Hello Minna-san :D

Thank you soooo much for your appreciations, any kind of feedback will always be appreaciated.

I'm sorry I haven't gotten around to reply each of you personally (I will in the next chapter)

Meanwhile please do enjoy this chapter. Again and always, Inuyasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko-sensei, I merely borrow them as an outlet for my imagination.

No profit gained from this fic, except, always I hope, your attention,

Enjoy!

Chapter 3 : The Trial

On the fourth night they camped at an abandoned shrine not far from the sea. Just before dawn Sesshoumaru awakened them all. Complaining sleepily, Jaken was about to prepare Ah-Un for further journey when his master stopped him.

"I will not be needing the dragon, Jaken, nor your service."

"M-my Lord?" the toad squeaked.

"You'll be a hindrance, stay and tend to the beast."

"Of course, Sesshoumaru-sama," he bowed deeply. It wasn't so unusual for his master to take care of his business without any entourage; it's a matter of efficiency.

"Rin."

One syllable shattered his illusion of normalcy.

The toad and the girl stared at each other, mouth gaping. He's taking her and her only, this had never happened before.

The girl squeaked a reply before hastily got up and started to trail him.

A mixture of disbelieve, curiosity and anxiety bordering on paranoia, not to mention a tinge of jealousy, rendered Jaken's speech unintelligible, "B-but, Wh-, Sesshoumaru-samaaaaaaaaaa…!" he wailed.

But he stayed behind, sniffing, muttering curses under his breath that this would not end well. And his master hadn't so much spared him a single glance back. Rin threw him one though, a bit unsettled by the arrangement.

...

They walked to the edge of a cliff. The world was stirring, the sea calm; dark blue with the very first faint orange glow from the rising sun. He stopped one step away from the precipice, and just when Rin about to ask him what he was going to do, he took something out from his sleeve.

A pearl, pretty, if an unusual one; it was dark-coloured, tinted with iridescent hue of blue, green and purple. He muttered something too fast and too complicated for Rin's ear to catch, and flicked the tiny pearl away to the sea.

Then, from where it hit the water, a ripple boomed. So sudden, and so fast, it had not only caused a roaring sound of the crashing wave, but also sent tremors on the solid ground. Rin staggered, gasped. Just as suddenly it came it was gone.

"Rin, on my back."

She gaped. Not really sure of what she had been told to do.

"Now," he growled.

She climbed on his back, awkward and unsure, but did her best to position herself the way that miko from the future often climb on the back of her master's hanyou brother. She never did this before; it was always Ah-Un's back, or on rare occasion, a tight hold on her master's mokomoko would be enough. She felt the familiar fur pelt constrict itself around her body, securing her tight, tight.

Without warning he jumped off.

She let out a startled shriek, one hand clutching her master's haori, the other his armor, bracing herself for whatever would hit next; water, jagged rocks. But it was just wind, salty and slapping. She opened her eyes, not realizing she had closed them.

Vast, endless horizon in front of them, dark blue sky tinted by dawn met its mirror image; rippling dark blue water stained by orange. She glanced back and saw the land shrinking behind them; her master's silver fur pelt and silver hair tangled with her own dark tresses trailing wildly, played by the wind.

They were running. On water.

Or something on its surface. She could feel it; something solid her master's feet landed on, every leaping step he took. Her whole body could feel him, his every fluid motion, every tension coiled and released by his muscles, every steady breath taken and let out. She had seen him move like this from a distance countless times, and admired him every single one. But to experience it on her own was beyond exhilarating. She could die, or start laughing, or scream in joy.

This, this feeling she was experiencing with her lord youkai, she would never trade with anything else. The freedom, the adventure, and the reassurance of being protected. Not with anything.

He heard her making noises. Carefree, whooping noises he hadn't heard from her for a while. He felt her hands snaking around his armor, seeking a better grip around his neck. Her breath was tickling his ears and hot on his neck, her excitement contagious. It tugged at something inside of him. He felt guilt creeping its tendrils, for what he about to subject her to. But it was necessary for she had given him no choice. He gritted his teeth and sped faster.

Few minutes passed without any incident. Then came a sound. Low and screeching. Rin looked back to search for its source. She saw dark cloud rising, spreading from the silhouetted land they just jumped off from. It seemed to be heading towards them. And as it drew nearer the sound it was making made sense.

Not cloud. Bats. Thousand and thousands of bats.

