InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Difference Between Time and Distance: A Sesshoumaru Tale ❯ And so it begins... ( Chapter 8 )

Sesshoumaru grimaced at the weak slaughter before him. To think these demons had the gall to challenge him, and to actually expect to win. It was almost beyond his comprehension.

 

And there they stood, taunting him, as if they had any sort of right to even stand in his presence.

 

“Well, My Lord, it seems as though your days have come to an end. Remind me, what have you done as a leader again? For some reason, you don't seem have done anything.”

 

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed at the group of youkai in front of him. Their shaggy hair covered their seemingly dull eyes, which matched perfectly with their ragged clothes. They clogged his senses, with their awful stench and indistinct auras. In fact, the TaiYoukai decided not only would they die for challenging him, but their lives would be ended just to cease their pitiful existence.

 

Of course, there was no frustration for the lord to vent. He was perfectly calm, perfectly under control.

 

Or so he told himself. The tightening of his fist belied this common mantra of his, and in a flash, a twitch of his arm, and they were falling.

 

Cries issued from their lips at the same time their blood was shed. The forest trees absorbed the shouts of terror and pain, while Sesshoumaru reveled in the venting on the misshapen demons.

 

His shining whip flew through the air with a graceful reverence, and in time that fell far too short, Sesshoumaru had slain them all.

 

He stared imperiously down at the one who had insulted him, a maroon color filtered across the hard packed ground from the poor youki's belly. The dirt became an impure blood.

 

“You dare to defy this Sesshoumaru. You are not even worth my time.”

 

The youkai glared spitefully up at his lord, his protector, his murderer, and uttered his last words.

 

“You think you can get away with neglecting your duties?” He hissed, “You think you can mistreat youkai, and pamper humans? You are in the wrong, My Lord, and soon your faults will come back to you. Your impure line will be washed away, and you will be lost in the underworld, lower than the ones you looked down upon.”

 

The demon was fading, but that did not stop Sesshoumaru's fit of murderous rage. With a flick of his deadly claws, the man was silenced.

 

The TaiYoukai clamed his breathing, berating himself for losing control in such an unruly manner. It was not like him to have a fit over some low lings not even fit to fill his gaze.

 

Sesshoumaru swirled around, Mokomoko-sama trailing after him, and went to find Rin. She would relax him; she would take his mind off of his turmoil.

 

`What is wrong with me?'

 

Only the twitter of disturbed wildlife answered him.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

`Do you remember?'

 

“Don't leave without telling me!”

 

“It's okay. He'll be all right.”

 

“Be wary of the shadows.”

 

“Run.”

 

Ayame groaned silently as she clutched her belly under the dappled shade of an Ash tree. How could this be happening at a time like this. She had been faring well, so far, in hygienic matters, but this definitely took the cake.

 

Kagome had brought home some extra clothes—so Ayame wouldn't have to wear the dirt clothes in her lacrosse bag—and other toiletries. Ayame had done well with that time periods clothing as well as what Kagome gave her.

 

Bathing had gone fairly well also. She did it alone, normally while the other girls were drying their hair a few bushes away, and took care of her other duties in inconspicuous ways. In fact, she had adapted fairly well, though Ayame found that some aspects—like the cold stream and open latrines—a little hard to deal with.

 

This made it all the worse. What was she supposed to do? She should ask for Kagome's help, but she didn't want to go near InuYasha, and now that she had to talk to the girl privately, she noticed he was around her quite a bit. Over the short time Ayame had been staying with the colorful group, she had found a few things best known for one to keep one's sanity.

 

First of all, make sure you are never alone with any of the group members. They were all nice—and this was more of a personal preference—but Ayame still felt not all the way comfortable with them. Kagome was the link—the glue—between her and the young miko's friends.

 

The second rule—less like a rule and more like some very profitable knowledge—was knowing that InuYasha had an amazing sense of smell.

 

 

Ayame, who once had found this interesting, and thought nothing bad of it, now cursed the hanyou's dog blood. And blood was the problem; he would smell it on her. She never cared for her womanly times of the month, she actually hated them, but she was always able to deal with them well enough.

 

But, her cheeks flushed…

 

`It would be too embarrassing for him to know…'

 

What if he said something? What if he made obvious signs of knowing? InuYasha wasn't really known for his tact, and she wouldn't put a `well-placed comment' past him.

 

Common sense told Ayame that the other girls probably dealt with this every month as well, but it was that unexplainable fear—shame even—that held Ayame back.

 

At the moment, she was sitting in a small patch of lush grass which itched her legs and kept forcing her to shift. Her odd eyes studied the hut that was a little over a hundred meters away. Kagome leaned against the rickety fence, while InuYasha sat hunched up next to her. Even from the distance, and the set of the hanyou's shoulders, Ayame could tell that he had been pouting.

 

Ayame would have found it comical—InuYasha's expressions never got old—had she not been in such a predicament. In fact, she probably would have found her own situation a bit amusing if she wasn't the one in it.

 

One could laugh if they were watching from afar. Ayame stared intently at the figures from a distance, then make a move to get up, her face scrunched up in anticipation. At the vital moment, when Ayame's chest was wound tighter than a ball of string, she would sit back down again. Her face would reveal disappointment, in herself and the loss of an opportune moment.

 

Uttering profanities to herself, Ayame gave up, clutching her stomach while scowling into the underbrush. At least the day was nice. A cool breeze filtered through, and the sun was warm, but not overbearing, and it all held a fresh, clean smell to it. I she hadn't been in such a horrible state, Ayame might have been downright happy.

 

“Are you all right, Ayame?”

