Last Chance

Part II

Before the sun was high, Sesshomaru had decided what he was going to do. Carefully, gently, as if she were only sleeping and he did not want to wake her, Sesshomaru lifted Rin's body and held her close.

"Jaken."

From wherever he had been hiding, the little youkai appeared almost immediately, falling over himself in his attempt to grovel.

"My lord, is -"

"You have served me well, Jaken."

Confused beyond belief, Jaken actually took a step backwards.

"My lord?"

"You do not mishear."

Jaken bowed as low as he could manage, pressing his face into the turf.

"Thank you, my lord - "

Sesshomaru silenced him with a glance.

"You have served me well - but that time is at an end. I am leaving this place now, alone. I will not look upon disobedience...kindly."

"My lord! Please, do not send me from your side! If I have been loyal - if I have served you well - "

"Enough."

The effort it was costing him to sustain an icy demeanor was too much.

"Do not follow me, Jaken. I will not allow it."

He turned away without another word, and left. He listened, but no footsteps followed; he let out a long, slow breath, and hardened himself for this final trial.

There was only one place he could go; only one way to relieve himself of this terrible burden, this terrible pain.

When Sesshomaru arrived at the edge of the village, there was an immediate rush of scents; he could feel his brother's presence closing in, and before Inuyasha arrived, he lay Rin's body gently in a patch of sweet-smelling flowers.

"It will not be much longer, Rin. Wait patiently."

He spoke very softly, as if her spirit lingered near her flesh. Perhaps it did; she had never been far from him in life.

She will not be far from me in death.

When Inuyasha appeared a few moments later, he was not alone; the miko had come with him, and their sons; tall, strong boys, with their grandsire's look but something of the miko in their eyes. The woman...he did not want to look at the woman, but the sight of those boys was soothing to him. His father's blood would not disappear from this world; Inuyasha was far too stubborn to allow it.

"Sesshomaru! What are you doing here?"

Inuyasha's voice was as quick and harsh as always, but his mate was more attentive than he was.

"Oh- Inuyasha- it's...it's Rin."

Cautiously, she slipped away from Inuyasha's side and stood between the brothers, bent into a formal bow.

"I am sorry for your loss, Sesshomaru-sama..."

He only growled. This woman was the most painful sight imaginable, her features still fresh with a youthful bloom, her flesh young and strong. She was human, just like Rin. Why was it that Inuyasha could keep his woman, and he...

He felt his blood turning to ice in his veins.

"I have come here to end it, Inuyasha. I have come here to fight you; this is the last time."

The words felt good, coming out of his mouth, as if they were something he should have said a long time before. He saw all the color drain out of the miko's face; there was anger in the twins, a pair of matching snarls before their mother pulled them back, but Inuyasha....

Inuyasha was looking at him with an expression he did not like to see. It was far too knowing, that expression, far too wise for his brother's face.

"I'm not gonna do it, Sesshomaru. I won't just kill you. Not even if -"

Inuyasha fell silent; his eyes drifted from his brother's face to the body of Rin, cloaked in a cold scent of death. Sesshomaru saw the eye movement, its direction.

He knows.

The chill in Sesshomaru's blood seemed to reach his heart at that moment and he felt pain, a sword thrust of agony where no blade had ever reached.

When he raised his eyes to Inuyasha again, a crimson haze had eaten away the golden glow; for the first time in Sesshomaru's life, the Inu was winning the inner battle. He no longer possessed the will or the inclination to suppress that driving violence, the demonic force of his nature, and he watched as if from a distance as Inuyasha sent the miko and their sons away.

Rin, even the hanyou knows...he knows...

It was on the very edge of the change, pushing the boundaries of his humanoid shape, that a small, slim figure darted out across Sesshomaru's line of vision. For a moment he was caught by the sight; it was Rin, an image-in-motion. But the girl running in front of him was young and lithe and lively, and Rin was cold and still behind him...he knew that - and knew suddenly who the girl must be. In her hands was a curve of bow and a glittering, violet-tipped arrow, but her mother was beside her in a moment, chastising, glancing fearfully in his direction.

The daughter; the miko's daughter.

