Chapter 68

Trapped together



Sesshomaru was in a mood to slaughter something, anything would do. He clenched his fist as he remembered, that the woman dared to slap him in the face. The fact that she hit him was infuriating, but it was nothing compared to her tirade. She called him a monster. To hear such words coming from her mouth were like hundred of slaps. The worst was, that the woman was not entirely wrong – his words could have a negative effect on his ward. Sometimes he seemed to forget, but the child was also a human, yet he did not despise Rin, as the rest of her kind. Why did he keep her, anyway? Sesshomaru did not have any use of her, nor of Mai, contrary to what he said earlier. Nearly for his entire life he despised humans, but now it was different. The attachment towards the both human females was shameful, but he could not fight it. It was hard to admit, but the demon regretted his earlier words and would take them back, if only it was possible. Rin seemed to forget them already, but not Mai. The woman did not say a word to him since then, but she did not avoid him either. Instead, she cast him cold glances, her face expressing disgust with his very person.

The demon gritted his teeth. It was her attitude, that infuriated him so. He was pleased to see her smile and call him decent, but her current behavior… She made him feel her hatred towards him and it bothered him to the point of madness. He wanted to grab her and shake her, make her return to her usual self, but he knew, that her hatred would only become deeper if he did so. Feeling foolish, Sesshomaru admitted to himself, that he did not want the woman to hate him. What exactly did he want from her?

The longer he thought about it, the more confused he was. He glanced at Mai, seeing her baking mushrooms by the fire. She lifted her eyes, noticing him. Her face instantly turned into the mask of hatred and Sesshomaru felt urge to slaughter return with a doubled force. Unfortunately, he could not leave the woman without his protection. He stood up.



Mai noticed, that the asshole Sesshomaru was coming their way. She did her best to ignore the jerk. For the last few days she was giving him silent treatment and was set on continuing to do so, to show that idiotic demon what a bastard he was.

"Jaken, watch Rin." Sesshomaru said. So he was going off somewhere. Good, Mai really needed a moment to take a break from him.

"Gah! What…" she yelped, as the dog demon grabbed her arm and abruptly pulled her up. He tried to get her close to himself, probably to usher her on that cursed cloud of his, but the girl was struggling more fervently than ever, waving with her hands frantically. She heard Sesshomaru growl, before he swept her from her feet and threw over his shoulder, like some sack of potatoes. Mai kept shrieking and banging her fists against his armor, but it was pointless. He didn't even react, when she was pulling his silver strands.

The demon leapt into the air and glided away, firmly holding the struggling girl.



Mai kept screaming and hitting Sesshomaru, till he landed and unceremoniously dumped her onto the ground. She glared sharply at him and the demon rewarded her with an exactly the same look. The girl stood up and took in her surroundings. Sesshomaru took her to a base of a huge mountain. Right before them loomed an entrance to the cave. She sent the demon an angry look.

"Why the hell did you drag me here?" Mai demanded. The inu-youkai didn't spare her a glance and made his way into the cave.

"Wait for me here." He said shortly and walked into the darkness of a mountain.

The demon felt the presence of the youkai, swarming in the shadows, waiting to attack him. Sesshomaru smirked – it was what he needed today. He flexed his fingers and the sharp claws gleamed in the darkness.

"Come." He said. The numerous youkai left their hideouts and threw themselves at the silver-haired youkai. Sesshomaru began ripping them apart, bathing in their blood. In this moment he felt pleasure filling his demon heart, that finally was being able to forget about her for a while.



"Osuwari!"

Inuyasha was slammed into the ground with a loud thud. The hanyou glared at Kagome, his face caked in the dirt.

"What was that for, Kagome!" he yelled at the girl. She folded her arms an pouted.

"You should be nicer to me." Kagome said, eying the half-demon, who stood up, sending her angry looks. The rest of their group didn't seem to be bothered by an almost everyday occurrence. The girl in the school uniform glanced around at the people in the village, they were passing. The tension was apparent and the women were hiding their children at the sight of Inuyasha.

"Hoshi-sama, do you think that they have a problem with youkai around here?" Sango asked, as she also noticed the heavy atmosphere. The monk nodded.

"I think so." He answered and glanced at the hanyou, who was pouting at Kagome. "Maybe you stay with Inuyasha here and I'll go and ask the villagers, what this is all about."

