Me, trying to take advantage of being off for the summer: Write all the things!
The Summer: Here's ten more things for you to stress out about.
…Writing is difficult when life sucks. F in the chat for all the struggling authors.
Edited 11/30/24
Beautiful Moon
What is Influenced
"Something is bothering Lord Sesshomaru," Rin announced.
It had been easy enough to tell, Mizuki thought. She knew being around Inuyasha was something that would bother him, figured him cutting into the conversation to announce their intentions had made it clear that he'd hit his threshold, but then his mood hadn't improved after leaving. It even seemed to get worse, which meant there was something else going on, and she had a suspicion it had something to do with her.
"Nothing important," he'd said, except that it had to be, because when he looked at her, his eyes were cold.
"Of course, something is bothering him!" Jaken confirmed with a sharp tone before turning to Mizuki. "Ever since you showed up, he's been nothing but bothered! This is all your fault! All you've done is annoy him right from the start!"
Thinking it herself was one thing, but having the imp point it out so harshly made it somehow more upsetting. She found her eyes stinging and turned away from him, only to catch Rin's concerned gaze.
"But Lord Sesshomaru would have told us if we were being annoying," she insisted quickly, voice raising to match Jaken's. "He always lets me know when I am, but he didn't say anything today. Besides, he said it was nothing important, so it mustn't be something we did."
"Stupid girl, it's because what you humans do isn't important to him," Jaken responded with a huff and a smirk.
Rin frowned in response, but replied, "He doesn't seem to find what you do important either, Master Jaken, though you do annoy him more, given that you get punished a lot."
"T-that doesn't mean anything! I'm very important to Lord Sesshomaru! Why else would he grant me the Staff of Two Heads, hmmm?!"
"Because he already has two swords, and I don't think Lord Sesshomaru wants to carry around something ugly like that, even if it is useful. It suits someone like you much better."
The imp gaped, voice stuttering incoherently, and his mouth remained open long enough that Rin seemed to have determined that she had won the argument.
She turned to her, then, saying, "Don't worry, Miss Mizuki. I'm sure Lord Sesshomaru will be less bothered when he comes back. He's not mad at you. You'll see."
The girl held a confidence in her that almost made Mizuki envious. She wasn't convinced it wasn't related to her, despite Rin's insistence, but without Sesshomaru there to confirm or deny it, she supposed there wasn't much use in trying to determine what was going on with him.
Still…She wished he had simply said something. Maybe if the apology she had been trying to say hadn't gotten stuck in her throat when she'd met his gaze, he would have. He wasn't exactly an open man, though, and he demonstrated a decreasing level of engagement as the number of people around him increased, so it may be that the explanation he gave Rin was all they were ever going to get.
Nothing important.
Maybe it was something he didn't think should be important, but was stuck thinking about it all the same.
Mizuki sighed, trying to put it out of her mind for now. When he came back, she'd apologize in case it was the length of time they'd spent around Inuyasha for her sake, and if it wasn't, then she'd still feel better having said it anyway.
"You know him better than I do," she conceded, and shifted her attention to food preparations. "Do you want help getting wood for a fire? I can make us some of the food Kagome gave me for tonight since it's getting late, and tomorrow you can teach me how you find food. That'll help lighten the load on Ah-Un, too."
The bag was hilariously overstuffed with cooking supplies and instant food and snacks. Mizuki had tried to refuse all of it, determined to inconvenience both Kagome's family and Sesshomaru's group as little as possible, and finding the amount ridiculous for one person. Kagome eventually told the whole story, admitting that it wasn't just for her, and that she had really tried to tone it down. Apparently, she had ended up explaining who Mizuki would be traveling with when trying to justify the extra pots and pans on the list to her mother, and the woman had gone overboard on the extra food because, "Inuyasha's practically family – we should treat his brother the same so that he'll think well of us! All the more reason if he's got a little girl to take care of!" Kagome had shared that with a lowered voice and embarrassed look, so she refrained from informing Sesshomaru that her mother was effectively treating him as though he were her daughter's brother-in-law, regardless of Kagome's actual relationship status with Inuyasha.
"That's a good idea," Rin agreed with a nod. "I would like to try more of the ninja snacks."
She had apparently picked up Shippo's name for the packaged food. It was rather cute.
As they set to work gathering tinder, Mizuki suddenly realized she should probably work out what their normal routine was. Having not actually participated in the setup of camp either of the previous two evenings she'd been with the group, she needed to figure out where she could provide help and the roles she might be suited to.
"How do you normally set up for a night?" she asked the two of them.
"I usually gather sticks and dry leaves for a fire, and find food. Sometimes Master Jaken helps, too, but I'm better at it than him."
"Hey!"
"But he's very good at lighting a fire, so he always takes care of it," she added over his outburst, which seemed to sooth his offended pride a little. "If I catch something to cook, Master Jaken makes sure it gets cooked right. I have learned a lot about cooking!"
Huh. Apparently Jaken really did deserve credit for the fish she'd had before not getting burned.
"Is there anything that Sesshomaru does?' she asked, to which Rin shook her head and Jaken gave the girl an incredulous look.
