InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Not in Kansas Anymore ❯ Chapter 1
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: battlewhore 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 12.03.2003 | Updated On: 12.03.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.9K | Visits: 183 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 12.03.2003 | Updated On: 12.03.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.9K | Visits: 183 | Status: Work In Progress
Author's note:
Hi! Thanks for giving my fic a try. I'd love if you reviewed too, but I won't hold the next chapter hostage. That said, I won't have the next chapter written for quite some time. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this story, soooo.. it'll probably be slow going. I'm also a busy college student. I'm warning you now, I may even leave this fic hanging, uncompleted. If that happens, I WILL post a note saying so. - bw
"Japanese"
<English>
gaijin - foreigner
Chapter One
Eirin's day had just gone from bad to worse. Her flight from New York to LA had been delayed for 6 hours, and not even the longest layover in the world would have allowed her to make the connecting flight from LA to Tokyo. She'd been forced to sleep on the hard benches in the airport, and had had nothing to eat but the overpriced, unappealing dreck served in all airport terminals. She'd left a message for her host family to tell them her new arrival time, but they must have missed it, because nobody had been there to pick her up. Given a map by a helpful woman at the information desk, she decided to call a taxi. Of course, with her luck, this meant there were none. At all. In a moment of the incredible overconfidence she was prone to, she decided that she was perfectly capable of walking through a strange city to a house she didn't know.
Obviously, she got lost. Hopelessly, utterly lost. Stumbling through a street of small markets, she purchased hot dumplings from a street vendor and decided that if she was going to be lost, she might as well make the best of it. She had changed about $100 into yen at the airport, and she began poking through rather shabby shops with the vague intent of finding a gift for her host family. Unfortunately, she didn't think something with "Made In China" stamped on the back was going to impress them, and was beginning to abandon the search when she found IT.
IT was a small, elegant, wooden bowl. Not immediately impressive, IT somehow drew the eye with it's simple form and delicate carving around the lip. IT seemed to almost glow with a warmth that spoke of the artisan's love for his craft.
Eirin wanted it. Taking it to the shopkeeper, she feigned lack of interest, and managed to bargain him down to about $40. Bowing as she left his store, her elation evaporated a little when she remembered that she was still hopelessly lost.
As a girl, Eirin had always dreamed of superpowers. Unfortunately, she was rather less spiritually aware than the average pebble. If things had been different, she might have seen the small glowing pink shard embedded in the bottom of the bowl. Even had she been able to see it, it is unlikely she would have known its true value. Perhaps it is just as well.
She kept wandering.
Soon she came to a small Shinto shrine. Crossing the gate, she breathed a deep sigh as the almost palpable calm settled over her. There was age here, and a stability completely unknown in the States. She walked over to the giant tree, resting her forehead against it's somehow comforting bark. It was like some sort of ancient guardian, watching over the shrine for the many centuries it had no doubt seen. With renewed energy, she walked to the small building with the open door, and down the steps. There seemed to be a well inside, and she peered over the edge before turning away. She froze at an almost-heard sound, and turned back to the well. Taking the step that would bring her again to it's edge, she tripped over something. Her scream as she fell over the side drowned out the sulky hiss of an overweight cat.
<FUUCCK!!!>
The scream resounded throughout the forest, and though it's inhabitants had never before heard this guttural, strange language, they knew enough to stay away.
Eirin pulled herself to her feet with an impressive growl. She fell silent as she noticed that there was no longer a ladder before her, or even a roof above her head. Conveniently, however, there were some strong vines. Eirin quirked her eyebrow.
<Obviously, I've hit my head, and am having some sort of hallucination. I know there was a building around this damn well.> She deliberately pinched her arm. HARD. <Ow! Well fuck. So much for this being a dream.> Settling her backpack firmly on her shoulders and wrapping the strap of her duffle-bag around her arm, she hauled herself out of the well. She didn't notice the souvenir bowl fall out of her bag, only to disappear as it hit the bottom of the well. <Forest. Of course. Because there's no reason I should still be in TOKYO!!> The last was screamed angrily to the sky. A few startled birds fluttered nervously away as her scream echoed back to her.
<All right. Hypothesis one: I came through this well, to ... somewhere . Hypothesis two: the well will take me home, if I jump back into it. Of course, if I'm wrong I'll probably break both my legs.> Taking a deep breath, she lowered herself down the side of the wall, and forced herself to let go.
*THUD* <OWW! FUCK!> She staggered to her feet. She wasn't sure how, but she'd managed to pull through without even a sprain. <Goddamnit. Hypothesis two was wrong.> She climbed back up the vines. Obviously, she'd just have to search until she found somebody who knew how to get home.
Setting down her bags, she dug through them until she found the knife she'd started carrying after she took it off an incompetent would-be mugger two years ago. Realizing that her khaki skirt and nice shoes weren't exactly suited for a trek through the woods, she slipped into a pair of loose olive green cargo pants and her special black combat boots with the 3 inch, spring-loaded blade in the right toe. Yet another convenient item to have when you frequently wandered the streets of NYC at night. <Really girl, you've GOTTA stop doing that. One day you'll get hurt, and how are you gonna dance if you've fucked up your body, huh? Just because you've got an adrenaline addiction...> Eirin could hear her best friend's voice playing in her head.
Settling her hat firmly, she noticed a problem. She didn't have the faintest idea where she should be going. <Heh. Like this is different from the entire day, how?> Spinning in a circle, she threw out her arm randomly. Shrugging her bags back onto her shoulders, she set off in that direction, hoping against hope that just maybe she'd encounter civilization.
*******************
Rin giggled as she splashed Jaken with the river water. She loved to watch him sputter angrily. On the shore, her Sesshoumaru-sama looked - well, he always looked blank, but right now it was impatient-blank, rather than the indulgent-blank he had started with. Finishing her bath quickly, she wrung out her hair and put on her kimono.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Rin is finished now!" He nodded, and they were about to walk off in the opposite direction when he stopped dead. "Sesshoumaru-sama?" She questioned.
He held up his hand for silence, and listened. Somewhere in his forest, something was making unusual noises. It didn't sound much like a demon, but it also didn't sound like any human he'd ever heard. Motioning for Rin to follow, he began walking in the direction of the strange noise.
********************
Resting in a small clearing in the forest, Eirin had turned on her cd player, and was singing along with the music.
<It doesn't matter what I say
so long as I sing with inflection
that makes you feel that I'll convey
some inner truth of vast reflection
But I've said nothing so far
and I can keep it up as long as it takes
and it don't matter who you are
if I'm doing my job then it's your resolve that breaks
Because the hook brings you back
I ain't telling you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely...>
Though her search for intelligent life had thus far been fruitless, the clearing was quite beautiful, and she had managed to dig out a Snickers bar to tide off the worst of her hunger pangs. As the mix cd she was listening to switched songs, she gave a little squeal of joy, kicked off her clunky boots, and leapt up from her seat beneath the tree.
<I need your arms around me
I need to feel your touch
I need your understanding
I need your love so much>
She began a modern dance she'd performed a year ago - full of anger and harsh movements.
<You tell me that you love me so
you tell me that you care
but when I need you (baby) baby
you're never there.
On the phone, long long distance
always through such strong resistance
first you say you're too busy
I wonder if you even miss me.>
Lost in the dance, she didn't have a chance in hell of noticing the quiet group who watched her from the shadows.
***********************
Sesshoumaru stopped at the edge of the clearing. The female - presumably human, though like none he'd seen before - was dancing, and singing in some foreign language. From somewhere he could hear a male voice, and invisible instruments. She hadn't noticed him yet, and until he got some answers as to exactly what she was, he intended to keep it that way.
