Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any of its characters.
Rin tightened her grip on Ah-Un's reins. Behind her she could feel Kagome shifting in the saddle as the silent brothers walked a short distance ahead of them. That morning things had been tense. Kagome and InuYasha barely spoke and Sesshomaru had been his usual silent self. Even Rin had not had much to say. Her mind was too clouded with thoughts of what kind of a price she might have to pay should she ever follow in Kagome's footsteps. Her friend had no idea the sacrifice she would be making in order to stay by InuYasha's side forever and Rin felt all the worse for not telling her.
Kagome didn't care what the price was. She had already sacrificed her modern era family to stay with InuYasha. Nothing could possibly harder to give up than that. She had followed her heart and this was were it had led her to. As much as she missed Mom, Gramps and Sota, she had begun to feel like less and less a part of those times. All the girlish talk of boys had bored her when she was a teenager. Once she had met InuYasha, there was no other boy to her. Her mother knew. In fact, her mother seemed to actually like InuYasha. Of course Sota had worshipped the hanyou, seeing him as his newest hero to idolize. They all had graciously accepted Kagome's decision to remain in fuedal Japan with InuYasha, telling her so long as she followed her heart then she was making the right choice.
"Kagome?"
"Hmmm?"
"Have you...uh...have you given any thought to what price you might be asked to pay in exchange for this elixir?" Rin asked softly, twisting the leather reins tight around her fingers.
"Not really. Whatever it is, I'll be glad to pay it. If its my sacred arrows, so be it. Its not like I can't get more of them. Right now, my biggest fear is the price InuYasha could be asked to pay. He dared to ask me what I would want him to do if he was told he had to give up the Tensuseiga!" Kagome replied, her voice becoming clipped.
"He can't give up that sword! That was given to him by his father! And...and besides, it is used to protect the race of men. No one else can wield it but him."
"Thank you! At least you are reasonable, Rin. InuYasha seems to have it in his head that he owes it to me to do whatever he has to so I get that elixir! On top of all those reasons you mentioned, there is also the fact that Tensuseiga is what keeps his demon blood in check when he is hurt and near the point of death. You can't make that stubborn guy understand a word of it!"
A long silence followed before Rin dared speak again.
"Kagome, what if you have to give up something you can't touch or see or really...even feel?"
"Huh! What on earth could it be? I mean if I can't do any of those things with whatever it is, I won't miss it all that much now will I? As I have said, Rin, so long as I can stay by InuYasha's side and be there to watch his back, that is all I trully want."
Rin fell silent as she felt Lord Sesshomaru's eyes on her, warning her to hold her tongue before she said too much. With a heavy sigh she bowed her head. The choice was Kagome's to make and she should do nothing to influence her decision one way or the other. The journey continued on uneventfully with the acception of InuYasha and Sesshomaru's occasional verbal exchanges. Time had softened the hatred between the brothers from a blaytant and violent hostility to more like...heated loathing. To see them working together was unusual to say the least. Rin dreaded the idea of what would become of them in the future. Though she longed to badger Kagome more of when the scrolls in her time stopped mentioning demons, a part of her didn't want to know. It was awful enough just knowing it was coming.
"I still say humans being so attached to demons is not natural!" Jaken grumbled as he walked along side Ah-Un.
"Lets not forget, Master Jaken, that Lord Sesshomaru's father had a very deep effection for Lady Izayoi. So it can go both ways. One cannot help who and when they will love." Rin said with a weak smile.
"Seems to be a family trait." Kagome quipped.
"More like a sickness in the blood!" Jaken retorted with a snort.
With that a squabble erupted between Kagome and the vassil which Rin was only too happy to stay out of. She and Jaken had already had their fair share of heated discussions on the subject of humans and demons being together. Jaken would emphasize a point by jabbing the Staff of Two Heads at the mortal girl while Kagome would jab and wave a sacred arrow about as she went into an eloquent speech on the pros of such unions. Although Jaken tolerated Lord Sesshomaru and Rin's being mates, he could hardly understand the point of a halfdemon and a mortal being together. Just further polluting the bloodline in his eyes.
