Chapter 21

"So Naraku," Koibara said while her fingers were stroking the Shikon Jewel with admiration, "we have an agreement? Do you understand what you are to do?" Koibara knew she didn't have long. She could sense Sesshoumaru on his way and fast. 'It is time for your end.' Koibara began to look for the sword that Sesshoumaru had given Rin. She needed to hold onto it. Finally, she spotted it up in a tree. "No wonder why Rin couldn't see it." She easily enough got it out and placed it back on her sash without turning back to Rin. 'As long as I keep the black jewel shard in my arm, I shall not rest again and I shall be in control of this body.'

'So does this demon actually trust me?' Naraku knew better than that. 'No, she mustn't truly trust in me. She must simply trust me enough to help her with her little problem.'

'I have to make this look convincing,' Koibara clawed herself in her left leg and then her right arm. She hurt herself alright. "Lord Sesshoumaru!" she screamed. She held her wound to try and stop the bleeding, something Rin would do.

"I bid you farewell." Naraku made a quick exit, knowing that Sesshoumaru was near. A few seconds later, he showed up.

"Lord Sesshoumaru," Koibara smiled, knowing that the child would do that. 'I must be the girl. If he suspects that I have gained control over Rin's body, then my plot shall be ruined.' "Naraku, he just got away."

'His scent is still fresh. I can catch him if I-' he heard Rin cry out in pain from her wounds. He glanced over at her and then noticed the demon slayer there. He could remember her name, not that he cared to, but he still knew that she was Sango. She was bleeding, maybe even dying. Humans were such fragile creatures.

"Naraku," Koibara began to say, "he made a demon puppet that looked exactly like me. It attacked Sango's brother Kohaku, the boy you've been searching for." 'If I can keep his attention, then maybe he'll stay with me and won't go after Naraku.'

'I see.' Sesshoumaru easily enough figured it out. 'So Naraku plotted to kill her again?' "And this girl, Inuyasha's friend sought to kill you?"

Koibara noticed the look that he had in his eyes. 'So what? Is he going to kill her to avenge me? I am still alive and yet he seeks to kill her for my sake.' Koibara began to stare at Sango. 'She's still alive, but if Sesshoumaru were to kill her, then Inuyasha would seek after us for revenge instead of Naraku. I cannot allow that, it'll mess up everything.' Koibara began to sniff the air. 'Inuyasha isn't too far away, but he can't come to us. If that girl Kagome sees the jewel shard in my arm, Sesshoumaru will know what I've been up to. I cannot afford to run into them.' "Lord Sesshoumaru, she didn't hurt me…so could you not…"

'It's probably Naraku's will that I kill the girl. He thinks he's so clever.' He took his attention off of Sango and back on Rin. 'He's still interested in her. He sees the potential and how easily she could lose control; otherwise, Naraku wouldn't naturally be so repetitive and continue seeking after her. It would be best to kill Naraku now before he tries something else. He's becoming quite the bother.'

'He's about to leave!' Koibara tried to stand, but moaned in pain and fell over. That caught his attention, which was surprising to Koibara. 'He's concerned about me. He actually is concerned for me. Is…' The idea seemed so strange. She didn't even finish the thought, but then she needed to make sure. She decided to try to stand again. She could, but she fell over purposely. She noticed a flash of concern in his eyes and she could finally ask herself the question. 'Is he in love with Rin?'

Sesshoumaru saw that Jaken was unconscious, just like the girl Sango. "What happened when Naraku came here? Did he seek to kill you or something else?"

'Something else? Is he onto me?' "I suppose he came to kill me."

"Your demonic aura has increased." His suspicions had begun to rise. 'She still however does have possession of the sword. She shouldn't have lost control and appears to be herself.'

'What should I tell him?' She smiled and held out the Shikon Jewel Shard that Naraku had given her. "I did manage to take this from Naraku before I became too wounded. He'll come after it, but at least I have possession of the large fragment." 'I hope this is working. He doesn't seem to trust me.' She forced herself to smile brighter, trying to be like the child as much as possible. "Now I can soon become human again, my Lord!" 'Soon I shall become a full fledged demon once more.'

'Naraku will come for the jewel, but I shall follow him still.' "Jaken," he called. Jaken was still unconscious, but Sesshoumaru didn't care. "Jaken," he called again, this time much more forcefully and he raised his voice a bit.

