InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Botanist and the Beast ❯ Chapter 2: When Bandit’s Attack ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I don't own, Sesshou, Rin and all other inu char's, I barely own a beat to hell Dodge, Takahashi Rumiko: if you want it, the van is yours. (Please pay for delivery.)

 

The Botanist and the Beast

Chapter 2: When Bandit's Attack

 

Dear Alice,

Earl Grey is infinitely better that horse dung, but I prefer Madagascan Red.

-The Mad Hatter

 

My fulfilling, if boring life, was interrupted the day the village was raided by bandits. Rin was in the garden with me when the marauders came upon us. Unthinkingly I ran to the cottage to get my sword and she followed, Jaken was taking a nap outside the door. It happened all at once, and to this day I blame myself.

 

I tripped over Jaken; Rin, so close at my heels, fell over me and the bandit's blade dug into the child's side. As she screamed I turned, grabbing the brigand's sword arm and pulling him into my fall. We grappled for the sword, he punched me several times in the face, kicked me, and kneed me in the stomach, but some how I managed to gain control of the sword and send it through his sternum. Sheer adrenaline allowed me to pull it free as I whirled to a standing position and faced another attacker. Jaken was to my left, shooting spears of fire from the mouth of his staff, Rin lay still on the ground behind him. Rin, Rin I have to get to Rin, repeated in my brain on an endless feed back loop as I thoughtlessly went through the motions of killing my opponent and taking on the next. There where only twenty of them, I say only twenty not because my skill was so great, I only killed three men that day, and Jaken four, but only thirteen human men faced Sesshomaru's rage when he arrived, and he mowed them down like grass, and the anger in his eyes was not satisfied as he raced to the fallen child's side.

 

“Don't you dare move her!” I cried as he reached to lift her, and that driving, bloody rage was turned to me, and I was not afraid. I was too worried about her wounds; to frightened that moving her would take all the life she had left out of her before I could bandage her enough to hold even a single spark of her shinning life force into that limp little body.

 

“If you move her she will surely bleed out, and their will be no hope at all,” I said as I dropped my sword and dove past the red eyed, snarling, creature to the child's side. With the knife I had strapped to my side I cut the child's kimono open to reveal the wound. It was deep, but she was breathing and had fallen towards the wound staunching it to a degree. She had not lost a lot of blood and was only unconscious due to shock. I cut a large strip of my left sleeve off with my knife and balling it up I pressed it to the wound. “Here hold this while I get my kit.” I said forcefully tugging the yokai's clawed hand to the wound. He startled and pulled back. “Look, kill me later, but for God's sake, help me save her NOW!” I yelled, Jaken was chattering something, but I was lost in the moment, nothing mattered but the child bleeding, the yokai and me as I reached for his hand again. He brushed past me and knelt, pressing his hand to the wound.

 

“Hurry.” Was all he said, and needing no more encouragement, I ran into my home. It took me less then thirty minutes to sew her up, put salve on the wound and swath it in bandages, but it felt like an eternity and all the while the Daiyokai stood above me, waiting to pass judgment. The blade must have been dull, it only sliced muscle and tissue and the cut did not reach the child's organs, but there was still so much blood, and she had left a lot more on the ground as we had fought our attackers. When I was done patching Rin up as best I could, I reached to lift her, but Sesshomaru had her in his arms before I could even register that he'd moved. “Wait.” I said numbly hoping to stop him before he carried her away to the lonely unpopulated castle, and he just stood behind me waiting.

 

Climbing to my own feet I confronted him, looking into his face. “She will not die immediately, but I need to keep her here so I can watch her at least for the night. A secondary infection could settle in or an illness. I need her here so I can treat her, or all my efforts are pointless.” I was weary and frightened for Rin, but I met his eyes squarely and did not look away for his impassive visage or his angry eyes.

 

“She is no longer your concern, she will be cared for.” He said as turned to leave, and I lost my temper.

 

“Yes, of course, how could I have presumed to know more about human physiology and what may harm them than a great inhuman monster such as you. I'm sure you've nursed many a mortal back to health from wounds, and illness and all of the wonderful little accidents of life than could quickly end our short existences and of which you have no experience. Please, by all means, take her back to your empty castle and order her to be well. I only ask that you place a lily on her grave for me, when it doesn't work, and know that you are the only one to blame.” And with that furious utterance I entered my hut and wrathfully slammed the door without waiting for a reply.

