Tama no Kakera

A/N: And now stuff happens *nods*

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, I only write these stories for the cookies and pron my friends throw at me.

Chapter 5

After perhaps the most miserable five days of Rin’s life, her blood time saw fit to cease, and leave her in peace. The past three days had been nice, though she was anxious for Sesshomaru to return. It was the longest stretch of time she had been away from the youkai since she started following him, and it made her antsy. Her inactivity had helped with that feeling, since she was used to walking for miles everyday. Kaede, seeing her restlessness, had sent her out to the woods to pick mushrooms and other edibles for supper. Upon entering the trees, she had immediately felt more at home and relaxed. Living in the close quarters of the town made her itch all over, she always felt like someone was watching her, and the feeling left her unsettled and ill at ease. But none of that mattered as soon as she entered the shade of the trees. She kicked off her geta and left her feet feel the soft grass, such a relief after the hard dirt of the town’s roads. Her borrowed clothes were slightly too big for her, but Sesshomaru had not dropped her pack off with her, so she’d had little choice but to wear the miko outfit Kaede had loaned her.

She began her search, and it lead her deeper and deeper into the forest. After perhaps an hour of searching, Rin sat down to rest and simply enjoy herself. It was a beautiful day, the wind was blowing gently through the trees, and the sun filtered through their leaves, making patters of gold on the lush green grass. Spring was her favorite season. Everything was so new and fresh and green.

Another hour passed and Rin got to her feet and continued with her search. She felt so well rested. No dreams of either kind had plagued her sleep, and since the end of her blood time, she felt refreshed, and almost peaceful. The peace, she knew, would not come until she back with Sesshomaru. She hoped he would come soon; she missed him terribly, and would gladly sell her soul to just get a glimpse of him.

Lost in her own thoughts, she paid no attention to her wandering feet, or to the distance that she had put between herself and the “safety” of the village. She had just bent down to harvest a small patch of mushrooms when she heard a twig break. Her ears perked, though she continued what she was doing. It could just be an animal making its way through the forest, but her instincts told her that it wasn’t. A stray breeze brought her the scent of foul, unwashed things, and the hairs on the back of her neck rose. Something was out there. She continued to pick the mushrooms, but also grabbed rocks in case anything tried to attack. She knew they wouldn’t have much of an effect on anything that truly wanted her dead, but she might be able to make whatever it was pause long enough for her to run.

She heard rustling, and more twigs breaking, and she was overcome by a sense of déjà vu. The vision she’d had some days before sprang up fresh in her mind as she saw the hoards of youkai and mononoke leering and growling and sneering at her. As she had in the dream she grabbed a rock from her basket and hurled at the monsters before her, and as it had in her dream it flew through the youkai, leaving holes in its wake. She continued to throw, but she knew it was useless, there were simply too damn many of them. For everyone she cut down, two more appeared in its place. As they overran her, their claws tore at her dress and their stinking hot breath blew in her face, with the last of her strength, she screamed, “Sesshomaru-sama!”

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Sesshomaru lifted his head. Something was wrong. He didn’t know how he knew; he neither smelled nor saw anything out of place, but his instincts told him that something was wrong. After many years of watching over a trouble-attracting child, his first instinct was that something had happened to Rin. But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Rin was in Edo, being cared for by that old miko. Still he couldn’t shake the feeling. Already on his way to fetch her, he picked up his pace, until he was moving at a running walk. He prayed to whoever would listen that he was just being paranoid.

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A pair of crimson eyes watched the triumphant youkai bring the knocked-out girl back to their camp and tie her to a tree. The idiots argued amongst themselves as to the best way to find the object of their lust. They were fools and nothing more. They had learned nothing after its last appearance it seemed. But he had learned something. He had learned patience, and he had learned that sometimes a trap baited with honey caught flies much better than attempting to force the flies into complying with brute strength alone.

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Rin moaned and opened her eyes, hoping that the encounter had been simply another dream. That hope was crushed immediately, as she saw the monstrous hoards before her, growling and fighting amongst themselves. They hadn’t been dreams, they had been warnings, warning she hadn’t headed. Her “dreams” were visions of the future, she realized in that moment, and felt fear squeeze her heart. Did this mean that the dreams of her death were visions of the future as well?

