Yes! I got a good handful of reviews for chapter nine, and I hope to keep getting the same good reviews!!! There are still quite a few chapters, and hopefully you all like the coming drama. Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Kinda wish I did, though. Oh, well (hangs head and cries a little).

Chapter Ten

I Can Make It Right

Rin sank gently into the hot spring. She felt the comforting warmth of it envelope her aching body as the water lapped at her skin. Finding a ledge under the water, she sat and let the soothing nature of the spring wash over her.

She reached back and let her hair fall into the water, and when she pulled up she slicked it back from her face. Running her fingers through it, she undid any tangles in it. She noted with a frown that there were a few leaves in her tresses. They had undoubtedly gotten there during her fight with Lord Sesshomaru.

She rested there for what seemed like an eternity before she felt clean enough to get out.

After standing by the steam for a moment to dry, she quickly donned her slayer's clothes before gathering Ni-Kiba, as well as Lord Sesshomaru's things. She walked into the forest, knowing her way to the village. She never got lost anymore. Not since that one time in the Western Lands.

When she came back to the clearing where their battle had taken place, she saw him standing in the middle, staring up at the dark night sky. As she watched him, she noticed how wise he seemed, how ancient, and yet so young. His youthful face hadn't changed since she had first known him. He was always on her mind, always. He was her reason for living, literally. She would be dead many times over if it weren't for him. She owed him her life.

"Lord Sesshomaru," she said, stepping forward. Her heart was in her throat. What was to happen now? Would he regard her as he always did? Or would they change?

He turned to watch her as she came closer. His pelt and weapons were in her hands, as well as his armor. He stood before her now in only his kimono. She would have thought that without his armor he would be vulnerable, but then she mentally shook herself. This was Lord Sesshomaru. He could never be anything but intimidating.

She stood before him, his gaze turning her knees to water. Rin could only watch as he reached down and took his things from her and replaced his armor on his body. He wrapped his pelt over his shoulder. Then, he tied his sword to his obi, and reached out a hand.

She looked down at his clawed hand, and gently laid her own in his hold. She then turned her gaze back to his. He lead her back through the forest to the village, and then, to her hut.

Leading her inside, he found her a clean kimono and left her to change and bandage her wounds.

When she was done, she went outside to find him. He was again looking up at the sky. What could he be thinking, now, at this moment? What could be plaguing his mind? Rin wanted desperately to ask him, to be as bold in her curiosity as she had been in her youth.

Walking over to him, she slipped her hand through the crook of his arm. He gazed down at her briefly before turning back to the wonder of the stars.

Rin hated what was happening within her. One half of her soul was aching for the peacefulness that Lord Sesshomaru asked of her. He wanted to take away her pain, to let him handle her anger and her revenge. This one side of her soul wanted to be the girl that she had been once, carefree and light, only knowing that Lord Sesshomaru would care for her, and that she loved him more than anything.

The other part of her wanted her revenge. It cried out that it was hers, and that she would not be denied this because it was hers. She wanted Naraku's head. She wanted his blood on her hands. She wanted this battle. Rin wanted to make him feel as helpless and desperate as she had been when his demons had been swimming around in her mind.

Gazing up at the ancient stars, she silently asked their advice. Should she quench her thirst for revenge, or should she lay this at her Lord's feet? He would never let her down, she knew. He would make Naraku pay. Yet what would become of her if he did? She would be just another burden. She had been his burden her entire life and she refused to do so anymore.

She shivered in the night air. When had it become so cold? When had the summer become fall? When had the fall become early winter? She thought back and realized that it had all happened so quickly she hadn't even noticed. She would never do such again. Her life had been compromised, and she could never take for granted what would always be there.

Soon her eyes grew heavy and her breath slowed. Sesshomaru looked down at her, and took quick note of her exhaustion. He watched as she stifled a yawn and closed her eyes. Silently, he guided her back into the small hut.

"Go to sleep, Rin," he said, watching as she lay on the mat. She pulled a blanket over herself.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" she asked, preparing herself for sleep.

"Yes, Rin," he paused at the doorway.

"Thank you."

Rin peeked her eyes open slowly the next morning.

A set of beady black ones stared back.

"Master Jaken," she said, her excitement evident. She hadn't seen him since that last day before her transformation, and she had worried about him and Ah-Un.

"Silly girl, look at the mess you have gotten us in," he said, crossing his short arms. She almost laughed, except that he looked so serious.

"It's a bit late for lectures, Master Jaken," Rin said, her soft eyes looking him over. "I didn't hurt you or Ah-Un, did I?"

"No, Rin, you did not. You should not have been so foolish. Your rash behavior almost killed Lord Sesshomaru," he said, but then his eyes roamed over her. "Have you long yet to recover?"

