Author's Note: I'm really nervous about this chapter. If people don't like it then they won't like the last chapter. Could someone please review me and let me know what you think. If I get one good review then I'll continue it, but if I don't get any reviews I'll delete the story assuming that it's not good.

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The next day at work was very awkward at first, but the both of them agreed it was a mistake on both their parts and to just forget about it. For the next couple of weeks it went unspoken of, but for the both of them it was constantly on mind.

As November drew to a close Rin looked forward to Ethan's return to Illinois. He was coming back to visit for Thanksgiving, and he made sure to take one day out of his trip to come visit her in Springfield. It was actually Kagome's idea to throw the dinner party for him, and she was also the one who encouraged Rin to invite Sesshomaru. At first Rin was a bit skeptical of the two men meeting each other after the kiss, but she figured that Sesshomaru was enough of a gentleman to not say anything.

But he apparently was sending Ethan signals throughout dinner that night. Several times during dinner he noticed Ethan touching Rin on the arm or the leg, and each time he did so she seemed to wince at the touch. He would find himself so angry at the other man that he glared. Ethan seemed so either unconcerned about Rin's feelings or was insensitive to them. What did she see in a guy like that? Better yet, why did he care so much about Rin's feelings?

And Ethan noticed the glares coming from Sesshomaru along with the lingering stares the man did to his girlfriend. Rin seemed pretty oblivious to what was going on because it seemed like most of the dinner her focus was on her plate. Ethan decided to talk to her afterward. He pulled her outside and started by bluntly asking, "Are you aware that your boss is in love with you?"

Rin's head popped up and she studied his face in the dark to see if perhaps he was joking with her, but he was being entirely serious at that moment. "In love with me?" she asked furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's in love with you," Ethan said scratching his head. He walked to the other side of the porch and then stood there with his hands buried in his pockets. "He keeps staring at you, and every time I put my hand on you he glares at me. I'm sure if you asked Sango she would tell you the same thing," he said referring to the fact that Sango sat next to Rin and therefore had a good view of Sesshomaru's behavior.

"He can't be," Rin said brushing off the accusation. "He's a demon, and demons don't love."

"Sesshomaru's father must have been in love with a human at one point in order for Inuyasha to have been conceived."

"True,...but he still despises his father for doing that. That's why he doesn't like humans."

"But he hired you."

"At first as as a way to torture me. What he didn't expect was for me to stick around long enough to torture him." He could hear the smile in her voice. If she had said that he disliked working for Sesshomaru because he hated humans then he probably would have marched in there and called the guy out. "Don't worry though. He's getting married on New Years Eve, and his fiancée is this gorgeous dog demon who will probably produce him strong dog demon children. That's what's most important to a demon, bearing strong children."

"I still don't trust him," he said with distaste in his voice.

"I know Sesshomaru well enough to know that he's probably being protective of me and nothing more. If he doesn't like you for anything, it's more out of fear that he'll have to hire another personal assistant when I leave one day to move to Rhode Island."

"So we're still talking about your moving?" he asked her.

"When we're married I will happily move out there to be with you." Ethan sighed heavily because he knew that Rin was in denial of Sesshomaru's feelings. He moved back to the front door and asked her if she was coming in with him because she hadn't moved an inch. "I'll come in in a minute. I guess I need some time to myself." He nodded his head and stepped inside.

A couple of minutes later Sango come outside to check on her. "Is something wrong?" she asked Rin.

"Yes."

Sango stood next to her and asked quietly, "What's the problem? Did he say something to you?"

"Yeah. He said that Sesshomaru's in love with me because Sesshomaru's been staring at me for most of the night and glaring at Ethan for the rest...Is that true?" she asked rather frantically.

"Well," Sango said thinking back over the night. It was hard for her to concentrate with Miroku continually trying to rub her backside when no one was looking, but as she thought about it, nearly every time she looked across the table Sesshomaru was staring at Rin. "I remember him staring at you the few times I did look at him." She paused for a couple of seconds before asking, "Do you think he's in love with you like Ethan said?"

"I don't know. He's told me time and time again that demons don't fall in love and that he hates humans, but last month..." she drifted off in thought about the kiss they accidentally shared.

"Did something happen between the two of you recently?"

"We kissed once. It was an accident. All I was doing was leaning over to kiss him on the cheek, but apparently I missed because I ended up kissing him."

"I wouldn't call an accidental peck something exciting," Sango said brushing off the incident.

Shyly Rin informed her, "It wasn't exactly a peck."

Sango's face showed her shock but she didn't get the chance to ask any further questions because Kagome chose that moment to come outside. "What's going on out here that you didn't invite me to?"

"Nothing," Rin said quickly hoping that maybe Kagome might get the idea that she was not wanted in the conversation. It wasn't that she didn't love her sister, it was just that Kagome would likely flip out if she heard that Sesshomaru was whom they were talking about. She was mostly worried about Kagome marching in there and demanding that he stop glaring at Ethan or something dramatic like that.

"Am I not invited to join in the conversation?" Kagome asked feigning disappointment.

Sango couldn't hold back from Kagome given that she was Rin's sister, so she went ahead and told her, "Ethan's a little worried that maybe Sesshomaru has feelings for Rin."

"What kind of feelings?" she asked with seriousness laced in her voice.

"Love maybe?"

Kagome turned around and reached for the door knob, but Rin held her hand and begged her, "Please don't say anything. I don't know if it's true, so the last thing any of us needs to do is make a fool of him or Ethan." Kagome could see the concern on Rin's face and relented shrugging her shoulders. She sat down in one of the two chairs on the porch.

