Old Wounds Never Heal (Rogue and I)

Her brow was arched, watching him stumble over his words. An ego boost indeed. She felt much better, she needed it. She was beginning to feel unattractive. She cocked her head upwards with a soft scoff. "Well, at least he isn't a callous prude to everyone. Makes me feel awfully special." She moved away from the door and towards the man. Usually, the wandering eyes of a human would cause her skin to crawl. But she wanted this. Needed it.

"As long as you're content, however." She offered him another dry smile. The cat-suit wasn't a way to show off, per se, however she did believe in using what she could to gain the advantage she would need. Lesser beings might even be distracted, she was counting on it. She'd often used it to gain just the edge she needed over her opponents. "Regardless, we are not quite the same page, he and I. And here I am, at your command I suppose." She offered, her arms crossed over her breasts and her hip cocked comfortably.
 
Oh god DAMMIT.

"..With..all due respect, Lady Kestrel." He said, clearing his throat as he tugged at his ski-mask around his neck. "As..appreciative as I am of your..uhm..cooperation, I don't need you to be that level of cooperative." He said simply. "Just stay close and do what you're told, and maybe Lord Sesshoumaru won't look at you like you're a pain in his side." He said with a friendly smile, his G36C resting against his shoulder.

"..I'm flattered though," He said quite honestly. "I mean...honestly, Lady Kestrel..you're beautiful."
 
She wasn't sure what exact level of cooperation it was he needed from her, so the clarification was nice. His nervousness was... endearing. Built her back up little by little. Her confidence had returned, to a certain extent, and her previous grin now strolled back across her features. She uncrossed her arms and stood comfortably before she shrugged and nodded.

"If you say so. I'm only dong what I'm told..." And then he continued. And she felt her head soaring. She'd wanted to hear that all day. It honestly didn't matter from who. Even Jaken's previous statement was welcome. "I appreciate the compliment, Shinji... And after the damage my self esteem has suffered today, I'd be rather inclined to offer you a good tug at this zipper." She paused. "However, I think you and I both know that's not a good idea..." She recrossed her arms and continued. "Would it make you more comfortable if I zipped up a bit more?" Honestly, she couldn't afford to be distracting her own team mates.
 
"..I..would greatly appreciate that, ma'am...well..both." He laughed somewhat, hand on the back of his neck. "..But ah..let's go the route that doesn't get me fired. If you don't mind at all. Last thing we need is a bunch of erections and soiled panties when we're trying to shoot people." Well, hey..maybe she wasn't so bad. At least, Shinji didn't feel anything but the normal level of intimidation you got from humans being around Daiyoukai.

"We're supposed to be flanking them on the second entrance..so if you will follow me, we'll get things started." He smiled. Sesshoumaru knew the plan, so did he. He just liked to run it over hundreds of times..methodical as he was.
 
She chuckled softly. He was endearing indeed, and as he finally voiced that it would make him more comfortable, she reached down and tugged the zipper until it met it's stop just beneath her chin. This encounter was far more than a breath of fresh air, and she felt ready to tackle whatever it was that was ahead of her. Her eyes scanned over the rest of the mercs just standing about. Her lavender gaze fell back onto him.

"Lead the way." She said, motioning in front of them. She followed right behind him as he made his way where they were supposed to go. She felt comfortable in the cat-suit, would have to be sure to get one of her own. When she finally set her eyes on Sesshoumaru again, she grimaced inwardly. And after all the ego boosts, it was only a matter of time before her self esteem was knocked back.
 
Sesshomaru's gaze was only brief as they passed, but..for a second of brief focus. His eyes trailed down her back and onto that perfectly molded rear, golden eyes burning into her body. It was so smooth and seamless as he looked up to speak to the men and women surrounding him, and only went back down when they had to see the map again. He had become quite good at hiding every manner of emotion and movement.