 

I threw myself onto the bed and fumed at the ceiling for several minutes before there was a loud knocking on the door. My first thought was to wounded villagers. I had been so caught up in my own drama with the yokai and Rin that it did not occur to me until that moment that the band would have ridden right through the village before reaching me. I snatched my discarded medicine bag and flew to the door to be confronted with Jaken.

 

“Jaken, not now I have to go to the village and see to the wounded.” I said brushing past him in my hurry.

 

“Forget the pathetic humans, Lord Sesshomaru instructed me to help you with whatever you may need to carry to the castle.” I stopped in my march.

 

“Explain that to me Jaken, why would I be going to the castle?”

 

“Baka, ningen, to care for Rin of course!”

 

I thought about turning him down, but maybe this would be considered me granting him a favor, and having a Daiyokai in your debt was never a bad thing. “Tell your lord I will acquiesce to his appeal for assistance with the child as soon as I am finished in the village, and that anything I need I will be quite able to carry myself.”

 

Jaken's sputtering arguments where quickly drowned out by my own panting breath and pounding feet at I raced to the village my medicine bag in hand. The toad gave a brief chase, but was quickly out run as he stumbled over his own feet and I continued to the village. It was dark by the time I arrived, and the moon had not yet risen, but the still burning fires from huts lit the nightmare scene that greeted me.

 

Bodies of the people I had tended, mended and help bring into the world littered the ground. Except for the crackling of fires, the night was silent. I wandered through the ghost village calling, “Hello! Anyone?” repeatedly to no avail, and I was hailed with only more bodies in various states of defense, attack or flight. It dawned on me that I did not know more than a handful of their names, and there was no one else left to remember them. I fell to my knees and wept in despair, for them and their cruel fate, and for myself trapped so far from home in another people's historical terror.

 

I don't know how long I knelt there in the mud created by a river of spilt blood, surrounded by the ghosts of the dead before the dragon descended. I was so numb from the horror of the day, that it almost seemed natural for Jaken to appear riding a two headed dragon and demanding that I accompany him to the castle immediately per his lord's request.

 

I chuckled to myself bitterly as I mounted the bizarre creature's back and settled into the saddle. After this, everything should seem normal from now on, and I should expect anything to happen. If someone had told me the previous summer what my life would be like at that moment I would have told them to put the crack pipe down and seek counseling, and yet there I was; probably no more sane than the imaginary addict. After all, I was the one quietly sitting on a dragon, next to a Kappa in feudal Japan waiting delivery to his Demon Lord's castle instead of running screaming into the night like a good sane woman would.

 

The trip to but moments on the back of the great beast, and then I was quickly following Jaken down a familiar hall to Rin's bedside. Sesshomaru was there sitting next to the unconscious child on the bed, seemingly perfectly relaxed, head supported by the wall eyes closed in hi quiet repose. Jaken announced, “Here is the ningen woman as you ordered, my lord.” The yokai's eyes languidly opened as if he had all evening to open them and looked on his servant and the captive that trailed him.

 

Sesshomaru's gaze rested on Jaken for several moments before it rose to meet my own, “She is cold and has not awoken, is that normal?” his voice was like a glacier, emotionless and cool. Without answering him I went to the bed. With the child between him and I, I felt only marginally more comfortable as I knelt beside her and took her wrist; feeling for her pulse. “Her hand is indeed icy, but her pulse is strong. She has lost a lot of blood though, and the next few days will be crucial to her survival.” Not expecting a reply I was not shocked when he continued his silent observation and I stood and went to the door to the garden. Wordlessly I went out and retrieved several large stones from the stream that fed into the fishpond. Returning placed them as close to the fire that heated Rin's room as possible without burning my fingers.

 

Somewhere in my absence Jaken had left, I expected that the illusive Lord of the castle would have evaporated into mist also, since that's what previous encounters lead me to believe. Yet, he remained in the room, next to the child and watched me, as I took off my outer shirt and wrapped the now hot stones in it. I carried it to the bed and placed it near Rin's still form.

 

With nothing else to do for the moment, and not wishing to have any form of conversation with my creepy host, I sat on the bed next to the child. Leaning my head against the wall I allowed exhaustion to over come me. Morpheus' hold upon me lasted mere hours though, as I was wakened by feverish moaning and shivers emanating from my young patient.

