Chapter 71

Come with me, dearest



"Naraku and his minions haven't shown in a while." Mai commented, bored out of her mind, as she rode on Ah-Un.

"Moryomaru is also Naraku's minion." Jaken stated.

"Ah, him." Mai muttered, remembering the strange creature, that was appearing every now and then, bugging Sesshomaru. The dog demon was coping quite well, but wasn't able to defeat the guy, what was the reason of his bad mood. The other reason could be also the fact, that Tokijin broke the day before and Sesshomaru didn't have any weapon beside his claws. Since then the inu-youkai was unbearable – he was making the entire group run in circles after the newest of Naraku's minions, night and day, without any rest. Mai and Jaken were taking turns in sleeping on Ah-Un's back, Rin wasn't as cheerful as usual and the dragon looked like the most miserable creature, Mai has ever seen.

"Sesshomaru, we're already at our limit!" she complained to the demon. He didn't slow down or even look at her.

"Hn." He spoke up. "This Sesshomaru will not rest until that pathetic insect is killed."
Mai rolled her eyes. So it was a matter of his pride… The girl knew better than argue with the man, who had the ego of the size of Japan.

"Go after him, if you like, but let us rest a bit. Ah-Un is barely alive." She tried to convince him.

Sesshomaru stopped and glanced at the dragon, as though checking if she didn't lie to him – Ah-Un really was looking miserable. The dog demon looked at his servants.

"I will be back by the end of the day." He said and soared into the sky.

Mai watched him, until he disappeared above the clouds. She turned to her companions. Rin and Jaken were already laying on the ground and Ah-Un looked very pleased, about to do the same. The girl placed her hands on her hips.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Get up!" she yelled at them. Rin and Jaken gawked at her and Ah-Un roared with protest, when she put Rin and struggling Jaken on his back.

"What…" the imp began, but Mai interrupted him, climbing on the saddle and grabbing the reins.

"We're going to visit Totosai and have him make a new sword for Sesshomaru." She decided and motioned the dragon to fly, but he didn't budge. Mai frowned. "He's pretty defenseless now."

"Just tell Ah-Un, that you'll give him carrots." Jaken muttered, suddenly convinced to the idea.
At the mention of the favorite vegetables, the dragon took off and flew towards the Totosai's smithy.
.
After two hours of flight, Ah-Un finally landed in front of Totosai's weird home.
"Totosai-sama!" Mai called.

"Totosai, get out!" Jaken shouted. The old smith came out and gawked at the strange group. His eyes widened more than usual, when he recognized Mai and Jaken.

"Oh, you're travelling with Sesshomaru." He muttered. "Considering that you came, Tokijin must be the one that disappeared."

"Yes…" Mai nodded, taken aback by his deduction. She jumped of the Ah-Un's back and ran towards the old smith. "Totosai-sama, we've got a huge request."

Totosai looked at her suspiciously.

"What… request?" he asked slowly. Mai made her best puppy eyes.

"Please make a new sword for Sesshomaru!" she said to the old man. Totosai shook his head.

"I won't." he stated stubbornly. Mai narrowed her eyes, but decided not to yell at him yet.

"Why?"

"He has already one of my masterpieces. I won't make another sword for him." Totosai insisted. The girl rolled her eyes, thinking about Tenseiga.

"He can't cut anything normal with Tenseiga and he has to slice Naraku along with his minions somehow! He can't possibly do it with his bare hand, he needs a good weapon!" she tried to talk some sense into Totosai. The old man winced.

"The boy is not ready." He stated firmly, folding his arms. Mai felt, that she was running out of arguments.

"But… he has changed!" she told the smith. "He's not that selfish anymore and is able to act like a decent man!"

Totosai didn't seem convinced.

"It's true, Totosai!" suddenly a familiar voice exclaimed. Mai squinted her eyes and noticed Myoga skipping on the demon smith's shoulder. Her eyes brightened. The flea could help her convince stubborn Totosai!

"Sesshomaru-sama is not the same cold-hearted demon as before!" Myoga said, causing Mai to nod enthusiastically. The flea continued. "He uses his demon power to defend the weak, became kind and gentle towards humans…"

Mai's lid started twitching, as the flea continued. Kind and gentle? It seemed, that Myoga had overdone this a bit…

"Myoga, it's enough." Totosai said eventually. "I have work to do, so wait here. When I'm finished, I'll see, what I can do."

"Thank you!" Mai exclaimed happily.

