As they listened to the escalating fight outdoors, Rin and Kagome sat quietly at the table, alternately staring at their uneaten food and each other, neither knowing what to say. Rin knew that she was supposed to be on Sesshoumaru's side in this conflict. It was just so difficult to remain on either side; they were both wrong, both ridiculous, and both so anxious to tear the other limb from limb.
Disgruntled to find that a fight was taking place without his participation as a spectator, Jaken scurried outside as soon as he realized what was happening. Now as the girls waited tensely for it to end, they could hear Jaken's own loud squalling cheers for Sesshoumaru to be victorious against "that nasty half-breed!" being added to the cacophony of noise.
A blinding flash of light and energy shot past the windows and, judging from the excited exclamation from Jaken, Rin could easily guess as to whom it had come from. The sound of trees being leveled was very clear; the snapping of wood and crashing of part of the forest falling in on itself echoed resoundingly from outside. Rin finally rose from the table and went out to join Jaken, arriving just as Inuyasha picked himself up from where he had dove out of the way of Sesshoumaru's attack.
Without hesitation, Inuyasha raised Tetsusaiga, screaming "Bakuryuuha!" just as Sesshoumaru swung Toukijin. The two energies clashed violently, causing the ground underneath Rin's feet to shake as though caught in an earthquake. Both demons were tossed backward, Sesshoumaru landing gracefully on his feet, Inuyasha crashing haphazardly into the ground once more, Tetsusaiga dropping beside him. Before the hanyou could rise, Sesshoumaru was hovering over him, Toukijin pressing sharply against his throat.
Kagome joined Rin and Jaken outside in time to witness this, all three of whom watched while the two demons exchanged some more heated words. Rin worried that Inuyasha might just talk himself into being impaled, and she could guess, judging from the concerned frown on Kagome's face, that the thought had occurred to her as well.
Finally, Sesshoumaru seemed to have had his say and drew back a step, pulling Toukijin away. He turned to walk back toward the house, but Inuyasha, clearly not finished with the fight, suddenly lunged for Tetsusaiga, bringing the sword up to renew the battle. Sesshoumaru whirled instantly and knocked the sword out of his brother's hand, but did not dodge the retaliating claw attack that cut across his face. Inuyasha was pleased to see the cool facade fade into fury, but was much less thrilled when Sesshoumaru reached out and got a stranglehold on him, turning his neck at an odd angle, clearly giving serious thought to finishing the fight very permanently.
But as his fingers tightened around his brother's throat and found the weak spot where bone and spine came together, Sesshoumaru found that, as usual, he could not bring himself to do it. He greatly disliked Inuyasha, but he could still easily remember all of the effort Inutaisho had put into keeping the boy alive. Sesshoumaru would not make his father's death meaningless by killing the hanyou. He finally said in a menacing voice, "If I release you, are you going to persist in fighting me, runt?"
"I'll kill you," Inuyasha growled back.
"Then I'll have to beat that arrogance out of you," Sesshoumaru replied, shoving Inuyasha away from him and reaching once more for Toukijin.
The girls continued to watch morosely as the two demons started tearing into each other again. Jaken resumed crowing over the hanyou's coming demise and Rin reached a foot out to nudge him off the step, sending him squawking into some shrubbery. "Don't encourage them, Jaken-sama," she scolded.
The sun began to set. Darkness came, blackening everything to the point where Rin and Kagome could only barely make out shadowy forms and the occasional flash of light that signified an attack from one of the swords.
"This is endless," Rin said hours later with a weary shake of her head as she returned outside with blankets for herself and Kagome. Her eyes began to burn sleepily as the night crept into the early morning hours.
"They're wearing themselves out," Kagome replied from where she was leaning tiredly against one of the wooden columns. "It's been at least a good half hour since either of them has tried to use one of their attacks."
And, indeed, as Rin squinted out into the darkness, she could hear only the clanging of swords being used in hand-to-hand combat. Even the insults had stopped. Rin had the feeling that that, more than anything, was signifying that the battle was coming to its close.
Both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were showing signs of weariness, the hanyou even more so, which Sesshoumaru capitalized on. He sheathed Toukijin. Inuyasha gave one more tired, wild swing before his brother's fist shot out and flattened him to the ground. Sesshoumaru took a step back, breathing heavily and watching as Inuyasha remained on his back, gasping for air.
"Are you finished yet, half-breed?" Sesshoumaru asked darkly.
"Hell no," Inuyasha exhaled, though he made no move to even sit up.
"Yes, you are."
"Never speak that way about my mother again," Inuyasha warned, finally summoning enough spare energy to pull himself to his feet.
"You think that is what this is about?" Sesshoumaru questioned contemptuously. "Do not fool yourself."
"I hate you," Inuyasha growled, too tired to think of a decent enough insult.
"Grow a thicker skin, Inuyasha."
Kagome and Rin rose to their feet, watching as Sesshoumaru stalked away from Inuyasha and past them without so much as a word. Exhaling a small sigh of relief, Rin followed him into the house, leaving Kagome to wait as Inuyasha made his way back to her, a disheveled mass of scrapes, torn clothes, and a glowering expression.
"Inuyasha … I think we should leave," Kagome said tentatively as he inspected one of his slashed sleeves, glaring at it in consternation, as though it had somehow failed him by succumbing to one of Sesshoumaru's attacks.
