InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A new beginning, a new hope ❯ The Winds of Vengeance (Part 3) ( Chapter 44 )

Hey, wanna say hello

 

DPM - I'm so happy to hear from ya again. I'm so sorry you had problems locating the fic. Anyway, I know I'm cruel to make those two go thro so much. It's kinda like movies ya know, toward the end, there's always something big… This is the last… I promise

 

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As he hovered in the western skies, Sesshoumaru inhaled deeply and desperately at the surrounding, his eyes squinting afar to maximize all the youkai enhancements he'd ever possessed. His heart was beating crazily, breathlessly beyond control, his mind in a total consuming wrack, the voice of the hanyou physician and his utmost apologetic recount of the events the previous night echoed and chimed in a looping repetition in his head.

 

The demon lord was dutifully notified of the strange aura possessing the hanyou kid when she had returned unexpectedly that evening, as though she was under some sort of empowering spell, both seemingly commanding and instructional. Despite the hanyou physician's persistent urgings for her not to disturb Rin, it had been turned to a deaf ear. The little girl had flashed him with a mysterious blinding light from a source he couldn't recognize or decipher. Still, Jinenji was forcefully, involuntarily subjected to it. Wherever it had come from, it was nonetheless evil, dominant, potent. It had effectively immobilized him, his knees and knuckles had turned too weak as he crashed uncontrollably onto the floor.

 

When the girl was eventually roused from her slumber, the hanyou physician had tried to stop her pursuit of the kid in vain. Even at that thought, Sesshoumaru shook his head in a helpless ache. He had come to know his mate all too well. It wasn't the physician's fault. Rin, she would have gone after Keiko regardless of all. No one would have been able to stop her.

 

A voice from the ground channeled the youkai's musings back to the present.

 

“Ooi, Sesshoumaru, let's look further north. That's where their scents went. Moreover, we've searched the rest last night.” Inuyasha yelled in an equally exasperated crescendo, giving to slight heave at his mate on his back, steadying her into a more encompassing grip. “If the girls were there, we would have bumped into them.”

 

As a mother of the eight year old, Kagome couldn't for one moment stop blaming herself for the disappearance of her daughter. Indeed, she made the most irresponsible Oka-san, she had neglected Keiko, she…. she was unpardonable! And the fact now that Rin, in her own frailty, had gone missing too going after her kid, it just added on her already head deep self condemnation. Whoever that person was… to have done this to Keiko and Rin, they're no doubt going to pay dearly for it! Not mentioning Sesshoumaru, the miko had not seen Inuyasha gotten so enraged in a long time. He looked like he was all ready to wind scar anything into smithereens any moment.

 

In silent and rare consent to his hanyou brother's suggestion, the demon lord accelerated accordingly, turning instantly into a great ball of light. Still, the northern edges brought him an awkward unrest. There was something about that region he couldn't recall….

 

At a small clearing, the hanyou stopped dead in his tracks. His nose was raised sniffing the air around. Kagome hopped down as she peered left and right anxiously, wondering why her hubby had chosen this spot. However, apparently, whatever Inuyasha was thinking, the demon lord had concurred. He too had rematerialized back into his human form in a flash of an eye.

 

“Well…Inuyasha!” The miko's eyes rolled out of utter impatience that nothing was communicated to her. “What's up? Why are we stopping here?”

 

“Kah, the girls…” The hanyou's nose was still twitching. “They were definitely here. In fact, this is where their scent was lost.”

 

“What?” Immediately without a second word, the miko threw down her bow and arrows, distraughtly searching through the shrubs and undergrowth for any possible signs or visual evidence of the whereabouts of the two.

 

Suddenly, something caused Sesshoumaru to turn from his position. In one far corner, the late afternoon glare had effectively reflected on an object on the ground, something familiar, something that shone under the radiant light, something golden, something that belonged to the girl…. The pin… Rin's pin!

 

The demon lord bolted toward it, retrieving the golden jewelry in one swift still elegant sweep. He looked at the item in his palm and then to the cloudless sky. Rin and Keiko, they had been taken to the air from here!

 

And wait… What is that scent…wolves? And also…something that had been long forgotten… something that raked up an unknown impending fury in him… Naraku! Wait… No!

 

KAGURA!

 

“Sesshoumaru, isn't that Rin-chan's pin?” Kagome sighted the object, crying out in overwhelmed panic. She had dashed after him, believing that he had found something of great importance to their hunt.

 

The demon wasn't at all listening. The wind witch, shouldn't she be dead and gone? Why was she here? She had captured Rin! She was getting back at him…getting back at him for….

 

Sesshoumaru gasped in silence.

 

Kagura… she was getting back at him for hurling her down the….

