Rin stands over a steamy pot and swirls its contents around with a spoon in hand. She tunes into the melody of her mother's cheerful, improvised humming and joins her in bliss, performing in a private concert. As her mother extends her arm to hand a bowl over to be filled with supper, the bowl slips from her grip, falling to the floor. It shatters and the shards shoot out across the room. She looks towards her mother to find her crippled with fear; Rin is puzzled. After following her mother's stare, she finds a large, strange man concealed in the shadows. He paces himself forward, revealing his identity, causing the matriarch to hastily step in front of her daughter to shield her from the intruder. Lord Hajime. He grips the roots of the mother's hair to haul her away from her daughter. Rin backs away as the man advances towards her. She has been cornered. She drops to the ground, pulling her legs into her chest and her forehead into her knees. A resounding gong echoes around her. "Run! Let's go!" she hears her mother cry as her arms are yanked from her body. She is being drug from the scene and through the doorway, but looks back to glance at the perpetrator. He is kneeling down, holding both his head and the pot. She sees the man's features contorting, as if transforming into a wild beast. Rin picks up her pace, but it is not long before a massive, black canine swoops around them, cutting them off. They are startled and fall back from the growling, hunched over beast before them. It snaps its teeth as the pooling saliva trickles from its mouth. The creature lunges forward and locks its jaws around the delicate skin of Rin's shoulder.

Rin jolts awake, gasping for air, and is hit with the sudden realization that she has only been dreaming. She heavily sighs and plops back down onto the terrain with a moan. As she pulls her arms and legs into herself, she realizes she is naked- Still naked.

Where is Lord Sesshomaru? She wraps the warm fabric around her body, pushes herself up into a sitting position, and takes in the scenery around her. Sunlight filters through the flora's rich hues of orange, red, yellow, and green, reflecting off the water of the spring ahead. By her side, she discovers a vibrant indigo kimono and runs her fingers over the fabric, appreciating the crimson flowers cascading up the hem and sleeves. It's so beautiful.

Sesshomaru makes his presence known. "Rin." She jumps and turns her head to face the voice behind her. Sesshomaru is resting a few feet away with a clenched jaw and a faint furrow in his brow. He opens his eyes and continues. "You may bathe and dress." The stench of the stale blood covering her sickens him.

For a moment, she is captivated by his narrow, glinting eyes. "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru." she modestly replies. She hesitantly gathers her kimono, hoists herself up on her feet, and looks back upon Sesshomaru again to find his eyes shut. She rushes on the balls of her feet towards the spring and slowly dips her toes in to test the water. She drops her kimono and allows the robe covering her to slip from her shoulders. After it falls to her feet, she eases her body into the water.

Sesshomaru repeatedly replays last night's events through his mind. He is not typically one to concern himself with such matters, but Rin has awakened a protective instinct within him that he once thought he would never possess. Why wasn't the boy, Kohaku, able to protect her from such filth? Pathetic. I should have never shown him mercy. I should have never allowed Rin to fall into such circumstances. He focuses on the sound of her lowering herself into the water and the strokes that follow. Never had I intended for her to one day witness the destructive killer inside of me. His ears are hypnotized by the sorrow melody reverberating from her chest.

"Sealed in silence, enslaved by you

The subject of your infatuation

The cruelty in and of the intimacy

Tarnishes the carnation.

Bursting in misery, submerged in the waters

Wilting away in your endeavor

Perishing on open display

The pieces fall, lost forever."

His insides constrict. Her innocence and joyous spirit have been plucked away from her and I did not save her.

Rin gently rubs her bruised skin and watches the caked on blood dissipate into the water. She submerges her head for a massage, continuing to strip the filth from her body. She is once again unaware of a pair of eyes following her every move.


"Still spying, are we?"

Takeru dwells in the darkness. He stares into the fire, leering at the young woman's image before him. "What do you want, Mother?"

"I can't check in on my own son?"

"Spare me." he retorts.

"We don't want to frighten the poor girl away, do we?" she muses.

"As if I'm allowing her a choice. Time is running out." he grumbles. As his mother turns to leave, he speaks up. "There's been a development you may be interested in hearing."

"Oh? And just what might that be?" she curiously engages.

"She appears to be under the protection of Sesshomaru."

She stops in her tracks. "Interesting, indeed."


Rin is combs her fingers through her hair, not daring to disturb her lord. She interprets that he must be deep in thought and makes the decision not to disturb him. She pulls her long tresses into a loose, elaborate braid.

"Where is the boy?" He bluntly asks.

"Ko- Kohaku?" she finds herself with a loss for words. Sesshomaru opens his eyes, exposing his golden irises to her. "Kohaku is… he is dead, Lord Sesshomaru." she belatedly responds. His embodiment pulses with anger.

"Pathetic."

"My lord, there was a serpent. I-"

"Irrelevant. I shall protect you from this moment onward." He tilts her chin upward and caresses her cheek with his thumb, forcing her gaze to meet his. "No man or beast shall touch you again in my presence." Rin feels the wave of heat spread across her face.

"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru."

Takeru fumes in resentment.