A/N: Saturday teaser chapter! Beware the fight scene!
to ktvalmiri (and others): my updates are one chapter saturday and a block on sunday, every week unless I say different! never fear, more is coming!
Sesshomaru was in the garden of his manor, sitting by the Koi pond, when he caught a whiff of scent he had despaired ever finding again. He was on his feet in an instant, his nose in the air. "it can't be…" he turned and ran from the garden, simply leaping over the wall even though the gate was wide open for the day, running as fast as his youkai speed could possibly carry him. Rin…I'm coming!
Rin was quickly tied in Hideoko's house with both ropes and shackles, and even a collar to keep her in check. The herbs he'd given her would take hours to wear off anyway, but he didn't want her escaping. "what are you doing?" Rin whimpered, terrified as she now knew every kind gesture the man had ever done for her was all a lie.
"you," he told Rin, "are the honey in the trap. I was one of many at the spring festival last year, and I knew then I had to have you. But you chose, after everything, to refuse me. You can only pine after that Damned Youkai. So I'm going to use you to bring him here, and then I'm going to kill him." He caressed her face with a wicked grin. "then, I'll give you one last chance to stay with me. And if you refuse, then you'll be joining him in the underworld." Rin shivered, turning her head away from him.
"you won't beat him," she said in a low voice. "and even if you could, I'd never stay with you. You've only ever lied to me." The gentle hand turned into a painful grip on her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"in that case, you seal your fate. This will be a simpler thing than I thought…" he roughly let her go and walked outside to wait for the youkai lord, not knowing how far away he was…
Rin's scent was faint at best and rather difficult to track, but Sesshomaru slowly honed in on it, staying alert for any traps or barriers along his path. After the initial burst of her scent that he'd alerted on, it had faded greatly, almost to nothing once more. He returned to the village he'd met her in, sensing he was getting closer, then went into the next village, where he'd found her hair months ago. There had been a barrier very nearby, but he didn't sense it now. He moved in that direction, his guard up, alert and wary.
When Sesshomaru reached where the barrier once was, he found it was gone. He gripped the hilt of Bakusaiga nervously, sensing something was very wrong ahead, and Rin was in danger once again, though perhaps not immediate danger. It was well after noon, nearly evening, when he finally reached the property that was filled with Rin's scent in every tree and footstep. There was a youkai barrier around the house and buildings, he could see.
Hideoko smirked as he sensed the youkai enter the property, and stepped out to the porch to meet him, clutching a bag of herbs and a handful of sutra papers. He already knew the papers were unlikely to do anything to what was clearly a Daiyoukai, but he wanted the man to underestimate his power and let his guard down.
"begone, Mononoke!" he ordered, throwing the papers. As he expected, they didn't leave a mark on the white-haired man, who only narrowed his eyes slightly in annoyance.
"where is she?" the youkai demanded in a low voice thick with anger. Though he didn't look it, for he was a master of the 'poker face', Sesshomaru was barely containing his rage. His left hand was resting lightly on the hilt of his sword, ready to break the seal of the scabbard to make it easy to draw with lightning speed. He didn't like the man's unconcerned look and seemingly innocent shrug—he could spot false weakness anywhere and knew the man was more powerful than he looked.
"she who? I don't know who you're talking about." Hideoko could not hear Rin inside his house, but her hanyou ears had brought her back to full consciousness the instant she'd heard Sesshomaru's deep voice from outside. She struggled against the ties and shackles, cutting her skin at the wrists and making herself bleed with the effort she was putting in. she had to get free! "Sesshomaru-sama!"
Sesshomaru couldn't contain a soft growl of intense anger. "I am here for Rin. Her blood is unmistakable. Give her over to me, and I will let you live." He stood stock-still and staring at the man, who looked just as unconcerned as before.
"strange, isn't it? She has been staying under my roof for months now, and only now do you come to claim her?" Hideoko taunted the youkai, knowing he was safe behind his barrier. His smirk grew a little as the youkai growled again, not having a good response to that. "why is that?"
"bring her to me, NOW!" Sesshomaru snarled, his anger no longer able to be contained. The claws on his right hand began to glow dangerously, and Hideoko noted it.
"have you no patience, mononoke? I shall give her to you in time." The sun was setting, the red orb just touching the horizon. Perfect. He nonchalantly walked inside, taking his sweet time, knowing that Sesshomaru could not get through his barrier. Nothing could get in he didn't want. But anything could go out.
