Rin awoke with a start. She was warm but there was something that was poking the inside of her nose. She pushed it away with her hand and opened her eyes to see what had caused it.
White fur
Her eyes went wide and she sat up straight. Looking dispassionately at her was Sesshomaru.
" Ah..." she blinked a few times. " I was asleep."
" I'm aware," he said dryly. " It is day now, you should go prepare."
She blinked. He looked as tired as he ever did. She'd seen how he acted with Jakken when he had to repeat himself and she'd never wanted to tempt her luck. She pushed herself to the edge of the bed and stood up, straightening her now rather open robe and running back to her own room via the tunnel.
{Nice view}
He couldn't stop himself from thinking it. There were some things that he wasn't able to deny to himself.
vVvVvVvVv
She brushed her hair furiously while berating herself.
{A fine thing to do, falling asleep next to him. No matter how nice it was, how warm and comforting and safe you felt it was shameful. You know he doesn't sleep well with people next to him. He was likely up the whole night because you wouldn't let him get rest. Now he's going to be cranky}
She shuddered. She'd never been on the receiving end but she'd seen him be cranky with others.
{He looked absolutely haggard. Not that anyone but Jakken and I would notice but for him he was practically stuttering with sleep deprivation. Is this what you do to your lord?}
" No," she whispered, putting the brush down firmly on her table. " I serve my lord and I do not distract him from his duties or let others use me as a tool to do so."
She picked up a hair ornament and tucked it in. Normally she wouldn't wear such things but Sesshomaru had said prepare and that usually meant some kind of formal occasion. She loved keeping her hair in a pigtail. Once she'd started working in the kitchen she'd discovered that it was far easier to bind all her hair up instead of just part of it and she'd secretly begun to call herself the Kitchen Samurai. That, however, was a secret that even Jakken's prying wouldn't get out of her. Standing up she moved to the entry way and found the now dressed Sesshomaru waiting for her, yet another surprise of the morning. She wasn't entirely sure it was a pleasant one either.
Silence followed the two as they moved down the hallway with Sesshomaru in front and Rin a respectful distance behind.
{I hope he's not mad at me}
{Her outfit's not travel wear. She'll have time to fix that I suppose}
Jakken met the both of them at the courtyard.
" My Lord," he yelped running over, " we're almost ready to go." He gave Rin a look. One of many she'd seen over the years and this one translated into the 'what were you thinking' look. " Is that what you're wearing?"
" What," Rin asked quizzically, " is there something I should be wearing?" She neatly turned her question from Jakken to Sesshomaru.
" Of course there is," Jakken exclaimed, glaring angrily at her now. " Those clothes are hardly travel suitable. You'll fall to pieces in moments. I must be getting soft, thinking you weren't THAT stupid."
Rin glanced between Sesshomaru and Jakken trying to concealing the excitement that wanted to bubble out but failing.
" Traveling? The borders or just the countryside? Will there be meetings?"
Sesshomaru looked away and began walking towards his council chamber. He was obviously going to leave the explanation to Jakken.
Jakken, looking dejected as Sesshomaru walked away, sighed pitifully before turning back to Rin.
" What on earth happened last night? He looks as if he's had no sleep for days," he exclaimed angrily. " If you've awoken him with another bad dream," he left the rest unsaid, trying to be threatening but failing miserably when his tiny feet started tapping in agitation.
" I suppose I must have," she said. " He said he'd heard a noise in my room and came to check so when he left," she paused, stopping to consider including the warm body she'd felt next to hers but deciding against it, " I heard him and followed him into his room."
" You," Jakken exclaimed, enraged and scandalized, " followed our lord into his bedroom?"
{That's right you silly old man. I followed him in because I was sleepy and wanted to know what was happening}
" I wasn't..." she said. " I wasn't thinking clearly."
" Apparently not," Jakken snorted in disbelief. " Why our master continues to put up with you..." He left the rest hanging and started to hop down the steps towards Ah-nun.
" Jakken, where are we going? What's going on?"
