A/N: I wanted to post over the weekend, but was much consumed in the revelry (and slight remorse) of leaving my teenage years behind. On with the show!
Shot in the Barrel
Sesshomaru had to hear it twice before he even considered believing what his retainer blathered. "Repeat."
"Rin is sporting with a demon."
"Demon…" Sesshomaru never knew his own race could sound like such a foreign word in his mouth. "Demon." His first impulse was to strike Jaken. It was as slanderous as it was absurd. He looked at the chipped ivory comb in his hand. Rin. It couldn't be true.
Sesshomaru glanced at the imp. Jaken fidgeted, tiny claws scrabbling at the Staff of Two Heads. Did his lordship truly not believe him? Jaken proceeded to unload the rest of his information. "He's a lad yet, m'lord. But he had no aura of a greater yokai. He's common, that's sure enough. Ah, m'lord?"
Setting a brisk gait, Sesshomaru stalked toward the village. No orders, no oaths, not a single utterance offered on this latest revelation. Dead silence.
Jaken gulped. The information was so disturbing he had felt compelled to share it immediately. He hadn't exactly thought about Sesshomaru's reaction. Or what it might do to Rin's own safety. "M'lord?"
Steel-plated boots didn't slow their pace. "Jaken, you are not lying to me?"
"Wha…? Never!" he declared indignantly.
Sesshomaru strode faster.
Jaken's face fell. Maybe he should've reconsidered the knee-jerk response. Hustling, the little yokai hitched a ride on the tail of his lord's mane. It looked suspiciously like a supplication. "What do you plan to do?"
"The practical option." Claws cracked.
"I-It's not Rin's fault."
Sesshomaru paused long enough to give his vassal a flat look. For the same split second, the dog-demon vaguely wondered if he was responsible for unwittingly cultivating such a preference in his charge. Impossible, she grew up with enough humans. "We're going to remedy the situation."
"Kill him?" A tremor started in Jaken's spine. While it was an efficient solution there was a singular flaw to it. What about Rin? The silly girl had the sentiment to cry over dead pets when she was small and Jaken didn't think the proclivity had worn away so quickly. Lord Sesshomaru's pragmatism rarely considered the emotional investments of others. "Is that necessary?" he asked in a vain attempt to dissuade his master. "You know what they say – ten people, ten colors."
"This is a perversion, not a preference," Sesshomaru snarled, his voice grating toward inhuman octaves, and Jaken felt the fur under him bristle.
"Yes, but…well, isn't it better than another mortal to have to claim association?"
Thrashing like a live snake, Sesshomaru's furred train abruptly flung off its hitchhiker. Jaken landed on his head. For a little demon it did no good to have a big mouth.
oOo
"You're very fortunate," Kichiruka murmured into soft, raven black hair. "No matter where you go, you'll have some place to come back to."
"Yokai that wish for domesticity?" Rin blinked.
Kichiruka pulled back and saw the blank stare. And quickly looked the other way. He laughed gruffly. "Yeah, it's kind of twisted, I know."
Rin frowned. "I was going to say cute."
The spots on Kichiruka's face crinkled with his faint smile. "You think?"
Kagome suddenly burst out of the house, a panicked expression distorting her features. Kichiruka reached for the conch staff. "Something wrong, Lady Ka…" Before he could complete his sentence, a chill raced up the water demon's spine. Whatever it was that set the priestess on edge was drawing closer at a fast and steady rate.
Inuyasha was at her side in an instant. His nose wrinkling with several quick sniffs, but by then the approaching daiyokai was in plain sight, silver hair bright even in the gray afternoon. Sesshomaru stopped some ways in front of his half-brother's veranda. A cold rush of wind cued him in to the unease his untimely arrival had created, Rin's startled scent, and the salty smell of ocean beside her. Sesshomaru's nostrils flared. He recognized that trace from the brook. And there before him stood the subject.
A demon.
Of all the times Jaken had given a credible report. Golden eyes focused the ridiculous looking yokai beside Rin. Steel-silver hair spiked like fins and even the rest that was drawn back in a topknot stood on end. The demon's clothes made slightly more sense. Though none had ever formally enter the Dog General's retinue, Sesshomaru knew that certain patterns designated a spellcaster. Did he hold some sort of rank? It didn't matter. Even from his distance Sesshomaru could sense the other demon's status. He's common, indeed.
