InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hurtful Words: Past & Present ❯ The Past: Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is Copyright of Takahashi Rumiko

Hurtful Words: The Past
Chapter 5

Sesshoumaru walked beside the river, his gait slow and his steps light. There was a nagging voice inside his head encouraging him to move faster but it was easily ignored. He had to move slowly in order to save his remaining patience and sanity as the search for Rin was wearing on him. What little dignity the child had left him upon entering his life was slowly beginning to fade away with each day. He was searching for a human...a human girl...a human child.

There was a second voice that said such things did not matter.

But the search was going nowhere. The night she disappeared, he had waited until nearly sunset before he roused himself to look for her. He immediately followed the river downstream for longer than he thought he would have to until he was able to sense her. And even then that little hint did nothing to help him. It was a clever trick to leave the kimono she had been wearing hanging from the tree where it would dry and carry her scent across the wind. From there her scent led directly back to the river. He began to follow it again, convinced that he would catch up with her soon enough. But his next hint led him to the worst possible place.

A human village.

There she had abandoned the two kimonos she had taken to wash at the river. One she sold to a merchant who in turn had cleaned it up to be sold to some villager. The other, though it took him quite some time to get the information out of the petrified villagers, had been traded with the clothes of a young girl who worked in the fields. Now with her scent mixing with that of a strange girl's, it would be even harder for him to find Rin. He was beginning to wonder why he was still searching for her.

With that thought in mind, he turned around and put an end to his search, finally accepting the fact that Rin did not want to be found.

Rin walked slowly through the forest listening carefully to her surroundings. Already she could hear the soft trickle of the river, a sound she knew she would never tire of hearing. The river was her salvation in more ways than one. It provided her with a constant source of food and water, without which she would not be able to travel as much as she did. It cleansed her body and her mind when it was clouded with thoughts. It often swept her away from dangerous youkai. But more importantly, it washed away all memories of her past life.

A year had passed since she left and since then she never allowed her thoughts to drift to the past. She only thought of how long and where she was going next. It had become her habit, her lifestyle, to spend two weeks traveling through the forest. Sometimes she would go by foot, others she would journey by horse. Regardless of how she traveled, she would always stop at the first village she came upon once her time was up. There she would make what money she could working for whom ever would hire her. After a month had passed she would trade clothing with someone just in case anyone was following her scent and start the cycle over again.

But her precious cycle was to be interrupted soon enough.

Before she left her last village, Rin had begun to notice that she had been a little moody. It had been harder than usual to control her emotions and she wasn't sure why. She was happy at the moment, despite the strange pain in her stomach. She attributed it to hunger and thirst so she was more than pleased when she reached the river. When she bent to take a sip of water, she noticed that her thighs were wet as though she had used the bathroom on herself. Knowing she hadn't done such a thing, she lifted her kimono to wipe her thigh and noticed the trickle of blood sliding down her leg.

If she hadn't been in shock she surely would have screamed.

She panicked and jumped quickly into the water but she knew it was already to late. For how long she had been bleeding she did not know but she was sure some youkai was probably already picking up her scent. She scrubbed her legs, trying to figure out where the blood was coming from. Her hand brushed against her crotch and was stained red, providing her with an answer. Confusion made her crease her brow but it quickly went away when she felt the presence of a youkai.

Three youkai, Rin thought to herself. She continued wiping her leg as if she knew nothing and was glad that in her shock she did not drop her bow and arrow. She waited patiently for the youkai to creep within range before she turned and quickly cocked her bow. With her skills far better than they had been in the beginning, her arrow hit her target just as it stepped into the clearing. Without hesitation she fired two more arrows into the pig youkai's throat. The second stepped out and met with the same fate. The third, as she predicted, was aware of her tactics after witnessing what happened to his friends. He was already coming towards her from behind. She may have been out of arrows but she was not unarmed.

Rin quickly turned, pulling out her dagger from within her kimono and sliced at the youkai's chest when she was facing him. Though caught off guard and injured, the pig reacted quickly and grabbed her arm. She ducked before he could hit her and stabbed him in the stomach. He threw her roughly, leaving claw marks down her arm. Taking the opportunity, she dived into the water and swam away, glad that the current was moving quickly.

But the current was moving too quickly and she soon noticed that she was heading for a waterfall. She tried countless times to gain her footing but she needed both arms and both legs to stop herself. Her injured arm was more painful than it should have been and felt as though it was going numb. She could only hope she would survive the fall as she tumbled over the edge.

