He was dreaming...He was certain of it...a little girl with his white hair, cut in a short bob, holding a sword dressed in a way he has only seen one person dress, was in front of him...talking to him about her mother.
"Papa, Towa's sorry...Towa wasn't able to save Mama...Papa...Papa! For-forgive m-me!"
"Towa?"
The girl seemingly did not hear him as she continued talking in a determined but soft voice that's so similar to her mother. "Papa, Towa will find a way to wake Mama! Grandpapa will help Towa. Towa did not take Mama along on purpose!"
The little girl vanished as the dream shifted, and he became acutely aware of a pair of soft hands on his shoulder gently massaging. The scent of sakura filled his nose as a soft affectionate smile graced his normally cold emotionless face.
"Shujin, you need to stop overworking yourself, even a Daiyoukai needs his rest." A voice he longed to hear whispered close to his sensitive ears. Raspy with disuse and more mature, it still sounded like her voice. The daiyoukai's smile grew a fraction.
In front of him the little girl with his hair, Towa, appeared again "Papa, wake up! Papa! This is not right! Towa will not allow Mother to wake to this! Papa!"
But the slumbering daiyoukai didn't listen to the little girl, the scent of sakura so dear, so treasured. A scent he missed, normally accompanied by a scene he longed to see again, a scene he'd give his millennium-long life to see again. His wife, healthy and dancing happily surrounded by flowers.
Soft hands continued working his shoulders as the scent of sakura continued to waft around. He didn't want to wake from this dream. He wanted it to continue, to revel a little longer in his wife's embrace, to hear her talk to him. Dream-Towa growled and grumbled something about having "Him clean up this mess" before the dream shifted again. This time he watched as his wife danced with two happy girls while his son was perched in a sakura tree, posture similar to Inuyasha, reading a scroll of some sort. Warmth flooded through his body filling his heart as he watched the scene before him.
The maid behind him, unaware of the grieving daiyoukai's dreams, smiled happily, her plan was working! Who knew sleeping herbs mixed with a sakura scented incense and careful devotion to sakura-baths on her part would have the great Lord of the West succumbing to her hands? Taro would be pleased with this report.
If she reported this experiment that is, the smile growing as nimble fingers massaged tense muscles in his shoulders. Only one person had ever touched the Lord so intimately before. A scowl appeared on her otherwise pretty face as poisonous thoughts flooded her mind. Each one contains a girl with bright eyes and a beaming smile.
'That snake, she was HUMAN, and yet she got to see their Lord vulnerable. She was HUMAN and she dared to seduce their Lord.' As that thought echoed through her head, the maid, Shizuka's, hands froze. A smile appearing on her face. Yes, that had to be it! The little HUMAN tramp had to have seduced Lord Sesshomaru, and trapped him into marriage. Their union had to be a hoax. There had to be deceit somewhere. She refused to believe that there wasn't. The HUMAN had no prior connection to nobility, not even as a servant! How could she have had the fortune of marrying the Lord of the West without deception! Shizuka now assured that SHE was the righteous one continued with her task as the sakura scented sleep-incense burned, the slight breeze from the window blew her own scent carefully masked by days spent soaking in a tub filled with sakura petals blew to the slumbering Daiyoukai. His dreams were filled with bubbly laughter, beaming smiles, and bright eyes.
"Rin..." despite its muffled tone the word was spoken with enough yearning and sadness to move even the stoniest of hearts. It spoke of a love lost, and the pain of hoping for the return. The romantic old scholars of Sesshomaru's court would have swooned and written many great poems from that one word whispered by the sleeping Lord.
It was enough for the maid to freeze. Instead of sympathy for a lost love, Red-hot anger burned her as that name played on repeat in her mind. That snake! Even in her frozen state she still had a claim to the Lord's heart. Just what did he see in her anyway? Shizuka's mind raced before it landed on one thing that made Rin unique even amongst youkai. The one Taro told her to replicate as closely as she can with baths and oils. It had to be her sakura scent, it was an aphrodisiac! It made him mindlessly hers! That had to be it!