"I take it you have plenty of experience fighting?" Shinji asked, completely ignorant to Sesshoumaru even looking at her.
 
She still held the strut of a confident woman, and as she continued walking with Shinji, she hadn't even noticed the wandering eyes. In fact, she had been doing all she could to avoid looking at him. She turned her head towards Shinji for a moment before glancing in front of her again, making sure that she didn't just inadvertently bump into anything.

"I do. I'm no stranger to a battlefield. However, I have a bit more personal experience in stealth." She said, pausing for only a moment before she began again. "I'm fast. Not the fastest, I'm sure. But it's one of my more predominant traits." It seemed as though she had switched. Business was business. And she thoroughly believed there was a time for work and a time for play. She could well tell between the two.
 
"Hm," Shinji mused in thought as he took stock of the warehouse a moment, before grinning. "..We can use that." He said, rummaging into his combat vest to hand her a a small throat communicator. "Here..we're going to put you through your paces..you can't be outdone by a bunch of humans with guns, can you?" He said easily. Hey, he'd use her..she'd be great for a situation like this.
 
She looked down at the communicator he handed her and took it before looking back up at him. She arched a light brow before she responded to him. "I'd like to say that I'm rather confident in my abilities, however, the trouble my confidence has gotten me in as of late has been... disheartening to say the least." She glanced towards the warehouse as she tucked the communicator in the appropriate place.

"In any case... I don't like to disappoint." She concluded before turning towards him with a nod. Whatever it was they needed her to do, she supposed she'd do. It was what she was here for. Of course, when one applied for a personal aide, naturally this was not what they had in mind, but she was excited at the prospect of being able to blow off a little steam.
 
"Good," He smiled, "Why don't you take a trip up to the rooftop? We're going to breach in through the door..and when that door opens, those windows should be a nice help once they scatter like cockroaches..you get me?" He grinned. "We'll show the Boss you're worth your weight in gold." Shinji knew how hard it was to earn respect, and the best way to earn it is by starting her off strong.
 
Perhaps all humans were not all so bad. And he was beginning to prove that they were not all created equal. He had been respectful, despite her previously open display. Unlike most she'd met, he hadn't allow sexual attraction to hinder him. In any case, that seemed to he her problem with Sesshoumaru. Well, maybe not so. Shinji's attraction was plain as day. As for Sesshoumaru, she wasn't even entirely sure that sexual attraction existed.

She looked at the warehouse before looking back at him. Worth her weight in gold, eh? She smirked. "I like how you think, Shinji." She mused before she turned back to the warehouse and took her leave.

Making her way to the top of the warehouse was not a difficult task for the exotic skinned demoness. And once she was at the top, she made sure Shinji knew that she'd made it, and was going to be waiting on his say so to do anything else. She peered carefully in the window, brow quirked. They all looked like nervous minions, standing about, as if they were waiting around for an execution. She supposed, in a sense, they were.
 
-Stay alert, Lady Kestrel.- Shinji said through the throat communicator as they stacked up near the doorway. -Naraku loves dropping little surprises for us,- Since it wasn't hard to figure out that Lord Sesshoumaru did everything in his power to stop Naraku. Shinji always wondered what the history was behind it, but as Sesshoumaru had said: 'You wouldn't understand.' which made perfect amounts of sense to Shinji. Since as loyal as he was to Lord Sesshoumaru..he barely understood him. Something that seemed to be quite common with even his suitors, which made it amazing he still had any.

-We picked up more than just humans and the little low rank youkai.-
 
And she was as alert as she was going to get. Keeping her mind on the surroundings, she tried to pick out which of them were human and which of them were not. But something just felt off, perhaps just the jump of the first mission on the job. Inwardly, she scoffed at herself. This battlefield didn't have to be any different from any of the others she'd been on, and she was not about to let it affect her. She heard him talking more before her brow furrowed.

