Ch.15: Well, Let's Just Wait and See What I Should Call It.
The last drops of rain fell from the quickly clearing clouds, splashing on the green leaves far above the heads of the main characters of this story that I just can't find an ending to (elusive little buggers...). Slowly, Sky awoke to a very comfy 'bed' and the soothing drip-drop noise of water rolling off the tips of leaves. All else was quiet. She was very warm, though her clothes were slightly damp. Moving her head, she found that she was resting on Sesshomaru's shoulder... and that her neck was stiff. Her first reaction was a sleepy smile (After all, Sessho would be a great thing to wake up to...), then a blush as she remembered that she had kissed him.
'Well', she thought, 'We can just pretend that never happened...' Sky didn't know what had made her do that... except for the fact that he was cute, funny, and a rather nice guy if you really dug deep. Besides, he was fun to argue with.
Suddenly she shot straight up in the air, and ran into the bushes.
When Sesshomaru felt her leave, he snapped awake, instantly on the alert. The still moving bushes showed where the human had disappeared to. Moving swiftly, he followed her on her rampage along the river bank.
"Where is it? Where is it? WHERE?" She said frantically to herself, tearing through the foliage.
"What are you looking for?" He said, and at the sound of his voice she stopped abruptly in her search, spun around, and faced him.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." He said nothing, waiting for her to answer his question. Unnerved by his stare, Sky smiled brightly and began to retrace her steps back to where they had slept. "Oh, nothing, nothing, it doesn't matter, we should get going..." As she passed the dog demon, he snatched her shirt collar and, unaware, she kept walking until the material jerked her back and she was dangling by his claw. He swung her up to look him in the face.
"What were you looking for?" She smiled disarmingly again.
"Nothing, really, nothing at all."
"What?" He growled menacingly. Her face set, and she looked stubborn.
"Nothing." Then he did something Sky would never have expected in a hundred years.
He poked/pinched her in the side lightly, and Sky jerked in his grasp, squeaking. And, then, he smiled. Not evilly, but as if he was enjoying himself. A little.
"Tell me." Pinch; squeak. "Tell me." Pinch; squeal. "Tell me." Pinch; giggles. "Tell me." Pinch; uncontrollable laughter.
Sky broke down in a fit of guffaws, cracking up over the slightest thought that drifted through her head. Sesshomaru had found her ticklish spot. When the giggle fit ended, she glared balefully at Sesshomaru.
"That was awfully mean." He raised two fingers menacingly in the air and pinched them together threateningly.
"Tell me or I'll do it again." Sky sighed, and gave up.
"I was only looking for my pouch. I noticed it was gone this morning, and... can you imagine the havoc one of these primitives could wreak with a car or a tri-laser gun?" Sesshomaru: -.-U. Sky saw the face, and made one of her own: O.O. "I mean, one of the people who would actually be foolish enough to try to figure out how something in my pouch works, or..." His face hadn't changed. "...I'll just shut up now, I think."
He stared at her a moment, annoyed, then gently placed her on her feet. Today was just full of surprises for Sky. For a second, she felt so wrong to not be crashing on her butt that she wondered if she should just fall over. Then she actually realized what the hell she had been thinking, and mentally slapped herself.
Sesshomaru had turned away from her, and just was standing there. 'Surely I didn't just his feelings that bad, did I?' She thought to herself, and went around to where she could see his face.
"Sesshomaru?" He was concentrating on something, breathing deeply.
"If your pouch is here, it's been washed clean of any scent. I can't smell it, anyway."
"Metal retains scents?" She asked. Sesshomaru: O.o.
"That thing was made out of metal?" Sky blinked at him.
"Almost everything in my time is made out of some sort of metal or another." She caught his look, and hurried to add, "Well, in my time anyway." Sesshomaru rolled his eyes mentally.
"Yes, metal retains scent." It was easier then explaining his super keen nose, he supposed (are anyone else's fingers cold? Mine are freezing...).
