InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Strength of Love ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshoumaru...-pouts-

The Strength of Love

Note: I decided to read the past chapters over and fix them. (I was stuck…)

"Sesshoumaru!! Sesshoumaru!!" Rin called from the garden. She wanted him to see the bird's nest in the bush besides their favorite spot in the garden. She could hear him coming, so she turned around so fast she almost fell. 'Silly me,' she thought.

"What is it Rin?" he asked in his usual calmness.

"Look," she said pointing to the nest. "They have hatched. Aren't they so beautiful?"

"Hmm."

She looked up at him and put her hands on her hips. "What do you mean, hmm?"

"They are birds, Rin."

"They are precious baby birds. It's a miracle."

"Life is not a miracle," he said as he turned around.

"What do you mean, life is not a miracle?" she asked. "Life is a miracle and you know it! Turn around, Sesshoumaru." He turned around and Rin looked directly into his eyes. "What's wrong, my Sesshoumaru?"

"Nothing," he said not even looking at her.

"I see."

"What do you see?" he asked as his eyes went from the garden to her.

"I see that you are worried about something." She walked closer to him. "Please, tell me what you are worried about?"

"I will not. A lord should not reveal his feelings." He lifted his head up to his regale position.

She smiled at the absurdity of the statement and took his hand. "You are a horrible liar, you know that?"

They walked back to the castle, hand in hand. When they got to the door he quickly let go and erected his head as he smelled the air.

"Who is here?" Rin asked.

"Someone I called for. I need to go meet him," he said and walked off leaving her at the door.

'What's going on? He has been acting strangely this past month,' she thought as she walked into the castle to see who was here. She saw no one, but heard voices coming from his study and decided it wasn't her business, so she went up to her room.

Once there she picked up the prayer beads she received from Miroku and prayed. 'Kohaku.Things have been great this past year. He has helped me get better. But...But, he has been acting very strange and he won't tell me what is going on. I hope he will come to me when he wants to talk. How is our son? I hope you two are happy as I have been. I love you both.' She opened her eyes as Jaken came waddling into the room.

"Don't you ever knock?!" she scolded him as she placed the beads on the table.

"Lord Sesshoumaru wants to see you," he said.

"Why didn't he come up here?"

Jaken walked to the door. "I don't know, woman. Just come down."

She glared at the back of his head. "Don't call me woman. I have a name."

She walked down and towards his unusually quiet study. She was about to knock when Sesshoumaru called her in.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes." He motioned to the man standing to the left of him. "This is Kento. He will be performing the ceremony."

"What ceremony?" she asked shyly.

"Our ceremony. It is time that we mated. It has been a year since you have recovered. It is time."

'Mated? It is time?' she thought before spitting out, "What?"

"You are going to become my mate, Rin. This is what I want and it shall be done."

"What?" she asked still confused about how it was his decision, and his alone, to make.

"I will not repeat myself. You know what I said."

"I know what you said, but I don't get it." She started to breathe deeply as she thought about his words. "I...I...We never talked about this. How come it is your decision to make? What about me and my feelings?" She looked directly into his eyes for answers, but received none.

"The ceremony will be tomorrow night. I expect you to wear the kimono I bought you yesterday. We will have it in the great room. You will be clean. That is all."
"What?" Her eyes darted between him and the man. "Why?"

"Leave us Rin. We still have more to discuss."

She turned around and slammed the door shut. 'How can he tell me that? Why couldn't we talk about it? I'm not ready yet. I was happy with the way things were. I thought he cared about me and my feelings. This is not what I want. Why are you doing this, Sesshoumaru?' She walking into her room slowly and crawled into bed to curl into a ball under the covers. She brought them up to her chin and closed her eyes tightly, trying to get rid of his words. 'It is time we mated...This is what I want and it shall be done.'

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"Rin?" asked the maid, waking her up.

"What?" she asked pulling the covers over her head.

"Lord Sesshoumaru wants to see you at breakfast."

