InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Rin's Message and Sesshomaru's Promise ❯ The Message ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two: The Message

 

“Lord Sesshomaru!” Jaken's shrill voice called. “Lord Sesshomaruuu!”

 

Jaken was running through the halls of Sesshomaru's castle as fast as his squat toad-like legs would carry him, frantically searching for his lord, and holding something small in his hands.

 

“Where could he be?” Jaken thought, utterly perplexed as he finished searching the last room. “Unless he's . . .”

 

Jaken's suspicion was confirmed when he found Sesshomaru outside at the back of the castle. The regal looking demon was seemingly lost in thought, staring at the striking white blooms that made up his garden.

 

The garden hadn't always been there. Sesshomaru had ordered its existence fifty years ago. It was one of his mysterious, unexplained decisions that Jaken never questioned. Although this time, Jaken didn't have to ask why Sesshomaru suddenly wanted a garden—nor did he wonder why it contained only one type of flower.

 

Sesshomaru had demanded the garden soon after the day when he went back for Rin. Jaken still remembered that day vividly, so shocking had it been when Sesshomaru returned to him empty-handed. The scene was etched into Jaken's mind forever.

 

He'd been waiting patiently in the woods at sunset for Sesshomaru's return. Sesshomaru wanted to claim Rin alone—that much was plain to Jaken, even though Sesshomaru never stated his intentions. But Jaken felt it was obvious that that was what he planned to do. Why else would Sesshomaru have run so suddenly and so desperately back to the very village where he had abandoned Rin the year before?

 

Secretly, Jaken was excited at the prospect of getting Rin back. “Now things will be back to normal,” Jaken thought. “Lord Sesshomaru will be himself again.”

 

But shortly after dusk, Sesshomaru arrived—alone.

 

“L-L-Lord Sesshomaru,” Jaken stuttered, wholly bewildered, “Are you sure you finished your business here?”

 

Sesshomaru barely glanced at Jaken, his face expressionless. He stated simply, his voice low, “I have no business here.”

 

Then Sesshomaru headed back toward the west without another word. He no longer carried any urgency in his steps, as though he had resigned himself to some fate that he had no desire to meet.

 

But in some ways Sesshomaru changed for the better after that trip. Jaken still sensed a void in him from Rin's absence, but he also sensed something new dwelling inside Sesshomaru—closure.

 

On the journey back home, Sesshomaru and Jaken came across a field of wildflowers. Again, Sesshomaru spotted a pure white flower like the one he had once bestowed to Rin. But instead of crushing it under his foot like last time, Sesshomaru announced that Jaken was to gather flowers of this kind and make a garden of them for the castle.

 

In this way, a part of Rin stayed behind with Sesshomaru. He no longer tried to forget her existence. Rather, he accepted that she had once been a part of his life, just as one mourns the loss of a loved one but keeps them in their heart.

 

And so, now Jaken found Sesshomaru in his garden, contemplating. Sesshomaru didn't often visit the garden, but on the rare occasion when he did, Jaken made sure not to disturb him. He knew that Sesshomaru was thinking of Rin.

 

Time does not pass for immortals the way it does for humans. Demons have no need for the counting of years. Time passes by as if it does not pass at all. And so, although fifty years had gone by since he parted with Rin, a lifetime of aging and changing for a mortal, to Sesshomaru it was a blip in his long memory. Rin was still close to his heart and mind.

 

Jaken hesitated before approaching his lord, fearful of disrupting him. But Jaken was even more afraid of how Sesshomaru would react if he didn't inform him of such an urgent matter right away, so he swallowed his reservations and spoke up.

 

“Lord Sesshomaru? There's something you need to see.”

 

Sesshomaru made no motion, but Jaken edged cautiously toward him.

 

“You see, Lord Sesshomaru, this arrived here a short while ago . . .” Jaken presented him with the small object he held in his hands. It was a bird demon with a red string binding a note to its leg.

 

Sesshomaru glanced at what Jaken held from the corner of his eye, as though fully disinterested. But then when he saw the creature in Jaken's hands, his eyes widened a bit.

 

“Lord Sesshomaru,” Jaken began timidly, “Isn't this the bird you had—“

 

But before Jaken could finish his question, Sesshomaru had snatched the bird out of his hands with one graceful swipe. He untied the crimson string from the beast's leg, dumped the bird back into Jaken's hands, and opened the message.

 

Jaken was too short to see what the note said, but he trembled excitedly as Sesshomaru read it, as though he could predict its contents.

 

The message was crudely short, consisting of only two small words.

 

Please come.

 

In one swift motion, Sesshomaru reached over and picked the white flower closest to him, and then tied it to the bird's leg with the same crimson string.

 

“Quickly,” he instructed it coldly. And the creature flew off back toward the east with incredible speed, faster than any demon could run.

 

Then Sesshomaru grabbed Jaken. “Hold on,” he said gruffly. He narrowed his eyes, and made to follow the path of the bird.

 

Sesshomaru hurried.