Forewarning: mild descriptions of violence ahead (it is rated M for a reason, lol).
Chapter 8
Flying was atrociously boring when you couldn't see. The only sensations that Megumi could pay attention to were the winds that rushed by her ears, or the gentle tug of her hair as the air currents sent the midnight black strands streaming to and fro, or even the warmth of the daiyoukai's palm from where his open hand lay pressed against her back. He had explained that some contact to himself was necessary, or else she risked falling. When she had heard, Megumi had been compelled to roll her eyes - what did he think she was going to do, roam around and see how far out she could wander until whatever was holding them aloft vanished from underneath her?
A strand of her hair whipped by her face, tickling her cheek as it went by and she swatted at it irritably. Sure, having the wind at their backs was great for shortening the length of their trip but it was annoying when it came to her hair because of its sheer length. Apparently her companion was having similar thoughts, because when he spoke to her she thought he sounded faintly annoyed.
"Your hair, woman," he said, breaking the silence that had fallen over them for some time now. "Tie it." He punctuated his command with the sensation of something just grazing over the skin on her left hand, and Megumi reflectively grabbed it. She felt the length of cord that he had given her in her hands, and deemed it satisfactory for the task he had assigned her. Megumi trapped the cord between her teeth before she reached to the nape of her neck, drawing her hands up to the backs of her ears and then together so that she had collected each stray piece. She drug her hands lower over her bundle and quickly retracted one hand to retrieve the hair tie, bringing it back around to wrap around her hair and tighten the knot. On impulse, she continued her ministrations through towards making a bow out of the string, and when she was sure her work would not come undone she allowed her hands to descend to their places by her sides.
"Thank you," she said softly, and the daiyoukai gave a small grunt.
"Your hair was encroaching upon This One's space."
"Ah," she said for the sake of giving a response, and then the silence once more fell heavy between them. Just when Megumi was considering bringing up something so that she would have more to listen to than the air over her ears, though, he beat her to it.
"You keep your hair unusually long," he commented, though Megumi wasn't really sure what he was getting at.
Absently she tucked a looser strand behind her ear as habit sent her into the routine of contemplating what sort of answer to give. "Its length serves as a symbol and reminder of things I have long forgotten." Megumi wondered if he was paying her much attention or giving her words much thought. Suddenly, as she thought of him, she began to wonder about other things. "And what about you?"
"Hn," he responded, though the sound came out different than it normally did. To Megumi, it sounded like the kind of response that prompted more on her part. Encouraged, she continued.
"What of your hair? It's nearly as long as mine, yet you do not tie it?" The general lack of an answer from her stoic companion told Megumi that wasn't a question she'd get a response to. So Megumi altered her course. "What color is it?"
Again, no response.
Megumi was starting to think that she'd misinterpreted that last statement (did it even count as a statement?) of his.
"It is silvery white," came the lowly murmured reply. Habit from when she could see is what had Megumi turning her head towards the tall inu, as if she was checking to see if he had been right.
"What of your eyes?" she ventured next, keenly aware of the hand secured against her skin now.
"They are a golden yellow."
If Megumi had stopped to register her surprise at his willingness to answer all of the sudden, the moment would have been lost to her and her next questions never posed.
"You are a daiyoukai," she started next, shifting slightly closer so that she was completely facing him, "do you have any markings?"
"I do."
"Where?" Megumi unconsciously leaned closer as if to see better.
"Above my brows, and on each cheek."
Her hand rose a fraction, almost as if to check, but she stopped it just as swiftly. "In what shapes? What colors?"
It was now that he hesitated, though Megumi was left to wonder why. And his next words broke the temporary spell completely. "Woman," he interjected in those frigidly even tones of his, "we have arrived."
Megumi was escorted through the many halls, over stone and wood and undoubtedly past people. However she heard no others, not even to greet the person that escorted her or to hear their feet pad the same ground she was ushered over. Megumi toyed with the idea that the shiro was all but abandoned, that this hadn't been Toga's once-home and this was just his son's poor excuse of an unmarried man's place to crash.
She wondered what sort of ward he had.
The daiyoukai led her on a brief but purposeful walk, and she could tell by the pace he set alone that he was not exactly brimming with patience. Inwardly she wanted to sigh; if he was so eager for her to see towards assessing his ward, Megumi pondered how likely the chances of getting something to eat beforehand would be for her.
