A/N: This is another oneshot written for the Prompt Exchange Challenge.
Prompt: Ugly soul [Sent by Warrior of The Healing Flame]
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any related characters. Of course, I would love to ;) Also, I don't know if it is clear, but Rin is still a young child in this, so Sesshomaru's not in love with her or anything. I've always been a fan of the father-daughter pairing for them.
Blood. Spattering the dirt path, filling the air with its metallic tang, and staining a scrap of cloth, bright orange and checkered.
Sesshomaru's nostrils flared in alarm and he whipped around, trying to find the person this cloth belonged to. In his panic, the demon lord failed to notice the small form lying face down by his feet, and he stumbled over it.
Rin!
He dropped to his knees beside the little girl and his eyes widened at the pool of blood that surrounded her head and matted her hair. He reached out to draw her into his lap and recoiled. Blood stained his hands – her blood. Shaking lightly, he pulled Rin into his lap and turned her over.
A long gash ran from her left shoulder to the opposite hip and her life slowly gushed out of the wound. Her eyes flickered open and, focusing with great difficulty on Sesshomaru's face, they filled with terror and she flinched.
"Rin," Sesshomaru croaked. He could not understand why she would look at him so. She writhed weakly, trying to get away, but her eyes glazed over, and she moved no more.
"No, NO!" Sesshomaru scrambled to pull Tensaiga out of its sheath, but the blade stuck as if the scabbard was filled with concrete. She cannot die! Not again.
A voice floated on the wind – Rin's voice. "You did this," she whispered, emotionlessly. "You killed me. This is all your fault."
"I didn't," Sesshomaru snapped, but a clawing feeling wrenched at his chest. Fear? I, the great Sesshomaru, am afraid. He wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. "Stop saying that. I would never kill you." His voice just barely shook.
"You are a stained soul." The voice turned accusatory. "Stained by my blood and the blood of countless others. Pay for your sins."
The world turned dark. The wind whipped around him, catching at his clothes like a many-armed creature. He ran, but the ground split open beneath him and he was falling…falling…falling…
"Sesshomaru-sama?" a curious voice said. Sesshomaru's eyes snapped open and he gasped for breath. Rin was bending over him, a worried expression on her face.
Just a dream, he thought, relieved.
"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin repeated. "Are you okay? You were shaking."
"It's nothing Rin," Sesshomaru snapped. Perhaps he oughtn't to have done so but he did so detest being coddled. Rin looked taken aback for a moment, but then she smiled and nodded.
"I'm glad," she said happily, before skipping away to talk to Ah-Un.
"Jaken," Sesshomaru said, his voice its usual commanding monotone. Jaken sprang up from where he had been dozing on a rock and looked around bewilderedly. "We are leaving. Get Ah-Un."
"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," Jaken said, bowing so low his hat fell off before scampering off.
They journeyed for a while, but Sesshomaru was traveling with no real destination in mind. He was absorbed in the words of his dream. Pay for your sins. Pay for your sins.
It was unnatural for a human and a demon to remain in such close proximity for so long. He didn't know how his father had done it, and Inuyasha wasn't even fully yokai, so it was no wonder he was unaffected. His rational side was screaming at him to sink his claws into Rin's flesh and tear it apart. He was a Lord and she was a puny mortal meant to show him deference.
Rin laughed and her clear giggles shook him from his thoughts. He turned to see her chasing a butterfly, her arms outstretched and a wide smile splitting her face.
In spite of himself, Sesshomaru's lips quirked upward at her antics. Rin stood still and the butterfly warily perched on her head. Her mouth formed a silent 'O' of awe and she carefully turned to look at Sesshomaru.
"Look!" she whisper-screamed. "I caught it!" She was going cross-eyed trying to look at it.
Sesshomaru nodded at her, unable to think of anything to say. The butterfly flew away and Rin waved frantically to it.
"It won't respond, Rin," Sesshomaru said.
"I know," she replied, still waving. "But I'm saying good-bye anyway. He knows."
Sometimes, she left him speechless.
Rin ran off, halfway through, as she was wont to do, to get some lunch for herself. She returned a little while later, clutching some fruits and – was that a flower?
She put the fruits in a basket on Ah-Un's saddle and fed each head an apple. Then she ran to Sesshomaru and held out the flower proudly. It had broad white petals and a blood red center.
He bent and took it from her, staring at her quizzically. "What is this?"
"It's a flower," Rin told him. "It reminded me of you."
"I am not a flower, Rin."
She giggled. "Nope. You're quiet and serious on the outside like the white, but on the inside, you're colorful. Sometimes you're sad or scared or happy, but no one ever sees."
Dusk fell once more, and the small group settled down to rest. Jaken built a small fire and then curled up beside it. Rin snuggled up between Ah-Un's heads, which were wrapped protectively around her.
Sesshomaru sat against a tree, gazing out into the forest, but not really seeing. He thought about Rin.
She was such a free soul, full of that childish innocence that he had not had since before his memory. He, himself, on the other hand, was stained with the crimes of millions of innocent lives. Crimes? Since when had he thought of his acts as crimes? Since he had met her. He considered taking her back to the human village. Kaede, he knew, would take care of her. But, his instincts screamed against that choice, unequivocally. Something in him stirred, some sort of fatherly awareness.
Fatherly? And that was when he realized. Unconsciously, unknowingly, he had adopted this little orphan girl as his own cub. He looked down at the flower that he was mindlessly twisting in his hands. Yes, he was taciturn, but the red center seemed far too much like the blood stains on his soul. How long would it be until Rin realized the danger he posed and left him once and for all? Still gazing at the flower, his eyes slipped shut and he drifted into a light sleep.
He was in the clearing where they had last stopped but it was empty. Sesshomaru looked down, realizing that he was still holding the flower. There was something different about it. The red center was spreading, coloring the white petals and dripping onto the ground. It formed a trail into the forest. He followed it and came upon a grotesque sight. Ah-Un had been shredded, so many cuts lacing his body, it seemed like ribbons. Jaken had been impaled upon his own staff. Rin lay off to the side in a clump of flowers, the same long laceration mutilating her form. The flowers were soaking up her blood through their stems, tinting their centers a blood red. It was the same flower Rin had given him, not a few hours ago. Her glassy eyes pinned him with a betrayed look.
He stumbled backward, shaking his head and muttering, "No, not again. No." Over and over.
"You cannot run," the bodiless voice whispered. "You cannot hide
The ground began to crack open. His eyes widened in panic and he tried to run.
Something soft stroked his face and Sesshomaru turned looking for the source.
"Wake up, Sesshomaru-sama!" a second innocent scared voice called. "Wake up!"
Sesshomaru's eyes snapped open and he found himself, for the second night, looking into Rin's concerned gaze. She said nothing but simply curled herself into his mokomoko and wrapped an arm around his neck.
"Good night," she whispered, her eyes already slipping shut. "Love you." She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and closed her eyes.
Attachment – it was a strange feeling for Sesshomaru, but perhaps he could indulge himself, just this once.
He stroked Rin's soft hair and murmured, "Good night, Rin." Then he too closed his eyes.
And the dreams did not return.
A/N: So, I've never written for Inuyasha (or any anime) before, but I absolutely adored the series.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
You read through this story,
So how about that Review? ;)