I Do Not Own InuYasha
Aienkien
合縁奇縁
A couple strangely but happily united;
Uncanny relationship formed by a quirk of Fate;
The mysteries of attraction and relationships or bonds between people
II: 28
Year 1308...
Tsuzuki Castle...
Rin groaned as she woke, alone, wrapped up in silks and furs of Sesshōmaru's futon. The furs were soft, not as soft as mokomoko, but soft, and the silk over her was warm against the dying summer's morning. Looking around she saw she was alone, though there was a small serving tray with a bowl of peaches, and warm tea there. Pulling herself up she saw all the marks from last night and smiled at them, she had truly never anticipated this occurring in her life. Her robe was laid out for her at the edge of the futon, which had her pulling it on as she dragged her hair loose of the material. The black mass fell to her waist once free, and she sighed as she sat down to look at the offered breakfast and tea.
The fusuma was gingerly opened, which had her turning in time to look at Sesshōmaru slipping in, shutting it and his eyes met hers. She felt her face heating a bit as she picked up a peach.
"Rin," he greeted in the same cold, soft tone he always did. She smiled broadly at him then.
"Good morning!" she smiled standing as she walked over to him, her fingers played with a peach she had picked up. "I…"
"I am sorry about last night," he said.
"I'm not," she countered and bit her lip as she looked at his chest. "I… I never expected to be anything more than a beloved servant to you," she explained.
"Mate," he said as he traced the mark on the nape of her neck then. She looked up at him as she nervously fidgeted.
"Do you regret it? I can ignore…"
"No," he cut her off. "I should not have acted rashly, I do not regret last night," he explained.
"That's good!" she smiled.
"How are you, Rin?"
"A little sore," she admitted.
He nodded, as he gestured to her to go to sit where the tray was, and she went to the cushion. Her lord caught her arm as he helped her lower herself again. She was not lying about being sore, she had not anticipated that, but it wasn't a painful sore, just a new satisfied sore.
"What's this about a boar hunt?" she asked.
"Resolved," he dismissed, slicing a peach open for himself, she nodded as she munched on her own. She eyed the tea warily, it smelled very strange.
"Dong quai and peony," he informed her.
"Oh!" she nodded as she picked it up. Rin had prescribed and helped other women use this herb but had never prepared it in a tea or used it herself. She took a sip and grimaced a little internally, but this was the wise move. Now was not the time.
"Mother wishes to speak to you," he said.
"Kimi-sama?" she sputtered.
"Hai," he nodded as he munched on his own peach.
"I… She knows I'm here? Stupid question, of course she knows I'm here," Rin sighed. "Bloody inuyōkai noses," she cursed.
Sesshōmaru had the gall to smirk at her as he lounged across from her.
"You can stop smirking," she snapped.
"She is very happy you're here," he chuckled softly.
"I doubt that," Rin sighed. Kimi-sama adored her, in her time, but Rin knew she ran her lord's mother to her wits' end trying to keep up with her. And Kimi-sama was still sore about the incident with the tanuki she and Shiori had hidden in Shiori's quarters.
"It'll be fine," he promised.
"Hai my lord," she nodded as she munched on the peach and sipped her tea. She would have to remember to start making this if this were a permanent change to hers and Sesshōmaru's relationship. Rin did not want to get pregnant until she and Sesshōmaru were ready for that, if that was what he wanted.
"Where's Bakusaiga?" she asked, noting that she did not have Sesshōmaru's fang or the kaiken on hand.
Sesshōmaru gestured to where his armor was displayed, and she relaxed seeing both the fangs placed there with care and reverence. She had forgotten about them between the hot spring and the bath and everything else last night.
"Anything else?"
He shook his head slightly as he finished his peach before coming around to her side of their little table and kissing her lightly. Rin blinked a few times and he smiled slightly as he claws slid over her jawline.
"You're being awfully affectionate today," she chuckled.
