Poor Sesshoumaru-sama
Walking back to the others Sesshoumaru stopped when he smelled something that made his eyes narrow. Rin wasn't where she was supposed to be. She was with Kyou, Andrea and that stupid little fox of Inu yasha's. Not bothering to explain to the toad of Sango Sesshoumaru changed directions and continued to follow the river instead of going through the woods which would have been the quicker and less dangerous route. Following behind him slightly Sango chose not to question, keeping silent as she watched him march forward, his bare back a sharp contrast to the night's darkness. Their wet clothes were heavy between them but Sango didn't complain, knowing that he'd only say something that would lead to an argument. Instead she followed and waited to see where he was taking them. Finally hearing the sound of voices and a lot of splashing Sango raised an eyebrow as they came upon Kyou and Andrea apparently giving the children baths. Shippou and Kyou were both only wearing their pants while Rin was wearing a large pink shirt of Kagome's as she crowed with delight as Kyou let her jump off his shoulders and into the water, his hands waiting to catch her under the water and bring her back up. Skippou meanwhile was getting floating lessons from Andrea and the two were on their backs lazily floating away.
)
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin said in surprise as she halted in the process of climbing back onto Kyou's shoulders for another jump. "We're having baths." She quickly explained, beaming at him happily. "Kyou says this is the best way to get suds out of your hair!"
"Did he now?" Sesshoumaru said as he sent his nephew a cool look that had Kyou grinning back sheepishly. "She isn't a strong swimmer."
"Well she will be and she's never more then a foot away from me, promise." Kyou said as he put a hand over his heart and tried not to wince as Rin used his hair to help her climb back up onto his shoulders.
"Sango, what are ya wearin?" Shippou wanted to know having stopped floating once he realized they had company. "That's a really weird looking dress."
"It's not a dress and I'm just wearing it until my own clothes dry, Shippou." Sango said with a smirk, imagining she did look rather strange in Sesshoumaru's backward robe. "Having a fun bath?"
"Yup, yup." Shippou said with a smile of his own just as Rin jumped off Kyou's shoulder and sent a huge splash then a second as she came flying back up again with a smile and Kyou's arms around her waist. "Kagome and Inu yasha went for a walk by the way. I was supposed ta tell ya if I saw you guys. Everyone else is still at camp."
"Alright then. You shouldn't stay in much longer." Sesshoumaru said then looked over at Jakken who seemed to sense what Sesshoumaru was going to say because he was already opening his mouth to protest. "You'll stay here with her until they return to camp."
"But..of course, Sesshoumaru-sama." Jakken said with a grumbling acceptance as he sat down on a nearby fallen log while Sesshoumaru headed towards camp with Sango at his side. There had been a look in his master's eyes that said he wouldn't tolerate complaining. "Why do I always have to watch over the bratty little human?"
)
"I'm surprised that you'd intrust her to that toad. He's not much protection, is he?" Sango said after they'd been walking for a little bit, her head turned towards the river where they'd left the rest. "Plus he doesn't strike me as caring overly much if she lives or dies."
"He knows his fate if he doesn't. Besides he can hold them off long enough for me to get there and that's all that matters." Sesshoumaru said as he tried not to think about the fact that the slayer was starting to treat him differently. She no longer addressed him with hostility ringing in her voice or acted defensively. She's just gotten use to my presence, Sesshoumaru thought, shrugging off the idea that she'd stopped being weary of him. That she seemed to be fine in his company. It just made her weak and stupid not to realize what a threat to her he was.
"I suppose." Sango said with a considering look on her face as she thought that over. "And I guess you wouldn't keep him around if he was a complete waste of space and air. He's been in your family for a long time?"
"Yes." Sesshoumaru said with a coolness coming to his voice. Speaking of the past always did. There was nothing in his past he wished to remember or relieve in his mind.
"That must be nice. There's no one left from my childhood but Kirara." Sango said as she thought of her village, a ghost town with no people to inhabit it. Full of the graves of the dead killed because Naraku had wanted it. "I'm glad that my children have a big family with many siblings and cousins to be there for them, to love them. They'll never be alone as long as they have each other and it's comforting to know that I won't be alone in the future..that I'll have a family again."
)
"Even though you'll be sharing that family with me?" Sesshoumaru said with a smirk, expecting her to say that his part in all this was the major disappointment and source of horror in her little dream future.
