InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Healing Hands ❯ Healing Hands Part 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Healing Hands Part 5

Inu-Yasha Fanfiction

By Kittyonnails

Inu-Yasha looked up as the door to his office slid open. Kagome carried in a small tea tray with some sweets. He smiled at the sight of her. She was just as lovely as the day they had met. Even, if it were possible, lovelier. The swell of her belly where their child was growing did not detract from her beauty, it enhanced it.

"Hello love, what is this?" He pointed at the tray.

"I thought you might want some snacks. I know how hard it is to study all the time." She smiled.

"Yes, there certainly is a lot to know. I had no idea this job was such a chore." Inu-Yasha pushed the papers aside and picked up the cup of tea she poured. Life here had become so comfortable.

"I guess it's yours now though." Kagome looked absently around the office that had once belonged to Sesshomaru.

"I don't know. Miroku still thinks he will return one day."

"After leaving us here for two years? Inu Yasha, there hasn't been any word or anything. I know your brother is a powerful demon, but he may be no match for the land of the dead." She paused to take a drink from her own teacup. "Besides, life here is so nice and peaceful. It's your birthright anyway. We shouldn't spend so much effort waiting for him to come back. If his post was so important, don't you think he would have stayed, or at least returned by now?"

Inu Yasha sipped his tea silently. He had thought about all these things, but he still could not imagine his brother dead. Something about the way he had handled the dead girl had told him that he was not going to stop until he found a way to come back with her. Miroku had told him that a person could be lost forever in the caverns of the land of the dead. He also knew that it would be difficult for a full demon like Sesshomaru to find the land of the dead. It was not a place that a soulless thing like his brother would have been welcomed. There were so many possibilities. All he could do was properly care for the Western Lands until his brother's return.

"No Kagome, we must wait. Give him more time." She sighed, and nodded.

"Yes, I suppose so. Just promise me that if he doesn't return, our children will have his post to inherit."

Inu Yasha nodded. Their children, he thought to himself. Kagome was pregnant with their first. It was not going to be long now before the child was born. Sango was here now, and she would be able to help. Miroku had also stayed, helping Inu Yasha honor what seemed to have been his brother's dying wishes. Rin's body was kept fresh as the day she had expired, waiting for Sesshomaru to bring her life back to it. He looked back at the scrolls he had set aside. He had more work to do before dinner.

Kagome just didn't understand all of this sometimes. When Sesshomaru had first left them here, she had wanted to leave it all behind and go home. Inu-Yasha had insisted that the only option was to do as his brother had asked. Miroku had backed him up and brought Sango to the complex. Their son had been born shortly after and this mansion was the only home little Masahiro had ever known.

Kagome brought her hand down to her own swollen stomach where her own child awaited birth. Before all of this she and Inu Yasha had lived a happy life in the village near the well. They had traveled between times and she had never gone more than a few weeks without seeing her mother. It had been just over two years since Miroku had suggested they all go to visit Mushin at the temple of innocence. In all that time, she had only gone to visit her mother once. Inu-Yasha had insisted on staying behind. He said that his duty was to the western lands, and he could not disappear like that, even for a few hours.

Kagome sighed, being pregnant made her so emotional sometimes. It was just like she was a teenager again. Her mother would be ecstatic if she knew Kagome was pregnant. She was twenty-seven now, and she and Inu-Yasha were so excited that they might finally have a child. They had been trying to have children for years now. Once, four years ago, Kagome had been pregnant. The baby had been stillborn. That had been a hard time for them both. Somehow they had managed to get through it, but it had scarred them both deeply. Now Kagome was seven months pregnant and she knew that she would not be allowed to go home until the baby was born. Because of what had happened to their last child, Kagome wanted to have the baby at a hospital in her own time. Inu-Yasha was sure that it was the time travel that had killed their first son. He also seemed to think that it was because they were here in his father's lands that she had conceived after so many years. Kagome was not so sure, but she was not willing to risk either her child's life or hurting her husband with that kind of disobedience.

