InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ True Companion ❯ Truth ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: ::tears off wrapping to box:: What is it! What is it! What is it! ::brings out Sessy-shoumaru plushie:: SESSY! But I wanted the real Sessy!

"This is the close as you will ever get."

No! I want Sessy!

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"Rin! Rin!" Jaken watched as his master called out to the unconscious woman cradled in his arm. Sesshoumaru was visibly worried about his mate and Jaken knew that wasn’t a good sign.

"Please, Sesshoumaru-sama, let me examine her." Jinenji looked into her eyes and checked her body but even he seemed dumbfounded.

Jaken stood near Ahun who whimpered into his muzzles. He petted the beast’s foot understanding its worry. He couldn’t say he had always liked Rin, but she was Sesshoumaru’s mate and almost always kind to him. Most of all, she had suffered enough, she didn’t deserve any more torment.

"Sesshoumaru! Sesshoumaru!" Rin’s cries pierced the souls of all who heard. Sesshoumaru pulled her closer and called back but nothing worked to free her.

Suddenly the wind shifted and a new scent came with it. Jaken was sure he had smelled something like it before but couldn’t place it. Sesshoumaru did though and he called out to Jaken and Ahun as he laid Rin’s body on the ground, "Stay with her." He stood and walked forward, removing Tokijin from his waist.

"My, my, Sesshoumaru, what a way to greet the person who can help your precious mate." A woman appeared before them. She had bright red hair down to her waist and wore a green shinobi outfit, but it was her eyes that nearly made Jaken fall backwards. Her eyes were pitch black and he was finally able to place her scent.

"Speak, leave, or die." Sesshoumaru’s cold demeanor had returned.

She laughed a dark, harsh laugh. "I shall speak and then you will kill me. That is the way it is destined to be, and I am fine with that. You see I know what ails your mate for I am the one who ordered it to be done."

Sesshoumaru raised Tokijin and Jaken could see energy sparking at the tip. "You will die."

"As I said, I am fine with death, but are you so careless to kill me before learning how to relieve the human of her suffering?" Sesshoumaru made no move, neither towards nor away from the woman. "Good. Since after I tell you I will die let me first explain why the human must suffer. It is all…your…fault…Sesshoumaru," the woman emphasized each word.

"Do not waste my time."

"Or what, you will kill me? We already have decided that is going to happen, so be a good boy and listen." Jaken heard a low growl escape his master’s throat. "This is my revenge for my brothers whom you slain. I am not as strong as them, but I am smarter." She shook her head slightly. "My brother’s never knew when enough was enough, but none the less I cannot let their deaths go unavenged. So you see, this is your fault for killing them."

"Such insults as theirs and yours do not go unpunished."

"Yes, but Haku would not have involved the woman if Akki hadn’t have been there. He most likely asked Haku for her and then Haku saw the chance to make you mad. Like I said they weren’t smart, but, unlike them, I make up for my lack of strength with wits. Thus, knowing any challenge against you would only result in my death, the only way to avenge my kin is to hurt something you care for. And you even gave me a human mate as a target, I must thank you."

"If you do not say something of value I will kill you now."

"All right. The woman is under a curse by a black miko. The curse is unbreakable and permanent. Your mate will experience her greatest fear, which, according to the miko that cast the curse, is that everything she experienced was a dream and she would wake to my brothers. I assure you though, this is not just a dream or illusion for her. If she dies in her mind her body will follow. If you should revive her with that pretty little sword of yours the curse will begin again and she will have to suffer anew. Killing the miko will not stop the curse and there is no power strong enough to break a spell that feeds off the victim’s own mind."

Jaken couldn’t believe what he had heard. He ran to Sesshoumaru’s side and pointed the Staff of Heads towards the woman. "You vile wench! If nothing can end the curse how do you plan for us to stop her pain?"

"Jaken!" Anger burned in Sesshoumaru’s glare and Jaken hurried back to his place next to Rin.

The woman laughed again. "Haven’t you figured it out? The only way you can end her misery is to kill her yourself." She stared directly into Sesshoumaru’s eyes. "Kill your mate and release her of the torment."

Tokijin responded for him, tearing through the woman’s skull, between her breasts and legs, and enveloping her remains in the force of Sesshoumaru’s rage. Nothing was left of the woman save a few specks of dust falling to the damp earth.

Sesshoumaru returned Tokijin to his waist only to unsheathe Tenseiga. He approached Rin’s body, which twitched and jerked over the grass. Jaken watched as close as he could but didn’t see the sword pulse as it had the other times Sesshoumaru had used it. Sesshoumaru’s eyes narrowed and he gazed intently on his mate. In one swift motion the sword pierced and left Rin’s body without leaving a mark. Everyone waited to see if there was any change.

