Chapter 4

I don't own Inuyasha

It had been no more than fifteen minutes that Rin had rejoined Sesshoumaru and continued in her travels with him, but it seemed like an eternity as the silence drove Rin mad. 'It's not like he really ever talked before, but now it's different. I wish he'd say something.' Rin was still wearing the tattered cloth that she had taken from Toashiki's dead body and felt uncomfortable being covered in the blood.

The silence was finally broken when Sesshoumaru said, "Wait here, Rin."

He kept walking, but it was then that Rin asked, "But where are you going, my Lord?"

It was then that he noticed how different Rin was from before. Usually Rin would agree and pledge not to move from her spot, but he pushed the thought aside and simply answered. "I'm going to slay Naraku."

"Oh…well can I go too, my Lord?"

He didn't stop at all. "You'll only get in my way."

"But…I have demonic powers now. I can take care of myself. You don't have to worry about me."

Sesshoumaru stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her, offended. "So, you think just because you have claws and fangs that makes you a demon?"

Rin stepped back, feeling that he was angry with her, and he was. "Well…I" she was so humiliated. She thought herself as a half demon, but now she wasn't so sure. 'Then what am I?' "I suppose not."

"Then stop assuming so."

He turned around and he and Jaken continued going on "But…I don't want to be alone…anymore."

Sesshoumaru stopped one last time. "Rin, if you want to survive in this world, you have to learn to fend for yourself."

"Yes, my Lord." 'It'll be alright. He won't leave me. He'll come back like he always does. My lord will never abandon me.' "I'll wait for your return." She said sadly.

Sesshoumaru and Jaken began walking, but they didn't get very far before Sesshoumaru said "Jaken, stay here."

Jaken's mouth dropped and just before he complained about what his master commanded, he thought about all of the beatings he had received from him and decided to leave his complaints in his head and to Rin once Sesshoumaru had left. 'Why is it that Sesshoumaru said Rin should fend for herself and then goes off and leaves me with her?'

"Are you okay?" asked Shippo to Kagome as he finished coloring his picture of a field during sunset inside of Kaede's hut.

Kagome began finishing up Inuyasha's bandages. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about Rin. If Naraku is that powerful..."

"Don't worry about it, Kagome" Inuyasha said with assurance. "I'll kill Naraku." Inuyasha was still in a lot of pain, but he tried to ignore it.

"It's not just that, Inuyasha, it's also...well...your brother."

"Sesshoumaru?" His voice rose. He was still angry about the hole in his gut that his brother inflicted on him. "What about him?"

"She's traveling with him. He seemed to hate humans, but seems to even despise half breeds more. Do you think he'll be cruel to her?"

"Keh, I don't know what's going on inside that twisted mind of his. He could be planning anything. I do know that we have to get to Naraku, because if anyone's going to kill him, it'll be me." Inuyasha grunted and slapped his face. "And what are you doing here?" He put his hand down and Myouga fell down into the palm of his hand. "Suck someone else's blood."

"Yeah," Shippo said, "Inuyasha's lost a lot of it already!"

Shippo cried as Inuyasha hit him on his head and Inuyasha yelled once Kagome yelled, "Sit!"

Myouga jumped into Kagome's hand and began talking. "I've heard that a dangerous demon has been unleashed."

"Yes," Miroku said, "but I suppose she's not of any danger anymore."

Sango was still patching up Miroku's wounds, but felt deathly uncomfortable about it. "Well, I wouldn't be too sure about that. This demon is of the Eouro Clan."

"I was afraid of that," Myouga said. "They're supposed to be extinct."

"If they're extinct," Inuyasha said while rising up from the ground, "then it shouldn't be that big of a threat that you're making out."

"Besides," Kagome said, "the demon is a sweet little girl. She's not a danger. And she certainly isn't going to hurt any of her companions."

"She tried though," Sango said quietly.

"Master Jaken," Rin said quietly, almost above a whisper. "Could you please make a hot spring for me? I know you have the ability to."

"And what for?" Jaken asked.

"I need to bathe, Jaken. I reek of blood." She was so fragile in her state. She just needed to relax. Everything was falling apart. She wasn't how she remembered. 'I need to get this off of me. I feel so dirty and...' "Please, Master Jaken."

Jaken sighed. "Fine." He searched for an area in the forest for a proper location and found some stones, some piled on to of each other, some beside on another, but it was a complete circle. "Now behold the might Jaken!" Jaken did a short dance with the staff of two heads and then hit one of the stones with his staff, causing water to pour out.

"Thank you Master Jaken" she was so sad that she didn't even sound excited. She just needed to calm down. Every time she thought about what she had done, she became ashamed of herself or angry that she didn't finish off Inuyasha. 'I don't' wish to feel this way anymore.' She took off the cloth covering her body.