 

Ayame jumped and whirled, as well as she could while sitting, to find Kagome leaning over her, concern written plain on her features.

 

Ayame, fumbled over her tongue as she tried to find the answer. Her mind had gone blank, and she blamed it on being unprepared for the option of Kagome coming to speak to her. She should feel blessed, right?

 

“Well…”

 

A voice called—probably InuYasha—for Kagome to return. Kagome turned to shout back, and after some frantic hand movements, she growled and began to walk away.

 

“Wait! Kagome—”

 

The girl turned around and Ayame stood up, nervousness showing up in her frame; in the way her shoulders hunched, her arms wrapped around herself in a breathtaking hug, in the way her eyes were averted into the ground.

 

“Um…well…” The words came out in a rush; “I'm on my period and I was wondering if you had… anything…” she trailed off.

 

“Oh, geeze, I'm sorry! I totally forgot to tell you about that! I'm sorry!” Kagome motioned Ayame to follow her to the hut, warding off InuYasha with a withering glare. Obviously she wanted him to have nothing to do with feminine problems.

 

The hut was empty as the girls entered the small room. Even after being there a few days, Ayame was yet to get used to the rush of smells that surprised her every time she entered the small home. The herbs, though she knew served amazing purposes, were quite pungent.

 

After recovering, Kagome led Ayame to the corner, where to little boxes, rough shorn things which seemed to barely to serve their purpose, were tucked away.

 

Kagome smiled as she talked, hands gesturing to articulate her explanation better.

 

“One box holds clean cloths, the other holds dirty. I don't want to use pads from our time, because I don't want to carry them around and they might be destructive, or something like that. So here are the cloths, pretty simple, and they work really well. The guys aren't allowed to go near this area, me and Sango have made that very clear, so you don't have to worry.”

 

Kagome smiled, Ayame stuttered, “Thank you… I wasn't really sure what to do…”

 

“It's no problem. It was horrible when I first came here too, I still haven't gotten used to it.” She giggled, “I probably wouldn't have made it without the occasionally hot spring, including the lukewarm one here!”

 

Ayame laughed quietly with her, not because anything was funny, but just because it felt so nice to do so. Her relief was almost tangible in the clear air.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

“What!? No! Fuck no! Get it yourself!”

 

“You have nothing better to do, InuYasha, and I have much more work on my hands. Earn your keep while you're here.” Kaede said calmly.

 

InuYasha, ears laid back flat, snarled slightly at the old woman, but quieted when Kagome sent him a piercing look.

 

“We don't mind, Kaede-san. We've been kind of bored anyway.”

 

Ayame watched this exchange with concealed interest. So far, she had not been able to leave the area, being forced to stay around Kaede's home. She had barely even glimpsed the village. This might be her chance to explore a little though. It wasn't dangerous, and it wasn't far as well. Kaede had simply asked the small group to go get an urn from the neighboring village, a little family which needed their ancestor's ashes to be purified.

 

Ayame was sure she could convince them. It shouldn't be too hard, right? InuYasha would probably be the only obstacle in her path. The monk, Miroku, was fairly easy going, including Sango, who didn't associate much with second girl from the future. She was busy most of the time with her beau, both of them going out quite a bit to exterminate smaller demons.

 

Ayame doubted Shippo would care, and Ayame wouldn't imagine Kagome saying no. So, really, InuYasha would be the only problem.

 

“Wench!” The hanyou began to complain, but was cut off by the irritated miko.

 

“It's not like it's hard, InuYasha! Anyway, Kaede's right! We should do something to earn our keep!”

 

InuYasha `feh'd' and turned away, eyes hidden from the flickering light in the shadow of his own hair.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Ayame kept her eyes on Kagome as she haphazardly stuffed supplies in her obese back pack. The others were in discussion about something—except for InuYasha, who pouted in a corner—but Ayame had no idea what it they spoke of. In fact, she was too preoccupied with her own thoughts and plans to pay attention to anything but her target.

 

Nervously, Ayame sidled up to Kagome, hands gripping each other and twisting in an odd mass of bony ligaments. This wasn't lost on the young miko, who took her time away from packing to turn her attention to the unforeseen guest.

 

“Uhm, Kagome?” The said girl smiled encouragingly, and Ayame felt a little more confident in her please, “I was wondering… Could maybe, I dunno, go with you to the village?” She rushed on ash she saw Kagome's facial expression shift, “Its just, I haven't left the hut at all, and Kaede said it wasn't dangerous and I promise to keep and not get into the way and I would try to help in any way I could and—”

 

Kagome cut Ayame off, hands held up in the air, “I don't know… It is kind of dangerous. And you might still be a little sick…”

 

“Please, Kagome, I'm perfectly fine! Fit as a fiddle, actually.” Kagome made a face at the comment, a little confusion tinting her small features. She hadn't heard the analogy before, it wasn't one Ayame had heard in Japan, at least, so that was understandable. She went on, her eyes begging and desperate, “Please Kagome.”

 

The young girl sighed, “Well, I guess so… But if you are at all tired or not feeling well, we'll take you back strait away! Got that?”

 

Ayame nodded her head vigorously, a triumphant grinning spreading across her wan features. At the expression, Kagome herself felt relieved, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to bring the older girl along.

 

If they did run into demons, at least her and InuYasha were there to protect Ayame anyway. And if the girl wanted to stay longer—the thought sat uncomfortable with the miko—she would have to get used to the time in general.

 

`Maybe this will be a good thing.' Kagome thought.

 

Her hope was squashed by the sudden apprehension of having to convince a certain hanyou pouting in the corner.

 

The miko sighed, getting out some ramen from her bag.