Damned If You Do

Please let me know how I can improve my story.


Chapter 2 Hi’Iki

Rin tried not to stare at the handsome youkai.
Like Sesshoumaru, Hi’Iki had long flowing silver-white hair. Only it was waist length rather than nearly to his knees. He had sapphire blue eyes that smiled, even when he wasn’t. On his forehead was a black dragon claw mark. He wore a white kimono, white pants and black boots. The kimono had a lagoon blue wave like pattern on the sleeves. The obi had a matching pattern on it. His armor was the most unusual Rin had ever seen. Wrapped around his body like a cloak was a black dragon wing. This wing was taken from a slain dragon youkai in Europe. A sword was carried in the obi. It was also unusual. It wasn’t the Katana type like Sesshoumaru’s. Hi’Iki’s was a European sword, made from the fang of a dragon. The most unusual feature however, was that the blade itself was split, up to about four inches from the hilt.
On Hi’Iki’s shoulders rode two little dragonettes. Kodo and Podo. Kodo was a black male and Podo was a white female. They were mates. These little youkai from the British Isles were Hi’Iki’s helpers. They were curious little creatures with a knack for playing tricks on people. When excited, Kodo and Podo’s blue eyes flashed several shades of blue.
Sesshoumaru led everyone inside. Rin followed behind Sesshoumaru, stealing little glances at Hi’Iki.
Hi’Iki had been surprised to learn that Sesshoumaru had a human female under his care. He had known Sesshoumaru since they were infants, and Sesshoumaru had always preferred to avoid humans. So Hi’Iki was curious to find out how this human female came to be in Sesshoumaru’s care.
“Here is your room, Hi’Iki-sama,” Daira came out of a room after making sure everything was there that may be needed. “How long will you be staying?”
“I’m not sure. Depends on how long it takes to find a suitable mate,” Hi’Iki said, smiling at Daira.
As Daira went to fix some tea and a snack, Sesshoumaru, Hi’Iki and Rin sat on the mats around the table. Rin sat next to Sesshoumaru, Hi’Iki across from Sesshoumaru.
“Tell me about the dragon slayings,” Hi’Iki was very interested in this information.
“Several have been slain in the northern part of the country. No one knows by whom.”
“How was it done?”
“Every one was different. It’s as though there were different killers.”
“Any scent?
Sesshoumaru shook his head. “All scent was masked. Whoever it is, knows what they’re doing.”
“Hmmm.” Hi’Iki looked thoughtful. “Sounds like something that happened in Europe. I was in a country called Briton and the only dragon youkai I met were Kodo and Podo. As far as they know, they were the only dragon youkai there for years. They think something either killed or chased off all the dragon youkai there.”
“How did they survive?” Rin had tried to stay quiet, but her curiosity got the better of her. She liked the dragonettes and Hi’Iki, and wanted to know everything about them.
“They were on an island off the coast. The island was too small and stormy to support life, but big enough to hide two little dragonettes.”
Before he could continue, they heard a loud screech from out side. They all got up and went to see what the commotion was.
Jaken was chasing after his staff, which appeared to be bouncing along the ground.
“Stop!” Jaken was yelling and chasing after it.
Hi’Iki started laughing when he saw that the staff had a small ferret at each end. One ferret was black, the other was white.
Jaken turned and glared at Hi’Iki. “It’s not funny! That staff is important!”
Rin put her hand to her mouth to hide her giggle. Sesshoumaru just looked bored.
Before anyone could catch the ferrets, they dropped the staff. Jaken grabbed it and waved it around at the ferrets. “Meddlesome little pests! Take this!” But before he could do anything, the little ferrets suddenly became dragonettes and flew around Jaken’s head. “Erg!” Jaken flapped his arms around, dropping the staff. The dragonettes flew over to Hi’Iki and landed on his shoulders.
“Oh! How’d they do that!?” Rin was amazed at the transformation. She knew about transformations, but hadn’t realized the dragonettes were capable of it.
Hi’Iki smiled. “They’re shape-shifters. As ferrets they tend to steal things.”
Daira had come out to see what the fuss was all about. “Tea is ready,” she announced. Everyone turned and went back in, except Jaken who was still upset about his staff. He held the staff tightly and kept a sharp eye out for those “meddlesome pests”.
“So have you decided how you are going to find a mate?” Sesshoumaru asked as they settled around the table once again.
“Well, I guess I’ll have to check all the available females.”
“Why do you need to find a mate?” Rin hadn’t intended to say anything, but again, her curiosity wouldn’t let her stay quiet.
