Fallen by Dawn

Part One

Fallen by Dawn

"Just as he acts, just as he behaves, so he becomes..."

-- Hindu scripture

Prologue

Burning. His body was set a fire. He tried to ignore the hard feelings, but they were ever constant. The burning never eased, but they never intensified. His breathing was barely coming, and his eyes were so heavy that he did not have the strength to keep them open. It hurt. Terribly.

Lord Sesshomaru was losing. Horribly. The battle had gone so far in the witch's favor that there was no possible way for him to win. His only objective was to survive. Her fire spells were taking their toll on him, and his defenses were weakening.

No matter how great his pain was it was no match for his injured pride. He was losing to a human, and worse yet, a woman! Had he really sunk so low, as to be beaten at the only thing he knew? How had this happened?

While trying to duck and dodge the witch's attacks, Sesshomaru recalls how he had gotten into this catastrophe...

~*~*~*~

"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru! Must we take her with us! She only gets in the way, Milord. I cannot serve as you deserve to be served, if I must keep watch over this insolent child!" Lord Sesshomaru's trusted servant, Jaken, had been steadily complaining to his lord about the unfairness of having to take care of his lord's human, Rin.

The Demon Lord uncaringly glanced toward his lackey, with mild interest. "If you do not feel that you can handle the position of being my personal servant, with all its requirements, then perhaps, I should find a replacement?" His voice was calm and detached, and it scared the toad youkai to the core.

"NO! Milord, I was just jesting! I shall take good care of the girl." Jaken immediately shouted.

"Good, but if anything should happen to Rin, I will have your head. And, I will not restore you with the tensiega." His dangerous yellow eyes cut through his servant, and there was no sign of mercy in his voice. "Am I understood?"

"Y-Yes milord." Jaken mumbled.

"You are excused, Jaken. Prepare Rin for the journey." Lord Sesshomaru said with a wave of his hand. Jaken scurried from the expansive study that belonged to his master.

The door to his study shut softly, but the echo was loud and pained Sesshomaru's ears. He sat in the soft silence for the longest time, and felt as if he were the silence. The gentle stillness that should belong to all walks of life. There is no greater joy, than the silence that settles over a once crowded room. The way it had the capacity to take over the entire world, the power it held over everything; it was what Sesshomaru was constantly looking for. He needed the silence. He needed the peace.

Pitter Patter! Pitter Patter.

Softly the sounds came, but as they approached, the louder they grew.

Broken.

It was gone. That bitter sound that wasn't a sound at all had died.

But...

In its place...

Something greater?

"Milord! Milord! Can it really be true? Am I really going with you?" a small child burst into Sesshomaru's study. Her large eyes were shining with such a strange type of happiness that Sesshomaru dare not take away, by scolding her for her loudness. Rin ran to his side, tripping on her kimono once or twice, but never stopping, nonetheless. Her chocolate eyes peered up into his with complete admiration.

Sesshomaru did the only thing he knew how to, he patted her head in way that to bystanders would seem cold and distant, but between the two it was so much more. Rin and Sesshomaru had come to...an understanding...of each other. The lines between his human girl and his human daughter weren't clear, but what was in this crazy life?

He had left the question of their relationship open-ended, because he did not yet have an answer. Besides, The Lord of the Western Lands did not have time to trouble himself with such meaningless questions.

"Yes. Rin, you shall accompany me. Does this please you?"

"Yeah!"

Their journey to wander about Sesshomaru's Lands was about to take place. Lord Sesshomaru would often travel through his vast land, just to make sure nothing was amiss. He could faintly hear the girl and Jaken squabbling, but he paid them no mind. He was already well ahead of them, and he expected Rin to come running behind him, at any moment.

The accursed wind started to blow with all its fury, and it carried a message with it... It violently swept over the land, in such a fashion that Sesshomaru was sure that this was not a normal wind. He could feel the magic that flew with the wind on his uncovered face. Something dangerous was afoot. Something unsafe. Rin!

Her tiny footsteps ran through the muddy ground, and echoed brilliantly in his mind. "Rin stop! Go back with Jaken. Jaken, take Rin back! Board up the windows and doors; do not leave the castle grounds, until I have returned. Go! NOW!"

Jaken rarely ever heard his master speak above a whisper, so for him to shout so, meant something especially dangerous was about. As much as he hated to touch the girl, Jaken picked her up, over his head, and high-tailed back to the castle.

Alone was Sesshomaru, now. He had to admit that he rather liked it this way. He could battle with all his might, and not worry about the girl. Rin.

He did not follow the direction in which the enchanted wind had come, because whoever had caused it, had only conjured it up to get his attention. They would come to him, if they sought his company. The strong winds began to lessen to a tense breeze. The person was near. The enchanted was so close that he could smell her scent that was a combination of magic and herbs. A witch. A woman.

She stepped out of the shadows that were his trees. She was what could be called beautiful, by human standards, but most witches, contrary to popular belief, were. To Lord Sesshomaru, her beauty was wasted, and unnoticed. All he was interested in was her power and her purpose for invading his homeland.

"What reason might you have for trespassing on private lands?"

The witch smiled at him happily. And, made her wind cease to blow. Her silver eyes stared at him with a heated gaze, and an intensity that he was not accustomed to. She drunk in his being with her eyes, and Sesshomaru began to lose his brittle patience.

