Tainted Silver
- Chapter 4 -
A/N: Oh the joys of being young…
Rin quietly roamed the halls, a troubled expression grazing her features. Everything was unusually quiet around the castle; both inside and out. Sango and Miroku weren't out of their chambers yet and the boys were still sleeping. Kaede was mixing herbs in her room and Sesshoumaru was sulking in his own room. She softly knocked on one of the many wooden doors in the large castle.
"Kagome-chan?"
"Hai?"
"Can Rin come in?"
"Yes, come in."
Rin quietly turned the knob and walked in, the door closing behind her gently. Kagome patted the seat in front of her vanity mirror and smiled. Rin nodded as she made her way to Kagome and sat down. Kagome softly passed a brush through her hair murmuring compliments.
"Kagome-chan, Rin has a problem."
"A problem?" she asked with genuine concern.
"Rin wants a new father."
Kagome's eyes flew open. She stopped brushing her hair for a second before resuming her activity.
"Who'd you have in mind?" she asked softly.
"Sesshoumaru-sama. He is sweet to Rin and acts as a father to Rin. Rin wants him to be her dad."
"Well then," she spoke, lying the comb down on the dresser, "you should ask him."
Kagome smiled at her tentatively as she picked the young girls hair up into a small pony tail.
"Do you think he would agree to being Rin's dad?"
"Well, yeah! You're such a sweet little girl! I would want to be your mom if I had the chance," she said smiling.
"That would be great!" Rin said, suddenly standing up.
"Sesshoumaru-sama can be Rin's dad and Kagome-chan can be Rin's mom!"
"Now Rin-"
"YES!"
Kagome sighed as the young girl ran out the room.
"I didn't mean I was going to be your mom along with Sesshoumaru-sama," she said to the empty room with a frown.
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"Sesshoumaru-sama! Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Said person groaned as he lifted himself into a sitting position on his bed. The black silk sheets pooled around him as he groggily set his eyes on the door that would open in no less than three seconds.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! You're awake!"
Sesshomaru grunted in response as the young girl closed the door and threw herself onto his bed.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"Rin, please lower your voice."
"Yes Sesshomaru-sama."
Sesshoumaru slowly rubbed his temples trying to get rid of a dull ache that wanted to make its presence more well-known.
"Did you need something Rin?"
The young girl fidgeted on his bed, grabbing his sheets and staring at them with a scowl on her face.
"You have nice sheets Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Rin, please tell me you did not wake me up to tell me I have nice bed sheets," he said firmly.
"No. Rin wanted to ask Sesshoumaru-sama if he wanted to be her father."
"Oh, I- what?"
"Rin understands if Sesshoumaru-sama does not want to be Rin's father," she said quickly.
"I thought I already was," he said with a smile.
The young girl smiled too and launched herself into his arms. The young girl started to jump on his bed, jarring his head and making the dull ache expand.
"Rin, settle yourself!"
Rin quickly crossed her legs Indian-style and landed that way on his bed. She, however, still had a joyous smile on her face.
"Guess what father!"
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at her change in name towards him. With a small 'what?' he got up and started to lift himself off the bed.
"Kagome-chan is Rin's mother!"
Sesshoumaru's foot caught on the edge of the silk sheets and fell face first, catching himself before he hit the floor.
"Excuse me?!"
Rin visibly cowered under the mighty rage that had broken out from the few words.
"Rin is going to go cook breakfast with her okaa-san."
"Rin," he growled, "what did you say before?"
The young girl gulped as she inched towards the door.
"Rin said that Kagome-chan agreed to being Rin's mother. BYE!"
She bolted out of the door, Sesshoumaru not bothering to run after her seeing as there wasn't much information he could get out of her. Plus, there were so many things going on his head he didn't know what he should ask first or how to ask it.
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The day went by fairly fast, Sesshoumaru hadn't left his room all day and for that everybody was thankful, especially Kagome. Sesshoumaru, on the other hand, was sifting through papers and ended up on different positions in his room. He went from his bed to his floor and everything in between. He found no comfort or familiarity in any of the positions he placed himself in.
'What is going on?' he asked himself angrily.
He threw vases around but even the violent crashes didn't bring back any familiarity. Something was very wrong and he knew it. Rin and Kagome kept popping into his head making him feel rage and nothing but rage.
Rin, his adopted daughter, had chosen a mother without his consent. The mother was a conniving gold digger, to top it all off, and would want to seduce him in time. Then when he least expected it, she would run off with his money and Rin, saying things only a human would. They lay claim to things that were already clearly owned by others so easily. He threw open the doors to his balcony only to hear singing.
'Damned woman howling so others may hear her!'
He, however, paused and listened. He heard her soft melodic voice create distressful sounds and he could smell the salt of her tears.
'What am I doing to her?'
Exactly what they did to you at some point…
'It is payback,' he snarled to himself, 'she deserves it.'
Does she? Does she really deserve your wrath when all she did was save your daughter?
'She is of the same society that trapped me here in this form! If it weren't for humans I would still be out there living happily.'
You forget you were once human also.
'Once is enough. They should all pay for what they did to me, they had no heart.'
She has a heart…
'She has no heart. She is a woman.'
He furiously closed the doors, snarling at anything and everything.
"All women are conniving creatures whose only purpose is to kill you and run away with your precious possessions!" he sneered to the void air.
He threw vases in anger, ripped the sheets off his bed, threw books in different directions, and threw a knife through a covered mirror. The glass shattered and the silk fell. He roared at the sight of himself: red eyes, silver hair, claws: a monstrosity.
'Is she not afraid?' he growled.
She is afraid...
'Afraid that I will kill her as I should,' he sneered.
You are afraid.
