AN: You readers are AMAZING! Thank you all so much for the outpouring of love in the reviews/comments. I was astounded at how much you enjoyed the previous chapter! In fact, because you seemed to enjoy it so much, I even added an extra fluff scene to this chapter that wasn't in my original draft—just for you! It meant that I had to push off what was originally the final scene to the next chapter…but it still serves a purpose, and I think the flow of the story (and the characters' development of feelings) is better, so it works out for everyone! Can you guess which scene it is?

Chapter 5: The Embers of Desire

Five days into their forced companionship, Sesshoumaru felt quite rejuvenated. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt this carefree and relaxed. How many centuries had he been toiling without rest?

He tested his leg when Rin went to wash up for the morning. While he still couldn't put the full weight of his body on it, within days, it would likely be well enough again to support him. His body had recovered enough that if he wanted to, he could fly back to the resort now and sleep in the mostly unused bed in his family's suite.

But then he would be subject to the stares, whispers, and outright questions of workers, servants, and family. Everyone would wonder what force could have possibly caused the great Sesshoumaru so much pain that he had to rest in bed for days. As it was, he was already going to have to explain his impromptu absence, but it would be far easier to craft a lie to others if they did not see him in his mangled state and he was already fully recovered when he returned.

Besides, the resort was not very busy at this time—most companies were in the midst of sales season, and people couldn't afford to take time off—so it wouldn't all go to hell if he wasn't there. That said, there were still a few guests staying here, and he did not want to risk them seeing him so degraded. Rin had finally let him put his pants back on last night (retying the irritating splint over his pants leg), but he was still in no shape to be seen by lesser demons.

Still, from what he could remember of the guest list, none of the current guests were high-ranking or bold enough to intrude upon him should they sense his demon energy out here.

However, that would change in about a week, as he recalled.

At that point, a whole pack was expected to arrive for some "corporate retreat." While there was no guarantee those guests would venture into the sanctuary immediately, if they did, he was confident he would be able to scent them before they arrived and flee with Rin.

They stank of wolf, after all.

His presence could keep the other demons in the sanctuary at bay—they still feared him. But the wolf demons thought themselves above the dog demons, and so, weak as they were, not even his demonic energy would deter them.

So for now…he would stay with Rin.

He tried not to acknowledge the pleasure that decision induced, born from a feeling that he didn't want to return to his silent, lonely life just yet.

He also tried not to acknowledge the fact that he knew his mere presence would keep Rin protected from other demons while she finished out her vacation—which she deserved to do in peace.

He knew he was inconveniencing her. Regardless of the fact that she had unknowingly trespassed on demon lands, she had come here for the purpose of recreation, and he didn't know how long she intended to stay. She was a nurse, after all. How long could she afford to be gone?

When she came back from her ablutions, he was sitting outside the tent against a tree waiting for her—just as she had left him. "When are you leaving?" he asked.

She jumped at that. "What do you mean? I only just got back. Or…did you want me to go?"

"Your vacation. You must have used much of it upon me. How long did you intend to stay here?"

Her smile popped back on. "Oh! No worries. What day is it, anyway?" She grabbed her phone, which was charging in the sun, and checked the date. "I was going to stay about another week, give or take a day."

Sesshoumaru wasn't sure why the words eased his heart. "That is quite a while to spend alone in the woods."

She smiled sheepishly. "Well, I had planned out a few activities. Luckily, I already checked rock climbing off my list on the way here. I had planned to do some fishing and swimming at the lake, but it's fine. Sometimes, the unexpected makes a trip more exciting than what you originally planned! I never anticipated learning so much about the stars, after all."

There weren't many to see in their limited field of view in the forest, even with so many of the trees having fallen. Given their same, small field of view every night, Rin had nearly memorized all the stars he had taught her. He needed a new, expanded horizon upon which to test her.

"We would have a better view by the lake," he said.

"Certainly, but you can't walk yet—"

"I will manage."

"You really shouldn't—"

"I will not have you waste your vacation tending to me. We can go. I will be fine."

She looked down, fiddling with her hands as she murmured, "It's not a waste."

He could not detect a lie in her words. Again, that sense of ever-present tension eased in his chest. What was this woman doing to him? Were these the beginnings of a Florence Nightingale effect?

It would make sense. She tended to me when she did not have to, and now I feel indebted, like I need to return her kindness.

Sesshoumaru hated feeling indebted.