"Sesshoumaru-sama," she said, alarmed. She felt her master slowing. The noises grew louder, screeching sounds amplified by something else – youki – Rin can sense them. And all of the sudden she felt a ringing pain inside her head.

"Cover your ears. Whatever happened do not let them exposed," she heard him said amongst the noises. Before she had a chance to do what he had told though, she felt his fur pelt climbing and tightening on both side of her face, effectively covering her ears. She put her hands on it, just to be safe.

The world grew muted.

The swarms of bats were almost upon them. There were explosions on the water and the air, she could sense the heat and the blast. Then the lesson about the Islands of The Jewels came back to her mind. There were trials for those who seek to pay a visit, even when invited.

For in exchange of the promised pleasure, pain was a plenty.

Cover your ears for your mind would not be left wholly.

Sesshoumaru had stopped running, he turned back to face the oncoming threat. His stance relaxed. He flexed his claws, readying his poison.

It was a strange experience, watching her master fight without a sound of a battle, not to mention from the vantage point on his back. He leaped at them, slashing and clawing, flicking his poison here and there, sometimes dodging the youki blast from their mouth, but always, always landed firmly on his feet, on top whatever it was they are threading on the water's surface. She wondered if she hindered his movement, and briefly worried she's going to topple out without her hands gripping him. But the mokomoko fastened on her so securely, she couldn't even if she tried.

There were so many – too many of them. Seeing them kept coming even after he does mortal damage to ones approaching earlier, he took a several backward leaps, putting some distance between them. He took out Bakusaiga.

Single slash from the sword was all it took to eradicate the hordes of those winged rats. Bits of their scorched bodies fell to the water some distance away. It would have been much simpler to use Bakusaiga from the moment they saw them approaching. But Rin had understood from experience that the Lord Youkai of The West was not in the habit of squandering his weapon and its ougi. He'd only use them against those he deemed worthy, or if it's an urgent matter. Swarm of bats was hardly worthy of him, then whatever awaited them on the island must have been of great importance.

He sheathed the sword and resumed their speedy journey. Rin felt the pelt around her face loosening.

"Are you hurt?"

"No," she answered, her hands seeking a hold around his neck and shoulders, "I'm alright, Sesshoumaru-sama," her breath tickling his ears.

"We are not safe yet," he said. They were getting closer, he could feel it, which mean the next obstacle would be more powerful. Good, he thought. As much as he hated to put Rin on danger, he loathed weak opponents; they were a waste of time.

Rin could feel it too. The heavy, ominous youki in the air. Then she could see the water surrounding them change colour. The dark blue tinted by lighter one, and purple and pink. She was about to comment on its strange loveliness when she realized that it wasn't the water afterall but something in it, under the surface. She couldn't make the shape of it clearly because of the speed her at which the youkai lord carried her, but it looked so much like small sail–

Something splashed, and she heard Sesshoumaru hiss. But they kept running.

Then she saw it, a red welt that appeared along his right jaw, cutting in the magenta markings on his cheek. Like the one appeared on her skin long time ago after the caning she had received from the villager for poaching fish from their reserve.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!?" she managed, alarmed.

"Quiet Rin. Brace yourself," he replied briskly, annoyed that he had been distracted enough to allow whatever it was to have the first strike.

He unsheathed his claws; Rin could see them glowing green with poison, ready to strike. What it was to strike, she couldn't make out yet. Bits of her lesson coming back to her.

Water that quenches no thirst, is the battleground chosen.

Army of the sea, in lovely colours they are risen.

More splashes. This time her master was ready. They leaped; he tore and flicked his poison at seemingly thin air while she tried to see the nature of their assailant. More and more splashes. Still they were running forward, if gradually getting slower. Dodging, slashing, and at one point, Rin saw everything turned upside down in a blurry confusion and realized a second later that he had somersaulted, and her with him.

Tentacles, they were what had been making the splashing noise and attacking them. They appeared to be translucent, some tinged by vivid colours. They are the cause of the water's apparent change of colour. There must have been hundreds – thousands of them, clustered around bobbing translucent things that floats on water, their shape reminded Rin of a sailboat. She wondered what they are.

A blur of pink, Rin felt a wet slapping sensation on her right thigh. Then a sudden terrible pain; it burned and sting at the same, a pain so sharp and potent it choked her silent. She gasped, clutching tighter, sweat broke on her skin and tears started pouring out of her eyes.

She heard Sesshoumaru cursed under his breath,

"Fucking jellyfishes."

