Field of Innocence

By Lady of the Ink
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but you knew that . . .I hope. But I do own this plot and all the twists that it takes.

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Chapter Five

The raging inferno that had formerly been a cottage had died down to little more than smoldering embers. The huge clouds of billowing black smoke had been replaced by softer, wispy gray tendrils that drifted slowly into the night sky. An occasional pop from the rubble was the only sound that disturbed the night's quiet, a far cry from the roar of the flames that had consumed the home and it's contents.

None of these changes were taken in by the motionless figure lying on the ground a few dozen feet away. Her eyes were closed, her dark lashed nearly indistinguishable as they rested against her soot covered cheeks. Her clothing was tinged gray by smoke, the edges singed black by the fames that had inched too close. The wheezing breaths that escaped her slightly parted lips completed the image of someone who had just escaped a dark fate.

The exact opposite could be said of the only other person in the small clearing. He was the picture of elegance amongst chaos. Not a single silver hair seemed to be out of place. Not a single wrinkle marred the length of his pristine white outfit. From the bland expression on his face and his easy stance, an observer might have thought him better suited to an upscale parlor rather than the scene of such destruction.

Sesshomaru stared down at the girl at his feet. She had remained silent and unmoving since he had carried her from the building. The only change had come when they had stepped into the cool night air and a smile had unaccountably stretched her lips. It was just one more thing in a long line of things about her that evaded his understanding.

A corner of his mouth turned down as he mentally reviewed what had just happened. Almost immediately after he had realized that the girl was still inside the burning cottage, he had found himself heading toward it. With no real reason why he should, he had been unable to stop himself from saving her. Now that the deed was done, he had gained nothing but more questions where she was concerned. Sesshomaru was a being that preferred answers to questions, and so he was annoyed by the turn of events. Answers aided in accomplishing goals; questions merely distracted from them.

The wind picked up slightly as he sorted through the troubles that she had managed to bring upon him during their short acquaintance. It had been her strange habits that had distracted him and allowed the female huntress to catch him in a moment of inattention in the meadow. She had then interfered in his business and completely ignored the boundaries of space that even others of her kind had the sense to observe. Her actions had been beyond understandable, forcing him to ponder them in search of a conclusion about her. But worst of all, she had caused him to deviate from his own long embraced customs.'

His eyes flickered to the destruction across the clearing. It was where the final act of awakening him to the true depth of his problem had occurred. Even as he had stepped through the flames, he had known that there was something wrong about what he was doing.

Taking action to aid another was something done when there was a direct benefit to his own cause to be gained. Even then, he had always felt a level of disgust for the one who was unable to take care of their own obligations. If you were too weak to survive against your enemies, then it was only fitting that those stronger than you would eliminate you. It was better to die bravely and be avenged then to depend upon another for your safety.

The human girl was, by nature of her very species and sex, almost completely defenseless. Even the small obligation that he might have felt towards her - but didn't - should not have made him go against his core belief that only the strong deserved to survive. The people responsible for putting her in danger had been right at hand. It would have been just as easy and much more his style to destroy them and be on his way. His "obligation" would have been repaid and he would have enjoyed the added bonus of being rid of the person responsible for throwing off his routines.

Sesshomaru looked towards the path that led back towards the Western Lands. No matter why he had done it, the actions he had taken had saved the girl's life. That more than made up for the small gestures she had made towards him and so he no longer owed her anything. The only other benefit of staying in her company was gaining insight into her abnormal mind, and that was far outweighed by the adverse affect she seemed to have on him.

Never one to remain in an unfavorable and useless situation, Sesshomaru knew that it was time for him to walk away. Staying now would show an unfounded level of interest that he did not feel. From then on, the strange girl was on her own.

Rin awoke suddenly to a feet of coughing so severe that she felt it throughout her entire body. Her throat burned as the air rushed in and out of the already sore area. Tears leaked from her stinging eyes and her chest throbbed like it was being tightened sharply in a vice.

