InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Mother For Rin ❯ Miroku and Kaede ( Chapter 18 )

 

It had been nearly three weeks since the group had come upon the wounded Kagome and Shippou and Sesshoumaru had drawn even further inside himself than he normally was. The inu taiyoukai rarely spoke, and if words were necessary they were few, clipped and to the point, his eyes even more lifeless than they had ever been. The taiyoukai hadn't thought or paid attention to how his withdrawal was affecting Rin.

 

The tiny human girl had seen the woman she hoped to be her mother lying on the futon still and silent as death. The vision of Kagome hurt and unconscious had been enough to drive the child back into being mute, the girl barely eating and more than likely would not have eaten had it not been for Tsukina sitting the silent girl in her lap and literally feeding her the small amount of food she was able to get the child to consume. Rin had been affected badly by Kagome's condition, but even worse by Sesshoumaru's unresponsiveness. The inuyoukai she had come to call pappa didn't acknowledge her or her presence at all. The few times she had tried to curl up against his side she had been growled at and the human child now kept her distance from everyone, the only time she was near anyone was when Tsukina would walk over to the child and lift her from where she curled up in a tight ball in the far corner of Kagome's room.

 

Inuyasha was affected just as badly, though the hanyou ate and talked quietly with the others, knowing that he had to care for his pack and still worried over the actions that had been taken with Sango during what he mentally referred to as the `Kimigra fuck up'. He watched over Sango like a hawk, the hanyou rarely away from Sango after seeing how badly she too had been affected by Kagome's and Shippou's conditions. Finally three days ago he had told Miroku to take Kirara and gather Kaede from the village and bring her back to them.

 

Sango had pulled inside herself as well after the first week, Kagome was like a sister to her and to see the girl so weak and unresponsive was killing her. Inuyasha had taken to holding Sango in his arms when the taijiya slept and to sleeping with her held tightly in his arms even if she were awake when he slept. The most disturbing thing however had been that while Shippou's injuries were healing and that although he remained unconscious his condition was improving whereas Kagome's was not. Kagome's bruising had not lessened at all in any form and the cracked ribs had not healed, the bruising and abrasions on her back looking the same now as it had when she had very first been tended to.

 

“What the hell is taking that damn monk so fucking long?!” Inuyasha growled angrily as he held Sango's sleeping form in his arms.

 

“This woman is a miko yes?” Mitsunaro asked. “And the only one in her village with no apprentice?” at Inuyasha's gruff noise and nod the elder youkai sighed. “She may be unable to leave her village right away. Births, illness, even perhaps injury may keep her from being able to come immediately, but if she is as good a friend as you say I doubt it will be too long before the monk returns with her.”

 

“Rin come on sweetie, you need to eat something,” they heard Tsukina say and Inuyasha looked over at the small child.

 

It was evident that Rin had lost weight, too much weight and weight she didn't have to spare in the first place. Inuyasha wondered if it was so much the effect Kagome's condition had on her as it was her father. Sesshoumaru had growled anytime anyone had come near him and twice had growled at her without looking or sniffing to see who it was he was growling at. The young human child had kept her distance from everyone after the second growl and had pulled deep inside herself, her muteness and immobility attesting to that. Rin had simply become nothing more than doll-like the only movement she made on her own was the rising and falling of her chest when she breathed and the slow and long parted blinking of her eyes. Her mocha eyes that had once shined with such vitality and life were now glassy and nearly vacant as she pulled inside her own mind.

 

“I put a bit of rice inside her mouth a bit ago and she has not eaten it, I try to give her tea and she does not drink it. She will die if she continues on like this,” Tsukina said her voice soft and mournful.

 

The child in her arms was the perfect example of the living dead. Rin had been found and given new life by Lord Sesshoumaru nearly a year ago and now as she lay there, rejected by the very youkai that had come to mean so much to her, her happiness of life and willingness to live had seemingly left her. Inuyasha gently laid Sango down on the floor next to Kagome's bed and made his way over to Tsukina. Silently and gently he took the unresponsive human child from the demoness's arms and moved over near enough to his brother that the child would be in perfect sight of him and vice versa.

 

Though Rin's eyes were pointed in the direction of the inuyoukai her eyes didn't see him. Inuyasha was disturbed by just how still and motionless the child lay in his arms. He could easily feel her ribs and even though he knew that previous to this day Tsukina had been able to feed her at least a small amount each day, it wasn't nearly enough. Tsukina was right, if the child continued on like this she would surely die.

 

 

 

 

“Lady Kaede, pleases we need you. Kagome needs you,” Miroku said as he stood in the elder miko's hut and looked at her as she stirred the boiling herbs in the water filled pot over the fire pit.

 

“Houshi-sama I understand that I am needed there, but I am also needed here,” the elder woman said as she finally looked up at the monk who was slowly loosing both his hope and his patience. “But I cannot leave this village, not at this time. Three women here will be having their babies very soon, within the next moon I would say,” she said in a time reference that was equal to a week.

 

“Kagome and Shippou may not have a week!” he shouted desperately as he lost his usually calm disposition.

 

“Perhaps if ye were to find my dead sister-”

 

“We can't, she is no more. Lady Kikyou came to Inuyasha over a month ago and asked to be returned to death and he heeded her request. Kagome's soul is her own and whole again. Please Lady Kaede, please, is there no one else to tend to the mothers in your absence?”

 

“I could tend to them,” a soft and kind feminine voice said from the door of the hut.

