InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Soulless Knight ❯ Lost and Alone ( Chapter 4 )

A/N: Sorry about any confusion my previous submission may have caused, I noticed some rather large holes in my story that would have been near impossible to fill, so I wrote a prologue to negate the inevitable. As an apology I'm throwing in a special treat for all you patient folks out there, straight from Nefra's hentai closet, enter fluffy.

 

Sesshoumaru: I really wish people would stop calling me that, it's undignified.

 

Me: But it's such a cute nick-name, pouts.

 

Sesshoumaru: Glares at authoress, has anyone ever told you that you're incorrigible?

 

Me: nods and giggles, and insatiable, enjoy the fic folks.

 

Disclaimer: Don't own, never will, that should be enough for y'all.

Soulless Knight

Chapter 4: Lost and Alone

The two headed dragon entered the clearing near the hot spring one head sniffed the air around him, seemingly satisfied that there was no impending danger in the immediate area, the other head snorted at a bush behind him as he plopped on the ground and curled up to sleep.

At that moment Rin ran out of the bush, stark naked and jumped into the hot spring pool with a shriek of glee. The splash that followed ran over the side of the pool like a mini tidal wave and soaked Aun's heads. Aun shook his heads, and made what sounded like a grumbling sound, before moving back a bit further from the water to avoid any more splashing.

At that moment Jaken came stumbling out of the bushes carrying Rin's clothing, fuming slightly at the sight, “We are her to bath, not play, now hurry up or I'll…”

“Silence, Jaken!” Sesshoumaru commanded from behind him, there was an edge to his voice that made Jaken jump.

“Y-yes, Milord.” Jaken managed to squeak out as he bowed towards the bushes.

Sesshoumaru was sitting behind a nearby tree, facing away from the hot spring, in an attempt to give his ward some semblance of privacy. He had his eyes closed and appeared to be deep in thought, his right arm draped leisurely over his right knee; he appeared to be completely relaxed; but was in fact scanning the area with all his senses, making sure there were no impending threats in the surrounding area.

Sesshoumaru was so absorbed in searching for large and threatening demonic auras, that he almost missed the smaller aura on the other side of the hot spring clearing. His eyes snapped open as he stood, he looked across the clearing and narrowed his eyes at a small bush near the base of a rather large tree; the aura was definitely demonic, but it was so small and weak that it barely registered as there. His sensitive ears picked up what would have otherwise been a barely audible gasp, as the demon behind the bush realized he had found it.

“Milord, what is it?” Jaken asked apprehensively when he noticed his lord standing.

As if on cue, the bush across the clearing shook slightly as the unknown demon fled in terror, “Jaken.” Was all Sesshoumaru said before he ran after the small demon, knowing that Jaken would now protect Rin.

The demon was not using its demonic speed so he caught up in a matter of seconds, pinning its small form to a tree, feet dangling in the air. His eyes grew wider as he realized that it was a female, and a child at that. He released his hold on her and let her fall to the base of the tree; the child did not hide her demonic features like most full blood youkai, but he could tell from her sent that she was no hanyou. She did not try to flee again, but lowered her head, casting her silver eyes to the ground instead as he stood there inspecting her.

She had small spiral stubs, were razor sharp horns would be when she grew older. Faint spiral tribal markings, distinct to her clan, lined both her arms. She wore a simple pair of slacks and shirt that looked like they were stolen from a human's cloths line, and she was growing too big for them at that.

But what disturbed Sesshoumaru the most was the clan insignia barely visible behind the light blue hair on her forehead, 3 diagonal wavy lines with a forth horizontal line connecting the other 3, an ancient symbol for water. His eyes narrowed to slits as a familiar scent hit his sensitive nose, a scent he had not smelled in almost 50 years.

“Your name, what is it?” Sesshoumaru forced through clenched teeth.

“M-Mizu,” the little girl managed to squeak out, “m-milord.” She added after a moment's pause, her voice and body visibly trembling.

“What tribe?” He snapped, his fist clenched at his side.

She shuddered at his tone, “S-Suijou, m-milord.” She gulped audibly.

He narrowed his eyes at her again, he was sure she was making it up to save her own skin, but he smelled no deceit on her. “Why were you spying at the hot spring?”

There was a pause as she thought how to carefully word her response; Sesshoumaru could see that she was also trying very hard, however unsuccessfully, to reign in her terror. He waited patently for her answer, using the time that passed to sooth his own anger.

It was several moments before she answered him, “W-we were trying to see who you were, no one has come up here in so long.” Her voice was noticeably calmer, but she still trembled slightly. “We've been so alone for years now, no one but our self to talk to.” She added the last sentence with a whisper.

