A week goes by, everything's still the same. Miroku still going on with his job, I help Sango take care of the kids along with Shippo. At night, I would help Sango prepare dinner. The week goes by smoothly, and I would say in a way it's seems a bit robotic, since everyday is technically the same routines. It can't be helped, but at night Sango, Miroku, Shippo and I would have a nice conversation over tea. Then when they all head to bed, I'd go to the fields to practice my koto. Lady Kaede, Kagome, Rin, and Inuyasha are still on their assigment in that village. They should be back around next week. Yet it seem so far away for some reason to me, maybe because everyday is almost the same without any drastic changes. Not that I don't like the village, I love it, I love everyone, I love everything here. It's like a second home, a second family. Yet, I feel like there could be more, since it's still winter I have to stay for about another a month or so before I can leave. When the snow melts away that is when I shall continue on with my journey. Now that I've grown attached to everyone and this village, I find it hard to leave this place when the times comes. One day, I wake up as usual, wash up, braid my hair and go greet Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and the kids. After Breakfast, Miroku goes out to do his demon exterminating job. Sango and I walk around the village to see if anyone need any help, Shippo stays with the kids. The morning went by, Sango helped the women in the village with some tasks that they can't accomplish, I visited the elders and kept them companied with my koto. The afternoon comes by and Sango comes to find me after the kids had their afternoon nap. Shippo is busy taking care of the twins as Sango holds her son.
"Hey Sango, are you all heading off somewhere?" I ask her.
"Yea, the kids wants to go out in the plains to play for a few hours, I'm taking Shippo with me to help me babysit. Thought I would come by and let you know." She says with a smile.
"Oh I see, you sure you don't need me to go?" I ask her seeing the twins and Shippo poking each other.
"We'll be fine, the girls should be old enough to not cause havoc, Shippo's coming along. You should stay here and rest a bit, have some alone time with your koto playing." She says.
"Thanks Sango, I think I'll take this time to go for a walk in the fields, I don't think I have seen the flower field in the sunlight ever since coming here. Being a mother is a handful isn't it? But I have to say your girls and baby boy are growing up beautifully, you should be really proud of them." I say with a smile to the twins.
"Tell me about it, Miroku's planning on having more in the future. You should definitely go to the field in the afternoon, it's beautiful there." Sango whispers.
We look at each other and burst out laughing. Then not far away from us, two men are talking to one another.
"I saw the great demon Sesshomaru fly overhead a little while ago." One of them says.
Sango turns back to look at me with a curious expression.
"Wonder why Sesshomaru is here, Rin's not in the village, does he not know that? If I remember when Rin's out on a particular day in the past I never heard of him dropping by." Sango says.
"Really? Hm, I told him that last time I saw him that Rin won't be back till next week." I say without thinking.
"Oh, you talked with Sesshomaru? I didn't know you two talked to each other." Sango says with wide eyes.
"Oh.. yea, it's only twice, it's when he comes visit Rin that I see him resting in the fields when I go there at night. I'm the one that does most of the talking, but I think I'm making some progress? Talking to a great demon isn't easy, it's a bit nerve wracking. I guess telling him my thanks for saving me that day was a decent start." I say shyly.
"I see, it's surprising to hear that Sesshomaru is interacting with another human besides Rin. I'm curious to see what happens next___________, maybe you can make him lose that human detesting wall of his one day." Sango says with a small chuckle.
"Well I'm working on it, he's still quite passive. I hope that before I leave here I can make him soften up a bit." I say with a laugh.
Sango's face suddenly becomes sad.
"Right, almost forgot that winter is almost coming to an end. Although it hasn't been long but the times that we all spent together seem like it has been a long time already. It'll be sad to see you go when the day comes________." Sango says with a sigh.
"I know, but there's still a bit of time left, I'll see what happens when the time comes." I say taking Sango's hand in mine.
Sango looks at me with a strained smile.
"Alright, we better get going Shippo before the sun sets later." Sango says.
"Please, the girls are bullying me." Shippo says running.
"Girls play nice. We'll be going then__________, see you at night." Sango says turning back to me.
"Have fun." I say with a wave as they walked away.
I watch them leave and let out a long exhale. I then head towards the fields for that walk. As I walked, I went on a different path on the way there. There are trees lining the edge of the road, their branches carrying the heave of snow. Not long after, I came upon a strange looking creature. I stopped in my tracks and watched it reach up to a branch to eat the snow, it looks familiar for some reason. It has two heads, clawed paws, a long tail and scales on his body. It also has a saddle with reigns. I then remembered where I've seen it. It was the creature that was resting next to Sesshomaru that day when I saw him sleeping in the forest. As I watched it, I come to the realization that although it looks scary it's quite timid. I didn't feel fear, but instead curiousity and admiration fills me. I slowly walk up to it, and the creature snaps its heads towards me. I put out my hands in front of me slowly and stop in my track, it just looks at me with slit yellow eyes. A few seconds went by and I take a step forward, it doesn't move but lifts its head back up from its defensive stance. I slowly put my hand out to touch it, and it allowed me to.
