InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed ❯ Day Two Hundred Fifteen ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter Fourteen - Day Two Hundred Fifteen

 

Sesshoumaru helped pack away the last of the bowls, utensils and carvings for the day's trip. This was the third of such excursions into the mountain's surrounding areas and the villages that dotted the fertile valley beneath. He found that he actually enjoyed the outings. It got him away from the tight confines of the hut which, in the increasingly warm days and after a winter stuck inside, offered a nice change of pace. Besides just getting out, it also let him see an entirely different side of Takana. Despite her usually warm, talkative demeanor, he know saw her as a shrewd businesswoman who was very good as getting exactly what she thought she should for the wares she produced. Never once did she back down from what she wanted, starting high in the bargaining but never dropping lower than what she had already determined the pieces worth to be.

 

During these rather loud and sometimes animated discussions between her and the business owner, farmer or shopkeeper, Sesshoumaru kept his distance and simply observed her behavior. No matter how many times he'd seen her do it already, he was still surprised at the transformation that took place. In a moment's notice, she went from being the sweet, witty healer, to a stern, stubborn tradesman. In one transaction with a shopkeeper who dealt in a variety of goods from foods to furniture, he watched as Takana managed to barter five full bags of dried apples for one finely carved box. He could tell that everyone she ran into respected her for her skills both as a carver and a tradesman. He was impressed every time.

 

Today seemed a little different from the other times and Sesshoumaru was having a hard time putting his finger on exactly what it was that made him feel that way. There were several indications that led him to this strange conclusion. First, as he became more and more familiar with her work, especially after seeing what she was capable of obtaining in exchange, he noticed that the load they were hauling today was of a much greater quality that it had been in the past. Also, Takana was more reserved than she usually was before departing for the trip. Before she had been excited and talked almost non stop about the different aspects of the village they would be visiting, what the village was known for, where it was and what she wanted to barter for in return. This morning though, she was unusually quite, only talking about their destination if he asked her direct questions about it and even then her answers were brief and to the point, not elaborating on any aspect of it as she normally would.

 

He wondered if perhaps she just wasn't feeling well but when he asked if she wanted to postpone the trip, she had waved him off and told him that she was feeling just fine. With that possibility shot down, he continued to wrack his brains for others. He then inquired on whether or not their destination was quite far away or not but she had then told him that it was in fact, one of the closer villages to the hut. Another dead end but Sesshoumaru was still undeterred, now curious and fully into the little mystery that she now presented.

 

He was almost positive that he had done nothing to cause her current sour mood. The last few days had been uneventful. Twelve days ago, he had found the sword he'd been carrying when attacked by the boar youkai. He'd had to fain ignorance upon seeing it and Takana had bought his little deception. She then told him that she had found it in the beast's carcass. Ever since then, he started training in the mornings with his now healed human body. At first, Takana had just stolen small glances at him while he'd practiced but when he'd said nothing negative about her presence, she'd started to watch more openly while weaving new baskets from some of the fibers she'd recently traded for. It pleased him that she'd taken a passive interest in one of his skills despite the fact that his movements felt muddled to him in this form, she however, seemed duly impressed by it.

 

After several days of simply watching him, even stopping projects for long periods of time, not even pretending to do them, he finally come to a decision.

 

“Would you like to learn?” He'd asked. He had been amused at the shocked look on her face. She had even looked behind her to make sure that some stranger had not come up behind her and that perhaps he had been talking to him but she was the only one there. When she'd returned her eyes to his to check on the validity of his question, she'd found nothing but sincerity in his gaze.

 

“You would be willing to teach me?” He'd nodded his head in response and since that day, he had begun to show her simply beginner's moves. He was surprised at how quickly she picked it up and was just as surprised at how much he enjoyed teaching her. He'd always thought that he'd find teaching another anything, let alone combat techniques, would be bothersome and tedious. The opposite was true in fact. He felt a sense of pride from the first time he showed her a simple move to the time she had mastered it. She took direction well and listened with rapt attention when he offered criticism on her form. She took it to heart and rarely made the same mistake twice.

 

There was another reason he found the training pleasant. Teaching her the basics of swordplay and defensive combat allowed him to get very close to her and have perfectly good reason to do so. He touched her often, correcting stance and posture. Sometimes he let his touch linger longer than necessary and though he knew she was well aware of it, there was an unspoken agreement between the two and to put it simply, it was allowed because they both enjoyed it. It was as physical a contact they engaged in since that fateful night when she almost died of hypothermia. He had decided the next day that he would not press such activities on her again unless she wished it.

