Lone Scarlet Lily, Hidden in the World of Snow: Waiting for the Spring.

Chapter 18: Sunshine and a Reminder


The past days had shifted the demoness's routine.

Sesshōmaru had vanished without a word – not having been present at the clearing when she had returned to it after leaving the human settlement. Not that she expected one, admittedly, she thought that such a departure would be the one she would be afforded when the Demon Lord grew tired of the hangers-on he'd recently acquired. It was perhaps stranger that he hadn't done so, leaving the imp and the twin-headed dragon behind as he went off… doing whatever it was he had set out to do.

Not much had changed over the three days of Sesshomaru's absence.

The imp was still a blustering fool, now easier to cause him to boil over at the fact of being left behind by his master. Nozomi had made the wise decision to not approach the dragon demon – lest she find herself at the end of its anger (and she wasn't sure if it could even speak back to her, at this point), and the demoness herself had set up a routine that had not only managed to have her recover the full use of her arms once again, but also began practicing her sword arm in the nighttime. Not that she was any good at it, besides being able to hold the hunk of metal correctly and swing it in a way that didn't seem completely off-base from what she had witnessed its previous owner do with it. When practicing was over for the night (which mostly depended on how much it felt like wasted time), Nozomi would then return to camp, not spare a glance to the glaring imp, then set up her ice dome to pass the time. It had really been the first opportunity to utilize it fully – Sesshōmaru usually kept a pace that was only a few steps below 'forced march', at least for human standards. So, nighttime had had no real meaning to the travelling portion of their arrangement.

Until she had ample time in the past few days to sleep and recuperate. Which of course, she did in the safety of her frozen dome – lest the imp, dragon, or human get the notion of a sneak attack in their heads. A demon who gave in to sleep around others was a dead one: the less vulnerability she showed to these strangers, the better. The vassals of a Great Demon were about as dangerous as the demon himself, when information of such things could be shared between them.

The only real shift was that human girl – Rin.

She had become bolder than before, and had turned out to be quite the talkative child, even when only half-interested humming was the only response offered to her. And on more than a few occasions Nozomi had noticed her blatant gaze hold on her form for a few moments before quickly darting her eyes away when the demoness turned to meet them. The imp seemed to despise the child and her chattering, which made Nozomi's ambivalence towards it lean slightly towards a more positive result. The routine she had made shifted with Rin's interference, of course. With her human eating necessities, and her human temperature requirements, and her overall growth in her boldness: as if she didn't understand how outranked she was, even with the imp's feeble strength she doubts the child could properly overpower him.

Yes, the problem the demoness was currently having was solely centered around the human cub – and the fact that the girl seemed to want to involve the demoness with whatever she was doing.

"Good morning, lady Nozomi!"

The sun had barely broken the horizon when the child's voice rang out, same as yesterday. The small child, seemingly unable to allow the early morning to pass before chirping out a greeting, as awake as a human who'd been up for an hour at least. There the energetic child stood, in front of the demoness' frozen shelter, with a toothy grin and a bow that quickly gave into a wave that reflected on the ice back towards the human child.

The fact that Nozomi could see out through the ice was unknown to the child – she knew it was. Yet, the child either did this display regardless or knew that demons typically did not sleep. Whatever the reason; both options would have to have been strangely gained by the young child.

But, like the day before, Nozomi remained in her creation, only allowing a brief greeting to pass through the ice, "Slept well, did you?", a wry tone accompanying it as she surveyed the campsite now that the day had officially begun with Rin's energy stirring the other demons to alertness.

Jaken had taken the opposite end of the camp for himself (directly opposite from Nozomi, of course), and she could see his form huddled against the trees and glaring out towards the child with a grumble before turning over with a comical attempt to drown out the child. The dragon demon raised its head from its place beside the firepit, blinking lazily at Rin's morning greeting before returning its heavy heads to the ground with a rumble of a sigh.