If anything, he needed to be inspiring the full Florence Nightingale effect in her so that she would keep opening up to him. As much as she talked, she had yet to reveal the name of that sister who had given her the ticket to the sanctuary.

Is her silence some sort of retribution for me not giving her my name? Sesshoumaru wondered. He immediately dismissed the thought. She is not so petty as that. She would probably answer if I asked directly.

But he didn't want her to suspect that he was mining her for information.

He also didn't know why he didn't want her to suspect him like that.

He shouldn't have cared. She was just another human. He should have gotten what he wanted from her and been done with it.

But…he could not deny that she had made what would have otherwise been an unbearable few days of wallowing in physical misery and emotional torment…tolerable. Even pleasant, at times. For instance, he found he enjoyed imparting his knowledge of the stars on her, and she was an eager pupil. The rest of his family did not understand his fascination with the heavens. The only other great demon he knew who did was Kirinmaru, one of his father's greatest rivals turned old family friend. Kirinmaru himself was decent, if a bit too much of a romantic for Sesshoumaru's tastes, but Sesshoumaru could barely stand the demon's sister, Zero, so he tried not to interact with that family more than necessary.

"Then…I guess I'll tear down camp," Rin said. She did so quite efficiently, and they left shortly afterwards.

Sesshoumaru did not deign to fly. He did not want to give away that secret to her just yet.

Besides, when she offered herself as a crutch, Sesshoumaru had a feeling—based on days of observation—that the closer she was to him, the more she would let down her guard out of attraction. So when she slung his arm around her shoulders, her racing heartbeat was a gratifying response.

They moved slowly, but Rin didn't seem to mind. She pointed out the flora as they passed or made goals out of it.

"Look!" she'd say, pointing ahead. "I think that's a sumac, but it's hard to tell from back here. Let's make that our next rest point, and we'll see."

At that speed, they didn't even make it fully down the mountain the first day. Rin found a clearing not too far off the path and set up camp. The canopy obscured their view that night, so they couldn't continue their stargazing. The temperature dropped quickly with the sun, and after coaxing a fire to life, Rin spent a few minutes rotating herself like a rotisserie to warm up.

"Brrr, it's cold tonight!" she said with a shiver. "I'm going to grab my sleeping bag." She ducked into the tent and pulled it out. As she slung it around her shoulders, she hesitated and looked over at him. "I know you said you won't die of exposure…but are you sure you aren't cold?"

He was about to tell her, again, that she need not worry when a thought occurred to him.

Every night, they lay next to each other, naming the stars. Without that activity, how would he bridge the physical distance with Rin tonight to unnerve her just enough that she might reveal what he wanted to know?

It was a classic trick, but sometimes it was best to stick with the basics.

He didn't look at her as he said, "I will not die…but it is not the most comfortable."

He glanced over at her then and found her shaking her head with an exasperated smile. "You should have just said so, silly." She unzipped her sleeping bag and then plopped down next to him, throwing it over both their shoulders and wrapping it around them.

"There! Shared body heat will make us extra nice and toasty. Oooh, speaking of toasty…."

No sooner had she put on the sleeping bag than she threw it off, going back to drag her backpack out of the tent. When she set it next to her, she scrambled back into her spot and pulled the sleeping bag back over his shoulders.

Already, it felt warmer with her next to him.

"A toasty fire plus a nip in the air is the perfect recipe for…dun, dun, da-dun! S'mores!" she announced, pulling out some snack bags and a chocolate bar from her backpack (that Sesshoumaru was now convinced was a bottomless pit holding absolutely everything imaginable) with a flourish. "Nothing distracts you from the cold like s'morsy goodness."

"S'mores?" he echoed.

"Do you know them? They're chocolate and marshmallow melted between graham crackers: a classic American camping treat! My host family shared the magic of s'mores with me, and I brought some ingredients because I knew I wouldn't be able to resist having some in this environment!" She showed him her baggies of halved graham crackers and giant marshmallows. "You would believe how difficult it is to find marshmallows and graham crackers in Japan. I found them in a pharmacy, of all places. Do you want to try one?" she asked, looking over at him with a hopeful smile, which immediately closed up into a thoughtful frown. "On second thought, you probably wouldn't like them, because there's nothing natural about them at all. They are quintessentially human food."

