Chapter Twenty-Four

Miho flushed scarlet with embarrassment upon learning that her savior had saved her while he was naked and this angered Sesshomaru more than he was comfortable with. There was nothing new to see that she hadn't seen before after having been raised with brothers, but it didn't change the fact that she was uncomfortable in the presence of a handsome stranger. Also, her keeper wasn't too thrilled by him either, but for an entirely different reason.

Sesshomaru had had to back down from conflict before it even began because Miho refused to move until he withdrew his poison claws. He listened to her and did as she requested but continued to glare until she stepped away from the demon called Tamotsu. That was when he first discovered that Miho's rescuer was currently 'indecent' as she had put it. He was more concerned about Rin being able to see it if she was capable of it than Miho, who was currently covering her face with her kimono sleeve. It was amusing to say the least because upon closer inspection, the female's face was almost matching with her under kimono which was a sheer crimson.

Tamotsu, however, remained in the same exact spot that he had placed Miho on after jumping out of the water like a fresh caught salmon. He stood proud, straight backed, tall and arms folded like nothing was wrong with how he looked. His 'attire' neither hindered his ability to be just as kind as before, nor did it create any awkward tension on his part. If fact, he treated the situation like it was an everyday occurrence to save a pretty damsel and be confronted by their demon lord companion.

Oh yes, Tamotsu knew exactly the kind of demon he was dealing with. Sesshomaru's legacy preceded him all across the Japanese country side from the eastern kingdoms, northern, southern, and even his own beneath the waters of every lake, stream, pond and distant ocean. It wasn't every day he got to see another demon lord, given the fact that he preferred to stay under water and away from the dry lands, but this rare opportunity was just too good to pass up. At first, he had only saved Sesshomaru's companion because that was the kind of person he was; noble. Now, he was beginning to piece the puzzle together that destiny had played a role and that this was not just a coincidence. Tamotsu was not a believer. "I am honored that such a powerful demon such as you has come to my door step so suddenly, even though I am sure you had not meant to do so."

Sesshomaru said nothing.

Tamotsu smiled kindly, in spite of the growing tension. "I know that you are not fond of discussion, but please allow me to speak if only for a few moments."

Again, only silence in reply.

"Lord Sesshomaru, I am Tamotsu. I am also a demon lord whose kingdom resides within the near and distant waters. This young lady," He motioned toward Miho with an elegant flourish of his right hand. "just happened to crash land into my lake near the border between my world and the drylands. I was on my way to the surface when I spotted her hovering above one of our gemstone deposits. I noticed the displacement of my lake water before I had realized what had happened. When I discovered her, I simply settled on one of my boulders and waiting to see what she would do next."

Miho chimed in from some distance away. "I do apologize for disturbing you!" She had hidden herself behind one of the larger forest trees so that she could dress herself in private. "I was just trying to cool off!" It took serious concentration to re tie her obi, but she managed to do so without much difficulty and soon emerged from her hiding spot. A blush still painted her cheeks.

Tamotsu chuckled. "You did no such thing, my Lady. In fact, I found it to be great fun to save a drowning woman. May I ask why you were swimming out so far when it was clear to me that you couldn't swim?"

"I had been suffering a fever for quite some time now. Sesshomaru attempted to throw me into your lake a little while ago, but I convinced him to put me down on dry land first." Miho couldn't maintain eye contact with him. Her eyes were too poorly trained to the point where her gaze momentarily slipped further south and made it so far down his chest that she nearly got caught staring at other 'things'. Instead, she turned to find something in the forest more interesting, though nothing aroused her interests like Tamotsu.

Tamotsu was astounded. The lady had not addressed the other demon lord by his title first, nor did she acknowledge it at all. "Forgive me, madam…as a human and mate of Lord Sesshomaru, why do you not address him as such?"

Miho snapped her head back to face him, pure annoyance resonating in her features. Her lips parted to voice her displeasure at his mistake, but Sesshomaru beat her to it.

