slimey fish [open]

[SESSHOMARU]

Sesshomaru could smell the sea from where he walked in the forest, leaving behind Rin and Jaken some where by the camp fire, now scouting the area for anything the Lord found suspicious (and for food). His noise was able to smell the salt and fish scent of the sea - that annoying prominent smell that made him want to cringe. There was a distinct memory of Rin stealing fish for him when he had been injured, but Sesshomaru hated fish for its lack of meat and its smell. Rin would often be seen chewing on one when they settled down to rest, and he'd watch her with curious eyes all the while wondering how she could eat it. The obvious answer was that it was because she was human, and he was not. Sesshomaru didn't eat anything that was cooked by humans, touched by them, or even grown by them. It did nothing for him even if he ate it, the poison in his stomach would burn it to bits before it gave him any nutrients at all.

He could last without eating for a while, but when it came down to it he did eventually need something to eat. It would have to be something that could withstand the poison (or poisonous), something that wouldn't burn. And why was he thinking of food now? Because he was very much hungry, and his eyes scanned the clear surface of the sea before him. There was a poisonous fish in here that was rather large, and though Sesshomaru hated fish he still needed something to eat. However, he was taking a minute to stare at the sea and take in it's large surroundings. There was something off about this place, but he couldn't put a finger on it. It probably had something to do with being in another Lord's territory, but that thought was far from his mind locked up some where. It was just the suspicion that something was definitely going on in this place, lurking beneath the water that made Sesshomaru's instinct hum in caution.

The thought was pushed back into the corner of his mind as he spotted green scales flash beneath the surface. He pressed his pointer and middle fingers together, summoning up the energy in the tips of his fingers as he took a step toward the edge of the tiny cliff he was standing on. His fingers glowed an unearthly color of a green-ish yellow, a tiny little speck of light that suddenly turned into a thin string as he moved his arm back rather quickly before throwing his arm in the direction where the green-scaled fish was. The sound of water breaking like glass hit his ears, but it didn't awake any emotion on his face as the green whip of light vanished. The blue water was now stained with the flowing of steady blood, a sure sign that Sesshomaru had caught the fish he needed to eat.

The silver haired youkai stepped forward calmly, gracefully before bending down to pick up the rather large fish in his hands and examining it. This would be substantial, but now he had to find food for Rin and the other annoyances. He lifted his head slightly, resembling that of a dog, sniffing the air subtly to see if there was any kind of meat near by that Rin would enjoy. The smell of the dead fish in his hand was somewhat distracting, however, and he turned his head down to eye it coldly with piercing gold eyes. He moved suddenly, heading back to camp where he threw the fish on the ground near Ah-Un. "Do not let Rin touch this..." he ordered softly, his voice a smooth baritone as the youkai suddenly turned gracefully and headed back to the cliff near the sea.

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[EIKA]

Ah, the sea - tempestuous and wild at times, and calm at others, but always pristine. Perhaps not her favoured place, but Eika still liked to drift down and enjoy the breezes. The mountains were where she lost herself, but the coasts were refreshing. As well, they were places to hunt in solitude, if she really decided she needed to eat something. She felt the twinges of hunger now, but ignored them - such things were beneath her notice at the moment. Paws moving as if she was walking on perfectly even ground, she moved on the air towards the water, giving the horizon a cursory glance. There were, no doubt, a great deal of fish, both yokai and normal, but she wasn't in the mood to bother with them.

In truth, she was in high spirits. It was so easy to travel this way, moving too fast to be seen except for a faint impression of blue, running on air. This was her home, all the security and safety she needed. In the air there was freedom, and all her power rested in it.

Moving downwards, she approached the ground with a slower, less reckless pace, exchanging speed for grace of movement. The wind youkai was all too aware that running usually kept her drunk on her speed, completely oblivious to what was around her. Well, she did notice if she was about to slam into a cliff or something of that sort - she had nearly run into that floating island once, when she had been far too preoccupied - but there was no way to check for surrounding dangers. Like other demons, or demon slayers, or anything that might pose a threat. And recently, other youkai posed far more a threat than they had before, if only because of the new habit of taking slaves.

Of course, she was sure she would not be in much danger. She had a human form, though she hated it - it was not the same, it felt odd and confining as if she was in a human-shaped living cage that was cut off from the air. It was too solid for her. She preferred the wispy nature of her true form. Finally feeling her paws touch the uneven rocks of the cliff, she stood still, letting the breeze carry to her the scent of salt, of fish and water and the gulls that circled above it, and...

Youkai. Strong, unfamiliar, but enough to make her fur bristle. There were weaker scents twined around it, including human, but she was too focused on what was a potential enemy to bother with analyzing the rest. The salt obscured most of the details, but he was close, which meant that she could risk a fight to stay here, or simply be on her way. The former choice was foolish, and dangerous, but she had come here for a reason and the contact with the ground reminded her that she was hungry. Growling softly, she decided to compromise and stay where she was, muscles tensed.

If it came to a fight, she could probably outrun him, or any other youkai. No one could capture the wind.

[SESSHOMARU]

Sesshomaru's fingers curled around the scaly tail of another fish, tossing it to the ground behind him with the feeling of utmost annoyance. He could possibly send Jaken out to do this, but the toad was too stupid to do anything right so it would be bad for Rin if he let the thing go about searching for food. Jaken would probably have ended up dead if Sesshomaru allowed it. He eyed the fish on the ground for a moment, the muscles in his jaw tightening just barely as the stench reached his powerful nose. He bent down, pulling a strand of black silk from his hair (that had held it up), and tied the fish so that none would be able to slip out.

The thin strands of his silver hair fell against his shoulders as he stood up, his eyes suddenly zeroing in passed some trees toward the sound of a sharp growl that hit his hears. He not just any demon - he was a dog demon, and that meant sharper hearing and smell than most of the others. It almost smelled pure - purer than the air he was breathing now, but it definitely smelled of the fresh wind. Did wind even have a smell? Yes, it did and it interested him. There weren't many wind demons around, and it made him curious to see just exactly what this demon looked like. "I know your there..." he said quietly; however, his voice had a gentle growl of warning for felt the tension rolling off her.

