She was dead. He knew this fact deep within his soul, an undeniable reality he knew he was forced to suffer with, and yet as he lowered the unconscious young woman to the slightly damp grass of the forest clearing he had found his way to after running from that repulsive place he couldn't help but shiver at her scent. She still reeked of blood, but dammit it wasn't her blood… she had no right to smell like that… He felt no anger at the situation, no sense of relief, nothing. He was too shell shocked to feel anything besides the cold night hair brushing through his long hair, and the strange crawling sensation across his bare upper body… he had never made a habit of being in such a state of undress out in the opening where anyone could stumble upon him. He lowered her softly, careful to place her head with a tenderness reserved normally for children between their parents… and he could not explain why he felt the need to be so gentle with her, perhaps it was something to do with her scent and the fact that she was NOT that scent. She was weaker than that scent, and yet the scent still made him careful.
As he dropped himself to a sitting position at Rayne's side he was finally able to get a complete look at this girl that smelled so familiar and yet so foreign. The moon was barely a sliver in the sky, what little light it offered swallowed up by the strange dark sky he wasn't used to, and yet he could still easily make out her form under the shadows of the darkness. She was shorter than his Rin had been, but how much he wasn't sure. She was also built differently, an eerie similarity that was masked easily by her sheer size. She was not by any means a large woman, in fact he couldn't deny that she was beautiful in the same breathless way Rin had been, but with a different undertone. She was softer, less hardened by a childhood spent fending for her life in the forests, and shaped in a way that much better fit this strange environment he had been forcibly dragged into. Her chest was larger, her body angled by much more drastic curves, her hips wide and womanly in a way Rin, nor any woman he could remember from his world, had never accomplished. Sesshoumaru could just make out the curve of her clavicle, the sunken skin just beyond her neck strangely tantalizing against the blurred sheen of her own blood.
He watched her in silence, the only sounds an occasional insect or soft roaring of some distant animal he couldn't name and his only constant companion in the darkness the gentle caress of the night wind. He could hear the wind playing with the trees around him, their scent foreign and almost dirty. Nature caked in something that clearly had not been around in his reality. His face was blank, his golden eyes drawn and distant on some long lost thought. He was unable to admit it to himself, but he was afraid. Afraid in a foreign and dirty way. He was even beginning to think thoughts in a language that was not his own, his own tongue sounding long away and foreign to him. The scent of her blood rushed up to him again, and his jaw clenched slightly as he forced himself to lean his bare upper body over her, his large and cottony tail wrapped around his waist in a way that was just now beginning to feel uncomfortable.
He stared into her face, her eyes closed and her breathing steady, and he could see the blood beginning to dry on her skin as the scabs slowly fell into place over her wounds. He could already make out the slowly forming bruise that would cover the right side of her lower neck for a while, but her life was no longer in any danger. Whoever that creature was, he had done a fine job in making sure that he left no permanent marks to her body. He stares at her a while longer, taking in the sight of her dark brown hair, another bit of proof that she wasn't Rin… no matter how closely she smelled like her… and with an inward sigh he drops himself back to his seat by her side, letting his eyes close in a soft daze as he remains upright with his senses open to the world around him.
He should leave her here, or drop her body off near some human village. He shouldn't even allow himself to stay long enough for her to wake. After all she wasn't who she pretended to be, and no matter how close she resembled her in the end it wouldn't change a thing. His Rin, she was dead. This was just a disgusting imposter… perhaps even part of the entire plot to destroy his land… but that would make no sense. By the time he was awoken she was already unconscious, even if she was part of the plan she was obviously an unwilling member of it.
Rayne groans softly, and Sesshoumaru's eyes shoot open and lock on her face as she begins to stir weakly before him. He had allowed himself to become too lost in his own thoughts and hadn't noticed when she began to rise from unconsciousness, and now if he ran off she would have been aware of his presence. He shall sit perfectly still then, aware of how helpless humans became in the dark.
xXx
She could feel someone watching her. That same intensity and power that had followed her through her dreams. She is also aware of the fact that her body is aching, screaming at her in agony that burns through the right side of her neck and right shoulder. She feels as if someone had torn into her flesh, blistered her skin, and beat her muscles until she could be beaten no more without losing the fight entirely. She moves her right fingers desperately, the feeling of the damn grass tracing through each individual digit sending shivers of pleasure through her spine. Her arm still works. Slowly, hesitatingly, she lets her eyes slip open, sitting perfectly still as her eyes adjust to the darkness around her until she can make out the contrast in dark shapes, ever so slightly. She can make out the tree line, and as she allows herself to turn her head slowly to the right, biting into her bottom lip as the pain screams through the open wounds in her neck and she can feel a fresh trickle of blood tickling down her flesh. Exasperate, her skin crawling with the pain again, she drops her head to the grass again, the sudden rush of soft wet coolness welcomed immensely.
