PURE FLOWER
Chapter 17
The Vanishing
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Rin clawed at her mother's hands at her throat as she struggled to breath. Her eyesight was blurred with her tears as she tried to focus on her mother.
"If only you are not born...if only we don't exist..." her mother whispered.
Rin whimpered and felt her strength slowly seeping out from her as her breathing became more difficult. She did not understand why her mother wanted to kill her. She was so nice to her yesterday; telling stories of the outside world, of demons and humans...
"Tainted bloodline..." her mother whispered again and tightened her grips on her.
Rin closed her eyes and ceased her struggling. If her mother wished her to be gone, then so be it. She loved her mother; she wanted her to be happy. Perhaps, with her being dead, her mother would have a better chance at escaping the cell where they stayed.
"...Mother...please forgives me..."
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"Lady Rin, the preparation is ready."
Rin opened her amber eyes as the servant Ryoko called out. Her amber eyes flickered wearily as she recalled the last day with her mother, when she tried to kill her. At that time, she did not understand why her mother tried to kill her, but as the memories in her blood slowly awakened, she understood now.
Looking up at the full moon from the middle of the garden within the Western Stronghold, Rin calculated the precise time to perform the ritual. Everything around her was quiet. Due to a spell cast by the fox demoness, everyone but she, Ryoko, and the twin half breeds were the only one awaken, the rest of the servants in the castle were all unconscious. Even the great Sesshoumaru...
"My lady...are you sure you want to do this?" Ryoko asked.
Rin turned her gaze from the moon to the altar before her, where the twin half breeds were laid bare on it. The altar was surrounded with himorogi, gathering, and focusing the silver moonlight onto the twins. Hardened her gaze, Rin reached her hand into her kimono sleeve to pull out a small knife.
"Their bloodline is necessary...Like how I use Ren to wipe out her entire clan." Rin whispered and stared emotionlessly at the infants whimpering in cold on the altar. One of the girls started crying as if she sensed her life was in danger, but Rin must not be swayed by the crying, no matter how pitiful.
"RIN-! YOU UNGRATEFUL BITCH-!"
A rustle of leaves from one of the bushes in the garden, and something foul smelling and hard slammed into Rin, pushing her away from the altar and onto the ground. The sudden attack on her had momentarily stunned her and when she pulled back her control, Rin glared up at her attacker and her eyes widened at the sight, before turning into a hateful glare.
"Father...it seems you are still alive." Rin spat out and relaxed her muscle beneath the demon lord. From the condition of the demon lord was in, he would not last long. "It seems I have underestimated you...a being that has lived more than a thousand years."
The Southern Demon Lord, Soma glared down at his youngest daughter with hatred in his black eyes. His reached out his left hand and gripped his clawed fingers around her slender throat. He tried to reach out his right hand, but growled when he remembered his right arm was gone, disappeared in a pile of white feathers, along with his children, and grandchildren within his castle.
Just days before, he was having a celebration with his clan members. His sons and daughters, as well as grandchildren had all came to celebrate with him. He had bragged about how his son in law Sesshoumaru had sent him chests full of gold upon the birth of his granddaughters. Then suddenly, everything around him turned into chaos. One by one, his clan members dissolved into pure white feathers and disappeared. When he felt a sharp pain on his right arm, he was terrified to see his arms slowly turning into feathers from the tip of his fingers. Without thinking, he had used his other hand to cut off his right arm. However, it only slowed the progress; half of his body was slowly being changed into feathers, but had yet to disappear.
As he watched his whole clan vanished into thin air, he remembered the woman who once laid a curse on him. The pain on his body turned into anger and he flew into the sky towards the Western Land, where his youngest daughter now resided. Since she was that woman's daughter, she must know how to annul the curse. He did not want to die. He still had so much to do. He had yet to conquer all the lands!
When Soma finally reached the Western Stronghold, he was surprised to see how quiet and dark it was. Usually, Sesshoumaru would have sentries posted around his stronghold day and night, without a moment rest. When Soma landed on the high wall, he saw everyone, including the sentries in the stronghold were lying on the ground, seemingly to be asleep. He too was surprise to not detecting Sesshoumaru's scent in the stronghold.
His dark eyes narrowed when he caught onto a familiar scent; his daughter's scent. Without a moment hesitation, he followed the scent until he reached the garden located right in the centre of the stronghold. He was about to reach out to his daughter when he overheard her saying how she had used Ren, his eldest daughter to wipe out the entire clan.
Rin was the one who killed his clan. Not that woman.
"You ungrateful get! How dare you betray me, your father and your clan!" Soma snarled and tightened his hold around her neck. "How dare you...!"
Rin sighed. It would be useless to try to kill her now, as the body she occupied was already dead. When the ritual completed, she would return to her own body. Looking pass the demon lord, Rin watched the Rin had raised to the highest level. It was time.
Reaching out her hand, she placed it upon the hand that was gripping her throat.
