Chapter 29

'Aya, Yumi, Kimiko, Kim, Ayume, Saya, Rin…' the whispered names of all her past lives filled her and showed her all that she could be and all that she had been in different lives. Yet none stood out to her, none made her wish she had stayed the human child she had been forced to become until she relived her memories as the child Rin. All her memories as the child Rin, as the orphaned child that couldn't speak, were the strongest and the easiest to remember since they were the memories she did not wish to forget. The child that had warmed the great Lord's heart, that had got him to see what his father could not get to understand, had been nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing so to speak. 'I felt so lost before, I felt like I knew not of who I was but I know now. I realize that the child Rin is still alive, is and will always be me.' The dragoness thought sadly as she began to come back to the world that had been so confusing since she had awakened as the dragoness that she was now with a different view to the life she had been born into.

After letting out a low growl, Rin reached over and lightly touched her wounds only to find them healed. After snapping her eyes open Rin found herself in the clearing she had wished to be in surrounded in the darkness of night that she had learned how to use. It was the clearing where had often picked flowers for her lord before she had been left behind in a human village, left in the care of his brother and his brothers mate. After making sure that she hadn't and would not be found, Rin turned and began to gather a bit of wood. So that she could start a fire. Once she had a good amount fixed Rin stared at the wood and watched as a flame began to appear. After the shock of what she had done wore off she could not help but whisper, "Just what am I? How can I take in so much and still be able to control it as I can."

'The child of death,'

'A child of power.'

'A child that changes.''

Whispered voices could be heard around her as Rin stood up and began to look around for any that had found her in her wounded state.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Rin roared out in anger as she quickly stood up in defense while ignoring the pain she felt from her wounds.

'Is she ready?'

'Should she be shown?'

'Can she handle the truth?'

"I am Lady Rin, ward of the great Lord of the West, daughter of the miko of time and daughter of the hanyou that killed the great evil that was Naraku! I will not be ignored!" she roared as the flame grew and the night sky was lit with lighting.

'Truth! Tell the truth!'

'Show her the truth!'

'She demands the truth!'

But before Rin could even demand or start to release her power in a mix of fear and anger, Rin felt herself calm and sense of safely fill her as the flame she had casted was killed and the lighting she had called on had fled just as fast as she had called it to her. After realizing that she was in complete darkness, the kind that reminded her of her old friend Hei, Rin froze when she heard a surprisingly familiar voice call her, "Rin, my dearest daughter. Are you ready to know of your death and of your birth? While that foolish queen did ignore my request and her word, I find that out of all your lives I find that Lady Rin is the most that fits your personality best my beloved daughter."

"Who are you?" Rin asked in an unsure voice as she began to make out the figure of a tall demon covered in black robes before her in the shadows of the night.

Taller than her Lord and eyes as white as the moon, the tall demon before her offered her a small, cold smile once he had completely shown himself to her and answered, "I am your father, I am a shinigami and was there to take you away when your mother offered me a deal to save your life."

"You claim to be my father? The only father that I have and will forever acknowledge will be the hanyou Inuyasha, my mother is not the queen of the east but the miko of time. While I was born a demon, I died and was brought back as something more than just a demon only to be turned into a human. Tell me shinigami, why should I address you as my father."

Enraged by the child's words and her lack of the respect, the shinigami before her began to try to pull his daughters, the child that he had given some of himself to so that she would live, energy so that he could weaken her and so that he would be able to get her to listen to her without her out burst of anger and confusion. However the shinigami was forced to step back when he found that instead of drawing from her she was drawing from him just as she had been from the other dragons that had been taking action against her while trying to get her to bend to her will. She was his, she was a child that he had mixed with his own power and aura, she was meant to bend to no demons, hanyou, humans, or mans will.

After taking note of his surprised look, Rin took in a deep breath and growled out, "You started it, I'm not clearly sure what you had done to me to give me back my life however it would seem that it caused some side effects. Tell me shinigami did you know that I would turn out this way? That it would alter my natural born gifts in such a manner?"

"No, I had not foreseen that your ability, the same ability that your great, great, great, great grandmother held as the first dragoness of storms. I did not image that the magic and spells that fool that calls himself your father would have twisted the magic that I had already left sleeping within you so much and turn it into what you are now."

"That I will agree with you, now will you please explain to me the method in which my natural demonic aura and abilities were altered thanks to the fool in question." Rin growled out as she turned around to tend to the fire that had nearly died out on her. "In the east I am known as the storm dragon, a dragon that will have great power, but would be limited with her power since it would take centuries to create a storm out of thin air."

"I now see that this is not the case. However it would aid me if you told me what it was that had caused the panic and the people of the east to force your mother's hand into taking such action against you."

"Before I explain what I went through during my brief period as a dragon child, I must ask for your name."

