I Do Not Own InuYasha


Unmei no Akai Ito

運命の赤い糸

The red string or red string of fate.

...

An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance


I: 3


Year 1572...

Somewhere in Iwata, Japan...

It had been dawn when he had awoken, alone, the frost had covered the leaves, his breathe stained the air of the clear morning. He was healed, he could feel that much, but he knew he had been here too long. Jaken would soon catch up to him, of that he had no doubt. The annoying little kappa was a very persistent companion, and one he could not evade at all times. It was time to move on.

He was a bit surprised that his relentless little caregiver was not here, but then again the child was strange. Other than their initial encounter she had never shown a trace of fear or trepidation about his presence, even having seen his more yōkai nature. She had been a silent constant in the short time he had come here to rest, and he was surprised she was not about this morning. Then again, the child seemed to have a proclivity for being injured.

It was no longer and never had been his concern though so he would endeavor to be off this morning, to find Jaken and to check Honekui no Ido for her again, and he would avoid the infuriating miko his brother was enamored with currently. No doubt time and patience would prove to be his ally in this matter and the miko would again turn on InuYasha. The infuriating hanyō deserved to suffer, as their father had. Still, something was wrong, he couldn't place his finger on it but there was something not right with this morning. He could not figure out what it was though.

Slowly gaining to his feet and righting mokomoko while checking his armor over and retying his sash and checking the Tenseiga, he wondered what was agitating him. It was like there was this nagging nerve on the back of his skull being pulled.

Normally he'd feel her in the back of his mind, for most mating bonds were a mental and emotional link between partners, but it had been centuries since he had last felt anything from her. Their bond was an open void, it was not like mated pairs who's mate died. He had listened extensively to those mates, trying to discern if his mate was dead or merely injured and lost within Honekui no Ido.

Mates who had lost their mates describe it not as a void but as a shattered mirror, a wall, a block, a point of their mind which they could no longer access or reach, it was simply gone. And Sesshōmaru had always felt her, she was always there, a void though. This was the first time in centuries he felt a stirring of something, a slight, weak tug of a thread in his mind.

Once their emotions and thoughts had been so interwoven, they could hold entire conversations without so much as a spoken word. His mother had said he and his mate had shared a profoundly strong bond if they could do that, no doubt tied together by unmei no akai ito since well before either of their lifetimes could begin. He walked, he had to get to her, he had, he didn't know where she was, he couldn't feel that, this was faint, weak, incomplete in sensation really, he didn't know why it felt this way.

Their bond had always been, he had never recalled marking her, only that she was marked, and very human. He could never remember a moment in their entire time bonded when she was not marked and when he could not feel her entirety beside him, or in the back of his mind. At least, it had been that way until he had put her in Honekui no Ido. The stench of yōrō packs filled the forest, and he could almost feel her panic; though a mere vague impression, it was almost palpable, along with her fear.

He had to get to her, he had to get to wherever she was, he had to save her, he could not lose her!

Focusing he started walking, seeking, hunting, his nose working furiously to find her, he heard Jaken, which had been a minor annoyance as the kappa babbled about his difficult quest to find him. It was an annoyance and one he tuned out as his ears focused on the forest around him and his nose furiously sought out the scent of his mate.

The sense of the incomplete bond, a mere thread of her emotions was all he could feel being vaguely tugged; like she did not know how to reach for him, was concerning. He had to find her in her weakened state, if all he had was a vague thread of her emotions, she was no doubt very weakened.

He was hurrying through the forest, farther from the pack which was invading the forest, then the wind carried it, that scent, it sliced through his brain paralyzing him as the thread became a tidal wave of emotions, anguish, sorrow, but mostly unimaginable pain shattered through the bond. Sesshōmaru couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't… the bond… it was… it was… oh Kami, please no, he pleaded, turning around from where he had come. He heard Jaken behind him but he couldn't focus on the kappa. For the first time in his centuries of life terror clawed at his heart, and ice truly filled his veins as he reached through their bond.

He was hitting a wall, it was no longer a void, there were these shattered fragments of nothingness there, like it had never been, and the mere thought had him panicking as he followed that scent he knew so well. Her blood was a scent he knew with uncomfortable degrees of intimacy, her blood from battle, her moon bleeds, their sparring sessions, the hunts, her own mishaps, and even their own intimacy. Her blood was a scent of comfort, it was a scent of his nightmares, it was a scent he couldn't ever forget it, it was ingrained in his memories with a shocking amount of horror he could never fight or forget, especially after their last encounter.

