Chapter 42

Seekers of the lost spear




"Jaken, are we there?" Mai asked, walking next to Ah-Un. The green imp folded his arms.

"How would I know?"

"Ask him." The girl said, yawning. God, she was already fed up by all this marching.

"Respect Sesshomaru-sama, you human!" Jaken exclaimed. Mai only rolled her eyes. Jaken and his antics.

"Whatever. Just go and ask him!" Mai lost her patience.

"Why me? You wanted to know, so go on!" Jaken insisted.

"Mai, Jaken-sama…" Rin said quietly, but neither Mai nor Jaken paid any attention to her, busy arguing.

"Move your sorry ass, you green frog!" the girl exclaimed.

"You lazy human wench!" Jaken squeaked, waving with Nintoujou.

Both of them uttered an "ouch", when they collided with something big. Mai and Jaken slowly looked up, only to meet Sesshomaru's angry glare. They stayed still for a moment and then began the real commotion. Jaken kept bowing and apologizing and Mai was smiling sheepishly, pointing at the green imp as the one to blame.

"Forgive Jaken, Sesshomaru-sama!" pleaded the green imp, his forehead banging on the ground.
"It's his fault!" Mai was convincing.

"Enough!" Sesshomaru yelled. Jaken and Mai stopped immediately, as though paralyzed. Rin sighed quietly, shaking her head.

"I tried to tell you." She said.

"Are we there?" asked Mai finally. To her surprise, she got her answer from Sesshomaru – the demon nodded. The girl looked around. They were standing in front of a vertical stone wall. Confused, she looked at Sesshomaru. "Are you sure?

The dog-demon didn't answer. Hr reached with his hand to the wall. When he was about to touch it, the fragment of the stone wall sparked. Then, the demon pushed and his hand disappeared inside the wall.

"The barrier is weakened." Sesshomaru, said pulling back his hand. Mai stared with wide-opened eyes. She didn't see something like that before. Curious, she did the same. The girl felt slight tingling, as her hand passed through the barrier.

Encouraged by her example, Jaken and Rin came closer and tried the same, but both of them were rejected by the barrier. The kid let out a cry and Jaken squeaked.

"Sesshomaru-sama, the barrier is still strong." The green imp stated. "Why Mai was able to even touch it?"

The silence fell and Mai could feel everyone's stares at her. Sesshomaru approached her and stared her down.

"Why would the barrier accept you?" he asked quietly.

"How would I know?" Mai answered with a question, shrugging her shoulders. The demon was looking at her for a while and then he turned his attention to Jaken.

"Jaken, Rin, stay here." He commanded.

"What about me?" Mai asked, surprised, that he didn't mention her name. Sesshomaru grabbed her arm.

"You are coming with me." He replied and pushed her through the barrier.

Mai yelped and closed her eyes, as she felt her body tingling. When it stopped, cautiously, she opened her eyes. Sesshomaru was standing right beside her, gripping her arm firmly. They were in a cave of some kind. The walls and ceiling were covered in luminescent fungi, that lit the corridor. The place was beautiful in certain way, but also creepy. The demon released her hand.

"Stay close." He commanded and began walking deeper into the cave. Mai obediently trotted after him, not wanting to be left behind. Why she had to go with him? The girl had a hunch, that it wouldn't be the safest trip.

"Sesshomaru?" she spoke up, hating the silence, as they marched along the corridor. The demon wasn't saying anything. "What weapon are you looking for?"

"A spear." He replied shortly, not bothering to look at the girl. Mai rolled her eyes – what a detailed explanation!

"Sesshomaru, say something more!" she demanded.

"Be silent, woman." He said sharply in a tone, that indicated the end of the discussion. Mai folded her arms, not willing to give up.

"You were the one who insisted on dragging me a long! At least you should tell me into what mess are you getting me." She insisted, as she sped up to walk side to side with Sesshomaru. The inu-youkai didn't say a word for a while, when he finally opened his mouth.

"The spear belonged to my father's mortal enemy, a human named…."

"A human?" Mai interrupted, surprised, that a mere human could stand a chance against Sesshomaru's father. "This spear… is it more powerful than your Tokijin?"

"Hn." That was the only answer the demon gave her.
Mai took it as a "yes".

"Why do you want it so badly?" she kept asking.

"I seek more power." He replied, annoyed by her unending questions. Mai furrowed her brows. Wasn't he powerful enough already? The girl decided, that he was just being greedy.

"Why?" she asked. The demon gritted his teeth.

"My path is that of a conqueror." Sesshomaru explained to her with remaining patience. Mai looked at him. Conqueror? He wants to be Japan's emperor or something like that? As expected of a man with an ego of the size of the Pacific Ocean.

They were walking for about an hour in silence and Mai got extremely bored. As there was nothing else to do, she decided to bother Sesshomaru again.

"Sesshomaru?" she spoke up. "When you conquer everything, what will you do then?"
"Hn."