He watched her. Her movements were entirely at odds with the emotions he could feel from her. Every motion spoke of pent-up anger and hurt, but he could see a slight smile playing on her lips. She flung herself to her knees, and collapsed backwards before lying still. Her singing stopped, as did that of the male he could not seem to smell, and the instruments. There was a faint click before another male voice, different this time, could be faintly heard, along with slower music. The faint smile on her face widened, and her back arched gracefully as she slowly lifted herself onto her hands, her feet pointed as she flipped herself over and lowered herself onto her knees. Before she could open her eyes to see him, he darted forward, and lifted her by the throat.
Looking into her shocked face, he calmly asked "Who are you? Why are you trespassing on this Sesshoumaru's land?"
She was frozen, caught completely unawares. The voice and players had not stopped, however, and he still couldn't smell them. He growled faintly, and she began struggling, her hands scrabbling at her neck, her bare feet kicking futilely. Her struggles knocked off her odd head covering, and he lifted one eyebrow in surprise as short, wild, and brilliantly blue hair was revealed. He also noticed an odd contraption that was fastened to her ears, and from which the other voices and music seemed to be coming.
She still had not answered him. He gave her a little shake to encourage her. The voices had changed again, to something with a quick rhythm and a high pitched female voice. It grated on his ears, so he grabbed the device around her head and attempted to rip it off.
It caught on something, and she screamed. Taken yet again by surprise, he dropped her at his feet, where she collapsed forward, shaking.
************************
Somehow, things had gone terribly wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. One minute, she'd been about to launch into another dance, when out of the blue a bizarre man with long white hair, amber eyes, face paint and a fur boa was strangling her. He snapped out a question, and it took her several long seconds to even register that he had spoken. Actually understanding him was far beyond her at the moment.
Struggling against his iron grip in a futile attempt to get some oxygen into her starved lungs, she accomplished nothing more than knocking off her hat. When he tried to pull off her earphones, they caught in her cartilage piercing and she screamed. He released her and she collapsed, coughing and rubbing her sore throat.
<What the hell is wrong with you, you fucker?> She yelled in English, before wincing at the strain on her throat. He continued to stare down at her, and she remembered that insulting the man who had just tried to kill her was probably a bad idea. Fortunately, English didn't seem to be familiar to him. She switched to Japanese, which had come back now that her life didn't seem to be in imminent danger.
"Can I help you?" Despite her best efforts, her tone remained insolent and angry.
"Who are you? Why are you trespassing on this Sesshoumaru's land?" His face remained absolutely still, but his voice contained irritation at being forced to repeat himself. Looking him over, she raised a single eyebrow at his dramatic appearance. Long silver hair, red and white traditional-looking outfit, the two swords, and the extremely long, furry ... thing ... draped over his shoulder. He was missing his left arm, and the markings she had earlier taken for face paint seem more like tattoos from this angle.
Very carefully, she stood. Untangling her headphones from her earring, she reached into the knee pocket of her cargo pants and turned of the cd player. "My name is Eirin. I'm lost." She tried to make her tone a little less confrontational, but even she could tell that she wasn't too successful. She had backed up enough to give a small bow from the waist. He did not return her courtesy, which made her, if anything even angrier.
Contemptuously, he looked her over - spiky blue hair, now disheveled clothing that was most definitely not like his, and bare feet. "Where are your companions? Take them and leave my lands."
Eirin was baffled. Companions? "What? I have no companions." <What you see is what you get...> She added the muttered phrase in English, not really caring that he wouldn't understand.
"Some were playing instruments, and others were singing. Where are they?" She could tell he was getting irritated, but it still didn't show on his face.
"Oh, you mean my cd player?" she was puzzled. Had he never seen one before? He'd tried to rip off her headphones, so he obviously noticed it. As his eyebrows shifted ever so slightly towards a frown, she hastily grabbed it out of her pocket and held it towards him. Unfortunately, he seemed to take this as an attack, and she was again grabbed by her throat.
"Please... I can't .." He was cutting off her air supply again. She held the player out to him in a desperate attempt to show him that it was harmless. He released her, and this time she managed to land on her feet. "I have no companions, I was merely listening to my cd player."
"What do you mean? How does that object contain voices?" She looked at him, startled again. This was just getting surreal.
"Well.... You put this on your ears - " she held out the earphones, speaking as though to a very small child. When he didn't take them, she very carefully positioned them on his head. As she did so, she couldn't help but notice that his ears were oddly pointed. Perhaps if she ignored that, it would just go away. She turned her attention to the player. "Um.. and then you put a cd inside, you press the button, and music plays." She opened the player to show him the cd, before turning it on. Carefully, she turned down the volume from her normal earsplitting level and picked a quiet Celtic instrumental song before pressing play. When the music came on, he reared back from her, and for the first time she saw an actual expression on his face. It was not a good one, and she fumbled to turn off the music. "I... I... I'm sorry...? Was it too loud?" She stuttered hesitantly, shrinking away from the growling man and the pained/angry/startled look on his face.
"Sesshoumaru-sama? Are you alright?" Eirin's gaze snapped from his face to that off an .... adorable little girl? Who had somehow escaped her attention, and was accompanied by some sort of vile.... toadlike... thing.
<What the hell?> She had slipped back into English without noticing. That thing, whatever it was, was definitely not human. Unable to cope anymore with the bizarre twists her life had taken in the last 48 hours, her body and mind gave up, and she slipped into unconsciousness.
**********************
Actually startled for the first time in a VERY long time, he absently answered his ward. "Yes Rin. I am fine."
Sesshoumaru cautiously reached up to the device still around his head and removed it. Music had come from it - different this time. It had not been overly unpleasant, but it had been extremely loud. Putting it aside for the moment, he looked at the blue haired girl lying at his feet. She was obviously a foreigner of some sort, and he if she had such fantastical new tools as the music player, he certainly didn't trust her wandering around his territory. Casting an eye around the clearing he saw two odd bags. Even from this far away he could smell her on them, as well as a multitude of scents he couldn't place.
"Jaken. Get her bags. Come Rin." Reaching down with his right hand, he grabbed the loose fabric of the gaijin's odd clothing. Holding her unconscious form slightly away from his body, he gathered his ki, and flew them home.
**a few hours later**
After dropping the girl into the capable hands of one of his servants, with the instructions to inform him if she regained consciousness, he left for his study. He had no idea where this girl might have come from, and spending several hours in close proximity to her only reinforced his confusion.
To start with, she didn't smell like the average peasant. She was obviously much cleaner, but she also didn't smell like the average clean peasant. There were spicy food smells - those were the easiest to place, even if he couldn't identify exactly what kind of food it had been. Stranger were the many bitter, acrid smells that reminded him a little of the smithies he'd passed in villages. Yes... she smells of metal and fire... The final, most bizarre scent was completely unidentifiable. It spoke to him of distant lands and places he couldn't begin to imagine.
A gentle tap focused his thoughts on the youkai in the doorway.
"Sesshoumaru-sama. The human is awake, and nervous. We cannot calm her, our appearance seems to alarm her."
Growling, he stood, and followed the servant to the library where they had put the girl. Pausing in the doorway, he could see her huddled in the farthest corner, eyes squeezed tightly shut. "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Just a dream. Wake up." He could hear her mutterings, though he didn't know why she would react this way, and watched as she slammed her head violently back against the wall again and again. He waited for her to notice him, but she didn't open her eyes.
"Girl. Where are you from?" Her eyes snapped to him, and her mouth worked soundlessly for a few moments.
