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My Pure Love
Chapter 10

It's been three months.

Three months since my sister disappeared. Three months since I had a happy moment in my life. Three months since I got to see my best friend.
Angel had to be dead. There was no way around it. She had jumped into her dreams that night and whispered her final words. Faith felt hot tears run down her face as she busied herself with cleaning the floor. She had to be dead. Had to be. Faith stopped cleaning and put her head to her hands which rested on the floor. For the next few moments Faith cried hard and steadily.

My sister. My beautiful sister. I'll never see her again. I'll never hear her voice, her laugh, or her cries. She's gone. She'll never fall in love, mate, nor have children. She's gone and she's never coming back.

"Faith?"
Faith sat up, but then looked away from the speaker. She couldn't let him see her like this.
Kouga kneeled down beside her and touched her face so she would look at him.

"What's wrong," he whispered softly.

"It's been three months. Angel's been gone for so long. She must be dead," Faith chocked on the last word and started crying again.
Kouga studied Faith and wondered what he should do. He's never had to comfort someone over a person's death. Hesitantly, he reached out to her and pulled her towards him. Faith wrapped her arms around him and cried. She felt so lost…so alone.
After a moment she pulled away.

"I need to get back to work."

"But I'm here. When I come to visit you're free from your duties until sunset."

"I know, but…I just can't. Not today. I'm sorry, Kouga. I just can't spend time with you today."
Kouga stood and said, "We won't be able to see each other again for a month."

"I know," she whispered softly.
Kouga frowned, but he didn't press to stay even though he wanted to.

"I'll see you in a month," Then he left.
Faith stared at the floor as tears welled up in her eyes. She knew Kouga had wanted to stay, but all she felt like doing was crying. She did enjoy her time with Kouga but she didn't believe any amount of enjoyment would let her forget her sister's death. Not even for a brief moment. Maybe in time she could. Maybe when she finally adjusted to a life without her sister she could live again, but that time wouldn't be soon. Would Kouga wait for her? Would he hold of the courting until she healed? Or would he grow bored of her and her emotional self? She would never know, unless she asked, but Fait didn't feel right at the thought of asking. He might take it the wrong way, but then again, he might understand.

Faith cried harder as the confusion joined her sadness. She couldn't think any of it out.
Angel would probably be able to help.

"Go to the servant's quarters and rest."
Faith hurriedly wiped her tears away and bowed to her lord.

"I haven't finished my chores, Sesshomaru-sama."

"And you never will if you continue crying. Go rest. You will continue tomorrow,"

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama." Faith waited until Sesshomaru left before she got up and ran to the other side of the castle. She was so thankful at the moment. No one would be there, so she could cry in solitude. Suddenly it hit her. Faith stopped running and looked back at the hall she came from.
Was Sesshomaru-sama just nice to me?

(Divider)

Sesshomaru continued walking down the hall, silently making sure everything was in order. He had smelt the servant's tears from his chambers. The smell was sickening, plus the smell of the wolf didn't make it any better. Thankfully he was gone. He didn't know why he left earlier, nor did he care. Their relationship problems were their problems, not his. He knew why the servant was crying. It's been three months since Angel and Rin left the castle.

The fact that so much time had passed didn't sit well with Sesshomaru. The search party should have found the servant by now. Before they had set off he had told them not to return until they knew of her whereabouts. Sesshomaru hadn't heard a word from them since.

How can it be so difficult to find one girl?
If it was just Angel that was missing he wouldn't spend time wondering where she was, but Angel went to look for Rin. If something had happened to Angel, maybe something happened to Rin too. When Sesshomaru realized where his thoughts were heading he immediately stopped walking.

Why am I showing so much…care towards those two girls? They're gone and will most likely remain so. So, why do I let their well-being plague my mind? This is getting out of hand. First I dream of Rin, now I constantly wonder about both girls. It's only been three months. Anything could have happened. Maybe both girls ran off so they wouldn't be found by him or…maybe they were both killed.
That last thought caused something within Sesshomaru to hurt. He pictured Rin dead and whatever was hurting, hurt worse.

Why do I feel this? She's just a human, so why do I feel any type of emotion towards her? For the last three months I haven't felt anything. So why now? Why should the amount of time that has passed matter? Is it because Angel's sister has given up hope? No, her feelings aren't my concern or her sister.

It's been three months.

Sesshomaru growled and stormed back to his room. He needed something. Something to keep his mind off those worthless girls. When he reached his room and he walked over to the balcony where he could stare off into the peaceful forest.

