Natsu pov:

Its been a month and a half since the eastern lord and Rei left, and the whole castle is still in the mood of the war. Kazuki had been busy with training the army, the servants busy preparing weapons and armor, and Sesshomaru training himself and finishing paperwork. And now they are off at war and everyone is uneasy.

In short, the whole castle is still buzzing with tense air.

I have been getting very distracted lately, ever since the kiss I returned to Sesshomaru and having seen him shirtless while training hasn’t helped my already lost sense of concentration. I have been thinking a lot about him lately and my understanding of falling for him is getting stronger and stronger.

I sighed. “Aww man….how is it that someone like him is making me lose my mind?” I sighed again and fell onto my back on the grass. I felt a weight on my stomach and chuckled when I saw Rin and Kaito lying on the grass with their heads on my stomach. I patted their heads softly and went back to watching the clouds in the sky.

But now its been a little better since the castle is rather empty. Everyone has gone off to war and its just a few palace guards, me, Rin, Jaken and a few servants. But at the same time, its been very worrying since I know Rei is on the other side…..and I would be devastated if anything happened to him. He was the first person I trusted after what happed with the person I had fallen in love with, and if I lost him…..I don’t even want to think of what could happen to me.

Besides that, I had also been doing a bit of training myself. I had gotten sloppy and flabby from just playing with the kids and eating and sleeping. So now I was back to my toned and muscled self and ready for any fight that could come by. After all, it was my duty to make sure Rin and Kaito were safe…..especially after that incident with that guy called Naraku. And somehow, I had a feeling I was gonna run into him soon.

I twitched when I heard a sudden scream near the servant quarters and I jolted into sitting position. “Rin, Kaito. Go inside the castle now.” I hissed and they nodded with a look of fear. I pulled out 2 daggers which I had forced Kazuki to get for me so I could be better equipped when protecting the kids.

I made my way silently to where I heard the screams and hid behind one of the castle walls. I narrowed my eyes and peeked out. Looks like my senses were right…..and surprisingly fast too. There was Naraku, attacking the guards. The guards at the gate were not as strong as the general army and they were getting beaten well. Naraku had managed to even kill 2 of them and I clenched my jaw.

I ran quickly to where they were getting attacked and slashed through his tentacle. “You’re a coward….attacking when Sesshomaru isn’t here.” He looked to me and chuckled. He removed his fur pelt and I saw a man with long wavy black hair and cruel red eyes. I spun the daggers I had in my hand and ran at him. He sent his tentacles flying at me but I easily dodged.

“You’ve gotten better than the last time we fought, I see.” He smirked and I chuckled darkly. “I was slacking off, but I’ve been working out. I’m not as weak as you think I am.” I jumped at him and slashed through his creepy appendages easily this time. I smirked and he cursed at me with a glare. I chuckled and evaded his attacks smoothly.

“Dance of blades!” I snapped my head behind me and my eyes went wide when I saw crescent shaped while blades coming my way. They destroyed everything in their path and I dodged as quickly as I could. But 2 of the blades managed to scratch my side and my arm. I hissed in pain and I felt the energy drain through the wound in my side.

I felt tentacles hold me around the torso and squeeze me tightly. I gasped in pain and I heard Naraku chuckle. “Looks like the small distraction worked. Now, time to use you as bait.” I gritted my teeth and struggled, but he only tightened the hold and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “L-let go….” I gasped and Naraku chuckled again.

I felt my vision going blurry from the lack of air and black spots began to block what I could see. When I thought everything was over, the tentacles were suddenly released and I fell to the ground. I gasped and snapped my head up to see Sesshomaru there. He was badly injured and bleeding holding up his sword and behind him several soldiers, Kazuki and slaves were coming into the castle. They all looked badly injured and my eyes went wide again.

Sesshomaru collapsed on his knees taking his sword for support and I got startled. “Lord Sesshomaru!” I had never seen him like this before. He was a really strong demon and I had seen him fight other demons many times. If he was this worn out from the war, it must have been really intense. I cursed and picked up my daggers again. I threw the daggers at the woman who had sent those blades at me and hit her in almost crucial points.

