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
- 4
- 5
- 6
The wooden tub was oval-shaped and very large and there were flower petals covering the surface of the water. Rin could see the steam rising from it and wondered if people had really carried all of that water up here. She would hate to think that they did all that work for her.
She was tired, though, and suddenly wanted to feel the hot water more than anything. She quickly pulled her travelling clothes off and slipped into the hot water. She sniffed and found the scent of Sakura blossoms and something else, though she couldn't quite place it. She loved the fragrance and hoped there was a tree somewhere nearby so that she could collect the blooms.
She closed her eyes and rested her head against the side of the tub. It felt heavenly to take a hot bath again and before she knew it, someone was touching her shoulder. "My Lady?"
Rin opened her eyes, briefly disoriented. She noticed the tub water had started to cool a bit. She must have fallen asleep. Yuki was leaning over the side of the tub. "Yuki! Oh! I must have fallen asleep." She sat up quickly before she remembered she was naked. She slipped back down into the water immediately and blushed.
"Don't worry, My Lady. I've been a lady's maid for a very long time." She chuckled quietly.
Rin nodded and sat back up. She looked around and found a cloth lying over the side of the tub. She picked up quickly and started to scrub herself off. "Would you like me to wash your hair?"
Rin looked up, unsure. "Um, okay� Please understand, Yuki, I'm not used to this. When I was learning, I helped to do everything. This is very new to me."
Yuki just smiled wider. "I understand. I imagine I'd feel the same way if I suddenly had a maid to help me. You'll be glad for it, though, when you start dressing. Ladies' kimonos are a bit more complicated than the clothes you were wearing earlier."
Rin looked around for her travelling clothes, but they'd already been carried off. "Where�?"
"They were taken off to be cleaned. Don't worry, child. The Lord wouldn't allow us to damage anything." She used a cup to pour water over Rin's head and started to rub some scented soap into her hair.
"Oh! No, that's not what I meant! I'm sorry!" Rin rushed to apologize.
"No no, it's okay. " She smiled again as she worked the soap through Rin's hair.
"I just, well, I made them myself and when I go on patrol with his Lordship, I would be much more comfortable in them to travel." She smiled, hoping she hadn't offended the woman.
"It's quite alright, dear. They'll be laundered and hung in your wardrobe in your room. Now, close your eyes." She picked up the cup and began rinsing Rin's hair. Rin finished rinsing herself and when she stood up, the water was a horribly murky grey. Rin wrinkled her nose.
"I really did need that bath." She laughed with Yuki as she was handed a towel to wrap around herself. Yuki led the way back into the main room and opened Rin's wardrobe.
Rin gasped when she got a glimpse of the clothing hung up inside. There were so many different colors and kimonos that she had no idea where to begin. Yuki, however, didn't seem to have that problem. She pulled out a white one, and two others. Rin gave her a confused look.
"You are a Lady now and should be dressing as one." She turned to her and held up the solid blue kimono. Rin gave it a dubious look for another few seconds before shrugging to herself and dropping her towel.
Rin tried to pay attention to what Yuki was doing, but the woman worked very fast and had her tied up in the three layers before she knew what happened. She felt overdressed and even though it was cool, she had a feeling the layers would get to her before too long.
This is for Lord Sesshomaru, she reminded herself. She would learn how to wear them for him. She closed her eyes briefly, and, with that determination made, she opened them and smiled. "Thank you. I believe I'd like to rest a bit. I'll, um, just eat here, if that's okay, Yuki."
"Whatever you wish, my lady." She smiled and bowed before leaving her alone.
Rin suddenly felt very tired and decided a nap was in order. She stretched out on her bed and immediately fell asleep.
* * *
He stood on the balcony after she'd gone in to take her bath and stared out over the ocean. His thoughts were on her, of course. Right next door. He didn't want to think about it, but it seemed to be the only thing on his mind.
He had other business to attend to. He did have duties to oversee. He had things to organize. Yet, he couldn't muster even the tiniest interest in them right now. She was the only thing that seemed to be able to keep his attention.
He cursed himself seven ways from a fool for it. His father had done the same thing. He'd been so distracted by a female - and a human at that - that he'd ended up getting himself killed. And what had he, Sesshomaru, learned from it? Apparently nothing.
He paced back and forth along the balcony, for once letting his honesty out in his own mind. What was it about her? He could not seem to put a finger on it, and it was going to drive him mad. He kept circling around the same thoughts, the same questions. But it came back to the same thing. Rin was human. No matter what he thinks of her, no matter how much his mind keeps going back to her, he must remember that, in the end, she is human.
