Rin and her parents were singing 'Mockingbird' by Toby Keith in the car on a rainy Friday night. They were on their way home from eating dinner at Pizza Hut. Rin sat in the back seat as she belted out the words in her 10 year old voice. Her dad was smiling at her through the mirror and her mom singing next to him. It was a good night. They were getting ready to sing the next song on the CD as they started driving over a bridge. A drunk driver fell asleep at the wheel at 85mph instead of going the legal 45. Without warning Rin's car was hit head first. Their car spun out of control with the help of the slick roads as they hit and broke through the side of the bridge. The car fell 100 yds. into the deep freezing river. Rin opened her eyes slowly. The water was slowly rising as the car sank deeper and deeper into the water. Blood was all over her face and her arm and leg felt numb from shock. They had slammed into the wall on her side.

"Mommy? Daddy?" she lightly whimpered. Her mother stirred. She took in her surroundings. She weakly tried to wake her husband but he didn't even flinch.

"Oh god, Rin?" she turned her head to try to see Rin.

Rin gasped at her bloody face and hand as her mother tried to reach for her, but her seatbelt was stuck. She took in the rising water. She tried to get out of her seat belt but couldn't. The water was at their necks now. The cold water numbed the gash in Rin's arm. She could barely breathe. She floated to the ceiling. Her seatbelt was had broken off. Her mother looked scared as she tried to hold her nose out of the water.

"Rin? …. Hold on! Hold…." The water rose over her head.

"Mommy?" Rin called.

She could see her mother's arms fighting against the water until they grew still. Soon Rin was completely submerged in the icy water. She tried to get out of the car but was too weak. She saw her life flash before her eyes. Then something smashed through the window. A hand reached for her. He pulled her out of the car. She saw the figure's hair flowing with the water with his arm wrapped around her as he swam to the surface before she passed out.

16 year old Rin jerked awake from her dream in her room in Tokyo, Japan. Her cousin, Kagome, was knocking on her bedroom door.

"Rin! Breakfast is ready!"

"Okay!" she called back.

Rin's long dark hair flowed to half way down her back. Her blue eyes made her skin glow. She shuddered at the memory of the night her parents died. When her parents had died, she was the only one who magically survived. She had lost everything and was sent to live with Kagome and her family. She was born in America and had only spoken English. She was of Japanese heritage but had never been to Japan. She had to learn Japanese and had to take many summer school classes to catch up with the Japanese students. It was hard but she made it to her last year in middle school. Soon she would go to high school. Rin dressed and headed toward the kitchen. She sat down beside Sota at the table, who was doing his summer homework for English.

"Rin? What does this mean?" Rin glanced at the workbook.

"It says 'The girl took her dog to the park to play with its friends.'"

Rin was Sota and Kagome's knight and shining armor when it comes to their English class. Rin takes the highest levels of English to touch up her grammar and to help her to remember how to speak English. She was still fluent and proud of it!

"Well, I'm off to the feudal era!" said Kagome as she ran down the hallway with her usual over packed backpack.

Rin shook her head. Her cousin gets to go to this other dimension of feudal Japan where she fights demons and has a half demon boyfriend. She leaves for weeks at a time and misses A LOT of school. Since Rin actually GOES to school, she turns into Kagome's private tutor.

"Be careful!" called her mother. With that said Kagome left.

"Hey mom can we go to the beach today?" piped up Sota. Rin smiled.

"We can AFTER you complete your homework," smiled his mother. He groaned as he got back to work.

"Rin? What does this word mean?"

"Monday."

After two hours of English questions, Sota was finally done with a month's worth of work. His mother thought that he had done a good days work and let him go get ready to go.

"Rin, do you want to go?" Sota asked her. His mother stopped to looked at Rin so did Gramps. After a second, Rin smiled.

"Sure, I'll go. Let me get ready."

She went into her room to put on her string two piece suit. After putting on some shorts and a tank top she headed out to the front door. Her aunt, Gramps, and Sota were putting their shoes on when she approached.

"Alright! Let's go!" said Sota as he bolted out the door toward the sidewalk. Rin was about to leave when her aunt stopped her.

"Rin, are you sure that you want to do this?" she asked her. Rin smiled.

"Yep." And with that she headed out to race Sota to the bus stop.

