Hiei's.punk.rocker.girl: That's the point: for everyone to hate Rin and not me. But everyone can do both if they want. Now THAT'S out of my control. Heh heh.
Banana Rum: I know you hated that chapter just as much as I did. Maybe I'll rewrite it someday.
Lady Madoriko: Actually, it's surprisingly easy to make Rin evil. She's much easier to write than say, Sesshomaru. :grumble:
moonstar moto: A lot of people think I'm evil. Well, Rin was doomed from the first time she appeared in this fanfic, wasn't she? Someone flamed me about that. My first flame!
AniNagfreak: Kagome… burned again? I'm confused. Do you mean Rin?
Also, thanks to inlovewithsesshomaru, Amanda, Inudemoness89, sheenachi, lyn, Cherry Dragon, and Alexis Barnes!
A/N: Wow, my longest chapter ever! This took all week to write. I'm really slow at writing…. Well, anyway, for more good news… ROMANCE! Finally, we have Sess/Kag fluff! Yay!
Disclaimer: You can tell I don't own Inuyasha because of the ooc-ness of all the characters. Although I did abduct the real Sesshomaru and replaced him with another, more romantic one, who would actually like Kagome.
Beta Read by Banana Rum/ Kalliel
Warning: This story contradicts itself. Pay no attention!
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Chapter 10: Wasted Attention
Kagome backed into a corner. Rin was staring at her, murderously, and talking.
"Too long have I waited for Sesshomaru to love me," she snarled. "But he never did. And when that fool Jaken killed me, I had to wait even longer to be here, only to find you. You will not steal him from me."
Kagome gulped, and tried to sound as brave as a warrior entering his first battle. "I'm not going to steal Sesshomaru away from you, Rin. He brought me here. Shouldn't you be talking to him?"
Rin lunged forward, like a cat pouncing on an unsuspecting bird. "I did! And he said he couldn't decide yet!" Her hands moved towards Kagome's neck. "That means I have to get you out of the way!"
Kagome whipped her hands up to shield herself from Rin's onslaught, unable to think of what else she could do. "This isn't the way to get anything accomplished! Rin, stop, please!"
Rin growled at her. "I'm different. I'll say it again: I've changed. I won't hesitate to kill you!" She punched Kagome in the stomach, who fell down, winded. She attempted to inhale, spitting out a thick gob saliva that had formed in her throat, drawing air with a shuddering gasp, tears trickling down her cheeks.
She caught her breath just in time to deflect a blow from another punch. Rin looked crazy, and Kagome knew she had to try and end this as soon as possible or Rin would kill her.
Kagome aimed a low kick at Rin's knees, but she jumped, gracefully, and landed, at the same time kicking at Kagome.
Kagome panted, "Rin, stop! I'm not trying to steal Sesshomaru from you!"
Rin threw herself down on top of Kagome, and managed to get her hands around the other girl's neck. "Maybe not, but he wants you," she said menacingly, an angry glint piercing through chestnut eyes Kagome could only remember before holding an innocent sparkle. Idly, Kagome wondered what Kikyo had been like before she had returned to life once more. But then again, it didn't matter anymore, did it? Kagome smiled dazedly up at Rin, vision swimming and spinning with lack of air. "Your life ends today."
Hearing those words, Kagome jerked herself out of her listless reverie and panicked. 'I…can't breathe!' she thought, frantically clawing at Rin. 'I can't die now!'
She thrashed as much as she could, hoping that Rin would release her. Throwing her legs about as would a pinned lioness, she wrenched herself free, gasping for air, clutching her throat protectively.
Rin glared, and smirked. "You thought that was the end? I have plenty more methods of murdering you." She reached into her kosode and pulled out a dagger. It looked to be about six inches long, with a polished handle and a perfectly balanced steel blade.
"This is the perfect weapon for killing. Do you know why?" Rin asked rhetorically. Caressing the blade lovingly, she answered her own question. "It's small, and sharp. I could slash you to pieces in five minutes. Doesn't that sound nice?"
