Chapter 31 Rin
Sesshomaru lands in a flash of white light, in a small clearing, in the middle of a gnarled forest. His body feels like it's on fire, like he's been seared from the inside out. The light had smashed into his chest, knocking the air out of him. He was fairly certain several of his ribs were broken from the assault. 'Dammit,' he thinks to himself angrily. 'I should have run him through.' He spreads his pelt out and allows himself to rest and recover from being hit with the Kaze no Kizu. 'Onaga,' he laments. 'What have I done?'
A little girl in a pink kisode with a side ponytail wanders the woods when she sees a strange looking man. He is laying on the ground with his head looking away, but is covered in blood and wounds. She wonders if he is alive. She slowly walks over to check on him.
A scent hits his nose. 'Human.' He rolls his eyes behind his lids as the little steps get closer to him. 'A child,' he scoffs, knowing the steps are too soft for an adult. He waits for her to be near his shoulder before he lets his eyes flame red and he lifts his trunk, snarling at her.
The little girl gasps. "You're alive!" She smiles. "I know just the thing! Wait right there." She runs away without waiting for an answer. She calls over her shoulder. "I'll be right back."
For a moment he's speechless. "She'll wear a tattered pink kimono, her hair will be in a side ponytail. She won't talk to anyone." But then this girl's kosode didn't look that tattered but she definitely was not quiet. 'It isn't her,' he tells himself stubbornly, trying to stand up. He attempts to roll onto his right side to force his body up, only for pain to flash through his entire body, preventing him from moving. 'I'll ignore the child.' He leans back against his pelt and closes his eyes again.
The child returns with a container of water. She walks up to him. "Uh, this will be cold," she warns as she dumps the water on his head. Then she steps back, running down the trail back home. "I'll bring you food," she calls as her feet carry her away.
'I'm going to kill her,' he thinks wryly. 'Avalon and this child.' He knuckles his brow once again trying to lift his body off the forest floor to escape before she returns. He wipes his face of the water she dumped on him and flops back against his pelt. 'I can't move.'
About twenty minutes later, she returns with a large leaf that has a fire roasted fish and a water container. "Here, I brought you dinner. I'm Rin by the way. What's your name, Mister?" she asks and gets closer to him. She holds the fish and water out.
Sesshomaru coughs, then regrets the pressure it puts on his ribs. 'Rin? Onaga what did you do?' He debates whether or not to answer the child, but she isn't at all like the one that Avalon said she would be. "I don't eat human food."
"Ooooohhh!" Rin grins widely, displaying a missing tooth. "Then what do you eat? I can try to get it for you. I can be very resourceful."
"I don't need anything," he spits out, hoping to make her leave. 'Her tooth is missing.' He closes his eyes, clenching his fist and then exhales. "Where are your parents?"
"Oh they are home right now. I should actually get going soon, but I have a little while. They won't be worried if I'm a little late. You're all alone out here, so I can keep you company. Do you want to play a game?"
"No," he says tersely, wishing he could smell cantaloupe and honeydew instead of dirt and flowers that are on the little girl. His body is killing him. Even with Tenseiga's barrier, he sustained a battering from kaze no kizu.
"Are you sure Mister? It's awfully lonely out here." She looks at him sadly.
He wants to tell her to go home, but then wonders at what point her family will be killed. "She'll witness her family's murder." He groans in disbelief that he is agreeing to this 'game', if for nothing more than to prevent her from going home. 'Children should not see death.' "What game?"
"We can play tongue twisters!" she says smiling happily. "I'll start. Akamakigami, kimakigami, aomakigami (red scroll, yellow scroll, blue scroll)," she says proudly.
'I can't believe I'm doing this,' he exhales heavily. "Namamugi namagome namatamago. (raw wheat, raw rice, raw eggs)."
Rin smiles. "You're so good at this! Um, Sumomomo momomo momonouchi (both plums and peaches are members of the peach family)"
His only solace is that neither Jaken or Avalon are here to see this. He breathes in, deeply annoyed, watching the sun beginning to set and says, "uraniwa ni wa niwa, niwa ni wa niwa niwatori ga iru (There are two chickens in the backyard and two chickens in the front yard)."
