Through the well and back again

Disclaimer: I still don't own Inuyasha...

Author's note: I got asked something pretty important about the age of the characters and thought I'd mention it here. :) Since Rin and Kagome can go to the same high school, Rin is about 15 and Kagome 16.


Chapter 3:

Her heart was pounding and she was bending carefully halfway over the well. She was terrified. At the time, when her and Kagome were back at the house, she was so excited to return and see her lord again but, now that they were actually on the way back she wasn't sure what would happen and how her lord would react and, to be honest, this scared her greatly. Taking a deep breath, Rin thought; 'here we go,' and jumped. Going back through was just as beautiful as it was the first time. She spread her arms wide and it felt like she was flying.

All too soon, though, it ended and she was grasping the edge of the top of the well with her hand and pulling herself out of it. She was smiling broadly until she looked up all the way and saw her lord standing there, watching her coldly. She froze, instantly feeling cold. This is what she had been fearing.

"My lord, I-I'm sorry. I know you told me to stay away from here but, I couldn't help it and I fell and didn't know how to get back but Kagome helped me." She knew she was rambling and her excuses sounded feeble, even to her own ears. She should never have done it 'and,' she wondered to herself 'do I even have the choice to stop going if I have to?' She hoped she wouldn't, because she didn't want to let Kagome down but, on the other hand, she didn't want to keep disappointing her lord, either. She didn't like it when he was angry with her...

A long time ago, Rin knew that if she had come to lord Sesshoumaru with something like this, she probably would have been killed, or worse because she now knew of his dislike towards humans but then... why did he bother keeping her around? Besides which, it felt like something was changed about him now. Yes, he was still cold and sometimes still even seemed heartless (even though she knew that he really wasn't). It was like something deep down withing him was different (in a good way) and he wasn't so tense anymore around her. Even when she had been a young child, he had never been cruel towards her. Because of this change, Rin held her breath, hoping he wouldn't lash out at her for disobeying.

In the end, he didn't. "Do as you please." Was all he said before turning around and walking away, like he usually did when a problem had been handled. She didn't know why but for some reason, she felt sad. Like she was hoping for him to be more concerned for her. But then... 'Maybe he is. Maybe he just isn't showing it? Anyways, this isn't like you, wanting him to worry about you. You're independent and can take care of yourself, remember? I think you've been around Kagome's friends for far too long.'

Rin felt guilty as soon as the thought came out because Kagome's friends had been nice enough to her, especially since she was an outsider to their small group. They had treated her like she wasn't. 'You're just on edge. Calm down and stop feeling so bad about everything.' She scolded herself. She turned towards Kagome and gave her a small smile of thanks, knowing that if she didn't hurry up, it would take her several more days to catch back up to her lord and Jaken again.

"Thank you for everything, Kagome. When should we meet back here again to go back?" Her heart hammered against her chest while she waited for the other girls answer.

"How about in a week? That should give you enough time to catch up on your new studies and talk to Sesshoumaru." She winked and Rin could feel herself going red.

Rin stammered, feeling her palms go sweaty with nerves. "What do you mean?"

Kagome made a tsking sound in the back of her throat and gave her the look. "Don't give me that. You've been sighing all day. You're in love with him."

Rin gasped and looked around, making sure that her lord was actually gone, like she thought he was. "Kagome! You mustn't ever say that out loud! He can't know."

Kagome placed her hands on her hips and gave Rin a stubborn look. "And why not?"

It was a reasonable question, Rin knew that perfectly well but on the other hand... "I'd rather not talk about it." She grumbled, her mood sinking, if possible, even lower. Her lord wasn't the only one who had changed. Yes, she was still her happy, care free self on most days but lately, for some reason, she'd been feeling down and kept getting lost deeper and deeper into her thoughts about... the demon lord himself.

Would he really leave her if he found out about her feelings for him? She shuddered at the thought of it. She didn't know what she would ever do without him. Well, she guessed she could travel with Kagome and her group of friends if she asked but on the other hand, it would be weird because she was so used to her lord and Jaken's company.

"I think I'd better get going." Her shoulders slumped forward in defeat. She had so much she needed to think about and do and not enough time to accomplish it all. How was she going to get Lord Sesshoumaru to stop being angry with her? Would he ever talk to her again? 'It's not like he was ever a demon of many words in the first place but... still.'

