InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Spark ❯ Love and Great Bodily Harm ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight

 

Love and Great Bodily Harm

 

 

The time before Sesshomaru-sama didn't seem real anymore. All of Rin's memories of her life with humans…human parents, a human brother, the human villagers…were hazy at best and nightmarish at worst. He was a different sort of darkness that eclipsed her former life like a long cool shadow. He was black waters that swept the past away, leaving her feeling clean and strangely whole.

 

His hatred of her kind only made her feel better about herself. She was special. Special enough that even when her skin split open and her blood stained her clothes, she was still certain that he'd come for her, and this…well, it'd only be another bad memory that Sesshomaru-sama's mere presence would blot out.

 

“Sesshomaru-sama…,” she whispered. His name was a prayer and it gave her courage. Even when the minutes slid into hours and her pain grew, and she was really afraid, she never doubted him.

 

Rin thought her bones were breaking. At least, that's what it felt like. Her joints popped, her tendons snapped with an audible crack. Blood trickled from her nose and mouth.

 

She tried to curl into a ball, as though that would somehow protect her, but she couldn't. Her limbs refused to obey her commands. Was it too late? Was she dying? Surely a person couldn't feel such pain and walk away unscathed.

 

Something wet and hot slid over skin. When the cool air of the room washed over her, she screamed in pain. Every tiny movement was agony. That agony threatened to tear everything away, but she refused to give into it. She was strong.

 

It felt like days passed, maybe months. Or maybe no time at all. Dimly, she wondered why it was taking Sesshomaru-sama so long. The sliver of doubt grew into a small resentment. Had he forgotten her as Raiju had said he would?

 

Then there was fear. Was he dead? No. No one could hurt him. For some reason, that thought unsettled her when it should have made her feel better.

 

The pain was better now. Now, her body only ached in waves of dull throbs. The candle had long guttered out, drowning in its own wax. Rin's arms had curled to her chest, but now it seemed safe to try to move them.

 

It felt good to stretch.

 

She was covered in something sticky. Holding her arm to her nose, she sniffed. Blood. She was completely covered from head to foot in her own blood.

 

Shivering, Rin realized that for some reason, she was naked. Getting to her knees, she felt around the floor for her kimono…her beloved kimono that Sesshomaru-sama had given her.

 

When she found it at last it seemed smaller somehow. It was torn and soaked with what she assumed was more blood. Then her leg brushed something. It had felt like…like skin. Cold skin.

 

Biting back her revulsion, Rin reached out and touched it. Her fingers found hair, then more skin…but if it were a body in the cell with her…it didn't seem to have any bones.

 

The door slid open slowly, and a woman brought in a wash basin and a lantern. When the soft glow of the lantern spilled over her body, Rin gasped in horror.

 

Her legs were much longer than they were supposed to be…as were her arms. She looked down at her chest and found that her breasts had grown as well. Suddenly feeling ashamed of her nakedness, Rin covered herself with her arms and the remnants of her tattered kimono.

 

“What have you done to me?” she demanded tearfully of the servant. Rin cringed at the timbre of her own voice. She didn't even sound like herself.

 

The woman looked at her coldly, no flicker of pity or sympathy in her flat black eyes. “The food you ate was enchanted by a powerful witch. You have aged ten years in one night.” The woman sat down the basin by Rin's feet. “You will wash the filth from your body. Raiju-sama would not want to see you in this condition.”

 

Rin's gaze flitted over the small room. The skin she had touched earlier…she realized in mute horror that it had been her own. Her child's body was an empty sack of blood and skin and hair.

 

Rage swelled within her, bright and hot. How dare they do this to her? She was the ward of the great Sesshomaru-sama. No one treated her with such callous disrespect.

 

Rising on shaking legs, Rin kicked the bowl of hot water. It splashed on the woman making her shriek. Rin took that brief window, and she ran into a wide hallway, her bare feet slapping on the marble floor, her long hair flying behind her.

 

Rin heard the woman chase after her, but she didn't stop. She would run until she was free of this horrible place…until she found Sesshomaru-sama or he found her.

 

#

 

Hissing through her teeth, Kagome carefully peeled away InuYasha's haori. The wound in his stomach was terrible. The size of her fist, the flesh around it was red and black. Blood and clear fluid flowed from it.

 

The hanyou's face was a mess of bruises and lacerations. She could tell by the swelling on the side of his jaw that it was likely broken.

 

“Oh, InuYasha!” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes. “Who could've done this to you?”

 

And then there was Sesshomaru's retainer, Jaken. The imp was in far worse shape. His breath rattled in his lungs, and his little body was burned to the point that Kagome hadn't even recognized him until he croaked the name of his master. Sesshomaru had looked at his long-time companion as though he didn't even know him.

 

But Kagome couldn't worry about all that right now. InuYasha was hurt, and she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that it was somehow all her fault.

 

As she cleaned the terrible wound on his stomach, the look he'd had on his face when he'd seen her with Sesshomaru played over and over in her mind. He'd looked betrayed. It didn't matter that he'd told her he didn't love her that way. Sesshomaru was his enemy.

 

Squeezing her eyes shut, Kagome felt the tears seep through her lashes. They were hot, almost scalding, as they slid down her cheeks. She felt so dirty…so disgusting. How could she have even remotely enjoyed what she'd done? What was wrong with her?

 

And she was going to have to try it again. Kagome wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and sighed. There was no helping it. As soon as InuYasha came to, she was going to have to tell him the truth.

 

After all of InuYasha's wounds had been properly dressed, Kagome used her rusty miko powers to try to heal him. When she was convinced he was no longer in pain, Kagome leaned over him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Please be okay. I won't be okay if you're not. I'm so sorry. I'm such an idiot,” she said into his wild hair.

