Cloud Nine
By: Lehua
Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not mine.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Modern Day Japan….
Sesshomaru was waiting at the sacred tree as instructed so long ago; he'd been waiting for quite awhile. In the time he'd been here he'd seen Inuyasha and the miko countless times, neither of which seemed to notice him, and now that the miko was graduated from high school and breeding with his brother, it was clear that any need to hide his presence was gone. Naraku was dead; the timeline was fully established; everything was good.
Except he was still here waiting at this tree for someone he'd been waiting a long time to see. He leaned against the tree dressed in a suit. Mrs. Higurashi, a woman he'd watched for many years as she gave birth and raised the woman who would become his sister-in-law, often came to speak with him while he waited. She never asked him who he waited for or wondered why he never seemed to age; she just came over and chatted about different things, usually with a cup of tea.
Today it was a cup of Muscat oolong, and he sipped it as she asked, "How are your children?"
"They are well. They were unable to come today for personal reasons." His children were busy trying to take over the financial world; as demons there wasn't much land to go around these days, not with the rapid growth of the human population. His children had therefore diversified into economic matters; they owned several dozen companies and had so much money that they didn't even care about it anymore. If there furor for gaining more money ever died down, he would pity the next subject they took up.
Sesshomaru scowled as Inuyasha's scent got caught on the wind. More than 400 years ago his brother had disappeared; clearly this is where he'd gone. Today would be the first day he'd see the mutt, and even now he was irritated.
Inuyasha came out of the shrine rubbing his ears, a scowl embedded on his face. He stopped for a moment when he saw Sesshomaru, then rushed over. "Your woman just yanked on my ears," he said.
The corner of Sesshomaru's mouth turned up as he remembered that day; it was one of his favorite memories.
Mrs. Higurashi looked between the two males. "I should have guessed: brothers."
Kagome came over and said, "You know him, Mom?" She pointed at Sesshomaru.
Mrs. Higurashi laughed. "He's been coming here since before you were born, Kagome. I think he's waiting for someone."
Sesshomaru felt the blood rush in his face, but his cheeks didn't color; he never blushed. Clearly the woman was more perceptive than he'd given her credit for.
Kagome gave him a worried look.
"What?" he said.
She smiled wanly. "Nothing; we'll just wait and see."
He narrowed his eyes. She couldn't know what happened. There would be no reason for Rin to be punished this time.
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Isuzu climbed the steps of the shrine, her legs screaming. Why did it have so many steps? Where was an escalator when you needed one? She wasn't out-of-shape, but this many stairs would tire out an athlete. Everyday she passed this shrine and everyday she said she'd visit it tomorrow. Finally tomorrow was today, but she wondered if she'd pass out from all these damn stairs before she reached the top.
All her life she'd been attracted to shrines; big ones, small ones, ones that weren't even in use anymore. It was as if they were just precursors to this shrine, the Higurashi Shrine. When she'd first passed the shrine she'd felt a strong urge to climb these stairs, but her mind had butted in and said she needed to get to work, not climb a bunch of stairs to see another shrine. Today was her day off and she had all the time in the world to look at the shrine…so long as she survived the stairs.
She stomped on the last step and sighed, bent at the waist as the pain began to subside; she straightened up and inhaled a deep breath, exhaling all her worries before she entered under the torii gate. Immediately her eyes were drawn to the sacred tree and she walked to it, her feet moving without her brain. This tree seemed so familiar, like she'd seen it before; déjà vu, or maybe in a past life. She laughed; there was no such thing as past lives.
Beneath the tree stood four people: a priestess, a man who could have been a priest with shockingly white hair, another woman in an apron, and a man in a suit. The man in the suit was bent forward, talking to the priestess; his coloring looked similar to the other man, but he appeared far older…and he was familiar. Syllables floated through her mind but didn't coalesce. His nose flared and he looked up sharply at her, his amber eyes and somber face burning into her mind. The intensity of his gaze should have frightened her, but she smiled, a big toothy smile and walked over to him.
"Rin," he whispered.