"Of course, Lord Sesshomaru helps!" he argued. "Don't you know how dangerous it could be for you without him around?"
"Oh, he does keep us safe," she said, apparently thinking that was too obvious to point out, "but he is very strong, so he doesn't have to try much."
Mizuki supposed that evened out the roles a bit, particularly if Sesshomaru didn't partake in eating their food.
With her there, there wasn't any need for Jaken to help with gathering the kindling, which didn't take much time at all between the two of them. Once a suitable pile had been organized, and enough extra to feed it through the night was set aside, the imp pointed the top of the staff he carried at the tinder and Mizuki was alarmed by the stream of flame that came from the mouth of the old man.
"…You hit me with a flamethrower," she noted with horror, to which Jaken just smirked in a way that irked her. "I hit you with a flamethrower," she amended. "Multiple times."
He apparently didn't like her follow up statement, because his expression dropped. "You'd never be able to wield the Nintoujou as a human!"
She wasn't sure that made her feel better, but at least the lighter Kagome's mother packed would still have its uses.
With the campfire going, she turned her focus to making dinner. The two-headed dragon had warmed up to her (or simply tolerated her; she wasn't sure she could tell), and after a day of flying on its back, she was comfortable enough to approach it without feeling as apprehensive. It was still off-putting, given that the creature was a being she had thought as mythical as demons up until a few days ago, but she at least had no reason to think Ah-Un would snap at her with their muzzles off.
She realized she'd forgotten which head was which when one of them swung around to watch as she untied the bag from the back of the saddle, so she just thanked both of them.
Kagome had given her a quick rundown of how to cook over a fire. Mizuki trusted herself enough to boil water, and that was about it, so she opted for instant noodles and would try to pick up lessons from Rin or Jaken when they next cooked. Kagome suggested hot coals since she couldn't get a spare camping rig to place something directly over the fire, so it was going to need to burn down a little bit before she could set the pot in.
She missed their electric kettle at home.
"Which food are we going to try, Miss Mizuki?" Rin asked her as she brought the supplies over.
"They're called instant noodles," she replied, handing her one of the containers. She'd been given a few flavors – for tonight, she figured they could all have the basic chicken. "We just have to add hot water, wait a few minutes, and then we can eat them." Easy enough that even she couldn't mess them up.
"And this is edible?" Jaken questioned, looking at the cup in Rin's hand.
"You think I'd eat something that isn't?" At the look he returned, he seemed tempted to affirm that. "It's not the healthiest of foods, and certainly doesn't beat the kind of stuff you can buy at a traditional stand, but it'll fill you up and at least taste good."
She filled the pot with water from the hot spring. It didn't smell too strongly of sulfur, so it didn't worry her overmuch that it would make any of them sick (she'd made that mistake as a child when visiting an onsen, deciding that she had been too thirsty to wait for filtered water), and boiling it should make it safe enough to consume otherwise.
Once the fire had created enough coals, she placed the pot among them and waited until the water boiled while instructing Rin and Jaken both on how to open the cups and what to do once the water was added. It was about that time that she wondered if either of them used chopsticks at all, to which Rin replied that she had but didn't have any, and Jaken scoffed at her for assuming he didn't before also admitting that it had been some time since he'd had any need for them. It really didn't matter either way, as they could just drink it more like a soup, but she dug out the disposable chopsticks Kagome's mother had added and gave each of them a pair. Jaken's broke apart awkwardly, leaving one shorter than the other. Rin had more luck with hers.
After pouring water in carefully and trying not to burn herself around the potholder, she took a note of the time her watch was displaying and took the opportunity to show Rin how she could use her watch to time the noodles cooking as a practical demonstration of time-keeping.
Once the appropriate amount of time passed, she gave them the clear to start digging in with a warning that it might still be rather hot. Rin complemented the taste quickly, as well as the ease with which it could be prepared. Jaken's initially expressed skepticism fell away quickly upon tasting the noodles, before he started eating too quickly and burned his tongue, though that hardly slowed him down long.
It made her smile. One time Kimura had praised her water-boiling skills on a day she and Riho had made sure the noodles they were planning to eat were ready for him as soon as he arrived at the latter's house fresh out of a tournament. Mostly, he had been starving (and joking), but Jaken's enthusiasm now reminded her of his.
"Do you get to eat food like this often in your home?" Rin asked.
"Usually when I visit my friends," she told her, chuckling lightly at the memory. "At home, we have a housekeeper who does most of the cooking, and she makes really good food. To be honest, I don't really know how to cook much. I end up burning things a lot."
"We can teach you!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Tomorrow when it's my turn to find food, I'll show you, and Master Jaken, too!"
"Don't rope me into your little training sessions," Jaken protested.
"But Master Jaken, Miss Mizuki was kind enough to share the food she got from Lady Kagome. We should repay her! Besides, I already promised, so you must make sure I don't mess up."
He grumbled into his cup of noodles before finally conceding, but not without adding, "You'd probably burn it without my help, and then I wouldn't have any food."
That reminded Mizuki of a concern of hers, and she decided to address it now while an appropriate response was presenting itself.
