Sesshomaru was stiff as he sat amongst the red Amaryllis blooms that swayed with the cool nightly breeze. His boa surrounding them with his Celt nestled in his lap, her limp legs falling over his knee while her torso lay softly against his chest. Wrapping his arm tighter around her waist, he stroked her hair with the other and closed his eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen. He told her to stay safe inside with everyone else while he and father fought to protect the castle, she wasn't supposed to be hurt. Leaning her away from his chest so he could gaze upon her peaceful features, he brought his clawed hand to gently graze over the freckles that danced across her skin, still visible even from the blood that marred her face.
Sesshomaru woke with a gentle start and groaned deeply. Even after almost two hundred years she still haunted him, every time his eyes closed her face was there smiling toward him with love dancing across her eyes but it would soon flash away and he would see her deceased and bloodied; that was the way he last saw her and it was burned into his mind to point he could barely remember how she looked alive.
A heaving sigh escaped his lips and a trickle of wetness glided down his cheek, startling the proud demon lord. Lifting a clawed finger to his face, he caught a single tear that dare fall from his eyes. The first tear he's shed since shewas killed. Balling fist and erasing the tiny droplet he dropped his sore arm back across his abdomen and leaned his head back against the tree, closing his eyes but forced himself to stay awake; telling himself that if he fell asleep he would see her again.
See her dead and covered in blood.
Why do you torture me still?He thought sadly and knitted his eyebrows into a light scowl. He constantly replayed memories from long ago that held her in them but from mentally blocking and forcing himself to forget his past; he now only gets tiny flashes of her light. He remembers the Amaryllis blooms that she loved so much, how her hair glittered orange in the sunlight and how her green eyes stopped him in his tracks from a single look.
He loved her. Her loved her more than himself and yet she was taken from him.
But he no longer could dwell on that. She has been dead close to two hundred years, nothing but a fading memory to him and yet she still lived behind his eyes as well as in his heart.
The love he held for her would never fade no matter how much he prayed it would.
Breathing deeply in through his nose and out through his lips, he hissed as he tried to move his left side that took the brunt of Inuyasha's attack. He found that his strength was returning quickly and also his anger toward the situation that he was in. Inuyasha had found a way to defeat him yet again, that disgusting half breed. A snarl ripped through his teeth when the memory of Inuyasha launching the wind scar upon him flashed through his mind, being cut down like he were some weak demon that had gotten in the way of his half-brother.
"Curse him." He growled but before his anger could peek out of his control, Tenseiga began to pulse soothingly at his side that brought his reddening eyes back to their soft amber. Since his defeat from Inuyasha, Tenseiga had been totally silent since he had awoken in the clearing. Ghosting his eyes down toward the softly jostling sword, Sesshomaru remembered how it violently shook during the battle with the hanyou. He had blatantly ignored its pulsing as the battle raged on, like it were trying to tell him something but he refused to listen.
"Did you save my life, Tenseiga?" He asked with a low chuckle and when a firm jolt from the sword seemed to have answered his question, he became even more confused with the thing. The Wind Scar should have obliterated him, killed him within seconds but yet it didn't. The feeling of an embrace right when the attack hit still tingled against his skin but that was it, it was like the sword had wrapped itself around its master and shielded him.
With a humph he slid his eyes closed and Sesshomaru rested back against his furs, hoping to regain all of his energy soon so he could find his dragon and Jaken. No doubt that the annoying toad must be sick with worry over his master not returning. At that thought, Sesshomaru decided to stay for as long as possible.
Then he smelled her.
Sesshomaru opened his eyes slowly to hear soft rustling in the brush at his feet but his nose knew who it was immediately; that little human girl. Dropping his head back toward his fur, he let his eyes roll to the sky when he heard her little feet patter toward him and with a side glance; he could see that she was holding a leaf with what seemed like wheat lying upon it.
He noticed that she walked slowly with a distinct limp to her feet. She wasn't limping before.Moving his eyes upward toward her face, his chest iced at seeing deep swollen bruises that marred her skin in dark purple marks. Even with the bruises and one eye swelled shut, she was still here to offer him something.
What a curious creature.
"No thanks." He spoke low and serious but that didn't stop the girl from hobbling quickly before him, falling to her knees and offering the leaf closer to his hands with a small 'Uhh."
"I told you I don't need anything from you." He was surprised that he didn't sound as annoyed as he thought he would and turned his eyes from her to stare at the sky.
Rin's arms shook as the soreness creeped back into them but at the demon's last words, her arms dropped to her lap and a sad sigh escaped her lips. She had tried; she had wanted to try since laying eyes upon him that she wanted to help him. She didn't regret anything she had done for the demon; she would have done it for anyone in that matter. If she could leave and tell herself that she had done her best for the situation she would be happy and seeing him almost fully recovered made her broken heart light up.
When he didn't say anything else, Rin ghosted her good eye up toward the tree and saw that the woman was again not there. A pout hit her lips upon not seeing the woman but in her heart she knew she had contact with her again. Before she had cried herself to sleep the other night, she swore she could feel fingers raking lovingly through her hair and a soft hum of a song that she didn't recognize. Her mother used to sing her the same song every night when she put Rin to sleep, the humming she heard last night was no song her mother knew so Rin was sure it wasn't her. It was the woman with the red hair, she just knew it.
Removing her eyes from the tree top, she looked back to her lap and went to get up when his voice sent a shock through her.
