(A/N) Alright so I've had this chapter typed up and I thought it might be a good idea to post it, what do you guys think? Keep reviewing and letting know how I'm doing (good or bad). Thank you for your continued support.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I'll explain my own characters once they come into play.
Now on with the fic! […need to find something new to say (-.-) ]
Chapter four: How to Skin a Demon Rat.
Kagome was pissed. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. She was out right pissed.
Why that pigheaded insensitive JERK! She thought. She couldn't believe that Sesshomaru had answered her question in such a way.
He saved me because my unconscious moans of pain were irritating his oversensitive ears? Of all the stupid excuses he could have picked he chose that one? I ought to find him and shoot a thousand times.
Kagome had to stop herself.
No matter how stupid the reason, he was still willing to save me and I should be grateful for that. However that doesn't mean I can't be mad about his answer. I still have the right to be upset.
Kagome turned east, facing the opposite direction that Sesshomaru went. She started walking in the direction of the village she was supposed to be helping. Putting all thoughts of Sesshomaru out of her head Kagome pulled on her bow and her quiver over her shoulder and walked on.
…
"Thank goodness you have arrived" said an elderly woman in a hoarse and crackling voice. She looked to Kagome with hope in her foggy eyes.
Kagome bowed, and then she smiled at the old woman.
"I'm happy to help," Kagome replied. "Just tell me where the demon is."
The old woman pointed to an abandoned shed. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but Kagome knew she had to be careful. She didn't feel like humiliating herself in front of all the people that were counting on her.
Kagome began to walk toward the old shed, heart pounding. She could hear the blood pulsing through her veins. She felt like her head was about to bust; she was obviously nervous. So it's safe to say that she almost had a heart attack when someone fro, the village out a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to face the perpetrator. A man with long dark hair in a side ponytail gazed back at her, his azure blue eyes staring deep into her chocolate brown ones. He was most likely around six feet tall, he wore a faded gray workman's outfit. The man opened his thin lips to say something to her.
"Be careful, I'd hate to see a young pretty little thing like you get hurt."
The man smiled at Kagome. Kagome was only able to nod her head in recognition of his statement…honestly she had no idea how to respond.
"Oh by the way my name is Rinsuke."
Once again Kagome could only nod her head.
Kagome blinked a couple of times as she reviewed what the man had said to her.
"Rinsuke?" she asked inquisitively, doing her best not to look like a complete idiot.
"Rinsuke," he replied with a slight smirk. "Was it not clear the first time?" he continued good-naturedly. He stared at Kagome waiting for her to reply.
"Oh I'm sorry it was…I was just um surprised that you cared. I mean to say that... um… well I was um…" Kagome trailed off. Her mind was going around in circles.
Oh, my, gosh, he is so hot! She thought. Kagome looked him over. He had a pair of muscular arms. His ponytail was slung over his left shoulder, and his hands were still tenderly placed on Kagome's shoulders in a reassuring grip.
As Kagome glanced over Rinsuke's features she noticed his eyes. The azure blue orbs stood out as odd to her. They were piercing and almost impossible not to look at. Kagome had never seen eyes like that before, at least lot on a Japanese man, a foreigner perhaps, but never on a Japanese man. Not unless said Japanese man was wearing contacts, which was rather improbable in the feudal age of Japan.
Kagome stared at the man for a moment longer until she heard a loud crash of a wooden building falling down behind her. She whipped her head around to see a giant rat like creature glaring back at her. Its tail was swinging back and forth while its head stayed in place. It flexed it paws, both front and back, as if it meticulously planning hoe to disembowel the girl that I saw standing a few feet away.
Kagome turned back to Rinsuke with a shaky smile.
"I guess that is what I'm supposed to be getting rid of huh?" she said, looking to the man next to her for a reply. She wondered if she would get a favorable response.
Maybe it's someone's overgrown pet…thing… Kagome thought hopefully.
Rinsuke looked at her with a smile that was supposedly reassuring. He nodded his head in answer to her question.
"Knock him dead." Rinsuke looked at Kagome with smiling eyes.
"I'll do my best," she said.
Kagome stepped forward with her bow in her left hand and her right hand positioned over the quiver that was situated on her back.
Kagome sighed inwardly.
I'm ready for this, she told herself and in one fluid motion she pulled an arrow out of its place in her quiver. She knocked the arrow and aimed at the demon rat's nose. The arrow whizzed through the air as it sailed toward its target.
It missed.
Kagome hissed in aggravation and knocked another arrow in order to fire again. The next arrow pierced the rat's left eye and drew a greenish liquid that Kagome could only guess to be blood.
