Pheonix: Alright, folks, here we go. Chapter five! Hopefully at least will be 3.8k words… I have no solid plot for this story; it goes as it goes, so send in your ideas!
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Warning: If you don't like fluff, get outta here. This chapter is going to be off the wall with whatever comes to mind! HA!
Review replies:
SSRandomness: Hi again! Sorry I didn't reply to your review in the last chapter, I wanted to get it out of the way and post this one :) And I'm loved! Haha
Clear Waters (cyclonegal12): Darling! Yes, I updated. And IM no likey me. But that's ok, lets talk on here! Eh, you know I have a tendancy to do the characters a BIT ooc sometimes, (sweatdrop)
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Saramaru and Inuyasha turned away. "Sesshoumaru, go back to the western lands WITH your charge, and recoup. I'll see you in seven days." The large group waved goodbye, Saramaru silently noting that Isidris had spread his leathery wings and flown away, and Naraku was gone, his castle slowly fading as the devious hanyou moved to a new location. He had they're lives in his hands, but he was still worried for his safety.
This gave Saramaru hope, but not much.
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Sesshoumaru was not tired, his time in that black abyss of a place, wherever it was, had left him feeling restful, though also seeking vengeance. But Naraku's plot did not allow him to fight back; Sesshoumaru and Rin had also been marked similarly.
Sesshoumaru was not tired, but he found Rin clinging to him, tears welling and falling from her large eyes silently as she tended to stumble along the path.
So afraid of losing him. She was so terrified, the thought of letting go of his arm now, the thought of loosening the tight grip her delicate fingers had, made her tears come faster. Here he was, obviously he had come to get her back, but she was haunted. He seemed to take this sudden clinging of hers in silent, if not temporary, acceptance, allowing her to cling, and sometimes passing her glances. She liked to think that glint in his golden eyes was worry.
"Rin, my blood will not flow properly if you continue to grip it so." At his baritone voice she jumped, and switched her hold to the body of his fabric, hand rubbing against his ribs as she nodded silently, bangs sticking slightly to her stained cheeks. She was shivering, the air had a slight bite in the middle of the night, and finally a stone seemed more determined than the rest to fell her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the ground, but felt Sesshoumaru's arm quickly grab her about the waist, stopping her descent feet from the ground.
She broke down now, memories from her time in the nightmarish hell from the fool sorcerer flooding back as her new memories of the black abyss seemed so closely related to the older happening, and her abdomen convulsed with the mental stress of it all.
"No." She sobbed, trying to push back the memories, they had nothing to do with now, but Sesshoumaru's grip adjusted so that he could carry her as she was now physically incapable.
Without any moisture in her body to cry with, she merely trembled, convulsed, choked on her own throat, and mumbled incoherent babble to herself, her distress so great that she dared not open her eyes. She buried her face into Sesshoumaru's chest, finally allowing her body to relax as his comforting presence surrounded her, shoulder muscles loosening as she took deep breathes, and effort to calm herself.
Sesshoumaru looking down at Rin, knowing that this was his fault, if he had kept her close, if he had kept the other half of his heart where it belonged…No more ifs. He set his jaw and felt her chest rising slow as she fell into sleep, he could feel the exhaustion in the way her ribcage made a little tremor with each muscle movement.
"Rin… My Rin, what have I done?" She mumbled something, and listening, he grimaced. "Hurts… Hurts here" She was rubbing her chest, the area above her heart. As he reached his castle, he looked up at the gates leading to the courtyard, and sighed. Jaken's face had just disappeared from the window, and he was sure that the little imp would be in front of him any-
"Milord!" -Moment. Jaken was running towards them, the staff of two heads waving wildly in the air.
"Where have you been? And what has happened to Rin!" Jaken questioned brutally as Sesshoumaru walked past him.
"Jaken, leave me be." Sesshoumaru ordered, not sparing the worried toad a glance. Rin's eyes fluttered open, and in a sudden panic she gripped Sesshoumaru's shirt (forget what it's called right now XD) but then relaxed.
"I dreamed…" She whispered, gazing into her lords eyes with wonder.
"Tell me of it later." He said softly, walking through the halls, Jaken staring dumbfounded as Sesshoumaru walked to his room, Rin thinking. He certainly wouldn't leave her now! Right?
