I Was Invincible - Chapter 7
"Things do not change. We change." - Henry David Thoreau
Sengoku Jidai, Western borders - Eight Years Later
"Sesshoumaru-samaaa...!"
A young voice spliced the air before trailing off in a tumble of constanents. The owner of the call was an adolescent girl, no more than sixteen summers of age. She was garbed in an orange and yellow yukata, as befitting the summer season that surrounded her. The wind caught and whipped Rin's hair behind her like a black banner while her bare feet slapped the earth beneath her soles.
"Quiet, stupid girl!" came an indignant answer, but not from the being that she had addressed so shrilly. Behind her, a small creature resembling an upright toad struggled to keep pace. His large, bulbous eyes were wider than usual and resembled yellow dinner plates as he scurried along. The amphibious being, for he was known as Jaken, could not keep the girl's longer strides in tandem with the short ones his small, forked feet produced. He lagged behind horribly, and for all that he huffed, waved the staff he carried and cursed her, it was in vain.
The girl that eluded Jaken at last spotted her destination ahead of her. Her dark eyes widened in merriment, and she came to an abrupt halt beside a tall figure. A deft reach and small tug upon his hakama entreated upon the youkai to notice Rin, and with a slow swivel of his head, he did. "Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin and Jaken came across a village!"
By then the green youkai had caught up with Sesshoumaru and his ward, and flailed his arms wildly. "Tell the truth, baka! It was I that spotted the village first, not you and your pathetic human eyesight." That said, Jaken puffed out his chest proudly and closed his viper-eyed gaze to them both for a moment.
"Jaken."
One round eye slid open, and a fine tremble began to vex the minor demon. "Forgive me, Sesshoumaru-sama." Quietly, the retainer scuttled backwards and away from his master, head bowed in submission. He took up occupancy behind the girl again, but he was not without his own private revenge as he stared daggers into her back.
The one-worded warning from the Lord of the Western Lands was enough. He was a tall being, finely framed and garbed in detailed finery that befitted his title and rank. Long white hair fell over his shoulders, and his aristocratic features were devoid of expression..
Rin stared up into that emotionless mask that he constantly wore, undeterred from rolling her eyes at the exchange between her master and Jaken. She grinned widely, and gave another sharp tug upon Sesshoumaru's attire. "Can Rin..." she began, before ceasing her childhood indication of her person and starting anew. "Can I enter the village for a short time to find a new yukata?" Straightening herself, she dropped the hand she had fisted in Sesshoumaru's hakama and pulled poignantly on her own clothing. Her summer kimono was splattered with a collection of permanent stains that refused to come clean even in the fastest of streams. Beyond this, the fabric was stretched and wearing thin. The yukata was made for durability in mind, but even the toughest fabric could only go so far when the wearer was constantly traveling. Her plea must have gained footing in the eyes of her master, for the youkai's eyes flickered beyond her face to look past her.
"Jaken, take Rin to the village."
"But Sesshoumaru-sama, I..."
"Jaken."
He needn't be reprimanded twice in the same minute. Sesshoumaru's servant gave Rin the greatest glare he could muster before beckoning her on with a sharp flick of one green finger. "You heard Sesshoumaru-sama, human! Let's go!"
"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama!" chirped the teenager with glee, before she threw her arms around him in a quick embrace. Her height was diminuitive, but only temporary as she continued to grow. Her arms only managed to encircle his obi for the briefest of moments before she hastened after Jaken.
There was no acknowledgment upon Sesshoumaru's face as he watched them depart, just as there had been none when Rin had hugged him. After a moment or two, the dog demon blinked; a long, downward sweep of his eyelashes that only reopened in the opposite direction the duo had gone. He stared this way, immobile. To any estranged bystander he would appear as an alabaster statue in the midst of a forested clearing, but in reality he was listening. The incessant chatter of Rin and Jaken gradually faded into obscurity, but their separate smells had not. He would know if something should befall them along the way to the village, and with this knowledge the great youkai moved suddenly through the air and was gone.
----------------------------------
"Jaken, hurry up!"
"I am hurrying, idiot!"
