Finding The Balance

Worse possicle Cliche for a title to this story I know. But heaven hlep me I'm running out of ideas!


Chapter 4: There and Back Again


~Two Days Later~

Inu-Yasha was making his way closer, and Sesshoumaru knew it. His canine nose was keen enough to tell by the scent on the light breeze, and as he glanced back at Saiyuri, he was glad she didn’t smell like him. Not that he cared who she smelled like, but he just didn’t need the confusion right now; that was all there was to it, right? He observed her look sharply away from him as his eyes fastened on her. Ever since they had exited his territory, she had been rather quiet, only speaking when he made it clear he wanted an answer. Beyond that, she was almost unnaturally quiet, even by demon standards as she carefully avoided making any noise. It was with some mild sense of anxiety, or maybe guilt, that the Lord of the Western Lands had also noticed she had slept little once they had left his boundaries too. Saiyuri would curl up and close her eyes, but it would take awhile for her breathing to run deep and even; Then her vivid green eyes would snap open and the whole thing would start over again, and it kept in that pattern until Sesshoumaru decided they needed to get going. It was just the two of them since bringing Rin might prove to complicated and looking after one person was much easier than looking after two, which logically meant Jaken had to stay behind as well and look after the child. Saiyuri walked just a little behind him, and was keeping pace, though it was clear to his eyes that she was worn out. Sesshoumaru’s musings tagging him along for another hour before something other than his brother’s scent reached his nose. It was not one that he recognized so he stopped walking. The soft impact of Saiyuri walking into his back made him look around, and she backed up to put some space between them. His clawed hand gripped her shoulder and she looked up at him, scared.
“Don’t move.” he ordered, and she only blinked in response. Something big, no, something massive, was thumping closer and closer, and Saiyuri was finding it increasingly difficult to stay perfectly still. Whatever it was, kept coming closer, and Saiyuri felt fear beginning to shake her, or maybe it was the vibrations in the ground, it was difficult to tell. Something like a warped bear with orange eyes lumbered into sight, and Sesshoumaru could smell fear from the young woman. He, naturally, was not worried, after all, he had tenseiga, the sword of life. But of course, Saiyuri wouldn’t know that. He had not told her since doing so might give her some defense against him, and keeping control over her was necessary at least for now. The wind had picked up and the trees bent at a 60 degree angle, with a sound of the ocean in their leaves. The deformed bear, or whatever it was, looked at the dog-demon, then at the human, and decided to lunge. Sesshoumaru was ready, and a thin rope of light flowed out from his fingertips, slashing at the attacking creature. It was not dead, though now hurt and very angry to judge by the anguished roar that issued forth. The ground shuddered harder, and Saiyuri had to move one foot back to steady herself. The wind seemed to be blowing in all directions at once, and threw debris and grit along with it. For a moment, the dog-demon wondered why the wind was acting so strangely but didn’t stay preoccupied with it. The beast tried again, and this time managed to get a set of claws past him. There was a slash, a scream and a small spattering of blood, then Saiyuri crumpled to the ground. A well-placed snap of the whip-like beam of light and the creature finally fell, and lay still. It was a few moments before the now injured Saiyuri, had calmed enough to register the set of boot-covered feet standing next to her. Just barely managing to turn her head, she looked up at the Lord of the Western Lands. Was she imagining it, or were his eyes glowing a little, was that a worried look on his face? Sesshoumaru looked her over as he knelt down next to her. On hand was clutching the wound in her side, but the other was bloodstained and holding something against her chest. He pulled her hand from her chest and observed that there was no open wound. He briefly wondered what she was holding, but there were more pressing matters at the moment. She gave a pained cry when he attempted to move her hand from the open wound, which was still bleeding. Sesshoumaru looked her in her still scared eyes and spoke softly to her, hoping she could understand him still. “Let me see.” he moved her hand again, and though she cried slightly from the pain that movement brought, she did not resist this time. There was a good-sized tear in her shirt, and he pulled the hem up on her body in order to get a better look. The skin had been badly gashed in several places, but the main opening was about an inch deep, and tracks of red still flowed steadily over her waist. Sesshoumaru had a momentary battle with himself as to whether or not to use Tenseiga, but decided to use his other option. Flicking his long hair back so it would not be in his way, he leaned in and pressed his tongue over the open wound.
