Hey guys! Told you the update would be quick ;P
Let's just say that I'm getting excited for the upcoming chapters. Got quite a plan developing in my brain, let me tell ya! :D
Also, a couple of things:
1. Thank you to all of the people who read and post reviews WHO DON'T HAVE AN ACCOUNT. Sadly I can't reply to them if you don't have an account or post as anonymous, but know that I see them and they make me so happy.
2. If you believe that this story is "whorish" like one of you decided to point out after only reading the first chapter, then you might want to stick to the K-T section of because, let me tell you, my story is pretty tame...
3. Thanks for the constant support and to all of you who went and liked my page on FB! For those who didn't follow my story, You Can Hear It in the Silence, then you probably don't know that I have an Instagram for my drawings and fanfiction ramblings. My instagram name is XeraQuick, you should go follow me, I follow back!
4. There is a touch of intense violence (or just detailed violence really) so be warned to those with a soft stomach
Anyway, here is Chapter 10: Unexpected Reunion
Rin couldn't believe the words she was hearing. Everything had happened so fast. Her life had shifted way too fast. And now-
"Rin? Are you listening to us?" Kikyo spoke for her group of elite looking businessmen and women from behind a long and low-to-the-ground conference table.
After the initial run in with Kikyo-sensei and the others, Rin had been coaxed to join them in one of the school's conference rooms. Since then, everything had been spinning.
Rin looked up from her lap and responded softly, "Yes, Kikyo-sensei. Forgive me, I am just in slight shock."
Kikyo smiled sweetly, "Well, anyone would be, I suppose. I know this is sudden, but we have all unanimously agreed that you have the ability to be what we need. However, you must, of course, train properly and perform in front of the theater director before you are accepted. If he says you are good enough, then you will be placed in the debut as the lead role."
Rin hesitantly brought her hands up to her flushed cheeks.
They wanted her to be the star of the Winter Geisha Debut…. A Geisha Debut is reserved only for graduating Geisha. She was only a starting Maiko, without even one day of Geisha training under her belt.
"H-how could I possibly… I'm not a Geisha, Kikyo-sensei," Rin spoke sadly as cinnamon laced eyes looked up at the headmaster of the school.
"You are already good enough to be considered an average Geisha, Rin. If you can cause a stir in your performance before the director, then you haven't any need for such silly things as school," Kikyo chuckled as Rin's eyes grew wide, "School is just a way to measure art and talent by a set standard. But I don't believe it to always be necessary."
"I… I don't know what to say…," Rin mouthed, still under a slight veil of surprise.
"Hmm," Kikyo smirked, "Well, it really isn't up to you anyway. Your godmothers will have to decide. This is their reputation on the line, after all."
Rin simply looked up at the fair woman before her, adequate words still escaping her.
"I will stop by next week to discuss the details with your house…. Though I'm sure they won't turn down an extra twenty-five thousand yen."
"Eh?!" Rin gasped, her heart lurching up into her throat, "T-twenty-five thousand?! But how could anyone possibly-"
"Some people simply can," Kikyo acknowledged the girl's obvious naiveté of true luxury. It was most likely a fact that her life was sold to Kodachi for such an amount, "The theater director proposed that if the performance goes over particularly well, he's willing to pay the leads a reward for their hard work…. And that's all."
Rin looked down once more, processing everything. After a moment she asked sheepishly, "But… Why me?"
Kikyo motioned to the others that the meeting was over, and, as she was walking past Rin to leave, she answered with, "All other candidates have fallen short of the director's expectations in one way or another. I can only hope that you will not do so as well."
Patting Rin on the shoulder and with one last smile, she finished her thought, "Now, you might want to head to class. I will inform your instructors as to why you were unable to make it on time."
Beaming, Rin lightly nodded. And as she waited for all of her seniors to leave the room in succession, she almost couldn't stifle the desire to laugh and jump with joy. Everything seemed to be falling into place. It seemed as if everything was going the way that she once could have only dreamed. And it was all thanks to-
Her heart suddenly sank as images of Sesshoumaru flashed through her mind. It was as if déjà vu had struck her hard across the face… As if entertaining him the previous night was merely a dream and it was all just now coming back to her in a swift wave.
She remembered.
Rin went from the inability to contain her excitement, to painstakingly immovable in a matter of milliseconds.
She had called him out as if they had been straight up equals…
"Hey you."
She had threatened him…
"Well… then I suppose I have no interest in telling your father that you've been tolerant of me."
She had openly shed her tears in front of him; Naraku's sickening voice replaying in echoes…
"Don't worry, I only wish to play a bit… I won't hurt you."
She had been…
saved by him…
"Remove yourself,"
He had demanded of the demon that was in the middle of disgracing her.
Without warning, Rin felt guilt. Immense guilt.
Sure, Sesshoumaru-sama had only saved her for his own personal gain but… That didn't negate the fact that she was standing here, even now, untouched.
Clenching her fists lightly, Rin, for the first time towards a demon, grew sincerely humbled.
Though it was indirectly… All of this was thanks to him.
She was able to become a Maiko, one of the best in the district according to the headmaster, with the opportunity to become a Geisha within a matter of months rather than years…
All thanks to him.