"Sesshomaru."
Sesshomaru blinked once. He had heard Angel's voice, but she was no where near here. If she was, he would have been able to smell her. Was he going mad? No. The Lord of the Western Lands did not lose his mind because of a couple of girls.

"Sesshomaru."
Sesshomaru turned to his right and saw her. There wasn't much to see, but there was enough there that he knew who she was.

"She's okay, Sesshomaru. Rin's fine." Angel whispered to him. Angel was almost completely transparent and there barely anything left of her lower body. Sesshomaru reached out to her and the wind blew. It blew Angel away. Angel had come to ease his trouble mind like she had in the past. But why had she looked like that? Why didn't she just whisper in his head?

Despite Angel's comforting words, Sesshomaru still wondered what had happened.

(Divider)

Rin quickly dodged the slayer's attack and lunged forward with her sword. She used her body to knock the person down and when they hit ground she threw the sword down into the ground, next to the person's head. Rin's training partner looked at the sword and gulped.

"It's a good thing this was only an exercise. Kami have mercy on the demon that goes against you,"
Rin smiled and got up, taking her weapon with her.

For the last three months she had been training under Sango and some other demon slayers. She was learning fast and becoming stronger every day. At first all the work drove Rin crazy, but now it was just another part of the day.
Once the basic training had been covered, Rin was allowed to slay minor demons that attacked the nearby villages. She's moved up since then, but she's still not strong enough to go against superior demons like Sango and the others.

Rin worked hard everyday to become as strong as them. It was her goal…it was the only thing she could do. There was nothing else to achieve in her life except becoming as strong as Sango so she could be a top demon slayer. For a demon slayer, there wasn't much else to life than just simply slaying demons and having a family. That was it.

Rin knew she would never have a family, so demon slaying was all she had. There had been a few men that had shown interest in her, but she had shown nothing in return. Her heart belonged to one man and only him, even if he didn't want to give his in return.

Rin wondered back to Sango's house so she could clean up. As she did her thoughts wondered back to the man that held her heart captive. It had been three months since she had seen him. She was amazed at how time had passed. The three months seemed like only a few days. But it had been three months. Rin tried so hard to forget him, but she couldn't. He was the man she loved, admired, and just simply adored. When she had first met him he was everything to her.

Sesshomaru had been the greatest person in the world. She had looked up to him for so long and then the feelings changed into something more. To something more passionate and serious. At first Rin had been in denial, but over time she accepted the idea of being in love with him. She even got to the point where she was ready to express her true feelings to him…then he sent her away.

So far away. He took her heart, her happiness…her life. Yet, she longed to see him. Despite the fact that it was all his fault Rin had spent countless nights crying she wanted to see him.
To touch him.
To be near him.

Anything would have been enough. If she could only look at him and say that she forgave him. Forgave him for taking her heart, taking her life and for giving her no future. And then, she wanted to say that she loved him. That all this time she had loved him and had never stopped loving him, not even for a second.

She would always hold him in her heart. Even if he didn't hold her in his. No matter what, she would never forget and she would never, ever stop loving him.
It's been three months since I saw him. I miss him so much. I try to be stronger and I want to be stronger more than ever, but whenever I think about him I feel so weak. Why? Why is it that when I think about him being so far away I feel like I can't go on? Is this how it feels when you're separated from the one person you're supposed to be with?

(Divider)

These trails were used often, but not today. Today, only one group of travelers used them. They were all tired and frustrated. It was a simple mission: find the disobedient servant. How hard was that? Apparently, very. It was like the girl had disappeared off the face of the Earth. Her scent had been there for awhile, then it rained and any trace of her had disappeared.

The search party was still dutifully searching for the half-demon girl their lord had ordered them to. This wasn't the first time a servant tried to run to find freedom. They had done this type of thing before, but not for three long months. All the soldiers had looked through the forests nearby the castle.

Then they started visiting a few villages to see if they had seen her passing through. After that they had traveled to the Northern Mountains to ask the Wolf Prince if he had seen her. Their lord had requested they go there if they didn't find her nearby. He said she would most likely be following Rin's trail.

The Wolf Prince hadn't seen her outside the castle, but said they were welcome to search more throughout his lands. They did. Most of the land that they searched was north, but close to the west. No one was sure if either girl had traveled east or stayed to the western parts of the country.

The trail the soldiers were on now led to another village. It had been agreed that if she wasn't found here, they would start going east. Most of the men agreed to anything. They were all sick of looking for the girl. After three months of searching everyone just wanted to go back to the castle. If it takes three months to find one person that person either doesn't want to be found or is dead.

