Chapter 9

The trip back to Tokyo was a strange one. Sesshoumaru sat on the far side of the car from Rin, almost as if he were disassociating himself from her. Yet he spent the entire trip watching her, as if he could not take his eyes from her, could not accept that she was really there, or perhaps, that she was not the girl he had known five hundred years before. For the first time in all the years I had known him, he seemed unsure.

Rin sat with her head bowed, shoulders hunched, raising her head now and again to look warily around at us. But the passing scenery and the strangers with her did nothing to ease her anxiety. Kagome and Sango did their best to engage her in conversation, but she was just too overwhelmed to be responsive. Her gaze moved often to the statuesque man on the opposite side of the train.

When we reached a noisy station, Kagome leaned near me and asked under the cover of the din, "What do you think?"

Without looking at her I answered. "Maybe if we knew more about her back then – I just don't get it."

We were silent for the rest of the trip. As we got closer to Tokyo the car filled up, so there was not much chance for conversation anyway. It was evening when we finally arrived in Shibuya, and everyone was weary, and the day's adventures were not over yet. When we stepped off the train, Jaken stood waiting on the platform.

He was disguised as a human, of course, but I was accustomed to seeing through such disguises. They usually only covered a demon's more obvious non-human features, leaving the rest untouched. He was still short, though human sized. His eyes were unnaturally large, and his mouth stuck out a bit like he beak he had in his natural form. When his eyes lit up as Sesshoumaru exited the train, I knew my identification was correct, though I wondered at the absence of his precious staff.

As usual, he ignored everyone except Sesshoumaru. Bowing, he exclaimed, "Lord Sesshoumaru! You called this unworthy-"

Whatever depreciating names he was going to call himself remained unuttered when Sesshoumaru cut him off. Without the smallest glance in our direction, or that of the girl he had watched continually throughout the entire train ride, he walked off toward the stairs. Jaken automatically turned to follow him.

I watched this sudden departure, bemused. "What a jerk."

"No. I think he left quickly so that Jaken wouldn't have a chance to see her." Kagome said in a low voice.

"But why was Jaken here?"

"Sesshoumaru mailed him on his phone." She answered. "I saw him doing it when we first got on the train. She seemed all right at first, you know. He probably saw that she was getting upset, and decided not to expose her to another stranger. Jaken isn't exactly subtle."

"That's true." I raised my eyes toward the ceiling, trying to imagine Jaken's probable reception, and winced. It would be loud. There would be a dance, shouting, and pointing.

"Are you ready to go?" Kagome asked the girl, who had backed up defensively against a steel column while Kagome and I had our conference.

Rin shoulders were still slightly hunched, and her eyes were darting anxiously around the station. "Why does everyone know me? And why did he leave?"

It occurred to me that while Sesshoumaru's presence had made her nervous, his departure had upset her in a different way. Again I wondered. It seemed more and more likely that she was a reincarnation of the girl who had travelled with my brother in the Warring States Period. But reincarnations weren't supposed to remember anything, no matter how vaguely.

Kagome leaned toward her, ignoring the throngs of people that swarmed around where we stood on the platform. "I'm not sure myself what is going on, but I'll tell you what I can when we get to Inuyasha's apartment. As for Sesshoumaru leaving, well, he's just like that. He'll be back."

Rin only nodded mutely, looking quite miserable. Kagome stepped forward and took my arm. "Let's get out of here." She suggested.

When we were safe in my apartment, I called for takeout and collapsed on the floor. Looking hazily around, I noted that the living room was not nearly as spacious as it had seemed when I had bought the place. There were entirely too many people sleeping here. Kagome and I were in my room, and Miroku and Sango were in the other bedroom. Shippou and Kohaku had set up in the traditional guest room, which was more like an alcove off the main room.

But now Rin was here too. The guest room would take another futon, but I was not sure if she would be comfortable there with Shippou and Kohaku. To make things worse, my furniture had arrived yesterday, and the concierge had obligingly set it up for me while we were gone, crowding the room even more.

It had been a long time since I'd lived in cramped quarters with a group of people like this. It had been part of life in the old days, but there was no need to go on like that now. I looked at Shippou. "Weren't you going to buy one of these apartments? The one next door is open."

He took one look at my face and took the hint. "I'll see about it in the morning."

"Good." I sought out Kagome, and just caught her disappearing into the kitchen. I bounced to my feet and followed her. "Kagome."

"Yes?" She asked as she poured water into the electric kettle and opened a bag of tea, scooping out a spoonful. "What's the matter?"

