Author's note: according to my dictionary, means "not caring enough about things that are important" (so it's not that far from Sesshoumaru's apathy). Well, please forget this meaning , the right meaning in fact. In this fiction I've used and u will continue to use cavalier with the meaning of knight . This maybe sounds weird to you, but I'll explain: in Italian, my native language, "cavaliere" is the word for "knight", so I confused a little… But I have to say that on another dictionary – the Freelang dictionary in fact – "cavalier" was presented as an alternative to "knight" – or such – so…I hope you caught it anyway. However, even now that I've understood my mistake, I like the word very much, so please be patient and…Enjoy the reading. I know it is an absurd request, after all the meaning of a word cannot be changed; but I have to insist that you help me with this "little" error. Thank you in advance, I hope this won't decrease your pleasure in reading this fic.
One more thing: you've probably noticed I use the words knight, cavalier and prince both with the initials in capitals and italics; don't think I believe you are stupid just because I'm explaining, it's always better to be clear. So: I use the italics when I'm talking about his condition, his appearance, his status as a knight (among others: he surely isn't the only one!), etc.; I use the capitals when I'm talking about him in particular, or someone is calling out him – I mean specific Sesshoumaru – or when I'm referring to his own title, "Moon's Knight/Cavalier, Shining Castle's Prince, Lord Inutaisho's Son/Heir (going on), etc.", since are titles only his and nobody else's.
Next, a big thank to my first three reviewers. I wanted to say that for the meeting between the maiden and the demon you'll have to wait until chapter 18…
For those who asked who she is, obviously I can't tell you. However, the two guesses are both right, since they both are in the story and one of them is the Sacred Virgin.
Crash of swords
By Carlotta
Chapter three: Our goal
He felt their excited snickers as smelly liquid came out through their skin, while reddened eyes focused upon the two travelers, anticipating a palatable meal. And surely, considering the attractiveness of the woman he was with, they were planning to do something else too. They were on the warpath, but he believed they were savoring her anxiety, her fear, wearying them with an insupportable wait. He could sense it: she was sweating it out, desperately waiting for that torment to end; he could swear she would have preferred a hundredfold they were already battling.
When he saw their eyes glittering in the obscurity, like myriads of crimson lamp, he knew time had come. As he drew the weapon, in a thunderous holler flinging warriors hurled from everywhere, clamoring at them. The woman, on the verge of a heart attack, pitched into the oak's ponderous roots and covered her head with her hands, shaking violently. The horses whinnied stridently.
The cavalier sliced in half countless foes, without break. But, although he slimmed considerably their number, they didn't seem to stop neither the assault, nor their own fervor. He didn't even concede a quick glance to their faces, just continued to strike and strike, tossing carelessly away pieces of bloody meat, once releasing power from his blade, once gashing the unfortunate opponent with his venomous claws, once fluttering his whip gracefully and fiercely in the meantime.
The poor woman looked wan, pale, her eyes wider than ever: she had never beheld such ferocity and, as often happens when you're terribly scared by something, she just couldn't bring herself to dislodge her gaze from the object of her terror, of her extreme fear. Her heart pounded restlessly, agitatedly, like a bewitched drum. And while he tried to straighten things out, she abandoned herself to the idea that, in those conditions, safety was merely a pipe dream.
All that blood, that blood…Bleeding monsters, beheaded corpses still wandering, or trembling in the last breath; pieces of meat, of spattered flashes, scattered all over the ground; the earth imbued of that damned red substance! She pressed a free hand against her stomach as it contracted violently. A suffocated moan escaped her lips as she promptly brought the other hand to her mouth, her eyes filled with tears once more. Just one more glance to that havoc and she was surely going to gag.
"S-Sessh…"
He immediately turned to her. And an overconfident adversary thought he could take advance from the unexpected luck.
"How foolish of you, idiot! Giving me the ba..!"; since he had his torso pierced by a light green whip, pulled out of nowhere, he could not finish.
The knight neared the woman, slaughtering once in a while the remaining demons which still dared to attack. When his foot hit something sift and warm and he saw a blue fabric, he realized they were alone in that wood, with the back to the oak. He had to do something about her, she could have been at real risk if he didn't find a way to stop those waves of aggressors. "I will beat them, this isin no doubt; but it would be safer if…"
"Queen…"
"Ha-hai?"
"Take cover in the niche".
