InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bound For Tomorrow: Sesshomaru and Rin ❯ Acquiring the Meidou ( Chapter 4 )

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

Flashback
~Flashback ~ 1 Week Prior ~ The Western Shiro in the Clouds ~
He stands, facing his mother, who has turned to give him her back. A sign of disrespect, as it shows she is confident enough, or, in his opinion, foolish enough, to take her eyes from him, as though she does not consider him a threat.
He has demanded the one thing that can grant him the power to grant the wish of an eight year old ningen girl, who is no longer eight years old, no longer a girl, and now her wish has become his own.
Forever.
She wanted to be with him forever, and now, he wants nothing more than to have her there, at his side, forever.
`Does she mean so much to you?” His mother asks a question that she already knows the answer to, she only means to make him say it… instead, he growls, and his hand drifts to the hilt of Bakusaiga. She does mean that much to him, and he will kill his mother if he must. The idea of matricide has occurred to him before, but, only now is it an impending reality.
She turns then, as if sensing he is serious, and she gives him a smile… baring her fangs.
“Sesshomaru, I've said it before, but it bears repeating… you have become like your father in the strangest ways…”
He knows its true, he will not deny it, but still, he will not give her the satisfaction of saying it aloud either. He draws his sword.
Her eyes soften on him, in… pity? Perhaps it is even more than that, but he cares not to analyze it, for it doesn't concern him in this moment. His mother speaks again,
“There is no need for all this fuss over one mortal girl… Sesshomaru, I have always wanted your happiness… and if this is what you want, then… I will not give you the meidou,” He cuts her off with a growl, and prepares to use his sword, allowing his jykai to flare, but before he can call the aura of the sword, she continues, as if he has not just threatened her life, “Just listen to me, koinu puppy, I will not give you the meidou… but, I will give you what you need, to keep the girl alive and un-aging, but… you must promise me something, in return.”
He allows his aura to settle, but does not yet replace his sword in the sheath, he isn't quite sure if he trusts her…
“What would you have me promise you?” He doesn't care, he is merely curious… or so he tells himself.
“You will not betray her, forsake her, dishonor or… hurt her… the way your father did me. You will cherish her always, for that is what I'm giving you with her. I'm granting you always, and it is not to be taken lightly.”
Never before has his mother admitted to him that his father's dalliances hurt her. The concept of his mother having feelings is as foreign a concept to him as his brother having intelligence. He feels, at that moment, almost… sorry, for her.
He only nods his assent. He does not feel the need to explain further, and he knows she will not expect him to.
He hears then, a terrible sound. A high pitched squeal that has him aching to cover his sensitive ears, and his eyes flick to the source of the painful noise. His mother has removed the stone from beneath the neckline of her kimonos, and is using a single claw to carve a shard from it's center. She has a look of concentration on her face, and when she is finished, she slowly approaches with a wry smile.
She makes to hand it to him, but when he reaches for it, she pulls her hand back, and her face becomes hard, her countenance serious, but in the back of her eyes, he can see the playful glint of mischief. He growls again. What game is she playing?
“One more thing, my son…” Her tone is teasing, and he hates it. Briefly, he considers killing her anyway, but dismisses the thought as soon as she speaks again,
“I know that you, yourself, have never been… intimate… with a female,” His eyes narrow and he makes to speak, but is silenced when the hand that is not holding the precious shard comes up, bidding him keep silent just a moment longer, “but this old woman expects many grandchildren… hanyou though they may be… with you as sire the sons will be powerful and with her as mother, the daughters will be beautiful… when she is first with child, you will send for me, that I might watch over her pregnancy.”
To say that he is shocked is an understatement, and when his mother reaches for him, he doesn't pull away. She hasn't held him since he was a pup, and even then she didn't do so often, preferring instead to leave him to the care of various nannies and tutors.
She holds her son in a tight embrace, and puts enough pressure on the back of his head to bring his head down to her level. She nuzzles him and uses the tip of her nose to caress his cheek, before licking the tip of his own nose in a gesture of motherly affection. He surprises her then by burying his nose in his mother's neck and scenting her. She is even more shocked when she feels a single tear hit the skin of her neck, and she smells salt in the air that is not from the ocean outside her window.
When he releases her again however, there is no evidence of his uncharacteristic show of emotion, and she almost believes she imagined it, but for the lingering salty flavor of the air.
He takes the shard from her, and turns on his heel, making to leave, leaving her to watch his retreat, silent prayers for both him and his human girl running through her mind. Suddenly, just as she is about to turn to leave, he pauses in mid-stride, with his back still to her, she hears him call to her,
“Hahaue,” He pauses again, before adding in a low voice, “Domo Arigato.”
Though she knows he cannot see it, she nods, and before she makes her way back into the shiro she adds, just as quietly,
“Become happy, Sesshomaru… my son.”
He stops by the seamstress on his way out, delivering his orders, and returns days later to find it has been completed, but also there is something else. His mother has left orders as well…
There is a large trunk, filled to the brim with fine silk Kimonos, jewels, spices, incense and, most importantly, a note, with a headband laying a top of it. The head band is fine silver, and will rest so that a blue jade crescent moon stone will find itself resting in the middle of Rin's forehead.
The letter is addressed to Rin,
“To my newest Daughter,
Welcome to the house of the West.
It is now your duty to bear us many strong sons, and beautiful daughters.
Your Hahaue…
Lady Tsukimaru
For the second time in only a moon, he is fighting down his emotions, which threaten tears.
That night, with Ah-un packed, carrying the gifts for Rin from both him and his mother, he contemplates, once again, the twists and turns the fates have wrought into his life.
Before this month, he hasn't cried in nearly 400 years, yet he doesn't feel weak, but stronger than he ever has before. His decision to deliberately, finally, and completely damn the consequences of loving Rin, standing up to his mother, and finding… not more of her displeasure and disappointment, but… acceptance has left him… pleasantly upheaved, this change in himself is… freeing, and he feels like he's at the beginning of some great epic journey. There are healthy amounts of both trepidation and anticipation.
He is at once both reluctant and eager to leave the past behind and embrace this new part of himself… the one that… feels things, for a being other than himself… okay, if he is honest, he still feels nothing for almost any and everything else. It is only… her. Only Rin, that has the power to invoke these things in him. He admits with a wry sort of humor that she is the only one with so much power. A small mortal woman, and she has power over him. It is a startling revelation, and yet… he decides that it is comforting to have a check and balance to his unquestionable strength. He wonders if it has to be this way. For one as powerful as he, the fates mustsee that there needs to be an outside influence, someone or something to keep him from reeking havoc on the world. He needs her to temper him, lest he lose himself in the ultimate power he wields. She will keep him grounded and sane.
`The fates have a sense of humor' he admits dryly.
No he hasn't cried, not since the death of his grandmother, at the hands of a mortal priestess named Midoriko… the same one who created the shikon no tama, and later caused him so much grief with the bastard hanyou, Naraku… but… if not for her, he would not have met Rin, and if not for the mortals who caused his father's death, he would not be the bearer of Tenseiga and if not for…
He stops his train of thought. He will not question, will not analyze, the strings of fate that have brought him to this point in his life… he has done so on many occasions, while stargazing, lonely and angry at the world.
He is weary, tired of being angry, no… now he will do his best to simply be… grateful.
He rises from the tree stump he was resting on…
Its time to go, Rin is alone, and he will not allow it to be so for long.