Tama no Kakera
folder
InuYasha › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
5
Views:
2,054
Reviews:
11
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
InuYasha › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
5
Views:
2,054
Reviews:
11
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, and the only payment I get out of writing these stories are the cookies and pron my friends throw at me for them
Chapter 3
Rin woke the next day, praying that her ordeal had been a dream, and that Sesshomaru-sama would be standing over her, impatiently waiting for her to rise and follow him. Her hope died quickly when she heard footsteps on floorboards. No, she was in the village, cast aside like the useless thing she was. Her heart hurt… and so did her… stomach? It felt lower than her stomach, but what was there to hurt? Whatever it was it didn’t matter, nothing mattered. Sesshomaru didn’t want her anymore; she might as well be dead. The thought gave her an idea in fact…
She rose from the futon she did not remember falling asleep on, and left the hut, ignoring Midori’s curious green eyes. She walked through the village; ignoring the villagers’ fearful stares… they probably thought she was Sesshomaru’s true daughter, and a hanyou who was human by day and youkai by night. The thought was mildly amusing, but it was thoroughly depressing at the same time. Sesshomaru-sama would never breed with humans, let alone allow such a despicable creature as a hanyou to be born. She imaged that were such an impossible thing to happen, he would kill the babe within the first few minutes of it taking its first breaths. With these dark thoughts in mind, she wandered off to do her morning ablutions.
As she readjusted her kimono, she put the left side over the right… it was the kimono wrapping for the dead, and it fit. Her life was truly over, and her personal Hell was a village full of people who hated, and/or feared her. As she walked back to the hut, she felt another pain, but dismissed it. It didn’t matter, nothing did.
__
Kaede watched the youkai lord’s ward closely that first day. She had seen many young people in her time, and after Rin’s behavior that first night, the old miko recognized not only child’s heart ache at being left behind, but her heart break as well. The girl was, unsurprisingly, besotted with the inu-youkai, and Kaede was actually worried that she might hurt herself. Her watch thankfully turned out to be a boring one, all the girl did was sit and stare into the fire. It worried the old miko that Rin refused food, but the child was young, and an empty belly wouldn’t truly harm her.
The second day passed like the first, and the third followed in a similar fashion. On the dawn of the fourth day, one of the villages fetched the old miko away to investigate suspected demonic activity, and she felt secure enough to leave Rin alone, and followed the villager, taking Midori with her.
“Ano…” the small girl said, casting an uncertain glance back at Rin’s sleeping form, “Shouldn’t I stay and watch her?”
The miko smiled kindly and ruffled her apprentice’s hair, “Iie, she will not go anywhere, and you have learning to do.” She sent the child to fetch her bow and arrows, and spoke softly to Rin, knowing she was awake, “We will return shortly if we find nothing, but if we do find something, we may not get back until this evening. If you decide to eat, there is rice in the second cupboard, and the pots are in the third.” She neither expected, nor received a reply. As soon as Midori returned, they left to follow the villager to the scene of the alleged incident, leaving Rin alone with her thoughts.
The dark-haired girl sat up after they had left, and gathered her blanket around her shoulders, staring once more into the fire pit, though her eyes didn’t register the dully glowing banked coals. Everything Jaken had ever told her ran through her head, particularly his litany on Sesshomaru rebuilding his kingdom. Was that why he left her? Was he done wandering, and now ready to reclaim his lands? If so it was no surprise that he would leave her, at best she would be useless in a battle, knowing only how to use a sling, or at worst, she would be a distraction that could cost Sesshomaru-sama his life. In his shoes, she’d leave her behind too… that didn’t make it hurt any less.
As though conjured by the thought of pain, she felt another cramp near her stomach, this one worse than the others, causing her to actually double over, and hold herself until it passed. She’d been hungry before, but she’d never had hunger pains this badly! As soon as she could move again, Rin quickly pulled on her kimono, and went to grab some wood to restart the fire. Twenty minutes later found her laying on the floor, clutching herself as she waited for the rice to finish. She sat up to pull the pot away from the fire, when she felt something hot and wet trickle down her thighs. Her face turned scarlet, she hadn’t felt like she needed to pee… She set the rice down quickly and dashed to the outbuilding. She shrugged off her kimono and yukita, and glanced down… and saw blood. Her eyes widened, and then the familiar black spots danced in her vision.
~~~
She sat in the middle of a lovely field of flowers, the teasing wind carrying their scent all the way to the village in the background. She had followed their scent here, and had decided that this would be a good place to escape from the villages. She lay back on the warm, fragrant grass, and looked up at the clear, bright blue sky. It was one of the most beautiful days she had ever seen, the sun brightly shining, the sky a clear crystalline blue, with only a few white, fluffy clouds to break up the breath-taking expanse of blue.
