A New Friend
The ribbon fluttered in the air proudly and clung to her hair madly. She tied it tightly to make sure it wouldn't get away. She would be devastated if it got away. After all, it was a very important ribbon. Her lord gave it to her. Smiling, she recalled the event.
He looked down at her stoically and cleared his throat. She looked up at him quite confused and almost nervous. "Here," he pressed, holding out his arm and dropping something onto her lap. She looked down and picked up the blue and black polka dotted ribbon. She held it up and immediately fell in love.
Now she readjusted her bag that she had grown extremely attached to for all the obvious reasons. Normally she hated to have to carry it around all day, but this, this was important. Right now Rin guessed that Sesshy was taking a nap. She could feel his even and soothing breathing.
Rin opened looked up at the path that split into two soon. Right and they would be heading towards the village. She could give Sesshy back to Mia and everyone would be safe and happy, as it should be. Sighing, she saw that they were getting closer and closer to the fork in the road. Two more steps and there'd be the turn. One. Two. Left.
Left? Rin looked back at the direction to the village. Her mouth flew open in surprise and she snapped her head back to the front. She looked at her two partners and waited to see if they noticed they were clearing going in to wrong direction. After a few minutes Rin spoke up.
"Excuse me," she whispered. Only Jakken turned to look. "Aren't we, uh, going the wrong way?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders and readjusting her bag.
"No, Rin," Jakken said with a scratchy voice. He looked at Rin disappointedly. "There was a change of plans."
Rin's mouth dropped once more and she froze in place. "What?" she yelled out of exasperation. She felt Sesshy shuffle in the bag.
Lord Sesshomaru stopped instantly. He glanced above his shoulder at Rin who was now regretting her outburst. "It is not your place to be questioning my decisions, Rin. You are to do as I say without any doubts," he hissed.
She lowered her head in shame. Even she could hear the aggravation radiating off his voice. Sesshy quietly whimpered in the sack.
"And you will hide your…reactions. I don't want to hear them," he demanded. She nodded quickly and held the bag to her body closely. Her lord took a breath of the air and looked sharply at her.
Oh, did he smell Sesshy? she thought to herself. She gulped and searched her mind for a reasonable excuse that she could tell her great lord. Something that would save both Sesshy's and her butt.
"You will take a bath," he also instructed before looking at Jakken. "Jakken take Rin to the nearest source of water and then return to start a fire." Jakken nodded and looked at Rin. He waved a hand at her to signal to follow him.
All the way to the stream, Rin tightened the ribbon in her hair. Maybe the tighter she tied it, the safer she was from leaving the group. She shook the thought away from her head. That was the scariest thing she could think of.
"Jakken! Help!" Rin yelled, running to camp. "Jakken, I need help!" She arrived at camp and looked around. No one was there. With trembling hands, she walked around hoping someone would show up. She took Sesshy out of the bag and held him close as he lapped up the tears that ran from her eyes. "Jakken!"
"What is it, stupid girl?" he asked, emerging from the bushed with logs in his arms. Rin quickly ran to the toad and grabbed his arm. The logs fell to the ground and landed on his foot. He jumped out of the way and said some choice words. "Now look what you've done!"
"There's no time for games, Jakken," Rin said, worry plastered all over her face. "We have a huge problem!"
"I know. We didn't go past the village. Now you're going to have to dump off the stupid creature somewhere," he sighed and patted Rin on the shoulder. "I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not."
"No, no!" Rin convulsed. "There's something much more important to worry about!" Her eyes began to water again.
"Don't cry, girl," he instructed. "Just tell me what's wrong." Rin looked up at Jakken and opened her mouth to say something, but she just began to sob. "It's all right. Take your time." Rin dried her eyes and nodded. She looked up, opened her mouth, but started to try again. Jakken shook his head and rubbed his temples. He was getting a major headache.
After the umpteenth time, Rin finally composed herself. She bowed her head down and pointed to a small ponytail that stuck from the mass of hair on her head. "It's gone."
"What is?" Jakken asked, not seeing anything different.
"My ribbon! I have to find it," Rin yelled, tears gathering in her eyes once again. "I just have to." She felt empty and alone without her ribbon there on top of her head. She felt almost…naked. Blushing, she took out a blanket from her bag and wrapped it around herself.
"Well, just retrace your steps," Jakken suggested and crossed his arms over his chest. "Where were the last three places you remember having your bow?"
Rin tapped her chin in thought while Sesshy tilted his head. "Oh, that's simple. Number one is the bushes. Number two is the stream. Number three is camp- right here!"
"Okay, so what did you do in number one?" Jakken asked, sighing. He sat down. This was going to be a long, long night.
