A Demon of a Woman /Sesshomaru Calls\*

Chapter 4

'Inuyasha, Shippo, Kirara-they are all different like me. Even Sesshomaru…most of all Sesshomaru. Whatever kind I am, it is the same as him…the enemy. And what if it's not just him, but his KIND, that is the enemy…would they try to kill me too?'

"Ye do not possess sacred jewels?" I shook my head for the umpteenth time. I couldn't believe this questioning was still going on. I couldn't believe I was still allowing it. I'm an adult and my own person-so why was I sitting here allowing them to interrogate me? "And I don't have to ask about scared powers. My intuitions have served me correct many time, and she is not of priesthood, nor will ever be." Kaede finished for the umpteenth time as well. "But as fate would have, she has still been led to the well between eras. If there is a purpose for ye, it will come with time." She concluded.

"IF. TIME. Those are two words I DON'T have TIME for. I can't be worrying about some helpless human that doesn't know a thing about anything when I'm trying to find Naraku." He growled, thumping his fist against the floor at the mention of the name 'Naraku'. "She has to go back!" He pointed a claw in m direction even though he was staring down the others.

"Again, I'm still here! And I can HEAR you!" I hollered at him, my blood slowly beginning to boil. "And another thing, you don't control me!" I got up from my seat with huff.

He jumped up, a bit dramatically, from his spot as well. "Too bad for you, cause it's not like you have a choice. I could have you back in your time already if I wanted, so just stay quiet and feel lucky that you're still here for the time being" He snapped.

"Inuyasha," Miroku called in a low tone, trying to get his attention without bringing too much attention to himself. ", you don't have to be so rude." He chastised. He wasn't the one yelling and threatening me, but a giant sweat drop still formed on his forehead as he took in my body shaking with anger.

"Corrine, please don't mind him. He just has a ban mixture of hardheaded and stubbornness, which as you can see is not a good combination." Sango commented, waving her hand as if to shove aside Inuyasha actions.

"No, I'm not! Stop talking about me or for me. She needs to go back and that's that!" He shouted with his finger in my face. His posture straightened, as if he was trying to look all high and mighty, standing higher than everyone with his demanding posture.

'I can't leave. Even if I'm too afraid to show them what I am, I just can't leave…I've come too close to leave this behind…'

"You think I'm gonna just sit around here for this and wait?" I growled quietly to myself, but of course Inuyasha still caught it. His ear twitched, and he snarled at me.

He could sneer at me and yell all he wanted, that wouldn't stop me from heading for the door. The heavy footfalls thudded on the ground with my quickening pace. I didn't waste a second and started jogging once I was out of the hut, making my way down the hill next to it.

"W-wait! Corrine, slow down!" Shippo cried out as I made a step forward to start running. But instead I came to an immediate stop. Shippo's voice was so close it caught me by surprise.

"Shippo?" I looked down at him, confused to see him holding onto my dress for dear life…upside down.

Dizzying swirls started to glaze over his eyes with the mixture of blood rushing to his head and the momentum of my leaving. I finally noticed his tiny foot which had managed to tangle in the lace of my dress, which had trapped him when I sped out of there.

Relieving him from his hanging stature, I couldn't help but cradle him in my arms until the glazed over daze left his eyes. "Sorry." I cooed to him in a partial baby-talk tone. With a shake of the head, he seemed to snap out of it instantly and scurried his way in a circle around my back to sit on my shoulder.

"It's okay. Just make sure you give me another head rub before you do anything like that again. And-" He went to sit himself on my shoulder and reached his hand out to the side of my head to support him. Shippo slipped, and being such a tiny bugger, his hand managed to make its way through my hair and grasped onto my ear…my elf-like demon ear.

"Corrine" Shipped gasped quietly. I could feel his little hand fingering the shape of my ear, "Wha-" He scurried over my shoulder and leaned his face into mine. His mouth hung agape, unable to finish his question.

"Please don't tell." I whispered, hanging my head unable to look at him.

Shippo placed his tiny hands under my chin, lifting it up to look at him; which wasn't hard to miss since his whole body could cover my face. "Why? It would solve so many questions and Inuyasha wouldn't-" He stopped, looking hesitant to continue when he noticed the sadness that crept into my eyes.

"For you this may be hard to understand because this is the world you were born and raised in. Where I come from, I'm the ONLY demon among human. A minority like me is something that is feared and hated. I've spent many, many years incapable of trusting humans-and I know that Sango, Miroku and Kagome may be different-but I need time. I can't be expected to trust one so willingly…I need time." I told Shippo. I hoped it would be enough to keep him at bay and not go running to the others.