So that's what they are, she thought dizzily. The pain makes it difficult to register what was happening around her. She saw the glow of her master's poison whip. He hated that fighting technique, she noted mentally. Dark patches were eating the edge of her vision. She felt her position shifted, she saw his face, felt his arm around her; he was saying something, she couldn't make it out. Then she was laying on something hard, water around them. He wrenched her fists open, positioning her fingers around some length – a sword. Tenseiga? It pulsated in her hands, and somehow it was reassuring. She clung to the sword.

She didn't know what happened next.

When she came to, she saw his face looking down at her, the welt on his face already fading. But the pain she was feeling was still throbbing heavily. She groaned.

For some reason he put his arm in front of her mouth.

"This will hurt, Rin."

She was about to ask what had happened, or what he was about to do when, she felt his claws on her thigh, where the pain throbbed the most. Then came the acidic fume of his poison.

Then, a searing, blinding pain.

By Kami-sama did it hurt! She screamed this time, and it jolted her up to a sitting position. The pain did not subside; it grew, spreading along her injured leg. Now she knew why he put his hand there. She bit it to stave off the strain of pain, as it has exhausted the air in her lungs.

Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth, and finished what he started, cauterizing Rin's wound with his own poison; burning all the remaining venom from the tentacle. Granted, it wasn't the most effective – or convenient – way to treat the wound, but it would just have to do for now. Her bite on his arm was vicious; it must have hurt her a lot.

When the worst of it had subsided, she released her bite on his master's arm. She could see the bleeding bite mark on it; she would've been mortified if she had been fully conscious. Wordlessly, Sesshoumaru moved the bitten arm to her back, supporting her weight.

She took a look at her feet, and saw the damage. Her hem was torn, the gash looked as if it was burned, and red welts crisscrossed her right leg from ankle to mid-thigh. Red welts similar to the one she saw earlier on her master's face, but worse.

"I stopped it from spreading. But I cannot make it go away just yet."

She didn't know why she smiled at his words and why the next thing she said was, "Oh it's ruined, My Lord. You shouldn't have given me nice clothes," she whimpered, biting her lips.

He stared at her, "You say the silliest things."

She took a look around. Everything was dampened by sweat and seawater sprays. She was sitting on something solid, a path stretching thinly just above the water's surface, its colour iridescent black like the pearl her master had thrown over the cliff, the sword Tenseiga was on her side; it must have created a kekkai to protect her during the fight.

Sesshoumaru's perching on her other side, not a hair out of place now that the welt on his face had completely disappeared, his arm still supporting her. The battle was, again, won by Bakusaiga. Bits and pieces of the things that had assaulted them floating on the water around them. Dead, their flesh turned an opaque colour of pale blue.

"Jellyfish?"

"Not quite. Close enough, but worse."

"Are we going to the Island of Jewels, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

He nodded, "Can you walk?"

"Why?" she asked, trying to stand up. Her leg buckled under her weight.

He looked visibly stiffen, but did not give her an answer. He steadied her by putting his arms around her shoulders.

To Rin's amazement, as he turned and she thought he was about to resume their journey – this time she'd trail him with an injured leg – he kneeled, presenting her his back.

"Make haste Rin," he said after few seconds passed without her moving.

"… hai!" Rin closed her gaping mouth and proceed to climb on his back the second time, wincing as she tried to bend her right leg on the side of his waist, the wound was still tender, every movement stung.

She felt his hand on the leg, caressing her thigh before settling on the back of her knee, effectively straightening it. "Don't bend it just yet," she heard him saying as his fur pelt resettling in to secure her. His right hand stayed there as they picked up their pace.

Rin was so glad that Sesshoumaru couldn't see the blush spreading on her cheeks.

...

Everywhere she looked was water. She wondered how far this island was, and how many hordes of creatures her master needed to defeat before they finally reach it. She couldn't sense much youki in the air anymore. She tried to remember her lesson, looking for any clues of what they would face next.

Path that is as perilous as it was solid.

Tokens, one to be taken and another given by the guardian of it.

It was gradually getting colder, which was strange, considering it was early morning and the sun was already up in the sky, it should have been getting warmer.

But colder and colder it went, until Rin realized that she could see her own breath frosting. The sea, too, turned opaque as its surface glazed with thin coat of ice. The colour of the surrounding too, got gradually desaturated, as if something put a transparent white veil on it. Rin would not be surprised if snow started falling any given minute. But it didn't.

