InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fluffy Love ❯ Broken Halves ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2 - Broken Halves

"Rin."

His voice had the effect on her of being suddenly dunked in ice cold water. With a jolt and a murmured but sincere apology she resumed grooming him only to find herself short one comb.

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat quietly. She followed his gaze to the floor. The heavily polished surface of the discarded object gleamed in the firelight, the nightscape of precious stones and ivory standing out brilliantly. She quickly snatched it up, then bowed deeply in apology.

"Gomen nasai, master," she uttered, keeping her head low so as to hide to blush of embarrassment from her cheeks.

"It would serve you well to pay more attention to your work."

A fearful shiver coursed up her spine and she forced herself upright, a bright smile on her face. "Oh! Careless me!" she tittered, the heel of one hand rapping lightly against the side of her head in a pantomime of self-punishment. "It's just like Jaken always says," she scrunches up her face and raises the pitch of her voice to grating whine, " `Rin, we could crack your head open and find it as hollow as a gourd.' "

He remained silent, face unreadable in the dim light. The fire had mostly died down to the barest smoking embers. His robe hung loose and dry on his lean frame; she found herself wondering how long she had been lost in her memories.

"You have learned your lessons well, Rin. You have surpassed my expectations as well as Jaken's."

Her eyes widened in amazement. Sesshoumaru, voice as impassive as ever, continued.

"You are aware that you are of marriageable age?"

"Ha…ha…hai," she replied, voice shaking slightly. Her heart pounded heavily against her ribcage. Blood infused the delicate vessels in her face, sending a rosy blush of an entirely different nature to her face. Two compliments in one evening! And what did he mean by marriage? She could feel her body trembling in mingled anticipation and excitement. Momentarily she wondered if she was still dreaming. Sesshoumaru preferred silence to conversation, and seldom had he graced her with so many words. Compliments were even fewer and far between.

She suddenly found herself fighting the urge to touch him, to wrap her arms around him and press her face into his hair. It made her feel embarrassed and a tad guilty to be thinking this way about her master. Back then, during those rare times when he had actually held her, she had felt only a great warmth and comfort to be close to him. Now, when she thought of him holding her it was in an entirely different manner, and that effervescent childish feeling of warmth had now concentrated primarily in the lower of regions of her body and was anything but innocent.

As if he could read her thoughts, he stood, passing out of her reach, and turned to face her. She clenched her jaw to keep it from trembling. Some part of her, the place where these tainted dreams emerged, told her to collapse into him, wrap her arms around his neck and smother him with kisses; however, her instincts and upbringing told her to stay still, to wait patiently and do only as commanded. Kami, what a horrible servant she was to be having such thoughts about her master. She forced her hands, combs still clutched in her fingers, to her sides and cautiously lifted her eyes to his face. There were no answers for her in those carefully guarded golden eyes or in the hard line of his mouth. Perhaps if she possessed the eyes of a youkai she could gain some sort of idea of his feelings, but she doubted even the most prescient youkai could see through her master.

"I've made arrangements with Jaken…"

Arrangements with Jaken? What could he possibly be planning? He spoke again but she was so focused on his lips she didn't hear a word.

"You will go with Jaken tomorrow to purchase the things you will need," he finished.

"Na-nani?" Her cheeks were burning with shame; she had been so caught up in these inappropriate thoughts that she had completely missed what he had just said. "Gomen, Sesshoumaru-sama, could you please repeat?" she asked timidly, feeling her deep flush extend down to her neck. Her hands fumbled across the surface of the combs, fingers threading through the teeth. Sesshoumaru blinked slowly and moved to speak again.

"You will leave here tomorrow."

Her heart froze in her chest, her fingers clapping tightly over the combs. The teeth punched into the soft flesh of her palms. Unheeded by her, a few drops of blood spattered the floor. Eyes still riveted on her he continued.

"I have procured a home for you in a town at the foot of the mountain. Jaken has already hired a number of servants and guards to attend to you until such time that a suitable husband is found for you. Jaken will accompany you tomorrow so that you can purchase what remaining things you need. Is this understood?"

Her hands went slack. The combs, glimmering in the dying light, fell to the floor. With a dry snap, one broke into two, the halves springing apart and coming to rest opposite each other. Sesshoumaru noted this indifferently. The fabric of his robe rustling quietly, he moved to the door and pulled back the screen.

"Is this understood, Rin?" he repeated, a commanding undertone riding his voice.

"Hai," she uttered almost inaudibly. Dully, she registered the sound of the screen falling back into place as he departed. She remained motionless for sometime, his words echoing over and over in her mind.

Why? Had the quality of her work been less than desired? Had she somehow upset or annoyed him? Or-and this thought she dreaded the most-was he somehow aware of her feelings and disgusted by her? Her chest hitched painfully, tears stung at her eyes. Moving slowly, her limbs numb, the normal happy bounce of her step gone, she disposed of the broken comb and returned its twin to the silk-lined box. She bit back her tears as she turned the ashes over the remaining embers of the fire, the hissing smoke tearing at them with guilty claws.

The hallways were unusually devoid of life as she trudged back to her chamber. Sesshoumaru's suite appeared, a lone lamp burning somewhere inside. She forced her eyes away and her feet to hurry as she passed, dipping into the shadowy far side of the corridor and out of the light's reach.

It was not until she reached the safety of her room that she allowed herself to collapse, falling prone onto her soft futon and letting her pent-up tears soak into her pillow. Though she longed to wail, she kept carefully silent, even subduing the sound of her heart-wracked sobs. The walls were thin, and it would not do to alert any of the palace's hordes of youkai servants.

She would be starting a new life tomorrow, one without Sesshoumaru nearby. She was heartened somewhat by the fact that he had gone through all the trouble of obtaining her a house; if he had really hated her he would have simply had her thrown out of the palace with no warning, though this knowledge did little to brighten her spirits.

And marriage? When had she grown to marriageable age? When had the youkai lord cared for the age of any human? Did he find this somehow distasteful, her being of this age? If so, she wished desperately to be a child again, a child forever. That way she could always be near him.

Rin sighed. Wishes like that would never come true. She had been shown this simple fact long ago when she witnessed the deaths of her families at the hands of the wolves. She dreaded the thought of being bound into marriage to the first man chosen for her and acting the part of a proper wife, but if it was Sesshoumaru's command, she would do it, and with as much courage and will as she could muster.

She sniffled. Perhaps marriage wouldn't be so bad. Just the simple tasks of caring for husband and home and eventually children could possibly help her get through this abrupt separation. After all, caring for Sesshoumaru when he had been wounded, despite the fact that he would accept none of it, had helped to lift the dark pall of her family's death and along with it her silence.

This thought was somewhat comforting to her and, tears still leaking from her eyes, she fell blissfully asleep.

* * * *