"And why's that?" he asked of her.
"At this rate, you really are going to kill each other. Ashrem or not, I think it would be best if we separated you two."
"What are you babbling about?" Inuyasha said, looking at her as though she had just lost her mind. "I'm gonna go get some sleep and do it again tomorrow. I'm not leaving this place until I've wiped that smug look off his face."
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One would have thought that Rin would have been pleased with the deathly quiet that fell over the house the rest of that night, but as she lay in bed, she found that her brain would not shut down enough to allow her to sleep, disturbed by the obvious lack of noise. It was too quiet out there. She had not heard a word from either of them in hours and that was causing her a new worry.
She turned her head and saw that Kagome was awake, too; listening with a suspicious expression on her face. "It's making me nervous," she admitted to Rin, sensing what the other girl was about to say.
"I know. At least you can keep track of them when they're screaming at each other."
In one synchronized movement, both girls got to their feet and left the room, making their way through the house until they came upon two of the resident demons: Inuyasha and Jaken were seated cross-legged directly opposite each other, glaring with identical expressions of distrust.
"What are you staring at?" Inuyasha finally muttered.
"I am here to ensure that you do not try to steal something," Jaken replied contemptuously.
"Steal something?" Inuyasha repeated incredulously. "This was my old man's house, moron. I don't have to steal anything."
"'Old man'?!" Jaken exclaimed, appalled, his yellow eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. "Inutaisho-sama would be shamed to see what a disrespectful, uncouth urchin you have become!"
"I doubt 'Inutaisho-sama' would be overly cheered about all of his stuff being guarded by a groveling kiss-ass, either. Sesshoumaru shoulda stuffed you a long time ago, little frog man."
"I am a toad!" Jaken corrected him haughtily.
"And you freely admit to that?"
"Stop antagonizing him, Inuyasha," Kagome said with a frown as she and Rin walked into the room.
"Antagonizing him?" Inuyasha asked, turning to her in amazement. He looked back at Jaken, a slow, evil grin crossing his face. "Heh. He's gonna be calling me Inuyasha-sama by the end of this."
"Where's Sesshoumaru?" Rin asked, cutting off Jaken's intended response as she looked around to find that there was no sign of the demon lord.
"Probably out tormenting someone," Inuyasha said casually, resorting once again to his defiant stare-down with Jaken.
"Inuyasha, where is he?" Rin tried again, this time a little more exasperatedly. She was growing very tired of the constant jabs and jeering between the two brothers. In fact, she was beginning to wonder if they weren't enjoying it, an outlet for decades of pent-up aggression toward one another.
"How should I know? I'm not his keeper. Some guy showed up, talked to him, and he took off; looked pretty pissed, actually. So unlike him," Inuyasha muttered sarcastically.
"Do you think it has something to do with Ashrem?" Kagome wondered, glancing at Rin.
"I don't know. Jaken-sama?" she asked, turning her attention to the small youkai.
Jaken's eyes did not so much as blink or even leave Inuyasha's face. He just shrugged his lack of knowledge.
"I doubt it. There are levels to Sesshoumaru's irritation," Inuyasha informed them, sounding as though he was an experienced authority on each and every one. "He had that 'I'm about to kill someone' look, but it seemed more like a chore than the happy job it would be for him to dismember Ashrem."
The northern youkai, then? Rin wondered silently, but decided not to voice her thoughts as she was uncertain whether Sesshoumaru would want Inuyasha to be aware of the problems he was having with them. This brought another idea to her, though, and she decided to seize on Sesshoumaru's absence. Rin stepped between Inuyasha and Jaken, ending their silent conflict of wills. She knelt down and looked Inuyasha in the eye. "Can I ask a favor of you, please?" she asked politely.
Inuyasha's expression became more than a little suspicious. "What is it?"
"Can you do your best not to fight with him when he returns? I know he sometimes says things that make you angry, but you do the same to him," she added quickly, not wanting to sound as though her loyalty was in question. "I thought it would be easier to ask this of you than of him."
"So you're saying that I'm the more reasonable one," Inuyasha deduced with a smirk.
"No. I'm saying that you're the one who's more open to…suggestion," Rin replied carefully.
"Then you're telling me to back down."
"No, no. Just … don't take everything he says as a mortal offense?" she asked hopefully.
"He called my mother a whore," Inuyasha said flatly. "Do ya really think I'm just going to sit there and keep eating noodles when stuff like that is being tossed around?"
"That was a harsh thing to say," Rin agreed. "But you said something terrible about his mother, too. Kagome and I don't want to see either of you get hur---" Rin stopped speaking as a flash of dark light filled the room, dying out almost as quickly as it started. Both she and Inuyasha looked up at Kagome with matching expressions of astonishment. She was standing back from them, noticeably absent from the conversation, and staring into the Shikon no Tama.
"Kagome," Inuyasha said nervously, jumping to his feet.
"Can you see this?" she whispered, eyes wide as she stared into the flickering jewel.
Inuyasha peered into her open hand, Rin coming up alongside him to do the same. The shadowy images of buildings being engulfed by flames was the first picture that came through clearly. Dark figures ran to and fro, clearly in urgency, though no voices could be heard through the distance.
"A village is being attacked," Inuyasha said, frowning down at the jewel as though it was purposefully being unhelpful by not informing them of where this was taking place.