Sesshomaru stood up taller all of a sudden, his face straight but blank without expression. He wasn't looking for a fight only because Rin was close near by. The girl could probably come running it and get hurt. He wasn't even really interested in paying attention to the demon, and would have gone back to looking for food had he not realized that this demon was a wind demon. Wind demons had always fascinated him, especially as a child since they had always been his father's closest allies. He use to wonder why the sky was blue as well, but it had been replaced with battles skills and techniques his father taught him.

Sesshomaru also knew that the demon was hungry, but that didn't mean he was just going to toss over some of Rin's food just for the demon. His body turned around, but even though he looked relax and unaware, he was very much prepared if the demon decided to attack him.

NOTES: sorry it's so short! i had to finish it before the lappie died.

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[EIKA]

The smell of fish was sharper now, and she assumed some heavy fishing was going on. Usually the smell of the sea itself, complete with salt and spray, made the reek of fish a secondary smell, woven in but not part of it...

One would think she was relaxed if she could stand there and ponder the actions of the youkai nearby. He was strong, and that unnerved her. After all, she didn't go looking for fights. She had a tendency to run all over the place and spend months - or full on years - in the mountains, isolated and content. Her hobby was running down cliffs and flying through the air and being free. She fought if she had to, wielding the wind with the skill of something not fully mortal, but she had no way of gauging if she could fight the youkai here, no way of comparing their power. She was a being that lived with the tug of the air, the feeling that she was on the edge between life and utter freedom. A knife's edge, a precipice where it was far too easy to cross over on one side or the other. And both sides hurt - too many bonds and she became sick with lethargy, tied down to the ground. And if she gave in to the wind's pull...

No body, no voice. No blood, no bone, nothing but the whisper of the wind as it moved over the land. Not a horrible fate at all. Better than the alternative, really, and she supposed it was inevitable anyways. Every time she faded into the wind to escape a situation, melting away as if she truly was made of air, she knew it was harder to come back. She struggled with her sense of self.

It probably wasn't healthy to feel that she was the wind far more than she was 'Eika'.

A cold voice cut through her thoughts, and she relaxed. No pretense of hiding needed, and he hadn't attacked her, meaning there was a chance that she could avoid a fight. Though he spoke quietly, her canine-shaped form borrowed some of their senses, which she found useful if a bit odd. Not as keen as that of an actual dog or wolf youkai, but close enough for her purposes. So she heard the words clearly, and she had a rough estimate of where he was as well, thanks to sound and scent. She didn't miss the low growl, a mirror of her own, and she wisely quieted before stepping forward.

Even on the ground, she was graceful. It was not vain pride - she knew this. She was a creature of the air, and moved as if she had no weight at all. It was rare she left pawprints, or any sign she had walked at all. Controlling her reactions, she stopped bristling, pulling the calm of the open air to her. The wisps of wind around her flared out before settling into ribbons of soothing motion, a reflection of her state of mind. She was outside. There was no need to fear, no need to feel endangered or threatened. A few steps forward and he was visible, a calm figure who looked surprisingly human to unwary eyes. She inclined her head, a gesture of acknowledgement and polite respect on a neutral meeting ground.

"Greetings."

[SESSHOMARU]

He heard movement behind him, and he didn't bother looking back at the wind youkai, because honestly it was of no use to him. The smell - the pure smell - tugged at his curiosity, the desire to look upon a wind demon that had always been respected in his eyes. He just didn't seem very interested in speaking to her, or even bothering to have a fight with her. That was just how it was now-a-days, a boring little wander around the lands, having finally surpassed his father's abilities. If the opportunity for more power presented itself, however, Sesshomaru would surely make an effort to seize what ever it was.

When the youkai behind him spoke, the muscles tensed up beneath his clothing, and he turned his head just slightly to have a side-ways look at her. The silver-haired youkai tossed his final fish near the bunch that was tied up on the floor, a lot of fish that would be substantial for the group. Ah-Un usually ate quite a lot, while Rin only nibbled on the fish before announcing she was done. It was strange how he, the alpha male of this little pack, was hunting for them when really they should be doing it for him. He would often ponder on this fact, but he knew he did it because Jaken was incapable of doing anything right. He also knew that if he sent Ah-Un to do this, the dragon would eat anything it caught without remorse.

There were times where Sesshomaru would be too irritated by this that he would not even bother going out to get their food, therefore leaving them to starve for the night. Jaken would attempt to get his food, but it would always been some kind of rat. Ah-Un would get too much food, eat it all, and then wouldn't be able to move because of his stomach ache. Sesshomaru was very much annoyed by all of this - he would much rather have Jaken and Ah-Un eat themselves if they got hungry. They just weren't very appetizing, and they seemed to agree. "Intriguing..." his voice seemed to be a smooth purr. His beast was delighted upon seeing another wind demon - a specimen of which he was quite fond of. But the growling rage within Sesshomaru still didn't see this demon as a superior to himself, and he was not tense to fight.

Sesshomaru was prepared to fight, yes, but he wouldn't put much effort into it. The silver-haired youkai was always aching for a good fight though. He turned around to face the wind demon completely, the blank look on his face never wavering as he took the demon in with his golden eyes. If Sesshomaru cared enough to even think it, he probably would've thought that this demon was beautiful in that wild way the wind always was. Sesshomaru's foot discreetly nudged a fish in the direction of Eika, which of course would seem like a peace offering. In honesty, he was just giving her food so that she could go on and leave him alone. If a conversation occurred (which was quite rare, because Sesshomaru barely even spoke more than a few words with anyone) then it would lead to him asking her a few questions. "Does the wind control the demon," he murmured, "or does the demon control the wind?"

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[EIKA]

Eika studied the other youkai cautiously. If she had been partial to such thoughts, she might have decided that he was attractive - but as it was, the power he radiated was too great for her to pay attention to such minor details as physical appearance. She memorized his scent, feeling a pang of unease as she did. This chance meeting - it formed a bond. A weak, tenuous one, but still a bond. She wasn't sure if she wanted it, but if he had wanted her to leave he might have just driven her off by force. She would not bother fighting him - not unless properly roused and having a good reason to spill blood. But he wasn't chasing her away, and he hadn't even looked at her yet, with a cool nonchalance that spoke of inbred arrogance. She meant nothing to him at the moment. She was content with that.

