"Lord Sesshomaru!" A shrill squeal of a voice came from behind. Sesshomaru had decided at that moment that he would sooner ignore the shrill voice than give any attention.
"Lord Sesshomaru?" A quiet voice inquired. Turning to acknowledge his name being called he saw Rin looking down at the ground playing with the hem of her clothing.
"Hn?"
"Can we maybe stop here for a little bit? I would like to play in the field of flowers." Rin asked him, still looking at her hands. This behavior confused Sesshomaru slightly. His ward was not usually this shy.
She usually was quick to make demands or ask questions. This behavior was different and he wasn't particularly sure as to why. Deciding not to think about it too much further he just decided to keep an eye on her behavior over the next few days.
"Lord Sesshomaru?" Jakens' shrill voice squawked. Sesshomaru still decided not to dignify the imp with a response. Although Jaken had not quite gotten on his nerves as of yet today he was getting very close to doing so.
Deciding to look down at Rin, Sesshomaru saw that the young girl had begun to look at him expectantly.
"We will be taking a break here. Jaken take Ah and Uhn to create a small perimeter of the clearing and set up a fire." Sesshomaru practically grunted. He found it very much beneath himself to have to speak to the imp.
Jaken was far below him in superiority as a demon. Although comparative to humans Jaken does rank slightly higher, Rin being the exception to this however. With Rin being his ward she is almost of the same standing as him, she is far closer to being considered his equal than the imp.
His mother had taught him that humans were far below him and were considerably lesser creatures than those of high ranking demons. He didn't see the need to question his mothers teachings, after all his father ignored these teachings and met his demise.
Giggling soon pulled him out of his thoughts. Looking in the direction of the joyous noise he saw Rin begin to roll around in the beds of wild flowers. The child was going to need a bath after this. He couldn't quite wrap his head around why human children behaved in such a way. Who in the right mind relishes being covered in dirt.
"The perimeter has been made my Lord!"
Deciding now as perfect a time as any Sesshomaru saw it fit to go and hunt. Before he could breach the edge of the perimeter a quiet voice stopped him.
"Lord Sesshomaru?"
Turning to give his ward his attention he yet again noticed her odd behavior. Giving into his curiosity he observed her odd fidgeting. This behavior was so entirely new to him. How long had Rin been doing these things? Had he been so absent that he failed to notice the uneasiness of the young girl?
"Hn?"
Rin looked up at him with large expectant eyes. With a large grin she presented him with what looked to be a ring of flowers. Sesshomaru recalled seeing Rin make these for herself whenever they took a rest near flowers. The girl gave no care as to whether or not they were a weed. So long as she deemed them beautiful she gathered them. Although this ring of flowers was different it was much smaller than any he had recalled seeing her make.
"I know you don't much like flower crowns so I made you a flower bracelet!" Rin exclaimed with a grin so big he could easily see the two front teeth she was missing.
"I see." Sesshomaru all but whispered just loud enough for the girl to hear. He offered her his right arm. With a slight giggle Rin got ready to slide the bracelet onto his wrist.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken all but screeched. "Such a thing is beneath one as yourself!" In saying so Jaken swatted Rins hand knocking the flowers onto the ground. Upon impact the bracelet unraveled slightly.
Without a second thought Sesshomaru kicked the imp sending him soaring across the clearing. Jaken fell and rolled, landing in an undignified heap on the ground groaning. Sesshomaru seethed, taking this as a slight upon himself. This girl was his ward. No one was to lay a hand on her. Keeping his cold mask, trying not to let any emotion show he slowly began to stalk over to Jaken. Stopping only when he felt a light tugging sensation on his left shoulder from his sleeve being pulled tight.
"Lord Sesshomaru, I'm ok, it's fine." Rin sniffled. Eyes full of unfallen tears. The girl always put on a brave face even when clearly upset. Wiping at her eyes she smiled and again presented him the bracelet she had quickly fixed. "See it's all fixed!" Sesshomaru again offered her his right arm.
"Thank you." Sesshomaru said. He then began walking to continue on his task of leaving to hunt. He looked back to give Jaken a look of warning. He would not be so lenient next time. Although unsure of what exactly he would've done to the imp because despite being angered by him he needed someone to care for his ward while he traveled to protect his land.
Sesshomaru walked with no real purpose, he went wherever the wind blew him. He only had one goal at the moment and that was to find something that could be eaten by Rin and the imp. Sniffing the air he tried to catch the scent of any nearby prey. A sweet scent then filled his nose, a familiar scent, however he couldn't quite place where he had smelled it.
Sesshomaru began to follow his nose, tracking down this sweet scent. He began to hear the sound of running water and hiccups. There he saw a young woman. It dawned on him then what the scent was. It was that of Inuyasha's woman. As he got closer her scent soured with that of the smell of great despair and pain.
