Sesshoumaru lowered his eyes, he could not tell her exactly what he had done, but he could not, and would not lie to his mate, "What was necessary, Rin."

The terrified expression on her face made his heart clench, "What… what did they do?"

Slowly, he approached her and pulled her in close, wrapping her up in his embrace, heedless of the blood and gore painting his white robes, "The old woman gathered almost 100 men, priests and miko and… They threatened to take you from me."

Rin buried her head against him and choked back tears. She had been so, soincredibly stupid! So naïve and trusting! And now… No doubt, she had gotten all those people killed. Of course she knew Sesshoumaru would defend her and their child with his dying breath and she would not, and could not fault him for that… But it was her who had exposed them and put him in that position in the first place.

"It's all my fault! I'm so sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama! Rin is so very sorry!"

With a deep sigh, Sesshoumaru enfolded her more deeply in his arms… Truly, he knew, that is was only Rin's twisted sense of logic which refused to fault him for slaughtering those who gave him even less than half a reason, that allowed her to… love him.

By all rights, she should despise him and yet, her heart would never judge him guilty of his myriad crimes against humanity… And, while he knew it was sick… He prayed she never became so world-wise and savvy that, that… That she would never realize the truth.

He was a monster. A beast. A blood thirsty ravenous hunter, always ready to destroy or devour even the most unworthy prey.

The terrible, barbaric Lord of the Western Lands stroked his mate's hair, growled low and deep, and soothed her with quiet "hush" sounds. "No, Rin… The fault was their own… And their blood is solely on the hands of This Sesshoumaru."

"But – "

"No buts, Rin." He warned softly, chuckling and leaning down to whisper in her ear, "For you, beloved… I would slaughter armies."

Rin wiped her teary face and snotty nose on one of the clean patches of his kimono, remarking, "My Lord has a twisted sense of romance."

"Oh? My Rin would prefer a more… traditional approach?" He cocked his head to the side with a smug look, and reached down to squeeze her butt and shove her hips forward, finally earning him what he'd wanted most… A smile and a giggle.

"Hentai." She smirked, and he nodded in agreement. "But of course. What can one expect from a dog demon, Rin? The crass phrase, "Horny Dog" must have its roots in truth, after all, ne?"

At that Rin openly laughed and shoved him away. "You aren't getting any until you take a bath." To stress her point, Rin wrinkled her nose. "You stink."

"Fair enough." He acquiesced, although… He would not admit to her that to his nose, the scent of blood was far from a "stink" and more of a pleasant spice that hung about the air and served to excite his senses, "However, I must insist that, if I am to bathe…" He filled the space beneath her feet with his ki, lifting his small ningen wife from the cave floor and putting her at nearly the same height, allowing him to run the tip of his nose from the base of her neck all the way up to her earlobe, and then nibble invitingly, "You must join me."

"Ummm… That tickles…" Rin purred in response and she sighed when he allowed his ki to dissapate, leaving her standing on her own once more.

Sesshoumaru turned to attentions to his son, who was watching their entire exchange with curious eyes, "Come here." He beckoned in human tongue and watched as the boy padded his way over, head hung low in natural submission, but at least, he no longer feared.

Mokomoko wrapped around the pup and Sesshoumaru quickly lifted the boy to his arms, holding him under his front legs and pressing his nose to the child's. In inu tongue he growled gently, "Do not fear, koinu."

The excited pup yipped happily, and squirmed in Sesshoumaru's grasp, nuzzling up happily in his father's neck when he was pulled close. Sesshoumaru lapped at the boy's fur, leaving fresh scent markings all over his offspring and Rin watched the paternal exchange with stars in her eyes.

She could never have believed that Sesshoumaru would be such an attentive and involved father… It reinforced for her once again though, that he had most certainly never seen her as his "daughter"… Sesshoumaru had never paid her such attention when she'd been young… Although, to be fair, Rin was fairly certain she'd have ended up very… disappointed in the long run, if Sesshoumaru had relegated his care for her to the paternal, those years ago.

Had that been the case, it would have been all but impossible to get him to see her as potential mate.

The pup returned his father's affections, lapping at his neck and under his chin and occasionally testing the boundaries with a few nips here and there, which always received the appropriate warning growls, and, at one point, a snap from Sesshoumaru.