Miroku returned after a few minutes.

"So?" Inuyasha asked, urging the monk to say something. Miroku sighed.

"It seems, that there was a problem here, but it was already taken care of. In the cave near the village was a nest of youkai, that came out at night and plagued the people, but Ungai-sama already defeated them."

"Ungai-sama?" Kagome asked, wondering, where did she hear the name before. It sounded somehow familiar. Shippo exclaimed.

"Is he the monk, that was fighting with Sesshomaru?" the little fox demon asked. Miroku folded his arms.

"Yes, the same. He and his group departed at dawn." The monk said.

"Maybe we should take a look at the cave too?" Sango asked with the worry typical for the demon slayer. Inuyasha yawned.

"Feh! Maybe later."



Mai was tired of sitting outside the damn cave. She glanced inside, but Sesshomaru still wasn't coming back. The demon was in there for over an hour now. What the hell took him so long? The girl was playing with the hem of her kimono, when she heard male voices, nearing the place, where she was sitting. She jumped onto her feet, a little bit scared. The people strolling in such suspicious area could be bandits and she definitely didn't want to run into them. She looked around, searching for a place to hide and decided, that the cave would be the best choice. The dark hole was freaking her out, but Sesshomaru was in there, so she could get help any time. Quickly she went in, careful not to trip, as her eyes weren't accustomed to the lack of light yet. She found a perfect spot and hid there. The men wouldn't be able to see her and she could observe them.

The girl saw the group of men. They approached the entrance to the cave, but didn't show any intention of going in. All of them were dressed in Buddhist monk's robes, their bald heads gleaming in the sunlight. Most of them were quite young, except their leader, who had a stern face. His expression told clearly, that this man takes no bullshit.

"What is your plan, Ungai-sama?" one of the younger monks asked. The leader furrowed his brows, considering something intensely. Finally, he spoke.

"The youki here is too powerful for us to handle." He said. The monks gasped. Mai was about to too, but she covered her mouth with her hand. The men must be able to sense the demonic energy! The girl knew, that Kagome, Miroku and Sango could also do that, but Mai wasn't ever able to grasp it – apparently they had a talent, she didn't.

"Are we going back?" the youngest monk asked. Ungai-sama shook his head.

"No, we cannot do this." He said. "If we are not able to kill a mononoke, one more thing remains."

Mai watched, what he was doing. She had a bad feeling about this. The men took out several pieces of paper and stuck them on the stones near the entrance to the cave, while shouting some Buddhist sutras.

"Our work here is done." Ungai-sama announced and the monks left. Mai watched as they were going again, but decided to stay in the cave for a while longer, just to be sure. She noticed, that the sun was beginning to set, blinding her with its scarlet rays.

"I told you to stay outside." Mai jumped, startled, as she heard Sesshomaru's deep voice right behind her. When she calmed her heart pounding from surprise, she turned around and froze. The silver-haired demon looked simply terrifying – as though he was a character from some horror, especially when the red sunrays cast its light upon him. Sesshomaru was red – his white haori and silver strands were caked in blood, he even had it smeared on his cheek. Mai didn't see any wound, so she assumed, that the blood was not his. She found herself getting more and more scared by him, as he just stood over her, casting her an intimidating glare.

"Answer me." The demon demanded. Mai gulped, not really eager to argue with him right now.

"There were some men outside, so I hid here. They seem to be gone now, though." She blabbered.
The demon grabbed he by the shoulder and yanked upwards, without a word. When she was trying to get away, he snatched her wrist and imprisoned it in a steel grip of his clawed hand. Mai flinched with disgust, as she felt the sticky liquid cling to her palm. Sesshomaru dragged her toward the exit.
Suddenly, when they were just about to go outside, Mai got blinded by the flash of light and a strange sound. The demon stepped back and slowly reached his hand out. The sparkles shot and burnt his hand.

"A barrier." He said quietly. The girl widened her eyes. Now it was all clear – it was the work of those suspicious monks. They put some kind of barrier on the cave, probably to prevent the youkai from coming out. However, it shouldn't have any effect on a human, right? Mai decided to take her chance and boldly stepped forward.

There was another flash and she was thrown back, landing on her butt. Sesshomaru looked at her.

"There is no use, this is not a normal barrier." He told her. "It is a seal."