They stopped suddenly and Megumi listened to the sounds of a sliding door being opened before she was brought through. The air felt different in here, slightly warmer than it had been outside in the rapidly cooling evening. So they were inside, then. Megumi listened attentively for any signs of life and sure enough, the gentle sighs of someone deep in sleep soon reached her ears.
"Is that your ward?" she asked softly, careful not to wake her. The inu's level of volume when he responded told her that she would not have to caution herself with being quiet, and so she mentally noted to speak at her normal level.
"That is Rin," he confirmed. "You will see to her now."
A mild twitch of irritation shot through Megumi at the proud inu's command. "I'll work best with something to eat beforehand," she countered, still letting him escort her further into the space. "You can fill me in on her condition while I eat." There was a beat of silence before she could make out the sounds of another sliding door being closed with an audible thunk and Megumi realized there had been someone else there with them, brief as their entrance may have been.
"Your request will be fulfilled." He stopped her then, shifting his hand away from her and placing it on her shoulder. A small application of pressure told Megumi the unspoken directions; this is where you will sit. Megumi folded herself into seiza, letting her hands rest demurely in her lap. "This One will return shortly." And without further explanations as to where he was going or why, her escort left the room.
A little while later someone entered again, placing a food tray before her and Megumi imagined they probably bowed lightly before exiting once more. She felt along the tray cautiously, mapping the arrangement and the dishes with her fingers before locating her chopsticks and venturing to eat. The spread was delicious; it was of a quality that betrayed the shiro's wealth, and Megumi unabashedly appreciated every morsel she took into her mouth.
She hadn't made too much of a dent in the meal when the daiyoukai returned, his footsteps shadowed by another pair. The second pair of footsteps introduced herself as Chiharu, her Lord's chief healer and Gina's senpai. While Megumi ate Chiharu went on to explain how Rin had collapsed unwarranted some eight days ago and had yet to resume consciousness. She made mention of some mark on Rin's forehead, one that typically represented a challenge, a statement of vengeance or a right to claim revenge. That had Megumi intrigued, especially after Chiharu described Rin to be a human woman who had recently come of age. Megumi had asked several questions pertaining to people that could have grudges towards the young woman, but both Chiharu and the daiyoukai seemed completely sure that the message had been for the inu himself and so Megumi was forced to drop it.
Their conversation had been interrupted by the entrance of some servant that Megumi could not exactly determine the likes of; he never bothered to introduce himself, as he was more focused on the only male in the room. But the daiyoukai had swiftly cut him off before he could get further into saying the inu's name than the first two letters, and had commanded the servant (who was possibly a toad or a bird, for all the weird croaking and squawking sounds he made) to make adequate preparations for replacement garments for this woman and several other menial tasks before sending the servant on his way again. Megumi was almost certain that this person was Toga's son, but she could not understand why he seemed bent on keeping his name - and his status, at that - a secret from her.
After the servant exited the room, Chiharu went back to explaining what all had already been attempted to heal Rin. She made mention of some stabilizing procedures that had been conducted before Rin's return to the castle, and then the later completion of those things at the shiro by Chiharu herself. She explained what she had been giving to Rin to drink, her current selection of bedding and the angles at which she kept the body . . . on and on until even Megumi as a healer was certain she'd heard more than that which was necessary. Megumi had an inkling that Chiharu liked Rin very much if she felt it necessary to inform the temporary healer to such a degree.
There had been a briefly awkward moment when Chiharu tried to pry further into Megumi's abilities and how they worked, and she seemed infinitely curious about the disparity between Megumi's blindness and what the rumors stated. She had been relieved when the inu's desire to have her heal his ward as soon as possible outweighed his patience and he had told his healer to cease her incessant questioning.
Having finished her meal, Megumi took advantage of the to set her empty cup back onto the tray with an audible clack. "I'll take a look at Rin now," she announced, effectively curbing whatever new tangent Chiharu was about to get into. "If you could guide my hands to her forehead, please?"
The chief healer was quick to shuffle over to Megumi, guiding her past the tray and to the futon that housed the human. Megumi knelt there, and Chiharu's hands were quick to place each of hers on either side of Rin's temple. "Will you need anything else, Madarame-san?"
Megumi allowed herself a deep breath to calm and refocus herself. It would not do for her brain to grow drowsy after a meal before she set to work. "No, thank you. I'm going to try to find Rin's consciousness. I understand that you have yet to determine the whole of what she has been plagued by, but for now this will be my priority." Carefully, Megumi splayed her fingers, and started to let her power swell and ebb around the insides of each digit. A final thought came to her before she released her powers. "And another thing - it is likely that I may succumb to unconsciousness if this process takes too long. If so, I'll need to sleep it off undisturbed and eat something filling when I wake." Megumi could feel herself smirking softly as she directed the next part to the male in the room. "I trust protecting me in my sleep is something you can do, no?"
