Little Rin
This story takes place in an alternate universe where the story of InuYasha never took place, Kikyo never existed in the Feudal Era and Rin was born in 1930's Japan.
I do not own Inuyasha
1469 Hokkaido
The fierce clash of metal against metal rang out throughout the battlefield. Battle cries echoed across the plains as the two armies waged war against one another.
Lord Sesshomaru sat calmly upon his two-headed Dragon steed watching the battle before steering his beast into the fray. Carefully calculated swings of his whip sent limbs flying. He would lead his men to victory and his own thirst for conquest would be sated temporarily.
His men stormed the stronghold of the Castle of the East. Panting as he wielded his whip Sesshomaru managed to lead his men over the stronghold's walls. He gave the orders for utter annihilation of all who resided within the castle, but the Youkai Daimyo was his to kill.
Giving a quietly pleased rumble Sesshomaru slaughtered the cowardly leaders and would-be-heroes that crossed his path as he strolled into the castle's keep. The torch flames danced dangerously across his face showing the truth in his name: he was the Killing Perfection.
Just as he was about to command that his opponent, the Kitsune Lord of the East, choose between seppuku or his own blade the Daiyoukai paused. The stench of strong magic wafted into his nostrils as his pace slowed, wary. Sharp eyes searched for the source but could see nothing. The last thing the Daiyoukai saw was a glint of magical light before he was lost to the world.
1991 Tokyo
An elderly gentleman sat in a wheelchair as his attendant pushed him throughout the grand auction house. Today's auction was an invitation exclusive affair. Watery amber eyes took in the many important people dressed in fine clothes. His own tuxedo was rather dated by today's modern fashions.
"Lot number 23: this statue was unearthed in Hokkaido. It is dated to be around 500 years old based on the style of carving. The craftsman is unknown but this piece is of the highest caliber seen in some time." The auctioneer called out as he uncovered a life-size statue.
Inuyasha marveled at the statue and knew in that instant he must own it. Without a second thought he raised his auction card, placing a bid on the object. He kept on bidding against his opponents until the statue was assuredly his.
"Going once. Going twice. Sold to Taisho-sama for the sum of ¥75 million."
The breath was stolen from his throat as he observed the beautiful work of art that had been moved into his parlor. Every detail was exactly has he recalled, from the stripes upon his face to the pattern upon his sash. Nostalgia struck him hard as he recalled his brother, well half brother technically. But that had been centuries ago, did such things truly matter? After all this time?
"Sesshomaru."
Tears glistened in his eyes as he reached out to pat the statue's hand. The man spoke to the statue, "We may have had our differences, but it does my heart good to see you once again, Oniisama. Even if you're only made of stone it will be good to have a companion in my final years."
The elderly man wiped the tears from his eyes and patted the statue's hand fondly once again. Only this time instead of feeling the cold stone he felt warm flesh beneath his claws.
Cold Amber met watery gold as the diayoukai gracefully stepped down from the pedestal.
Scowling the proud demon wrenched his hands from the arthritic fingers, "Do not presume to take such liberties with this Sesshomaru's person."
The Lord spun quickly on his heels demanding, "Where are my troops, This One must lead the assault upon the castle! The Eastern Lord shall meet his demise upon this night!"
"It would seem that you have been asleep for a very long time, Onii-sama. Such talk of castles and battles to be won!" the elder chuckled as though he were greatly amused.
Slender claws flexed in irritation, "You dare speak with such familiarity? Your head shall roll for such insolence old man."
"Man?" the seated figure frowned, "I am no man, Oniisama."
There just barely peeking out beneath the man's silver hair were two old and withered dog ears, the cartilage floppy with age.
"You are old." Sesshomaru remarked coldly to his father's half-breed. If the Lord bothered to look closely he could imagine the youthful face he had once known buried beneath the sagging flesh and wrinkles.
Instead of taking offense the elderly hanyou gave a calm smile, "Indeed. I am over 600 years old, brother. I've lost count of exactly how old I am."
