Eternal Darkness by Rowzy

Death

Much thanks to Kayelyn for all her help and suggestions. This is my first Inuyasha fic so I hope you guys like it…

Chapter 1: Death

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When Sesshomaru found her, she was already dead.

He had been on his regular Naraku patrol, Rin and Jaken trailing behind with Ah-Un, when he caught the distinctive copper scent of human blood. Normally, he would simply walk on but this case was different. That was because this blood most definitely belonged to Inuyasha’s Miko, and was mixed with the heavy scents of poison and Naraku.

So, out of pure curiosity of course, he found himself wandering towards the scent. When his little group arrived in the clearing, he immediately regretted not telling his ward to wait in the forest. For in the middle of the clearing lay the body of Miko the little girl so admired. What remained of her clothes was in shreds, but most had been melted by the potent poison that was spilled all over the clearing. Large holes were burned into the previous luscious grass where the poison had missed its target, but the effect on its target was even more startling.

Kagome’s skin melted away under the poison’s effect. Red, angry splatters covered her entire body, some the size of a coin, others larger than Sesshomaru’s hand and still growing.  She had died in pain.

“Kagome-sama!” Rin screeched as she took a flying leap off Ah-Uh to race to her friend’s side. Sesshomaru merely looked on as she reached the young woman’s side and began to shake her as if to wake her from a deep slumber. “Kagome-sama!” she cried again, becoming more and more frantic.

“Rin,” Sesshomaru interfered with little more than his normal impassive tones, “you will cease your actions. The Miko is dead.”

Rin did as he said – after all she could never disobey him – and slumped into a heap of crying child, rocking back and forth in an effort to keep herself from breaking even further. It all weighed down on her. She had lost her real mother when she was very young but now as she had just started to allow another mother figure into her life the Kamis decided to take her away her.

Sesshomaru, still watching from a short distance, reached for the old sword at his hip. I am doing this simply because she is needed to defeat Naraku.  I am not being manipulated by a child’s tears, he told himself. But the truth was Sesshomaru loved Rin like she was his child and could not watch the girl suffer when he could so easily rectify the problem. I simply need to swing the sword, kill the underworld creatures then leave; he lied to himself yet again.

From his first cursory glance at the girl’s body he knew if he simply revived her and left she would only last a few minutes. Other than the damage from the poison that continued to spread, the angle her leg laid at told him it was broken, and there was undoubtedly more damage. No, he would be stuck nursing the girl for some time.

Some may have said that it would be courteous to leave the girl dead. She had already suffered, likely for a good amount of time, and if he brought her back she would continue to suffer for weeks… No, he corrected himself; she would likely suffer for the rest of her life. Even if the rest of the injuries healed perfectly – which was unlikely – one relatively small injury was sure to cause her continued plight. For, whoever caused these injuries had dripped a considerable amount of poison over her bright blue eyes. Sesshomaru thanked the gods that her eyelids were closed – although terribly burned by the poison themselves – since he was sure if they weren’t Rin would have been traumatized by the sight. As it was, the other injuries were grotesque burns, similar what is caused by a strong acid, and would surely cause the little girl nightmares for a long time.

Sighing, Sesshomaru considered the best way revive the Miko. Unfortunately, by his best guess, she had already been dead for half a day, which meant that bringing the girl to his castle before reviving her in order to have the best medicine available, was not an option. She would have to be revived soon lest Tenseiga not work properly when he tried, so that meant reviving her close-by. And on the same note, he didn’t dare take the time to begin to treat the poison to stop it from spreading; she would just have to suffer through the treatment once she was alive.

With an authoritative air, he moved forward and swept Kagome into his arms, leaving a startled Rin looking up at him. With not even a glance behind himself, he walked back into the trees, grabbing her surprisingly unharmed bag on the way.

Stopping what he deemed a suitable distance from clearing, he called out to Jaken as he set her down, nestling her between the roots of a tree.

“You will take Rin to the Western Palace, and have Ah-Un return carrying bandages.”

“Of course, Sesshomaru-sama,” rushed the kappa youkai. Soon he joined Rin on the back of the two headed dragon and took off towards the West.

This left the proud diayoukai alone with a very dead, very human woman in the middle of the forest.

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AN: Reviews and suggestions about how to improve my writing are always appreciated.