InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To Love A Beast ❯ Thunderstorms ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two

 

the stuff in italics has nothing to do with Sesshomaru and Rin, in case you were wondering. And they go in succession so this is continuing from the bit in chapter one.

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He found a human girl, lost in the forest that surrounded his mansion. He called out to her, not even thinking of the consequences. The human was frightened, however she did not run away. She knew that she had to make sure that this monster was not dangerous to her village. The demon said that he would tell her how to get out of the forest, if she only but did him one favor. He asked her this question, hoping she wouldn't refuse,

(A/N: And you'll find out what the question is later. Ooh! Scary cliffhanger!)

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Rin awoke to the feeling of something warm running over her stomach. Her eyes fluttered open slowly and the odd sensation stopped. She heard the faint sound of rustling fabric and she shivered slightly. There were goose bumps running up and down her skin. She was freezing, and she seemed to be sopping wet.

 

She was slightly confused.

 

Last time she remembered, she had passed out on the forest floor. Now, she was sitting on a couch, in some sort of building, she assumed. Her hair was dripping a steady stream of water onto the sofa's pillows. She sat up, looking around at the place she was now. It looked like a large living room. Her small form was lying on a comfortable sofa draped in soft fabrics colored red. The carpet was a pure white color, with a few small drops of crimson right beside the couch. She placed her hand on her stomach.

 

That must have been the blood from her wound...

 

Her hand ran over the area, feeling for the marks.

 

She could find nothing.

 

She gasped in surprise, looking down at where the scratches should have been. There was nothing there. Her shirt, however, was bunched up to just underneath her bra. She pulled it down quickly with a little difficulty, looking for who was responsible. The man from the forest was standing beside the couch, with what she guessed was mild amusement in his eyes. He was wet as well, his silver hair plastered to his forehead.

 

“H-How... did you...? Did you do this? How?” She asked him, slightly in awe. This demon had healed her...

 

Weren't they supposed to be evil or something?

 

“How I healed your wounds is nothing you should be concerned with.” He spoke in the same cold tone, his voice a smooth stream of sounds. He wasn't looking at her as he spoke.

 

She looked around the room once more, a little suspicious of his answer. “W-Where are we?”

 

The room itself was huge. The double doors that most likely led to another room were lavishly decorated with beautiful symbols and designs.

 

“This is my home. I brought you here to make sure your injury could be taken care of.” He informed her, still standing. She crinkled her brow.

 

“But why? I don't even know who you are...” Her sentence trailed off and she looked at him curiously. “Say, what's your name anyway?”

 

His left eyebrow rose slightly as he studied her. “My name,” He started, almost seeming unsure of whether he should continue. Which was odd, seeing as this man didn't seem to ever be unsure of anything. “Is Sesshomaru. You, human, may call me Lord Sesshomaru.”

 

Rin mulled his name over in her head while small rivulets of water ran down from her hair, running over her face. “Why are we drenched?” She asked him, moving the wet hair out of her line of vision.

 

“It began raining shortly after I started carrying you to my castle.” He informed her brushing a wet strand of hair off of his face.

 

“Ah. Must have been raining pretty hard.” She mumbled to herself. Then, she stood, shaking what she could of the rain out of her hair. “Well thank you... Lord Sesshomaru, but I think I'll be on my way now. I have to find Kohaku... er, the guy I was with.” She began to walk towards what she figured was the door, but was stopped when Sesshomaru placed himself between her and her destination.

 

“I cannot allow you to do that. If you wander in the woods alone again, you will most likely be attacked by the lingering wolves.”

 

Rin backed away from him slightly, unsure whether he was being hostile or not. Sesshomaru continued, ignoring her retreat.

 

“ Your friend woke as I was leaving with you. He ran off before I could explain the circumstances.”

 

Rin groaned, placing a hand on her forehead in exasperation. “Oh god... he's probably thinks that you were planning on eating me or something...” She muttered, closing her eyes. “Lord Sesshomaru I have to get home.” Suddenly she thought of something and placed her eyes on his form suspiciously. “Your... your not planning on... on keeping me here, are you?”

