The Girl Sesshomaru Loved

Well it looks like this story has taken a slightly different turn. I hope it is a touch more interesting now. Please feel free to give any suggestions for improvement or simple comments.

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Chapter X:

Rin stumbled over her feet again as she tried to keep up with her lord. They had been walking since before dawn and it was now late afternoon. Not only did her stomach growl loudly, but her feet complained bitterly.

“Rinnnn, hurry up! You are going to get me in trouble, silly little human” Jaken glared at the girl.

“But Lord Jaken, I am so tired. I cannot go any further,” she tripped again.

Sesshomaru ignored the initial discourse between Rin and his servant. But something changed in the air and he stopped to discern what it could be. Rin and Jaken were arguing so much about the stamina of humans that Jaken fell down when he crashed into his master’s legs.

“What is the matter, Lord Sesshomaru? Why did you stop so suddenly?” Jaken asked as he cowered on the dirt path.

“Something has changed. There is a strange aura that I do not recognize.” Sesshomaru looked up to the reddening sky with narrowed eyes. Suddenly his eyes widened slightly and he grabbed Rin and leapt off to the side just in time to miss an oversized large red stone as it came flying at them.

“eeeeep!” there was a squelching noise when the red stone pushed Jaken to the side as it fell to the ground.

“Lord Sesshomaru, do you hate me so much?” Jaken groaned quietly.

“What was that Lord Sesshomaru, are we being attacked?” Rin asked.

‘What is this mischief?’ Sesshomaru thought, ‘I do not sense any presence nearby, demon or human, yet this stone just fell from the sky!’

“We will seek cover, step lightly and follow me” Sesshomaru set Rin down and swept away. Jaken ran stumbling behind.

Sesshomaru’s search for shelter led his small group to a limestone cliff. He was about to enter an overhang in the limestone that he had used many times before as shelter when he caught the overpowering scent of his half-brother. He stopped in his tracks and growled quietly, what was he going to do now. If InuYasha and his entourage already occupied the overhang then he certainly didn’t want to go near it. However, they were pushing their luck as it was and needed to take cover quickly. He looked around for another cavern that might suffice but again stopped dead in his tracks when another thought snuck into his mind. If InuYasha was there with his group then the odds were that the human healer was there as well. His ears twitched at the thought of seeing Arena again. He instantly made the decision to go into the cave network just as another series of marble pieces fell from the sky. As he walked into the caves towards the limestone overhang Sesshomaru heard snippets of a conversation that confused him greatly.

“So, somewhere a temple to this Caesar guy has been destroyed, and a piece somehow ended up here?” Sango asked.

“Not just ended up here, I think it has travelled through time as well to get here. You cannot deny that the paint decorating the relief looks extremely new...” Arena was once again deep in thought. The others couldn’t help noticing the change in her character as this new mystery was unfolding. She seemed to be in her element.

It was then that the group noticed the presence of Sesshomaru and his two small companions.

“Gods, Sesshomaru, you have the worst timing. What the hell are you doing here?” InuYasha jumped up and unsheathed his Tetsusaiga.

“Keep your nickers on InuYasha, I have no desire for a fight. I have come here for the same reason you have. I wish to avoid the falling rocks.” Sesshomaru turned his gaze to Arena, she seemed to have some idea what was going on and it puzzled him. She was just a human after all.

“Hello everyone!” Rin said brightly settling herself near the roaring fire and sniffing Kagome’s soup. “That looks good” Rin said to her.

“Would you like some?” Kagome asked the girl.

“Yes please, I am starved!” Rin bounced up and down on her knees.

“InuYasha, stop being so protective. Don’t worry, Lord Sesshomaru would not lie to you about his intentions for coming here. I suggest we all pool our heads together and try and imagine what could have caused this” Kagome said as she started making Rin some supper.

“I have been thinking about it, and if what Lady Arena says is true then it appears there has been some sort of rift between time and space” Miroku said with a feigned wise expression on his face.

“Well, obviously, Miroku” Sango rolled her eyes.

“That might explain how you ended up in this era, Arena!” Kagome whispered to Arena. However, both InuYasha and Sesshomaru’s sensitive demon ears heard her whispers. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. How could a mere human understand something which baffled him so much? So perhaps there was yet more to this human than what meets the eye. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was sitting cross-legged, staring at the fire with her head resting on her right hand, and her teeth biting slightly on her lower lip. Suddenly Sesshomaru felt like his stomach had a butterfly in it at the thought of her teeth biting something else. ‘What is wrong with me’ he thought, ‘this is so ridiculous that I must be ill, yes, that is it, this rift in time has made my stomach queasy.’ But he could still not tear his eyes from the pensive human. She looked up suddenly and met his gaze. Arena blushed slightly under his obvious scrutiny, but then remembered what she had to say:

“Wait a second, we are all sitting here wondering how a piece of rock could have made it here when really we should be worrying about something much more serious!”

“Yes, you have anticipated my concern Arena, how wise you are…” Miroku started.

