rolled his eyes. Hanako could be so dense at times. "Give me the paddle."

"…What?"

"You don't have to do it. You are too weak to handle it."

"Oh, no," she said quickly, wiping the sweat off her face, "I'm fine. You don't want to waste you're energy on such a petty task, do you?" She giggled lightly and stuck the paddle in the water with all of her strength and rowed like she had never rowed before.

He took the paddle out of her hands before she could say or do anything else. "Yes. Yes I do."

She stared at him, completely dumfounded. "Really, Lord Sesshomaru, I can do it myself… Why don't you just sit back and-"

He began rowing with ease; the task not bothering him at all. He made it look so easy. She watched each stroke; each and every movement his arms made. The boat began to go faster. She sat in silence. She couldn't argue with his undeniable strength.

The sun beat down and warmed the water's surface. Hanako let her hand glide through the water along with the boat; it's cool wetness bringing her relief from the sun. She was growing tired of summer, and was happy that it was halfway over.

Sesshomaru watched her as he paddled the boat. Dragonflies buzzed around her and tried to perch themselves in her hair and she batted them away with a smile. She appeared to be enjoying her time with him. That pleased him as well.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" she called to him, her gaze finally meeting his without fear. "Were you actually going to kill those villagers for this boat?"

He looked away from her. "If they did not oblige…"

"But Rin-chan was right there." She knew he never would have done it. There was another side to him that she could see plain as day, and there was no way he could ever deny it.

He said nothing back. She stared at his solemn face. He never showed any signs of emotion or thought. She had always wondered why.

"You don't talk much…" she said, letting a dragonfly land on the tip of her finger.

He looked at her again. She looked away from him, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Sorry… that sounded kind of mean. Should I stop talking now? If I'm bothering you, I'll just shut up. I know I can be a bother sometimes, well a lot of people can be a bother to you because lots of things bother you, I'm sure, but I know I can be a really big bother when I talk too much and usually I don't talk that much but right now I just feel like it I guess but if it bothers you I'll stop but if it doesn't bother you then I'll talk some more to make up for the silence but if the silence doesn't bother you then you can enjoy the silence because then you won't be bothered and-"

"The only time you bother me Hanako," he began, interrupting before she could babble on anymore, "Is when you accuse me of being bothered by you."

She stopped speaking at once. She was speechless, despite how fast she had been talking just a second ago. He had never said anything like that to her before.

"I don't talk much," he said, repeating the words in his head, "Because I don't trust anyone to hear what I have to say."

Her eyes softened. She had always suspected that maybe he was lonely, or sad. Even now he looked alone as he stared off into an unknown distance, gently paddling the boat. She had known loneliness, but did she really ever know it as well as he did? She had known sadness, but perhaps he knew it better? She knew very little about him still, the majority of the reason being that he never said anything, but the other part being that she never really asked.

"You can trust me," she said quietly.

His eyes shifted in her direction. She smiled at him; that same unique smile that she and only she seemed to possess. He liked her smile, but something was different about it now. Her eyes had lost their luster. Something else was behind them. Something sad. Something corrupted. He had noticed it ever since she had spoken with Naraku, and she had been proven that she was not human. The truth had devoured her child-like ways of innocence, and in some form she had grown up. He did have to give her some kind of credit though, for handling her life so well. So many terrible things had happened to her. She was not physically strong at all, but spiritually her strength could surpass perhaps a thousand men.

"And what reason would I have for doing that?" he asked, still looking into her eyes.

"Because I said so." She looked down at her feet. She could even feel her face getting redder and redder. "But don't think you have to obey me or anything…"

He looked away at last. She felt at ease. At times she feared what his deep amber eyes actually saw when he looked at her; as if she were a translucent silhouette, and every thought and feeling she had danced about it like some kind of ballet. He was the audience to this ballet, even though it was a forbidden performance that was only supposed to be shown to a private group of people, or rather just her. But he sneaked in through the back door. It sounded like something he would do anyway…

Once more, reality dawned on him again. Here they were, having a normal conversation like the two ordinary people that they most certainly were not. This wasn't allowed. And here he was, rowing her across a pond even though she should be the one doing the rowing, no matter how weak or strong she was. He tried to make himself regain his dignity, but something else dawned upon him…

Who cares?

He paddled the boat faster. He may as well grant her freedom, if that was even possible. He had never treated her for what she really was. He peered at her peaceful face gazing at the tall trees with glimmering eyes filled with wonder and question. He could never take that away. No one had noticed, and no one had criticized him yet. He would let her be for now. Perhaps forever?

They passed under a large amount of trees that blocked the golden sun. The air became slightly colder in the shade. The little boat that held them flew on water beneath them.

Hanako still refused to look into the water. She hadn't stared down at it the whole time, her mind becoming paranoid with pointless fear. At times she felt so scared that she wanted to jump into the water, just so she could never have to look at it. What would happen if she drowned herself? If she just jumped into the green-ish pond water without any warning? Would he jump in after her? Most likely not. Even if he did, it would be no use. She would tangle herself so furiously into the algae that no one could get her out, and not even her own instincts would bring her above water again. Her skin would turn the color of the pond water: a yucky thick stained green. Suicide: something she had begun to think of often. How exactly would she do it when the time finally came: when no one seemed to care anymore?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a huge, disgusting spider that propped itself onto her side of the boat from a tree. She screamed and recoiled by standing up and falling back down onto the small middle of the boat. The boat wobbled and Sesshomaru's head snapped around. She huddled near his legs on the floor of the boat.

