Rin grunted a little as she came to, her large brown eyes cracking open to see a blurry thatch ceiling above her. Her little hands reached up to rub the sleep from her eyes as she pushed herself to an upright position. Her nose instantly caught the smell of smoke from a fire and home cooking.

"Ah, you've awoken." It was the elder woman from before. She looked to be at least in her sixties, if not older, with long white hair which was pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a simple kimono and had soft brown eyes which seemed to hold on to their youth despite the rest of her body which was withered with age.

Rin appeared concerned, she didn't see Jaken or Sesshōmaru anywhere. Who was this woman, and where was she? "W-Who are you? Where's Lord Sesshōmaru?"

"Is that his name?" the old woman asked as she removed a cooked fish from a kabob. "The demon you travel with?" Her brown eyes gazed at Rin as she handed her a plate with the fish on it, a side of finely chopped vegetables rounding the edges.

"Eh…" Rin paused, gazing at the plate of food. Her stomach rumbled instinctively and she cautiously took the dish from the woman. "So you saw him? Can you tell me which way he went so I can catch up? Was Jaken and Ah-Un with him?"

The barrage of strange questions left the old woman bewildered, but her expression softened quickly enough. "Eat up child, no one has left you behind, rest assured." Strange how this young girl seems so attached to those demons. She's just a human, and so young, why ever would she willfully go with them?

Begrudgingly, the young girl with wild brown hair began to eat. She couldn't deny she was hungry or that the food tasted so good and rested so nicely in her tummy. "If…" she started, chewing and then swallowing a bite of fish, "...if they didn't leave me behind, then where are they?"

'Up the river' apparently meant a lot farther than Sesshōmaru had initially imagined. It traveled uphill, going with the angle of the mountain farther and farther as the village down below began to slowly disappear in the fog. Luckily there wasn't a snowstorm present, however, the snowfall was unrelenting as it continued to flutter down. It stuck to the top of his mokomoko, his hair, his armor, his everything, as well as most of Jaken who wasn't taking it quite so well. Despite Sesshōmaru's naturally higher resistance to the cold, even he was having a hard time.

"M-My Lord! It's fr-freezing up here…! Do you really think someone lives so high up? How dare those humans, sending you all this way…!" The imp demon was flustered, undoubtedly chilled to the bone from the cold. His tiny, three-fingered claws clenched around the Staff of Two Heads desperately as he used it to pull himself through the deep snow drifts, which were to his waist. "A forge needs heat…! Why, that conniving Kaījinbo-!"

"Jaken." Sesshōmaru had stopped, his gaze directed towards the trees to their left. The river was running still, despite the freezing temperatures, to the right. The small trail he had found along the edge of the river was faint as if it hadn't been traveled in quite some time, but it was still there. To the left in the woods, now predominantly evergreens, there appeared to be a few deer similar to those they had seen back at the village standing within the trees, staring at them with intense gazes.

Jaken stopped, cut off by his lord. He looked up to find Sesshōmaru staring into the trees, and so his gaze followed to see what had caught his master's attention. It felt ominous, as if the deer were watching them on purpose. It sent a shiver up Jaken's spine. "Those deer don't seem affected by this cold at all… And they're just staring at us…! What could it mean? Shall I run them off, my lord?"

"No. Let's go-" Sesshōmaru had made a step forward, turning away from the woods to continue on his way when the sensation hit him. It was like a thin strip of energy had struck him, his eyes widening a bit as he quickly turned to look into the woods again. A gentle breeze picked up his long alabaster hair, his mokomoko twitching and causing snow to fall from it. All of the deer had gone, and whatever it was he sensed just then had also disappeared.

Jaken had bumped into the back of his legs, falling backward into the snow. It was a soft landing, for once. "Ah…! My lord…?"

He only waited a moment more before continuing. Jaken hurried to keep up with him, large yellow eyes keeping close watch over the treeline. Those deer were very strange, much like the ones back in that human village. Do they hold some sort of importance, or are they just so used to travelers that they have become docile? This didn't make much sense either, the trail had all but disappeared so clearly frequent travelers were not passing through.

The landscape was beginning to change. The higher into the mountains the two went the more cliffs and ravines began to pop up. While the trail had been rather clear during the beginning of the journey, it was now to a point where they had ventured so far from it that it was no longer visible. It caused doubt to rise in Jaken's belly; he wondered if there even was a waterfall; if it was all just a lie to get them to go to such a dangerous place. He gazed up towards his master, curious if Sesshōmaru felt the same. They had long since stopped at a snow-covered cliffside, the river nowhere in sight. Had it frozen over and was covered with snow, so they could no longer see it?

"My lord, I am afraid we are lost…! I don't see the river anywhere, only dangerous cliffs and snow…!" Jaken stood close to Sesshōmaru's legs in an effort to absorb any heat the demon might have been giving off. It was so cold he felt as if his fingers were going to become frozen solid and break apart. His beak-like mouth now had a small ice sickle drooping from it which he snapped off and tossed aside. "We should head back–Kaījinbo and those humans lied to us! And they have Rin…!"

The dog demon stared intently across the frozen land with his golden gaze. His eyes had narrowed considerably, his own patience heavily tested. He had been lugging Goshinki's head all of this way as well and was growing irritated. He'd lost sight of the river but he could still–however faintly–smell it nearby. He suspected the cliffs began to hang over it, shadowing it, or it was running through a cave system. The latter was a possible explanation to why the river hadn't frozen over, also. If it was just above freezing down in the caves, the water could still run. The question was, where was it now and how would he get back to it and find this waterfall? Sesshōmaru was not ready to give up, not just yet.

