Chapter 44

Goodbye, Sesshomaru




"Goodbye, Sesshomaru."

"Mai, no!" Kagome screamed, as she saw her friend thrusting the spear. With loud scroop, the blade struck millimeters from Sesshomaru's neck. The demon didn't take his eyes from Mai's face. A single drop of sweat dropped of her face, as she gritted her teeth, using all the willpower to fight the spirit, that possessed her.

"Mai." Sesshomaru quietly said her name and the girl gripped the spear tighter, looking at him.

"Run." She managed to utter. The grip of the shadowy hands on Sesshomaru's large frame lessened a bit, allowing the demon to free himself. He leaped into the air and landed on the opposite side of Mai, so that now she was the one between him and the stone wall.

The girl struggled to maintain control over her own body, but the spirit was beginning to take over. She felt its rage and bloodlust.

Kill him. Obey me.

No way! Great, another control-obsessed jerk. It seemed, that she was a magnet to guys like those. The spirit was in charge now, but she had a little bit of a control. Mai knew, that she had to think of something soon, before Sesshomaru realizes, that he would have to kill her. Think, girl, think! The spear was defeated once. What did Inu no Taisho use to defeat the guy?

Mai's body made a pirouette and charged at Sesshomaru, pointing the spear at him. The silver-haired demon ripped Tokijin out and blocked the blade, but the youkai's sword was pushed away from the spears dark aura, that seemed, as though it was not from this world.

In girl's brain something just clicked. The aura and the hands were solid and were not at the same time, as if they were beings not from this world. And what could cut things like that? The answer was right here, in her head. Mai thought intensely and she got it – the sword maker, Totosai, told her about such a weapon.

Sesshomaru skillfully dodged Mai's blow and attacked, forcing her to block with a spear and prevented her from using the dark aura or shadowy arms. The demon kept attacking the spear in order to snap in two, but with no avail – Mai's weapon was far more powerful than Tokijin.
When the blades clashed again, the girl forced the spirit to retreat from her mind and allow her a little bit of control. She tried to speak.

"… the other sword… you idiot…" she barely uttered through clenched teeth.

The demon retreated, jumping back and narrowed his eyed. Did the woman just speak to him? The other sword… Tenseiga. Hesitantly, he unsheathed it. The sword pulsed, as though it has its own heartbeat. The black arms darted in attempt to capture him and he swiftly slashed them with his blade. To Sesshomaru's surprise, the shapes dissolved and the woman, or rather the one, who possessed her, hissed from irritation. The silver-haired demon boldly rushed forward, slashing the shadowy shapes along the way. He whirled around and the blades clashed again. He circled around the woman, constantly making the weapons meet and not letting her escape from his attacks. Slowly, he was pushing her towards the corner. The woman was furiously shouting and hissing at him, but he did not yield till her back met the cold stone wall. As he delivered the blow to the spear with all his might, the weapons flared – Tenseiga with blinding blue light and Mai's spear with the aura of pure darkness.

"You…" Sesshomaru said, as he noticed, that the woman's empty eyes came back to normal and stared at him with bewilderment.

"Sesshomaru!" she exclaimed, as the spear's weapon snapped in two and Tenseiga slashed her across her chest. The aura of darkness dissolved abruptly and the girl fell on Sesshomaru. The demon caught her with his arm, preventing her from falling onto the hard cave floor. She didn't move.

"Woman." The silver-haired demon said. Mai moaned something incoherently.

"Am I alive?" she mumbled, still hanging limply in the demon's grasp.

"Yes." Sesshomaru answered shortly. Mai sighed with relief.

"MAI!" Inuyasha yelled, darting towards them, with Kagome on his back. When they landed, the black-haired girl jumped off and ran to the demon, who was supporting her friend. Reluctantly, Sesshomaru let her examine Mai, whose legs were still wobbling.

"Are you hurt?" Kagome asked with worry in her voice. As the silver-haired demon released her from his grip, she stumbled forward and grabbed Kagome for support.

"I need an aspirin." Mai mumbled. Her friend smiled – Mai was okay!

"Sesshomaru-sama!" called Myoga, jumping from Kagome's shoulder on Inuyasha. "Congratulations, Sesshomaru-sama, you managed to obliterate the Dark Spear. How did you know to use Tenseiga?" asked the flea.

Sesshomaru averted his eyes.

"Hn." The proud demon did not intend to admit, that it was a human, who aided him in battle. Again.

"I told him." Mai offered the answer gaining everyone's attention and Sesshomaru's warning glare.