The unlikely twosome traded barbs the entire journey east towards the human settlement. It didn't take much to annoy Jaken, Rin mused. The small toad could be set off quicker than a firecracker, and Rin made sure to enjoy the fact whenever possible. "I surely can't tell that you are." Giggling, she broke into a light jog in order to invoke his ire further. They had begun with Rin tailing Jaken, but as always she had overtook his pace and was now several lengths ahead.
"That's because you have those ugly chicken legs!"
"Chicken legs?" The girl glanced over her shoulder with a short frown. "How can Rin have chicken legs when little Jaken-baka has the feet of a rooster?"
At that, Jaken cast a sour glance down at the three toes on each foot that peeked from beneath his brown robe. Rin's statement confirmed his fear, and it only incensed him further. "Why you..." He began to wave his staff high above his head again, as he was always prone to do when angry. Worse yet, he began squawking which only lent more credence to Rin's prior observation. "Come back here so I pound good manners into your dimwitted human skull!"
"Only if you can catch me...!" With that, the taller of the two was off like a shot. Another undignified squawk from the toad let her know she had put even more distance between them.
"You're lucky Sesshoumaru-sama..." The sound of Jaken's shriek died behind her as she came across two girls trundling through the forest ahead of her. By the baskets they carried on their shoulders, she realized they were gathering berries within the woods.
Rin came to an abrupt halt. Her head canted slighty to the side, a canine action that might have been reminiscent of Sesshoumaru himself in his younger years. The undergrowth beneath her feet snapped softly, but loud enough for the other two females to become instantly alarmed.
"Oh!" one cried, whipping around so quickly that the woven basket perched atop her shoulder blade nearly toppled over. Her companion was no less surprised, yet she still had some merit of grace in her spin that bespoke of her older age. Noticably taller when compared to the more skittish girl, this one widened her eyes perceptively before a small smile formed on her lips. She appraised Rin carefully, and then decided she was hardly a threat.
"Hello, there. I do not believe I have seen you before. What are you doing out here alone in the woods? Are you from the village?" The elder girl gave an obligatory wave in the general vicinitiy of the village before placing her hand on her hip. Her smile was disarming and patient. Her younger counterpart had since composed herself and was grinning to expose two missing front teeth. She couldn't have been any older than Rin had been when she had first happened upon Sesshoumaru in the woods.
"Ano.. hello!" Rin countered, quickly finding her manners despite her sudden unease. Her anxiety stemmed not from the fact that she had accidently stumbled across two strange girls in a clearing, but rather that Jaken would be quickly closing the gap between her and himself. She did not need the toad youkai to frighten the girls a second time. Chances were that they would not be so tolerant of a short, stumpy toad youkai appearing out of the undergrowth as they had been towards a girl of their own likeness.
"Is something the matter?" the older girl asked, slightly concerned with Rin's stuttered reaction. She was about Rin's own age, give or take a year or two. Both girls wore peasant attire, which bespoke no great affluence or heritage of their persons. Although Rin's yukata was obviously of a much higher grade than their own despite its worn condition, they made no apparent note of it.
"N-No. Not at all." Rin supplied a quick, faltering smile that remained as a trembling reminder of her lie.
The village girls said nothing, but spared one another a quick look. "My name is Chiyo," said the taller of the two, at last breaking the silence, "...and this is Kiku, my younger sister. Are you lost?"
A small smile crept upon Rin's features as she apologetically shook her head. She had seemingly collected herself, and for this she was glad. "No, not really. I was heading for your village... I am going in the right direction, I hope?"
Chiyo's eyes twinkled with merriment at Rin's voiced contradiction, and the ward of the Western Lands felt all the more sheepish. "Yes, it is this way. We were just returning. Would you like to accompany us back? It would most likely save you time."
"I, ano, hai."
"Good!" chirped Kiku, adding her high tenor to convoluted conversation. She readjusted the basket on her shoulder and used to freehand to tug at Rin's sleeve. "Come... what is your name again?"
Again, Rin felt a slight flush of embarrassment at her socially-inept ways. She had been so long without much human contact that her halting mannerisms now manifested themselves to her own kind - and peers her own age, nonetheless. It could not be helped, although the girl made a mental note to appear more forthcoming while in the village in order to appear less odd.
