The old witch woman cackled again when she saw that the high and mighty Lord Sesshomaru did not get her meaning. "How the mighty shall tumble and fall."
Sesshomaru was completely disgusted with himself. He sneered at the witch woman and unsheathed Tokijin. His actions only made her laugh harder. He would not bloody his claws on her. He wouldn't be tricked and lulled into a false sense of security again. He knew she was formidable when she had so easily taken advantage of his natural curiosity. The evil blade called out for blood and vengeance. His eyes tinged red.
"So many questions go unanswered if you kill me now my lord." The old witch woman straightened her bent body as best she could and re-arranged her clothes. Her smile did not fade however, which made Sesshomaru's youkai blood boil. He was close to losing his temper to his demon nature, but he had to know what manner of spell she had just performed on him with his own blood sacrifice. "You youkai think you're better than men, but you're wrong and I'm going to prove it with my experiment. I've lived far longer than I wanted and had far too much pain in my life at the hands of demons." Her smile turned into a frown. Her grief gave him satisfaction. "I've bound you Lord Sesshomaru to my paints. I want to see you squirm and sweat. My whole life was taken from me thirty years ago, except for my great, great granddaughter, whom I loved very much." He saw her wipe a tear away and felt a little pleasure but it was a tainted pleasure. "She had a child five years ago and then was killed only last year by wolf demons. I could not make the trip to retrieve the child. I am old and worn out. When I heard the news, I was heartbroken and came down with pneumonia. A while later I heard the village where my kin was staying had been slaughtered and my last living relative had been killed."
"What does this have to do with me?" His voice was emotionless and his face was placid. He held the sword firmly, feeding off its evil energy.
"You are in essence the most cold and uncaring of all youkai. You show no emotions and no mercy. Who else would be as perfect as you to be in my experiment?" It was a rhetorical question. "I cannot have my life and family back, but I will see the lord of the western lands feel pain and remorse like I have."
'She was insane.' Sesshomaru's eyes widened. Her heartache had wounded her so deeply that even though Sesshomaru wasn't the one who had killed her family, he was the one who would pay for it. He would not be drawn into her crazy scheme. He could withstand Naraku and so many other demons, yet he could be brought down so easily by a fragile human woman? Not him!
"Youkai love and feel just as much as humans do. They are no different. The one they say that has icicles for blood will feel love." Tears were streaming down her face. "I know your secrets." She shivered as if cold, but the area was warm and sunny. "I've seen into your future and you will fall in love and feel all the emotions you have suppressed. Far into the future you will go. When these watercolors touch the paper of the one who holds your heart, you will be transported to her time."
"Who is this person you speak of?"
She totally ignored his question. "I know why you hate humans. It's not that they show emotion and are weak, but it's the fact that they seem happier in their misery than you do on your best day. You want to fit in and be normal, but you can't and that is what makes you hate them. You can't ever be normal and have a family or let your guard down, because if you did…you would have to feel the pain of losing loved ones. You must always prove to yourself that you are better than humans are, even if you know deep down that you're worse. At least people have a place in the world and family to share it. Where do youkai fall in to place? Only in fairy tales and stories." She turned and began to walk into the clearing. He could hear her crying while she laughed at the same time. "You and your wooden mask…" She spat. "One last word of warning youkai...take this chance I give you or your soul will be damned forever in hell. It's youkai like you who will be the downfall of demons. Adapt now or die out."
'What the hell does that mean?' He held his tongue and was about to leave, when he saw Rin. The old woman had disappeared more silent than a snake on the prowl.
Her face was frozen in fear at seeing the dead youkai on pikes. Dismayed, he grabbed her by the arm and turned her away from the gruesome scene. "Where is Jaken? I told him to not let you come out here."
"He's he's..." Her eyes pooled with tears. He sighed, not knowing what to do.
"Rin forget what you just saw and come with me."
"Yes my lord." She turned a happy smile to him and he raised an eyebrow at her remarkable buoyancy.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken squawked. "I went down to mushroom field to collect some mushrooms and I told that stupid human girl to stay put, but when I turned around she was gone." Jaken fell to his knees sweating profusely. He grasped Sesshomaru's ankle and begged for his life. "I'm sorry master I lost the child. Please don't kill me."
"Jaken I told you to watch the girl."