When the coughing finally stopped, she laid still with her eyes closed while the world tipped and swung around her. Her stomach lurched and she fought down a wave of nausea. It seemed like an eternity had passed before she managed to calm her queasiness and even out her breathing. Swallowing hard and wincing at the discomfort it caused, she finally opened her eyes.

Darkest velvet night dotted with sparkling stars filled her vision. She frowned slightly, having expected the usual view of the rafter over her bed. Feeling off balance and confused, Rin tried to figure out what was going on. There was a fuzzy sensation in her head and a weighted feeling throughout her body that reminded her of the illness she had had that past winter. The coughing would be explained if she had come down with the same sort of thing again, but it did nothing to clear up why she was outside.

Her muscles protesting the action, Rin pulled herself into a sitting position. It too a minute for her to adjust to the new angle and when she did, she was met with a wrenching sight. The cozy little cottage that she had called home for the past seven years was gone. In its place sat a charred pile of debris. A few large beams stretched toward the sky, their scorched remains looking like bony fingers growing from the ground. The muted orange glow of embers half hidden by ash caught her eye. The sight unleashed a rush of memories through her brain. She remembered the voices from the darkness, the surge of memories that she had been unable to repress. Her mind replayed what had happened as she hid beneath the bed and after she'd crawled out from under it. She relived grabbing the bag and trying to save the few things she had left of her family before she'd collapsed and everything had gone black.

Her eyes pulled away from the scene of destruction and dropped to her lap, filling with tears in the process. With a detached sort of interest, she noted that the strap of the bag was still looped about her wrist tightly enough to leave red welts. Her gaze drifted, taking in the singed spots on the backs of her hands. It was proof positive that she had been inside the building as it burned, a helpless victim for the devouring force. So how was it that she had come to be outside and alive?

It was more of a feeling than anything she heard that had her looking up at that moment. A strange sense of hesitation and uncertainty slowed the process, as though a part of her knew what she would see and wanted to be sure she was ready for it.

He drifted into sight like a half formed ghost. The pale smoke wafting about his tall form was like a shroud, the same color as his hair and clothing, making it hard to tell where one began and the other ended. More than just the visual effect, there was a sort of force the seemed to surround him as he approached on silent feet. It was as though the air itself moved out of his path before swirling upward to vanish.

Rin had a hard time believing what she was seeing. She had never been treated to an image so ephemeral and yet majestic as what was before her. For a split second she wondered is perhaps she hadn't died after all and he had come to take her to the next life. It was only fitting that Death take a form such as he, familiar and unknown all at the same time.

Still momentarily caught in that mindset, she watched him approach with no trepidation but a small bit of curiosity. When he came to a stop several feet in front of her, she craned her neck to get a look at his face. The moment that her eyes locked with his, Rin knew that he was no apparition of Death; the unknown demon from the meadow really had returned to stand before her once more.

A shudder wracked her body as the brunt of what had occurred began to sink in. Tears slid down her cheeks as her lower lip started to tremble uncontrollably. She finally tore her gaze from the golden-eyed one above her, collapsing into herself with her arms wrapped tightly around her own body. Loud gulping sobs broke from her throat, a gesture of pain, sadness, and relief all at once.

It must have been quite some time before her tears stopped because dawn had begun to break when she next lifted her head. It's gentle shade made the destruction of her home seem even more traumatizing for its clarity. She faced it bravely, though, just as she had every other tragedy that had befallen her throughout her young life.

Swiping at her cheeks with the cleanest section of her sleeve that she could find, Rin set about doing what she could to tidy her appearance. She tucked her hair behind her ears and brushed as much soot from her clothing as she could. It was only after all this was accomplished that she finally dared to look at the silent person in front of her.

