Run

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha…*hangs head in shame*

Jaken moaned out in his sleep. His dreams were the only place he could truly let his feelings run free without shame or embarrassment. In his dream Sesshoumaru reached out and stroked his bald little head his eyes glazed over with lust. “Jaken” his dream lover whispered sensually.

“Yes my Lord?” The tiny demon half asked half moaned in a breezy tone.

“I want to thank you for being so loyal to me.” Sesshoumaru began drawing ever closer, not that Jaken minded “I need to thank you. You got rid of that bitch for me, she was destroying me. I am in your debt. What can I do for you…my Lord?”


Just as Sesshoumaru was about to pull him into a kiss he was roused rather roughly from his slumber. He doubled over clutching his stomach. He was about to tell off whoever had kicked him when he chanced to look up and see who it was. It was safe to say that Jaken was more than a little surprised to see his dream demon hovering above him. Sesshoumaru never came into his quarters, what was he doing here? Was it possible that…that he wanted…wanted to…was it even possible?


Suddenly Jaken came to a painfully embarrassing realization, he was hard as a rock here in front of his love. Luckily for him his minute erection was virtually undetectable to the eye. Yet, as no male would, he refused to admit this to himself and moved his hand so that it covered his crotch in a leisurely pose. Sesshoumaru was becoming increasingly impatient during all of this. “Jaken!” He finally barked out sounding particularly dog-like.

“Yes, my Lord?” Jaken said his usual line in what he hoped to be a sensual tone. No such luck. Sesshoumaru noted the odd tone and began to wonder how his servant had strained his throat.

“What do you know of Rin’s disappearance?” Sesshoumaru asked his eyes narrowing dangerously. Jaken shuddered; there was no way out of this. He was staring a living lie detector in the face.

“N-nothing.” He squeaked his eyes becoming even larger as he feigned innocence.

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” The frightening demon roared, he was not to be pushed on the matter. He wanted answers and he wanted them now, lying was useless.

“All I know is that she stayed at a village towards the North, not to far from here. She was housed with an old man until the next day, she left and then no one heard from her again.” He rushed out as he often did when he feared for his life.


A small stream of urine trickled down his leg. Sesshoumaru turned his nose up in disgust. “Clean yourself up.” He snarled “I’ll deal with you later.”


With that he burst out of the castle, crimson bleeding into his golden eyes. How dare that fool keep such valuable information from him? What was he planning to do, just keep it from his master and hope he never found out? Why would he do that? He stopped as he approached the outskirts of the village. He forced his body to calm down before he entered the village, the last thing he wanted them to do was panic.


When he began to think clearly and his eyes returned to their normal golden color he slowly began to walk towards the village. As he walked past the rows of huts people began to peek out of their windows gazing at the majestic sight before them. It wasn’t every day a demon warlord strolled into their village. A lone child sat on the road a ways before him. He approached slowly his eyes locked on the child.


When he was about three feet away he stopped and looked down at the tiny girl looking up at him with an awed expression comically played about her innocent features. A few moments later her mother darted out and stood before her child looking up at the demon with fearful eyes. “Relax, woman” Sesshoumaru stated calmly “I merely wish to ask a question”

The woman nodded mutely determined not to let him continue to gaze upon her daughter.

“Did a young woman stay here a couple months ago?”

“Yes. A girl stayed here, though only for one day. She woke early in the morning and left before any could stop her. We have not seen her since.”


Sesshoumaru nodded and then turned on heel and walked away. Once outside the village he began to sniff the air desperate for any sign of her, yet none were to be found. Once more he began to wander aimlessly through the forest in search of his love, or at least her scent.


***


Spring came and the world began to bloom around the tiny make-shift family. Rin sat patiently in the hut waiting for Keiko to return from the village meeting concerning whether or not they were allowed to stay. Rin had been specifically asked to stay home with her ‘half-breeds’. She was ready to fight the issue when Keiko stopped her. As of late the old woman was the only thing keeping the defensive mother in check.


