Reflection

[luxken27]

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Pairing: None (single character introspection: Jinenji's mother)
Rating: K+
Inspiration: iyfic_contest Week 166 | Oil & Water (1st Place)
Based upon: Episode #96, "Jaken Falls Ill" & "When You Were Young" (C) 2006 The Killers




Hmm, maybe there's something to all this bittersweet fic I've been writing lately...

I struggled to come up with a suitable idea for this theme, but I knew there would be a good one lurking somewhere within the canon. So many opposites attracting pairs abounding, LOL :) But there wasn't much I could say about the core characters that didn't feel like a retread of something else I've written recently.

I've been thinking quite a bit about the Sess/Rin relationship lately (I blame you, plumespixie!), and this idea was a natural extension of that one. The first few lines came to me, and suddenly it hit me that there was a better 'fit' to such thinking: Jinenji's mother. And, even better, these particular relationships cross paths, at least in the anime!

So, after a bit of research (watching the two relevant episodes and rereading Jinenji's arc in the manga), I contemplated the continuation of the conversation between Jinenji's mother and Rin in "Jaken Falls Ill", before she heads out to find the berries.

We don't know much about this relationship, only that his father died sometime before they enter the manga/anime storyline. Considering her age, and Jinenji's scars, it must've happened a long time ago - long enough for her to grow old and crony and bitter, LOL, all the while fiercely protective of her son.

The only reason it's in first person (which I generally abhor) is because she lacks a name, and I didn't want to make one up. Besides, as the piece went on, I thought it was better to have it in first person, to make the regret and longing and reflection a bit more poignant. Here's a woman torn between her past (her grand passion) and her present (caring for her son), dealing with her situation as best she knows how.

I thought her relationship with her youkai mate was a nice contrast to the Sess/Rin one, hence all the romantic discussion even though she was there to save Jaken's life! Sometimes I do wonder...if anybody tried to ward Rin off her stubborn path of following Sesshoumaru, would such warnings fall on deaf ears? Probably. No matter how you define their relationship, she worships the ground he walks on.

The inspiration song has a lot of nice lyrics, and the whole feel of anticipation of the innocent is well-matched for this, I think. Looking back with a mix of pain and nostalgia...yeah, I think that's what Jinenji's mother does often when she's alone :)

You sit there in your heartache / Waiting on some beautiful boy / To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness / Watch it now / Here he come
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus / But he talks like a gentleman / Like you imagined
When you were young...

Can we climb this mountain? / I don't know / Higher now than ever before
I know we can make it if we take it slow...

Comments

[plumespixie2.livejournal.com]

Rin HAS been told MANY times to leave Sess... even getting kidnapped by monks and he has to go get her. She ALWAYS fights to go back to his side, and says she wants to be with her Sesshomaru-sama FOREVER.

All throughout the canon, Rin is told to leave Sess and she NEVER does, AND, he NEVER leaves her behind, always coming to retrieve and rescue her.

Even in the end, he is there, bringing her gifts and visiting often. He did NOT abandon her even then, and suffers having to visit a human village on a regular basis just to see HER.

Rin obviously has a little girl crush on her lord, and RT has stated in interviews that they are in a lolicon relationship. In Japan, where I spend three months of every year), it is KNOWN that Sess and Rin are a ROMANTIC CANON pairing... despite her young age.

I don't think he has sex with her, but he definitely is IN LOVE with her. I know it is hard to get that impression from the english translation, BUT in the Japanese version (which I have read) it is OBVIOUS in some of the statements made by both him and other characters that their relationship is ROMANTIC and PHYSICAL. (She talks about sleeping with him, cuddled in mokomoko and his mother comments that he has made a strange choice in romantic companion, and he has become his father.)

<3
PP

[luxken27]

Um...no need to come out with your guns blazing, here. I know you feel quite strongly about your ship, but the fact of the matter is we'll probably never be on the same page about it :) Considering how diametrically opposed we are on our stances of Sesshoumaru's characterization, I'm fairly certain we'll never agree on his proposed choice of romantic partners.

People have been warding Rin off Sesshoumaru's path, most of the time with ill-placed good intention. If you saw someone about to make a very difficult choice, one that could lead to despair and heartache, one that you had made yourself long ago, would you try to influence their decision? That was the point of this piece, not necessarily taking a stance on the Sess/Rin relationship.

[plumespixie2.livejournal.com]

no no no... I was just pointing out that you are totally right in the fact that she HAS been told to leave and even if it is NOT in her best interest, she still stays. (WHY is anyone's guess).

In all honesty, he is most likely NOT the best person for her to stay with, if you consider things like safety and security and a HOME. I know that, I just don't think she CARES.

She is arguably a little brainwashed when it comes to Sess, thanks to Jaken constantly talking about how WONDERFUL he is.

My feelings on the relationship aside, I know A LOT of people are TOTALLY squicked by it, and I respect that.

I have a friend who is COMPLETELY SESS/KAGU like, even more than I am SESS/RIN and we just agree to disagree.

I didn't mean to come off as all militant, I was actually agreeing with you.

Their motovations are a mystery, (even as to WHY he would be lolicon for a HUMAN) and why she would STAY with him if he was????

That's what I like about the pairing, you can do a lot with them because they are so vaguely defined.

<3
PP

[plumespixie2.livejournal.com]

by the way, my capatalization is used as a lazy form of italics here on lj, it isn't like... yelling or anger or over emotion or anything.

<3
PP

[luxken27]

No worries...as long as you're aware of the CAPSLOCK OF RAAAAAAAAAGE thing that kinda abounds on the internet :P Might I suggest learning the HTML tags? They aren't that hard to insert, even in replies :)

Sesshoumaru/Kagura is pretty one-sided in my opinion (on her part) because, again. The whole "spawn of Naraku" thing would be a deal-breaker IMO. I've written it, some quite lovely pieces in fact, but it's not my all-time pairing. I'm Inu/Kag at heart, but like to keep my mind open to all possibilities.

Sess is an enigma, and he arguably has the most character development over the length of the manga. That's why he's my favorite, hands down.

[plumespixie2.livejournal.com]

ROFL at the 'CAPSLOCK OF RAAAAAGEE' I actually know html fluently, as in, can write a page from complete scratch, I'm just lazy as all get out.

I'll attempt to work on that in the future as re-reading my comment I can see how it would be taken as some like, MILITANT thing where I am ANGRY that someone DARE to say anything about my precious Sess/Rin pairing... lol.

I like them, but I have written others, and I do belong to some Yaoi comms and have written some gift!fics for others that vary... even Inucest for my bff izzanami-kun.

Sorry again if I didn't express myself appropriately.

<3
PP

PS: I know what you mean about Sess/Kagu... they aren't canon, but the die-hards out there insist that they are.

<3
PP

[landofthekwt.livejournal.com]

There are a number of fanfics out there which take the anime line about Rin being like Kagome and infer from that statement that Rin is a reincarnation of the soul that was Kikyou prior to Kagome. What was clear when Kikyou's soul was returned to her that Kagome's soul was larger and had parts that never belonged to Kikyou.

[luxken27]

Interesting...I think they look alike because they both have rather generic Japanese-anime-girl features :P It's kinda weird to think that Rin is also involved in the whole shared-souls drama-rama (um, the world has to be a little bit bigger than that IMO), but whatever floats your boat I suppose!