Sesshoumaru could not help but notice when she referred to herself as `we'; she had been alone a very long time if she was resorting to third person speech. “One last question.” He waited a moment before speaking again, “I saw your entire clan slaughtered by the Taijiya's, not but 50 years ago, how did you alone survive?” He spoke this question very slowly, observing her. He noticed the slight flinch at his mention of `Taijiya', but waited patiently for her response.

She was quiet again, this time her eyes took on an eerie, far off quality. When she finally spoke, it only served to send a chill down Sesshoumaru's spine, but he managed to hide it behind his ever present mask of indifference. “Has it really been 50 years?” Her voice was soft but firm, the trembling from before seemed to be completely gone now. She suddenly looked up and smiled at Sesshoumaru, the eerie look gone from her eyes, “I am afraid you are mistaken, milord. Our family is not dead; they have just gone for a short while to secure our borders from those pesky humans. They will be back soon, you shall see. Mother said so, when she left our egg in hiding, and mother always keeps her word to us.”

Sesshoumaru raised a delicate eyebrow as she stood and bowed before him, “Are you or your traveling companions hungry, milord?” She asked as she straightened again, “Our mother's home is not far from here, and it is the least we can do to offer our hospitality; especially after all the help your father gave my parents when they took over leadership of our tribe, and then helped to organize the clans.” She smiled and bowed again, waiting patiently for a response.

Sesshoumaru looked down on the young youkai, “Your parents, family and friends are all dead, and there is no escaping this fact.” He showed no sorrow for his harsh words as he watched her and waited.

She just blinked and continued to smile at him, as if she had not heard what he said.

Sesshoumaru let his mask slip for a split second, as a frown appeared to mar his ever perfect features, but he quickly recovered his composure. “You hatched on your own, survived these 50 some odd years alone, despite the odds stacked against you, and you still manage to deny the very simple truth.” Anger and irritation laced his voice now. “The fact is; your parents are dead and gone, they are not coming back, accept this as truth for it comes from my lips alone. You are right, my father had a truce with your tribe once, which I am honor bound to uphold. So ask yourself this, why would this Sesshoumaru lie to an ally, especially the sole remaining member and hair to a tribe thought long dead?”

A single tear escaped and ran down her cheek, but her smile never faltered. “It's ok; you do not have to join us if you do not want to, it is not required. We are tired, is it ok for us to go now?” He noticed that her smile did not reach her eyes, but neither did her extremely apparent sorrow, as he now noticed it exuded off her in small waves at any mention of her parents. So she knew the truth, she had just been denying it for so long that her mind would no longer let her see it as the truth; this disturbed him on some inner level he didn't even know existed.

She would have to be shown; maybe the sight of her parent's graves would shock her enough to jolt her mind back to reality and… Wait, why do I care about this youkai's sanity? Her tribe is long gone, and she is far from the age at which she can be of any assistance to me, on or off the battle field. He pondered this for a long moment before speaking again.

“Very well,” Sesshoumaru said; she started to walk away, “Jaken, Rin, you can come out now.”

There was an `eep' from behind a nearby bush as Jaken stumbled forward, Rin followed suit with a big toothy grin, now fully clothed. “M-milord?” He bowed quite clumsily.

“Collect Aun, we have been invited to dinner.” Sesshoumaru said as he started to follow the little girl.

“A-at once milord,” Jaken stammered as he turned to race back towards the hot springs, only to run straight into one of Aun's front legs and fall backwards on his rear, Aun chuckled at the little toad youkai.

Rin giggled and followed her lord further up the mountain, humming and picking little flowers as she went along.

Sesshoumaru stopped dead as a chill went down his spine, it felt as if something immensely powerful had brushed the edge of his aura. He scanned the area with his eyes, as well as letting his demonic aura flair out a little, trying to find the source of this other power. He could see nothing, and all he could sense was a slight tingling at the edge of his aura again; it was like nothing he had ever felt before, it caused him to feel a sense of euphoria and foreboding at the same time, but it was quickly receding.

“My Lord?” Jaken quarried at the change in his aura.

“Silence,” Sesshoumaru ordered. He closed his eyes and forced his aura out further, trying to catch a glimpse of this new aura, to hold onto this new sensation a little longer. He gave his aura one final hard push outwards and managed to clash right into the side of the other aura; it almost felt like hitting a brick wall, his legs wanted to give way, but he clenched his fist and forced himself to keep standing.