“What in the hell-?” Saiyuri’s abrupt and rather vocal outburst, was quickly silenced by his right hand on her mouth again.
“You were doing very well at keeping quiet earlier, see if you can manage it again.” he said in a low rumble of a voice. Fury was something that quickly followed her bouts of terror he had learned, and here again was proof of it.
“What the hell are you doing?” she hissed out this time, somewhere between pain and anger, and maybe also fright along with profound confusion. She tried to squirm away, and his powerful hands held her in place.
“Hold still human. You’ll only hurt yourself.” his tongue gave another rough lick on the wound and it finally quit bleeding and began to close up. His right hand went from it’s place on her shoulder to her long hair, brushing slightly, and Saiyuri froze completely.
What in the nine circles of hell is he doing? she wondered but did not say. There was no word from the dog-demon, since he only kept his mouth and tongue working on her marred flesh. The pain had subsided from a feeling of sharp knives to a persistent ache, which was easily more manageable. And at last, Sesshoumaru eased away from her and stood up. He observed her stay still for another second or two, but then she sat up and looked herself over. Her hand had released what it had been holding to tightly against her chest. It looked to him like a black pearl hanging from the end of a silvery chain, but as he watched, Sesshoumaru was sure there was a faintly purple sheen to it. The persistent scent of blood caught in his nostrils and his yellow eyes sharpened a little as they trailed over her a second time. Her hand was scraped and also bled slightly, how could he have missed it? His hands fastened on her shoulders and lifted her to her feet. Then he brought her injured hand to his mouth and gave a lick. Saiyuri was about to protest, but noticed that the scratches on her hand were now gone and didn’t hurt at all. Sesshoumaru released her hand and started walking, only pausing to look back when he did not hear her feet behind him. Amusement tugged at his face when he saw her staring at her own hand with fascination. Bu he beat down the urge to grin and instead spoke.
“Saiyuri, don’t fall behind.” That shocked her out of her trance, and she walked hesitantly up to him and halted three feet away.
“Thanks.” she muttered with her eyes on the ground. Then something else registered. She looked up at him blankly for a moment, then gave a very mild smile. Needless to say this confused the dog-demon, and he looked at her with suspicion in his eyes.
“What are you smiling about?” he inquired, with a hint of testiness in his voice. Her smile only widened a little and she shook her head, the long hair whipping back and forth.
“That’s the first time you ever used my name.” she said and it was hard to tell what her tone of voice meant. Sesshoumaru stared at her for a second longer. Without any reply to her comment, he began walking again and Saiyuri followed behind him, though for some reason he was more aware of her presence.
Saiyuri, why did I use her name? he wondered idly as their progress continued. Silence fell between them and Sesshoumaru was glad of it, since he needed to think and navigate.

~Some Time Later~

Saiyuri sat before the campfire and stared into it, though it was clear from the unfocused look in her eyes that her mind was elsewhere. Sesshoumaru was not there, but presumably off hunting dinner for the two of them. This was the second time in a three, or was it four, day period, that Saiyuri was not sure she’d be able to eat. The memory of how he had forced her to eat the first time surfaced and she blushed. Would he do that again if she found it difficult to get anything down? She had no way of knowing for certain one way or another; Hell the guy was a walking stone statue most of the time, and she doubted he would do much other than bat an eye if someone removed a limb from him. When something suddenly hit the ground next to her with a thud, she nearly jumped to her feet, but landed right back on her rear. She glanced at the dead animal, a deer, then up at the golden eyes staring at her through the firelight. He knelt beside his catch and Saiyuri was fascinated as she watched his slender fingers and claws work the animal’s flesh apart, artfully cutting here and there. He skewered several pieces on bared sticks and jammed the ends of these firmly into the ground near the glowing coals of the still blazing fire. Silence followed as was becoming typical. Saiyuri watched as he carefully licked the deer’s blood from his claws and felt herself shiver. It was difficult, to say the least, to believe that he was a demon as he had said. But after what she had seen earlier that day, and just now, her logical mind was starting to fail her. True she enjoyed researching legends and myths and the like, and yes she believed in ghosts and so on, but this was really too much. She was quite certain no human could have managed what he had done to their attacker earlier, or for that matter to her afterwards. Her hand automatically gripped the gem around her neck that so resembled a black pearl, and she looked back into the fire. Sesshoumaru noticed this and looked straight at her, then edged a bit closer. It seemed she did not notice until she felt his fingers on her face and she started and looked around at him without him directing her. For what felt like a long time to Saiyuri, he just looked at her, and she did not know what to make of this.