The urgency of hunt he nearly tripped over her, if he hadn't been carefully. Seeing the first drops of blood he saw the paw prints, the smears, he looked at a tree where the blood dripped off it with a glistening red sheen.

No…

This couldn't be happening, not again!

Not again!

He could not… not again, he walked slowly, searching for her, and he was shocked when he came to a clearing and did not see her, but the pup.

True he had seen similarities between the child and her, but there wasn't enough for him to think it was her. But the stench of the blood she was laying it… it was unmistakable, he knew it.

It was her.

Oh Kami… no…

He could feel his knees weakening, slowly he walked forward. It…. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right, this wasn't supposed to. She was never this young, she had never been a pup, but here she was. Sesshōmaru would have reached for her, but he could hear no heartbeat, even as he approached, and he could feel her body cooling, the scent of her blood no longer pulsing and pumping. Her sightless brown eye was glassy, her last expression as she lay there in her blood was one of absolute terror and pain, her black hair was matted with her blood. From here he could see the individual breaks in her fragile flesh from the attack which had been wrought upon her. Savage tears of teeth, ragged gashes of claws, black bruises.

He had done nothing… he had…

She had been beaten prior to this, and he had done nothing, he had not offered comfort or shelter or refuge from her abusers, though the pup hadn't cared.

The grief and horror he felt at his failure of recognizing and protecting his mate threatened to consume him when there was a pulse at his hip. Before he could collapse and gather the tattered remains of the pup who would have grown into his mate, he looked at Tenseiga, for the first time in nearly three centuries he could feel his father's presence acting as a comfort to him.

Tōga had never been a comfort to Sesshōmaru, his father was harsh, and unyielding where he was concerned. They were more rivals than father and son, he had envied that of many of his packmates, their free love with and from their sires, he had fought just to have his father's respect; and even then Tōga had never given him that meager scrap of affection. No, he had never received much of anything from his sires in terms of affection.

Still, he could feel his father around him, as a comfort, urging him, compelling him to… to take the fang at his side…

Sesshōmaru warred with the desire to gather her in his arm and the desire to do as Tenseiga was compelling. He had heard the whispers, the rumors, the sword which had saved Izayoi from a fate of certain death, saved her and that wretched hanyō.

Perhaps…

Perhaps someone who truly deserved to be saved could be. For if ever there'd been a creature who deserved life it was her, she was kind, she was brave, fearless, relentless, gentle, a healer, a warrior, an equal unlike any other. Slowly he drew the fang, a little unnerved to see servants of the netherworld, servants of Izanami fussing over her soul. He did not hesitate then, slicing through them and seeing her soul flutter back into her body. Sheathing Tenseiga he gave into his primal urge to lift her from the blood.

He removed her from the clearing while he could feel her warming, the blood was pumping through her again as her wounds healed rapidly to leave violent violet color almost akin to his yōkai markings.

Once he felt safe enough and far enough from her own death, he set her down, letting her feet rest on the dirt, and her back against his knee and mokomoko. She was so small, so fragile, but he could hear her blood pumping, her heart fluttering, and slowly a breath shuddered from her lips as she let out a small whimper. Jaken was squawking about something inconsequential to him, and she had his full focus. He watched the black bruises disappear and her skin was once again a pale ivory with a soft golden hue beneath the surface. Her pale cheeks gained a pleasant pink as she scrunched up her nose in distaste.

He could not ever remember her being a graceful waker, so he waited as she sniffled a few times, frowned, took a deep breath and tentatively her dark lashes fluttered; hesitantly at first, but then they opened. His breath hitched seeing her eyes again, how had he missed this?

Because he had been wallowing within his own misery, he chided himself.

Her eyes blinked a few times in disbelief, and he let her go, letting her stand on her own as he stood over her. She blinked again, and he saw it, the woman he had loved and fought besides, the girl stumbled a step and he decided they were safe. She was alive.

He would organize for her to have a bath and a fresh kimono of her choosing, immediately, and he would order Jaken to fetch A-Un for them. A-Un would be most pleased to see his mistress again, no doubt for that. Sesshōmaru could only feel relief about this, she was here, she was alive, she stank worse than a rotting corpse left on the battlefield, but she was here and alive. He would see to it that shew as treated with the utmost care and then he'd keep her close until she was ready to choose where she wanted to be.

The faint tug of a thread in his mind of her immediate panic had him slowing his pace, she stumbled up to him, tripping, he moved mokomoko to catch her before she fell again.

