InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Into the East ❯ Finding a Way ( Chapter 20 )

A/N: First, thank you to PaintedBlue47 (fanfiction.net) for reading through this mess and giving me a few pointers. You rock!

 

Also, if you haven't seen it already, check my FanArt for a picture of Sesshoumaru, Rin and Vanessa all together. Or check my deviantART account (http://earthtome001.deviantart.com) for that and some old drawings I did of Sesshoumaru.

 

Into the East

Chapter twenty: Finding a Way

Posted: 27 November 2006

Characters/Plot originally appearing in the anime/manga Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Everything else © me

 

 

 

“Worthless blade! Heed my command!”

 

Those gathered around Sesshoumaru murmured amongst themselves. They were like so many flies buzzing around him, when all he wanted was a bit of peace to figure out what to do next. Of course, they hadn't heard him beg the sword to bring Vanessa back. They wouldn't have known what that little outburst was about, except that there was a dead woman lying at his feet and that the sword that could raise one hundred dead would not bring this one human back to life. He wanted to throw the sword away. The one time he actually wanted to bring someone back, without the guise of testing its powers, Tenseiga refused. Instead, he simply lowered the blade and let the tip fall into the dirt.

 

She was gone. Sesshoumaru didn't want her to die. Somehow, in some way he didn't fully understand, he needed her by his side. Tenseiga could bring her back, but it defied him. Why? The last echoes of his outburst faded into the forest. He felt a presence behind him.

 

Sesshoumaru said nothing and continued to stare down at Vanessa. Kagome seemed to watch him for a moment then she had the audacity to touch him. She briefly put her hand on his arm. Certainly it was meant as a comforting gesture, but… how dare she? He was about to turn a glare on her when Rin spoke up from his side.

 

“I already miss her, Sesshoumaru-sama,” she said miserably.

 

He looked down at her. Rin had seen far too much death in her young life. She had died herself! Why, Tenseiga? She wrapped her arms around his knee and fell silent again. Sesshoumaru didn't know what possessed him to do it in front of so many others, but he sheathed Tenseiga and put his hand on her head, brushing her hair back and tucking it behind her ear.

 

“So do I, Rin,” he said softly, barely a whisper, but the words were no sooner out of his mouth, than he felt… something. It was almost like a soft hum, coming from somewhere nearby, everywhere and nowhere at once, and it was growing in intensity.

 

“What is that?” Inuyasha asked. So, it wasn't his imagination, but Inuyasha's question echoed through his own thoughts as well. Abruptly it stopped, only to be replaced by a throb from his hip. It was faint, but… could it be? Tenseiga?

 

Sesshoumaru gently pushed Rin aside and drew the sword. It was glowing, and only grew brighter each time it pulsed, falling into a cadence with his own heartbeat. What had he done? What caused Tenseiga to suddenly respond? He shoved those questions aside as momentarily unimportant, looked down at Vanessa once more, and hoped… There! He could see them - the messengers from the Underworld come to take her soul away. She wasn't gone yet.

 

Angrily he cut through them, condemning them for their attempt to take her away. And then there was nothing to do but wait. It seemed to take a lifetime, but then he heard her heart flutter back to life. It beat weakly, struggling to return the flow of blood to her veins, but it grew stronger with each beat until a sudden gasp refilled her lungs. Sesshoumaru's mind reeled as her presence reasserted itself in his consciousness. He hadn't expected that; shouldn't their connection have been permanently severed with her death? She still hadn't opened her eyes.

 

“Vanessa,” he said gently, but commanding a response. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open and she stared unseeing into the air above her for a moment, then her pools of violet cast about before locking onto his gold. Recognition set in and she frowned up at him. “S-Sesshoumaru?” She put a hand to her forehead. “What happened?” she asked, but before anyone could answer, she gasped and tried to sit up and cried frantically, “Rin! Where is Rin? Shippou?”

 

Immediately Sesshoumaru dropped to one knee beside her and grabbed her shoulder. “Calm yourself. Rin and Shippou are unharmed.” Rin stared in awe by his shoulder, and Vanessa's eyes flicked up to her.