Leaving seemed a very good idea, especially with his strength. But suddenly he spoke, voice soft and confident. He hadn't returned her greeting, but now that she was somewhat familiar with his bearing, she doubted he would. 'Intriguing' - it could be a remark on her, on the circumstances or something entirely different, and she didn't ask to clarify. Again, that instinct to get away. Not from fear of his strength, but fear that the bond would grow, become a chain to strangle her and tie her down to the earth. Those few bouts of sickness from such things had not left marks, but she remembered them vividly. Going out of her way to instigate something so painful was not in any of her tangential plans.

As he turned, she stayed where she was, meeting his golden gaze impassively. There was no challenge in her eyes - just an almost unnatural calm. What she possessed was unique - unique enough that it was a matter of pride. A wordless form of 'I know something you don't know', with her knowledge that she was one of a very few that knew the utter freedom of the wind. It wasn't something for mortals to experience, after all. Could anyone blame her for being proud?

That pride decided to kick in now as he shifted one fish towards her. An offering, perhaps, a gift - but he did not strike her as one to be compassionate. Nor was she inclined to accept it. It was something akin to a favour, and she didn't want to be in this stranger's debt, not so soon. Her eyes went from him to the fish, and then back smoothly, as if completely uninterested. Yes, she was hungry. No, that did not mean anything. Hunger could be ignored.

"I am able to hunt for myself," she told him, striving to keep arrogance out of her voice. She succeeded - it was calm, only that. Calm and certain. Completely ignoring the fish, she listened to his next quiet words - so quiet that she would have had trouble hearing them if she had been slightly farther away. Interesting - he knew something of the wind. She met his eyes again, the ribbon-like wisps of wind at her back coiling in on themselves slowly. Slowly, she tilted her head to one side. "Does it matter?" she responded carefully. She couldn't let herself relax completely - it was a question she did not like having the answer to at times.

[RIN]

Rin was feeling slightly shifty; she didn’t like to be still for too long. Currently, she had her bum planted on a log, her little feet kicking as she wondered if it would be too terribly bad if she went off to see if there were any flowers around here. It wasn’t like she’d wander too far, and even if she did, it wasn’t like Ah-Un would allow her to go off on her own. The beast was always right behind her whenever she wandered when Sesshomaru was away; and she liked it like that. Ah-Un was a lovely friend to keep around, always right there in case she stumbled into some kind of trouble, never letting anything bad happen to her just because she liked to pet and snuggle with him. Although there was that rather disappointing factor of Ah-Un not talking, although it did allow her to chatter on about anything that popped into her mind, without fear that someone would look at her and demand to know just how psychotic she had to be to talk about something as random as that. You see, ever since her revival by Sesshomaru-sama, Rin had been ‘making up for lost time’, by talking nonstop whenever possible, quieting only to sleep, eat, or when Sesshomaru told her to be quiet. She always did what Sesshomaru-sama said, always.

Well, no matter if she would get in trouble, Rin had been still for far too long—though the actual time was probably no more than five minutes—and so she jumped off the log and took a few looks about, just to see where she wanted to explore first. In the distance she could swear she spied some flowers, though it was possible that it was her imagination. She liked to think otherwise. Real or not, she would be venturing over there in just a minute, and it didn’t seem too far away. So she bounded up to Ah-Un, placing a hand on each head’s nose. “I’m going over thereeeeeeeeeeeee, Ah-Un. It’s not too far, so you can stay here, unless I disappear. Okay?”

[/color] Her voice bounced in pitch as she spoke, stroking the twin heads before turning around and running in the direction of the flowers that she’d thought she’d seen. They had to be over there somewhere, it wasn’t like they could just disappear into nothingness. And she was sure she’d seen them, there was no way she’d imagined those flowers sprouting up.

Then again..she’d wandered slightly farther than she’d anticipated, and still no flowers. Perhaps looking for flowers while camped near the coast wasn’t the brightest idea Rin had ever had—but it wasn’t like she could help herself when flowers came to mind. Flowers were just so bright and happy, and they made the best gifts ever! It always made her tummy all warm and fuzzy when she gave someone a flower and they smiled down at her in return; though of course, the person she gave the most flowers too generally didn’t express any emotion upon receiving a flower. But Rin knew he liked them; it wasn’t like Sesshomaru-sama would actually put up with something that he didn’t like, if he didn’t like it then he would say so on the spot. That was the Sesshomaru she’d come to know and expect, he certainly didn’t like it when she got herself into trouble with some bad person, and he didn’t hesitate to tell her she’d wandered where she shouldn’t have when things like that happened. Rin liked to think that when he was reprimanding her in that situation, it was because he’d been worried about her. That thought always made her heart warm up.

Oh, but there the flowers were! A huge smile leapt across her face as she started running once again. Those couldn’t have been the flowers she’d spied while back at camp, they were too far away, but they were rather fun looking flowers, and anyways—they were flowers. That automatically made them awesome, and something that she absolutely had to have. She hummed to herself as she slowed down her speed so that she was simply skipping, until she was beside the flowers and kneeling on the ground so that she could pick and choose which ones she wanted. There weren’t nearly enough flowers to make a bouquet like she usually did, but she could definitely pick a few flowers to show Sesshomaru-sama. Maybe he would even smile at her this time? Tsk, she knew better than to even think that the youkai would crack a smile one random time that she showed him yet another flower she’d found. But a little girl could hope, and she was rather determined to get a smile out of Sesshomaru. He needed to smile every now and then, it was bad for the soul to never smile.

When she had all the flowers she wanted, she popped up again and trotted back to camp and Ah-Un, tilting her head to the side when she saw the fish that Ah-Un was more or less guarding. “Was Sesshomaru-sama here, Ah-Un?” She pouted, making little fists and placing them on her hips. It was just rudeness for Sesshomaru-sama to return and not come find her for a hello hug. He knew how much she depended on seeing him a majority of the day. “Well, I’ll just go find him, then. He needs to see my flowers. And give me a hug!”[/color] She jerked her head in a quick nod and turned around a few times, until Ah-Un took pity on her and pointed her in the direction Sesshomaru-sama had gone.