'Besides a gift from the Kami, naturally smelling like sakura. What does she have that I don't? In beauty I'm much better than her, and in Education, how much education can a HUMAN have, surely it can't measure up to my centuries of knowledge.' Shizuka resumed her massaging. She always had a much better chance at winning her Lord's heart than the sleazy Lady. When he was just a pup she was his chambermaid, for at least a decade. Before being transferred to serve the Lady Mother. That had to be favoritism, right? She had to be special for the Lady Mother to want her as one of her personal maids right? It had to mean she was destined for grandeur, to be a Lady! The Lady Mother saw potential! How dare that human-whore destroy her chance at living in luxury. She didn't care what the Master had planned. Her own plans centered on the Lord in front of her. If things continued as they did, Sesshomaru's reputation would be that of a soft, weak Dai-yokai. Not the great and stalwart demon he was. She won't allow anyone to do that to her Lord. That stupid Human whore!
In the corner of the study, still unseen, the little ghost was screaming silently. Unable to get anyone's attention she could only helplessly watch as another woman, a woman she knew had always wanted her husband in indecent ways, manhandled him while he tried to rest! The maid had never been subtle about her jealousy of Rin. She viewed the current Lady as a disgusting interloper. Even in her ghost state, it seemed the Maid was still trying to one-up her. By taking advantage of her grieving exhausted husband. And she can't do anything to help. The little ghost felt terrible. If she had allowed Lord Sesshomaru to "dispose of the rubbish" she wouldn't have this problem, but she persuaded him to be merciful. How stupid of her! She had seen the ambition in the maid's eyes. And yet!
"You hold a powerful weapon when you hold my son's heart…I pray that you will wield it wisely." But what was "wisely" The Lady Mother's cryptic words made no sense and did not help her...yet as she watched, the maid touched HER husband like she had the right to. Rin felt a piece of herself die. She was the reason the maid still lived. The ghost wept unabashedly as her actions that day years ago came back to her. She had thought she was being a "wise, honourable lady" by begging her Lord-husband to spare the maid. He had wanted to completely dismember her. Instead of gratitude...the maid repaid the debt by trying to steal her husband! That same burning ambition shining in the maid's eyes as she massaged his shoulder despite the lust darkening them. The only saving grace was that the maid hasn't tried to go further...
'Oh had I a body of my own!' she thought desperately as she tried to figure out a way to get the interloper away from her husband. The little ghost knew she would have taken a whip and struck the maid. 'He's married and with children you vile woman! Go find someone else!'
The little ghost's silent screams for help weren't completely unnoticed. In the Dreamscape one of the little girls, Towa, stopped dancing with her mother instead, running to her father renewing her efforts at waking up her father. Beating and screaming at his dream-self with all her might, unsure how else to help her weeping mother. But his eyes were only on Rin.
"Rin...This one…" This time the Daiyoukai shifted a bit, a tear rolling down his cheek, his voice clearer. The normally ice-cold, uncaring voice still carried that soft plaintive tone. The entire castle knew the Lord and Lady were a love match. Nobody dared to comment on his grief nor his great desire for revenge. Many even approved. Even outside the castle walls, their love story was told with great enthusiasm. Common folks loved the story of how a sweet orphan girl had melted the heart of the Ice Prince of the West. Bards sang of two individuals defying societal norms and old prejudices in the name of love.
The maid growled, she didn't believe a word of that, she knew her Lord, it was all for show. What was in front of her, a grieving husband trying his best to raise two children, a proud Lord looking after his territory while grieving his Lady...it was all because of the "Sakura-curse." It wasn't real. None of it was. The Lord of the West was too powerful, too honorable, too prideful of being, a Daiyoukai, too LOVE a being as weak and deplorable as a HUMAN. She would know this better than all the others...After All, she wasn't any ordinary servant right? Of course, she had to know exactly what was going on with her Lord. As his intended, it was her DUTY to know. That had to be what she was right? Why else would the Lady Mother take her under her care?
