InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Like a Moth to a Flame ❯ Girl from the Sky ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Italic = thoughts

 

~'*'~

Like a Moth to a Flame

Chapter 2: Girl from the Sky

By Thyme Cat

~'*'~

 

………

 

I smell a storm approach fast. Perhaps a little too fast. Golden eyes scan the sky as a sensitive nose takes a subtle sniff. The samioushyou are near, but I don't smell Naraku's foul stench. None of his incarnations, perhaps someone is working for him? He thinks as he watches dark storm clouds gather over head, hiding the sun and casting the field across which he is walking into shadow.

 

A small shudder to his right brings some of his attention to the little girl riding a two-headed beast. She can't be more than six springs in age, and that would have been all she had, had I not seen fit to return her to life with the sword, Tenseiga. This girl, Rin, is a curiosity I indulge in, and is now my ward. Naraku presumed to use this little girl to lure me close in an attempt to absorb this Sesshomaru's incredible power, and then when that ploy came to its inevitable demise he again used Rin to distract me from pursuing him in his much weakened state. It is unforgivable. Not that I am prone to forgiveness and mercy to begin with. Despite Naraku's weaknesses as a hanyou, he possesses the potential to be a real pest, even to one such as I. I will destroy Naraku for attempting to manipulate me, the great Sesshomaru, for his own petty plots.

 

A flash of lightning brings him out of his thoughts as Rin jumps and, though she fights it, lets a small yelp of surprise and fear slip from her mouth. The thunder that follows is right on top of them, loud and reverberating. Rin whimpers and covers her ears with her small hands; her small frame shakes from fear and the cold wind that is picking up.

 

The air is charged with electricity but the distinct lack of moisture speaks to the presence of magic. Sesshomaru stops walking and lets his senses sweep the surrounding fields.

 

“My Lord?” Jaken asks meekly, concern and curiosity vying for dominance. His robes clap and move with the wind around his smallish, green, impish body as he looks around for danger. His hands tighten around the Staff of Two head, a powerful weapon with many uses, in preparation for whatever might be bothering his master. “Is somthi…”

 

Another explosion of lightening and thunder swallows Jaken's words. He looks up and, to his surprise, sees something falling from the sky. “Ah!” Alarmed, he jumps back with a cry when he realizes he'll be crushed. Sesshomaru turns around, as does Ah-Un, the two-headed beast upon which Rin sits. Sesshomaru follows Jaken's gaze and takes hold of his other sword, Tokijin, but does not draw it from its sheath at his waist.

 

Within the span of seconds, a body falls to the ground, followed almost instantly by a bag that bounces once and spills some of its contents, crashing to the very spot in which Jaken stood a moment before. Rin gasps in surprise, for she did not see it as it fell through the air. Being human, her senses are nothing compared to her demonic companions. All watch quietly as the dust settles.

 

“My Lord, a human?” Jaken speaks the obvious, as he is known for doing. He turns his ugly face toward the sky as if looking for more humans to rain down upon them.

 

Sesshomaru, however, steps toward the prone figure to stand above her. He looks down and notices that she is oddly dressed, and her face is differently shaped. She looks dead, but he can hear her heart beating faintly, fading. He watches as she opens her eyes to look up at him. His amber gaze meets a mixture of green, and gray. She blinks once and smiles softly as the air returns to her lungs. She then begins to laugh, starting with a giggle, then a chuckle. As she blinks a second time and laughs a little harder, her blood begins to gurgle into her mouth.

 

Most people might mistaken her behavior as crying in pain or fear, but Sesshomaru, as he looks into her eyes from above, can see the humor shining back at him. As she blinks a third and last time, her laughter brings up more blood from her lungs and she relaxes, her eyes close and her face returns to a calm neutral. She looks like she is sleeping.

 

“Crazy woman. Where do you suppose she came from, my lord?” Jaken's voice is both disgusted and surprised. Sesshomaru was just wondering the same thing.

 

“She came from the sky, master Jaken.” Rin speaks up for the first time since the coming of the strange storm. “I was not asking for the obvious, stupid girl. Look at her clothing! She is a foreigner and I can not see from whence she fell. Besides, I wasn't asking you, I was asking Lord Sesshomaru.”

 

Rin moves as if to dismount Ah-Un in order to get a better look at this strange woman. Sesshomaru speaks to stop her without looking away from the dead female at his feet. “Stay, Rin.” His tone of voice bars any argument, but the thought to disobey never enters Rin's mind and she stays where she is.

 

Something catches Sesshomaru's eye so he bends over and moves aside the collar of her shirt to reveal a tan mitsu tomoe above the place where her now still heart rests. He resists the urge to wrinkle his nose at the smell of her. This close, he can smell many odd scents over her human smell and, of course, the smell of death.

 

Just as he is standing up, he feels a pulse of energy at his waist. The Tenseiga, it would seem, has a desire to be used. Sesshomaru fights off a sigh. The last time he used the sword to return life to a human he found himself with Rin. Not that he minded the small human girl, but he did not want the responsibility of another human; especially this strange woman. The pulsing from Tenseiga persists, however, and curiosity wins out in the western lord's mind. I want to know why she was laughing.

 

Sesshomaru stands and unsheathes the energized sword as he takes a step back. Jaken's bulging eyes widen in disbelief at what he knows his lord is about to do. “My Lord? Are you really going to revive this human? This female foreigner? She can hardly be worth the effort or…” His incredulous voice fails him has he takes note of his lord's hard expression. He gulps nervously and sweats in fear.

 

“Are you questioning me, Jaken?” Though Sesshomaru's voice is as emotionless as ever, Jaken knows he went too far. He bows his head and hastens to reply. “No! No, my lord. I would never… Please forgive me…” After a moment, Jaken hesitantly looks up at his lord and allows himself a quiet sigh of relief. He is forgotten for the time being while Sesshomaru studies the corpse.

 

Sesshomaru is, in fact, looking for the creatures that chain the soul and cart it off to the after life. In order to bring her back, he must slay the small monsters with the Tenseiga. Rin sits up in her seat upon Ah-Un and coaxes the beast a little closer in order to watch. She has yet to see how her lord restored her life to her, for which she is forever grateful.

 

At last, Sesshomaru swipes the sword across the prone form, and waits. A quiet and unnatural wind blows the woman's hair and rustles her odd clothes, and a moment later the blood at her mouth disappears and her limbs, which had been at a strange angle, straighten. Her skin becomes a little flush as her heart begins to beat. At last she sighs quietly, as if waking from a dream, though her eyes are slow to open.

 

~tsutzuku~

 

| Youkai - demon | taiyoukai = demon lord | mitsu tomoe - I'll get back to you on this. It looks like Yin-Yang but with another drop and no dots |  

 

Disclaimer: As this is “FanFiction” it is to be assumed that you are familiar with the anime/manga that is Rumiko Takahashi's Inuyasha (which I don't own, by the way).