Finally she asked, “What is it?” but still, he did not answer. Instead his hand drifted from her face to her hand, which still clutched the gem on its chain.
“What is this?” he asked, quite clearly indicating what she was holding. Saiyuri blinked, was that all he wanted to know?
“It’s just something my mother gave me.” she replied, then her gaze fell to the fire again. Sesshoumaru noticed her fingers tighten around the stone, but it didn’t look like she was doing so intentionally. However, his question was not answered.
“But what is it?” he asked more sharply, and she looked at him again.
“Just a piece of jewelry, I don’t know. Rumor has it the thing has been handed down on my mother’s side of the family for ages.” She then heaved a sigh and looked away yet again. There where two things that came to the dog-demon’s mind, one after the other. First, he conclude that the gem she wore was more that it entirely seemed. And second, he realized that every time she spoke of her parents, she would become distant and emotionally dead again; her expression would turn empty and lost, and her voice would sound so hollow. The Lord of the Western Lands released her hand and reached for one of the sticks of meat. He pulled it from the ground and handed it to her. Saiyuri took it just so she could have something to occupy her hands so she wouldn’t develop the habit of picking at her own fingernails. “Thanks.” she said quietly as she took the offered food. Sesshoumaru was perplexed by her to say the least. Since when did humans thank him for anything at all? Not to mention the fact that she seemed to be coping with all of this rather well, which he was absolutely certain most people would not. Since he did not eat ‘human food’ as he called it, he began to strip away and devour some of the still raw flesh of the deer. Once or twice he caught Saiyuri staring as he ate the fresh uncooked meat. Unlike most of his kind, he had some method of doing this so that he was not spattered with the animals innards. In fact, he was so careful that it was unusual if a little blood ever ran from the corner of his mouth. Saiyuri did her best not to feel sick, and focused on the problem at hand: what would happen the next day? Sesshoumaru had not told her where they were going, or what they were supposed to accomplish once they got there. And if truth be told, she was a little scared of what the answers to both questions might be, so she didn’t ask. For a time, she didn’t realize that Sesshoumaru was sitting right behind her, that is until his arms came around her. “What are you doing Sir?” she asked irritably.
“Lord.” he corrected calmly, arms tightening around her a little more.
“Alright. What are you doing Lord?” she said and it was crystal clear that she was angry. Was he imagining it, or did the fire just flare a bit?
“You look pale.” He stated, rearranging her so that she sat in his lap, and his right hand caressed her forehead. “And you feel a little too warm. Keeping you alive and well will make traveling easier.” he said as though anyone would know this.
“You don’t need to worry about me,” she said, trying to lean away from him, “I’m too stubborn to just die.” She was unnerved a good deal when she heard him chuckle, and also feel him do so.
His warm breath was on her neck as he spoke, “I’ve no doubt as to how willful you may be.” Sesshoumaru allowed his left hand to come up to her face and turn it towards his own. The look of the firelight leaping in and out of her green eyes was entrancing. “However, you must understand your situation Saiyuri.” He could tell the use of her name had spiked her curiosity and that she was listening raptly. “I could kill you, or leave you here for something else to kill you, or I might trade you away.” He smirked when he felt her give a shudder.
“So what’s stopping you?” she bit out venomously. His hand was instantly at her throat, and she knew she had touched a nerve. Sesshoumaru didn’t answer, because he HAD no answer. He didn’t know why he had chosen to keep her alive and well while in his presence. He replied otherwise as his fingers tightened about her neck.
“That is the second time you have forgotten your place, do not make it three.” He warned her in a low growl. If looks could kill, then the look on Saiyuri’s face would have surely knocked someone into a month-long comma. Now he was completely certain the fire stretched upwards a good three or four feet. Her hand latched onto his wrist, and her nails dug in hard. Not that it would bother him much, but she could not know that.
“Let go.” her voice was cold and hard with no nonsense. Slowly, the dog-demon eased the pressure on his captive’s throat, but instead of leaving completely, his fingers traced around to below her chin, where the claws caressed threateningly.
