InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Way Ice Can Turn Into Sun ❯ The Seed Is Planted ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter2: The seed is planted

 

 

Sesshoumaru descended to the place his servant had awaited him. He gently released the injured girl from his arms, listening to her pulse again. He could hear it more clearly now and that was a sign that he had successfully withdrawn the poison.

A small toad youkai ran toward Sesshoumaru with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Sesshoumaru-sama! I have waited all day for you to...” The frog-like creature suddenly stopped as he saw the girl.

“Jaken.” Came the deep, low voice of the demon lord, “Go find human food.”

“Yes Milord. Is this human a prisoner?”

“Silence. Do as I said” He ordered.

“As you wish, milord” The creature said in an obeying tone.

“I just got rid of Rin, when we dropped her off in that human village, and now this one comes along. Why would Lord Sesshoumaru bring these creatures with us?” Jaken thought while hurrying to do as his master had told him.

 

Kumiko remained unconscious for the rest of the afternoon and Sesshoumaru watched over her without understanding why he bothered.

When the girl opened her dark eyes, she looked around with curiosity. The first thing she saw was Sesshoumaru's animal, a two-headed dragon. Her eyes wide in astonishment she got up and slowly walked towards it. She didn't even notice Sesshoumaru's gaze fixed upon her. She cautiously approached it and it seemed docile so she slowly reached for one of his heads and stroked it gently. The animal stood still and seemed to enjoy it.

After having that out of her system, she turned to the demon lord.

Sesshoumaru was silent as he stood on a rock a few feet away from her. His face looked blank and emotionless and he seemed to be deep in thought.

She sighed and leaned against a tree with a sad expression on her face.

“My family...they must be worried sick by now...” She thought, looking at the sky as it started to get dark. The taiyoukai turned and looked at her, as he was sure she didn't notice it. He wondered what she was thinking about but then immediately suppressed himself.

“Why should I care...this human is only a means to draw out Naraku. It is a tool.” He reminded himself.

A noise in the bushes alerted him to the return of his servant.

Jaken was holding a bowl of rice and some other things Kumiko could not identify. He placed the bowl in front of her mumbling something about “useless human” and turned his back on her. She was so hungry that she didn't even care about the small creature's insult. She ate the rice, but didn't touch the other things next to it.

Feeling better now, she walked to the place where Sesshoumaru was standing and asked him:
”There was poison in my blood and you sucked it out, right?”

“How perceptive.” His mocking voice came.

She knitted her brows and said in a slightly higher tone:

“I just wanted to thank you.”

“Do not bother.” Was his cold answer as his hand reached to her wound touching it gently.

She looked down at her injury and saw with astonishment it had almost healed. That had to be his doing...

Her eyes observed him with curiosity and she noticed he only had one arm. He noticed her gaze and turned his golden eyes to hers, capturing them. She tried to lower them, not wanting to offend him as she heard his icy voice:

“Rest. Tomorrow we travel.”

“I didn't mean to...stare. I'm sorry.” She said in a soft voice.

His face remained unreadable as he replied simply:

“I care not.”

“I'm going to go rest. Goodnight.” She said walking away from him and mentally scolding herself.

The youkai lord didn't answer and his gaze followed the girl as the exhaustion of the past day got to her and she fell asleep on the ground next to the dragon.

After that, he approached her and looked displeased at the sight of the untouched food:

“You will find better food tomorrow. Do not anger me, Jaken.”

The toad-like creature started shaking at the sound of his low voice. Though he had said it calmly, he knew Lord Sesshoumaru would probably kill him if he didn't obey.

The demon lord turned to the sleeping girl. She looked so peaceful and her beauty stirred in him desires that he had never experienced for a human before.

“She is an unworthy and weak creature.” He told himself. He would have to find her some proper clothes, the ones she was wearing were inappropriate; they were so tight he could distinguish her every form. Not that it wasn't alluring and he had to admit she was quite attractive...for a human.

He felt a warmth inside of him and a burning sensation on his stump arm. It kept growing in intensity and one of his swords, the healing sword Tenseiga, let out a bright purple light. Little sparks of pinkish light started to rise from the sleeping girl and merged with Tenseiga's light. Soon he felt like the remainder of his arm was on fire and he saw bright light covering it. In a few seconds, the light disappeared, leaving only the darkness of the night. Sesshoumaru touched his shoulder and, to his astonishment, it continued with an arm! His arm had grown back somehow and he moved it easily just like before. He stared at his sword. Tenseiga had refused to heal his arm when he had tried it, why would it do so now...And he turned to the sleeping miko remembering the pinkish light that had come out of her body.

