FYI: Inuyasha is not mine. P. S. this chap might make some of you mad but it is necessary.

Chapter eleven: Sesshomaru's engagement

For the past three months Sesshomaru had Jaken search for all the information on the available yokai women that were from prominent families. He wanted Jaken to do it secretly so not to cause too muck controversy within the land. Jaken was to report to him every week. Once all reports were in he would send for the yokai women to come to the palace to meet him and Rin. He wanted to see how they would react to taking a human child in. So far the numbers of adequate females were slim. Either they were too old, too young, or from a family of too many problems.

Over the past weeks, Rin had grown depressed and lonely. Sesshomaru still took her every seven days to the well to send flowers. It seemed the only thing the little one looked forward too. But after so many weeks, Rin grew sad that the miko didn't jump from the well and take her in her arms. On a few occasions Rin would want to stop and talk to the miko's friend Sango. The woman seemed to be able to calm the young girl's heart.

Sesshomaru would just stay at the well while Rin would visit. But it wasn't to give Rin her privacy. He had his own reasons for staying at the well while they were there. He could smell the miko on the other side of the well. He hadn't told Rin that he could sence the miko on the other side. She smelled so close. This was the part of the trip that was for him. Her scent of lavender and vanilla was so overwhelming that he had thought of jumping in the well to get closer. He could always count on Kagome showing up at the same time they would send the flowers. He knew that Kagome must be thinking it was Inuyasha that sent them, but that was ok. She was nothing more to him than eye candy, something to play with. Or so he told himself.

Once back at the castle he and Rin had dinner together and then he put her to bed. He went to his library to look over the information Jaken had retrieved for him.

He shifted through the paperwork and came across a possible match for what he was looking for. It was a lion yokai in her early twenties. Her name, Akina from the far East, and from the notes she is supposed to be quite beautiful.

Sesshomaru opened the door to the library "Jaken!" He yelled.

"Coming Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken said from down stairs. Jaken ran the stairs and came to the door panting. "Yes Millord, how may I help you?"

"Tell me of this Akina of the East!" He demanded.

"Well, she is quite beautiful. She has long red hair and Golden eyes." Jaken said

"Anything else?" Sesshomaru quizzed the toad.

"Well, there is not much known about her. She stays around the castle and I hear she always has her friend with her which is a healer. I tried to get more for you milord but people started asking questions." Jaken said with his head bowed.

"We will have to see then for ourselves. Send her in invitation so that I might meet her." Sesshomaru looked at Jaken "She is to be here by tomorrow night. Is that understood?" Sesshomaru added.

"Consider it done milord." Jaken said as he backed out of the room with his head down.

Sesshomaru had given orders to the workers to have everything prepared for the Yokai woman that was to come to the castle. He then retired to his room for the night. He undressed and climbed under the satin sheets. 'I hope this yokai will do. What will she look like? Would she smell of lavender and vanilla as the miko does? Oh, where the hell did that come from? The miko means nothing. The yokai will be perfect for me and Rin.' Sesshomaru told himself before falling asleep.

…………The arrival of Akina…..

Sesshomaru was dressed to impress. Rin looked especially pretty in the kimono Sesshomaru had specially made for her. The carriage arrived on time and out stepped the beautiful yokai followed by another woman with a strait face. 'This must be the healer that she took everywhere.' Sesshomaru thought to himself. Sesshomaru held his arm out for her to take. Her eyes had met Rin's and she bowed her head a little: acknowledging the young girl.

They went into eat the dinner that was prepared for them. Sesshomaru was a little taken back by her beauty but her scent was not as pleasant as he had hoped. She smelled of sunflowers and pine. He figured with a little fragrance she would be ok. He would work with what he had. He wasn't looking to fall in love or to have any more children at this point. He was looking for a mother to the human child he had taken in.

Dinner went well. Although Rin was rather quiet and just looked at the new guest with what Sesshomaru guessed was shyness. She and the healer were then escorted to their room and Sesshomaru kissed the woman on the cheek and bid them a good night.

Sesshomaru went to the next room where Rin was getting ready for bed. He entered and noticed Rin sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her head was resting on her knees.

"Rin? What bothers you? Are you not happy that I have brought a female here to be your mother?" Sesshomaru asked softly as not to let the yokai staying close by to hear.

"I don't know what it is, but I don't like her. She smells bad and she's not as pretty as Kagome-san." Rin whispered back to him.

"I see. Well there is nothing this Sesshomaru can do about the miko you speak of. Will you try to give this woman a chance? She may be my mate soon and I do not want you to be unhappy." Sesshomaru stated with a soft voice.

"I will try Sesshomaru-sama, this Rin does want you to be happy." Rin replied.

"Good! Good night." Sesshomaru turned and left the girl. He walked down the hall and stepped into his room and closed the door.

In the other room the Akina heard the whole thing. "That little bitch! I will teach her not to speak bad of me again. I will never be a mother to a filthy human child. Once we are mated she will leave or… will die of a freak accident." She said with an evil eye.

"What will you do?" her healer asked with nervousness for the child.

"Once my handsome Lord is asleep, I will go to her room and remind her of her manners." Akina said with a smirk on her face.

Two hours later, Akina put her nose up and sniffed the air. He is asleep. Now is the time for the filthy human to know her place." she whispered as she opened her door and went to the door next to hers. She carefully opened it with absolute silence. She walked in the shadows up to the child's bed. She looked down on the child who was asleep. She took her hand and laid it across the child's mouth and whispered in her ear. "If you scream I will kill you and feed you to the alligators in the swamp. Do you understand?" She asked with her eyes glowing red.

