Chapter VI – Human weakness –
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha, the characters, the plot etc., but I own Koe.
Heavy shivers ran through her body, as another strike hit her. She tried to open her eyes, but all she could see was fog. Fog and the blood that came running down her face. She tried to remember what had happened. They had gone to the valley and Sesshomaru-sama had left her outside the cave, because he wouldn't know what to do with her inside. He had told her to stay where she was, outside the… A dreadful idea came to her mind. Was she now… inside?
With a short sigh she tried to move, but the fog kept her where she was. Memories of the day she died came back to her mind. All too clearly she could remember what it had felt like when those wolves had strained at her, keeping her from running away. Slowly the tears came running down her cheeks. She would probably die again. Sesshomaru-sama wouldn't come to rescue her and even if he did – this was Kumori's cave. He had already told her that inside this hideout nobody could challenge him. It was over. She would die and nobody would care. She was just some orphan, homeless and worthless.
"Afraid?" An amused giggle echoed through the cave, merging with the fog and therefore everything around her. She couldn't even tell where it came from. Exhausted from trying to get rid of her white chains Rin finally gave up and let herself fall down on her knees. There was no chance, so why still waste her breath on something useless. "You look exhausted." A cold hand under her chin forced her to look up. "And you look like her."
Another shiver ran through her body. Her? He wasn't talking of Koe, was he? Hundreds of thoughts ran through her head. He seemed to hate Koe, by the way he spoke of her and he seemed to know that they were relatives. He probably even knew she belonged to Sesshomaru-sama now. Was that why he had called him?
A short vile grin appeared on what was left of Kumori's face. "You humans really are a shame for nature. So weak and so easy to break…" He took a look at the tunnels. "Actually I wanted Sesshomaru to find and kill her, but I guess I'll just wait until she comes here to rescue her little sister. And even if she doesn't…" he grabbed her chin again and the look in his eyes made her freeze for a few seconds. There was no emotion, no warmth. Since following a demon she was used to that heartless expression in demons' eyes, but she couldn't remember a single time Sesshomaru-sama had looked at her like that. Kumori would kill her. She was just his way to catch Koe and if he had her trapped inside his cave, he would kill them both.
Again tears came running down her face, making him giggle slightly. "But it will take some time until she's here and I will probably get bored." She stared at his face, eyes widened, unwilling to believe what he had just said. His giggle turned into quiet laughter. "I only need you alive, not unharmed…"
A stabbing pain went through her head, as his hand hit the wound at her head. If she was lucky, he would beat her to death before Koe found her.
"Which one, Sesshomaru-sama?" Irritated by the number of tunnels that they could take now, the green demon desperately faced his master. This cave was a dungeon and without the senses of Sesshomaru-sama he would have got lost in it already. Still, he wasn't happy about what he saw in his master's eyes. His emotionless look had changed into a mix of anger and calm, like a volcano that stayed calm, looking just the same as ever, but ready to explode within the next minutes. The only advantage was, that this time he could be sure it wasn't he whom his master wanted to tear into thousands of little pieces.
With a short look at the tunnels, Sesshomaru closed his eyes for a few seconds. Kumori's smell filled the whole cave, but still it couldn't hide the smell of blood – a child's blood. Without even looking at Jaken he went to take the third tunnel. Since the day he awoke her from the dead he would recognize her smell everywhere, even if it was covered by those of a whole horde of demons.
A simple idea suddenly came to his mind and he tried to get rid of it as fast as possible, but the thought came back again and again. 'You should have left her in some human village long ago.' The sentence echoed inside his head, getting even louder every time he tried to forget about it. Maybe that little voice inside his head was right. Following a demon was just way to dangerous for a little, weak human child, he should have known long before.
"I'll end this." His voice was nothing more than a whisper. He didn't even realize he had actually said what he had thought. The only thing he realized was the smell of her blood getting clearer with every step. He would take her out of this cave and then just take her to some village and leave her there. It was best for all of them. Rin would finally be safe, Jaken would stop acting like a jealous child and he would finally get rid of all the thoughts that tortured him every night. He would leave her and never come back again. And hopefully, they would both forget…
A.N.: Sorry for the whole Kumori-beats-up-Rin-thing, I didn't like writing that scene either, but I had to.
