Unexpected Discoveries

Chapter 6: Daiyoukai

A/N: Hi Everyone, here’s another chapter for ya…Enjoy!!!

“…Sesshoumaru (mumbles) No good (grumbling)’ rotten (snores lightly) lanky (swats right hand at the air) skinny bastard!!! (Continues to snore lightly…) Mandisa ranted as she slept. She did not have the nerve as of yet to give the daiyoukai a well deserved tongue lashing and perhaps a literal kick in the fangs for his behavior. However, whenever she slept while angry, all bets were off and all of her furious thoughts exited her month in the form of stinging words as her hands swung wildly trying to strike “Silver” in unmentionable places.

‘Bet he’ll stop being “Mister Badass” if I hit that fucker THERE…’ She thought as she dreamt of kicking him THERE over and over again. Her fury continued to set her a blaze while completely blocking out any bad dreams about her lost friends and her predicament. In a weird twisted way she had “Silver” to thank for that.

Meanwhile her feet worked to locate the daiyoukai’s month so she could kick his sharp teeth down his throat. She may have believed that Sesshoumaru was the most amazing; mysterious and frightening creature she has ever seen with her soulful brown eyes, but that did not stop her from entertaining thoughts of causing him physical bodily harm! Luckily for her, she spoke English and not Japanese while in the land of dreams. Otherwise the daiyoukai’s may have caused her painful bodily harm; or worst, he may have ceased the functioning of her body altogether. It would not have been pretty either way.


Sesshoumaru didn’t understand the words that escaped the human female month. However, that nasty tone her voice had as she spoke and the hostile movements of her body told the daiyoukai that she had a bone to pick with him. Particularly he noticed the way his name was spat from her mouth like a fowl tasting piece of garbage. Earlier, the human girl gave him the up most respect and praise. She even went as far as to say he gave her a feeling of ‘awe’. A day later, she was downright livid with him. As if he cared that the female was angry. He was merely curious about her behavior, her overreacting. He wondered how one human could have so many mood swings? The daiyoukai also idly wondered how his ‘great and terrible father’ put up with Inuyasha’s mother if she was half as moody as the female that slept before him.

‘All of that noise merely because this Sesshoumaru did not cater to the simpering human feelings…ridiculous.’ He sneered as if feelings were the most disgusting thing in the existence…knowing damn well that he has emotions also. But of course he would deny it.

No matter how much he tried to mask it with his blank expressions, pride, annoyance and anger, the daiyoukai had the ability to feel. Sesshoumaru ignored the fact that anger and pride where emotions. Fortunately for Mandisa he was no longer evil; just mean. Or else she would be food for the vultures already.

Sesshoumaru continued to listen to her English spoken words as he observed her actions.

FLASHBACK:

After they started to travel together, the daiyoukai noticed that the human really started to radiate anger when he told her to ‘deal with it’. As time passed the day before, she begins to question him in a respectable matter again despite her annoyance. The lines of questioning begin hours before they reached their current camp site. She asked him what he was and he said one word ‘daiyoukai’ in an arrogant low tone. She spent a while trying to remember what that meant in English, but sat the question of what a ‘daiyoukai’ is aside for later pondering. It irritated her that she was not as fluent in Japanese as she would have liked because she had a feeling that if she remembered or figured out with a daiyoukai is, she would not like it. She was however able to deduce that he was not a vampire. That at least was a relief.

She noticed also that he gave her a side glance with an arched eyebrow after he told her what he was and the only expression he got out of her was confusion. He stared ahead again after taking his side glance off of her. With an unnoticeable smirk on his lips, a smirk that would have made her suspicious and seriously terrified if she seen it, he thought:

‘She will know soon enough…’

A little while later Mandisa asked him where they were going and he did not bother to answer that question. Unknown to the ‘human tag along’, they were heading to his brother’s village to seek information from the hanyou young miko. Since the young miko came from the future with a purpose, he figured she could give him info that may lead him to the answer as to why the other human arrived from the future. Again curiosity was driving his actions.