 

Without another moment's delay, the youkai took to the skies. If his guesses were correct, if it was really Kagura who had taken Rin and the kid, then… perhaps, that's where he would find them… The forbidden cravens in the northern perimeters!

 

“Kah… Sesshoumaru, where do you think you're going without us?” Inuyasha flashed a quick signal to his mate, beckoning her to jump on. They needed to hurry after his half brother. He must have found a lead, though he hadn't voice it!

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama…. Wait for Jaken…” The toady demon's cries echoed from his position at the back of the bi-headed dragon.

 

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In the stony alcove, Rin scrunched up shakily at one corner where the kid had stood steadfastly knotted by those horrid stubborn twines. Since the departure of the Ookami king, the girl had made several attempts to free and wake Keiko to no avail. These vines were simply too tough to break with her bare hands. She looked down, inspecting her palms. Her flawless skin was now marred with deepened abrasions and blood clotted scars.

 

She curled up into herself further, her arms wrapping defensively about her bent-in legs, her recent encounter with the demonic lecher still etched hurtfully in her mind and heart. Gosh! How she wished she could take a long, long bath, one that she could thoroughly wash and clean away all revolting reminiscence of her recent attacker.

 

Rin shook her head, wildly and half screaming out loud to clear his haunting voice as well as those frightful images she had slowly recalled with her so-call lord. It wasn't Sesshoumaru. It was him, that nauseating, stomach turning Ookami all along.

 

HE had stripped her, made her believe he was her mate, touched her --- everywhere, even rubbed himself on her. Rin's tears fell hopelessly out of control, her girlish pride near broken, smashed. She had never once in her life felt so… so filthy.

 

Her stomach churned. Yes, she hadn't a bite for God knows how long. It wasn't that no meals were presented to her but the choices of these wretched ookamis were but half cooked meat of some unknown youkai that had carelessly wandered into their boundaries. It was disgusting and bloodied and it made her nauseous just catching a whiff of it. Worse, it had greatly agitated her pup. It was messing around with the walls of her womb once again. She must have missed the time of her medication too. If without the power of the Inu heirloom, Rin wouldn't have known what to do. Perhaps, she might not survive to see her lord.

 

Right, Sesshoumaru, her lord, her perfect, regal honorable husband.

 

Rin let another string of tears roll down her heated cheeks as she sobbed afresh.

 

Now that she was covered with the scent of another demon, another man, how could she ever bring herself to face him again? Would he be disgusted with her? Would he despise her? Will he still love her?

 

The girl hadn't an answer. Nevertheless, she knew that Sesshoumaru would come to rescue her and their pup. Regardless of all that had happened, she still wished nothing more than to look upon his face, to feel the warmth of his ever so loving embrace.

 

“My lady…” The girl swallowed nervously. It was that voice. It was the demon again in the room with her. Rin shut herself off from him, burying her head into her knees and completely ignoring his calling. “Are you truly so afraid of me now?” He continued, noting the girl's cold reactions.

 

“What do you want now?” The girl spoke through the crevices of her cheeks and kimono, still not desiring to raise her head to look at him.

 

“You weren't so cold last night.” He intoned coolly, seemingly already too pleased with himself. Still, he paused, inspecting and gauging the girl's reactions. “I've come with a proposal for you.”

 

Rin lifted her chin, her long lashed eyes instantly catching his. But when she caught a glimpse of his grinning and scanning at her from head to tip, licking his lip as if dwelling in a memory only he alone had enjoyed, she looked away again, sickened and aghast.

 

Seeing that the girl hadn't made a verbal response, the Ookami simply went on.

 

“If you were to leave your lord and be with me, I will give you anything you wish for.” He was sounding way too smug. “Whatever the western lord can offer you, I can do the same or perhaps more.”

 

That was simply outrageous! Her brows narrowed.

 

“I'm not interested at what you can offer.” Rin's voice was harsh and cold but the Ookami did not give up.

 

“Perhaps it is not wealth and status that you seek.” One corner of his lip lifted in a lope-sided scheming smile. “But the safety of your unborn…. and the kid.”

 

Rin froze, her grip came loose of her legs momentarily. Is he threatening me? Is he going to harm my baby… and Keiko if I do not yield to him?

 

Somehow, something intuited the girl that this Ookami was capable of no less.

 

Rin's lips began to quiver in immense indecision, her spirits exposed and defenseless, her mind exploding a number of options which none was feasible, mainly as she was lacking the strength to fight back, not that she had possessed any battle skills in the first place.

 

Drinking all her fears and hesitancy, the Ookami king lurched forward smugly, his scarred hand reaching out grazing the girl's cheeks slightly. “So my sweet, shall we continue from where we left off the last time?”