"Oh. I think my pouch may even still be in the river." There was every possibility of that, Sesshomaru agreed. It could be trapped under water, washed up on a bank somewhere, still floating, in the possession of a human... or a demon... that possibilities were endless. Okay, not endless, but certainly large in number. Sky smiled at him brightly. "Well, thanks for trying. We really have to hurry, though." She looked at the clock inside her sleeve. "I've been out for about two and a half hours, so... I suck at math. We have less then we had before, anyway. We can still make it, right? Be exactly on time?" The question was very earnest, with a hint of fear. He nodded calmly at her.
"Yes, we can still make it." Sky released a big sigh of relief. "We'll have to move fast though." 'Oh, shimatta!' Sky thought with an inner pout. 'More walking! Whatever happened to that dragon thing?' But she didn't say anything out loud. If walking would get them there on time, then walk she would. 'Just wish walking weren't so... boring.'
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W.W.- Yeah, she did just think that, right? Right. Wish granted. -Evil laughter-
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They had been walking in relative silence for a while. About an hour, really. I say relative because Sky had started at least five conversations, or had at least tried to, and a few times, when Sesshomaru had kept his continuous silence, she had continued the conversation with herself.
"It's weird growing up on a S.S., Sesshomaru. It's like being in a cage. That's why whenever I had a chance, I went to a planet, and love them so much."
"S.S.?" He asked. Sky brightened because he actually said something.
"S.S. means Space Station. That's what the houses in space are called." They were rounding a hill as Sky was trying to get him to talk more when they were suddenly stopped...
By the sight of a village torn to smithereens.
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W.W.- Hey. Me again (who else would it be?). I kinda got tired about focusing on Sky and Sesshomaru (I know, it sounds like treason to say that I got a little bored when we're talking about SESSHOMARU, one of the hottest demons on the face of the planet), so I'm thinking of a scene change. Let's see where we should go... If anyone else has an idea for a little side scene, I'm up to hearing it!
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Sky's mom looked out the S.S.'s porthole-type window, and sighed. She was worried about her daughter. She had been gone for quite some time now, and not a single word. The communications cranchite had remained blank. Suddenly, it snapped on with a welcome breep-beep-breep noise. The alien woman rushed over to the screen... only to find that it was not her daughter who was looking back at her.
"Salutations, Mrs. Pyre. This is Captain Thomas West, leader of the archeological expedition on planet Earth. I'm calling to request the whereabouts of your daughter. She disappeared not that long ago, about a week, I believe. If you have any information on where she is, kindly report it to the Space Federation, and tell her that she is fired. Thank you."
Sky's mom was already on her way to the nearest OutCraft station. Her baby was missing, and she would move mountains (literally), heaven and hell (figuratively) to find her. On her way, she called Sky's dad, and told him the news. He repeated her actions almost verbatim, heading toward the nearest OutCraft station, and calling his oldest son. So the list went on, until even the younger brother was on his way to Earth.
Poor Earth. It's about to get invaded by some of the weirdest people in the galaxy.
Excluding, of course, myself.
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Sky looked at the blown apart village with big, wondering eyes.
"What exists in this era that could actually do this much damage?" She murmured. Sesshomaru shrugged.
"Demons." And began walking down toward the smoldering ruins. Sky noticed that he was moving again with an abrupt start, and trotted until she was next to him. Her eyes remained huge as they walked through the rubble, on the clearest part, which would have been the village's main street had it not been torn apart.
Sesshomaru sniffed the air for possible danger. A demon had done this destruction, all right, but he had not been alone. Another rogue (human) bandit group led by a demon, he surmised. They were long gone, though, the wind blowing away most of the lingering scent. Probably after valuables.
Sky studied the ruins with all the concentration of a serious student cramming for her finals. Here and there, a hand lay among the burnt wood, or a leg, and once in a while a head. Never a whole body. Whatever had blown apart the huts had also taken care of the people.