She slightly jumped in anguish: the hollow, the squirrel, the earthquake, the dust…"I can't breathe!"
Her eyes broadened in pure fright and her breath shortened, as the voice died in her throat.
"Now".
Unfortunately for her, his tone of finality didn't allow any other option; this started her off moving to accomplish. She jerkily crawled to the hole, pebbles and dry stems scraping her frail skin. She had made the purpose to be loyal and to collaborate, so…she had to follow his instructions, even if, like in this case, they caused her extreme pain.
When he saw she was at secure, he gathered every bad feeling he was able to find in himself at the moment, At the higher level of rage, he released a storm of rays and red fire's spears and, for an instant, the night became day. Too scared to be astounded, the woman remained mute, openmouthed, gaping in confusion and disbelief at the results of her step-son's prodigious action, glows of light still flickering in her dry pupils: she hadn't blinked at all.
All around her there was no longer a wild forest, but a vast clearing, and the only standing tree in that desolation was the kind Ancient Oak, which had offered her a shelter again.
"They've stopped hopping finally", he said, a hint of satisfaction scarcely perceptible.
She nodded in agreement, finally serene. He had done a massacre, but…it had been to protect her, and she could not forget this. He had torn into pieces a bad-intentioned mass in order to preserve her life. And she was effectively undamaged, in her physic, albeit her mind cried out the horror of such a battle. A wrongful, unjust, unequal, disproportionate wrestle: and he had won.
"Oh, darling", she reflected, "now I see…I see why you trusted him so".
"I fear you're wrong", a gravelly voice retorted him, uninvited.
He lifted his look in the direction the voice came from and snorted. From beneath a heap of corpses a bleeding hand emerged abruptly, flinging away the remains of lost companions. Its owner stood up some moments later, covered in blood and internal organs. Izayoi let out a cry of horror and disgust, as her stomach again threatened to ache.
"What do you want?", the cavalier simply asked, eyes narrowing.
The monster, who appeared to be an ogre, judging from his colossal stature, leathery skin, tremendous eyes and unsupportable fetid odor, cackled loudly and bellowed surly, cracking his knuckles, his tawny savage mane rustling in the chilly breeze:
"YOU SHOULD NOT EVEN ASK, YOU SASSY UPSTART BOY!"
Sesshoumaru's eyes widened, while his eyebrows joined in a frown which was the portrait of ferocity.
"You insolent, vulgar creature…", he whispered furiously, poison flowing in his veins and blood boiling.
Around him a red cloud began to form…
"This is what you deserve", he growled, sprinting to kill; "WASH YOUR MOUTH!"
And with this, a clawed hand struck the throat, the chest, the abdomen of the wretched ogre, tearing limbs apart. The monster belched raucously whilst life hastily ran away from his body, as if in a hurry to desert that dyeing casing. But he struggled to keep a residue of soul in his practically no-longer-existent body.
"You…", that thing, half-lifeless, found the strength to murmur, "Who the hell are you?".
He smirked enigmatically, in a both satisfied and annoyed way.
"I am…the Great Sesshoumaru", he answered, impassive.
That one smirked in his turn, then grunt in false disinterest. Then, finally, expressed his willing, in the most terrible of maledictions.
"Sesshoumaru-sama… I CURSE YOU! YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, YOU AND THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE, I CURSE YOU TILL THE END OF THE WORLD!"
Before the knight could put an end to its madness, the ogre exhaled his last breath. The cavalier cut the scalp off the dead enemy, in sign of victory.
Then he roused and gave the little mount of dust, all that lingered on of the foe, a pitiful glance.
"I love nobody", he stated.
The sunrise had come and gone, now the sun was at a quarter of its voyage in the sky. She hadn't eaten anything during all the morning and she didn't feel hungry at all yet, despite the fact that she hadn't seen food since the previous day. Now she was finally fully awaken: after that terrible assault, all the sleep she hadn't been able to get in the night had come, vengeful, claiming her; and she had fallen asleep on her mount. When she had woken up – because of unpleasing stones they were riding upon – some hours had gone by. Finally, she had some alone time to recollect the last events.
"It's undeniable: I'm finding it hart to relate to him", she admitted to herself.
An abrupt stop put an end to her reverie.
"What's occurring, Prince?"
Stillness responded her.
"Something is lying in wait for us", his instinct uttered, "since quite a long time". Here they were again, they had just passed through a haunted forest – though all the forest could be considered haunted, and not only those kind of places – and again they were going to face some sort of danger. If things were to continue like this, he wasn't sure he had enough patience to endure the nuisance.