Both men turned to look at her. Hi’Iki gave her a charming smile, Sesshoumaru slightly narrowed his eyes. Rin’s interest in Hi’Iki didn’t set well with Sesshoumaru. It made him feel uneasy and he didn’t know why. He didn’t like the feeling, so he pushed it away and ignored it rather than analyze it.
“My Uncle isn’t doing so well, so I’m to become the ruler of our lands. But we have to rule as a mated pair, so I need to find a mate before I can take over.” Hi’Iki explained.
“Do you need a youkai mate?”
“A dragon youkai would be preferred, but a human will do nicely. I don’t mind humans, unlike some youkai I know,” he looked at Sesshoumaru and smirked. He didn’t miss the slight look of displeasure on Sesshoumaru’s face. ‘There’s something different about Sesshoumaru’ Hi’Iki thought to himself. ‘I’ll have to find out what.’
Rin missed the look that passed between the two men. “So how will you know if you found the right one?”
“Oh, I’ll know.” Hi’Iki smiled.
They ate the light lunch Daira served. Rin went back outside to collect more herbs from her garden. She added the herbs to the garden after the sprained ankle incident. She had gotten seeds from Kagome, including some for medicinal herbs.
Sesshoumaru and Hi’Iki sat on the porch, talking. Rin didn’t know what they were talking about, but she guessed they were getting reacquainted. The afternoon went by quickly. Rin picked some flowers to put on the table before going back in.
“Beautiful flowers to match the beautiful lady,” Hi’Iki commented as he followed her inside. He saw Sesshoumaru’s annoyed look.
Rin blushed at the compliment. She had never been called beautiful before.
Daira came with food and served everyone. For a few minutes, everyone was quietly eating. Dinner was hand picked wild rice with rabbit. Daira made everything herself. The herbs and spices came from Rin’s garden. Rin had always thought it funny that Sesshoumaru said he didn’t eat “human” food, yet would eat what she made. Of course, it was all wild or grown by herself, nothing that came from human villages. Rin had come to the conclusion that Sesshoumaru ate food like everyone else, just not food made by humans. He made an exception in her case, on the rare occasion she cooked.
After the meal, they relaxed by the fire-pit. Rin did some studying from books Kagome had given her. As she read, she half listened to Sesshoumaru and Hi’Iki talk about Hi’Iki’s travels abroad. He had been lots of places, China, India, Russia, Europe, a really cold place with lots of snow and ice, a place called The New World, Africa, and a place with really weird animals. From the books, Rin new the really cold place was The Arctic, and the weird animals lived in Australia. The New world was actually America. Rin never ceased to be amazed at what was in these books.
It was late and everyone turned in for the night. At least Rin did. Sesshoumaru usually went “patrolling” around the little valley. This night he had company.
“Rin’s really pretty,” Hi’Iki ventured. No response. “Intelligent too. She’d make a good mate.” This time he got a response: a displeased look.
“She’s not some human or youkai you can charm into going with you.”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” Hi’Iki considered Sesshoumaru’s response. ‘Ah, so there are feelings there for the girl. Interesting. I can see Sesshoumaru is going to need some help.’
They spent the rest of the night lost in their own thoughts. Hi’Iki was thinking about how to get Sesshoumaru to admit to his feelings.

Rin awoke to the sound of thunder. At least she thought it was thunder. But why would the sun be shining if it’s stormy out? She got up to look outside. She gasped in amazement. Hurriedly she got washed and dressed and went out.
Hi’Iki was riding a beautiful black horse. The horse had a long flowing mane and tail, slightly wavy and “feathering” on its feet. It was beautiful to watch. The horse flowed over the ground with a high stepping gait. As she stood there and watched, Rin became aware of another horse. It was all white. The horse tossed its head up and down, as though to say “come ride me”. Hi’Iki called to Rin to get on the horse. “Don’t worry, she doesn’t bite.” Rin slowly got on the horse’s back. She had never been on a horse before. Hi’Iki whistled and the white horse took off.
Rin yelped in surprise and hung to the mane for dear life. After a few minutes, she got her balance and was able to enjoy the ride.
Sesshoumaru heard the yelp and came to see what Rin was doing. He stood on the porch, watching. Rin was laughing and having fun with Hi’Iki. He got a strange unsettling feeling in his chest as he watched. He didn’t like the feeling and as before, pushed it away and ignored it.
After a few more minutes of running circles around the little valley, Hi’Iki stopped his horse. Rin’s horse also stopped and she slid off. Hi’Iki jumped off and slapped the horse on the rump. Both horses took off running and jumped into the air, turning into the dragonettes.
