CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
Sesshomaru
I witnessed her head roll to the the side, eyelids lightly glossed with that sapphire that was tinted with the flicker of embers. Her skin was tarnished with blisters and broken skin. She had worked so hard to protect the girls upon my back. And yet, she had worked so hard to try not to trouble me. I felt my eyes soften as I studied her blackened face.
Immediately, I snapped myself out of my trance, clearing the heated forest. I let a pained moan as I let my body drop with all three women. What a fool I was. Why did I even save these women? I had no relation to them. I felt my upper lip pull into a tight snarl. I hated this softening that was affecting me.
I was just glad that Jaken wasn't here to ridicule me. I was sickening even myself. I let out a sigh as I stared at the disheveled female before me. Her bangs matted against her face in a heavy sweat, she didn't look like a princess anymore. Her chest moved up and down with her broken breaths, disgruntled expression crossing her face.
I pressed a empty palm against my leg, flinching as my hakama rubbed against my raw and burnt skin. I glanced over at the girls scattered across the ground in the most disorganized of manners. Had I stirred any of them? No.
I heard a sputtering cough, signaling to me that the dog demon had awoken. As sudden as that, Mikage had gone from sleeping in a hazy world to spitting out a cough. One after the other. I listened as the girl shot out another dry heave, attempting to clear all of that corroding rusty smoke from her lungs that were already asking and pleading for air.
"Sesshomaru..."
Her voice was streaked with a crusty tone, and when I turned to face her, her shoulders were huddled. I watched as she sat there and suffered, remembering the look she had back then.
That weakened look as she begged for my assistance.
The pained expression begging me to find her parents.
Even though that woman.
That woman who had beaten her with no mercy.
I didn't care what excuse she gave me.
I would never forgive that woman.
Mikage forced yet another cough out, this time splattering red down her chin. I felt as my body brought itself forward to her, bringing a hand over her gaping wound. She shot a puzzled look at me.
"I'm merely stopping the bleeding, Mikage. You'll attract demons. They'll surely kill you in this state. Understand this, and do not question my motives," I demanded of her.
She grinned at me, her coughs dying down to a few lurches every now and then. I felt my hands becoming wet and sticky with the heated material. When I reverted my eyes back to her, she gave me a sweet, warm smile. She hadn't shed a single tear, and yet I knew that I was hurting her. Drawing my hand away, I felt my eyelids draw into a squinted disgust. Her repulsively sugary blood was covering and sticking to my skin. I decided not to overstay my welcome.
"Will you be back?"
Her slight pleading tone made me decide that perhaps I could spare a visit.
"Perhaps. Don't expect it, though." With that, I placed foot into the unburnt woods to find Rin and Jaken.