Here is the second chapter of this story. Just a few comments to make before we start.
Snow: glad to have you back. This chapter is mostly devoted to their wedding day, but it might not be what you or most other readers expected. As I mentioned earlier, I don't force myself to write things that don't occur to me naturally. If you really want more on the ceremony part, you should tell that to the Sunrise folks, lol! Maybe with enough voices, our pleas will be heard.
xcandiedoll: I liked the way you described Sessh's character, it completely matches my understanding of him. Rin will again be shown in the next episode, but I don't think that they will confirm our ship until much later.
Thanks to Harmony, nmaniaci4, MyXxXFantasiesofSesshomaru , SesshRinLover and the couple of people who had reviewed with generic guest names.
Also, regarding Yashahime, tbh several disagreeable theories are circulating, and I am not wasting my time with the series anymore for now, until the mess unravels itself, and I get the assurance that Sesshomaru's character is not assassinated. Also, can't say that I absolutely adored the twins in the way I adore precious Rin from the first few episodes. Setsuna seemed promising before the start of the series, but in the first few episodes, I felt that even though she seems like her dad for the most part, she does not have the same charm. Maybe it's an x factor that Sessh has and she doesn't, idk. I never cared about either Inuyasha or Kagome much, but their daughter turned out to be more interesting for some reason.
One thing that I liked is the way they portrayed adult Rin; she is exactly as I had imagined her to be all these years, not drop dead gorgeous, but having that aura of kindness and purity about her. But another disappointing aspect is that she might remain asleep for the most part, and the show might end with her speaking next to nothing. It would be very dissatisfying because her interactions with the other characters were one of the most refreshing parts of the show for me. It would be a total waste of the potential of her character to make her nothing more than Sessh's wife and the mother of his kids (even if they confirm that). Also, Sessh's classy dialogues are missing so far, and so is Jaken. Nope, don't see any reason to keep watching it. I hope this does not come off as a diatribe, just wanted to express my views as I want to make my fiction as close to cannon as possible. No offence to fans who are liking the series, even I want to like it, and would be happiest if everything worked out well.
This chapter has quite a bit of drama, but it is mainly about friendship in my opinion, and is also a longer chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
The next morning, Rin decided to take a short stroll after completing her outdoors training session with Sesshomaru. When she saw him walk towards the castle's bathhouse after the training, she assumed that before he left for his patrol, he was going to follow through with his usual morning schedule of having a bath and a meal afterwards. It was the only time when he ate anything during the day. After her marriage, Rin was surprised to learn that fruits were the only human food that her mysterious lord ate, although she had succeeded in getting him to try tea every once in a while in the past. The thought brought an embarrassed smile on her face at the recollection of that fateful day when her younger self had tried to offer fish to the injured demon lord.
Around that time of the morning Rin would normally explore the area around the castle on her own, pester Jaken, or chat with one of the castle's workers. It took her mind off the rather unremarkable practice sessions. Although Sesshomaru was patient with her, she could see that he was not quite impressed with her rusty self-defense skills and the progress she was making on improving them. She also went to the stable to check on A-Un every morning and to feed him. The faithful and gentle dragon loved her attention, and the beast would get restive if for some reason Rin was late. Once she had not gone, because it was raining all day, and one of the two bison-demon brothers who served as the gatekeepers had to come inside to call the Lady of the West because A-Un was refusing to eat. The two-headed dragon had always been fond of the bright eyed young girl who travelled with it once, and only became more attached to her once she started living at the castle after her wedding with its master. Jaken regularly complained that she was pampering it. The few other inhabitants of the castle, demon and human alike were more than happy to welcome her. To them it seemed that their new lady's arrival had magically transformed the silent and cold atmosphere that used to prevail at castle to that of a warm and inviting home. Mayumi, the elderly human housekeeper, was especially overjoyed at having her point finally proven to her husband, the other housekeeper, and the third human who resided at the castle.
Jaken had put on an air of being peeved at having to address Rin as "my lady or Lady Rin." Rin had generously freed him of that obligation, reassuring him that it was still fine to just call her by her name as he always had. Indeed, the grumpy imp had happily resumed his "duty" of reminding her that her conduct was childlike and not befitting her position as the Lady of the West, but deep down he was relieved that it was only the kind hearted Rin who became his lord's wife, and not some high-handed demon lady who would probably look down on the very existence of a puny demon such as himself.
Rin hummed herself a tune as she wandered in the castle grounds. There was enough area at the back of the castle to grow a garden and she planned to do just that once spring arrived. Her eyes searched the almost dead bushes that hedged along the stone fences for any blossoms that might have withstood the bitter weather. She was disappointed to find that there were none. Sighing, she came around to the front, and set forth on the path that led to the lake.
