Hey! This is my first fanfic I've written, so I hope you enjoy it! It's not the first story I've written, so don't worry.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters
Sesshomaru walked through the forest, his loyal servant Jaken following close at his heels.
"Where has Rin gone?" He said in his monotone voice.
"She has gone to find food without permission, the meddlesome child." Jaken squawked. Sesshomaru felt a bit irked, but did not show it. Rin had lately made it a habit of running off without permission. Sometimes he wondered why it irked him, but he had always set it on a matter of honor.
"Go find her. She may be lost." He stated, his tone cold.
"Yes, at once, Sesshomaru-sama!" Jaken said, running off with the human-head staff clutched in his palms. Now, why would this Sesshomaru worry if Rin was lost? He asked himself. After a while, he convinced himself that it was his duty. It was his duty to protect Rin. Nothing more, nothing less.
Meanwhile, Rin was having a bit of emotional turmoil as well. After leaving to find some food, she had stumbled upon a bush of berries. Once she had picked berries to her heart's content, Rin wandered in the general direction she felt she had came from, looking for Sesshomaru-sama and his loyal ward, Jaken.
I wonder why Sesshomaru-sama keeps me around these days, she thought. She had grown quite a bit from when she and Sesshomaru-sama had met, and felt she could now survive in the real world. Though, she stayed with her lord, and his small imp. She stayed because she had grown to love Lord Sesshomaru. Though lately, she had grown restless.
Walking through the brush, she popped a few of the berries into her mouth, savoring the sweet taste. Almost tripping over a protruding tree root, Rin wondered how Sesshomaru-sama felt about her. Was she just a burden to him, a stone weighing him down? Did he feel compelled to protect her, because he thought she had no place to go? Or maybe, just maybe, he felt the same way that she did about her!
As she crossed a shallow stream, Rin thought she heard the squawks of Jaken-sama calling for her, but she paid no heed, skipping along. Why, anything could sound like a small imp demon these days!
Bending down, she picked a bright red flower from the grass, singing merrily as she did. Rin had been thinking about how Lord Sesshomaru thought about her, but she had always felt that he would express his feelings in one way or another, eventually. At least, that's what she had thought. Aside from the normal protection from demons and higher tolerance level than Jaken-sama, he had given no signs of compassion to her.
She sighed, but immediately straightened as she made up her mind. Rin was going to ask Sesshomaru-sama if he loved her or not, and if he didn't say yes, she would just go away and leave Jaken and Ah-Un and the whole lot! At least, for a little while. Tossing away her current flower, she picked another one up she deemed prettier, and planned to give Sesshomaru-sama the flower when she asked him! She was fairly sure he was going to say yes. At least, she hoped he would.
Meanwhile, a set of deep blue eyes watched and observed, taking in the scene. The deep blue eyes belonged to a particular demon, a shapeshifter, named Fuan Ita. He loved making angst, and had good reason for it too. It was his life-source.
One of the curious abilities he possessed was the the ability to peer into one's mind, if especially troubled, or in deep thought. Basically, people who were dealing with a bit of angst at the current moment. After the demon perused the girl's thoughts, he smiled. Breaking her heart would be delicious. He slinked off into the bushes once more, thinking of where he would confront the girl.
Jaken walked nervously back to Sesshomaru, nervously wringing his hands. He had not been able to find Rin anywhere! He had checked all the ponds, meadows, anything she could have been interested in. The imp hoped that Sesshomaru would not be too displeased if he said that he had lost Rin for the moment… He shuddered at the thought of Sesshomaru-sama's wrath (which would be directed at him) if he failed to find Rin entirely. He sighed and approached the great dog demon.
"Sesshomaru-sama, unfortunately I have not been able to l-locate Rin a-anywhere…" Jaken stammered nervously. Sesshomaru glared at Jaken, annoyed that he had not been able to locate the girl, but at that exact same moment, something else came to his attention. The presence of a demon. A particularly strong demon, in fact.
He started walking briskly towards Rin's scent. "Come Jaken. We have important business to attend to."
Rin skipped merrily along, humming to herself an old tune, when she spotted Lord Sesshomaru in a clearing.
"Sesshomaru-sama!" she called, an enormous smile plastered on her face. Running up to him, she handed him the flower she had recently collected. "I'm sorry for running off, but I was so hungry!" Sesshomaru answered only with his indifference. "And well, I was thinking," she said as she nervously wrung her hands, "well, umm do you, umm, do you…" She took a deep breath. "Do you love me!?"
The dog demon turned his head towards Rin, but stayed silent. For a while, only the calling of the birds and the whistling of the wind was heard. Finally, he spoke, breaking the silence.