 

“Oh,” she said with a sigh, and then fainted dead away. Sesshoumaru caught her quickly, and his moment of panic vanished when he saw that she was only unconscious. He could still feel her in the back of his mind, which puzzled him as much as it reassured him. He stood and backed away before turning to Kagome, who was watching intently next to Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango.

 

“Take her inside and change her clothes,” he told Kagome and Sango, and gave the males, particularly that monk, a look that told them they would wish for death by the time he was through with them, should they even think of going anywhere near the building before she was dressed.

 

“She'll be alright then?” the miko asked, stepping up to him.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama.”

 

“Your gratitude means nothing,” he said coldly before turning abruptly and striding into the forest, “This was not done for you.” Rin followed him, and he paused just inside the trees and turned to her. “Rin. Go with them. Watch over Vanessa and help Lady Kaede.”

 

“Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama. Will you come back soon?”

 

“I will return.”

 

“Okay!” With that she ran back to join the others.

 

Sesshoumaru walked until even he could no longer hear the sounds of the village, and then he walked some more. He needed to be alone. He needed to think. When he decided he was far enough not to be disturbed, he stopped and leaned back against a tree. Tenseiga was finally returned to its sheath, but once released from its grip, he found his hand was shaking. He clenched his fist angrily to make it stop. Weak, he snarled at himself within his mind. One human. The death of one human should not affect him.

 

But it did. He fought it, fought the realization that he had already come to, that she meant something to him. He could no longer claim indifference. The image of Vanessa lying still in the grass, covered in her own blood, kept invading his thoughts. He almost lost them both today. If Vanessa hadn't been there to protect Rin, what might have happened? Would it have been Rin lying in her place? What then? Tenseiga had already brought her back once… would it revive her again? He had to admit that he actually knew very little of his father's sword. And now, what if something else happened to Vanessa? In the past month, she had been attacked while in his home, under his protection and killed within the alleged safety of Inuyasha's village. If she went home… If she left, as was her plan, she would be safe from the dangers of this time. He growled and pushed himself off the tree, shaking his head and starting back for the village. The sooner she found her way home, the better.

 

Sesshoumaru arrived back at Kaede's hut a great deal calmer, but no less troubled than he had left. When he stepped into the dim interior, all conversation ceased. Rin and Shippou were playing quietly in the corner, but to the rest he gave a cold glare. Paranoid though it may be, he guessed that he was the subject of discussion that so abruptly ended with his entrance. And why not? After all, wasn't he the heartless, icy lord of the West, and hadn't he been showing an unusual amount of concern for others recently? For humans no less! Humans…

 

He ignored them and their strange looks, and sat near to where Vanessa was sleeping; she still had not awoken. It didn't concern him yet, but he watched her for a moment nonetheless, though only for a moment. There was no need to give them more reason to talk. Sesshoumaru occupied his thoughts with watching Rin and Shippou play. They both seemed to have recovered remarkably well after witnessing what had happened to Vanessa and were drawing pictures with the colored wax sticks from Kagome's time. Jaken was supervising.

 

They were hiding the images from the imp, and Jaken was trying to see exactly what they were giggling about. Shippou snatched his paper away from prying green claws, inadvertently displaying his work for Sesshoumaru, who was a bit amused to note that the subject of the children's drawings was a small peculiar green figure undergoing any number of humiliating acts - including, but not limited to, being buried under a heap of flowers and being carried like a pup in the jaws of a twin-headed dragon.

 

Dinner came and went; Sesshoumaru refused their food once more, and everyone was getting ready to bed down after an exhausting day when a gasp and near hysterical whimpering brought everyone but the taiyoukai lord to their feet. He watched. He wanted to go to her, to push the others away and comfort her, but he could only sit, barely a pace away, and watch. Then their eyes met and for a moment, time stood still.

 

VvVvVvVvV

 

Vanessa opened her eyes and saw a rough wooden ceiling above her, but something about that didn't seem quite right. When had she fallen asleep, anyway? She struggled to remember where she was and why she was there, and then everything came back in a rush. With a gasp, she sat bolt upright and frantically pulled away the front of her kimono, which, her frantic mind noted absently, was not the same one she had dressed in that morning.

