Chapter 3
Rin ached all over. The raiders had taken her to a cave they often haunted and for the most part had ignored her. They had played with her and beat her on the ride here, but after the death of their comrade due to blood loss when she had nearly torn off his tongue, they hadn't wanted to give her an opportunity to hurt another until they were rested and fed. Which meant they had to stop by the next village and pillage there. Rin had watched in horror as they burned the village to the ground and killed all but three girls. Once they had looted and eaten their fill, they slacked their lusts on those girls. One had managed to run away when the man raping her had finished, but she was caught and killed brutally. The other two girls paid for her escape. Rin would never forget their screams. They hadn't appeared older than fourteen.
One of the raiders, once he was sated had returned to Rin and reached for her with the blood of the dying girls on his hands. Rin had vomited all over him. He had beaten her severely for that, and before he could kill her the leader stopped him and ordered him to stand down. When the raider appeared about to challenge him, the leader had stabbed him in the thigh. The man howled in pain and backed away holding his still bleeding thigh. The leader ordered another of the group to help the bleeding man and bandage him up. "We need to at least keep this one alive. I expected to sell at least four girls but because you greedy idiots were too rough with the other three all we have left is this one." He pointed his bloody knife to Rin. "Keep your dicks in your pants and your asses better stay away from this one. Bad enough we're already looking at half a profit because of all the bruises and shit on her!" One of the other men in the band piped up "You said it was fine to beat her."
"That was before you idiots killed the other three! I expected some good money off of those pretty wenches. Their youth alone would've gotten us some extra. But you fucking idiots had to just go and be that rough with the other two after we killed the one for escaping."
"Their pussies were sweet but too small to handle all the big men here." Another replied from the back and they all burst into laughter. Rin was disgusted.
"Pipe down!" The leader finally called out after they had their fun. "For all the looting we've done, both villages were poorer then dirt and I don't know about the rest of you but I'm looking forward to turning at least a bit of profit here!" He yelled and his band hollered in agreement. Rin could tell the leader was still very upset they had killed the other girls. They were supposed to have their fun but leave them alive. Unfortunately it appeared one of them could only get off if he killed the girl during intercourse.
Soon the entire band continued drinking and cavorting. It had been the same every night. Before they had ransacked the last village, and before their leader had ordered them to stay away from her they had beat her whenever they were bored or for a bit of fun. Rin could barely see out of her left eye, she could feel her lip was split open and her wrists and ankles were raw from the rope biting into her flesh. She was having some trouble breathing and thought perhaps her ribs were bruised. Rin sat alone in the dark cold cave while the band stayed close to the fire near the entrance and continued to drink. Soon they would tire themselves out and fall asleep. Every night they continued their journey to some unknown location and dragged Rin along with them. They barely fed her, and she felt so weak. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since they had captured her, but she was grateful they were at least sticking to their path and hadn't raided any other villages on the way. Often when they were bored, a few of the bolder men would approach her and try to cajole her, provoke her, try anything to illicit a reaction from her. If she remained still and ignored them long enough they would get bored and stroll away. Except for the one who had been stabbed in the thigh. She didn't know any of their names, could barely tell they were human or even tell them apart under all the dirt that covered their faces and bodies, but Rin could tell which was the one who had been stabbed. He had a noticeable limp now as he walked and Rin doubted he would remain with this band long if they didn't put him down like the animal he was. He was the only one who never approached her, but she would constantly feel his eyes on her, and when she would actually catching him glaring at her, his eyes were filled with hatred. She assumed he blamed her for his now limp leg, but how that was her fault she wasn't sure.
More time passed and the man with the limp became sneakier. When the others would sleep he would approach her. She would always try to scream or call out to the others but unlike the rest of them he was the only one whom had realized she was a mute again. As much as she tried to speak, no sound would come out. He would boldly walk towards her, knowing there was nothing she could do to alert the others. The first night he had caught her unawares she thought he would either kill her or rape her. Instead he beat her. He would remove his knife and slice into her flesh wherever he could. But in the end he would always leave her alive. Every morning the rest of the band would see the abuse to her body. The leader had asked her who was continually doing this to her but of course, she could not reply. He had backhanded her himself after the third day of that happening to her and said if she liked it so damn much she could just continue to tolerate it until they reached their destination.
