"Until we get equality in education, we won't have an equal society."
— Sonia Sotomayor
The next day they left the lush cavern well-rested, continuing their journey onwards. This time around Kohaku had decided that to become stronger, she was gonna have to stop relying on the dragon for travel, opting to instead walk and build her leg muscles. And she was able to keep up for a bit too, lasting a good two hours before tripping and landing face-first into the ground.
Yoru, who was leisurely sitting on the dragon's back, heard the girl fall and quickly hopped down to check on her. Using one of her first set of legs, the spider poked the back of the girl's head, trying to get a response from the fallen girl. All she got as an answer was a muffled groan and a shaky thumbs-up. The spider then attempted to pull on one of the girl's arms, in hopes that she could at least drag her the rest of the way. Struggling for a bit, Yoru gave up after that didn't work out as she wanted it to.
A large shadow fell over the two, the spider looking up to see Sesshomaru there. "Help please~ kura-kura?" the arachnid asked cutely, her red eyes going large and pleading. The demon only stared at her attempt at being cute, making a face at her in slight disgust. "Geez, it wasn't that bad. Was it~ kura-kura?" she turned and asked Jaken who was leading the dragon over. He nodded his head, making the little spider pout and go take refuge in the dragon who huffed at her in greeting.
Sesshomaru bent down and softly griped the girl's soft curly hair, gently lifting Kohaku's head from the ground. He saw that she had ended up passing out from exhaustion, her eyes shut in a peaceful slumber as her face was slightly red from the fall.
He was slowly noticing that as time passed the teen's demonic aura was coming back, but it seemed that not all of it was back yet. Whatever seal was placed upon her had to be strong, for if she was back to her regular half-demon self, she would not have collapsed after only two hours of walking. He's seen her run around for much longer periods, back when she was smaller and her demonic presence was free.
Letting out a small grumble, the demon lord hoisted up the sleeping girl, throwing her body over his fur-covered shoulder. She let out a half-hearted whine before snuggling into his fur, somehow getting comfortable.
With that small problem taken care of, the group resumed their travels, Yoru still sulking and Jaken guiding the dragon along. They were now a ways up on one of the country's many mountains, and by demon standards, about half a day away from their destination. As they walked through the mountain forest, Sesshomaru became aware of a few presences watching and following them. Whoever they were, he could smell that they were human but they also had the scent of demon blood on them.
Suddenly a blade of a small sword came swinging at his head. He dodged without hesitation, his arms grabbing Kohaku off his shoulder and placing her close to his chest as he covered her from view. From up in the trees a group of roughly twelve men jumped down, their many weapons drawn. They were clad in black body suits covered in armor, and metal face masks over their mouths. The weapons they had ranged from spears, glaives, maces, and swords of varying sizes.
"Release the girl at once, demon!" one of the men shouted authoritatively, stepping forward as he brandished a polearm with a crescent blade. The demon lord glared at the group of men who had dared to attack him, all the while the brown-skinned teen had gained awareness and was cautiously eyeing each man. "Release the girl or we will attack!"
"I will do no such thing. Kohaku, go and hide with Jaken," he ordered the girl. She hummed in response and quickly left Sesshomaru's side to hide behind some trees where the imp, dragon, and spider had gone. Sure that she was a safe distance away, the demon flexed his right hand as his claws began to glow. Seeing as the lord was prepared to fight, the armored men attacked with hesitation.
Sesshomaru used his light whip on the one with the crescent blade polearm, the man barely blocking in time with his weapon. One who was welding a large mace tried to aim a hit at the lord's leg, missing as the demon jumped and over him, using his light whip to strike the man from behind. The mace-welding man cried out in pain, causing his fellow armored men to all stack at once toward the dog demon.
"You four, rescue the girl! We'll handle the demon!" the one with the crescent polearm commanded as he and two other men attempted a coordinated attack with their blades. Sesshomaru weaved his way through the strikes, quickly grabbing ahold of a man with two hatchets and throwing him at a man who held a spear. The four men ordered to retrieve Kohaku- one with a chain, one with a sickle, and the other two having clawed gloves- went over to get the girl, wearily assessing the other demons surrounding her.
