Earlier that day

The Demon Lord walked through the woods, attempting to clear his head with its calmness.

When he had first noticed Torunn rising that the morning, Sesshomaru couldn't help but feel her anger and frustrations roll off of her in crashing waves. He couldn't put his claw on it but he felt the strong urge to try to rectify her mood. It riled up his own fur to see her in such a state though again, he didn't know exactly why it did. Sesshomaru only knew that he wished to get rid of that feeling as soon as possible.

So, he had followed her.

Sesshomaru masked his aura and followed her through the woods, her musky and rugged scent showing the exact path she took. He wondered why Torunn was wandering in unfamiliar woods. Most people would worry about becoming lost but not Torunn. She had mention when they first met how good of a hunter and tracker she was - even going far saying that she could and would track to the gates of the Underworld if he deserted Torunn. He had only assumed that those had been self aggrandizing brags, but as Sesshomaru watch her gracefully and methodically make her way through the woods as though if she grew up in them, he began to change his mind.

It was entrancing to see her weave in and out like a shadow through the trees and bushes, stalking her potential prey. Her focus was incredible and her prowess for hunting stirred something within him, something primal and carnal, and Sesshomaru wasn't sure if disliked like he thought he would have. That something continued to stir in Sesshomaru and he needed to stop it, or so he thought at first.

That's when he stepped out to her, hardly realizing that he called her by name. Torunn's mood immediately dropped again, her aura growing darker, and colder, unlike the warmth he had grown accustomed to. Watching her go from her focus to growing agitation only made him feel more confused. She was annoyed with him. He hadn't meant for that to happen - he felt the need to fix it. Again.

And so he chased Torunn, knowing that she would revel in the thrill of the chase, loving the sport of it all. Even knowing that she would like it when he beat her, the gleam in her eye that seemed to say that she would get him next time. Pride swelled him as her spirit's lifted, but then she had noticed, and vocalized it.

Had he followed her to make her happy? Did he, Great Demon Lord of the Western Lands, go out of his way to make her happy? Sesshomaru initially thought he had followed her for selfish reasons, to make him feel better, and while there was some truth to that, he couldn't deny that he had done that for Torunn.

The conflicting feelings arose again as the two of them walked, him carrying the dead deer that he neither really wanted nor needed and he felt the need to get away from Torunn. Sesshomaru needed try to untangle the web of emotions that had begun to spun themselves since the strange and feral warrior landed on his chest at that fateful sunrise.

And so there he was, stalking through the woods, still getting no further as to trying to understand what he was feeling, or figuring out how to not feel whatever he was feeling. Torunn had turned his world upside down, whether he wanted to admit it or not and Sesshomaru still wasn't sure if that was a bad thing, but if there was one thing the Great Demon Lord hated more than anything. And that was not knowing something, especially if whatever it was sat underneath his perfect nose.

He needed to do something. Something to scratch the itch the burned beneath his skin every time he looked at her, every time her blue eyes caught his, the mischievousness that swirled in those pools of larimar.

With a frustrated growl, he lashed out his poison whip at a tree, sending birds flying at every direction and a large tree branch crashing to the ground. He let a deep sigh escape from his lips, and walked towards it. He glared at it, vexed that he would succumb to such petty anger but then his eyes caught a hole in the side of a small mountain, the gaping maw calling to him. Sesshomaru made his over to inspect it, finding nothing more than remnants of a fire.

Sesshomaru let out another frustrated growl, and turned to leave but felt another presence close by. By the time he was leaving the cave, whom he presumed was its inhabitant showed up; it was a male marten yokai, his long sandy red hair tied in a braid, with yellow eyes staring at him with disdain. He flashed a malicious, fanged smile.

"Why if it isn't the Great Lord Sesshomaru," he said, the lesser yokai's voice grating against the daiyokai's ears, "What are you doing in my humble home?"

Sesshomaru paid him no mind and walked past him, much to the chagrin of the other yokai. Indignantly, the marten demon stomped his way in front of the Demon Lord.

"For a being of such high status, you sure are rude," he said, almost scrutinizing Sesshomaru but again, the Demon Lord paid no mind to him, side stepped and walked around him. The other yokai stomped his foot on the ground.

"Do not walk away-!" but before he could finish, Sesshomaru merely flicked his wrist and sent a poison whip straight to his temple, instantly killing the ill-mannered vermin. The lesser yokai crumpled to the ground, and Sesshomaru was about to walk away but an idea struck him, thinking back to the previous night.

He still didn't trust Torunn, or rather, he hadn't allowed himself trust her. Not yet, but maybe this creature would help him to. Unceremoniously, Sesshomaru dragged him back to the cave and propped him up against the wall, taking a moment to look him over. It was much better than the snake yokai Torunn had suggesting using. He decided he was going to give her one chance to earn his trust.

