Inuyasha 1. Porlogue of the Creatures of Time

**Of Crimson Butterfly's Dream**

**A Sesshomaru Fanfics**

**Based off of the Manga Series**

**A/N: **hello all, I'm sure you had seen this series up before, and perhaps it had a much different beginning then you remember, but that's because as I was looking over the story again, I realize I had lost touch of who Cho was again exactly, and that she wasn't a bright and cheerful person, but had a rather darker vision of things, hint why chapter one was called Songs of Darkness. I remembered why that even though this was a fanfics why it was so very important to me, that I correct the cheeriness that I had put in the first chapters. That is because when I had wrote it I had not intended Cho to be a bright and happy-go-lucky character, but one that was, Sesshomaru's copy in a way. So here it is now, the corrected version of Butterfly's dream. i changed the story tittle cause i tried to look up the story...and i found like 50 other stories with the same tittle it made me mad now i feel better =D

I also have a big, big goal; I use to hate getting reviews, well now I am begging REVIEW ME! I want to know what people think so that I can improve and fix my story telling cause, butterfly's dream is so much important to me it's not funny lol. I want people to love it, I want to find images on deviant art drawn of the clan 3 call it, obsession to be the best. I want to be, loved XD!

It is hard for me to update to, so the more reviews the more likely I will remember to post XD

**Music**: I have put together an entire playlist that goes with this series you can fine the link on my profile page ^^. the playlist is open to suggestions for songs that you might think will go with the story to ^^.

The choice of the use of the music is entirely up to you ^^.

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Prologue of the Creatures of time

"When a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world it can cause a hurricane in another part of the world", or maybe, not so much, but perhaps, that the butterfly instead causes a ripple in time, and that shreds the fabric of the universe as we know of it today. Perhaps as a butterfly's last breath, by the hands of another, other than death itself at the end of its cycle, would in fact cause such a tremendous ripple in time that everything would change when you returned from where ever it was that you came from.

So it stands to reason, that perhaps maybe, that it only made sense, that some events in time resulted because of the death of a butterfly, but perhaps it was not just any simple butterfly maybe it was a special butterfly, A butterfly that was, a master of both time and event. That would mean that this butterfly was more than a simple insect but maybe, a creature of intelligent able to understand man's words, his deeds, and his life.

So, here Stood this creature, with lips drawn tight, dressed in blue with night blue hair blowing behind her in a wind that was not there, and silently, Chiyo thought to herself, _today was a lovely day to travel._

So it was it truly was a nice day to travel, though where ever she ended up, didn't per say that it would remain such a lovely day. But as the moon shown down through the opened ceiling of the stone temple carved from the thousands and thousands of butterflies across time of the Crimson clan, Chiyo knew that today she would leave. How, odd to be named as the "crimson" clan, when the four sisters at the head, daughters of the great lady Masa, who was in turn the daughter of the head Nozomi, and further and further, all beautiful woman youkai—were blue instead of crimson. Blue butterflies, while Nozomi, was the only crimson colored butterfly youkai in over thousands of years.

Now here stood Chiyo in the _place where time is weakest_ in there shrine like home, with her three other sisters, Chiko, Chika, and Chizu. Their names were similar because there tradition stood that because they were quadruplets, that they must share the first sound of their names. Chi- was the chosen sound by their mother Masa who in turned shared hers, is she had, had any siblings. The time came though, that another crimson was to be born, and so all of the clan has splintered across time to find suitable males, all fifteen woman that made up the clan, fifteen that could still breed and reproduce, only woman, only female butterflies never a male, to mate with youkai and humans which ever were readily available to mate with. The point, was a type of race or mothers, to produce more of the clan, and to produce the next Crimson wing, and raise them up to become the clan's lady in command—the matriarch for the Crimson wings Clan.

Chiyo turned looking at each of her three sisters faces carefully examining each of them so that she might remember them should she not return, and she prayed to return, for when a Crimson wing died somewhere in time that was not the time in which there birth began she cycle of their life, ripples of time tore through the existence of the world changing things, altering them, people going missing, events being forgotten. She prayed she would not be forgotten and she would not die.

"Chiyo, you must remember to be careful always be weary of the world," she could hear the cool voice of her mother speak from somewhere in the shadows.

always in the shadow waited the whole clan both young and old, she could feel the weight of their gazes all around her, heavy, choking almost, expecting her to fail as she leaped through time, from here in this spot _where time was the weakest_, from the millions of wings that sliced the air in this same spot for the thousands of years that the clan had thrived, when males were still around, and there numbers weren't dwindling in the slowly changing world of man.

"I remember mother, I remember that I must always be weary I must remain alive to retain time as it is and not destroy a history that had to occur, or to begin a history that should have never occurred, I swear to the moon and its glowing light as a blue butterfly of the moon, she being my goddess, to return to my time of birth from here the spot that I stand within the hour of my departure and holding the future in my arms, I swear that I will return", Chiyo spoke loudly the same phrase that would be spoken by her sisters that would follow her, soft murmurs in the room told her she had done well and spoke strong, that she was well aware of her duty to her family and would have then a child that was equal in her own strength.

Chiyo stepped forward letting her face be bathed in the light of the full moon shimmering and shining glittering across her pale skin. She smiled softly to herself and let the moon fill her sapphire eyes; it felt right then, that in the light that she was truly blue as the moon across her skin, even in the blue yakuta she wore. And with the softest of sighs she stretched out her wings. As thing as paper and much lighter than the air itself, and colored the most softest blue that made her sisters sigh with the most lightest of envy, and she moved them, she _moved_ them.

She was gone as soon as her feet left the ground her form shimmered then shattered into the thousands of turquoise blue butterflies that danced into the air aiming for the moon to give her strength and then they butterflies were gone, as if they had never existed, on to another time, another far beyond this time, where the clan remained stationed.

There was a moment's wait; the clan held their breath, the designated time that Chiyo was to return was shown on the moon dial at the head of the circle. Slowly the seconds moved by, tension filled the room, and the stale taste of panic drifted into the room

Then the three sisters shrieked as the designated time was passed up by the last click of a second sense she had left only 10 seconds before. And then they felt it, the ripple, dragging across the women's skins like the rake of the claws across a chalkboard, then nothing. Chiyo was dead. And the sister's shrieks of horror were joined by the rest of the woman, but non cried as loud as the Yellow butterfly, Masa, mother to the Blue Wing Chiyo.

~C~

Cho screamed.

She screamed so hard that she felt her throat go raw, and she sat up throwing off the sheets that had threatened to strangle her. She needed to breathe, she was covered in sweat, and she knew she smelled like she had just run a ten mile marathon. But she hadn't she had been lying in bed.

She was having nightmares again and always when she thought of returning home. _Home_, it wasn't a bad place, _home_, no she wanted to go home, needed to go home. Cho ran her fingers through her hair, but when she came up short, expecting to have to pull her arm out to full length because of the waist long hair, she then remembered in a blaze of rage, she had taken a pair of scissors and cut away at her hair, until it was barely past her ears.

It had been a wasted attempt to get rid of the horrible blue streaks and tips running through her blonde hair. She was Japanese, and yet, she wasn't, because, no one was born with blue and blonde hair. No one but her.

She had thought she had grown out of that phase in high school, once she had gotten into oxford, so many had found her to be a scientific miracle or phenomenon, not only that, but the faint color of wings along her back like a tattoo, but it wasn't a tattoo it was a birth mark passed to her by her unknown origins.

Cho was going home though, _home_, that word again, in her head bounced around for a while. Yes home, she couldn't wait to see her little sister again, couldn't wait, to see mama, or grandpa, or even her little brother. Wouldn't Kagome be surprised, Cho actually cut her hair, without cutting off someone's fingers.


	2. Chapter 1: Songs of Darkness

Of Crimson Butterfly's Dream

A Sesshomaru Fanfic

Based off the Manga Series

**A/n:** so here we go the first chapter 3 kind of exciting don't you think! Anyways, so yea, I've put up a forum related to this Story. The link is here

.net/myforums/ChunMeiguiProduction/1587237/

My reasoning is pretty obvious, I'll need help as I keep going through the story, because unfortunately, I'm a little stuck in where I thought I was going with the story ^.~. so I posted up the forum for my loyal readers to look at and give me idea's and help me stay focused on the story at hand and the character's personalities, but I can at least get the first chapter moving, I'm going to try and keep a 10,000 word or higher limit for each chapter is I can't well, sorry lol.

If you want me to post more chapters you must stay on me, because I do forget lol. Though no one reviewing me won't cause me not to post, it will just take me longer lol.

Chapter one is dedicated to my first Reviewer of the series: **kuchikiwrath**! Thanks for the encouragement!

Suggested songs: if you go to my home page there is a link for the play list: songs: Aura and Obsession

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"Sesshomaru! Inuyasha! Stop fighting or you're going to get us all killed!" Kagome shouted from behind Miroku's barrier.

The two brothers were locked in battle even as the witch Yamasuso's demon hanyou son commanded the Demon's under her control. Ijime wasn't a very good-looking hanyou either, not like Inuyasha that at least looked human. No, he was large, broken looking with black skin and white hair, his face was contorted in strange proportions with an upturned nose. He was a bat demon hanyou, and the witch's pride and joy. His wings were useless and he snarled pointing his demons towards where Miroku guarded Kagome and Rin.

"Back off Kagome, I know what I'm doing!" Inuyasha shouted at her, just as Sesshomaru's sword swung over his head, effectively cutting some of his hair and killing a demon.

"What the hell, that almost got me!" Inuyasha snapped at Sesshomaru, "Pity, you moved in time," Sesshomaru retorted and ran, taking a large ogre head on and slicing it in half with the Tokijin.

Ijime laughed darkly and looked up at the witch Yamasuso for her approval she only smiled from behind her veil. She was very old, and had a demonic aura around her, but she had been human at one time, maybe have even been beautiful, but she had become a demon in order to be more powerful. She was as much trouble as Naraku, as she had a large amount of jewel shards, and had tried to kidnap Kagome, Rin, and Sango so that she should devour them for their youth so Yamasuso could live longer alongside her half-breed son.

"How my donnin' mama, I'm doing good," he said loudly, the witch smiled, "very good Ijime, now get me the girl, get me the child first," the witch said softly.

Kagome swallowed hard and held onto Rin tightly who cried out at the mention of her. Rin clung to Kagome and buried her face into Kagome's chest. Sango stood outside the barrier and swung her boomerang bone killing large amounts of demons.

Ijime wasn't very bright and he stood, stumbling across the ground towards Miroku's barrier, "don't come any closer demon!" Miroku shouted, his left hand grabbing the beads of his right hand.

"Miroku don't even think about it, Yamasuso will only poison you again," Kagome shouted at him. Just as she shouted that, Jaime's big black hands came down onto the barrier sending big crackles of lighting across the field.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted. Sesshomaru looked back as well, and narrowed his eyes only a fraction but followed after his brother.

Ijime repeated his actions beating his fits onto the barrier effectively digging it into the ground and bringing Miroku to his knees with the effort. Yamasuso's hands lifted shakily to protect her son, but Kagome grabbed her bow and knocked and arrow firing through Miroku's barrier and hitting the old woman's sleeve of her kimono and pinning it to the wall.

Yamasuso shrieked and looked at Kagome with burning black eyes, but it was too late for her to save her son as both Inuyasha's and Sesshomaru's swords sliced through the demon hangout's flesh. Ijime shouted crying out for his mother.

Yamasuso screamed loudly black tears streaking down her face, "you foul demons! You killed my son! You will not go unpunished! You will not forget this!" she shouted and called her demon hoards to her.

"Kagome don't let her get away!" Inuyasha shouted, Kagome set another arrow onto her bow and aimed, the witch stared at her and Kagome shrieked as she was thrown back by some force and into the Miroku knocking over the already weak monk.

"Remember this demon brothers, you shall pay, with your lives!" she shouted the demon's ripped her free of the arrow and she jumped onto the nearest dragon demon's back and she was gone.

Sesshomaru turned to Rin looking at her, "Sesshomaru-same!" she shouted and ran to him instantly, Kagome still wondered what brought Sesshomaru to keep the child near him as he did, but no one could really understood the powerful yoke lord, but no one ever got close enough to find out.

"Kagome, are you ok," Inuyasha asked as he approached, "yes I'm fine Inuyasha, but…I'm sorry I didn't get her," she said to him.

"It couldn't be helped Kagome-chan, she's a very powerful witch," Sango said as she joined them Kirara at her side and Shippo on the cats back, "what about what the witch said, about Inuyasha paying with his life?" Shippo asked.

"It is concerning, but we can't dwell on it," Miroku said getting up slowly; Sango went to his side supporting him.

"Yes, we can't, I have to be heading home," Kagome said, "home! But why!" Inuyasha shouted, Kagome glared at him, "don't start," she said.

"We should all head back Inuyasha, after this, I don't think it would be a good idea to keep going," Sango said. Inuyasha grumbled softly and just agreed with the rest of the group with loud growls.

~C~

Kagome sighed softly and whipped her forehead as she pulled herself up and out of the well. She needed this rest there was no argument there, even after the thirty something sit commands she had ordered to Inuyasha even as he argued with her not to leave.

Kagome exited the well house and looked around; it was early autumn, so the leaves of some of the trees had not changed color yet. The sacred tree still stood as it always had, tall and graceful, the tree where everything began. A curious thought occurred to her, what it she had never fallen through the well, would that mean that still as of today Inuyasha would have been pinned to that tree, or at least have been inside it as the tree had already tried to do when she found him.

Kagome didn't dwell on it any more than that and to brisk steps back towards the house. She could already smell her mom cooking lunch, and she couldn't help but smile and walk faster.

Sota met her at the door way, just getting home from probably hanging out at a friend's house, "Kagome your home, how's Inuyasha?" he asked as he opened the door for his sister.

"He's Inuyasha, nothing new about him other than he is still nothing but a pain in the neck," she said and lead the way into the house.

"WHAT!" a shout from the kitchen had both Kagome and Sota running dropping their bags in the hall and sliding to a stop at the door. Grandpa sat at the breakfast table while mom held the wall phone to her ear and had the cord wrapped around a finger.

"Cho, why didn't you call me sooner, I could have had your room ready for you by now," Kagome's mother said rather breathlessly. Kagome could just barley here the voice on the other end of the line, "I didn't want to bother you oka-san, you don't have to do those things for me I'm twenty-two now you know," Cho replied.

"Oh but Cho-chan, I'm your mother, that's my job, when will you be arriving," Kagome's mother asked smiling at her other two children, "sometime within the next three or four days, it should be either late Saturday evening, or noon Sunday," Cho replied.

"So soon Cho, alright then, I will try to have your room ready for you when you get home," Kagome's mom said smiling. Cho's soft laughter could be heard; it had a bell like quality to it that brought up memories for Kagome.

"I sent a lot of my stuff on ahead of me, I think most of my things should be arriving tomorrow, and mom, I had to buy Chikara a bigger kennel, I hope he won't be too big for the house," she said. It was their mother's turn to laugh, "Chikara isn't any problem Cho-chan, he's just as much family as you, we'll see you soon Cho, love you," Kagome's mother said.

"Love you to mom," Cho replied before a click and then her mother placed the phone back on the wall.

Kagome couldn't help it, she had a big wide smile on her face as she waited to hear what her mother had to say, Sota said it first, "Chonee-chan is coming home!" he said loudly smiling at their mother.

"Yes she is, she just graduated, and decided it was time to come back to Japan" their mother said and went back to cooking supper.

"but I thought she said, she was going to be living in England with Benji," Kagome asked and sat down at the table with grandpa, "if you ask me, that boy was nothing but trouble, I'm glad she's coming home instead," he snorted.

"Grandpa," Kagome said surprised. But he had been right, the last spring break Cho had brought Benji to Japan to meet them, and he had made every one very miserable, she wasn't going to go into any more detail than that.

Cho was Kagome's older sister, the oxford graduate that up until now, no one really knew about, and her friends didn't talk about her, because of the last time Kagome and Cho had seen each other it had been a, rather sour good bye. That was four years ago, Kagome had been 12 years old, and she was now 16.

Kagome glanced at a far wall, where a full family photo hung, taken after her father had died of cancer when Sota was only two years old. Kagome was as tall as Sota is now, and she was holding the little Sota, while her mother stood beside her on her right a hand on her shoulder, and grandpa on her other side. But behind mom was another girl, leaning against the Sacred tree, she had never been one to take photo's so mom didn't mind as long as she was seen somewhat.

In that picture, Cho was about as tall as Kagome is now, and she had hip length blonde hair and big oval shaped thick glasses with sapphire colored eyes. But her hair was tipped in blue even her bangs. She was even wearing the uniform that Kagome wore now, in fact, it had been Cho's some of the one's she wore to the feudal era, it had been the reason her tops always looked a little lose.

Cho was, essentially adopted, Kagome's mom and dad were just starting their life, and Kagome's mom was pregnant when they found Cho, at six years old, wandering the streets. Cho's mother had been found dead in an ally a few years before then, but no one found her child, they had assumed she was with the father, but not even the police knew where to find him.

So when Cho was found the search for Cho's father was impossible, Cho was going to go into foster care, and instead, Kagome's mom and dad adopted her. So that was how Kagome ended up with the blonde sibling.

But even as a young baby, Cho had always had the blue tipped hair, in fact every time their mother had tried to cut the blue tips off, they just grew right back. Cho was born with blue tipped hair. No one could understand why and many just assumed it was a new form of albinism, but because Cho's mother had already been cremated, and her father was never found, they could never ask them why. Not only that, Cho had a butterfly tattoo on her back, but it to, was a birthmark, and it was the same shade of blue.

The last Kagome had seen Cho, her hair had gotten much longer, and the blue tips had seemed to grow from where her hair stopped as about mid-calf, to her waist the blue tips had taken over that much of her blonde hair. Then there were the glasses, Cho was blind as a bat, and it seemed to have only gotten worse during college, some even thought she would go blind. But Cho, often said she was to stubborn to let herself go blind, and she would run a hand through her hair a familiar habit that Kagome found herself missing sometimes.

She could just imagine Inuyasha and Cho in a face off, the two of them would be a battle to the end. That stopped her short and she looked up at her mom in alarm. "Mom! What am I going to tell Nee-chan about Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted.

"Why the truth of course," Grandpa said to her waving a hand at her, "are we forgetting, that this is Nee-chan, the same Nee-chan that chased my first date right before I started junior high school out of the shrine with a 300 year old kattana," Kagome said exasperated.

Mother laughed softly and smiled at her, "I don't think Cho is that extreme anymore, though, I don't imagine she will be happy with your grades, after all, all the video chatting you two did to help you study for your middle school entrance exams," her mother said.

Kagome groaned slumping against the table; she had completely forgotten that one other wonderful but annoying trait of her older sister. She was a genius, she was top of the class in grade school, junior high, and even high school. She didn't need cram schools, or to study or to even have to crack open a book, she just knew it. And she didn't expect any less from Kagome. She didn't hate that about her sister, it had actually helped her quite often even now her sister's high school notes in math managed to get her by through the classes of her first year of high school. She still wasn't doing really well.

"don't worry Kagome, just be happy, she's coming home, we'll deal with the rest of the stuff as it come up, till then, go take the sheets of your sisters bed and wash them for me will you," Kagome's mom asked. Kagome nodded, "sure mom, I'll wash them with my other cloths" she said and got up running down the hallway and towards the stairs.

~C~

The cab slowed to a stop, the brakes making the slightest squeaking sound.

"here you are, Higurashi shrine," the Cab driver said turning around to face the back and the woman sitting there. Cho simply nodded sharply and dug through her purse before pulling out the cab fair.

She climbed out and he followed her opening the trunk to pull out her suitcases, "Come on Chikara," Cho whistled, a large white fox climbed out after her, replying with a soft yip. The fox had soft pink eyes, and a pinker nose, he looked excited. "here you are maim," the man said and nodded, "thank you," she replied quietly and grabbed her bag.

Chikara jumped easily clearing the space between the ground and Cho's shoulder and made himself comfortable across her shoulders. Cho smiled at him then turned her attention back to the shrine stairs. She looked up, _home_, again, that word bounced around her head.

four years now, sense the last time she had seen the shrine, and it had not been a pleasant leave. Her younger sister Kagome, had not been happy one bit about Cho leaving. But it had been an opportunity that she couldn't pass up, even though there were many colleges in Japan just as prestigious, but Oxford, it just spoke of instant recognition. She wasn't looking to be famous, but just to be well known in the world of archeology, she really just wanted it because it would be quiet evening's in the storage of the museum translating and studying all the things from the past that time had left behind.

Cho took the first step to the shrine, why was that first step, did it always feel like some great feat had been accomplished. Maybe because all the time that she has lived with her family, her adopted family, she never felt completely full filled. It was only when the old family heirlooms in the storage house surrounded her, did she ever feel like she was complete.

Each step she took brought her closer and closer to home, and even though she had those other thoughts in her head, she couldn't help but to feel a little excited at the same time. By the time she reached the top of the steps she was crying hot, happy tears, and she ran the rest of the way to the front door of her childhood home.

Cho fumbled with the doorknob and her old house key, she literally sighed once the key slipped into the keyhole then clicked unlocking the door. It swung open lazily, Chikara didn't even wait for her, and he leaped off her shoulder and charged into the house with loud yips and making excited bouncing maneuvers that made soft thumping sounds as he would land on the hard wood floor.

Kagome poked her head out from around the corner as the albino fox ran past her and into the kitchen. Cho held her breath, and waited, thoughts of the last time she had seen her sister, didn't end well, or any of the times she had visited. She still could recall the events of Cho's last day in Japan four years ago.

_"You're leaving! I can't believe this!" twelve year old Kagome shouted in Cho's face. Cho drew back sinking into her chair as far as it would allow, "Kagome, don't be unreasonable, this is a good thing for your sister," Kagome's mother said softly touching Kagome's arm._

_"but it's not fair mom, Cho said she would be here, she promised she would take me to my first day of junior high!" Kagome shouted louder._

_"Ka-chan, I have to take this opportunity, there only offering it to me once, I know I promised Ka-chan, I know, but please understand," Cho said softly reaching to hug her sister._

_"no!" Kagome pulled away and ran down the hall way and they could hear the exaggerated stomps up the stairs followed by Kagome's bedroom door slamming shut._

_"Cho-chan, don't worry about it, I'm sure she will be fine," Their mother said now reaching to touch Cho's hand. Cho shook her head, "I have to talk to her mom, need her to understand," Cho said and stood up following after her younger sister._

_She looked at the white door silently, then knocked, "Please Ka-chan, talk to me," Cho said softly. The door rattled as something hit it, most likely a pillow from her bed, "Go away Nee-chan! I hate you!" she shouted._

_Cho remained silent, she didn't know how to react, and sure Kagome has said that many times, but this time, it meant more then just a simple tantrum. Tears threatened to burn her eyes but Cho held them back, and walked away._

Cho had left a week later, not once having spoken to Kagome, she didn't even ride with her mom to the airport to tell her good bye. All the other times that Cho had visited, even then, Kagome had avoided her, not by choice, so said her mom, she was so focused on her study's she didn't have time to talk to her.

A smile spread across Kagome's face and Cho returned the smile dropping her bags and opening her arms to her sister. Kagome didn't even show any resentment of the twelve year old and the sister's collided with one another hugging each other tightly.

"Ka-chan!"

"Chonee-chan!, you have no idea how much I've missed being called Ka-chan!" Kagome shouted excitedly.

Cho laughed softly and hugged her again then held her at arms length, she was so, tall now, but it was ever more a reminder, that Cho was taller then all of them at a height of five foot six inches. She could rest her head on Kagome's head. Kagome still had to look up at her sister, and sometimes, it was funny, but it only made it ever more noticeable that Cho was different.

Always different, she couldn't date very many guys in high school, she was taller then them, or at eye level with them, it got ridiculous after awhile. Which is why she was so happy to be in England, she actually felt small for once in her life. Until certain events she had yet to explain and didn't want to dwell on them.

"come on Nee-chan, this way," Kagome said tugging her towards the kitchen.

Cho slipped off her shoes and followed her sister, closing the door behind her. Kagome rounded the corner into the kitchen followed soon after by Cho who froze in the doorway. Across the kitchen along the wall in big letters read 'welcome home Cho'. Cho placed a hand to her mouth and tried not to laugh or cry, both emotions were battling one another.

Mom picked up a cake and placed it onto the table, while Souta and Kagome together set the rest of the table with the food. Cho became nostalgic at that moment as she watched the family fall back in routine as if Cho had not been gone for four years. Cho sat down with at the table, her place always beside Kagome, while grandpa sat at the head, Souta and mama across from Kagome and Cho. Food was served along with slices of the red velvet cake.

It was, all strange and heart warming, and sad at the same time. Chikara had even settled back into his old habits of pacing the house, inspecting every room as if it held some great-unknown secret to his fox senses. It hadn't taken long for Chikara to start pestering Buyo, either, of course, four years ago, the fat cat had been nothing but a sweet and shy kitten. Buyo didn't recognize the fox so a small fight didn't take long to brake out before Chikara got wiser and left him alone for now.

"you have to tell us everything Nee-chan, what was England like!," Souta was the first to brake the magic of the moment of feeling home, to remind her of her past home for the last four years, "Souta, you've asked me that every time I came to visit what is the difference from then and now," Cho asked him smiling softly.

Souta blushed a little and everyone shared a soft laugh, "well, how does it feel to be a college graduate," her mother asked instead.

Cho thought for a moment then chuckled, "really not much anything special, I mean, yea I have a degree now, but, it's not going to do me much good till I find somewhere to start working," she said softly.

"Cho, I thought, you were going to go to America, with Benji, what happen," Kagome said turning to her sister with chopsticks in mouth. Cho stayed silent and lifted her tea to her mouth, staring into the steaming liquid, "Benjamin, isn't my fiancé anymore," she said softly, an edge to her voice before she took a sip.

"I'm sorry to hear that Hun," mama said softly heavy concern in her voice. Cho only shook her head and smiled, "its all right really, I'm over it, I'm happy to have come home instead, now, speaking of school, how about you two," Cho said doing a total one eighty with the conversation.

" I've got all perfect marks! I'm only 25 people away from the top of the class," Souta said excitedly, Cho turned to her younger sister smiling brightly, "what about you Kagome, you just started high school, where are you going, mom wanted to let you tell me," Cho said smiling.

Kagome avoided her sister's eyes and struggled for the right words, "I'm going to N-high school," she said softly then took a peek at her sister, "n..highschool, Kagome, what happen to X- High school, you were so dead set on it the last time we video chatted," Cho said setting her tea down, "and it was a really good school!" she added with emphases.

"well…Nee-chan, I didn't, I didn't make high enough marks," she said looking down, "and I'm not doing so well now," she added shrinking in her seat a little.

Mom clamped her hands instantly as Cho's face turned a dangerously red color, " Cho, Kagome is working very hard, I'm sure if you study with her again, she can pull up her grades quickly," she said. Cho turned away and took a breath, "of course, don't worry Ka-chan, we'll start studying tonight ok, just bring me your notes," Cho said.

Kagome nodded and smiled at her sister who had closed her eyes, and mouthed a heart felt thank you to her mother. But that didn't stop Kagome from noticing Cho's two signature frustrated maneuvers of running a hand through her hair then readjusting her glass to sit higher on her nose.

~C~

Kagome walked down the stairs carrying all of her books that she was using for school this year. Cho's room was down stairs at the end of the hall along side her stairs. Grandpa's was on the far other end. Kagome knocked gently and she could here Cho moving around inside moving things so Kagome could get in. then the door slide open.

Cho's room was rather small, the story was that when Cho was first brought into the house they asked her where she wanted her room to be, and she chose the smallest room in the house, which was more like a small storage room. Kagome's father had done a lot of remodeling putting in a small closet and built in dresser drawers. He had even built the desk and the shelves over her desk. Cho's bed wasn't anything more then a futon couch. With a red comforter thrown over it.

Cho's walls were a dark shade of red and covering in hundreds of butterflies that she and mama had worked together to paint. Cho _loved_ butterflies as much as she loved air to breath. Chikara was already in his normal spot curled up in his little basket under her desk. The desk was already piled high with Cho's encyclopedias on world cultures, but they were pushed into the farthest corner to give Kagome room to study.

Kagome sat down in the old black computer chair and set down her books then turned to look at her sister who was sitting on her couch bed with her suit case at her feet open and putting away cloths in the open drawer in front of her. Cho had changed drastically from last spring, her once thigh long hair was now even shorter then Souta's and looked almost completely blue instead of blonde.

Not only that, her eyes had changed, not in color, or really shape, but the once warm welcoming feeling seem to have faded away. Or maybe it was the glasses, her large oval glasses her gone and replaced with smaller more narrow lenses that cut her eyes in half. Cho had always had a distant look to her Sapphire eyes, but the distance had grown to almost be cold and uncaring. Cho looked up at Kagome, a soft smile on her lips, that only just barely reached her eyes, at least Kagome now knew, it wasn't home that caused Cho to change.

"Cho, what happen with Benji, you were so happy with him," Kagome asked, catching Cho off guard.

Her older sister sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "it's a long story Ka-chan, just be happy its over with for me, please," Cho said and finished the last of her unpacking before she leaned back against the couch with a sigh.

"something had to have happen Nee-chan, the last time we asked you to cut your hair, you threaten to cut off someone's fingers, so why now, why cut your hair if something hadn't happen," Kagome said. Cho looked at her from the corner of her eye then leaned her head back, "remember when I was in middle school, I came home crying and I took the kitchen knife and stated sawing off my hair," she said.

Kagome nodded, "mom was furious, there was hair all over the floor and she had to take you to the nearest beauty shop, you had the shortest bob cut in the school," she replied.

Cho let the silence continue for a moment, "remember what I said why I did it," she asked her, "because you confessed to you crush, and he said he didn't date weirdo's with blue hair," Kagome replied.

"but I thought Benji loved your hair," Kagome quickly added.