Rin was astonished. “How do they do that?”
“They just do it. They have several forms that I’m aware of,” Hi’Iki walked over to stand next to Rin as they watched Kodo and Podo chase each other around. “So tell me Rin, how did you end up with Sesshoumaru? He never was fond of humans, even as children. I find it kind of surprising that you’re with him.”
“I think I was around six when I first saw Sesshoumaru-sama.” Rin told Hi’Iki the story of the brothers’ fighting, Sesshoumaru being injured and Rin trying to help him. “He has always been kind to me,” Rin added. She looked at the ground, blushing.
“I think you are a good influence on him.” Hi’Iki headed back to the castle. ‘So the feeling goes both ways. Oh, this is going to be fun,’ he thought as he saw Sesshoumaru waiting for them.
Grinning as he reached the porch, Hi’Iki drew his sword. “How about a sparring match? I could use some practice.”
“Fine.” Sesshoumaru unsheathed his sword and met Hi’Iki in front of the porch. They move away from the castle, giving themselves more room.
Rin hadn’t heard what Sesshoumaru said, but she could tell from his actions he was unhappy about something. He was in his “grumpy” mood. He got that way when Rin got her “period” as Kagome called it. Rin counted the days since her last one, 18 days. Almost due for her next one she thought. Maybe he could sense it. She sighed. Sesshoumaru would most likely go away for a few days until her period was over.
The clash of swords startled Rin, making her jump. Hi’Iki had decided to make the match a little harder by taking off their armor. They would have to be much more careful and aware so they didn’t hurt each other. She watched the two youkai “fight”. ‘At least it’s just practice’ she thought. Or she hoped, as she saw that Sesshoumaru was a little aggressive in his attacks. Hi’Iki easily fended him off, but even he noticed the aggressiveness. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t pay so much attention to Rin just yet,’ he thought. “We need to do something about the dragon slayings,” he said, to distract Sesshoumaru.
It worked. Sesshoumaru pulled back and went easier on his attacks. “What do you have in mind?”
“We need to search for the slayers.”
“How do you propose to do that? No scent, remember?”
Rin watched in amazement as they quietly discussed their plans while lunging back and forth and swinging swords at each other. Occasionally they would lock swords and then push each other away.
“I’ll see if Kodo and Podo can find anything.”
Sesshoumaru looked doubtful. “And how can they find something that’s not there?”
“You said any scent was masked. They may be able to get past the masking agent.”
Sesshoumaru still looked doubtful.
Hi’Iki grinned. “Those two have more abilities than one might think.”
They locked swords one last time. The “fight” ended in a draw, neither being able to beat the other. Sesshoumaru went to collect his armor, only to find that Tenseiga was missing.
“Didn’t you have another sword?” Hi’Iki asked, looking around.
“It appears to have walked away.” Sesshoumaru looked at Hi’Iki expectantly.
“How should….? Oh.” Hi’Iki couldn’t help grinning. “They do like to take things.” He let out a piercing whistle. Kodo and Podo came bouncing up to Hi’Iki, empty handed, or rather empty mouthed.
“Bring it back!” The two little ferrets bounded away. A few minutes later they came bounding back, carrying a stick between them. They dropped it on the ground in front of Hi’Iki. Hi’Iki looked at Sesshoumaru, who had a frown on his face. It was hard for Hi’Iki to keep a straight face. “Try again.” The little ferrets bounded off again. It took a little longer but they came bounding back. This time it was a staff.
“Hey! That’s mine!” Rin came running over to get her staff. She picked the staff up. “You shouldn’t be taking things that don’t belong to you,” she scolded the two ferrets. Hi’Iki’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. Sesshoumaru didn’t say anything, but looked at the little thieves. They bounded off once again.
“It seems they are making fools of us,” Hi’Iki finally gave in to his sense of humor and laughed.
The ferrets returned once again. This time they had decided to bring back Sesshoumaru’s sword as well as a smaller object. Sesshoumaru took his sword and the smaller object. “What’s this?” He handed it to Hi’Iki. Hi’Iki turned the small object over, frowning. His sense of humor had completely vanished. It was slightly triangular shaped, smooth, rounded, and came to point at the top. The tip was very sharp. It looked like a deer antler or small horn.
Hi’Iki looked at Sesshoumaru. “I’ve seen something similar once before.”
“Where?” Sesshoumaru sensed Hi’Iki’s apprehension.
“The dragon I got this wing from,” he pointed to his armor. “Europe. It attacked me and I killed it.” Hi’Iki looked at the ferrets. “I’d like to know where they found this.”