None of that was what made the day beautiful though. It was simply a far away, barely noticed enhancement. No, what made the day beautiful was that he was coming. He would approach silently, as was his wont and she would feel a shadow fall across her face, and when she opened her eyes, he would be there, standing over her. That’s what made the day beautiful. He would smile down at her, and offer his hand. She would take it, and his eyes would light up happily. They would eat the lunch she had brought, and then… maybe… they would finish what they had started the other times…
~~~
Kaede stopped. Something flared through her mind, like a grass fire. Something had happened, though she didn’t yet know what. She got a sense of direction toward the village, and her first thought was that the youkai had circled around the search party and attacked. She dismissed the thought quickly though, because she had not gotten a sense of evil from it. No, this energy was familiar, but she couldn’t seem to place it. “Midori,” she snapped.
The girl blinked, “Hai Kaede no bachan?”
“Go with the villagers, you know what to look for, I have to return to the village,” with that, the old miko turned.
Midori’s eyes narrowed as soon as Kaede turned her back. She had felt it too, that flare of power, it was familiar to her as well, and she no longer had any doubt about who and what the girl was.
__
Kaede made good time back to the village, considering her age. She hurried to her hut and pushed aside the curtain, but she already knew the girl was gone. Had Rin just been waiting for Kaede to leave? Had she been plotting this since she woke up without Sesshomaru there?
These questions and more ran through her mind as she began searching for the girl. Most of the villagers claimed they hadn’t seen the girl; others simply ignored the question, despite their respect for the elderly miko. If the youkai’s child had left, then good riddance, they thought, now we don’t have to worry about her.
It was a stupid attitude, Kaede knew. If anything happened to Sesshomaru’s ward, he would see that not so much as an ash remained of the village and its inhabitants. She was starting to become frantic, when she felt a tug at her hakama.
“Kaede-sama,” a small boy said softly, head tilted back to look up at her, “I saw pretty lady go to out house.”
She sighed with relief and ruffled the boy’s hair, “Arigato, child. Return to your chores.”
After the boy had run off, the old miko made a beeline for the outhouse, and quickly went in. There she found Rin in a crumpled heap on the floor; a small pool of blood having formed between her thighs. A hundred scenarios ran through the miko’s mind, none of them good, and all of them ending with the destruction of everything she’d devoted her life to protecting.
Chapter 3
Rin woke the next day, praying that her ordeal had been a dream, and that Sesshomaru-sama would be standing over her, impatiently waiting for her to rise and follow him. Her hope died quickly when she heard footsteps on floorboards. No, she was in the village, cast aside like the useless thing she was. Her heart hurt… and so did her… stomach? It felt lower than her stomach, but what was there to hurt? Whatever it was it didn’t matter, nothing mattered. Sesshomaru didn’t want her anymore; she might as well be dead. The thought gave her an idea in fact…
She rose from the futon she did not remember falling asleep on, and left the hut, ignoring Midori’s curious green eyes. She walked through the village; ignoring the villagers’ fearful stares… they probably thought she was Sesshomaru’s true daughter, and a hanyou who was human by day and youkai by night. The thought was mildly amusing, but it was thoroughly depressing at the same time. Sesshomaru-sama would never breed with humans, let alone allow such a despicable creature as a hanyou to be born. She imaged that were such an impossible thing to happen, he would kill the babe within the first few minutes of it taking its first breaths. With these dark thoughts in mind, she wandered off to do her morning ablutions.
As she readjusted her kimono, she put the left side over the right… it was the kimono wrapping for the dead, and it fit. Her life was truly over, and her personal Hell was a village full of people who hated, and/or feared her. As she walked back to the hut, she felt another pain, but dismissed it. It didn’t matter, nothing did.
__
Kaede watched the youkai lord’s ward closely that first day. She had seen many young people in her time, and after Rin’s behavior that first night, the old miko recognized not only child’s heart ache at being left behind, but her heart break as well. The girl was, unsurprisingly, besotted with the inu-youkai, and Kaede was actually worried that she might hurt herself. Her watch thankfully turned out to be a boring one, all the girl did was sit and stare into the fire. It worried the old miko that Rin refused food, but the child was young, and an empty belly wouldn’t truly harm her.
The second day passed like the first, and the third followed in a similar fashion. On the dawn of the fourth day, one of the villages fetched the old miko away to investigate suspected demonic activity, and she felt secure enough to leave Rin alone, and followed the villager, taking Midori with her.