While to others this may have seemed harsh, Sesshoumaru knew all too well that the best way to provide his son with a sense of safety and security was to demonstrate consistently that the boy had a very strong alpha pack leader for a sire… Were he to allow the boy anyform of dominance, even in play, instinct would have informed the child that his father was not fit to protect him.

Strong and rigid pack dynamics were essential to mental development of a healthy koinu, so that someday, when he grew to be the alpha leader of his own pack, he would know exactly how establish dominance and provide his own family with that same sense of security and leadership.

Sesshoumaru had no doubt that Shinnoumaru would grow to be an alpha male… If at one month he was already playing at testing his father's dominance, then it would surely follow that he would continue to do so until one day the natural order of things lead to his son defeating him in clean combat and taking over the alpha postion of the pack himself.

No doubt, Sesshoumaru mused, Shinnoumaru would be quite a handful and require constant discipline and reminders of his place as a beta male throughout his childhood… Just as Sesshoumaru had been with his own father.

Circumstance had deprived the Lord of the West from completing his duty as first born male heir to the Inu No Taishou and overthrowing his father by way of combat, and Sesshoumaru had felt no small amount of bitterness over that fact throughout his years… How did he know he was ready to be a strong leader, if he had not the only truly worthy opponent to measure his strength against – his father?

The smallest kindness had been done to him… In the midst of so much betrayal and so many great disrespects to his place in the pack, his father had done him but onesmall kindness, in providing him with an alternate way of knowing when he'd finally become a truly independent and full fledged taiyoukai… Bakusaiga.

His own son would need no such "backup" plan, Sesshoumaru vowed. He did not intend to die before he gave his son a chance to ascend to his throne in the proper way; still, a trip to Totosai with the boy in tow may just be… prudent.

For now, however, Sesshoumaru was eager to leave this dank cave and get as far away from the village as he could; on the off chance that the remaining inhabitants were foolish enough to believe they had hope of avenging their comrades in any way – be it to attack him personally again, or to this time go for the easier targets of his mate and child – Sesshoumaru did not intend to give them the opportunity.

Tucking his son in the crook of his arm, he turned once again to his beautiful young mate, "Rin, it is time we leave."

"But I have to feed Shinnoumaru… He just woke up and he must certainly be hungry by now." Rin didn't mention that she was fully engorged with milk again, surely he could smell it anyway.

Briefly, Sesshoumaru considered this… The boy would live if he didn't eat until they got back to the shiro, however, once they returned home, he intended to bathe with his mate and waiting for his son to feed from her would be rather inconvenient, as it would also mean sitting covered in the scent of old blood, which was nowhere near as pleasant as the smell of blood fresh from the kill.

Well… Hmmm…

Suddenly, he had a rather ingenious idea, if he did say so himself, which he did. He would simply transform into a version of his true form that was around the same size at that old cat demon the boy was always riding around on, and allow Rin and his son to do the same.

While he'd never allowed Rin to do something like this before, in fact, he had never allowed anyoneto ridehim as though he were a beast of burden – and young Rin had been fartoo intelligent and perceptive to even conceive of the idea and most certainly had never asked… In thiscase, it served his purposes well.

It surely wasn't as though he'd never had her legs wrapped around his midsection before, he thought with a small smirk… And he was certain that it wouldn't be so terrible to have her on his back, legs spread around his body, the apex of her thighs pressed against his fur, and the scent of her milk swirling around in the high winds at altitude.

"I will transform and you may sit upon my back and feed Shinnoumaru as we fly."

Rin gaped at her Lord like a fish out of water. "My Lord! Rin could not… Sesshoumaru-sama is not…" Rin shut her mouth before she could say something she was certain would offend his less than armor-clad ego.

"This Sesshoumaru is not what?" He challenged, sensing her unease.

"My Lord is not…" Rin hesitated and he cocked a brow at her, urging her to continue, with a sigh she finally responded, "My Lord is not Ah-un."

Okay. He had to admit… That was a rather comical response. Well, he'd had an excellent morning and it was shaping up into a wonderful day, complete with planned bathing with his mate and no pressing matters to attend which would leave the afternoon free to be with his son, so his mood was quite good and… Well, this was a rather opportune time for a little teasing… "You prefer Ah-un to me?"

Rin's face went crimson. "That's not what I meant! I just meant…"

One glance up to his sparkling eyes, (Rin was certain that only her Lord's eyes could sparkle in the low light of a cave… Devilishly handsome demon that he was) told her that she had missed the joke." He was teasing her!