 

Acting quickly I went again to the garden. With my knife I pried some bark loose from the nearby willow, and harvested a portion of the valerian and fevers bane I'd notice on my previous visits. Back in the room I once more ignored the yokai's scrutiny as I pull a stone mortar and petal from my medicine bag. Adding water to the ground ingredients from the garden I placed the mortar near the fire. After the herb mixture had steeped I pulled a cup from my bag. Pouring the concoction into the cup I allowed it to cool to almost room temperature before going to the child and struggled to bring her to a sitting position without spilling the contents of the cup.

 

It was becoming clear to me that the child's inhuman guardian had no intentions of helping with her care. In fact, my presence was the only sign that he had any concern for his charge whatsoever. I was therefore startled when he deftly took the limp body from me and very gently leaned her against himself in a sitting posture.

 

For the first time that evening I allowed my eyes to meet his for a moment and I was struck by the concern I saw there. With a reassuring nod, I tilted the Rin's head back and gently pried her mouth open. By pouring small amounts of the tea into her mouth and massaging her throat I managed to get half the cup's contents into her and I looked to her guardian again, “You can lay her down now, it will only take a few moments for that to work and she should sleep restfully through the night.”

 

With more care and gentleness than I would have ever imagined, he laid Rin on the bed again and pulled the blankets over her before turning to me. “If that is the case, and she will sleep through the night, then you may go to your own bed also.” I'm not sure what angered me the most, the abrupt dismissal or the idea that I should make the three-hour hike to my hut in the middle of the night through possibly bandit infested woods. Then again, I certainly don't want to sleep here either, and it might be almost daybreak by the time I get there.

 

Wordlessly I grabbed my bag and stood. “Send Jaken to my home tomorrow and I will tell him how to prepare the tea. The wound needs to be cleaned, rewrapped twice daily and coated in this,” I said as I took a tube of antibacterial cream from my bag. It was all I had left, but I didn't trust local herbs as much as I trusted hundreds of years of science and bacterial hysteria to kill anything that might threaten her. “Also, if any discoloration, swelling or foul odors around the wound occur send for me directly. She should avoid any strenuous or exuberant exertions for at least the next three weeks.” Out of instructions and out of any real energy I turned to leave.

 

“Arigato” Came the voice behind me; “Yep.” was my dismissive reply as I let myself out of the room. The castle was not even an hour behind me before the trauma and exhaustion of the day caught up with me. The terror of the attack, the fact I killed two men with my own hands, Rin's wound, and the horror of the village came crashing down upon me, driving me to my knees. All my tears had been shed at the village, so I sat there, next to the river, hugging a tree for support and screamed my frustration. My throat was raw and tight when I finished, and I abruptly decided I could go no further. Curling up at the base of the tree, I closed my eyes, and gave myself gratefully over to exhausted oblivion.

 

To be woken after day break by the sound of Jaken yelling my name from over head and grousing to himself about my shortcomings, most seemed invented since I'm not sure how he could even determine if, when, or under what circumstances I would mate with a goat. “Donella! You wretched, indecent, mistaken spawn of a baboon where are you! Donella!” His continued cries became fainter as he flew towards the castle. Apparently he was returning from my hut and searching the path I would have taken home.

 

I debated my options. I could go back to my hut and assume all was well, after all he was supposed to come and learn how to make that tea, or I could return to the castle and pretend it was my intended destination. Looking down at myself in my blood stained kimono from the day before I opted to take a bath, wash my cloths and wait. If it was urgent enough either way, Jaken would surely pass overhead again, and if it where only about the tea, he would return to my hut at a later time.

 

Using the soap from my bag, it did not take me long at all to wash myself and my cloths, but even though the kimono was a deep nutmeg brown, some of the blood had still managed to stain the torso and sleeves and the under garments where never going to get clean. I determined to burn them all the moment I got home. In the mean time I secluded myself from the road behind some shrubs and sunned my naked body near the river as thy dried and I promptly drifted off.

 

I dreamed of my family. It was my sixteenth birthday and I had spent the whole day joyously awaiting something grand. Sweet Sixteen, just like in the movies, good things are supposed to happen on your sixteenth birthday. I wished that daddy would come home. I wished that momma would magically be sweet, notice me and say something wonderful about how smart I was, how good I was or maybe how proud of me she was and we'd have a big party with cake, ice-cream, balloons and lost of presents.

