InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Healing Hands ❯ Healing Hands Part 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Healing Hands Part 7

Inu-Yasha Fanfiction

By Kittyonnails

"Sesshomaru" The toad-demon growled the name as much as his slimy vocal chords would allow. "That ungrateful demon will soon understand his father's mistake." He turned to face his ally, a human monk with two scars down his right cheek. The monk nodded.

"We should mobilize if he is finally returning. No reason to give them time to get comfy." He turned abruptly and left the toad-demon alone. Jakken slunk off into the edges of the forest that surrounded them.

* * * *

It was like a hot bath after a long battle. Sesshomaru stood on the large rock in the center of his garden. From all around him he heard calls and shuffling feet. No doubt his brother and the rest of the household had known of his coming. He inhaled, smelling that Rin was there. If the mansion and all his territories had been taken over by human bandits that would be fine, so long as Rin were there.

First on the scene was Inu-Yasha. Of course, Sesshomaru reminded himself, Inu-Yasha was the fastest. Only moments behind him, Rin peeked out of the open shoji behind Inu-Yasha.

"Welcome home, brother." Inu-Yasha bowed to him. Sesshomaru only managed a half-hearted return, before he leapt to the walkway. He stood only inches from Rin. He could reach out and touch her easily, but he found himself suddenly unsure.

"Rin." He stared down into her brown eyes. She trembled for a second, then averted her eyes and bowed low.

"Master Sesshomaru, welcome home."

Sesshomaru's heart fell. He had journeyed and battled for this woman, and she had done the same for him. Yet she still expected that she was his servant? Even his half-brother, who stood silently nearby, seemed surprised by her formality.

"Rin, stand up." He watched her rise, seeing the hope in her eyes gave him the courage to continue. Spending over a month with Yuki-Onna gave him enough control not to confess love to her, but he desperately wanted to. In front of Inu-Yasha, such things could not occur.

"Do not bow to me as a servant. You are no longer a mere human woman, if you choose to be, you are the lady of this house. Because of your choice, you are an immortal creature worthy of such a position. Do you accept?" Sesshomaru had never anticipated an answer so fearfully. Even when they faced the Almighty Buddha himself, the worst Rin could do was choose the path she was born to. Now though, if she chose anything but what he offered her, if was him and him alone that was being rejected.

"Lady of the Western Lands?" Rin looked up into Sesshomaru's stoic face with a sweet smile. "I accept, my lord." Together they walked into the warmth of the mansion's inner chambers.

* * * *

"And so my former master has cast me aside to take a human woman as his lady. It is an insult to all demo nesses! It is an insult to the upper classes of demons, who know not to dally with humans. Like we did his father before him, I say we rise up and wipe this blemish from the history of demon kind!" Jakken waved the staff of heads about dramatically as cries of agreement rose around him. He was doing his part, getting the masses of demons riled up against Sesshomaru's intentions towards Rin. He had never expected that his master had such as soft spot for humans. He had always thought that weakness to have been a fault that died with Lord Sesshomaru's father. Unfortunately for Jakken, it had not been so. That soft spot for human women had also appeared in Sesshomaru. Now Jakken was doing just as he had those many years ago, after Inu-Yasha's birth. He was rallying the demons of the western lands to punish their lord for his failings. It was just luck that Jakken had run into the young monk, Taromaru. Taromaru had told him the story of Rin's death by healing, and Sesshomaru's quest to bring her back from the land of the dead. The monk's acute senses had been enough to alert them to Sesshomaru's return a two years later. Now they were finally on the verge of an all-out war. Taromaru and the humans would attack from one side, and Jakken would lead the demons in an attack from the other. Sesshomaru was just one demon, the last of his line. Even one so powerful as he could not defeat the hoards brought on him by Jakken and Taromaru. No one would allow Inu-Yasha to continue, being a half-breed, and Sesshomaru had no heir. This time, their line would be extinguished.

"A demon who dallies with human women, is no demon at all." Jakken shouted to the enthusiastic crowd. They would attack at daybreak, just as planned.

* * * *

"What's wrong Kagome?" Inu-Yasha nudged her dish of oyako-don towards her. "You seem really out of it."