After a minute of silence Kagome asked curiously, "Why does Ethan believe Sesshomaru's in love with you?"

"He said that Sesshomaru was staring at me most of the night and glaring at him for the rest," Rin stated.

"That doesn't mean anything," Kagome suggested. "He could just be angry that Ethan is taking you away when he's finally found someone qualified to work for him."

"They also kissed once," Sango said causing Rin to wince.

Kagome's eyes grew larger as she asked, "Kissed? You kissed and didn't tell me?"

"It was an accident. I meant to just kiss him on the cheek and we ended up lip locking."

Sango added, "She had just hinted to me before you came out that it was more than just a peck."

"Details!" Kagome commanded half in excitement and half in disbelief.

"It was the night of his birthday after he drove me to my apartment. We had been talking about my leaving, and I told him that it would be hard to leave my family and friends, which included him. I thought I might lean in and give him a kiss on the cheek just to be friendly. Instead we kissed and I froze at first because that wasn't what I expected. When he cupped my cheek with his hand I gave into the kiss and we kissed for awhile. We broke for air before my conscience kicked in and I pulled away. I said that it was wrong because he has Arisu and I have Ethan. He also concluded that he is my boss. After a few awkward seconds I finally got out of his car. I do have to admit that I thought it was probably the best kiss I've ever had. I've never felt sparks in a kiss before; not even with Kohaku."

"Wow," Sango said dreamily.

Kagome had to be the one to break the news to Rin, "If he was the one kissing you as soon as your lips touched, I don't think it was an accident. He may have mistaken your leaning over, but he was obviously wanting it because he was obviously ready. But with the way that you reacted to the kiss I wonder if maybe you have feelings for him also."

Rin turned bright red, but she was unsure if it was out of embarrassment or out of realization. She had never even thought of him in that way. "But he's my boss," Rin protested thinking of the first thing she could off of the top of her head.

"And you're his employee, but that doesn't mean that he hasn't developed feelings for you," Sango wisely pointed out. "Have you ever thought of him in that way even once?"

"No, because he didn't like me because I'm human." She paused and then a light bulb turned on in her head. "And he hates humans."

"I wouldn't say that," Kagome halted Rin's elation. "He never once said after the kiss that it was wrong for the both of you because you're a human and he's a demon. I would say that pretty much shows he's forgotten what you are." Rin's face fell as she realized her sister was right. "Why don't you think this over. You've got a great guy in there who adores you and isn't engaged." Kagome pat Rin on the shoulder before suggesting that they all go in before the guys got suspicious.

Instead what they found was that the men were all impressed by Sakura showing off her fighting moves she learned from Sesshomaru. Well, everyone but Inuyasha who was actually jealous that his brother had taught his daughter more than he had. When Sakura was sent to bed the adults then started playing cards.

Rin barely paid any attention to the conversation. Most of her night was spent sneaking peeks at Sesshomaru and thinking over Kagome's and Ethan's words earlier in the night. Sure enough, every time she would peek at Sesshomaru he was staring at her, and it made the butterflies in her stomach flutter. Was she in love with him? The way she was reacting to him at that moment certainly suggested puppy love.

She then thought over the past six months and how they had become closer. When she had started they could barely stand each other, but over the months they had come to have respect for each other. And then they developed a friendship. As she had said to him the night of his birthday, she was the only one who even knew his favorite movie. She even shared things with him that she normally only shared with Kagome and Sango.

And suddenly it hit her that she was developing feelings for Sesshomaru, an engaged man. Even if he did feel the same way about her, he obviously didn't want to be with her. He may not have said that she was a human and therefore unworthy of kissing, but he obviously wouldn't consider breaking his engagement off with a demon woman for a human woman.

Now she wished more than anything that no one had pointed out his interest in her. If she had only been kept in the dark then she wouldn't have realized her own feelings. Now that she knew her feelings it would be difficult to be around him every day, and now she would also have trouble giving her heart to Ethan, who actually wanted to be with her.

As she went through her mental anguish she was not alone. Sesshomaru had been wondering about his reactions all night. He saw Rin nearly every day of the week, but it was like he was seeing her differently for the first time in his life. Sesshomaru couldn't even keep his eyes off of her, and when Ethan put his hands on her it sparked this hatred he had never felt for anyone before besides his half-brother.

It worried him when Ethan took her outside only to come back in without her. Something Ethan had said had upset Rin, and something deep within him wanted desperately to go out there and console her. How dare that man upset her! But it was his pride and the way that Ethan looked at him that kept him from going to her. Because of the way that Ethan looked at him made him understand that they had a talk about his behavior during dinner, and it was his behavior that had upset Rin. What could he even say to Rin when he himself didn't understand what he was doing?

When she came in he noticed that she kept stealing glances at him trying to gauge his behavior. It wouldn't have hurt him except that she kept blushing in embarrassment when she would lock eyes with him. The rest of the time she would do anything she could not to look at him. Surely now this would mean she do everything she could to move to Rhode Island just to get away from him, and then he would only have the chance to see her during major holidays.

Sure, he was getting married soon, but compared to Rin, Arisu was nothing. Even her beauty and strength couldn't hold a candle to Rin whose bubbly personality and compassion for everyone she cares for made him want to come to work every day.

Was this love? Was this what his father felt for Izayoi? If it was, now he could understand why his father couldn't stay away from her despite his family at home. Now he would before forced to follow in his father's footsteps being in love with a human only to be married to a demon. The only difference between him and his father was that his love was returned. Rin could only detest him now that she knew of his feelings.

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A/N: Only 1 more chapter and an epilogue to go.