Absolution by EndlessNight

So it Begins...

"Kagome, no!" yelled Inuyasha... the hanyou was frantic, nearly mindless with anger, and he didn't know exactly how to react to the situation into which he'd been placed. He was falling right into his half-brother's deadly hands.

Sesshoumaru's noxious poison whip crackled in the night air. "For the very last time, brother, hand the Tetsusaiga over to me, or I will destroy this precious human of yours." Kagome struggled to free herself, but Sesshoumaru's grip on her hair was unmercifully tight.

"Let her go, you bastard! If you harm her, there will be no end to the pain I will cause you." Inuyasha's words were fierce; he had never been one to hide his emotions, especially where his brother and his friends were concerned.

Sesshoumaru smirked, the moon making bright reflections on his elongated canines. "And where do you think yours will end, if you cause me to take this girl's life?" He pulled Kagome upright on to her feet, ignoring her cries of pain. "Come now, little brother... Tetsusaiga or the miko? Which will you keep?"

Kagome looked up, and saw indecision written all over Inuyasha's face. Since the hanyou was usually quick to shoot first, question later, Kagome felt a bit uneasy. Was he even thinking about giving Tetsusaiga to Sesshoumaru? He couldn't! With the legendary fang in his possession, Sesshoumaru would certainly destroy them... if he could even touch the thing, that is. It hadn't worked out too well for him any of the previous times he'd gotten an itch to take it.

She closed her eyes... if only that jewel shard she'd sensed earlier hadn't been the one joining the stump of Sesshoumaru's left arm to a newly affixed human one. Steeling herself for more hair-tugging, Kagome cried out, "Inuyasha, if you give him the sword he'll kill us both!"

Sesshoumaru frowned in distaste. The girl truly thought so poorly of him? His half-brother's human female thought him so low as to kill weak, defenseless creatures such as they would be once Tetsusaiga was wrested from Inuyasha? Well, he thought, perhaps in the past...

"I have offered Inuyasha a choice and he must make one, but I do not seek to dishonor myself with foul human trickery. Inuyasha!" he roared. "Make your choice, hanyou. My patience wears thin and my claws grow thirsty for blood." To prove his sincerity, Sesshoumaru drew a thin line into the warm flesh of Kagome's neck.

Inuyasha looked deeply into Kagome's eyes and made his choice. He slammed Tetsusaiga into the dirt, the handle wavering side to side. "Release her and it's yours, Sesshoumaru."

His demon brother grinned in triumph and threw Kagome at Inuyasha by the neck. She screamed, half in pain and half in fright, and braced herself for the bone shattering impact that did not come. Once her tightly shut eyes opened, she would see Inuyasha's silver hair flowing madly as he raced her to safety, and Sesshoumaru's coldly glowing form walking slowly toward his great father's sword.

As Sesshoumaru approached the dull, reverted sword, he pinned a smile to his infallibly stoic face.

"Ah, Tetsusaiga. How long I have waited for you... though it pains me to say after I have completed my business with my enemy, so will I have concluded my business with you."

Sesshoumaru picked up the sword in his human hand, and, surprisingly enough, the barrier did not repel his efforts. His thin smile turned into a grimace as he realized why.

Do you have something to protect?

"Yes father. I have something dear to protect."

And he supposed that his memories were precious enough for Tetsusaiga, as well.

(Two months earlier)...

Sesshoumaru glanced over at Rin. The energetic 10 year old was chasing butterflies in the afternoon sunshine, her pink yukata soaked to her knees. The afternoon was pleasant to Sesshoumaru. He had promised Rin they would stop by the creek, and he was always true to his word. So here they were, lazing away in the heat of the day by a cool stream.

Sesshoumaru let his lips slide into a rare smile as he watched his little human girl dance in the river, yellow butterflies swirling around her small, dark head.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Come play with me and the butterflies!" Rin cried in her melodic child's voice. Jaken, Sesshoumaru's toad youkai servant, tsk-ed from beside his master. "Foolish human child. To think that she could coerce my Lord Sesshoumaru into such activity," he muttered. But when he turned to his Lord, there was only Toukijin and Tenseiga to answer him. His whipped around, and sure enough, there was his master, calf-deep in water.

