Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Strength	By : djserani Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > Sessh?maru/Rin > Sessh?maru/Rin Views: 5963 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Chapter List
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He sat on the hill above the old miko's hut, contemplating the moon and the date. Rin would be sixteen summers or so in a few days' time and it was time to present her choice to her. He had mixed feelings about it, if he should admit to having any feelings at all.
He was simultaneously hoping that she would decide to stay and he could then feel better about leaving her behind and retreating back behind his walls. He would continue seeking the power and lands he wanted and wouldn't have to worry about the bothersome female and her humanity.
But if he was being honest with himself, he was hoping that she would choose to go with him. He had missed her company over these last four years and it was a testament to how much she'd changed him that he even noticed the passing of only those four years. Under any other circumstances, they would be as nothing to him.
But he wasn't being honest with himself. He was trying to tell himself that it didn't matter if she chose to go with him or not. He would not miss having to protect her. He would not miss making sure she ate properly or that she had the clothes and other things she needed. He would not miss her singing or her eternal flower-gathering.
If Sesshomaru was good at one thing by now, it was lying to himself. He'd gotten very good at it over the last several years. He lied to himself when he'd gone to talk to his half-brother, when he was making arrangements for Rin to stay with the old miko.
"You want me to WHAT?" Inuyasha stared at him, his mouth agape.
"Could you look any less intelligent?" He retorted to cover his discomfort.
InuYasha growled, but continued to just stare at him.
Sesshomaru sighed. "I am bringing Rin to live in this village for a while. She needs to learn how to care for her human illnesses, and other things that neither I nor Jaken should be teaching her. I would like you to protect her while she is here."
"Keh, I got that part. That part's easy, I protect the whole village. But what's this about me teaching her?" InuYasha crossed his arms over his chest and planted his feet belligerently.
Sesshomaru tried to hold on to his patience. He reminded himself this was for Rin and that she was his responsibility. "Teach her to defend herself. There will come a time when she may choose to not go with me anymore. When that time comes, I wish for her to be able to protect and defend herself."
"Why don't you do it? You're the mighty Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands." InuYasha's grating voice was working on his last nerve.
"Because I have other things to do! I am the Lord of the Western Lands, as you so eloquently reminded me." That was not entirely true. Yes, he had things to keep an eye on, but his mother still handled much of the running of their lands. The truth that he would not admit to anyone, least of all himself, is that he thought InuYasha would be a better teacher to Rin than he would. He had more patience with little ones and humans, by far. Though Sesshomaru had long since ceased thinking of Rin in the same way as other humans. She was simply "Rin".
"Are you going to or not?" Sesshomaru could only deal with this for so long. He was requesting something of his brother and refused to lower himself for much longer.
"Keh. Yeah, yeah, I will. Fine whatever." InuYasha shook his head, and walked away.
And the whole time he'd told himself that it was only because he'd allowed her to follow him, so she was his responsibility. And if she were to start following him again, it would be much simpler if she could defend herself instead of him having to go to her aid every time something attacked her. If Sesshomaru allowed himself to admit it, he would admit that he missed everything about her.
What he did instead over the last four years was make sure she had everything she could possibly need or want to advance her studies. She had clothes, books, writing supplies, a biwa for music, and combs for her hair.
He remembered the first time he saw her trying to learn to fight with a sword. She had an old rusty long sword that was much too heavy for her and had obviously seen much better days. He'd immediately taken himself to Totosai and commissioned a pair of kukri. He'd even given the old man a claw that he'd forged into them, giving them special powers. The new kukri were incredibly light, each about half a meter long and would only work well for Rin. Anyone else who tried to wield them would find themselves unable to strike anything.
He watched her often, even when she didn't know it. He told himself it was to make sure that she was being taught all that she needed to learn. But the truth was that he missed her and just wanted to see her. Not long after he brought her the swords, he was sitting, yet again, on the hill above the old miko's hut and saw her practicing her archery. He could tell that she was very good with it, but the bow she was using was not fit for someone like her. It was a smaller short bow, and while might have been good enough for an average human, wasn't good enough for his Rin in the slightest.