-What else are we picking up, exactly?- She questioned, making her way away from the window and crouching low, to avoid being seen by anything, whether it be in the warehouse or on the ground around the warehouse.
 
-That's the joy of Naraku, Lady Kestrel.- He sighed. -His surprises are hard to pick up, it's youkai..that's about it. It's just nothing we've got in our databanks...and trust me, we got a big databank. So just keep those superhuman ears and eyes awake, my lady. I'd rather not have you killed on your first day of the job.- Boy, we were ever so fucked if a daiyoukai died from whatever was in there. Regardless..

-We're moving in- He relayed to the opposite team. -Kestrel will drop when we breach the door,- Shinji said as his squadmate settled a breaching charge on the door, taking it off the hinges as the squad moved in. As soon as they did, gunfire erupted.

-Contact- Shinji said, taking cover behind a pillar. Sesshoumaru wasn't the only one that hired humans, after all!
 
She scoffed at the premise before peering into the window again. -Standing by.- She said, eagerly. She could already feel the tingling excitement of combat tittering down her spine and settling in her belly like fireflies. She licked her lips to dampen them and stilled her breath, as if stilling it would make the moment come any sooner. When he finally mentioned they were moving in, the fireflies seemed to get worse. She braced herself.

And then she heard it, a flurry of gunshots invading the warehouse. The minute he'd taken cover, Kestrel dropped. It was almost a black blurr, dripping from the ceiling like some kind of acid rain. Falling near a group of two of the aforementioned humans, she started immediately. Landing on one, she managed to catch the other off guard, blocking a left hook, a body shot before eventually yanking the gun out of the man's hand and palming him hard enough in the chest to put a good bit of distance between them. She moved forward, taking a swift kick to the stomach and grunting softly before initiating a kick of her own. The heel of the boot connected with the temple, and she threw her momentum back, catching another around the neck between the back of her thigh and shin and flooring it. She wrenched the gun from it's hands before turning it towards them and pulling the trigger. She discarded the gun, as if it were some kind of unwelcome anomaly in her grasp.

-Anything unusual, Shinji? What's new?- She questioned as a rather odd looking youkai approached. Her head tilted in curiosity before it rushed her, catching her quite off guard. She'd taken a step back, but not before it exploded, sending thousands of sharp bones splintering through the air. The woman recoiled, her head having jerked to the side before she looked back ahead, tearing splintered bones from her cheek. Zipping up had done no good, the cat-suit was already damaged. Her right hip was bare, revealing a lengthy stripe, and the tear stretched across the abdomen, revealing a healthy navel and partial ribs. There were gashes here and there, closing quickly on her face and on the exposed belly. She looked annoyed. Exploding demons? How... pathetic. -I'm guessing I found it...- she mumbled before making her way behind a bit of cover.
 
-Oh, that's just perfect- Shinji mumbled, well..the temporary view of Kestrel was perfect. But not everyone was a Daiyoukai, Sesshoumaru sent them out often and in great numbers...this wasn't going to be pretty. They didn't exactly have such durable skin like Kestrel or Sesshoumaru did, and that temporary lull only gave him a few seconds to think before the second wave came in, followed by the team with Sesshoumaru.

"Heads up, more of them!" One of Shinji's squadmates said as those clear..eel like creatures moved down with horrifying shrieks. One was heading right for Sesshoumaru, and he grabbed it easily and squeezed. The explosion sent bone shards all around him, but since he was in front of the squad, nothing got hurt as Sesshoumaru shook his hand, his shirt and vest in little more than tatters to show a tight, toned chest that bore the same markings over his shoulders.

He shook his hand simply, glancing around with a soft measure of discontent on his face. Something wasn't right..
 
