Standard disclaimer: not mine, not mine, alas, alas.
Title: (Im)mortal
Author: Take
Date: 8/16/04 – 2/5/05
Pairing: none
Rating: T
Summary: Rin is mortal. Sesshoumaru isn't.
Rin was twenty when Sesshoumaru looked at her and realized she was a woman, fully grown. The thought staggered him, halting him mid-step. It was only the feel of Jaken plowing into his calf that snapped him out of his daze. Shesshoumaru resumed walking, only distantly registering his servant's frantic apologies.
Later that night, the Lord of the Western Lands stared blindly at his charge's face from across the small fire. Gold eyes took in Rin's features, noting the changes that had occurred so subtly over time that he hadn't noticed that the little girl he'd revived and taken in had been replaced by a young woman.
Rin's face had long since lost its childish roundness, slimming to show off delicate cheekbones. Where she had once simply secured a hank of hair into a sloppy tail, she now coiled her dark locks into a neat chignon at the nape of her neck. She'd grown taller, too, Sesshoumaru realized. He no longer towered quite so much over his charge.
Sesshoumaru's lips firmed into a thin line. Rin was getting older. Understanding hit him like a bolt of lightning.
Rin was growing up.
Rin was getting older.
Rin was. . . going to die.
And he . . . was going to live.
Alone.
For the first time, Sesshoumaru fully understood the consequences of caring for a mortal. He was going to lose Rin. He was going to lose his little girl.
And life – Sesshoumaru – would continue on.
The taiyoukai wondered how his father had been able to stand it.
Sesshoumaru was jolted out of his brooding by a stinging sensation in his palm. Blinking slowly, he looked down at his tightly clenched fists. Consciously relaxing his hands, he watched as his claws removed themselves from his flesh. Crimson welled up in the crescent-shaped wounds and dripped to the ground, creating darker patterns against the dirt.
The youkai averted his eyes from the rivulets of blood trickling from his hands. The very life that flowed through his veins was the thing that would one day lead to his greatest loss.
Sesshoumaru spent the rest of the night staring at Rin's face.
Sleep did not come for a long time.
Owari