Mandisa did not like being ignored, but she figured he was doing so because of her own ‘rudeness’. At least that is what she called it. Because of all the events that seemed to occur at once, she forgot to introduce herself. Mandisa apologized and explained the lack of her introduction. Then she went on to tell him her name. However hours later, even after they stopped so she could rest, he still referred to her as ‘girl’ or ‘human’, with that frost bite tone. As if she had not told him her name and as if she was a complete nuisance. His actions told her that he did not believe she was worthy of being addressed by her name like she addressed him by his. The cold tones he used throughout the day and the glares and growls he gave her earlier when she unintentionally irritated only added to her fear and annoyance. Worst of all, she kept thinking about the way he told her to just ‘deal with it!’ . The fact that she was drained, a sensitive person by nature who’s feelings are easily hurt and it was extremely late at night did not help her mood. Be that as it may, she kept telling herself not to response negatively to his behavior for two main reasons: One, he saved her life so she owed him big time and Two; he can take it away in a blink of an eye!

END OF FLASHBACK:

Hence, why she kept her mouth shut and why she was displaying her displeasure before him now totally by accident.

Nevertheless, the way he saw it she had no right to be angry with him. She was lucky he saved her feeble life and allowed her to travel with him. He was Sesshoumaru and he would do as he pleased.

Finding her physical antics amusing, but her verbal assault bothersome, he decided to give her a rude awaking and command her to either voice her thoughts in his language, in a coherent matter, or be silent.

Getting up gracefully from his cross legged sitting position, he silently made his way over to the exotic looking human who was currently kicking her right leg forward as if she was stomping something, balling her right fist up and grabbing at the air with her left hand as if she was pulling hair while she continued to mumble what he thought of as ‘gibberish’. Said ‘gibberish’ said something along the lines of ‘Sesshoumaru’, ‘ill matter, stuck up, whatever the hell you are…who carries around polar bear rugs on his shoulder as a fashion statement...’

Sesshoumaru rarely lied about anything except the fact that he had emotions to; so he had no problem with admitting to himself that the human in front of him with her wild curly hair, firm full breasts, well tone legs and smooth caramel color skin was not unattractive. To him her appearance was unusual but appealing, which is one of the reasons why he let the sickly human tag along. Unusual things always got his attention. Rin with her unusual lack of fear of him and her atypical act of kindness towards him, are some of the reasons why he allowed the small human girl to accompany him. Like Rin, the very emotional female before him intrigued him, but in a different way. Her abrupt appearance from the future, not unlike Inuyasha’s miko and her sincere respect of his power were also attention grabbers. Her fear of him was an added bonus to that small sadistic streak he still possessed. Said streak use to be one of the more dominate parts of his character, but past events and people such as Rin, Kagura and even Inuyasha changed that. Now he only has a portion of that streak left.

Therefore, he didn’t get as much of a kick out of her being scared of him as much as he would have liked. Now this, he found annoying.

When he reached her he gazed at her ‘battle with the air’ for a moment. An almost inaudible snort of amusement escaped his lips. The daiyoukai knew her fight was not with the air, but with him from the not so subtle clues she gave as she spat his name repeatedly followed by the other language she spoke.

‘Tch ridiculous...’ He thought brushing her off as no threat. If she had any form of power, he would have detected it with his sharp senses. Even if she was concealing any powers from him he was not worried in the least. As he found out earlier she genuinely respected and feared him. She also had some sort of human health problem that interfered with her breathing. But being the observant creature that he is, he still kept an eye on her. He paid the price several times over for underestimating others in the past; mainly his brother. He did not plan on doing so again.

Placing his right foot under the human’s right shoulder, he gave her a light push with his foot by tilting said foot upward. This action caused her to roll off her bed made out of grass, moss and leaves onto a patch of dirt face down. The daiyoukai movement knocked the wind out of her, caused a small dust cloud to stir from the impact of her body and waked her with a start.

“Ah! Oh! Ah! Hey man…what the hell is your problem!?” Mandisa nearly shouted as she coughed, sneezed and spat the dirt from her mouth.

She frantically wiped it from her eyes and face as she sat up. She tried to glare at whoever disturbed her sleep, but failed miserably due to the dirt still lodged in her eyes. All she managed to do was blank repeatedly inwardly cursing whatever jackass that decided it would be a good idea to place her face down in the dirt. She was surprised, but at the same time relived that the dust cloud of dirt had not brought on another asthma attack.

Portions of her dream of his at least in her opinion, deplorable deeds the day before remained in her mind. But instead of voicing her dislike of being pushed on her face and stomach, having dirt lodged in her eyes, nose and mouth and nearly having another asthma attack in English, she questioned his behavior not too nicely in Japanese. She either completely forgot for a few moments who she was dealing with, or at the moment she did not care.