Hanyou. Since he was being honest with himself, the word did not leave the same horrible taste in his mouth that it once did. The first image that always came to him from the word was, of course, his half-brother. But he, too, did not cause the same sharp annoyance it once did, either.
He wondered if Rin was the reason for that. Things had most definitely changed the day she'd first approached him in the woods, bleeding and wounded. For reasons beyond his comprehension, she had tried to nurse him back to health. A waif of a girl, dirty, skinny, she'd stolen food for him of all people, from her village.
Yes, something had changed that day, something in him. He could admit that now, so many years later. And even more so, when Tensaiga had pulsed, pushing him to revive the slip of a girl. He'd swiped the demons of the underworld away from her small body and knelt, picking her up. He would never in all the years he'd lived or will live be able to explain what had drawn him back. But he'd done it.
And now, she was in the room next to him. She was grown, a beauty and he had no idea how to handle it. Changed or not, he still could not bring himself to create hanyou. He stalked back into his rooms, determined to focus on his duties as lord and put his ward out of his mind. At least, for now. His honesty with himself had run out.
* * *
When she woke much later, the sun had started to set. She sat up in her bed and yawned and stretched, working the stiffness out of her muscles. She must have slept for quite a long time.
She enjoyed being out and travelling with her lord, but there were some benefits to hot baths and comfortable places to sleep. She stood up and noticed that lanterns had been lit in her room to chase away the darkness. She wandered to the balcony door to take in the view once more before exploring the castle and keep better.
She couldn't get enough of the fresh sea air and she was glad for her layers as she stood in the cool evening air. She glanced to the side to see lights on in his room. She briefly considered knocking, but thought she should leave him to his business, whatever it is. It made her wonder just how much she would see of him now that she was here.
Would she still travel with him? How often would they go? Would she see him other times? When?
The waves no longer held the tranquility that they did when she first came out there, so she headed back in. As she was closing the shoji door, her other door opened and Yuki was bringing in a tray. "My lady, I'm glad to see you're awake." Yuki smiled broadly and set the tray on Rin's small writing table. "If you'll be eating in here regularly, I can have a small dining table set up for you here�"
"No no, it's just my first night, so�" she let her words trail off as she sat down to eat. "Everything looks wonderful! Thank you!" She closed her eyes and sniffed in the aromas. There was rice and vegetables and soup.
"There is plenty more if you're still hungry. Pull the bell if you want more or are finished and I'll take the tray away." She bowed to Rin and let herself out.
Rin was very hungry, having forgotten all about lunch, so caught up was she in the castle. The food disappeared quickly, so she put the tray back together and headed out of her room in search of the castle kitchens. She didn't want to summon poor Yuki again so quickly.
She found her way back to the main entry easily enough, but here she paused. There were two more hallways and two sets of doors off of the entryway. She knew one set of doors led to the bailey outside, but she had no idea which way to go from here.
Perhaps she should have summoned Yuki, if nothing else, so she could find her way around. But no, Yuki was undoubtedly trying to eat her own food and Rin did not want to disturb her. So, that decided, she ignored the doors, assuming it was some sort of entertaining room or other and chose the left most hallway.
Unfortunately, that led to more rooms, none of which were the kitchen. She'd found one that looked like a meeting room of some sort, the formal dining room and another that simply had lots of cushions to sit on. She backtracked to the main entry again and took the other hallway. Here, she found a set of stairs at the end that led down, but finally, off to the right, she found the kitchens.
As she stepped through the door, however, she realized her mistake immediately. Looks of alarm appeared on almost every face in the room. Those who were seated jumped up and everyone tried to bow, regardless of what they were holding.
The only one who didn't look surprised was Yuki. She smiled the same tolerant smile that Rin was getting used to seeing and came over to take the tray from her. Rin blushed and mumbled an apology to Yuki. Yuki gave her another encouraging smile and Rin straightened up and smiled at the servants. "Please, there's no need for everyone to jump up like that. Go back to your food! The whole reason I brought this down was so I wouldn't interrupt anyone!" She sighed and looked around the kitchen.
One by one the servants sat back down to their food and Rin took a moment to look around the kitchen. This was obviously the base of operations for the castle. Along one wall, high up, was a series of bells that obviously were connected to the pulls in other parts of the castle. There were labels on each and Rin saw the two that were labeled "Lady" and "Lord" and realized that those were hers and esshomaru's.
She turned to Yuki. "I'm going to take a look around, I will be fine getting ready for bed on my own. I'll see you tomorrow." She gave Yuki a pointed look and she seemed to understand. It was a lot for Rin to take in all at once, and she'd need some time to herself.