"Rin, I thought you said he was coming tomorrow," Kagome breathed, rubbing her hands along her arms. Sesshomaru stood rigid, but there was a vibration to him like a struck tuning fork. The miko pulled closer to Inuyasha.
Rin swallowed. But why should I feel afraid? So Sesshomaru had shown up a day earlier. Was there anything wrong with that? His reaction wouldn't have varied much more, right? Rin glanced to her left. Kichiruka just stood there. He hadn't moved, yet suddenly, the air around him swam. If Rin had had Kagome's power she bet she could have seen it. She could already feel it. His energy crawled over her skin like ants on the march.
She looked back at Sesshomaru. A sharp edge of power spread out like an iron fan, prickling along Rin's skin. Like a sharp reprimand, his aura was much more forceful than Kichiruka's. Damn. One demon at a time. "Good afternoon, Lord Sesshomaru," she managed in a voice that came out hoarse. "…Weren't expecting you 'til tomorrow."
"You dropped this." His voice was mild. Its most dangerous tone. But Sesshomaru held Rin's comb up between two fingers and kept his other hand lower at his side.
"How careless." Lowering her eyes respectfully, Rin moved forward to collect the comb. Sesshomaru handed it over. And in a single bound closed the open distance between himself and Kichiruka.
Hot as lightening and just as uncomfortable, Sesshomaru pounced within two steps' striking range of the water demon. At this proximity, he reeked of sea salt. So this was the prawn that he had caught hints of back at the brook. And how long ago was that? A season? Two? It mattered little when Sesshomaru could eviscerate him on the spot. The muscles in his arm bunched. But the claws wavered.
His grip on Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha shoved himself in front of his friend, promising Sesshomaru that with the next step the daiyokai would be caught in his cross-draw.
Sesshomaru maintained his distance for whatever good that did. Inuyasha could feel the sweat beading on his brow. The bastard was truly pissed.
"Out of my way, little brother," Sesshomaru growled.
"Why?" the hanyo challenged. "If you got something t' say we can all hear you just fine. And there's no one here you need to lay a hand on."
"I want to see him."
Kichiruka cringed. Sesshomaru said "see" much in the same way he himself used it – touch. Probably in this case more violently than the water demon would've liked. Amber eyes glared over Inuyasha's shoulder, and Kichiruka shifted his gaze elsewhere. And found more stares.
Here and there, heads poked out of windows and turned to lean out of thresholds. The impending rain and ferocity of Sesshomaru's yoki didn't ward off curiosity. The locals stopped and gawked at the standoff. Apparently, the water demon they had come to know over the summer had no connection to Lord Sesshomaru. Unless it was a falling out. One man leaned over and whispered to his neighbor. Maybe he really wanted the girl to have a human spouse? How could he not know? He wants her for his own. A hundred rumors spawned in as many seconds.
"Why don't we take this indoors?" Kagome suggested.
Three sets of eyes glared at her. Then, all the way in the back, a soft voice piped, "Good idea."
"Thank you, Kichiruka," Kagome beamed.
Sesshomaru's lip curled. It had a name. The daiyokai didn't budge.
"Please?" Rin stood at the porch steps, face upturned and eyes pleading. "You said…"
"On the condition he was human."
Finding her courage in the anger and umbrage on Kichiruka's behalf, Rin retorted in a clear and strong voice. "That was never established."
"It was implicit," Sesshomaru clipped. "Like is meant for like, and Rin, you are not a demon any more than that is a human."
Rin backed up a bit. The intense desire to kill radiated off of Sesshomaru in a way that had nearly dimmed from memory. In retrospect, if he hadn't been paralyzed Rin wondered if Sesshomaru would have hesitated to kill her. But he hadn't. Nor any of the succeeding days. He still came back and revived her. Back then, Rin believed he had a sense of civility and compassion. She didn't doubt it growing up under his vigilance and she didn't now. Not when the objective was to keep any harm from befalling the other demon she held dear.
"Lord Sesshomaru, I have rarely asked for anything of you, but this is one request I would like honored." The daiyokai weighed a glare on Rin, but she held his gaze and her ground.
