Hi, there! Just popping in at the beginning of the chapter for a very small content warning: There is Blood Mention in this chapter, as well as a very loose and vague description of wounds. I do not go too in-depth, because I am personally grossed out by gore, but if it's something that is upsetting to you please be aware!
That being said, enjoy yet another Hurt/Comfort story 😊
"Oh, and you in all your vibrant youth. How could anything bad ever happen to you?
You make a fool of death with your beauty, and for a moment,
I forget to worry."
—Florence Welch, Hunger
In this short time of marriage that Rin had been able to enjoy with her husband, there were some times when she wondered if everything was going too perfectly. Perhaps it was her human nature, perhaps it was the consequence of living a life filled with such tragedy, but there were moments when she would be sitting in her happiness and get a weird strangled feeling. That feeling that good things can't possibly last because they hadn't in the past or that she didn't deserve them. Always, she had reminded herself that she was worried about nothing, and that had been enough, until one day he came home covered in blood.
Rin had been outside enjoying the calm, warm air of the day. She was resting in the grass, head tilted towards the sun, arms extended out behind her to keep her propped up. Jaken had been nearby, but he had gotten bored some time ago and had wandered away to do whatever it was he did to pass his time. Alone and lost in her thoughts, she had wondered if she was about to take a nap when something caught her eye.
Squinting and sitting forward to see it better, she realized it was a twinkling flash. As it got closer, she recognized that it was the ball of light that was Sesshomaru, flying out of the trees. She had been overjoyed to see him, smiling with excited words already dancing on her lips as she popped up to her feet. He had come to a stop right in front of her, the wind his movement had generated billowing her hair and clothing around her. As the light around him fading away until his familiar frame became visible, her smile also faded as she realized that something was amiss. Her stomach dropped out and she reached for him, his name a bewildered whisper slipping out of her.
In front of her disbelieving eyes, her husband dropped to his knee, his beautiful face marred in a grimace of pain. The markings on his face were jagged and she could see his fangs exposed past his lips as a snarl slipped out. His armor was broken, much like it had been when she had first seen him all those years ago, and she could see a big hole punched through where his stomach was. She joined him on her knees, feeling a million things at once and not able to pin one down. "Sesshomaru—!" She gasped out, hands hovering uselessly inches away from his body as she hesitated, not knowing where she could touch him that wouldn't hurt.
His eyes snapped open when he heard his name, red as the blood staining his kimono. For the briefest moment, she thought he didn't recognize her. His eyes, normally a beautiful clear amber that she had learned how to read like a book, were empty of anything. It lasted only a second because when he blinked, she could see that he knew her. His snarl smoothed out and he just...tipped forward, dropping his forehead onto her shoulder with a soft grunt of pain that she would never have heard if he wasn't essentially on top of her.
Rin swallowed hard, feeling very much like she wanted to cry. She slipped her arms under his, wrapping him up in an embrace as she had so many times before, but this time she was holding him up, whispering to assure the two of them; "You are home, you are safe. I've got you." Before she looked back towards the house. "Jaken! Please, help!" She called, and her small, fierce protector appeared almost immediately, brandishing his staff threateningly. When he saw what had called him out, he burst into a fit of his own frantic yells, demanding to know what had happened, running up to the two of them.
When he got within arms reach of the two of them, she felt the muscles in Sesshomaru's body tense up as he lifted his head and fixed Jaken with a stare that had the little toad demon freeze where he was. Jaken quickly backed away, apologizing. Rin winced an apology of her own to her small friend feeling responsible as she had been the one to call him over in the first place. She was wondering why she had bothered when it dawned on her that Jaken was even smaller than she was and there was no way the two of them, combined or alone, could move their Lord to a safer place. She let out a frustrated noise as she looked around, and was just beginning to feel the scratches of hysteria in the back of her throat when Sesshomaru started to stand.
"Oh!" She gasped as she felt the weight that he had leaned on her shift and she quickly stood with him, hands moving to once again uselessly flutter around him. At his full height, he stood absolutely still. He did not move forward towards the house, nor did he move away. Rin realized suddenly that he...he might not be able to. That he might have used his last bit of energy getting to a safe place. Once again, she remembered back to when she had found him lying in the forest and how he had appeared in a flash and then not moved from his spot for a day. She looked back towards their home wondering if it was close enough for her to make it, before steeling herself and reaching out towards her husband.