Jaken slowly opened his eyes. He was afraid that Sesshoumaru might do something to him, since he was not able to protect Rin. Jaken saw that Rin was hurt, and reluctantly stood up. "Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru?" he questioned. In an instant, Jaken was forced back down on the ground with three lumps on his head. Sesshoumaru struck him fast and hard.

'He just punished Jaken for not protecting Rin?' Koibara was beginning to find out much by only being with him a few minutes. 'I refuse to believe it. He can't be in love with her. He might love her, but he's not in love with her.' "And what about Sango, the demon slayer?" she asked.

"She's not my concern" he started walking away.

Koibara questioned what Rin would do. Would she honestly just leave her there bleeding? Rin certainly wouldn't want to be left behind. 'I can't stay anyway. Inuyasha will come and he'll want to take the jewel away from me.' Koibara hid the jewel within her clothes and hoped that everything would end well. 'Lord Hikakustu, I hope that I can see you again. I've missed you.' She stood up, like she could do all along. She tried to struggle, just so Sesshoumaru wouldn't question why she was suddenly better. She even walked with a limp. 'I'll soon be with you, Lord Hikakustu. I shall soon be with you again.' She turned around and looked back at Sango. 'Inuyasha is near. She'll survive.' With that, she pushed all thoughts of the demon slayer out of her mind and walked with Sesshoumaru and the still very much in pain Jaken to retrieve Ah-Un.

Once they had, Koibara decided to ride on him in order to keep up her charade. She couldn't help but keep staring at Sesshoumaru. He was certainly different than how she remembered. 'Before he was just a bothersome little kid, a no good little daddy's boy. Now he's a grown demon Lord. His power is great, but nothing compared to Lord Hikakustu or even his father. He hasn't even reached his prime yet.' The last time she saw him he was a child. In appearance in human years, he looked about eight or so, although he was much older in demon years. 'He was a cute kid, but now he's very good looking. I can see why the human girl fell in love with him.' "Lord Sesshoumaru," Koibara asked, still trying to sound as innocent as possible, "Have I become too much of a bother?" She knew exactly what she was doing. "Do you wish for me to leave?"

"Yes," Jaken muttered.

"Silence, Jaken." It seemed at first that he wasn't going to answer, but he eventually did. "You can leave if you wish to." He always tried to make it clear that she wasn't a prisoner and was free to leave if she wanted to. She was being a bother and he would be better off if she had left, but he didn't tell her to go.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, I do not wish to leave."

"Then stay," he told her.

'He certainly has a hard time revealing his feelings. He really wishes for her to stay, surprisingly.' She smiled. 'I can use that to my advantage.' She could literally feel the tension that Jaken was emitting. Jaken was extremely upset and that amused her. 'The little imp is scared that Lord Sesshoumaru is in love with me…' She placed her sights back on Sesshoumaru. 'Is he in love with Rin? I don't see why he would be. Sesshoumaru has no interest in humans, even less so than when he was a boy. It doesn't make any sense.' She decided to further test her 'power' over Sesshoumaru and yelled as she what seemed to be accidentally falling off of Ah-Un. Sesshoumaru's eyes hadn't been on her, but he gazed at her until he knew for certain that she was alright.

"What are you doing?" Jaken yelled.

'He certainly is annoyed.' "Sorry Lord Sesshoumaru and Master Jaken." Saying Lord Sesshoumaru almost made her cringe. 'My only Lord is Hikakustu and it'll be fun to make Sesshoumaru bow down and say it, the disgusting dog.' Koibara decided to walk now. She had been riding on Ah-Un for a few hours and had no intention of riding on him all day. 'One more trick though.' She tripped Jaken, making him fall down flat on his face. Sesshoumaru didn't give Jaken as much as a glance. He did seem a little amused. 'Interesting that he paid him no mind and paid it to me, but then again, he might not like Jaken at all.'

Jaken began to yell at Koibara, not knowing that it actually was Koibara. She let him though and didn't respond back. She was waiting until Sesshoumaru stepped in, and finally he did. He instructed Jaken to be quiet and she had all the proof she needed. Rin knew that Sesshoumaru cared for her well being and was nice to her, so Koibara knew it as well. Rin had never dared to question if Sesshoumaru returned the feelings that she had for him, but Rin wasn't exactly trained in the art of the male species. Koibara was beginning to jump the gun.

It was beginning to get late and Rin was still covered in the scent of her own blood. Her wounds had easily begun to close though. 'The jewel that she possesses now has increased her demonic aura, but the fang that I gave her seems to be keeping Koibara at bay, or at least that is what it seems to be doing.' She had been acting strange and Sesshoumaru certainly wasn't a fool. For a long time, he hadn't trust her, but now he was suspicious. "Go clean yourself off, Rin."