When Rin returned from her little mission, she came face to face with her husband halfway up the stairs. It seemed that he had been waiting for her in the hall on the upper level of the castle and started making his way down, once he had heard her footsteps.
Sesshomaru watched as Rin quickly ascended the steps between them, her hands placed behind her back. He found it amusing that she bothered to hide the object that she held in her hands in a poor attempt to surprise him, when he could plainly tell what it was by the scent of it.
"For you, Lord Sesshomaru," she smiled as she held out her hand in which she carefully held a couple of fresh wild roses, the morning dew still visible on their snowy white petals, the thorns sticking out from their stems as she offered them to him. The tender sunlight of the winter morning that came in through the open windows of the hall above them illuminated her face, as she stood a couple of steps below him.
Sesshomaru took the flowers from her with one hand, but caught hold of her wrist with the other. He had observed that she had kept her fist shut when she offered the flowers. He used his fingers to pry open her folded ones and gazed down at her palm and fingers which were pricked at many places from the thorns. There was no blood, just scratches covering the soft skin of her palm and fingers.
"I was so happy to see the flowers that I forgot about the thorns when I tried to reach for it," Rin tried to explain when his lips turned down slightly and his brows furrowed in a barely visible frown on noticing the scratches on her hand.
"Rin, what makes you think that it is acceptable to hurt yourself to get me such things?" he asked in a strict voice.
"I just wanted to give you some fresh flowers before you left. Most have wilted and died due to the cold. These are the only ones that bloomed, and they reminded me so much of you," Rin said, the toes of her feet drawing patterns on the stone beneath them.
Sesshomaru descended another step towards her, the shadow of his tall figure fell on her face. "Explain," he said.
"What?" Rin looked up to meet her husband's golden eyes, not sure about what he was asking.
"You said that they remind you of me. Why?"
"Oh, Lord Sesshomaru they are so beautiful. But you can only touch them from a distance, and so very carefully," she extended her hand and touched the petals of one of the flowers in Sesshomaru's hand with her fingers to demonstrate the act. "You can never hold them to your heart like you want to, without feeling the prick of its thorns," she lowered her voice as she finished.
From the last part of her analogy, Sesshomaru understood that she was probably referring to his distant nature and how he had hurt her in the past by keeping himself away from her life for prolonged periods of time. Swiftly he ran a claw along the edges of each stem, its sharp edge cutting through the bases of the thorns. Once the thorns were removed, he took one flower and held it out to her.
"You don't have to fear the thorns anymore if you still want to hold this one to your heart," he offered. She was observing his actions with curious eyes.
"I got them for you my lord," Rin said as her eyes widened, taking in the implication of his words.
"If they truly remind me of you, you should keep one," his hand reached for the back of her head and tucked the flower in her hair. Rin blushed and reached for the slender fingers still laced in her hair. However, when the tap of the staff of two-heads and the patter of Jaken's feet became audible, she had to let go, allowing her husband to withdraw his hand. Master Jaken, couldn't you have come a few moments later? Just when she wanted to hold him to her heart just as he said she could, the imp had to make his entry. She felt a little jealous of Sango and Kagome who were able to embrace their husbands before other people without any reservation, despite protests from Inuyasha in the latter case. Her Lord Sesshomaru, however, would not even hold her hand in the presence of a third person, unless her life was endangered or something like that. Although he had never said it, she knew that his decorum disapproved of such public displays of fondness, and she could not say that she found them very tasteful either. Her husband's affection for her was like a stream which steadily flowed underneath a hard and rocky terrain, barely visible from the surface and yet which had continually nourished her heart since the day she met him and healed her mind of the wounds that it had previously suffered.
Sesshomaru passed by her and went down the stairs to meet his vassal who came and stood at the base of the large stairway. "Lord Sesshomaru, please consider taking me with you, milord. I implore you once again," he shrieked.
"Jaken, cease your vain attempts at trying to change my decision. It is settled that you will remain here," Sesshomaru refused to listen to the small imp. "Rin, don't wander too far from the castle on your own, and Jaken make sure that she stays within the barrier," he turned his head halfway towards his back where Rin stood and addressed both of them. After their marriage he had used his two swords to secure the castle and the adjoining area around his castle extending up to the lake with the same barrier that he had created around his brother's village, which still stood in its place. He felt a bit reassured knowing that Rin should be safe as long as she stayed within it and so would be her friends at the village.
Rin and Jaken watched their lord walk outside and take off into the clear morning sky, still carrying the second flower that Rin gave him in his hand. "I am left to hear your nonsense prattle all day again. Oh, milord is so cruel," Jaken whined.
"Master Jaken, isn't that what you have been doing for the last ten years? Surely you are more used to doing it now than any other task," Rin laughed, teasing the demon who had steadfastly acted as her guardian and protector all these years. "Don't be so gloomy," she approached him and bent down to pat his little head.