"I missed my mate," he murmured as he kissed her pulse then her mark again. She hummed at his reply, her eyes fluttering shut as she struggled to hold her peach.
"I'm always with you, my lord," she promised softly.
He didn't reply, instead his fangs nipped her pulse again before he pulled away from her entirely.
"Get dressed," he said. "Ojii-sama is also here, he wants to speak with you as well," he informed her.
"Who!?" she sputtered.
"Shikoku-sama," he said.
"He's here!?" Rin sputtered dumbly. She had never personally met Shikoku-sama, he was Kimi-sama's father, the first inuyōkai to be Inu no Tashio. Shikoku had waged war against kami and yōkai alike, and always been victorious, he had even fended off many attacks from the West, and brought the current, modern pack structure the inuyōkai currently lived in. He was revered, he was beloved, and he had retired to become so reclusive no one had seen him in thousands of years. Shikoku-sama, like her lord, was a wanderer and recluse, he was said to be a man of few words, he was still revered, rarely seen by the inuyōkai of his pack. Shikoku-sama had adopted Tōga as his son, and heir, giving the title of Inu no Tashio to Sesshōmaru's and InuYasha's father before he had disappeared from the mortal plane and all records of history.
"Hai," Sesshōmaru nodded.
"Why!?" she asked.
Sesshōmaru shrugged slightly and tried to steal her last peach slice. Rin slapped his fingers away and shoved the peach slice in her mouth.
Year 1581...
Edo, Japan...
Shippō raced through Edo, and made it to InuYasha's hut, he had a deep-seated instinct to find and check his skulk with the information that Rin was missing.
When they had been young, and it was shortly after the defeat of Naraku, Shippō had adopted Rin as a litermate. They were of the same age, and they had both lived through painfully similar experiences, and both had witnessed the brutal murders of their skulks and been taken into new skulks. Shippō, unlike Rin though, had been lucky, he had been found a few short months after his father's death, Rin had not been found by her mate until a few years after her family's death.
Shippō was also lucky, he had been adopted by a new skulk, Kagome was akin to a surrogate mother to him and InuYasha somewhere between father and an older brother, with Sango and Miroku as a sort of aunt and uncle. But Rin, Rin had been a littermate for him in their youths, adopting her to his skulk, exchanging blood and swearing ties together had given him the stabilization he had not anticipated and helped his aging process. He had grown more physically in the last eight years than he had in the previous thirty of his existence.
"Kagome!?" he shouted, surging through the door to see Sango and Kagome there, laying over the kits.
"Shippō!?" Kagome jolted a bit; he ignored the instincts in him demanding caution not to startle the new mother; even if she was his adopted mother and raced to check her over. He paused at the three kits: Mitsuru and the two others from Kagome and InuYasha. He stared at the two younger kits, their ears were plastered on their silver head, and their eyes were firmly shut. "I'm so glad you're here!"
"I heard about Rin!" he explained.
"We are sorting that out," Sango said.
"I should go see if I can find when she is," he said, his tail thrashing in agitation.
"Shippō, I don't think that's wise, Sesshōmaru's by the well and he's not in a good mood," Kagome said.
"Rin is my littermate, I should find her," he persisted.
"Shippō, there's nothing new, none of us can pass through the well," Sango said.
"But…"
"The only one who might be able to is Sesshōmaru-sama, or Kagome, but even then, we don't know if they'll go whenever Rin is," Sango said. "We need to wait until we have more information."
"And who has more information," he started.
"Tōtōsai and Myōga are already here, and there's Sesshōmaru-sama's mother, Kimi-sama," Sango started.
"Kimi-sama is here!?" Shippō sputtered. He knew about Kimi-sama from Rin and knew that she was not one to trifle with or one who really left her shiro. She was also the revered leader of the Shikoku InuYōkai Pack; his father had said Kimi-sama to be a fair and logical leader who others should aspire to be like, she was an alpha bitch his father had admired greatly.
"Hai, she is," Sango nodded.
