Chapter 1: To save a soul
After a few moments I am able to pull myself away from her lifeless body only because I know what must be done and that it must be done soon. I lay her back onto the futon and push back some dark hair that had fallen into her eyes. I breath deeply and move toward the door, knowing if I do not move quickly it will be too late. And if I stay one moment longer I will not be able to leave.Steeling myself, I push aside the Shoji door and am assaulted by the strong scent of salt. Tears, a river of endless tears, had been shed on the other side of the door. I need not look to know who it is that has been crying, only one other in my home cared for Rin as I did. I envy him his tears, how I wish I could shed them now. But too much remains undone.
"Let no one touch her." I commanded as I walked by without so much as a passing glance. It is not that I am trying to be unfeeling to him, though I normally am anyways, but I do not have time at this moment to give to him. He understands, I know he does, for he is one of the few that ever have. Rin was the only other.
"Yes Sesshoumaru-sama." I hear Jaken call after me, his voice already being distorted by the wall as he walked into her room. Had this been any other moment I would be angry at him for turning his back before he had finished answering me, but I could not blame him this. Already, even as I continue to move away, I can hear his tears starting anew as he kneels down beside her futon.
As I walk further down the halls, I have but one destination in mind. I wish I could say it was to my personal quarters to retrieve my father's fang that gives life, but I already know it would not work. The fang only revives a person once and it has already been used on Rin before. Again I curse my father for leaving my a useless sword.
Though truthfully if I could go back in time, I would not change which sword I received since without the fang, Rin would have never been with me for as long as she had been. No my destination is not for the fang. No I am heading further into my castle where my family's heirlooms lie. I have not been in this room for many years as I had yet a reason.
Now I can not get there soon enough. The halls pass by, one after another, in a blur. I know not if I am just walking too fast to see them or just not looking. In the end it doesn't matter. What matters is that I am here and that I find what I came for. I wish that I had thought of this sooner, I would have had Jaken looking for it.
Many years ago, when I was but a pup, I remember my father showing me a treasure that was passed down from even his great, great grandfather. It has never been used before as it only works with humans and no one before me has had the need. Father died before the half-breed's mother did or he might have used it on her.
I can hear one of the servants heading toward the room, no doubt alerted to my presence here by the sounds of large objects being thrown against the wall. Why was there so much junk in this place? Why is there no order? Good the servant is here, they can clean it up when I am done and put some order to the place.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" her tepid voice calls out behind me. Already I can smell the fear emanating from her scent. I breath in deeply to discover who she is without having to turn to her. She is a wolf demon. Mated to one of my guards. Underlying it all she smells of roses. Ah yes I remember who she is now. She is in charge of keeping this room clean.
"Where is it?" I demanded as I continued to toss items behind me and out of my way. "Where is the Soul Crystal?" I can hear her intake of breath but pay it no mind as I continue rummaging through the worthless artifacts. Within the silence I can almost hear her about to question me, but she seemed to think better of it as she came into the room and walked around me.
I stop what I am doing to glance over at the wolf demon as she heads toward the back of the room and reaches up to one of the top shelves to pull down a miniature chest. Faintly I can still smell my father's scent embedded into the wood along with my own. Other than this demon's scent, there are no other new scents.
The chest has not been touched other than to clean since my father showed it to me centuries ago. "It is here Sesshoumaru-sama." she told me as she turned back to face me and held out the chest for me to take. I reached out for it and slowly lifted up the lid once it was in my grasp. Inside on a bed of red velvet laid the Soul Crystal.
It is about the size of my palm and translucent. A seemingly ordinary looking crystal. Any who did not know what it truly was would think it useless. Had the events of the day not happened, I would be inclined to agree. But it matters not now. Now the gem is priceless to me. Closing the lid, I turned and headed back out of the room, holding the chest tightly.
Once again the halls passed me by while I remained unaware of them. And soon enough I am once again standing outside the door to Rin's room. Inside I could hear Jaken's whispered sobs telling Rin he was going to miss her smiles and crowns of flowers the most. I found myself for once agreeing with the small toad. I pray to any Kami listening that this works.
Pushing aside the Shoji door, I walked back into the room and my nose is assaulted by the scent of salt and death. Jaken glanced up at me, mouth hung open as though he was about to chastise me about entering Rin's room but refrained when he realized it was me. He bowed to me then, and not his normal sniveling on the ground bow, merely a slight decline of his head.
This too I will not fault him for, at least not now. I truly am not the heartless bastard everyone believes me to be, I just let them think that since it is easier to control those that are scared. "Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken whispers hoarsely and I believe I now know where the saying 'a frog in their throat' came from. Giving him a slight nod, I move toward the bed.
"Close the door. Speak not a word of this." I warned as I turned from him to kneel beside Rin's futon. I could hear him scurry to the other side of the room to close the door before quickly coming back to my side. Setting the chest down on the futon next to her, I opened the lid once again and this time I removed the gem and held it, point down, against her forehead.