As in her dream, one youkai happened to look at her and saw that she was awake. He quickly brought the fact to the attention of his cohorts, and as one they approached her, the more powerful in the front, and the obviously weaker ones in the back. “Where is it, wench?” the youkai who had noticed she was awake growled.

Rin’s brows drew together, “Where is what?!” she still had no idea what they wanted, but they didn’t believe her anymore than they had in the dream. She received a backhand for her less than satisfactory answer.

“We know you have it wench!” another youkai growled, “We can smell it on you!” The creature leaned closer and licked her cheek, making her jerk away, “We can taste it on you!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Rin insisted, honest in her confusion and ignorance. The youkai obviously didn’t believe her and hit her again, making black lines stream across her vision.

A minor mononoke crept forward, “My lordsss,” he hissed, “I sssaw the girl who held it lassst, ssshe carried it inssside herssself!”

The youkai spokesman nodded, “Very well, we shall rip her open and take it from her.” She could do nothing as the dagger-like claws reached for her chest, and punctured her haori and then her skin. As they sank deeper into her he flesh, Rin screamed for Sesshomaru, though she knew it was useless.

“That is enough!” a deep voice cut across the clearing.

The youkai paused, and then pulled his claws free from Rin’s chest, “And who are you to stop us?” he growled, his eyes frenzied from the sight and scent of the girl’s blood.

Rin heard footsteps behind her, but couldn’t turn around to look. For a second her hope soared as she thought that Sesshomaru had comes to save her, but reason quickly killed that. It had not been the inu-youkai’s voice, and he would not have announced his presence, he would have simply jumped in and started killing. Who could it be then? It wasn’t Inuyasha; he had followed Kagome through the well and into her time. It couldn’t be Kohaku, he had died with Naraku. Could it be the monk Miroku? Whoever it was, she hoped they weren’t doing anything stupid by stepping in. As little as she wanted to die, she wanted other people to die for trying to help her even less.

“Kissima!” one of the youkai yelled, “Who do you think you are to just step in here and tell us what to do?”

The mystery person chuckled, and Rin felt a chill slide down her spine. She’d heard that laugh before… The owner of the voice stepped in her range of vision, and her blood froze at the sight of a white baboon pelt.

“Naraku, is what I am called,” the hanyou threw back the hood of his pelt, his dark hair flying free of its confinement, “and you will all become one with my flesh.”

Rin watched in mute horror as the wind picked up and the creatures in the clearing flew at the crimson-eyed monster, only to be absorbed into his body. It was impossible! She had seen the hanyou die! There was no way he could be standing in front of her… there was no way he could be saving her!

Once all of the youkai, done to the smallest mononoke had been absorbed, Naraku schooled his features into a look of concern, and turned to face the captive girl, “I see I was too late,” he said softly, looking at Rin’s bleeding chest. He approached her and reached out to her.

“Iie!” she screamed, jerking against her bonds, “Don’t touch me! Get away from me! You’re supposed to be dead!”

The dark-haired hanyou frowned, “Please stop fighting, Rin-san, you will only make yourself bleed worse.” With gentle hands he untied the ropes that held her to the tree, and then backed away, “I know you will not let me bandage your wounds, but I believe that you should tend them soon.”

Rin stumbled away from the tree, and clutched her bleeding chest, “What are you doing here?” she demanded, “What do you want from me? Why aren’t you dead?!”

“Please calm down Rin-san, you are going to faint at this rate,” he replied.

It was true, Rin’s vision was wavering, and spotted with black, but she wasn’t going to let him know that, “Answer me! Why are you here and what do you want from me?”

Naraku sighed softly, “I am here because I sensed a large gathering of youkai, and then I heard a human scream. I did not know it was you until I got here,” he shrugged, “I heard someone call out for help, and came to see if I could be of some assistance.”

“Liar,” the girl hissed, “The only person you came to assist was yourself!”

