The vines

The sun had finally risen in Feudal japan, and as usual, Rin had woken up well before the rooster had crowed. She stared aimlessly into the sunrise, and watched as the animals attempted to wake up. From the window beside her bed, she had a spectacular view of nature and all its glory.

She loved watching the trees sway from the wind, she loved to watch the clouds take form and float throughout the sky. She was forever fascinated with the way the birds flew and how nature was forever alive and moving.

However, although she had an immensely strong love of nature, the reason in which she looked out the window everyday was not to admire the world's gifts. Outside her window, was a small dirt path which was carefully hidden within the foliage of the woods. Humans rarely walked through there, for the forest connecting at the end wasn't exactly safe. Only one person used this path to reach mainland, and he for sure wasn't human.

Sesshomaru, demon dog lord of the western lands, would use this path whenever he came to visit Rin. Oh how her heart ached at the thought of her beloved lord. she had adored him from the very moment she laid eyes on him. Not once had she ever felt threatened by him, because unlike the rest of the world, she could see the good in him. she could tell that his intentions were always pure, and that his bright golden eyes were filled with longing, loneliness, pain, and pure misunderstanding. Rin wanted to be his cure. She wanted to be his crutch, his shoulder to lean on, the person he knew would forever be by his side. Although she had been just a child, she knew that her feelings towards this great youkai was not that of a child's, but one of pure love towards a significant other.

She tried to do as much as she could for him. She always tried to prove her usefulness and emphasize how she would be forever by his side. But alas, it would seem fate would not have it as such.

once Naraku had been defeated, Sesshomaru had decided it was time Rin lived a normal human life. Oh how she cried as he left her at Kaede's doorstep that fateful evening, but he assured her it was for the best, and that he would visit her every so often.

at first, it seemed like Lord Sesshomaru would keep to his word. He would visit her at least once a month with a gift. he would give her a nod of approval every time he saw that she had progressed in her training with Kaede, and then he would disappear.

Soon, however, the visits became less frequent. Sometimes he wouldn't even stop by to visit, he would just leave a gift at the door step. " I'm sure he's just busy" Kaede's would say "I bet he would love to see you, but running the western lands can't be an easy task my dear."

When Kaede passed, Rin had never felt so alone in her life. She cried and begged for her lord to return to her, but her prayers were left unanswered. She was 21, and it had been a good five years since she had received a gift for him. The last image she had in her head of him, was when she was 13 years old.

She had just finished showing him how she could successfully make a healing agent, when she managed to look up in time to see him heading out the door. She knew better than to cry, begging and tears would do nothing to keep him from leaving.

His tall figure was in the doorway. His long silver hair swayed with the breeze as well as the fox demon fur he had on his kimono. The empty sleeve of his lost arm moved with the wind as well, and the sun shined brightly through the cracks which were not blocked by his immense form. He placed his hand on the door frame and slowly looked back at her. His eyes were filled with pride and sadness as he stared into her dark brown eyes.

Rin could feel the tears swelling at the corner of her eyes, and had to remind herself to breathe as she stared at him. He slowly nodded and gave her one last good look before disappearing into the sun. For some reason, she had known it was a good bye. none of his stares had ever been so intense. but she was too reluctant to admit it, and even now she fought against the thought.

sighing to herself, Rin finally managed to pull herself out of bed and make something of her day. Today was the anniversary of Kaede's death, and she'd be damned if she allowed the day to pass without visiting her grave. She neatly made her bed and reluctantly closed the blinds to her windows. Quickly stripped herself of her sleepwear and put on a white kimono with beautifully designed flowers on it. She then worked her way over to the bathroom, where she washed her face, cleaned her teeth, and did her hair. She split her dark black bangs into halves, and put her hair into a high ponytail. Rin quickly patted her hair back, and felt it reach the small of her back. Giving herself one last good look in the mirror, she gave herself a smile and quickly scurried out.

She grabbed the basket of flowers she had picked the night before from the table, as well as the orange resting beside it for breakfast purposes. Rin hurriedly locked the front door behind her, and took a deep breath as she stared into the risen sun. Please, just let this be a good day.

Sesshomaru was bored, annoyed, and tired. who would have thought being a demon lord would be so troublesome. his father had always made it seem so easy, and here he was, struggling not to kill everything in sight.

Sesshomaru flexed his claws as he continued to pretend to listen to two demon dogs arguing, "If you wouldn't have put your shit off MY land.-" "Your land?! You mean MY land.-" "ENOUGH".

Both male demons stopped in their tracks as they stared into the red eyes of a furious Sesshomaru. "You pitiful creatures have come to me to fix your little spat about land?! This is the issue you bring before me?!" Both demons took a step back as the young lord rose from his seat. "What have we demons come to? If you have a god damn problem about territory, fight it out like the demons you are!" he spat. "Don't come to me with this pussy bullshit. Fight it out, and remember at the end of the day, this land belongs to ME. Not you, ME."

The two males looked at each other before nodding, thanking the great lord, and immediately running out of Sesshomaru's temporary cave before the lord decided to kill them for their troubles.

"What Imbeciles!" Jaken screeched. "What wastes of air, space, and life! Demons of such low caliber should never be allowed to live, never the less to be in your presence!" Sesshomaru sighed and tuned out Jaken's usual rant on how great he was as a lord.

When did demons become such pansies? he thought to himself. Back in his fathers day, the only politics in these lands consisted of

Inutaisho was ruler of the western lands

if you wanted to rule, you must defeat him

Disobey or question him? prepare to die.

But ow that Naraku was dead, pure blooded demons were dying out, and half breeds were becoming more common, everyone wanted to do things in a more humane or peaceful way.

".- demons these days just don't have any back bone! They've all turned onto their backs and given up on the old ways!"

He's still talking? Sesshomaru raised his arm slightly and immediately silenced the annoying imp. Before Sesshomaru knew it, he found himself walking out into the forrest and onto the nearest dirt path. If it wasn't for these demons and their petty problems, there would be not a single dilemma in his life. He could live his days roaming the lands and just killing whenever he felt it was convenient.

That's all his father ever did. Eat, sleep, fight, and fuck. Of course, when Inutaisho had been with his mother, he had been faithful, but their marriage had been more of a political strategy rather than a 'love' kind of thing. So when his father found 'love' within that human woman Izayoi, he had no problem dissolving the marriage. He was the lord of the western lands already! Why worry about anyone else's feelings.

Word of the dissolved marriage spread quickly throughout the demon world, but nothing had done more damage than the fact that his father had truly left the marriage because he had fallen in love with a human princess. Sesshomaru's mother held her head up high with pride, while Sesshomaru couldn't help but feel resent towards the human woman for dishonoring his name. Even worst was when he had received news that the wench was with child.

A familiar scent which was traveling along the wind broke Sesshomaru's trance. It smelt lovely, like flowers and freshly cut fruits. Sesshomaru looked around as he continued walking, and realized he had walked straight into his favorite place, the grave yard.

He wasn't attracted to the place because there was pain and suffering there. He merely enjoyed the utterly quiet peace the place had to offer. He was about to jump onto his favorite branch when he noticed the scent again. Usually he would ignore it, but it seemed as if curiosity had won, and he followed the scent to a small open area.

Foot steps? Rin was brought out of prayer as she realized someone was approaching from behind. She looked up into Kaede's marble tombstone and saw a large figure working their way towards her. As the footsteps got closer, she placed her hands on her knelt knees and sighed. Probably Hugo offering some flowers. And as she turned her body to look into her 'friends' face, she ended up staring into the golden eyes of her beloved; Sesshomaru.