AN: Had to delete and re-post this after yesterday. Somehow, I only managed to post the last half of this chapter, so here it is in its entirety!
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters.
The next night, Fortune and Erin stood waiting for Sesshoumaru to arrive. The clouds of the previous day had cleared to reveal a cold full-moon shining down on the hot, humid city below. Erin was staring up at the night sky, at the overgrown palm to her left, at her feet—anywhere but at Fortune. Fortune was irritated that he was left alone with the girl. What was he now, a babysitter? He scowled down at the girl. But, as the wheels of his depraved little mind began to rotate, his scowl transformed itself into an increasingly maniacal grin.
Erin watched a small brown bird try to extricate a flattened french-fry stuck between the worn sidewalk paving and a metal grate. She moved forward to help by poking at the french-fry with the tip of her shoe, but the little bird flew off in a blur of brown feathers. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Fortune staring at her rather intently, a wicked looking smile on his face. She turned away quickly, but could still feel Fortune's eyes boring into the back of her head.
Fortune stepped closer to the girl. She stepped back quickly; her nervousness apparent…Fortune grabbed her arm just above the elbow and pulled her up against his chest. Erin struggled, her head ducked down so as not to have to meet his eyes. Fortune's grip tightened painfully, pulling her even closer thereby forcing her head to rest on his chest. "Hold still, you conniving little bitch," he hissed close to her ear. Erin trembled, but ceased her struggles.
Fortune felt a thrill run down his spine. The struggles of his victims had not stirred this kind of excitement in Fortune in such a long time. He dug his dull nails into her arm just for good measure, causing her to whimper against his chest. Oh, but how he was going to enjoy this—pity he would have to control his bloodlust, for now at least. Leaning in again close to her ear, he continued in a menacing whisper, "You, girl, if you persist in seeking the company of myself and the youkai every night, I may loose my patience with you. Someone may very well be pulling your body from a dumpster one night quite soon. I don't like you. Whatever it is you seek through our company, seek it elsewhere." Fortune dug his nails into her arm once again, tempted to draw blood in any way he could find.
The girl was very still during Fortune's inauspicious monologue, but he could tell by the rapid flutter of her heart against his chest that she was having a little trouble coming to terms with what he'd had to say. He could feel her warm breath through the thin cotton of his shirt---but it was regular and steady and she did not tremble now. She must be taking lessons from Sesshoumaru on providing a cool front, Fortune thought, amused by his own silent joke.
To any onlookers, which there were none, the two might have seemed two lovers sharing a tender embrace. Even had Sesshoumaru arrived at this very moment, by sight, he might find it difficult to determine whether Erin's cheek was not resting against the vampire's chest in a comfort-seeking gesture, and that Fortune's lips pressed low against her hair was not whispering endearments. Of course, being youkai, he would have easily picked up the accelerated heartbeat, as well as noting the malicious upward curve of Fortune's sensual lips.
Neither Fortune nor the girl made a move. The girl was scared shitless, while Fortune's reluctance was due to fighting an exceptionally strong urge to move his lips a little bit lower and finish what he started on yet another evening.
"I can't help but find you appealing, my dear Erin." He felt an inordinate amount of satisfaction feeling her name rolling off his tongue.
"Erin," Fortune again breathed the name lustily into her ear. This sometimes happened, the objective part of his mind registered. When the urge to drink was strong, he might feel something akin to carnal desire for his intended, mixed with the adrenaline pounding through his veins.
Finally, he pushed her back and turned away quickly to regain control of his riotous hunger. After few moments, Fortune looked over his shoulder and saw the girl standing as if rooted to the spot. "Do I have to spell it out for you, little girl, leave or I will kill you."
The girl seemed to snap out of the trance in which his sadistic rant had put her. "You will not," she said with no small amount of conviction, surprising Fortune quite a lot.
"What," Fortune veritably spat.
"You did not kill me before, or just now. And, you will not kill me. He won't let you."
"Oh." Fortune raised an eyebrow and turned towards her.
"Yes, Sesshoumaru told me so. Just keep your hands off, you sick perv, and threats to yourself!"
Fortune was not done yet. He was never one to back down from establishing just who had the upper hand in a situation. "Yes, yes, it's true. I will have to keep my hands to myself." He sighed here for effect.
It worked, "well, yeah, that's right. And, don't forget it…uh, please." Having Fortune in such close proximity not only terrified her, but also gave her a slightly giddy sensation that being near a boy of the opposite sex usually did, except that Fortune was not a boy.
