Chapter 2: The Newest Companion

 

       When early morning came and the sun rose just above the horizon, you awoke. You stretched your tired limbs until you heard relieving cracks in your shoulders and legs. You sat up, sighing in bliss as you basked in the morning’s light and stared at the beautiful sunrise before you. You then adjusted your cape so that it was behind you again and cracked your back, twisting from side to side. When you turned to your left you saw there was a little girl staring up at you from the ground below, only to discover that it was Rin.

        “Oh, it’s you Rin.” She nodded her head, her eyes beaming up at you with pure joy, quite different from the pale expression she wore last night. What made her change from scared to happy so fast?

        “Good morning Miss (Y/N).” You smiled again at her adorableness.

        “Morning Rin. You don’t have to call me Miss you know. (Y/N)’s fine. What are you doing over here?” You stroked your chin in thought. “I guess if you’re here, then your camp must be close by, right?” She nodded her head.

        “Yep.”

        “I’m guessing the two demons are back there?”

        “Well-“

        “There you are, you annoying child!” Jaken rushed out of the bushes and stopped in front of Rin. “Lord Sesshomaru will have my life if you get into trouble.” It only took him a second to notice you. He faced Rin. “No wonder you ran off to here of all places.” He turned to you. “I see you’re still here.” The imp grumbled.

        “It’s only the crack of dawn you know, the day’s just barely begun. Of course I’m gonna be here you stupid imp.”

        “Watch your tongue, human.” He spat.

        “Calm down Jaken, I’m just messing with you. Jeez, get a sense of humor and take a joke.”

        “Well I don’t appreciate being ‘messed with’ by a human. It’s degrading.” You crossed your arms over your chest.

        “Someone sounds grumpy.”

        “Do not talk to me like that!” A rustle drew everyone’s attention to the bushes, where Sesshomaru emerged. “L-Lord Sesshomaru! What are you doing here?” He glanced at Jaken, Rin, then you.

        “Morning to you too Sesshomaru.” His emotionless gold eyes showed no indifference. “I was actually about to just get breakfast.” You quickly scanned the trees, and once you found what you were looking for, jumped to the next tree over. You hopped from branch to branch, looking around the trunk every now and then. “Now I know demons don’t usually eat human food, but I’ve found that it’s different with each, so if you want any you can have some.” Finally locating what you were trying to find, you picked it off the tree. “Here Rin, catch.” You tossed the object down to the little girl, who caught it with ease. She rose a brow and tilted her head in confusion as she examined what was in her hand.

        “What is it?” You picked one off the tree yourself and took one big bite out of it. 

        “It’s a kind of fruit that blends in with trees.” You answered with your mouth full. Indeed, the fruit was a dark brown color that had a dark green bottom, perfect tree camouflage. The bite you made revealed the fruit’s dark orange colored inside. “They’re kinda like mangos actually, very sweet, and tropical like.” You took another bite while searching for another one. You picked a third one which you casually tossed to Jaken, who certainly didn’t expect it coming and barely caught it. While Rin took a bite of the fruit, Jaken examined his.

        “Mmmm, it’s good.” You smiled down at Rin. Jaken frowned.

        “How could such things grow here? I’ve never seen them before in my life, and how come we could never smell them?” You shrugged your shoulders.

        “Don’t ask me. I’m just the one that found them.” You answered with your mouth still full.

        “How?”

        “When I was up in the trees a few years ago one caught my eye, then I discovered what they were and over time I figured out how to find them easily.” You took another bite while Jaken gave you a questioning glare.

        “I better taste this to make sure you are simply not trying to poison Lord Sesshomaru.” You laughed.

        “Why would I try to give you guys food poisoning? Besides, if I was going to harm to someone, I’d do something way better than poisoning.” You chuckled. Jaken grumbled something under his breath that you decided to ignore, as he took a bite of the fruit.

        “It is sweet.” He said, chewing the fruit slowly. Sesshomaru stared at the scene with an emotionless gaze the whole time, and you noticed this silence from him. You held up your fruit.

        “Want some?”

        “Human! Do not speak to Lord Sesshomaru!” You rolled your eyes.

        “Too late for that Jaken.” You swore the little imp’s face was burning red.

        “Why you little-“

        “I do not eat human food.” Jaken silenced himself at Sesshomaru’s words. He was surprised that he had actually bothered to answer you, but what Jaken was truly surprised about was that he hasn’t killed you yet. You were of no use to Sesshomaru, plus you were pretty rude to him before which Sesshomaru would have no patience for, so it was puzzling to see why his lord kept you alive. Ignoring Jaken, you shrugged your shoulders at Sesshomaru’s answer.

        “Suit yourself. More for me and Rin then. Hey Rin, you want another one?” Finishing the fruit in her hand, she nodded her head energetically.

        “Mhm. Yes please!” You picked another fruit and tossed it down to her, which she began to munch on immediately. You hopped down from the tree, landing on the ground with ease. Sesshomaru’s eyes traveled to your own, and you noticed how his eyes analyzed seemed to analyze your every movement.

        “You’re wounds, they’ve healed.” He spoke, which Rin now noticed as well.

        “Oh yeah, they’re all gone!” You looked down at your body and smirked proudly.