 

Her hands searched what her eyes couldn't see as she felt her back for the wound she knew she had received from that disgusting green-brown tentacle. She heard some sound, a pitiful, desperate sound and realized it was coming from her. The doctor in her told her that she probably shouldn't be moving after being run through with something like that, but she had to know. Once more, she pulled away the front of her kimono to find the place where she had seen that… that thing sprout from the left side of her chest. In the dim light she could just make out a pale, round, silvery scar that she couldn't remember seeing before. Just how long had she been asleep for it to heal so completely??

 

She had seen the tentacles racing toward Rin. Without a second thought, she jumped in front of the girl and crouched over her. She didn't know why, or what she hoped to accomplish, only that she couldn't let them have her. After the momentary shock of seeing something foreign coming from within her left, it hurt. It hurt unlike anything she had ever experienced, but at the same time as the pain, came the realization that it didn't come from within her, but through her. And then it pulled out. If she thought being pierced by the thing was bad, it was nothing to what it felt to have it remove itself. It felt as though it spread itself out to grate on every nerve as it passed by, and she screamed. That much she remembered, and she practically fell on top of Rin. The girl had tried to move away, but Vanessa held onto her, telling her on ragged breaths to stay down and hide, that if she got up and ran those tentacle things would find her.

 

Rin had buried her head under her arms and squeezed her eyes shut, and that's when her memory failed her. She remembered feeling light headed with blood loss, and she remembered that the pain never went away. With every breath she took, every desperate beat of her heart to refill her veins with lost blood, white-hot pain coursed through her body. But now, as she noticed that there was no pain and peered down at her skin, which barely showed a scar to prove the events true, she wondered if it had all been a dream. Suddenly she was aware of everyone crowding around her. Kagome had been speaking to her, and she hadn't even noticed.

 

Vanessa looked up into all of their faces, searching for one in particular and not finding it until she looked to her right. Their eyes locked and there was something unreadable in his expression, something she had never seen, but before she could question him or find out exactly what it was, Kagome took her hand and drew her attention away. When she looked back, he was gone, the swaying door flap being the only evidence that he hadn't simply disappeared.

 

“I had the most awful dream,” she said, bringing a hand up to her forehead, but even as she saw the others glance at one another, she felt that it hadn't all been a dream. She had woken up once before, outside in the grass, and everyone was standing around her, just as they were now. Sesshoumaru was the closest and had been holding a sword, one of the pair that he always kept at his waist. That same look was in his eyes when she asked about Rin. “Rin and Shippou are unharmed.”

 

“It wasn't a dream,” Vanessa whispered finally. “But how did I heal so quickly? I thought I was a goner, but now I hardly even have a scar.” They looked at one another again.

 

“You didn't. We got to you too late,” Kagome said gently.

 

“What do you mean?” Vanessa asked warily, not quite willing to believe what she thought she was trying to tell her.

 

“You were hurt so badly. We were too late, but Sesshoumaru brought you back.”

 

Suddenly the second part of her dream, the part that she had been certain was a dream made more sense. She jumped to her feet.

 

“Where did he go? I have to find him.”

 

As she walked quickly toward the door, the others tried to stop her, to get her to rest, but she would have none of it. She had to find Sesshoumaru. Finally, they let her go, and she ran through the dim light of dusk in the direction he had taken earlier that day. Was it only today?

 

Vanessa stumbled to a halt when she found him. His back was to her and his face was turned up to the stars that could just be seen through the canopy. Tension etched every line in his body. At first he didn't make a move or any other reaction to her presence, but she was certain that he had heard her. How could he not have?

 

“Why are you here?” he asked finally. That hard edge was back in his voice, and she wondered if it really was a good idea to seek him out. Things hadn't changed that much had they?

 

“I just… I wanted to thank you. I don't know how you did it, but I would be dead if it weren't for you.”

 

Reluctantly, it seemed, he turned around to face her. His eyes burned with the need to understand. Confusion whirled briefly in those golden eyes before they hardened once more and he frowned in thought. “Why did you protect her?”

 

“Rin? Because… well, because she's only a little girl. It didn't seem right that she should die so young. She belongs here with you and I guess I didn't want her taken away.”

 

“And you had no care for your own safety? For your life?”