All thanks to his call out of her initial slip-up as a servant just a couple of nights before.
All thanks to his father's unusual reaction to such.
For the first time, Rin was grateful that Sesshoumaru-sama was such a prestigious and arrogant asshole. Because although she had no interest in serving him or being near him, it was true that without him and without his pursuits under his altruistic father, her life could have taken a very different turn.
After these humbling realizations, Rin's thoughts shifted and, finally, she smiled out of gratefulness for herself.
She had never known that the way of the Geisha would have come to her so naturally. And for the first time since she had lived seaside with Kohaku…
…she felt the sweet caress of self-worth.
0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0
As the last class of the day came to an end, Rin rushed out of the school with renewed purpose. Despite the embarrassment that still lingered at the back of her mind from the previous night, her head was high in the clouds. The setting sun casted bright hues of pinks, purples, and oranges all across the horizon. The beauty of such a sight only heightened the girl's ecstasy as the last of the dimming rays swept through her raven locks between the shadows of rustling trees.
The familiar corridors and alleyways began to alight with lanterns and evening play. The happy faces of those she passed only made her victory over this day all the more encouraging. It was as if everyone was smiling for her.
On her way back to Kodachi, Rin stopped off in a field just past her prestigious Geisha House. This field was one that she would frequent any time she was allowed outside the house. Though the godmothers knew nothing of her few moments of frivolous freedom, Rin often felt that she kept her sanity because of them. On this day, she had made a deal with herself that she would finally retrieve flowers to place in her room; now that her title as Maiko gifted one all to herself.
Rin gleefully ran out into the field and spun around in the middle of the Lavender and Bluebells as the cool breeze of dusk began to afflict her senses. It had been a magical day. The best one since beginning servitude at Kodachi. For once, Rin felt optimistic for her future. For the first time, Rin-
KRAAAAK! KALISSSHHHH!
Suddenly, a dark force of energy stunned her; an aura of black, dripping hatred surrounded her. Rin halted all movement and fell to the ground with hands pinned to her ears as a thunderous roar erupted through the trees.
Heart throttling in a craze of adrenaline, Rin whipped her head up in confusion and fear. And just above the tree-line, just in front of the brilliant silver moon, was an enormous beast of a demon and the floating body of the man that had attempted to assault her just the night before.
Naraku.
Her stark brown eyes widened at the recollection and recognition of this terrible demon. And unintentionally, she was almost relieved when she saw the beast attack him with a force of severe ferocity. Claws extended, the beast, resembling that of a majestic hound, lashed out at black-haired demon, slicing him into four different sections of flesh.
Disgusted, Rin lifted a hand to her mouth as the blood dripped and drooled from the detached parts. Though, surprisingly, the body remained afloat, and Naraku merely scowled as tendons and ligaments shot out from the sections to reattach themselves. Although the body attempted to regroup, it was apparently having a difficult time. For when the wounds threatened to close up, a ravaging green mist would expel from them, cutting them wide open once more.
Poison? Rin thought as she witnessed the horrific event. However, she couldn't seem to avert her eyes from the spectacle. What kind of demon was that beast?
Rin was thrown from her thoughts when she saw Naraku retaliate, throwing out long extensions of arms that glowed bright and catastrophic purple, landing a heavy and slicing blow across the beast's chest. Howling, and blinded by the apparent miasma that had expelled from the arm, the beast shook its head in an attempt to regain composure. However, Naraku whipped his other limb, landing a hit to the beast's head and sending it spiraling into the forest floor.
Rin, now sprawled and covering her head in the grass, felt the Earth beneath her rumble from the impact. It must have only been a hundred yards away if that. She slowly lifted her face to gaze at the demon, Naraku, who still floated in the night sky, though hunched over in agony.
Gasping for air, he bit his lip in pain as his arm reverted back to normal to clench his wounds that refused to close,
"Damn you…ngh," he gurgled before disappearing in a whirl of purple smoke.
And as if nothing ever happened, the night became still and quiet once more.
Rin, still shaking, slowly maneuvered to her feet, looking around in search of someone else who may have witnessed the event. To her dismay, she was the only one in the area, leading her to wonder if she had only imagined the whole thing. After all, the atmosphere had gone from foul to peaceful in no time at all.
After a moment or two of intense listening and looking about, Rin finally managed to shrug it off. And as she leaned down to pick the potent stem from a lavender plant, a low growl reached her ears. Jerking at the sudden noise that confirmed that she really wasn't crazy, Rin turned her head in the direction of where the beast had undoubtedly fallen.
Though she saw only forestry, she now heard the heavy rasp of burdened breathing. And, going against her better judgment, she gulped as she began the realization of her unquenched curiosity.
Slowly, she tip-toed to the field's outer-most edge. Arriving at the tree-line, she desperately tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness. The breathing, now consuming and echoing throughout the trees, suddenly hitched as she took a few more steps forward.
It was only moments before that she saw the familiar and beautiful glow of regal silver hair beneath rays of blue-tinted moonlight. The jagged and brilliant maroon stripes upon his cheeks. The chiseled face and body that she only knew to be…
…Sesshoumaru.
EEEEEE! NEXT CHAPTER COMING SOON I PROMISE.
Because even I can't wait right now. :)