"Speaking of not having any food, I intend to take a bath," she told him with a stern look on her face. "If you so much as peek, I won't share any more future food with you. That's non-negotiable."
"Why would I want to look at you?!" he retorted, sputtering around a mouthful of noodles. He seemed to have forgotten that he struggled with that when they'd first met, though she imagined that his intentions then weren't along the lines she was concerned about now.
When they finished with dinner, Mizuki set about getting together what she needed for a bath. Kagome was kind enough to give her a rundown of her own routine, from getting used to cold water to cutting back on how much product she used, though she did admit that she often took advantage of being able to go back home to have a proper bath. Determined to make do, she looked at her options.
It wasn't a large or deep spring. She wasn't going to be able to truly soak, and it didn't seem like there was enough circulation in the pool to clear any soap she'd use, so it was probably best to lather and rinse outside of it. She took the pot from dinner to use as a bucket, and set up her soap and shampoo next to one of the larger rocks near the spring.
While there were trees around, it wasn't really private by any means. She frowned and looked around for a way to separate Jaken from it in a way that wasn't unfair to the imp. There wasn't any reason to be needlessly harsh with him, she figured. She'd made her point earlier and he seemed to value the food she could share enough to heed the warning.
In the end, she took the borrowed sleeping bag and hung it over a branch near enough to the campsite so that it was still close enough to the fire, and asked him if it was sufficient enough. He grumbled about it, but otherwise complied to sitting on the opposite side of it while she bathed, and she tossed him a bag of potato chips as compensation.
"Would you like me to stay on this side of the curtain as well?" Rin asked her with a slight tilt to her head.
"Oh, no, you can join me if you'd like," she offered, then after a thought, elaborated. "Back home, most onsen are separated by boys and girls. I've never been in a mixed one, so it's more comfortable for me without Jaken. I'll offer him the same courtesy, of course, if he'd like to soak."
The only sound from Jaken was the grunt of his efforts to open the packaging.
After a nod, Rin enthusiastically announced, "I'll scrub your back!"
Mizuki smiled. "I'll get yours."
She took some time to talk Rin through what her process was going to be, and answered any questions she had. Rin liked the smell of both the soap and shampoo and wanted to try them herself. Mizuki was grateful Kagome had insisted on ones that were lightly scented, on the chance that Sesshomaru's nose was just as sensitive as Inuyasha's.
Mizuki showed Rin how to lather her hair with the shampoo, and the younger girl giggled about the bubbles and gathered them up in her hands, commenting on how they looked like clouds before tossing them into the air. In return, Mizuki showed her how to blow bubbles between her hands with the soap, something she hadn't done herself for years, which sent them both into laughing fits that caused Jaken to comment on their antics. They helped each other with their backs and rinsed, and then Rin helped her unwrap and carefully clean the wound on her arm. Given the shallowness of the spring, Mizuki went ahead and applied new ointment and bandages, since she wasn't going to be submerging it. If she did, well, Kagome had given her quite a few more than she thought she needed.
The warmth of the spring was a much-needed relief to her aching muscles. She hadn't realized just how many were involved in riding in a saddle, not to mention the amount of walking and running she'd been doing over the past few days. She found a comfortable spot and leaned back into the water as much as she could before letting out a deep sigh.
"Oh, warm water, I missed you," she said with relief.
Rin mimicked her sigh from beside her, and then turned to her and asked, "Do you often take warm baths?"
"It's a pretty regular practice at home," she explained. "I usually soak in the tub a few times a week."
"Oh, that's a lot," Rin remarked. "Is it a big one that your family can all share?"
"Hmmm, when I was little, I used to share it with my mother," she answered after a moment. "But I'm too big to do that now. It's deep enough that when I sit in it, the water comes up to my neck, though."
"My family had a small one, so we all had to take turns," Rin said unexpectedly. "My brothers and I would get scolded for splashing the water when it had been warmed first, but we were all very good at helping each other so that the last person would still have warm water when it was their turn."
Mizuki had inferred that Rin had lost her family at some point, given that she was traveling with the demons and had mentioned that she used to live in a village before it had been attacked, so her talking about them was unexpected to her. She had assumed the memories might be difficult, but perhaps this much was okay for her to discuss.
"I didn't grow up with any siblings, but one of my friends has three younger brothers, and they can all be a bit messy when they're having fun. Your brothers sound like they were a bit like them."
Rin's smile became softer, and a little sad. It wasn't unexpected, but it did worry Mizuki a little. "We used to have a lot of fun," she said, and then quietly admitted, "I miss them, and my father and mother."
The admission made her heart clench. Rin's age made it that much more difficult to imagine what she had to have gone through losing her whole family, and how even despite that, she was usually cheerful and eager to help. She wondered if she talked about things like this at all with either Sesshomaru or Jaken.
Mizuki leaned over until her shoulder was touching hers, and Rin let her head rest on her after a moment.
"If I were your family, I'd be very happy that you're alive, and grateful that you found people that care about you and protect you," Mizuki told her. Rin nodded against her, but didn't say anything in return, so she changed the subject slightly, asking, "How did you meet Sesshomaru and Jaken?"
