InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Healing Hands ❯ Healing Hands Part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Healing Hands Part 1

Inu-Yasha Fanfiction

By: Kittyonnails

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Fourteen-year-old Rin pondered her plight as she prepared the bath for her lord. She was desperately in love with her master, the great lord of the western lands. His name was Sesshômaru. Her love was a forbidden kind, and very one sided. Sesshômaru had saved Rin when she was nothing more than a small orphan girl. She had been in his service ever since. She sighed thinking about him. Sesshômaru was one of the most powerful and noble demons she had ever encountered, and in her years of service to him she had seen many demons. She was just a human girl though. There was no chance that her lord could reciprocate her feelings. He could not even stand his own half-brother because he was partially human. Still, she owed him a debt for saving her life. Rin felt that even her lifetime of service could not be enough to repay him for saving her.

The door slid open and in walked Sesshomaru. He stood silently, inhaling the steam rising from the bath. Rin rose to help him out of his robes. She always enjoyed helping him in the bath. It was probably as close to an intimate moment she ever expected to experience. She knelt on the wooden floor and Sesshomaru seated himself in front of her with his back facing her. She gathered his long silver-white hair into a twirl and pinned it up in one smooth, practiced move. Rin felt her master relax under her gentle touches and smiled. She began to scrub at his back, making small round motions across his shoulder blades and down his spine. Her eyes wandered about his pale skin, resting on his left arm. At least what would have been his left arm if his half-brother hadn't maimed him.

Rin felt a surge of anger whenever she saw the remains of her masters arm. Usually he kept it well concealed in the sleeves of his kimono. No one would have ever guessed, especially since he could use his demon powers to bind a new arm onto his body for short periods of time. The trick was impermanent though, and the limbs would end up rotting away. He never even bothered when he was here, at his own mansion.

She poured buckets of water over her master's back to rinse away the lather, and let down his hair. She wetted it and began to massage soap into his mane. "if only a healer would come to mend his arm." she thought to herself, staring sadly at his limb. No healer would ever consider helping her lord though. Only humans trained by certain Buddhist sects could perform such drastic healings, and to do so after the limb has been gone so long would be even more taxing on the healer. Sesshomaru lost his limb in a battle even before he had found and saved Rin. It didn't matter anyway. No healer would mend Sesshomaru's arm because he was a demon. Supposedly humans and demons were sworn enemies, never to mix, never to suffer the other to live even. She smiled at her lord as she began rinsing his soapy head. The true practice was something a bit different from the teaching. Here she was, a human girl serving her master these seven years. Her lord's half-brother was born of a union between a human princess and his father. That half-demon was also mated to a human priestess. Yes, the reality was far different from the theory.

"perhaps then, a healer would come to heal my lord." Rin combed Sesshomaru's hair out in sections as she excitedly thought of how much he would like to have his own arm back. "that would certainly be a wonderful way to thank my master for all he's done for me." As she thought about it more, her heart sank. The procedure would surely be very expensive, both in wealth from the patron and in energy from the healer. Rin had all she needed here as Sesshomaru's servant, but she had no way to pay a healer's fee. "I wish I could heal him." she thought to herself.

"Rin" Her lord's voice called her out of her thoughts. "Make sure the bath is ready."

"Yes my lord." She turned to the bath, sticking her hand into the water to test it. She couldn't leave her hand in long though, the water was scalding hot. Just the way her master liked it, very near boiling. It took a lot to calm his powerful muscles after a hard day.

"It is ready." She bowed low as he rose from the little stool he had been sitting on and climbed into the bath.

"You may leave me Rin." he said as he leaned back into the steaming water.



Rin could barely keep herself from breaking into a run as she hurried down the hall to find her lord's assistant the toad-demon, Jakken. She knew how she could repay Sesshomaru. She needed Jakken's help though. She burst into the toad's office without knocking.

"Jakken! I have to most wonderful idea!" She tried not to shout. The toad looked up at her. She was grinning from one ear to the other. He hated Rin. She was always like this, even as a child. Eternally happy and always having ideas that ended up making him look bad to their master, Lord Sesshomaru.

"I only want to hear it if it involves you going far, far away." He sneered, looking back down at his little desk.

"It does! That's why I need you help Jakken." he looked up, disbelieving his pointy little ears. Rin would never leave. He knew how the silly little thing was in love with Lord Sesshomaru.

"what are you planning girl?"

"I want to go to the nunnery at the temple of innocence and learn the healing arts. That way I can return to heal our lord Sesshomaru's arm for him. It has to be a secret though. I want to surprise him." Her eyes were glowing and he knew she was serious.

"Rin, it takes years to master the healing arts. That wont' be easy, especially for a stupid spoiled girl like you." He meant to deter her from the idea. As annoying as she was, Sesshomaru had taken a liking to the little thing a while back, and would not be pleased if she were to come up missing, no matter the reason.

