InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In a Different Light ❯ Control ( Chapter 25 )

In a Different Light

Chapter 24: Control

Physically exhausted from the strain of the healing, Rin drifted in and out of consciousness, her mind groggy but alert, her ears picking up snippets of broken conversation and the sounds of life around them outside the hut. Children were laughing and running, their high-pitched squeals piercing the morning's peace and filling it with the scampering of tiny feet. Village women walked by, chattering and laughing, carrying their screeching babies. Village men passed by with their heavy footfalls, occasionally accompanied by the clink-clink of metal against metal or the jingle-jangle of a money sack heavy with coins. And even a few horses passed by, whinnying and neighing, their hooves pounding against the soft earth.

From the amount of traffic, Rin assumed they must be near the center of a fishing village of some sort. Most conversations she overheard had to do with boats or netting or the day's catch, conversations her own mother and father had held. Her village had been a small fishing village, settled alongside the banks of the river. She'd learned to swim when she was two, and since fishing was the family business, even at her young age, she had no problem catching her fair share. Her father and brother had been fishermen, and she and her mother had repaired the fishing nets. In addition, her mother was a fine seamstress; she made all the clothes her family wore and took a few orders from others when the fishing wasn't so good.

Rin smiled inwardly in her half slumber. Of all the times to think of such things . . . She'd been so free in those days, didn't have a care in the world. No yoga, no Tai Chi, no sword practice. No Master Sumida, no Master Li, no Sesshomaru . . . No one trying to kidnap her, or kill her, or pit her against her family. No demons, no half-demons, no demon hunters . . .

"So much simpler," she heard herself murmur.

"Is that what you want?" a voice asked. "A simple life?"

"My family," she answered quietly. "I want my family." She heard a slight scuffling sound off to her left side. She wanted to open her eyes and see who it was, but her eyes wouldn't open.

"It's all right, Rin. We're all friends here; no one's going to hurt you."

Hurt. So much hurt on her family's faces-the gaping wound on her father's neck, all the cuts and bruises on her brother . . . and her mother . . . the things she now knew they did to her mother . . . the blood, the bruises and her ripped kimono . . . Screaming. She could hear them all screaming from her hiding place deep within the hollow of a tree.

The bandits had been waiting for them. They'd set a trap and lain in wait-not specifically for her family, just anyone who happened to be passing through the forest. "Don't hurt them," she muttered.

"Hurt them?"

Rin could now discern a difference in speakers; there were two of them. One of them was nice and soothing; the other felt as if it were eating away at her brain with every word. The carnivorous voice asked the questions, and she felt strangely compelled to answer. "Hurt them?" the second voice repeated.

"Him," she whined. "Don't hurt him." She received a sudden flash from Mount Hakurei. The snake-like blade of that odd man wrapping around her lord, cutting him deeply, splattering his blood on the ground. "No! I won't let you." She instinctively reached for her sword at her side. Funny, but her arms wouldn't move either. She couldn't feel any bindings or trappings, so why couldn't she move? What kind of dream was this? She'd never had this one before.

"Shhhh," the nice voice assured her. "No one's going to hurt anyone here."

"Liar!" she growled. Her eyes still wouldn't open. Her arms still wouldn't move, and, now that she tried, her legs wouldn't move either. What was this? Who was doing this?

"Rin," the first voice assumed a soothing tone, "settle down. No one wants to hurt you here. You're perfectly safe."

"Liar!" she ground out. "You like hurting people."

"Only bad people," the voice insisted. "We only want to hurt the bad people. Like the ones who killed your family, the ones who hurt your lord."

"Shut up!" She again tried to break her seemingly nonexistent bindings. "My lord is strong. You can't hurt him."

"Oh?" the voice asked. "I think we can. I think we can, and you know it."

Suki. The second voice belonged to Suki. Why did it take her so long to figure that out? What were they doing to her? She wanted to shake her head to rid herself of the gnawing sensation between her ears, but even her head refused to move.

"Everyone has a weakness, Rin," Suki said. "You have a weakness for those you perceive as family. That monster has a weakness for you. And darling Kimi here . . . Well, if she wasn't the disgusting mongrel that she was, she wouldn't have half the problems she has now." She gave a low, dark chuckle. "In fact, you'd be dead, now, if you were human, wouldn't you, Kimi?"

"Yes, Master."

Kimi was the nice, soothing voice. The one who'd told her to hush and everything would be all right. But she lied. Everything wasn't all right. Something was horribly, horribly wrong. Why wouldn't her body move!

"So, you see, Rin, Kimi may control you, but I control her. If you try to help her in any way, I'll hurt her."

An image of Kimi crashing to her knees, clutching at her throat sprang to Rin's mind. Her struggling to breathe, howling in pain, tears streaming down her face.

"And you like Kimi, don't you, Rin? And you think I'm a horrible, horrible person for hurting her, don't you?"

