A/N: wow and the writing just keeps on rolling out of me…See, it's exam week and my classes just aren't that taxing, so I've had little to do. My parents took the SIMS 2 from me so I can't even waste time with that for now. So mainly I sit, listen to music, and write this story. Lucky for all of you, eh? I learned today, by picking up a neglected envelope I found on my desk amidst my other accumulated garbage, that a short story I wrote for an English class didn't win the award my college offers yearly for that sort of thing, BUT it was one of the finalists the letter told me, so it said, "Kudos! You done good kid!" But somehow that depressed me. To make myself feel better I'm going to post this chapter now because I feel like it. Who cares if it's 2 in the AM and I have an exam tomorrow at noon? It's for mythology, and I heart mythology…
Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or Inuyasha. I just wish I did.
Last Chapter: Shimofuri revealed the truth to Rin. She announced that she was going to "help" him "punish" Sesshomaru. Meanwhile, Sesshomaru concluded that Tsukiyume was abducted by someone working for her brother and uncle. He faced off with Ginrei, discovering her truly pregnant as Daken said. Ginrei threw him a little harsh truth. Sesshomaru left Naishougoto to return to Jouka and tell Rin the truth, to stop deceiving her. Unfortunately as we all know, he is too late.
Runaway
Sleet rushed out of the sky at them, soaking them to the bone. It was night, deep and dark and ugly. Lightening flashed across the sky, cutting it in two. The clouds blotted out the stars. Rin felt like, if Shimofuri were to suddenly turn on her and cut her open, that was what would spill out of her. Rage, fury, torment.
They walked through the crusty, half-melted snow of the mountain passes. Rin had refused an escort of guards. She took with her only a few of the swords that Sesshomaru had made for her, as well a horse to carry a few other valuable, meaningful objects. She dressed in the armor Sesshomaru had had constructed for her personally. She painted her face with the marks of a demon. Not Sesshomaru's marks now, but ones of her own design: red and jagged, like wounds spilling blood.
She regretted the heaviness of the armor now. She was reluctant to ride the horse; it was dangerous to do considering the fragile life inside her. Over and over she told herself she didn't care whether it lived or died anymore, but inwardly she knew that was far from true. Sesshomaru had hurt her, yes, but the child was as much hers as it was his.
Jouka was farther from the Middle Lands than any of Sesshomaru's castles or palaces. It would be a long, arduous journey without the aide of the horse. Shimofuri traveled some distance ahead, scoping out the trail. He maintained a safe distance from her—for fear of spooking the horse. He estimated that it would take them a week or more, and considering her condition, he was thoroughly against her plan to journey back with him—to run away from Sesshomaru.
But Rin was insistent. She would not be convinced otherwise. She would go with Shimofuri, or she would go without him and find someone else to offer her support to. Going with Shimofuri, however, was better for her plan because Sesshomaru was growing steadily more afraid of the young ruler. She was giving herself away to Shimofuri as a hostage.
It would be devastating to her power-hungry mate. In losing her he would lose everything: his lover, his ward, his protégé, and his unborn daughter.
This was their third day of travel, the most miserable yet, and in the darkest parts, Rin tormented herself, wondering whether Sesshomaru cared about her baby. Would he breathe a sigh of relief when he found she was gone?
But she dismissed this idea, not because it wasn't possible, but because of how Shimofuri had described Sesshomaru's treatment of his wife. She was forced into the ceremony, chosen against her will, kept alive when the rest of her family was slaughtered in the war. It was cruel, crueler than Rin had thought Sesshomaru ever could be, but it was too cruel for her to see anything of any substance coming from the relationship. Perhaps it could be a consummated marriage, perhaps this inuyoukai woman could give him heirs as he planned, but Rin had doubts. If she had switched places with the inuyoukai woman she knew she never would've consented to anything.
But that thought was terrifying as well. Sesshomaru was brutal enough that he would rape this unfortunate "wife" to get the heirs he needed?