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Sesshoumaru reached his room, the door slightly open already from when he had left. He opened it farther, using his foot to maneuver the door to widen. Rin squirmed, and obligingly he put her down, shaking his head as she stood unsteady for a moment before walking to sit down on his bed, examining her legs. They were shaking, and slightly scratched up, but all the small scrapes had scabbed over, and the only reason she was trembling was because of her own thoughts. She was here, trembling with happiness at being back… But her back… It stung! She gasped as a bit of fresh pain stabbed at the muscle there, and her hand flew to the small of her back where it was located.
"H-he marked us. We're like p-packaging." She suddenly felt weak again as Sesshoumaru joined her, sitting behind her and lifting his hand to press his palm against the mark he knew was there. She trembled under his touch, which although gentle, was causing pain to her mark. He had forgotten that it would take her wounds much longer than his to heal. Taking his hand away, he got up, silently walking to the small parapet that overlooked Rin's so beloved garden.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, can we go to the garden?" Rin's voice made him turn his head to look at her, and he nodded. She obviously wasn't that tired, knowing her she would have been sleeping on his bed if exhaustion had been the case. But she got up, ignoring the now ebbing pain in her back, and he joined her as she walked to the door, down hallways and through more doors, leading to the small courtyard and following the path silently. Two willows stood like guardians before the entrance to the garden, and Sesshoumaru stopped as Rin walked forward.
Looking back to her lord, she noticed that he was looking at the castle gate, and instead of waiting for him she walked in, despite her quaking fear of being left alone. Her garden had a calming effect, and soon enough she was stroking the leaves of a rhododendron, affectionately inspecting the flowers of the bush before turning to the roses, grinning at their beautiful state of bloom. She closed her eyes and sat back against the small space of bare wall, her usual seat when in the garden to read or write or simply enjoy the scenery. The slightest of rustling and a presence beside her made her open her eyes, looking up to stare at Sesshoumaru, who had closed his eyes and crossed his legs, his knee brushing up against her thigh. She grinned, stretching her legs out slightly before relaxing once more, eyes roaming over the side of his face, from his left eye to his jaw line, the stripes on his cheekbones once more grabbing her attention.
Sesshoumaru was stuck in deeper thoughts…
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(Flashback)
In that black abyss of hell where he was seemingly floating uselessly, he could hear her voice, taunting him with screams of agony. He tried to ignore them, knowing this was only either Naraku's form of torture or his own traitorous imagination. But still he let out a groan, as if in physical pain, seething with anger, eyes flashing dangerously.
She was in his arm, burrowing into his chest, hitting him with delicate, fisted hands, screaming at him and crying.
"You left me!" "I missed you…" "Don't ever leave me, don't… don't…" Her sobbed words making him grip her tighter and glare at the retreating forms of Isidris and Naraku, silently promising himself revenge for this act. Slowly she stopped trying to hit him, instead gripping to him for her life.
(End flashback)
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"I wont." He said simply, practically feeling Rin's roaming eyes turn to stare at his now open eyes questioningly.
"Won't what, Sesshoumaru-sama?" She asked, head tilted slightly.
"I won't leave you again." He replied, though he didn't look at her. Those words were just a little more heartfelt than he was used to his small amount of speech being.
Rin smiled to herself, allowing her mind to rest, not realizing that she had been tense until that tension left her.
"Thank you… For everything." She muttered, resting against his side cautiously at first, then sighing happily. So she was safe now, no matter what mark was on her back, she was safe with her lord.
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"Ow! Do you have to?" Rin's voice trembled with pain as she lay on her stomach in the nurse's wing, wincing as the woman leaned over her back, rubbing something on it.
"Lord Sesshoumaru told me to nurse your wound, and you're badly burnt back here." The nurse answered matter-of-factly, and finally asked Rin to sit up so she could bandage the mark on her back.
Rin smiled as the soft bandages comforted her back, her thoughts no elsewhere.
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She had woken up in the morning, warm despite the chill in the air, surrounded by something soft. When she had looked, she had seen Sesshoumaru's boa wrapped around her, shielding her from the not so welcoming breeze, and had found her pillow to be more of a lap belonging to her lord. She had tensed momentarily, making Sesshoumaru's eyes snap open, wondering why her jaw had clenched.
She had relaxed, turning her head to look up at his cold gaze as he stared down at her, and had smiled widely before greeting him. The mark on her back was twinging, but she ignored it.
"Good morning, Sesshoumaru-sama." This was just like when she had been little, sleeping in the forest to wake up to him looking down on her, protecting her silently, his comforting presence keeping any and all nightmares she may have experienced to a minimum of fright.
"Morning." He moved slightly, signaling that he was getting up, and she sat up from his lap to allow him to do so, not without a slight pout. She stood, handing him his boa back and thanking him. He took it, placing it over his shoulder before looking at her thoughtfully.
