Hi people! This is my second fic, so be nice, okay? Thanks. Here's a small key, just in case you get confused:
KEY:
"..."- Talking
'...'- Thinking
-:-...-:- -Flashbacks
* * * -Change in point of view
Okay, there's some special things going on in my fic. Sesshoumaru is a bit nicer. I mean, he's still kinda distant, but not as cold towards people- a little more compassionate. Also, he lives in this nice castle with fields bordering it on three sides, and on the front, it's bordered my a forest. Naraku, in my fic, is also a lord, only he's not really the strongest there is. You'll find out about Rin's past in the next few chapters. Cheers! And please R/R!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lords: Rescue
By: Serpentilewitch
She heard footsteps coming up and curled up even further within herself, whimpering softly, and clutching her half unlaced top. He was back. Why? Why couldn't the intruder have finished him off? No one would miss him. The footsteps drew closer, stopping outside the door. Rin let her tears flow. A shadow fell over her and she knew he was right behind her now. But why wasn't he saying anything? She couldn't stand it anymore. Standing and whirling around to face him, she glared into his golden eyes with her own fierce brown ones.
"Don't think because you survived from the intruder, you'll survive with me!" she yelled, while mentally laughing at herself. Judging from the bruises decorating her cheeks, shoulders, upper arms, and waist, it was Rin herself who was more likely to die in the event of a confrontation. "I'd rather die before I'd let you near me! You inconsiderate, merciless, shameless…" the words died on her lips.
Wait- golden eyes?! Lord Naraku's eyes weren't golden. Who was this? Rin stepped back a moment and received a shock at what she saw. Silver hair, golden eyes, fair skin, a graceful pose, and that crescent moon…. Memory flared in Rin's mind, but she crushed it.
"Who are you?" she whispered. Evidently, he, too was a lord. That much was obvious from by the fur that draped over his right shoulder, his expensive clothing, and the way he held himself. But who was he, and why did his appearance ring a bell? The man didn't say anything, but raised his hand. Thinking he would strike her, Rin flinched and threw up her arms, shielding her face. After a few seconds, however, she felt not the sting of a slap, but the caress of a few gentle fingers.
She opened her eyes and dropped her arms hesitantly. There wasn't much room to move around. Rin had chosen to lodge herself between the bed and the end table to cry and now that the stranger stood less than a foot away, she hardly felt she had room to breathe. He was fingering her bruise, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Who did this?" he murmured. Rin leaned backwards in an attempt to be rid of his fingers, but they only followed and she gave up. His voice was deep, rich, and though it didn't promise happiness, it was full of compassion.
"N- N- Naraku." Then she added hastily, "L- Lord Naraku." Wait, why was she telling a complete stranger this? "Thousand pardons, Lord, but… who are you?" she asked, then clapped her hands over her mouth, amazed at her own boldness.
"What's wrong?" he asked, this time tugging her hands away from her mouth. Rin let them fall and stared at the ground. She was suddenly conscious of how scantily clad she was. A plunging, squarish neckline began the extremely short top. It had two, two inch straps and the entire front laced top barely covered her breasts. Leaving her waist bare, the double side laced skirt was extremely short, fitted, and like the top, frayed at the bottom edge. Clapping her hands over her mouth had released her hold on the half unlaced top, revealing even more. Rin squirmed and blushed uncomfortably.
"Nothing's wrong, my Lord," Rin replied quickly. "I didn't mean to be so forward." What was it to him, anyways? Why was he worried about her?
"This," he said softly, brushing her cheeks with his fingers. "And this,"- he touched her shoulders- "and this, and this," he said, lightly skimming her upper arms and waist, "don't look like 'nothing' to me. What happened here?"
"I don't know how to say..." Rin trailed off, blushing because one of his hands still rested on her waist.
* * *
He sensed her discomfort. She would be hard pressed to tell him anything under these circumstances. Sighing, he rubbed the bridge of his nose with his free hand, noting dimly that he should probably remove his other from her waist. He glanced at her. From the way she protectively hugged herself, he knew that bastard- Naraku- had done something. When he'd charged into the castle earlier and seen the inside, he decided it wasn't bad enough to warrant killing the lord. But now, seeing this girl so obviously traumatized and abused, he regretted his earlier decision.
Speaking of that girl... something about her reminded him of someone...he couldn't be sure who, though. He knew it had been years ago and the girl's appearance had changed. That textured red cloth and those soft brown eyes definitely reminded him of someone. But who? He just couldn't figure it out.