"A..america. I'm from America. What's going on? Where am I?" The question was spoken with a dazed sort of urgency.
"What is this ... 'America' of which you speak?" He had never heard of such a land, despite traveling all of Japan, it's islands, and even much of the western mainland.
She let out a dazed giggle. "Hehe... west of here... very west... but also east, y'know.... depending..." Her bizarre response angered him. How could something be both west AND east? That would be like claiming something was both cold and hot, or wet and dry.
"Stop babbling. Something cannot be both west and east. Tell this Sesshoumaru truthfully: where is your land?" He towered over her, and slowly her daze was replaced with anger.
"God dammit, I don't know! I'm lost! How can I tell you how to get to my home if I don't even know where I am?!" Her outburst took him rather by surprise, and in response, he pulled a map from its storage place and unrolled it before her.
"Show this Sesshoumaru your land."
***********************
He just wouldn't fucking give up. This latest attempt, with the map, was almost laughable. There was a rather deformed looking Japan filling most of the map, with only the very edge of China to the west. Well, at least she still seemed to be in Japan somewhere. Though the language was a big clue, this Sesshoumaru person had been so taken aback by a simple cd player she really hadn't been quite sure. Not to mention the bizarre, inhuman creatures that surrounded her. Pulling herself shakily to her feet, she walked away from the map, nearly all the way across the room, to stand where America would be if the map continued beyond it's edges.
"Here. America is here, across the ocean." She looked at the disbelieving expression on his face, and sighed. "Fine, whatever. Why am I here? Are you some sort of suspicious creep I should be running from? Are these things robots? If you've got robots with AI, why didn't you recognize my cd player? And what the hell happened to Tokyo?" Looking around the room, she saw her bags, and sighed with relief. "Yes! My bags! I'm starving!" She ran to them, and dug frantically for another of the Snickers bars she knew was in there. She found it just as her stomach growled impressively. Ripping open the package, she bit into the bar with gusto, slumping against her bag.
"Girl - "
"Eirin." She cut him off before he could continue. "My name is Eirin Swift." She saw him take a deep, no doubt calming breath, before continuing.
"Eirin Swift." She had to give him credit - he didn't stumble at all over her foreign name. Of course, there was also that incredibly cold tone to his voice. "There is nothing beyond the great ocean. Tell this Sesshoumaru now, where are you from, who are you, what are you?"
She sighed, and put aside her half finished Snickers. Digging through her bag again, she pulled out the large map of the world she had intended to put up on the wall of her new room. In the process she managed to dump out several books, some more candy bars, some clothing, and her ballet shoes. She shoved them carelessly aside before unfolding the map. It was about 4' x 8', and was the kind that kept everything in nearly the right proportion. Seeing that he had somehow moved to stand behind her without her notice, she drew a circle with her finger around Japan.
"Your map shows here." Shifting the map slightly, she pointed to the US. "This is America. I am from New York, which is here. My name is Eirin Swift, I am a dancer."
Crouching before the map, he stopped her from folding it back up again. Watching him study the map was only slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, so she picked up a book from the floor and began to read. Without thinking, she began her stretches. She didn't notice when his attention shifted from the map back to her, standing on her left leg, book in front of her in her left hand, as she pulled her right leg straight above her head. Carefully keeping her balance, she bent forward and arched her back, curling her leg up and behind her until her foot touched the crown of her head. Slowly she lowered her leg, switched her book to her right hand, and repeated the stretch on the other side. Finally, she lowered herself gently into the side-splits and pressed her chest and stomach into the floor. Suddenly, a hand snatched the book away from her, and she looked angrily up at Sesshoumaru. "Can I help you?" She snapped irritably.
"What are you doing?"
Eirin sighed, feeling very put-upon. "I'm stretching." When he didn't look satisfied with that answer, she continued. "You were busy with the map, I was bored. When I'm bored, I have a tendency to stretch. May I have my book back now?" After flipping through the book, he handed it back before walking silently out of the room.
*******************
Sesshoumaru didn't know quite what to make of the strange human. That map - it seemed there was much more to the world than he had ever before imagined. If the odd format was anything to go by, it even appeared that the artist was trying to imply the world was round! More importantly, he knew intimately how large Japan was. Most humans had never been from one side to the other, much less to the large mainland west of Japan. This gaijin claimed that she came from a fantastical distance away. Such a journey would be fraught with unimaginable dangers, not to mention the risks inherent in crossing even the smaller ocean. Redirecting his train of thought, he remembered the material the map was painted on. It was slick, the material of an even quality, and the painting was crisp and extremely detailed. He had guessed that the strange black symbols were foreign writing, and the similar characters in that 'book' he'd flipped through only served to confirm that. Again, they were unlike any form of writing he had ever seen, ugly and blockish.
Thinking of the 'book' brought his mind back to the human's odd behavior. That she could read at all was impressive. Her movements, however, were unsettling. The way she could split her legs like that! Ugh! He allowed himself a slight mental shudder. It simply wasn't natural for a body to bend in such a way.
Nor had he neglected to notice the other things that had come from her bag. Several of those 'books,' with their oddly even pages and bright colored covers. More of the indecent clothing she wore without shame. Two black and satiny ... things ... tied together with ribbon. A couple of bars similar to the one she had ripped open and eaten as if it were food, though not like any food he was familiar with.
"Jaken. Have the human girl moved to a small sleeping chamber." He would ponder her a while longer before either sending her on her way or killing her, should her tools pose a threat to his land.
"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama!" The toad scurried away.
Hmm. That reminded him. The girl seemed unfamiliar with lower youkai, and somehow less than suitably afraid of him. What was she saying? Ro-bots? Aay-eye? Could she possibly not realize that he was far more deadly than any of those she seemed so alarmed by? Indeed, it was only after Rin and Jaken appeared that she fainted. What had she been chanting as he came in? Something about dreams, and waking.
Shaking the human from his thoughts, he settled behind his table, and got back to the extremely boring task of running the western lands.
Some time later, an unexpected noise registered. Biting back an irritated growl, he listened more closely. Clickity-clickity click click CLICK! Clickity clickity STOMP click clickity clickity clickity click. This new, irritating development could only be caused by that human. Letting the growl escape this time, he went to shut her up. Permanently, perhaps, if he chose to release his temper. The day had been long. Perhaps he deserved it.
*********************
Eirin put her book down. Since the odd man, who seemed to be named Sesshoumaru, had handed it back to her, she hadn't really even looked at it. Suddenly that little toad thing ran back in. I don't care what it is, it doesn't matter. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. It's just a robot or something. This lovely plan was working until it began picking up her bags.
"Hey! Put my things down, you freakish little midget! Hands off!"
"Sesshoumaru-sama has instructed us to move your things to another room." This voice belonged to a rather wispy looking creature who knelt before her.
"Fine. I'll move my stuff." Shoving her things back into her bags, she shouldered them. "Lead on."
The room they took her to was nothing special. Smallish, with few decorations of any kind, and only the door at the other end showed any promise for future exploration.
"Stay here. If you attempt to leave, Sesshoumaru-sama will be most displeased." With that, they left. Leaving her alone in her new, empty room.
Kicking her boots into a corner, she considered for a moment. Gentle, or aggressive? With the day she'd had, she wasn't sure she'd be able to dance any way BUT aggressively. She exchanged her cargo pants for some clingy, stretchy black capris, her coat and white silk blouse for a tight black tank top, and pulled out her black tap heels. The wooden floor would be rather scuffed, but she really wasn't in a charitable enough mood to care.