Jaken took a step away from Sesshōmaru and stabbed his staff into the snow with a look of determination in his eyes. "I know! I'll use the Staff of Two Heads to melt this snow away! Surely we will see the path then!"

Sesshōmaru's eyes roved over to look at him, remaining silent.

Jaken clasped both hands around the staff, calling out, "Staff of Two Heads!"

The mouth of one of the heads dropped open and a blaze of fire burst forth from it. The flame was large, extending several feet in front of Jaken and as he moved the staff around it melted the snow quickly. However, just as the ground below was beginning to show he noticed something hiding underneath the blanket.

His eyes shot open, his body rearing back. "Ahh…! Demons!"

Large, white, cat-like creatures began growling loudly and rising out of the snow from the parts Jaken had cleared. They stood at least waist high, with long bony bodies and glowing red eyes. There were at least six of them, and undoubtedly more were hiding in the snow. Apparently, they had traveled so deep into the tundra the demons of the area were beginning to pop up and stalk them like prey.

Sesshōmaru's eyes narrowed and the head of Goshinki dropped into the slush beside him. His right hand came up in front of his face, "Jaken, get out of the way."

He did not have to give the calm command twice as the imp quickly obliged by hiding behind him. The snow-cat demons growled louder, hissing at them as their fur stood on end. The more flustered they became, horns began to grow outwards from various parts of their bodies, predominantly their heads, legs, and back. They lurched forward, large paws extended as sharp talons reached to slice into the dog demon. "Lord Sesshōmaru, look out…!"

Sesshōmaru's hand began to glow a slight yellow-green before he reached forward quickly, his hand flat as if slicing the air. His Light Whip appeared, a thin strand of energy of the same color he had produced on his hand which flew outwards. In an incredibly swift motion he had passed this whip in front of him, and three of the demon cats were split apart by it in an instant. Their black blood splattered up against the snow and enraged those who remained, causing them to lunge towards him in a blind fury.

To a demon of Sesshōmaru's power, these creatures were weaklings. Another pass of his Light Whip and they were split into pieces, their body parts falling to a soft rest in the snow. His hand returned to normal then, his arm resting at his side once more.

Jaken stepped out from behind him after making sure the coast was clear. "Fantastic work my lord! Such pathetic demons never stood a cha-!" He caught himself, yelping as he stumbled backward and flip-flopped the staff in his hands. "M-My lord, more are emerging from the snow!"

Just as the imp had said, more of these feline snow demons were poking out of the drifts, their red eyes ablaze and jaws open wide revealing rows of sharp fangs. The number of them had doubled, if not tripled from the first encounter. "Th-There's so many…! Lord Sesshōmaru!" Jaken found himself surrounded and quickly stabbed his staff into the snow once more, preparing to screech out another flame attack in an effort to protect his master (though it was more for himself). "STAFF OF TWO HEA-"

A large hand clamped down on his head, Sesshōmaru's hand. It caused Jaken to stifle his attack and be still, utterly confused. "But my lord, the demons…! The demons are-! Eh, huh…?"

Just then, right as Jaken was preparing his attack, a deer similar to the ones they had seen back in the woods had calmly walked up beside them. It was a buck, but unlike the others, his coat was pure white. Like the common sika deer of the region, he was not very large, but he had a sizable rack of antlers on his head and enormous, pale green eyes which were glowing. He stepped right past the two, his gaze unwavering from the snow demons ahead of them. He paused just in front of Jaken, simply standing there as the demons glowered and bared their fangs at him.

Sesshōmaru's ever-present scowl remained as he focused on the back of the buck's head. Where had this creature come from, and why was it here now? He could feel a strange energy coming from the deer, but it was not of the demonic type. It felt very similar to what he felt when the now undead priestess Kikyo was nearby, though not quite as powerful. Did that mean this stag was a divine or sacred creature, endowed with spiritual powers?

Only more questions surfaced as he watched the cat demons close their mouths then and become quiet. It was as if the blank, unwavering stare from the buck alone caused them to turn away and disappear into the snowy cliffs. So, the creature had driven the demons away just by being present. It was an interesting behavior, that much was certain, and Sesshōmaru could not ignore it. The stag did not show up to simply save them from the demons, it wasn't necessary, so it must have another motive to being here.

"Wha-what's this? Another deer? And it's driven away the demons?! What is the meaning of this?! How dare you interfere with Lord Sesshōmaru's battle and block his path! Who do you think you ar-!"

"Jaken, that's enough."

The imp drew back his breath in silence. "Y-Yes my lord. But what about this deer?"

Sesshōmaru glanced at it, noting it had not looked at either him nor Jaken once. It was then that it began walking forward at a simple pace, one easy enough to keep up with in the snow. After stepping quite a ways in front of them, the buck paused to gaze back at them with its blank stare.

The great demon met the buck's gaze, staring intently back at it. A moment later the deer looked forward and started walking once more. Sesshōmaru bent down to pick up the severed head of Goshinki yet again and took a step forward as well, falling in step behind the creature. "Hurry up, Jaken."

"I'm coming my lord…!"

This deer… It wants us to follow it. Is it taking us to the forge, or is there something else in these mountains? Taking into consideration the number of deer back at the village, it's not unlikely they are connected to this one. It's very possible they are all connected to the swordsmith hiding here as well, and if that's the case, does this mean the smith also possesses spiritual powers? Is she a demon, human, or something else?