"Shut up Rin, and behave like the lady that you are. Don't disgrace our lord by being so silly," Jaken lectured, secretly enjoying the fact that he exercised the authority to admonish the Lady of the West.
A few days after Sesshomaru's departure, Rin sat at his study in the evening, going through the messages that came in since he left along with a few others that were left unopened from earlier. Noticing the burden of his work, she had asked if she could be of help, upon which he had suggested that she could go through the letters and sort out the ones that conveyed critical information and thus demanded a more urgent response from the regular messages, which most often did not need a reply.
Rin opened the letter in her hand to find that Lady Tōran had conveyed her greetings to the Lord and Lady of the West on behalf of the panther tribe. Rin was not very surprised considering the fact that she had seen a cat demon come in the day before to leave a message with the gatekeepers. At that, the image of the two panther demon sisters who she had met at Lady Mother's castle flashed in her mind, bringing with it a bunch of other memories from her wedding day.
After their wedding ceremony at the village shrine presided over by the head priestess Kaede, Sesshomaru had silently made his way out of the small gathering, to give Rin a chance to say her goodbyes to the friends she had grown up with. Rin remembered that Kohaku had walked over to where her lord stood a little distance away from the rest of the group. She had seen them exchange some words out of the corner of her eyes as she stood with the other women, listening to her sister-in-law gush about how wonderful it would have been if only she had something that she called a "camera" on that special day. Rin had felt a bit relieved, silently thanking Kohaku for not letting her lord feel completely out of place there, having known the amicable bond that Sesshomaru shared with the young demon-slayer. However, Rin had been apprehensive of the demon lord's apparent unwillingness to comply with his mother's wish, and thus in her last letter to him before the marriage, she had emphasized on her own wish to see Lady Mother after the wedding. Since that fateful day a month back when they had both found the resolve to utter the words that had remained unspoken for long, dispelling the dark cloud of misunderstanding between them, Rin had resumed her earlier habit of telling Sesshomaru about every small detail of her life in the village. Thus, in her last letter to him, she had also remarked on Kagome's despair about the possibility of not being able to find enough flowers for the wedding decorations due to the time of the year being late in autumn. She had never expected her lord to be able to solve that tiny problem, and yet on the day of her wedding, A-Un and Jaken arrived early, the dragon being laden with flowers that were enough for perhaps three weddings.
The young priestess could hardly contain her excitement. "Sesshomaru totally spoils you Rin, what a lucky girl!" she had exclaimed.
"But I didn't even ask for them," Rin had replied. She was somewhat bewildered to think how her lord or Jaken could have obtained so many blossoms that were clearly out of season. The mystery, however, was solved later on in the day. After the farewells had been said with Rin promising that she would be visiting soon, A-Un was packed with her belongings and sent off to Sesshomaru's castle with Jaken, while her newlywed husband took her to his mother's castle. Sure enough, Sesshomaru never denied Rin's wishes.
Rin remembered having seen a single crease appear on her husband's forehead when they had arrived at their destination. "Rin, stay close to me at all times while we are here," he had said in the voice which she had known him to use whenever he perceived a threat.
As soon as they had landed at the top of the seemingly endless flight of stairs that led up to the castle, Lady Mother came out to greet them. "Ah, Sesshomaru, it seems that your new wife had done a fine job of taming you already. We have been expecting you,"
"Mother, what is the meaning of this? It is only you that Rin wanted to see, neither of us wish to deal with the others you have summoned here," her son had responded, picking up on the unusually large number of demonic auras present at the castle.
"Don't be so brazen, Sesshomaru. You have been avoiding court assemblies ever since your father passed away. It is time you finally attend one. Besides, don't you think that the court deserves to know the new Lady of the West? I deemed it necessary to have a formal introduction to maintain the trust that is ever so fragile among demons," she had tried to reason with her son.
"I have no use for your diplomacy, and I couldn't care less about the opinions of the court," his stubborn reply had followed.
"I knew you would say something boring like that," the dowager Lady of the West had raised her hand to her mouth to cover a fake yawn. "At least have some pity on your poor mother and spare me the odious task of having to continually reject the useless marriage proposals that they keep sending for their daughters, in the hopes that you will accept one of them if I insist enough. Seeing your wife in person would deter them for at least -," her golden eyes had fallen on Rin's innocent face as she patiently listened to the conversation between the mother and son. The newly married bride in her wedding kimono looked just perfect beside her son. She had suppressed a sigh and gulped down the rest of her sentence.
"The poor little flower looks tired already. Come Rin, let's get this over with," she had approached Rin and took her arm, leading her away from her husband towards a large door on the right. As expected, Rin had willingly allowed herself to be led by her mother-in-law, and Sesshomaru had no choice but to follow the two women. Lady Mother sure knew the way to make sure her son did what she wanted him to do.