"Oh…" Was all he could manage at first, not sure what to say.

I lifted him off my shoulder and placed him on the ground. I had to make sure he would stay quiet, so I crouched down to his level. "Just promise me you won't say anything?"

After a few seconds his face lit up and he held out a thumbs-up. "You can count on me" He huffed proudly.

"Thank you, Shippo" I smiled and ruffled his hair for a moment before straightening back up. "I'll see you around." I gave a small wave before running off towards the fields.

After I had made it into the front line of the woods, I slowed down to a walk. I felt by this point I'd be a safe enough distance from Inuyasha for him to want to bother coming to get me.

The sun had only just begun to fall when I had reached the woods, but there were so many trees, it almost looked as though it were already midnight. Hours later, when the night finally reached pitch black, I decided to stop. I took rest against a big tree with a curved trunk that sank in slightly; almost like a bark hammock. It wasn't ideal, but it would make due for the night.

"Rin! Come back here!"

Some noise in the distance poked through my dreams and slowly stirred me.

"No, Master Jaken. We are on a mission, and we cannot fail!" I heard a little voice speak up, full of determination. It poked through the last hole and I finally opened my eyes wearily for a second.

Without much time to adjust, the sun broke through the branches and I had to shield my eyes with a raised arm. I guess the birds chirping wasn't enough of a give-a-way to tell it was morning, and quite bright too.

Slowly adjusting my eyes, I sat up from where I lay and stretched my arms and arched my back. I couldn't help but moan with the sounds of the wonderful cracks that followed. Like I said, it wasn't perfect, but it made due.

"Look!" That same tiny voice gasped, "I told you it would only be a little longer" It commented in a clear 'I told you so' tone.

I tilted my head in the direction of the voice. With a raised brow, I watched curiously as a little girl with long black hair skipped her way to me with a giant smile on her face. Following behind he was this thing that made me start giggling as I looked at it and thought of Yoda.

And then the laughs died short when the girl suddenly stopped right in front of me. Now her head tilted, watching me back curiously. It lasted about a second, and then she cleared her throat and took a more serious stance.

"Hi, I'm Rin." She introduced, waving her hand cutely at me. "And this is Master Jaken." She added, pointing her thumb behind her at the green guy. He stood with his arms crossed and huffed something about 'I can do it myself'.

"Hi Rin," I said, my voice airy and full of warmth. I couldn't help it. I always got cheerier around children, "I'm Corrine. Was there something you needed help with?" I asked, "I couldn't help but overhear."

Rin gasped, looking at me in amazement. "You mean you could hear us from all the way over there?!" She gaped, pointing to the other side of the field where they had been when their chatter first woke me…A good distance farther than most humans could hear. 'Damn, I was sleeping. Hoe was I supposed to know they were so far away?' My eye seemed to twitch when I noticed 'Jaken' in the background watching me with a raised brow. "Well that makes this so much easier."

The girl's wide grin faltered slightly, bring mine down with hers. She dropped to her knees in front of me. "It's my Lord. He's been hurt very badly." When she looked back at me, tears were brimming her eyes. "I'm so scared. He's normally a very strong man, but…I fear he may die and I don't know how to help him. Corrine, would you please help me?" She cried out. Rin suddenly jumped forward and wrapped her arms around me with her head buried in my stomach.

'I don't trust enough and this girl…she might be too trusting. It's a good thing she ran into me' Her actions startled me at first, but I wrapped my arms around her nonetheless. I rubbed small circles into her back as I responded, "Well, I can't say I'd know how I can help until I see him…but, that doesn't mean I won't try my best." I gave her a smile, trying to be reassuring.

She looked up at me with a sniffle and a small smile. After wiping away a few stray tears from her cheek, I trailed my hand around her face, cupped her chin and placed a small peck on her forehead. Her grin grew a little bigger and she wiped the remaining tears on her sleeve. "Well, what are we waiting for/" I asked her with a coy smile. Her face lit up and she nodded determinedly, which made me giggly lightly at her reaction.

Picking herself up from me with a little hop from my lap, she turned around and ran back toward the direction she came from. She ran with her arms outstretched in the air like she was flying. After a few more steps she stopped and turned to watch as I slowly walked up to her. She grabbed onto my hand with her arms still outstretched. "Thank you" She smiled one more time at me before looking straight ahead, determined to get back to her Lord.

*I do not own the Inuyasha manga or TV series. I do not have any affiliation with the writer of this series. This book is a fanfiction and I do not own any of the characters that are from the Inuyasha series. The only character that is mine is the original character Corrine Matsumoto