I don't own Inuyasha.
Rin's Secret
Naraku was getting nervous. Sesshoumaru teamed up with Inuyasha's group and he knew that in this state of things it didn't look very good for him. They were strong by themselves, but if they managed to work together, it would mean real trouble for him. It was time for him to use his trump. He couldn't just play with them anymore.
Shippo and Rin were playing tag in the woods. They were told not to run too far, but in the heat of the game they didn't really care that much about it. If not for Jaken who was afraid of his lord's wrath if something happened to Rin, who knows where would they end up. As he was trying to keep them close, he unintentionally became a part of their game and both Shippo and Rin were enjoying teasing him.
Jaken was getting irritated with them and sat angrily on the ground. He didn't get how could those kids have so much energy. He could maybe understand that little fox, but Rin was just a human and yet it seemed that she was able to last even longer than him, especially when she played her games. Maybe it was just those games where his own energy didn't last for long because of his constant irritation.
The two kids were giggling not far from him, as he was breathing heavily, but they tried to stay close. They didn't really want to get lost, but they enjoyed teasing Jaken and when he stopped chasing after them, it wasn't that fun anymore. They settled on the ground and Rin started to make a flower crown from the flowers around her.
Shippo watched her with interest, as the petals were starting to make a form of a circle in her skilled hands. He wasn't really interested in the flowers, but he liked to spend the time with her. When it was decided that Sesshoumaru's group would join them, he was full of joy. Even though that Kagome was taking care of him and loved him as her son, he often felt alone, even though his friends were around him. He missed someone of his age and now he could be with Rin.
Rin finished the crown and looked at it dreamily. Then she looked at Shippo with smile.
"Do you think it will fit Kagome?" She asked and Shippo put his forefinger on his mouth in thought. Then he smirked and took out one of his leaves.
"Let's see." He put the leave on his head and with a puff, Kagome was standing on that place instead of him. Rin chuckled and quickly stood up. Shippo bent down a little and she placed the crown on his head. Shippo stretched up again and made a pose to allow Rin to see her work. She giggled at the pose he made and he smirked.
"So, what do you think?" He asked and sat down, changing his form back to his own.
"It's perfect." Rin sat back to him, still giggling, and took the crown off of his head. She looked at the crown in her hands again, admiring her work, and then set it on the ground beside her. She looked at Shippo, opening her mouth as she wanted to tell him something, but her attention was caught by something else. She looked towards the sky and Shippo followed her gaze.
An ominous black cloud was heading in their direction and they didn't have to think twice to figure out what it was. They quickly stood up and ran in the direction of their camp. They passed the already sleeping Jaken, who woke up by the sudden commotion and when he realized what was going on, he quickly ran after them.
Shippo transformed into his version of a horse and Rin sat on him for faster moving. Though, even this wasn't enough and they bumped into a person who suddenly appeared in front of them. They both fell on the ground, Shippo changing back into his appearance and they looked up in fear. Jaken soon caught up with them, but halted a few steps away as he realized that he didn't know what he should do. There was just no way he could beat Naraku, but he had to protect the children.
"You shouldn't be wandering around here all by yourselves." Naraku mocked them and Shippo quickly stood up in front of Rin in effort to protect her.
"I won't let you to hurt Rin!" He said with determination, but Naraku just chuckled.
"As if you could stop me." He stated and with one of his tentacles he easily swept Shippo away, clearing his way to Rin.
"It's time for us to leave." He said towards her, then he picked her up and in a moment was gone. Jaken just stared at the spot they were just seconds ago. He was doomed. He was so stunned by the whole situation that he didn't even manage to react, much less to protect her and now he was sure that Sesshoumaru would have his head. Even that fox kid tried to do something, but he did nothing at all. Though, he was pretty sure that even if he tried and didn't succeed, then it wouldn't help him much anyway.
Shippo rose up from the ground with tears filled eyes and after looking in the direction Naraku took off with Rin, he turned to run to the camp. He wasn't able to protect her, but he had to at least inform the others about what happened as soon as possible.
