InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stronger ❯ Deceit ( Chapter 5 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Fairia13 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 11.11.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 642 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 11.11.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 642 | Status: Work In Progress
As usual, thanks to Fate, for the inspiration and advice. I notice I don't get much response on mm.org, and a rather overwhelming amount on aff.net. Interesting... I think it's just cuz this story is so hard to find.. but if not, please let me know..
Chapter Five - Deceit
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Rin awoke on the third day to the sound of birds twittering merrily and a warm spring breeze fanning gently across her face. She sighed a little bit as the weather failed to reflect her attitude.'Then again,' she thought, 'if the weather reflected my mood, it would be storming one second, sunny the next, and hailing an hour later.' she reflected wryly. 'Maybe throw in a good hurricane or two for effect..'
Rising from her bed, she gathered her bathing supplies and headed for the hot springs, hoping it was early enough that Lady Alina wouldn't be about.
The past two days had been...interesting, she decided. The first night when Master Jiro and Lord Raidon had arrived, the dinner had been informal and the conversation light, except for the fact that Lad Alina had been shooting her looks the entire night that, while lacking the ability to kill, promised to surely maim. Rin had suspected that it had something to do with the face that she had been seated next to her Lord for dinner. 'But why would that upset her?' Rin wondered. 'A ward always sits next to her master.' She blushed prettily at the next, unbidden thought that came to mind.'And the Lady of the House sits next to the Lord.'
Lady Alina had instead been sitting next to her General, Kenji for the duration of the meal. The two had conversed and gotten along well enough, speaking of business. However, when Rin had caught them with their heads bent close, and General Kenji shooting her odd looks as well, Rin had become nervous.
Though, she though to herself, she had not been in as much discomfort as her Lord. Though his expression had not once altered, it had been obvious to Rin that Sesshomaru was disquieted by something. Tension had been rolling off of him in veritable waves and try as she might, he would not tell her what the problem was. At one point, he had leaned over and very quietly admitted that she was in heat, but Rin for the life of her couldn't understand what that had to do with anything. Lord Sesshomaru had been around her during her heat plenty in the past and he hadn't seemed very bothered by it. Then again'When was the last time he...?' Instantly, Rin shook off the disquieting thought. It upset her for some reason to try and grasp the concept of her Lord... Deep within her, something lifted it's head and growled, also angered by the thought of her Lord...No, she would not think of it.
Sliding open the shoji door, Rin was relieved to see that Lady Alina was not up and bathing.Lord Kouga's mate was briskly washing however, and looked up and smile in greeting as Rin slipped into the bath.
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Sesshomaru fought off the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose as the headache that had been threatening since early morning finally kicked in.
The day had been a blur of documents, arguments and various scents. Treaties, trade agreements, and maps had been the majority of the day's topics, and many arguments had stemmed from them. On top of that, Lady Alina had been in poor form, and consequently was more focused on her arguments with Kouga and Rin then anything else.
Rin... Sesshomaru frowned. Lady Alina had spent the last two days sniping at her and, instead of responding with the fire he was used to seeing from the girl, instead shrunk away from her insults. What was wrong with her? Sesshomaru wondered absently as yet another veiled insult slipped past Lady Alina's lips. True to her recent form, Rin avoided eye contact and continued writing out her notes on the proceedings.
Sesshomaru resisted the urge to growl. At the very least she should have turned to him, seeking protection. It was his right as her Lord to offer her protection and...his right as her friend to offer her an emotional sanctuary. Sesshomaru frowned. He'd hoped that their newfound closeness would at least assure her of that.