A very clear image of a woman with long blue hair came into focus then. She was poised with a bow and arrow as if about to shoot something, her target off to the side and out of range of their view. Rin instantly recognized this individual as she watched the arrow fly toward its intended victim. It was the woman whose home she had shared for most of the last seven years. "Kameko!" Rin exclaimed.
"You know that woman?" Inuyasha asked in surprise.
"Yes. It's my village. We have to go!" Rin said fearfully.
"I'll go take care of it. Whatever's bothering them probably isn't that big of a deal," Inuyasha assured her.
"You're wrong if you think you're going without me," Rin replied, hurrying off to get her bow and arrows. She returned seconds later with them in hand and saw, as she did, that the Shikon no Tama had reverted to its pure form.
"I'm going, too, Inuyasha," Kagome stated as she dropped the jewel and allowed it to hang around her neck once more.
"Jaken-sama," Rin turned to the toad worriedly. "Go get Sesshoumaru, all right? Tell him where we've gone." She did not wait for his reply, or for Inuyasha and Kagome, as she ran outside to get Aun.
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When Sesshoumaru arrived at the village that had been settled along the shared border between the north and west, he found that a settlement that had existed since before his birth had been utterly destroyed. It was now little more than a flaming pile of wrecked timber and human remains. The messenger that had come to his home to warn him had spoken the truth. Eizan's army had ignored his warning.
He swept down amidst them, the smell of blood, smoke, and human corpses providing a shield for his scent. Keito, Eizan's middle son, looked up in surprise at Sesshoumaru's arrival, turning away from watching as his men burned the remainder of the village buildings and murdered the few survivors they found.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, so you decided to join us after all? How good of you, but, as you can see, we're mostly finished here."
Sesshoumaru's cold face turned to regard the destruction once more, noting the littering of maimed human bodies, old and young alike; men, women, children. Even the animals had not been spared. "I seem to remember telling you what would occur if you approached my border with this sort of action. Did your father approve this?"
"Of course."
"Good. That will make this much easier."
"Your warning does not apply in this case. I am still within our borders. I have a right to do with this village as I wish," Keito said smugly, appearing very calm.
Sesshoumaru smiled slightly, though it was anything but friendly. "Your right to this village ended at the northern half of it. That is where our border runs, Keito. Were you unaware? I am not surprised to see that you are poorly educated. It is unfortunate that you and your men will have to pay for your father's oversight."
Keito's face became very serious then and he looked around him to find that his soldiers had picked up on the rising confrontation and were coming to join him. "Ten against one, Sesshoumaru? Those aren't good odds," Keito said, confident that, if nothing else, the numbers would dissuade Sesshoumaru from an immediate conflict. "Are you really going to try to kill us?"
"Try?" Sesshoumaru repeated, as he pulled Toukijin. "How very optimistic of you, Keito."
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They arrived at Kameko's village to find utter chaos. Inuyasha had rushed ahead with Tetsusaiga in hand, leaving Kagome and Rin to go at a somewhat slower pace on Aun's back. It was a hellish scene, what could be glimpsed of it through the smoke and flames. This appeared to be a conjoined effort between several types of youkai, as they fought separately, but with a common purpose. It was like watching a nightmare, all of these horrible, blood-thirsty creatures murdering every living thing they came across, their backdrop a pitch black, starless sky and the reddish-gold illumination of burning structures. The screaming was nearly deafening, but that appeared to be the only difference between what they were witnessing in reality and what they had seen reflected from within the Shikon no Tama.
As soon as Aun touched down within the village, Rin leapt from his scaled back and sprinted toward Kameko's home, her main concern first being to locate Kisho. Why is this happening? her brain questioned frantically as she ran, purposefully avoiding looking at the bodies that lay strewn in the road around her. Why are they being attacked again? The sword was at Sesshoumaru's home. There was no reason for these demons to set upon the village as they were doing. As this thought finished itself, she was forced to duck quickly to avoid being crushed by a giant, flying tail.
As she approached the center of the village, she was immeasurably relieved to find Kameko's recently rebuilt home still intact and untouched by fire, but a quick inspection of all the rooms showed no sign of either Kameko or Kisho; just a deafening silence and open doors that suggested they had left in a hurry. Heart pounding with fear for them, Rin ran back outside, her head turning back and forth, squinting through the inky smoke to try to catch a glimpse of them. Where are they? she wondered frantically.
She could see Inuyasha nearby; he was expertly calling up the Kaze no Kizu to disintegrate a hissing demon that looked to be half-snake and half-bird. His red-clad form was easy to spot even amidst all the confusion as he moved quickly, efficiently, as one who was more than accustomed to this type of conflict. The demon exploded in a rain of guts, teeth, and talons, and Inuyasha moved on to his next victim.
Sudden nervousness froze her. What am I doing? She wondered. This is insane…I've never been involved in a battle. But it was her village. She would not leave it all to Inuyasha. Resolving to find Kameko and Kisho once the fight was ended, Rin took off toward the fray. She pulled her bow off of her shoulder as she ran, but was knocked slightly off-balance when she collided with someone who had been hurrying in the opposite direction, likely fleeing. She caught a quick glimpse of a male form, dark hair, and felt his hand reach out to snake around her arm, holding on to it for a moment until she righted herself.
