Unforgettable by omizumaru

Carnage

It was unquestionably a beautiful evening, and although the taiyoukai would never let his thoughts or emotions be shown, he was enjoying it immensely. The air was crisp with the first hint of fall, and there was a gentle wind blowing in from the west. Sesshomaru stopped walking and tilted his head into the wind, scenting the breeze as though he would be able to pick up traces of his home on it. Unfortunately, he could smell nothing but the faint hint of a bear demon. Determining that the scent was weak and that there would be no danger in their current place, he decided to stop for the evening.

"Jaken" he said in a soft monotone voice, addressing the creature behind him.

"Y...Yes m'lord?" his retainer questioned.

"We will make camp here." He was going to have to do something about the toad's stuttering problem.

"Of course Sesshomaru-sama! This is a perfect place to rest for the evening! Trust you in your greatness to select such a relaxing, lovely, peaceful..."

"Jaken" Sesshomaru bit out while rolling his eyes.

"Yes m'lord?" Jaken knew by his lord's tone of voice that nothing good was going to be said next. He only hoped he could avoid a slow and painful death.

"Cease your incessant groveling and be useful."

"Of course m'lord! Thank you for sparing your humble retainer's worthless and pathetic life! It is certainly much more than I could ever deserve...."

"Jaken!" This time there was a distinct lack of patience in Sesshomaru's smooth baritone voice.

With a quick and high pitched squeal, Jaken beat a hasty retreat to gather some wood for a fire.

Hearing soft giggles, Sesshomaru turned to face his little human ward for the first time that evening. She was on Ah-Un's back, both hands covering her mouth in an obvious, and failing, attempt to disguise her mirth at the toad's scolding. Sesshomaru quirked an eyebrow at the little human child and she began to laugh louder. Studying her for a moment, he noticed that the girl was, once again, dirty. She had done nothing other than ride on Ah-Un's back all day, and yet she needed to bathe. He couldn't understand how the child was so messy. It did not seem to matter whether she was walking, riding the two-headed dragon, running through the woods gathering flowers or torturing Jaken, she invariably ended up dirty. It was one of life's few great mysteries for the taiyoukai.

"Rin."

The girl immediately ceased her giggling at the sound of her name. "Yes Lord Sesshomaru?"

"You need to bathe."

She giggled again. "Okay Lord Sesshomaru! Rin will go bathe!" Sesshomaru noted how lightly she dismounted Ah-Un and was secretly pleased at her agility. He watched as she ran past him on her short little legs, and headed straight towards a nearby hot spring.

She always seemed to know, as if by instinct alone, in which direction a spring lay. He had never had to give her directions to one, and yet she unerringly found one no matter where their location. Walking in long strides behind the girl, Sesshomaru gave his head a light shake. A woman's instinctual ability to find a place to bathe; another of life's great mysteries.

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He caught the scent of freshly spilled blood and recent death before the scent of Rin's fear. He called out her name, but not soon enough to stop the girl from seeing the scene of carnage by the spring.

Rin stopped running so quickly that she almost toppled over and had to windmill her arms to keep from hitting the ground face first. She let out a little scream at the sight of so much blood, but before the sound had any real time to gather volume, she felt a large hand cover her mouth while another grasped her shoulder and forcefully turned her face away from the scene. She looked up only to meet her lord's shinning golden eyes.

Sesshomaru did not wish for his ward to see such a massacre, fearing that it would remind her of her parent's, and possibly of her own, death. She had never had nightmares or expressed fear about battles or death, so he wasn't certain as to why he had expected her to cry or show signs of shock at what she had just seen. Lowering himself to one knee, he gazed thoughtfully into soft brown eyes that expressed no fear or sadness, but only curiosity. Once again he was strangely proud of the little girl.

"If I release you, do you promise not to scream Rin?" he asked her. The scene that lay before him was more than enough to send all of his senses into over-drive, and the ear-splitting shriek of the little girl was an unnecessary addition. When she nodded her head, he released his hold on her. "You will stay here" he told her curtly.

He stood and walked over to the spring, briefly noting the way his boots made a squishing sound in the blood soaked grass. It had been a very long time since he had witnessed such a scene of devastation. A large bear youkai was at the edge of the little clearing that surrounded the spring. Quite assuredly dead, the creature lay on it's side, it's hide pierced through by numerous arrows. But the bear was not what held the taiyoukai's attention. Instead, his eyes narrowed and focused on the form of a woman sprawled on the ground beside the waters of the spring.

She was nude, and had fallen on her stomach, leaving her back to be caressed by the cool night air. Long ebony hair was strewn about her head, and the fading sunlight made the strands reflect the reddish glow of the setting sun, creating a blazing corona around the woman. Her exposed back was marred by five deep slashes, obviously from the bear's claws, so profound that they exposed the underlying musculature. Blood still seeped from the wounds and trickled down her side to coat the already sodden earth.

So the demon had attacked her and she had, despite her massive trauma, responded in kind, wounding the creature enough to cause it's demise before it could escape. "To be so gravely injured and to still fight back and kill your attacker. This woman was a warrior and died an honorable death" Sesshomaru thought to himself. He was struck by the entire scene before him and the woman's obvious courage. He could see that she was merely human, and he was curious as to her identity. He would learn her identity and give her the burial that a warrior such as she deserved. He attempted to catch her scent, but he could smell nothing over the reek of blood and death.

Walking up to her side, he bent down and reached out one clawed hand to grasp her shoulder. Pulling gently, he turned her face towards his own.

He heard a short gasp from close behind him and knew that Rin had oddly disobeyed him. She was usually an obedient child, and he wished that she had remained true to her nature on this occasion; he did not wish for her to see this.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin cried out as she grasped his leg tightly. "It's Lady Kagome!"

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Ah yes. I'm starting another one. I couldn't help myself. I saw this on the challenge board and thought that it was such a good idea that I couldn't bring myself to pass it up. Plus, I feel like I need a little Cannon in my life right now since The Telling is giving me some major problems. I don't know when I'll continue on that one, so I thank you all for your patience. I'm not abandoning it by any means, but until I can figure out where I am going with the plot, it will be on a little vacay.

Anyhoo, time to give credit where credit is due:

This is from the Single Spark challenge board, and was posted by StormSingerRaven. Thank you for the excellent idea and I hope you're pleased with the outcome. Hope you're okay with lemons, as you didn't really say and I just can't resist!

Both my current fics should have updates sometime tomorrow, so keep a keen eye out my little hentai fans! OH! And for those of you wondering, Three, Six and Two should be posted by the end of the month. Sorry it's taking so long, but I keep getting myself overheated as I write the extended lemon..... *fans self just thinking about it*

~omizumaru