"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru." She found a small stream, not too far away from Sesshoumaru and Jaken. She figured that they were going to rest for that night. 'We're on our way to Naraku but he doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry.' She couldn't smell Inuyasha in the area, but could sense that he was very far away. 'This isn't good. We're a lot closer to Naraku than Inuyasha. I cannot afford to get there first. I'll have to slow Sesshoumaru down.' She cleaned herself and was pleased to see that her wound was closing. She didn't inflict too much damage on herself, only enough for Sesshoumaru to think she was in a serious fight. Being a demon was definitely an advantage, but having the jewel shard in her arm helped as well. 'At least he doesn't know about the corrupt jewel shard in my arm. If he did, it would be all over.'

When she returned, Sesshoumaru was questioning Jaken about the events that had happened that day. "What happened between Rin and Naraku?"

"I am afraid that I was unconscious by the time Naraku showed up. First the demon slayer appeared and then the demon puppet. The puppet was fierce and unquestionably wiser than Rin. It fought so well."

'Naraku created a demon puppet of Rin to trick that demon slayer into killing her. All he needed was one strand of her hair. There could be a number of ways he could have gotten it. She did cut it and rather sort too.' He was watching her curiously, and vise versa. She cautiously made her way to his side and sat down. "What are you doing?" he questioned.

"Is it alright if I lay next to you?" she asked, but she asked with a confidence, as if she knew he was going to say yes.

"Do as you wish" was his answer, but it was all rather curious to him. 'Usually when she thinks I am upset with her, she tries to keep her distance until she knows that everything is alright.' He thought about how ridiculous her face would look at first, but then a small smile would come to her and she would come closer. 'Disgusting,' he thought to himself. 'Why would I know all these things?' Her mannerisms, all of them, he knew, and she was beginning to act too oddly for his taste. What disgusted him was the fact that he realized that she was slightly out of character. It wasn't enough to cause a panic, but it was enough to notice.

'He seems to be on to me.'

"Hikakustu," he said.

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

Sesshoumaru noticed that she was nervous rather than scared. Before she was scared when he questioned her about it. "Have you had any dreams of him, Rin, since you obtained my fang?"

'It's just a question.' "No my Lord, I have not." 'He hasn't contacted the girl and probably won't contact me until he awakens. He doesn't need to. I'm smart enough to figure out how this is going to work.' She leaned on Sesshoumaru, but she felt so uncomfortable doing it. Sure he was handsome and she knew he hadn't figured out anything yet, but Hikakustu was the only one for her. 'Soon we shall be together, Lord Hikakustu, and the dog shall join his father in the depths of Hell.'

'She seems uneasy, not as comfortable as she usually is…' Usually Rin would fall asleep quickly on him, but it took her so long to actually rest.

"Sango," Miroku placed her hand on her shoulder, knowing that this wasn't the time for him to do something perverted. "I am very sorry."

Kagome had managed to patch up Sango's physical wounds, but she would never heal from the emotional damage. She had lost her little brother. She and her friends had returned to Sango's village and buried Kohaku there. Sango thought it was the only proper thing to do. She was still mourning. Now she had nothing left but her revenge. She placed some flowers on top of Kohaku's grave. "I want to kill Naraku now, no more games, no more holding back."

"Trust me, Sango" Inuyasha reassured her. "We'll get Naraku."

"I want to go now!" Sango had such determination.

"But what about your wounds?" Shippo was the only one thinking logically. "You're not well enough to go!"

"There's no talking her out of it," Inuyasha told Shippo. "Besides, his scent is around and out in the open. He's not trying to hide. He's up to something."

"Let's get him. Naraku must be stopped!" Kagome felt bad for Sango, but the young girl Rin plagued her mind. 'Naraku is so interested in her. She's still in danger.'

"We'll head out in the morning!" Inuyasha cracked his knuckles. "We'll kill him then!"

In the morning, Sesshoumaru was just watching Rin sleeping peacefully, a little too peacefully. Sure she was always well rested and happy when she slept by him. He had noticed that she oddly enough found comfort in him since the time they had known each other, but she still was somewhat troubled by her actions and probably hated herself for causing him so much trouble. This time, she slept as if everything was alright with the world. 'She doesn't usually sleep this late.' "Rin"

Koibara slowly opened her eyes and cursed Sesshoumaru in her mind. 'I thought he wouldn't wake me up. I was hoping to stall for more time.' "Good morning, Lord Sesshoumaru." She stood up and stretched. "I am ready to continue on our journey, my Lord."