The taps clicked crisply against the floor as she set her earphones firmly on her head and clipped the player to her belt. Turning it on, she picked a fast paced swing piece, closed her eyes, and began. The angry click of the metal was soothing, and she threw herself into the improvised dance, pouring out all her frustration and confusion at her current situation.
How did these things happen to her? Back in NYC, her life had been pleasantly boring. Throughout high school, she'd always been a little different - fiercely dedicated to ballet and all other forms of dancing, she nonetheless was anything but preppy or straight arrow. She'd meshed easily with the punk and goth crowds, and had taken to dying her hair whenever the mood struck. So far, she'd gone through black, purple, forest green, blood red with midnight blue tips, and was currently a brilliant blue. She'd been learning Japanese for a long time, and last spring she'd applied for her school's study-abroad program. Indeed, the only problem she'd had at home was her addiction to risky situations. She'd often gone wandering the streets of NYC late at night. "Trolling for muggers" was what her friend Kyle called it - and indeed, she'd taken care of several blundered attempts. She'd even been successfully mugged occasionally - she had an eye for which ones were competent, and when she ran into a smart one, she didn't fight it. Instead, she averted her eyes, and submissively handed them her decoy wallet - it had no credit cards or personal items, and only held about $10, some loose change, and some old receipts to make it look realistic. The instant their attention shifted to her wallet, she darted away and ran as fast as she could. All three times they'd been satisfied that she was simply a bad mark, and too quick on her feet to be worth catching.
The music had shifted to something slower, and so had her dance. Feeling eyes on her, she turned, almost expecting to see Sesshoumaru. Instead, the cute little girl from the forest was peering around the door, her eyes wide in amazement.
Eirin stopped her dance, took off her headphones, and walked over to the girl. Kneeling down so they were the same height, she smiled. "My name is Eirin. Who are you?"
"Rin's name is Rin!" The girl seemed to have the cutest habit of speaking in the third person. "What were you doing?" The little girl had probably never seen tap dancing before, if the rest of the household was anything to go by. Eirin stood.
"It's called tap dancing. See these pieces of metal on my shoes? They click on the floor, and I use that to make interesting sounds." She demonstrated the most basic of tap steps, and watched as Rin's eyes widened. She continued to demonstrate for a bit, but stopped when she noticed Rin's interest flagging.
"Hey Rin. You hungry? 'Cause I'm starving. Want some chocolate?"
"Chocolate?"
Eirin was again amazed by what these people didn't know. Didn't everybody eat chocolate? "It's sweet. You'll like it. Here." She held out part of a Hershey bar to the little girl. "How old are you, Rin?"
"Rin doesn't know." She took a little nibble of the chocolate. Her eyes widened, and with a smile, she took a biiig bite. Eirin laughed.
"I knew you'd love it. Here, have the rest of this one. I've got lots more." She made it a policy to always carry a great deal of chocolate with her on trips - she often got hungry, and there was nothing better than chocolate to quiet any small crying children that might be near.
Rin's eyes focused on something over her shoulder, and Eirin turned to see Sesshoumaru.
Feeling a little nervous from his steady gaze, and the expression of somebody who was extremely irritated but not used to showing it, she fell back into an old habit she thought she'd broken herself of.
***********************
He could sense her anxiety. He had expected this, and it was justified - her actions had disturbed him, and he had been known on many occasions to eliminate irritations in a very permanent way. What he hadn't expected was the knuckle popping. As four of the knuckles on her right hand popped at once, he shuddered involuntarily. He hated that sound.
"Stop that."
"Stop what?" She'd moved on, and he watched with sick fascination as she popped her wrists. She followed his gaze, and blushed. "Oh, sorry." Twisting her wrists again reflexively, they popped again. His irritation grew.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
This seemed to be the wrong tactic. Glaring at him insolently, she popped her wrists again . Then, to his astonishment, she twisted her neck to either side, releasing two more sickening snapping sounds. For a finale, she arched her back to the right. Rather than just one pop, this caused a whole string of cracking noises. She repeated this to the left, and then sat there, almost daring him punish her.
Part of him was irritated - how dare she deliberately disobey him? Another part was fascinated - how did she DO that?
Shaking those thoughts aside, he decided to ignore that unpleasant development. "You will cease the racket you were making earlier. Do not disturb my work again." He began to leave, but turned back around when he heard more of those clicks. She was standing now, and he took in her new outfit. He hadn't thought she could get any more indecent than her earlier clothing, but she had proved him wrong. Her leg coverings stopped just below her knees, and clung snugly to her form. Her top was thin, cut low on her bosom and bared entirely too much skin. No longer barefoot, she wore shoes of black leather with an odd, raised heel. She was walking back to her bags, her shoes clicking with every step. He could see shiny pieces of metal on the heel and toe.
"Girl. Why do you have shoes that deliberately make such noises?" Even with her back to him, he could see her take a deep, calming breath.
"Eirin. It's not that challenging. And as for the shoes, they are tap shoes. I only wear them while tap dancing - they are not for every day use."
It had been a very long time since somebody had insulted him and survived. Fortunately for Eirin, he was still intrigued by her shoes. "Demonstrate."
Eirin looked at him, disbelieving, then shrugged. Reaching to the device on her belt - what had she called it? Ah yes, a 'see-dee player' - she pressed something, and settled the earpieces around her neck, rather than on her head. He watched as she waited for several beats of the fast paced music. Ka-clickity clickity clickity click! He focused on her feet, amazed at how nimbly she moved, and at the wide variety of sounds and combinations she could use those pieces of metal to make.
A giggle drew his gaze to Rin. She was staring at the gaijin, her face and hands smeared with something brown. Noting absently that the human had stopped dancing, her spoke. "You will not dance in such a manner while this Sesshoumaru is here." Ignoring her astonished face, he turned to Rin. "Rin. Wash yourself."
"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama!" She ran immediately from the room, and he turned to leave.
"She's a sweet little girl. Is she your daughter?" The question astonished him. Did she actually think him ... human?
Turning back to her, he allowed his eyes to glow red, and poison to gather at his claws. Her eyes widened, and he grabbed her with his tail. Shaking her a little, he growled. "Do not tempt this Sesshoumaru to kill you, human. This Sesshoumaru is the taiyoukai of the Western Lands. Humans are nothing to me." Dropping her, he again turned to leave.
"Sesshoumaru." It was the gaijin. Again. She was standing by her bags, and walked aggressively towards him. He raised a mental eyebrow at her sudden change in attitude. She kept coming until she was mere inches from him, and wrapped her fist in his clothing. Curious, he forced himself not to kill her for her insolence just yet.
Tugging his clothing until he bent closer to her face, she glared angrily mere inches away from him.
"I do not know you, and I do not know your precise relationship with Rin. For now, I am giving you the benefit of the doubt. Know this: if I ever discover that you have hurt her, or touched her in any perverted way, I will castrate you."
He could feel the blunt edge of a knife pressing into his crotch, and realized what she was implying. Growling, he grabbed her by the throat and threw her across the room. The knife she had managed to hide from him flew from her hand to skitter across the room. His eyes were red again, and a steady rumble came from his chest. The gaijin clutched her head where it had hit the wall, and moaned. He stalked over to her, and lifted her by her throat.
"Do not attempt to threaten this Sesshoumaru. There will be no second warning." He dropped her, and stormed angrily out of the room.
How DARE she imply such a thing? He, the great taiyoukai of the Western Lands, would never stoop to having relations with a human . Even were Rin a youkai, she was far too young. Though he had known demons with such tastes, their actions disgusted him.
Gliding gracefully from his home, he stalked into the forest. Angry at himself for allowing a human to draw a weapon without his notice. Angry at the human for implying such filthy things. Angrier still at the confusion he felt every time the human produced another bizarre device or skill.