He hadn't kissed her since the day that they had gone on the picnic, but he had made a point of trying to spend some time with her each day outside the meetings and mealtimes, even if it was just a stroll through the gardens of a quick sparring match. One particularly memorable night had been spent in the library. They had both had paperwork to do - she to rewrite notes and balance household ledgers and he to attend to the needs of the daimyos in charge of the various providences of his lands. They're endeavors had kept them up late enough that Hakashi had made a point of bringing in a tray of warm tea before leaving for his home, admonishing them to get some sleep before meetings began in the morning.
without closing his eyes, Sesshomaru could easily picture the way Rin's dark brown hair had spilled down her back when she released it from the confining bun it had been into. The firelight had wreaked havoc with the almost-ebony strands, sending glints of light in every direction as Rin absently ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to loosen the tight feeling on her scalp. Continuing along that tread of thought, she had clasped her fingers and raised her arms above her head in a stretch that Sesshomaru, watching out of the corner of his eye, had felt down to the tips of his toes. Arms still raised, Rin had glanced over and inquired as to weather or not he would like any tea.
still eyeing the way the firelight her highlighted her smooth limbs and the way the kimono was stretched over her chest to accommodate the new position the material was in, hadn't heard her at first. Releasing the stretch Rin had leaned over, her head cocked to look directly into his eyes and patiently repeated her question. With a small growl he was sure she couldn't hear, Sesshomaru roused himself from his thoughts and replied. What his reply had been, he couldn't quite remember, but he was sure he had.
Moments later his paperwork had been unceremoniously swept aside and a cup of tea had been placed before him. Rin's look had been unreadable, something between concern and annoyance, somehow neither and yet both, with something else dancing in the dark depths of her eyes.
"It's mint tea," She had stated wryly, as if the flavor held some great significance. "It's supposed to be energizing." She continued at his confused look. "And, frankly Sesshomaru, you look like you need it."
A small thrill had shot through him, as it always did whenever she said his name. Dropping the honorific "sama" from the end proved to him that she acknowledged the new turn of their relationship. That she was no longer a child under his jurisdiction and protection, but a woman grown and subordinate. If not quite his equal, then close. Close enough to give him her honest opinions, to share her thoughts and concerns.
"Lord Sesshomaru?" Lady Alina's piping query successfully derailed his thoughts.
"Yes Lady Alina?" he asked coolly.
Alina flinched at the cold note in his voice, but forged ahead anyway. "I was wondering if you would care for a walk with me before the evening meal."
Sesshomaru looked around, surprised to find that the meeting was over and everyone was cleaning up before departing. Rin, despite the fact that she was sitting next to him, kept her head down and her eyes focused on the last bit of notes. Sesshomaru frowned. Normally, Rin would have been listening intently to the comment, head up and staring intently at the commenter. In this case, and knowing that he wasn't interested but couldn't seem rude, she normally would have chosen that moment to "remind" him that he had a previous engagement that prevented him from accompanying Lady Alina. However, Rin stubbornly refused to raise her head and finishing her notes, rose and walked over to Jiro, bending her head next to his and inquiring about the completeness of his notes.
Sesshomaru resisted the urge to growl as the Inu raised its head and growled at her retreat, seeing it as a betrayal. No, he told himself, it wasn't that - something was wrong and he needed to find out what. "Forgive me Lady," he said smoothly, "but I have other business to attend to."
Catching his tale-tell glance at Rin, Alina's semblance of a good mood shot out the window. She had spent the last several days working on the girl, carefully and with Kenji's assistance, cultivating Rin's feelings of confusion and depression where her beloved Sesshomaru was concerned. Instead of returning her apparent disinterest in kind, as was befitting of a Lord, he was still - still - interested! He never said anything, at least not within her hearing, but his concerned glances and occasional chaste touches - a pat on the hand, a hand on her shoulder - were more telling than a hundred concerned queries.
Still, she put on the best smile she was able. On the edge of her hearing, she heard Rin mention that she was going for a stroll before evening meal, declining his offer the accompany her by saying that she also had to go make sure meal preparations were running smoothly. 'Perfect,' Lady Alina purred to herself, he smile suddenly becoming genuine.
"Very well then," She said aloud, "maybe some other time then."
With a graceful bow, she quit the room, leaving a slightly disturbed Sesshomaru in her wake. Deciding that whatever it was, it wasn't his business, he turned to where he had last seen Rin, only to find that she, too, had slipped the room.
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Stretching her arms above her head, Rin casually ambled out the kitchen's side door, walking along the stone-lined path through the gardens.
