Chapter 10

A/N: Hey folks. This chapter might seem confusing, and personally I think it's not all that great, but I can't seem to fix it. I really like the choppy then collision thing I did though. Also, I'm takin a trip to SPAIN with my Spanish class, or 50 of the people in my school taking Spanish, for 18 days, and I'm going to soccer camp for another 3 so don't expect any updates until august. I should have some good stuff when I get back though. And finally...I don't own Inuyasha, characters, stuff.

For the sake of less changing because of 's quick edit... "example" - normal speak 'example' - thinking speak EXAMPLE – action

"Kagura." Naraku hissed.

"Yes." She growled back at him.

"What can you tell me?"

"The woman with Inuyasha is his sister, Sesshomaru's twin. She was cursed to sleep years ago by a priestess, and has just now awoken." She said lazily, not divulging the details to her...beloved master.

"And the name of this priestess?"

"Unknown."

"Very well. Find this unknown priestess, and notify me as to her whereabouts. I am quite sure she would not deny aide in completing an...unfinished task." He said maliciously, producing the chunk of the Shikon Jewel in his possession, and rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. "And surely she would not mind ridding us of Inuyasha in the process." A grin spread across his face.

"Jaken, come back!" Rin called, chasing the flower-coated toad. "You still need the crown!"

"You nuisance of a child! I will wear no more of these scented abominations!" He screeched over his shoulder at the frolicsome girl, ripping the necklaces and bracelets from his wrinkled green form.

"Jaken! You broke Rin's chains!" The child whined, stopping her pursuit of the imp and fondling the tattered remains of her glorious creations. Jaken continued to run, hiding further off, in a cluster of brambles and over-grown weeds, in which his skin and clothes were easily camouflaged.

Opting to resurrect rather than mourn the loss of her pollen-filled jewels, she skipped off to a new patch of summer flowers and sat down to knit them into new ornaments for her strange caretaker. She had barely begun her weaving when a snapped twig caught her attention in the tree line.

"Hello?" Rin's small voice called out, wavering. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

A figure in billowing pants, and white robes touched with red stepped out from the shaded patch of trees, and Rin's features quickly absorbed a smile. But, as quickly as her eyes had sparkled, they became dark with confusion. "You are not my Lord Sesshomaru." She told the looming demon.

Shessimako couldn't help but smile at the adorable and baffled girl sitting in front of her. Her hunt for her brother had led her here, to this clearing which was dusted with his scent. The girl was pleasantly coated in it, like one of his belongings. It was a perplexing thought, especially since Sesshomaru had repeatedly professed his hate for humans, to think that this little child was with him.

Looking about her, she both recognized and smelled her surroundings. 'We're near home. Maru has probably gone off to check on me...'

"I am...a friend, a close friend of Lord Sesshomaru." She said softly and warmly to the young and strangely unworried child. "Do you want to play a game with me?"

Wary, but excited at the prospect of play, Rin nodded heartily.

A placid face masked the emotions dancing in Sesshomaru's head. He had returned home, to see to his sister's condition, wary of believing the lizard's message. He had been immediately perturbed at the lack of her scent. When he reached the cool shaded room in which he had sat patiently for so many years, he had been perplexed, teetering between furious and terrified, too find strewn and empty bedding.

Shadows of fear dripped into Sesshomaru's frantic thoughts. Whether or not she had been taken, her sleeping form being held hostage by some leverage seeking, rival demonic lord. Whether she had awoken, wandered away from their childhood home in a drowsy, weakened state and met her doom. Whether she had any memory of the events that had taken place that fateful day, if she understood why she had awoken in that dark, secret room. Whether she wandered alone and afraid and confused in the deep woods nearby.

The possibilities had no fathomable end.

Internally panicked, he raced to where he had left Rin with Jaken.

Jaken was becoming mildly concerned. He could no longer hear the mindless humming and the irking laughter of the detestable child Lord Sesshomaru kept at his side. Inching out from the patch of shrubs, his eyes met an empty clearing, with a dying fire from their earlier meal.

Instantaneous terror iced over Jaken's quickening heart. Not terror he felt for Rin's possibly compromised safety, but instead terror at the wrath of Sesshomaru should he not be able to find the girl. He had been told to watch her, and disobeying an order from his great Lord could mean his...termination.