"You're a monster," she spat out.

"I am 100% human, and I know my place in the world . . . which is more than I can say for either of you two-a bastardized half-breed and a demon's whore."

This was getting old, really old. Couldn't they think of something else to call her? "What about Yori? She's a whore, too."

"Yori is a victim of circumstance. She simply made the best of a bad situation and did what was expected of her. You, on the other hand, have no excuse."

She still couldn't move. Try as she might, Rin still couldn't move. And what did Suki mean? Kimi can control her?

She drew in a deep, calming breath. Her body wasn't working, but her mind, though a little cloudy, was still reasonably sharp.

"Aren't you ashamed?" Suki asked. "Rutting with that demon in the middle of the forest? Abandoning decency and self-respect to pleasure him on your knees?"

"What do you know about men, anyway?"

"Nothing," she admitted, doubtless smirking beneath her black veil. "But I know plenty about women, don't I, Kimi?"

Rin heard a hard smack, then Kimi cursed beneath her breath.

"I told you not to touch me!" Kimi shouted. "I don't like it."

Suki chuckled smugly. "Heel."

Rin still couldn't see, having no control over her eyelids, but she knew the soft thump she'd just heard had been caused by Kimi, her body dropping to the ground, the vibrations from the fall shaking Rin's limp form as she laid stretched out on the floor. Not more than two feet away, she could hear the wolf hanyou struggling against, what could only be, a subduing spell. Unlike InuYasha's spell that lasted a few seconds, Kimi's seemed to last indefinitely. And instead of sending her face-first down on the floor, her rosary beads, doubtless hidden beneath her veil, seemed to strangle her. "Stop it!" Rin cried out.

A white, hot electric shock shot down the length of her spine, causing her entire body to convulse. She gritted her teeth against the pain and forced her mind to focus. What was that!

"Stay out of this, or you'll get more of the same," Suki promised. "And as for you, my little half-breed, do not forget who owns you, do not forget who subdued you, do not think to defy me."

"Don't . . . touch . . . me," Kimi sputtered.

"You've gotten quite full of yourself since our little guest arrived. Do you think she's going to help you? Do you think you can get free of me? Do you think you can just leave us?"

More than anything, Rin wanted to see. She wanted to see what Suki was doing to Kimi. She wanted to help the hanyou; she wanted to help herself, but she still couldn't move.

Kimi coughed and wheezed, her words coming out as little more than squeaks.

"I am your master, Kimi. And as such, I can touch you however and whenever I like."

It sounded as if one of them, which had to be Kimi, was creeping across the floor, the soft fabric of her uniform sliding against the floorboards as she inched further and further away, her breath coming in shallow gasps and gulps.

Rin felt the floorboards shift beneath her, and she instinctively knew that Suki had moved from a seated to a standing position, towering above her on her left side.

"Think you to escape?" Suki asked.

"Don't . . ." Kimi croaked.

"Why must you make everything so difficult?" Suki asked, her footfalls slowly receding in Kimi's direction. "You and I could be great friends, yet you still insist on resisting me-even after all these years."

"Stronger!" she choked out. "I've . . . gotten . . . stronger . . . I . . . can . . . resist!"

"Heel!"

Rin heard a loud gasp then nothing. "Kimi?" she called out softly.

Another bolt of electricity shot through her spine, more intense than the last, making her eyes water and her jaw clench shut. The feeling started in her chest, then spread simultaneously to her head and down her legs. What the hell was that!

"I warned you," Suki said evenly. "Now, to teach your new friend another lesson."

Rin swallowed hard. What was she going to do to Kimi?

A sharp cry cut through the still of the hut, answering Rin's question.

"Why do you make me do this, Kimi?" Suki asked.

Another scream.

"You're going to have to make up for this later tonight. You know how I hate to get angry."

Kimi screamed again. "KILL . . . HER!"

Rin's eyes shot open and before she knew it, she was on her feet, and she'd knocked Suki to the ground, her hands wrapped tightly around the demon hunter's neck . . . But, what was she doing?

Before she could come up with a plausible explanation, that same sharp pain shot down her spine and she was forced to let go.

"Don't let go," Kimi was now standing behind her, watching her as she straddled Suki's hips, attempting to reattach her hands to Suki's throat.

The pain insisted that she let go, but Kimi commanded that she continue. Her body was at war with itself. She didn't know why her body wanted to listen to Kimi when she so desperately wanted to let go.

"If you don't kill her," Kimi said, "she'll kill your lord. She, Akemi, Takara and Yori. They'll capture him, they'll torture him, and they'll slowly purify him to death."

"No," Rin mouthed.

"Yes," Kimi insisted. "You know it's true. You've seen what they can do. I told you what they're capable of."

"No," Rin replied.

"Do you want them to hurt him? Do you want them to kill him? Maybe you don't really love him at all. Maybe you'd be happy if he was gone. Then you could have that 'simple life' you seem to want."