He turned, huffing and glaring up at her. " I should think it would be obvious! We're going out to wander Lord Sesshomaru's lands to let the lesser demons keep in mind his fearsome strength and beauty. For some reason you're coming with us again." He frowned at her and then turned away, mumbling under his breath, " It was so nice traveling with just Lord Sesshomaru again."
" Miss the alone time," Rin questioned, leaning over his shoulder and poking him in the cheek. " I bet you do. I bet Jakken wants to be all alone with our lord."
Jakken took a swipe at her knees with the staff while glaring at her. He straightened his robes and settled his cap firmly in the middle of his head. Rin laughed as he huffed off over to Ah-nun and started taking swipes at the small demons that were scurrying to load the travel bags.
" Just get changed into your travel gear, silly human girl," Jakken shouted over his shoulder at her, shaking the staff at her for emphasis.
" He says silly human," Rin muttered under her breath, " but then he calls me a kind and wonderful person when I let him have his pickles."
****************
Rin, despite her confusion, was very happy to be out and about with Sesshomaru again. She was far too excited to sit on Ah-nun for long once they'd left site of the compound and bounced up to Jakken.
He, however, was not as energetic or thrilled as she was and brushed her off with curt words and a few attempts to clock her with his staff. That left just Sesshomaru to take her energy out on.
{Is it appropriate that I do so?}
She practically skipped to his side. She gazed up at his face for a while before attempting to start conversation.
" So my lord," she tiptoed in front of him and started walking backwards, " where are we going?"
" On patrol."
" Well yes," she said, correcting her balance to avoid falling over an unexpected bump, " but what areas are we patrolling?"
" To the Northern border and then east to the ocean."
Rin couldn't contain her excitement and she ran ahead with her arms open. The ocean, the wonderful salty ocean with fish and birds and all that water. This really was a treat. She was so happy that he'd decided to bring her along.
****************
A few hours later saw the excitement died down and Rin was asleep with her arms wrapped around Ah-nun's neck. Jakken sighed and took the reins that trailed on the ground. Ah-nun didn't need the guidance but it certainly helped that his hands were holding onto something. It helped keep him from being tempted to join Rin in sleep.
The days following passed by slowly. The summer heat and fine weather gave it the air of a stroll instead of a mission. The uneventful trip, however, had left Jakken and Rin restless. Rin had never missed the kitchen duties more and Jakken fretted constantly about whether his assistant would be able to handle the duties that needed to get done. They both fussed to the point where Sesshomaru had ordered them to go find something to do.
Jakken trudged along, tugging Ah-nun after him as Rin ran ahead. She hummed as she eagerly inspected every bush and shrub she came across for anything to help with dinner that evening. She'd been too far away to hear what the village women had been singing but the melody had been clear and it wasn't too hard for her to make up her own words for it. Brushing wayward hairs from her face as she nipped some leaves from a low growing herb she smiled back at Jakken. Best for him not to know she was even humming the tune. The last time she'd actually sung it in his presence he'd chased her around until he'd landed several good whacks onto her knees for 'using such an informal tone about their lord'.
Luck was with them. They’d found a stream to fish out of and Jakken had, somehow, managed to find some honey in a nearby village's beehive. There would be someone upset when they found an empty hive but walking along, swinging the fish on a string and trying to eat honeycomb without having it drip on them, that was far from their minds.
They were wandering through a field of low grass and bright flowers when they heard an explosion in the distance and looked up to see a plume of smoke rising above the tree line in the direction they had been headed.
" Lord Sesshomaru is fighting.," Jakken said, closing his eyes to slits and concentrating, " a band of humans. Possibly monks or maybe just villagers."
Rin looked at the ground and scuffed her feet. Frowning a little she looked up at Jakken. " Would it really be that bad if once, just once, Sesshomaru-sama went around something instead of insisting on going straight through? It's not like they'd know he was there."