She was pissed off at Sesshoumaru for his callous behavior the day before, not forgetting the abuse of her throat and the fact that she was rudely awakened by him did not help matters. Especially since she’s a real grouch when her much needed sleep was disturb. It did not matter who did the disturbing. To add more gasoline to the fire that was her emotions; she was moodier than usual…and that’s pretty moody.

When she finally managed to clear some of the dirt out of her eyes, she looked at the sky and saw that it was merely dawn. Than she gazed at “Silver” as he towered over her, some of her anger cooled and a chill ran up her spine.

“…” Sesshoumaru remained silent as he gave her that impassive expression, which in Mandisa’s opinion was scary. However, if she had known that inwardly he was smirking at her dirt covered face, sputtering coughs and the blinking eyes spell that seemed to have finally past, she may have lost it and tried to scratch his cold golden eyes out of his head!

A few more moments past and he just keep looking at her with that blank expression. She didn’t know what was worst; the look he currently had as if “the lights were on but no one was home”, that cold blooded, calculating glare or that feral face he makes when he bares his sharp teeth like he is ready to pounce on his prey and rip them apart.

“…” And nothing. He continued to stare at her with that blank expression as her fury ebbed some more and her apprehension increased. She whispered to herself in a quivering voice in English:

“Its like looking at the walking dead…!”
Focusing on the anger she felt when she was first stirred from her sleep, she attempted to cover her fear. Getting defensive as she does when afraid and trying not to shake in terror as she worked to prevent another panic attack she simply yelled:

“What?!”

Ignoring her insolence for now and resisting the urge to twitch his ears in annoyance from her loud high pitched shout, he stuck to the subject at hand:

“Explain that commotion.” He stated simply. His amusement was not forgotten, but placed aside for now in favorite of his curiosity and his slight annoyance with her tone.

“What ‘commotion’?” She asked with puzzlement in her voice.

Being a daiyoukai of few words, he did not like to repeat himself nor elaborate on what has already been said. However, since she seemed genuinely confused and since he wished to get to the heart of the matter, he went on to say:

“The nonsense you ranted in your sleep.” He said in a flat tone as he still towered over her.

Mandisa frowned as she thought:

‘There he goes belittling me again and I only known the asshole for a day. I shouldn’t be surprised though… Hold on…Oh shit!’ She thought as she realized she may have said something in his native language that may have given her a death sentence for sure!

‘Maybe that’s why he’s staring at me now, he’s trying to decide which part of me to mutilate first…Shit!!! I bet he’s pretending that he doesn’t know what I said to see if I tell him the truth before he knocks my head off! Okay, okay don’t panic Mandisa. Just chill out, be as cool as a cucumber and just breathe…breathe…breathe…’ She thought as she chanted the last words over and over again.

‘She’s doing it yet again…’ Sesshoumaru thought as he watched the human’s emotions wash across her face. She went from irate, apprehensive, shocked, defensive, confused, anger and surprised terror within moments. Than she started to take deep breaths as if she was trying to calm herself again.


Mandisa had that bad habit every since she could remember. The habit of voicing her dislike in her sleep when she kept her anger pent up inside while awake. Now that habit probably has come back again to bite her in the ass. She just hopes he doesn’t decide to bite her somewhere vital, like say, the jugular vein in her neck! She gulped at the thought and hunched her shoulders up to protect her neck. Standing up slowly so she can at least attempt to run from him or fight him off if she could; she eyeballed her stun gun in his sash. Knowing there was no way in hell she would be able to get near the thing and use it before he was on her like “bees on honey” she back up a little. He still didn’t move, only continued to give her that ‘look’. She decided to get it over with and hesitantly asked:

“Did you understand anything I said, when I was asleep I mean?” She waited for him to answer her and he just gazed at her as if he was evaluating her. His eyes narrowed a little indicating that he was doing just that.

‘No, however your tone spoke volumes.’ He thought as he continued to stare at her, narrowing his cold golden metal eyes at her.

‘I guess…I hope he didn’t. Maybe he’s not waiting for me to confess what he already knows. If he really didn’t understand what I said, maybe I can tell him a half truth and get away with it…’ Mandisa thought. She would have outright lied to him if she thought she was any good at it. Unfortunately lying and seeming sincere was not one of her talents.

Sesshoumaru found the human’s emotional dances across her face amusing, but his curiosity and slight irritability was still getting the best of him. Besides for some odd reason he was still tired of scaring the fidgety human. The daiyoukai did not like the idea of himself preferring NOT to cause the human constant fear. He told himself that it was merely because he did not want the human dying of fright before he unraveled the mystery of the girl.