Rin had frozen in her tracks when eyes had fallen upon the large demon who stood on the other side of the door. He had thick brown fur and a pointed snout through which big canines were clearly visible. He seemed to be guarding the door but kept his eyes shut. She had clasped her mother-in-law's elbow with both hands, the color draining from her face in a moment.
"I thought you are not afraid of demons," Lady Mother had stopped sensing the source of her daughter-in-law's fright.
"He's a wolf," was all her frightened self had been able to mutter under her breath.
"Do not be intimidated Rin, he means no harm. But mother why would you have that useless Rōyakan over here?" her husband's deep voice had instantly dispelled the fear for the most part.
"He is an ally, and he is loyal to you isn't he?" the demoness had cast a sideways glance at her son's face.
On hearing their voices the eyes of the large creature had snapped open and he had come forward. The large bulging blue eyes were surprisingly gentle, nothing like what she had seen in the eyes of the wolves in the moments before they had mauled her to death. Rin had closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again, her mind had shaken off the remnants of the fear that still lingered.
"Lady Mother, Lord Sesshomaru," the demon had bowed. "Lady Rin, as the guardian of the forests of the western lands, I, Rōyakan would like to welcome you to your-," he began
"Shut up Rōyakan, you are such a sycophant," Sesshomaru had promptly interrupted the grandiloquent welcome speech that the demon was about to deliver. "Move aside," he commanded. Rin had actually felt sorry to see the disheartened look on his big face, which looked more comical than appalling at that point. Definitely, a harmless demon, she had realized.
"I am glad to meet you, Rōyakan," she smiled at him, hoping it will lift his spirits. "And sorry," she quickly apologized for her husband's rudeness. He had walked past them at that point, having had enough of the exchange of pleasantries. His mother looked amused.
"How did he know my name?" Rin had asked as she resumed walking beside her mother-in-law.
"I would say that the little toad has a big mouth," she had replied.
"I am sorry for reacting like that. It is just that I was killed by wolves before Lord Sesshomaru resurrected me back then," she explained.
The grand Lady's feet had stopped for a moment. "Rin, you need not speak of such incidents on the day of your wedding," she had said in a tone which closely resembled that of her son.
When they were inside the large courtroom, Rin had found there were about ten to twelve other demons of different types and ages assembled there, presumably waiting for Lady Mother. Her lord husband walked ahead wordlessly and sat down on one of the low seats at one edge of the room. Few other demons had also sat down, while the others who had been standing had proceeded to take their seats on seeing the dowager Lady of the West enter the room.
"Go and sit with your husband," the lady had told her gently.
While making her way to that end of the room, Rin had heard whispering voices, and felt that nearly all pairs of eyes in the room were fixed on her.
"The lord has taken a wife, a human, nonetheless!", a first voice had said.
"Just like his father," a second one had joined in.
"Don't be ridiculous, his father never married that human princess," the first one had retorted.
"Is she a princess too? She is quite pretty for a human," a third one had asked.
"I doubt it, from what I have heard she is just a plebeian. And all she has is a cute face, that's all, none of what makes a woman attractive. His father had better taste in women, I must say," the first one had replied.
There were still others in the far corners of the room, whose whispers had not reached Rin's ears. She had taken a deep breath and exhaled the air. It had seemed that it was going to be a long day. She had tried her best to keep her face blank, and not take the comments to her heart. He loves me, that's all I need to know, that should be enough, she had reassured herself as she looked at Sesshomaru. The hard line in which his jaw was set and the way his bangs hid his eyes from everyone's view plainly indicated that he was not happy to be there. He could probably hear every single remark in the large room that was being made about him, his newlywed wife, and his deceased father.
"I am sorry," Rin had said in a barely audible voice as she proceeded to occupy the seat beside him. For a while there was no sound save the shuffle of her own kimono as she sat down.
"I made you come here against your will," she spoke again when she did not get a reply from her husband. "I only wanted to see Lady Mother, I did not know that there would be all these people here," she continued.
"Both of us knew that we had to face this at some point," he had raised his face this time as he spoke. "Better earlier than later," he had closed his eyes.
At that moment, Rin had felt a sharp pang in her heart. Her Lord Sesshomaru, the great demon who took no nonsense from anyone, was being subjected to idle gossip through no fault of his own, and a small part of her mind had even wondered if it would have been better had their lives not got intertwined in the first place. Probably her husband had nothing to gain but her undying love, and everything to lose in this marriage. She had turned her head to the other side to check the sting she felt deep within her eyes.