The creature howled in pain as it tried to remove the irritation from its eye. The creature began to advance toward Kagome. It seemed to know that she was the one that had caused it so much pain.
Kagome's heart began to race as she saw the rat closing in on her. She fired another arrow, loading it with a slight amount of spiritual energy. Kagome prayed as the arrow whizzed out of sight.
The arrow pierced the rat's left front leg and the creature toppled over. It struggled for a bit, doing its best to get back up from the ground.
Kagome fired another arrow right into the demon rat's other eye and once again it howled with pain, green blood flowing like water.
The villagers watched with bated breath as Kagome fired yet another arrow. She charged it with a large amount of spiritual energy and commanded it to hit the heart of the demon rat. Everyone watched as the arrow veered to the left In order to hit its target. However once the arrow was an inch away from the rat's chest it disappeared.
What the heck? Kagome thought. She blinked a couple of times as she watched the demon with anticipation. When nothing happened, the demon made a move to get back on its feet. It was half way up when Kagome decided to fire yet another spiritual arrow at it. This arrow stopped a good two inches away from the rat's chest before disappearing.
Kagome cursed inwardly. She had no more energy left, at least not enough to fire another arrow with the same amount of power as the other two. Her knees felt weak and she could feel herself descending toward the dusty ground beneath her.
Just as Kagome hit the ground the rat got to its feet and began to walk toward the villagers and Kagome. The girl did her best not to panic as the rat drew closer and closer into view. Kagome could see the blood lust and intent to kill written all over its pain stricken face.
I knew I would screw this up Kagome thought. I knew it, I knew it, I-
A horrible screech sounded in the air bringing back to her painful reality. She looked up to see the demon rat scowling in pain as it turned upside down. The creature began to paw at its chest frantically as if it was trying to squash an imaginary adversary.
Kagome looked puzzled. Obviously her arrows had failed so what was happening to the demon.
Just as Kagome began to crawl to the rat, an eerie pink and purple glow began to radiate at the place of the demon's heart. Once again the creature expressed its pain via screeches and howls. It pawed at its heart once more.
Kagome sat back down hoping that she hadn't made the villagers' problem infinitely worse
Rinsuke watched with a curious gleam in his eye. He looked form Kagome to the rat creature and then back to Kagome. He approached her slowly. With the intention of getting her back on her feet. He was about two feet away when he stopped on a dime. The rat sat in front of Kagome as it began to deteriorate. A hole formed where the creature's heart should have been.
Kagome watched as the beast screamed in agony one more time before it exploded in a burst of spiritual energy.
Well… that was unexpected, Kagome thought. For a moment everything seemed okay. The cheers of the villagers sounded and a strong pair of hands came to pat Kagome on the back. She didn't know to whom these hands belonged, because just as they reached her she fell over in a dead faint.
…
She runs. Her eyes sting and her heart pounds. The blood rushes wildly throughout her veins. Her usually soft to the touch hair is now knotted due to the wind whipping it to and fro. Tears streak down her young and innocent face. Her heart shatters at the thought of the love of her life.
Inuyasha…
The name makes her tears flow freely. She no longer tries to stop them. Now, the only thing that she knows how to do is run. She runs. She lets her feet carry her away from hurt and away from the memories of her past love.
The girl's feet take her further and further into the dark, until a man's voice calls out to the girl.
"Priestess," it whispers to the girl, urging her to stop running. She continues on, her feet burning badly as she presses forward.
"Priestess!" the voice calls out with more force than its last attempt. She slows down letting it will her back until-
"Priestess," Rinsuke yelled again, the worry he was feeling easily heard in is voice. He watched as Kagome's eyes fluttered open.
…
Kagome opened her eyes to see Rinsuke staring back at her with worry filled eyes. She blinked a couple times trying to orient herself.
"Where am I?" she asked, still feeling slightly sleepy. She turned her head to look at Rinsuke for an answer.
He stared at her for a while, caught in her gaze like a deer caught in the head lights. When the girl snapped her fingers, Rinsuke continued.
"Oh… sorry… um, you're in the healing hut. You, uh fainted after you got rid of the demon."
Kagome smiled. She had helped and this fact made her happy, and rather proud of herself. The mystery of the disappearing arrows still confused her though. She decided to deal with that problem at a later date. Instead she continued to smile at Rinsuke. He smiled back, before coughing in a bit of nervousness and abit of embarrassment.
The two sat there in the healing hut with an awkward silence hanging over them.
Staring at Kagome Rinsuke finally gained the courage to speak.
"I just realized that I haven't been graced with the pleasure of your name. Would you mind telling me?" Rinsuke decided to turn on the charm factor in order to get on Kagome's good side.
It worked.
