InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Redemption ❯ R.I.P...Jaken ( Chapter 8 )

Characters owned by: Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Entertainment, ect.

I make no profit from this story

 

Redemption

Chapter 8: R.I.P…Jaken

 

I have planted a seed for you, my love. I have planted a seed in the highest firmaments. Now it has developed into a tree with vibrant blue blossoms. It has been watered with patience, grace, hope, forgiveness and love. I have forgiven myself my love along with the spirits. Now I must make amends, especially to you.

 

“Sesshoumaru,” he jumps, totally startled and surprised that he couldn't sense a scent so familiar, even in his current atypical state. Trying to keep from revealing his current condition, he keeps his back turned to the presence behind him and manages to keep the emotion in his voice at bay, “Inuyasha…what are you doing here?” “Jaken told me everything…” Jaken speaks up nervously and quickly, “I…I didn't mean to, `Me Lord'…it kind of just slipped…and then that half-breed threatened me in order to make me say more and…” `That fucking disobedient little toad, kill it…kill it!' Sesshoumaru thinks fumingly to himself, trying with all of his strength to resist melting Jaken's head off right then and there. But instead, he just says “Silence!” not being able to keep all of the rage he's feeling at the moment out of his voice. Then he curses to himself with a scowl on his face as he squeezes his fists closed tightly, before finally managing to regain his composure. “It is none of your concern. I am fully capable of handling this matter, myself,” he replies sounding as dignified and sophisticated as he possibly can. Inuyasha replies, sounding (surprisingly) equally as sophisticated, “Sesshoumaru, you know full well, that when it comes to anything concerning Naraku, it is everyone's concern, especially mine.” “Inuyasha?” “Hm?” Sesshoumaru pauses… “Fuck off…” Sesshoumaru utters with little emotion. However, just the words themselves end up knocking Inuyasha off of his feet.

“What?!” Inuyasha exclaims in response. Sesshoumaru summons his retainer to follow him through the tone of his voice, “Jaken!” “B…b…But Sesshoumaru Sama…” “We're leaving!” Sesshoumaru utters forcefully and briskly before continuing, “Do not follow me, Inuyasha. Do this for your own well-being along with Jaken's.” Jaken gulps as he submissively follows his master. Sesshoumaru walks away in his typical graceful and steady way, still holding Tensei in his arms, as Jaken timidly follows behind. `That must be him he's holding in his hand. The hair looks just like his. How could he be here again when we killed him? None of this makes any sense. My fucking brother always thinks he's too good to receive help from anyone…What if Naraku has him under some kind of spell? I have to catch up to him. It's good Rin gave me this ring…' Inuyasha takes off quickly, hopping away through the trees. He tries to stay far enough behind so that he can only barely detect Sesshoumaru's scent. Once he senses that Sesshoumaru has passed through the meidou, first, he rubs a special scent suppressing plant given to him by kagome' all over his clothes and face, and then he uses the ring Rin gave him to open up a fresh meidou, before passing through it. After hopping through the trees in the enchanted forest for a while, he finally spots Sesshoumaru's castle a short distance away.

Once he arrives, he jumps over the walls and all of the maru before finally reaching the main part of the castle. Once there, he jumps through one of the windows. He follows Sesshoumaru's scent until he reaches a quartered off space on the second floor of the castle. Behind a shoji screen, he see's Sesshoumaru's silhouette and can tell that he is sitting down with his legs tucked underneath him, attending to someone lying down on a futon. He can tell from the scent that the, “someone” is human. He can tell that it is the male that he saw Sesshoumaru holding in his arms earlier. He can also tell that he is unconscious. He quickly hides behind a pillar so that his silhouette is not spotted through the shoji screen. Then he peeks out from around it. He see's Sesshoumaru's arm lift up and back down again repeatedly in an affectionate way. He assumes that it is the man's head. `Why is he being so affectionate with him,' he thinks to himself in confusion, `Naraku definitely must have him under a spell.' Shortly after Inuyasha hides behind the pillar, Tensei begins to wake up.

