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Walks at Midnight
By : Henrietta
Category: InuYasha > General
Views: 4163 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story. - Chapter List
- Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha or any of its characters.
Late afternoon…
An impressively large jasmine vine spilled over the side of the awning covering the old hotel’s entrance. A young girl brought the scented blossom to her nose. The vine climbed across the wall of the old hotel and into a nearby tree—where it had entangled itself in a knotted mass amongst the branches. It was nice, the girl thought, that the hotel’s owner had saw fit to leave the wild vine. She raised the blossoms once again and breathed in the delicate fragrance. Whether due to design or neglect, the untamed growth added much to the ambience of the crumbling façade of the hotel.
At sunset…
Sesshoumaru walked slowly down the steps leading to the street, giving him ample time to breath in the scent of the jasmine blooms as he passed beneath the hotel awning. One lavender bloom brushed against his hand as he passed. The touch felt like a warm breath, and he plucked the sun-wilted bloom and brushed it against his nose, breathing in the scent. Comforting. The scent was comforting, he decided. Not a way Sesshoumaru would normally describe anything. But, the languid atmosphere in the city must be rubbing off on him. It began when he had stopped and watched the river for hours, riveted by the ebb and flow of the currents. Next, he caught himself staring up at the stars and moon—something he had not done for years, especially since the lights of the human cities had dulled their light. During the hot part of the day, he had slumped against a tree near the river and enjoyed the feeling of the breeze stirring his hair, eyes staring listlessly up at waving leaves. During the daytime, glamour firmly in place despite the nighttime freedoms he allowed himself, he had even stared at the people, albeit slyly, especially the women, enjoying the dips and curves revealed by skirts and tank tops. It had been long since he had taken any interest in anything, much less these small, insignificant pleasures. One might think that the heat had addled his brain.
Even so, his brain was not so addled that he did not know recognize that she was following him. Sesshoumaru knew that he was being followed shortly after leaving the hotel. At first, he supposed it was one of Fortune’s weird games, but realized quickly it was a female. And, he was certain that this female was the girl from the other night. Why the girl had returned, Sesshoumaru could not say. After fleeing the hotel room in terror, why would she desire further contact with either him or Fortune?
At his arrival, Sesshoumaru gave Fortune a look, warning him silently not to ask about his new teenage stalker. Sesshoumaru would have expected her to give up when she recognized the vampire, but she persisted. The two continued walking, wondering at the girls new- found bravery. Fortune was first to break the silence, “You smell like flowers.” In answer, Sesshoumaru held up the jasmine bloom.
“Oh, I see. Pretty flowers for the girl.” Sesshoumaru threw the jasmine at Fortune’s face. The light flower only made it a few inches before floating lazily to the ground.
“So, do you want to ask her why she is here?”
“No.”
“Do you think she will approach us, or will she will go away?”
“I don’t know.”
“She poses no threat. If she wishes to follow, she will follow. I, for one, will just ignore her.” Fortune said, dismissing the girl from his thoughts.
With that, the two continued their conversations without reservation. They found their way to a bench—the same, in fact, that they had shared with the drunken old man many nights ago. Vampires appeared to be creatures of habit, Sesshoumaru noted, he frequented the same streets and areas, as if he was patrolling some sort of vampire territory. He was curious. “Are you territorial?”
“What are you talking about?” Fortune stretched out, his feet splayed in front of him and his hands behind his head. “Unlike some people around here, I am not a cat.”
“Dog,” Sesshoumaru corrected him in a bored voice. This had been the subject of many of Fortune’s jokes lately.
“Oh, I did I get it wrong again? Vampires don’t have territories. Why do you ask?”
“You return to the same spots, travel the same routes, streets, almost as if you were keeping an area secure.”
“It might seem that way to a wolf like you...”
“Dog”
“But, I suppose it is little obsessive compulsive of me. It makes me more comfortable to inhabit an area with which I am familiar. Things seem to change so rapidly, humans dying all around in droves, moving in and out. New development and houses built. It is strange to venture into an area where I’ve been absent for, say, forty or fifty years and find all the faces strange, buildings and trees bulldozed, turned into modern storefronts, and so on.”
“You remember human faces? I was under the impression that you could care less.”
“Humans are…a paradox. Currently, I do not enjoy the company of my own kind. But, it is not very nice to spend time with humans, either, because I always end up,” Fortune paused here to consider a choice word, “hungry. I always catch myself feeling predatory and superior after trying to engage one in conversation.”
“And, now you can converse with me, a youkai, with the same problem in reverse. Talking to me must make you feel terribly inferior.”
“Hardly,” Fortune gave him a sidelong look. “I dislike myself sometimes for feeling so predatory. I was a human once, as you know. Isn’t it hypocritical? But, the common ground was lost—was lost the first time I killed for blood. Finding companionship with humans is a little like the butcher’s daughter growing attached to a calf meant for slaughter. One day, the calf disappears, reappearing in his shop as veal, while the butcher tells the daughter that he sent it to live at a dairy far, far away.”