Instead they saw something standing on their path, a creature. There was no youki emanating from it, so it was either an animal or a considerably powerful youkai who could conceal its youki.

Sesshoumaru stopped some distance away from it. By then Rin could make out its shape. A bird, a peacock. Its plumage fanned in its full splendour. It was not exactly the bird with myriad of colours Rin saw on the scrolls of her lesson. It was mostly pristine white, but for the splash of iridescent blue and green on a part of its neck, half of its body, and a portion of its fanned tail. As if whatever had coloured it white changed its mind at the last minute and decided to smear some colour on its remaining part.

And it was huge. Its slender neck was taller than her. Its plumage spanned vast enough to block the low hanging morning sun.

"Stay on my back, be wary of the ice." Sesshoumaru said, his hand gently releasing her injured leg. Rin stood on her feet. Her right leg still throbbed when she put her weight on it, but it was much better than it was before. The sea around them had completely frozen, the path they were threading on visible only by a scrutinizing view through the ice.

"Greetings, Sesshoumaru-sama, Daiyoukai of The West," a voice came from the peacock without it opening its silvery beak. It was a youkai.

"Hanyou," he hissed his reply, "Finally, something sentient that talks. Is this how Kanranseki receive a guest who come to answer an invitation?" by having him meet this lowly halfbreed? He could smell its mortal blood from miles away.

The peacock inclined its head in a humble gesture, "I am but a lowly vassal of Kanranseki-sama. The invitation, Sesshoumaru-sama, is to be earned both to be given and to be answered," it said.

"Suppose now I should kill you to get to the island?" he said, sounding almost bored.

"If it pleases My Lord, you only have to take two of my feathers. One white and one col-," it never got the chance to finish.

Sesshoumaru took into the air, claws drawn, aiming straight at the bird's exposed fan. It closed the fanned plumage just in time and unfolded its white wings to block his attack. But the Lord Youkai was too fast for the bird. In less than three moves Rin heard the avian shrieking.

In a blur her master was standing in front of her again, with more than few feathers on his fist, white ones and colored ones. He raised them at the bird. But before he had the chance to say anything the white feathers disintegrated into dust in his hand.

"The white one, Sesshoumaru-sama, you should take from me by my own leave. It must be given," the bird said, regaining its composure. "Colored ones must be taken, which you have succeeded," it said calmly, folding its wings, a gesture Rin found so human.

The daiyoukai stood still, thinking. He flexed his fingers, letting the richly colored feathers fell scattered to the ice. Rin gasped, and forgetting what his master had told her, and made a move to gather them.

The bird's eyes caught her.

"The human girl, is she with you, Sesshoumaru-sama?" it asked.

"She's under my protection," he said flatly, irritated to be distracted. What should he do to get the hanyou's white feather? Sneaking on it would not make it give it up, so was using his speed, he could break the ice and emerge when it least suspected it. Was threatening it to give up its feather violating the rule? If so what can he do? Wait for it to molt?

"What is your name, Little One?" it asked Rin.

"Rin," she answered before Sesshoumaru had any chance to stop her, "And yours?" she didn't know what prompted her to ask it; it's just seemed polite to do so after he acknowledged her presence.

"My name is Shirahaze," the bird dipped its head.

All the while Sesshoumaru's silent; assessing the situation. Behind him Rin could feel the air getting colder and colder. The ice coating the sea's surface was now an opaque white, and she could no longer feel the pain in her leg, nor her skin. The cold numbed her senses, her teeth began to chatter. She wished she could do something to help her master.

"Little Rin," the bird said.

"Do not talk to her," Sesshoumaru growled. His stoic face betrayed nothing of the budding frustration inside of him as he looked for a strategy. He was more and more inclined to kill the bird and be done with it, even risking its owner's wrath.

"Little Rin," the bird ignored him, "You may assist your master," it said.

Rin let out a gasp of surprise. It was a rare thing for her to asked to participate in something like this by a supernatural being – or as his master had called it – a half supernatural being. She couldn't see it but she'd bet her life what the bird had just said offended Sesshoumaru greatly.

But it was so so cold. She puffed her breath on her numb hands. She needed to do something, even as silly as she thought it was.

"Shirahaze-sama," she started.

"Rin," warned his master.

"… may we, please, have your white feather, Shirahaze-sama?" she asked, also deciding to risk her master's ire by ignoring his order.

