Fuck. I think I've been spelling Sesshoumaru wrong. And I should KNOW better, shouldn't I? Since I'm a mad manga fan, anyways. DAMN. Ah well. Hey! I finally figured out how to see if I got any reviews for my story... Thank YOU SOOO much for the reviews! I luv yew, I luv yew. I feel all special now. And yes, I SHALL continue, can't make you people unhappy now, can I? I might get stabbed with paper airplanes!! (Huh? That made no sense...OH WELL! On to the fic...)

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Rin's stomach was full, and she headed slowly back to her quarters. It had been an interesting few weeks. The day after she'd woken up, two kind men named Aun and Uhn had met her in the mess hall at breakfast and taken her on a tour around the ship, firing questions at her about her schooling, technical background, and practical training. They seemed pleased to hear about her skills in mechanics and her martial arts training. They had told her both would come in handy. At lunchtime, they had seated themselves around a large table full of men, and eaten heartily. It seemed the other men were quite curious about her, and asked many questions. They also had suggestions of things that she could do around the ship. Some were not exactly appropriate, but Aun and Uhn had glared at the men, and they'd shaped up a bit. She'd just laughed off the silly suggestions in favor of the practical ones. *So, I could be a martial arts instructor, or a mechanic or even a hydroponics specialist. Cool. Those sound like fun.*

Their final stop for the day had been the ships hydroponics bays. Rin's excitement couldn't have been contained, especially when Uhn mentioned that they were having trouble with one of the breeder tanks for the fish. "The thing keeps growing weeds and killing the fish. We're not quite sure if it's the nutrient mix or something else. We've named the bloody tank Naraku, after that other bastard. See if you can master it, would you? Since you're so good with biotics, eh?"

She nodded. And that led her to today. She'd spent several days with the tanks in hydroponics, figuring out how they worked. They weren't the standard, after all. They'd been modified so many times, she wasn't sure how they worked at ALL. She resigned herself to fixing them up, since they WERE rather important to the pirate ship. Hungry pirates were like hungry dogs. Grouchy and irritable– eating everything in sight.

She knew now that she was aboard one of the pirate ships–the space dogs. All the men carried the insignia of a huge white dog and crossed swords behind it on their left breasts. And now, she did too on her coveralls. Some even had tattoos, which they'd been enthusiastic to show her. All of them spoke with great respect of their leader, who ensured that they had a good life, despite the "dirty" things they sometimes had to do. Rin observed dryly that they may have seemed amoral to outsiders, but they had an iron clad honor code amongst themselves, and an unswerving loyalty that bespoke them as something more than just ruthless space pirates. For one thing, they didn't attack miners or others who worked hard for a living. They only raided luxury liners... and only those that didn't bear the logo of Western Starlands.

And THAT was a puzzle in itself. Why didn't the pirates attack the Western Starlands transports? They could have easily won, but then again, the transports were heavily armed, and were costly to attack, since their long range transmitters could easily contact the space patrol. Another interesting mystery was that the space patrol didn't bother the pirates. This, she had to conclude, was because the pirates were much more effective in keeping law and order in their territory, and to try to oust them would require more effort and time than the Patrol had, with all it's millions of other problems. Perversely, she felt proud to be allowed to wear their insignia.

Making it back to her quarters, she grabbed the notepad that had her detailed map of the ship on it. She needed to go and visit the mechanic's station to get a tool, and it would only waste her time to get lost. She wondered what the silver haired man would think of that. Probably not much. When she'd mentioned him, the men had gone quiet and insisted that he was a stickler for efficiency. Well, she could be efficient, if it meant she could avoid him. He had an uncanny habit for appearing behind her and asking her questions. In fact, he made her nervous.

Not only was he incredibly good looking, but he was intelligent as well, deducing who she was simply from her telling him her name. Once again, she wondered who he could be. He wasn't the captain of the ship, was he? He didn't act like it, though the men treated him with respect, and no little fear. She'd found out why when she'd stumbled upon a group of men in one of the cargo bays. He'd been fighting with another man, who'd had to be carried out of the room. She'd never seen anyone fight like he did. He was incredibly fast and strong, even against his larger and heavier opponent. The men had clapped and cheered after he defeated the man, and she found herself unable to look away from him either. Almost as if he had sensed her presence, he turned and his now red eyes clashed with her brown ones.

