Waiii! 11 Reviews! You guys are the best!!! Thank you thank you thank you to all who reviewed! And now, I give you chapter two!

Because…

Chapter Two

Pain, throbbing pain, like when she was little.

She shut her eyes, trying to prevent the nightmare from her childhood from entering her consciousness again.

"Rin? Are you awake?" A kind, soothing voice.

"Mommy?" She whispered.  I must be dead, Rin thought. The only person who had ever loved her that much sounded like that.

"No, it's me," the voice said, and it suddenly sounded different. Sharper, more acute.

As her senses slowly crept back to her, she let her eyes flutter open.

"Y-you?" Rin sat up instantly and backed away,eyes wide. She was shocked at the amount of contempt her voice held. The girl sitting before her looked almost exactly like her, but she knew this girl very well. The hanyou's mate.

"It's okay, Rin. I'm not gonna hurt you, honest."

She struggled to remember what had just happened. Ugly men, kidnapping her, and then pain. And a voice, far away.

"Was that you?" Rin asked, feeling another shimmering wave of pain pass over her head. Reaching up with a tentative hand, she probed her forehead and felt it wet-oh, yes, she was bleeding.

She glanced down at herself. She was still wearing her yukata, but the hem was torn away at the bottom. Rin's cheeks flushed and she glanced up, ashamed. To have the hanyou's girlfriend seeing her like this- dirty, frightened, and……...deflowered………

"I shot all three of them with my arrows," she said, "I stopped them before they did anything to you."

Rin nearly wept with gratitude. "Thank you…Ka…what's your name again?"

"Kagome. And you're welcome."

The shame, the fear, the anger; it was all slight and dissipated quickly. She'd always been like that- slow to anger, quick to forgive. Even though it was Kagome, she'd never done anything to her. At least, nothing bad.

"Do you know where Sesshomaru is?" She asked me, her eyes glinting with a strange light. Something in Kagome's voice made the sudden trust she'd gained disappear.

"No…." Rin thought of his failure to come rescue her. Maybe, she thought, he's finally given up on me. The thought brought a heavy crushing sensation onto her chest, and she tried to push the thought away. "Why?"

"He's fighting Inuyasha now. Just a few minutes ago Sesshomaru and Inuyasha caught one another's scent. Sesshomaru was trying to steal our wishing cup piece." The "our" made her mouth grimace. It wasn't theirs.

"…I was standing by, watching the battle, praying they wouldn't get hurt. Suddenly, I heard your voice calling out for Sesshomaru, and I rushed over to rescue you."

"But why? And why didn't he come?"

"He was busy." She said it was so much simplicity, like it made total sense. Any task that would take his attention would immediately put Rin second priority. But then again, she thought, Kagome wouldn't know about being abandoned by the one you love.

"So why did you come for me?"

She glanced up, as if surprised. "I couldn't just let you sit there and die. I had to help you, Rin. Even if Inuyasha and Sesshomaru are enemies…"

That revelation was so stunning-so similar to something Rin would think-that she actually smiled. "Thanks, Kagome. You're a good person."

"It's all right, Rin."

As friendly as they'd been, the shadow of the battle fell over them.

For some reason Rin didn't trust her completely. Sesshomaru had told her bad things about these humans, this human race. The brother that's only half-youkai, a hanyou. He's not worthy of the jewel or the Tetesaiga, he says. She was human, too, but, as Sesshomaru had told her once, she was different. The thought had sent a pleasant little tingle up her spine when he'd said it. As if she were someone special, someone worthy of love and attention.

Rin had never known the laws of the human society, but Sesshomaru's view had party rubbed off onto her- they are a petty, worthless species. But at the same time, she'd always felt this strange sort of softness and compassion for others……even after growing up under Sesshomaru.

In Rin's heart, she'd always prayed for Sesshomaru's safety, but at the same time, she was considering for the first time what was happening in Kagome's heart as well. Even though she'd never wished for any terrible fate to befall them, she'd always huddled behind Sesshomaru, silently rooting for him. Rin never had thought about the girl on the other side, so much like her in looks and personality, yet invariably separated from her by the wall of the two brothers.

At that instant, Rin stood up. "This can't continue," she said determidly, "I don't want to see them fighting anymore! They're brothers!" Her passion seemed to surprise Kagome.

"But…well, then, why don't you give us the shards? It was my jewel."

"But the hanyou doesn't know how to use it," she protested slightly haughtily, and her cheeks reddened.

"He does! Better than Sesshomaru, who wants to use it for evil purposes!"

The word evil rang in her ears.

 No. Not my Sesshomaru sama. He took care of me. He would never, ever hurt me.

