InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Waning Moon ❯ Destiny ( Chapter 7 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
7. Destiny
Sesshomaru had always thought that it was his destiny to carry his father's swords: Sounga, Tessaiga and Tenseiga. It was to be his birthright, as his father's son. He remembers thinking that even if he were to have brothers or sisters that as the oldest, it only seemed fair in his eyes that he should receive them, or at least choose the one he desired the most.
Compared to his existence as the Lord of the Western Lands, his half brother was nothing. That was his destiny; to be an outcast, to be weak… His existence was supposed to be a pitiful one. He is after all a half-demon.
But fate, as Sesshomaru has learnt, is cruel. And the sword Sesshomaru had stared at for so long, dreamt of holding and using while he was still a mere, scrawny pup is not his own. He cannot even touch Tessaiga. And Inuyasha's life is full of people who by all counts shouldn't pay attention to him, even if they are pitiful humans and a fox demon child.
Sesshomaru and his faithful companions have been travelling, wandering his lands with little care. They'd started their wandering an hour after dawn, it is now noon and Rin is in need of a rest. In the attempt of allowing his ears some peace, Sesshomaru has sent Jaken to find the girl a meal. The toad hasn't stopped complaining about the girl's scent, her appearance and her naivety.
His hard gaze falls upon the Tenseiga resting by his right side. He studies it, carefully examining its ebony sheath and taking in its plain black and silver, plaited handle, decorated with a simple gold plate at its base. It has three rings nearest the sword's hilt. Sesshomaru knows the blade glistens and reflects the sun's light when unsheathed.
The Tesseiga looks old, ragged, as though it couldn't cut through grass, let alone demolish one hundred enemies with one swing. But in its true form, it owned a black handle with a tuft of his father's fur covering the hilt. The blade was large, much larger than the Tenseiga's in width, but their length was about the same. When Inuyasha first held the Tesseiga, it was dull, blunt and completely useless. Sesshomaru knows he would have never allowed it to get to that state.
The demon Lord allowed his mind to wander, as his eyes closed for a brief moment, gathering and sorting his memories.
His father had never been one for elaborate decorations, Sesshomaru had been taught that early in his life. He had always preferred a sword that was beautifully simple, striking an enemy with awe with how the blade glistened when it caught the light, or how it sounded when tapped in just the right place. Sesshomaru remembers with amusement how he'd fume whenever he'd heard the other Lords making remarks about his father's sanity, knowing full well he could hear.
Sesshomaru remembers doubting his father's sanity also, after a few decades, when the older demon had sat him own to tell him the story of the three swords. Even then, now that he looks back, his father had hinted at him receiving one of the swords, not all three. It seems his father had played a part in creating Sesshomaru's destiny, or he has simply halted its progress until he finishes Inuyasha off.
Inuyasha doesn't deserve the Tessaiga. He has been unable to care for the blade hidden at his father's grave. It had taken the insane fool Totosai's care to restore it to its awe inspiring state. The sword now glowed red too and it only served to make Sesshomaru want it more.
Sesshomaru doesn't understand why his father left him this useless sword. Why would he need to bring back mortals, those like the pathetic human Izayoi, back to life? Did they truly deserve it? They are the basis for his Lands' economy, but even that in Sesshomaru's eyes doesn't make them worthy of his mercy, of his pity.
Rin giggles, as she attempts to catch a fluttering butterfly and runs around in circles, chasing it. Sesshomaru lets her do as she wishes, no longer attempting to decipher her reasons behind her strange behaviour; he has found that it leads to more questions, and those to many more still.
Rin is the only being Sesshomaru has ever used Tenseiga to bring back. He had at first considered it as a payment of his debt to her. He will never say it aloud, but the water she'd given him as he lay beaten after his battle with Inuyasha had helped; even demons cannot survive long without water. It had kept his energy up enough to keep his natural healing to that quicker than any human or lesser demon.
He shifts and allows a few long strands of silky hair tumble over his left shoulder. He toys with them gently, twirling them and uncurling them around his claws. It is a habit he's kept since his youth.
Slowly, his thoughts begin again, like a movie played out on a screen set up inside his mind. Rin is the subject again, as he attempts to keep Inuyasha filtered from his mind.
As her giggling dies to a broad smile and a happy blush, Sesshomaru makes up his mind: It was not her fate to die and stay dead that day; Rin would have never met Sesshomaru had that been the case. She would have been fearful if she had. He was supposed to notice her, unlike so many other humans he'd had the misfortune in meeting.
It was her destiny to be the first person Sesshomaru saved from death's demons, though the demon Lord can't grasp why. She is a mystery to him most days.
If his father could see him, using the useless sword as little as he did, would it have still been given to him? Sesshomaru wants an answer, but there are few who can provide any sort of answer, and fewer still who will actually tell him their stories. Inuyasha would find it far more useful than he ever could. Sesshomaru's golden eyes narrow as an annoying thought creeps up on hi: perhaps the half-breed would use it too much.
He is pulled from his brooding by a small, curious voice, the one of the little girl he'd saved, “Lord Sesshomaru, do you really want Inuyasha's sword?”
Sesshomaru graces her with a nod, directing his eyes to the Tenseiga for a second, before lifting them to her face again, “He abuses the Tesseiga. He uses it as though it is a club, not at all like the sword that was created by our father. He is a disgrace, and as such he is defiling the Tesseiga.”
The little girl's eye brows knit together in thought as she pouts and fingers her bottom lip, poking and petting the Tenseiga with her other hand. “But Rin thinks that Lord Sesshomaru's sword is better.” She says fondly, before grinning up at him, “Rin likes my Lord's sword because it brings happiness.”
“Happiness...” Sesshomaru parrots quietly. He mulls the idea over in his head, letting it roll around, but he can't put the two together. A sword can't bring happiness; it is a weapon for killing. His eyebrows tilt inwards, towards his nose just slightly; but the Tenseiga cannot kill, does that ability alone, make it capable of bringing happiness?
From beside him, Rin nods, unaware of his thoughts, “Rin doesn't like seeing people die. Rin's parents and big brother were killed by bandits. Rin doesn't want to see anymore people die.” She pokes the sword one last time before she stands up.
“Lord Sesshomaru, there are flower fields over that hill,” She points to her left, “Can Rin gather some?”
He nods, and feels a (now) familiar flutter in his chest at the girl's pleased grin. She bows politely before stumbling off, through the grass.
Destiny it seems has a strange way of unravelling itself, Sesshomaru decides. Fate has brought Rin to him, and fate has seen that he has gained his father's most useless sword.
It is a stick, and because of that it has brought Rin happiness. Slowly, his brain comes to yet another realization; the Tesseiga has made Inuyasha happy; he is able to protect the pathetic humans he travels with, his friends. Sesshomaru believes that without it, Inuyasha would not be able to do so affectively.
Perhaps this is what his father's swords' destinies are: to bring happiness.
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