The other aura pushed back slightly, causing him to slide back a little on the ground, he reached out and grabbed a nearby tree trunk to steady himself. The other aura pushed again, harder this time, causing massive pain to shoot through his whole body. His face remained stoic, the only signs of his exertions were his excessive breathing and the fact that he had now dug his claws into the tree trunk, splintering the bark.

Sesshoumaru was concentrating all his will on pushing back against the strange aura, trying to gain more ground, when before his irises flashed a pair of sparkling green eyes, unlike anything he had seen before.

His eyes shot open as he could have sworn he heard a whisper accompany the mesmerizing eyes. He looked around his rag tag group, trying to find the source of the whisper; all were cowering, and visibly trembling, behind Aun in fear from the menacing feeling being put off by the two clashing auras.

Aun just stood there staring towards the strange aura, almost like he was in a trance.

The whispering still persisted in his sensitive ears, but he was unable to make any of it out, so he closed his eyes once more and tried to concentrate on what was being said. Suddenly a few words rang crystal clear in his ears, “...return the drakon...” But the rest was faint and incoherent, like the speaker was moving away.

Before he could do anything more, the aura disappeared completely, as if it had never been there at all. He opened his eyes and regained some of his composure, only to notice a very confused looking Aun, and the rest of his party still cowering behind the two-headed dragon.

Sesshoumaru sighed inwardly when he noticed the child had disappeared, he then turned and continued walking in the direction the child had gone. He looked over his shoulder at his group, “Come,” he said, not waiting, but sensing them follow without question.

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The room was dark, the only source of light a circle of candles near the center. She sat in the center of this circle, all but engulfed in a deep trance, searching for something beyond what she could see and touch. The candle flames cast their glow about the room, as if trying to stave off the dark, keeping it at bay. The flickering of the light made her crimson locks quiver and dance, as they pooled on the floor behind her, almost alive; it gave her alabaster skin an almost ethereal glow. She was still as a statue, her breathing even and steady, her eyes closed to the world.

Across the room, barely visible in the steadily intensifying darkness, Flamma watched her intently, as if taking his eyes of her would cause her to disappear. His wings were draped around his shoulders to keep out the biting cold of the early spring morning; He did not move from his perch for several hours, not even when the moon dipped below the horizon and the pinkish-gold fingers of the morning sun caressed the landscape outside.

As the sun reached mid-day he was getting worried, he was about to move when the candles started to flicker violently. The woman's breath shuddered slightly as the flames separated from their wicks, rising into the air; they then began to swirl in a circle around her, getting faster by the second. The look on her face became worried, as if she were exerting some great effort on something.

Flamma unfolded his wings and shuffled back against the wall, not wanting to get caught in the cross fire, so to speak. She muttered something in a language he didn't understand; then the flames died and he saw her whole body shudder as her soul slammed back into her body.

The force with which her soul reentered her body caused her to start to fall backwards, Flamma pushed himself off the wall and caught her in less then a second. She looked up at him with sparkling green eyes, and said, “I found one!” Before her eyes closed again and she went lax in his arms. He lifted her in his arms bridal style, walked over to the lavish and large bed against the far wall, and laid her down gently.

As he removed his arms from around her, her eyes flew open and she reached out, grabbing his well toned biceps for dear life. He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned forward slightly, letting her bury her face into his equally toned and bare chest; growling low and soft as she did so, trying to reassure and calm her.

After a few moments he felt her aura calm, but she still clung to him with an almost iron grip. He shifted slightly, to get more comfortable, and pulled her into his lap. She seemed to relax slightly at this gesture, he heard her audibly sigh in content as she turned her head so her cheek was resting on his chest, eyes still closed.

He mentally chuckled and leaned back against one of the bed posts, not knowing how long he would be trapped like this, and wanting to be more comfortable till he was released from her hold. No sooner then he got comfortable, then her eyes shot open and she just about jumped off his lap, shooting to the middle of the bed.

She looked at him with a mixture of fear and apprehension in her eyes, “S-sorry,” she stammered. “I forgot where I was for a moment, won't happen again.” She gave him a smile and chuckled slightly, he couldn't help but notice that neither reached her eyes.

He smiled in return and made no move for her, despite what his inner beast was howling. “It's ok, las, no harm done.” His thick Gallic accent sent audible shivers down her spine.

She was hiding something and feared him finding out, it had been this way since they had found her and her daughter on that cliff. Their story was believable, especially since they had seen the little girl transverse time more then he could count; but she was still holding something back, and he wasn't sure why. He could only guess it had something to do with the mating mark on her shoulder, it carried his scent, but he had never met her before that day on the cliff. But every time he tried to approach that subject, she would skirt around it like a fine tuned dance. The whole situation just down right confused him, and he hated being confused. He would get the truth out of her sooner or later, he was determined.