Sesshoumaru grunted noncommittally and watched as Rin pulled over a stick, sharpened the end of it to a point with her utility knife, and stuck a couple big, fluffy marshmallows on the end of it. "Give me your hand," she said. He did so, hesitantly. She placed the stick in his palm and wrapped his fingers around it. "Hold that for me, would you? And be sure to twirl it so that they toast evenly. Also, don't let the flames lick them so much that they catch fire and get black!"

Sesshoumaru stared in shock at the stick she had thrust in his hand, and he looked over to see what she could possibly be doing to prevent her from toasting her own marshmallows. She hummed to herself as she broke pieces of chocolate and put them on some graham crackers. After laying out a couple, she looked over toward the fire. "Oh! Turn it!"

Sesshoumaru was so shocked by her sudden exclamation that he did as she said. The tops of the marshmallows were now a deep brown.

"Don't worry—all's not lost. Just keep an eye on the other side," Rin said with a smile.

When she judged that they were done, she told him to hold the end of the stick out towards her. She took two pieces of graham crackers, the bottom one holding chocolate, and sandwiched the first of the marshmallows between them, sliding it off the end of the stick in a gooey mess. She did the same with the second and then handed the s'more to him. "Here you go. Dig in! And no worries if you don't like it—I'll eat it, trust me!"

She bit into her s'more with gusto, marshmallow ballooning out the sides of the sandwich and onto her fingers. He watched as she rushed to eat the chocolate-laced marshmallow edges before they dripped off.

Sesshoumaru looked down at the s'more he held between two talons. While regular dogs could not tolerate chocolate, he could—the darker, the better, in fact—but the sugary, sweet smell coming off the marshmallow was almost nauseating.

But Rin looked so happy eating it that he felt compelled to at least try it.

He took a tentative bite, not wanting to create a mess like she had, but as soon as he bit down, he realized his mistake.

There was no proper, dainty way to eat a s'more. It would explode no matter what.

A mixture of marshmallow and chocolate pushed into his mouth against his will, the bit of graham cracker he had taken not enough to mask it. The texture of the marshmallow was unlike anything he had ever had before—slick and soft yet chewy in an unnerving way. His nose curled as he chewed through it.

Rin giggled, pulling him out of his deep contemplation of the snack. He looked over at her, and she held her hand out. "I didn't think you'd like it, but I'm glad you tried it anyway. At the very least, you can say you've had a new experience!"

A new experience? The last five days had been nothing but new experiences for him.

He looked back down at the oozing s'more in his fingers.

He had had worse.

He took another bite and looked to Rin for her reaction. She was gaping at him.

"Y-You don't have to prove anything to me, you know. I'll finish it for you. It's fine."

He wouldn't dignify that with an answer. Instead, he asked, "Why do Americans put so much sugar into their desserts? I was forced to consume New York cheesecake once. Not only was the slice massive, but every bite was so dense, it felt like balls of lead dropping into my stomach. I thought the sugar intake alone would kill me before any Demon Slayer had the chance."

Rin burst out laughing and then covered her mouth. "I'm sorry—that's horrible, and yet…it's so true! I developed a taste for certain treats over there, but there were definitely some that were far too sweet for me! And you're right about everything being huge over there."

As she spoke about her time in America, Sesshoumaru finished consuming the s'more. When she finished, he looked over at her. "You have some chocolate on your face."

Her sticky hands flew up to her cheeks, trying to cover them. "Where? Here?" She licked a corner of her lips on the opposite side of where the chocolate was.

"Other side," Sesshoumaru said.

Rin licked the other side, but the smudge was too far out of reach. "Did I get it?" He shook his head. She rubbed her hand over her cheek and erased the smudge—only to draw out a new one, courtesy of her dirty fingers.

Sesshoumaru sighed. They'd be at it all night this way. "Hold still."

"W-What?" she asked as he leaned towards her. She clenched her hands and closed her eyes as he wiped the chocolate smudge from her cheek. When he pulled away, she cracked open an eye. "Is it gone?"

"Yes," he answered, licking his thumb as perfunctorily as one would to turn a page in a stack of papers.

Rin's eyes zeroed in on his fingers and then moved back to his mouth. Her lips contorted into an annoyed frowned. "That's not fair! How were you possibly able to eat that whole s'more without getting even a crumb on yourself?"

He smirked at her. "Superior demon dexterity, I suppose."

She scrunched her nose at him in a mocking sneer. Then, her lips curled into a devious smile.