The two inhuman beings trekked through the twilight lit woods, with Lord Sesshomaru leading and Torunn following a few paces behind. Burnt red-oranges and pink hues mixed bewitchingly with the looming night sky's deep indigo and almost sable like purple that closed in on them like silk. Torunn took a look at her surroundings but just like everything else in this part of Midgar, it looked foreign and strange, though she did not mind it. The only thing on her mind she was pondering what the Demon Lord had planned for her.

Oddly enough, Torunn felt mostly at ease even while she was hidden in the proverbial dark - her instincts would have let her know if she were in danger, so she knew in her gut that Sesshomaru wasn't taking her out in the middle of nowhere to kill her, but she couldn't for Odin's sake understand what Sesshomaru was planning, if he was planning anything at all. She shifted her provisions bag on her shoulder to the other side, although not from discomfort or unease. Out of the last couple times they had walked together, Torunn hadn't minded the silence but this time it was deafening to her. She shifted her bag again back to her shoulder.

"Heavy?" The Demon Lord asked without turning around, obviously taking notice to her uneasiness. Torunn bit her lip into a thin line of indignation but otherwise kept her mouth shut, refusing to be baited by him but she did have small, an inward grin. There was something that danced along the edge of Sesshomaru's voice - was it fun? Was the Demon Lord having fun at the expense of her bewilderment? This time she couldn't stifle her laugh, coming out as a short bark. This time, Sesshomaru turned around, his long silver hair whipping around, his eyes lit up in small amusement. "Is something funny to you?" Torunn tried to sober herself, a grin still threatening to break through.

"My apologies," she said with a slightly joking tone, "But I'm just mystified by you at the moment." He gave Torunn a blank stare, as if prompting her to explain what she had said. She exhaled. "While I may not know much about you - despite my own best efforts - this all seems very unlike you. And if I'm wrong, please tell me. The last thing I want to do is misconstrue you or your actions." Sesshomaru eyed Torunn pensively, his amber gaze trying to unravel some unseeable puzzle that was her. He took a step closer to the warrior woman, who's own reflective gaze was trying to do the same thing with him.

"How well do you trust yourself?" He finally asked after what seemed like an eternity to Torunn.

"Fully and wholly," she replied without skipping a beat, and then added, "I trust my abilities fully, but I also know that I am not infallible. To think otherwise would make me a fool." She raised her chin proudly, squaring her shoulders and making herself take up as much space as she could. Whether he wanted to think so or not, Torunn was his equal.

Of course in fear of wounding his fragile ego, she kept that last bit to herself but Torunn ventured that somewhere deep down, Sesshomaru believed that too.

It was just buried very deeply down in him.

"Hn," he was his reply, "We're almost there." He turned around again and continued walking. Torunn shook her head, still very confused but followed him nonetheless.

After some time, the two of them stumbled onto a cave, the opening maw of it tall and wide with a soft glow pouring out. They walked into it, Torunn seeing a small fire that dimly lit the cavern and then her blue eyes went to a dead body that lied on the floor near one of the walls. She wasn't frightened by it or anything like that. After all she was a former viking and currently one of Odin's prized warriors who has made their own fair share of piled of corpses, but Torunn didn't understand why this dead body was important to either him or her. She walked closer to the body, noting that it did not look or smell human, so it must have been a demon of some sort. It appeared to be male, tall, and his body wrapped in pale skin with lean muscles. Torunn crouched next to the humanoid creature, noting his long, cop hair and pointed ears but found nothing remarkable about him. She got back up and turned to Sesshomaru who now beside her.

"You brought me here to see a dead demon?" She asked dryly, thoroughly unimpressed. Saying nothing, he walked around to the left side of the body and in one swift motion, neatly sliced the arm off of the dead yokai and then it finally clicked in Torunn's mind as she saw the blood steadily drip to the ground, a rhythmic sound liken to a war drum echoing in the damp cave. Her grin finally broke through at the sight, a vexatious look in her eyes. "You could have just asked me to do this without all the secretive pretense, Lord Sesshomaru."

"I'm giving you one chance to try, Torunn," he said stonily, "And if it doesn't work, I will leave you here and you will be on your own to find Totosai."

"Fine," she said, the determination and fire growing in her ice blue eyes. He regarded her somewhat impressively - he hadn't expect her to agree so quickly.

"You seem so sure of yourself," he remarked. Torunn almost scoffed at him.

