a/n: Here I am, finished with final exams and back with a very, very stressful chapter. I promise that the cliffhanger drove me as crazy as it was probably driving you all.
First, a review response (I haven't done one of these in so long but I'm trying to start again, I just keep forgetting):
Mrs. MagnusB: It's kind of both! Rin likes children but she doesn't desire any of her own because that would involve sex and all of her sexual experiences so far have been decidedly negative. This is also the reason for her feelings behind marriage. In addition, she really can't wrap her head around the idea of her living a normal domestic life due to her past experiences.
Also, we've finally hit over 200 reviews on this story! Thanks SO SO MUCH to everyone who has reviewed for the past 4 years. It's you all that keep me going!
TRIGGER WARNING for Attempted Sexual Assault, Descriptions of General Violence.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own this show!
SONG OF THE WEST
an Inuyasha fanfiction
xvii.
The forest was loud and bright. The crickets and cicadas were beginning their diatribes, the high-pitched chirps and raspy croaks contesting for dominance over every other creature's sense of hearing. The sun, meanwhile, was still in decline, shining golden between the dark clustered trunks and needles of the pine trees.
Rin couldn't have been in the forest for very long. Perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes had passed since she'd first found that man dead in the woods with an arrow in his neck. But a lot could happen in such a small amount of time. It was certainly enough for Shizu or Seiten to realize she was no longer in the village—that is if they weren't currently dealing with their own dire issues. And she still hadn't found Yosomi and Kei…
The young woman shook her head, pushing all fatalistic thoughts from her mind. Her knuckles were growing white from the tight hold she still had on the blade she'd found. They're fine. I just have to find them.
Rin looked up ahead of her to the northern sky. North—these tribes were from the far north, significantly past the Northern territory of Hyōkusui, clustered near the land's tip and the islands beyond it. That much obvious information had been extracted from what she had overheard Lord Tōga, Lord Sesshōmaru, and Master Seiten discuss when they thought she was asleep. If they were truly taking captives as the villagers said, then they'd head North with them in lieu of continuing South with so much extra weight, right?
North. The plan was reasonable enough, especially for one person in such a large forest. She'd continue on North.
She heard it then, after following the sky for a few more minutes. To her east, there was the exhausted huff of a horse.
Rin stopped her run and turned wildly on her heel to face the noise. Beyond the trunks of the trees, three mounts stood bound to the tree by their reins, free of their riders. They were, by all means, typical horses, distinguishable only by the quiver of dark-feathered arrows attached to the saddle of the creature most visible to her.
Her breath hitched as she quietly moved closer to the horses, taking refuge behind the trunk of a large tree. The arrow used to kill Yosomi and Kei's escort had to have come from that quiver. But where were the assailants?
The young woman scanned the densely forested area for any further signs of danger. She could hear the soft muttering of men as she drew near. To her surprise and utter relief, in a clearing only a few paces to the left of the horses, Kei sat in the pine leaves scared stiff, his arms, legs, and ankles all bound by thick rope. Fear shone brightly in his wide eyes; he began to squirm upon noticing her.
Rin shook her head for Kei to stay quiet and glanced about the area in search of Yosomi. Further into the distance, three men crowded around something, their backs to her. They bore the yukata of average villagers, which surprised her. She had imagined a group of people less mundane than the ones standing before her now.
"We've gotten lucky," one man, his voice deep, expressed to the others. Though he looked like any other villager, he had a distinct way of pronouncing his words that let her know he was not local to the area. He was slender with dark hair. "There's not a mark on her."
He shifted slightly to the side, allowing Rin to see Yosomi from her meager vantage point. Thankfully her friend seemed physically unharmed. Like Kei, her mouth was gagged, and her hands and feet were bound. A plain-looking man had slid his hands underneath her arms to support her so that she would not fall. Her yukata was shuffled as if the front had been undone and haplessly put back together after she had passed inspection.
"How much do you think we can get for her?" The plain man holding her inquired.
"Don't know. Do you think she's a virgin?"
Despite the wetness of her grey eyes, Yosomi managed to glare at them.
The dark-haired man chuckled. "By the prissy way she acts, I guess she is. Check her teeth."
The third man, rather well-muscled, moved to take the gag from Yosomi's mouth. "Try anything moronic and I'll slit that boy's throat from ear to ear," he said gruffly.
That was all it took for Yosomi to stop struggling. Gag removed, the muscular man pried her mouth open to inspect her dental health.
"Nothing's missing," he said. "She's healthy. Together with the boy, we should be able to fetch wages for the entire year with only two sales."