Jakken stopped fussing her towards Ah-nun and stared slack jawed at her. " Lord Sesshomaru...go around?" His eyes closed completely and he bent over making clicking noises before letting his hilarious laughs out. " Lord Sesshomaru move, for humans, oh my my that's funny." He wiped his eyes and pointed the top of the staff at her. " You, Rin, know that these are our lord's lands and where he wants to go, he goes. The idea that he'd move at all from his course is simply," he paused, looking for the right word, " absurd, that's right, absurd. Even if they didn't know he'd changed his course he would and that's showing consideration he wouldn't do for another powerful demon, much less you lowly humans."
Rin kicked him in the stomach and hopped on Ah-nun who turned and walked from the fighting. She didn't like to be nearby in case more humans saw her and, once again, assumed she'd been kidnapped. She hated having Jakken group her in with the people she saw. They, for the most part, were sweaty men with axes or hoes and she didn't have fond memories of grown men at all. The women, sure, she wished she could talk to them or get close to them and listen to what they said but that had been strictly forbidden, not to mention they'd had precious little of worth to say when she'd eavesdropped. The only time she'd ever had a real conversation with another human female had been when her first periods had started and Sesshomaru had dumped her on his half-brothers doorstep for two weeks. Sesshomaru's half-brother might have acted quite a lot like Sesshomaru but his wife had been more then kind and taught her how to make her own pads and explained everything she could to her about what was happening. A wise choice as Sesshomaru had never taken her back and started leaving her at the then fledgling palace with no one for company but Jakken.
Another explosion echoed across the field and both she and Jakken turned to look.
" They're fighting quite fiercely for humans," Jakken commented, his eyes starting to dart about with worry.
" Go help him," Rin commented, tapping her foot on the top of his cap. " You know you want to, and besides they're probably below the worth of Sesshomaru fighting. I'll be fine, I've got Ah-nun to protect me." Ah-nun made a rumbling noise in response and she stroked the scaled neck.
Jakken, needing no other urging, ran off towards the rising smoke. Rin smiled as she watched him until he blended into the grass and all one could see was the entwined heads of his staff bobbing about.
She turned back to Ah-nun, who was looking at her, and slipped off. Winding the rather ceremonial reins around her hand she started to lead him further into the forest.
Rin felt the blast of heat a few heartbeats later and heard the small sound of Jakken cackling above the whooshing sound that the flames made. Looking back she saw Sesshomaru's pale shape outlined against the dark tree trunks on the other side of the field. Knowing Jakken, although she couldn't see him, he was probably dancing around enthused by his victory.
****************
Sesshomaru began to move foreword. He could, in a way, see the demonic aura that moved behind Rin. Mindless demons were drawn so strongly by the smell of human blood that they'd attack anything, stronger demon nearby or no.
****************
Rin heard the rumbling a few seconds before the explosion. The ground a few feet behind Ah-nun exploded, showering them both with dirt.
She brought her knees to her chest, tucked her head in and wrapped her hands behind her head as the force lifted her up and threw her. Rin hit the ground hard, feeling one of her knees go numb as something smacked into it hard. As soon as she stopped rolling she looked up.
Three demons scuttled towards her. Looking like perversely large insects, the main difference was the mouths. Acidic drool dripped and sizzled on the ground and large fused teeth ground against each other. And they were getting way too close. Rin turned and scrambled to her feet, running as quickly as she could. She snapped her head around as a snarl sounded at her back and found Ah-nun pinning one of the creatures, tearing at its armor with the mouths and claws while the other two hesitated for a moment between chasing her and battling the new threat.
No time to waste, she turned and ran as fast as she could in the direction she'd last seen Sesshomaru. A flash of green whipped past her cheek and she felt a surge of relief. Sesshomaru's whip would handle anything.
A crushing weight fell on top of her and she barely had to cry out before she was smothered with the hard shell of the now dead monster. A brief moment of clarity before unconsciousness took her was that her bones were breaking.