It had been years since he had seen the child that was his brother's daughter - not since he had brought Rin to hold the tiny infant in her hands. Her features resolved as he stared at her; he remembered her name, Tsukiko, remembered the miko giving the name to her. Still...there was a fragile resemblance that a moment of cloud-shadowed dimness intensified, and a wave of terrible pain, of horror, stole a sound from him.

"Rin..."

The word slipped out of his mouth, and as it did so he saw something he could not forgive.

There was pity on Inuyasha's face.

Sesshomaru's hand flashed to the hilt of his sword. With the blinding, astonishing speed that even his brother could never match, he attacked. Inuyasha was so surprised by the movement that he almost failed to draw Tetsusaiga in time.

"Sesshomaru! What're you doing? I told you, I'm not gonna - kill you - "

Inuyasha pushed back with all his strength against his brother's blade, but he made no headway at all. Always before, something had been held back in Sesshomaru, something that had given Inuyasha an edge - perhaps it had been heart.

Now, that edge was gone, and Inuyasha could only stand helpless, blocking blows that slowly but surely were beginning to wear on Tetsusaiga's edge. It was taking all of his skill, all his strength and agility just to dodge Sesshomaru's sword, and he was beginning to think that his brother really had just come to kill him.

Maybe the woman has nothing to do with it after all...

Inuyasha had seen the death of the Rin in Sesshomaru's eyes, the blank and utter loss. He had assumed that it was that death which had brought Sesshomaru here, seeking an end to his life, seeking to follow Rin. Suicide by battle; that was what he had thought.

But was I wrong? How could I be wrong? This isn't Sesshomaru, this...this is...

The battering of steel on steel was wearing at his brain; his hands were numb from the shock and reverberation of the sword in his hands. He couldn't think of a comparison, but a moment later, he felt acid, melting pain, smelled the sickening stench of his own blood burning; only after that did he feel the claws, Sesshomaru's fingers driving beneath his arm and into his belly.

Cursing, Inuyasha leapt back and held a hand over the wound, assessing the damage, feeling the old adrenaline rush. It had been a long time, but even so -

"Damn it, Sesshomaru! I'm not going to kill you - I'm not going to fight you just so you feel better!"

For a moment, there was a flicker of the old Sesshomaru in the red-burning eyes of his brother, but it faded as abruptly as it had appeared.

"I told you, Inuyasha. This is the last time. You will die, or you will kill me, but either way you will fight!"

There was more emotion in that one statement that Inuyasha had heard from his brother in an entire human lifetime of fighting and chance meetings; there was no doubt that Sesshomaru was absolutely serious.

Inuyasha took a moment to pant and tighten his grip on the hilt of his sword.

"Yeah...I'll fight, Sesshomaru. I'll fight, 'cause you're such a bastard I know you'd kill me even if I didn't. But I'm warning you - I'm not holdin' back!"

He could have sworn he saw a faint, very faint glimmer of satisfaction in Sesshomaru's eyes - and then he was rushing towards him again, his intent deadly, the blade of his sword gleaming harsh and ruddy under the gathering light of evening.

"Neither am I - Inuyasha!"

They fought, and the sun came down and rolled beneath the horizon like a great vermilion disc; they fought, and twilight became evening, became darkness under the light of a full and glowing moon.

The landscape was cut and divided where screaming light had driven the earth aside; trees lay toppled and fragmented across bloody grass and great gouges that showed the dark soil beneath the growing forest. Panting, neither one willing to give an inch, Sesshomaru and Inuyasha stared at each other across the crossed blades of their swords, and snarled in tandem.

The fight helped Sesshomaru forget the terrible pain that had driven him to this challenge in the first place; the drive towards death was strong, revealing strengths and potentials in his own power he had never yet tested. Twice, he stood in a bath of angry light, the full glare of the Kaze no Kizu, and twice he deflected his brother's attack; as time wore on, he could see exhaustion beginning to drive Inuyasha's movements, and despaired of achieving what he had come here to seek.

Sparks flickered from the rub and press of steel between them. The swords spoke in whines and the slick sound of metal; they spoke of blood, and glittered.

"Is this all, Inuyasha? Is this all the power, all the fight you have in you? If this is all you have, all you are - you are going to die, Inuyasha."