"Look over there, Prince!", the woman suddenly exclaimed, rousing him from his analysis of the possible antagonist this time.
He was coerced to pay attention to the cause of her sudden interest when she outran him, maybe without noticing it, just to stop some moments later and descend from the horse.
"What happened to you? Are you hurt?"
Before he could think she was talking alone – like a fool – he saw, beyond the multiple layers of her kimono – which was a hard thing to do: why had the females to put on all those robes, he didn't understand – a keeling figure. Its smell told him what it was before he could totally make out its appearance: a human. Pretty young, probably a child. It could have at the most seven, eight years.
He heard a shy "No" from what sounded like a female: most likely some farmer's daughter, betting from her humble clothing.
"What's your name?", the woman asked lovely, trying to gain the child's trust.
"…R-reiryou, Lady", she whispered back.
"What a nice name", she said stroking the little girl's tousled hairs. "Do you know its meaning?"
The kid's countenance lightened at the mention of her name. "She has to like it very much! Look at how she becomes excited just because of a simple question!"
"Well, yes: my father is a poet, he gave me this name. It means beautiful stream".
"You know it really suits you!"
She truly meant that: the little girl resembles a torrent, overflowing energies and joyfulness, in spite of the fact that she was chatting with a stranger who had found her on a lane's curb. "Well, I guess is a peculiarity every child has"; she chortled softly.
"Oh, you're really nice, Lady. Could I ask your name?"
The elder woman beamed amiably.
"Oh, you're so cute, Reiryou-chan! Of course you can: I am Izayoi."
"Oh, Izayoi-sama", she said, gurgling with pleasure, "I know this name! It's very poetic, it means…"
"Shhhhhhhhhh", the raven-haired beauty gently silenced her, lightly pressing her index upon the girl's immaculate lips. "It's a secret", she added then, winking imperceptibly, so that even Sesshoumaru could not perceive it.
"Now will you tell me what happened?", she asked again.
The child looked confused. The woman craned her neck in order to manifest her concern about the scabs on her knees and shins and at the scratches on her arms.
"I'm not probing, but…you need a healer: your injuries aren't bad, but you could easily reopen them. Where do you live, is it near?"
The little girl nodded. Then, surprisingly, uttered:
"It's been a youkai, Izayoi-sama: it was very ugly, with a long tongue; it slithered, like a snake…and, it's poison…"; she burst out in tears, but resumed o describe. "I've witnessed…while that monster…attacked a priest we villagers had called to purify the demon and its clan. I've been taken aback and…I've run away, but…I slipped on wet earth and hurled from the crest of that hill"; she pointed at the precise spot she had fallen from.
"I see, honey, but now you've nothing to fe…"
"Silence. It's coming."
It had been the Prince to speak. "It's coming? What is it that is coming?". The woman slightly worried: he had talked, and talked to advise, to warn…He wanted silence, this meant he needed to be concentrated… "It's a youkai, isn't it? There's a youkai approaching…".
It was weird: she wasn't scared at all, maybe it was an effect of having seen that tremendous battle that night…and the way he had fought it, obviously. But now…now it was different…"There's a child here, to watch such a savage scene…"
But she couldn't continue to think…in fact it was as if smoke swirled all around her: she was tensed. Bur what caught her attention was the fact that…he was tensed too. "Is his perception so sensible…or are we in real danger?
…But, compared to what we went through this night…I don't think there could be something worse hidden around here…
Yes, there must definitely be something, but he is perfectly able to face it… He is, right?"
The most she observed him, the most her confidence faded away: his hand was trembling imperceptibly and she interpreted that revealed sign of tension with some sort of…inadequateness.
But she could not know…that he was morose, bad-tempered and silent…Because that thing, whatever it was – and he surely wouldn't have wasted energies to determine its nature: it didn't matter at all – was trying to cheat…
"Does it think it can elude my senses simply attempting to disguise itself?"
"Come out. I know you are there."
An edgy Izayoi widened her eyes in surprise: the knight…was "inviting" – or better threatening – his coward potential enemy to show itself. Involuntarily, she found herself thinking: "And which fool would do such a thing? To hide perfectly knowing to be discovered soon?" Was the unseen creature that stupid, or maybe that simple-minded? She had no time to answer.