She saw light up ahead. The horse walking behind her, an old mare named Roba, lifted her head and snorted warningly. She could probably smell both the fire and the inuyoukai looking after it and didn't like either. Rin tugged her along, working her way down the melting ice and sharp, poky rocks.
Shimofuri waited for her. He was soaking wet, dripping. The firelight lit the hollows beneath his eyes, making him look older and dangerous. But his voice when he spoke was still young and soft. "Lady Rin. There is a village some distance ahead. Do you wish to warm up and rest here and then continue onward to the village?"
"How much farther?" she asked, tying up Roba some twenty feet away and un-slinging the packs over her back.
"You should not exert yourself, Lady Rin." Shimofuri pointed out, worriedly.
"You can't do it." Rin shot back at him, "She'll spook."
This drew a small smirk from Shimofuri. "We do not really require a horse, my lady. I could carry that load easily."
"I like horses." She moved away from the horse and sat across the fire from him, trying to shelter herself in the low branches of a pine tree.
Shimofuri admired her, cocking his head to one side. "You could pass for an inuyoukai—if not for the fact that your paint is running."
Rin reached up and touched her cheeks. Her fingers came back bright red, like blood. She frowned, imagining that she looked like a war victim, a vengeful ghost of a soldier that had died in one of the many wars that swept Feudal Japan. It looked as if she was crying tears of blood. The rain and sleet splattered and thumped against the metal of her armor. A village full of humans would never take her in. They were more likely to accept the true inuyoukai Shimofuri first.
Shimofuri shook his head, worrying again. "It was never in my plans to bring you back, Lady Rin—and in your condition…" he closed his mouth, uncertainly, fearful of insulting her.
"I choose this." Rin muttered, sighing. "You couldn't stop me, Lord Shimofuri." She closed her eyes and tilted her head upward, toward the sky. And you can't stop me either, Sesshomaru.
Only a matter of days after Rin had left Jouka, Sesshomaru returned to it, eager to see her. To his shock he found the palace deserted. The guards had abandoned it, and most of the maids and household servants had fled as well, nowhere to be found.
There was one left who met him, a maid, Rin's favorite as he recalled. He couldn't remember her name. As he entered the palace, with growing alarm at it emptiness, he saw the old woman emerge from Rin's room, wide-eyed and stuttering, trying to speak.
"You, woman." Sesshomaru addressed her, rudely, "Where's Rin?"
The old woman gulped and fell to her knees in a pathetic heap of a bow. "I-I tried t-to stop her, Lord Ses—"
Sesshomaru's golden eyes narrowed. "Where's Rin?" he repeated, firmly.
"She's gone!" the old woman blubbered, bawling.
Sesshomaru fought off the wave of cold that spread over him, the growing sense of doom. "Where?" his voice had gotten louder, it was near to shouting.
"She left with the visitor, the dog demon—"
Sesshomaru had at last lost his patience. Kneeling in a swift motion, he scooped up the old woman from the floor and lifted her high with his single arm. "Where is Rin?" there was a faint red gleam beginning to grow in his otherwise honey-colored eyes.
The old woman began to cry loudly, her words were barely intelligible through her panic. "She left with him when he told her!" she pawed weakly at his strong fist holding her up. Her feet dangled helplessly.
"Who?" Sesshomaru demanded, shaking her once.
"Sheem…" her pronunciation worsened as Sesshomaru's grip choked the air out of her, but that single syllable was enough to tell him what he needed to know, what he'd suspected.
Unceremoniously he dropped the old woman onto the floor. She curled into a helpless ball, coughing and sucking at the air like a fish out of water. Sesshomaru moved out of the palace hurriedly, purposefully. Outside, in the gardens he stood still for a moment. The sky was bright and beautiful. A few clouds were making their way across the sun. The first cherry blossoms were beginning to appear as tiny irregular bumps and nodules along the tree branches.