 

Kagome felt Sesshomaru's gaze on her back. It made her feel itchy and uncomfortable. She wished he'd wander off somewhere.

 

Instead of yelling at him to get lost, Kagome turned her attentions to Jaken. She wasn't sure she could do anything for him.

 

She wrapped his arms and legs in bandages. His eyes fluttered open.

 

“R-rin,” he rasped.

 

“Is she okay, Jaken?” Kagome asked him softly.

 

“No. No, Raiju took her. I must…I must tell Sesshomaru-sama. F-failed. I failed.”

 

Kagome shook her head. “You must rest. I will tell him. Don't worry. Rin will be okay. We'll get her back.”

 

A sudden wave of tenderness for the annoying creature washed over her. That stupid imp loved that little girl. She could see it in his pain filled eyes. Kagome patted his fingers, but she doubt the imp noticed the gesture. His eyes had closed again.

 

Kagome stood, stretching her cramped legs. It had been afternoon when she and Sesshomaru had sneaked off to…well…fool around, and now it was dark. The evening was chilly, but she had draped her sweater over InuYasha to make sure he stayed warm. She had really wanted to take him back to Sango's house, but she didn't want to risk moving him. His demon blood just needed time to heal his body.

 

Still…. What would he say when he woke? He'd no doubt be angry…and hurt. Kagome's eyes felt as though they'd been rolled around in sand. She rubbed them and rested her back against the trunk of a tree.

 

Honestly, she was surprised that Sesshomaru was still standing there just staring at her. Shouldn't he be tearing after this Raiju person? Didn't he want Rin back?

 

“Well?” she asked after another stretch of uncomfortable silence.

 

He didn't answer her. He just kept staring. She couldn't tell what he was feeling, but she could guess. The way his shoulders were in a taut line, the way his jaw clenched and unclenched...he was angry. The clawed hand at his side balled into a tight fist.

 

“As soon as I'm sure InuYasha is okay, I'll go with you,” she offered.

 

Sesshomaru snorted and turned away from her. “Why? It is obvious where your affections are. Stay with the hanyou.”

 

Kagome frowned. What was he going on about? They weren't talking about that…were they? “I was talking about going with you to save Rin.”

 

He didn't answer, didn't move a muscle.

 

Chilled suddenly, Kagome rubbed her bare arms. “Sesshomaru? You remember Rin…don't you?”

 

She thought he sighed, but it could've been the wind through the trees. “No,” he said.

 

Suppressing a groan, she approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder. He immediately pulled away, snarling.

 

“Don't touch me!” he ground out. His eyes were red in the corners. Kagome backed up a step.

 

“Rin is your ward. A little girl who has followed you around for three years. Look, you've made it clear how much you hate humans…but I think you love that child. You're going to have to save her. I don't know who this Raiju person is…but I bet he's some unsavory demon or something. So…we'll leave at dawn, okay?”

 

“Hn,” was all he said. He stalked off into the trees.

 

#

 

The lack of sexual release was completely unacceptable. As was the miko's obvious affection toward the hanyou. Could she not recognize that he, Sesshomaru, was in every way superior to his half-brother?

 

Sesshomaru jumped into a tall tree and rested amongst the branches to contemplate his current situation.

 

The seduction of the miko had been going quite well. She was inexperienced, but so responsive. It was obvious to him that no man had touched her or kissed her the way he had. A small smile of triumph graced his features.

 

But then that worthless half-breed had stumbled in on them, reminding her that she did not, in fact, love this Sesshomaru, but loved the hanyou instead. Had someone not beaten him to it, Sesshomaru would've pounded the idiot senseless.

 

The way her face had gone all soft, her eyes full of tears, her hands on the hanyou's face…he didn't care for it at all. What if his half-brother changed his mind and decided that he wanted the miko?

 

He couldn't allow that to happen.

 

There was also the matter of his supposed ward. He plumbed every memory he had trying to search out the child's face.

 

And was shocked.

 

Every memory he had was of the miko. He couldn't remember the face of his mother or father. He couldn't remember his purpose before the spell had made his purpose winning her heart.

 

Even if he were to go off and rescue a little girl he had no recollection of, he had no idea where to begin his search. The name Raiju was completely foreign to him.

 

As he tried to think clearly, his thoughts kept slipping back to the miko. When she had placed her mouth on him.... Sesshomaru closed his eyes and shuddered. He wondered what she was doing at that moment. Was she kissing the hanyou again? Was she pressing her soft body against his in the pre-dawn chill? Did she think of him at all?

 

Sesshomaru growled low in his throat. He'd wanted to stay away, to not bear witness to the miko lavishing her attentions on his wounded half-brother, but he couldn't. He had to go back to where she was. Even if it was only to watch.

 

It was as the witch had said. He was going mad.

 

 

#

 

 

“This place is like a maze!” Rin marveled breathlessly as she dashed around yet another non-descript corner.

 

“You do realize that there is no escape,” a smooth male voice echoed from behind her.

 

She didn't stop. Rin's fear only served to fuel her desperate flight.

 

His laughter chased after her. “Even now you are caught in a powerful illusion. Each step you take only draws you closer to me.”

 

That stopped her. Chest heaving, body slick with sweat and old blood, Rin yelled, “Sesshomaru-sama will come for me!”

 

“I doubt it, but even if by some miracle he remembers you, I will have already had you. What use are you to him then?”

 

Rin lowered her head to her chest, eyes burning with tears she refused to shed. “Sesshomaru-sama loves me.”

 

“He loves no one!” the voice boomed.

 

She raised her chin proudly. Then she took off running again.

 

 

A/N: Gosh…you guys sure know how to treat a girl. Thank you for the reviews.