"No, that's not true."

"You hate him, don't you? You want him to die. You want them to kill him."

"No! I won't let them." Her hands wrapped around Suki's throat and squeezed.

"Of course, you won't," she said softly. "You'll protect him the way he's always protected you. Now, squeeze tighter."

Rin increased the pressure applied to Suki's windpipe as the hunter kicked and struggled beneath her, shooting bolts of purification from her hands into Rin's thighs. Why? Why did Suki's attacks hurt her? And why wouldn't her body move before, but now it was only too eager to follow Kimi's commands?

The beaded curtains burst open.

"Yori!" Kimi shouted.

The leader of the hunters stomped over to Rin and backhanded her, sending her crashing into the back wall. "What the hell is going on in here, Kimi! I heard the noise, I come in here and . . ."

The hanyou shook her head as Yori crouched down to Suki's side. "She attacked her," Kimi replied. "Suki and I were in the middle of the conversion when she jumped up and strangled her."

Yori sent Rin a cross look as she studied Suki's prone form. "She's dead," she said at last. "You killed her."

Rin met her cross glare with one of her own. No, she didn't want to kill Suki, but she didn't want to be kidnaped, either. And she certainly didn't want anything bad to happen Sesshomaru because of it. And Kimi . . .

"And what were you doing, Kimi? When I came in here, you were just standing there watching."

"We'd already implanted the seed when she attacked," she replied. "Suki was trying to purify her, and I didn't want to get in the way."

Yori glanced down at Suki again. Suki's black eyes were glassy and clear, pools of red settling about their corners; the skin about her face was ashy and blue, and her chest was completely still. After a moment longer, she sprung to her feet and went for her sword. "You're going to pay for this, girl."

"No!" Kimi stepped between the two. "We still need her alive, remember? Live bait works better than dead."

Yori's hand remained on the hilt of her sword, her grey eyes narrowed, her brow and her jaw tense.

"You still want the Western Lands, don't you? You couldn't give your lord a better gift, could you?"

"She killed Suki."

"And we're going to kill her," Kimi replied calmly. "But if her mate were to come now and find her dead, we wouldn't last a second. With her still alive, he'll be a bit more careful with us. He won't get rid of us until he knows exactly where she is."

Yori seemed to relax, the tension fading from her brow and jawline.

"And while he's trying to find out where she is, we're trying to kill him. Even without Suki, the plan still stands. First, it's Takeda and his army. Next, it's me and Akemi. Then it's Takara, and finally you. Even if everyone else fails, you'll still have her to act as a shield."

She gradually released her hold on the sword. "The seed is in her, then?"

Kimi nodded. "She can't pass through the barrier without an immense amount of pain."

Yori gave Rin one final look, then turned to leave. As she reached the curtain, she glanced over her shoulder at them. "Put Suki's body against the left wall. We'll take care of her after all this is over."

Kimi lowered her eyes then nodded. Yori pulled back the curtain and stepped outside.

"What have you done to me?" Rin asked, still unable to move her own body.

Kimi picked Suki up beneath her shoulders, spun the body around and backed her way to the left side of the hut. "You're one of us, now," she said simply. "You belong to me."

Akemi returned. She stared at Kimi as she scooted Suki's limp form across the hut, then seemed to recover herself. "Takara says he's coming. We have to get ready to leave. He's less than an hour away."

8 8 8

Sesshomaru had run out of swatches, and he was about to run out of patience. These people had led him down the exact path Rin and he had traveled the previous day. He now stood on the exact spot he'd stood on when Rin had stepped off the forest trail to relieve herself. In the distance he could scent that same village as before. Previously, they had altered their course to avoid it and its . . . assorted smells, but it was most likely that his adversaries had stationed themselves there. Individual scents were harder to track in a village setting, and by his calculations, Rin's captors couldn't have traveled more than 20 miles on foot during the elapsed time, especially carrying Rin's dead weight. As there were no drag marks on the trail, and knowing that Rin wouldn't allow herself to be taken while she was conscious and capable of fighting back, someone must have carried her at all times.

He fought back a low growl, unconsciously flexing his claws. The idea of someone putting their hands on his Rin, leaving their foul stench over her fair body . . .

Enough, he commanded himself. What is done cannot be undone. But it can and shall be avenged. Rin is waiting.

He continued down the forest pathway, scenting the air as he went, the noonday sun casting its light down on him between the barren branches of the forest trees. Never again, he swore to himself. Never again would Rin be taken from his side. Never again would her health and well-being be threatened. Never again would someone take a swipe at her to get to him. He would send these humans and, through them, the Northern Lord a very clear message.

No one takes what is his.

The Western Lord stopped in his tracks, picking up a very distinct scent. Horses, men, metal and gunpowder-an army, a human army of 10 horses and 30 men. Sesshomaru scoffed inwardly. These humans really thought too much of themselves.