She darted forward and swiped his nose with a chocolaty finger. Sesshoumaru froze, his eyes widening in shock.

"There," she said. "Now we're even." She started sucking her fingers one by one to get the marshmallow and chocolate off, watching him from the corner of her eye like a satisfied cat.

Sesshoumaru was still too in shock to move. And the more he watched her suck her fingers, the more a foreign coil of fire unfurled in his stomach.

Her vengeful look faded away, replaced by a coy one. "Do you want me to clean that for you?"

Unbidden, an image of Rin leaning over and licking the chocolate from his nose came to mind. The dog demon in him panted at the thought.

Sesshoumaru shook his head, more to get the image out of his mind than to answer her question. He rubbed his nose, ridding himself of the goo. But still he did not feel right. His heart was a fraction faster, his body temperature a degree higher.

It's just the Florence Nightingale effect, he told himself. It must be. Nothing but a manufactured emotion. It will cease as soon as we part ways.

It had to. Otherwise, he was in serious trouble.

Rin yawned as she cleaned her fingers with a wet wipe and chucked it in her trash bag. "I thought sugar was supposed to wake me up, not make me sleepy. Maybe it just hasn't hit my bloodstream yet."

Without warning, she tilted, her head landing against his shoulder. He tensed as the contact sent tingles running down his arm. "Mmm, don't move. Your shoulder is the perfect height," she murmured sleepily. "Between you and this fire, I'm not cold anymore."

He certainly wasn't anywhere close to being cold. The contact was only stoking the fire in his gut. But the feeling was…pleasurable. He figured he could indulge for just a little while.

So he let her lay against him as she fell asleep.

The next day, Sesshoumaru was able to put more weight on his leg. He considered telling her that he could walk on his own (albeit slowly), but the memories of her touches last night reignited that ember of desire within him. He tried to resist the feeling…but it was like getting a first hit of nicotine. He wanted more. So he didn't say anything, and she stayed under his arm the entire time they hiked that day. The dog demon within him growled in contentment.

When they finally reached the lake that afternoon, Rin didn't hesitate to kick off her shoes and run straight to the water.

"Ah, it's cold!" she screeched, laughing. "But it feels so good after all that walking! Would you like to come in?"

"I am fine where I am," Sesshoumaru answered from where she had left him sitting on a boulder. He watched her skip through the shoreline, kicking up water and twirling like a little girl instead of a young woman. Her carefree air and simple jubilance prompted just a hint of a smile from him.

After she set up camp, she brought over her collapsible fishing rod, now fully stretched out. "Have you ever fished before?" she asked.

"Yes."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh. Sorry, I assumed…well, you just don't seem like the type to go fishing—what with you wearing a suit in the forest and all. What's the biggest fish you've ever caught?"

He thought back to the old days, some five hundred years prior, when a particularly condescending fish demon had presumed to eat him. Sesshoumaru yanked it out of the water and carved it up with his claws.

He looked over the lake and pointed to an island halfway across it. "From head to tail, it would have fit between here and there."

Rin did a double-take, looking at where he was pointing, and then she burst out laughing. "I've heard some fish stories in my day, but I've never heard an exaggeration that bad."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "I am not exaggerating. You would have been the size of one of its teeth."

She only laughed harder. "I'm trying to imagine you reeling in this 'monster fish' of yours with a teeny fishing pole—"

"I used only my hands."

That just sent her rolling along the ground in spasms. As she wiped the tears from her eyes, she said, "You're not very good at this, are you? You have to make it at least a little believable."

He gritted his teeth. If he had not sworn to himself not to fly around her or reveal just how well he was recovering, he would have gone just then to show her exactly how he "fished."

"In the meantime—" she choked off to giggle, "—I'll just teach you how to use a pole. How about that?"

"Do as you wish."

First she dug into the dirt to find some worms, and he was repulsed yet intrigued by how she did not flinch when she found the squirming things, took them between her fingers to drop them in a small container, and even skewered one on the hook. Then she showed him how to cast, and when he did so perfectly the first time, sending the line out so far, the bobber was hardly visible against the glinting water, she clapped in amazement.

"You're a natural!"

His pride felt soothed after that.

Of course, he hadn't realized just how tedious the human version of fishing would be. It was all waiting with little action. Rin set up camp in the meantime, and afterwards she came to sit with him as they waited for the fish to bite.