Cho remained silent, then looked at her sister again running a hand through the cropped hair till it stood up straight in the air. Cho sighed once more and decided to tell her what happen, "Benji left me, for some model visiting in England and went to America with her instead, he told me he just couldn't put up with the blue hair anymore, even that hair," she said coughing a little as Kagome turned red.

_"Cho, look you're a great girl, your nice, your cute, but, its just to weird, its not normal ok," Benji said as he looked down at Cho with his new blonde model on his arm._

_"like what is up with that, that's not even possible someone's hair growing blue," the woman said, well it was possible, Cho was here, she was real, her hair was blue._

_"I'm sure you'll be happy to go home anyways, it's not like they liked me or anything, its just better this way," he added. Cho balled her hands into a fist, "better this way, when were you going to tell me that it was gonna be this way, after you were already in America! Or until I caught you, walking down the street with some other girl in your arms!," Cho had shouted at him._

_"Cho please, don't make a seen, I was going to tell you, but, I just hadn't found the right moment yet, I didn't want you to be to upset," he said, Cho snarled, "upset! You didn't want me to be upset! Benji, telling me you don't love me because of my hair, after already asking me to marry you would make me upset no matter what you said, or what ever fucking moment you were to pick!" Cho had shrieked._

_Furious tears streaked down her face as she yanked off the 400$ diamond engagement ring from her finger and through it effectively catching him right in between the eyes with the diamond._

_"that was uncalled for Bitch!," the chick shouted at her, Cho glared at the girl as hard as she could and the girl quickly closed her mouth, she then turned her eyes onto Benji his eyes opened wide and he took a involuntary step back, "I hope you to are happy together!," she snapped and walked away._

Kagome's mouth was hanging open, and the only sound she made was a sharp gasp. Cho waited for her sister to finish processing the information, "excuse my language, but the _fucking ass hole_," she said.

Cho couldn't help but laugh as Kagome whispered the last of her sentence so that their mother wouldn't hear it. Kagome crossed the distance of the room and sat next to her sister wrapping her arms around her and hugging her tightly. "grandpa was right, Benji wasn't good enough for you," Kagome said. Cho placed a hand on her sister's head.

"yea well, after I got home, I pretty much ripped and broke everything he ever gave me, and well, you see the result, I cut my hair, with scissors this time, I was just so mad, it just kept getting shorter and shorter, this was the best the beautician could do with out pretty much shaving my head," Cho said with a soft laugh.

"what about you Kagome, are you dating yet," Cho asked her, Kagome sat up with raised eyebrows, "you ask, you who chased away my dates before I could even start junior high," she said. Cho smiled sheepishly, "I still swear today I checked that kattana first and it was not sharp at all," Cho said a blush creeping across her face.

"and beside Kagome, you were only 11 then, your 16 now, it's a big difference in age and maturity," Cho said and leaned back, "so, who is he," she added smiling.

"well, he's not actually my boyfriend, Cho, just, well just a friend," she said a distant looking filling her eyes. "ah, but you do like him though, perhaps little sister, you might love him?" Cho said tilting her head.

Kagome turned a crimson red and looked away a little, "well, I guess I love him a little, but, he's so mean, a jerk, he's possessive and gets easily jealous and has a short temper, sometimes I wonder why I even go near him," she said and crossed her arms, "but some times he can also be really nice, and even more surprising he turns out to be kind of smart, " she laughed a little.

"does he like you back," Cho asked, Kagome snorted, "only cause I can sense…cause he just wants me close, he doesn't love me, he still loves his…ex" Kagome said, she had almost told her sister about the jewel shards of the Shikon no tama and how she can see them.

"then why do you burden your self with him, if he loves his ex still," Cho said arching an eyebrow to her, "I don't ever recall Kagome Higurashi liking two-timers, I lost several good books from your love struck tantrums," Cho said teasingly.

"I don't really know, but I know that I am happy around him, I always thought that was all that mattered," Kagome said, Cho hugged her sister close, "hmm, sometimes, but it will never be enough, you will want more, and it will come down to, if he will be willing to give," Cho said.

"you really think so, that he will go away, if I ask for more," Kagome said, her face turning pale as the thoughts raced through her head. Cho watched her, it was almost like she was watching the events that had played between her little sister and this guy, through an emotional stand point, "I guess you'll have to think that over, but its bed time, you need to get up early if were gonna study before you start school again," Cho said.

Kagome nodded and hugged her sister tightly once more then left her room taking her books with her and shutting the door gently behind her. Cho looked down at the now snoring fox, "Chikara," she said, the fox looked up and got up jumping on her bed with her, "Chikara, consider yourself lucky your not a girl," she said and smiled slipping under the comforter with the white fox.

~C~

_lightning flashed across the sky, dark curl clouds hung low as the spilled their weight over the city. Cho cried and cried, she clung to her mother, shook her, begged her to wake up. Laughter filled her head, sharp jeers and words that the toddler didn't understand._

_"mommy, mommy please wake up, please," Cho cried louder._

_Cho lifted her hands they were coated with both water and slick red liquid, Cho cried louder over the sound of the laughter and the thunder all clashing together playing a dark melody in her head._

_"you want this to go away," voices spoke to her, spoke to the child clinging to her dead mother in the ally of down town Tokyo._

_"mommy please wake up," she begged the still woman._

_"child, do you want to undo this, I can give you that power," the voices sang to her softly._

_The child lifted her head, listening, "take hold of me Child, I can give you that power, to go back to this time, and to undo her death, you need only wish that your mother was still alive, and I will make it come true" the voices sang._

_"mommy," the child spoke._

Cho shout out of bed so fast that Chikara was thrown off the bed with an annoyed yip. Cho looked around her room wildly, she couldn't see anything but black blurs, so she reached for her bed side lamp and her glasses flicking the light on and putting on her glasses. But the room was empty, she was alone, covered in sweat, and breathing like she had ran a triathlon.

She wasn't even home 24 hours, and already, the night terrors had returned. For years, sense she first became Cho Yume Higurashi, she was plagued with nightmares, mostly because she had been a witness to her own mothers death. It didn't help any the guilt she felt for not being able to remember who killed her mother.

She remembered all those nights she would wake up crying, Kagome, Souta, and Cho's father would be there within only a few moments from her first scream. It didn't matter whether he had work in the morning, or what hour, he would be there. It had been hard on every one when he died of cancer a couple of years after Souta was born. That was the last time anyone heard her cry out, here in her bedroom, but it didn't stop the dreams, they only got worse.

It made sense, now she knew why home was always a question, and a week before she returned to Japan, she had seen the same dream again, a reminder to what was waiting for her back home. Cho ran a hand through her moist hair with a heavy sigh, she drew her knees up close to chest and laid her forehead onto her knees. She could already feel a nasty headache blooming in between her eyes.

Chikara gave another soft yip and jumped back onto the bed looking at her with a tilted head. Cho smiled at him and rubbed his head, "you got use to sleeping with me in England, you forgot about my nightmares," she said to the aged fox that was still a just a pup the last time they were in Japan together.

The albino fox that Cho had found in the well house a few years after father died. It was so small so weak, and it needed help, Cho had begged her mother to please let her keep the weak fox, so she did all she could. Her mother called some friends and they got some paper work together so that mama would have a license to own the exotic animal, that same license Cho later got when she turned 17. So Chikara was rather old at this point, but still pretty young, she often wondered if she made a mistake by not taking him to a zoo, but she couldn't imagine her personal bodyguard not in her life.

Chikara's head lifted turning towards the door, and he growled. Alarmed Cho stood up and pressed her ear to the door and listened. She heard nothing, but Chikara hadn't stopped growling, that wasn't a good sign.

"stay here," she ordered, the fox whined but sat.

Cho looked around her room and spotted a wooden bat, another cherished item from her late adopted father and took it into her hand with a firm grip and slipped down the hallway, her back to the wall and the side of the stairs in front of her. now she heard it, soft foot falls in the rest of the house as they came towards the stair well.

Cho walked faster stepping lightly on the tip of her toes till she got to the arch way of the connecting hall that lead to the kitchen, living room, and dinning room. She peaked carefully around the corner, just in time to see a man walk into the hallway from the living room, he was dressed in red and had whitish hair. Cho didn't have time to get a good look at him as he looked up and she ducked back behind the wall.

Cho held her bat tightly and got into a swinging position his footsteps got closer and closer. The he appeared, and she swung.

"heiyo!" she shouted and the bat jerked as it met the man's head with a sickening crack and wood flew all around as the bat broke in half.

Cho stared open mouthed at her broken bat and the man went to his knees holding his head. He was growling and Cho jumped back holding what was left of her bat up in defense.

"what the hell is wrong with you Kagome!" the man shouted getting up on shaky legs checking his hands once in a while to make sure he wasn't bleeding.

Cho stared at him, he was indeed dressed in red, but they weren't gym cloths like she had first thought, no it was a red kimono. And his hair was in deed white, and very long, and he had dog-ears. That didn't register to well, why the hell did a burglar have dog-ears, for god sake why was the burglar in a kimono.

He looked up at her with amber colored eyes and she blinked slowly with surprise. He returned the look eyes widened, "wait…your not Kagome," he said.

Kagome, why the hell would she be Kagome. Cho was eye level with the kid, hell they were the exact same height Kagome was almost a whole head shorter then her, not only that, but Cho was, much more curvy then her teenage sister, for the fact that her tank top was straining. She was also blue and blonde haired and wearing glasses, "what gave it away," Cho snapped.

There was a commotion upstairs and Kagome appeared on the stairs running, "Inuyasha what are you doing here! It's almost 3 in the morning!" Kagome shouted at him in a harsh whisper.

"what am I doing here, to save your ass that's what, who the hell is she," Inuyasha shouted back not even bothering to whisper, Cho through the bat at him, succeeding in catching him in the head again where he growled again, "can't you whisper, people are sleeping," Cho snarled.

"who are you," he snapped, "Inuyasha, that's my sister, Cho," Kagome said stepping off the stairs and to stand in front of him. Inuyasha looked back at Cho with an angry glare, which Cho happily returned.

"sense when do you have a sister, I thought you only had a brother," Inuyasha said looking at Kagome, "you never asked either," she said glaring at him. Inuyasha scuffed then looked at Cho, "why the hell did you hit me," he said snarling.

"well when someone enters someone's home at three in the morning uninvited you don't welcome them with cookies and milk now do you," Cho said narrowing her eyes and looking at him over the top of her glasses.

Cho's door opened suddenly and the albino fox was down the hall faster then she knew that fox could run. Chikara leaped teeth bared, they heard the foxes teeth snap close and they looked down. Chikara's sharp teeth sank into Inuyasha's hip, well, pretty much his ass.

Kagome covered her mouth and Cho knew she was laughing as Inuyasha shouted and grabbed the fox to try and yank him off but the fox held tightly working in his teeth deeper into the dog-boy's flesh, "what the hell, get him off me!" Inuyasha shouted.

"Chikara, Release," Cho ordered sharply and the fox let go instantly yipping and wagging its tail before running to Cho and jumping into her arms in one leap. " Chikara, still wins vote of best guard dog in all of Japan," Kagome said now laughing.

"that wasn't funny Kagome," Inuyasha said.

As much as this was fun to watch Cho wanted answers and prepared to speak up but Kagome spoke first, "why are you here Inuyasha, I told you I will be at least a week till I get back I will be starting school soon," she asked him.

"its like I said, I came to save your ass, the village was attacked by one of Yamasuso's demon's it had a jewel shard, we chased it to the well, and it jumped in, it made it here Kagome, its after you again," he said turning to her.

"your joking, it got through the well, there's no telling where it could be," Kagome said now shouting.

"where what could be," Cho asked looking between them, but just as she asked that she felt hands slip around her waist. Cho felt the chill from the hands and her body turned rigid and the foul smell of decay filled her nose.

"Cho!" Kagome screamed as Cho was yanked back at dizzying speeds into the connecting hall way and out of the window in the living room. Inuyasha and Kagome weren't far behind but it wasn't fast enough. Chikara was pinned to her chest the fox snarled and growled trying to bite the shadowy hands. Cho kicked and struggled but they were far too strong.

They were dragged to the well house where the door's swung open on there own accord and what ever creature was holding her sprung down the steps like a rabbit rattling Cho's brain in her skull. At the doors of the well house she saw Kagome and Inuyasha, just as the creatures leaped into the well.

Cho screamed.

Warm light surrounded her and Cho opened her eyes. Hands still held her and fox still fought. They seemed to be moving slowly, at the same time Cho could feel fingers seem to drag across her skin as if what ever was surrounding her was trying to drag her back keep her in place. But the demon had her tight, yes demon she knew that much. She lifted her head and turned shifting in the monsters arms with ease to face the creature.

It had no eyes no ears no anything except for the big open gaping mouth where that horrible smell of death was pouring out, "what the _fuck_!" Cho said with a snarl.

The demon hissed viciously into her face, and Cho snarled again, "I don't know what the fuck you are or where you think your taking me, but its not gonna happen," Cho snapped and pulled her leg back and lifted kneeing the monster in its gut.

The demon shrieked and it's grip loosened around her, just enough so that Cho could free an arm to draw it back with a closed fist and smash it into the demon's face. That did the trick and the demon was flung away from her. Chikara moved to her shoulder, and the demon screamed as it's body was suddenly torn apart then it vanished leaving behind a silvery purple gem that Cho quickly grabbed from the air just as the watery lights vanished and Cho was placed gently down at the bottom of the well.

Cho looked up eyes opened wide to find moonlight to be shinning down over her. Cho quickly got up and grabbed a near by vine hanging down the side of the well and hauled her self up and out of the well.

_Where the hell is Higurashi shrine_, she thought to herself, seeing only a forest in front of her. where was she, what happen, where was all of freaking Tokyo, and how did she get back so she could question her very much in trouble younger sister.

A few moments Cho's name was shouted and Inuyasha and Kagome shout out of the well to land beside her. seeing that Cho was alone and fine, Inuyasha let Kagome down off his back and looked at her.

"where's did the demon go?," he asked, Cho petted Chikara's head, "I beat him off while still in the well and he just vanished," she said then turned to her younger sister.

"Kagome, what's going on, where are we are what was that," Cho said narrowing her eyes.

"Cho, your in the feudal era, and that was a demon sent by a witch named Yamasuso who had kidnapped me right before you came here to eat me so that she could have eternal youth and immortality" Kagome said.

Everything that was and then and all that Cho knew fell from beneath her feet.


	3. Chapter 2:Ominous Comes in a Baboon Pelt

Of Crimson Butterfly's Dream

A Sesshomaru Fanfic

Based off of the Manga series

**A/N**: well here we are, only the second chapter lol, but so far I'm rather pleased with it don't you think so to ^^. Now I'm asking for favors, I'm really bad at not sticking to character, so I will definitely need your help valiant readers, give me advice, and give me idea's point out where I screwed up something, and all that other stuff, it will be thanked greatly ^^. Sorry it took so long to, but this chapter was surprisingly hard, that and no one would give me the privacy to type lol XD j/k

Again I started a forum, though I already have arc 1 figured out, I would still like you guys idea's it be nice, though you don't have to use it lol. And please more reviews =D

I'm trying to put at least two songs for every chapter, cause I like to listen to music while I type, so, I'm putting suggested songs, which you can find on the play list link on my home page ^^. If the songs I chose aren't all that great, and you think you might have a better choice for the chapter then please share with me your thoughts ^^, I'm also looking for a theme song for the entire story, course it will take a while to think of that one lol.

Btw, I started an account on deviant art, don't have anything on it yet, but I will, eventually, I'll try to post an awesome drawing of Cho, and Chikara, when I get the chance, anyways, please enjoy this chapter!

Dedicated to **Nizuna Fujieda, .Fortune, **and** Day-Of-The-Dead-TattooGal **for their reviews =D!

Music: Songs by My Darkest Days lol, particularly the world belongs to me.

How the music stuff works is that whatever I was listening to while I was typing the chapter, is the music the best goes with the chapter because the feelings of the music are portrayed in the story as well =D now you know how it works.

* * *

Chapter 2: Ominous Comes in a Baboon Pelt

"Cho, you're in the feudal era, and that was a demon sent by a witch named Yamasuso who had kidnapped me right before you came here to eat me so that she could have eternal youth and immortality" Kagome said.

Cho stood for a moment as she looked at her sister like she had just said something from out of a movie. Hell it sounded more like a fairy tale, Grandpa had told her all the stories about the Bone Eaters Well and how demon's bones would vanish, but she never heard of a person being able to pass through time by jumping in to the well. It made sense though, now that she looked at Inuyasha with more thought.

"You're from this time, this is why your grades are failing, because of this place, because of whatever this thing is," Cho said and held up the gem that was left after the demon vanished.

"Yes, Nee-chan, what you hold there is the Shikon No Tama, the jewel of four souls, and it is coveted by every demon in the world, it can give human's and demon's incredible powers even with that tiny sliver of the jewel in your hand," Kagome said looking at her sister's face studying her reaction to the world her sister had suddenly got dragged into.

Cho ever calculating, always thinking stepped back and leaned against the well, Kagome could see her sister slowly begun to frown and she lifted a hand to run it through her short hair. "Why are you collecting them," she said finally

"Because I shattered the jewel and I'm the only one that can see where they are hidden," Kagome replied to her. Cho sighed heavily, "Well there is no argument there, it is right for you to fix what you broke," Cho said softly.

Cho glanced at the well behind them then looked back at her younger sister, "is the well the only way back?" she asked her. Kagome nodded and Cho looked back at the well and leaped supporting her body-weight with one arm and then falling feeling the rush of wind into the well.

"Cho!" Kagome shouted after her running to the edge of the well but Cho landed perfectly at the bottom of the well in a crouched position.

"Cho, you didn't go back?" Kagome said with surprise across her face and Inuyasha equally surprised.

"I figured that was the case, that demon didn't feel very real, it was meant for you Ka-chan not for me," she said looking up at her sister.

"You're kidding, that demon was another one of Yamasuso's weird curses," she said with a shout, "and it must have mistaken me and Chikara for you," Cho said and Chikara yipped from the side of the well.

Inuyasha reached down towards Cho and she reached up grabbing some vines to lever herself so she could jump and grab hold of his hand and be pulled up and out of the well by the dog eared boy.

"how do you figure the demon was a curse," Inuyasha asked her as he let go of her hand and stared at her questioningly, "well one, it disappeared inside the well, which where would it have gone other than to have completed its mission" she said and glanced down the well again.

"I still don't see how a human could tell the difference" Inuyasha said with a scuff. Cho scuffed back, and Kagome laughed softly, "Cho is really smart Inuyasha, I didn't have any doubt she wouldn't figure it out quickly," she said.

"Inuyasha probably would be too stupid to see what would be common sense," Cho said and ran a hand through her hair. Inuyasha scrawled at her and growled, "You want to go, I got no problems fighting a girl," Inuyasha said shaking his fist at her.

Cho placed a hand on his fist and squeezed a tick showing in her jaw line, "sorry but I don't beat up the mentally challenged," she said between gritted teeth.

Inuyasha swung out but Cho's arm flew up and caught his fist squeezing that one to but at the same time Kagome had yelled sit, Chikara sat down but to Cho's surprise Inuyasha's fanged prayer beads shined brightly and he was yanked to the ground leaving a deep imprint in the soft earth with his body.

"I won't have you hit my sister Inuyasha!" Kagome shouts and from behind her Cho sticks out her tongue at him. But Kagome turned at the last moment catching Cho with her tongue out, "and Chonee-chan, your 22 years old, don't antagonize Inuyasha on purpose" Kagome said hands on her hip.

"Old hag," Inuyasha said from below, "sit!" Kagome shouted again and the necklace shined again and seemed to drag Inuyasha further into the ground. Cho smiled at her sister, and her interesting ability over the dog-eared young man, "can I learn to do that two?" she asked her smiling.

"No, you can't it only works for me though I wish I could teach other people to use it," Kagome said, "hey!" Inuyasha shouted at her and she simply said sit again in which Cho couldn't help but to laugh again.

"Well I should go back and get us supplies, is there anything particular you want me to grab for you Cho, and would like me to tell mom," Kagome said to her sister with a slightly guilty look about having to talk to their mother.

"Just grab whatever you can ka-chan, I don't think it would very much matter sense it might take a while for me to get back," Cho said to her sister and reach down to help Inuyasha to his feet.

"Mom isn't going to like this," Kagome whispered and brought her legs over the edge of the well, "if mom hasn't stopped you yet, I think she can handle me being away for a little longer," Cho said with a little laugh and smiled at her.

Kagome returned the chuckle and jumped down into the well vanishing to the world beyond it. Cho turned on Inuyasha in that instant her sapphire eyes' turning into bright lighting storms in the darkness around them with the only light was from the crescent moon hanging overhead. She could clearly see Inuyasha swallow and rather hard even though she knew he wasn't human, she just had that gift ya know.

"What now Inuyasha," she asked him and scooped up her albino fox into her arms holding him close to her chest. Inuyasha looked skimmed his human companions sister with quick glances and contemplated on running away and leaving her there in the woods with demons all around, but he had this odd feeling that she could keep up with him, but it was just a feeling.

"Hello," she said and waved her hand at him, and he looked up again, "I guess I should take you back to the village, till Kagome gets back," he said with a bit of a grunt and walks away.

Cho follows him Chikara moving to her shoulders and surveying the area surrounding them. He lead her through first a forest, she could see the Sacred tree that she had grown up with all her life off in the distance, it used to be her guide home when she was much younger. Now here she was, in a faraway time, and the tree couldn't lead her home anymore. Inuyasha stopped walking turning back to her, "you still keeping up," he said and she glared at him slightly.

"No I'm sitting by the well crying my eyes out waiting for my little sister to take me home," Cho snapped at him and annoyed she stormed past him onto a walkway leading across what looked like the rice fields. A head was a sleepy looking village; it was still in the wee hours of the morning in both times, she wasn't going to even bother asking how the times managed to sync up like they had.

Inuyasha took over the lead with a light scrawl on his face but she decided to go ahead and let him scrawl all he wanted. Cho kept up with his pace though even though he had begun to walk faster, until they came to one of the houses in the village that still had a fire burning. A tall young man was standing outside the door, but, he was still shorter then Cho, which was nothing new.

He was dressed in purple and black robs with a long golden staff and small rings on the top, she assumed he was a monk and she nodded slightly to him, "yo, Miroku, the demons gone," Inuyasha said and entered the small house followed by Cho.

Inside were an elderly woman, a small child that was fast asleep, and another younger woman with a twin tailed cat draped across her lap. Cho gave them a smile meant to be slightly friendly though in Cho's current state of mind it probably looked more like a death grin than anything else. Not only that, Cho was still annoyed with Inuyasha and knew that her sapphire blue eyes were doing weird things in the moonlight and fire light mixed together.

"Who is this Inuyasha," the young man asked from behind her, "apparently, this is Cho, Kagome's sister" Inuyasha said as he leaned against the wall crossing his arms.

Cho looked at him with a glare and crossed her arms over her tank top t-shirt that still struggled to keep her breasts inside her shirt, "you make it sound as if I'm the one who started the plague," she said, "plague?" Inuyasha asked and Cho rolled her eyes "never mind" she said.

Cho moved across the room towards the fire to join the two women, the elderly woman was watching her closely and she looked ready to ask her more questions then she could give, but she felt a hand on her hand and she turned to look down into the brownish purple eyes of the monk.

"You are quite lovely, as lovely as your sister, my name is Miroku, and I know we have just met, but I feel a connection, would you do me the honor of bearing me a child," he asked as he rubbed her hands gently.

Cho chuckled softly and turned her whole body to face him her face leaning close to his and her eyes danced again, "oh that sounds nice, I'm always willing for a lay in the hay," she said softly her voice turning husky and sultriest. Miroku's face blazed with color in that moment and Cho grinned.

"r-really?" he stuttered, and Cho smirked, "yes really, I'm always willing to be staring in someone's wet dreams," she said and turned away and sat down on the ground in front of the flames, the young woman laughed and so did Inuyasha, the elderly woman herself face turned red and Miroku looked like he had just been slapped.

"So…your Kagome's sister," the younger woman said after the laughter had died down after a few minutes, "yes, I'm her sister, though, not many know I exist," Cho said softly.

"Why would that be child," the elderly woman asked, "don't really know, I'm not all that much to talk about, other than I am Kagome's adopted older sister," Cho said and it looked like some kind of ah-ha moment had passed among the group.

"I thought only Kagome could pass through the well, how did you get here," Miroku asked and Cho leaned back to look at him who's ego seemed to have repaired itself, "you know that demon Inuyasha mentioned, it was after Kagome, and happen to grab me instead," Cho said and ran her hands through her hair slowly and looked at Inuyasha, "apparently it wasn't a demon at all but another one of Yamasuso's bloody curses, and Cho can't get back to Kagome's time through the well," Inuyasha finished explaining for her.

"but Yamasuso's living curses, if I remembered right, weren't easy to find off," Sango said and looked at Cho curiously, "I'm a black belt, it wasn't hard at all," Cho explained staring into the fire. "Black belt," the boys said together, "it means I can kick your ass up the street and back," she snapped a little annoyed that they were still asking her questions.

"Is that a challenge," Inuyasha snapped with a snarl but Miroku reached out with his staff and tapped him on the head, "be more chivalrous Inuyasha, she is a woman," Miroku said, "I find that hard to believe," Inuyasha said with a scuff and rubbed his head where her bat had previously made contact to his head.

"I don't mean to intrude child, but your hair color, is odd, hair like that, is more common among demons," the elderly woman said softly as she poked at the flames.

Cho glanced up at the elderly woman, "I was born with the blue tips, in modern time blonde hair isn't unusual, this yellow color, but, the blue tips are," Cho said and twirled one of the tips around a finger absently.

"oh, I didn't introduce myself, my name is Sango, this is Kirara my friend," the younger woman said and nodded to the cat laying across her lap, "what is she, a demon," Cho asked, "she is actually," Sango said and looked at Chikara that was lying across Cho's shoulders, she didn't even remember when he had gotten there.

"Kagome said there were no demons in her time, but your fox?," she asked, "it's another abnormality, like my blue tips, they call it albinism, its where certain parts of our bodies' pigments, don't develop completely, and we lose color's in our skin, or hair color and even eyes," Cho explained.

Finally Kagome returned with a large yellow backpack and Cho's smaller more compact black bag from inside her cabinet/closet from in her bedroom. Kagome passed her sister her bag stuffed full of clothing and as Cho felt the bag, all the other essentials, like tooth paste and razors were packed in.

"what should we do about Lady Cho," Miroku asked softly to her younger sister, Kagome looked at the monk in thought, "well, I figured, Cho could come with us," she said and looked at Inuyasha.

"oh no, were not taking another weak human girl with us!" Inuyasha shouted rather loudly, "I should take offense to that Inuyasha," Sango said with an annoyed expression.

"your different Sango, and so are you Kagome, but she" he jabbed a finger towards Cho's direction, "probably couldn't lift a sword much less fight with one," Inuyasha snapped. Cho glanced over at Sango, sure enough beside the woman laid a black sword with a white hilt Cho stood and walked over to her, "excuse me but could I borrow this," Cho said softly.

"sure, what are you going to do with it," Sango said curiously as she handed Cho her sword. Cho grasped the hilt with her right hand and the sheath with her left hand and felt the weight of the blade and grinned and turned towards Inuyasha and stepped outside.

"care to put your foot where your mouth it Dog-boy" Cho snapped at him and glared. Kagome sighed deeply and the elderly woman looked at the younger miku, "should he be concerned," she asked her, "yes, I don't think Inuyasha realizes what he's getting himself into yet," Kagome said and stood and followed the rest of the small group outside.

Cho stood in front of Inuyasha gripping Sango's sword with great force. She pulled the blade free from its sheath then tossed the sheath back to its owner and rotated her wrist with the blade. Then Cho with her left hand ran it through her hair and glanced at Inuyasha the moon reflected in the frosty sapphire eyes of hers. She looked ethereal at that moment, like she always did, always had.

"alright Inuyasha, come at me," Cho said no smile crossed her face, she kept it perfectly straight and her eyes gathered information at Inuyasha's arrogant stance, that he truly believe he was better then her.

"All right, but your asking for it," he said with a confidant grin and drew his own sword at his hip. As it emerged it transformed into a huge blade that was shaped much like a fang and had a power surrounding it.

He didn't wait any longer then to say, "I'll be easy on you sense you're so weak," and he was charging her. he was so slow, his movement looked much like a cheesy ninja film. He was on her in seconds swinging his over sized blade, she already knew his move and she was out of the way before the blade could even pass through where she had been standing. She twirled around in a circled her feet barely touching the ground and she was behind him her own blade to his throat.

"your movements are slow, and predicable," she said softly, "you think so!" he snapped and turned around swinging his sword where her head had been but she had ducked to the ground and swung out a legged to knock Inuyasha off his feet and put him on his ass. She stood and held out her blade pointed to Inuyasha's throat, "do you still think I'm so weak, Inuyasha," she said slowly and deliberately coldly. They had been fighting for less then 10 minutes, and he lost to a human whose closet fighting experience had been inside a dojo in downtown Tokyo.

"what the hell," Inuyasha snapped and sat up Cho stepped back and returned the sword to Sango who was smiling more then she thought was possible. Cho kept her back to Inuyasha as he sheathed his sword, "that was just beginners luck, no way a human from Kagome's time is that good," he said with a scuff and looked at Kagome.

Kagome had gone quiet in the distance the sun was beginning to rise, but that wasn't her expression. It was the same look she got when she sensed jewel shards, "Inuyasha, shards, lots of them, getting closer," she said softly.

Cho looked at her younger sister and in that moment she heard it again, the soft voices whispering to her promising her things, to give her power, to give her time and to make things into how ever she wanted them to be. she felt the jewel in her boxer shorts pocket burn telling her, reminding her, that its presence was there, and it wanted to be with its relatives. It wanted her to follow the voices singing in her head.

Chikara exploded into a brake neck run from the village and leaped right over Cho's head just as a long tactical like thing had appeared to wrap itself around Cho. Chikara's snarl could be heard over the gasps and the laughter that had suddenly filled the small clearing just outside the village.

