quothTheMaven got deleted and I'm missing her Sessh/Rin story something fierce
Sesshomaru's 'fluff' has a bit of debate over it. I personally think it's a part of his body (his tail) but the way he wears it while non-transformed makes 'boa' a more apt way to describe it. So I may call it boa but my heart is saying 'tail'.
My computer decided that it would be a good idea to put part of the fourth chapter where the third chapter was supposed to be. This is fixed now but I have to rewrite the fourth chapter to keep some from having an unfair preview. I'm not sure why my computer decided to do that (as I haven't had a chapter like that in weeks) but I'm going to lay the blame on it needing a OS reinstall.
VvVvVvVvVvV
Rin awoke with a start. She was warm but there was something that was poking the inside of her nose. She pushed it away with her hand and opened her eyes to see what had caused it.
White fur
Her eyes went wide and she sat up straight. Looking dispassionately at her was Sesshomaru.
" Ah..." she blinked a few times. " I was asleep."
" I'm aware," he said dryly. " It is day now, you should go prepare."
She blinked. Prepare? Prepare for what? It didn't matter, he looked tired and she'd never disobeyed him. She'd seen how he acted with Jaken when he had to repeat himself and she'd never wanted to tempt her luck. She pushed herself to the edge of the bed and stood up, straightening her now rather open robe and running back to her own room via the tunnel.
Nice view
He couldn't stop himself from thinking it. There were some things that even he couldn't deny.
vVvVvVvVv
She brushed her hair furiously while berating herself.
A fine thing to do, falling asleep next to him. No matter how nice it was, how warm and comforting and safe you felt it was shameful. You know he doesn't sleep well with people next to him. He was likely up the whole night because you wouldn't let him get rest. Now he's likely to be cranky
She shuddered. She'd never been on the receiving end but she'd seen him be cranky with others.
He looked absolutely haggard. Not that anyone but Jakken and I would notice but for him he was practically stuttering with sleep deprivation. Is this what you do to your lord?
" No," she whispered, putting the brush down firmly on her table. " I serve my lord and I do not distract him from his duties or let others use me as a tool to do so."
She picked up a hair ornament and tucked it in. Normally she wouldn't wear such things but Sesshomaru had said prepare and that usually meant some kind of formal occasion. She loved keeping her hair in a pigtail. Once she'd started working in the kitchen she'd discovered that it was far easier to bind all her hair up instead of just part of it and she'd secretly begun to call herself the Kitchen Samurai. That, however, was a secret that even Sesshomaru's prying wouldn't get out of her. Standing up she moved to the entry way and found the now dressed Sesshomaru waiting for her, yet another surprise of the morning. She wasn't entirely sure it was a pleasant one either.
Silence followed the two as they moved down the hallway with Sesshomaru in front and Rin a respectful distance behind.
I hope he's not mad at me
Her outfit's not travel wear. She'll have time to fix that I suppose
Jakken met the both of them at the courtyard.
" My sire," he yelped running over, " we're almost ready to go." He gave Rin a look. One of many she'd seen over the years and this one translated into the 'what were you thinking' look. " Is that what you're wearing?"
" What," Rin asked quizzically, " is there something I should be wearing my lord?" She neatly turned her question from Jakken to Sesshomaru.
" Of course there is," Jakken exclaimed, glaring angrly at her now. " Those clothes are hardly travel suitable. You'll fall to pieces in moments."
Rin glanced between Sesshomaru and Jaken trying to concealing the excitement that wanted to bubble out but failing.
" Traveling? The borders or just the country side? Will there be meetings?"
Sesshomaru looked away and began walking towards his council chamber. He was obviously going to leave the explanation to Jakken.
Jakken, looking dejected as Sesshomaru walked away, sighed pitifully before turning back to Rin.
" What on earth happened last night? He looks as if he's had no sleep for days," he exclaimed angrily. " If you've awoken him with another bad dream," he left the rest unsaid, trying to be threatening but failing miserably when his tiny feet started tapping in agitation.
" I suppose I must have," she said, sinking to her knees. " He said he'd heard a noise in my room and came to check so when he left," she paused, stopping to consider including the warm body she'd felt next to hers but deciding against it, " I heard him and followed him into his room."
" You," Jakken exclaimed, enraged and scandalized, " followed our lord into his bedroom?"
That's right you silly old man. I followed him in because I was sleepy and wanted to know what was happening
" I wasn't..." she said. " I wasn't thinking clearly."
" Apparently not," Jakken snorted in disbelief. " Why our master continues to put up with you..." He left the rest hanging and started to hop down the steps towards Ah-Nun.
" Jakken, where are we going? What's going on?"