 

He raised one eyebrow slightly -that seemed to be a quirk of his- before answering. “I assure you that I would gain nothing in keeping you here with me. However, I must implore you to stay this night. You may leave in the morning if you wish. I will accompany you to the end of the forest.”

 

“But Sessho- er- Lord Sesshomaru!” Rin begged, almost whining. “Can't you `accompany' me now?”

 

He held back a scoff, his amber eyes focusing on her intently. “I do not like the rain. I would rather not go out in that storm again.” Sesshomaru paused for a moment before adding, “I will not force you to stay. If you wish, leave now. However I cannot guarantee your safety.”

 

Rin frowned, looking at the floor. If she did leave now, she would most likely be killed. But if she stayed here...

 

How could she know for sure if this man could be trusted?

 

“Personally I do not care what you do. But please make your decision quickly so that I can get out of these wet clothes.”

 

Rin looked up at the demon, blushing faintly. He looked slightly annoyed, still waiting for her choice.

 

“Er... thank you for your hospitality. I'd like to stay here for the night, thank you.” She said quickly, smiling brightly. Most times if you were friendly to people they showed a little friendliness themselves.

 

“As you wish. I will show you where you will be staying.”

 

Sesshomaru walked off, expecting her to follow. Rin stared at his back, dumbfounded. Was this guy ever happy? She saw his silver hair disappear around the corner, and blanched, running to catch up.

 

It turned out that his `home' was bigger than she had originally imagined. It was gigantic, standing three stories up. The foyer was huge with an enormous crystalline chandelier dangling over everything. There were two staircases decorated with lavish golden carpets and Rin followed Sesshomaru up the left one, watching him as he walked. The way it seemed... he lived here all by himself.

 

This had to be the mansion behind the forest.

 

And if that was true then...

 

He had to be the monster rumored to live in the mansion.

 

She cocked her head to the side, deep in thought. He didn't seem like... a monster. Sure, he was scary and had some odd features, but really, those were his only differences.

 

She stuck her tongue out in concentration. `But maybe there's more...' She thought to herself. `Maybe he has some sort of amazing super powers!'

 

She looked to the left as they reached the top of the stairs, beginning to walk down a long corridor. Paintings adorned the walls, all of them portraits of people.

 

Before she had time to study any of them, Sesshomaru stopped, causing her to run into his unmoving form because she wasn't paying attention. She fell, wincing slightly. He turned around, quirking his eyebrow in question.

 

“Um... sorry...” She said, smiling sheepishly.

 

He opened the door he was standing in front of, before standing aside to allow her to enter. Rin took the hint, walking through the door way and looking around.

 

The room was huge. The walls were painted black and gold and there was a large window overlooking the forest on the wall by the bed. Rin stared around in awe, her eyebrows lifting up slightly. “This is beautiful...” She whispered, unsure of what to do.

 

“Am... am I supposed to sleep here?”

 

Sesshomaru looked over at her, his expression stoic. “Is this not to your liking?”

 

“No no! I mean, yes! I mean, it's a wonderful room! I just didn't think I'd be staying somewhere so... big.” She explained, looking around again.

 

“I see.” He stated. Then Sesshomaru began to walk out the door, leaving her to her own devices. “The bathroom is through that door across from the bed. Feel free to wear anything in the drawers.” He told her without looking back.

 

Then he disappeared from sight. Rin looked at where he had just been standing, then back to the bathroom door.

 

“This is... weird.” She mumbled to herself, before walking over and closing the door quickly. She was more than a little suspicious.

 

This dude, who she didn't even know, was allowing her to stay in his mansion for a night, and he didn't want anything in return? She shook her head as she walked to the bathroom. But what could a rich guy living in the middle of a forest want? Besides the obvious. He seemed... friendly. Sort of. In his own way.

 

`Actually he was kind of scary.' She mused to herself.

 

The bathroom was large as well, and as she turned the nozzle on the tub to hot, she found that she couldn't wait to hop in.

 

“That Sesshomaru guy seems alright...” Rin spoke aloud, testing the water with her hand. “Even if he is a little... odd.”

 

As soon as the temperature was to her liking, she stripped down quickly and literally jumped into the water, splashing it all over the floor. She sighed in contentment, closing her eyes and beginning to relax.