All through her emotional breakdown, he had remained quiet and unmoving. He hadn't bothered to offer comfort or compassion, not that she had expected or even wanted him to. But the fact that he hadn't walked away had done just as well. Even without him taking any action, just knowing that there was someone else there had been one of the things that helped her pull herself together relatively quickly. If she'd been alone, the tears might have gone on and on.

Now that the worst of her distress had passed, Rin found herself questioning his presence. It seemed likely that he had been the one who had saved her from the burning building, since there was no one else around who might have done it. While she didn't want to seem ungrateful, she couldn't think of a possible reason for his return. He had said that he was leaving and she had assumed that that was the last time that she would ever see him. Finding out that he had come back was odd enough to raise her interest in itself and the timing just made it seem more urgent.

Stop it, she chided herself. The answers, if they were going to come, would do so in their own time. Getting worked up over it would accomplish nothing. Besides that, in the end it didn't really matter why he had come back. All that mattered was that he had come back and just in time to save her life. She should just focus on that and go from there.

Looking pointedly at what was left of her house, she then turned to him and offered a slightly wobbly smile, hoping he would get the message. His facial expression didn't change but it seemed to her that his chin raised the smallest little bit. She took it as a sign that he had understood. That was the only movement from either of them for a long stretch of time. Rin remained sitting on the ground, plucking at a frayed edge at the hem of her skirt. Her guest stood as he had been, his gazed constantly skimming the entire area without lighting on anything for more than a second.

As the silence grew, Rin chewed on her lower lip and tried to figure out what she was going to do. She would have to wait until the rubble had cooled before seeing if there was anything to salvage. Then it would be time to find another place to live. While she was sure Larissa would love having her stay for however long she wanted, Rin knew she wouldn't feel comfortable there. Her usual unease was nothing compared to the thought of getting close to the men who had burned down her house. Even though they hadn't met to hurt her, what they had meant to do was bad enough. They had taken not only nearly everything she had in the world, but also the small wall of security that she had managed to build up through the past years.

Her hands started to tremble as she really accepted that she was back where she had started from right after her mother's death. At least she had more knowledge and a bit of money from selling her medicines, she thought, trying to buoy her spirits. It would be enough to give her some time to decide exactly where to go. It would be difficult to find somewhere where she could have privacy but be near enough to a town to get what supplies she would occasionally need. But surely such a place would exist . . .somewhere. What could have been the sound of a throat being cleared pulled her out of her thoughts. Startled, she looked at the demon, who had finally decided to focus on one thing. She only wished that it had been something other than her soot and tearstained face. It was all she could do to hold his sharp gaze when he began to speak.

"This Sesshomaru has finished handling all business in this area, and will be returning home now."

Rin waited for him to walk away the moment the words were out of his mouth, but it seemed to her that he paused for the space of several heartbeats. When he finally turned on his heel and started to walk, it was with a slower step than he had arrived with.

Her mind raced. Had there been an extra infliction to the words he had just spoken? Or was it all in her head? Why had he told her that in the first place? Was it possible that he meant something other than just relating information by them?

Rin's mind raced. She planned to leave this area behind sooner or later, and it would be nice to have something like a guard for as much of the journey as possible. It would be dangerous for a girl on her own to travel, even if she kept to the less populated trails. Her gaze flew to the smoking remains of the cottage. It was very unlikely that there would be anything much left even if she waited till the whole mess cooled enough for her to search through, so it made little sense to stick around only for that. Larissa wouldn't be expecting to see her for some time and unless word of the cottage burning got out, the old woman would have no reason to be worried. She could always find a way to send word once she found a new place to live.

It all came down to Sesshomaru, she thought, secretly pleased to finally have a name to go with the face. He was giving the impression that he wouldn't mind her tagging along, but could she really be sure that that was what he meant? What if she was reading more into his actions than was actually there?

While her thoughts were whirling, Sesshomaru had continued walking. Just as he was about to vanish from sight, he paused, tossing a quick look over his shoulder. The actions, when coupled together with everything else, told Rin what she needed to know. Scrambling to her feet, she began to follow.