"You told her that we were going to explain." I said in a lowered voice. "But we can't."

"That's true." She glanced toward the door. "Let's see if we can distract her until we have a chance to come up with a decent story."

Her phone beeped, and she handed the bag of tea to me and pulled it out of her pocket. A smiling little envelope danced on the outside screen. Frowning, she flipped it open and scowled at it. "Sesshoumaru says that he'll be here in the morning. He's sending Jaken here, for some reason."

"You mean he's just leaving us with her? But she doesn't even know us."

"That's why he's leaving her with us. He says she'll relax if he isn't around." She answered distractedly, looking over the message. Finally she shut her phone with a snap.

"But why Jaken? He'll lose it the moment he sees her!"

"Maybe he thinks she won't remember him." Kagome replied quietly, but she glanced warily out into the room, as if afraid Jaken was going to bounce through the door and make a scene. "He'll recognize her though. We'll have to try to keep him from acting too strangely about it."

"Good luck." I said without much hope. "What are we going to tell her now?"

"Let's start with who we are." She decided after considering it thoughtfully, taking several cups out and arranging them on a tray as she did so. "If she seems to want to know more about how we know her, I suppose we'll have to tell her the truth. It isn't as if we know that much ourselves."

We took the tray out into the living room. The guest room's sliding doors were open, making the room seem quite a bit bigger than it actually was. I saw that there was only one futon in there now, and Sango was putting two other futons out near the television.

"That way at least you can have some privacy." I caught her explanation to Rin as she sat down. "The boys can sleep out in the main room."

"Thank you." Rin said in a soft voice.

The food arrived, and we sat down to eat. Kagome asked Rin a few questions about herself. It seemed she was from one of those human families that just knew about demons, and she had grown up dealing with them. When her family died, she had found a job working for Toutousai. It had been fine until one of his more frightening customers had taken an interest in her. Toutousai had blown fire and chased him off for creating a disturbance, but then the demon just started sending his thugs to kidnap her.

"And now Toutousai just sent you off with us." Kagome said sympathetically. "How very like him. He's such a coward."

"But you know Toutousai?" Rin asked.

"Yes, I knew him a long time ago." Kagome answered cautiously, glancing at me. "I hadn't seen him in a very long time, though of course, he hasn't changed a bit. We didn't have much time to talk back at his place, and I suppose you'd really like to know who we all are."

"Yes."

Kagome took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm glad you know about demons at least. That should make this simpler, though not much."

She started with the easy part, introducing herself. But the rest required an explanation of the Jewel of the Four Souls, the business about the well, since that was how she had met the rest of us, and how Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku had come to this time. Then she briefly outlined my strange story.

"As for Sesshoumaru, the man that left us at the station, he's Inuyasha's older brother. But he's a full demon, like Shippou."

"But he's a lot more powerful than I am." Shippou contributed.

"Yes. Their father was one of the great demons. He's very powerful, and a bit strange sometimes. He doesn't say much, and it's usually hard to know what he's thinking-"

"I know him." Rin said suddenly. "I don't know how, and it frightened me at first. But now I realize, he certainly couldn't have been one of those sent to kidnap me, could he?"

"No." Kagome said firmly. "That's quite impossible. Sesshoumaru follows no orders but his own."

Hearing this, Rin relaxed. "I'm afraid I behaved a bit foolishly. Is that why he left?"

"It might be." Kagome said cautiously. "I think he didn't want to make things more difficult for you."

Rin nodded a bit glumly. "I thought so. You know me too, don't you?"

"It isn't that I know you, exactly, and Sesshoumaru doesn't either." Kagome paused, then jumped right in. "I think that you're a reincarnation, of a girl that used to travel with Sesshoumaru back in the Warring States Period." Rin's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything, so Kagome went on, "I never saw her myself more than a few times, and she was only about eight years old then, so I can't be sure. But you look a great deal like her, and from Sesshoumaru's reaction, I suspect that it what he thinks too."

"A reincarnation? Is that even possible?"

"It's very possible, even probable."

"Is it?" Rin sighed. "It seems so strange."

"I know it." Kagome paused before adding, "But you see, that little girl's name was also Rin. That was why it seemed that he knew your name. He wasn't saying your name, but the name of the girl that you looked like. I'm sure he didn't mean to alarm you."

"Of course not." Rin agreed. "Thank you for telling me that. That was what unsettled me most, that he knew my name."

