Unexpected Meeting (Protective Fortress Part One)
Touga had watched Fujinki leave with Sango, from the open window of his room. Looking out for her safety, surveying the area for any danger that might approach that fading dot in the sky. After it had gone, he sighed a small breath of relief before lowering his eyes to the windowsill. Why in the world was he so drawn to a human, when before he had paid them no mind? What in the world had gotten into him? This was so much more foreign than what he's felt for InuKimi. At least at the start.
The sounds of geta approaching him from behind was overheard, though he did not bother to look over his shoulder, to know who it was that stood there. A prolonged silenced stretched out between the two, but you could feel the tension and likely cut it with a knife.
"Are you still playing with your food, Touga?"
After a short silence between the two, he turned on his heel to face his mate, his face remaining as calm as always. The silence carried on for a few moments longer before he finally opened his mouth.
"She was meant to be a guest here, Fujinki had found her"
"Why? What importance is she to our home?"
Touga narrowed his eyes at Inukimi before moving past her, while she stood there staring at where he once stood. Her ears listened and picked up on his fading footsteps. His answer, or lack thereof was clear. He meant to keep her. But for what reason? This was an investigation that needed to be looked into. InuKimi turned on her heel and moved out of the room herself, leaving it vacant.
Meanwhile, Fujinki had taken Sango a fair distance away from the ground castle. Looking back and still atop his cloud of youki, he made sure he had not been followed. Unless of course, it was Kyaru. Another that was assigned to keep the human safe.
"Umm..."
Fujinki lowered his scarlet gaze to the human held in his arms, still and calm for now. Sango was at the moment, staring up at him and seemed to be wanting to ask him something. Itching even. Patiently though, he watched and waited for her to say something.
"Do you think you could take me to a spring?"
And there it was: The question he dreaded the entire time. She couldn't wait, could she? With a sigh and a reluctant agreement, Fujinki descended with a soft sound of his shoes hitting the ground. After a moment he lowered her to the ground from his arms, looking around them to be sure no danger lingered. Once he was sure that no danger loomed around, he directed his gaze towards the human once more.
"Little rabbit, you will follow me to the spring"
Sango furrowed her brow somewhat at Fujinki. He's not called her by her name yet; and what's more, he too was treating her like they were back at the castle.
"Listen here, mister! If you want to treat me like they do, don't. I'm not a servant, nor a princess. I'm not even comfortable in being in this situation! So, why don't you call me by my name, like the rest of them?"
Fujinki was taken aback by her sudden outburst but quickly, recomposed himself. Coughing calmly into his curled fist, he made sure to do so away from her, while shutting his eyes for a moment.
"I apologize if I upset you, but I recommend you stop your unnecessary shouting. If you continue, you might attract danger. Now, please take a moment or so to calm yourself, so that we may venture off to the hot spring"
Sango shut her eyes with furrowed brows and turned away from him, crossing either of her arms below her bust in the process. Fujinki on the other hand, kept his eyes on her: what was it about this human that seemed so special, that even Lord Inu no Taishou seems interested? Thinking of that now, she did seem unlike other human women, in more ways then one. After a short few moments, Sango had calmed down enough to be led down a path leading to a hot spring surrounded by trees and several bushes about. Fujinki turned and stepped over behind a tree nearby. Though he sensed her looking his way, he rose a brow then turned around only to see she'd approached him, looking displeased.
"I agreed for you to lead me here, but you're going to give me the privacy I want, right?"
Fujinki offered her a knowing smile before turning away to take a few steps further, sitting below the third tree furtherest away from the hotspring. Sango let out a bit of a frustrated sigh before turning on her heel to approach the hot spring. It took a moment or so for her to vent her frustrations, but looking at the warm water slowly calmed her further and brought memories to the surface. Her times with Kagome, sharing and talking within many hot springs much like this one. The expressions on Sango's face changed from frustrated to saddened, shaking her head a little cleared those emotions for now. As lonely as she was, and not knowing anyone familiar here, she was not going to let herself cry... not here, and not yet.
Calming down from her inner turmoil, Sango undid the obi and continued on with the second layer, letting either one fall in unison. She undid her hair from the binds of the ribbon and stepped into the warm water that eased her tense muscles and troubled mind. As soon as the heated water touched her bare skin, she outwardly relaxed enough, to lean back against the rock behind her. After several minutes, her eyes rose up to where the colors of purple, orange and blue painted the skies. A small sigh escaped her, for likely the hundredth time since she'd arrived in this foreign world. First and foremost, she had to think back to when this first started. Then maybe she could think of a plan, though therein lied her problem. Any plan she could conduct wouldn't work if she wasn't familiar with the layout of the land.