"You harbor and protect a human child. Why?" Her voice like her eyes had a silvery edge.

"Answer my question, and I may be obliged to answer yours." Sesshomaru spat out immediately.

"Very well. I have come to take the girl. Back. To humanity. Where she belongs."

Sesshomaru's mind was solid ice for a quick minute. A minute to long. "She stays with me. The girl is mine."

The witch's smile remained broad and joyous. "Rin belongs to no one. And if she must belong to something, Humanity, is her master." Her singsong voice pierced his sensitive ears, and he longed to wipe that smirk off her face.

"No. Do not attempt to take what I have rightful ownership."

"You believe yourself fit to take care of this girl? How is that possible when you loathe and detest her creators? She is human, Milord. Or, have you simply forgotten." Her silvery voice was lined with a spiteful venom that almost took him by surprise.

Sesshomaru did not respond to the witch, he did not believe that he had to. He was a Lord, and this was his home, and Rin was his. Those were the facts, and no witch could deny them.

"Fine! Do not answer me. But, if you wish to keep her, then you will have no choice, but to agree to my terms."

"Which are?"

"You and I will battle. If you should win, then the girl is yours, with no question, and I shall take my leave. If I should win, then you will have to prove that you are worthy of Rin. Do you agree?"

"Of course."

~*~*~*~

"Of course." Those words echoed in Sesshomaru's mind as his strength deteriorated. The witch had won, without any doubt. Sesshomaru had never come upon a witch quite like her before, and had suffered the dire consequences.

Sesshomaru had fallen to the ground, but staggered to his feet. He would not be defeated cowering at her feet. He stood tall, and was high above her, and kept his prideful air about him.

The witch smiled that smile, and looked him in his yellow eyes. "You have done well. I have not been so challenged in decades, but like all the others you have failed to beat me. So, you must take my test, to prove yourself to me."

"Your test will take much more than physical strength, but your mind, and also your black heart will be needed. You shall become the epitome of what you hate the most. Lord Sesshomaru, you shall become a human."

"What!"

"Yes, Milord. Not forever, but as long as it takes."

"As long as what takes?"

"You will know when it is time." The witch for the first time did not smile, but raised a finger, and whispered something into the air, and all was still. Except, the earth shattering screams of the once demon lord.

Part One

The first thing that came to his mind was the smell of blood, and plenty of it. It filled his senses, and muddled his mind. The smell was vaguely familiar to his cloudy head, and it took moments for him to recognize the scent. It was the odor of his blood.

The second thing he became aware of was the cold wind running through his skin, and he shivered uncontrollably. His large hands went immediately to his upper arms, but his finger tips touched nothing, but skin. For some bizarre reason, he felt as if clothing of some sort should be there. He opened his tightly closed eyes, and saw that his entire body was completely free of any type of clothing. That was surely impossible, because he, The Lord...The Lord...

Wait...

The Lord?

Of what....?

Who was he?

What had happened to him?

"He" whoever that was had no answers to his own questions, and that as he hated to admit it, frightened him. But, he would ponder the answers to those questions, later. At the present moment, his largest concern was that of his health. As he inspected his naked body, he saw many abrasions scattering all over his well-toned body. Blood was pouring out of him like wine, and he knew that he could not live much longer.

But...

There was...something No, someone,

Waiting...

For him?

A smiling little girl with a finely made kimono wrapped around her, came to his thin mind. Her laughter echoed all through the forest that he was currently lying in. "She needs me?" He asked himself. Then, another memory of her, crying, as she ran to him, screaming a name he couldn't recall.

"Yes." His head argued. "You must live... for her, Rin."

Rin?

What a pretty name, and it seemed to fit her.

Was this...Rin, his daughter?

"Naturally," His mind argued, again. "Who else could it be? You must find her. Wherever she is. Find. Rin."

I must live. For Rin. My daughter?

But...

How can I find her...

If...

I don't remember myself?

~*~*~*~

"Sasaki" as "He" had decided to call himself, painfully pulled his sore and blood-stained body off of the forest floor, and started to put one foot in front of the other, and slowly trudged to what he suspected was out of the forest.

He walked along, aimlessly, for hours, and the once blazing sun that beamed down on his dirty white hair, became a flickering flame that he barely felt. He was so tired by this time that he could not see, clearly, of his direction. He was determined to keep going, but everything was starting to become unfocused, all of his senses were dulling, and he at times, forgot to breathe.

The dizziness that attacked him would not vanish, and his mind was so thin that he could not make intelligible thoughts. The only thing that was clear was the loss of Rin, and as his head became lost, (because of the blood loss) it was the only thing that he could remember. His whole body ached, he needed her. Where was his Rin?

He wore on, for at least another hour, with thoughts of the young child, keeping him alive. Finally, a small hut came into Sasaki's vision, and a very wise older man stood outside, sweeping his humble walk way. The old man's eyes, became large as he saw a giant of a man, coming up. At first, he was frightened, but when looked closely at the younger man, he saw that he was severly injured, and close to faint.

The old man, Okita, threw down his broom, and ran to the young man. "What has happened, young one?" The man's yellow eyes shifted to the old man, with a glassy look trapped them. The man shook his head, and whispered one small word.

"Rin."

Okita watched as the man closed his bizarre colored eyes, and inhaled sharply, just before fainting in the older man's arms.

More Coming Soon!