At the question, Rin raised her head again, a thoughtful look on her face. "I met Lord Sesshomaru first. He was very badly injured, so I tried to help him by bringing food and water, though he didn't want any of it. Then the village was attacked…" She trailed off, a crease in her brow at the memory Mizuki imagined was difficult to relive. With a shake of her head, she continued, "When I was brought back, Lord Sesshomaru was there, and so was Master Jaken. That's when I started following him."
"He told me he doesn't eat human food," she remembered.
Rin nodded. "I do not know what kind of food Lord Sesshomaru likes. He has told me not to worry about it. Master Jaken likes the food I like, though, but I think it might be because he is small."
Jaken's indignant shout came from the other side of the makeshift curtain at that.
"There are a lot of different kinds of demons, aren't there?" Mizuki noted, trying to suppress a laugh at Rin's bluntness.
"Mm-hmm, but Lord Sesshomaru was the first one I met, and even though he made a scary face at me, I didn't feel very afraid."
She imagined the cold look she was given before he left and frowned, trying to think of how Rin handled that when they had only just met.
"You knew he was a demon when you saw him, right?" she asked, to which Rin nodded. "What made you want to help him despite that?"
Rin pulled her knees up and put her hands together on them, looking thoughtful.
"…I think it's scary to be alone when you're hurt, so I wanted to make sure he knew someone was there to help," she eventually answered, then quickly added, "Ah, I know now that Lord Sesshomaru is not scared of anything, so he probably would have been okay, but he seemed lonely and didn't leave even after a few days, so I wanted to keep trying. He eventually talked to me, too, and it made me feel very happy."
"He isn't very talkative, is he?"
"Not usually, though he does seem to talk to you quite a bit, even though you get angry at him sometimes."
Mizuki was pretty sure she was just an interesting target for his brand of humor, given that he had listed being some form of amusement among her good qualities, but she didn't want to say that to someone who looked up to him the way Rin did.
"I promise I'll try to be better about that, especially since he's helping me out so much," she told her instead, and then realized she meant it. At least for Rin's sake, she could try to put in the effort to hold back a little better. It likely put her in a difficult position, and she remembered how she had looked when she and Sesshomaru had had their first real exchanges. "He does make me angry sometimes, but I think it's because we don't understand each other very well. He does at least know that I'm grateful for his help. I'm grateful for all of you. I think I would have been scared if I had been left alone while I was hurt, so I'm glad you were there and for what you did."
Rin gave her a bright smile in response.
"I like being helpful, and when you're around, Miss Mizuki, I feel like I can help a lot more!"
Mizuki returned the smile. Rin's caring nature was a boon, and she couldn't imagine how things might have gone for her without her. Certainly, Sesshomaru wouldn't have thought twice about leaving her to the demon she'd been running from, so she would probably just be dead. If she had managed to live, she certainly wouldn't feel as comfortable as she did for the moment, improvising a bath in a shallow spring while stuck in the feudal era.
She sunk deeper into the water, being careful not to submerge the bandages, and likewise sank deeper into her thoughts.
It wasn't just her life she had changed. Given his views on humans and having the pride of a demon, Sesshomaru was probably a lot different because of her, too. If she hadn't followed him, he would have missed out on new understandings, and on the connection they shared. She remembered the look on his face when she told him she was thankful for his father, how his expression softened at the flowers she showed him, and the way simple questions from her could shift his mood. It would have been a shame if he had never experienced that.
Jaken, too, had to have been changed by her in some way. Maybe his cooking skills never would have been brought to light since they shared food, or he'd be less responsible than he already was. Sesshomaru wasn't one to praise others, so Rin's kind words to the imp when he deserved them would have been missed, though she certainly leveled that out with insults, intentionally or not.
How close Rin may have come to dying when her family did or when her village was attacked, she couldn't know, but thinking about it made her suddenly much more appreciative of where she was right now, and in the end, she just drew Rin into a hug. When the younger girl questioned what she was doing with a laugh, she simply told her she was just really, really grateful she was there.
/-/-/-/
When they woke up the next morning, Sesshomaru was back.
He stood across the small clearing and waited while they quickly packed up her things, and Rin enthusiastically shared the new experiences she had had with the food they had eaten, the shared soap and shampoo, and how comfortable the sleeping bag had been (not quite large enough to fit both of them folded over, but it did make the ground beneath them softer). His attention to her while she spoke reminded her of her thoughts last night and the influence the child had on him.
He seemed…better, she thought. He looked at Rin with what she would argue were kind eyes when she asked him how he had fared for the evening, and his reply of "Well," while short, seemed genuine, the inflection gentle. Whatever had been bothering him yesterday at least did not seem to be bothering him so much now, though whether that meant it wasn't a problem anymore or that he had just figured out how to hide it better, she didn't know.
Despite hoping to deal with yesterday as soon as possible, she found herself a little apprehensive about bringing up his mood change, so she tried to focus instead on fishing out some breakfast for them from the oversized bag, resolving to deal with her apology later.
