Here's my question for you: What do YOU want to see happen in this fanfic? I have a general outline of how I want it to go, but I want your ideas so I can make this fanfic something you want to read even more! I know that's always my biggest thing when I'm reading; I think to myself "It would've been awesome if they did [insert idea here]." Seriously, leave me a review and tell me what you want to see in it and your idea might just make it! ;D
Chapter 4:
There was a sigh, then a voice rang out through the quiet, "Was there a reason you had to burn down the whole damned shiro?" it asked and the answer it received was a quiet, frustrated grunt from another, deeper voice. The first voice blew out a discouraged breath of air.
Rin's eyes slowly opened, at first only seeing blurs and the softened outlines of where she was. Pain engulfed her entire body, but was most prominent in her head and her left arm. Her dark eyes slowly took in her surroundings; she was in a small room with no windows. A small candle was lit in one of the indistinguishable corners, flooding the whole room with a flickering orange light. One wall held a rice-screen door and just beyond it were the shadows of two figures; one lean and short, the other massive and looming. Rin tried to sit up, only to find herself so dizzy that she could barely lift her head. She whimpered softly.
The voices just outside seemed to hear her and the first voice echoed out again, this time demanding, "Akina!" it hollered, and was immediately followed by the sound of soft, racing footsteps. When another, smaller figure appeared behind the rice-screen door, the voice spoke again, "Tend to the girl's injuries," it said and Rin watched as the new figure dipped into a deep bow. It disappeared for a moment, then returned and in it's hands was a small bag.
The smaller figure turned out to be a young girl. She slid opened the screen door quietly, her body blocking the two other figures that still stood in the hallway. She gave Rin a small smile as she shut the door behind her. The girl moved to Rin silently, setting down the objects in her hand and as she folded her legs beneath her. She reached out to comfortingly stroke Rin's hair.
"Don't touch me," Rin snapped, instantly drawing away from the girl, only to receive a sharp twinge of agony in her arm. Rin groaned quietly, closing her tired eyes for just a moment.
"I won't hurt you," the girl said, her voice almost a song, and Rin's eyes snapped open again. "My name's Akina," she added, giving Rin a soft smile.
Akina was younger than Rin - one could tell by the slight swell to her cheeks and the rosy sheen they held. Her light chestnut hair stood in unruly waves around her pretty heart-shaped face and her honey-colored eyes held a warmth in them. "What hurts?" she asked kindly, her honey eyes searching Rin.
"M-my arm," Rin replied quietly, "an-and my head,"
"Let me help you up," Akina offered and moved towards the other girl. Slowly, Akina put her arms around Rin's uninjured arm and the two worked together to get Rin into a seated position against the wall. With a reassuring look, Akina took hold of Rin's left kimono sleeve and began to roll it up over the arm, careful not to touch the tender skin. "This will hurt," Akina said softly as she began to prod gently at Rin's arm with her small, white fingers.
Rin winced and hissed through her teeth, turning her head away from the pain. After only a few moments, Akina's fingers left the arm, but the aching still remained. "It's broken," she said matter-of-factly, as if Rin didn't already know. "It seems like a clean break so all I have to do is snap it back into-"
"What?" Rin retorted, trying to back further into the wall to get away from Akina as the girl uttered this sudden threat of pain. "You can't do- You don't even know what you're doing!"
Akina smiled warmly again, but Rin was not soothed. "I was a healer back in my village," she explained, turning away to rummage through the burlap bag she had brought in with her. "Well, healer-in-training. But I promise I know how to help you!" she added after seeing the even more terrified look wash over Rin's face. "Please, let me help. You can't walk around with a broken arm."
Akina handed Rin a thick piece of fabric, getting a skeptical look in return. "Put it in your mouth," she said quietly, turning away to look back in her back. "It will muffle the scream."
Rin's eyes widened in shock, but she put the cloth in her mouth obediently, closing her eyes to await whatever terrible pain would come. "Now sit on your other hand," Akina stated and Rin did so. "Try not to move. If you do, you could hurt yourself even more…"
Rin felt Akina's warm hands touch her limp arm. "On the count of three…"
"Don't count!" Rin exclaimed, her eyes still shut tightly, "Just do-"
The next moment, a horrible, sickening pain jolted through Rin's body as Akina snapped the broken bone back into place without warning. Rin bit down on the cloth, suddenly thankful it was there so she didn't chomp through her own lip, and let out a muffled scream.
The rain had slowed their trip home. After the chattering of Jaken's teeth became too much to handle, Sesshoumaru had instructed Ah-Un to land under a thicket of trees to make camp for the remainder of the night. Just before sunrise, the rain slowly ceased and the three took to the skies again.
"I'm sure that Shoichi won't be trespassing on Western grounds anymore!" Jaken exclaimed, grinning uncontrollably at the thought of the previous night.
As always, Sesshoumaru ignored the imp's boasting, his eyes roaming the pink-tinted sky as Ah-Un glided just over the treetops. It was strangely quiet this morning; the usual chirping of the early birds and rustling from the small animals in the underbrush was absent. Just as Sesshoumaru began to ponder over this unusual occurrence, his eyes suddenly caught sight of the source of the silence. Just over the horizon, a thick column of black smoke rose up from the foliage. While the sight could not be seen by either of the other two demons that accompanied him, Sesshoumaru's vision was sharp and he instantly knew the origin of the smoke.
Sesshoumaru's youki rapidly built around him as he dove from Ah-Un's back. He rushed off towards the smoke in a flash of white even as Jaken called after him in a worried yell.