The man was snapped out of his reverie by a slight shiver from the curves under his hand. The dimly lit bedroom wasn't that cold, but life could make a room's temperature plummet, he knew. Seeing her squirm uncomfortably, he was reminded of her earlier question. "Sesshoumaru," he said. Her head snapped up.
"Huh?" she asked.
"You asked who I was, and that's who I am."
"Oh....Sesshoumaru..." he heard her try out the name. Then, removing the fur thrown over his shoulder, he wrapped it around the girl's shoulders. She looked surprised and scared at the same time. She clutched the clothing lightly, averting her gaze, and whispered softly, "Thank you, Lord Sesshoumaru."
Then, taking her hand, the man called Sesshoumaru pulled her away from her despair sanctuary. "I think you had best come down, now," he said. He saw her look quickly up at him, blush, and look away again. She stood and walked a few paces, then stopped, turning slightly, her eyes never leaving the floor.
"What's wrong?" he asked, confused and starting to get exasperated by her intimidated actions.
"Please proceed, Lord," she said, glancing at him briefly.
"I'll go, but why not you?" he asked, now thoroughly perplexed.
"A servant never proceeds a lord," she said as though even a half wit monkey would know this.
"By the fires of the seven hells!" he cried, now completely exasperated. He reached out a hand and grabbed her wrist firmly, hearing her gasp, her wide eyes looking at him fearfully. He tugged her towards him and felt her resisting, but, of course, a human's strength is no match for a youkai's. She gasped again as her resistance sent her stumbling into Sessoumaru's chest. The girl squeaked slightly and pushed against him, looking into his eyes- completely terrified. She didn't seem to remember that his hand still held her wrist.
"What are you doing? What do you want? Please..." she added as she tried in vain to free her wrist from his grasp (Ahh! So she did know!). "Please, just let me go. What do you want of me?" Her lips trembled and she was close to tears. Sesshoumaru frowned.
"Nothing." He noticed she didn't add any titles to his name now.
"Nothing?" Her wrist twisted under in his firm hold.
"Of course. Why would I want anything from you?" Sesshoumaru frowned. "What did you think?" The girl looked incredulous.
Her roving eyes pointedly took in the dim light, the bed, and her own scarcely clothed body and she blushed before murmuring, "N- nothing, I wasn't thinking clearly. Beg your pardon, Lord Sesshoumaru." There was that title again. Sesshoumaru winced and blushed. Did she think he'd take advantage of her? It was lucky, he thought, that she didn't know they were the only ones in the entire castle. If she did, he wondered how edgy she'd be. The girl's right wrist was held at his shoulder level and it rotated as the owner protested.
"Girl, why do you keep tugging at your wrist? Are you afraid I'll hurt you?" The wrist in question immediately fell limp in the lord's hand and the girl averted her eyes.
"No, of course not." He could tell it was a lie before the words were out of her lips. Sesshoumaru lowered his arm and loosened his grip so that he was now holding onto her hand. Her fingers were clammy and kept flitting around nervously, and when he looked up at her, he noticed she was blushing furiously.
He let go of her hand and prodded her gently in the small of her back. She gasped a lot, he thought, as she did it again. "Go on," he prompted her. "You know this place better than I do." The girl swooped down quickly and picked up the fur 'cloak'- which had slipped off her shoulders in the excitement- and handed it back to him before walking haltingly out the door. After going a few steps, though, she stopped. Sesshoumaru could feel her confusion and fear from a mile away. 'Ahh!' he thought. 'She's probably wondering about the lights.'
As if on cue, Rin whispered, "Umm, Lord Sesshoumaru? What happened to all the lights? The torches were all lit a moment ago..." She sucked in a quick breath as his brushed her neck, sending shivers down her spine. The girl hadn't known he was right behind her.
"The servants all extinguished them," he told her.
"But how can they see anything now?" she wondered a loud as she made her hesitant way forward. Sesshoumaru himself had better night vision than she did and he floated up and around her, startling yet another gasp from her lips. "Y- y- you're flying?" she asked, amazed. "I knew it!" she said without waiting for a reply. "You're not human! Umm...youkai? Hanyou?..." she trailed off. A low growl escaped Sesshoumaru when she suggested he was a hanyou.
"Youkai," he confirmed, and this time, relief and terror radiated from her. "Why are you so scared?" he asked.
"I- I- I'm not," she stuttered. Another lie. He sighed. He'd get the answers from her soon.
"Come along now," he said as he glided down the rock- textured spiral staircase. When she didn't move, he flew back up to her.
"I can't see as well as you can, Lord," she reminded him as she peered into the darkness, trying to adjust to it.