"Yep!" The child's grin grew wider, before she scurried towards the small gathering of twigs and sticks set beside the firepit and started working on growing the fire – which had only just burned down to smouldering charcoal now. She makes short work of tending a small flame back into existence – over the past days she had proven herself to be capable of such simple survival skills – before turning back towards the demoness's shelter, created at the far reaches of the camp. Close enough to be just barely visible to the child at night with the light of the fire, but far enough where the demoness could not feel the flame's lick of heat upon exiting.

"Lady Nozomi, are you hungry today?" The child called out, "I still have some fish from yesterday!"

Quite capable, indeed, though last night's attempt of the child cooking the first few fish left little to be desired for Nozomi's appetite. Not being able to cook meat without it being a few moments away from burning it – probably due to her learning that her human stomach doesn't fare well against undercooked meat – didn't exactly appeal to many… but, Nozomi supposes it's wiser to be safer when looking out for yourself than having a satisfying meal.

It was about time begin the day, and so as the demoness responded to the child, her ice shelter's walls dissolved and soaked the ground where they once stood, "I believe that you were the one who caught them, no? I do not have much interest in another's spoils."

The child pursed her lips, prodding at the fire sullenly before starting her work with skewering one of the fish as Nozomi approached and sat near the fringes of heat the fire was producing.

"But… Master Jaken doesn't want to eat with me, lord Sesshōmaru doesn't eat human food, and A-Un only likes grass!"

Nozomi quirks up an eyebrow, noting that the dragon demon opened an eye at the mention of 'A-Un', "That does not appear to be a problem of mine."

The child shrinks a little in response.

"…What did you say? A-Un?"

"Ah, yes!" All at once, she was cheery, "A-Un!"

The dragon lifts its heads at the child's call, and both tilted slightly downwards to stare towards Rin.

"See? That one is named 'A', and the other is named 'Un'!" She pointed to the heads as she spoke, revealing that she was speaking of them to be of the demon's left (Un) and right (A), and not of her own.

"Is that so?"

Looking over to Jaken, it appeared that he had no long-winded story to tell about the demon's actual name, so it appeared it might not have had one before Rin appointed the dragon with them. That, and the fact that the dragon demon seems to be responding to it at least demonstrates it is at least humouring the child.

"It seems pleased by the name you have given it." Nozomi tilts her head, considering the small child, "You have grown closer?"

"Mm-hm! A-Un came with me to the river when I went to catch fish – there's some really juicy grass there!"

The smell of cooking fish accompanied a gentle silence as the child focused on her breakfast. Nozomi cast her eyes upwards – seeing that the weather ahead would not be interrupted by clouds. After some time, the child spoke up again.

"How did you meet lord Sesshōmaru and Master Jaken, lady Nozomi?"

"Hm… I had heard tell of him some time before, but I suppose it would be accurate to say we encountered one another during a war." Nozomi glanced towards Jaken, whose ears had perked up at the mention of it, and quickly hurried on, "Then, not long ago, lord Sesshomaru had sought me out for… a task. Which then leads us to now."

Then, as an afterthought, "And I guess the imp was there, too."

"Why, you-!"

"The war… Was it against humans?"

The demoness considered the child's question – and the child herself – for a few too many moments.

"No, no! Humans are beneath milord's notice, and he would certainly never engage personally in battle against such weak creatures – this was a war against the wildcat demons – more specifically, the leopard cats*. Only about two centuries ago, lord Sesshōmaru's father, lord Tōga, had once fought against their king in an incredible duel to end the strife that was brewing between the Western Lands of his domain, and the demons who invaded from the West." Jaken folded his arms, the Nintōjō* resting in the crook of his arm (and nearly knocking him off balance) as he began his lecture with self-assured nods.

For the most part, the child seemed to be listening intently – providing small exclamations or nodding herself when one of the imp's eyes snuck open to see if she was listening.