The Lord of the Western lands disappeared with lightening speed from his spot and reappeared almost as quickly before Tamotsu. "You are too bold, Tamotsu. She is neither my mate nor my servant." Sesshomaru appeared to be even more frightening and powerful the deeper his voice got. If it were any other demon that scoured the landscape in search of blood and power, they would have been cowering in fear of the sound of his tone and the resonating flash of fire within his golden eyes. But Tamotsu was not any demon. He too was a lord of his own realm and maintained his power with no one's assistance unless he sought for it.

Tamotsu stood his ground, amused by such a display of denial. He smirked, not wickedly, but simply intrigued. "My lord, I meant no disrespect toward the lady. If she is not your mate, then why does your essence linger so vividly within her veins? Is that the reason that her fever has yet to break?"

"What do you mean his essence?" Miho ignored Tamotsu's nakedness and marched herself right up next to Sesshomaru and looked him dead in the eye. "Do I smell of you, Sesshomaru? Is it true?"

Sesshomaru remained mute, while Tamotsu answered for him. "My lady, how is it you are not aware of this? His venom, his poison was given to you through his mark just above your right breast. Surely you knew this?" He was beginning to see a picture he did not find so humorous.

Miho cringed. She knew it all right, but she didn't think it was so obvious. "Yes…" She growled through her clenched teeth. Her anger was suppressed by a strength that she was surprised she possessed. "However, I was unaware that his scent was so apparent."

"So you are his mate, then?"

Miho twisted her head from side to side, viciously denying it. "Our history is a little complicated to say the least. I harbor something very valuable to him and he had attempted to prevent my death in order to preserve the object of his true intentions."

This situation no longer held any sort of humor, leaving Tamotsu feeling faintly vindictive. He turned his gaze to Sesshomaru, who had back off a decent amount and was standing just a few feet away watching him. "And what exactly is your true intention with the lady, Lord Sesshomaru? I dare say her suffering deserves more pity than what you have displayed today. You plucked a dying human from where ever it is you have taken her from and plagued her with a mark that she did not even ask for just to preserve her life so that you could gain whatever it is that she has that you desire? True selfishness at my doorstep is neither accepted nor tolerated! How dare you bestow such an intimate gift upon someone unwilling to reciprocate the affection that a demon mark is supposed to represent?" Tamotsu turned to Miho and flipped his long hair back behind his ear, revealing more of his chest than Miho was comfortable with. "My lady, if his mark is a burden on you, it is possible to remove it. There is no reason for you to bare it if it is not what you have desired. There are other ways to heal you if you are indeed dying."

Miho blinked rapidly in disbelief. "You are correct. I was not willing to receive it, but there was a reason it was bestowed upon me without my consent…and right now, I know that it is not enough to save my life. His poison was supposed to prolong my life until the cause of my deterioration was removed. Unfortunately, even with his essence flowing within my veins, there is nothing it can do to stop my death so long as the soul of his mate is still attached to my own."

This profession rendered Tamotsu stunned. Out of all of the things that had been going through his mind about the situation at hand and the possible explanations there could be to solve the mystery of the demon lord and human woman at the entrance to his lake, Miho's admission was not among them. "The soul of…his mate?"

"You have no doubt heard of the human woman he took for his mate several decades ago?"

Tamotsu was not entirely familiar with the lives of other demon lords, but he knew of Sesshomaru's well enough. "Indeed I have. I had heard that she was a great beauty, much like the priestess that his half brother Inuyasha had taken for his mate. I believe her name was Rin, though I do not know the truth of what happened to her. There were too many rumors circulating back then to arrive at a solid conclusion."