Perhaps he would kill something. Something small, furry, and harmless.
Hi! Thanks for giving my fic a try. I'd love if you reviewed too, but I won't hold the next chapter hostage. That said, I won't have the next chapter written for quite some time. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this story, soooo.. it'll probably be slow going. I'm also a busy college student. I'm warning you now, I may even leave this fic hanging, uncompleted. If that happens, I WILL post a note saying so. - bw
"Japanese"
<English>
gaijin - foreigner
Chapter One
Eirin's day had just gone from bad to worse. Her flight from New York to LA had been delayed for 6 hours, and not even the longest layover in the world would have allowed her to make the connecting flight from LA to Tokyo. She'd been forced to sleep on the hard benches in the airport, and had had nothing to eat but the overpriced, unappealing dreck served in all airport terminals. She'd left a message for her host family to tell them her new arrival time, but they must have missed it, because nobody had been there to pick her up. Given a map by a helpful woman at the information desk, she decided to call a taxi. Of course, with her luck, this meant there were none. At all. In a moment of the incredible overconfidence she was prone to, she decided that she was perfectly capable of walking through a strange city to a house she didn't know.
Obviously, she got lost. Hopelessly, utterly lost. Stumbling through a street of small markets, she purchased hot dumplings from a street vendor and decided that if she was going to be lost, she might as well make the best of it. She had changed about $100 into yen at the airport, and she began poking through rather shabby shops with the vague intent of finding a gift for her host family. Unfortunately, she didn't think something with "Made In China" stamped on the back was going to impress them, and was beginning to abandon the search when she found IT.
IT was a small, elegant, wooden bowl. Not immediately impressive, IT somehow drew the eye with it's simple form and delicate carving around the lip. IT seemed to almost glow with a warmth that spoke of the artisan's love for his craft.
Eirin wanted it. Taking it to the shopkeeper, she feigned lack of interest, and managed to bargain him down to about $40. Bowing as she left his store, her elation evaporated a little when she remembered that she was still hopelessly lost.
As a girl, Eirin had always dreamed of superpowers. Unfortunately, she was rather less spiritually aware than the average pebble. If things had been different, she might have seen the small glowing pink shard embedded in the bottom of the bowl. Even had she been able to see it, it is unlikely she would have known its true value. Perhaps it is just as well.
She kept wandering.
Soon she came to a small Shinto shrine. Crossing the gate, she breathed a deep sigh as the almost palpable calm settled over her. There was age here, and a stability completely unknown in the States. She walked over to the giant tree, resting her forehead against it's somehow comforting bark. It was like some sort of ancient guardian, watching over the shrine for the many centuries it had no doubt seen. With renewed energy, she walked to the small building with the open door, and down the steps. There seemed to be a well inside, and she peered over the edge before turning away. She froze at an almost-heard sound, and turned back to the well. Taking the step that would bring her again to it's edge, she tripped over something. Her scream as she fell over the side drowned out the sulky hiss of an overweight cat.
<FUUCCK!!!>
The scream resounded throughout the forest, and though it's inhabitants had never before heard this guttural, strange language, they knew enough to stay away.
Eirin pulled herself to her feet with an impressive growl. She fell silent as she noticed that there was no longer a ladder before her, or even a roof above her head. Conveniently, however, there were some strong vines. Eirin quirked her eyebrow.
<Obviously, I've hit my head, and am having some sort of hallucination. I know there was a building around this damn well.> She deliberately pinched her arm. HARD. <Ow! Well fuck. So much for this being a dream.> Settling her backpack firmly on her shoulders and wrapping the strap of her duffle-bag around her arm, she hauled herself out of the well. She didn't notice the souvenir bowl fall out of her bag, only to disappear as it hit the bottom of the well. <Forest. Of course. Because there's no reason I should still be in TOKYO!!> The last was screamed angrily to the sky. A few startled birds fluttered nervously away as her scream echoed back to her.
<All right. Hypothesis one: I came through this well, to ... somewhere . Hypothesis two: the well will take me home, if I jump back into it. Of course, if I'm wrong I'll probably break both my legs.> Taking a deep breath, she lowered herself down the side of the wall, and forced herself to let go.
*THUD* <OWW! FUCK!> She staggered to her feet. She wasn't sure how, but she'd managed to pull through without even a sprain. <Goddamnit. Hypothesis two was wrong.> She climbed back up the vines. Obviously, she'd just have to search until she found somebody who knew how to get home.
Setting down her bags, she dug through them until she found the knife she'd started carrying after she took it off an incompetent would-be mugger two years ago. Realizing that her khaki skirt and nice shoes weren't exactly suited for a trek through the woods, she slipped into a pair of loose olive green cargo pants and her special black combat boots with the 3 inch, spring-loaded blade in the right toe. Yet another convenient item to have when you frequently wandered the streets of NYC at night. <Really girl, you've GOTTA stop doing that. One day you'll get hurt, and how are you gonna dance if you've fucked up your body, huh? Just because you've got an adrenaline addiction...> Eirin could hear her best friend's voice playing in her head.
Settling her hat firmly, she noticed a problem. She didn't have the faintest idea where she should be going. <Heh. Like this is different from the entire day, how?> Spinning in a circle, she threw out her arm randomly. Shrugging her bags back onto her shoulders, she set off in that direction, hoping against hope that just maybe she'd encounter civilization.
*******************
Rin giggled as she splashed Jaken with the river water. She loved to watch him sputter angrily. On the shore, her Sesshoumaru-sama looked - well, he always looked blank, but right now it was impatient-blank, rather than the indulgent-blank he had started with. Finishing her bath quickly, she wrung out her hair and put on her kimono.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Rin is finished now!" He nodded, and they were about to walk off in the opposite direction when he stopped dead. "Sesshoumaru-sama?" She questioned.
He held up his hand for silence, and listened. Somewhere in his forest, something was making unusual noises. It didn't sound much like a demon, but it also didn't sound like any human he'd ever heard. Motioning for Rin to follow, he began walking in the direction of the strange noise.
********************
Resting in a small clearing in the forest, Eirin had turned on her cd player, and was singing along with the music.
<It doesn't matter what I say
so long as I sing with inflection
that makes you feel that I'll convey
some inner truth of vast reflection
But I've said nothing so far
and I can keep it up as long as it takes
and it don't matter who you are
if I'm doing my job then it's your resolve that breaks
Because the hook brings you back
I ain't telling you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely...>
Though her search for intelligent life had thus far been fruitless, the clearing was quite beautiful, and she had managed to dig out a Snickers bar to tide off the worst of her hunger pangs. As the mix cd she was listening to switched songs, she gave a little squeal of joy, kicked off her clunky boots, and leapt up from her seat beneath the tree.
<I need your arms around me
I need to feel your touch
I need your understanding
I need your love so much>
She began a modern dance she'd performed a year ago - full of anger and harsh movements.
<You tell me that you love me so
you tell me that you care
but when I need you (baby) baby
you're never there.
On the phone, long long distance
always through such strong resistance
first you say you're too busy
I wonder if you even miss me.>
Lost in the dance, she didn't have a chance in hell of noticing the quiet group who watched her from the shadows.
***********************
Sesshoumaru stopped at the edge of the clearing. The female - presumably human, though like none he'd seen before - was dancing, and singing in some foreign language. From somewhere he could hear a male voice, and invisible instruments. She hadn't noticed him yet, and until he got some answers as to exactly what she was, he intended to keep it that way.
