19

I am sorry for the delay, but Ichigo wanted to upload the chapter from Friday first. Unfortunately she is suffering from writer's block and therefore was until now unable to finish her short story. So we skip that for now and go on with the next door. Please remember to send the answer to the riddle below as a PM so no-one can cheat. I don't own Inuyasha, but still have fun ^^

Hot Spring

Sesshomaru looked around himself. Where could she be?, he wondered. The dog demon threw his long silver hair over his shoulder, golden eyes searching every shadow for the girl he was looking for. "Rin", his voice was still calm, though his insides squirmed with an uneasy feeling. The hut was empty, the neatly folded covers indicating the one living in it had left a long time ago.

"Huh?", a surprised voice came from the entrance. "Lord Sesshomaru, what are you doing here?" Said man turned around, facing a short old woman. Her grey hair was held in a low ponytail, her right eye covered by an eye patch, the other one still looking as clear as a running river at the demon. "Kaede", the demon nodded his head in acknowledgment. After all she was the teacher of the human girl Sesshomaru had saved years ago.

"Rin left with Inuyasha and Kagome. They wanted to go to a hot spring. Something about ignoring the cold winter.", the elder woman explained, already knowing, whom the man in front of her was looking for. "They were heading south." She shouted the last part with her raspy voice, as the white dog demon was already leaving, following the scent of his half brother and two females.

Kaede shook her head. "When will he ever realise? He is too proud, but it's fairly obvious, if you know to read the signs." She clicked her tongue and found herself in the middle of a crowd of children, as she came back to reality. "Kaede-sama", they called. "You wanted to teach us about herbs!" The old woman smiled warmly down at them. "Aye, let's go then, shall we?" With that the group of children moved with her in the opposite direction Sesshomaru had disappeared to.

Sesshomaru scented the air around him. He could sense his half brother, the strange woman from the future and his Rin. Wait. Since when is she mine?, Sesshomaru asked himself. Since she accepted you for what you are., his inner beast calmly responded. She is our mate to be. You know it. The human belongs with us. And even though 'human' usually was meant as an insult, the way his demon side said it, made it sound like an endearment.

Sesshomaru groaned, as his beast pushed the unpleasant memory to the front of his head. He didn't want to see it ever again. It had been the one and only time Rin had smelled frightened to the core, just because she had seen him. The real him. She had walked in on Sesshomaru in his demon form. She had seen him with his missing fore leg, the poisonous salvia, the growling barks he made in the back of his throat. Every other human would have screamed, fainted or run away – Rin just stood there staring at him with both awe and wariness. That was until Sesshomaru had deliberately lowered his head to her eye level. Malicious red had clashed with deep brown. The petit woman had gulped, but nevertheless had lifted her hand towards his fanged jaw. And the gigantic demon dog had allowed her to be the first person to stroke his fur.

"Sesshomaru!", a shrill voice screamed from somewhere overhead, efficiently snapping the dog demon out of his thoughts. A two-headed dragon landed next to him without breaking its stride. A small imp in brown robes was on the back, waving wildly at their master. "Sesshomaru!", the imp yelled again. Sesshomaru raised a brow: "There should be a 'Lord' in there somewhere."

"I am so sorry Milord!", the toad bowed as far as it was possible on the back of the two headed dragon. "How could I forget about that? I, Jaken, am so very sorry master." The dog demon's mouth twitched a bit. He was tempted to throw his loyal servant into the deep forest without the dragon. But seeing as Jaken always found a way back to his Lord, much like a dog although that simile was rather ironic, the demon declined the idea.

"Shut up before I'll kill you", Sesshomaru said, only side glancing at the imp. Jaken broke out into stuttering, only being silenced by another annoyed glare of his master. Said mans thoughts returned to the female has was looking for. You do realise you're completely obsessed with treasure., Sesshomaru's inner demon spoke up. Sesshomaru thought of gold, diamonds, silver. He could have enough of that, if he wanted to. After all he was the Lord of the Western Lands. I am not obsessed with treasure., he told his other half. The demon, having seen Sesshomaru's thoughts chuckled darkly. Not all treasure is silver and gold mate.

Growling at himself, Sesshomaru pushed his inner beast back behind the soundproof wall that usually separated them. Only since Rin had grown older – and had shown signs of being a woman – the other half of him had started to come out more frequently. It annoyed the Inu yokai to no end, however he still had to figure out a way to solve his problem.

Some time of walking later Sesshomaru finally had caught up to the group. They had gone for a spring that was extra warm and was huge enough for at least ten people. This Sesshomaru hopes, they at least split off in a male and female party. Otherwise this one won't guarantee for anything. A wind brushed Sesshomaru's hair back, twirling it with invisible fingers, flapping like a flag behind his back. It also brought the scent of water and persons to his nose. He smelled his half brother Inuyasha, Kagome, her two human friends, the kitsune and Rin. They were all in one place!