Rin loved the gardens, loved the feeling of peace she got when she was on her knees with her hands deep in the soil rooting out a space for a flower to be. Loved the delicate velvety-soft feel of the blossom's petals, and the sweet aroma that filled the air in the spring when the flowers bloomed. Loved the colors that abounded in the gardens and brightened rooms, and the warm feeling she got whenever Sakura and Ino would help her care for her flowers.
The gardens actually took up a good portion of the back of the castle, and the paths through them lead to either the dojo, the meadow where the horses were kept in good weather, the stables (which were right next to the meadow), the housing for single soldiers or a lake that lay just beyond a barrier of trees a ways off. It was not nearly as secluded as the lake that she had taken Sesshomaru, Ino, Sakura and Lei to the week before, but it was still nice.
Master Hiroshi had actually confessed to her once that the gardens had been expanded greatly since she had taken up residence in the castle. Her Lord's mother had been fond of gardening too, and his father had indulged her enough to allow her to plant some flowers around the otherwise cold stone fortress. However, when Lord Sesshomaru's mother had died, the gardens had fallen into disarray. Hiroshi, once a fighter in Lord Inutaisho's army, had been allowed to tend them when a battle wound had assured them that he would never fight again without great pain to his knee. The responsibility of tending the gardens had been given to him as an afterthought - a reason for the once proud warrior to refrain from ending his life in despair. However, he had ruefully confessed, there was only so much old bones could do and, after the demise of Lord Inutaisho, he had nearly despaired until a small, painfully quiet Ino had wandered into his life.
Even as Rin had expressed her disbelief that Ino - loud, vivacious, Ino - could ever be quiet, Hiroshi had assured her that it was entirely so. Her father, with a foot in the spirit realm, was not much of a conversationalist and, having lived deep in the forest prior to taking up residence inside the fortress wall, Ino never really learned to speak. However, the toddler, only three at the time, had appeared to love the gardens as much as the old groundskeeper did and, bit by bit, they had restored the gardens to - if not their former glory - then certainly close.
However, when a young Rin had taken up residence and an interest, Sesshomaru had given her a small plot of earth in which to plant her own blooms, aided by the ever-patient gardener and his young charge. When Sakura and Ino had been deemed mature enough to handle the responsibility, they had been granted a plot as well. Eventually, Hiroshi had been allowed to expand the gardens further when the castle's occupants had requested it. Soon the boundaries of the garden had tripled, leading to an official aide for the old demon in addition to the three girl's willing hands.
However, Rin recalled, there were many moments when Ino and Sakura reflected their true eleven-year-old ages and went on a "snipping spree," happily picking each and every bloom that caught their eye. The last such endeavor had been for the occasion of Ah-Un's birthday - or, rather, the day the girls had decided was supposed to be his birthday. Deciding that such an auspicious occasion deserved better than your average field flower, Sakura and Ino had been intent on picking the gardens bare in honor of their friend. Or, at least that was the way Master Hiroshi had seen it, when he chanced upon the giggling girls. Ino would later say that he was so mad that he nearly transformed into his demon form, and that she had never received such a scolding before of since.
Giggling, Rin was pulled out of her reverie by a sound coming from the other side of the hedges she was passing. A mere whisper, a soft sighing sound... Rin snorted softly. Two lovers, no doubt, were stealing a moment away from their duties. Romantic? Yes. Sweet? Unbearably so. However, it was none of her business. As she prepared to pass by the hedges, leaving the two behind, and low groan answered by a soft sigh caught her attention.
"Sesshomaru..."
'Sesshomaru?' Rin paused in shock, then peered into the space between the hedges.
There indeed was Sesshomaru, head bent, eyes closed, wrapped around a slightly smaller feminine form.
Her heart clenched painfully as Sesshomaru continued on, completely unawares. Eyes closed, his lips pressed firmly against the figure's own, against a backdrop of shrubbery and flowers, the two made quite a picture of blossoming romance.
'That should have been me...' Rin thought dejectedly. 'I should have been the one to make him look that happy...'