“Don’t make me remind you who is more powerful.” he was so close that there was maybe an inch at most between their lips. Sesshoumaru could see Saiyuri’s face flush, but whether it was from nervousness or anger, it was impossible to say.
“Would you ease up already?” she hissed and her tone was gruff and pleading laced with aggravation. The Lord of the Western Lands smirked and leaned away about four inches before doing anything else. He drew one claw across her cheek and she hissed in pain and tried to lean away.
“You won’t forget.” he murmured in her ear, then dragged his tongue over the thin cut he had made. He could feel her shiver beneath his touch and wondered if she would now behave herself. He could feel one of her hands grip his hair and try to pull, though this attempt to make him stop was feebler than her last one.
“Please, will you just stop?” her tone was remarkably gentler this time, and it almost worried him…almost.
“You won’t forget.” he stated, and it seemed he wanted her to reply.
“As if I’ve got any choice.” she admitted and he relaxed his hold on her. But when she tried to stand up and get some space between them, he merely tugged her back. “Look would you just-!” her statement was cut off by his hand over her mouth again.
“You are still pale and look ill. You’re not going anywhere.” Sesshoumaru told her matter-of-factly. At last Saiyuri abandoned her attempts to get a good distance from him and slumped dejectedly. Sesshoumaru removed his hand from her mouth, and she promptly made a catty remark.
“You seem to have this innate ability to make me profoundly uncomfortable, do you know that?” He did not grin at her statement this time. For some reason the Lord of the Western Lands found this comment of hers interesting.
“Why is that?” he asked, a little sarcastically it was true.
Saiyuri hesitated before she answered quietly. “I don’t think you need me to tell you.” She was right of course.
“You’re scared Saiyuri?” he asked, and she wondered why he just couldn’t drop it already.
“The only person who’s ever scared me as much as you, was an ex-boyfriend.” she said calmly, evenly. Then at his raised eyebrow, which was his way of indicating curiosity, she added, “And that’s something I really don’t feel like going into right now.”
“Hmm.” was his only reply, but Saiyuri was certain he was still curious so she let out a short hollow laugh.
“Do yourself a favor Sesshoumaru, and don’t ask me about it unless you want to get me started on a long rant.”
“You hate him that much do you?” his head rested on her shoulder as he looked past her and into the fire. The fact that she had used his name without its honorific was interesting, and he wondered why he felt as though he liked it. Maybe it was because it didn’t sound as though she were trying to insult him this time?
“I think I just asked you not to go into it.” she said calmly, claming up again.
“I’ll take that as a ,’yes.’” he said softly, teasingly.
She shook her head with a wry smile on her face. “Why do I even bother? I should just honor the code of silence.” she muttered. She jumped slightly when something slithered around her waist and she looked down and saw something fluffy coiled around her tightly. “What in the-?” she nearly shrieked. After everything that had happened today, she could not take much more of this. She looked over her shoulder at the Lord of the Western Lands and glared. “Do you wanna tell me what’s going on?” She managed as the fluffy tip came up and stroked back and forth just below her chin.
“That’s my tail. I’m a dog-demon as I believe I’ve already told you.” he spoke in that low soft tone.
“Woof.” she replied in a sarcastic humor. She felt his clawed fingers at her throat again and leaned slightly back to get away from the unwanted contact. The back of her head connected with his shoulder and when his hand still remained on her neck, she glared up at him. “Knock it off already.” she grumbled, and he looked, stoically, icily down at her.
“Go to sleep, you’ll need it by tomorrow.” he said quietly. Saiyuri complied, probably because having a constant attitude was wearing on her by now.
“Do I want to know why?” she asked as she tried to relax against the male behind her. Doing so was none too easy.
Sesshoumaru hesitated, picking his words carefully so as not to give anything away. “You will see tomorrow.” he finally said. There was something of a humorless laugh from Saiyuri as she closed her forest-colored eyes.
“That’s exactly what scares me.” she muttered so quietly that a normal human would not have heard her. Sesshoumaru was in a deep state of confusion. But now that his mind was free to wander a bit, it did. What he had learned about her only served to provoke more questions and curiosity. His advances earlier had only been a scare-tactic, just to keep her under control. His mind had been wandering for a while when he noticed that his fingers were coiling and uncoiling her long hair.