"Where did you get this?" Kagome asked, her voice sounding amazingly calm in contrast to her thoughts, which were screaming at her to get out and do something. "I can't imagine Sesshomaru giving you this."
"He doesn't even know it exists. I found it a week ago, somewhere in death," Rin replied, smiling, entranced by the glittering sheen of the metal as she turned it in the light, casting iridescent rainbows dancing across the walls with a playfulness Kagome and Rin both knew was not in Rin's heart any longer. "You'll be my first real victim. After all, you can't kill someone already dead. Not that I haven't tried," she frowned, thoughtfully. "When you try to hurt a dead person, the weapon just goes right through them. Very disappointing."
Kagome stared. 'Rin, what's happened to you? You can't be this cruel, even though you're dead.'
"Enough talk." Rin abruptly pointed the tip at Kagome. "I shouldn't be talking to a dead woman." She giggled, a young child's carefree laugh horribly distorted by cruel undertones of harsh retribution. "That's irony for you there, considering I'm dead."
Kagome sighed. "If you're going to kill me," she said, hoping she sounded brave, "would you hurry up?" 'Maybe I'll be able to survive this!'
"My pleasure." Rin lunged, the dagger aimed on Kagome's heart, forgetting its true use she had mentioned earlier in her eagerness.
Kagome dodged just barely enough so that she kept her life for a few scant more seconds but the dagger still ripped through flesh, tearing her left arm. She cried out, and pressed her hand to her arm to stop the flow of blood.
Rin giggled. "Blood is so beautiful, isn't it? I want to see more!" she came at Kagome again, who bit back screams of pain as she avoided the weapon. Her vision was going hazy, and she knew she would faint from blood loss soon if she didn't do anything.
She felt the dagger dig into her leg, grinding through gristle and muscle as it pierced just above her knee, and she yelped. With her last conscious moments, she saw Rin standing above her, dagger poised, its tip drenched and ripping with bright red arterial blood.
'My blood…' thought Kagome, blearily, and collapsed on the floor, barely able to keep her eyes open.
Rin swung the dagger down, and Kagome felt her natural priestess abilities well up from the depths of her soul she was sure she would never reach on her own and collaborate with her burning desire to see the next day and form a light-purple barrier around her, so that the dagger bounced off and fell out of Rin's hand.
"You're a priestess?" Rin scowled. Kagome weakly nodded her head smiling inwardly at her last victory.
Rin seemed to think for a couple of minutes before she silently made a decision. "I'll be back, Kagome. Then you will die."
She disappeared. Kagome winced at the pain she was feeling from her wounds.
'I need to get help,' she thought. 'But I can't move at all. I'll have to wait for someone to come.'
She lay on the floor, too tired to get up and move into a more comfortable position. 'I hope someone comes soon.'
-
"I'm back!"
Sesshomaru whirled around, lacking the air of sophistication he usually disguised himself with and glared poisonously at Rin, who was now smiling peevishly at him.
"What did you do?" he asked, suspiciously, circling around her, keeping the distance a fair mark from her and broadening his aura to discourage her from attacking out rightly..
"Kagome and I talked," she said, sweetly. "But now I'm free. What do you want to do?"
"Rin, you cannot go on like this," Sesshomaru replied, staring at her sternly. "It is impossible for you to stay here."
Rin looked curious and angry at the same time. "Why not?" She sounded genuinely confused.
Sesshomaru snorted. "What do you think?"
"I don't see why I can't stay. There's nothing wrong with it," Rin retorted, her hands balling into fists.
"I grow displeased with your acts. You are nothing more than a ghost," Sesshomaru said calmly; sadly. 'She must leave. It is not proper for the dead to wander.'
"I can haunt you for the rest of your life if you don't want me, Lord Sesshomaru," Rin said, then added, "Or Kagome."
