I rested my hands on the hilt of my sword as we walked by a rushing river. Rin was skipping beside us throwing rocking inside of it and seeing how far it would travel down the river. Rin was walking next to me, and Ah-Un was on the other side of me. Jaken walked in front of me, and as always Sesshomaru was in the front. Though I thought something had changed between Sesshomaru and I, nothing really changed. He was still the same old inaudible dog demon.
My leg still hadn’t healed, and I was just itching to use my new sword. “Lady Yuzuki, look.” She said pointing into the water. There was fish swimming against the current in the river. She kneeled next to the river and watched them swim. I looked over slowly to see if Sesshomaru was still walking, but he had stopped and was watching her eyes search the water. I smiled at him and his eyes landed on mine, but when they did he turned around and continued to walk.
I took a breath in and let it out. “Come on Rin,” I said as I stood up and started following Ah-un. Jaken was standing by Rin scolding her in that high pitched voice for not following. She laughed at him and started skipping happily behind us. As Jaken always did, he whined about no one caring about him and no one listening to him. I had gotten so used to it that I started expecting when he would start it up again. I didn’t understand why he was so whiney. He didn’t realize just how much we relied on him for so much and how much Sesshomaru appreciated him taking care of Rin even if he didn’t show it at all. At least that’s what I thought.
We were heading toward a village that had a few regenerating demons because Sesshomaru wanted to test out his bakusaiga. I had never seen it in action but from what Jaken told me it was very strong and could keep a demon from regenerating. It was about the middle of the day and Rin had just eaten. We were making great time as we traveled with the river and a large wall came into view.
I could smell the demonic aura as we approached, and I knew that the demons would be able to smell us too. I had to wonder exactly what sort of demons was living here. Sesshomaru wasn’t very specific, though he never is. We all stopped, and I started having a weird feeling. Something was watching this, and I could tell by Sesshomaru’s shifting eyes that he knew it too. We were both dog demons, so I knew that he wouldn’t be able to pinpoint exactly where they were because the smell was everywhere. It was surrounding us.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a demon appeared in front of us and forced it’s arm through Sesshomaru’s unarmored shoulder, ripping right through his fur pelt. “Lord Sesshomaru!” Rin yelled as he staggered backwards and my heart leapt in my chest. I pulled my sword out and held it in front of me, but it was too late, the demon had disappeared. Sesshomaru held his shoulder in his arm, he was bearing his fangs and his eyes were shut. It was very clear that he was pissed.
“Coward,” Sesshomaru said as his eyes slid open. I put my sword away and walked over to him. I was worried, but knowing him he wouldn’t complain even if it was killing him.
“Let me see.” I demanded but he pulled away.
“I’m fine.” He said sternly and kept walking.
“Quit being so stubborn,” I growled and grabbed his hand. He gave me cold eyes as I looked at his shoulder and, just like my leg had been, I could see straight through it. I furrowed my brow and twitched my ears, thinking about what I could possibly do to help. “Take some of my demonic aura.” I took his hand and his eyes widened a bit as I took his claws and slid them down the length of my arm. I felt as the sharpness of them slit into my flesh and blood poured from my arm and dripped onto the floor. A smoky substance arose from my arm and was absorbed into Sesshomaru.
Almost immediately his arm began to heal, and a lot faster than my leg had. I looked at it astonished and let go of his arm even if I enjoyed feeling his strength beneath my fingers. His arm completely healed as I dropped my arm, the blood sliding down my fingers and dripping off my long claws. He looked at me as Rin brought me a torn piece of fabric from the satchel on Ah-Un. “Thank you Rin.” I said appreciatively.
“Your welcome, you did heal Lord Sesshomaru after all.” She beamed up at me, her cute little face so perfect and round. I wrapped up my arm and the blood soaked it almost right away. I looked up at Sesshomaru’s eyes, which were still watching me. I didn’t understand why. He blinked, holding them closed a little longer than usual and turned toward the village. He pulled out his sword with his right hand and walked toward the door.
“Stay here.” He said as got closer and stopped right before the entrance. We could hear voices whispering in the wind.
