Sesshoumaru - The Follwing: Day 2


The night passed, the stars faded, and the sky began to lighten. Soon the first rays of sun could be seen through the trees. Sesshoumaru was about to wake Jaken, when he heard a noise behind him. Not particularly thinking about it, he glanced in the direction of the noise out of the corner of his eye. The girl was awake and alert, sitting up beside the grasses, and looking directly at him. Sesshoumaru turned his head away. He hadn't really thought about it until then, but he had hoped that she would sleep until they left. Ignoring her certainly wasn't working; perhaps Jaken had a point about doing something.

Sesshoumaru got off of the rock and stood up. He turned toward the girl, and locked eyes with her. "Go away," he said harshly. "We don't want you and we don't need you." Not caring to see the child's reaction, he turned and walked toward the spot where Jaken lay. Sesshoumaru poked Jaken with his foot. "We're leaving." Jaken quickly awoke, grabbed his staff and the dragon's reins, and hurried to catch up.

It was midday before either of them spoke.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, it's doing it again!"

Jaken had just realized that the girl was still following them. He had probably completely forgotten about it during the night. But just now she had tripped and made a small noise before she was back on her feet.

"I am aware of that, Jaken." Sesshoumaru knew that the girl was still behind them, but he was once again refusing to acknowledge her existence. Little good it had done him last time. And unless his hearing was deceiving him, the child was following even closer than the day before.

"Well, it certainly hasn't gone away! Why don't we just fly for a while?" Jaken said, gesturing toward the dragon.

"I prefer to walk." Flying had its uses, especially if a hurry was needed, but one missed anything interesting. And if nothing else, the girl was interesting. It was interesting why she had approached him in the first place, interesting why she hadn't been scared, and even more interesting why she thought it would be a good idea to follow him.

They walked that way until evening, with Sesshoumaru saying nothing, Jaken looking annoyed, and the girl still behind. When the sun set and the deep darkness came, Sesshoumaru noticed that the girl was even closer, probably not five yards off. She was also tripping a lot, and then quickening her pace to catch up. The cloudy night was almost pitch black, and her eyes were probably having trouble seeing even him. In fact, she was most likely only able to follow now because of the noise they made. He walked silently enough, but the dragon, and even Jaken, weren't so quiet.

The dragon made a noise, and Jaken looked wordlessly up at Sesshoumaru, silently echoing its sentiments, even if he wouldn't say so. Sesshoumaru nodded. They would stop here for a few hours. He stood where he was, as Jaken led the dragon a short distance away to find some soft grass to sleep on. As Sesshoumaru wondered what he would do until the dawn, something suddenly ran into his leg. It was, of course, the child. The girl made another surprised sound, and then fell over, sitting where she hit the ground. He looked down at her, but she only looked back with unseeing eyes. She turned her head to listen, and apparently hearing nothing this time, did not get back up. She reached her hand out, but Sesshoumaru silently sidestepped, leaving her to touch nothingness. The girl stared out at the blackness again, and then finally curled up into a ball and went to sleep. Sesshoumaru watched the girl for a few moments before he walked away and sat down for the second night in a row and did nothing.

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