Ice and Snow, Mind and Heart

Chapter 56: Fire on the Mystic Island

"Sesshomaru?!" Yuki gasped, reaching for him, but he swiped at her as he snarled: "It is nothing!"

"It's not nothing!" She snapped back, starting to get angry with him. "Stop being stubborn, and let me see!"

Sesshomaru snarled at her, but she remained firm as she tugged on his shirt and armour. It was probably a testament to how much pain he was in that Yuki managed to pull him away from the tree – helped by the fact that he was curling in slightly on himself from the pain in his back – and pull his shirt down enough to see the real, burning red scars on his back.

"Sesshomaru, your back-" Yuki began, concern taking over, but Sesshomaru pulled himself from her.

The pain had gone again, but it had left him soured as he shrugged his clothing back on properly while he said coldly: "If you had wished to see me undressed, you could have simply said so."

"Shut up, this is no laughing matter." Yuki scolded as she stood up with him, facing him with her own scowl. "Sesshomaru, those scars – they're from that War God, aren't they?"

Sesshomaru looked away, and she pursed her lips.

"When are you planning to go?"

"You are not coming with me." Sesshomaru replied swiftly to Yuki's question, borderline ordering her as he stood and began to walk away.

"Like hell I'm not – it didn't look like that 'God' could be killed." Yuki argued as she followed him. "And there are four of them on that island, right? You can't do it all alone."

"My goal is only the one." Sesshomaru interrupted sharply. "He has dared to slip away from me twice now."

"And you'll, what, ignore the other three?" Yuki asked, raising a brow. "If you attack one of them, I highly doubt the others will just sit back and let you kill their comrade."

"If they are so foolish as to engage me in battle, I shall destroy them too." He replied, and she scowled: "That wasn't the point."

"You will stay here." Sesshomaru commanded, his voice tight, and Yuki snapped back in exasperation: "I will not!"

"Do as I say, Yuki!" He roared, whirling on her, and Yuki was momentarily taken-aback to see that Sesshomaru really was angry this time.

But she stood her ground as she countered hotly: "I promised you I'd stay with you for as long as I live, didn't I?"

"If you follow me this time, then it won't be for very long!" He snarled, and Yuki blinked.

"Are you... worried about me?!" She asked, genuinely surprised, and Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed angrily.

"Yuki." He said warningly, and she mimicked his tone back: "Sesshomaru."

"Do as I say!" He ordered, sounding very irritated, but Yuki countered: "We're just going in circles – either you can accept that I'm coming with you, or I'll follow you!"

"Why can you not just follow orders?" Sesshomaru hissed, and she snapped back: "Because then I'd be your servant, not-"

She broke off, turning her head and scowling off into the distance. Sesshomaru also went quiet, examining her as she took a deep breath.

"I'm worried about you, too, Sesshomaru." Yuki said finally, turning bright blue eyes back up to his gold ones. "You're strong, but you're not indestructible; even if you like to think you are."

He frowned, but she went on: "And if I let you go alone, and something happened to you, it wouldn't matter to me if I lived another two hundred years."