 

At times, he wondered if she did but was too shy to ask him but other times he believed she was perfectly happy with the amount of contact they now engaged in. Their innocent battle play, filled with not entirely innocent touches, seemed enough for the both of them at the moment.

 

But now, he just couldn't come up with what it was that could be bothering her. They hadn't practiced this morning but they never did when they traveled to barter her goods. He shrugged as he tied the last satchel together and stood to survey his work. Everything was ready to go so he stepped outside to look for the female that filled his thoughts. He no longer minded. She was his and nothing was going to change that.

 

He found her by the stream, seemingly filling a traveling container with water but the jug was obviously full as the water passed by the overflowing opening. Still, she held it in the water, her hands pink where the still very cold water passed over her flesh while her gaze was directed off into the woods. She didn't seem to be staring at anything in particular and her eyes had that inward look in them that told him she was deep in thought.

 

“Are you ready?” He finally asked when he realized she was not going to pull herself out of her mental reverie anytime soon. If they wanted to get going before the sun got too high, they needed to be on their way.

 

Takana jumped. She'd been so far away in her thoughts that she hadn't even seen Shin walk right up to her. “Oh, yes of course. I was just getting us some water for the trip.” She looked at Shin and saw something strange pass through his eyes at her reply though she had no idea what it was. She still couldn't read him well but she found she didn't mind. She trusted him implicitly.

 

She stood and followed him when he started to head back to the hut ahead of her. Every step that took them closer to the hut and closer to the inevitable filled her with dread and more this year than it had any year past. She had traveled to the village that had served as her home for sixteen years, three times since her exile but this year was going to be different. Each time she did it before had not just been for the goods that she could gather there but for a few other contradicting reasons as well. For one, she went for defiance, to show her father that she was not worthless, that she could survive without his help or the help of anyone else. But even though she thought those thoughts, she also went to show him that she was ok, that he didn't need to worry about her, that she had survived another year. Strangely enough, another set of thoughts passed through her mind while there, that he could suffer the shame she had given him by showing up year after year. It had always been a shame that he'd kept to himself but with the events of the last fall, she was nearly sure that he'd finally decided to share his shame with at least some others from the village.

 

They'd called her a youkai's whore that day. Those two men that had threaten to commit those same shameful acts against her and would have if it had not been for Shin's protection. The only other that had ever given her that title had been her father the night she told him of whose child she carried. He had said it only once and moments later he'd told her to leave. She had left but only to return the next year with no intention of begging to stay but if he'd asked her to stay, she'd never have returned to her little hut. Now it seemed that this little trip was going to be different. Soon she would find out just how many people he'd told. She knew who the men had been and their family was not close with her father at least they hadn't been. If they knew, it was not unconceivable that the entire village would.

 

To say that she had misgivings about their trip today would have been a bit of an understatement.

 

“Ready?” His smooth voice brought her back to herself and away from the disturbing thoughts that today's excursion was having on her. She looked up at him and could tell that he was trying to figure something out. Undoubtedly, he'd noticed her lack of enthusiasm and was trying to discern why. She debated for a moment and then decided against telling him for now. After all, she might just be unduly paranoid and today might just be like any other. Perhaps only a handful of people now knew of her past but even if everyone did, what would it change except that she may finally never go back to the village that had once been her home. No matter how hard she tried, getting rid of that desire, that fairytale was far harder than any other vice she'd ever had to rid herself of. He had cast her out and she should hate him for it but it didn't change the fact that she didn't hate her father and that deep down, she just wanted to be his daughter again.

 

“Yeah, I'll just finish packing up a few things.”

 

“Everything is packed, I finished it myself.” He continued to look at her as though he were trying to figure something out.

 

“Oh, well then I guess we can get going then.” She said without being able to cover all of the trepidation in her voice.

 

“My sentiment exactly.” He said as he hoisted one pack onto his should her and handed the second, smaller pack to her.

 

They traveled in silence for many miles, both deep in thought. Takana was still thinking about the inevitable and Sesshoumaru was trying to discern her thoughts. He studied her posture, her gait and even the pattern of her breathing and found that he had no idea what it was that ailed her. Finally, he was tired of not knowing, tired of meeting with nothing but dead ends so he just gave up and asked. He knew it was the easy way out but sometimes the easy way is the best way.