Almost instantaneously I could feel the pulse of the gem and watched as a pink light began to fill it, turning the once clear gem into a solid pink color. I heard Jaken gasp from my side but paid him no mind as I continue to watch as the gem filled. In mere moments it was finished. I had imprisoned Rin's soul within the gem.
I wish I could call it something nicer or at least say I was doing it for her own good. But that was exactly what I was doing and it was for selfish reasons. As long as her soul remained encased within the crystal she could not move on. Could not be reincarnated or reunited with her human family. I didn't do it for her benefit, I merely did it because I can not live without her.
While I lose Rin no matter what I do, this way I don't have to take a chance on finding her once she's reincarnated. This way I don't have to wait. I know this is a fool's plan and that I am doing it for all the wrong reasons, but faced with the alternative I just can not find the strength to care. I will get my daughter back, even if I have to start over from scratch.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken questions again from my side and I can tell from his tone alone that he is unaware of what I had just done. Had I been unsure, his scent of confusion would clear that up. I wonder briefly if I should even bother telling him what it was that I did, but for the first time in his long service to me, I find myself believing that he has earned the right to know.
"This Sesshoumaru has trapped Rin's soul with in the Soul Crystal until it can be placed within another body." I told him as I put the gem back into the chest and hid it within my haori. I knew of no safer place for it than on my person and I would take no chances of losing her now. Not when this was truly my only chance of having Rin back.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, do you know of where to find a body for Rin?" Jaken wondered after he had remained silent for a few moments. I was surprised he was even capable of remaining quiet for that long. I of course already knew where and how to get the body for Rin's soul, but was not about to tell him this, at least right now.
"Yes." I replied to him as I turned back to Rin. "Send in Rin's servant and get some servants to ready a plot for her to be buried." I instructed as I reached down and wrapped my large hand around one of her smaller ones. Behind me I can hear Jaken sniffle a 'yes Sesshoumaru-sama' before opening the Shoji door and heading out into the hall.
A few minutes later Rin's servant arrived in the room and either Jaken told her what she would be needed for or she had been able to figure it out on her own since when she entered the room I could easily smell the soapy water she carried. Giving Rin's hand one last squeeze, I stood and turned around to face the human behind me.
Other than Rin, she had been the only other human to live within my castle in the entire time I have been lord and I had only hired her since I didn't trust the demons not to try and kill Rin thinking her a weakness for me. "Clean her for burial, this Sesshoumaru will find appropriate garments." I told her as I moved to the other side of the room for Rin's wardrobe.
Again I can smell the salt in the air as I begin to search through Rin's kimonos for the right one. Perhaps I was wrong and it wasn't just Jaken and I that cared for her. Glancing over at her I find her trying to hold back her tears as she busies herself with cleaning the tear and blood trails off of Rin's pale face.
Turning my attention back to the wardrobe, I find the kimono I had been searching for. It was a pale blue, white obi multi-layered kimono with a deep blue crescent moon adorning the back. Along with silver paw prints that ran down the fanned sleeves. Made of pure silk, it was fit for a princess, and that it just what she was.
The kimono also signified something else, that she was a daughter in the House of the Moon. She was my daughter. And even though I didn't truly believed that she would outlive me, she was my heir. This is what caused the trouble in the first place. Just a mere week ago I had named her as heir in front of my court. Just another reason her death is my fault.
"Sesshoumaru-sama? She is ready. Would you like me to get her dressed?" the servant inquired drawing my attention back to the present and away from the thoughts of torture I would unleash upon the one responsible as soon as I found out who it was. Giving her a slight nod, I held out the kimono and turned my back so she may dress Rin.
"I'm finish Sesshoumaru-sama. When would you like me to leave?" she questioned as I turned back around once again and glance over at Rin, noting with pride how well she looked dressed in my colors. It was then that I realized she had asked me a question. Ah I understand, with out Rin here she has no reason to be employed by me.
"A week." I decided after a moment, she bowed and left the room, leaving me once again alone with Rin. I knew it would seem odd for me to give her an entire week to get herself ready when it is lucky to get more than five minutes, but I couldn't find it in me to care at the moment. It wasn't like she had messed up, there was just no job when there was no Rin.
I remember Rin liked her, perhaps that is why I gave her so much time. Perhaps I should bring her back when my plan succeeds and I have no doubt that it will. For once my confidence in not in me being able to do anything, but that I knew I wouldn't be turned down. Jaken reentering the room brought me once again back to the present.
"The servants should be done within the hour Sesshoumaru-sama. Should I send for any other that you wish to be there?" Jaken inquired after he had bowed to me, but his eyes were trained on Rin's body. I knew of a few in my half-brother's group that might have wished to be there, but they would not make it in time and I had no time to push things back.
"No. Get the castle artist in here. This Sesshoumaru would like a painting of Rin in his colors. Remind him that she should be smiling this time." I instructed as I turned and walked out of the room. The last time I had a painting done of her, he had painted her with a serious expression that had looked foreign on Rin's normally cheerful face.