 

In the dream my sisters, my brother and I would eat the birthday fare on the porch while momma and daddy talked about how happy they where to have a family like ours. Yet the dream got dark, in real life my sixteenth birthday passed unnoticed by my parents, and my father did not come home.

 

My two sisters Jane and Lizzy and our brother Matt gave me a homemade card and an orange from the fridge and sang happy birthday to me in the room we shared before going to bed. And in the dream, my magical birthday party was ripped to shreds by feudal era bandits and everyone was killed, and I stood there among the bodies of my family, popped balloons and torn presents, and could not cry. My thought before waking, or maybe as I woke was, at least I still got to have a party.

 

I sat there thinking about the dream, mulling it over in the afternoon sun. My eyes drifted to the tree that held my now dry cloths. I should get dressed and go check on Rin, just as that thought drifted into my brain, the bushes rustled behind me. I grabbed the knife from my bag and rolled into one of the bushes in a low crouch. It wasn't much concealment, and the branches where harsh on my bare skin, but hopefully it gave me the element of surprise over a would-be attacker. This place has more bandits than the Arabian nights!

 

A Black boot and white leg stepped through the bushes and I saw the hem of a yellow obi sash fold forward as I realized I recognized the pattern. “Jesus H. Christ! Don't sneak up on a girl like that!” I yelled at the yokai before me and made a dash for my cloths. “What the hell are you doing here anyway? Can't a girl get some peace without bandits and marauding pointy eared freaks sneaking up on them? What kind of world is this?!” I hid my flustered and damaged pride behind anger as I leapt forward and snatched my cloths, clutching them close I dove behind the tree that had held them trying to hide and dress.

 

“Why are you not at your hovel?” Hovel? You arrogant cretin!

 

“I was bathing, obviously!” I growled somewhat flustered as I tied my kimono on.

 

“This is some distance from your hovel, why are you not closer?” I audibly ground my teeth angrily. I do not need to be explaining myself to the likes of him!

 

“I don't need to explain my actions to you! Why don't you explain yourself? You are an Inu-Yokai with, I presume, a keel sense of smell and hearing, you knew I was here why the hell didn't you just leave me alone?” Now fully dressed, I left the shelter of the tree to confront him. He stood regally right where I'd left him, as if he had all the time in the world and that was where he belonged. The light of the noon sun made the cascading waterfall of silver hair glow and his pristine cloths made the markings on his face stand out, drawing my attention to his fascinating eyes and well-formed cheekbones. I gritted my aching teeth harder, no one capable of pissing me off that much should have any right to look that good.

 

“Rin woke and is quite upset; she appears frantic to assure herself that you are not harmed from the attack. Jaken could not find you and his failure has made her even more hysterical. I could not calm her until I promised to retrieve you myself.” Oh geeze.

 

“Aw fuck!” I exclaimed and then, not used to swearing in front of people I immediately blushed and covered my mouth with my hands. “I'm sorry” I muttered, he raised an eyebrow at me but said nothing. Not wanting to be the one to break the silence I walked towards him and knelt down to retrieve my socks and hiking boots. I put the socks on and then I shook my boots out incase of small bugs or rocks before habitually checking the soles and putting them on. Through this whole procedure the Yokai continued to gaze down at me.

 

Wordlessly I stood, without looking at him I gripped by bag close and I started towards the trail leading to the castle. My arm touched his as I pushed past him but if he expected an apology he was going to be sorely disappointed, and as he continued to keep his own counsel I would never know. It seemed to take longer to reach the castle than it had to get to my make shift camp the night before. But then my silent company made the trek more of an ordeal. When I gained the path he somehow managed to be there in front of me. Not liking the idea of trailing in his wake all the way to the castle like some wayward child I hurried forward attempting to at least walk beside him, but he eluded me and stayed in the lead. Angry I decided to ignore his presence completely.

 

In the hopes that he would get annoyed with me and hurry on ahead, I began scanning the edges of the path and periodically stopping to retrieve flowers for Rin. He never stopped, he just continued his unhurried pace and I fell further and further behind him, and yet he never left, he just continued at increasing distances a head of me all the way to the castle, at a leisurely measured pace.

 

When we arrived he was waiting at the gate until I was with in grabbing distance of him, and then he preceded me in. still the lord of the castle, still putting me in my place. Fucker I thought insolently, but there was no real action I could take to stop him from being an uncouth jerk and so we made our way to Rin's room. Him coolly staring ahead, while I, angrily glaring at the back of his skull imagining painful and evil things befalling him, like dog's bane in his bath water to give that beautiful skin a nice red rash or tying him to a really tall tree in a lightning storm.