 

“Of course I did! I didn't want to die, and from what I remember of it, I'd very much rather not go through it again.” Something flickered behind his cold eyes, but she continued. “But I couldn't have lived with myself, knowing that I ran away and Rin was killed. Besides, I'm not needed here. Who better to protect someone who is?” She had to lower her eyes at that admission, but abruptly her gaze was forced back to Sesshoumaru by his strong but gentle hand on her chin.

 

“I did not bring you back so that you could doubt your worth,” he said forcefully and, with a slight widening of his eyes, he released her and turned back to the stars. Vanessa was stunned. The way he had been acting lately, it almost seemed as if he didn't care one way or another that she was leaving. Did she really mean something to him? Something more than the lost human girl he had befriended? No. Of course not. But what he had just said, the fact that he did bring her back, saved her from death, that had to mean something, didn't it? His words tossed around in her head. Sesshoumaru rarely, possibly never said anything he didn't mean; so exactly what was she worth to him? Her heart sped up for a moment, but her brain refused to listen to it.

 

She walked around him so that he was facing her again. “I had a dream,” she said softly, “Just before I woke up in the grass.” Vanessa looked up to find Sesshoumaru's golden eyes fixed on her and glowing with some otherworldly light in the darkness.

 

“What did you dream?”

 

“I dreamt I was in a dark place. There was nothing around me at all. I think even I was nothing. And then, it sounds so cliché,” she laughed, “and then there was a bright light. It was calling me, telling me to come to it. It felt so inviting, so much like home, that all I could think of was getting there as quickly as I could, but then something stopped me. Something grabbed hold of me and I struggled against it to get to the light until that hold turned into something like an embrace.

 

“There was something familiar about it, something I had felt before so I stopped for a moment to listen to it. This other… presence, I guess would be a good word for it, told me to wait, that it wasn't my time to go yet. I was torn between going home to the light and listening to the voice that sounded strangely enough like your father, but I waited. It seemed to take forever, but I waited in the nothingness for whatever the presence thought was coming. And then I woke up in the grass. I barely remembered that dream at the time, just that Rin had been in danger and I had to know she was okay.”

 

“Tenseiga,” Sesshoumaru murmured and spun away from her with a growl.

 

What did I do now? Vanessa thought about going back to the hut, but she would have to pass in front of Sesshoumaru again, and she wasn't quite sure what had upset him. But wait, wasn't `Tenseiga' the name of one of his swords? What did that have to do with anything? Either there was something here that she was missing, or Sesshoumaru was losing his mind.

 

She let the silence pass a little while longer before summoning her courage and taking a deep breath. “What about Tenseiga?” she asked hesitantly.

 

Sesshoumaru turned around once more and looked at her as though, in those few minutes, he had completely forgotten that she was there. That only solidified the already strong notion that something was seriously bothering him.

 

He looked at her for a moment and then drew a sword from his sash, holding it up for her to see. “This is Tenseiga,” he explained. “It was left to me by my father after he passed from this world. Useless.” Suddenly, he tossed it in the air and caught it, not by the hilt, but by the blade itself, even letting it go as far as to slide through his grip before it stopped. Vanessa cried out in surprise and took a step toward him, certain that he had just sliced through his hand. But there was no blood. Before she took another step, he lightly flipped it again, caught it properly, and returned it to its place beside Tokijin. “It does not cut living flesh,” he said, showing her the unmarred skin of his palm.

 

By this time Vanessa was scowling up at him. “You're horrible! Couldn't you have just told me that without letting me think you were cutting your fingers off?”

 

Sesshoumaru snorted. “Would you have believed that sharpened steel such as this would not even break the skin? Besides,” he smirked, “I did not think you would appreciate a demonstration on your own flesh.”

 

He had a point - at least she thought he did. What exactly was he trying to tell her? “So what does this sword that doesn't harm the living have to do with my dream?”

 

“Everything.” He gestured to a spot under a tree and took a seat. Only after Vanessa joined him did he continue. “You have met my father, or at least the spirit of my father.” She nodded. “Tenseiga and Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga were both forged from his fangs.”

 

“I don't understand what this has to do with me.”

 

Sesshoumaru gave her that look that said she should be quiet and let him speak, and then continued. “It has to do with you, because Tenseiga brought you back. I am almost certain that the `presence' that you felt was Tenseiga. It was familiar to you because a part of my father went into its making. Tenseiga made you wait,” he finished bitterly.

