Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. 'Nuff said.
Chapter 6
Sesshomaru noticed, some time ago, that they had acquired a tail. Or six tails, to be precise. He had stopped abruptly when he first sensed them, still too far away to notice him and certainly too far away to reach them within the hour. The wind had carried their scent to him, though, and he inhaled sharply as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Each of the pursuers were at least half usagi demon, and thanks to it were able to travel rather swiftly. That wasn't what made him suspicious though. He was certain they were far too inferior to himself to survive a fight with him; to charge him this way would be equivalent to charging death.
So then why were they coming here?
Almost as an answer to his question, the healer had collided with his back. He could feel her hands fly out and touch him, and he could feel them suddenly freeze where they were. He was surprised, though, when she let out a barely audible gasp. She said nothing more, but his demonic ears allowed him to hear the sound of her taking a slower, more deliberately deep breath, for a purpose he could only guess at.
Then he noticed the scent of the rabbit demons was slightly more faint than before. Sesshomaru tensed a little as he weighed his options; they likely had changed directions due to the wind, and would probably encounter Sesshomaru and the healer later than they originally expected. Perhaps during the night.
He was distracted from his thoughts once more, when the little woman behind him lurched quickly away, stumbling slightly as she did. He wondered then, as he turned around, if the demons approaching them were actually here for the woman - Megumi Madarame, wasn't it? - and again, he found himself wondering who she had possibly angered. His perceptive eyes quickly took in the obvious signs of her unease; though why she looked so off put, he couldn't tell. By chance, he remembered her request to tell her what he saw, and so just as she opened her mouth he answered her.
"Trees," he lied, his eyes firmly locked on her. He was only mildly surprised when the woman gaped up at him; for whatever reason she was clearly not as composed as she normally was.
"What?" she finally fumbled, and Sesshomaru fought back a snort as he pulled his eyes away from the sight that was her.
"Trees," he repeated, deliberately slower this time. If she had been as she normally was, he imagined she would purse her lips slightly at the faintly insulting way he had spoken. "You asked me what I see; the answer is trees."
He took advantage of the delay in comprehension to actually look at the trees, but his eyes were drifting back to her when she let out an odd sort of sound that he decided was somewhere between humor and exasperation. She lifted her hands up to her face - for what, he was not sure - but before he was fully aware of what he'd done Sesshomaru had seized both of her wrists in his hands.
She started at the contact, but he hardly noticed. "What - "
"Your wound," he interjected, even as he marveled at how small her wrists were. They felt so fragile beneath his fingers, and Sesshomaru became intimately aware with the knowledge that however averse she may be to being called completely human, her body was decidedly so. He remembered then that he had not finished his explanation, and set quickly to doing exactly that. "Disturbing it will likely cause it to bleed once more."
He watched captivated as her lips fluttered briefly before setting into a little o. Her voice found him a moment later. " . . . Oh."
He pulled his sight away to look at where they were currently intertwined, as her arms went trustingly limp in his grasp. The drop was faint enough to shift his hold on her, and he was able now to feel her slightly erratic pulse beneath the tips of his fingers. She must have been flustered indeed, if it had quickened her pulse slightly.
Sesshomaru quickly banished his thoughts away, giving the woman his trademarked noncommittal response before allowing himself to free her wrists. He let his fingers linger a second longer on her pulse though, and was intrigued when the action of his claws gently grazing over her skin elicited a faint shiver.
Or perhaps he was paying too much attention to himself and not crediting their surroundings enough; the sun was rapidly disappearing beyond the horizon, and the vanishing light was busy skewing and enlarging the shadows cast about the forest floor. They would have to resume their pace soon; he wasn't as far along yet as he'd prefer. Besides, he reasoned, the woman was blind anyways: there would be no difference to her in day or night.
She spoke briefly with him further, mostly to complain about the tree roots and there was also something about not understanding his motives. Sesshomaru had considered telling her exactly why someone like him did not need to explain himself to anyone, but refrained. He would wait until she'd had more time to cement her mortification at her own conduct towards him before he'd reveal himself as the Lord of the Western Lands. That, he decided, would more than suffice. Even as he had the thought, he found his mind drifting back towards her earlier flustered behavior and he realized with a start that she had grown flustered because she had collided with him.
