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Disclaimer: I do NOT OWN Inuyasha, nor do I claim any of the ideas, images, characters or other material of Inuyasha and/or all versions/variations/spinoffs of the series, anime or manga or other publication of any kind.

A/N:

-Please review, and let me know what needs to be fixed and improved upon.

-If a sentence begins and ends with '...' then it is a thought and is not said out loud

e.x. 'I can't believe that'

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Dreams and Reality

Chapter 1

It was so warm wrapped in her lover's arms. His body press firmly against hers; their curves fitting each others like a puzzle.

"Rin!" Sesshomaru had waited long enough for her to awaken. Normally she was the first one up and tried to take care of her private needs before anyone else woke up, lately though she had been sleeping late into the morning; perhaps she was ill.

"We are returning home. We leave now." He didn't wait for her to get up. Her scent too had changed in an unpleasant way. Rin had always smelled of flowers in the field and fresh morning dew. Refreshing and innocent just like Rin. But now it was deep and spicy with only a hint of the floral fragrance he loved so much.

"Why are we going home? You haven't finished surveying your lands yet." Rin's mind was tried. Her whole body felt heavy and hot. She seemed to be waking up like this a lot. About three months now.

"You are not well."

"I feel fine." Rin lied. She hated to be a burden.

"Don't speak falsehoods." Sesshomaru replied evenly. He would tolerate such behavior.

Rin placed her hand over her heart, she couldn't fool her master. She was having dreams, sometimes nightmares that left her feeling sick in the morning. She didn't want to eat and the smell of fish no longer made her mouth water.

"I don't wish to be left alone in your fortress." She hated the place, when she was there she was no longer Lord Sesshomaru's companion, more like his pet or project. She was treated like a lost animal; and while she had her own room, finely decorated and always kept clean, and all the things she needed, the servants treated her half-heartedly kind. Most of the servants were demons and were disgusted by the Lord decision to keep the filthy human. The help treated her with respectful contempt only because they feared their master. Even with all of the odds against Rin she still managed to win over a couple of the servants. The housekeeper Umiko had come to love Rin dearly and her lady maid Chitose was of constant company.

Sesshomaru made no reply but started packing the campsite. They were heading home and he would see to it that Umiko took care of Rin.

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Umiko had taken the child under her wing from the moment she found out Rin's story. Knowing the pain of losing a family, her clan was torn apart by war. While still a child Umiko was marooned on a small island surround by the endless waters with what was left of her clan, herself and six others. Sent there in shame and exile to die the group soon fell into the hatred of their hearts and killed each other off.

After leaving Umiko for dead on the beach shore the tide came in and washed her out to sea. A crew of humans in a fishing boat picked her up; at first she thought she had been rescued but all too soon she realized the despair of her situation. The crew abused her in ways so horrible her mind had block them out, beating her in a torturous manner she still had nightmares about and raping her of more than her virginity and pride. The humans kept her aboard their ship using her for their projection, forcing her to kill whoever or whatever was in their path.

One fateful night, when the moon glowed an evil red, the ship was attacked by a clan of sea dragon demons. Out numbered and out powered, Umiko welcomed death as a sweet release. After a brutal battle that left the human crew dead and her barely living, she was once again cast out into the sea; drifting like an unwanted dead leaf upon the perfect surface of a pond, lifeless and ugly.

Umiko drifted onto the shores of Inu no Taisho's land. She had no memory of her life, her past was a huge fog and even her name and age was amiss from her thoughts. Inu no Taisho made a deal with the young female demon. If she could hold a sword against him, and land a single blow, he would not kill her. Umiko was but a lowly cat demon, one that hadn't even bothered to master her own powers, or if she had she had forgotten.

Throwing her a sword the steel somehow felt natural to her. Inu no Taisho advanced upon her; delivering deathly attacks one after the other, all she could do was defend herself, she was too slow and he was a master.

Umiko had no idea who she faced, had she known it was the great dog demon Lord she wouldn't have even bothered defending herself, she would have known she had no chance. But ignorance is bliss and she blocked blow after blow, taking as little damage as possible.

Eleven hours had passed and still she had not even managed an attempted attack.

"Are you not going to raise your sword against me? Can you not hold your own? Tell me then how have you lived?" Inu no Taisho's words were meant to frighten the cat demon, make her panic, and lose her train of thought so that his next attack would meet his target leaving more than flesh wounds. But the words gave Umiko a hopeless abandon.

This demon before her was right, how had she lived and if she did not die today how would she live tomorrow?

'I have no life to defend, nothing precious to fight for. I am of no value and cannot lose a life I do not have.'

With that thought in mind she braced herself for her final battle. Leaving her guard wide open her only chance was to get in close. Inu no Taisho took the opportunity and lashed out an attack right for her center, an instant kill. Umiko saw this, knowing death was in front of her; she stepped into the path of the sword, its cold metal piercing her, running her through. This was it. She only smiled, her technique had worked perfectly. While it was true that she was dead, her opponent hadn't realized that at this closeness and with his sword tightly stuck in he enemy, he was wide open.

Umiko raised her sword as high as she could and jabbed whatever flesh she could find. Her body was week and her eyes only focused on Inu no Taisho's face, watching for the sign that she had caused him pain. But no such facial expression ever came.

'Even while facing death I cannot find a happy ending' and the thought left her mind as the light left her eyes.

Author's notes:

Chitose – thousand questions

Umiko-Child of the sea