She began to bleed heavily and cursed at me once before flying away on her feather. I picked up a sword that was dropped by one of the guards and ran at Naraku. My top priority was to save Sesshomaru now. He was in really bad shape and if Naraku did anything to him now, he may not be able to defend himself. I ran and jumped over one of his tentacles and slashed him across the chest. The rest of his body disintegrated and all that was left was a small doll on the ground.

I threw the sword away and ran to Sesshomaru. He coughed out blood and collapsed against me when I touched him. “Sesshomaru!” I looked up and spotted Kazuki. He was also wounded and was panting. “Kazuki! Whats going on? What happened?!” Several of the other servants of the castle came running out and went on to help the other wounded men and take away the slaves in binds.

“We won the battle….but we lost a lot of men and as you can see we were severely injured too.” “Shit!” I cursed loudly when I felt my dress get soaked with his warm blood. I had to treat Sesshomaru fast! He was losing too much blood! I hauled him onto my back with a huff and tried to go as fast as I could to his room. I passed Kaito and Rin on the way and Rin immediately broke down into tears. They followed me to Sesshomaru’s room and a laid him on the bed gently.

Rin didn’t stop crying and I snapped from the tension. “Rin! Stop crying now! If you want to save him, get me towels and antiseptic! Kaito, bring me hot water!” Startled by my sudden shouting, they squeaked and ran to get the things I asked them to. I tore off Sesshomaru’s shirt and hissed when I realized I was still bleeding too. I took his shirt and wrapped it tightly around my wound. It would have to suffice for now.

Kaito and Rin came back quickly with their arms full of the things I had asked them to get and I felt slightly guilty when I saw them holding back tears and trying to be strong. I would have to apologize for screaming at them later.

I took clean clothes and wiped his wounds. Sesshomaru groaned even though he was unconscious and I put pressure on his major wounds to stop the bleeding. “C’mon Sesshomaru…hang in there. I know you’re much stronger that that!” He was breathing heavily and was running a high fever and Rin and Kaito wiped his sweat off him with a cool cloth.

After a few minutes of applying pressure, the bleeding stopped and I gave a sigh of relief. I gently put the antiseptic on his wounds and he shifted and whimpered in his sleep. It was the first time I had seen him so weak and unable to defend himself and I felt my chest get tight. He was always so proud and strong and seeing him like this was just….painful.

Once I had wrapped his wounds with bandages, I pulled the covers over him and placed a cool cloth on his fore head. He was still sweating and had a high temperature but I was a little relieved that there wasn’t any threat to his life.

I turned around to look at Rin and Kaito. Their faces were scrunched up in trying to stop crying and I laughed weakly. I walked to them and kneeled in front of them. I patted their heads and looked at me sadly. “I’m sorry I yelled earlier…..I just wanted to save Sesshomaru first.” I brought them into a hug and they began to cry loudly. I closed my eyes and hugged back as tears fell from my eyes too.

I cannot even explain how relieved I was to see that he would be ok. He was making me feel this way….something I never wanted to feel for anyone again. I had stayed away from everyone, from everything that I thought I would get too attached to so I would get hurt again. But here I was, with Sesshomaru. I had felt so scared seeing him in that state.

Because now I cared for him more than I ever wanted to.

>>Timskip

Its been a few days since everyone came back from the war. I spoke to Kazuki a little while after his wounds had been treated and he had gotten some rest. Apparently it was a really tough battle and in the end, Sesshomaru had managed to kill the eastern lord. So now the eastern lands and western lands were under his rule. And the servants at the eastern castle were brought to either serve or be executed here.

The only thing that really upset me was that Kazuki didn’t know anything about Rei….whether he was alive or….I wanted to be positive. Rei was strong too, he couldn’t die….right?