The tips of Sesshomaru's hand began to glow a sickening green. With one short, angry cry, he lashed out snapping his green whip out at the nearest budding tree. The whip slashed through the tree's trunk, toppling it at once. Before it had finished falling, Sesshomaru had retracted his whip and vanished.
Before Shimofuri reached his main battlement, deeper inside the flatter country of the southern province—the Nanka—he stopped at the border town between the Middle Lands Nanka province and the large swathe of Sesshomaru's territory, the Western Lands. It was close to the border of the Nanka, the Isei, and the Western Lands. Shimofuri had actually set out from that point and had instructed his uncle, Sasugainu, to wait for his return there.
What hadn't been planned out was his returning with Rin in tow.
The border town, Sakaime, was small and relatively unguarded. It was exposed. Shimofuri was nervous upon entering it. So close to the Western Lands, it was sure to be crawling with people who might perhaps recognize Rin. She was easily memorable at any rate. A human woman masquerading as an inuyoukai.
The crowds parted for Rin as she passed, people and youkai alike gawked. A few knew Shimofuri when they saw him—he'd been a traveler before he'd taken control of the Middle Lands, but they kept their distance, stunned. Rin entered riding her old mare Roba and still wearing her armor, painted a fierce black. Her face paint had washed off after the storm, but her expression was fierce enough without it. After a week's travel on the road, facing the turbulent early spring weather, and brooding about Sesshomaru's betrayal and the likelihood of losing her baby, Rin was in a foul mood.
At the center of the small city there was a small palace, fortified by a great wall. The guards at their posts stood at the ready, and they wielded firearms. They pointed the clumsy tools at Shimofuri and Rin and ordered them to a stop.
"I am Lord Shimofuri." The inuyoukai told them, irritably. "Is Sasugainu staying within this palace?"
One of the guards nodded curtly. "Yeah—but Lord Shimofuri doesn't travel with strange women like that."
"Let us by." Shimofuri growled, warningly. He changed his stance a little, exposing his claws, trying to tell them that he meant business.
The guards were about to dispute him again when a feminine cry caught all of their ears: "Shishi-sama!"
Shimofuri leaned forward, sniffing the air and searching with his eyes as well as his heart. As he caught sight, smell, and sense of the approaching young woman his face lit up. "Tsukiyume!"
The hanyou girl ran to the grating and reached her thin, slender arms through it. The guards grumbled and stepped aside as the siblings reunited. Tsukiyume's ears shook with her excitement, her joy. "I thought I was never going to see you again!"
Shimofuri withdrew from her and threw a quick glare at the guards. Embarrassedly, they moved in and opened the gates, grunting with effort. As soon as the way was parted for her, Tsukiyume rushed forward, throwing herself into Shimofuri's arms and squeezing him tightly. He returned the gesture easily, sighing and laying his cheek over the top of her black-haired head. When she flicked her ears he pulled away, laughing.
"Have some control, Sister!" he reached out and tweaked her ears, purposefully mussing her hair as well.
She batted his hand from her before he could do much damage, and this brought Shimofuri's mirth to a close. He stared at her with his blue-gray eyes, caught between sadness and admiration. "You've grown."
"So have you, shishi-sama." She murmured. Then, at last, her gaze slipped past Shimofuri toward the horse and the armor-clad warrior behind him, waiting almost awkwardly…but after she stared at the warrior, she realized it was not a man…
"Lady Rin?" she gasped, mouth falling open. Clumsily, the hanyou girl fell into a bow.
"Rin?" one of the guards by the gate grunted, squinting with new interest in the warrior woman's direction.
Uncertain, and acutely aware of their public environment, Shimofuri sprung into action. Moving forward, he reached out to drag Rin from her horse. Roba, the mare, spooked as he drew near. She whinnied and tried to rear. Rin hung onto her mane tightly, closing her eyes. Shimofuri snatched her from the saddle and set her onto the ground gently. "Come inside." He ordered, roughly. To the guards he shouted, "Bring the lady's horse and her things."