"You have to reel in slowly—give them something to chase," she said when she noticed the line was slack. She covered his hand with her own and placed it on the reel, moving it at the proper pace to show him. "And if nothing bites, you just cast it back out."

It took a few casts before one bit. Rin jumped up and shouted encouragement at him. "Come on—reel that sucker in! Oh, this one's a fighter! Look at how the pole's bending!"

Of course, weakened or not, Sesshoumaru's strength was more than enough to overpower a measly fish, and in no time at all, it was splashing towards the surface at the edge of the lake. When he finally reeled it above the water, he frowned.

"Oh, great catch!" Rin called out, taking the line and grabbing the squirming fish. He watched in fascination as she unhooked its lip while keeping a firm hold on the creature. "Look, it's a rainbow trout," she added, holding it out and pointing at the pink hue along its lateral line.

"All that time for something so small," he remarked.

"Well, you never know what you're going to catch. That's what makes it so exciting! Maybe we'll get something bigger next time. But we can't throw him back—he's still big enough to be dinner!"

They managed to catch two other trout before the sun set. Once Rin scaled and deboned the fish and got a fire going, she said, "Umm…so, I've noticed you don't care for cooked food. But…all I can do is grill the fish."

"I will have mine raw."

Rin blinked. "Oh…sashimi? Yes, I suppose we can do that too!"

"Grill yours," he commanded.

Rin frowned. "I like sashimi. I'll eat it."

"It has not been properly prepared. You could get sick."

"And you won't?"

Sesshoumaru smirked at her. "My body is more toxic than any germ."

"What do you mean?" she asked, handing him his share of the fish, even as she proceeded to grill hers.

"Poison runs through my blood and imbues every part of me. I could melt the flesh off your bones, if I so wished."

Rin smiled at him again. "If you hoped to inspire more fear of demons in me, then you've failed, sir. You've had this power the entire time, and yet you haven't used it. Although…that explains why the cloth I cleaned your blood with seemed to wear out so quickly."

He realized then that he had just given away information about himself that he normally kept hidden until his battles called for it. When had he gotten so comfortable with this human? They hadn't even been together for a week.

But he found he was so easily able to just be himself with her. He didn't have to posture (well, not as much as usual, anyway, and she never fell for it), didn't have to watch his every move or reaction, and didn't have to hide his emotions.

She brought a sense of peace and completeness to his life that he hadn't realized he was missing—that he would miss when their vacation ended.

Sesshoumaru knew he would only be able to play the invalid for so long. He told himself he was only staying with Rin so that he could return to the resort completely healed in order to hide from everyone the fact that Inuyasha had beaten him to a pulp.

But with every passing day that he got better, his excuse got flimsier and flimsier until he had to be truthful with himself and say that he was staying there to protect her. Even if he left, she wouldn't leave the sanctuary until her vacation was over. If another demon found her, in the worst case, she would be eaten (which would launch an investigation), and in the best case, the guest would bring her to the resort for him to deal with. She wouldn't think to hide the fact that they knew each other, so it would only be a matter of time before the truth of his disappearance from the resort came out. Thus, in the end, by protecting her, he was actually still protecting himself.

He refused to acknowledge the suspicion in the back of his mind that he had come to care for her in some small way and that was why he wanted to protect her.

They spent an entire week camped at the lake. By day, they would take short walks (with her acting as his crutch, since Sesshoumaru refused to show the extent of his knee's recovery), fish, forage, and bird-watch; by night, Sesshoumaru lay next to her, teaching her the constellations. The activities were simple, and yet he found his mind empty of worries and his body relived of stress.

Finally, the morning came when Rin said it was time for her to go home.

"It's a long walk back to my car, but once we get there, I can drive you up to the resort," she said.

"There is no need. I can return on my own."

"But you still can't walk well."

"I can walk just fine. See for yourself, if you must."

Rin peered at him in suspicion, but she removed the splint and pushed up his pants leg to look at his knee. The contusions were gone. She frowned. "Lie down on your back. I'm going to work the joint a little. Tell me at all if anything hurts." He did as she asked, if only to prove that he was telling the truth. She grasped his calf and heel gently, her delicate fingers like butterflies against his skin, feeding more of those growing flames in his belly. Then she lifted his leg, slowly easing the bottom half downward. She bent it a few more times, and when he didn't say anything and she appeared satisfied, she rolled his pants leg back down.

