Lady mother adjusted herself comfortably into her large plush throne, elbow bent to where chine rested pleasantly upon her palm as she eyed her son and his strange company. Her stoic son, her boy who once held so much wonder for the world that felt like, to her, was only yesterday. Her son no longer held that light; no it was snuffed out centuries ago due to the human cruelty. Golden eyes that mirrored her son's ghosted down toward the small child that poked her head out from behind Sesshomaru's leg, tiny fingers gripping the fabric tightly as one brown doe eye looked up toward her in wonder and slight fear.
Mother smirked toward the child before locking her gaze back onto her son who continued to stand there like a marble statue. It was then she decided to try and push his buttons, wanting to see what reaction she could get from him for the test that his father and that woman had set for him.
Upon thinking of her, Mother moved her eyes down from her son's hard features to stare at his waist where a slight shimmer she could see, that floated around him. In truth she was not sensitive to spirits like her deceased mate, she could not physically see nor speak to them like he could; that mad old dog. Although she could sense them, she could only see their auras like a whisper of smoke from a fire that she often over looked if she wasn't focused. As a mother, it did pain her to a degree that her son did not inherit these abilities and was blind to the one thing he wished for the most.
But she got over that pang of sadness the second she met his eyes again.
"Hmm Sesshomaru, as I recall you once despised humans, did you not?" Her heart fluttered in joy when she saw the flinch of the boy that stood behind her son as well as the whimper of the small girl who ultimately hid behind Sesshomaru's leg, losing eye contact with the Inu demoness. "Yet here you are with not one but two human children in your company? Perhaps you intend to eat them, if so I would be honored to partake."
Sesshomaru, however, was not waivered, he knew his mother better than most and his fist clenched upon seeing that she was playing games with him. She was stalling for what she was intended to help him with and he refused to let her have that satisfaction.
"Tenseiga can be used to open a path to the underworld." He snorted at her flinch and glare. "Father must have told you about that at some point."
Mother released her glare and slouched back in her throne. "Oh you father had told me many things about that sword of yours, son but never spoke of the path to the underworld being opened by it." Her delicately clawed hand reached up toward the necklace that rested at her breast, fingers gently rolling over the deep purple stone that rested in the middle.
"He simply gave me this Meido stone before he departed."
Sesshomaru furred his eyebrows. "A Meido stone you say?"
"He told me to use if you should ever seek me out for advice." Her fingers dropped the stone where it landed back upon her chest. "I see that the time is now for me to use it as you have come to me for some much needed advice."
Before Sesshomaru could speak once more, Mother clicked her tongue and held her claws up to silence her child. "He also mentioned something else as well that was pretty important if I do recall." Her teeth glittered as her son snarled at her.
"He said that using the meido stone would put you in terrible danger but he told me not to worry nor be sad about whatever outcome you may have." Mockingly she raised her hand to face s to show distress but her smirking smile never left.
"Whatever shall I do? Oh Sesshomaru, your mother is terribly distressed."
Sesshomaru scoffed and glared at his mother who sat upon her chair with a giggle as she held her face. "Your words are as ever hollow as always and you are wasting my time with your foolishness."
Mother placed her hands around the meido stone and held it toward Sesshomaru but her son was not her target. "Fine then, I shall have you entertain me." With her eyes growing red for a split moment, the meido stone glowing with a dark energy that released a large and purple hell hound. The beast landed before Sesshomaru and growled, frightening the children behind him but not fazing the demon lord.
Sesshomaru glared at his mother but if this was some sort of test for him, he would succeed in showing his power. Drawing Tenseiga he stood before the hound as it charged him. Now was his chance, now he could show his mother that he had surpassed his father in strength.
"Meido Zangetsuha!" He bellowed and brought the sword down on the beast, slashing a large crescent shaped Meido that did not harm nor kill the hound. At that, his heart thumped at his failure.
