Chapter 22

 Private Laundry Service

In the morning Mai stirred under the kimono she was covered with. She pulled it on her head to avoid the bright sun and curled into the ball. After a longer while she stretched her limbs lazily and peeked from under the fabric. 

The sun was already high on the sky, birds were singing, but there was something missing. Mai pulled herself abruptly into the sitting position and looked around, to discover that she was completely alone. She started to panic that they left her behind, but she heard Rin’s laughter, quite near. She gathered her belongings and made her way towards the source of the sound. As she passed the thick bushes, she found her group at the riverbank.

Jaken and Rin were catching fish in the river. As the kid saw her, she waved do her. Mai waved back and looked for Sesshomaru. The dog demon and Ah-Un were resting in the shadow of a great tree. Sesshomaru was sitting with his back leaning on the tree, the two swords on his lap. The girl was surprised, that he removed his armor, which was laying beside him. Mai made her way to the silver-haired youkai.

When she approached him, he arched his eyebrow, as if questioning what she wanted.

“When we’re leaving?” Mai asked him. Sesshomaru averted his gaze from her to look at Rin.

“Tomorrow. Today we rest.” He answered her

Mai stared at him, surprised that he actually granted them a day of holiday. As she couldn’t think of anything better to do at the moment, she sat beside him and observed Jaken and the kid, as they tried to catch fish. Both the girl and the demon were silent for a longer while.

“Sesshomaru,” Mai spoke up, looking at the youkai. “I wanted to thank you for saving me yesterday. I’m really grateful for that. You risked your life for me.”

“Hn.” The demon muttered, not looking at the girl. Mai sighed. Apparently he was a man of few words. Or just hated her guts. She was surprised when he spoke to her. “You were useful yesterday. You may be worth keeping.”

Mai stared at him, unsure whether he just complimented or insulted her. How dare he speak of her as if she was his belonging or a pet?! She gritted her teeth and refrained herself from blurting out a snappy comment. She didn’t want her free day to be ruined by Sesshomaru’s threaths.

She looked at the cloudless sky and decided, that today is a perfect day to do some cleaning and laundry. She clasped her hands and got up, suddenly full of energy. She marched to the packs and took out a soap bar and old clothing, that could be used as a towel. She made her way to the river.

“Rin!” she called. “It’s time for a bath!”

Mai took off her outer kimono, leaving only the thin white one on, rolled her sleeves and went to the water to snatch Rin. The kid tried to run away, but Mai managed to catch her and held her still. She removed the child’s clothes and passed them to Jaken. She began to wash the kid thoroughly, ignoring Rin’s whimpering. When Mai was finally satisfied, she pushed the child under the water to wash off the soap. Mai yelped, surprised, when Rin pulled her into the water as well. When she emerged, she heard the kid’s contagious laughter. The older girl joined in and they laughed together. Jaken shook his head with dismay.

“Foolish humans.” He muttered.

When the girls were finally able to stop giggling, they got out of the water and Mai wrapped Rin in the fabric, which served as a towel. Her soaked kimono clung uncomfortably to the body, but she decided not to change – she would get wet again.

“All right. Next, Ah-Un!” she said aloud. The surprised dragon raised the both heads. Then, Mai removed the creature’s saddle and pulled the reins, ushering the dragon to come with her. After a while Ah-Un, defeated, followed Mai.

The girl managed to make it’s scales shine in the sun, and, as a side effect, Sesshomaru’s battle steed smelled of roses now. 

She dressed Rin in a new kimono and gave her several pieces of paper and drawing utensils, which she bought for the child in the town the other day. Kid’s eyes brightened as she saw, what Mai gave her.

“Try drawing something for Sesshomaru, okay?” the girl encouraged Rin, who nodded enthusiastically and got to work right away. Satisfied, that the child would be occupied for a while, she looked around and saw Jaken, who was obviously bored. Mai smirked evilly and cornered the green imp.

“Jaken, I have something for you.” The girl said with a wide smile, passing a cloth and polishing agent to him. “I think, that Sesshomaru’s armor needs polishing. Do your best!”

