InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bring Me to life ❯ Night Before ( Chapter 3 )

Discalimer: Nope, Rumiko Takahashi still hasn't given me Sesshoumaru… (sighs)

The story…

{{{strange dream sequence}}}

Night Before

It was mid morning in a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Some years had passed since Rin had given him the Shikon no tama, in fact, Rin was now 11 years old. Everybody was busy doing his or her chores. Rin was picking flowers around in some of the meadows from the forests surrounding the castle. Sesshoumaru observed her silently. Then, Sesshoumaru noticed that a rider was entering the castle perimeters. He didn't have any garments that identified him as from any of the other three kingdoms; in fact, he had none Sesshoumaru knew of.

Jaken had just arrived from doing some errands that Sesshoumaru had ordered him, when Rin went running to the small toad. "Jaken-san, a man on a horse is going to come through the castle gates! Should Rin go tell--?"

"I know. I will receive him." Sesshoumaru had just appeared behind Jaken. His gaze remained icy cold as usual. "Go inside Rin. You too Jaken."

As he said the commands, both the girl and the ugly toad demon went inside. It took the rider several minutes to arrive at the castle doors. Rin and Jaken were spying through the curtains of a window by the huge wooden doors they had just entered. The rider was a middle-sized man. He had slick, velvet black hair, accompanied by a skinny mustache. He wore strange purple robes, with a golden seal on the chest. With some trouble, he jumped off the horse and walked towards Sesshoumaru.

"I bring a message to Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, to ask of a human girl called Rin, of whom is said to be living in this castle." The messenger said to Sesshoumaru quite flatly. Sesshoumaru thought about what he was going to say for a few seconds, then finally spoke.

"She is here. Now, answer me this, how do you know of Rin and why do you ask of her?"

"I was sent here by her Aunt and Uncle, Master Hikaru and Madame Kaneda Mongetuu, her only living relatives. They sent me here to tell you that they are one week's travel away from here, and they will come here to take the child to live with her real family." Sesshoumaru was merely processing these words in his head when Rin came out the doors instantly.

"I don't want to go! I want to stay with Sesshoumaru-sama forever!" A teary-eyed Rin breathed heavily. Her little hands were clenched in fists softly shaking. She rarely spoke in 1rst person. Sesshoumaru could only think of the word `forever.' `She wishes to stay with me forever? Rin…' Still, no emotion ran escaped through his face.

"Oh! The little miss is here! I come here to inform you that your Aunt and Uncle have sent for you and will be arriving very soon. They will accommodate you to a life of riches, where you will not need to ever lift a finger for anything." The messenger turned towards Rin, speaking in a flat tone, seemingly ignoring the sings of her own will flooding her eyes. At this point Sesshoumaru seemed to be in another world entirely, like a trance, looking into the nothingness of distance.

"But I already told you! I DON'T WANT TO GO!!!" She snapped back at him, while giving him a defiant look. The messenger halted at her little voice's sudden high note. Annoyed at her voice and his inability to talk the girl into her aunt and uncle's wishes, turned to Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru was completely absent of the little situation in the time being, drowning in his thoughts of a life without Rin. `My Rin… How should I live a life without the noise she makes, the trouble she causes… the flowers she brings me…?' Then, regaining his composure, an ignorant and harsh conclusion was brought up. `Exactly as I lived before her.' Even in his most intimate and deep thoughts, no trace of emotion was on his face. His amber stare was as indifferent and as cold as ever. His sight finally left the distance of his thoughts, when he noticed the messenger to be annoyed with Rin, with the corner of his eye.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, Master and Madame Mongetuu will be arriving in a week's time, and they will expect the little miss to be ready." Sesshoumaru's reasoning side took over completely, and he just silently nodded. When he turned to leave, Rin hid behind Sesshoumaru's legs and blew a raspberry at him, as if the meaningless gesture would scare him. The messenger heard Rin and slightly halted, once again annoyed by Rin, but got quickly on his horse and galloped away to wherever he had come from.

"Sesshoumaru-sama won't leave Rin, right?" the little girl innocently asked, back to her old self. Sesshoumaru didn't respond, not looking at her, but still watched her from the corner of his eye, and walked inside.

<<<<<<<>>>>>>>

Almost a week's time had passed since the messenger had come to the castle with news of Rin's last relatives. Sesshoumaru had finally achieved sleep in his bed, after a long time of reminiscing about Rin's leave.

{{{An image of Rin strolling freely through the forest. The wolf demon's vicious red eyes, lusting for blood. SESSHOUMARU-SAMA, HELP ME!!!! Help me!!! The wolf's bodies spraying blood. Her pale face, shedding tears. Their embrace. Her weeping. His kiss. Her arms around his waist. His fear. }}}

Sesshoumaru opened his eyes, sitting up, panting hard; his sight flying around the room searching for any signs of danger. His room was covered by a soft veil of darkness, only interrupted by the piercing moonlight from the balcony, which had a grand view to the castle grounds. The balcony's frame with the room had sliding doors that consisted of bamboo frames and a very delicate rice paper, almost see-through. Inside the room was a shelve in which were his most valuable and precious books accompanied by a mini study. Also a curtain made of a soft material that led to his walk-in closet, were he kept all of his clothing. And of course, his bed.