At that moment, her eyes had locked with a pair of bright blue catlike eyes. The owner of those eyes, a female demon who looked to be about the same age as or perhaps a little bit older than her lord had smiled at her. Not a fake or mocking smile, she could tell from her eyes. She wore an ice blue kimono that had unconventional short cut sleeves that covered half of her upper arms, and was decorated with snowflake patterns. Her spiky hair was of the same color as her kimono. She had a shoulder plate on her left shoulder and the exposed part of her upper arms had blue circular markings. That single smile had warmed Rin's heart, easing the pain it felt a moment earlier to a great extent. She had smiled back at the demoness, who occupied the first of the seats along the adjacent edge of the room A younger girl dressed in a flowery kimono having emerald green eyes and red hair who was seated next to the first demoness, had waved her hand at Rin on seeing her return the smile in their direction.
Lady Mother had taken her seat. "Let us have some silence, shall we?" she had begun rather informally. "At the start of today's assembly, I would like to introduce Rin as my son's wife and the Lady of the West," she said.
Even though the declaration was expected, there had been a long silence. Rin was not sure if she was expected to say anything, and it had seemed that her husband was not going to speak either.
"I am pleased to meet everyone," she had said finally and bowed, not sure if it was the right thing to do, but just wanting to break the chilly silence. Then a murmur had rose, and subsided, and then a rough voice had spoken up.
"My Lady, are you serious about this? I don't think a human can be the Lady of the West." it had addressed Sesshomaru's mother.
"She already is, by her relation to my son, and let me remind you that there is nothing other than our own prejudices that prevents a human from holding that title," the Lady Mother had answered evenly.
"Sesshomaru, not even your late sire had dared to give that position to that wretched human princess with whom he fathered a filthy half-breed. This is most unacceptable, I will not have a human peasant girl as the Lady of the West, not in my life," a bulky and old demon clad in a full suit of armor had risen from his seat. He had horns that protruded from either side of his forehead. He looked similar to the bison demon brothers whom she had met earlier as the sentries of her lord's castle.
"You are mistaken, I am not my father," Sesshomaru's voice carried a threatening tone. "Your acceptance is of no consequence to me, and if you are in a rush to end your life, I might as well make it easier for you," he had warned.
"Killing him won't change the truth, Lord Sesshomaru. And you my lady, I cannot believe that out of all people, you are supporting this atrocious farce. After that human witch took away your husband and caused his untimely death, I thought you would be the last person to allow another human in the court. Yet, here you are, bestowing your title to one of those lowly creatures," a tall and lean demon with a hoarse voice had spoken up next. The dowager Lady of the West had leaned back in her seat and covered her eyes with her hand. The repugnant topic that she strove so hard to avoid after her husband's death had been rekindled again. She had known that the situation following her present declaration could get messy, but she had harbored a small hope that they would not drag that past scandal of her late husband into this, for really, it had nothing to do with her son's marriage to Rin.
Sesshomaru had heard enough of the libels. Over the previous few minutes, he had heard slanderous or accusatory remarks against himself, both his parents, his wife, his half-brother and his dead human mother. He could plainly see the hurt in Rin's eyes and the agony in his mother's countenance, even though the second woman did well to hide it. He had felt as if he was just sitting there to hear their invectives against his entire family.
"It does not matter to me whether you accept my wife as the Lady of the West or not," he had said in a cold voice. "In fact, if you don't, I will be glad to be released from the obligation of protecting these lands for pestiferous creatures like you to thrive and traduce people you don't even know with your vile tongues. Let one of you become the Lord of the West and do what you see fit for all I care," he had added.
"Sesshomaru!" the Lady Mother and the demoness who had smiled at Rin had exclaimed in unison.
"Lord Sesshomaru," Rin had said, feeling at a loss that her husband was really planning to go through with his plan of renouncing his title as he had suggested on the day they decided to get married.
"Sesshomaru, do you understand what you are implying?" his mother demanded.
"Quite well, mother. An abdication of my title, that's all," the demon lord answered in an unwavering voice.
"He's insane, he wants to throw away his birthright for a mere mortal who will be gone in a few decades," Rin had heard someone whisper.
"That's impossible! Lord Sesshomaru, surely you must know the fate that would befall our lands should you choose to step down. I am afraid none of us have the power to keep the Eastern lord in check," a younger demon had tried to reason with him in a shaky voice.
"That's your problem to fix, not mine. Come Rin, we are done here," Sesshomaru had started to get up.
"Wait, Sesshomaru! Damn, this malarkey is so boring," the blue eyed demoness who had smiled at Rin stood up and spoke in a cool voice. "What is wrong with you demons? As long as Sesshomaru is capable of discharging his duties as the Lord of the West, there is no reason why we should interfere with his personal life. I see no problem in having his wife hold the title of the Lady of the West, when Lady Mother will be there to guide her anyway. And since none of you foolish demons have half of what it takes to become the Lord of the West yourself, it would be wise of you to just shut up, unless you have a better plan," she had rebuked the court, surprising Rin.
