"Miroku," she said softly, her body tensing, but not enough for him to notice. "Why are you not at the village with the others?" she asked, facing him completely now. "I expected you to be there when I arrived, but as noticed, you weren't."
"I was busy meditating when I heard your footsteps. Not knowing it was you I decided to sneak up behind whoever it was... What brings you back after three years? Did Sesshomaru not come for you?"
Catriona's heart tightened in her chest as her body relaxed without him knowing. "He never came... And now they say he could have found a mate while I was gone," she answered, looking down so he couldn't see the hurt in her eyes. At the moment, she only wanted him to hear the sadness. "I came out here to think & I run into an old friend who might hate me," she said as she looked up at him to see confusion in his eyes.
"Why would I hate you?"
"What I did before I got saved by Sess that last time... Kneeing you...there... By the way, I didn't damage it did I?"
"Nothing that was permanent," he answered. "For the rest of that day & the day after it hurt, but it's healed now. Don't ever do that again please?"
"I won't," she sighed & began walking back to the village after realizing how long she'd been gone so far. And if she knew Isamu right, he'd be worried sick about her by now.
"Where are you going?"
She stopped & turned around to face him, a small smile on her lips. "I have to get back to the village before someone starts to worry about me."
"Who?"
"His name is Isamu," she answered before she walked back to the village to see Isamu still sitting on Inu Yasha's lap but he was asleep when she walked up to them & smiled. "Looks like he favors his Uncle," she smiled, making Inu Yasha blush.
"I don't think he does," Inu Yasha replied, looking down at the sleeping boy in his arms, then back up at Catriona when the wind blew against her from behind, letting him get a whiff of the new scent that faintly hung around her. "You found Miroku." His words were more of a statement than a question. "Did he seem okay around you?"
"He didn't try to hurt me if that's what you're asking," she replied.
"Who didn't try to hurt you mommy?" Isamu asked as he rubbed his eyes & pulled out of his uncle's lap to sit next to him & look up at her. "Did you find dad?"
"No Isamu, I didn't find your father," she answered, sitting next to Isamu on the other side of Inu Yasha. "I found instead, an old friend who wasn't too thrilled about me returning to my time before I found I was with you. We weren't on the best of terms before I left & now I've spoken to him again... He wasn't mean this time, but maybe he found someone or something that changed him," she smiled as he son smiled.
"So he's safe for me to talk to & he won't hurt me?" he asked, snuggling up his mom, having her wrap her arm around him.
"I'd prefer you to only talk to him infront of me for now, okay darling?"
"Alright mommy," he smiled. His ears went back when he saw a figure moving around a distance away in the woods that only he & his uncle could see with their hanyou eyes. His eyes narrowed & a low growl escaped his throat, surprising Inu Yasha, but not Catriona, seeing as how this was something normal for him; to get protective until he was sure it was safe.
Inu Yasha watched the exposed hair on the back of the boy's neck stand on end as he bared his tiny, but undoubtedly sharp, fangs as he growled again, more guttural this time. This boy is only three & he's ready to defend his mom? There's not doubt that he is Sesshomaru's son, he thought to himself before looking back into the woods to see Miroku emerge from the woods. He loosened, & put his hand on Isamu's shoulder, to calm him. "It's okay, we know him. He's a good guy," he said softly & the kid's lip lowered back down over his teeth & the hair on the back of his neck went down, but he still stared, growling more quiet now, ready for an attack. "It's okay Isamu, that's Miroku, the friend your mommy was talking about."
Isamu stopped growling & loosened in his mother's arms & climbed into her lap so he could be infront of her should the man, that was now walking to them, make an attack. His eyes were no longer narrowed, but calm as they stared at the monk that now stood before them looking between his mommy & himself. He scratched the outside side of his nose, using this as an opportunity to make it look like he only had an itch as he sniffed the air. He doesn't smell very friendly, he thought to himself as he looked at the monk's eyes. He stinks of anger right now... "Why do you stink?" he asked, hearing a snicker from Shippo who sat behind his mother.
"Isamu!" Catriona gasped. "That's not nice at all, now you say sorry to Miroku," she scolded.
"Yes mommy," he said as he looked from his mom back to the monk who looked as pissed off as he smelled. "I'm sorry Miroku," he apologized to get a cold stare.
"It's alright little one," Miroku said, lying through his teeth. So this is Isamu... By the looks of him, he has to be Sesshomaru's brat spawn, he thought to himself. The boy should be mine... But if he was mine, that sort of insult would have gotten him a thorough beating. Especially if it was directed at someone I knew! "I'll let it slide," he said with a false smile. "Inu Yasha, would you watch after him while Catriona & I have a talk?" he asked the favor of the hanyou who nodded only after Catriona nodded to him.
Isamu was taken from his mother's lap by Inu Yasha who held onto him while he watched his mother walk away with the monk who reeked of nothing but evil to him. "Why can't I go with them?" he asked, looking up at his Uncle.
"Because they need to have a moment alone... Hasn't she ever asked to talk to her brother or someone alone, away from you?"
"Yes, but I don't like how he smells... He reeks of bad things & I don't want him to hurt her," he answered. "Is he going to hurt her?"
"She knows to scream for us or come to us if she has a bad feeling, okay kid?" he asked, rubbing the top of the boy's head.
*~*
Miroku took Catriona away from the others & into a hut at the other end of the small village; his hut that only needed a few things done on the inside since the outside & floor, along with the roof were done. "So, you had a child by Sesshomaru's seed," he stated, folding his arms over his chest, his staff between them. "A very rude one at that. Has every bit of his father in him."
"Miroku..." she said, but didn't know what to follow after that. She wanted to stand up for her son, but Miroku was right, he had been rude. "I'm sorry about what he said to you, I really am. To him, being used to scents from our time, you do stink. He's used to his uncle Josh's smell, no other male's. Please forgive him Miroku, he's only a child."
"Why should I forgive him? He's not my son, not my worry, not mine," he said with an icy tone that pissed Catriona off.
"You're right, why should you forgive him? He would've been yours, but that's right, you were too much of an ass for me to even think about staying around for before I found out my mom & dad died! Until you went as far as to slap me & tried to use your fucking wind tunnel on me, & before you lied to me about how Sesshomaru would feel, I was actually thinking of going back to Kagome's time, telling my parents I was moving to Tokyo permanently, then coming to stay here with you! But then you had to go & be one major fucking jerk & ruined your chance of ever being with me, so before you go saying ANYTHING, stop. Don't even say a damn thing anymore." that was all Catriona said before she made her move to the door, only to have Miroku block her path. "Miroku m-"
"I'm not moving Catriona," he said, cutting her off as he grabbed her wrist & covered her mouth with his hand. "Listen to me Catriona, I have been, currently am, & always will be, better than that, that Youkai! You will be mine, I swear to it, you will be mine," he said before he moved his hand & crashed his lips to hers in a deep, hungry kiss, closing his eyes only briefly before he pulled away, looking into her wide, scared eyes. "Now, I'll move," he said as he stepped to the side, allowing her to exit, which she did, but he stayed behind.