The crimson-eyed monster arranged his features into a look of sadness, “I am not the monster you knew years ago, Rin-san. I do not know how I survived, but I did. I still have Naraku’s appearance and most of his abilities, but I am more like the young lord who once wore this face. I have no detachments, no puppets, and no evil schemes anymore. I simply am,” he looked off into the distance, “I wish I knew how and why I survived, you are quite right in saying that I should be dead. However, in a way, I suppose Naraku is dead, for I retained none of his evil plots and schemes. Since my… rebirth, if you will, I regained Kagewaki’s lands and rebuilt his castle. Mostly I live like a simple country lord, tending to my people and lands. With the exceptions that I personally handle any demons that come to prey upon my people, and once in a while I travel outside my lands to view the happenings in the rest of Nippon.”

It was probably the blood loss, but to Rin he sounded sincere. She tried to take a step, but found that the world tilted dangerously beneath her feet, and she would have fallen, had Naraku not appeared next to her and caught her. “Don’t…” she muttered softly.

“You are going to pass out Rin-san,” the hanyou said softly, “and I cannot leave you here to be preyed upon by whatever beasts smell your blood.”

“I’m not…” before she could even finish her protest, the world went dark.

As soon as she lost consciousness, Naraku allowed himself to smirk. Truly, it was like taking candy from a baby. The girl was so full of doubt and insecurities that it was child’s play to place a compulsion on her not to mention his presence to Sesshomaru, and to sow the seeds of belief in his story. That done, he opened her haori and pressed his hand to her chest; he could feel it! The Shikon no Tama rested beside her heart, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. It had already begun to heal the holes in her chest, “Soon my pet,” he crooned to both the girl and the jewel inside her, “Soon you will be mine, and this time no one will take you away from me.”

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Sesshomaru arrived in the village with less fanfare than the last time he had visited. Once more the villages scurried about, running in fear of him. He simply waited for one of them to alert the old miko to his presence and bring her to him. He didn’t have to wait long.

Kaede saw the inu-youkai enter the village, and slowly made her way to him. She was uneasy, there was something troubling in the direction Rin had gone in earlier, and she had been on her way to check it out when the daiyoukai arrived.

Sesshomaru could smell demons some distance to east, but it was none of his concern, let the villagers take care of their own problems, he was there for Rin. He nodded slightly in acknowledgement of the miko and her half bow as she approached him.

“I know you are here to pick up Rin-chan,” Kaede said, “But she is not here,” she saw the tiniest twitch of the silver-haired youkai’s golden eyes and hurried to explain, “She went into the woods about three or four hours ago to pick mushrooms and what berries were in season. She has not returned, and then I sensed demonic activity and was on my way to check it out.”

Sesshomaru felt rage swell inside him. He had left his ward in the old miko’s care, and she had simply let the girl run into to the forest all by herself?! He forced himself to calm down, he was overreacting. How many times had he let the girl do exactly the same thing, even when she was had been much younger? It was not the old miko’s fault, he was simply looking for someone to blame, “I will go retrieve my ward,” he said curtly and left before Kaede could respond.

As he ran through the woods, the daiyoukai mentally scolded himself for his reaction. There had been no reason to be angry at the woman, but being away from Rin for so long had made him… antsy. The great and proud Sesshomaru-sama, Lord of the Western Lands and son of the Inu no Taisho had been worried about a slip of woman-child. It grated his pride, but he had become so use to her presence that being without for so long had just felt… wrong…

His train of through was derailed and violently crashed as he caught the scent of blood on the wind… Rin’s blood. He picked up his pace until the trees were nothing more than blurs of brown and green as he all but flew past them. The forest itself seemed to move out of his way as he ran, as though it were too fearful of his wrath to place so much as a twig or a stone in his way. He burst into a clearing that stank heavily of multiple kinds of youkai, and found…

Rin curled up on her side, sleeping peacefully amidst the roots of a tree. He stretched his senses as far as he could, but could find no trace of the youkai anywhere. He went to her and knelt beside her, rolling her carefully onto her back. There was a bruise forming on her cheek, and her hakama had strips torn from the legs, and there were holes in the chest of he haori. Through the holes, he could see where the strips from the legs of the hakama had gone. He leaned closer to her and sniffed. He smelled blood, and the scent of the youkai that had been in the clearing, but he also smelled some kind of strong medicine that made him pull his head back and sneeze. He couldn’t resist shaking his head and rubbing at his nose in a very doggish manner.