Her words had the desired effect. Sesshomaru became nervous, she could tell that much from the suddenly rigid posture of his body. His breathing quickly slightly, only enough for someone to notice it if they had been watching carefully. 'Now I've got him in a position he can't back out of.'
He refused to give into her threats. "You will go back, if I have to kill you myself. Rin, go." His mind froze at the thought of her going for the second time. It would be even more painful than when Jaken had killed her that summer afternoon-
"You wouldn't kill me, Sesshomaru," Rin said, breaking Sesshomaru out of his thoughts. "You love me."
She glided forward, and ended up less than an inch away. "You couldn't hurt me if you tried." She hugged him. "You can't."
He struggled for a moment, then, desperately, he raised his claws and brought them down on Rin's unprotected back.
"Too late." His claws sunk into his chest instead of hitting Rin, and he grimaced before pulling them out. Luckily, the wound wasn't deep, and it would heal in a couple of hours.
"See, even if you tried, you couldn't hit me," Rin grinned at him. "I didn't think you had the nerve to try."
"Rin, you are annoying me." He ignored her and sat down, facing his futon, away from Rin.
Her voice didn't lose any cheerfulness. "Come on, let's play." When he didn't respond, she repeated it. He continued ignoring her. "Come on!" she screamed, yanking a fistful of his hair.
He paid no attention to her. She flushed from anger, and started to pound on his back, still screaming and cursing. Sesshomaru was surprised at the language she knew.
"Shit, turn around! You can't just stop talking! We have things to do! Damn you! Talk! Do something!"
He turned around at a noise in the hall, looking right through her. She raged, "I hurt Kagome, that pathetic excuse for a human! Now will you-"
Sesshomaru focused in on her. "You hurt her?" His voice promised her her final demise. "If I find out that she's seriously hurt-"
"You'll what, Sesshomaru? Kill me again? You can't even hit me!" She mocked him. "What the hell is wrong with you? And if she's not dead by now, I'll kill her later!"
Sesshomaru growled, and, in less than a second, had Rin by her throat. "You deserve to die. Go and rot in hell, for all I care."
With that, he was gone. Rin chuckled.
"I'm not leaving now. I have someone to murder, and someone to force into loving me. I can't go now."
-
'Kagome!' Sesshomaru went to her room as quickly as he dared. 'Don't be dead!'
There. She was fine. Sitting against the far wall, holding a wound in her leg while blood trickled from one on her arm.
He skidded to a stop on front of her. "Are you alright?" he asked, sounding nervous.
"I-I think so," Kagome replied, her face betraying the true pain she felt. "The wounds aren't that serious."
"I think they are," he said, crouching down to get a better look. He examined the one in her arm, and sighed with relief. "This one should heal within a few days. Rin only scraped the surface."
Kagome wondered how he knew it was Rin, and why this injury hurt so much if it was so small. She complained, "It stings."
"I know." He ripped a strip of his sleeve, and wrapped it around the wound. He did the same with the one on her leg.
"Thanks," she said. Then, "Why are you here?"
He didn't answer right away. Then he said, "Rin told me she tried to kill you."
"She was with you?" Kagome gasped. "What was she doing there?"
"Arguing with me," Sesshomaru muttered, "about love."
"What!" Kagome rocked back on her heels. "Do you love her?"
"Why would you care?" Sesshomaru asked, evading the question. 'It would only hurt her. She doesn't need to know.'
"Because I…." Kagome started. She changed her response in the middle of her sentence. "Because I was thinking about, um, Inuyasha and Kikyo?" Those last three words were hard to say. 'It still… hurts, to say their names, remember their hatred…'
"Do you still love Inuyasha?"
Kagome glanced at the floor, and then turned her gaze to Sesshomaru. "I'm not sure. I feel sad, abandoned, lost, whenever I think of him. So I try not to," she said, feeling that Sesshomaru wouldn't mind if she talked to him about such personal matters. 'I know he won't tell anyone. Who does he have to talk to?'