Sesshomaru, who was going easy on the men since he knew the slaying of humans would upset Kohaku, was about to hop over and subdue the men. That is until the leader- the one with the crescent-bladed polearm- threw down a few pellets once they came in contact with the ground, exploded, and released a hazy smoke into the air. The scent from the smoke irritated the demon's sensitive nose, his face scrunching up in distaste as whatever the pellets were, was severely affecting him.
"Hey!? Stop that! Let me go!" Kohaku yelped as one of the men grabbed her a little harshly. Hearing her scream, Sesshomaru covered his nose and turned to see the men carrying away the girl, Jaken, and the dragon on the ground unconscious. A low growl escaped him, his sclera slowly bleeding red and his iris' becoming blue. His demonic aura became more intense, harshly affecting all those in the area.
" Men, retreat!" the leader yelled to the few men that were awake, carrying off their wounded as fast as possible. The demon lord was not going to allow them to leave alive, but momentarily before Kohaku was out of his sight, the two made eye contact. Her amber eyes held fear in them, and not because she saw Sesshomaru's face beginning to shift into a more animalistic shape, but because she knew the men who she could tell were misguided, were going to be slaughtered without mercy.
"Don't do it Sesshomaru! They don't know what they're doing!" the girl pleaded before she lost sight of him. She tried to struggle to get free but she was still exhausted from earlier. Letting out a grumbling sigh, she forced herself to slightly relax as she was being kidnapped.
Meanwhile, Sesshomaru too had forced himself to calm down, reigning in his demon aura as he made a plan to retrieve the teen. He allowed the men to escape alive, for later he would track their scent to wherever they were taking Kohaku. He couldn't do it now though since the smoke that still covered the area was enabling him to properly smell. Grunting he went over to where Jaken and the dragon lay, kicking the imp awake.
"Aah! Oh...it's you, my lord. What happened?" the imp asked as he rubbed the slowly forming bump on his head. "A group of demon slayers attacked. They took Kohaku with them. Wake up Yoru and the dragon, we leave at once."
"Yes my lord!" the imp readily replied. Getting up and grabbing ahold of his fallen staff. Jaken approached the dragon and started to tug on their facts using the creature from slumber. "Up you get! Now where is that annoying spider?" Jaken groused. He looked around for a body but didn't see her. He searched on top of the dragon, inside Kohaku's bag, and even around the trees. But Yoru was nowhere to be found.
"Lord Sesshomaru! It would appear that Yoru isn't here. Maybe she ran away like a coward? What do you think my lord?" Sesshomaru knew from experience Yoru would not run away if she knew that Kohaku was in trouble or need of help. He suspects that she was smart enough to not let herself be ambushed and knocked unconscious, and is following, if not with, Kohaku. "Come. I do not have time to waste," he ordered and walked in the last direction he saw the girl.
Said girl was lost in thought until she heard shouting from the men. Breaking out of her stupor, she noticed that they had stopped moving and were now standing before an impressive spiked wooden gate. At the top, she could see some guards motioning towards them as they yelled down at someone to open the gate.
As the gate opened and she was ushered inside, Kohaku took the time to assess the village, taking note that the people there were no different from those at Kaede's village. Well other than the fact that these people fight and kill demons professionally. As they walked many people greeted and hugged the returned men, others staring at her in distrust and mystery.
The man with the crescent polearm came over to her, gently taking hold of her arm while telling the four men that had taken her, to go and rejoin their families. They only nodded their head and turned to head in different directions, only one of them looking back to give her an unreadable stare.
"Come along now. You're safe here." the man told her as he guided the girl towards a house. Waiting at the front was a fair-skinned girl around her age. With brown eyes and dark brown hair, the girl was a few inches shorter than her, with a slender yet curvaceous frame and lean, athletic build. Her hair was to her lower back with cropped bangs that part in the center above her forehead and strands that reached her jaw as they framed the sides of her face. She was tied loosely at the ends with a white ribbon, and it seemed she was wearing a maroon or deep pink eyeshadow.