Kagome smiled. "But what I don't understand is, if you are a reincarnation, how you remember Sesshoumaru. You see, I am a reincarnation myself, of the priestess who originally protected the sacred jewel. I found out that I was soon after I first met Inuyasha, and I knew a great deal about her. I even met her, many times. But I never remembered anything from her life. We were entirely different people."

Her words brought Kikyou's memory back to me. Since I had remembered everything, I had only thought of her as the spirit that had sent me back. But now I recalled the woman she had been before she died, and the cold, soulless doll she had been later. Kagome was right. Even before she had died, when she had been kind and good, Kikyou and Kagome had been entirely different people for all that they looked so much alike.

"You're probably a reincarnation." I said. "But the fact that you remember any part of your life opens up the possibility that there might be another explanation."

Rin merely nodded, and asked about Sesshoumaru again. We told her what we could, but of course what she really wanted to know was about the little girl who looked so much like her, and we knew so little about her. At length we divulged that Sesshoumaru was sending his servant here, and warned her that he was likely to make a scene. But she would be able to ask him about the other Rin, if she liked.

We sat around for a while, drinking tea and watching television. Around ten there was another knock on the door. We all looked at one another warily. With an air of resignation, Miroku got up to answer. Jaken barged through, his human disguise dissipating like a deflated balloon the moment he was through the door. Underneath it, he looked almost exactly the same as he had in the feudal area, right down to his clothes and the staff in his hand.

He was muttering furiously to himself. "I should be by Lord Sesshoumaru's side, not staying behind with some little girl. This Jaken a babysitter! This is just like the last time-" He broke off as his eyes fell on Rin where she sat at the table. He stepped back, once, twice, and astonishment pervaded his features. Then he fell over, his feet sticking straight up in the air. In a flash, he was on his feet again, his little beak mouth wide open and he started the shocked-dance I had earlier envisioned, crying out, "Rin! What sorcery is this?"

"Calm down." Miroku advised in his calm voice. "Screaming isn't going to make things any more clear."

Behaving as if a little troll had not just shoved his way past Miroku to make a ruckus in the middle of the room, Kagome turned to Rin. "You're our guest, so you can have the bath first. Do you want to go in now?" In a lower voice she added, "It will take him some time to calm down."

Rin paused, eyeing the small form of Jaken, which was still dancing around. The look in her eyes was disconcerted, as when she had first seen Sesshoumaru. Obviously she remembered Jaken as well.

"Yes." The girl decided, clearly overwhelmed by this last intrusion, and got up to follow Kagome down the hall.

"Shut-up, Jaken!" I snapped when he turned, still yelling, to watch Rin disappear down the hall. At the same time, Miroku just hit him with his staff. While the stars danced around his head, we sat back down. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Lord Sesshoumaru sent me." He snapped.

"I know that."

"Who is that girl, and why does she look so much like Rin?"

"We're not sure." Miroku answered. "She is Toutousai's assistant, but he asked her to take her with us because someone is after her. She has told us about her life in this time, and I am tempted to think it was the truth. We think she is a reincarnation, except that she remembers Sesshoumaru, and it would seem, you."

"Maybe you could tell us." Sango suggested, and we all looked at her in surprise. "You know much more about the original Rin than the rest of us, Jaken. Can you think of any explanation?"

"You want to know if I can think of any reason Rin's reincarnation would remember Lord Sesshoumaru?" He put both hands on his staff and bent his head, thinking. Finally he said, "There was that wish she made-"

We all sat there, breathless, until it became clear that he was not pausing for effect. "What wish?" I demanded impatiently.

He turned his head stubbornly. "Lord Sesshoumaru would not wish me to speak of it without his permission."

Miroku hit him with his staff again.

"Ow, ow!" Jaken started dancing again, his hands on his head. "Fine. I'll tell you." A change came over his silly face, and I realized that he was not really worried Sesshoumaru would be angry. He just did not want to talk about it. Very briefly, he said, "When Rin died, she wished that she would remember Lord Sesshoumaru forever."

It was obvious that there was much more to the story. "You're hiding something." I accused.

"I am not. The details aren't important." He replied quickly. "It's a very sad story. That girl should not hear it."

"Just tell us, Jaken. It might be important." His words had only increased my curiosity, so I raised one hand threateningly. "Try to get through it before she comes back."