"Rin, you should visit Jai, allow her to tend to your wound." His voice woke her up even more, and she nodded, turning and skipping out of her garden, humming happily even though the fabric on her back was rubbing against the offending blemish on her skin.
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She thanked Jai, her nurse since childhood, before walking out from the nurse's wing, going to her room.
Soon, though she was reading a pretty interesting old book, she was bored. Sighing, she looked out her window, which also had a view from the garden, and was almost directly facing Sesshoumaru's parapet, she had always called it his little perch. The round courtyard, which held her beautiful garden, allowed her a nearly perfect view of everything, and looking below her lords perch, she saw him sitting in his study, writing something. No doubt a letter to some faraway land, sealing a truce or merely saying he wasn't going to help them, the usual stuff. As if feeling her eyes on him, he turned his gaze to her, golden eyes studying her for a moment before going back to his scroll, sealing it and handing it to a servant to be delivered wherever. Then, with another look at her, he got up and left her plane of vision, obviously leaving the study.
Her never faltering smile these days, along with her uncanny sense of peace, allowed her to forget that in three days she would be traveling with her lord and his brother and cousin, to find this sword for their deepest enemy.
Out of pure need for travel, she found her feet moving steadily to the door of her lord's study, where he had been moments before. She opened the door and stepped inside, instantly going to his desk. This was where everything interesting was kept, as far as she was concerned.
Opening a particularly large drawer, she gasped. That painting! The one that her lord had not allowed her to see. It was face down, and she picked it up, flipping it over to gaze at it's picturing in shock. Saramaru's magic was a wonder in itself; this image looked as real as if she were standing there.
It was of here, laying in her lords bed, him sitting by her head, his hand gripping her, golden eyes holding a worried glint. As she looked at the painting, she wished that she could see everything that had happened that night, when she had awoken, and gasped, stifling a wondering shriek as the picture faded, changing. Again, she was laying in the bed, but she could see another, larger body behind her, that belonging to her handsome lord, who was sleeping peacefully, holding her close to him. Then, pictures of her sobbing and beating at his chest as he held her close, his jaw clenched as she screamed at him, though she could not hear what she was saying, she already knew.
Next, it depicted him carrying her, his arm holding her securely to him as he took her back to the castle, back to her home.
A tear, not necessarily from sadness as much as strong emotion, welled in her eye and fell, smudging the picture slightly. She wiped it off with a faint smile, bangs almost covering her eyes.
"It shows memories, and also what you want to have most." She gasped, and had to stop herself from dropping the painting as she stuffed it back into the drawer, face up. It was her lord's voice that came from behind her, his breath soft on her neck as he reached over her to push the drawer closed.
"I see now that your curiosity knows no bounds." She was relieved that he did not sound all too angry with her, if anything she told herself, he sounded amused.
"I'm sorry, I should not have been exploring your study so –"
"Thoroughly?" He did not smirk, though the idea was tempting, as he remembered what the picture had shown him. Rin had been walking beside him, his arm around her waist, her head resting against him as the picture seemed to move. It was just them, and Rin had turned her head slightly to tell him something, he turning his head to return the phrase, though a lot quieter than she had done. His facial expression had not changed, but he had seemed to grip her tighter to him.
"Yes…" She nodded, as if to say 'That's it.'
"Why don't you take a bath, Rin, it may help you concentrate on not opening drawers so freely." His tone belayed his amusement, and she nodded in agreement, grinning wildly as she turned past him, skipping out of the study. He sighed, he was glad she had not noticed the painting change when he had looked at it, hadn't seen a picture of them standing in the study, wrapped in each other's arms.
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"That bastard…" Rejime muttered as he looked on, watching the palace nurse tend to Kita's back. Hers had already begun to heal, unlike Kagome's, and though Kita could heal it herself, they were worried that if they tried to mess with the mark at all with magic like that, it might trigger an unwanted reaction.
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Kagome, Sango, and Miroku had all gone to the upper floor after being seen to, to take a bath and calm their nerves slightly. Miroku, of course, was cursing the barrier that stopped him from looking over at the women without his prying eyes being extremely obvious and therefore punished, and he muttered with Inuyasha about how troublesome the thing was. The hanyou snarled warningly, raising an eyebrow.
"If you try to see Sango, that means you'll be looking at Kagome too, monk." He reminded Miroku, who sweat dropped sheepishly.
