InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Teaching Rin ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

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Teaching Rin

Chapter 15

All’s Well…

-

“You knew that this was going to happen eventually, my Lord. Best to deal with it now.” Rin said as she looked over her guardian’s shoulder at the paper in his hands. The paper seemed innocent enough, but the acidic green poison seeping from his fingers that was slowly eating away at the edges belied any innocence in Sesshomaru’s opinion.

“These humans are not worthy.” he answered, delicately laying the paper on the table in front of him and steepling his fingers as if contemplating the words on the paper.

“You knew it was time for the betrothals to happen.” Rin pointed out. “This goes on every year right about this time.”

“I will not consent to a union between you and any human male, Takada clan leader or not.” he said. Rin just gave him a funny look, but held her opinions to herself. “Your training is not completed to my satisfaction. When it is, I will review the proposals set forward by the suitors. Until then, worry not about this.” He picked the paper back up and crumbled it, then allowed his poison to flow and disintegrate the last of it.

“You have to chose eventually.” Rin said. “Kaida’s training is not going to last forever.”

“I am aware of that.” he answered.

“I don’t want to be alone my entire life.” she said suddenly, her voice a bit more contrite.

“One would think you are in a hurry to be away from my presence.” Sesshomaru said simply, arching an eyebrow at her.

“I want to start a family of my own, one day.” Rin said quietly. “That’s not wrong, is it? And I know there is no one in the fortress that you would accept as a match for me, even if they are demons. But if you keep running away potential suitors, I’ll never get the chance.”

“The humans can not care for you as you should be.” he answered.

“And a demon can?” she asked pointedly.

“Undoubtedly so.” he said. “Demons hold their unions to a much higher standard that humans.”

“Really?” Rin asked.

“They are faithful, and will not stray from their chosen mate once joined.”

“I wonder if anyone bothered to mention that to Haruto.” Rin mumbled, remembering the stories that Kaida had told her about the Northern Lord’s compulsant infidelity.

“The Northern neko disregards the traditions by which the rest of us follow.” Sesshomaru said coldly. “He is no comparison. Should your chosen mate do the same, I will kill him.”

“If Kentaro didn’t first.” Rin said with a grin.

“The Eastern kitsune will have no say in these matters.” Sesshomaru stated, his voice laced with steel. “Do not think that his continued interest in you has went by unnoticed.”

“He’s not that bad.” Rin protested, flushing slightly red and careening her eyes to the floor. “And I like him.”

“So it would seem.” the Western Lord said. “Your attachment to the miko’s adopted pup is bad, but your attachment to that kitsune ingrate is worse.”

“What’s wrong with Shippo?” Rin demanded. “And besides that, what’s wrong with Kentaro?”

“They are kitsune.” he stated simply.

“That’s not a good reason.”

“It is reason enough.”

“You are absolutely impossible.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“But you have to admit, Kentaro would be a good choice for a mate, if you are only worried about whether any union I enter into is with a demon.” Rin said thoughtfully. She could sense her guardian’s oncoming onslaught about the Eastern fox, and she stopped it before hand. “He is a demon, and he’s the son of a ruling Lord.”

“Your attempts of subtlety is in vain, Rin.”

“There is no point in being subtle with you, my Lord.” Rin said.

“Where did you draw that conclusion from?”

“Kaida.” Rin said simply.

“Do tell.”

“Yep. She also said you were a stick in the mud, bastard of a mongrel who needed a mate.” Rin said, grinning. “Maybe then you’d be in a decent mood after a good rut, and not ready to take someone’s head off all the time. Good stress relief, or so she said.”

“She has no room to talk.” Sesshomaru said dryly. “She has hardly been the picture of pleasantness as of late.” Rin huffed in indignation at the slur against her instructor, but would not let the subject drop.

“You know.” she said after a minute. “Now that I think of it, you do need a mate, Lord Sesshomaru.”

“And why do you think that?”

“Someone’s got to take care of you after I’m gone.” Rin said firmly

“I need no one else’s assistance, nor company.” he said coldly.

“But…I don’t want you to be left alone.” Rin said, suddenly very fidgety. “I won’t be here forever, and you should not have to be by yourself….I don’t want you to be.” She seemed to withdraw into herself, and Sesshomaru looked up from his paperwork after a few moments of silence.