"Rin, has Hikakustu come to you again?"

"No, Lord Sesshoumaru. It feels like the sword you gave me protects me from him. Thank you." 'This child is disgusting. If Naraku hurries to Hikakustu's resting place and Inuyasha hurries, then I won't have to keep this charade up any longer. I can sense Inuyasha from very far away. He's closer than us. He must be flying; perhaps it's that Hachi person who helped them before. Either way, they'll be to Hikakustu soon. He'll be released by the end of the day.'

Jaken saw the two of them speaking and grew uneasy. "Aren't you hungry, Rin?" he rather suggested than asked.

She smiled. "Yes I am, Master Jaken. Will you help me find something to eat?"

"No!"

"Go with her, Jaken" Sesshoumaru commanded. 'I need to observe her, keep a closer eye on her.'

Koibara searched around and found some mushrooms and berries for her to eat. 'Hikakustu will give me much greater things.' She tried to stay like Rin as much as possible though, but Sesshoumaru seemed to be onto her, since he wouldn't keep his eyes off of her. 'He must surely know. I've got to do something.'

Once Rin had eaten her breakfast, Sesshoumaru looked up at the sky. It was bright and sunny, a day that Rin would love, no matter in what mood. The temperature was just right for her body and the scent of flowers surrounded them. There were flowers all around them and Rin didn't go to pick one. The wind began to blow, but it was a cool breeze. It was the perfect condition for her to just start running around and play, but that's what the child would have done. The adult Rin still would be happy and wouldn't be so quiet. 'She's barely spoken a word at all.' They traveled a bit more before he did anything about his suspicions.

Jaken sighed when he saw Sesshoumaru glance at Rin. 'She's going to kill you! Don't fall into her trap my Lord!'

Sesshoumaru placed his hand on Tokijin and before Rin could take another step, Sesshoumaru had the Tokijin held up in her face. "Don't take another step, or I will strike you down."

"Lord Sesshoumaru, what are you doing?" Jaken questioned. Sure he was a little happy that she was being punished for something, but to kill her might have been extreme.

"Are you blind, Jaken? This girl is not Rin. This is Koibara of the Eouro Clan."

She smiled and closed her eyes. "My, I thought I was doing a good job. I was trying to be annoying as possible. I wonder what gave me away."

'You didn't sing…' It disgusted him that he was able to realize the little things that Rin should have done, but he pushed the thought away. "You really think you could fool me?"

"You do know her extremely well, I must admit. It's very strange indeed. I bet you pay attention to all of her little gestures, since I didn't do anything too out of the ordinary. You must have realized something very minor. You must really care for the girl if you caught that I wasn't her."

"And how exactly did you gain control? If you have possession of the Rikoistu, you should still be in dormant. How is it that you have awakened?"

"I have possession of the Sacred Shikon Jewel, but you didn't notice the tainted jewel shard in my arm. It's keeping me on top and the mortal pest under my feet. Now I can do what Lord Hikakustu commanded me to do. You'll soon be dead, Sesshoumaru, for right now as we speak, your idiotic half breed brother Inuyasha is on his way to release Lord Hikakustu."

'That fool.' "And why would Inuyasha do that? He has no quarrel with Hikakustu."

"You're right, but he does have a quarrel with Naraku and we both know that your little brother is foolish enough to wildly swing his sword until he accidentally breaks your father's seal."

"You think you're so clever don't you? You attempted to fool me long enough for Inuyasha to release Hikakustu, but I will personally make sure that he will never see the light of day again. I can still get to Inuyasha before he does something completely dim-witted."

"But the problem is getting past me." She stepped back from Sesshoumaru and drew her sword. "Can you get past me?" She tried to make the sword transform, but could not. "Why won't it work?"

"The sword was created in order to keep you at bay. Why would you believe that I would allow my fang to strike against me?"

"True." She sheathed her sword. "I suppose this was specifically created to protect Rin and acts out on your will, and your will only. I can't defeat you with it, but I don't really need to. I can defeat you on my own."

"Step aside right now."

'Will he slay her?' Jaken waited for what would happen.

"The only way you're getting by is through me. You'll have to kill me and in order to kill me, you'll have to kill the mortal Rin." Koibara cracked her knuckles and prepared herself for battle. "The only question is Sesshoumaru, can and will you do it?"

TO BE CONTINUED…