"She makes sense," some of the younger voices had expressed their opinion on the matter.
"Lady Tōran, even if we accept that, we cannot overlook the fact that his heirs would be worthless half-demons," the tall and scrawny fellow who had accused the dowager Lady of the West earlier had spoken again.
"Maybe a duel with Inuyasha would teach you to re-evaluate the worth of half-demons as well as your own," the demoness called Tōran had snapped in an irritable tone.
"That would probably not be necessary," the brawny demon with horns who had started the argument had said. "I am sure it is just a passing whim of the lord. Yes, that's what it must be, a fling that went too far. I guess we can let him humor himself with his human, because once that fancy passes in a few months or maybe a year, she will be reduced to no more than a mere concu-, ack-," his sentence ended in a choking sound as the steely grip of the pale hand tightened around his neck. Sesshomaru had moved at lightning speed to where that demon stood and lifted him up by his neck before he had a chance to use such a derogatory term to refer to his wife.
"Lord Sesshomaru, please let him go," Rin had tried to intervene, getting up from her seat. If her lord had tightened his grip any further, the old demon's neck would have snapped in two pieces. The demon's legs had dangled above the ground beneath his feet as he helplessly squirmed to catch a breath. Even if Sesshomaru had just held him like that a while longer, it seemed that he would have been dead.
Raising the demon even higher from the ground, Sesshomaru had flung his large body towards the opposite side of the room. His body had hit a stone pillar sideways, and thumped down on the floor, one of his horns broken from the impact. Rin had started to make her way towards her lord, but on seeing the demon collapse like that, she had changed her direction and approached him instead. She had knelt beside the large motionless body in her bridal kimono and struggled to turn the heavy body which lay face down on the marbled floor.
"Please, someone help him," she had yelled. Only Rōyakan had come forward.
"He might have just passed out," he had observed after turning the demon's body to make him lie on his back and feeling for his breath.
"Thank goodness," Rin had said. At that moment, the old demon had opened his eyes and looked at her.
"You tried to save me?" he had blinked in confusion. "Ah, my head hurts, I can't move it," one of his large hands had reached for the base of his broken horn as he made a futile attempt to sit up.
"What a bother," the Lady Mother had remarked with an annoyed expression on her beautiful face. "Rōyakan, fetch two of my guards from outside and have them take him away and see that his injury is tended to," she had instructed.
Rin had returned by her husband's side when the guards came to carry away the old and injured demon. Sesshomaru's anger still tinted his pale face with a reddish glow. Her attempts at helping the demon who had earned her husband's notorious wrath had struck as strange to many of the demons present at the court.
"She is one strange woman," she had heard someone say.
"Ah, that she is, but you know what, maybe the lord needed someone like her. Bless her gentle soul," someone else had remarked.
The demons had confabulated amongst themselves. When things had quietened down a bit again, another elderly demon had spoken.
"Sesshomaru, it seems that we have no choice but to go with Tōran's suggestion and let you continue as the Lord of the West at this time as no one else is willing to take that position," he had said.
"In that case, you cannot question my decisions," Sesshomaru had replied.
"We won't. The court accepts Lady Rin as the Lady of the West. Is there anyone who would still like to oppose?" he asked. While most of the older demons had kept quiet, the younger ones had voiced their agreement to the suggestion.
"However, I must caution you Sesshomaru, marrying a human is not exactly advantageous for someone who holds the title of the lord of these lands, as it is but natural that one has to put much greater effort in ensuring the protection of a human. Should your marriage come in the way of discharging your duties as the Lord of the West in any way, you must renounce your title," the elderly demon explained.
"That's agreeable to me. As I already mentioned, I don't care," the Lord of the West had replied nonchalantly.
When the decision had thus been made, the demons had dispersed one by one. The demoness named Tōran and the younger demoness who had been quietly sitting beside her had approached them at that point.
"Sesshomaru, won't you introduce an old friend to your new wife?" the taller demonness had said with a smug smile.
"What do you want Tōran? No one is your old friend here," Sesshomaru had replied. It had seemed to Rin that the two were well acquainted with each other.
"I see you are still as churlish as the last time I saw you. Fine, an old enemy, if that makes you feel better," she had said and turned to Rin. "Since your surly husband won't do the job, I have to do it myself. You have already heard my name, I am the leader of the panther tribe of the West. This is Shunran, my sister," she pointed to the shy looking younger girl beside her.
Of course, they had to be. If Rin's mind had not been so preoccupied with everything else, she would have guessed it right away from the similarities of their facial features. The older of the two demonesses who also carried a sword had seemed to be very powerful and authoritative. Rin had guessed she must have held a high rank if she addressed her lord by his name only.
