Chapter 2:
I wipe the last bit of drowsiness from my eyes. I must continue to follow Lord Sesshomaru. Sitting up straight, I look to the spot where my father had slept last night, I find that he has not moved the slightest inch. The toad demon sleeps on, and the girl now lies on her side hugging the two-headed dragons tail. Perfect. I can go find some water.
I jump out of my tree and head further south-I spotted a creek there yesterday. Sitting with my legs folded underneath me, I scoop some water into my hands and drink. Very refreshing. I take a deep breathe and let it out slowly. It's a beautiful morning. Birds are quietly chirping, the slow babbling of the creek relaxes my muscles. There is a deer on the other side of the creek eating the gorgeous green grass. Looking to my left, I spot a squirrel scampering across the land and up a tree. I take another drink of the clean, cold water, smile to myself and return to my tree. I don't eat much. I don't have to. Sometimes I can go days without eating, but I try to eat at least once a day to keep my energy to the fullest. I haven't eaten recently though. I found some berries the night after I found father, but I've been trying to concentrate more on the dog demon and his followers than keeping my energy up.
The sun is up. The sky is clear. It's soothingly warm, this morning. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something move. Turning my head I discover that father has awoken. I noticed something else about him this morning, when I returned from the creek. When father is awake, he appears to be cold-hearted and unkind; when he is sleeping, he looks like a gentle, loving man. Whether it is just my imagination or he really does just wear a mask, I don't know. Maybe someday I will.
Father stretches and sniffs the air. Oh no! the wind has changed directions over night. How can I be so stupid! As these thoughts, and others, run rapid though my mind, father walks over to the toad demon. He doesn't seem to have noticed my scent. Luck is with me. He watches the toad demon for a minute then frowns. "Jaken," he says sharply, "get up. We must be on our way."
Jaken twitches, and his eyes snap open. "Yes milord!" he says. I quietly climb down from my tree and make my way around the trees and shrubs so I am now downwind from Lord Sesshomaru. I hide behind a tree on the east side of the clearing. No one should see me here. I am further into the forest than I was before, but I can still see everyone. Lord Sesshomaru now stands beside Rin. His back is to me but I can hear his words.
"Rin. It's time to get up."
The girl stirs and rolls over. "Huh?" she says sleepily.
"I said it is time to get up. We should continue on our way."
"Oh…okay Lord Sesshomaru." This girl…she is oddly cheerful. Father is cold and rarely talks, while Jaken is really annoying and goes on about everything. Rin, on the other hand, she always seems so happy. This is the weirdest group I have ever seen in my life. They have nothing in common with each other. Well…that's how it appears to be anyway.
Rin stands up and stretches while she yawns. "You may go to the creek in the bush to catch yourself some fish if you would like," the Lord of the Western Lands says. His voice…completely emotionless.
"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru," Rin says, nodding her head. "Come on Jaken! Let's go!" I smile to myself; fish is all I ever see that girl eat. It's like she doesn't think anything else is edible.
The toad demon mumbles something I don't understand and takes after Rin as she runs for the creek. Good thing I moved away from there. Father doesn't follow right away. Instead he watches them go then slowly turns his head so he is facing in my direction. I move behind the large tree so as not to be caught. After a few moments of silence, I hear footsteps. I listen closely. They are moving to the south, toward the creek and away from me. That was too close. I must be more careful.
Later that evening, when I had found myself another tree to sit in, I watched Lord Sesshomaru sit on a large rock in a field. He watched Rin as she ran in circles around Jaken, singing, and laughing. Jaken, of course, stood there with annoyance written all over his face. When she finally settled down and decided to make a halo of flowers, father called Jaken over to him. The toad demon instantly obeyed. Father spoke quietly to Jaken, and as much as I tried, I couldn't hear what he was saying. When he was done he rose from his rock and left his companions. He walked in the direction I was. I held my breathe and sat completely still until he had passed. Half swiveling around, so I could see behind me, I watched as he disappeared from view. I sighed in relief. Now was my chance.
I jump out of the tree and land softly on the ground. I walk slowly out of the bush, in an attempt to not frighten Rin and Jaken. The toad demon had his back to me and didn't notice me coming. Rin, however, looked up from her task and directly at me. I stopped and smiled a friendly smile. "Hello, there," I greeted her.
She smiled back, "Hello."
Jaken whirled around with his staff at the ready. "Who are you and what do you want!" he demanded in that irritating voice of his. I ignored him.
"I understand your name is Rin?"
"Yes," she replied confused.
"I wonder if I might have a word with you and Jaken. Could you spare some time?"
