InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Strength of Love ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone already owned. That it all. : )

This chapter is short because I am stuck. I don't know what to do after this one to end it nicely. I hope you like it and I will get on the ball the rest of the week, after homework, to figure out my mess. : )

Cirrus, The phoenix of life, AnimeFan, SexehKitten, essis, and Sessy/Rin Fan I hope you like this next chapter and thanks for reviewing! And thanks sam777 for your lovely review and for giving this the once over.

Tiger5913, I hope this chapter gives you some of that "love connection." (Sorry if it doesn't....)

SakuyaTsuki, I see Sesshoumaru as not trying to be mean, but trying to uphold his home and lands. If he feels threatened he will act accordingly. Granted, he wasn't the best he could have been in the past couple of chapters, but hopefully this chapter will be better. I hoped to show, that Rin is strong even though she was raped...at least I think that was what I was going for...hehe.

linda, thank you for my first "flame", it's not as bad as I thought is was going to be. I found it quite hilarious. I don't feel like Rin is a "slut" because she was married to a man who died and then mated to a, well, demon. It's like when someone finds love again after a divorce or death. That person is not a "slut" because she/he meets someone else she/he loves. Also, Rin did not mate with a boar demon, she was raped. I believe I have had only one rape in all my stories or poems and that is this story, where she was raped only once. I never thought once that I was ruining Rin. I have read other stories where she has had to go through a lot of challenges much worse than this. I'm sorry to hear that you did not like the story so far and, if you are going to read this chapter, I hope Rin's character is more to your liking.

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"Mama," cried a small voice.

Rin opened her eyes to see Tatsuki crawling to her from the other side of the bed where her mate sat.

"Tatsuki. How have you been?" she asked sweetly as she lifted herself up. She picked him up and stood him on her left leg.

"Mama," he said again and he put his hands on her cheeks.

Rin looked at her hanyou son. His silver hair was gently flowing down the nape of his neck. His ears moved as he picked up sounds from outside the room and his golden, speckled brown, eyes looked squarely at her as if he wanted reassurance that she wouldn't leave him again.

"Can you say 'dada'?" She turned him around to sit him on her lap so he could see his father.

Tatsuki giggled as he reached for him. "Dada. Dada. Dada."

"Yes Tatsuki. That's wonderful!" smiled Rin. The small boy stuck out his tongue and giggled some more. She slowly looked up towards Sesshoumaru and gave him a weak smile.

"Why is Mochihiro here? He wouldn't tell me. He told me to ask you."

"He is just someone I wanted to come here to look after Tatsuki while I was gone."

"Hmm. If that was it, why didn't he tell me himself? How does he know me?"

"He knows you because you are the Lady of these lands and my mate."

"But he is a human."

"Oh, am I," said Mochihiro as he walked towards the bed and reached for Tatsuki. "He looks like your father, Sesshoumaru, except for the ears, of course. I bet he'll be a great demon, like his father."

"He will never be a demon," said Sesshoumaru coldly.

"And it doesn't matter," Rin continued giving a questioning look to him as she let Mochihiro take Tatsuki from her.

"It will matter, Rin. When he is old enough he will have to prove himself to the other demons in the land."

"Or he might not. Why is Mochihiro really here?" asked Rin, who was getting annoyed at Sesshoumaru's sudden change once again. "I want to know."

"I have already told you."

Rin pushed the sheets off of her and looked at her leg. 'That's right. I can't leave.'

"Hold him," said Mochihiro to Sesshoumaru. Rin watched as Sesshoumaru reluctantly took his son from the man. "Be still." He looked at her with a solemn face.

Rin nodded and looked at her leg where he was placing his hands. Inaudible whispers came from his moving mouth and a blue light shown from his hands. Her leg throbbed as the pain from other areas of her body was drained into that area. She started to breathe erratically as the pain started to become unbearable. She took a deep breath as Mochihiro's mouth stopped and the blue light disappeared.

"Stand up," he said lifting his hands up and to his sides.

"I can't."

"Yes you can."

Rin moved her leg without pain and touched the floor with her foot. "Who are you? How do you know me?" she asked as she stood up pain free and walked to the end of the bed.

"I am Mochihiro. I am a healer. I was asked to come here to-"

"Mochihiro! Take my son, now!" yelled Sesshoumaru quickly standing up from the edge of the bed.

"What's going on?" Rin questioned the two men as Tatsuki became startled and began to cry.

"He wanted me to-"

"Mochihiro! Get out!" Sesshoumaru growled.

Mochihiro reluctantly took the crying baby and turned to leave. "If I cannot tell her than you must. She is your mate. You should have known..." he said as his voice faded down the hallway.