Kagome shuffled Mariko in her arms and turned to Inu-Yasha. She sighed and looked down at the dish, watching it grow cold.

"It's just that I've got this bad feeling." She stirred the rice at the bottom of the bowl, and lifted a bit of chicken to her mouth.

"Nothing bad is going to happen Kagome. I'm sad that we're going to have to leave here too, but that doesn't mean we are in danger. Even if we were, I'd protect you, and you know Miroku and I can do a lot of damage. Even more now, with Sesshomaru on our side."

She set her chopsticks across her bowl and looked down into her baby's sleeping face.

"It's not us that's in danger, It's Sesshomaru. I just have this feeling like, everyone hates him for something. I think the something bad is intended for him." She tried another bite of her oyako-don, watching Inu-Yasha's face as she chewed. He seemed to finally be taking her seriously. His expression had darkened and he was staring into nothing, lost in thought.

There was a soft knock at the door and it slid open to reveal Rin's smiling face. She slipped into the room and lifted Mariko from her mother's arms, cooing at the infant.

"Inu-Yasha, would you like to introduce Lord Sesshomaru to his newborn niece?" She rocked the baby gently and waited for a response.

"Yes, I need to talk to my brother." He replied, sending a concerned look to Kagome. She nodded, knowing he meant to discuss her premonitions with Sesshomaru. Rin smiled and bowed to Kagome as she followed Inu-Yasha out into the hallway.

They found Sesshomaru in his study, reading over the daily logs Inu-Yasha had taken over the past two years. He stood up and greeted them. Rin offered him the child.

"This is my firstborn, a daughter. We have named her Mariko." Sesshomaru did not take the child from Rin, but he did look at her with interest. This was the first child born of his line since Inu-Yasha. The little baby had the very beginnings of white hair on her head, and two little dog-ears just like her father. Her big brown eyes looked up at him with interest and awe.

"Surely she will bring you honor, brother." He turned away from the infant and seated himself at his desk, scanning the papers in front of him. Rin bowed and slipped out the door, returning the child to it's mother. Inu-Yasha's eyes followed his daughter as far as they could. Sesshomaru too, seemed to hold his breath until the women were out of sight.

"You handled yourself quite well in my absence." He commented, not looking up from the documents. Inu-Yasha felt his face flush with pride. Sesshomaru never had a kind word for anyone, especially not his half-breed brother. He bowed and seated himself in front of the desk where he had labored the past two years. He had come to truly love living in his brother's house and would be sad to see it all go, even if it had only been two years. Inu-Yasha shook the nostalgia from his mind, more pressing matters were at hand.

"Kagome has sensed a danger intended for you, I think it would be wise to investigate. Her premonitions are almost always correct." Sesshomaru looked up and studied his brother. He too had sensed this threat, but it was so widespread and strong that Inu-Yasha's priestess-wife, a mere human, had become aware of it? He was unsure.

"Where did she sense this danger from?" He asked, feigning nonchalance.

"Well, she didn't say. I guess her feeling wasn't that specific. Still, I think we should look into it." Inu-Yasha was embarrassed that he couldn't answer his brother's question, but he was sure Kagome's premonition was correct, and he had to make Sesshomaru take it seriously.

"It seems to come from all sides, that is why she can't pinpoint it." Sesshomaru looked his brother straight in the eye, "I've been reviewing all of your notes, and I can't find a clue as to what might be going on. Do you have any ideas as to where we might find this insurrection or what has caused it?" Inu-Yasha hung his head. He did not know. As far as he had known, the lands had been moderately peaceful, and no ill will was harbored that was unusually strong or menacing.

"Where is Jakken?" Sesshomaru already knew the toad-demon was missing, and he had his suspicions. Jakken had lead the attack on their father and Inu-Yasha's mother. That was what had initially convinced Sesshomaru to take Jakken into his service. Now there was no sign of the devious little creature.

"Jakken? He left right after you did. I thought you had taken him with you." Sesshomaru shifted his left arm and rested his chin on the back of his hand.

