CYCLE OF RIN
By Lady JenDragon
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Author's Notes: Mom's out of radiation now. Whoo hoo. Out look is not reassuring though. Anyway...enough about me. Read.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Demon Sway
Katenomaru wielded the blade in his morning ritual finding the sword suddenly felt awkward in his grip. His wrist no longer felt the hum of power it once emanated. His eyes looked for any indications that the sword was replaced by a stealthy enemy but found nothing on the hilt or the blade. All the symbols matched and none were breached according to the spell he used to control Rasengan.
He felt suddenly in audience. Looking from Rasengan to the tree line of the field, he found Mayuki staring at him with deadened eyes. She stood so quietly and seemingly unmoving. It was strange she chose to talk so little these last few days. Did she know something about the coming battle?
Kaori was off somewhere, keeping to herself about hr morning ritual.
Katenomaru felt confident he would defeat Sesshomaru. The clans of the East would frown upon any defeat of the tyrannical Western clans. For too long they lay claim to the best lands and tossed about their power in front of the families. It was time to show that they were not the only strength among the Dog Demon clans.
"Katenomaru." Came Mayuki's soft voice.
"Yes?" Katenomaru set his eyes on Mayuki now walking towards him. "Has the battle in the valley concluded?"
"The battle has not concluded but it appears they have formed an unusual alliance to stand against Sesshomaru." Mayuki closed her eyes. "They believe that Sesshomaru is the larger threat and will go against him."
"They will lose." Katenomaru pointed out.
"Still." Mayuki smiled. "They will weaken him enough to allow an advantage when you face him. In conventional battle, the eastern clans have always appeared weak to the western clans. However, to expose Tokijin's weakness is to expose Tenseiga's weakness."
"Tenseiga has a weakness?" Katenomaru wanted to know. "There is little that can stand against that sword and win, especially when used with Tokijin."
"Tenseiga is useless against Rasengan." Mayuki pointed out. "It would be a different story if Sesshomaru possessed both Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga."
"Lucky indeed." Katenomaru whispered. "But then, no demon can wield Tetsusaiga. And only Sesshomaru can yield Tenseiga. So you see…we have no worries in that area, Mayuki."
Speaking of the legendary sword, Inuyasha was not that far away either. It bothered him that Inuyasha might lay down his grievances with Sesshomaru to fight along side the elder brother should it come down to a fierce battle between the Dog Demon clans. The half-breed Inuyasha was also associated with the Demon Bearer, making his objective more difficult to achieve on its current course. He had expected to run into such an obstacle.
'What was a journey if there was no obstacle to overcome on this path to greatness?' Katenomaru quoted his father silently. 'Sesshomaru will fall to me.'
Mayuki kept silent.
"You forget that luck is no friend." Mayuki spoke softly. "Kaori worries that your arrogance will be your downfall. There is no room for error facing Sesshomaru."
"Perhaps." Katenomaru agreed eying Rasengan, the sword felt a little light today. "There's always a hidden technique that we don't know about with Sesshomaru. He's constantly learning from the scrolls our clans aren't allowed to view."
"The Dog General cherished knowledge."
"Noble indeed." Katenomaru lowered Rasengan by his side.
"I feel this Demon Bearer is far different than those of the past." Mayuki walked to her brother, stopping in front of him. "There is much that is not known of this Demon Bearer. We should proceed with caution until the Demon Bearer shows herself."
"Kaori has already read her." Katenomaru pointed out. "There's little we don't know, Mayuki. You believe I will lose the Demon Bearer to Sesshomaru?"
"No." Mayuki fell silent, smiling slightly.
"I will allow Sesshomaru to find me." Katenomaru gripped the sword tighter. "His battles with the others will take some time that forwards me the advantage of taking him by surprise. My battle with any stragglers will wait until his defeat is mine."
Mayuki said nothing, losing her smile.
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There was an eerie calm about the temple so early when the night was its darkest. Nothing moved among the previously abandoned buildings until new residents appeared to claim refuge among its sacred structures. The wall would keep all demons out, even the small ones. Shippo kept vigilence outside the temple gates in a small home made by Miroku complete with a soft mattress and lantern for light and warmth. He wore a thin blanket but he did not like being cold. The temple was too strongly protected to allow him inside the walls. At some point during the night, KiRaRa appeared and they shared the small house together finding comfort in their shared loneliness.
