Disclaimer: I own nothing Inuyasha-related, and the Highwayman does not belong to me.
Author's Note: This is basically just The Highwayman told with Inuyasha characters, and a few embellishments of my own. Enjoy!
The Highwayman
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight, over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding-
Riding-riding-
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
*
He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
Rin hummed as she brushed her hair, waiting. He was to come that night, as he did most nights. She thought of him as she waited, as she did everyday.
A tap on the window gave the nineteen-year-old a start, and Rin opened the window and looked down quickly. She fought down her disappointment when it was only Kohaku, throwing rocks at her window. Of course, she should have known—he never had tapped on her window to get her attention.
"Why are you throwing rocks at my window, Kohaku?" she asked him. "You could just knock on the door."
Kohaku laughed at that, tossing and catching a small rock that he had probably intended to throw if she had not answered at the first.
"It's much more interesting this way," he told her with a grin. Rin could not help but grin back. Any girl who won his heart someday would be lucky. "I was wondering if you'd like to go out for a walk—or a ride, if you like—since the moon's so beautiful tonight."
"Sorry," Rin sighed, shaking her head with a smile. "I'm a little tired tonight." Kohaku's disappointment was evident, and a pang of guilt swept through her chest. But she couldn't bear the thought of missing him when he came, so she simply smiled apologetically. "Goodnight," she said in an equally apologetic tone. Echoing her words, Kohaku waved as Rin shut the window again.
She returned to brushing her long, black hair as she waited, more anxious than before. Sometimes, she thought she heard the sound of hooves, but when she peeked out of the window, it always proved to be her imagination. After some time, she stopped going to the window at the sound of hooves, and listened instead for another sound at the window.
After some time, another sound floated to her from the window. This was not a tap, but a whistled tune—a very familiar tune—and her heart leapt into her throat. She opened the window again, and this time smiled down at the elegant silver-haired man that sat on his black horse beneath her window. He wore leather boots of perfect fit that went up to his thighs, breeches made of fine deerskin, and a coat of velvet, achieving a look of profound elegance that would have been unexpected of any other outlaw. The fact that he was missing an arm was almost unnoticeable. She could see a rapier at his side, as well as twinkles that she knew was the moonlight reflecting off of his pistols. Seeing him always made her feel safe, even with the many weapons that he always held on his person.
"Sesshoumaru," she said with a smile that lit up her face. The handsome face of the man she loved—scarred on the cheeks with a crescent moon-shaped birthmark on his forehead, but handsome all the same—always made her smile. Oh, they would probably never marry, and she was well aware of that. He was an outlaw who raided any person or company going along the highway that had anything to do with the King. They certainly could not marry while he continued to do that, nor would Sango and Miroku ever allow it. But she was content, and when he gave her a rare smile, she knew, as always, that he was as well.
"A large caravan shall come along the highway tonight," her lover told her. "I plan to try and rob it, and be back before dawn. But if they have guards this time," he continued with a steady look into her eyes, "I will have to fight, which could take up quite some time. If I cannot come tonight, however, I shall come to you without fail tomorrow night. Watch for me by the moonlight, and I promise that nothing shall keep me from you."
Rin smiled. She knew that she could not ask him to stay for long when there were raids to be done. Her Sesshoumaru's grudge against the King was a personal one, and a righteous one at that.
"I'll wait," she told him with one of her gentle, genuine smiles that had melted his heart from the very beginning. She leaned out of her window, reaching down as he stood in his stirrups and reached up. The tips of their fingers brushed, but they could get no closer. So Rin undid the braid that she had done in her hair as she waited, and let it spill down to Sesshoumaru's chest. She watched him run his fingers through it and smell it for a moment, and then press a kiss to it.
As she stood up straight once more, their eyes met.
"I love you," Rin told Sesshoumaru even as her eyes said the same. "Be careful."
"I will," he said to her, his voice almost a whisper and his eyes speaking of the love that he did not put into words. "By the moonlight, then."
As he rode out, never did it occur to either lover that a figure had seen and heard everything from the shadows of the stables; neither realized that that night would be their last night together.
A young man had been making his way back to Rin's window from the stables when he heard a rustle at the gates. Stopping, he had turned to see a man that he recognized as the famed local highwayman ride into the courtyard, stop below Rin's window, and begin to whistle. His surprise had only amplified when Rin greeted him warmly, as though she had been expecting him all along. As their conversation progressed, his fear and anger grew. How had sweet, innocent Rin come to love the highwayman—an outlaw—as she so obviously did? It all became clear to Kohaku when Rin voiced her love, and the highwayman voiced nothing in reply. Rin was being used—for her innocence, her unquestioning faith, her unconditional love—and it had to be stopped.
