Me No Own, You No Sue, I Make NO Money. I do own Watari, Nishi, Chimitsu, Muzan, and Megumi though.

Blood isn't a smell that one can easily forget, the pungent scent of rusting iron is forever branded in the memory of all within its range. Rin would know. Almost all of the significant changes in her life are marked in sanguinity: Bandits killing her family. Finding Sesshoumaru-sama. Dying. Sesshoumaru-sama reviving her. Sesshoumaru-sama leaving her in the village. Her first cycle. The village burning down. The birth of Nishi. The arrival of Watari.

Blood was a frequent visitor in Rin's life, for all things good and bad. Maybe that was why she was so comfortable in its presence. Why even though men, women, and children were cut down all around her, she persevered. Mamorinuku was wielded as an extension of herself, moving with enough fluidity and grace to make the most skilled samurai turn green with envy. Men and youkai fell before her, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake.

In battle, Rin was a force like none other.

A visitor in the shadows, perching enraptured on an overlooking branch, couldn't help but to agree.

#

Sesshoumaru sunk into the steamy waters of his private bath. Reclining on one of the smooths rocks lining the bottom, he sighed into one of the few luxuries he let himself enjoy. Yes, a luxury, for all know that the great Sesshoumaru-sama is never dirty and his clothes are never soiled, so baths are simply unnecessary. But no one besides Sesshoumaru needed to know that.

"Enjoying your bath?" A voice purred from the shadows. Sesshoumaru cracked a golden orb, annoyed that someone dare interrupt his private time. Muzan sat demurely smirking from a nearby bench in a sheer under kimono. "May I join my lord in his bath?" The sex in her voice was tangible.

"No. You do not belong here. Leave." Sesshoumaru closed his eyes once more, irked at the unworthy interruption of his soaking. After a moment when no movement was further made, he opened his eye again to gaze into the chilling gaze of the demoness before him. Apparently she had never been turned away before. This, Sesshoumaru decided, was none of his concern. "Now."

Muzan, with ruffled pride, glided out of the clearing. This was not over. He would want her, desire her. It was only a matter of time, she grinned to herself, for he was only male.

#

Watari trudged up the muddy slope, wiping away the sheet of rain water that had collected in his bang. It had been two long summers since he had to move outside the boundaries of the place he had considered his home. Two warm, comfortable summers did not outweigh the twelve harsh, wandering winters before them. He'd be lying if he said Rin had only given him a roof over his head. She had given him so much more, a family and a home. Things he could not remember ever having.

The name "Watarimono", meaning wanderer, was given to him by the merchants of Edo. He had grown up passed from home to home until he old enough to fend for himself in the streets of the bustling city. He easily learned how to trick traveling farmers out of their wares as a way of survival. His ways had only changed after a dear friend of his, a hanyou like Nishi, had been beaten unmercifully for "stealing" food out of the garbage. Watari had never seen villages the same way since.

When he was ten summers he left Edo and traveled restlessly through roads and trails of Japan to find a place to call his own. Only Rin had ever invited him into her home, not knowing anything but his name and his word that he was only looking for work. She had fed him and clothed him, shortening his cursed name to just Watari after six moons in her- in their home. When he asked why, she simply responded that he had found what he was looking for.

A scream jolted him out of memories, Nishi had gotten stuck in a deep mud pocket and was being sucked into the hill. Grabbing her hand, he lifted her on his back, wincing as her blunt claws bit into his shoulder. Thunder crashed and roared above them, blocking out any form of auditory communication. Stumbling, he caught himself, pulling towards the trail that could easily be two or two hundred feet above them, impossible to tell in this kind of weather.

"Nii-san," Nishi murmured into his ear, soft and scared. He tightened the grip on her legs as if to say 'No worries, I'm here'. After a moment, she hugged him back clearly saying 'I know, you always are.'

#

Woah! 817 views! 22 reviews! I am feeling the love people. I know it's short but I'm cursed to write short chappies. I was going to wait until today to write this up but I couldn't leave Anzer'ke, or any of the rest of you lovely people, on the edge of your seats any longer; it was bound to start getting uncomfortable. So this is a momentary fill for you to get your pillow and return to the spot on the chair, or like Herbblade, your wispy twig hanging on the side of the cliff. (insert evil laughter here)

And I know, still no words out on Nishi's parentage, but instead we have Watari's history, Muzan spurning, and shadowy visitors. That totally makes up for it, right? Plus, we still have yet to inform Sesshy of Rin! Next chapter, maybe? We shall see.

And as always, continue pressing that sexy periwinkle button.