Disclaimer: InuYasha is written by Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own anything mentioned in this fanfic besides the idea of the fanfic.

To Love A Human

Chapter Seven

…

"… no doubt about it… has the disease."

"What? … so young… get here?"

"… Taiyoukai… outside…" (translation: powerful demon)

"Nani!" (translation: what?)

Rin awoke to the sounds of a man and a woman talking in hushed tones. She only caught bits and pieces of their conversation, but her mind was elsewhere. She blinked a few times and gazed ahead. A ceiling came into view.

Koko wa doko? (translation: Where am I?)

She was lying on a futon and she had a damp towel draped over her forehead. The coolness of the towel was in stark contrast to the heat she felt under the covers of the futon. Her skin felt like it was burning, as if a thousand heated needles were pricking her all over. She winced as her body, just roused from slumber, became aware of the pain. Rin gasped as the pain took a firm grip on her delicate body and she called in a strained whisper for the only one on her mind.

"Sesshoumaru-sama…!" Help me! She pleaded silently to herself.

"Oya, she's awake?" came the voice of the lady. (oya: "oh!"; an exclamatory interjection expressing surprise or joy)

Rin heard a scurry of footsteps and then she felt someone kneeling beside her futon and tending to her. The person took the towel from her forehead and rinsed it before replacing it.

"Quickly, give her the herbal tea."

"Hai!"

"Don't worry, my dear, everything will be all right," said the lady as she patted Rin's hand.

Her head was gently lifted and a bitter-tasting drink was administered to her from a shallow cup.

After she drank what she could, she was carefully set down again. Rin cracked open her eyes and struggled to focus on the person beside her. She could make out the face of middle-aged lady who at that moment, was looking down at her with kind and warm brown eyes. She had a pretty face that was framed by strands of her fringe. Her hair was tied up neatly and was greying at her temples.

Rin frowned and struggled to speak. "Who are you?" she asked weakly.

"My name is Oyasu," said the lady. "You're in the home of my husband and me." As if sensing the unspoken questions that Rin conveyed with her eyes, the lady continued, "The man who brought you here is out looking for herbs. Don't worry, he will be back soon."

When Rin looked visibly satisfied, Oyasu gently smoothed the covers of the futon over her and brushed the hair from her face. "You should rest more," she said.

Rin nodded faintly, feeling her body relaxing and the pain subsiding. She closed her eyes and drifted into unconsciousness again.

…

…

The sun was high in the sky and the crickets were chirping nearby. The water in the stream gurgled softly as it made its way down. Not too far away, Sesshoumaru was busy looking through the various different bushes for a particular herb. His mind was playing back what happened just hours before.

Even before he reached the village, he could detect the smell of death in the air. There was the smell of blood and rotting flesh. He frowned as he contemplated the wisdom of carrying on. But what choice did he have?

It took him no more than a minute or two to reach his destination. But the sight before him was far from encouraging. The village was a sad spectacle of a ghost town. The smell of rotting flesh was immense and Sesshoumaru covered his nose for a moment, frowning as he tried to think of what to do next.

At that moment, Sesshoumaru saw two men immerging from a hut, carrying a body on a stretcher. He took off and landed in front of them.

"Kisama, where is your doctor?" he said them, his tone impatient and intimidating. (kisama: a crude and very rude/degrading form of the word, 'you'.)

The two men stopped in their tracks, trembling as they recognised the being before them to be powerful youkai. The stretcher crashed to the ground, forgotten as they cowered before Sesshoumaru.

"Onegai, spare our lives!" they pleaded desperately. "The village doctors are dead," they said. "Everyone's been killed by the plague. We're just helping to bury the bodies. At least let us do that before we die too." (onegai: please)

Of course, this was not the kind of answer that Sesshoumaru expected.

"Is there no one here with medical abilities?" he demanded irritably.

The men trembled from his words before one of them spoke up. "There is a woman in the mountains not far from here," he said, pointing to the mountainous area in the distance. "Many people say she's a witch and does unspeakable things. But she may be able to help you."

…

It didn't take long for Sesshoumaru to find the house of this so-called "witch". It was a surprisingly pleasant looking hut with a garden of herbs just beside it.

"If there is anyone of medical knowledge residing here, come out and make yourself known, before this Sesshoumaru destroys this residence."

"Urusai dayo," said a woman's voice from inside the hut. "What do you want?" (urusai: noisy)

"There's a girl here who needs your attention immediately. She is very ill."

Sesshoumaru clenched his jaw, hoping that he would not need to resort to begging of any sort. He frowned and waited in silence, shifting Rin slightly on his shoulder and wrapping his arm around her in an instinctively protective gesture.