He kept on his current path and soon came to the clearing where the armored men were stationed. It was a wide clearing with tall grass that came up to his knees; the roofs of the village huts visible in the distance just beyond a grove of trees. The men formed an arc in the center of the clearing, facing in his direction, their weapons raised to fire. The ten men in the center of the arc were on horseback. On either side of the ten men were five men standing, followed by five men kneeling. Apparently, they intended to shoot him from all angles at once. The horsemen would get his head, the men standing would get his torso, and those kneeling would take out his legs.

Quite clever of them, actually. No human and few demons could withstand such an attack.

He sniffed lightly and became immediately aware that he knew one of the horsemen-the headman of InuYasha's village. Takeda. The only one without a gun.

"So we meet again, demon."

Sesshomaru remained cool. He was not here to take out Takeda; he was here to reclaim his mate. Though he was certain it was no coincidence the headman was here, he did not have Rin in his possession or carry any of her scent on him, and therefore, he was inconsequential. The more time he wasted; the more his mate suffered. Just as he wasn't in the mood to deal with lower class youkai who didn't know their place, he wasn't in the mood to deal with this low class human.

The men's rifles remained pointed at him. He was surrounded on all sides except his rear.

Sesshomaru took a step forward. "Out of my way, humans."

Takeda scoffed. "You may have had the upper hand before, beast, but I am clearly in control of this situation."

Sesshomaru continued to advance, paying no heed to the headman's words. He could smell Takeda's growing fear.

"Fire!" the headman ordered.

There were 29 shots followed by a bright flash as Sesshomaru returned the bullets to their owners with one lash of his Whip of Light. Twenty-nine men dropped to the ground, a single bullet hole marring the centers of each of their foreheads. Nine horses, now riderless, scattered across the clearing.

One horse and one man remained. Takeda drew the sword from his side and raised it above his head, his left hand wrapped around the reins as his horse reared. "Your head will adorn my wall tonight, demon. I will not let you make a mockery of me again."

Even before the dead, the human felt the need to boost himself up.

Takeda charged.

Sesshomaru stepped elegantly and effortlessly to the side, then sent his whip out to bisect the human from head to crotch as he sat in his saddle. The headman didn't even have time to scream as his two halves disconnected and fell to the ground with a soft thunk. Takeda's horse ran off, and Sesshomaru continued towards the village.

If there were any more distractions like that one before he reached Rin, he may become irritated.

8 8 8

Yori parted the beaded curtain and stepped into the hut, two swords at her hip. Rin was still slouched against the back wall unable to move. Kimi was crouched in the right rear corner of the small hut, and Akemi sat with her back against the right wall, polishing some sort of . . . implement. Rin couldn't see it very clearly, but it was shiny and gold, and gleamed brightly even in the low light of the hut. The sun, having moved to its noontime position, left no light to shine in through the shack's only door. Inside the hut, everything was perfectly still, but outside she could hear men and women passing by, children running to and fro, street merchants announcing daily specials, and old people stopping to chitchat.

As Rin sat there, glancing around the hut, staring at one hunter then another and another, the sounds from outside drifting in to fill the quiet, little hut, she silently wondered if the villagers even knew what was going on inside this hut. Did they know there were demon hunters in their village? Did they know there was a demon on its way to their village? Did they know she was being held captive? Did they know she'd killed one of the hunters? Did they know her dead body was still in the hut? Did they know anything at all?

Or was everything perfectly concealed behind Takara's barrier?

"It's time," Yori finally announced, staring down at Rin's slumped form.

Kimi and Akemi rose to their feet, turned, bowed to Yori and then left.

"Where are they going?" Rin asked.

"Where do you think they're going?" she asked smoothly.

"You won't win," Rin replied. "I don't know what you've done to me, but you won't win."

Yori dropped down to one knee in front of her, her grey eyes boring into Rin's brown ones, their faces a mere foot away from each other. "So, you want to know what they've done to you," she said flatly.

She wanted to turn her head to the side to avoid the forced intimacy their close proximity provided, but she couldn't. Her body refused to budge, and she kept receiving unpleasant flashes of her past. "Why can't I move?" Rin asked.

The leader of the hunters seemed to smile, slight creases forming at the corners of her grey eyes. "I'll make a deal with you. I'll tell you what they did, if you tell me what really happened to Suki."

Rin frowned. "You know what happened. I . . . killed her. Strangled her."

"I know that," she scoffed. "I saw you. What I wanna know is how. How did you kill her?"

Rin huffed. Now she knew why Sesshomaru hated repeating himself. "I strangled her," she repeated.

"Strangle me, now," Yori said. "Or better yet . . ." she reached for the top sword at her hip and stuck it into the floor. It wasn't her sword at all; it was the one Master Li had given to Rin. "Take it," she said. "Take it, fight me and escape."

