InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Civil Blood Makes Civil Hands Unclean ❯ A Parent's Reaction ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 1: A Parent's Reaction

"Ow! Hey watch it, Mom," the young man from the cave said as he tried to skitter away from the alcohol covered cottonball.

"If you don't stay still, I can't clean the wound. Now, stay still, Shippo," Kagome ordered as she tried to clean the wound on her squirming son.

"Just sit there and take it like a man," Inuyasha growled as he paced back and forth in front of the two.

Shippo snorted. "I never see you sitting here when you're hurt," he muttered.

Inuyasha just replied with his usual 'keh' as he continued his pacing. After his son's shoulder was bandaged, he stopped and looked directly at Shippo. "How come you smell like her," he asked.

Shippo looked up at him confused. "Her who?"

"Sesshoumaru's daughter, that's who," Inuyasha yelled.

"We got stuck in a cave together. It was after my fight so I didn't have enough energy to get out," Shippo growled as he jumped to his feet.

"You still haven't told me who you got in a fight with," Inuyasha growled.

"It was just some youkai that wanted to pick a fight with the son of 'The Great Inuyasha.' He attacked me, so it's not like I had a choice," Shippo grumbled as he plopped back down on the floor.

"And just how did you get stuck in a cave together," Inuyasha demanded as he stopped to glare at the son he and his mate had adopted years before.

Shippo sighed, knowing his father wouldn't stop until he knew everything that happened. Or, at least until he thought he knew everything. "After I got away from the other youkai, I barely had any energy left, but I managed to transform into a mouse and got out of there. I found a cave and decided to rest up in there before I headed home, cause, obviously I was pretty banged up from the fight, considering the fact that I still have wounds. I didn't realize Rin was in there, and by the time I did, she had nearly stepped on me, so I had to transform back to normal, which caused her to scream, causing part of the cave by the opening to collapse. The rocks that fell completely blocked the entrance and I was too injured to do anything about moving them, so I rested for a while, then when I had enough energy, I got out of there," he told his parents.

"You should have been able to smell her in there. And I don't want you near her ever again. No excuses," Inuyasha said, his voice hard as he gave his son orders.

"It's not like I had a choice this time," Shippo muttered while crossing his arms, wincing a bit when the action pulled at his healing wound.

"I don't care. I don't want you to have anything to do with her ever again," Inuyasha ordered.

"Fine. Whatever. Now, if you don't mind, I need to bathe. I'll be back later," Shippo told his parents as he stood and headed towards the door of his family's hut.

"Don't get your shoulder wet," Kagome called after him, her only response the flapping of the door mat as it swung close after him.

~*~

"I don't want you near him again. His family is dangerous and I don't want you hurt, Rin. Do I make myself clear," Sesshoumaru asked his daughter as he stood staring out the tall window in front of him.

Rin sighed as she sat on a cushion in her father's study, while he lectured her. As promised, she had come home and taken a bath, burning the kimono she had been wearing, at her father's request and his promise that he would have another one made for her. After she had dressed, she had gone to his study, once again, as requested by her father, to listen to him lecture her about staying away from Shippo.

"I understand, father," she replied.

"Good. Then you'll have no problem with following my orders, and never go near him again," Sesshoumaru told the young woman he had adopted as his daughter years ago.

"Yes, father," Rin agreed, not even bothering to try telling him it wasn't her fault she had been trapped in the cave with the kitsune. She knew she would have to sit there through one of his 'there are no excuses' lectures if she did.

"Good. Now, I want you to go work on your sudies, Rin. You missed all of your lessons earlier today, and have now fallen behind." That was his cue to her that she was dismissed.

Rin silently bowed and stood, quickly leaving his study. She headed towards a room just down the hall from her father's study where she knew her instructor would be waiting for her. Sometimes, she thought her instructor lived solely in that room and never left. No matter what time she went, he would be there waiting. Though, sometimes she got the feeling that he wasn't happy having to teach a girl. But she never let it bother her, and certainly never told her father about it.

If he knew she was recieving dirty looks from her instructor, the man would not live long after, and she couldn't stand to be responsible for the death of a being.

Sighing, Rin entered the room, prepared for several extra hours of work, in the hopes of catching up on her missed lessons. Just inside the door, she bowed to her instructor, showing her respect for the man, then, after closing the door behind her, she moved to her usual seat, and waited for the days first lesson.

~*~

Shippo sighed as he followed his father into the forest surrounded the village they had lived in since before he had been adopted.

The incident with the cave and Rin had happened almost a week prior, and ever since his shoulder had fully healed, his father had been making him train harder and harder. Apparently, the fact that, after getting away from the youkai that had attacked him, he had to stop and rest to regain some of his strength wasn't too pleasing to Inuyasha.

Shippo sighed as he once again got into his fighting stance once they had stopped far enough away from the village not to do any damage to a hut by a missed attack. They basically went through the same thing every day. Inuyasha would attack while Shippo defended, Inuyasha purposely wounding Shippo and then making him continue fighting with the wound. Then, Shippo would attack, usually with blood pouring down his arm or leg.

It would go on like that for hours, them switching back and forth. By the time they made their way back to the village, both were always pretty banged up, and then had to sit while Kagome cleaned their wounds and bandaged them up, lecturing them the entire time about how dangerous what they were doing really was.

Then, after Kagome had finished yelling at both of them, which was usually accompained by a hit to the head to each, Inuyasha and Shippo would go soak in the hotsprings to ease their sore muscles while talking about fighting techniques and things Shippo needed to improve on.

Shippo sighed a final time just as Inuyasha launched his attack against the kitsune. This was going to be one long day. He wasn't sure why he thought that; this day hadn't started out any different, and the days usually passed quickly once they started sparring. He just had a bad feeling about the rest of the day.

~*~

Rin smiled happily. In the last week, she had not only caught up on her missed lessons, she also got a few days ahead, giving her a day or two to go with Sesshoumaru as he patrolled his lands. She did have the option to stay behind and continue her studies, but she couldn't stand to look at another lesson scroll.

Her father had knocked on her room the previous night, startling her out of the scroll she had been reading. He entered at her call that she was decent with a look of slight shock to see another one of her lesson scrolls sprawled on the low table in her room.

It had been then that he informed her that she was ahead in her studies and, if she liked, she could travel with him for a day or two. She had agreed quickly and thanked him, telling him she would start packing right away. Sesshoumaru had told her they would be leaving bright and early, and that she had better be ready before he left her room.

Now, she sat on the back of Ah-Un, in front of Sesshoumaru, as they flew over a portion of the western lands in some random direction. Rin didn't know why, but she had an unusual feeling about the rest of the day. She just had this odd feeling that something abnormal would happen later. Sighing, and promising herself she would ponder the odd feeling after she woke back up, she let her head drop forward as she drifted off to sleep.