"Arigatou," she said quickly as he released her, allowing her to hurry off once more. Within moments, however, her steps faltered from a sprint to a standstill, as though her legs had decided to quit responding to her. She glanced back down at her arm, distracted by a sudden icy pressure that felt as though something was clamping down upon it, immobilizing it completely. Her heart slowed to a lax, thumping beat. Wha t…? she wondered, disoriented, as she attempted to flex the painfully stiff appendage.
A roar and a flash of heat brought her back to her senses, but she never saw what it was that had been meaning to vaporize her because she was pulled out of the way by a quickly-moving half-demon. Inuyasha spun her around to face him.
"What's wrong?" he bellowed at her over the noise.
"Nothing," she found herself saying instantly.
"Then pay attention, dammit!"
She watched as he leapt back into the fight, destroying another demon with one swing of Tetsusaiga. Something spurred Rin into motion and she felt her hands reach for her bow once more, almost of their own accord. It barely felt as though these were her movements, so quickly did they fit the arrow to the string, as if she had done this in battle many times before. She had little time to wonder over it because she found herself suddenly aiming at a crow demon that was swooping down toward an elderly woman. Rin let the arrow fly. It sped through the air with perfect accuracy, firing up to a brilliant white as it shot through the crow's skull. The demon exploded into parts.
Immensely satisfied, Rin ran back to join Aun and Kagome.
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It was on his return to his home, having made short work of Keito's pathetic soldiers, that Sesshoumaru found Jaken scuttling toward him as fast as his short legs could carry him. He had listened to only the first few words of the toad's quickly rambled explanation before figuring out what had happened. Barely believing that even Inuyasha would be so reckless, he sped off toward Kameko's village. His certainty that Kagome was indeed serving as Ashrem's puppet became even more pronounced, as this had been excellent timing. The bastard had been waiting for Sesshoumaru's inattention. And he would not forget that Eizan, either knowingly or not, had provided Ashrem with this window of opportunity.
When he arrived, it was to find a scene similar to what he had just experienced of the slaughter inflicted by the northerners along the border. For a paranoid moment, he wondered if perhaps Eizan had orchestrated this attack as well, but dismissed that idea when he saw the youkai that were still wreaking their destruction, even as the few remaining human inhabitants tried to defend their homes. These were western youkai. Even so, he could not help but wonder at the timing of Eizan's own attack. Perhaps Ashrem had found himself another ally.
Sesshoumaru located Kagome and Rin first; both girls were standing with their backs to Aun, firing off arrows with rapid accuracy. He watched for a moment as one of Rin's arrows completely dismembered one of the attacking demons, astonished at how much her skills had improved in so short a time. Then again, she had something at stake in this battle. Adrenaline could easily overcome skill in a situation such as this.
Inuyasha was finishing up with another of his opponents as Sesshoumaru leapt into the fight, sword blazing. The demons disappeared even more rapidly upon his arrival and, within the short space of a few minutes, the last of them was cut down to slimy pieces that littered the ground. Though the screeching of the youkai had died with the last of them, the village was still filled with the sounds of crackling flames and the cries of humans.
Inuyasha stepped back from his work, putting away his sword … and was caught completely unprepared when Sesshoumaru stalked up to him and shoved a fist into his face.
"You are unbelievably stupid," Sesshoumaru seethed at him, as Inuyasha quickly picked himself back up from the ground.
"What the hell was that for?!" Inuyasha yelled at him over the din.
"Does your brain function at all, hanyou? The Shikon no Tama warned you of this attack, correct? If your miko was not the one providing that insight, who do you think it was? Ashrem intended for you to come here tonight and you walked right into this battle like the foolish child that you are."
"Then I was just supposed to hang out at the house while this village was destroyed?"
"I don't give a damn what you do. Your mistake was bringing them with you," he said, sweeping his hand out to point at Rin and Kagome who were watching warily off to the side. He turned to speak to them. "Did anyone approach either of you?"
Rin and Kagome glanced at each other. "No, no one," Kagome answered with certainty.
"Kagome and I have been fighting the entire time," Rin said. "There wasn't an opportunity for anyone to come near us."
Sesshoumaru stared at them for a moment before voicing his next suspicion. "Then he must have been testing his control over the jewel."
"You shouldn't be angry with Inuyasha," Rin told him. "We insisted on coming with him. He was going to take care of it on his own, but you can't have expected me to stay away from this."
Eyeing her with much exasperation, Sesshoumaru reached for Tenseiga and pulled it free from its resting place at his side. He held it up for her inspection, the shining metal reflecting the orange haze that was surrounding them. "I expected you, of all people, to know what this sword does," he told her in a cold, angry tone.
"And how was I to know that you would use it?" she asked, her own voice coming out unexpectedly harsh, but she found that she did not feel guilty for snapping at him. For reasons she could not fully explain to herself, Rin felt very angry toward him. "I have to go find Kameko and Kisho," she finally said, avoiding looking at him as she started to walk off in an aimless direction.
"I know where they are," Sesshoumaru said, stopping her with the odd way he had spoken the words.
"Then can you point me in the right direction?"
"I don't think you should see them as they are. Remain here," he said, before turning and disappearing into the smoke. Rin watched him go, understanding the meaning behind his words. A shiver went up her spine as she tried not to imagine what it was that Sesshoumaru had seen. He's going to fix it. Kisho will come running up any moment now…
She turned and looked around her at the engulfed buildings, the pieces of demons scattered about, the bodies …. Instantly she averted her eyes, not wanting to recognize any of them.