Sesshoumaru had not been the only one feeling the unease, Kestrel could have practically tasted it. She'd tasted it before she'd even entered the building, partially because of the view the window offered the Daiyoukai. She didn't have too much time to think on it as a wave rushed out in reckless abandon, and she did what she could to keep the number of them away from the squad. She knew, very well, she could handle it before they could. At least, a head on blast. And after the smoke cleared, the top of her catsuit and nearly been ripped away. There was a lush bra beneath, hanging by strings and little bone splinters. Pieces of the cat-suit clung to her shoulder, and hung loosely around her hips, but from the waist up, she was nearly bare.

Her breasts were just as perky as they had seemed, dark, perfectly round nipples and eager peaks. How could they not with the sudden draft? Her hair had been torn down completely and the blonde hair tickled down a bare back. The marks of her shoulders seemed to meet at her shoulders and extend down her spine in until it shrank into a point. She snatched the nearest living, clothed enemy up and quickly offered it a snap at the neck before wrenching a coat free of it and throwing it on.

The coat itself was too small for the woman, and zipped up it left her abdomen bare and just barely concealed the large globes of flesh at her chest. -Shinji... where are these artifacts?- She questioned.
 
-Working on it, Ma'am.- Shinji said as he slammed the stock of his G36C into a charging man and gunned him down with automatic fire into his stomach before he stepped over him. Each and every inch of the warehouse was earned with bullets and bodies. Sesshoumaru's men seemed hardly unphased by any form of demon that was coming out of the shadows, Shinji's men went about cutting open locks on containers and peering inside. Some of the contents were simple, Naraku's manufactured weaponry..others were..far less normal. One that Shinji's squadmate, Keisuke opened was rewarded with a half starved Youkai lunging out, his fangs sinking into his neck with a spray of blood as Keisuke screamed.

"Son of a bitch!" Shinji snarled, rifle hanging on his chest as he grabbed the scrawny knob of the demon's shoulder and withdrew a six inch long combat knife to plunge into his skull, ripping him off of his friend. But that was only the beginning, containers snapped open around Shinji's squad and he pivoted on his foot, his knife slamming into the throat of another hissing demon as he drew his Colt Delta Elite and put a ten-millimeter into the skull of a green beast rushing at him, he fell to his boot, brain matter pooling around his feet.

-We're picking up some BIG signatures down below!- A communications officer said as the ground started to rumble, Sesshoumaru's fangs were bared in instinct. Youkai energy..and a lot of it beneath them. Naraku was getting more powerful and less subtle, it seemed.
 
The demon lunging from the crate startled her, and a audible gasp flew passed her lips. As crates began to fly open around them, Kestrel fell back a bit more, moving closer to the rest of the team to fight off the starving Youkai, which had gotten her bitten quite a few times, and getting bitten was starting to annoy her. She was rather impressed with herself, however. She'd been able to ignore the pure sex appeal dripping from Sesshoumaru. But to get distracted now meant to jeopardize the mission, and she wasn't doing that. As one of the starving fiends sank it's teeth into the flesh of her collarbone, she kicked it back, digging extended claws into the jawline of the creature before wrenching the head clean off of it's shoulders.

And finally, the rumlbing came. -I'm guessing this was a set-up.- She mused, planting her chest into the heel of another youkai, pushing it to the ground and sinking the stiletto in with little more than a small jerk of her body. She stepped back, removing the bloody heel from the chest. The hair on her arm was standing on edge, and her shoulders were tense. What was down there. Her gaze shot to the floor and she found herself a bit distracted by it.

Electricity crackled between her fingers, as she felt the pure sensation shoot up her spine. The electricity seemed to help her find her zen. She turned her gaze towards Sesshoumaru. The desire in her eyes was evident, but there was something else there. A curiosity, she was asking him what to do. This had obviously not been what they had anticipated. She couldn't imagine someone being so desperate to rid the world of someone else that they would fashion exploding demons and whatever the fuck was coming. But, she also didn't fully understand the relationship between Sesshoumaru and Naraku.
 