Eventually, from a thicket a green flash pulled out and darted in the direction of the Cavalier.
"You are late", the knight whispered, unheard, flitting to the precise spot he perceived a peculiar smell coming. It wasn't intense, but it was unmistakably the smell of venom. An old remembrance crossed his mind.
…"Why does it hurt so badly, Dad?", a pup asked to his magnificent father, curved upon him to examine a singular scar on his only son's juncture between the ankle and the calf. The great demon had not answered and just continued to stare, masking his worriment at the view of the deep sting…no, it wasn't a sting, it was… "A bite".
"Stay calm my son and explain me what happened."
The little Sesshoumaru nodded.
"Hai. I was hopping here, when…I felt…a sharp pain…I can't explain well, it's been like…"; his big eyes sparkled in revelation: he had found a good example: "Like when Mom accidentally gave me a kiss, but with her fangs…"
The pup, too innocent at that time, hadn't recognized his father's slight blush at the unconscious mention of his woman's most pleasurable "attack": the butterfly kisses. No doubt his ardent lover was too much passionate with their child, too: she had a special way to communicate her affection, just like the hot blood which flowed in her body. But what would you ever expect from an Amazons' descendant?
However now the problem was another: a snake – the smell was too clear to be mistaken – had bitten his son… Well, this wouldn't have been a big deal, if it wasn't for the strange presentiment he had in his chest: a normal serpent couldn't poison a demon, a demon like him at least. But what he felt then shattered his optimism.
"Oh, and there was a sound…a strange hiss…And the grass waved…", he added, index brought under the chin in thought.
"I see".
"Dad…What happened to me?"
"…". The great demon bore a grave look.
That snake…the pup could have been a little wary, was it that much to ask? He wouldn't have been in these conditions now.
"Are you a snake-demon", he asked, more in an stating tone in fact, to the now fully revealed creature.
It was a skinny, pale lime individual, with a face more similar to some sort of mask, sleek platinum hair, tied in a long ponytale high over his nape. His crimson eyes, with a black shard in their middle, were filled by undisguised maliciousness. He had thin, long lips and a narrow mouth, with exposed curved teeth, spilling venom's drops. Every single drop which feel to the ground melted part of the nude rock, made the grass wither away.
"Reuryou-chan…", the elder woman suggested to the petrified child – she had probably recognized the demon – "It's safer for you to return to the village now."
But she only stammered baffled words, eyes frozen: she could see it, the priest's blood…stained that monster's strange armor.
However it was all over in the blink of an eye: only then Izayoi realized with her weak human senses she was actually unable to i see /i . Sesshoumaru had sprinted and caught the enemy by surprise, avoiding the venom's splatters which came from every direction, had neared the adversary and grappled him. And the two defenseless human had only seen a white thunder and green splashes and, a moment later, there was a big, smoking hole in the path's hard earth.
The Knight was holding the loser's neck tightly whilst the pitiable snake vainly tried to kick the Prince's candid clothes. Two fingers were pressed against each poison's gland, so that the deplorable being could not even react. His mouth was widely open, as if gaping for air, yet his chest didn't move at all. His teeth looked completely useless, harmless.
"Prince", the woman began, forcedly calm, "please not in front of the child…"
He seemed to catch the implicit message and winked back as a signal. She didn't waste time and tugged the little girl, making sure she could stand without problems.
"You're safe, Reiryou-chan. Now return to your own home".
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Izayoi-sama!", she thanked, rejoining in the meeting with such a wonderful person and in the safety from that monster. "My house is right behind that hill –the same I fell from – beyond the precipice"
"The precipice?", the woman asked curiously.
"Hai", she nodded, "the precipice at the west side of the cliff…it's really deep, I've slung a stone under it a few times…and I've never heard the…"
A certain demon lightly growled with impatience. A little nervous, the Queen smiled at the child.
"Go back to the village now, Reiryou-chan."
"Sure, and take care of yourself! Goodbye beautiful Lady! Goodbye wonderful, strong Prince. Thank you for saving me!", the little girl yelled, cheered up, running toward home and waving her arm in farewell.
When she was only a distant spot, their attention fell on the fiend once more. The iron grip on the snake's throat loosened and he fell, heavily, to the ground. Listening to his heartbeat, he inspired hungrily and coughed several times, before being able to breathe normally.
The Queen thought it was inhuman to make his agony lasts for so long, but…he had attacked a child and had violently slaughtered so many lives…
"Now you will pay for what you've dared."