Kagome opened her mouth a couple of times in order to respond but nothing came out except for a couple of unintelligible consonants.
Come on Kagome, she said to herself, your lips are moving but you're not putting on any audio! Just tell the man your name!
Kagome opened her mouth again and this time she was able to speak.
"Oh… my name is Kagome," she told Rinsuke, who's eyes opened in surprise.
"What?" Kagome wondered if she had said anything wrong. Kagome watched as Rinsuke's expression changed from on of shock to one of smug recognition.
"What?" Kagome asked again this time with a little more force. Rinsuke looked her in the eye turning the charm factor on again.
"As I said your name is the most beautiful name that a woman could have, without a doubt."
Kagome turned around so that Rinsuke wouldn't be able to see her blush. She tried to respond but once again her audio feature was, for lack of a better word, inoperative. So Kagome settled with just smiling at Rinsuke in appreciation.
Rinsuke smiled back, his azure blue eyes sparkling as he did so. He wondered if Kagome was going to stay in the village and become the local priestess. He would ask her when she didn't look so worn out.
"You should probably rest," he instructed her. "You did something pretty spectacular and you need to regain your strength."
Kagome could hear the concern in Rinsuke's voice so she smiled at him one more time and then she drifted off to sleep.
"Sleep well, priestess, sleep well."
Rinsuke walked out of the healing hut and left Kagome to rest.
…
It's dark yet he can see very clearly. There are voices, but he can't understand them. There is a girl, but he doesn't know her identity. She is faceless. She lives but there is a hole in the place of her heart.
He stares into her unseeing face and asks her who she is. She merely cocks her head to the side unable to answer. He steps forward reaching out with his right hand. He opens his palm in a beckoning gesture. The girl steps back. He's unsure if she is being afraid or cautious. He tries again with little success.
The girl turns around and walks away. He follows her. She turns around to supposedly see him in pursuit.
Wait he calls, trying to keep up with the girl. She runs faster and further out of his sight. The voices from earlier begin to grow louder as if trying to get his attention. He ignores them at first. I have no time for this he says aloud. The voices grow louder still.
What? He cries out in frustration. He waits for a reply. The voices begin to merge into one large echoing sound.
The voice tells him of danger, then it ceases.
What danger? He begins to grow more and more agitated.
The girl is farther away almost impossible to see. However just as she is almost out of his range of vision she turns herself around. A mouth forms on her faceless head. She whispers name just loud enough for the owner of said name to hear. The girl's mouth is readying to say more. She faces the man once more and continues.
You have to help me, she says. A cold wind comes and her image is erased from the man's sight.
The cold wind caresses his face. He blinks confused at the events that have taken place in front of him. He stares for a moment waiting for more to happen. Nothing does.
Well, what now? He asks and another voice calls out to him.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" A young girl's voice cries out to him. He ignores it trying to figure out what has just transpired.
The girl speaks once again and this time he is unable to resist the urge to answer her.
…
Sesshomaru's eyes opened ever so slightly as he answered Rin's panicked voice. Her cries had woken him from a rather cryptic dream.
"Lord Sesshomaru, are you alright?" she asked, searching his face for any signs of pain or distress.
"What happened?" Sesshomaru questioned in reply. He decided to ignore her question for multiple reasons. Honestly he didn't know if he was alright, his head hurt severely and he felt like crawling out of his skin.
"You went to sleep for a second. I think it was because of the warm breeze that came through the clearing a moment ago. You sniffed the air and then you fell over with your eyes closed."
That explains the headache, Sesshomaru thought as Rin continued to explain.
"Also, Master Jaken won't wake up he's asleep over there." Rin pointed to a brown lump huddled next to a large boulder positioned on the other side of the clearing.
Sesshomaru paused to take stock of the situation.
Rin said a warm breeze passed through this area. It's spring so it makes sense for something like that to occur. Then she said I sniffed the air and fainted… I don't remember sniffing the air specifically but I do remember smelling something out of the ordinary. However, the fact that Jaken is also out of commission is something else to take into consideration.
Sesshomaru looked up at Rin, an inquiring look in his eye.
"Rin," Sesshomaru began, a serious tone laced within his words. "Can you remember anything else abut the warm breeze from earlier?"
Rin contemplated his question for a while. Her face twisted as she struggled to remember the details of the previous occurrence.
"It was pink and it was, um, sparkly," Rin replied with a sheepish look on her all too innocent face. She looked at her lord to make sure that he believed her.
"Hmm…" Sesshomaru mused to himself. He sat on the ground for a moment, thinking of what to do next. Sesshomaru decided that it would be best to inquire about Jaken's condition, and the where abouts of Kohaku and Ah-Un.