She was worried about him. He found it to be rather amusing that a being such as Rin would concern herself with his well being. But then again, she’d been with him for nearly a decade, so he should have expected it.

“I will fare well.” Sesshomaru said, looking over at her and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder to stop her unconscious, nervous movement. “And you will not be leaving my side within the near future.” Rin seemed to be happy with that answer because she smiled and wrapped her arms around her Lord, hugging him tightly. The stoic Lord seemed a little surprised by the moment of affection considering he’d been the object of her disdain for a number of weeks, and simply nodded when she let go of him. “I have work to finish, Rin. Do you have duties elsewhere today?”

“Keisha needs my assistance.” she said, giving him a slight bow. “If you do not need anything else, my Lord, I will go and leave you to your work.” Even though she and her guardian were on much better terms than before, Rin was still a bit angry with his dismissal of Kaida as a worthless being. But she was happy to be back into the familiar swing of things with him. Even if he was being more snappish than usual.

-

Even after Rin left the library, Sesshomaru found that he still could not focus his concentration on the matters at hand. Rin had been a distraction since she had delivered the letter the Takada clan leader had sent, asking for an audience in order to present himself to Rin as a possible future husband. He rose from his seated position and walked around the vast library of his fortress, skimming over the surfaces of the numerous books that littered the room, and his eyes could the faint reflection of gold that glinted off of a set unfamiliar books. He picked through the mass of books and picked the two leather bound books up, quickly opening the first one up to some random page and glancing over the contents.

‘Father was not happy when I disappeared from my evening lessons to go spar with Keiji in the dojo. He said that I was supposed to be following the examples that Leiko and Kei were setting as ‘proper’ ladies of the family. Well, he already knows what I think about that. As far as I am concerned, Leiko and Kei can take their rules, regulations, and manners and drown them in the lake! I’d rather be outside with my brothers than inside with those two vultures!’

Sesshomaru tamped down an indulgent smile, finally pining the tome as one of Kaida’s old journals that she kept during her own training as a Lady of the Southern Lands. He knew that it was customary for the females to keep records of their daily goings and comings, but he never understood why. He flipped to another page and read what was apparently some sort of prose that Kaida had attempted to write.

Look at me…

I will never pass as a perfect bride,

Or a perfect daughter.

Can it be, I’m not meant to play this part?

Now I see that if I were truly to be myself

I would break my family’s heart.

Who is that girl I see, staring back at me?

Why is my reflection someone I don’t know?

Somehow I cannot hide who I am

Though I’ve tried.

When will my reflection show who I am inside?

When will my reflection who I am inside?

He reread the lines a few more times, almost shocked at the amount of sadness that was literally radiating from the page. He knew that her childhood had been somewhat different than other noble’s children. But he had never realized that she had questioned her own place in the world so much.

His level of respect for her was slowly edging upwards, despite his best intentions.

The Western Lord placed the book down and picked up the next one, flipping to the front cover and reading the neatly formed symbols. He quickly placed ownership of this particular book to Rin, as he recognized her handwriting. Once again, he flipped to some random page and read about some of the duties that Keisha had assigned her to do

Her words rambled on and on, telling of the day to day occurrences at the fortress, but nothing he was not already aware of. He knew that Rin had slowly began to take on more of the responsibilities of running a home the size of his fortress, and it was all well recorded within the pages of the bound book.

A stray beam of sunlight fell through window, and Sesshomaru looked up to see that evening was quickly approaching. Since his concentration was pretty much shot, and he felt like working off the excess tension that had been caused by the arrival of the letter from the Takada clan leader, he headed towards the dojo. It had been a few weeks since his last spar with the demoness currently under his roof, and there were a few things that he had been wondering about concerning her transformation.

He had gathered that her change to her full blooded demonic form during the Council meeting had been because of her anger towards Kiyoshi and the other demon that had been with him. The sudden power surge had intrigued him, and he wanted to see if it was possible for her to repeat the change, even if it meant him goading her into doing it.

