Loving His Rin
Disclaimer: This story contains ideas, characters, and places created by Rumiko Takahashi. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: This is just something I wrote after I finished Inuyasha: The Final Act. It has spoilers from the entire anime/manga, so don't read it if you don't want things ruined. In regards to swords that I mention toward the end, a katana is a long, curved sword, and a wakizashi is a shorter sword that is sometimes paired with a katana. Fighting with both of these together is referred to as daishō. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and please review!
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[8 years old]
She had been so young when he found her. So lonely, so utterly like himself. Resurrecting her was just to test his Tenseiga, to see how its powers worked on humans. It had nothing to do with his interest in her lack of fear of him, or his amazement at her persistence. Tenseiga had compelled him to save her life, yet when he held her in his arms and saw her life return, he had felt something he could not comprehend. It was akin to wonder, a bit of amazement, and only the slightest protective urge. But that urge had grown.
He had stood in the shadows, unsure for one of the first times in his life. It was possible that Rin would want to go with the monks, want to live with her own kind, want to leave him. Even though she fought against the human holding her, part of him wondered if she would be better there. She was always in danger while she was with him, and as much as he tried to protect her he wasn't always able to. She had been taken by Kagura, attacked by Kohaku, harmed herself during her perilous lonesome adventures, and been kidnapped by Suikotsu. Now she had been taken away and put in danger once again. He had saved her each and every time, but Naraku was still out there. Until he put an end to the disgusting half-demon, she would never be safe.
But as she shouted for him to save her, he knew he would never leave her alone unless she truly wanted to be away from him. Her screams when she thought he was being harmed were truly touching, but the humans were no match for him. No human could ever be. And yet he still gave her the option, wondering briefly again if she really would leave him. No, of course she wouldn't.
He had never even considered her death, a real death, one of old age, until she stopped by a grave marker and asked him. The simple question stopped him in his tracks, made him realize that one day she would, in fact, leave him. It was an incredibly unsettling thought, one he did not want to think about any longer. So he told her to stop thinking such silly thoughts, and that was that.
It was not over. She was taken from him again and again. He thought he had lost her for good in the Underworld. Training Tenseiga was not worth Rin's life, Rin's smiles and laughter. The realization that his life-giving sword could not grant life more than once was agonizing. Sorrow and fear were both new emotions, but he felt them more keenly than ever before. And when she took a breath he thought he would never see, he felt relief wash over him. Cupping her sweet face in his hand, he swore he would never let harm come to her again.
When Naraku took her, all he could think of was how he had failed her. He had been tricked and led away so she could be harmed. He had failed to keep his promise. Even with the battle over, and Naraku finally destroyed, he still felt the bile rise in his throat when he thought of what could have happened to her. So he left her in the village with the half-demon and his companions. She would be safe surrounded by humans that would never attract much attention to themselves. She could learn to live with her own people. It would be for the best. No matter how much she begged to stay with him, and she did, he knew this was how it had to be.
[13 years old]
Each time he was in the area, and even when he was not, he made sure to stop by and bring her something. The kimonos and jewelry he brought her were the finest he could find, and seeing her face light up each time made him only want to spoil her more. Each visit she asked him when she could leave with him, and each time he only told her, "when you are older."
He had been away a year without seeing her face when he stopped at the modest cottage she was living in with another gift, this time a brightly patterned kimono from far to the south. When she opened the door, however, he knew he could not give this gift to her. She had grown. Usually he accounted for the changes, but this time he had been ill-prepared. She was becoming a woman. She no longer looked like the child he had known. Not only had she grown taller, but her body had begun filling out in all the correct places. The kimono he held was not an appropriate gift for a young woman.
She was still glad to see him, her face brightening even as she noted how long he had been away and how she had missed him and would have liked to see him. Although he knew that she was not expecting a gift, she never was, he wanted to give her one. The best one. So he asked her to leave, and to travel with him once again. He was a bit apprehensive, and the heartbeat's length between his question and her response made him remember the day long ago where he had wondered if she would leave him or not.
His worries were not justified. She wanted to be with him, had been waiting for this day since he had left her here, and told him quite fiercely that he would not leave her for so long again. He was more than happy to agree.
She had only been with him again for a few weeks when the scent of her blood in the air washed over him. A thousand scenarios played through his mind as he raced to where she was located off in the woods. She could have been attacked by a wayward demon, or even a group of human bandits who she found even more frightening. She could have been killed, gored by a wild animal, run through with a sword, decapitated with an axe. The fact that remained the same through each scenario was that he had failed to protect her again. The scene he came upon, however, was none of the thousand he had imagined.
He had rushed to her, demanding to know where she was injured, and where the offending party had gone so he could kill them. Blushing heavily and looking down at her feet, she had murmured that she was not injured. She was just old enough to bear a child now, a woman grown, and her body was simply letting her know. That was the last day he thought of her as a child, and each time afterward when he smelled her blood in the air, the words "old enough to bear a child" rang in his ears.
[15 years old]
He adored her, wanted the best for her, lavished gifts on her, vowed to protect her above all others, but her last request he vehemently denied. No. He would not, under any circumstances, train her so she could fight alongside him. He had returned, finally, to the palace of the Lord of the West. Demons from all across the land had come to him when they heard of his return- some to pay homage, others to make requests, and yet others to contest his place and challenge him. Each challenger he cut down with ease, whether with his claws, his whip, or his sword. These challenges had given Rin the idea that she could fight as well, and days upon days of her same request were grating on his already thin patience.