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When the nurse was finished with Kita, the 16 year old whimpered, grasping onto Rejime. Naraku had done it again, made her feel vulnerable, and now no matter what he had his grip on her, she could not hide from it, she could not hide from the mark on her back, could not hide from the fact that it was on her friend that this curse would also fall.
"Rejime, what hope is there? Sounga is in Hell, Saramaru said so… How are we supposed to go there?" Kita's hopeless voice trembled as Rejime led her to the sitting room, propping himself against a cushion, her in his arms, cradled safely as he pondered her question.
"We have to trust that Saramaru can find a way, that they can all find a way." He felt Kita nod her head, the slightest twitch, and fought the despair in his own chest. All he could picture was Sesshoumaru's blazing eyes, and the anger he had seen there, watching the Taiyoukai carry Rin away. This image only hardened Rejime's resolve.
It made him realize that Rin was no longer a daughter to Sesshoumaru, that she must be something else.
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"What kind of fool are you, Naraku..." Isidris asked himself in a quiet voice, watching the hanyou rebuild himself once more, trying to regain his strength; Isidris watched Naraku from his mental connection all the time. The dragon's thoughts flashed to Saramaru, the anger, frustration, shock, and power in her golden orbs, and he felt a pang of regret. In any other case, Saramaru could have been a powerful ally, a good friend even. But Naraku had trapped him, savagely ripping his own daughter from his careful clutches.
Isidris, a prophet. As Rejime had so accusingly said, he was the guard of the Northern Palace, (I can't currently remember if Rejime's father lives in the North or the South, eh), helping them whenever seen fit… But now, he was Naraku's puppet. The powerful silver dragon had to pretend to enjoy being used, to help Naraku's plan's success, or else his daughter would no doubt die.
Isidris snarled, the sound coming out more of a strangled whining, as if he had a wound to lick that he couldn't reach.
There she was again in his thoughts, Saramaru.
"DAMN YOU NARAKU!" He roared suddenly, compulsively, large talons scraping against the side of the large cave that he knew as her home, sparks flying as large gouges were created in the solid granite, the ground vibrating from the power he held in his voice. Birds left their coven, flying away from the horrible sound, deer fled, even the insects, most who couldn't hear, shied away from the venomous vibrations that shook their world.
He lifted silver wings, leaping fifty feet in the air and easily catching a drift, soaring effortlessly away from his source of pain, the home in which his daughter had lived. He flew towards his own cave now, purple and golden eyes narrowed and a seemingly permanent snarl on his features.
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Kagura winced, she should be running. She could be running, with Isidris in the vicinity Naraku couldn't kill her by using that particular method of squeezing her heart, Isidris's presence close by allowed only white magic to be used, and it just so happened that her heart was controlled by black magic. It still beat, it still gave her life, but it could not be altered until Isidris was out of range… And Naraku was weak, at his weakest now. All it would take would be for her to use her most powerful attack, grab her very own heart, and run. Run away, forever if she must. But instinct kept her obedient, she seemed unable to fight the bind that held her to Naraku no matter how much she knew she wanted to.
The death of Kanna didn't seem to be helping Kagura too much, now she seemed alone. Sure, Naraku had other 'followers', but Kanna and her had shared a sort of sister hood, even if Kanna was so damned quiet and seemingly loyal to Naraku, she had been slightly comforting, in an odd, twisted way. It was as if Kanna had leveled the playing field.
But now, she was alone.
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Saramaru cursed loudly and violently, throwing the useless scroll against the wall.
"How the hell am I supposed to get anything done when my scrolls have nothing to tell me!" True, she had not checked her cousin's scrolls yet, but she decided that could wait until they met in three days. Then, they would travel to Rejime's olds home, and raid his father's library. Maybe even travel to Central and use that library. Saramaru NEEDED to read up on Isidris in Rejime's former palace, as Rejime knew naught but that Isidris was a powerful dragon demon, and had once been a good man, but apparently not now. He knew powerful white magic, that was for sure.
But she needed to know more. Wanted to know more. Wanted to know EVERYTHING.
That made her frown, she shouldn't care. Isidris could be beaten; she knew that, as even she could be beaten. She didn't need to find out how he could be beaten just by reading his life story! But she wanted to read his life story so badly, was so curious, that she scared herself.
It wasn't possible that she liked the traitor, was it?
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Pheonix: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So much done in one day! Sooo happiness. Hope you enjoy, Please R&R!
Saramaru: I don't WANT a boyfriend!
Pheonix: Oh, so that's what you think Isidris is going to be? Or is that what you want him to be. XD
Saramaru: shush. :(