Stopping before she would get the chance to sense his presence he observed her. Her eyes were swollen and red, she had clearly been crying recently. However what truly got his attention was the bruise blossoming on her cheek. How had Inuyasha failed to defend the human he seemed so attached to.
A short distance behind her a twig snapped. Slowly stalking up to her was a mange ridden bear demon drooling while looking upon her. The demon seemingly crazed made no real effort to be quiet, breaking more twigs underneath his paws as he stepped closer and closer to the woman. Sesshomaru observed the scene waiting for his half brother to come screaming and save the girl.
After waiting and watching as the bear drew closer and closer to the woman, Sesshomaru finally noted that he hadn't caught his half brother's scent anywhere. The miko was completely unguarded and seemingly uncaring of the danger lurking behind her. Had she simply managed to miss all of the noise the demon was making.
Finally the miko began to stand from her kneeling position. She was holding a pail of water, looking as though she were in a daze. Slowly she turned around almost as if under a spell her movements were slow and sloppy. The bear demon had gotten quite close, beginning to stand on its hind legs it roared at her.
This seemed to wake her from whatever daze she was in as she flung the water pail at the bear letting out a blood curdling scream. One that set Sesshomaru's instincts off, he felt the urge to protect. The feeling puzzled him as only a few months ago he had tried to kill the woman for his fathers sword.
Snapping back to reality as she screamed yet again falling to the ground backwards slowly trying to crawl away from the bear. The bear came back down onto all fours taking a swipe at the girl. In its crazed motions it missed the miko. The bear then lunged at the girls with jaws opened wide as if it planned to swallow her whole.
Before Sesshomaru could stop himself his instincts took over, he slashed the bear demon with his claws. Drawing blood and sending the bear rolling back a few feet. This however did not seem to faze it much as it changed its course of attack focusing on him now. Jumping at him wildly with massive paws and claws at the ready the bear didn't have any coordination in its attacks. Seeming to attack blindly.
Deciding he had enough of it, Sesshomaru summoned his poison whip and whipped it at the bear's neck, completely lobbing the bear's head off. Not once during any of this did the miko cease to scream. Covering her face and cowering she must not have seen that it was dead and the danger was gone. Irritated with the loud noise, Sesshomaru strode over to the miko lifting her up by her arm.
Once standing, Sesshomaru released his hold as she started to flail.
"Cease this screaming." He demanded coldly. Already irritated that his body reacted without warning to protect the woman. Him speaking seemed to snap her out of it as she mumbled his name in what seemed to be disbelief.
Seeing no point in entertaining this further he went to make leave. Only getting a few steps away when a voice beckoned him to stop. Turning to look at the woman who spoke to him.
"I don't know why you saved me but thank you." She said without so much as looking at him. She stared down at the ground listlessly. Not feeling the need to reply to her, Sesshomaru began to again walk to find something suitable to hunt.
Kagome watched his back as he walked away. As she began to calm from her terror she grew confused. Why had Lord Sesshomaru gone out of his way to save her and then say nothing when not but a few months prior he tried to kill her. Lost in her thoughts she began to walk over to her discarded pail to refetch water for her and Shippo.
She tried her best to hurry back to her small camp unsure of how long she had left Shippo alone.
"Shippo?" She called quietly once returning. Shippo had fallen asleep by the fire cradling her sleeping bag. Setting up the water by the fire to boil she nudged Shippo trying to wake him. Only then did she see that he had dried streams of dirt on his face where tears had clearly run through.
"Oh my poor boy!" Kagome half sobbed while picking him up. This woke Shippo; he then clung to Kagome and began to sniffle and cry.
"You were gone so long, I thought maybe you left me again!" Shippo sobbed into her chest. This broke Kagome's already shattered heart into even smaller pieces. Shippo grabbed fistfuls of her shirt and clung to her until he began to still and calm down.
"I will never leave you Shippo!" Kagome exclaimed, drawing him into an almost bone crushing hug. "Never." Shippo gave a hopeful look and nodded. At that moment his stomach growled. Shippo began to get a little red in his face.
"I'm hungry." He said half giggled shyly.
"Let's check the water then." Kagome laughed. Seeing that the water was indeed beginning to boil she got ready to make her and Shippo some ramen.
While eating she began to wonder what to do next, where should they go? Should she go and find a priestess to learn under. Immediately shooting that idea down however, no priest or priestess in their right mind would train her as long as she kept a demon as a companion even if Shippo were still a child they would see him as a threat and try to kill him.
Deciding she didn't want to think on the matter any further she grabbed an already half asleep Shippo and tucked him in alongside herself into her sleeping back and let sleep take her away. Praying she wouldn't suffer any nightmares.