So that night, Kohaku swiftly saddled a horse and rode out to send a messenger to the King, informing him of all that he had seen and heard.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
*
And dark in the old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say-
A small girl sat, bruised and sniffling as she huddled in a small hollow created by the roots of a large tree. She looked no older than six, and was skinny beyond all reason.
The girl suddenly sat up, alert. She thought she heard a small rustling sound. Perhaps there was someone nearby who could help her? Well, even if they couldn't, perhaps they would have food… She followed the sound and finding its source in a clearing not far off, where a handsome silver-haired young man was eating. His slightly fancy, elegant attire caught her eye for a second, but it faded from her mind almost instantly when she saw the food.
Without a thought to manners—there was no need for them any longer, as far as she was concerned—or the young man's wrath should she be caught, she crept up and attempted to take a piece of beef from the small pack of food beside him. But the young man caught her hand without even looking up.
"What are you doing?" he demanded in a terrifyingly cold voice. She did not even flinch. She only looked up at him pleadingly. Finally he looked her way. For years to come, the girl would vividly remember the way that his eyebrows had shot straight up at the sight of a small girl, skinny as anything. "Where are your parents?" he asked. She looked down, her eyes darkening. "Dead." His voice was flat as he spoke that one syllable; it was a statement, not a question. "What are you doing here?"
"The guards…they hit me," the girl replied quietly after a few moments of silence.
"Royal guards?" he asked sharply, though he was still cold and calm. She looked up at him in confusion. "Did they wear red uniforms with black sashes?" She nodded, and his eyes darkened. "All of them put together are not worth half your life," he said.
When the girl thought back years later, she would know that that had been him expressing his hate; but at this time, it meant that someone cared for her, at least a little bit. She smiled. He looked at her dispassionately for a moment, and then held out a piece of cheese.
"Eat," he said simply, and she happily obeyed.
When he left, she followed. He showed no sign that he knew that she was there, but she knew that he did not mind, for when he sat down to eat, he always placed the food pack beside him, allowing her to eat as much as she pleased. It was only on the fourth day after she started following him that he gave any active recognition of her existence.
"What is your name?" he asked coldly.
"Rin," the girl replied with a smile. After a moment of thought, she added one thing more. "I'm eight." The young man looked at her steadily for a moment, and then turned away to resume walking. But now that he had spoken to her, Rin had enough courage to speak as well.
"What's your name?" she asked. The man looked around and fixed her with a steady glare. She just continued to gaze up at him with wide, questioning eyes.
"Sesshoumaru," he finally replied.
Rin smiled, satisfied for the time.
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
*
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.
Rin was awake as soon as the first rays of morning sunlight shone through the windows. She sighed in disappointment—apparently the caravan had been guarded, which meant that she would probably be waiting quite a while. She attempted to drown herself in her chores from morning until dusk, so as not to think of the man that she missed. She cleaned the stables, cooked lunch for the guests, and saw Sango off—she apparently had some important errand to attend to.
At dusk, she heard the distinguished sound of horse hooves. Her heart leapt in delight, and she ran out into the front yard. However, to her surprise, it was a troop of royal soldiers. There looked to be about ten or so. Rin blinked in surprise as she watched them approach. They did not often come down this highway—especially in such large numbers. She watched, concealing her glare as they approached, fully expecting them to gallop past.
So it came as a shock to her when they slowed and stopped at the gate of Houshi Inn. She stared in surprise.
"Don't just stand there, girl!" snapped the man who led them; he appeared to be the general. "Open the gates!" Rin hastily complied, and they rode into the courtyard without another glance her way. Then they dismounted. The general turned to her sharply. "Put our horses in the stables. They are to have the best oats available, and each is to have its own stall." And with that, they all entered the inn.
Rin sighed, but began leading the horses into the stable, two at a time. She counted sixteen horses, and concluded that there must be sixteen men. She went to get oats and clean water for them all, and when she finished, she returned into the inn through the back door.
"Oh, good, you're here," said a very pregnant Kagome as she bustled around the kitchen. "Go and see how many of them need their mugs refilled, will you?" Rin silently obeyed, entering the dining hall. She stood still for a moment at the sight that met her eyes.
