EDITED 4/25/2017

Sorcerousfang: Yo! Updated again! This would be two out of thirteen chapters rewritten to make this piece a bit more…

Sesshomaru: Worth reading? Palatable? Interesting? Also, you'd better pick up the pace. You're about five months into the year and you only have two chapters completed.

Sorcerousfang: …I seem to recall someone being completely absorbed in this when it was originally written. And summer is approaching; I won't be teaching for most of that.

Sesshomaru: I'm subject to your interpretation; you write me the way you want me to be. Also, you've said that before, and then failed to write much during your break.

Sorcerousfang: ...Why are you my muse, again?

Sesshomaru: Shouldn't you be able to answer that?

If Sesshomaru had been able to think about it, the fact that his mind had become immediately absorbed with retrieving Rin should have made him pause in reflection. His responsibility to her should not endanger his own life. He did not protect. It was not in his nature to, and yet he did not hesitate to leap after her.

He understood as he dove into the water that the action was wrought with obvious flaws – the water deafened his senses, it was difficult to move quickly in, and the murkiness created by the slight currents all worked against him. He was putting himself at a disadvantage. This course of action was reflexive, not calculated, and not at all wise. None of this made sense for him. Action that ignored common sense was not becoming of a demon like him.

Part of him demanded he return to the surface.

It was much too easily ignored.

He quickly assessed two different types of currents; one that ebbed and flowed in varying directions, and one that was much steadier. This was not a lake but the mouth of a small river, likely fed from an underground water source. The steady flow he could feel was water moving down the path of the river.

There was no need to concern himself with the natural current. It was the erratic currents that would lead him to the beast that had captured his charge.

He took off toward the source of those currents, stretching his senses in search of her, allowing his aura to flare in warning.

If you harm her, I will show no mercy, it conveyed.

The water beast responded by attempting to swat him away with an arm Sesshomaru had thought to be shorter. He could not even see its body yet. Demons dwelling within small lakes were not typically large, but it appeared he had underestimated the size of this one. He was able to dodge the arm, but not the current that followed after it. He was pushed toward the surface.

Sesshomaru took the opportunity to replenish his lungs, ignoring Jaken's shouts for him as he quickly surfaced and then disappeared into the water again. It was not that he needed to breathe again so soon; it was simply a precaution he felt was necessary to take now that he had a better idea of what he was up against. It would prevent him from having to take the effort to return for breath before it was convenient.

Rin did not have that luxury, however, and he was acutely aware that her time was running out. He did not wish to have to use Tenseiga to retrieve her for a second time. It was not about the effort on his part; he simply did not wish her to die again.

He quickly propelled himself in the direction the current had come from, and was greeted by a barrage of arms and a message:

"Begone!"

A gritty, muffled voice, slow and clearly upset, echoed through his mind. The demon had some ability to communicate mentally, but did not seem capable of intricate speech.

Sesshomaru did not care for the demand. He dodged around the arms coming at him, and finally drew Tokijin to cut through one that he could not evade otherwise. Using the blade underwater was not without its difficulties, but the resistance of the water was not enough to hinder him so greatly. The murky water took on a bluish hue around the severed limb.

Cutting the fleshy arm was something of a mistake. The beast roared in agony in a pitch that carried too brightly through the water and his own head, and he recoiled from the unexpectedly debilitating sound. He shook it off quickly to dodge the flailing limb and moved forward while the beast was stunned, finally reaching a distance close enough to make out the majority of the demon within the water.

It dwarfed him. That was less surprising now, but it was still enough to make him pause long enough to take in the sheer size of the demon. Sesshomaru quickly realized that the lake was much deeper than it was wide, and was likely the only reason the demon was able to obtain its current stature.

He did not allow its size to intimidate him, though, and quickly scanned it over in search of Rin. The orange kimono Jaken had procured for her stood out even in the murkiness, a fortunate choice that drew his attention directly to the appendage that held her.

Movement from below distracted him, and he turned his eyes to the body of the beast long enough to assess the details of it. The mass of arms was connected to a body hidden beneath a thick shell laced with algae. Glowing eyes glared back at him as a gaping maw opened to reveal several rows of sharp teeth. Overall, the demon resembled some kind of mollusc.

"You will die!" the beast conveyed to him. "You will be food, too!"

Imagining Rin disappearing among those teeth was an unpleasant thought as arms came for him again with additional numbers. He was able to dodge two but had to resort to slicing through two others. Belatedly, he realized there were two different types of arms, one fleshier than the other, and slower than the thinner, sturdier one Tokijin connected with. He was met with more resistance with the second type, and a much higher pitched screech than he had braced for upon severing it. The beast's cries paralyzed him, the sharp pain in his head too much to ignore, until he was rammed into by another sturdy arm that shattered his breastplate and cut into his side.