Rin looks as the sun touches the horizon. "I should go home now or I'll get in trouble. Bye." She turns and starts walking away.
'I can't move,' he thinks quietly, 'I can't stop her.' He wonders what will happen when the sun sets. How long will it be until her family is killed? Sesshomaru closes his eyes as Rin leaves, relaxing against his pelt.
Rin slowly walks home, traversing a trail she has moved about many, many times. She stops in her tracks when she sees five horses outside her hut and hears screaming coming from inside. She hears her father yell, "Leave them alone!" Then she hears a sickening thud and a slurping sound. She covers her mouth, unsure what to do.
Her mother's screams can be heard and she hears an unfamiliar male voice. "Silence wench." Then a slap of flesh. Rin slowly creeps to the back of the hut to see in a window.
Her father is dead on the floor along with her brothers. Her mother is crying. She watches a stranger hold her mother around her neck. She tries to tug at the man's hands to free herself but slowly the struggle ceases and her mother's hands and body go limp.
Rin feels sick at what she sees. Her stomach lurches. She clamps her hands over her mouth. She knows she can't make a sound or she will be found. Rin backs away slowly, walking backwards into the woods. She sits beneath a tree, far enough away that they will not be able to hear her cries. She notices a bright light behind her. She turns and sees her home is on fire and the five men are riding away on their horses. She makes her way slowly back to the strange man that played tongue twisters with her. Tears stream down her face. She finds him right where he was before. She slowly walks to him to cuddle into his arm before whispering, "Rin's alone now too." She silently cries in his side
His first instinct is to push her off of him, but he can smell the blood, the fire and far off in the distance he heard the screams, yet he still can't move. Instead he lifts his arm up and awkwardly pats her head. 'So you will teach me love?' "Do as you wish," he says placidly, still too proud to tell her to stay.
Rin nods her head continuing to cry until she falls asleep.
He shakes his head, trying to get rid of the guilt that is growing in his chest. "Rest little one," he whispers as he pulls his mokomoko over her to keep her warm. He pushes the side of his kimono down and pulls off the rest of the human arm, plucking the shard off and tucking it into his kimono. He's exhausted but he can't sleep. His mind is on Avalon, what had happened before they left and how she would never be free of him and he could never be the one she needed.
Avalon wakes groggily being carried on someone's back. Her head doesn't hurt but she remembers being knocked out, but by who she wonders. She recognizes the monk's robes and feels his hands holding her butt. "Why do you hate me Miroku-sama?"
He pinches her backside for good measure with a smirk on his face. "I don't hate you. I simply don't trust you."
"So you smash things on peoples heads you don't trust? Are you at least enjoying grabbing my butt?" she says gumbling. 'Of course, I have to be carried by the lecher.'
"It's so round and soft," he rubs his cheek into the side of her ass.
"You just keep enjoying it while you can lecher. You're doing this to a married woman," she says pouting. 'Not that it matters.' Her face falls.
"You would be delusional enough to think you're married to Sesshomaru," Inuyasha says with a wary Kagome on his back as they run in the direction of the missing shard. "Kaede-baba said you knew about Kikyo's ashes."
"Yeah I did. She needed to be resurrected to defeat Naraku," Avalon says crestfallen, grief taking over.
Kagome points over Inuyasha's shoulders to a forest. "That direction Inuyasha. I think it's there."
Avalon looks to where Kagome points. "Tracking the shard are you Kagome?"
Kagome ducks under Inuyasha's shoulder not wanting to answer. "We'll get it off him," Inuyasha says haughtily. "We'll take him out for sure this time."
"You two need to stop fighting and start being brothers," Avalon huffs.
"Like that will happen." Inuyasha stares off in the distance, the words almost coming out painfully.
"It can happen. There is no reason for you two to fight." Avalon sighs. "Miroku stop rubbing my butt," she hisses.