"Forget him. There will be other loves," Sesshomaru said wisely, sounding as if he knew from experience that these things would happen. In reality, he had no clue what to do with love. He avoided it at all costs, and, whenever someone expressed interest in him, turned away. 'I'm getting soft,' he admonished himself.
But when Rin had come into his life, he had changed. At first she only intrigued him, when he revived her. Even then, he was being too nice for his taste. She had started to grow on him. He hadn't exactly loved her, but a father-daughter bond grew between them. And now she was a psycho ghost who wanted to kill the woman who was sitting in front of him!
'I won't let her kill Kagome. I'll make her go back to hell,' he thought fiercely. 'Rin is behind me now. I have to concentrate on the present.'
"Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked, worried, for he had closed up, and a far away look had crept into his eyes. "Are you ok?"
He looked at her, and then made the longest speech he had ever said. "Kagome, I don't love Rin. She must be put back to rest. She will come soon; I can feel it. I will send her back to hell!"
"I'll help you," Kagome vowed. "I might not be all that useful, but" she bit her lip, mind unable to avoid the painful memories she tried to keep away. 'Inuyasha, I'm not useless! I'll prove it!' "But I can still-"
"No. You will stay here," Sesshomaru said. "You won't be needed."
"You don't understand," Kagome said, frustrated. "You can't just kill her with swords and claws!"
Sesshomaru wasn't listening. He stood up, and turned to walk out.
"Wait!" Kagome got up too, and took a hold of his clothing to prevent him from leaving. "Stop, Sesshomaru!"
He frowned, and spoke with a harsher tone than he meant. "Let go and let me do what I have to do."
But she wouldn't listen to him. She argued, "Let me come too!" 'I won't let him do this by himself. I can't.' Although she couldn't say why she had to, she felt that she would eventually be needed.
"I can- and will- do this alone," he growled, yanking his garments away. "Stay here."
"No!" Kagome walked after him, and he didn't protest. Servants stared curiously at them, and rumors were passed from mouth to ear, loud enough for Sesshomaru to hear. He ignored it.
When they entered Sesshomaru's room, he immediately glared at Kagome. "Why are you still here? I told you to stay."
"I don't want to be alone! Besides," Kagome said, sneakily, "Rin could come and finish me off while you're sitting here and waiting for her."
He shut up, and they both waited for Rin.
-
Rin watched Kagome and Sesshomaru leave the room. 'More like Kagome following like a sick bitch,' she thought, not moving to stop them. She observed as Sesshomaru tried to pry Kagome's vise-like grip from his clothing, without success.
"Come on, come on, just say some damn taunt or something and hurt her feelings," she murmured. "Say something to show me you hate her."
It didn't happen. Rin punched the wall in frustration as they walked out. "Shit!" she yelled, the wall cracking ever so slightly under the pressure, as Rin hit it again. "Fuck, they're idiots!"
She stalked out of Kagome's room, following the faint scent of Sesshomaru. There were so many servants walking around that a trail didn't stay fresh for long.
She accidentally bumped into one of them, and, being invisible, didn't bother to try and help his confusion. She ran into another, later on, and picked up whatever it was he had been carrying and threw it over her shoulder.
"You damn demons! Can't do anything right!" Rin screamed at no one in particular. She rolled her eyes at their bemused expressions, and continued on.
She listened to Kagome and Sesshomaru talk quietly when she arrived, and it fueled her anger. 'They don't deserve each other. Kagome needs to die. Sesshomaru will be mine!'
But then she remembered him defending Kagome, the whore who had- in Rin's mind- stolen HER Sesshomaru. He didn't deny it- not that she had asked him. 'But still, he has forsaken me in hell. He will die at my hand as well!' Rin vowed. 'And now would be a perfect time to dispose of them both.'
-
The silence was ominous, in Kagome's opinion. 'We're acting like we're waiting for death to come. That was an extremely bad pun. I need to be doing something. I'm nervous.'