A thin wail traveled through the air to reach our main characters ears. Sky's head jerked up, and she went dashing through the piles of ashes to reach the source of the noise. Sighing, Sesshomaru followed her.
The mostly alien woman reached the source of the wail first, digging rapidly, but carefully, through the burned boards. A tiny face looked up at her, and grinned, the tears on its cheeks quickly drying. It cooed at her, and a universal goofy smile formed on Sky's face.
That one a lot of people get when they lay eyes on a newborn.
The only thing different about this newborn... is that it had horns. And it's ears were pointy. The horns were small, very soft nubs still, but horns all the same. Leaning down, Sky picked the baby up, and it giggled in delight as she tickled its belly.
"Sesshomaru!" She called, though there was no need. By this time he had caught up to her.
"You can't keep it." Was the first thing out of his mouth. Sky pouted.
"That's not up to you, and that's not fair. We can't very well just leave it here, put it back now that it knows it was found and could have been rescued. Besides, it's so well tempered, I'm sure it will be no problem at all... except the one about feeding it. Now that I don't have my pouch, I don't know where we're going to get food."
"I lived just fine before you came along with your pouch, and I think we can manage to get along as well without it." She gave him a hard stare.
"Are you going to be able to find baby food, Mr. High and Mighty Sesshomaru? I at least had some in my pouch." He looked at her in a weird, questioning way, and she flushed hotly. "No, I did not have a baby! But you have to be prepared for anything when taming a recently recovered planet, it said so in my job contract. 'Note: If injury to person occurs because of said person's lack of preparedness, afore mentioned injury is not the fault of facility, but fault of person for not being aware of the risks of taking this job.' Basically, if something goes wrong, it's your own damn fault, and we're not paying for it, you are. But back to the original statement. Will you be able to find baby food, Sesshomaru?"
"Why should I bother when the choice isn't up to me?"
"We decide, not you. And you should bother out of the goodness of your heart." Apparently, this woman hadn't gotten the memo about Sesshomaru.
"I decide no. Now leave it."
"I decide yes, so it comes with us." They stood nose to nose in the middle of the burnt up wasteland, the baby between them. For a minute, neither backed down.
The baby itself decided, cooing, then throwing itself out of Sky's arms with unnatural force... to land safely on Sesshomaru's fluffy tail. It buried it's face in the soft fur, making soft noises of contentment. It was latched so tightly on that when Sesshomaru moved (his hands cradled beneath the newborn in case he fell) that the baby merely swayed with the movement, but did not fall off. Sky looked from the baby to Sesshomaru and grinned.
"Two against one, you lose." He snarled silently, turned on his heel and started to walk away. The baby didn't let go, laughing with pure delight as he swung freely. Sky caught up with the pair, a smug smile on her face.
"What should we call it?" She asked him.
"Call him anything you like. First house we see, he's going to be on that doorstep." Sky yanked on his arm, stopping him, and just stared at him a moment, furious to the point where she couldn't speak. Then she got over it.
"What the hell do you mean?"
"Think it over. You don't come from this time."
"He won't stick out that bad in mine anyway. I live with sentient blobs!"
"You don't know how to raise a kid."
"Says you."
"He might still have family somewhere." That stopped her.
"Oh. Yeah."
"It's not like he's just a stray pet."
"But that doesn't mean we can leave him! At least, not until we meet someone who's related to him. There. That's the deal. We meet someone who claims him as theirs, and I'll give him up. Until then, you have to help me take care of him. Deal?" The demon just kept walking, and Sky took that as a yes. "Deal." She answered for him.
They were exiting the ruins the next time she said something.
"Hey, Sesshomaru. All this... carnage doesn't bother you?"
"No. It's a fairly common sight." He looked askance at her. "It doesn't effect you either, it would appear." Sky shrugged.
"I'm used to dead bodies. I spent a lot of time with Desan before I got my own job."
"Desan?" The woman didn't hear the underlying bristle in his tone.