Cho grabbed Sango's sword back and spun around into a wide arching strike her blade hit air as the man that had suddenly appeared from no where leaped back away from her, he was dressed in the pelt of a baboon. The man kept laughing as he seemed to stare at her, Cho returned the stare narrowing her eyes to the point it looked like she might be closing them.

"Naraku!" Inuyasha snapped and redrew his sword in a blink of an eye. Chikara yelped overhead as a second tentacle emerged from the man's back to try and strike the fox but it escaped and landed on Cho's shoulder with shaky paws and he snarled. Again Cho remained calm and collected, Kagome ran to her sister and wrapped an arm around hers and tugged, but Cho was like stone.

Cho could still hear the voices beautiful songs of darkness playing in her head over and over again, begging her to take them and us them to become powerful. She could see the man's eyes glow, or was it an illusion, red orbs gleaming from the holes of the eyes of the baboon pelt.

"relax Inuyasha, I haven't come to kill you today, or take your jewel shards, I came to see," he said Cho felt her own body tense, beside her, her sister turned cold as well.

"there was, change, when she appeared, your of no use to me now, but in time, I will need to seek you out," he said with another chuckle on his lips. Cho knew he was talking to her, that much was obvious. Cho held out the blade at arms length pointing it at the man, this man she knew was a demon, "Naraku…you don't seem, so dangerous," she said softly.

Naraku laughed, though it wasn't much different form his soft brooding chuckles, "I suppose not, not to you at this moment, I don't think they've had much time to tell you about me," he said. Cho took her blade and stabbed the ground, another one of his tentacle arms emerged from the ground Cho yanked back her blade that had impaled the arm.

"again, your not so dangerous," Cho said and held her sword in fighting stance, Inuyasha rushed forward and swung his sword down trying to take the demon Naraku's head with him, but with no success as the baboon pelt was empty and Naraku was gone.

"little butterfly, little butterfly, I'll be waiting for you to gain your wings," Naraku's voice spoke from somewhere, but nowhere, Cho again, knew he spoke of her, though knew nothing of what it meant she just allowed herself a smile, "well then, I look forward to it," she said and turned away.

Chikara stopped his growling and rubbed his face against her cheek once more Cho returned Sango's sword then looked at her sister just as the sun reached the tops of the trees. "Ka-chan, it's time we sat down and talk," she said softly as the blonde hair changed to cold and the frosty sapphire eyes shined. Kagome would say, that at that moment, her sister never looked more determined then any time she had ever seen her in her life.


	4. Chapter 3: Separated but not Alone

17

**Of Crimson Butterfly's Dream**

**A Sesshomaru Fanfic**

**Based off the manga Series**

**A/N:** HOLY TOLITOS BATMAN, SHE FINALLY UPLOADED A NEW CHAPTER! I'm sure all of you have noticed that in the title I place "based off the manga series" that is because, the animated version of Inuyasha, has significant differences from the book version. For instance, Sesshomaru in the manga series was more inclined to joke, Kagome had more a back bone then she let on and was a lot smarter, and Sango didn't see Inuyasha as a constant opponent (recently started watching it again). So I decided that the story would be based off the manga series, instead of the anime, if you never read the manga, well, there might be moments that you think that the characters might be OOC, but I suggest you check the books before calling it OOC (and no, I didn't get a bad review lol, I just wanted to point it out as we are entering the third chapter)

**Excuse's for taking so long:** one, I was lazy…, two I was catching up on my latest Inuyasha manga I bought in the big volumes, three, working on original stuff, four school started, and five I was lazy , Six School started and slapped me in the face so hard I forgot that I had this story online still.

Anyways, hey were at the third chapter, hurray, ok so I'm not celebrating yet, we'll throw a party after I get past chapter five, that's always been my milestone lol. I should have a picture of Cho on Deviant art, under the name of 'ChunMeiguiProduction'so keep an eye out for it, trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Also there is a main writer, and a, well not sure what you would call her, but I have an assistant that helps me write the story that you enjoy, you might see her work up on deviant art at times, while alongside my own. Ok, so I think I'm blabbering, shall we get going lol!

Please Review

**Suggested Music: **So Cold by Breaking Benjamin and Gypsy by Shakira.

Chapter Three: Separated but not Alone

Kagome nodded sharply at her sister, and tried to think of the best way to explain to her about Naraku, and the whole thing that had just suddenly occurred. For that matter, they had yet to tell Cho anything other than that she had somehow gone back in time through the well and this was where Kagome spent most of her time.

Not only that, but how did one tell your sister, that she had just been marked by the most wanted demon in all of japan of this time, dead. And yet even as Kagome and the others had shown a clear dislike and underlining fear of this Naraku, Cho remained unmoved. Moreover, when had Cho gotten that fast, she had sensed Naraku moving in for an attack almost as fast as she had seen Inuyasha's brother move to attack his brother just to spite him, well maybe not that fast, but Cho was much faster than she remembered. Kagome had an odd manga scene playing in her head as the waiter trips and sends every one's dishes flying into the air and Cho quickly catching them all, oddly enough Kagome had entertained herself with that thought for every fast demon they had encountered including Inuyasha. The only thing that made that entertaining thought a little uncomfortable was for the fact that she had indeed seen Cho do exactly that, with a few plates still being sacrificed to the floor.

The group had marched their way back through the village and back into the house where Kaede resumed her traditional position beside the fire and poked at the dying flames stirring them to life, the fox child that Cho had noticed sleeping earlier was now awake being that the sun was now beginning to rise, that or it was oddly quiet, Cho had a sneaky suspicion it was only quiet after her sister and the dog boy were asleep.

Once everyone had found themselves a comfortable place Cho picked her place carefully picking the best spot to sit across from her sister so that both the sunlight filling the hut and the still burning fire light would reflect into her sapphire eyes and give her sister the exact look she was hoping to portray, the 'start talking' look, with the added running of her fingers through the blonde strands of hair.

"Who is she," the fox kid finally said breaking the silence that Cho had not noticed had fallen over the group, "my name is Cho, I am Kagome's older sister," Cho said quietly.

The fox child jumped into Kagome's waiting arms which caught the attention of the slightly weary albino fox that had now taken up position on Cho's shoulder once more, "I didn't know you had a sister Kagome, thought you only had a brother," the fox child said and hugged Kagome, "welcome back by the way," he added.

Kagome smiled at him brightly, "it's good to see you to Shippo, oh Cho, this is Kaede by the way, with all the fuss we kept forgetting proper introductions," Kagome said with a nervous laugh as her sister gave her another irritated look.

"Right," Kagome whispered, "where should we start," Kagome said looking to Inuyasha for help but the dog demon didn't seem very interested in their conversation obviously remembering his defeat by the mere human named Cho Higurashi.

And so began the long explanations of the demon Naraku, of his how his wicked tentacles had slithered themselves into the lives of everyone present in the room all for the possession of the Shikon jewel, which had been shattered by Cho's beloved sister, a sliver that Cho still carried in her pocket and had yet to make a move to hand it to her sister. No she would hold onto it and not because of the power, she had no use for such an evil creation, but because she couldn't bear the thought of another burden being placed on Kagome's shoulders. So maybe Cho had a sister complex somewhere deep down, but right now this was the only family she had, and Cho was going to protect her fang and claw, even from dog eared boys and baboon pelt wearing freaks like this Naraku.

Surprisingly enough, even with her new found knowledge of the demon that had just marked her for some unknown future scheme Cho was still not bothered, she wasn't even the slightest bit irked about the situation, which now that Cho thought about it, might be the only thing unnerving, to a normal person that is.

"but it is not Naraku, who has drug me into this world am I correct," Cho said quietly, "aye, it is the demon witch Yamasuso, who had vowed to take revenge on Inuyasha and his brother for killing her half-breed son and seeks to capture both Sango and Kagome to devour them for their youth," Miroku stated quietly. Cho pondered this knowledge though already it had been explained to her, she still wondered if her first assumption had been right, if the living curse had indeed been too stupid to realize it had grabbed the wrong human. But, it didn't matter, she was here and she would make the best of the situation.

"It seems, that fate has placed you here Cho," the old woman spoke as she begun to make preparations for a broth of some kind.

"It does," Cho replied quietly and looked at the mismatched group in front of her, "what do you suggest we do Inuyasha," Sango said looking up at the demon.

"I don't know, but she can't come with us," Inuyasha snapped, Cho arched an eyebrow slightly, "I believe we already had a discussion similar to this already **Inuyasha**," Cho said saying his name with more pronation. Inuyasha just scuffed.

"I don't believe, that Cho remaining here, is a good idea either, I believe that she should accompany you Inuyasha, her fate is tied here now, and has the right to hunt down the demon witch, once her curse is broken, I'm sure Cho will return home," Kaede said and looked to the blonde.

"No argument there, however, there will be times that I will come seeking Kagome to return to her studies," Cho said with a slight chuckle and glanced at the annoyed Inuyasha.

~c~

Cho stood to her full height and glanced to Sango who was just finishing dressing in her traveling kimono, the women looked alike if it weren't for the fact that Cho was taller than her, and slightly more bustier (and of course blonde). Cho wore a similar tank top to her night one, but it had more strength in its effort to hide her voluptuous bust.

Unlike her sister who was wearing her school uniform, why in god's name was she wearing it when it could get ruined –she would never know, Cho was wearing a pair of slimming jeans that made her long legs seem all the much more longer and hugged her ass in just the right way that Miroku's eyes bulged as she rounded the corner of the hut. The kimono's hid much of the woman's figure, and her poor sister's skirt didn't hide much at all, but good old blue jeans outlined everything and that lecherous monk didn't need to grope her butt to see that it was well toned and perfectly in shape. Cho nudged her glasses up higher on her face and held out her other arm for the albino fox to leap onto her shoulder.

Cho lifted her bag onto her back aiding her sister in lifting her bulging yellow bag onto her back as well. After everyone was settled, Cho followed the group as they headed out the edge of town with a simple shout from Inuyasha to Kaede that they were leaving. The whole situation had this atmosphere of a bunch of teens just going on a hike for the day or to a friend's party, it didn't feel like the demon hunt that it was.

"And for that matter, where exactly is our heading," Cho said sharing her thoughts out loud with the rest of the group. A third weight landed on her shoulder and she gazed into the eyes of the green eyed fox child she understood to be Shippo.

"Beats me, Inuyasha usually just wanders aimlessly till we run into trouble, normally because he started it," the fox child said. Cho smiled softly and caught Inuyasha's fist that was aiming to whack the kid on the head.

"Don't think so dog breath," Cho snapped at him but kept her brilliant smile towards the fox. Chikara yipped and turned balancing expertly on her shoulders and gave the little fox child a lick to the face. Shippo laughed slightly and moved higher and sat onto Cho's head like a perch looking ahead.

"Hey cool, I can see clear over Inuyasha's head, are you taller than Inuyasha Cho," Shippo shouted excitedly, which still gained many chuckles and another failed attempt of Inuyasha's discipline.

Cho took one long sideways glance back towards the village, and for a moment, she thought maybe she should try to go home again, but that word _home_ suddenly tugged at her mind again, and she forgot the thought and kept walking.

~c~

Walking at the pace of Inuyasha and Cho, Kagome had never thought it would have been possible, to see the first human to try and 'out walk' Inuyasha. The two of them must have the same amount of stamina, another surprising twist for Kagome to learn about her sister. She must have been doing a lot of training over sea's to be like this, she didn't remember Cho being ever this athletic, yes she was very athletic before, but almost braking into a full out run against Inuyasha down the path, and still winning, this was just, absurd.

Cho wasn't even trying anymore, her wide stride and annoyance was the only thing that was making her walk faster than Inuyasha. It was, only Inuyasha that was bugging her, she still had much to catch up on with her sister, and after all she had only been home for one night. Well not much could be done about it now. Cho slowed down, beginning to get fed up with Inuyasha's game, not only that but she could see smoke rising in the distance.

"I smell blood," Inuyasha said softly, the group looked at him a wash of seriousness fell over the group.

"A battle perhaps," Miroku suggested looking at the dog boy for more details, Cho looked back to the rising smoke and eyes narrowed, "I don't think so, that's an awful lot of smoke," she commented.

Kagome wrapped an arm around her sister's arm with memories of so many things they've run into in the feudal era, up until now she's held her own and had a brave face, but now Cho was here, and she didn't know if she wanted to protect Cho, or for Cho to protect her.

They didn't need long to question what was going on as the group approached closer screams echoed from just behind the trees, women's screams to be exact and the cries of men as they were being killed. Kagome was definably holding her sisters arm now and Cho had turned rigid with the thought of what was happening just beyond the line of trees.

"You girls stay here," Inuyasha shouted turning towards Cho and Kagome, Miroku nodded to Sango to remain as well and the men were gone running ahead of them.

Cho looked between the two women that seemed to think it was only natural to obey Inuyasha and Miroku. Shippo sat on Kagome's shoulder neatly cleaning his ears with a finger while Chikara, her ever aware fox was alert and snarling.

"Do either of you find this odd, that we are actually obeying their orders," Cho commented quietly, Kagome looked up at her sister with raised eyebrows, "but Inuyasha and Miroku can handle whatever it is," she stated carefully.

"Yes, I realize that, but you two can handle things to can't you, I don't imagine a few men would be too hard to knock aside" Cho commented slightly annoyed sounding. Sango looked to be thinking a little bit harder at Cho's comments.

"I normally stay behind to look after Kagome," she said. Cho looked down at her sister again, "I'm not one for battle Chonee-chan," Kagome added, indeed that made a valid point.

"I'm going then," Cho announced after only five minutes of standing their waiting for the boys to return, the two other women looked after her as Cho and her shoulder riding fox walked on ahead of the path.

"Cho are you sure that's a good idea!" Kagome shouted after her, Sango knelt slipping her pack from off her back and pulled out the same bone sword that Cho had already borrowed and tossed it to her, Kagome was slightly surprised at this and looked at Sango.

"Be careful Cho," Sango said and returned Kagome's gaze, Kagome nodded sharply and looked at her sister who was already walking away sword in hand.

Cho rounded the corner sliding the sword into a belt loop, it settles at an odd angle at her hip, but it would do for the moment. Cho could see that the buildings were on fire, being made from wood and grass it wouldn't take long for them to burn down if someone didn't put them out soon. There was a large crowd gathered in the center of the town, she could see just about all of them were bandits. Most of the village men were dead but she could sense there were still a few close by, possibly hiding in the surrounding woods where demons would be waiting as well.

Inuyasha and Miroku were at the center, she could just barely see Inuyasha's red hakama pants, and Miroku's bottom of his robes. Both of them were obviously trapped by the bandits. Which according to Kagome and Sango, that would make no sense, even if the bandits were human, she highly doubted Inuyasha would find it hard to knock a few heads and send them packing. Cho slid closer along the wall, her feet were light as air and didn't even kick up the loose dirt surrounding the yet to burn hut.

"there being led by a demon," Miroku's clear voice could be heard over the snickers and laughs of the men and the whimpered cries of obviously the village women, "you're getting dull Miroku, most of these guys are demons," Inuyasha said it wasn't hard to pick out his voice.

"that's right half-breed, and you're going to die peacefully and give us that sword and that nice kimono," a man said sitting on a white horse, or, what she had assumed was a horse. The animal looked like a horse, but it had teeth like a snakes and a long lizard tail with clawed feet. The man on top didn't look like he was much different, with long black hair and similar teeth and snake like eyes. Most of the bandits looked the same, but more lizards like then their leader.

Cho figured that this had been more than just a raid, but of a bunch of demon's that found it to be easier to attack whole villages for what they needed. If she understood from her sister's stories, more and more people were rising up against demons like these. Sango also told her, that her father use to say, that a demon who can wear a human appearance is the most dangerous of all. Cho scuffed slightly to herself.

"well, well, what do we have here," a voice said behind her, Cho stood rigid for a moment, and turned to stare into a foul breath of one said lizard man who reached out and grabbed her upper arm rather roughly and dragged her out of her hiding spot.

"aye, boss look what I found!," the demon shouted, Cho went along, putting on a frightened face, which wasn't too hard, she had to admit she was a little worried about what would happen next.

"Cho, I told you to stay behind!" Inuyasha shouted angrily, the leader guy laughed, "so you know each other, she isn't your lover is she hanyou," the man laughed.

Inuyasha made a disgusted face, "as if! I wouldn't touch her with a pole, much less with my own hands," Inuyasha snapped, Cho glared at him but remained silent.

The demon dragged her into the crowd where she could feel clawed hands make passes over her toned ass. Finally she was brought forward beside a trapped Inuyasha and Miroku, trapped by what, she couldn't tell, she couldn't really see what it was exactly, but perhaps it was some type of barrier spell. She mentally shrugged it off and turned her gaze up to the lizard man sitting on his horse.

"you smell like human, yet ye look demon, what a rare find indeed, if she means nothing to ye, hanyou, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I had a taste of her," the demon said and reached down grabbed her by the front of her tank top.

"sapphire eyes, oh pretty, I think I will pickle them and save them so I could always see that look of terror when I kill you," he said smiling.

Cho made no effort to fight him, but her gaze turned cold and light with lightning, her shirt made a loud hiss, and ripped. She was free and she landed on her feet hand on sword and already sliding it free she struck low, catching the demon's horse's legs and slicing them clean through. The animal toppled over, demon rider and all.

Cho stood straight, slinging the sword over her shoulders and a hand on her hips, even with her chest and straining bra in full display. Cho wasn't some weak woman; she was well toned all over, with very soft and feminine ripple's sliding over her flat belly. Her jeans and face had a spray of blood across them, and the man still held her ruin shirt up in the air as he stared at her stunned and trapped beneath the animal that still cried and whined as it swung its bloody stump in the air.

"Inuyasha, how do I set you two free," she said quietly, coldly, venomously and her gaze did not leave the face of the slowly recuperating demon.

"his armor, there is a amulet, brake it," Miroku shouted because the hanyou was to shocked to speak much less be any help to her, "_right then, let's go_," Cho said in her clipped British accented English.

"you wretched women, you know how hard to was to find that thing," the demon said as he stood, her shirt still clutched in his hands, "no, no idea at all, and I really don't care, I'd like my shirt back however," she said a hand brushed through her hair with annoyance.

The demon's surrounding them looked at their boss for direction, and with a flick of a hand from their leader; he ordered them to kill her. Cho slid into a stance well practiced stance of a life time of black belt training and sword fighting. Her sword sliced through soft flesh, jerking against bone, and sending only more blood over her clothing and skin and pristine white bra.

Cho was as ease, it was her fighting, but it wasn't her, it was like she was in a dream, like so many of the dreams she had in her life. Dreams that often made no sense, or wasn't physically possible for a human. But, that was Cho, she never was quite right. And even now, as Cho moved, it was like Chikara, the fox who's fur was turning a delicate red, wasn't noticed still perched on her shoulder.

The demon's stopped coming, she could sense the rush of fear and the unmistakable scent of piss, five demon's lay in a crumpled heap of blood and body parts in an almost perfect circle around where Cho stood. The silver fox stood on Cho's shoulder; even he looked as bored as Cho did at that moment. The demon leader was masking his fear; she could feel that to, with adrenalin rushing through her veins, she could sense everything, even sense Inuyasha's sudden male need to dominate and show off that he was better than this human woman that was doing more than he did.

"Chikara," Cho spoke softly, the fox whined and the demon's gaze slide to the fox, "fetch the Amulet," she said petting the fox under the chin. The fox snarled and leaped, and just like his mistress, Chikara wasn't, normal. The animal moved with such blinding speed that the demon had little time to swing his sword before the fox already had the amulet clutched in its jaws and leaping off of his chest. The most the fox lost may have been a few hairs from his tail.

Chikara returned to Cho's shoulder with a proud yip and dropped the block of wood into her open and waiting hand.

"ye smell like human, yet ye look demon, ye move like a demon, ye even talk like a demon, what are you," the demon said viciously preparing for an attack, he moved so slow to her, like he wasn't moving at all.

"I'm just a human," she said and crushed the wooden amulet in her hand thus shattering the barrier that surrounded Miroku and Inuyasha. Inuyasha laughed and drew Tetsigua with a loud hiss as it transformed into the fang.

"you think she's good, wait till you see this," Inuyasha shouted and swung, "Wind Scar!", Cho leaped back, her feet sliding to a stop beside Miroku as a swirl of air and aura and power filled the air and blinding lightning bolt like lights rushed the demon that she could so easily out wit, and turned him into nothing but flittering dust in the air. The rest of the demon's shouted and ran running for the cover of the tree's but Miroku shouted, "Wind Tunnel," and again, more wind, this wind however pulled them in pulled them back into the center of his hand where the gaping hole from Naraku's curse lay.

It was over, and Cho looked down at her bloody body and clothing, and decided, she needed a bath, because red didn't look good on her. Inuyasha turned on her then amber eyes burning, the two of them standing eye to eye.

"I told you to stay with Kagome," he snapped, "and have I showed any sign of being the type that listens to barking dogs," she said coolly.

"by the way, what is a hanyou, he kept calling you that," she asked softly an eye brow arched. Inuyasha scrawled, he looked like she may have reminded him of something, that or she had hit a nerve with the word hanyou.

Instead he turned and stormed off back towards where they had left Kagome and Sango. Cho went to the aid of the women; there were quite a few still alive, maybe about ten that seemed normal for a small village. Cho held out her hand offering to help one woman stand, she placed a generous and warm smile on her face, but with her face covered in demon blood, it probably looked fighting more than welcoming.

The woman took her hand and stood, at the same time she quickly removed her top part of her kimono leaving only the under kimono, it was a tan almost white color, and handed her the top half. It was a soft baby blue with little embroidered butterflies dancing across the sleeves.

"you lost your shirt, when your demon friend sliced up that evil demon," she said softly. Cho smiled softly and nodded gently and slipped the kimono on tying it at her waist.

"are any of you hurt," Cho asked softly, some of the woman nodded, while others shock their heads no, it was then some of the men came out of hiding, they were weary of her, but Miroku assured them that Cho was indeed human.

"do you have a Miko," Cho asked the woman, and she glanced down, "we did, but, she was killed first, I was her care taker in the shrine," the woman said softly.

Cho didn't have any consoling words to give her, other than a sharp nod and a glance towards Sango and Kagome as they appeared following Inuyasha.

"Cho!," Kagome shrieked and ran past Inuyasha and to her blood covered sister, "Cho your covered in blood, are you hurt," she said so quickly Cho almost didn't understand her.

"it's not my blood, if that's what you're worried about," Cho said calmly, and she could see the confusion in her sister's face, "Lady Cho fought like a demon, Kagome," Miroku said calmly as he approached Cho and the women.

"are any of you beautiful young ladies in need of assistance," Miroku said suddenly putting on a cocky smile, "Miroku, Chikara is quite hungry, after his little show of acrobats, I might add his favorite meal is made from Kobe balls," she said softly, Sango laughed and Miroku's face went placid white, "I assure you Lady Cho, I was only thinking good things," he said waving his hands passively, "right," Cho responded.

Kagome looked at her sister, whose shirt was obviously gone and replaced by the kimono's top, and she found herself thinking, that Cho looked right, covered in blood, holding a sword, and carrying a white fox across her shoulder. Kagome shook the thought and grabbed her medical bags and begun to tend to wounds.

~C~

the village tended to; dead buried, wounds cleaned, stitched, and wrapped, makeshift patches on burned buildings, and wards to expel lingering demons, the group was offered a place to stay in the now dead priestess's home by her apprentice and care taker, Shina.

With Cho's blood bath as well, and her nervous still riding a high, Kagome asked Shina if there were anywhere they could bath. Shina was quite happy to inform them that the shrine had a natural hot spring that the village women used to "purify" theirs bodies for just about anything and they were open to use it. Shina placed emphasis on Cho, sense it was demon blood she was covered in, and it wasn't putting off a very nice aura. The four girls and two fox's, demon and albino, were lead to the hot spring, where they were all happy to slid out of their cloths and into the welcoming steaming water of the hot spring.

The hot spring was located almost close to the center of the shrine, and was surrounded by four high walls but had an open ceiling to the beautiful night sky. Four large lanterns were placed at each corner to light the hot spring with a warm fire glow and were decorated with a variety of vividly blooming plants and tediously cut bonsai trees on shelves surrounding the hot spring.

"Kagome, What is a Hanyou," Cho said softly as she ran a wash cloth over her shoulders, a soft sigh escaping her lips, "where did you hear that from," she said slightly surprised.

"the demon called Inuyasha a Hanyou, what is that," Cho asked again, her gaze drifted towards the two fox's that were playing in a more shallow area of the spring, "it's a half-demon," Kagome responded.

"half-demon, Inuyasha is a half-demon, what is his other half," she asked sounding uninterested in the answer, "human," Sango responded for her.

"I'm guessing, that half-demons aren't the most wanted thing in the world," she said ringing the rag out over her head, her short blonde hair lay flat and stuck to the side of her head.

"no they are, most demons are disgusted by hanyou's, humans fear them," Kagome said softly, a sadness seem to grip her sister as they spoke about it, and Cho let the subject drop.

After a few moments passed, Shina, the Shrine maiden had been staring at Cho for some time now; she seemed to want to speak.

"what is it, lady Shina," Cho said softly, the women's face turned a deep red, "I was wondering about your hair, if it was….the same everywhere," she said softly.

Kagome and Sango had red faces as well, but they were laughing about it, Cho could only smile, and so she stood up and tilted her head a little, "I couldn't really show you," she said as Shina's eyes glanced down for a little bit then back up, "how do you not have hair there," she said turning a deeper red that wasn't from the heat.

Cho remained standing and instead begun to climb out of the springs a look of annoyance on her face, "I shave it, or cut it off, it bugs me," she said.

Cho crossed the wooden planks towards the sliding doors that had brought them into the hot spring and slammed them open. On the other side of them, a truly shocked and blood nosed Miroku fell backwards as Cho stood before him, both hands braced on the door frame, and not a thing to cover her gloriously naked and flushed body from the heat of the springs. Cho was truly super model play boy bunny worthy, maybe even better, and she didn't look in the least bit worried that Miroku could see everything, including her shaved woman parts.

The rest of the woman, however, screamed and sunk into the water with embarrassment. Down the hall, the familiar sound of bare feet running across wood floor announced the approach of Inuyasha.

The dog-boy's sword drawn froze where he stood with his mouth hanging open and his expression was what could only be recognized as shock. His amber eyes flickered down ward, but Cho's sharp gaze caught the quick over look of her body. Inuyasha may have had good intentions but he was still a young man.

Kagome didn't give him any chance to explain himself as she had poked her head out from behind Cho and with a flustered sneer shouted, "Sit you Pervert!" and Inuyasha's prayer beads lite with fury and he crashed into the floor with a crunch. Cho suppressed the fit of laughter that bubbled up her chest.

~C~

As things begun to settle down, the women dressed, Shina was so shaken Cho couldn't help but escort the poor girl back to her room.

"You'll have to forgive me Lady Shina, I tend to be…Bold, around men, if that is the right term," Cho explained to her a lip leaning against the door frame and her arms crossed over her chest.

"It's ok Lady Cho, it's really not the first time, but in never ceases to rattle you knowing that not even a bath is sacred anymore," she said softly, Cho smiled softly hoping it would reassure the girl and turned away heading back down the hall.

Cho's return to the shared bedroom wasn't as pleasant as she had hoped. As she entered the room it was like entering a thick molasses of tension. This was definitely not collage kids who would have laughed about the whole ordeal afterward even joked about each other's parts.

Cho could almost see fire rolling off of the two young women who had sat themselves on the right side of the room, while a bloody and beaten Miroku lay on his side probably on the edge of unconsciousness opposite the room of the girls. Inuyasha sat beside him, with his back to the girls, he would not look at Kagome, and he was burning just as much as her. The only three that seemed blissfully unaware were the cat demon and the two fox's.

Now it was Cho's turn to be annoyed, annoyed with the fact she was stuck with a bunch of children, annoyed that her sister liked the dog-boy, and most of all, she was annoyed that she had yet to get a moment to relax for more than an hour sense she had gotten home less than 24 hours ago.

"so…," Cho spoke slowly, it was the first sound anyone made for what felt like ages, "I wasn't peeping," Inuyasha announced suddenly.

Cho's little sister's eyes narrowed dangerously, Cho had this sudden feeling of pride blooming in her chest. "It sure looked like you were," Kagome said with clipped words.

"How was I supposed to know your sister would have no shame," Inuyasha said turning around to face her."

"Aye, but you would think common sense would tell you to cover your eyes while women are bathing before you come barreling down the hall way swinging your sword like a lunatic," Cho said running a hand through her hair.

Inuyasha turned on her, "How do you expect me to fight if I couldn't see," he snapped, Cho settled her sapphire gaze heavily on to him and he involuntarily squirmed and his face burned with color. Obviously her clothing still weren't back on in his head.

"this obviously happens often Inuyasha, and every time Kagome has only been in danger of a peeping tom, I've never known a dog not to learn something that's been repeated to him," Cho stated calmly, honestly, she wasn't entirely intending an insult she was really pointing out a fact.

Inuyasha snarled, "I'm protecting the jewel shards, Kagome isn't something I would peep on," Cho got the meaning, it was an excuses, and an attempt at being a gentlemen; translation, "I was only trying to protect Kagome, not try and ruin her virtue," but that hidden message wasn't received by Kagome and Cho's sisters eyes widened and brimmed with tears.

Now, sure, Cho was rational, she knew what he meant, but Cho's protective nature tended to overpower rationality and she pulled back her left arm and closed in the distance between her and the dog demon with her fist. Her knuckles met his jaw with a satisfying smack and Inuyasha's head turned with the force. Inuyasha fell over following the force of the punch, the sound seemed to echo in the room, and he looked up with a shocked expression at Cho who stood over him, glaring dangerously.

"Make my sister cry again…" she hissed. Inuyasha returned her glare, and it was no longer just a simple rivalry over her sister anymore, Cho over stepped a boundary and this was hate, simple hate between the two of them. In fact, now that she thought about it, Inuyasha was the exact type of guy Cho hated the most.