They nodded; appearing harried, and dashed forward to the panicking horse, trying to get her back under control. Shimofuri put Rin ahead of him and walked forward at a fast walk. Tsukiyume followed behind him, alarmed.
"Shishi-sama…?" she whimpered, ears flicking back and forth fearfully. "What is going on?"
"I will explain it to you, Sister, when we are safely inside with Uncle."
Rin, being pushed along ahead of him like a helpless refugee, slapped at Shimofuri's hands and twirled away, out of his grasp so that she could fall in line behind him, alongside Tsukiyume. Shimofuri's face was tight, caught between a glare of annoyance and one of worry as he broke free of his grasp.
"Lady Rin?" Tsukiyume stumbled, watching Rin with widened, innocent eyes. "What are you doing with shishi-sama?" and then she recoiled, as if Rin had slapped her. "You are…"
"Don't say anymore." Rin warned her, aware that Tsukiyume had at last caught her scent and realized that she was pregnant.
They walked through a courtyard. Decorated with low bushes and ponds full of magnificent, brightly colored koi fish. Stone pathways led up to the stairs and porch of the little palace that Sakaime housed.
Sasugainu was already sitting there, gazing in the opposite direction, out at the gardens. He turned his head as he heard the approaching footsteps and his mouth fell open widely. "Nephew? Tsukiyume?" his eyes landed on Rin and stayed there, flabbergasted. (A/N: flabbergasted! That is THE word of the day ladies and gents!)
Shimofuri led the way, ascending the small flight of stairs and bowing from the waist down to his uncle. "Lord Sasugainu. I have returned successful."
"I'll be the judge of that!" Sasugainu hissed, still gaping at Rin where she stood stiffly at Tsukiyume's side. He reached out and snatched his nephew's kimono by the collar, pulling him close so he could whisper to hide his words from human ears. "Why is she here?"
Shimofuri slapped his uncle's clawed hand away from him and stood up straight. "We will discuss this inside, Uncle."
Sasugainu had yet to remove his gaze from Rin's proud—although uncomfortable—form. "As you wish, Nephew. You have some explaining to do."
After the tea and the meals had been brought by the maids, Sasugainu irritably dismissed them all, even the guards hidden in the walls of the meeting room for protection. When all sounds had ceased and he was certain they couldn't be overheard, he turned toward Rin—which was unusual because he was seeking answers from a human woman to start off with—and demanded, "What are you doing here?"
Before the meeting, Tsukiyume had dragged Rin away to a changing room briefly and they had torn away her armor and her robes, giving her fresh, comfortable ones. The weather in Sakaime was warmer than Jouka had been, and now Rin was thankful for Tsukiyume's good taste. Her robe was thinner now, and she was sweating heavily in it. It took everything she had to keep up her composure, to face these new and different inuyoukai in their environment, to handle herself when she could clearly feel their mounting hostility.
"Lord Shimofuri was kind enough to pay me a visit and inform me of some things I was previously unaware of." She started, evenly, matching them for distance and coldness. Sesshomaru would've been proud of her, she mused bitterly.
"I'm well-aware of that!" Sasugainu growled, shifting on his haunches irritably. He turned his glare toward his nephew, who cringed slightly, anticipating the barrage of oncoming insults. "You! Shimofuri, have you gone mad? You weren't supposed to bring her back with you! You've signed our death warrants!"
"Uncle—" Shimofuri spoke, trying to defend himself, but Rin interrupted him, and in so doing, dragged all of their attention onto her.
"Lord Shimofuri had no choice in the matter. I made him bring me here." She glared between the two lords, radiating authority.
"Lady Rin." Tsukiyume murmured at her side, ears perked, eyes bright. The only human in the room overshadowed the youkai and herself, the hanyou.