Just then, the two parted, casting the fading glow of the sun onto the female's features. Just as suddenly, Rin's world froze. Time seemed to slow and creep to a halt, and the rushing of blood in her ears overrode every sound but that of her wildly beating heart.
'Alina...'
Chapter Five - Deceit
============================================================ ==
Rin awoke on the third day to the sound of birds twittering merrily and a warm spring breeze fanning gently across her face. She sighed a little bit as the weather failed to reflect her attitude.'Then again,' she thought, 'if the weather reflected my mood, it would be storming one second, sunny the next, and hailing an hour later.' she reflected wryly. 'Maybe throw in a good hurricane or two for effect..'
Rising from her bed, she gathered her bathing supplies and headed for the hot springs, hoping it was early enough that Lady Alina wouldn't be about.
The past two days had been...interesting, she decided. The first night when Master Jiro and Lord Raidon had arrived, the dinner had been informal and the conversation light, except for the fact that Lad Alina had been shooting her looks the entire night that, while lacking the ability to kill, promised to surely maim. Rin had suspected that it had something to do with the face that she had been seated next to her Lord for dinner. 'But why would that upset her?' Rin wondered. 'A ward always sits next to her master.' She blushed prettily at the next, unbidden thought that came to mind.'And the Lady of the House sits next to the Lord.'
Lady Alina had instead been sitting next to her General, Kenji for the duration of the meal. The two had conversed and gotten along well enough, speaking of business. However, when Rin had caught them with their heads bent close, and General Kenji shooting her odd looks as well, Rin had become nervous.
Though, she though to herself, she had not been in as much discomfort as her Lord. Though his expression had not once altered, it had been obvious to Rin that Sesshomaru was disquieted by something. Tension had been rolling off of him in veritable waves and try as she might, he would not tell her what the problem was. At one point, he had leaned over and very quietly admitted that she was in heat, but Rin for the life of her couldn't understand what that had to do with anything. Lord Sesshomaru had been around her during her heat plenty in the past and he hadn't seemed very bothered by it. Then again'When was the last time he...?' Instantly, Rin shook off the disquieting thought. It upset her for some reason to try and grasp the concept of her Lord... Deep within her, something lifted it's head and growled, also angered by the thought of her Lord...No, she would not think of it.
Sliding open the shoji door, Rin was relieved to see that Lady Alina was not up and bathing.Lord Kouga's mate was briskly washing however, and looked up and smile in greeting as Rin slipped into the bath.
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Sesshomaru fought off the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose as the headache that had been threatening since early morning finally kicked in.
The day had been a blur of documents, arguments and various scents. Treaties, trade agreements, and maps had been the majority of the day's topics, and many arguments had stemmed from them. On top of that, Lady Alina had been in poor form, and consequently was more focused on her arguments with Kouga and Rin then anything else.
Rin... Sesshomaru frowned. Lady Alina had spent the last two days sniping at her and, instead of responding with the fire he was used to seeing from the girl, instead shrunk away from her insults. What was wrong with her? Sesshomaru wondered absently as yet another veiled insult slipped past Lady Alina's lips. True to her recent form, Rin avoided eye contact and continued writing out her notes on the proceedings.
Sesshomaru resisted the urge to growl. At the very least she should have turned to him, seeking protection. It was his right as her Lord to offer her protection and...his right as her friend to offer her an emotional sanctuary. Sesshomaru frowned. He'd hoped that their newfound closeness would at least assure her of that.
He hadn't kissed her since the day that they had gone on the picnic, but he had made a point of trying to spend some time with her each day outside the meetings and mealtimes, even if it was just a stroll through the gardens of a quick sparring match. One particularly memorable night had been spent in the library. They had both had paperwork to do - she to rewrite notes and balance household ledgers and he to attend to the needs of the daimyos in charge of the various providences of his lands. They're endeavors had kept them up late enough that Hakashi had made a point of bringing in a tray of warm tea before leaving for his home, admonishing them to get some sleep before meetings began in the morning.