Cho felt the rage inside boil and she collected her bags and scooped up Chikara in her arms, she fox barked with surprise but Cho ignored him and left the room. Kagome watched her sister leave and scrambled to her feet chasing after her. Cho was already at the Shrine's front entrance and was slipping on her shoes.

"Cho, what are you doing?" Kagome asked softly, Cho looked up glancing at her over the rim of her glasses, "I'm going for a walk," she said glancing back at her feet so she could tie her shoes.

"Why did you bring your things," Kagome asked touching a hand to her chest, "because, I'll think about if I'll come back," she said and stood up straight.

"Cho, he doesn't mean what he says, it just, it still hurts when I hear it," Kagome whispered, "I knew what he meant, Ka-chan, but it doesn't make what he got any less deserving," Cho said and pulled her sister into a hug. "Are you sure you can handle yourself Chonee-chan?" Kagome asked.

"Don't worry Kagome, when have you ever known me not to be able to handle things, I'll be back later," Cho said and slipped through the doors, "be careful Ane-chan!" Kagome called out after her.

~C~

Cho slipped into the nearby forest following a very narrow trail roughly carved into the brush. It looked more like an animal trail but it was suitable for her purpose. She would return later, she wouldn't dare leave her sister alone with that dog, but she needed time to recollect herself and cool her thoughts.

Chikara yipped in her ear and moved to her shoulders to settle down into sleep. It was a decent night, cooler than normal on a summer eve, so she could take the time to settle her thoughts. In a few more hours, it would be 24 hours sense she returned to japan, 24 hours, and her life twisted itself and took her on a 180 spin. She thought Benji had been the worst thing to ever happen to her. Well, this wasn't really all that bad, it was, just a snag in her life, maybe she might even gain something from this journey.

"What was that saying, it's the journey not the destination," Cho whispered to herself.

Cho hadn't had the time to react, it was fast and unexpected, her feet had no support and she went tumbling down the steep hill side that she had not seen over the tall brush. She managed to hit every stone, every tree root, and every thorn bush on the way down, she felt like her bones where in a shaker and her head was a drum.

She heard the rip as her bag tore open sending clothing and other essentials scattered over the forest floor. Chikara had fallen off at some point and Cho grabbed desperately for some kind of holding, but the grass was slick. Finally Cho jerked to a stop as her back smacked into a large tree and she cried out.

"_Mother fucker_!" Cho snapped in English and grabbed her head rubbing the now considerable lump forming.

Chikara came running down the same cursed hill until he slide to a stop, the foxes big red eyes stared at her with genuine concern and she reached out scratching his head.

"I'm ok boy, just going to be sore in the morning," she said.

The fox whined and dropped something on the ground; Cho looked down and squinted her eyes. It was then she noticed her glasses were gone and she picked up the item. She squinted her eyes really hard until the black rims of her glasses came into focus.

"Fuck!" Cho snapped at the mangled frame and broken glass of her glasses, there was no way she would find her way back or even get back up that hill.

The only thing she could see even vaguely clear, was the tip of her nose and even that was blurry. Chikara whined again and placed both paws on her legs pressing his wet nose to hers. "Yea, I know, you're going to have to help me, ok," she scratched his ears and stood up.

Without her glasses her dept. perception was, pretty much gone, that same hill looked like a giant green blurry wall with brown blotches. Even her ungentlemanly heroic tree was doing some odd contorting movements. Chikara nudged at her legs, towards the hill, she took one step and tumbled when the hill did some kind of rippling wave effect when she set that one foot down.

"Fuuuucckkk!" she called out frustrated, Chikara whined, "we'll have to find another way around, and if you think I'm gonna crawl back up, you got another thing coming," she said standing up again, she could just imagine Inuyasha finding her after her sister got worried, to see Cho crawling back up the hill side in the mess she was in.

A scream caught both fox and human's attention, and Cho didn't need her glasses to follow the noise of struggle. Cho stepped around her heroic tree and stepped right into a scene of a big black moving blob with two red dots at the top of the blob, holding a miniature pink and green blob that was swinging a silver blob in the direction of the glowing red dots.

What Cho had really stumbled upon was a ogre demon that had captured it-self a small imp woman, she was the size of a toddler but proportioned like a full grown woman. She had lovely black hair in low pigtails and really well trimmed bangs. She had a light green complexion that had a soft flushing pink color in her cheeks, her eyes were almond shaped with no pupils by first glance and where colored a light yellow. Her kimono looked well made, maybe even noble quality and was a cherry blossom pink, the silver blob was actually a decorative dagger given to noble woman as a fashion statement.

The ogre wasn't anything special, he was big and hulking and black as night with white hair and a cloth wrapped around his waist to hide the groin area.

"I demand you let me go, by order of Princess Suzuran!" the imp squeaked swinging her sword (dagger) valiantly and kicking her legs wildly.

"Sorry you highness, but it's gotten too dangerous to attack human's and I'm hungry," he said.

"that doesn't mean you can eat me, you already ate my guards and my inu, aren't you full yet!" she said her little voice choking up with mention of her fallen comrades.

That was when the two noticed Cho stepping out of the shadows, Cho could imagine she was a sight to see after that fall. She wasn't totally wrong either, without her glasses it was like taking off a mask, Cho's sapphire eyes burned un-wavered as she stared at the pair. Cho's hair was sticking straight up in all directions the blue and blonde blended in odd ways. Her clothing was pretty much useless once again; her light knit shirt was ripped across the sides and a good portion in the front giving everyone a lovely view of her full breasts. Once more, Cho begun to wonder how her sister managed to keep her uniform so neat, but the thought occurred to her that uniforms can be replaced readily then say this shirt she bought in a small boutique in England. She wore a pair of jean shorts, they had survived better but her legs were nicked and bruised and she could feel a small stream of blood going down her leg.

Chikara at her feet snarled standing between her and the demon pair, cho could hear his laughter and saw his black blobbed shape begin to shake.

"You got lucky, a human showed herself for me, you look hurt sweet heart, let me end your suffering," the ogre said. He tossed the green, black, and pink blur aside and into the air, "Chikara," Cho ordered and the fox rushed forward without further instruction and caught the imp girl.

"I'll have a full belly tonight and gain a little beauty," he said stepping forward. Cho's eyes burned as she stared coolly, she couldn't tell where he was by sight, but she could tell by her hearing. So her gaze was off and she appeared to be looking behind the demon instead of straight at him.

"Those are gorgeous eyes for a human, I'll pickle them and save them," he paused, "what are you looking at human, too afraid to even look me in the eyes," he laughed an arm reaching out.

"No, I simply cannot see you," she said her voice dripped with venom and her hand struck with lightning speed grabbing the demon's out stretched arm and twisted flipping around to the demon's back with its arm her leg kicked out knocking him off his feet and crashing into the ground.

The demon screamed as she yanked his arm upward, both shock and fear rolled off the demon in waves.

"What the hell, you smell human, but move like a demon, even look like one," he cried. Cho had no response only to twist his arm further till a popping sound could be heard from its shoulder.

The demon screamed and Cho's eyes narrowed, her other hand whipped out grabbing the imp girls abandoned sword (dagger) and snarled, "would you please shut up," and slammed the dagger into the back of its skull.

The demon shut up instantly, its body twitched and a foul smell filled the air as it relieved its bowls. Cho covered her nose and climbed off the demons back before she added a frustrated kick to its ribs.

"Thank you very much," the imp said, Cho turned and squinted trying to make out the girls shape. The imp froze mistaking Cho's squinting as a glare.

"You're welcome," Cho replied to her, Cho stood up straighter and took a step towards them, "um, my lady, watch…!" the imp shouted, but it was too late Cho couldn't see the large tree root and hadn't lifted her foot high enough to avoid it and she fell like a tree herself.

The imp climbed off of Chikara's back and ran to her side placing a tiny hand on Cho's shoulders as Cho pushed herself off the ground. Blood was now trickling down her face from her nose, so she cursed repeatedly and pinched the nostrils closed.

"You weren't joking were you, you can't see a thing!" the imp gasped. Cho made note that the imp's voice was high pitched, and could be annoying if provoked enough. "I don't make a habit of lying, no, my glasses broke when I fell," Cho said sitting up.

"Glasses," the imp questioned, "They helped me see, they broke and cannot be repaired," Cho explained.

"Yet you were able to defeat such a demon…" the imp whispered, the girl suddenly sprung back and dropped to her knees bowing her head to touch her out stretched hands, "My name is Suzuran, Allow me to repay you for saving my life as your servant and seeing aide," she shouted.

"Suzuran…" Cho said, the girl lifted her head, "I won't mind the help, but do not call yourself my servant, I only did what was right, consider me your friend and ally," Cho said running a hand through her hair.

"Then we are friends, allow me to treat your wounds," she added quickly and ran to Chikara's side.

"do what you want," Cho said leaning back to rest, "his name is Chikara," she added, "and I am Cho Higurashi," finished with introductions Cho appeared to have fallen asleep. Suzuran climbed onto Chikara's back and tugged his fur to point him towards the woods. The fox went with a little encouragement but a lot of reluctance.

Cho let her mind wander back to her little sister who was waiting for her to come back. She handed decided at some point during her fall that she wasn't going to come back. How lucky to have lost all her things during the fall that a pen still made it down. With a torn piece of shirt Cho squinted her eyes and managed to write a small note state she was fine and she'll meet up with them later. This was her problem, or that was her excuse. The truth was, if she had to spend one minute more with those two idiotic males she would commit murder just for a little peace.

Suzuran returned, carrying cloth that looked oddly like one of her old t-shirts and a handful of weeds. Obviously it was medicinal herbs and the imp begun to treat and clean her scrapes and cuts wrapping them with shreds of shirt, even got Cho's nose to stop bleeding.

"your all done, but we should get you to a human village, their priestess or priest will do better work then me," she said patting Cho's knee.

Cho stood again and looked down, her eyes narrowed as the imp held up something long and brown. It was a narrow branch, Cho took it graciously, knowing the intention was to help her feel for things in front of her feet, while the Fox and the Imp would be alarms to whether she should move or stay still. None the less, Cho would have to accept their help, she was surprised that the imp wasn't trying to get her up the hill; instead Cho followed the silver blob of her white fox out of the forest and onto what seemed like a road.

"I'm surprised you are not returned me to the other village, it's shorter distance," Cho commented quietly, Suzuran made a scuffing sound, "you were leaving that village, I can only guess that perhaps you wish not to return to it," she commented. Cho remained quiet for the moment, "no…no I don't," she whispered softly, even though she had left that note, stuck to the tree by a sacrificed pen, she still felt bad, to be leaving her sister without a proper good bye…why was that familiar.

17


	5. Chapter 4: The Killing Perfection

22

**Of Crimson Butterfly's Dream**

**A Sesshomaru Fanfic**

**Based off the manga Series**

**A/N:** all right, Chapter 4…what can I tell y'all thats important! Oh! I know, did you know, that when I was reading the manga series, there was at one point, that Sango asks Kagome to look after Kirara, and she says "look after **him**" instead of "look after **her**," interesting right, because in the animated series Kirara was a female, it's just something I will have to look closer into as I'm reading the manga for another reference to Kirara being a male instead of a female. If it is indeed the case, that will change up a whole lot to how people write fanfics, and just come to show you how much the animated series was different from the original story line of Inuyasha, (don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of both versions, no one can resist Sesshomaru's voice, no matter what language it's put it)

Anyways, it's long over do, it's time for Sesshomaru to make his appearance, last time, we showed just how kick ass Cho was, but guess what, are little blonde blue haired kick-ass human doesn't know what's coming her way! Find out in the newest installment of OCBD!(btw, I tried my hand at figuring out currency vs. modern world and us dollars vs. Japanese yen…so if I got all that wrong, at least I made it sound somewhat smart ))

Again, please review, I know it takes a while for me to put anything out, but I love getting reviews, I just want to find out what people think

**Important challenge to the readers! Please read!**: if you have an idea, or an insult you might like to see Cho throw Sesshy's way, please send it to me ^.~. Also, I'd love to see people's version of Cho that they might sketch with Chikara, so I'd love if you like send me links through Deviant art, you can find me under ChunMeiguiProduction! When OCBD hit's 2,000 hits, I hope to have a contest for a 2,000 hit's poster, wouldn't that be fun =D, if not, ah well, I'll draw it myself =P lol.

Music suggestions: the songs I choose for this chapter might be a bit hard to find, the first two are pretty easy Rin and Sesshomaru's theme songs, just go on to YouTube, the third song, however…** TVXQ!(****東方神****_****起****N****) _ ****왜****(Keep Your Head Down) _ MusicVideo**copy and paste this in the YouTube search engine, choose the music video, not the dance video =^.^=

**Chapter 4: The Killing Perfection**

The air was stale, dark, and dank, quiet except maybe the steady drip of water coming off the cave walls. Deep in the cave demon's crawled and slithered, all of them were dazed or entranced, their eyes held a soft amber glow and they didn't move except to find a new position to lay or sit. A rather very large centipede demon was working its body to wrap itself around something. Yamasuso smiled from within her glowing ball as her pet embraced her shelter lovingly. Yamasuso's white hair peaked out from beneath the kimono she had draped over herself like a blanket and her black eyes burned as she stared into the orbs. The witch held in her hand three orbs that she spread out to float in front of her evenly spaced to form a triangle.

"Show me Inuyasha," she said her voice cracking as she spoke, the first orb, floating to her right at the bottom, flashed colors and begun to swirl from within the enter and Inuyasha's form came into focus. He had an angry expression; he was arguing with his human over something, a cloth, in her hand, she was in tears. Yamasuso cared none for the argument.

"Show me, Sesshomaru," she said, her voice held less venom this time and more pleasure and admiration for the demon. The orb to the far left at the bottom flashed colors and swirled and the Lord of the West appeared. More beautiful than any modern day model could ever be, amber colored eyes that were as cold as ice, and silver white hair, marked by a crescent moon of his head and magenta colored stripes across his cheeks starting from his pointed ears. Yamasuso stroked the orb lovingly that held Sesshomaru's image and even gave it a fang filled smile.

The final orb remained empty, Yamasuso turned to it with a level of excitement and moved her shaking and wrinkled hands to whisper to the orb, "show me, my cursed one," she spoke, she knew it was Inuyasha's human and the two orbs would connect and allow her time to devise a curse suitable enough to make him pay for her son's death, perhaps making the human deathly ill when he was near, would suffice, then she would be unguarded and free for her to take away.

The orb's image, however, did not show Kagome the reincarnated shrine priestess; it instead showed another woman entirely, one with yellow colored hair and blue tips. Her eyes burned the most vibrant sapphire color Yamasuso had ever seen, and had more ice in them then Sesshomaru, or was it, the same amount, but the woman's eyes stared as if she knew she was being watched, and Yamasuso had to look away.

"So it appears that my curse made a mistake," she said sounding disappointed. She had no idea who the strange woman was, but she must have some connection to the miko woman, and if that was the case, then the miko would not leave this time era, not without first braking the curse on the woman, which still fit well into Yamasuso's plans, all that has happen is an extra bargaining chip has made itself known.

Suddenly her orbs moved, Inuyasha's orb moved aside allowing room for Sesshomaru's orb and the woman's orb to collided and expand, like watching a movie a split down the center bubble orb showed the paths of the woman and Sesshomaru and how their paths were becoming parallel to one another but had yet to cross. She didn't expect they ever would.

Yamasuso grinned as the perfect plan arose in her old head, one that might help her in the end. She knew of Sesshomaru's full of delicious youth little parasite of a human, so she knew that Sesshomaru had not the sheer hate for humans he had rumor of. If all played right she would get her revenge and the death of the demon and unbelievable youth and beauty from both the child and the mysterious woman. The woman's image returned with red wings of a butterfly stretched across her orb. Yamasuso's brow creased, she knew not the meaning but as soon as it appeared the large dog of Sesshomaru's true form shattered the image, it almost appeared as if the two creatures were in battle. There appeared to be more to the then woman then she thought.

"Oh this will de deliciously fun!" the witch shrieked with laughter.

"Sesshomaru, you who claim to hate humans, will soon see the pain and grief you have caused me, I shall bind this weak human to you, and watch with glorious joy as you wither and die," she laughed loudly, then quieted and turned to her centipede pet peering through the cracks of the body she shouted "Yoshi!"

"Yes, Yamasuso-sama," a soft voice said, it was one of the demon's hiding in the shadows of the cave, it's red eyes could just barely be seen, "be on stand-by, you and your dragon's will be of some use soon," the witch shouted.

"Yes…master," the demon said bowing as 8 roars filled the cave and 8 pairs of eyes rose from their resting place to curl around the demon, "we'll do as you command," the demon whispered softly.

~C~

"Suzuran, how much further," Cho asked softly. The sun was just beginning to rise, and she had stopped using the branch to guide her along the road, and instead dragged it on the ground beside her. Colors were becoming more distinctive with the light of day, vs. the darkness at night where everything seemed to only blend in.

"Don't worry Cho-sama; I can smell the village from here already!" Suzuran shouted in her high-pitched voice, the same voice that Cho had been right about it rubbing against her already sensitive nerves.

"That is good then," Cho responded nonchalantly.

"it stinks like market place," Suzuran added after a brief moment, "so it is not so much a village, as it is a town, there will be many human's there, if there is a market large enough to stink so badly," Cho commented quietly, the imp looked back at Cho, and questioned whether the human was bluffing about being blind, or very perceptive. Cho stumbled, over a stone that could so easy have been seen, and Suzuran decided on perceptive.

"I've never actually been in a human's village before, mostly because of the smell, but because also noble demon's like I, don't associate with human's," she said with a smug tone to her little voice.

Cho arched an eyebrow and the imp realized what she had said and waved her hand at Cho up and down in a fanning gesture as if to blow away the comment, "of course Cho-sama is a different case all together, I really did not mean any offense," she said, Cho smiled at her and shook her head slightly.

But that got Cho thinking as they got closer to the village, Cho was beginning to hear the sounds of said market place, human's going about their day to day life. without Kagome and her friends here, including dog boy, there was going to be, a harder time convincing them she indeed wasn't a demon, though she never thought herself as quite human either. She kept her eyes trained on the white blur of her dear fox companion as he was led by the blur that was the princess imp. For the two of them, the village was in perfect view ahead, with the road going straight down the center.

"Sense I have arrived here, there has been question if I am human or demon, what will we do about that Suzuran? I am clearly human," Cho said quietly running a hand through her hair.

"I had been meaning to ask, I know that the subject seems to annoy you, you run your hand through your hair when you are annoyed, but, why is it that your hair has two colors, and not one," Suzuran said.

Cho smiled a little that another person had noticed her habit of stroking her hair when annoyed, if she had her glasses it would be the same habit, twice she had already attempted to push the nonexistent metal frames up onto her nose to simply see better, but they weren't there, "I, like Chikara, was born this way, it is…how to explain this, a mutation…from when I was born, I am a normal human, but my hair…is not completely human…as in, it didn't develop the way it should have inside my mother," she said wondering if her explanation got through.

The imp thought her a moment, "so…basically, your human, but…you're an incomplete human, but not because of being a half-demon, or some other creature, but because…you know what, I just give up on that subject," Suzuran finally said when Cho started scratching her head, and messing with one of the curls of blue and blonde.

"Back to my first question, how do we convince them I am indeed human, they don't have a demon's sense of smell," Cho said, Suzuran scratched her little chin and begun to think, "Oh I know exactly what to tell them, you just leave that to me!" Suzuran said with a wink, though she doubted that Cho was able to see her wink.

They made it to the village; Cho had no choice but to place her branch in front of her, both to give her room to walk so that the merchants of the market place would circle around her, and so that she would not trip over anything she had not seen the blobby color of.

Suzuran marched onwards in front of her, riding atop Chikara, that looked more like a medium sized dog then a fox, her head held high and her most noblewoman expression on her little green face. She treated there march into the village like a procession, though, she would have expected that Cho should have been in lead, if she was the intended master.

Their little parade came to an end though, as Cho's hearing caught the whispers of people whispering to gather the guards. it didn't take much long for them to be surrounded, Cho held her head high her sapphire eyes narrowed, she was attempting to try and make out details of people's faces, but that was futile and only made it appear that she was glaring.

"turn back demons, you're not welcome here," a man said loudly, Cho's head turned in his direction, he was above the men, he was on a horse, a normal horse this time, and what was left of her shirt, she wouldn't lose this time.

Suzuran's hand reached up and tapped on Cho's leg, which Cho promptly looked down, "allow me to speak Cho-sama," she said, using a tone more reserved for the servant Cho asked her not to be. Cho had a feeling it was all a part of whatever scheme the imp had cooked up in her little head, and Cho nodded.

with that the imp hoped back onto the silver fox mimicking the proud stature of the man on the horse and announced, "This is my Master Cho Higurashi, Lady Cho is a formidable demon slayer and tamer of beasts! she had come to your village in seek of medical attention due to her pervious demon battle has left her wounded and pervious to infection, bestow kindness onto my master, and allow her to stay here, and in turn she offers her protection, though blind, my master is truly powerful," Suzuran's loud high-pitched voice filled the opened area of the market place.

Cho couldn't believe her ears from what Suzuran was telling these poor people, she ran and hand through her hair, once, twice, three times, but remained silent, and she had this oddest feeling that her face was turning red. Though, there was some truth as to what Suzuran has said…Cho had already killed seven demon's alone sense she had arrived there, but who's really counting.

"I am the Head of this Village, does your master speak for herself, or is she also mute as well as blind," the man said. Cho was calm, Cho was the definition of calm, she wasn't considering murder in the second degree, promise you that.

"Aye, I speak for myself," Cho said her gaze turned upward, she couldn't see his eyes, so her favorite pass time of scaring the shit out of men by staring them in the eye, was lost for the moment. It still was affective as even his horse showed signs of being unsettled by Cho's extreme annoyance.

"How rude! That is very insulting to my lady, who is also injured, have you know pity!" Suzuran shouted shaking her little fits.

"Suzuran…"Cho said quietly and the imp looked up, Cho didn't look at her, but it was obvious she was annoyed. Suzuran nodded her head and slide off of Chikara, Cho held out her hand holding her arm straight "Chikara," she commanded, and the Fox yipped without argument and leaped onto Cho's arm and slipped around her shoulders to lie down comfortably.

She could hear the soft whispers from the villagers about how the fox had obeyed her so well to come to her and sit on her shoulders with nothing more than the mention of the beasts name, of course even in modern times, it had surprised people, that and the amount of weight the fox most have to be able to sit on her shoulders and her not show any signs of having to bend or shift her weight to accommodate him.

"It's as _my servant_ says, I need some medical attention, after which, I will stay no longer in your village, I have no need to," Cho said crossing her arms over her still exposed chest and ripped shirt, not liking calling Suzuran her servant.

"so be it…" the head man said and his horse cried as he kicked it's sides, but then he pulled the horse to a stop and had the animal turn back around, "better yet, if you are who you say you are, then a demon slayer should have no problem with a few human men, a small group of bandits to be exact," he said.

Cho's head turned looking around the crowd and the peering eyes, and she frown, "if it is business to be discussed, then it should be done in private, not out in the open, for all to hear," she said.

the headman looked as if he nodded, and Cho felt a nudge in her back as a guard pushed her forward at the shoulder. said guard received an icy stare in his general direction and all hands refrained from touching her and the fox that snarled at them from on top her shoulders. Suzuran remained at her side, keeping a hand on Cho's knee, the moving blobs of the soldiers and the horse and rider was her only guide at the moment.

They came upon a building, it appeared large, but the details were lost to Cho, for Suzuran the details were remarkably simple compared to the homes of noble demons. it was of course a traditional Japanese home, with all the essentials and designs of a well of headman or mayor of a market place village.

They came to a set of stares, of which the guards dispersed leaving behind only the two that walked behind her. Cho's branch lifted tapping at the wood so that she could judge at how high a step it was, before she continued onward. She was no longer following the headman; instead she guards were pushing her to a large open room where servants she presumed were busily setting tables. after which Cho was offered a seat, a mat was placed behind her, off to the right, for Suzuran, and a fishmeal was offered to the fox, which Chikara had no problem in accepting.

they were joined by the head man soon after, in which he too took his place at his mat, "you have received my name, now I ask to receive yours," Cho stated quietly, she could see his head was slightly down turned, chances are he was gazing at the exposed breasts of her chest, Suzuran had done her best to patch the fabric, but not much was left, and Cho had not wanted neither of Suzuran or Chikara to start up the hill to find her a new shirt, mostly because she was tired of her one-of-kind can't be replaced while in Japan clothing getting ruined, she just hoped her sister would have gathered everything and kept it safe till Cho and her were reunited again.

"right, you may call me Osamu, lady Cho," he said and looked up keeping his gaze leveled with hers, "I will have my doctors look at your wounds, and for the sake of your and much of everyone else's virtue, might I offer you a change of clothing," he said, an indication that her ripped shirt and exposed breasts were bothering him.

"That would suffice, nothing of value, I care not for the survival of my clothing when in battle," Cho said.

"right then," he snapped his fingers and the servants waiting at the door approached, "bring Lady Cho a change of clothing, something from the yards men's robes perhaps," he suggested glancing at Cho for approval in which she nodded.

Suzuran didn't look to please for Cho to be receiving clothing like such, but she was playing the servant, and could not give… ok she was laughing inside, "Cho-sama, are you sure, you would choose to wear clothing of a low ranking peasant, when he is offering you something of higher quality," Suzuran asked.

Cho gave her a sideways glance, "the quality of my kimono, is of little value to me, it is only something that I wear, and would only be of a hindrance to me in the end, those, it's value would be lost," Cho said.

the servant returned kimono in her hands and placed it carefully in beside Cho kneeling on her knees and bowing before getting up and exiting the room, "thank you," Cho said nodding her head and taking the kimono into her lap.

"as for business, we seem to have a group of 10 men, who call themselves the highway bandits, the same road that you arrived on, they have been coming at the end of the market day, and demanding a commission of 80% of all profit made by are merchants for that day, should they not receive it, they beat and bloody the merchants, I have lost 14 good men to these bandits," he said.

"5,000 yen (about $ 64 in US currency)" Cho said softly, and the head man paused, "do what," he said, "in return for the removal of your bandits, I ask for 5,000 yen, I cannot simply do it for free and a kimono, I have to make money somehow," she said.

The headman was thinking, "for so much, you must have confidence in your capabilities to handle such men, and being blind," he said narrowing his eyes slightly, "which is why I asked for payment after the job is completed, I cannot be sure I can succeed, I cannot predict the future, even the most skilled warrior will fall at some point," she said.

"for a woman, you speak like a priestess, very well, I will pay you 5,000 yen," the man said, "the time, what time do these men arrive," she said.

"after the sun has passed its high point, why," he asked, "have everyone in side and their doors barred before that time, I want no one to be used as a bargaining tool against me, I don't tend to play nice," she said and clutched her kimono tightly.

"As you wish Ms. demon slayer, my servants will show you a room you may change in, and I will send my doctor to you shortly".

~C~

"Cho-sama, are you sure you would want to do this, you are, as he said, blind, without your 'glasses' how do you intend to fight ten men," Suzuran said waving her small arms, "the same way I fought the demon that tried to eat you," Cho said as she tugged the obi into a sloppy bow at her waist.

the doctor had given her a clean sweep, she had nothing broken and the wounds on her legs arms sides and head were shallow and showing signs of beginning to heal, but just in case, they gave her a salve to keep the wounds clean of infections, though now that she remembered it, Cho had never had infections, or even been really all that sick either, if she had, it had lasted for maybe an hour or two, before it was gone like it had never been there before. Even the chicken pocks, had it one morning, gone the next? To be honest she was surprised that she even still had what scrapes she had, if they were still there, perhaps they had been deeper then she had first thought, but she kept her remarkable healing process to herself, and her adoptive family, just chalked it up to another nominally like her hair.

Completed Cho stared at herself in a mirror, she turned around in circles, the kimono had some grass stains on it, and it was a rather ugly brown color, but it was better than nothing at all, not only that, it was made for males, and it didn't quite fit her frame, partially because, she was taller than most of the men in the village, if not the same height. There was a knock on the door, and Suzuran stood crossing the room to slide open the paper door where a guard was waiting.

"lady demon slayer, then men approach the village, they do not look pleased," he said quietly, "thank you, and do not worry, they won't be around much longer, have the soldier's ready, I will not kill them, there is no human blood on my hands," she said and stepped out the room.

Suzuran lead the way out of the head man's house accompanied by two guards, one who held a sword that Cho was to borrow, the other a cloth to cover her should she die, which, wasn't going to happen, but she had to play the part of the average human being of this time, though, it was slightly humorous to say the least.

There were indeed ten men, all worse for wear looking, dirty and if she had been a demon would have passed out from their sheer stink alone. The leader of the group body language spoke rude and annoyed, and though she couldn't see his face, she assumed it was ugly and distorted from not receiving the pay he and his men demand from the village.

She was wrong, he wasn't ugly, a little rough, but he had a face that was easy on the eyes for any woman, handsome, and almost boyish, his brown eyes flickered over Cho as she approached and she took hold of the sword the guard handed her and she waved them away. Cho slipped the sword into her obi keeping her left hand on the hilt and closing her eyes.

"so they send a woman, to do their fighting for them this time, a little hurtful, right boys," he laughed, the other men chuckled and laughed some whistled some gave cat calls, all sounds that Cho wasn't noticing.

"And what's that, a toad!" they added, pointing at Suzuran. Chikara made himself known almost immediately, charging out of the head man's house, Cho had left him to the woman servants that were loving the white fox and giving him all sorts of treats, she figured he wouldn't be interested, but her loyal friend would never send her in battle alone.

"This is Cho-sama! She has killed five full blooded demons at one time, do not mock her!" Suzuran shouted, "Suzuran, there's no need to defend my honor, when you are less than dirt, sometimes you must insult another to feel better," she commented.

The leader made a face, "says you wench, what you going to do, cut us up with that puny sword," he laughed Cho shook her head, "I will not even have to draw this blade against you," she said.

