The skies began to darken with heavy gray clouds as an uneasy feeling began to weave itself in the pit of Sesshomaru's stomach. After his run in with that warrior Einar, Sesshomaru thought that going back to at least let Torunn know of his existence here would be a good idea, thought his thoughts went back to when Sesshomaru had brought him up and her strong reaction to that. How her heart had raced with fear at the mere mention of his name.
He shook the uneasy feeling off. Torunn was strong, and she deserved to know at least that he was trying to find her, but the question that nagged at him was how did that man know how to find her? Who had sold her out from her plane of existence? It all seemed highly suspicious to him. Sesshomaru pushed himself a little more, his eyes scanning the area for her but being surprised when he caught the sight of a certain green imp and little girl in a bright orange and yellow yukata. That uneasy feeling began to persist more as Sesshomaru made his way to the ground and saw the tired, terrified looks of his wards' faces.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin called out as she ran to him, "You've got to back - Torunn's in trouble!" The Demon Lord's cut a look to Jaken that made the smaller demon quake with even more fear.
"You left her alone? What happened?" He demanded of the imp demon who swallowed nervously.
"Please forgive me, Lord Sesshomaru," Jaken began to wail, "But she made me leave to keep Rin safe. Naraku sent a most hideously strong oni after us!"
After her, Sesshomaru silently corrected the imp demon, You two were a liability she wasn't willing to risk. He almost had to smile at Torunn's noble nature but then thought of his cutting words again. Sesshomaru let a out a low growl, his own canines becoming sharper, the feeling of protecting something that did not belong to him returning.
"She didn't have the chance to say goodbye to us," Rin said quietly, her head tilted downwards as tears began to drop onto her cheeks, Sesshomaru feeling her deep fear and sadness. The more he thought about why Torunn had sent off his two wards, the more abundantly clear it became why she had to.
She was going to release the full fury of her power, and she didn't want any distractions or to let either one of them see her in that almost demonic state. The warrior woman even had gone as far as to say that to Sesshomaru when they had last talked about it. Torunn was desperate. She was willing to sacrifice herself and her humanity for Jaken and Rin, even after what he had done and said to her.
He would never speak it aloud, but Sesshomaru felt the extent of his own foolishness.
"I will go to her," he replied, turning away from the two of them as they both sighed a breath of relief, "Jaken, keep Rin safe." He turned his gaze upward as he leaped back into the air. Sesshomaru flew faster now knowing that Torunn was doing the one thing she swore not to do while she was here in this plane of existence. He didn't push himself because he thought she was in any grave danger. He knew that Torunn was a capable warrior all on her own, but whoever this creature that Naraku sent after her was giving her a hard time. So hard in fact that she had to resort to losing her humanity for a raw, destructive power.
No, Sesshomaru wasn't so much worried as he was curious. He had been so since Torunn had shared with him what her true powers were like, and very much wanted to witness it firsthand. He wanted to see Torunn eviscerate whatever Naraku had sent crawling to fight her. A small smile tugged at his lips, but he reminded himself that this was it - this was the last time he was going to see Torunn. She was going to be leaving after defeating Naraku's bestial minion, after saying her goodbyes to Rin. After letting her know that want to be warrior Einar was here and was looking for her. Then, he would be done with her for good. It was the least he could do after their last interaction.
A pang of remorse coursed quickly through him, but it was quickly replaced by a sense of urgency as he felt Torunn's aura in the air. It practically made the air buzz, and it felt both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It certainly belonged to her but there was something wholly different about it this time. Her aura felt so much older, and it felt far more dangerous than what he had expected. He picked up his speed once again.
After some time, Sesshomaru found the cave where he and Torunn had left his wards earlier that day, and not too far away from there was an hideous creature being pummeled with hit after relentless hit by something that was moving inhumanly fast. Blood and gore spewed through the air as Naraku's flying insects just stood by and watched. Sesshomaru made his way to the ground for he had to stop in awe of Torunn as she flew herself against the creature with her whole body weight, pushing him off balance onto the ground. Slowly, the monstrous creature got back and tried to take a swing with his fist but was far too slow for the warrior woman. For a brief moment she stopped in her tracks as he tried again to get on his feet, letting out a howl that rang for miles as he lumbered back up, the wounds on his skin repairing themselves. The wolf-like grin on her face held none of the warmth that Sesshomaru had grown accustomed to. It almost unnerved him.
Torunn barked a manic laugh, "What's wrong, Chiyu-Ryoku? Are you finally getting tired?" She raised a razor sharp claw to her mouth, tasting the monster's blood that dripped. "That's too bad because I'm just starting to have fun!"
Sesshomaru stared at the woman in front of him, trying to see if he could still feel Torunn's aura but only felt the rampaging power of her berserker's aura. She was covered in the creature's guts and littered with gashes of her own, painted with red and black blood with a myriad of bruises that adorned her, but it didn't seem to bother Torunn. She continued her onslaught against the oni, even though it continued to heal itself at an alarming rate.