After my brief talk with Kazuki, I had spent the entire time with Sesshomaru in his room after I had treated him. I had become too attached and no matter how much my mind told me to leave his care to some other servant, my heart didn’t allow me to leave. Even now I sat there staring at his face. Beads of sweat rolled down his face and I wiped them gently with a cool wet cloth. His fever had gone down but he was till unconscious.

All the servants were angry that I didn’t leave his side and it hurt me too, but its like my body didn’t listen to me and I remained watching over him every single minute of the day. I hadn’t even gotten proper sleep. I barely slept 2-3 hours a day.

Kaito and Rin worried about me and they watched over Sesshomaru when they forced me to sleep. I had initially thought of having someone watch over them while I took care of Sesshomaru, but they didn’t want to be away from me. I could understand, since they had got very attached to me and the others still didn’t treat them well. So as I watched over Sesshomaru, I took their lessons and played with them in the room itself.

Jaken was also in bad shape when they had returned and I had treated his wounds too. He was surprisingly nice to me after that day and stayed with me in Sesshomaru’s room.

I got up from my seat next to the window and walked to where Sesshomaru was. I brushed his bangs slightly and bit my lip as my eyes stung. Why was I letting my emotions waver like this? Why was he able to make me feel so insecure? How could he say things that made my mind go blank? I shook my head. I reached for spare bandages on the table and began to take off the soiled bandages from his chest.

I gently lifted him into sitting position so that he was leaning forward against me. His chin was on my shoulder and I disinfected the wounds on his front and back and began to wrap the bandages around him. The first time I did this, Jaken was livid, but this was the only way I could wrap the bandages around him so he had reluctantly agreed. After a few times though, he said that even if this was the only way to help, he would have killed off the person if it wasn’t me. I never understood what he meant by that, but either way it didn’t matter anyway.

After all these days of staying here, I had come to realize, or atleast wonder how lonely Sesshomaru actually was. He never socialized with anyone, never spoke to anyone about anything besides work and never showed anything past his cold façade. I don’t understand why he always shut himself off like that, but just thinking about it made me wonder if he ever felt lonely and if he ever wanted to be with someone….

Is that why he always observed me?

No….his reputation was that he hated humans and half demons. So why would he like me? I felt a sharp pain in my chest and effectively in the wound on my side that I had received from Naraku’s minions. I was so distracted by having to treat Sesshomaru that I had neglected my wound till only 2 days ago. To think I would like someone who hated humans and half demons….but he cared so much for Rin. Could I become an exception as well?

I sighed. What was I thinking? How could I expect something like that to happen? Sesshomaru is a Lord….a demon lord and I’m just a….human servant. I had no status, no recognition in this world.

I shook my head and set the bandage roll aside. I was about to make Sesshomaru lay back down but I felt an arm wrap around my back softly. I blinked and tried to look but I was pulled closer to Sesshomaru. “What….” “Just for a while.” I blinked when I hear Sesshomaru whisper. I bit my lip but sighed and wrapped my arms around him softly. I felt a motherly instinct come over me and I brought one hand to his head and patted it gently.

What am I doing? I closed my eyes and then opened them to stare at the bed. It felt so nice to have him hold me and for me to hold him like this. He was so gentle….probably because he was still wounded, but gentle and sort of loving nonetheless. But it was wrong! Our differences could not allow this! I had to stop this before it went to the point beyond repair….but I just couldn’t let go of him right now.

“You should lie down. You still need to heal.” I said softly. “Did you stay here the whole time?” His voice was slightly hoarse and I sighed softly. “Yes.” He didn’t say anything for a few minutes and I felt his hand fall to the bed and his weight became more obvious. He had fallen asleep again.

I gave a soft laugh and laid him down slowly. I pulled the covers up to his chin and ran my hands through his hair once. “What you’re making me do, Sesshomaru.” I mumbled. I contemplated for a second, but bent down and gave a soft kiss on his forehead. I pulled away and sat down on the chair next to his bed.

I just hope I know what I’m doing.

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