Chapter 66

Nameless graves



A week later Mai felt utterly miserable. Sesshomaru didn't show an intention to leave their group even once and always had his eye on her. The only brief moments of privacy were when she had to bath or pee, but even then she knew that she was still in the range of his nose and hearing. To make the matters worse, they still weren't talking with each other. The demon looked like he was pouting at something in his own distinctive way. At first Mai wondered what it could be, but then gave up and decided, that if the arrogant jerk has a problem, it should stay his.

Mai noticed some buildings in the vicinity. A village. Their supplies were almost gone, so maybe they could go and buy something from the peasants. The sight of Sesshomaru would scare the shit out of the poor people, but it was worth a try. The girl took a deep breath, gathering her courage, and approached the silver-haired demon.

"Sesshomaru, there's a village nearby. Maybe we could buy some things?" she asked.

"There is no scent of humans there." The youkai answered surprisingly fast for him. Mai furrowed her eyebrows. No humans? So the village was abandoned. She wondered what could be the cause. Maybe some bandits attacked it and killed all the peasants. Still… she needed to get a comb quickly, as she lost the last one. Robbing the village because of a comb was kind of creepy, but since there is no one alive…

"Sesshomaru, are there any other villages in the vicinity?" she asked. The demon still wasn't looking at her.

"No." he replied shortly. Mai sighed. She guessed she had no other choice. Her hair was already so tangled, it lived its own life. She decided to use Rin-like persuasion method, since the kid had always her way with the demon. Sesshomaru abruptly set his gaze on her, as Mai gripped his sleeve and copied Rin's puppy eyes.

"I need to get something from the village. Can we just go there for a short while. Please, please. Pretty please!"

The demon stared at her, startled by the strange behavior. His glance wandered down, to her palms gripping the sleeve of his haori and then back to her face. Sesshomaru noted to himself, that the both human females were learning the tricks from each other. At first he wanted to refuse the foolish plea, but then decided that the woman would be bothersome if she does not have, what she wanted so badly.

"Be silent, woman." He hissed through the clenched teeth and walked away. Mai smiled, seeing as he changed the direction and was now heading towards the abandoned village. Maybe he wasn't such an ass after all…



The empty village was creepy. Everything looked as from a horror movie. It didn't even help that it was the middle of the day and Sesshomaru was around – Mai was scared out of her wits nonetheless. Everything was lefts so, as though the villager were still here and about to begin the daily activities. Whatever happened, it must have struck swiftly and without warning. The girl noticed dark brown stains everywhere. She felt a shiver run down her spine, when she realized, what it was – dried blood, lots of it. She began regretting that she made Sesshomaru come here. In the center of the village were graves, a lot of it. It seemed, that someone or something slaughtered all the villagers and they were buried later.

Mai saw, that she was not the only one, who was freaking out. Rin was sitting on Ah-Un's back and trembling tremendously, as she was looking around at the signs of massacre. The older girl felt a stab of guilt, making the kid see all this blood. The poor child must be scared. Mai noticed that Jaken and even Sesshomaru were glancing at Rin from time to time, as though they knew something the girl didn't.

"Woman, find quickly, what you came here for." The dog demon spoke to her, hurrying the girl. She nodded and hesitantly she made her way to one of the houses. She had to go in there and find a damn comb, but she just stood, afraid to go in.

"Just hurry up!" Jaken shouted to her, getting impatient by her dawdling. "What are you looking for, anyway?"

"A comb." She said, eying the door suspiciously. What if a corpse was in there? Mai knew from various horror movies, that going alone into an abandoned house never ended well.
Mai felt a little hand tightening around her fingers and looked down to see Rin, smiling at her faintly.

"Come on." The child said and tugged her hand, leading her along the street. Mai went with the child, rest of their group following them. The girl studied Rin – the kid looked like she knew exactly where to go. Was she in this village before? Mai turned her head to look at Sesshomaru and Jaken, remembering how strangely were they looking at the kid just a while ago. The silver-haired demon's face showed odd emotion, like he was deep in thought over something. Then she tripped and had to turn her attention back to where she was going, not to fall down.

Rin led her to the miserable shack at the outskirts of the village. The house looked rather like some makeshift barn, than an actual human settlement. Mai began to be really curious about the situation. The kid let go off her hand and ran inside, looking for something. The girl waited outside with the rest of the group.