"Of course, I will. I always do. I always wait patiently until he gets bored."
"Bored? What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, yes, bored. But, don't worry; it usually takes at least a week. Although, his last girlfriend only lasted about a…"
"I'm not a girlfriend!"
"As I was saying, she only lasted a few days before he let me have her," Fortune continued with an air of imparting confidences between close friends, "he really is a slut you know, moving from human to human, seducing young girls and then tossing them aside after a few days of entertainment…"
Fortune was interrupted by the sound of retreating sobbing. His cruel lies had finally hit their mark! Fortune almost jumped up and down in glee. He would be rid of the girl's niggling presence at last. The fact that she had only been a presence for a matter of days did nothing to dampen the feeling of having usurped an interminable force.
Quickly, Fortune's smug grin began to droop. The girl had indeed made a quick departure, but it was not as far as Fortune would have liked. She merely ran a total of twenty feet before escaping to cry her eyes out in a public toilet.
Fortune sighed. He should have been more sexually explicit in his attempts at mendacity, perhaps even painting a nasty conspiracy between himself and the youkai to befriend, and then brutally torture and murder young girls. He could have added a thing or two about pretending to read and enjoy the poetry of these hapless victims while snickering about it unkindly behind their backs. Assuredly, that would have sent her running at least a couple of blocks further.
Fortune leaned back against a near by wall. No point in leaving her behind, he thought, the youkai's sharp nose would tell him exactly where she was. And, it certainly did. Sesshoumaru arrived within moments, stopping before Fortune and staring at him fixedly.
"See something you like, handsome?"
Sesshoumaru made no reply to Fortune's attempt at humor. Where was Erin? His instincts told him that something was awry. He stepped closer to Fortune, once again looking him up and down carefully, his face an impassive mask, and sniffed. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened a fraction, the only indication that he had realized something was wrong, but otherwise his impassive expression gave away no trace of emotion.
And that, Fortune decided, was his cue to sport his best predatory grin. Yes, Fortune thought with no little satisfaction, let him think for at least a little while that the girl is lying dead in some stinking alleyway. At that thought, Fortune's grin faltered a fraction. For some reason, that image was not nearly as appealing as he had expected.
Sesshoumaru did not notice this hesitation. His current occupation was deciphering why Erin's scent was all over the vampire. In fact, Fortune was doused in her scent in places inappropriate for any innocent explanation to suffice.
Where was Tenseiga when you needed it, Sesshoumaru sighed. One possessed the sword of heaven, thereby possessing the power to open the path between this world and the next, and it was not even around when you needed it. Likely, Tenseiga was bucking in its sheath now back in Japan—sensing urgency—eager to save more lives of more young girls after so long abandoned to dormancy on the wall of Sesshoumaru's apartment.
Sesshoumaru gave Fortune an appraising look. He longed to slap that self-satisfied smirk off his face. With friends such as these, he reflected, what less could he expect? "Fortune," Sesshoumaru began coldly. Something in Sesshoumaru's voiced caused the vampire to flinch visibly in preparation of what would come next. But, Sesshoumaru paused here, fixing the vampire with a chillier than usual stare. He did not know whether to scold him, or to kill him outright.
Before Sesshoumaru had a chance to decide, Erin opened the door of the women's bathroom a few feet away, paused briefly, squinting at the tense exchange between the two males through eyes red and puffy from crying. Sesshoumaru looked up in surprise, "Erin, I see you are well. Fortune, you may continue living for the time being," he nodded and turned his back on the vampire. At this, Erin's expression changed to one of adoration and she bounded up to him. To his dismay, she wrapped her arms around his waist and began blubbering out unintelligible phrases, "he said you were…I didn't believe that jerk at all, you aren't planning to kill me and I don't believe you had another girlfriend last week…and I'm not your girlfriend. You're just nice guy, I can tell," Erin said this last bit peeking around at Fortune and giving him a look that said, 'die, you piece of shit'. Fortune crossed his arms over his chest and blew her a kiss. Sesshoumaru turned stiffly towards Fortune, acting as if he did not have an emotional human girl belted to his waist, and glared.
Fortune only gave a slight shrug and continued grinning. He felt satisfied to have been the recipient of two death glares in the space of a minute. Certainly, he must be doing something right.
None of this made much sense to Sesshoumaru, but he was satisfied that, whatever happened, it had not involved Fortune's teeth in Erin's neck. If the vampire wanted to make trouble for himself, that was his problem. Sesshoumaru had learned from experience the havoc a young girl was capable of causing when inspired.