Evil just wasn't a word she associated with him. Cold, maybe, and cunning. Dangerous. But not evil. Evil people didn't care about anyone, did they?

Rin opened my mouth to tell Kagome so, but a sudden flash of pain overtook her, and she doubled over.

"Rin? Rin….." Her concerned voice drifted in and out, turning into something deeper, something that finally sounded familiar.

He swept away from the hanyou brother, as disconsolately as if he were tossing an old piece of trash away in the garbage.

"Don't run away from me, Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha raged, panting behind him.

"That won't be necessary. I'm not running. I have more important things to do than waste my energy battling my hanyou brother."

With those words, he turned away and began walking, slowly. He didn't stop. The second piece of the wishing cup was tucked into his armor.

Earlier, he'd heard Rin's wailing for help. Her pitiful pleas, echoing in the trees, made something inside him turn a little bit. Spending too much time with the human must have made him soft. Obviously. Before, he could slay children without a single regard for their pathetic little human lives. But then this Rin came along, changing everything in her wake.

When he first saw her, he wanted her to go away. He was injured, but he'd never stoop low enough to ask a human for assistance. Before he could tell her to leave, she was there offering him food. At first he was confused; why was she giving him plants? Then he remembered that humans ate food, and this naive little girl thought he was human.

He still didn't know why he did it. Let her tag along, that was. Her resurrection had been nothing but a test of the Tenseiga, nothing more.

But after her eyes had opened, she'd started following him and calling him Sesshomaru sama just like that pathetic little wretch Jaken.

He figured one day, she might be good for something, but to this day she'd never done a thing for him except for make him soft. That's what emotion is, he thought. Weakness.

He struggled with a strange kind of hatred for her. It was unlike the one he harbored for Inuyasha. That was cold-blooded hatred of his simple hanyou brother, and whenever he saw the little weakling he wanted to kill him.

But with Rin……once, during one of his long mental trains of thought, he'd wondered what would happen if she died. Every time she was ensnared in danger, he would feel a compelling rush of adrenaline that would shoot his body towards the source of her screams and swiftly rescue her before any danger befell her. She must not die. He knew that much. But the reason to why this was so was still a mystery to him…..

Rin didn't have a demon-enhanced sense of smell like Sesshomaru did, but when consciousness finally seeped back, his faint smell lingered nearby- the only scent she'd ever known. Occasionally, when she returned to the human world, she'd been mistaken for a demon. And she, a mixture of both, was able to tell.

Rin didn't open her eyes, but became more aware of her surroundings. She realized she was laying flat on her back with a bed of wet grass under her palms.

"Jaken!" Sesshomaru's voice was nearby, as commanding as ever.

"Yes, my lord! Sesshomaru sama! What do you need?"

"It's about Rin."

"The human? Yes?"

"What do you think about the wound on her head?" Grass crunching as the little toad demon approached her.

"Human suffer blows onto their heads, but they're rarely fatal. Sometimes they have long-term effects," he prattled, proud of his intelligence. The glee in his voice was barely containable. Finally, his lord and master needed him for something!

"I do not think that the human-"

"Get lost, Jaken," Said Sesshomaru calmly, looking at Jaken. That was enough to make him slink off and leave them alone in the grassy field. 

 The soft comfort and the air of security made her want to sleep some more. Since she knew Sesshomaru was nearby, she knew she was safe.

"Rin?" His voice came, smooth and deep. "If you are awake, say something." She didn't know why, but something was preventing her from responding.

"Rin." Her heart was pounding at his presence. She was sure he could hear it. For he was  there, and she could feel him leaning over her. Something soft tickled her arm-the fluffy.

To her dismay, another pang of bittersweet emotion surged through her veins. No. He can't know. It's just my hormones. Nothing more.

An in that stifling moment, she felt a shadow over her. Slitting an eye open, she saw his beautiful, pale face with what hair cascading over his shoulders. The next moment, she felt something soft pressing onto her aching forehead.

His lips! Screamed a little voice in her head. Their silky furtiveness shocked her. What was he doing? Was this Sesshomaru, the icy, unfeeling demon who'd taken lives without regard?

And then, just as silently as it had happened, he got up and left, leaving her in a state of utter turmoil. She must not let him know she knew. If she did, everything that was balanced so carefully like a tower of blocks might tip over and leave her sprawled at the bottom.

Yay, go me, I didn't torment you all with a cliffie XD I'm infamous for doing that, hee hee! I kinda had trouble ending this chapter, because I wrote a lot of the story a while ago and didn't break it into chapters when I was writing it…so some of the transitions might seem awkward. Anyways. Tell me if you liked it or hated it, chapter three coming if I get reviews! ^.^

 x~ Aurora chan