Everything here in the western lands was so peaceful. Sesshomaru had kept things well ordered, and Inu-Yasha worked hard to do the same. He did not have his brother's ability to make major decisions quickly, but he was just as creative and capable of thinking on his feet. He had done a good job of keeping the western lands just as his brother and father before him had. Kagome was proud of her husband for all he had done and how hard he had worked to do it. Learning to be the Lord of the Western lands had not been an easy thing for a Inu-Yasha. He had been used to a much freer lifestyle. They both had. Now Kagome had to stay at the mansion and Inu-Yasha studied long hours whenever he was not on patrol. Every six months he had to patrol the borders of the western lands. It took a month to travel their length, give or take a week depending on what troubles he found. Kagome always missed him so much by the end of that time that she was almost crazy.

Except for the few times Inu-Yasha had to patrol, Kagome had come to enjoy life here at the mansion. She and Inu-Yasha lived in one wing and Miroku and Sango had the other. Having them around kept the loneliness out of the place. Kagome could only imagine how it had been for the human women here before her, Inu-Yasha's mother and Rin, how lonely they must have felt. For Kagome though, this place had become home. She was planning to raise her child here, and hopefully Inu-Yasha would stop waiting for his brother's return and claim the title that he had been working under soon. That was what they had been arguing over recently. If Sesshomaru was not returning, then it would be only right that Inu-Yasha receive the credit for all the work he had done as the lord of the western lands.

For the past two years Inu-Yasha had worked under the title of an assistant, to Kagome it seemed he was pretending that his brother was still alive. All in all it was hard for her to imagine that he missed his brother, since they had always hated each other. Something had changed that day when Rin died. The anger between then seemed to have vanished. Inu-Yasha had forgiven his brother everything on that day, Kagome wished that she could do the same.

* * * *

In front of Rin lay a peach and a pair of cherries. A gift from each of the men she had sworn allegiance to in her most recent life. She looked up at the golden features of the Buddha. Her debt to Lord Sesshomaru had been repaid. She had only meant to give him her life, not her soul. Now here he was asking her to forsake her chances to attain eternal peace. Could he even know what he was asking? Could she give up her god and her futures?

Rin looked at Sesshomaru hovering about twenty feet away. His expression was like nothing she had ever seen. He seemed sad, blatantly sad, but at the same time he looked at her with such love. She felt a shiver through her, and she knew. There was nirvana in his eyes. She didn't have to look any further.

* * * *

Sesshomaru watched Rin delicately lift the peach to her lips and bite into it. She seemed to be enjoying the fruit, until she swallowed the last bite. As she wiped the juice from her chin she suddenly burst into flames.

"Your decision has been made." The Buddha's voice boomed. She was gone, leaving nothing but the peach pit. Sesshomaru was able to move again, he ran to the place where she had been, calling her name. He picked up the pit and turned to the statue.

"What have you done with her?" There was no answer.

* * * *

Miroku walked into the room were Rin's body was kept, prepared to perform yet another decay cleansing spell. Every day he spelled the girl's body like that to keep her ready and waiting for the return of her life. He was taken aback to find her sitting up rather than laying on the futon as Sesshomaru had left her over two years ago. She turned a teary face to him.

"Where is my lord?"

Miroku looked around the room searching for any sign that the demon had returned as well.

"Isn't he with you?" he asked.

"I've been sent back without him!" She sobbed into her hands. Miroku knelt at her side and put his arms around her shoulders to try and comfort her. Immediately he sensed something was not right with her.

"Rin, what has happened these past years?"

"Years?" She wondered aloud, "Oh, I suppose time has passed much faster here. For me it was only a few weeks. I was in Sai no Kawara when my lord came to my side. Then Buddha called on us. Told me I was to choose between my immortal soul and my lord." She broke into tears again.

"You chose Sesshomaru over your own soul?" Miroku asked in astonishment. It was all making sense though, what he has sensed was that this girl had no soul. She was effectively no longer human. He could feel her flesh strengthening itself, steeling up for the long and un-aging life she was going to lead.

Rin's tears had subsided. She was staring intently at her own hands. She seemed to be feeling the changes as well. She looked up at Miroku and took a deep breath, letting it out in a shaky sigh.

"He's going to be punished isn't he?" She asked the question she was afraid she already knew the answer to.

"Most likely." Miroku answered solemnly.

* * * *

Sesshomaru found himself in an endless desert as the oasis where he and Rin had encountered the Buddha dissolved around him. From the sand, the image of the Buddha rose up and again he heard it's voice.