"come here, girl," he ordered, untying her and grabbing her by the arm to pull outside. She didn't protest as much as he expected, able to sense that Sesshomaru was outside. She looked up when she felt the sun on her face, seeing him more angry than he'd ever been. But the moment he saw her, the only thing she could find in his eyes was concern for her.
"what have you done to her?" Sesshomaru demanded of Hideoko, seeing Rin's bloody and bruised wrists from her struggling. He could smell that her blood was very nearly its normal human scent, because of course this was the same night as when she'd been human those months ago.
"I didn't do anything to her," Hideoko sighed, looking down his nose at her with disdain. "she did that to herself." Rin stared at Sesshomaru, her dog ears pinned down to her head in worry. The man still held her arm tightly or she would have run to him as fast as she could manage. "I suppose you want her back, then? She's no use to me."
Despite the apparent danger, Sesshomaru only had eyes for Rin, taking in every detail of her, good and bad. Because of the setting sun, her bloody wrists were not healing, and that above all worried him. "give her to me. I have been searching for you for months, Rin. I'm sorry I ever walked away from you. I swear I never will again."
"oh, how sweet," mocked the man, still holding Rin tight. "yes, I think you should be together…" she was elated at those words, and tried to step forward as he released her arm. "—in hell!" Hideoko spat, drawing his small healer's knife and plunging the thin blade through Rin's kidney.
The instant Sesshomaru saw the knife in Hideoko's hand he darted forward, forgetting the barrier completely, trying desperately to block the blow from reaching Rin. He wouldn't have been fast enough even if he could have reached her. He bounced off the barrier and got back to his feet, eyes wide. "Rin!"
Rin felt nothing but a hot stab of pain in her lower back so awful it brought her to her knees. She held herself up on her hands, her arms shaking as blood dripped onto the wooden porch under her stomach from the small, deep, incredibly painful wound. The pain and heat seemed to spread from the wound in her back, burning through her, changing her blood as her vision faded red…
Sesshomaru could do nothing but watch in horror as he scented Rin's blood—once so close to human—shift dangerously the opposite direction, becoming sour with yoki, demonic energy. The wound Hideoko had given her would easily be fatal to a human, and the youkai blood Rin was cursed with acted to protect itself. He had seen the same with his little brother. Rin started to growl dangerously and Sesshomaru's fearless heart skipped a beat at the sight of her altered face, with glowing red, white-pupilled eyes, monstrous fangs, and sharp, jagged pink stripes on her cheeks like sideways lightning marks, something like a sharper, more dangerous version of his mother's markings.
What could he do? He had to stop her, somehow, without hurting her, and quickly, for he had no idea what might happen if she was still in this state when the sun fully set. This was the last person on all the earth he wanted to fight, but he would have no choice. He took his hand off his sword, shifting his feet into a slightly more balanced stance better for hand to hand combat.
Rin's red view of the world could only register threats and things to kill. And there was a massive threat right in front of her. She lunged suddenly, fangs bared and claws extended, snarling ferociously.
Sesshomaru braced for the impact, for teeth and claws—that didn't come. The impact certainly did, knocking them both to the ground, but she neither bit nor scratched him. She'd tucked her head in and curled in her claws at the last second as if she had recognized him, but he could see in her eyes that wasn't the case. She was still no better than an animal out for blood. While they were both still on the ground he took advantage, wrapping her far too tight in his arms with one around her neck in a lock. She struggled against him, somehow careful not to draw blood, until he felt her fall limp in his arms, just as the sun fully set, and her hair faded to black, her blood becoming sweet once more. He sighed softly and laid her gently on the ground before returning his attention to the cause of all this grief, who was cleaning his knife on the side of his robes.
Hideoko tried to hide his disappointment and slight dismay that he had not been able to kill the youkai with the girl's own hands. He so hated having to do his own dirty work directly…it was much less fun. "pity, I thought she'd be stronger. Ah, well. I suppose you'll want to fight—" before the sorcerer could finish his sentence he was cowering as his barrier began to crumble from the force of the strike of a demon blade. Sesshomaru had drawn his sword at last, and had a glare that promised nothing short of death in the worst possible way. Hideoko had dared to hurt Rin, and not just once, and not just physically. Death was far less than he deserved, but it was exactly what Sesshomaru was going to give him.