It took her a few minutes, but she finally saw Sesshomaru-sama in the distance, and her little legs kicked it into gear, until she was full out running. And of course, as always, she ran straight into one of his legs. “Sesshomaru-sama! You went back to camp and didn’t find me.”[/color] She tried to have a scolding tone, and even tried to pout, but it didn’t work because she was so happy to see him that a smile had taken over her face and her cheerful tone leaked in without fail. “Do you like my flowers, Sesshomaru-sama?” She asked, her grin still large as she held up her flowers, at the same time that she leaned her body to the side to see what was holding his attention. Oooooh, it was a youkai! She leapt to the side a bit, smile still intact as she took a few steps forward. “Would you like a flower too? I picked them special! They smell really good. And I always pick the best flowers! Don’t I, Sesshomaru-sama? Sesshomaru-sama loves my flowers, right? You should have one! I’d love to give you one, specially since you’re a new person. New peoples are fun to give flowers to, ‘cause they get to smell them for the first time and they look kinda silly like they don’t know what to do. But won’t you pleaseeeeeee take a flower? Pretty please?” She was probably incredibly confusing as she spoke, because she kept turning back and forth from the other youkai to Sesshomaru, her giant grin not favoring in the slightest bit. She had her flowers held out in one hand too, wanting the youkai to have the best pick. “Oh yeah! What’s your name? My name’s Rin. I travel with Sesshomaru-sama. Do you travel with anyone? Travelling is fun, especially with other people, because you get to talk to them, and surprise them! Aren’t you going to take a flower?” She tilted her head to the side, waiting for the youkai to say something, and hoping Sesshomaru-sama wouldn’t yell at her for talking to the other youkai. It was so much fun to meet new people.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

CREDIT SAM !? of A Changed Hogwarts. LYRICS brick by boring brick - paramore NOTES Rin likes to meet new people >> WORD COUNT 1,299 words

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[SESSHOMARU]

"It's only a question..." murmured Sesshomaru calmly, a little arrogant smirk tugging at the corner of his lips when she refused the fish he had offered. He could tell she wanted it, but she refused it out of pride for she didn't want to be in debt to him. He could tell her that he didn't care about debt, that he just wanted her to take the fish and leave, but that would take too much effort and Sesshomaru didn't really feel like being so generous enough to tell her that.

However, the question he had asked had actually been a rather important question (as you can see, it had been). He had always wanted to know that since he was a tiny youkai, since no other wind demon had the patience to really tell him. But that was a question long forgotten until now, and he didn't really surprise him that Eika didn't answer it. It seemed no wind demon would ever answer the question, but he wasn't really going to get upset about it. Sesshomaru never got upset over trivial things like that, unless it was actually important to his ambitions. The wind demon was rather curious, and he seemed interested in asking all those old questions he had thought of as a kid.

But all of a sudden he scented a familiar smell on the wind, that of a human and flowers. His jaw clenched as he suddenly felt Rin bumping onto his leg, and he glanced down at the little girl to see just exactly what she was doing here. He had specifically told Ah-Un to watch her, and yet he had let her out of his sight. "Rin..." he said softly, his golden eyes watching the little girl. He had a sudden feeling that she was not going to stop talking, for he knew that she was always excited on meeting new people. When she had first spoke to the miko that traveled with Inuyasha, all Rin did was talk and talk about something Sesshomaru really didn't want to hear about. "I told you to stay with Ah-Un."

It was funny how he hated humans, and yet he took one underneath his wing as his ward. It was even strange how he didn't seem ashamed of it, because that was the furthest thing from his mind. He never really though about being ashamed of it, for he was always too busy trying to block out everything Rin was saying, even though he honestly listened (he'd never admit, of course). Rin suddenly began to speak a mile a minute, and his eyelids closed over his piercing gold orbs, obviously a sign of irritation that the little girl wouldn't be quiet. He was fond of her and protective of her, but that didn't mean he liked having her talk all the time. There were moments where he'd just like to have peace and quiet.

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[EIKA]

His remark - only a question? - made her tilt her head the other way, staring at him still. Maybe he didn't know just how important that question is, or maybe he did. It didn't matter. "It can be both, or neither, I suppose," she told him slowly, considering. "It is a matter of balance. If you choose one or the other utterly, that... that means death. Balance is important. Sometimes, the death can be painful." There, he had his answer. She was the wind as much as she was Eika - but if she forgot one for the other, she would die. One death was painful until she finally slept, the other painless and swift - but they were both death, final. She didn't fear them, but she didn't want to choose either. Her existence was an odd thing, but she was content with it.

Hopefully he understood at least the gist of what she had said. She knew she was inclined to go on tangents and rant about seemingly inconsequential things - unless she was completely focused on something, her mind tended to dart around a bit. A small price to pay for her power. However, she wasn't distracted enough not to notice the scent of the human getting closer. She idly swirled one of the breezes nearby, directing it to get a better idea of where the human was going - and, it appeared, whoever it was seemed to be heading in their direction.

She turned her head somewhat to watch for the intruder - and was somewhat surprised to see a little girl run into Sesshomaru's leg. Her opinion of the other youkai wavered slightly. He was powerful, clearly, but he kept a human around, and clearly wasn't planning to kill and eat her anytime soon. An oddity among youkai, especially the more powerful ones that viewed humans as filth that didn't deserve to live. The girl was quite familiar with him, clearly, even trying to show him some flowers. With some internal struggle, Eika succeeded in not showing her amusement - at least she knew the other youkai's name now. Sesshomaru... She had heard that name before. The few youkai she had interacted with since she left the mountains had occasionally mentioned him.