"Inu-Yasha, Jakken is the demon who rallied for the attack on our father and your mother. Never has their lived a bigger opponent of human-demon tryst and romance. If he left my service as I traveled for Rin, that can only mean he is behind this new threat. We must find that toad-demon."

"Jakken? But he is weak. He is a coward. How could such an insignificant little thing do so much damage? To destroy our father, my mother, and even you? It can't be true!"

"Do not doubt me little brother. He is indeed a coward, but a coward can sometimes be more dangerous than a brave demon. Jakken enlists the idiot creatures and prideful demons to fight in his stead. Masses so great that even your Tetsusaiga could not fell them. Do you remember the battle that killed our father?" Inu-Yasha shook his head.

"I was very young then. All I remember was being sealed up and sent away from my mother."

"I was young also, but not too young to fight. In the heat of the battle, Jakken made his way to me and used my youth and ignorance to win my trust. He played on my feelings of injustice and jealousy about my father's new wife and his abandonment of my mother, a great demoness. I was young then, but I'm sure he knows I no longer have those weaknesses. His crusade, it appears, has not changed. He is still looking to destroy all demons who pair with humans." Sesshomaru smirked suddenly. "I suppose that you have managed to register insignificant by virtue of your half-breed status. Most likely much more fuss would be raised if you were paired with a demoness." Inu-Yasha slammed a fist down on the tatami floor.

"That slime, he must be stopped. Human-demon separation is stupid, and what business of his is it who loves whom?!" Inu-Yasha embellished his words with a frustrated wave of his claws. Sesshomaru, stoic as ever, nodded and looked down at the papers that lay across his desk. Shuffling through them, he began to put them away.

"Keep your temper, little brother. We can easily defeat Jakken, if we get to him first. We will leave tonight." He began rolling the scrolls up, one at a time. Inu-Yasha thanked his brother and left to tell Kagome what had been decided.

* * * *

"Honorable Monk, are you sure we will find a demon in that lair?" One of the many townsfolk Taromaru had gathered looked skeptically from him to the distant mansion. They had traveled all night up the mountain to get to this large grassy plain. Here lay the estate of the Great Demon of the Western Lands, Lord Sesshomaru.

"You fool, it was in that very mansion where the fiend gave me these!" Taromaru pointed to the ugly scars across his cheek. The horde marched through the tall grass in relative silence. Until they reached a large granite outcropping.

"This is where we will await dawn's first light." Taromaru informed the men. "Set up the wards!" one of the others called out the order that would keep them safe while they waited. Special spirit wards like the ones that had protected the Temple of Innocence were brought out and placed strategically around the camp to hide their location from the great demon and his household. The humans built their camp fires and bedded down for the night, anticipating the battle that would come in the morning.

Taromaru slipped out of the camp and shuffled through the tall grass, making a wide circle around the mansion to avoid detection. Finally, he reached the high grounds on the northern side of the mansion. He carefully approached the demon camp and asked to speak with Jakken.

* * * *

Sesshomaru and Inu-Yasha stood together at the gates of the estate, surveying the surrounding plane. The air smelled strange, and it made them equally nervous.

"I can't tell if anyone's near, but something's not right." Inu-Yasha turned to the north. Sesshomaru nodded and transformed into his true form, the fearsome white dog. He nodded to his brother and they set off to the north to investigate.

They did not have to travel far. Only a mile from the estate they found an army of demons, the first wave of Jakken's attack plan. They were mostly forest demons, Tengu and Kappa. Things easily decimated by the brothers. Sesshomaru sniffed the air once more, and led the way northward, then to the east. As they traveled, they continued to encounter small armies traveling towards the estate, ready to make war.

The demon armies were not much to deal with individually, but both Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru knew what numbers like these could have done had they all attacked at once. Inu-Yasha had never seen his brother fight so well. Sesshomaru had fought many battles, and decimated many demons in front of his younger brother, but he had always appeared to be doing it out of boredom. This battle, he seemed inspired. That passion translated into his killing bite as he swooped down on drove after drove of insubordinate demon filth.