So, next he found a master bowyer capable of making special bows. The recurve was beautifully crafted, and perfectly sized to fit her delicate hands. He left a hair with him that ensured the string would never break and the bow would always shoot straight and true for the one it was made for. Her shots from then on were almost always perfect. He even made sure she learned how to fletch her own arrows and always had Jaken bring her extra materials to practice with.
He would, of course, never admit to the pride he felt when he saw her get the better of InuYasha during their sparring matches. So, instead, he simply watched from afar, always cloaking his reasoning in his 'responsibility.' It was only of interest to him so that, if she chose to go with him, she would be able to protect and defend herself so she would not be a bother to him.
He remembered the day he'd brought her to the village to live for a while. He'd spent the next two at the same camp, contemplating things he'd never before considered. He'd had to stop and actually think about what he wanted to do next. He'd spent a long time simply protecting her, retrieving her from whomever had tried to kidnap her last or seeking revenge for someone who'd tried to hurt her, that he was actually at a loss for a bit for what to do next.
Jaken had harassed him endlessly about it.
"My Lord!! Where are we off to now that we've gotten rid of that annoying brat?? Are we going to conquer another land?" His prattle did not cease until he'd knocked him in the head and off a cliff. When he found his way back to the camp, he wisely kept his mouth shut after that.
It had taken some time for him to get used to her not being there. He kept expecting to have to tell her to hurry along. Or to remind her to get food, or to try, once again, to get her to wear shoes. So when she was no longer there, he found himself struggling to adjust to her absence. Which succeeded in only annoying him more.
Eventually, he stopped looking over his shoulder to make sure she was there. Eventually, he stopped taking their path close to the rivers and lakes he knew had fish in them. And eventually, he remember that they didn't need to stop and make camp as often without her with him.
And very shortly after that, he found himself sitting on the hill above the miko's hut, counting the few remaining days until Rin's birthday.
* * *
Sesshomaru had sent Jaken on a pointless errand to rid himself of the toad for this meeting. He'd visited her, it's not like he hadn't seen her for the entire four years, but the Lord of the Western Lands found himself a bit�nervous. He paced back and forth on the hill above the hut. He'd told her he'd be there when the sun was at its highest point.
He glanced again at the offending start but it hadn't moved so much as a centimeter. He had a good hour left and it would not do for him to show up early and look anxious. He wasn't anxious. He was Sesshomaru and Sesshomaru didn't get anxious.
"Are you gonna go down there or are you just gonna wear a trench in that patch of grass?" Sesshomaru spun around at the sound of his brother's voice and had his sword in his hand in a flash. He was angry at himself for letting someone see his emotion, regardless of what it was. His eyes bled red and he glared at InuYasha.
"What are you doing here?" He growled.
"I live here, remember? Though I guess you could say you probably do, too, as often as you're here." InuYasha snickered. It was a rare treat to see his brother agitated in any way and he'd take any chance he could to see it.
Sesshomaru growled and raised his sword. "Leave me." He didn't trust himself to say more, or he would very likely start swinging.
"Hah. As if." InuYasha smiled at Sesshomaru and pushed away from the post he was leaning against. "I'm not going to pass up an opportunity to annoy you."
Sesshomaru closed his eyes and put in a bid for patience. A moment later, he could feel his eyes returning to normal and he resheathed his sword. "What do you want? Besides the chance to annoy me?"
"I was actually just checking things out and saw you up here. It wouldn't kill you to just go down there, you know." InuYasha had learned quite a bit about women over the last several years. Kagome had been infinitely patient with him and he'd only kissed the dirt a few times since she came back. She'd even offered to remove the beads a number of times, but he insisted that he didn't mind them and he only got sat when he needed it anyway.
"I told her I would be there when the sun was at the highest point in the sky. It is not yet. Now, if you'll leave me in peace, I can wait quietly here until then." Sesshomaru sat at the base of the tree and pretended to be interested in the clouds.
InuYasha shook his head. "You have so much to learn." He turend to walk away.
"What did you say?" The words were extremely quiet, dangerous.
"I said, you have a lot to learn. You've changed Sesshomaru. And if you don't start to recognize that, you'll lose her." He shook his head again and leapt down the hill.
His words were disturbing. He refused to accept them and tried to shove them to the back of his mind. He glanced again at the sun and noted it was much closer. It couldn't be more than half an hour until the sun reached its zenith, so he started walking slowly down the steps that lead to the top of the hill.