Rin focused her gaze on her sword not more than two feet away from her right hand. Get it, she ordered herself. Grab it! Take it!

"What's wrong?" Yori asked. "Can't you move?"

Rin swallowed hard. No, she couldn't move.

"And if you can't move, you couldn't have done what I saw you do . . . unless Kimi told you to do it."

"That's ridiculous."

"She didn't tell you to do it, then?"

"Why would my body listen to her if it won't even listen to me?" Rin demanded.

"Because it's not your body anymore. You've been implanted with a seed from the Forest of Grief."

"Forest of Grief?"

"It's a youkai forest that feeds off sadness and regret. When a creature passes through the forest, the tree grabs hold of it with its roots, paralyzing it, and then it taps into its most painful memories, feeding off the sadness and regret brought about by the resurfaced memories."

Rin scoffed. "There's a tree growing in my head?"

"The seed Suki used was from a lower-level tree youkai. She planted it in your head, so it could feed off you, and you couldn't pass through Takara's barrier. You can't move because it has a paralyzing effect."

She did . . . sort of feel something moving around in her head. Something that was poking and prodding, clouding her mind, throwing her off balance. And she did think of some things today that she hadn't thought of in years . . .

"The seed is part of you, now. Its youki is part of you, so you won't be able to pass through Takara's barrier without a great deal of pain."

And that's why Suki's attacks hurt her. She's carrying a demon around inside her . . . But . . . would it be that way when she carried Sesshomaru's child?

"Now that I've answered your question, answer mine. Did Kimi tell you to kill Suki?"

Rin refused to answer.

Yori stood. "Your silence speaks volumes." She walked over to Suki's body, laying against the left wall, turning her back to Rin. "It appears we've found a new use for our little Kimi. If she can control plants, it only makes sense that she can control the plant that's growing in your head." Her shoulders slumped slightly and she shook her head, her voice harsh and low. "I only wish we would have realized that before."

The hut fell silent.

"Did you enjoy it?" Yori asked. "Killing my Suki. Watching the color drain out of her face? Squeezing the life out of her between clenched fingers? Listening to her whine and gasp as you wrung out the last breaths from her body?"

"No," Rin said softly. "Killing isn't something to be enjoyed; sometimes, it must be endured, though."

Yori scoffed, again turning to face Rin. "Well, aren't you just a little saint?"

Rin's eyes narrowed.

"Was she your first?" she asked. "The first person you've killed?"

"Yes."

"Somehow I knew that," she nodded.

"Oh?"

"When you fought us, you wouldn't go for the kill stroke. You could've taken Akemi's head half a dozen times, and you could've done an irreparable amount of damage to any of our internal organs . . . but you didn't."

Rin gave no reply.

"You know, you shouldn't let one bad experience color your whole idea of killing. I mean, no one ever enjoys their first time. It's rather . . . sickening when you stop to think about it. And let's not forget about the guilt-every life is precious, blah blah blah."

"Every life is precious."

"Oh?" Yori asked. "You didn't seem to think Suki's was so precious. You took it easily enough."

"Kimi made me. You said so yourself: she controls the plant in my head."

"Yes," Yori nodded. "But the tree's powers aren't absolute. If you break free of its spell, you break free of Kimi's control. So, if you really didn't want to do it, you wouldn't have. Like if she commanded you to kill yourself, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't do that. Or if she told you to set the village on fire . . . She can't force you to go entirely against your nature. So you see, some small part of you wanted to kill Suki."

"So what?" she retorted. "I have every right to protect myself. You're admitted killers. If you didn't kidnap me, she'd still be alive."

"If your lord didn't offend our comrade, we wouldn't have kidnaped you."

"If your comrade didn't disgrace me and insult my lord, there would've been no need to 'offend' him, as you said."

"If you weren't with your lord, there would've been no room for disgrace."

"You! Have no room! To talk!"

Yori chuckled, folding her arms across her chest. "I suppose you're right. I'm every bit the whore you are, aren't I?"

"I'm! Not! A whore! He loves me, and I love him!"

The leader of the hunters scoffed. "Demons are incapable of feeling such things. I should know; I've been mated to two of them. I was with Kentaro for five years before he was killed, and I've been with Zinan, Lord of the Northern Lands, for the past seven. And believe me, the only things demons are capable of feeling are anger, hate and lust. And it rubs off on you, my dear. The longer you're with him, the more alike you become."

"Was that your excuse for killing your predecessors?"

"Zinan's other mates, you mean?" She tossed her head back and took a few steps towards her. "Don't be stupid, child. That had nothing to do with me becoming more like Zinan; it's about the survival of the fittest. A male wants the strongest, fastest, most fit and most attractive female for a mate. Two strong parents make for strong hatchlings."

"Hatchlings?"

"Kentaro was, and Zinan is a hawk demon; their offspring are called hatchlings. And to produce the best hatchlings, you need the best mate."