"If you two are quite finished.." Sesshomaru spoke up, not even turning to look at the pair.
"Stupid toad."
"Stupid girl."
"HEY! Ying and Yang! If you bothered to put as much effort into noticing our surroundings as you did to fighting, you'd realize we have arrived!" InuYasha growled, his hand already resting on Tetsusaiga's hilt.
Rin could hardly believe it. Their journey had taken less than four hours...and she knew this place. She and Lord Sesshomaru had passed in hundreds of times in their comings and goings from the Western Lands. A shrine that had fallen into disrepair, its walls pitted with holes and scarred with long cracks. The once beautifully adorned roof was now nothing but bared timbers where birds had made nests. An aura of sadness seemed to linger around the grounds where even grass seemed hesitant to grow. Rin and Kagome slidded from Ah-Un's back and slowly they made their ways to Sesshomaru and InuYasha's sides.
"Hey, Sesshomaru, I thought this place was supposed to be heavily guarded. Looks more like an abandon shrine than a place housing some powerful elixir." InuYasha sniffed.
"Appearances can be deceiving, little brother."
Rin saw the massive stone she used to play on when she and Lord Sesshomaru would come by here. How strange it always seemed to be in a different place each time they passed. Even now its position had changed since they last journeyed here. Since their business here really had no bearing on her, Rin chose to lean against the familiar and comfortable stone. Suddenly Sesshomaru's eyes darted to hers with a look of warning.
"Rin. Move."
Instantly Rin did as she was told, scrambling madly away from the bolder as she saw Tokijin leaving its sheath. Ah-Un moved without hesitation and took flight as Rin jumped on its back. In the blink of an eye InuYasha had Tetsuseiga drawn and Kagome had knotched a sacred arrow, ready to do battle with whatever had caught Sesshomaru's attention. Rin's mouth fell open as the rock she had been resting on seemed to erupt from the ground. Her heart lept into her throat as recognized the massive form of an ogre took shape from the stone. Kagome's arrows would be useless. They could never penetrate rock!
"Well well well...the great Lord Sesshomaru has come and this time he brings family. Have you come to return what is rightfully mine, thieving dog?"
"I have no business with you, demon. It was not my desire to seek you out. As for theft? Let us not travel that road. I merely escorted those here who would have otherwise not found the way." Sesshomaru responded tightly.
"Why would I wish to help those who travel with a thief?" the ogre seethed, its forming towering over that of the inuyoukai lord, "Because they come with you the price shall indeed be a great one for them!"
Jaken could only stand transfixed at the sight of the ogre. If his lord took his true form he might stand a chance against the beast. Otherwise, the fight would be over in seconds and they all would be dead. Ah-Un landed near the quaking vassil and Rin lept from its back, rushing for Sesshomaru blindly. Jaken began shouting for her to stop and come back but Rin heard nothing. She only saw her mate standing before a foe who could destroy him with the flick of a wrist!
"Oh just great! Guilt by association now! What the hell did you take from this thing, Sesshomaru!" InuYasha demanded, keeping Tetsuseiga levelled at the ogre.
"What I took from you was not yours to begin with, demon. How quickly you seem to forget that fact. Rin, stop. Come no closer." Sesshomaru ordered, his eyes not once flickering from the ogre before him as he gave his order.
This time it wasn't so easy for Rin to do as she was told. A small whimper escaped her throat as she was finally able to stop her forward flight. Kagome, thinking of her defenseless friend's safety, put herself between Rin and the ogre, her arrow carefully aimed at the creature's heart. Big started to define the size of the ogre and even Kagome was doubting her arrows ability to bring down the thing.
"So which of them is it, dog? Hmm! Which of them is after the elixir? The bold creature with the bow?"
"Yeah, I'm the one who wants it. Now quit your bickering with Sesshomaru and tell me what it is I'm going to have to pay you for the stuff!" Kagome shouted, her chin in the air.