They flew for a time, long enough that the muscles in her legs were annoyed by the mistreatment and that her stomach was really wanting lunch, though she didn't bring it up, knowing that he had been in a hurry yesterday and that most of the reason they weren't there yet was because of her. They passed the time with Rin taking up her role in helping her adapt to the world, mostly explaining different ways to find food, from foraging, to hunting and fishing, to pointing out the fields on the outskirts of remote villages that passed by below them. Mizuki learned that she stole frequently, making her frown and ask Jaken why the two protecting her didn't provide her food so that she didn't have to resort to that, to which Rin interjected that feeding and caring for herself were her responsibility, not theirs. Being independent was her way of helping, because otherwise she might be a burden.
It was difficult to object when Rin was so passionate about the subject, so she let the matter go. She was also pretty sure she was projecting her own views on it too much. It was one thing for her to steal a rock she felt unnecessarily attached to, and another for Rin to steal food to survive.
When they finally landed, it was at the edge of a forest that Sesshomaru immediately proceeded into. Mizuki frowned as she got off Ah-Un to stretch her legs, staring after him. Delaying her intended apology was a mistake, she realized, and now it was immensely more awkward, even if he had seemed to be in a good enough mood as they traveled. They hadn't yet spoken to each other since…she was pretty sure they hadn't actually spoken since she asked him how long it would take to get to this Bokusenou they were meeting, now that she thought about it. Letting out a breath to strengthen her resolve, she jogged up to meet him.
"Sesshomaru, wait," she said as she caught up. He didn't slow his pace, and gave her an unexpectedly flat look that nearly made her apology die in her throat, so she averted her eyes instead and kept walking beside him, trying to keep her promise to Rin. "I wanted to apologize about yesterday."
It took him a moment, but then he asked, "What for?"
She wasn't sure whether to be angry or relieved, and pushed back hard on the former emotion, determined to leave it behind. "Taking so long, you having to hang around Inuyasha for my sake when you two don't get along, having to wait for me to get what really amounts to comforts from home; I thought that was obvious."
"I could have left," he said simply. "I chose not to. If Inuyasha's mere presence was enough to drive me off, I should die for the shame."
His arrogance hadn't suffered his mood, at least. "If it wasn't that, then what was bothering you so much after we left?"
"Nothing you need concern yourself with."
The dismissive response allowed the anger she was trying to keep in check to catch up with her again, because his answer avoided saying one way or another whether she was at fault, and made her feel like he was doing that as purposefully as he had made both Inuyasha and Jaken shut up about him hating humans. Her mouth worked too quickly for her to shove the emotion away again.
"Well, it did concern me," she shot back, turning to face him so that he could see her expression. He didn't get to just wave off how his mood affected everyone else. "It made all of us concerned. If you don't want to talk about it, fine, but if it's my fault, I think I deserve to know so that I can at least try to-!"
Mizuki was really starting to hate forests.
She tripped. Somewhere between being frustrated and being downright stupid turning around to face the demon, she had once again stopped paying attention to her feet. Thankfully, the tree the root belonged to was close enough that she caught it with her arm and kept herself from falling entirely, though it left her balancing awkwardly.
"…Try to fix it," she finished with an embarrassed huff. Her heart was pounding in her ears the same way the stone's white noise was now buzzing in her head, and she silently willed both of them to calm down.
Sesshomaru had stopped walking, but instead of looking at her, he was looking up at the tree she was holding herself up on, his eyes narrowed as though he were trying to look at something out of focus. The next thing Mizuki knew, the tree behind her was rumbling, and then bark began bulging beneath her arm. She shouted in alarm and quickly scrambled away as new growth shot out from the trunk where she had been, growing long enough that Sesshomaru had to step aside to avoid them. Mizuki dove to the ground and covered her head.
After it seemed to be over, she crawled out from under the branches and sat up. Looking up at the massive pine, she could only gape.
"W-what did you just do, woman?!" Jaken shouted while Rin noted in surprise as she ran up to her, "You made the tree grow!"
There were three branches where there weren't any before. There was also a response coming from the tree in a pitch that was angry, somehow, echoing the ringing of the pendant in her head. It wasn't just the tree in front of her, either; it felt like the whole forest was alive. She put her hands over her ears momentarily, forgetting that the noise wasn't being heard externally.
"Is this…what happened before?" she muttered, recalling the first two encounters she'd had with demons in this era and how they'd kept running into branches. "Those demons weren't blind, they…Was the stone doing this the whole time?"
There had been responses from those trees, and the goshinboku from the story about Inuyasha's apparent sealing. The well was made of wood, so she could make sense of that at least…
She looked up at Sesshomaru, who was still staring at the tree, a contemplative look on his face. At his hip, Tenseiga remained quiet. Wood might make up its scabbard, but it was the sword that had responded to her before, throwing off the common variable she thought she had suddenly discovered.
"I require answers you cannot give," Sesshomaru answered her unexpectedly, catching her gaze. The annoyed creases that had begun to seep into his expression while she was speaking angrily at him were gone now, replaced with that flat look she was starting to think was forced. "Thus, there is nothing for you to fix."
"…You're not saying it isn't my fault," she pointed out, and realized that anger hadn't yet been chased off. In a fit of spite, she adopted a similarly flat expression and added, "but admitting I annoy you enough to drive you off might make you die for the shame, I suppose."