Shippō nodded and looked at the new members of his skulk, they were cute. They looked a lot like InuYasha right now, he could see that they were probably going to retain a lot of yōkai traits.
"This is Katsurō," Kagome said tracing the cheek of the pup in the red blanket. "And this is Noriaki," she said touching the cheek of the other pup wrapped in white.
"They're adorable," he smiled. "I should go find my littermate though," he said.
"Since when were you and Rin…"
"Rin is like my sister," he said, cutting off whatever matchmaking scheme was forming in his adopted mother's mind. "We are blood siblings," he admitted holding up his palm. There was a deep, long scar across his palm, Rin had a matching scar, they had made them when they had performed a formal yōkai ritual to become littermates. Rin already had more yōkai than a normal human because of her mating mark with Sesshōmaru-sama, and by adding his own link to her had given her more yōkai energy. She was his littermate, and with her already walking ghost status as a human, she was more like a hanyō than yōkai with the amount of yōkai energy pulsing in her viens. "We adopted each other into the skulk, she's my littermate."
"You…" Kagome started, but they all faltered when there was a pulse of powerful, evil energy which had him curling over Kagome and her kits, Sango wrapped her own kit up in her arms as the energy pulsed and tore apart the the air.
"KAGOME!" InuYasha shouted, throwing open his hut door, he looked around wildly.
"What was that!?" Shippō demanded.
"I don't know, get Miroku's pups, get out of here," InuYasha ordered as he gathered up the kits and Kagome. Shippō nodded as he snatched one of the kits and ran after Sango through Edo to the Higurashi Shrine where Miroku and she lived. They arrived as the darkness encased the skies.
"What is going on!?" Miroku demanded.
"We need to get the kits out of here!" Shippō shouted as Kirara appeared, her massive form aflame. Miroku did not hesitate, and Shippō struggled to grap some of the younger kits as Miroku and Sango took off.
Shippō cradled the younger kit tightly as he ran after them into InuYasha's forest, the air was becoming heavy. There was a low growl behind him which had him turning just intime to see a yōkai becoming almost feral, and he yelped as the beast came for his tail.
Suddenly there was a slash of light and the yōkai fell on the ground dead, and Shippō slammed into a chest as a heavy clawed hand caught his arm.
"Sesshōmaru-sama!" he sputtered. The daiyōkai looked behind him and shoved him out of the way as his claws caught the throat of another yōkai threw it back.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"Don't know, there was a pulse of evil energy, InuYasha ordered us to get the skulk and get out," Shippō explained.
"Go to Shikoku, Kimi will have the shiro ready," he said and darted into the woods. Shippō nodded and ran to InuYasha's position, he had helped as many of the villagers out of Edo as they could.
"We need to go to Shikoku, Sesshōmaru's mother will have space for us," he panted as InuYasha took his kit.
"Where's Shikoku?" InuYasha asked.
"It's south," Miroku said.
Year 1308...
Tsuzuki Castle...
Rin walked out of Sesshōmaru's quarters and followed her mate through the halls of the shiro she knew so well. She had wreaked all sorts of havoc here, she and Shiori had had a lot of fun. Rin had grown up here, she had spent many winters with Shiori, Ai, Dai, Roku, Moegi, and Shion exploring, she had driven Suzu insane here, and annoyed Asagi before her death. Rin had trained with Gorō, Takuma, Zen, Taijo, and Riki, they were her guard, they were her friends, they had taught her the art of igo, and mājan, while also teaching her to wrestle, archery, and the finer points of flower arranging. She had been loved here, and respected, and wanted. Rin could never explain it, but she was a part of this shiro, it was odd to see it before she had been a part of it. Many of the inuyōkai guards moved aside, bowing and smiling at her, Sesshōmaru just walked forward, but she smiled recognizing some of them as familiar faces.
"My, my, this is a surprise!" a voice chuckled which had her jolting as she spun around to see a tall daiyōkai of some breed. He was tanned, his eyes a lively violet like Shiori's, and his hair was white as snow. "It has been a long time, human."
