InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Belonging to Your Dreams ❯ Chapter 1

A/N: Takes place post-manga/Inuyasha: The Final Act. This scene occurs 5 years after Kagome finishes high school and returns to the Feudal Era.

 

Rin's body melted into the ground, limbs comparable to a fish and rice mush left over in her dinner bowl. The hill's contours directly coordinated with her spine, aligning her in an earthy embrace. Sharp little heads of grass gently stimulated her skin like a lover's fingernails. And so she watched the moon far up in the night sky and felt it weigh down upon her chest. It was far too large and heavy and cold.

 

But neither languid nor oppressed were Rin's thoughts, running themselves in nonsensical circles. She couldn't sleep and was unsure about what was bothering her, not knowing what kind of activity or lack thereof could reorder her jittery mind. Nothing bad had happened that day; in fact, it had been the usual routine. Kaede arose before her and awoke Rin, who slept in the back section of the hut, in her rummaging for breakfast's rice and pickles. Rin quickly dressed, went outside to splash her face with water, ate, and began her daily tasks.

 

These assorted chores flashed quickly through her mind: mend torn kimono sleeve, gather herbs for Akiyo's soon-to-be-arriving labor pains, sweep away dirt from the hut, play with Inuyasha and Kagome's littlest child, and practice demon slaying technique out in the fields with Kohaku. To make up for Rin's missed childhood fighting experience, Kohaku put her through the paces, intensely exercising every muscle in her body with running, jumping, and use of the yari, her precious new spear. To give her the option of choosing her own future, it was thought by Kagome and Sango, Rin must learn how to defend herself against the youkai and bandits that threatened independent females.

 

Choose your own future. It was a heady thought for a girl of her age to comprehend, but that notion had been the binding principle for the time she was to spend under Kaede's care. While her contemporaries in recent years had been awash in the sacraments of betrothal, marriage, pregnancy, and motherhood, Rin was conspicuously unattached and empowered. Yet everyone had come to suspect, due to the apparent complacency on her part, that Rin would soon announce her desire to permanently reside in the community and further her studies in the herbal and medicinal arts.

 

“My days are numbered…” she spoke quietly into the inky darkness, the words rising up like mist to her only audience, the stars. After all, Rin had finished maturing a while ago; it seemed inappropriate to delay the inevitable and hop around the village like some fickle child receiving special treatment. It would be the easy thing, for god's sake, the enjoyable thing to stay with her easy-going, blended family and confirm their suppositions. I'll at least get out of training, she chuckled to herself.

 

And suddenly she discovered the catalyst of her distress.

 

Kohaku, while not making her exercises any easier, was nonetheless more playful and teasing than Rin was accustomed to. He showed-off the number of pull-ups he could do utilizing a thick tree branch while Rin panted on the ground, drinking water out of a gourd Sango brought her. He poked at Rin's physical capabilities, noting that she needed to become more in tune with her body and spend less time daydreaming, “up here,” while gesturing to his cranium.

 

Then, he lay down next to her, propping his ankles on a large exposed tree root. The normally soft-spoken young man apparently had something to say.

 

“Rin…even though I sometimes regret having spent so much time apprenticing under Master Totosai- missing my nephew's birth and enduring his discipline, y'know- it really was the best thing I could have possibly done for myself. Hard work really does have its benefits.” He closed his eyes and chose his words, “I grew stronger, more knowledgeable, more confident…I thought I never would feel worthy of starting a family of my own…but now I know.” Kohaku stood up and looked right at red-faced Rin.

 

“I'm waiting.”

 

At the time, heat-addled Rin had thought that anecdote was only to encourage her to work harder, that his final statement was only to signal the restart of her efforts. But now Rin sensed heavier, more substantial topics hiding within the short speech. Waiting for the right moment. Waiting for acceptance. Waiting for love.

 

Waiting for her choice.

 

Rin's world was about to start spinning; her closest friend in the small hamlet had made his intentions known. She curled up on the side of the hill, looking at the ominous moon again, and all of a sudden she could not control visions of white and magenta and yellow and amber, blurring movements as sharp as katana swords, swords which opened up the soul and sky, blue skies and flower fields of her childhood. Quiet forests, the presence of him.

 

I'm waiting, Rin thought.

 

It was far too cold to be outside for much longer, and the hut beckoned with warmth and safety.

 

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A/N: A prologue of sorts, this is a first exercise in writing in Inuyasha fanfic. Feedback is much appreciated.