Chapter 10: And that was how their tale came to an End.
"She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
- Macbeth's soliloquy, excerpt from William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'.
"You see, he's already half-gone," Naraku hovered behind Kagome and let out a small triumphant smile.
She stood like a thin, strong bamboo, unwavering and deep-rooted as her gray-filled eyes followed the movements of her love.
Sesshoumaru walked around in circles as he followed a very solid-form of Rin who was wearing a pure white yukata with the right panel over her left and her small bare feet decked in straw sandals. Her skin looked so luminous, and under the wane moonlight, her yukata glimmered like precious pearls. There was a white chrysanthemum on her head of long black hair and Rin was smiling, ever so happily as Sesshoumaru continued to talk to her, oblivious to the fact she was no longer alive and human.
Kagome thought that Rin never looked prettier before, and she knew that it was because she could walk beside her lord.
She rested her hand on her slightly swollen belly, and thought of the times that he had smiled like that to her, the way he would tilt his head to her when she spoke, and the warmth in his kisses and embraces.
Rin stole a side glance at the miko and when their eyes met for that instant, she silently snarled like a possessive cat.
Kagome took in a deep breath and closed her eyes while Naraku blew hiside glance at the miko and when their eyes met for that instant, she silently snarled like a possessive cat.
Kagome took in a deep breath and closed her eyes while Naraku blew his question across the back of her neck.
"Have you made up your mind? It's your life or his."
She drew in her lower lip and nodded her head.
: - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - :
"Rin, where are we going?" Sesshoumaru found it slightly comical, now that he was asking the very same question that she used to ask him everytime they left for somewhere. It irked him to no end then, the way she would follow him around like a pathetic stray.
Rin lifted her sweet face and smiled sadly at him, "Sesshoumaru-sama, do you remember the time when I'd cut my knee?"
His question lost to the cold autumn night breeze, he nodded his head, "Ah, you cried so loud then."
She hooked her arm into his like a little concubine but he did not resist; he would give in to his Rin from now on, as much as possible. He had to make up for so much, that he wondered whether one lifetime was enough. And if not, what should he do?
"Don't tease me my lord! Rin was so scared and in pain then... but it is nothing compared to now..."
His eyebrows creased and he stopped in his tracks as he looked down at her with a lost look on his face, "Now...?"
She urged him forward, not wanting to stop their journey and continued, "Hn, Rin is afraid, still afraid..."
"Of what?" He followed her, obediently and willingly. She had fallen off Ah-Un then, scraping her knee against the thick scales on the beast but there were no angry beasts around and she was bigger now.
Her black eyes narrowed slightly, "Why, of losing you my lord. That is Rin's greatest fear..."
Sesshoumaru halted again, this time turning his ward to face him as his frown deepened, "Rin, do not speak of such nonsense. You will not leave me, ever again. Understand?"
Rin looked up, her moistened eyes shimmering ever so softly under the autumn moon, "Really? You will not lie to Rin?"
He merely nodded his head while her questioning gaze stayed.
Rin is so sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin is so sorry...
But something did not seem quite right; it was as if his brain was split into two and only one half was with him now, so Sesshoumaru asked again, "Rin, where are we going?"
She did not answer, and urged him to move forward while she led like a good guide. In circles and circles, smaller and smaller, they would reach their destination, forever bound together in love and pain, under the shackles of sin and hatred.
: - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - :
Kagome fell to her knees, the fallen maple leaves crushed under her weight yet Sesshoumaru could not hear anything. His face was so full of different expressions, changing from one to another that for a moment, she was amazed that he was so relaxed with the dead Rin.
Perhaps he's slowly shedding his guilt and regrets while Rin relives through his presence, she thought sadly and wondered whether Inuyasha would wait for her at the other End if her plan did not work. She thought of the little boats that carried bits of her and him, and wondered again what would the other End look like.
A paradise, perhaps? Would Miroku, Sango, Shippou and Kirara wait for her too?
Kagome shook off the thoughts as Naraku crouched behind her and raised his dagger, his body pressing against hers while he let out a maniacal laugh, "Mine, mine, mine!"
She wanted to vomit, at the physical proximity of their human bodies, but did nothing while she concentrated all her spiritual energies to her hands. Naraku drew himself back and took aim at the back of her left shoulder where he knew the jewel was buried deep within. He had planned this for so long that it almost seemed dream-like now that everything was going to come to a fulfilling end. He could not refrain from smiling as the spidery-scar on his back grew larger and more life-like, darker and redder, spreading to the sides and over his shoulders while he raised the dagger up-
She spun around, caught his wrist by sheer surprise and taking advantage of his strength, pivoted the sharp blade around and drove it deep into his body while she turned her face away and screamed as the pink light from her hands flowed down the dagger.
