Four Seasons (Sesshomaru Fanfiction)

Autumn: Chpt 7

Part 2 - Autumn

7. Empathy

The smell of human blood was thick in the air, and though Sesshomaru knew it was none of his concern, he followed it. Perhaps, he thought, following the scent would lead him to the bothersome demon that had vanished right in front of his eyes. 

He would relish the day when he would be able to sink his claws into the red-headed demon.

At one point, he had wondered if killing the female that he referred to as his sister would lure him in, but it seemed that Rin had, inconveniently, grown attached to her. Even as he had escorted her back to the old miko's village, the demon, Akiko was mostly what she spoke about. Every now and then, he would listen in on her and Jaken's conversation and catch glimpses of what she was saying.

"You shouldn't just go around making friends with random demons!" Jaken had interjected at one point. But Rin never seemed to care. She hadn't cared when she had constantly come to check on an injured dog demon in the forest so long ago, and she didn't care now, even when she knew so little about the demoness. It was Rin's not caring about the difference between demons and humans that put her in his life. It was the reason that he now cared so much for the human girl. And so, he could not bring himself to frown upon her indiscriminate friendliness. And now, as he walked with Jaken trailing close behind him, he couldn't help but admit that he missed Rin's oddly cheerful presence. But the overwhelming scent of recently spilled blood reminded the daiyokai all too well why Rin could not be with him.

The village he eventually came upon was small and unusually quiet, with the strong scent of blood permeating through the air.

"Someone has been slain here", he mused.

"Yes, Milord. The scent of blood is much stronger here." Responded Jaken. "Do you really think it could have been the demon we are searching for?"

But though his nose easily picked up the scent of death in the air, there was nothing that told him the demon he searched for was near. There was, however, another rather familiar aura nearby and usually, when she was around it meant that he was not far ahead. While Sesshomaru now knew that it did not mean she worked with him, it did mean that her presence attracted that nuisance.

And just as he thought of Akiko, he set his eyes on one particular small hut. Suddenly, she emerged from its door, her right hand over her mouth and her left hand clenched into a fist at her side as she stormed off into the darkness. She glanced up only for a second and then returned her focus to the path straight ahead of her, completely ignorant to his presence.

Sesshomaru let the demoness run away, and made his way towards the home that she had just exited, compelled to confirm what he already presumed.

The heavy scent clung to the air and grew stronger the closer he got. His eyes scanned the small home as he entered. On the wall hung an old portrait of an elderly woman and a young girl with familiar red hair, only the one in the picture was much, much younger. The portrait was torn at the bottom.

"So she was raised by a human," he thought out loud to himself, already concluding what had caused the demoness to have run off in such a manner.

"Who is that Milord?"

Sesshomaru turned away from the portrait. "No one of concern."

Indeed, she was no one of concern. And he was also certain that the demon he was concerned with was not there. So then why, he wondered, was he still there inside the ruined house. But even as he questioned his own motives, Sesshomaru kept going forward.