"Tsukuyomaru," Sesshōmaru greeted icily.
"I'm allowed to say hello to a beautiful onna," the man said as he bowed his head slightly to her. "Kōgō Heika," he greeted with a low bow.
"Just Rin," she said swiftly.
"Very well, Rin-sama," he smiled.
"Gomen, but do we know each other?" she asked.
"Tsukuyomaru of the Hyakkikoumori Clan," he greeted. "And I do believe we have met, you saved me during the Mongol Invasion, Rin-sama."
"Tsukuyomaru," Sesshōmaru cut off.
"Ah, gomen, events you have yet to live but we have," he chuckled cryptically. "Good luck with your meeting," he said and bowed lowly before the cloak on his back formed as wings and he disappeared.
"Ignore him," Sesshōmaru ordered. "Let's be off Rin," he said.
"Hai my lord!" she giggled as she hurried after him. She didn't know what to make of Tsukuyomaru but he had reminded her a lot of Shiori, which was unusual. Walking after Sesshōmaru they wound their way through the shiro. It was when they made it to the Inu no Tashio's study that she paused, suddenly the shoji rattled open and she found herself staring into the eyes of Kimi-sama who smiled warmly.
"Rin! It has been some time," the alpha bitch mused.
His only purpose in life was ensuring the safety and future of his only son, he decided as he arrived at the shiro. If that meant defending mankind so his pup's mate could exist in peace then he would, though he loathed the very idea.
In the West his father had been the Emperor, a ruler of the heavens, the wilds, the seas, the mountains, and the mortals, there were other titles his father wielded, but he was known for his weak love of mortals. Tōga had sworn to never be like his father, to never indulge the weaker species's to humor their short lives in the grand scheme of things. It was why he had come East, and found his current home. Shikoku unlike Tōga's own father, was far from weak. Shikoku-sama was a man who commanded the respect of all, mortal, spirit, yōkai or kami, Shikoku was revered, and served the kami and been rewarded with an empire of his own. An empire that was not reliant on humans and their weak lives.
However, none of that matter, he would do whatever was needed to ensure his pup's future, and if that meant helping this onna with her quest, then he would
Walking through the shiro he was surprised to scent Rin here, and slowly wound his way to the gardens.
Rin was walking with Kimi while Sesshōmaru and Shikoku were sitting on the engawa playing igo. He looked at the way his son looked and watched Rin, he was surprised, even though Rin was absorbed in her conversation with Kimi, Sesshōmaru watched Rin with nothing but love and indifference. Tōga had never seen his pup so relaxed, and Rin was merely in the gardens.
He sighed, perhaps he should have indulged his only pup before now.
Walking to the garden he saw Sesshōmaru's entire demeanor change as his son leapt to where Rin was, abandoning his game and collecting the human to be close and behind him.
"I'm here to speak with Rin," Tōga said.
"No," Sesshōmaru said.
"Rin," Tōga motioned for her to come to him, she moved but Sesshōmaru caught her and kept her firmly behind him.
"Sesshōmaru, please!" Rin said.
"No," Sesshōmaru repeated.
"I'm not going to harm her!" Tōga avowed.
"Pain of death, no harm will befall the onna, I need to speak to Rin, she knows what about," Tōga avowed.
"A lofty promise," Shikoku said.
"Sesshōmaru, I'll be fine!" Rin promised and before his son could protest Rin escaped Sesshōmaru's grasp and jogged over to him. Tōga noted that her feet were bare, and she was dressed simply, she did not look like an onna his son would have selected to mate; she looked like a wild kitsune really.
"Come," he motioned as he walked into the shiro, Rin hurried to his side.
"Alone Sesshōmaru!" Rin shouted over her shoulder. "I'll be fine!" she promised.
"I'll return your mate soon," he promised as they walked for his quarters and his study.
"What did you learn?" she whispered when they passed the gates for his quarters.
"Much and nothing," he admitted.