-They're never a set up when we always go to them,- Shinji said dryly, for the fact that the very fucking concrete floor was starting to crack , Sesshoumaru's men only doubled their pace and did little else. Whatever was coming was causing the comms to hiss with static every time there was a pulse of youkai energy, Sesshoumaru peered down at the widening crack before the center finally shattered, containers and concrete were broken as the windows shattered with the blood curdling roar. To say that the youkai was massive would be an understatement, as it sent his men scattering as the dark skinned beasts rose up. Easily twelve feet tall, with dark glowing eyes and fury on their massive teeth.

Naraku's favored little pets, Darklings as he called them. Immensely durable, incredibly annoying.

If Sesshoumaru and Kestrel weren't here at any rate.

"Tch," He muttered, an actual emotion of discontent uttered out of Sesshoumaru's lips. "The artifacts are here, Shinji, find them." They wouldn't be if these little mockeries of youkai energy weren't here. Shinji's response on the coms was hardly a pleasant one, but regardless his team was still cutting through containers left and right while fighting off weaker demon beasts.

"Lady Kestrel, we have work to do." Sesshoumaru said simply.
 
Kestrel's brow twitched softly in irritation at Shinji's remark, but she disregarded it none the less. There were far better things to focus her irritation on than the helpful human she'd been working with. As the concrete cracked beneath heeled feet, she took a few steps back, making sure that she wasn't about to fall through on anything, although the pure energy radiating from whatever it was kept the electricity crackling between her fingers in her discomfort. And finally, the concrete peeled away, revealing what had been causing all of the discord and chaos. She looked up at the things, easily twice her size, and grimaced. They were ugly, this was no doubt. And, gauging the number of them, they were going to be cumbersome.

She barely flinched as the terrible screeching reached her ears. She had to admire the sheer willpower, the loyalty of the humans Sesshoumaru had working for him. And finally, she heard her name on his lips, confirming the exact thing she'd been waiting on. An exhaled breath pushed passed her parted lips, tiny little crackles of electricity lacing through the breath. It was all she needed to hear to get started, and so she did.

She started low, hands pressed into the ground, the tips of the claws scraping against what was left of the concrete before she launched herself at one of the hulking beasts. Her first few hits seemed to annoy the youkai, sending it flailing it's massive arms at her like she was a nuisance. Body shots didn't seem to be effective, and this caused the woman to scoff in discontent before she decided on her next move. A crackle was heard, much like the subtle sound of lightening streaking across the sky, and she was quickly climbing up the creature's chest. A few quick strikes to the face before she felt the thing sinking it's teeth into her arm. That was good, something she'd been hoping for. And she poured three ear splitting shocks of electricity down the creatures throat before it howled and spit her out. There were quite a few nasty gashes on her arm where the teeth had ripped at the flesh, but the satisfying boom of a body hitting the ground canceled out any discomfort she might have been feeling.

She'd have to put a bit more effort into the next one she fought, and in doing so, let a bit more of herself lose. Black veins crawled through the previous whites of her eyes, and as they reached the iris, pulses seemed to push through them. Not that anyone had any time to notice it. Her arms, from the shoulder down, occasionally waved with the power, and soon she'd launched herself at another, doing little things to penetrate the body and send paralyzing shocks through them until finally they'd worn down. It was a feat almost as noisy as the guns blasting around them. However, Kestrel had to admit, she was beginning to feel much better.
 
Sesshoumaru was there one moment, and then he was in front of a Darkling the next. His claws glimmered brightly with poison as he plunged his hand through the gut of one Darkling as it howled in shrill pain, the poison surrounding the wound burning away the skin and muscle with a morbid hiss. These creatures were relentless, as Sesshoumaru was well aware of; even before the first one he had slain had dropped, he was already becoming surrounded; two were rushing him from the ground with another leaping high into the air with a brutal roar.

Fools.