In the camp there was tense atmosphere. Even though they all agreed with this cooperation, it didn't mean that their disputes were forgotten. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru sent a glare to each other once in a while, but mindful of their agreement never proceeded any further. The others were glad that it was settled at least in this state of things, but they all thought that those two could try to get along a bit more. Though, even this was already a big progress in their relationship.
Everyone was silent and a certain thought crossed the minds of the human part of the group, that maybe they would do better if they went to play with the kids, but on the other hand, the relationship between the brothers was still too fragile and they needed someone to look after them. Suddenly Shippo ran out of the forest with tears in his eyes and everyone looked at him.
"Rin... Naraku... Gone..." He panted, but everyone got his message without mistake. Sesshoumaru didn't waste a second and immediately took off. The others took just a bit more time as they had to pack their things, and soon followed him. He was already long out of their sight, but Inuyasha was still able to trace him by his scent. Though, at a certain point the scent disappeared and they were forced to stop.
Until that point Inuyasha could smell both Naraku's and Sesshoumaru's scent, but here both of them disappeared. They deduced that there must have been some kind of barrier which washed away the scents, even though that now there was none anymore and they had no lead as to where to go next.
Inuyasha set Kagome on the ground and turned to face everyone in the group.
"Stay here, I'm going to keep searching." He announced and took off. The others looked at each other and with sigh they made up a camp again.
Even though they all knew that Sesshoumaru was able to take care of himself, this looked like a trap made especially for himself and they couldn't shake off the worry about him. He was strong, but they were afraid he could make some mistake in effort to save Rin and that it could bring him trouble, if not kill him. They couldn't be sure if Inuyasha would find him in time, but they had to have faith in him, in both of them.
For now, Sesshoumaru was on his own, which wouldn't be his first time, but no matter how they looked at it, the things didn't look very good for him.
There was again a tense atmosphere in the group, but this time because of a whole different reason than before.
Sesshoumaru didn't even think about his actions. All he knew was that he had to save Rin. He was trailing Naraku's scent and after a while he started to get the feeling that it was a bit too easy. He quickly came to the conclusion that Naraku was leading him to some of his traps, but he couldn't afford to leave Rin in his hands, even if this was indeed a trap set up for him.
At first he was aware of the others following him, but then their presence disappeared and he deduced that Naraku managed to separate him from them. This wasn't the first time he would go against Naraku by himself, but it didn't change the fact that he was getting a bad feeling about this. Though, no matter what his feelings were, he just couldn't stop or turn back. Rin was counting on him saving her and he couldn't fail her.
Soon a castle came to his view and he slowed down. The whole place was too silent for his liking, unnaturally silent. He entered the castle and his usually light steps were making a noise which must have been heard throughout the whole castle. He stopped when he caught another sound coming from the castle and listened to it carefully. He quickly realized that it was someone's heartbeat and he deduced it must have been where Rin was.
He followed the sound until it brought him in front of one door. He slowly opened it and saw Rin sitting on the chair on the opposite side of the room, with her head bent down so he couldn't see her face. His own heartbeat sped up a bit upon seeing her like that and he quickly strode towards her.
When he was half-way to her, he suddenly felt some strong power which was forcing him to the ground. He looked around himself and saw that he was in the middle of a glowing circle and deduced that it was the cause of that force. He was trying to fight it, but the more he was fighting it, the more pressure it was causing him.
He couldn't fail now. Rin was almost withing his reach and he had to save her no matter what. He couldn't lose to some stupid magic. A small movement caught his attention and his eyes fell on Rin, who was already standing in front of that chair, though her face was still covered by her hair and by the shadows.
He wanted to reach her and take her out of here, but he just couldn't make his body to move. Rin slowly raised her head and when she looked at him, his eyes widened at the expression on her face.
She was smiling. It was a smile of victory. A smile a predator would have after catching his prey. A smile he would expect from someone like Naraku, but not from his little Rin. Just what did he do to her?
"Welcome. I've been waiting for you." She told him sweetly and looked at him with interest.
"I must say I didn't believe that this will be actually able to stop you, but it seems that it works well." She commented thoughtfully, and then she went to the wall to her right and picked up a sword which was probably prepared here from before. Then she stepped back in front of Sesshoumaru, resting the sword on her shoulder.
