InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ My Devotion ❯ Eye of the Hurricane ( Chapter 23 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Sometimes I wonder where all my time has gone. But as a promise, no matter how long it takes, I will finish this story!!!

Eye of the Hurricane

When Sesshoumaru reached the palace and walked its halls towards his chambers, he notices his servants' uncharacteristically stand-offish behavior. The guards, perhaps wisely, were nowhere to be found. He had given them specific orders to keep close watch in her when he was gone. They had not, and for that they would be punished severely. His mind flitted back to the moments of a few minutes ago. She was right there, her white kimono stained with blood just like she had been in Besammit's magical mirror. He had been…afraid. Sesshoumaru had been afraid for her, for his child.

He wondered why Rin was so complex, why he couldn't understand her and the secrets she held. If anyone should be able to, it should be him, her mate and it frustrated him that he could not. His thoughts had brought him to his quarters in due time. Sesshoumaru smelled tears from outside the door and opened it to the sight of Rin face down on the bed weeping. He went to her and touched her shoulder.

“Rin…”

She lifted her face from the pillows to look at him despite her shame. “Sesshoumaru…”

He wiped a tear from her cheek and climbed in bed with her, cradling her head in his lap as he ran his fingers through her hair. “What troubles you?”

“Koi, everything is just against us. I don't know what to do.” Sesshoumaru was quiet for a long while. “Sesshoumaru?”

“Until the baby is born, I'll stay here. No one leaves, no one comes in.”

“But that's months off! What about InuYasha and Kagome and everyone else?”

“What about them? If they have a problem helping to keep you safe, they can leave in a wooden box and that's the only way.”

“Oh, Sesshoumaru…”

He picked her up in his arms and exited the room with her. Rin knew she hadn't been very safe like she had promised, but palace life was so…constricting. It didn't fit her nature. She needed to get out, smell wildflowers like she used to as a child. At the same time, she knew that that life wasn't open to her anymore or at least not as long as she was with child. The guard who had brought his Lady to the room was still standing outside the door. He turned to his lord and bowed. “My Lord.”

“Inform my mate's guests that they are all to be present at dinner this evening.” He watched as the guard bowed again, replied with a prompt `yes' and went off in search of them before turning in the opposite direction.

“Where are we going, koi?”

His eyes smiled playfully at her. “To take a bath.” And she smiled back.

The Silkworm Demon Queen's lips were pursed, set in a hard line as she shook with anger from the return of her soldiers. She could tell by the blood all over them that they had suffered defeat, and by the few of them that returned, she could tell that the defeat had been horrible. This was absolutely disgraceful! Unacceptable! A high pitched insectival shriek filled the forest, emitted from her throat. Her troops looked up at her in fear, sensing her anger.

She jumped down from the tree that housed her royal quarters and while most of the soldiers knew well enough to step back and drop to their knees before their irate Queen, a new and too tired recruit did not. She grabbed him by the neck and held him in the air above her head as he tried to push on her arms for enough leverage not to choke to death, the least of his worries. Bystanders found shelter in their houses or those of their neighbors, shutting windows and doors. This was why she was Queen.

“What. Happened?” she hissed through clenched teeth.

“We were…defeated…majesty…”

“I see that!” she bellowed as she shook him. The others quaked in fear. “Why! How! I sent you to kill a human!” she turned to yell at all of them. “Can you pathetic children not even do that?!”

“Ma-majesty!” the young man in her grasp gasped. She turned to him, rage flashing in her eyes, daring him to speak. But he had to say this. “She…she had…protection…and her mate…he…he…” His eyes started to loose focus as he ran out of breath. She dropped him, a shocked look on her face.

“Mariko, follow me.” The soldier in question looked back and forth between his fellow men, praying to Kami she hadn't called him, but the looks he was given in return confirmed it. He stepped out from the ranks and followed his queen to explain everything to her about what had happened in the Western Lands.

“This could have all been avoided if you hadn't had to help your woman, Shippo,” InuYasha pointed an accusing finger at the already regretful Fox Demon in the corner of the room. A slight blush covered Souten's face along with a small smile as the accusation grew into a heated argument.

“Oh, quiet you two. That's enough,” chided Sango. She was used to these stupid fights between them and in Kagome's…absence felt obligated to tend to it. The both of them started pouting like little children.

InuYasha sat on the foot of Kagome's bed with a furrow of concern in his brow as Souten tore the ruined cloth from around Kagome's wounds with her claws. Kagome had been unconscious for quite some time and the wound on her shoulder was a bloody mess. Sango sat beside Souten, giving her clean bandages soaked in an antibacterial solution as needed.