 

“What… what was it waiting for?” It was hard to imagine any reason the sword might have for making her wait in that place between life and death… It was hard to imagine a sword even having a consciousness for that matter. What if the waiting had been for nothing? What if whatever was supposed to happen never did? Would she have been stuck there? Or would she have been able to… move on?

 

For a long time Sesshoumaru didn't answer, and when he did, he spoke so softly that she almost didn't hear him. “It was waiting for me.” Then he stood and started back in the direction of the hut. Vanessa scrambled after him, trying to figure out what he meant by that.

 

“What do you mean? Why was it waiting for you?”

 

Sesshoumaru didn't answer, and she tried a few more times, but was still met with silence. When they finally reached the hut, futons and blankets were already laid out for the night. There was even one for Sesshoumaru, but he ignored it and silently took up his place against the wall. Vanessa hesitated at the doorway. She didn't want anyone to ask her what happened. She didn't quite know herself, but really, where did she have to go?

 

Just as quietly as Sesshoumaru, Vanessa crossed the room to her own mat and lay down with her back to the rest of the room. Rin looked from one to the other worriedly, unsure of whom she should spend the night with, but in the end it seemed that her limited time with Vanessa was all the reason she needed.

 

“Neesan?” she said uncertainly and sat back on her heels beside her.

 

Vanessa rolled over and put on a smile. “Hi, Rin. Are you all ready for bed?”

 

The girl nodded.

 

“Is there anything else you need?”

 

She nodded again. “Could I sleep with you tonight?”

 

“Sure! Come here.”

 

Vanessa lifted the edge of her blanket, and Rin crawled under and snuggled up to her. Even as she welcomed the comfort that Rin's presence brought, she felt tears sting her eyes, and she held her a little tighter. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. She didn't want Sesshoumaru to be upset with her, and it was killing her that things had changed between them. The only thing she could think of that might have been the cause was her telling him that it was time to go home, but hadn't they both known that was coming eventually anyway? Still, something inside her tickled her soul, telling her that it might be okay if she stayed. That something suggested that if she left, a part of her would be left behind. It's what I have to do, she told herself firmly.

 

The next morning, Sesshoumaru was nowhere to be found. Rin, Ah-Un, and Jaken were still there, and Vanessa was fairly certain that he wouldn't have left them behind for long, but still she missed his presence. She was distracted all through breakfast, and was forced out of it when the others began asking questions.

 

Kaede was direct, but kind when she asked Vanessa why they had come to her village, especially considering they had all but led someone like Naraku to them. “Ye are always welcome here, child, but I must ask what brings ye and Lord Sesshoumaru to my village after so many months.”

 

Vanessa glanced at the door, hoping to see Sesshoumaru there to help explain, or even to tell her how much to say. What if they asked what Naraku wanted with him? What should she tell them?

 

“I can only guess,” Kaede continued, “that ye two have had some trouble with Naraku, considering yesterday's events.”

 

Well, there it was. What should she say? That Naraku tricked Sesshoumaru and nearly killed him? Inuyasha knew that much already. She took a breath.

 

“We did have some trouble with Naraku, but he's not why we are here. Yesterday was… an unfortunate coincidence.”

 

They all stared at her as though she had grown a second head.

 

“You being killed was just an `unfortunate coincidence?” Kagome asked her, wide-eyed.

 

“Keh, listen to her,” Inuyasha grumbled. “Only three months and she's already starting to sound like him. Can't imagine how the girl will turn out. I don't know how either of them have survived this long with that bastard brother of mine.”

 

Something inside her snapped, and Vanessa glared at Inuyasha. “Don't talk about him that way,” she said quietly, lacing her words with as much venom as she knew how.

 

Inuyasha stiffened in surprise and seemed to back away from her a little, though he didn't move from his seat. Even Rin looked up at her in surprise at her tone.

 

“Sesshoumaru may not open himself up for the world to see, but that does not make him a monster.” She thought she felt something flicker in the back of her mind, but in an instant it was gone and she shrugged the feeling off. Inuyasha watched her warily, but didn't even have the decency to look abashed over talking behind his brother's back like that. Then again, Sesshoumaru probably wouldn't either. Almost as an after thought, she noticed that the others didn't return her glare, or even look very surprised, just… thoughtful. It was starting to feel weird.