She watched as he studied her; she saw his gaze flicker, to the mating mark she hid on her shoulder, more then once. She knew he wanted to know about it, and why it smelled of him, but if she told him it might ruin her entire future. Kami, why did that damn soul sorceress, Sielu, have to come back to this time line.

He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off, fearing another of his probing questions. “I almost forgot, I found one last Japanese Drakon, I need to speak with my daughter immediately. Can you find her for me, please? And I'm kinda hungry too,” Her stomach growled audibly and she blushed slightly. “How long was I meditating this time? I feel like I haven't eaten in ages.”

He chuckled slightly and shook his head, damn she was beautiful when she blushed like that. “almost a whole day, I was starting to get worried when you finally came out of your trance.”

He stood as he spoke; she followed him off the bed, only to have Flamma grab her wrists and pull her front flush with his chest again, wrapping his wings around her to prevent her escape. “I shall get your daughter, and some food, mostly because you asked so nicely.” He purred into her ear as she tried to pull away from him, but found his hold more then firm. “One of these days it would be nice if you could answer some of my questions, instead of avoiding them.”

She scowled slightly and looked him straight in the eyes, “Let go of me, now!” She demanded, a sharp tone in her voice. She saw his eyes glaze over instantly, and then his hold started to slack a bit. Just as she started to gently push his arms away, trying to wiggle out of his hold, he came back to his scenes. He snapped his arms and wings back around her, hearing her gasp, and her head snapped back up to look into a pair of very angry eyes, an orangish-yellow color starting to bleed into the corners.

He growled slightly and bared one fang, as he leaned his head forward, till it was level with her ear. “That was not nice, I have never done anything to deserve that. You are, by far, safer in my arms then not; I will always let you go at the asking, you should never fear that.”

He brought one clawed finger up and moved her shirt off her shoulder enough to expose her mating mark; he bent lower and slowly, sensual licked it. A jolt of pure pleasure shot up her spine, she tried to bit back a moan, but all she could do was muffle it by burying her face in his chest.

He smirked and raised his head back to her ear, “I don't want to know everything, I just want to know about this mark; that is not to much for your mate to ask, now is it?” He could smell her arousal spike as she shook her head slightly against his chest, her whole body still shaking slightly.

He covered her mark back up and released her, she dropped to a seated position on the bed, refusing to look at him. “W-we'll talk after I speak with my daughter,” She managed to squeak out.

Flamma nodded, “As you wish, Milady,” He then turned and started to exit the room, but was stopped by her arms suddenly wrapping around him from behind, he could feel her shaking and smell the salt from her tears.

He turned around so he could face her, then wrapped his arms and wings back around her; she once again buried her face in his chest, this time she started to cry softly. “I'm sorry,” she choked out, as she tried to hold back the tears. “I thought you wouldn't believe me, if I told the whole truth; and that would hurt my future, and our daughters existence.”

Flamma leaned forward and kissed the top of her head, “Shh, it'll be alright love, I promise.” He pulled back and used two fingers under her chin to gently force her to look up at him, he smiled down at her. “Give me one moment, then you can tell me all you have burdened yourself with, I promise to listen without judgment. OK?”

She nodded as he released her again, she wiped away the tears and sniffled slightly.

Flamma walked over and opened her bedroom door, he motioned to one of the sentinels just outside. “Go find her daughter and bring her here, also instruct one of the woman to have some food sent up.” The sentinel nodded and walked off, as Flamma closed the door again.

He walked back over to her, “come then, Cliodna,” He picked Cli up bridal style and carried her back over to the bed, sitting so he could lean comfortably against the head board, with her in his lap. “I think it's time you told me everything, whether you think I should know it or not.”

“OK!” She said as she snuggled closer to him, he wrapped his wings around her and made an almost purr like noise to calm her down a bit more. She sighed and took a deep breath before beginning...

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A/N: Ha ha, cliff hanger. sticks tongue out.

That is as in depth as I'm getting about Cliodna in this story, I might tell a bit more about Rei-an, you'll just have to wait and see. But if you want an in depth back story on Cli and Rei-an, and what went on more with them in this story line, then you will have to wait till I'm done with this one.

I plan to write the 'Sorceress Chronicles' after this story, there might be brief mentions to some animes, but it will be all about Cliodna and the other sorceress' in her world.

If anyone has any pointers on where I should go from here, or things they would like to see happen, then drop me a line. My muse hates me, and my beta has pretty much given up on me, so I'm drawing a blank and might have to take a short break to get my grove back.

Thanks for all your support, keep it up, R&R, laters.