"I apologize, my name is Rin."
"Come then, Rin-chan!" Another impatient tug ensued, and Rin's eyes moved from Kiku's impish grin to Chiyo's more knowing face.
Rin nodded mutely, and the threesome set off. Only once did Rin glance back over her shoulder to scan the woods for any sign of Jaken. Strangely enough, she detected none. The girl was certainly below par with demon detection, but her time among them trained her to hone senses other than her eyes for danger. It was a magical, mysterious world among the youkai, but a deadly one. She had known this from a young age, and her existance now still depended on her ability to understand when and where her guardian and Jaken were. It was not to say she was useless without them, in fact she would be quite offended by the insinuation. It merely came down to the brutal fact that she was a human living in a world of demons, and anyone with half a brain would realize that even the most minor demon could smite the girl where she stood were it not for Sesshoumaru's presence. She relied on it as much as she relied on the air she breathed.
The three walked calmly down an incline with Chiyo in the lead. The village was at the base of a hill, and already Rin could make out the vague outlines of buildings. Her heart began to speed up in her chest with the anticipation of aquiring a new yukata, although Jaken's abnormal absence was slightly worrying. Normally she wouldn't have consciously admitted her concern about the toad, but Jaken was still a friend. A verbal sparring partner, an annoying amphibious youkai without a spine, but an old friend nonetheless. On the rare occasions that Rin was able to visit villages, Sesshoumaru-sama and Jaken would be always nearby, lurking at the edge of the forest as they listened and waited. At the very least, Jaken would accompany her to the edge of the forest while she went about her business. She knew Sesshoumaru was always nearby as well, but she couldn't detect him as well as she could Jaken.
There was always a rustle in the undergrowth somewhere, a quiet (for Jaken) squawk if he stubbed his tri-pronged toes on an upraised root... some evidence that he was there. Now there was nothing.
Quieter. The woods seemed quieter. Now even the birds ceased to sing.
Now the only sound seemed to be the crunch of dry leaves beneath Rin's feet. She found it odd how the other girls ahead of her seemed to tread so silently that she was unable to discern even the slightest sound from them. Unable to bear the silence much longer, Rin broke it.
"Uh.. Chiyo? Kiku?" she questioned meekly. "Did you notice how quiet it suddenly is?"
Chiyo did not turn around to answer. In fact, she seemed to increase her pace. Only Kiku, with melancholy eyes, turned her head to rest her focus on Rin over her shoulder. She did not speak, but Rin was taken aback at how old the girl's face seemed then. Dark shadows fell across the planes of her cheeks, and the elfish appearance of the girl had somehow been replaced by that of wizened old woman. Rin stopped in her tracks, opened her mouth to make a sound, but was left like a fish gaping out of water. She blinked, opened her eyes again, and then Kiku's face was as it had been before - glowing with health but radiating sadness.
Kiku turned to face the back of her sister once more while Rin shook her head as if to clear it. Had she just seen what she thought she had seen, or was it truly a trick of the light?
It was only until Rin and the sisters she followed reached the base of the valley that Rin had completely forgotten all about the visage of a shriveled old hag. Her eyes were suddenly assauged with a new horror as she saw billowing smoke rise out of the windows of huts. The air was thick with the stench of ash and burning corpses. Rin began to gag, and she was struck by the fact that she hadn't noticed it before. In fact, the village had seemed normal through the treeline just a minute prior..
Rin opened her mouth to scream, but the sound died in her throat when she flung her vision upon Chiyo and Kiku. The elder of the two had simply disappeared the moment Rin had looked away, but now Kiku was on fire. How she had so suddenly become so without making a sound was beyond Rin's imagining, but then things were happening so fast that it almost seemed to be a dream sequence.
Kiku's face had shrunken down again, leaving Rin to realize that she hadn't been seeing things earlier. The young girl had her mouth open in a contorted look of true anguish, and she was reaching a firey hand for Rin. The flesh squeezed down taut on her cheekbones, just as it had earlier - but Kiku wasn't aging now. She was dying. The fire that had consumed her lower body by some unforseen means was now at her neck, melting flesh and charring bone.
Rin finally screamed. She screamed wordlessly, tonelessly. She screamed until she managed to form a coherent word.