“Don’t be an idiot, Miroku!” InuYasha glared at the monk while Arena laughed at Miroku’s attempt to impress Sango.

“What I am now worried about is what this rift could mean. If two worlds are merging, well, that means one world will get destroyed! That means two cultures, ancient Rome and feudal Japan, that never were meant to meet are suddenly going to be thrust upon each other. History will be completely altered!” Arena looked quite frantic now at the thought that the history she learned in university might be changed. Her fourth year research thesis might end up being completely wrong!!

“What are you blithering about, human. History? You are not as intelligent as I thought, you are simply dillusional! You are even worse than the Priestess!” Sesshomaru glared.

“Sesshomaru there are a lot of things I will put up with from you, but insulting my friends is not one of them, and one thing you will never live to regret is insulting my Kagome!” InuYasha started towards his brother. Kagome stopped and smiled inwardly at the reference to her as ‘his’.

“InuYasha, wait, I am not offended. Sesshomaru has not heard my lecture about what the column is. Of course he would have no idea what this means, unfortunately this is not a chance for you to get cocky and feel superior.” Arena tried to speak as calmy as possible.

“She is right, InuYasha, if it weren’t for Arena we would be as bloody clueless as Sesshomaru is now, and probably a pancake too!” Miroku surmised with a superior look. Unfortunately he not only missed Sesshomaru's glare of daggers but he was also unable to dodge the blow that inevitably came from InuYasha as he went to sulk in the corner.

“You boys are exhausting” Sango said, “Come Arena and Kagome, we will figure a way out of this ourselves.” The three women went to another corner of the cave to discuss possible tactics. Sesshomaru slowly followed them, his eyes trained on Arena.

“Obviously I have missed something important. Would you mind retelling the important details?” Sesshomaru asked Arena with an apology written plainly in his eyes. Sango and Kagome just stared at Sesshomaru, their jaws on the floor. What? Sesshomaru was admitting not only ignorance but that he was wrong. Arena was also slightly surprised, but tried not to let it show, for she knew that it would embarrass Sesshomaru. She tried to bring him up to speed as quickly as possible, and without confusing him utterly with nearly 1500 years of European history.

“I see, indeed, this does not bode well” Sesshomaru must have been very confused, but he took it well. “And now we must think of what to do about it.”

“I am not trying to insult you Lord Sesshomaru, but you actually want to help us?” Sango asked, obviously extremely perplexed.

“Help you? No, I wish to help my lands. Who else has the duty to protect the land but the lord?” He did have a point. Kagome shrugged. She didn’t think it would turn out well. However, Sango was thinking something entirely different. She had already noticed Sesshomaru’s attentions towards Arena. It was obvious to her that the only reason he was in the cave was to see Arena. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if Lord Sesshomaru would fall for Arena’ she mused ‘that would knock his pride down a peg or two, and it would probably end the fights with InuYasha, oh how I would love that. Not to mention Lord Sesshomaru would be good as an ally.’

Kagome must have had a dazed look on her eyes because everyone was watching her strangely, including Sesshomaru.

“Hey, Priestess, focus,” Sesshomaru said sharply, “perhaps our first course of action should be to seek out the wise and old tree demons to see what they have to say about this. Some of the tree demons have been around since the beginning of history, if anyone would know what is going on, they would.”

“You think you are so smart now, Sesshomaru? Fine, you can travel with us for now, but no more insulting my friends!” InuYasha had finally calmed down and joined the group. Even InuYasha could not deny that he would be a valuable addition to the group. Sesshomaru was about to add a snarky remark when a low rumble began over their heads. They were so intent on discussion that they forgot to post a watchman! And now the cave network had been struck by debris and was collapsing.

“Run outside everyone” InuYasha shouted and grabbed Kagome, who quickly grabbed Shippo.

When the dust cleared they looked around and saw a bruised and dirty Sango and Miroku huddled with Rin and a bitterly complaining Jaken, however, they could not find Arena or Sesshomaru. InuYasha and Miroku ran up to what had formerly been the mouth of the cave network calling for Arena. Kagome and Sango clutched each other. Rin and Shippo looked confused, and quite worried. Suddenly they heard a very faint and muffled voice.

“InuYasha, can you hear me? I think we are trapped. I can’t see a thing, oh, there is someone, uh, I think it is Sesshomaru. Did anyone else get stuck in here? okay good, it is just us….” Arena stopped talking at the realization of what she said, “not that I wanted it to be just us, Sesshomaru, I was just glad, er, that no one else is stuck in here with us, I mean I am grateful that no one else is in danger…” Arena was clearly flustered. Sesshomaru smiled, assured that no one could see it.

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hmmm, what is going to happen in the dark cave? Any ideas? Perhaps Sesshomaru and Arena are going to discuss their favourite movies, or the consistency of squirrel droppings. They might even hold hands (obvious sarcasm). Wait and find out!

Next chapter is taking awhile, apparently I need inspiration from Dionysus instead of the Muses.