Unexpected Discoveries

Chapter 4: Stalling and Realization

A/N: Hello everyone, hope you enjoy the show! Now onwards!

Recap: “Alright, alright you win, what do you want to know?” Mandisa asked as she took a cleansing breath of fresh air to soothe her nerves and relax her lungs.

She placed her medication in her large right short pants pocket and adjusted her legs so both knees were bent close to her body and her back was against the tree. Mandisa wanted her legs in this position so she could spring to her feet and bolt if the need arise. Although she knew that she had no chance of out running him, her mom always told her that a ‘good run is better then a bad stand.’ Without her weapons she didn’t have a ‘leg’ to stand on against the male. However, after seeing his display of power, she couldn’t help but wonder if her weapons would do him any harm if she had them in her possession? Would the pepper spray blind him so she could make her great escape? Would the stun gun incapacitate him enough so she could make a clean get away? She would like to think so; Mandisa would like to believe that if she had her protection she would be able to fight back. She despised the idea of being completely helpless; wanting to believe that if she had her self defense tools she could have gotten away from him. Mandisa also wished that she had not fainted to begun with, but if she had not who knows what may have taken place? She may have been dead by now if she wasn’t frozen by the terror she experienced as he slaughtered the ‘Minotaur’ and the grief she felt due to the lost companions. She may have tried something foolish and the end result could have been her in an early grave. Be that as it may, deep down she wasn’t so sure if her ‘weapons’ would have done her any good. So she figured if he gets pissed and she takes of running like she is competing for a gold medal in the Olympics, then he may lose interest and leave her be. Since she did not know for sure that he would just leave her alone and go about his business, she saved her 10,000 meter race for a last resort.

However, if the archeologist knew for sure she was dealing with an Inu daiyoukai with Inu like instincts, she would not have given ‘running’ a second thought. Especially since she has a fear of canines…and for good reason. The bit marks on her body validates her apprehension of the canine species.

She noticed that he growled like a dog, but it never crossed he conscious mind that he may be a dog in a different form. She just told herself that it was one of the methods he used to intimate others. In fact, she heard plenty of humans ‘growl’ in anger, but it did not sound quite so…viscous…so…animal like. Her mind just would not process that much trepidation and weird phenomenon’s in one day. She did not what to believe that she had a canine male in her mist. Besides the fact that he had razor sharp teeth, claws, golden eyes with black slit like pupils, a huge off white furry tail like appendage and silver blue streaked hair he looked like a tall, pale pretty human. Thinking of his eyes as cat like instead of dog like helped eased her concern just a little.

Oh, how she wished she was on a Japanese horror movie set and the male standing by her form was in a creative costume. But alas, she knew that wasn’t the case. She knew special effects when she saw them and there was not any technology in sight besides her items.

Mandisa looked up at Sesshoumaru and frowned at the barley noticeable expression on his exotically striking face. Disregarding the urge to trace the markings on his face and see if they would wipe off like makeup or war paint, she focused more on his body language. The male that stood tall and proud as he looked down at her. He had a smug look on his countenance that said: ‘Foolish girl, this Sesshoumaru always wins.’ The look he gave her said that her earlier statement was laughable because it should have been obvious that he would get what he wanted from the beginning. As if saying her statement of ‘Alright, alright you win’ was uncalled for. That arrogant look kind of reminded her of the cereal commercial that said: ‘silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!’ The fact that those kids never wanted to give the rabbit any Trix irate her to no end!

‘Those pompous little shits could have given him one fucking bowl, acting like the Trix were too good for him…’

Whoa! Where the hell that comparison came from, she did not know. She just believed that it was her mind way of districting her from her fear as well as putting her friend’s deaths out of her mind for the time being. Disturbed by her wondering thoughts, she decided to ignore that moment of weirdness as she pondered with irritation:

‘This man…alien…vampire, or whatever the hell he is has managed to cause me to feel heart stopping terror, curiosity and aggravation all in the span of a few hours. What the hell is wrong with him? What is he exactly? What’s next…?’ Mandisa figured that the ‘man/alien/vampire’ may be thinking, ‘what the hell is wrong this human’, hence the interrogation he was going to give her. But she could not help, but wonder what other fear inducing and/or intriguing events could occur next?!

“Why did you travel from your era to this time?” He asked in a deep commanding tone that sent a tiny shiver up her spine and warmth through her body whenever she heard it.

