InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Sesshomaru Story ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7

Sesshomaru surveyed the little cabin from a distance. There was still no sign of habitation.

This was the second day she'd been gone and he didn't want to go home without some sort of news for Rin. She was frantic with worry and seemed certain that some terrible fate had fallen on Alexandra. He, however, had his own theory. He suspected that she was embarrassed by his lack of self-control and wished to be as far away from him as possible.

But he had to find her. To see her again. For Rin's sake.

The rain had only stopped this morning making any sort of tracking difficult. He headed toward the hovel through the wet forest. He hoped that there might be some sort of clue as to where she'd gone inside. The woods glistened with the newly fallen rain. Sesshomaru stepped lightly to avoid leaving signs of his passing.

The yard looked full and lush. Tiny weeds were already starting to take advantage of the brief period of neglect. Other than everything remained as he had remembered it. He went to the door lifted the latch and went in. The interior was dim taking a moment for his eyes to adjust. He left the door ajar.

The air was stale but there was the overpowering stench of burned flesh. He found the source in the fireplace. There was a black charred lump that he surmised had once been a piece of meat. There were place settings out for four. She'd been expecting them for supper that night and had left without putting anything away.

He surveyed the rest of the room. He couldn't see anything else out of place or unusual. He saw a pile of rolled up papers in the corner. He walked over, took one out and looked at it. It was a partially completed sketch. It took him a moment to realize he was looking at a drawing of himself. The likeness was very flattering. He looked very regal and he was surprised to see very much like his father.

He took out another picture. It was of him again but in slightly different pose. This one had strange symbols in the corners. He had no idea what they meant but he marveled at how lifelike the images were.

Just then he happened to glance at the wall.

He hadn't noticed the painting at first because of the room's dimness. It was of him standing underneath the full moon. The armour gleamed. His pelt moved in the breeze that played with his hair. It was perfect in every detail.

There was the hilt of a knife stuck in his forehead. A thrill went through him. She did have feelings for him.

He heard soft breathing behind him. Sesshomaru whipped around and his eyes widen in surprise.

Alexandra stood in the doorway. Her clothes were disheveled and her hair had and kept look about it. Her hand gripped a knife so hard that her knuckles were turning white. The look on her face was pure fury. She looked as if she was about to attack him and slit him open stem to stern.