“You’re not going to let this go until you get an answer are you?” She said with a sigh.

Throwing caution and most of her common sense into the wind for a few moments, she decided to speak part of the truth, hoping he would let it go at that and not demand to know EXACTLY what she said. She continued:

“Okay… well I was and still am upset with the way you have treated me; not that I don’t appreciate you saving my life and letting me travel with you…I really do, its just how you act towards me.” She looked at Sesshoumaru’s blank expression with anticipation, hoping that maybe what she said was enough. After gazing for a few moments, she determined that it was not. Some how despite that lack of emotion across his face she knew he wanted more of an explanation. Perhaps it was his piercing golden eyes. With the image of those calculating golden orbs seeing right through her in her mind, she gulped and continued:

“Lots of things about you…is new and fascinating to me, but there are other behaviors you display that get to me. (Takes a deep shuttering breath) What really…hurts my feelings is the way you talk to me. It’s so harsh. (Takes another deep breath) Worst of all it’s the way you refuse to address me by my name. I didn’t say anything to you about it earlier so when I fell asleep, I dreamed about it.”

Mandisa mentally smacked herself in the forehead. Feelings!? She has a strong ‘feeling’ that he could care less about how sensitive she really is. Why in the hell did she tell him that he ‘hurt her feelings’!? She could not even answer her own question!

‘It’s not like I’m asking him to “walk on egg shells” or anything. I just would like it if he would use at least a little tact…’ She thought as her pondering was cut off by Sesshoumaru saying:

“What else.” He demanded with hardly noticeable narrowed eyes.

‘Dammit still not enough…’ Mandisa mused as she begin to feel a little more panic.

The daiyoukai knew it was more to it than what she was saying. He would prefer it if the human did not use so many words to make her point nor did he wish for her to be so talkative yet evasive while answering his question(s). He wasn’t exactly a big conversationalist.

“What else…there’s nothing else!” She stated quickly and he narrowed his golden orbs more as if to say he knew she was lying.

“You were fighting in your sleep and using vulgar language towards this Sesshoumaru. What. Else.” He stated slowly and sternly.

He could add up all the pieces, the way she spat his name, the venom in her voice when she said the other gibberish, the tussle in her sleep and the confession he just intimidated out of her. Obviously she had nothing nice to say about him during her slumber. The daiyoukai knew that she was still “in awe” by him, but that did not mean that her little human emotions would not go haywire if he didn’t “protect her feelings” by watching how he spoke and acted towards her. As if that would happen! He inwardly sneered at the thought.

“How did you…was I…well um…” She stuttered and was cut off when Sesshoumaru said:

“Finish one thought before you start another, human.” The daiyoukai commanded. His amusement was still there, but his curiosity was not being sated. And the fact that his thirst for knowledge was not being quenched quickly enough was…bothersome.

Mandisa right eye twitched as her teeth clenched and her hands repeatedly balled up and released its fingers, leaving nail indents in her palms. Her shoulder tensed, but they no longer covered her neck to protect it from his dagger like teeth.

Mandisa didn’t know exactly what came over her but she guessed it had to be PMS. She tried to tell half truths while trying to keeping her fear and annoyance at bay. Yet he had to say IT again instead of addressing her by her name! The result, well her dread was temporarily for gotten in favor of anger!

She was already on an emotional roller coaster with losing her friends, ending up in a different time and being in proximity of a ‘killing machine’. Not to mention almost mutilated by a ‘Minotaur’, saved by the said ‘killing machine’ and the possibility of other dangerous creatures, beings…whatever the hell he was in the forest! PMS and infuriation at being awaken so rudely had to be the reason why her emotions completely over took her actions. That last ‘human’ comment was the breaking point! That was the only logical explanation she had for not being able to clamp her month shut and letting her self preservation take precedence over her “hurt feelings”.

Mandisa went from wide eyed, pushed up shoulders and stuttering to a trembling right eye, a frowning expression, unprotected neck and balled up fists. Unclenching her teeth she said in a clear tone that had went up an octave from her normal pleasant yet high pitched voice:

“There you go again refusing to use my name! What’s so bad about Mandisa huh?! It’s a pretty name and its not nearly as hard to pronounce as “Ses-shou-ma-ru”. And I address you as respectfully as I know how yet you won’t do the same for me! What, you think you’re better than me or something?!