Easing back on his heels, Sesshomaru asked his charge, "Who is this stranger you're protecting?"
"He's Kichiruka. A water demon. And…"
"Thank you, Rin d—uh, thanks. But I can speak for myself." Kichiruka inched closer. He didn't like hiding behind his friends and it wouldn't do have Sesshomaru think him a coward. He shuffled another step, trusting Inuyasha to intervene and the Western Lord not to strike. Master Tensai did often complain he was very naïve. "Pleased to meet you, Lord Sesshomaru. I am Kichiruka of Lord Ichikawa near Mikan. Please be favorable to me." Never had the water demon meant the traditional greeting with more sincerity than at that moment.
"You are from the ocean," Sesshomaru acknowledged with a pointed sniff. A fine patter of rain started. "How long have you been here?"
"About an hour." Amber eyes narrowed and Kichiruka decided that perhaps levity was not the way to go with Sesshomaru. So much for favor. "I got lost back in spring and Rin helped me out." No need to relate the humbling circumstances.
"What business and interest have you with a human?"
A second set of amber eyes rolled heavenward. "Geez, Sesshomaru, you gonna just cross-examine the poor guy or—"
"Silence, Inuyasha."
"It's a valid question," Kichiruka said with a shrug. "I've never seen humans up-close before."
"But you tarried and returned."
She was cute. Kichiruka bit his tongue. And knew the spreading smile betrayed him.
A carnal fondness for humans. With barely contained ire, crimson flashed across gold. "Pervert."
The grin was ripped clean off of Kichiruka's face.
Rin moved up another step so she was standing on the veranda with everyone else. "Lord Sesshomaru, is it so terrible that he's yokai?"
"He should be keeping to his own." A tic jumped in Sesshomaru's jaw. "Unless there's an ulterior motive to be had."
Kagome immediately saw where the dog-demon was going with this. There was a certain amount of prestige that came with ties to the Lord of the West. "What demon is going to think that a human girl had any connection to you, Lord Sesshomaru?" she offered.
Ignoring the point, Sesshomaru pressed, "Your overlord is Ichikawa near Mikan. Is this not true?"
"That's correct."
A hard frown creased the dog-demon's jaw. "That particular region has sought the Western Lord's favor for over two hundred years since the Mainland Invasion. If you have any standing with the local lord, how could you not know of this Sesshomaru's line?" He watched Kichiruka's eyes dart to the floor as if the correct answer were written on the planks. The prawn was taking too long to reply. "You are lying to me," Sesshomaru pronounced. "Your intention is an alliance."
"N-no! Only your approval, Lord Sesshomaru!" The water demon desperately wished he had never gotten mixed up as Ichikawa's bargaining chip.
"A good vassal reflects his lord's desires. And you belong to Ichikawa, no?"
"I belong to no one," Kichiruka declared.
Sesshomaru stared at him. Face bland, voice conversational, he inquired, "You do not acknowledge Ichikawa's leadership?"
Inuyasha's ears flattened. He hated that tone in his brother's voice. It was a loaded question, and they all knew it.
"What happens if he says no?" Rin asked.
Sesshomaru didn't glance at her. "He says no."
"And you leak it to his overlord, then what?" Inuyasha demanded, very nearly accusing.
The daiyokai smiled, a slow curve of lips that left his golden eyes gleaming.
"Ichikawa would see it as a direct challenge to his authority," Kichiruka answered. "He has a high tolerance for many things, but that isn't one of them."
Rin looked from one demon to the other. "Lord Sesshomaru, if you have Kichiruka killed, even indirectly…"
The fine drizzle from earlier now beat to a rapid tempo. Heavy drops pelted the rooftop and sharp claws thrummed in time along Bakusaiga's hilt. "This farce has gone on long enough." Without further warning, Sesshomaru batted his brother aside and, talons outstretched, blurred toward Kichiruka.
.
A/N: I apologize for the brevity of this chapter, but for compensation will update by next week. Right now there's a grindstone on line one for me. It's requesting my nose. Thank you for reading!
Character stats comparison: feral-instinct. deviantart. com/#/d38z3ji (Please remove spaces first.)