Abruptly, he was standing in front of her. His eyes flashed once and he spoke. "Rin. What are you doing here." She managed a timid reply, "I– I got lost." Actually, she wanted to exercise and had been searching for the gym, and hadn't thought she'd get so lost. Aun and Uhn hadn't been around for her to contact to ask how to get there (they'd clearly been watching the fight), so she'd been wandering around. His eyes held hers and he gestured imperiously. "Hiten. Guide her wherever she wants to go, and give her a map so that she doesn't become 'lost' again. It is...inefficient." This was said in a sardonic tone as his eyes slowly resumed their golden color. The said man walked quickly over to her side and quickly ushered her out of the bay as Sesshoumaru watched, growling when Hiten touched her arm to move her more quickly.

His mysteriousness was starting to get on her nerves. That, and he wouldn't tell her his name. It was becoming frustrating for her. *I'm not a baby anymore. I don't want to be kept in the dark. Kag-chan used to try to do the same thing. I don't LIKE it!* Abruptly, she lowered her head to peruse the map, cheeks flaming in shame. *That..that's not fair. I just wish that we could find her, and make sure she's safe from Naraku. That space miner that took all the rest of the pods sure hasn't turned up.* Not that she had even been given back their ship so that she could mount a search on her own. *I'm stuck here, by the orders of some high and mighty Sesshoumaru-person that won't let me do ANYTHING! I have to rely on the silver haired man for any snippets of information. And it's dumb that I have to keep calling him the "silver-haired man" or the "golden-eyed man"!*

Still staring at her map, she turned a corner hastily in her frustration, and bumped into something tall and very solid. She would have fallen on her butt, but someone caught her before she could hit the ground. "You're not very good at taking care of yourself, are you?" Her eyes were drawn upward to the frowning face of the golden-eyed, white-haired man with the strange tattoos on his face. Somehow, bumping into him AGAIN triggered all her frustration, and when he set her carefully back on her feet, she shoved away and yelled at him.

"YOU!! You...You...You arrogant, heartless bastard!! You're almost as bad as that Sesshoumaru person! You treat me like an ignorant child and say that I'm inefficient, lazy and silly! No-one will tell me what's going on, or why I can't just leave and find my sister on my OWN! It's not like I'm HELPLESS or anything!!! ...and YOU won't even have the decency to tell me your name so I can insult you properly! You just run around, butting in on my life, ordering people to do this and that and nary a care about what I'D like!!" This speech was punctuated with sharp jabs to the golden eyed man's chest and an unbroken glare at his face. Sesshoumaru could have sworn he saw flames rising from her.

His response was to raise a sardonic eyebrow. "Insult me properly? Why bother, when you have already insulted me enough." he hesitated then, and unbeknownst to Rin, was desperately considering. *I can't punish her like the rest of my crew for insolence, since she's perfectly right about me keeping her in the dark, but it is for her own safety. I can't let anyone else catch her insulting me, or they might want to punish her....what can I do?!!* "Come. We will continue this discussion in a more private location. At the least, it will save you embarrassment." With that, he grabbed her arms and pulled her into an unoccupied storage bay nearby, despite her fuming and resistance to his hands clamped like vices around her wrists.

Once inside, with the door shut, he managed to calm his anger and release her. She simply stalked away rubbing her wrists and began to pace. Her outraged tirade continued. "Great, I thought you said no-one would hurt me here!? And you look like a freak with those tattoos on your face...when is anyone going to tell me what the HELL is going ON?!?" He had winced at her accusation of hurting her, and stepped forward to capture her hands again, more gently this time to examine them. Dark bruises in the shape of his hands were visible across both her wrists. For a second he lowered his head. He HAD told her she would not be harmed, and somehow, his control around her always managed to snap somehow. He could even SMELL her pain, and that made him furious at himself. She yanked her hands away again, and he let her.

He turned his back, hiding his expression from her. "Rin. I will not touch you again. I'm sorry to keep you in the dark, but it is for your own safety. Naraku has attempted three assassinations against your father that I know of with my network of informants. I know that you and your sister had something of importance that you were to show your father, and that you were engaged to Naraku. I have had my men search for any traces of the miner, but he is extremely elusive. He is not from this territory in space; he may be from one of the farther sectors out from this territory. I am still searching. And these tattoos are a family tradition, passed on only to the eldest son." She stared at his back, a startled look crossing her face. She managed to hold on to her indignation and continued. "Well, that still doesn't tell me who you are, or update me on anything about my sister. What territories have you searched? What kind of ship was it? Have you tried any voice recognition patterns on the miner's voice?"

