I do not own Inuyasha.
This is a particularly violent chapter. A word of warning.
Sesshomaru shifted in his chair uneasily. Something was wrong and it wasn't the fact that this was his second family dinner in as many weeks that he was forced to attend. The occasion that heralded this one was Kagome's release from the hospital.
Like he gave a damn.
Sesshomaru would much rather be walking Rin home. Rin. Rin Fujihara. That was her name. She had told him yesterday on the way to her house. Normally their walks were quiet and peaceful, but she had decided to offer that little tidbit right before they got on the train. He couldn't complain about the broken silence, especially since it provided him with something to call her in his thoughts, which she was beginning to occupy more and more.
For the life of him, Sesshomaru couldn't figure out why he had returned to the hospital after that first day. All he remembered was going out for a walk and finding himself at the hospital. Was it anxiety brought on by the dream? Relief that he found her? Perhaps it was her fear that repeatedly drew him there, or the thought of someone hurting her? Sesshomaru wanted to know why she was so terrified at the thought of going home. It had to be something to do with her commute. The scent of her fear always died down once they were in front of her apartment. Was someone stalking her? More than once, Sesshomaru had noticed someone following them home, but the pursuer always headed for the park across the street from her apartments. Sesshomaru figured that whoever that whoever it was was just out taking a walk before heading home. Then again, it could just be that he wanted to see her again, to affirm that she wasn't a figment of his imagination or it could be morbid curiosity.
Whatever the reason, Sesshomaru had continued to meet up with her at the hospital, uneasy with the way he felt in her presence. For the first time in a long time, or perhaps in his entire life, Sesshomaru experienced peace when he was with her. There was something so right about her following after him, as if they had been doing it for years. But that was absurd.
Perhaps they had known each other in their previous lives, he mused.
Sesshomaru leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, senses flaring out and searching for the source of his unease. It was still there. Something was seriously wrong.
Opening his eyes, he glanced along the table at his parents and Fukae. None of them were acting strangely, so it was just him. Why? Why did he feel this deep sense of foreboding? It was a feeling he didn't like at all.
Rin turned on the lights to her apartment, feeling oddly lonely. Today was the first day in a week that Sesshomaru hadn't been waiting for her after work. It was disconcerting how comfortable she felt with him, especially considering how brief their acquaintance has been. But there was no denying how safe she felt in his presence. Even more disturbing was the disappointment that had flooded her upon realizing his absence.
Too late, she grasped just how dependent upon him she had become. That had to stop. Immediately. Dependence and men was never a good combination, particularly where she was involved. It was a good thing that he hadn't shown up tonight, she told herself firmly. She needed some time to think and clear her head.
Yomiko had managed to sneak some of the prenatal medicine out of the hospital and get it into her brother's nerdy little hands. While most of the sample she's smuggled out had been hormones, a handful of them were not. Thinking that she might have grabbed the wrong pills the first time, Yomiko had taken some more samples to her brother. The results were the same. A small portion of the pills were a mystery substance.
Yomiko's brother, Kai, was going crazy trying to find out what the substance was. He had never seen anything like it before. So far all of his leads were coming up empty. In the interim, Yomiko was probably going to chew her tongue off.
Her outrage was only surpassed by her concern for her patient's safety. She couldn't believe that someone would tamper with a pregnant woman's medicinal regimen. It was beyond abhorrent. Yomiko was also afraid for the women whose hormones had been replaced. So far, they had no idea how many women that was, or how to go about finding out. Only the perpetrator knew that as well as what the substance was and what it did. She was engaged in a daily battle with herself and her brother over whether or not to go to the police with what they had.
So it turns out that Kikyo really had stumbled upon something important. Figures. Sometimes Rin thought her cousin had missed her calling as a detective.
Turning on the lights in the kitchen, Rin smiled as an image in Kikyo and Sango in police uniforms flashed through her mind. It was as frightening an idea as it was funny.
Rin's smiled died when she turned around and came face to face with Shun. Her mouth went dry and her knees threatened to buckle.
How on Earth had he gotten inside the apartment?
Too late, Rin realized that Kilala hadn't greeted her at the door. The memory of finding her adopted dog dead on her doorstep ran through her mind and she broke into a cold sweat.
"Hello, sweet Rin," Shun said, looking so much like an angel it that it was unsettling. He reached out a hand to stroke her cheek and Rin fought the urge to flinch.
"I've missed you so much," he breathed, his emerald eyes glittering.
Rin didn't know what to say. Hell, she didn't even know what to do. Everything she learned in self-defense was forgotten, replaced instead with mind-numbing fear. She wanted to run, but her feet were glued to the floor. She wanted to scream, but her throat was so dry that she was sure she wasn't capable of even a whisper.
Shun's fingers traced her cheek before moving down to her neck. Suddenly Rin's adrenaline kicked in. She tried to step back but it was too late. Shun's fingers went from gentle to brutal in an instant. Rin gasped and clawed at his hand as her windpipe was slowly crushed.
"But clearly you didn't miss me, did you, you little slut." Shun gave her a light slap. "I always knew you were one, you know. You've always played the sweet and innocent act so well, but I knew all along that you were a whore."