"Then allow me to clear the air." Sesshomaru stepped forward again but focused his attention on Miho instead of the person inquiring about their connection. "I had found a child murdered on the side of the road around the time of Naraku. She had been killed by a pack of wolves while under the age of ten. I revived her. She followed me into battles until I forced her to stay behind. I kept her safe until the situation was too dangerous to do so, and then I forced her to live in a human village until she was old enough to decide if she wanted to stay with her own kind or live along side me." Sesshomaru kept his eyes locked with Miho's, who was gazing back at him with an array of different emotions swimming on her face. "She chose to live with me. I claimed her as mine, and would do so a hundred times again because I fell in love with her. I fell in love with a mortal girl, following the footsteps of my father despite having denied that I would ever do so thousands of times before. And by some miracle, she had fallen in love with me." Sesshomaru never betrayed himself with emotion…until now. His golden eyes spoke the truth louder than any words ever could. "Our love, like my father's love toward Inuyasha's human mother, was looked upon as an abomination. I entrusted her life…and the life of my unborn child to a demon who took advantage of my stupidity. He killed my sister first. Waited until Rin had locked herself in our room with grief, and then came to murder her and my son…and succeeded. I killed him after I discovered her body, gutted and near death." Sesshomaru finally broke eye contact with Miho by closing his eyes. She saw a flash of a tear before she lost sight of them. "Her last words, though were silent, were mouthed until her heart stopped beating. She said my name, along with the words 'I'm sorry', as if it had been her fault."

Miho swallowed the knot that had formed within her throat.

Sesshomaru continued. "I have waited and searched for decades for her reincarnation, hoping to discover that Rin had been born again still remembering who I was and where she had come from, but that was not the case. I found her alright, but in the form of this mortal girl." Sesshomaru nodded toward Miho, who was busy staring at her feet. "Miho was 'employed' at a Geisha house about a day's journey from here. She had been suffering phantom pains brought on by the wound that Rin had sustained at her death. Upon seeing my face, the face of my sister and brother, his mate, their sons, and my vassal, Rin was finally able to awaken, taking over Miho's body in the process. Such a phenomenon is rare and dangerous, which is why Miho has a fever and why I marked her in the first place, to prolong the health of her body. Our journey ends here, after Miho had managed to retake control of her body, rendering Rin's soul dormant within her. Their souls are connected, and with that connection comes the threat of death for them both unless we can separate them in time. With that said, it is time for us to be on our way. If Miho wishes to live, we need to carry on and return to my castle in the western lands. Rin's body was healed and preserved, and is now waiting to receive Rin's soul once more." Sesshomaru turned his back on Tamotsu and headed for Miho, who was just as flabbergasted by his declarations as the water demon. "Shall we leave?"

Miho simply nodded, not caring any more about her sufferings. After Sesshomaru's recollections of the past, all she wanted to do was save his mate almost as much as he did. The only way to do it though, was to get to Rin's body as fast as possible and for the first time since this whole mess had started, she was ready and willing to continue their journey on.

She held out her hand in invitation and allowed him to sweep her up in his arms. They were just about to take off into the sky when Tamotsu stopped them with a hand on Sesshomaru's shoulder. "The sky is no longer safe for you to journey in, my friends." He pointed to a patch of darkening sky that was full to bursting with rain water and deadly lightning bolts. "Might I suggest safe passage within my waters? I will show you the way to the western lands through the underwater tunnels. There is no need to fret about a lack of breathable air, as I am more than capable of providing you with it since it is within my power."

Miho thought for a moment to consider without any regard to what Sesshomaru might be thinking. "I can agree to that, but on one condition."

"What is that, my lady?"

"Put on some clothes!"

Author's Note: Ladies and gentlemen, I had not intended to write this chapter so soon, but I just opened up a word document and started typing like my life depended on it. I hope you guys like it, considering it was written in less than 3 hours, which is a new record for me! Anyway, enjoy and goodnight!

OliviaAR

PS-Was Sesshomaru's version of events emotional enough for his character? I just went with my gut instinct on it and tried to make it sound close to what he might say after what he had been through. No one really gets an inside scoop of such a complex character and Sesshomaru is especially difficult to capture and keep within his original form.

Oh, and realistically it has only been one day since Sesshomaru and Miho have left the Geisha house. They still have another day left to travel, and I still have a few more chapters to write so I have decided to add a new twist to spice it up a bit. The underwater journey should prove to be just that, I hope!