Rin eyes shot opened from her sleep. She began to shake from fear. She listened to the evil woman before nodding yes. Akina took her hand from her mouth.

"Good! Let me make this very clear. I will be Sesshomaru's mate and there is nothing you will do about it. If anymore bad talk happens I will kill you and I will go after this miko I heard you speak of and I will tear her to shreds." Akina said while taking her sharp claw and running around Rin's forehead drawing a little blood. She could smell the child's fear and loved it. "And one more thing, once we are mated you will leave or be killed. Understand?" Akina asked.

Rin shook her head as stating she understood as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Good! Now you will let my healer fix your bloody face, I don't want to be smelling your stench all night long." Akina said as she signaled for her healer to start her magic. The young woman kneeled next to the child and put her hands on her face. They started to glow as the healing began. Once it was complete the two women left the little girl's room.

Rin rolled over and started to weep silently as to not be heard and be killed by the woman yokai. 'What will Rin do when Sesshomaru takes her for a mate? I will have to leave my home. I cannot tell him anything or she will kill my Kagome.' Rin pondered all these thoughts for hours before falling asleep.

One month had passed and Sesshomaru had noticed that Rin had fallen into a deep depression. He had been courting Akina and it didn't seem to help things with Rin's depression. As a matter of fact it seemed to make it worse. At meals Rin would barely eat and seamed to be getting quite thin. 'Well at least today is the day we take flowers to the well and Rin can talk to Sango. Maybe she will able to help.' Sesshomaru thought to himself.

He went to Rin's room where she seemed to stay most of her days. He walked over to her bed where she lay. "Rin, have you picked your flowers for the miko?" Sesshomaru asked softly.

"No, I figured you wouldn't want to take me today." She answered.

"A promise is a promise. I have no intentions on taking back my word." Sesshomaru stated.

"I don't think milady will like that." Rin stated.

"What do you mean? Akina has nothing to do with this. This is between you and I and I will not go back on my word. Is there something going on that you need to tell me about?" Sesshomaru asked with concern.

"No milord, there is nothing." Rin replied with her head down.

Sesshomaru could smell her deceit and decided it would not be wise to drill her in her depressed state. He knew he would have to get to the bottom of this himself.

"Go pick your flowers, when I get back from my inspections we will leave." Sesshomaru said with a smile hoping to perk up the child. It worked. Rin jumped out of bed, grabbed her basket and left for the gardens.

"Jaken, keep your eyes on Rin. Do not let anything happen to her." Sesshomaru demanded.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama. I will watch her." Jaken assured

Sesshomaru turned and the cloud formed under her feet and lifted him into the sky. Jaken watched as he disappeared. He was headed for the garden when he heard a crashing sound from the kitchen. He growled with disappointment. He kept on walking to the garden. Rin was alone picking daisies and putting them in her basket. He heard another crash from inside. He turned to look at the castle. "Rin I will be right back, if you need me scream and I will be right back." He said as he turned and walked away quickly.

Akina and her healer were standing near watching the toad leave. She hurried to the child and ripped the basket of flowers from her hands. Rin stood there speechless from fear. "Where do think you are going with these flowers? Are they for your miko? You listen here little brat. There will be no more trips and NO MORE FLOWERS." She threw the flowers down and smashed them with her feet. She handed the empty basket back to Rin. Rin started to cry and Akina with one swift motion slapped the child across the face. Rin flew through air and hit the ground about five feet away. "What did I tell you about crying you bitch?" She hissed. "You will dry your tears now!" Akina motioned for her healer to clean the girl up. Her healer quickly walked to the child and put her hands on her face and neck.

Sesshomaru landed right behind Akina without her even noticing it. His eyes were blood red with fire running through his veins. Akina heard the growl come from behind her and she turned quickly to see Sesshomaru standing right in front of her. He quickly had her by the throat.

"What have you done to my child?" Sesshomaru hissed with his fangs clearly showing. Poison started to flow from his claws into her neck. She started to squirm out of his grip and when that didn't work she started swinging her claws at him to no prevail.

"I should degut you now, but I think I will let my poison do the killing. You will die a slow painful death." Sesshomaru said with a growl.

He threw her down and she started panting for air. Her healer was done healing Rin and quickly ran to be with her master.

"Get her out of here before I change my mind." Sesshomaru growled to the healer.

Akina's healer quickly helped her master to her feet and started to walk away.

Sesshomaru told six guards to escort them out of his lands and if they did not leave quickly enough they had his permission to kill them both.

Sesshomaru quickly picked up Rin and held her tight. "Are you alright? Of course you are not. How could I have let this happen? I should have known what was going on. I have failed you my child." Sesshomaru whispered softly to the girl as he cradled her.

Rin looked at him and smiled sweetly as she did many times. "Rin is ok Sesshomaru-sama." She replied so softly that he almost didn't hear her. She put her hand on his cheek as to comfort him. A tear streamed down her cheek. "I have no flowers for my friend now." Rin whispered again.

He looked down and saw the flowers Rin had picked for the miko were smashed in the ground. He said "I will gather some flowers and we will take them to your miko." With Rin in one hand he knelt and pulled some daisies and laid them in the basket. "We have flowers now. Are you ready to go to the well?" Sesshomaru asked softly.

Rin smiled at him. "Yes….and thank you for picking the flowers for Rin." She said with a pained smile.

'I hope that human (Kagome) will hurry up and get her ass back here.' Sesshomaru thought to himself as he lifted them both in the air with his cloud. He knew she was the only one who could give him back his Rin.

The next chapters I think you guys will like…..keep reading……review!