Catriona watched as everyone laughed & had fun dancing & telling stories, or for the children involved, they got to sit & listen to real life stories or fairy tales told by the elders. She smiled a little as she watched the children clap as one of the elders finished telling the story about a youkai that attacked the village long before the children themselves were born.
She watched as Miroku served drinks to the ladies that had attended the festival, under the watchful eye of Inu Yasha, who wasn�t too thrilled when he found out that the houshi was in the village. She sighed softly as the hanyou slid his hand onto the Tetsusaiga & his free arm around her shoulders as a protective pose, nothing territorial.
Miroku glanced her way & noticed the protective pose Inu Yasha had taken on, making him shake his head slightly. He went over to them & handed Catriona the drink she had made a request for, & handed Inu Yasha the drink that contained the sleeping powder he had slipped in.
�Thank you Miroku,� Catriona said softly as she brought the drink up to her mouth, taking a deep sip since her throat was hurting from the smoke rising from fires.
When Inu Yasha took the drink, he scoffed & sniffed at it before hesitantly taking a sip. He glared at Miroku & bent his ears back in a threatening way. �You can go serve the other people now,� he growled.
Miroku saw Catriona�s slight frown as he began moving away to serve other drinks to the men, women, & children that awaited them. -He�s being a little too rude for my liking,- he thought. -I hope he falls asleep standing up then falls to the ground, hitting his hard skull on the ground.-
�Inu Yasha, you didn�t have to be so mean to him,� Catriona spoke softly after taking another sip from the drink.
�He�s too dangerous to be around you Catriona,� Inu Yasha sighed as his ears unbent.
�He was serving me a drink... Incase you haven�t realized it yet, he served you one too.�
�Why are you getting protective over him when he almost fucked up your life with Sesshomaru?�
Catriona�s eyes narrowed as she rose to her feet, leaving the drink on the floor, & glared at him before she left the hut that most of the celebration was being held in. -JERK!- She screamed in her mind.
Inu Yasha watched her walk off as a frown came to his lips. -Where is she going?- He thought as he got up & left the hut after pardoning himself. Once outside, he sifted her scent out from the few others that were outside & went after her scent. �Catriona!� He called out to her retreating form as he walked faster after her. He watched her as she disappeared into the hut they were sharing during the stay. �Catriona, what is wrong with you?�
�He was just giving me a drink & you were rude to him,� she spat at him, turning to face him. �Inu Yasha, he�s not the only one that almost fucked up my life with Sesshomaru. Or are you forgetting that?�
The harshness of her words & the level of anger he heard in her voice made him shrink back from her. He looked down & sighed. �Are you always going to hate me for the child growing inside of you?�
�Inu Yasha, my mate is in a battle to protect the lands that he wanted me to live in with him,� she spoke quietly, but the anger in her voice remained as she continued to leave out the stuff she knew of the battle stopping. �I am pregnant with the child of his brother, the one he can barely stand, & he might not know of it yet, but he might.�
Inu Yasha shook his head as a groggy feeling washed over him & sleep began tugging heavily at his eyelids. �Catriona, I�m only trying to...� His voice carried off as he nearly fell over but caught himself. �I�m only trying to protect you from his greedy hands...�
Catriona watched as Inu Yasha passed out, falling to the floor, before she moved over to him & pulled him onto the bedroll that he was sleeping on the previous night. Once she had him on the bedroll, she grabbed the Tetsusaiga & tucked it between his chest & arm before pulling a cover over him. She grabbed Inmetsu & tucked it into the obi that held her kimono closed.
After she grabbed the small bag someone had given her as a gift, that she had stuffed clothing into, she poked her head outside the hut to see people lying on the ground, a light snoring coming from all directions. When she stepped outside in time to see Miroku step out of the celebration hut, she walked quickly to him & stood in front of him. �Are we ready to go?� She asked.
�I�m ready, but has Inu Yasha passed out?� Miroku asked looking in the direction of the hut she had been staying in.
�He�s out cold,� she answered as they began walking to the only entrance or exit in the village, the wooden gates. "So, how are we going to get out of the gates?"
"If we both push hard enough we can open it together," he answered as they came up to the gates. "We only need one side open so it shouldn't be hard for us to open." A soft nickering caught the houshi's attention & he looked in the direction of the stables. "Do you know how to ride a horse?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It had been nearly an hour since they took the horse from the village & since they only took one horse when they struck out away from the village; Catriona was sitting with her back against the front of Miroku�s body. She didn�t delight in the fact that Miroku was holding onto her waist, but she didn�t want him falling off should they have to put the horse into a run for some reason. Nor did she want to risk him leading the horse off course. She had learned from the last time they saw each other not to put trust into the houshi, but she was trying her hardest to give him the benefit of the doubt.
�Miroku, do you think it would be wise to keep riding through a snow storm if we should run into one on our journey?� She asked, turning her head to look back at her traveling companion.
�I don�t suppose it would hurt anything if we were to,� he answered. �As long as the snow didn�t fall too hard & the horse didn�t get over-exhausted, then I think it would be fine to keep riding through a storm.�
Catriona nodded slightly as she turned her head back around to watch where the horse was going. �Hopefully, my departure to Sesshomaru�s lands wasn�t made too late,- she thought. �I can�t wait to see my beloved mate again.-
�Catriona, do you plan on riding non-stop?�
�I�m going to push us as far as I can & only then will we stop,� she answered. �I want to make as good as time as possible. Is this okay with you?�
�I�m perfectly fine with your idea.�
�Breaks to relieve ourselves & get water for ourselves & the horse will be the only exceptions I�ll make.