"This is the fifth group, and still no sign of your former assistant!" Inu-Yasha stopped, reluctant to travel any further from the home they were defending. Sesshomaru turned to him, his white fur bloodied from battle, and poison dripping from his fangs onto the bodies beneath him, hissing as it hit in acidic green droplets. He shifted back to the form of a man.

"The coward probably slipped out somewhere along the line. He would never stand up to us in a battle." Sesshomaru turned back to face the estate.

"No!" His eyes grew red, and he began to shift form unconsciously.

"Inu-Yasha, we must get back!" As soon as he had spoke, Sesshomaru began to run back the way they had come at an incredible pace. Inu-Yasha could not keep up. Soon, Sesshomaru's form was just a dot on the horizon. Still running full speed, the sensation hit Inu-Yasha when he was still several miles away, the mansion was under attack!

* * * *

Miroku had been left to defend the estate while Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru investigated the unknown threat. It had seemed the lighter of the two tasks, until the sun rose. That is when the attack began. Neither Sesshomaru nor Inu-Yasha had said anything about a human army seeking to destroy the estate.

It had been impossible to keep them at bay for long. Their numbers overwhelmed the four defenders quickly. Kagome was in no condition for fighting, but she sat in the study on the second floor and shot her arrows into the invaders with deadly accuracy. Miroku and Sango fought like a well-oiled machine, killing all comers, but there were just so many of them. Rin had been sent to the cellar with the children to keep them safe and hidden, since Rin had no fighting ability. Sango had been wounded, and the four hours of battle had run Kagome out of arrows.

Alone in the house, Kagome made a run for the weapons room. She was sure Sesshomaru would have some arrows there. She hadn't missed one shot, but there was no way to kill all of the men who chopped and hacked at the walls surrounding the estate. She had almost made it to the armory when she heard a crashing sound. The wall near the garden had collapsed, they were in! Kagome's thoughts went to Mariko, her newborn child. Rin was huddled in the blackness of the cellar with the baby and two-year-old, Masahiro. She ran for the armory and shouldered the two quivers that were left, turning without pause for the garden.

Rin lay the sleeping baby on the dirt floor. The sounds of men pounding on the door had scared little Masahiro and he was crying loudly. She gave him a quick hug and whispered in his ear,

"You have to defend Mari-chan, and I have to defend you. Stay here in the dark with her and be very quiet. I will go and keep them away from you." She handed the little boy a slice of cucumber and wrapped another blanket around his shoulders. He quieted and sat on the ground next to the sleeping infant. Rin didn't know what she was going to do to defend the children without any weapons or skills, but she knew she had to do something, or else the attackers would be upon them.

The door had been sealed by Miroku's spirit wards, thinking the threat would be from a demonic force. The wards were cumbersome for humans, but totally removable. The last one must have come off just as Rin reached the door. The daylight blinded Rin as the huge door swung open suddenly. She shrieked and threw up her arms in defense against the blinding. As she did, she felt the nerves at the tips of her fingers pop simultaneously. When she heard the cries of wounded men, she looked up and saw two men in front of her clutching their burnt-out eyes. Rin wondered if it had been just luck, or if she had actually managed to harm her attackers. As three more moved in to take the place of the two she had blinded, Rin knew there was only one way to find out. She concentrated on one of the men, and snapped her fingers, signaling his heart to stop. He clutched his breast and fell down. Rin smiled and shut down the respiratory system of the second man. He fell on his companion who turned a fearful face to her.

"Please, No! Don't Kill me!" He cried. She pointed her index and middle fingers at him and he was blind. From the other side of the garden, she could see Kagome, shooting straight and thinning the numbers who made it through the gaping hole in the perimeter wall. She could sense Kagome's body tiring from the strain of battle, and paused to heal the lactic acid burns in her muscles.

A great shout went through the crowd of plundering men as the sky darkened. Rin looked up and smiled. It was Sesshomaru, returning home at last. He descended on the chaos in his true demon form, a form so fearsome that many of the intruders ran at the mere sight of him. A few braver men remained, and soon they had been returned to the Buddha. Rin watched the battle from the doorway of the cellar, silently disabling any who came too near.

It was almost over when Inu-Yasha arrived, but he did so with a flourish. He landed on the large rock in the center of the garden holding a quivering bundle of brown and green in his claws.

