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An Angel's Act

by Yui Shunrei Ryuzaki

Disclaimer applies.

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Chapter 8: Uncertainties

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Sesshomaru froze. The handicapped woman in front of him was similar in every way to his marionette. Was she Rin Higurashi that Naraku mentioned before? He wasn't sure. Did that make this woman the true master of his marionette Rin? Her long black hair that cascaded elegantly in her back and shoulders, her innocent face that seemed like she was in utter peace and content informed him that she really existed as a human being and not as a shell of a human, a marionette. Sesshomaru couldn't find anything other than the expression she wore that made her different from his Rin.

The Silence within Kagome's office made Rin squirm uneasily on her seat. Rin furrowed her brows in confusion. She knew that she wasn't alone inside the room and wondered who else could be here with her. Sesshomaru approached and kneeled in front of the woman leveling his face with hers. His dark amber eyes sharpened as he stared at her innocent face sternly. She was real. He could feel her warmth and he knew that she was not a marionette. He hadn't even realized that he'd lifted his hand and touched her face. Rin lifted her head and a expression of confusion painted its across her features. The unknown person had... touched her? She knew it wasn't Ryuuen, for Ryuuen's hands were cold and smooth and perfect, and the hand that touching her face now was warm and firm, but imminently gentle.

Sesshomaru noticed her facial expression, and drew back quickly, rising.

"Who are you?" Rin whispered and Sesshomaru looked back on her. Her voice. It was the same with his marionette Rin but her tone has a distinct of concern and what? He didn't know. Sesshomaru was sure that she was none other than Rin Higurashi. Should he get mad at her? Did she know that she resembles his marionette? No. He couldn't just accuse her for deceiving him. Certainly, she knew that marionettes exist because she even have one. She is Kira, the most promising marionette master of this year. She had managed to obtained one of the strongest marionette in the tournament. Sesshomaru wondered how this fragile woman can able to support Ryuuen's existence and battles with her weak body. Even he, at first, had had some difficulty with controlling his gentle marionette.

Had they met before? Her voice was very familiar to him but he couldn't remember anything about her. Maybe they'd met before, but he could see how her small presence would not have stuck in his mind.

"Please speak." She said with a slightly broken voice with tears in her closed eyes. She smiled at him. He glared at her sternly. It struck to him that her face might have been described as a face of an angel, that all the old poetry makes sense when you look at one whom you have seen like her. The sharp, high angles and plains of her face, the curving pinkish lips. For a moment she looked like an angel in disguise. Sesshomaru's face seemed to narrow, his features sharpen. His lips moved just a little but he didn't say anything. And then he saw the tears rising in her eyes and felt her emotion as if it were reaching out to touch him. Sesshomaru looked away once again then simply held his hands very still so they wouldn't tremble.

Suddenly, the sliding door opened revealing Ryuuen, Inuyasha and Kagome who were surprised to see Rin with Sesshomaru beside her. Ryuuen's cerulean eyes grew hard, and walked towards his mistress. He came even nearer and looked down at her. The pain in his face couldn't be concealed. Ravishing he was. Why did he had such face? Was he disappointed seeing her with Sesshomaru? He shifted his gaze to Sesshomaru. Their eyes met, each equally cold and calculating. InuYasha and Kagome noticed the cold war between the two men with wary, confused gazes.

"Rin, let's go." Ryuuen said coldly without breaking his gaze at Sesshomaru.

"But..." she tried to object for a moment. Rin relaxed and leaned her back to her wheelchair. She knew something was wrong yet Ryuuen had neglected telling her what and was now practically demanding they leave. What this stranger doing in Kagome's office, she didn't know. But still she could tell that Ryuuen didn't like seeing her with them, whoever they were

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His fists clenched as he silently listened to Kagome's confession. Had he heard her right? Had they intentionally deceived him to awaken Rin Higurashi? He was supposed to get angry at them but upon remembering Rin Higurashi's innocent face in their last meeting, he conceded. Sesshomaru didn't mind what they did at all. Perhaps, he didn't really give a damn care if he almost die after receiving his marionette just to revive the young heir to the Higurashi Foundation.

