Ties [KagSess] ["Endings" challenge]
Title :: Ties
Prompt :: "Endings" [inuyasha_fanfic]
Pairing :: Kagura/Sesshoumaru
Rating :: PG
Wordcount :: 1,058
Summary :: Rin didn’t mind that she lacked a proper family.
[Spoilers for 374.]
Rin didn’t mind that she lacked a proper family.
If she had cheerfully given up her humanity in order to travel with Sesshoumaru-sama, fretting over such a human concept would be nothing less than silly. Besides, she had slowly come to realise that biological family or not, she was developing a close enough approximation to it, and so she was perfectly content.
Human fathers, she remembered, were supposed to protect their daughters, to guard them from everything they possibly could. And what mortal father could have rescued her from death? What mortal father could possibly be as strong, or as brave, or as fearless as her Sesshoumaru-sama?
After meeting him, after dedicating her life to following him, how could she ever feel safe with only a lesser being to stand watch over her?
Sesshoumaru-sama was all the father-figure she needed, and more. There were never even any thoughts of complaint.
And if she had someone to serve as her mother…Rin thought that she would want the woman to be someone strong, someone beautiful, someone fierce. Someone Rin could respect and admire, just as she did Sesshoumaru-sama.
Someone who she could aspire to be.
And then there was Kagura.
The woman was everything Rin could have hoped or asked for in a mother-figure. She was powerful and sharply intelligent, and so pretty that Rin couldn’t look at her without thinking, I hope I grow up to look like that one day.
But even more importantly, Kagura obviously respected Sesshoumaru-sama for his strength, yet was independent enough to still have faith in her own.
Rin admired her for that.
She had a feeling that secretly, Sesshoumaru-sama did too.
If he ever did take a mate, Rin mused, it would have to be a person like that - someone respectful enough to stand at his side, but yet still strong enough to stand unaided herself. She didn’t think that he would settle for anything less.
She didn’t think that he would ever even think of settling at all.
And she knew that no one else could fulfill those requirements as well as Kagura.
So she held the woman in her heart and waited for her lord to do the same.
That was what allowed her to notice things before anyone else, perhaps even before Kagura and Sesshoumaru-sama themselves.
Kagura was drawn to him. Moreso than necessity and circumstance dictated.
And he permitted it.
Never verbally, of course; such displays were indicative of emotion, of human emotion, and therefore far beneath him.
But Rin knew that if he wished to do so, he would simply strike Kagura dead. She would make a worthy adversary and so he would not merely sully himself with her blood, but yet he could still easily defeat her. Furthermore, destroying her would be a blow to the offensive Naraku.
And Sesshoumaru-sama still allowed her to live, still allowed her to approach him, still allowed her to be near to him.
Rin might be young, but she was not a fool, and she knew her lord well enough to understand the implications.
If she had ever heard the phrase “woman’s intuition,” Rin would also have understood her quiet certainty that a family was forming, a family that she could be a part of.
Finally.
But as it was, she didn’t need to understand anything else in order to catch on.
Kagura was everything she could want in a mother. She was everything Rin wanted to be herself. And like Rin, Kagura was clearly coming to realise the value of standing at Sesshoumaru-sama’s side.
Also like Rin, she thought that Sesshoumaru-sama would let Kagura stand there as well.
And Rin was ecstatic.
For all of their sakes.
Time passed, and she watched, and her excitement only grew.
“It isn’t like that,” isn’t quite the same as “No, I do not love him,” after all.
Rin knew that Kagura was not afraid to speak her mind, not even to Sesshoumaru-sama. If she had the bravery to do that, she could certainly say exactly what she meant to Rin.
And so if she had skirted the question…
Rin smiled.
And when Sesshoumaru-sama disappeared not long after, Rin beamed. She knew, she knew that he was going to meet with Kagura; she was certain of it.
Maybe this time, when he came back, he would not be alone.
She waited, and she waited, and she tried her very best not to fidget and hug Jaken-sama in her glee. She debated telling him, clueing him into what she anticipated, just so she would not be alone in her excitement. But then she thought of just how funny the look of shock on his face would be, and so she kept her mouth shut and pretended not to hear when he asked her why she was skipping.
(But she whispered her secret to Ah and Un before flouncing away.)
When Sesshoumaru strode back to them, the skipping ground to a sudden halt.
Rin had been at his side for far too long, had been attentive for far too long, to not realise instantly when something was amiss. His stance was as straight and fearsome as always, but something was…off. Naggingly so, like an itch she couldn’t quite scratch, or like a wound she couldn’t reach to bandage.
“Sesshoumaru…sama? Did you see Kagura?”
“That woman is dead,” Sesshoumaru bit out in his usual short manner, but there was the briefest of pauses before his words; and though his expression remained coldly still, something in his eyes flickered…
And Rin gasped both in horror and sudden certainty -
She had been right after all.
Not that it mattered any now.
That night, she did not sleep at all.
She didn’t want to dream. She didn’t want to see Kagura inside of her mind’s eye.
She wanted only to remember her as she had seen her last: Proud, and strong, and whole, and close to Sesshoumaru-sama.
Rin tried her best to stay quiet, biting down on her lower as to to not trouble him with her own emotions, but he could still smell the salt of her tears.
He did not tell her to stop.
And for days and days afterward, if she felt a breeze begin to wrap around her, the tears would threaten once again.
“No, I’m not sad, Sesshoumaru-sama. It’s only the wind stinging my eyes.”