"I demand you identify yourself this instance!" Jaken tried hard to make himself heard.
"Not to worry Jaken," I smiled, "I do not mean to harm you or Rin; and as far as who I am, that is what I wish to talk to you about. I need your help."
"I'd be happy to help…but Lord Sesshomaru is much stronger. I can ask him for you when he comes back if you want," Rin offered.
"No, Rin. Lord Sesshomaru is why I am asking for help from you and Jaken."
"How do you know our names!" Jaken screams.
"Sit. I will tell you everything I can."
"Come on Master Jaken, she needs our help," Rin pleaded. Jaken frowned deeply at the girl then sighed in defeat. He sat down next to her and stared at me, waiting for me to begin.
"Well…I'm going to be quick and very straight forward with this. My name is Shika. Lord Sesshomaru is my father. I don't know if he remembers my mother or not, but she died when she was giving birth. He left in search of his father's sword when mother was just two months pregnant. He never came back. I left in search of Lord Sesshomaru three months ago and I have been following you all for the past five days. I would have introduced myself sooner, but I wished to observe my father from afar. I am not going to make my presence known to him just yet, so you can't tell him I'm following, but I wanted to talk to you in an effort to learn more about him. I would greatly appreciate it if you would-," Jaken cut me off.
"This is absurd! Lord Sesshomaru does not have children!"
"Oh yeah? Did you ever think to ask him that? Maybe he actually remembers leaving my pregnant mother," I reply, frustrated. Of course, this was expected of Jaken.
"Master Jaken! Just listen to what she has to say! She needs our help!" Rin scolded him.
"Thank you, Rin," I smiled. "Now, I was wondering what you could tell me about him. I mean, what would be the best way for me to introduce myself to him?"
"Well…" Rin mused, "We could introduce you to Lord Sesshomaru ourselves…"
"No, I want it to be a formal introduction. I want to introduce myself."
"Maybe you could just wait here for him to come back and then introduce yourself," Rin said enthusiastically.
"I suppose. I didn't want it to happen so soon, but guess there really is no other choice, is there?" Rin shook her head.
"What do you think Master Jaken?" she asked the toad demon.
"Personally I don't think you should introduce yourself at all. Lord Sesshomaru will not fall for such trickery." He suddenly jumped to his feet. "Tell me demon…are you working for Naraku!"
I looked at him puzzled, "Who's Naraku?"
"Don't play games with me! POWER OF THE STAFF OF-," it was my turn to cut him off.
I grabbed his staff and pulled it away from him. He stumbled forward onto his face. "Jaken," I say firmly, "Do you really think Lord Sesshomaru would be happy to find out that you tried to singe his daughter?"
"Imposter!" he screamed.
"Well, if that's the way you want to be…" I brought the top of the staff down to quickly meet his head, leaving him unconscious. I looked at Rin sadly, "I'm sorry, Rin."
"Oh, it's okay. Lord Sesshomaru does that all the time," she giggled.
"So, what can you tell me about him?...Father?" I smiled weekly.
"Well, he saved my life, with his Tensaiga for one. That's how I became his companion. He has another sword called Tokijin. It's very powerful, and very dangerous. His claws can glow green and then a green light comes out that looks like a whip. He run fast, jump high, fly, and once, I saw him turn into a giant dog! He doesn't act very friendly and he doesn't smile very often…but once in a while he will. Oh, and he's very smart and very brave and strong." She paused to think.
"Rin, do you know how he lost his left arm?"
"No. He never told me. That's when I met him actually! I found him in the woods, he was hurt really bad. Then I started taking care of him, I brought him fish everyday," her expression grew sad and scared, "When the people in the village found out the beat me for it."
"That's horrible."
"Yeah. Then a bunch of wolf demons came to the village and caused all sorts of trouble! I tried to run away but some of the wolves chased me and tried to kill me. The next thing I knew Lord Sesshomaru was kneeling next to me and I wasn't hurt at all! Then I started traveling with him."
"Oh…wow." He saved her life? I thought he despised humans. Maybe it was because she wanted to help him when he was hurt.
I spend the rest of the day with Rin and Jaken. I played with Rin and entertained her with a few magic tricks that I knew. Jaken sat off with Ah-Un, glaring at me nastily. I wait with her for the return of Lord Sesshomaru. I hope he doesn't think I am trying to hurt Rin or Jaken when he sees me. I hope he doesn't try to kill me! With any luck, he will remember leaving mother all those years ago. He'll remember that she was pregnant, and that he never actually met his child. With any luck, he's smarter than Jaken and knows when someone is not lying to them. Could it finally be that I'm going to meat my own father? Will the empty void in my life finally be filled?