With a satisfied smirk on her lips, she gathered a pile of dirty clothes and made her way to the river.

She had an odd feeling, as if she was observed from some time. She excluded Rin, who was busy drawing and Jaken, who was now a polishing machine. Ah-Un tried to avoid her, so he couldn’t be a suspect. That left only one person. She looked back at Sesshomaru. The demon was sitting still in the same place, gazing at something in front of him. She thought, that she must had imagined it. She went towards the river and knelt at the riverbank, starting to wash the kimonos.

She didn’t notice, that the golden eyes returned to observing her discreetly.

Mai scrubbed the clothes, finding the blood stains hard to get rid of. She rubbed the troublesome place with the soap and dipped the fabric in the water, scrubbing fervently and splashing water everywhere. She was so busy struggling to get kimonos clean, that she didn’t notice someone approaching her from behind.

“Woman.” She heard Sesshomaru’s voice and she nearly jumped, startled. She furrowed her brows and continued scrubbing the dirt of the fabric, as she decided not to turn around, until she would hear him call her by her name. For god’s sake! If he called Jaken by his name, why would he keep addressing her as a ‘woman’? Mai heard a growling voice behind her, when Sesshomaru began to lose his patience.

“Woman!” he repeated, his voice showing anger. Mai trembled slightly, but didn’t change her mind. She would just ignore him, the way he did it to her most of the time.

Then, she felt a pressure on her back and lost balance. Sesshomaru shoved her into the river and Mai fell forward, falling into the shallow water. She got her head over the surface quickly, coughing and trying to get rid of the water, she just drank. The girl cursed loudly, pissed off at a demon, who just kicked her into the water. She got up slowly, soaking with water, her damp hair plastered to the face. She turned around to grace that bastard Sesshomaru with the most elaborate insults, she could think of, but stopped in midsentence. The girl felt her blood rushing to her face.

In front of her stood the silver-haired demon, dressed only in his hakama. Mai felt her jaw dropping and blushed, as she looked on the half-naked man. And it was a sight to behold. She found herself admiring his perfectly toned muscles – a perfection in every inch. God, she could see even his bare hips, with the twin magenta stripes, similar to those on the cheeks and wrist. Mai could feel her heart pound faster at the sight of demon’s naked torso – in her short life she haven’t really had a chance to look at many men’s bare chests and Sesshomaru was undoubtedly the most attractive man she ever saw. And will see, probably. Before she averted her gaze from him, she noticed, that his left arm was indeed missing, only a stump remaining. 

She looked elsewhere, but as soon as the demon saw her attention to divert from him, he began to emit a low growling noise in his throat. Mai looked back at him and noticed, that he was holding his clothes in the right hand. He dropped them casually atop the pile of Mai’s kimonos, that were still to be washed. After ensuring, that she saw it, he turned away.

Mai’s mouth gaped open, as the girl came to her senses. Did that arrogant jerk just leave his clothes for her to wash? She wasn’t his private laundry service! Angry woman gritted her teeth.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” she called after him, stepping out of the water. “I’m not going to wash these! I’m not your maid!”

Sesshomaru looked at her over his shoulder with a dangerous glint in his eye.

“You are my servant, human. You will obey me.” He said and was on  his way.

Mai felt anger welling in her. How dare he? She won’t let him treat her like some slave! Without thinking much, she picked up a stone, a larger one and narrowed her eyes, aiming.

“I hate you!” she shouted and threw the stone at Sesshomaru with all her force, fueled by anger.

She expected the demon to dodge or catch it, given his unnatural reflexes. To her surprise, the stone actually hit him squarely in the back of his head.

Mai cursed, panicked. He’ll kill her for sure for this. The demon slowly turned around and glared at the girl. His eyes were expressionless, as he started stalking towards her. She glanced nervously to the sides, looking for a possible escape route, but Sesshomaru appeared right in front of her in a heartbeat. She yelped, frightened, as her eyes met his intimidating glare. In a desperate attempt to get herself away from him she pulled herself back, forgetting, there was river behind her. She accidentally stepped on something slippery and felt losing her balance. As she was falling back, she grabbed the first thing she could, to prevent the fall. However, she went down, while clutching Sesshomaru’s silver strands, pulling the startled demon along with her.