"I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady Tōran, Lady Shunran," Rin bowed. "I am thankful to you for supporting Lord Sesshomaru back there," she added.
"It's such a shame that your husband does not have your good manners," Lady Tōran had chuckled. "My, you have grown so much. When I saw you last time, you were just a little mite," she had remarked.
"Umm, I don't remember having met you though," Rin had stated.
"Of course you don't, you were busy catching fish in the river with that little imp, but I had seen you," the young demoness smiled. "Now, that I think about it, it all makes sense that Sesshomaru seemed to have changed a little that time," she put one clawed finger under her chin, feigning a contemplative pose. "It must have been because of you. Had I known that you were so important to him, I would have abducted you like Kagome that time, now wouldn't that have been fun Sesshomaru?" she tilted her head towards the demon lord and smirked.
"You are too presumptuous to think that I would have allowed you to do so," Sesshomaru had closed his eyes in response, getting weary of the useless conversation.
"Still overconfident, eh? Anyway, Rin, I want to have a word with Sesshomaru in private. Don't worry, I have no intention of snatching your husband from you. I am not interested in men; heck, I don't even get what you girls see in a boring man like him," she had spoken in light humor, waving a hand dismissively across her face.
"Us girls?" Rin had questioned in mild confusion.
"I see that you have no notion of the number of hearts you have broken today, girl. How naïve! Let me tell you a little secret, the demons who were most sour today were the ones with daughters who had their hearts set on winning Sesshomaru's heart and your position," the panther demoness had elaborated.
"That's enough, Tōran," Sesshomaru had said, growing impatient with the somewhat womanly conversation. "What is it that you wish to speak to me about?"
"You will know in a moment. Shunran, why don't you make something for the newlywed bride while we talk?" she had asked her younger sister.
"Come with me, Lady Rin," the demon girl who looked a few years younger than herself had spoken for the first time that afternoon as she took her arm and started walking over to an open window on the other side of the room. The girl had a sweet floral scent, a scent that Rin had thought she had smelled very recently. Without looking back, she had felt that her husband was probably keeping an eye on her while he listened to what the panther demoness had to tell him.
"Congrats on your marriage, Lady Rin, my siblings and I are happy for you," she had said. Rin had observed that there was a melodious cadence to her voice, which reminded her of the warm spring breeze, unlike her sister, whose words were cool and sharp like the frosty winter wind. She had seen the younger demoness do something with her hands; a burst of demonic power appeared between her palms, and the smell of flowers got stronger. A moment letter, a bunch of the freshest and most beautiful vernal blossoms that she had ever seen appeared in a neat bunch.
"For you, Lady Rin," Shunran held out her hand at her. As she extended her own hand to receive the gift from the demon girl, the realization hit her.
"The flowers that master Jaken brought earlier this morning for our wedding decorations-, they had the same scent. It was you who provided them, wasn't it?"
"Lord Sesshomaru had asked him to find fresh flowers for the wedding. Poor Jaken did not know how to fulfil that order at this time of the year, and asked for my help," the demon girl had explained.
"That's amazing," Rin had said as she held her bouquet close to her nose taking in the fresh scent. "I am even more thankful. How do you do that?"
"I was born with the powers of the spring," she had answered. "Actually, we are the ones who are thankful to Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Inuyasha. I don't exactly remember what happened back then, but Tōran tells us that my two siblings and I are still alive because of those two brothers. Lord Sesshomaru resurrected us after we were killed by our former master. Tōran loves us very much even though she does not show it often. My sister decided to become an ally to the dog-demons after that incident," she elaborated.
Rin vaguely remembered the tale that she had heard from Jaken in her childhood regarding Lord Sesshomaru's valiant battle with the panther demon tribe. What's with all great demons and their habit of hiding their affections, she had thought. Tōran and Sesshomaru had walked back to them at that point. The dog demon's expressionless face had carried no clue about what their conversation had been about.
"Sister look, I made a bouquet for Lady Rin," Shunran had remarked. "Jaken said she loves flowers a lot,"
"Isn't that nice, Lord Sesshomaru? She had also provided master Jaken with the flowers for our wedding. So kind of Lady Shunran," Rin told her husband.
"Whatever," Sesshomaru crossed his arms on his chest, and stood a few feet away from the women, not wishing to be drawn into their girly talks.
"He's sulking because his wife is impressed with Shunran's power which is way cooler than his own. Ain't that cute Rin? Let's try to make him a bit more jealous shall we? After all, the only thing that he can make with his claws is that sickly green poison," Tōran had laughed heartily, as her pale fingers lightly brushed over the bouquet held in Rin's hands, and sparkling crystals of ice formed on the petals, embellishing the bouquet.