"Rin-chan, maybe you can help me with the wounded?" Kagome suggested gently. "Inuyasha, why don't you help Sesshoumaru by locating all of the … bodies," she said hesitantly. Inuyasha nodded and moved away to begin the gruesome task of compiling the dead in one central location.
Rin assisted Kagome in a daze, her hands mechanically moving from injury to injury, person to person, trying to put on a friendly smile for those that knew her. They were quickly joined by others who had escaped harm in the attack. She expected to feel relief that Sesshoumaru was moving about, reviving the dead, but it felt like a fist was clenched over her heart. Her senses felt dull, all save for an uncomfortable squeezing sensation in her right arm.
He's not doing it because he wants to. If not for you, he would have left them to rot. He does not care.
Rin's head came up slightly at this sudden whisper and she paused in wrapping an ugly bite wound on one of the town's merchants' arms. Her heart hardened as she heard these words, entirely certain of their truth. She felt that she should have been able to think of something to refute the statement, but could not …. A startling image of a young boy came to mind, eyes open and unseeing, caught in death, a gaping hole shoved through his chest. Rin closed her eyes and sat back on the ground, dropping the bottle of strange medication Kagome had been instructing her to use.
This is what demons do, my dear. All of them. Even your precious Sesshoumaru.
"Rin?" Kagome questioned worriedly, watching her friend's face go sickly white.
"Riiiiiin!!" another voice cried, this one young and very familiar. Rin looked up suddenly, startled out of her morbid reverie. She turned hopefully to glance behind her, rising to her feet as Kisho came into focus, loping easily toward her, as though nothing had even touched him. He collided with her in an embrace, and Rin held onto him tightly, finding that her eyes were burning with tears. She tried to swallow back the choked feeling in her throat.
Kisho pulled back. "Do you know what his sword does?! It's amazing! Look!" he exclaimed exuberantly, pointing to a large tear in his shirt, pulling it back so she could see the skin, whole and unmarred. "It's completely gone, no blood or anything!"
Rin smiled at him, repressing the horrible mental image she had just had. Only Kisho would be completely unaffected by his own death, so excited was he over Tenseiga's restorative properties. "Yes, I know what that sword does," she said, ruffling his hair affectionately as she looked up over his head to find Kameko and Sesshoumaru emerging from the haze at a slower pace.
"Arigatou, Sesshoumaru," she said to him, suddenly unable to recall the whispered words she had been unable to defend against just moments earlier.
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The next morning was surreal for Rin. The dead were once more walking among the living. Carts were being piled with the remains of the defeated youkai to be disposed of in a safe, distant location. Again, the village was astir with men and women working to rebuild structures and cleaning away any sign of the attack. Strangely, everyone seemed to be in a buoyant mood, not at all in the state of gloom and depression one would expect of a village that had been very nearly slaughtered.
Rin could understand why this was. These villagers felt a sense of immortality. For years now they had been defended by Sesshoumaru and, even when he had not been there to dispose of their enemies, he had quickly set about returning their dead to them, whole and sound once more.
Never before had she witnessed Sesshoumaru in so much discomfort. He was practically being assaulted on all sides with gratitude from the villagers, each and every one of whom seemed intent upon expressing their personal thanks to him, some even bringing gifts. By noon, he was in a murderous mood, eyeing the villagers that approached him with glares that would have sent Jaken into hysterics.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Inuyasha questioned, looking up from his chore of cutting wood from a felled tree. "I thought you liked this kind of thing. Now you've got plenty of people who are thrilled to be kissing your ass. In fact, I bet I could probably get you a shrine built here. How 'bout it, Sesshoumaru? You're already sure you're a god, anyway. Might as well make it official."
"Shut up," Sesshoumaru muttered, eyeing Inuyasha with an unstated death threat. Never before had he so regretted using that damned sword.
"And look, here comes another one," Inuyasha went on, undaunted, nodding his dog-eared head toward a young woman who was approaching Sesshoumaru with a small child in her arms. "I bet she's coming to tell you she's naming her next one after you." He paused and affected a higher-pitched voice. "Ohhhhh, Sesshoumaru-sama, thaaaank you…"
"Do you want to die?" Sesshoumaru asked, all seriousness as Inuyasha turned back to chopping wood off of the tree.
Sesshoumaru turned away from his brother as the young village woman stopped in front of him, smiling up into his scowling face. Her child took one look at him and instantly started wailing, sending his ears into agony with its wretched screeching.
"Oh, Sesshoumaru-sama, thank you for ---" the woman began, but was cut short when he pointed an insistent finger at the baby.
"Take it away," he snarled at her, watching with satisfaction as she quickly bowed and hurried away from him.
"Not very god-like. That ugly face of yours is scaring the babies … " Inuyasha jeered and, an instant later, found himself welded into the ground once more by Sesshoumaru's fist
Rin turned away from watching this scene at the window, looking over at Kameko, who was busily preparing food for the workers. The hanyou woman was her same understated self, her brush with death having affected her as little as it had Kisho. The boy had been giving Sesshoumaru even more unwanted human interaction as Kisho had followed him about for most of the morning in a state of near-worship. It had been Rin who had finally taken pity on the demon lord and found some chores for Kisho to do in lieu of trailing after his reluctant hero.