Souten took the bandage Sango held out to her and placed it over Kagome's shoulder. Blood soaked through the cloth bandage and the whole thing was soon crimson. This wasn't normal. The wound wasn't healing like it should have by now. It was bleeding and only the position Kagome was lying in kept it from flowing freely.

“Uh…Sango?”

“Hmm?” She looked up from her work with the medicine and to the wound that the Thunder Demon pointed to.

“It's not closing. It's still bleeding pretty badly.”

“Damn…” Souten was ushered out of the way as Sango moved to put pressure on Kagome's wound with both her hands. InuYasha perked up anxiously.

“What is it?”

“Poison. Silkworm Demons don't have poison in their claws, but they have it in their teeth. She was bitten somehow. The poison makes it so wounds won't close. It needs to be purified quickly.”

Suddenly, a flea was visible jumping up and down on InuYasha's shoulder. “How long have you been there and done nothing, you stupid flea?”

“Well, Lord InuYasha, the point is that I'm here now. And,” he added almost eagerly, rubbing two of his four hands together, “I could help Miss Kagome.” He hopped off of InuYasha's shoulder and over to Kagome. Sango stepped back. She knew if at nothing else, he was good at this. He had saved all of them before by draining a fair amount of their blood and the poison that slowly crept through their veins with it.

Everyone watched in silence as Myoga slowly grew in size, gorging himself on Kagome's blood. Finally, he fell off, his skin taking on a bit of an unhealthy red color. “Ahh…” he sighed.

Everyone let out a breath after Myoga when Kagome seemed to relax and her breathing steadied. Souten looked at the wound and saw the blood no longer streamed in haphazard rivulets down her arm and chest. Of course, the wound was far from being healed, but they were better off than they had been. Souten and Sango went back to bandaging Kagome's wounds under the ever watchful eye of her loyal dog hanyou, InuYasha.

The Queen pounded her clenched fist on the armrest of her throne, creating a dent. “OUT!!!” she screamed at Mariko and he seemed all to eager to go, stumbling to his feet and out the door. So the wench was protected not only by her mate, but by a fox demon, that thunder demon, a hanyou, a priest and a priestess, and a demon slayer. She vaguely wondered how the human came by such company. More to the point, she needed to know how to get rid of them.

That small group had taken out a sizeable amount of her soldiers and the dog demon brothers alone had decimated the rest of them. This was not good. No, worse, this was very bad. Her clan alone could not handle this. A grin slowly crept onto her face. She knew a few others who believed in the old prophecies. She also knew that they'd be willing to do anything to stop the birth of the abomination child. She sat back eased somewhat into her chair. This wouldn't be a problem with more forces and she doubted Lord Sesshoumaru would know what to do then.

There was a hot spring a ways off from the castle, blocked by trees within the Western Lands. It was near to the castle, but nowhere a servant would wander while on duty and it was far from the living quarters of the soldiers and the servants. This spring was the only other piece of paradise the two had kept hidden from all the outside world. It was here that the Lady of the lands soaked, her arms folded under her chin as they held her head and shoulders above the waterline. Her mate sat against one of the trees standing guard, one of his legs bent at the knee with an arm draped over it

Rin sighed inwardly as she noticed the far off look in her lover's eyes. He was thinking about something and intently enough to make him pass up the sight of her naked body submerged in water. She felt shivers crawl through her skin, raising her hair despite the warm temperature of the spring. She really had to lighten the mood that had begun settling between them lately. She jerked her body in pretend fear as if something had brushed her leg and hoped she could make this sound believable.

“Ah! Sesshoumaru! There's something in the water!”

The taiyokai started and began to move towards her before remembering his senses. There was something wrong. The air smelled of nothing but her and steam. His aura felt nothing but her. Then, he noticed her voice, as he played it over in his mind, held all the wrong annunciations. In fact, her voice lilted quite happily, invitingly. By the time he thought to stop, Sesshoumaru had closed the small space between the tree and the hot spring.

Rin wrapped her arms around his legs to trip him into the water. Unfortunately enough for him, Sesshoumaru had once again underestimated the strength that his mate's small figure encapsulated. From the force of her tugging at his legs and his inability to steel himself against it, she pulled him just far enough for is boot to catch on the edge of the spring causing him to loose his balance and topple into the water. Rin giggled at how he even fell gracefully.