Miroku pinches her ass again, just to show he doesn't care.
"Miroku-sama, enough," Kagome says quietly. "I thought I could trust you."
"Kagome, I am truly sorry I knocked you out. It was the only thing I could think of. You are too pure to kill a human." Avalon shakes her head. "It would destroy you. I couldn't let you do that and I couldn't let you," she says turning her head to look up at Miroku, "suck up Sesshomaru. We all need to work together to take out our enemy Naraku." Avalon sighs, noticing that the sun is low on the horizon and will be setting shortly. "I really am not your enemy. What can I do to prove it?"
"Stay out of my way," Inuyasha growls out.
"Kaede-sama said you're making things worse," Kagome says softly. "But if we need something from you, don't interfere when we confront Sesshomaru."
Miroku nods in agreement. "I agree. If you aren't an enemy, then you can let us handle it and stay back."
"Just because I'm not your enemy doesn't mean I can allow you to kill Sesshomaru. Kagome, I am not trying to make things worse. I was forced into this time. I was kidnapped by Naraku for five months. He used me as a sex toy." A tear falls from her eye. "He made me attack Sesshomaru and Sesshomaru nearly killed me. I was bleeding to death and he saved me. So how can you ask me to sit back and let you kill the person who saved my life?"
"Because if you don't, you'll just get yourself killed." Inuyasha's eyes bolt open. "Kagome?"
"I sense more shards coming in the direction of the other one." She grips Inuyasha's shoulders tighter.
"Revenge," Inuyasha runs faster, leaping from the forest floor, into the tops of the trees to get a better view.
'No!' "Miroku we have to hurry! You may not like Sesshomaru but if it's Naraku who is after him." Avalon gulps, "If he absorbs him. I don't know how strong Naraku will be." 'I may not be happy with him but if Naraku absorbs him.' Avalon's heart lurches forward and she suddenly vomits. 'Would I be bound to Naraku?'
Miroku gulps, doding the vomit. "Avalon-sama?"
"I'm bound to Sesshomaru. If Naraku absorbs him, would I be bound to Naraku?" she voices her fear, feeling dizzy.
"I don't know enough about their bonds," Miroku says gently. "If it happens, we will find a way to break it."
"Death," Avalon says faintly. "I will not live being bound to Naraku, not even for a day."
Miroku shakes his head. "Then it will be his death."
"We need to hurry. Please." Tears start streaming down her cheeks as hopelessness washes through her.
The group runs faster, trying desperately to get to Sesshomaru in time.
He wakes to the feeling of yoki coming quickly at him. The scent is the same one he had Avalon wash off her body in the river the day after he bound her. He attempts to force himself up, only for the light weight on his arm to roll off with a thud. He shakes Rin, trying to wake her quickly as the presence comes closer. "Get up." He shakes her more harshly. "Get up!"
Rin's eyes slowly open, they are puffy and swollen. "Hmmm?"
"Ha ha ha, this is perfect! I guess poor Avalon dying was unnecessary. I could have just waited for this moment. I do miss my bed warmer." The baboon clad man steps out menacingly. Tentacles shoot out of his body, wrapping around Sesshomaru and the little girl. "And a jewel shard. How wonderful." He smirks under his mask as his body comes closer to Sesshomaru.
"Run!" Sesshomaru barks at Rin. He swallows hard, still unable to move his body. 'Not again.' He closes his eyes. They bleed red, forcing his yoki to heal his injuries enough to move. He hacks through the tentacles with his claws, freeing himself and lands on the forest floor, in the shape of a giant white dog. He stumbles forward weakly, standing between Naraku and Rin. 'I don't have energy for this.' He pants, trying to catch his breath, wondering how long he can hold the transformation.
Rin looks on in horror, unable to move, holding her hands over her mouth. Eyes wide 'Am I going to lose my new friend too?'
"Ha ha ha ha, you are too weak for this Sesshomaru." Naraku's tentacles come out, wrapping around the large dog's neck, dragging him towards the ground. The tentacles lap hungrily at Sesshomaru's yoki. "Do you like my new power? If only Avalon could see, she loved you. She told me in not so many words right before she begged me to fill her," Naraku cackles.