"So this is your Meido huh Sesshomaru? It is nowhere near being a complete circle, how unfortunate." Her expression seeped into that of pure boredom upon seeing the Meido Sesshomaru conjured slowly begin to disappear, leaving behind the hound that stood threatening over the pack.
"Are you saying that my lord cannot cut through it? Preposterous!" Jaken cried out as the hound took a moment to lock his dead gaze upon the little imp.
Mother snorted. "It is a hound of the underworld. At present it seems that my son's sword can do no real harm nor any good." With that she snapped her fingers and the beast lunged past the stunned demon lord and barreled toward the two children that were a part of his company. Before Kohaku or Rin could call for Sesshomaru, the hound opened its jaws and clamped them down on the two before disappearing into the remainder of Sesshomaru's Meido.
As the hell hound disappeared into the Meido, Sesshomaru sprang up and followed behind it but the loud bellow of his mother's voice halted him.
"Sesshomaru! You intend to follow the path to the Underworld!? For what, to save two human children? You haven't been prone to this foolishness for centuries!" She was shocked but mildly proud at how her son was willing to leap into the meido for those children with no regard to himself. Taisho if you could see your son.
Sesshomaru glared down toward his mother. "Nor am I prone to it at this moment, mother." With no other look nor word toward his mother, Sesshomaru flew into the Meido as it closed behind him.
Mother sighed and looked down toward her stone, watching as her son flew through the darkness. Please protect him, bring him back to me safely. She prayed softly to the only spirit she knew who could hear her.
Rin groaned as the stinging pain flew up from her toes toward her ears, jostling her awake with a start. Squinting her eyes and ultimately rubbing at them to erase the blurriness, she moved her hands to get a sight of her surroundings but at the sight her heart panicked. Mist surrounded her, a grey mist against a grey area that held no color, no sound nor life it seemed.
Her heart began to beat at a panicked rate as memories flew into her mind's eye of wolves, teeth, pain and then loneliness.
She was back again! She was back in the quiet scary place that sent more than fear through her, it sent her into a despair that she felt she would never recover from and she didn't like it.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" She cried out only to have her scream echo back to her. "Lord Sesshomaru!" She tried again but all it did was echo upon the nothingness that surrounded her.
"Oh no." She whimpered and tried to stand up on wobbly legs but she fell back down with a soft sob of pure fear. She didn't want to be alone anymore, she has had enough of loneliness to last her for the rest of her days and she wanted no more of it. She wanted her lord to come get her, to save like he always had. Why was he not coming for her!?
"Lord Sesshomaru!" She screamed out in anguish then soon fell into sobs as she held herself to offer at least a bit of comfort but it was not enough to quell the fear that heated her veins.
"Little Rin." A soft and low voice pulled her from her heaving sobs, forcing her teary brown eyes to ghost up toward the person who could also offer her comfort. Eavan sat there before the little girl with a soft yet sad smile to her face as she watched the child cave in on herself.
Without making a sound Eavan stood and reached down for the child who still seemed so small considering her age and picked her up, holding her gently to her person and cradled the sobbing child like any other babe.
"I don't want to be here anymore, Eavan." Rin sobbed into the soft skin of the red haired woman's neck. "I want to go back, take me back!"
Eavan closed her eyes and held the girl tighter, arms wrapped securely around her tiny body and offering as much protection s her love could. It pained her to see her so frightened, to see her back in the place that brought her nightmares and uncalming fear. It pained her that this was something Sesshomaru had to fix on his own; this was something she could not interfere with.
This was all Sesshomaru.
"I know darling, I know but we must wait. We must wait for Sesshomaru." Eavan hugged her tighter and whispered something softly into the child's ear, sighing when she saw Rin's eyes become half lidded. "He will come for us Rin, he always will." Watching the child slowly fall asleep against the spirit, Eavan closed her eyes and sighed in exhaustion.
Spreading out her aura she felt a pull at her spine, a tingling sensation that was so familiar to her now that when her eyes shot open, she was above her love as he sliced the guardian of the Underworld in two. With a proud sensation flowing through her, she watched as her demon carefully caught Rin's unconscious body and cradled her gently to him.