"Sesshoumaru! How can you do this to me? I'm not eight anymore! You can't leave me in the dark anymore! Especially with our child! I know I haven't been the best mate, but I would still like to know what happens with our child while I'm here. Now, tell me why you called for a healer?"

"I wanted to heal..."

Rin watched as he struggled for the words. "It must be something that you really don't want me knowing. I've never seen you this lost for words. Who was he suppose to heal?" She looked him in his golden amber eyes and waited for him to try and recompose his thoughts. 'What did he want to heal? He said Moshihiro was there for Tatsuki. Was he suppose heal him? What's wrong with him? He's...'

"Rin."

She walked up to him and slapped him hard across the cheek with her right hand. "He doesn't need to be healed. He's fine. I don't mind that he's half demon, so why do you worry about him being half human? I wonder... Maybe it's a good thing this mark is not the same as it used to be. That was the old us; the old me. This new mark is the new us; the new me that doesn't want to be a servant to you!"

She sighed and spoke her jumbled thoughts. "I'm sorry for hitting you. I will stay here and be the babysitter while you patrol the borders. I let you kiss me yesterday, but that was it. I feel that this was just a bad idea. I should have left you long before I fell in love with you. I should have let go of you, but I just couldn't. Everything you've ever done that made me think that you could...but you can't. It's all been a show for me."

"Rin. You are my mate. You are my human mate. Everyone knows about us. I defend you while I am with the other Lords. I defend our pup. I just thought that he would have a better life if he was a full demon. He would not have to go through the problems like my disgrace of a brother."

"And why is your brother a disgrace? He has a family that loves him. He has friends. He has a wife he shares his feelings with and is not ashamed of." Rin moved to walk out the door.

"I am not ashamed of you," said Sesshoumaru in cold, yet oddly caring, tone.

"Then why are you ashamed of our son?"

She felt the breeze of Sesshoumaru move behind her and his hand on her shoulder. Rin angrily moved her shoulder and he took his hand off.

"I am not ashamed of my son."

"Why is he your son? I believe I held him and birthed him. He's seen so little of you. He should be my son, but he's our son. That's one thing..." she trailed off while walking from the door and to the balcony. The smells of August and the warmth of the sun played with her senses as her hearing picked up the rustling of Sesshoumaru coming behind her yet again.

"Stop. If you come any closer I will give in to you like I always do and nothing will happen, nothing will change. I want you to stop playing with my heart and I, in turn, will stop playing with yours...if I ever did. I can't do this anymore. I can't be with you if you aren't with me. With Akito..."

"He threatened my house. He was supposed to be a servant to me and my mate. He overstepped the boundaries and-"

She spun around and glared at the dog demon in front of her. "He didn't do anything wrong! I did! I wanted him to teach me! I..." Rin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I kissed him! I wanted him! No! I wanted someone to love me and he loved me so I gave in to my weakness! He shouldn't have died! I should have! You should have killed me!"

"Rin," he barked sharply and Rin opened her eyes.

"I ruined your line. I ruined your name. I am a disgrace. I am human. Humans need feelings." She looked away from him and to corner of the room where the sun could not reach. "But I forget. You are a demon. A lord. Lord Sesshoumaru. You should not allow any feelings to get in the way of your duties."

"I have to defend my father's honor every time I leave the castle. They think of him as being weak, that he died because of a human. They think of me that way. I was just starting to get the respect of the other Lords and then I mate with a human myself."

She looked at him with her brown eyes as the wind started to blow her hair around her. "But don't you realize that you are not weak because of that? You can be called weak for loving me, but that doesn't make you weak, does it? I was able to become stronger because of your love for me. I was able to become stronger because of my love for Tatsuki. If I didn't love you or him I would not have the strength I do now. It doesn't take much strength to be angry in front of people because they criticize you. It takes strength to show people the love you have; to stand in front of them and not let it get the best of you. I believe your father understood that to show someone love is the greatest strength a person, or demon has. I believe you still have to learn that."

"I do not want them belittling our family. I have to defend..."

"I don't care if they belittle my family because they always will. They are being insecure and they don't have the strength to admit that they are jealous of you and me."

"I have to protect our family. If I cannot protect you and our son then I am not worthy to be a Lord of these lands," he said as he stood rigidly on the floor.

"When you are with me, you are not the Lord of the Western Lands. You are my mate, my husband, my lover, my soul. I can defend myself from the people who want to attack my home, but I can't defend myself from you. Everything we have done together seems to be thrown away at a moment's notice by you."

"I do not throw away anything from you. I have kept my promises and I have always..."

"But when you..."