Sighing, Kagome nodded her understanding, waved cheerily at her and began making her way to her own friends, who were no doubt waiting impatiently for her return. Especially Inuyasha, from the sounds of it. Rin frowned thoughtfully, wishing that her and... no. How could she even think that? There was no way her lord would fall for her, let alone speak outwardly of his feelings for her, even if she asked. Not only that, it wasn't fair of her to be getting jealous of Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship. Kagome had talked to her and entrusted a lot in her the nights she had stayed with her on the other side and, from the sounds of it, the two of them have worked hard on their relationship in order to get it to where it was now. Not only that, it seemed like there was a lot of heart ache involved. She now knew all about Kikiyo and Inuyasha's past together and had to hand it to Kagome. She was so brave, staying with Inuyasha and coming back, even when she could have stayed in her own world when he had run off and hurt her, even if he hadn't meant to...

Rin couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be reincarnated with a woman who had, in the past, had a romantic relationship with the man she now had feelings for in the present. It must have been so hard, long ago, when Kagome first realized her feelings for Inuyasha. 'If her and Inuyasha managed to figure things out and learn how to deal with everything, maybe just maybe, Lord Sesshoumaru and I can?' It was wishful thinking, she knew but it still helped her feel a tiny bit better.

She placed a finger lightly on her chin thoughtfully and was looking down (something that her lord specifically told her not to do, but sometimes she couldn't help it and occasionally forgot) when she was knocked to the ground roughly, her breath stolen from her. She rolled back up to a standing position, ignoring the stitch in her side and faced the thing that had pushed her to the ground so roughly. Taking out her two daggers and getting into a fighting stance, she glared darkly at the creature. It was creepy indeed. It had wings and two long heads with horns and read eyes and it was looking at her with such a hungry look that she shivered. And it was fast. It kept darting around and striking at her, trying to catch her off her guard again. 'Not going to happen.' She thought, lashing out at the thing, even striking it once or twice.

The demon screamed and it was such a horrifying sound it brought goosebumps to Rin's arms. 'This is getting old.' She thought in irritation. Her eyes followed the demon quickly, trying to find out how to kill it without losing her fighting position. 'It's there!' A second later she rushed at the thing, positioning her dagger straight up, holding the bottom of the hand that was gripping the dagger with her other hand for better balance and she plunged it straight into the demons heart just as it raised its talon like arms to strike her.

Again, it screamed before dissolving into bones and the bones clattered to the ground, leaving Rin panting and out of breath. In a way, she missed it when Sesshoumaru came to her rescue whenever a demon like this tried doing away with her. She also missed being able to sleep on the back of Ah-Un and not having any responsibilities of a grown woman but at the same time, she liked being able to defend herself and was grateful to her lord for teaching her how. Yes, the training days had been hard and stressful and left her exhausted at the end of each of them but they were well worth all the pain and bloodshed.

Her lord had not been easy on her by any means and she remembered all the nights spent soaking in hot springs because her muscles were so sore and tired that she could barely move. Her days spent in practice had also been pretty intense but, going to this school didn't even compare to her training, it seemed. Actually, it was almost like the training itself all over again because it was so new and strange to her. School also left her tired and sore and she was so surprised at how sore her back and neck were after the long hours of sitting in the strange desks all morning taking the test that Kagome seemed to worry so much over.

They reminded Rin of the time that her lord had tested her at the end of her training to learn how to fight properly. She had sparred with him for three days straight, only taking short breaks in between when he let her, telling her that if it had been a real battle, her opponent wouldn't allow her such a thing and that she couldn't afford to be tired.

Rin ran a hand through her long black raven hair in frustration, wishing her thoughts wouldn't be so scattered and realizing just how nice it was to have someone to talk to. Kagome had given her a notebook and a pen, telling her that whenever she needed to "let things out" as the other girl had said, she should write her thoughts down in it and it should help ease the stress some.

'Maybe if I could find a hot spring before returning back to my lord, I could bathe and write them down and who knows, maybe it will help give me the courage that I need to talk to him.' Besides which, she didn't like the smell of demon blood (or any kind of blood) on her. Especially since her lord had a keen sense of smell, she wanted to make things easier on him in any way she could, knowing how hard it was to be such a high demon like he was at times.

It didn't take her long to find a hot spring. She shed her clothes, took out her diary as Kagome called it from her new bag and stepped gingerly into the water, knowing that if she got in too fast, she would become light headed. While she had been on the other side, the other girl had also shown her what shampoo was and Rin found that she liked the smell and when the two of them had gone shopping, she had picked out the kind that smelled like flowers.

She sank her body lower into the hot water, enjoying the soothing sensation for a few moments before she even began to write anything.

Dear diary... she began and the words just began to flow and she realized with a start, that writing down how she felt really did help.


Author's note: The chapters are probably going to take a bit to build up but they should start becoming full with more action soon. :) and I also should mention that if any of my future chapters take a bit longer to post, it's because I have work and other plans in real life to do as well, so I'd like to apologize in advance for any wait that comes up in the future. :) Anyways, I hope you all enjoy chapter 3. Let me know what you think? Please and thank you! :D