 

“You asked why we came,” she said quickly, changing the subject. “The simple answer is that it's time for me to go home - if there is a way. I need to try again.”

 

Kaede sighed, “I thought as much. Have ye any ideas of your own that ye would like to try?”

 

Vanessa glanced at the doorway again, hoping Sesshoumaru would make an appearance for this at least, but he still hadn't come. “I did have one thought,” she began hesitantly. “But I don't know if it will work.”

 

“Go on,” Kaede urged. “I could think of no spell or portal other than the Bone-Eater's Well, and we know that way does not work.”

 

“Well, it's going to sound crazy, but what if I tried going back the way I came?”

 

“But you said that the gateway was closed after you came through,” Kagome interrupted.

 

Vanessa shook her head. “I did say that there was no way through on this side, but I'm not trying to get through from here.” The others leaned forward, unconsciously eager to find out what she had to say. “If the arch brought me to this time, even if it brought me to a different location than where I started, doesn't that mean that it should exist in this time too?”

 

“You mean… No way, Vanessa. It's way too dangerous. And what if it doesn't work? What will you do then? No. Stay here until we think of something else.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Inuyasha asked, staring blankly from one to the other. Similar confusion was evident on Miroku and Sango's faces as well. For the moment, however, they were all ignored.

 

“And what if we don't think of anything else? This is the first solid idea anyone has come up with. I think it might work. I have to try.”

 

“How will you do it?”

 

“There are ships sailing even now. I could go that way.”

 

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Inuyasha asked rather impatiently, but Miroku and Sango nodded their support, too.

 

“Vanessa wants to take a ship from Europe, that region on the other side of the continent, and sail across the ocean to her own country.”

 

Inuyasha laughed outright at that, and Vanessa felt the heat rise in her cheeks.

 

“And just how exactly do you plan on getting to this `Europe'? Walk? That would take you years at best.”

 

“I don't have all the details worked out,” she muttered. It would work. It wasn't that crazy of an idea, was it? “I'm a fair rider. If I could find a horse, it would probably cut my time in half.”

 

Inuyasha chuckled again. “So you'll take one year instead of two? That's if you run the beast into the ground. And then what? You think they'll just let you stroll onto some ship and carry you across an ocean? Kagome's right. Stay here.”

 

“I can't. If I stay here, I'll-” What? Never be able to bring myself to leave again? “I have to try.” Even if I fail, I have to try, she told herself firmly. It was the foundation of her determination, knowing that she had tried everything to get home to her family.

 

“This is a bad idea, Vanessa,” Kagome said, still trying to convince her not to take this journey. “It's dangerous. Any number of things could happen to you while you try to cross the continent.”

 

“Yeah,” Inuyasha put in, “traveling is different now than in your time.”

 

“I won't ask any of you to come with me. You have your own duties here, but mine is with my family. What do you suggest then if this is such a horrible idea?”

 

Silence stretched uncomfortably.

 

“Keh, it's your life. Throw it away if you want to.”

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome scolded and then turned back to Vanessa. “There's got to be something else I just don't think -”

 

“I will take her.”

 

Everyone spun toward the doorway where Sesshoumaru stood watching them. He had come up so quietly no one, not even Inuyasha, had even noticed his approach. Immediately Vanessa shook her head. He had done so much for her already - he brought her back to life, for crying out loud! She simply could not let him come with her when he had an entire territory to run. That would be crazy. `I will take her.' Those four words shook the very foundation that she stood on.

 

VvVvVvVvV

 

Sesshoumaru eyed every occupant in the room until his gaze rested on Vanessa. The woman was causing him to develop a bad eavesdropping habit. He had been listening outside the door for quite some time and heard everything, heard her coolly speak of Naraku, the very monster that had killed her, heard her defend him, and heard her seemingly impossible plan to return home. To trek halfway around the world and sail an ocean on the chance that this archway of hers would take her home was preposterous, but she was set on it. Knowing her, it would take being locked in a dungeon to keep her from setting out, and he couldn't do that, not to her.