A part of him was shaken when he met her. Different, somehow, from his marionette Rin. An unusual attraction that he had for her, and one that he couldn't understand in the least. It seemed almost like a new part of him had awakened upon meeting the Mistress of the Higurashis.

That night he dreamt of her. Her long black tresses swaying so softly amidst the air as she stood carelessly on a high branch of an acacia tree. The falling of the small yellow flowers off the tree made the scene breathtaking. He looked up to her from the ground and saw her wicked grin in her young innocent face. Rin was younger. She seemed around twelve or thirteen years of age. She stood with a firm confidence in her feet. Her hazel eyes shine with perfection. He couldn't notice any flaws on her except for her unnecessary eyeglasses. The twilight behind her made her more beautiful.

"Sesshomaru-sama." Rin said with a grin before pressing the button of the camera in her hand. Taking a stolen picture of seventeen year old Sesshomaru.

"Rin, come down as I say." He replied and his golden eyes narrowed.

Rin only shrugged her shoulders and looked up on the darkening sky. Sesshomaru noticed a glimpse of sadness in her eyes. She seemed worried and dejected.

"I'm still waiting, Sesshomaru-sama." Rin said sadly without glancing back at him. She's waiting? For what?

"Rin. Come down."

She tilted her head and smiled at him. She stared at him with inquiring eyes, as he tried to make sense of her actions. All he could pick from her face was that her smile was not a happy one. "Sesshomaru-sama, Will you forget Rin after you leave?" She asked.

One of his brows slightly arched in confusion. What made her think that he'll forget of her? Was it the reason of her uneasiness?

"Non sense. What made you think that I will?" he replied nonchalantly.

Her face brightened at his word. Her eyes sparkled in delight.

"Really?" she asked excitedly, and she teetered sideways problematically. He sucked in a breath as she regained balance on the high branch.

"Rin." he called.

"Will you catch me if I fall?"

"No."

She grinned back at him and leaped up from the tree branch, surprising him. Instinctively, he stretched up his arms in time to catch her.

Sesshomaru's eyes flickered open, in reaction to the sunlight filtering through his windows. He looked around his room. Everything still looked the same. Morning sunlight was still streaming into the room. But somehow everything felt different. It was creepy. It was like the world had tilted.

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She waited at the top of the lecture hall while Asakawa Kenichi finished his lecture. He stood in front of a white board covered with complex formulas. There were about thirty students in the room, most of them seated down near the front. She could see the backs of their heads and nothing more.

Dr. Asakawa was about forty years old, one of those energetic types, in constant motion, pacing back and forth, tapping the equations on the whiteboard in short emphatic jabs with his laser pen as he pointed to the formulas. She couldn't even guess what subject he was teaching. Finally, she concluded it must be bioengineering.

When the bell rang on the hour, the class stood and packed up their bags. She followed Dr. Asakawa outside.

"Rin-chan, I'm surprised to see you alone without Ryuuen. Are you aware that he's conducting a secret investigation?" Dr. Asakawa said to her later, as they walked down the hallway toward his laboratory.

"Hai, sensei. I already knew it. Ryuuen seems busy that he hardly even notices when I sneak away for a bit." Rin replied.

"And Sesshomaru?"

She was silent for a moment and he noticed how she looked away from him to hide her sadness.

"Let's not talk about Sesshomaru-sama, sensei. I'm here to talk about the Yamamoto Incident."

They continued down some stairs, and turned left. They were in a basement passageway. Asakawa walked quickly ahead of Rin.

"You should not push yourself to your limit, Rin-chan. I know the therapy was good enough to make you able to walk again but still your life is fragile now more than ever." He led her briskly down a flight of stairs.

"Yes, sensei. I'll be more careful."