Kagome could feel warm blood splashing onto her right cheek and he was struggling, ever so hard while she held onto the dagger as tightly as possible. When she turned her face back to Naraku, the dagger was embedded right into his gaping throat and blood, his thick red sticky blood coated her hands like a pair of snug, winter gloves.
It was then she realized that she was a sinner, as much as Sesshoumaru and everyone else.
She had only wanted to injure him, but there was not much time left now for silly childish things like repenting. Leaving Naraku behind as he gurgled and convulsed and twitched uncontrollably, she ran as fast as she could to them but there was now a wind, raised by the Unknown and high and strong and her mind flipped backwards to the time when she had seen the exact same thing.
Only that she was Kikyou and he was Inuyasha.
Her heart was struck with such sudden old pain, that Kagome took a step backwards and breathed heavily, "No... it's not supposed to be like this..."
Sesshoumaru's face was buried into Rin's bosom, as his arms hung loose by the side and hers tightly wrapped around his shoulders. Tears, now that she was going down to her own world, rolled down her death-white cheeks while she looked despondently back at Kagome. Was Kikyou sad too, that she could not withhold her love and hatred for Inuyasha? That no matter how hard she tried, she still wanted to drag Inuyasha down to Hell with her? Did Kikyou spare a thought for Inuyasha and his well-being?
"Rin is sorry, Kagome-sama, Rin is sorry..."
She heard it; loud and clear and her dead voice tinkled in her ears. Kagome snapped out from her wretched reverie and ignoring all the warning bells that rang in her head, dashed for the clearing as the earth started to open up; like the yawning mouth of the dead fish, like the dried-out bottom of the Bone Eater's Well, like the unfilled black pit in her heart-
"No Rin! I can give you something! Tell me, tell me!" Kagome shouted through the howling, angry winds, determined to rescue Sesshoumaru just like she had Inuyasha back then. That was the purpose, why Fate had brought her back, right?
Rin momentarily stopped, the winds calming down a bit yet the hole in the earth did not get smaller, "Something..."
Kagome's eyes were fixed on Sesshoumaru, who was as dead as he could be while Rin pondered like a little girl.
"Yes, Rin, anything! Sesshoumaru, wake up!"
But he did not respond, and half of his lower torso was already buried within the barren, dead mud.
"A life for a life, Kagome. His life for my life..." Rin whispered.
Kagome frowned a little; what was she asking for? And then the answer struck her mind like lightning, and she could no longer could hear the howling of the winds, nor her worry and anxiety that were just hammering in her ears. She pressed her bloodied hand hard against her belly; she could hear the faint heartbeats of her child, fluttering like the wings of a newborn bird.
"I want your son, Kagome, he'll replace Sesshoumaru for me," Rin let out a twisted, crazed smile at the miko.
She never knew that her child was a boy.
Kagome looked down, at her stained miko haori, at the red palm print over her belly and wondered what name Sesshoumaru would give him if he knew. Would he look like his father, would he have her unruly hair? How would his laughter sound like?
"Kagome," Rin's tone was urgent while she clung on to her youkai lord like leech.
The miko looked up, dazedly and smiled at Sesshoumaru, who was sleeping as silently and peacefully as a contented baby.
And she nodded while tears filled up her eyes.
: - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - :
The winds instantly died down and before Kagome blacked out, she saw a genuine, relieved smile on Rin's face who vanished into the morning light, the way stars fade out as the sun rose over the horizon.
When Sesshoumaru found himself, still human and holding onto a lone white chrysanthemum, crushed but still fresh in his right palm, the wheels in his mind started to turn, slowly but surely. The vague remembrance of Rin talking, crying and hugging him came back as he dazedly stared at the very-dead white flower.
Then when he saw Kagome, unconscious on the ground with dried salt trails on her face, he crawled to her as fast as his weak legs could and placed a hand on her hip-
It was wet, and very sticky.
He lifted his hand as quivering lips parted at his horrifically stained palm and things clicked in his head. His Kagome had a miscarriage, Rin had taken his child, and he was the cause of it. Eyes sweeping over her blood-soaked hakamas, which had now turned into a darker, angrier shade of red, he wept at how wrong things had gone and at how both women had suffered for his folly.
And wept, and wept for their unborn child and everything else that would slowly consume him and her, inside out.
Thus it ends, their tale of sound and fury, culminating to nothing but endless emptiness and pain.
I'm sorry for such an ending, but it just seems to me that this would be the eventual way to go. In japanese customs, a deceased person would wear a white kimono, with the right folded over the left, along with sandals and 6 coins in order to cross the river to the otherworld. But I've omitted out the 6 coins since they were not needed for Rin's case; she's already dead.
In asian cultures, white chrysanthemums are adorned on deceased's hair or used as offerings.
And that's all, this is the ending. Don't hate me. All my love goes out to Parsnip (for beta-ing and reading through this like her baby) and those who read this and/or reviewed. :) I love you all!