Air rushed back into Rin's lungs as he let her go. She fell to the floor, her body greedily gulping down oxygen. There was a ringing in her ears and spots danced before her eyes. As tears ran down her face, Rin pushed herself up and looked at Shun.
He looked like a madman. His hands gripped his hair as he tried to pull it out. His face tilted toward the ceiling, Shun was making guttural sounds while pacing the room. In a burst of rage, he kicked the kitchen table across the room and faced her.
Rin got to her feet with a squeak and flattened herself against the far wall of the kitchen. Her stomach was a riot of butterflies. He's going to kill me.
"Why? Why can't you love me?" Shun screamed, still tugging at his hair.
"I did. I did love you. More than anything. But you never believed me, Shun," Rin replied through her tears.
Shun was in front her almost before she could get the words out. He backhanded her viciously, knocking her to the floor.
"LIAR!" he screamed. Reaching down, Shun seized her hair and dragged her up, bending her body into a painful position. "You're such a liar! You never loved me!" He leaned down so that his face was inches from hers.
"After everything I've done for you. You spread your legs for someone else. Try to foist his kid off as mine!" An unholy light had entered Shun's eyes. He punctuated his words with fierce tugs and even fiercer slaps. Rin tasted blood as her lip split open. One of her hands searched her coat pocket frantically. "Then, you try to leave me. You walk out on me?! Who the hell do you think you are, bitch? You're nothing. A whore and nothing more. You . . ." his words were cut off by a scream. Howling to wake the dead, Shun released Rin's hair to grab at the pen that she had shoved into his neck.
Knowing she didn't have much time before he recovered, Rin pushed her protesting body to her feet and ran to the door, screaming for help.
Something hit her hard in the back, sending her sprawling towards the floor. Her head hit the wall on the way down. Blackness threatened to pull her under. Somehow, Rin fought it, why, she didn't know. It was almost as if her body knew the end was coming and was trying to take in as many sights and sensations as possible, even if they were painful.
Rough hands turned her over and Shun filled her sight. His face was a botched red and blood gushed down the side of his neck. With any luck he'll die too. She wasn't sure if she'd nicked a vein or not in her attack. The familiar scent of peppermint and cigarettes filled her nose. Why him? Why was Shun's enraged face the last one that she's see? His scent the last that she'd smell? Why did she have to die listening to him curse her as he beat her to a bloody pulp? Unbidden a vision of silver hair and gold eyes raced through her mind. Sesshomaru.
Rin closed her eyes as she felt the first blow hit her cheek. Please god, let it be over quickly she prayed. It was her only request.
Sesshomaru stood on top of a building that was located behind Rin's apartment complex. He was here because . . . just because. He had no idea how he had ended up at this particular spot, but the nagging feeling that had drove him from his father's house was still there. In fact it was stronger than ever.
Even as he stood there, trying to single out her apartment from the countless windows in front of him, it felt as though he was suffocating. Like someone had a death grip on his heart. Against his will, the image of a large shadow with a girl clutched in its hand flashed through his mind.
Sesshomaru gave a small shake of his head. No. That's not going to happen, primarily because he wasn't going to let it happen. He was not going to lose her.
As this thought crossed his mind, his eyes locked onto a darkened window.
Eyes narrowing, Sesshomaru took a deep breath. While it was true that he could not pick up her scent from that particular window, he intuitively knew that it would lead to Rin's apartment. Without warning, without thought, he leapt across the alley that separated the two buildings and through the window, unsure of what he would find.
Sesshomaru crashed through the balcony window of Rin's apartment, oblivious to the shattering glass flying everywhere. The scent of blood was overwhelming and it was Rin's.
Unbeknownst to him, his eyes immediately turned red; his nails lengthened; his teeth sharpened into deadly points as his lips pulled back to let loose a snarl. Before he knew what he was doing, his feet had carried him across that apartment to the little alcove before the door. He grabbed the hand that was plunging a knife into the motionless body beneath it and shoved the knife into the man's neck. He was dimly aware that blood was already running down one side of the man's neck.
His scream barely had time to reach Sesshomaru's ears before he grabbed the man by the neck and flung him from the balcony. Teeth bared, Sesshomaru turned his gaze to the lifeless figure before him. Her glazed eyes stared up at him, with arms wide open. Blood poured from her flesh and her chest was still.
Sesshomaru felt the red leave his eyes. His shoulders slumped forward as the reality of the situation washed over him. He felt hollow.
Sesshomaru knelt down beside Rin and touched a hand to her cold cheek. Her skin was still smooth and supple, indicating that her life had left her recently. His hand traveled to her to her shoulder, slipping behind it so that he could pull her to him. Sesshomaru's other hand dipped beneath her knees and in one graceful movement, he stood with her cradled in his arms.
Sesshomaru stared at her lifeless body for a minute while he contemplated what to do. Reaching a decision, he turned to the broken window through which he entered and leapt out into the night.
Sorry that it took so long for me to update. All I can say is . . . life. It takes up so much of your time.
Thank you to all who left reviews. Its nice to know that even after all these years, there are those who like the story. I'll do my best to update as fast as I can, but rest assured, even if there are long gaps between my updates I will not abandon the story!
Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks (^^)