"Here," he said, and, taking her hand, led her to the top of the stairs. Then, placing both hands on either side of her waist, lifted her effortlessly onto the railing. "Can you slide?" he asked. She smiled and nodded eagerly. "Okay, then," he said and smiled in spite of himself. "Go!" and he let her go.
* * *
Rin sailed down the polished wood railing, her heart skipping a few beats. She'd always wanted to do this, but never had the opportunity. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Lord Sesshoumaru, flying parallel to her- backwards so that she could see his face. Try as she might, Rin couldn't keep the happy grin from her face. This was fun. But already, the ride was ending. She came to a smooth halt and hopped off, her legs feeling a bit like jelly.
"That was fun, ne?" Rin jumped slightly at the sound of Lord Sesshoumaru's voice. She'd almost forgotten he was there. Looking around, she guessed they were in some sort of small, private sitting room- comfortable for about five people. All was dark.
"Hello?" she called softly. "Where is everybody?" The latter was more to herself than to anyone else. After getting no response, Rin turned slowly to face Sesshoumaru. "They're all gone, aren't they? The left. And you...you're the intruder!" Rin cried as comprehension dawned.
"You could say," Sesshoumaru nodded.
Rin was ecstatic. Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him as tightly as she could. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She didn't even notice the tears starting to run down her cheeks as she took a deep breath to start a new mantra. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!" Another deep breath. She could smell his discreet scent. Clean, and not spicy, but undeniably sexy. She blushed at her own thoughts, beginning to rock lightly on her feet and with every word, she pressed him to her more and more. "...I owe you, I owe you, I owe you, I owe you, I owe you, I owe you, I owe you, I owe you, I owe you, I owe you my life!" Rin paused to take another deep breath. He was very nice and firm. She could hug him all day. Suddenly her insides turned cold and she froze. Hug him. Him. She'd hugged Sesshoumaru! A lord even greater and more powerful than Naraku!
* * *
Sesshoumaru had been prepared for her to faint when she found out no one else was here. Prepared for screaming, crying, shaking, fainting, anything- except nearly being hugged to death. The girl had thrown herself at him, practically and buried her face in the curve of his neck. She was mumbling something over and over, and he caught the words, 'thank you,'. Sesshoumaru felt the trickle of tears wet his neck. She was crying? Then she paused and he stiffened as she said, 'I love you,' over and over. The blush creeping up his cheeks refused to be controlled. What was he to do? Hesitantly, Sesshoumaru awkwardly placed both his hands lightly on either side of her waist. She'd eventually switched from 'I love you' to 'I owe you', which only served to further mystify him. Why was she suddenly doting on him like this? A few minutes ago, she'd been scared to death if he touched her. Now, all of a sudden, she had enough nerve to hug him fiercely. What had he done to merit such an abrupt change?
And then she froze. Sesshoumaru was all too aware of the intense body heat emanating from her, and the way her breath tickled his neck, making his spine tingle deliciously. The silence stretched and he wondered if he should perhaps remove his hands, but she beat him to it. Her heard her draw in a shaky breath and- with her head still nestled in his neck, untangled her hands from behind his head. Sesshoumaru held his breath as her hands snaked down to brace themselves against his chest. Then, she slowly lifted her head and peeled herself away from him. Her head was angled so half her face was hidden from him and he couldn't see her eyes.
"I- I- I'm sorry. I d- don't know what came over me, I just, ummm, forgot, er… I mean, I think I just… what I'm trying to say is… I'm really sorry about that and, er, I mean…" The girl gulped and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about what I did, Lord Sesshoumaru, but I'm not sorry about what I said. I do want to thank you and I think I might owe you my life…again." She looked up at him then and his breath caught in his throat at all the emotion those soft brown eyes held and he noticed also, that though her face was burning with embarrassment, her eyes were over bright with tears. "Please excuse my rudeness, Lord Sesshoumaru," she choked out as a sob made its way through her mouth, and she quickly turned her back to him.
'This is not good,' Sesshoumaru thought. He didn't know what to do when girls cried- especially human girls- and there was no doubt in his mind that she would cry. But, surprisingly, all he heard was sniffling and a few small sobs. Then he heard her voice.
"I want to thank you for saving my life once again- for I've finally recognized you, though I doubt you remember me."
"No," Sesshoumaru whispered. "You looked familiar to me, but I just can't place your features. It's been years, ne?"
The girl nodded. "Nine, to be exact. I was only seven then. Do you remember yet?"
