Chapter Seven

Sesshomaru was surprised to see a young woman had suddenly joined him, Jaken and Ah-Un in the small clearing where they were resting. His eyes betrayed none of their canine features, but he could see well in the dark and noticed she wore a kimono unfit for travelling which was completely soaked. It stuck onto her limbs and thin waist almost like a second skin. Jaken was quick to voice his opinion on her apparition. Right now he, Sesshomaru, had not yet decided how to respond. Never had he smelled her approaching, but now her scent drifted into his sensitive nose. This was the first time Sesshomaru had ever came across a human who could teleport. He had been patrolling the Eastern border of his domain after he had felt a disturbance he could not place. A few days ago he had located the cause: a group of monks had been travelling just passed his territory and their leader emmitted a strange jaki. But seeing they were only humans he payed no further notice to them. But now this girl appeared before him... and something about her scent was similar to that of the monk. He recognized her of course, seeing he had rescued her along with Rin a few months ago. It was a strange coincedence to meet her again...

"Wait... have we... met before?" Haruna asked.

"Hnn," was his response.

"Yes, is your memory defect? You should thank Lord Sesshomaru for getting out of his way to save you!" Jaken answered in Sesshomaru's place. She looked from the little demon to this... 'Lord Sesshomaru'.

"So it was you, thank you," she said, "and now we meet again... It's been a strange evening."

"He only saved you because of Rin!" Jaken spoke while crossing his arms. He was staring at her with his yellow eyes, obviously annoyed. Haruna cocked up her eyebrows.

"That little girl? You know where she is? Is she alright!"

"You need not worry about her," Sesshomaru said. That was the first time he had truly spoken to her. His voice was masculine but cold, a shiver ran down her spine. His demonic aura was strong, stronger than any she had ever felt. Although he had given her an answer it wasn't exactly what she had hoped to find out.

"Then where is she?" she asked.

"She's safe," he answered flatly. He stood up and she saw he was a head taller than her. Haruna noticed his proud and stoic demeanor.

"Jaken."

"Y-yes, milord?" the imp squeaked.

"Let's go."

"No, wait!" Haruna exclaimed, she didn't even know why. But then something unexpected happened. The katana started trembling, getting hot inside of its sheath once again. The same red glow appeared as before. Haruna grabbed the hilt and tried her best not to show what effort it took her to control it, smoke trailed up from inside the sheath. Sesshomaru watched her sword blankly and stood still, but she doubted it was because she had told him to wait. When the trembling stopped her hand felt painful but she ignored it.

"What are you, woman?" he asked, glaring down.

"I'm Haruna," she replied.

"I didn't ask your name, but what you are."

"Heh," she laughed unamused, "I'm a miko, what are you?"

"Insolent girl! Don't you know how to reply with respect? This is-"

"Jaken."

The imp stopped talking and swallowed. Why was his lord bothering to respond this human? In all the years of his service, Sesshomaru had changed most in the last six years. In the past he would've killed a human who told him to wait. What was different now? Had he grown soft because she saved Rin when he wasn't around? As if Sesshomaru understood what Jaken was thinking he quickly gave him a deadly glare.

'Owh how does he always seem to know what I'm thinking?' Jaken worriedly thought to himself as he backed down a few steps.

"You don't seem to be able to draw that katana," Sesshomaru stated. Haruna felt a little embarassed that it was so obvious that she couldn't handle her own sword, she didn't reply him.

'Kodama-sama said I'm tainted... and the incantation engraved in my katana can only be handled by the pure... I have to cleanse myself of bad karma.'

"We're leaving, Jaken," the young man told his servant, he had already turned his back on her.

Follow him.

The two headed dragon stopped grazing and lifted his heads up. Jaken would sometimes fly holding onto the boa-like fur that fell over Sesshomaru's shoulder, but this time he climbed up Ah-Un's saddle.

Follow him!

It was as though a voice spoke from deep within.

"Hey! Let me come with you, uhm, I want to see Rin and... and I should repay you for saving me," Haruna told Sesshomaru to his back with a soft smile. He stopped and turned his head to the left so he could see her from the corner of his eye. His silver hair glistened in the moonlight.

"I don't need help from the likes of you," he replied coldly.

"The likes of- What's your problem?" a suddenly irritated Haruna called out to his back, "someone's trying to be nice to you and this is how you respond?"

He payed no further attention to her and continued his way. The dragon softly roared and watched his master's movements closely, he was ready to soar into the sky if he needed to. Jaken was holding onto its reigns. Haruna noticed that they were probably going to fly and felt a sting of loneliness.

"Don't just leave me here!" she shouted.