"Sesshomaru, I do not have many dealings with your kind. Mostly they are smart enough to stay away from my and my dealings. I do not appreciate having souls stolen from my folds. You will regret this."

Everything went black.

Sesshomaru awoke surrounded by cold. It was such a deep intense feeling, it was impossible for him to feel anything else. He opened his eyes and found himself in a world of swirling white and biting winds. He was somewhere in the middle of a blizzard. He strained to stand and felt a familiar stabbing pain in his right shoulder. His wounds from the battle with Inu-Yasha had been returned. He felt the hot blood ooze down his chest in little trickles that pricked his skin. He knew he didn't have much longer to live if he didn't get warmed up.

A soft sound caught Sesshomaru's attention. It was a woman's voice, soft and silvery, calling his name. Her voice was like a song he couldn't get out of his mind the minute he heard it. All he could do was to follow the sound. He hadn't far to go.

The form of a lone woman standing in the snow wearing a white kimono with long white hair blowing wildly about her in the storm surfaced. She stared at him with icy blue eyes.

"How do you know my name?" He commanded, knowing he didn't look that threatening, even to a lone woman. He was more than half frozen and badly wounded. Covered in his own blood, he was probably grotesque, but not dangerous.

"Come with me." Was all she said. Sesshomaru knew his only other option was to stay here and freeze. She led him to a cave. He warmed immediately upon entry. The shelter from the wind was like paradise. Only the cold remained to deal with. His head was throbbing as she led him down a corridor lined with walls of ice.

Sesshomaru noticed that the ice along the walls held the frozen bodies of many humans. He knew what it was he was following. A snow-woman. She turned and smiled.

"Yes, I am Yuki-Onna. Do not worry, I only prey upon human men. You are a demon who is trespassing on my territory though. What do you propose I do with you?"

Sesshomaru said nothing. He only managed to grunt as he collapsed onto the floor.



He awoke warm. The snow-woman sat on the floor, polishing the stone to a mirror shine. She turned to him and smiled.

"You know, you really have a beautiful body. Were you a human, I would put you on display in my chambers. What a lovely addition to my collection you would make." She sighed, admiring the frozen corpses trapped in blocks of ice lining the walls of her cave.

"Why are you doing this?" Sesshomaru asked, sitting up and gesturing to the bandages on his shoulder.

"Because I was bored." She got up from her place and sashayed over to the futon where he was sitting. She smiled at him seductively. "And because I understand."

"What do you understand?"

"I heard you talking in your sleep demon. You call and call for her, but she is lost to you. The life has left her. It is that pain that I understand."

Sesshomaru's face flushed uncontrollably. Talking in his sleep? How could he possibly? He opened his mouth to deny it, but the words would not form. All that he could do was say "I love her." As soon as the words were out he tried again to deny it. Again he could only confirm his love. He became so frustrated that he stopped speaking all together. The snow-woman laughed a shrill laugh.

"You are under a spell demon. But why? Why would you be spelled to be able to only tell the truth of your heart?"

Sesshomaru growled. He was beginning to understand what had happened.

"I paid a visit to Jizo Bosatsu. He must have done this."

Yuki-Onna laughed even harder. "Yes, I suppose that staff of his could do it. The staff brings self awareness. You've got quite a task ahead of you trying to control yourself so that you don't walk around proclaiming your love for her to everyone you speak to."

Sesshomaru nodded, that would indeed not be good. If his enemies found out how he cared for Rin, she would become a target. With her immortal soul lost to her, she would be dead eternally if he didn't save her promptly. That had already happened once. After all this, losing Rin would be too much to bear.

"I have to get to her." He told the snow-woman.

"You have to heal. Wait out the winter here with me. Even I cannot leave this mountaintop at this time of year. Not even if you were healed would you make it."

"No, I have to go to her now!" Sesshomaru growled the last part.

"Better to get to her alive than to die and have her find you in my walls. I warn you demon; I would not kill you, but I would not hesitate to add your dead body to my collection." Her blue eyes turned gray as she spoke. Sesshomaru leaned back on the futon. He was going to be in her company for a while. It was best not to argue anymore.

------------------------------------End Part Five--------------------------------