Disclaimer: I do not, and will never, own Inuyasha. Everything, of course, belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
Summary: The Lord of the Western Lands has never encountered something he could not stop or slow with his claws. Except the greedy jaws of time gripping his Rin.
A/N: So it has been a good many years since I've written fanfiction again! I have been taking a prolonged and procrastinating break from my studying to rewatch some of my favourite Inuyasha episodes and renewed my obsession with the adorableness of Sesshomaru and Rin. My gears are slightly rusty, so please go a little easy on me.
With that set and done, please enjoy!
Ownership of Her Heart.
The Lord of the Western Lands flew above the many human villages that were in his lands. In the past twelve years since he left his human girl-child, he has returned to one particular village on the border of the Western and Southern lands. He has stopped at one particular kimono shop every month, and purchased the finest kimono they had to offer.
By the second year, the seamstress, who was a youkai, had learned to expect the regal and intimidating Lord every month, and to present him with the finest of all kimonos. She also timidly did all the talking, with the Taiyoukai nodding slightly in affirmation or stating an emotionless negative. Over the years, the sizes of the kimonos grew increasingly larger, leading the youkai seamstress to believe the growth process was that of a human, and not his youkai daughter, as she once thought the kimonos to be for. But fear stayed her tongue but not her curiosity, and she did not question whether or not the Taiyoukai inherited his father's oddest and most notorious trait.
This year, slightly earlier than previous years, the youkai seamstress sensed his immense demonic aura, and jumped. She hastily abandoned the kimono she was repairing for her daughter, and pulled a beautiful cream and pink silk piece that she had prepared especially for him.
"Sesshomaru-sama," she said as she bowed the Taiyoukai into her shop. He nodded in acknowledgement. "I-I apologise, I didn't expect you to be so early." Another curt nod as she bowed again, and presented the cream and pink kimono to him. "If it pleases my Lord to wait, I shall go fetch the obi to compliment this kimono."
The youkai seamstress bowed once again, retreated quickly to the back, and selected a perfect indigo silk sash to go along with the kimono in the Taiyoukai's hands. As she returned, she used the opportunity to study the demon perfection in her shop and wondered, as she had for the past ten years, who the lady he was so devoted to was. At that moment, which she would come to regret later on, her curiosity got the better of her.
"Sesshomaru-sama, if I may be to bold," she said shyly as she handed him the sash, "is the Lady you buy these silk kimonos for every month a human?"
She watched with her head down, as the Taiyoukai froze for a split second, eyes widening in shock, before the composed mask set in again. He looked at her for what felt like eternity before he spoke.
"Yes." Sharp and crisp.
He turned and walked out of her shop without another word, and the shocked youkai seamstress could only stare after him. She knew it was a possibility, but she did not believe until she heard it.
In a stupor, she forgot about the gold coins he left. She promptly returned to the back room, where she sought her sister, and gossiped into the night about the recent discoveries regarding the fabled Lord of the West. They eagerly discussed the possibility of hanyou heirs to the throne with the shallow delight of maidens with slightly too much time on their hands.
Twelve years have passed since the defeat of Naraku. Kagome and Inuyasha were happily married with a brood of their own. Sango and Miroku's three beautiful children were training to be demon slayers like their parents, utilizing both the holy powers of their Chichiue and the brute strength of their Okaasan.
Rin, working as Kagome's apprentice after Lady Kaede's death, has grown into a young woman, desired for her cheerful demeanour, her slender body, and her exotic face. The braver village men overcame their fear of her demon guardian (that never fails to visit her monthly) and asked her to grace them with her presence. Some have even gone as far as to ask Kagome-sama for Rin's hand in marriage, to which Kagome-sama would laugh awkwardly and tell them she's not responsible for who Rin chooses as a husband.
They would gift to her an endless supply of jewellery, sandals, flowers, and other useless trinkets to which Rin would refuse gently and tell them that she cannot marry, for Sesshomaru-sama will come for her when she is old enough, and then she would be a travelling nomad with her Sesshomaru-sama once more. Lady Kaede had wanted her to be able to choose when she was older and wiser, but in her mind, there was never any debate. She would live with humans and learn, and when Sesshomaru-sama said she was old enough, she would immediately join him again on his travels.
She could never forgive herself if she did not keep her lonely Lord company.
Most of the men got the hint, but not Kohaku. He had started to make more frequent trips back to his sister's full family, at first, telling her that his sister and his brother-in-law needed help looking after the children, then, as the years passed, his excuses gradually became blunts truths.
He wanted her. He loved her. He's loved her for a long time. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to marry her.
One night, as a product of her loneliness and her lingering childhood crush on him, they shared a brief and innocent kiss underneath the moonlight.
"Koha...ku." She said as she broke out of the kiss and touched her lips uncertainly with her fingertips. Kohaku looked at her with such a vast ocean of love in his eyes that she was instantly uncomfortable, and felt a stab of panic. "I... I must go... and think. I am sorry."
And with that, she turned tail and ran, leaving a stunned Kohaku behind. She ran blindly, thoughts flying wildly, until she heard the rushing water of the stream.
Might as well wash. She though ruefully, the tendrils of panic in her stomach giving away to regret. Kohaku didn't deserve the flighty woman she was, he deserved a wife who could freely give him her whole heart. She had but a piece, her Lord held the rest in his deadly claws.
At the stream, Rin worked to remove her clothes methodically as she contemplated her situation and Sesshomaru in her mind.
She knew full and well that she had reached childbearing age, most of the women she used to play with have been married and several were with child. Kohaku would've made an excellent husband that everyone would approve of. Well not exactly everyone.
Sesshomaru-sama would not be pleased.
That thought came instinctively, unquestionably. And so she held off suitors and prayed that her Lord would come and take her away on long journeys once more.
As she finished her bath, she slowly walked to shore, mindlessly reaching for her clothing. She was so deep in contemplation that she did not react fast enough when she found her hand landing on something scaly and slimy. Frozen in shock, she stared as the water viper raised its head threateningly and a split second later, Rin found herself on her knees on top of her yukata, cradling her hand which was pulsing in pain. Slowly, but surely, she felt herself losing her sight, and her breathing became weak and laboured as she kneeled naked on the floor beside the stream.
Her mind started to lose consciousness, and Rin found herself closing her eyes and gripping tightly to the pain in her hand, willing herself to focus and stay awake.
Sesshomaru... sama, help me... She did not know whether or not she said it outloud.
Sesshomaru... sama!
A/N: Reading reviews will always be a pleasure !