His expression eased when he saw a woman coming out from behind the bamboo-draped covering of the doorway. She looked nothing like a witch, in his opinion. She was dressed decently in a plain kimono and wore an apron. Her hair was tied back neatly and light was bouncing off the silver strands in her hair as she walked out to greet him.

She walked right up to him, oblivious of his presence or his youkai aura.

"This is the girl?" she asked, walking behind him and putting a hand to Rin's face. She drew back her hand in an instant, her face a mask of shock and worry. She then looked up at Sesshoumaru and said sternly, "Bring her inside, quickly." And then she turned around and hurried back to the hut.

Wordlessly, he followed her. She held open the doorway for him to pass through and instructed him where to lay Rin. She then wasted no time getting to work, getting water and clean towels.

"This girl is in critical condition," she said as she rinsed the towels and wiped Rin's face and arms.

"She has the disease that's been killing the villagers all around. They call it shounoki, the soul-eating disease," she explained, dabbing the towel on Rin's face.

"It only affects certain people and only those who have a strong will to live are able to survive. It starts out like a normal fever, but the temperature goes up beyond normal ranges. And that's only the beginning.

"The pain is unbearable and is said to be worse than death itself at the final stage. Many have pleaded for a quick death so that they wouldn't have to suffer so much. There is also no cure."

Sesshoumaru watched helplessly, the woman's words sinking into his brain like a hot poker on bared flesh.

"There is no cure… the pain is unbearable… worse than death itself…"

Rin stirred slightly in her sleep, making soft sounds of discomfort. The lady paused a while and sighed. "Such a pity. She's so young," she said to herself, shaking her head before getting up and starting a fire.

"Is there nothing you can do to save her?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Didn't you hear me? I said that there's no cure. I make her a serum that might help her pull through, but it needs a lot of rare herbs.

"My husband will only be back in the evening so he'll only be able to look for them tomorrow and it may be too late by then. Other than that, I can only give her a special herbal tea to help ease the pain."

Sesshoumaru thought for a moment. There wasn't much he could do, except…

"Tell me what the herbs are. I will get them by nightfall."

The woman looked at him thoughtfully and Sesshoumaru felt as if he was being scrutinised from head to toe by those sharp, knowledgeable eyes of hers. He regarded her with his usual deadpan expression, his face revealing nothing. But she relented and took out a dried piece of animal skin and a writing brush.

While waiting, Sesshoumaru walked over to where Rin lay. Her gorgeous black hair splayed out over the pillow and her pale skin was covered with a light sheen of perspiration. She murmured quietly in her sleep, words that made his heart ache, "Sesshoumaru-sama, come back for Rin."

He knelt beside her, watching her agonised face and listening to the rhythmic beat of her heart, as if to assure himself that her life force was still strong.

"Here," said the woman, handing the parchment to Sesshoumaru as he rose to stand. "I've written for you a list of the herbs needed. There are seven that you must get and they won't be easy to find. But I trust you will be able to do it," she said.

With the parchment and his task at hand, Sesshoumaru proceeded out of the hut, but the woman chose that moment to announce her thoughts.

"You're a Taiyoukai, aren't you?" she said with her back towards him. He didn't answer and continued to walk instead.

"I'd ask what you're doing with a normal human girl, but I suppose it's none of my business."

He continued walking.

"Well, all I have to say is this. If this girl means anything to you, you'd better hurry," said Oyasu, but Sesshoumaru was already gone by the time she turned around.

…

And now he had just three more herbs to find. He gazed up towards the sky, estimating how much time he had left.

Rin… wait for me.

…

…

It was just after sundown when Sesshoumaru appeared at the doorway of the hut, the seven herbs clutched in his hand. Oyasu immediately started preparing them, pounding them in a stone bowl.

"There's nothing else you can do but wait," she told Sesshoumaru. "It could be days before anything happens."

Sesshoumaru simply turned and walked out of the hut, finding a spot under a tree nearby to rest. Despite his outward display of the utmost calm and serenity, he was raging inside. Why was there nothing else that could help Rin? He demanded mentally, damning the lady even though he knew things might be much worse without her. He didn't even know who or what she was, but what did it matter? She was just a human. In this case, she was just a means to an end. He mentally deliberated what he would do if Rin didn't survive. Kill the lady? Probably. There would be no excuse for her inefficiency.

If only Rin was a youkai! Then she would not have to suffer from life-threatening illnesses like these. That thought alone made him more determined than ever to find this Buryusou. He gazed up into the night sky.

But what if Rin doesn't make it?

Admittedly, Sesshoumaru did not want to think along those lines. But he had to be prepared. He could use Tenseiga to raise her, couldn't he? He had resurrected her once before.

"… it is a soul-eating disease…"

Sesshoumaru remembered what the lady had said. And he knew, despite his adamant objections, that Tenseiga could not bring Rin back to life if she had no soul. Her body would be alive, but her soul would be lost forever. She would be just a mere shell of what she used to be.