 

Rin flinched, retreating into the stone wall behind her. Still, he shifted in on her when she couldn't back up further, running his furred fingers through her hair. She shivered as he licked a line down her earlobes, not daring to shun away till she made a decision on her next move. But his touch, every of his contact the girl felt on her skin repulsed her to the max. She wanted to hit his hand away, she wanted to flee… But can she? At the risk of her baby as well as the little hanyou whom she adored so dearly? But if she doesn't stop him and in time… he'll…

 

True enough, the demon did not wait. With a slight flick of his wrist, he had yanked on the ties of her kimono, smirking to himself and flinging the cord to the farthest ends of the alcove. The girl did not dare make a sound.

 

Seeing that he had gotten an upper hand with that latest threat, the Ookami slipped his hand briefly into her clothed folds, reveling the smoothness of her bare nape and then sweeping across her side. Instantly, the thin fabric slid, displaying the snow white skin of her slight shoulder. Agitated and terrified of what's to come, Rin caught the rest of her clothes before it fell below her chest, protecting what remained of her modesty.

 

“You smell of… “He took in her fragrance. “summer flowers…” He laid a wet kiss which ended with a slab of his tongue on her neck, then another, his every addition pushing Rin closer and closer to complete break down. She stifled her shrieks of disgust, her inner torment reigning over all logics. Something pulsed revoltingly within her every time she felt his wet tongue on her. “Hmm…You sure taste awfully like one too my sweet…”

 

Apparently, the girl wasn't the only one suffering in torturous silence. Well hidden in one corner on the other side of the pelted screen, the wind witch let her nails grit into the rocky grooves of the stony edges next to her. Why does this human girl have to compete with her on every potential mate she'd ever yearn for? Well, though the Ookami demon wasn't the most gentle of all lovers, he was nonetheless the strongest and most capable of aiding her revenge on the Western Lord.

 

One hand untying the strings of his hakama, the demon pressed the girl down to the ground inspite of her obvious denial, her retaliating gasps and too feeble shoves gone totally unheeded. “It won't pain you…more than it should… I promise…” He breathed huskily into the corner of her ear. “Swear your body and love to me… and I'll make you MY lady of the West..”

 

What? Kagura's eyes exploded into a fiendish fiery red in an instant. She? His lady? AGAIN?

 

This was the last straw!

 

“I-I don't want any of that.” A tear rolled off her cheek as the demon divided the folds of her kimono. She fought back, tugging her clothes intact. “Let me go… Please…”

 

The Ookami's snigger filled the room.

 

“Are you so afraid of me?” He kissed the hollow of her throat. “Relax and enjoy. When I'm done with you …you'll beg for more… I assure you…”

 

To the utmost surprise of both the demon and the girl, their eyes turned to the direction of a feminine voice echoing from behind the pelted doorway.

 

“My lordship, I have news.” And even before permission was granted, Kagura had lifted the furred skin lining the exit, barging into the alcove, her tone too pretentious, too displeased. She had tried her best to sound composed and cool but the demon picked up her underlying intention all the same.

 

“GET OUT!” His unfeeling dispassionate bellow shocked the demoness. She stood there, slightly shamed and out of ideas of what to do next.

 

“But my lordship…” She tried again. She had to.

 

“I said… GET OUT!”

 

His last words were drowned in a massive explosion shaking the whole cave, following a faint command seemingly sounded from the outer compound. Also several overlapping discordant screams, cries were heard as though a fierce battle was going on.

 

The Ookami jumped up, pulling up his pants and picking up his weapon.

 

Then, it happened again.

 

“Kazana Kizu!”

 

Rin let off a clipped laugh of relief.

 

It was… Inuyasha wielding his Tetsusaiga! Sesshoumaru… He's here!

 

The girl realized something was about to happen. The rocky walls in front of her began to rumble like low sonorous thunder ends, dust and stones crumbling from the uneven ceiling. Rin shot up to Keiko, raising both her hands and shielding her from the falling debris with her own body, not at all caring about herself and how some of it had already inflicted bruises and scratches on her.

 

In a split of a second, there was another ear piercing explosion and bright light ends from the famous Inu sword shone through the burst stone walls, blasting a huge opening into the alcove. After the thick clouds of gravel dust had settled, Rin lifted her eye slightly from her crotched position, realizing that it was dark as night out there, stars lining and lighting the sky.

 

Vaguely from her position, she could make out the huge battle, her hanyou brother-in-law, Kagome, Jaken, Aun and …. Sesshoumaru each at their individual best combating with the massive heap of Ookami slaves to close in. Those lowly wolves were no where near match for them. They were slowly but surely wiped out.

 

“Sessho…” It was but a near voiceless mutter. Rin watched as Sesshoumaru turned suddenly as though he had spotted her scent. He was looking at her direction, his amber eyes deeply meeting hers with genuine anxiety. Right away, she shifted her glance away from him as a surge of renewed remorse rose. It was suffocating and completely consuming. But she loves him… so much… Rin let her tears flow. What should she do? How will she tell him?

