Title: Remember Me Always
Author: Libby (aka Princess Ozma), with Neko Celes
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Rin looked up at Sesshomaru and smiled sadly as she explained: "Sesshomaru -- you don't exist." An epic tale of time travel, mistaken identity, and possible mental illness.
Greatest thanks to my beta, Neko Celes, without whom this story would never have happened.
Sesshomaru woke because of the smell. There were horrible, discordant sounds, and his position on the sidewalk certainly wasn't comfortable, but it was the smell that jolted him to consciousness. Part the familiar scents of death, decay, and rot, but also an unfamiliar sickly sweetness, and many strange, sharp, unnatural odors. He retched as he rolled onto his stomach, trying to gather his thoughts.
A quick look around didn't help. Stone walls. The ground seemed to be made of stone as well. Dirty, but somehow unnaturally perfect -- every brick exactly the same, every inch of floor as flat and featureless as the next. Refuse littered the area, and flowed from metal containers -- it seemed to be the source of that disgusting odor. Everything was unfamiliar, foreign. Staggering to his feet, he leaned against the wall, attempting to think through the strange noises coming from outside the passageway. Terrible music. Something that reminded him of many things going very fast... And many other completely bizarre sounds. He couldn't imagine what what would cause them.
An irresistible curiosity drove him, limping slightly, to the opening of the alley, where sunlight steamed in. And what he saw there caused him to reel back in shock. People everywhere -- hundreds, thousands of them! And strange fast vehicles in the street -- magical? If so, there were MANY powerful sorcerers in this land, as the streets swarmed with these impossible machines. And the buildings! Soaring to the heavens and filling the skies, all shining and perfect. Looking at them made him dizzy, and he gracefully fell to his knees, pressing the heel of his one hand to his forehead. Where was he, and how had he gotten to this land of terrible miracles?
"Sir?" A sweet, somehow familiar voice intruded on his thoughts. "Are you alright?"
He looked up to see a young woman, maybe 17 or 18, with short hair and eyes that looked at him with concern. She looked a little like -- a lot like -- if she were just a few years younger she could almost be --
No, it was impossible... But could it be?
"Rin?"
Her eyes narrowed sharply at him, then widened with what he thought was a flash of recognition -- but then she spoke.
"That's not my name -- and I have no idea who you are."
It was too much. Sesshomaru clutched his suddenly pain-filled head. And as the girl, this Rin-but-not, reached out to steady him, he fell into unconsciousness once more.
When Sesshomaru woke this time, it was to much more pleasant surroundings. A light scent of incense, and the streets sounds were only a low background hum compared to the terrible noise of earlier. He was still wearing the same clothes as in the alleyway (not his usual garb, either -- just a very basic green robe). He was in a odd sort of bed -- raised off the ground, and somehow thick and soft but still firm enough that he couldn't sink all the way through. He pressed at it, and realized that it was because of springs. Using springs to create a more comfortable futon? Ingenius, but so frivolous!
He sat up to look around the room. The rest of the furniture was similar -- using advanced techniques to make ugly and completely unnecessary objects. He looked in disdain as one particularly offensive item, a clock nestled inside brightly colored but crudely drawn cat. There were two English words on the bottom, but they were indeciferable to him. Anyway, it was completely ridiculous. So much wealth, and it's wasted on this?
On the other hand, several amazingly detailed and beautiful prints graced the walls -- a crashing wave, a busy market, a soaring hawk. He wondered if he could find the artist and obtain his services for Sesshomaru's own palace. And then there was that incense, and the small, familiar traditional Japanese nick-nacks.
There was a knock at the door, and the girl walked it. "Oh, you're awake," she said with a smile.
He looked at her and then back at that hideous clock, trying to figure out how it fit into this environment. The prints made sense, but his Rin would surely have better taste than to buy that ugly thing?
She followed his gaze, and laughed a little. "Oh, the Hello Kitty clock? It was a gift from my best friend in the world. I know it doesn't really fit with the rest of the room, but I like to look at it and think of her..."
He rose an eyebrow. Rin had always tended natter on about such things.
"Ugh, why am I telling you all this?" Not-Rin said, rubbing her forehead in consternation. "Here, come with me to the kitchen."
Sesshomaru stood, his still-aching body protesting. It bothered him (to say the least) that he couldn't remember how he'd been injured, much less how he'd arrived in this place. But perhaps this human child which so much reminded him of Rin would have some answers.
She lead him to a room full of yet more strange objects. This time he didn't even bother to look at them -- there would be time later for that. She sat a small Western-style table, the very tall kind with chairs, and motioned for him to take a seat.
For a moment they sat in awkward silence.
Finally, Rin asked, "...Are you feeling better now, sir?"
"...Quite." Sesshomaru could have had a gaping wound in his chest and two missing arms, all courtesy of Iuyasha that filthy half-demon, and he still would've responded in the affirmative.
"Do you think you can get home?"
"I can find my own way. I just need to know where I am currently located."
"Oh, that's easy. You're on Kototoi Street, in Asakusa."
"I have never heard of the Province of Asakusa. Who is the lord of this territory?"
"Lord? Of Asakusa?" Rin laughed. "I'm not sure what your talking about, sir. You're in the district of Asakusa, in Tokyo."
"Tokyo?" Sesshomaru frowned. "This is also unfamiliar to me."
Rin -- no, not Rin, he reminded himself -- leaned forward, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. "You aren't a foreigner, are you? You do have a really strange accent..."
He huffed, affronted. "You are the one with the atrocious accent, not I." Then a terrible thought struck him. "Unless... this isn't Japan?"
She looked at him, puzzled. "No, of course this is Japan. Tokyo is the capital city of Japan. How could you not know that?"
"I..." Sesshomaru hated this, hated being at such an extreme disadvantage. He head had begun to ache once again, and he shoved away from the table, frustrated.
Not-Rin stared at him piercingly, and stood to face him. "Who are you, sir," she asked. "Your accent, the strange markings, those clothes..."
Drawing himself together, Sesshomaru stood straight and tall, tilted his chin up, and looked down imperiously at this weak human child who had him at such a loss.
"I am Sesshomaru," he pronounced, "Lord of the Western Lands."
She reeled back in shock, then laughed incredulously. "Did Kaori put you up to this? I really can't believe she'd do something like this but it's the only explanation."
"Hm?" Sesshomaru asked, bewildered but struggling not let this vulernablity show.
The girl just stared at him for several moments.
He stared back, and the more he looked, the more certain he became. This girl, who was too old and spoke oddly and didn't even know him -- she was Rin. It was in everything. The way she moved and in her voice. In her face and mouth and hands, but most of all her eyes. Her eyes were Rin's eyes, shadowed with tragedy, but filled with life. Impossible or not, this was his Rin.
Rin seemed to come to a similar conclusion. She shook her head and collapsed back down in her odd chair. "...I can't believe it... It's can't be..."
Sesshomaru just looked at her, waiting for her to continue.
"There was this thing I dreamed up as a kid," Rin said, looking very distant. "Adventures in Feudal Japan, battling monsters with a dashing demon lord. But it was all pretend... all made up in my overactive imagination."
She looked up at him, finally, with a sad smile.
"You're not real, Sesshomaru. You look real, and you sound real... But you can't be.
"Sesshomaru, you don't exist."
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Re: the apartment in Asakusa: This is basically just made up, sorry if it makes no sense. ; Asakusa is a real neighborhood in Toyko, and I picked it because it sounds like it's a sort of old-fashioned place. And a quick Googling gave me Kototoi St. as a street in or near there.
Other author's notes: I have no idea if the accent makes any sense either, but what the heck. Better than saying the TARDIS translates for them.