CHAPTER 2 – Failure

"Are those footprints yours, Mister?" Yet like most 5 year olds, she has a talkative streak. "Your footprints looked so lonely so I decided to make my own beside them so they can have company. I hope you don't mind," she said quietly.

She then started doodling on the sand beside him and started humming a song. She had a nice hum.

"No, I don't mind." He absently responded.

It reminded him when Kagome hummed to him when he lost Rin.

The small clearing was filled with miasma. But he wasn't affected by it. He was a poison inu youkai – no poison on earth could harm him. But Sesshoumaru had to admit that the miasma coupled by the poison in the air hindered his sense of smell. He could not discern anything outside of the clearing.

What remained of the puppet that Naraku sent lay in ashes at his feet. This time, it was a scorpion youkai with two tails. One tail with a poison sting and the other, with a poison sprayer. He had to give Naraku credit, he was getting more creative with each encounter.

'But not enough to bring down this Sesshoumaru. Never enough.' He smirked, pretty satisfied with himself for the quick kill.

Flicking his sword to rid it of ichor, Sesshoumaru turned away from the carnage to go back to his camp. He needed to get away from the stale air, not being able to smell left him with a feeling of being crippled. Not to mention that the scent would seep in his clothes and hair if he stayed any longer.

A strong gust of wind blew towards him. Grateful for the cool air, he took in a deep breath and he felt his blood freeze. The air was tainted with scorpion poison and miasma. It came from the direction of his camp and the air had blood in it.

With a fierce growl, Sesshoumaru morphed into his orb. Branches and trees were incinerated as he flew by. In a heartbeat he was back at the camp. There were signs of battle and struggle. Arrows stuck everywhere as if an untrained archer was target practicing with a bouncing ball. He knew this scent of magic –it was from Inuyasha's woman. It would seem that one of her arrows hit home as it lay in a pile of ashes. She was swaying on her feet at the centre of the camp as she struggled to keep upright. She had cuts and bruises all over her body.

Ah-Uhn laid belly up and unconscious at the edge of the camp. One side of its belly was torn open but was already healing. It fought well as evinced from its multiple wounds and scorch marks all over camp.

His golden eyes flickered to Jaken who was bloodied and blubbering in front of a napping Rin at a foot of a tree. It would seem that they did a good job of protecting Rin. But something was amiss. Why was Rin napping in the middle of a battlefield? Red warning signals were flaring at the edges of his mind but he pushed it away.

"Rin."

Sesshoumaru commanded softly. Normally, this would bring Rin to her feet and come hurtling to him. But the little girl still sat there in her nap. The signals flared brighter and he was beginning to feel irritated.

It was the miko who turned to him from across the camp with tears in her eyes. "Sesshoumaru-sama. I am deeply sorry."

He ignored the Miko. "Rin!" He commanded in a much sharper tone.

Jaken, who finally took notice of his lord, squawked and scrambled towards him. The poor toad youkai seemed to have taken the brunt of the attack. He had lacerations all over his small body.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, your loyal vassal has failed you. Please forgive this lowly youkai," he wailed as he made to kiss Sesshoumaru's boots. "I will commit seppuku to atone for my failure."

As Jaken moved away from Rin, Sesshoumaru finally saw Rin's body. His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. He finally smelled, saw, heard and felt what he was denying since he got to the clearing. His sense of smell finally cleared and he knew it was true. He flung Jaken away from him with such force that he cracked the old youkai's head on a tree rendering him unconscious.

The miko was still limping towards him but he paid her no need. She was explaining that she was on her way home when she heard yelling and fighting so she came running. Jaken and Ah-Uhn were no match for the scorpion. It sprayed poison into the air and Rin got a lungful of it. She wasn't fast enough or good enough of an archer for her to kill the youkai immediately. It got to Rin before she could defend her. She was so very sorry, so very sorry because she knew how much Rin meant to him. So very sorry that she couldn't help little, innocent Rin in time.