Next to her was a little boy, at least a few years younger than them. With spiky dark brown hair that was styled up in a topknot by a yellow hair tie, wide brown eyes, and freckles along the brim of his nose, the boy was cute. The boy was wearing a sleeveless lavender short kosode with dark violet patches, a matching sash around his waist, and white wraps around his wrists and shins. The two kids looked a lot like the man leading Kohaku over to them.
"Welcome home Father." both children greeted ethuesically. The man released his hold on her to hug his two children. "Who's that, father?" the daughter had asked, looking curiously at her. The boy looked at the teen in wonder, curious as to who she was and why their father had brought her to their home.
"Sango, I rescued the girl from the demon whose presence we felt earlier. The poor girl was barely conscious and delirious when we found her. Who knows what would have happened if we didn't show up." he told his kids. Kohaku only looked on in disbelief, not believing the utter shit coming from the seemingly family man's mouth. Did it look like she needed to be rescued from Sesshomaru?
"Hello? Yeah, hi. So I'm going to leave now if that is okay with you. It seems that you had misread that situation earlier. See I wasn't being kidnapped, and I sure as hell didn't need rescuing. If anything, you're going to need rescuing when Sesshomaru gets here." she told them as she slowly tried to back away towards the gate. It didn't work as the man grabbed her arm before she could run away. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"That demon? He's my traveling companion. And you? You attacked without knowing what was going on and I'm pretty sure he's going to kill you for taking me, " she bluntly explained. Snatching her from his grasp, she began to turn away to leave when the daughter spoke out to her.
"Where are you going? You can't be serious about the demon, are you? The demonic aura from it was so powerful, we felt it all the way here in the village! Please reconsider?" the girl (Sango, she remembers the man called her) pleaded, holding onto the darn-skinned teen's arm. A lot of people kept grabbing her arms lately.
A little irritated, "Look, Sango. Your village is nice and all, but if you want your people to be safe, let me go, please? The only reason he didn't kill those men earlier is because he knows it would bother me if he killed a human." Sango just looked at the girl like she was crazy, not understanding how someone like her would be okay in such an evil presence. A mew from the house caught everyone's attention.
What appeared to be a kitten stood on the steps of the house, looking right at the teen. It had light yellow fur, black eyes with red sclera, black pointed ears, a diamond-shaped marking on its forehead, black paws with a stripe, and two fluffy tails with two stripes on each one. It mewed again, trotting forward with something following behind. Upon closer inspection, Kohaku was shocked.
"Yoru!? What!? How? Explain dammit!" the teen uttered as she rushed forward to scoop the spider in her arms. Yoru happily rubbed herself against the teen, "I followed you~ kura-kura! And I made a friend, her name's Kilala." Upon hearing her name, the two-tailed cat walked up to Kohaku and rubbed herself against the girl's leg. She went ahead and also picked up the car, cradling her like a baby as she held both creatures to herself.
"You know Yoru too?" the little boy asked staring at her in fascination. "Yeah? She's my spider. Why? You guys didn't try to hurt her, did you? I swear if you did, it wouldn't be Sesshomaru you would have to worry about," she growled. The boy took a fearful step back, his sister and father stepping forward to ease everything.
"We didn't hurt her. Kilala found her wandering the village and brought her here. You said she was looking for someone that was kidnapped from her. Me and my brother did not know it was you," Sango tried to explain away. " Aww~ kura-kura! Calm down Kohaku, they didn't harm. I was trying to find you before that dummy Sesshomaru~kura -kura," the spider dramatically said, clinging to the side of said girl's face.
"Wait, your name is Kohaku? You share the same name as my son," the father said. Said boy looked at her from behind the man, waving slightly and unsure of her after she growled at him. "Huh, is that so? Well, my birth name isn't Kohaku, it's Amber, but both mean the same thing. My dad thought it was best I have two names."