She started walking after Sesshomaru, a little shaky on her feet from exhaustion.

You need to stay close to him!

He was walking away from her without changing his pace and this voice inside kept urging her to follow. The two-headed dragon was bending his legs to jump. She knew this was her only chance! She managed to pull a short sprint and jumped up grabbing his saddle while the dragon pushed himself from the ground.

"Are you insane! Let go!" Jaken yelled trying to poke her off with his staff, she slid a few inches lower and her hand which al ready hurt from holding her sword now ached from clenching the leather straps of the saddle. She slapped his staff away and gave him an annoyed stare. She was hanging on Ah-Un's right side and the dragon was clumisily trying to fly higher despite all the movement on his back. The trees were coming closer, was Ah-Un going to make it in time? Her eyes sperred open... she pulled up her legs and just missed a tree top. She looked back and saw the clearing becoming smaller and smaller below her. With an effort she pulled herself up.

"Move over, Jaken," she muttered.

"W-what are you doing! Lord Sesshomaru!" hopefully he looked at his master to see if he would come to his aid, but he ignored the struggle that was going on between his servant and Haruna.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken whined another time, but then understood nothing was going to happen. Grudgingly he scooted over so that Haruna could swing her leg across Ah-Un's saddle and sit properly. Jaken might seem grumpy at times, but he wasn't so bad as to use the burning flame of his staff in this girl's face and force her to leave (or die) that way. Maybe inside he felt a little grateful that she had saved Rin before.

"Guess you'll just have to tolerate my presence, Jaken-sama," Haruna said triumphantly.

"Why you...!" Jaken said, but his annoyance sounded a little feigned. He couldn't fully mask that he was pleased she had called him sama, even is she sounded teasing.

'Lord Sesshomaru, why did you let this girl follow us?' Jaken complained to himself while missing the good old days when only he accompanied his lord.

Haruna smiled while she enjoyed the cool night wind in her face. She sat behind Jaken, who still held Ah-Un's reigns. Sesshomaru flew in front of them, his long hair and fluffy boa fluttered behind him. She had no idea where they were going, but didn't care. The stars twinkled above their heads, morning was still far away. She yawned and closed her eyes for a moment feeling strangely comfortable, even though she was two hundred yards above the ground wearing damp clothes in the company of demons she hardly knew.

'Three demons and a miko... We should be fighting. Still, I feel safe. Isn't that odd? Kodama-sama would scold me if he saw me like this.' That thought almost made her giggle. She felt free like the wind that blew in her face.

The leaves on the high trees rustled in the wind, insects chirped from hidden places, squirrels searched the ground for fallen nuts, a few fireflies danced above the grass... The moonlit clearing where Lord Sesshomaru had met Haruna betrayed nothing of their presence there, just a few hours ago. One more hour and it would become dawn. A deer was eating grass around the same spot where Ah-Un stood before. Something dark moved past the tree trunks... the deer raised his head and twitched its ears. Suddenly he bolted away into the forest. A deep dark shadow glided across the terrain and seemed to suck up all the light in it. It first went left and stayed there, then it moved to the right close to the tree where Sesshomaru had been sitting. Finally, after searching the ground for another minute, it came to an halt where Haruna had appeared before Sesshomaru. A figure rose up from the shadow that seemed to be made from darkness itself. It possessed long clawed fingers and feet, its back was hunched and his spine was spiked. Its head was beast-like, as that of an orc. Gray paint decorated its face in the shape of a skull, emphasizing the dark eyes that lay deep in their sockets. A dark smoke appeared to rise from its body whenever it moved. In his right hand a small golden amulet dangled from a silver chain, reflecting the moonlight, before the darkness of his body swallowed it. He bend over on all fours until his head was just a few inches above the ground. A sniffing sound broke the silence in the clearing. It crawled around following the scent he had picked up until he stood at the point where Haruna had grabbed hold of Ah-Un's saddle. It filled its nostrils with her scent. Suddenly he looked up to the sky and laid bare his black sharp teeth. A long high pitched screech ripped the air, filled with malice and hatred. In an instant his body fell back into a shadow with a puff of dark smoke. The shadow raced across the clearing and vanished between the trees. An ear deafening silence returned to the clearing. The insects were still, the squirrels gone... even the wind seemed to hold in its breath. An otherworldly creature had just been in their midst.

A/N: I wanna thank all my readers and reviewers! It's awesome to notice other people are following your work. I get the feeling this is going to become a story with many chapters... 50'ish I guess. As always I hope you liked it. I would be able to know if you would leave a review... you know you want to ;)
Till next time - Demiyah