"You had a visitor while you were gone," Kameko finally stated, glancing up at Rin with a smile before turning back to stir the pot.
"Oh?" Rin asked curiously, moving away from the window to kneel near the fire. She resumed her own chore of cutting up the vegetables, grateful that her arm was now back to being fully-functional. The odd, constricted feeling had kept her awake for most of the night and now she was facing a long, busy day on very little sleep after what had been one of the most terrifying nights of her life. Her energy was at a low and she was not in a mood to talk, but kept that knowledge to herself. After all, Kameko had not seen her for over two months.
"Yes. Kohaku," Kameko replied to Rin's inquiry.
"Kohaku?" Rin repeated, glancing up in surprise. "Did he say why he came?"
"No, I think it was just to see you. He seems to be a very nice man. He promised to come back and try to see you again."
"How strange … he knows that I am with Sesshoumaru," Rin murmured, frowning lightly as she cut the cucumbers into small, neat slices.
"Maybe he thought you would have returned to me by now," Kameko said, sounding as though it was something she had expected to have happened as well.
"Maybe," Rin said quietly, uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation.
There was a long pause, and then Kameko asked, "Rin, why have you not come home?"
"There are … some things I need to resolve," Rin answered noncommittally, unhappy that Kameko had broached the one subject she wished to avoid. She would not approve, and Rin's strange relationship with Sesshoumaru was not something she wanted to discuss at the moment.
"Is there something between you and Sesshoumaru?" Kameko asked bluntly.
Rin closed her eyes, exhaling a sigh. It seemed her former guardian was intent on delving into all sorts of uncomfortable subjects. "No," she finally said with as much certainty as she could muster, then admitted, "I don't know."
"Has he spoken to you?"
"Yes."
"And what did he say?"
There was no way she was going to reveal the entire conversation. It was personal and private and no one else's business. Rin did not want to hear Kameko's thoughts on it, not until she had formed her own opinion. She was confused about Sesshoumaru's feelings and intentions, as well as her own. It was a situation that she did not want to think about at the moment. "He will allow me to stay with him," Rin replied succinctly.
"For what purpose?" Kameko asked, losing all pretense of cooking as she whirled around to watch Rin speculatively. "I have known him for most of my life, Rin. There is no possibility that he will ever relent and make you his wife, if that is what you are hoping for. To his mind, you will never be at his level. You must understand this, and I know this sounds harsh, but you are a momentary distraction in his life. To his sense of time, it is as though you appeared only yesterday. Even if you spend the rest of your life with him, that will not change. What are fifty or sixty years to him? Almost meaningless. He is nearly three hundred years old, and do you know that he is still considered young? Do you see what I am saying? To a demon, even three centuries is not an excessive amount of time."
"I know that," Rin responded stiffly. "You're not saying anything I have not already considered."
"Rin," Kameko practically sighed the name. "He will be passing time with you on his way to a mate, a youkai that can give him a legitimate heir and form a true family with him. Do you want that to be your life?"
"Stop it," Rin finally ordered, the words coming out bitter and angry. She looked down in frustration at her handiwork; she had been paying little attention and now was rewarded with a pile of stringy, useless pieces. She moved them irritatedly to the side and began again, this time focusing more intently.
Kameko shook her head and went on. "While you were with me, I did my best to avoid the subject of Sesshoumaru with you because I could see where it would lead. It was I who suggested to him that you would be better remaining here with me, instead of going back to him. I see now that I was correct in assuming how you would respond to him as an adult."
"You?" Rin asked in surprise, her hand stopping its precise movements as she looked once more at Kameko. "Then he did return for me?"
"Yes, but I sent him away. It was what was best for you."
"Do you know how sick I am of hearing that? It's amazing to me how everyone is so convinced that they know what direction my life is meant to take," Rin said fiercely, placing the knife down flat as she glared up at her former guardian.
"Rin …"
"My feelings for Sesshoumaru are my business, and mine alone. My decision whether or not to return here is also mine. I don't want to discuss it further," she stated, rising from her knees.
Kameko watched as she moved to open the door, practically colliding with the demon they had been discussing on her way out. Sesshoumaru watched her silently as she swept past him, then turned to Kameko. He entered and closed the door solidly behind him. "The two of you speak very loudly," he informed her.
Kameko turned an angry, stormy expression on him, not caring that he had overheard their conversation. "You are going to break her heart, Sesshoumaru."
"It is her heart. She may do with it is as she wishes," he answered calmly, watching as Kameko bent to retrieve the vegetables Rin had been working on.
"You are older," Kameko accused, "far older than even myself and Rin put together. You have had a long life and I think you have lost sight of how precious time is to humans. Or, perhaps it is more accurate to say that you have never understood that to begin with." She stopped and made her voice less confrontational. "Rin is still very young, she only sees the moment now. She is caught up in her feelings for you. For that reason, it is you that needs to put a stop to this."
"I will do no such thing," he said.
"Sesshoumaru, when she is an old woman and she looks back on her life to find that she has nothing to show for it except an unchanging demon companion who is incapable of expressing love and affection, do you think she will not regret it?"
"And yet it appears that I am enough for her."
"Do something unselfish for once in your life."
"Don't put the constraints of your human morality upon me," Sesshoumaru said coldly. "There is still time, Kameko. She has not come to her own decision yet. You still have an opportunity to convince her of all my evil qualities," he suggested with the barest hint of sarcasm.