She slipped the arm that didn't have his pelt wrapped around it over her shoulder, his swords digging painfully against her hip, and her hand settled on his hip. He let her maneuver him around wordlessly and once she hoisted his arm up more firmly onto her shoulder he began to walk. His movement actually took her by such surprise that she almost tripped, but she quickly fell into step with him. As they walked, she wondered if her having a hold of him was even helpful when she realized she didn't feel him putting any weight on her, but the moment she went to withdraw her hand from his waist he stopped moving altogether so she left it where it was and they approached their home.
Jaken rushed forward and opened the door for the two of them, to which she nodded at him gratefully, whispering a thank you as they passed, before Jaken closed the door on the two with a quiet snap. As if that was some secret signal he had been waiting for, she felt some of his weight lean onto her and she looked up at his face quickly, afraid he was about to pass out. He still was in that in-between state that he had been in when he had appeared and the grimace had reappeared. Sensing that she had moments before it was just her and her own strength, she hurried over towards where her bed was still set up.
Trying to be gentle, she helped him onto the blankets. At a loss for what to do, Rin busied herself with situating his pelt around him. She came behind him and scooped her hands under his head, fingers slipping past strands of silver hair, bending over him to meet his red gaze. With a shaky breath, she laid her forehead against his for a moment before she laid him back down on his fur like it was a pillow as softly as if he was made of glass. Once he was settled, she finally gave in and looked down at his wounds. She winced, eyes again drawn to the large hole punched into his stomach, that feeling of wanting to cry coming back to her. "Oh, Sesshomaru," she whispered, voice cracking as she reached out towards him before pulling her hand back to her chest.
What does he need? She looked back up to his face and noticed that his eyes had closed, mouth set in a firm line. Maybe that was all he needed, to rest? That was all he had really done the last time she had seen him in such dire straits. I should give him privacy, let him be, she thought to herself, not wanting to leave him but worried that her presence would just be a distraction. She stood and, as quietly as she possibly could, she crept her way to the door.
"No," his voice carried across the room and froze her in place, hand on the frame. She turned around and saw his red gaze staring at her. "Stay." He told her in that same warped, rougher version of her husband's smooth voice, and when she hesitated, he said it again, "Stay." She nodded, coming back over to him, settling on the wood floor. He watched her approach, following her until she was settled next to him before his eyes slid closed again. Silence filled the room and in the silence, Rin suffered. She hated the quiet, it only made her think about all of the things that have and could go wrong.
"You scared me," she murmured, a tear slipping out against her will, speaking up when she could bear the quiet no longer. "You aren't allowed to do this again." She told him firmly, sniffling as more tears fell. He remained motionless and silent, but she let herself pretend that his stiff laying had a somewhat contrite feel to it. She put her hand over her face, exhausted, and took a deep breath, reaching out her other hand to gently slip her fingers over his.
She sat like that, her clammy hand holding his limp one, kneeling on the floor, watching him for hours. The sun went down and she let the room fill with darkness, unwilling to leave him to light candles. All she could hear was his steady breathing, changing from low rasps to something more familiar-sounding as the time passed until she almost couldn't hear it anymore. Finally, unable to sit in the dark silence any more, she gently slid her hand out of his and fumbled for a candle. It sprang to life and gave her a small halo of light as she walked back over to him, sitting closer to his head this time.
In the dim candlelight, she saw that his appearance had returned to normal. She felt faint with relief and she reached out to gently brush her fingers across his smooth magenta markings. When her cool skin touched his cheek, his eyes slid open a crack and a familiar amber met her own greedy gaze. She gulped and smiled shakily at him. "Hello," she whispered, setting down the candle so she could put both her hands on him, unable to form words for the first time in a long time.
"Rin…" His voice drifted out of him as the same hand she had held for hours rose up to gently hold onto her wrist. She wondered if she was hurting him, but he made absolutely no move to stop her, just holding onto her and brushing his thumb back and forth, as if to anchor himself to her. She couldn't blame him as it was taking every ounce of her very weak will to not crawl into the bed with him and wrap him in a hug. Instead, she palmed his whole face, thumb against his mouth and pinky along his jaw, and she keeled over at the waist, pulling his hand over to hold against her chest.
"I'm so relieved," she whispered to him, fresh tears falling into his pelt. She heard him shifting around and her head jerked up to look at him just in time to see him push himself into a sitting position. "W-wait-you'll hurt yourself!" She told him, fighting the urge to physically wrestle him back down. He sat a little more tenderly than he normally would and she noticed right away, exasperated with him and going up onto her knees, hands hovering anxiously over his shoulders to...push him back? Throttle him? Either option seemed viable.