without closing his eyes, Sesshomaru could easily picture the way Rin's dark brown hair had spilled down her back when she released it from the confining bun it had been into. The firelight had wreaked havoc with the almost-ebony strands, sending glints of light in every direction as Rin absently ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to loosen the tight feeling on her scalp. Continuing along that tread of thought, she had clasped her fingers and raised her arms above her head in a stretch that Sesshomaru, watching out of the corner of his eye, had felt down to the tips of his toes. Arms still raised, Rin had glanced over and inquired as to weather or not he would like any tea.
still eyeing the way the firelight her highlighted her smooth limbs and the way the kimono was stretched over her chest to accommodate the new position the material was in, hadn't heard her at first. Releasing the stretch Rin had leaned over, her head cocked to look directly into his eyes and patiently repeated her question. With a small growl he was sure she couldn't hear, Sesshomaru roused himself from his thoughts and replied. What his reply had been, he couldn't quite remember, but he was sure he had.
Moments later his paperwork had been unceremoniously swept aside and a cup of tea had been placed before him. Rin's look had been unreadable, something between concern and annoyance, somehow neither and yet both, with something else dancing in the dark depths of her eyes.
"It's mint tea," She had stated wryly, as if the flavor held some great significance. "It's supposed to be energizing." She continued at his confused look. "And, frankly Sesshomaru, you look like you need it."
A small thrill had shot through him, as it always did whenever she said his name. Dropping the honorific "sama" from the end proved to him that she acknowledged the new turn of their relationship. That she was no longer a child under his jurisdiction and protection, but a woman grown and subordinate. If not quite his equal, then close. Close enough to give him her honest opinions, to share her thoughts and concerns.
"Lord Sesshomaru?" Lady Alina's piping query successfully derailed his thoughts.
"Yes Lady Alina?" he asked coolly.
Alina flinched at the cold note in his voice, but forged ahead anyway. "I was wondering if you would care for a walk with me before the evening meal."
Sesshomaru looked around, surprised to find that the meeting was over and everyone was cleaning up before departing. Rin, despite the fact that she was sitting next to him, kept her head down and her eyes focused on the last bit of notes. Sesshomaru frowned. Normally, Rin would have been listening intently to the comment, head up and staring intently at the commenter. In this case, and knowing that he wasn't interested but couldn't seem rude, she normally would have chosen that moment to "remind" him that he had a previous engagement that prevented him from accompanying Lady Alina. However, Rin stubbornly refused to raise her head and finishing her notes, rose and walked over to Jiro, bending her head next to his and inquiring about the completeness of his notes.
Sesshomaru resisted the urge to growl as the Inu raised its head and growled at her retreat, seeing it as a betrayal. No, he told himself, it wasn't that - something was wrong and he needed to find out what. "Forgive me Lady," he said smoothly, "but I have other business to attend to."
Catching his tale-tell glance at Rin, Alina's semblance of a good mood shot out the window. She had spent the last several days working on the girl, carefully and with Kenji's assistance, cultivating Rin's feelings of confusion and depression where her beloved Sesshomaru was concerned. Instead of returning her apparent disinterest in kind, as was befitting of a Lord, he was still - still - interested! He never said anything, at least not within her hearing, but his concerned glances and occasional chaste touches - a pat on the hand, a hand on her shoulder - were more telling than a hundred concerned queries.
Still, she put on the best smile she was able. On the edge of her hearing, she heard Rin mention that she was going for a stroll before evening meal, declining his offer the accompany her by saying that she also had to go make sure meal preparations were running smoothly. 'Perfect,' Lady Alina purred to herself, he smile suddenly becoming genuine.
"Very well then," She said aloud, "maybe some other time then."
With a graceful bow, she quit the room, leaving a slightly disturbed Sesshomaru in her wake. Deciding that whatever it was, it wasn't his business, he turned to where he had last seen Rin, only to find that she, too, had slipped the room.
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Stretching her arms above her head, Rin casually ambled out the kitchen's side door, walking along the stone-lined path through the gardens.
Rin loved the gardens, loved the feeling of peace she got when she was on her knees with her hands deep in the soil rooting out a space for a flower to be. Loved the delicate velvety-soft feel of the blossom's petals, and the sweet aroma that filled the air in the spring when the flowers bloomed. Loved the colors that abounded in the gardens and brightened rooms, and the warm feeling she got whenever Sakura and Ino would help her care for her flowers.