The only other time he had seen or heard of demonic blood overtaking the human aspect of a mix breed was when he’d heard and witnessed Inuyasha’s startling transformation. Sesshomaru knew that the hanyou only reverted to his full demonic form under the direst of circumstances, but Kaida’s life had not been in danger when she’d nearly decapitated the neko. As such, Sesshomaru figured that her change was based more on anger than fright.

It was time to test out that theory, and considering that his mere presence angered the female more than anything else he figured it would be ridiculously simple.

He never knew what he was walking into…..

-

Kaida slashed at the dummies in front of her, reducing them to nothing more than shreds of their former selves within seconds. She’d been in the dojo for nearly two hours, and still felt like she had enough anger built up in her body to hunt down and kill the majority of the Council members, even if it still would not change what they had done.

Her father had sent her a letter stating that a large majority of the Council was ready and willing to force the union between herself and Kiyoshi after seeing what had happened at the last meeting. Thankfully for her, at least two of the ruling Lords had vetoed the move, saying that Kaida should be made to finish her duty to Rin before the union was made official.

She knew that one of them was her father. But she was not sure as to who the other one was, and even though she wanted to think it was Lord Kentaro who had stepped in and sided with her father, something kept telling her that Sesshomaru had been the one responsible for it. She knew that Lord Ronin usually kept out of matters that did not directly affect him, his lands or his family. And her fighting to stay away from Kiyoshi and the neko’s had nothing to do with him.

And to top it all off, the head of the Council had demanded that the moment Rin’s instruction time was up and she was presented at court, that Kaida be joined into the Northern family as reparation for attacking Kiyoshi and the Northern elite.

‘I don’t know why they think my opinion of him would change between now and then.’ she though angrily. ‘You would think if they wanted to keep him alive, then they'd keep him away from me! I’ll still try to take his head off. Next time, I won't miss.’

She was about to set up another set of dummies to use as target practice when she sensed Sesshomaru coming towards the dojo. She searched it out, but did not find Jaken’s annoying presence as well, much to her relief. The toad like retainer had taken to berating her even more than usual after the incident at the Council meeting. And if she had to listen to him harp about ‘insubordinate bitches and their rightful places in our world’ one more time, she was going to kill the little bastard and feed him to Ishika.

Kaida had just settled a few of her smaller daggers into the hidden pocket on her training gi when Sesshomaru walked into the dojo, just as cool and collected as ever.

“Lord Sesshomaru.” she said, nodding in his direction as a sign of recognition.

“Lady Kaida.” he answered, walking over to inspect the remains of the wooden dummies at her feet. He said nothing else, but Kaida could feel him boring holes into her back with his gaze. She felt out the energy surrounding him and frowned.

It was normal, no signs of aggression or anger.

So what did he want with her?

“Is there something I can help you with?” she asked, looking over at him.

“No.”

“Then why are you here?”

“It is my home.”

“How could I forget?” she muttered, scrapping the wooden splinters and securing one of her blades to her side.

“I assume that your agitated disposition means you have received unsatisfactory news from your father?” he more or less stated, causing her he growl in aggravation. His hand had slipped to the hilt of Toukijin, his normal move when looking for a spar.

“You would be correct in that assumption, yes.” she said, stepping back and taking up a defensive stance. The two combatants eyed each other for a split second before charging each other.

The clang of meeting steel rang throughout the circular building, and Sesshomaru was somewhat surprised to find that she had seemingly gained some strength, despite the reduction in her amount of training time due to Rin’s instruction time.

They broke apart, and she circled out away from him, apparently wary. He did not give her long to contemplate before he rushed her once again, swing Toukijin’s blade towards her body.

And so it went on for the next half hour. Thrust, parry, block. Thrust, parry, block. Neither were willing to give in, and Sesshomaru knew that Kaida’s patience was beginning to wear thin. It would not be much longer and she would attempt to pull some of those daggers from the folds of her gi and hurl them at him in an attempt to put some space in between them.

He had learned her routine in the times that they had sparred before. Kaida did not like to drag out a fight any longer than it had to be. She liked going in for a quick kill, as opposed to torturing and toying with her prey. But this time, there was something different about her moves. They were just as strong and accurate, but more cautious, more precise.

She wasn’t fighting like she had been the last time they sparred. Every time before this, when they had fought, she would have no quarrels about getting within swinging range of him, and he knew that hand to hand combat was one of her stronger points. But now, now it was like they were doing some sort of intricate dance. She would get close enough to attack, get her hit in on him, and then jump back to a safe distance from him.