"What are you doing?" he asked crossly, raising and eyebrow.

"I-it's a s-spider!" she trembled, her voice barely below a squeak, "A-and… I-it's huge… and it has FANGS!"

"A spider…?" he said calmly, feeling quite confused. He struggled to grasp the situation. It was a tiny insect that could easily be squashed without any effort. Why was that scary?

The spider was quite large for a spider. It crawled up closer to Hanako's feet. She freaked out again and went closer and closer to Sesshomaru, until she was on him, not noticing what she was doing. The only thing on her mind was to be as far away from the spider as possible. Her entire body was shaking. Sesshomaru glanced down at her, huddled in his lap, her face buried in his chest. She was actually scared of that little thing. He reached for the paddle. He scooped up the spider and tossed it out of the boat. He put the paddle down.

"It's gone," he said, looking down at her trembling body. She was practically on top of him. Se lifted up her head.

"Th-thank you…" she said. Her face, once pale with fear, now fell into a deep shade of scarlet. Great… he must think I'm an idiot now… She tried not to look at him, but realized where she was. She pulled herself upward and looked down at him.

She was pretty much straddling him; awkward position number one. Her arms pinned his shoulders down to the edge of the boat; awkward position number two. She was on top of him, and her face was almost directly above his, lips almost touching; awkward positions numbers three and four. Her once scarlet face went down another shade of red. He did nothing, but only stared back, almost as if he was unaffected by her actions. Either that, or he was enjoying them…

"I… uh…" she couldn't manage to think of any other words to say. Actually… I feel… kind of lucky… Despite how terrible it all was, it was like a dream come true, and it was. A terrible dream come true that was all too good to be actually happening. And yet it was. And he was allowing it. Why?

Sesshomaru's eyes held no depictable response. His once stern mouth softened into something that was neither a smile nor a frown; something somewhere in between. Something had possessed him. He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He knew exactly what he wanted to happen now. He had enough will power left to stop himself, but he did not want to stop himself. There was no denying the want. It was sitting there, staring him in the face, and screaming at him to just give in already. And the mood around them was perfect. No one was around. There was no stopping.

He lifted his arms and grasped hold of her waist. He held her close to him. Her entire everything froze. What was he doing? He turned her over. Now he looked down at her, his eyes clouded over with something she had never seen before.

Her first thought of reaction was to tell him to stop, but it all felt so right that she dismissed that reaction. His skin was soft for a man's, but firm and pleasant to touch. She felt his body press lower and lower onto hers. It was something that she would be uncomfortable with, but no, it felt good. But why? Why was he doing this to her? She could see his face coming closer and closer to hers, his perfect features now perfectly in perfect sight. And oh, what a sight it was…

He examined her, her fragile body lying daintily beneath him, her golden eyes staring curiously up at him. For a moment, he saw a glimmer of adoration. She didn't seem to mind anything that he was doing. Her hair was spread out around her. He leaned in closer to her. Closer…

Another spider dropped from the tree. It landed on her chest, close to her neck.

She shrieked and batted it away furiously, getting out of Sesshomaru's grip. She pushed him off of her. His eyes widened in slight surprise. She had stopped him over a spider. Disappointment overcame him.

He re-thought the entire thing, realizing his actions. He shook the disappointment away in disgust. Some form of lust had taken over him and he had forced himself upon his own servant girl. A terrible act, and must unlike anything he had ever done before. What had happened to his pride? His dignity? What would she do about it? His heart raced. Why had he done this? What had driven him to? He could not stand himself.

She stood up and slapped it off of her, shrieking as she did so. The spider fell into the water at last. She sighed.

"Hanako!" Sesshomaru shouted, "You are not supposed to stand up in the boat!"

But it was too late. The boat wobbled. She lost her balance and fell out of the boat and into the water with a splash.

The warm, slimy water greeted her with an unpleasant surprise. She felt the humiliation. She should just drown herself now. There was no use in taking the "walk of shame" back onto the boat. She stayed under the water, almost actually wanting to commit suicide now, even though she had planned it all for so much later.

But another body emerged into the water. She felt arms grab her from the algae and pull her upward. She had to work on the "furiously tangling" part. Someone had ruined it. She reached the surface and gasped for air, feeling the gross water in her slicked back hair. Who was holding her? She opened her eyes to meet her savior.

Sesshomaru lifted her out of the water and back onto the boat. He then lifted himself onto the boat as well. She gazed at him with deepest adoration.

He had dived in after her when she had fallen into the water.

Both of them, soaking wet, sat in silence, refusing to look at eachother. Sesshomaru was almost thankful for the spiders dropping from the trees, and the boat tipping over. If those had not happened, who knows what he would have done to her? He looked deeper into himself to find the source and cause of these actions. He found no answers. But she had not been afraid of him and was pretty much normal, despite the awkward silence, which was bothering him after all. He would pretend it never happened. He rowed the boat until they at last reached the shore.

Hanako stared behind her at the water lilies. She felt confused. Had she just been daydreaming when he had had her on the boat like that? But it had all felt so real… had it been?

Jaken and Rin waved to them from the shore. The boat pulled up to some rocks and they both got out, still not saying a word, and still not looking at each other.

"Did you and Hanako have a good trip, Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked happily while dancing around him.

Neither of them said anything.

"Eh, Lord Sesshomaru," Jaken said, looking quite confused, "May I ask why you and Hanako are all wet?"

Hanako looked at the ground. Sesshomaru glanced at her, then looked forward, keeping himself calm.

"I don't want to talk about it."