Mandisa did not know if the shudder and the heat came from fear, amazement, a combination of the two or something else entirely. The ‘something else’ was not something she was willing to think about at the moment because if the ‘something else’ is what she thinks it is, than she, in her opinion, was seriously warped! How could she feel that for the creature? A creature that just ripped a living being apart like wet soft toilet paper and will not hesitate to do the same to her? Even if he did save her life by doing so, it is possible that he merely killed the ‘Minotaur’ because he wanted to murder her himself. Granted he was a grand mysterious discovery and alluring in his own wild beautiful way, but those attributes were still no reason for her to feel that if that was what the ‘something else’ was. The guy was violent, ill tempered, seemed to be cold and looked like meaner than hell itself. Those two big ass samurai swords, fangs, acid claws and the wicked looking spiked armor only served as a physical representation of his personality as far as she was concerned.

She merely told herself that all of the events of the day were responsible for her weird thoughts and physiological responses. Taking up a minor in psychology so she would be better equipped to understand the civilizations of the past also helped her deal with her…issues. It also made it easier for her to twist her conclusions of herself and ignore the fact that the ‘something else’ may indeed be that, but her unconscious tried and fail to repress it. Now she may be using denial as a defense mechanism two times. Not only was Mandisa denying the possibility that the ‘something else’ could be at least a little bit of that, but she was denying that fact that she was denying anything in the first place! Indeed Mandisa mind was a labyrinth of ponderings.

The archeologist figured that despite all that has occurred, if she wanted to get back home in one peace she had to cooperate. Although his pompous, controlling attitude was pushing her tolerance dangerously close to the edge, she understood that if she allowed him to push her patience over the edge, she would be the one in peril from him not the other way around. After all she didn’t have her mace, stun gun nor did she have anything that might do him or any other ‘aliens/ vampire creatures’ damage:

‘Shit, I wish I had a 475 magnum right about now, than I would not be so freaked out about being stranded and surrounded by people with feral superpowers. I bet after I got finish with them they would be scared of me.’ She thought as she remembered seeing a 475 magnum pistol in one of those ‘Death Wish’ movies. However, she knew her wishful thinking would not help her at the least:

“Answer this Sesshoumaru.” She heard the ‘alien’ command in a lower voice indicating that he did not like it when he was ignored.

She took a deep breath as she berated herself in her thoughts:

‘Dumbass calm down and pay attention before you get yourself killed.’ Due to the side effects of her medication which made her a bit jiggery as her thoughts shifted away from his line of questioning to keep her fear at bay. After all she was not sure if he would let her live after his interrogation. So her unconscious decided to by a little time.

Not understanding exactly what he was talking about she gave him a confused look and said:

“Ummmmmmmmm…What?

Sesshoumaru only glared down at the girl for what he figured was stalling. She may be from a different era and land, but he knew she understood what he was saying and her antics only served to annoying him. Everyone who knew his reputation knew what he did to those who annoyed him greatly and if the human was not careful she may find out personally.

Mandisa jerked back a little as if she had been slapped in the face by his irritated glower. Feeling the fear crept back up on her again she gulped; a frown of bewilderment appeared on her countenance as she mumbled to herself in English:

“Era? What era? What the hell is he talking about?” Then she looked up at him again as he titled his head to the side in a very dog like matter as if he was puzzled by something. Knowing that he had no idea what the hell she just said she begin to speak Japanese again:

“Why did I come to this era? You’re not making any sense.” She said almost to herself in Japanese.

Sesshoumaru only gave her a bored look as she looked at her surroundings. The daiyoukai knew that she had some intelligence since she could speak at least two different languages. He idly wondered why she was behaving in such a daft fashion at the moment. He could tell by her scent that she was not faking her puzzlement by his words.

‘The girl is surrounded by the unknown. Perhaps denying what should be blatantly obvious is the human way of dealing with her fear…pathetic.’ The daiyoukai scoffed in his mind.

Knowing that the girl possibility came from the future Kagome described, he knew that seeing creatures such as himself was a shock. Sesshoumaru also understood that traveling to the past was another shocker, but to deny it instead of dealing with the issue…laughable. Humans could be such complicated and silly creatures.

Being a warrior for centuries, Sesshoumaru acquired many skills of combat including reading his enemies emotions. Not only by observing their body language and smelling their scent(s) but also by listening to their heart beat and tone of their voice along with their words. He didn’t have a psychology degree, but he hit the nail right on the head very accurately when gauging his enemies or anyone else. At the moment he was very accurate as he analyzed Mandisa’s behavior.

Several moments past as she really took the time to explore her environment. She tapped her right foot on the ground as she felt the nervous jitters run rampant throughout her body. She looked him over from head to toe for a few more moments before her brown eyes widen and a gasp emerged from her full lips. Lips the daiyoukai noticed as he observed her body language.

“Oh kami no…” She uttered with wide eyes and the urge to pull out her curly brown hair.