With three movements, swift, powerful, Sesshomaru disarmed his brother and sent Tetsusaiga spinning through the air to land point first in the torn and broken ground. A growl began in Inuyasha's throat and moved outwards swiftly, building to a rumble, a roar.

"Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru's head turned sideways; the miko was standing beside her daughter and now both of them, the one dangerous and the other unknown, had him in the sight of a glittering arrow. Her voice was charged with fear and sorrow, and there was pity in her, too, even in her!

"Don't do it, Sesshomaru! I won't let you - I won't let you do it!"

A human! How dare she!

"Woman! Do you wish for me to kill you, when I am through with this half-breed brother of mine?"

He said the words slowly, purposefully, feeling Inuyasha tighten in rage beneath his grip, felt his brother's growl send vibrations through the blade of the sword pressed against his throat.

"You will not touch her!"

Suddenly, completely, Sesshomaru found their positions reversing; there was the strength of a berserker in Inuyasha's movements. His own sword was being twisted out of his hand, forced backwards relentlessly towards his own throat.

Inuyasha's eyes were wide and red, broken only by a flickering navy pupil; Sesshomaru stared into those eyes and was astonished; there was not only violence but intent in Inuyasha, something he had never seen in these rare moments of wildness.

With a series of swift movements, Inuyasha had completely regained the upper hand. Exhaustion and weariness were nothing compared to the threat that had been leveled at his mate, but still, still, he would not give Sesshomaru what he was craving, the honorable release that he desired. For a moment, Inuyasha stood still, his hand pressing the sword back against Sesshomaru's throat, and then he took a step backwards, let his head drop.

"Not....going to do it."

The ice that had begun to thaw under the heat of Sesshomaru's rage restored itself.

"I should have known you would be too weak; that you would not be able."

Sesshomaru turned and his eyes passed over the woman and her daughter, still standing, twin arrows glittering, and behind the two females the staring eyes of the boys, their features confused.

"You, woman - miko. I am youkai, deadly, dangerous; I have killed hundreds, thousands - I am indelibly stained with the blood of innocents and the blood of my enemies. Will you kill me, miko?"

The question fell into silence. He saw her eyes moving back and forth, between Rin's body in the flowers under moonlight, and his own features. What she saw there he did not know, did not want to know; he waited, while the long minutes passed.

"I - I'm sorry, Sesshomaru. I - I - can't do it."

Darkness clouded over his features, and he turned away from them.

"No. You cannot. Miko -"

He paused for a long moment, and the little family watching his back drew closer together, waiting for his words.

"Miko, I leave Rin in your care. The ceremonies of her burial, the rites she requires..."

"I will see to it, of course I will."

There were tears in the miko's voice, but he ignored them.

"Inuyasha."

Sesshomaru felt his brother shifting behind him.

"The west and its wealth are yours now...and so is Tenseiga."

He heard a startled movement; carefully, Sesshomaru drew the sword and its sheath from his obi where they had rested for so long, and lay them on the ground in front of his feet.

"Perhaps you were more worthy of father's blood than I was, after all - brother."

There was a rush of wind and suddenly Sesshomaru was gone; he had become a golden glow of light that was replaced by the shape of the Inu. A single howl escaped him as he stood over Rin, meeting fully the scent of her death, the cold that clung to her silent flesh. When the sound had faded, he stalked away from them, a great white shape outlined by moonlight against the black of the sky.

Inuyasha, Kagome, Tsukiko and her brothers stood still, watching him, until the hills hid him from their view. Kagome felt tears welling up in her eyes and didn't understand them, but beside her Inuyasha shook his head. He squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, and strode forward to pick up the sword his brother had left. It flickered uneasily in his fingers, blue light that faded quickly, and Inuyasha let out a hollow laugh, felt it shake him from head to toe.

"So I ended up with both of them after all; Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga, together at last."

There was bitterness in his tone, and a little bit of anger, but also a strange, sympathetic sadness. He could imagine Sesshomaru's feelings, the complete loss, the emptiness. Without Kagome, he could see himself becoming the same way...a seeker after death.