She was the most enchanting creature he'd ever seen.

~~~~~~~~~~

Alexandra stomped through the pouring rain, cursing Sesshomaru under her breath. She was cold, wet and miserable and it was entirely his fault. If he thought he could just kiss her like that and then ignore her he had another thing coming. If he thought he would punish her for not throwing herself at him she would show him. Maybe every other girl he met thought he was too gorgeous to resist but she wasn't like that. When she gave herself to someone it was going to mean something. To both of them!

In spite of herself she found herself thinking back to the night they had kissed. Sesshomaru's intently golden eyes looking at her. His caress. At the time she'd been so sure that it was more than just lust. It had seemed like they were truly connected.

"Shows what kind of a sucker you are!" she berated herself. "You've just been up on that mountain alone too long."

Alexandra tried to imagine how they would react to finding her gone. Rin would be sad she knew that. She suspected Jaken would be only disappointed that he couldn't get rid of Rin. But Sesshomaru she had no idea. Would he be disappointed? Surprised? Would he even care?

She took pleasure in going directly through a puddle since she was soaked to the skin anyway.

"Better to find out now what kind of person he was now," she reasoned. "Rather than sleep with him, get pregnant or worse.
Some weird disease and have him ditch her then." She almost wished something would attack her so she had something tangible to fight. Maybe she would get sick and die of pneumonia. She could only hope.



Alexandra arrived in the small village as sky lightened to a dull grey. Her anger had cooled to a simmer by the night of traveling. She knew a few people here but found their welcome as miserable as the morning. She went to the home of the family she knew the best. It consisted of a very over-worked woman, her somber closed-mouthed husband and five energetic children.

She was very vague as to why she'd come to the village and how long she was staying. They offered to put her up for the night. She spent the day doing her best to help out, doing chores with the mother and helping out with the kids. She contributed some of the food she'd brought for their meals. Though the family was polite enough, she felt like she was imposing on them. The conversations were strained and she just felt so out of place. So at the end of the day she opted to spend the night in a storage shed that seemed to double as a chicken coop rather than in the crowded little house.

She tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable position for her aching muscles. She ended up thinking instead of sleeping. Why was she even here? She'd been happy enough in her little house until Sesshomaru had come along. Why should she let him chase her away? If he had a problem with her too bad.

As for looking after Rin, she was torn. On one hand she felt she was being used but on the other, she truly loved the child. Alexandra felt sorry for her living with Jaken and Sesshomaru. It would probably be good for her to have a positive female role model not to mention a human one.

After a long night Alexandra decided to return to her old life. After all she reasoned there shouldn't be any sort of problem now that she and Sesshomaru understood each other. She would just keep her distance. It would be fine. She could handle it. The decision made, she felt much better and since she wasn't sleeping anyway she decided to get an early start back.

She back up her things so that by the time the family was starting to stir she thanked them and said good-bye. The weather started overcast but improved as she traveled, as did her mood. The journey back seemed to go much quicker now that she decided not to let some stuck-up womanizer ruin her life. She'd just overreacted to the whole situation but no harm done. She could be calm and sensible about everything.

She was quite satisfied with herself when her little cottage came into view. She smiled to think of having an afternoon nap on her own futon. It was then she saw the open door.

Her heart froze. The door had been latched when she'd left she was certain. She took out her knife and put down her packs so she would have freedom to move. Then she approached as cautiously as she could, noting she could see no footprints coming up the path. She crept up the side of the building the wet grass masking her steps and peered in the open doorway.

There standing in the middle of her house with his back to her was Sesshomaru. In an instant her calm demeanor was gone. All her rage came flooding back to her. Just who did this guy think he was?

He whirled around to face her. For an instant he appear surprised, in the next entirely calm and at ease, as if it were his home he was standing in, not hers.

"What are you doing in my house?" Alexandra asked biting off each word, barely able to contain her outrage. She wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off of his flawless face.

"Rin was worried about you," Sesshomaru answered simply.

His words had the desired effect. Her face softened. Sesshomaru knew only too well the power of the child's charms.

Alexandra remembered the conversation she'd had with Rin mere days ago. The poor girl. "I'm sorry to have worried her," she said. It was probably the truth but it still didn't excuse him for coming in her house uninvited.

"These are beautiful," Sesshomaru said looking down at his hand.

Alexandra's eyes followed his. For a moment she was struck dumb in amazement! He'd been going through her things! Her drawings! Her drawings of HIM! The one he was holding had HEARTS drawn in the corners! Oh my God! She might as well have wrote 'I love you Sesshomaru' on her forehead. She suddenly felt the blood rush to her face. She was totally mortified. She strode up to him with as much dignity as she could muster and snatched them back.

