Forbidden

Chapter Fifteen: Forget All and Goodbye

Sesshoumaru kept walking to where he smelled Rin and Jaken. His breath seemed shorter and his throat burned. He clenched his fists tighter, despising the feeling he had in his gut. -Damn her... how could I not see that this bring nothing but trouble? She has made a fool out of me. I'm not one to be so easily manipulated... yet I've lost all control just because of her... I became like my father... I let my weakness get control of me. But I will not be so ignorant, I will not let her cause my own demise...- Sesshoumaru rambled to himself. His mind led him in one direction, his heart in another. He chose to follow his mind. -No more... goodbye forever Nanami... Do what you want, cry all you can, curse as much as you wish, but I will never answer to you, or even see you... Forget all that happened in the past... we were just naive children... I now know that there is nothing left between us but hate. So leave it at that...- Sesshoumaru spoke in his mind, knowing Nanami wouldn't hear him. He just kept trying to convince himself that she is not worth his time and concern.

Sesshoumaru finally arrived at the spot where Rin was sitting in front of the campfire, finishing her dinner consisting of fried fish and a few mushrooms. Jaken was snoring on the opposite side of the fire, twitching and murmuring in his sleep. Ah-un was grazing a few feet away from the camp, not even noticing that his master had returned. Rin looked up and to her left and saw a stranger with black hair and old clothes. Rin screetched as loud as she could manage and ran toward Jaken.

"Quit your shouting, Rin." Sesshoumaru said as he winced from the high pitched shriek still ringing in his ears. He sat down on the ground and leaned against a tree trunk near the fire, one leg stretched out, the other bent at the knee, his arm resting on it. He closed his eyes and put his head back. Rin slowly and cautiously approached Sesshoumaru. She sat on her knees next to him and inspected him closely. She looked at his face and her fingers touched his cheek where his marking used to be. Sesshoumaru opened his eyes and glanced at Rin, a little surprised at what she was doing.

"Lord Sesshoumaru... You're back! I missed you so much!" She squealed as soon as she saw his eyes, and clung to his shoulder. Then her hands touched his short, black hair.

"But why did you cut your hair and dye it black? And what happened to your markings?"

"A stupid mistake." Sesshoumaru answered and let the curious little girl run her fingers through his hair. Jaken finally woke up with a loud snort and popped upwards.

"Hey, what are you doing, foolish girl? Stay away from that intruder, Rin!" Jaken squawked.

"Get out of here, you filthy bum! " Jaken ran at Sesshoumaru, swinging his staff. Sesshoumaru scowled and kicked the imp in the head.

"Hey, what'd you do that f-" Jaken stood up and rubbed the swelling bump on his head, but stopped immediately when he looked at the demon's eyes. Jaken felt his guts drop to his ankles and a cold sweat drench him. -I just caused my demise.- He plopped down to the ground next to his master's feet.

"Your humble servant begs forgiveness! I did not know it was you, milord! Please forgive me Lord Sesshoumaru! I was only looking after the girl, I didn't-"

"Silence, Jaken. That was enough." Sesshoumaru said, annoyed.

"Yes, milord."

Rin took Sesshoumaru's hands and pulled up the sleeves to check for his markings. They weren't as prominent, and looked wore like healed scars.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, are all your markings gone?" Rin questioned. Sesshoumaru glanced at the girl. -As far as you will know...- She took his gesture as a yes. Then she remembered someone else.

"Did you find Lady Nanami? Did you bring her back?"

"Not tonight, Rin. Maybe I will tell you tomorrow." Sesshoumaru avoided the conversation and closed his eyes. Rin nodded and snuggled closer against his chest. Sesshoumaru put his right arm over her small back and took a deep breath.

Jaken looked at Sesshoumaru through half-closed eyes. -Where is that wench? And what in the hell did my lord do to himself?-

Nanami took off her clothes and quietly got into the hot spring deeper in the forest and joined Kagome and Sango.

"Oh, my... What happened to your arm?" Kagome asked, frowning at Nanami's bandaged arm. Nanami just looked at her.