Prompt :: "Endings" [inuyasha_fanfic]
Pairing :: Kagura/Sesshoumaru
Rating :: PG
Wordcount :: 1,058
Summary :: Rin didn’t mind that she lacked a proper family.
[Spoilers for 374.]
Rin didn’t mind that she lacked a proper family.
If she had cheerfully given up her humanity in order to travel with Sesshoumaru-sama, fretting over such a human concept would be nothing less than silly. Besides, she had slowly come to realise that biological family or not, she was developing a close enough approximation to it, and so she was perfectly content.
Human fathers, she remembered, were supposed to protect their daughters, to guard them from everything they possibly could. And what mortal father could have rescued her from death? What mortal father could possibly be as strong, or as brave, or as fearless as her Sesshoumaru-sama?
After meeting him, after dedicating her life to following him, how could she ever feel safe with only a lesser being to stand watch over her?
Sesshoumaru-sama was all the father-figure she needed, and more. There were never even any thoughts of complaint.
And if she had someone to serve as her mother…Rin thought that she would want the woman to be someone strong, someone beautiful, someone fierce. Someone Rin could respect and admire, just as she did Sesshoumaru-sama.
Someone who she could aspire to be.
And then there was Kagura.
The woman was everything Rin could have hoped or asked for in a mother-figure. She was powerful and sharply intelligent, and so pretty that Rin couldn’t look at her without thinking, I hope I grow up to look like that one day.
But even more importantly, Kagura obviously respected Sesshoumaru-sama for his strength, yet was independent enough to still have faith in her own.
Rin admired her for that.
She had a feeling that secretly, Sesshoumaru-sama did too.
If he ever did take a mate, Rin mused, it would have to be a person like that - someone respectful enough to stand at his side, but yet still strong enough to stand unaided herself. She didn’t think that he would settle for anything less.
She didn’t think that he would ever even think of settling at all.
And she knew that no one else could fulfill those requirements as well as Kagura.
So she held the woman in her heart and waited for her lord to do the same.
That was what allowed her to notice things before anyone else, perhaps even before Kagura and Sesshoumaru-sama themselves.
Kagura was drawn to him. Moreso than necessity and circumstance dictated.
And he permitted it.
Never verbally, of course; such displays were indicative of emotion, of human emotion, and therefore far beneath him.
But Rin knew that if he wished to do so, he would simply strike Kagura dead. She would make a worthy adversary and so he would not merely sully himself with her blood, but yet he could still easily defeat her. Furthermore, destroying her would be a blow to the offensive Naraku.
And Sesshoumaru-sama still allowed her to live, still allowed her to approach him, still allowed her to be near to him.
Rin might be young, but she was not a fool, and she knew her lord well enough to understand the implications.
If she had ever heard the phrase “woman’s intuition,” Rin would also have understood her quiet certainty that a family was forming, a family that she could be a part of.
Finally.
But as it was, she didn’t need to understand anything else in order to catch on.
Kagura was everything she could want in a mother. She was everything Rin wanted to be herself. And like Rin, Kagura was clearly coming to realise the value of standing at Sesshoumaru-sama’s side.
Also like Rin, she thought that Sesshoumaru-sama would let Kagura stand there as well.
And Rin was ecstatic.
For all of their sakes.
Time passed, and she watched, and her excitement only grew.
“It isn’t like that,” isn’t quite the same as “No, I do not love him,” after all.
Rin knew that Kagura was not afraid to speak her mind, not even to Sesshoumaru-sama. If she had the bravery to do that, she could certainly say exactly what she meant to Rin.
And so if she had skirted the question…
Rin smiled.
And when Sesshoumaru-sama disappeared not long after, Rin beamed. She knew, she knew that he was going to meet with Kagura; she was certain of it.
Maybe this time, when he came back, he would not be alone.
She waited, and she waited, and she tried her very best not to fidget and hug Jaken-sama in her glee. She debated telling him, clueing him into what she anticipated, just so she would not be alone in her excitement. But then she thought of just how funny the look of shock on his face would be, and so she kept her mouth shut and pretended not to hear when he asked her why she was skipping.
(But she whispered her secret to Ah and Un before flouncing away.)
When Sesshoumaru strode back to them, the skipping ground to a sudden halt.
Rin had been at his side for far too long, had been attentive for far too long, to not realise instantly when something was amiss. His stance was as straight and fearsome as always, but something was…off. Naggingly so, like an itch she couldn’t quite scratch, or like a wound she couldn’t reach to bandage.
“Sesshoumaru…sama? Did you see Kagura?”
“That woman is dead,” Sesshoumaru bit out in his usual short manner, but there was the briefest of pauses before his words; and though his expression remained coldly still, something in his eyes flickered…
And Rin gasped both in horror and sudden certainty -
She had been right after all.
Not that it mattered any now.
That night, she did not sleep at all.
She didn’t want to dream. She didn’t want to see Kagura inside of her mind’s eye.
She wanted only to remember her as she had seen her last: Proud, and strong, and whole, and close to Sesshoumaru-sama.
Rin tried her best to stay quiet, biting down on her lower as to to not trouble him with her own emotions, but he could still smell the salt of her tears.
He did not tell her to stop.
And for days and days afterward, if she felt a breeze begin to wrap around her, the tears would threaten once again.
“No, I’m not sad, Sesshoumaru-sama. It’s only the wind stinging my eyes.”