Jaken looked away, disgusted with the sight of her body.

She stepped in and tried to relax as the warm water covered her body. The blood that was upon her began to slowly come off and she was grateful for that. She didn't like the thought of being covered in blood, at least not at the moment. "Master Jaken," she asked, looking at her reflection in the water, "do you think Lord Sesshoumaru is displeased with me?"

Jaken was sitting on the grass, faced away from Rin. "Well, you are a half-breed now, which is disgraceful to demons everywhere."

"But I didn't mean to be." Rin sighed and looked up at the dark, starry sky. 'I wish I could see another shooting star. I would wish that he liked me.'

She pouted and put her head down and really began to pay attention to her reflection. She hadn't really noticed her body. Sure she noticed the fangs, eyes, and claws, but now she wasn't really looking at the demon features. 'I remember the years, but I couldn't see myself until right before I became a demon.' She studied her features carefully and began to really lose her sense of childhood, if there was any left. She touched her shoulders and felt the muscle on her arm, even though it wasn't much. She had a very feminine look to her. 'I'm a woman now.' She looked down at her breast. 'I really am a woman.' The thought began to frighten her, but then she realized that there was nothing she could do. "I am a woman." She smiled and blushed lightly.

"A woman?" Jaken said jokingly. "You are nothing but a child."

Rin became angry, angrier than what she should have been and pouted. "A child, huh?" A little electric flash of red began to surround her right index finger as she held it up to her eye level and she smirked. "Can a child do this?"

Jaken turned to face her just in time to be electrocuted by Rin's power. He was engulfed in flames and began running around and around, until he rolled on the grass until the fire died down. "Wench," he whispered in great pain.

"Like I said," she blew on her index finger as if she had just shot a gun and said, "I am a woman." She turned away from Jaken and began to gently chuckle, but then it turned into a roar of laughter. "Sorry Jaken, I couldn't resist."

She was beginning to grow tired of relaxing in the hot springs and saw that her skin was beginning to wrinkle after she was in there for a while. 'Perhaps I should be done now.' She looked over to what she had worn for clothes. 'That won't do.' She looked up in the sky and thought 'when will you return to me, Lord Sesshoumaru?'

Jaken recovered from Rin's attack and began to shake with rage. "Why are you so foolish, wench?"

She giggled and closed her eyes. "Relax Jaken. I wasn't going to kill you. If I was, you'd be dead.

'She is far more trouble than what she was as a child. Lord Sesshoumaru, please come back soon.'

"In the mountains in the breeze, in the forest, in my dreams, Lord Sesshoumaru, where are you?" Her voice started quiet but began to grow louder as she sang more. "Jaken is serving under you too. I will wait for you on my own, please return to me, waiting all alone." She sighed. "That is a foolish song, isn't it?" 'Not even the words from my own song sound like music anymore. Nothing is sweet anymore. It's all so ordinary. There's nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing to do. Is it because I am a woman, or because I am half demon?'

Rin heard the grass began to rustle and a cloth hit against a surface. She turned around, feeling like it was him and it was. "Lord Sesshoumaru?" She looked down on a dry rock and saw a blue kimono folded up neatly. "I thought you were going after Naraku."

He didn't answer and paid her no mind as he walked away towards a tree and rested his back to it.

'He left to get me something to wear?' She happily stood up and unfolded her kimono. It was silk and didn't look like it would be a loose kimono, but more form fitting. The pink flowers on it made it ever more beautiful. 'He did get me a new kimono after I met him. That one was covered in my blood and torn. He got me a new one then; I guess it's not so strange that he would get me one now.' "Thank you, Lord Sesshoumaru. You left to get me this?"

He turned his face away from her and said calmly, "Naraku's scent is completely gone."

"Oh," she was actually disappointed with his answer. "Well, thank you, Lord Sesshoumaru."

"Cover yourself up," he still said with the same tone as always.

Rin noticed that she was revealing all of her glory and blushed a little bit, feeling a little embarrassed. "Yes, my lord." She stepped out of the hot spring and clothed her body with the kimono and was able to find a smile. 'My lord is surely great.' Rin was able to feel fear several times that day and tapped into many human emotions, especially when she saw Sesshoumaru again, but when she placed that kimono around her body and smiled, she felt like a true human again. 'I guess some things can still be new and exciting.'

Rin spun around in her kimono and laughed with happiness. 'He did this for me.' She stopped and looked at Sesshoumaru who was just watching her, not curiously, not with any purpose at all. He was just watching, probably waiting for her to finish so they could continue on their journey. "Lord Sesshoumaru…" Rin walked to him and sat in front of him on the blades of grass. "Lord Sesshoumaru," she spoke sadly, in regret "I am sorry that I tried to hurt you and your brother."