Her professional nurse voice was back, although perhaps a little brusquer than usual. "I'm happy to report that your knee seems in fine shape. It would appear you were…correct about your accelerated healing. On that note, I should look at your stitches one last time." As he sat up, she knelt next to him and unwrapped the bandage on his arm to examine the wound. Her surly tone vanished, replaced with awe. "Incredible. For such a deep laceration, it's already healed to the point where I can remove the stitches."

This did not surprise him.

"This shouldn't hurt, but it may feel a little strange," she said as she got out her scissors and needle. Sesshoumaru stayed still as she plucked them out, the sensation of thread sliding through his skin, pulling this way and that, unsettling. But as she said, it didn't hurt. She did her doctoring well.

When it was finished, he could finally see the long, pink scar bisecting his arm. That would still take a couple days to fully disappear. He would have to hide it when he returned home.

Rin cleared her throat and said in a subdued tone, "You should still get everything checked out by one of your demon doctors when you go back home. All I did was emergency field dressing. I would hate to think I was responsible for causing you some permanent damage."

"It will not be necessary. I told you before: you did well."

Rin looked up at him then, her cheeks growing pink. Her hands still rested on his arm, and her face was only a few inches from his. He stared at her, unable to take his eyes off that blush.

She leaned in slightly, and he knew what she expected: a kiss.

He should have been disgusted at the very thought. A mere human daring to kiss him, a purebred demon with one of the most noble and enviable lineages in the country?

And yet…part of him was curious to find out if her lips were as soft as her touches. Would they inspire the same pleasant sensations that her fingers did upon his body?

He had watched those lips move without ceasing for days. Now he knew he had the power to render her speechless—if only he would take it.

But in that second, he didn't know if he had it in him to bridge that final gap between demon and human to give her what she wanted.

What part of him knew he wanted, even as he denied it.

Then she paused, and her grasp tightened ever so slightly on his wrist. "Are you…ever going to tell me your name?"

The words dropped like a weight between them as reality came crashing down back on Sesshoumaru.

He turned his head away from her, not trusting himself to answer. Curse this Florence Nightingale effect. He knew he had gotten far too close to this human over the last several days, but not all was lost. He may not have ferreted out who gave her a ticket to the sanctuary, but at least he also still had his secrets. He still had his name.

After all, when she left, who knew what she would do with the information of her time spent here?

Still…the Rin he had come to know would not give away such information, even if she did like to talk. She understood the weight of their situation. And if her desire to kiss him was any indication, she probably liked him enough not to risk causing him harm with a misplaced word. His plan to get her to let down her guard around him had succeeded.

Perhaps a little too well.

Would it really be so bad to tell her his name? What would it be like to hear those four syllables drop from her lips? He had heard almost every other word under the sun over the last week and half.

But his name was the one word he found he wanted to hear most of all.

He must have taken too long to answer, though, because she removed her hands from him, and the moment passed. She stood up and went to root through her backpack. When she was finished, she wouldn't look him in the eye. "I'm going to go wash up before packing up camp. You don't…have to wait for me. Since you're better now, there's no longer any reason for you to stay, after all. I suppose this is goodbye then. It's been…a pleasure getting to know you…sir," she murmured, her voice growing thicker with her word. She hurried past him, her scent disintegrating the further she went downwind.

Such a parting didn't sit well with Sesshoumaru; his heart had twisted into a knot. Whether it was the right thing to do in this situation or not, he would wait for her and walk her back to her car to keep her safe from any other resort guests.

As he waited, he couldn't help but replay that moment over and over again in his mind. What if he had moved to let her kiss him? What if he had told her his name? Would he have been able to regain the peaceful feelings she brought him rather than carry this unbearable tension around his chest like a coil of chains?

What was he going to do when she returned? She probably didn't want to be anywhere near him, given that he had stopped being able to hear her footsteps some time ago. Just how far down the lake had she gone?

He was so lost in thought, he almost missed Rin's faint scream for help.

AN: So, fun fact. When I lived in Germany for a year and my fellow American friend and I were craving s'mores, we went on this intense hunt for marshmallows in every grocery store we could find (I had already imported graham crackers via my suitcase, haha). We searched high and low and were about to give up when I just happened to go to a pharmacy. And there they were, on a shelf near the checkout line: "Rocky Mountain Marshmallows." So American. So random. Who would have guessed?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and let me know what you think! Your reviews/comments always make my day!