 

“What bothers you?” He asked simply enough.

 

Takana didn't look at him but rather sighed. “I didn't really want to go today.” She answered just as simply.

 

“That much is obvious but why not.”

Takana looked up to meet Shin's gaze. She had decided that she could trust him so perhaps she should just tell him now but she hated bringing up bad times. Every time she'd done that with him, she'd regretted it on some level. She didn't like rehashing her pain with him. It made her feel weak. She'd learned not to feel sorry for herself a long time ago but around him, she wanted to be perfect. Perfect in his eyes and each time this was brought up, she felt just the opposite. He'd never said anything to her directly that should make her feel this way but it probably stemmed from the fact that everything he did, at least in the beginning, seemed directed at putting her in her place, a place beneath him.

 

He hadn't done that in quite some time but the feeling of it still lingered. She wanted him to think of her as someone worthy of his company. He'd know, however, if she lied to him, he always did in his uncanny way so she looked at him, sighed and told him everything.

 

He listened as they walked, most of the time she looked away. He knew this was difficult for her but she told him anyway just like she always had. He wondered often why it was that she chose to tell him the intimately painful parts of her life. Before it had been difficult to hear and left him feeling uncomfortable but now it did nothing but focus his rage at all the creatures that had hurt the creature he had come to care for so intimately. No one was allowed to hurt her even if they had done it long before he even knew she existed.

 

When she finished, they both continued walking silently and Takana worried for a while that perhaps she should have avoided telling him anything after all but then he said something that made her stop in her tracks.

 

“No one will ever hurt you again.” He said it with a tone that brokered no argument and he didn't stop walking when he said it until he noticed that she was no longer walking beside him. He looked back at her to see her staring intently at the ground.

 

“How can you say that? You'll leave someday and you won't be able to stop anything. Please don't say things like that if you can't make them true.”

 

Sesshoumaru was taken back by her words but didn't miss a step when he walked back to her and lifted her chin. She may not have known of his silent proclamation but he would let her know of it now. “Woman, I can make it true and I will say what I know to be fact. I will not leave you and that is how I can say such things. Do you understand?”

 

Takana's eyes were wide with astonishment. What had he just said? Did he mean it? Of course he meant it but when had he decided such a thing?

 

“Do you still wish to go?” He finally asked as he watched the torrent of emotions fly past her eyes.

 

It took a moment for Takana to regain herself but the moment she did, a wave of relief hit her. Afraid she might cry with joy, she only managed to nod her head in the affirmative. The moment she did, he turned and headed back in the direction they'd been traveling. She quickly caught up to him and walked so close that they occasionally touched as they walked. Takana couldn't help how wonderful she felt and for the first time, the thought of returning to her childhood home didn't fill her with the contradicting thoughts it usually did. Instead today, as they walked there, she didn't care what happened, what people might say or what her father thought. It didn't matter because at the end of it all, Shin would not leave her despite everything that had happened to her. He would not look at her like she was filthy because of that day almost five years ago. He would protect her from everything her father had not. Takana felt safe and secure but most importantly, she felt truly happy.

 

 

The rest of the trip was passed in amiable silence. Sesshoumaru didn't have any second thoughts about his proclamation to the woman. He would find a way to make it work. If she wanted him now as her protector as a weak human then she would certainly find him more than adequate in that capacity as a youkai. He would just have to make her understand that he was basically the same creature when the time came, if it ever did. But time passed so slowly for humans and that day seemed so far away that he decided that there was no reason to worry about it.

 

It was midday when Sesshoumaru saw the small wisps of smoke that spoke of human civilization. It was only a short while later when the two of them reached the outskirts of the town, dotted by small farms and the farmers that tended them. No one seemed to really take notice of them as they entered and made their way to the market portion of the moderately sized town. Sesshoumaru let her lead the way as she knew where they were going and he did not.

 

Takana first took them to what was obviously a butcher and had no problem bartering for what she wanted there. Sesshoumaru watched and practically begged the man with his mind to do something that would offend the woman he was with. Though he noticed the man look at her and then at him with some amount of knowing, he never said a cross word or even made an effort to show he knew anything. The one thing he did notice while he was there was a young boy, perhaps around twelve years old, scurry off quickly the moment he saw Takana. When that happened, Sesshoumaru shifted his body and noted exactly how the sword at his hip swayed with his movement.

