Chapter 34
She walked down the halls of her memories with two guards on each of her side. Two guards behind her and two in front of her; all of which were being led by the Lord General of the West. While it was not a face that she recognized she was sure this was the demon that had taken the place of the man that had been foolish enough to enrage her mother. 'I wonder where I'm being taken to…will I be able to talk with my mother…with my Lord…or will mother wish to kill a dragon…a dragon that has no answer for the death of her daughter.' Rin thought as she silently followed after the group. But just as they were about to enter the privet study of her great Lord's father, Rin let out all of her breath and hissed in pain as she was slammed against the wall.
"Master Shippo, Master Kohaku, she is the winner of the battles and we have been asked by the Lady of the West to take her to her privet study." One of the guards spoke as they surrounded the young fox kit while two others pulled Kohaku from her.
'Um…I suppose she would need her own study…since she is the alpha of the West.' Rin thought as she struggled and began to take in deep and much needed breaths since Kohaku had knocked out all of her air.
"I don't care what Lady Kagome has ordered, I will have her answer my questions! Where is she? What did you do to her?" Kohaku roared as he struggled to break free from the hold of the two Inu demons that held him captive.
"I…I do not know who you are talking about." Rin stated as she stopped rubbing her sore neck and glared at the young Taijiya she knew to be a part of their pack. 'Forgive me Kohaku…however it is Kagome-Oka-san who will know my truths first and for most.'
"I do not know what my mother has ordered, you will treat my friend with the same respect as you would treat me." Shippo's enraged growl was heard as he glared at the guards, "Now release him at once."
"Guards take the dragoness to the study while I have a word with Prince Shippo and Master Kohaku." The Lord General was heard say as he motioned for his men to release the human child.
"I do not know who you speak of young Taijiya and I am sorry for whatever my kind has done to you or your pack but you should know that I hold no ties to them or to their actions. Should you so wish it, and should I be rejected as a member of the royal arm of the west I would be more than happy to escort you to the King and Queen of the East so that your worry and grievance against you can be taken to them." She stated in a strong emotionless voice as she followed after the guards that had been assigned as her escort. 'Forgive me Kohaku but I cannot have you believing that I returned for you…I returned for one male alone and that would be for Lord Sesshomaru.'
"I want the name of the dragon Lord General, what is her name." Shippo growled out in a worried filled voice as he tried to get his friend to control his anger.
Just as the door had been closed and sealed behind her, Rin could not help but let out a long sigh when she heard the general truth filled answer tell the two what they had been hoping to hear. But before they could even try to make a move, before they could try to go after her, Rin had been surprised when the seals in the library had activated and sealed her within the room. What was more the shocking was when she saw that even the demon guards that she had been given had been tossed out of the library before the doors sealed shut of their own accord. 'I'm starting to think that I would have come as I was before I allowed that fool Shu to change me.' Rin worriedly thought as she let out a long sigh and began to look about while waiting for her mother to arrive.
While many had been surprised most had been outraged by the loss of the Inu demoness that they had been certain would have been their next Lady of the West. While Sango and Ayame began to send the guard away and order the guards to make sure that no one that had no right to be on castle guards was over looked, Inuyasha and Koga had began to make sure that all was done as their mates were ordering. Just as they were about to turn to ask where it was that the dragoness, and possibly Rin, had been taken to, the two demons froze in place when they felt not only Sesshomaru demonic energy rise but that of the Inu miko hanyou rise to match his. Before Inuyasha could ask what it was that was going on between the two, Sesshomaru bared his fangs at his brothers mate as he heard her growl out, "You got what you wanted. You got your trail and since I did not get my battle with her I will have a word or two with the dragoness before I take her with the rest of the pack."
"She is my mate, if anyone should speak with her first it should be this Sesshomaru."
"You and I, dear Anki made an agreement, I kept my word and now it is time that you have kept your word as well." Kagome growled out as her eyes began to bleed red in anger. "You will aid my mate in gathering the rest of the pack. You will wait with them until I have finished my conversation with the dragoness and then we will short all of this just as we had agreed."
"What right do you have to challenge this Sesshomaru?!"
"You gave me such right when you chose me as the alpha female of the west!" Kagome roared back as she struggled to control her power once more.
"Feh, I would let things go Anki, before she blasts you again." Inuyasha told his brother as he slowly began to make his way to his mate's side so that he could try to calm her. Stress was after all bad for the pup.