Sesshomaru smirked. Really, this was becoming easier by the minute. He was not naive enough to avoid noticing how she seemed to be suppressing her shivers, and he thought almost in hindsight that he ought to have better supplied the woman before they had embarked on their journey. He reasoned with himself a second later that he did not want Gina to risk exposing her Lord's identity, and he thought a belated moment later that the healer might even be pleasantly surprised when she re-encountered the motley group of merchants (and Gina) at Sesshomaru's shiro several days after she arrived.
However, he remembered her earlier comment about possibly catching a human illness in her current state, and Sesshomaru decided it would not do to delay Rin's healing should this woman fall ill. So; he had several options. He could certainly give the delicate thing his mokomoko. His pelt would keep her warm, and they would be able to travel well into the night. However, if he gave her mokomoko he realized he would be tasked with guiding her along in an alternative way. He could guide her with the hand on her back like he did in the village, but he found himself wary of repeating that earlier kindness. Her impressively long tresses had weaved themselves through his fingers, and he had noticed with a start how impossibly silken they were to the touch. It had been mere coincidence that they had exited the village when he finally noticed and had pulled away to disrupt further thoughts.
His other option was to fly; he could transform into his normal self, sure, but he doubted the woman would be able to properly climb on if she could not see. Flying would drain his energy but would certainly help - if he flew quickly, he could likely reach his shiro well before dawn. Unfortunately traveling at night would only serve to further chill her, and he decided again that it was counterproductive. The damned woman; they would have to make camp.
He informed her of his decision and they set quickly to carrying it out. She had requested a fire before he could tell her of its necessity, and he had agreed that in her current state of incompetence he would have to collect wood for her. He found plenty of wood shortly, but decided to take advantage of the given excuse to try and find those six demons tailing the healer.
It was child's play to locate them, he discovered almost disappointingly. He kept himself hidden well - he was a predator at its finest, and these poor whelps were barely worth the minuscule effort of obscuring his presence. He lurked towards their party as close as he needed to hear what they were saying. The group was currently hunkered down by a stream, as the men alternated between prepping weapons, drinking from the water, or relieving themselves. Sesshomaru's delicate nose crinkled at the scent they gave off in droves; they had been sprinting hard, he knew, and they were coated with the heavy stench of their own body heat.
"Kami-sama says the girl should be around here," one of them said, and if it was possible for the already still Sesshomaru to freeze further, then he basically turned into a statue.
How the hell had that woman angered a fucking kami?
It was then, Sesshomaru decided, that he would get that healer to spill her secrets long before this whole agreement was fulfilled. He would know what she hid, simply because he wanted to.
And Sesshomaru always got what he wanted.
"Will she be alone?" another one of the youkai asked, drawing the last word out as he raked a hand down the length of a curved blade.
A third rabbit snorted and a fourth sneered.
"Of course she will," a fifth chuckled. "She was the first time; I doubt she'll be able to find anyone dumb enough to follow her now." At that comment, Sesshomaru felt his instinctive predatory glee at having yet to be noticed. He decided then that he would let the rabbits ambush the woman first, and then he would make his appearance to destroy the insolent creatures.
The sixth rabbit came away from the bushes were he had been relieving himself and sauntered over, grinning wickedly. "I would almost feel bad for the girl; clearly, she's too fucking weak to have ever stood a chance against us, much less kami-sama."
The third rabbit thumped his foot in agreement as the first one raised his blade to catch the rising moon in its cool metal face. "We'll consider this a favor then, yeah? Put her out'a her fucking misery."
As one, the half-rabbit youkai laughed, and set about gathering their weapons and planning to fan out in recon, minding the wind, promising to meet back here when someone finds her. They agreed to attack at midnight, and by the time the first rabbit ran away from the stream, Sesshomaru was gone.
Sesshomaru returned to camp with the wood he had gathered, and paid little attention to Megumi as she arranged them in a way that would work well with tending to the flames. He noticed that she had wrapped herself in the blue outer layer of her kimono, but had refrained from taking it off. When she leaned back from her work to study it he caught a glimpse of her nagajuban, the essentially white kimono underlayer peeking through for a brief second. After he had lighted the fire she had laid down on what she apparently had fixed for herself as a makeshift bed, draping her blue kimono over her like a blanket. It was a fairly decent idea, he decided, and had he not chosen to make the youkai think she was travelling alone, he would have given her his pelt to warm her further when the fire died out.
