Sometimes, it's not the size of the weapon or the deepness in the wound – it's the weight of the anger. The burning incentive to live.
Souten's heart pounded like swords against stone. As she bled herself out. Sprawling low on her knees, fingers pointed forward. Her braids slinking over her shoulders. Her mouth close enough to kiss the ground.
"Lord Sesshomaru of the West," Where the sun crept into bed, "I humbly seek your kindness."
Hiten often preached about planting ones feet into the ground. Even if the storm withers away the skin and dries out the bones. Just always know, little girl, that flowers always grow back in the spring. Manten encouraged her keep her heart wrapped in poisoned ivy. Too keep away the weary men who'd see around her. Not through her. And even if she allowed them to see into her soul, to forever stay cold as ice. Remind them that you are not a wasteland. You are not barren. And only the rain can call you home.
She was too small to seek an army, and men couldn't see past the fullness of her lips. The curl of her lashes. Her title meant nothing. She was warrior, an heir to no crown. The house of the thunder clan collected dust and bad spirits. Souten was left. All alone. And she wondered if ever truly forgave Inuyasha for murdering her brothers.
Was she truly over it...
Sesshomaru said nothing, but his subjects chattered. Echoing gossip her ears had caught along the way.
I thought they were all dead.
She resisted the urge to scream at the top of her lungs– well you thought wrong!
"Lord Sesshomaru. I don't see why she wouldn't be deserving of a place here..."
Souten anxiously snapped back her head to gaze at the solid source of empathy. She met the pitiful stare of a pretty girl. Dressed equally as nice as her lord, but she was human and smelled like flowers growing in the dirt. Souten's heart skipped.
"So be it," Sesshomaru's throat rattled, "You find something to do with her then, Rin."
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It was better than lying in a bed filled with roaches. Souten still swallowed her discontent with being reduced to simple company. She was a fighter, a cold blooded murderer if need be. Being a watchdog wasn't a dream she had reached for, but Rin was beautiful. And she could stare at her for an infinite amount of time.
"Souten?" The way Rin said her name reminded her of honey sliding down her throat. It was soft, thick, and somewhat passionate. Maybe she spoke to everyone that way. Maybe that's why Sesshomaru liked having her around.
"Yes," Souten choked as she watched Rin comb through her glossy waves. Noticing the perfectly even skin down the nape of her neck.
"It's not nice to stare."
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Rin had this uncanny ability to warm a room with her presence. She smiled for no reason at all. For no reason other than being alive. She only reserved a special look for Sesshomaru. It was its own simper and gaze. The purest manifestation of love and beauty. Not the kind of love that shook women from their clothes. It wasn't desire. It was affection that could only move mountains. Gratitude that could only melt the snow in winter.
Souten noticed it. Everyone did. Sesshomaru pretended he couldn't.
The men that crawled at Sesshomaru's feet coveted her. With flowers and kingdom's worth of wealth. None of them ever good enough. All of them subjected to her rejection.
"Are you in love with Lord Sesshomaru," Souten blatantly asked. Wishing Rin could find it in her heart to look at her the same way.
"I love him the way the sun loves the moon," Rin peeked around a tall bush of flowers. Smiling brightly, reaching a hand to place a flower beneath Souten's breast plate.
"I don't think I understand, Lady Rin."
"Perhaps that means it's not for you to understand."
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"It's a bad idea, Souten," Rin straddled A -un. Casting a sideways glower.
"What is?" Souten walked by the dragon's side dutifully. Caught in her own daydreams.
"To be in love with me. You're going to get your feelings hurt," Rin yawned.
"Who said I was in love with you?" The tips of Souten's ears burned.
"You don't have to say anything at all. It's just the way you look."
x
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"If I were male, would you even give me a second thought?" The seasons had broken together an odd trust. Rin closed in Souten's hands her glossy beads like hidden secrets. For too many nights, she watched Rin undress herself. And she was cruelly nonchalant about the casualness of her naked back.
"Maybe," Rin unraveled a pin from her hair.
"Maybe? My brother was handsome. I look just like him," And her heart burned like Manten's.
"I never said you weren't handsome."
Rin drew herself near, dragging her knees until they caressed Souten's. She raised her small arms and cupped Souten's face. Leaning forward to bring her lips to hers. But she would not plant a kiss.
"An empty heart keeps a woman strong."
A/N: A random throw away one shot. When I don't have the desire to write long stories, I just write little nothings about them. Maybe one day I will turn it into something long and real. Right now it's just a thought that I need to save for later.