"I should ask the same of you child, just which of your many names would you like for me to address you by?"

"What a foolish question shinigami, I am Lady Rin, child of Inuyasha and Kagome, ward of the great Lord of the West and I will forever stay as Lady Rin."

With a grin on his face, one that she seemed to have obtained from him, the shinigami before her bowed before her and stated, "I have gone by many names, however I believe that it would only be fitting if you were to address me by the name that was given to me by your great, great grandmother, I am Shu."

"Well Shu forgive me for my lack of respect but I have somewhere to be and would rather understand my power a bit more before I endangered the pack that I belong to and do plan to return to."

"Do you truly wish to be at that mans side? While I am grateful that it was because of his use of his healing weapon that you were able to keep most if not all of your natural power, however I cannot say that I am pleased that you have chosen a man that interferes with my work."

"He helps others just as you helped when I was but a baby, now tell me shini…Shu," Rin corrected herself when she took note of the look in his eye, "What did you, what did the King of the East interference do with my natural born abilities."

"It is hard to explain but since you are in a rush my dearest daughter, I will shorten my explanation so that you may be on your way but I will only explain if you so promise to give me something in return."

"I don't make deals with those that I do not trust, and I do not trust you. You claim to have given me life once more and that is something that I do believe, but to claim that that would make you my father is not something that I would so easily believe." Rin growled out in an annoyed filled voice.

"Do you wish to know how to control your power or not young one?" Shu growled out in his own anger as he kept his eyes locked with that of the child he had allowed to live.

"I do, however it does not mean that I will allow you to try to get me to bend to your will. I will bend to no one that is not my equal." Rin growled out never once realizing that she sounded the every bit of a leader that she had been born to be.

"While it was what I wished to make sure that you would not do so I am disappointed that you still can not feel the link that you have to me, the link that was created when I gave you life."

"That link was destroyed the moment my good Lord Sesshomaru brought me back when I was first killed by the wolves as the child Rin."

"That it was my child, that it was but because of the method in which the link was destroyed it did altar you in a manner that my come to change you so completely that it would change you once more."

"I can handle myself, my father, my mother, the beta's of my pack ensured that I was taught as much as I should know to keep myself safe should I find myself without them." Rin explained in a tired and sad filled voice. "I know so much, and have been able to figure some things out on my own because of the knowledge that they shared with me. I have to get back to them. I wish to remain by their side."

"If you wish to stay by them you will have to allow me to prevent the change in your abilities from changes you completely." He countered in a cold and emotionless filled voice.

"After all of my lives that I have lived and died I am not naive enough to believe that you do this because you assume to claim me as your daughter. Name your price Shinigami so that I may be on my way." Rin growled out in a guarded and enraged filled voice.

"There is no price that needs to be paid…you merely need to give up something that is of the same importance to you so that this would not force you to become a shinigami as well in the future."

"I refuse to give up my memories, you can take my title, my blood ties to the east but I refuse to give up my memories."

"I do not require memories you foolish child. I know what it is that you must give up however should you wish to continue you will never be allowed back into the east nor would you be a member of the royal line." He explained in a soft, sad filled voice as he tried to get her to see reason, "If you go home now and allow me to be by your side I will change things, they will give you free rein, you will bend to no one and become the queen that you were born to be."

Tired of all the pressure she was being given by from those that thought had a right to tell her how to live her life, tired of having no control over the matters of her life and how she could live it, Rin finally allowed all of her tears to fall free. All of the tears that she had kept within her since she had awoken as the dragoness that she was, and had been born, the tears that she had hid from those around her since in her heart she knew that she had not been able to return and show those that she loved most that she was alive and well and that they had no reason to mourn her loss.

As her tears ran free Rin whispered, "I will not go, that is not my home, my home is with my pack. I will give anything to for them; if I must become mortal again I will…tell me Shu, what is it that I must do?"

Not wishing to bring her any more pain and only wishing to aid her since he still saw her as his daughter, the shinigami let out a long sigh and said, "I will tell you but it will take you a day to recover from what I will have to do. You should know that you will have to accept me as your father should I do this for you."

"If that is all that it will take then so be it, but while I will acknowledge you as my father, I will not call you my father, the title father will remain with Inuyasha-Otu-san."

"You miss understand girl, you will need my help and my bond, however it is not your mortality that you must give up."

"Than what is it that I must give up in order to finally have the freedom that I so desire so that I may once again be with the pack that raised me."

"Give me the dragon that I revived the true form that you have yet to take to and you will have your freedom. I must warn you young one, it will hurt like nothing you have ever felt before."

"The pain is not something that I will worry about, after that god forsaken door that was used to lock me away in the East I'm sure that I have to face now would be nothing compared to that." Rin growled out in an enraged voice.

"What are you talking about?" he asked in a calm voice as he made sure to keep full control over his anger.