"I recognized your eyes and your clothes immediately, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why I know you so well! You know…it would be a lot easier if I could see your face." He laid a gently hand on her shoulder and slowly turned her around. When she refused to meet his eyes, he tilted her chin up little by little, but still, her eyes remained lowered. "Maybe if I saw your eyes, I'd remember."
She glanced up at him briefly, blushed, and turned her face away in a pout. "Looks to me like it's not working," the girl said with a slight hint of disappointment, smiling. "Here, I'll help jog your memory." She slowly started to walk towards the door without thinking and Sesshoumaru silently followed. "You were hurt, I think. I brought you food and you said I was wasting my time, and that you don't eat that stuff anyways." Her smile widened. "But I left it there for you anyways. I was sure you couldn't possibly refuse food you hadn't needed to work for. But still, I worried. What if you didn't eat it and starved all night? So I hopped into a nearby stream to catch you some fish- I caught it, too! Only… the villagers made me put it back, on account of their diminishing population or some rot like that. I ran back to the cave I usually slept in and found a man already there. He asked if that was my home and I told him no and ran away. Then there were the wolves. I don't know where they'd come from. I turned around to run and they lunged at me. I might've screamed, I can't be sure. It hurt. They ripped into me, I know that much. But the next thing I remember after the searing cold and darkness-" and here she looked fiercely up at him. "Is you." Her eyes and the tilt of her head took on a dreamy look. "You had- a sword, I think it was- in your hand. I was so surprised to see moonlight and the world again, I completely forgot to thank you. But you just walked away and I was left listening to this ugly, talking toad thing," Rin finished.
Sesshoumaru smirked. "Jaken. He's something of my personal servant."
"I- I- I mean, I was left talking to this unique, toad youkai," Rin quickly amended.
"No, he's an ugly little thing that won't shut up. Stick with your first description- I like it better. I remember you, of course. I can't believe it didn't click sooner." They walked out into the grassy field, and Rin didn't even notice that she was walking ahead of Sesshoumaru. She stopped after a few steps not knowing where to go, and Sesshoumaru stopped a few feet behind her. She looked up at the moon and took in a deep breath, while he wondered how she got the wind to ruffle her hair just so, making it stream out behind her. He cocked his head to one side and looked her over from her feet to her head. When his eyes reached her head, he realized she'd been doing the same to him, and he waited a millisecond for her eyes to meet his. Somehow, being caught in the act made him blush slightly, but it didn't make him avert his eyes like it did her. 'She was beautiful,' he realized.
"You've changed," he offered, by way of conclusion. She nodded, and smoothed her hands down over her stomach and skirt.
"Of course I've changed. I'm human and that all happened nearly nine years ago! But..." she glanced up at him. "You haven't really changed all that much. Or maybe my seven year old self just didn't have a good memory. Anyhow, you've changed the most in your attitude."
Sesshoumaru raised an elegant eyebrow in a question, making the girl giggle. "I don't mean that in a bad way! I mean, you were cold and abrupt and you hardly looked at me. Barely talked. But you're talking now. And you're not so cold. Maybe you just thought you could scare away a littler me by being cold and distant." Rin shrugged.
Have you ever flown before?" Sesshoumaru asked suddenly. The girl's eyes grew wide as she smiled and shook her head. She seemed to be at ease around him and he wondered why. He jerked his head, indicating for her to come forward. She came, almost skipping in anticipation. He floated up a few feet on a pure white, shifting cloud. Then he reached down his hand to her as the cloud slowly began to move backwards, gaining speed. At first, Rin just stared at Sesshoumaru's hand and him. Then, realizing the cloud was a few yards away and moving, she ran to catch up. Sesshoumaru smiled encouragingly and wiggled the fingers of his outstretched hand. Rin took a small leap when she was close enough, and his fingers wrapped firmly around hers, just as the cloud lifted up higher and higher. He pulled her up with that one hand seemingly without effort, in one swift, fluid motion, and for the second time, Rin was thrown against him. Only this time, she clung onto him, her hands linked behind his neck. She pressed herself into his side, her head stretched as far down as it could go, observing everything.
"I hope you don't mind, this is my first time flying," she told him as she straightened up. They flew in silence for a while. Presently, Sesshoumaru's curiosity took over and he murmured a question in Rin's ear.
"How come you don't use any titles with me anymore?" Rin had to think about that for a second or two.
"Because in my thoughts, you were never Lord Sesshoumaru," she smiled, a far off look in her eyes. "You were never even Sesshoumaru, come to think of it."
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. "Your thoughts?" He gave her a sidelong look. She laughed lightly.