She thought she heard a faint snort from his direction, but by then she had already plunged into Rin's head and shut out the rest of the world.
Megumi distantly felt her body flinch when her eyes actually started to see inside Rin's head. That was the first sign that something was off; normally, like it had been with the girl in the village, Megumi was never supposed to enter their headspace herself. It was supposed to be her power alone. She looked around her, and was surprised at what she saw.
All around her was a darkness so thick she wondered how one could breathe through it, with no end and no beginning. There were flashes, though, of what must have been a deeply traumatic memory. It clogged this place, appearing in sudden bursts of brown fur and muzzles twisted into snarls and disappearing in flashes of teeth and tails. Megumi could smell blood thick in the air, could feel the weight of unseen creatures over her. She followed where the memories would lead her, dragging her this way and that like she was a mere strip of meat that these predators tugged and pulled and fought each other for. Megumi could not help the tear she knew was leaking through her tear ducts, drifting softly down her cheek and falling onto the still face of the girl she was currently leaning over.
No, not girl; woman.
But she had been a girl in these memories.
Megumi could feel each stone bite into her bare feet, could feel each root send splinters into her skin when she stumbled and could feel each branch tear at her face as she ran. But then, over and over and over and over again the wolves would catch her. Bite her. Sink their fangs deep into her muscles and scrape their ragged tongues over the places where her blood pooled. Her heart would fail and they would leave, she would get up, and then they would chase her again.
This is what it felt like to die.
And then something curious started to happen - some of the wolves would collide with prowling men; sometimes she would fall because she could feel the bones in her legs snapping and jutting out of her skin, and suddenly she was not seeing the memories of a young girl with bare feet and ragged clothes, but the memories of some other girl with a red yukata and brown hair that fell to her little shins.
And then she realized that whatever place Rin's consciousness had been brought to (and now Megumi's) was not Rin's alone; there was another mind tied to this place. It was also then that Megumi realized she was lost in the stream of horrid memories that plagued the other mind; men suspending the child by those long ragged locks and hands yanking her arms behind her back so fast her shoulder popped from its socket; memories of bags and bindings and whips lashing like tongues to scrape away once perfect flesh.
Megumi grew weak, powers straining to keep herself grounded in this place even as it fed on her horror. Each pulse of anguish and empathy she emanated only produced more memories, until they were flashing around her so fast that she could no longer see the once expansive darkness that had unfolded around her. She stumbled, gasping as those memories spun closer and closer and compacted themselves, crushing her with their proximity.
Their dance was relentless and without remorse, and suddenly Megumi couldn't conjure strength enough to break through and return to the blackness. An icy flash of worry coursed through her then - were her power levels really that low? What would happen to her, caught in this torrential cyclone if she could not break through and find Rin before she was drained entirely? Would she be able to leave?
Or worse, would she never be able to come back?
The memories danced closer, and black spots began to seep into the corners of her vision as Megumi searched desperately for a chink in the emotional armor of this hellish barricade. She could feel herself getting weaker, and in that moment she knew that if she could not get out now, then she could not get out ever.
Rin was not sure how long she had been unconscious. There was so sun or moon in the place she had been thrown into, no way to tell time and certainly no way to leave. Rin was not sure if she was hungry, or thirsty, because she was not sure she was connected to her body right now. Wherever this place that she had been thrown into was, she was nothing more than a mass of consciousness adrift in the ever churning blackness.
The woman that Rin had seen before - Katsumi, hadn't she called herself - had only appeared once or twice more. Each time, she had barely paid attention to Rin, only bothering to look over at her once when she appeared and once more when she left.
"What are you doing here?" Rin had asked the second time Katsumi had appeared. "Is this what you meant when you said you'd see me soon?"
Katsumi had grinned malevolently at that. "No, pet; you'll know exactly what I meant in time. For now, I'll be visiting only to borrow your body. You won't mind, will you?"
Then Katsumi had glided away, blending in with the darkness until Rin couldn't see her anymore.
The third time she encountered Katsumi, the woman had told Rin why she wanted to "borrow her body," as she had said. At first Rin had been surprised that this woman even bothered telling her the reason, but that quickly faded when she was left to puzzle over the answer itself. According to Katsumi, she was borrowing her body to feel what she felt. To hear, specifically, what Rin heard. Or what Rin could have been hearing if she wasn't in this place so far from her body! Rin thought it was very rude of Katsumi to lock her away here.