Unfortunately, the girl couldn't blithely tell her more about Sesshomaru, since she suddenly advanced on her instead. It didn't help that there was a sudden flood of chattered words as the girl spoke to both her and Sesshomaru, smile unwavering. She felt a pang of unease. The girl was charming, in a cute way, but she had never been faced with such... cheerfulness. It was kind of creepy. Flowers were suddenly shoved in front of her muzzle, with a plea to take one, and Eika shot Sesshomaru a flat look that complained bitterly about having to carry a bright-coloured weed in her jaws. But, since the girl was looking at her with those eyes, and asking so nicely, she took a step forward and carefuly picked out a flower at random, holding it carefully in her mouth and then dropping it beside her so that she could try to answer the questions she was being attacked with.

"Rin, Sesshomaru..." she said quietly, inclining her head politely when she said the other youkai's name. "I am Eika. No, I travel on my own." Few could keep up with her speed, and she disliked the idea of traveling with someone for less mundane reasons. The bonds she feared... traveling would have deepened them, surely. So she avoided keeping company with others, to avoid the inevitable pain.

[RIN]

The little eight year old seemed oblivious that the two youkai she was talk, talk, talking around didn’t want another one of her mile long rants to unfold. It was practically impossible for Rin to be quiet for more than five minutes, unless she was unconscious in some way. Or, of course, if Sesshomaru told her to quiet herself. She followed his orders to the letter, if told to quiet herself she would undoubtedly walk around with her hands over her mouth until she was told that she could speak again. But, there was this one time when she’d allowed herself to hedge, and she’d come after Sesshomaru-sama instead of waiting with Ah-Un like she’d been told. But he hadn’t come to see her flowers when he went back to camp! It was just so horrible of him, she depended on seeing her guardian and it had made her little chest squeeze with panic when she’d thought he didn’t want to see her flowers and say hello. So of course she had to go track him down and make sure that he still liked her flowers, and still liked her, and wasn’t angry with her for something she hadn’t been aware that she’d done.

But the facts were facts, Rin had disobeyed, and if Sesshomaru-sama didn’t punish her for it, then she would probably make up her own little punishment. It would be a silly one, of course, one that only an overly cheerful eight year old would see as a punishment. Like, not being allowed to pick flowers for a whole week. Oh, goodness, Rin wasn’t sure she was capable of a feat that huge. A whole week with no flowers? Oh, no, no, no. Surely leaving Ah-Un to go find Sesshomaru-sama wasn’t something that was so horrid it required not getting flowers for an entire week? Surely, not that! Well, little Rin’s eyes were starting to tear up just at the thought of not being allowed to get flowers. Flowers were the most spectacular thing in the entire world! With her eyes watering like that, she turned back to Sesshomaru and her lower lip began to tremble. “Rin wasn’t bad, right? Just wanted hugs and flowers…” She looked down at her flowers, a very deep sigh escaping her at the thought of not being allowed to get any more for such a long period of time. “Is Sesshomaru-sama very mad? I was just worried that Sesshomaru-sama didn’t like my flowers anymore. Sesshomaru-sama likes my flowers, right?”

[/b] She looked back up at him, blinking rapidly so that her watery eyes didn’t follow the natural course to tears spilling down her cheeks. She didn’t like to cry, it wasn’t very fun.

Ah, but the attention span of an eight year old is a very short one, and once Eika took a flower from her bouquet, the world seemed to shift and brighten once again. She turned back to the youkai that had taken one of her offered flowers, a huge smile taking over most of her face so that her eyes had to close just a little bit. What Eika didn’t know about taking one of Rin’s flowers, was that it was basically telling Rin that you were going to be friends for life. Of course, no one but Rin really knew that, and she’d never seen the need to enlighten anyone about that little fact. Surely they all simply knew it? I mean, really, taking one of Rin’s flowers couldn’t symbolize anything other than eternal friendship. It was common sense to come to that conclusion on your own. All that aside, Rin had now decided that Eika was going to be one of her bestest buddies, and that they were going to have tons of fun. “OOooooh, that’s a pretty flower you just picked. It was one of the ones that I really liked when I was picking flowers. But then again, I liked all of them, or else I wouldn’t have picked them. ‘Cause it’s silly to pick something you don’t like, right? I know, it’s just silly. I never pick a flower I don’t like, but I usually like all the flowers, ‘cause flowers are pretty and smile nice and I love flowers.” She giggled a little bit, swinging from side to side before sniffing her remaining flowers. It was such a sweet, comforting smell, she didn’t know how anyone in the world would dislike flowers.

Her smile wavered just slightly when Eika dropped the flower so that she could introduce herself, and she chewed on her lip for just a second before the bright smile returned. “Eika is such a pretty name, I wish my name was pretty like yours, Rin is such a flat name, you can’t really do anything with it. But Eika you can like stretch it like Eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Ooohhh that’s so much fun to say, I wouldn’t even bother with the shorter way of saying it if I had your name, ‘cause that’s just sooo much fun to say.” She bounced even closer to the youkai, bending down to pick up the flower that had been dropped. It was such a pretty flower, she was almost certain that it would like fabulous against the youkai’s fur, but it would look even better if there were more! She grinned and stroked a hand through the fur, giggling a little bit as she did so. “You have pretty fur, and it’s soft. My flowers would look so pretty in it, can’t I pretty please make you a flower crown? Pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty please? I promise it’ll look prettyyyy. Won’t you let me? Pleaseeeeeeeeee?”[/b] Her eyes got super huge and she smiled really big, holding up her flowers so that Eika could see how pretty they were, and think for herself that they would look even better against her fur. Her fur was just so pretty and soft, it made Rin wish that she could have another form like all the youkai’s she met. Especially one with fur like this youkai’s, it was just so pretty…So pretty that she couldn’t help but dive headfirst against one of Eika’s legs and wrap her arms around it. She was too small to actually hug just about anyone without them kneeling down, so she was used to hugging legs. And the fur was just so cozy. “Don’t you like hugs? I love hugs, they’re so much. Hugging people is the best, ‘cause it makes them feel so much better. Pus you’re really fun to hug ‘cause you have super comfy fur. Don’t you like hugging people?” She smiled up at her before snuggling closer to the leg she currently had a hold of.