It had never occurred to The Daiyoukai of The West to literally asking the bird for the feather. Part of him was furious at both of these lesser creatures who were virtually ignoring him. But he was interested on how the event had been unfolding so far, as silly as it looked. As if the creature would give it up just by being asked.

The bird cocked its head, considering. "What do you have to offer me in exchange, Little One?"

Rin gulped. "This Rin has nothing… but gratitude," she said, sheepishly.

"This Shirahaze prefers something to keep," the bird said.

"Would you like to keep your feathers back? We only needed one." she offered the handful she had gathered when Sesshoumaru discarded them. Her face was burning. Such a ridiculous thing, too, but, she had to try.

The peacock whipped its head forward. Rin fancied that it was an avian equivalent of snorting.

"Keep them. They may help you. I have no need to keep what were once mine. Have you anything else, Little Rin?

She didn't.

But she could do something else.

"Would you keep a song? In your memory?" she asked hesitantly. She had always liked to sing, his master never commented on it but he always allowed her and when asked, Jaken always blurted out vague things that could either be a backhanded compliment or a direct insult, so she didn't know if she's any good. But Ah-Un liked it, so it may sound not too bad for animal ears. She hoped.

The bird cocked its head to the other side, "Have you a song about the land?"

"Yes!" she said, excited, "About the mountains, the forest and the meadows!"

"Then this Shirahaze would like to hear if it's worth the memory to keep."

She took a step forward. Her gaze caught that of her master's. He looked calm and unruffled as usual, but she did wonder if she had offended him by taking the liberties of negotiating with the bird. "Sesshoumaru-sama…?" she squeaked.

"I have no care for bartering, Rin," he said, shifting his stance, giving her a room on the thin ice-covered path to approach the bird.

She took it as an approval, and stepped forward. Slightly wobbling on her feet, the cold was biting now. She wondered if this was going to take a toll on her voice.

Then she felt something warm around him, and glanced back to find her master, standing closely, allowing his fur pelt to constrict around her, providing just enough warmth to still her shivering nerves.

Burying her cold hands on the fur pelt, she inhaled deeply. Recalling the memory of the beauty of the land she traveled all these years with her master.

Then she sings. About the lazy summer days in the Western lands, its gentle breeze, its generous sunlight. She sings about the green meadows, the rustle of tall leaves on her hands, scent of thousand flowers on the air.

She sings about autumn, the flaming redness of momiji leaves framing the blue mountains. She sings about the winter, the footprints she made on the thickly falling snow; and the spring, where everything starts anew under the shower of cherry blossom petals.

Her voice was clear, and Sesshoumaru realized, it was completely uninterrupted. The wind had ceased, and the sound of distant waves had completely disappeared. At some point in the song, the bird closed its eyes.

The peacock closed its eyes still, even after the song had ended. Rin wanted to approach it, to ask whether it would keep her song in exchange of its white feather, but Sesshoumaru's mokomoko held her firmly in her spot.

The bird opened his eyes. Then with a slow, languid movement, it approached Rin. She could feel her master tensing behind her, ready to strike should anything unwanted happened.

Up close she saw the eyes of the bird. They were differently colored. Its left was silver gray, the right clear green, with a fraction of it marred by the gray.

"Little Rin," it said, "you may take my feather," it tilted its magnificently displayed plumage, giving her access to reach it.

She extended a hand, caressing planes of feathers. "Does it hurt, Shirahaze-sama?" the question just jumped out of her mouth.

The bird looked taken aback. In a span of few minutes, this little mortal girl had asked it two questions it never been asked before by any hopeful candidates seeking passage to the island.

"Like your hair being plucked," it answered.

"Then I apologize beforehand," she said, her hands holding one of the white stems of its feather. She exhaled and yanked it free as hard as she could, hoping that the speed would dull the biting sensation. It slid free into her hand.

Rin admired it. Unmarred by violence, it was long, almost as tall as herself, and exquisite. It held an impossible colour ranging from pristine white to iridescent pearl, and where his colored feather had a vivid turquoise eyespot on its tip, this one had a huge, clear, translucent one. She put it in front of her eyes instinctively, testing the see-through quality of it.

She gasped; through it she didn't see a huge bird. She saw someone; a person with eyes the same color as the avian's. She was about to say something when the bird put the tip of its wing on her lips, silencing her and at the same time causing her master to snarl threateningly.

"Cease this farce and take us to your island, Halfbreed. Now. Or I'll take it that you want me to earn the end of your pitiful existence," he hissed.

The bird bowed deeply, stepping back.