"I've come here of my own will, and I will offer myself as a hostage against Sesshomaru." She continued, boldly.
Sasugainu's face had gone from bright red to pale as chalk. He turned from Rin to his nephew again; his mouth was open, exposing his fangs not with anger or rage, but with shock and fear. "The stupid bitch is pregnant!"
Shimofuri scowled, "Uncle, control yourself."
"You will not speak of me like that." Rin hissed. Her hands were clenched in her lap; she leaned forward aggressively, snarling at the inuyoukai.
Sasugainu rose to his feet abruptly and began pacing stiffly around the small room. "She cannot stay here." He announced, firmly, though his tone was a little wild. "Sesshomaru will hunt us down, he'll destroy everything…"
"I won't return to him." Rin interjected, obstinately. For the first time her expression wavered from strength, anger, and fierceness, to one of pain and fear. She looked between Shimofuri and Tsukiyume, neither of which met her gaze. "You can't make me go back. I won't." she watched Sasugainu's pacing, felt his feet and his body pass within a few scant feet of her backsides. "And you…how could you refuse my offer? Sesshomaru will be powerless…"
"He is a tyrant! He will tear us to bits and drag you back, stupid bitch!" Sasugainu roared, leaning over her. Spittle shot out, making Rin flinch. "That dog is never powerless; he has never known even the meaning of the word! Only one arm and he can crush our bones with a single finger…"
"He can't touch you if you have me!" Rin shouted, baring her teeth viciously, as if she were about to attack Sasugainu to make him shut up.
"What good are you? He has his inuyoukai bitch!" Sasugainu spat. He sat down near Shimofuri, glaring at his nephew. His shoulders shook as he spoke, "She's useless to him! The pup she's carrying now is hanyou! It's worthless to him!"
Shimofuri gazed at his uncle through dangerous, slitted eyes. "Hold your tongue, Uncle. You know not what you say."
"Lord Sesshomaru does care for Lady Rin, deeply." Tsukiyume added in a small voice. Her ears fell backward as she stared between her brother, her uncle, and Rin. "I've seen his wife. He doesn't care about her. She's a tool to him. Lady Rin is the one he fights for, the one who matters to him…"
"Then that's even worse." Sasugainu scowled. "Shimofuri, you've killed us before we've even begun."
"He did nothing!" Rin shouted angrily, "It was my choice…" she refused to be ignored by them, refused to be ignored as they argued, trying to make up their minds. "And you will not send me back unless I wish it."
Sasugainu at last leveled his gaze at her, with a dangerous, murderous snarl. "Then you have killed us."
"Silence!" Shimofuri bellowed. When all eyes had turned to him, and no one was bickering about who had sentenced who to death, Shimofuri tossed out his suggestion. "To keep Lady Rin out of Sesshomaru's grasps—and with that to keep us safe—we will have to keep her somewhere that Sesshomaru will never think to look." He turned toward Rin, facing her directly, "You cannot stay with us, Lady Rin. Sesshomaru will know that you left with me; he will come after me first. He cannot scent you in my castle, even inside my lands. We must hide you."
"But Lord Sesshomaru is…" Tsukiyume shook her head helplessly, ears drooping pathetically. "He is unstoppable…"
"So am I." Rin shot back hotly. She directed her attention to Shimofuri. "I believe your suggestion is the best solution, Lord Shimofuri. I will go into hiding and you can hold that knowledge against him."
Sasugainu got to his feet again, stiffly. "I will not be apart of this."
"Maybe it's better that way." Rin sneered, but her voice was high and proud and untainted with the emotion her face clearly displayed. "We don't need you, and if Sesshomaru goes to you, then you cannot betray us and tell him where I am."
Sasugainu's face flushed red, his eyes were wide and wild, the whites were exposed brilliantly. "How dare you…"
"Uncle, leave." Shimofuri ordered, solemnly.
The older inuyoukai whirled on his nephew. "Have you lost your mind?"