"Well there are some good points to being stuck with you, Lord of the West." Sango said with a chuckle as she watched a look of absolute shock pass across his features and stay. Well what do you know, that certainly blew the mighty lord's mind, Sango thought with a smile. "I mean you'd be a good provider and protector, anyone would think twice before crossing paths with you, much less threatening your children. And those children would be strong and powerful, able to take care of themselves and their loved ones. It's nice to know that they'll live long lives and no matter what will never go down without one hell of a fight. It's nice to know that I won't lose them because they weren't strong enough or were alone in a bad situation. It's true that being with you for the rest of my life has some definite downsides and obvious deviations from the future I wanted but I think, all in all, that I could have done a lot worse." Not sure how insulted to be Sesshoumaru could only scowl darkly at the slayer. "That upsets you?" Sango said as she had to smile wider at the look on his face. He looked almost childish at the moment, like child who'd been told he wasn't big enough to play with the big kids. Half insulted and half angry at being rejected. "Well I'd imagine you could come up with a long list of reasons why being stuck with me will be the worse decision you ever will make."
)
"A very long list." Sesshoumaru agreed and just masked his surprise when that comment made her grin at him. "You find that amusing?"
"Well I should probably be insulted but the way I see it if you had to make that list you must have been coming up with some good things about it and therefore had to come up with more reasons against it." Sango said with a cheeky grin on her face.
"And what possible good could there be in being stuck with you for the rest of my life?" Sesshoumaru asked dryly, refusing to believe that there could be any. That he'd thought of even one.
"Uhmm..well...there are lots of positive things." Sango said with a stubborn look on her face as she struggled to come up with points he'd consider good ones. "I'm not a bad catch you know. I'm smart and loyal, dependable and honorable. I uhm..I'm not bad looking and I'm strong even in comparison to many full blooded demons. I'd be a good mother and a faithful wife...I'd be able to cover your back in a battle and protect the children even if it wouldn't be as well as you could. I..I..can cook and sorta run a household if I really set my mind to it. Oh and I can make my own weapons and I come from a distinguished and recognized bloodline." Sango said with a decisive nod, pleased at her list. "And that's just for starters." Sango added though not a lot of others came to mind at the moment.
)
"Such a long list." Sesshoumaru said coolly, his mind centering on two words in particular. Faithful wife. "So you would be a faithful wife hmm? And what if your husband was unfaithful?"
"They would never find the body." Sango said with a cool and serious look on her face.
"Most would simply tolerate it, at least in that case. Were it the woman committing the act she of course would be punished but when it comes to your males you human females seem to tolerate it easily enough. Even in my own culture it's not unusual." Sesshoumaru said as he wondered at her words. She was absolutely serious. Even if she'd married for love she'd have killed that love if he betrayed her. How unusual.
"I'm not most women. If it were an arranged marriage perhaps I would let him live since it wasn't our choice to be stuck together but I'll never be in that situation so it doesn't really apply. My choices are my own and I won't marry anyone unless I love them and they love me in return. If that person, who claimed to love me, became unfaithful I'd lose all trust in him and that would kill my love because one cannot love without trust. That he would care for me so little, that he would wound me so deeply is and would be unforgivable." Sango said, completely forgetting just how sensitive a topic this must be for the dog demon. In truth she rarely thought about why Sesshoumaru hated Inu yasha and humans so much. He had simply hated them for as long as she could remember. "On top of that with my temper I wouldn't likely be able to stop myself."
"And his lover? What would you do to her?" Sesshoumaru asked oh so quietly. "Perhaps even to the children of their affair?"
"To them? Nothing." Sango said, blinking at him in surprise. "It wouldn't be the child or children's fault that they were born. They wouldn't have done anything wrong and would suffer already with the possible stigmas attached to them as a product of an affair. As for his lover..well to be honest I might get into a fight with her but I wouldn't kill her if that's what you're asking. It would have been my husband's choice to enter the affair, his choice to deceive and hurt me. His lover would be simply the woman he chose to have it with who might not even have known I existed. If she did then that speaks badly for her but if not her then it would have likely been someone else."
)
"You would forgive her so easily?" Sesshoumaru said, not able to understand that. His own mother..how she had hated Inu yasha's mother. The venom and hatred she had felt for the human bitch had been present in every word his mother had ever spoken in regards to his father's mistress. Talking about what should be done to her and her bastard half breed had always been one of his mother's favorite things to talk about. His mother had never attempted to do anything, fearing his father's wrath but if she could have..oh if she could have.
"I wouldn't forgive her and I might even hate her for a while but in the end I'd move on and let it rest. If there's one thing I've learned it's that even if you successfully get your revenge it doesn't bring back what was lost. Seeing Naraku destroyed didn't ease the pain of the loss of my family, it just meant that the one thing I'd been living for had been completed. Yes there was satisfaction in knowing that I'd avenge them, that no one would suffer at his hand again but that didn't change the fact that he'd taken the most important people in my life away from me." Sango said quietly, images of her friends and family crossing her mind, their graves following soon after. So many of them, everyone she'd grown up with gone in a single day. "Hating someone gives them power over you, the way you think and act. So much of what I did after I lost my village revolved around him that everything else took a back seat and became secondary to my quest to end his life. I did some pretty stupid and dangerous things, all to try and kill him. It's only now that I realize my family wouldn't have wanted me to avenge them..they would have just wanted me to be happy."