`It… It was only… a dream. There is no real danger, Sesshoumaru. Calm yourself down. She is safe.' Yet, this same dream had troubled him every night after the messenger's passing. He was worried about her. Her well-being. Her life. He felt that if he left Rin unprotected, she surely would face countless dangers. `Deadly dangers. I… Must protect her. But… she is leaving so soon, I can't possibly teach her anything to defend herself with.' For some time the idea was debated in his mind, when the solution came to mind. `It is the only way.'

As if on cue, a soft knock sounded at his bedroom door. "Se-Sesshoumaru-sama?" a soft voice asked timidly. Her presence shocked him somewhat. He frankly did not expect her to come to his room. Much less just after that dream.

The response came smoothly. "Come in, Rin." Rin's small and delicate frame snuck past the door and stood in front of the bed, waiting for him to tell her if she should move or stay.

"…" Rin quickly examined her master, who was sitting on his bed. The moonlight accented his features, his skin tone looked glorious under it. His silver hair flowed gently from his face, to his shoulders and waist, finally to the bed. His bed had four pillars, one at each corner, made of fine wood, decorated with small hints of gold details. The sheets of the bed and pillows were white, the color contrasting with his skin. Finally, the amber in his eyes glowed in the darkness with an intensity like no other. Rin felt a sudden rush of heat to her cheeks at the magnificent sight.

"Come here by my side Rin." Sesshoumaru calmly said, stretching his hand to her.

"H-Hai…" She climbed on the bed and positioned herself by her master's left side.

Sesshoumaru grabbed her hair and gently set it to her left shoulder. "Rin, did you want to tell me something?" "Umm, yes. I-- I've been… having nightmares… about the time when the wolves attacked me…" `She is not speaking in third person… Wait! Did she say that she had been having nightmares of the wolves attack?! Hmmm, the same as mine… What is the meaning of this…?'

But he paid no further attention to his thoughts as Rin kept speaking.

"… I'm scared. Sesshoumaru-sama, please… don't leave me!!" saying the last words a tear fell down her cheek, and without thinking it twice, she embraced him, just as she had done when the wolves had attacked. She sunk her face in his chest, feeling the warmth of his flesh against her face. She cried a bit more, her tears dampening his skin. For a moment, all she could think about was the feeling of Sesshoumaru with her.

Realizing what she had done, she was about to pull back and apologize, when he returned the embrace, saying, "There, there, everything is all right." He rocked her back and forth by instinct, feeling Rin a little more calm, and then stopped and released her; remembering what he had to do. Amber eyes stared silently at brown orbs.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" She asked in a soft voice. His face wasn't to clear to her. "Rin, tonight I will give you something that will protect you always." His reply came, as he turned her around, and he faced her back. Having already set aside the hair, he pulled the cloth of her collar down a little, so her right shoulder was revealed.

Feeling Sesshoumaru's touch on her skin, Rin jumped slightly. "This will hurt you, but the pain will go away quickly."

Immediately, Rin felt a sharp pain on the back of her right shoulder, but since Sesshoumaru had warned her, she managed not to shriek. She could feel her warm blood pouring from her wound.

When the pain went away, she turned. Rin saw Sesshoumaru making a cut into the palm of his left hand, blood coming out instantly. (Since Inu yasha had left the feudal era, and thanks to his own strength, the arm grew back.) Sesshoumaru's face showed no signs of pain or weakness from this. He turned Rin once again to face her back, and pressed his left hand onto her right shoulder. When Sesshoumaru applied the pressure, jolts were sent from her shoulder throughout her veins. As soon as his hand left her shoulder, the pain flew away from her body.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin turned to face Sesshoumaru, who looked at her back into her brown eyes.

"Rin, what I just did to you was not mere pain. I gave you of my own blood." He showed her his bleeding hand. Rin's eyes widened. "The mark I did on you shoulder is the same as the one on my forehead." Sesshoumaru pointed at the crescent moon on his forehead and Rin silently nodded.

"Now, no matter where I am, I will always be with you."

A small smile touched Sesshoumaru's lips. It was small, but it was a genuine smile. This was the first time that she had seen her master express an emotion of that kind to her. A mix of the effect of the previous words and her master's shy display of emotions left Rin overflowing with joy.

"Domo arigato gozaimazu, Sesshoumaru-sama!!" Looking down, Rin noticed that Sesshoumaru's hand was still bleeding, and quickly bandaged it for him. The smile on his face grew a teensy bit wider while Rin bandaged his hand.

Rin carefully grabbed the un-bandaged hand with both of her own, feeling the warmth of his touch once again.

"Aishiteru, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin said, not able to regain her composure, and she quickly ran out the door of the room, leaving the glorified youkai by himself.

Sesshoumaru watched stunned as she flustered out of his room. He did not expect this from her. `What…? She just said…she… Rin…' replaying the moment back and forth in his head, another thought came to his mind. `She mustn't understand the true meaning of the phrase... Hell, even I don't understand it's true meaning! ………But now, she is forever mine.' Then he was suddenly reminded of her nearby departure.

"Now, no matter where I am, I will always be with you."

The same genuine smile that touched Sesshoumaru's lips was traced on them now, but with a hint of pure sadness in his amber eyes.

End of Chapter Three

A/N: kumi: whew! Sesshoumaru's so hoooooot!!!!!! X_X

sesshy: I'm right by you, ya know…

kumi: ehhh?! @o@… oro, oro…

rin: on behalf of the crazy, obsessive compulsive otaku… review!!!