InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bound For Tomorrow: Sesshomaru and Rin ❯ Shard of the Meidou ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

He wants to reassure her with a kiss, but, she is human, and their custom is to `marry' before such a thing can occur.
Instead, he takes the flower from behind his ear and brings it down to roll the soft petals of the bloom across the soft petals of her lips. The flower will caress her as his mouth must wait to do, but he will not wait long, he is still, Sesshomaru, and patients has never been his forte.
He brings the flower from her lips to his own, placing the petals just under his nose, and he allows the quirk of his lips to let a ghost of a smile haunt his countenance for a moment, before tucking the flower under his kosode, right against his skin, over his heart.
He has taken the opportunity to exchange the flower for a small bit of folded silk. He unwraps it slowly, and Rin's eyes widen in astonishment, as she feels a sense of familiar energy emanate from the tiny diamond shaped shard.
He is still on his knees before her, even so positioned, the girl is only a head and a half or so taller than he is. He realizes this position is putting him at eye level with warm, soft, only slightly large-for-her-frame perfectly round and symmetrical breasts, and suddenly his hands tingle, wishing to touch them, and his mouth is almost watering, anticipating the taste of her skin. He could swear that he can almost smell the scent of the milk she will produce, and use to nourish pups… his pups…their pups… He refuses to cheapen either her or this moment by ogling her lecherously, but still, it takes every inch of his iron clad self-control to focus his gaze on her face, and he holds the shard in the center of his palm, presenting it to her, feeling suddenly vulnerable, for this, more than any wedding, will seal them to each other. He has already bargained with himself that, even if she doesn't accept this gift, he will still claim her, but
“Do you recognize what stone this is a shard from?”
Rin looks awed, and a million questions flit through her mind, but not single one is able to make it to her lips, which are suddenly very dry. Visions of a deep, dark, cold and endless place, a place devoid of hope, a place devoid of air, a place devoid of life, crisscross in her thoughts, forming a net that catches any words that might tumble out, and give away how nervous just being in the presence of such power makes her.
She can't answer, because, if she is wrong, she will sound so foolish that she is sure Sesshomaru-sama will scoff at her and retract his offer of a life spent together, because she knows he will not suffer a fool for a mate. Instead, she plays it safe, and asks a question she is almost certain she knows the answer to… but what she won't ask, what she can't ask, is why? What purpose could it possibly serve? Does this somehow mean...
The possibility sparks to life in her mind and her eyes grow impossibly large, and now he can actually see the wave of realization wash over her, and again, he realizes, she is beautiful.
“Sesshomaru-sama? Is that? Oh! Kami-sama! Is that?? It's a shard of the meidou tama?”
There is a look on her face, the fact that the previous fear has been replaced with an over-eager smile and she now looks at the stone less with reverence, but more with a sort of hunger, an anticipation she can hardly contain as he nods slowly, deliberately drawing this moment out, committing it to memory, so that one day, he might tell the story to his grandchildren…
Grandchildren?
The thought catches him completely by surprise, as he is only now getting used to the idea that he might soon become a father, and now…
`This Sesshomaru, a grandfather?'
It is these types of thoughts, the ones that come without his bidding, the thoughts that shock, but do not scare, him, that reassure him that he is not making a mistake, for she has put these thoughts, so alien and yet, so comforting in his mind.
“Do you still wish to be with this Sesshomaru forever?”
The full meaning, not just some vague inkling, but the true meaning of his words hits her suddenly, and there is suddenly no thought, no words, no existential or ethereal concept, nothing… nothing - that can describe what she is feeling.
In an impulsive and excessive move, two traits he has come to associate with her as freely as people associate him with restraint and stoicism, she bounces on the balls of her feet a few times and then throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck so tightly that, if he were mortal, he is sure he would choke.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Rin disentangles herself from him, and stares at him with an unguarded expression of love, holding nothing back. She hasn't been this free with him in quite some time, so concerned was she with hiding her 'secret' longings for him. There is something in his gaze, a weight to it, that is certainly not regret, more a kind of quiet acceptance, but is still it is... unsettling to her. As quickly as it came, the mirth is gone, and she is regarding him seriously.
"Sesshomaru-sama? You know... you know that... you know Rin loves you, right? You know Rin would do anything for you..."
The stoic heavy expression seems to be replaced with a light dancing in the back of his eyes that may just be... amusement. She feels suddenly very foolish, for what could she possibly do for him that would ever come close to rivaling this thing that he is done for her? He is Taiyoukai, and she, even if she is no longer mortal, is still painfully human.
She may have always suspected he was infinitely powerful, and even, in her childish ways, regarded him as some sort of kami. She knows that the fact that he can do this thing, that he can grant her what by all rights should be, for her, an impossible wish, should confirm these feelings, but somehow, contradictory to current evidence, it seems to make him so much more real to her.
Only then does she think about what he may have had to do to get this shard?
His mother surely wouldn't have handed it over so easily, and, even if she did... that he would have lowered himself to ask, when his mother surely would have known who and what it was for... surely, no matter what the circumstances, he sacrificed a lot for her... either his pride, or his relationship with his last remaining parent was put up for paid, for nothing more than a single mortal girl... for her
Rin is so humbled, so grateful, and so painfully aware, that she is simply not worthy of this beautiful creature, who stands before her, offering her things no mortal was meant to have.
In that moment, she hesitates, and thinks, for his own good, she should reject him, send him away, and pray he someday meets a demon-ness worthy of his affections, of his sacrifices, of his... love.
It is a good thing, for both of them, that the selfishness inherent in all those of her species will simply not allow her to give him up, despite the fact that she can never hope to come close to repaying all that he has done for her, and she can never hope to compare to what and who he must and might be giving up… despite that, Rin knows she cannot let him go, not now that he is here and he is willing to be with her…to love her... forever.
Only now is Rin beginning to realize the lengths he is willing to go for her, and this shard, more than any cheap words ever could, tells her that he loves her. All the consequences of that reality have yet to present themselves to her young and still somewhat naive mind, but she is not so foolish as to believe their relationship will be nothing but the stuff of romance novels, although, she has hope that at least part of their relationship will be that way.
“Sesshomaru-sama… how… how did you get this?”