Rin didn't want to get in the pool so she just lay out on a towel while the others splashed each other in the ocean. Sota was having a blast. Gramps cried out when he saw a stick int eh water thinking that it was a snake with her aunt laughing him. While they played, her mind wondered. She thought about what it would be like for her to have this much fun with her own parents back home in America. She wondered what it would be like for her to go shopping with her mom and having the boys are yucky talk with her dad. She will never know that now. One drunken bastard took that kind of life from her. Rin tightened her fists. She remembered the day that her parents' killer was on trial. He was a repeat offender. This time, he was in jail for the rest of his life, but he never looked sorry but mad that he got caught. The fact that he didn't care that he killed people, made her angry.

"Hey, Rin! Come out here! The water is fine!" called Sota. His voice jerked her out of her mental torment.

"I just wanna soak up some sun, Sota," she called back to him. He ran over to her. He put his pruny cold wet hand on her leg. She jumped at the cold touch.

"Please! It'll be fun!" he begged.

"Sota, I don't really…," she started to say but he gave her the puppy eyes. Damn him!

"Well, alright, but just for a little bit," she said getting up and chasing him to the ocean's edge. She stopped just before the waves got close enough to touch her toes. The water made her remember that scene in the car.

"Come on, Rin!" he called to her. She took a deep breath. Slowly and carefully, she stepped into the ocean with deep frightened breaths. Before she knew it, she was in waist deep water with her aunt and family. Sota was right. The water was nice.

Kagome climbed her way out of the well, where her friends were waiting for her. Inuyasha stepped toward her.

"It's about time! Why do you take so long to get back here?"

"Hey I go through a lot of trouble to get back here, you know! I had to get help from Rin so that I won't fail middle school!"

"Who flippin cares about school! What else do need to know other than to read and write! You're already the smartest one in the feudal area!"

"You don't live in my world! I need to learn this to get into a decent high school then hopefully college! Excuse me for wanting to be successful in my life!"

"The only thing that you need to be concerned about is find the rest of the shards of the jewel before Naraku does!"

"Inuyasha! SIT!"

He face planted into the ground with a mighty thud.

"Will you ever learn?" sighed Shippo. Miroku and Sango shook their heads in disappointment.

"Well, we should be on our way then?" said Miroku. The others trailed after him with Inuyasha still trying to recover.

Kagome was gone for over a week and finals were coming up. Rin was picking up the day's work for Kagome at the office when her friends showed up.

"Rin! Hey, do you know what's happened to Kagome?"

"Oh well, the doctor thinks that she's suffering from chronic stomach pains. They are still trying to figure out what's wrong."

"Oh. Well, tell that we wish her well."

"Will do," Rin said getting on her bike to head home. She waved goodbye and peddled home with a sigh.

'It's a good thing that I came up with a disease before Gramps. He wanted to tell everyone that she has Leprosy,' she thought to herself. When she got home Sota just got back from school.

"Hey! I had fun at the beach! We should do it again sometime!"

Rin ruffled his head and headed into the house to get ready for dinner. Her aunt was chopping zucchini when Rin came in to cut the chicken.

"So how was school today, Rin?"

"Oh, it was fine. I saved Kagome from Gramps' Leprosy diagnosis."

"Someone has to, I guess."

After dinner, homework finished, and chores were done, Rin went to bed.

'"Mommy? Daddy?" she lightly whimpered. Her mother stirred. She took in her surroundings. She weakly tried to wake her husband but he didn't even flinch.

"Oh god, Rin?" she turned her head to try to see Rin.

Rin gasped at her bloody face and hand as her mother tried to reach for her, but her seatbelt was stuck. She took in the rising water. She tried to get out of her seat belt but couldn't. The water was at their necks now. The cold water numbed the gash in Rin's arm. She could barely breath. She floated to the ceiling. Her seatbelt was broke. Her mother looked scared as she tried to hold her nose out of the water.

"Rin? …. Hold on! Hold…." The water rose over her head.

"Mommy?" she called. '

Rin gasped awake from her dream. Sweat was running do her forehead. She could never stop dreaming about that moment in the car. She rose out of bed to go on a walk around the family shrine. The spring time air kept her cool in her sleep shorts and tank top. The leaves on the tree rustled to the faint wind. She found her way to the well that Kagome goes to to visit her friends in the feudal era. She stared into the empty darkness with her chin resting on her hand.

"I wonder what the feudal era is like," she wondered out loud. She reached into the darkness of the well, only to watch her hand disappear. She sighed and made to leave. A blinding green light came from behind her that made her whip around.

"Kagome? Is that you?" she asked. The light dimmed down a little but illuminated the room. Rin's heart flipped as she eased over to the well to look for Kagome.

"Kagome? Seriously this isn't funny," she growled. She put her hands on the edge to look down the well. All she could see as the green light.

