After taking care of Rin and putting her in his bed to rest, Sesshomaru then stormed out of his chamber and down the halls of his palace, calling for his guards. And once they appeared he ordered them to follow him to get Yuna-hime with the intention of placing the bitch in his dungeon to be tortured for what she had done to his ward.

After that was done and the bitch had been placed under arrest- he then had her males killed and then spent the rest of the night in the palace dungeon amputating fingers and toes, stripping the whore-hime's body of it's flesh and maiming her once pretty face to the point of severe disfigurement with his acidic claws after which he then ordered her to be taken to his stable and given to the beasts there as a toy to use as they pleased.

He had no use for a bitch that didn't know her place.

And speaking of place- He needed to return to Edo village and bring the new Shikon Miko to his palace where she would be easier to protect. However after what had happened to Rin during his absence this last time, he was in no hurry to leave his ward alone without him again.

Moving quickly, he decided that it would be possibly more difficult to get the human to agree to come with him if he came to fetch her covered in the blood and other bodily fluids of the bitch he'd been occupied with for the night. So before he did anything, he needed to bathe and change his clothing.

Then he needed to make sure that the Miko's chamber's were ready.

And then he would need to saddle up his double headed dragon, Ah-Un so that Rin could travel with him to the village. It was his hope that once she came out of her dazed state that she would return to normal in his presence since she knew that he would never hurt her.

And the Miko's presence with them might help as well.

Once he reached his private bathing chamber, attached to his room- he quickly shed his soiled clothing and dove into the shallow pool of warm water and took a moment or so to do what his half brother affectionately called 'splashing around like a pup' and once he was finished, climbed out of the water dripping wet and shook himself off since he didn't really think he had time to dry the usual way.

The faster he could prepare himself and Rin, the faster they could depart.

(*************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Winter didn't bother sleeping that night once she was given a futon and someplace to rest.

She was simply too busy with the thoughts in her head to bother actually resting much. Which was why after everyone else was asleep, she slipped out of the futon and silently out of Sango and Miroku's hut and wandered through the village until she reached a nice grassy hillside just shy of the woods and sat down.

Looking out over the small village her sister had loved so much, with the people that she had probably wished desperately to return to one day.

Sighing, she leaned back on the grass to get comfortable and rested her head on her folded hands.

She must have lain there for minutes, hours? She didn't really know. All she knew was that after a little while she began to get drowsy and after what seemed like forever to the weary young woman, she finally managed to fall into a light doze.

(**************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Sesshomaru, Rin and Ah-Un had departed the palace for Edo village shortly after the youkai lord had bathed the blood and other bodily fluids from his person and then dressed himself in some clean clothing and then collected Rin and a small pack of foods for her and then got Ah-Un from the stable and then left.

Edo village was close to an entire day's journey from his palace at their current traveling speed.

A half day if he forced them to really push it, which maybe wasn't such a bad idea given Rin's current condition.

Every now and then the Inu youkai would find himself glancing over his shoulder at his young charge, sitting slumped over on the two headed dragon following him, with a concerned look on his face and couldn't help but curse Yuna-hime and her males to the fiery pits of hell and beyond for what they had done to his Rin.

And once he was done mentally cursing them, he began to wonder if perhaps the woman- Winter? The new Shikon Miko was as kind towards small children as her sibling had been.

Deep down he really prayed that she was since she was a miko, however he knew that not all miko's were pleasant people. Still, he had hopes that perhaps having the woman present in his palace and around Rin would somehow bring the child out of her pained and shocked stupor and help her heal.

He would have to speak to the woman about his plans to remove her from the village first since he doubted that she would take kindly to being kidnapped by him after journeying through the well just to inform everyone of her sister's fate.

And then perhaps broach the subject of Rin's unfortunate mishap and see if she could in some way help the girl.

"Ah-Un," Sesshomaru finally said as he let himself drop back a little bit so that he could take Rin from the dragon's back and carefully cradled the girl in his arms and wrapped his moko-moko around her to keep her warm as he said. "Go faster. We must reach Edo before nightfall."

He had much to speak to the new Shikon Miko about.