"Because I know I can do this," she said, "You asked me earlier if I trusted in myself, and with this, it's one in the same." The resolution that was in her eyes before when she first offered this still burned brightly and this time, it was enough to make him cave in. He had to admire her pride - it almost rivaled his own. Almost.

Sesshomaru merely nodded, now sealing the second deal between the two of them.

With a madman's grin Torunn went over to the fire, sitting on the ground and rifling through her bag when she looked up back at Sesshomaru who still held the still bleeding arm. "Don't let all the blood bleed out from it. We're going to need it. I take it it's fresh? Or at least mostly fresh?" He nodded. "Good." Torunn abruptly got up and left the cave, but soon returned with a large piece of tree bark and resumed her rifling near the fire, with grunts and frustrated mumblings ensuing.

It was his turn for bewilderment, as Sesshomaru looked on at the woman almost frantically searching for something in her bag. He had no idea what he had gotten himself into but there was no turning back from what she was about to do. Listening to Torunn, Sesshomaru awkwardly raised the appendage in the air to stop the excess bleeding. After a few more moments of Torunn grunts about how it should have been in there somewhere, let out a triumphant "Ah-ha!", pulling out a small leather pouch in her bag and held it aloft in the air. Sesshomaru cocked one perfect eyebrow.

"What is that?" He asked.

"Just some herbs that are going to help," Torunn said, putting the large piece of bark in front of her. She smiled when he made a face at her, "Don't worry - I'm not going to poison you." She began to pull out different herbs and plants, plucking at them methodically and placing them on the smooth side of the bark. Without looking up from what she was doing, she said, "I'm going to need you to two things for me."

"I'm going to need some of the blood from the new arm, and then some of your own mixed into these herbs." Silently Sesshomaru obliged, putting the still dripping open wound end over the herbs.

After Torunn nodded at the amount of blood that had been seeped onto the mixture, Sesshomaru laid the arm ground near Torunn, and went to go draw blood from himself when she stopped him from cutting open his hand.

"I'd suggest taking off your dress. You'll want to take the blood from where you lost your limb and almost right after that, I"m going to attach your arm - well, your new arm." Sesshomaru's brow knitted at her comment.

"This is not a dress," he said flat but Torunn waved him off.

"Fine. Whatever it is, you're going to want to take it off so you don't ruin it. This isn't the cleanest of spells, what with the blood and everything." The Demon Lord sighed in a resigned way, and began to undo his golden and navy obi, and then his lotus spiked armor plate. Torunn went to reach over to help remove his kimono but he cut her such a look that she immediately backed of. After a few more minutes, he finally disrobed the top part of his silk kimono, revealing a perfectly chiseled chest, his muscles lean and tight. Torunn swallowed hard, trying not to stare as he sat down near her.

"You know," she said sitting down next to him with her herbal mixture, not making eye contact, "It's really not fair how pretty you are. Men and women across all of the Nine Realms would kill just to look half as beautiful as you."

"Hn," was Sesshomaru's only reply but he couldn't help but to drink Torunn's scent in as she settled down beside him. It was almost intoxicating to him, wanting nothing more than to bury his face into her golden hair, but of course he kept himself composed even as the growing need to be even nearer to her began to consume him as she moved to take a closer look of what remained of his left arm, his skin pleasantly hot from her touch. The feeling lingered even when her hands were focused on the bark with mixture.

Sesshomaru stayed perfectly still while Torunn reached across him where his arm - rather his new arm - laid, her own exposed shoulder just barely grazing across his chest but it was enough to send a shiver down his spine and from what he saw, Torunn's as well. Again, he breathed her in as she clumsily got back to the other side and got to work. He smiled ever so slightly.

"You are flustered," he stated to which Torunn merely laughed.

"Well of course," she said, "I'm about to reattach a limb to you from some unknown demon, and I just told you how attractive you - of course I'm a bit flustered. It doesn't take a scholar to figure out why." She paused, still not looking up from her work, "And at least I'm not the one going around sniffing people's hair. So, I guess that makes us even." Torunn finally looked up, with a deliciously wicked simper on her lips.

If Sesshomaru were capable of being able to blush or feel any emotion regarding to embarrassment, his high cheek bones would have been aflame. Instead, he let out a low growl of indignation but Torunn only brushed it off, feeling slightly smug. "What? You think I'm going to hold that against you or something? Pfft, please. We both might appear human looking, but the blood of our more primal side runs deep in our blood - you a dog and me a wolf." She wiggled her eyebrows as she picked up the severed arm as Sesshomaru's stern gaze bore into her.

"I do not fall prey to such weaknesses," he said, averting his eyes from Torunn's. She sniggered.

