InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 30 Shards of Jaken ❯ Heritage ( Chapter 15 )

Theme: Memories

 

Genres: Drama/Humor

 

Rating: T

 

Heritage

 

There was a field, and running through it was a shallow stream, which had turned into a blinding glare from the high, afternoon sun. Rin sat next to its banks, shielding her eyes with one hand. Sesshomaru had posted himself under the shade of a tree, lost in his own reflections.

 

Jaken walked over to the stream. “What are you doing, Rin?”

 

“It's so hot, Master Jaken. I'm soaking my feet in the water.”

 

Jaken gave her a pointed look. “Don't leave them in too long or you'll catch cold.”

 

Rin laughed. “Master Jaken, you sound just like my mother.”

 

“W-What?!” Jaken stuttered, flustered at the indignation of being compared to a human female. “I do not sound like anything of the kind! The only reason I'm concerned is because if you get sick, I'll get in trouble!” And he cast a wary eye in Sesshomaru's direction.

 

“Okay, I promise not to catch cold.” But her tone didn't sound too serious, and she splashed her feet about in the water, completely carefree.

 

Jaken eyed her enviously. They had been walking all morning, it was incredibly hot, and the water did look so tempting…

 

He sat down next to Rin without a word and he too cooled his feet in the stream. Rin smiled to herself.

 

“I remember my mother very well,” she said. “She used to say things like that often. Little warnings. I was the youngest, so… she always worried about me.”

 

Jaken stared at his feet as the water rushed through his toes. Sometimes he forgot that Rin had had a life and a family before she joined him and Sesshomaru. It felt like she'd been with them forever.

 

His voice was softer now. “Rin, do you think about your parents… often?”

 

The sun made Rin's eyes glisten. “Yes… Don't you think about your parents, Master Jaken? You're away from them all the time. You must miss them.”

 

“What foolishness!” he scoffed. “I am a grown demon, not some sentimental human child.”

 

Rin's face stiffened. “Oh…”

 

In the background, underneath the shady tree, Sesshomaru sat with his back to Rin and Jaken. His eyebrow twitched.

 

Suddenly Rin had found her hands very interesting. She stared at them, hearing nothing but the water rushing past until…

 

“I think about my mother sometimes.”

 

Rin looked up. “Master Jaken?”

 

“She was very kind and very beautiful. Some say I inherited my fine features from her.”

 

Rin stifled a chuckle, and smiled at him eagerly. “Go on.”

 

Jaken's mouth quivered. He hated to compare his mother to a human woman, but… “She was very protective of me, too. But she died a long time ago.”

 

Rin's eyes softened. “I'm sorry. Do you still have your father, though?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Your father. Is he alive?”

 

“I…” Jaken's voice trailed off. “I don't know.”

 

Rin's brow furrowed. How could someone not know if one of their parents was alive or not? “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean,” he sighed, “I never met my father…”

 

“Oh,” Rin whispered. “I'm sorry, Master Jaken. That's a shame.”

 

“He left for battle before I was born, and… never came back. My mother assumed he died in warfare, but I've… I've always held out hope that—” Jaken bit his tongue at the sight of Sesshomaru out of the corner of his eye. It was almost imperceptible, his lord being so stoic, but Jaken could make out the faintest trace of discomfort in Sesshomaru's eyes.

 

`What a fool I've been!' Jaken thought. `All this talk of fathers must have made Lord Sesshomaru uneasy. He must be thinking of his own father's tragic death.”

 

Indeed, the Inu no Taisho was a touchy subject for Sesshomaru. Jaken thought it best to change topic.

 

“Bah, enough of this nostalgic nonsense, Rin!”

 

Rin quieted. Talking about his father must have upset Jaken.

 

“Say, Master Jaken? Why don't we try to catch fish in the stream? I bet I can beat you!”

 

As Rin and Jaken splashed about in the water making grand lunges at the fish, Sesshomaru's brow crinkled the tiniest bit. He closed his eyes against the harsh sun, and the memories flooded through his mind…

 

oOo

 

He awoke, eyes fluttering open briefly before shutting against the blinding sunlight, in the same little hut the woman had led him to that night, feeling like an ogre had bashed his head in with a boulder.

 

Turning over, he suppressed a moan. What had happened last night? He remembered celebrating with his clan over their successful siege, then stumbling around inebriated out of his mind. And then the woman with the jade-black hair appeared, and led him to…

 

“Lord Sesshomaru?” It was the same woman's voice speaking now.

 

He opened his eyes, and bolted upright. The lady with the jade-black hair was gone, and in her place stood a hideous, green toad demon.