“It must be because of her...but how...” He thought, knitting his brows. Then he had a flashback of the tingly sensation that he had experienced while tasting her blood...That must have been it. Her blood must contain healing powers and Tenseiga probably reacted to them, drawing energy out of the sleeping girl.

He knelt beside her and she struggled in her sleep, haunted by nightmares, sweat starting to show on her pale skin. He felt the need to wake her up and chase away her fears but did not give in to it.

He was grateful to her even though she was probably unaware of what she had done. On the other hand, he had also rescued her from the youkai and a painful death by poison so they were even. Still something drew him to this human girl in ways he couldn't explain, but he turned away with anger, cursing himself for his thoughts. He despised humans at the utmost and even though this one seemed to have some unusual powers, she was still just a human.

He walked away into the forest. It was filled with youkai and especially dangerous at night. He needed to kill something, a distraction so he could get his mind of her.

 

As the sun began to rise, Kumiko opened her yes looking around with a dazzled expression on her face.

“So it wasn't a dream.” She thought, getting up and finding herself alone with the two-headed dragon. “I wonder where Sesshoumaru is.” She said to herself. With nothing else to do than wait for him, she reviewed in her mind the past events. “Naraku, I wonder why Sesshoumaru wants to kill him...Actually I'm not surprised, he wants to kill everyone. But this time he might actually have a reason. I don't blame him, after all it's that bastard who brought me here.”

Her thoughts strayed to the demon lord.

“He is so arrogant and full of himself and...beautiful. No, not handsome, the word is beautiful.” The lack of one arm seemed to do no damage to his appearance. He possessed an almost feminine beauty and still his voice, his gaze, his character was so masculine. He had a crescent moon on his forehead and purple stripes marked his cheeks. His eyes, when not extremely angered, were golden and frozen. His gaze was sharp and somewhat frightening. He seemed to be used to getting his way with everything and everyone. He didn't seem to talk much, his voice was low, filled with authority and used to ordering. She was curious to find out as much as she could about him, about Naraku, about demons.

Sesshoumaru who, with his sword full of blood, was returning from the forest interrupted her thoughts. She didn't dare to ask him about the blood, nor did she want to know.

“Good morning!” She said, trying to sound cheerful.

He wondered if he should answer her. It would probably be better not to waste words on such pathetic creatures as humans... However:

“Good morning” His voice came before he could realize he had spoken.

She looked more relaxed than the other day and more comfortable with his presence. Her fear of him was not that intense either. He didn't know why, but he was satisfied about that.

“Your arm!” He heard her astonished voice as the girl ran towards him with the obvious intention of touching his arm but stopped herself at the last moment.

“I believe it has something to do with the blood I drank from you.” Came his indifferent voice.

She turned dark puzzled eyes to him as she couldn't believe the powers her blood held:

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

This girl was unaware of her strength. Her blood had healing power and she seemed to possess unusually strong purifying energy. She was definitely untrained. A diamond in the rough...The demon lord thought as he turned away from her.

A moment later Jaken laid a bowl of food in front of Kumiko, growling as usual about the incompetence and stupidity of humans. He seemed to notice afterwards his master's restored arm and the toad youkai's eyes became as large as saucers.

“Ooooooooooooooooooo, Sesshoumaru-sama! Your arm! But how?!”

“It healed.” Sesshoumaru's tone left no room for any more questions so Jaken bowed and kept quiet.

The food was much better this time and Kumiko finished it quickly enough.

Seeing she was done and seemed to be satisfied with her food, he turned around and commanded:

“Let's go.”

To his surprise, the girl got up and followed him without asking any questions. She resembled Rin in a way. Although he kept denying it, he missed the little girl's company. But it was far too dangerous to have her around these times. Naraku had already used her to get to him. He wouldn't let that happen again.

They were walking for hours and Sesshoumaru knew his pase was exhausting to humans, but he didn't care, nor did he slow down.

“Uhm, Sesshoumaru?”

“What is it?” He asked coldly, expecting to hear that she was tired.

“Does this uhm...dragon have a name?”