"And have you?" Rin asked. "Produced the best hatchlings?"

"Indeed I have," she replied smugly. "I am the best mate, after all, as proven through battle with my predecessors. Yoshi and Michiko are Zinan's most favored offspring, and when they get older, they'll be conquerors of the demon and human worlds alike. They're grandfather is most proud."

"You're a hypocrite," Rin declared. "You run around killing demons, and you're breeding with one."

Yori shrugged. "Your lord's never killed another demon, then?"

"You know what I mean."

"No," she shook her head, "what do you mean?"

"Your children are half demons, and look at the way you treat Kimi."

"Kimi is not my child, therefore, not my concern. She does have her uses, though. And as long as she's useful, I'll let her live."

"How gracious of you," Rin scoffed.

"It is gracious of me. I've made a point of killing every demon that's ever crossed my lord. Not that he appreciates it, mind you. As I said, the only things demons are capable of feeling are anger, hate and lust."

Rin huffed. "Maybe those are the only emotions you're capable of inspiring in a demon."

In a flash, Yori unsheathed her sword, knelt before Rin and placed the cold, sharp blade flat against her neck. "My my, you are eager to die, aren't you?"

The entire hut shook, rattling the floorboards and walls, jingling the beaded curtain.

Yori briefly struggled to maintain her balance as she was pitched forward, her sword nicking Rin's neck. She then stood and ran over to the door.

"What was that?" Rin sat limply as fresh blood trickled down her throat.

"Kimi and Akemi," she said simply, her back to Rin. "They're giving your lord quite a taste of what they can do."

Rin could hear the panicked screams of the villagers as they ran around outside. "Demon!" they all seemed to say. "Run from the giant, white demon."

8 8 8

Sesshomaru was losing his patience. He'd nearly reached the grove of trees before the village when two masked females jumped out at him. One was an ookami hanyou; the other appeared to be some type of spiritualist. They were both dressed entirely in black and smelled of Rin's blood and pain. Two of her abductors, he growled to himself.

He wanted to finish them quickly and be on his way, but the wolf was fast, and she used the landscape itself as a weapon against him. The spiritualist had a mystic attack he'd never seen before-some type of white flame. The two fought in tandem, side-by-side. The half-breed would try to trap him, sending the grass up to wrap around his legs and hold him in place; while the other stood and hurled balls of flame. He never saw the flames burn anything, but he instinctively knew the blasts of white fire could do him quite a bit of harm. Between the spiritualist's flames and the half-breed's grass attacks, Sesshomaru spent more time ducking and dodging than attacking.

Unacceptable, he scolded himself as he leapt over a pine tree the half-breed sent rolling his way. They are female-a hanyou pup and a human woman. He dodged artfully to the side as a particularly large burst of flame headed for the center of his chest. They should not be able to give you this much trouble.

"He's getting angry," the hanyou called out. "I can smell it."

"Quit playing games and finish him off."

Sesshomaru scoffed inwardly. Finish him off? As Rin would have said, They must be joking.

He drew Tokijin and sent a blast of sword pressure their way. The spiritualist raised a shield, blocking the concussive force. Tiring of tangling with the grass, the Western Lord took to the air and released another blast from Tokijin, breaking up the ground beneath the two females. One was pitched forward; the other fell back. Sesshomaru then made his move on the spiritualist, crashing down upon her with his Poison Claw.

Again, she produced a shield. It was a standoff. Poison Claw against Mystic Shield. Demon lord against human female. Man on top versus woman on bottom. His amber eyes bored into her hazel depths, neither willing to be the first to blink.

"Akemi!"

Sesshomaru glanced up as the hanyou righted herself from her toppled position and charged at him, claws bared. As the demon lord leapt backwards to avoid the half-breed's blow, the human released a ball of flame. He dodged to the right, but it caught the end of his left sleeve, causing it to go up in flames, exposing the flesh of his upper arm and shoulder.

"Got him!" the hanyou cheered.

He extinguished the flames, but it did burn him, not just the flesh; it felt as if it scorched to his very soul. Purification. That human wench was trying to purify him!

"Cage him, Kimi! Cage him!"

Cage? Him? One lucky shot and the bitch thinks she's Buddha.

Sesshomaru lifted into the air as the one called Kimi again tried to trap him with a woven rope of living grass. He was marginally surprised to see that she'd made several ropes this time, and they were each reaching up for him, trying to wrap themselves about his feet. He flew higher, then disintegrated the grass with the acidic vapor from his Poison Claw. As he was distracted, the human got in another lucky shot. This one ripped a hole in his armor and hit him squarely in his upper back, sending a painful jolt up and down the length of his spine, traveling from the top of his head to the tips of toes.

His vision became a blur of white, blue and green as he came crashing down to earth, temporarily deprived of his supply of youki. Yes, he was most definitely irritated, now.