She called out to him shortly, to ask what sort of demon he was. It seemed a curious question to him but he answered it nonetheless. She said only one more word to him after that before rolling away, a clear end to the random and brief exchange. Shortly after, her breathing dissolved into the even breaths of someone sinking away from consciousness.
When he was sure she was asleep he left, pausing once to ensure that the impromptu campsite bore absolutely no trace of his presence, before he melted into the shadows and took residence in the upper boughs of a nearby tree to watch and wait.
His tree gave him a perfect view of where Megumi rested, and so he was able to see when she began to grow slightly restless. A dream, perhaps. It started not too long before midnight, and it started near the time when one of the rabbit youkai found her, sneered, and retreated to the agreed regrouping location to tell the others he had found their target alone as promised.
Or so they thought. Sesshomaru slinked closer to the camp, still one with the shadows and the trees, as he decided it would not do for him to be too far away from Megumi just in case. Rabbit youkai - even just half-rabbit youkai - were fast, but Sesshomaru was faster. It was Megumi he wondered about; if she had enough gall to piss off a kami, then surely she had enough gall to back herself up. As he stealthily progressed forward, he was aware of the other youkai quickly converging on the healer's location.
He realized they weren't all going to appear at the same time; evidently, they figured she was too weak to survive perhaps one or two of them, being as handicapped as she was. Sesshomaru wondered if they were right in their assumption, considering they had mentioned seeing her before. His excellent hearing took note that their pace had almost completely slowed, and the youkai had started their final approach. They converged slowly, creeping forward making as little sound as they dared as each team of two drifted ever closer to their goal. Sesshomaru noted with near tangible amusement the pair that thought it wise to approach the healer through a path directly by him (albeit unknowingly), and Sesshomaru decided he'd take pity on the sleeping woman and deal with two of her attackers.
He descended soundlessly, Bakusaiga drawn instantly. So efficient a killer was he, that the two unfortunate souls had their heads severed and caught before they could even call out, much less render what was happening. Sesshomaru was swift to place the bodies and heads on the forest floor to avoid their falling thumps alerting the others, and once he deemed his task successfully completed, he tucked Bakusaiga away and returned his attention to the figure under the blue kimono.
Who, he realized, was awake.
Her sightless eyes fluttered open (probably due to habit), before closing again with a soft frown. He was impressed at how silently she rose, slipping her arms through the blue kimono's sleeves as she did. She did not get further than that, though, as she paused with perceptible hesitancy. She moved her head slowly side to side, before she apparently decided everything to be satisfactory in her eyes. With that miniature investigation undergone and concluded, she drifted over to the fire, kneeling before it and raising her palms, extending them towards the dying embers.
From a glance, it looked as if she had merely awoken from a dream and was now seeking out the last traces of warmth from an earlier fire. But Sesshomaru noticed with satisfaction the set in her face; the way she held her shoulders; the way her feet looked prepared to support the full weight of her body at any second.
She was not relaxed - she was waiting.
The daiyoukai found himself approving more of the healer he had recruited for Rin; she was perceptive, good with her words (when she wasn't flustered), and capable of things he wasn't quite sure of yet. He knew by her existence today that she had survived her last encounter with the youkai currently encroaching upon her, but they had called her weak, and so he wondered how brief an encounter it was. He had yet to spend a full day with the woman, but something instinctive almost told him that the delicate thing she presented herself as was not all she was. If her cunning words and her current tactical deception were any indication, that is.
He was forced away from his own thoughts as he sensed the first group of two reach the clearing, weapons drawn and ready.
Sesshomaru had only just placed his hand on Bakusaiga's hilt when they attacked.
"Again," she commanded, even as Megumi groaned. Her back was sore, having smacked the hard upper deck of the ship more times than she wanted to count. Her arms felt dead, attached wearily to her shoulders, and her muscles protested under her as she struggled up to a seated position.
"I don't see the point of all this," she grumbled, rubbing tenderly at her forearms.