He turned, huffing and glaring up at her. " I should think it would be obvious! We're going out to wander Lord Sesshomaru's lands to let the lesser demons keep in mind his fearsome strength and beauty. For some reason you're coming with us again." He frowned at her and then turned away, mumbling under his breath, " It was so nice traveling with just Lord Sesshomaru again."
" Miss the alone time," Rin questioned, leaning over his shoulder and poking him in the cheek. " I bet you do. I bet Jakken wants to be all alone with our lord."
Jakken took a swipe at her knees with the staff while glaring at her. He straightened his robes and settled his cap firmly in the middle of his head. Rin giggled as he huffed off over to Ah-nun and started taking swipes at the small demons that were scurrying to load the travel bags.
" Just get changed into your travel gear, silly human girl," Jakken shouted over his shoulder at her, shaking the staff at her for emphasis.
" He says silly human," Rin muttered under her breath, " but then he calls me a kind and wonderful person when I let him have his pickles."
VvVvVvVvVvV
Rin, despite her confusion, was very happy to be out and about with Sesshomaru again. She was far too excited to sit on Ah-nun for long once they'd left site of the compound and bounced up to Jakken.
He, however, was not as energetic or thrilled as she was and brushed her off with curt words and a few attempts to clock her with his staff. That left just Sesshomaru to take her energy out on.
Is it appropriate that I do so?
She skipped up to his side and placed her hands behind her back. She gazed up at his blank face for a while before attempting to start conversation.
" So my lord," she tiptoed in front of him and started walking backwards, " where are we going?"
" On patrol."
" Well yes," she said, correcting her balance to avoid falling over an unexpected bump, " but what areas are we patrolling?"
" To the Northern border and then east to the ocean."
Rin couldn't contain her excitement and she ran ahead with her arms open. The ocean, the wonderful salty ocean with fish and birds and all that water. This really was a treat. She was so happy that he'd decided to bring her along.
VvVvVvVvVvV
A few hours later saw the excitement died down and Rin asleep with her arms wrapped around Ah-nun's neck. Jakken sighed and took the reins that trailed on the ground. Ah-nun didn't need the guidance but it certainly helped that his hands were holding onto something. It helped keep him from being tempted to join Rin in sleep.
The days following passed by slowly. The summer heat and fine weather gave it the air of a stroll instead of a mission. The uneventful trip, however, had left Jakken and Rin restless. Rin had never missed the kitchen duties more and Jakken fretted constantly about whether his assistant would be able to handle the duties that needed to get done. They both fussed to the point where Sesshomaru had ordered them to go find something to do.
Jakken trudged along, tugging Ah-nun after him as Rin ran ahead. She hummed as she eagerly inspected every bush and shrub she came across for anything to help with dinner that evening. She'd been too far away to hear what the village women had been singing but the melody had been clear and it wasn't too hard for her to make up her own words for it. Brushing wayward hairs from her face as she nipped some leaves from a low growing herb she smiled back at Jakken. Best for him not to know she was even humming the tune. The last time she'd actually sung it in his presence he'd chased her around until he'd landed several good whacks onto her knees for 'using such an informal tone about their lord'.
Luck was with them. Theyd found a stream to fish out of and Jakken had, somehow, managed to find some honey in a nearby village's beehive. There'd likely be someone upset when they found an empty hive but walking along, swinging the fish on a string and trying to eat honeycomb without having it drip on them, that was far from their minds.
They were wandering through a field of low grass and bright flowers when they heard an explosion in the distance and looked up to see a plume of smoke rising above the tree line in the direction they had been headed.
" Lord Sesshomaru is fighting.," Jakken said, closing his eyes to slits and concentrating, " a band of humans. Possibly monks or maybe just villagers."
Rin looked at the ground and scuffed her feet. Frowning a little she looked up at Jakken. " Would it really be that bad if once, just once, Sesshmaru-sama went around something instead of insisting on going straight through? It's not like they'd know he was there."
Jakken stopped fussing her towards Ah-nun and stared slack jawed at her. " Lord Sesshomaru...go around?" His eyes closed completely and he bent over making clicking noises before letting his hilarious laughs out. " Lord Sesshomaru move, for humans, oh my my that's funny." He wiped his eyes and pointed the top of the staff at her. " You, Rin, know that these are our lord's lands and where he wants to go, he goes. The idea that he'd move at all from his course is simply," he paused, looking forthe right word, " absurd, that's right, absurd. Even if they didn't know he'd changed his course he would and that's showing consideration he wouldn't do for another powerful demon, much less you lowly humans."