Sesshomaru didn’t know what had caused her to take the more defensive tactics, but it was annoying him to no end, waiting for her to get close enough for him to strike.

He did not have to wait much longer.

She had apparently gotten annoyed with the sword fighting, and had pulled half a dozen daggers from her gi, throwing them in rapid succession at him. Sesshomaru had anticipated this, though, and quickly dodged the flying blades, allowing them to lodge into the wall behind him. He used his enhanced speed to reappear behind her and knock her down to the ground, pinning her arms with his legs and sitting back on the tops of her thighs to keep her from kicking upwards at him.

He had subdued her like this before, and she normally went lax, allowing for him to take the point. But this time, she reacted so violently that he was beginning to wonder what exactly had her in such a state.

“Get your hands off me!” she yelled, twisting and turning to try and get him off of her. “Sesshomaru!”

It was then that the dog Lord realized her strategy behind being more cautions during their fight. He had noticed her aversion to any type of physical contact since she’d showed up in his courtyard half dead those weeks ago, especially if the person touching her had been a male.

Sakaki had told him that she refused to spar with him, and that she had been touchier than usual with him ever since, but he had put that off as her temperament and anger at what had happened. But now that he thought about it, he had not sparred with her since then. And she had been avoiding being anywhere near him since, which was nothing all that new. He had asked Rin about her behavior some days ago, but the human girl had only shook her head sadly, saying that she had heard Kaida crying out in her sleep for some unseen person to let her go and leave her alone.

He was beginning to wonder exactly what else had happened to her during that ambush to put her than on guard against any male within the general vicinity. But Keisha had told him that she had checked Kaida over, and the demoness had not been raped during the attack. So, for all intents and purposes, Kaida's virtue was still intact.Sesshomaru could not understand where this aversion to physical contact was coming from, but he was slowly beginning to get the idea.

“What is wrong with you?” he demanded, his eyes narrowed. “You are acting as though you have never fought before, running like some coward.” He refused to move, and simply altered his hold on her when one of her arms came free and swung up at him, more than intent on knocking him away.

“I am not a coward!” she screamed, twisting more violently. “Let go of me, Sesshomaru! I swear to the heavens, I’ll gut you if you don’t get your hands off of me!”

“You are not fighting me at your full potential.” he growled, pinching a particular spot on her neck that forced her body to relax, despite her continued struggle. He rose and took his spot a few yards away, waiting until she regained control of her body and stood shakily to her feet.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked, narrowing her glare at him when she got to her feet. Her scimitars were in front of her, defensively guarding her upper body from any sort of attack.

“Allow your transformation to occur. I wish to test your strength against my own.” he said simply. Once again, her reaction was much as he had expected.

“Have you lost your mind!” she questioned angrily, momentarily distracted enough for him to take advantage of the situation and knock her against the dojo wall.

“I have satisfactorily retained my sanity.” he said simply, walking over to her and peering down at her crumpled form.

The air around him suddenly began to pulsate, and he tamped down a grin when he felt Kaida’s aura hugely expand and then snap back in on itself.

“That’s highly debatable.” she said, rising gracefully from the floor and taking her stance again.

“Not by yourself.” he said arrogantly. Kaida growled and rushed towards him with a barrage of kicks and swings of her scimitars. Sesshomaru was forced backwards under her angry assault, and frowned slightly when he felt one of her blades cut his left arm and right leg simultaneously. With her hits in, Kaida vaulted away to a safe distance away from him, once again on the defensive as they circled each other.

“Why do you suddenly have this fascination with my changes?” she asked.

“I am curious.” he said simply, as if that was all the explanation she needed.

“You know, curiosity killed the cat.” Kaida pointed out.

“I am no cat.” he said condescendingly. “But I will pass the message onto your mate and his family.” Up until this point, he was not sure as to how to push her anger over the edge, but with the mention of Kiyoshi and the nekos, he knew what he had to do. “Or intended mate, as it should be.”

“He is not my mate now, nor will he ever be.” she replied icily. “Get it right, you egotistical bastard.”