Before she fell into darkness, she passed a bridge and noticed that one side looked as though a path of steps had been carved into one side beneath it.

Rin awoke groggily, trying to fight against the darkness that had her captive. She had done so many times before and caught glimpses of shadowed figures before she succumbed to unconsciousness again. This time she surfaced, thinking that she was still in the river since she was still cold. But when she swept her eyes to her side, she found that she was in a dimly lit room. There was a figure in the corner, its back to her, humming quietly. As she sat up in an attempt to get its attention, the room began to spin, stopping only when she lay down with her eyes closed.

The figure turned and came quickly to her side. "You've finally awakened."

Knowing that she was in the care of a woman set Rin at ease for the moment. "Where am I?"

"At the Kotetsu village. My husband and son found you floating in the river not far from here. From the looks of your arm it was safe to assume you were attacked by a youkai." She placed a warm towel on Rin's forehead.

"Hai...I escaped by letting the river carry me down stream. By the time I realized I was heading for the waterfall it was too late. I couldn't get out with my arm so badly injured."

The woman clucked her tongue and began to remove the bandages from Rin's arm. "You are a lucky girl then, considering you survived the fall and the poison from that youkai."

"Poison?"

"Hai." She cleaned the wound and applied some medicine before beginning rewrapping it. "If you hadn't been on your monthly cycle and you hadn't been found, it would have killed you."

"I don't understand. What do you mean by my monthly cycle?"

The woman stared down at Rin and blinked. "Your mother never told you about your monthly cycle?"

The pain came and went quickly, a testament to her ability to control her emotions. "She died when I was four."

"Oh..." The woman rose and walked away, bringing back a cup of some substance. "Who raised you?"

Rin thought briefly of the inu-youkai. "I stayed with a youkai for a small portion of my life but I raised myself."

"Oh..oh my. With a male youkai, I assume, which is twice as strange..." She went silent for a moment trying to picture a male youkai with a little human girl. Letting the thought go, she quickly explained the monthly cycle of a woman to Rin. "The poison moved quickly and most of it was carried out by your own blood. The rest we treated as best we could with our medicine."

"I...arigatou." She did not know what to say since she was still somewhat confused.

The woman smiled. "Here, drink this and rest some more. You will be better soon." She handed Rin the cup and left her to her own thoughts.

Feeling indebted to the family, Rin stayed with them for two months, helping with their preparations for winter. Though her arm had been in a sling for nearly two weeks, she helped where she could. Now, free of the wretched thing, she spent most of her days teaching Ichigo, a boy of fourteen, to catch fish her way. By the end of her stay, their private fish reserve was practically full.

The Noboru family lived on the outskirts of their village on a small farm. They took great care of their land and in return it took care of them. Their daughter Akane, only three years old, was already eager to do her part so Saori, her mother, entertained her desires by allowing her to carry a small basket on her back which was filled with food when they harvested the land. At five, however, Akane would learn to sew and cook dinner so her mother could spend more time in the field. Ichigo tended to the harder work with his father Tadaki. When he was not with Rin he was taking expert care of the horses. He spent his time away from them helping his father plow the land or make repairs where necessary. The boy, very much like his father, was strong and determined.

They often reminded her of her own family.

It was time for her to leave, though she would regret doing so. It would be best for their and her own well-being. Rin firmly believed that she was not meant to have a family and thought it best to leave before she got more attached than she already was. But before she left, she returned to the bridge she had seen when she had fallen, unable to put the image she believed she saw from her mind.

"Ichigo, hold this for me." She handed him the basket full of berries that she was carrying on her back.

"What are you doing Rin?" He took it and placed it on the ground beside his own basket, watching her closely as she looked over the edge by the bridge.

"Remember, I fell from here. I saw something strange when I did." Sure enough, there were breaks in the side of the mountain that looked like steps. Something inside her pushed her to find where they led and giving into her instincts, she tried to make her way towards them.

It took her till nearly sunset to make her way down. She was sure the steps had been crafted by a human hand, though she did not know how. It led directly down beneath the bridge, hiding her from sight from either end of the bridge. The steps ended suddenly and it took her awhile to see that they began to move vertically towards the waterfall. When she was completely behind the waterfall, a sturdy ledge was waiting for her. Again, she believed that it and the small opening she found in front of it was man made. After making a second trip down with a torch, she was surprised to find a cavern past the opening.

Rin made her way back up and gathered her things slowly, still stunned from her find. "Ichigo. I think I have found a place to live."

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