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Episode One: The Point of No Return
Kazuma grimaced as she
tenderly touched her cut. It wasn’t too deep, and yet it hurt for her to touch. “Great. Now I have even more things to add to my list of worries.”
“There she is! The wench
-girl that stole from us!”
shouted an angry mob leader.
“For the last time, I didn’t steal anything!” Kazuma called out as she broke into a run. Of course, they’d never believe her. She had confided in one village woman that she was not human, but a demon
, and the whole town had turned against her.
“Stop her!” one man called out as Kazuma passed him. He was too old to go chasing after her, but he did attempt to trip her.
“Ha! You guys won’t
-” Kazuma had been running with her head facing the mob, and her body another way. She stopped when she bumped into someone. Kazuma gulped in fear – it was probably one of the angry village people. She turned her head slowly, and gasped when she saw the clothing. She already knew who it was. She snapped her head up to face
him. Her eyes locked with Sesshoumaru’s.
His eyebrow started to rise.
Kazuma looked back to the villagers, then to him. She ran around and behind him, and placed a hand on her cut.
The bleeding had become worse.
The mob came to a halt about ten feet in front of Sesshoumaru. “Don’t hide the impudent wench girl! Let us deal with her!” They knew he was a demon as well, but he
seemed much stronger than Kazuma.
“Hhmm...” Sesshoumaru pondered, then lashed out his poison nails, and the entire front row was killed.
The rest of the mob dropped their weapons and turned to run the other way.
Kazuma swore softly to herself and bit her lower lip to keep from making more noise as the pain increased. The cut was large, and on the soft of her lower under arm. Blood gushed from between her fingers on the hand
she held against it.
Sesshoumaru turned to face her, and looked her up and down before
asking, “Why were those villagers after you?”
“Those damn fools thought that I stole from them...and only because I confided in a village woman that I was...” She looked up so that she could look him in the eyes. “That I was a demon.”
Sesshoumaru did not make a comment on this, and was silent for a while. Finally, he asked, “What caused your wound?”
“I’m not sure,” Kazuma replied. “It was some sort of whip-thing..” She began to feel dizzy at this point. She swayed a bit, and her eyes rolled back as she
fell to the side.
Sesshoumaru put out his arm and caught her. He said nothing as he began to carry her to where he and his party were camped.
Kazuma woke to whispers. The voices were familiar; foggy at first, and then she knew who it was. It was Jakin and Sesshoumaru.
“Lord Sesshoumaru, why should we give her help? If you remember, it is her job to...”
“To watch over InuYasha, yes. But that was not her choice. It was a task given to her by my father.”
“Yes, but…”
“She’s waking
,” Sesshoumaru cut him off as he looked over to Kazuma.
“My head hurts,” Kazuma grumbled as she sat and rubbed her head. She was glad to see that her arm had been bandaged. “What kind of poison was that?” She asked idly, more to herself than to anyone.
“It’s from the Continent. We don’t really know what it is,” a cheerful little girl named Rin answered. She was sitting with her knees drawn to her chin and was next to Jakin.
“I
, ah, I see,” Kazuma stuttered, finding it hard to believe that mere villagers would have anything that powerful, especially from the Continent.
“We will be leaving soon, so you had better…” Jakin never got to finish, since Sesshoumaru held out his hand for him to stop.
“I need to speak with Kazuma, alone,” Sesshoumaru said sternly, giving a cold look to Jakin.
“Yes Lord Sesshoumaru,” Rin said as she stood, taking the hint. She grabbed Jakin by his clothing. “Come pick flowers with me!” she exclaimed as she dragged him off.
“Look, Sesshoumaru…”
“You left our group not that long ago, saying, ‘I can’t stay here because of my duty’. You seem to have abandoned it now,” Sesshoumaru said coldly.
Kazuma sighed. “I did say that, but then I realized that I don’t need to fulfill that duty any longer. InuYasha has said himself that he doesn’t need my protection.”
“And...
?” Sesshoumaru stated, waiting for her to go on, his tone still cold.
“And I’ve found that I’d much rather be here. I fit in here better,” Kazuma finished with a half smile.
There’s so much more to it though. Can’t you remember us? I always thought that we had something special. But perhaps I was wrong.
“Will you promise to stay with me, and not leave again?” Sesshoumaru asked, his eyes meeting hers.
“Yes, I promise.”
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