 

So, after careful consideration, he decided that the best way to see her safely to her destination would be to escort her himself. No one else seemed to be volunteering for the task. He would have to return home briefly to leave notice and instructions for Saburo, and Rin… He frowned momentarily. Rin would have to stay here. On foot she would slow them down. Ah-Un was too conspicuous to bring into strange territories, and if he should need to fly them to safety… well, he had only one arm.

 

He snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed everyone was still staring at him. Vanessa still shook her head and seemed on the verge of voicing her protests. You've done too much. I can't ask you that. He knew what she would say, but he had made his decision, and whether or not she agreed, he would see it done.

 

“Sesshoumaru, no. I'll find a way on my own. You have too much to do here. Do you even realize how long you would be gone if you came with me?”

 

“I will go with you,” he said, but only Vanessa realized the significance. Her eyes widened as memory struck. What she knew that the others didn't was that he had given his word to see her safely home, and he meant to keep it. A weight seemed to lift from her shoulders as she accepted that he would not be swayed. She was determined to leave, and he was just as determined to protect her. “We leave in the morning.” With that, he turned and walked back out the door, but then he paused and looked over his shoulder. “Rin, come with me.”

 

“Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama!” She trotted to his side and Jaken rose to come too, but Sesshoumaru halted him with a look. He sullenly plopped down again in the corner and watched as they left everyone in the hut staring at their backs. Sesshoumaru heard the murmur of conversation begin again; they were trying again to convince Vanessa to stay, but the decision was made.

 

Sesshoumaru and Rin walked in silence deep into the forest until they came to a place very near to where he had fled after reviving Vanessa. There he stopped and looked down at the girl. She returned his gaze fearlessly and with an almost foolish level of adoration. This was not going to go well. “Rin, you will not come on this journey. You will stay here, in this village.” He knew that she understood from the earlier discussion in the hut that it would be a very long time before he returned, and he felt something akin to remorse as the tears welled up in her eyes.

 

“S-Sesshoumaru-sama? You're leaving me here?”

 

He had thought about doing just this many times since Rin came under his care, but never imagined that it would be so difficult. He wasn't turning her away permanently, only until he returned from taking Vanessa home. To a child who had lost her family and thought she might have gained a new one, however, the separation would be agony. Sesshoumaru felt a twisting within his chest, as though he were leaving his own pup behind. With a sigh, he crouched in front of her to bring himself to her level, something he had never done before.

 

“Listen well, Rin,” he said when he was sure he had her attention. “I will return for you. It may take many passes of the moon, but when I return, you may come with me once more.”

 

Even as she nodded, silent tears spilled over her cheeks, and Sesshoumaru reached out to brush them away with the back of one finger. He was growing far too sentimental, he decided. Then suddenly Rin threw her tiny arms around his neck. “I'll miss you, Sesshoumaru-sama. Don't forget about me while you're gone.”

 

He was stunned only for a moment before drawing her into a one-armed embrace of his own. It was vaguely reminiscent of his last encounter with little Tenshi. “Foolishness,” he said, but there was no mockery or coldness in his tone. He had to admit that he would miss the amusement that this little human brought to his days.

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama?” she muttered into his shoulder.

 

“Yes, Rin.”

 

“I don't want you to go.”

 

He had never seen this side of her before, the side that had her acting like, well… a child. She was a child, and one who had lost everything before he happened across her. Somehow he had become her world, and now he was walking away for kami only knew how long. Sesshoumaru sighed and watched a few strands of her hair flutter on his breath. “But I must.”

 

“Why?” she asked, turning pleading eyes up to him.

 

“I gave my word that I would keep her safe. If she leaves, I cannot keep that promise unless I go with her.”

 

Rin let go and stepped back, her eyes on the ground at her feet. “But why can't Nessa-neesan stay here? Why does she have to leave?”

 

There was that question again. “She does not belong here. Her stay was never meant to be anything but temporary, but if this does not work, if her way home is still blocked, then she will return with me.” So he assumed, but why shouldn't she? “I do not want you to get your hopes up that this will be the case,” he warned. “It might work, and then she will be home with her own people. She will be happy there.” At least, he hoped that she would for all the trouble he was going through to get her there.