"Two names?" the male Kohaku asked. " Yeah. My dad is only half Japanese, and where I'm from or it is just in my family, most people who are first or of second-generation Asian descent, have two names. So I was my first birth name isAmber,while Kohaku is the name I would use here." a female Kohaku tried explaining. She could see they were a little confused but the father seemed to be putting everything together.
"So you're not from this country then. Are you from the mainland?" And by the mainland, she knew that must have meant China and the rest of the neighboring Asian countries. She shook her head no and explained that she was from someplace farther, much farther than they could imagine ever traveling. "Wow! I can't believe there are such places out there!" Sango exclaimed excitedly. "Do you think those places have demons, too?" Boy Kohaku asked his sister with excitement at the idea of other places out there like his home.
The amber-eyed teen smiled as she watched the three talk amongst themselves, sadly reminding her of the family waiting for her back home. She will admit that she had momentarily forgotten about her father and brother, knowing that they had to be distraught that she went missing. After her mother died, it took a toll on all of them, and her father had almost an obsessive fixation on protecting his kids. It took a lot of therapy, intervention from her great-grandmother, and even Kohaku herself physically fighting with him for her father to finally see his actions were hurting his kids. He has gotten better over time, allowing her to go to Japan to visit her pen pal, but sometimes he would go back on those ways of being overprotective.
She missed the two dearly and hoped it wouldn't take long to see them again. A blast of a demonic aura filled the air, causing everyone around to gaze at the front gates in fear. Everyone except the amber-eyed teen who was able to recognize the feeling of Sesshomaru. She turned to try and reassure the family members in front of her that she would handle it but stopped short when she saw them already moving and grabbing their weapons.
"Wait! Don't go-," she tried to warn but was cut off. "We'll handle the demon! You go inside with my son and hide," the father ordered her as he and Sango who was still in regular clothes but now sporting a giant boomerang, ran towards the front gate. She felt a tug on her arm and looked to see Kohaku pointing towards the house. Letting out a groan, she thrust Kilala and Yoru into his arms instead and told him to go inside while she went after the others.
"Why? Father said to wait inside," he told her. "Well remember the demon your father thought he was rescuing me from? The same one I said would kill everyone once he got here? That's who's at the gate. I got stop them before someone gets badly hurt or worse." She gave him a pat on the shoulder and took off running to where a commotion was being made.
Even though the village was large and the head honcho's house was far from the gate (it originally took eight minutes to get there)she was able to get there in a mere two minutes. Once at the gate, she saw fire in multiple spots, and Jaken standing on the back of the two-headed dragon, held up his staff proudly as it spewed fire. The dragon heads were unmasked and had unleashed a few bolts of lightning from their mouths, but stopped once noticing her.
A large grouping of the demon slayers, including Sango and her father, were surrounding Sesshomaru, who was preparing himself to attack with his light whip. Just before flicking his hand out the demon lord stopped, his intense golden eyes looking past the group to stare at the panting teen who arrived. He took a step forward in her direction but one of the slayers came at him with a naginata. The demon dodged and backhanded the man harshly, sending him flying and knocking down the others.
"Stop! You guys don't have to fight!" Kohaku yelled rushing over. She saw Sango raise her weapon and throw it at Sesshomaru. With a burst of speed, she foolishly jumped in front of the demon lord, the weapon forcefully tearing into her back. She let out a chilling scream that made everyone in the vicinity, Jaken, and the dragon included, stop moving and watch as the girl fell with a loud resounding thud.
Sesshomaru caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her wounded body to him as her blood seeped from the large cut on her back. Her hoodie and shirt were torn to shreds in the back, and at the base of her spine the lord saw in small writing, kanji that read ''This seal will tame the demon within'.He knew that had to be what was holding her demonic nature, but it looked like it was slightly faded, and was getting lighter before his eyes, likely because the girl was hurt.