"Get. Out!" was all she could manage to choke out through her indignation.

Sesshomaru stood looking at her for a moment. He seemed taken back as if her reaction was totally unexpected. Alexandra wasn't sure how he was going to react. He leaned a bit closer to her regarding her intently with his golden gaze. For a brief moment she imagined that he might kiss her again. He cocked his head slightly to one side and asked, "Why do you smell like chickens?"

Alexandra burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. Three nights with barely any sleep. Total humiliation. And that look on his face. She couldn't stop laughing. Tears streamed down her face and she held her side with the crumpled up drawings in her hand.

After a few minutes Sesshomaru was concerned. "Are you alright?"

For some reason that made her laugh more but she did her best to nod and get herself under control. She could barely catch her breath. "I'm just...very...tired. You....better leave....and...Come back...later."

"Are you certain?" he asked as if she couldn't really be believed.

She nodded wiping the tears from her eyes.

Sesshomaru walked to the door then looked back at her for a moment and left.

Alexandra went outside to retrieve her things. She came in and shut the door, fat last able to breath. She went and lay down on her bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

When she woke up it was late in the afternoon. There was a definite chill in the air so she started a fire after clearing out the fire pit. She used the drawing with hearts on it for kindling. She looked at it for a moment before setting fire to it. Shame. It wasn't too bad and she barely remembered drawing the hearts but it had been very late. She decided to check the rest of them. It was then she saw the one on the wall with the knife sticking in it. Well, with any luck he'd seen that one too. She pulled the knife out of it and took it down and put them all away.

She was hungry and out of sorts so she fixed herself a light meal. Then she washed up and changed her clothes. She was finally feeling herself again. She set to work putting her house and then the garden back in order. She was just about finished when the sound of young voices came drifting towards her from the forest path. Travelers rarely came this way and she didn't recognize any of the voices as people from the village.

Before long a strange group came into view: a tall, lanky youth with long white hair all dressed in a brilliant red, a young monk with some creature on his shoulder, two women and a small two-tailed cat. One woman looked normal enough except she had a large boomerang strapped to her back. The other - Alexandra couldn't believe it! - was dressed in a modern school uniform with a yellow backpack and pushing a bicycle! She stood there for a moment dumbfounded.

It was then that they saw her. The monk turned to the others. "The woman is obviously shocked at the site of us. Perhaps it would be best if I introduced us," he said not noticing that Alexandra had come up quickly behind him.

"A bicycle!" Alexandra said breathlessly, admiring it. She touched it tentatively as if it might disappear before her eyes.” It’s the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" She managed to tear her eyes off it and look up at Kagome. She saw the group of them all staring at her, including the creature on the monk's shoulder which she now saw was a child of some kind with a poofy tail.

She laughed. "I'm sorry. My name is Alexandra." She looked back at the bike to see if it was still there.

"My name is Kagome." Said the black hair girl holding the bike. "This is Sango..." She indicated the other girl with the boomerang.

"I'm happy to meet you,” the girl said with a polite bow.

"Inu-Yasha..." Kagome continued. She pointed to the guy in red. Now that Alexandra looked at him directly she saw he had white pointed ears on the top of his head and the same golden eyes as Sesshomaru. Alexandra's eyes widen in surprise and it took a conscious effort not to stare at him.

Inu-Yasha just folded his arms across his chest defensively under her gaze. Alexandra smiled at him but it didn't seem to help. He seemed to take an instant dislike to her. "Whatever,” he said peevishly.

The monk moved past him to take Alexandra hand between his own. "Rest assured my good lady, he is perfectly harmless," he assured her smoothly.

"Unlike you," muttered Inu-Yasha.

"If I might be so bold as to introduce myself," the monk continued. "I am Miroku and I'm pleased to make you acquaintance. We were told an old woman lived here. I'm so glad that we were terribly misinformed." Alexandra noticed that both the women were giving him dark looks but he ignored them.

"And I'm Shippo!" the child on his shoulder.

Alexandra couldn't help smiling at his enthusiasm. "I'm very happy to meet you all," she said pulling her hand finger by finger from Miroku's grip. She couldn't help but look at Inu-Yasha again. He scowled at her so she looked away.

"If you don't mind my asking," began Kagome. "How is it that you know about bicycles?"

"Please, come up to the house. I'll make us something to eat and we can talk. You must have come a long way,” Alexandra said.

"How could we refuse such a kind invitation!" replied Miroku.

"How you could ever turn down a free meal, you mean,” said Inu-Yasha.

"Only if you're sure it's not too much trouble," said Kagome.

"Oh, no! I'm happy to have guests." answered Alexandra.

"Thank you. This is very kind of you,” said Sango as she, Miroku and Shippo followed her into the house.

As Kagome parked her bike, she noticed Inu-Yasha sniffing the air suspiciously. "What's the matter?" she asked him.

"Probably nothing," he said. They went inside.




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