"Oh you'll pay a price all right, little girl, but HE," the ogre chuckled, jabbing a finger at Sesshomaru, "is going to pay the biggest price of all!"
Sesshomaru quirked an eyebrow. This was not the development he had anticipated. He would hardly classify himself as one of Kagome's "loved ones" so why had the ogre decided he must pay the forfeit? He could already guess what the ogre was wanting as payment. The damn creature knew he would never surrender anything for this girl. Already InuYasha was glaring at him and growling, almost telling him he better pay up or shut up.
"My lord..please? Whatever it is, just give it back. For Kagome?" Rin pleaded softly, still frozen in place.
"Return the Demon's Dagger, dog, and the girl can have the elixir."
"Tell her the price she is going to have to pay herself, demon."
"I don't care what it is, Sesshomaru! Just give him the dagger!" Kagome said, her voice shaking almost as badly as her arms.
"Tell her the price!" the inuyoukai lord demanded harshly.
"Its simple, priestess," the ogre grinned as Kagome jolted at the title, "Give up your powers as a priestess and you will gain the full power of the elixir. Struggle to maintain your powers and you will find that good and pure heart of yours tainted. You will be little better than an animal, hunting and harming those you once loved and protected."
"M-my powers?"
So that was what Rin had meant. Kagome's eyes went to her friend, whose face was written with guilt. Rin had known the price...and if Rin had known she must have found out from...Sesshomaru. Kagome lowered the bow and arrow as she swallowed. If she gave up her powers she would no longer have her sacred arrows. She could no longer fight by InuYasha's side. She could no longer protect her mate as he protected her. Kagome watched as Sesshomaru slowly removed the dagger from a hiding place within his armor. So long as the weapon was in Sesshomaru's hands, Kagome had some security knowing the dagger wasn't in other demons hands, waiting to find its way into InuYasha's heart. As much as Sesshomaru and InuYasha may hate each other, they could not kill one another. Swiftly, Kagome brought up the bow and arrow once more, her jaw clenched.
"Don't give it to him, Sesshomaru!"
"Kagome! Are you nuts! This is your chance to be immortal!" InuYasha roared.
"Whether you get the elixir or not, I will have the dagger back! I told you, dog, one day you would have to come crawling to me and I was right! Only you can help the girl. Not her beloved hanyou, not her friend. Just you. The dog demon lord who despises humans."
"I mean it, Sesshomaru! Don't give it to him!" Kagome shouted, almost screaming now, "If you give the dagger to him he'll just use it to finish off you and InuYasha!"
"Hmph! He can try it!" the hanyou snorted.
"What will you do, dog? You can either die trying to keep the dagger or die by the dagger itself." the ogre spat.
"I care nothing if you give the girl the elixir or not, demon. I suggest you find another price and not from me." Sesshomaru shrugged nonchalantly.
With that everything seemed to explode. There was no warning. The ogre's massive hand shot out, slapping Kagome with a powerful blow that sent her tumbling. InuYasha reacted almost instantly and went for the thing with the Wind Scar. He barely had a chance to get the attack off before he, too, was sent sprawling through the grass from a stone fist slamming into his side. Tetsuseiga's attack disappaited without trully having a chance to take form. Rin screamed in horror as she watched her friends sail through the air like paper dolls. As she ran for Kagome, she could hear Jaken screaming again and the grass surrounding her and her fallen friend was suddenly ablaze. Rin covered Kagome, shielding her from the flames, before she looked to the vassil to ask why he had done such a thing. The answer became clear. The ogre's hand had been descending on Rin! The thing had meant to snatch her up but Jaken had been able to block the hapless girls from the demon's grasp. Her grateful smile soon vanished, however, as she saw the ogre was now going after Lord Sesshomaru.
"Get down, stupid!" InuYasha shouted, staggering to his feet and raising the Tetsuseiga once more.
