CHAPTER TEN

Inu no Taisho

I hadn't expected Sesshomaru to visit me, but as soon as I stepped outside, I saw that something was deeply wrong. Blood littered the ground, and Jaken was running around in circles, panicking. But something was worse than that. The girl that admired Sesshomaru so, was lying on the ground, dead. Jaken looked up at me hopefully, running over as soon as he had lay eyes on me.

"Oh, Lord Father! It's absolutely terrible! Milady has died, Lord Sesshomaru has been injured, demons may be coming and-" I had to cut him off before he continued any further. I knew that Sesshomaru would be fine, but the girl had died... I had no idea about how long she had been dead, but I had to try. As I removed the Tenseiga from my belt, the imp backed up considerably. "Lord Father! What are you doing?!" he cried.

I held Tenseiga over the body. Sure enough, the messengers of the Netherworld had come. Their disturbing cries shrouded my ears, seeming unaware of my presence. Taking aim, I sliced. They diminished into the air quickly.

I knelt over the girl after placing the sword into it's sheath. Leaning in closer, I listened. Much to my happiness, I heard her heart begin to beat again. Very slowly, but then eventually returning to normal pace. She squeezed her eyes shut, before ever so slightly opening them. Not soon after, she tightly closed them again.

"Mmm... It's bright..." she complained, covering her eyes with her arms. I smiled to myself before leaning back.

"I'm glad you're all right," I told her, chuckling a bit. "If you have enough energy to complain, that means that you'll be just fine. I'm sure that Sesshomaru will be happy about that, even if he doesn't say it. How are you feeling?"

"I kind of have a headache... But I'm okay... Um... What... What happened...?" She peeked at me from behind her sleeve. That was a hard question to answer without scaring her... I searched my mind for an answer. Her voice was ever so quiet as she asked, "I died, didn't I?"

Surprised, I nodded.

"Yes... You did... But you were revived with my healing sword- the Tenseiga. If it is okay with you, I would like it if both you and Sesshomaru stayed overnight. I want to address his wounds, and get you both cleaned up." This time, she nodded.

"I want to find both Mama and Papa in the morning, please...?" I wasn't used to her not stuttering, but I agreed, smiling at her warmly.

"Of course we can. Now how about we get Sesshomaru inside, mm? I think that might be best." She grinned cutely and laughed.

"Yeah!"

When we had gone to fetch Sesshomaru, though, I saw Jaken, his jaw basically dropped to the floor. He pointed to me and the sword, then to Mikage. Then he fainted. What an interesting creature. Mikage ran over to him worriedly and begun shaking him.

"L-Lord Jaken! Wake up! Please!"

I placed a hand on her shoulder, and shook my head.

"Don't you worry, Mikage. He's just fine. Just a bit surprised, is all." She undoubtedly cared for everyone, and referred to most or everyone in respectful terms. She was very polite. Mikage lifted Jaken into her arms, still looking quite concerned.

"Lord Inu no Taisho? Can I please help you take care of them?" she asked, her brow creasing. I nodded. I would feel slightly bad for asking this, but...

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you know how to cook?" I asked, walking over to the tree Sesshomaru was leaning against. As I picked him up, I heard her gasp in happiness.

"You mean you'd let me cook for you?" she squealed, running up to me.

"I take it you can cook? Well then, I would be very grateful if you would."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord Inu no Taisho!"

With that, we both went inside.