At A Beginning...

I Do Not Own Inuyasha

Destiny: Somebody's preordained future; the apparently predetermined and inevitable series of events that happen to somebody or something…

Chapter 2

Inuyasha was quick to bring Sesshomaru to his hut, not that he really wanted his brother here with his mate but that was all shoved aside as he shouted for Kagome and Kaede. The black… It was spreading from Sesshomaru's heart. Not that it was surprising or anything, Sesshomaru was a black hearted bastard after all but there was something eerie about this and those marks…they looked, familiar, for some reason.

"What is going on…Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed as she hurried over to Sesshomaru's unconscious form. "What did you do!?" Kagome demanded accusingly of him.

"Nothing! Rin was the one with him," Inuyasha looked at Sesshomaru's girl who had gingerly lifted up Sesshomaru's head to place it on her lap as she murmured softly to Sesshomaru while stroking his hair. Inuyasha had never seen anyone touch Sesshomaru, not even Rin but here she was doing it as if it were the most natural thing in the unnatural world. Then again…

He eyed Rin with uncertainty as he looked back at the mark.

"The mark of Magatsuhi!" Kagome breathed as she scrambled away from it. Inuyasha was quick to catch his off balance mate. Rin said nothing as she wrapped Tenseiga in Sesshomaru's right hand then Bakusaiga in his left. Inuyasha wondered what the girl was doing but she was so…strange where Sesshomaru was concerned he didn't know what to think. The growing and spreading mark stilled, still Rin's tears slipped down her cheeks as she just sat ther stroking Sesshomaru's hair.

"Rin? What's going on here?" Kaede asked in a raspy voice as they all watched the mark.

"He never healed," Rin murmured as she bent over to kiss Sesshomaru's brow, Inuyasha tightened his hold on Kagome both in discomfort of seeing Rin treat Sesshomaru so affectionately and in fear the mark could somehow hurt his miko mate.

"What do you mean?" Sango asked as she appeared holding her son and Miroku holding his daughter's hands.

"I mean that the stab to his heart was poisoned!" Rin shouted at them, Inuyasha's ears fell flat against his head then.

"But Sesshomaru's immune to all poisons Rin, he couldn't have been poisoned," Kohaku argued appearing in the hut then. Rin just looked so utterly lost then he fought back the urge to comfort the girl. Though he had agreed to take her in eight years ago he hadn't really ever known what to do with Rin since she was just so…serine around them. She hadn't ever integrated into their pack despite his best efforts because he was rather fond of Rin but there was something about her that she held close to her heart. Something disturbing, something that made her have that connection with his brother.

"He isn't though," Rin mumbled as she looked back at Sesshomaru. "We found out when Kagome returned, he was having pains in his heart and I was curious why. I removed his kimono, and saw the brand, Magatsuhi poisoned my lord. He was sleeping but his eyes snapped open on me when I touched the mark, I asked what happened and he told me. He told me that he wasn't immune to curses; and Magatsuhi had cursed him to be a part of the Shikon no Tama, a force of darkness but so long as he held Tenseiga he could keep the curse manageable. He's been searching for a way to break the curse and cure himself but lately… I didn't know it had gotten this bad."

"Rin," Inuyasha reached for the girl who inhaled sharply.

"I must speak to Tōtōsai," Rin murmured softly as she gently stood away from Sesshomaru. She looked at Inuyasha. "Watch over my lord, I will return," Rin said as she picked up Bakusaiga then.

"Rin! You can't go!" Kohaku grabbed her arm then, she turned to look sadly at them.

"I do not care about me, I care about my lord, now let me go Kohaku," Rin said sadly. Inuyasha had seen that look before, in himself as he had waited for Kagome's return to him. He had seen it in himself all those times he couldn't save her, or was too late, or just about to lose her. He had seen it in himself when Kikyo had died, when he had let her go, when he had given up on her. It was the look he had only seen once in Sesshomaru, and it was a look he knew all too well.

Love.

"Rin, this is crazy! You know he won't care if you save him or not!" Kohaku argued.

"That may be so but it is not of your concern, I owe Sesshomaru-sama my life and if to heal him I must repay my life to him then so be it." Rin looked so forlorn at this moment Inuyasha's heart broke for her. Though there was something strangely hard about gaze then.

"I know he brought your corpse form the underworld but his mother returned your life! You don't owe him anything Rin!"

"You think I owe Sesshomaru-sama nothing? Let go of me Kohaku," Rin yanked herself from Kohaku's grasp. "Inuyasha watch over my lord until he is well again," Rin said as she walked out of the hut. Inuyasha frowned at his brother's lean form laying there. "And make certain Tenseiga stays with my lord at all times."

There was a tone in what Rin had said that made him obligated to do this for her though he was less than thrilled to be watching over his brother. Sesshomaru winced, Miroku knelt down beside him then.

"He doesn't have long if he's been fighting this for eight years, I will take first watch," Miroku declared as he sat beside Sesshomaru. Inuyasha frowned, then again Miroku had been poisoned by Magatsuhi also so perhaps Miroku felt something for what his brother was going through. While all he could wonder about was why Sesshomaru would be so fool as to keep this to himself and to burden Rin with this knowledge…

The pain was searing, everything in him hurt and everything was on fire. But he had felt peace as slim fingers stroked his hair, her scent surrounded him and then her cool lips were pressed to his brow. It had felt all so familiar and distant that he couldn't remember it.

Rin.

Rin walked to Kirara who was twinning around her ankles.

"You'll never get to Tōtōsai walking, take Kirara she would love the flight," Rin looked over at the Yōkai Taijiya then.

"Thank you Sango," Rin said coldly then Kirara burst into flames to be a giant sabertooth cat again. "We must hurry, Kirara, the curse might consume Sesshomaru-sama."

The cat growled as she crawled on before they lunged into the sky.

"I will save you Sesshomaru-sama," Rin whispered as she flew into the sky for Tōtōsai's workshop. He'd have the answers, and if he didn't…she'd hack him to pieces with Bakusaiga! She'd find a way to save her lord if it was the last thing she did in this life Sesshomaru-sama had given her!