 

That was when the thunder started.

 

She frowned, glancing out the bathroom door -which she had left open- where she could see clearly out of the large window. The wind appeared to be blowing harder now and the rain was hitting the pane in metronome-like drops, one after the other in succession. She sighed, sinking even lower into the water. She'd never be able to sleep tonight. No matter how fluffy the bed was. After soaking for a couple of minutes, she grabbed the soap from the side of the tub and scrubbed herself, making sure that she was clean. Then, she had a thought.

 

`What if...' She said to herself in her head, ceasing her cleansing for a moment. `What if he's... watching me. Right now.'

 

She began to scrub faster.

 

After rinsing, she jumped out, wrapping a towel around her slim figure and grabbing another one for her hair. She walked cautiously into the room, making sure she was alone before sitting down on the bed and attempting to towel off her hair. She looked over at the dresser by the window.

 

Sesshomaru had said that she could wear anything but... would that be rude?

 

She decided to just take a quick peek inside the drawers, keeping the towel around her body. Tentatively she worked her way over to the dresser, still not quite sure that she should be imposing like this. She kneeled down and slid open the bottom drawer carefully. Her eyes widened slightly. Everything in here looked so... delicate. There were long gowns, and beautiful dresses... all looked like they were fit for a princess. These were obviously not Sesshomaru's.

 

She paused for a minute to imagine him in a dress, his eyes looking at it with great distaste. She chuckled slightly to herself before resuming her train of thought.

 

Where they his wife's? A sister? An extremely feminine brother? She shook her head, placing everything back in the drawers. Whoever they belonged to, they looked much too... well... expensive. She didn't want to get the dresses dirty or something... and she probably wouldn't look good in any of the clothes anyway.

 

But her jeans and t-shirt were completely soaked...

 

She bit her lip, before weakening and pulling the plainest thing she could find out of the drawers. It was a long nightgown, made of black silk. Smiling to herself, she looked out the window when a loud noise reached her ears before groaning. It was still thundering. She had forgotten all about the storm. Sighing she stared at the bed she was to be sleeping in. It was a king size, the comforter golden strips of silk over black. She grinned, taking a running start before throwing herself on the bed, sighing as she sunk into the covers slightly. She could hear the thunder cracking behind her.

 

Rin sat up, an idea popping into her head. She looked around, before smiling devilishly. Since Lord Sesshomaru was so kind as to give her this lovely room, why not reap the benefits. Surely, the lord wouldn't mind if she had a little fun...

 

With the same devious smile on her face, she stood on the bed, testing the bounce.

 

It was perfect.

 

Grinning once more she took a practice jump, before leaping and bouncing off of the wonderfully springy bed, going higher with each bound. She giggled, before beginning to laugh loudly, ignoring the cracks of thunder in the distance. Suddenly she lost her footing and she screamed, before falling to the floor, laughing the whole way.

 

She was definitely slap happy. She was on the floor for not more than a few seconds before the door was opened and Sesshomaru stood in the doorway, his long silver hair thrown carelessly over one shoulder.

 

“Why did you scream?”

 

Rin blinked twice before giggling and standing up, brushing imaginary dust off of the gown she was wearing.

 

“I was just er... jumping on the bed and I fell...”

 

Sesshomaru looked at her with an incredulous look in his eyes, tinted with curiosity. Rin wasn't sure what to do. She hadn't expected to see him in here again...

 

“Er... would you like to join me?”

 

That question sounded stupid even to her. He really didn't seem like the type of person who jumped on the bed... he made a noise in the back of his throat before shaking his head.

 

“No thank you.” He told her, beginning to walk back out of the doorway. “Carry on.” He left, closing the door behind him. Rin sat on the bed dumbfounded, blushing slightly.

 

Perhaps jumping on the bed wasn't such a good idea after all.

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Foxgirl: I know what you're thinking... did that last part have a point? In addition, the answer is yes! ... Maybe. I don't know. I haven't decided yet... sorry about how... well... boring, this chapter was. It was more of a filler chapter than anything, I think, but any who, hope you enjoyed and...