Tensei opens his eyes slowly, as Sesshoumaru continues to linger over him with his hand lightly resting against his forehead. “Sesshoumaru?” Tensei utters softly. Sesshoumaru brushes the back of his fingers lightly and affectionately across Tensei's cheek as he looks into his eyes tenderly and comfortingly. After gazing up at Sesshoumaru for a moment, totally lost in his beautiful golden peepers, a warm glow begins to envelope Tensei's face as a calm grin slowly transforms his features. But then it quickly disappears as he nervously and suddenly jumps up and turns his body, so that his back is facing Sesshoumaru. “What's wrong?” Sesshoumaru asks with a look of confusion and worry on his face. “I remember everything now. All of my memories have returned…Were you there? Did you hear everything the man said? Did you see everything that…I did to him…I could see everything this time…but I couldn't do anything to stop it,” “Yes, Tensei…I was there. I did hear everything…and I saw everything. But it doesn't matter. I feel no differently towards you.” “Yes it does,” Tensei replies in a subdued tone. As Sesshoumaru is about to place his hand on Tensei's shoulder, he quickly stands up and goes to face the nearest corner. Tensei continues to speak mournfully, “You couldn't possibly love me now. Not only am I a human, I am less than a human and I am a monster,” `I don't know what to do…' Sesshoumaru thinks to himself, feeling totally out of his element. While Tensei's back is still turned, Sesshoumaru silently rises up off of the futon before walking over to Tensei. He stops a few feet away, before saying in a monotone voice, “Tensei, turn around. Do not be afraid.” Tensei hesitates for a moment. But when he does finally turn around, Sesshoumaru is shocked to see that there are tears pouring down his slightly cherry flushed cheeks. Tensei breaks down and begins to sob as if his very spirit has been shattered into little pieces.

Sesshoumaru hesitates for a moment, utterly clueless. But then he fills the distance between Tensei and himself, before nurturingly wrapping his arms around him. Tensei hesitates for a split second. Then finally, he surrenders to Sesshoumaru's embrace by placing both of his arms around and underneath Sesshoumaru's as he continues to moisten Sesshoumaru's very soft and fluffy fir, with his tears. After a few minutes they release each other. Sesshoumaru gazes into Tensei's eyes as he gazes back. He wipes away some of Tensei's tears with his thumb as he holds his face with his other hand. Then he tilts his own head down slightly before kissing Tensei lightly on the lips as the back of his fingers rest whimsically against the side of Tensei's delicately chiseled jaw. After a few moments, Tensei hesitantly pulls away before asking in a calm tone of voice, “Sesshoumaru, what happened last night? Why did you respond that way?” `Should I tell him the truth? What if he's not ready to hear it?' Sesshoumaru thinks to himself, `I will have to tell him eventually, I might as well just tell him now…and he deserves to know.' “I will tell you, but first we must sit down,” Sesshoumaru replies. They head back over to the futon, before sitting down on it in a very casual manner.

Sesshoumaru wastes no time getting to the point, “I believe that you are a reincarnation of someone I knew twenty two years ago. I was in love with that person…” As Inuyasha is still hiding behind the pillar, he suppresses the urge to gasp at hearing this startling information. `He was in love…with Naraku!' “…Being with you in such an intimate way, brought up painful memories and feelings that I thought I would be able to control. I apologize.” “How do you know that I am this person's reincarnation?” Tensei asks feeling unsure. `I hope he takes this well…' Sesshoumaru thinks to himself again, before continuing. “Well…besides the fact that you practically look just like him, you've exhibited certain behaviors from the moment I met you that would lead me to believe you are his reincarnation. Plus, he was killed…and I am certain of this. So reincarnation would be the only other alternative. Unless someone used a spell to reanimate you, using your bones, but none of Naraku's body was left behind when he was destroyed, at least not in this dimension. I could also say that you are Hitome Kagiwaki's reincarnation, sense that is the last body he possessed before he died, but your actions so far contradict that hypothesis as well.” Sesshoumaru proceeds to tell him everything that happened, from the time he first saw him on the beach and the things he said before he passed out until the time he carried him away after he transformed and killed the stranger. “…I don't believe you are capable of killing…but I do believe Naraku is? I believe that whenever you black out…it is because you are feeling extremely overwhelmed and extremely threatened…That is when Naraku takes over. As long as you don't get too worked up, hopefully that will be enough to keep the other side of your personality at bay. Inspite of his wonderful skills in bed, Naraku wasn't a very nice being when he was alive. But back then, neither was I. Eventually, my heart started growing warmer, but his did not, unfortunately. He threatened and killed a lot of people in order to take and gather all of the shards of an enchanted jewel that could grant one wish to anyone, as well as make anyone stronger. Of course, the truth of the matter was that there was no way to make a wish on it without becoming entangled in its web.”