"No, Lady Rin is correct about you. I will not force you to participate in this, and I will not reveal this information to you."
"I am your uncle." Sasugainu growled, "You would listen to this human woman's words over mine?" he gestured angrily at Rin, so violently that Tsukiyume at Rin's side flinched. Rin, however, remained statuesque, unfaltering. She had faced Sesshomaru's deception. She had lost her entire world. And now, with Sasugainu screaming and shouting and spitting at her, Rin felt nothing. "I am your kin!" Sasugainu finished, ferociously.
"I trust that, if this matter came to war, you would have the honor to join me, Uncle." Shimofuri muttered, "But at the moment Lady Rin's words are far more useful than yours. You said you would not be apart of this. Leave."
Sasugainu was shaking as he walked for the door. He turned back as he slid it open, tossing over his shoulder one last thing, a prediction. "You are making a mistake!"
And then he was gone.
Shimofuri cocked his head as he listened to his uncle's angry footsteps pounding their way down the hall. When the distance was great enough, his gaze refocused on Rin and Tsukiyume and he cleared his throat, "Where, Lady Rin, do you imagine we could hide you that Sesshomaru would never find you…?"
"Another palace within the Middle Lands, perhaps?" She asked.
"No," Shimofuri's lips turned downward slightly as he fought off a frown. "Sesshomaru may already know that you've left with me. He will come into the Middle Lands and search me out first of all…" he paused, faltering slightly. "I am afraid that hiding you away and leaving that knowledge as leverage against him will not be enough to stop Sesshomaru."
Rin's lips were pinched into a tight, firm line. "You believe he will kill you anyway?"
Shimofuri shifted uneasily and avoided staring at her directly now. "I have seen the power of the inuyoukai spirit, I have felt it myself." He lifted his eyes to meet with Tsukiyume and the hanyou girl's chin quivered. She turned away, unable to meet his stare. "You are his mate and you are carrying his offspring. He will not search me out lightly. You will not only have harmed his pride, but his sense of kin as well. It is one of the greatest affronts to an inuyoukai. I recall how his brother, just an inuhanyou, reacted when my mother foolishly threatened his mate and child…" his voice faded off as Rin's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak.
"Inuyasha."
"Yes?" Shimofuri asked, "What of him?"
"Inuyasha and Sesshomaru have fought one another many times." Rin explained quickly, "In one of their battles Sesshomaru lost his arm."
There was silence at her words as Tsukiyume and Shimofuri stared at her, trying to fathom what she'd said. Finally Tsukiyume whispered, "His missing arm…?"
Rin nodded darkly. "Sesshomaru has always been unable to destroy Inuyasha. He has tried many, many times. I believe his half-brother is his weakness."
Shimofuri had leaned forward, pensive and serious. "It would make sense. He is inuyoukai and it is within his instincts to want to protect kin, and Inuyasha is kin, he may try to kill him and in the moment cannot."
"He insists that Inuyasha is weak, but—his arm…?" Tsukiyume asked, gapingly. "A half-demon…" her ears were twitching, as if they were alive and possessed of their own spirit. They were excited about this news, twittering as if they longed to add to the conversation. To be told that Sesshomaru, the great and powerful ruler of the Western Lands, had lost his arm to his little hanyou brother Inuyasha, it was quite a shock. It was also a shout-out to hanyou kind, belittled and hated as they were. Lopping off Sesshomaru's arm was a reputable deed. If Inuyasha had told them it was his doing they might've discounted it as bluster, but coming from Rin…
"Sesshomaru doesn't seek Inuyasha out, and Inuyasha doesn't call on Sesshomaru unless he has to—as he did when he was accompanying you, Lord Shimofuri." Rin continued, quietly. Her energy had faded, it seemed, since Sasugainu had left and the conversation was mostly peaceful again. "Sesshomaru would not think to search there at once."