Sesshomaru held tightly onto his ward as he descended to the corpse littered floor of the underworld. Dread filled him great when he could not smell life upon his little girl, her skin was ashen and lips blue, it sent his heart into hysteria when he could not jostle her awake.
"Rin please, you're safe now. Wake up!" He called and shook her once more but still nothing changed, the only movement she gave was when her tiny head fell toward his shoulder and thumped against his skin coolly.
No. . . Sesshomaru gripped Tenseiga, begging for a response that could save Rin. To his terror the sword never responded, never pulsed nor showed any interest in bring Rin back to him. Golden eyes quivered at the sight of another person he cared for dying before him and he was useless to stop it.
Before he could halt the onslaught of visions that plagued him, soon he saw that it was no longer Rin in his arm but her. Eavan had replaced his little ward and it was her bloodied body he now stared at, ashen and cold with death with red splattered all over her and himself. Sesshomaru suddenly forgot how to breath as he struggled to get the panicked breathes into his body it was for naught.
He had failed once again.
With his fingers falling numb, the Tenseiga slipped through his fingers and planted itself into the dead soil. Quivering fingers gripped her small body as he brought her closer to him, his nose falling to her brown hair searching for her floral scent but all he smelt was rising death.
He had come here to strengthen and improve his sword but in the end he lost another equally precious gem that brought a sliver of light back into his darkened heart. He had failed her like he had failed Eavan; he let her die for something that truly didn't matter to him.
"Tenseiga." He growled as he pulled back to stare at the still features of the little girl he held so tightly. "I let you die Rin, for something like this." He seethed and with a low whimper he brought her closer to him once more where he could place his nose back into her hair tenderly.
Nothing I could have gained was worth losing you.
Nothing at all. . .
That was all Eavan needed. With a gleaming smile and a tighter squeeze to the Rin she held close, the spirit floated down to stand before her weeping demon. Softly she removed her hand from Rin and tried to place it upon his cheek but watched as she slipped through him like all the other times before. She wanted to touch him, to show how proud she was of him for releasing some of the darkness that he had built up inside himself.
He was coming back and for that he had passed the test that is father and she had set for him. Ghosting her green eyes toward the Tenseiga, she closed them softly as he body began to shimmer away into such a pure aura that it pulled Sesshomaru from his grief.
Before him saw that the corpses of the Underworld were all writhing toward the glittering Tenseiga, broken fingers all outstretched toward the blade and all moaning for peace that only it could bring. Sesshomaru watched as Tenseiga pulsed gently like it were calling to him and it was then something clicked in his mind.
If he could not save one precious life, he save could a hundred others.
"You all wish to be saved, is that it?" He asked and the only response he received was the low moaning and crying for salvation that the bodies all chimed. Tucking Rin underneath his chin, he reached forward and grasped the Tenseiga, finally feeling the raw power it had hidden that sent a wave of pride through him.
"Then so be it." Raising the blade high and letting the glowing white light of peace fill the darkness of the underworld, Sesshomaru answered their cries as he purified every single human corpse that littered the Underworld. One by one he watched small orbs of light rose and disappeared into the heavens, all being sent free from the torment they suffered and it sent a feeling through the demon lord that he could not explain.
With the last orb floating away gently, he swung the Tenseiga with a loud bellow of "Meido Zangetseha!" He marveled at the larger Meido that appeared before him and without second thought, he, Kohaku and Rin all walked out safely.
"Oh Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken cried out upon seeing his master safe.
His mother on the other hand stood slowly and crossed her arms. "So, you've returned."
Sesshomaru bore no mind to his mother as walked past her and gently laid Rin down upon her throne, watching sadly as her head gently turned to the side without his shoulder to support it. She was really gone and it wasn't until now that it struck him as true.