“What a strange, irrelevant story.”
Fortune ignored this comment and continued, “There is part of me that desires human companionship still. But, the hungry part of me tends to get in the way of any relationship I attempt to establish. I have engaged in several friendships,” Fortune spat this last word out sarcastically, “which have ended rather badly.”
“Because of your hunger?”
“I sometimes think of them as my fair weather friends. Thus far, none of them have stuck around very long.”
“Oh, I see. You mean you eat your friends?” Sesshoumaru was beginning to think Fortune quite deranged.
“Um, not exactly like that.” Fortune lowered his eyes, thinking about this for a moment. “Well, yes, I suppose I have done that,” Fortune met the accusatory glare in Sesshoumaru’s eyes, “but not every time. You are still here.”
“You are an insane little man, Fortune,” Sesshoumaru said solemnly. He tried, but could not seem to keep a straight face—a smirk worked its way into the corners of Sesshoumaru’s mouth.
“You find this funny?” Fortune was not sure how he had been drawn into discussing his personal angst and failures so casually. What was next? Fortune pictured himself crying on Sesshoumaru’s shoulder wailing that his mother didn’t love him. Pitiful.
Sesshoumaru snickered a little. He tried to smooth his features back into their usual blank expression, but the smile tugged at his lips again and suddenly he burst into laughter. It was a strange laugh, as if his vocal cords were not the correct shape to produce the sound—having a disfigured, staccato ring to it. The laughter only lasted for a second or two, but it surprised both Fortune and Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru put a hand over his lips.
“Now who’s insane? That laugh of yours sounded positively maniacal. It was downright frightening. I had goose bumps.” Fortune was trying to recover some of his dignity at the Youkai’s expense.
“I’ll try to do better next time.”
“How do you know there will be a next time?”
“I am sure, my dear, lonely Fortune, that you have all sorts of ridiculous notions bouncing around in that broken mind of yours which could easily inspire further laughter.”
“Tee hee. You are one to talk. I still have the bug thing on you. Do you want to wake up one night and find a cockroach crawling across your face? Or, worse,” Fortune finished with a sinister whisper.
Sesshoumaru shivered. “What could be worse?”
“Never mind. Just keep civil and you won’t have to find out.”
“Don’t make me laugh again.”
The continued on idly like this until well into the night. Most of their discussions were idle--venturing aimlessly from light to serious topics—travels, modern warfare, fishing, the weather, and even family. Sesshoumaru was surprised to learn that Fortune had a family, though long dead now, with two children—a boy and a girl. All that was before he was transformed into his current state, Fortune had explained.
“Do you miss them?”
“No, it was a long time ago.” Sesshoumaru did not believe him.
“What about you, you never had children of your own?”
“No.”
“But, you’ve mentioned a brother on several occasions.”
“Half-brother. Inuyasha.”
“Dead?”
“Yes, he died long ago. I suppose you will just keep pestering until I tell you something more.”
“Correct.”
Sesshoumaru gave Fortune a strange look. He had not spoken of Inuyasha to anyone since his death. He thought of Inuyasha’s tendency to get into trouble. At the time, it had annoyed and embarrassed him to no end. After centuries to mull the events over in his mind, and as he was increasingly separated from his kind (which eventually all but disappeared), after all those centuries, the events finally began to strike him as a bit funny. He began to talk.
“Inuyasha was born a hanyou—half youkai and half human.”
“Did he look similar to you?”
“Not really, no. He had a set of dog ears on top of his head, and had none of these lovely markings,” Sesshoumaru stoked his claws over one cheek proudly, “which are the markings which symbolize my noble birth and family lineage. He was not a taiyoukai, or a youkai lord, as I am.”
“I see, your highness, that explains much about your arrogant personality. I realize you love talking about yourself, but this story is about your brother.”
“Half-brother. He grew up without the trappings of nobility, as I mentioned, and soon got himself into all manner of troubles. First thing he did upon reaching maturity is to fall in love.” Sesshoumaru spoke as if this was obviously a dumb move on his part.
“Oh, yes, falling is love is such a crime.”
Sesshoumaru ignored his sarcasm. “He fell in love with a human female. And, no, not just any human female would do for Inuyasha—she was a miko, a priestess who fought against youkai. He had in mind to steal a jewel of power which was under the miko’s care—not a very noble goal, but an acceptable one nonetheless—but in the end he sacrificed his pride and family honor by loving her and then ending up sealed to a tree for fifty years by that same miko. It was quite embarrassing. I even heard rumor that he had, at one point, contemplated using a wish from the jewel to make him human.” Sesshoumaru finished this in a conspiring voice, making the word ‘human’ sound positively dirty.
Sesshoumaru was gossiping, Fortune decided. It was just one more suspiciously feminine trait he’d uncovered in the youkai’s personality.