He resisted the urge to breathe and propelled himself away from the arm that attempted to engage him further and toward the arm in which Rin was held. He had no time to be fighting the beast.

She gasped for air that did not exist, her much smaller lung capacity having reached its limit, and he moved more quickly as alarm coursed through him. The arm that held her was the thicker kind; he braced himself for the cry and severed it, removing Rin from the limp appendage and borrowing the current created by the flailing beast to reach the surface. She was already unconscious; she did not have much time.

They broke the surface shortly after, though Rin did not react to the presence of air. Sesshomaru quickly summoned power enough to fly them to dry land. Jaken cheered in happiness for their return, but Sesshomaru did not acknowledge it. He quickly kneeled and lowered Rin to the ground, setting Tokijin aside as he did to free his hand.

"Oh no, she has taken in water!" Jaken observed.

A swift and firm compression of her chest forced the water from her lungs and sent her into a coughing fit as she tried to breathe once again. She recovered faster than he expected, and was soon looking up at him in both relief and wonder. He looked her over for any sign that she had been wounded and found nothing apart from simply being drenched and deprived of air. She would be just fine.

He did not sigh in relief, but his heartbeat calmed in a similar gesture.

Rin's happiness suddenly turned to worry as he stood with his sword in hand again, and Jaken quickly mirrored her.

"My lord; your side!"

"You're wounded!?"

He did not bother to look at the wound. He knew they could see blood traveling in rivulets down his clothing, his lack of armor along that side, his otherwise disheveled appearance due to being submerged in water, but these were nothing. It was hardly life-threatening, and not acknowledging it himself would keep them from needlessly worrying over it.

...However...

It was numb. At first, he had simply thought it was from the force of the impact, but he should have long since recovered the feeling in his right side. Not only that, but the numbness was no longer simply concentrated around the wound; it was slowly spreading from that point, traveling into his hip, his chest, his back. Not quite to his arm, but he tested his grip on Tokijin nonetheless to confirm.

His hand tingled slightly.

Anymore of this, and there could be a problem.

"Take Rin and leave," he commanded his retainer.

"B-but, my lord!" he stuttered.

They were interrupted by the surface of the lake breaking to the arms of the water beast. Jaken appeared to understand much more fully that they would only be in his way.

"Come, Rin!" the imp commanded the child, urging her along.

"But, Lord Sesshomaru is-!"

"No buts!" he insisted. "We'll be a hindrance for Lord Sesshomaru if we stay!"

Sesshomaru could feel Rin's eyes boring into him, but he did not glance back to her.

/-/-/

Rin knew something wasn't right.

Perhaps it was just because Lord Sesshomaru was wounded. Maybe it had something to do with the other demon being so large and loud. Maybe it was because the last time she had seen water dripping from his hair had also been when they had first met, when he had been really hurt and couldn't move, and she had thought the water would help cool him down.

Rin didn't know what was really wrong, but she had a really bad feeling about all of this.

"Please be careful, Lord Sesshomaru!" she begged him as she turned away. She didn't want to leave, but she did understand that she couldn't help right now. She could only hinder him.

That wound in his side happened because he went to get her.

It hurt her to think that it was her fault. If she hadn't gone near the water's edge, this might not have happened. If she had noticed that Lord Sesshomaru was concerned by something in the water sooner, she would have stayed away. If she was just a bit stronger, she might have been able to get away on her own...

Rin shook her head roughly as she climbed on the back of Ah-Un with Jaken. In moments, the dragon had them safely in the air.

She wished that Lord Sesshomaru was following them, even though that meant running away, and he definitely didn't run away from anyone because he never got scared and was really strong. She was still worried about this battle, though. Lord Sesshomaru had a stiffer posture, a tighter grip on his sword, a different look in his eyes than when he battled demons that weren't much of a match for his strength. This one was different.

"But Lord Sesshomaru is Lord Sesshomaru," she thought resolutely, demanding that those thoughts disappear. He was strong. He would defeat the water demon. He would be alright.

When she looked back as the sounds of battle consumed the area, Rin found herself more frightened for her lord than she could ever recall.

/-/-/

Sesshomaru mentally cursed when Tokijin was smacked from his hand.

He never made such mistakes in battle. He thought he had been gripping it soundly. He should have noticed when the tingling sensation was replaced by numbness.

There was no time to dwell on it; arms smacked the ground around him and he dodged them quickly, though he had to move in the direction opposite of where Tokijin had landed. Water and dirt rained down as the appendages reared back for another attack. Without his killing sword, Sesshomaru would have to resort to other options.

Concentrating his energy into the tips of his first two fingers, he aimed to summon corrosive energy into a whip to serve as a sword, but when nothing happened, he was stunned.

"What?!"

The distraction was enough to give the creature the upper hand, and he was suddenly gripped by the same kind of arm that had shattered his armor. It was abrasive, slicing into his skin as it squeezed, and was coated with a blue substance that burned in his nose. The toxic nature of it was immediately apparent.