"Fool." Sesshomaru smirked at the ogre as he prepared to throw the Demon's Dagger.
Then, from the corner of his eye, the inuyoukai lord saw something. The two demons. The ones who had been following him and InuYasha since his battle with the Northern Lord. It was that split second of hesitation that the demon ogre needed. With all the strength in its stone body, the creature brought down its massive fist. The air filled with dirt, grass and debris as the ground shook with the power of the strike. The earth split, opening a chasm that threatened to swallow the fragile shrine. Rin and InuYasha saw the ogre's hand, now buried to its wrist in the ground. No sign on the Lord of Western Lands could be seen. Huddled in her friend's arms, Kagome felt her throat tighten.
"Please...please, Tenseiga..." Rin murmured frantically, nearly choking on the smoke of the now only smoldering grass.
"It will have protected him, Rin. I know it will. It always has and it won't let him down now. You'll see!" Kagome assured her.
InuYasha could hardly believe it when he felt a sense of loss. The ogre slowly pulled its hand from the destroyed ground and grinned, flexing its fingers as it did so. The hanyou wanted to believe his elder brother had escaped harm but then he saw the familiar purple and yellow sash from Sesshomaru's waist, tangled in the ogre's stone skin. InuYasha's grip on Tetsuseiga tightened as he heard Rin's heartwrenching scream. Yes, he and Sesshomaru may not have gotten along nor seen eye-to-eye but down to the blood, they were still brothers. As Rin screamed again, InuYasha realized she was screaming something to him!
"Find the dagger! Find the dagger before it does!"
The hanyou nodded. In order to get close enough to the crater, InuYasha knew he would have to drive the ogre back. Again he raised the Tetsuseiga struck. The ogre lept back, its face stretched by a disgusting and wicked leer. InuYasha moved quickly, leaping into the damaged earth and searching for the weapon. He had hardly any time to glance about before he could hear Kagome shouting and Rin screaming from above. The sharp whistle of a sacred arrow splitting the air sounded followed by a grunt from the ogre. Kagome had bought him a few more minutes to search! There was no sign of his brother's broken body and for that, InuYasha was grateful. The scent of blood always did make him ill.
"InuYASHA! I could use some help up here! NOW!" Kagome shouted impatiently, knotching another arrow and taking careful aim at the ogre's midsection.
Ready to give up the hunt, InuYasha turned to climb from the hole when he caught a flash of white bone in the dark earth. With a triumphant smirk he yanked the Demon's Dagger from the dirt and sprang up to find the ogre lumbering towards the girls. Jaken was doing his best to hold off the beast, waving his staff and unleashing its blazing fire. The ogre hardly seemed to notice the tiny vassil or his weapon. Once more InuYasha went after the ogre with Tetsusaiga. The demon turned on the hanyou and again Tetsuseiga struck, staggering the ogre long enough for InuYasha to throw the Demon's Dagger to Kagome.
"Tie it to an arrow and use it! Bring the damn thing down but DO NOT kill it!" he shouted, slashing at the ogre with his sword as hard and fast as he could. He couldn't afford to use the Wind Scar on the damn thing, he realized that now. If he did, they might never find out just where in the shrine the elixir was kept.
The ogre roared at the sight of its property in the human girl's hands. Kagome quickly and carefully secured the hilt of the dagger to a sacred arrow, the sharp side of the blade facing outwards. She nodded at InuYasha's words, aiming for the ogre's thigh and muttering.
"Hit the mark, please."
The arrow split the air with a high pitched whistle and the blade sliced cleanly into the stoney skin of the ogre's thigh. The weapon, combined with the sacred arrow, inflicted a deep wound and brought the ogre down on one knee. Rin dashed after the arrow and dagger as Kagome covered her. When InuYasha came at the ogre again, the creature swatted him away and then began to reach for Rin. InuYasha and Kagome both shouted a warning as they raised their weapons in unison. Rin grabbed hold of the fallen arrow and clutched it to her chest. Her relief was shortlived, however. The ogre's hand snatched hold of her and squeezed violently. The air was pushed from her lungs and her iron grip on the arrow and dagger failed. Kagome threw aside her bow and ran for them, shouting for InuYasha to keep the ogre from squeezing the life from Rin.