"Sesshomaru, I have brought you a present!" He shouted. The elder demon shifted form and approached Inu-Yasha, his eyes still red from battle. Kagome ran from her position just inside the kitchen doorway to her husband's side.

"Catch!" Inu-Yasha tossed the grotesque thing to Sesshomaru.

"Jakken!" He growled as he caught it. It was indeed Jakken. He was beaten within an inch of his life, but not quite dead. Sesshomaru stretched his claws.

"Thank-you brother, it will be a pleasure to kill this ingrate." he licked his lips sinisterly.

"Stop right there!" Everyone turned to see where the strangely familiar voice had come from. A monk in black and green robes stood with a pressed to Rin's throat. Even with the two disfiguring scars running down his cheek, everyone knew it was Taromaru.

"Kill him and she dies too!" Taromaru shouted.

Sesshomaru turned a bored look to the monk. He stretched his claws again, letting some of their poison drip down onto Jakken's barely conscious body. The poison hissed as it burned his slimy flesh.

"Go ahead and kill her. All I need to do is retrieve her again." He lolled in a calm monotone. Taromaru chuckled and pressed the blade more firmly against Rin's jugular.

"You can't fool me, bastard. She's got no soul left. If she dies, she ain't goin' anywhere 'cept maybe hell." The knife sliced through Rin's skin, letting a trickle of blood run down her neck. "Now, drop him and I'll let her go."

"No." Rin looked Sesshomaru straight in the eye. "Kill Jakken, if he is responsible for the destruction of our home." She was fearless.

"Taromaru, I thought you loved Rin!" Kagome shouted, trying to distract him so that Rin could escape. He scowled at her.

"I did love her, and she should have loved me in return. I can't love her now. I know what she is I am a monk, do you forget? . How could I love a soulless murderess who loves a monster like that!?" Rin smiled at all her friends, who stood motionless, unsure how to save her.

"I am a murderess. I am soulless, and I do love him." As she spoke, she slowed his heart rate, ending his life on that last syllable. He fell to the ground at her feet.

"Kill Jakken!" She shrieked, pointing to where the toad lay dangling from Sesshomaru's claws. Swiftly, he shredded the slimy lump. Rin smiled, and ran her index finger across the cut on her neck, healing it.

"Rin, how did that happen?" Sesshomaru shook the blood from his claws an approached her in amazement.

"I discovered that I can use my healing powers to kill too, now that I don't have to worry about tainting my soul and weakening my powers by doing so." She smiled cheerfully at the group as Sango and Miroku arrived.

"Where's Masahiro?" Sango shrieked, seeing Rin alone.

"They're both in the cellar still." Rin pointed to the door behind her. Sango and Kagome raced for the stairs, returning with their children in their arms.

"You are hurt." Rin rubbed the wound on Sango's arm and mended it.

"Yeah, I guess all that's left now is cleanup." Kagome looked around at the garden, which had been completely destroyed. The southern wall had been decimated, and chunks of it lay all over the yard and garden. Bodies covered the grounds, and the plants and gravel had been trampled together.

"We would love for you to stay here with us to assist in reconstruction." Sesshomaru stepped towards Rin and set his had on her shoulder, "And once this estate is rebuilt, I shall enjoy having you as headman of the village where you previously resided, little brother." He turned to Miroku, "And you, monk, I would like to give you the lands west of that, where some of these fools were from. Both of you shall enjoy the privilege of leadership and I shall enjoy the security that you will provide. I know with allies like you two, this kind of attack shall never again happen."

"Headman of the village of Kaedae?" Kagome beamed up at Inu-Yasha. "We would be near home!" Miroku smiled as well.

"We would be honored to serve you in such a way." He bowed and they all began the work of reconstructing the great estate.

---------------------------------End Part Seven--------------------------------------

Just a note to all, this is only kinda the end. I do have another chapter in store, but it is not going to be the kind of thing that is essential to the plot. It will be the final chapter, a lemon where Rin and Sesshomaru finally get together! Available only on adultfanfiction.net (To avoid trouble)