When he lifted his head from the water, he was smiling. She had gotten the better of him. No one had ever done that before. Nobody had ever executed an attack to catch him off guard and it was amusing to him how she could, perhaps how she had already done the same to his heart.

“So, koi,” she started, tucking a lock of his silvery blue hair behind his elfin ear as Sesshoumaru pulled his mate to him. “What were you thinking about? Tell me.”

“Earlier today.”

She kissed his nose, a small smile on her face, her most meager attempt at reassurance. “That's in the past now. Everything's okay. It'll be fine. You said so yourself.”

“I was just thinking about it.” Still, his hold on her grew a bit tighter. He knew, sensed that the attack that morning wouldn't be the last. It occurred to him that Rin probably wasn't aware the danger she was in because of what grew in her womb. It was a being the world had never seen before and something that most of the demon world, and no doubt a fair amount of the human world wouldn't accept once they found out. If he was right, which he was hoping so hard that he wasn't, Silkworms were the least, and only the beginning of their problems. “It's getting late. We should get back for our evening meal.”

He dragged himself out of the water and forgetting himself with his mate, shook off like a dog, covering Rin in tiny, diamond colored droplets of water as she put up her hands to guard her face. “Uugh! Sesshoumaru…” She tried to splash him, but he moved too quickly. In an instant, he was lifting her out of the water from behind. He hugged her close to his body for a moment, warming her and running his clawed hand over her growing belly gently. She smiled warmly and put her hand over his. “Mmm…ashiteru Sesshoumaru.”

His lips brushed her temple and his aura whispered her words back to her making her smile. He slipped her kimono back onto her body, tying it closed with an obi, a cloud already gathering at his feet to carry them home.

Souten washed the blood and foul smelling medicine from her hands in a bowl of clean, cool water. "If she gets worse, tell us," She said to InuYasha who hadn't moved from the foot of the bed. He nodded in respone and she put a hand on his shoulder. "You should try to get some rest too. Come to dinner with us."

"I'm not very hungry. Sorry." She nodded in respone and left the room, jumping when she noticed Shippo had been waiting for her outside the door.

"Hey Souten." He smiled like the sly fox he was, reaching for her hand, but she backed away. "What is it?"

"You should have stuck to the plan, Shippo."

"Oh, Souten...I was just looking out for you."

"I've been looking out for myself since i was seven, Shippo. I know how to do it well enough and you know that."

"But--"

"No, Shippo, don't even start, okay? Instead of looking out for me, though honorable, your responsibility was to carry out your end of the plan. Now Kagome is in there badly hurt. And have you even looked at InuYasha? Do you notice the look in his eye?"

He bent his head in shame. "I'm sorry..."

She cupped his cheek and forced him to look her in the eye. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. I'm not the one hurting." She waited for it to register and kissed him briefly on the lips. "Come to dinner when you've made a proper apology." Her crimson eyes flashed, warning him.

He groaned and went into the room to apologize to InuYasha and Kagome. Kagome if she could hear him. For what was supposed to be a short and simple apology, InuYasha lashed out at him at least three times, but each time, Shippo beat back the urge to argue back and held his tongue as his future mate had meant for him to do. When finally the ordeal ended, Shippo exited the room with his shoulders a bit slumped from the onslaught of his pride.

Souten met him at the door and wrapped a comforting arm around his waist. "You did the right thing."

"Yeah...i know..." he groaned, earning a laugh from the woman beside him as they walked to the dining room where everyone sat waiting. The two took empty spaces beside each other at the table. They put their hands together and bowed their heads towards their hosts.

After everyone had finished their meal of various sushi, rice balls, and noodles and had their fill of green tea with ginseng and honey, Rin put her hand on Sesshoumaru's arm, giving him the go-ahead.

When he began to speak, everyone's heads turned to him, listening intently. "First, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for your efforts today in defending my lands. Second, i'm informing you that to continue in these efforts, your stay here is extended until the time of my heir's birth."

The room was hushed for a long while as the subtle order was left to sink in. When the silence was broken, it was Souten to break it, albeit testing Sesshoumaru's patience as she always did. "Seeing as how it was my fault the attack happened in the first place, I'd be happy to extend my stay once again, Lord Sesshoumaru."

Her eyes glinted that playfully challenging smile at the Lord of this domain and the Lady by his side couldn't help but giggle. "Just like old times."

Dear Kami, what had he gotten himself into this time...?

Hope you all liked it. I had the thought in my mind for a long time. The story is winding down for the most part though i should have a sizeable amount of chapters left and to make a lot of you happy, in the chapters to come, i will resolve all of the character relationships.