She hesitated. "The characters of my name can be read as Rin; how did you know?"
His eyes flickered for a moment, as if he were seeing someone else, but they settled back on her. "I know you," he said.
The man in red, the one with the white hair and who resembled the taller man in the suit, said, in a warning tone, "She doesn't know you, Sesshomaru; she isn't the same woman."
"Sesshomaru," she whispered. "No, I don't think I've ever heard the name before." But she wanted to know more; she wanted to know much more.
"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru said, his eyes flashing.
The priestess stepped forward and placed a hand on Sesshomaru's arm. "Patience."
Sesshomaru ground his teeth and turned to Isuzu. "I am Sesshomaru," he said, inclining his head.
"Just Sesshomaru?" she said.
He nodded.
"Isuzu," she said, sticking out her hand.
He took it in his, his fingernails longer than she expected. "Just Isuzu?" he said, the corners of his mouth turning up.
She raised an eyebrow. "Have you another name to share?" She didn't see the point of sharing her last name since he hadn't shared his.
He was still holding her hand, his long fingers hot in her own; but he wasn't sweating. His suit was tailored to fit his form perfectly, but he looked as if he was from another time. Instead of averting his eyes he stared at her, carefully studying her features and she could swear he inhaled several times as if trying to catch her scent. He stepped forward and with his other hand he trailed his finger along her jaw and tilted her head up, his head leaning forward until his lips touched hers briefly.
"Remember," he said, his fingers pressed on her forehead.
She blinked as a shocked crossed over her brain from his fingers. Images came to her, images of another life in another time; a young girl with tangled hair; an older man in a kimono; a green thing with a staff. Words swirled with the images and the scent of flowers, many varieties of flowers, some loose and some arranged in a wreath. A young man dressed in red and a young girl dressed in a school uniform; a two-headed dragon named Ah-Un. And the words, "I do," repeated over and over and over again.
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Sesshomaru pressed his fingers to Rin's forehead and willed her to remember everything from her past life. It was an ability he'd picked up over time, and Rin was the first one he was trying it on. He had always been telepathic but rarely ever used the talent because people were easy enough to read without sifting through their inane thoughts.
As Rin lay in childbirth so long ago, her hand gripping his tightly as the twins were ready to be born, she'd whispered, "I want to remember everything."
And so he stood here reliving all his past memories for her so she would know everything; he also relayed what he'd been able to record from her own thoughts and hoped that her mind would fill in any of the blanks. Isuzu's eyes were closed and moving swiftly beneath her eyelids as if she were in a heightened state of sleep. She opened her eyes and said, "Where are they?"
"It seems I have been replaced," he said to her.
She smiled. "Never, my Lord." She leaned on her tiptoes and kissed him. "But I have waited 500 years to see them and I am impatient."
She turned to the others. "Kagome; Inuyasha," she said, bowing.
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "Rin?"
She nodded.
He touched his ears gingerly and scowled. "Stay away from my ears."
Kagome said, "So are you Isuzu or Rin?"
"Both," she said, tilting her head as she considered the question for a moment.
Kagome's eyes flickered between her and Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru said, "What?" What was wrong now?
Kagome hesitated, then said, "I think it's abnormal for her to remember everything Rin knew."
Sesshomaru said, "She is right here; it is impolite to speak as if she weren't."
Kagome glared and turned her attention to Isuzu/Rin. "I don't think its normal for you to remember everything about Rin; you're two different people."
Isuzu/Rin glanced at Sesshomaru, then said, "I asked to remember everything before I died."
Kagome looked at Inuyasha, then said, "Kikyo and I share the same soul, but I don't have Kikyo's memories."
"No offense, but I doubt Kikyo would have wanted you to have her memories," Isuzu/Rin replied. "You two were rivals."
Kagome opened her mouth then shut it, no response coming to mind.
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"It may be abnormal for me to remember, but it's also abnormal for demons to exist at this time—and yet they do," she said, linking her arm in Sesshomaru's.
