Title Place of the Skull
Author landofthekwt
Rating PG-13
Prompt Skull (IY unsung heroes) not submitted too long
Word Count 787
Chapter 8 of Ten Years After
POV Shiori
Warning teenage drinking (Shiori and Rin are 18 in this story)
Summary Shiori finds Rin at Kaede's grave
" Go to her at the place of the skull. She needs you. Be there for her. She has lost the one she loves. She has no one else."
Shiori awoke from the dream. Have remembered. Blurred through sleep. That voice the one she had heard ten years. The arms remembered as they protected her from her grandfather.
"FATHER.,But why here and why now Father, what should I do. The dream I followed for ten years proved to be nothing but a childhood fantasy. There is no place for us here. The girl we are staying with resents us because by being here we force her to stay here instead of following her heart like I did."
She wished that Father had been clearer about what she should do. Looking over at Rin's futon, she saw that it was empty even though it was the middle of the night. What should she do? It seemed obvious that the person Father wanted her to go to Rin. The place of the skull made no sense unless it referred to a grave or tomb. She remembered that Rin came down the shrine steps through the Torii Gate when she returned to Kaede's hut. Kaede's grave must be located in the Shrine at the top of the stairs
Hurriedly she dressed and ran up the stairs. What she found shocked her. Rin was fast asleep in front of Kaede's grave. Shiori remembered her father's words and reached out to her. Rin stirred and looked up at Shiori blearily.
"Can I help?'
"I don't see how Kaede has left me alone. Sesshoumaru has left me alone. Kohaku has left me alone. I don't know what to do."
Shiroi replied " I spent the last ten years homeless searching for Inuyasha only to discover that the man of dreams is married with children. My mother is worn and can go no farther. I am sorry I arrived when I did. I am here for you now. Tell me your story."
Rin's life story spilled out of her. Orphaned. Finding Sesshoumaru. Killed by wolves, Resurrected by Sesshoumaru. Kidnaped. Protected by Kohaku. Saved by Sesshoumaru. Kidnaped and Killed .Saved and Resurrected again by Sesshoumaru. Protected by Kohaku. Kidnaped again. Saved by Kohaku and Sesshoumaru. Left in the village for the past ten years by Sssshoumaru to be raised by Kaede with occasional visits from Sesshoumaru and Kohaku. The loneliness and separation from the rest of the villagers as they paired off. It seemed like there was no one for her and now Kaede was gone Sesshoumaru and Kohaku had also left without making any promises to her to return for her.
Shiori could empathize with Rin. Her story spilled out of her. Her father killed by her grandfatherShe had only vague memories of him. Raised in a village that hated her and her mother, she had been sold to her grandfather to buy peace for the village. That peace had been broken when Inuyasha arrived to kill her and strengthen his sword. When he fought for her and she learned that grandfather had killed her father she turned on grandfather, allowing Inuyasha to kill him.
When Inuyasha revealed that he had come to kill her, but upon seeing her could not do so, she gave him the blood coral that he sought. Her grandfather's ghost tried to kill her, but her father protected her and weakened her grandfather so that Inuyasha could kill him. When Inuyasha left with his sword strengthened she and her mother were left to deal with the angry villagers from the destroyed village. Driven from the village, Shiori and her mother had set off to find Inuyasha feeling that he was their savior. Over the years of traveling he had become her dream, her savior, her reason for being. her only hope of happiness. Now that they had finally arrived they realized how vain that dream was.
The girls fell silent. Rin offered Shiori some of the sacramental sake. Gradually they fell asleep in each others arms, watched over by two shining figures who had been daiyoukai and miko in life but still cared for the one's they loved. In the morning Kagome found them still sleeping together by the grave. She had been worried when she did not find them and Kaede's and Shiori's mother did not know where they were. She had come to Kaede's grave to pray for the strength to carry on Kaede' duties. She smiled, bowed her head, and clapped her hands in prayer thanking Kaede for watching over the girls. She left to help Shiori's mother fix breakfast and await Shori and Rin's return knowing she was in good hands.
