Alright! Hello again! I'm so sorry it's been so long. Please forgive me. I still don't have a charger for my laptop and it's difficult writing using my phone. I'm certain there are quite a few mistakes, but I don't always catch them using this method of writing. I hope you can forgive that as well. I'm working hard to buy a new charger, but for now, my updates may not be as quick as I'd like. I haven't forgotten this story, promise.
Hopefully, this chapter doesn't confuse anyone too much. If so, please let me know what's confusing and I will do my best to explain. Continue to send in those reviews, as usual, they're the highlight of my day.
I do not own Inuyasha
Despite Inuyasha and Kagome protesting, Sesshomaru left the village as planned. Rin had yet to wake up and carefully he had her placed on the back of A-Un. Normally he would walk off ahead of the three of them, at least that's what he did in the past, but he wanted to be close when she came around. Climbing up behind her sleeping form, Sesshomaru rides on the back of the two headed dragon-demon. Jaken taking place just behind him.
For hours they rode, flying through the sky far above the ground. Still she continued to sleep, if it wasn't for the steady breathing he could feel, he might assume she stopped breathing. "How long are you going to continue to sleep, Rin?"
"U-uh, M'Lord?" From behind him Jaken speaks up after hours of unusual silence.
"Yes, what is it?" He doesn't even bother looking over his shoulder at the imp.
"Do you think it's best that we bring the female with us?" He says it in a nervous manner. "Perhaps it's better if we left her behind with Inuyasha and the other humans."
Sesshomaru clenched his teeth, casting a deadly glare over his shoulder. This immediately shuts him up, cringing in terror of being thrown from the beast. "She stays with us and that's the last I want to hear of it." Turning his attention on the dragon demon, he gives him the command to land in a circular cleaning of the forest, close go a river. "We'll camp here for the night. Jaken, prepare a fire and find some food."
"Yes! Right away, M'Lord!" Jumping off A-Un's back, Jaken hurries to follow his masters orders.
While the imp scurried around doing as he was bid, Sesshomaru climbed off as well. With careful movements, he takes Rin in his arms and carries her to a place beside the now burning fire. Her hair fell into her face, and using the tips of his fingers, he brushes the strands to the side. He sighs, the sound too soft to be heard by anyone other than himself. As his fingers brushed across her skin, her eyes suddenly began to open and quickly he jerks his hand back away from her, moving a few steps away and putting distance between them.
Opening her eyes, Rin immediately regrets doing so, a sharp, striking pain shoots from her temples, making her flinch and grasp her head. "D-damn..."
"Don't move so quickly." A familiar voice says from beside her.
Upon hearing the familiar voice of Sesshomaru, the pain in her head began to subside and she was able to sit up. Still, she held her head a little longer, making sure that she wouldn't be hit with another wave, before turning her head to the left and looking up at the dog demon standing a few feet from her. Only, when she looked on him, she was flooded by memories; memories that weren't hers, but at the same time they were. It was hard to tell them apart and for several minutes, she sat there in silence, starring at him.
The longer she sat there, shuffling through these memories, the more she began to understand everything from the last week. It was so much clearer now. The reason why he and Kohaku constantly mistook her for another, was because she didn't just look like the Rin from the past, but because she was that Rin. Except, she still felt like herself. It was confusing. Looking at the demon before her, remembering everything that they'd been through centuries ago, feeling the feelings she felt for him, but still having the mindset of the girl she was now.
"Rin," He spoke to her again, and even though she'd been looking right at him, she wasn't exactly there. "Are you alright?"
"Sesshomaru..." Her voice was soft, and didn't hold the same irritation that it had previously.
While waiting for her to continue, he took the opportunity to look her over, making certain that she physically was unhurt, or at least showed no signs of feeling pain. She appeared to be fine, but there was something in her eyes, that told him she was thinking heavily about something. He wanted to investigate it further, but she turned her gaze away and her hair fell over her shoulder concealing her expressions from him.
What she said next, took him by surprise.
"I know why you can't stop confusing me with her."
His eyes narrowed a bit. "I told you already-"
"Why did you stop coming to visit her...?" When she cut him off with her question, Sesshomaru visibly showed his confusion. "For six years, you would visit all the time, but 3 years before she..." She couldn't say the word, couldn't speak out loud about dying, just the thought alone made her chest tighten and her breath catch in her lungs. "She loved you more than anyone and even right up to the end, believed you'd come back."
