Chapter Three
Rain…simple, unconcerned rain. It fell when it wanted to, went where it wanted to, and stopped when it wanted to. It hissed as it fell on the forest, making the ground turn to clinging mud. It flowed in small streams when the ground would not absorb it, going to the lowest point in the ground and collecting there.
That happened to be where Kagome and Sesshoumaru stood.
The water carelessly ran over the earth to that spot, running over wet and fresh blood as well. The blood mixed with it, tinting the pure water a light red. Almost imitating Sesshoumaru's glowing, crimson stained eyes. Though it was becoming close to the color, it couldn't quite grasp the deadly demon's silent threat his appearance mirrored.
The human girl, Rin, lay cradled in Kagome's limp arms and she herself snuggled against Sesshoumaru's chest, his one arm wrapped around her shoulders so she did not fall. His claws were unusually long and his fangs nearly jetting out to hang over his bottom lip, his blood looking like it boiled in his very veins. That was not the case. He had fire in his heart, anger and extreme frustration locked within his caged mind, and ice in his veins. Cool, cold, and calm.
His eyes blazed with a raging storm, the metal blue-gray color of his irises clashing with the bright red that lightened around it. However, in image he looked calm and deadly, he was not so. Any demon that came into his range of sense instantly turned around or went around. They thought him a threat, as they should from the power he radiated. Murderous, maybe, but weakened and very much on end.
The idiots couldn't tell, which was something he wanted on his side. But it would not last. Demons were starting to smell fresh death, blood, and decay. They were circling around the limit of his senses, teasing the very tip of it so he knew they were there.
His body was harder than normal, almost unimaginably tense. Gashes oozed with gore, one on his cheek, many on his chest and stomach, teeth marks on his legs and a particularly deep wound on his right side.
He stared straight ahead, thinking back to the battle.
His claws flexed with hidden intentions, turning to the forest as Kagome had done to fight off the sudden group of demons. He, Sesshoumaru, for once, didn't have time. The demons rushed at him, the ones lower to the ground biting their teeth deep into his stomach and legs. The ones around his height slashed at him with their claws, some even having swords.
He heard a soul shattering scream next to him, Inuyasha's wench covered with beasts as well. One bit into her side, one also biting dangerously close to her jaguar vein. One fell to the ground dead, having been shot with her arrow, but one didn't do much.
He turned to look at her fully, watching as she pulled away from the monsters. A disgustingly brown demon came up behind her, clawing at her back. Three long claw wounds now were on her back, ripping through the quiver of arrows. She sidestepped, running into the clearing and completely forgetting about her own well-being.
His claws shredded through the demons, his hand going to Toukijin as soon as it could. He pulled the icy blade out, slicing through all who apposed him. He heard a shriek come from the mortal, expecting it, and turned to look at her.
His eyes twitched slightly.
She lay in the clearing, collapsed next to his ward. He had not expected her to go that far. He had realized the clearing was a trap long ago, magic twisted into it by a very specific spider demon. This spider did not spin webs, it spun magic and spells. The blood had had a very sour taste to it, leading him to know it was a trap.
Blood was not sour, nor did it not have a scent. Spider demons like that usually captured children, stunning them with a strange gas that they released from their mouth. The gas remained in the air, invisible and tricked the mind to create a scene of gore and blood. It then released some of its own poison that looked like blood, then erasing the gas when the horrific image was created with the child in the middle.
It was a trick to get a meal. Once the scene was done it waited far in the trees for a victim. It made magic and cast spells that either electrocuted or poisoned the victim once in range, stunning them. If spun correctly, and if a victim was caught, you could see the magic around the clearing.
It looked like a web.
And that's what happened. Lines went everywhere around the clearing, suddenly appearing out of no where. He scowled, hitting a demon with the flat of his sword and knocking him into the clearing. Blue electricity came from the web, shocking the demon in one great volt of energy.
It dropped instantly.
His eyes slowly narrowed, his eyes quickly going through tints as he became…well, pissed. Now, the spider had been informed the trap had caught something, and he knew it would be there in but a moment for the meal.
Knocking another, and another, and another demon into the trap, he tried to sense where the spider was. If he could target where it was coming from, he could hit enough demons into its way so it would not be temped by the woman or child. A sword went along his side, deep into the flesh in a fierce bite of steel. The red of his eyes darkened more, Sesshoumaru whirling around to behead the foolish beast.
It thumped as it hit the ground.
Thunder rumbled through the forest, making his ears pulse with the sound. One last demon attacked him, getting his chest with its six claws. He snarled at the tall green dragon, turning and stabbing it in the stomach. He twisted Toukijin, making sure the demon was dead as he hurled it into the clearing with the others. He heard no zap this time. He suddenly felt something over him in the tree tops. He froze, the blood from Toukijin slowly trailing across the pale skin of his hand.
The feeling was gone, and he instantly looked at the clearing. He cursed under his breath. There, in the clearing already, was the spider demon. It looked like a regular spider, a pale yellow with dark black stripes. The only difference was it was a demon…and it was three times bigger than Ah and Uh.
It slowly bit into a demon he had knocked into the trap, injecting the body with poison that would help the spider digest the creature. Its two front, hairy legs came to rest on the demon's shoulders, its mouth opening wide with teeth as it bit the demon's head off.
Blood squirted everywhere from the huge bite. Sesshoumaru quickly sidestepped behind a tree, the blood missing him. He knew the spider was not affected by its own web, but the magic was still up and ready for more.
Rin would be left in the clearing, to lure more prey of course when the spider was done with its large meal. She would remain there till she basically rotted or died from lack of food and water. She was merely stunned, of course, but she would remain that way until a curtain herb was injected into her small little body.