Rin paced the hut cradling Kaori in her arms as Yasuo slept away. She turned as Keiko entered the hut all of her questions answered before she could even open her mouth. Keiko was looking apologetically at her as she relieved her of Kaori. “We have to leave as soon as we can.” She said quietly “If we don’t leave within two days they’ll chase us out.”


Rin nodded; thankfully they didn’t have much to carry. They decided that the sooner they moved the better. Rin carefully picked up the sleeping form of Yasuo, and then between the two they picked up the cleaned pot that held the rest of their belongings. Ever so slowly they made their way out of the village and headed towards the next of many temporary homes.


Not a single village they entered would let them stay for more than a week after they saw the pups cradled protectively in their arms. The small traveling party was always weary when they reached their destination, usually only to be denied the comfort of a room. They spent several nights sleeping under the stars, and were rained on more than once. The two adults were extremely grateful that the babes were unusually mild mannered. If they had been as fussy as a normal child the two would have experienced all kinds of hell.


***


A year passed. The two inu hanyous had begun to walk and tottered about merrily in a green field under the watchful eye of their mother. She smiled as Yasuo bent curiously over a butterfly only to have it flutter off as soon as Kaori rushed over and began to chase it about the field. Keiko was fast asleep next to her daughter. The constant travel mixed with her age had not had a positive effect on the elderly grandmother.


She was instantly awakened, however, by the sound of yet another angry mob. This was the third one this week. Word had begun to spread from village to village that half demons were in the area and the communities were less than pleased at the news. She slowly lifted herself to her feet and approached the angered crowd as the two children hid behind their fuming mother, occasionally chancing a frightened glance in her direction.


She smiled reassuringly at her family as she began to speak to the horde. Yet it seemed that the swarm of people was in no mood to be reasoned with. They wanted this problem to be dealt with, and they wanted it done now. “Please calm down…” Keiko began her voice panicking with desperation.


A stone was flung from somewhere in the crowd and hit her square in the chest. She fell backwards as the air left her lungs. She sat upon the ground for a moment gasping for breath. She turned back towards her family. Despair filled her eyes as she began to mouth desperate words to Rin. When she finally got her breath back she screamed to the skies “RUN, TAKE THE CHILDREN AND RUN! DON’T STOP UNTIL THE CHILDREN ARE AT EASE! THEY’LL KNOW WHEN IT’S SAFE, NOW GO!”


Rin shook her head helplessly as tears streamed down her face. She scooped up her wailing children and ran as fast as her legs would carry her away from the anguished screams that filled the air. Darkness fell around her before she finally stopped. Kaori and Yasuo had calmed down and were looking up at her questioningly. Rin couldn’t stop crying. She had just run away, her mother had been killed because she was too cowardly to help her.


She collapsed onto the ground and began to sob uncontrollably. She calmed down when she felt two sets of arms wrap desperately around her followed by a tiny purring sound as her children tried to comfort her. They didn’t know what had happened, only that their mother was terribly upset.


***


It had been a little over a year now since Sesshoumaru had returned from battle finding his love missing. He had left his head-maid in charge of the castle in his absence as he often did when he left for battle. He had long ago killed Jaken out of pure rage. How dare he keep secrets from him. Little did he know Jaken had taken one secret to the grave with him. Sesshoumaru still didn’t know that he was a father.


He had been wandering the forest every day, occasionally coming across villages, but never expecting a proper answer. A year was too long for their weak human minds to remember such a small event. Every once and a while he would come across her stale scent. The only reminder that he was on the right track. He moved slowly, keeping his nose and eyes alert for anything that could be related to his love. More often than not he found not even a trace of her, yet on some days he would pick up her scent causing a boost in his confidence. He only hoped that she had not come across an unfriendly demon during her travels. Such a mistake could prove to be deadly.