Standing triumphant in front of her, the Captain laughed at Megumi's obvious pouting. "You're weak, Megumi, whether you like to admit it or not. I could have killed you when I found you - and you couldn't have done anything about it - because you refuse to believe there will come a time when you can't afford to use your powers in a fight."
"That's because my powers get the job done," Megumi retorted sourly, glaring up at her Captain.
The Captain glared straight back. "This is what I mean, Megumi. Now, you're going to train with me whether you like it or not, whether you understand it or not."
"Why?"
"Because it'll save your stubborn life one day, that's why."
Megumi paused a moment, but another rush of soreness refueled her reluctance to participate any longer. "This is stupid. Toga's gonna come get me before I even learn any of this. Why do I even need to fight you with alternating hands behind my back, anyways?"
"So you can fight through the loss of functionality in either arm."
"And the blindfold?"
"So you can fight through a situation that compromises your sight."
"Oh yeah, is that so? Well what about the one where you swing your weapon at an unarmed girl, huh? What good will that do me?"
"So you can fight an armed opponent. Kami, Megumi, you're insufferable today."
Megumi rolled her eyes. "You're the one drilling me to death in all sorts of random scenarios I'll never use, yet I'm the insufferable one?"
At that, the Captain laughed. "You'll get used to it, Megumi, everyone in the crew did. And trust me; one day you'll be thanking me in earnest."
"We'll see about that, Captain."
She grinned down at Megumi, the sun catching in her cropped hair. She shifted her blade, grin widening. "Again."
Megumi woke, eyes fluttering open out of habit.
She was under her kimono, and she could hear the occasional soft pop of the dying embers. She listened attentively for a moment to see if she could hear the inu daiyoukai, but wasn't really surprised when she couldn't hear anything. She was surprised, though, when she heard the faintest disturbance in a direction she knew the daiyoukai was not. Of course, she wondered then if perhaps he had taken a walk in the woods behind her, but considering that he made little to no sound if he pleased, and no sound when he didn't want to, she doubted it was him.
She considered the possibility that there was some sort of animal wandering around nearby as she rose silently, slipping her arms into the sleeves of her improvised blanket. After she did, though, she had to pause. Although her daiyoukai wasn't a wolf, he certainly was a naturally large presence. There would be few normal creatures that would venture this close, knowing instinctively the danger they would face by challenging the food pyramid. While there was the possibility that a greater predator like a bear would approach she doubted it. Bears, she supposed, could not be this stealthy.
Megumi tilted her head in both directions, praying that her senses would start accommodating for her lack of visual input. She strained to hear more sounds after the first, and was surprised to hear a second disturbance towards her right. Megumi had to fight a smirk of satisfaction when she realized what her attackers thought she didn't; Megumi was about to be ambushed. Killed, probably, if she was as moronic as they thought.
Megumi decided to make her stand next to the fire; she did not like to start a fight laying down, so instead she opted for a kneeling position. She assumed a form that would initially deceive her pursuers - she knew there were two of them, at least, if not more - because it was really one of the most natural things she could be doing at the moment. Had she not been blind and pursued, she might have awoken from a dream and drifted to the fire.
Of course, she was blind and well aware there were people encroaching on her encampment, but she certainly wasn't going to let them know that. Megumi assembled herself into a comfortable kneeling position (comfortable if she hadn't adjusted it to be ready to spring up at any time) and extended her palms out to the fire. She was grateful both for the gentle warmth she felt, and for the fact that her readiness would counter any sort of surprise attack they could hope to garner. As she was thinking about a surprise attack, though, she decided that she did not accurately know what she was facing. She considered the potential drawbacks and decided the benefit of complete knowledge outweighed them. So gently yet urgingly, she sent out one long probe of her powers in all directions.
What she found relaxed her slightly. There were two people approaching from her back, two to her right, and three towards her upper left.
It was the cluster of three that almost broke her cover by threatening a smile. Judging by the amount of space between the two prone figures and their heads, those two wouldn't be approaching her anytime soon. The third figure, who she easily concluded to be the daiyoukai, was facing her but making no move to converge on her.