Sesshomaru's eyes widen enraged. He lashes out with his teeth, breaking the tentacles again, releasing dokkasu through his fangs. He bites down on Naraku's shoulder. Naraku grunts in pain, giving Sesshomaru time to push the little girl out of the way, trying to get her to move. 'Go!' He barks at her trying to scare her before his back legs are wrapped again. He feels like his skin is being peeled from his body.
"Trying to protect another human? You will fail her just as you failed Avalon." Naraku's tentacles wrap around Sesshomaru's body, while one shoots out towards the girl, wrapping around her waist dragging her to his body. "Now be a good dog and die!" he says as the tentacles constrict around Sesshomaru's body, crushing him and sucking away his yoki.
He pants, grappling with the tentacles, eyes on Rin, who's crying for help. He reverses his transformation and slips loose, landing on his stomach on the forest floor. He forces himself up and slashes at the tentacles holding her, grabbing her around the waist and tucking her into his chest. "Hold on." He attempts to fly away only for his legs to get caught again. He lacks the strength for this fight and he knows it. 'I'm sorry, Onaga.' He closes his eyes, wrapping his body around Rin's as he's sucked into Naraku's shell. 'Give me enough strength to protect this one.'
Inuyasha leaps through the trees with Kagome on his back. He draws his sword, yelling, "Kaze no Kazu," unleashing the windscar on Naraku.
Naraku is so occupied with absorbing Sesshomaru that he does not notice Inuyasha coming and he is hit with the Kaze no Kazu. Naraku feels his side being burned and torn apart. He flees, dropping an unconscious Sesshomaru who is still wrapped protectively around Rin, completely shielding her body in his mokomoko, with his knees tucked around her.
"Sesshomaru!" Avalon screams on Miroku's shoulder, seeing the damage of the Kaze no Kazu and Sesshomaru laying on the ground curled up. "Let me down!" She starts thrashing in Miroku's grasp.
"Let her go," Kagome says, running to Sesshomaru to assess the damage.
"We can't trust her!" Inuyasha reminds her, grabbing her shoulder before Kagome can reach Sesshomaru.
Miroku sets Avalon down on her side. "I'm sorry, we can't free you now."
Avalon's eyes blaze. She pushes reiki into her limbs. She stretches her arms and legs snapping the ropes and runs for Sesshomaru, uncaring what they think. She reaches him quickly and she curls her body around him protectively. She has tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry." Just then she notices the little girl clutched in his grasp. "Rin?" She reaches in between his chest.
Sesshomaru has a vice-like grip on Rin, refusing to release her, even unconscious. Even as she sleeps in his grasp, the little girl clings to his chest. Sesshomaru's senses vaguely come alive and he blindly lashes out, sending his whip flying and circling in a protective, expanding circle, heading straight for Avalon.
Avalon jumps back forming a protective barrier around herself, hurt that he would lash out at her. She stumbles backwards getting out of his range.
Sesshomaru curls back around Rin, guarding her with his own body.
Inuyasha comes forward with Tetsusaiga drawn. "I should do it now, while he's out of it."
"Inuyasha he's hurt!" Kagome argues.
Avalon steps in front of Inuyasha. "You aren't doing anything to him," she hisses out, summoning her sword. "He is protecting Rin, a little human girl. You can't be that cold."
Inuyasha tries to peek over Avalon's shoulder and his mouth falls open seeing his pureblooded, elitist brother, cuddling a human girl. "Fine...but get the shard off him, Avalon. If you are his mate, you shouldn't have any problem with that."
"Pff, you don't even know what it means but I will try. Kagome can you tell me where it is?"
Kagome comes closer to Sesshomaru. "It's in his kimono-" she shrieks and leaps out of the way of his outstretched claw, slashing at her.
His eyes are still closed but his hand managed to reach around Avalon, right for Kagome's ankle.