***


Rin finally decided to settle her family in an abandoned hut near a village, yet deep enough in the surrounding woods that they were never bothered by angry mobs. On a particularly sunny summer afternoon Rin decided to take the twins out into the woods with her to find nuts and berries as well as a few edible roots. They walked about the woods hand in hand enjoying the breezed that ruffled their ever growing hair.


Rin giggled as Kaori’s ears rotated about animatedly to catch as many woodland sounds that flooded her as she could. Yasuo on the other hand was eyeing a bird in flight with an awed expression. She laughed once more “That’s a bird, Yasuo.”

“Bird?”

“Mm-hmm!”


Rin was grateful when she found a blueberry bush towards late afternoon. Rin smiled as she joined her children in stuffing their faces full of berries, staining their mouths and the fronts of their kimonos. Rin hurried her children back towards their home as night began to fall around them. When they finally reached the hut Rin was startled to find light spilling out of the windows of the hut.


She hid Kaori and Yasuo in some nearby bushes and inched her way towards the door. She burst in only to find a group of travelers about her aged roasting fish above the fire they had lit. They looked just as surprised as she was. A girl about her age was the first to recover. She quickly stood up revealing an odd outfit that showed much more than Rin would have ever been comfortable with. “I’m so sorry!” the girl exclaimed bowing low “We thought this hut was abandoned since no one was inside when we arrived!”

Rin breathed a sigh of relief, at least they were friendly. “It’s alright” she replied with a smile “you’re welcome to stay here if you like; I know what it’s like to not have a place to stay. I’m sorry but will you excuse me for a moment?” With that she turned and retrieved the twins.


When she re-entered the hut with the children the two girl’s eyes lit up. “I’m Rin, and these are my children, Kaori and Yasuo.” She said gesturing to the twins.

The original spokesperson stood up once again and began to introduce them. “I’m Kagome, and this is Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kirara, and Inuyasha.” She said gesturing to each as well before exclaiming excitedly “Aww aren’t they adorable Inuyasha? They’re half-demons just like you!”


Rin’s jaw dropped. “Y-y-you’re Inuyasha? You’re Lord Sesshoumaru’s brother?”

Now it was Inuyasha’s turn to have his jaw drop. “How do you know my worthless half brother?”

“But he’s not worthless!” Rin said quick to defend her love. “He…he’s the father of my children.” She said more quietly this time.


The whole group fell silent as they looked from Rin to the cheery children on either side of her. The young boy, Yasuo looked quite similar to his father, even at a young age, and the girl, Kaori defiantly had his hair. There was no doubt about it; these two were indeed Sesshoumaru’s children. However, one thing didn’t make sense, and Inuyasha made no attempt to hide it.


“Sesshoumaru hates humans, and especially half-demons, why…how did this happen?”

Rin looked down at her drowsy children “May I put these two to bed before I answer your question?”

“Of course.” The woman named Sango answered sending a warning glare towards the others, daring them to disagree. “You take as long as you need.”


Rin nodded and herded her children towards the tiny fox demon sleeping in the corner. The two hanyous rushed forward and cuddled up against the firecat demon Kirara before Rin could stop them. Rin sent an apologetic glance towards the others as she made her way towards her children. Yet before she could pry them off the laid back demon the monk Miroku stopped her. “It’s quite alright, Lady Rin, Kirara is used to sleeping with Shippo, in fact, I think she might actually like it.” He said with a bright smile.


Rin was about to thank him when she froze. A hand was rubbing her backside gently. She turned and smacked him with such strength it even made Inuyasha flinch slightly. “I’m sorry!” Rin exclaimed not believing she had truly just struck a holy man.

“Feh, he does it to every pretty woman he comes across, don’t worry about it. He’s not as holy as you would think.” He added as if reading her mind. “Now would you mind getting on with this story of yours?”

Rin nodded settling next to the fire. All eyes were upon her as she began to relive the past year. The group appeared shocked when she explained how they would stay up late each night talking with one another. They seemed even more shocked when she told them she left without telling anyone.

“But why?” Kagome asked “Why did you leave? You loved him!”