She looked at the demon. Oh, so he's avoiding answering. Mai sighed. As expected, the attempt of starting a conversation with him was a total failure. It would be like chatting with a wall – the only difference was, that walls don't tend to grip people's throats, when you say something they don't like. The silence fell again, Mai could only hear sound of water dripping from the cave's ceiling.

"What is your path, human?" Sesshomaru asked suddenly. Mai abruptly turned her head to gawk at him. He spoke! On his own! Well, that was a first.

"I want to…" she stopped, thinking how to put it so that he would understand. Tokyo University wouldn't tell him much, right? She tried again. "I always wanted to be a scholar."
Sesshomaru glanced at her.

"Do not be foolish. No woman can be a scholar." He stated. Mai stared at the demon. Great, not only was he a racist, but a sexist too? God, why she was stuck with someone like him?

"I would be a damn good one." She snapped, glaring at him furiously.

"Hn. Then why are you not?" he asked, clearly mocking her. Mai clenched her fists.

"Because I am your slave, you arrogant jerk! And I will probably die as one!" she shouted at him. The girl just couldn't bear all this crap. She turned her head to send Sesshomaru her best death-glare, but she yelped from fear instead, seeing that his eyes were red. Oh shit! She nearly forgot, how easy it was to piss him. She took a step back and smiled faintly.

"Sesshomaru, please, calm down. I didn't mean it…" she pleaded, hoping, that he wouldn't try to throttle her this time. The demon suddenly turned away from her. Mai let out a relieved sigh. Oh, thank go…

"Gah!" she yelped, as something white wrapped around her waist and she was knocked off her feet. Frantically, she looked down and gasped, seeing Sesshomaru's fluffy white fur around her. He wrapped her in that thing and flew along the corridor. Mai grabbed the fur tightly, noticing, how smooth it was.

When the ride was over, the white fur released the girl suddenly, sending her to the ground.

"Ouch!" Mai yelped as her butt made a contact with a hard cave floor. Then she lifted her head and gasped in amazement. The view was breathtaking. The cave was huge, she couldn't see the distant ceiling, even though there were also the luminescent fungi. The huge stalactites created natural pillars. In the middle of the hall was a statue of a man, a samurai, holding a spear. The spear was real, all jet black, including the blade. On the socle of the monument was something engraved. The enchanted girl went towards it, ignoring Sesshomaru and kneeled to read the inscription. She felt somewhat like Indiana Jones. It was so exciting!

"Do not touch anything." The silver-haired demon told her. Mai nodded her head, really not paying any attention to him. She concentrated on deciphering the inscription – the letters were so decorative, that it made them hard to read.

"Only the rightful owner of the spear will wield… bone of bone, flesh of flesh… the great darkness…" she read aloud. She squinted her eyes to read the mysterious character, when she saw a flash of light above her and heard a cracking sound.

"What the hell?!" she exclaimed and looked up. Sesshomaru was holding the spear and sparks were everywhere. Eventually, the demon backed his hand and the girl saw burns on the inner side of his palm.

"You know, if you asked me first, I would have told you, that there was barrier put on that spear. It is all written down here." Mai said rolling her eyes. The demon narrowed his eyes and pulled her on her feet, so that she could face him, more or less.

"What else did you learn about the barrier?" he asked, looking at the spear. The girl sighed.
"We can go back." She said, shrugging her shoulders. "According to the inscription, only a descendant of this man can wield the spear and you are obviously not the one."

Sesshomaru gritted his teeth and glared at Mai, as though everything was her fault. She placed her hands on the hips.

"It's not like any of us could do anything. Anyway, there's apparently some kind of nasty curse on it too. It's supposed to drain every drop of the blood of the man, who killed the previous owner."
The demon's expression softened a bit and he stepped back from the weapon.

"Is there a way to lift a barrier?" he asked the girl. Mai furrowed her brows. What the hell does he think? First, he mocks her dream to study and now he treats her like some barrier-expert. Today she saw the damn thing for the first time. However, she cleared the throat, ready to share, what she figured out this far.

"Nope, I doubt it. Just give up already! To cheer you up I'll show you, that I can't touch it either, okay?" she offered. Seriously, she wanted to get out of here already. To demonstrate, what she just said, she reached for the spear and tried to grab it. She closed the eyes, expecting some pain.
However, the pain didn't come and she closed her palm around the weapon.

"Eh?" she muttered, gawking at her own hand grabbing the spear. No sparks, no burns, nothing – as though the barrier didn't work on her the way it did on Sesshomaru. Slowly, she looked at the silver-haired demon. He was as surprised as her – his golden eyed widened in shock.

"Let go of the spear, woman!" he hissed to her. Mai tried to flex her fingers, but her own hand wouldn't listen. Oh god, she knew that feeling. She knew it too well. It felt the same when she was holding that wretched mirror, which transferred her soul.

"Sesshomaru, I can't." she whimpered, terrified. Her whole arm began feel numb and it was spreading. She gave out a small cry. "Help me!"