After a while Rin came back, holding a simple wooden comb and passed it to Mai.

"Here you go." The child smiled brightly. "It belonged to my mother. You can have it now."
Mai's eyes widened. Her mother? So this place… it is where…

"Rin, did you live here?" she asked the child. Rin nodded her head.

"Yes, with my father, mother and brothers. But then Rin lived here alone… till the wolves came and killed everyone. But Sesshomaru-sama saved me and let me stay with him." She said, smiling sadly.
The older girl felt pity for the child. The kid was still so young, but she suffered already so much. However, putting the sad past behind, Rin was a wonderful and cheerful girl now. She wouldn't have had this chance if Sesshomaru didn't decide to take her with him. Mai thought that the demon might actually hide a kinder side of himself.

"Rin," Mai turned her head, as she heard Sesshomaru speaking to the child. "Do you wish to visit your parents' graves?" he asked. Rin nodded and led them outside the village. Mai couldn't help but stare at the demon. Was he just now nice, like genuinely nice? She expected, that he would glare at them and growl to hurry up, but not making a detour. He really must be kinder than she thought. With his horrible attitude it was damn difficult to discern his more positive character traits, but it actually turned out, that there were ones.

The whole group went to the meadow, where four simple gravestones were, without any inscription carved, nothing. Just four stones. The grass grew on the ground covering the remains of Rin's whole family. The child kneeled in front of them, tears started flowing from her eyes. Mai knelt beside the child and took her into her arms, comforting silently.

"I used to visit them every day." Rin sobbed into Mai's shoulder. The older girl knew the kid's pain – she must have never visited the graves since the attack two years ago. Mai was the same as this little crying girl, she used to visit her parents on the graveyard every Sunday. She was telling them everything, as though they were still alive and could hear her. She realized, that she would never be able to leave flowers on her father's and mother's grave. It saddened her, but her dad always told her, that it was the life that mattered, not death, because you can still change things as a living person.

"Rin, it's okay." Mai smiled at the child. "It's not important where their graves are, because they're always in your heart, as long as you remember them."
The child looked at Mai and nodded. The girl wiped Rin's tears with the hem of her kimono.

"Maybe you should leave some flowers, what do you think?" Mai asked.

"Okay." Rin nodded and the both girls plucked some daisies, that grew nearby and the kid laid them as four small bouquets next to the simple stones.

"I wish they had better graves…" the child sighed, touching the biggest rock. Mai knew, what Rin meant. The nameless graves looked somehow sad…

"Stay back." The both girls turned around, hearing Sesshomaru's deep voice. Mai noticed that his fingertips were glowing with green light, as though he readied himself to the attack with his whip. She yanked Rin upwards and took a step aside.

"What…" she began, but the demon silenced her with a sharp look. Mai closed her mouth. Sesshomaru turned his attention to Rin.

"Tell me their names." The youkai said. Mai watched with wide-opened eyes, as Rin recited the names of her father, mother and brothers, pointing at the each of four stones. Sesshomaru listened to the child carefully and the whip of green light shot from the ends of his clawed fingers, as Rin finished reciting. He gracefully moved his wrist and the whip whirled, cutting the stones. When it dissolved, the girl saw that the names of the child's relatives were engraved on the stones. Rin saw it too and looked at the demon, the tears in her eyes, her face expressing gratitude.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama!" The child exclaimed. The demon simply nodded.

"Let us go." He commanded and turned away. Mai and the rest of their small group followed him.
The girl was taken aback by what she just saw – the unexpected display of kindness coming from the demon, the very one she saw as a heartless cruel bastard. Mai sighed. Apparently, she judged him wrong all along. She quickened her pace to join Sesshomaru. She looked at him, but he didn't show any sign, that he even noticed her.

"What you just did, it was very kind of you." Mai spoke to him, but got no reaction. She decided to continue. "I was wrong about you – you are quite a good person. I think, that you are a decent man, Sesshomaru." She said and smiled at him.

The demon looked back at her, baffled by what he just heard from Mai.
"You are a foolish woman." He replied.

Mai's smile dropped of her face and she cast him a sharp glare.

"And you are still an arrogant jerk." She said, folding her arms and pouting.