 

“Donnella-sama! I am so glad you are all right!” Rin's excited exclamation pulled me from my murderous contemplations as my eyes fell on the happy child.

 

“Ah, sweet, Hotaru, it would take more than a few smelly bandits to hurt me! Now lie still or you are going to hurt yourself,” I said as I hastily moved to her side and lowered myself to her bed. The color in her cheeks was good, but her hands when they clutched mine where still far colder than I would have liked. “My little firefly, you are freezing! And if you shiver and shake those stitches loose I am going to be quite cross. So tuck yourself into your blankets now and lie still while I make you some tea and then you tell me why you had to entreat your poor master to search me out so hurriedly.” Though I really felt no sympathy for her poor master, it was obvious she held a great deal of affection towards him, and the repellent yokai lord evidently had some care for her to invite me there in the first place and then come looking for me at her behest.

 

“I have to go to the garden, I'll be right back.” Retrieving the herbs I needed for my brew I returned to the fire.

 

“Donnella-samma?” Rin asked struggling to sit up.

 

“Lay still Hotaru or you will harm yourself more, I am here, by the fire and I won't leave this room without you knowing. Please, what seems to be bothering you?” Sesshomaru continued his vigil by the door, and his presence threatened to make me grumpy and cross as I prepared the medicine.

 

“I dreamed the bandits had killed you, like my family, and I was so worried and you live out there in that lonely hut all by yourself and I had a bad dream that bandits came and cut you all to pieces and they put the pieces in the river and you floated away and Rin couldn't find all of your pieces so that Lord Sesshomaru-sama could use his sword and save your life, and I couldn't stand to see anyone else die…” Her words spent, or maybe just exhausted from her injuries Rin became still on the bed. I poured the tea into my cup and went to her side, but before I could lift her Sesshomaru was there and the child was tenderly cradled in his arms. The fatherly image conflicted greatly with his cold frosty exterior and I again wondered what a demon lord was doing with a human child.

 

“Here, Hotaru, drink this.” I said gently pressing the cup to her lips she took a hesitant sip.

 

“Donella-sama that tastes awful!” She exclaimed and made a face.

 

“Well if it tastes awful I know two things. One: You aren't going to join the legions of the dead quite yet, and two you still have to drink more of it, so that we can make sure that time keeps getting farther and farter into the future.” I said cheerfully.

 

“But Donnella-sama..”

 

“Rin, drink the tea.” Sesshomaru cut off her arguments and she immediately drank the entire cup down, which really impressed me.

 

“If you could package that trick you'd make millions.” The yokai gave me a quizzical look as he lowered the child gently back onto the bed and I only shook my head in response and turned my attention back to Rin.

 

“Now, no more hysterics, I'll have you know your lord interrupted a very nice nap and kept me from getting any breakfast to bring me here.” I gently beeped her nose, ignoring the Yokai who still remained sitting next to us on the bed like a deranged guardian angel. “Listen well little Rin. I'm not sure what Sesshomaru-sama's sword has to do with this. Yet I want you to understand this. I have faced eight years of final exams, muggers, a PHD thesis review panel, boardrooms full of over inflated egomaniacs, and politicians. I have fallen into a hole and traveled through time, and been subject your master's snappy repartee more than once and have not died of boredom; therefore, you should have no fear. I am not going to die by the hands of some unwashed renegades clumsily swinging rusty swords.” I stated matter-of-factly, not bothering to see what effect my little barb about boredom had on its recipient, I kept my attention focused on the child before me, and her frowning countenance.

 

“But the village, master Jaken said all the people are dead, and you are all by yourself. If a lot of bandits came, you couldn't stop them all and you'd die.” Her anxious words cut me and I sighed wearily, going for a more straightforward approach and I let some of my bottled down rage free.

 

“Well damn Jaken and his big flapping mouth and damn the bandits that hurt you, this time and in the past. The truth is, my life has become a very uncertain thing, and I can't guarantee that if a hundred bandits came upon me in my rickety little hut that I won't end up a bleeding pulp. I can promise you I'll take more than one of them down with me, and that the others will remember the encounter for years to come. That is the best promise you can ever get from anything mortal, dear.” I let out a sad sigh. “I'm just sorry I can't make you a promise that would make it better, but you and I have seen far to much in this world to believe me if I said everything is going to be sunlight and roses forever.” I looked down at her sad, drooping eyes.