"By the terms of the duel, the cats swore fealty to the Lord of the Western Lands – who had soundly defeated their King – but those cats never forgot their utter humiliation at the defeat of their King. It wasn't until after lord Tōga's death, that their treachery began to resurface, and… it was about fifty years ago that they rose up an army against the demons that lord Tōga had saved in his duel – who had banded together to retaliate. Only lord Sesshōmaru was fit to lead them, of course, and so he led the armies into a clash that took the lives of many demons, though the presence of lord Sesshōmaru on the battlefield was enough to send them scurrying back to the holes they crawled out of! I, of course, followed lord Sesshōmaru throughout the entire battle: so I am able to recount such matters exactly." The imp glanced towards Nozomi, turning his nose up at her as a sneer spread across his face, "This vile woman–"

"Rin." The child's eyes turned away from Jaken in order to stare wide-eyed towards the demoness, "The fish is cooked enough for humans." A pause – "If you can manage to cook another like the one now, I'll partake as well."

The child, after a moments pause, nodded vigorously, "Yes, lady Nozomi!" before taking the cooking fish away from the fire (letting it cool), and setting to work on preparing another.

"But – I was –! What about –?"

"Master Jaken, I'm concentrating now." Nozomi caught a slight turn of the girl's head which, while hidden from her, gave her the impression that she glanced backwards towards the demoness, "and I don't really like long stories."

"I –?"

"The imp relayed the important parts. Despite the number of words he needed to do so."

"Ooooh!" Jaken stomped his feet angrily, and Nozomi could almost see his face heat with anger, "Such insolence! You are lucky that lord Sesshōmaru deems dealing with you beneficial enough to put up with your attitude – but you are wearing my lenience thin!"

"Oh? It's unbecoming of your master if his servant wishes to drive away someone he might have need of." Nozomi grinned, "Shall I inform him of this flaw in your character when he returns?"

"Hah!" Jaken spun, storming off towards his end of the camp, "Your words have no sway over lord Sesshōmaru, demon-priestess!"

The demoness did all she could to not roll her eyes at the way the imp grumbled beneath his breath about 'that woman and child' not having basic decency or whatever loop he had been set on, and instead returned to watching Rin cook the other fish in silence. The child was doing a fair job of cooking the second one – watching over it like a hawk with how she fiddled with it constantly, rotating it and prodding the fire.

But Nozomi's attention was quickly drawn from the child with the appearance of a demonic aura within the range of her sensing capabilities. Nothing powerful, and based with how it hovers in place for a moment or two before drifting a little closer and repeating the process meant that it knew they were there. The canopy of the surrounding trees hid the demon from view, and it was still too far away to actually gain sight of the camp itself, Nozomi determined.

The demoness rose from her position, drawing her bow and training it in the direction of the energy she felt. With her breath fogging the air on her next exhale, an arrow created itself along the taught bow. She held the shot, waiting, scanning.

And just before the demon had reached within the snow-demoness's Range, another demonic energy of similar strength was approaching from behind: though it attempted to disguise its presence much more than the first.

A smart plan – to have one presence distract, and then another be put in place at the time that one would take out the first, hoping for the second to be undetected by drawing the focus to the first. How much should Nozomi give in to these tactics? They were too weak to be any real threat – in such low number, it was probably just surveillance… lord Sesshōmaru had not returned since he left three days ago, so either lord Sesshōmaru was not their target, or they were unaware of his absence. Either way, coordinating such an attack on those that the Great Demon travelled with was a statement in and of itself. These scouts were probably not expected to return. Were they sent as a test?

Should she fail it?

"Lady Nozomi?"

"Just an inconvenience –" Nozomi released the arrow, seeing it shoot into the canopy and moments after, the first demonic energy faded, "Already taken care of."

The demoness's energy had already been seeped into the ground to fill her Range completely, and with the undetermined amount of time she was due to spend in the camp, she had about a 300ft diameter* to work with defending their camp. Thus, Nozomi was reasonably certain that she could play into the ploy and determine what attempted to spy on them, allow the other demon to get closer, and take them out with ice she can create within her Range. Therefore, if these demons were a type that could relay back what they were experiencing (as these scouts seemed to have been sent out to die) it would hopefully make it seem that a different demon had taken care of the second, whilst Nozomi herself had only been able to detect and focus on the first.