Avalon pushes Kagome away. "Get back! Sorry, I'm not sure what he is capable of right now."
Kagome is caught by Inuyasha. "He's half asleep," Inuyasha argues. "Where in his kimono, I'll take it."
Sesshomaru starts snarling, trying to lift his body up with vacant eyes.
Avalon gets up, shoving Inuyasha and Kagome away. She keeps pushing, making them both stumble backwards awkwardly. "No one but me is going near him right now," Avalon says in a deadly tone. "I don't want anyone hurt. Not you, not Kagome, not Miroku, not Shippo, not me, not him and especially not Rin!" she says seething.
"I'm not going near him," Shippo balks.
"I'll stay here," Miroku agrees.
"Hurry up or I kill him," Inuyasha snarls out.
Sesshomaru holds Rin against his chest, still growling, blindly warning them to stay back.
"You know we could just wait for him to wake," she says, not really expecting Inuyasha to agree.
"You really want me to just do it don't you?" Inuyasha says giddily. "Where in his kimono?" he asks Kagome.
"By his chest," Kagome says, hiding behind Inuyasha.
"You try to harm him and I will stop you Inuyasha," she warns. "I'll get it." She turns slowly walking towards him and starts singing to him, wondering if he will recognize her voice in his sleep. "Lithium, don't want to lock me up inside." She walks slowly towards him.
Sesshomaru pulls Rin closer to his chest, but he knows the voice. He knows who she is. He falls on his side, surrendering to the pain in his body, but his grip on Rin remains.
Avalon keeps approaching slowly "Lithium, don't want to forget how it feels without Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow." She finally reaches him and gently moves her hand along his chest. "Oh, but, God, I want to let it go, Come to bed, don't make me sleep alone, Couldn't hide the emptiness; you let it show." She slides her hand beneath his clothing searching for the shard.
He catches her by the wrist and pulls it to his mouth, closing his lips over her skin, his eyes open weakly, exhausted. "Onaga?" he whispers.
"I'm here," she says in a whisper, bringing her lips down to his forehead. Her other hand moves inside his clothing, searching for the shard.
"Onaga?" Inuyasha scoffs. "Probably because she never shuts up."
"Sit!" Kagome screams, sending him to the ground.
"I found her," Sesshomaru, raises his mouth, searching for Avalon's.
"I know." She brings her lips down to his, finally finding the shard and pulling it from his kimono. "I need to return this to the Shikon Miko."
He nods, his eyes hooding over again. He lets Avalon go, the same time he releases his hold on Rin, who still clings to his stomach
"I'll be back," she assures him. Avalon gets up and walks over to Kagome handing her the shard. "Here," she says delicately.
Kagome takes the shard from Avalon and looks at Inuyasha.
"Let's go," Inuyasha says quickly.
"What if Naraku comes back?" Kagome argues.
"Not our problem," Inuyasha grunts out.
Kagome only shakes her head, biting her lower lip, unsure what to do.
"Let's go Kagome-sama," Miroku encourages her.
"I would like you all to stay. I think it would help if we could talk without anyone being tied up," Avalon says hopefully.
"Inuyasha," Kagome says, touching his shoulder. "If Naraku comes back, Sesshomaru isn't in any position to defend them."
"Good maybe he'll die," Inuyasha bites out.
"Sit!" she screams at him. "Even you can't be that mean. You know what? You leave. I'm staying." She sits down on the grass, refusing to move.
"Baka!" Inuyasha growls and leaps off into the trees, leaving Miroku and Shippo with Kagome.
"Arigato, Kagome. I do appreciate you staying," Avalon says. She walks back to Sesshomaru and lays down next to him. Her hand slides along his cheek, feather light.
A groan escapes his lips and his eyes flicker lightly. "Forgive me," he mutters, not reaching for Avalon, or bringing his nose to her neck as he usually would have. "Forgive me."
Avalon leans down, brushing her lips against his. "I forgive you for what you did, don't hurt me again," she says softly against his lips.