After some distance away she looked up to the sky and let out a long, wailing squawk.

The ice cracked, the solid white plane on their surroundings disintegrating with a rumble. The cold was subsiding.

It spread both its wings. Rin could see the iridescent green and blue striation on their inner folds; it seemed to grow more magnificent by the minute.

It looked at both of them.

"Welcome to the Island of The Jewels, pleasure seekers," it said, before taking a flight, disappearing behind the clouds.

Unhindered by the opacity of cold surroundings and the bird's magnificent plumage, they could see silhouettes of lands not far away.

...

Sesshoumaru carried Rin the rest of the way by the same manner he carried the injured girl before. He was wary; he wanted to get this folly over as quickly as possible, showing Rin what she needed to see, enough to make her change her mind about her living arrangement. He was mildly irritated as well, for it was Rin who had won them the final passage to the island.

A morbid irony, all things considered.

He really should have killed the bird the second he saw it, and claimed ignorance should its owner ask for a compensation.

Rin, on the other hand, was beyond excited. She was so thrilled to have managed to persuade the bird to give her its feather. Curious too, about the person she saw through the translucent eyespot of the white feather. She tucked the feathers carefully on the back of her obi; It had told her to keep them, they might be of help. She wondered what they were for.

There were no shore on the island, no sandy beaches like most island had. Instead, the water bordered directly with greeneries. One step they were on the water's surface and the next they were stepping on think cushion of green moss.

Sesshoumaru let her down gently. The softness of the moss beneath her feet was soothing to the constant dull throb on her light leg. He did not walk in front of her like he usually did; he walked beside her. One of his hands bracing her elbow. It bewildered Rin.

In fact, everything on the island bewildered her. It was beautiful. Richly so. As if every inch of it was ornamented by exotic creatures serving as living decorations. The thick, deep green moss carpeted the ground was dotted by tiny colourful mushrooms, some scattering wildly, some grew in perfect circles. Everywhere her eyes look was green foliage serving as background to clusters of blossoms and low hanging fruits. Thick tendrils of roots and vines seemed to grow following an intricate patterns. Every colour held an iridescent quality about it. The island stunned them.

"Come," his voice broke her reverie. He tugged her gently.

She wobbled, and letting her master taking the lead, she scanned her surrounding. She noticed the animals; a turtle, its carapace blending perfectly with the mossy ground; a stag, its antlers blending in with the hanging vines; horde of butterflies she previously mistaken as a cluster of flowers.

There was a sweet scent on the air. It made her feel light-headed. And something was strange. It was completely silent; no noises, no voices. Every creature stood still, as if waiting for something.

"Sesshoumaru-sama…," she tugged on his sleeve, "Why…?"

She never got to finish her sentence, everything went dark. The last thing she registered was how thick and soft the moss felt against her cheek…

...

To Be Continued

...

End of Chapter 3! Ack! I'm sorry I know I know it's 5000+ words I promise you the fabulous Mother of Sesshoumaru, but this story writes itself now, I am under its control so you will have to wait a couple more chapters for it. I initially imagine this story about Rin/Sesshoumaru romance story but turned out it got quite a bit of fairytale adventure in it; I guess I really really missed the adventurous ambient of the canon story (I'm a sucker for saga storyline). I do hope I don't disappoint you. This chapter's still more of a characters study. But I promise you I promise you the advertised blood gore and smut is coming up next, they are after all, have arrived in the Island of Pleasure, so stay tuned.

And if you're curious what's the 'jellyfish' attacking Rin and Sesshoumaru, go google Portuguese Man o' War, it's so pretty and so lethal. Not exactly jellyfishes but more of an organism made of polips. Oh and the creature inspiring my OC Shirahaze is a hybrid peacock, a cross between white peacock and blue peacock, see picture here (remove spaces) inotternews wp-content/ uploads/ 2012/ 03/ white-blue-peacock. jpg, exquisite creature isn't? I just had to make it a character (its name Shirahaze's from 3 different kanji 白 shiro= white, 羽 ha=feather/plumage, and 是 ze = justice)

From the bottom of my heart I thank you all for the appreciation. I cannot get enough of it. I want to hear what you think of the story so far, which part is your favorite and what do you think I can do to improve it. Please do review. Thank you so much for reading. See you on the next chapters :) (no it would not not be in 9 years, alright, only the 1st chapter written in 2003, it was re-written this year and the rest was recent, got the whole plot inside my head, I promise you I'd finish this one)

~Quincette