After he could no longer see the retreat of the horse carrying Rin, Sesshomaru had taken to the skies. He had not uttered a word before leaving. He had not informed the guards when he would be back. He did not look back at his mother, who had uttered his name, perhaps hoping to console him. He had not even glanced in Kagome's direction. He couldn't. Because he could not muster the courage to let them see his tears. In the blink of an eye he changed into his canine form. He streaked across the sky like a falling star in the opposite direction Rin was headed. He would not let her see how much he would miss her by spotting his shadow by her side, she would worry and she did not have time to worry about him anymore.

For a long time he flew above the clouds, glimpses of the ocean appearing beneath him sporadically. Sesshomaru knew that if he flew along the coast for the count of 265 he would reach a sheer cliff that overlooked the water. This cliff was inaccessible to any human who was even brave enough to climb over the cliffs edge, for he would surely fall and lose his life. Hidden behind a clever arrangement of a full blooming pink flower, who's name he had meant to be informed of by his chief gardener, and a barrier that allowed only he and those he was in physical contact with at the time of entry would be able to pass. This was a place Sesshomaru had known as a child. Once when he was a boy, perhaps a boy of 200 (10ish in human years), his father had come to him one evening after supper and asked him to follow him. They soon came upon this place. They had sat within the mouth of the cave, and watched the sun set through the flower covered vines. This had been the place he and his father spent the morning hours before morning lessons, late night conversations about the power he would someday receive. Once he had come of age he had regretfully left his home, and his dear father in a pursuit of power his father had warned him about all along. Later, after many years had passed, he had seen his father. That was the night that Inuyasha was born. The night he had lost his father. That night he had come here, and he had received solace in doing so. The memory of his father wrapped around him like a soft blanket, that might have been blue if it actually existed. Now he came here hoping to push the sorrow in his heart behind a barrier of ice.

For along him he fought. Teeth bared in a look of mixed anger and anguish. His bangs now hung over his face, illuminated by a sunset that mockingly glared at him from behind the curtain of flowers. And though he fought with both honor and fear on his side, he, as many do, broke against the force of the hot tears that ran down his striped cheeks as he thought of Rin. In the blink of an eye she would be gone. Nothing but a memory that would whisper to him on the winds. This time he would not be able to bring her back. Tensaiga could not bring her back after the first time, when she had been half eaten by wolves. Perhaps it was that Rin had been meant to stay dead on the day he found her. She certainly had a lot going against her.

The moon shone against the water and its long reflection reached out to Sesshomaru now. It was now only a few hours before sunrise. He, Demon Lord Sesshomaru of the House of the West, had done something he had never done before. He has cried. The sobs had shaken him violently, gulping air he realized he had been reduced to no more than a sniveling child by a fathers love.

Hi everyone. I would like to thank all of your for your reviews and continuing support. This chapter was a bit of a bummer I know. The next one will be juicy I promise. I hope you liked this chapter!