“Such language.” Sesshomaru taunted haughtily, beginning to circle her slowly, almost predatorily. “Must you revert to childish name calling to cover up your own inadequacies as a fighter? It is just like you low class half breeds. Inuyasha is no different. No wonder the nekos are so adamant about having you around. You would fit in perfectly.”

“I am nothing like them!” she defended, growling at him.

“So you say.” Sesshomaru sneered. Kaida roared and let loose with another three daggers she had produced from the folds of her gi. Sesshomaru had not been expecting those, and one caught the sleeve of his haoiri, slicing the fine silk into shreds. He retaliated by summoning his acidic green energy whip and striking out at her.

The concentrated coil of energy landed right on her left sleeve and ate away the thick material within moments of contact. She hissed when the energy touched her skin, and once again jumped out of the way. They continued this for a while, and Sesshomaru was beginning to get somewhat annoyed.

He would not let her get close enough to him to strike, and she was rapidly losing her patience with him. She had already been hit more than a dozen times with the acidic coil of energy, and he could smell the metallic odor of blood mixing in with the sweaty smells surrounding them.

“You are running.” he said, wrapping the energy coil around her ankles and jerking, forcing her to the floor. “How utterly disgraceful.” He walked over to her once again, making sure to disarm her with his own sword before getting within swinging range.

“Let me go, Sesshomaru!” she hissed.

“It is a wonder that you have not already been killed.” he commented, kneeling down beside her, his sword at her throat. “You are not a worthy opponent for anyone. The neko will have no problems breaking you to his will. Such a pitiful creature.”

“Pity?” she barked, reaching for one of the folds in her gi, only to have both her hands snatched in one of Sesshomaru‘s own and pinned to the floor. “I don’t need your pity! Let me go!”

“Yes,” he said, looking her over quite thoroughly, and causing her aura to pulsate once again, almost swallowing up his own. “You will make a welcome conquest.”

“Conquest?” she hissed, trying to break the energy coil around her feet. “What the hell are you talking about? And why are you looking at me like that?”

She looked at the demon lord critically, taking in the look of silent appreciation on his face as he looked at her subdued form. His lips were twisted in a ghost of a smile, and Kaida felt her heart begin to pound even harder. She knew that look, and knew it well. It was the same leer that Kiyoshi always gave her right when he tried to put his hands on her. She resumed her struggle to get free, but it was in vain. The energy coil remained in place, and Sesshomaru’s grip was not relaxing. Not to mention every time she moved, he dug the tip of Toukijin deeper into her throat.

“Quit fighting, Lady Kaida.” he said casually, causing her stomach to twist violently. “Did you or did you not tell Rin that I was in need of some form of ‘stress relief’?”

“I did.” she bit out sarcastically. “And it looks like you haven’t gotten it yet.”

“Surely you would be willing to…assist me in such an endeavor?” he asked, a small smile on his face. Kaida was not exactly sure what the hell was wrong with him, especially to ask her a question like that, but she was beginning to get scared. “After all, it would help your cause as well.”

“And how the hell do you figure me sleeping with YOU would help my cause?” sheseethed, still trying to pull her hands out of his grip.

“The neko did say that he would refuse to touch you should your virtue be compromised, did he not?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?” she demanded. "When did you hear that?"

“The day I returned from patrols, only to find you and Kiyoshi in the courtyard, ready to take each other’s heads off.” Sesshomaru clarified, watching as she turned red in embarrassment when she remembered the day, as well as what she had said. “Well?”

“I didn’t know you heard that. You weren‘t supposed to.” she mumbled.

“Hear it, I did.” he said simply. He knew she was about to break. The utter embarrassment was rolling off of her in almost palpatable waves; and as if that was not enough, his uncharacteristic proposition, along with the insinuations that she was a weak woman who could not fight, would push her the rest of the way. “Well?”

“You couldn’t keep up with me.” she smirked, finally breaking out of his subduing hold and slashing at the energy whip and her captor at one time.

“Is that an invitation?” Sesshomaru questioned after standing up to face her again. She was quick, and he needed to be on guard, especially now that he had angered her beyond coherent thought.

“Hardly.” she said, flipping backwards once she got to her feet, retrieving her discarded blades. “More like a statement of something that will never happen.”

“So you say.” he conceded, nodding at her.