The thought of never seeing her again, her adoring smiles and chirpy voice, or even her silly little songs, made his heart constrict. He felt an unfamiliar ache in his chest, a desperate need to do something, a frustration beyond understanding of how helpless he was to help Rin, no matter how strong or powerful he was.

…

"Excuse me, sir…?" came a male voice to his side. "I brought some food for you, in case you're hungry."

Sesshoumaru merely gave the man a side glance before answering, "I don't need it."

And the moment he spoke those words, Sesshoumaru was reminded of the time when he was gravely wounded and Rin, still unable to speak from her emotional trauma, tried to provide him with daily meals as best as she could.

"Souka," said the man. "Well I'll just eat my dinner here with you then, since my wife is busy tending to your girl. (souka: I see)

"She gets rather carried away with these things, my wife," explained the man as he dug into his meal.

Sesshoumaru had no interest whatsoever in carrying on any sort of conversation with a human. Especially not with a human who did not recognise his power.

"I heard from my wife that you're a Taiyoukai. How did you get here? And who's the girl?"

"It's none of your business."

The man looked uncertainly at Sesshoumaru for a moment, and then he said, "You must be really strong. But the way you're treating the girl gives me some feeling of safety, I suppose.

"In any case, I am Shimizu Shinkei and my wife is Oyasu. You must have heard from the villagers that she's some kind of witch, I presume?"

No answer.

"Well she's not actually a witch. I think you can tell by now," Shinkei rambled on. "It's just that her mother was a hanyou and was accused of using unnatural methods to heal people. She was driven into the mountains by the villagers.

"Her mother's long gone by now, but the rumours have lingered. Oyasu has learned a great many skills from her mother though. She's a talented healer and she helps whenever she can, but she can be rather cold sometimes due to the way the villagers treated her and her mother in the past."

Shinkei looked at Sesshoumaru, whose profile was illuminated by the moonlight.

"I guess you really detest talking to humans huh? Most powerful youkai are like that. I suppose that's why Oyasu adored her grandfather so much because he was kinder to them than humans were.

"Mah, I just thought you'd like to talk to get your mind off things. Gochisou-sama," said Shinkei, having finished his dinner. He stood up and walked back to the hut, carrying his plate with him. (gochisou-sama: an expression indicating that one has finished eating)

Sesshoumaru remained seated in silence long after Shinkei left, the food on the plate beside him getting cold.

A youkai treating humans with more kindness than other humans? The notion was absurd. And yet it was true. He wondered how that was possible.

Chichiue… what did you see in InuYasha's mother? (chichiue: father)

And what did that man mean by, "get your mind off things"? Was Rin getting worse? But he had gotten the herbs needed to aid her recovery, hadn't he? Many hours had passed and Oyasu should have given her the serum by now. Sesshoumaru had a silent, desperate hope that it was working. He didn't want to imagine otherwise.

He stared fixedly ahead of him, his frown the only thing revealing the unaccustomed feeling of anxiety that he had.

Rin… hang on… hang on for me.

Author's Notes: OMG I know it's been sooooo long since I've updated x.x;;; I am truly sorry about it. But I've finally found the inspiration and the drive to continue! And we are finally getting into the 'meat and potatoes' of things! Just a few more chapters till completion, I promise!

Thank you all for your support. The continuous stream of reviews even after I stopped writing has been really touching. Some of your reviews were really meaningful and I felt happy that some of you understood the things I was trying to convey, even in my inadequacy.

This chapter was a little rushed. I came up with it in just a day and currently this is still the first draft. But I'm so eager to post it (in my guilt for abandoning my fanfic for so long ) that I will just edit it later.

Having stopped writing for a while (besides for research essays), my style might have changed a little. For this I am sorry. I don't know if it's for better or for worse, but I hope I am still able to maintain the standard of the story (no matter how pathetic romances are x.x). This chapter is more eventful than the others, thankfully. I mean, don't you get bored with too much of this erm… insights into Sesshy's thoughts? It's stressful to write too, yes XD I hope it doesn't sound too much like I'm just rushing through it. How's the pace? Good/bad? Do give me feedback on it.

I also felt that I made Sesshy a tad too erm… how to say… a bit too sensitive in my previous chapters. So I tried to amend that to suit his personality more in this one (it IS extremely hard to phantom what he's like under that cold, hard shell). But not to worry, he'll warm up soon enough :3

And I know I'm rambling, but here's some trivia for you. Oyasu's name was actually supposed to be Iyasu, which means healer. However I thought that Oyasu sounds better. Yasu means calm. Shinkei's name means God's grace. Shounoki doesn't have a meaning though :x I just came up with a name for the disease.