Good Will Hunting

by Kyen

~ Moon Phase 2 ~ Two Weeks In

            “Can you possible set up watch somewhere not to close?” Sesshomaru asked Xiang Yao as the girl settled onto a branch.

            “No. You told me to protect Rin, and that’s what I’m doing,” she said, her back to the demon.

            “And exactly how are you doing this?” Sesshomaru asked her, arms crossed over his chest.

            Xiang Yao turned to him and smiled sweetly, “She’s young yet. Can’t have her seeing certain things.”

            “Like she would,” Sesshomaru growled.

            “Sesshomaru, that water is as clear as crystal, of course she’ll see something!” Xiang Yao said. “Now, hurry up and bathe.”

            “I do not like people sitting so close when I am bathing,” Sesshomaru said.

            “Are you afraid I’ll play peeping tom?” she asked him, turning her back. “As if.”

            Sesshomaru growled, but said nothing and turned to the water, stripping off his clothes and plunging into the icy liquid. He came back up, his hair turned to quicksilver and swam to the shore, grabbing the small back of rose petals he had gathered earlier that day. Grabbing a handful, he crushed them and sprinkled the remnants in his hair and used the rest to scrub himself.

            “Rose petals?” asked Xiang Yao over her shoulder. Sesshomaru heard her sniff, “I didn’t think a demon like you had such delicate taste.”

            “What is that suppose to mean?” Sesshomaru asked as he scrubbed.

            Xiang Yao laughed to herself, “You know, I thought all demons were cruel, heartless creatures. I was trained that way, but, you know what? You guys are the only ones to really treat me with something besides fear. Jakken hates me, Rin is warming up to me and you care not. I find it amusing more then anything.”

            “What kind of life did you lead before I employed you?” Sesshomaru asked, looking up at the back of Xiang Yao. He didn’t admit it out loud, but he like her hair color and the way she either let it flow freely behind her or had it kept in a high ponytail.

            Xiang Yao was quite for a moment, “I live in a Hunter village, was raised there. I was human, they could tell, but no one at the time had use for a child, especially with the Demon Moon only one day away. Out of frustration, the left me with three demon prisoners to be cared for: two males and a female.

“The female nursed me, but cared little. After I was weaned she left me to the males and escaped. The males tried, but weren’t so lucky. So, instead of trying to escape, they began to train me. They taught me the illusion spell and they taught me summoner spells and attack spells and defensive spells. Soon, by the age of seven, I was a master in many battle spells and could summon high power demons from the lower planes.

“However, the two demons knew it was not enough just to know spells, and it had taken eight years to teach them to me because they were not supposed to be teaching me. Knowing this, they built an underground layer and we concealed it with spells the Hunters could never penetrate. There, we gathered materials and made weapons. I became skilled in the ways of a smith and then they taught me the wonders of weapons. I loved the sword, the chain blade, and the whip best, and so they taught me. By the age of twelve I had mastered the whip and was working with the chain blade. I mastered the chain blade at fourteen and then the blade at sixteen.

“By then, the demons were old and tired. Not wanting to burden them further, I left their care against their wishes. I was confronted on the streets by one of the best of the guards, for I was not supposed to be roaming the streets. I was considered an untouchable person, so immediately he attacked to teach me a lesson. I had been smart and brought along my favorite weapons. Using the whip, I defeated him easily. Ieo saw the whole thing. She instantly proclaimed me her daughter and I earned the title of Huntress, highest honor to a female in our village.

“And so, I became what I am. I rarely hunt demons, for more often then not I hunt humans. I may be one, but I am alive thanks to demons and I owe all of them that. I hunt demons only when I have nothing better to do. Strangely enough, it is a demon who ends my career as the Huntress when it is a demon who started me down that path.” She stopped and said nothing more, but Sesshomaru was sure he could see her shoulders shaking.

“I’m sorry,” Sesshomaru said.

Xiang Yao laughed, “Don’t feel sorry for me. I hate pity. If anything, watch your back. There will be a day Rin does not need my protection, and that is the day I will began my hunt for you.”

Sesshomaru chuckled, “Once a Huntress always a Huntress.”

“Indeed, you speak…,” she stopped and suddenly rose into a standing position on her branch. Her hand went to her chain blade and she seemed to be listening. “Get down,” she commanded and swung around, the chain blade in tow. Blood exploded from thin air and several demons appeared, their stomachs cut straight through from Xiang Yao’s attack.

Sesshomaru had only his head out of the water, “Perceptive. Perhaps you are better then I thought.”     

“You know they were there?” Xiang Yao demanded, looking down at him.