“What has gotten into you?” she asked, eyeing him warily. “Who are you, and what have you done to Sesshomaru?” The demon only gave an evil look and lashed out at her again. Kaida did not have enough time to contemplate what creature had managed to overthrow the Western Lord and take his place because she was once again consumed with the pressing matter of his slashing claws, swinging sword, and rapid kicks.

They were evenly matched, despite what it may look like. Sesshomaru had more brute force to be dealt into his blows, as well as the speed to catch her off guard. But Kaida had the agility and nimbleness to avoid his attacks due to her smaller body frame. It was nearly a half hour later when the two of them broke apart, sweating furiously and breathing hard.

“Allow your transformation.” he ordered. “I wish to test your true abilities.”

“You have lost your mind!” she seethed. “Is that what this is all about?”

“In essence, yes.” he answered, shrugging slightly.

Kaida had landed enough hits onto the demon Lord that his clothes were beginning to get saturated with his own blood, despite the rapid healing of his wounds. She was beat up enough herself, but it was not enough to diminish her anger towards the demon standing across from her.

She blinked in utter confusion, finally realizing what the demon Lord in front of her was trying to do. He was purposely trying to get her angry enough that she would allow the transformation to occur. He apparently wanted to test out his strength against her own raw power. Well, she would humor the arrogant mongrel, at least this one time. She let down the hard won control that had been tamped into her since her birth, and slowly felt the demonic blood in her body overtake the human, changing her into another being.

Sesshomaru was fighting her, that much was obvious enough; but something was off. He kept touching her at every chance, pinning her to the wall or the floor with more force than was necessary. Her stomach was still in knots, remembering the vague feeling of foreign hands on her, holding her down, during the ambush those few weeks ago.

“You are purposely trying to push the change, aren’t you?” she asked angrily, her voice slightly deepening. When she received no answer from the Western Lord, she snarled. “Fine! You want it, you’ve got it!” she hissed, a devilish smile on her face as she looked up at him, jade fire in her eyes. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Sesshomaru saw the small changes to her face as she allowed her demonic blood to overtake her. It became more angular, and two green, scaly stripes formed high along her cheeks. He could feel her claws lengthen and dig into the skin of wrists. He immediately let her up from the floor where he had her pinned, standing back to watch the changes with a critical eye.

The material on the back of her gi ripped slightly, and he could see the two leathery wings grow out in proportion to her body, then flare up and out. It was obviously an instinctual attempt at a bluff on her part, but he was not fazed. A long, whip like tail appeared soon after, thrashing from side to side angrily. The entire changed lasted less than a minute, but the difference to her appearance was drastic, especially when she opened her eyes. The pupils had turned into black slits, and the fires of hell were blazing in all their glory behind them.

He could sense the immense surge in her power levels, and hid an evil smile. This was exactly what he wanted her to do. He knew her control was expansive. It had to be.

She readied herself for an attack, taking up her familiar fighting stance, claws extended. Sesshomaru led the attack, beginning their dance of death once again.

He hit, she blocked.

She swung, he ducked.

He growled, she seethed.

She swiped, he bled.

He kicked, she crouched.

She tormented, he pinned her.

He moved fast, she dodged faster.

It was a dance they were more than familiar with. But Kaida’s transformation was beginning to throw a kink in Sesshomaru’s plans. She was stronger than he had expected, and not hindered by her normal reservations during the battle. Where she had been timid to engage him in close battle only minutes before, now she would not get two feet away from him unless it was to duck and cover from an attack.

Her moves were fluid, practiced. But they held enough power to send him flying back a few feet a couple times, despite his deflections. She suddenly reappeared behind him, kicking the back of his knees and sending him crashing to the ground.

Sesshomaru reached out to break his fall, and was more than a little surprised to find that Kaida had sunk to her knees and straddled his back in an attempt to bring his hands behind his back in a subduing hold.

“Are you happy now?” she asked, securing his wrists with her own and sitting on his legs to keep him from kicking up at her, much the same way he had subdued her earlier. “A bit more than you can handle?”