 

Of course, the demon lord had noticed Rin's bazaar behaviors and he wasn't at all ready to accept this. Instead of producing him with an assuring gaze that she was alright, his mate was…. ignoring him? But why? Is Rin afraid of the wolves? His memory had brought to him the girl's past experiences with these variant of dog creatures. But something intuited the demon lord it wasn't just so. There was something more than meeting the eye.

 

“Greetings, the great lord Sesshoumaru.” The Ookami king rose onto the top of a heap of rubble. “I see you have brought… help… I didn't recall being informed that you have such a good relationship with your Otooto.”

 

The demon lord did not answer. He merely scanned his opponent coolly, impassively though its evil aura was so intense it left an acrid bitterness in his throat. Is this creature what Chichiue had been warning him about? This… Ancient breed of Ookami Taiyoukai? His father had not lied. This wolf demon's jyaki was stirring in the entire area and it reeked heavily of dead soils and bones… But why?

 

“Kah… Shut the hell up!” The hanyou grunted impatiently, intercepting and breaking his brother's silence. “Are you the stinking bastard who took my daughter?”

 

The Ookami king picked up Inuyasha's half demon form. He threw a smirk, not the least intimidated. “Hanyou…prepare to DIE…”

 

With that he leapt forward, meeting the hanyou in mid air, the sharpened blades of their powerful swords clashed and interacted, sending multiple sparks of dispersed light into the unlit night sky.

 

Sesshoumaru raised his Toukijin, sending a whole line of Ookami defense through the gateways of hell. At his side, the toad servant was waving his dragonhead staff, calling up the demonic fires, his limited powers able to burn into only one Ookami at a time. Even Aun had taken a part in the fight, throwing up smoke and flames two blasts at a time at anything that came in its way. The miko was exhilarated as she caught sight of her kid. Agitated naturally as all moms should be, she shot away valiantly with her purifying arrows, making a clear path toward her daughter.

 

Seeing that Inuyasha had no immediate problems taking on the Ookami king on his own, Sesshoumaru's mind and attention fell upon the frail girl now hiding her face from him. Even at their distance, he had picked up the acute rise in her temperature. Her pulse was messy, erratic and she was seemingly crestfallen, dispirited. She had long missed the timing of her medication. The demon lord was reminded of Jinenji's words to him before his second departure from the ancestral compound. Through his meticulous predictions, the hanyou physician had long anticipated this. He had well prepared the demon lord a special concoction of the desert honey for this particular purpose… in times of extreme need.

 

Reflexively, Sesshoumaru's hand moved to touch the tiny bottle in his pocket. He had to get this to Rin… fast!

 

Instantaneously, he cometed relentlessly to her side, his gaze not once leaving her cowering form. His clawed hand reached for her shoulder, halting a small moment of hesitancy before touching it lightly.

 

“Rin…”

 

She was… crying… he noted worriedly, his brows twisted into a frown.

 

There was extended stillness. Then she spoke.

 

“Sessho… don't … don't say anything…please.” Her voice was sounding strangled from all the sobbing. She scrunched into herself further, not raising her head to him as she begged helplessly, painfully, tormented. “Leave me alone… please…”

 

The demon lord's eyes darkened as he noted how Rin's clothes were loose, disarranged and slightly tattered. He would have thought that it was the cave but no. The girl herself was reeking heavily of …. The Ookami demon!

 

Could he have tried to….? Sesshoumaru felt an instant spiraling of impending rage. However, his inherited senses had informed him that no extended harm had come to the girl. The Ookami had not succeeded, apparently. He noted her assortment of bruises and scars. Still he concluded that Rin was probably suffering more mentally rather than physically. He had come to know her too well. It must have been hard for a girl so shy, pure and chaste to accept such indecent perverted acts inflicted upon her forcefully.

 

“No, Rin… don't do this.” He forced his arms round her protectively, denying her from any chances of further escaping from him. “I know what happened…”

 

At that, the girl raised her head, her beautiful lashes flicked as her hurtful eyes matched his devastatingly concerned ones. Instantly, he was pained by how she looked. She was most certainly not at the pink of health. She was pale, her ashen cheeks and lips spelt out without a doubt to him that she had also been fighting with their pup. In fact, she was so weak and strengthless that the demon lord had to hold onto her full weight as she collapsed into him feebly.