 

“You could stay here with me; Sesshomaru-sama and Jaken-dono would keep you safe.” She said sleepily, I shook my head.

 

“We will talk about this another time, sleep now and I can at least promise you that I'll be here when you wake up.” I kissed her on the forehead and slowly fled to the garden. Too much honestly, too much perception from someone so very young; I cursed the world that had taken her innocents, and hated myself for my own weakness and fading mortality. The garden was bathed in late afternoon light, still warm and glowing and I turned unseeing, remembering Rin's chilled hands and that she needed another blanket. My movement was halted painfully as I smacked directly into a solid, immovable object. Where did the tree come from? I thought, before I realized the hard object my head had encountered was a breastplate, and the immovable object was Sesshomaru.

 

I hurriedly stumbled backwards. “Rin needs another blanket,” I mumbled stupidly attempting to step around him and back into her room.

 

“It has already been taken care of.” His voice was like an arctic breeze.

 

“Oh, all right then.” I responded numbly. Confused by his continued presence and discomfited by the removal of my only task. I turned and made my way to the bench I had sat on in our previous encounter and stared at the Togakushisgouma, waiting for him to explain himself, or leave.

 

“It was good that you where honest with her.” Well what do you say to that? `Huh, thank you captain obvious?'

 

“Hmm.” I responded in what I hoped was an imitation of his cool manner.

 

“You will remain here in the room you occupied before until Rin is well enough to travel.” I started at that and turned to look at him. He was regarding me with something like curiosity on his face, the expression shocked me more than his words something had managed to crack the icy exterior.

 

“I need to go back to my cottage.” I said softly.

 

“Your absence disturbs Rin to much; I will not allow her to cause herself more injury on your behalf, you will stay.” The icy mask slid back into place and his words ignited my anger at him again.

 

“Baka!” I announced angrily as I stood, “I need cloths, supplies and I will not leave my sword in that shack for anyone to walk off with, I'm lucky to have it in the first place!” I yelled, and then his claws where resting on my face, his grip on my chin was iron.

 

“Do not insult me, ningen; I could snap you like a twig, if you where not still of use to me you would be dead at this moment. You will remember your place.” So, this is what death looks like I thought absently as I gazed in to his furious countenance, Wow, his eyes are like melted gold.

 

But fear would not reach me in the place I was detached to, and my heart refused to quicken its pace. Calmly I said, “But I am still of use to you, and I still have to get my things.” Then his eyes widened just slightly, my reaction had surprised him. I let a small, slow smile cross my lips. “Please, release me, Sesshomaru-sama” and I was happy that my soft voice was not pleading or frightened.

 

He continued to hold my face in his hands and the silent staring contest continued for several minutes as I calmly held his eyes, waiting to die. My neck began to ache, and then he gave a growl and released me. “Jaken will accompany you with Ah-Un, and you will return before nightfall.” I blinked in surprise at him, and in that moment he was gone and I was alone in the garden once more.

 

Ah-Un I discovered was the two-headed dragon I had ridden to reach the castle the previous evening. I was heartened to learn from Jaken that it was an herbivore, and I was appreciative for the transport it provided. I was too numb upon my first encounter of the beast to appreciate it fully. The trip to my cottage upon Ah-Un's back took only moments, and the sensation of flight without the confines of an airplane was priceless.

 

It took all of thirty minuets to strap a years worth of my life to the dragon's back and all of my belongings fit spaciously into one basket and a my backpack. I contemplated all of the knickknacks, kitchen items, bath products and various sundry items that made up my daily life back home. I began to wonder what, if anything, I would have taken with me from there if I'd known how it would all turn out. My mood was thoughtful as we returned to the castle as I pondered the differences between my old life and my current one as Ah-Un landed in the courtyard and I unpacked my things tuning out Jaken's protests against helping. I had learned early in my association with the toad that he never did anything without threat of physical harm, and I did not care enough to take that rout. Beyond things like shampoo and basic first aid supplies, I can't think of anything I've really longed for. Or anyone.

