So this chapter would be considered T. Let me know what you think of it, and I might occasionally add T chapters along with the K+ chapters. This chapter is mostly bad guys plotting, some fighting, and a bit of fluff at the end.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
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Naraku was hiding in the shadows, waiting silently. He had set the meeting up, after all, and was already mostly disappointed with the demon that he had approached a few days earlier. The reason being that the demon was late for the meeting, which told Naraku that the demon wasn't intimidated by him, at all. Naraku cast a glance around once more, before closing his eyes. It really didn't matter much to him whether the demon feared him or not. After all, the demon was merely a pawn to be used. It wouldn't even matter if it were killed in its errand that he was sending it on. Naraku's eyes flashed open as a demonic aura suddenly appeared in front of him.
"What do you want?" The demon stayed hidden in the shadows, but Naraku could see that the demon itself was shadowy, and a peculiar feeling came over him. When Naraku tried to focus on the demon, it almost looked as if he was looking at himself.
Naraku smiled to himself. A shape shifting demon would be of use to him to keep one of his pursuers off his trail, while he found another suitable place to hide and gather his strength. Even this low level demon should be able to keep Sesshomaru occupied. Or, rather, occupied looking for someone else, "I want you to go find Sesshomaru, a dog demon. He travels with a few companions, one of them human girl."
The shadowy demon made a sound which sounded like a snort of amusement, "Pah, weakling humans. Why would a demon bother dragging one along?"
Naraku gave a barely noticeable shrug, "I would not know. However, if you were to take the girl, Sesshomaru would come after her."
The demons red eyes narrowed, "...and I would be able to defeat this Sesshomaru and get a hold of one of those Shikon shards, as you said in our earlier conversation?"
Naraku inclined his head, "Of course, that is, provided you defeat him." The shadowy demon let out a grinding, then grating sound that Naraku presumed was something along the lines of a laugh as sharp teeth were bared.
"It will be done."
Naraku watched as the demon faded from view, before smiling to himself again. There would be only one that would remain standing, and Naraku knew that it wasn't going to be the shadowy demon that had just left his presence. No, Naraku merely needed it as a distraction in order to have time to become undetectable for awhile. There was no way that it would be on the same power level as Sesshomaru. Naraku vanished into the gloom. It was time to get to work. It was a pity he couldn't go and see how the confrontation between Sesshomaru and the shadowy demon would turn out.
-x
Rin was bored. Sesshomaru hadn't returned for nearly three days, and while Ah-Un was useful for protection, Jaken was no fun to talk to. He would always tell her to go do something else or leave him alone. Rin had been running back and forth, until she grew bored of it. She had already picked flowers the day before, and sat by the stream the day before that. At the moment, Rin was walking further away from Jaken and Ah-Un, thinking she might run into Sesshomaru like the last time. Rin decided to look for a little bit, before going back to the temporary camp, so that Jaken would not notice her absence and scold her.
Rin was about to head back after another ten minutes of searching, when she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. Rin turned around quickly and beamed up at Sesshomaru, who was standing there, "Lord Sesshomaru!"
Sesshomaru cast a glance down at Rin, "I sent Ah-Un and Jaken on ahead. We're leaving now," With that, Sesshomaru turned and started to walk.
"Right!" Rin followed after him without question. Though...how could he have gotten to Jaken and Ah-Un before her? Well, he was a demon. It wouldn't be too difficult. Then, he may have come looking for her when he found she wasn't where he left her. Rin would apologize later for running off without taking Jaken or Ah-Un with her. For now, Rin was happy that she was with Sesshomaru again. Rin walked in silence for several minutes, before beginning to feel as if something were wrong. She couldn't explain why exactly that was. Rin felt uneasy when she began to realize that her surroundings were, for the lack of a better word, creepy, "Where are we going, Lord Sesshomaru?"
There was no response from Sesshomaru as he kept on walking.
Rin was felt even more uneasy by now and decided then and there that she really wanted to return to the clearing where she had left Jaken and Ah-Un. Rin turned to leave, but was stopped by the sudden growls of several lesser demons that were now blocking her path. Rin stumbled backwards with a silent scream, as one of the demons had swung a paw at her. Rin knew something was definitely wrong by now, as Sesshomaru had made no move to help her.
Sesshomaru looked at Rin and smiled faintly, before blurring a bit and changing into another demon that was shadowy looking, its red eyes boring into Rin's, who in turn let out cry of terror.
Naraku laughed from somewhere nearby, and spoke in a soft tone, "Defeat Sesshomaru and a Shikon shard shall be yours."