"It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm intrigued by you, it's not everyday that I see a creature like you. You must be a demon, but it seems like you have a master since you have a saddle and reigns. Where is your master?" I ask it as I gently stroke its scaley snout.
"A-Un! Where are you?!" I suddenly hear a high pitched voice not far away. From behind some bushes a small figure pops out and stops in its tracks as it sees me.
It looks like an imp. It is about the height up to my knees, and I'm not particularly tall nor short. He's wearing a brown kimono with long sleeves, and a black hat. He has large yellow eyes with slits as pupils, long and pointy ears, a beak like mouth and green skin. He also carries a staff with two heads. I stop in my track as I realize that he's a demon.
"Who are you?! And why are you with A-Un?! Explain yourself!" The small demon says holding up his staff and points it at me.
"I wasn't trying to hurt the creature, I just happened upon it and I thought it was intriguing." I say backing up against a tree.
I didn't know if it is going to hurt me, although he's small he looks quite menacing with that staff of his. He's a demon too so I don't know if he's good or bad. Suddenly A-Un stands in front of me facing towards the imp, almost like it's trying to protect me.
"A-Un what are you doing?!" The imp demon screeches.
"Jaken!" A low voice says sternly through the trees and echos throughout the area.
From behind a tree, Sesshomaru appears and stops a few feet away from Jaken.
"Lord Sesshomaru, I have found A-Un but this human was with him." The imp named Jaken explains.
"Enough Jaken, take A-Un and go wait by the edge of the hill." Sesshomaru says flatly.
"But... eh, yes My lord." Jaken says and walks up towards A-Un and grabs its reigns.
Jaken looks at me with a look of curiousity but then leads A-Un away.
"Uhm, thank you A-Un and nice meeting you too Jaken..." I say quietly.
I then straighten up my posture from the tree and look up at Sesshomaru.
"Friends of yours?" I ask him quietly.
"A-Un, Jaken, and Rin were my travel companions back then, Jaken and A-Un continues to serve me." He says flatly closing his eyes.
"I see, I didn't know you dropped by today. Rin's not back yet, she should be back next week." I say to him.
"I know, I suppose it became an unintentional habit." He says furrowing his eyebrows.
"Habits are hard to break, just like how I go to the fields at night to play my koto everyday. Bad habits should be broken, but the goods ones should be kept." I say with a smile.
Sesshomaru opens his eyes to look at me, his golden eyes staring into mine. He then looks down at my hands then turns towards the road towards the field.
"You don't have your koto with you today." He says with no emotions.
"Oh uh yea, I wanted to go on a walk I didn't plan to take my koto with me since I won't be staying long." I say looking at his side profile, his magenta stripes on his cheeks defining his lean handsome face.
"If that's the case, walk with me." He says flatly and began to walk ahead.
"Uhm sure." I reply and walk behind him.
We didn't talk on the way to the field, the late afternoon winter sun shining down on the road. Our footsteps crunching in the snow as we walked. Sesshomaru's silver hair flowing behind him gracefully, it covers his whole back side. The bundle of fur on his right shoulder trails behind him on the ground as he walks. I don't know if it's part of him or part of his attire, but I don't want to accidentally step on it because who knows what will happen next. It's almost feels like walking on ice that I'm talking to a feared great demon who find humans irritating. But I would like to think that he's opening up to me a bit, the reason being that he has talked with me and asked me to walk with him at this very moment. I know Rin is special to him, but I would like to hold on to that hope that maybe I am too. Even if it's just the slightest. We finally arrive to the all so familiar field, when I see it I'm overcome by its beauty. A smile forms on my face as I see the snow being colored by the late afternoon sun. Sesshomaru is still in front of me walking gracefully, like a kid who just saw an interesting toy, I run pass him and towards the middle of the field. As I passed him, I felt him stop in his track and the wind passing me. I ran to the middle of the field and put my arms out and spun in the snow.
"It's so beautiful here! I didn't know this place is so beautiful when the sun's out." I say with joy.
Sesshomaru watches me for a few seconds and walks up to the tree he always rests against, sits down and leans against it with one leg slightly bent. I was overcome with the beauty of such scenery that I almost forgot that Sesshomaru is just in the distance. I stare out at the moutains in the distance and breathe in the cool winter air and exhale deeply. I turn to look at Sesshomaru who has his eyes closed, leaning against the tree trunk with a serene expression. I smiled a little and walk up to him and instead of sitting down against the tree next to his, I sit down just a few centimeters away from him. There are still a few centimeters of distance between us but I feel closer to him. He didn't move or say anything.
"Thank you for walking with me to the field, I always wanted to see the field in daylight. It's different in a lot of ways." I say looking out into the distance.
"You seem really happy to see it." He says flatly without opening his eyes.