 

After finishing there, they moved on to a different vendor and began doing business there. As they spent more and more time in the village, Sesshoumaru began to notice that more and more people began to take notice of their presence and he damned his human hearing for not being able to hear the quite side conversations that some of the people were having. If Takana was aware of them, she didn't show that she did and just continued on with their business like she always did.

 

After finishing later with the third merchant and having nearly sold all of her wares, it seemed as though the day were going to be as uneventful as all the others had been if only with a few more observers. That was, until two men that Sesshoumaru recognized showed up at the edge of the small crowd that had gathered. They were the men that had accosted Takana that fall and Sesshoumaru didn't even bother hiding the fact that he now had a firm grip on the hilt of his sword. Then he noticed several other men around the same age speaking with the two he already knew until he counted five among them. Sesshoumaru now paid little attention to what Takana was doing and placed all of it on the men that he had now deemed a threat.

 

“Takana, we should go now.” Sesshoumaru stated in a quite tone.

 

Takana was so absorbed in her task that she didn't even register that she'd been spoken to at first until she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Annoyed, she looked up to the person that had pulled her out of her game but that emotion immediately fled her when she saw he was not looking at her at all but at someone she recognized.

 

“Alright.” She said to him quickly. “Deal.” She then said to the merchant though she would have liked to garner more coin for the products she was offering him but under the circumstances, she was willing to let it go. She handed the man his goods and was given a bag of money in exchange. The moment she backed away from the man, Shin took her by the arm and began leading her out of the village. Though she hadn't let on, she had been looking around intently between merchants for the chance at seeing her father but as it had been the last three years, his face remained absent among the multitude of ones she recognized. This year however, it did not fill her with a sense of loss and surprisingly she felt very little.

 

Sesshoumaru continued to scan the area for any place that would place him at more of a disadvantage than he was already in. The five that he had spied in the market place had turned out to be six by the time they were leaving the square and though he didn't see them follow directly, he had not doubt in his mind that they had not gathered for the simple reason to watch them. He ran their earlier trek into the town through his mind. For the most part it had been open farming land with little of the path abutted by forest on both sides. That boded well for the first league or so but after that, they had to travel through thick woods that, though he was familiar with them, he had not grown up here like the young men from the village most certainly had. It was a bad scenario.

 

“Are there any other routes from here to the hut?” He asked quickly, while continuing to scan the horizon as well as the path they had just traveled.

 

“No, just this one unless you want to take an entire week to skirt the base of the mountain.” Takana knew why he was asking and it worried her. Perhaps coming back here with what had happened last fall had not been such a good idea after all. She had just needed to know if she could never return to this place again but now that she knew she could, she wasn't sure if knowing that information was all that important, not if it got them killed. “Are we being followed?”

 

“I haven't seen anything yet but I believe so. If we are attacked, it will be in the forest, not out in the open like we are now.”

 

“I'm sorry.” She said quietly. “I knew they lived here but had us come anyway.”

 

“If they attack us, it will not be because of anything you did. It will be simply because they are cowards.” Takana nodded at his words but they didn't have that magic about them that allowed her to be absolved of all wrong here but she wasn't about to argue. If he said it, then he believed it and it was enough for her for the moment.

 

“What are you going to do?” She asked with apprehension shrouding her voice.

 

“Keep a promise.” Was all he said in reply.

 

They continued traveling along, both keeping their eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Sesshoumaru had never had the chance to fight common humans. Any time he'd had the chance to run upon them and slaughter them; they had always been trained soldiers, not farmhands. Soldiers were easy to predict as they always followed the same code of battle but these fools were untrained as his last run in with the two had proven. But at the moment, what they lacked in skill, the made up for in numbers and Sesshoumaru hoped that it was only six that he was going to have to deal with. He may only be human but he was not about to fall at some fool of a human's hand. He would be fighting for several things at the moment. For one, he had less than two seasons left before he would know if he were to remain human or not forever and two, he would die before he let anyone harm the woman he was traveling with. He had no illusions as to what would happen to her if he were to fall and that made losing to these men a non option.

 

They were now entering the woods and would remain in them until they reached the clearing that held their small home. They traveled in silence and vigilance. Half an hour passed and nothing had happened. For a while, Takana thought that nothing was going to happen until finally, they found what they'd been looking for ever since stepping foot out of her childhood home.