"Unhand her! This time I'll make sure the attack hits!" Sango threatened, though she was shaken a bit seeing the friendly teen get hurt by her very weapon. She still didn't want to believe that the demon before her was said girl's companion but the way the girl had jumped to take the hit for him, had her truly second-guessing. But it couldn't be that outrageous for she and her family have Kilala as their companion for generations.
"Por favor?Please, don't hurt them. Please Sesshomaru, they don't understand. "Kohaku weakly pleaded as she tried to hold onto the front of his kimono. He looked down at the girl, searching her eyes for something, before letting out a sigh in frustration. He didn't want anything to do with these humans but he also wanted to tear them to shreds for kidnapping and hurting the girl. But even after that, she still wanted to spare them. It seemed that she was still just a hopeless fool.
He whispered to her that he would for now agree not to harm them, but should they again attack him or try to take her away, he would disregard her feelings and slaughter them all. Getting up with her still in his arms, he wordlessly turned to leave but the chieftain called out to him. "Wait! It seems we are mistaken about you. Please, let us make up for our wrongs by treating Kohaku's wounds." he offered. He shockingly got down on his knees, head lowered to the ground. Those around and villagers who came out from hiding gasped upon seeing the village chief bowing before a demon.
More were shocked when the chief's daughter joined as well, her head touching the ground. "It's okay Sesshomaru. I forgive them." Kohaku told him as she weakly cupped his cheek, him leaning his head into her touch. Then her hand dropped, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head as her breathing became shallow. He quickly turned back to the demon slayers, "Fine. Now fix her or else."
"Come, this way. Sango go back home to your brother. Mayumi with me. Everyone else, quickly put off those fires." the chief ordered and motioned for the demon lord to follow him. Before leaving the demon lord told Jaken to follow behind, the imp readily happy to follow his lord, pulling along the dragon.
The group of people rushed to a hut not too far from the chiefs, It was small but the smell of medicinal herbs hung heavy in the air. As they got in, the middle-aged woman Mayumi instructed the demon to lay Kohaku down on her stomach gently of the fresh blankets she placed down, while instructing her chief to hurry on fetch some water from the well outside. The woman made quick work to get the girl's top clothes off, using a small knife to cut the girl's gray hoodie and gray shirt.
With the clothes fully off, the wound was clear for everyone to see. Any normal person would have thrown up at the sight. The boomerang did surprisingly a lot of damage, going through the skin and muscle and just barely hitting the bone. Some white of her spine was visible, the surrounding muscles torn and any fat in the area was either missing or pushed somewhere it wasn't. The chief came back in with a paul of clean water but almost dropped it upon seeing that damage done.
"Give me that. Start a fire in the pit, I might have to cauterize some of her flesh. You, demon, are you sure you want to be here for this? It's going to get messy and she might wake up halfway through screaming." Mayumi asked the Lord. He glared at her in refusal and stood guard by the doorway. The woman sighed, rolling up her sleeves and using some of the water to clean her hands. She first started cleaning the wound, taking out any large debris and using a wet rag to wipe away the blood.
She then began to stitch most of the wound as best as she could, while also using a concoction of herbs from a jar to spread in the wound. Kohaku did momentarily awaken with a yelp, her eyes not fully focused as she attempted to get up and run. Sesshomaru had calmed her down by squatting in front of her and gently holding her face, releasing a calming rumble that she eventually started to mimic. The older woman and chief were astonished by the relationship they were witnessing but knew now was not the time to commit.
It took an hour but Mayumi was somehow able to patch up and wrap the wound without any more blood loss. Before leaving the hut to give the girl some privacy she informed the demon lord that it would probably take the girl weeks before being fully healed. He ignored her, keeping his eyes locked on the sleeping girl. Mayumi left without another word. The chief on the other hand stayed, wanting to at least have a word with Sesshomaru. He could see it would be awhile before he acknowledged his presence again, so he sat leaned against a nearby wall and chose to rest a bit. He was going to get an answer from these two, one way or another.