Long-lived for a hanyou, Sesshomaru mused. Deciding to ignore the hanyou for the time being, the demon strode around the room he found himself in. The furnishings were foreign to him. A wall full of what appeared to be flat-pressed scrolls with titles etched upon the spine in such neat print. What would the half-breed fool be doing with such things? Scoffing the Lord continued to explore the strange room, utterly ignoring the cripple.
A woman sat in a fine kimono while his brother stood proudly in the abnormally realistic painting.
"Ah, a photograph of me and my wife: Shiori. She was hanyou too- half bat." InuYasha reminisced with a sad smile, "She died fifteen years ago-the radiation from the bomb finally caught up with her."
"A half-breed. So you descended among those of your own ilk." The Lord delivered the vicious quip.
Again the hanyou merely gave a placated grin, lost in his own memories, "Yes, Shiori was the only woman I ever loved… You would have liked her."
The Daiyoukai gave a half glance to the clearly senile half-breed that clearly stated that he seriously doubted he would have liked the hanyou's bride.
A human had the audacity to stroll into the room at that moment. And to add even greater insult it dared to bow to his half brother whilst ignoring his person!
"Who is this man, Taisho-sama? Shall I escort him out?" the withered Butler asked his master. Sesshomaru's impassive face seemed to intensify, a human dared to assume that This Sesshomaru was some lowly guest?
"Nonsense- he is family!" Inuyasha declared, "ready a guest room!"
The servant sent an incredulous look at Sesshomaru but bowed all the same to his master.
Inuyasha wheeled himself over to the wall and pulled a cord. The Western Lord's eyes widened minutely as his claws reached for his sword when a disembodied voice seemed to come from a small box.
"How may I serve you, danna-sama?"
"I would like tea and have a dish of Kobe beef brought up for my guest." InuYasha spoke.
A short time later a human servant came into the room and set up tea for her master before placing a dish of raw beef before Sesshomaru.
"Will you permit me to share my life with you, Oniisama? The progression of my life through the ages may help you to understand the time that you now find yourself in."
Taking up his chopsticks Sesshomaru sampled the dish before him. Taking his silence as acquiescence the hanyou began his tale.
"When you were killed in the battle of the Eastern Stronghold your title as Western Lord was acceded to me."
Claws left deep gouges on the table. A disgusted glare from the youkai made Inuyasha pause, "I wanted nothing to do with you or your lands, for how could a hanyou possibly dream to maintain the domain of a Taiyoukai? I knew nothing of court life nor tradition; being ignorant I shunned what I believed to be a cruel joke and burden. But I was young, brash and most unfortunately: illiterate."
Shame and loathing passed the man's face as he admitted; "Members of your court tricked me into signing over your lands to them for a shamefully small amount. Being uneducated I knew very little in the way of money."
The daiyoukai nearly killed the crippled elder then and there. His vast domains, ruined?!
"Unaware that in selling your lands, I had also abdicated my own forest in the process." Inuyasha gave a rueful smile, "Imagine how I felt when I learned that you had bequeathed unto me that forest during one of your campaigns! I thought I had simply won the right to those lands once I drove out the other youkai. If I had known…"
The silence was heavy with unsaid musings.
"After I was forced to leave what had once been my forest, I traveled eastward until I came to the sea. There I found a young bat hanyou, Shiori, having no place to go I remained there. When Shiori came of age I took her as my wife. We remained in that village until her mother died. The night she died we were run out of the village by the humans."
"Being two hanyou was hard- neither of us could read and we were unable to find honest work. Many times human villagers who promised food or coin in exchange for hard labor- they fooled me; they never kept their word and would send priests and miko after us when I attempted to force them to give what they owed me. Shiori and I nearly starved but then a kind monk who had been hired to exterminate us took pity upon us. He listened to our side and forced the farmer who had hired him to give us our due."
"Gladdened by his kind soul we vowed to serve the monk. In exchange for our protection against bandits he taught us to read and gave us food and shelter."
"It was then that the old flea, Myoga, came to me. He spoke of a treasure that our father had left me. Intrigued Shiori and I left the care of our friend to search. We were unsuccessful, when we returned to our friend he had been murdered."
So Inuyasha had never found the Tessaiga, unfortunate. But then what could one expect from such a creature, Sesshomaru thought to himself.