"SESSHOUMARU-SAMA!"
The flames were now devouring Kiku's head as if she were a giant wax candle. Grotesque globs of clear liquid and darker chunks hit the ground at Rin's feet. Her hair crackled like dry straw as it burst into flames last, and the sight forced Rin backwards onto the ground. She was choking on her own tears, her screams, and the smoke wafting into her lungs. Everywhere but from the remnants of Kiku came other screams - they joined Rin's in some hellish chorus that emanated from the very epitome of misery and suffering.
Burning, burning, burning - they were all on fire but Rin. They danced about her, and one shape came close the moment Kiku's last spark had been doused to leave ashes. It was a man, she could see this through her wide eyes while he too stared at her in much the same, horrified way. He was being eaten by fire from the chest down, and strange mewling sounds came from the most guttural confines of his throat. He crawled towards Rin as his face sagged and he shrieked. His limbs didn't quite work in the way they were supposed to, and his cries were those of an animal, not a human. One skeletal hand reached for Rin as Kiku's had, and she shrunk back.
Suddenly, he popped.
It wasn't the slow melt that she had witnessed with Kiku. This was entirely different, and somehow worse in a way. The man imploded. He was suddenly there, steadily moving for her while he was being consumed by the hell that had befallen them all, when he just ... wasn't. A sound that wasn't unlike the popping of a log in a campfire hit her ears, and then the man's structure just deflated. What met her eyes next was what could have been taken for a burning mass of rubber, had it existed in feudal Japan. Instead, Rin saw it for the visceral clump that it was, and she began to heave. Despite her increasing inability to breathe, her body still had the gagging reflex.
As her stomach cleansed itself all over the smoky ground, a patch of dark black cleared for a moment and she heard a rumbling growl. Desperate, she made her way through the dancing lights that fogged her half-cognizant brain. She had witnessed death before, but never like this... never like this. The gnashing fangs of the wolves as they tore her apart as a child was nothing compared to the absolute wasting here. It was the nightmare to end all nightmares, the kind that turned the dreamer into a waking bedlam that plagued them for the rest of their days and nights.
...Only this was real. Very real.
A furred foot descended from the sky, pounding to rest just meters away from the despairing teenager, and for once relief flooded her senses and returned her to the here and now. Sesshoumaru-sama, he had come! In her desperation, Rin threw herself at the ankle of that white paw, now sooty and gray from the remains clouding the air. Her arms did not encompass the leg entirely, so her fingers entwined themselves instead with the charcoal-gray fur in a vise-like grip. She was shrieking and sobbing at the same time, she wasn't sure which. For one real, rare moment she felt safe again.
That moment ended too soon.
Flung from the giant appendage that disappeared overhead into the reeking smoke like she was nothing but a rag doll, Rin found herself falling and hitting a pile of scorched bodies that had somehow been tamped out before they had turned into ashes. Her cheek lay upon someone's bloodied vertebrae in the most uncomfortable fashion, and her eyes stared sightlessly ahead of her, dumbfounded. A moment passed, then two, and then what breath she had left returned to her. Slowly, painfully, she turned her head up towards the leg that had thrown her.
Somehow, she pretended she was dreaming again. Endorphines kicked in and masked the dull ache her body now emanated, and it seemed to her now that she was away from her body, looking down upon it rather than in it. She saw the giant jaw of the large demon dog descend, before snapping up a burning woman from the ground as if she were a trout in a stream. For a perfect moment, Rin captured the look on the woman's - Chiyo's - face before she was bent in two. Her body stretched abnormally, and broke at the midsection with a sound not unlike that of a dry branch being split in someone's hands. Sesshoumaru's maw enclosed itself upon the two halves of Chiyo, and then Rin saw no more.
For once, the all consuming-void that swallowed her senses was greedily embraced.
A/N: Okay, now I know what you guys are wondering what THAT was all about - after all, I'm going from a story of Inuyasha to focus on a scene with Rin, Sesshoumaru and Jaken eight years down the road.. don't worry, it'll all tie in together later. Also, I know I've been gone (checks..) about a year and a half, but I'm back, really! For now.. yeah.. so.. here's chapter seven, finally!