“Oh so you haven’t had enough.” The voices slithered through the air. I rubbed my arm as I watched him, he was waiting, and he was ready. Suddenly the door burst open and villagers ran out screaming. There were three demons chasing the villagers, yet there was something different about them. They seem to be refracting the light, making them almost invisible. They licked their lips, and they looked like human lizards. Sesshomaru waited until the demons got closer, almost swords distance away before he raised his sword.
The villager that was in front of him fell to his knees in fright as he shouted, “Bakusaiga!” The sword was slung forward as it slashed into the head of the first demon and traveled to the others in a wave.
“What!?” the last demon said as he started to dissolve from the bottom up. “We cannot die! Why are we not regenerating!? No!” he screamed his last word before his head disappeared and fell to the ground in multiple pieces. He sheathed his sword and turned away from them. Their demonic auras rose as he absorbed them and turned around, walking back toward us.
“Yay Lord Sesshomaru!” Rin shouted.
“Never a doubt in my mind Lord Sesshomaru!” Jaken chimed in.
“Yuzuki.” Sesshomaru demanded my attention. I looked up at him as he passed me but didn’t meet my eye. “Go, take care of the last one with your Naganami”
I put my right hand on my sword and pulled it out looking around for what he was talking about. I walked forward, remembering that these demons were harder to see than most. I grabbed the sword with both hands and used my golden eyes to scan the area. I saw a slight movement by the dead pieces of demon and before it even launched itself at me I used my sword to slice toward the area. As the blade cut into the midsection of the demon it became visible. It shrieked as its last breath escaped from its mouth and I sheathed my sword.
I turned around with a smile as I could feel its demonic aura soak into my body. I felt the wounds beneath the wrap grow together and pulled it off to find four small white slashes down my arms. It was just like my last wound. It didn’t fully heal like Sesshomaru had. I looked up at him confused, but he turned and started walking again. “Where are we going now me’ lord?” Jaken asked curiously.
“Yeah where are we going?” Rin asked on top of Ah-Un. I ran to catch up to them as we followed the river back. The sun was starting to go down, and the night would come soon. Where ever we were going, we wouldn’t get there before dark.
“We are going to see my mother.” Sesshomaru said simply as if it wasn’t a big deal. I widened my eyes at the thought. Sesshomaru’s mother? The dog demon that would have birthed the great Sesshomaru? I started to feel nervous and couldn’t help but wonder why.
“Your mother me’ lord?” Jaken asked as he walked beside him and Ah-Un. “The woman that doesn’t wish to remember my name and probably despises Rin and I. You know she thinks you are going to eat Rin?” he started to babble.
“Haha…I’m pretty sure there are a lot of people that don’t wish to remember your name Jaken.” Rin laughed at the thought, and it was clear to me they had met her before.
“You are so mean Rin!” he started crying to himself again and I shook my head.
“Jaken.” Sesshomaru said angrily and Jaken stopped instantly. His silver hair blew in the wind and he reached down to grab Jaken by the back of his clothes and put him on top of Ah-Un. He bounded over the river, jumping halfway across and landed on a rock and then effortlessly jumped to the other side. Ah-Un’s blue flairs from his legs grew brighter as he flew into the air and across the river, landing on the other side. I walked to the edge of the river, careful as I bounded off the ground and then suddenly felt weightless as I flew across the river and landed on the same rock Sesshomaru had, and then copying his actions and landing on the other side. It felt amazing and my face couldn’t hide my excitement.
“We can fly!” I beamed and Sesshomaru looked back at me with his blank expression but I could tell he thought I was crazy. He didn’t say anything and turned back around and started walking again. I breathed in and calmed myself down. I was just a little shocked; it wasn’t my fault that I had lost the memory of me flying! Suddenly my vision faded to black and a flashback played. I was high in the air, and something was different about me though I couldn’t tell what. I was high in the clouds, the sun blinding above me and the ground way below.
I was just flying, and I couldn’t remember where I was heading, and the next thing I knew I was watching the four of them walk away and disappear into the woods. Rin was singing about me being left behind, much like she did with Jaken. I caught up with them and laughed. “Who’s being left behind?” I gave her a smirk and she laughed. She was something else. I was growing attached to them. I could no longer imagine my life without them. I was starting to not care about my past.