"this is bull shit, just take care of her already," he snapped, and sure enough the men all walked forward each one taking their time like nothing was going to happen, that this human woman was nothing special.

when the first hand reached out to grab her shoulder, Cho moved, snatching hold of the person's hand to spin around to his back, much like she did to the demon that attacked Suzuran, she brought his hand up behind his back and kicked him hard into the next man sending them both to the ground. the man pushed his comrade off of him, both jumping to their feet, where one leaps for her and grabs her around the waist holding her hands and arms down, the other man comes up in front rearing his arm back to punch her in the gut but Cho, was both faster and stronger.

Cho kicked up off the ground using the man like a wall her long legs stretched out and ran up the length of his body, her feet smashing into his face and using her weight she flung herself and her captor backwards and laying him out flat onto the ground, and for good measure, one her arms were free, she smashed her elbow into this face, braking his nose so that he would roll on the ground moaning.

Cho got up, dusting her rear end off and whipping her hands she glanced at the other men, that had paused, "well, who's next," she said, two down, 8 more to go.

~C~

The last man fell, all 8 men weren't able to even faze Cho, and she had stuck to her word and had not once had to pull her sword from its sheath. Cho stood up straight, a foot planted on the back of one such bandit both her hands remained relaxed at either side of her and she turned her head to stare in the general direction of the last man, that being Their leader.

"two options, give up, or I humiliate you as well," Cho said, the man made a growling sound and she saw a glint of slight and the typical hiss of a sword being removed from its sheath.

Though he had not been the only one, none of his men had any skill with the weapon's they carried, and she wasn't going to boast about her sword fighting skill being any better, but she wasn't easy a push over either. The man charged running at her at full speed, and like before, it was like a mirror of her fight with Inuyasha, and the last eight rounds, to slow.

Cho side stepped him, taking a step to her right and turning just as at the last second the man's reflex's kicked in and he spun around on the balls of his feet swinging the sword at her head, but Cho ducked low bending her knees only slightly and pushed off the ground tilting her shoulder so that she could ram into his stomach. The man coughed and stepped back, but she didn't give him any time and as she swung her fist for an upper cute that caught him under the chin.

He fell backwards landing on his ass rather hard his sword sliding across the ground. Suzuran shouted with glee and clapped her hands, "you go Cho-sama!" she shouted waving her little arms.  
"And you were worried about me being blind," Cho said looking in Suzuran's direction. But little did Cho know one of the fallen men was reaching for the sword that had just been flung across the ground. The man stands up and with a running shout attacks Cho while her back is turn swinging the sword downward aimed to slice open her back.

"Cho!" Suzuran shrieked, it was like the scene played out in slow motion, Cho's legs bended and she moved, turning around in mid leap she faced the man whose eyes were widening as the female had easily dodged his strike his body still in motion and positioning herself to stand over the stunned leader of the bandits.

Cho didn't wait for him to recover and she moved forward lifting her leg just as the man was starting to right himself again, she kicked, her foot catching him in the side of the head and knocking him over once more.

Cho ran a hand through her hair, she was standing over the leader's head, she had no choice when she was dodging the blade, and being blind she was oblivious to his expression as he was beginning to come to. She stepped away joining her friends, the imp and albino fox at the sidelines.

"there all yours," Cho announced to the two guards who stared at the bandits that they once feared strung out across the ground like after a drunken party.

The guards shouted calling forth the rest of the headman's guard's, the stunned men collected the bandit's off the ground in almost comical robotic movements. They dragged the men towards a building that Cho could only presume was the stockades.

One set of guards begun to laugh as they lifted the bandit leader to his feet, "he's just a brat," guard one said, "you couldn't be any older then 15," the other guard laughed, most of their laughter, as Cho listened, wasn't towards the boy, but towards themselves for their inability to defeat the kid.

Cho could care less whether the kid was 15 or had been 35, he proved he was prepared to suffer the consequences of an adult the moment he drew his blade against her. However, for a 15 year old, he was pretty tall, she would give him that much, and not a total loss cause when it came to battle. The guardsmen dragged him by and as the boy passed her he leaned his head in her direction and shouted, "nice cunt by the way, bitch!"

Cho's didn't need her eye sight to turn and face him, looking directly into what she assumed was his face, she wasn't wearing her underwear under this kimono and that was because the servants of the head man were cleaning them, she refused to wear dirty undergarments. Cho couldn't help it, a smile spread across her face, the guards had stopped walking turning the kid to face her, and she could only guess that the guard's expressions were that of insult, assuming they also thought his comment was rude.

"thank you," Cho responded, which surprised all three, then she swung hard with her right hand, catching him across the cheek for a loud clapping sound that filled the surrounding area. The kid's brown eyes were wide open in shock and watering while his unkempt and greasy hair fell over his face from its tie on top his head. Cho stared hard at his face, her blind observation was that the kid's parents are gone, and he had no one to slap some sense into him, then why not she do it.

"remember my name, Cho Higurashi, when you've grown up a little, seek me out, and we can have a proper battle, _ok_," she said smiling, the kid's face changed drastically and he returned her smile with his own loopy grin that just about split his face into.

"my name is Yusko, I'll remember you Cho, and next time I'm going to beat you good," he shouted as the guards dragged him away. Chikara yipped and leaped onto Cho's shoulders in a single bound. Suzuran looked up at her brow arched, "are you sure that's wise, humans…are persistent," she asked.

Cho simply smiled at her and patted Chikara on the head.

~C~

Yamasuso pressed her lips into a hard line. Her orbs showed her this mysterious woman, who from according to the Imp that traveled with her, was called Cho. The battle that had played out between Cho and the bandits had been victorious on Cho's side, but it truly was an entirely one-sided battle. This was concerning, this woman could possibly be the cause of her end if she was not careful. Sapphire eyes burned into Yamasuso's retina and she turned away cursing at the sheer intensity of the woman's eyes that reminded her of the demon daiyokai Sesshomaru.

"I will need to scry further into this woman," the witch's gaze shifted to the white creature resting on her shoulders. As the orb began to focus the color turned red, filling with the energy and to her shock, the red butterfly returned and the strange aura shattered the orb into dust flittering down through her barrier and between the cracks of the centipede's body.

This was not good at all, whatever she was, this Cho woman, wasn't entirely as human as she scented or even appeared, according to the people surrounding her. This had to be dealt with, either way, this woman needed to die somehow some way, whether it is in Yamasuso's cauldron to give her youth, or by the hands of a demon.

"master…" a voice called behind her, Yamasuso turned her head, looking at the shadowed figure of the demon she planned on using, "go, make sure she dies, or do not return to me," Yamasuso said, and though, this is what she told her, she knew that the demon was going to fail.

Yoshi snarled and the 8 pairs of eyes that were the dragon's that served Yoshi circled her, and they vanished.

~C~

The headman was quiet at the moment as he listened to the report from his guardsmen over Cho's battle. as his tale finished the headman looked at Cho with slightly widened eyes, though, for Cho she could not see his expression, "as promised, you shall be paid," he said waving to one of his servants to bring the payment.

"I do have one more request," Cho said as the headman turned to her, "that would be?" he questioned. Cho ran a hand through her hair seemingly in thought, "I do not wish for the men to be killed for their crimes, if at all possible," she said.

the headman Osamu was once more, stunned by the woman's request, "I will…see what can be done," he offered her.

"another question then," Cho said, just as the money was placed on a tray in front of her and her friends, "another one?" the headman said, Suzuran was starting to worry that Cho would leave these people with permanently surprised looks on their faces.

"is there any inn's," Cho asked, that was all she wanted to know, if there were inn's that her and her friend and fox could stay in, the headman gave her a warmed smile, he was probably a very kind man outside of his village duties, "yes there are a few inn's but, you are free to stay in my home, just add it to the list of thank you's I owe you," he said.

"you're welcome, and your son, he's Yusko…isn't he," Cho said, and once more, shock washed across the people in the room's face, "how…how did you know that," he said, knowing she was blind there was no way she could determine that.

"A boy without his mother, and a father, who's often too busy to attend to his child, can often raise a child that is cruel, disruptive, and destructive, you're the only one I could think of that would possibly have such a child, that would go so far as to ruin the things that took all of his father's time," Cho said. the headman's head dropped and he had a weak smile, "you are right, the bandit's leader, is my son, I, never told anyone that he was, not even my guardsmen, yet you knew, without even needing to see it," he said.

"many have called me a genius…where I am from," Cho commented, Cho stood straitening the legs of the kimono and happy to have the return of her undergarments, Cho would not burden the man by staying in his home, "will you be staying?" the headman asked.

before Cho could respond, the ground shook from an explosion outside the headman's home. Cho called to Chikara, the fox leaping onto her shoulders as Cho followed by Suzuran ran down the halls of the headman's house and into the waiting town square where Cho had only just fought the bandits.

"Cho-sama, it's a demon," Suzuran shrieked, Cho didn't have to be told that as she leaped the stairs that had previously been a hindrance, Chikara snarled from her shoulders his unease rubbed off onto her own nerves. Suzuran drew her small sword (dagger) and stepped into Cho's path.

"Lady Cho, I must insist you step aside," her high pitched voice shrieked, Cho did little more than step over the imp looking down at her, "you've already tried this before, and that's how you ended up here," Cho commented then turned her head, facing the direction that the cloud of dust was beginning to settle.

From the dust appeared a woman of equal height to Cho, she had wide red eyes with a small black pupil, the red color covered most of the area of her eyes, showing pretty much no white. Her skin was a pale almost white color and had a light pale green-blue hair color that stopped about mid-calf of her legs. Her clothing was nothing more than a Hakama with an obi at the waist, showing more legs and thigh then it was covering. A single long curved horn sprouted from the left side of her head to hook under her chin and frame her face.

She doesn't speak but looks at Cho, a grin forming on her face and she holds out her hand, pointing at the blonde blue haired human. Suzuran gulped and stepped back, "Cho, please, I head you, do no fight a demon with human appearances,"

The demoness looked angry staring at the small imp, and held out her other hand allowing her long sleeves to drop over her hand. A long hooked blade called a kusarigama (look it up) dropped from her sleeve attached to a thick chain, the demoness pulled her sleeve back with her left hand and twirled the wrist of her right hand that held the long chain that wound itself up her right arm, with each circle the chain made, it got longer and longer, until the blade threatened to carve into the ground.

then she swung Cho's eyes wide the kusarigama went over her head, Cho spun around on her heel as the demon's blade sliced through the necks of three of the guardsmen that had followed her, their heads flung into the air to roll across the ground. Cho didn't need to see to know the horror it must be to have the head cut clean off. Cho turned back around slowly facing the demoness, Suzuran, remained quiet.

"that's better, now you understand," the demoness spoke, "My name is Yoshi, my master is Yamasuso, you might have heard of her, thanks' to you, my master is very displeased," she said, Cho stood her ground straightening her back.

"of course, however, you made yourself appear useful, if you come along with me willingly, we won't need to get bloody, as those vermin had to find out," Yoshi said swinging her blade in wide circles again, possibly in preparation for another attack.

"as much as I don't want to see more people be slaughtered, I won't go with you, to that witch," Cho stated, the demoness became furious and swung her blade, aimed at more people who just happen to show their face's at the wrong time.

Cho gasped, but her fox was already in action, Chikara used his mistress as leverage and leaped, the animal easily clearing the air space opening his jaws wide, the Fox caught the kusarigama as it soared through the air and landed neatly on the ground. Yoshi was all the more furious and she jerked trying to yank the blade from the Fox's mouth, but Chikara surprised them both with his strength to hold onto the handle and chain and jerking backwards, dragging Yoshi in his direction.

"let go!" Yoshi shouted, Cho took that moment to draw the blade that still rested against her hip with a satisfying hiss, it was a human blade, and what she had come to understand about demons, was there was a chance that all the sword was going to do was little more then give Yoshi an irritating itch.

Chikara snarled and dug his paws into the earth, the demoness had to drag the fox back towards her, Cho could already see, the demoness had a plan for her fox, but she wasn't going to allow it. Cho charged forward, holding the hilt of the sword in her right hand and the sharp edge facing the demoness.

Yoshi saw her coming and swung out her left arm, while her right arm still held tight to her chain that was connected to the first blade. a short sword fell from within her hakamas sleeves into her hand and came up to meet Cho's blade, the human sword and demon sword making a loud ringing sound that filled the small village.

"Foolish, going against me with a human's blade," she shrieked in Cho's face, but Cho refused to allow the irritation show on her face. Yoshi seemed to have forgotten about the fox for the moment and pulling the chain free as she turned more to press her blade against Cho's sword. Cho was being pushed back, and she could feel something was about to give.

with a loud crack, Yoshi's sword bit right through the useless human katana, Cho leaped back, just at the last second as Yoshi's sword followed through with the release of tension, effectively cutting open Cho's kimono and leaving an almost hair line graze down her front. Cho could feel even her breast spring free, as the once repaired bra, now became useless.

Attention drawn away, Chikara dropped the kusarigama and sprung forward, running faster than Cho had ever known the animal to move except at supper time. the animal leaped jumping right onto the demoness without care that he might be killed and sank his teeth into her shoulder.

Yoshi shrieked and grabbed at the animal's jaws trying to pry them open, Cho took what was left of her sword and raised her arms to swing down, the broken blade was aimed to go in-between Yoshi's rib cage. instead, the blade bounced off her skin, the sharp mettle ringing before it feel to pieces like glass. she never recalled her sister mentioning that this would happen, nor did Sango's sword do this, it was now that she recalled Kagome saying that Sango was a demon slayer, it only made sense that her weapons were made to slay demons.

Yoshi pulled Chikara free, even as the fox barked and snapped his teeth at her, she threw him at Cho, and the fox whined as Cho caught him, her feet sliding back from the force but she still managed to stay standing. Yoshi snarling, even as blood poured down her should she yanked her kusarigama back to her hand and begun to swing it in a circle again. faster and faster , she raised her right arm above her head, wind begun to gather the faster she swung. Cho watched in shock, lightning crackled around the woman's blade and chain, then she swung, spinning her whole body into the effort, and a large twister filled with crackling electricity tore a path after Cho.

Suzuran shrieked and clapped her hands together in what could only have been an attempt by the small imp to save Cho and the fox. it worked, blue light surrounded Cho and Chikara just as the twister and it's lightning smashed into the barrier sending split offs of the twister in random direction's tarring apart homes, and filling the air with screams from the frightened villagers.

Yoshi stood waiting for the dust to clear, Cho coughed just as Suzuran found them, the imp grabbed hold of Cho's hand and yanked, pulling her and the fox into the cover of the destroyed houses, "run, we have to run," Suzuran said in a harsh whisper.

Cho didn't argue, for one they needed to lead Yoshi away from the villagers and two, she was starting to question the legitimacy of her fight with Inuyasha...or even the demons in the previous village…and even…Suzuran…

~C~

Yamasuso smiled darkly watching the battle Cho was so desperately trying to fight against her minion, Yoshi was pushing the woman towards a dried up river bed that had filled with boulder's some time back, it was the perfect place to begin her scheme.

a second orb floated into view, in this orb, the same river bed showed, only this time, Sesshomaru was there, he and his followers were crossing. Yamasuso could only smile wider, and more darkly.

~C~

Sesshomaru stopped as the wind begun to pick up, behind him Jaken was leading the two headed dragon across the rocky ground, on top his back the sleeping human child was oblivious to what her lord and master were doing.

the sky was darker than usual, Jaken stopped looking up into the same direction that his lord was looking, "would it be, territorial dispute," Jaken asked his lord, the Imp could sense as much as his lord that a demon was in battle not too far from their location. but Sesshomaru could always sense more.

"it's a human," Sesshomaru spoke sounding more uninterested then he looked, his head turning away to continue walking, even as the sounds of battle reached his demon ears, and the scent of blood carried on the wind.

"another foolish demon slayer, they will not last long," Jaken said snickering under his breath not noticing that his lord was walking away, leaving him behind, Jaken looked up shouting after him and tugging the two headed dragon along, the beast being as interested in the battle as his master had been.

_wake up_, Rin opened her eyes sleepily sitting up a little on the dragon's back, her brown hair a mess and she pulled some hair from out of her eyes. confused, she wondered who could possibly have told her wake up, it wasn't her lord Sesshomaru, and it was, female.

Rin looked behind them, and there floating an inch or two off the ground, was a little girl Rin's age, surprised to see her Rin waved at her, the girl waved back, waving her over to follow her, a giggle drifted towards Rin, carried on the wind.

Rin looked back at Jaken and Sesshomaru, _come play_, the voice said again, it sounded far away, yet it sounded very close, Rin was almost entranced, and she slide of the dragon's back running down the small path towards the glowing girl and it's enchanting giggles.

AnUn's snorted cry and head's turning around was enough to alert Sesshomaru to his human ward's mischief to wander away from them. but it was the glowing girl that told the three demons's that this was not good. Sesshomaru raced back after the child, but the glowing girl had already gotten the child back up onto the rocks of the river bed.

the ground rumbled, and the glowing ghostly girl vanished, it was then that Rin came to her senses just as the rocks gave way beneath her feet to a giant wave of water. Rin screamed as she was swept instantly into the currant and rushed down the riverside. Sesshomaru, feeling only an instant of panic, turned following the river side after the girl.

~C~

Suzuran's dagger was more than what she had hoped for even at the full weight of Yoshi's sword and kusarigama barring down onto her. Yoshi smiled wickedly they stood on a boulder in the center of a dried up river bed, the sky was growing darker and darker as they remained in this locked position. But then the ground was beginning to rumble, Cho didn't want to move, for fear that one of Yoshi's two blades would slide free and into Cho's flesh, already a thin line of blood was sliding down the front of her chest and belly.

"your blood, it smells good, my pets will be very pleased," Yoshi whispered into Cho's ears, at the same time, the sound of a shrill scream filled the air, before it was drowned out. Behind her Chikara and Suzuran had already made it to land, the sharp yipping of Chikara and Suzuran's screams to run were not heard as Yoshi leaped away to dry land leaving Cho to turn and face what was coming to her that couldn't be compared to anything less than a tsunami.

It was there, a checkered kimono, blackish brown hair, and the scream, Cho opened her arms just as the snout of a dragon arose from the water's making the limp body of a child airborne. Cho jumped the dragon inches away from swallowing the child as she screamed one last time as she opened her eyes to stare into the maw of the dragon,

"Sesshomaru-sama!"

"I got you!" Cho shrieked catching the child while in midair herself, the dragon missed as the airborne Cho hand slapped down onto the snout of the dragon throwing them over the beast and into the rushing water.

Cho held her breath wrapping both arms around the child pulling the child's legs up tight against her body and wrapping her own legs around her. Cho held on tight, even as the water tossed and turned her, spinning the two of them like a top bashing Cho against every large rock that had got into their way.

Cho swung out and arm her hand desperately trying to pull them to the surface of the water, or at least to grab hold of something. The water current was getting faster, she feared the worse, that a water fall was forming somewhere down the river. At last Cho broke the surface, crying out, she held onto the child for dear life, and a low branch, attached to a large boulder in the center of the river reached out to Cho. She grabbed hold, both of them were jerked into a complete stop almost losing hold of the child in her hands, Cho squeezed tighter.

"hold onto me!" Cho shouted, she could feel the small arms lock around her neck and small legs around her waist, clinging to Cho for dear life.

Suzuran watched in horror as Cho and the child she risked her life to save held on for dear life to a small tree's low branches, the water's force was beating against the tree, threatening to up root it, but her and the white fox were too far away and much too small to even think they could swim out to them. Even as Suzuran rode the animal on its back it was useless. Then a streak of white passed, both fox and Imp stopped in shock at what had passed them, and heading straight for Cho and the child.

A shadow came over Cho and the child, Cho lifted her head, to gaze up at Yoshi who smiled with dark intent, "ah Cho, look at where you are now…if you release the child, you'll survive, you can pull yourself free," Yoshi smiled.

Brown horror stricken eyes met Cho's gaze, so close, she could make out the face of the child, she was young, very young, maybe only about seven years old Cho's sapphire eyes burned with intensity that she turned onto Yoshi, "I'm not you, if this child die's then I will die alongside her, because I couldn't hold on," Cho shouted over the roar of the water.

Yoshi laughed and swung her kusarigama down, the blade was aimed for the child, Cho gasped and turned her body, pushing the child underwater as the blade point entered the soft flesh of Cho's back, she winced, the child stared at her with shock and fear, but even under water, Cho gave the child a reassuring smile until the child couldn't hold her breath anymore and Cho had to turn back over.

It hurt, it was unbelievably painful, and when Yoshi yanked back her weapon the kusarigama pulled at her flesh and opened a serious wound up wider, the child finally found her voice and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Sesshomaru-sama!"

Yoshi snarled, "Die already!" and she prepared to swing again, until a sickening thump filled the air, that one moment, all other sounds seemed to die out, as the sharp end of a long sword protruded from Yoshi's heart. The sword moved twisting to the side to cutting through rib cage as it sliced part of Yoshi's body in half, then the sword barer pushed the now corpse into the rushing water.

Cho gasped as another rush of pain filled her back, her arm was going numb, she felt her grip on the branch loosening, and she almost didn't hear the child's shout, Cho looked her, her eyes blurrier than usual, she saw the shape of someone, then it was over, her finger's slipped free.

"Lord Sesshomaru-sama!"

Warm hands wrapped around Cho's wrist, jerking her motion to a stop, the child's clung to Cho still, and her grip had not slacked once sense Cho caught her. They were pulled up and out of the water with ease, and for a moment they were air borne, until that same warm hand found Cho's waist, a powerful arm held her tight, there was an uncomfortable jerking motion as who ever had grabbed her jumped clearing the space from the place in the river to the shoreline.

Cho and the child were dropped to the ground with no more gentleness then the water had done with them, the child sat up releasing Cho even as Cho herself was sitting up, eyes closed and trying not to concentrate on the biting cold of her clothing and the gaping wound in her back from Yoshi's kusarigama.

"Lord Sesshomaru, she's hurt, she got hurt protecting me!" the Child shouted, Cho opened her eyes, looking up, but all she could see was white blur…

From Sesshomaru's view, what he saw was something to say the least, even for the demon lord, mesmerizing, ridiculous, and pathetic. The woman's eyes were the color of lightning, the richest sapphire color he had ever seen, blonde hair with blue tips was plastered to her face from the moisture, and what was left of the kimono she had been wearing was stuck to every curve the woman had, and there were many. But, she wasn't looking at him, she was looking only in his direction, which this Sesshomaru found to be irritating.

"Cho-sama!"

"Sesshomaru-sama!

"is the Child/Rin alright!"

Voices greeted them, the two soaked women and the man who had saved Cho and the child, turned their heads to the tree's just as a white fox carrying a the small imp woman Suzuran, and a Two headed dragon being led by a small imp man, were parading out the forest both after their assigned masters.

The pair's stopped, each group staring at each other, the child had taken almost a complete step back to stare at the scene that played out in front of her, with Sesshomaru to the right, and the woman, Cho, to the left, with their a joining followers. It was the same.

Cho eased her mind, slowly pushing away the pain so that she could ignore it, and she looked up, only a fraction of what she felt in her back she allowed to show on her face, even as she gripped her right shoulder painfully, and the same arm that had held them on for dear life in the water.

"I know that name," Cho said softly, the child, Rin she was guessing grabbed her left shoulder, "your hurt, I'm thankful you saved me, but please don't talk," Rin said softly to her.

She waves the child off and forced herself to stand with little more than a wince, as she continued to suppress the pain, "are you perhaps, the same Sesshomaru who is related to the Hanyou Inuyasha," she asked.

Sesshomaru's eyes darkened a fraction, "what do you know of the Hanyou," he spoke quietly, "my sister travels in his company, you have tried to kill her on several occasions," Cho's own eyes darkened and her words were coated with ice, Sesshomaru found himself interest in the way they seemed to spark with lightning, but that didn't stop the fact that her tone spoke challenge towards the demon lord.

There was the sudden shout, and the female imp, Suzuran was upon Cho in seconds, pounding on her knees with tears, "Cho-sama, please, I beg you, don't start a fight with this demon, even if you weren't blind, or even wounded, you would die, please Cho-sama," the imp cried, tears filling the imp's eyes.

"you should do well to heed your whelp, wench," the other imp shouted pointing his staff at Cho, the staff had two heads on it, Chikara turned to the male imp with a warning snarl.

There was a pause in the small clearing for a fraction of a second, "blind?" spoke the child Rin and the male imp together.

"Cho-sama does not have her 'glasses', so Cho-sama is blind," Suzuran said standing in a protective stance in front of Cho, Cho gave a soft smile and looked down at Suzuran, "how did you save me, if you cannot see," the child asked.

Cho turned to her and ruffled her hair, even though the action cause a shock of pain across her back, "I heard you scream," Cho said softly, and smiled, "I can see, colors of a shape, but I cannot see the shape itself," she added.

However, it wasn't over yet, the air filled with the roars of eight snake-like dragons' rose out of the water, each one was massive and a deep blue color. Cho spotted something that made the dragon's seem like kittens. On top of the head of one of the dragons sat an elderly woman, her face showing through the kimono she wore over her head. Black eyes, and wrinkled skin, she smiled,

"we meet again Sesshomaru, I expected none less of you, killing my precious servant Yoshi, but leaving behind her dragons in my command, at least," she said trying to put on a smile. She held up her hands as two circle objects floated forward freed from the folds of her kimono. They were prayer beads, the same kind of beads that Inuyasha wore.

"what are you scheming this time, old hag," Jaken shouted waving his staff, the witch simply put on a wider smile, and the beads begun to glow as she whispered something to them, Sesshomaru looking uninterested launched himself forward intending to cut the woman's head clean off, but the dragon's moved to protect the witch, but even if he had made it, it was too late as the bead's flashed then soar through the air, one set flying towards Cho, and the other towards the demon lord.

Cho moved to get away, but her bleeding back wouldn't allow such movement, and the beads were on her neck before she could even blink, she tried pulling them off, but it was as if every time she tried, they would get heavy, so heavy they would sink right back onto her chest.

Sesshomaru was having an easier time remaining away from the beads, but as he was dodging the beads, the dragons were attacking, teeth snapping and trying to grab him from the air. Sesshomaru only turned away for a moment, to put his sword through the dragon's neck, severing it's head, that the beads caught up, around his throat before he could even attempt to cut them with the same sword.

Lightning shout across the space between him and Cho the lightning clashed together twisting itself, Cho could feel the tug of the two beads towards him, and Cho stared up at the witch with shock.

The moment the two beads are tied, Sesshomaru's eyes open wide, his body moved in a slight jerking motion, the same way Cho has when the kusarigama tore into her back, Cho had not noticed this, she could barely seem his clothing as it was.

"Sesshomaru, you who hate human's so much, are now bound, to this human, it's a rather delicate and fun curse, that I think you will enjoy thoroughly, Sesshomaru…" she said grinning, then she was gone, along with the dragons, as if she had never been there in the first place.

Sesshomaru landed on the ground his blade still out, he turned onto Cho closing the distance between them, his sword was raised and ready to run her through, Cho remained quiet.

"she bound us together, and you are already prepared to kill me, before you know of how far the curse goes," Cho said calmly.

This Sesshomaru, would not admit it, but as he felt a dull throbbing in his back, which corresponded with the wound on the woman's back, he withdrew sliding his sword Tokijin back into his obi. The woman was tall, taller than most woman Sesshomaru had ever encountered, and she still had to lift her head to Sesshomaru.

"you're welcome…for saving your ward," she spoke, not an ounce of the pain he could feel was showing on her face, she instead step back, and begun to walk away.

Sesshomaru did the same, walking in the opposite direction, Cho had not gone more than five feet away from him, with the thought in her mind to never be near him again, did the lightening between the beads appeared again, and being Sesshomaru was stronger, Cho was jerked backwards and onto her ass, with a surprised yelp.

Sesshomaru turned around deliberately slow, staring down at her as the lightning crackled between them, her sapphire eyes burning with the same amount of irritation in Sesshomaru's own eyes, "it seems…all be going with you, after all," she said her voice showing the ice that was in contrast to the blood in Sesshomaru's veins beginning to boil.

~C~

Suzuran watched the small human child as she bandaged her master's back slowly, even if Cho didn't call her, her servant, Cho was her master. However, something was bothering her, she turned her gaze to the white fox that had made himself comfortable on the edge of the camp fire light.

Chikara was a normal fox, or so her master said, but no normal animal could fight a demon, much less, drag a demon across the ground in full battle mode, not the way Chikara had done, and not without the animal being a demon already.

That was it…Chikara…Suzuran got up walking slowly across the small camp place to sit beside Chikara, the fox lifting its head curiously.

"Chikara…I know the truth…why are you hiding," she said straight forward.

The fox growled heavily surprising Suzuran entirely as the fox leaped on her, his teeth in her face and pinkish red eyes burning as he stared at her face.

"I'm only speaking of the truth…what did I say wrong…that Sesshomaru-sama has probably already sniffed you out, and it only a matter of time till she…" she coughed as the fox's claws pressed down on her throat, and for a moment, she feared for her death, even surrounded by the people they knew.

"ok...I won't speak of it again," she whispered, the fox stopped growling and whined, his tongue slipped out and he gave a gentle lick to her cheek and released her, she assumed that was an apology.

Cho now finished being bandaged called to her fox, the animal gladly going to his master's arms, leaving Suzuran to stare at the fox and the woman, filled with both wonder and suspicion of both.


	6. Chapter 5: Could I Hate You More?

**Of Crimson Butterfly's Dream**

**A Sesshomaru Fanfic**

**Based off the manga Series**

**A/n:** We have arrived at last, and the time has come to celebrate, Chapter Five has arrived! Ok, for most of you that isn't a reason to celebrate, but I normally don't make it to chapter five of a story, but, this time I did =) so yea… oh guess what, I drew a picture on deviant art, the picture is of the scene depicting Cho and Sesshomaru's face off with each other. Once again you can find it under the name of ChunMeiguiProduction, were one in the same ^.~.