Rin also thought that there couldn't possibly be anything of importance being said wherever her body currently was. She had no doubt that Lord Sesshomaru had taken her back to the shiro so that Chiharu could help. She was certain that he'd realized this wasn't some normal sort of human illness by now, and that he would currently be doing whatever he could to rescue her from this terrible, terrible place. After all he always did.
Feeling mildly better, Rin pondered how long it would take her to be rescued. As far as she knew this place she was in could be huge, something that may take someone hours or days to scan. Rin was also positive that she couldn't move around - she had tried unsuccessfully a few times now - but she figured it might be easier for Lord Sesshomaru to find her if she stayed in one place. Besides, she still had her voice, and the fact that Katsumi could hear her made Rin hopeful that whoever came to find her would also be able to hear her and locate her faster that way.
Rin decided she would not worry so much about whether or not she would be able to move after someone found her until when she was actually found.
The more Rin let herself ponder the whole thing, though, the more Rin started to worry. What if Katsumi was the only one who could see how to get in and out of this crazed place? What if that also meant Katsumi was the only one who could release her? Rin wanted to shudder at the thought. Because if that was the case then did that mean Chiharu wouldn't be able to help? Did that mean that Rin would be stuck here, alone and frozen and isolated from her body, because not even the Lord of the Western Lands' best healer would be able to save her?
Rin wanted to cry, or despair, but she could not even conjure tears in her current state. She hated this Katsumi person, with her red eyes and her wavy brown hair. She hated the crimson red and burning gold robes that she sashayed around in, hated that calculative tap of her zori on the non existent floor.
She knew that her Sesshomaru would make Katsumi pay for what she did, and it was this thought alone that calmed Rin enough to wait patiently once more. Help would come; Rin was sure of it. Lord Sesshomaru would not rest until it did.
Far, far away, so far that Rin almost missed it came the faintest flare of light. It was a calming thing, satin blue and moonlight white, angelic and pure. The light was so far away that for a moment Rin wondered if her mind was playing tricks on her. So Rin was content to watch the light for a moment, to see if she really had dreamed it up or not. The light felt oddly familiar, but at the same time it felt like the first time she had ever seen it. The light drifted around, sometimes going away so far that it disappeared entirely, and other times growing stronger only to head off in a different direction. Its manner of moving puzzled Rin, because she was not quite sure what kind of light it was. With the way it moved, at least, Rin felt like the light almost had a mind of its own -
If Rin was still connected to her body, she swore that her heart would have skipped a beat. Lights didn't have minds of their own, living things did. Animals did not come to this place, humans did. Rin wanted to cry out in her glee. Lord Sesshomaru had come for her! He had come to save her from this wretchedly dark place!
Almost as soon as she had the thought, though, Rin knew that she was wrong. If it had been her Lord Rin would have recognized that light instantly for what it was. She would have been found instantly, because his superior sense of smell would have led him straight to her - not in some ambling, wishy washy path. If Rin was sure of one thing, then she was also sure of another: whoever this person was, it was not Katsumi.
But neither was it Sesshomaru.
"At this rate, I doubt she'll ever find us." Rin would have whipped her head around when she heard that unforgettable voice, and almost as if she sensed Rin's surprise Katsumi laughed. "Really, pet, you need not be so startled when I come pay you a visit. We're in this together, you and I."
"I don't want you here," Rin growled, and from her peripheral vision she saw Katsumi shrug and step forward a little.
"It is not within your power to decide these things. Now, won't you be content to stay here with your dear friend and watch that pathetic woman stumble around?"
Rin wanted to say something witty, to give a retort so crafty that not even Katsumi could find a decent comeback. But that bluish light shifted again, and so Rin pushed away her anger. She recognized that her current situation was unusual, and anything aside from the routine Rin had grown used to meant an opportunity to gain information. Perhaps she would learn something valuable enough to aide her in escaping once Katsumi left again.
"That light is a woman?" Rin asked, trying not to sound too interested.
Katsumi chuckled dryly. "And a poor excuse for one, at that. It is aggravating that we are to be considered equals when she is so blatantly inferior to me."
Rin studied the light again. It was still too far away to tell if it was actually a person or not. Rin bit back a groan. The light had turned away from where Rin was yet again.