"Yes my lord, but..." very calmly, Lord Sesshomaru kicked Jaken across the field like a football. He landed on his butt in the mud. When he came to, he squawked with annoyance. "Why does Lord Sesshomaru like that human girl more than he likes me his faithful retainer?" He got to his feet with the aid of his staff.
"Rin?"
"Yes my lord?" Rin smiled and jumped up and down on one foot.
"Why did you not stay where Jaken told you to?"
"I don't like Jaken he's smelly."
"That's no reason to disobey him." The corners of his lips did turn up at the thought of it though, since Rin was right. "Jaken!"
Jaken hurried to catch up with him. "My lord?"
"You're taking a bath when we get back." Jaken's jaw dropped. "Your stench is offensive."
"Lord Sesshomaru, who was that old lady?" Rin asked as she walked ahead of him gathering wild flowers.
"She was nobody to concern you with Rin." For half a step, he wondered if indeed he was right. "Rin do you remember your parents?"
"Umm...not a lot." Her head tilted to one side and she tapped her finger on the end of her nose. Rin snapped back to the happy puppy mode.
"Hmmm." They continued on their way. Sesshomaru stopped often to let Rin rest, but they didn't mention the old woman again. She talked non-stop for hours as they traveled. "Rin be quiet." She was immediately silent.
"Lord Sesshomaru look, it's your brother Inuyasha." Jaken saw Inuyasha and his pack of friends enter the forest. "Are you finally going to kill him and take Tetsaiga?"
Sesshomaru strode to the edge of the forest. "Stay and watch Rin." He told Jaken. He watched Inuyasha head into the forest his companion's quick on his heals.
Inuyasha stopped a few yards from him and growled, showing his hanyou fangs. "I thought I smelled a bastard in here."
Sesshomaru stood waiting for his brother to make his next move. "Inuyasha what do you want?"
Inuyasha's female rested her hands on Inuyasha's arm. "Inuyasha!" Her voice went up in disbelief.
Sesshomaru could smell her from here. She did smell pleasant like the flowers that grew in his garden outside his bedroom. The other female had a similar scent and even the monk had a fresh flowery smell about him. But even that scent could not mask Inuyasha's hanyou musk. "What's going on?"
The little group looked at him as thought they had forgotten he was there. Inuyasha and the one named Kagome stopped arguing for a moment. They looked to their friends and Inuyasha folded his arms over his chest like a stubborn brat. All his friends looked slightly annoyed by Inuyasha'a attitude.
Kagome huffed and glared at Sesshomaru. "Uhhh...Inuyasha and I have come to ask your permission to cross your lands. We've lost a member of our group, Shippo, and Inuyasha was tracking his scent which seems to go into these woods."
"Why should I care if you lost some human pet Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru bypassed Kagome which made her puff up with indignation and stomp her foot. "I'll save you the trouble of looking for your pet and wring its neck when I find it."
"You wouldn't dare." Sango glowered at the youkai lord, ready to strike him with her Hiraikotsu. Miroku put a hand on her shoulder.
Inuyasha snorted. "For your information he's not a human he's a demon fox."
"Whatever." Sesshomaru was bored by the whole conversation. "If he wondered off that's his own fault." He began walking away. "I don't care what you do as long as you stay far away from me. You have one day to find your little kitsune, but don't ask me for anything else." He wondered what had made him be so generous.
Kagome felt tears sting her eyes. She was worried about little Shippo…out there all alone. "Listen you moron..."
Inuyasha cupped a hand over her mouth. "We'll find Shippo by ourselves. We don't need his help. We should have known he wouldn't understand." He removed his hand from Kagome's mouth and she stuck her tongue out at him. "Come on you guys I can smell him over this way."
"I'm just glad we didn't have to fight him." Miroku commented.
"He has every right to kill us for trespassing on his land." Sango held Kirara in her arms now that Kagome had taken the fire cat out of her backpack, where they had hidden her. "I'm glad he didn't try to attack us. I'm sort of tired of all the battling we've been doing lately."
"Huh! I wouldn't worry about him. I can take care of him with my Tetsaiga."
Lord Sesshomaru met up with Jaken and Rin at the top of the hill. He had been pondering his generous mood, which gave him a dark scowl. Rin went on talking about everything and nothing. The little human girl had slightly toned down her high-pitched voice at the look on his face. He was getting a headache.
"Lord Sesshomaru why didn't you kill that mangy hanyou and his human friends?" Jaken grumbled.