Her body was no longer convulsing but Jaken knew Tenseiga hadn’t helped. The odor of salt and the sobs fleeing her throat were strong to his senses. Not even Tenseiga was strong enough, but was there really no way to help her? Sesshoumaru picked her up off the ground and turned to Jinenji. "Do you have anything to put her body to rest?"

"Yes, but nothing that can stop the curse."

"Get your medicine." Jinenji went to his field as Sesshoumaru took her to the small hut with Jaken hurrying after.

He entered and cautiously approached his master who knelt next to Rin’s body. "Sesshoumaru-sama, what do you intend to do to help Rin-sama?" Jaken awaited an answer but received none. Sesshoumaru continued to look down at her, his mind lost in thought. Could he be considering killing Rin? Wouldn’t it be better for her if he did?

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Rin held her bleeding arm to her naked body and struggled to restrain her tears. Akki and Haku continued to watch her with amusement as she tried to figure out what was happening.

This can’t be real! It must be a nightmare! A horrible nightmare! I am with Sesshoumaru! I am his mate! I am the Lady of the Western Lands!

But the pain! The pain is so much, so real.

No! This can’t be real! Sesshoumaru would not leave me! He would not leave his mate!

Fool! It was a dream, he never rescued me! He never cared for me! He never marked me! The castle, Saka, Touya…I made them all up. They aren’t real! This is the reality! This is the truth!

"No! You aren’t real!" Rin forced herself off the ground regardless of the pain in her destroyed leg. "None of this is real!"

"Otouto, I don’t believe you have convinced her."

Akki smiled and pulled her against him, his breath billowing over her cheek. "Then I shall have to try again. If pain does not convince you, perhaps pleasure will. I do enjoy hearing you call for me in ecstasy."

Rin’s body tensed and trembled in his arms. "You are the one who dreams. I will never call for you. You are a bastard who was killed by Sesshoumaru."

"Is that what you think? Amazing that just last night you begged me to take you. The noises you made while I was with you were intoxicating." He ran his tongue over her lips. Shocked, Rin drew in breath allowing Akki access to her mouth. He took his time, slowly exploring her mouth with his tongue before releasing her from the forced kiss. "Ask me again. Ask me again and I will give you pleasure tonight instead of pain."

Rin had felt Sesshoumaru’s anger rise to unbearable levels before, but never had his gone as far as her rage did at that moment. She stopped trembling, raised her head, and spat right into Akki’s eyes. "I am Sesshoumaru’s and Sesshoumaru’s alone. Do not touch me again."

Both Akki and Haku were shocked by her outburst. Akki released her and slowly wiped her saliva from his face as a growl grew within his throat. "Have you forgotten who you are woman? Must I teach you your place again?"

"You are not real, nothing you can do will change that."

"We will see about that." He grabbed the rope tying Rin’s wrist and yanked causing her to lose her balance. Since Akki still held the ropes, her body half hung by her arms, of which, Rin quickly realized, her left was still broken. "Niisan, would you be so kind as to get me my whip?"

"I suppose I will. It will be interesting to see how long this woman clings to her illusionary world." Haku went into one of the tents as Akki dragged her to the center of the camp.

Rin looked around and found all the bandits and women were still alive. Almost all, the woman who had helped her, the woman she thought had helped her, was strung up by her neck and swayed in the passing wind. Akki brought her to a pillar, which looked to be an uprooted tree thrust into the ground, and placed her bound arms around a tall branch so that her feet were off the ground. He pushed her body till it was a few inches from the bark before going to one of the small fires and grabbing a burning log. He placed several of them at Rin’s feet but far enough not to set the pillar ablaze. Rin struggled not to cry out as the flames began lapping at the tender skin.

"Otouto, your woman will never walk again the way you treat her." She couldn’t see them, but behind her Rin could hear metal hitting metal.

"She doesn’t need to. I will kill her when she no longer provides me with entertainment." She heard leather snap and the clinking of metal again. "Now Rin, beg me to stop and I will. Beg me and tell me you will do anything I say."

The leather snapped again but this time she felt the metal hooks at the whip’s end dig into her back. With a quick tug by Akki they ripped through her flesh and returned to him. The force of the impact shoved Rin forward embedding pieces of bark into her torso.

"Beg me, Rin!"

"Go to hell!"

The whip struck her back again and Rin could hear the blood cracking as it dripped into the fire beneath her. Akki continued to strike her, increasing the force with every lash of the whip. Rin knew her back was completely mutilated and cries of pain leapt from her throat but she did not beg and Akki did not stop.

Suddenly, the pain in her head returned. It focused above her eyes and consumed her thoughts, nothing was more painful at that moment than the pulsing in her skull. She forced her eyes open, hoping to see something past the burning light. As she stared forward, beyond the pillar she was hanging from, across the camp, right at the line of the trees, stood Sesshoumaru and Jaken. A smile graced her pain stricken face as she focused on her mate.