With a focus of energy between his fingertips, his lightwhip appeared in a flash of gold before it sailed outward to wrap around the ankle of the massive beast. A simple movement of his wrist towards his face saw the whip sending the darkling landing at his feat with a pitiful growl of pain, the concrete cracking from the impact as dark blood rolled out of the corpse. The lightwhip retracted back and Sesshoumaru tilted his head back a fraction as a giant fist went sailing past his nose. Gold lashed out in a invisible blur as the demon paused a moment in curiosity before his eyes widened, and the diagonal slice finally came apart in a spray of purple blood.

-I grow tired of this fight, Shinji- Sesshoumaru said, catching the fist of the last darkling attacking him at present and twisted effortlessly, the massive arm gave way with a horrible crack as the beast howled in fury and Sesshomaru put him down with a slash across his throat, head rolling back and hitting the ground. And yet even more were pouring out of that fetid pool of corrupted youkai energy.

-You and me both, Boss.- Was the only reply, sarcastic as it was and littered with gunfire. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes lightly at the response but said nothing, one of the few benefits of Shinji's longevity was an understanding that he was always attempting to get his task done without fail. And so that little disrespectful quip would be ignored.
 
After taking down, with lowering effort mind you, two more of the darklings, she stood up straight and glanced around. She heard the quip Shinji had fired back at Sesshoumaru, and she could do little but chuckle at it. -Touchy, touchy, Shinji.- She fired in the direction of what she could consider to be a new friend before she hopped back and out of the way of an angry and large swat. She looked up at the thing before climbing up it's arm and tearing into it's eyes, sending it into a flurry of panicked swings she could control with a simple tug this or that way. And after having it lash out at one of it's brethren, she sank her claws into the back of it's neck, using her body weight to swing herself around and gash the throat open. She hit the ground with a soft 'clack' before the creature boomed down after her. Her arms, from the elbow down, were covered in red. Some of it hers, and some of it theirs.

She glanced around at the crates before swatting back and exploding demon, barely even batting an eyelash as it pierced her with it's little bones. Not, of course, that it wasn't uncomfortable, but she had dealt with so many of those today that they'd become little more than an expected annoyance, much like mosquitoes. All of this relentless slaughter had certainly helped her frustrations, but it was soon being placed with a different frustration. It seemed like they were fucking multiplying. She ground her teeth together before taking out another one.

She groaned, releasing her frustration out in the form of a sound. She was more than ready to be out of here.
 
"Patience," Sesshoumaru said simply, poison claws glittering brightly as he slashed the throat of another. It was almost effortless, the way he moved..he almost seemed bored as he usually did as he ran circles around the Darklings, his claws striking vital points with accuracy and brutality. For every one he put down, two more came up that his claws dispatched just as easily. Eventually, however..the attrition gave way to success.

-Found them!- Shinji said in victory. -Lady Kestrel! Give us a hand!-

At that, Sesshoumaru summoned his lightwhip and swung it in a wide arc, hacking through a line of them easily. He hopefully didn't have to say anything, he'd cover her exit.
 
She heard him cooing for her to have patience. A little easier said then done. These things were like rabbits and after the day she had endured, patience was becoming a foreign word to her. She swallowed and continued cutting them down, her frustration growing as each corpse seemed to spawn another living body. And then she heard it. The second best news she had heard all day. She exhaled in relief. "Thank the Gods." She mumbled to no one in particular before she turned on her heel to help them out.

He'd cleared a path for her. Good, that was going to make getting down there that much easier. "Thanks." She muttered to him before she was off. She was quick, although not so quick as to leave an afterimage of herself as if she were teleporting, more like just giving her a six foot tall tail that dissipated a good bit after her.

Once she finally made it to Shinji, she looked over the artifacts. She was sure she was a site. Bones still sticking from certain places, her arm gashed open and her clothes in near tatters, although holding themselves together enough to reveal anything raunchy. She turned her gaze on him. "So, what's it? What are we taking and where are we taking it?" She said, eager to finish the job.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom