Chapter Two – To Breathe
The first thing she realized when she started to regain her consciousness was that her body hurt, almost as if there were a thousand swords stabbing her at the same time.
She could hear the commotion around her, she could feel herself holding onto something, hands were touching her and making it impossible for her to go back to sleep. She was tired for Kami's sake, she just wanted to sleep until her body was numb again and she didn't feel the pain that was getting harder and harder to deal with as every second passed by. Existing suddenly exhausted her.
Slowly, she started to understand what they were speaking, though the random words didn't make sense to her confused brain yet.
''We…wake her…or else…vital signs…''
''Fragile…won't make…dead…''
''Please…Lady…helped me…''
No, nothing made sense to her and she decided to just focus on her heartbeat instead. It was weak and she could barely hear it, which made her wonder what was happening with her. The headache she had also didn't help, and she would've groaned if that action didn't make her body hurt even more. She was burning, making her wonder if she died and went straight to hell.
''Fever…there's no hope…will die…''
''Save her…son will be alone…''
She frowned as she heard this and forced herself to pay attention to the hushed voices again, she could swear she knew who they were talking about.
''The human won't make it, her body is way too fragile. I can't do anything for her.'' This time, she recognized the voice, it was a female speaking.
''You must save her, what we'll do with her son if she's gone?!" A girly voice that seemed on the brink of a breakdown screamed, making the miko frown as she ignored a sharp pain on her chest and focused on the conversation again.
''There is no hope for her Rin, I can't try to light a fire on her life again when she can't even breathe properly, her body won't hold my powers, it will only kill her faster.'' The female spoke again and her headache suddenly became unbearable. There was also a high pitched sound haunting her mind, making it even harder to focus. She wished she could just sleep, to live right now seemed equal to suffer in agony.
It was then that the woman realized, they were talking about her. The revelation made her eyes twitch in annoyance, what the hell they were blabbing about? Light a fire in her life again? What in Kami's sake did that mean? And why was the noise getting only louder and louder?
The thing she was holding onto pulsed, making her grip tighten as she tried to open her eyes but the only thing she saw was a bright darkness. It didn't make sense but it wasn't like her brain was properly functioning, and that was proven by the fact that when she opened her hand to see what she was holding onto, she only saw a small pink ball made of marble.
She gave up on trying to understand what was happening by this point, she was far too annoyed by the fact that someone had just said she had no hope. And that noise. Dear Kami, that noise was going to kill her.
Her temper flared, annoyance taking over because of everything that was happening and she felt a pulse of energy coming from inside her body. It was weak and barely there, but she felt it. She tried to focus on it and the round marble she held was now humming with power, sending chills down her spine and making the pulse of energy she felt get even stronger.
''Wh-What's happening?!" She could hear the same female that said she would die speaking, her voice making her feel even more enraged.
''Step back.'' A male voice said, his tone leaving no room for argument as she struggled to breathe, her throat burning as she gasped for air.
A bright rose light quickly took over the darkness that surrounded her until it engulfed her whole body, making the woman choke on air as the sphere in her hand suddenly exploded. Millions of shiny fragments fell down around her while she suddenly sat on the bed, gasping for air as the world around her finally reappeared.
For the first time in his life, the proud and deadly Lord of the West didn't know what to do.
Looking between his ward that was about to have a mental breakdown, his most skilled healer that just said she didn't know how to heal a human and said human girl that laid in a bed and was slowly dying, Sesshoumaru realized that he really didn't know how to proceed in this situation.
He tried calming Rin down but the little human refused to listen to him. When Sakura, his official healer, said she couldn't do anything to save the human, Rin had snapped. She demanded a solution and acted like a tiny female version of himself, sending everyone who was useless away and shouting every once in a while to get things done.
Her orders made the human girl survive for more than a week but right now there was nothing left to be done and his ward was slowly turning into a crying mess. Sesshoumaru honestly didn't understand why she was so focused on saving the human. She didn't know the woman, she could be an assassin for all they knew but still, Rin wanted her to live.
After he had killed the humans that threatened his pack, he was going to scold Rin for straying too far away from him while chasing butterflies and collecting flowers since this almost had her killed twice and he couldn't afford another mistake, but then the human woman fainted.
He didn't care about her though, he was going to get Rin and go somewhere safe but his ward was one of the most stubborn creatures he ever met and she refused to move until he promised he would bring the human with them. Sesshoumaru didn't even mention anything about the kitsune Rin held onto until they arrived at the shiro and she explained that he was the human's son.
That was just absurd in the inuyoukai's opinion, humans were too prejudiced to take care of anything that threatened them, so there was no way the human had adopted the kitsune youkai. Even though he was sure of that, the state of her body and clothes made him wonder how she managed to take care of the kit, it was obvious to anyone that she didn't have a home and the fact that the kit was in better shape than the human made Sesshoumaru question if she gave what little food she managed to acquire to him.
''We're losing her.'' Sakura's quiet voice brought the Lord of the Western Lands out of his musings and he watched as her bright green eyes saddened at the sound of Rin's cries.
''We can't lose her! What we'll do with her son?'' The little girl shouted in annoyance as tears ran down her cheeks. ''He'll be all alone just like Rin was when mama and papa died…'' She sobbed in a broken voice that was capable of making even the high and mighty Sesshoumaru-sama's heart break.
Not that he had a heart, of course.
Said statement was proven by the fact that the only reaction the daiyoukai had was to lift an eyebrow and look at Sakura, silently telling her to solve the issue.
''I can't try to use my powers on her, she would die faster if I did my Lord, there's nothing I can do now.'' The youkai said, her eyes saddening as she obviously felt guilty for not being able to save the patient.
The female had always had an old and sensible soul, having lived more than anyone else in the castle besides him, she saw death countless times and that should have made her used to it. Somehow even now, every new loss still managed to affect her greatly, making him wonder how one could grieve for those who they had no attachments to.
Rin let out another heartbreaking cry and Sesshoumaru tried to push away the sensation of discomfort he felt as he watched his ward suffer and hug the body of the woman, which now looked paler than ever. He could hear it, her heartbeat was slowing down and she was struggling to breathe as each second passed by. She had no more than a minute left, death already had wrapped it's slender fingers around her soul.
The scent of Rin's tears disturbed him, the fact that Sakura was also crying made the Western Lord feel awkward, he never knew what to do when he saw females and children crying. Sesshoumaru was about to consider using Tenseiga on the human girl just to make the two crying females stop when he noticed it.
There was a strange aura surrounding the woman's body, he recognized the power and his eyes widened slightly as the human stopped breathing and her aura shone brighter.
''Get away from her, now.'' He ordered Sakura, that quickly backed up as Sesshoumaru held Rin by her kimono and moved to the farthest corner of the room.
A second filled with tension passed by and then the bright energy combusted, blinding anyone that dared to look directly at it and making Sakura put a barrier around herself as Sesshoumaru did the same. When the light faded, Sesshoumaru heard a gasp and opened his eyes, only to see the human now sitting on the bed as she coughed and looked around with wide eyes.
''The nice Lady is alive!" Rin screamed as she pushed her Lord's hand away and ran to meet the human, sitting on the bed next to her.
The woman was still gasping for air and had a pained expression as she held her throat with both of her hands, as if her body was burning from inside out.
''Rin, stay away.'' He ordered and after receiving a glare from her ward, she obeyed him and moved back to where he was, a scowl on her chubby face.
Waiting until the energy had faded completely from the human's body and she laid back on the bed, breathing with more ease now that the pain seemed to fade, Sesshoumaru slowly approached her and took a tentative sniff to confirm what he suspected.
The human was a miko.
Having a human at his shiro was already a problem. Even though his people accepted Rin because of her cheerful nature, he doubted they would accept another human with the same grace. Not that he planned to keep her for too long, he just needed her healed so he could send her on her way and have peace again, but that was kind of hard to achieve when you realized that she was a miko in a place full of youkai.
He had no doubt some of his people would try to kill her, he saw the murderous glint in some of his soldiers' eyes when he walked down the halls with the passed out miko in his arms. This human was more trouble than what she was worth, if it wasn't for the fact that Rin claimed she helped her to escape, the mighty Lord of the West wouldn't even bat an eye at the thought of the miko dying.
In this situation he couldn't leave her though, the human had saved his ward's life, if he let her die he would bring shame and dishonor to his house. Looking at her through a mask that clearly hid his disgust at being a human's caretaker for the time being, the youkai listened to her heartbeat.
She sounded perfectly fine for someone that had been on the brink of death a few seconds ago. He was about to tell Sakura to aid the girl when her strangely bright blue eyes opened and slowly focused on him, leaving him frozen for nothing more than a second.
What made him really freeze in place though was her raised hand, that suddenly was petting his hair as if he was a giant puppy and the small sound of awe she made as she played with a few strands that fell next to her face.
''So silky.'' The human muttered, then her hand dropped and she fell into a dreamless sleep, leaving behind a daiyoukai that was too shocked to do anything besides stare at her with wide eyes for a while.