“Hardly.” he muttered, bucking up and throwing her off her seat. He climbed to his feet and readied for her next onslaught. She was weakening, her temporary power boost that came with the transformation was wearing down, leaving her vulnerable to his attacks. ‘This is perfect.’ he thought, gripping Toukijin’s hilt tightly. ‘Absolutely perfect…’

Somewhere in the chaos that was Kaida’s mind, she realized that if she did not finish this fight within the next few minutes, she was going to loose it. She discreetly reached into a small pocket sewed into the back of her gi, right above her waist and pocketed a small ampoule of black powder. She crushed the ampoule and felt the powder spill into her hands, then turned her attention back to the stoic lord just in time to see him charge her.

If he wanted a fight, then she would give him one alright, but on her terms. Even though her mind was telling her that Sesshomaru was not a mortal enemy, and would not kill her; her body instinctively knew the consequences of losing a fight meant death, and it acted accordingly.

He was coming too fast to alter his trajectory, and she brought her hand up to her lips, palm up, and blew the fine powder into the air. She jumped out of the way at the last moment, and watched as the demon Lord in front of her dropped his sword and began rubbing his eyes furiously, growling at her the whole time.

The powder was a mix of various crushed plants that would numb the senses of demons susceptible to it, causing their perception of the surroundings to be horribly warped. It also stung like their was no tomorrow. She had sent for it not long after the ambush, and Keiji was more than happy to supply her with all she wanted. She had originally meant it as a safeguard incase something else happened; she never thought she'd be using it on a psychotic Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru didn’t have time to blink before he found himself being knocked against the wall of the dojo. She was on him in a moment, holding him up at the throat with both hands. Toukijin fell to the dojo floor with a clatter. He reached up to dislodge her claws, but diverted his hands to his eyes when they once again started burning, growling barely concealed threats and promises of death and dismemberment. He had not expected such an attack from her, and he was paying for it dearly.

He couldn't see. His nose was suddenly stuffed up, and his hearing was muffled. All in all, his usually acute senses were in chaos.

“I told you to leave me alone.” she snarled. “I told them to keep their hands off of me! But did they listen? No!”

“You are nothing more than a half breed bitch trying to act like a warrior. Women like you don’t deserve to walk the face of the Earth. You are a disgrace.” he muttered, slashing out blindly towards her, only to bat at empty air. “Using dirty tricks to win your battles. Such deception is fitting for a woman like yourself!”

“Use what works. That’s my motto.” she retorted. He faintly heard the whirr of a blade coming down towards his head and turned away from it. He could not move as she still had her hands around his neck, and the claws were puncturing his skin. He felt one hand remove itself and secure his hands with some sort of rope.

“Trying to take my head off?” he growled, wishing he could distinguish which of the three Kaida’s in front of him was the real one. He slowly began to let acidic poison seep from his nails in an attempt to sever the binding.

“Hardly.” she snapped. “I’ve got a better idea, since I can’t kill you, at least not before I kill Kiyoshi. Better to take out the most psychotic before taking out the most arrogant, don‘t you think?”

“You couldn’t kill me.” he said, his eyes focusing on the mirage of three Kaida’s in front of him that were slowly merging into one. When she came into focus, Sesshomaru barely had time to register the fact that Toukijin was in her hands before he felt a surge of pain pierce through his stomach. His hands, now unbound from the restraining rope, went to his stomach, wrapping around a very familiar handle of a very familiar sword.

Kaida had pinned him to the wall of the dojo.

With his own sword.

-

A/N - Hey! How’s everyone doing? I hope you are all having a wonderful day. Anyhow, here is the latest chapter in this saga, and I hope you enjoyed.

And there is one major question that I would like to pose to all my readers, along with an explanation as to why I am asking this particular question at this particular time:

The outline of this story finished. However, I am stuck at a bit of a problem. I’m not sure as to whether to have Kaida and Sesshomaru wind up together (as in mated), or just to have them as allies in the end. I’ve got the outline done for both endings, so it really doesn’t matter to me.

What I want to know is how many would like to see them together, and who would like to see them as allies? It’s a fifty-fifty toss up for me, and I’m not sure which one to chose.

So I’d like to know others opinion on it before I get to the critical part where the story could branch off in either direction (which will be the next chapter…)

Leave your opinion, if you would. I’d like to know.

Thanks in advance to everyone who leaves their thoughts and/or comments.

A.A.