"Where did you those bruises?" His question was softly spoken but it still sent a surge through her. Staring at him intently with her good eye she saw his head bow toward her.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want too."
It was that question that made her heart skip and when he turned his head to stare right at her, she felt it burst in her chest. No soul since her family was killed had given her choice for anything. They would demand and force her to talk or do whatever benefitted them and soon she fell silent so they would leave her alone; but this man. He had known her no more than two days and he had given her a choice for speaking; it sent a tear to her eye and smile to her lips.
Instead of answering she just gave him her best and toothiest grin she could and let a joyous laughter bubble from her chest. She showed him how happy he truly made her feel and how he made her feel like a person.
Sesshomaru fumbled when she began to softly laugh before him and it unnerved him for a split second. Why is she laughing at me?He thought as she continued to smile at him and place the leaf holding the herbs on the forest floor. When her eye opened he could see emotions swirling through the brown orb and soon her face was covered with another's, his love's smiling face flashing before his eyes for but a moment.
"What are you smiling about?" He quickly asked when she went to stand next to him and dust of the front of her dirty kimono. "I simply asked a question, I don't care I'm just curious." For once in a long time since he was younger, he grumbled out his sentence like a youngling which earned another elated giggle from the little girl. When she was fully on her feet, she sent him a friendly wave and turned to skip out of the clearing leaving the demon more confused than he was before but confused he may be; he felt a familiar presence in his chest that made the tiniest of smiles creep up to his lips before he decided it was time for him to take his leave.
Rin, with happiness coursing through her, ran and skipped through the forest back to the village. She couldn't get herself to wipe the smile from her lips as she navigated her way through the woods like it were the back of her hand and jumped through the lip of the forest and into the road that led to the village.
With one leg folded upward, she hopped on the other joyfully and held her arms up and let the giggles flow through her lips when she fell into a run toward her home. Why she was so happy she couldn't explain, she just was and it was a wonderful feeling after the trauma she had been through.
But the wonderful feeling that ran through her soon turned to ice as she skidded to halt and her eye saw the carnage before her. With her heart hammering in her throat her smile died and he limbs began to shake as the sound of snarling wolves and people screaming assaulted her ears. Wolves of a dark brown coloring were running amok in her village, leaping and tackling the villagers; sinking their teeth into the skin earning gushes of blood and horrible sounds that brought back memories to the young girl.
Instead of seeing the wolves, in her mind she saw the bandits raiding through her home, shooting arrows and striking people down with swords upon horseback. They were grabbing women and disappearing behind huts and their screams echoed on the smoke that littered the sky from the flaming huts.
Rin stood frozen in fear as she stared at the violence of wolves tearing the people apart, she yelled at her legs to run but they refused and all she could do was look on as the apple vendor, who had struck her many times, was struck down himself by a group of canines and was mauled to death.
Slowly stepping back and trying to find the feeling in her legs, a group of six wolves turned their eyes on her as their jaws chewed on the flesh of crying woman that they had captured. Dark eyes locked onto her and when they took a threatening step toward the child, Rin found her legs and bolted back into the woods where she came, praying she could lose or out run the beasts that howled and charged after her.
No. . . No!Rin thought as she huffed through the woods, knocking branches away from her face and leaping over logs, praying to whomever that she wouldn't fall. Tears flowed down her cheeks like a raging river as she looked over her shoulder to see that the wolves were not far behind, leaping over the same logs and gaining on her with their great speed. The snarls hit her ears and a cry left her lips as she willed her little legs to move faster and soon she found the clearing where the silver demon lay.
Jumping through the brush and skidding into the tree, she saw that it was bare and the demon was gone. Sniffling loudly and turning in a circle she saw that there was no trace of him there, no trace of the only person she had prayed could save her. She couldn't stop the wails of dreaded fear that escaped her lips as she tried to climb the large tree when snarls closed in on her. She gripped the tree bark and cried upward toward the leaves but there were no signs of any saviors.
She was alone again.
When the snarls and howls crept closer to her she wailed out her fear and cried in despair as her fate was soon to mirror the woman who already fell to the wolves. She didn't want to die! Not like this and with a vigor she pushed herself away from the tree and ran in a direction she was unfamiliar with. She pushed her little legs to the limit and soared through the forest but still the wolves were right behind her and they showed no signs of giving up.
With tears springing down her cheeks she saw that through her blurry vision, someone was running next to her. Billowing green fabric danced in the breeze and pale hand touched her cheek as she ran and upon looking up Rin saw bouncing red curls that obscured the ladies face from her yet a again. As soon as she saw the woman running next to her, she disappeared just as quick but the sensation of her hand against her cheek remained and a soft voice echoed in her ears.
It will all be over soon.
Her voice was low and melodic that was graced with an accent that was so foreign to her and it filled her with comfort that it all really will be okay. Turning a sharp turn on the dark road she ran, Rin huffed as the image of the silver man appeared before her eyes and tried to run to him but as she got closer, he got farther away and soon he turned and disappeared. Dread filled her heart and the tears flowed still but her heart almost stopped as her foot collided with a root and she was sent face first into the dirt.
Pushing herself from the dirt Rin found that her legs could do no more, she was exhausted and her chest ached and her short life passed before her eyes as she turned and saw the wolves. Like slow motion they bounded toward her with tongues flopping and teeth bared, leaping into the air they fell toward her and for the first time since seeing the carnage at the village, she let her first and final scream fall on the wind.
