InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Demon of Another Color ❯ Introductions ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Unsure if this was some sort of trick or not, she hesitantly lowered her head and licked her lips. Greatly to her surprise, he turned his back to her and waited. Cautiously, she stepped over to him, ready to take off at the slightest wrong move. Now she was within arm's reach of him, looking up at him with her chin tucked near her neck.

"You're no horse youkai, so you have no herd. Why did you just accept me?"

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Chap ter 4: Introductions

Sesshoumary kept his his amber eyes drilling into her silver ones; she was afraid of his potential, but not afraid for her life. Curious. As was her lack of clothing she seemed negligent about. Her skin may have distracted other males, but this Sesshoumaru had far too much honor to allow his eyes to wander and fought himself slightly to keep his eyes locked on hers. And she seemed completely oblivious to the fact her attire could get her into trouble. He made a mental note to give her a proper kimono at his home.


"By living on the outskirts of my territory and killing offending demons, you were requesting permission to join my pack." He began walking towards his estate, she followed beside him, glancing warily at him and her surroundings, half expecting this to be a trick and for something to pop out and grab her. Sesshoumary sensed her distrust; it would just have to be something she learned to get over.


"I was unaware this was your territory. As for the demons, a gal's gotta defend herself. The grass is better here than anywhere else I've been and there aren't as many demons, so I thought this might as well be a nice place to stay." She spoke with a sort of gutsy humor playing her supple voice.


Sesshoumaru had a sense of pride for his land, he did take good care of it, as his father did. They walked in silence for a few minutes before the maiden's curiosity surfaced, "Well, you've taken me into your herd... or 'pack'," it sounded humorous to her to belong herself to a canine term, "do you have a name?"


Sesshoumaru looked out of the corner of his eye at her, this time the mental note was to teach her better manners to a lord, "I am Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands."


"Mmm." She sounded like she couldn't care less, the inu-youkai looked fully at her with a glare. She continued looking forward, pretending not to feel his eyes poke daggers at her, "I'm Astarte, Martri- uhh..." she cut herself short, "ehh, a maiden of the First Harem court."


A memory of Naraku yelling that name in battle flashed to in his head. It was a strange name. Beautiful, but strange. And he was unfimilar with the term 'First Harem'. She spoke again, "Do you have a particular reason for taking me into your herd? You obviously don't need me for protection. And if you think I'm going to be one of your wenches, I will fight."


Sesshoumaru had had enough of her lack of manners and spun to her, bringing his face inches from hers, "You will mind better behavior in the presence of ruler of the Western Lands." He remained glowering into her eyes, letting his menacing air seep into her. She bit her tongue like she wanted to say something and was holding it before shrinking back. He turned and continued home, listening to her pause a moment for following, muttering "I'm about sick of all these damn males trying to rule over me."


Her initial question popped back into his mind and he mentally cursed himself for not having an answer besides 'because you, your origin, and your talents have enticed me and its rather annoying.'


"Horse youkai have an interest in humans, I presume I am correct?"


Astarte looked up at him, finding that him knowing a lot more about her than she knew about him a little unnerving. "Yes..." She herself had always been fairly fascinated by them.


"I have a young girl under my care. I'm not always nearby to protect her and I believe she needs a female influence in her life."


"Funny, I didn't see you as the type to take in a human child," her statement cause a spark of anger in him, but his face showed no emotion, "So let me get this straight, you want me to play body guard and hand maid to your little girl?"


Sesshoumaru matched her challenging tone, "Yes."


Astarte opened her mouth to give him a smart-ass remark when she sensed a barrier directly in front of her and hesitated. Sesshoumaru rose his head without breaking a stride and the barrier parted, "Come." Astarte darted through it close behind him and watched behind her as the barrier closed like a falling curtain.


They continued for some time, Sesshoumary sensing the dame's growing nervousness to the new area, scenting her light fear and watching in hidden amusement when she would start at small sounds and bump into him. That alertness probably saved her tail more times than one, but she would need to learn to control her actions a little better. It was like she was wild and needed to be tamed.


The castle came into view and as they approached, Astarte tilted her head to look at the towering manor in amazement, "Daaaaaaaammmmnn..." She paused in awe but quickly came back to her senses when she felt Sesshoumaru's finger tap under her chin to close her mouth. They walked in, Sesshoumaru sighing silently in his cold patience as she stopped to look at things before catching back up to him.


"I haven't seen many buildings in my travels and this one is by far the largest..." She walked abreast to him, looking up at him with silvered eyes. The inu-youkai returned the look from the corner of his eye. Why was she so astonished by his home? It was modest for a castle. Where there no buildings wherever she came from?


Just then, an excited squeal errupted from the other end of the hall, causing both youkai to wince and the demoness to jump nearly out of her skin. A very joyful Rin came bounding over to Sesshoumaru with a very annoyed Jaken following after her, waving his bony fist in the air and yelling scowlds at her and trying to keep up with her long legs. Astarte, very unnerved by all the commotion, stepped behind Sesshoumaru- he was her only protection in such a strange place so vast with halls she could not run yet so narrow and delicate she could not fight if needed.


Rin stopped in front of her lord and father figure slightly panting and thrust a handful of flowers up at him, "Rin picked these for you Lord Sesshoumaru! Rin missed you a lot!" Sesshoumaru's eyes never flickered emotion as he took the flowers as he had done a thousand times before to satisfy the child's enthusiasm.


Asarte peered around his shoulder in curiosity. He seemed so cold, emotionless, dangerous. Yet he had taken in a human child and treated her like a daughter. Maybe this unfeeling youkai had a soft spot somewhere. Her ash colored eyes smiled in amusement.


About that time Jaken finally caught up and panting gave a lowly bow to his master, "Welcome bacme my lordship-" Jaken looked up and his bulbous eyes went wide when he saw the demoness. He jumped and pointed a scrawny finger at her, "My Lord, who is that?!"


Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed as a snarl that sent a chill down everyone's spine errupted from his throat, "Watch your manners Jacken! She is a guest in my home!" Jcken promptly hit the ground wiuth his nose to the floor in a flurry of appologies. Sesshoumaru continued, "She is Rin's caretaker."


Astarte looked up at him, deep offense flickering behind her orbs. 'Royalty being called a caretaker. Whatever, I'll play along...' She walked around him with a kind smile, laying her hands on her knees and lowering her face to the little girl's level. "Heya! I'm Astarte!"


Words could not describe the look of joy that lighted up the child's already beaming eyes. She loved being with Sesshoumaru but she did sometimes long for someone to play with, though she kept it to herself because it seemed ungrateful. But though this demoness was much older, an adult, she was beyond mirth. "My name is Rin and Rin likes Sesshoumaru's pretty lady!" With that she flung her arms around a very startled Astarte in a bear hug. Astarte jumped to her full height with the girl still attached to her neck, looking at Sesshoumaru with a 'what the hell am I suppose to do' look.

She could have sworn she saw a smirk on his lips.



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Author's note:
I have ideas for the next couple of chapters, but if anyone has any suggestions they might like to see go into this fanfic, feel free to e-mail me bck@houston.rr.com! C'mon peoples more reviews please?
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