Rin had seen and heard enough. But there was no way she could take on those three men by herself and ensure Yosomi and Kei's safety. She glanced at the horses again, who grazed ignorantly on the sparse grass near the tree, and then back at the blade in her hand. It'd only take a few cuts to undo the knots and free the horses. If she freed Kei first, that would create a big enough diversion to untie Yosomi and make a break for the village. With a proper head start, the men wouldn't be able to catch up without their horses.
She gripped the knife, mumbled an incredibly brief prayer to whatever supernatural force was willing to hear her and inched towards the tree near Kei. He looked at her with startled eyes again.
"I'm gonna cut you loose," Rin whispered to him. "But you can't move until those men are gone, okay?"
Kei nodded eagerly and shifted to allow her access to where his hands were bound at his lower back. The thick knot looked terribly elaborate, but it was no much for the simple ingenuity of a knife. With only a few quick saws, the rope had fallen to the ground and Kei's hands were free to start pulling the rope from around his ankles.
Next were the horses. Her cumbersome wooden shows made it harder to stay quiet, so she pushed them to the side and continued, the pine leaves soft and pliant beneath her bare feet. Kei watched her, nervous but silent and still; Yosomi and the men were none the wiser.
If there was one thing she'd learn about horses during her riding lessons with the Inu no Taisho, it was that they were incredibly skittish. It would take much to get them to run wildly into the woods—it was getting close to them without them freaking out and drawing attention to themselves that would be the hardest part. One horse glanced at her and began to softly stamp its feet against the ground. Rin hadn't realized how nervous she was until she raised a shaking hand to calm the animal down. As with the knots binding Kei, in a few rough saws, the reins of the horses were cut, and the animals, as if urged by nature, took off into the forest, kicking up clouds of dirt and leaves as they went along.
"What the hell?" One man said.
Rin ducked behind a tree. The slender and muscular men took off after the horses at the same time, followed by the more sluggish plain-looking man. Unmanned, Yosomi fell to the ground with a harsh thud. Rin and Kei both moved to untie Yosomi's wrists and ankles.
Yosomi, naturally, was surprised to see her, but before she could say anything, Rin was already urging her onto her feet.
"Run!" Rin hissed.
Yosomi grabbed Kei's hands and obeyed immediately. The individual trees become one muddled mass as the three young people ran in the direction of the village. The sun was lower now, casting a rich red-orange glow about the land. Combined with the summer heat, it seemed as if the whole world was ablaze.
The muted sound of horse hooves against the pine needles was approaching rapidly in the distance. Rin's mind raced. There was no way those men could have caught up with those horses so quickly.
Something sharp collided with Rin's left ankle. She let out a loud scream as she fell to the ground, the excruciating pain in her leg causing it to fail completely.
"Rin!" Yosomi screamed.
Rin looked up. Yosomi and Kei had turned back towards her. Another arrow sliced through the open air, embedding itself in a tree trunk close to Yosomi's head. The tall woman stumbled backward in shock.
Rin pursed her lips. She hadn't come this far just for everyone to get captured again because of her.
"Keep running!" She yelled out,
Yosomi hesitated. "But—"
"Go!"
Yosomi released a loud, frustrated cry. "We'll go get help!" She assured before pulling Kei by the arm deeper into the forest.
It was only when Yosomi and Kei were out of her sight that Rin's breathing became uneven. She glanced at her left ankle. Dark, red blood had begun to flow from the wound over the bridge and the heel of her foot. The animal bone arrowhead had buried itself within the skin there, and, judging by the agonizing pain now reverberating through the body, may have collided with the bone there, causing the shaft to split off. The broken arrow's feather fletching rested peacefully a few paces away. She had extremely limited medical training, but even she knew this was disastrous, especially since there was no one and nothing around to help her walk.
The tree branches rustled hurriedly. A young, black-haired man atop a horse emerged from the trees, his bow at his back and his quiver of arrows hooked to the saddle. Like the others, he wore the yukata of an average village man. There was an unrushed expression on his lightly tanned face that made her even more restless.
The man motioned for his horse to halt and began to dismount.
Knife. The blade had slipped from her hands when she fell and was now lying a few paces away from her among the pine needles. She lunged for it, but by the time it was in her grasp again, the strange man was already standing over her. The ensuing brief struggle over the item did not end in her favor.
"So this was how a weak little thing like you was able to outwit them," he said flatly, turning the dull-ish blade over in his palm, "not that that's a particularly difficult feat. You've caused us a bit of trouble by freeing those horses. Fortunately, I have a sense of humor, but I don't think my peers will find your stunt so endearing."
With those ominous words, he threw the blade back into the forest and reached down to grab her.
Rin jerked backward, scooting herself from him with her good leg. "Stay away from me, or—"
He grabbed her left foot and twisted the broken arrow deeper into her ankle. When her vision cleared and the searing pain died down some, she noticed a faint sneer on his face.