"Rin... what... what are you doing?" He asked, that one simple sentence taking more of his energy than he expected.
"I'm going to kill you." She stated matter of factly, looking around herself in bored manner, and then she looked back at him with grin.
"Any last wish?" She asked. "Since you were taking care of me for so long, I might as well grant it for you. If it will be in my power that is." Her grin grew only wider and Sesshoumaru surpassed a growl which was forming in his chest.
"Why?" He asked, trying to keep looking at her as the pressure was still forcing him down. He was already on his knees and he had to look up to actually be able to see her. She laughed and with a swing she sat back on the chair and put the sword on her lap.
"If that's your last wish, then I think I can tell you." She winked at him and then put on a thoughtful expression.
"So... where should I start?" She asked herself as if she really didn't know, and then looked at him again with smile.
"Oh sure," she said as if she just remembered, "you were too big threat, so we had to make precautions to make sure you won't endanger us and our plans." She told him and stood up again, starting to walk around him, her sword keeping still with her.
"Since you teamed up with Inuyasha, we just had to take the needed action before you would actually start to get along. If you joined forces for real, then it could bring quite a trouble for us. We couldn't allow that to happen." She stopped in front of him and bent down to him so she could look straight to his eyes.
"But you know? You were so nice to me all the time, so maybe I'll make it quick for you." She smirked and watched his expression full of pain. It was rare to see any expression on his face at all, but pain was the rarest of all of them and she enjoyed seeing it.
"Why are you with him?" Sesshoumaru managed to ask again and she tilted her head to the side as if she was confused by his question, but then another smirk appeared on her face and she stood up.
"With whom? Naraku? I've always been with him." She stated simply and then turned with her back at him and only turned her head to look in his direction. "He's my father after all." She smirked, watching the shocked expression on Sesshoumaru's face. Oh, she really was enjoying this.
"If you're trying to ask why didn't you notice anything, then save your breath." She started again when she noticed as he opened his mouth to say something.
"I don't know either why is that, but when I was born, I had no demonic aura or powers, the more I was practicing with various weapons to compensate it. Though, I've obviously inherited longer life-span. I'm already over thirty years old, but still, this is my true appearance. Sometimes it's really annoying, but it also has it's advantages." She turned with her whole body at him again, her smirk still on place.
"Hmm, where did I stop... Oh, I know! You were too big threat, so we decided that I would join you and keep watch on you. It really wasn't an easy task to make you let me in. I even risked my life to get your trust. If you didn't revive me at that time, I would stay dead, but I was sure you would save me. I raised your curiosity too much for you to just let me be. After that it was easy, I just had to pretend to be that awfully innocent-looking girl. At least you had Jaken with you so I could have some fun once in a while." She bent down to him again and put a stray strand of his hair out of his face. He grabbed her arm and her eyes widened in surprise, but then she calmed again, looking rather amused.
"So you still have some strength left. I guess I shouldn't be surprised." She laughed and tried to take his hand off of her arm. Though his hold was strong and none of her efforts were of any help. She stopped trying and looked him in the eyes.
"You should let go, or I'll cut your arm off." She said fiercely and then smirked. "Well, wouldn't that be amusing?" She laughed again, though she stopped after a while when he still didn't let go and she frowned playfully.
"You're not giving me a choice you know? I really wanted to make it quick for you, but your actions just make me want to play with you." She reached for her sword and slid with its tip down Sesshoumaru's arm, teasing him. That action drew a thin line of blood and Rin smirked.
Sesshoumaru was loosing his strength more every further second. Even that small blood loss weakened him immensely and he was starting to loosen his grip on Rin's hand. She noticed that without mistake and after a while she was able to free herself from his hold. She stood up and stepped in front of him.
"I must say that it was nice to be finally able to talk with you without pretending anything and it's kinda sad that this was our last conversation, but all good things have to end at a certain time." She smiled and raised her sword.
"Sayonara, lord Sesshoumaru." She more whispered than said and with one swift movement she swung the sword towards him, a single tear making its way out of her eye.