"I don't think a day went by when I didn't think of you after you walked away that day. But when I was brought here, I had less and less time to muse over your behavior. I got from thinking of you every second of every day, to once a day, once a week, and once a month." She sighed and glanced at him. His neck was blushing lightly, but he'd turned his face away, so she couldn't guess at his expression.
"Why?" he asked finally. "What was so special about me?"
"Oh, I don't know," Rin said with mock confusion. "Could it be because you saved a younger me after death and then just faded away like some hero in a story? You were my knight in shining armor!" she said enthusiastically, and then softly added, "You still are."
* * *
Rin felt a blush warming her cheeks. What was she doing?! She'd never told anyone any of it! 'Well...most of it was okay,' she conceded. But why'd she have to go and tell about her thoughts?! They made her sound like some lovesick maiden- which, she quickly assured herself she was not.
-:- "Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord Sesshoumaru!" The ugly toady thing- Jaken?- ran past her as he ran after his master. Seven year old Rin sat up and thought about what had just happened. It took a few minutes , but it finally dawned on her that Blue Moon had saved her life. Rin got up and ran in the direction she'd thought he'd gone. But it was already too late. She shouldn't find Blue Moon anywhere.
'Wait,' Rin thought. 'Blue Moon wasn't his name. That toad thing had called him something...' "Sesshmoomroo?" she whispered, trying to sound out the name. No... that didn't sound right. "Sesshroomru?" That didn't sound right either. She huffed in frustration. His name was too long! "Sesshie!" she squealed happily after a while. Yeah, that was close enough. Hmmm...Sesshim would do nicely as well. She sighed. He was just like those heroes the women of the village often spun stories about. They were always tall, strong, and handsome, in the stories. Rin knew Sesshim was tall and strong, but she wasn't sure about handsome. She didn't really care for those things. Anyways, she knew he was a lot better looking than some of the village men. Did that make him handsome? Hmmm, she'd have to think about that.... -:-
"Whoa, girl, are you okay?" a husky voice asked near her ear, snapping Rin out of her reverie. She'd almost dozed off. She folded her arms over his shoulder and leaned on him, staring up at face from mere inches away. It was a very intimate position, she realized, but didn't care.
From this vantage point, she could smell that distinct smell of his that did something to her body, see the firm, smooth line of his jaw, feel his arm creep around her waist, and those golden eyes fringed with heavy lashes pulling her into their depths. What actually happened got through to Rin and she flushed up to her hairline. He was looking at her- and being as close as they were...heck, they were close enough to kiss. His warm breath blew over her face with each of his gentle breaths. And his arm was around her waist. Two words popped into Rin's head to describe the situation: Too Intimate.
"I...uh...," Rin muttered, inching her face back and squirming, hoping he'd get the hint.
He did, and smirked. "I was certain you'd fall over- especially when you spaced out like that."
"Oh..." She turned to stare out ahead of them and rested her cheek on his shoulder. The breeze blew in her eyes so that she had to blink more often. Close her eyes more and more and more....
* * *
The girl's head slumped onto his chest and her body fell limp in his arms. She'd fallen asleep. Of course, she was human and humans tended to need more rest than youkais. Her body was cold from the constant breeze. They were almost at his castle. It didn't seem right to just let her sleep standing as she was. Sesshoumaru bent and picked her up cradle style- with his arms around her shoulders and the back of her knees. Ahh, the castle was in sight. He glided down smoothly, ignoring the front entrance, and headed right to his balcony. It was only after he'd entered past the gauzy light blue curtains of the balcony did he remember the girl in his arms. It had been a wearisome day for him, as well. Raiding the bastard's castle, going without rest for a few days now and traveling so far were taking their toll. Sesshoumaru touched down to the floor and the cloud disintegrated. He walked slowly over to his own bed and laid the sleeping form out on the far side of it. A human in his bed. That was something he thought he'd never see. But then again, he never expected to save a human with his Tensaiga, either. This wasn't a normal human. When Sesshoumaru tried to creep away from the bed, but felt a tug around his neck and waist. One of the girl's arms was tightening around his neck and his clothes had been caught under her form. A small groan escaped her lips and she turned on her side, bringing her other arm around behind his neck, too. There was nothing else to do. Sesshoumaru sighed heavily before slipping himself under the covers to join her. The human was automatically drawn to the warmth of his body and huddled closer. The arms loosened and one of them circled his waist instead. He couldn't say he minded especially. When she awoke, he'd be sure to point out that she had made him stay. Right now, he needed sleep.