****************
His lips pressed into a thin line, the dark eyebrows pointed down and his eyes dangerously narrowed. The wind whipped around his body, stroking the hair from behind him into a long pale banner. In a smooth motion he seemed to appear before the newly dead creature and hacked it apart with his hand. Protective bones crunched and splintered under the suddenly vicious blows and dark blood bubbled out and sprayed the grass nearby. In a few moments there was a massive hole in the carcass and he reached his hand in to fish around and then pulled Rin's limp body through.
Gently holding her against him he lifted into the air. His boa moving and morphing into a substantial cloud and lifting them both into the air. Sesshomaru could hear Jakken yelling down below him and Ah-nun's concerned wuffing noises but the thing that concerned him the most at the moment was the limp and soft form that lay in his arms. Bones were broken, that was obvious from the way she handled. What he didn't like was the ever increasing fear that she was bleeding internally. That was hard to fix and time was essential. A few moments to get back to his palace in this form but would it be soon enough?
{She was felled, in my presence, by minor demons}
Truthfully, none of the other demons would be too surprised. He couldn't, of course, be bothered with the smaller demons. The rumors that would circulate from him saving her at all would be the worst of it. A weakness like his father's would certainly be blamed and circulated. Rin was only a human and yet he exerted himself to save her. There would be whispers. Did he save her for love? Did he save her because she was a pet? Did he save her to save his face?
" My lord."
He looked down. Rin was looking up at him weakly. He kept his face impassive as she opened her mouth and worked it a little before
" I'm sorry." She coughed and he let his eyes narrow, that was not a good sign.
She closed her eyes then and he landed deftly in the courtyard
****************
Pleasure
The light sensation caused her to pull herself from the muddle of pain and focus on it. Long fingers were stroking across her scalp. The ache at the base of her skull was quickly being banished beneath the thrills that followed where the fingers went. Warm and gentle the fingers swept across her temple and stopped to lightly grip the back of her neck.
Sesshomaru-sama?
He smelled like the musky feral scent of the forest and it could only be him stroking her head if his scent was as strong as it was now. A dream, a very very nice dream.
She started to sink back into the embrace of slumber when the voices started.
Sesshomaru's voice sounded first and directly over her, confirming her guess that it was he who was touching her hair. Jakken's piercing voice came from a bit further away and as he fell silent Rin noticed the sounds of feet scampering across the floor and the sounds of pottery hitting flat surfaces and water being poured. She puzzled, had they been there a moment before or had they just started? As she puzzled over that she was startled as a cold damp cloth was put on her forehead. Frowning she opened her eyes slowly, blinking the stray water droplets from her eyelids, to find Sesshomaru's yellow ones looking straight into hers.
She froze. He continued to look at her calmly for a moment before raising his head and looking to his right.
" Jakken."
She heard rapid footsteps and turned her head in the direction Sesshomaru's was facing in time to see Jakken leap onto the edge of...
My?
...bed and scurry towards her. Behind him she caught glimpses of four smaller versions of Jakken running around with pitchers and containers.
" Rin," he put a tiny hand to her forehead and smoothed back her hair. She blinked up at him and tried to think. She knew that she'd been brought back to the castle but she had no idea how much time had passed since then. How injured was she?
" My lord," she began, finding that instead of her voice a raspy whisper came out instead. Her image of Sesshomaru began to skew wildly as her eyes struggled to stay open.
" Jakken," Sesshomaru said without bothering to look up, " go."
The amount of scampering footsteps told her that it wasn't only Jakken that had left the room. She closed her eyes gratefully as soon as they were gone. His hand resumed stroking the hair back from her forehead and she smiled briefly before falling asleep.
****************
Sesshomaru felt his mouth tighten into a deeper frown as he watched Rin's sleeping form. She'd been asleep for several days and her awakening was a good sign but even that much recovery had been difficult. The grizzled old demon he'd pulled in to heal her had frowned and shook his head when he'd caught site of her. After Sesshomaru's imposing presence had kept him from 'collecting' any samples he'd finally done the job he'd been summoned to do and informed Sesshomaru that Rin was seriously injured enough that he doubted that even he could fully restore her to a pristine specimen.