The soldiers sat with their feet up on the tables, carelessly waving their mugs around. Rin was appalled. Most people had better manners in this inn; these men were muddying the tables with their boots and spilling more of the expensive ale than they were drinking.
"Girl! More ale!" shouted a soldier. Rin, despite her displeasure at their actions, took his mug and refilled it. More demands for additional ale followed the first, and she ran back and forth, refilling the large mugs. Her mother was still out, her aunt and father were cooking them food, and she had no idea where Kohaku and Souta were, so she worked alone. The general had been regarding her thoughtfully, and now addressed her.
"Girl!" he called. "Do you own this inn?" Rin looked at him in surprise. Everyone knew who ran the Houshi Inn…
"No, sir," she replied quietly, trying to the best of her ability to act the part of the submissive, gentle, innocent girl. "It is run by a couple named Sango and Miroku." The general's sharp, unwavering eyes were starting to frighten her.
"Then you are under their employment?" he asked. Rin was beginning to feel very nervous as well. Why did such things concern him?
"No, sir," Rin said again. "They took me in when I was young—they are parents to me, so I help around with the inn." The man's eyes sharpened further at her words, and he leaned forward.
"Do they have any daughters apart from yourself?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," Rin said nervously. He raised his eyebrows impatiently, waiting for more information. "She is Sango and Miroku's daughter by blood, sir."
"I see. Does she have any lover, by any chance?" Rin stared at this inquiry. Surely he was jesting…? But the look on his face indicated that he truly expected an answer. But this was the sort of thing that everyone knew… Then again, these were the King's men…
"No, sir," Rin replied, attempting to subdue the snarl that was fighting for release in her chest upon feeling anew who these people truly were. "She is but five years of age."
"And they have no other daughters but you and this infant?" He leaned forward intently as he asked.
"No, sir."
The man leaned back with a triumphant smile.
"She's the one, men," he told his soldiers in a drawl that almost seemed idle. "Seize her."
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gipsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching-
Marching-marching-
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
"Why do you always have blood on you after you come back?" the girl asked quietly.
The young man looked around at her with piercing golden eyes, but she did not flinch as others would have; she never had. Her bright brown eyes shone not with her usual energy, but with hesitant concern. Sesshoumaru would have verbally slaughtered any other who showed the remotest sign of pity, but Rin was different—in the two years that she had been following him, he had found that he could never treat her as roughly as he treated all others. He turned back to tending to his wounds.
"I fight," he replied simply, even with the knowledge that it would only provoke more questions out of the girl.
"Why?" she asked instantly. "Who?"
"I fight the King's men and the King's men alone," he replied, completing his self-treatment and standing. "Let's go."
"But why?" she repeated even as she followed him as he began to walk. They were always walking through the woods, though she had no idea why they did. It seemed pointless to wander around when they always returned to the highway. And there he would always tell her to wait in the bushes with a promise that he would return, and he always did—always covered in blood. This had been an unspoken ritual over the past two years that she spent with him. She had never dared ask until then.
"To regain what is mine," replied the silver-haired youth shortly without sparing her a glance. Rin looked up at him wide-eyed with sympathy.
"They took something from you?" she asked sadly. There was a short silence.
"Yes."
"Me too."
Sesshoumaru looked down at the girl in surprise. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she looked up at him sadly.
"They came in and killed Mama and Papa. They couldn't find me, because I was hiding like Mama told me to, but when they went away and I tried to get out and run away, they saw me running and hit me." Rin finished and looked up appealingly for a few moments. When he said nothing, she sniffled and looked down.
But then she felt a large, warm hand on her head, stroking her hair gently. Rin had come to know her protector quite well over the past two years, and this was the most that he had ever touched her—it was the ultimate gesture of comfort coming from him.
With a sob, Rin threw herself at Sesshoumaru and sobbed, hugging him around the middle as tightly as she could. Sesshoumaru stood in place, returning the hug tentatively with one arm and stroking her hair with the other hand until she had cried all she needed. Finally, Rin looked up, hiccoughing slightly as she wiped her eyes with one hand and continued to cling to Sesshoumaru with the other.
"What did they take from you?"
Normally, Sesshoumaru would have ignored the question and resumed walking. But perhaps because the girl had just spilled her heart out to him, the Ice Prince, he did not do so now.
"They killed my father." Rin cocked her head in question.
"What about your mother?"
"She died giving birth to me."
"Oh."
"But they killed my brother's mother."
Rin looked up in surprise. She had not thought that he would volunteer any further information. Especially about a brother. She had once asked him if he had any sisters or brothers, and he had actually growled at her.