It no doubt would appear odd to anyone else that this little eight year old hadn’t even stopped to wonder if the youkai would mean her any harm when she got close, but such was Rin’s general faith in the entire world that she never stopped to think about someone wanting to hurt someone else. Besides, she had Sesshomaru-sama with her, it wasn’t like he’d let something bad happen to her.
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CREDIT SAM !? of A Changed Hogwarts. LYRICS brick by boring brick - paramore NOTES Hugs are teh funtiems<333 WORD COUNT 1,188 words

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[SESSHOMARU]

The wind demon's words interested him considerably, having never known how dangerous it was to be a wind youkai. That had probably been the reason why none of them had ever taken care of him, compared to the countless others that did. It wasn't that Sesshomaru had needed to be taken care of, but he had been a very angry child due to his father's absence in his life for so long. It seemed you couldn't live with one foot in both worlds, because you needed to balance the whole thing out. He supposed that just recently she had been letting herself get carried away by the wind, and perhaps she never would've came back if he hadn't been here to distract her. It was something to ponder on, but he let it shrug off his shoulders as he suddenly realized that Rin was getting rather too close to the demon.

His piercing gold eyes grew considerably colder as he watched Eika take a step forward to snatch a flower from Rin's little bundle, the muscles beneath this garments tensing up as he watched her. But Eika seemed rather affectionate toward Rin already, so Sesshomaru relaxed just slightly as the little human began to chatter away absently. It was when he smelled her salty tears did he pay attention to her again, his gaze drifting over toward her when he noticed she was crying. "No, Rin." he said calmly. "This Sesshomaru is not mad at you." No one would be able to notice this, since his eyes were just too hard to decipher, but a tender look appear in those gold depths.

But Rin never stayed sad for a long period of time, and he watched as she suddenly started chatting away without a care. There had been a moment where Rin had came across that flea-bag Kouga and his group of degenerates, and she had stopped talking as soon as they spoke to her. He remembered threatening the wolf if he ever came across Rin again, because he knew that his wolves had been the one to kill his little ward a few years ago. Rin had stopped talking for a little while, and deep down it had bothered him a little. He decided to take a break from wandering, and he took her to a large meadow some where. She eventually started talking again, and he had even let her make him some flower arrangement. That had been the only time, however, and it had been quite a long time ago. Rin probably didn't even remember it.

He watched passively as Rin stepped closer to Eika again, and his eyes narrowed when the girl buried herself in the youkai's fur. He suddenly snarled, a very low warning for only Eika to hear that if she did anything to Rin he wouldn't appreciate it. "Rin." his calm voice never wavered from the monotony that was always there, but there was a sharpness to it that he didn't like her being so close to the wind youkai. He may be interested in Eika, but that didn't mean he trusted her.

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[EIKA]

Unfortunately, it hadn't really occured to her that answering Rin's questions might only lead to more questions and another torrent of cheerful chatter. Eika briefly wondered if Sesshomaru hadn't attacked her because Rin had driven him insane with cheeriness, and he had become docile as a result - but he still radiated that same dangerous aura that most youkai did. She was familiar with that silent threat - she might not have it herself, given few had reacted that way to her in her limited circle of interactions, but her travels seemed to point her towards respected youkai. Somehow, she doubted that Rin had 'tamed' him. It was only an idle thought to amuse herself before she focused too much on the distracting child before her. Rin's eyes were wide, trusting - if she had been normal, she might have tried to befriend the human. But she was the wind - the easier it was to trust, the more dangerous.

Rin had been talking about flowers the last time she had tried to listen, but suddenly, when she focused on the chatter she was talking about names, elongating her own name to a ridiculous burst of sound. Not wanting to be irritated with the girl's guardian staring at her, the wind youkai merely twitched an ear and tried to look attentive. Rin bent down to pick up the flower she had dropped, and Eika sighed inwardly. She had hoped to leave it behind, but that would be too obvious... Any other thoughts she might have had were chased away as Rin suddenly decided to approach and brush a hand through her fur, making her tense up. Reflexes screamed at her that she was about to be attacked and hurt, but she forced herself to stay still, knowing that any movement she made would probably be interpreted as a threat. And she really didn't want to be hurt by a foolish action like this.

Rin's touch on her fur was light, though, and only sparked yet another bout of talking. Something about a flower crown, which made her blink, and that somehow had to do with the softness of her fur... If Rin hadn't jumped about topics like this, maybe she would have some idea of what she was talking about, and how to respond. Of course, the child was talking too fast, so it was a futile hope. "Er..." Her composure had shattered from that simple touch and the fact that she was completely out of her depth. She didn't deal with children. She occasionally watched one from afar, out of curiosity because her own childhood had been... different than most. But she avoided close contact, and honestly had no idea what to do. She wasn't above looking for cues from Sesshomaru if she had to.

"I suppose it would be alright," she said rather slowly, trying to regain her usual calm - only for Rin to shatter her focus by deciding to wrap her arms around one of Eika's legs. That prompted another flinch from the suddenness of the gesture, but she heard Sesshomaru's growl through Rin's cheerful talk about hugging and she shot him a reproachful 'I am not hurting her' look. To the girl, she said quietly, "I cannot hug. I have no arms," she pointed out, ignoring the reason of turning to her human form for such an inane purpose as hugging. She really wished Rin would let go sometime soon, she was starting to relax and she didn't want to for fear of what might happen later.

[RIN]

As always, Rin had turned a blind eye to what the rest of the world would normally have taken into account. Like, the fact that the big dog look alike demon could just bite her head off since Rin kept making random, sudden movements. Or, the fact that Sesshomaru was undoubtedly made uncomfortable by the fact that Rin was placing herself in something that could possibly end up in reckless trouble. But really, Sesshomaru worried about her too much! Not that she didn’t absolutely love it when she found out that he’d been worried about her, or genuinely upset by her being kidnapped by some horrid and nasty beasty demon that wanted to eat her for breakfast—it was always good when Sesshomaru cared then, because it meant that she got saved. And now that she was alive for the second time, well, she kind of liked it. It would suck just a little bit to have to be dead all over again. Not that she really remembered the details of dying, or being dead; but she did remember that she didn’t like it! That was for certain. Plus, being dead meant not being around Sesshomaru-sama anymore! And maybe even not having any more flowers! Oh, goodness, well she just couldn’t die then. No Sesshomaru-sama, and no flowers either; that would be a hell if she ever heard of one! A little tremor ran down her spine just at the thought of being separated permanently from her guardian.