Such relay demons were a pain, no matter what time period they were experienced in. If she ever gained grander goals, she might consider gaining some favours with a few…

"Make sure the fish doesn't burn, child." Nozomi commented, as she moved towards where she felt the demonic energy blink out of recognition, "I will not eat it if it does."

Maintaining awareness on the other demonic presence, which had by now breached the Range that Nozomi had set up to be centered at the camp, the demoness ensured that the energy she had buried beneath the earth was ready to strike out with Arctic Assault when she commands it.

It didn't take long to arrive at the point she had felt the demonic energy, and didn't take much longer to locate her crystalline arrow embedded into the body of a bug – similar ones to that of which lord Sesshōmaru had utilized in that battle against the monk with the strange hole in his hand. What had he called them? With how short of a conversation that abomination Naraku had held with lord Sesshōmaru, no name came to Nozomi's mind. However, as she started making her way back towards camp, she commanded her energy to turn into ice as it shot out towards the remaining demon wasp, relying purely on her ability to sense the demonic energy of said wasp to act as the target for her ice. By the time she had returned to camp, she could feel the demonic energy disappear as her ice skewered the wasp into the tree that it had sought shelter in. Another energy had Nozomi stare off into the woods for a moment, noting that the dragon demon had started moving towards that direction before turning her attention towards the child. Rin had removed the second fish from the fire, perhaps a little later than the first, but much earlier than she would've had she been left to her own devices. At the return of the demoness, she immediately looked up towards her with a cheery smile.

"It's done! Just like the last one!" She held the skewer out to Nozomi, "You'll eat it now, right?"

"The other one." Nozomi nodded towards the one that had probably cooled considerably during the time spent cooking, "I prefer colder food."

The girl nodded slowly, but regarded the demoness with a searching eye. After a moment, the girl gave a more enthusiastic nod and handed the cooled fish over to the demoness, who took it after sending the girl a raised brow, "Lord Sesshōmaru will be returning shortly. If you wish to keep up, you should ready yourself."

"What? Lord Sesshōmaru has returned?" Jaken screeched, before quickly narrowing his eyes at Nozomi, "I can't sense him – are you lying–?" A gasp – "Oh! Lord Sesshōmaru returns!"

The imp began running around, seemingly unsure as to what he should do to receive his lord's return and amounted to nothing but running around in circles before stopping harshly hiding his hands in his sleeves. Posture straightened, quick brushing of dirt from his clothes and an adjustment of his hat, Jaken then faced the direction the lord was coming from and waited. Silently.

"Really? Is that all you're going to do to receive your master?" Nozomi smirked, "No wonder he took so long to return – the welcome party is sorely lacking."

"Be quiet! Lord Sesshōmaru does not want your voice to be heard when he returns, that much is certain!" He cuts a glare over his shoulder towards the demoness, "The reason he has not brought me with him has to do with you, not me, in any case!

Nozomi did not get the chance to return a barb – or rather, decided against it – as lord Sesshōmaru's form appeared from the trees. The Great Dog demon paused, and Nozomi watched as his eyes scanned those present. His gaze barely lingered on Jaken, who had taken that as a reason to immediately spew his thoughts into some semblance of words directed at the lord, one step away from throwing himself at the lord's feet, it seemed. His gaze watched Rin for a little longer, and Nozomi could see surprise flicker over his face when she responded with a curtsy and a "Welcome back, milord!".

"Took you long enough, lord Sesshy." Nozomi placed a hand on her hip as a sharp grin spread across her face, "Have you finally figured out your destination? Or are we to wallow in the woods some more?"

Gold clashed with ice, and held the battle for a moment before giving her the same once-over he had given the rest of his collection of travelling companions, and she took the time to do the same to him. Not that there was much point, as the lord had returned just as he had left: completely untouched.