Another bolt hit him as the grass came together, binding his hand to the side of his body and tying his feet tightly together. Nothing less than their deaths would satisfy him, now. They had pained him, bound him, sent him crashing to the ground. They had singed his flesh and damaged his armor. And now, the hanyou girl was rigging up a cage of tree branches and dried grass to snare him in.

"Quickly," the human urged.

A low growl worked its way up from the center of his chest as the top of the basket-like cage closed in around him, effectively blocking out the sun directly above him. He was not an animal, and he would not be treated as such.

"We got him!" the hanyou cried out.

Red. For Sesshomaru, the entire world went red.

"K-kimi, I-I think we should leave."

Even inside the cage, he could smell the human's fear, hear her increasing heart rate.

"What's wrong?" the half-breed asked. "Just hit him with another Mystic Flame. They seem to work really well on him."

He could feel the human's mystic powers expanding; she was actually going to burn him again.

"N-no."

He felt her powers recede, her pulse quickening even further. She was going to run. She could sense his expanding youki, and she knew it was more than she could handle.

"Kimi, let's go. Plan B."

"But--"

"Now!"

He listened with keen ears as hurried footsteps made their way through the tall grass and the scents of the two females mixed with that of the forest.

No. They would not get away that easily. The scent of Rin's blood and pain was all over the black-veiled females, and they had stalled him long enough. Now, he would taste their blood and pain.

Sesshomaru transformed.

8 8 8

Now, not only the hut shook, the entire ground shook.

Yori braced herself inside the doorframe to keep herself upright, the colorful beads of the curtain draping over her black-shrouded form. The panicked screams of the villagers filled the air, as they stampeded past their hut unaware. Rin was still unable to move.

"What's going on!" Rin screamed over the increasing commotion.

Yori laughed caustically and threw her a glance over her right shoulder. "Your lord is coming for you! Apparently, Kimi and Akemi couldn't stop him!"

Rin knew she should be grateful that her lord was coming to rescue her. She should be thankful and relieved, but . . . considering the vibrations of the hut, the trembling of the ground, the screams of the stampeding crowd, and that eerie twinge she felt creeping down her spine . . . she was kind of glad that she couldn't move and she couldn't see what was going on outside.

"Takara! Takara!"

Rin recognized that voice. It was Akemi.

"Don't drop the barrier," Yori ordered.

Rin couldn't see Takara, but as she gave no vocal response, she could only assume that the priestess nodded.

The twinge down her spine intensified as a loud, inhuman growl filled the air. S-Sesshomaru?

"Drop the barrier!"

"Don't!" Yori ordered.

There was a shrill cry and a bright flash of light as a body came crashing through the doorway, bowling Yori over. Rin recognized the voice as belonging to Kimi, but glancing over at the hunter's still form, she recognized none of the wolf hanyou. Some of her black garb had been burned away, exposing the pale but singed flesh of her arms, right leg, upper chest and her right hip. Her veil had completely been burned away and Rin could clearly see the rosary that had bound Kimi to Suki. It was blood red and wrapped snuggly about her neck. As for the half-breed's appearance, she didn't look like a half-breed at all. Her eyes were heavily lidded, but they were no longer a pale, clear violet; Kimi's eyes were just as brown as hers. Her hair was pitch black and pulled back into a thick braid. And despite her 83 years, there wasn't a line or a wrinkle anywhere on her face. Her skin was as smooth as porcelain; her nose, though slightly pointed, was dainty and small; her lips were full and rosy, and her overall face was shaped like a heart-wide at the top and narrow down bottom . . . She looked very much like a child, even younger than Rin's 17 years.

"What happened to her?" Rin asked quietly.

Yori stood over Kimi, staring down at the stricken hanyou, her arms folded over her chest. "The barrier purified her youki. She's human for now."

The screams outside intensified, the shack shaking so hard, Rin was certain it would splinter and fall apart. Another unearthly howl filled the air.

"By the gods . . ."

Suddenly, the roof was ripped off the hut as a huge paw swept across the skyline. Yori and Kimi were buried beneath the straw thatch and wooden walls as the left half of the hut collapsed. With the walls gone, Rin could see exactly what was going on.

It was a massacre. People running and screaming, clutching broken limbs, blood streaming down the sides of their faces. People were trampling on other people, and there was a huge, white mountain of fur blocking out the daylight. Of course, Rin knew this wasn't a mountain, wasn't a monster . . . But when Akemi's unveiled head and part of her upper torso came crashing down at her feet from the canine's feral jaws, its fangs gnawing and gnashing as the sickly, sweet corrosive acid slid from his mouth and dropped into shallow, steaming pools along the ground, Rin instinctively recoiled as its red eyes focused in on her and its back pawinadvertently crushed a little girl as she was running to catch up with her family.

Rin squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the fearsome image.