"Myoga-jiji, you're the best." She whispered to the flea, that was now on her arm.

The group sat in front of Totosai's smithy, relaxing on the bench. Ah-Un sprawled himself on the ground and fell asleep instantly. Myoga hopped onto Rin's palm and was entertaining the kid. Mai and Jaken were just stretching their legs.

"Someone's coming." The girl said lazily, pointing the figure in the distance. Jaken yawned.

"Probably just Totosai's customer." He replied.



Sesshomaru glided towards the place, where he left his group. The demon was angered – Moryomaru's scent, he was following, turned out to be Byakuya's deception. Hence there was no need to linger any longer . Suddenly, he picked up a scent, that should not be here – the one of his steed, along with the rest of the group. Sesshomaru furrowed his brows.

"Mai." He hissed out with irritation. It must be her, who tricked him into abandoning his companions. Probably she wanted to use his absence to visit Inuyasha's miko. He followed the trail without delay, while it was still fresh.



Mai was looking at the approaching figure. The man was still far away, but she discerned, that he had a cloak on, that was hiding his face. He definitely looked suspicious. Jaken, seeing the girl tensing, sniffed the air.

"It's just a human." He told her and Mai calmed down a bit. With all those demons around, one human wouldn't be much of a threat. She watched the figure make his way to the Totosai's smithy and coming closer to them. She was surprised, when the man went towards the group, sitting on the bench, instead of calling Totosai. The man stopped right before her.

"Amayami, were you waiting?" a voice said. Mai stiffened at the mention of the princess's name. She stood up abruptly. The man's voice seemed familiar to her, as though she heard it before, but she couldn't tell where.
"You don't need to be afraid of me." The man said, closing the distance between himself and Mai. The girl took a step back, till she found herself plastered against the surface of the skull-house.

"Don't come any closer!" she called to him. Jaken noticed her distressed face and pointed at him with Nintoujou.

"Don't move!" the imp said, determined to fry the man till he gets crispy. The mysterious man stopped and laughed sadly.

"You did not recognize me." He made a sorrowful remark. Slowly, he lifted his hands to the hood and slid the fabric of his head. Mai stared at him for a while and gasped, as she finally recognized him.

"Gorouza!" she exclaimed, startled. He smiled at her gently. Mai thoughts were racing. What the man was doing here? She was sure, that he was supposed to be dead. Damn, she even saw his corpse! Why the hell dead people just can't peacefully stay in their graves?!

"You're dead." Mai stated the obvious. "You died the day, Sesshomaru kidnapped me."
Gorouza nodded and the girl felt a shiver go down her spine. She had earlier delusions, that he might have survived somehow and the corpse was fake, but now… crap!

"I died. But I came back to life because of our love." He said and made a step forward.

"STOP!" Mai shrieked at top of her lungs. Gorouza obeyed. Totosai came out of his house to see what was happening. Jaken swung his staff and whacked the dead lord in the vicinity of his knees, but the man didn't even notice it. He was staring at Mai.

"Are you not happy to see me?" he asked quietly. Mai narrowed her eyes.

"Are you nuts?!" she yelled at him. "Who the hell would be happy to see a zombie?! You were nice, when you lived and all, but, damn, if you're dead, then stay dead!"
Gorouza shook his head, as though her words didn't reach him.

"I can't believe it… Amayami, you… The mononoke stole not only you from me, but also your love." He stated. Mai's face flushed. Why the hell those people insisted on saying such idiotic things?

"He's not my lover, you idiot!" she scolded Gorouza. The man smiled widely at her words.

"Then, my sweetest Amayami, let's spend the eternity forever!" he exclaimed, dropping a black stone on the ground and suddenly grabbing Mai's hands. For a moment noting happened.

Then, the ground beneath Mai's feet opened and everyone was blinded by the light coming out of the hole.

"Amayami." Gorouza whispered, as both of them began to be sucked into the opening in the ground's surface. Mai wanted to struggle, but her body went numb and didn't want to listen to her. She felt the overwhelming sleepiness and slowly closed her eyes.

"Mai, wake up!" Myoga was shouting from Totosai's shoulder. "Everyone, don't go near the hole, it's a gate to hell!"

"What?" Jaken whispered, terrified, watching the girl disappearing from this world.

"It is already too late to save her." Totosai said, shaking his head with regret. Rin was struggling with Jaken and screaming Mai's name, but the imp was holding the child firm. With a corner of his eye he noticed a lightning ball approaching with a great speed.