"We are leaving."

Sesshōmaru turned, leading the way back into the woods, where his three companions followed after, the dragon demon padding after Sesshōmaru faithfully, Jaken to A-Un's side, and Nozomi and the human child following after them.

It was only then that Nozomi noticed the dragon demon seemed to have an addition to its back*: a sleek black saddle, with similar design of the tasseled leather that wrapped around its chest. As A-Un had a long body, the saddle itself was stretched to allow at least two or three individuals to sit upon it, with stirrups hanging down (fairly close to the ground – about halfway up Nozomi's shin – due to its shorter nature compared to a horse, she supposed). Perhaps A-Un wouldn't mind saddlebags at all, if it was seemingly fine with wearing a saddle?

Had that been why lord Sesshōmaru had been gone that long? To collect the saddle he had stashed away for his mount, as well as finding his new destination?

"Lord Sesshōmaru." Nozomi sped up, so that she was walking at lord Sesshōmaru's side (blatantly ignoring the imp's furious looks), "Those demon wasps that you used previously – they tried to return the jewel shard to that amalgamation, correct?"

Seeing his gaze slide towards her, she continued, "Would you believe them to be capable of intelligence on their own?"

"…No. The Saimyōshō are under another's control – they are dormant otherwise." The look he sent her asked the question that his voice left out.

"I see." Nozomi paused, "Moments before you returned, there were two of those wasps which approached the camp – their tactics implied they were expected not to return, but maneuvered the second to disguise itself while the first was the initial distraction. That 'Naraku' might be trying to keep eyes on your movements through them, though I'm not certain as to what extent they can do so if killed quickly."

Sesshōmaru frowns, his nose wrinkling with disgust, "Should they try so again, I will follow them back to him."

Nozomi shrugs, "I'll try to leave survivors if they return, then."

"Lady Nozomi!" The demoness paused, letting the other demons past before resuming her pace beside Rin, "The fish is really good, when I take it off the fire like you said! Are you good at cooking human food?"

Reminded of the fish she still held in her hand, Nozomi took a bite of it before answering, "Mm… I have more experience than most."

"Do you think you can teach me more?"

"Hm… If I've nothing better to do at the time, I might mention what I've learned."

"Yes!" Rin spun around happily, taking the last bite of her fish before throwing the remains deeper into the woods, before peering up at the demoness with a determined eye, "I'm a quick learner, I promise!"

"Then I'll hold you to high expectations, Rin."

She laughed, and when Jaken shot back a complaint at her loudness, she darted up to his side and started pestering the imp with questions he reluctantly started to answer… Before his protests became lengthy boasting instead.

Nozomi pace slowed, the smile tugging at her lips snuffed out as she quelled that foreign flicker hidden deep within her that had shown itself again. Her fingers pressed against the reminder that had torn itself into the flesh of her chest. She threw the remaining skewer into the shadows of the woods without taking another bite.

Only A-Un saw the glance lord Sesshōmaru sent over his shoulder.


*Nintōjō: the "Human Head Cane" or "Staff of Two Heads" that Jaken has.

*Panther demon is a mistranslation in the English dub, as they are 'leopard cats' in Japanese… Essentially wildcats, not big cats, and bear a distinction similar to wolf-demons (like Koga) and demon-wolves (the wolves that accompany him), with leopard cat demons (like the Devas), and nekomata/bakeneko like Kirara.

* 300ft Diameter (150ft radius) Range: This is the maximum Range Nozomi can utilize currently. With literally the first search (which could be wrong), it seems that 360ft is about the size of a football field, and so Nozomi can implant and control her ice in a circle that from one side to the other, is almost a football field in length [(-o-)]=[300ft].

Utilizing the full length of course takes a lot of time and energy to maintain, so typically, she doesn't commit to more than 100ft diameter at most. She benefits from being stationary, and her archery is enough to provide support, whereas her Range is more defensive and close-quarters in nature.