"It's beautiful," Rin said as she watched the crystals glisten like little diamond shards in the light of the setting sun.
"My sister's winter power is the coolest," Shunran added. Clearly, the red haired young demoness idolized her elder sister.
"Let me guess, your other two siblings have the powers of summer and autumn?" Rin had asked
"You have got yourself an intelligent wife, Sesshomaru, aren't you a happy man?" Tōran had tried to tease Sesshomaru again, but failed to evoke a response from him.
Her husband had been waiting for the badinage to end when a guard had come to inform them that Lady Mother had requested an audience with her son and daughter-in-law in the next room.
"We shall be leaving now. Rin, I just wanted you to know that I owe the life of my younger siblings to that boorish husband of yours. And for that reason, I shall always be a friend to you and Sesshomaru," the charming demoness had placed her right hand on Rin's arm. Her touch was icy, much like her powers, and even through the layers of her kimono, Rin had felt the coldness of her hand. Unlike her hand, her words were warm, and spoken from the heart.
"I am grateful, and I shall be very happy to meet your other siblings," Rin had replied.
"Sesshomaru, cats can be as loyal as dogs, do not forget it," the panther demoness with ice powers had told Rin's husband before she left with her sister.
Later, when they were out on the front courtyard after having met Lady Mother who had given the magical gemstones to her son, the old demon whom Sesshomaru had injured earlier had limped up to them. There was a bandage on his head, and he carried his left arm on a sling.
"Lady Rin, I must thank you for saving my life," the old demon had said.
"I did not do anything, and sorry about your horn," she had looked at the broken appendage that stuck out of his head uncomfortably, wondering if it would grow back.
"Lord Sesshomaru would have surely killed me had you not asked him to stop," he had said. "I did not believe my sons when they said that the human lady who had visited Lord Sesshomaru's castle was like an angel of mercy, and I had reproached them when they seemed overjoyed on hearing that Lord Sesshomaru was planning to marry the same lady. I know better now," he explained.
"Your sons?" The bison demon gatekeepers at her lord's castle, she had realized as soon as the question left her mouth. It had to be them that the old demon was talking about.
"I had served the late Inutaisho as a general in his army. My two sons were becoming somewhat idle and wayward, so I had send them to serve Lord Sesshomaru. I hoped that by being close to him, they would be able to acquire some discipline. I was outraged when I heard that our great lord was set on marrying a human. I was mistaken," he elaborated further.
"I am glad that you understand now," she had said, not knowing what else to say.
The old demon had knelt before them, "Lord Sesshomaru, my deepest apologies for my ignorant remarks towards - " he had broken the sentence and looked at Rin, "the Lady of the West," he bowed his head in her direction.
Sesshomaru who had surprisingly refrained from silencing the old bison demon thus far had walked away from them without speaking a word.
"Do not kneel, you are too old to kneel to us, and injured," Rin had said. "I think that my lord had forgiven you already. I have to go with him now, bye," she had added before following her husband, who had gathered her in his strong arms, and flown her home to his castle.
Rin snapped out of her reminiscence of the events that transpired at Lady Mother's court. The emotions that the recollection of those events evoked within her were as varied as the demons she met there; some cold, relentless and unforgiving, others who were warm and affable, and yet others, who were initially hostile simply because they had never interacted with humans as their equals, but did not close their hearts to reason and judgement, and warmed up eventually. Lady Tōran and her sister's friendship was a cherished treasure that she had obtained that day. She liked the panther demonesses and found it amusing that Lady Tōran was able to tease her stoic husband almost like a sibling would.
With a smile on her lips, she proceeded to read the remainder of the letter from her demoness friend. However, after the opening lines which conveyed her greetings, some abstract patterns were calligraphed in the next few rows, and that was all. She could not read the pattern. Must be some type of coded message like they use during wars, she reflected. Lord Sesshomaru would know, I have to tell him right away once he returns, this could be important, she thought as she placed it on a separate stack. Rin went through a few more of the correspondences, before her eyes grew heavy, and she decided to retire for the night.
A/N: Some quick references in terms of the chapter numbers of Words Unsaid for readers who want to have more context and have not read that first story.
Description of Sessh's castle and the area around it: Chapter 3 and Chapter 5
Sessh's protective barrier: Chapter 2
Lady Mother's wish: Chapter 10
The discussion regarding Sessh renouncing his title: Chapter 11
The reason why the gatekeeper's held Rin in high regard and Mayumi's point: Chapter 8
Tōran's character seemed to be very cool to me, as well as her powers, and I loved her interaction with Sessh in the anime, which was funny in some parts. Have to respect the demoness who could tease Sessh and hold her ground against him in combat. I wish we had seen more of her, seemed better than many of these new characters, lol!
Your reviews are always encouraging, do post them if you can.