So, he was watching and waiting. Most likely to see what she would do. In the fading moments of that sensory pulse she could feel the closest group of two lunge forward, and Megumi really did smile this time.
Let the inu daiyoukai watch; Megumi was going to enjoy surprising him.
The first figure was upon her from behind, and Megumi heard the distinct whoosh of a weapon being swung towards her, and she took advantage of her lower position to twist quickly and drill her elbow into the attacker's knee, hearing a crack and an unmistakably male grunt as she did. Megumi did not stop; letting her knees shift to further twist her around, Megumi brought her other hand up to connect with the arm holding the swinging weapon, redirecting its path long enough for her to follow through, coming around to face the man fully and using the leverage of shooting up to her feet to put more power behind the palm of her other hand as she slammed it into the man's jaw.
She felt the man's head snap back from the force of her assault even as her blow to his knee brought him tumbling down. Megumi wasted no time in driving her heel into his neck, knocking the wind out of him, before taking hold of the last bit of surprise in the air to set herself at the felled man's companion.
She rushed, dipping low to avoid whatever thing she heard him swinging at her, and took advantage of the opening to step into his guard and drill him in the gut with her fist, simultaneously bringing her other elbow up to slam down into the back of his neck the second he crumbled over to clutch his stomach. The second man stumbled, briefly disoriented, and Megumi was quick to deliver another series of motions to rob him of his footing, and by the time she was finished, he was groaning softly on the ground next to the first man.
Megumi spun quickly, anticipating the second group to be drastically more prepared than the first. In preparation she retreated to the first man, taking his weapon - something close to a curved blade - and she was glad she did, because she wasn't able to dodge the swing she heard bearing down on her. She brought the blade up, using both hands to support her block, before tilting slightly and directing both blades towards the side. She was quick to remove the secondary hand from the blade, positioning it on the ground and deftly sweeping her feet to catch the third man's legs before he could pull his weapon back and start another swing. He fell quickly, and Megumi rushed forth like water to make one efficient slash, over one of the man's vital points.
"Still yourself," she breathed quickly, risking a quick pulse of power to find the last attacker, "if you wish not to die."
Megumi was beyond surprised that the man took heed of her words and remained motionless next to his comrades, one of which who now had dragged himself over to the bleeding one and murmured something about helping. The other one just groaned. Megumi almost felt bad that she would not allow any here to live. Technically she had not lied to the man; he would not bleed so quickly if he remained motionless, but she pushed the thought away as she found the fourth man. Megumi rose, and noted with satisfaction that he had yet to approach her. She was pleased, really, that after seeing her make quick work of his companions, this one was hesitant to approach.
"You'll forgive me for keeping things short," she said cheerily, as if there wasn't blood dripping from her stolen weapon. "I'd prefer to end things before I risk dirtying my kimono."
"How?" her last (unsurprisingly male) attacker said, even as Megumi casually stepped away from the other three and towards him. "We blinded you. You were supposed to be weak."
Megumi froze in a brief moment of anger before a lazily triumphant smile settled over her features. "So you're the gentlemen I have the pleasure of thanking for my current situation," Megumi drawled, flicking her wrist slightly to rid her blade of most of the blood. "While I hate to disrupt your fantasies, you must understand that a lady needs to defend her honor now and then." She could feel the other man start to circle her, and Megumi followed, keeping the same distance as they pivoted in their dance together.
"You're no lady," the man sneered.
"Perhaps not," Megumi agreed, but she couldn't help the wry smile that took over at the hidden irony of his words. "But I'm certainly no weakling either."
"She told us this would be easy," the man growled, and Megumi's brows rose at the delicious tidbit of information he had given away. So it must be the same woman she saw in her mind that was sending these people her way again. This information was trivial, though, to the implication of her perceived assumption of Megumi.
"A shame, really," Megumi said, coming to a stop. "Your mistress should really see what people spend their time doing in centuries prior before they decide to send people like you to deal with their problems.."
In his anger against her taunt, the man lunged, and Megumi was ready. She weaved and dodged, avoiding any contact with the man until she was at his defenseless back, and in one deft blow she severed his dominant arm from his shoulder, rose, and turned back to the man. She could hear his cry of pain and the thump of his limb as it fell to the ground. Megumi walked to his other side to avoid risking any blood on her garment, and lowered her blade until she felt it press against where his other shoulder was.