What is the matter with me? he asked himself as his deep golden gaze fell into the glowing embers and leaping flames of the fire. He had noticed how holding her this close to his own body had made him react. For some intangible reason, it had felt kind of nice. He caught himself nuzzling her neck slightly and snapped his head back to attention. How can a human of all creatures do this to me? Sesshoumaru wondered as he studied her sleeping form. Leaning in a little closer to his captive, he inhaled the scent from her hair, and slowly closed his eyes. If it were possible to get drunk off of a particular scent, he was sure hers would knock anyone flat on their butt. Damn it! What am I doing? he cursed himself soundlessly. He had more important things to worry about right now. Like how to deal with his little brother and company. What would happen when he told them to take the woman home? For that matter, what would Rin’s reaction be when he came back without Saiyuri? He had noticed how the little girl had latched onto the young woman in a relationship that seemed a mix of mother and older sister. Further more, what about that odd feeling he got around her? It wasn’t exactly an emotional feeling, it was more like the sense he received when Inu-Yasha’s miko-wench fired those damned arrows at him. That same strange aura seemed to be ever-present around her, though usually in lower levels, why? He had never found an Shikon Jewel Shards on her, or anything she wore, so what was the source? The Lord of the Western Lands only snapped out of his reverie when he felt Saiyuri shift restlessly in his arms. Looking at her, he noticed the expression on her face. She was frowning in her sleep and her hands had balled themselves into fists. Her whole body was tense and she turned her head slightly as if she were trying to bury it in his shoulder. Sesshoumaru observed the knuckles on her hands turning steadily whiter as she clutched them harder and harder. With a sigh of resignation, he pressed his right hand to her cheek, stroking gently and he mumbled quiet words of comfort. Based on his own experience, which was limited in this case, this would help her calm down. The only time he had ever seen this work, or for that matter ever seen it at all, was when Inu-Yasha had been just a pup. The memory surfaced and he could see the little half-breed curled tightly in on himself as he lay on his futon, crying and cringing as if he were in pain. There was Inu-Yasha’s human mother as she passed her stepson in the doorway and swept down to cradle the child in her arms. She had rocked him gently back and forth, kissed his forehead, nuzzled his face and whispered softly to him that everything would be alright. Sesshoumaru shut his eyes and wondered why that memory had come to him so suddenly. And though the image had scared him at the time, he had still been too young to know why or quite understand what had been going on at the time. True he was older than the half-breed, but it was only by a decade or so, which was the equivalent of one or two years by demon standards. Finally, she began to relax. She seemed to breath a little easier and her hands were not fisted to such a harsh extent. “Feel better.” he heard himself tell her softly. He was surprised by his own behavior, but found he didn’t care much. A soft sound reached his sensitive ears and he looked down at her again. There was color in her cheeks, but her face was relaxed, even content, and that soft little purring sound came from somewhere in her throat again. The dog-demon smiled in spite of himself and before he could stop himself, nuzzled his cheek against her and let his mind drift again. He didn’t really need to sleep, and he only ever dared to get any real rest when he was safely within the confines of his castle. The kind of rest he took now, was in staying awake but letting his mind calm down for a good long while.

~The Next Day~

“Slow down Inu-Yasha!” an out-of-breath young woman called after the half-breed. And, naturally, Inu-Yasha did nothing of the sort.
“I’m not gonna wait for him to get his lazy ass in gear and fight me on his own!” He shouted over his shoulder to her. But in a matter of seconds it made no difference.
“SIT BOY!” the young woman yelled and the half-demon called Inu-Yasha was plowed face-first into the ground. The group somehow managed to catch up with him and he easd off the ground and back onto his feet.
“What the hell was that for?” he snarled at the girl who was standing next to her bicycle.
“To make you slow down so we could catch up!” she snapped back. The child-like creature sitting in the basket on her bike sighed.
“It’ll never end.” he remarked which earned him a prompt konk on the head from Inu-Yasha. “Ow! That hurt you big meanie!”
“Don’t be so hard on Shippou.” the young monk admonished gently. “He’s still a child after all.”The last two to join the group fell from the sky, a young woman in armor riding on the back of a huge cat-demon.