Kameko sighed and lowered her tone, looking away from him as she tried to regain her composure. He was as infuriating as ever. "I don't think you are evil. You are simply incapable of thinking in terms of a human."
"A fact for which I am grateful."
"A fact that makes me sad for Rin," Kameko replied before turning fully away from him.
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Much to Sesshoumaru's satisfaction, Rin agreed to leave the village that day, apparently as eager to escape the questioning Kameko as he was to retreat from the avalanche of human happiness he had inadvertently created. She was inordinately quiet, however, something that did not change even well into the evening.
After a silent dinner with Kagome and Inuyasha, she settled herself at a table, immediately fulfilling a promise she had made to Kisho to write him frequently. She wrote with sharp, deliberate marks, silently showing that something was bothering her.
Nearby, Sesshoumaru was quietly studying an old map that displayed the border between the northern and western territories. It was something he was about to pay very close attention to as he did not doubt that there would be more to come from Eizan once he received Sesshoumaru's message. Sesshoumaru was not overly bothered by the escalation in the conflict. It was one that had been long in coming. The damned northerners were becoming far too cocky for their own health.
He paused in his study, looking up briefly at the young woman that was curled up in a chair across the room, writing as fast and furiously as though she had not just said good-bye to the boy earlier that day. He could tell that something was bothering her, and was fairly certain it had something to do with the brief and uncharacteristically vocal argument she had had with Kameko. He had heard every word they had said, one of the advantages of having youkai hearing. Unfortunately, it also meant the bratty half-breed had heard every word as well.
Almost as if summoned by his brother's irritated thoughts, Inuyasha entered the room, making Sesshoumaru certain that, despite all of the uninhabited rooms in the entire house, Inuyasha had come into this one for one purpose … and that was to start something.
"Be quiet," Sesshoumaru warned before his brother could make the mistake of opening his big mouth.
"I didn't say anything, moron," Inuyasha snapped back.
"You were considering it."
Rin glanced up with a deep frown as the two demons began their bickering. The heavy anger that had been shadowing her since the end of the battle began to grow, knotting in her stomach. She clenched her writing instrument in her hand, glaring angrily at the disturbance.
"So you're a mind-reader now, eh?" Inuyasha sneered at Sesshoumaru.
"It takes no such ability to predict the slow-minded," Sesshoumaru answered tonelessly, not even bothering to look up from his map.
"Behave!" Rin exclaimed suddenly, prompting both demons to glance over at her in stunned surprise. "I cannot tell you how tired I am of hearing this!" she said, gathering her things and storming from the room.
Inuyasha looked from Rin's retreating form to Sesshoumaru, who had gone silent as he watched her thoughtfully. He could not resist seizing on the moment. "Man, are you whipped," Inuyasha said smugly.
Sesshoumaru turned an icy stare on him and spoke in a low, even tone. "So says the boy with the dog collar. Osuwari, Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru replied mockingly.
"Feh!" Inuyasha crowed as Sesshoumaru rose to follow Rin. "Doesn't work for you, baaaaka!"
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Sesshoumaru found Rin standing outside; her letter-writing had been put aside as she stared out at the forest, her long hair blowing in the evening breeze. A gaping hole stood where an unbroken tree-line had once been, thanks to the fight that had occurred between Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha on the day before.
"Rin," he called, but she either did not hear or was distracted, because she did not even turn to look at him. "Rin."
She looked back at him then, her normally warm expression gone, replaced with an empty look. "Yes?"
"Do you have something you wish to say to me?" he asked curiously.
She blinked as her head suddenly cleared of a strange buzzing sound, and Sesshoumaru watched as a more normal expression fell into place. "No, not really," she said. "Forgive me for losing my temper. I didn't mean to snap at you and Inuyasha." She paused for a moment and then asked, "Where did you go last night? Inuyasha said there was a messenger…"
He nodded. "Eizan decided to test me and sent his people to attack a village along my border."
"And was it destroyed?"
"Yes, along with the ones who slaughtered it."
Feeling almost afraid to ask the question, Rin said, "And the villagers? Did you revive them?"
"No," he answered, as though the idea had not even crossed his mind.
"Why not?"
Sesshoumaru frowned, not liking this discussion. It would certainly not improve her mood, but he answered her honestly. "My possession of this sword does not obligate me to trail after the human population, waving it at them whenever they happen into their own deaths. A human dying is natural and necessary."
"Natural and necessary," Rin repeated slowly, her eyes darkening angrily. It was strange; part of her knew that his statement made sense. Humans did eventually have to die. They could not live forever. Yet, there was that same new anger within her, insistently burning the idea into her brain that it had not been necessary this time. They could have been saved.
He does not care. They are less than animals. Their existence is trivial to him, just as I told you.
Rin froze at the whispered sound, but pushed it away as Sesshoumaru spoke once more.
"Humans have a finite existence. There is a beginning and an end. I will not interfere with that."
"You did at Kameko's village," Rin reminded him.
"My actions would not have been the same if you had not been involved."
Rin suddenly recalled another village from long ago, the one that had been her home from birth until the day it had also been destroyed, that time by a pack of wolves that had belonged to another youkai. "And what of the village I lived in as a child? You could have saved them…all of them."
