Good Afternoon, lovelies ;)
Please enjoy Chapter 32: Rose-Colored Lenses
The foggy vignette set in, displaying Inuyasha and fellow dog demons rummaging through trunks and jars before finally happening upon the scrolls that Sango had brought. Suddenly, a shift in the pool showed Sango, hands tied behind her back, sitting in an isolated room with her hands and feet bound.
"Ah. That's enough, Kanna," Naraku ordered of the demon spawn.
"Yes," Kanna's airy voice penetrated the quiet of the deep cavern. Stalagmites and stalactites jutted every so often from the dripping ceiling and floor of the cavern's innermost bowels. The only light that emanated came from Kanna's mirror, and from Naraku's dark and sinister barrier.
"You really are drawing this out," Kagura pierced the silence from behind. She was lounging against the far wall, acting like she couldn't care less.
Naraku paid her no mind.
"Kanna, show me that human girl of his. Rin."
"Yes."
All of a sudden, within her mirror there was the face of Rin—bruised, with her forehead covered by a towel. She was laying on her mat, sleeping.
"Oh?" Naraku smirked, "Kanna, how did she get those terrible wounds?"
"Sesshoumaru administered them, my lord… last night… while at Kodachi."
Naraku full-on grinned, "Well, that poor girl. How was she to know that her little puppy had no manners?"
Sesshoumaru's servants unlocked and opened the doors to the holding cells, all the while moving out of his way. A tittering Jaken followed in hot pursuit. The duo turned down the stone pathway past yapping beasts and pitiful pleas of inmates awaiting death, until they found themselves at their destination.
The demon slayer was wearing a long, green skirt and a pink striped yukata tucked within. Her face was battered and her arms and legs were covered in scratches and bruises. She looked up at Sesshoumaru with the orbs of an enraged killer. Likewise, Sesshoumaru stood from outside her cell, using his own to convey a very clear message to her. She was to speak, or she was to die.
"Still not willing?" He asked. These interrogations had been going on for two nights already.
"…" Anger seeped into Sango's aura.
Sesshoumaru stepped closer, his arms tucked into the other's haori sleeve as he coolly said, "As you know, I have it on good authority that you were the one who had stolen the Inu scrolls from within Kodachi months ago. After finding the scrolls with not a drop of information, I am forced to rely on your mouth for the information that I desire."
"Good luck," Sango bit.
Sesshoumaru smirked, placing a new chip on the table, "Are you aware… that your brother, Kohaku, has met his pitiful demise once again?"
Sango's eyes shot open as she uttered, "How did you… what did you—?"
"You and that boy have the same scent. Well, except for the stench of his decayed corpse. He was being controlled by Naraku and came after… one of my own," Sesshoumaru reluctantly confessed, "You see, Naraku used this to bring your brother back from grave." Sesshoumaru took from his sleeve a little pink shard, "Except, only by sight. Kohaku was still dead, no matter what agreement you and Naraku had made. Rhe returned body was merely a concoction of memories and demon magic to fulfill an expertly crafted illusion."
He held out the shard, "I want you to tell me what exactly this is, as well as where Naraku is hiding."
"You killed him!" Sango sobbed, tears spilling off of her face, "How could you—"
"Still, you don't understand?" Sesshoumaru's patience was wearing thin, "Tell me, did Kohaku seem completely right to you? Were there instances where gaps in his demeanor could not be filled?"
Sango opened her mouth to retaliate but stopped as she realized. He was right. There were instances where Kohaku would wander off, or be caught unknowing how to react.
Sesshoumaru smiled, "Lucky for you, treacherous woman… if you can answer my questions and lead me to the cur, I'm willing to bring the real Kohaku back from the netherworld… and pardon your treason against the crown."
"I had no idea what Naraku was planning. I simply traded information about—"
Sesshoumaru eyed her angrily and knowingly, which made her change route.
"…You expect me to believe you can bring Kohaku back? When even the Shikon no Tama couldn't?!"
The Shikon no Tama?
"You stupid woman! How dare you question the power of Sesshoumaru-sama! Don't you know he is the most fearsome demon in all of the land?! He should kill you where you stand!" Jaken squawked.
"Watch, girl," Sesshoumaru ordered, taking Baksuaiga from its sheath.
Without looking, the daiyoukai released the drawn sword straight across Jaken's chest, slicing him in half; the annoying squawks drowned by blood.
Sango clenched her teeth, "You monster…"
"Keep watching," tonelessly, Sesshoumaru stated, re-sheathing Bakusaiga and drawing out one of three swords he had inherited from his father.
"This… is the power of Tenseiga."
Turning to Jaken's horrid, lifeless corpse Sesshoumaru located the hellish messengers that he sought. When they had all gathered, he released the magnificence of the sword upon them, removing the path to hell and replenishing Jaken's lost soul.
In a matter of seconds, Jaken awakened, distraught by his severed body.
