Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any of the gang.
Tenseiga threw up the barrier to protect its master so swiftly Bassarious had no chance to stop his forward swing with the sword. Sesshomaru had felt the sword react to his being threatened. As the metal of the blade met with the barrier a bolt of electricity wound its way around the blade, racing up Bassarious' arms and exploding, sending him flying through the air with a scream of agony. The power of the blast sent even Jaken rolling through the grass with a yelp. Ishikawa had to shield his eyes from the bright flash, all the while hoping that somehow the inuyoukai lord would not succum to the wound to his belly. Demon or not, the wound was significant.
The acrid smell of singed flesh and hair hung in the air and slowly Ishikawa lowered his arm. To his amazement, Sesshomaru was still kneeling in the grass, his face a grimmace of pain. The blast hadn't sent the dog demon flying! As soon as he was on his feet, Jaken was rushing to his lord's side and nearly faint with relief. Sesshomaru could feel the pulsing of Tenseiga and shot his vassil a look of warning. The sword knew its master was still in need of its protection and so it maintained the barrier, allowing none close enough to touch him. Jaken stopped quickly, gripping his staff and almost making noise of distress.
"Rin."
It was all Sesshomaru said. A statement, a question, all in the girl's name. Ishikawa looked to the inky blackness of the sky and saw Tashi slowly circling overhead...and the girl was not in his talons. Dread hit the dragon demon lord in the belly. Tashi would never dream of dropping Lady Rin. Ishikawa's eyes went to each dragon in turn, hoping to see the girl safely riding on the back of one of them but she was nowhere to be seen. If anything had happened to Rin, he knew it would be his life. Ishikawa looked to Sesshomaru as both of them lifted their eyes to the skies overhead. He had not failed the Lord of the Western Lands. He had seen to it that Rin had made it safely out of the line of battle. However, if one of his own had allowed harm to come to her it would still fall on his shoulders. He started to speak when Jaken jabbed his staff towards the heavens. Using Toukijin as a crutch, Sesshomaru rose to his feet, his eyes scanning the circling dragons.
"Me lord, look! Ah-Un!"
The demon lords followed the direction of Jaken's staff and saw the two headed dragon slowly decending towards them. The bright red blaze of Rin's kimono stood out against the creature's green skin. Ishikawa saw Sesshomaru's grip on Toukijin tighten til his knuckles were white. The girl lay sprawled across Ah-Un's back, the curtain of her hair streaming over its haunches. Was it possible that somehow Tashi had dropped the girl and she had, indeed, plummeted to her death? Ah-Un landed gently and made its way towards its lord, one head constantly glancing back at the still form and seeming to whine. Only when it stood before Lord Sesshomaru did Ah-Un kneel down, both heads looking at its lord mournfully. Slowly, Sesshomaru sheated Toukijin and Ishikawa was thankful to see the deadly blade put away. Jaken, not daring to speak or else face his lord's wrath, watched as the dog demon lord stepped closer to Ah-Un and gently lifted the creature's small burden.
For a moment it was like deja vu for Jaken, seeing the human girl cradled to his lord. Tenseiga, however, had ceased to pulse and was silent. Sesshomaru watched Rin's peaceful face, already able to feel her heartbeat as he held her to his chest. She was alive. Her weight pressed against the wound to his belly but Sesshomaru was not about to let her go. As precious as Rin had been to him before they had mated, she had become something far more precious than life itself to him after.
"Rin, open your eyes." he said softly, carefully brushing her hair from her face.
The sound of her lord's voice seemed to pull Rin from the darkness. Her brow wrinkled as her eyes slowly opened. Was she dead? Had she fallen to her death and was now reunited with her Lord Sesshomaru in the afterlife? Seeing those familiar amber eyes, the crescent moon between them and the slashes of deep purple beneath those eyes, Rin felt butterflies in her stomach. Her hand shook as she reached up slowly to touch him, not daring to believe it wasn't a dream and that she would wake to find herself alone, her body badly broken in the middle of a smoldering field. The tips of her fingers softly stroked the markings on her lord's cheeks and she inhaled sharply.