"Do you honestly believe that I care for the well being of Inuyasha? As long as he meets his end by my hands, whatever pain you can inflect on him is of no concern to me."

"Oh…" she wasn't sure how she should talk to Sesshoumaru. She had never really talked to him before. She would talk, but he never would really answer her. She would sing, but he never paid any mind, from what she knew anyway. "I am very sorry that I tried to kill you."

"It's not something that you or any other demon could accomplish."

"I…I suppose you are right, my Lord." She felt so awkward. She wanted to have a conversation with him and he seemed highly annoyed with her. 'I feel like a fool. I'm I annoying to him? Is he displeased with me?' She felt her hair and found the little pony tail that would always stick to the side and took down, letting it down with the rest of her hair. "Lord Sesshoumaru, what do you plan to do as of now?"

Jaken came from behind, still aggravated from Rin's earlier attack. "Simple child, isn't it obvious?"

"Naraku?" she asked. "And afterwards?"

"He'll build his empire."

"Oh yes. I remember now. It will take hundreds of years to do so and I would have died." She smiled. "But I will not die, at least not for a long time. I have demon blood and can stay longer than what I would have as a human child."

"You plan to stay?" Jaken sounded disappointed. She certainly was more trouble now as a woman then as a child. "You'll stay that long?"

"For what purpose?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Rin thought it was a silly question. "To stay with…" She looked at his face and was in complete awe. She had never really realized how beautiful his features were until now. His long silver hair was amazing and his golden eyes were flawless. "To-to stay with you, Lord Sesshoumaru, I wish to stay with you." She shrugged her shoulders. "Where else would I go?"

"Away," Jaken muttered. Rin grunted and attacked him the same way she did in the hot spring. Jaken yelled and ran around in a circle for a few minutes and finally began to roll on the ground like before.

Rin was laughing at first, but then saw the expression on Sesshoumaru's face and stopped, thinking he wasn't pleased with her behavior. 'I shouldn't do such things in his presence.' She then looked harder at his face and noticed that even though he didn't crack a smile or even seemed like he had the ability to smile, he did look amused. His eyes weren't as cold. It was then that Rin began to laugh again.

'Woe is the fate of Jaken.'

Rin noticed Sesshoumaru's expression change into a deadly one, and Rin could feel something approaching. "I…I feel the presence of…something."

"Other demons."

"So," Inuyasha said to Myouga, "You're saying that this type of demon was so powerful that other demons joined together to destroy it?"

"It does make sense," Miroku declared. "She did put up a good fight, and she's only a half demon, and was a little girl not too long ago. A full demon, one completely in control, should be fierce."

"So what," Inuyasha yelled confidently. "It's no big deal. The girl's not a threat and neither is her race. Someone defeated them."

"It took the cooperation of many demons to kill them all off and even in the end, their leader was not killed."

"Then how are the extinct?" Shippo asked.

"He was sealed."

"Let me guess," Inuyasha spoke in a sarcastic tone. "My old man did it?"

"Yes, your father wasn't joined with the other demons trying to kill the Eouro Clan, but the leader picked a fight with your father. In the end, they try to kill everything that they can. Their nature is deadly."

"Does Sesshoumaru know that his father was an enemy of the Eouro Clan? How would he react to Rin being one?" Sango asked.

"I would assume Sesshoumaru would know," Myouga said quietly. "Why is Sesshoumaru traveling with one, anyway?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "You mean you don't know?"

"Not all of the details. I just know that there is a female Eouro out on the loose."

"It was Naraku," Kagome answered. "Naraku took a mortal girl that traveled with Sesshoumaru and changed her into one."

"Do you think the girl can be trusted? Do you think she'll try to kill Sesshoumaru?" Miroku reached his hand for Sango's bottom, but she grabbed his hand before he made contact.

"This is hardly the time."

"It's always an appropriate time to touch your perfect figure."

"Of course she can be trusted!" Kagome yelled. "Inuyasha's a half demon and he's good. Jinenji's a half demon and he's good. And Shiori, she's a very good girl. Rin's still human in there somewhere and no matter what, she wouldn't kill her friends."

"She did attack him." Inuyasha stated. "But I don't really care what happens to Sesshoumaru."

"But," Kagome put her head down "she began to remember. Didn't you see it in her eyes? I noticed it. She's a good girl."

"It doesn't matter," Myouga said, "because demons will soon come to finish off the girl; to ensure that every bit of her Clan is dead."

"Lord Sesshoumaru," Rin stood to her feet and cracked her knuckles, "why are demons coming? It seems like a lot. I can feel it."

Sesshoumaru stood as well. "There are hundreds, thousands."

"Thousands? What for?"

Sesshoumaru took out Tokijin and prepared himself for battle. "They're coming, for you."

To be continued...