"Jaaaken, where is my mirror"
"What? Leave me alone you stupid girl."
"But, Jaken, it was the one that Sesshoumuaru-sama gave me last year. You didn't take it out AhUn's pack, did you? And, what about the other things I can't find—my comb, my hair pins, my new kimono…"
"What makes you think you yourself did not forget them. They are probably underneath all the blankets—now leave me alone I said!"
Sesshoumaru was not really paying attention to this exchange, but the hint of desperation in Jaken's wheedling voice caused him to perk up his ears. He hoped that Jaken had not yet again left the girl's personal belongings behind in favor of his nauseating trail snacks. The last time that had happened, Sesshoumaru had been annoyed almost to the point of murdering Jaken after being subjected to Rin's nonstop long-suffering sighs and shrill complaints—the sighs being the worst. He would not stand for it again.
Rin was frantically emptying the contents of the pack when she screamed in anger. "Jaken, what are These doing here," Rin held up a good-sized basket of dried, stinking lizard carcasses. "And these," she pulled out a bundle of misshapen roots tied with rough twine. "Jaken, you did, didn't you. You left all my things out so that you could fit your revolting dried lizards and stupid dirty roots! What am I going to do when we arrive at Inuyasha's village now. I'll look like shit and I'll have nothing to wear! What will everyone think! I'll get you for this, Jaken."
"What are you going on about, you silly girl, it's not like anyone looks at your ugly hair or face anyways. No one cares if you are dressed in dirty clothes either—I'm sure everyone expects you to look like a uncivilized heathen that you are with all the wild shenanigans they had to put up with last time you were there. Inuyasha's wench is likely still trying to get that blood stain out of that obi…"
That was not my fault," Rin screeched, causing Sesshoumaru to wish he could cover his ears without appearing undignified, "Eito busted his knee and I was just trying to bandage it."
Jaken sputtered at this, "He busted his knee? I think it was you who was wrestling with the boy, vastly inappropriate behavior for a twelve year old girl in case you did not know, in the mud right in the center of the village. Even this Jaken was at a loss for words."
"How dare you mention that again," Rin's voice was suddenly flinty, making the hairs on the back of the little demon's neck stand on end. She had become amazingly adept at utilizing a deadly threatening tone, something she had picked up from living with Sesshoumaru. And, unfortunately, even if her own threats were not dangerous enough, she had back up in the form of a very handsome, silver haired, dashing…
While Jaken's thoughts wandered to the many positive attributes of his centuries old crush, the cogs and wheels in the crafty section of Rin's fourteen year old brain were spinning at a ferocious rate.
Five days later, Jaken came stumbling into Edo, hunched over and weighted down by a significant number of kimonos and other items neatly packed into an enormous bag that dwarfed the small imp. "Here you are," he huffed, " here are Rin's things—five of her best kimonos, two mirrors, a dozen hair pins, a gallon of water from the castle well, her set of marble carvings, her wooden practice swords and both her best and second-best Katanas . I returned back to the castle on foot and gathered them just as requested."
"What about my hair brush," Rin asked innocently.
"Whah," the imp guffawed.
"I expect you back here within three days with my hairbrush, Jaken."
"But, but.."
"What is it," Rin asked coldly.
"It takes at least five days…"
"Sesshoumaru-sammaaa," Rin began loudly, even though he was within hearing distance.
"Yes, three days, right away."
"And, Jaken," Rin paused here for effect.
"Yes, Rin," Jaken was biting his tongue and counting to ten.
"Can you also bring me my Koto. I wanted to play it for Kagome."
"What? Why you little…"
Both Sesshoumaru and Rin turned and gave Jaken a scathing look.
"I mean, Yes, of course." Jaken hung his head, defeated.
Three days later Jaken arrived holding the hair implement with the Koto strapped to his back, and then collapsed into a heap in the dirt, promptly falling asleep. He slept there for two whole days. One or two days after that, the two were back to bickering again, as usual.
Fourteen year-olds seemed to possess their own special blend of cruelty and temporary insanity when slighted. Sesshoumaru almost felt sorry for the vampire.
Disclaimer2: I forgot to put this at the end of Chapter 9—once again, no Bubbas have been harmed in the writing of this fiction. (except for a black eye received after grabbing Erin's behind—that sick pup! She's a minor!)
AN! I wasn't sure how the humor would come off in the last chapter, glad you likey. Fortune does some sick things in the name of humor. Thanks so much Botticelliangel, Sesshoumarusbride, Hesha07, and Golden for your reviews. Reviews really help to make writing this story loads of fun. ?