"I am because I felt free and alive. I got to enjoy it." I say.
"It's the same field that you come to every night is it not?" He asks keeping that flat tone.
"It is the very same field indeed, but seeing it at night and in daylight is totally different. The scenery changes, the mood changes." I say quietly.
Sesshomaru slowly opens his eyes but doesn't say anything. He just looks out into the distance like I am.
"Although I'm 25 years of age, I feel like I missed out a lot on life. Although I had privileges due to being born in a well off family, learning many things and such. But I always felt like I didn't have any freedom of my own, like everything is already planned out for me. That's why I decided to go traveling, I want to fill in the years that I missed when I was younger by seeing the world outside of the boundaries, learning new experiences and meeting new people." I say looking at the glistening snow under the sun.
Sesshomaru doesn't say anything but from his expression I can tell that he was listening, I gave a small smile.
"I know you might not understand since you and I are of different races and you being a great demon. But talking to you and sharing some of my inner most feelings is nice and soothing, even if you don't say anything. I guess it's just nice to have someone beside me. I'm sorry if all my human emotions is being thrown at you at once. I suppose I took you as a, close friend." I say with a small embarrassed smile.
"It's fine." He says flatly but softly.
The sun is beginning to set, time sure goes by fast when you're lost in your thoughts and feelings.
"You know, ever since I was young and even till now, every single day feels so consistent. It seems like everyday is pre determined already for me the moment I open my eyes. I suppose the only non-consistent thing in my life as of now is you." I say looking down at the ground.
I hear a small quiet gasp from Sesshomaru, I look up and look at him. His head is slightly tilted and his amber eyes looks into mine. I then let out a small laugh to break the tension and stretch my arms out. Sesshomaru looks ahead.
"I suppose fate doesn't effect us demons, we decide our own fate and destiny. It's late, I assume Sango will be looking for you." Sesshomaru says standing up gracefully.
I get up as well, a little disappointed that I can't stay with him a bit longer.
"Alright." I say quietly.
Sesshomaru and I walk back towards the path that we came from, we met up with Jaken and A-Un on the way back. Guess Jaken was worried for his master.
"Lord Sesshomaru, you finally came back!" Jaken says with a smile.
"Jaken... I thought I told you to take A-Un and wait for me on the hill.." Sesshomaru says with a slightly irritated tone.
I think it's the first time to see Sesshomaru show that much expression. It's even more surprising that you feel the irritation from his voice although his face is expressionless, except for the indication from his furrowed brows. Jaken shrinks back a little and A-Un lets out a low rumble, I can't help but let out small giggle. Sesshomaru turns slightly to look at me with a confused expression, Jaken frowns.
"I'm sorry that we started off on a bad note Master Jaken, I'm _____________. I hope we can get to know each other in time." I say with a smile.
Jaken let's out a sigh. Sesshomaru than turns to me and hands me something. It's a small box wrapped in silk.
"What is this may I ask?" I ask looking at him.
"It's a gift to Rin, I ask you to give it to her when she comes back." He says flatly.
"Oh I see, Rin is quite special to have such a powerful demon like yourself to care for her so deeply and shower her with gifts. For her to meet you is destined fate for her, and she deserves all the happiness the world has to offer." I say with a smile as I look at the gift box.
Although there's a smile on my face, but deep in my heart, there's a slight pain. I look up at Sesshomaru with a big smile, I see him looking back at me with a slightly wondering expression as his eyes glides from one of my eye to the other trying to find something, that something that I'm hiding so well from him.
"I know this may come out as a little pushy, but since I told you some of my inner most feelings and thoughts today, I hope that you can one day open up to me and tell me a bit about yourself. It can be anything, anything at all. I don't know if you ever discuss your thoughts with anyone, but I just want to let you know that I'll be here to listen if you ever want to get anything off your great demon chest." I say with a small smile.
Sesshomaru's eyebrows raises a little but it soon goes back to his usual expression and closes his eyes.
"He doesn't need to talk to a human about his thoughts and feelings, he'll talk with me about th.." Jaken suddenly says.
"Jaken..." Sesshomaru says with a flat but slightly irritated tone.
"Sorry my lord." Jaken says quickly.
Sesshomaru turns around and his back faces me. The wind gently blows around me, carrying the stray strands of my hair around my face into the air.
"The next time we meet, bring along your koto." He says flatly.
His words surprised me, he then walks away. His silver hair swaying behind him. Jaken looks at me and then grabs A-Un's reigns and runs after Sesshomaru. I watch as he gracefully walk away and his white figure disappear into the trees. I smile hearing his words. I look down at the gift, unable to help but feel a slight jealousy, but I'm happy for Rin.
"I wish I can receive gifts from the one I love one day. It seems impossible, but if I can at least befriend him, I'll be content." I think to myself trying to not think of selfish thoughts.
I turn and head back to the village holding tightly to the gift in my hand, the sun dips behind the mountains as another day is coming to an end soon.