Shimofuri nodded. "He would first find me, and then assume that I had hidden you elsewhere in the Middle Lands. He would probe my allies, Lord Arasoizuki in the Itou, Uncle in the Hokubo. But what would he do when he found all of these places without your scent, Lady Rin? Would he tear us apart? Would he search outside the Middle Lands?"
"He might remember Inuyasha then. He is aware that I have met Inuyasha before, but I doubt it would occur to him very quickly." Rin answered. She stared at her hands now lying uselessly in her lap. "He…" she swallowed nervously, "He could go to war, I don't know for certain."
Shimofuri scoffed disgustedly. "The brute would never get you back that way."
"You said it yourself, Lord Shimofuri." She murmured, "The inuyoukai spirit…"
A grim quiet swept over the room as the three contemplated their decisions, their recent actions, and the possible repercussions.
Tsukiyume broke the silence, ears and eyes scanning the room, back and forth between Shimofuri and Rin. "How will we get Inuyasha to agree with this?"
Shimofuri smiled openly and laughed, with sarcastic, wry mirth breaking through. "With a lot of cursing, as I recall."
Tsukiyume frowned. "I'm serious, shishi-sama. You will need to send a messenger, which will take days and—"
"There's no time for that." Rin interrupted, sternly. "You will come with me." She pointed at Tsukiyume. "We'll leave within the hour."
Shimofuri stiffened, frowning. "Now, wait just a moment Lady Rin…"
Rin turned to face him swiftly, flinging a long strand of her black hair over her shoulder with the rather sudden movement. "It is not much to ask of you, Lord Shimofuri. For my cooperation. I am your willing leverage against Sesshomaru. It isn't much to ask."
Tsukiyume's ears flattened, her face blanched. "Am I to be your hostage now, Lady Rin?"
"A hostage with a hostage." Shimofuri grumbled, scowling. "You drive a fierce bargain, Lady Rin."
"Tsukiyume will protect me when we travel, and when we reach Inuyasha's home." Rin insisted without hesitation. "It is perfectly suitable."
"Fine." Shimofuri waved his hand at her, dismissively. "Go, hurry, before I try to stop you." his eyes were on Tsukiyume, giving her a saddened, melancholy gaze. "I am sorry, Sister."
As Rin rose to her feet and moved for the door stiffly, as if her spine had changed from flesh and bone and nerve to steel, tin, and titanium, Tsukiyume hesitated, staring at her brother regretfully. "I'm sorry, shishi-sama. I've been nothing but a hostage since Mother died."
Shimofuri didn't answer her apology. Instead he watched Rin's backsides, her rich robes, her still lithe form. "I will see you again, Sister." Tsukiyume bowed to him and moved to follow Rin like a maid.
Rin slid the door open, but before she could pass over the threshold, Shimofuri called her name. The young, mortal woman turned back to face him; chin high, eyes cold and distant. Tsukiyume slipped past her and into the hallway, her eyes were too watery around the edges, she kept them downcast.
To Rin, Shimofuri said, "My thoughts will be with you, Lady Rin. Take care of my little sister for me."
Rin's jaw clamped down, tightening. The muscles there flickered, but she said nothing. A second later she broke their stare down and left the room, closing the door behind her with force.
Alone, Shimofuri sighed, letting his shoulders sag. Was this defeat he was feeling? Or simply a difficult, slow-coming victory?
A/N: The next chapter…
Another man laughed raucously, stepping closer. "I always hated little rich girls with their fancy clothes and snob-faces. You ain't no better than any of the whores I've had in the brothel." He spat at her, but Rin flicked the blade, blocking the liquid projectile.
While she was distracted with this affront to her honor, the man that had taunted her about the sword raced in, reaching for it, trying to restrain her. Rin anticipated his attack, ducking and whirling away from his grip. As the momentum of his charge forced him to stumble ahead of her and nearly trip, Rin slashed his backsides with her blade. The man howled with pain and fell flat, convulsing.