“Why would…Naraku…do all of those things?” Tensei asks with the sound of confusion and slight dismay bleeding through in his voice. Sesshoumaru pauses for a moment in hesitation. `I don't want to have to talk about this,' Sesshoumaru thinks to himself. But after overcoming his hesitation, he continues, “Tensei…the truth is that I had an idea, but I never knew for sure…maybe it was jealousy and envy…I do not know. When I met him…it was way before all of this stuff had started to happen. He seemed different then. And for some strange reason, I was different with him. I had no idea what was in store…for our relationship or for all of The Western Lands. We didn't learn each other's true identities until much later on…after my brother was released from a spell that sealed him to a tree for fifty years. Naraku wasn't a human like you. He was a hanyou who was created from a thief named Onigumo and a bunch of Yokai who Onigumo summoned in order to eat his flesh.” Sesshoumaru pauses because it's such a damn long and complicated story, while Tensei continues to look at him, completely dumb founded.

Sesshoumaru continues calmly and casually, “How can I sum this up so that you'll understand…All of this started because Onigumo desired a Priestess named Kikyou who my brother Inuyasha fell in love with. She discovered Onigumo, who had been burned severely all over his body, around the same time my brother fell in love with her and started taking care of him. But he became extremely obsessed with her. Eventually he summoned the Yokai, they ate his flesh in exchange for a body so that he could win Kikyo, but instead he became Naraku, who he had no control over because Naraku basically had his own mind. Naraku tricked Kikyou and Inuyasha into betraying each other by impersonating both of them, so that he could acquire the Shikon No Tama that Kikyou had in her possession. Then Kikyou ended up sealing Inuyasha to a tree with her sacred arrow, before dying from a mortal wound and eventually being cremated with the Jewel. When Inuyasha was released by Kikyou's reincarnation, who traveled through a portal from the future with the Jewel embedded in her body, fifty years later, Naraku began his quest again to acquire the Jewel after it had burst out of Kagome's body and then was shattered into pieces by her arrow, after a yokai who she was trying to purify, stole it.” `Considering that I am a yokai, why am I out of breathe right now?' “To answer your question…I believe it was because he was in love with Kikyou, but it was to a point where it became obsession. But yet and still, he doesn't seem as bad, once you take the fact that he was in love, and that is partially why he did all of those things, into consideration I guess. But he did do terrible things and it would have been better if he had never loved her at all. One of the main reasons why we didn't work out in the end…was because even though he was in love with me, his obsession caused him to be in love with her more…” Sesshoumaru's voice trails off as he looks away in an almost ambiguously bitter and melancholy way, for a moment. Then he directs his gaze downward before picking at one of his claws.

Tensei's eyes study Sesshoumaru. He senses the melancholy in his demeanor and feels concerned, but at the same time he also feels nervous, based on how Sesshoumaru is picking at his claws and all. But instead of continuing to sit there completely frozen in fear, he decides to move closer to Sesshoumaru, before courageously taking one of his hands into his own and whispering very intimately, sincerely, and innocently, “I…love you…Sesshoumaru. I've never felt for anyone, the way that I feel for you right now, in this moment. If I am indeed Naraku's reincarnation, maybe there is a reason for that. It doesn't have to be bad. I know that I can never fully replace him and I definitely could never be like him. But I promise that if you love me as much as I love you, my heart will be yours, forever. I can say this because I believe it with all of my being.” Sesshoumaru looks up at him, completely speechless.