Stuttering, he called out to the wicked menace that was Rin. "Rin? Where are you, you bothersome brat? I'll let you put those infernal flowers on me!"

"So, here is the game." Shessimako whispered, leading Rin across a small trickling stream and a little deeper into the early evening forest. "We are going to play a joke on Lord Sesshomaru." She said, shakily adding the title Lord to her brother's name. Father..'

Rin looked extremely skeptical, skipping along with her hand laced in with Seshiru's. "M'Lord Sesshomaru does not like jokes."

"Yes, I'm sure, but he will like this one."

"What must Rin do?"

"You must pretend that I have kidnapped you." As a second thought she added, "But not until I say so."

"Okay."

"She was just here m'Lord! I swear it!" Jaken croaked, frantically sifting through weeds and tall grass in hopes of finding the girl.

"But where is she now Jaken?"

Sesshomaru had returned to where he had left the two, to discover only a sweating, nervous, frantic Jaken remained.

He had become fond of the girl he had saved...while testing his Tenseiga. Her bubbly, giggling personality was pleasant company after traversing with Jaken for so many years. He had also become rather possessive and protective of the girl. And to discover she had disappeared made two.

Two of his most beloved...possessions had vanished. And he was not happy with this occurrence.

Rin is still very near by. But the demon that took her...it masks its scent.

Without a word to the cowering toad still apologizing profusely at his feet, he leapt off into the slowly darkening forest at a full sprint, a white blur chasing the innocent and pollen tainted fragrance of Rin.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin screamed, as told, at the top of her lungs, quickly growing hoarse. "Help me m'Lord!"

Sesshomaru came upon the screaming child roped to a tree, not far from where he had originally left her with Jaken. He slid a single clawed finger along the twine, easily splitting it and releasing the wailing child. Yet the whole situation was suspiciously like a trap. It was far too simple to be the work of a demon so powerful as to mask its scent.

"Hush Rin." He commanded stoically. She quieted immediately, eager to please the Lord with which she was so enthralled. "Who tied you to the tree, Rin. Where did they go?" He asked the child in his usual placid voice, with a slightly malicious, darker tone lurking beneath it.

Rin held her breath to subdue the giggles in her throat then widened her eyes in faux fear, as she had been instructed. With this look of pretend terror upon her face, she extended a finger toward the dark branches of the tree to which she had been lashed. There was a sudden shuddering in the bough, the leaves rustling ominously without the aide of wind.

Unsheathing Toukijin, Sesshomaru called out to the thing that had probably taken his slumbering sister as well. "Come down and face your fate, demon." Night had swallowed the last tinges of light from the sky, and it was cool for the summer night it was. Rin shivered at his side, and Sesshomaru inched almost unnoticeably closer to the child. There was more rustling in the canopy of the tree, then a long, mysterious silence.

She fell, swift and agile, from the branch she stood upon, landing lightly and softly, without swaying, on two feet. Her golden eyes caught the tiny ounces of light in the sky, making them luminescent in the dark. Her golden eyes caught another pair identical to her own, but deeper, more intense, brimming with unexpressed emotions. Neither spoke. Sesshomaru's face barely changed. But within those flaxen orbs surprise, joy, relief, regret, confusion. Seshiru was beaming, always less adept at containing her soul than her brother. She stepped up to him, gently leaning on her toes, and embraced him. She held him for an eternity, as he savored every moment he had missed during the years they had been separated by the valence of sleep. He didn't respond immediately. He relaxed slowly in her arms. For so long he had ignored his heart, kept it still, trying to forget the pain he felt at his loss. Rin had been the only one to make it flutter since the day he and Inutaisho had found her still body on the forest floor. But it quickened now.

She released him slowly. He hadn't held her in return, but she understood, and she knew that in his own way he had. She looked deep into his eyes and understood.

"M'Lord is not angry?" the tiny squeaking voice accompanied soft tugging on his pants.

"No Rin, I am not angry."

In retrospect this chapter really wasn't too awful. In fact it wasn't all too bad. And I would like to thank everyone for reviewing my story.