Flowers In The Snow
Chapter 7: A Trade
Jaken sat huddled in a corner, not daring to even look at Sesshoumaru. The Tai-youkai was so enraged that his eyes were permanently red. Jaken knew that in this mood, Sesshoumaru woul kill at the slightest provocation.
Jaken blamed himself. It had been all his fault, lost in his contemplation about Rin's similarity to Akemi-sama, he had not noticed the youkai sneaking up to cave. By the time, he awoke from the stunning gas, Rin was gone! Jaken's first instinct was to track down her scent with Ah-Un, but the two-headed dragon was unable to fly, it too had been stunned by some strange gas.
Jaken's next reaction was fear...Sesshoumaru-sama would kill him for letting harm come to Rin! He had said so often enough! Then, Sesshoumaru had noticed Rin's purple hair-ribbon on the floor outside the cave. The little green toad picked it up and sniffed it. It smelled like Rin, like flowers and the sea...Tears came to the little toad's eyes. What were they going to do to Rin? Why couldn't he have saved her? He flung his staff of heads on the floor and wept. He was useless! Such a useless youkai! He deserved death!
Sobbing, Jaken waited for Sesshoumaru-sama to return...near dawn, the tai-youkai had walked into the cave, severely wounded and in a terrible fury. Jaken didn't even dare to ask what had happened. It was obvious to Jaken that Sesshoumaru knew Rin was missing, to state something so obvious would bring instant death to himself. For two hours, neither had said anything. The tai-youkai rested as his shoulder wound healed and Jaken sat opposite him fingering Rin's purple hair-ribbon. Crazily, the only thought that kept running through his mind was how Rin's hair would be all messed up without her ribbon....Rin's hair would be all messed up without her ribbon...Rin's hair would be all messed up without her ribbon...
"Jaken."
"Hai! Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Saddle up Ah-Un and come with me. We are going to look for Rin."
"B-But Sesshoumaru-sama...you are not properly healed yet...that terrible wound..."
But Sesshoumaru had already stood and left the cave. A trail of blood showed where he had walked. Jaken swallowed. Something very bad must have happened last night, but what?
Sesshoumaru knew that he was not at full strength. He would need two days' rest to heal completely, he had only managed two hours. But he could not delay...there was a good chance Rin was still alive. After all, they had not heard his decision since his half-brother had interrupted the exchange. Of course, Sesshoumaru had decided that he was not going to give up Tenseiga, but he also had no intention of letting them kill Rin. The path of action was clear to him...track down Naraku's servants, kill them, free Rin...
He had had a lot of time in the last two hours to think about Naraku's clever trap. Naraku had played this Sesshoumaru well...he knew all about Sesshoumaru's pride and concerns. He also seemed to know that Rin would still be following him. Even if she had not been with him at the border, they would probably have kidnapped her at his Western Palace when he was away. Naraku had not forgotten that the girl was ...and here, Sesshoumaru hesitated to admit it to himself... his weak point.
With a soft grunt, he set himself on Ah-Un as Jaken bustled around. They had barely taken flight when Sesshoumaru reigned Ah-Un in...a small white figure could be seen on the ground beneath them.
Landing, Sesshoumaru dismounted and faced Kanna.
There was a long silence as Sesshoumaru watched her mirror begin to glow.
"A trade." She whispered. "See."
Sesshoumaru and Jaken saw the pale form of an unclothed young girl appear in the mirror. She was hanging by her wrists from the ceiling. To Jaken, this was the first he had seen of Rin since she disappeared last night, and he squawked with anger. Sesshoumaru's golden eyes never left the image of the Rin in the mirror. They watched as Nibori-sama, who he knew was possessed by Naraku's shiryou, ran a hand over Rin's breasts.
Although Jaken did not care much for the sexual etiquette of youkai or humans, he knew that this behaviour by a man on a woman was very wrong. On his Rin, it was even more wrong! Jaken began to growl.
Sesshoumaru watched as Nibori-sama's hands felt their way along Rin's smooth, white body. The mirror in Kanna's hands pulsed as a terrible shouki filled the area. A strong wind began to blow in a vortex around them.
Jaken looked nervously at Sesshoumaru, the tai-youkai's eyes were red and his fangs had grown. His long silver hair was standing up in the wind of shouki, crackling with energy.
In the mirror, Sesshoumaru watched as Nibori stroked Rin's soft triangle of pubic hair gently. The Orochi used one of his claws to scratch out a kanji character on her lower stomach. It was "jun", which meant "pure". It was blatantly clear what Nibori-Naraku intended to do to Rin.