The silver-haired warrior's icy glare pierced the hapless creature.
"No…", the loser trembled, the voice hoarse, spitting saliva. He knew what those word's real meaning was: he had arrived to the end.
The handsome prince slightly grimaced in disgust.
"No! I…I was wrong! I should have never come against you, I… Please don't take my life…Not my life!"
He roused his head to meet a clement look. Only coldness gazed back at him. In despair, knowing to have no hope left, he curled up on the arid path, moaning in pain. Every moment of his life came back, as he stared, half-unconscious, at his entire, malign, vicious existence. His first victim had been a toddler, male or female he didn't keep in mind anymore…he still remembered how its heart beat in his hand, not believing to have been chopped up from its dead body. That morning, the baby had learned how to take some bashful steps; his mother had giggled at her child's first fall.
He had devoured its still beating heart and had smashed its corpse to smithereens, melting its bones with his poison.
…Maybe he really…deserved to die…?
Nonetheless…he was too attached to life to accept it could end this way, brutally. "I won't…die…like this…", his mind, clouted because of the turmoil, panted. He tried another attempt.
"I…I promise I will never hurt a human again, I…an animal, either…I'll eat vegetables, I…"
The knight grunted.
"I don't care. Die."
"NO!", a feminine voice shouted. "No, spare his life!", it repeated, heartbroken, sorrowful, and anxious too. "Don't you see? He's repented!"
The Queen. She couldn't stay still watching such a scene: that creature had committed many barbaric acts, but…but now he was scared, before death. Now he was perhaps able to understand his faults, now he could maybe recall the expression on his victims' face, that mix of plea, terror, resignation, while he murdered them.
The condemned lifted his gaze to look at his unexpected defender, the unmistakable flare of hope burning in his lucid eyes. The Prince narrowed his eyes.
"Snake-demons are liars."
With a solemn, calculatedly slow movement, he roused his right arm, the sword's shadow hanging threateningly on the disgraced creature's pale, flawless neck. The snake quivered more violently and didn't feel his head on it's proper place already. Tears began to stream down its face, as he lowered his gaze and exposed the juncture between his skull and shoulders, resigned to his incontrovertible fate.
"No!"
Screaming, the clement woman abruptly ran toward the knight and…tightly grabbed his arm, which gripped the sword, desperately trying to hold him back!
Before Sesshoumaru could even assume an irked expression, the fraud demon escaped in a green flesh, cackling like a screwy and shouting insults about his savior's ingenuousness and naïveté. A second later, nothing more.
The cavalier pushed aside the shocked woman, who clumsily fell and didn't try to stop or relent the drop either.
He had fooled them. Or rather her.
…
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! HELP! HELP!"
A shrill shout pierced the air and…it came from the precipice! No doubt about the cause… The knight sprinted, heading there, to hunt his prey. In less than a blink of an eye, he was out of sight.
"Someone, HELP!"
A cry, again. The woman stood up in worry: she had to do something! Someone was in danger! And what was worse…she identified that voice! "Oh, God", her heart screamed, beside itself with dismay, "I beg You: please let me be wrong!"
"Izayoi-sama, can you hear me? Oh, my! Whoever, HELP ME! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Oh, no! No, no, no!". Recent pictures appeared before her very eyes as the image of a waving-hands little girl with an ice-melting grin made its way in her thoughts…
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Izayoi-sama!"
"Go back to the village now."
"Sure, and take care of yourself! Goodbye beautiful Lady! Goodbye wonderful, strong Prince. Thank you for saving me!"
"Please rouse me from this nightmare! Someone… WAKE ME UP!"
"I beg you! Don't let this thing…"
Silence. Why was there silent all of a sudden? What had ensued?
"No… NO!"
The woman grabbed her black horse reins and with a leap mounted its saddle.
"Let's go, Kuro! Hurry, hurry up!" (1)
The paws became the only audible sound.
Those instants, albeit quickly running, seemed an infinite wait; the path looked at every step longer, the ride appeared at every pawing slower. She prodded the horse's abdomen with a light slap, to urge it on. "Please, please, my Goddess", she involuntarily found herself to beg, "don't allow her to die, not when she's still so young, when she…must still see so many, beautiful things. When she has to learn that life is worth living". This time, neither the certainty that Sesshoumaru had by long gotten there reassured her: he was everything but a children's keeper.