“You really think Sesshoumaru would just come looking for us to pick a fight?” she sounded skeptical.
“Hunh!” Inu-Yasha scoffed. “You make it wound like I’m supposed to understand the bastard!” he snapped irritably. Just then, the young woman next to her bike stiffened in posture, and her attention was focused on the forest ahead of them. Everyone noticed, and they had little doubt as to why she did this.
“Is it a Jewel Shard?” Inu-Yasha asked without preamble. She hesitated a long time before she answered.
“No, I don’t thing so.” she said slowly, the added, “It feels like the Jewel Shards, but there’s something different…” she trailed off concentrating or so it seemed. But the next moment all previous thought was abandoned as a tall pale figure emerged from the thick clump of trees as if he had materialized out of the air. They all recognized him at once, Sesshoumaru, Inu-Yasha’s older brother. But what surprised them most was the fact that he was not alone this time. He had one arm around the shoulders of a young woman, and his other hand resting almost idly on her throat. The long fluffy tail was coiled, none too innocently, around her waist. Even so they could see a rip in the odd shirt she wore and Shippou and Inu-Yasha both could smelled the scent of dried blood. Perhaps the strangest part about all of this was the fact that she had her hands down next to her body, rather than clinging to his wrists and hands like a normal person would in that position. Didn’t she know how close to death she was? While everyone else was perplexed, the half-demon was angry.
“So you’re hiding behind humans now hunh?” he spat at his older sibling. In response, Sesshoumaru closed his slender fingers around the girl’s throat to indicate an immanant threat. Inu-Yasha growled but did not move, knowing what his brother’s movements meant.
“Another remark like that, little brother…” The Lord of the Western Lands let the sentence hand broken in the air, and unpleasantly so. The girl in his grip did not move, but her eyes swivled to look at him in, was is mild irritation; if even that. Sesshoumaru’s gaze did not linger on his only sibling though. Instead he turned his attention to the girl who stood holding her bike. “Miko, Does this girl look familiar?” he asked her. For a long few moments nothing was said by anyone, then…
“Oh I remember,” Everyone looked at the monk in astonishment, “You were sleeping in the forest when we saw you a few days ago.” he told the stranger with a bright smile. The woman waring aror gave him a certain kind of look.
“And just how did you remember that monk?” her tone was deeply sarcastic and the stranger looked at her captor again.
“What’s she got to do with anything?” Inu-Yasha wanted to know.
“Just this,” Sesshoumaru stated tersely, “You are going to take her home.” and with that he roughly threw her in their direction. She tripped on the first few steps, but quickly regained her balance. She only hesitated long enough to cast a glance back at the elder of the two dog-demons. To his utter amazement, he could read that little expression quite well, it said something like, “thanks for telling what the hell was going on!” But he ignored this for now.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the girl with the bike asked in clear confusion. The Demon-Lord had already turned to leave, but he called over his shoulder.
“Human, she dresses in a fashion similar enough to your own, it logically follows you might have some idea where she’s from, so take her back.” And just as quick as that, he was gone again. There was silence, and then an all too audible sigh from the newcomer. In the short time it took for all of them to glance at her, she collapsed into a cross-legged sitting position, her head bowed. The little fox-child was the first to approach her, though timidly. After all, she had been in the presence of the Demon Lord of the Western Lands and seemed to have suffered nothing more than a somewhat damaged shirt. But she smelled human enough and when she saw the little boy in her line of sight, she straightened her self enough to gaze wearily at him. He smiled timidly up at her, and she smiled softly back at him.
“Um, my name’s Shippou.” he told her and she blinked. The fox-child shuffled his feet nervously. “What’s your name?” the question was so quiet that she wasn’t entirely sure she heard it.
“Saiyuri.” she replied, and smiled a little more genuinely when he looked up at her again.
“You’re pretty.” he told her and instantly blushed at her small chuckle.
“Thank you Shippou. But I seriously doubt I look pretty at all.” she said as she stood up again. She could only smile again as the little boy cocked his head curiously.
“Are you alright?” asked the girl with the bike, her tone gentle and even a bit concerned. Saiyuri nodded, then sighed and shook her head. They all blinked. The girl set her bike on it’s kick-stand and walked over to the new young woman. Aside from the tear in her top, there was no getting around the fact that she just looked, well, like she came from the twenty-first century. She smiled and held out her hand to the stranger.