"I know he won't want me to leave." Rin interrupted his thoughts as if she had heard them. "But I just have to repay him. I can learn, I know it. What I need your help with is escape. You know he wont' let me leave here freely." Jakken nodded. Sesshomaru would certainly hunt her down and bring her back to the mansion if she were to leave.

On the other hand, if Rin were to leave her sweetness would stop causing Sesshomaru to do strange things. He thought to himself how Sesshomaru had always insisted on bathing alone, until Rin. Now the girl assisted him at every bath. Many other such small instances had begun to pop up as well. He began to see that Rin's absence was best for their Lord's dignity. After all, allowing a mere human to take the place of a privileged servant was just about too much. Who knew if that's where it would end?

"I can help you, Rin." he stood and lead her down the hall. When they arrived in the pantry, Rin was confused. Jakken pulled a few things from the shelves.

"Crush these herbs, mince in this garlic, and add that to this rosewater and this olive oil." He handed her the groceries and pulled out a dishwashing basin.

"Pour it over yourself and make sure to get ever bit of your skin and every strand of hair. If you coat yourself well enough with this dressing, you will be hidden from lord Sesshomaru's nose. He will not know where you are or where you have traveled. For added protection, soak your garments in it and dry them before you leave. The potion should last a few weeks, after that you will be on your own." he paused, plotting her escape in his little mind.

"You chose the temple of innocence because it is hidden from our lord, did you not?"

Rin nodded. "yes, ever since an urn keeper attacked the temple, the monks have kept it under a shield that prevents all demons from entering."

"When will you leave?" He looked out at the moonlight garden she had tended for the past few seasons, wondering how strange the mansion would be without her. The journey to the temple of innocence was a treacherous one, and he didn't really expect her to make it.

"Tomorrow, at noon. I will sneak away while Lord Sesshomaru is out for the day."

"Better get started tonight then." Jakken turned and left her alone to prepare the potion.

* * * *

"Master-Mushin, look!" Rin ran up to the fat old monk cradling something in her hands. Mushin sat up and strained to see the tiny thing. She presented him with a mouse. He looked from the mouse to the young nun.

"Now Rin, that mouse doesn't have any use for an extra arm. How many times do I have to tell you not to waste your gifts bestowing limbs on creatures." he wasn't exactly angry, but this was hardly the first time his prize student had spent the day adding appendages to whatever happened to catch her fancy. He had thought that she was confused by the religious images of the Buddha with several arms. He had explained to her that the extra limbs were merely figurative. She had insisted that she understood that. She seemed inexplicably drawn to create limbs. He smiled at her.

"Take it away. You have other chores to do. If you spend the day like that, you won't have any energy left tomorrow to help me with the pilgrims who have need of your gifts."

"Yes Master-Mushin." she sighed.

Rin was the most talented healer he had ever trained. He often thought she would have been able to cure his foster-son's cursed wind-tunnel if it still plagued him. She was also the most beautiful nun he had ever trained. When she came to him at the tender age of fourteen, she was a strange girl who could barely remember the human language. She told him a horrible story of being captured at the age of seven by a demon clan and kept as a slave. He thought such an ordeal would have turned her heart too cold to practice the healing arts, but she proved to be a warm, sunny girl with a gift for healing. He was certain that her gift is what had brought her to him. He watched her retreating form, remembering the small girl with her head freshly shaven from induction into the nunnery.

Rin trotted back to the frit tree grove with a pout. Master-Mushin never appreciated her efforts to practice limb restoration. She had never told him why she wanted that skill most of all. She had never told anyone. Rin was certain that she would be cast out of the nunnery if anyone were to learn that she studied so hard, and honed her skills out of love for her lord and master the great demon Sesshomaru. She sighed as she thought of him. Though her newfound freedom had shown her how appallingly like a possession she had been to him, she still loved him. She had come to peace with that a long time ago.

She concentrated over the mouse, removing the limb was easier than adding it, and the tiny leg disappeared. As she freed the mouse she thought of her lord. Five long years she had studied here at the temple of innocence. She ran her hand across the long black braid that proved it. Her hair had completely grown back. That wasn't all that had grown. Rin had grown too. She was no longer the timid girl who ran from her master in secret. She knew she had left that way to avoid his wrath.

"Hey Rin!" a young monk about her age called to her, waving as he approached. It was her best friend, Taromaru. She smiled at him and waved back.

"So, you wanna fuck around tonight Rin?" He asked, smiling mischievously.

"Come on Taromaru." she scolded, "at least pretend to be a holy man."

"But Master-Mushin…"

"Taught you every sin you know. That doesn't mean you have to keep sinning." she sighed. The temple of innocence was such a joke. Taromaru was the only monk there besides Master-Mushin, and Rin was the only nun. No one came to the temple to worship, only for healing. The temple was secluded and difficult to travel to. No one wanted to be that far from there families, except Taromaru and Rin.

