Was it true? Would Sesshomaru be unable to know where she was?

Rin's brief look of unease rapidly turned to anger, surprising herself a little and even her "evil" companion. Though Rin wasn't sure if it was because she was scared or because this stranger must seriously be thinking he could outsmart Sesshomaru.

"He will come." Rin said again. She gave the stranger, whose name she did not know, a wary look.

The young man with the owl knelt beside Rin. He smiled at her, and for a second seemed to not pose any danger to her.

In a moment, he spoke. Anger and sadness could be heard in his words.

"Sesshomaru must no longer be a lord. He's had much power over these lands for too long now."

Rin stared at him. "What are you talking about? He's a good lord!" She tried to get up, but her injuries kept her down and helpless. Frustrated, she formed her hands into fists and looked away from him for a moment. When she looked back at him, it was hard to make his figure out. Though there was light on the underground path she was on, a shadow was now cast upon the young man's face. Rin couldn't see his expression as she kept her gaze upon him.

There was a silence for a moment or two till it was broken by the young man. His words were more serious this time, with little to no mixed emotion in them.

"My name is Hansuke. I have set out to get rid of Sesshomaru."

Rin had expected him to keep talking and explain why, but he didn't seem to want to elaborate much. Immediately, Rin assumed he was only revealing a little information at a time on purpose. He was being careful to not speak more than what was necessary. It was typical behavior for a scumbag, but Rin wasn't so sure she was going to put this guy in that category. She hadn't quite figured him out yet.

Hansuke reached over and placed his hand on Rin's shoulder. Rin was caught off guard and with a shudder, tried to back away from him.

Hansuke looked confused with Rin's behavior. He raised his eyebrows. "Still timid I see. Yet, how is it that a mere man like me scares you, but Sesshomaru doesn't?"

When Rin didn't answer, he scowled. "He's a great and terrible dog demon!"

"Yes, but whatever did he do to you? Rin couldn't help but cry this back at him. She watched him closely. Even though she was beginning to be disgusted by him, she was curious to see if she could pick out any emotion he may be concealing. Something that might explain further truths to what he had revealed to her. With good measure, she also took this time to take in more of his appearance. She was rather surprised at how good looking he was. With gorgeous dark brown hair that went down past his shoulders and brown eyes that could either be soft or mean. Depending of course, on his mood. Rin found herself unable to refrain from staring.

Hansuke shook his head and stood up. He walked over to one of the lanterns that lit the path and stopped to look back at Rin.

Rin looked away and rested her eyes on the ground. "He will be here any minute now."

Hansuke smirked. "That's doubtful." He then whispered something to his owl who was perched on his left shoulder. The owl nodded as Hansuke lifted his hand up, and flew away.

Rin turned to watch him fly past her, but then he flew back around to Hansuke and disappeared down the tunnel.

Rin was thinking now. Is that the way Sesshomaru will come? She scooted closer to see if she could see anything down the tunnel. It was then that she noticed something glittery on her right arm. It looked blueish and smelled like something she couldn't identify. Rin brushed it off quickly and anxiously looked back at Hansuke to see if he had noticed.

It didn't look like he did. He was busy staring at a wall. With his hand on his chin, it appeared he was trying to figure something out. Rin watched him, confused. She couldn't see anything. It looked to be just an ordinary wall. However, a minute later, Rin let out a gasp. Pictures and special markings were now randomly showing up on the wall.

Or perhaps they were there the whole time?...

Without looking back and thinking Hansuke wouldn't be paying her any attention now that he had a wall to think about, Rin decided this was a good time for her to run down the tunnel. She knew Sesshomaru must be coming for her by now. It would be nice if she ran into him on the way.

She wouldn't get far...

Once she was out of sight of Hansuke, the tunnel became much darker. Rin couldn't see where she was going but didn't slow down. She hit something hard.

"Ow!" Rin grabbed her right arm and held it close. Apparently, the tunnel was narrower here, and she had hit her arm against it. It took a long minute for the pain, which was moderate, to dissipate.

Feeling more anxious now, Rin kept going but this time she walked. She expected Hansuke to catch up to her any moment now or say something to indicate there was no escape for her. When he didn't, Rin sneaked glances behind her to see why.

Could it be he had not yet caught on to her absence yet? Was he still staring at the wall, trying to uncover its secrets?

Rin didn't have a lot of time to ponder any more on the subject, for the tunnel had just lit up.

"Ahhh!" Rin shielded her face with her hands for it was bright.

What was going on?

A devious sounding voice rang out. "Found you."

Rin slowly removed her hands to see who had talked. Flapping its wings about ten feet in front of her, was a brown owl with white and black dots all over its feathers. This one looked different from the other one that had been with Hansuke.

The owl gave Rin a blank look. "I hope you weren't trying to escape. I would have been able to find you no matter where you went."