"Lord Sesshomaru!", Jaken yelled, as the dog demon darted off without warning. "Wait for me!" But his master didn't hear him anymore. Quicker than thought he bolted through the trees until the stream of the hot spring forced him to slow down a bit. Finally Sesshomaru was able to see them. The men were leaning on the right rim, bare chests glistening with droplets of water. The girls weren't far from them, wearing some weird looking, tight, very showing cloths. Kagome had a green one, with straps wrapping the top around her neck. Sango wore a pink one with black strips on the sides; it was a bit less revealing than Kagome's but still left nothing to imagination. Still they weren't the ones Sesshomaru was looking for. The one he wanted to see swam in circles around Shippo, the fox kit, Inuyasha's band had adopted. Rin wore her hair in a high bun, revealing her orange and white… thing!

Sesshomaru's eyes bled red and he growled loudly, effectively capturing the attention of everyone.

"Sesshomaru"

"Onii-san"

"Brother"

They all gasped at the same time. "What are you doing here?", Rin swam towards her guardian. "What are you wearing?", Sesshomaru shot right back at her. "This is unsightly" The teenage girl lowered her head a bit in embarrassment, treading the water to not drown. "Kagome gave it to me, so I wouldn't have to bathe naked anymore.", she tried to explain. "We won't always have the time to bathe separately.", Kagome hurried to explain further. "Besides, in my time it is common for girls our age to wear Bikinis. There is nothing unseemly about it." The other human couple watched warily, as Sesshomaru marched up and down beside the spring like a tiger in a cage. Inuyasha pulled Kagome close to him, shaking his head, as she wanted to say something to Sesshomaru. Good move. Otherwise there's no telling this one wouldn't have hurt your mate.

Eventually the dog demon grasped Rin's wrist and pulled the girl from the water. "My tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are in trouble.", Miroku mumbled. Sango in return slapped him across the face. Hard. "Are you never able to hold your tongue, houshi?"

"Not in this life", Inuyasha told her. It was the last thing Rin was able to hear, as Sesshomaru dragged her into the forest.

"What were you thinking?", he growled at her. The teenage girl shivered in the cold air. "I was thinking I didn't want to bath naked with the men. What were you thinking?" So we are from innocent to warrior mode again? Fine, this Sesshomaru can cope with that! "You will never wear this again!", he motioned to the clothes. "This one will not allow it!"

"Why are you making a problem were nothing is?"

"This is a problem, do not dare to deny it!"

Rin crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Sesshomaru. The day was long enough even before Sesshomaru had shown up. "The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Do you understand?" The demon blinked in surprise. Instantly his inner beast surfaced into his thoughts. You know she's right. These clothes are very tempting. And we both know Rin doesn't want anyone else except us. Why not show her, why she shouldn't wear these clothes, as long as she doesn't want us to react according to them? Sesshomaru mentally glared at it. Because she is not yet our mate! She may not see us the way we do. He didn't even notice, how he just admitted he wanted Rin to be his mate. Even though it was only to his other half, who was already aware of it.

"The problem is, that you are wearing this thing in public. This one cannot believe it."

"So you wouldn't mind, if I wore it in private?"

Sesshomaru stopped in his tracks. As quick as thought he pulled a mask in front of his face to hide his emotions from this innocent little human. There was no way he would allow himself to tell her about how beautiful she looked to him. Not ever. She needed to lead a normal human live and for that she didn't need a demon by her side.

Rin seemed to have read his mind in some way, as she calmly stated something, that shocked Sesshomaru to the bone: "If you choose to lock your heart away, you'll lose it for certain." She gave him her trademark smile, the one the demon never was able to resist. "Rin", he breathed. How does she always know, what helps me?

Without warning he pulled her in a tight hug. "You belong with me and only me.", Sesshomaru whispered into her ear. Rin giggled softly: "Who else do you think I want to spend my life with? But could we now go home? It's getting cold you know." Without thinking any further the white dog demon scooped his fragile human into his arms, pressing her close to his body heat and covered her in his fur. "Don't lock your heart away from me", Rin mumbled, who suddenly was so very tired. The feeling of her Lord's light steps and hearing his beating heart beneath his clothes was so calming, the girl fell asleep.

Riddle: Name the movie series that is alluded to in this one shot. (I don't own the series.)

Please solve the riddle via a PM so no one can cheat.

Also check out the other short stories we have uploaded so far. In order:

1 The Lord of the kitchen

2 The tale of the handsome commander

3 Miroku's wish list

4 Dream beaches

5 How to not freeze to death

6 Surprise surprise

7 I'm going into town, Tomoe

8 No one ever calls me to simply drink coffee

9 Tigers and Badminton

10 Geography with Myoga

11 Preparations

12 The other way to fight

13 Meeting Tomoe

14 That's not an emergency, Foaly

15 Hn

16 For my dearest friend

17 Magical Folders

18 coming soon