 

The idea hit me suddenly that in the span of a year I had resigned myself to my new life completely, and had never really looked back once in regret or dismay. I continued my internal inspection has I trudged down the hallways leading to my room. What did I really miss of my old life? Jane, Lizzy, Matt… Thinking of my siblings made me miss them, but I still didn't feel an overwhelming longing to return to my former life. I stopped within feet of my door stared at the floor thinking of my family, my past, and waiting for homesickness or nostalgia to over come me but only felt guilt when I could not summon them and wondered if I was some how defective.

 

With a sigh I made a step to my door and walked into something solid. “Son of a bitch!” I exclaimed as my thought-glazed eyes focused again on the pattern of an all to familiar breastplate and followed it up to center on Sesshomaru's slightly amused face. “If you make a habit of doing that its no wonder Jaken has such a poor attitude.” I grumbled in lieu of an apology or greeting.”

 

“You should pay attention to where you are going instead of the thoughts in your head, and learn some respect.”

 

I ground my teeth on the flippant remark that was threatening to jump past them and angrily met my host's gaze, “I apologize for my thoughtlessness; I am accustomed to spending much of my time alone and find it difficult to adjust to your officious ways.”

 

“Your apology does not sound sincere.”

 

“Good, I had no intention of being sincere, just polite. Now, if you will excuse me the weight of these items are becoming tiresome.” I responded pertly as I moved to push past him down the hall, and was surprised when he stepped aside and allowed me to enter my room.

 

“Rin is awake and wishes to see you.” He said from behind me.

 

“Thank you, I'll go to her as soon as I change.” Without waiting for a reply I slid the wood and paper door shut and for the first time in a year missed something of home: steal reinforced doors with dead bolts.

 

My obtrusive host was not in attendance when I finally returned to Rin's room in clean dark olive green kimono splashed with a brown rice grass pattern, instead I was greeted by the cheerful sight of Rin braiding flowers into jewelry. “How are you feeling, Hotaru?”

 

“Donella-sama! I am feeling much better, but my wound aches.” I placed the bandages I carried on the bed next to her as I lowered myself to a sitting position.

 

“Well let's take a look and see if we can't make it feel a bit better.” I said gently beginning to unwrap the bandage to reveal the scabbing stitches. Going to the water basin I found it full, and an iron teapot and a basin resting next to it. It seems my mortar will finally get a break. I thought, for once grateful to my charges master. Filling the pot I places it near the fire only long enough to make the water hot and then poured the water over my bar of soap into the basin and returned the pot to the fire to boil as I cleaned Rin's wound.

 

Using a mixture of the antibiotic ointment and a lemon balm salve to help numb the wound I rewrapped Rin's side and helped her lay back on the bed. Then I prepared her tea and without protesting, she drank it down devoid of my help. Pillowing her head in my lap I leaned against the wall and with no other means of entertainment I began to tell her a story.

 

“Dionysius was a king who ruled over a land called Syracuse. He was such a cruel and malevolent ruler that he earned the label of tyrant. To all appearances he was very rich and comfortable, he had all the things money could buy, sumptuous cloths, jewels enough to cover all the walls in his immense palace with a pile left over, and the delectable foods that any mortal has ever tasted. He even had people who followed him around and told him how wonderful he was to inflate his ego. One of these flatterers was a man named Damocles.

 

Unlike the others though, Damocles mocked the king about his soft and pompous lifestyle and one day Dionysius turned to Damocles and said, “If you think my life is so easy, why do you not live it for one day?”

 

Damocles readily agreed, eager to live the life of a king for one day and so Dionysius ordered everything to be prepared for Damocles to experience what life as Dionysius was like. Damocles was enjoying himself immensely enjoying the cloths, the food, the gold and the women of the court, until he tipped head back at dinner to get the very last drop of the delicious wine from his cup. Then he noticed, suspended from the ceiling by a single horsehair, and only a breath from his head there was a great, sharp sword.

 

This, the tyrant explained to Damocles, was what life as ruler was really like. Never knowing when something tragic or some one more powerful would come and take it all away. Damocles became terrified and quickly revising his idea of what made up a good life, and fled back to his hut and to his poorer, but safer life.”

 

“I don't think that I want to be a king” Rin sleepily mumbled into my lap.

 

I petted her head and said, “Neither would I,” and I kissed her forehead before gently placing her onto her pillow and rising to my feet. In doing so I glance at the door to the garden and saw the silhouette of a man standing outside. I wonder how often he listened to the other stories I told her. I thought, and decided to take the long way to my room instead of destroying my peaceful night with another confrontation with Sesshomaru.