"Be gone."
A familiar sharp pain shot through his left arm and Soma fell onto the ground, crying out in pain. His dark eyes widened in fear as he saw his left arm dissolved into feathers. He was going to die. He was going to die. He did not want to die. As he lay on the ground, he saw a massive shadow over him.
He looked up and froze. The creature before him was not his daughter; it was a creature that was supposed to have vanished five hundred years ago. A creature he once battled.
"...Tainted bloodline...!" Soma whispered.
The Wing Clan.
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Sesshoumaru flew back towards his stronghold, on his waist was Tenseinga. The priestess had told him all that he needed to know before she disappeared. As he about to reach his stronghold, he clenched his fists as he detected the scent of blood. He recalled what the priestess told him.
"This sword will be useful to you, Sesshoumaru. Take it." Kannabi no Mikoto said and raised the sword in both hands towards him.
"...You expect this Sesshoumaru to carry this sword around to save lives? Who do you think this Sesshoumaru is?" Sesshoumaru said and glared at the sword. He knew his father had left his swords behind; one being Tenseinga, another was Tetsainga. The sword that he wanted was Tetsainga, a sword that could kill a thousand lives with just one swing.
"Your children are going to die soon."
Sesshoumaru froze. He looked up from the sword and stared into the blue eyes of the priestess. She was looking at him with no emotion on her face; she was telling him an event that was about to happen soon.
His children...
"With your daughters being half demon and half human, they are the sacrifice necessary to bring down both demon and human reside in the Western Land. As for your sons..." The priestess said.
Sesshoumaru walked up towards the priestess and reached out to take the sword. When he held the sword within his hand, he felt himself resonating with the sword as if it had been waiting for him for a long time.
"This is a sword that cannot kill." Sesshoumaru said and watched the silver light emitting from the sword slowly dimmed down. When the light vanished completely, he reached out for the sheath handed over to him and slid the sword into it before placing the weapon onto his waist.
"Tenseinga is a sword bestowed with my spiritual power. You will definitely use it when the time comes." The priestess said before slowly vanishing into the lights emitting from the silver orbs. After all, she was but a spirit attaching herself to the shrine, waiting and bidding her time to complete a task she promised her friend.
"Farewell, Kannabi no Mikoto..." Sesshoumaru said before turning to leap into the dark sky.
Trust yourself, Sesshoumaru...
Sesshoumaru laid his hand upon the sword Tenseinga. It had not pulse since he left the shrine. When Sesshoumaru reached the border of his stronghold, he growled when he detected the foul scent of the Southern Lord Soma. Sesshoumaru wondered why the old demon lord would wonder so far from his own land into his stronghold.
Sesshoumaru followed the scent and reached the centre of his stronghold. He looked down on the garden, and he stiffed, feeling his anger reaching the point of no return. In the centre of the garden was something seemingly looked like an altar.
Using his claws, Sesshoumaru cut down the himorogi surrounding the altar and landed softly on the ground. His golden eyes flickered in anger as he saw his daughters lying bare on the altar, their blood flowing down from the wound made direct on their hearts, along the altar and down into the ground below.
Placing his hands on their cheeks, Sesshoumaru growled softly as he felt how cold their little bodies were. They had died. His daughters had died. He had failed to protect them.
Sesshoumaru looked up when he caught another scent in the area. Looking around, he saw what looked like the remaining of the Southern Lord lying in a pool of feathers. It was the curse the priestess told him about.
A breeze of wind twirl passed Sesshoumaru, bringing him several more familiar scents. Leaping into the air, Sesshoumaru took off towards the furthest end of his stronghold, where the prisoners were kept in the past.
His usual golden eyes were ablaze with anger and the intention to kill. He would not show mercy.
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When Shura woke up, he found himself being chained to the wall in an underground cell that had not been used for many years. As he looked around, he saw his younger brother also being chained up beside him. His brother was crying and was calling out to Rin. He was glad that his brother was still alive, provided that he had been missing for days. However, what really shocked him was another presence in the cell; Rin, or someone who looked like Rin but smelled differently, also being chained in the cell, but with no sign of life.
Shura stared at the chains on his wrist and frowned. Lifting his arms above his head, he flexed his fingers and watched as his claws turned green and poisons emitted from his fingers and down his arms. In the process, the poisons had successfully melted the chains that bind his movement. When he was freed, he quickly moved to his brother and unchained him as well.
"I thought they were dead, but they are still very much alive, Ryoko."
A familiar voice spoke up and Shura turned around with a snarl. His brother had sat up on the ground and was clutching onto his haori with his little hands. Shura looked up and saw the fake Rin walking down the stairs leading to the cell with the fox demoness named Ryoko beside her.
"Shura...the scent...it smells like..." his brother whimpered from his behind.
Shura glared at the fake Rin who had her hands tainted with blood that belonged to his sisters. Something had happened to his sisters while he was unconscious. When they stepped down onto the ground in the cell, Shura immediately pushed his brother away and dashed towards the two of them with his fangs bared and dripping with poison.