"So, uh, Sesshomaru…" Kagome started, stopping when he sent her a look that plainly said, 'Talk and you die.'
Kagome decided to not heed that 'statement' and bravely plowed on. "So, what are we going to do about Rin…?"
"Silence." Sesshomaru said, somewhat wearily. "We're going to kill her. And don't say that name to me."
"Sorry," Kagome apologized. "But I thought you liked her-"
"That's enough!" Sesshomaru ordered. "We're going to sit here, and when Rin comes, I'll kill her. All you do is watch. Understand?"
"Yes. But how can you just do that to Rin?" Kagome asked. 'How will he be able to hurt her at all? She loves him, and I thought he loved her. I must be harder than it looks.'
"She's here," Sesshomaru said, standing up.
Rin came in, a vengeful smile on her face. "Ready to see what death is like?" she questioned. "You'll find out very soon."
Sesshomaru moved to grasp Tokijin, but thought better of using it in such an enclosed area, and stopped. He lunged forward, attempting to strike Rin through the heart with his claws instead.
"Too slow!" Rin giggled nastily. She flicked her knife carelessly, and slashed at Sesshomaru's unprotected back, where his armor broke and splintered on the floor. The dagger emerged soaked to the handle in blood, and Kagome could see that it had reached to his spine; she could see bone. She gagged.
"You…" Sesshomaru growled. "You're just toying with me. The aura you have stolen from hell itself is much too potent for paltry games such as those which you have displayed."
"So what if it is? You didn't specify any rules beforehand about how we should be fighting," Rin said. "I can do whatever I want. Unless you want to play with wooden swords?"
She pivoted to avoid his next attack, and drove her sword deep into his arm. It continued to rip through flesh and muscle, and he ended up with a wound from his shoulder to wrist. He gave no sign of pain, aside from a low hiss, audible only to himself.
"I'm better than you are. Face it, even if you employed your little bitch over there to help you, I'll still kill you. Give up," she smirked, and licked the blood off the blade almost daintily, as would a princess if she were given the New Year's sake saucer. "Blood and revenge go so well together, don't you think?"
Sesshomaru growled at her, and spoke. "Rin, you should be the one begging for mercy. You will die by my hands." He faked to the left, and then hit Rin, who was unprepared for the surprise attack.
Rin fell back, blood spurting from a wound on her side. She got up, holding it. "It'll take more than that, Sesshomaru."
Kagome, meanwhile, had been watching the battle with increasing apprehension. Sesshomaru turned to look at her briefly. 'Is it my imagination, or do I see desperation in his eyes? It must be; he wouldn't show it even if he was.'
Rin also looked at her, and Kagome knew that she would be attacked next, and, if she didn't do something soon, would fall prey to grotesque and fatal wounds. She stood, and prepared herself, taking a deep breath to calm her racing thoughts.
Rin came at her quickly, and Kagome winced, sure she would open her eyes to see death.
After a minute, she did, and gasped. Rin was backing away from Sesshomaru, who had protected Kagome from the blow. Kagome leaned forward. "Are you okay?"
Rin had slashed multiple times, and Sesshomaru ended up with many deep cuts. Dark red, almost black blood was seeping out of them. One wound was too close to his heart for Kagome's comfort.
"Look what you've done!" Kagome cried, and frantically tried to stop the bleeding. Sesshomaru made no comment, but glared at both girls, one of whom was sobbing, and the other who looked shocked.
"I've done it. I've killed him," she whispered, failing to notice that Sesshomaru was upright and breathing. "Finally. One down. One to go." She glanced up, and gaped. There was a crazy look in her eyes. 'I failed.'
"Sesshomaru. Answer me!" Kagome sobbed. "We have to go and kill Rin….. Now…. I'll kill her…."
"I'm fine, wench," Sesshomaru said, brushing off her attempts to help him. "You go back and let me do this. Go."
"You saved me… why?" Kagome turned her tear-stained face towards him. "I thought you hated me…."