And she thought her day couldn’t get any worst, but nooooooooooo, something else had to make things way more…nasty!!! Not only were her companions dead, but she was nearly killed by a ‘Minotaur’ only to be saved by a creature that is practically holding her hostage…and will probably mutilate and kill her in any minute!. With sharp teeth like those, he may suck her dry of all her blood or eat her…or do both! Now to put the ‘icing on the cake’ she was not only lost in a different country, but in a different time!

Judging from his clothes and what she learned about Japanese history as an archeologist, she was in the warring states era. Some of his clothes like his boots for example looked like they came from the mainland. However his purple and white robe which was decorated with flowers on the left side of the collar and the bottom of the bellowing sleeves along with his white balloon like pants that were tied at his ankles were of Japanese origin. His garments were similar to the clothing worn in Japan during the Feudal era, but they looked really expensive. Silk if she was correct, indicating that they male was wealthy…possibly royalty. The warring states era was an era when famine was common in Japan and war was in the citizen’s back yard every day. A place where many children are orphaned and apparently a place were many mythical creatures, aliens, vampires or what ever the hell they were walked the earth. Ah hell, she certainly wished that she had not postponed taking the Japanese Mythology course at her university. Maybe she would have a better idea of what the daiyoukai was and how to deal with him in a more effective matter. Effective as in walking away from him in one peace.

“How could I have been so stupid…Ugh!” She practically shouted, irritating Sesshoumaru’s sensitive hearing and causing his pointed ears to twitch slightly. With his patience wearing thinner then usual he kneeled down in front of the apparently ‘mad female’ as she smacked herself in the forehead and repeated the words ‘stupid, impossible, mistake, nightmare, I’m fucked, shit, dammit, how the hell did I end up in another time and country at the same damn time…’ and other incoherent utterances in a language he couldn’t understand.

Deciding that he had enough of her beating around the bush and ignoring his question, he grabbed her by her neck firmly and forced her to face him. He figured that some rough handling would make her snap out of her confusion, deal with her denial and other emotions so she could do as he commanded. He held back his strength, another skill he acquired over the centuries. Sesshoumaru only wished to gain the information he seeks from the girl that came from another continent and another time. So he took care not to snap the delicate neck of the fragile human like a twig.

“Shit…” She whispered in fear as those ‘knife like’ fingernails of his wrapped around her throat and the large hand squeezed her wind pipe. Luckily for her, he did not cut of her breathing especially since her asthma attack was just brought under control a few minutes earlier. He bared only a hit of his fang as he growled low inches away from her face. Said growl meant that the girl would find herself in deeper shit, so deep that she will not be able to crawl her way out of if she did not spit out an answer!
She got the message as she forced down some of her fear and anger at the ‘overbearing abusive vampire/alien bastard’. Anger welled up in her being because the creep put his hands on her in a rough matter. She inwardly cursed him for thinking ahead of time as he used his other hand and incredible speed to grab her wrists, which kept her from her weapons in his obi. The jerk grabbed her hands before her brain could process her thought into action. Said thought was something along the line of ‘grab the stun gun and fry his ass before he kills me…’ Then she said through clenched teeth:

“I’m from the future, the year 2012. As for why I am here…I am not sure. I can tell you what I do know if you take your hands off of me…now.” The last part of her statement was practically spat as she found it hard to keep her self from going over the edge. The very last word was said in English, which is something she barely managed to do. She had a feeling that the guy did not take to kindly to orders, but if he kept pissing her off by manhandling her she may forget her fear temporarily and take her fury and grief out on him. Now that would NOT be a healthy or smart thing to do.

She gulped and barely manage to gaze back into the intense cold yet warm golden cat like eyes as he growled low, indicating that he did NOT like the tone she used with him as he said in a low voice:

“Watch your tone, human.”

‘Oh fuck.’ She whispered in English as she felt the bravo that was brought on by her anger decrease. She could tell he was annoyed even though his tone was low instead of yelling. His voice was almost like the hiss of a poisonous snake ready to strike at any moment. That combined with his growls sent cold shivers up her spine.

‘The insolent, foolish little human. Courageous at one moment and fearful at another…’ He inwardly chuckled at her antics. Although he did not appreciate her tone especially the last word he did not understand, he found her moody jumps from fear to bravery humorous. Humans can be amusing creatures.

Sesshoumaru started to make her tell him what he wanted to know whether he had a hold of her or not. However, seeing that she smelled of fear and her heart was beating like hummingbirds wings, he released her and stood up. He did want her to stay awake and not have another fainting spell after all.

Sesshoumaru stepped to her left and proceeded to listen to her tale. Taking a deep breath to calm herself she told him everything she knew up to the moment they met in the forest…

TBC

A/N: Hope it was to your liking. Reviews as always are adored and appreciated!!!