Watching from a distance is easy.
Initially.
Each encounter he has with her, however fleeting, leaves him wanting. Very quickly, he yearns for more.
His brother remains, ever presently, in his way.
Her opinion of him, if not irrevocably marred by his own behavior upon their first meeting, must be heavily influenced by the hanyou's feelings regarding his estranged, violent brother.
She threatens his very life with her pink-tipped arrow, and though annoying, he believes that it is justified.
She yells at him with words that stain his name.
Underhanded. Dirty tricks. Noble? As if!
He bids good riddance to that human arm with a relish because her remarks are unforgivable as sure as they are true.
He desires Tetsusaiga, yes.
But he desires her more.
The human priestess that fawns over his brother, even as he jilts her for another.
The female that holds a connection more paramount with him than that of being the supposed reincarnation of his brothers once-lover, now dead.
She spurns his name, and Sesshomaru finds himself offended.
But her spurning is not without reason, and he is not blameless.
He desires Tetsusaiga, yes…but he desires her far, far more.
And his desire for her is humbling.
She, who calls out his faults, who breaks him open down to the venomous heart of himself.
She, who witnesses with hazy blue eyes as he liberates her from the poison-master who harms her.
She, who places Rin's safety above all else.
She, who now looks upon him with a new light in her brilliant eyes. As if to say: maybe he doesn't hate humans, after all.
She, who slumbers fitfully in the innards of a foul half-breed, awakening to witness as he brandishes his steel in her defense.
Have you been fighting off those demons the whole time?
As if he would leave her defenseless.
She, whom he sheds his chains for, or because of.
As if he would leave her at all.