"Yield," she said, and it was enough.
The conquered man succumbed to his knees, panting heavily. He made no move to grab his lost weapon, but he did let her know he was frustrated and injured by the string of curses he let loose.
"The one who sent you," Megumi asked in a reassuring, coaxing voice, "what purpose did she wish for you to fulfill here?"
The man swore again, but fell silent. Megumi considered his reasons, then remembered that he had only seen her fight three of his companions. So she allowed herself to lean down, near his ear on the side that still had an arm, and sweetly whispered to him. "Unless your companions find their heads, I'm afraid they won't be joining us."
She was rewarded with the man's shiver; and so Megumi rose to her feet again, satisfied with the turn things had taken. "Your purpose?" She prompted. "Were you here to finish the job?"
"We were supposed to see if the seal worked," he choked out.
At that, Megumi laughed. She found the whole situation humorous - the other dragon thought she would be weak enough to be felled by the likes of these people? Her laugh faded away and Megumi found herself shaking her head. The other dragon was powerful, yes, but she had not believed there would be a rival to her strength.
"What the hell are you?" the man spat out, his voice laced thickly with pain.
Megumi turned and walked away, tossing the blade as she did. She heard it connect with the earth, embedding itself and staying aloft. Satisfied, she stopped a moment to reward the poor man with an answer. "I'm more than you can handle," she supplied, and left it at that. Megumi continued to where she remembered sensing the inu last. Though she'd yet to confirm he was still there, Megumi instinctively doubted that he had moved. When she reached the edge of the little clearing she paused, extending her hand in a clear gesture of expectancy. If any of the four felled men were watching, she imagined it would look like she was trying to get a ghost to put something in her awaiting hand. "I wish to borrow a sword."
Seconds carried on, until she heard the faintest chuckle rise from somewhere beyond her. The inu daiyoukai's voice grew stronger as he walked towards her, until he was standing in front of her. "You knew I was here, woman?"
Megumi couldn't help but let out an amused scoff. Really, she was being underestimated left and right here. "You hardly strike me as one who prefers midnight strolls," she said instead, tilting her head to the side and gesturing behind her companion. "Strolls with conveniently beheaded people, no less."
"The demons behind you have plenty of weapons," he countered, ignoring her previous statement. "I may as well have none."
Megumi couldn't help the smirk on her face as it widened slightly. "A man with your flair couldn't possibly go without one." She'd let him wonder if there was any second level to that statement later. For now, she had some executions to attend to. "Besides; their weapons seemed . . . crude."
The daiyoukai said nothing, perhaps contemplating, before she could hear the faint sounds of a sword being drawn from his side. Megumi kept her hand where it was and presently felt another hand brush her own, as the sword's hilt made contact with the palm of her hand.
Then the sword pulsed.
She knew, then, in that moment, exactly who she traveled with. She knew, because she knew exactly what this sword had been made for. Who it had been made for. Memories of a stormy day flooded through her unbidden, reminding her of what she had done and reminding her that she had literally changed Toga's fate.
Then she had never seen him again.
Megumi composed herself hastily, hoping her expressions and body language had not given much away in the moments prior, and thrust the sword back into the daiyoukai's hand. She spun on her heel quickly without waiting to make sure the inu would catch his sword and made her way back through the camp. She went first where the scent of copper was strongest, and found the sword in the hand that was once connected to the main body. Megumi hardly cared if she soiled her tabi in the crimson pools on the ground. Her thoughts were elsewhere as she went through and made confirmed kills out of the remaining four attackers, and she hardly noticed anything beyond herself as she dropped the borrowed blade and rested once again on her bed of leaves; and elsewhere, her mind remained, as she went back to sleep.
Sesshomaru was not one to lie to himself. He admitted that he had not expected the healer to fight in such a way; she had moved like water, ever flowing but sharp and deadly as she incapacitated the remaining four of the youkai. He had been surprised to see the extent of her skills; she fought well without weapons, and better with. It certainly had amused him when her third opponent was told to "still himself," and like an obedient servant, he obeyed.