"Sometimes I think that I'm the only one with a brain here." She said, swallowing the aspirin, Kagome gave her. God, every inch of her body ached – the spirit used her body to do some crazy acrobatics and her muscles never were made to work like that before. She looked for the one, who spoke earlier and saw a tiny figure on Inuyasha's shoulder, that looked like an old man.

"Umm… Who are you?" she asked him.

"I am Myoga the flea." He introduced himself.

"He's a terrible coward, but has quite an extensive knowledge." Kagome told Mai and turned to Inuyasha. "Can we go now?"

The hanyou nodded.

"Come on, Kagome." He said. Kagome rushed to him, grabbing Mai's hand and dragging her along.
When Sesshomaru saw his servant being taken away, he leaped towards the girls and gripped Mai's other hand, pulling the girl towards himself. However, Kagome didn't plan of letting go either.

"Mai is going with us, Sesshomaru!" Kagome stated firmly, glaring at the demon. Sesshomaru tightened his grip so, that Mai whimpered quietly, completely confused, what the hell those two were doing.

"Unhand my servant, miko." Hissed Sesshomaru, dangerously narrowing his eyes.

"I won't. You let her go!" Kagome insisted, tugging Mai towards herself. The brown-haired girl looked up at the demon and recognized the usual signs, that he will be extremely pissed in a minute. Didn't her friend notice it as well?

"Kagome…" she started, trying to warn the other girl, but she nearly bit her tongue off, as Sesshomaru pulled her forcefully, so that she slammed against his armor. "Ouch!"

"Inuyasha." Sesshomaru said to his younger half-brother. "Tell her to unhand my servant."
Inuyasha assessed the situation quickly.

"Kagome! Let go of Mai, leave her to Sesshomaru!" he shouted, fearing for Kagome's safety.
"I won't leave her with him!" the girl dressed in school uniform shouted back, still grabbing Mai's arm and trying to drag her away from Sesshomaru. The demon growled at Kagome warningly and Inuyasha made a decision. Swiftly, she leapt to the black-haired girl and grabbed her with one hand from behind. Ignoring her protests, with other hand, he forcefully flexed her fingers and jumped back with her in his arms. Mai, freed from Kagome's grasp, collided with Sesshomaru's armor and felt his hand wrapping around her waist, as though he wanted to prevent her from escaping.

"Take her." Inuyasha said to Sesshomaru shortly. The older of brothers nodded and leapt into the air, still holding Mai tight. Surprised girl yelped and wrapped her hands around him. As they were flying towards the exit, Mai heard Kagome's furious shouts becoming quieter.

"Osuwari! Osuwari! Osuwari!" Kagome's voice echoed throughout the cave.

When they flew out of the cave, Sesshomaru dumped Mai on Ah-Un's saddle and lifted Rin, placing the child in front of the older girl.

"We are going." He announced, leaping into the air. Jaken in the last moment jumped and attached himself to the end of the white fluffy fur. Ah-Un roared and followed its master, causing Mai to shriek in terror and desperately claw on the saddle.

"Mai, why do you have closed eyes?" Rin asked her cheerfully. Mai didn't answer – she was concentrating on controlling her fear of heights. She knew, that if she opened her eyes, she would panic completely.

"You are trembling so much!" the child exclaimed, stating the obvious. Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder at terrified Mai, who was shivering and clutching the saddle so that her fingers went white.
"Woman, soon we will land." He said and set his eyes back on where he was going.

"Okay." Mai answered, a little encouraged to somehow endure the flight. Was she looking so pitiful, that even Sesshomaru was being nice to her? Having the fear of heights sucked.

The flight wasn't a long one indeed – it lasted only about half an hour. Once finally having landed on a clearing in the middle of a forest, Mai slid of Ah-Un's back and laid down, happy to feel the solid ground at last.

"Jaken, set up a camp." Sesshomaru commanded and rested on the ground, leaning casually against a tree, staring at something distant. Jaken swiftly gathered the firewood and lit the fire, baking some mushrooms. Rin noticed some flowers nearby and ran off to pluck them.

Groaning, Mai sat up, still horribly sore and looked in the kid's direction. The child was entertaining herself happily. With the corner of her eye Mai noticed, that she wasn't the only one concerned about Rin's safety. She smiled, as she saw Sesshomaru casting brief glances at the kid from time to time. The girl laughed involuntarily, covering her mouth with the hand. Jaken and Sesshomaru stared at her.

"What's so funny, Mai?" Jaken asked. Mai shook her head.

"Oh, it's nothing." She answered, deciding it's best not to mention, that the silver-haired demon's behavior reminded her of her own father watching over little Mai many years ago.

Ensured, that Rin would be safe, she found herself a spot on the grass, that looked like the most comfortable and fell asleep instantly.