"No. It may be a few more days for me to find my full strength, though." Sitting up, she looked down at him. She could have killed him, she thought. She could have hurt him and Ah-Un, the only other people besides Lord Sesshomaru to care for her. They had raised her, had ensured her safety when her lord could not be there. They had been her friends.

Rin felt the tears prickle at the corners of her eyes. She wished that she had not been so weak. If the demon had wanted them dead, she would not have been able to stop them. She stifled a cry and allowed one small tear fall from her eye.

"What is that? Are you crying, you silly chit?"

"Yes, Master Jaken."

"Whatever for?" he asked, his small eyes becoming large. She reached out and took his small hand in her own.

"I could have killed you and Ah-Un. I'm so ashamed of what I allowed to happen," she said, her large black eyes watery and heavy-lidded. Her hair hung around her, the kimono that she had slept in was wrapped tightly around her legs.

"Huh, as if a silly human like you could have destroyed me. My Staff of Skulls would have taken care of you long before you could even strike." He lifted his chin proudly, until he heard her sniffle. He set his eyes on her.

In all the years he had known her, she had been nothing but a bother. An annoyance. At the same time, she had been here for twelve years, and though twelve years was a pittance to demons such as him and Lord Sesshomaru, it was long enough that he couldn't imagine waking up in the morning to find that she had surrounded his sleeping form in a moat of flowers. Or that Ah-Un had a crown of weeds encircling each of his heads. Or that she herself was covered in chains of the flowers, and that the sickeningly sweet smell of them would cling to her all day. Lord Sesshomaru should never have taken pity on her as he did, because she had never left.

Yet now, she seemed so grown up to be so mature in only a matter of weeks that he realized that what had happened to her had honestly hurt her, had almost crushed her spirit. He realized with a start that he didn't want that to happen. That not waking to flowers and her sweet scent, though once would have been considered a blessing, would leave them all missing what had been left.

He watched the woman before him as she wiped at her tears. He would never admit it, because in his and Lord Sesshomaru's eyes it would be considered weak, but since he had never mated, he had never had children. She was like a daughter to him.

He grasped her hand in his own withered one, and sat next to her on the mat.

"Rin, you're such a stupid child," he said bluntly. "You dawdle, pick flowers, run races with me against my will, and constantly sing at the god-awful top of your lungs. You stare after our lord with puppy eyes. You dance and laugh. I'm going to miss that," Jaken said with an uncharacteristic smile. "I can see now our future, for you have changed."

"Yes, Master Jaken," she said, closing her eyes. Soon she was asleep, and he watched her rhythmic breathing. Oh, aye, things were never going to be the same.

Inuyasha walked through the forest. His hand rested on Tetsusaiga's hilt, he gripped the earthen ground with the balls of his feet, ready to strike. The scent of youkai was strong, very strong, too strong.

He turned his gaze to a tree on his far left, but changed his mind. No, the scent that wafted to him was coming from somewhere else, somewhere closer. His ears twitched, catching the faint sound of leaves rustling. The wind? Maybe. Maybe not.

Sensing the attack, Inuyasha jumped up as the tree behind him shattered. He grabbed the branch directly above him, hanging suspended for only a moment as he drew Tetsusaiga from its sheath. Then he let himself fall to the ground, and immediately prepared for battle.

Yet when he looked forward, he saw only forest.

The blow hit him hard from behind, sending him sprawling to the ground. Spitting out a leaf, he jumped back up to face his opponent.

"Hey, that wasn't fair!" he screamed.

"Your skills are improving. However," Sesshomaru said, sheathing Tokijin. "Your attitude is lacking."

"Whatever," Inuyasha said. He joined his brother as they walked back to the village. "You know, we can't just stay here and wait for Naraku to attack."

"Indeed."

"We should go looking for him."

"Why go looking for danger? Our energy can be saved by waiting. And," he said, walking on. "We will be here in case of an attack. Naraku would not hesitate to destroy the village simply to incite our anger. Anger provokes rash behavior, as you well know," Sesshomaru said, giving his brother a pointed look.

"That may be, but we have to go," Inuyasha said, stopping. Sesshomaru also stopped, but he did not turn.

"Why is that, Inuyasha?"

"Because if we don't leave, we will bring Naraku to this village, whether we want him here or not. These people cannot handle attacks as they have in the past. Once people heard of the jewel and me, they stayed away. Some left. We cannot risk their livelihood by staying."

Sesshomaru nodded, knowing that Inuyasha was right.

"We move out tomorrow," Sesshomaru said, walking away.

I know, I know, another filler chapter. The next chapter will be way longer, and chock full of information and drama, and I want reviews, so many reviews, that I won't know what to do with them all!!!!!!!!! Until next time, toodles.