"Kagome?"

Then suddenly, a gray tentacle jerked out and grabbed her arm. It made the bones in her wrist shake as it tried to pull her in. Rin shrieked. She tried to claw it off of her and pulled away from it. Two other tentacles appeared from the well. One grabbed her other wrist and the other wrapped tightly around her hip. Rin screamed for help as she dug her heels on the floor to stop it from pulling her, but it was no use. The tentacles lifted her up in the air before in pulled her deep into the well into the unknown.

The next thing Rin knew was her being pulled out of the well with whatever was holding her. The tentacles dragged her toward the woods. She tried to scream but a tentacle covered her mouth before her second scream. Soon she arrived, she saw that the tentacles were connected to an ugly creature. Her eyes were red with ugly gray skin and green hair. Her long white teeth were snarling at her. The creature growled at Rin. She slapped her across the face.

"You! You are the one! You killed him!" the creature screamed. Rin was confused. The tentacle mouth from her mouth.

"I didn't kill anyone! I swear! I don't know what you're talking about!" Rin cried out. She was slapped again.

"You did! Yoooooooou did!" spat the creature. Rin screamed at the top of her lungs, praying that someone would hear her.

"There's no one who can save you! He's not here with you to kill someone else!" she growled readying her claws to strike.

"I don't know who you're talking about!" Rin cried. Then the creature froze. She whipped her head around.

"YOU!" Rin looked past the creature to see a beautiful man walking toward them.

"Move. You're in my way," the man simply said without losing stride. The creature turned to face him.

"You helped kill him! You both killed him!" she screeched.

The man's face showed a sign of emotion as if he understood something she said. He shifted his body to looked at Rin gasping for air as a tentacle started choking her. The man whipped out his sword and attacked so swiftly that Rin barely had time to blink. The creature fell in a dead heap as her tentacles relaxed their hold on Rin. She fell toward the ground but instead of meeting the dirt, a pair of strong arms caught her. Her savior had caught her and was walking away from the dead creature. Rin saw that his hair was silver and was grown past his hips. His face was gorgeous with purple markings on his face. His outfit reminded Rin of ancient Japan with a fancy armor. He was drop dead gorgeous. When the body was out of sight, Rin's head became clear. She took in on the past events which made her stop goggling over her savior.

"O M G! OMYGOD! Okay put me down! Time out! Put me down," Rin said freaking out. The man stopped and carefully let her slip from his arms. He watched her as she staggered away from him.

"I will not harm you. You're safe," his sexy voice muttered. OMG he had a sexier voice than Rin's version of Edward Cullen! She shook off her hormone urges.

"What was that thing?" she said to him. She was pacing with her fingers in her hair. Every noise made her jump. She was in unfamiliar territory.

"That was a demon. She was confused and mistook us for something else. Blinded by vengeance. She's gone now. You're safe," he said gently walking up to her. She backed up slowly.

"I will not harm you," he repeated, "I merely wish to see if she hurt you." Rin backed into a tree with him still advancing on her.

"Who are you?" she said in a scared voice. He stopped in front of her.

"My name is Sesshomaru. Let me see your head," he said slowly and carefully using a finger to move her face aside.

Rin hadn't noticed that she had cut her head when she was being dragged into the woods. She was so scared that she didn't feel it. She felt his strong but gentle finger move her face this way and that as he examined her little wound. His touch was like electricity shooting throughout her body. Her body was reacting to him in a way that she had never felt before. His hand gently held her shoulder with his other on her cheek. He leaned in to smell her neck which made her hormones go crazy. If he didn't stop then she was willing to let him do something a whole lot more than rescue her. Rin felt him hesitate for a minute. It seemed like he was restraining himself. He leaned back to rub the little blood from her head. He took his hands away from her, to her dismay.

"You are fine. Come with me," he said to her, walking in the woods.

"I'm glad that you saved me and all, but how do I know that I can trust you?" she said. He turned his head to side glance her.

"You sound like someone I know. To answer your question, if I wanted to kill you then I would have already. I'm all you have for the time being," he said continuing to lead the way.

"Fine!" she huffed trailing after him. She knew that he was right. If he wanted to hurt her then he would have done it already or just not save her period. She decided to trust him for the time being and followed him into the woods.

They walked through the woods in silence for an hour which was getting on Rin's nerves. She hated long awkward silences. She walked with her feet sliding and kicking at the forest floor as she went.

"You seem restless," Sesshomaru said with a side glance.

"I don't like awkward silences."