"Poison?"

It explained the numbness in his side and why it was spreading. If the muscles and flow of energy within his body were being compromised by it, then his second means of attack was useless.

That first wound had allowed the substance to infect him. Had he not been under water, the scent would have alerted him, but that was hardly an excuse. The color should have been all the warning he needed. He growled in frustration.

He was briefly concerned about Rin's exposure to the poison, but he had seen no wounds on her, and she had not been breathing when he had severed the arm that held her. If it could be absorbed through skin alone, he would have seen the effects of it on her immediately, given the rate at which it was affecting him. For now, that knowledge would allow him to focus. She could be checked over again later.

He needed to put distance between himself and the blue toxin for now. It was working its way in through new wounds, and based on the numbness he was currently experiencing, he did not have much time before it took hold of other muscles and made this battle more effortful than it should be. He was already losing minor motor control of his hand.

With a shout to focus his energy, he ripped himself free of the arm. The beast let out a screech, both in his head and in the water. The telepathic communication he could do without, but at least the sound was a bit more muffled in separate elements.

He rolled away as he landed, dodging the flailing limb and the poison it flung, and set his sights on Tokijin.

"Die!" the beast cried, chasing after him. The water parted as the shell of the beast emerged. It intended to use its eyes rather than simply its senses. He dove quickly for his blade.

With Tokijin, he could now use the sword's aura against the beast, and his own if he could command it to focus well enough. The tougher arms appeared to be the only ones that could secrete the poison; the other kind lacked the film of blue, though it appeared to be present within it.

It was likely a trick. If its blood and its venom were indistinguishable, it would be a strong deterrent for predators.

Not enough to deter him from finishing this fight, though.

Concentrating his aura through the sword came more easily than trying to summon his own poison, and with a shout, he unleashed Tokijin on the limbs heading for him. The destructive energy disintegrated them until it dispersed. The beast reacted accordingly.

When he dodged a retaliating arm, his left leg buckled under his landing, and he had to complete the maneuver with a somewhat half-hazard roll rather than a counter strike. He took a short moment to assess how far the poison had spread – leg, chest, arm, shoulders – and its effects. Aside from numbness, his breath was beginning to come less evenly, and a warmth was settling in as his body fought off the foreign substance.

He briefly contemplated unleashing his true form and using sheer force to overwhelm the demon, but doing so would create a much larger target of himself and limited his attacking options.

There was also the matter of Rin.

"Tch."

This was not something he was prepared for. Aside from the loss of his arm due to sorely underestimating Inuyasha's ability, he had not been dealt such debilitating wounds since he was much younger. That the beast had a toxin that could overwhelm his own was unsettling. That its effects were beginning to overwhelm him was a thought he quickly dismissed for the absurdity of it all.

Choosing to ignore what he could for now, he prepared Tokijin again. The beast would fall for its transgression. His pride would not allow anything less.

/-/-/

"Master Jaken, we have to go back!" Rin pleaded. She reached around him to tug on the reigns, pulling Ah-Un back toward the lake. This was the second time she had attempted this.

Jaken jerked them back again, earning a grunt from the annoyed dragon as he exclaimed, "We can't! Lord Sesshomaru ordered me to take you away from there!"

"But something's wrong!" she insisted. He had to listen to her, and she knew he would if she said the right things. "Lord Sesshomaru was wounded!"

"That's hardly a wound to our lord!" he countered, even though he was plenty worried about it not long before.

"You didn't see, though! His sword was knocked from his hand!"

"What?!"

Those had been the right words to worry him enough. At her reveal, Jaken pulled Ah-Un around to look back at the bank they had left behind in time to witness an unusually artless dodge. Lord Sesshomaru paused for a few moments on his knees before attacking the arms of the beast that came after him with the aura of his sword, ducking away from others and the blue blood that spilled from the split limbs. She covered her ears as the beast screeched.

"Lord Sesshomaru!"

Jaken had yelled when another arm collided into Lord Sesshomaru, throwing him back toward the trees.

Rin wasted no time. Lord Sesshomaru didn't like help – he hadn't wanted it when he had been wounded the last time, and he probably wouldn't want it now – but she couldn't do nothing. She wasn't able to do anything to help her family against the bandits that killed them, but she could do something now to help the man who had become something like family to her.

She reached around Jaken to slacken the reigns. Ah's muzzle was the first to drop from around its mouth, with Un's following shortly after it realized what was occurring.

"Ah-Un!"

Swiftly, the dragon carried them back. Jaken didn't object. The staff he carried was ready to help, too, though she wondered how much the fire could do against something in the water.

Without her needing to say any other commands, Ah-Un fired off lightning at the arms that threatened their lord. It didn't do as much damage as she had hoped, but it stopped them from attacking long enough for Lord Sesshomaru to recover. She and Jaken swooped down toward him.