“After being pinned in the tree by the miko’s arrow, yet another miko, presumably her reincarnation broke the spell and released Inuyasha. The jewel of power was promptly broken into many pieces—certainly Inuyasha had some part in that disaster—and he then spent many years traveling the land collecting the broken shards with the second miko. As you can see, he was continually troubled by following his foolish whims.”
“I’m confused.”
“I was as well, at times. His life was always very complicated.”
“I am certain that your life has always been free of any of those pesky complications---love, adventure, noble quests….isn’t it lucky that you are such a simpleton with a simple life, Sesshoumaru.”
“Dawn is approaching. Why don’t I hold you down on this bench for the next hour or two?”
With that, Fortune was gone. Sesshoumaru had to admit that the vampire was fast enough when motivated correctly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was still daylight when Sesshoumaru ventured out of his room the next day. He had taken to resting there after sunrise for several reasons. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, it baked the pleasant scents of dew and river, as well as the sour scents from the night’s merry making, into a sort of steaming, unwholesome mud-pie of rotten flavors. To the humans in the quarter, the scent was barely discernible. It only registered for the briefest of moments upon first venturing into the open air—and then, if noticed at all, they might catch a quick whiff of sour scent. But, to a dog demon, it was considerably more noticeable, and it got old fast.
As well, during the day, Fortune was not there to goad him into conversation, share witticisms, or to generally provide his annoying but substantial presence.
The first thing Sesshoumaru noticed was that the baked mud-pie and garbage scent had finally mellowed into a sickly sweet floral smell, probably due to the warmed jasmine growing outside his window.
Secondly, he noted that there was a new scent hanging about the door as he exited the room. Sesshoumaru paused and inhaled the somewhat familiar scent of the girl. She has been standing here, Sesshoumaru thought curiously. It was then that he noticed a carefully folded slip of paper on the floor. It must have been wedged in the door frame. He bent to inspect the paper. A small smile appeared on Sesshoumaru’s lips, and, for the briefest of moments, his eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement.
Sesshoumaru folded up the paper and put it in his pocket.
Later that evening….
“Sesshoumaru,” Fortune greeted cheerfully.
“Fortune,” Sesshoumaru nodded, taking a seat on the familiar bench beside the vampire.
“Hm. I was thinking about what you said earlier and…,” Fortune stopped mid-sentence, distracted. Sesshoumaru had taken out a scrap of paper, unfolded it and was holding it up to the light. With amazing speed, Fortune snatched the paper from his hand. Sesshoumaru was left comically staring at his empty hand. Fortune began to read aloud.
You hair flows behind like a silver mane
You protected me ferrcely
You bandeged me tenderly
You touched me deep inside
With your kindness and your beaty
Who are you? You are a ghost
Walking these streets
Watching, waiting,
Who are you waiting for?
Are you waiting for me?
“I can only imagine where this came from.” Fortune was shaking with laughter at this point.
“Indeed.”
“Looks as if you have yourself a fan girl, Sesshoumaru,” Fortune sneered, “you have obviously inspired her into eloquence, but you’ll have to teach her how to spell.”
“You are simply jealous, as usual,” Sesshoumaru shot back, running his fingers through his hair, “I am beautiful and noble. And, you are just a parasite.”
“I never knew that badgers were so vain.”
“Dogs. And, it is not vanity if you have the goods to back it up.”
“Sesshoumaru, you sound like a street prostitute.”
“I am fierce, tender and beautiful. You are simply a jealous little leech.”
“This girl had no idea what she was doing. In my opinion, your ego was oversized before, but now it will be massive.”
“I don’t need your approval. I inspire poetry.”
“You are about to inspire me to vomit.”
“Suit yourself, vampire.”
Sesshoumaru decided he should pay his little fan girl a visit soon.
--------------------
AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It may not be as funny as the last, although I enjoyed writing it just as much. But, hey, how can you beat Sesshoumaru jumping around in fear of cockroaches for hilarity. Glad to hear from several of you that you thought so as well. As several reviewers have requested (here and there), I have brought back The Girl. She should make a more substantial appearance in the next chapter or two, and there will be hair braiding! This will extend my little story for a few more chapters than originally intended. That is just fine, since I am enjoying writing it still. I even toyed with the idea of using her to form a much longer story with a very terrible ending where everybody ended up very unhappy and alone—my first tragedy—but decided I just couldn’t do that to my happy little story (tempting as it was). Also, someone awhile back had mentioned they hoped Inuyasha would get some play in this story. Since he’s supposed to be dead, I opted to include a little talk about your favorite hanyou here. Hope you like.
I am taking more liberties with Fortune's character now. But, then, when the name was changed from you-know-who, I sort of wanted to give him a life of his own.
Thanks again to my reviewers redtatsu, Golden, Botticelliangel, Diamond, Chris, Deatera and Megan Consoer. Repeat reviewers are especially appreciated!
Golden, I tried to send you an e-mail alert at the e-mail you posted, but it was returned. Was there an error in the posted e-mail address?
As always, any tips on improving writing or plot welcome. - You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
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