"My brother, the mortician? Well, he's a coroner, too, but mostly a mortician. So death doesn't bother me. Even violent death. I mean, once you've seen the aftermath of a shattered hull, you're kinda desensitized. One day a meteor crashed into a OutCraft who's defenses were down - mutiny - and the crew was sucked into the void of space before the hull could regrow itself. Their skulls all imploded, and their guts burst, went flying through the air, a couple people were torn apart because they tried to grab something to avoid being sucked out. The pictures were all over as a warning about mutiny. They're still hung in every legal 'Craft in the system." Sesshomaru was just staring at her. "What?" He looked away.
"You're insane," he said, and the baby giggled. Sky huffed.
"Its just the facts of what happened. It doesn't make me insane. And no one asked you, Aatu." Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at her.
"Aatu?"
"Well, you said I can call him anything I liked, so I named him Aatu. I just didn't get around to telling him that." She tickled the baby under his chin. "How about that? Aatu sound good to you too?" The baby smiled at her. "Then it's settled. Nice to meet you, Aatu." She smiled back at him. "Now we just need a last name for you. Aatu Pyre? Well, it sounds well enough, but 'noble wolf' and 'death fire' don't go too well with each other... what do you think, Sesshomaru?"
"I think if you name it, you're going to get too attached, and won't want to give him up when his real parents come to claim him." She rolled her eyes at him.
"I can't just call him 'That one kid'. I got it! Aatu Zareb! Noble Wolf Protector. Its perfect." Sesshomaru sighed. He might as well try to reason with a rock. He might even get further if he did. "Are you going to protect me, Aatu? Yes you are, yes you are... Aw, that was so cute!" He had blown a spit bubble. If Sesshomaru was more given to showing his emotions, right then he would have had a sweat-drop.
"Do you keep a little list of names in your head on the off chance you'll find some abandoned baby?" He asked sarcastically. She frowned at him.
"No. Well, not for that reason. I just like names. The ones that I gave him were Old Earth... I mean, Future Earth, names. Aatu is Hebrew. Zareb is African."
"You. Are. Weird."
"You just feel like being mean today, don't you? Fine then. I'll just take Aatu, and talk to him. You can walk over there all by your lonely self." Gently she pulled the baby off of Sesshomaru's tail, and though he (the baby) pouted, Sky soon had him giggling and cooing again, making funny faces and tickling him.
Sesshomaru was watching them, using too much of his attention to make sure Sky didn't notice him watching them, and not enough to his surroundings, so maybe that's why what happened next happened.
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"Aditya!" A woman's voice called from inside the crowded OutCraft.
"Maliha!" A man's booming voice returned. A mountain of a man pushed his way through the crowd until he was standing next to a delicate looking woman. They hugged, and then the woman asked,
"Have you seen Desan? A'Dyn?" The big man shook his head.
"Not yet. I've been looking for them, though. They said they'd catch this flight..." An amused look crept into his wife's eyes.
"If they're on the same Craft, we'll be able to hear them long before we see them." At that moment, shouts erupted from the other end of the Craft. Cheering soon followed.
"Go on! Beat his brains out!"
"Come on, big guy, you can beat this loser!" Similar cheers pulled them toward the source, and, as they had suspected, the two young men were there, hands interlocking, straining to make the other one give in first.
"Desan! A'Dyn! You will stop this at once!" Maliha snapped sternly. The boys' response was so immediate, that when they let go they actually crashed head on into each other. Getting up, they stood uncomfortably under the tiny woman's gaze, feeling not even an inch tall as she scolded them. When she was done, she hugged each of them. "It's been too long since I've seen my boys." Her husband pulled them all into one big hug, laughing. The spectators left, the fight over, now just this mushy reunion going on. Gag.
"Alright, you big brute, you can let us go now," Maliha chuckled, and Aditya put them all down. "They're definitely your boys," she remarked, looking at their huge bone structure upon which muscles were already starting to bulk them up. Her husband grinned.
"Chips off the old block, they are." A'Dyn rolled his eyes.