She intended to make his expression change, and it did, the resulting glare exactly what she expected. Having a phrase he used to insult Inuyasha thrown back at him to call him out on his behavior probably had a bit more bite to it than anything she could have come up with herself.
She didn't expect it to die just as quickly.
She forgot Rin was next to her. At the look she was giving Sesshomaru, she was upset that she might have been wrong last night, and given their close relationship, he could probably read that pretty clearly despite not having been present for the exchange. Mizuki didn't blame her, given how adamantly she had come to her defense, but it also made her feel bad. She was supposed to be trying not to argue with him as much to prevent Rin from feeling bad like this, and she had already failed spectacularly.
Now aggravated more with herself, she sighed.
"…Sorry," she apologized, both for breaking her promise to Rin and because she knew what she had said wasn't kind, even if it felt true. "I'm just frustrated. I don't know what I'm doing or what this thing is capable of, and everything I learn about it is confusing. If there's something I can be in control of, something I can change, then I'd like to know. Enough of my life is guesswork as it is."
He didn't answer for a few moments, but eventually relented, his gaze shifting away from them and into the forest. "It is not your intention, and it is clear that you lack the knowledge or ability to control its influence. You needn't be concerned by its effect on me, or how to reduce it."
Surprised and now much more concerned, she carefully asked, "The stone is…affecting you?"
He didn't look at her, which just made him seem reluctant to answer. Eventually, though, he replied, "…Enough that I want answers. Now, let's go."
As they walked deeper into the forest, Mizuki was left to her own thoughts, Rin having realized quickly that she needed the time to think. Sesshomaru's revelation that he was affected by the stone troubled her, both for the knowledge and the realization that he was still withholding just how and to what extent. She appreciated that he told her something, at least, and figured the knowledge might have been given as a roundabout apology, because it seemed reluctant on his part and like he had known about it for some time, but knowing that there was still something being withheld from her left her just as irritated with him as she was worried.
The stone was quiet now, but there had been times that things had called out to it before it did to them, so she couldn't be certain it wasn't active in some way. Besides, Sesshomaru was a demon, not a tree or a sword or a well with a time rift built into it, and she had never heard the same white noise from him that she had from the other things, just the static feel in the air when he seemed angry, and that wasn't the same. She couldn't determine a common element between all of them. Wood wasn't it; Tenseiga and Sesshomaru didn't fit. The trees and Sesshomaru were living, but not the well or the sword, and while Sesshomaru had said it contained a will, she didn't know if that counted as being alive.
If having a will signified the designation, though, then she would have to consider whether the well contained one, though no matter how she looked at it, she couldn't think of the well as being alive any more than she could consider a sword in the same way.
But if they all had a will…
Mizuki found herself frozen mid-step.
Will.
Manifestation of willpower.
"Your return here is earlier than expected, Sesshomaru," a voice suddenly echoed around them, cutting off her alarmed thoughts. "And noisier. Surely you don't need to know more about your half-brother's relationship to Tessaiga. Is it questions about Tenseiga's purpose this time? I told you all that I could when you received it, I'll remind you."
Before them stood a large magnolia. The trunk warped in a way reminiscent of the pine that she had added branches to earlier, but instead of new growth, a face appeared. Despite the rigid material it was formed of, the many wrinkles and drooping eyes gave a much more elastic impression.
"Bokusenou," Sesshomaru greeted the tree. It sprouted two arms and crossed them, eyes narrowing.
"Hmmm…No, you're here for a much more pressing matter," the tree remarked, as though reading something in the demon's face. "Pressing, indeed, given your state. You've gained another human since we last spoke."
"Sorry to disturb your sleep," Mizuki apologized as she approached to stand next to him, the wooden gaze having shifted to her at the last remark. "We're hoping you might have some knowledge we need."
The tree looked her up and down before stopping on the turquoise resting on her chest. "I see why the kodama have been noisy. It was you who woke them all up." As it spoke, one of the branch-like hands reached out. Alarmed, Mizuki stepped back. "My, my. You didn't seem afraid of me a moment ago, but such is the nature of humans."
"I'm only worried it might hurt you," she corrected with a narrow look, mildly annoyed by the generalization. Demon trees weren't immune to assumptions either, it seemed. "I can't control its power. I tripped earlier and made branches grow on a tree. You're a tree, so…"
"Nonsense. You simply surprised the kodama," came the reply. She realized belatedly that it was the second time the tree spirits had been mentioned, and that he was speaking as assuredly as if he had witnessed what had occurred earlier. "I'm not going to lash out at you."
"Now I understand," Sesshomaru interjected.
"Understand what?" she asked, giving him an incredulous look.
"They were asleep. You're noisy, and woke them up, so they chased you away," Bokusenou answered.
The response made her feel sheepish, so she didn't reply. She imagined Sesshomaru found it funny, though his expression didn't change.
She conceded to allowing the tree to examine the stone more closely, pulling the cord over her head so that she wouldn't get tugged along as much, and giving him more freedom to move it. She kept a hold on it when the white noise returned, though, worried it might think she was throwing it away again. One wooden eyebrow rose on contact, and Bokusenou hummed thoughtfully while she braced herself.