"I know."

"How would you know."

"Observation tells all," he smiled as he walked. She folded her arms across her chest.

"Where are we going?"

"A safer place."

"Do you always walk alone in the woods?"

"Generally."

"Don't you ever get lonely?"

"Yes." He stopped walking. Rin thought of something.

"Am I bugging you with my random questions?"

"No."

"Then why have you stopped?"

He sniffed the air. Rin stepped beside him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing," he muttered as he kept walking. Rin stayed close.

"You know what I don't understand?"

"What?"

"You saved me and letting me walk with you and you haven't even asked what my name is."

"Rin." He said softly in a lovely whisper. She froze.

"How did you know?"

He smirked at her as he went.

"You are really weird, you know that?" she said.

"I have been told that long ago," he said.

The sun was setting as they kept walking through the woods. Rin was getting tired. Her shorts and tank top were not a good shield from the evening chills. She held her arms as she followed. Sesshomaru finally stopped.

"It is late. We shall rest here," he said sitting down against a tree.

"You still haven't told me where we were going."

"I told you, a safe place."

"Yeh, but not exactly WHERE."

He looked up at the stars.

"You shall see soon enough, for now you must trust me that I will keep you safe," he said to her.

"You're being difficult," she muttered with a shiver. A scary sound came over head which made her jump and look around.

"It's alright. I won't let anything happen to you," he sounded like he meant it, "Come sit with me. You're cold." Rin considered it.

"No thanks," she said with her nose up in the air.

She didn't know this guy very well. Why should she sit beside him? She lay down away from him with her arms and legs curled around her.

"You are the weird one and stubborn for denying yourself warmth from the cold," smirked Sesshomaru. Rin did the childish thing by rolling over in response. She heard him chuckling where he sat. He was gorgeous, she could give him that, but he's got a long way to go before she can fully trust him. For all she knew, he could be leading her into a trap. She yawned. She could figure things out in the morning as she fell asleep on the cold hard floor.

Sesshomaru watched her fall asleep on the cold floor with a hint of amusement and joy. It had been so long. When he smelled her scent for the first time he could not believe that it was really her! That demon creature was after her for what happened to her mate all those years ago, but how did she know where to find Rin? An answer he will probably discover later on. Now that he found Rin, certain events will be in motion and he must be watchful. Everything has happened as she said over 250 years ago.

' "I will not see you again for another 250 years. I would not have seen you before. You may not recognize me at first. You must be careful when you find me again. Many things will come to past once you find me. Take care, my love," She kissed him once more before she left him alone for the years to come.

"Please, don't leave me!" he beckoned. She turned to face him one last time.

"Know that I have always known you and I will always love you, my Sesshomaru," Rin said before she disappeared from sight.'

He returned from his flashback. Rin was right. He got to be with her again but this must be when she first met him. She was with him. She was safe. He wanted to lay with her once again, but didn't want to frighten Rin away from him. She doesn't love him yet. She doesn't know him yet. He waited for her for 250 years; he could surely wait a little longer for her. A gust of wind blew around them. Rin's body shook. He sighed his frustration. He couldn't help her to stay warm, but she did something that warmed his heart with hope. Rin was half awake when she stood up. She walked over to him with her eyes barely open. Sesshomaru didn't move a muscle. He moved his arm to make room for her as she sat down beside him. She snuggled against him with an arm wrapped around his shoulders. He smiled down at her when she sighed with relief from the cold. He wrapped an arm around her to hold her closer. He kissed her on the head.

"Rest now, my Rin. Soon, your destiny will come for you and I will be there with you every step of the way. Only you have ever touched my heart," he whispered against her hair.

It was as if she was responding to his voice when she rubbed her head against his chest. Sesshomaru was happy again to just have the woman he loved in his arms again. He leaned his head against the tree as exhaustion took him.

"Oh god, Rin!"

"Mommy?...Mommy!"

Rin jerked awake with a gasp. She was breathing hard as she calmed down. Something was playing with her hair. It felt so good. The touch calmed her down immediately. The fingers were carefully combing through her hair with such grace.

"Bad dream?" she heard Sesshomaru say next to her. Her eyes bulged. She looked at where she was. She was in the arms of her savior and he was running his fingers through his hair. She gaped at what was happening.

"I heard from a friend that whenever she had a bad dream, she would feel better after someone combed her hair. It seems to work for you as well," he grinned moving a lock of hair from her face.

"I was sleeping over there. How did I ….you moved me didn't you," she accused. He shook his head with a smile.