* * *
Rin couldn't help it. She kept pacing the floor, going from the window back to the firepit, to the door and back again.
"Child if ye don't settle down, ye'll make me crazy." Kaede poked again at the flames, then pulled the tea kettle off of the heat.
Rin spun on her heel and made another trip across the floor before plopping down on the small mat that was her seat. No sooner had she settled, she jumped back up again and paced back to the window once more. Kaede just chuckled and poured the water for her tea before putting the kettle back over the fire.
One more lap and Rin sat once more, but this time, just as she sat, there was a quiet knock on the doorframe. She jumped to her feet, but with a withering look from Kaede, she sat back down as the old woman got to her feet to answer. She pulled the door mat aside and there he was, as beautiful as ever.
She took her time looking at him. He hadn't changed a bit, and she wondered what she had expected. His silver hair was no longer or shorter than it was before, still hanging long down his back. His crescent moon and strips were just exactly as she remember, the same as she'd dreamed about so many times over the last four years.
Those dreams had changed subtly in hue and texture over the years, but the same feelings lay under them. First, they'd been about her adoring him, watching his face as he thought she slept, tracing those stripes and the moon with her eyes only. Later, as the dreams matured with the dreamer, she'd imagined running her fingertips over them and later still, her lips caressed the edges of each one.
His ears were still the same shape, the point just barely visible beyond his thick hair. He seemed taller to her, somehow, perhaps bigger than life, despite the fact that she, herself was taller. In fact, everything looked identical to the day she'd found him lying at the base of a tree, severely wounded.
Everything except one. His arm, which had, for so long, been missing had finally returned. Of course, she'd seen it since it had returned. And her mature dreaming had run away with her late at night as she imagined him holding her with both of his arms. She'd heard enough about sex and what to expect from Kagome and Sango. She knew, somewhat, what happened in what Kagome called "the bedroom." So late at night, when she'd been all alone, she'd allowed her thoughts to stray that way, imaging her Lord as the one to introduce her to those feelings, awakening her body to the things she had yet to allow herself to feel.
He seemed to be staring at her with the same kind of concentration and she wondered what he was seeing. Did he still see the little girl with the dirty fact, crooked ponytail and bare feet? Did he, perhaps, at least see her as she got a bit older, when she was discussing her education with him on one of his many visits? She'd lost the crooked ponytail and instead pulled all of her hair up into a tie. Her hair was as long as ever, and she'd started to show some womanly curves.
Or did he see her as she was now? With her round curves, her full breasts, the leaner face and wide eyes? Did he see how her legs were shaped, how she now showed much more woman than girl?
She stood slowly, staying across the fire as he made his way into the room and moved to sit to her right. She turned slightly as he walked, never taking her eyes from him. His expression, as always, gave away nothing, but his eyes never left her face, either.
When he got closer, she realized that she was now almost as tall as he is. Her head was definitly higher than his shoulders and it made her wonder how she'd fit against him. She blushed slightly at the path her thoughts took. Schooling her expression she smiled at him and bowed low.
"My Lord." She said quietly.
"Rin." He said. That was all, just 'Rin.' And then he did something she never expected. He touched her. He placed his hand under her chin and lifted her face up, forcing her to stand. "You do not need to bow to me any longer."
She stared at him, openmouthed, for a full minute before she realized how stupid she must look. Her mouth closed with an audible snap and she nodded, not trusting herself to speak. He turned from her and nodded slightly to Kaede before settling himself in front of the fire. It took Rin another moment before she brought herself to sit.
It had been in the forefront of her mind for the last four years that he could always walk away and never return. He owed her nothing. She owed him her life. He had brought her back from the dead not once, but twice and so she would always serve him, even if that meant that she had to serve him by leaving him.
The thought tore a hole through her, but if that is what he'd wanted, she would do it. She sincerely hoped he wouldn't ask her to do that, however.
"Has Rin completed her education?" His expression didn't change, but Rin recognized the minor signs of curiosity on his face.