Rin blushed slightly “I was afraid that…that he would despise his children. Every time we spoke of Inuyasha he always looked disgusted. They way he spoke of you I thought he hated hanyous, so I left. I would hate for his children to feel unloved and unwanted by their own father! Villagers they don’t know are one thing, but their father, that’s just too much.”


Their silence told her they agreed with her, so she began her tale once more. The humans seemed mortified when she began to explain the verbal and physical abuse she and Keiko had suffered from villagers. Inuyasha, however, was not shocked in the least by this information. He was gazing into the fire as he seemed to recall some painful memories of his childhood.


When she finished her story Inuyasha was the first to speak. “They need to learn to fight, the sooner the better. They’ll have to defend themselves a lot more often than full demons because of what they are. I’ll train them, Sango, would you mind helping?” He then turned towards Rin and explained “Sango here is a demon slayer, a very skilled fighter to say the least. Her training would be a great help to them.” Rin nodded and Inuyasha continued “We can’t train them now, obviously because they are too young, and we must defeat a great evil known as Naraku.

“We should be able to return in about five years, six is plenty old enough to begin training. In the meantime I suggest you get them weapons. The best swords smith I know of is a demon by the name of Toutosai. He’s harmless.” He added at Rin’s rather alarmed face.


As Inuyasha continued to give Rin advice Kagome couldn’t help but feel a bit touched. Even though he hated his half brother he was still looking out for his children. He must have felt a lot of sympathy towards the little half demons because he wouldn’t be caught dead giving such advice to any other, not even Shippo who had been traveling with them for about three years. She was glad the little fox demon wasn’t awake to hear this conversation. He would surly be jealous.


Kagome turned to face the angelic forms of the sleeping hanyous. She had to hand it to him, Sesshoumaru made one hell of a beautiful child. The two were so adorable she absentmindedly reached out and began to stroke Kaori’s ears and then proceeded to run her hands over Yasuo’s sleeping face. She giggled as Kaori’s little dog ears began to twitch like Inuyasha’s. Their uncle was going to look out for them.


The entire group fell asleep that night content with what life had offered them. As Inuyasha sat awake, as he often did, his gaze fell upon his niece and nephew. They reminded him so much of himself it was uncanny. Then his eyes fell upon the sleeping form of Rin. She was a good mother who cared deeply for her children, perhaps a little short tempered when it came to the ignorance of others, but that was to be expected. She had a lot to learn if she wanted her family to survive though.


Right then and there he uncharacteristically decided it was safe to put off their search for the jewel shards for a couple days. He would have Kagome teach her some healing techniques, and it couldn’t hurt for her to gain a bit of knowledge in self defense. Hell, even the monk could teach her to meditate; she would have to eventually teach her pups how to channel their strength and energy. He already knew that the two pups had great potential. He didn’t doubt that they could each defeat Shippo by the time they were three, and that would be with no formal training.


***


The next morning all nine were outside bright and early. Kirara, being an unofficial babysitter, herded Shippo and the twins a ways away from the adults, yet close enough so that Rin could still see her children and not fret. Rin first began with Miroku. The monk sat her down in the forest and instructed her to clear her mind and focus on deep calming breaths. Rin did as she was told listening to the monk’s calming voice. She felt her body relaxing as the stress life threw at her seemed to melt away into satisfying contentment.


Afterwards Miroku explained that it was a meditation often used before battle because it eased the mind allowing one to think quickly and clearly. Afterwards she was nudged off towards Sango and Inuyasha. After a few stretches the two began to teach her how to block and throw powerful punches and kicks. Both were surprised by the human’s strength. As she and Inuyasha spared lightly both were equally surprised when she managed to land a forceful punch causing the hanyou to stumble backwards a pace.


Inuyasha grinned broadly as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “Pretty good, for a human.” He said cockily earning several glares from his traveling party.