The shiro - his shiro - was nothing more than a few planks of smoldering wood. The basic structure of the house was up, but the walls and doors were incinerated, and nearly each and every piece of furniture, tapestry, clothing, and anything else with meaning was charred and unrecognizable. Sesshoumaru approached what was once the front doors slowly, the crisp, black folds of his hakama gathering gray ash as he went. The smell of smoke filled his nose and irritated his golden eyes as he looked around the desolate scene. The few servants who had survived this obvious attack on his property were walking around aimlessly and dumbfounded. Suddenly, one image flooded Sesshoumaru's mind and he snatched at one of the servants who was lingering near him, yanking the young demon to his angered face.
"Where is Rin?" he asked menacingly, pausing between each word for effect.
The little demon squirmed in his grip, stammering as he spoke, "W-we don't kn-know," he stated, cringing when Sesshoumaru gave him a hard shake. "N-n-no one can find her."
"What do you mean no one can't find her?" Sesshoumaru questioned, his voice dark.
Suddenly, another servant dropped in front of Sesshoumaru, throwing her hands out in front of her in a bowing motion. "My lord!" she said, her voice cracking in fear. "She is not amongst the rubble and there is talk that she was taken."
Sesshoumaru dropped the servant in his hands and turned fully to the female demon at his feet, looming over her threateningly. His silence pushed her to speak again.
"The d-demon that burnt down the shiro… he went into the gardens where R-Rin had been all day," she said quickly, still not raising her eyes to meet his. "I heard a scream…" her voice faded as her whole body began to tremble.
Sesshoumaru clenched his teeth, infuriated and yet still amazed at these lowly demons' stupidity. When he spoke, his voice was dark and droning and slow, "And none of you thought to go and help her…?"
The female demon did not answer, but instead made a small whimpering sound, like that of a small animal cornered by a predator. Sesshoumaru felt himself begin to shake. Suddenly, his skin felt too small for his body and his claws flexed angrily at his sides. His golden eyes burned crimson as more tremors raked through his lean frame. His mind was set on two things: he would rip each one of these insolent, worthless servants apart and then he would sniff out whatever menace destroyed his home and kidnapped his ward and do the same to it as well.
Akina had set a thick plank of wood against Rin's newly mended arm ("To help it regrow properly," she had said) and had wrapped it with a white cloth, fastening the whole thing together with a tight knot. She had then went on to smear a thick substance onto the lump that had formed on the side of Rin's head after being knocked out by the fire demon and it gave the painful swell a soothing sensation. Afterwards, Akina had left without so much as asking Rin for her name.
Alone in the small, dimly lit room, Rin scooted into a corner and pulled her legs up to her aching body, wrapping her uninjured arm around them. Her mind raced, her body trembled. Just what was she doing here? Why, of all people, did they want her? There was nothing spectacular about her, nothing noteworthy or special in any way. Maybe they had made a mistake. Yes, Rin thought hopefully, they've made a mistake and they will release me!
Abruptly, the screen door slid open and Rin snapped out of her own thoughts quickly to stare at the figure who entered. He was not much taller than her with a short crop of silver hair and a big, bushy tail. She recognized him instantly to be one of the figures that was at the door. He was dressed in an elaborate, golden kimono with purple trim and when he smiled, the only thing Rin could focus on were his sharp, gleaming fangs.
"Hello, child," the demon said, his voice silky and warming. He slid closed the door, but did not approach Rin further. "I see why he's so fond of you; you're quiet a gorgeous little creature."
When she did not speak, the demon continued, taking a few steps towards her. "My name is Shoichi," he said simply, lowering his hand down to her for a shake.
Rin stayed still, causing Shoichi's eyes to narrow even as his smile grew wider. In one fluid motion, he hand Rin up and pinned against the wall, his face only inches from hers, his claws pinching through the fabric of her kimono sleeves to graze dangerously on her arms. Rin let out a small moan as the pain rushed through her body.
"I see Sesshoumaru has yet to teach you any respect," Shoichi snapped, giving the girl a mild shake.
"Keep his name out of your mouth!" Rin spat in a sudden moment of protectiveness for her lord. All of a sudden, she knew why she was there. She knew what this Shoichi wanted of her. She was being used as bait.
Shoichi was not pleased by the girl's outburst and he let out a low growl, causing Rin to turn her face away. He flexed the fingers that were wrapped around her arms, causing his claws to prick uncomfortably at her delicate skin. "A disrespectful little brat you are," Shoichi remarked and released the girl, causing her to drop painfully back to the floor. "You must really have that dog trained or he would have killed you years ago for your impudence," he added with a dismissive wave of his hand. His gray eyes searched the frightened girl for a moment before he swooped swiftly into a crouch in front of her. His tail flicked eagerly behind him as he reached down to snatch at Rin's unbroken right arm. "What do we have here?" he asked, motioning to the object that was tied around her wrist.
It was a silly, sentimental object to have; Rin had told herself that plenty of times. Tied around her wrist was the orange and white checked kimono she had worn as a child. When she had outgrown the article of clothing, she had cut off several strands of it and had braided them into a small bracelet that fit perfectly over her small wrist. The kimono was the first thing Sesshoumaru had given her and Rin would have felt awful if she had thrown away one of the few things that meant so much to her. Rin sucked in a sharp breath as she watched Shoichi examine the object carefully, turning her wrist in his hand to study it. She knew he must have felt the quicken of her pulse under his thumb.
"I can find some use for this," he said with a smile and grabbed hold of the bracelet, jerking it from her wrist.
"No!" Rin cried, making a move to grab at the object. Shoichi merely jumped to his feet and was across the room in a blink of an eye. He brought the bracelet to his nose and inhaled deeply.
"It smells just like you: sweet… and frightened." Shoichi pocketed the bracelet with another wicked smile and Rin watched helplessly as he left the room.