*A-Un's Saddle: Literally was rewatching Inuyasha to try and get back into the swing of this, and I noticed in… Episode 39 or something (s.2ep.8 on Netflix) where Jaken is waiting for lord Sessōmaru, when he meets Rin in the woods and whatnot, A-Un is depicted in the anime as without having a saddle and they get ready to go when Sesshy comes back without that changing? And in every scene before its blatantly obvious A-Un has a saddle, you only see his necks, or literally only see him from the front, and with the frill thing going on you just can't see it. The manga also has few scenes where you see him fully, and I don't want to scour those for brief Sesshy Squad moments, sooooooooooooo new headcannon:

Ain't no way Jaken can put a saddle on A-Un, or take one off of him, sooooo did Sesshōmaru literally get a saddle so that Rin could ride A-Un, whereas before he didn't need one since he can already fly and the demon listens to him anyway? Like, it even got stirrups on it – which Rin might use to get up ontop of the saddle?

Anyway, so now that's my headcannon, and I think in one of the chapters before this I had A-Un have a saddle or something, but I'm gonna rewrite them all to be third person when I finish anyway, soooooo retcon for now, random comment in the future.


O


-Disclaimer-

I do not own the InuYahsa movies, manga, or anime! The only thing I own are my own characters!


O Reviews O


ferallahey: Hahaaaaah I updated once again! Gotta keep you on your toes and all!

Rin is so sweet, she's my precious child – and Nozomi's a very capable liar, humans are unfortunately just way to susceptible to her!

UmiNight Angel Neko: Yesssss Rin is my all-time favourite daughteru~ Literally Nozomi's kryptonite, even if she thinks she can ignore it for now.

xenocanaan: Haha, yeah, Nozomi's had the world hold her to a demon's standard: after a while, why wouldn't she lean into it? I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

purple-pygmy-puff16: haha, sorry this one took so long! It wasn't coming out right, and then life got way too busy to think about this for a while!

flowermanga: hahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa it took so loooong I'm sorrryyy!

tushmonkey: haha, hopefully it's just as nice seeing it updated this time around as well! Rin is sooo perceptive, and everyone's really just sleeping on that fact! She's a smart, sweet, empathetic child who's learning who Nozomi is much quicker than Nozomi is learning who she is (mostly because she's not allowing herself to but, I digress!). So, Nozo's stuck with reluctantly keeping an eye on her and trying to help her out whilst maintaining enough distance to convince herself she's not already attached xD.

Hope you're doing well!

Serelena: Haha, thanks for the kind words! I hope this was what you hoped for!

roronoacami: Haha, I did say I'd try and get it done before the end of the month, didn't I? xD Thanks so much for your fanart man, I was so happy to see it! (which is what really kickstarted my numerous failed attempts to complete this chapter) – Luckily, this attempt made the cut!

paulavara140: thanks man! I hope you'll continue to enjoy it all! :)


O


Hey all, it's been a while, and things have gotten crazy this last year or so. I hope you're all doing alright and taking care of yourselves – It's been a hard time! So, go easy on yourselves, yeah?

I literally wrote this chapter 3 times and it just wasn't what I wanted each time, and I couldn't figure out what I didn't like, so I kept scrapping and redoing. I now have a document of about 10,000 words that I'm gonna try and salvage the hot garbage of this chapter's previous attempts, and turn it into something actually not just bad.

Anywayyyyyy…..

Next time on LSL, an Inuyasha fanfic!

Tokijiiiiiiin!

Rin being an angel, probably.

A-Un being a wingman? Maybe? In the future? Kinda cute ngl~

You'll have to tune in next chapter to find out!


ALSO

AMAZING FANART OF NOZO BY cammy_f ON TWITTER! GO OVER THERE AND GIVE IT…. A LIKE? THE LITTLE HEART THING I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT TWITTER

/cammy_f/status/1287199495906877440?s19

(Links don't really work right, sooooo just copy paste that in after the .com!)