Rin stirred at the sound of his sneeze and cracked an eye, “Sessh… sho… maru… sama?”

“Hai,” he said softly, “What happened?”

Rin tried to sit up, but found herself still weak from blood loss, “I… I was attacked… in the woods… while I was picking mushrooms…” she rubbed her head, “They knocked me out… and when I woke up, I was tied to a tree… They kept asking me where something was, but I didn’t know… One of them said something about a girl carrying it inside her,” she rubbed her eyes, “But I don’t know what they were talking about… and then one tried to… tried to rip open my chest… but,” she paused, she couldn’t tell Sesshomaru that Naraku was still alive, the inu-youkai would hunt the hanyou to the ends of the Earth, and if Naraku had truly changed like he claimed he had, than Rin didn’t want him to die for no reason… No, she wouldn’t tell Sesshomaru until after she found out for sure, “But then someone told them to stop… I couldn’t see the person, and then I passed out.”

Sesshomaru’s eye narrowed just the tiniest bit. She wasn’t telling the truth, or at least not the whole truth. After a moment’s deliberation he decided that it didn’t matter, he could get it out of her later, all that matter at that moment was she was ok. “Can you walk?”

Rin thought for a moment, it was a good question. She wasn’t sure if she could, to tell the truth, “I don’t know, Sesshomaru-sama.”

He nodded, and his fur slid from his shoulder, ordering it to wrap around her. He stood and scooped her up, “Hold on,” he said softly, “and hold your breath.”

The girl blinked in surprise both at his closeness and at his command, but she dutifully slid her arms around his neck and took a deep breath reveling in his closeness and in his scent. No matter what he had been doing, the daiyoukai always smelled so good! She suddenly felt the world shift around her and her stomach dropped. The next thing she knew, she and Sesshomaru were in the middle of the road, some distance away from the village.

“Sesshomaru-sama! Rin-chan! What happened?” Jaken cried as soon as he saw them.

“I was attacked, Jaken-sama,” the girl said softly as Sesshomaru placed her on AiAun’s back.

Jaken scrambled over to the two-headed dragon, “I’m not surprised,” he started, “You attract trouble like honey attracts… Itai!” he hollered as Sesshomaru kicked him.

“We are leaving,” was all the daiyoukai said as he walked to the dragon’s head and took the reins.

The kappa stared stupidly after his lord. What the hell was going on? What the hell had happened to Rin to get such a reaction out of Sesshomaru? He shook his head, he didn’t know, but he was damn sure going to find out!

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Naraku took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had not expected the girl to so resemble her other incarnations! While her eyes were dark like Kikyou’s they had born none of the hatred and anger that pathetic miko had harbored. No, Rin’s eyes had been warm like Kagome’s, lit with an inner kindness that came not from a sense of duty like Kikyou’s did, but from a truly caring heart. Her hair, no longer pulled up in a child’s tail, fell in a dark curtain to her hips, as unruly as ever, and pulled back out of her face with a paper ribbon. She had worn the garb of a miko, making her resemblance to Kikyou even more startling. Something had stirred in him when he had seen her, Onigumo’s heart making itself known once more. He had tried to kill the others, and failed in his effort to keep the Shikon no Tama, but now he was being given a second chance, the jewel was ripening quickly inside Rin’s soul, preparing to make its debut into the world once more. He would have it this time!

The evil hanyou let his thoughts drift further into Onigumo’s memories. Rin was a fifteen year old girl… no, she was a woman, her scent had told him as much. According to the bandit’s memories, young women were easily seduced, and he suspected that Rin was no different. In fact, he had a hunch that she would perhaps be even easier to seduce than most because of her circumstances. She had followed the cold Sesshomaru around for most of her short life, and the inu-youkai was much too proud to actually make a show or statement of his affection to the girl. How could she know that his allowing her to continue following him was his way of saying he cared for her? An evil smile curled the crimson-eyed monster’s lips; he would have his revenge on Sesshomaru by stealing his Rin-chan from him without force, but with love. The dark hanyou cooed in pleasure at the thought of the youkai lord’s face when the girl told him she loved Naraku. That would teach the bastardly dog to attempt to end the evil hanyou’s life.