Her question awed him, he didn't see that coming.

“Ah-Un” He replied. That brought back more memories of Rin. She had chosen that name for the dragon.

“Ah-Un, huh? That's a great name! It suits you!” She smiled, while petting one of the dragon's heads.

The demon lord looked back at his animal. It seemed to like the human. She had a strange way of making everyone like her.

They had kept walking for a while now and Sesshoumaru didn't hear her complain about the pase, but it was obvious she was very tired even though she tried to hide it.

“If you are tired you can ride on Ah-Un” He said slowly, wondering why he cared.

She listened to his advice and hoped on the dragon. After a few moments, he heard her asking it:

“Am I heavy? Can you carry me?”

Sesshoumaru smiled again, unnoticed by anyone. When he had held her in the air, she was light as a feather, hardly heavier than Rin.

Ah-Un seemed to think so too.

As night began to fall, he decided to stop and let the girl rest.

She got off the dragon and leaned against it, saying in a low voice:

“Goodnight Sesshoumaru.”

He was relieved that he didn't need to answer that, thus not having to fight with himself, when she instantly fell asleep.

He rarely slept and tonight he felt no need for it. He went into the forest again, leaving Jaken to watch over the girl.

 

It was far from sunrise when Kumiko opened her eyes. She woke up from a nightmare involving a man in a white baboon skin and couldn't sleep anymore. She noticed Sesshoumaru's absence and seeing Jaken was sound asleep decided to go for a walk. Near them was a huge lake with dark-blue waters that reflected a bright crescent moon. She went towards it and raised her jeans so her feet could enter the water. When her fingertip touched it, huge waves appeared on the surface of what used to be calm water. She took a step back when she saw a huge snake-like creature emerge from the lake. It had red eyes and its huge mouth smiled revealing razor-sharp, sword-sized teeth.

“What luck, a little human...You look tasty.” It growled and instantly attacked her.

Suddenly a bright orb of light landed between her and the youkai, taking the white form of Sesshoumaru.

She fell down behind him, holding her breath. He wordlessly pulled out one of his swords and sliced the youkai in half. The dead body fell into the water and sunk with a heavy sound.

The demon lord turned to the girl, his icy eyes sending shivers up her spine.

“Why are you not sleeping?”

“I couldn't sleep, I've been having nightmares and I thought I'd take a walk...” Came her shy voice.

He said nothing more but leaned and wrapped a clawed hand around her waist, pulling her up. Her heart started beating faster as she felt closer to him. He could hear it clearly. It made his blood boil, wanting to hold her even closer. His cold armor was the only thing between his body and hers. The taiyoukai hated it's presence for the first time.

She was still shivering, was she cold? He thought, pulling her closer to him and caressing her soft golden hair. She felt safe in his arms, but couldn't help wondering what was wrong with him. He never acted like that; he was a block of ice. She raised her eyes to meet his and they were no longer cold. His golden orbs were shining in a warm way.

“You need to sleep” He broke the silence.

“I can't...I'll have nightmares again” She repeated in a low voice.

He took her in his arms like a child and started walking back. He knew he shouldn't do this, she was only a human...she was so frail. He walked past a sleeping Jaken with a reminder to kill him in the morning, then sat down and pulled her onto his lap.

“Sleep. You will not have anymore nightmares” He said in a soft voice, caressing her hair again.

She cuddled into him, with her head on the soft fur that lied on his shoulder. No, she won't have anymore nightmares. He would protect her.

He watched as the delicate creature in his lap fell asleep, with a soft expression on his beautiful face. He enjoyed knowing that she felt safe in his arms and he felt the need to protect her. His father's words appeared in the corner of his mind. Sesshoumaru remembered well the last words he had exchanged with Inu no Taisho. He was younger then and looked to defeat his father, the only one who was stronger than him.

“Why do you seek power, Sesshoumaru?” His father had asked him.

“I walk the road of conquest. Power is necessary to travel that path” Came his answer.

His father appeared to reflect at his answer, but then asked:

“Is there something you want to protect?”

His father's question seemed so ridiculous to him at the time. Why would he want to protect a lesser creature? Weak creatures deserved their fate, they were not worth his protection.

He started to understand what his father meant while gazing at the fragile bundle he was holding. She looked so peaceful and innocent...and weak, but somehow that didn't bother him. It made him feel needed.