Disclaimer:
You know the drill. I don't own this series and I'm not making money from it. Only in my dreams..
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Chapter 2
Damn the rain, thought the worried Dog Demon as he sped through the foliage. Any trace of Rin, whether it be footprints or scent, had washed away in that accursed liquid. And Jaken was of no use, knowing only that she'd left in the night and never came back. No idea when or why. The girl just vanished.
He'd found the toad at sunrise, frantically screaming Rin's name, the Staff of Two Heads missing from the imp's hand. Upon seeing the stewing Sesshomaru, Jaken fell to his knees, tears in his eyes. "My Lord, I beg your forgiveness! Young Rin has gone and I cannot find her."
Ice daggers were hurled in Jaken's direction in the form of Sesshomaru's amber glare. "Well?"
After gulping, the terrified imp continued his tale. "She must have snuck off last night my Lord! I do not know why, but I shall find her! Please, please forgive me for my foolish.." were his words before the livid Demon Lord crushed the repentant toad's face into the dirt.
Mercy was one indulgence that Jaken would never again receive. If Rin was not found safely, life would be another luxury that Sesshomaru would happily repossess.
Sesshomaru lightly landed on his feet, watchful gaze scanning the clearing. Nothing. Not a sign or a smell to hint that a young girl was ever here. This was getting him nowhere. The soppy earth squished into his shoes, the sludge partially responsible for Rin's disappearance. Had it not rained, had Jaken paid her proper attention, this day would be the stuff of nightmares.
Rain was thick in the air again, throwing the wind around like a child would do a ball. If he did not find her soon..
Powerful feet propelled Sesshomaru's lean body forward, launching him like a silver bullet. Eyes of frozen gold scanned the area with immaculate precision, the landscape that would be blurred to others captured like a still-frame in his determined gaze. There was only one more place she could have gone. Camp had been surrounded by four sides that she could have gotten past, one already searched by Jaken, one by Ah-Un, and the other by him. And if he was right, if Rin had left to the remaining option, then a lost child would be the least of the Demon Lord's worries.
A twenty foot cliff was a long way to fall.
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Ragged coughs ripped from Rin's raw throat. Fever had long taken over, a heat that never made her warm. Hostile shivers racked her small form and grew even more so with each gust that tore through the night. She was huddled in a hollowed out tree, hands fisted into her kimono. Even they were freezing blocks of ice that never thawed no matter how many times she blew on them. The weak fire that burned before her popped and sizzled, almost mute in its volume. Before long the rain would come in and she would have not even the luxury of embers.
Despite all this, a faint smile was on her sickly face. Lord Sesshomaru would come for her. He always did, didn't he? She just had to be patient. In no time at all she'd be near a real fire, sleeping next to Ah- Un and arguing with Master Jaken. And if her Lord did not find her, she would go find him. As soon as the rain stopped. Snot streamed down her nose, but she refused to wipe it on her sleeve. More shivers hit her then, one after the other.
How could I have been so stupid, she thought through chattering teeth, as more water trickled into her shelter, wetting the dust to a sticky mud. A coughing spell doubled her over and eventually subsided, only to have another fill its absence. If she hadn't left to gather wood, this would never had happened. But she had only been trying to help Master Jaken.
"Master Jaken," Rin whispered, gently shaking the toad. He grumbled in his sleep, halfheartedly shooing her off. She tried again, shaking more persistent. "Master Jaken, the fire has died. Master Jaken we need wood!"
This got her nothing but sleepy swear words and a swipe from a three fingered hand. Turning over, Jaken buried his head farther into the dirt. "Ge' ii yoursel'," he slurred.
Looking helplessly at the waning fire, she crawled over to Ah-Un in hopes that her dragon companion would awaken and help, gently shaking in hopes it would stir. She got nothing but a small snore and the giant form rolling on its side, blowing out smoke from both of its two heads.
Rin glanced over in worry at the choking embers. Bad things happened when the fire went out. The last time this happened, she woke up with a snake coiled next to her. Jaken had found it amusing, but never again would she let the fire die. Suddenly decisive, she leaned over Jaken's snoring form. Gently dislodging his staff from his fingers, Rin took off into the night.