"It's morning?"

"Yes, Rin. You better hurry. It doesn't look like he's in a good mood today."

"Fine. I will be down in a minute," she said as she got out of bed. She heard the door slide shut as she picked out something to wear. 'I wonder why he's in a bad mood,' she scoffed. 'Could it be he didn't get the reaction he wanted yesterday?'

She walked down to the dining room and opened the door. He was sitting in his usual seat looking as if nothing happened. She walked to the other end of the table and sat down.

"Why are you sitting there?" he asked.

"Because I am mad at you."

"Why are you mad at me?"

"You didn't talk to me."

"I do not understand, Rin," he said looking straight into her eyes.

"Of course you don't," she said under her breath.

"Rin!" he barked and she jumped.

"Sesshoumaru?" she said defiantly. She could tell he wanted to say something, but the servants brought out the food before he could and she smiled in triumph.

After Rin was done with breakfast she stood up to walk out of the room, but Sesshoumaru stopped her before she could open the door.

"Rin. We are not through here." He looked at the servants in the corner. "Leave us." They bowed and walked out through the door to the kitchen.

"Sesshoumaru, I think we are through. I have said all I want to say." She started to slide the door open.

"Rin! Come back in the room! We are through when I say we are through!"

She closed it and turned around to look him straight in the eyes. They were changing from their usual amber to a dark red. She wasn't surprised by them and made her eyes go from their usual openness to an angry slit. He stood up and walked towards her and she took a deep breath. "I am not afraid of you."

"You do not talk to me like that," he snarled. "I am a Lord. You need to show me respect."

"Show me some respect and I will show you some." She could hear a low growl from the back of his throat. "Now, if we are done, I will be leaving. I have to be clean." She tuned around fast to let her hair whip in his face in defiance.

He growled again, but louder and grabbed her hair and pulled her back to him. She fell into his chest as he let go and grabbed onto her right arm.

"Owh. You are hurting me."

"Show that tone with me and this is what you deserve."

She stepped forward and pulled her arm out. She felt his claws dig in and cried in pain. Rin looked at the torn kimono and her bleeding arm and then up at him in disbelief.

"You bastard!" She took her left fist and swung it with all her might to his face. She looked at his bleeding lip and then to his eyes.

They returned to their beautiful amber color as he reached towards her. "Rin..."

She could see that he was sorry, but she didn't want to hear it and left the room to see if she could treat her wound in private.

After having a hard time fixing the claw marks on her arm, she went to the bathhouse to think about what happened.

When she got to the door, one of the servants called out to her. "Rin. What happened?"

"Nothing. I was just clumsy," she lied.

"It looks bad."

"It's not that bad," she smiled although she didn't want to. "I'm going to take a bath now."

"Sorry Rin," the servant said bowing.

"That is all right." He watched the woman walk back the way she came and the fake smile drained off her face.

Rin closed the door after she got into the room and put her robe on a hook. She walked slowly into the basin. She sat for a moment and then moved her whole body under water. When she brought her head out she could hear knocking.

"Who is it?"

"It is me, Rin."

"What do you want, Sesshoumaru?"

"I want to apologize to you, my Rin."

She got out of the basin, put her robe on, and then opened the door. Rin gradually looked him straight in eyes, glancing to see that his lip was already healed. "I accept."

"You do not mean that, Rin."

"I mean what I say," she said still angry about yesterday and this morning.

"Rin."

"Excuse me. I have to get ready for this evening." She bowed her head and started to walk by him, but stopped. "I am sorry for hitting you."

He took her chin in his hand and pulled it up. She didn't want to look at him so she closed her eyes. "Rin. Open your eyes."

"I don't want to. I'm afraid at what I'll see."

"I do not understand."

"I don't either," she said as she felt his hand brush past her cheek. She winced and he pulled his hand away.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked sympathetically.

She opened her eyes. "Yes. Now I really must be going if you want me to be ready by then."