The entire world was set right again in a matter of seconds though, when her ears picked up Sesshomaru-sama telling her that he wasn’t mad at her. He wasn’t mad! She wasn’t going to have to give up flowers! Her entire face lit up like a Christmas tree and a huge smile took over her face to the point that she really couldn’t even squint anymore. “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, did you hear that? Sesshomaru-sama isn’t mad at Rin! Oh, oh, ohhhhhh!” She bounced up and down, giggling and cheering, easily made overjoyed by the simple fact that he wasn’t angered that she’d disobeyed. She wouldn’t disobey ever again, it clearly wasn’t a good thing to do, and besides, she liked to make Sesshomaru-sama happy. Now, she wasn’t certain that obeying him actually made him happy, but she was pretty sure that disobeying him would make him disappointed, or angry, or something that wasn’t a good emotion. She wasn’t entirely sure what Sesshomaru-sama’s bad emotions were, he didn’t really show any emotions most of the time. Although she could recall a few times when he’d been visibly moved to show an emotion or two. For some reason, most of them had to do with her getting hurt, or captured, or something along those lines. Rin didn’t really like the idea of connecting Sesshomaru’s emotional distress with herself, but she couldn’t help but be just the littlest bit happy at the memory that Sesshomaru cared. It was such a good thing, having someone care about you. And it wasn’t something that one should take lightly, since it could disappear oh so quickly. That, Rin knew too, terribly well.

But that wasn’t the focus of right now! She was almost certain that Eika had just given her permission to make her a flower crown! Oooooh, this youkai was going to be one of her bestest friends ever! She could just tell. Why, she could make her pretty flower crowns, and pretty flower necklaces to hang around her pretty neck, and even little ones to go around her feet! But those would probably die pretty quickly, because Eika looked like someone who was always in motion, but that just meant that Rin would have the opportunity to make even more. Oh, and if Sesshomaru-sama was really, really, really, really nice, then maybe Eika would agree to travel with them! After all, who wouldn’t want to travel with them? It was awesome travelling with Sesshomaru-sama. And if Eika travelled with them, then Rin could snuggle up to her at night whenever they went to sleep, and just thinking about getting to sleep snuggled up to all that nice, pretty and soft fur…Well, now it just had to happen, because Rin would be horrendously upset if she was told that Eika wasn’t allowed to travel with them. Eika just had to. Surely she wouldn’t say no if Rin asked super nicely? Why, it just…Well it wouldn’t be nice to turn down an amazing offer like that! After all, didn’t everyone dream of travelling with Sesshomaru-sama someday? Of course, they probably didn’t dream of travelling with Rin, but that was just ‘cause they didn’t know about her yet! She was sure everyone would get excited about travelling with them if they were told it was a possibility. It wasn’t like there was any downside to travelling with Sesshomaru-sama, and Jaken-sama, and Ah-Un; you know, except for the obvious pesky nuisance of the demons that kept wanting to eat her. But other than that it was awesome!

“Oh I’ll make you the prettiest crown ever! But it might take more than a few minutes, so you’ll just have to come and hang around for a little while. Likemaybeafewyearsorsomethinglikethat? Okay? Great! It’ll be tons of fun, and you can stay with me and have fun and find flowers and play games and sleep and go flying maybe? Ah-Un can fly, though I dunno if he can fly as fast as you can, ‘cause you look like someone that really doesn’t go all that slow. It would be SO COOL if I could maybe ride? Please please please? Just once? I would be like super light! You wouldn’t even notice I was there. And I promise not to make a single noise! I can be quiet when I have to, can’t I, Sesshomaru-sama? I’m realllllllllly good at doing what I’m told. ‘Cept for this one time today, but Sesshomaru-sama came back to camp and didn’t find me! It was really, very sad, and so I had to come find out if he still liked me. Don’t you think so? And besides, he said he isn’t mad that I disobeyed. Which is really awesome! Since I might’ve had to not pick flowers if Sesshomaru-sama was mad, and I really like flowers, so it woulda been really, really sad if I couldn’t have any. Don’t you like flowers? Oh gosh, my flowers are gonna look SO COOL around your ears. I can’t wait to see! You’re gonna be so pretty. I bet all the other—oh, what kind of youkai are you? You looooook like a doggy one, but then again you don’t. ‘Cause of that stuff around your feet. Can I touch it? It looks like it would be so much fun to play with! But I wouldn’t if it would hurt you if I touch it. ‘Cause sometimes youkai’s have special thingys on them, that LOOK like they’d be ohmygosh amazing fun to play with, but then when you do without asking, they get all snarly and mean ‘cause it accidentally hurt them. And it’s not like I MEANT to, but they don’t know that, so they get snarly, but then Sesshomaru-sama get’s snarly and they go away and I don’t have ANY new friends! Doesn’t that sound just AWFUL? I love making new friends, but sometimes—and don’t tell Sesshomaru-sama.”

[/b] Here, she lowered her voice to a stage whisper, her big eye darting from side to side. “But sometimes, Sesshomaru-sama scares them ALL. AWAY. It’s just so rude and mean and just because they like, snapped at my face or something. How does he know that wasn’t just the way they say hello? Hm? I think he’s just kind of attack happy, ‘cause he attacks when would hug people. But he doesn’t like it when I hug people, usually, so go figure. I think he wasn’t hugged enough when he was little, and that’s why he’s sometimes in a bad mood all the time. That’s why I hug him when he doesn’t expect it! Maybe if I hug him enough now, it’ll make up for it!” You could see in her eyes that she really believed her hugs could make everything in the world better, even if it was complete and total nonsense to think such a thing.