"It was then that we decided that we could no longer continue as we were: travelers with no place to call home. Dying our hair dark with Chinese herbs we began posing as humans. We would then remain in a human village for around forty years before moving on to the next. In order to fake our aging I defeated a powerful kitsune and forced him to make bracelets that made us appear to age."
"I held many occupations- farmer, trader, merchant, carpenter, butcher. I even learned to paint for a short time, though Shiori held far more skill than I in such things. I continued my studies of the classical texts, though I was hardly a scholar. But the time came when I was found to be decidedly more well learned than most humans in this one village we had relocated to. I was persuaded to take office and held position as a prefectural magistrate. From that point forward I began to accumulate wealth with each new 'life'."
The hanyou, in a position of power?! It was disgraceful as it was sickening and Sesshomaru felt his appetite wane. No longer able or willing to listen to the Hanyou's lament Sesshomaru left the abode, ignoring the half-demon's pleas to remain.
He needed to see what had become of his lands. And should he find those traitorous members of his court: blood would be shed. An alien world of gray stone, impossibly tall buildings, metal beasts, and humans awaited him.
Using his speed he searched for even the slightest hint of what had once been his domain. He found nothing, not even his own castle.
After a few days of searching in vain Sesshomaru reluctantly returned to the Hanyou. The crippled hanyou barely gave a glance up from his newspaper, "You have returned."
It sparked his ire that the man had known that the lord would have no choice but to return. "Where are all the youkai?'
"Dead. Or hidden away- living human lives as I do." Inuyasha paused before explaining, "In the last war the humans created a fearsome weapon. The radiation, energy- if you will, that it gave off killed the majority of youkai. It was only our human blood that kept my wife and I safe. But even then it slowly killed her."
The elderly butler entered the room slightly surprised to see the strange young man whom had been in his Master's parlor a few nights ago. Disregarding the young man he announced, "I have set up the film room Danna-sama. Will your guest be joining you?"
"I believe he shall, won't you, Sesshomaru?" The Hanyou announced keeping a trained eye on the human for some reason that the Daiyoukai could not deduce.
The lord watched as the butler's eyes popped out at the mention of his name. Curious.
InuYasha gave a pleased smirk as he announced, "You will be pleased to know that I took the liberty of making your name immortal."
~!~!~!
"Almost 100 years ago humans came up with the most interesting device: I suppose you would call it a box that captures real life into moving pictures. I shall teach you the technicalities later should you wish it." Inuyasha began excitedly as his servant wheeled him into a darkened room with a curious white cloth hanging on the wall, "I fell in love with the invention almost instantly and I made it my mission to create stories told by these moving pictures. I became known far and wide as the master of samurai pictures."
The hanyou's wrinkled face gave a cheeky grin that would make even the most sour person agreeable.
"In fact I must credit you with my most popular series: Sesshomaru the Aristocratic Assassin. I made 14 films of which you were the lead character."
"My other two films were influenced by a foreign film that stared a little girl." The man continued before gesturing to the chair beside him that smelled faintly of Bat. Reluctantly the Lord sat and watched a film that was dedicated in his name. At first the utterly strange technology amazed him, how curious: an entire world of only black and white that he could gaze upon without the occupants of the screen noticing him.
He was only slightly flattered, but was on a whole utterly repulsed. The depiction of his two headed dragon was utterly laughable- clearly two bumbling humans inside a shoddy costume. And the actor playing Jaken looked beyond ridiculous- a stunted human (a 'dwarf' as his brother corrected him) wearing a ridiculous bird beak and turtle shell. Jaken was an Imp not a Kappa!
Sesshomaru turned to his elderly sibling and rose a single brow, "Your idea of tribute to This One's memory was to depict This Sesshomaru as a lowly Samurai?"
Inuyasha had the grace to look down into his lap, "Samurai interest the humans. And how was I to explain your status as a Daiyoukai Lord? Be thankful they enjoyed the idea of a Youkai Samurai!"
Well I've never seen elderly Inuyasha before so I figured I'd try my hand at it. Also 1930's Samurai Movie Producer InuYasha!