The only way to kill it was to either remove the head or its heart, Sesshomaru thought to himself as he continued to watch from a distance. He grew somewhat concerned watching her fight and wondered if she had put that together. Wondering if she had any sense of intelligence in this state, but there was something that said she did and that Torunn was just playing with him, like she had with Koga. Sesshomaru couldn't help but stare in grotesque awe as she raked her claws across the demon's skin.
Thoughts of his half-breed brother flashed through his mind as he watched Torunn - how Inuyasha would become a mindless, killing machine when his demon blood took over. He couldn't help but think that the way Torunn was behaving wasn't too dissimilar to Inuyasha. However, the demon lord was shaken from his thoughts when he heard a yelp. His eyes darted to the source, knowing it had belonged to Torunn who had a hold of one of the Saimyōshō in her hand. She had squeezed it to the point of bursting, and then rubbed at her shoulder.
She must have been stung by it, the demon lord thought. He didn't think she would be affected by its poison but as a swarm of them buzzed around her, Chiyu-Ryoku took the opportunity to grab her by the leg while she was distracted and threw against a tree like a broken toy. Her body made a sickening THUD on contact and then was perfectly still as she lied on the ground as the oni chuckled darkly.
"Time to collect and go," he gurgled out.
Sesshomaru only saw red, the needing to protect what was not his growing as Chiyu-Ryoku went to Torunn. His hand went to pick up the unconscious warrior, the demon lord shot his poison whip, wrapping around the fat wrist of the demon and stopping him. The skin beneath the whip began to burn and sizzle as its yellow watery eyes made contact with Sesshomaru. Chiyu-Ryoku's eyes grew wide as they landed on the Demon Lord of the Western Lands. He chuckled without any gaiety.
"I guess Naraku didn't hold his end of the bargain," the oni said.
"Like that pathetic being could do anything to this Sesshomaru," the demon lord spat back, tightening the whip around Chiyu-Ryoku's wrist. The Saimyōshōs buzzed angrily but backed off when Sesshomaru bared his fangs at them. His attention went back to the oni in his grasp. "You will answer me this, Chiyu-Ryoku. What does Naraku want with her?" The oni chortled darkly, shrugging as her did.
"Don't know, don't care," he replied, "I was only tasked to bring her back to him."
"Over my dead body," the warrior woman in question said icily as she stood up. Within the next moment, Torunn was up Chiyu-Ryoku, her legs wrapped around his thick neck as she tore again at his flesh. Gore sprayed in every direction as the oni's free hand tried in vain to to stop her, while his other hand was still caught in Sesshomaru's poison whip. Chiyu-Ryoku bucked and threw its body around, trying to get the woman off of him who continued to attack without remorse while Sesshomaru tried to keep him steady enough for her to land the killing blow. It had seemed to be working until Chiyu-Ryoku's free hand finally grabbed a hold of her long hair. He tugged violently at her golden tresses and using what little energy he had left, tried to yank Torunn off of him. She yowled in pain, her legs still wrapped around his neck, trying to stay on until Sesshomaru heard the gruesome sound of flesh tearing and saw a fountain of inky, dark blood come shooting out.
Chiyu-Ryoku had managed to get Torunn off of him, but at the cost of his own life. The ground shook as the oni toppled to the ground, Torunn falling off of him, his head rolling the other way. Sesshomaru released his whip as he went to the warrior woman who lied in a pool of blood, her breathing labored. Sesshomaru couldn't tell by sight how much of it was her blood or Chiyu-Ryoku's blood that she lied so very still in. Gingerly, the demon lord picked up the exhausted warrior, trying not to disturb her and to his astonishment, she seemed to comply.
She stirred only a moment but was otherwise still. At first, Sesshomaru counted it as a blessing, almost fearing she might lash out at him but as he carried the blood-drenched warrior, he began to notice her breathing becoming shallower, her eyes still remaining closed. The Demon Lord looked around, trying to find any source of water to wash away the blood and dirt that practically caked her. As he continued to search, his eyes noticed one of Naraku's insects flying towards the ground to pick up something from the wreckage that was once a creature. After a few moments, it had found what it needed and it with the rest of the swarm flew away, a lint og ight reflecting in what little sun there was left. Sesshomaru couldn't have cared less - Torunn was the only thing that mattered to him at that moment. He needed to find a way to survey the damage done to her.
As if the heavens heard his silent pleas, a fat drop of rain fell on the demon lord's face. And then another, and another until it was a torrential downpour. Soon, both he and Torunn was soaked to the bone with the cleansing rain as he found a soft patch of grass. With as much gentleness he could show, Sesshomaru lied her on the ground, watching as the rain washed away the oni's blood off of her skin, revealing a myriad of bruises, cuts and gashes that marred her features. Frantically Sesshomaru looked over body to see any gapping wound but to his frustration found none. He growled internally, annoyed almost by the rate which Torunn was healing, which was agonizingly slow.