Dry kindling was hard enough to find in the daytime, without it being inky black. Rin kept on, getting farther and farther away from camp. Small feet trekked over damp grass, dirt sneaking into the crooks of her toes. Maybe the night isn't so bad after all, Rin thought, picking up a relatively dry twig. And it wasn't. Bad stuff happened just as readily when the sun was out than when the moon was in the sky. Same difference. And both times were beautiful.
A smile crept onto her face. Just a little more and she'd be done. Then Master Jaken couldn't tease her about her fear of the dark. What he didn't know was that Rin was not afraid of the dark, only the things in it and when Sesshomaru was away. She loved Master Jaken, but he was not a very powerful presence. But when Lord Sesshomaru was there, sleeping nearby in a tree, Rin had nothing to fear.
A low rumble sounded behind her, a snarl from a past long suppressed. It was like simultaneously being doused in cold water and lit ablaze, this feeling of utmost terror. The primal urge to flee hit her even before she turned to face the scariest monster of all, dropping all but Jaken's staff.
Starving yellowed eyes glared at her, set in a graying muzzle of a face. Jagged fangs protruded from a snarling mouth and it's spine was hunched low in an attack position. Fur grew in patches across the creatures body, brown coat mostly lost to mange. The wolf was old, probably abandoned by his pack and left to die alone.
Rin was frozen with a fear never forgotten. Memories of death fizzled in her stunned mind. The fiery torment their claws had dealt, the razor-like fangs that penetrated her soft flesh like a hot knife through butter. The gift of death that such a beast had given to her. All this and more kept driving her to move, move, move! But the terrified girl could only stand there in a daze, Jaken's staff dangling from her lowered hand.
It advanced slowly, whether because of tactic or weakness Rin never knew. Still growling, the wolf took another step. And yet another, until he was right within leaping distance. Then with a crouch and a howl, it leaped through the air, claws outstretched and eyes wild.
Survival kicked in at the second it lunged. With all the power in her body, Rin shrieked and swung the staff right at her attackers skull, more luck than skill involved in hitting it. A gruesome thud cracked through the night, a yowl of pain not far behind. Not bothering to glance behind her, Rin ran with all she had, dropping the staff in her panic. Slender legs a blur, she fled into the underbrush, branches smacking her, thorns tearing at her kimono, greedy roots out to ensnare.
Even in later years, she could not remember exactly how she fell. Perhaps the wolf had her cornered and she'd jumped to save herself. Maybe she'd been running too fast to see the slippery slope ahead of her. What Rin did remember was wailing as she plummeted through space, fell down a seemingly endless drop, then crashing into the frozen rapids below. Unconsciousness had swept her up until she awoke the next day, hung up on the bank like a piece of driftwood.
Sesshomaru-sama will not be happy with me, came the quiet thought, a shadowy presence that saddened her. Rin felt ashamed at the inconvenience she had undoubtedly caused her Lord. Just like a typical human she'd gotten herself into trouble again. But Lord Sesshomaru had never allowed her to learn self-defense or to use a weapon, denying her permission each time she asked. Though he never explained why, she later figured out it was because it would've insulted him for her to do so. By learning to protect herself from others, she was insinuating that he could not.
The great dai-youkai was so mysterious, so enrapturing. A living stone, many days Rin lay in the sun pondering the musings behind his golden eyes. There were just so many things she wanted to know about her beloved Lord Sesshomaru, great and small. His favorite color, his childhood, the seasons he hated and loved. His hopes and dreams, his fears and loves.
Why he had never taken a mate.
Added heat pooled into her cheeks, an unneeded addition to the rampant burning. That was none of her business and the right to think those thoughts were not in her ownership. If her Lord wished to tell her she would gladly listen, but her lips would not ask a second before.
Finally giving up on not wiping her nose, Rin ran her kimono sleeve across it, hoping the rain would stop soon. Soon after she succumbed to sleep, uneasy dreams chasing her down a path never ending.
...
Author's Note:
Hope you guys are enjoying "Heartbeats". Sorry it took forever to finish, but at least I got it! (Trying to convince herself now..)
Anyways, please read, rate, and reply!
Sincerely,
Angels and Immortals