Hello! I just wanna say a quick thank you to Vikki for rooting for me! Also, thank you to EreshkigalGirl for the advice on the paragraphs. It helped me alot, and I know it will help you guys with reading. Sorry about that. This chapter is a little longer than what I usually write, but I loved writing this chapter, and I didn't want to stop. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I wished I owned Sesshoumaru.

Chapter 4

Rin stretched her arms above her head as she was walking. She had no idea where they were heading. AhUn growled softly beside her, and she stroked his fir. Off the path grew wild flowers of many different colors. Rin smiled and walked over to retrieve some.

Sesshoumaru saw Rin go to the flowers out of the corner of his eye and he slowed his pace. She had no idea where they were going. In reality, they were on their way to his castle in the Western Lands.

Naraku was dead but there was no need to fly back in a hurry… even though his castle was great distance from this point. Deep down, he enjoyed being with Rin as much as possible. Though he, Sesshoumaru, would never admit it.

Last night, before he fell asleep under the blanket of stars, he was thinking about why he had revived Rin, and why he had let her stay with him. In the end Sesshoumaru came to the conclusion that over all this time, she was the only human that did not fear him. She was more afraid of humans. 'Which makes it all to my advantage,' Sesshoumaru thought with a slight smirk. Rin started heading back towards them.

The flowers smelt lovely. Rin buried her face in the bouquet of flowers she had picked out for herself. 'I wonder what Sesshoumaru-sama is thinking,' Rin thought as she looked up at him. Jaken was walking directly behind him as usual, his arms crossed as though he were amazing. Rin giggled at the sight which caused Jaken to turn around.

"What is it Rin?"

"Nothing Jaken-sama," she giggled again.

Jaken just huffed and turned around again.

"Baka," Rin muttered. She put her face in her flowers again and kept walking, closing her eyes as she did so. Without warning, Rin walked into Sesshoumaru from behind. Rin looked up at him with questioning eyes. "What is it Sesshoumaru-sama?" Right after she said her question, she felt a hand come in front of her mouth.

Sesshoumaru could hear Jaken and Rin's small conversation. He felt a small tingle inside of him at hearing the sound of her laughter. He was trying to figure out what that feeling was when out of nowhere he felt it. A demonic aura… mingled with human scent. His mind started paying more attention to the demon approaching, rather than the humans.

Stopping abruptly, Sesshoumaru felt Rin collide into him from behind. He didn't move, didn't make a sound. His eyes shifted to the left and he put his hand on toukijin. He knew they were upon them just as Rin asked, "What is it Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Whipping out toukijin, Sesshoumaru brought his sword around only to face another human grasping Rin in front of him. A demon and more men were coming, he could sense it. Right now, he had to handle this situation with Rin before matters got worse. Jaken was standing off towards the side of the forest path with AhUn.

Rin gasped as the hand came over her mouth and could only make muffled sounds. 'Bandits!' Rin stilled feared those types of humans who killed her family.She saw Sesshoumaru turn around sharply with toukijin in hand.

Sesshoumaru couldn't do anything that close up without hitting her in the process. He had to think carefully, toukijin would not help in this situation, and he could feel the presence of the other men and that one demon coming in quickly.

"Jaken," Sesshoumaru said in a dead-pan voice. "Take care of the demon that is coming towards us."

Jaken scrambled about for a second and then screeched, "Yes master!"

Then they came. All of the bandits that were behind the leader. Every single one of them was extremely ugly to the extent of missing an eye, or having horrible yellow, rotting teeth. All of them had weapons of sharp swords, taking menacing steps towards him. The leader took his hand away from Rin's mouth, and quickly grabbed a knife from his boot and held it at her throat.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin cried. Her hands were on the bandits arm grasping as tight as she could bear, but the leader paid no heed to it.

"Shut up wench, or I'll cut your pretty throat right here, right now," the leader growled in her ear. Rin stopped talking immediately.

'Sesshoumaru-sama will save me. He always does,' Rin thought.

Sesshoumaru heard every word the bandit said and growled outright. No one would harm what will be his! But he couldn't make a move with the other stupid humans closing in around him. Sesshoumaru never moved, but his eyes were moving their way slowly back and forth.

One of the men made a move and Sesshoumaru shot through him in the stomach instantly with his acid whip fingers. The man was in shock for a couple of seconds before falling bluntly on the forest floor. The other men paid no attention to their comrade who just died, but rather, started to come after him.

Still staring at the leader and Rin, Sesshoumaru brought his hand up and let his acid whip kill the men behind him. He could hear the sound of them falling the ground with a thump. The other bandits were still coming after him, a murderous look in their eyes, and they were growling and screaming at him.

Rin saw the men go at him. She knew nothing bad would happen to him. 'Sesshoumaru-sama looks so calm. I want him to kill the bandit that is holding me right now.' Rin could feel the edge of the blade ever so slightly on the skin of her neck. The man was holding her really tight. Rin let a soft cry escape from her lips.