Realizing that his brother was probably correct and not wishing to be harmed once more, not when he might be reunited with his mate, Sesshomaru let out a low growl before locking eyes with his sister and asking, "Can I at least trust that you will not take long in speaking with the dragoness?"
Noticing the sad, yet hopeful look behind her brothers eyes and not wishing him to continue to guess if this was truly his mate or not, Kagome let out a long sigh as her power disappeared just as fast as she had gathered it and answered, "You have my word Anki, if I cannot get her to talk to me in five short minutes I will bring her with me to greet the pack and for Lady Inukimi to confirm or deny if this is truly our Rin."
Before Sesshomaru could thank Kagome and before he could ask her to at least try not to question the poor girl too much, he, along with the few that remind and the rest of their small pack watched her storm off with her grip on her weapon and her aura so tightly bound within her so that she would about to be nothing more than a human walking down to the castle instead of the powerful demoness that she was. While Inuyasha had been surprised by her sudden and quick answer of his request, even when they all knew she owed him nothing and could have rightfully denied his request, he knew that it was because she had seen the same tormented look, the same lost and sorrow filled look that had filled his own eyes the three long years that she had been gone from his time; from their pack and from their family. 'Feh, you better not take long wench, I'm sure we'll all like to know if it really is our girl or not.' Inuyasha couldn't help but think as he quickly made sure that all was well.
"Where are you going Sesshomaru?" Ayame questioned once they were all ready to make their way to the castle.
"I have to go and retrieve a weapon, a gift that I had made for my mate." Sesshomaru answered as he turned to lock eyes with the wolf demoness that was the beta of the west for all females.
"I'm sure you will remember that my sister did say that we were ALL to go and gather the rest of the pack TOGETHER so that we could all be ready for when she was done speaking with the dragoness."
"I was but it will not take long, I promise you."
"Feh let him go; something tells me it would do him some good as well as us if he were to gather himself." Inuyasha growled out in an annoyed filled voice.
"And something tells me that we should hurry back. I'm sure the guards took the quickest route to the library in which Kagome-sama chose to speak with the dragoness." Miroku pointed out in worried filled voice.
"And this worries you why monk?" Koga questioned in a confused filled voice.
Sudden realization had hit her, realization that took her breath away, more so then when Hiraikotsu had ever been thrown at her and so the Taijiya mistress locked eyes with her hanyou friend and answered in a very worried voice, "Because the library they are taking her is just across the hall from the room Kohaku and Shippo are with the my three children."
"God damn it." Inuyasha growled out in an annoyed filled voice as he stormed off in the direction his mate had gone in.
"Let us hope that we reach them before Kagome and Lady Rin." Miroku stated in a tired filled voice.
"Uh…next time we get invited anywhere I am making you stay home and decline any and all inventions, you hear me woman?" Koga growled out in a tired filled voice.
"Next time I won't be so curious as to what the hell is going on and stay at the den." Ayame agreed as the two wolf demons ran off knowing that their speed would be able to get them to their destination far sooner than the human or the Inu hanyou that was their friend.
Just as she had reached for a book that had caught her interest, Rin twirled around and filled her hand with electricity when she heard the door open and a strong aura fill the room. When she realized that she had over reacted, Rin closed her eyes and willed her power back into her while trying to get her racing heart and her instincts to calm as she heard a very familiar voice say, "Well that really isn't what I was first expecting walking in."
"What were you expecting Lady Kagome?" Rin whispered as she felt herself slowly relaxing.
"I was expecting you to wait, not to see that you have made yourself at home in my privet library."
"Forgive me however I do like to learn, and read. It is something that my mother taught me to value."
"Oh, and what else did your mother teach you?"
After opening her eyes and locking eyes with her mother, Rin offered a small smile and answered, "You always look after your family, you are never alone, and that it is important to follow your heart."
After a short moment of silence and after completely surrounding the dragoness before her in nothing but her purifying power, Kagome locked eyes with the female before her and growled out, "Did the east wish to start something with the west by killing my daughter?"
"No" Rin answered in a calm voice. 'And let the questions begin.'
"Are you the dragoness that killed my daughter?"
"No"
"Were you present when my daughter was killed?"
"No"
"Do you know the one who killed my daughter?"
"Yes"
"Will you tell me their names?"