So yea At last we made it to Chapter Five. Well…as much fun as this was to write, I felt like the characters looked at me, and gave me the finger for binding them together. But at last I figured it all out. Sadly my former editor and idea girl quit on me, she just couldn't get into the story anymore, and now, I like to give a really Really Big BIG **BIG** thanks to **Tsukino Aisuru – A** for helping me finish chapter five! She did a lot of editing, and pointed out some big mistakes in the story line, like one…Sesshy only has one arm XD. Btw, you should check out her story, it looks interesting; it's also a Sesshy story in the works like this one. On a side note, I like to point out some interesting information. Did you know that Jaken is actually a Japanese water spirit called a Kappa? However, when I write about him, I group him and Suzuran as Imps; it feels a lot easier to handle in the writing process. But believe me…I will exploit the kappa's odd affection for cucumbers to the full extant!

**Please review! Please review! Make sure I stick to story line! I can lose myself sometimes! And…give me ideas if you want to give them, especially knew ways to piss off the demon lord =)**

Choosing music for this chapter was…complicated, sort of, so I finally figure, the whole point of this chapter…is establish the hate, and so, your songs for this chapter are **I Fucking Hate You- Godsmack** and **Tear Away- Drowning pool**…listen to the songs…you'll see =P (I want to make it known, that only take tear away lyrics literal, the other, it's just the idea of the hate I'm looking for)

* * *

Could I hate you more than Inuyasha?

Cho sat with her back to the rest of the camp, just on the other side of the two headed dragon. She was busily tying together what was left of her kimono while the child sat as close to the fire to dry off as she could without getting burned. That was inexcusable; to have a child follow him around, and not have spare clothing or even a blanket she could use to dry off with anywhere. The dragon had nothing more than a saddle. No saddle bags, and the most storage that either the Imp or Taiyoukai seemed to have was inside their kimonos. Cho stood and walked around the dragon, running her fingers through her hair and presented herself to her companions.

Taking what had been left of her kimono that had been sliced by the sword of Yoshi, she cut the rest of the strips off then turned them into long wraps in which she used to wrap her chest to both hide her breasts and bind her wound for the time being. The rest of her kimono was tugged closed the best she could but left her chest area open above the sash. Her friends looked her over, and Rin seemed to approve, putting a smile on her small face. A smile Cho wasn't able to see, of course.

"Cho-sama, you look so pretty!" The child shouted, standing up.

Cho ran her hands through her hair again. "I do what I must, Rin, and just address me as Cho," Cho said softly, walking towards the camp fire where she sat as well, the clothing still being a little damp.

"But Mistress Suzuran calls you Cho-sama," The child said.

Cho glanced at Suzuran, who happened to be staring at that moment. Suzuran looked away quickly, pretending to be fixing her kimono. "That she does. I asked her not to, but she wants to anyway. I ask you because you are human like me, and we are not different from one another," Cho said looking at the child and giving her a little smile.

"Cho-san. Is that ok?" Rin smiled, sitting cross legged.

Cho reached out and ruffled the girl's hair, to which she patted it down gently. "Hai that is fine, Rin." Cho said and turned her gaze to the fire when the girl giggled.

The trees moved and a form in white clothing emerged. Cho moved her head upwards, and could only assume that it was Sesshomaru that had returned. He sat down beside the tree he had come around and faced the fire. She assumed he was either staring into the fire or staring at her since his face seemed to be facing her direction.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Cho said calmly.

She received no answer, and decided to continue speaking. "Considering our predicament, a little discussion would be in order, would it not?" she asked, and would have pushed her glasses up further on her nose had they been there.

Again he said nothing, so again she would continue speaking "First, I would like to know where it is you are journeying with a child in tow," she said gesturing a hand towards the child, Rin.

Jaken made a squawking sound and waved his staff at her, "That is none of your concern, Ningen!" he said.

Cho slide her gaze towards the green bouncing blob's direction. "I am currently bound to your master with no hope of going on my own path. I am also blind. I think I am allowed to have at least an idea of where I'm being led," she said coolly.

The imp seemed to shut up, considering that Cho was right, "You know of the Hanyou, then you know that I intend to kill Naraku," Sesshomaru said his voice neither soft nor loud, but there was no missing hearing him.

"I see. Then you are not far from my own quest, as I intend to help my sister while I am as far away from the same Hanyou as I can possibly be —at least until I can slice off the head of the witch." Cho said and looked back at him. "And the prayer beads, do you intend to let them stay as they are, or shall we find a way to remove them so we not have to remain in one another's company longer then we have to?" She asked.

"If anyone is going to slice off the head of the witch, it will be Sesshomaru-sama, not some foolish Ningen woman!" Jaken shouted at her.

Suzuran through a rock at the other imp and crossed her arms as he glared at her rubbing his head, "As for you, inferior Imp Princess, you have no more right being in my lord's presence then the Ningen does! If you too had not been a distraction, then my lord would not have missed the Witch, and my lord would not have been so shamefully bound to a Ningen!" Jaken's word's filled the area.

It was reflex reaction; though weakened without her glasses, her hand struck out and grabbed the imp's robes and had him out of reach of the long grove that was now cut into the soft soil where he had been. Sesshomaru glared at the Ningen who held the shrieking imp high in the air and at an arm's length away from herself. Her face was calm but she could feel only the lightest of smile's playing on her lips for sensing the demon Taiyokai's intentions before they had been initiated.

"As annoying as he is becoming, and as brutal a beating he likely deserves, I must request you not mutilate your 'help' in my presence." She commented, her voice dropped low, challenging him without her even realizing she had.

"Y-you can't tell my lord what he can and can't do!" The Imp shouted at her waving his hands.

She tilted her head to one side with a raised eyebrow. "Then next time, I suppose I won't yank you out of the way of certain death," She commented and released him so that he would fall on his ass and bounce on the ground lightly.

Things fell quiet after that and each of the members of the party slowly fell asleep, all except for Sesshomaru and Cho. Cho was tired, but she wasn't able to see if the inu youkai had fallen asleep or continued to stare in to the fire. He had not moved for over the last hour or so. As for Cho, her legs were beginning to cramp from trying to mimic his motionless position. Why, she had no idea.

"Go to sleep, woman. I can sense your discomfort." Was all he said, sounding irritated that he could sense the human's weakness from the simple act of not moving.

Cho, feeling slightly irritated, was about to challenge him by sitting up straighter and preparing herself for a long night, but the dull ache in her back and the effort of fighting first human bandits, _then_ the demoness Yoshi made her rethink the decision. Choosing rest over pride would probably be the better of choices for now. She turned over and lied on the ground where she had sat close to the fire and fell into a deep sleep.

~C~

Kagome had watched Cho leave the shrine. She had wished her well, and hoped her sister planned on returning to them later. She just needed to cool her head was all, right? Kagome sighed and turned back around, walking down the hallway to rejoin her friends in their room. Maybe the whole thing was a little overboard, but she just couldn't stand when Inuyasha got that way.

Though she did have to admit that not all of it was his fault –her sister should have at least been considerate and covered herself, or at least just shouted at Miroku when she knew he was there instead of throwing open the bath house doors to show the world her naked body. But this was her sister after all; no one could blame her if she wanted to favor her sister a little over favoring Inuyasha. That also had her thinking, what was her sister's deal with Inuyasha? Was it because of everything she had told her about him, back in her bedroom on the other side of the well?

"Kagome?"

Kagome looked up at the call of her name. Shippo was standing at the entrance to their room, staring at her. She had passed the room right up, lost in her thoughts.

"Sorry, Shippo," She laughed nervously and turned back around. He was looking up at her with his big green eyes. "Where did Cho-san go?" he asked blinking innocently.

"Cho nee-chan went for a walk. I don't know when she is coming back," She said and scooped him up, his small hands resting on both her shoulders. "Is she coming back, Kagome? Cho-san looked really angry at Inuyasha; I'm surprised she didn't break his jaw."

She had to admit she was a little surprised to. Instead, she shrugged it off and entered the bedroom. Miroku was out cold and Inuyasha was tucked away in a corner, presumably asleep and not interested that Kagome had returned alone. Kagome carried Shippo to her and Sango's side of the room, knelt down on her sleeping bag and crawled in to lie down for the night.

~C~

It was some time in the wee hours of the morning that Inuyasha caught the scent of something unusual. They had spent the night in the shrine, the young maiden somewhere in the house. He had been waking up off and on most of the night, hearing strange noises that his human companions seemed oblivious to, and not only that, but Kagome's very human sister had not returned. He wasn't really worried about Cho since she seemed fully capable of handling herself, and seeing as she took her fox and bags with her, she hadn't intended on returning. Off subject, his mind wandered back to the sounds coming from inside the shrine.

He was listening particularly closely to the sounds beneath the shrine. Inuyasha leaned down, pressing one furry triangle to the floor boards. From the sounds of things, there was an empty space below them. Only judging by the scraping sound, it wasn't very empty, as in something was _in_ that space. That was when the feeling washed over him. It felt familiar to the lizards they had faced the day before, when Cho slaughtered five of the goons and opened the attack for his wind scar. This was a demonic aura!

"You feel it, too, Inuyasha?" The monk spoke very softly. He hadn't moved, assumedly pretending to be asleep.

"Yeah, seems like that wasn't the last of the lizard demons after all." The half-breed said.

There was a brief moment where everything seemed to go still, and then Inuyasha shout across the room jumping onto Kagome's still sleeping form followed by Miroku, who surprised Sango who had sprung awake. The floor exploded open as a long slender body shout out of the space below them, sending wood and debris in all directions.

Kagome screamed, grabbing hold of Inuyasha in shock. She was wide awake now. Behind him rose a large lizard that seemed female in appearance with long oily black hair and wearing a familiar shredded and stretched out kimono.

The Lizard chuckled as its long body continued to fill the room in a spiraling formation blocking all escape, "Fooling you humans had been easier than I thought, but I had to wait till that other woman was gone. She was more trouble than it was worth." The Lizard said.

"Who are you? And what do you mean? What woman? You can't mean my sister!" Kagome shouted over the lizard's hissing.

"Keh! You can't mean to think that woman is more trouble than me!" Inuyasha growled out. The lizard woman chuckled.

It was Miroku that gasped, "That woman, the kimono, it's the former priestess assistant, Shina!" he shouted.

The lizard woman made a face puffing up her cheeks and spat sending a yellow goop in the direction of Miroku and Sango the pair of them jumping out of the way. "What did you do with her?!" Sango shouted.

"Simple. The girl was weak, easy to possess, and the other woman, though bothersome, I didn't really care that she killed those lesser lizards, I really want the Hanyou, as he was the one who killed my mate," she said opening her mouth for an attack striking the floor where he had been as he grabbed hold of Kagome and pulled her out the way.

"You have a poor choice in men lady; he was ready to pilfer the woman of the village!" Inuyasha taunted. The Lizard hissed, not liking Inuyasha's insults.

"Aye, but aren't all male's the same? This poor girl, being peeped on while she bathed."

The other side of the room shook; the beams and floor falling away. Apparently, where the yellow goo had landed, the wood had melted away, leaving no support. "We're going to have to take this outside if we want to have a fair advantage!" Miroku shouted.

"Look out, she's coming!" Shippo shouted as the Lizard demon sloshed around in what looked like water beneath the shrine. The wood in front of her just seem to split apart and make way for her hard scaled snake like torso.

"Kirara!" Sango shouted to the twin tailed cat that was playing hopscotch across the floor to join the group. At the call of her name, she transformed to her large form. Kagome grabbed hold of Shippo and followed after the cat, Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango locked into battle with the possessed woman.

Kagome prayed for the best and hoped that they could save Shina without killing her. Kirara lead Kagome and Shippo outside and into the open air and further into the woods. Kagome trusted the cat, and figured she was leading them further away to a safe distance so that the three combatants could let loose. Only once Kirara seemed to deem them far enough away did the cat demon stop and sit back on its haunches and wait. Sure, Kagome was a miko, but it was Miroku who was most capable of exercising the demon who possessed the girl. She was more capable of just healing or purifying them.

Shippo climbed onto Kagome's shoulders and looked around them. He noticed that just a few more feet behind them the forest seemed to do a steep drop and the tree's steadily got shorter. He hopped down from Kagome's shoulder and hopped closer peering down. It was a steep hill for sure, and seemed to go down for some ways. But he also noticed something. There was a black back pack ripped open hanging by its strap on a broken branch. _Oh no_, Shippo thought. "Kagome… Kagome! Look!" Shippo shouted.

Kagome turned around and gasped as her gaze followed to where Shippo was pointing. "Cho!"

~C~

Miroku's sutras lit up as they activated, the Lizard woman having been led into the triangle by a barrage of attacks set on by Sango and Inuyasha. The demon squealed as lighting rose up from the ground, pulling apart the demon and the human and trapping the demon in a ball of lighting. This left the snake-like lizard open for attack from the Wind Scar and Sango's giant boomerang. It died quickly. Shina was out cold but luckily the villagers had heard the commotion and had showed up in time to take the poor girl off their hands.

The group had then gone to find Kagome. They found her at the bottom of a hill, scraps of fabric and the discarded shredded black bag that had been Cho's scattered along the ground and a few feet away they found the corpse of an ogre and the remains of some imp demons.

"I smell her blood, but I don't think she's dead, Kagome," Inuyasha said as they approached her. Kagome was huddled in front of a large oak tree, behind her the demon. Shippo had a gentle hand placed on her knee.

"She must have kept walking," Miroku commented, Sango agreeing with him, but still nothing came from Kagome.

"What's wrong with you," Inuyasha said finally walking around the tree to get a better view. Kagome clutched a set of black rimmed glasses in her hand, mangled and broken in one hand, and fresh brand-new pair in her other hand. But that wasn't what she was looking at; she was looking at the pen stabbed into the tree where a cloth blew in the wind with words written into it.

"Cho isn't coming back, she went off on her own," Kagome said, "She's ok, she has a new companion, and the next time she sees us, the first person to rip on her falling down a hill will receive her shoe up their ass." Kagome said softly and tugged the fabric free.

"At least she is ok. I was worried that the Lizard woman had sent demons after her," Sango said patting Kagome's shoulder gently.

"This is your entire fault Inuyasha!" Kagome said finally, pointing at the dog demon.

Inuyasha's eyes widened, then he growled, "How's it _my_ fault?!"

Kagome had tears in her eyes and Inuyasha backed away, "Because… I don't know, just _because!_ Sit boy!" She shouted. Inuyasha crashed into the ground as the beads obeyed. She then turned around, stormed off into the forest and back up the hill.

~C~

Cho was woken by the gentle prodding of small hands on her side. Cho opened her eyes to the blurry surroundings and turned her head to her left to look up from the corner of her eye her cheek planted firmly in the dirt to stare up at the blurred face framed in chocolate brown hair.

"Cho-san, Sesshomaru-sama said it was time to go. Cho-san!" The child said, smiling and tugging on Cho's arm.

Cho pushed herself off the ground and stood up as the child pulled her. She stifled a yawn and noticed that everyone was waiting for only her, as there was nothing to be packed up or carried with along the way. It was like they had stopped to take a brief nap on a small hike, she couldn't even consider this being called 'making camp'.

"Sesshomaru-sama, we will stop near a human village. I will get proper supplies for a human," She said, looking at his general direction.

The man made no move or even a sound to indicate he had heard her and instead turned and started walking along the path. She didn't like that he ignored her demand, but when the time came, she would be sure that she got what she wanted.

Not only that, what was their destination? Were they just going to walk? It was no different than Inuyasha. That reminded her as well, she had not received an answer on what he intended to do about the bead's hanging around their necks. He did not seem like the type that would explain himself openly –well, actually, according to her sister, that was exactly the correct assumption about him.

So, as she thought, they were walking, and much like before with Inuyasha's trivial attempt to try and walk ahead of her, Cho lead the way for the rest of their companions. However, walking ahead of Sesshomaru was both pointless and not the brightest idea since she was after all using him for a guide. She had now become temporarily equipped with Suzuran's dagger/sword which she hadn't recalled how it had even ended up back with the group in the first place. She had assumed it had been lost in the river, but as the imp pointed out, demon swords were much different than human blades and had tendencies to return to their masters.

Suzuran approached Cho; she watched how the human walked. Though the woman was blind, Cho walked as sure footed as if she could see. Suzuran was beginning to wonder what type of woman her lady was at her full potential, to even hold off a demon like Yoshi long enough to find escape and save a human child until rescue could arrive.

What would have happen if Sesshomaru-sama not appeared? Would Cho have done another inexplicable thing that should not be possible of human capabilities, or would the Fox have done something instead, a testament to the mysterious strength Chikara had shown in battle?

The more she thought of these two mysterious creatures she had chosen to follow, the more she realized she was just going to give herself a massive headache. Wait! No, it was the scent. A human village, that's what gives her headaches the worst of all. She recalled Cho-sama wanting to stop in a human village for human essentials, seeing as the child had none and Cho's kimono would be in ruin's the next time they were in battle.

"Cho-sama, to the west of us," Suzuran said and joined her side. "There's a human village. I can smell them," She said patting her leg to get the woman's attention. Cho stopped walking; Chikara, who was resting on her shoulder, lazily lifted his head for a moment before dropping it back down.

The beads' between the human and demon reacted immediately to her sudden stop sparking violently and forcing Sesshomaru to stop and look at her. "I will go to the human village. You may wait on the outskirts," she said looking back at his general direction with a lazy glare.

"We will keep walking." He said icily. Even though she couldn't see it, he glared at her anyways, his slowly climbing temper building on the fact that she cannot look him in the eyes.

Cho stiffened her legs and readjusted her footing for a more immobile stance that spoke volumes of her defiance to be ordered. "And _I_ said that I will gather supplies that should be here already for the use of the child." She said with a wave of her hand towards the dragon and its passenger.

Sesshomaru looked at her and the chain sparking madly between them and simply turned around and kept walking. Cho was jerked forward and she stepped back digging her heels in the dirt but was only dragged along more. So much for amazing grips that they claim to be on tennis shoes, they were proving useless to the strength of the Taiyoukai. A large and sturdy tree drew closer and with an outstretched hand she grabbed hold of one of the branches and proceeded to wrap herself around the tree.

This did make Sesshomaru stop because he was no longer forcing her to move. Behind him, he heard her snap, her voice raised a few levels, "I will not be dragged like a mutt on its master's leash!"

The demon lord turned to face the woman who had her arms and legs wrapped around the front of the tree with her body pressed against the rough bark as close as it would allow. Irritated, he reached up and grabbed hold of the chain connecting them and yanked. The woman made the slightest sound of a grunt as her head was jerked in his direction, but she only seemed to hold on tighter.

"I will not play these foolish games with you, human." He stated, glaring darkly at her.

"And I will get what I need before I have to parade myself in the nude!" She shot back, her sapphire colored eyes glowing like lightning and flashing with irritation and the beginnings of anger.

He was returning that anger, and then he smirked. The imp Jaken made a loud squeak before hiding behind Suzuran who had stopped breathing altogether. Sesshomaru walked toward Cho instead of trying to yank her off with the beads. Cho held on tighter to the tree. She could see his form getting closer and closer, and she couldn't see the malevolent, slightly upturned corners of his mouth.

Once he reached the tree he curled his one arm around the trunk of the tree right below her legs his body pressed against her back, "You want this tree, then we'll take it with us." He commented*. Then he pulled. The tree groaned, and Cho's face melted into sheer shock.

The tree was _nothing_ to Sesshomaru as he pulled it straight from the ground as if a child had simply stabbed a stick into some soft mud. Cho didn't _dare_ let go now, from fear of falling and the fear of him simply letting the tree fall on top of her, or her falling to the hole that had once been the home of the tree's massive roots.

"So you can rip a tree out of the ground! Whoopee! That doesn't change the fact that I _will_ go to the village and get what I and the child will need!" she said. Sesshomaru stared at her, her words still strong even with the predicament she had placed herself in.

Speaking of said child, a scream caught both of their attentions as the child and dragon were suddenly cornered. Large creatures that had a hackling like laugh stared at the child with the intent to kill, even as the dragon growled and the imp, Jaken, waved his staff at the three monsters' faces, attempting to threaten them. A large paw was lifted and swatted the imps out of their path like insects.

Sesshomaru had to give the beast's credit for trying to take what was his, especially with him right there. An amused glint shun in his eyes, one that the human was still unaware of. "Enjoy the ride, woman." He said and heaved the current object in his hand with perfect aim, the tree acting like a spear as it soared through the air, the human actually letting out a surprised scream. But she didn't get to enjoy the full ride and the chains reacted and yanked. The sudden jerking motion made her lose her grip and fall to the ground with a loud grunt, one that would have had Sesshomaru wincing if he had showed even that sort of emotion.

Cho laid out flat on her back rolled over with a snarl and stood up on her feet, and glared at Sesshomaru's direction as darkly as she could muster. The tree rammed into the side of one of the beast's with such force that the tree and beast continued some distance into the woods. Cho turned on her heel just as a snarling laugh came charging from her behind, and with quick reflexes she had drawn the dagger in time for large and snarling full of teeth mouth to snap close on the blade.

Another ripple of laughter from the demon, and Cho had this nagging feeling that they might look like hyenas, which didn't make since, since they were in Japan, not Africa. A clawed paw rose and swung to strike her but she pulled back letting go of the dagger so that she could avoid the claws. The beast spit the dagger out onto the ground; it was lost to her for now. Sesshomaru was already locked in battle with one of the demons; she could see it out of the corner of her eye, along with the dance electrical spark that connected them together. His battle was all one sided, so to speak. It seemed as though the Taiyoukai was toying with the hyena demon, perhaps taking some irritation out on the hyena by making it think it was winning before killing it.

'_Why does that seem very likely?_' She thought to herself as she twirled out of the way of the claws again, barely making it due to lack of attention and a means to strike back.

Another scream and Cho whirled around with a well-aimed kick into the demon's skull that made it stumble backwards a few feet; Rin was cornered again, and this time, the demon lord didn't have a tree sized spear. That and more and more of the hyena demons were starting to show up. It was really rather ridiculous and Sesshomaru seemed to have abandoned his game and was hacking heads off like a farmer with his scythe during harvest time.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Cho shouted and jerked a hand in the direction she could see the large form's moving in closer to the blur of an orange and yellow blob.

Sesshomaru stared in her direction, and she could see a white blob move up to wrap around the chain. Sesshomaru would have given a smirk if it had been worth the effort, but since she couldn't see his plan, he would leave it to her to guess. The woman grabbed their electrical ties and braced her legs wide. So she wasn't that stupid after all.

Sesshomaru jerked and spun around. Just as the chain was yanked the woman leaped and allowed her body to be flung through the air like a toy at the end of a string. Cho gritted her teeth together and held on tight so that she wouldn't be thrown through the air by her head. For a moment, she thought the chain had gotten longer as she was spun through the air, flying towards the demon's that made the choice to attack them.

She heard the shriek and she couldn't help it, Cho smiled as her foot had come down on the beast's head with such force the demon had bitten off its own tongue. It was when she felt the give of bone that she knew she had killed it, turning its brain's into bone fragmented spaghetti.

The battle ensued onward and Rin barricaded herself behind the two headed dragon that was using it's tale like a whip. The dragon's mouths were still muzzled, and the imps weren't near close enough to remove them and Cho hadn't a clue either. Sesshomaru was still busily working his way towards them slicing heads off. Cho began to come to a conclusion. Large number of beasts, beasts that seemed wild and instinct should have naturally told them to stay away from Sesshomaru's demonic aura. It came to mind that these were more of Yamasuso's beasts, but more likely, they were just something to keep the pair busy long enough to snatch the human child. Chances are that either the witch hadn't accounted for the pair to work together, or thought Cho would have died from her wounds.

Cho's fist made contact with the demon's skull putting all her weight into the punch. The Hyena did nothing more than whine and back away, shaking its head. It snarled and came in for the attack again, however, it was over, as Sesshomaru's sword went clean through the neck and sent the beast crashing to the ground and sliding to a stop at Cho's feet. She was sort of happy she couldn't see what contents were spilling out of the bloody stump that was its neck. That appeared to be the last of them.

Cho then leaped over the dragon's back and landed daintily beside Rin and begun to examine the girl carefully. There didn't appear to be any scratches or nicks, nor did the child look to be too shaken, "You okay, Rin?" Cho asked placing her hand on the child's head.

"I'm okay Cho-san. I had you and Sesshomaru-sama to protect me." She said smiling.

"Hey, we did our part, too!" The Imps shouted from the other side of one of the many corpses.

Cho smirked. Injury checks over, and the imps still alive, she checked around for her fox that had leaped off her shoulder at some point. She spotted him sitting on top one of the many dead, scratching his back paws, appearing to have relieved himself on the dead.

Now she had one last thing to do as she turned and looked up at Sesshomaru and poked his armor, hurting her finger instead of him, which she had not intended, but the gesture meant all the same.

"I did not appreciate being thrown through the air like a rag doll!" She snapped up at Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru didn't seem to care in even a little bit, and she glared.

"I'm still going to the human village!" She retorted in answer to his silence and turned again, running a hand through her hair before she vanished in the tree line.

~C~

Sesshomaru was cursing inside his head, as the electrical chain came back once she had gotten some distance away. If running his sword through the chain would have severed their connection, he would have done it in a heartbeat. However, having encountered curse's that belong to the Witch before already, he wasn't about to tempt it and risk destroying his own sword.

The woman's imp scurried past him to scoop up the dagger that the human female had so easily discarded to avoid being gutted. He felt a tug on the chain, and knew the woman couldn't walk any further without him. He had also notice that the chain seemed to grow depending on the need of the moment –while if her or his thoughts were on separation, the chain seemed to become shorter, or not have any give in it at all.

A harder tug, and Sesshomaru stifled a growl and begun to walk, following the woman into the woods. Jaken gathered the child and dragon, and the female imp, Suzuran, followed behind him in close pursuit. They came across Cho leaning on a tree with her arms crossed and her sapphire colored eyes burning with a storm that was slowly brewing in the distance.

It was then that he noticed that the woman had a large scrape on her forehead and along her arms. Sesshomaru almost smiled, _almost_, because the jerks on the chain had not been her pulling, but her falling over everything in her path. Her being blind meant she had no idea where she was going.

"Don't say anything." She said as he passed her, like he would, but the gesture was irritating enough.

Cho leered at his backside as he took the lead of their little gang. She didn't know where he was going now. Chikara jumped high landing on his mistress's shoulders and she felt the tap on her knee from Suzuran, "It won't be long –the stink's getting stronger," the Imp said making a wrinkled face.

Cho looked up with an arched eyebrow at the Taiyoukai; _Well I'll be a monkey's uncle. Score one for the girls._ She thought.

~C~

The village was small, smaller than any that Cho has come across so far, and now that she thinks about it, she has only really seen three, this being number four. There were maybe only ten houses as part of the center of the village, but all along its west side was farm land. Cho and their group were coming from the east side of the village.

"Cho-sama, I just remembered something… we weren't paid," Suzuran announced as they stood on the edge of the village.

Sesshomaru having heard that was already turning around to walk away, in which Cho reached up and attempted to grab the chain that had gone invisible. Sure enough it reappeared once she grabbed it, the links of electricity coiled on the ground instantly shortened enough for her to jerk it and give the message that he wasn't going anywhere.

"My little sister told me, that they often lied their way into getting things that they need" Cho said towards the imp.

Suzuran looked like she was processing the information when she jumped up with a giggle, "Rin, help me find a lizard", she said.

A few moments later Suzuran was holding a squirming lizard in her small hands and was sneaking out from the safety of the tree's and walking up to a house where a woman and her daughter were busily outside washing clothing. They didn't see the imp as she set the lizard down on a window of the house. Then with a quick utter of words there was a loud popping sound in the air and a large amount of smoke that had the woman and child screaming.

The lizard was about as big as Chikara now with large vicious teeth and three eyes and spines running down its back. Cho had to give credit to Suzuran's creativity, as the lizard thrashed about on the window sill and entered the woman and child's house. The other villagers' were gathering at the commotion going on.

Suzuran slipped back into the trees unnoticed and looked up at Cho with a smile and handed Cho the dagger. Cho gave Sesshomaru a look that said stay put before she stepped out of the trees and marched right up to the house pushing past the people and walked right in through the woman's front doors.

No one said a thing, not knowing what to say to the woman who wore her kimono strangely and had blue and blonde hair; neither common in japan except for with demons –and had a solid white fox with red eyes sitting on her shoulders as she walked right into the house. There was a loud sound and a lot of ruckus going on in the house, and then another loud popping sound and a cloud of smoke filtered out of the window. Cho stepped back out, holding the shredded lizard by its tail with her other hand on her hip.

"Ewe, it's just a lizard," the child squealed loudly hiding behind her mother.

"Demon Kitsune, maybe playing a practical joke on you," Cho said looking at the woman and her child and held out the lizard to Chikara, who actually ate it.

"Thank you so much! How could we repay you?" The woman said. Cho gave her a smile that had many of the village men turning red.

"Nothing much, I just need some supplies," Cho said.

The little girl looked at Cho hard. "Are you a demon?" The child asked.

"I'm a Demon slayer, and I'm human," Cho replied then turned her gaze back to the woman. Though they were still blurry blobs, she was starting to get use to not being able to see and could judge the appearance of the person pretty well. The trouble gone, the villagers dispersed and went back to their everyday businesses. Cho was pleased with the fact that she wasn't going to be bombarded with any more questions. Her eyes flickered towards the woman.

"Right, supplies. What do you need?" The woman asked as she walked toward her house. Cho turned her head following her with her eyes.

"Some old kimono's if you don't mind. Two for me, and two for a little girl about your daughters size, and if you have any to spare, fur's or blankets to sleep in." Cho said and turned her body completely around.

"Alright, you're in luck. I was just about to throw out these old kimonos. They had stretched too far out during my older daughter's pregnancy. I'm sure they will fit your bust fine." She said and folded them up. The little girl was digging through a pile of smaller kimono's that appeared to be very dingy and older fabric, obviously the child's spares. She found two very cute one's and offered them up to her mother who approved of their appearance and folded them up.