Her eyebrows lifted straight up in the air and she pulled her head a little bit away from Eika’s leg when she heard that Eika thought she actually couldn’t hug; just because she had no arms! Well that was pure ridiculousness, in Rin’s book. And Rin’s book was the only book that mattered, if you ask Rin. “Oh, silly! You don’t need arms to hug! You can hug with your head…or neck…that area! Here I’ll show you!” She jumped away from the leg she’d had a hold of and was just moving around to Eika’s head area when she heard Sesshomaru-sama say her name. There wasn’t anything special to the way he said her name, no one else would think a thing of it, but Rin automatically took two steps back, clutched her hands behind her back, and tucked her chin down to her chest. She swayed a little bit as she turned to the side and lifted her eyes up to Sesshomaru. “Oh, but, maybe I shouldn’t? Does Sesshomaru-sama not want me to?” It was clearly written on her face that she wanted to hug the youkai, and show her how to hug with her head, but it was even clearer that Sesshomaru-sama had only to say the word and she wouldn’t. She didn’t want to risk disobeying him twice![/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

CREDIT SAM !? of A Changed Hogwarts. LYRICS brick by boring brick - paramore NOTES I can't believe how much Rin babble I just wrote. I would tune her out if it was possible WORD COUNT 1,606 words

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[SESSHOMARU]

It matter not that Eika wouldn't harm Rin, it was the fact that he didn't like Rin near other youkai. There happened to be some without control - the demons that breathed fire unpredictably, just as though they were the wind. The wind was unpredictible, and Eika just so happened to be a wind demon who just a few minutes ago was about to lose herself to the wind's gentle whispers. Had Sesshomaru been anyone else, he would've scoffed at the pointed look Eika shot at him for it angered his beast. His eyes turned away from them for a moment as Rin began speaking again, and it hurt his ears more than he let on. There were times where she shrieked loudly when she came upon an elegant flower, and his ears would ring because his hearing was better than most.

He would've groan had he not suddenly picked up the fish on the floor, letting the dead fish loll at his side as he eyed the two with a disinterested gaze. A hint of annoyance crossed his face when Rin attempt to get the demon to hug her. She wondered why he scared away all the demons while she was happily messing with another youkai she knows nothing about? His fingers curled around the tails of the fish tighter as he took a few steps closer now, and placing a hand on Rin's head before letting it drop at his side. It wasn't really much of a "no", but simply a way of telling her that she needed to be more careful and pay attention to what she did. He didn't expect her to get all that from just the simple touch, but it was good enough as he suddenly turned and headed off into the forest to drop the fish off near the camp-fire that he ordered Jaken to make for Rin.

The camp wasn't too far from Eika and Rin, so he could be there in a few seconds flat if he noticed anything wrong. Sesshomaru probably seemed paranoid about all this, but due to Rin's uncanny ability to get herself into any kind of trouble makes him wary. The girl had been given another chance at life - the last chance - and he wasn't about to let the little girl slip away. Eika didn't seem like she were to hurt the little girl, but that didn't mean Sesshomaru would relax just because things looked like they were going well. The silver-haired youkai made his way back to the two calmly, his eyes locking on Eika's uncomfortable figure. He could sense that she was nervous about this whole thing, and Rin was making it worse because she was sucking the wind demon in quite easily.

A smirk pulled at his lips as he stopped where the tree-line ended, all the while pondering on his head the little situation he got himself in. He knew Rin wouldn't stop bugging him until something was done to let Eika stay with them, but that would never happen. He had enough little people following him, and he didn't need more. But he was curious to see what Eika meant by "balance" and all that. "Rin..." he breathed suddenly, stepping aside as a sign to tell her to head back to camp. "If you do not eat the fish now, then you will not get food until tomorrow." It wasn't much of a threat, but Rin was little and it seemed everything was a bad punishment for her. The little girl would surely beg Sesshomaru to let Eika stay, and then he could let his curiosity be satisfied when he sees what this whole ordeal really meant.

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[EIKA]

Really, she should have been expecting something like this. Rin had already tided her over with the easiest questions followed by long, convoluted answers that consisted of the girl simply talking about anything that got into her head. Which made sorting through the actual answer, comments and the switching topics incredibly difficult, purely because of how much there was to try and understand. And she talked so quickly... If all humans were like this, she reflected, she would avoid them to spare her ears and sanity. And their villages tainted the air with smoke and metal - another reason to keep away from humanity as a whole.

But suddenly, as she gave Rin permission to make a flower crown, she was stricken by a feeling of impending doom, and then she found herself pinning her ears back as Rin talked without seemingly needing to breathe at all. She could make out bits and pieces, but she did hear the girl invite her to stay with them, and ask to be given a ride, and then launched into something about Sesshomaru scaring people away... She wasn't surprised about that, he seemed fittingly protective of the little human around youkai. But listening to it all was rather difficult, and painful as well - in the end, she tuned out a great deal, looking impassive and resisting the urge to ask Sesshomaru to shut his charge up. That would be rude, he probably had no inclination to do what she asked of him - not that she expected him to - and Rin's feelings would be hurt...

No, that was wrong, she shouldn't care that a careless little human might be saddened by her interruption. It didn't matter. What interest did the wind have in someone so young and inevitably mortal? But she did and she could have loathed the girl for it if it was possible, but Rin was cute and young and innocent - it wasn't truly her fault. Only Eika's own that she was so weak as to be swayed like this. That settled it, really - she should leave, and ensure that she never came close to either of them again. She couldn't afford what would happen if she did. Right now, they had just met. Easy enough to let that bond dwindle into nothing as time passed. She would probably hear of Sesshomaru again, but Rin would age and die and there would be less danger for her.

But she didn't move, only taking a surprised step back as Rin decided to show her how to hug - only to freeze as Sesshomaru spoke her name. At least she was obedient... Eika didn't quite tense as Sesshomaru approached, but she watched him warily until he placed a hand on Rin's head and then... walked off. Aware that Rin was probably waiting for at least a few answers to the million questions she had asked, the wind youkai sighed and looked back to the girl. "I am a wind demon," she said calmly, turning so that the wisps extending from her back were visible. "These are..." she hesitated and then continued, "They are important to me and I dislike having them touched." There, that was blatant enough. Hopefully the girl would forget that she had asked about her staying with them, or giving Rin a ride - she didn't want to answer those, particularily when Sesshomaru returned - though he did salvage the situation by telling Rin to go back and eat. Maybe she could leave now...