Rin left the kitchen and decided first to explore the keep itself. Back to the main entry, she opened the shoji doors that lead into the room across from the main entrance. It was a large open room, obviously for entertaining. There were many cushions for sitting and low tables for drinks and the like.
She left that room and went back up the stairs to the second floor. As she came out of the steps, she noticed that the hallway seemed to circle the outside of the floor as all of the windows seemed to be to her left. As she rounded the first corner, she noticed the door to her right.
She opened it and just as she did, she was met with the most wonderful library! Shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books and scrolls. Rin couldn't begin to count all of them. She realized that the library probably was the entire second floor and it was amazing. She picked up the candle set into the wall on her right and started moving down the shelves reading titles and familiarizing herself with the layout.
There were books on every subject she could think of. Mathematics and science, history and art, politics, war, trade� even religion. Rin found herself giddy at the prospect of learning so much. There were music books on its history and the various instruments both here and some from places much further away.
There were some written in other languages, some that were so big she couldn't hold them! With a sigh, Rin made her way back to the front doors and resolved to read as many of these as she could. She wanted to impress her lord with her abilities and this was one way she thought she could do just that.
She set the candle back in the sconce and let herself out of the library. There was still a bit of light outside, so back she went to the entry way, and out to the bailey. She saw the two donjon that were three stories each and the third which was only two. She wandered past the supply houses, a building that could only be a barracks for the guards, what she thought was quarters for the servants and their families, and around to the other side, she found the stables.
She was surprised to find horses in the stable along with Ah-Uhn. She stopped to visit them and talk to them for a while. She went from stall to stall, greeting each of the horses and petting their noses. It was at the last stall, as she was talking to a beautiful black stallion that someone called out to her.
"Hey you! Careful there! He bites!" The stablemaster's bow-legged gait slowed him down a bit as he made his way to Rin's side. "Oh! My lady, I'm sorry!" He bowed awkwardly, and turned to the horse in question. "Kyoretsu here don't take to nobody but the Master."
Rin turned back to the horse and smiled. "Kyoretsu, is it? Fitting, I'd say. You are a fierce one. Well, Kyoretsu, do you think I could pet your nose?"
The horse snuffed at her and butted her shoulder with his nose. Rin grinned and patted his velvety nose. "Thank you, Kyoretsu." He snuffed once more.
She turned to the stablemaster. "Thank you for the warning. I will take care when I am around him. He may just be in a good mood tonight."
The stablemaster gawked at her, then smiled. "Aye, missy, that it may be. Well, Lady Rin, it's good to meet you, it is." And he bowed awkwardly again.
She gave him a brilliant smile before heading back to the main part of the keep. And eventful day it was, and she was looking forward to exploring more of the keep itself the next day, but it was time to get ready for bed. By the time she was in her room, she knew she wouldn't last much longer that night. She stepped out, once more, onto the balcony and this time, she did knock on Sesshomaru's door.
When he opened it and stepped out, she had to take a few seconds to collect her scattered thoughts. He'd removed most of his armor, was barefooted and only wearing his kimono and hakama, both loose. Mokomoko swirled around his back and hung over the front of his shoulder, the fur looking softer than ever.
"My�" she cleared her throat. "My lord, I wished to tell you good night." She fought the urge to bow to him and managed to keep from doing it by sheer force of will.
The glint in his eyes was unreadable, but he took in her appearance from head to toe, or, rather, head to hem as her kimono covered her feet. She hoped she looked the way she was supposed to, but as she glanced down, she noticed the dirt on her hem and blushed. "I'm sorry, my lord. I suppose Ladies aren't supposed to get dirty like that. I just wanted to see the bailey and Ah-Uhn and I met Kyoretsu and he was really sweet and�" she stopped dead when she realized she was rambling.
"Rin."
She looked up into his golden eyes and completely lost her train of thought again. She told herself to breathe and a moment later, she could speak again. Good grief, you'd think you were in love with him! Rin froze for a moment at that thought, but shoved it to the back of her mind to examine later.
"Yes, my lord?"
"Do not worry so over dirt. Clothing can be washed. Kyoretsu is not an animal to play with, however. He can be very dangerous. Did the stablemaster not warn you?"
"Oh, he did!" She smiled and the thought of the older man. "But I asked Kyoretsu if I could pet him and he bumped my shoulder with his nose, so I did."
Sesshomaru stood there a moment, blinking at her. He nodded once and said only, "good night."
Rin knew it was not the time to discuss it. She grinned at him, threw her arms around his waist and then ran into her room, pulling the door shut behind her. She undressed quickly, leaving only the light yukata that was the bottom layer on and climbed into bed. It didn't take her long to fall asleep that night.
- 4
- 5
- 6
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Strength