"Sorry, Sesshomaru..."

Kagome came up behind him and put an arm around him; he turned and his eyes took in the reality of his own happiness, and he offered a grateful prayer.

"Hey, Kagome...let's do something nice for her, for his woman, okay?"

She smiled, reached up to touch his cheek.

"Yes."

The Inu moved through snow, and silence, through the white mist of the north on fragile, glittering paths of ice.

The wind cut through fur and skin and muscles and bone; time passed, and made no impression. Perhaps it was a day, perhaps a year; perhaps it was a century, a thousand lives of men. He could no longer remember. Long before, the ice had fused itself to his flesh, moving outwards from the slow beat of his heart; he spent one eternity after another in stillness, living only in his memories, longing for death.

With time, in that cold and voiceless wilderness, all memories but one passed from him, and he knew that it was ending, finally; that whatever penance he had owed was paid, that he had suffered enough. The wind howled and screamed; it was a moonless night and the sky was black as only a winter sky can be. Gently, one leg at a time, he bent down into the snow, found it softer than the softest fur, and warm....so warm, this powdery embrace. Laughter filled his ears suddenly, the sound of Rin's childhood; he smelled summer blossoms, the fragrance rising over him like a wave.

He smiled; the great golden eyes blinked once, twice, and closed for the last time.

Sesshomaru woke alone, in a place that he knew could not be, and stood in silence to look around. Wind moved the grass under his feet but there was no scent in it, not even of the grass...just a faint odor that he could not place, like the perfume of a flower he had never before encountered. He looked down at his own hands, the slender fingers, the tapering claws. He felt his heartbeat and thought that was a strange thing; he knew he had died.

That memory, the memory of his death, of the snow and the cold and the faint sound of laughter, were the strongest thoughts in him, but they faded quickly. There were footsteps in this great silent space, and their sound sped the beat of his heart, forced the blood through his veins with painful quickness.

And the cry that came with those footsteps, the sound of that voice -!

"Sesshomaru-sama!"

Rin -

"Sesshomaru-sama!"

Rin -

She came to a stop in front of him, not panting, smiling a little, her features soft and pretty; it was the face she had gained in the first flush of womanhood, but he would have thought her beautiful even if she had been as worn and aged as the moment she had left him.

"Rin..."

The name came from him on the third try, and he looked down at her smiling face with something like disbelief.

"How -"

"You know that, Sesshomaru-sama."

Yes; he knew.

"Where..."

She grinned.

"This is heaven, Sesshomaru-sama."

"Heaven..."

His eyes scanned her features then; delicately, almost fearfully, he reached out one hand for her and then stopped halfway through the gesture. Her gaze was questioning, full to the brim with love.

"Rin...you took the best part of me with you; the only part worth keeping, you always had."

"Always?"

She was smiling more widely now, and the expression was glorious, brilliant. He heard the test of her question, almost as if she were making fun of him.

"From the beginning."

He reached out, finally, to touch her. The skin of her cheek was smooth and soft; she felt real to him, but her flesh had a luminescence that he could not explain; as he looked down at his own hands for the second time he saw that he, too, shared that glow.

"Will we be traveling again, Sesshomaru-sama?"

Around them, there was pearlescent mist and a seemingly endless field of grey-green grass and pale blossoms; in the distance that was not exactly distance, Sesshomaru saw trees, but he thought that perhaps there was more to it than that.

"Where is there to go?"

"Anywhere, Sesshomaru-sama; anywhere at all."

His eyes crossed the field in front of them, lifted to an endless, cloudless twilight sky.

"Where do you want to go, Rin?"

Her eyes were liquid with light.

"Choose a direction, Sesshomaru-sama, any direction. It doesn't matter; I am with you."

"Yes..."

And he dragged her close, pressed her tightly against his chest.

"Rin...Rin..."

I am with you.

A/N: Phew...that was harder than I thought. And I got too choked up to make it as angsty as it started out - I like the idea of them reuniting beyond death. Reviews are appreciated as always! Much thanks goes to Rickashay, Merky15, Tokkalover, and TheEvilAshleyness for your reviews; I'm glad I hit the mark I was looking for, and I'm grateful you took the time to review!