 

As I drifted off into my own slumber a random thought crossed my mind, where did Rin get the flowers?

 

The next week fell into an awkward routine of caring for Rin and avoiding her master. Ironically enough my one true companion in this was Jaken since it appeared that his master loathed his presences even more than I did. So I took to sitting in the garden with Jaken and encouraging him to tell me stories of his life and his master's exploits as I sewed, knitted, wrote in my journals or even read my one book, The Collected works of Edgar Allan Poe. It was big book to hike with, when I had been working in the field my colleagues mocked me for carrying such a heavy pack, but it had turned out to be a pricelessly good hardship to endure. Jaken did not care how I busied myself as long as I made some small noise of acknowledgment to his story periodically and sat still long enough for him to tell them. I often carried Rin out into the garden so she could join us and play with the early spring flowers, and night I told her more stories or sang songs to her, many of which she insisted on learning.

 

Eventually she was able to walk about on her own, I removed the stitched and all that morning I actually looked for her master to tell him the good news, but even Jaken did not know where he could be found.

 

It wasn't until that night after I was done tucking Rin in and reading her The Tell Tale Heart, that I saw his familiar silhouette at the garden door. Ever night he's there, I wonder why. Seeing my chance to speak to him I went to the door as the shadow began to recede. “Please wait.” I said as I slid the door open. He stood in the garden, he didn't seem to be discomfited in the least by being found eavesdropping.

 

Gently I closed the door behind me and cautiously approached him. “Rin should be able to travel now, if it is on Ah-Un's back and not for long stretches. Though her wound will still need to be watched closely and making sure she has a very soft place, warm to sleep ant night would be a good idea.”

 

He looked at me contemplatively for several moments before replying, “That is good, you may return to you hovel in the morning.” He turned to leave and I sat on the garden bench.

 

“I won't ever go back there again, but I will leave in the morning. Thank you for giving me enough time to say good bye to her.” He stopped his retreat and looked at me again.

 

“Surely you do not intend to occupy a house in that ruined village.”

 

I chuckled darkly at the idea of my living in a burned out village surrounded by the rotting corpses of the dead and ghosts. My morbid vision of it had me hanging laundry in the sunlight, humming as I step over the blacksmith's body to get more cloths pins. “No, that's a little too Poe for me. I'm going to follow the road south; historically speaking there should be a village a few hundred miles down that way. Though historically speaking this castle doesn't actually exist…” I sighed, “My options are finite and the village is my best one, considering the circumstance, but I probably won't be back this way again. I didn't get to say good-bye to anyone when I fell down that hole, and I'll never see them again… It seems important that I at least say goodbye to Rin, since it's unlikely I'll ever see her again.” My verbosity embarrassed me, but he continued to watch me after I'd finished and I realized he was probably waiting for me to leave him alone in the garden, “I'm sorry, how rude if me I'll leave.”

 

Yet when I reached door he spoke, “You will stay and accompany us when we leave.”

 

I was shocked, “Thank you, but no, Rin doesn't need me anymore and I've already abused your patience and generosity enough. You allowed me a place in your home to rest after I fell here. Since then you have graciously ignored my rude words, poor manners and my audacious behavior on several occasions. I no longer serve a purpose here. I refuse to become a burned and I cannot permit myself to be any further in your debt.”

 

“It is not my home.” The bald statement was not really a response to my statement and confused me.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“This castle was merely a safe place for Jaken and Rin to rest while I searched the surrounding area, this is not my home.”

 

“Oh.” I said dully.

 

“Jaken was right, you are stupid. You will accompany us as far as the nearest human village, it will take you months to reach one on your own and I will not be able to tolerate Rin's worrisome behavior if I sanction you making the journey alone.”

 

I recalled Rin's terrified reaction to my absents after the bandit attack and sigh, “Arguing with you would be a waste of my time I suppose?”

 

“Indeed.”

 

“Fine,” and with that I entered my room and went to bed. The conversation with the demon lord whirled in my mind for hours before I finally managed to fall asleep. If this isn't his place, why did he say the Togakushisgouma was his? And why in the world would he take the time to cultivate one here if he was just going to leave it? What an incredibly odd man, it was my last thought before Morphius claimed me.

 

 

 

Author's note: It has been suggested that I need to interject a Sesshomaru POV here somewhere, any thoughts from the readers? Are there any readers to have thoughts?

 

I think Hotaru means firefly and it sounded like a cute pet name for Rin.