"Or?" He laughed. "Don't make threats you can't follow through on."
Rin could not respond. Content with her silence, the archer hoisted her into the air and began to walk in the direction of the other men. "I'm sure my brothers are going to love you."
When they returned to the clearing, only the plain man was present. He sat crouched in the grass, exhausted from the wild horse chase, but stood at the sight of the archer, who was still carrying a struggling Rin. He wrenched her hair roughly so that she'd be forced to look the plain man in his face. She winced.
The man blinked. "Who—"
"Some village girl who thinks she's a folk hero," the archer explained.
The man raised his brow as he studied Rin's clothing. "I've never known a simple village girl to wear silks."
"Either way, she's the reason you and Goro have no horses and no slaves to sell."
The man's face soured instantly. "Goro! Benkei!"
Two men stepped from the trees upon hearing their names. The thewy man bore an angered look on his face, while the other, who was more slender, looked rather relaxed. He was holding the ruined reins of one of the horses she'd freed.
"Another girl?" The thewy man spoke. "Will she be worth anything?"
"This is the bitch that cut the horses loose, Goro," his friend said bitterly.
There was a tense silence for a few moments after the friend made this revelation. In those moments, Rin watched as Goro's expression contorted from one of puzzlement to maliciousness. Something firm collided with her face before she could see it, and soon as she lying on the ground again, her nose runny and aflame. Instinctively, she reached to touch it. When her vision cleared, her hand was covered in blood.
Rin blinked in shock. It wasn't the first time she'd been struck in the face, but it certainly was the hardest.
"She's definitely not worth much now," the archer muttered.
The plain man groaned. "Onji and Korin's groups are supposed to be in that village nearby. Perhaps they've managed to take some horses."
"The 'village' was organized more like a damn war camp," the archer complained. "I'd be surprised if they haven't been sent running for the hills by now. These Southerners have gotten smarter."
"Then the reinforcements—"
"That damned 'Lord of the West' has sealed the border—no way in or out."
The village was safe, then, thanks to Master Seiten's efforts, and Lord Tōga had made a lot of progress, wherever he was. But if there were more people like this roaming the woods, then Yosomi and Kei—
Her thoughts were interrupted by a heavy, hard boot pushing against her back, pressing her further into the earth. When she glanced upwards, it was the man with the horse, Benkei, who was restraining her. She let out a cry of discomfort.
"Let's cut our losses here and just kill the dumb whore," Goro grumbled. "Ruined face or not, she's so feeble-looking that she wouldn't have fetched us much money anyway."
Rin's heart skipped a beat.
"If these villagers are finally catching on, we may not see another woman for a while," Benkei said. "Why not keep her around for a few days?"
"And waste food and water?" Goro huffed.
"Who said anything about caring for her? We need her cunt, not her strength. That leg injury will probably fester and kill her in a few days, anyway."
"Lotus eater. All you ever think about is indulging yourself," the plain man chided, only half-serious.
Benkei scoffed. "How is it indulging myself when we all benefit?"
The heavy foot removed itself from her back, and suddenly Rin was being hoisted carelessly into the air again by her hair. Benkei wrapped his arm around her neck to restrain her; she could feel his excitement against her lower back. The other men gazed at her as if they were sincerely considering Benkei's proposal.
"In any case, we aren't in a rush," the plain man spoke again. "It'll be dark soon—we should rest for the night."
"Good. I can get better acquainted with our new traveling companion." Benkei laughed.
The archer huffed. "Scoundrel."
"I'm the one that had the idea. Why shouldn't I be the first to reap the benefits?" Still in Benkei's iron grip, Rin was unwillingly turned away from the group of men to face the forest. "I'll determine whether she's worth keeping around."
When he had placed an acceptable amount of distance between himself and his group, Rin was dropped unceremoniously onto the hard earth, wincing as the impact placed undue pressure on her damaged ankle.
His utility belt fell to the ground, and soon the stranger was crouched over her and pinned her wrists above her head. Harshly, he grabbed the color of her yukata. The fine fabric ripped with ease, giving way to the white hadajuban beneath. He stooped down to bury his head in her next; each sloppy kiss was akin to a murder hornet's sting.
Rin turned her head away from him in disgust. Just arm's length from her head his utility belt still sat in the grass, bearing rope, a water pouch, and a medium-length blade.
Mustering whatever specks of strength she had left, Rin tore one arm from its prison above her head and reached out for the knife. The attempt was met with another cruel backhanded slap across her face. When she looked at him again, he was wiping her blood from his hands.