Rin wasn't sure how that was possible unless she had a tracker or something on her.

"Well? Go on back now." With its wings out, the owl shooed Rin back to where Hansuke was.

Feeling somewhat defeated, poor Rin had no choice but to obey. When she got back to Hansuke, he didn't turn around to look at her or question why she tried to escape. Instead, He reached out his hand and ran it along a bold inscription Rin could not read. It must be a different language, she thought.

Rin waited for him to say something, but he never did. It was quiet and creepy. She didn't like standing next to a guy who was basically keeping her hostage.

She got an idea.

She began to slowly walk away. Hansuke was so into his magical wall, Rin doubted he would even notice.

"We will leave tomorrow."

"What?" Rin sputtered out the word with a gasp. "Leave? To go where?"

Hansuke lowered his face and grinned. "I'm taking you to a place where he can't and won't bother us."

Rin gasped again. "I don't understand. Why would..."

Hansuke put up his hand to silence her. "Do not ask me silly questions. You know why."

Rin shook her head. "No, I don't. What are you talking about? You're not making sense. I..."

"Enough! Hansuke shouted. I don't want to hear your naive responses to me. You have obviously been brainwashed by this... this...this..." His voice trailed off.

Rin stared at him with a challenge in her eyes. She wanted to know what this guy would dare call Lord Sesshomaru in his absence.

Hansuke stared right back. There was fire in his eyes. Before Rin knew what was happening, he grabbed her hands and looker her dead on with those fiery brown eyes of his.

"He doesn't even know where you are."

Rin gave him her best brave and devoted face. "He will come for me."

Hansuke ignored her but grinned proudly as he said. "I, however, will always know where you are."

Rin wasn't sure what he meant by that. She wondered if she should even ask for this Hansuke was likely protecting some major secrets.

Hansuke slowly took his hand and wiped something off Rin's clothes and held it up to her face. "This is what caused me and my owls to know exactly where you are."

He was showing her the glittery blue stuff she had tried to brush off earlier. She must not have gotten it all off. Rin understood now. If they served as some type of tracking particles, no wonder he wasn't worried or concerned when she tried to leave. He knew he would always be able to find her again. Well, the owl did anyway.

Hansuke interrupted her thoughts by whistling loudly. The owl that stopped Rin in the tunnel came flying over with a quickness. He landed on his master's outstretched hand. Rin noticed it always seemed to be his left hand.

Rin took a step back as the owl threw her a judgmental look.

Hansuke gave Rin a look too, but it was more of a curious one. He maintained his gaze on her as he ran his fingers through the black and white dotted feathers.

The owl gave his master an anxious look. "Shall I go now?"

"Yes, go forth my trusted one...and find him."

Him?

Hansuke turned around and gave Rin a smug look.

They were definitely talking about Sesshomaru.

The owl obediently took off and disappeared down where Rin had just tried going moments ago.

Hansuke went back over to the wall and stared at it some more.

Rin didn't know what to say or do at this point. Luckily, she didn't have to wonder long, for Hansuke backed away from the wall and turned his attention to Rin. When he did, Rin could sense a whole different personality arising from him. It was as though he was more a friend than foe, but Rin couldn't be sure. She didn't really know anything about him. There was still so much mystery. The only thing she knew was he had something against Lord Sesshomaru.

Hansuke spoke. "I must go out for a bit. I need to check on something."

When Rin didn't respond, he added with a sly look on his face. "Don't go anywhere."

She had no options except to wait for Sesshomaru, but she knew he would come...

Once the owl was out of the tunnel, he flew up into a nearby tree and rested for a bit. He took a moment to think about the game plan that had been entrusted to him.

He was ready.

He flew off and hovering in midair, swiftly flapped his wings backwards. There was a bang followed by a puff of pink smoke as the owl fell to the ground.

Once the smoke disappeared, there was no longer an owl but a beautiful young lady. She was standing on the ground with an innocent looking face. She had long brown hair with two pink bows on both sides of her head and was wearing a yellow dress with lace and had brown flats for shoes. Needless to say...

She looked a lot like Rin.

The woman lifted up her dress slightly and did a little twirl. She laughed heartily and began to sing softly. All was quiet except for her singing. Though, there was soon a rustle in the leaves not far from where she was.

"There you are. I had a feeling it wouldn't be difficult to find you." Hansuke was walking towards the newly turned woman. He stopped a few feet in front of her. He was grinning from ear to ear. He reached into his pants and pulled out a small little pouch. He held it up to the woman.

"This, this is it." He threw the pouch up in the air and out of it fell purple sand. It came down like rain on the woman. She welcomed it by putting up her hands with glee. Once she had absorbed all of it into her body, the woman did another twirl and bowed in front of Hansuke, who was still grinning.

She smelled exactly like Rin.

"Now to find Sesshomaru..."

To be continued...