"What a ridiculous question. Me, a great dog demon, such as myself, in love with you, but a simple lowly human? Preposterous. You have only been a thorn in my side for so long, a burden I do not wish to bear. I should have never wasted the Tensaiga's power on you. The sooner you leave my presence, the better."
As he said them, each word drove a stake into Rin's heart, nailing it to the ground. Burden? She thought, her soul being crushed. Thorn in my side? Rin felt weak in her knees. She was prepared for a simple no, or plain silence, in the manner that Sesshomaru-sama answered many of her questions, but she was not prepared for anything of the likes that her lord had just said. Turning away, she started running off towards the forest, tears glistening down her face, "Forgive m-m-me, my lord, b-b-but I m-must g-go!" She choked out as she fled into the cover of the trees.
Meanwhile, the thing she thought as Sesshomaru grinned maliciously, following the girl and feeding on her delicious pain. Changing shape, he silently slipped after her.
Sesshomaru's patience was wearing thin. Rin was nowhere to be found, and the demon's aura seemed to be growing stronger. He resisted the urge to punt his ward into the nearest tree for his impudence, choosing to follow in the direction where he had just heard the light pitter-patter of feet and sniffling.
Coming into a small clearing by a pond, he spotted Rin, hunched over, her eyes watery and face stained with tears.
"Do not cry, Rin. We must leave." He stated, turning around and expecting Rin to follow him. Instead, his acute hearing told him that she was a running away from him, surprisingly enough. On most occasions, he would have left Rin to sort out her own problems, but the demon's presence had grown almost strong enough to concern him, so he followed her into the brush.
Meanwhile, Rin stumbled through the forest, crashing through branches and bushes alike. She wondered how her lord had expected her to come back and "stop crying" after those brutal words. Was Sesshomaru-sama really that cruel? Well this Rin would no longer be a "burden" to him. She was going to run far away, where Sesshomaru-sama could never find her!
In her blubbery state though, she tripped over a conveniently placed rock, feeling the sting of rocks and dirt on her knees and hands. The pain brought a fresh new wave of tears, streaming down her face like a waterfall. Eventually, Rin crawled over to a nearby tree, desperately trying to stop the flow of tears, but failing miserably. Through the haze in which they left, she spied Sesshomaru coming into view. She averted her eyes, knowing that it would only cause more pain if she looked upon the source of her unrequited love once more.
Sesshomaru, though, was having problems of his own. Specifically, a single problem, and that was the tree Rin was resting on at the particular moment. The tree seemed to be the source of the demon aura, and was of considerable strength.
"Rin, step away from the tree."
She looked at him for a split second, as if looking at a painful memory, and then quickly turned away, staying rooted to the spot. Sesshomaru's patience grew dangerously thin, but something else quickly caught his attention; the tree branches had started curving towards Rin, almost as if they were reaching for her…
Leaping towards the tree, he grabbed the girl and unsheathed his sword, slicing off the tree's appendages. In response, the tree seemed to scream in response…
Landing a good distance away, Sesshomaru set Rin down near a few bushes. "Stay here." He commanded, flying back over to the tree. Meanwhile, the tree had pulled itself out by its roots, extending its branches towards the great dog demon. Shifting in his flight, he narrowly dodged being impaled by the now animated tree, instead hacking it off. With one final burst of speed, he sliced through the tree's trunk, and it disappeared in a flash of light. It didn't dissolve as most demons did, but he didn't take great notice; he had different things to worry about. Anyway, most demons weren't trees, either.
Walking back to Rin, he extended a hand to her cheek where she had sustained a small bruise. To his surprise though, she shied away. Her eyes were filled with betrayal and pain.
Normallly, Rin would have been elated to be saved by her Lord, but she no longer felt the familiar warmth in her chest. Instead, a dull, throbbing void was left, making her feel weak and insignificant. It pained her to see his face anymore, knowing that all she would be was a burden; that's all that she ever was to him.
Standing up, she murmured a curt "thank you" and started running off, tears threatening to spill across her face.
Sesshomaru, on the other hand, was confused, to say the least. Why was Rin acting the way she was. She normally was grateful for being saved, and she most certainly never shied away from his touch. In fact, during the last couple of months, it seemed that his touch was the only thing she had wanted, for whatever reason.
He resisted the urge to chase after her; he was a great and powerful demon, he thought to himself. One's pride should never be wasted on a young girl such as Rin. And yet, why did he have the strongest urge to go after her? He dismissed the feelings as battle jitters, though he never had them, and walked away as the last motes of sunlight withered away.
So what did ya think? Review! And next chapter will come out... eventually...