"Depends on what you wished to do with that knowledge,"
"Explain," Kagome growled in anger as she tightened her power around the dragoness.
"Should you wish to kill the one that freed your daughter than I will not tell you their names, however if you wish to hear their side of the story, of the day that she was killed than I suppose I could give you a name and perhaps even get you a meeting with the dragon that freed her."
Finally, knowing that she would want to end things here so that she could go and explain to her pack and to her family that it had all been lies, lies by east that would protect them from her wrath. Kagome kept her eyes locked with the dragoness so that she would be able to note any changes in her facial expressions, she asked, "Are you my daughter Rin?"
With a said smile on her face and tears in her eyes, Rin let out a long sigh and whispered, "I am, I've come back home hoping that I would be welcomed and remembered but I hold no illusions, should you all wish for my disappearance I will gladly do so if it would ensure your happiness."
After he had met with his Lord General so that he could be shown to the room where the weapon that he had had made for his mate could be retrieved by him and himself alone, the Lord of the West had ordered his Lord General to go and call on his mother and to have her taken to the room where the rest of their pack would be waiting for them and for the dragoness that had won his challenges. It had been just as he was about to pick up the weapon that it had pulsed and prevented the good lord to carry it. 'Why now? Why will it not allow me to carry it? Have we all been tricked? Is my sister in danger?'
"It is angry with you my son, which means that the true owner of that weapon is not feeling very welcoming toward you at the moment." His mother's cold voice was heard as she entered the room.
"I thought I told you to take my mother to the rest of the pack Lord Komainu" Sesshomaru growled in anger as he turned around to face his mother.
"He isn't here, I sent him on his way for his own good. Now, why not allow me to carry it for you for the time being, if I'm not mistaken we are pressed for time."
"What if the weapon knows that it is not my mate that I have allowed into our home? What than mother?" Sesshomaru whispered in a child like voice that he had not used in more than a century ago.
"Then we will show those foolish dragons their mistake and I will ask my friend to take over the East once more and to get us the answers and the fools that thought they could dishonor our clan."
After pulling himself together and knowing that he could trust his mother, the Lord of the West let out a long sigh and began to lead his mother to where the rest of the pack was waiting for the answers that they had been searching for since the death of the young child that they had all grown to care for and love. Once they had arrived in the room with the weapon in hand, Kohaku had turned and glared at the Lord of the West for allowing a dragon into the West lands while the others stayed quiet and did not ask anything about the weapon that his mother held or why it had not been in his hands. Just as Kohaku had pushed away from his sister and brother and just as he had thrown his weapon at the Lord all was still when suddenly the dragoness in question stood before the Lord of the west with her fangs bared and her power filling the room as she growled out, "While I've always known you to be short tempered at times Kohaku I will not allow you to attack our Lord."
"Who are you? Just what makes you think that I would allow you to talk to me like that dragon?" Kohaku growled out and spoke to her as if she was worse than the filth that had been Naraku.
"Well go on then," Kagome's calm voice was heard as she entered the room, "Answer Master Kohaku's question."
With a grin on her face, the dragoness dropped the weapon that she had caught, that Kohaku had been trying to pull back to himself and answered, "I was born Lady Aya, second heir of the East, sealed away when I was still a child I was given the chance to become Rin, daughter of Kagome and Inuyasha, ward of Lord Sesshomaru and a member of the pack that helped to kill Naraku. I lived many human lives before my life was forever change and the spell altered when Lord Sesshomaru of the west chose to same me after I was killed by a pack of human eating demon wolves."
While Inuyasha eyed her carefully, Sango held her breath, Miroku began to look over her aura, Ayame glared at her, thus proving that she was not believed by the wolves, Koga looked indifferent, Shippo held a grin on his face which told her that he believed what she had spoken and Lady Inukimi looked at her with a welcoming smile on her face while holding the weapon that Master Totosai had promised to make her. Ignoring the eyes that she had dreamed and had longed to see for so long already, Rin let out a long sigh and walked over to Lady Inukimi as she whispered, "I didn't think that he would have it ready so soon. Tell me…what did he name my weapon?"
"It is," Inukimi answered as she moved to meet the dragoness half way. "Would you like to know the name of your weapon?"
As soon as Rin had reached the mother of the Lord of the West and as soon as she had gripped her weapon for the first time she whispered, "Arashi Mirā, my weapons name is Arashi Mirā, I guess this is where she went…my lost inner dragoness."