His jaw was clenched tightly, the muscles tense enough to be seen. "How do you know that?" He wanted to lash out, much like he did upon hearing her name for the first time; being utter from the mouth of who he believed to be an imposter. This time though, he wouldn't do so, unable to even consider hurting her by his own hands. "Did Kohaku tell you to say that?" If so, he would return to the village once she fell asleep and make him regret doing so.
"No, it wasn't Kokaku." Mentioning her new found friend, brought forth the memories of him as well. How they meet, how he saved her, looked after her as a child during the fight with Naraku. He had been a good friend, someone she often confided in. Even confessed her true feelings for Sesshomaru. These memories, brought a small smile to her lips, but the growl she heard quickly removed it. "I know all of this, because I have her memories." She watched as his eyes widened. "I remember her entire life up until the her 16th birthday."
"The day she died." Sesshomaru stood there in silence, looking down at the girl in front of him. The way she looked at him, with recognition in her eyes, made him feel...hope. Still, he could see her own confusion reflected in the depths. Even though she seemed to remember everything the Rin from the past did, she seemed to be struggling with them at the same time.
Rin made sure to keep her gaze locked with his own, not shying away from him. That's the difference between them. The girl from the past wouldn't have said anything, instead she would just be grateful he had come back for her, whereas the woman she was now, wanted answers and wouldn't back down until she had them. "Why did you stop coming, Sesshomaru? Why would you do that to someone who loved you the way she did? Even if you didn't return her feelings, or if you saw her as nothing more than a burden, then you owed it to her to tell her the truth. You watched over her, cared for her and saved her life more than once. Why would you leave her alone like that?! No word, no explanation, nothing. You broken her heart!"
"Enough!" He shouts at her. She could see now that his entire body, not just his jaw, was tense. He was ready to strike, wanted to strike her, but held himself back for whatever reason. "Do not speak to me of matters you don't understand." Without giving her anything, he turns around to walk away, leaving her without answers.
That wasn't good enough for her. Getting to her feet in a hurry, Rin chases after him, reaching out and grabbing a hold of his wrist. This was another move that only she would pull. The girl from the past never touching him without permission. "Wait just a minute! I want answers!"
Sesshomaru stopped as soon as he felt her hand on his wrist. He didn't look down at her, or jerk his hand from her hold. "Release me, Rin." Was all he said, but it was the way he said it that made her let him go and pull her hand back. There was so much emotion in those three words. She could hear the guilt he felt accompanied by anger. He didn't say another word, walking into the forest and leaving her standing there.
After he left, Rin turned back to the fire and found herself a place to sit. Pulling her knees to her chest, she sat there staring into the flames. What she saw within the fire, were the memories of a previous life. Emotions she never felt before welled up inside of her and she could feel the amount of love and admiration the young girl before her had for that demon. What she couldn't understand though, was why she continued to care about him for as long as she did, despite the fact that he completely abandoned her for years prior to dying. All those years, she spent waiting, hoping and knowing without a doubt that Sesshomaru would return for her and when he did, she would confess everything.
"Are you listening to me girl?" An annoyed voice from the past piped up behind her.
Drawn from her thoughts, Rin turned her head around to look at the little imp. She remembered that her past self had liked this little annoying demon. He'd been someone to talk to when Sesshomaru was away, or left them on their own. While he had never seemed to like her, she knew deep down that he did care about what happened to her. "Sorry Jaken, I wasn't paying attention."
"Honestly, I don't see why my Lord Sesshomaru insisted on bringing you along." He said, sounding just as annoyed as usual. "It would be better if we just left you behind in the village with Inuyasha and his human.
This sounded very familiar, at least the part about her tagging along. It was something he often said many years ago. Rolling her eyes, she wouldn't be as complacent as her former had been. "Sorry I'm such a bother to you, but apparently he has a reason for bringing me with." The stunned look on his face was actually amusing. "Try not to complain too much, hopefully he finds a way to get me home sooner rather than later." Getting to her feet, she starts on the same path into the forest that Sesshomaru took.
When he saw her leaving, Jaken quickly snaps out of his stunned daze. "Hey! Where do you think you're going!?" He cries out, running to catch up and block her way. "You're not to wander off when Lord Sesshomaru is gone!"
Seeing as she was much taller in this life than she had been, all Rin needed to do was step around him. "Don't worry, I'm not going too far. Besides, I'm hungry, I'm going to catch something to eat." There was a stream nearby, she could hear the water flowing. Now that she had these memories, Rin knew how to do many things she never could before. Like catching fish. Surviving on her own in a forest no longer seemed as difficult as she thought upon arriving. "Don't follow me either, I want to be alone."