"It contains a powerful will, much like the one who holds it," he determined. She wasn't sure if the latter part was an honest assessment or a comment on her response to him assuming she found him scary. At least it didn't seem to be doing anything to him.
"Do you know anything about this stone, or a human clan called Yanagawa?" Sesshomaru asked.
Bokusenou released the bit of turquoise, which she returned to her neck where it quieted down, and rubbed his chin in thought. The wood made light scraping sounds as he did. "I recall the name, but I'm afraid I don't know anything beyond having heard about them. Humans with magic, something about stones…I think it was your father's old friend Hosenki that came about the knowledge. You remember him, I hope. Made that black pearl for your father's grave."
"I'm not interested in information I already know," Sesshomaru said somewhat emphatically, causing the tree to rumble in laughter.
"Patient as ever, Sesshomaru," he teased. Clearly, he wasn't worried about drawing his ire. He mentioned his father – perhaps he was someone Sesshomaru respected as well. "Give me a moment to think. I know there was a reason Hosenki came to mind…ah, yes, that was it. The stone collectors, Tamaru and Ishitori."
"Tamaru and Ishitori?"
"Old business partners, I believe. Each of them tried to persuade Hosenki to take them on as apprentices, but he refused, citing their questionable motives. They're collectors, not crafters, I think was the argument. The whole thing was quite comical by the way your father told the tale. They had mentioned these Yanagawa you're looking for among their dubious references, probably about that very rock you carry, though to attempt to curry favor from a maker of demon's jewels with the knowledge of human ones would not have done them any favors. Seek them out in the mountains to the Northeast. You should find a rather large mine, one used by demons to extract ores and gems. They'll likely be found there, or you'll find better directions to them."
Sesshomaru nodded, while Mizuki bowed, saying, "Thank you. You've been a great help."
The tree hummed thoughtfully before looking back to Sesshomaru, who had turned away to leave without so much as a goodbye. "We should speak frankly before you go, Sesshomaru."
The demon paused, but did not turn back. "There's no need," he replied.
"So you say, but I disagree." At the more serious tone, he turned his head slightly, but said nothing before Bokusenou continued. "I know you well, Sesshomaru. You would not tangle yourself up in a human conflict if you had nothing to gain from it, so you have some investment in the answers this human seeks. Do not think I can't see how disquieted your heart is. I suspect that the kodama are not the only ones affected by the presence of this power, but your pride prevents you from speaking freely of it. Are you frustrated that you cannot escape its influence?"
Sesshomaru remained silent. Mizuki couldn't see his expression to tell if he was angry by the way the tree was exposing him so frankly, but that he refused to answer spoke of the emotion as clearly as the static she felt momentarily in the air.
Bokusenou chuckled, unshaken. "Such insecurity in your own power is unlike you, Sesshomaru. It appears a powerful tool in her hands, but that speaks to its own strength, not yours. The kodama should not wake so violently that their trees produce growth at a mere mortal's touch, after all. Go seek out the nature of this artifact so that you may calm your heart, lest you continue to embarrass yourself."
The static increased sharply for a moment before Sesshomaru simply began to walk away. A flabbergasted Jaken quickly ran after him, calling out for him to wait. Rin directed Ah-Un as well, but paused to look back at her, an uncertain look on her face.
"Miss Mizuki? We'll be left behind."
"…Right," Mizuki replied. It was probably best that they moved quickly, especially considering that last statement and Sesshomaru's reaction to it. She turned to bow once again to the tree, offering her thanks for a second time and an apology for their abrupt departure.
"Human," Bokusenou said to her as she raised her head. "Sesshomaru will wait long enough for you to speak freely to me. Tell me what he would not."
Taken aback, Mizuki hesitated, caught between deferring to Rin's judgement and what seemed like concern from Bokusenou. The tree spoke with the same serious tone he'd used when revealing what he could tell just by looking at Sesshomaru alone, so she gathered that it was out of care that he was asking for further detail, though she didn't have much to give. Eventually, she gave in.
"I'm called Mizuki," she corrected him first, though it lacked the forcefulness she had used when insisting Sesshomaru and Jaken use her name, given the circumstances. "You're right about it affecting him, though he hasn't told any of us exactly how. His way of dealing with it seems to be getting away from it, if last night is anything to go by," she revealed, then found herself hesitating. "…Maybe other nights, too, now that I think about it. I don't know when it started or if it ever stops, so it might be that it's been going on since we met, which makes me wonder why he even agreed to do this. Having questions about something doesn't seem worth putting up with it being as annoying as it seems to be."
"Well, that's simple," Bokusenou replied. "His pride will not allow him to accept anything as having power over him. He needs to understand the nature of your power so that he can make sense of it; that's all."
The simple explanation renewed her annoyance with the whole thing. "Then why not just tell me that? Why keep from me the fact that he's interested because it affects him?"
"For the very same reason, I suspect. If he were to admit to a human that she has some power over him, he would see it as admitting to weakness, especially if that human appears to have no understanding of the power she holds."