Now they were going down another corridor. Then briefly outside, into sunlight, down a covered walkway, and back into another building. Dr. Asakawa kept glancing back over his shoulder, as if he was afraid of losing her. But he never stopped talking

"As I told you earlier, the marionette that went on rampage was put on an unwanted situation. She was maltreated and sexually abused by her master."

"And the marionette unable to control her complex emotions lead to the corruption of her circuit." Rin interceded.

"Yes, but I doubt. Maybe Naraku's virus have succeeded to infiltrate some marionettes' circuits."

"Is it part of the Project Lilith's plan?"

"Maybe. I'm not really sure. Ran and Naraku had false ideas about Project Lilith. I assume Ryuuen also thinks that way."

The door swung back toward her. She went through and said, "Project Lilith is a complex one compared to Project Adam. I'm starting to feel guilt because I'm the one who'd started this mess."

"Rin-chan, it isn't your fault. No one is blaming you with these recent rampages of the marionettes. There are somethings that are beyond of our control." He unlocked a door. Rin saw a sign that said ADVANCE BIOENGINEERING LABORATORY in the wall and an arrow. Dr. Arakawa led her down a long basement hallway.

"Now that I'm finally awake, my children now suffer the cruelty of this world. My blood that runs through their artificial veins made them bound to me forever."

"And that's the reason why Naraku aims to infect the marionettes and use them for his personal interests. Through the use of your blood that all marionettes have in a small amount, his plans are possible to achieve." He swung another door open. Still another corridor. This one smelled like the cleaning fluids that are use to disinfect laboratories.

"I never thought that Naraku will betray me." Rin said in a somber tone.

They continued on at their pace. With a flourish, Dr. Arakawa threw the door open. Rin saw some advance apparatus heaped on the clean metal tables arranged around the room. They moved deeper into the room. There are some inactive marionettes sleeping in a capsule like clear caskets. He handed her a ring, almost identical to the ring on her finger. A ring to control over a marionette.

"Is this what you really want, Rin-chan? Maybe you should wait until we find out where's the product of Project Michael."

Rin smiled bitterly and slightly bowed her head.

"Arigato, Arakawa-sensei but if the situation get worse because of Naraku, I rather clean up our mess by myself."

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The Higurashi mansion seemed to be haunted when Ryuuen went back home after his thorough investigation. His mood was fouled after seeing his mistress with the notorios Sesshomaru Taisho. Not to mention that he wasn't pleased of what he'd learned about the Project Lilith. It seemed that Naraku is able to manipulate all the marionettes through the use of some certain viruses and thru his mistress's blood. After reviewing and studying hard on the structure and components of a marionette, he learned that when marionettes lost or forfeit the contracts with their masters, they'll take the life essence of their true master. And certainly that master was none other than his mistress, Rin Higurashi.

It was three forty-five in the morning. He tiptoed past the long empty hallways and looked in Rin's room. Rin lay on her back, her covers tossed aside, her arms flung over her head. He tucked the covers around her and watched her sleep.

"Marionettes aren't suppose to feel emotions like love. Then why am I inlove with you?" Ryuuen asked his sleeping mistress quietly, before leaving to his own room.

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Rin tilted her head to see him silently thinking with a pencil in one hand and staring into nothingness. She held her breath for a moment. To see him like that was quite breathtaking. She could feel her face flushed and then tried to torn her gaze away from him.

"Rin. Is there's something bothering you?" Sesshomaru asked.

"I'm just thinking, Sesshomaru-sama."

He didn't speak but let her continue with her words.

"That maybe the saddest thing for being a strong person is that at times when you need people run after you or those seriously screwed up moments where you want so badly to have someone to comfort you, no one comes, because they would think that you are strong enough for that matter. When deep inside you're so messed up trying to figure out what to do."

Her face brighten and took his hand from the table, surprising Sesshomaru. His golden eyes slightly widened as he continued to listen to her.

