Hi everyone, this is the sequel to 'Ghost of an Uncertain Future'. This story takes place ten years later, when Rin is a young woman, and coping with some unusual problems. Get ready for some more weirdness. I love the strange and unusual, just in case you haven't figured that out already. Enjoy.
I am rating this fic as MA, just to be safe. When I read over the ratings, I wasn't positive which rating would be more appropriate, so I am erring on the side of caution.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Inu Yasha series, or the Forgotten Realms series. I receive no compensation, and this story is written purely for enjoyment.
Chapter 1
"I'm going home!" Rin snapped, stomping away from her infuriating teacher. Her pale kimono with its bright embroidered flowers contrasted sharply with the darkness of the corridor.
"You do not have sufficient control yet. You must not return." Kephren informed her, easily keeping pace with her agitated strides. The long silver hair shimmered as he inclined his head, drawing her attention.
"I just won't use it." Rin's exasperated voice echoed off the smooth dark walls.
"You may not have a choice. If you lose control, you cannot subdue it by yourself." Kephren's reasonable voice only fueled her rising anger.
Rin stopped mid-stride, whirling around on him. The fact that the creature she was arguing with belonged to one of the most feared races in existence should have urged caution. Rin placed her hands on her hips, and glared fearlessly at the powerful warrior. Kephren may be a destroyer, and the leader of his murderous people, but to Rin he was family. He was also the most annoying, overbearing, and most beautiful person she had ever seen. Rin huffed; being around him always made her acutely aware of her own imperfections.
"I am NOT a child anymore." she ranted. She hated how plain she felt in comparison to the gorgeous Talisian. She knew she was considered quite attractive, but whenever she looked at those perfect features it made her feel like a grubby child again.
"If you leave, sooner or later you will lose control. It is only a matter of time. Are you willing to accept the consequences of your own incompetence?" Kephren demanded.
"What do you care? Isn't that what you do? Kill people?" Rin shouted.
"I don't care, and of course I kill. I am a destroyer." Kephren answered placidly.
Rin growled in frustration, and spun on her heel stalking down the smooth dark passageway. She had spent the better part of the last ten years on Talis learning to control her psionic abilities. She sighed inwardly, Kephren was right, she was incompetent, but it wasn't like she hadn't tried. Rin sniffled, quickly dashing away the tears. She would not cry!
Kephren cocked his head, baffled at his pupil's inability to control her riotous emotions. At the moment she was walking away from him so rapidly that she was almost running. The Talisian brought a dark hand up to his forehead, running slender fingers through the gleaming silver strands. Why did she insist on making everything so difficult?
Catching up to her as she entered the gate room, he stopped behind her, and placed his hands on her shoulders. Leaning down, he said softly, "How many? How many must die this time?" Rin jerked angrily away from him, moving to the rectangular pedestal in the middle of the room.
Standing at the control panel, Rin resolutely held back her tears. She would not cry, she told herself. She was not a child anymore. Squaring her shoulders, she placed a hand over the pedestal in the center of the room, activating the gate. Blue light glowed beneath her fingers, intensifying until it formed a solid beam of light that stretched to the ceiling. Stepping back, Rin waited until the pillar of light bent in half, forming a long cone. She stepped into the gate without a backward glance, pointedly ignoring her irritating mentor.
Kephren shook his head as she stepped into the gate. She hadn't even looked back. Sighing in resignation, Kephren realized he would have to leave Talis for a while. Rin could not be left alone; her powers were far too unstable. The last time she had lost control was five years ago; since then she had trained constantly, determined not to let the past repeat itself. The Talisian frowned, her psionic energy had been steadily growing, and even he was not sure exactly how powerful she was now.
Kephren looked unhappily into the closing gate. Rin was a ticking bomb, and if her power got away from her again, he feared the guilt would be too much for her to bear.
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Energy crackled along her skin as she felt the familiar pull of the gate. Rin glanced surreptitiously over her shoulder. She saw Kephren shake his head and turn away. Biting her lip, Rin turned back into the light, misgivings in her dark eyes. Everything would be okay, she told herself. As long as she didn't use her powers there was nothing to worry about. So why couldn't she shake the uneasy feeling that was eating at her?
A strange sensation pulled her out of her melancholy thoughts. Something was wrong. She felt the gate shift, then abruptly change direction. What was happening? She used gates all the time, and nothing like this had ever happened. Rin pushed the nagging fear that suddenly inundated her to the back of her mind, she needed to think clearly. The temperature abruptly dropped. A damp cold crawled over her skin as the gate opened, throwing her out face-first onto a cold dark surface.