"Aye, she did at that. She can care for her own illnesses, she knows how most herbs in Japan work and what they're used for. She's an accomplished archer and fighter. She can cook, sew her own clothes, write and read. She has assisted me in many births and understands all of the things that go along with it. She's as ready as she'll ever be to leave here, if that's what she wants." Kaede gave her a sly look before turning her gaze back to the dog demon.
Rin was confused for a moment. Her wish? There was no choice for her. It was up to her Lord if he would want her to go back with him. She looked from Kaede to Sesshomaru and back again.
Sesshomaru nodded. "I thank you for all you have done for Rin." He turned to look at her. "Rin."
She sat up straighter, hoping against hope that he was about to ask her to go with him. "Yes, my Lord?"
"What is your choice?" Yet again, his face was as if it was carved out of marble for all it gave away.
Rin's confusion grew. "I'm sorry, my Lord, what choice?"
He stared at her another moment before continuing. "Do you wish to travel with me again?"
"Of course, Lord Sesshomaru. Why wouldn't I?" She looked back at Kaede, but the old woman was just smiling into her tea cup. Turning back to Sesshomaru, she thought she saw a glint of something in his eye before he covered it up. Was that�gladness? Happiness? She couldn't be sure.
"Very well. How long will it take for you to be ready?" His eyes moved behind her to her things against the far wall.
She hadn't actually considered that she would be taking all of her things with her. She had a number of kimonos that he had given her, only a few of which still fit. She had her fighting and travelling clothes - a pair of leather leggings that laced up the sides, her white yukata that she wore under her longer tunic - and she had her simple boots that she'd started wearing a couple of years ago when InuYasha had finally made her understand that her bare feet could be a hindrance in her travels and fighting. She also had kept her biwa and her combs, her bow and swords and, of course, her staff. Then there was her scrolls and ink and brushes�she wasn't even sure if she could carry it all with her.
"I�I'm not sure, my Lord. I hadn't realized that I would take it all with me." She bowed her head and tried to think quickly, but he interrupted her thoughts again.
"Ah-Uhn is here with me. They can carry what you need them to. We'll be going to my castle first, anyway." Her eyes widened at this simple statement. She'd never been to his castle before.
"M�my Lord?" She bit her lower lip to keep from stuttering anything more. She would not show him any human weakness. She'd worked very hard over these four years to be more than her humanity so that he would have a reason to take her with him.
"You will have rooms there so that as we return from patrols, you can be comfortable."
Rin was beginning to think she was dreaming. She would be going to his castle? She would have rooms there? She surreptitiously pinched herself, and had to carefully quell the wince that the pain brought. No, she was definitely awake.
"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru. I can be ready in a short time!" She jumped up and hurried over to her things.
She quickly sorted through her kimonos and kept only those that still fit her, which was an appallingly low number. She would ask him for material as soon as possible to make a couple more for herself. She did not want to embarrass him in his home.
She took the only bag she had and carefully placed her ink bottle, wrapped as best as she could, her writing brushes, her combs and her kimonos in it. She tied it shut and set it aside. She picked up her swords and strapped them around her waist, adjusting it for walking. Next was her quiver, which she filled with her recently fletched arrows, then put it in place and made sure it was comfortable.
Now she picked up her bow and strung it before placing it over the quiver on her back. Beside the quiver was a wide loop for her staff, which she added to the pile. Lastly, she picked up her biwa and loosened the strap on the case to fit around her with the staff and quiver.
The whole process only took her about ten minutes, during which time, Kaede and Sesshomaru had sat opposite each other, not speaking. Kaede had just sipped her tea as if nothing was amiss and Sesshomaru, as was typical, didn't betray the slightest hint of what he was thinking or feeling.
She turned back to them, bag in hand. "I'm ready, my Lord." She smiled brightly at him. He
nodded once and rose to his feet. Kaede started to shift to get up and Rin held her hand out, but Kaede waved it away. "I'll not have help once ye're gone."
When she stood, Rin leaned over and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Kaede, for all of your guidance and teachings. I'll miss you."
Kaede patted her back and smiled at her. "Never you mind that. I've enjoyed ye bein' here. Now, get going, I have cookin' to be doin'."
Rin turned to her Lord and bowed her head slightly. After a brief look at her, he left the room, letting her follow him much like he had always done.
Rin hurried after him, happy to be, once again, back with her lord.
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