“My name’s Kagome.” she said and her smile widened when Saiyuri took it in a friendly shake.
“Nice to meet you.” she said somewhat faintly. “So uh, where exactly are we?” she inquired looking around.
“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain.” Kagome said uneasily.
“Perhaps we should go back to the village?” Suggested the monk, with a thoughtful expression on his face. Inu-Yasha scoffed and muttered something about wasting time. Other than him, they all easily agreed on returning to the village.

~ A Few Hours Later~

Feeling extremely agitated, Saiyuri held tightly onto Sango from behind, nervous of being up this high while not inside an airplane. How the female warrior could have ever gotten used to it, the newcomer did not know. She still did not know what to make of this. In a matter of a few days, her world as she knew it had been turned upside down, and warped so badly, that she was not sure she’d be able to cope with any more. At this point, she just wanted to go home and forget that any of the fast few days had happened. She would pay well to never have even the faintest memories of Sesshoumaru, his soft, slender hands holding her rigidly, his tail around her body, his warm breath on her throat, his lip sealing over hers.
Don’t thing about it! she scolded herself for remembering. She needed to forget him, she wanted to forget him…didn’t she? But it was damn difficult to forget the feel of his arms around her, and of his claws dragging over her skin, drawing blood whenever she annoyed him. Why did he always want to keep me that close anyway? she wondered as her eyes took in the landscape below without really looking at it. When he spoke to the others, he seemed to really hate them, but why? she wondered about this for awhile and figured, she would probably never know. Sesshoumaru was clearly not the type to keep counsel with anyone but himself. Damn it! Why am I still thinking about him? she cursed herself again, and felt deeply frustrated.
“Look,” Sango’s voice thankfully brought her out of her damnable thoughts and back to reality. “There’s the village.” she pointed to the array of little houses and a few fields and such nearby. As the large demon-cat, Kilala, leaned down and began to descend to the ground, Saiyuri leaned back to keep some balance. They landed with a-WHUMP!- though the initial impact was softer then Saiyuri had expected. And within moments, the rest of the group joined them. With less than a half-dozen sentences between them, the group made its way to Kaede’s hut. They seemed surprised when the stranger kept pace with them, but it seemed to all that she was not really aware of her surroundings. It looked more like she was lost in a maze of her own thoughts. There was a point where the monk held his strides in check so that he walked side-by-side with the young woman named Saiyuri.
“How are you feeling Miss?” he asked and it was like she was coming up for air from some still isolated pool.
“Honestly, I’m not sure.” she said in a dejected sort of way. Miroku made the wise decision not to ask her a certain question just yet, it wouldn’t be fair to ask her something like that when she was so vulnerable. Sango cast a warning glare back at him, but said nothing; she didn’t need to. The group sat inside Kaede’s hut, and Kaede herself had made some dinner, since it had gotten late by the time they had walked into the village. It would have been nice to sit outside, but they needed to ask the newcomer some questions and find out exactly who she was. Doing so would prove to be much more difficult it the villagers were curious too and decided to eavesdrop, which they probably would. Plus, if she tired to run off due to tough questions, it gave the others time to catch up before she got herself into any trouble. For a long time, they just sat in silence and ate their supper, each trying to ignore the uncomfortable silence. But Saiyuri was thinking of something and then the fact seemed to smack her in the head, because she momentarily choked.
“Be ye alright child?” Kaede inquired as Saiyuri got her breath back.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I just remembered something.” They all looked expectantly at her. “This was before I got here a few days ago. I was passing a shrine by and I was bored so I just sort of wandered in.” Inu-Yasha, who was sitting next to Kagome like always, felt her go a bit stiff at this and wondered if it could mean something important. “I met someone there, he-”
“-Was my grandfather!” Kagome finished the other girl’s sentence in a blurt. Everyone present stared from Kagome to Saiyuri and back and forth again.
“How do you know that?” Saiyuri asked incredulously.
“What did the Sign over the entrance say?” Kagome asked without answering the other girl’s question.
“All it said was that it was the Higurashi Shrine, and then the number for the address, but what’s that got-?”
“I knew it!” Kagome blurted again, but this time she was smiling widely. But a moment later she looked confused. “No that can’t be it…” she muttered to herself apparently. Saiyuri was confused as hell, and slightly irritated because it looked as though everyone else knew what Kagome was talking about.