"Quit acting so damn pitiful," Benkei said, exasperated. "You can either die right now or do me this simple favor and live a few more days. If you're especially sweet to me, I might be able to convince them to drop you off near some village when we're done with you."
She would've laughed if her face hadn't hurt so much. It was cruelly ironic—it seemed like much of her life came down to a choice between death or "favors."
Rin's mind began to work again. There was always a moment after the act, when a man had came and was catching his breath, that he was mostly vulnerable, even if for a split second. If she could reach for the knife then, she might be able to get away from him and simply hide from the others.
It was uncertain, but it was much better than relying on the empty words of some fiend. She couldn't let the few scraps of pride she had left be an issue now—what she needed now was to focus on survival, just as she had done for so many years. Nothing else mattered.
"Sweet?" Rin rasped out in a voice she wasn't sure was her own.
Benkei grinned and released Rin's wrists, allowing her to sit up. "Disrobe me."
Albeit begrudgingly, Rin reached around the man's torso to untie his obi. His yukata flew open without much resistance. She looked away.
He flipped her over, pressing her face into the ground with one hand while using the other to pull up her skirt.
"Can't have you bleeding all over my—"
A guttural scream rose in the distance. Brows furrowed, the man released her to look in the direction of the main camp. Rin's eyes turned to the knife again.
"What the hell was that?" Benkei muttered.
As silent as a specter, Sesshōmaru stepped from the woods, his glinting steel swords dripping with fresh blood. The man's eyes widened in shock, but by the time he realized he needed to arm himself, Rin had already retrieved the blade and, with eyes tightly shut, thrust it into the base of his neck.
It was tough, almost like cutting through duck breast. Rin stifled a gag. When she opened her eyes, her hands were slick with thick, dark blood. The carnal desire in Benkei's eyes had been replaced with pure hatred. Somehow he still had enough strength to reach out for her neck, but before he could touch her again, Sesshōmaru's sword had ripped through the other side of his neck with ease, nearly decapitating him and sufficiently ending his life. He hit the ground with an anticlimactic thud, leaving Rin and Sesshōmaru alone in the forest.
Relieved that the waking nightmare was finally complete, the young woman quickly slid away from the corpse next to her and moved to stand.
"Lord Sesshō—"
Just as quickly as she'd stood, she'd found herself plummeting to the earth again, yelping as an intense pain shot through her ankle again. She had experienced such a rush of adrenaline a few moments prior that she'd temporarily forgotten about her injury. She pulled her ankle closer to her and carefully reached down to inspect it.
"Do not touch it," Sesshōmaru barked at her.
Startled, Rin looked up to where Sesshōmaru was now standing over her. As he knelt, his golden eyes scanned her disheveled form for any further injuries.
Sesshōmaru reached out to touch her face. Rin's breath hitched. "There's more—"
"They're dead," Sesshōmaru said simply. His fingers alighted on her chin. Brows furrowed, he gently turned her head from side to side to inspect her face.
"Where's Yoso—"
"Stop talking," the young Lord said brusquely.
"No," Rin said, jerking her head from his grasp. The quick motion made her vision blurry again; she would've teetered into the ground if not for Sesshōmaru's supportive arm.
"Yosomi and Kei," she said breathlessly. "Didn't you find them?"
Sesshōmaru stared down at her, his lips pursed in displeasure.
Rin's heart began to beat wildly as she tried to get up again. "We have to—"
"The boy and girl are in the village," Sesshōmaru said, tightening his grip around her. "Unless you enjoy swallowing your own blood, lean your head forward and stop moving."
That was all she needed to hear. Finally relaxed, Rin allowed herself to settle into his warm grasp. She ached. Her nerve had long since worn off, and she could feel herself being sucked into the harsh stranglehold of mortality.
"So, everyone is safe, then?" Rin asked.
"Yes," the young Lord said, his voice uncharacteristically gentle. "You can stop crying now."
"Crying?" She touched the area beneath her lashes. It was wet. She hadn't realized she'd shed any tears.
Lord Sesshōmaru rose with Rin in his arms, and together they walked from the forest.
a/n: So I've had the basic concept for that rescue scene outlined since I first started writing this story back in 2017. I almost can't believe that I have finally been able to publish it. I hope you all enjoyed the predictable conclusion, lol! I know you were waiting for it! I PROMISE this is the last time Rin gets hurt for a long, long time.
Constructive feedback would be very much appreciated. Chapters with this sort of content are always super difficult to write. I tried not to linger too long on some more upsetting aspects.
Lastly, I KNOW I said I'd post chapter 18 alongside this one, but I'm most likely going to merge it with some content I had planned for 19. Expect to finally see more interaction between Rin and Sesshōmaru.
Until next time!