Fate's Desire [Sesshomaru x Rin]

IV: Truth

"What happened?"

Their words after that seemed to flow by in slow motion as my eyes stayed glued on the blood on my hands, the blood of the dead man before me.

I felt my body trembling silently, my hands shaking as his blood continued to pour out even though he was long gone.

The sound of my name rung in my ears as I managed to peel my eyes from my hands, looking into Granny Kaede's worried eyes.

I felt hands on my arms as the person pulled me carefully away from the man. He pulled me up into his arms, carrying me away from the scene.

I would have liked to think that it was Lord Sesshomaru who was taking me away, but I knew better. 

Inuyasha took me to the sacred tree, setting me down gently in front of it. He left for a moment, only to come back with a bucket of water. I didn't say a word as I felt my hands still shaking as I let Inuyasha wash the blood off my hands, my arms, my face.

"Whenever I'm upset, I always come here." Inuyasha said after he had cleaned as much blood as he could off me. When I didn't say anything and kept staring forward, he continued.

"This tree.. there's a reason it's survived all these years. As much pain this tree brought me, it's brought me more peace than I could imagine. It introduced me to my wife. It brought me back to her multiple times. It's shown me the truth more times than I can count."

I still didn't say anything, the tears still quietly rolling down my cheeks.

Inuyasha brought his hand up to my cheek, wiping away my tears.

"I know you're scared. Confused, even. But you'll be okay. You always have been. We'll always look after you."

I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a pained cry.

And before I knew it, I sobbed. Sobbed into Inuyasha's arms.

He just let me cry for minutes as he held me close, patting my back. 

"He died. And I could have done something about it." I choked out, my head against Inuyasha's chest.

"No. He was going to die anyway." Inuyasha said blatantly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, pulling away and looking up at him.

"I felt a dark presence appear only for a second. It was gone as quick as it came."

"That's what killed him then?"

"Yes. Even if I was there when it happened, it would have been too fast for me to stop."

I shot up on my feet, about to walk off before Inuyasha grabbed my wrist.

"Let go."

"Where do you think you're going?"

I sniffled, wiping away my remaining tears. "I'm going to find the thing that killed this man."

"And then what?"

I clenched my teeth. "I'll figure it out."

I tried to pull my wrist away but Inuyasha's grip only tightened.

"You're being careless, Rin." He warned me.

"Me? Careless? What about you?!" I snapped, yanking my wrist from his death grip.

"You can't save everyone."

"No. But I can save the next target."

"By what? Going in and getting yourself killed by trying to find this man's killer? You didn't even know the guy!" He snapped.