Thinking of his death made Naraku’s eyes narrow. Yes, he had died, but he had not died. Some time after he had taken over Kagewaki Hitome’s lands and flesh, but before all the other inhabitants of the castle had died from shouki poisoning, he had heard of twins born to one of the retainers. The man had boasted that he had fathered incarnations of the faces of Turani Bosatsu, the Green and White Tara of the Buddhist pantheon. While Naraku had doubted this very much, he had gone to see these twins while their parents slept. Creeping into the house had been no problem, and when he looked down at the sleeping infants, his eyes had narrowed thoughtfully. Even as newborns he could sense power coming from them. The retainer had told the others that they had been named Midori and Shiro, for the two forms of the Bodhisattva. Looking down at the girls, the hanyou could see why. Both babes were awake, and yet they did not cry out at his presence. Green eyes and strangely ice blue eyes stared up at him. He had nodded, in these children, Shiro especially; he had seen how he would live no matter what Inuyasha and his crew did. He had taken a sliver of the Shikon no Tama, no wider than a hair and had imbued it with a piece of his soul. He had watched the sparkling shard turn blacker than the abyss, and then placed it inside the tiny Shiro, and placed a hand over her mouth to keep her from crying out.

The babes’ powers had flared, Midori’s green aura seeking to repel the hanyou’s taint from her sister. “Hush now, Kuro” Naraku had crooned softly to Shiro, whose white aura was slowly darkening, “I wish only to live until my quest is complete… You who are named for a face of the goddess of compassion should understand my desire…” he had continued to croon softly to the babe until blackness had taken over her white aura, and her pale eyes darkened to match. The evil hanyou had pulled his hand away, a smug smirk on his face. The child’s power would protect his soul for as long as he needed her to. He had quickly left the domicile while Midori screamed for her parents.

Naraku scowled, the final battle with Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and the others had destroyed his body, and it had taken years before Kuro had been powerful enough to release him into a form of any ability. He had returned to Hitome’s land, sliding back into the role of the young lord. The retainers who had not lived at the castle had been overjoyed. Their lord had survived being kidnapped by the evil Naraku, and had returned to them whole! The dark hanyou snorted, they were all fools, but they proved to be useful fools, and this time he had no intention of killing them off until after he succeeded.

Thinking of Kuro and her flat black eyes tickled his memory… it reminded him of Kana’s eyes. The nihility had been destroyed along with her “father” but she had not been brought back. The evil hanyou missed her, insofar as he missed her ability to show him what was happening without having to be there in person. It had been a useful thing, but he would survive without it….

The tickle in his memory upgraded to an itch. There was something about Kana, something important… Towards his last weeks of life Kana’s eyes had held something, an alarming thing in itself since she was nothingness incarnate. But it was what they held that was important for him to remember. There had been an almost… sadness… along with a reluctant acceptance, and a solemnity. One day, a week before the final battle, he had asked her why she had such a look, she had turned to him, and breathed softly, “I see the future, Naraku-sama, and know what is to come.”

Why was that important? He pondered the question a bit longer before the answer came to him in a shocking revelation. It was important because, deep down in Rin’s eyes, he had seen the solemnity; though the acceptance was not yet there, merely the reluctance. His eyes widened, Rin was able to see the future!

He scowled in thought, pondering what this could mean. The girl was untrained, and therefore probably could neither control nor understand the power. If she could, she would not have run headlong into trouble like she had. Naraku decided that he would have to handle this very carefully. If it seemed like her power would reveal his true intentions, then he would take the jewel by force and make his wish before Sesshomaru found him, but if the power left her in the dark about his plots, then all the better for her. Either way, it would be an interesting challenge… and the crimson-eyed monster did enjoy a challenge.

~End

A/N: Does that answer some questions?