Mandisa said as her voice was on the thin line between normal speech and shouting. There was a tiny voice in her head that screamed:

‘Why the hell did you do that?! You discovered possibly one of the greatest finds in the history of science, who by the way saved your life and can kill you in the blank of an eye; you catered to his ego which is probably why he let you follow him in the first place, than you ruin it because your not a morning person and ‘that time of the month’ is coming?! Mandisa what fuck are you thinking…’

Just when the furious part of her brain was going to yell that she ‘couldn’t take it anymore and that the bastard deserved a lot more of an ear blast than she was giving him’, she saw the look on Sesshoumaru’s face:

“…” The daiyoukai gave her a look that she interrupt as meaning ‘of course, this one is better than any being on this plant’.

She gasped at his audacity and was surprised that she actually comprehended what that look meant. A few moments past after she gave it some thought and she said with frustration in her tone:

“Okay well… you may have powers… some of which I might not know about, but I am a sentient being just like you. I have a heart and soul to you know! I have been though hell and back in a short amount of time and I’m still here, still trying to find my way back home! That has to count for something!” She said loudly with a near shout as her chest heaved with aggravation. She just hoped her asthma medication would continue to kick in so she would not have another attack, not now.

‘Tch, you don’t know what hell is…’ He thought. After being alive for over four centuries he knew he had a better idea of hardship then this human had. Even with all of his powers and advantages. Besides, he’s been to hell and back, twice, he doubt she could say the same. Although he had to say, he was inwardly surprised to see a more feisty side to this human.

What was also surprising to the daiyoukai that he did not get as upset with her insolence as he should have been. Than he figured there was no point. If he wanted his questions answered she had to stay alive at least for a little while. And his inquires would not be answered if he turns her into a puddle of green mush. With that in mind he kept his temper in check and said in a bored tone:

“Are you through?”

Distracted by her antagonism and his impassive attitude, she ignored the fact that her head was still attached to her body. During the moment she did not consider how she spoke to him or the potential consequences. That tiny voice in her head was constantly telling her the possible repercussions, but PMS and sleep deprived was in charge of her mouth now. Neither one of them would listen!

Grinding her teeth together she continued loudly:

“No I’m not finished! Another thing you do that really pisses me off; you never answer a question unless you feel like it. All I know about you so far is that your name is Sesshoumaru, you live up to your name from what I have seen and you are a ‘daiyoukai’…(gasps in horror)” Her eyes widen when it finally hit her when she said ‘daiyoukai’ out loud.

Sesshoumaru merely gauged her reaction and that sadistic part of his personality that was still ingrain in his being even after Rin and Kagura had an impact on his personality smirked when she finally realized whom she was dealing with. He may not have found the idea of scaring the hell out of her nearly as appealing as it would have been in the past, but a small part of him enjoyed it. Perhaps it was because of her snappish comments when she let her emotions get the better of her.

Her eyes widen as she stepped backwards until she hit a tree and she jumped and yelped from the touch:

‘Daiyoukai… as in great apparition or…’ “DEMON!!!” She thought as she shrieked the last word in English. Growing up in a Western culture she was exposed to the more popular Western religious. So when she thought of the word daiyoukai or demon she did not think of a great and powerful creature that was born from the things that exist in nature such as bats, foxes, bulls, dogs and from human emotions. When she thought of that dreaded word; she thought of fallen angels that worked for Satan.

The fact that his features and matter of dress made him look like an deadly angel did not help ease her fears.

So with a terror that she never knew before in her heart, she did not freeze up with panic this time she broke into a dead run.

A part of the daiyoukai that found the human extremely bothersome wanted to turn in the other direction and leave the frail human to her fate. However, Sesshoumaru’s baser instincts and curious nature told him to give chase. Listening to his intuition and the small voice that told him she was worth his attention, although he did not know exactly why; he let her get a large head start and begun to trail behind her at a leisurely pace…

If Mandisa knew exactly what kind of daiyoukai he was, she would have given running a second thought. Instead she would have waited for the chance and tried some other form of escape. She knew first hand from the bite she received years ago from a terrifying dog, that those four legged quadrupeds love a good hunt. And right now the top dog of them all; a daiyoukai at that was on her trail. The only problem is that she did not know what type of daiyoukai ‘Silver’ was…


A/N: Sorry for the wait, as usual life throws barriers in the way. Oh well that’s just the way it goes. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are adored and appreciated