 

“No you don't know what happened!” Rin's eyes reddened with imminent uncontrollably fluid to rush out at the edge of her eyes. She tugged on his sleeves penitently. “He… He was all over me… He disrobed me… I was seen totally by him…” She wept, indignant. “He made me think it was you… Sessho… I'm so sorry… I've… dishonored you… I'm not worthy to be your mate any longer…”

 

The demon lord had heard enough. Yes, he was exploding into a pinnacle of disgust and outrage. He WILL avenge his wife… in time. But now what's most important was…

 

“Nonsense Rin, don't be silly…” His heart throbbed and ached excruciatingly as he pulled her into a tighter more securely warm embrace, kissing her temple several times, replacing her with his touch, his scent he knew would calm her down significantly. “I shouldn't have left you alone in the house. I was the one at fault… as always. I've failed as your husband.”

 

Rin gasped, stifling her sobs immediately.

 

“No, Sessho, don't say that… please… I…”

 

“Shh… It's alright.” He circled his fluff round her, stroking her hair gently, soothingly. He was relieved she had at least stopped crying. Now, if he could just coax her into taking her belated medication. “I'm here now. I'll not let anything happen to you, I promise.”

 

At long last, a tiny hint of a smile curved up the girl's lips. She snuggled into him, drinking in all of that familiarly intoxicating forestry scent which she had missed in just a mere day, her fingers briefly running through the smoothness of his silvery hair.

 

“Rin, you have to take your medication.” He opened the bottle in his hand less calmly than usually. “Has the pup been fighting you?”

 

The girl nodded fretfully, her focus now drawn back to the consistent pulse in her belly, the one that she could no longer stop even with the Inu heirloom, the one she was even starting to get use to. She flinched, shivered slightly, her palm shifting to the area above her abdomen and the demon lord sensed it right away. He brought it to her lips, feeding her slowly sip by sip.

 

Suddenly, to his dismay, the girl's face colored into a whitened blue and green. Before he could stop her, she gave him a slight shove, turning away as she coughed, choked and emptied everything she had just taken in seconds ago.

 

This cannot be good, the demon lord pondered with renewed fear. Rin was having trouble swallowing. What should he do? What CAN he do to help her?

 

While an idea sparked in him, the wind witch watched the loving couple reconciled with rising jealousy and every deeply rooted envy that possessed the earth.

 

Without a second thought, Sesshoumaru took a small drink of the dessert honey himself, then bringing Rin's face to him, he placed a kiss, taking her mouth in his as he let the liquid slowly passed over.

 

And his tender approach was working! The girl wasn't feeling sick anymore and as he continued, daring only to give her little at a time, some color was gradually returning her cheeks. Even when he had finished with the entire bottle, their kiss lingered on undauntedly, pursuing to refresh themselves with how sweetly the other tasted.

 

“Are you better?” He finally implored as they broken away from each other. Even as his main attention was toward his ailing mate, the demon lord had not missed the fact that he had detected Kagura's stench a few feet away, lying concealed but not unfound. Also, he could sense that his half brother was slowing weakening in his battle with the Ookami king. It was beginning to overpower Inuyasha, even after been hit a few times by the Wind Scar and the backlash wave. All these seemingly powerful strokes from the Tetsusaiga were having not the expected effects on the wolf Taiyoukai.

 

Rin gave a clipped smile coupled with a nod of affirmation.

 

By now, Kagome had succeeded freeing Keiko from the vines, mainly with her sacred arrows. She carried her still unconscious kid in her arms as she approached to see if Rin was alright.

 

“Rin-chan, are you alright?”

 

Rin flashed a forced smile, one which made Sesshoumaru continually bothered and apprehensive. Still, the girl sought to appease him. She knew he needed to take leave to assist his hanyou brother in the fight and she didn't want to be the cause that held him back.

 

“Sessho, it's alright. I'm fine.” She pulled his fluff tighter round herself. His brows furrowed as he caught her shivering. “Don't worry about me. Kagome-san will be here. You need to go.”

 

The demon lord took an extended moment to decide, having full knowledge that his presence was required at the battle ground. He sealed a soft kiss on the girl's lips. “I'll make sure he pays dearly for what he'd done to you, I swear.”

 

With that and with a glimmer of heinous red beaming across his golden eyes, the first sweep of his poisonous whip was not directed at the Ookami demon but the one hiding so schemingly behind a boulder. “Kagura…I'm surprised you have survived. Are you so afraid to face me?” He roared as the curls of his lengthen greenish light stretched in a varied pattern, reaching out for the wind witch in multiple directions.

 

In a flash, the demoness did a pirouette and an elegant leapt to the night sky, whirling wind accompanying her stance. “Sesshoumaru, are we still so cold… after so long?”

 

The youkai lord made no attempt to answer. He merely shot to the sky, inflicting with the tip of his claws yet another of his vicious blows, then another and another. Several sections of her skin that had unfortunately encountered his attacks were marred with bloodied wounds. Kagura let out a sharp shriek as the sting became too unbearable.