"Right. Of course. My apologies, my Liege. I forgot that us lowly commoners only engage in carnal acts for pleasure, and not as a tool for procuring alliances and heirs" Torunn snorted out a laugh. Sesshomaru's jaw locked in frustration.

"Why must you have such a smart mouth?" He grounded out through his clenched teeth.

"Because I'm brilliant. That's why," she quickly retorted, "Now if you would please give me your left arm. I'm about to make an rather large cut where your limb and the new arm will meet, and while normally I would warn most that this would sting, I doubt you need anything comforting like that. Do you even feel pain?" His only reply was a dry, unamused stare that she couldn't help but grin smugly at.

Carefully, Torunn took what was left of Sesshomaru's arm in her hands, feeling his porcelain like skin cool her own fingertips. A moment later, there was a sizable gash at the end of his stump, crimson blood dripping silently from it. Deftly she took the bark of the herbal blood mixture and let his own trickle on top. Taking one of her fingers, she swirled the concoction together into a somewhat muddy paste. Sesshomaru was still felt a bit dubious about the exchange but he was giving her the chance to prove herself to him - no stopping now.

Letting go of his arm, Torunn went for the mixture and smeared it evenly over his already healing wound that she had inflicted. She then reached for the new arm and went to attach it to Sesshomaru's stump, locking eyes with him, signaling to him that she was about to start. He nodded and not a moment later, Torunn had practically shoved the new arm onto Sesshomaru's stump. He felt a small surge of energy shoot up his arm and down his spine as his amber eyes locked on to her handiwork. Torunn after a few moments, looking satisfied at her work so far, kept one of her hands around the point of contact while she took her other hand and smeared the rest of the magical mixture around the seam.

Once she was done with that, Torunn took her free hand and reached over into her bag again, but this time pulled out five smooth stones, etched with strange looking markings. Torunn brought the handful of stones to her lips, seeming to breath life into them because as she did, the odd markings began to softly glow like fireflies. Torunn's eyes lifted to look at Sesshomaru's who were looking at her such intensity - she swallowed hard again.

"Alright," she said, as though she was admitting some terrible to secret to him, "This part of the spell might actually hurt. It'll be a quick burning sensation but then you'll be all finished." Sesshomaru merely nodded, not really believing that whatever pain she described would actually hurt him. "Ready?"

"Hn," he breathed out, and she returned the nod, a grim determination in her eyes. Without saying another word, Torunn pressed the stones on to the seams.

Sesshomaru almost did curse at the searing pain but instead gritted his teeth, his eyes shutting tightly as he focused on his breathing. While Torunn held her full attention on his arm and the stones, she could help but have a small grin escape her lips.

"Told you so," she remarked, her eyes still on her stones as she slowly moved them around the seam, making sure that everything was okay, "The pain us immense - even the strongest of warriors cry out in pain."

"Did you?" Torunn's eyes shot up and looked at the Demon Lord who's eyes burned with a curiosity. His question was genuine and it through Torunn.

"For someone who keeps so many secrets, you're pretty nosy," Torunn replied, beginning to gather her bag and other things. Sesshomaru continued to stare at the warrior woman, trying to unravel her as she absent mindedly gathered her belongings. "It's getting late - the others will begin to wonder where we are. I don't want to make Rin worry."

Briskly, Torunn rose from her place and started walking away from Sesshomaru, who still sat perplexed while trying to put back his kimono and armor back on. He marveled at the speed at which he was able to do such mundane tasks, still not used to the new arm that aided him, albeit clumsily at first. As he tied off his obi, Torunn had begun to walk away and he was up and went to her, cutting her off. He wasn't ready for what he saw:

Tears.

There were tears pooling at the edge of the warrior's blue eyes. Blue eyes that usually were so strong and defiant, so sure and prideful but when Sesshomaru's amber eyes caught Torunn's, all he saw was a deep pain. Maybe it was shame? He could not tell but in that moment, it was the first time Sesshomaru, the Demon Lord of the Western Lands, the great Daiyokai - felt remorse. He felt it down to his very core, wanting nothing more than to take away that pain but was only truly accustomed to dealing pain. Sesshomaru instead only gaped openly at Torunn, whose eyes went hard as steel, but then soften.

"Just drop it, okay?" She asked quietly, "Just like you, I don't want to talk why or how I know how it painful it is, or why I learned in the first place. Just be thankful that I do." And with that, Torunn sped off into the night and back to camp, leaving a very confused Sesshomaru in her wake. He tried to shake it off, knowing that he should but again those same, conflicting emotions from earlier awakened again in him.

Sesshomaru vowed he would figure that, and why Torunn was acting so strangely now. One way or another, Sesshomaru would get his answers but for the time being, he walked alone back to camp.