The day ended with Kagome leading the rest of the group through the woods indicating specific plants and their usage. She picked a few medicinal herbs to take back with them so she could show the determined mother the correct way to use them. Rin was so thankful to each and every one of the travelers, even Shippo who had given her children the gift of a friend. Even though the two were younger than the boy he never once complained about playing with them. In fact, he seemed to get great satisfaction from calling the two ‘runts’.


These mysterious warriors were truly a blessing. To show her thanks she did the only thing she could, she prepared them the most delicious meal she had ever made. The delectable stew even put Inuyasha’s beloved ramen to shame. The makeshift pack fell asleep that night with full stomachs and happy hearts.


Early the next morning Rin and the twins waved farewell to the warriors as they disappeared into the sunrise. As soon as the band faded from sight Rin returned Kaori and Yasuo to the hut, it was a new day, and thus new challenges were bound to arise, and she would be damned sure she was ready for whatever came up.

So I spent half the night writing this while listening to Save Ferris and Lifehouse. Thank god for those bands and cheetos. I’m not even kidding, that is what I have been living off of lately. This story has slowly consumed my life. It’s all I can think about! AHHH! So I added ‘the gang’. I really didn’t think I wanted to, but I realized I had to for upcoming chapters. Ok…for all those who can draw listen up! I really want someone to draw Kaori and Yasuo, I would…but I kinda really suck at drawing…soooooo….yeah. If you want to I would really appreciate it, just e-mail it to me…good times, good times. Thanks so much! *hugs to all*


My splendiferous readers filled with amazingosity!


Bob- Ahhh George-bob, it’s moments like these! Anywho…as I read your comment about how you heart my story, I thought back to the lunch meat…and I had to think ‘well gee, I hope his heart doesn’t turn into lunch meat!’ I’m sorry, my mind works in odd ways if you can’t tell by now…wow, that was off topic, welp, I love you for reading keep up with the…..reading….ness….readingness….it’ll catch on I swear, trust me, in a month you’ll be using the word readingness and who knows, maybe you’ll also start using my favorite original word of all time hippietasticness!

Ren- YAY! Another review! I’m so glad you’re still reading! I love getting your reviews! Yeah, I suppose you’re right, it is a good thing I can just kinda come up with stuff huh? Ohhh I could just hug you! In fact, I will, so there, *hug*. Thank you for the suggestion, I’ll be sure to keep it in mind for the next chapter since I had already written this one by the time I got your comment. Thank you thank you thank you for everything, I really mean it! Thanks so much!

Altari- hahaha I agree, whenever I pick up a story at a cliff hanger I just want to shoot the author…..please don’t shoot me…..I’ll give you a tasty pastry and we can just pretend none of this every happened, I won’t call the cops or anything…*starts backing towards the door as I bombard you with cupcakes and cookies, and then in an act of desperation fruit and veggies* but seriously now, thanks for the review! Glad you’re liking it!

Mrs. Dark Forest- wow…you like my characterization....seriously? THANK YOU SO MUCH! By the by I read your story and it was amazing, I loved it!

Vanessa- OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I gotcha! Good times, good times!

New Fan- Whew, I’m so very glad you didn’t mind that I had strayed away. I considered the Chinese monk, but I decided against it because that idea inspired me! I now know exactly what I’m going to do, to thank you oh so much for that.

Animegirl007- Hahaha…I’m sorry! If I had known that one line would upset you so much I would have left it out! And please…don’t jump off a roof…because then, who would take credit for the name Yasuo, which I love by the by!

Hiro- I will seriously consider doing that...e-mailing that is…hehe I’m glad you liked the tap dancing…had fun…all around good time. I’ll tell you what’s not a good time, letting your friends convince you that you can dye your hair with kool-aid. Maybe you can, but it sure as hell didn’t work for me!

Cassie- I can’t honestly answer those questions because I really don’t know yet myself. Crap, why is it that every time I answer your reviews I end up sounding like a mega mondo bitch? I’m sorry. Thank you for reading though! And here, have a cake *hands cake*