As the rain continued to fall, he could only stare in an almost frightened awe at the wounded warrior woman. His mind retraced everything that had happened between the first night he followed her sent to now, and all that she had shown him, wanting to learn more from her. Wanting to show Torunn more. His heart sank heavily in his chest, knowing that the damage he caused her, the pain, might not be so easily repaired like the ones Chiyu-Ryoku had caused her. Thunder and lightning over took the sky as tge Demon Lord of the Western Lands knelt down in the mud, cradling her like a child in his arms. His hand pushed away hair that clung to her beautiful and beaten face. He felt her chest rise and down, though still shallow, he could also feel her strong heart beating loud and strong, yet her eyes remained closed.
Soon, new droplets fell on Torunn's face, although they seemed warmer than the summer rain that fell.
"Torunn," Sesshomaru said, barely a whisper above the rain, "Look at what you've done to me. You have reduced this one to groveling like some sort of peasant." He forced a short bitter laugh. "I am undone by you. I am - I am sorry. Those words I said to you were a lie, I know that now. I've always known." He pulled her closer to him, and brought his forehead to the crown of Torunn's head. "Please. Wake up. Rin wanted to say -" he paused, not wanting to finish the sentence, feeling the finality of the words in his chest, "To say goodbye. I still need to say goodbye." Sesshomaru clung to her as thunder shook the sky again violently, almost seeming to mourn the loss of her light, with lightning that flashed again.
Momentarily, Sesshomaru's eyes went to sky, distracted by its heavenly display. As he did, he failed to notice a hand that reached up to touch his face. He was startled to say the least when it made contact with his cheek.
"Don't be so melodramatic," a weak voice said, "I'm not dead. Just tired." Sesshomaru's eyes immediately went down to meet the exhausted blue eyes, with an equally exhausted smile on her face. "You better be careful - someone might actually think you care about something other than yourself." She winked, her hand still gently on his face as Sesshomaru instinctually welcomed the gesture, even leaning into it. Torunn closed her eyes, a new wave of pain washing over her, making her wince. "Is Chiyu-Ryoku dead?" Her eyes wandered and found the decapitated head not too far away from them. "I will take that as a yes." She laughed and then winced again from sudden movement and subsequent pain she caused herself.
Sesshomaru had so many question for her but at that moment, he was just relieved to see Torunn awake and joking like her old self. "I am happy you are well enough to make light on such matters." Torunn slowly tried to prop herself up but the demon lord was having none of that. Carefully, he lifted her off the ground as he continued to cradle her in his arms, and she was too tired to protest.
"Don't think you're off the hook just yet," she said, burrowing further into his embrace, mumbling, "Just because I'm letting you carry me doesn't mean I'm not angry with you." After a few moments of them walking, Torunn had fallen asleep in his arms as the rain continued to pour, but Sesshomaru didn't care. He needed to find his wards, and get to get himself and Torunn out of the rain. He stared down at the woman, a ghost of a smile gracing his lips.
Einar woke up when the first drops of rain landed on his forehead. Groaning, he slowly blinked awake, trying to make sense of his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was a beautiful man with flowing, white hair and is grip. He gritted his teeth as Einar stood up, his nose lifting into the air. He just needed that man's scent and he would make him pay. As he inhaled deeply, the sky above unleashed its heavy downpour. The viking warrior roared in anger, echoing the thunder claps.
He would find him, and then Torunn. That man man would lead him straight to her, and then Einar would have his vengeance, both on her and that strange being who mocked him. Einar would not stand to be made a mockery by someone like him.
The rain had started washing out the scent but it had at least given him a lead. Rain pelted him as he started to follow the direction of the scent, his mind racing with thoughts of revenge. If he wasn't allowed to have a moment's peace or happiness, nor should Torunn. Einar would make sure of that. She didn't deserve any happiness after the pain and suffering she had caused him.
Thunder cracked loudly in the sky overhead. Koga was getting sick and tired of the rain that seemingly kept following them every where they went searching for his future mate. Not too long before the rain had started, he had felt a powerful surge of Torunn's aura seemed to soar through the air. It felt immense and he had latched onto it, pushing him and his pack to follow it.
The wind had picked up and with it the rain came down hard, making it nigh on impossible to keep going. He looked at his pack as the rain fell, begrudgingly deciding that they had to seek refuge again in a cave nearing what looked like a large mountain in the distant. As they tried to dry off, Koga had picked up on a familiar scent on the earthen ground that smelled of sea salt and of kin.
Torunn had been here! They were getting closer by the day and Koga wanted to howl with renewed confidence but kept his excitement inward. Once the rain had past, they would find her. There was no doubt in Koga's mind about it, but what he hadn't counted on was also smelling Sesshomaru's scent as well. His celebrating was cut short by the thought that his future mate traveled with that arrogant demon. The leader of the Wolf Demon Tribe was going to have to prove his worth by taking that Demon Lord down, showing Torunn that he was worthy of her affections. He cracked a smile as he looked at the poring rain, thinking about how soon he was going to be with Torunn again - the two of the ruling over the Tribe.
Another clap of thunder reverberated in and out of the cave, echoing his thundering heart for Torunn. He smiled broadly, waiting for the rain to stop.