        “Told you they’d be gone by morning.” Sesshomaru kept his emotionless gaze on you. He took long strides towards you, stopping only a few inches away from you. You rose a brow, confused at what this demon was doing. Suddenly, his claws glowed green and he rose them up in the air. You were too shocked to move, as he sliced your shoulder open with his claws, making you hiss in pain. Rin gasped and covered her mouth. She had no idea why Sesshomaru would randomly attack you like this, even Jaken was a bit taken aback by his lord’s sudden actions. He would actually be cheering him on if it wasn’t for the fact that his lord’s attack was very strange. He had only injured your shoulder instead of aiming somewhere more fatal. After all, when Sesshomaru strikes, he almost always means to kill, so why didn’t he this time. There was also something amiss about your injury, which confused Jaken even more so than Sesshomaru’s sporadic attack. You winced as you clutched your shoulder in pain, and your darkened (E/C) eyes traveled up to the demon, filled with rage.

        “What the hell was that for you freaking bastard!?” For a moment he was silent, his golden eyes showing no reaction to your outburst. Then he held up his claws in front of his face, and they glowed green once more. At first you thought he was going to claw you again, but you realized he was not in an attack stance; it looked more like a demonstration of something.

        “You were not affected by my poison.”

        “What?”

        “Lord Sesshomaru has poisonous claws that liquefy his targets.” Jaken explained. Is that what the green glowing is on his claws? Jaken then pointed behind you with his staff. “Behold, the power of Lord Sesshomaru.” He said proudly with closed eyes. You turned around and saw a huge hole in the tree, it’s edges now a brown drippy goop. “Your shoulder should have ended up like that tree, yet it is merely scratched.” You looked back down at the three deep claw marks in your shoulder that were now bleeding out, which, unlike the tree, was unaffected by the acidic poison. You rubbed your new stinging wounds, trying to ease the pain.

        “So? Maybe I’m resistant to it somehow.” You grumbled. Long, tense silence followed.

        “What are you.” You looked back up to his serious golden eyes. More silence.

        “I’m human, what else would I be?” He remained unmoved as you maintained eye contact with him. A tug on your sleeve brought your attention down to Rin, who looked up at you with an innocent big-eyed gaze. She held up a piece of white cloth, which you didn’t know where she got from, but nonetheless you smiled and accepted it.

        “Thanks Rin.” You said softly. She giggled at you while you wrapped the cloth around your shoulder and tied it off. It still bled out some, but eventually it stopped, which you were grateful for. Having calmed down after another few moments of awkward silence, you tried to make conversation with the group to ease some of that. “So, may I ask, where are you guys heading to?”

        “That’s none of your business!” Jaken yelled. You scoffed.

        “Jeez, don’t get your panties in a twist.”

        “My what!?” You snickered.

        “Nothing.” You felt a tug on your shorts, which was Rin once again.

        “Where are you heading to, Miss (Y/N)?”

        “Again, you don’t have to call me miss. (Y/N) is fine, and I’m not really going anywhere far, just up north to Mount Hakurei.” Rin gasped.

        “That’s where Lord Sesshomaru is traveling!”

        “Huh, that sure is a coincidence.”

        “And what business does a human like you have at Mount Hakurei?” Jaken frowned and crossed his little arms.

        “Why do you care?”

        “Because! We-!” He gasped and covered his mouth, stopping himself from revealing anything else.

        “Hmph, that’s what I thought.” You smirked. “But if you must know, there’s some shady things going on down there. I just wanna check it out and make sure nothing too serious is going on.” Rin lit up with joy.

        “Oh Miss (Y/N), will you join us?” She gave you her best puppy dog eyes, but that didn’t faze you, as you held up your hands in mock surrender.

        “Sorry, that’s not my decision to make.” You glanced at Sesshomaru, who merely stared back at you, then back to Rin. He seemed to be the leader of the group, so if you wanted to go with them you’d have to get his permission, and you certainly weren’t going to ask. You weren’t just going to intrude into their group, especially after what just happened between you and Sesshomaru. That would be pretty awkward in your opinion. Rin turned around and gazed up at Sesshomaru.

        “Can Miss (Y/N) come with us? Please??” Sesshomaru stared down at Rin with cold indifferent eyes, though you swore you saw something else through his emotionless cover. His eyes then moved to you. You still had your hands up, trying to show that you had nothing to do with this. You didn’t really care if you went with them, although you were more comfortable traveling alone at this point in your life. You had survived for years on your own, and it had gotten you this far. Sesshomaru turned around and began walking away from you, which caused Rin to stare sadly at his back. You put your hands down, accepting his answer. You knew that he would’ve chosen this from the beginning, you figured he would reject Rin’s request. So you certainly weren’t expecting what he said next.

        “Come, human.” Rin gasped, then bolted to you and hugged your leg, while Jaken stared at his lord jaw dropped. You were surprised as well, though you frowned at his commanding tone. You looked down at Rin, who grabbed your hand, and led to Sesshomaru’s retreating form, along with a now grumbling Jaken, back to their campsite.

 

        (A/N: Oooo, you’re part of the group now! Why do you think that is? ((no, there is no romance yet, that would be WAY too soon)) There is an answer that you’ll know in the next couple of chapters 😉 . Hope you enjoy, and I’ll see y’all laters ^*^)