Sesshoumaru made slow and deliberate steps towards Rin. With each step, he felt colder and colder. He knew that he was trying to deny what happened. Rin couldn't be gone. His youki flared around him in an attempt to free his Youkai. His Youkai wanted to blame Jaken, the dragon and the miko for not protecting his ward. But the rational Sesshoumaru knew that it was his fault, only his and no one else's. Rin was his ward, his ward. He was the one she chose to follow – not Jaken, not the dragon and not the miko. It was him, only him and no one else.

By the time he stood in front of the sleeping Rin, he was shaking from the effort of controlling his Youkai. His let loose a deep guttural growl. His youki was seeping out of his control. Ah-Uhn twitched in pain and so did the unconscious Jaken as the malevolent youki reached them. The whole forest was hushed as if it waited with bated breath for the explosion that was Sesshoumaru's Youkai.

Kagome was visibly struggling to keep her Miko under control. It was trying to break free in response to the youki swirling around. It was trying to protect her from the youki. The youki felt like naked blades dancing across her skin. Each step was pure pain and torture but she needed to reach the demon lord. She could feel his pain as vividly as she was feeling his knife-like youki on her skin. She needed to help him as she was unable to help his ward.

The Taiyoukai heard the miko's soft hisses of pain as she made her way to him. He acknowledged what she had tried to do for his pack. But he could not and would not guarantee her safety from him. She also failed to protect Rin. She was a miko who was sworn to protect innocent lives. She had saved countless other lives but why not Rin?

"Miko. Leave." Sesshoumaru ordered in a voice so cold that it should have frozen her on the spot.

"No, Sesshoumaru-sama. It would not do for you to lose control of yourself now."

"This Sesshoumaru does not repeat himself." He intoned in a tone belying the malevolent youki she felt.

Kagome shivered and she knew that the calmer the Taiyoukai was, the more dangerous he is. But she had to stay. She promised Rin.

"I am sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama but I simply cannot obey. I need to carry out my promise as a friend to Rin-chan." Kagome whispered.

The Taiyoukai's youki flared and swished around like an angry tail at the miko. It pulsed outward, pushing the miko back.

Kagome almost buckled under the onslaught of the cruel youki but she pressed on. "Sesshoumaru-sama, please calm yourself." Kagome said in her most soothing voice that belied her pain. "Look at Rin, Sesshoumaru-sama. She is at peace. She is still smiling even in her eternal sleep. You can be at peace as well, Sesshoumaru-sama. She loved you and had no regrets. You were her father, were you not?"

Sesshoumaru froze. His youki seemingly lost all its fight. Kagome almost fell forward when all the youki suddenly disappeared. She didn't realize that she was still pressing onward towards Sesshoumaru who has knelt beside his ward.

She hobbled forward. She was fully prepared for his backlash when she got closer and closer. At last she was at his side, but she received no reaction.

Sesshoumaru was looking at Rin but was not seeing her. His golden eyes were staring straight through Rin.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Kagome lifted her hand hesitatingly to touch his armoured shoulder. She knew that touching Sesshoumaru was a dangerous thing to do in most days, more so now.

She tried again, "Sesshoumaru-sama.."

Still no reaction from him. His eyes continued to be flat disks of gold. Careful of the spikes, she gently shook the youkai but there was no reaction, save for the mild swaying of his hair.

Kagome frowned. She has touched the great inuyoukai and she still had her hand with her. This is not good.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Sesshoumaru was staring at Rin who was not Rin anymore. Her face was still the same as when she sleeps. The same expression and the same slight smile on her lips. But her bright floral scent is now overshadowed by death. Why was he so affected by Rin's passing? She was just a human child whom he tolerated to follow him.

Sesshoumaru frowned inwardly. He considered lying one of the most dishonourable traits. If he examined himself closely, he knew the truth. She was not just some human child. If that were the case, any other human child would do to replace her. This thought disgusted him.

No. He knew the truth. Rin was his pup. As the miko so aptly put it in human terms, he was Rin's father.

He was a father who failed to protect his pup.

Unnoticed by the miko, Sesshoumaru's claws twitched and clenched.

A/N:

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