Chapter IX – Epilogue –
Dislaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha, the plot, the characters, etc., but I own Koe.
A.N.: As the title says, this will be the last chapter of "A trace of voices". Sorry to those who would have liked Koe to live (or Jaken to die?). Thanks to my fellow reviewers FoxWolfDemon and especially Omasuoniwabanshi, who keep me writing. Hope you like that chapter.
Cold as ice the moonlight shone on his white hair and for the first time since he had brought her back to life, she quaked with fear, when looking at his eyes. They seemed so cold and emotionless to her now. As he noticed her frightened look, his gaze wandered down to her. "What's wrong, Rin? You look scared. Do my wounds still frighten you?"
She shook her head slightly, but at the same moment focused those wounds again. Two days ago, his clothing had been crimson red on the spot where Kumori had hit him. But, of course, after all, this was Sesshomaru-sama – Lord of the western demons. He would just recover from it quickly and continue his journey… while Koe's was over.
He took a closer look at her large, brown eyes, then realised she was hard on the edge of bursting into tears. Suddenly, an almost forgotten question came to his mind. "Rin…"
"Huh?" Trying to suppress the urge to cry, she looked up again. "What did Koe tell you on the day before the red moon?" As in a disease, the little girl felt all her muscles contract. Why did he have to ask her that? When she had recovered from the first shock, a dreamy smile stretched across her lips.
"She said I should never fear demons, for they don't deny what they were. But I should fear our own race, for we were deceptive." Murmuring something she could not understand, he faced the fireplace again. "And did you believe her?" She crouched even the more, now shivering from the night's cold. But, still, the smile lingered. "I am here with you after all, and not with Koe." Slowly, her voice turned into whisper. "She has made the decision for me."
He gave a look at the pale moon in the sky, then closed his eyes and recalled his thoughts. There was a village down the river, only one day's march away.
"Would you leave me to live with your own race, Rin?" Her look changed into a reflection of confusion. "Would you go and disobey your sister's order?" Sighing slightly, she faced the moon and he could see her fingers crawling deeper into the fabric on her skin. "If you told me to."
Without even noticing it, a sigh of relief escaped from his lips. "But I would miss you." She added, and the words pierced through his heart like ten thousand swords. "I would miss you the same way I always do, when you are gone. I would wait for you to return."
"What if I would never return?" The sound of shattering glass echoed inside her and she could feel the tears running down her face. "I would live my life until the bitter end and die, just like Nee-san – with no power, no will to even live on."
Nodding slightly, he motioned her to come closer and she curled up under his fur coat immediately. A few seconds later, sleep had overtaken her, while tears still ran down her face.
"Sesshomaru-sama…" With a sigh of anger he turned to Jaken. Rin was finally asleep – didn't he see that? "Where are we going now? I mean, tomorrow?"
He gave a last look at the sinking moon, the fire and the little girl next to himself. "We go on up the river. We won't go back down."
A.N.: haha, so how did you like that? Hope that ending was okay so far. Thanks to all my reviewers, I hope you enjoyed "A trace of voices".