"Number two," Rin answered and nodded her head.
"Number two?" Jakken asked, not really sure what she meant by saying "number two."
"Yes, number two. I enjoy taking number twos. I feel like a newperson after taking one," she said, thinking about it. She sighed at looked at Jakken seriously. "I feel fresh."
"Oh, that's what you mean by number two," Jakken said, shaking his head. "So in number two you did number one?"
"No, I did number two in number one" Rin argued, but then titled her head. "I think."
"That's right because number two made you feel fresh and I don't know how bushes would make you feel fresh," he agreed, bobbing his head up and down.
"No, the bushed weren't number one," Rin said, trying to remember. "Maybe they were." She scratched her chin and looked up in the sky, almost as if searching for an answer up there. "On second thought, could I add a number four?"
Jakken moaned and threw his hands in the air. He was getting nowhere with this. "Just forget about it. All I can tell you is to keep your eye out for it," Jakken suggested.
"I want it now," Rin defended, putting her hands on her lips and shifting her weight to one leg. Jakken mumbled something and hit his head against his hand. Rin shrugged. "Well, can I at least go take a number two?"
Jakken nodded and stuck his staff into the ground. "Where will you be?"
"Number one," Rin answered and skipped off.
They had been traveling for a few hours already and Rin still hadn't found her ribbon. She looked through her bag, while avoiding Sesshy, but still couldn't find it. And she really didn't want to think about if she left it behind.
"There is a village close by, Rin," Lord Sesshomaru said out of the silence. Rin jumped at his voice. "You will be allowed some time there."
Rin nodded, but still wasn't happy. How could she be without her ribbon? Then soon arrived close to the village and Rin on her way to the market. Maybe she could find a ribbon look alike. She would know the difference, but Lord Sesshomaru wouldn't. She looked back at the toad who just happened to want to join her. She smiled, thinking that maybe the imp really did like her.
Sesshy walked beside Rin tied by a rope. His little legs were glad to get the workout. Rin looked at all the marvelous colors of the clothing, vases, paintings, flowers, and sculptures that this village had to offer. They were amazing. What really got her attention was a sculptor who was hard at work. She saw how quickly he worked and how accurate he got everything.
She stopped and focused on the thing that he was sculpting. What was it? Some kind of a cross between cat and alligator perhaps. Or maybe it was a deformed tree. Still, it was art and she loved it. The man took a quick glance at her and looked back at his work. He stopped his hands and froze. Slowly, he looked back up at Rin.
"I love it," he whispered. Rin looked behind her and noticed nothing special. He looked back at the man who was staring at her.
"Me?" she asked, pointing to herself. Jakken snorted next to her. Rin just stomped on his foot.
"Yes," he said, squinting his eyes. "I love the whole sad girl who just lost her favorite ribbon look. Yeah, it's inspiring." Rin raised and eyebrow.
"Oh, thanks I guess?" Rin chuckled. Jakken poked her with his staff, but Rin just shrugged it off.
"Could you model for me?" he asked, grabbing Rin by the shoulders.
"Oh, I'm flattered," Rin said blushing. Jakken mumbled and separated the man from the girl.
"No she will not," Jakken answered for her.
"I'd love to," Rin answered. The man stuck out his hand and Rin took a hold of it. He wildly shook it.
"My name is Shun," he greeted warmly. He directed Rin in front of his clay and nodded. He suddenly became serious and sniffed the air. He sniffed it again. Rin sniffed, but smelt nothing. "Do you smell that?" he asked, sniffing again. "It smells like up dog."
Rin smelt the air again but smelt nothing. She shrugged her shoulders. "What is up dog?"
"Not much you," he replied and started to laugh. "I always tell a joke to make people feel more at home." Jakken sneered and Sesshy titled his head. Rin quirked an eyebrow. Shun clapped his hands together. "Okay, tough crowd." He walked over to his workstation and looked up at Rin. "Now I want you to feel natural, but give me something fresh."
Rin smiled. "Where's the bathroom?"
Haha. I love the up dog joke. Makes me laugh everytime. For those of you who don't understand, you smell the air and go, "Do you smell that? It smells like up dog." Then the other person goes, "What's up dog?" And you respond how ever you want to. Who ever made up that joke has to be the smartest person in the world.
I don't know how I got the idea for the whole bathroom thing. I think I got it from my friend's and mine converasation about using the restroom. Yes, I know. We have weird conversations. I had so many ideas for this chapter I wrote it and got it up and runningquick. I hope you liked it. Thanks for reading and a special thanks to all those who reviewed.
-Edwardd