It had been the fourth opponent and her exchange with him that interested Sesshomaru the most. The usagi demon had been a moron, really, to dare call the woman weak. She had displayed control in her attacks, selecting blows that would not kill, and it was obvious to Sesshomaru that she certainly could have made swift work of the three before him had she not opted to approach the fourth. Perhaps she planned to make it appear like she would not kill those who complied with her commands. But the fool had boldly said she was supposed to be weak, and Sesshomaru had noted the way her body tensed with anger.
But just as quickly as it had, she relaxed with a smile. Her next comment revealed to Sesshomaru that however they had met before, it had resulted in the seal being placed on her. The daiyoukai felt that it had been a poor move on her foe's part to reveal themselves as the source of her current frustrations, especially not while she was armed. He found he was beginning to enjoy watching the current situation from his hidden place in the shadows.
Sesshomaru fought the urge to sigh when the moronic youkai continued to insult the woman, telling her she was no lady. It was her response that made Sesshomaru even more intrigued with the healer; she had denied being a lady in the same fashion that she had agreed when told she was human - as if that person was only mostly correct.
Then, of course, there had been that whole admission of hers to being centuries old. Sesshomaru remembered his comment from earlier in the day, about how someone who lived as short as a human should not have acquired such a vengeful enemy. Then, he remembered the usagi youkai talking earlier about the one who sent them - kami-sama, they said - and thought that perhaps, considering she seemed to know who sent the youkai and she was clearly way too old to be a mere mortal . . .
His thoughts had returned to present when the youkai had launched, and again he found himself admittedly impressed with the way she weaved around her opponent, her unsecured blue kimono trailing in her wake. She and her clothes gained no injuries but she was quick to deal her own in the form of a swift limb removal. Sesshomaru found it morbidly appropriate, considering all the man's previous insults to her person.
Megumi had asked the man why he was sent - wasn't it obvious? - and when he had said nothing, she leaned down and whispered in his ear. Sesshomaru was too far away and she had murmured too lowly, so he could not quite make out what she had whispered in the bloodied man's ear. Whatever it had been, it had done the trick; the man looked terrified out of his skin, and smartly decided to answer her questions.
She had laughed when she got her answer, and the woman had practically preened in obvious delight. Sesshomaru wasn't surprised when she gave another evasive answer to the man's query of What the hell are you? as she walked away. He was mostly accustomed to them by now, those damned responses that were truthful yet completely void of further hints at herself. Sesshomaru's amusement rose when she sank the blade into the ground and approached where he was hidden, stopping at the edge of the clearing and holding out her hand.
"I wish to borrow a sword," she had said, and Sesshomaru wondered how she had seen him He was more interested in how she had also seen the other bodies a bit farther behind him; not only seeing them, but noticing that they were also beheaded.
And while Sesshomaru could see that she wished for a sword to kill the men that dared attack her, he found himself with one clawed hand over the one sword that couldn't cut. He had not been prepared for the sudden whitening of her face as her hand touched Tenseiga's hilt; he had yet to let go and had felt the sword pulse. However, its meaning was meant for that woman alone, and it had to have been something monumental for her to suddenly look as expressive as she did.
She only intrigued him further when she quickly recovered, shoving his sword back at himself icily, before she returned to the clearing and finished off the demons. Then, to Sesshomaru's ever-increasing puzzlement, she resumed her sleep.
Sesshomaru watched the woman sleeping, and could tell her rest was fitful and fraught with troubles that no doubt Tenseiga had imposed. He wondered what the hell his father's wicked sword was up to now. She shivered once, and Sesshomaru decided he would give her his pelt for warmth in the absence of both the fire and the youkai pursuers. Her brows furrowed once, deeply, before evening out once more.
The moon had started its decent well before Sesshomaru decided that he would waste no more time in these forests.
Author's Note:
So, I forgot to include clarification in the last chapter's note, but a nagajuban is essentially a kimono-shaped robe that goes under the kimono (kinda like kimono exclusive underwear/robes?). So she's not really in anything scandalous lol (that would be very rude of me to make her fight like that).
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I got so much adrenaline writing the fight scene (probably because I had to act most of it out) and I'm pretty satisfied with how it went.
Please continue to read, maybe review . . . and thanks to those of you who've gotten this far.