 

Sesshoumaru stood and looked toward the village. “Come, Rin. I am certain Vanessa would like to spend some time with you before we leave.”

 

“So soon…” Rin practically ran all the way back to the village and Sesshoumaru actually had to lengthen his strides a bit to match her pace.

 

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Rin could not be seen apart from Vanessa, who took the situation remarkably well - even after nearly tripping over the girl no less than three times. The pair talked and laughed, and acted every bit the `sisters' that they claimed to be. Occasionally Vanessa would look up and catch Sesshoumaru's eye while he watched over them, and then she would smile at him. It caught him off guard every time, but he found that he was glad to see even a smile tainted by sadness over the mask of death she had worn only yesterday. She had done something to him in the short time she had lived under his roof, and he could only imagine what the next months would bring.

 

That night, Rin slept soundly, nestled in Vanessa's arms, but Sesshoumaru could tell that Vanessa got very little sleep herself. Aside from the traces he felt of her conflicting emotions, she shifted constantly, sometimes drawing Rin tightly to her, and sometimes rolling onto her back to stare at the ceiling while Rin used her arm as a pillow. He wanted to talk to her, to know what was troubling her so, other than her steadily approaching departure, but didn't want their voices to wake the others. There would be time for talk later.

 

Dawn broke over the small village, painting the few clouds in reds and golds and giving everything a glow that lasted only those few minutes that the sun hoisted itself above the horizon, but Sesshoumaru cared nothing for that at the moment. The time had come to separate Rin from her beloved `Neesan.' He waited as long as possible, but Ah-Un was packed and Jaken had finished grumbling about being left behind to tend a human girl.

 

“Rin, mind Jaken and Lady Kaede. Behave,” he said, though he hardly had any reason to tell her. “And you,” he turned to Jaken, “have patience and be sure that no harm befalls her. I will send Ah-Un back with both of your belongings. Now, Rin, it is time to say good-bye.”

 

Unshed tears clung to her lashes as she embraced Vanessa tightly. It seemed that neither wanted to let go, but finally Rin did, and ran to hug Sesshoumaru around his knee. They had had their moment in the forest the day before, and Rin knew that such a display was rare. She accepted his hand on her hair as if he had hoisted her up onto his shoulder. Her eyes shone with adoration and impatient eagerness already for the time when he would return home. Strange human, Sesshoumaru thought with no small amount of fondness.

 

Finally, they could delay no longer. Vanessa climbed up onto Ah-Un's back and waved down to the small group of friends as the dragon lifted them into the sky, especially to the small girl clinging to an old miko's hakama.

 

“We fly hard and fast today,” Sesshoumaru told her. “It will be late, but I wish to reach the palace tonight. I must speak with Saburo and we will need to pack for a long journey. Hold on.”

 

Vanessa squeaked once, but quickly adjusted to the speed and could almost sit upright on Ah-Un's back, but for the wind whipping her hair in her face. For the most part she leaned forward against one neck or the other, and true to his word, they arrived at the palace near to midnight. All four of Ah-Un's ears drooped wearily, and he panted from his effort, but he perked up at the sight of his stable. He even gave a light kick of his heels when a stable hand led him away to be un-tacked and served a tasty pile of hay and a bucket of grain. Vanessa smiled after him and followed Sesshoumaru up to her room. She didn't know how long he intended for them to stay this time, but she was glad to see the familiar surroundings. She would miss this place when she was gone. She was going home!

 

 

 

A/N: Seriously, you didn't really think I'd leave her for dead, did you?

 

Just a note: Since the Sengoku jidai ranges from mid 1400s to early 1600s, I'm taking an artistic liberty here and saying that the time period we'll be traveling through will be mid 1500s. That would put them about 450 years back, and not a solid 500, but if we say that it was 500 years ago that Inuyasha was sealed to the tree… it works. And, to my knowledge - mind you my memory can tend to be flawed - Kagome always refers to the other side of the well as (in the English dub anyway) “the Feudal Era” or “the Warring-States Era.” Does she ever actually say “500 years in the past?” Even if she does and I've missed it, well… like I said, artistic liberty. So my point is: there would be ships sailing from Europe across the Atlantic to the Americas, carrying explorers to established trade colonies during this time.