"You do not give me commands!" And yet...she was walking away and he wasn't running after her.
Positive he wasn't following her, Rin turns away from the sound of flowing water and instead wanders off further into the forest. She been sorta telling the truth. She did want to be alone, but she wasn't exactly heading off to catch herself something to eat, instead she was determined to get answers from a certain stubborn demon. Unfortunately, she didn't have any kind of special talents, other than the skills one would need to survive. She wasn't a demon and didn't have the ability to track someone's scent and even though Kagome was human, she was also a priestess with incredible spiritual powers; able to feel another's presence. Still, if he had decided to walk and not fly off, she could find and track him on foot.
After a moment of looking, thankful the moon was full and the trees weren't too thick, Rin eventually found a set of foot prints that she felt strongly about belonging to him. Nodding her head and set on her path, she begins to follow the prints. She couldn't exactly explain how she knew it was his, but something told her that she was on the right trail.
The forest wasn't thick and it was fairly easy to maneuver through the underbrush. It seemed he decided on walking the entire way, seeing as the prints never disappeared. He'd been gone more than half an hour before she made the choice to follow him, so he had a head start. Surely, he had to of known she would follow him. Was that why he stayed on the ground? So she could track him and not get lost, or run into trouble.
As she continued to walk, following the mostly clear path, Rin began to realize that she was being lead back to the stream. Except the footprints never doubled back. Perhaps he made his way to another spot further down stream. It didn't take much longer to come upon the stream in question, the moon reflecting on the surface helping to guide her way. And that was where she found him, sitting with his back to the forest, head tilted back looking towards the sky.
Even though he showed no signs of hearing her approaching, Sesshomaru spoke as she cleared the trees. "I didn't forget her, or the fact that it had been her birthday." Rin stopped just a few feet from the rock he was sitting upon, remaining silent as she heard him speak. He sounded calm and in control like always. "Once she turned fourteen, I made the decision to stay away. To give her a normal life among humans. Find a suitable male to marry and live out what little life she had."
"But that's not what she wanted. All she wanted was to continue living as she had when she was a child; along side you. Helping you in whatever quest you found yourself on." Rin mutters, looking at his back.
"Yes," A heavy sigh could be heard as he took his gaze off the moon above. "Only, the older she became, the more I began to realize something."
"And what was that?" She asks when he didn't go on right away.
"I realized that the feelings I had towards this pitiful human girl, was something far more than that of a guardian."
This took her by surprise. "Are you saying you began to feel-"
He cuts her off, "I made the decision to distance myself fully. To write her out of my life. The lifespan of a mere human is nothing compared to the centuries a demon can live. Eighty years would fly by quickly. Rin would have grown into an old woman, and died as one. I was determined not to make the same foolish mistake my father did. I would not fall in love with a human and have her be the cause of my destruction." There was now a low growl in his voice. "Only, no matter how far I traveled, how long I stayed away, I couldn't erase her from my thoughts and the harder it became to stay away."
Suddenly he moved off the rock. He did so, so quickly that his movements were nothing more than a blur. He appeared before her then, startling her. So much so, that she stumbled backwards, losing her footing and tripping back. But she didn't fall, knew she wouldn't, because his arm lashes out and wraps around her waist, pulling her towards him and against his chest. She hadn't been scared, knowing he wouldn't let any harm come to her.
Her eyes meet and were held by his. In their depths, there was something in them that she'd never seen before, not even in the memories she now had of the life she once lived. Normally they were cold and void of any real emotion, but in this rare moment, they were soft and even caring.
"Something inside of my very being, told me that one day I would make her mine. The very thought of another man touching her would send me into a rage I've never felt before. I told myself I would wait another few years before returning and taking her. Then, she was killed, and the rage I felt before, was nothing compared to what I felt when she died." His arms tightened around her frail human body. He could easily snap her in two. "Now that you're here, those feelings I buried so long ago are returning."
Rin's eyes were wide, and a part of her was scared to death, but another part of her felt safe. When she noticed he was tilting his head down towards her, she held her breath, frozen in his arms. "H-he's going to kiss me!"
Much happier with the length of this chapter and I hope you are too. If you're confused on anything, let me know and I will help explain a little more. I do hope that Sesshomaru wasn't too ooc for your liking. Unfortunately, with this being a romantic story, ooc moments are bound to take place. Let me know what you think in the reviews.
Until next time!~