"Amazing…," Sango whispered.
"Tell me everything, and I will revive him," Sesshoumaru bargained.
"…I-I don't where Naraku is, but I know his destination…," Sango said, still looking upon him warily, "But he seemed pretty preoccupied with a certain Geisha that he was convinced you had some connection to."
Sesshoumaru's eyes widened and he growled.
Still, Naraku was planning on using her to get to him? That fool.
"Jaken," Sesshoumaru finally addressed after a moment of heavy thought.
"Yes, milord?" Almost begrudgingly, the teary-eyed imp responded, hugging his lower half out of personal sympathy.
"Have the infirmary put you back together, and then send for guards to border Kodachi."
"Milord?"
"Do as I say," he commanded, before turning to take his leave.
Rin stood at the desk of her late mentor's room. Droplets fell to the lacquer wood from her eyes. She breathed heavily, shaking from lack of energy, from pain, and from grief. She couldn't eat. And now, terrors kept her woke. She feared nothing would ever be the same again. Hesitantly, Rin opened the drawer of Izayoi's desk and took out a box. Inside, she found what she was searching for. A finely ground dust.
She pinched about as much as Izayoi had given her on her first night serving the dog demons. Well, maybe she took just a little more. Rin placed the concentrated opium on her tongue and clenched her jaw until the bitterness melted away. Almost immediately the world became blander. Living and breathing: easier.
She maneuvered out into the hallway, down to her room. The lanterns were smoking and all were asleep except for her. It was already the creeping hours of morning when she attempted to lay in her bed for the fifth time, willing herself to get some sort of rest.
A shadow had covered the glut of the moon outside her window, startling her out of near sleep.
Her body became racked with adrenaline when she recognized its bearer.
Sesshoumaru.
He stood upon one of the branches of a nearby tree, watching her—with a felling expression.
Instinctively she pulled the thin sheet and blanket up to her chest as he nearly teleported from the branch to her sill, opening her window with incredible stealth. All the while his yellowed eyes never leaving hers. They were resolved, filled with intentions unknown.
Rin didn't dare say a word. The walls were thin. And what would happen? Widespread panic throughout Kodachi because of what Sesshoumaru-sama had done to her last time. No, all she could do was count the seconds down until he was gone.
Once at her bedside, he knelt, his eyes trailing, analyzing the rest of her limitedly exposed skin, including the finger marks on her neck and wrists. And then he noticed everything else.
The scent of opium. Bloodshot eyes. A withering frame.
He replayed three nights ago in his mind, how much thinner she had been, even then. And now…
"Sesshoumaru-sama," her voice wavered bitterly in the faintest of whispers, "Please… just… tell me what you want."
He came here with one purpose. To prove to himself that she hadn't been brought to harm by Naraku, but what came to realize was that she had been brought to immense harm… by himself.
He came to see, through rose-colored lenses, Rin in decent shape, maybe remorseful for her insolent words spoken to him nights before but… clearly, he had greatly overestimated the human body while under the influence of absinthe. She was far more broken. Her wounds, that which a powerful demon considered mere slaps on the wrist, still had not healed enough for her to engage her life properly. And, what was the most surprising, is how far gone she was in her own mind. Her spirit was tattered and he, a powerful demon, couldn't fathom why. Sesshoumaru realized then, the degree to which he didn't understand humans.
"Come here," he whispered, and the gentleness caught her more off guard than anything else.
"Please go. It's too soon," she replied quietly, turning her head away.
"You're in danger," his voice deepened to contempt, but even still, she chuckled.
"Does that… suddenly matter to you, now?" She returned her gaze to his, her eyes nearly overflowing.
Did it matter? Or was he only here to ensure that he foiled Naraku's plan?
He just watched, assessing her state of mind as she added, "Besides, I knew that much when I saw you."
Sesshoumaru growled.
"…See?" She smiled sadly. Her voice was filled with hurt and a tear slid gracefully down her cheek as she fought to maintain her composure.
He stopped growling. Instead, he relaxed his shoulders, willing himself to navigate this conversation on a level closer to Rin's. It was more evident in this moment that his treatment of Rin was affecting her more adversely than he previously imagined. And it was more evident in this moment, rather than any other in the past… that he was displeased with it.
Sesshoumaru leaned forward, his clawed hand pulling her to him. She recoiled as he pressed her lightly to his chest.
"Stop…," fear-ridden, she stuttered.
"Be still. I did not come here for that."
He kept her in loose embrace until eventually, Rin relaxed. Whether it was exhaustion, the drug, or both, she decided to be convinced of his word—for now. When her heart had calmed enough, he pulled her even closer to rest against him, waiting…
…until opium and spent emotion found her sleep against the curve of his shoulder.
Things are happening...
Meep! Is Sesshoumaru finally seeing things for how they are?
Maybe not quite but he's on his way.