"I wouldn't count on her showing up any time soon," Katsumi continued, and Rin was sure the woman was smirking. When she spoke again her voice was saturated with smugness. "I've blinded her, you see. The wench probably doesn't even know up from down in here. It'll be amusing once the curse rejects her for staying in this place too long without locating you."
"You don't believe she can find me?"
Katsumi was quick to place herself in front of Rin, one hand on her hip and a fierceness in her eyes that Rin couldn't remember seeing before. "Of course she can't. She only survived my youkai because that vile Sesshomaru destroyed them all for her." Katsumi's voice dripped with malice, but there was only one word that Rin heard.
"Lord Sesshomaru sent her?"
Katsumi glared at her, an indication that she probably didn't like what Rin had said. "It won't matter who sent her. She does not have nearly enough power to survive staying in here very long without finding you. And once she is gone, so is your only hope of leaving this place without me." The older woman paused to glance behind her, possibly to see where this supposed rescuer had wandered off to. Apparently she liked what she saw, because when she turned back to face Rin her eyes had calmed once more into that expression Rin knew meant her captor felt she had triumphed. "I'm feeling rather kind today, pet, so I'll give you permission to call out to her as long and as loud as you want. It won't make a difference, and once the last of her power gives out she'll be just as trapped as you are."
Rin wanted so badly to be able to move; to shove Katsumi aside and run as fast as she could to that light that meant escape for both Rin and whoever Sesshomaru had sent to save her. "She'll find me," Rin spit out defiantly, but Katsumi only sneered at her.
"She won't."
And with that, Katsumi turned and walked away.
For whatever reason, Rin was overcome with the sudden fear that Katsumi might be right. She shoved it away, choosing to replace her fear with anger. "She will find me! And when she takes me away from here, I'm going to tell Sesshomaru-sama everything about you! No place will be safe once my Lord knows you're the one behind this."
When Katsumi stopped dead in her tracks Rin feared for a moment that she had actually angered the woman enough to dash any hopes of escape in retaliation. However, once she turned to face her again Rin found herself more terrified for what the lazy smirk on her face signified for Rin.
"Listen well, pet: so long as you bear my mark on your forehead you will be incapable of betraying me."
Rin felt that familiar wave of uncertainty; just what had Katsumi done? Just how long would it be until she was truly free? As she continued to watch the cruel, red eyed woman, Rin found all of her emotions brimming to the surface. Everything she had felt since being trapped in here bubbled up inside of her, demanding release, demanding to be unleashed upon this nightmarish world. Rin caught a glimpse of the light again - it had changed directions - and suddenly like glass shattering all of her restraint broke.
For all she was worth, Rin screamed.
And she hoped that somehow the woman had heard her.
A sudden piercing scream shattered the memories around her, and the walls that had once been suffocatingly close now tumbled like glass in a halo of clear dust. The voice was undeniably feminine, but its call was raw and full of so much untamed emotion that Megumi's head instinctively snapped to attention.
Rin.
She sprinted in the direction it had come from and prayed she would not be too late.
Rin's eyes snapped open and she gasped at the same moment Megumi groaned and slumped over. Sesshomaru moved quickly, his instincts and speed far superior to Chiharu's. He caught the woman's body before she connected with the ground, even as his eyes trained themselves onto the sight of his now conscious ward. Chiharu cried out in relief and wrapped Rin up in a fierce hug, petting back the stray strands of hair and rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"You're awake," she sobbed out, relief blatantly evident in her tone. "I feared nothing could be done, but here you are, and - "
"Chiharu," Rin interjected quickly, snapping out of the daze that she'd been in when she woke. She pushed the healer away from herself gently, just enough so that she could look into her eyes. "What happened to me?" Before Chiharu could even open her mouth, Rin's peripheral vision must have noticed Sesshomaru. The full weight of her gaze locked onto him only a moment after, and she almost sagged in relief as she called out, "Sesshomaru-sama!" She seemed eager to lunge towards him and wrap her arms around his, but froze mid-trajectory when her eyes took in the sight of the woman that Sesshomaru held in his arms.
The daiyoukai allowed himself a brief minute to study her as well, since his ward seemed to be doing the same. She seemed, frankly, exhausted after the couple hours she had spent leaning over his ward. Sesshomaru had watched with a keen eye as she had first gathered her power, sending it towards Rin's head. He had watched as she had flinched, had allowed a tear to sink down her face, had watched as her power had grown dimmer and dimmer. He would have possibly grown alarmed at how faint it had started to feel if Rin had not suddenly jerked awake, effectively distracting himself from his occupation of evaluating the potency of her unique aura.