"You're a strong person, Sesshomaru-sama. So if ever you need someone to be with you please remember that Rin is always here for you." Her eyes sparkled with joy and when she noticed how their hands perfectly clasp together, her cheeks burned with red and quickly let go of his hand. He didn't say a word but seemed to ponder her words.

"Do you know how people can show their strong side?" He suddenly asked.

"No, Sesshomaru-sama."

"There are two ways. One is to be strong enough to continue even if it hurts and the other one is to be strong enough to give up and admit that it's not meant for you."

"Does Sesshomaru-sama thinks Rin is a strong girl?" She asked lowering her gaze to her trembling hands in her lap.

"Indeed you are. You'll make a good woman for someone someday."

Rin rolled over in her bed. Slowly, she opened her eyes and pulled herself to sit at the edge of her bed. Dreams are always there to remind her of their old days together. She found herself weeping for his lost. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that her tears were tainted with blood. Her health and eyes are failing. How would she be able to make the rest of her life worth whatever limited time she had?

"Should I continue waiting or should I give him up? I'm not a strong woman, Sesshomaru-sama." she told herself in the darkness of the room.

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Preview to the Next Chapter:

Ryuuen stumbled in his investigation with another marionette plan named Project Archangel Michael. Would the product of this plan able to help him destroy the Lilith creation?

Rin tried to relax herself. It has been years since she last saw him. Her heartbeat accelerated and she was undeniably unease on her seat. Why did he looked at her like that? As if he was searching within her soul, Sesshomaru can't take his eyes away from her.

"I beg to disagree, gentlemen." Shigure Taisho interceded as the topic of the meeting shifted to Rin Higurashi's betrothal and marriage plans. Sesshomaru gave his father an inquiring look.

"But why?" Yoshida-san, one of the board member of the Higurashi Zaibatsu asked. "It has been years since Rin-sama engaged with Naraku." he added.

Shigure leaned back to his seat and then gave a quick glance to Sesshomaru and to Rin.

"My first born son, Sesshomaru has been betrothed to Miss Rin years ago and before their accidents happened. I'm afraid to tell that I accompanied Sesshomaru to ask Ichiro-san, Rin-chan's father for her hand."

"That's impossible, Taisho-san. Ran-san and Rin-chan were not aware of that. It wasn't even announced by their father before." Naraku immediately said defending his engagement with Rin.

Sesshomaru frowned at his father. What the hell? He didn't even understand why was his father suddenly threw him into the center of attention and claimed that he's indeed betrothed to his -no- to Miss Rin Higurashi. It wasn't that he oppose the idea of marrying her but...

Chapter 9: Betrothed?

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A/n: Gomen nasai, minna-san! I'm really sorry if I took a long time to update. Especially to my betareader. I'm really sorry. The truth is aside from my hectic schedule, I suffered from the intense writer's block. I've already wrote the succeeding chapters but I wasn't satisfied with the flow of the story so I deleted those chapters. I can't promise that I could update soon but still I'll try.

Special Thanks to: DivineRose91 (I'm not sure if there would be a chance that Ryuuen and RinYume will fall for each other), jamie71196 (I'm glad to know that you're interested to this story. Thanks), Elheim (you have an interesting imagination, pal. XD), Lynn forever 01 (I don't think that the official match will happen soon since I changed the outline), jolie (jolie-san! thank you for your constant support. I'm really greatful unto you.), Nanami of Falling Snow, icegirljenni (It really disturbed me when I couldn't update this story while some of you wanted to read the next crap... i mean chap. Thank goodness I find motivation to dispell my writer's block XD), .apparition (err...me too...well you know, sess sometimes he's a...uhm..what's that term again? XD).

Thanks for the review and for the alerts. n_n

Given some clues written above, in your opinion/guess, what's the real relationship between Rin Higurashi and Sess? XD

The long wait is over. I updated this story but you have to wait for long again...just kidding. I'll TRY to update sooner. :)

Mind to leave a review or comment? Thanks.

~Yui Shunrei Ryuzaki