"You have a brother?"
"If you can call him that," Sesshoumaru said in a tone that told Rin that he was not very fond of this brother.
"Don't you like him?"
Sesshoumaru fixed Rin with a steady, cold gaze, and she sighed. Seeing that she had gotten the message, he turned and resumed walking. Rin followed. Now that he was actually answering her questions, she did not intend to rest until she had answers to all her questions.
A sudden thought brightened her spirits—perhaps if she asked about a different topic…
"You're only eighteen, right? So how do you fight so many people at once?"
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through the casement, the road that he would ride.
Rin struggled, fighting and screaming with everything she had in her as they dragged her out of the bar and up the stairs.
"What do you think you're doing to my niece?" came a dangerous voice. Rin was not sure whether to laugh or cry. She had no idea why they wanted her, but the king's men were not lenient. Kagome could get wrapped up in the whole mess as well, and she was not nearly as capable as she would have been at fighting them off without her round belly in the way.
"Do you not know?" asked the general lazily from where he still lounged on the table.
"Of course not!" Kagome fumed. She would have yelled at him for putting his feet on the table, but knew that it was best not to be too terse with the royal guards. "And were her father and uncle not out in the stables with her brothers at the moment, caring for your horses, they would be just as angry as I am. Rin's never done anything wrong—put her down!"
"Never done anything wrong, have you?" drawled the general, turning to Rin with a smirk. The men had stopped attempting to drag her any further, and simply ensured that she could not escape. "Well then, why don't you tell your aunt exactly what you do in the middle of the night?"
"I do nothing out of the ordinary!" Rin said angrily.
"Really?" The general turned away, taking a sip of his ale before leaning back in his chair and smirking at her again. "Because I have a source that informs me that last night you were speaking very…familiarly with a certain man who is currently detained on the highway…"
Rin froze. The general's smirk widened.
"She has no idea what you're talking about!" fumed Kagome. "Release her at once!"
"Oh, maybe you don't know what I'm talking about," the general told Kagome calmly, "but she certainly does."
Indeed, Rin was white as a sheet. Then her anger roared back into life, ten times more vicious than before.
"He fights for what is rightfully his," Rin growled in a tone that she had never used before, and her eyes flashed with a fire that made even Kagome step back. "Much more than I can say for you or your King."
"So you believe in your lover's cause." The general stood and walked over to stand before Rin. "Very admirable, child, but unfortunately, that's not the way things work."
"I am no child," Rin growled.
"Ah yes, my mistake—I'm sure that he robbed you of that long ago." Rin blinked at him a moment, and then her face began to burn. But the general went on. "As I was saying, we only intend to use you as bait—after all, he's obviously used you for your innocence and naïveté—so you have nothing to worry about."
"As if you won't kill me anyway," Rin snarled. So many people dear to her had lost dear ones to the king's soldiers—Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru lost a father as well as Inuyasha's mother; Sango, Kagome, Kohaku and Souta had lost their parents as well as their entire village; Miroku had lost his father and grandfather. The anger amplified. "And you'll never get him, no matter how hard you try—he'll kill you and your king in the end. And I certainly won't be helping you."
"Rin? What's going on?" Kagome whispered faintly. Rin's attention snapped back to her aunt. The general laughed.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Ka-"
But she got no further, for now that the general was done with her, the soldiers were resuming dragging her up the stairs, and she resumed struggling against them. But it was futile. In what seemed like no time at all, they had her bound to the foot of her own bed. Not that they had actually chosen that particular room with the knowledge that it was hers, of course. They simply needed the room with the window with the best view of the road, which happened to be hers.
No sooner had they finished binding her than one of the two soldiers grabbed her face roughly and kissed her. She struggled, but to no avail—until his tongue entered her mouth.
Rin bit down as hard as she could, and the man sprang away with a yelp.
"You-"
"Stop it," the other soldier cut in, holding the first back with a look of disgust. "That's the bandit's plaything. You actually want to touch something as soiled as that?" The first soldier grunted reluctantly in agreement.
Rin had no time to breathe a sigh of relief, however, because the door slammed open.
"What is this?" thundered the man who entered, followed by two younger men.
"Papa," Rin muttered nervously, though she could not help but feel relieved to the point of weakness that someone was attempting to save her.
"Rin!" one of the identical blue-eyed boys called around his brother-in-law's shoulder. "Kagome called us, it's okay—we'll get you out!"