Two people appeared: a boy and a girl. They didn't use a car or walk or run, they just appeared out of nowhere; one moment no one was there and the next there they were. Rin disengaged herself from Sesshomaru and walked toward them, looking them each up and down. They bore her scrutiny with unrepressed eagerness, their mouths open as they inhaled her scent deeply. "Mother," they said in unison.
They pounced on her, both trying to hug her at the same time and making a mess of limbs and hair. Their hair was silver in tone as their father's, but the boy wore it short and the girl wore it to her mid-back; Rin had never been able to get her hair to be paper-straight and it was satisfying to see that neither could her children. Their eyes were amber like their fathers but they didn't have his markings, and they had normal human ears instead of dog ears like Inuyasha. They were both as tall as their father and were well dressed in business clothing.
They both hung around her neck for sometimes, rubbing their bodies against hers and talking without making any sense. Isuzu/Rin laughed and drew them closer. "I have waited 500 years to see you," she said.
Kagome and Inuyasha stood with their mouths open as they watched the scene. The twins turned to them and said, "Uncle Inuyasha and Aunt Kagome; it's nice to see after so long."
Inuyasha looked at Sesshomaru then back at the twins. "I don't think I know you yet."
The twins shrugged and turned back to their mother. "We have so much to tell you."
Rin laughed and said, "Names would be good first."
"Katsura," the boy said; "Tennin," the girl replied.
"'A handsome man from the moon' and 'a heavenly being'," Rin said to each in turn.
Mrs. Higurashi had disappeared at some point during the exchanged and reappeared with a tray containing several glasses of cold tea. After everyone took their glass, Mrs. Higurashi bowed to Isuzu/Rin and said, "It's nice to meet you; I am Kagome's mother."
Isuzu/Rin disentangled herself from her children and bowed. "Kagome was like a mother to me," she said.
Mrs. Higurashi looked at Kagome and then back at Izusu/Rin. "It is nice to meet Kagome's friends from the other time."
"Mrs. Higurashi has been keeping Dad company while you've been away," Katsura said, smirking.
Seeshomaru gritted his teeth.
Isuzu/Rin said, "In 500 years you haven't learned to take a joke?"
Katsura and Tennin laughed; Inuyasha watched the exchange with his claws bared and Kagome looked troubled. Kagome said, "Isuzu, I think perhaps we should talk, inside."
Isuzu/Rin said, "Call me Rin; it gets confusing for others if you call me by any other name."
"But what about your life beyond the shrine?" Kagome said.
Rin, formally known as Isuzu, considered this and said, "The characters are in my name; I doubt anyone will mind if I change my name from Isuzu to Rin." She shrugged.
"You're taking this awfully well," Kagome said.
Rin said, "When you've lived my life, things such as time-travel and past-lives seem trivial compared to the other joys of life. I have been waiting my whole life for this moment, and now that it's here, I'm not going to let it go."
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Sesshomaru watched the exchange between Rin and everyone with pride. He'd been a bit wary as he was transferring memories to her mind that she would reject everything, but she seemed to be taking everything in stride. This Rin had matured faster than her previous incarnation; it would be interesting to see how they differed from one another.
Katsura walked over and slung his arm around Sesshomaru's shoulders, a habit he'd picked up from Inuyasha when he was still a child and one which Sesshomaru hated; he was not a 'touchy-feely' kind of father or demon. "She's everything you said, Dad."
Sesshomaru said, "I never lie."
"I didn't say you did," Katsura replied. Despite the boy's casual demeanor, Sesshomaru knew that he only spoke the truth; Katsura had a habit to say everything that came to his mind, even if it didn't qualify an answer. Sesshomaru found himself more often annoyed because he always responded.
Tennin, on the other hand, said very little, but everything she did say was listened to with a degree of religious reverence by those who knew her, though Sesshomaru was inclined to make her repeat herself just to annoy her. It wouldn't do to have either of his children have an over-inflated ego; look at the trouble he'd gotten into when he was younger.
He'd been a father for 500 years and he hoped that he'd done a good enough job for Rin; it was her last gift to him before she died and the first gift he wanted to give her when she returned. Now she stood running her fingers through Tennin's silky silver hair and listening to Mrs. Higurashi as she told stories about how long he'd been waiting at the shrine.