Convinced the maid glared spitefully at a portrait of Rin sitting on a stone bench in the garden, dressed in a white silk Kimono, patterned with red flowers and a yellow obi. The traditional outfit for Lady of the West, complete with the Lady's Mother's mokomoko draped across her shoulders. She looked elegant and proud, yet still warm. 'If I can break the sakura-spell he will be Shizuka's. Sesshomaru-sama will have to thank Shizuka.' She thought about the plan she was told...but decided if she can get to be Lady of the West then she won't have to worry about Taro's orders. Marrying a Lord was better than killing him 'Lady Shizuka of the West sounds nice, much better than Lady Rin'
With that thought, she lit another incense stick and focused again on the daiyoukai. This time her gaze didn't linger on his shoulders, it went down his silk-clad back, along arms hidden by billowing sleeves. She pictured what he must look like under the silk. Pale soft skin, hiding tremendous strength. His face however was Shizuka's favorite, deceivingly soft features that lure females to him.
Shizuka placed her hands back on him. Never even thinking that a true Lady, no matter how ambitious, will never stoop so low as to prey on a grieving man. Too arrogant to do so, or too well mannered to even consider such actions. She will be Lady of the West, mate to a proud, powerful and beautiful YOUKAI Lord, not one who has fallen to weakness. She will prove to everyone SHE Shizuka is the real Lady of the West. The fire burnt in her eyes and a smirk formed, she will not lose to a ghost.
...Meanwhile, in the gardens of the Castle...
Setsuna and her brother Akihito were crouched by a large bush of peonies. Wondering how to tell their father that they had killed their target instead of apprehending him for questioning by Master Jaken or himself.
"It's your fault Setsu, you're the one who chopped off his head!"
"No, it's your fault, Aki! Your dart to the throat killed him!"
"No it didn't, the dart only contained a tranquilizer! He would have been asleep!"
"No, he won't! When something sharp and pointy hits you in the throat you're as good as dead!"
"Hey, I've hit a lot of guards and servants there! The dart barely penetrates. I'd need an arrow to do any real damage!"
"That's because they're youkai, dummy not humans like Mama! Don't you remember? Mama said that humans are delicate they can get injured and sometimes die so easily, but humans are also very strong, they can face whatever challenge head-on and survive"
"Mama likes to talk in riddles Setsu, how can someone be strong and delicate at the same time"
"I don't know, ask Mama!"
"Great idea let's ask Mama's ghost right now...MAMA!? CAN YOU HEAR ME? IT'S AKI!" The boy looked around and then shrugged smugly at his sister.
"You're an idiot," she said in a deadpan voice "back to the serious topic. How do we tell Papa?"
"Uh…" He looked at the box in his hands then at the carefully wrapped bundle in Setsu's.
"Idiot" She looked up the short walk to the castle and shivered fearing the consequence of their failure. However, she didn't even go two steps when Aki grabbed her hand. Turning to face him, Setsuna saw a look on his face that she had gotten VERY familiar with since Mother first told them of Towa...then Aki's hair and eyes changed color.
"Setsuna, Aki, Dad's in danger, Mom can't do anything, come on we have to help!" Aki then blinked magenta eyes returning to normal his usual golden, the red streak on his bangs fading to match father's silvery-white..."Onee-sama...nan desu ka?"
"Come on we have to hurry!" Dragging her dazed twin brother behind her.
"Onee-sama...nan desu ka?"- "Lady sister, what is...?"
A/N: This story is actually based on two images I came across one day. by Inu-sessh-rin on Deviantart. My idea for her to be comatose was because of I really doubt Tenseiga's ability to heal a deep psychological scar. It'll actually be explained next chapter by Kagome, who will see and talk to the little Ghost. The fire in chapter 1 was meant to reference how Rin died, I thought it fitting that her assailants go that way. I did not pull any ideas from any fellow writers.