Celestia [Sesshomaru fanfiction]

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"You scared me," she whispered to him. 

"Come," he whispered back. But the woods were too dark for Yuna to watch her footing, unlike the prince who could see the darkness as clear as day. She took hold of his mokomoko. The sudden touch unsoothed Sesshomaru. 

"Where are you taking me?" She asked. Sesshomaru did not answer. It wasn't until he took her to the edge of a cliff did he speak to her. "You would be wise to hold tightly." And he meant it. Before Yuna could ask any further questions, Sesshomaru ascended into the air - faster than usual - sending a cry to purge out of the girl's throat. 

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Her scream continued. 

"Silence yourself before I drop you," Sesshomaru said. 

"I HATE YOU!" She shot back before screaming again. He was beginning to think it would've been better to have had A-Un tag along with them. 

Volcanic ash itched the prince's nose the closer they were to their destination. The clear skies were gone, blocked by the thick mist of polluting air. 

"You're taking us to a live volcano?!" He heard Yuna shriek, coughing as she did so. Breathing was a struggle even for the mighty prince, he wondered how on earth a disciple of his father could make a living in a land of smoke and fire. Heat radiated into the atmosphere, stirring stronger as they landed. 

"Why would you take us here?" Her questioning look was ignored by Sesshomaru, who maintained his stoic demeanor as he answered her. "This is the home of a demon swordsmith named Totosai." He didn't wait for more questions to spew out of the girl's mouth. Yuna followed closely behind Sesshomaru, flinching every time lava struck up from its pool. 

An enormous skeleton peered through the smoke that covered most of the volcanic grounds. They were about to enter the mouth of the clean carcass when Yuna let out another cry of high voltage. Just how many more could his ears tolerate them?

"T-That cow!" She cried, pointing at a demon cow that grazed along the, rather, wasted ground. "I-It has three eyes!"

Sesshomaru mentally sighed. Of all the monsters she had come to witness and run away from, was a three-eyed cow truly a frightening sight to see? Underground they went, and the blistering heat that sweated through Yuna's skin grew prominent. Sesshomaru noticed her gradual distance from him.

"That will not work," He said without turning back. "Even if you were to remain outside the volcano's terrain, I would have still been able to catch your scent." Although Sesshomaru could have reassured the insecure girl that her floral fragrance remained and that her odor had no power over pungent soldiers and tiring farmers, he paid no sympathy to tell her that. Such an act was beneath him. All the more so, to a human.

The end of the runway bore sounds of metal against metal. Hundreds - no, thousands - of weapons decorated the round perimeter of the demon's lair, and at its center, a giant hearth roared in a fiery glow. A demon slouched in front of it, a hammer in one hand.

"I was wondering when you would come to visit, Sesshomaru." The demon's appearance paid no resemblance to the menace of all other monsters they had encountered. He had no daunting features, nor the arms of a blacksmith who forged weapons all his life. It was safe to say that Totosai bore the resemblance of a retired human man. Until, of course, he breathed fire out of his mouth.

Sesshomaru caught Yuna's soft gasp. Pathetic.

"And I see you have brought a guest this time."

Yuna shifted awkwardly behind Sesshomaru. "Then you should know what I have come here for," he said. Totosai ceased his work as he stood to face the prince.

"You wish to know its location."

"Where is it?"

Totosai looked at Sesshomaru skeptically. "That sword has been sealed for centuries. Why the sudden interest to retrieve it back, your Highness?" His eyes then trailed to Yuna, scrutinizing her appearance, and stopped when he met her eyes: a magnificent display of crystals lurking in the ocean's depth. Had Totosai been millennial years younger, he would have surely tried to charm the beautiful maiden.

"My patience is wearing thin, Totosai. Give me what I need, lest you wish to see your precious home and pet burn to the ground." Sesshomaru moved his hand to Tokijin's hilt, earning a flinch from the swordsmith. 

"Must you always threaten to destroy things to get what you want?" Totosai scratched his head. The prince truly lived up to his name and titles. "The sword you seek lies within the Mountains of Hebi, but the humans call it the Matsudaira Tomb." 

And just like that, Sesshomaru turned to the exit.

"But I must warn you, Sesshomaru..." The uncalled precaution halted the prince, his ears fully attentive to Totosai. "A great demon lurks within the shadows of the ancient tomb. It protects the sword from anyone who dares take it away from her; no human or demon has ever escaped her clutch." 

Sesshomaru glanced at Yuna whose face paled imagining the kind of monster that could be lurking in a tomb.

"This is ridiculous," she finally spoke. "All I need is a sword, Sesshomaru; we don't have to risk our lives for one." Yuna turned to Totosai. "Could we borrow one of yours?" But the swordsmith was given no window to answer as Sesshomaru continued to walk his way out of the cave. 

"You're going to be my death, I swear." Her whisper shot to his ear like a dagger, holding him in place, once again. The look in Sesshomaru's eyes could tear a hole in Yuna's chest if they could. Ten suns would burn her skin and flesh if he could. Her words shouldn't have grazed the prince's composure, but they did. Flashbacks ripped through Sesshomaru's mind; it took everything within him to keep himself still. Nevertheless, Yuna's words rang true. If his theory was proven wrong, then the risks Sesshomaru was putting himself through would be for naught. A part of him wished he was right. 

Darkness poured through the last remains of sunlight by the time Yuna succeedingly convinced Sesshomaru to camp for the night. As she set up a fire, courtesy of Rin's teaching, he noticed her nose scrunching ever so slightly, biting her lower lip as she fell into a deep, reflective state. Sesshomaru quietly sighed. He knew what she was thinking of.  

"So, Totosai-san seemed friendly; not like any other demons I've encountered?" 

Sesshomaru despised small talk. He sat atop a tree branch just above the campsite and looked at her with complete disinterest.

"Rin told me about your sword, the Tenseiga. Totosai-san must be a really powerful demon too, to have forged a weapon like that." 

A scoff escaped Sesshomaru's lips. Never could he picture the old geezer as an almighty great demon such as himself. "The fool couldn't hurt a fly if his life depended on it." He heard giggle 

"So, you do have a sense of humor," she said. Sesshomaru turned his head away, neither in embarrassment nor timidity, but in annoyance. How dare she mock him? Assuming that he would play a verbal game with her?

"So, if your dad was an all-powerful great demon king of the West, why the swords?" She asked as another log of wood was put into the fire. Sesshomaru glowered at Yuna, disgruntled by her growing curiosity about his father. 

"Last question, I promise." 

Sesshomaru looked back to the stars. "To protect his human wife." 

The Great Inu no Taisho was a just and revered king, yet even the wisest could still victim to the coys of love and affection. He allowed himself to fall for a human princess and married her in secret. However, fate was an entity never to be trifled with, for the slightest offense of its regulation would bring misfortune to seep into the pages of one's story, rendering it a pitiful and discarded waste of art.

"Do you miss him?" She whispered, forgetting her promise already. 

"It was a price he foolishly willed to pay; a life for two," Sesshomaru finished. Silence fell between them once again.