The gardens actually took up a good portion of the back of the castle, and the paths through them lead to either the dojo, the meadow where the horses were kept in good weather, the stables (which were right next to the meadow), the housing for single soldiers or a lake that lay just beyond a barrier of trees a ways off. It was not nearly as secluded as the lake that she had taken Sesshomaru, Ino, Sakura and Lei to the week before, but it was still nice.
Master Hiroshi had actually confessed to her once that the gardens had been expanded greatly since she had taken up residence in the castle. Her Lord's mother had been fond of gardening too, and his father had indulged her enough to allow her to plant some flowers around the otherwise cold stone fortress. However, when Lord Sesshomaru's mother had died, the gardens had fallen into disarray. Hiroshi, once a fighter in Lord Inutaisho's army, had been allowed to tend them when a battle wound had assured them that he would never fight again without great pain to his knee. The responsibility of tending the gardens had been given to him as an afterthought - a reason for the once proud warrior to refrain from ending his life in despair. However, he had ruefully confessed, there was only so much old bones could do and, after the demise of Lord Inutaisho, he had nearly despaired until a small, painfully quiet Ino had wandered into his life.
Even as Rin had expressed her disbelief that Ino - loud, vivacious, Ino - could ever be quiet, Hiroshi had assured her that it was entirely so. Her father, with a foot in the spirit realm, was not much of a conversationalist and, having lived deep in the forest prior to taking up residence inside the fortress wall, Ino never really learned to speak. However, the toddler, only three at the time, had appeared to love the gardens as much as the old groundskeeper did and, bit by bit, they had restored the gardens to - if not their former glory - then certainly close.
However, when a young Rin had taken up residence and an interest, Sesshomaru had given her a small plot of earth in which to plant her own blooms, aided by the ever-patient gardener and his young charge. When Sakura and Ino had been deemed mature enough to handle the responsibility, they had been granted a plot as well. Eventually, Hiroshi had been allowed to expand the gardens further when the castle's occupants had requested it. Soon the boundaries of the garden had tripled, leading to an official aide for the old demon in addition to the three girl's willing hands.
However, Rin recalled, there were many moments when Ino and Sakura reflected their true eleven-year-old ages and went on a "snipping spree," happily picking each and every bloom that caught their eye. The last such endeavor had been for the occasion of Ah-Un's birthday - or, rather, the day the girls had decided was supposed to be his birthday. Deciding that such an auspicious occasion deserved better than your average field flower, Sakura and Ino had been intent on picking the gardens bare in honor of their friend. Or, at least that was the way Master Hiroshi had seen it, when he chanced upon the giggling girls. Ino would later say that he was so mad that he nearly transformed into his demon form, and that she had never received such a scolding before of since.
Giggling, Rin was pulled out of her reverie by a sound coming from the other side of the hedges she was passing. A mere whisper, a soft sighing sound... Rin snorted softly. Two lovers, no doubt, were stealing a moment away from their duties. Romantic? Yes. Sweet? Unbearably so. However, it was none of her business. As she prepared to pass by the hedges, leaving the two behind, and low groan answered by a soft sigh caught her attention.
"Sesshomaru..."
'Sesshomaru?' Rin paused in shock, then peered into the space between the hedges.
There indeed was Sesshomaru, head bent, eyes closed, wrapped around a slightly smaller feminine form.
Her heart clenched painfully as Sesshomaru continued on, completely unawares. Eyes closed, his lips pressed firmly against the figure's own, against a backdrop of shrubbery and flowers, the two made quite a picture of blossoming romance.
'That should have been me...' Rin thought dejectedly. 'I should have been the one to make him look that happy...'
Just then, the two parted, casting the fading glow of the sun onto the female's features. Just as suddenly, Rin's world froze. Time seemed to slow and creep to a halt, and the rushing of blood in her ears overrode every sound but that of her wildly beating heart.
'Alina...'