He watched her. Her movements were entirely at odds with the emotions he could feel from her. Every motion spoke of pent-up anger and hurt, but he could see a slight smile playing on her lips. She flung herself to her knees, and collapsed backwards before lying still. Her singing stopped, as did that of the male he could not seem to smell, and the instruments. There was a faint click before another male voice, different this time, could be faintly heard, along with slower music. The faint smile on her face widened, and her back arched gracefully as she slowly lifted herself onto her hands, her feet pointed as she flipped herself over and lowered herself onto her knees. Before she could open her eyes to see him, he darted forward, and lifted her by the throat.
Looking into her shocked face, he calmly asked "Who are you? Why are you trespassing on this Sesshoumaru's land?"
She was frozen, caught completely unawares. The voice and players had not stopped, however, and he still couldn't smell them. He growled faintly, and she began struggling, her hands scrabbling at her neck, her bare feet kicking futilely. Her struggles knocked off her odd head covering, and he lifted one eyebrow in surprise as short, wild, and brilliantly blue hair was revealed. He also noticed an odd contraption that was fastened to her ears, and from which the other voices and music seemed to be coming.
She still had not answered him. He gave her a little shake to encourage her. The voices had changed again, to something with a quick rhythm and a high pitched female voice. It grated on his ears, so he grabbed the device around her head and attempted to rip it off.
It caught on something, and she screamed. Taken yet again by surprise, he dropped her at his feet, where she collapsed forward, shaking.
************************
Somehow, things had gone terribly wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. One minute, she'd been about to launch into another dance, when out of the blue a bizarre man with long white hair, amber eyes, face paint and a fur boa was strangling her. He snapped out a question, and it took her several long seconds to even register that he had spoken. Actually understanding him was far beyond her at the moment.
Struggling against his iron grip in a futile attempt to get some oxygen into her starved lungs, she accomplished nothing more than knocking off her hat. When he tried to pull off her earphones, they caught in her cartilage piercing and she screamed. He released her and she collapsed, coughing and rubbing her sore throat.
<What the hell is wrong with you, you fucker?> She yelled in English, before wincing at the strain on her throat. He continued to stare down at her, and she remembered that insulting the man who had just tried to kill her was probably a bad idea. Fortunately, English didn't seem to be familiar to him. She switched to Japanese, which had come back now that her life didn't seem to be in imminent danger.
"Can I help you?" Despite her best efforts, her tone remained insolent and angry.
"Who are you? Why are you trespassing on this Sesshoumaru's land?" His face remained absolutely still, but his voice contained irritation at being forced to repeat himself. Looking him over, she raised a single eyebrow at his dramatic appearance. Long silver hair, red and white traditional-looking outfit, the two swords, and the extremely long, furry ... thing ... draped over his shoulder. He was missing his left arm, and the markings she had earlier taken for face paint seem more like tattoos from this angle.
Very carefully, she stood. Untangling her headphones from her earring, she reached into the knee pocket of her cargo pants and turned of the cd player. "My name is Eirin. I'm lost." She tried to make her tone a little less confrontational, but even she could tell that she wasn't too successful. She had backed up enough to give a small bow from the waist. He did not return her courtesy, which made her, if anything even angrier.
Contemptuously, he looked her over - spiky blue hair, now disheveled clothing that was most definitely not like his, and bare feet. "Where are your companions? Take them and leave my lands."
Eirin was baffled. Companions? "What? I have no companions." <What you see is what you get...> She added the muttered phrase in English, not really caring that he wouldn't understand.
"Some were playing instruments, and others were singing. Where are they?" She could tell he was getting irritated, but it still didn't show on his face.
"Oh, you mean my cd player?" she was puzzled. Had he never seen one before? He'd tried to rip off her headphones, so he obviously noticed it. As his eyebrows shifted ever so slightly towards a frown, she hastily grabbed it out of her pocket and held it towards him. Unfortunately, he seemed to take this as an attack, and she was again grabbed by her throat.
"Please... I can't .." He was cutting off her air supply again. She held the player out to him in a desperate attempt to show him that it was harmless. He released her, and this time she managed to land on her feet. "I have no companions, I was merely listening to my cd player."
"What do you mean? How does that object contain voices?" She looked at him, startled again. This was just getting surreal.
"Well.... You put this on your ears - " she held out the earphones, speaking as though to a very small child. When he didn't take them, she very carefully positioned them on his head. As she did so, she couldn't help but notice that his ears were oddly pointed. Perhaps if she ignored that, it would just go away. She turned her attention to the player. "Um.. and then you put a cd inside, you press the button, and music plays." She opened the player to show him the cd, before turning it on. Carefully, she turned down the volume from her normal earsplitting level and picked a quiet Celtic instrumental song before pressing play. When the music came on, he reared back from her, and for the first time she saw an actual expression on his face. It was not a good one, and she fumbled to turn off the music. "I... I... I'm sorry...? Was it too loud?" She stuttered hesitantly, shrinking away from the growling man and the pained/angry/startled look on his face.
"Sesshoumaru-sama? Are you alright?" Eirin's gaze snapped from his face to that off an .... adorable little girl? Who had somehow escaped her attention, and was accompanied by some sort of vile.... toadlike... thing.
<What the hell?> She had slipped back into English without noticing. That thing, whatever it was, was definitely not human. Unable to cope anymore with the bizarre twists her life had taken in the last 48 hours, her body and mind gave up, and she slipped into unconsciousness.
**********************
Actually startled for the first time in a VERY long time, he absently answered his ward. "Yes Rin. I am fine."
Sesshoumaru cautiously reached up to the device still around his head and removed it. Music had come from it - different this time. It had not been overly unpleasant, but it had been extremely loud. Putting it aside for the moment, he looked at the blue haired girl lying at his feet. She was obviously a foreigner of some sort, and he if she had such fantastical new tools as the music player, he certainly didn't trust her wandering around his territory. Casting an eye around the clearing he saw two odd bags. Even from this far away he could smell her on them, as well as a multitude of scents he couldn't place.
"Jaken. Get her bags. Come Rin." Reaching down with his right hand, he grabbed the loose fabric of the gaijin's odd clothing. Holding her unconscious form slightly away from his body, he gathered his ki, and flew them home.
**a few hours later**
After dropping the girl into the capable hands of one of his servants, with the instructions to inform him if she regained consciousness, he left for his study. He had no idea where this girl might have come from, and spending several hours in close proximity to her only reinforced his confusion.
To start with, she didn't smell like the average peasant. She was obviously much cleaner, but she also didn't smell like the average clean peasant. There were spicy food smells - those were the easiest to place, even if he couldn't identify exactly what kind of food it had been. Stranger were the many bitter, acrid smells that reminded him a little of the smithies he'd passed in villages. Yes... she smells of metal and fire... The final, most bizarre scent was completely unidentifiable. It spoke to him of distant lands and places he couldn't begin to imagine.
A gentle tap focused his thoughts on the youkai in the doorway.
"Sesshoumaru-sama. The human is awake, and nervous. We cannot calm her, our appearance seems to alarm her."
Growling, he stood, and followed the servant to the library where they had put the girl. Pausing in the doorway, he could see her huddled in the farthest corner, eyes squeezed tightly shut. "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Just a dream. Wake up." He could hear her mutterings, though he didn't know why she would react this way, and watched as she slammed her head violently back against the wall again and again. He waited for her to notice him, but she didn't open her eyes.
"Girl. Where are you from?" Her eyes snapped to him, and her mouth worked soundlessly for a few moments.
"A..america. I'm from America. What's going on? Where am I?" The question was spoken with a dazed sort of urgency.