"I have always..."

"Why is it so hard for you to say it with the door open? Why can't you yell it from this balcony? Why can't you say 'I LOVE YOU RIN! I'M NOT ASHAMED OF YOU! YOU ARE HUMAN AND I DON'T CARE'? I remember when we had the picnic and you showed a little emotion in front of your brother and my friends. I liked that. I want that."

"You know how I feel and it is foolish to let others see emotions only meant for you and me. I do not care that you are a human and our son is a hanyou. "

She closed her eyes to stop the tears that were starting to form. "Then why did you want to change him? Why won't you yell it! Why don't you let this guard down?! Why won't you really love me?!"

"I do. However, I do not feel that I need to tell others. We know it and that all that matters."

Rin walked up to him, without opening her eyes, and place her right hand on his heart. "You are usually so calm, but that is just a farce so no one knows what you are really feeling. I hear the way you are closing me off again. I feel your heart. I feel how it's pounding." She looked up and into his eyes. "You are afraid. What are you afraid of? You know all about me, but there is still so little I know about you. Let me know you."

She felt his hand come around her and stop on the small of her back. "You do not need to know about me. I love you and that is all you need to know."

"No, I don't. We are mates. I should know my mate. I have traveled with you most of my life and I know as much as I do the day I met you."

"No. You know that I will protect you with all my might. No matter what happens to me, you are the one that comes first. You and my son. I will protect you both. That is what my father did for me and my mother. That is what I must do for you."

He looked down at her. "You know that my favorite food is fish. You know I love the spring the best because that is when you liven up. No matter what happens during the winter, you brush it away and turn towards the sun to warm you up. You know I love the way you smile at me. I love that everywhere you go the smell of flowers trail behind you. I love how, no matter how badly I've treated you, you will always come back to be beside me."

Rin leaned her head to his chest as her hand moved from his heart. She heard the erratic beating slow to a steady pace. Her left hand moved to trace his ear and rest on his neck. "Tell me about your past." His heartbeats started to change once again and he took his arm off of the small of her back. She moved away from him. "I won't let you leave this room until you tell me. That was the past with me. I want to know the past before you met me."

She watched Sesshoumaru bow his head and shield his eyes from her for the first time since she'd known him. "My mother was the strongest dog demon, other than my father. She loved me as much as you love our son. She was...She was a lot like you, head strong, compassionate, powerful, and loving. She made me feel like I had done nothing wrong when she smiled at me. My father loved my mother. That is one of the reasons I couldn't understand why he could go from a powerful demon like her to a helpless human. They did not need to share feelings. They had a connection. They could tell what each other was feeling just by being in the room with each other. They respected one another and they were respected by the people of the land."

Rin moved her hand to comfort him, but stopped halfway through when he started to talk about his mother again.

"I remember my mother was going to have another pup. I remember the smell. My father treated her with extra care and would not leave her side. Then there was a skirmish in the southern part of his lands. He was gone only two days. I was about one hundred and fifty years old, but I looked about fifteen. I tried to help my mother, but I was not strong enough. The demon took us by surprise. My father did not want to leave her. The demon should not have been able to come that far. Someone should have protected the palace. My father thought it was someone from the inside so they could get rid of us and then my father. We had enemies. My sister did not. She was not able to see the light of this world. My father broke down. He spent many years at a time away from the castle. I grew up. He brought back a human woman. She smelled like my mother did. He found a new mate. He replaced my mother and he replaced me with a hanyou."

"Sess...Sesshoumaru..." cried Rin as she threw herself onto him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I'm so sorry. Your mother sounds wonderful. I'm sure your father could have never replaced her. Just like I can never replace you."

She backed off and moved her hands to his cheeks. She stood there looking into his hurting amber eyes that showed so much emotion, more than she had ever seen before. She pushed her lips onto his and gave him a loving and sorrowful kiss.

"I love you, Sesshoumaru. This is what I wanted to hear. This is what I want from you."

"I love you too. I will not scream it from the highest mountain, but I will say it in the walls of my palace. "

"As long as you say it to me with love," Rin smiled mischievously, "and around other people."

"I will not do things I do not wish to do."

"It was a joke. I understand you. I want people to see us, but if you are uncomfortable, then I should not push you to do so. I should love the man-demon-for who he is because that is who I fell in love with."

Sesshoumaru ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her forehead as the last rays of sun poked through the balcony door. "Such foolish emotions..."

"...Are what I need to hear," Rin finished as she lied her head upon his shoulder.

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So that is what I was able to spit out....I should have worked on it while my computer was dead, but I wrote a new one instead...

Thanks again for the reviews...and flame. : )