"On my honor, I did not. The wind made you so cold that you came here of your own accord. I didn't think that you knew what you were doing since you were half awake. Do not worry. I was a perfect gentleman," he grinned.

His smile made her heart skip a beat. She became aware at how close their faces were. His eyes were so lovely but yet sad and lonely. His fair skin gleamed with the sun. His silver white hair was soft and silky when it touched her skin. She softened her eyes. Without thinking, she started leaning toward his lips. To her amazement, he was leaning toward her. Her hand touched his cheek. His eyes closed at her touch. Their lips were about to connect when she faced reality. She was about to kiss a guy that she had met yesterday. She pulled back, standing up. Sesshomaru made no effort to stop her.

Rin straightened her hair and top with embarrassment. Her face beat red. She cleared her throat, "I uh I need to go get some water. Is there a river nearby?" she asked him. He didn't seem affected by her attempted kiss. He stood up.

"There is a river this way," he said leading the way.

Rin followed in silence. She felt so awkward now that it was driving her insane. Her body was hot and ready for him. She didn't know why! She figured that this is what it feels like to be turned on by someone. Sesshomaru pushed back the bushes for her as she stepped into view of the river side. It was beautiful sight. Such blue water and fish swimming with the current.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"Yes it is," he said watching her gaze.

"This is where I first met my friend," he said. She turned around.

"What was she like?"

"What makes you so sure that it's a woman?"

"Because you wouldn't tell my where you first met your guy friends," she said. Sesshomaru chuckled. It sent chills down her spine.

"I suppose so," he agreed.

"What was she like?"

"She was very much like you. Kind, smart, and very lovely," he purred toward her, "But that was in the past. She disappeared and I haven't seen or heard from her for over 250 years. Let's not talk about it. I'll be around the bend," he said walking around the river bend and out of sight.

Rin thought that it was a very personal question. She doesn't see him asking her about past boyfriends. She felt like she put him on the spot. She felt awful. She decided to go over to apologize. She jogged around the bend to look for him. She thought that he was sitting next to the forest edge, but she was mistaken. He was undressing to bathe in the river! She whipped around the rock with a flushing red face. She thought that one peek wouldn't be bad….would it? She peeked around the rock. He was about to slip off the under shirt of his kimono. She watched him slide it down his back. Oh Lord! As the under kimono slid down his back, it revealed his very muscular and gorgeous back. She could see every muscle move as he stretched his arm. The wind had moved his hair out of the way as he turned to the side. The sun made his hard core abs glisten. Oh Lord! Rin's body was ready for him to take her now! Her breath stopped when he started untying the string holding his pants up. Rin hid behind the boulder. Her body was shacking with desire. He was so hot! OMG! What was she doing? She'd just done something that guys would get beaten to a pulp if they ever spied on a girl. Why should it be different for a girl? She wanted to take another peek but fought the urge. She headed back to her side of the water bend. She had to cool down! She took off her clothes and dove into the refreshing water.

Sesshomaru left Rin to walk around the corner to give her privacy. He figured that he might as well bathe while they were beside one of the cleanest rivers. Then he thought about Rin asking him about his past. He was glad that she was curious to get to know him but it also hurt him to remember what it felt like to watch her disappear from his arms for years. He sighed at the memory. He took off his armor and sash as he pondered. He put his armor and swords on the ground where he can see and get to them if he needed to. He was untying his kimono when he caught a whiff of a familiar scent. He smiled. Rin was close by, watching him. He heard her hiding behind the boulder by the river. He didn't mind. She had seen more of him when they were together all those years ago. Then he thought that she had never seen him before, but didn't care. If she wanted to stare, who was he to stop her? Then knowing her from years past, he knew how to put on a show for her. He turned his back to her, sliding off the over kimono shirt. He smirked as he slowly shrugged off his under shirt. He could smell her arousal growing as he exposed his back. It always pleased him to know that Rin was always aroused to see him. He dropped the shirt to the side to stretch. He felt his back muscles flex, which made her smell stronger. He turned to the side to let her see his chest with the sun light. He growled to himself at the powerful scent of her. Her body was ready for him. He sighed at the memory of her making love to him for the first time many many years ago, but right now, Rin had not ever lain with a man. He heard her take off away from him to give him more privacy. He smirked at the response to his performance for her. She will fall for him like he fell for her for the first time years ago. And the dangers to come will be faced together. He sighed as he stepped in the water. Rin told him years ago that when she meets him for the first time that she would have no idea what's to come. His head hurt from thinking about her from different time periods. He submerged himself in the water.