Rin, of course, had no family and chose the temple because it would hide her from demons. Taromaru had run away from his family when he was twelve. Apparently his father had been the headman of a village in the western territories. He never told Rin the details, all she knew was that his father had done something terrible and Taromaru hadn't been able to deal with the shame. Over the years, they had both seen Master-Mushin turn away others who wished to serve at the temple. Neither was sure why he had let them stay.

"Really though, Rin, I wanted to ask if you would help me out. I caught some fish and I wanted your skilled fingers to help me de-bone them." He nodded his head in the direction of the broken down structure in which they lived.

"Yea, I guess it's about time to start dinner, isn't it?" Rin asked as she followed after him.

In the kitchen, they found Mushin, carefully painting a spirit ward with a special concoction neither recognized. Rin leaned over his shoulder and tried to read the fancy characters, though she was not a very accomplished reader .

"What'cha doin'?" Taromaru asked, only half interested.

"Taking down the demon shield."

Rin leapt up, panicked.

"No! Master-Mushin It's not safe if the demons can find us!"

"find us?" Mushin smiled, "oh-ho, not to worry Rin, you are nun now, and you have learned much. You can defeat any demon who would try to harm you. Besides, it's been so long, I don't think that those brutes who stole you away will bother to come for you."

Tears welled up in Rin's eyes. She couldn't understand why she was so upset. This was what she wanted after all, to be able to use her gifts to help her lord. She loved him so, he had saved her life after all. Why was she so terrified suddenly?

"No, please Master-Mushin, please!"

The old monk frowned.

"Rin, I have to take down the barrier, some old friends are coming to visit. Friendly demon's are among them. If it will help, I can give you two days to prepare yourself for it, but we all must leave the womb eventually child."

Rin sobbed loudly and ran from the temple. She ran and ran until she found stairs. She climbed them as quickly as she could through the tears. When she reached the top, she was high in the mountain top. The air was thin and the view as amazing. She had always gone up here to be alone, to dream of her love. Mostly she went here to cry. She was surprised at herself. Usually she could feel a cry approaching. She would climb up here to this small shrine and cry her eyes out.

She turned to the stairs, Taromaru was coming. He never followed her up here. She stopped crying, the curiosity of his approach distracted her. He was still a long way down the mountain, it would take him a few minutes to reach her. She hugged her knees to her chest and rubbed her moistened eyes. Her shaky breaths began to smooth. Taromaru reached the landing at last. Rin didn't look at him. Her back faced him and she gazed at the valley below, her eyes were seeing something else.

"Rin." he whispered her name, as if in awe. "Rin, are you ok?" He approached her carefully and sat close, so close they were almost touching.

"look Rin, I understand, it's scary. I don't know what exactly those demons did to you, but Master-Mushin gave me a pretty good idea. I kinda wish they would come back too, just so I could kick their nasty little asses for you." he turned away from her and looked out into the valley, trying to see what Rin was looking at.

"Demon's are not nasty, Taromaru." she said it so quietly, he wasn't sure he heard her.

"How can you say that? C'mon Rin, I know I joke about it, but for them to…" He cut out, unable to say aloud what he was sure had happened to her.

"To rape me?" she asked, turning to face her friend. "That never happened." Rin sighed, turning her gaze back out to the valley.

"In fact, I was never even kidnapped. The demon's I lived with saved my life. I served the Great Lord of the Western lands for seven years before coming here." She wandered why she was telling him. Surely he would tell Master-Mushin. She would lose her life for her indiscretions. She wanted to look at him, her dear friend Taromaru, but she couldn't work up the courage. She just kept staring at the scenery.

"Why did you tell Master-Mushin that lie about being captured then? Why did you lie to me about it?"

"I am in love with my master, I came here to study the healing arts to better serve him. Do you think Master-Mushin would teach me these secrets just so that I could heal demons?"

"You love your master?" Taromaru frowned. "If you love him, then why did you throw that fit down there? If this is all just great for you, then why did you make us worry like that?"

"Because-" Rin could feel the tears flowing again, "Because I am afraid of him. Sesshomaru did not want me to leave him. He will hunt me down when the barrier is dropped."

"So he doesn't love you then? What makes you think, after five years, he's going to even notice, let alone hunt you down?" The thought was almost more than Rin could bear. She began to sob. Taromaru continued; "besides, Rin, how can you love someone you are afraid of? Don't you have to be able to trust in order to love?"

"I- I- ohhh…" Rin fell into Taromaru's shoulder as her tears overtook her. The emotions raging in her head threatened to consume her as she searched for solace in her companion. The tears did not stop until the thin air got the better of her and she passed out, never realizing that this was the first time any man or demon had held her in his arms.