The dog demon got up from the ground and made his way over to lump that had been identified as Jaken. As he got closer, Sesshomaru could see that the lump was breathing.
Sesshomaru nudged Jaken with his foot. Jaken barely stirred, however he reacted enough to alert Sesshomaru that he was in no immediate danger. Sesshomaru nudged Jaken once again, growing slightly agitated.
"Get up Jaken," he commanded his underling. Jaken still did not rise. Sesshomaru glared at the demonic toad that was giving him a hard time.
A smile appeared on Sesshomaru's face. He decided to wake up Jaken in slightly different manner.
Sesshomaru knelt down beside Jaken. He put his mouth next to one of his ears. He opened his mouth in order to deliver his message.
Jaken," he began with a false cheery tone. The small demon shifted slightly subconsciously sensing the imminent danger. Seeing this Sesshomaru continued.
"Sleep for as long as you wish. I'll be waiting to greet you with a smile when you awake."
Jaken sprang into the air. His eyes held a terrified glint.
"That…that is quite alright Milord. I am awake now and I am ready to serve you in any way possible." Jaken replied hastily doing his best to avoid any ill fated outcomes that would arise by being graced with his lord's smile.
Sesshomaru left Jaken to his frantic scrambling as he turned back to Rin. He stared at her intently with a question burning on the tip of his tongue.
"Rin," he began. She looked at the demon intently. "Am I to assume that Kohaku has left with Ah-Un once again?"
Rin put a finger at the corner of her mouth as she mulled over the question that had just been posed to her. She began to nod her head slowly as if questioning her own answer.
"I think I saw them leaving just before I woke you up…"
Sesshomaru nodded. He waited for Jaken to finish his business. As if on cue Jaken scrambled over to Sesshomaru and Rin.
"Milord you look troubled what is on your mind?" Jaken questioned.
"We are leaving this area." Sesshomaru dead panned. Jaken could only nod in mock understanding: it was never really a good idea to question the demon prince.
"But why are we leaving?" Rin asked, unafraid to voice her dissatisfaction. "I like it here." She concluded.
Sesshomaru glared at the young girl slightly upset about his judgment being questioned. Jaken took this as his cue to run and hide himself behind the nearest rock. However, Jaken's caution was uncalled for. Sesshomaru merely sighed and put his only hand to his face. He looked at Rin and gave the answer to her query.
"Rin it is time to move on. Things are about to transpire that I do not wish to participate in."
Rin stared back at her lord. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity. She was older now, almost twelve, and she wanted to know more than what her lord told her. However at that moment in time, she decided that it would be better to just listen to her lord. Besides she still looked up to him with the same admiration that she did when she was a smaller child, being a young adult didn't change that.
"Where shall we go lord Sesshomaru?" she asked.
One question after the other, Sesshomaru mused silently. He looked at Rin and gave her a straight forward answer. He sighed and spoke.
"I grow tired of continually roaming these lands where the demons are weak and the people are even more pathetic. I wish to check on the state of my father's estate, my home." He finished his statement, waiting for Rin to say something. It was Jaken that responded.
"Milord, do you mean to tell me that we will be going back to the castle of Inutaisho; back to your domain, The Western Lands?"
Sesshomaru looked at Jaken for a moment before slitting his amber gaze at the lowly demon.
"Obviously," he responded.
The dog demon prince began to walk out of the clearing, not waiting for his ward to follow him. Jaken wasted no time in catching up to his master, fearing that if he did not move soon he would no longer have any legs to move with. Rin only watched as the demons walked off.
"I finally get to see where lord Sesshomaru lives," she whispered to herself happily. She some pep in her step and followed her guardians respectfully.
The group left the clearing and headed in the direction of the Western Lands. As they left Sesshomaru began to think quietly to himself.
The pink breeze that Rin mentioned must have been a spiritual blast from some demonic exorcism. Anything powerful enough to bring me down is nothing to be toyed with. I do not feel like getting myself into an unpredictable situation. Going back to father's castle is the best way to do that I suppose. I am not looking forward to repairing the damage that has most certainly been done to it by the incompetent servants that were left behind to guard it.
Sesshomaru sighed and walked on leading Rin and Jaken toward their destination.
"Hurry up," he commanded as he quickened his own pace. The two behind him obeyed and headed off loyal with their master to his home.
(A/N) Why hello again it's nice to see you all at the end of this ridiculously long chapter. I hope it has met the standards of previous chapters. Review to let me know what you think; it's really nice to get feedback. So tell me what you think and if you have any questions feel free to ask.
Rinsuke belongs to moi. Yeah! ^^ He's gonna pop up a lot so be prepared. *maniacal laughter* See you in the next chapter!