Rin kicked him in the stomach and hopped on Ah-nuh who turned and walked from the fighting. Sesshomaru didn't like her to be nearby in case more humans saw her and, once again, assumed she'd been kidnapped. She hated having Jakken group her in with the people she saw. They, for the most part, were sweaty men with axes or hoes and she didn't have fond memories of grown men at all. The women, sure, she wished she could talk to them or get close to them and listen to what they said but that had been strictly forbidden. The only time she'd ever had a real conversation with another human female had been when her first periods had started and Sesshomaru had dumped her on his half-brothers doorstep for two weeks. Sesshomaru's half-brother might have acted quite a lot like Sesshomaru but his wife had been more then kind and taught her how to make her own pads and explained everything she could to her about what was happening. A wise choice as Sesshomaru had never taken her back and started leaving her at the then fledgling palace with no one for company but Jakken.
Another explosion echoed across the field and both she and Jakken turned to look.
" They're fighting quite fiercly for humans," Jakken commented, his eyes starting to dart about with worry.
" Go help him," Rin commented, tapping her foot on the top of his cap. " You know you want to, and besides they're probably below the worth of Sesshomaru fighting them. I'll be fine, I've got Ah-nun to protect me." Ah-nun made a rumbling noise in response and she stroked the scaled neck.
Jakken, needing no other urging, ran off towards the rising smoke. Rin smiled as she watched him until he blended into the grass and all one could see was the entwinned heads of his staff bobbing about.
She turned back to Ah-nun, who was looking at her, and slipped off. Winding the rather ceremonial reins around her hand she started to lead him further into the forest.
Rin felt the blast of heat a few heartbeats later and heard the small sound of Jakken cackling above the whooshing sound that the flames made. Looking back she saw Sesshomaru's pale shape outlined against the dark tree trunks on the other side of the field. Knowing Jakken, although she couldn't see him, he was probably dancing around enthused by his victory.
VvVvVvVvVvV
Sesshomaru began to move foreword. He could, in a way, see the demonic aura that moved behind Rin. Mindless demons were drawn so strongly by the smell of human blood that they'd attack anything, stronger demon nearby or no.
VvVvVvVvVvV
Rin heard the rumbling a few seconds before the explosion. The ground a few feet behind Ah-nun exploded, showering them both with dirt.
She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her hands behind her head as the force lifted her up and threw her. Rin hit the ground hard, feeling one of her knees go numb as something smacked into it hard. As soon as she stopped rolling she looked up.
Three demons scuttled towards her. Looking like perversly large insects, the main difference was the mouths. Acidic drool dripped and sizzled on the ground and large fused teeth ground against each other. And they were getting way to close. Rin turned and scrambled to her feet, running as quickly as she could. She snapped her head around as a snarl sounded at her back and found Ah-nun pinning one of the creatures, tearing at it's armor with the mouths and claws while the other two hesitated for a moment between chasing her and battling the new threat.
No time to waste, she turned and ran as fast as she could in the direction she'd last seen Sesshomaru. A flash of green whipped past her cheek and she felt a surge of relief. Sesshomaru's whip would handle anything.
A crushing weight fell on top of her and she barely had to cry out before she was smothered with the hard shell of the now dead monster. A brief moment of clarity before unconciousness took her was that her bones were breaking.
VvVvVvVvVvV
His lips pressed into a thin line, the dark eyebrows pointed down and his eyes dangerously narrowed. The wind whipped around his body, stroking the hair from behind him into a long pale banner. In a smooth motion he seemed to appear before the newly dead creature and hacked it apart with his sword. Protective bones crunched and splintered under the suddenly vicious blows and dark blood bubbled out and sprayed the grass nearby. In a few moments there was a massive hole in the carcass and he reached his hand in to fish around and then pulled Rin's limp body through.
Gently holding her against him he lifted into the air. His boa moving and morphing into a substantial cloud and lifting them both into the air. Sesshomaru could hear Jaken yelling down below him and Ah-nun's concerned wuffing noises but the thing that concerned him the most at the moment was the limp and soft form that lay in his arms. Bones were broken, that was obvious from the way she handled. What he didn't like was the ever increasing fear that she was bleeding internally. That was hard to fix and time was essential. A few moments to get back to his palace in this form but would it be soon enough?
She was felled, in my presence, by minor demons
Truthfully, none of the other demons would be too suprised. He couldn't, of course, be bothered with the smaller demons. The rumors that would circulate from him saving her at all would be the worst of it. A weakness like his father's would certainly be blamed and circulated. Rin was only a human and yet he exerted himself to save her. There would be whispers. Did he save her for love? Did he save her because she was a pet? Did he save her to save his face?
" My lord."
He looked down. Rin was looking up at him weakly. He kept his face impassive as she opened her mouth and worked it a little before
" I'm sorry." She coughed and he let his eyes narrow, that was not a good sign, " I apologize for causing you trouble."
She closed her eyes then and he landed deftly in the courtyard.