Feudal Affair

I don't own Inuyasha

Chapter VI

Rin turned away from his touch as he traced the scar along her cheek. The edges were smooth in some places, jagged in others. She refused to look into his eyes. She already knew what he was thinking and it only made her cringe. He knew exactly what the scar looked like, a set of claws drawn across her face. Maybe it looked like the unwitting accident of a simple slap gone too far. She felt his fingers trace the depth of them, maybe in an attempt to heal them, maybe trying to determine something else. Rin swallowed the knot in her throat that crept up. She placed her hand against his before his other came to rest against the opposite cheek, making her face him. She stared into brown eyes that seemed to be questioning her, questioning everything that he knew about her supposed protector.

"Rin, what…?"

"It's nothing."

Rin pulled out of his grasp as he continued to question how it was possible.

"Did Sesshoumaru…"

"No one!" She felt herself nearly scream it and she knew now exactly why Sango had told her to say that it was no one who had done this to her. She knew she would never be able to lie and say that Sesshoumaru had done it. It wasn't convincing. She'd played on her emotions. Sango knew she would protect Sesshoumaru at all costs and she would want to protect Kohaku from the fact that she, his sister, had caused this.

"Rin, tell me the truth!"

"Just leave it alone! Please!"

"You'd protect him like this, after what he's done?!"

"No, it's not…You don't understand."

Kohaku watched her sit and pull at the braid nervously, a frail attempt to try and cover the scar. He couldn't understand why Rin seemed to be protecting Sesshoumaru if he'd possibly hurt her. What could have possibly been said or done to cause the youkai to harm her?

"What don't I understand?"

"…" Rin shook her head running out of explanations without insinuating Sesshoumaru or Sango.

"He doesn't come around you again. Understood?"

"You don't have to worry about that anyway. I told him to leave."

Kohaku watched her fold her arms into her lap. He regretted that he'd yelled at her. The last thing she needed right now was for him to be angry especially if Sesshoumaru had betrayed her trust.

His voice quieted but still held urgency, "You said no one hurt you, so why did you tell him to leave?"

"…"

As much time as she'd had to think of some way to relay the information, soften it in some way, Sango had made it clear what she needed to say. It didn't make it any better that this was not good timing.

"Rin, please."

"You have to promise me that you won't do anything stupid."

"Rin…"

"Promise me!"

Kohaku nodded trying to prepare himself for whatever Rin might tell him.

"Sesshoumaru was doing what you requested. I was always safe with him. He would never knowingly let anyone or anything hurt me and you know that. I sent him away because he was developing feelings for me. I didn't want for things to go on any further. He'll always be my friend but it makes things harder and I don't want it to come between us."

Kohaku stared intently at the scar on her cheek. The thought of what had happened and knowing the reason now only made him angrier. There was the feeling of betrayal in thinking that he'd left Rin in capable hands and yet he'd left her with what he now believed was the enemy. As much as Sesshoumaru was capable of striking Rin he was just as easily incapable of doing the deed. But what made sense? Had the rejection of the human woman he'd loved been enough to drive him over the edge?

"Where are you going?"

"Just getting some air."

Rin watched Kohaku until she was able to settle at the window. They had enough firewood for the evening but he seemed to find solace in adding to the building pile. She watched the newly built fire bend and play shadows against his face. She wasn't sure what Kohaku was feeling at the moment. He knew he was powerless against Sesshoumaru but she was well aware that when pushed, men had a tendency toward testing the limits of their strength in these situations. Surely that wasn't what Sango wanted either.

Rin tried not to let herself think of the last moment that she saw Sesshoumaru, the last moment when she would be able to touch him. The glimpses had come even as Kohaku had touched her face. Sesshoumaru had done the same, but he'd figured it out much quicker than Kohaku. That he would be the blame. She'd cried in his arms that night and he'd just held her there quietly until she was out of tears to cry. The feeling of him made her full and empty all at the same time. She'd always counted on Sesshoumaru to have a way out, a fix to the dilemmas that life offered. She could cheat death by his side. She'd waited for him to say there was something, that there was a fix to the situation but Rin knew better. She'd made a promise and she'd vowed to keep it. She accepted that what she and Sesshoumaru had done, were doing, was wrong even when it felt right in the moment. The choice to marry Kohaku was hers no matter what led her to it and Kohaku didn't deserve an unfaithful wife. The feeling of her lover's lips against hers still took her breath away, it still brought her to safe places and filled her heart. She'd broken the kiss forcing herself to push out of his arms.

"You have to leave."

"Rin...?"

"I can't..." The tears slipped down her cheeks

"This isn't what you want."

"It's never been what I wanted. You know that. But Sango was right."

"What are you saying?"

"Whether I regret the decision or not, I made a vow and I broke that vow. Sango is giving me the chance to make it right..."

"What you're choosing isn't making it right. You're delaying the truth."

Rin looked into Sesshoumaru's eyes and he knew immediately what she wanted to say in return but she would refuse to leave him with those words. Delaying the truth had contributed to them being here in this moment. Would she have fought harder, maybe chosen a different path, maybe not even married Kohaku at all knowing what she knew now, how deeply Sesshoumaru truly felt for her? Maybe knowing that before would have been enough.

"I can't hurt Kohaku like this anymore. Every time I think about revealing the truth to him it tears me apart. And every moment I spend without you does the same. But I made a choice. I can't live with both. I can't hold onto something that will never be."

"Then don't. I won't let you make the same mistake twice."

"You have to leave..."

"Come with me."

"Why?! Because my life has been threatened?! Because you're realizing that no matter where I am my life can be taken in an instant."

"I won't leave you like this."

"It was what I always wanted, to be with you forever but you made a choice too, just like I did. You'll always know that I'm safe but I'll never be able to adjust to this life if you're here. You have to go. You have to leave. Please."

"Rin..."

"Leave!"

Even as she'd screamed, she could read the opposition in his eyes. He'd wanted to go against her wishes to make her see that she was making the same mistake all over again. Sesshoumaru wanted to believe that he was giving her a way out, that he was offering her what she always wanted but under the circumstances, it was too little, too late.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone! There's more to come :)