The shadowy demon closed in on Rin.
"Lord Sesshomaru!"
-x
Sesshomaru returned to where he had left his traveling companions days earlier, not all that concerned that he had found nothing useful since he had been gone. Sesshomaru thought to travel to anther small village a day or so's walk in the opposite direction he had been traveling. He wasn't in any hurry. Naraku was probably skulking around somewhere trying to figure out how to gain more power, while at the same time keeping his enemies from finding him. It made it a little more difficult to track Naraku, but it wasn't impossible. Sesshomaru entered the clearing, and found Jaken and Ah-Un sound asleep. Sesshomaru's eyes swept the whole area. Rin was nowhere in sight. Sesshomaru turned and stalked toward the snoring Jaken.
Jaken was having a very pleasant dream, but it was interrupted when Sesshomaru punted him halfway across the clearing, "Wah-ah!" Jaken scrambled upright and spotted Sesshomaru, "Ah! Lord Sesshomaru! You've returned!" Jaken quailed a bit beneath Sesshomaru's stare, "Er...is something the matter...?" Jaken looked over at Ah-Un to see if Rin had done something that Sesshomaru would be blaming him for...and saw no Rin. No Rin. Jaken scurried around the small clearing, "Rin! Rin! Where did you go off to, you silly girl?" Jaken managed to avoid being stepped on as Sesshomaru walked past him in silence. "Lord Sesshomaru?"
"Stay here."
With that, Jaken found himself all alone again with Ah-Un. Though he felt glad that there wasn't any more repercussion for being neglectful. He needed to be more alert so that Rin wouldn't keep running off to explore. Jaken sighed. He hoped that Sesshomaru would be in a better mood when he returned.
-x
Sesshomaru didn't like the scent that was on the air. It was foul, like Naraku's, but faint, meaning if it had been him, he was already gone. Sesshomaru found Rin's footsteps and followed her steps and scent, until, quite suddenly, the scent and tracks were gone. Sesshomaru halted and stretched his senses, to see if he could sense Naraku's aura, or any other demonic aura, for that matter, "..." Sesshomau turned, drawing out Tokijin as he did, and swung it without hesitation.
The fake Sesshomaru leapt out of the way, and landed nearby, smiling nastily, "Did you lose your little human pet?" The fake drew a blade that resembled Tokijin, and rushed forward to clash blades with Sesshomaru.
Sesshomaru and the fake parried and thrust at one another with precision, evenly matched. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly as he continued to aim attacks at his opponent. It was almost as if Sesshomaru were fighting a mirror image of himself, as none of the strikes were going through. The fake ould counter with the exact same move, defensive or offensive. Something needed to be done to break through the stalemate.
The fake Sesshomaru appeared to be enjoying what little frustration could be drawn from Sesshomaru. It parried Sesshomaru's attack, laughing, "How does it feel to fight yourself? A little unnerving perhaps?"
Sesshoamru aimed a diagonal slash at the fake, face neutral as he deadpanned, "It is boring."
The fake Sesshomaru faltered for one second, angered at Sesshomaru's statement. It left it open for an attack, and Sesshomaru didn't waste it. The fake hissed angrily as Sesshomaru managed to score two hits on its left shoulder and right side. The fake leapt back, recovering its composure in time to deflect a series of quick blade slashes, returning a flurry of attacks in return. After exchanging more parries, the fake fell back into a comfortable state, speaking again as it ignored its wounds, "Heh, these wounds are nothing to me. You'll need to do more damage if you hope to defeat me."
Sesshomaru angled Tokijin and plunged the blade into the chest of the talking form of himself, "You talk too much for a weak demon." Sesshomaru leapt back, taking his sword with him as he did.
The fake Sesshomaru smirked, "I told you this isn't enough to defeat me. By now, I could have had my underlings taking care of that human."
Sesshomaru jumped back a few paces and leveled Tokijin, "..."
The fake copied Sesshomaru's movement, "It's no use, none of your attacks will be powerful enough to defeat me."
"Dragon Strike."
"Dragon Strike!"
The two attacks met midair between the two combatants, but after a few moments, the original overpowered the fake. The materialized dragon dug into the fake Sesshomaru, forcing it to revert into its true, shadowy form.
The demon looked furious at what had just happened. It shouldn't have been able to lose. It couldn't lose. It had worked too hard trying to locate a shard. It wouldn't be defeated when it was so close within its grasp. The demon snarled something incoherently, before it threw itself at Sesshomaru with outstretched claws, intent on doing some serious damage.