"She appeared before me in that place, just before I woke up," Rin murmured, pulling his attention back to her. Her gaze was still trained on the sleeping woman, but Sesshomaru's latched onto a bitter detail that still remained. That accursed marking was still on her forehead. Whatever Megumi had done had awoken Rin, but the Western Lord instinctively knew that Rin was not cured completely. "Who is she, Sesshomaru-sama?"
"She introduced herself as Megumi Madarame. She's a healer," Chiharu supplied for her Lord when he gave no answer. But how could he? After all, he wasn't sure there was anyone alive except her who could answer that question correctly.
"Will she be staying here with you, Chiharu?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Sesshomaru noted Chiharu's eyes flickering towards him for a brief moment. "More or less; I think she will be staying here until we are certain whatever came over you has been completely dealt with." The older healer wrung her hands lightly in her lap. "What did happen to you, Rin? Did you see anything these past eight days? Or do you only remember seeing Megumi?"
Sesshomaru studied his ward as she mulled over the question. Her eyes seemed to cloud as she debated over some internal struggle, before she finally bit out a sentence: "I remember being trapped in darkness; nothing more." When it became evident that Rin remained unwilling to share more - or perhaps that was really all there was - Sesshomaru adjusted his hands so that he could properly support the woman's body and rose to his feet. "Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin questioned, peering up at him and his passenger.
"Eat," he told her, glancing at Chiharu once so she knew to see his words carried through to actions. "Bathe, dress, and visit with This One's mother. She will be pleased to know you have awoken."
With that, Sesshomaru turned and made to exit the room. He would allow his healer to examine Rin now, to see what more still needed to be done and what they no longer had to worry about. He would allow Rin sufficient time to relax and recuperate before he returned to see what Chiharu had concluded. He would take the woman he carried in his arms to the quarters he had arranged for her, and would allow her the rest she deserved for what she had managed to achieve only hours after arriving. As he carried her, he thought back to her last statement to him before she had attended to Rin - that almost mocking thing about protecting her in her sleep - and he exhaled sharply, a sound punctuated with his internal amusement at her antics. A servant that must have prepared the room after hearing its guest had arrived today halted as she walked away from the room, taking one look at the Lord and turning back swiftly to slide the door open for him before bowing and closing it after he entered the room. He scanned the interior briefly, sizing it up to ensure that Jaken had done a satisfactory job in his absence (he had).
The daiyoukai took measured steps towards the futon in the room, pulling back the cover and depositing the woman onto it. He paused momentarily, studying the way the shadows cast by her eyelashes fanned over her cheekbones before he stood once more. He exited the room swiftly, pausing only once to tell the nearest servant to ensure that his guest had been prepared for bed and that her room would remain undisturbed unless it was Lord Sesshomaru himself. He pondered momentarily, before adding to the woman that when Megumi awoke, he expected her to be given a spread of some of the kitchen's best work - and in generous helpings too - before he was on his way again.
Sesshomaru was not one to ignore the promises he made, and he certainly would not ignore the ones he had made to this strangely guarded woman. She had made good on several aspects of their deal, first by helping Rin and second by refraining from unnecessary usage of her abilities, and so the Lord told himself that he would reward her for it, starting with summoning the person in this shiro most knowledgeable on the topic of sealing arts. But things of that nature would have to wait, he reasoned to himself as he rounded a corner.
Sesshomaru had paperwork to do.
Author's Note:
So just a few things - one, I've decided to kinda drop Rin's habit of speaking in the third person - she's not a child in this story, and I just feel like it's more fitting for her to have grown out of it even though her idol still employs it from time to time. (Look, some people can pull it off - cough cough Sesshomaru cough - and others like Rin I just feel sound kinda childish when they use it).
Also, Sesshomaru has both of his arms in the story in case you haven't noticed. For clarification, he grew it back in the years following the actual Inuyasha stuff because youkai have impressive healing qualities and let's be real, he wouldn't be hindered by something as lowly as a missing limb for long. But also I just wanted him to have two hands at his disposal for . . . later chapters. Ahem.
Finally, if you couldn't tell yet by the fact we're nearly 50,000 words into the story already, it's going to be a sorta slow burn. Hah. We've got plenty of time to discover some of the characters' pasts as well as a romance (because why else would you be here) so sit back and enjoy the unhurried-ness.
I hope this chapter was enjoyable; please continue to read!