)
Waiting for Sesshoumaru to comment Sango was surprised when he didn't say anything and simply stood there, watching her with golden eyes that gave away nothing of what he was thinking. They stood there for a while, Sango keeping quiet because she sensed it wouldn't be welcome. Finally he turned his head and silently began walking again, Sango following behind as she tried to figure out what she'd said. He'd seemed interested before, what had she said that had made him react like that? If he'd agreed or disagreed with what she'd said you'd think he would have commented instead of just quietly watching her for so long. What was going on behind those golden orbs? Pondering it they were within hearing distance of the camp when it clicked. Oh. His family.
"Sango! You're back. What are you wearing?" Miroku said as he got to his feet, a surprised look on his face as he took in the sight before him. There was Sango wearing some strange looking robe/dress looking shocked and Sesshoumaru, shirtless looking like his usual cold self with his robe and Sango's clothing hanging off the chain between them. "Are you alright?"
"Hmmm?" Sango said as she blinked then seeing the concern on Miroku's face managed a weak smile. "I'm fine."
"You must be cold, come close to the fire and warm up." Sora said as she set a blanket down for her parents to sit on.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Sango said nervously as she looked at Sesshoumaru questioningly, then lowered her head nervously, the way his eyes had prodded her unnerving her.
Without a word Sesshoumaru walked over and sat down on the blanket Sora had set out, Sango sitting at his side with her head bowed slightly as she held her hands out to warm while Sora brought over a blanket to go over Sango's shoulders. "Are the rest still down at the water?" Sora asked hesitantly, knowing her father well enough to know he was seriously brooding about something. Her mother wasn't looking so great either.
"Yes, they're having a wonderful time." Sango said with a weak smile in Sora's direction. "They should be back soon though, the water was getting pretty chilly."
)
"I don't like this." Miroku muttered as he watched Sora and Sango chat through the flames of the fire while Sesshoumaru ignored them and everyone else for that matter. "Something happened out there. I can practically see it written all over them."
"They're both fine. I don't smell any blood or any other telling scents other then whatever they washed with." Kouga said with a shake of his head though he too was picking up strange vibes from the dog and the slayer. Perhaps something was said that shouldn't have been? Or more likely Sesshoumaru-sama was simply being his normal self and the slayer had gotten upset or afraid. He wouldn't put it past the demon to go into vivid detail as to how much he wanted to kill her. Of course there was the fact that it looked as though the two would end up together but Kouga imagined that only made Sesshoumaru want to kill her more at the moment. Interestingly enough whatever it was the slayer was wearing smelled strongly of the dog demon and was far too large for the slayer suggesting it was the demon's. So why was the slayer wearing it instead?
)
"We're back!" Rin called out from Kyou's shoulders where she was riding piggy back while Shippou was content to walk on his own with Jakken trailing far behind. Dressed in their normal clothing they were all in high spirits. All scrubbed clean their hair was damp and plastered to their heads but all three of them still looked unbelievably adorable.
"Welcome back." Sora called out with a small smile as she returned Rin's enthusiastic wave with a more dignified one of her own. "No need to ask if you three had fun."
"We did, we did!" Rin said as she nodded her head rapidly as Kyou removed her from her shoulders and set her down on the ground. Immediately racing over to Sesshoumaru Rin quickly pulled something out of her pocket. "And Sesshoumaru-sama I found...." Rin began then stopped when she saw the look on her master's face. "I'll show you later." Rin said as her smile dimmed slightly. Her master was sad.
"Can I see, Rin?" Sango asked gently, reading the girl correctly. Apparently the girl was very in-tuned with Sesshoumaru's moods.
"Sure." Rin said as she moved over to Sango's side and displayed a shiny rock which was half of another piece somewhere. Inside this half were small white crystals. "Isn't it pretty?"
"Silly girl." Jakken huffed as he shook his head at the whole thing and walked over to his master intending to speak to him about something but stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw the look in his master's eyes. Now was not the time to speak to his master about important matters, they would have to wait till morning or whenever Sesshoumaru-sama was approachable. Right now it was impossible to judge his mood and that was when he was at his most dangerous.
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"It's beautiful." Sango said with a smile as she reached out and ruffled Rin's hair. "And your hair needs to be brushed out. Would you like me to do it?"
"Really? Ya!" Rin said with a wide grin before hurrying to get her comb. Coming back quick as a rabbit she sat down in front of the slayer and Sango began to carefully comb the girl's hair out gently, taking her time about it. After all it was good practice since it looked like she was going to have three girls, Sango thought with a small smile. And four boys who looked just like their enigma of a father.