His eyes drifted across her wet face and even though she was very confident that this was the least beautiful she had ever looked, he still reached out and cupped the back of her head, pulling her into him. Her face fell against his shoulder and she made a strangled sound, shuffling closer to him and wrapping her arms around his chest. She felt him lean his face into her head, his thumb stroking against her hair, and it was so tender that it made her cry harder. Her hands fisted the back of his kimono and she squeezed him a little tighter, wishing she had a hundred arms to hold him with.
"I would like to get out of my armor." He spoke into her hair and she nodded, but neither of them moved. It was like each one was waiting for the other to pull away first but both of them were too reluctant to do so. With one final sniff, Rin finally did, scooting back away from him to give him some room to maneuver. She looked him up and down, trying to see him as best as she could in the weak light of the one candle as he twisted to begin removing the different pieces.
"Here," she mumbled, and she reached forward to help him undo his clasps and ties. He had not asked her for help, and he looked more and more like he didn't need any, but she couldn't help herself. Though her rational brain knew that he was a very, very powerful daiyouki and that he had probably fully healed himself in the time they had been sitting here, she couldn't shake the horrible image of him when he had first showed up. He caught and moved the armor as it came loose until it was just his kimono. "Oh…" She gasped, looking at all of the dark stains on the white silk where he had bled, the ragged hole in the middle. Her vision swirled as her eyes focused on the darkest, largest splotch over his midsection and she closed her eyes, feeling dizzy. "I will get you different clothes." She told him, standing to go find something he could wear in the meantime that she could stomach seeing.
When she returned, he was fully disrobed. While this was normally a very exciting development for her, this time she was too busy raking her eyes down him, looking for proof of any unhealed wounds. Though the light was dim, she couldn't see anything but faint bruises where the worst of the injury had been and she was sure those would be gone by the morning. He turned to her and accepted the new kimono wordlessly. She looked down at their bed and realized that the bloody blankets had all been changed as well, and knew that it had been him. At least he is healthy enough to be moving around, she thought wryly while she looked at him. He turned away from her as he slipped his arms into the sleeves, presenting her his back. As he flipped his long hair out from the collar and worked to tie the clothing closed, she suddenly grew afraid that he was going to disappear.
Rin stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing the length of her body against his back. Her palms rested across his chest and stomach, reminding herself that he was whole again, feeling his heartbeat strong against her fingers. His own hand came up and threaded his fingers with the one she had on his heart. He turned around in her embrace and she looked up into his downturned face, swallowing hard. He bent down and rested his lips against her forehead gently, his breath ruffling her bangs. She went up to her tiptoes and kissed him fully on the mouth, desperate to feel him, to make his miraculous recovery more real to her. She pulled back from him and rested the bridge of her nose against his cheek, taking deep breaths.
Funnily enough, she seemed to be more torn up about his near demise than he was. To her, he was a bit more subdued than normal, but he definitely wasn't acting like he almost died in their backyard. If anything, he seemed more worried about her which she found simultaneously comforting and distinctly unfair of him. There were so many things she wanted to say—Are you really okay? Who did that to you? What do I do if it happens again? Will it happen again? It can't happen again!—but the words stuck to her tongue and died.
Instead, she led her husband to their bed where the two of them laid down. She wrapped her arms around him, grabbing fistfuls of his kimono as his fingers gently combed through her hair. She kept her ear pressed to his chest, listening to his formidable heart. If this was a normal night, she would have happily chatted with him until she fell asleep mid-thought, letting the feeling of his hands on her remind her that he would be awake to keep her dreams sweet.
Tonight, however, she was too wound up to talk, and he never had much to say even when he was perfectly healthy. They laid in their quiet bubble as the night passed, the two of them clinging to each other in different ways for different things. For one panicked moment, Rin thought he was dying when she realized that the cadence of his heart was slowing down and the strokes of his fingers brushing along her were becoming weaker. She tipped her head up to look at him and realized with no small amount of surprise that he had just fallen asleep. His face was relaxed, turned towards her, and completely unguarded. Her heart gave a sore thump against her ribcage and she greedily drank in this rare sight of him before she laid her head back down against his chest.
On this one night, it was Rin who took it upon herself to stay awake and guard their precious home from whatever nightmares lurked in the darkness.
I hope you enjoyed it!
I honestly don't think that Sesshomaru would ever get his little demon butt kicked this badly by anyone who isn't his brother, but for dramatic effect let's just pretend it was like Kirinmaru or something. The idea of Sesshomaru being vulnerable with Rin and only Rin was just too tantalizing to pass up haha!
Thank you for reading!