"Are you traveling with a child then, Ms. Demon slayer?" The woman asked as she then dug through a cabinet to pull out a thin old blanket to add to the stack.

"Yes, she waits with my companion's at a campsite further into the forest." Cho said.

"Do you have other needs perhaps? If your needing kimono's, I imagine there must be other things you lost." She said. Cho smiled. The woman must have been assuming they lost their supplies. "Some pots, if you have them," Cho asked. The woman seeming very willing to oblige added a few chipped or old cups and a pot to the stack and used a large cloth to tie it all into a neat little bundle. Gratitude seemed to be a virtue of this woman… it had only been a lizard. Well, no looking a gift horse in the mouth. Once the woman was sure Cho had enough, Cho exited the house and walked back towards the woods.

"If you're ever in the area Ms. Demon slayer, do come by. What is your name?" The woman called after her.

"Cho," She called back and vanished into the trees.

Five minutes later Cho was standing in front of Sesshomaru with the bag tied to the saddle of the dragon. He was waiting for her to finish the task she had set for herself. Completed she glanced in his direction, his blurry form was still.

"See, that wasn't so hard." She said calmly, backing away from the dragon's saddle bag.

Rin was smiling from on top of the dragon's back. "You're the best big sister ever, Cho-san!" Rin said laughing brightly. Cho had been looking in Sesshomaru's direction when she had said that.

He chose to ignore the woman's babbling and attempts to make him seem foolish. He turned away from her and the rest of his followers and started back up towards the path they had originally been walking.

Cho smiled at his back, a small one, and she counted this as score two.

~C~

Suzuran let out a sigh as she sank into the water. She glanced over at Cho who sat on the edge of the natural hot spring that Rin's whining earned them. She was currently ripping the old kimono into more shreds; slowly building up a supply of bandages should either human have need of them.

Suzuran looked up at the starry night sky, thinking to herself of the recent events in her life. She witnesses a human save her life, this same human battle a demon and saved a child from a tidal wave and even leap over the gaping jaw of a dragon. She saw this same human stand up to a demon that could have split her in two halves with a flick of his wrist and battle a long side him against a pack of demons. And after it was all over, win the original argument. She glanced at Cho, who was now sliding back into the water, her eyes closed as she appeared to at least relax. Rin paddled over and slid in next to the woman and mimicked Cho crossing her arms behind her head. It was so peaceful in the small hot spring. It was as if all of today's trouble's had never happen. Suzuran leaned back against the spring's wall and relaxed with them, thinking to herself, _I wish this moment could last forever._

~C~

You would think it was over…

Sesshomaru stared blankly at the ground in front of him. His servant sat just a few feet away from him. Jaken was using the pointed end of the two headed staff to stir the fire. The pot that the human woman gathered earlier was set above the fire to 'boil out the impurities' of the water. As far as he was concerned, if she wanted hot water, she could drink it straight out of the hot spring. The woman's fox had not gone with the women and had chosen to sleep on the back of the dragon that was fast asleep.

His thoughts wandered back to the events that occurred before he allowed the woman to have her request. They had been attacked by the demons; the beasts were usually smart enough to avoid a demon of his power. It was very peculiar to the Taiyoukai, and it was most likely a doing of one of the two enemies' that he and the Ningen shared. Furthermore, he discovered something rather useful about his current predicament. He reached up and fingered the prayer beads; this Sesshomaru would test their capabilities.

He recalled his thoughts when he decided he would swing the human through the air with the chain. He wasn't thinking entirely of what he wanted, only that he needed her over there and not where she already was. It was obvious that the beads reacted depending on what the two of them were thinking. Like when he tried to walk away when they woman had not money to even pay for their supplies. It retracted. Did he perhaps have that same amount of control? He reached out and grasped at air. Sure enough the electrical cord manifested itself again.

_Retract,_ he thought the singular word and waited.

The electrical stream of light snapped tight. There was an odd hissing sound. He glanced up just as the tree's parted to make way for the body that had gone flying through the trees. Sesshomaru moved clear of its path and allowed it to slam into the tree that had been behind him.

The Ningen woman was sprawled across the ground her fingers curled around the beads to keep them from choking her. She was dazed and had a confused expression on her face. Not only that, but the woman was completely disrobed. Jaken's mouth was hanging open and the imp's green skin was turning red. The fox had lifted its head and the dragon had awoken for both to witness the woman's body. Sesshomaru would have lied if he had said he was not shocked to see that it not only retract but recoiled, perhaps retract was not the right word to use.

For a Ningen, he would say that her breasts were quite generous, and her body more toned then he expected most human woman actually wore. He seen plenty of dead one's in the forest during his travels. She looked like she was recovering as she sat up with a shocked look in her striking frosty eyes. Then they shifted turning to their usual lightning storm as she stood up, those breasts bouncing up from the speed, and screamed

"DAMNIT SESSHOMARU!"

* * *

***A/n**: I thought it be interesting to tell you that, in a situation where this might have been the anime, Sesshomaru would not have said anything, just continued on with doing it. However, as I am looking mostly at the manga to write this story, Sesshomaru will more likely to fill in with wise cracks and insults.


	7. Chapter 6: I Hate Hot Springs

**Of Crimson Butterfly's Dream**

**A Sesshomaru Fanfic**

**Based off the manga Series**

**A/N; **so yea…we're at chapter six, which is shocking for me ya know. So were getting deeper into the storyline, and the real stuff is about to begin. Now to let you know, I've written this author's note, like, maybe months back before I actually wrote and finished the chapter. As for updates on myself, there's not much to tell you other then I'm at a four year college now, and I'm working hard at that. I got a new job during my long leave and am working as a host in a restaurant. That means maybe even longer times to update. I know some of you have been waiting for a long time now. But I promise you, I update, it might be long months in between but I don't abandon stories for long, I do most everything in cycles.

Also Noticed that OCBD now has its own cover! This allows you to see Cho and Chikara with Sesshomaru! You can see the full print on my Deviant Art it's the same name as here on Fanfiction! ChunmeiguiProduction.

I like to point out, that for those of you who are abet fans, bunker down, this story is here for a long run, and were only in the first act. And who knows, even when we reach the last act of the story, things may not be entirely solved yet…but that's mostly for me to figure out, who knows by then, you'll just be a fan of the story line and will continue on to the other stories to enjoy it. But if you suggest people to these stories, and you're reading them from the other tales…try to tell them to start with OCBD. Anyways I'm getting ahead of myself lol…so let's start right!

Once again, this was edited by **Tsukino Aisuru – A!**

**Please Review; I need you the fan's to give me your opinions, encouragement, and ideas! Don't let me make plot holes!**

Music: **4MINUTE - 'Volume Up' M/V **and Copy and post into the search engine on YouTube! Enjoy these music choices! I hope!

* * *

I Hate Hot Springs

Sesshomaru stared at the woman who had the gall to shout at his face. Her face was flushed her body in full view to him. Jaken had some decency to turn around and stop looking at her. Now if only she would cover herself; however, it didn't seem like this woman had that sort of respect for herself. Instead Cho crossed her arms, the limbs sliding under her breasts and pushing them up.

"Explain yourself!" she snapped.

Sesshomaru remained silent. Cho had never been this angry, not in a while anyways. She didn't have a problem with the fact that she was currently nude in front of him; the problem she had was that he had messed with their bond _while_ she was nude. She couldn't see what he was looking at, but she can tell his head was slightly turn toward the left, which she guessed that meant he wasn't looking at her.

"This Sesshomaru does not have to explain himself; you may cover yourself if it is such trouble," he said tilting his head back towards her direction.

She assumed he was now staring at her, and, for a moment, she felt a little uneasiness that she was nude in front of this Taiyoukai. She waved it off and tilted her shoulders up in a shrug. " I have no issue with my body, nor have I issue with those that view it, we all look the same under the cloth," she said lifting her head up, she had always felt pride with her view about it.

"That is where you're wrong, Ningen. Our bodies are not the same; you are human, a lesser creature, full of flaws and defects. Your hips are far too narrow, you are riddled with scars that, on a demon, would disappear in only a few minutes and your breasts are too large and swollen with stretch marks along the apex of where your arms meet your shoulder. You humans need to cover yourself up, and hide your ugly bodies from the eyes of each other," he said and moved passed her to sit back down beside the tree where he had been sitting previously.

Cho turned around slowly following him with her blurred gaze. Of all the things she ever heard about herself, from the blonde hair, to her unnatural height, to the western blue eyes, she had never been told that her body was imperfect as well. To say that she was shocked was an understatement; she was actually hurt and, for once, she was ashamed of herself. Her arms rose to cover her breasts and she turned around and trotted back into the forest back towards the hot spring. She wanted to cry because it felt like Benji all over again, only this man she had no connection to at all. Sesshomaru didn't know her, and he had a little human girl that followed him around. Wouldn't he see the same thing in the child? That they were just ugly creatures?

Cho heard the girl's giggling in the spring. Cho stopped walking and side stepped against a tree. She looked down at her hands examining some of the older scars that didn't go away from her childhood. They were faded now, just distant memories, but to a demon, they must glow on her skin like a candle. Maybe if she had been more careful when she was younger, acted more like the other girls. Hell, maybe she would have fit in, wouldn't have stood out as much, and have dyed her hair. And her breasts; what was she supposed to do about having large breasts? She was born that way. Cho ate healthy and exercised, so she didn't build up too much fat in her hips. Nothing about her was ever right; there was always something that someone had an issue with. She felt like this would always be her problem, and she may just end up a lonely old hag like the witch who toys with people's lives.

Two droplets of water landed on her outstretched hands. She blinked surprised and touched her cheeks to find she had started crying. At the same time, she heard the bushes rustling and she looked up just at the girls were coming back from the spring.

"Are you sure Cho-san is ok?" Rin asked as Suzuran was fumbling with the folded kimonos.

"I'm sure she is fine. It seems that your lord was testing limits or something of the nature and forgot the situation Cho-sama was in; nothing more. She's probably on her way back now," the small imp woman said with a chuckle.

Cho snorted and snapped a twig. The imp easily caught the sound and turned her head to where Cho had hidden herself. Cho flicked her eyes towards the imp, tears still streaked down her face but she knew her eyes glowed with a fierceness that said all that she needed to say.

"Suzuran-sama, is something wrong?" Rin asked stopping and turning around again.

"Nothing is wrong, Rin. Go on ahead. I'll catch up in just a moment." The little girl smiled and nodded and kept walking.

"Cho-sama, are you ok? Are you wounded? You are crying," Suzuran asked placing the kimono down at her feet.

"I am crying because I cannot be free of the inconsiderate opposite sex we call males. Don't worry about me, Suzuran. I want to be alone for a while; please return," Cho said calmly scooping up the kimono in her hands. She pushed herself off the wall and started walking back towards the hot spring.

"Did something happen between you and Lord Sesshomaru, my lady?" Suzuran asked her large eyes narrowing a fraction in question.

"Don't be concerned. It's nothing that won't go away in time," Cho said and disappeared behind the trees surrounding the hot spring.

Suzuran turned, seeing as she wouldn't get anything else out of Cho. She returned to the camp site. Once there, she could see Rin was already settling down for the night with a bowl of cooling water to quench her thirst. The grounds seemed perfectly normal expect for the extra leaves and branches that had gathered at both the exit of the forest and around the tree that Sesshomaru had once been sitting beneath.

She also noticed a peculiar expression on the other imp's face and decided it was her duty to question him. With a poke of her clawed finger against his head, Jaken glanced up, a red shade across his awkward beak.

"What do you want onna," he squawked.

"Only to ask what happened to my lady. She seems odd, and I wonder what is with this peculiar expression you have. This quietness seems odd for you. You usually are loudmouthed, and you shout a lot at Rin," she said crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's none of your business, woman. I'm going to bed," he grumbled hopping up on his webbed feet.

"Oh, my…could it be…you like the tall women! You saw my lady's body and…had perverse thoughts!" The she-imp raised her voice only a slight octave. This was fun; she could only imagine the joy her lady got from teasing men.

The Jaken had a horrified expression and jabbed the point of his staff in her direction, "You should think better speaking that way as a Princess of imps, inferior or not! And I would never think such a thing of a human woman! Vile creatures they are," he snapped, then turned and continued waddling away.

Suzuran grinned slyly and tucked her hand under her chin with a chuckled, "I didn't say anything about your liking humans…just tall women."

Jaken visibly twitched but otherwise ignored her and made himself comfortable nestled in some tree roots. She almost laughed out loud and decided she would tease him more about it later. She would make some fun of this, and maybe it would get her lady to smile; after all, she seemed to have an issue with males right now.

"I will take your silence as a yes," she chirped and waddled away as fast as she could before he could say anything back towards her. As she made her way towards Rin and the dragon she caught a glimpse from the Taiyoukai whom was sporting an odd glimmer in his amber eyes. Perhaps he found amusement in her form of torment towards the imp, or perhaps not. But it was gone just as quickly and his gaze was intent on the forest and that the woman hadn't returned.

~C~

It was late into the night, and that damned woman still hadn't come back. Sesshomaru stood and reached out to grip the chain that sparked to life as he sought it. If she didn't come back he would make her and he didn't care if he was pulling her out of the hot spring or from screwing some random stranger. The moon was high in the sky, which put it well past a few hours.

The chain grew tight but wouldn't recoil or retract like it did before. Instead he heard a few snaps and a crunch among the trees. He needed to investigate and drag the woman back with him, if she wasn't planning on coming back. He didn't need this or have to go searching for her later when he was ready to leave. As he walked through the trees following the glowing chain he stopped in front of three large oak trees aligned in a row, all three with the bloody chain wrapped around the trunks four or five times. She looked like she literally jumped over the chain a few times to make sure it was knotted in place and couldn't retract and drag her back.

He had to admire her ingenuity to ensure her privacy, but this Sesshomaru was not going to put up with it! He tugged the chain hard the tree groaning as the chains bit into the wood and starting to shred it. Granted, the lord should have easily using any other chain have crushed straight through the wood, but for some reason the tension was not snapping the trees. This was ridiculous! He examined the chain and found it continued on back into the trees only to wrap itself around the trunks of another three trees. How had she accomplished all of that without him noticing?! He marveled at the chain's capabilities. There wasn't anything he could do. For now he would make sure she unraveled her creation once he found her, and then figure out a way to punish her, a way that, unfortunately, didn't involve harming her, as they were bonded.

He found her at the hot spring, curled up against a tree, fully clothed and sleeping what seemed to be comfortably, though her face said otherwise; her brow was creased and her eyes were twitching, flicking back and forth beneath her eyelids. Her fingers curled constantly and her legs were tense like she was prepared to start running in her sleep. Sesshomaru frowned and wondered what would cause a painful expression like that on the human female. It was an expression he had seen Rin make in her sleep when she dreamed about her parents and siblings, or she dreamed about her death. Nevertheless, he'd had enough of this and lifted his foot to nudge the female's shoulder with his toe. She merely rolled over to face the other way.

Irritated, he flipped her over, grabbing her kimono by the collar and tossed her into the hot spring in one fluid motion. She came up screaming, sputtering water and rushing out of the steaming spray with a choice collection of curse words.

Those lightning storm eyes were turned on him, the bolts ricocheting back and forth with renewed fury, then what he saw before he had tested the chain.

"_What… the hell…gave you the brilliant idea that it was okay to throw me in a pool of hot water?!"_ she shrieked waving her arms towards the pool of water. And he hadn't understood a single word she had said.

What language was she even speaking? It was a clipped, slow language, its words were carefully pronounced even as she was shouting it and sputtering what he guessed that language's version of profanity.

"Speak again woman, this Sesshomaru prefers to understand what he is being called," he said flicking his hair with his only good arm.

"I said… What the hell gave you the brilliant idea that it was okay to throw me in a pool of hot water?! I could have drowned, been burned, hit my head on a stone, the list goes on! Just 'cause you're a demon, or a high and mighty god damned lord doesn't mean you can just go around tossing people in any direction you want!" she shrieked again. That said, she took a breath, smoothed her short, cropped hair out of her face and lowered her arms to her side.

"I think it is an adequate punishment for not returning and for wrapping the chains around the trees so I could not force you to return instead of having to come myself," he responded.

Cho glared at his general direction. She had wrapped the chains around the trees so that the chain couldn't recoil and draw her back in the same way. She had been careful to spread the tension on the chains evenly between the trees so that even the mega powerful Sesshomaru would have some difficulty. He appeared just too irritated to use his incredible strength to break the trees. That or she was just lucky and it worked, though she doubted it.

"Who said I wouldn't be returning? I just didn't want to see your face at the moment, demon. Is it too much to ask to have privacy, or is that a concept lost to the demonic?" she cooed and walked past him, shaking her soggy kimono of water. She was following the path of the chain now.

"So now you see the difference between you and I, Ningen? This Sesshomaru is surprised," he glared at her, the most expression he had shown through this entire ordeal of having to go retrieve her, and she couldn't even see it.

" 'This Sesshomaru' seems more confident in talking to me... as long as you're insulting me in some way, that is," she said, glancing in his direction.

"I have much confidence in speaking to you; I choose not to waste my breath on a human. It is you that leave yourself open to insult by opening your mouth," he added, the corner of his lip twitched, but did not move; he had almost given her that small smirk you would sometimes see right before he cut someone's head off. In this case, he was verbally slicing the woman to pieces.

She was messing with the chain wrapped around the first tree, it slid loose easily so that she could unravel her work. Soon enough the trees were freed of the chain's grip. A cloud of dust was released into the air where the chain had been touching the trees, the trees dropped the short distances towards their stumps. And just like that, there was a rumbling sound and the trunks begun to slide away in one direction. Sesshomaru moved from their path as they fell and the loud sound of heavy trees hitting the earth and water splashing as the branches smashed into the spring of the water far behind. So he had cut through the trees after all; the chain had been holding them together by some strange work of magic. Perhaps there had been some of Cho's will in the hand of keeping him from calling her to him.

The same process was repeated with the next set of three trees and them, too, crashed. Leaving the six mangled stumps behind, she followed him back to the camp. It was amazing that their little party hadn't heard the trees crashing. The only one awake and waiting for them was Chikara, his tail wagging with anticipation to see his master returned to him at last. Cho lay down beside the fire, happy to see that Rin and Suzuran were snuggled warm and cozy in their new blanket. But since _someone _ruined her clothing, she was safer by the fire till they dried off. She had never gotten a cold as a kid, so she wasn't about to start now. She fell fast asleep, returning to whatever nightmare her mind would create now.

~C~

Morning came soon enough, and when Cho awoke, she was wrapped snuggly in a blanket and the young Rin had wrapped her legs around Cho's midsection from behind. Suzuran had somehow wound up snuggled against her bosom and Chikara had made himself comfortable over her hip. But that wasn't the end of it; a slightly wet and scaly nose had pressed itself against her forehead, nudging her to awake. She was quite literally surrounded by all of Sesshomaru's companions except for Jaken. She sighed and turned her gaze to the two heads of AnUn and patted his head gently. The two dragons seemed to purr in response. They didn't seem to mind her at all and it hadn't taken that long for them to like her.

Rin stirred and sat up, stretching, "Good morning, Cho-neesan," she said with a loud yawn. Cho arched a brow at the child's newest endearment to her name, "I'm sorry Cho-san, I didn't mean to call you big sister! I hope it didn't bother you," the child squeaked covering her mouth slightly.

Cho smiled slowly then started to laugh softly, "It is fine…I don't think I'd mind at all. I'll even start to call you Rin-chan, if you want me to," Cho said, it was odd, she felt slightly lighter this morning, despite all the drama the night before.

She looked around the clearing, and discovered the reason being that Sesshomaru wasn't present. She could probably easily find him if she wanted to, and knew that he couldn't try to abandon them without something happening with their link. Jaken wasn't there, either, now that she thought about it. Perhaps the demons were having some important meeting about the predicament they were in.

"Cho-neesan, are you ok?" Rin asked, bringing Cho out of her thoughts. "Sorry, did you say something, Rin-chan?" Cho asked creasing her brow.

"I was saying that I'd like you to call me Rin-chan, and don't worry about Lord Sesshomaru-sama; he always comes back," she said grinning.

Cho shrugged. "I wasn't worried," she said and stood up. Suzuran rolled across the ground and Chikara slid off her hip to lie on the ground and let out a sharp yip before standing up.

It was only a few moments later when Sesshomaru stepped back into the campsite followed by his waddling servant. Cho had already assured that they were packed and prepared to go when his high and mighty self had returned. The girls and fox were seated comfortably on the back of AnUn ready to go. Sesshomaru simply turned and they continued on the path they were on the day before.

Cho began to think over what had occurred in the short period she had been there. She had arrived in the feudal era to discover that she could not return home, and she was marked by a demon that everyone and their brother had a problem with, literally. Her sister was a reincarnation of a dead priestess and, the best assumption, the ex-girlfriend of a dog demon her sister was madly in love with. Cho already had to face the same dog demon in battle, and then fought a horde of demon raiders, saved an imp princess from an ogre demon who had issues with not being able to kill a human, and then defeated a band of road bandits whose leader turned out to be the son of the headman acting out. She was then attacked by the first of the many demons she expected would be after her sent by Yamasuso the witch who caused all her troubles in the first place. And the coup de gras of it all, the same witch actually managed to bind her to a demon, which, according to her sister's tales, should have been impossible.

If she was to think it over more, she could assume that Yamasuso had the capability to control demons, which might explain why she could bind Sesshomaru, but she highly doubted there was enough power in this chain to kill him. Most definitely it could kill her, but not him. So far, she could tell that the chain was very versatile, yet not at all, and she had this feeling that whatever happened to her would happen to him.

"Yamasuso…what is she exactly?" Cho asked out loud revealing her deep thoughts, needing answers to make the pieces fit together in her head.

"She's a scary woman," Rin said making a freighted and disgusted face.

Jaken looked back and seemed to ponder whether to answer her or not. "She is a human that became a demon. By eating the flesh of young and beautiful women, both demon and human, she was able to continue her life. She was also a dark priestess and, with her powers, captured a demon princess and was able to absorb the ability to control demons' minds and make them believe they adore and worship her," Jaken explained.

"How can such an ability exist? What use has it for a demon who is already a princess?" Cho said frowning as she pondered this.

"Well, if you're not a very nice princess, maybe that lets you be as mean as you want and they won't care," Rin suggested.

"It seems like the most amazing tool to have when you want to rule a kingdom," Suzuran grinned.

"And so Yamasuso gained this ability, which explains the other demon and her dragons attacking me…What else has she used this ability for?" Cho asked.

"To create abominations…" the cold stoic voice of Sesshomaru filled in far ahead of them.

"Create abominations?" Cho repeated. "You mean, half breeds like Inuyasha… My sister told me you don't think much of them, and you think of them lesser then humans sometimes. Would this mean that the woman can still reproduce, and uses the male demons she captures to create half-breed children?" Cho said, taking a guess on what he means.

"How did you figure all that out so quickly?" Jaken asked his voice rising slightly.

"Because I'm smarter then you," she replied, then slid off the dragon's back to walk closer to Sesshomaru. "Then if Yamasuso is a dark priestess…then shouldn't a priestess of good, like my sister, be able to break the chain?"

Jaken grumbled and started to stroke his chin. Suzuran spoke up, "They should, but curses are hard to break," she said.

"It doesn't seem to be a curse though, but a binding or bonding. The chain so far has shown to only be a unbreakable bond between us. Its only job is to make sure we are to stay as close together as possible," Cho pointed out and twirled the beads between her fingers. She could feel the crackle of its power between her fingertips.

Sesshomaru's eyes flickered towards her as he walked her own as well. For some reason, she could sense he was thinking about something. Perhaps his mind was processing the same thoughts as she was.

"What are you thinking, Sesshomaru-sama?" Cho asked, returning her stare to the beads. Despite all that had happen last night and this morning, answers were more preferable than her attitude of wanting to ignore him…what was she, twelve?

"Hn…" was his only response, which didn't help in her cause at all. "Jaken…" Sesshomaru called out.

"Yes My Lord!" Jaken shouted. The group stopped walking as Sesshomaru had.

"Stay with Rin…Onna, come." He ordered, then looked at Cho; obviously she was the 'onna.'

Cho could have been stubborn, maybe fought him, cursed him out, but Rin shouted at her, "Grab Lord Sesshomaru's MokoMoko-sama!"

A white cloud was gathering under Sesshomaru's feet, and he was still staring at her with the expectation to follow his order, which must have meant that Rin's instructions were correct. So Cho reached out and gathered a fist full of fur, with both hands. Before she realized it, they were starting to float off the ground, and the only thing supporting Cho's weight was Mokomoko. She curled around it with her arms, holding on tight, and watched the ground as they climbed higher and higher into the air. Their small group grew smaller as well, till they looked like nothing more than ants on the ground. Of course… being blind, she couldn't tell this or even how far off the ground they really were.

"Sesshomaru-sama… remember that I cannot see. I ask to know where it is that we are going." she voiced growing more confident as they soared through the sky.

"We will find a priestess…" was his only explanation.

~C~

The forest was very still. Animals stayed hidden and made little sounds in their hollows on the ground and in the trees. The only sound was the gentle humming of long silver dragons that floated through the air carrying in their little spindle of arms glowing orbs.

Kikyo reached out to touch one of the dragons as it placed the moaning soul into her hand. The dragon clicked and pressed its head into her hand. enjoying the gentle touch from its mistress. The soul collectors didn't stay long and they scattered into the sky. Kikyo narrowed her dark eyes as she sensed a very powerful presence approaching her; two of them, to be exact.

She recognized one of these demonic auras, but the other one…it confused her. It was powerful, but dull. It was the kind of aura she might expect from a demon lord after he was sealed away in a sacred item. None the less, the demons had scared away her soul collectors and they wouldn't return to her and feed her till the demons were gone.

Kikyo retied her hair and stepped down from her comfortable seat in the tree. Its branches had grown into the prefect shape, like a cradle, and she was almost sad to have to remove herself from it. None the less, the demons were definitely coming her way.

~C~

Sesshomaru landed in a small space between the trees. The branches were swaying in all directions to allow him passage. His passenger, Cho, released the hold she had on his fluffy fur boa and dropped to the ground before he touched the ground. Cho groaned and stretched out her body. It felt like they had been flying for hours and her arms and legs were stiff from holding on so tight to the fur.

Sesshomaru was facing her watching her moving her body to get the feeling back.

"Are you done?" he asked, stoically, as if he really cared.

"Yes, I'm through. Where are we?" she asked looking in his general direction; he turned away his silvery hair swinging around him. He was choosing to ignore her. "I recall before we started this trip, I said I was blind, and I like to know where I've being taken, alone, with you, because if I recall you don't like me very much," she snorted and followed after him as he started to walk away.

"I'm looking for a priestess…I know she is near," was all he said.

Priestess…of course, someone who might be able to break the bond so he could be free to cut off her head, run her through with his sword, and disembowel her midsection…maybe not in that order and maybe all three. They had only gone a short distance into the trees when he stopped. She stopped as well, and her eyes scanned the blurry shades of greens and browns. She could hear footsteps and the sound of branches and foliage being disturbed as someone was approaching them.

A shape clothed in a red and white cloth she assumed was similar to Keades outfit appeared from behind a large tree. She could hear the distinct sound of a bow being pulled and it was surely loaded with a very sharp arrow that was pointed at either Sesshomaru or herself.

"What is it you want, Inuyasha's brother?" a voice spoke.

"You to remove the beads of binding around the human wench there and I," was what he said in response.

Cho snorted and crossed her arms. "Pleasant way of saying you need help, Sesshomaru-sama. My name is Cho Higurashi," Cho called out her eyes darting in different directions trying to seek out her face if anything else.

The woman set her bow down and drew closer. Of what Sesshomaru could see the priestess Kikyo looked concerned for the human woman. Cho was taller than her; taller than most females to be exact. Kikyo reached out and touched the woman's face and Cho grabbed her hand.

"Please, don't do that," Cho said softly giving her a smile. "You're blind," Kikyo said instantly.

Cho shook her head. "Only partially, I can still see colors and general shapes…I just need my special… item to see, but I broke them falling down a hill," she said.

"I see..." Kikyo responded then turned her head towards Sesshomaru. "How is it that you received a binding? I've heard so much of the great dog demon, it seems almost laughable," she said, her eyes narrowing.

"Watch it Miko," Sesshomaru growled out.

Kikyo snorted. "Just as arrogant as your brother," she said and stepped a safe distance away.

"Brother…you wouldn't happen to be Kikyo would you…the priestess my younger sister is supposedly reincarnated from?" Cho questioned. Kikyo gave her a dark look.

"I was unaware she had a sister…" Kikyo said and re-gathered her weapon.

"Not many were. It wasn't something she broadcasted to the world," Cho said simply.

"This Sesshomaru grows bored of your chatter. Can you remove them or not, Miko?" Sesshomaru stepped in-between the women.

Kikyo snorted herself, much like Cho had. "I cannot, just by looking at them, they were made by a priestess of considerable power. Only she can remove them or, if she were to die, they will break on their own," Kikyo said and turned to walk away. However, before she stepped back around the tree she stopped and looked back at the both of them.

"Was there another demon accompanying you?" she asked.

Cho glanced at Sesshomaru who made no motion to speak, so Cho responded. "Had there been… he or she would have probably been dead long before you sensed us coming, is what his lord is probably thinking."

Sesshomaru growled a warning at her and Cho ignored him. Kikyo 'hnn'ed and disappeared altogether. Cho then looked up at him and chuckled.

"So, we wasted a trip to get here, then," Cho said and walked away back the way they had come.

Sesshomaru wasted little energy grabbing the back of the woman's kimono and dragging her back to his side as the cloud begun to from under his feet again. Cho reached out and locked her fingers into the fur.

~C~

Yamasuso tapped her fingers across the surface of the dragon's hide. The horde of demons surrounding her moved and swarmed, adjusting in the darkness. She was watching the bubbles and the scenes that were currently playing out. The female working alongside the dog demon had slayed her pack of demons she had forged together in a pit. They had been a long and tedious task that had taken so many of her other demons to create them.