"What's wrong Sesshomaru?" His mother called out and grasped his attention for a split moment. "You look so sad." She taunted softly and reveled in the bristle that appeared in his hair but yet she continued.
"Tenseiga has matured considerably and your Meido has expanded just as you had hoped." She waved her hands for emphasis as she stepped closer to her son. "Isn't that cause for a celebration?"
Sesshomaru scowled. "Did you know that this would happen to Rin?" He raised his hand toward the still body upon the throne. "Did you Mother?"
Mother sighed albeit sadly as she stepped even closer to her son and let her words come out as gently as she could. "I have come to understand that you have already revived this child with the Tenseiga once before, have you not?" She asked and upon seeing his lips purse and eyes harden she knew she had her answer.
"My son, Tenseiga can only call a person back from the dead once." It was those words that sent the demon lord back a step and his eyes to widen in disbelief but his mother kept going with her tyrant.
"It only make sense, after all life cannot be limitless after all especially for humans. They are born, they live and then they die from whatever fate has planned for them, it is not something that can renewed over and over again for your convenience." Her eyes darkened only a fraction at her next choice of words.
"Did you come to believe that you were a god among men, Sesshomaru? That you need not fear death as long as you had Tenseiga by your side? It seems to me that because the death of that human woman some years ago that you have come to believe you can halt an intended part of life for those you wish to keep."
"When you lost Eavan, you never grew to care for anyone like you did for her again and yet here you are now with a little human girl that you are fond of. You needed to relearn two things; the desire to save the life of a loved one taken by death as well as the sorrow and fear which accompanies that loss."
Mother watched Sesshomaru lower his head toward the little human girl, his bangs covering his crest fallen eyes as he stared at her limp body. It was then she saw that his compassion was indeed returning to him.
"Your father wanted me to tell you this." She grasped his attention and continued. "The Tenseiga is a sword for healing. When Eavan was killed and you lost yourself in the worst way possible, your father came to understand that it was you who needed the healing and you needed to learn to heal others as well. Only a person who holds a compassionate heart and values life may wield such a weapon and use its power to bury their enemies."
Mother smiled warmly toward her son. "That is the requirement of any who wish to possess the Tenseiga, a sword that can save lives but then condemn others. You just needed more time to be worthy of such power, my son."
Soft whimpering caught her attention forcing Mother to turn her head toward the dead child where the imp was crying over her, it was most irritating. "Little demon, why do you cry over the human?"
Jaken sniffed and wiped his face with his sleeve before answering. "It because, my Lady, Lord Sesshomaru shall never shed a tear so I must cry in his stead." With that the little imp released a loud sob.
"Oh, is that how you feel?" She asked and upon looking at his hard and stoic features, she could see easily the sadness that swirled in his golden pools. A soft pull at her neck pulled her own golden eyes down toward her meido stone which only to her, was glowing softly and pulsing against her breast and pulling a sigh from her lips.
"This is her last chance, you understand?"
Eavan watched with a small smile as the Inu Demoness walked past her and placed the meido stone upon Rin, the stone glowing brightly that blinded the spirit for only a moment. With Rin's little spirit still held tightly in her arms, Eavan walked over and leaned over her body where the bright glow was coming from.
"It's time to go Rin, he's waiting for you." Ever so gently she lowered the little spirit toward the little body and watched as the two molded together, life being pushed back into the small frame once more.
Slowly color began to come back to her cheeks, lips turned a rosy hue and her chest rose with a small intake of breath before her brown doe eyes opened once again. Eavan smiled down toward the little girl and felt a small rush of air as her love stepped through her to kneel down before Rin, the green eyed woman watching with envious love as he reached over and grasped her cheek when she let loose a cough. They shared a tender moment; he showed all around him that he thought highly of this little human girl and made her heart soar in happiness as he was step closer to where he truly needed to be.
Ghosting her green eyes over her shoulder to look at the Inu Demoness, Eavan smiled one more time before allowing herself to shimmer away and disappear next to her love as he reunited with his smiling little girl.