"Thanks, Souta, but-"
"Didn't that fat lady tell you?" demanded the first soldier moodily. "This 'daughter' of yours is a whore, that's what."
"Don't you talk about Rin like that!" shouted Kohaku angrily from beside his twin brother.
"Aw…" the guard mocked in fake sympathy. "Wanted her for yourself, did you?"
Kohaku flushed in anger and shame.
"She's admitted to it," the second soldier commented lightly from behind.
"I was under the impression that a whore was a woman who beds a large number of people?" Rin snapped.
"I would assume that if you're desperate enough to bed an outlaw, then he isn't your first," the second soldier replied, flicking a strand of blond hair casually out of his face.
"I've bedded no one," Rin snapped right back.
"Oh? And so you and this bandit just started meeting in the dead of night one day because you decided you liked to talk?" Rin pursed her lips, refusing to reply. She was not giving this man her life story. She glared with fire-filled eyes.
"What has she done? I demand to know!" roared Miroku, eyes flashing.
"Go to the general—he's got the letter," grunted the first soldier moodily.
"That I will," snarled Miroku, spinning around and stomping down to the bar. Rin flinched—she had never seen him this angry. Actually, she had never seen him very angry at all.
Souta had followed Miroku, and Rin was too busy glaring at the guards to notice Kohaku standing rooted in the doorway, pale as a ghost as the realization of what he had done truly struck him.
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say-
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
Rin sprang up in her unfamiliar bed to the sound of a tune. It was a tune that she had hummed as a child, and there was only one person she knew of who could possibly know it. She darted over to the window and threw it open.
Sure enough, Sesshoumaru stood in the courtyard below the window, whistling the tune. He stopped at the crash of the window opening and looked up at her, expressionless as always.
But his eyes demanded explanation.
"I'm so sorry!" Rin gushed hastily, trying to explain. "You hadn't come back in a day and I was really hungry, so I went wandering around to find food, and found this inn, so I tried begging, but the mistress here—she's called Sango, you know, isn't that a nice name?—thought I shouldn't be wandering around so "underfed and underclothed" as she put it, so she invited me to eat with them since they were just having their meal, and then when I finished, she and everyone—there's a big family here, since she has a husband and a younger sister and two younger brothers, and also there's another person staying here, though he's apparently sick so I didn't see him, but I think that he's Sango's younger sister's lover or something—anyway, they decided I ought to at least spend the night here, and they said they'd figure out what to do with me tomorrow, and I said it's all right because I'll just go back to the forest, but she wouldn't listen, and I figured it wouldn't matter since you were busy anyway-"
"I am not mad, Rin," Sesshoumaru said shortly, cutting off her tirade. She knew him well enough that she could distinguish the glint of amusement in his eyes.
Rin blinked. He was amused?
"You're not mad?" she repeated, though her eyes and ears were both telling her that he wasn't, so it must be so.
"No," Sesshoumaru confirmed. There was a moment of silence. Then, "Do you like it here?"
A pause.
"I suppose I do," Rin replied slowly. "Sango could be a little harsh on her brothers, but she was really nice, and her husband Miroku was even nicer. He calmed her down when she was mad at her little brothers—Kohaku and Souta are twins, and they seemed sort of like troublemakers, but not the bad kind. And Kagome—that's Sango's younger sister, but she's older than Kohaku and Souta—seemed sort of worried, but I think that's because she's taking care of the sick person."
"So if they asked you to stay here, you would?"
Rin fell silent in surprise. Her first thought was to wonder if she could stay here. Her second was to think if she could ask for a job as helper in the inn. And then she wondered if Sesshoumaru was trying to be rid of her.
"Do you want me to stay here?" Rin asked timidly.
"If you wish to return with me, then do so."
Rin smiled. So he wasn't trying to get rid of her. He was simply offering her a choice—whichever lifestyle she preferred, he would allow her to live it. And Rin…while she adored Sesshoumaru, she really didn't want to be a burden. In that respect, she was eager to ask for a job in the inn the next day. But she also wanted to be with Sesshoumaru—he had been her protector and companion for five years, and he was dearer to her than anyone had ever been.
"If I asked for work…" she said hesitantly, "Would I still be able to see you?"
Sesshoumaru looked up at her thoughtfully.
"Should you wish it, I will come every evening that I am able."
A bright grin lit up Rin's face—and then it froze.
"But what if they don't give me work?" she asked timidly.
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed.
"Then you will return to me, if you wish."
Rin beamed at him, and she could tell that his eyes softened as she did.
———Continues in Part Two.