 

“Is the Western lord now only capable of fighting weak women like me?” She darted in the direction of the Ookami king, taking shelter on a rocky platform behind him. “Or are you just not ready to fight man to man?”

 

Successfully dodging the most recent attacks of the wind scar, the Ookami king let the size of his form enhance till his head leveled with the top of the craven. He looked down at the two white and red figures at his foot, his one wolf ear now flapping harshly in the wind as his jyaki spiraled down to the undergrowth.

 

“And I've been informed so highly of the Western Lord. But he is only one who cannot even protect his own woman.” He folded his hands, rather pleased with his latest flare of sarcasm. His gaze fell upon the girl, licking amorously. “And I must add that the lady indeed… tastes like summer flowers…”

 

Without a second of patience, Sesshoumaru drew his Toukijin. He disappeared momentarily, rematerialized just beside the Ookami and slashed a radiant sword trail across him. After a moment of invisibility, Inuyasha caught sight of what was happening. The wolf demon had matched the Toukijin with his own sword and the two held on to their weapons, letting the jyaki and aura from the blades counteract for dominance.

 

“And she feels like silk too…” That was another of his too flirtatious words.

 

This time, Sesshoumaru was no longer dispassionate. He heaved a mighty push, setting them a couple of safe feet apart. He was panting and his fine features were contorting and lengthening as if he was about to transform into his true form… the phantom dog.

 

And Sesshoumaru felt it. Tenseiga… it pulsed. Why was the healing sword calling out to him? He couldn't understand. Instantly, he stopped his transformation.

 

Completely unable to be just a by-stander, the hanyou's brash methods of attacks of the Ookami began again, hacking and slashing away with sheer brute force. But none of it was working. The demon suffered merely scratches, Sesshoumaru observed.

 

In a blink of an eye, the demon lord had positioned himself in front of Inuyasha, elbowing him aside.

 

“This is my battle. Stay out of it, hanyou!” Indeed, the Ookami's words had gained their effects. The demon lord wanted nothing more than to avenge his mate with his own hands.

 

And it wasn't at all just a friendly shove. Inuyasha was pushed back thirty feet by its magnitude, landing unceremoniously into a pile of dead Ookami rumble.

 

“Hey! What's the meaning of this?!?” He grunted spitefully, wiping parts of the carcass from his fire rat cloak. “I thought we're good already.”

 

“I said. This is MY battle, not yours!” As he spoke, Sesshoumaru levitated himself in mid air, maneuvering through the night air with his Toukijin, swiping it successfully and this time hitting the Ookami head on. Everyone shielded their eyes from the glaring lights of the Kajinbo's evil sword. To their dismay, the Ookami demon stumbled back a few steps, the open wound sealing itself back as swiftly as it had been inflicted.

 

“Hey. Teme, Sesshoumaru, that's my daughter too.” Inuyasha was concealing his annoyance. Even his brother's killing sword had not wounded the Wolf Taiyoukai. In fact, he did not even shed a single drop of blood like all living creatures would. But why? “And we care for the girl too. Stop being a snob!”

 

Completely ignoring him, Sesshoumaru growled as he swirled into the air once again, charging still with much inborn grace at his opponent. The Ookami let out a smirk, sending a mighty punch out from his gigantic furred arm. It hit the demon lord bull's eye, throwing him back at least a hundred yards. Still, Sesshoumaru did an instinctual somersault, landing steadily on the ground.

 

Beads of perspiration were beginning to line the demon lord's brows as he heaved heavy laden pants, sticking his Toukijin on the mudded land for support. None of their attacks was working. This time, he chose to watch for flaws and clues, to observe as his hanyou brother battled on with the Ookami.

 

“Teme.. you bastard! That's for taking my daughter!” Inuyasha's inelegant strokes brought him no further than it did in the first place. Still, he blindingly fired wind scars and backlash waves.

 

And all this time, the Ookami merely passed several smug glances and sneers. He paused, raised his own sword, sending thousands of splinters of blades toward the Hanyou. Inuyasha placed the Tetsusaiga before himself, using it as a shield to fend off the attack and he wasn't holding on enough. He was slowly being pushed back and finally with a deafening yelp, he was repelled forcefully, his cloak torn in multiple areas and blood was dripping from his marred skin.

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome watched while carrying Keiko in one hand and supporting Rin in another.

 

The hanyou spat acrimoniously, wiping the reminiscence of blood from his mouth, continuing on with his straightforward slashings.

 

Sesshoumaru felt it again. Tenseiga… it was pulsing… Is it trying to tell him something?…

 

Why? Why wasn't any of their attacks affecting the Ookami? Why doesn't he shed blood? Why is Tenseiga pulsing? Why does he stink of the dead? Could he be…?

 

Struck with a sudden instinctive realization and heeding the calling of his inherited sword, Sesshoumaru drew the Tenseiga from its sheath, flying into the night air and across the body of the Ookami.