“Ano…” the small girl said, casting an uncertain glance back at Rin’s sleeping form, “Shouldn’t I stay and watch her?”
The miko smiled kindly and ruffled her apprentice’s hair, “Iie, she will not go anywhere, and you have learning to do.” She sent the child to fetch her bow and arrows, and spoke softly to Rin, knowing she was awake, “We will return shortly if we find nothing, but if we do find something, we may not get back until this evening. If you decide to eat, there is rice in the second cupboard, and the pots are in the third.” She neither expected, nor received a reply. As soon as Midori returned, they left to follow the villager to the scene of the alleged incident, leaving Rin alone with her thoughts.
The dark-haired girl sat up after they had left, and gathered her blanket around her shoulders, staring once more into the fire pit, though her eyes didn’t register the dully glowing banked coals. Everything Jaken had ever told her ran through her head, particularly his litany on Sesshomaru rebuilding his kingdom. Was that why he left her? Was he done wandering, and now ready to reclaim his lands? If so it was no surprise that he would leave her, at best she would be useless in a battle, knowing only how to use a sling, or at worst, she would be a distraction that could cost Sesshomaru-sama his life. In his shoes, she’d leave her behind too… that didn’t make it hurt any less.
As though conjured by the thought of pain, she felt another cramp near her stomach, this one worse than the others, causing her to actually double over, and hold herself until it passed. She’d been hungry before, but she’d never had hunger pains this badly! As soon as she could move again, Rin quickly pulled on her kimono, and went to grab some wood to restart the fire. Twenty minutes later found her laying on the floor, clutching herself as she waited for the rice to finish. She sat up to pull the pot away from the fire, when she felt something hot and wet trickle down her thighs. Her face turned scarlet, she hadn’t felt like she needed to pee… She set the rice down quickly and dashed to the outbuilding. She shrugged off her kimono and yukita, and glanced down… and saw blood. Her eyes widened, and then the familiar black spots danced in her vision.
~~~
She sat in the middle of a lovely field of flowers, the teasing wind carrying their scent all the way to the village in the background. She had followed their scent here, and had decided that this would be a good place to escape from the villages. She lay back on the warm, fragrant grass, and looked up at the clear, bright blue sky. It was one of the most beautiful days she had ever seen, the sun brightly shining, the sky a clear crystalline blue, with only a few white, fluffy clouds to break up the breath-taking expanse of blue.
None of that was what made the day beautiful though. It was simply a far away, barely noticed enhancement. No, what made the day beautiful was that he was coming. He would approach silently, as was his wont and she would feel a shadow fall across her face, and when she opened her eyes, he would be there, standing over her. That’s what made the day beautiful. He would smile down at her, and offer his hand. She would take it, and his eyes would light up happily. They would eat the lunch she had brought, and then… maybe… they would finish what they had started the other times…
~~~
Kaede stopped. Something flared through her mind, like a grass fire. Something had happened, though she didn’t yet know what. She got a sense of direction toward the village, and her first thought was that the youkai had circled around the search party and attacked. She dismissed the thought quickly though, because she had not gotten a sense of evil from it. No, this energy was familiar, but she couldn’t seem to place it. “Midori,” she snapped.
The girl blinked, “Hai Kaede no bachan?”
“Go with the villagers, you know what to look for, I have to return to the village,” with that, the old miko turned.
Midori’s eyes narrowed as soon as Kaede turned her back. She had felt it too, that flare of power, it was familiar to her as well, and she no longer had any doubt about who and what the girl was.
__
Kaede made good time back to the village, considering her age. She hurried to her hut and pushed aside the curtain, but she already knew the girl was gone. Had Rin just been waiting for Kaede to leave? Had she been plotting this since she woke up without Sesshomaru there?
These questions and more ran through her mind as she began searching for the girl. Most of the villagers claimed they hadn’t seen the girl; others simply ignored the question, despite their respect for the elderly miko. If the youkai’s child had left, then good riddance, they thought, now we don’t have to worry about her.
It was a stupid attitude, Kaede knew. If anything happened to Sesshomaru’s ward, he would see that not so much as an ash remained of the village and its inhabitants. She was starting to become frantic, when she felt a tug at her hakama.
“Kaede-sama,” a small boy said softly, head tilted back to look up at her, “I saw pretty lady go to out house.”
She sighed with relief and ruffled the boy’s hair, “Arigato, child. Return to your chores.”
After the boy had run off, the old miko made a beeline for the outhouse, and quickly went in. There she found Rin in a crumpled heap on the floor; a small pool of blood having formed between her thighs. A hundred scenarios ran through the miko’s mind, none of them good, and all of them ending with the destruction of everything she’d devoted her life to protecting.