When he ended another battle, this time a bit more difficult, he wanted nothing more than to be left in peace. So when Rin came bouncing along pleading to be allowed to fight, he gave in, although probably not in the way she had imagined. He had dragged her outside, and demanded that she hit him. After a long, incredulous stare, she complied and proceeded to punch him in the shoulder so lightly he could not even feel it. Thinking back on that first day, he probably should have yelled at her less, but the noise had produced a ferocity in her, and she managed to leave his jaw smarting before the end. Since that day, he had worked her. Hard. And she pushed herself to the limit as well. He could see her drive and her desire to do well, to be able to one day fight alongside him, and it filled him with a fierce pride. She may physically be a human, but everything else about her was demon. He found himself entertaining the idea of what if she had been a demon, and the thoughts that crossed his mind were both unnerving and completely impossible.
Slowly their training progressed into weaponry. Rin had thought she would be learning to use the naginata, the weapon preferred by many samurai women, but he had quickly refused the idea. She would fight with a real sword, like a true warrior. So he gave her a katana to see how she would do, and she seemed to quickly adapt and pick up how to use the longer sword. Each day when they practiced she got a little better, a little more accurate, and a little more deadly. Each day he also noticed that something was missing from her style. Her ability could be further improved, but she wasn't doing anything incorrectly. So he experimented, telling her to do this technique and to try and hit him here.
After even more weeks of practice, he realized just what was missing. That day when it was time for practice, he tossed her another sword, this time a shorter one, a wakizashi. The missing piece had been filled. Rin had both the balance and the emerging technique to be able to handle fighting with dual swords. She was clumsy at first, but she would not give up. Watching her swing those swords in graceful arcs always gave him a tight, uneasy feeling. He attributed it to not wanting her to be harmed, even though part of him knew that was not it at all. Watching her fight was breathtaking, and seeing this side of her made her seem the equal of any female demon in the land.
[18 years old]
Rin had mastered her weapons. She could hold her own against him in a fight, and had gone out to test her skills with her daishō on real demons. She had always come back safely, boasting to him about the fight. She never knew that he went after her each time, watching from afar in case something happened. He had vowed to always protect her, and he made sure he kept to that promise. The first time he had watched her gracefully dispatch an ugly demon beast that had the gall to challenge her, he had felt his body responding in the most disturbing way. Since then, every time she was close to him, or pressed up against him in one of their struggles on the practice field, all he could think of was her intoxicating scent, her hot breath on his face, and the womanly curves that made her look so incredibly delicious.
Escaping these strange feelings for a few days, and yet pursuing them all the same, he found himself standing at the mouth of a familiar skeleton. He had a request for Totosai, one that Rin deserved and had definitely earned. He wanted two swords forged for her, forged from his fangs. There was no greater material gift he could give her.
When he presented them to her, she realized what they were instantly. Her mouth had fallen open in shock and she had flung herself into his arms, burying her face in his chest. He had frozen for a long moment before slowly reaching his own arms up and wrapping them tightly around her. He never wanted to let her go.
When she pulled away, he felt the loss of her weight against him almost immediately, and he wanted it back. He wanted it back more than he had ever realized. Watching her admire his gift was almost as pleasing, though. She unsheathed both blades and ran her thumb down the sharp edge of each in turn, admiring them with wide eyes. Her thumb was bleeding freely now, but she didn't seem to care; only lifted it to her mouth to suck on and staunch the bleeding while she continued to lavish attention on the swords.
For some reason unknown to him, he caught her hand before it reached her mouth and brought it to his. Slowly inserting her thumb into his mouth, he began licking the wound clean. She had gasped lightly at the sensation and closed her eyes just as a new smell wafted through the air. He froze in his ministrations as he realized just what the scent was- her arousal. Never had she smelled as intoxicating as she did now, head tipped back and mouth slightly open. He felt his body stirring and responding to her once again, and this time, he didn't question it. She had proved herself time after time, fought as the equal to any greater demoness in the land, and she was his.
She opened her eyes when he removed her thumb from his mouth, the bleeding already staunched and the slice closing up. Her eyes were wide, as if daring him to try something else. And dare he did, pulling her roughly into his arms and lowering his mouth to hers. It didn't matter that she was human, not at all. She was wonderful, beautiful, and fierce. She was his.
[20 years old]
Sesshomaru awoke to a sight that would never get old. Rin was asleep, curled up next to him, her hair splayed out on the pillow, her breasts visible through the thin sheet she had tucked over her. He reached over and caressed her protruding belly, feeling nothing but joy at the idea of being a father in only a few short weeks. Rin's breathing picked up, signaling that she had awoken, and she covered his hand with her own, a smile dancing on her face.
"It's a boy. He'll have my hair, but be the exact image of you." She murmured, fingers lightly running over his forearms. "I dreamed his face, and that of two more like him. A boy and a girl with silver hair and golden eyes."
Years ago, Sesshomaru never would have believed that his life could take a turn this way. He had despised humans and half-demons, believing them unworthy. He had never understood why his father, with a strong wife and a full-demon son, would have created a bastard child like Inuyasha. Now, he knew why. It was love. Rin, the child he had saved from death on nothing but a whim, had woven her way into his heart. Without her, he never would have been able to let go of both Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga's awoken power. He never would have regained his lost arm and created a weapon of his own. He would have missed out on the joys of the heart, which she showed him more and more of with each passing day.
"Let us practice just how we shall conceive those other two you dreamed." He growled lightly, nipping at her fingers and rolling his weight over to her. This was something he would never tire of; loving his Rin.