It had been a waste, but she would look at the bright side and call it a necessary waste of her resources. She could see that the pair would work together in thick or thin, and this could possibly work in her favor. At the same time, the pair had left the youthful human alone, with only a dragon and two imps to protect her.

This she could do. Though she's keeping the demon and human bound, she could still use a youthful snack and with them far away from the child, she could grab hold of her, take her, and devour her before they even have time to track her down.

The witch called out into the darkness between the slithering bodies of the dragon that protected her. A shadowy figure moved into the witch's space, its solid form lost long ago. Yamasuso smiled lovingly at the creature and crooked her finger for it to come closer.

"_You call to me, mistress?"_ the creature spoke. Its voice was raspy and hollow, sounding as if it was speaking from some faraway place.

"Yes. This child… I want not for the demon to kill any more of you, my precious demons. I would like you to use your necromancy to recall the dead beneath the human child and her protectors, and have them brought to me," the witch ordered.

_"As you wish, my mistress. I shall call the dead to do your bidding,"_ it responded then slithered back out into the dark cave moving.

Yamasuso smiled softly, then shouted out, _"_Kill the protectors if you have to," she added. "Preferably." She grinned. A soft whisper of "_yes_" followed her last command.


	8. Chapter 7: Lightning Blue Dragon's Blood

12

**Of Crimson Butterfly's Dream**

**A Sesshomaru Fanfic**

**Based off the manga Series**

**A/N:** I'm hoping as I'm typing this message for my faithful readers that wait to patiently for my long due updates, that this chapter was posted within at least a week or month of the last update! I spent a few hours planning out the chapters for Arc 1.

**IMPORTANT MESSAGE:** So listen up, if you noticed I changed the Tittle to now read Of Crimson Butterfly's Dream **Arc 1** that is because, OCBD will be split up into different stories featuring the different Arc's. This way I can use different book covers just cause I have to be weird XD, also because I'm looking at having about Five Arc's and no idea how each chapter will be. That and this is only the first Series in Dream of Feudal Fairy Tale's…Still thinking up a tittle for the series. But I can promise this, there's gonna be a happish ending for every main single character in the Inuyasha Manga series by the time I'm done. So that message done, moving on now =3.

After some consideration and some help from a friend, I found my music selection for this chapter, which I'm hoping the music choice's might give you some sort of hint as to what you're in for….the epicenes only climbs…

They are so epic I'm listing them like this:

**Beyoncé**** - Run The World (Girls) **

**Becca - I'm Alive **

**The Offspring**** - You're Gonna Go Far, Kid **

**Breathe Carolina**** – Blackout (Rated M for Mature)**

so really not everyone will think they are all that cool lol, but they worked for the purpose I needed them for, to keep me pumped and excited. I'm hoping you will really like this Chapter, sense Chapter Six wasn't as quite as exciting as I hoped…anyways time to stop the chatter…and start the writing!

In process of being edited, i just couldn't wait to post it!

**Lightning Blue Dragon's Blood**

A Shadow darted across the ground flickering in between existence and the other side. It hunted for its oblivious prey. It would do as its mistress ordered and take out the prey's protector's and deliver the child to his mistress for her to devour while the demon and its current appendage were too far away to save her.

The Child sat in a small patch of flowers while Suzuran, Chikara, AuUn, and Jaken watched from a distance. It was such a boring task that the imps were considering playing with Rin after she asked about the eighth time and insisting on singing a song about Cho and Sesshomaru returning to her soon.

As cute and adorable as that was it was true, where was Sesshomaru and Cho. Suzuran looked up at the sky expecting to see them at any moment. She glanced at Jaken then as he had never taken his eyes off of Rin once sense Sesshomaru disappeared from site.

"You take baby sitting as a very serious job Jaken-sama," Suzuran said crossing her arms in her kimono sleeves.

"You have no idea how often this child gets taken under my watch usually when I look away for only a second. He didn't even glance at her.

"uh-hu…you have four sets of eyes watching her this time, are you still concerned," she asked. Jaken looked at her this time, "yes," was his response then looked back just as quickly.

Chikara beside Suzuran yawned wide and got up and trotted across the ground to join Rin. The fox jumped onto her back licking her face. Rin squealed with delight and started to play with the fox, the two playing tag and chasing each other back and forth across the field.

"You can talk now, you don't have to worry about Rin with that fox around," Suzuran whispered toward Jaken.

Jaken glanced at her again, "what does that mean?" he asked curious. She chuckled, "means I have my suspicions about that fox, but can't tell you why I have them, but I can promise you, neither Rin nor Cho-sama will ever be in danger," she said and watched the fox with intent.

The fox paused and stared at them with his reddish-pink eyes, it was like the animal knew they were talking about him, and he was very aware of what exactly they were talking about. Rin stopped running to and called him to her, wanting to continue their game. The fox's eyes lightened and he sped off after her.

Jaken visibly shivered beside Suzuran, "I see what you mean, very strange animal indeed," he said and relaxed a little more on his watch of Rin.

"So Sesshomaru-sama leaves you like this often then, if Rin is caught almost every time," Suzuran asked.

"No not every time, usually it's connected with Naraku, if were following a lead on his where-abouts," he said. Suzuran's eyes opened wide, "Naraku," she asked breathlessly.

Jaken seeing that she didn't know a thing of what he was talking about realized she hadn't been filled in. "Naraku is I'd say, Sesshoumaru-sama's number one thorn in his side, he wants to kill the demon because…well, I never really thought about why, but my best thoughts on the subject is because Naraku has tried to use Sesshomaru for his dirty work, like killing his younger brother."

"Your Human woman would also have a connection to Naraku, if she is indeed Inuyasha-sama's human wench's sister," Jaken said looking at Rin again.

"So more mysteries still surround my Lady than I thought," Suzuran commented quietly.

The forest was oddly quiet; Chikara stopped suddenly, Suzuran's eyes narrowed at the sudden stillness all around them. Even AnUn was showing some unease.

The ground begun to shake and rumble, dirt and stone jumping all around them. The Silver Fox darted across the land towards Rin and slide to a stop in front of the child and barked and growled. Suzuran looked at Jaken who was already poised to attack Suzuran reached for her dagger but found that the blade wasn't at her side; in fact, she didn't even think Cho had it anymore. That was beginning to get a little concerning considering it was all she had left!

The ground exploded as the creature causing the problem began to crawl from their graves, yes, Graves. The Undead, soldiers, by the look of it, who hadn't been dead for maybe more than a month or two, but their bodies, had somehow been buried by someone, probably passing monks. The flesh was still mostly intact and the bodies' wormy inhabitants were falling out in places that Suzuran would have rather not have seen their being possibility of an opening.

They were coming for them, the undead converged towards the child first, Chikara snarled and leaped into action attacking the first undead thing that got to close, crunching the face between his jaws. Rin Screamed one last time shouting towards the sky as loud as she could.

"Sesshomaru-Sama, Cho-neesan! Please Help Us!"

~C~

Cho had closed her eyes after wrapping herself up with moko moko in case she were to fall asleep she wouldn't plummet to the ground. She doubted that Sesshomaru would have the decency to catch her, with his hands anyways. The ground was a long way down and she didn't want to see it up close any more then she had to.

Sesshomaru tensed, she could sense it, and it wasn't because of her, he did that a long time ago when she wrapped herself in the fluff. No this was the kind of tense that told her something wasn't right, he almost gave off the vibe of urgency and the need to run. That was when she heard it so faintly so softly, so far away.

Someone was shouting her name, crying for someone to save her.

Rin.

"Go…" Cho whispered holding on tighter to moko moko, Sesshomaru didn't respond but reached for her with his good arm and grabbed her waist.

Cho felt as if she was jerked forward, like the world around them was only going by in a blur. She knew the demon could move very quickly, but just how fast could he really go when he needed to cover great distances in a hurry. She almost wondered what the world would have looked like if she had her glasses on, because there were no distinguishing colors at the moment.

The screaming got louder; Cho's eyes flickered to Sesshomaru's waistline where one of his swords was rattling in its sheath. Did the sword really have a conscious thought? Then everything was still, as if they had arrived where they had left their group. Surrounded. By a small army of undead.

Cho didn't think just reached and grabbed the sword that was practically jumping out of the sheath and pulled it out pushing herself away from Sesshomaru she plummeted the rest of the distance towards the ground. She didn't think that should have been possible, but it happened. She didn't look back at him until the blade had gone straight through the rotten flesh of the undead soldier through bone and armor and all. What she couldn't see was Sesshomaru's hand poised to grab the sword at the same second Cho had taken it.

Cho moved, she _moved_ and begun cutting and slashing with the strange sword that was fighting her as she was fighting the demons. It was a powerful weapon, and not meant for human's, wasn't meant for her to fight with and it knew who its master was. Rin's scream's kept her going she had to protect the child. The undead converged on Cho coming at her from all sides it was then that the Chain around her neck lit up like a light bulb and Cho was jerked back.

Cho's back slammed into Sesshomaru's chest, "onna," he whispered dangerously and took the sword from her hand. The sword instantly stopped fighting.

Sesshomaru was still for a moment, she didn't move, he hadn't made any sound in ordering her to move. But she could feel it, a buildup of energy and tension surrounding them. Sesshomaru released all of this in a wide slash spinning around her in the process. The wave of it just killed the first four that drew too close.

While she had only been able to take out one at a time, the demon lord, master of his sword was taking out four at a time. She found herself longing to be able to see clearly the demon battle to give the creature the respect he deserved in all his perfection.

Cho heard the barking and growling, she could hear the flames as well as Suzuran's shouts of encouragement. Cho ran in between the undead dodging rusty blades until she made it to the rest of their companions. Rin was huddled behind AuUn while Jaken released large flames from his staff onto the demons. There she witnessed her fox doing what he did best, protect. The animal was going for the neck and head, no head must mean nothing to control the rest of the body.

Chikara seeing his mistress barked and ran to her, where he stood in stance to protect her and Rin as he had before. The chaos was already ending as The Lord Sesshomaru ended their undead lives as quickly as they had started. As the last zombie dropped the Demon's head turned towards the human woman and marched straight towards her.

Cho could see the blur of his arm lift to sheath the sword; she could hear the metal as it slid inside the wood. His hand was reared back with force driving it towards her. Cho ducked, dropping to the floor just in time. She could feel his hand rush through her cropped hair. It had been complete instinct and this time, instinct told her to run and she did just that, kicking off the ground, she darted away from him but was jerked back by the neck.

Sesshomaru held onto the chain that bound them and yanked her backwards again within reach of him he released the chain and grabbed her kimono picking her up by the edge and threw her across the field. Rin screamed at Cho slammed into the dirt and bounced off the ground once then rolled the rest of the way.

"You will not touch This Sesshomaru's belongings," he said low and darkly.

Rin was crying and ran to the demon grabbing his kimono she looked up at him, "Please don't kill Oneesan!" she cried.

Cho groaned inwardly and pushed herself off the ground and stood, she brushed off her kimono and turned to face the demon. She was a little dirty and she knew she would be sore for a while.

"I reacted Sesshomaru-sama, I had not intended disrespect, I only reacted," she said, coldly. Sesshomaru watched as those eyes sparked to life with lightning shooting back and forth.

She wasn't doing anything else though, he could see the female was very angry, but was smart enough to know that she couldn't win against him. She only had luck on her side; her reflexes were fast, if only a hair faster than his, when she wasn't thinking, and then only when she wasn't thinking. But that was the last straw for Sesshomaru: when the bond broke between them he would make sure that he would never have anything to do with this female again.

"Sesshomaru-sama…please," Rin's voice broke through the cloud of thought, he glanced at the child then at the imp that followed her around, and then last, the silver fox who's red gaze was swirling.

"We are going," he said in response and turned around to walk away.

~C~

The steam rose off the hot lava stone ground, clouds of it gathering around the remains of a long-ago- dead demon skeleton. In the skull one smart demon had carved out a little hovel of a place to call his, and used it as a place of sleep and business. The old youkai Totosai, a black smith and great crafter of demon blades who only crafted swords for those he deemed worthy of one of his blades.

Currently though, the old man was enjoying a comfortable nap with his head propped by one of his withered hands on a cot in the corner of his cave. A lovely dribble of drool was sliding down his chin when he had the urge to scratch the inside of his ear with his other hand using his little pinky finger. He then yawned a sat up grabbing a long hammer that was leaning against the cave wall.

The room was covered in blades and a small fire was still burning in the center of the room, a column of smoke drifting out one of the eye holes of the demon skull. He had a heavy pot sitting next to the fire, suggesting he had eaten just before taking his nap along with the empty stone bowl.

What had awoken Totosai had not been the irritating itch in his ear but this feeling of something calling out to him. How odd, Tenseiga rarely called to him, if at all, Sesshomaru, though never uses the blade, did take care of his weapons. It was Inuyasha's Tessaiga who whined in protest often. What confused the old man even more, is that the weapon cried because its wielder…wasn't Sesshomaru.

The cry had lasted only a moment or two, and the cry wasn't urgent enough to be concerned that someone may have actually overcome the powerful dog demon to steal his blades. But, call him crazy, he was curious enough that he wanted to investigate, and see what exactly had occurred, even if that meant, Totosai gulped, facing Sesshomaru.

~C~

The group walked on in silence. Cho didn't speak to Sesshomaru and Sesshomaru didn't acknowledge Cho existed. After Cho had been tossed across the field and the battle with the undead she realized that she still had a shoulder wound that had reopened and had to be tended to by Suzuran. The imp demon had secluded her to ridding on the back of AnUn with Rin.

Cho questioned how such a young child could live like this day in and day out, but then again, she couldn't assume that she was constantly attacked by demons; the day had started out pretty well, but ended with demon attacks, which wasn't helping with her in conflict of convincing herself that they weren't in constant danger. Or were they only in constant danger because Cho was here and the demon witch seemed to have it out for them.

She was over thinking things, and she was hungry. Her stomach growled and she looked around them hoping to spot some convenient stream or source of water so they could fish out some food. She wasn't about to dare talking to the demon that shall not be named who clearly over reacted over a sword she hadn't even seen him use, and she didn't mean that literally not being able, she could for some reason sense, that the blade wasn't used often.

Rin was rubbing her stomach as well, which told her that the child was just as hungry and the day was already a little past noon. Why hadn't she noticed this sooner, and she didn't consider their little journey to visit a priestess and fighting the undead as liable excuses, for not remembering to eat.

Rin looked up at Cho; her face still clearly red from crying her eyes out thinking Sesshomaru was going to kill her. Which he wasn't, not with them tethered together and both of them pretty sure if not certain they could feel each other's pain, well she suspected so anyways, she had caught a brief glance of Sesshomaru rolling the same shoulder where her wound had been. Of course that could have been just a coincidence.

"You're hungry too, Right," Cho asked the child, who returned her question with a slight nod, "Then go let him know…while I convince Suzuran to let me at least gather food," Cho said ruffling her hair.

Rin jumped down from the dragon's back, the animal stopping obediently for her. Cho climbed down next receiving a pointed jab in the leg from Suzuran.

"Cho-sama your injury opened once already, what are you doing," she said waving her arms around, Cho shrugged, "putting food in my stomach that's what I'm doing,"

Rin had already run ahead and talked to the demon lord who had sat himself down beside a tree to wait. Satisfied that Sesshomaru had listened to her the child ran back to Cho taking hold of her hand in the same motion and dragging her into the nearby line of trees.

Together Rin and Cho walked through the forest the child gathering whatever looked edible to her; though Cho herself couldn't see the plant she hoped the child knew what she was picking. Cho had taken the edge of her kimono and curled it up to make a makeshift sack to carry their bounty. The child was filling it up fairly well. When they returned Rin was shouting with joy about their findings and Cho dumped the load of vegetables, mushrooms, and edible roots.

Jaken examined their findings and started a fire and started to cook what was safe to eat and throwing out what wasn't safe to eat. As Jaken cooked Cho sat to the side of the small fire and thought to herself on how strange that it seemed like they were this little nomadic family. Moving from place to place with no real destination. Yet she felt more at home, despite the clear dislike of Sesshomaru, and then she ever did back in England or even at home with her mother and sister.

The plates were passed out and the group was settling down to eat their meal when Sesshomaru stood up his head turned upward to the sky. Cho looked up as well looking for something odd that would have made to stoic lord to feel the need to stand at attention. A distinct mooing sound was coming closer to the small group. Wait, moo, Cho hadn't noticed anything that would indicate cows; of course she could had just mistaken them for boulders for all she knew.

All that thinking was thrown out the window as a large Bull landed behind the two imps the force of air sending them flying into Cho's outstretched arms. Cho squinted her eyes but couldn't make out what was going on, all she could tell was that it was large and black and had a green blob riding on its back.

"Totosai," she heard Sesshomaru say and she turned her head towards him, and then back to the green blob sitting on the bull's back.

Cho stood up holding out her arm for Chikara to jump onto her shoulders. The old man was also climbing down him his mount; he was holding some sort of tool it seemed like it was a long hammer of some type.

"Sesshomaru-sama, I see you are still cold as always," the demon said acknowledging that he was addressed; Cho could feel the tension suddenly fill the air, " Speak your Business you old fool," Sesshomaru said his voice dropping to a dangerous low.

Cho could hear the old man swallow hard, she saw his arm lift and he seemed to be scratching his head. She stepped closer squinting her eyes more and she started to make out his face just a little bit, he had overly large eyes, and was clearly not human, so she had been right to assume he was demon. That meant his mount was also a demon, besides the fact that he arrived from the sky on its back.

"It's nothing really Important Sesshomaru-sama, just curiosity, I've never known you the type to miss use your weapons, weather you appreciate their value or not, so when Tenseiga called out to me, I had to find out why," the demon said his head facing the lord.

That was when Totosai as Sesshomaru called him turned to look at Cho. He looked her up and down, seeming to appraise her appearance and decide on what she was exactly.

"What is Tenseiga…" Cho asked him reaching up to scratch Chikara's head when he growled when the demon stepped closer to pear at her face.

"Tenseiga is the Sword of Healing that the Lord of Ice there wields inherited from his Father, I've recalled him only using it a few times, it cannot hurt the living," Totosai explained to her.

Cho frowned and realization hit her, "That was why it rattled in its sheath, the undead solders that were attacking Rin, now I understand Sesshomaru's anger when I took it from him to fight them," Cho said running her hand through her hair and walking away her mind heavy in thought.

Totosai was very still after hearing this information and he stared at the human woman, and then looked at Sesshomaru, "this little human girl took your sword, in combat," Totosai said grinding out each word with a slight pause in-between.

Jaken waved his staff, "Lord Sesshomaru would have never allowed that to happen unless he had intended the girl to take it in the first place!," Jaken screeched Suzuran scuffed and hit the imp in the back of the head and crossed her arms, "Cho-Sama is remarkable, she surprises all of us at the most critical of moments," Suzuran said.

Sesshomaru was glaring daggers at both the imps when Cho stopped pacing, "That was a demon sword…Tenseiga, and it fought me, it didn't like that I was wielding it, but it never forced me to let go, just like Suzuran's Dagger, it tries to fight back, but, it can't force me to let go," she inquired, "does this mean, that I have the capabilities of Wielding a Demon Sword," Cho asked, her eyes darted to Sesshomaru's waistline, she was aware he had two swords, she knew so from their ride in the sky.

"Onna, this sword would devour your soul with its aura before you could even pull it from my sash," Sesshomaru growled out. Cho shook her head remember what happen last time she took the demon's weapons.

"I wouldn't dream of it, but who are you Totosai was it," Cho asked looking back at the demon who was still examining her. He coughed, "I am Totosai, I forged the great Swords Tenseiga and Tessaiga," he announced.

"The sword that Inuyasha has," Cho asked. "The Very one, you are familiar with the Half Demon," The old man asked.

"Long Story," Cho waved it aside, "but, now that you know why the sword acted out, are you satisfied, and to be fair, I assure you, I will not be trying to take the blade again anytime soon," Cho said and crossed her arms.

"Yes I have, and I've decided, that you human girl, have impressed me, I will make you a sword worthy of your skill," Totosai announced clasping his hands together as if he had had an awha moment.

Cho coughed along with Jaken and no sound coming from Sesshomaru, "that it nice and all, but I have no way of paying for such a weapon," Cho said.

"no need for pay, you only have to supply the material yourself, being you are human though, you have no fangs, no claws, no scales, horns, or any of my usual mediums of forging a blade,"

"you forge blades from…those sort of things," she asked surpised, "the brother's swords were made from their father's fang," Totosai chuckled.

"I see, then what would you need, sense I obviously don't have those sort of appendages," she asked.

"Take the Fangs of a Demon that you alone can face and defeat," Totosai said pointing at her as if this was a great mission that she alone had to take on.

"That would be easy, I've already defeated many demons," she said smiling to herself, but Totosai shook his head, "no girl, not just any demon, one that will push you to your limit, exhaust your skill, that is as the same level as you, and will grow and mature with your own abilities," he said.

Cho became quiet as if in thought, and then nodded, "alright, I will do it, when I've faced this demon, I'll bring you its fang,"

Totosai satisfied climbed back on top of the bull and turned to Sesshomaru, "I hope you're ok with this Sesshomaru-sama, it could prevent the girl's death or accelerate it. When she if she is successful, bring her to my cave," he said and the bull took off into the sky.

Cho looked at Sesshomaru his blurry mysterious form and grinned, "Guess we need to find a demon then," she called out with a light laugh.

~C~

The undead solders were gone now, and the Spector floated among its creations crying into it's see through hands, droplets of black blood falling onto the ground before disappearing. It was horrified that they would have killed what it had worked so hard to bring life back into, not true life, but it was life enough for it.

The Spector floated around for a while picking among the rotten flesh hoping to find at least one whole body, something to bring back, and complete the task, but there was nothing useful. The blade of heaven had done its job and done it well. Though some of them had large whole in the faces from a bite. At last it stopped as a spark of light appeared in front of it and a small glowing bubble floated around the shadow creature.

"you failed me," Yamasuso's crackled voice drifted from the bubble, her hooded face flashing briefly from it's center.

_"They kill them, my babies…my precious babies,"_ the shadow moaned and wailed, Yamasuso made a soft shushing sound and smiled, all her teeth jagged and pointed.

"no don't cry pet, I won't punish you, not this time, I'll give you another task, the Miko, she's nearby, if you go to her, take her life, but leave her body youthful for me, I'll forgive you," she said.

The Spector only wailed louder calling for its babies reaching down it caressed one of the skulls full of worms and flies. Yamasuso frowned disappointed in the shadow necromancer, "now, Necro, did you know the Miko is connected to the woman and demon, the one who killed your babies…kill the girl, you can show them how it feels," she cooed softly.

_"yes…yes…I'll take my revenge, thank you mistress, thank you so much!"_ the shadow was smiling a white faded smile and flittered away disappearing off into the tree lines. Yamasuso still floating gently in the air, her face contorted into a wide grin, and then the bubble popped and disappeared.

~C~

She had to face a demon that she alone could face and defeat. Cho thought this over and over in her head, Sesshomaru had decided that the group would remain there the rest of the day and night. That was all fine and dandy, but, this Totosai wanted to make her a sword, but in order to do that, he needed the fang of a demon that she could over power.

The question was, did she want a sword? Would it be worth it to face a demon that in truth she had no idea if she could actually defeat it or not, Yoshi had been a very powerful demon, but she didn't beat her, Sesshomaru did, and it was because of Sesshomaru that they defeated the hyena demons. But she also wasn't thinking about the other demon's she beat at well, because she still had Inuyasha and Miroku there in the background ready to fight them.

Sesshomaru was standing in front of the girl watching her face as thoughts were running through them. She seemed to be considering going through with it, fighting a powerful demon and taking its fang. He entertained the thought that she might consider challenging him, only for him to take pleasure in crushing her hopes. Besides, the aura from one of his fangs would consume the girl in mere seconds. Cho looked up at him, her eyes lighting up as she had finally taken notice to him standing in front of her.

"What do you want," she said making a face that she really didn't want to deal with him. Sesshomaru didn't respond, instead he was considering her choices for her.

He was really getting tired of her using that puny dagger as a way to protect herself, and he didn't want her taking his sword again, on the off chance she took Tokijin and she couldn't handle the demon aura. Of course, why he was so concerned what the girl did anyways, other than those particular things belong to him. Also, there was the issue of the bond between them, and the irritating itch that continued to bother him in the same place on his shoulder that her wound was. He was questioning that it did more than just keep them close together but also made them feel each other's pain. So just letting her die, would run the risk of the cursed beads also killing him, or at least, putting him in a weakened state he did not want to deal with.

He had decided, she would face the demon, a demon of his choice of course, but she would face one, and be given a blade, so that she would no longer be a hindrance to his life. he grabbed her around the arm and she protested. He lifted her up until he could loop an arm around her waist line.

"What the hell are you doing, let me go!," she shouted smacking his shoulder, he glared at her.

"Do that again Onna and I'll make sure you can't use those hands for anything else," he threatened and she went quiet.

"What are you going to do with my Lady," the female imp asked, Sesshomaru didn't respond at first. The fox leaped onto the woman's shoulders the red gaze suggesting that the animal wasn't going to be left behind this time.

"I'd like to know the same thing, last time it was to see a priestess, this time, there's no cohere rent reason," Cho commented and narrowed her gaze at him, Sesshomaru considered telling them at all, and just going and doing what he always did, whatever he wanted…yea…he was going with that option.

"Watch Rin," he ordered and turned towards the forest taking off into the air.

As they flew Cho remained very quiet, she stole glances at his blurry face and wanted to ask what the hell he was thinking. Finally she just had to ask, because she felt like the answer was obvious, "I guess you decided for me, that I will fight a demon alone, and have Totosai make me a blade," she said.

Of course he didn't answer, he just turned his head slightly towards her, she was assuming he was starting at her, expecting her to already no he was going to say yes, if he had felt the need to explain himself.

"Right, and I'm assuming you're going to choose the demon, as I'm not really gonna be very good at picking out a demon I could handle, no demon detecting sense and all that mess right," she chuckled. She did have to admit though, that not having to hold on for dear life to the furry pelt and having a strong supporting arm around her face was far more comfortable.

She found herself wondering what he looked like for a moment, and figure that he must look a lot like Inuyasha…but maybe not, he probably looked a lot like those many other ugly demon's she had run across so far, but as far as she could tell, his face was very human like. They were beginning to descend and she looked down, all she could tell, was that there was a lot of water centered in what looked like a creator in the earth with lots of tree's and cliffs that created a wall of no escape.

Sesshomaru hovered over the water, and then released his hold on her waist. Cho fell a short distance and landed in the water. it was knee deep and very muddy so even with her glasses she wouldn't have been able to see what was at the bottom and if she had just been lucky to land on a small stretch of shallow area. She looked back up at Sesshomaru who was already floating away towards the cliff wall probably to wait and see what would happen. She was surprised that their bond was allowing this much space between them or allowing him to throw her to the lions…figure of speech, she hoped.

Cho walked forward wading through the water, until she reached close to the center of the lake only to realize that the water had maybe only risen to a little below her hips. What could possibly be living in this lake or this area at all, that Sesshomaru thought she could overcome. She took a few more steps then scream as the muddy bottom gave away to a sheer drop. She sputtered and swam backwards putting herself back on the shallow ledge. She found the center of the lake, and it was just a giant hole.

The ground rumbled, the water rippled from the center of what she assumed was the giant hole because it was the center of the lake. The water exploded to life and a large wave crashed against Cho's body sending her backwards. Wave after wave crashed against her and she held up her arms trying desperately to swim and keep the hair out of her eyes.

Finally it stopped and she stood up on unsteady legs and looked up. Her mouth fell open at the blurry sight to behold. A large snake like creature that's body seemed miles and miles long. A dragon…he wanted her to face and defeat a dragon!

~C~

The sky was erupting with lightning as storm clouds rolled in, Cho took a few more steps back as the dragon's head lowered and peered at her it's long whiskers floating around her body before retracting. Perhaps he too had bad eyesight.

_"human…you disturb my home, explain yourself…"_ the great dragon hissed.

Cho swallowed releasing the breath she realized she was holding, "A Great sword's smith has offered to make me a sword, but in order for him to forge it, he needs a fang, and I do not have fangs. So I must find a demon that I can Face and Defeat alone, and take a fang from him," she shouted as loud as she could.

The dragon hissed and moved his massive body circling her dragging itself through the shallow water and sending waves crashing into her legs, "_I'm not a demon…any blade made from my fang with be far superior then any demon you come across, and holding such a blade would kill you alone,"_ he said.

Cho found it wiser not to lie to the Dragon and spoke, "I didn't choose you…the demon bound to me choose you, perhaps he see's something in me that I do not see, but I fear he might be blinder then me," she shouted.

The dragon's head grew closer and he sniffed, "_you are blind…as am I, though I sense you can gain full eyesight…while the world is only darkness to me now,"_ the dragon spoke.

"Then you are truly blind…are you, a very ancient dragon then…," Cho asked turning her head to him and she reached out with her hand. She touched his nose and the scales that covered his snout. They were cool to the touch and smooth.

The Dragon made a soft sighing like sound and grinned, "_The Taiyoukai is correct, I sense your bravery and strength in your touch, though you don't have the ability to control a blade from my fang,…I will make you another offer….prove yourself to me, warrior woman…and I will __**give**__ you my fang to forge yourself a blade, and it will obey you by my will," _he said the dragon lifted his head up high the long body arching high.

Now it made sense why Sesshomaru would choose a dragon…because the dragon was right, his blade would be far higher quality…and any demon she faced, she might not be able to control it, but, if she faced someone, who only wanted to test her, and give her one willingly…then it would be an exceptional blade made from honor…and not death and defeat.

"I accept your offer, I'd be foolish to refuse otherwise Dragon-Sama," she shouted turning around to face him, "Name your challenge!" she added.

"_It will be very simple human…survive until the moon has risen,"_ the dragon roared the water swirled and rushed forward.

Cho screamed as the water crashed into her sending her spiraling out of control.


End file.