Sesshoumaru watches her struggle to turn her head towards him, almost admiring her struggle as she breaks open the bite wound in her neck again and spills a fresh drizzle of blood. Something inside of him, somewhere he had never gotten used to feeling in the first place, aches at the sight of her struggle. Further proof of her weak body… and the determination he admired so deeply in his Rin, and without being aware of why he spoke he is suddenly aware of his own voice piercing through the night.
"Be still." His tone is a deep baritone that washes over her, and for an instant he watches her body stiffen in shocked awareness before she relaxes once again. His tone is stiff and serious, commanding without being cruel, and she obeys it silently.
Rayne lets her eyes fall closed again, exhaustion pooling through her body, and with her mind relaxed and conscious she reaches out for information about the world around him. Blindly grasping for anything unfamiliar, anything near, she becomes aware of his warmth to her right side. He seems tense, his stillness unnerving for a human girl who had never even imagined someone could remain as still and silent as he was capable without any sign of a struggle. He never shifted, never fidgeted, and even his breathing was painfully controlled and shallow. Paying attention to him as intently as she was only made her more desperate to suck in air, his firmness only allow nervousness to sink into her own mind. Sesshoumaru was painfully aware of how often she tapped her finger, a nervous movement humans were almost constantly allowing to slip.
"I wish to go home." She muttered softly, her words barely audible to her own ears, and for a long moment she assumed he didn't hear her… and for a shorter moment assumed that perhaps he had already left, seeing as how she could barely perceive anything about his presence besides a numb nudging in her subconscious. His voice was slow and calculated, and she could feel sleep pulling her into the dark lake of unconsciousness once again just as his deep baritone voice sent ripples along her awareness.
"Tomorrow."
xXx
The first thought that drifted into John's mind was the unbearable pain of how heavy his head felt. The very next thought was a violent awareness that ripped him from the sweet bed of unconsciousness and he threw his head back and his eyes shot open to stare accusingly around the room he was still locked in. His breathe came ragged in his throat, raw and blistered and uncomfortable as he licked the dry saliva from his lips. The room bled into his vision slowly, each blink revealing more of the destruction around him. The room was filled with rubble, strangely melted and cleanly cut metal covered occasionally with charred wood. He was entirely alone in the room now, besides what looked to be a slightly exposed pair of legs peeking out from under some of the rubble before him. The shredded Golden Box was the only thing blanketing the platform any longer, and he could make out blood splatters mixed in with the gold and gems.
His stomach turned at the sight, a single ray of moonlight burning onto the scene before being once again consumed by the churning cloud movement ahead, and hesitatingly he finds himself with his face towards the heaven to see the large hole that has been burned into the ceiling of the room. Whatever had happened in this room while he was unconscious had escaped through there, and he has to struggle to keep the bile in his throat. Rayne is gone.
He drops his head, his eyes burning as tears begin to push past the lips he tries so hard to keep closed against the unknowing horror around him. The waves hit him compulsively, his entire body shaking with the intensity of it as the sob tear forth from his chest. Rayne is gone.
"Sir, sir, someone is over here!" The controlled male's voice, professional and sturdy, snaps John out of his emotional fit, and he struggles to turn in the chair he is tied against to look towards the closed door from which the voice came.
"He…Hey! I'm in here!" John's voice shakes painfully from his throat, his own tone unfamiliar to his ears.
The large door is open and locked open by a young male that knocks the air out of John's lungs. This man, this barely five foot ten man, is smiling at him with pale blue eyes that gleam knowingly, his short cut hair pale blond. He wears a black suit, his silver buttoned white shirt buttoned entirely to his neck, and as he stares at John with that smile he runs a single white gloved left hand through his hair.
"Well well, if it isn't the pussy boy. Who would have thought you'd find your way to a town like this." He smirks slightly, clearly taking amusement from John's predicament.
"Robert… where are the police?" John's tone shuts down any chance of an amusing reunion, and Robert's face darkens at the question.
"You know damn well they aren't involved in this." Robert's voice is noticeably harsher, but before John has the ability to rephrase his question the door to Robert's left is pushed open and locked open by an older man, another man with the same pale blue eyes but wrinkled skin and short gray hair.
The olden man's eyes fall on John, and instead of Robert's amused reaction his own face sadness noticeable, and John cannot help but to advert his eyes from the judgment of the old man. A judgment that burns his stomach and makes it even harder to hold down the bile.
"My son, I thought you left your mother and me to avoid situations exactly like this one."
xXx
AN: Man, I am absolutely overwhelmed by how many people have read through this fic and am extremely happy and touched by the comments that have been left so far! I just want to profusely thank everyone, and encourage everyone who has enjoyed this to let me know about it! It is huge encouragement to keep writing, beyond just continuing for the love of the story! Thank you all so much!
Hope you all still enjoy the direction this is going in! Hopefully the church will be explained more in the upcoming chapters, Sesshy and Rayne will have their moments as Sesshoumaru gets used to this brave new world, and hopefully John turns out okay, because I actually really like him 3. I'm also desperate to get some more female characters in here, too many penises right now :p
Thank you all again! Remember, I love reading comments, love all the reviews, please read, share, enjoy!
Thanks again,
Chey!