"Rin."

She continued to look at him as his face changed from concern to hurt. She closed her eyes again. 'I can't stand to look at him anymore. He is still the same as before.' She opened them again only to see that he had left.

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'Why is this happening to me? What is going on with him? I want to ask him, but I don't know how to anymore.' She opened her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror. 'I want to make him happy and this is how.' She started to cry. 'Why am I weak? Why do I have to cry? When he is happy, I am happy.' She closed her eyes again and let her tears fall down her cheeks. 'That's not true and I know it.'

She felt her hair behind her being moved so she opened her eyes to see Sesshoumaru standing behind her and fingering her newly combed hair. She closed her eyes and moved her head to his hand that brushed her cheek.

"Sesshoumaru," she said with a sigh.

"Rin," he said as she reopened her eyes slowly to look at his reflection in the mirror.

"Sesshoumaru," she said as he uncharacteristically bent his head down and kissed the top of her head. He put his hand on her shoulder and she brought her left hand to hold it. "Why?"

"Why?"

"Why are you make...Why aren't you telling me anything anymore?"

"I thought you wanted this," he said plainly, but she knew he was hiding something.

"I want you."

He took his hand out from under hers. "Then this is how it must be done."

She stood up to face him. "No! This isn't how it should be done! Why are you acting like this?! This isn't my Sesshoumaru!"

"This is your Sesshoumaru," he said coldly as he looked away from her.

"Sesshoumaru," Rin cried. She walked over to him and took his cheek with her right hand and made him face her. She slowly moved her face close to his and kissed him. Her hand moved from his cheek to allow her arm to wrap around his neck. The other arm followed as his went to the arch of her back.
'This is my Sesshoumaru,' she thought as their lips parted from each other. She gradually brought her arms back to her side as he did the same.

"Rin," he said unsurely.

"I will go through with it," she answered, "for you."

"It has to be this way. I will tell you after the ceremony."

"Tell me what?"

"After."

She nodded her head. "After my Sesshoumaru and I..." She paused, "mate."

"Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord Sesshoumaru!" Jaken yelled as he came into the room.

Rin glared at him as Sesshoumaru growled, "What is it now, Jaken."

"Lord Sesshoumaru! He is here!"

"Who is here, Sesshoumaru?" Rin asked looking up towards him, but his eyes were looking off into the distance.

"Rin. Stay here. What ever happens, do not leave this room."

"Yes," she said as they left the room in a hurry.

'What is going on?' she asked herself as she heard yelling below. She walked to the door and opened to hear what they were saying better.

"I see you have gotten weak," said a mysterious voice.

"I may be younger, but I am not weaker," said Sesshoumaru.

"Then what is this about being in love with a human girl?"

"I am not in love with a human. I will not lower myself to that."

'What! We just...He just...' Thoughts were racing through her mind as kept listening to the argument below.

"We'll just see about that," the mysterious voice said and Rin could hear footsteps running up the stairs to her.

She shut the door quietly and ran into a corner hidden by her bed. Her heart was beating as fast as the footsteps were coming. She closed her eyes, 'Please don't find me. Please don't find me.'

The door busted open and Rin's heart stopped. 'Where is Sesshoumaru?'

"I can smell you, woman. Your fear makes you smell that much sweeter. I will enjoy you."

"Inmetsu!" roared Sesshoumaru behind him.

Rin closed her eyes as she silently cheered for Sesshoumaru. She opened them in time to notice that the afternoon sun was dancing off her bracelet, showing Inmetsu where she was. She covered her wrist, but it was too late. Inmetsu pushed the bed from the corner and stood over her with lustful eyes.

"Inmetsu!"

Rin looked past him to Sesshoumaru. His eyes were starting to change as his nose and mouth became that of a dog. Then his body turned into one destroying the roof in the process. She covered her head as the pieces of the roof fell on top of her. As she lost consciousness she heard Sesshoumaru growl at the invading youkai.