 

The wolf demon halted his attacks, taken aback.

 

What was that? He was bemused.

 

“What is this?” He laughed. Nothing was happening. “A sword that doesn't cut?” His laughter turned into a hilarious outburst. “What a joke! The Lord of the West carries a useless puppy's toy…..”

 

Suddenly, the Ookami stopped as he felt his whole form a slight pulse, then followed by another and then another. Something was happening to him. He was…. breaking up… disintegrating into thin air gradually…

 

“What the….”

 

“This sword doesn't cut the living…” Sesshoumaru finally intoned, looking rather bored and knowing that he had won. “It cuts the dead…”

 

“How did you know….Ahhhh….”

 

That was the last of the Ookami but even as it was disappearing into nothingness, the wind witch had watched on with much menace. She couldn't let it all end just like that. Sesshoumaru's attention wasn't on her. No one was. Perhaps, this could be her last chance to avenge herself, for all these years of suffering under the cruelty of the perverted Ookami.

 

Her mind set in an instant, she flung with all the powers she had possessed, into a most vicious series of wind blades toward the back of the demon lord.

 

But, it wasn't true that no one had noticed her every move. Rin had her eyes set on the wind witch the moment she had spotted her in a corner, shielding and protecting herself cowardly from a face on battle as usual.

 

You will be the cause of his downfall…. The previously callous words of the wind sorceress still stung deeply in her heart. Was Kagura right all along? Is Sesshoumaru going to … die protecting her?

 

No, she could never let that happen. Never to her most respected, most beloved mate… NEVER!

 

Without any thought of her own safety, Rin shot up, her arms circling round the shocked demon lord's back, shielding him and taking in all the blows of the flying blades…

 

From her position noting all that was going on, Kagome fired her sacred arrow, accurately hitting the wind witch when her attention was drawn to how the girl had run to aid the demon. Kagura let out her final scream as the arrow washed through her entire form, purifying all bit of youki she had ever possessed. In the next moment, she too dissipated into nothing but a thin sheen of smoke.

 

“RIN!” In a quick flash, Sesshoumaru shot up to cushion the girl's descent as she fell, the blood from several of her freshly inflicted wounds drenching the demon lord's white sleeves, turning it instantly into uneven patches of red. But the youkai didn't care. His sole attention went to bitterly cursing himself and figuring how things could turn so wrong, how he had not done his part to protect that one he loved so dearly, how she was growing weaker and weaker in his arms as self-accusing seconds turned to tormenting minutes. And he could no nothing.

 

Why? Why did you do that? He mused and spat inwardly though he couldn't mouth it seeing her like that.

 

The girl wasn't responding. She seemed distant, her irises in a daze, her pulse rate was swiftly falling into a dangerous deathly flatline. The demon lord could tell, she was struggling with all her might to say something but she just couldn't. Relentlessly, he started making the flight homeward… to Jinenji… to hope… when there is still time. Or is there really?

 

Rin blinked hard, trying to stay focused and conscious but she couldn't help noticing that everything around her was slowly getting brighter and brighter, as if smudging into a blinding but soothing glare. And Sesshoumaru, he was holding her and he was speaking to her but his voice was too muted and inaudible no matter how much she tried to listen in. It was but a soft mutter.

 

The girl smiled weakly. At least, she could tell that no harm had come to him. Kagura's predictions didn't come true. She didn't cause his downfall. She did not cause his defeat. Perhaps, that was enough for her…. for her to set her mind at ease… for her to relax… for her to… finally… take leave… Somehow, her eyelids had become too heavy, her body… it was as if she could no longer feel the pain… everything was slowly fading away…

 

“Rin, do you hear me? Don't close your eyes. Anata, please! We're reaching home soon. Hang on!”

 

What? It was Sesshoumaru's voice coming through a haze-like density.

 

The demon lord called out to the girl in his arms, his heart quietly filling and then empting itself of all emotions. Rin's eyes peeled open forcefully at his booming command.

 

“Sessho... I'm sorry…” Her lips were ashen and bloodless, her voice quivering and unsteady. Still she wanted to speak to him, to say all that she needed and wished to… if it was for the last… “I'm not a good mate to you. I've… failed you.”

 

His brows constricted till it hurt him, Sesshoumaru shook his head wildly, exasperated.

 

“That's not true. None of that is true. Do you hear me?” His tone had darkened and became stern, an unknown aching anguish stirred. “But you WILL fail me if you do not hold yourself together to get through this. You will fail me if you leave me today. I do not allow you so. Do you hear me, Rin?”

 

Rin heaved the weakest smile.