No.

Never again would he fail her.

She blinked at being held up on mokomoko, then she giggled a little as she hugged the appendage with delight.

"Get off Sesshōmaru-sama you impudent wench! You're sullying his lordship!" Jaken screeched. Sesshōmaru watched in horror as she released him and scrambled back a step, she tripped and he reached out to catch her small hand with his own.

"Jaken," his voice slicing through the kappa's ranting and cursing of the small human pup. "Be silent."

The kappa fell silent in his rants then and Sesshōmaru looked at the small human pup. She was in dire need of a bath, and he could smell her weakness and fatigue now.

"Jaken, retrieve A-Un, now, and bring as many kimonos that will fit the girl as you can," he ordered. The kappa made a few squawks as he ran off to do the task. Once Sesshōmaru was alone with the girl he knelt to her level, she bit her lip, never letting go of his hand as she now examined his claws with the utmost fascination. Her dark eyes flicked to his empty sleeve then him again.

"Sesshōmaru-sama," she said softly, in a hoarse, disused, broken voice. He curled his fingers, effectively capturing her fingers as he pulled her towards him a few steps. Mokomoko wrapped behind her, just in case she should fall again. He could remember as a pup when the woman had been his sole comforter, and he would provide the same to this pup if she wanted him to.

She had a fascination with his claws, examining them gingerly as he waited for her to let go fully, he had loosened his hold enough to let her move his fingers how she wanted. She was utterly fascinated with them. The pure, innocent wonder was an expression he remembered seeing on the woman.

"What is your name?" he asked, knowing it already but wanting her to say it.

"Rin's name is Rin," she mumbled, her voice was so rough from disuse.

"Let us be off Rin," he said when she finally let him go, he carefully lifted the child up in his arm, she hesitated a minute before he inclined his head for her to take whatever comfort she desired. She burrowed into mokomoko, hugging it tightly he continued scenting her, seeking past the stench for her clean scent beneath and was pleased that it was still the scent of rain, though hidden by the stench of her life of neglect. He would take her to a hot spring and help her get clean, then he would see to it she was properly fed.

But first, he would have to dispose of this ratty material, it was drenched in her blood and he did not want to live with this stench. He still had nightmares about her blood, he would not tolerate the constant reminder of his failure again.

It was well into the night and he was still cleaning the pup thoroughly, her thread of emotions was filtering sporadically through the bond, and very faintly, if he was not focused on her he'd have missed them entirely. Which strengthened his resolve to mark her, now, it would not be abnormal for his kind, he remembered Tsukuyomaru had been compelled to mark the human babe he had found. He remembered his friend's horror about that action, but the comfort it had brought. Yōkai mates were also known to mark each other upon meeting, for the bond of True Mates was bound by the Red Thread and impossible to deny.

He could only feel happiness at her life, he had no further desire for Rin than to keep her close, keep her fed, warm and cared for, but he also felt compelled to watch her grow, to watch her flourish, and Kami he was relieved. She was here, alive. His claws traced the violent violet scars which he remembered being pale as ivory, and he looked at the nape of her neck.

"Rin," he murmured her name softly, uncaring about the water she was splashing about, or the delight she had in the oils he had bought for her to use to clean. She smiled as she looked at him, he continued cleaning and detangling her hair. "Would you mind if I were to mark you?" he asked as his own claws tugged a painful snarl for her, she stared at him with large unblinking eyes.

Then there was a furious shake of her head as she yanked her hair away and giggled when her throat was bare.

He was a bit shocked that the human pup knew what he would do and where the mark belonged.

The fusion of his blood and venom with hers opened the bond fully and he was engulfed by her warmth again, he was stunned, sitting there, the child clinging to his mokomoko as she shivered a little as she no doubt felt his emotions just as intensely. He was startled by the purity of her love again, he felt like a man who'd been dying of thirst to finally have a sip of water, and he had forgotten how good it was to have her there for real.

Sesshōmaru finished the task of untangling her hair, she giggled more as he worked, she found a fascination with mokomoko as she started turning a bit pinker than he liked. He remembered once Rin of his youth said that a human should not indulge too much in pleasant things or dangerous things, it had a way to kill them at times.

Once he was satisfied she was clean, and she was yawning now, clinging to his leg to stay upright in the water, he scooped her up and started drying her off, wrapping her up in his own silks as he continued drying her hair and combing it free of the neglect. She was sound asleep by the time he was done, hugging mokomoko like she always had when she was older.