By this time, Rin was weeping uncontrollably. Her eyes were closed as streams of tears ran down her cheeks, some tears even fell on Nibori's hands.
Nibori looked at Sesshoumaru through the mirror.
"I'm afraid we were interrupted earlier on, Sesshoumaru so I'm picking up where we left off, perhaps a tiny bit more persuasively. You can stop Rin's suffering now, Sesshoumaru. Simply agree to give us Tenseiga and we will free this pretty little toy of yours. If not, I'm sure you know what will happen to her very shortly."
"S-Sesshoumaru..." Jaken squawked. "Onegai shimasu ...Rin..."
"How dare you blackmail this Sesshoumaru," he growled.
The shouki around Sesshoumaru was terrible now. Trees and scrubs within twenty feet of the tai-youkai withered and died from the force of his shouki. He began to snarl.
Nibori looked directly at Sesshoumaru-sama from the mirror, "Look at you, pathetic Sesshoumaru... Tai-youkai surely should not have such deep possessiveness over a human. It is true what they say about the Inu-youkai bloodline being cursed by a weakness for ningen women..."
Before he could finish, Sesshoumaru let his shouki burst forth at Kanna, shattering the little white girl into dust. When the dust cleared, Kanna reformed with the mirror in her hands.
"An illusion..." whispered Jaken.
"You don't think we'd send the real Kanna out on such a dangerous mission, did you?" Mahoumaru appeared in the face of the mirror. The darkness beneath his grey cloak swirled with jyaki. "I am Mahoumaru, spirit of the kagami, master of reflections! What you have killed is a mere reflection projected by me! No, Sesshoumaru, any open confrontation with you would probably mean death for us, that is why we needed to capture Rin...But perhaps we were wrong, Sesshoumaru...it seems you are not willing to trade with us."
Mahoumaru moved aside to reveal Rin lying on the dungeon floor, her chains cut and lying about her in an iron heap. She was screaming in pain...in releasing her from her chains, Nibori had wrenched her hands so hard that all her fingers were broken. Rin held her fingers before her face and screamed and screamed. The joints were red and swollen, each finger stuck out at a strange angle.
Sesshoumaru felt his heart clench with horror, though his face revealed nothing.
"Do you want to watch?" Nibori faced the mirror. "Perhaps we underestimated you Sesshoumaru. Our master Naraku always told us you would trade anything for this girl, but it seems she does not mean so much to you after all. After all, you can get another pretty ningen girl in the next village, yes? Oh well, before we kill her we might as well have our fun with her."
Nibori spread Rin's legs roughly by shoving his knee between her thighs.
"S-Sessshoumaru-sama..." Rin whispered and opened her tear stained eyes. Rin's quick mind had made the connection with the transmitting properties of the mirror. She cried out "Do not give Naraku tenseiga!"
"Your Sesshoumaru-sama has made it clear he will not come to save you now, my little flower. In fact, he is watching right now as I have my way with you. I assume you are a virgin, for I don't think Sesshoumaru-sama would have let another take you. Or perhaps he has taken you himself..."
Jaken covered his eyes.
"Sesshoumaru-sama... Do not trade. Rin does not mind." Her small voice brought him out of his intense rage and indecision.
Sesshoumaru felt tenseiga pulse beside him. It was trying to tell him something. "I will make the trade."
Nibori turned and looked at the mirror. The darkness in his eyes seemed to glow. "Good."
"How do I know you will keep your word and not harm the girl?"
Mahoumaru appeared in front of the mirror. "Give us tenseiga and we will not harm the girl."
"Give me the girl and I give you Tenseiga."
The grey cloaked figure nodded "At the Orochi palace...in an hour. The girl will be bound in the courtyard under a spell, she will be alive but you will only be able to unbind her if you leave Tenseiga in the mouth of the left dragon at the Great Hall."
Sesshoumaru watched as the figure of Kanna faded before him, the mirror disappearing in her hands.
"S-Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken said in a small voice.
There was a long silence. Sesshoumaru's muscles grew tenfold and his body transformed into that of a gigantic, white, wolf-hound. Ah-Un and Jaken cowered away from the red-eyed dog. The enormous youkai turned towards the South, and raised its head...
A huge thank-you to all my wonderful reviewers, I know how awful it is to wait months for an update so I'm doing my best! I know this chapter was a bit short, but it's such a significant event it really should stand on its own.