He let his hand rest on her forehead, her dark hair contrasting against his pale fingers. Reason after reason to detest humans popped up as Rin's healing took more and more time. They were so easily broken...
That fool's mother had been just as easily driven into death
Of course it hadn't helped that his father had made her such a blatant target. Humans’ best defense was not to be a target in the first place. That was impossible for humans who associated with demons but Rin had been given the choice to leave years ago and still remained. She accepted the risks of being his retainer so he was not about to lecture her on them again when she awoke.
He absent mindedly resumed stroking her hair again as he pondered monsters who'd attacked her. Little more then pond scum to him they'd been able to inflict damage on her that even the most common villager would probably have been able to avoid. Perhaps he should consider sending her off to be trained in self defense. Now there was an idea his father hadn't had.
Sesshomaru twisted his head to face the door. " Jakken."
The small demon came scuttling around the door looking anxious. " More medicine my lord?"
" As soon as the roof is on the north wall I want a house built for me on the seashore." Sesshomaru turned his head to face the window to signal he was done.
Jakken shot a look from Rin's sleeping form to Sesshomaru's tall shadowy one. " The trip there, for Rin I mean, wasn't able to happen. A house so she might spend time there to recover?"
Sesshomaru stood up with a lithe grace and walked out of the room, casually kicking Jakken in the head with his foot as he walked by.
****************
The sound of pouring water roused Rin from her sleep. Blinking she turned her head over towards the noise and was greeted by the piercing light of a lantern. Squinting from the light, she tried to push herself into a sitting position and found her arms to wobbly to support her weight. Blinking until her eyes adjusted she saw the back of a richly dressed demon.
Of course it was assumed that any in her lords castle would be a demon but it was confirmed when the graceful flowing body turned to reveal a very pretty set of slitted eyes. Long dark hair that made Rin slightly envious rustled to the ground as the predatory courtesan smiled at her, revealing a mouth full of fangs as well.
" I see you are awake my lady," the courtesans voice was dusky and smooth. " I am sorry if I awakened you but I was instructed to keep your forehead cool." Another smile full of teeth was flashed in her direction.
Rin blinked as she took that information in for a moment and then moved her shielding hand up to her forehead to feel the now warm cloth on her forehead. Gritting her teeth she forced herself to sit up, grateful for the robe wrapped around her, and gave a low bow. " I'm afraid I don't know the name with which to thank you but I must."
" It is nothing," another smile, " but I must go tell Lord Jakken of your awakening for he wished to know." The briefest of bows and the courtesan was gone.
She must have made Jakken angry. He knows how much the demons hate being around 'food' and then having to act as if I was their equal. A courtesan too! They hate me being in rooms so close to Lord Sesshomaru's
She pondered it for a moment before her body demanded to lie down again and she slipped back underneath the blankets. How long had she been asleep?
Jakken's very loud footsteps into the room kept her from slipping completely back into slumber and she brought her eyes open in time to see him peek around the doorway into her room before entering the rest of the way.
" A fine mess you've made of my job," he huffed coming over and tapping his feet before giving a disgusted look at her and grabbing the cloth that was still in her hand. " Silly fool, didn't even change the cloth before she left." He made a disgusted noise and pattered over to the basin to dip it into. " She'll never get near Sesshomaru-sama like that," he pulled it out and wrung it almost dry. " Asleep for four days! I can't imagine how I'd get treated if I were that lazy." He sighed dramatically as he popped up onto the futon and put the cloth against her forehead.
She was surprised at how good the cold felt against her forehead. It hadn't seemed so hot before the cloth was on it...
" Four days?" She rasped out, her voice tired already. " Has it been so long?"
" Of course it's been that long. You gave Ah-nun quite a scare. Quite sure that our lord would have killed the poor thing for not protecting you. And only you," he said the last word with an infliction of deep disgust, " could get that seriously injured from a bunch of low level idiots. How you managed to survive until Lord Sesshomaru found you I have no idea." He stopped for a moment. " Well, it's true you weren't when we found you."