"When I would not listen and after I had attacked the King of the East I was sealed away in a room that keep me drained of my power and energy. The door, I have no idea what spell was on it, but the door would not let me out, if I so much as touched it, it would fill me with a pain that I had never felt before in any of my lives."

"You will call on me when you are ready to show them that I am your father, until that point in time I will make my way to the East, it would seem that I have matters to speak about with the Queen of the East."

After a small moment of silence, Rin approached the, she approached Shu and whispered, "He doesn't know…he doesn't know what his mate did, the deal she made to make sure that I would live. That much I was able to pick up on."

"I will make sure to deal with things properly, I need only wish to know if you wish to have the truth made known to the people of the east or if you wish for it to remain a family secret."

"I would prefer it to remain a family secret, if you do see my sister, I hope you will let her know that I do plan to return to her once I have settled matters and have ensured that my pack will not wish to act against her lands." Rin explained.

"I will be sure to pass along the message to her," Shu answered as he stood to leave while offering his daughter his hand before asking, "Are you ready to leave?"

"I am," Rin whispered as she took in a deep breath and placed her hand in his open and waiting hand. While she knew that it was a risk to trust this man when she knew so little of him, she also knew that it would be the only way for her to be able to release herself from the claims of the east so that she would be free to stay with her family, with her pack. 'If they don't wish to have me I suppose I could always travel and see what there is outside of Japan.' Rin thought sadly as she closed her eyes and allowed the demon named Shu to surround her in his aura much like her lord hand done once before so that he could take her along in his method of traveling.

As they traveled all that occupied her mind were the thoughts of being reunited with her pack once more. All she could think about was promising to Kohaku that she would never scare him like that again and that she would hope that he did not blame himself for her mortal death since all the events that had taken place as of late had only been made possible because of her actions. Just as she was about to ask Shu if he would be able to make sure that her pack members would be protected from different shinigami's and that he would be the one solely responsible for her pack, Rin opened her eyes and was about surprised when she found herself in the village she had thought to have been born in when she had lived her life as Rin.

"Surprised?"

"Yes, I would have thought we would have appeared at the abandoned city where I was first left right after I was turned mortal. Why are we here?"

"We are here because it is this last life that you found a true place where you can belong; we are here because it is thanks to this life that you found the strength that has been with you since you were born. It may not seem ideal to you daughter, however this is the place where you will have to give up your right to the east so that you will be able to raise and flourish in the west." Shu explained as he began to make his way toward the old, rotting hut that had been abandoned since she had left after she had been killed by the wolves.

"I would gain that which I most desired and gave up that which made me who I am?" Rin questioned in an unsure voice.

"In a small way," Shu answered as he began to walk up ahead of her. "Out of all of your lives, this was the one life you wished you had more time in, the one where you regretted your death, the only one where you fought death its self even as you know what you would become after this life. Where you started this life is where you will end things to ensure you are where you wish to be."

"Because that wasn't confusing," Rin growled out in an annoyed filled voice as she silently followed after Shu and tried to keep her emotions from the memories she had of this village to fill her and to consume her. While she was glad that she would be and had ended up somewhere familiar she was unsure of how those in the village would react when they were sure to hear her cries, growls and screams of pain as she gave up a part of herself. While she was sure that this was what she wanted to do, a part of her, her inner dragon, roared and cried in lose knowing that it would be parted from half of its self. 'While this is that I want…I'll have to live with half of myself lost.' Rin thought sadly.

Once they had entered the house, Shu turned to Rin and watched her battle with her emotions and the inner roaring of her dragon. Realizing that she was morning the loss of her dragon, he let out a long sigh and asked, "Are you ready?"

"No, no I'll never be ready but as much as I wished that I did not have to give her up, that I did not have to lose have of myself, I know what I wish for more than being complete. I wish for my family, I wish for my pack, I wish to be back with those that I am loved by." Rin answered as her tears, blue in color and cold as ice ran down the side of her face.

"Foolish child," Shu teased with a grin on his face as he surrounded her in his power, "you will not loss half of yourself. In order for you to flourish and be the demoness that will be needed in the west the dragon that I saved from death must die so that your rebirth as the first of your kind can be born…if anything you should thank the creativity of that fool Naraku for the path that your power chose to take."

And before Rin could even ask him what it was that he was talking about, and why it was that he had stated that really wasn't going to lose half of herself, Rin felt her eyes close against her will as she was suddenly consumed by pain far worse than what she had felt while in the hands of the dragon that had given birth to her and her mate. It was all she knew, it was all she felt, even the memories that had been at the front of her mind, the love she felt for those that had cared for her, even all of that was brutally pushed to the darkest corner of her mind as all that she could or would be allowed to focus on would be pure, white, unbearable pain, as she was filled with the pain of true death for the first time since her birth.