He turned then. "No, I have not. The best way to find the miners is to go to the places where they sell their ore. Since he was almost fully loaded with ore, I'd say that there are at least three places he could have gone. The Rimshot is the last place we will have to check. I have already checked the others." He regarded her again, calmly. "Since you wish so desperately to be updated, you will take tea with me every afternoon at 16:00... I am, of course assuming that your parents DID train you in the tea ceremony, even though they forgot to teach you manners?" The last was a parting shot, as he turned to head for the door. "W-Wait, I, what? Hey! That's not nice! What's your name??"

She could have sworn he smiled at her, before opening the door. "Sesshoumaru." With that, the door opened, and he strode out, his expressionless mask once again in place, inwardly laughing at the expression of shock on her face. She couldn't move. She'd insulted SESSHOUMARU, the LEADER of the space dogs. The most RUTHLESS pirate in space, evil beyond compare, arrogant, irritating, RUDE... The man with the incredible golden eyes, silver hair, graceful, emotionless, gorgeous, tall, PERFECT Sesshoumaru. Who could fight with the speed and grace of ten men, probably knew the tea ceremony better than she did, understood several languages, flew, designed and built ships... "It HAS to be impossible." were the only words she could mumble. Her stomach had already hit the floor, and was crawling away from her.

She wanted to hide. She wanted to run. She wanted to do ANYTHING but have tea with him at 16:00 hours. *What a way to go and stick my big foot in my mouth. I'll never live this down.*

She didn't even remember to contradict his claim that SHE was the one engaged to Naraku. That was her sister... WAS.

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Sesshoumaru was having a different experience. Someone had heard her yelling at him in the halls, and men kept running up to him with frantic expressions on their faces asking if the "Lady Rin was alright" or if they could take her punishment. Ridiculous. He couldn't have hurt Rin if he tried...but he had. He was angry enough at himself, that his tone was very frosty when he told all of them, "She has been punished enough. Her breeding has taught her manners, and when she disregards them, she will be embarrassed. I am satisfied with that." Somehow his men had turned into mushy idiots over the space of several weeks. All of them had fallen for the girl, treating her like a little sister. *I should just ask if they all want to adopt her or something. Sheesh! All of them want to defend her with the fury of ants around their queen!*

And that brought another strange revelation. He actually CARED what she thought of him. Her parting expression, one of shock, had not told him of her emotions under the surface. Would she hate him like everyone else, judging him on his reputation? Would she scorn him for being a pirate? Would she avoid him like the plague, and only have tea with him because he ordered it, not because she wanted to? Because he was her captor and could force her? Why did he have this sudden urge to protect her from herself and any danger that might ever come to her, to wrap her in ribbons and let no-other male even touch her. *No-ONE touches what is MINE!* This thought elicited a vicious growl from his chest, and a strange tight sensation that caused a prickling in the back of his throat. But she wasn't really his, was she? She would be that Naraku-bastard's soon enough, no matter how he tried to prevent it. If he had ever cried before, he would have known that sensation well, but he did not, and ignored it. His damn weak emotions would go away eventually.

But his thoughts continued. What would happen if she truly did hate him for what he had done? The only weapon that he could muster against her possible dislike was a mask of indifference that was slowly cracking under the sunshine and furious fire of her passionate existence. Every time she smiled, laughed, or got angry at him, the iron casing over his heart cracked a little bit more. And he had been watching her, when she wasn't aware of it. He didn't think that his men even knew. And THAT was for the best, because they might see it as a sign of weakness. And weakness meant death.

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Ha HA! Drama. Don't you just love Rin-chan? I made her about a year younger than 'Gome. So, she's like 18 and 'Gome's like 19 or 20? Pick one, tell me which you'd prefer... I can't decide. I also made her a bit more feisty, like Kagome, but still sweet. And hey, added in some good stuff about Sess treating her like a child. (YAHOO!) Since she's NOT... 'Cuz that's how I seem to get treated like at home...even though I'm in college and INDEPENDENT. Freakin' A. Hmm. Hafta work today. Disney's CA Adventure (is the devil!) Whoops, I meant...fun. Yeah. So, um, Review please. Hmm, I think I'll hafta go update my blog today.