"Are we living or are we dead, my lord?" she whispered hoarsely, her avid eyes scanning his face and taking in every detail.
"We live, Rin." Sesshomaru answered as he gently cradled the back of her head in his hand.
Rin's shakey joyful laugh was the sweetest sound he had ever heard. Sesshomaru cared nothing of others watching them as her mouth covered his. She was his and he was going to let it be known to one and all. Damn the consequences and most assuredly be damned with any who may disapprove. Ishikawa merely grinned and nodded his silent approval while Jaken could only gape at his lord in shock. With the great hall devoid of occupants and the ruins of the building now smoldering, Ishikawa signaled for his people to depart. Then his sharp eyes caught sight of two forms lurking off in the distance, seeming to watch the goings on but making no steps to interfere.
"It would seem we are not alone." he murmured, a hand on the hilt of his own sword as he stepped forward to place himself between the newcomers and the injured dog demon lord.
Slowly the figures approached, neither of them speaking as they came to stand above Bassarious' still form. Sesshomaru set Rin behind him, catching the scent of demon. No doubt, Bassarious' hired assassins. Jaken immediately took his place at his lord's side, his staff before him. Sesshomaru's injury was obvious to anyone who looked at him and most demons would have taken full advantage of another demon's weakened state. These two, however, seemed to have no interest in the inuyoukai whatsoever. One of them cocked its head and glanced at those around it. Only when the demon's eyes found Rin did the creature seem to almost smile and look genuinely pleased.
"Lord Sesshomaru, if you would please." it spoke, its voice carrying a soft hypnotic hiss.
At his side, Sesshomaru felt Tenseiga pulse. Upon gripping the sword Sesshomaru could see the messengers of death gathering around Bassarious. These demons wished him to revive his enemy? For what purpose? Again Tenseiga pulsed. He would prefer to leave the bastard where he lay for large birds to feed upon. This time Tenseiga pulsed fiercely, as if demanding to be heard and obeyed and Sesshomaru did as the sword bid, obliterating the messengers and restoring life to the human's body. He had loathed to do it but something told him it would be to his benefit to do so.
"Be gone from this place, Lord Sesshomaru. We have no further quarrel with you or your mate." the larger of the two demons spoke, watching as his companion knelt over Bassarious.
"I'm not his m--"
"You would be well advised to remain away from her," Sesshomaru replied, cutting Rin off as she spoke, "You may still pass through the Western Lands but remember my warning. Any harm comes to her and the suspicion will fall at your feet."
Rin could only look at her lord in amazement. He hadn't let her finish...but why? Did he not want it clearly stated that she wasn't his mate? He had never openly said she was such and she knew her lord despised it when others assumed things of him. Sesshomaru glanced down at her only briefly before looking to the demons who were now dragging a weaklimbed Bassarious to his feet. There it was. That look on Rin's face that often came when he did something that perplexed her. Her eyes asked the question before her lips ever spoke it.
"Why, my lord?"
She need not clarify what she meant. Sesshomaru knew the question before she even asked it of him.
"Because I will not have you denying that which is fact, Rin. You have never lied to me before and so I will think you won't lie to me now. Are you my mate, yes or no?" he asked of her, his eyes refusing to meet hers, knowing his gaze would only intimidate and she might give him the answer she felt he wanted to hear.
Rin's eyes lingered on her lord before she glanced at Ishikawa. If she answered yes, she would shame her lord before his fellow demons and yet he had said it was a fact that she was his mate. To say No would be to deny what she knew in her heart to be the truth not to mention a bold faced lie to Sesshomaru and she had never lied to him. Only when Jaken nudged her with his staff and give her a pointed look did Rin finally answer, her voice shaking yet definate.