"What is this ... 'America' of which you speak?" He had never heard of such a land, despite traveling all of Japan, it's islands, and even much of the western mainland.
She let out a dazed giggle. "Hehe... west of here... very west... but also east, y'know.... depending..." Her bizarre response angered him. How could something be both west AND east? That would be like claiming something was both cold and hot, or wet and dry.
"Stop babbling. Something cannot be both west and east. Tell this Sesshoumaru truthfully: where is your land?" He towered over her, and slowly her daze was replaced with anger.
"God dammit, I don't know! I'm lost! How can I tell you how to get to my home if I don't even know where I am?!" Her outburst took him rather by surprise, and in response, he pulled a map from its storage place and unrolled it before her.
"Show this Sesshoumaru your land."
***********************
He just wouldn't fucking give up. This latest attempt, with the map, was almost laughable. There was a rather deformed looking Japan filling most of the map, with only the very edge of China to the west. Well, at least she still seemed to be in Japan somewhere. Though the language was a big clue, this Sesshoumaru person had been so taken aback by a simple cd player she really hadn't been quite sure. Not to mention the bizarre, inhuman creatures that surrounded her. Pulling herself shakily to her feet, she walked away from the map, nearly all the way across the room, to stand where America would be if the map continued beyond it's edges.
"Here. America is here, across the ocean." She looked at the disbelieving expression on his face, and sighed. "Fine, whatever. Why am I here? Are you some sort of suspicious creep I should be running from? Are these things robots? If you've got robots with AI, why didn't you recognize my cd player? And what the hell happened to Tokyo?" Looking around the room, she saw her bags, and sighed with relief. "Yes! My bags! I'm starving!" She ran to them, and dug frantically for another of the Snickers bars she knew was in there. She found it just as her stomach growled impressively. Ripping open the package, she bit into the bar with gusto, slumping against her bag.
"Girl - "
"Eirin." She cut him off before he could continue. "My name is Eirin Swift." She saw him take a deep, no doubt calming breath, before continuing.
"Eirin Swift." She had to give him credit - he didn't stumble at all over her foreign name. Of course, there was also that incredibly cold tone to his voice. "There is nothing beyond the great ocean. Tell this Sesshoumaru now, where are you from, who are you, what are you?"
She sighed, and put aside her half finished Snickers. Digging through her bag again, she pulled out the large map of the world she had intended to put up on the wall of her new room. In the process she managed to dump out several books, some more candy bars, some clothing, and her ballet shoes. She shoved them carelessly aside before unfolding the map. It was about 4' x 8', and was the kind that kept everything in nearly the right proportion. Seeing that he had somehow moved to stand behind her without her notice, she drew a circle with her finger around Japan.
"Your map shows here." Shifting the map slightly, she pointed to the US. "This is America. I am from New York, which is here. My name is Eirin Swift, I am a dancer."
Crouching before the map, he stopped her from folding it back up again. Watching him study the map was only slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, so she picked up a book from the floor and began to read. Without thinking, she began her stretches. She didn't notice when his attention shifted from the map back to her, standing on her left leg, book in front of her in her left hand, as she pulled her right leg straight above her head. Carefully keeping her balance, she bent forward and arched her back, curling her leg up and behind her until her foot touched the crown of her head. Slowly she lowered her leg, switched her book to her right hand, and repeated the stretch on the other side. Finally, she lowered herself gently into the side-splits and pressed her chest and stomach into the floor. Suddenly, a hand snatched the book away from her, and she looked angrily up at Sesshoumaru. "Can I help you?" She snapped irritably.
"What are you doing?"
Eirin sighed, feeling very put-upon. "I'm stretching." When he didn't look satisfied with that answer, she continued. "You were busy with the map, I was bored. When I'm bored, I have a tendency to stretch. May I have my book back now?" After flipping through the book, he handed it back before walking silently out of the room.
*******************
Sesshoumaru didn't know quite what to make of the strange human. That map - it seemed there was much more to the world than he had ever before imagined. If the odd format was anything to go by, it even appeared that the artist was trying to imply the world was round! More importantly, he knew intimately how large Japan was. Most humans had never been from one side to the other, much less to the large mainland west of Japan. This gaijin claimed that she came from a fantastical distance away. Such a journey would be fraught with unimaginable dangers, not to mention the risks inherent in crossing even the smaller ocean. Redirecting his train of thought, he remembered the material the map was painted on. It was slick, the material of an even quality, and the painting was crisp and extremely detailed. He had guessed that the strange black symbols were foreign writing, and the similar characters in that 'book' he'd flipped through only served to confirm that. Again, they were unlike any form of writing he had ever seen, ugly and blockish.
Thinking of the 'book' brought his mind back to the human's odd behavior. That she could read at all was impressive. Her movements, however, were unsettling. The way she could split her legs like that! Ugh! He allowed himself a slight mental shudder. It simply wasn't natural for a body to bend in such a way.
Nor had he neglected to notice the other things that had come from her bag. Several of those 'books,' with their oddly even pages and bright colored covers. More of the indecent clothing she wore without shame. Two black and satiny ... things ... tied together with ribbon. A couple of bars similar to the one she had ripped open and eaten as if it were food, though not like any food he was familiar with.
"Jaken. Have the human girl moved to a small sleeping chamber." He would ponder her a while longer before either sending her on her way or killing her, should her tools pose a threat to his land.
"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama!" The toad scurried away.
Hmm. That reminded him. The girl seemed unfamiliar with lower youkai, and somehow less than suitably afraid of him. What was she saying? Ro-bots? Aay-eye? Could she possibly not realize that he was far more deadly than any of those she seemed so alarmed by? Indeed, it was only after Rin and Jaken appeared that she fainted. What had she been chanting as he came in? Something about dreams, and waking.
Shaking the human from his thoughts, he settled behind his table, and got back to the extremely boring task of running the western lands.
Some time later, an unexpected noise registered. Biting back an irritated growl, he listened more closely. Clickity-clickity click click CLICK! Clickity clickity STOMP click clickity clickity clickity click. This new, irritating development could only be caused by that human. Letting the growl escape this time, he went to shut her up. Permanently, perhaps, if he chose to release his temper. The day had been long. Perhaps he deserved it.
*********************
Eirin put her book down. Since the odd man, who seemed to be named Sesshoumaru, had handed it back to her, she hadn't really even looked at it. Suddenly that little toad thing ran back in. I don't care what it is, it doesn't matter. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. It's just a robot or something. This lovely plan was working until it began picking up her bags.
"Hey! Put my things down, you freakish little midget! Hands off!"
"Sesshoumaru-sama has instructed us to move your things to another room." This voice belonged to a rather wispy looking creature who knelt before her.
"Fine. I'll move my stuff." Shoving her things back into her bags, she shouldered them. "Lead on."
The room they took her to was nothing special. Smallish, with few decorations of any kind, and only the door at the other end showed any promise for future exploration.
"Stay here. If you attempt to leave, Sesshoumaru-sama will be most displeased." With that, they left. Leaving her alone in her new, empty room.
Kicking her boots into a corner, she considered for a moment. Gentle, or aggressive? With the day she'd had, she wasn't sure she'd be able to dance any way BUT aggressively. She exchanged her cargo pants for some clingy, stretchy black capris, her coat and white silk blouse for a tight black tank top, and pulled out her black tap heels. The wooden floor would be rather scuffed, but she really wasn't in a charitable enough mood to care.
The taps clicked crisply against the floor as she set her earphones firmly on her head and clipped the player to her belt. Turning it on, she picked a fast paced swing piece, closed her eyes, and began. The angry click of the metal was soothing, and she threw herself into the improvised dance, pouring out all her frustration and confusion at her current situation.