Blood continued to spray the trees as it feasted on the demons the web had captured. A dark drop of it shot across Sesshoumaru's cheek, drawing a red line across it. His eyes narrowed dangerously, the heated orbs shinning with anger and the desire for blood.
He heard another scream come from the woman, and instantly peered around the tree. The spider instantly turned around to look at the mortal, its mouth opening wide to hiss at her. Bloodied saliva dripped and oozed from its fangs, the demon becoming tense with threat as he started to approach her.
Kagome gasped as she started to crawl away. Her deep brown eyes flashed over to little Rin, and she suddenly snatched the girl into her arms away from the spider. One arm around his ward, she continued to back away from it. She simply just passed through one of the strands of magic, no reaction whatsoever from the trap.
Sesshoumaru's eyes slowly glazed over with a hazy, nasty looking scarlet. Enough, he had had enough. How much more pathetic could he make this situation? He was tired of watching, tired of waiting. He had locked up with too much logic for even he, The Lord of The Western Lands. To much calculating, not enough action.
He was mad and he wanted to wait no longer.
He snarled. If it couldn't hurt the woman, it wouldn't hurt him. Oh how wrong he was. Sesshoumaru rushed at the spider demon, fangs and claws bared and ready for blood. It didn't happen. Suddenly, all went black. The web had not been deactivated, but somehow the woman was not effected by it.
He ran through about ten threads of web, electricity coming from every angle as he was hit with the sudden volts. Why, why had it not effected her as it did him? He snarled viciously again. It actually hurt, it actually burned his skin, and it…
Kagome screeched so loud she hurt her own ears as Sesshoumaru collapsed on her without warning. Her free arm naturally wrapped around the wounded man…demon, holding him against her for support. She almost jumped five feet in the air when he spoke.
"I told you," he slowly growled. "Not to touch me…"
Before she could respond he attacked her, Sesshoumaru's pale hand grasping her neck like a lifeline, though it was to really end hers. Rin fell from her arms, hitting the ground like a lifeless body.
"Sess…houmaru!" She cried in limited breath as she grabbed his single wrist. Kagome's eyes went drastically wide as she saw his stripes become thicker, larger on his face and arm. His teeth grew, his face started to get whiter, his claws frighteningly long and sharp.
The spider roared in one hissing breath, Kagome screaming the last full breath she had as she grabbed Sesshoumaru's handsome face. She jerked his face so he was instead staring at the creature, and like she had hoped, his hand dropped.
Now free, she again grabbed Rin, taking the child roughly in her arms and standing to prepare to run. She only got about five feet. The demon lord was before her suddenly once again, earning a shrill shriek from the girl.
She slid forward from her momentum on the slippery ground, running into his chest plate armor. The sharp spikes that stuck out on either side harshly pricked her flesh. Kagome also had no time to respond fully, Sesshoumaru grabbing her forearm in a painful grip. His arm wrapped behind her back to grab her left arm instead of the right like she had thought, the terrifying demon growling low as he brought her close to his armor again.
She noticed, however, that his hold on her was not harsh nor gentle, but it was much better than before. It held the air of protectiveness, and she was sure to adjust so his spikes did not hurt her again. She also made sure little Rin was not crushed between the two adults, brushing the girl's bangs out of her face.
"Hold onto me," Sesshoumaru's deep, velvet voice suddenly said. Brown eyes looked up at him in shock, fear, and rage. 'First he tells me not to touch him, now he changes his mind? After he nearly choked me?!'
Against the young miko's wishes, she obeyed him, grasping his kimono tighter on his chest in her feminine hand. Closing her eyes, she preyed that Inuyasha's older brother would not do something…well…like his little brother.
Yes, Inuyasha had always kept her out of harm's way, but he was rash and idiotic sometimes, or he was completely insane. She missed Inuyasha right about now, wishing that Sesshoumaru and the half demon would just change places at the moment.
She opened her lush mouth instantly, feeling her stomach to a flip flop into her throat as Sesshoumaru took flight. The air lapped and whistled harshly past them, as if trying to stop the lord's sudden assault.
A scream ripped through the air as blood splattered on the ground.
Now, he stood there, girl and ward in his one arm. Normally he would have been disgusted about what he was doing at the moment, but the girl at least deserved to live. The wench had saved his Rin, and for that, he would let her live.
He then noticed small tears leaked down from the curtain of her dark bangs. Her shoulders shook in silent sadness, much to his shock. "So close…so close…" Even in his weakened state, Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at the woman in his arm. Was she dreaming, or merely stating that she had failed? He knew not what the pathetic human was complaining about, so he chose to ignore it for the time being.
He had more important things to worry about.
His bloody eyes widened. He barely had time to dodge the arrow after he saw the glint of stone coming at him. Maybe not barely enough time. Given another second, he would have fully dodged the arrow. But the rain's hiss had covered the arrows whistle and the bow string's pulse. He had not heard it coming.
He did have enough time to move Kagome's face out of the way, though. His face transformed into a scowl, vicious heat warming his golden eyes even in the dark forest. More blood streamed down his body from the new wound, the arrow sticking out of his chest.
White hot heat spread through his body as he grunted from the impact, a loud snarl echoing through the trees. Every thing silenced but the rain, the birds, the bugs, everything. The hair on Sesshoumaru's arm and neck slowly raised in realization. He cursed.
He had just given himself away.
Note: I'M SO SORRY!!! ::wails and hugs computer screen:: My internet has been down for a LONG time and I couldn't update! ::sobs:: It's finally back up! I'm sorry guys. Please review! ::kisses keyboard:: ::coughs and sticks out tongue:: Need soap!