Ribbons Undone

Disclaimer: In which I try to wittily phrase my lack of ownership to the anime/manga series I am using as a basis for this sad tale.

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Prologue

"Can't say I've ever been too fond of beginnings, myself. Messy little things. Give me a good ending any time. You know where you are with an ending." ---The Crone, from Neil Gaiman's The Kindly Ones

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Rin knew very little about anything. Kanna knew everything about nothing. Neither of them knew why the mirror wasn't working.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" the girl shrieked as she madly scrambled away from the pale youkai.

Kanna blinked and furrowed her brow. This wasn't right; the girl's soul should have been pulled past the mirror's surface by now. Yet Rin was unaffected by the spell cast in her reflection.

Rin was screaming louder as she clamored over the rocks and crags on the side of the cliff. Kanna ground her teeth and concentrated harder.

"Your soul," she whispered. "Give it to me."

The mirror did not budge. Its smoky tendrils whipped furiously through the air, only to grab hold of nothing and bring it back to gnash upon within the depths of the glass. Kanna's eyes widened as she watched her prey continue to elude her attack.

This child is mortal, and yet she has no soul, the pale girl realized.

Rin managed to find a sturdy foothold at last and launched herself up the cliff's face. Deftly she leapt from one outcropping to the next, all the while keeping her eyes open for her precious guardian.

There were youkai everywhere. She could feel their bodies slice through the air with her skin. She could hear their flesh pulsating as their bodies jerked in preparation to attack. She could smell the putrid corpses they'd devoured on their breaths. And she could see them getting closer…

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin cried again, desperate. "Please, save me!"

As she reached the top of the cliff and looked onto the plateau, she saw him. Sesshomaru was standing in the distance showing only his profile. The great inuyoukai seemed oblivious to the girl child's screams.

Kanna suddenly materialized in Rin's path. Her soulless eyes were wide and glistening. She parted her pale lips and smiled, showing her rows of needle-like teeth. Then she spoke.

"You are already dead," Kanna hissed to the human girl. And in a wisp of air the little youkai vanished.

Rin tripped on an errant stone in her path and went tumbling forward before skidding to a stop on her knees. Her heart caught in her throat; this was the delay the carrion feeders pursuing her had been waiting for. Still, she got back up and continued to run. If she could only get closer to her guardian, he would see her plight and come to her rescue. He had always rescued her, had always rushed to her aid. But the powerful youkai remained still as stone, appearing to be contemplating his own inner world.

Surely, Rin thought as she felt her heart begin to break, he will still hear me and save me.

"Help me please, Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin begged with tears in her eyes.

It seemed Rin was finally able to catch her guardian's attention with her last plaintive cry. Sesshomaru turned and faced the running girl head-long, and he seemed to assess the situation. His eyes narrowed as he honed in on his prey. Gracefully, he extended his arm out to his side and flicked back his index and middle fingers. An eerie green glow began to radiate from the youkai's hand; Rin felt her spirits lift. Of course Sesshomaru was going to save her. How could she have ever doubted?

Rin held out her arms. Sesshomaru closed his eyes.

With a blinding flash, Sesshomaru's whip of light zipped through the air leaving splashes of blood in its wake. Rin watched in awe as the bodies of her pursuers were hacked to pieces; hunks of smoldering flesh fell from the sky and filled the girl's ears with the gentle thuds of the dismembered parts hitting the ground. Blood sprayed in a hot rain over the dusty earth. Rin wiped the precipitation from her eyes with her sleeve and laughed.

The light whip coursed through the air, thrumming in time with the pulse of its owner. It was beginning to pull back now; Sesshomaru was steadily opening his eyes again. Rin felt a warm rush of relief flood through her body and slowed down her approach. To her horror, she pitched forward into the dirt and was completely powerless to stop it. Her small hands reached underneath her torso to help herself stand up once again. She was met by a tepid wetness under her palms that was quickly beginning to cool under her touch. Rin looked down.

She was lying in a puddle of blood—her own blood she quickly discovered. Rin realized in terror that the light whip must have cut through her body as well. She had gotten caught in the crossfire.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she coughed, rolling limply onto her back. It was getting very cold all of a sudden, and she couldn't feel her arms and legs anymore. Rin rolled her eyes back to look to her guardian in supplication.

The inuyoukai merely stood still and watched the girl die away.

No! Rin screamed in her head. This isn't what happens! He saved me!

Kanna's words mingled amidst Rin's anguished protests. You are already dead, the pale girl mocked.

And as hard as Rin fought, she couldn't deny it. She was dead from the beginning. She had just never realized it. No, that wasn't entirely accurate—she denied it from the beginning, hoping it would become untrue.

Sesshomaru pivoted on his heel and began to walk away. Rin could only watch and say nothing. She was choking steadily on her own blood. As she thrashed helplessly about and died, Rin hated herself for being surprised this could happen.

It was an inevitable fact that she couldn't avoid; one day, she would out-grow her use to Sesshomaru, and he would dispatch of her. But not like this, she hoped desperately, please, not like this…

She could hear the footfalls of his boots as she passed over to the other side.