 

“Sessho… promise me something…” She attempted to raise her hands to touch his cheeks but let it fall as she simply hadn't the strength. The demon lord knew. He caught her palm, moving it to his cheeks as she had wanted it to be, letting her icy skin lightly graze through his jaw line. “No matter what happens to me, you have to protect our pup. It must live... It is …our only child.”

 

The youkai cringed painfully. Why is she always asking for the impossible, one that would just shatter and break his heart? Even if asked a thousand times, he would NEVER sacrifice her life for their pup's. NEVER! He could not bring himself to mouth a reply of any sort. He looked down at her, noting, beyond worried, that her pulse had just hit a one time low.

 

“Rin, you are not to speak like this. I disallow it!” Though he sounded harsh, he was in fact doing the opposite. He pulled her gently into him, kissing her temple carefully while keeping his other arm on her wound, applying pressure in hope that the bleeding would stop. But it didn't. They were no ordinary cuts. They were Kagura's wind blade.

 

“Sessho… will you kiss me… one last time?” Rin was gazing at him with a pleading look that stung him more than any abrasion he had suffered.

 

With that, he made a decision, a firm one. Yes, he had to stay strong. He had to be hard to her. He had to convince her. Perhaps then, she might gain the will power to hold on.

 

“No, Rin, I will not.” Even with that unyielding tone, his eyes had given him away. Still, he persevered. “You'll get that kiss … when you get well…”

 

Was he being too much? Was he denying her of what perhaps was her … last request of him? Was he simply too cruel? Internally, Sesshoumaru's chest was clogged with throbbing grieve. He hated himself... for being able to be such a complete bastard even at such times…

 

But the girl featured a sweet little frown. She wanted to protest, to argue girlishly as she'd always do, to perhaps coax him into it but….

 

“I'm sorry. I guess I won't be able to keep my promise to you. .. I can no longer be by your side...”

 

Sesshoumaru gasped. Rin's eyes were drifting shut again, she was giving in again, she was letting herself go silently.

 

Instantly, his amber eyes turned a deepened crimson as he shook her as hard as he could. He could no longer care about her wounds.

 

“What? Rin, if you break your promise to me, if you leave me today, I will never trust you again. I WILL hate you FOREVER! Do you hear me? I WILL HATE YOU FOREVER!” His voice was thundering and tears of rain were falling… not from the girl but from the ground, from Kagome now upon Inuyasha's back, chasing fervently after them.

 

His seemingly unfeeling threat was working. The girl strained opened her eyes once more as she matched his lovingly. Even after all the false vindictiveness of his words, Rin was smiling at him. She knew he was lying. She knew him too well. Her heart was feeling lighter every passing moment and her vision inching away from reality. But she had to say this to him… just this…She spoke but only in tiny voiceless movements of her lips, every word done in nothing but pure agony.

 

“I … love … you… forever… Ses…shou… ma…ru…”

 

And that was it… that was all she could say...that which was most important in her heart, her one and only love… that was all… that was the end… of her… of them…

 

Shocked and pained by her words, Sesshoumaru stroked her fringe back, lightly tapping to wake her. Perhaps, it was now or never… perhaps he ought to accede to…if he didn't, will he live to regret this if… if it was truly their last…

 

“Didn't you say you wanted that kiss?” He shifted her chin in place and sealed the softest yet most deepen kiss to her lips. As their seams came into contact, Rin grinned frailly as she matched him with all the passion left in her. But… her passion… her love for him... it was … forever… undying.. though she may be departing from him soon. A shimmering hint of a tear glistened at the corner of the demon lord's eyes as he tried his best to remember how she tasted like, how it felt like holding her, kissing her and feeling her reciprocate with such tenderness.

 

And then it happened. Her responses, her reactions were getting weaker, distant and more dampened, as if she was floating away. Still, Sesshoumaru forced himself to ignore that. He continued to kiss her passionately, to feel that warm silken lips slowly ceasing to interact with his. Her words, his own words, all that were said between them were flooding into his mind in overlapping waves…

 

Wear it on your hair… it suits you… I love you… I love only you… will you return with me… as my sole male… I want to keep this baby… it is our only child…Sesshoumaru… I want you to be happy… to smile a little more…to feel a little more… I don't know what else I can do for you … but you'll always have me by your side… till the day … I breathe my last…

 

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Hiya... at this point, I guess I better keep my notes short and leave you guys a moment of silence…

 

Thanks for all the reviews. I live to read them! ^--^

 

Hence…

 

Coming up soon…

The very final chapter of our story…

 

What dictates a good ending? A happy ending? What is reality and what is merely a faded fantasy? What is love and how much can true love do? Perhaps we are but living in a dream we thought is real…. Or perhaps indeed, love is never meant to be kept but given… never meant to be coveted but to be set free…

 

Chapter 45 - A Dreamer's World

 

Will be written for and dedicated to James Lucient