"Back!"

Rin opened her eyes to see Takara, the last remaining hunter, raising her staff high above her head in her right hand; her left hand clutched that . . . thing Akemi had been polishing earlier.

"Know your place, demon!"

The dog's giant head descended upon Takara, attempting to swallow her whole, but the priestess' barrier was still holding and the beast was unable to break through. It continued to snarl and bite down on the holy barrier as Takara continued to block its progress. "Back, I say!" She struck the canine on the nose with her staff, smoke rising where the staff and the monstrous nose met, the beast howling in absolute pain.

It was stuck. Like Kimi had said, a holy barrier traps and purifies at the same time. Once you get so far in, you can't pull back out.

The white energy continued to crackle around the priestess and her lord's true form. Another howl escaped from the canine's mouth. Pain. The priestess was causing him pain. He couldn't advance any farther, and he couldn't pull back.

"With my priestly staff and this holy relic of Buddha . . ."

Buddha! Rin gasped. Yes, her lord was strong, but . . .

"I disperse your unholy energy and sentence you . . ."

Sentence him? What does she think she's doing?

Something stirred off to Rin's right side. It was Kimi. "She'll . . . purify him," she wheezed out. "He'll die . . ."

No! "Kimi help me! Make me move!"

"No . . . powers. Human . . ."

Rin cursed inwardly then caught sight of the hilt of her sword Yori had stuck in the floor. The blade was buried beneath some splintered wood and some straw thatch, but if she could just reach it.

"Think . . . happy . . . thoughts."

Happy thoughts? From where? All she could see was death and destruction. All she could feel was empty and alone. Her family had left her, and now Sesshomaru would leave her, as well.

"To the lowest depths of Hell!"

The beast before her roared!

"I love you, Rin."

"This Sesshomaru will always want you, and nothing anyone can say or do will change that."

"I have chosen, and I will not be swayed . . . You are already mine, and I will not forsake you."

"Think . . . happy . . . thoughts."

"NO!"

Takara swung her staff down, coupled with the holy relic. Rin felt that familiar twinge down her spine, followed by a hot, white flash. The flash disintegrated the seed, and Rin made her move.

The demon dog howled as its very life force was forcibly ripped from its body and channeled into the other world, searing pain traveling the length of his spine, from the snout of his nose to the tip of his tail. He couldn't believe it, but it was foolish to deny it; he was going to die. The wounds the spiritualist and the hanyou had caused weren't healing. This priestess' barrier was strong, made impenetrable by the holy powers of Buddha. Every attack the wench made hurt him more, further depleting his supply of youki that he needed to live.

An unearthly howl slipped from his throat as his red eyes looked past the priestess and settled upon his beloved Rin. She was so close, and he was going to die. He could finally see her, hear her, smell her again . . . and he was going to die.

Rin.

"Stop hurting him!"

Takara turned to glance over her shoulder as Rin made a sweeping arc with her sword, taking Takara's head with one, smooth, fluid swing. Rin drew in a few steadying breaths as she watched the priestess' head disconnect from her body, Takara's eyes wide in horror and surprise as her head made its final descent to the floor, rolling for a few feet then stopping in a pile of thatch near Yori's still form, still buried beneath the ruins. The priestess' green eyes looked up, blinked twice, then clouded over. Her body collapsed to the ground, her staff and the holy relic following suit.

"Fuck . . ."

There was a bright burst of light, then a glowing sphere briefly hovered where Sesshomaru's demon form once stood.

Rin took a tentative step forward, her hand still wrapped tightly around the hilt of her sword. "Se-sesshomaru?"

The sphere shot off into the sky, leaving a white trail against the blue sky, heading towards the west. Rin stood among the wreckage for a moment, her brown eyes cast skyward, fixed on the last spot she'd seen the glowing ball.

She was alone, completely and utterly alone. It was still daylight, perhaps an hour after noon, the sun still casting its rays through the barren and broken treetops . . . but it felt dark, very dark, windy and cold. Akemi's torso laid off to Rin's right, Takara's headless corpse lay in front of her, Yori and Kimi remained partially buried beneath the destroyed hut that had been her prison for the past eight hours. Rin closed her eyes in hopes of blocking out the shouting and the screams of the villagers; the sights of broken buildings and bodies all around her-the puddle of blood and bones that used to be a little girl; the smell of singed flesh, fresh blood, splintered wood and that sickeningly sweet scent of corrosive acid.

Rin dropped to her knees and retched, clenching her sword in one hand and her heaving stomach in the other.

"You know, you shouldn't let one bad experience color your whole idea of killing. I mean, no one ever enjoys their first time. It's rather . . . sickening when you stop to think about it. And let's not forget about the guilt-every life is precious, blah blah blah."

Rin forced herself to her feet and fled into the forest, her blood-stained sword in hand.

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Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I hope I didn't disappoint,

theMaven :)