He has come. He will call out and I will wake up now. This is a dream and he will be there to comfort me.

"Sesshoumaru," Rin whispered no longer feeling the pain of Akki’s whip.

He stared back at her but made no move and spoke no words. Rin waited for his voice to call her out of the nightmare but all he did was stare as her body beat against the pillar. Her smile began to falter. "Sesshoumaru. Please…Sesshoumaru!"

Somewhere behind her she heard Akki laughing. "Stop calling to him. He isn’t coming for a worthless whore."

As if hearing Akki’s words Sesshoumaru turned from her and walked into the forest. Jaken looked to her one last time before following his master.

Rin entire body was filled with an indescribable pain that was neither physical nor mental. She felt as if her very soul was shattered and nothing could restore it.

No! He can’t have left! He wouldn’t leave me! I am his mate, he wouldn’t leave me!

I am a demon’s whore! That is the truth! Sesshoumaru saw that. He left me because I am wretched and disgusting! That was the real Sesshoumaru! This is the real world!

No! It can’t be! This can’t be real!

It is! Sesshoumaru has left me! I don’t deserve to live!

If this is real, then I will let Akki kill me now. I cannot exist without Sesshoumaru.

Rin lowered her head and watched as the pool of blood beneath her grew. She no longer screamed, though the pain was excruciating. Nothing could compare to her grief. After a few moments of her silence Akki stopped whipping her. He approached her and checked to see if she was still alive.

"Damn woman, you are more stubborn than anything. Fine, hang here all night. I’ll even keep the fire going to make sure you don’t get cold." He turned and left her alone against the pillar.

Tears fell from her eyes and she couldn’t stop her sobs from escaping her chest. She cried for hours knowing only the pain of her reality. Knowing Sesshoumaru wouldn’t return for her.

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Jaken held Ahun’s reigns and slowly led the melancholy beast behind their master. Jaken could barely believe Sesshoumaru had left Rin and not killed her. He could still see the scene in his mind.

Rin stared up at Sesshoumaru as he stood at the hut’s entrance, almost as if she could truly see him. Her weakened voice called out his name and Sesshoumaru just stared back at her. She called again, pleading for something, but Sesshoumaru turned and left the hut. Jaken couldn’t help but look one more time at the terrified woman before following him out.

They had hunted down the black miko that cursed Rin but she couldn’t undo the spell. Sesshoumaru surprised Jaken again by not killing the woman. Instead, Sesshoumaru tied her up and left her in the cave she had been saying she would suffer as Rin did. Jaken had not heard what happened to Rin, though he knew that she had at one point told Sesshoumaru, so he could only speculate what that had meant.

Sesshoumaru now walked before them, quieter than Jaken had ever seen him and Sesshoumaru rarely spoke before. Jaken could only imagine what he must have been thinking about. This was the third time Rin had suffered greatly and the demon woman had blamed Sesshoumaru directly for this one. Though Sesshoumaru probably blamed himself for the kidnapping, it had never been said, at least not that Jaken knew. But would it not have been kinder to Rin to kill her?

Sesshoumaru stopped at the edge of a dense wood and turned to Jaken. "Remain here. Do not come after me for any reason."

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama." Jaken watched his master enter the woods and disappear from sight.

Something about the land made Jaken uneasy but it wasn’t until Ahun wandered off that he realized why. He chased after the beast and found him in a small clearing next to a river. Ahun was whining beneath his muzzles as he wandered the area. This was where Rin was taken from. Jaken looked back to the forest Sesshoumaru had gone into.

"Why have you returned here, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Suddenly a loud crash was heard from the forest, as if several trees had been felled at once. More crashes were heard followed by a terrifying roar. Jaken waited next to Ahun, staring at a dark green cloud forming in the distance.

"Sesshoumaru-sama is worse than I thought, Ahun. It would have been better if he had never met Rin. Then neither of them would have had to suffer."

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Rin was still crying when the pain came to her. Never had she felt such unbridled rage and sorrow. It was as if a torrent of raw emotions were tearing through her, each a hundred times worse than her grief of Sesshoumaru leaving. She screamed and cried hoping to expel the feelings from her but they only increased.

Why am I feeling this? What is it? Why won’t it stop? Such sorrow! Such grief! Such hatred! I need to stop them! What is happening?

A warm fluid began flowing down her chest. Rin struggled to turn her head and look down. Blood? But I stopped bleeding long ago. She watch the new stream as it made its slow way down her body. She concentrated and felt its origin.

The mark? It is where the mark was. I don’t understand.

The pulse returning to her eyes drowned the searing emotions. She looked down at her body again, and stared at the trail of blood. Her gazed widened as she saw no wounds beneath the blood where directly beside were large gashes and scars.

What…what is happening?