The cool flow of the stream set Sesshoumaru's mind at ease... something that had not happened in too long. He sighed and stretched his arms, both human and demon, contemplating the fine mood in which he found himself. As he closed his eyes, a tiny hand grasped his own, and he peered down to see Rin beaming at him.

"Why Rin, what is that you have there?" Sesshoumaru asked, and scooped something from her ponytail. When she looked, Rin saw the small butterfly in Sesshoumaru's hand, and she giggled. "It likes you, Sesshoumaru-sama!" He brought the butterfly up to his face, and it took off, only to land once more in his white locks. Rin erupted into a fit of laughter, and Sesshoumaru, caught up in the moment, laughed as well.

Jaken only stared at the two, for there was nothing he could do in his state of shock. Had his Lord actually laughed? With a human, no less! He believed so, but then again, his mind could be playing tricks on him in the heat. His master had laughed only once before, to his knowledge, and it had been so long ago that Jaken was at a loss to recall the occasion for it. Truly, the little girl was changing his Lord... but for better or worse he could not yet decide.

To all three of the sunbather's surprise, another laugh joined with Rin and Sesshoumaru's. A cold, humorless laugh that shot straight into Sesshoumaru's heart like ice in winter. Quickly, he gathered Rin in his human arm and turned to the shore. Standing in the sand, holding Sesshoumaru's Toukijin and Tenseiga, was Naraku. In his tentacles, Naraku held Jaken.

"Ah, the great Lord Sesshoumaru... it has been so long that I had forgotten how careless you can be. Leaving your swords and servant by the wayside. Pity for you," he said gleefully. And without any warning or thought, Naraku ripped Jaken's head from his shoulders.

Rin, watching in terror as blood fell in great splashes, cried out for the now dead youkai and buried her face in her Lord's pristine robes. Sesshoumaru's gut clenched as the lifeless body of his servant rolled into the dirt, his blood staining the sand a deep shade of crimson.

"You will pay for the wrong you have just done me, hanyou," Sesshoumaru growled. Rin sobbed, her little heart aching for her lost tormentor and companion. "You have caused my human child much pain, but I swear that you shall share my servant's fate."

Naraku grinned maniacally, and flashed Toukijin in front of his face. "Well, Lord Sesshoumaru, perhaps I should show you and your human mercy... by killing you now!" he cried, and shot his hideous tentacles toward Sesshoumaru and Rin.

Without a weapon, Sesshoumaru was forced to use his claws and youki whip, and that meant he would have to get close to Naraku to strike him down. He gripped Rin tightly to his chest and jumped away from the tentacles, slicing two in the process. But two more shot from Naraku's body, and Sesshoumaru narrowly avoided being skewered by them.

"Fool! You cannot defeat me without your swords, and certainly not with that pathetic girl in your arms. Although I shall relieve you of that momentarily," Naraku sneered, and advanced upon the demon Lord and his child. A large tentacle shot toward Sesshoumaru, and he was not quite quick enough to dodge this one.

The demon Lord felt his body tense in anticipation.

The things wrapped around his human attachment, where Rin was held fast to him, and pulled. With a sickening, flesh-ripping sound his arm was torn from his body before he could react, and with the arm fell Rin. Sesshoumaru's mind exploded in pain, and he roared his agony, reaching for his child with his right arm. Once again, and impossibly, he was not quick enough.

A smaller tentacle shot off the last one and gripped Rin around the throat. With a dull horror throbbing through his pain-laced mind, Sesshoumaru realized what was about to happen. And he could only watch as the tentacle tightened more and more, Rin gasping for a breath that would never come. In one last squeeze, the tentacle broke Rin's neck, then decapitated the no longer struggling child.

Sesshoumaru could not even cry out for her, so great was his physical and mental anguish. Not even Tenseiga could bring back his poor, mangled child now. He felt Naraku slide a hand around his throat, but he had stopped caring for his plight when Rin's once-bright eyes dulled.

"Now suffer, my Lord," spat Naraku.

Then Sesshoumaru knew nothing but the comforting arms of darkness.