"Rin only meant that if she is to ride her Lord, it would only be proper to be sure and requisition a saddle." She harrumphed and crossed her arms with a wicked smirk, pleased to have one upped him in wit.

"Oh? You have never required such accoutrements on the previous occasions you have ridden me." His cocksure quirk of the lips told Rin he was clearly teasing again, but this time, she just didn't get it.

"Rin has most certainly not ever ridden Sesshoumaru-sama before!" She argued back, wondering where he was going with this.

He leaned down to look directly in her eyes, not wanting to miss the blush he knew was coming, "How quickly my little Rin forgets…" he purred, "last night."

Just as predicted, Rin's face went scarlet. He had most definitely won this verbal sparring match, as the young girl was now left completely speechless. "Nothing to say?" He licked her earlobe and the puppy in his arms yipped, as though even he was laughing at his mother, "And here I mated you in part because of your considerable skill in the art of conversation… That one so taciturn as This Sesshoumaru could leave his mate speechless…"

"You bastard." Rin mumbled, "You hentai bastard." But she tilted her neck to the side, her chin to the air, and allowed him to run his tongue along her jaw, until he kissed her chin. The hand not holding Shinnoumaru came up and he used his thumb and forefinger to lightly grasp her chin and tilt her head so his lips could land on hers in a kiss to chaste for his current rouge-ish mood.

"You like it." He informed her simply, and Rin could not disagree and maintain honesty. Instead she pushed on his chest and gained much needed distance.

"All joking aside… My Lord truly wishes for Rin to ride upon his back?" There was a little… flicker… to her eyes when she asked him that question and he realized that, at this moment, he was looking at an eight year old girl's face when she's just been told her most secret dream is coming true… It was the same look she'd given him the first day he'd allowed her to braid his hair, and the first time he'd allowed her to cuddle up in his fur and sleep at his side, and the first time he'd told her that if she felt so inclined, she was more than allowed to throw rocks at Jaken's head.

Apparently, he'd been very wrong to believe she'd never thought of doing such a thing when she'd been young.

" "Wish" is a rather strong word… However, it will be allowed." He nodded, watching with some trepidation as her eyes lit up in earnest. Kamisama what have I just agreed to?

Horrifying visions of her telling him to "Giddy-up!" filled his head and he almost thought better of it. "Don't get used to it." He warned, watching her reign in her enthusiasm some, and, not wanting to ruin it for her, he added, "Brat," with a smirk, to maintain the light mood, handing over their son to her care so he could make the change between forms.

Rin nodded and watched with the same reluctant fascination she always did upon witnessing Sesshoumaru's eyes go red and turquoise, his markings become purple lightning bolts, his fur sprout from usually flawless pale skin and his jaw contort itself into a rather nightmarish charicature of a mortal dog's muzzle, before pink mist enshrouded him, leaving a hell hound in the place of her bishonen mate.

She flashed back for a moment to when they had mated with him in his true form and Rin's felt her body heat. It was in this form that all his frightening power and beauty was most apparent… and most alluring.

On all fours, he lowered himself to the ground and waited for her to climb on.

With reluctance borne of awe and trepidation, Rin made her way onto his back, behind the furred halo of mokomoko, now a lion's mane encircling his body from the front of the left shoulder of his front leg, all the way around his chest to behind the right shoulder of the other front leg. She gripped the furred halo tightly to steady her balance as he stood up carefully.

The young pup in her arms started barking and squirming excitedly, as though, to see his sire in his true form was more joyous than anything he'd ever experienced in his short life. It was very clear the little puppy wanted to play, but now was not the time.

"Hold on while I get Shinnoumaru situated," she whispered, and he yipped to let her know he'd understood. "Calm down, Shinni-chan! You can play with Inu-Chichi later!" Rin giggled, when a short growl came from her mate at calling him "Honored Dog Dad".

With only a few moments coaxing the small pup took Rin's offered breast and the girl indicated to her mate they were ready to take to the heavens.

In the village below, the young miko who had been the sole survivor of the ill-advised attack on the Inugami felt a burst of spiritual energy overhead and looked skyward to see a white Phantom Dog surfing through the clouds with a dark haired woman riding on his back as though it were the most natural thing in the world… And she allowed herself a small, regretful smile.

"Gomenasai, Inugami-sama… Inumochi-dono…Gomenaisai."