The wrath of the undying emotions returned anew and fought the pain in her eyes. The battle within her body was driving her to the brink of madness and Rin couldn’t bear it any more. She lifted her head up and slammed it against the pillar before her. Blood trailed down the uneven bark in front of her eyes and the pain began to subside. She looked again to the course taken by the fluid from her shoulder. The more it covered her chest the less wounds she saw.

Rin began laughing, whether from insanity or understanding didn’t matter, her decision was made. She lifted her battered legs to the pillar and pushed. Pain scorched every nerve, but her body had long since grown accustomed to it, allowing her to continue. Slowly, the rope began moving away from the main body of the pillar. She pushed and stretched her broken and burned limbs to their limits, then she forced them further.

With one final thrust of her legs Rin was thrown onto the hard ground below. The sorrow consumed her once again and she had to wait for it to subside before she moved. When she was able, Rin brought her mutilated body to stand. Her burned feet and broken leg did not want to support her but she wouldn’t let them stop her. One step. Two steps. Three steps. Her speed was horrible but she was moving.

One of the bandits that had been asleep woke as she passed him. His eyes opened wide in shock as she shuffled across the camp. She didn’t even try to stop him from saying anything, it was a waste of strength. The man stood up and grabbed her arm, without even thinking Rin pulled the man over her shoulder as Touya had taught her and continued on. Several other bandits were waking now, each stopping to stare at her as she continued her journey out of the camp. She was headed to where Sesshoumaru had left hoping to find a way out of her nightmare.

With the commotion in the camp Akki and Haku soon came out to check up on her. Even the demons stared at her for a moment in disbelief. Akki stormed forward and was about to grab her arms when a wave of rage and hatred hit Rin. She threw herself forward and wrapped the rope binding her wrists around his neck. She jumped slightly, bringing her knees onto his chest and pushed against him, choking him. Haku hurried to grab his bladed staff as Akki struggled to free himself of Rin. The more he struggled and ripped at her the stronger her hold on him became.

"I thought I warned you not to touch me again! No one disgraces the Lady of the Western Lands!" Rin screamed at him with all the hatred she had in her body.

Haku rushed to aid his brother, so Rin began throwing her weight to force Akki into chaotic motions. No matter what he tried, Haku couldn't hold his brother steady enough to free him of Rin. As Akki’s body started to lose its strength, slowing his movements, Haku raised his blade to strike Rin. She watched and waited. When the blade began its swing she pushed her feet off of Akki forcing her body above his. Haku’s attack struck Akki across the chest, killing him immediately. As his body fell backward Rin unwrapped herself from his neck and used the momentum to propel her body into a run.

Haku rushed to his brother’s body as Rin made her escape through a camp of stunned and scared humans. No one tried to impede her dash and she soon made it to the woods. Her body cried out for her to stop but the rage still consumed her and she used it. She had no idea where she was going but thought the river was nearby. If she could get there perhaps she could escape. Behind her a deafening cry of grief was heard and she knew Haku would come for her soon.

I just have to make it to the river! Just make it to the river! You damn body just make it…

Rin barely had time to stop before falling into the abyss before her. She knew that hadn’t been there before and when she looked down it seemed endless. She turned around as she heard Haku rushing through the forest. Her eyes gazed back slightly to see the abyss. She took a step back to the very edge. Haku was getting closer, and his screams for her life were loud in Rin’s ears.

As she contemplated her choices the sorrow returned and absorbed her reason. She smiled and closed her eyes.

Sesshoumaru, I will return to you.

With that thought in her mind Rin took the last step into the abyss. She felt the force of the fall against her body, the wind slapping her hair against her face. It was getting stronger, the abyss was diminishing, contracting towards her. The pressure surrounded her. It entered her body and continued in, searching.

She felt her soul being suffocated. It threatened to break her very being but the sorrow of her mate still lingered, giving her strength she never knew she had. With the force of every emotion that was infused in her, those of herself and those given to her though the mark on her neck, Rin fought back. Suddenly, she felt something break within herself.

Rin's eyes shot open as she forced her body up. Her chest heaved with the strength of her breathing and her hands shook slightly. She brought her fingers to the mark on her neck and found it wet with blood. The front of her blue kimono was stained an odd shade of purple because of it. Even though the pain of her mate still held her heart tight Rin couldn’t help but laugh.

I am free. I freed myself. I was able to stop my demons on my own. I am not weak. I am not worthless. I…I am deserving of my mate.

I will find you, Sesshoumaru. I will not let you feel such pain.

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Have I not redeemed myself! Do you see now, why she had to go through that? If she had never gone through that she never would have realized her own strength. Oh, and just wait, I am not sure if there will be one or two more chps, I am thinking two, though they will both prolly be about this length. Not as long as the last few I had, but still decent length. Rin kicked major ass in this chp, so much fun.