He nods, still not moving close to her. His lips yearn for her skin. From here, he can smell her but he needs more. He's too ashamed of himself to approach her, so he lays on the forest floor, unable to move.
Avalon lays her head against his chest, absentmindedly playing with his hair and her other hand reaches Rin, checking her pulse, relieved to find it strong.
Sesshomaru's lips are dry and his throat hurts. His body is burned from Kaze no Kizu and Naraku. The friction between him and Avalon had never truly been settled before they were separated. "Privacy," his voice cracks as he speaks. "Privacy."
Avalon raises her head to look into his eyes and she nods. "Can I ask you all to leave for a little while? I'm not sending you away for good, it's just there are some things that...um...me and...um...Sesshomaru-sama need to talk about."
"Let's go," Inuyasha says, putting distance between them. They set up camp a ways away to give Avalon and Sesshomaru privacy.
Sesshomaru shakily touches Avalon's wrist. "We must talk. Even touching you feels wrong."
Avalon's heart clenches with pain. "What...what are you saying?" she asks as tears start forming in her eyes.
"I hurt you." He flicks the tears from her face. "I forced you. Despicable."
"You stopped yourself," she argues quietly.
He brings her palm over his heart, struggling to stay awake. "Shame. I gave you my word, I wouldn't."
"So what now?" she says holding her hand over his heart.
He shakes his head, fighting an internal battle with words that sit on his tongue like lead. "Why did you give yourself to me after?"
"I could see how much you needed it and you weren't trying to force me. Sesshomaru, you weren't in control fully when you came so close to taking me against my will."
He nods, not wanting to accept the truth that he could be so out of control, so irrational and so wild. "Stay with me, Onaga. Forgive me, I do not deserve your trust."
Avalon's hand goes to his face, gently cupping his cheek. "I forgive you, if you promise to never hurt me again, not even to teach me my place," she says, looking into his eyes pleadingly.
"Your heart? Or your body?" He sets his palm over her heart. Maybe it is the pain speaking but in that moment he gives in to the uncomfortable twinges of pain that aren't just caused by his injuries. "I am doomed to hurt you."
Avalon shakes her head. "You will mess up. I know you will say or do something that will make my heart ache but I am asking you to not hurt me intentionally, not maliciously, not trying to teach me a lesson. It's all I can offer you. I can't expect more from you than what I expect of myself."
"I have never felt guilt before," he admits sourly. "Never."
"Have you ever done something that you were ashamed of before?" she asks tenderly.
"Once." His eyes ice over and rests his head on his mokomoko. "Do not ask."
"But you felt no guilt, then I feel honored," she says, bringing her lips to his kissing him gently.
"Pain," he mutters against her lips as he returns the kiss. "So much pain."
"What can I do to ease your pain?" she says bring her lips back to his.
"Nothing can bring her back," his voice weakens as his mind begins to drift, seeking sleep. "I love your scent."
"Sleep, I'll be here when you wake and we can figure things out," she whispers against his lips, kissing him one last time. Her heart flutters. 'He loves my scent.'
"Mmh," he groans, finally pushing his nose under her chin, looking for that sweet spot where it comes the strongest. "Stay...my...Onaga…" He laps once at her skin and then falls asleep against her chest.
A/N Thank you all for your continued support and I am going to try to keep up with posting these chapters at least weekly. My life is still very difficult family illness. Please send good vibes and prayers. I can not thank my co-author Elohiniar enough. Please leave a review and let me know what you think of the story and what you think of this chapter. Much love and appreciationto my fans.
Song credits - Lithium by Evanescence
Itzatakahashi - Thank you for the offer. I am glad you enjoyed my last chapter I hope this one is enjoyable to you as well.
Lolitaloverlemon - I am not sure Avalon is ready to wander alone but I plan on having her be more into her artwork and perhaps show a few other talents. Shawn wrote the poem he is a man who persuaded Avalon back in her time. Do you want to hear more about him do my fans want to know more about Avalon's previous suitors? Let me know in the reviews and I will see where it will fit in. Thank you for your review.