"Jaken take Rin home." Sesshomaru said disregarding Jaken's question. His clawed hand went to his temple. He headed towards the hot springs. "Rin, make sure Jaken takes a bath before I get back."
"Awk!" Jaken rushed Rin home.
Sesshomaru had a bathhouse in his castle, but he preferred the hot springs when he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. The bathhouse was mostly for Rin and the servants to use. He took off his clothes and folded them neatly on a rock next to the hot springs. He relaxed into the pool and closed his eyes. A second later, he was awakened to the smell of a little youkai and his very boisterous exclamation. 'It must be that kitsune Inuyasha had been hunting earlier.' Sesshomaru got out of the hot spring and put on his clothes. The little fox must have caught his scent by then, because he started running. 'So much for relaxing.'
"I'm so stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." Shippo cried as he realized he wasn't alone in the woods anymore. "Inuyasha? Kagome?" He asked the darkness. It was so quiet that had they been a foot away they wouldn't have heard him. His voice caught in his throat. He ducked into some scrub trees. "Is that you Inuyasha?" If it wasn't Inuyasha, he sure smelled like him. Shippo trembled, as the dark figure got closer. "Oh no, it's not Inuyasha. It's his stinky brother Sesshomaru!" He fled his hiding place in a panic.
Sesshomaru gave chase. That little bastard had called him stinky. He caught up to the obnoxious demon child easily. He picked it up by the tail and watched it flail its arms and legs trying to land a punch. He actually smiled, but it faded quickly. "Stop that." When the kitsune didn't stop, he was surprised since Rin obeyed him without contest, but this little youkai was furiously trying to escape. He shook it.
"Ow!" Shippo's eyes rolled in his head. "Let me go you big bully. Just wait until Inuyasha gets here you'll be sorry." Sesshomaru grunted when the kitsune sunk it demon fangs into his wrist. "Ah!" Shippo was yanked off Sesshomaru's arm and grabbed by the scruff of the neck. "Uh oh."
"Stop your whining brat." Sesshomaru shook the little demon again. "You're not worth looking for. Why would Inuyasha have such a small worthless demon in his company? Even a hanyou half breed has standards." He smelled that same flowery scent on the kitsune as he had smelled on Inuyasha's party before. He wondered at it. "What's that scent on you?"
Shippo began to pout. "Kagome brought some soap with her. She was trying to make me take a bath with it, but I didn't want to smell like flowers. That's girly stuff." Sesshomaru began walking back to the hot spring. "It smells nice on her though."
"Is that why you ran away?"
"I did not run away." Shippo struggled even more to get out of Sesshomaru's grip, but he wasn't letting go. "I went to see Lady Kaede and ask her if she had any soap that smelled manlier." He blushed. "But I uhhh...got lost in the woods. I got sort of scared and kept on walking in one direction hoping Inuyasha or Kagome would find me. I figured it would be better to keep on moving than stay in one spot for too long. Besides with all the scent markings you left I couldn't smell anything but you and got even more lost."
"Disgusting little runt." Sesshomaru stopped at the hot spring and picked up his swords Tokijin and Tensaiga. He dropped the kitsune on the ground, but held him firmly with a foot on his tail. "I went out of my way to not kill you."
Shippo gulped, but covered his fear quickly. "Why don't you just kill me now and get it over with?"
His bravado made Sesshomaru chuckle. "You're too puny to waste my time in killing you." He picked up the demon brat Shippo and headed back to his castle. "I think I have better plans for you."
When he got to the castle Rin ran up to him all excited and yet very sleepy. "Lord Sesshomaru." She threw both arms around his knees giving him a big hug. "Jaken has been grumbling all evening. He took a bath like you ordered, but I don't think he liked it." She made a face. "I still think he smells funny." She changed the subject. "What have you got there? Can I see it?" Sesshomaru plunked the furious Shippo on the floor and walked away. "Wow! You're a little fox demon aren't you?" Rin circled Shippo, examining him and then picked him up and crushed him to her chest. "You're so cute." She squealed and Shippo had to cover his ears. "Can I keep him my lord?" Rin hopped up and down.
"Do what you want with him." Was the reply.
Shippo yelled at the girl to put him down. "I'm not a toy." She dropped him with a thud. "Stupid girl." He mumbled and went to sit by the big fire that blazed in the middle of the room. He didn't notice the girls rejected and hurt look until he saw her streak across the room and up the stairs, crying. He sighed and brushed a leaf from his hair. "So much for that."