'I am not afraid!'
You are afraid of rejection.
He grabbed the shattered glass with his bare and threw the shards in different places.
'This has nothing to do with who I am!'
He stormed out of the room, everybody looking out of their rooms startled. He ripped the door to Kagome's room open and lifted her by her shoulders, some of the glass that had been in his hands digging into her skin.
"Are you scared?," he snarled.
Kagome looked into his eyes, which stood out in her dark room that was only lit by the moonlight.
"I am scared," she responded softly.
"Do I scare you?"
"I do not know who you are," she said calmly, refusing to let the pain of the glass overwhelm her.
"Do you not mean what I am?" he sneered.
"It does not matter what you are," she said with tears, "it matters who you are."
He let her go suddenly, immediately gone.
"Kagome?"
"It's okay Rin."
The young girl peeked out from under the covers, genuine concern in her eyes.
"Are you alright? Did Daddy hurt you?"
"I'm alright and no Daddy didn't hurt me. Go to sleep little one."
He silently watched her.
'Why did she not tell the child the truth?'
She is different.
'She could've turned my daughter against me in that single moment.'
She is a stranger.
'She could've taken what little I had.'
She is his savior.
'Why is she different?'
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"Damnit!"
"Kagome, will you please stand still so that I may remove the glass shards embedded in your arms?"
"I've been standing still if you haven't noticed," she growled moodily.
Sango sighed as she continued trying to remove the small pieces of glass from Kagome's arms. Kagome shifted from side to side, complained from pain, but not once did she outwardly damn Sesshoumaru.
"I would be damning Sesshoumaru to all seven hells by now. Something wrong?"
"No," she said firmly, "I just don't think you should damn somebody that has noticeably been scarred for life."
"Done," she said grabbing piece of a small shard and pulling.
"SANGO!"
Sango ran through the hallway with a smile evident on her face. Miroku watched them with an amused expression. He carefully caught Kagome by the waist as Sango ran off to the kitchens.
"Now, now. Attacking Sango isn't going to make anybody's company more bearable."
Kagome huffed and twisted out of Miroku's grip.
"So," said Kagome with a mischievous glint, "what's the story with you and Sango."
Miroku turned red and gazed around before responding. "We sleep in the same room but she still beats me. I think she's mad at me because she slept in her room last night."
"Would this have anything to do with you goggling my body during dinner last night?"
He visibly gulped and looked the other way.
"Hah, I thought so. Just say you're sorry and mean it. Stop looking at me like I'm some precious piece of meat that you want to eat. Be adoring and worship her."
Miroku nodded and went on his way.
"Nice speech."
"Oh, I know. Don't you just love me for it."
"Come on," Sango motioned to her to descend to the first floor.
"I'm going."
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"These," said Sango, "are the training grounds."
Kagome surveyed the large strip of land that looked a bit defenseless. Off to the side was a path completely surrounded by trees.
"It seems defenseless enough…"
"Don't be fooled," Sango said with a smirk.
Kagome smiled tentatively, starting to rethink her decision to train with Sango.
"Come on."
She followed Sango to a small warehouse, which Sango had the key to, and went inside.
"There are bows, knifes, swords, daggers, spears, et cetera. Anything sharp you can use that is remotely harmful you will find here."
"Wow."
Kagome lightly fingered all of the weapons. She bent down and found an odd instrument on the floor.
"What's this?"
Sango looked over her shoulder with a curious expression.
"Oh, that. That's not a weapon. That's a balalaika."
"A balalala what?"
"Balalaika. Strings on wood, guitar? Gypsies and the sort. Nobody here knows how to play it so nobody owns it. If you want to fool around with it feel free."
Kagome nodded and took the strange instrument with her as they returned to the outside.
"Kami, it's hot in there," Kagome said feeling the cool air around her skin.
"Definitely."
"So… Who usually trains out here with you?"
Sango looked at Kagome, desperately trying to keep her eyes open against the glare of the sun.
"I train by myself."
"An invisible opponent eh?"
"You could say that," Sango said with a smile.
They stood there, in awkward silence, before Kagome silently waved her hands.
"Let me see some of that training."
Sango nodded and ran off into the shed. She came back walking a bit differently, because she now had weights strapped to her arms and legs.
"Sango, why do you train?"
"It's a good stress reliever," she said with a high kick, "and it's a good hobby."
Kagome smiled then eyed her strange instrument. She plucked a few chords, giggling. Pretty soon she was just plucking different chords and coming up with a strange song.
'A strange song to go with a strange instrument,' she thought cheerfully.
"Hey Sango!"
"Yeah?" she asked slightly out of breath.
"Come take a breather and listen to this."
"Alright."
Sango quickly eyed the forest, when Kagome turned to look for their jugs of water.
'What are you doing Sesshoumaru?'
"Found them!"
Sango quickly turned around and walked up to her friend smiling. She took a gulp of her water and then sat down to listen to Kagome play the strange instrument. The sounds were strange and yet vaguely familiar. It was true that she did not remember most of her past or childhood but the sounds awakened blurry memories. Had she been part of a gypsie family before? She listened intently as Kagome strummed the strange object and made hypnotic tunes.
'Sleeping chords,' she thought off-handedly.
"Kagome, did you know how to play the balalaika before-hand?"
"Nope. Just learned I guess."
She nodded deep in thought, completely forgetting the shadow of curiosity that was watching them intently.
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A/N: I don't own Inu & Co. and I don't own Beauty and The Beast. This part (in the outline) was only A and B and I thought that it was a bit long and should leave the rest for the next chapter since the chapter went up to F. Keep reading and review to tell me what you think and ideas that you might have. You never know when I'll add one of them in there and give you credit, of course..