“How would she have gotten through the well anyway?” asked Shippou and suddenly clapped his tiny hands over his mouth as if he’d just uttered a disgusting swear word. All he received were a few reproachful looks, but now that the cat was out of the bag, it would do no good to reprimand him further.
“So, that well I fell into, that’s how I got here?” Saiyuri asked, and they all heard the distincet skepticism in her tone.
“I know it seems ludicrous.” Kagome allowed.
“True, but so does nearly everthing else since I got here.” Saiyuri said still clearly on edge. There was silence for a long couple of minutes. Siayuri’s hand drifted absently to the black gem on the silver chain around her neck.
“Child,” Kaede’s voice startled Saiyuri and she looked up at the aged priestess. “Where did ye get that stone?” Saiyuri relaxed a little, though not entirely.
“It used to be my mothers.” she shrugged and told them no more than she had told the Lord of the Western Lands. It still seemed so trivial to her, but for some reason it looked as though it mattered to all of thenm. “Look, how do I get home anyway? I have some things I need to take care of since I’ve been gone for so long.”
“Oh that’ll be the easy part.” said Kagome smiling. “We’ll just go back to the well tomorrow.” Inu-Yasha looked as if he didn’t think much of this. “I have to go home tomorrow anyway, I should be in classes for a day or two, and I need more supplies.” Saiyuri blinked, clearly dumbfounded.
“You mean you come here on a regular basis?” It had never occurred to her that anyone in their right mind would actually want to come to this place.
“Yeah, well, it’s kind of a long story.” Saiyuri helf up her henad.
“I think it might just be safer if I don’t know.” she said gently. Not wanting to argue, and thinking she was probably right, Kagome nodded in agreement. The rest of the evening was spent as they all talked on and off about their own reasons for being in this odd little group, and Saiyuri eventually figured out that they were looking for the pieces of something called the Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls.
As she lay awake much later, Saiyuri was, sure that she had suffered some severe head trama when she fell into the well at the Higurashi shrine, and was in a comma or something, having a very bizarre dream. But those times she had been so close to Sesshoumaru, God help her, that had felt too real to be comfortable. She put a hand to her forehead, two fingers rubbing her temple. Why was she thinking of him now, or at all for that matter? Heaving a sigh, she rolled over on the futon that Kaede lent her to sleep on, and vaguely wondered if he was just as bothered as she was. She closed her eyes and her mind turned to other worries, like what she might come home to, if there was a home left.

~At the Same Time Elsewhere~

Sesshoumaru was restless again, and although he knew damn well why this was, he also knew he should not care. Perhaps it was knowing that he did care was what really bothered him. The last image of Saiyuri looking back at him as he threw her to Inu-Yasha and his companions would not leave him be. And whenever his mind drifted back to the headstrong young woman, he swore he could feel her clasped in the vice-like grip of his arms, as if she were there, pinned against his chest. A low growl born of frustration made its way past his throat. This was insane. Here he was n the comforts of his own home, able to get some rest for once, and now the lingering memories of a mortal woman would not give him peace. What could he do? Yes he had self-control, more of it than anyone he had know, that was for sure. But damn it, no matter what he tried the woman would not leave his mind. He rolled over onto his stomach and pressed a pillow over his head, nearly shredding the thing as he did so. He’d gone mad, that had to be it. Why else would she be plaguing him as she was, in the one place his strengths could really fail him, the one place he could be considered vulnerable. For who could control what they dreamt? No one that he knew. There was a moment when he toyed with the idea of retrieving the stange woman. After all, Rin had noticed her absense as the Demon Lord knew she would, just as he also knew Rin needed a mother. But there could be some odd implications if Rin, who already regarded Sesshoumaru as a father-figure, started to do the same towards Saiyuri. There was just no way on this earth that he would take a mortal as his mate. It simply would not happen. But at the memory of his mouth pressed forcibly against hers, when she would not eat, made his hands clench again, and the poor helpless pillow’s feathery innards went everywhere. Rolling onto his back again, his golden eyes stared unseeingly at the ceiling. Sesshoumaru would battle with himself for a good while before he came to, what he later supposed, was the inevitable conclusion.

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