If she were wounded, or worse poisoned, he wouldn't have surely offered his help to the poor child. "He's there to combat, to beat his adversary", she reckoned. "This is his only target".
After what seemed eternity, she finally spotted a scene which made her skin gooseflesh (2). A white cloud, that had to be the knight; a green arrow, the snake demon. But…"Where is she?"
The Queen fell in trance; as the world around her obscured, the figures of a hungry creature slithering on the soil and a little being, vainly fleeing, abruptly haunted her mind. The pretender was hunting the poor child, who terrorized tried to escape, unfathomable terror devouring his innocent face.
As she felt again her body, she began to scrutinize every single spot of that place, until…
i An orange smug right on the edge of the cliff… /i
"Reiryou-chan!"
The child roused to meet the woman's beautiful almond eyes, the inimitable, refulgent, sudden delight only children can feel shining on her round visage, her hairs ruffled by an unexpected gust.
Then, it all happened so quickly that it would be almost impossible to describe it: the woman scuttled toward the child, her uncomfortable sandals hampering her; her sudden appearance there diverted the Prince's attention from it's foe, merely for a blink, but it was sufficient for the deceiver rival to escape his venomous claws. The snake-demon rushed to chase the child, who, terrified, ran further…
As the snake's fangs threatened to kill, the little Reiryou took another step, just as the monster stuck her back…
Blood squirted in the sky. The snake's nails slit the air.
Reiryou hurled in the precipice.
"!"
"SESSHOUMARU!"
Thought precedes action, action precedes word.
But Izayoi only screamed, her intellect not realizing yet the occurrence, her maternal instinct taking over her. And the Prince caught her intention.
A cerulean blue globe of energy formed around him in less than a breath and before she could understand a green flash was lashing the air. What she saw next was only the lifeless corpse of a stunned snake demon, supine on a boulder, eyes barred by the eternal night.
A moment later, a white cloud emerged from the crag and silver footwear grazed the rock. She caught an orange fabric and sighed in relief.
There she was, safe in his arms. But the Queen didn't even near the fainted child. She remained far, and mute.
Because she knew…that all had happened…was her fault.
"I've showed mercy to nothing but an impenitent monster. I've put an innocent's life at risk. Merely because of…of this damned goodness with whom I…mantle myself!".
In that moment, the little girl opened her eyes and then squinted them: the midday sun was too uncompassionate. Her lips formed a wondering "oh" as she beheld the handsome knight who held her. Then, her look fell on the standing woman, so incredibly beautiful; her poise was unaltered, but her concerned stare betrayed her true emotions. Nevertheless, she called her out.
"Izayoi-sama!", she whooped, beside herself with joy, for she was not only alive, but surrounded by kind people too: she was safe, finally.
She jumped from the demon's arms, forgetting the wound, and skipped toward the woman. But the pain was unbearable and she fell, halfway. The woman stepped closer and hugged the child. She wanted to cry: would have Reiryou hugged her like that is she knew the woman was the only cause of her dangerous attack. "Would you still love me so if you knew I've spared that impostor's life, if you knew I'm the only one who should be blamed?"
"Now it's better if I accompany you to the village, Reiryou-chan."
She only nodded in reply.
The Queen accompanied her home, beyond the hill. She saw grasslands and paddies, and young farmer girls dancing barefoot in the sun with their straw hats, and children playing in the rice-field's water and in the springs which irrigated the fields. The countrywomen looked after the cows in the pastures. "What a rich area", she thought following the instructions the little girl gave her to reach her village.
"Perfect, now take that path. Yes, exactly this. We're almost arrived, Izayoi-sama, thank you very much…"
"It's odd that nobody has attacked it yet".
"Ok, that's the village, thanks again! I believe I can walk now, Izayoi-sama!"
"With all the wars in this period, here seems such a peaceful oasis…it's almost hard to believe…"
"Izayoi-sama…I've said I believe I can walk now…on my own I mean…"
"It reminds me of my own village…it was so peaceful, too: it was so wonderful, so…colorful…"
"Izayoi-sama…Oh!". Her eyes sparkled in indescribable contentment as the sun over her home appeared brighter. "I'm home!"
She woke from her daydream and gave a quick glance around. Then asked where they could have found a healer; the child answered there was an old woman who had this sort of duty and so they headed toward the mentioned house. In that community everyone appeared immersed in a humdrum life, but in truth they showed total happiness to live modestly, simply working hard to have the earth's delicious fruit. They entered the shadowed room.