So Rin did the only thing she could do. She survived. The beatings the man with the limp would inflict on her, though severe and often brutal, were still nowhere near as painful as the beatings had been at her families old village when she had been seven years old. After their deaths, the other villagers had tried to look after her, but because she couldn't speak, the trauma of witnessing the horrific death of her family at the hands of raiders no doubt the cause, they had thought she was ungrateful to them. After a year, the beatings had started. She stayed because she had been a child and for all the beatings it was her home and her people and she knew nothing else.
Around that time she had met Sesshomaru.
She had found him sitting near a stream, weak and in pain. She couldn't speak but she had felt this incredible urge to help him. When she had approached, his face had elongated into the form of a dogs muzzle and he had snapped at her repeatedly with his fangs. She knew he would have killed her if she had been close enough to reach. That was when she realized he was a demon.
She ran away afraid but returned the following day with food for him. He was still in a lot of pain and reacted violently like any wounded animal would. Rin had left him his food a little out of reach and ran away again. This had continued for nearly three weeks. Every day she would show up by the stream and bring him some food. He never actually ate or accepted any of the food she brought him but she kept coming back regardless, and after a time he seemed to have grown accustomed to her presence. Later she would sit a distance away from him and just keep him company. He never spoke to her. But he slowly recovered from his injuries. The last day she had gone to him he had asked her why she kept coming back. It had been the first time he spoke to her and she couldn't help but smile brilliantly. She had been so happy he had finally said something to her.
Rin smiled to herself at the memory and hissed when her lip split open again. At the time she had tried to communicate with him with her hands but he only stared at her in confusion and after a bit he had turned his head away dismissively. Rin hadn't cared. She had suddenly remembered a little dog stuffed animal she had made and painted to look like it had the same colorful markings on its face as he did. She ran home to get it and show to him. She couldn't remember why showing him her stuffed dog had been so important to her but it had been. When she had gotten to the village, it had been in chaos. Thugs from a neighboring town had swarmed the village and were looting everything and kidnapping the women. The men were all farmers and had no real chance at defending themselves. Remembering the death's of her family, Rin had tried to run away before anyone noticed her. Unfortunately the thugs had brought with them their pet dogs and sicked them on her. Rin had ran as quickly as she could, desperate to get back to Sesshomaru.
She hadn't made it. The dogs had torn at her little body and the pain had been so vicious, she had been grateful when she finally died.
Jacken had later told her that he and A-Un had finally found master by the stream after searching for him for weeks. His injuries had been caused by his latest battle with Inuyasha. Beaten by his half demon little brother, Sesshomaru's pride had taken the blunt of it. Refusing to accept help from Jacken, Sesshomaru had gone off on his own, to tend to his own injuries and wounded pride. As they had approached him after A-Un had followed his scent to the stream Sesshomaru had suddenly lifted his head and smelled her blood. Together they all went in search of her which Jacken at the time had found very odd. But Sesshomaru had already risen and headed in that direction, and for fear of losing sight of him again off they all went.
When they had found her lifeless body Sesshomaru had stared at her for a moment then had seemed about to leave when suddenly he had paused as if recalling something. He had glanced back at her from on the ground, then slowly released Tenseiga from his side. He had swiped it back and forth across her body and suddenly she had started to breathe again. Sesshomaru sheathed Tenseiga, turned and walked away. She had remembered glancing at the ruin that had been her village, then turned to watch Sesshomaru, Jacken and A-Un walk in the opposite direction. To her the answer had been simple. One way led to death while the other led to life. She chose life. She remembered Jacken had been very annoyed when he saw her following them at a respectful distance, but follow them she did. She couldn't remember exactly how it happened, but soon she was allowed to camp with them and was told in no uncertain terms by Sesshomaru that she could travel with them as long as she kept up and rummaged for her own food. The villagers had stopped feeding her years ago so she was no stranger to taking care of herself. And though demons they all were...she felt safe and at home.