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and brought his acid fingers around him self and let the neon green whip kill every human around him. Each man fell to the ground in shock, clutching their wounds. They were no match for Sesshoumaru. But the bandit leader looked as if none of this even mattered. He saw the look in the bandit's eyes as he stared at Rin. Lust.

Jaken came back screaming, "Sesshoumaru-sama! I killed that low-life demon! He won't bother us anymore!" Jaken came short of the scene in front of him. Seeing Sesshoumaru-sama stare at the bandit holding Rin made him run behind a tree to watch from a safe distance.

Sesshoumaru's eyes never left the two people standing in front of him. Eyes still narrowed, he took a threatening step forward.

The bandit leader wasn't fazed by the death of his men. He only wanted the girl. He wouldn't kill her yet. "Do you think that by killing my men I will just give up this luscious girl to you, demon?" He pushed the knife into Rin's neck a little, causing a trickle of blood to run down her neck.

Rin flinched in pain. She could feel slight tears sting at her eyes. She was having puzzling thoughts while still trying to concentrate on the matter at hand. 'Why hasn't Sesshoumaru-sama killed him yet? Usually some man like this would be gone within a few seconds! His aim is not even close to horrible. Sesshoumaru-sama could just use his acid whip fingers to impale this bastard right there! Why doesn't he?'

Sesshoumaru growled. "Let the woman go," he seethed. "I may spare your life. You are a coward, hiding behind a woman." Sesshoumaru saw the man smirk and saw the man's free hand move down and caress Rin's stomach. Sesshoumaru's eyes were blood red now. He began growling ever more at the thought and sight of this man putting his hands on Rin!

Rin instinctively tried to back away from his touch, gasping in fear as she did so. It worked to no avail because the knife was still at her throat. "Please! Just let me go!" she yelled, her eyes closed tight. The man removed the knife away from her throat a little bit so that Rin could look up into the face of her attacker.

He was more handsome than the other men he was with. He had black hair that was pulled back into a small pony tail, similar to Miroku's. He had a small goatee on the bottom of his chin, and a very determined look in his brown eyes. His clothes had armor on top that was the color of a dull grey.

Rin's eyes held a look of desperation, tears threatening to appear. She wanted to go by Sesshoumaru-sama! She looked away from him and squeezed her eyes tight. She couldn't take it any more.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Kill this man already! Take me away from him!"

The bandit quickly took a strand of hair back behind her left ear and kissed it. He whispered, "You will be mine."

Sesshoumaru heard this, and started forward. His eyes were still blood red from seeing and hearing everything. There was a fierce determination in his eyes, and now he didn't care about anything except getting her back. After he took four steps, the bandit abruptly brought his hand from Rin's throat and pushed her hard towards Sesshoumaru, making Rin's breath leave her as she was being pushed. The bandit was gone by the time Sesshoumaru caught her. He couldn't leave her now.

Rin was panting against him, more out of the shock of the ordeal she just went through. She was grasping his clothes and buried her face in his chest as small amount of tears emerged from her eyes. She was so happy to be with him!

Sesshoumaru smelt the salt of her tears. He couldn't describe the feelings of her holding onto him like this. He brought his right arm around her waist as she cried softly. He looked down at her, and Rin's head turned up towards him. He let go of her and immediately missed the warmth, but he had to.

Rin looked up at him after she had calmed down. He held no emotion on his face. No, that's not true; he held that determination to kill… the same look as he held when Kohaku-kun was going to kill her so long ago.

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama. I think you scared him away." Jaken came out from behind the tree, and walked over to get AhUn.

Sesshoumaru only nodded at her. Humans can be more deceiving than he originally thought. He would have to move with more caution, and now that Rin was older, the men would want her as well. He will not let any man take her away! He turned to start going. "Let's get going Rin."

Rin only had one question to ask him now that they were ready to get going again.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, wait!"

Sesshoumaru stopped. He didn't turn around, but he inclined his head so that his golden eyes could look back some more. Then he heard her speak.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, I have a question. Why didn't you just kill the bandit as he was holding me? Your aim is excellent! You would not have hit me. He would've died within those few seconds."

Turning around fully, Sesshoumaru could see the blood stain on her neck. The line had dried, leaving a red stain down her neck. He would kill that bastard! His face never changed, but his eyes narrowed.

"Yes, I would've hit him and killed him. No, I would not have hit you." He could see Rin wanted to say something, but chose to interrupt her. "It takes the man a few seconds to die and fall. It only takes those few seconds to slit your throat as he falls with the knife still at your neck." He turned and started walking down the path.

Rin stared after him with her mouth slightly open and her dark brown eyes widened. 'He really didn't want me to die?' Rin smiled softly and started following Sesshoumaru and Jaken, only to be nudged by AhUn. She got on and was grateful for the ride. Rin took a nap, smiling while she fell asleep.