Her lips thinned, her life before coming to them wasn't talked about. He took a look at her and then sighed as if a thousand burdens were upon him. " As soon as you can be moved you're going to that whelp and his human," he said. " Most of the demons around here are simply of the mind to eat you. It's best to avoid the temptation of some of the servants I think."
" InuYasha?" Rin asked, her brief anger dissipating at the idea of going to visit them again. It had been so nice to spend some time with another human girl and as gruff as InuYasha was he did remind her of Sesshomaru. " How long," she started to ask just as her voice rattled to a halt in her throat.
Jakken gave her a look of disgust as he smoothed the cloth down on her head and plopped to sit next to her. " Until you're healed of course. The last thing we need is an injured human woman smelling of blood and weakness when we have random visitors paying homage to our lord. They might think you managed to weasel out of a holding pen or something."
Rin smiled. Her presence did irk quite a few and she knew any number of the women who would be quite happy to devour her 'on accident'. " Sesshomaru-sama would save me," she stated in the same confident tone as she had when she was knee-high.
" Not when he's on the ocean border he wouldn't." Jakken hopped down and walked out of the room leaving Rin to think.
He went to the ocean without me. Well of course he did, he still has stuff to do even if you're being sick and silly in bed.
Her head hurt, her body hurt and Sesshomaru was off somewhere without her again. She felt tears well up in her eyes and shut them tightly. Being silly and crying wasn't going to help make her better. Once she was up and about she could be of use again.
" Humans," Jakken huffed. She opened her eyes to see him holding a tray in her doorway. " Must you indulge in such weak antics around me?" He used his feet to kick a low table from the corner of the room over to her bedside and placed the trey on it. A number of pots giving off steam and a small tea pot and two teacups were on it. " It's that rice you enjoy and some fish." His beaky mouth tightened into a firm line. " I'm fairly certain it's not poisoned."
Another advantage of her doing her own cooking. She struggled to a sitting position yet again and swung her legs of the edge of the bed. Jakken picked up a sitting cushion larger then he was and stumbled across the room to put it down between her and the table. She sank to her knees and slowly picked up some chopsticks. " Why aren't any of your servants doing this?" Her voice was still rough but at least she could speak again.
" Our lord told me to look after you specifically. That toothy wench that was in here was covering me so that I might eat. I do have to eat you know," he shot her a glare. She smiled at him and he pointed a finger at her and then whisked a tea cup over and poured a bit for her and then for himself. He sighed in pleasure as he took a sip. " I'll say this, as annoying as you are you may be the only other one in the palace who serves Sesshomaru for the glorious being that he is and not out of fear." He stabbed a finger at her quickly. " Not that he doesn't deserve to be feared, especially by you."
" Thank you," she managed as she maneuvered to get a lump of fish to her mouth. Rin swallowed it despite its overly crisp exterior.
" Heh," Jakken snorted. " I'm getting soft in my old age. I should be advising our lord to leave you to the whims of his court, not arranging to get you to the impudent scum that is somehow related to our lord’s glorious being."
" When?" Rin stopped to cough, deciding to keep the words to the minimum.
" Well your bones were healed by that disgusting old man," Jakken said, taking long drinks of his tea between words, " but your insides are apparently still going to need long healing according to him. You'll be moved the day after tomorrow now that you're awake. We're sending our Lord's unworthy brother a notice that you're coming and getting your stuff ready to move since we don't know how long you'll be. Ah it'll be nice to have a place to myself again."
Rin's eyes filled with tears involuntarily. She was so damned emotional and she didn't know why. Jakken set his tea cup firmly on the table and rolled his eyes. " Lord Sesshomaru has no patience for such weak human emotions and this is yet another reason to make sure you're not in his presence until you're healed again." He stood up. " It's no use trying to get even the usual half-way intelligent conversation out of you. I suggest you eat what I've graciously made you and then rest until you're ready to go." He left her sitting on the floor and eyeing the edge of the bed and wondering if she'd be able to get back into it on her own.
****************
