InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Short Tails ❯ A Song for Her Lord ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: I don't own, nor do I make nay profit from the use of these characters. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and any others she may have sold the rights to. I just like to mess with them a little.

A/N: This was my entry for the song theme on iyfic-contest over on LJ. It was originally posted there on April 9, 2007. It was also the recipient of a third place banner for that theme. Cool, huh?

A Song for Her Lord

Singing. It seemed that she was always singing, and it confused and vexed him to no end. He would never understand this little human girl. She who had been through so much and seen so many horrors as she wandered with him, and yet, she could always find it in herself to be so eternally cheerful. Though he would never admit it to even himself, her voice, her laughter, was the balm of his soul; and he would do anything to see that she never stopped singing.

It angered him that her song had so nearly been silenced as he sought to strengthen his sword. The knowledge that he had failed her was unacceptable. That she had survived only through his mother's intervention bit almost as deeply as the pain of his father's rejection; and he vowed then that her song would never be silenced, not so long as he lived.

Sesshomaru stared out over the twilit forest and considered his Rin. He knew not why he allowed her to stay; he knew only that were she to disappear from his life, some small part of him would wither and die. As insignificant as that was, any loss from his person could not be permitted, be it the faintest glimmerings of a compassionate heart or a faithful human girl who followed him blindly.

Perhaps that was the reason he kept her. She was, after all, his; and he would zealously guard what was his, no matter how much it baffled him.

His thoughts drifted back to those tense moments in his mother's home. He well remembered the pain that ripped through him as his mother pronounced Rin's fate and proved to him the worthlessness of the sword his father had left him. It could not call back his Rin. What good was it to him, then?

His mother had spoken of compassion. What good was compassion when his Rin was not there to share in it, to remind him of the need?

Shaking his head, Sesshomaru dispelled the sadness those memories brought forth. It mattered not. Emotion made one weak, and he would not be weak like his bastard brother. Besides, his Rin had been returned to him; and with him she would remain. Turning his back on the darkening forest, he made his way down from the hilltop.

As he approached the clearing where he had left Rin in Jaken's care, a light breeze brought him the sound of Rin's voice as she sang, "In the wind; In a dream; Where are you, Sesshomaru-sama?" Were he given to such things, the sweetness of her song would have brought a smile to his face. As it was, here, where none could see him and wonder, he allowed his features to soften briefly as he followed her singing back to them.

"Come, Rin," he said as he walked past where she and Jaken waited, his face once more a mask of indifference. "Let's go."

"Yes, my Lord," she answered, as she fell into step behind him.

They walked for a short distance in silence, and then Sesshomaru spoke. "Rin."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama?" Her voice was bright with curiosity.

"I did not tell you to stop singing."

Rin clapped her hands together in delight as she resumed her song for her lord.

 

Word Count: 554

 

 

In the mountain.
In the forest.
In the wind.
In a Dream.
Where are you, Sesshoumaru-sama?
With an ally like Jaken-sama.
I will wait alone until you come.
Sesshoumaru-sama, please return.