"You mean Sesshoumaru did this to you?!" Sango was outraged.

"Was it true about what the witch said? That he lost control of himself? And did you really have a fiancee?"

"It happened once already. When he killed me... And again at the docks." Nanami muttered quietly. There was no use keeping quiet about it. The girls would just bombard her with questions until she spilled the truth. Might as well get over with it now. She quickly recalled what happened when Sesshoumaru took her to the docks after Vlad tried to... well... and then she explained how Naraku's puppet got a hold of her and stole her ring. She told them everything that happened up to the point when she saw them a few hours ago. Even about her dream.

Kagome squealed when she heard about a little Sesshoumaru chasing Nanami around in the winter. Nanami just responded with a weird look, then continued.

Sango looked awestruck at her story, but couldn't understand why Nanami would not say anything about their past. The fact that the two knew each when they were kids was the only thing Sango was aware of about her secret past. -I feel so sorry for her... she's in love with a man who is incapable of feeling anything but anger. Yet... his behavior makes no sense either. But then again, this is Sesshoumaru she is talking about. He's not the type to explain anything he does... I wonder how many women he left broken-hearted like this?-

"Why don't you tell me what all of you have been doing for the past five months?" Nanami changed the topic, uneasy seeing both women in deep thought. Kagome looked up and smiled.

"Well, seeing as Naraku disappeared and there were rarely any demon outbursts, so Sango and Miroku decided to tie the knot!" Kagome beamed.

-Ugh... that's good news? He's a pervert!- Nanami was shocked, but did not want to be rude, so she smiled faintly.

"Congratulations." She said sincerely.

"That's not the only news. Sango will be a mother soon!" Kagome smiled, looking at Sango. Underneath Nanami's smile, her jaw dropped to the bottom of the spring. -Oh... my...God... Sango... that can't be true. How could you have come to that decision?-

Sango felt uncomfortable talking about her love life when Nanami had just had her heart crushed by a man that didn't even care about her... apparently.

"Kagome... I think that's enough." Sango smiled nervously, seeing that Nanami was uneasy talking about this as well. Kagome finally realized what Sango meant and covered her mouth. After a few awkward moments, Sango finally broke the silence.

"So does Naraku have your power now?"

"No. Just my weapon. And he would not be able to use it anyway. He has to have my sword as well. So that whole trip was pointless for him. I can still kill him without fire." Nanami answered, unwrapping the bandage on her arm. Kagome jumped out of the water, naked, to get her bag that was behind a rock.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Kagome. You boyfriend just fell out of a tree." Nanami said calmly, knowing that Inuyasha and Miroku were eavesdropping on them. Kagome screetched so loudly and yelled "SIT!" about 12 times. Sango growled and sank deeper underwater, her face was the only thing above the water. Miroku shot out of the area back to camp, while Inuyasha twitched violently and dragged his left foot along with him back to camp.

Kagome got her medicine box and treated Nanami's claw shaped wound, while Sango rubbed her slightly bulging round tummy and observed. Her eyes analyzed the wound and she pitied the girl. -Did he really mean it? Was everything he said true, or did his pride take over and stopped him from seeing what he had done?-

"It's a shame actually." Sango said outloud. Nanami glanced at her, and even though she tried to be more cheerful now, her eyes were still miserable.

"I thought he had feelings for you. I guess I was wrong. I'm sorry, Nanami... but I think Sesshoumaru has space for only one person in his heart. And that's Rin. He can only manage feeling like a father to her."

Nanami wanted to say something denying her sadness about his feelings, or rather no feelings, toward her, but she knew she would just be lying to herself.

"Then I would rather it be Rin than me. "Nanami whispered quietly, looking down at the water.

The next morning, Sesshoumaru woke up to the sound of Jaken hyperventilating. He frowned and looked at the imp. The toad demon looked at his master with terror on his face.