"I am your mate, my lord."
"Well its about damn time you said what we've all known!" Ishikawa replied dryly.
"A h-human and a demon, together," Bassarious wheezed, his tone mocking and filled with malice, "You both will be rejected by your own for such a fool thing. A poison to your own bloodlines."
"If my own people will reject me for this choice then they are not my people. Those who love me and accept me will not shun me for loving a demon. Just as I do not shun them for their mates. It matters nothing to me what my lord is. Only that he accepts me." Rin responded, her own voice as calm and rational as ever.
Sesshomaru nodded at Rin's words which so echoed his own thoughts. Humans had shunned him all his life because he was a demon. Rin was the first who accepted him as he was and never made the attempt to change him. And yet, she had changed him. She broke through that wall he had built around himself, she had managed to make him smile in genuine pleasure and she had given him a true sense of purpose. Her unwavering faith in him had given Sesshomaru something that could not be defined, that had no borders or limits.
"Mark my words, Rin, you will start a war with this choice. Humans will see it as an abomination and demons will think it a pollution to their race. Your offspring--"
"Our offspring will learn how to exist between the two races from InuYasha. He has walked that path all of his life and can teach our children the way. I will not allow my children to feel shame for what they are, Bassarious. Least of all from those who think themselves above judgement!" Rin snapped.
The taller demon whose voice carried such a hypnotic and powerful tone to it smiled, "The human lord is too foolish to comprehend such things, Lady Rin. The days of pure bloods is fading from existance. Through the mixing of human and demon bloodlines we have found a new being who is far more powerful than one race or the other. This...InuYasha you speak of. We have kept a close eye on that particular speciman."
"Is it that halfdemon brother of mine that interests you or perhaps it is the sword he carries?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Both." the demon answered bluntly. "When the human fool, here, came to ask my help to start his foolish war, we were already observing InuYasha, the human girl and you, Lord Sesshomaru. So his request did not interfere with our goings on. There was a bit of confusion, however, when it was mistakenly believed the Northern Lord wanted your mate dead. I have long suspected she was trully yours, Lord Sesshomaru. The words you did not speak were confirmed by your own actions. As for your brother's sword, it is the weapon' destructive powers we wish to study."
"So why were you following myself and Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin boldly inquired, earning a scolding look from Jaken.
Again the large demon smiled, "You two are...an enigma. The inuyoukai lord who has hated humans for as long as we can recall travelling and keeping with him a girl from that very race. And a young mortal girl who willingly and freely travels with perhaps one of the most feared demon lords. It has longed puzzled us all."
"Its revolting is what it is!" Bassarious rasped, his eyes burning a hole into Rin.
"And how would a thing such as yourself measure that, mortal?" Ishikawa snapped.
"I was going to start the war that would put things such as you into the pages of fable and history! You prey on mortals, thinking yourselves to be the true and fit rulers simply because of brute strength and birth right!"
"You mean to say your race has done so much better in its choice of rulers? Have your lords not been chosen in the same manner, mortal? You cast the stone which is tied around your own neck and bringing you down under its weight. Both races exist so that there might be a balance in the world. Not all demons are evil, not all humans are good and the same goes the other way. Not all demons are good, not all humans are evil. Open your eyes, human. Without us demons to fight? Who would humor you and have your little battles?" Sesshomaru hissed, feeling the pain in his belly threatening to send him to his knees once again.
"One day...when you least expect it, dog, I will come for you. Be it this life or the next, I will hunt you down and no sword nor fang will be able to protect you. I will die before you but so help me, I will haunt you!" Bassarious raged as the taller demon settled its large hand on his shoulder.
The human's tirade continued on even as he was led away. His vows of vengence ringing in the eerie stillness of the night air. In truth, he sounded half-mad with rage. Rin could only shake her head in sadness. If only Bassarious had trully been the man he pretended to be. Humans were just as deceitful and greedy as any demon. Perhaps...even more so.