"Ouch." Rin whimpered, sitting up slowly as she rubbed her head. Wincing slightly as she gingerly probed an egg-sized bump above her temple, she cautiously opened her eyes to look around. Absolute darkness. Hmm ... maybe she had hit her head harder than she had thought. Rin rubbed her eyes and tried opening them again. The blackness remained.
Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic. Rin chanted silently to herself. She could feel her breath rattling in her chest. Calm down, shetold herself. That's when she realized she wasn't alone.
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"She should be here by now." Sesshomaru, Demon Lord of the Western Lands, was looking decidedly impatient. His pale hair glowed golden under the morning sun as a warm breeze lifted a few errant strands away from the demon's coldly elegant face. Reaching up, Sesshomaru absently flipped its heavy length over his shoulder.
"Perhaps she wished to take time preparing herself. Keff told me she had become unusually appearance conscious lately." Thryss suggested, amusement in her dark eyes. The demon made an aggravated noise, staring intently into the sky as if he could will her to appear. Patience was not one of the demon's strong points.
Rushing wind drew their attention, indicating the portal was about to open. The demon's calm facade belied the uneasy tightening of his stomach at the sight of the otherworldly gate. To this day he hated gates. He had been forced to use the foul things in the past, and it was something he never wanted to do again. The fact that Rin was unaffected by the unnatural things only irritated him further.
The wind roared around them as a swirling purplish-black vortex opened. It wasn't Rin that stepped out. The demon lord scowled in disgust. "What is it doing here?" he demanded.
It, was Kephren, Foremost of the Imperial Guard, who stepped out of the vortex just in time to hear the demon's unhappy comments.
"You are not pleased to see me?" the Talisian asked, his lips tilting up at the demon's baleful tone.
Sesshomaru's scowl deepened. "The only thing that would please me is your absence."
Kephren grinned happily, it had far too long since he had been able to annoy the demon. To his surprise, he had sorely missed it. He would have to make up for lost time he decided. Looking around he became aware of his pupil's absence.
"Where is Rin?" he inquired.
"She did not come with you?" the demon queried.
"She left some time ago. I needed to conclude some business before I followed." Kephren answered, the silver brows drawing together.
"Then where is she?" the demon demanded, starting to feel uneasy.
"Where is she? You lost her?" Kephren asked incredulously.
The demon lord glowered at the Talisian, not bothering to answer such an inane question. Unfortunately for the demon, Kephren was not done.
"How could you lose her? Gates are a one-way passage!" the Talisian exclaimed irritably.
Ignoring the impertinent creature, Sesshomaru sniffed the air, trying to pick up any trace of scent that she might have left. The demon stifled a groan as the creature moved in front of him, staring raptly at his nose. Sesshomaru growled menacingly, something which would have made any sane being run. Kephren remained rooted to the spot.
"What are you doing?" Kephren asked, tilting his head curiously.
Sesshomaru continued to ignore the creature, in some vain hope that it might get bored and go away. There just had to be some way he could kill it. It wasn't right that anything as annoying as Kephren should live.
The annoying being in question, oblivious to the demon's murderous thoughts, raised himself on tip-toe to get a better look.
"Touch me and die." Sesshomaru hissed, glaring down his nose threateningly at the Talisian.
Thryss, the demon's mate for the past ten years, sighed in resignation. Some things never changed.
"Have you caught her scent?" Thryss asked, deciding to break up their unique style of male bonding before it got out of hand again.
"No." Sesshomaru said frowning. If Rin had been here, he would have caught some remnant of her scent.
Kephren backed away, moving back towards where the gate had opened. He studied it intently for a few moments before turning back to them.
"I do not believe the gate opened here at all." the Talisian stated.
"How can that be?" Thryss asked, walking over to stand beside him.
"There is no residual energy from a second gate." Kephren extended a dark hand, spreading his fingers in front of the closed gate. "She left Talis, I watched her enter the gate."
"What could have happened?" Sesshomaru asked, joining them. Kephren continued to study the gateway as he answered the demon, none of the prior humor in his voice. "If the gate did not open here, it may have been redirected."
"Redirected?" the demon prompted.
"If another gate was opened before this one it is possible that the other gate may have pulled Rin to a different location. It is uncommon for such a thing to occur, but not impossible." Kephren told him.
"Is there any way to trace the gate?" Thryss asked.
Kephren shook his head, not answering. The sheer numbers of possible locations the gate may have opened at were incalculable. It was possible that Rin was not even in this dimension any longer.
The Talisian pushed away an unfamiliar and unwanted feeling of helplessness. In all of his long life, Kephren had never failed, not even when it came to stopping the battle that had nearly destroyed this planet. As he stood there contemplating the gate, he realized that he had no idea what to do.
Authors Note: Well, this turned out considerably different from what I had initially planned, what did you think? Should I keep going?