"At one point," Mrs. Higurashi said, "I had a crush on him." She giggled and Sesshomaru winced. "But I knew nothing would ever happen; he was clearly waiting for something." She stared wistfully at nothing. "I sometimes imagined that he was waiting for a long-lost love that he had promised to meet here at the sacred tree," her eyes focused, "and to think that was the truth; he's been waiting for you."
Rin laughed, not as she had before in the past, but more deeply, as if she'd lived a better and fuller life this time around. He wondered what she'd experienced, who she was now; he could have gotten the answered when he'd been linked with her telepathically, but he wanted to learn who she was as she revealed herself to him.
Inuyasha sidled over, still bristling. "So you two have children later?"
Sesshomaru nodded.
Katsura peered at his uncle with interest. "You looked a lot bigger when I was young," he said. Katsura was several inches taller than Inuyasha but built more like his uncle; muscles roped around his body giving him the powerful upper body and thick leg muscles of a martial artist. Tennin, on the other hand, was more lithe and graceful, as her father; stealth and speed were her fortes.
"I'm sure I did," Inuyasha replied, his hands hidden in his kimono shirt. Inuyasha was uncomfortable; Sesshomaru was enjoying this.
Katsura leaned his elbow on Sesshomaru's shoulder and said to Inuyasha, "What happened to you guys? You just kinda disappeared?"
Inuyasha didn't have an answer, so he yelled, "How the hell am I supposed to know? You're the ones who've lived through it." He stomped away.
Katsura said, "Did I offend him?"
Sesshomaru shrugged his sons elbow off and said, "Inuyasha is easily offended when he doesn't know the answer."
Katsura pondered this as Sesshomaru walked over to Rin and said, "Rin."
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Rin hadn't forgotten about Sesshomaru, she was just preoccupied with learning about him from others—and playing with Tennin's hair. She extracted herself from her daughters clutches and walked with Sesshomaru along the shrine grounds.
"So we did it," she said.
"Yes," he replied.
"We changed the future for the better," she said.
He nodded.
"And now we have a whole new life to live," she said. She knew she was babbling, but she didn't know what to say; everything was so awkward. "How's Jaken?"
"Well," he replied, "as is Ah-Un."
"Good, good," Rin said, looking at the ground.
He grabbed her arm and stopped her from walking. "Rin, do you still want me?" She could see in his eyes that he was uncertain; he didn't show it to the others, but she knew him, knew him better than he knew himself as he had told her once.
She traced his marking with her fingertips and said, "Do you love me?"
Without hesitation he said, "I do."
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Sesshomaru hadn't known he was anxious to know Rin's mind until the words slipped out of his mouth. He'd waited for a heartbeat to hear her response and was relieved when she kissed him. He held her for several long moments, savoring the feel of her body against his. She was a little taller and her muscles were a little more pronounced, but she was still Rin, still the woman he'd fell in love with all those years ago. Her old scent still lingered but was joined by a new scent, pleasant and spicy. He could feel all the barriers he'd erected since her death come tumbling down as he basked in the warmth of her love.
Until Katsura came bounding over and pounced, wrapping his arms around them both and squeezed; Tennin waited patiently on the sidelines, her brow furrowed in anger at her twin brother. The telepathic link between them was strong, and Sesshomaru could see the battle going on between them on their faces. Rin looked at one then the other in interest.
"They are fighting," Sesshomaru said.
Rin nodded, still looking from one twin to the other. "Human twins are rumored to have a mild form of telepathy; I'm guessing demon twins have full-blown telepathy."
She and Sesshomaru walked away as the twins continued to stare, Katsura waving his hands energetically as Tennin stood still. "They were quite the trouble makers when they were younger, until they discovered I could read their minds."
Rin shook her head. "How long did it take them to figure that out?"
"Longer than it should have," he said.
Rin chuckled. She linked arm with his and said, "So, tell me about yourself."
"There was once a girl named Rin…."
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