Meanwhile, back to the remnants of the Inu-gang, Kagome had returned from her time to resume discussing what was going to happen now, or more like what had already happened. According to her or rather what InuYasha relayed to her, Miroku had wandered several times to the well in the dead of night, and on those occasions waited until dawn broke out in order to pray and hope that Sango was there, or that she would return that night. On some of his most desperate nights, he even tried to jump into said well in hopes that it would teleport him to where Sango was, waiting to be rescued. Each time InuYasha had to eventually return him to the village because of his insistent screaming for her name, which would result in a heated fight between the monk and half-breed; each one which InuYasha refused to fight back.
"Maybe I really shouldn't have went back home..."
Kaede lowered her eye to the crackling fire in the hut, taking a few pokes at it with an iron pick. Kagome stared at the floorboards, only to hear the tabi mat move at the door. Both lifting their gazes, they were met with a defeated InuYasha, looking extremely "pooped out" to be more precise. Tired. His eyes were drooping, as were his ears. They were practically pinned to his head. And his expression... it broke her heart. Kagome stood and approached him. For the first time since this all started, without caring who was around and watching, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head down to her shoulder. Strangely enough, he didn't put up a fight against her embrace for the fear of others judging them in some way, shape or form. Though he had become a bit tense.
"InuYasha, you look exhausted"
InuYasha slowly relaxed, physically in her arms, shutting his eyes in the process. What she had said was an understatement. He had stayed up for days... or perhaps weeks on end, without rest. And Miroku wasn't helping his situation, either. InuYasha had for close to two weeks, been on the lookout for any clue or anything otherwise that could prove that Sango was indeed alright. He'd even went to talk to Totosai for answers, and even the ancient BokusenÅ, to which there were still no clear answer from either. Kagome felt InuYasha lean further into her after a few prolonged moments, causing her to fall on her back and a surprised yelp escaped her. Looking down with a furrowed brow, she was about to yell at him but the expression on his face stopped her from doing so. He'd fallen asleep. Kaede had seen the entire scene play out and finally, cracked a little smile despite the whole ordeal with Sango's disappearance. He had really pushed himself out, hadn't he? Kagome frowned a little before reaching for his thick head of silver hair, lightly brushing her hand over it, causing him to shift in his sleep but not much else.
Meanwhile, back in the past, Sango had stayed a little too long in the hot spring for Fujinki's tastes, and he asked her to step out. Which resulted in a bit of an argument between the two, and in turn caused her to step out and dress quickly to walk away from him. Fujinki had noticed the forgotten hair ribbon and so picked it up, deciding to keep it on hand until she was calmer. He followed after her, at the very least some few feet away. A small smile reached his lips, as his ears picked up the small mumbles escaping from her own.
Some few hours passed before she stopped to gaze at the sky, realizing then that it was a moonless night. Her eyes slowly softened, as she felt that same familiar feeling when one was about to cry. Fujinki remained rooted where he stood, even as the smell of her tears filled the night air. Fujinki could take it no more after a few minutes, the scent of tears never sat well with him. He approached her, laying a hand on her shoulder and was shocked immediately when she turned her head to look at him. Her expression then was mixed, either brows furrowed making her look somewhat angry and small tears fell, that she clearly tried to keep at bay but failed. He lifted his hand from her shoulder as she turned to look from him.
"Why do you cry?" his voice came out concerned but smoothly.
There was no response from her as she lifted the sleeve to her eyes in order to wipe whatever evidence of tears was left on her skin. Eventually she took a breath before walking ahead, knowing full well she couldn't outrun a demon, even if she tried. Fujinki sighed at this and continued to trail after her. There was silence between the two for another hour or so before he'd decided it was a good time to stop for some proper rest. For her especially. He hoped that it would get her spirit lightened up, or at least... improve her mood.
Fujinki watched as she seated herself against the trunk of a decent sized tree and leaned back. Occasionally, her eyes would fall on him to which when he returned her gaze, she'd look elsewhere. After a few minutes of that exchange, he'd given up and seated himself in a similar fashion under a tree across from the young woman. Sango watched him as he did that and immediately, she could tell he was faking his rest. Little did they know, a small pair of red eyes watched curiously from the bushes nearby.
~*~ I'd like to take a moment to once again thank, my beta Soulfire7609 for assisting me with proof reading my stories. and thank you my readers and reviewers. Without you, I wouldn't have gotten this far. So, thank you all very much.
Also I apologize for the cliff hanger, but you now have something to look forward too. :D.~*~