"LADY RIN!"
Instead of sinking his fangs into the throat of the fake Rin, Shura was tearing the throat of the fox demoness who had pushed the fake Rin out of his way. He tasted the blood beneath his fangs and with a tear; he tore open the throat of the demoness and threw her motionless body onto the ground.
He spat out the blood and snarled at the fake Rin who just looked at them with disinterest in her amber eyes.
"Be still."
Suddenly, he could not move. Shura watched as the fake Rin raised her hand and in the next moment, he fell down onto the ground.
"SHURA!" his younger brother cried out and started to run towards him.
"Do...not...come...here..." Shura spoke out and was glad his younger brother obeyed him and stood where he was. He looked up from his position as he watched the fake Rin ignored him and walked towards the other Rin.
Rin knelt down before her own body. Reaching out a hand, she caressed the still warm cheek and smiled. It was time to complete the final phase of the curse. Pulling out the knife that was still coated with the blood of the half breed, Rin raised the knife above the heart, when she was about to strike, the ceiling above her started to crumble. Rin cursed when one of the stone hit her hand and caused the knife to be knocked away to the corner.
"FATHER!"
Rin looked up and saw the silver haired dog demon lord, Sesshoumaru glaring down on her from mid air. She watched warily as the demon lord descended onto the ground before her. Rin did not understand. The demon lord was supposed to be unconscious because of the spell she casted earlier. She even had Ryoko checked upon the demon lord to confirm his state.
"...You are supposed to be unconscious like the rest of them." Rin said and narrowed her amber eyes when the demon lord smirked at her.
In the master quarter, Jaken was snoring inside the demon lord's chamber, while holding a talisman with Sesshoumaru's name written on it.
Shockingly, Rin realized she had been played. While she and Ryoko thought the demon lord was sleeping in the chamber, all the while he was actually outside the border, thus was able to escape the spell. It would also seem he would be immune to her kotodama because he was not in the circle of her spell earlier.
"You are the first one that has given me so many problems..." Rin whispered to herself and eyed the knife that was at the corner. Without her kotodama, the ability to control him with her words, she had had little chance of winning. However...
"Who are you?" Sesshoumaru asked. He knew the person standing before him was not Rin. Looking passed the person; Sesshoumaru saw another Rin's look alike being chained up as well. "Where is Rin?"
"I am your mate Rin, Lord Sesshoumaru. How can you not recognize me?" Rin said with a smile.
"Rin is dead." Sesshoumaru said with anger lacing within his voice.
Rin pursed her lips.
Feeling some movements behind him, Sesshoumaru leaped up and turned around to see his sons dashing in to attack him with their claws. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes when he saw the emptiness in his sons' eyes.
"Kotodama huh..." Sesshoumaru whispered to himself. When his sons dashes at him again, Sesshoumaru waited until they were near enough to leap up and landed behind them to land a blow at their neck, knowing the children out cold immediately. He reached out when his sons fell into his arms.
"You seems to know a lot about us, Sesshoumaru."
Sesshoumaru placed his sons down upon the ground before looking up again at the woman. He growled deep in his throat when he saw she was holding a knife still dripping with the blood of his daughters. The blood of his daughters dripped onto the kimono of the lookalike as it was poised above the heart.
"But this is the end!" Rin said as she started to plunge the knife down towards the heart.
As if everything was moving in slow motion, Sesshoumaru watched as the knife was about to plunge into the heart of the Rin's look-alike.
Suddenly, Tenseinga started to pulse wildly.
Sesshoumaru frowned. He did not understand what Tenseinga was trying to tell him to do. Reaching towards the sword hanging by his waist, Sesshoumaru pulled out the pulsing sword, and he knew.
Without a moment hesitation, Sesshoumaru leaped up and thrust the sword deep into her back. He watched as the woman turned around to glare at him before she stiffed and bended over, dropping the knife onto the ground in the same time.
"...What...what is this..." Rin reached out and touched the sword that prodded from her chest. She did not feel tearing of the organs or her flesh, but something was cut, and it was throbbing. Then suddenly, she felt something being pulled out from the body.
She screamed.
Sesshoumaru pulled back Tenseinga and jumped back and watched as the scene before him unfolded. When he had held onto the pulsing Tenseinga, he saw something similar that he had seen in the shrine; the spirit of the priestess.
A black shadow hovered over the woman who was screaming in pain. It would seem the spirit of Rin's mother had attached herself into the body of her daughter.
"...Sakuyabi no Mikoto, the last priestess of the Wing Clan..."
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A/N:
Whew...another chapter in just one day time.
I think this chapter pretty much explain some of the things happening in previous chapter. Actually since I lost the original plot, I just twisted them around to match a sequel that I have in mind. But I want to finish all current on-going stories first before starting a new one.
Anyway, please enjoy.
Till next time.