Chapter 8: Haunting Words
"I lost their trail in the storm," Tora reported.
She kept her gaze downward at the daiyōkai's boots, all too aware of his piercing gaze. Even with all of her senses alert, she was unable to read his emotions as he stood solemnly before her, and now she understood Jaken's frequent outbursts. A look of disappointment. A fit of anger. A verbal tirade. Even a physical blow would be preferred to his cold silence.
"I was delayed," she continued, "by the one called Inuyasha and his companions. It was apparent that they were following the same scent. I reached the location of the gathering before them, but the oni and yōkai where already gone. The storm washed away all traces."
Tora waited for him to respond. She had spent the entire night searching for the monsters despite the furious storm, and still she had found nothing to indicate the reason for the gathering nor the creatures' destination. The more she searched, the more questions filled her mind, and the more uneasy she felt with the whole situation.
The apprehension was still with her as she knelt before the daiyōkai, and she was too tired to try to disguise her facial expression and posture. Tired but alert.
"Jaken. Come with me."
The words were sharply spoken, and Tora looked up to see Sesshomaru turning away from her. The sleeves of his kimono and the mokomoko rustled from the movement. Across the field, the loyal retainer started at his name and then quickly abandoned Rin and Ah-Un. He raced after his master on short legs, carrying the staff with the two heads in one hand.
As Tora watched them disappear into the woods, she managed to breathe just a little easier.
"Tora-san!" Rin called out. She wave cheerfully.
The young woman stood up and moved across the field to where Rin was scrubbing Ah-Un's saddle with a cloth. The two-headed dragon yōkai seemed to be enjoying the attention, and one head (Tora believed it was Ah) fixed her with his eyes as she approached. She knelt down in the grass and laid her sheathed katana next to her.
"Lord Sesshomaru has left again," Rin suddenly stated as she paused to look around the field.
"There is something he must take care of," Tora replied.
Since she had not been able to deal with the monsters, he must do himself. She had failed her first assignment. Even with all of her years as a samurai and the training with the daiyōkai, she had not been of any use to him. The words of the miko echoed in her ears: What would a hanyō being doing with Sesshomaru? He hates them!
Is that what she was? A hanyō? A half-breed? No, she was human. Both of her parents had been human. Her father. Her mother. Her mother...
"Tora-san, are you all right?"
"Yes, I am fine."
"You look tired. Maybe you should sleep," the little girl commented.
The expression on her young face was so serious and thoughtful that Tora could not help but laugh. She reached forward and tusseled Rin's black hair playfully.
"Rin, would you like to help me find some herbs?"
"Oh, yes!"
When Ah-Un's saddle was clean, the three left the field. The dragon yōkai grazed lazily as Tora and Rin searched among the long grasses at the tree line. Sometimes on her hands and knees moving the grass back, Rin would intently hunt out any plant that looked new or different from the others. The young woman would then explain what the plant was and if it was of any use in medicine. Rin was a very fast learner, and she seemed especially interested in herbs and medicine.
"So even flowers can heal?" the girl asked. Her eyes widened as her fingers touched the flower lightly.
"Yes. You can make tea with the flowers and leaves of this plant by boiling them in water for a few hours."
"What does the tea do?"
"It eases lesser aches and pains by helping your body relax," Tora replied, "but mostly, it tastes very good."
"Could we make some?"
Tora smiled as she looked down into the girl's excited face. Then she gave a nod. "Sure. Now here is how you gather..."
Ah-Un raised his heads quickly, staring up at the sky, and Tora saw a ripple go through his necks as he tensed. Instantly, she heightened her senses to their fullest and scanned the immediate area. While the field and forest had just a moment ago been filled with warmth and life, it suddenly felt cold and abandoned. The birds no longer twittered in the trees, and everything was still.
Too still.
The lady samurai was on her feet in a heartbeat, Rin's wrist grasped tightly in her hand. The girl was shocked at the sudden change in Tora's demeanor, but allowed herself to be hauled to her feet. They hurried over to the dragon yōkai. One of his heads peered back at them as Tora lifted Rin on to his back while the other seemed to taste the air. He was just as uneasy as Tora was.
Her skin was prickling and shudders ran up and down her spine. She tried to catch the scents, but the afternoon was clear with not even a faint breeze. All of the forest smells just hung in their place, and she could not find anything other that the grasses and wildflowers in the stagnant air. Still, something was not right.
"Ah-Un, take Rin far away!"
Without even looking at Rin, Tora spun around and drew her katana in one fluid move. Every fiber in her body was tense, and she heard Ah-Un lift into the sky. Then the first whaff of the familiar odor reached her nose.
The oni. The yōkai.
Suddenly, the monsters burst through the trees in all directions. Somehow, they had been able to mask their presence until the very last moment. Tora had never seen so many different kinds of creatures before. Large, small. Red, green, blue. Horned and hornless. Clawed, fanged. Winged and wingless. All of them were filled with such an intense desire to kill that almost overwhelmed her. She staggered, and then managed to quickly refocus her senses just as the first wave of creatures reached her.
Eyes closed, she fought them. Her blade slicing through flesh quickly and efficiently. All of her senses worked in sync with her body despite the press of reeking, shrieking monsters. She pushed them back one second and then they attacked again. Tora dodged and struck, but she knew in her heart that this fight was not one she could win.
Through it all, she felt the presence of Ah-Un in the sky and smelled an electric sizzle in the air around him as he defensed himself against his own airborn attackers. When five fell away, burnt by his lightning strikes, ten more filled in around him.
She sensed less yōkai around her, but still the fight was brutal. The creatures were merciless and their single-minded drive to kill caused them to throw themselves even into harm's way. Tora had never faced enemies such as this, even in the heat of battle. She was beginning to slow as her body fought to retain its strength.
A realization came to Tora as her blade severed an oni's monstruous head from his body.
At the same moment, she felt a change around her. The scent of fresh blood. A child's scream. The fierce cry of the dragon yōkai. Tora's entire body went cold and her eyes opened. The press of creatures around her was too thick for her to see anything, but she felt it. Smelt it. Tasted it on the air.
Rin had been struck.
She was falling.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" the girl shrieked desparately. Her scream, filled with terror, pierced Tora's heart.
Ah-Un dove to catch the girl, but the flying yōkai blocked his way.
Tora felt the girl hit the ground as sharply as if she herself had fallen, and a pain sheared up through her right arm as a yōkai's claw grazed her. She focused all of her enegry into her hearing, and she searched through hundreds of sounds. A faint heartbeat. Rin was alive.
Another yōkai struck her, and Tora fell forward on to her knees. With her focus completely on the girl, she was obviously to the blood that oozed out of new wounds on her arm. Her fist instinctively tightened around the hilt of her katana. She felt the yōkai closing in around Rin, and that was not exceptable. She could not allow anything happen to the girl. She had to do something...
"Help me!" Rin's voice cried out.
Something inside of Tora—something buried very deeply within the core of her being—broke free.