"Please don't kill me, Milord! Rin got up to go do her business and ran away! I didn't follow her because she said she was going to pee! I didn't want to see that! Then she didn't come back!" Jaken blurted out in a hysterical voice. Sesshoumaru growled, irritated by his servant. He bolted upright and tried to catch Rin's scent. He followed it back the way he came from yesterday. -Damn.- He figured she went to see Nanami, so he slowed to a walk and avoided being noticed by anyone. He finally found where Rin's scent ended. He stopped on top of a hill overlooking the coast. Sesshoumaru stood behind a tall oak tree and looked down to the beach. The waves roared and splashed onto the wet sand. The sky was dark gray, indicating approaching rain, and lots of it. He saw Nanami kneeling on the shore, with Rin's arms around her neck. From where he was, Sesshoumaru could faintly make out what they were saying.

"Why didn't Lord Sesshoumaru want to talk about you? Why didn't you come with him? Did you have a fight?" Rin asked in an upset voice. Nanami looked into her chocolate eyes, not wanting to upset her more with what happened.

"I'm sorry, Rin, but I can't stay with you, and you have to go back."

"Why won't you tell me what's going on? Do you not like me anymore?"

"No, no. Of course I like you. You can always come to me and we can talk, but you have to come alone."

"Do you not like Lord Sesshoumaru? Did he hurt your arm?" Rin gently touched the woman's arm. Nanami decided not to tell her that he did it, she wouldn't want her to return to him and be upset because he wounded her.

"No, honey, I fell down the stairs and cut my arm on the stone step. That's all. And... no. We don't get along. We're not friends, Rin, we're enemies. I despise him. That's why I don't want to go with you. It's not because of you." Nanami explained. Sesshoumaru glanced down at the ground, he didn't want to get Rin involved in this. -Why didn't you tell her the truth?-Then he cringed at the familiar scent of the half-breed approaching Nanami.

"Stop lying to her, Nanami." Inuyasha's voice cut into the conversation. Nanami turned and glared at him with something typical of Sesshoumaru's glare.

"They wouldn't talk about what happened because they had a huge fight lasting two hundred years, kid. And no, she doesn't like him considering they tried to kill each other over and over again, and Nanami has-well, had a fiancee that Sesshoumaru got rid of. So you better leave and go back to your pompous lord before he shows up here and Nanami rips him to shreds." Inuyasha threatened. Nanami stood up and stared at Inuyasha.

"Why did you do that, you moron? Why did you have to go and ruin her relationship with him? She doesn't need to be part of this, and neither do any of you." Nanami growled in a hushed tone so Rin would not hear her. Then she raised her tone to something she would hear. "And I didn't like my fiancee that much."

"Quit covering for that pompous ass. You make it seem as if he had done absolutely nothing. Stop holding all your feelings in, stop trying to make everyone not as bad as they are. You know he is a bloodthirsty beast, why are you covering him?"

"You idiot, do you even use that thing on your shoulders? Think about the girl! He's the only one she has, and now you're trying to turn her against him. I am plenty enough of an enemy for him. Don't ruin it for the girl." Nanami turned her head slightly toward the hill, where she heard something crack. Then she glared at Inuyasha. She turned to Rin and brushed her fingers through her hair.

" Rin, go back to Sesshoumaru. Don't make him come down here. Do it for me, alright?" Nanami asked and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Rin nodded, then stared at Inuyasha with frightened eyes before she ran uphill into the forest.

"Cretin." Nanami snarled at Inuyasha and walked away. Inuyasha made a scrunched face and mimicked Nanami "cretin... do you ever use that thing on your shoulders? feh."

Sesshoumaru waited for Rin, who stopped in front of him as soon as she saw him. He looked at her confused expression to see what she would do. Then he sighed.

"Rin... you may go with her if you want, or stay with me. It is your decision." He recalled saying a similar thing to her almost two years ago when he rescued her from the monks. Rin looked back at Nanami, then at Sesshoumaru. She walked up to him and took his hand, her fingers barely long enough to wrap around three of his. "Bye, Nanami..." She whispered, looking behind her.

Note: I have more chapters ready, but I'm not posting until I get some feedback on how I'm doing, because I want to know if people like this story and actually want to read it, so please, please review and tell me if you want more on the story or if it's not worth my time. Thanks!