"Yes, I could have," he admitted.
"And you chose not to."
"It did not even occur to me at the time. I did not care about their deaths," he explained with little inflection.
"That is a cruel thing to say," Rin said accusingly. It was difficult listening to him say these things. She wanted him to give a good reason for his decisions, one that would dispel the awful thoughts that were flitting through her brain.
"Cruel? It is honest. I would not have revived those people. You forget how poorly they treated you," he said, astonished to hear that she was apparently bitter over this bit of history.
"That doesn't matter," Rin replied vehemently. "They still did not deserve to die that way, and the same goes for the humans that lived in the village you walked away from last night. Their deaths were not natural; they were caught up in a territorial dispute between two demon lords. You are responsible for their deaths as much as Eizan. You had a way to correct it. It's shameful."
Sesshoumaru listened to her, finding that he did not at all like the idea of hearing her express shame over his actions. He had never encountered this with her before. "This anger of yours," he said slowly, "is it new or was it suppressed until now?"
"I don't know," she said, suddenly looking as though she was close to tears. What was this horrible feeling? she wondered despairingly. It was as though something within her mind was trying to separate her from him, put distance between them in the form of an anger that had not been there before … Where is this coming from? she thought. Even after the terrible things she had just said to him, he did not appear angry at all, and that made her feel even worse.
He nodded slowly, looking as calm as ever. "Is there anything else?"
She shook her head, not trusting her voice to say anything else. She was horrible for placing that blame on him. He had not touched those villagers …. and he had restored those from her own village in order to save her that loss.
"Perhaps these things will make your decision easier," he suggested quietly.
"No," she said suddenly, forcefully, as though saying this more to herself than to him. She reached out and clasped tightly onto his hand. "I don't think badly of you, Sesshoumaru. I don't. I shouldn't have said those things. I didn't mean them."
He glanced down at the hand that was entwined with his and then looked at her once more. "I have been this way for a very long time, Rin. It is unlikely that I will ever change. It is for you to decide what you can and cannot accept."
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Wooooo. Okay, Ashrem's got his claws into Rin. In case some of you didn't catch it, he was the guy that practically knocked her down on her way in to join the battle. Not sure how clear I made that, so I thought I would explain. That's also why she's developing quite the double personality. Ashrem's working on her. ;)
To the reviewers:
Sesshoumaru'sFirefly: Wow, "kick-ass"! I like that … lol! *sigh* … I understand about the project. It's so easy to procrastinate with school. There are so many better things to do. ;)
Ourania: lol! It cracked me up, too, actually, but really that's what he is. Alpha Male is the "Top Dog". I've witnessed just this sort of fight for dominance with my own cats and dogs, so applying it to Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru was very easy. ;) My vacation will definitely allow me to update some more. I've warned my beta reader to be on the lookout for another chapter hopefully by the end of the week. *crosses fingers* About Rin kicking Elif's butt, it's going to come very close to that. As you can see by what happened toward the end of this chapter, Ashrem is making Rin into a very angry girl!
New Fan: Thanks! :D I love Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's interaction with each other. What's even funnier is watching it progress through the series …. they've gone from trying to kill each other to just settling for beating up on each other. It's an interesting relationship. Sesshoumaru has this whole thing about how he doesn't like Inuyasha and loves beating on him … but no one else is allowed to kill him. It's pretty funny. Sounds like two normal brothers to me. ;) And you will definitely see a few chapters from now how much he values Rin. :D
Angel64: Thanks, that was the part I was most worried about, but everyone seems okay with it, so I'll leave it alone. ;)
Andraste: Lucky! I guess you live in Japan then, huh? I'm dying to see that movie … really, it's going to kill me waiting for it. Thanks for the review!
Wingless Angel: Thank you very much! Wow …"hauntingly beautiful". What a nice compliment. And I am purposefully doing that with Sesshoumaru! I want his motives to not be too obvious … that's how he is on the show, ya know? It's hard to guess a lot of the time why he's doing something. It makes him interesting.
Ryuki*Starr: Yeah, I was sad about Midoriko, too, but there was no way to avoid that ending. And thanks very much. It's tough coming up with a plot, because I tend to confuse myself. :P I know that sounds stupid, but it's true. I reread this thing recently, and I can see where I sort of leapt off my outline … oh, well, at least it hasn't become a horrible wreck yet. ;) Still, it's amazing what you notice when you reread. For one thing, my first few chapters are amazingly short compared to the ones I do now. Some scenes make me cringe. Can't wait for the rewrite. I'd like to add some scenes in the first few chapters to make them longer …
Blaise: lol! You can believe however you want to believe. This is just my own little thing … only Takahashi knows for certain about any of it. And, no, I can definitely say I didn't write it. It makes me want to go read it so I can change my dialogue, though, if that's what sounds the same. ;)
NickNova: That is so nice of you to say! LOL! Glad you're enjoying the Sesshoumaru/Inuyasha bits … they were very fun to write. I could just imagine that being a dinner-stopping conversation. I pretty much assume that any conversation between those two is going to end badly. ;)
Silvermuse89: Thank you very much! Yeah, there's going to be a sequel, but I'm going to have to take some time off after this one in order to think up the rest of the plot. It's always good to have one of those set out before starting a story. ;) Glad you thought it was funny. I'll admit I cracked myself up when I was trying to think up some horrible things for them to say to each other.