"Kaede-oba-san, please help me"
The aged woman was shocked at the beginning, but she seemed accustomed to this kind of injuries; so she winded the bandages around the child's arm and legs and applied some herbs' poultice to her deeper cut, the one on her back. Then she insisted on giving to the Queen some medicinal plants to keep for similar situations.
When she abandoned the village, she found Sesshoumaru a little out of it, sign that he had guarded her meanwhile. He made her a gesture to follow him; although she wondered where he had left the horses, she accomplished. She remained silent all the while, aware of what he wanted to tell her.
They reached a cliff and he stopped some mere inches from the edge. The rock was covered with soft grass, the wind blew furiously. The sun was near to the setting, about to be eaten by the unlimited waters.
She remained some steps behind him and awaited, in his shadows, his pelt rustling in the air and his silver yarns plaited by the breeze. She flawlessly knew what was going to happen. In fact, it came after a little wait.
"Don't interfere in a fight ever again".
Sure: she deserved the coming blame. Her mouth stayed locked. She felt abashed.
…But…she had to say something…
"I…I'm sorry. I've erred on the side of clemency, but…"
"You made a mistake".
A quick retort, his voice like steel: he had to be awfully angry, under that icy façade. She bit her lower lip.
"I know…", she whispered. Then, she raised her voice a little: "Still, I would have felt guilty if I had let you…"
"It would have been your fault if that human died", he interrupted her quite coarsely. Her eyes widened in shock at his tone; it felt as if she had just now fully comprehended the great damage she could have caused.
"…"
"Now go to sleep, tomorrow we will leave at dawn".
The coldness he was showing went beyond every fancy she could have ever imagined.
She lowered her gaze, blurred by unshed tears, and bit her lip again: he was right and she knew it, but…but she hadn't been able to stop herself. Now that child was slightly injured but…but it could have been worse! It could have ended really badly! And…and she would have been the only one responsible…
In addition to this, she had disobeyed to Sesshoumaru, too, and, even if unwillingly, had put him at risk. Well, he was perfectly capable of beating that nothing of a snake demon, but…she hadn't helped, on the contrary…
"I've broken my promise to be loyal to him, and I'm paying the consequences…" A hand roused to her chest, fist clenched.
"But I will remedy".
She clutched at his arm, gently, but firmly. That was, excluding a caress she had tried to give him when he was little and the occasional necessities, the very first time she touched him willingly. And, this time, he didn't scoff at her as he had done in his adolescence. He just remained motionless, or rather lingered motionless, since they stayed like that for a long, long while.
"I…", she started finally, "I want to fulfill this mission as well. This isn't your own goal, Prince. This is i our /i goal. We will work together".
He unnoticeably narrowed his eyes and glanced, unseen, at her. She tightened the grip on his sleeve and dropped her eyes.
"Please don't tell me I'm useless, like I'm sure you think: I'll demonstrate…I'll try to be helpful, I'll knuckle down, not to be a burden in your eyes. I think…I think nobody can stand being alone his whole life; please let me keep you company, let me accompany you in this travel. I must do it, I must meet i her /i ."
At the mention of the reason why they had been parted from their home, she lifted her gaze to observe the sky, of a vivid red which evoked blood, the blood she had seen during that first, intense day of travel.
"And so, please…", she raised her look and stared at his profile; he didn't react at all. "Please consider me a companion, and not someone to keep an eye on". She said the last words with much intensity.
"I don't need companions", was his instantaneous, cold reply.
Nevertheless she understood what he meant with that foreseeable answer.
"Maybe. Even so…I need".
He imperceptibly lowered his head, perhaps thoughtful; she perceived it.
"Do as you like".
She let go of him and went by his side, admiring the wonderful sunset, the burning sky, the fired sea; the waves, which infuriated broke on the uneven, rugged reef.
When it came nightfall, she fell asleep and dreamt of her native country, of her childhood's home. And now, in that house, there was a strong perfume of sandal and pine's resin, spread in every room. And she felt secure, safe; she felt at home.
i End Chapter /i
NOTES:
KURO: "Black"; as you've probably understood, it's Izayoi's horse's name, since it's a black horse.
GOOSEFLASH: it's an Italian way to say you are so frightened that your skin becomes like the chicken's one; it's used even when you feel cold.
