The process was tedious for all. Rin, Kagome and Inuyasha were bitten by Myouga so much that they felt like pincushions. Unfortunately, Rin's days did not lengthen. She was still as mortal as the day she was born. Each day she came another day closer to death.
Sesshoumaru knew what he felt Rin died. She had done so twice. The first time he felt compelled to save her. The second time his heart had nearly died. The idea that she could die a third time was something he was not prepared to admit.
In fact until Kagome came back from the other side of the well claiming that she was sent by another Sesshoumaru to tell him how to make Rin immortal, making Rin important had never even occurred to him. Rin was the same Rin she had always been.
Except that she wasn't. When he actually looked as Rin, he realized that she had grown up into a beautiful young girl. She was no longer the little girl who followed him blindly. How had he missed such an important part of her life?
Rin's life was something precious. He was not prepared to risk it just to make her immortal. Was he prepared to see her die? The idea that she might die was something that he had never been willing to admit
Now he was not sure. Kagome seemed so sure that Rin had died even though she admitted that it happened nearly five hundred years before she was born. He could not deny that she was immortal. Blood did not lie.
And the blood. The mixture of his own blood and Inuyasha's blood flowing through her veins bonded both of them to her as if they were family. No the true immortality of a youkai, but the immortality one might expect from a hanyou.
The process of changing Rin had bothered him. Rin submitted because she wanted to be with him and thought that is what he wanted from her. If he told her no, she would have acquiesced. His will was her will when he expressed it.
He never thought he could be emotional about another living being. Yet he lived and died with each infusion of blood into Rin. Hopeful when Myouga injected the blood into her. Downcast when her blood failed to take on the same tint of immortality that Kagome's had.
He started to resent. Why did she have, what he wanted for Rin? How was that fair? Once they were mated, she would stay by Inuyasha's side until he died whereas Rin would wither and fade in the twinkling of an eye. Something had to be done.
He expressed his concern to his mother. She pondered the question and made her pronouncement
The conditions under which Kagome had been made immortal must be recreated. Kagome's blood could not change Rin's. Inuyasha's blood despite being his own could not change him.
Only blood from an immoral could change her. Kagome told him what he already knew. When the poison of his blood had been injected into her, she nearly died. Only an infusion of blood from the other Inuyasha saved her.
The thought of Rin dead of his blood prevented him from even considering such a route. Better he was mortal and died together with Rin than she died of something from him flowing through her veins. He simply refused to consider it.
A thought popped into Sesshoumaru's head. What was it about other Inuyasha's blood which had changed Kagome's blood when mixed with his own? He had no he was willing to try. Too much risk to use Inuyasha's blood to save Rin if his own started to kill her.
Now that he had decided to search for the other Inuyasha he needed a place to start. He interrogated Inuyasha and Kagome who seemed too much wrapped in themselves to care about anyone or anything else.
The smell they gave off sickened him. The smell of sex. Mating under his own mother's roof. No sense of decency. Her blood had changed again. Changed to match Inuyasha's Mother had been right. Mating was the last step on the ladder of immortality
Unfortunately, their actions had destroyed the first rung. He wanted to kill them both for their selfishness. Knowing the importance of Kagome's blood they should have put aside their passions for Rin. Now they had ruined all the efforts that his other self had gone through to save Rin.
His mother stopped him. She argued that all was not lost if the undead hanyou could be found his blood could still be used. Somehow it had qualities that Inuyasha's did not. If he could be found, perhaps the situation with Rin could still be saved
Kagome was consulted. At one point she and Kikyou shared a soul. If anyone could find Kikyou now, she could. Kagome was not sure. Kikyou was a kami now. Did kamis even have souls? Had all the connection between the two of them been lost?
Sesshoumaru decided that the slim hope of using Kagome to track down Kikyou was better than the alternative. They just had to hope that the zombie Inuyasha was still with here. Otherwise, all their efforts would be in vain.
Seizing Kagome he demanded that she track down her previous incarnation. Inuyasha started to attack Sesshoumaru, but Kagome raised her hand. She understood what he was feeling. If finding Kikyou would save Rin then she was more than willing to help.
Kagome guided Sesshoumaru as they soared over Japan in search of the kami and her zombie lover. .Inuyasha followed closely behind on Kirara. Kagome was not surprised when she felt a familiar barrier over the Sunset Shrine. Despite being a kami, Kikyou still bore the taint of her former life. In this case it allowed Kagome to track her.
When they reached Kikyou's shrine, they found Kikyou and zombie Inuyasha waiting for them.
Kagome entered the barrier to talk to Kikyou while the others waited outside. She knew that she was going to have to hurry. Sesshoumaru was getting very edgy. Any refusal to do his bidding would set off the daiyoukai.
Kagome actually did not have to explain much to Kikyou. Apparently, Kikyou had already been told what she needed to know by Amaterasu and had waited patiently for them to arrive. She agreed to lower her barrier so long as he promised not to kill either Inuyasha to get what he wanted. When she lowered the barrier Sesshoumaru approached her threateningly. He sniffed the air
"Miko what have you done to that creature?. He is not the same as he was when he came to this world"
"No, youkai. He is better. If I had not given him a touch of the divine, he would have begun to rot.
Rotting is not his destiny. Since I am his guardian kami, I must do whatever is necessary to safeguard him"
"Even rutting with the undead, I would have thought that beneath the kami. Not even Inuyasha would rut with you when you were undead"
"I did my duty then as I do now. .My duty when I was undead was to rid the world of Naraku and the Jewel. Now it is protecting this Inuyasha. And yes I rutted with him because it was necessary to save him. He is mine now. His life is tied to my life just as Kagome 's life is now tied to Inuyasha's life."
"But now his blood is not the same blood which saved Kagome. It is tinged with the divine."
"I have been told that his blood will still do the job since it now hr has a touch of the divine. He is willing to give Rin his blood. He remembers her fondly and does not want her to die as he did if he had the means to prevent it. I hope you realize that there is still one ingredient which his blood lacks."
"And what would that be?"
"Being your son, he does have your blood. Unfortunately, it is too diluted with Izayoi's humanity to allow it alone to create a bond between you and Rin You must provide a non poisonous fluid from your body which Rin takes in directly from you in order to create the immortal bond between you and Rin."
Kikyou sat stone faced staring at Sesshoumaru who seemed to be engaged in a staring contest. It was if they trying to test each other's will. A red cast suddenly came over Kagome's face as she caught Kikyou's meaning. She clapped hand over her face to keep from laughing. Inuyasha looked puzzled until Kagome whispered to him. Then he began rolling on the ground laughing. Kagome could not control herself. She burst out in fits of laughter.
Sesshoumaru glared at the pair of misfits until finally Kikyou spoke " Well, Lord Sesshoumaru are you going to man up?"