He looked at me with the usual mixture of fear and condescension. "Very well. It started about ten years after we defeated Naruku. His death allowed Lord Sesshoumaru to return to his regular duties as Lord of the Western Lands, and he decided that it was time he took a wife. After a time, he selected Sazura Windmaster. She was from a venerable old house, had the right attributes, and was amendable. Too amenable, as he later discovered."

"Rin was still with you then?" Kagome inquired.

"Yes." Jaken said sadly. The little demon had always been completely hopeless at hiding his emotions. I expected him to start crying at any moment. "She was about your age, and she loved Lord Sesshoumaru very much." He frowned. "Actually, she looked exactly like that mysterious girl does now. Anyway, she knew how things had to be, and had accepted it."

"But Sazura said that he had scorned her." Kagome objected.

Jaken nodded, and did not bother to ask how we knew that. Sesshoumaru had probably told him Sazura was back and up to her tricks again. "For reasons known only to himself, Lord Sesshoumaru decided not to marry Sazura." He answered with diplomatic lip-service, but the look he cast in the direction Rin had disappeared was eloquent. "Sazura had seemed to be merely a well raised girl, demure and submissive, but she went absolutely ballistic. Her true nature came out, but no matter how much she raged against him, Lord Sesshoumaru would not be moved. Presently we left and returned to our own travels."

"For a time, all returned to the way it had been, and Rin was happy again. As he had often done in the past Lord Sesshoumaru left us one night, and she struck. Overcoming me with a spell, and slaughtering Ah-Un when he tried to interfere, she kidnapped Rin. I searched as best I could until my lord returned, and he located her quickly. But it was too late."

"Rin was dead?"

"Not yet." Jaken sounded sick. "We caught up to Sazura much faster than she expected, before she had time to complete her revenge. So when Lord Sesshoumaru came upon her, she attacked him savagely, trying to goad her into a fight. He realized immediately that she was trying to distract him, and sought Rin instead." He paused, and swallowed. "She had dropped Rin into the forest below, and had set a pack of wolves after her."

Kagome gasped, her hand to her mouth. "Wolves?"

"I don't know how she knew." Jaken said quietly. "Rin was killed, once, by wolves. It was right before she started travelling with us, and I think it may have been the first time that Lord Sesshoumaru ever used the Tenseiga. Somehow, Sazura knew about that, and knew that Rin was terrified of them. When we located her, the wolves had backed her up to the edge of a precipice. Just as Lord Sesshoumaru was about to dispatch the mangy beasts, Sazura's weapon came hurtling out of the forest right toward Rin."

Under the table, Kagome's hand sought mine, and squeezed it.

"Rin tried to dodge it, but slipped off the cliff and fell." Jaken's voice had become very quiet. "It was a very long way. Lord Sesshoumaru moved to catch her, but Sazura attacked him, throwing him up against the cliff side. He was not delayed very long, but it was long enough. He went after Rin instead of pursuing her murderer. Sazura would have never escaped that encounter alive if Lord Sesshoumaru had not chosen to go after Rin instead of killing her for her transgressions."

It was the sort of thing that Sazura would have done. She was a vindictive woman, and her mind was perfectly tuned to finding the best way to make others suffer. But even knowing her as I did, the story shocked me.

By this point, Jaken's tone had become emotionless and wooden. "We found her impaled on a dead sapling." He continued the horrible tale. "She was still alive. Before she died, she made her wish, that she would remember Lord Sesshoumaru always."

"But what about Tenseiga?" I blurted.

Jaken shook his head. "Lord Sesshoumaru tried. It didn't work. Perhaps there are limits on how many times Tenseiga can save a life, or maybe it was her fate to die in that way at that time. After Lord Sesshoumaru had accepted her fate, he took her to a temple. He told the stupid, terrified human priest to bury her, and he would protect his temple for all time. For some reason the idiot did not seem to wish the protection of Lord Sesshoumaru, but he complied. The temple is still there. Lord Sesshoumaru visits it once in a while." He shrugged. "Afterwards, we set out to find Sazura. You know the rest."

"And now we have her reincarnation." I said. "That wish might account for why she remembers him, I suppose."

"It would seem so." Kagome glanced around the room. "We're gathering again, aren't we?"

"Gathering?" Miroku inquired.

"Gathering." She confirmed. "Those of us who were present at the battle with Naraku are gathering together again. The only ones that are missing now are Kouga and his men, and Kikyou." In a quieter voice she added, "But I do not think that she will come again."

"The question is, for what end?" Miroku said quietly.

"Once again it falls to us to fight the ultimate evil." She answered. "We had better be ready."