Sesshomaru gracefully dodged the erratic attacks, stowing Tokijin away for the time being, and drew out Tenseiga. If none of his attacks were damaging it much, then...Avoiding one more attack from the demon's claws, Sesshomaru cleaved the demon down the middle.
The shadowy demon laughed at the lack of a wound, before gurgling and dropping to the ground. Itstared up at Sesshomaru in disbelief, before it disintegrated until only bones remained. The red glow in the eye sockets of the skull was still there, the defeated demon promising revenge, before the light went out and the bones disintegrated further into dust. It would take some time before it would be able to work up enough energy to return.
Sesshomaru was already walking away by then, exchanging weapons once more. He was soon set upon by lesser demons, which he easily dispatched with a few quick swings of Tokijin. Sesshomaru pinned the last demon against the ground with a foot and stared down at it coolly until it ceased struggling, "Where is the human girl?"
The lesser demon hissed something to itself, before speaking to Sesshomaru,"Gone. Is gone. Master took."
"Master? The shadow demon is dead."
The lesser demon appeared fearful, and shook its head when Sesshomaru repeated his question to it, "Don't know. Gone. Don't know."
Sesshomaru walked away, uninterested in a grovelling demon, until it tried attacking him. Sesshomaru swung Tokijin in a lazy arc, and the demon lay dead. Sesshomaru ignore it and continued on his way. He could smell more demons up ahead, but could tell that they weren't very powerful either. Sesshomaru moved along smoothly as he picked up on Rin's scent. Now that the leader was dead, the other demons had no reason to leave Rin alone.
-x
Rin cowered against a tree, watching the lesser demons around her either arguing amongst themselves or leering at her with mean expressions. Rin shrank further against the tree whenever a demon would edge closer to her. The demons always ended up backing away, like there was a barrier that prevented them from getting any closer. Rin couldn't explain it, but was relieved that the demons couldn't get any closer to her. 'Lord Sesshomaru...'
Time seemed to stretch on forever, and Rin, despite trying her best to stay awake, had started to nod off. She came wide awake when the demons started giving vent to cries, which quickly gave way to angry snarls. Had something happened? Rin shrank further against the tree as one demon moved toward her, not stopping and backing away this time. Whatever had prevented the demons before was now gone. Rin glanced up at a sudden commotion, and saw Sesshomaru destroying the demons with Tokijin. Rin's attention was drawn back to the demon making a beeline for her. Rin squeezed her eyes shut as the demon leapt at her. 'Lord Sesshomaru!'
Rin expected an attack, but it never came. Cautiously, she opened her eyes and saw Sesshomaru standing near her, looking down at her silently, "Lord Sesshomaru!"
Sesshomaru turned and started to walk, "Let's go, Rin."
Rin follwed after Sesshomaru tentatively, mostly convinced that she was with the real Sesshoamru, "Are you the real Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked after a few moments of silence.
Sesshomaru had sensed unease in Rin when he had started to walk away. 'So that is what is bothering her.' Sesshomaru didn't turn around as he spoke, "This Sesshomaru is real. The fake one was weak and gone now."
Rin giggled at Sesshomaru's reply, and hurried to catch up with him, walking alongside him, "Well, you saved me from those demons, so that makes you the real one anyway." Rin suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground. She braced herself as she hit the ground. She must have stayed awake for too long keeping an eye on the demons that had been surrounding her. Rin was about to get up when Sesshomaru suddenly picked her up and kept on walking.
"..."
Rin smiled, glad that Sesshomaru had found her before the other demons had gotten any closer to her. She was really tired now, but felt safe knowing that Sesshomaru was back with her. Rin snuggled up against his chest and drifted to sleep in a relatively short amount of time, murmuring "Thank you..."
"..."
Sesshomaru headed back to where he had left Jaken and Ah-Un, carrying along a sleeping Rin. Seshomaru thought that Naraku was foolish, trying to get other demons to slow him down. He wasn't going to let low-life demons hurt Rin. Not like the wolves had when Sesshomaru had first met her. Sesshomaru entered the clearing and saw that Jaken had fallen back asleep, Ah-Un poking one of its heads at the sleeping imp. Sesshomaru stood near one of the nearby trees, deciding that traveling onward could wait for the next day.
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Thank you for the reviews. I really appreciate it, and I apologize for the slow updates. While I have homework, I'm going to try and attempt to write longer chapters, since I can't update as often until I get breaks from class. I'll update when I am able to. I don't think I need to up the rating if I only post a few T rated ones now and then.