"Make your own conclusions. We don't have time for this now." He straightened, then groaned softly, and sank into a half sitting position. 'Damn, after one little wound, I'm already down. Pathetic, pathetic. If this gets out-'
"Sesshomaru!" Kagome screamed, crouching down. "You're hurt, just stay there. I can do this. I can," she reassured him. He looked at her as if she were crazy. 'Which I probably am,' Kagome thought.
Kagome rose, and faced Rin. 'I can do this,' she told herself. 'But how?' Rin was already coming at her. She needed a plan. Fast.
She dodged, barely. 'Rin must be moving slower if I'm able to dodge. Why?' She noticed that Rin's face was twisting a little in pain, and that her side wound had grown. 'I'll have to use this to my advantage!'
She grabbed Tokijin from Sesshomaru's side, surprising him. She tried to lift it, but failed. 'This is heavy!'
With determination, she held the sword out in front of her. 'It's taking all my strength… I hope this'll work…' Kagome's arms were shaking from effort.
Rin ran forward, and Kagome swung Tokijin at her, and missed. "No," she said. "I couldn't do it."
Rin laughed. "You shitty excuse for a human. You can't kill me!"
Kagome didn't listen. 'I need a weapon,' she thought, sweeping the room with a glance. 'Anything…'
There was nothing. Kagome braced herself for her final stand. 'I'll die honorably,' she vowed.
Rin charged, and Kagome felt the tip of the dagger bury itself in her upraised arm before Rin yelled, there was a bright flash of energy, and then… nothing.
Kagome peeked out, and, lowered her arms when she saw Rin gone. "Wh-where did R-Rin go?" she stuttered.
"You're a priestess, aren't you," Sesshomaru stated flatly. "You energy destroyed her."
"How did that happed?" Kagome asked, shocked. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me before."
He shrugged, and grimaced. 'My wound needs tending to. I'll do it myself.'
"Oh! Do you need help?" Kagome questioned anxiously.
"No." He turned away, and the reality of Rin's death sank it. 'She's gone, and Kagome was the one who killed her. How could she do that? I told her I was supposed to…. And now Rin is gone forever.'
"Should I go get bandages?" Kagome stood, and rushed out of the room, determined to find suitable bandages without raising any questions from the servants.
Sesshomaru sagged against the wall. "Stupid," he murmured. "I don't need help, and you killed Rin…" A bitterness rose inside him. 'Now that she's gone I have no one to turn to. Kagome shouldn't have gotten involved. She didn't even know half of what was going on.'
The blood from his wound had been trickling nonstop the whole time. 'I'm losing too much blood,' Sesshomaru thought hazily. 'But I will allow no one to see me like this. Except Kagome.'
He used the wall for support, and rose to his feet unsteadily. The room spun, once, and he berated himself for being so careless. He cautiously leaned back from the wall, and managed to stay standing without help.
When Kagome came back, a roll of gauze in her hands, she almost dropped it in surprise when she saw Sesshomaru. "You shouldn't be standing," she said, rushing over. "Sit down and I'll help you."
"No." Sesshomaru gritted his teeth. "I'm fine." He walked away, as if to prove it.
"If you don't let me help you," Kagome threatened, "I'll force you to."
"You are the most annoying human I've ever dealt with," Sesshomaru replied. He angrily glanced at Kagome, before sitting down against the wall, not showing the pain he felt.
"At least I'm not dead," Kagome said briskly, also going down, and unwinding the bandages.
'What does she mean by that?' "I never said you could help me." He scooted away. "I was merely sitting down."
Kagome felt like slapping him. 'He's too stubborn! Why won't he let me help him?'
-
A/N: This chapter was going to be longer, but finally I was just saying, "I can't write anymore! I can't!" But don't worry; I have lots of fluff planned in the upcoming chapters… Kukuku.
Guess what? This is my longest chapter ever! (For those who didn't read my bio.) It's ten pages long (just barely!) and over 4,000 words! Yay!
Please review.