“Ouch!” she whimpered, as her body made contact with the stony riverbed. She yelped again, when something heavy crashed into her, pining her to the ground. She lifted her head above the water level and opened her eyes, blinking, as her face was wet again. At first she saw only a lot of something 

white. Her body stiffened, as the certain something, what was sprawled atop of her, began shifting. 

“On no.” she whispered, as she realized to whom belonged the silver strands, that were clinging to her wet skin.

Sesshomaru pulled himself a little bit up, supporting his weight on his only arm and brought his face closer to Mai’s. The girl flinched, noticing, that his eyes glowered dangerously. She wanted to apologize, explain herself, but she couldn’t stop her lips from trembling. Mai froze with fear, when she saw Sesshomaru smiling wickedly, showing his sharp fangs. 

“Sesshomaru-sama! Mai!” The girl stiffened and felt the demon doing the same, as they heard Rin’s voice. Her eyes widened and blushed, when she realized the position, they were in. Apparently, Sesshomaru did as well. The demon abruptly pulled himself to the sitting position, pulling the girl up. They saw the child standing near the riverbank and smiling happily, as she lifted a piece of paper, proud with herself.

“Look, what I drew.” She exclaimed. Then the child furrowed her brows in a cute way. “What were you doing, Sesshomaru-sama?”The kid questioned the dog demon with childish innocence.

The youkai wasn’t answering for a while. He stood up, still silent. Mai decided to break the uncomfortable silence.

“You see, Rin, I tripped and Sesshomaru was helping me…” the girl explained the situation the best she could, smiling sheepishly. The kid nodded and followed the demon, who was already walking away. Mai sighed heavily and got on her feet. She dragged herself towards the pile of clothes, picked up Sesshomaru’s haori and began to wash it.

About the dog demon, Mai hoped, that they would get along somehow with the time, but he seemed to enjoy bulling her even more. And his grin a while ago scared the shit out of her. Jaken was right – Sesshomaru was terrifying, when he was smiling.

.

Jaken kept polishing Sesshomaru’s armor, even though it was shining already. Rin got tired of drawing and decided to show her works to Sesshomaru. She kept babbling happily, describing, what she drew on each picture. The soaked demon sat, drying in the sunlight and glancing at the child from time to time. He didn’t really listen to his little ward, as his thoughts were concentrating on the other human.

The woman proved herself to be more useful than Jaken – she managed to obtain information on Naraku and even aided Sesshomaru in the battle, not that he needed the assistance of a human… She was fulfilling her duties toward Rin quite well – the child looked cleaner and healthier now. The idiot woman, however, still kept causing trouble. She had an unique talent of making him lose control and feel the urge to snap her delicate neck. Even though she knew, that it was better for her not to anger him, she kept arguing, ignoring his orders and defying him. Sesshomaru noted to himself, that he will have to make her know her place.

His eyes followed the idiot woman, as she left the riverbank, carrying a pile of wet clothes and tied the rope between two trees. She started hanging the kimonos, humming some melody. The demon could not notice, that her wet kimono clung to her body, exposing her tempting shapes, as she was climbing on her toes to hang the laundry. Sesshomaru thought, that because of her feisty temper and defiant altitude, he didn’t really realize how small she was. She could be mistaken for a child if not her womanly curves. The demon wondered, how clueless could she possibly be to wander around in such an improper attire, especially in the company of men. 

“Sesshomaru-sama!” Rin tugged his hakama to get his attention, showing him her childish drawing. The little girl gave him a worried look with her huge chocolate eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Hn.” He muttered, averting his gaze from the troublesome human woman, who made him have those strange thoughts.

.

Mai managed to avoid Sesshomaru for the rest of the day, occupying herself with minor tasks, like combing Rin’s hair and teaching the child how to write. With her eight years, she was old enough to know how to read and write already. After an afternoon spent on drawing basic characters Mai put the girl to sleep and decided to rest earlier today as well.