Jaken could feel his old instincts kicking in. Nothing must happen to Rin or Lord Sesshomaru would have his head on a stick! Despite the seeming demise of his lord, the vassil would not fail him. Scrambling atop Ah-Un's back, Jaken was soon airborn and circling above the ogre's head. He could see the hole left by the beast's fist. How could his lord have survived such a blow? There was no chance of it. What had caused his lord to hesitate? Fear? Impossible. Lord Sesshomaru feared nothing and no one. Whatever the cost to his own life, Jaken would do what he must to protect Rin.
Kagome dove and slid across the grass, grabbing the arrow and dagger as she rolled. Unfortunately, the ogre spotted her. InuYasha went still. He couldn't attack now. If he did, he risked harming Kagome and Rin. They were all at a standstill. They had the dagger but the ogre had Rin.
"Give me the dagger and I shall give you back your friend...and the elixir. I've already destroyed one of you. Why sacrifice more?"
Kagome backed away slowly as InuYasha retrieved her bow and made his way towards her. What did they do? If they gave up the dagger they had no way of knowing if the demon would keep its word. If they refused, they ran the risk of watching Rin be crushed to death in the its fist. Even now she was growing limp in its grasp. Her eyes pleaded with them not to give up the dagger, to find some other way to gain her freedom and get the elixir.
"What now?" Kagome whispered.
"Normally I'd say just let me kill the bastard but he has Rin! If you throw the dagger we risk either you missing or the demon using Rin as a shield against it. It looks like a draw." InuYasha frowned.
Kagome freed the dagger from the arrow and handed it to InuYasha. She hated having the evil thing so close to her. The ogre smirked and lifted Rin higher, holding her slightly above its head. She watched in disgust as the demon licked its lips. Despite all Rin had seen, she still cared the firm belief that her lord would come for her. Somehow, someway, he was going to come for her and save her.
"So sorry, young one. Your friends down there took too long to make a choice."
The ogre opened its mouth, lifting Rin higher as it tipped its head back. Kagome realized what the demon meant to do. This thing was going to devour her friend! With a wild shout she grabbed her bow from InuYasha's grasped, knotched the arrow and aimed for the roof of the demon's mouth. Rin's legs dangled just above her intended target. She had to be absolutely certain of the shot or she risked wounding Rin.
"Kagome...are you sure you can do it?" InuYasha muttered.
"No room for error, no room for doubt." Kagome replied tightly as she drew back the bowstring and fired.
True to her gifts, Kagome hit the mark. The ogre roared in pain and released its hold on Rin. Unfortunately, it dropped Rin into its mouth. Kagome dropped the bow in horror and InuYasha shouted Rin's name. The ogre stumbled backwards, its mouth still open as it attempted to reach inside and yanked the arrow free. As its hand fell away after a failed attempt to grab the arrow, the two could only watch as the to demon swayed suddenly. Ah-Un, still circling, quickly flew out of the way as the ogre slowly fell over backwards. As the ground shook from the fall, Kagome and InuYasha covered their faces to avoid the flying dust and debris.
"Is it...is it dead?" Kagome coughed, waving at the air around her face.
"If a sacred arrow couldn't kill it, I'm not sure its something even I want to mess with." InuYasha replied as he made his way towards the fallen ogre.
"What about Rin? We have to get her out of this thing. I won't leave her body in there."
"Um...hello? Kagome? InuYasha!"
Kagome jumped in shock and the hanyou's eyes widened. They had to be hearing things! Both stared in shocked at the ogre's mouth. How could a dead ogre talk like Rin!
"Is someone out there! Jaken! My grip on this arrow is starting to fail so if someone wouldn't mind terribly...GETTING UP IN HERE AND HELPING ME OUT!"