Thanks again to Inashosetai for editing my stuff!
I seem to have gotten a number of readers, but surprisingly few reviews, remember, it is a sin, not to mention really mean, not to read & REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!
(Don't make me hunt you down and shake it out of you.)
The youkai, missing her by a narrow margin, drew back for a second strike, but she darts into the woods before it can begin its second swing. She hears it roar in pain, then crash to the ground. The impact makes the ground shake, and Rin falls, gouging her palm on a buried twig.
With a roar of fury the bull rolls to its feet, nearly crushing Rin, and charges Sesshomaru-sama. She silently thanks her lord and scrambles one handedly to get up. She runs into a small cave formed by the roots of a tree, and she notices as she hears a squawk, that Jaken has the same idea. It is a tight fit with the two of them, but they are both hidden from the sight of the youkai.
Unfortunately, they are not hidden from its sense of smell.
They hear Sesshomaru-sama running toward them—he is all speed, there is no need for stealth now—but they can feel the bull's efforts uprooting the tree, and shaking their hiding place. Rin's grip on her dagger tightens until her knuckles are white. She hates using it, since the youki in the blade is barely compatible with her human blood, she is always aching fiercely the next day.
With a great SNAP, like a rope breaking, the tree comes out of the ground, showering her with rocks and clumps of dirt. A rock strikes her upraised arm, giving her a nice gash. Well, aren't I going to be a pretty sight in the morning, she thinks as she dodges wildly, looking for a new hiding place.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a hand as big as her reaching for her. The dagger hums in her grip; it too knows there is no other option, and with the ease of long practice, and boy did she ever practice, she sends the youki spinning out as she slashes at the hand with the blade. The resulting arc of light cuts through the hand and arm of the youkai as easily as a hot poker through snow.
At the same time, Sesshomaru-sama cuts off the same arm with his whip. Then he hits the youkai's neck. Rin feels something warm run down her legs.
She is lying on the ground when Sesshomaru-sama finishes with the bull. He dashes for her previous hiding place, eyes widening, then follows her scent to where she is lying.
He takes one look at her, and says, "There is a stream up over there. Jaken, go with her."
Rin gladly takes his advice. Wetting herself was unacceptable, as was the timing. For Kami-sama's sake, it was after the bull was defeated.
She splashes around in the stream, cleaning her hand and arm, and washing her kimono.
She puts on her wet kimono, and decides to do a little quick fishing Although it was getting dark, she can still see well enough. She wades over to an overhanging bank, and looks down into the water. What luck! There are three fish there, all of them at least as long as her forearm. She carefully measures them, trying to find the biggest because she knows she will only catch one.
She carefully sticks her hands into the water, and slowly, slowly, brings them up under the belly of the nearest one, then; she slams her hands up, grabbing the head and belly in a death grip. It doesn't fight her for long, but it is hard to hold; it is as big around as her calf. She looks at it, then says, "Hey, Jaken-sama! How much do you like trout?"
Unlike most times, they could not thread this fish on a stick whole, so Rin has to clean it. She cut it up into three pieces, just in case Sesshomaru-sama wanted some. Then she picks up the packet of herbs she had collected that day and some precious salt that she had stolen in one of the villages they had passed through, and seasoned the fish. As the fish starts cooking, she stares into the fire, waiting to the aches to start. Almost as if they were politely waiting for her to finish what she was doing, cramps start to roll up her back.
Fifteen minutes later, she gets up from her fetal position. Jaken-sama had thoughtfully taken her and Sesshomaru-sama's pieces off the fire, and put them on a leaf, so they are not burnt.
Rin does not know if her stomach is up to solid food yet, but it is still warm, and smells amazing.
All in all, this time isn't so bad. She has definitely had worse, and the aftereffects are already disappearing.
She looks up, right into the eyes of Sesshomaru-sama.
He is sitting across the fire from her, intent on her every movement.
She reddens, and asks him, as she does every night, "Are you hungry, Sesshomaru-sama?"
He nods.
After she brings him his, she starts on hers, discreetly(?) watching him. He does not bite into it, instead choosing to use his hands to eat. Delicately he pulls off small pieces and carries them to his mouth. Then he stops. "Aren't you hungry, Rin?"
She realizes that she has stopped eating. Well, so much for being inconspicuous, she thinks. "Yes." She sinks her teeth into her fish again, and he resumes eating as well.
When he finishes, he throws his stick into the fire, and the fur on his shoulder is pulled up his arm, revealing a long, deep and painful looking gash.
"Oh, Sesshomaru-sama! What happened to your arm?"
With typical stoicism, he replies, "It is nothing."
"Nonsense, it has to be at least an inch deep. Let me look at it." She gets up, walks around the fire and kneels next to him to look at his arm.
He pulls the fur back over the wound and retracts the rest of his arm under it as well, "I told you, it is nothing."
Her face hardens, promising pain if he does not hand over his arm quickly. "Let me see it."
Reluctantly, or so it seems to her, he pulls his limb out from under the fur.
When she sees his injury, guilt ties her stomach into an intricate knot. She recognizes this type of wound, because she owns the blade that made it.
"Oh, Sesshomaru-sama! I am so sorry, I should have seen you, I should have known..." Her eyes start to tear up.
Sesshomaru-sama's decisive tone cuts off her babbling, "Rin, it wasn't your fault."
Her tears disappear, and her gut loosens a little, "At least let me look after your arm, Sesshomaru-sama."
She remembers when he got it; she thought it had missed him because it her dagger had never cut so far into her enemy before.
The wound is deep, but it has missed severing any major muscles, so it will not take long to heal. Kagome taught her about some of the healing techniques in her era, and about the body, so she is well-armed against injury. She winces. That was a terrible joke. She thinks.
She takes out a needle and thread, but Sesshomaru-sama shakes his head.
"It is not so serious as that."
She takes another look at it, and decides to let it be, she isn't sure if it is worth arguing over. She knows he is a reasonable judge of his injuries, so she trusts him. She knows that he wouldn't try to "tough it out."
She gets out a roll of silk bandage, she still can't believe she is using silk for bandages, and gently, but tightly, starts wrapping Sesshomaru-sama's arm.
*********Sesshomaru***********
As he watches the young girl bandaging his arm, he feels grateful toward whatever forces brought her into his life. Even though he functioned perfectly well on his own, he had been missing something before. He now feels, complete. Yes, that is the word, complete. He sighs in contentment.
She hesitates and looks up at him, worried about something. "Are the bandages too tight Sesshomaru-sama?"
She is so gentle; he had forgotten that she was tending him. He shakes his head in answer, and she goes back to bandaging his arm.
*****************************
The next morning, Rin wakes up to Jaken's screeching. He sounds like a crow being run over by a wagon.
"Rin! Rin! Wake UP!"
She groans and throws a stick at him.
"Rin, don't throw things at me! You are covered in blood!"
That gets her attention.
She throws off her blanket, to find her kimono smeared with blood.