"Stop that, will you? What's the word on the brat?" Desan hit him in the back of his head.
"You can't call her that, she's older then you. You are the brat... brat." He ducked as his younger brother took a swing at him. Despite all their fighting, the brothers really did care for each other. They just had more fun beating the crap out of each other then showing it.
"She's still missing, if that's what you mean. I talked more information out of that West guy. What an asshole. Tried insulting my baby. Hmph. Anyway, she disappeared while she was out on the land she was assigned to excavate." Maliha sighed, and looked sadly at Aditya. "How many times did I tell her not to take this job? I told her it would be dangerous! And now she's gone..." Aditya hugged her, trying to sooth her.
"I'm sure she's just fine. Sky's a smart girl, she'll be alright. We'll find her, and bring her home, where you can try to baby her again, and she'll just be her normal, risk-taking self." The big guy wasn't much at comforting. Maliha punched him, lightly enough for her, but it knocked the breath out of him. "I mean, we'll find her, and she'll be so happy to be home, she won't ever want to leave again."
"Dad's right. Sort of. She'll be alright, mom. Tougher then Atsula Stone, she is." Desan said, in the rough, clipped accent he used when talking to the people on the planet he currently lived on. You know, when you live in a certain place you tend to talk like everyone else there. Yep.
"Besides, me and her still have to decide who's the better fighter." A'Dyn puffed out his chest. "I know I'll win this time."
"When she's beaten you the last twenty five? Not a chance... brat." Desan grinned as his younger brother growled at him.
"Now, boys, stop it. We all have to work together to find your sister."
"Yes, ma'am." They said in unison, and ceased their fighting. Well, they stopped as much as they could.
Which wasn't very much.
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Sky knew Sesshomaru was watching her. She just couldn't decide if this was a good or bad thing. When she was about to say something more, she found she couldn't move.
And, to his surprise, neither could Sesshomaru.
"S-s-ses-sho-sho-mar-u?" Sky forced herself to say, wishing she could look and see if he was even still there. In her arms, Aatu was having a hard time even breathing. The pressure in this area was immense. 'What's going on?' She wondered wildly. She wished desperately that Sesshomaru was next to her.
The dog demon had a little more of an idea what was going on, and was surprised that she could talk at all. They had walked into a trap, set up by bandits, he presumed. Certain charms could be bought - or stolen - that caused the area inside a circle to become almost like a stone, pressing down on them so hard that they couldn't move. The people who could make this charm were few and far between, so the charms were much prized. Observing the area he did have access to visually, which, at this time, was not able to see Sky, but was able to see the other side of the circle.
A smirking demon dropped from a nearby tree.
"Looky, looky, what do I see? Two ripe pigeons caught by me." The counter charm hung about his neck, and he could move freely within the circle because of it.
'He did not just rhyme, did he? That's so... tacky.' Sky thought to herself. Her arms were cramping with the need to shift them, and she grimaced in her mind at the warning pain. "T-t-ac-k-y," she said with as much disgust as she could fit into her voice. He snarled and walked toward her.
"What did you say, wench?" She forced her eyes to glare as much as she could, and said it again.
"T-ack-y." Amazed, she found it was easier this time. "T-try-leen-thet." She said. It was a word that did not belong to any language but the one in the myths her father had told her. 'If you're ever in too much trouble, Sky-Sky,' he had said, his big face warm with love as he had held her and told her about the legends on one of his infrequent stops home, 'You must say the magic word of Queen Bonifery. The dead will help you. But say it too much, and they will come to disregard it." She had giggled then, and tugged on his bushy beard. Later in the day, he had spelled out the word, so that she would know it, but refused to say it aloud. 'Remember, you can't say it too much, and only if you're sure that you need their help.' He had made her promise, and she had given it freely.
'Well, now's as good a time as any,' she thought, and, only half believing it would work, she said the magic word of Queen Bonifery. "T-try-leen-thet." She watched the man get closer, heart falling a little as nothing seemed to happen.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, something silvery flickered.