 

There, at the top of the hill, was the one that Sesshoumaru had beaten so thoroughly that day, even though he'd been partially crippled at the time.

 

“So you still travel with a youkai's whore?” The young dark haired man said.

 

Sesshoumaru said nothing in return but dropped the satchel he'd been carrying and pulled Takana behind him. He heard her pull the dagger she'd begun carrying after her last encounter with this man out of her waist sash as she too dropped her bag.

 

It didn't take long before he was joined by two other young men, one quite tall and the other with a strange red tint to his hair. Then, from behind them, the three others that Sesshoumaru had spotted made their appearance.

 

“He seems like the quiet type to me, Omuno.” Said the one from behind that had held Takana last fall, Nito was his name if Sesshoumaru remembered right. The other two with him were unremarkable, of medium build and dark hair.

 

“Just leave us be.” Takana spoke up. “We haven't done anything wrong.” Sesshoumaru remained silent.

 

“Oh you've done plenty wrong slut. We just wanted to be friendly last time Ta - ka - na.” He pronounced each syllable of her name like it was something wretched. “But you had to get all loud and call the gimp in to `save' you.”

 

“Not very nice at all.” Nito spoke up from behind them, agreeing with his sleazy friend.

 

Sesshoumaru still said nothing but kept all of the men in his sight that he could. His main focus remained Omuno. He was the ring leader here and if he had to deal with anyone, it was going to be him.

 

“Maybe this time you'll be a little nicer and if you are, we won't hurt your friend here too much.” Omuno continued. The moment he began to move forward, all of his comrades began fanning out.

 

Sesshoumaru now pulled his sword out and held it at the ready. He was not going to play around. He was outnumbered and had to protect Takana at the same time. Moving so quickly that most of the men didn't even see, he snatched Takana's dagger from her grip and effortlessly threw it at Omuno. It landed just as he had planned, right in his throat. Sesshoumaru knew the moment he saw it hit that it was not a fatal blow but the man would never speak correctly again. He'd done it for sheer shock factor. It worked.

 

The looks on all the faces of his comrades paled as they saw their friend drop to his knees with his hands delicately touching the blade sticking grotesquely out of his neck. The two closest to him, ran to his aid and one vomited when he got a closer look at it.

 

Satisfied that the men in front would cause no more problems for the moment, Sesshoumaru wheeled on the other three. He stared directly at Nito and began to walk forward.

 

“You keep poor company. Leave now or I will do far worse to your neck, if I even decide to let you keep it.” It said simply and after speaking directly to Nito, he addressed the other two. “Will your blood run with as much filth as the two you followed here or are you wise enough to leave now?” The two plain looking men took one look at each other, nodded to one another and then took off running back toward their village. It was only a moment later that the coward Nito took off running as well.

 

Sesshoumaru now turned back to the three that had been in front. “Take him back to your rat infested village. Tell your healer that removing the dagger could be deadly and that he should not have chased away the talent that could have saved this pathetic creatures life. Now move out of our way.”

 

The two men grabbed Omuno and pulled him off to the side of the path. Sesshoumaru then grabbed Takana's arm as well as his discarded pack. They walked by the three men without even looking at them. Even after they crested the hill, they could still hear the sickening wheezes of air escaping past the hilt of the embedded knife.

 

 

Cochrann - Ahhh, will he tell her or won't he. That's the question I'm leaving burning in all my readers now. I just love suspense, don't you?

angelsfalltearfully - He's still Sess and being human for half a year isn't going to change that in him. I'm glad you liked it since that was my favorite bit of the chapter as the writer. Yeah.

White Luna - NP, I enjoy reviewing. It's been my goal with this OC to keep her believable and identifiable. I think she's got the strength of spirit that we all hope we have, at least me and you anyway.

Lamb - Your concern is actually quite valid. I actually wrote this chapter before many of the others and in doing so; I tried to write some of the chapters that led up to it in such a way that it would make this believable. For example, I have her tell him very uncomfortable parts of her life that she'd never told anyone else before. She thinks it's odd herself but I was going for an innate trust. I tried to use that trust as an inroad into her not freaking out in that situation but if you noticed it then I probably need to rethink some of the lead up or the lemon itself. I appreciate the critical review. I don't know if trepiditious is a word but I like it anyway! I'm pleased you liked the last chapter and big 365 does approach and sooner than you might think.

entropy9 - Sorry but I just got too anxious. I'll get you next time.