 

Miroku and Kaede turned their heads to find a deer youkai standing just outside the hut, holding the flap open but not stepping inside until Lady Kaede bid her entrance. The youkai stepped quietly inside the fawn color of her eyes matching the fur on her hands, and the silk kimono she was wrapped in.

 

“Pardon my intrusion miko-sama, houshi-sama,” she said bowing low to them though the expensiveness of her kimono showed her to be of a higher status than they were. “I am Minako, the chief healer of Lord Sesshoumaru. Master Jaken informed me of Lady Kagome's condition and the dilemma in gaining your audience with her. If you please Lady Kaede, I will tend to your mothers while you tend to Lady Kagome.”

 

“Ye are a kind youkai,” Kaede said as she studied the youkai. “I sense no ill will nor darkness upon ye.”

 

Kaede turned her attention back to the tonic she was making for the sick child of one of the elder mother and took the heavy pot from the fire, pouring the tonic into a wooden bucket as she waited for it to cool while crushing other herbs and roots into a fine powder to mix into the steaming dark liquid.

 

“Let me tell ye about the mothers and finish this potion and then houshi-sama I will accompany ye to Kagome.”

 

It was another two hours before the potion was finished and all pertinent information shared. Before Kaede left with Miroku upon Kirara, she made sure to take Minako with her and introduce her around the village and more importantly to the mothers. Once the uneasiness was settled and the humans accepting of the deer youkai Kaede felt it alright to leave the village. It would be another two days though before they would reach Kagome, two days that Miroku was unsure if their friend even had.

 

 

 

 

“Come on kid,” Inuyasha said as he looked down at the child lying limp in his arms. “You gotta eat something.”

 

The hanyou had been trying for the past two hours to get the child to respond to him or at least to drink some tea or eat some rice gruel, but nothing proved successful. The gruel was left untouched in her mouth and out of fear of her choking he had removed it from her mouth with his fingers. The tea he had poured into her mouth hadn't gone down her throat and only spilled out of her open mouth; it was like trying to feed a corpse. Frustrated at the helplessness he felt, the hanyou leaned over just enough and whacked his brother on the arm with the back of his hand.

 

Sesshoumaru turned golden eyes on his brother as he was snapped out of his worried and protective stupor and looked over at his brother with a snarl.

 

“Damnit you bastard, your pup needs you!” Inuyasha growled at the taiyoukai.

 

“Rin is perfectly fine,” Sesshoumaru said dismissing his brother's statement without even looking at the child in question.

 

“If that's so,” Inuyasha growled low, “than why isn't she eating? Hell for that matter why does she look dead?!”

 

The hanyou's last question got the elder brother's attention and his eyes snapped to the girl lying limp in Inuyasha's arms. Her eyes were open and they looked as glassy and lifeless as a doll's. The inuyoukai's eyes widened as he took in his daughter's debilitated state. What had happened to his pup while he'd been lost inside his own worries and the thoughts of his own youkai? His youkai was now screaming at him inside his head, demanding to know how he could let their pup fall into such a state.

 

Carefully Sesshoumaru lifted Rin from his brother's arms by lifting her underneath her arms. He brought the child up to his chest and settled her against his armored chest. He looked down into Rin's face and found that what he had felt when he lifted her was not just his mind playing tricks; his pup really had lost weight. Too much weight.

 

“Rin,” he called softly to her. “Rin look at me,” he softly commanded.

 

When the child failed to respond in any form he lifted her up and held her so that her eyes were level with his. What he saw frightened him for the first time in his life. Even when he had first met Rin in the village and seen her after the villagers had beaten her she had never held such a look of emptiness in her eyes.

 

“Rin respond to me,” Sesshoumaru commanded his voice growing harsh. “Respond to me!” he nearly growled as he shook the child gently once.

 

Rin didn't respond once to Sesshoumaru's calls or demands for her to do so. Due to his inattention and snarling at anyone who came near him the first and second day after they had found and discovered what happened to Kagome and Shippou, Rin had sunk deep inside herself. The question now was, would he be able to bring her back out?

 

Sesshoumaru brought Rin back to rest against his chest and hugged her tightly to him as he held her, his eyes staring down at her thick black hair. He could feel her ribs easily beneath her kimono and silently cursed himself for not taking better care of her. How could he have neglected Rin to such an extent? How could he not realize that his youkai's need for solitude with his intended mate would cause the child such harm? He was the only one that had ever cared for her, the only one that she had ever opened up to and now, due to his rejection of her need to be near him, he had effectively broken her. As he hugged Rin and held her tiny body cradled in his arms, he promised himself that once he had her back, once he had drawn her out of herself, out of her mind, and once she was well again, he would spoil her to no end. She would never want for anything, he would get her any and everything she wanted, no matter what it was, no matter the cost, he would give her the world.

 

 

It was a day later when Miroku and Kaede arrived, the exhausted Kirara nestling her tiny kitten body into Sango's arms as she fell asleep, the neko youkai having pushed herself even past her own limits to reach them in only a day and a half instead of the two days it would normally have taken. Kaede immediately moved to Kagome's side and that was the first and only time anyone there had ever heard the gentle elder miko curse.

 

“Kagome is not healing because she is diverting all of her miko and all of her personal energy into healing Shippou. Had she not the child surely would have died the first night, from what you have told me of his injuries. The only way for Kagome to heal will be to stop her from diverting her energies,” she said as she faced all those in the small hut.

 

“And how do we do that old woman,” Inuyasha asked gruffly.

 

“Give her a reason to heal, a reason to wake up.”