 

Sesshomaru's lips pursed sourly. `Servants are such a bother…' he thought. And then he addressed her sharply, “Demon, where is your mistress?”

 

The creature's eyes began welling up with tears. “Lord Sesshomaru… I have no mistress. The woman you knew last night was I.”

 

Sesshomaru's face remained blank.

 

“I saw you wandering about last night, and such a beautiful man I had never seen in all my life. I knew that you would never accept me as I am so, I concocted a potion to change my form...”

 

She was only halfway through her speech when Sesshomaru started considering how best to dispose of her.

 

“But you must know, my lord, before you grow angry with me that I—I am pregnant!”

 

Sesshomaru's eyebrow twitched.

 

“You see, my species knows these things right away and…”

 

Sesshomaru knit his brow and took it all in. This ugly little wretch had tricked him, seduced him in his confused state, and was now carrying his unborn child. What to do?

 

Sesshomaru clenched his jaws and came to his decision. There was only one reasonable course of action. He was nothing if not an honorable lord, and so he must walk the path most honorable in such circumstances…

 

“Lord Sesshomaru, no!” The toad woman flung the sword out of his hands before he could lop off his head.

 

He rested on his knees, too sore to bother trying again. Dammit. There must be some other way to get out of this mess…

 

“I must leave for battle, woman, and I don't know if I will return…”

 

The battle part was true enough. The insinuation that he wouldn't make it out alive, however, was laughable, but this creature didn't know him well enough to realize that.

 

She wrought her hands and wept. “…I understand, Lord Sesshomaru. I will always hold you close in my heart. And if you survive the battle, I pray that you will come back and protect your child…”

 

As he left, Sesshomaru grimaced, and hoped to forget this unfortunate day forever…

 

But that was not to be when one day his travels led him back to the toad demon realm. News of warfare in the region had spread far and wide, but Sesshomaru told himself that he was merely passing through.

 

Sesshomaru walked right into the middle of battle. A monster had caught the toad demon leader in stranglehold. As soon as he saw him, Sesshomaru knew. The demon was the spitting image of her.

 

“Out of my way.” Sesshomaru disposed of the monster with one strike of his claws, and the toad demon fell freely to the ground. Sesshomaru never paused, walking onward, scowling to himself. How dare that pathetic toad share his blood! He was not worthy enough to be the son of the great Lord Sesshomaru. An imp like him was too small, too weak to survive the warring times.

 

`Huh.' Sesshomaru realized the toad demon was following him. The creature groveled at his feet, abandoning his clan and pledging his service to him for inadvertently saving his life. Sesshomaru studied him silently, glad that the fool didn't have the misguided audacity to imply that rescue had been his intention.

 

`This little worm pledging his service to me…?' It was laughable. What possible use could he have for one so weak? Unless…

 

“This is the Staff of Two-Heads,” Sesshomaru handed the heirloom to the toad demon, who called himself Jaken. “You can watch over it for me.”

 

The staff was a formidable weapon, shooting fire on its master's command. The perfect tool for a creature so defenseless.

 

As they walked on, master and servant, Sesshomaru swore never to acknowledge this shameful imp, who had inherited none of his qualities, as his son. But he let the fool follow him just the same, and he still wasn't sure why.

 

oOo

 

The splashing stopped. Sesshomaru opened his eyes. Rin and Jaken had ceased their stupid game and were resting on the riverbank.

 

Rin smiled, staring up at the clouds. “Five fish, Master Jaken! You won. That was amazing!”

 

Jaken had a sneaking suspicion that Rin had let two of her catches escape, but he shrugged it off. “You never really had any chance of beating me.”

 

Rin giggled and chatted away, speaking of light-hearted things, but Jaken heard none of it. He couldn't get his mind off of their conversation from before, and the look Rin had in her eyes when she talked about her parents. “Rin.”

 

“Yes, Master Jaken?”

 

His voice grew soft. “Do you ever miss them…?”

 

Rin smiled gently. She knew exactly who he meant. “Sometimes, but… I have Lord Sesshomaru now, and that makes me happy.”

 

Jaken stared at the clouds. “Yes,” he whispered. “Being with Lord Sesshomaru makes me happy, too.”

 

From underneath the shade of the tree, Sesshomaru's throat tightened. Then he looked at the sky, and realized it was time.

 

“Rin… Jaken… Let's go.”

 

Sesshomaru led them away, Rin following on Aun's back behind him. And Jaken hurried as fast as his short, little limbs, so unlike those of his father's, would carry him, the Staff of Two-Heads grasped firmly against his heart.

 

THE END