“Yes,” Sesshomaru admitted. “Now turn around will you?” He rose, the water only waist deep and glared. Xiang Yao blinked, shrugged and turned around, settling on the branch once again without complaint. Sesshomaru sighed and continued washing. What had he gotten himself into?

“Sesshomaru, this is so complicated!” Rin complained later that night. “I can’t put my hair up! Can you help me?”

Sesshomaru shook his head, “I am not good with hair.”

“But yours is so shiny!” Rin pointed out.

“I wash,” Sesshomaru said bluntly.

“I’ll help you Rin,” Xiang Yao offered and motioned for the little girl of about twelve to sit before her. Rin looked to Sesshomaru and he nodded.

It was high time Rin came off her high horse and learned to accept Xiang Yao, for Sesshomaru intended to keep her around for a good time. Sesshomaru had to admit he had a small soft spot for Rin, but he understood that she would go through changes, as all female humans did, that he could not cope with. It was better to have Xiang Yao with them when those times came. Perhaps doing Rin’s hair was the push Rin needed to get to Xiang Yao a little better.

Rin sat and handed Xiang Yao the brush. Expertly, Xiang Yao fingered the girl’s hair before taking a section and running the brush through it. The mass of snarls began to clear and shine under he gently brushing and soon her whole head was like that. Quietly, without skipping a beat, Xiang Yao separated several fragments on the side of Rin’s head and began to plait them deftly, her fingers flashing in out as quickly as any skilled weaver. When she was done, two braids that hung to her shoulders framed Rin’s head and the back of her head had braids tied in a bow. Xiang Yao smiled softly and let the girl rise.

“Very nice,” Sesshomaru said. “You look lovely Rin.” Xiang Yao raised an eyebrow. This was little more sentiment then usual that was coming from the demon’s mouth. Rin smiled and went to her place around the fire, grabbing some meat and biting in.

Xiang Yao rose suddenly and made a motion for Sesshomaru to follow her. Sesshomaru, more curious then worried, rose and walked after her into the brush. Rin frowned. Sure, Xiang Yao had been around for two weeks straight now, but she had already moved in like she had been there as long as Rin had. And Rin was not pleased. Silently, she set down her meat and crept after the two.

            “What did you call me here for?” Sesshomaru demanded of the Huntress.

            “Tell me, what place does that little chit hold in your heart?” Xiang Yao demanded.

            “What place?” Sesshomaru echoed.

            “Is she a daughter to you? Or a potential lover when she is of age?” Xiang Yao demanded. “Tell me, Sesshomaru.”

            Sesshomaru was slightly taken aback by the brash statement. Rin as his daughter? Or even a lover when she was of age? Xiang Yao had only been here two weeks yet she had the gal to asked such a question of him. What as it that made this girl so fearless? Even after she had lost she held an air about her that made her seem superior, as if Sesshomaru was merely a bug and one day he could no longer run and she would squash him. Sesshomaru hated it, but he kept her.

            “You have no right to know,” he said at last.

            “I think I do as her protector,” Xiang Yao retorted.

            “You think you must protect her from me?” Sesshomaru demanded, whirling on her with a ferocity that would have a normal human trembling in their boots.

            “No,” Xiang Yao said, eyeing him. “I am protecting her from potential threats because of what she is to you.” She pocked him in the chest with that last statement and turned.

            “Do not turn your back on me, human,” Sesshomaru snarled.

            “Not human, demon,” Xiang Yao said.

            “Human born,” Sesshomaru pointed out.

            “Demon breed,” she returned. With that she turned and walked away back to camp, leaving Sesshomaru alone.

            Rin’s eyes opened wide as she watched the confrontation between the two. Xiang Yao was suggesting that Rin was as a daughter to Sesshomaru, perhaps even a lover later in her life. It was all Rin could have ever wanted, but this woman made it seem like the worst thing in the world, as if she knew something Sesshomaru did not.

            Rin scrambled from the bushes onto the path back to the camp, trying to get there before Xiang Yao. In less then two weeks, everything Rin had hoped and dreamed of Sesshomaru seemed very possible, and in that same instant, had shattered everything Rin had learned to believe.

            Sesshomaru stood there long after Xiang Yao and Rin, unbeknownst to him, and left. Xiang Yao’s words rang true. Over the course of several months he had come to love Rin as his daughter, using her as the replacement for a family he knew he could never and would never have.

            But what did she mean by potential threats because of what Rin was to him? It didn’t make sense. Somehow, Sesshomaru felt suddenly like he was not the master here, but Xiang Yao was. She seemed to know something he did not and it bothered him more then he wanted to admit. Sesshomaru needed to rethink his decision to keep her, drastically.

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