"…And weakness is ill tolerated among demons," she recalled with a frustrated sigh. "Keeping information from me knowing I need to understand this more than he does, all because of damn pride. Stubborn ass."
Bokusenou let out a rumbling laugh at the insult, apparently finding amusement in it. "That will not easily change, I'm afraid, though he has surprised me recently. Having humans among him is certainly a change in character."
His gaze shifted to Rin, who had been giving him a somewhat disapproving look since Sesshomaru had left. "Lord Sesshomaru has been very kind to me since I started following him," she insisted with a tight look that dared the tree to think otherwise. "It's Master Jaken he usually gets mad at, or people who offend him by saying stupid things."
Rin being angry on Sesshomaru's behalf wasn't something Mizuki had expected to find so off-putting, but it made her glad that she seemed to forgive her for the times she had said rude things to him herself. Bokusenou, for his part, managed to look somewhat embarrassed despite having a wooden face. He cleared his throat.
"Then I suppose we should be quick for the imp's sake. Speculate with me since Sesshomaru will not," he all but demanded, his branch limb rubbing his chin in thought again. Mizuki had the impression the demon liked thought exercises, and wondered if he lacked conversation partners due to his immobility. "You do not understand it yourself, yet you can wield such power, correct? Then you must have some insight. What have you observed of it and what it affects? Perhaps there is a connection, though there are not a lot of similarities between Sesshomaru and kodama, I'm afraid, aside from being immortal."
Mizuki frowned, remembering where her thoughts had led her before the tree had greeted them.
"There were other trees, one a god tree in my era, and a dry well that should connect to my time, but isn't being allowed to by this thing," she explained, tapping the stone. "Tenseiga responded to it, too, though in the case of it and the goshinboku, the stone never called to them."
"Tenseiga responded to you?" he asked, surprise making his drooping eyes open wide.
"I asked it a question when Sesshomaru was telling me about objects of power containing a will," she explained briefly, her voice taking on an anxious tone. "And each of the things that responded had a voice, like a noise in my head or a ringing in my ears, as though they were alive, and what little we could make out from the scroll we looked at called the powers a manifestation of willpower, so do you think…what ties all of them together is having a will? That this thing could affect anything with a will?"
Saying it out loud made the idea seem just as ridiculous as it was terrifying, the scale of the potential effects reaching something she couldn't fathom. She glanced at Rin, unsure if she understood the implication that it might be acting on her as well.
Bokusenou looked thoughtful.
"Do you hear this same voice from Sesshomaru?" he asked.
"No, I haven't," she said, shaking her head. "I've felt a change in the air around him at times, usually when he seems angry, but I know that's different from this."
"That sounds like a sensitivity to youki. Rare for humans without training, but not unheard of," the tree explained. "As for the voice you hear, you may be too distracted by the words they can speak to hear the one they contain. Try blocking them out and focusing."
She wasn't sure exactly what he meant, and wasn't sure she wanted to try, given the implications, but the fact of the matter was that Sesshomaru was affected by the stone in some way, and he wasn't likely to tell her exactly how. If hearing his hypothetical white noise was something she needed to do in order to find out, she might really need to try.
"Umm, Mr. Bokusenou, Miss Mizuki," Rin interrupted carefully, a note of urgency in her tone. "We really should catch up to Lord Sesshomaru, before Master Jaken annoys him too much more and receives punishment."
The tree rose an eyebrow at that.
"Rin's right; we should go," Mizuki agreed, watching as her worried gaze turned back in the direction they had left. Speculating could only get them so far, anyway, and she had enough to think about for now. "I really appreciate your insight and direction."
"One more thing before you go," Bokusenou said quickly. "Depending on the way this power of yours acts upon him, Sesshomaru may need to use caution. With his heart unsettled as it is, his blood of ice may not be able to protect him in battle."
"…Is he in danger?" she asked worriedly, exchanging a look with Rin, who appeared distraught.
"He may act irrationally if backed into a corner, though he would believe no one can push him so far, so do with the warning what you will."
Mizuki would later understand Bokusenou's words to have been prophecy, but for now, she would simply try to pass on the message with the same gravity the tree expressed as it spoke.
I know it's unhealthy, but there's something about shameless foreshadowing that I really love, and it's probably that it leaves everyone with a sense of urgency until it happens.
Eventually. You're going to have to wait for this one, and I'm not sorry.
The good news is that I've already started the next chapter. The bad news is that it's already July and I need to get working on next year's lesson plans before it's suddenly August. Also, I need to figure out how to fit some important details into the next couple of chapters without disrupting the pacing, which tends to trip me up. I have to reread the whole story before I decide a chapter works at this point, because I'm forgetting details I've already put in, like manifestation of willpower being a thing (I had typed this up originally with Mizuki just connecting everything to having a will, went back to reread to make sure this chapter flowed well from the last several, and then promptly had to rewrite several parts). It's a process, especially now that this is so long (This story just surpassed ~90,000 words!).
I promise we'll get back to some of the more amusing exchanges between Sesshomaru and Mizuki again. I didn't actually intend for him to still be brooding in this chapter, but after a certain point, the chapter just took over itself. I blame angry kodama.
Until next time!
-sf