How did these things happen to her? Back in NYC, her life had been pleasantly boring. Throughout high school, she'd always been a little different - fiercely dedicated to ballet and all other forms of dancing, she nonetheless was anything but preppy or straight arrow. She'd meshed easily with the punk and goth crowds, and had taken to dying her hair whenever the mood struck. So far, she'd gone through black, purple, forest green, blood red with midnight blue tips, and was currently a brilliant blue. She'd been learning Japanese for a long time, and last spring she'd applied for her school's study-abroad program. Indeed, the only problem she'd had at home was her addiction to risky situations. She'd often gone wandering the streets of NYC late at night. "Trolling for muggers" was what her friend Kyle called it - and indeed, she'd taken care of several blundered attempts. She'd even been successfully mugged occasionally - she had an eye for which ones were competent, and when she ran into a smart one, she didn't fight it. Instead, she averted her eyes, and submissively handed them her decoy wallet - it had no credit cards or personal items, and only held about $10, some loose change, and some old receipts to make it look realistic. The instant their attention shifted to her wallet, she darted away and ran as fast as she could. All three times they'd been satisfied that she was simply a bad mark, and too quick on her feet to be worth catching.
The music had shifted to something slower, and so had her dance. Feeling eyes on her, she turned, almost expecting to see Sesshoumaru. Instead, the cute little girl from the forest was peering around the door, her eyes wide in amazement.
Eirin stopped her dance, took off her headphones, and walked over to the girl. Kneeling down so they were the same height, she smiled. "My name is Eirin. Who are you?"
"Rin's name is Rin!" The girl seemed to have the cutest habit of speaking in the third person. "What were you doing?" The little girl had probably never seen tap dancing before, if the rest of the household was anything to go by. Eirin stood.
"It's called tap dancing. See these pieces of metal on my shoes? They click on the floor, and I use that to make interesting sounds." She demonstrated the most basic of tap steps, and watched as Rin's eyes widened. She continued to demonstrate for a bit, but stopped when she noticed Rin's interest flagging.
"Hey Rin. You hungry? 'Cause I'm starving. Want some chocolate?"
"Chocolate?"
Eirin was again amazed by what these people didn't know. Didn't everybody eat chocolate? "It's sweet. You'll like it. Here." She held out part of a Hershey bar to the little girl. "How old are you, Rin?"
"Rin doesn't know." She took a little nibble of the chocolate. Her eyes widened, and with a smile, she took a biiig bite. Eirin laughed.
"I knew you'd love it. Here, have the rest of this one. I've got lots more." She made it a policy to always carry a great deal of chocolate with her on trips - she often got hungry, and there was nothing better than chocolate to quiet any small crying children that might be near.
Rin's eyes focused on something over her shoulder, and Eirin turned to see Sesshoumaru.
Feeling a little nervous from his steady gaze, and the expression of somebody who was extremely irritated but not used to showing it, she fell back into an old habit she thought she'd broken herself of.
***********************
He could sense her anxiety. He had expected this, and it was justified - her actions had disturbed him, and he had been known on many occasions to eliminate irritations in a very permanent way. What he hadn't expected was the knuckle popping. As four of the knuckles on her right hand popped at once, he shuddered involuntarily. He hated that sound.
"Stop that."
"Stop what?" She'd moved on, and he watched with sick fascination as she popped her wrists. She followed his gaze, and blushed. "Oh, sorry." Twisting her wrists again reflexively, they popped again. His irritation grew.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
This seemed to be the wrong tactic. Glaring at him insolently, she popped her wrists again . Then, to his astonishment, she twisted her neck to either side, releasing two more sickening snapping sounds. For a finale, she arched her back to the right. Rather than just one pop, this caused a whole string of cracking noises. She repeated this to the left, and then sat there, almost daring him punish her.
Part of him was irritated - how dare she deliberately disobey him? Another part was fascinated - how did she DO that?
Shaking those thoughts aside, he decided to ignore that unpleasant development. "You will cease the racket you were making earlier. Do not disturb my work again." He began to leave, but turned back around when he heard more of those clicks. She was standing now, and he took in her new outfit. He hadn't thought she could get any more indecent than her earlier clothing, but she had proved him wrong. Her leg coverings stopped just below her knees, and clung snugly to her form. Her top was thin, cut low on her bosom and bared entirely too much skin. No longer barefoot, she wore shoes of black leather with an odd, raised heel. She was walking back to her bags, her shoes clicking with every step. He could see shiny pieces of metal on the heel and toe.
"Girl. Why do you have shoes that deliberately make such noises?" Even with her back to him, he could see her take a deep, calming breath.
"Eirin. It's not that challenging. And as for the shoes, they are tap shoes. I only wear them while tap dancing - they are not for every day use."
It had been a very long time since somebody had insulted him and survived. Fortunately for Eirin, he was still intrigued by her shoes. "Demonstrate."
Eirin looked at him, disbelieving, then shrugged. Reaching to the device on her belt - what had she called it? Ah yes, a 'see-dee player' - she pressed something, and settled the earpieces around her neck, rather than on her head. He watched as she waited for several beats of the fast paced music. Ka-clickity clickity clickity click! He focused on her feet, amazed at how nimbly she moved, and at the wide variety of sounds and combinations she could use those pieces of metal to make.
A giggle drew his gaze to Rin. She was staring at the gaijin, her face and hands smeared with something brown. Noting absently that the human had stopped dancing, her spoke. "You will not dance in such a manner while this Sesshoumaru is here." Ignoring her astonished face, he turned to Rin. "Rin. Wash yourself."
"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama!" She ran immediately from the room, and he turned to leave.
"She's a sweet little girl. Is she your daughter?" The question astonished him. Did she actually think him ... human?
Turning back to her, he allowed his eyes to glow red, and poison to gather at his claws. Her eyes widened, and he grabbed her with his tail. Shaking her a little, he growled. "Do not tempt this Sesshoumaru to kill you, human. This Sesshoumaru is the taiyoukai of the Western Lands. Humans are nothing to me." Dropping her, he again turned to leave.
"Sesshoumaru." It was the gaijin. Again. She was standing by her bags, and walked aggressively towards him. He raised a mental eyebrow at her sudden change in attitude. She kept coming until she was mere inches from him, and wrapped her fist in his clothing. Curious, he forced himself not to kill her for her insolence just yet.
Tugging his clothing until he bent closer to her face, she glared angrily mere inches away from him.
"I do not know you, and I do not know your precise relationship with Rin. For now, I am giving you the benefit of the doubt. Know this: if I ever discover that you have hurt her, or touched her in any perverted way, I will castrate you."
He could feel the blunt edge of a knife pressing into his crotch, and realized what she was implying. Growling, he grabbed her by the throat and threw her across the room. The knife she had managed to hide from him flew from her hand to skitter across the room. His eyes were red again, and a steady rumble came from his chest. The gaijin clutched her head where it had hit the wall, and moaned. He stalked over to her, and lifted her by her throat.
"Do not attempt to threaten this Sesshoumaru. There will be no second warning." He dropped her, and stormed angrily out of the room.
How DARE she imply such a thing? He, the great taiyoukai of the Western Lands, would never stoop to having relations with a human . Even were Rin a youkai, she was far too young. Though he had known demons with such tastes, their actions disgusted him.
Gliding gracefully from his home, he stalked into the forest. Angry at himself for allowing a human to draw a weapon without his notice. Angry at the human for implying such filthy things. Angrier still at the confusion he felt every time the human produced another bizarre device or skill.
Perhaps he would kill something. Something small, furry, and harmless.