For a moment, he open and closed his hand before picking up his sword and slicing through the arms as they attempted to attack again. That was not something she had ever seen him do before. It told her that something was very wrong.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" she and Jaken called worriedly. He also had more wounds than just the one to his side, and looked like he might be a little winded or tired. She was reminded of how he had been when she first found him in the forest.

She didn't want that to happen again.

The demon in the water screeched loudly in anger. Ah-Un jumped away from an arm, but not fast enough. She and Jaken were thrown from the saddle as the dragon was pulled out from under them, and she hit the ground hard.

There was another loud screech as Lord Sesshomaru rescued Ah-Un by cutting it free. With a shout and a slash, a burst of light from his sword destroyed more arms and slammed into the shell of the demon, sending it backwards somewhat.

And then Lord Sesshomaru's knees hit the ground.

"Jaken!" he shouted over the noise of the water demon before they could yell for him. Rin could tell he was angry that they had come back. Master Jaken was supposed to take care of her, but she had made him turn back. She wanted to tell Lord Sesshomaru not to be angry with him.

"Please, forgive me, Lord Sesshomaru!" the imp pleaded. "Rin forced me to turn back! We were concerned by your wounds!"

"They are none of your concern," he snapped, forcing himself to stand. She could see his hand tremble slightly for a moment before his knuckles turned white around Tokijin's hilt.

"My lord!"

"Take Rin and go!"

He left them with that, leaping high in the air and out toward the water. Ah-Un came up beside her as she shouted after him not to go.

/-/-/

Sesshomaru ignored the plea. He knew she was scared for him. To take to his knees was entirely unlike him. To have this much difficulty against something as unintelligent as a water beast was unthinkable.

Jaken understood better than her why he would not turn his back on this battle. He likely also understood better than her that something more was wrong than simply having a difficult opponent, though the child was observant enough that she may have noticed. At the very least, she knew that Sesshomaru did not have difficult opponents. Inuyasha did not count.

He sliced through a limb as he descended, and propelled himself off of it and toward the shell as the severed end flailed.

Getting close to the beast was not in his best interests, but the blast of energy that had rocked it back made him realize that getting past the shell would be what ended this sooner. A demon with armor either had it to display status or to protect a weak point. This one was the latter.

He did not have time to drag this out any longer anyway; he could barely move as it was, and Rin was still in danger.

It was strange to know that it was the latter issue that drove him forward.

More than his own pride or anger, it was knowing that Rin could still be hurt, that she could still become food to this thing, that she might die once more which motivated him. She should not be that influential, a mere scrap of a human that he simply enjoyed the company of for preposterous reasons. Rin should not be so important to him.

The fact of the matter was that she was, though. She had become a facet of his honor, and harm to her was an insult to him. To wound her, to frighten her, to threaten her, all would be a transgression against him.

The water beast would die for that.

Sesshomaru put everything he had into his blade. It sparked to life as he shouted, the sound not so much a yell as it was a bestial roar. He changed his grip on his sword just before he slammed into the shell, driving the blade through it and deep into the demon's main body. Sparks of energy from his attack spilled over the crack it created, the bulk of the power disappearing beneath.

The cry it issued was a death knoll. It was sharp in his ears and ricocheted in his head like an echoing bell, and he felt the world tilt somewhat in a dizzy haze. He attempted to pull Tokijin away only to have it slip from a grasp not strong enough, and the suddenly lucid beat of his own heart was a warning he needed to heed.

"Die! Die!" the beast screeched desperately.

It thrashed as the power coursed through it, throwing him more off balance. Abandoning Tokijin seemed unavoidable, so he leapt away to avoid losing his footing.

He was not fast enough. A limb caught his leg, another quickly capturing his torso, and the next moment had him slamming into the water before he was prepared for it. With his lungs compromised by the poison, he involuntarily took a breath that he should not have.

There was another scream as its death grip tightened, and then the beast exploded. The energy he had unleashed on the demon could no longer be contained. It had been his plan when he had driven the energy beneath the shell – to destroy it from within – but he had not planned to be so close when it broke through.

He was too close.

For a moment, Sesshomaru's world was filled only with light, and then with pain, and then nothing.

/-/-/

Sometime later, awareness would toy with him long enough that he knew he needed to pull himself onto the bank and clear his lungs. There was a scream somewhere in the distance.

Everything else faded away quickly after that, save one worry about a small child he was not sure was safe.

Sorcerousfang: Much better, I think.

Sesshomaru: More in-character, at least.

Sorcerousfang: ...Thanks.

Anyway, hurray, we've got another updated chapter. I'll try to move faster. I keep getting reviews on this, and as happy as they make me, I cringe a little because what isn't updated is seriously pretty terrible. Bare with me.