Silently, the large group of soldiers went to the outskirts of the village while blending in with the woods. From their hiding spots they all noted this was a village they wouldn't be welcomed at. It was a village for the demon slayers. They were a few different kinds of demon slayers. First, there were the ones that would give you a chance to explain yourself, which gave you a chance of getting out of being killed. Then there was the other type, the type that didn't give a damn what your story was. If you were a demon, that was crime enough.

None of the soldiers were sure of which type this particular group was since they were from the north and not their own home territory. Because of this the soldiers could only walk around the outskirts and look from a distance. As they made their way around the leader of the group suddenly stopped. He sniffed the air again to make sure.

"Lady Rin," he whispered.
All the soldiers behind him tested the air and agreed with him. She was there, in that village. They moved further along and saw her near the edge of the forest, kneeling before an isolated gravestone. They all watched and waited to see if the half-demon was there with her.

(Divider)

Rin kneeled before Angel's gravestone and prayed. Every day she made time to visit Angel and say a prayer for her. Sometimes she would even have a conversation with her. She knew it was a silly idea, but deep inside she knew Angel was listening intently to her, like she always did.

Rin looked up at the stone and traced over her friends name. It had taken a lot of begging for the villagers to do this, but in the end they did. They were confused why she wanted the demon to have a proper burial, but they did it anyway. Rin had been a little angry at first that they had put her gravestone at the very edge of the village, but at least it was something. It had been another struggle for her to get them to actually mark the grave with her name. She had also wanted them to put: wonderful sister and friend, but they had flat out refused to recognize the demon as something good and nice.

Rin was grateful for what she got. It wasn't much, but it was the least she could do for Angel. Angel hadn't deserved such a cruel end to her life, but there was nothing she could do about that now. All she could do now was carry on her memory. Rin sighed and looked up at the sky.
Three months since she died. She was so good to me and looked what happened. If she hadn't come for me she wouldn't have died. But there was no way of stopping her. She was such a good person. Angel would have done anything to make sure I was alright, that's how it's always been with her. She put my feelings above hers.

Rin felt the warm tears fall down her face as she thought about her. She couldn't forget about Angel either. No matter how hard she tried, Rin couldn't let the past go. There was just so much of it and a lot of it had been so great.
Rin stood on shaky knees and wiped the tears away. She had loved Angel so much. All she wanted to do was see her again and tell her that she was sorry and that she was grateful for everything she did for her.

Sometimes she did see her; at least she thought she did. It was like Angel's ghost would be there before her. She would smile and disappear. At first it scared Rin, but then she looked forward to every visit she got from her. Maybe she was really hallucinating and losing her mind. It didn't matter to her and she was pretty sure she wasn't losing her mind. Angel had powers of the mind. Maybe those powers allowed her to make certain people see her for a few seconds.

Rin wouldn't be surprised if that was what Angel was doing. Angel always cared about the people around her. If making herself appear before them would make them happy, then she would do it.

(Divider)

The leader of the search party stepped out of the forest as Rin walked away. He stood in front of the gravestone to see who Rin cared about so much that she would cry for their death. When he saw the name he cringed. This wasn't good.

(Divider)

"Lord Sesshomaru," the soldier who had led the search party bowed before the Lord of the Western Lands.

"You have news about the servant," It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, we found out about her and found Lady Rin at a village of demon slayers in the Northern Lands."

"What do you mean by, 'found out about her'?"

"When we went to the village…we found out that she is dead, mi lord."
Sesshomaru stood there silent as he contemplated this.

"You are saying that demon slayers killed my servant?"

"Well, I do not know that for sure, but I would say it is safe to assume that."
Sesshomaru was silent for another moment.

"And Rin is training under these slayers?"

"It appears so, mi lord."

"Interesting. Tell your men to quickly rest and prepare. We are leaving tonight."

"Where to my lord?"

"To the demon slayer's village. They killed something of mine and that is not allowed."
And I wish to see Rin

(Divider)

Rin concentrated on cleaning the floor. She hated doing chores so she tried to get through them as fast as possible. When they had first told her what she had to do Rin was slightly shocked. It had been so long since she actually had to do work.

Rin stood and looked at the floor as it dried. It looked pretty good and Rin gave herself a mental pat on the back. She thought she did pretty well today. She picked up the bucket of water and cloth and carried it outside. Once out there she heard shouting.

"Demons are coming! Get ready! Demons are coming!"

(Divider)

A/N: Sorry that the whole three month thing was brought up in just about every scene. Everyone had their different thoughts on the change in time so it just ended up that way. This is actually a little shorter than I intended, but it's probably the longest chapter yet.

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The number didn't exactly change to a 73 last time. sigh Can i see it change to an 85 this time?