Rin was suddenly pulled from her musings when she heard a rustle of leaves near her. She turned quickly towards the noise and watched in defeat as the man with the limp approached her with a smile on his face and his knife gleaming in the moonlight. Rin glanced towards where the fire had been, but saw that it, along with the rest of the band was out cold. The man with the limp pushed her from her seated position to the ground and crawled on top of her. Rin tried to squirm away but he merely laughed and allowed his heavier weight to settle down on her making it very difficult to breathe. Which oddly enough she was grateful for since he stinked to the high heavens.
"So, what shall we cut today?" He asked in glee. He rose to straddle her, with one knee on either side of her hips then perused her body. "Hmm...looks like I've covered your arms neck and legs with cuts already. I hate to mark the same place twice. I know where I can find some virgin territory though." He grinned maliciously and used his knife to cut away what was left of the top of her kimono. With the night air hitting her bare breasts Rin shivered at the cold. The man laughed happily "Your nipples have gotten hard, I think you might actually be enjoying this." He giggled to himself then slowly let his knife hover over her breasts. "Now let's see...do I just want to slice them as I have everywhere else...or maybe do something special. What do you think?"
Rin struggled in vain, her wrists and feet were still bound by the rope and her hands were sticky from her own blood coating them. Rin managed to swipe up some dirt with her bound hands and threw it in the mans eyes. He growled in pain and Rin immediately took the opportunity to crawl away as quickly as possible.
This latest campsite they had made was in a thicket of woods. Rin had been paying attention to her surroundings...if she could just crawl two more feet to her left, she could slide down a natural hill and hopefully hide herself in the thick foliage. It wasn't the best plan in the world but it was her only shot. The moon was hidden behind a dark cloud and the pitch black surrounding him gave her the advantage. The man with the limp reached out to search for her but luck was on her side. She managed to pitch herself into the downward slope and let gravity handle the rest. She hit many jagged rocks on her way down and was grateful she couldn't speak, no sound was emerging from her throat as she cried out in pain. She could hear a larger form coming down behind her and knew the man with the limp was attempting to follow her. Once she hit the bottom of the hill Rin quickly rolled to the right and attempted to burrow herself into the bushes nearby. She curled into a tiny ball and waited. The man with limp was pissed and searching for her. She could hear him cursing and stabbing his knife through all the nearby shrubbery. "You little bitch, when I found you I don't care what the leader says! I'm going to cut off your breasts and gut you slowly with my knife. Maybe I'll even rape you with it because an ugly little bitch like you doesn't get me hard."
Rin quacked in fear and tried to keep her breathing steady and low, trying her best not to give away her position. Whenever it seemed he got too close to her position, she would wait for an opening and roll to another set of shrubbery. She wasn't sure how long he searched for her before he finally gave up and left cursing her the whole time. Rin knew he would wait until daybreak to tell the others he had lost her. Then they would search for her. Rin desperately bit at the knot at her wrists for what seemed like hours when she finally felt it give a little. She continued with renewed vigor and finally managed to loosen the knot at her wrists. She nearly wept when she had to peel the rope from the deep grooves it had rubbed raw in her flesh. It took her a few moments to allow the blood to rush back to her fingers and she worked on the knot at her ankles. The rope had cut deep into her ankles and her dried blood coated the rope. Once she was done, Rin attempted to stand when she realized how seriously hurt she truly was. The adrenaline was leaving her body and pain engulfed her. She crumbled to the ground again and tried to steady her breathing. She had to stay in control, she couldn't panic. She still had to escape, she couldn't stay here. Rin could feel herself begin to lose consciousness and struggled to stay alert...but she hadn't eaten for days...and she had lost a lot of blood. Rin slowly succumbed to oblivion and thought of Sesshomaru, she wondered if he would think of her. If he would miss her or even regret never seeing her again...had he forgotten her already.
In the distance Rin could hear the terrified and agonizing screams of men and the horrible snarl of a monster. The screams were filled with agony and terror but as soon as they began they stopped. Rin stared up at the moon and could feel death creeping upon her. Suddenly a dark shadow stood above her and blocked the moon. Death had finally come for her. As she watched its claws, dripping in blood, reach down for her Rin felt a tear fall to her cheek as she thought of Sesshomaru. Her last thought was the hope that he would at the very least remember her with a smile.