Rin returned just before dawn. Her movements were swift and stealth as she passed the small house with Shippo and KiRaRa. Not event the demoncat woke as she crept into the temple, scaling the gates instead of opening them. She kept silent taking her place next to Kagome and Sango in the room set aside for the women. Later, she pretended to be sleeping when Sango and Kagome both rose for the day to see their men off. Eventually, she fell off to sleep till late morning.
Miroku and Inuyasha left shortly after daybreak to the valley of the north only to return after several hours. Apparently the battle moved out of the valley towards them but the number of demons involved diminished severely overnight. They all felt the auras density this morning when they woke. Inuyasha and Miroku wanted to see for themselves the devastation left behind. It would give more information as to how the demons were responding to Rin.
Totosai seemed to have left some time during the night as well. His small camp and fire were abandoned as of this morning. Perhaps he went off to learn something of the course of the battle and maybe see if Sesshomaru was involved.
Strangely then, Shippo took it upon himself to declare that he would go in search of more information regarding the battles even though Inuyasha and Miroku left already. KiRaRa offered to take him and circle the battle-ravaged area from the air as support for Inuyasha. It was less conspicuous if a demon showed up during the remaining fights rather than a human monk and a half-breed. Being a small fox demon he would be deemed a non-threat and left alone.
"It's strange." Kagome remembered. "Totosai seemed to be holding back."
She conveyed the whole conversation to Sango this morning over breakfast.
'I don't think he even knows what's going on with Rin.' Inuyasha had said this about Totosai's behavior. Strangely, Inuyasha's been patting Tetsusaiga with one hand a lot lately, especially standing on the steps of the temple this morning before he left. He seemed pretty confident that hell was coming Rin's way. No one knows when it'll get here though. I hate waiting around like this.
Kagome doubted Inuyasha had much of a clue as to what Rin was going through either. Men often times did not give thought to emotion. They were so focused on a task or problem, emotions did not play into solutions. That Sesshomaru was involved with Rin bothered Inuyasha more than anything else did at the moment.
Sango agreed with Kagome about Totosai. "Even he's being more secretive than ever. You think it has something to do with that Tenmari demon?"
Kagome cringed at the name. She forgot about the demon who claimed Inuyasha as her husband since she found Sesshomaru so undesirable as a mate. Since Inuyasha was the younger brother and part of the family, she could claim him while maintaining the conditions of the agreement between the two clans. Not that the demon came to insist on Inuyasha joining her.
Inuyasha told her not to let it rile her up. It annoyed her that Inuyasha thought so little of the situation that he believed it would all just work itself out. Perhaps he was right but she did not want to wait around to find out.
"I doubt it." Kagome shrugged. "We haven't seen her since. I think they teamed up for something though."
"If it's a sword." Sango glanced over her shoulder to verify Rin was not up yet. "I hope it can defeat this Rasengan sword that even demons fear. We could use an edge right now."
"Strange name to give a sword." Kagome wondered. "Its name means swirl. Swords don't swirl. They cut, slice, and dice then leave only destruction in its wake."
"It may have something to do with its wave." Sango reasoned. "Like Tetsusaiga, it probably gives off a swirl-type attack that blasts the opponent with enough force to overcome the enemies attack. Totosai indicated that it's near impossible to stand against in conventional battle. Even Tetsusaiga might have an issue with such a force."
"Let's hope we don't have to find out if that's true." Kagome clasped her hands together.
Sango nodded in agreement.
"There was an old story my father told me regarding a sword." Shaking her head, Sango felt the memory there but could not access it internally. "I wish I could remember it."
"Don't try too hard." Kagome patted her arm. "Then you won't remember it at all. When the time comes, then you'll remember."
Sango nodded but not in agreement. The story was not a pleasant story and involved much sacrifice and death. The details were hazy at best. Perhaps it would be prudent to meditate before concentrating on it again.
Looking up she hoped Inuyasha and Miroku were okay. They had gone off to the valley in search of more answers. Having left this morning early, Sango wondered if there were any answers to find. Rin was still sleeping after her midnight rendez-vous with Sesshomaru.
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Demons littered the valley floor, making it appear as if a volcano suddenly exploded, extruding lava onto its once green pastures turning them into a gray and red desert. The stench nearly suffocated anything that might have survived the battles. Miroku and Inuyasha went from one end of the valley to the other in four hours.
"What do you think?" Miroku searched from body to body using Sango's demon gas mask to cover his face.
No point in dying just trying to look around.
"Nothing to indicate that Rasengan was here, nothing we haven't seen before anyway." Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "There's not even a hint of any kind of major weapon used. The air's clean despite the battle here. Yet, it looks like it was a hell'va night for dying."
"Shippo's over the ridge checking out the demons staying over there." Miroku looked to the east. "It doesn't seem like they're fighting over there."
That bothered him.
Were the demons congregating and planning something sinister? Would it be against Sesshomaru or humans? Nothing in the stories told by Totosai mentioned any of this. Even Inuyasha did not seem convinced that the demon tales regarding Rin's current reign as Demon Bearer were true.
"Yeah." Inuyasha scratched his head. "If the stories of the Demon Bearer were true, why aren't they all fighting each other to the death? Totosai and that crazy old demon in the hut certainly made a big deal about the Demon Bearer being around. Even the demons were going crazy before. What changed?"
"Strange indeed." Miroku looked around. "You know, I think these are just lower demons, Inuyasha."
"Yeah, not a strong one among them." Inuyasha sniffed the air. "You'd think the weaker ones would've banded together to take out a stronger demon at some point. It doesn't seem to make any sense. Almost like a fake battle to cover something up."
"It's like the stronger demons didn't even bother showing up." Miroku agreed.
"You got that right." Inuyasha hated the way things were shaping up.
Inuyasha agreed with Miroku's assessment. Something was strange about this whole valley from the time they arrived. None of the demons were strong enough to face even a monk or miko. Even the weaker ones could have fought these demons off.
"You think there might be a move made on Rin?" Miroku asked. "If the stronger demons didn't show up here. Wouldn't they be looking for Sesshomaru already?"
"Nah, a battle with him would give off more demon aura." Inuyasha frowned. "If an army was gathering against Sesshomaru, we'd have felt it by now."
"It's not like anyone can mask an aura." Miroku shrugged in agreement, leaning his staff against his shoulder. "Nothing about the Demon Bearer follows the legend I learned from my father. No human has ever been a demon bearer. I know that for sure. And that must be the reason for the changes were witnessing. The demons are going off their own legends and stories just as I am. Since its Rin, we're going to see some variations from the legends. I bet we're just beginning to see the differences now. Which would explain why the stronger demons may have moved off."
"They might be waiting to make the next move." Inuyasha concluded. "I haven't seen Sesshomaru around or his little green gimp. Rin should stay in the temple until this all blows over."
"I doubt we'll be able to stop her visiting Sesshomaru." Miroku whispered softly.
Inuyasha nodded, preferring not to say anything about the matter. He hated the fact that Rin was drawn to him in that manner. He was no fool. Whatever power Rin fell under, he had no choice but to aid her any way he could. Sesshomaru was an idiot.
Gripping Tetsusaiga firmly, he felt something coming. Not a demon but of the battle that would erupt eventually. And this Rasengan was going to be a major player. That Katenomaru guy did not seem strong enough to take Sesshomaru down. But then, appearances did not matter. It was how you fought on the battlefield that made the difference.
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It was an eerie peace about the countryside that kept everyone on edge.
Demons laid low and kept to small camps. The few that chose to move around were left alone seemingly. However, they chose to move cautiously, without sound to draw attention to themselves or their position. If they wanted to remain hidden, they limited their interactions. For this was an unusual time.
In fact, it seemed as if there was a pregnant pause in time as the sun chased the horizon. As if the world held its breath. Only upon it's setting did the world seem to return to some form of normalcy. The smallest demons took to their nightly routines far from the valley. Only in the valley did the eerie quiet continue its hold.
Even the Humans in villages nearby began to sense something lingering in the air miles away from the valley. Priest and priestesses looked to the sky for signs of impending events. None chose to travel to this valley to discover the source for fear the sickness might spread.
Villagers nearby stayed home and did not linger out on the streets or stay in the markets long. Soon, they began to quietly discuss amongst themselves of the possible cause. Many concluded that the demons were banding together. It would be a battle for the ages.
Many feared Humans would be in the cross hairs of this battle and a numbered few began to make preparations.