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Part 5

A Warm Wind

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A stray strand of long silver hair danced in front of a set of beautiful golden eyes. Sesshoumaru ignored it. He ignored most things. But he couldn't ingore this. The empty camp where he had left Jaken and Rin bore no signs that they had been there recently. A faint trail of scent led him to know that they went northwest. He was annoyed that they weren't there, and completely unconcerned as to what excuses that Jaken would make for their absence. He was back sooner than he had intended to be and was ready to keep moving.

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and stepped into the sunlight. I'm surrounded by idiots. The golden

eyes blinked in the harsh light of the morning sun. Jaken may be annoying and mostly useless,

but he is loyal. He should be here. Then the Youkai Lord stepped through the camp and followed

the scent of his two greatest headaches.

Though to the casual observer, he seemed as if he were out for a simple morning stroll, Sesshoumaru was in fact getting increasingly more agitated. Those two must have wandered in circles for a full day. How annoying.... If he had not been following their trail and making those same damn circles now, he might have found something amusing about this. Instead, he felt like a fool walking around in his own territory. "If anyone saw me now I would have to kill them just to keep my pride intact," he muttered. He gazed with seeming disinterest at the wild and beautiful surroundings that Rin and Jaken had visited. In truth, he noticed because it was his. These were the western lands and they were his, just as they were his fathers before him. Sesshoumaru was proud of his heritage and of the natural beauty that surrounded him when in his home.

Unfortunately, that home was always being threatened. Sesshoumaru had worked hard as a child to be worthy of the great responsibility that he would gain when the west became his. He had not, however, yet gained the status or strength that his father had once had. His father had first fallen when he took that human woman to mate. Now, whenever he, Sesshoumaru, came close to matching the might and status due to him, Inuyasha brought more dishonor to the family name. The ridicule and disrespect that this caused was not something that Sesshoumaru could forgive and soon, when he had his fathers swords, he could be content in the knowledge that no future threats could damage these lands or the people in them.

Sesshoumaru did not truely hate humans, he just found them to be useless and beneath him. He had little respect for few humans. If they were in his way, he moved them. If they caused problems with his territory, he dispenced of the trouble. Any other time, they were ignored. Except for a few who just would not leave his mind in the quietest hours. The ones who had caused him to wonder if the human race may have a few redeeming qualities...

The grass did not even russel under his feet as he walk. When he finally came to a stop, he had his head bowed and he was staring intently at the ground in front of him. He lost her. Sesshoumaru looked to the west where Rin's scent led and then searched the far northern path from the corner of his golden eyes to discover Jaken's destination. I gave him one order. One. Sesshoumaru's eyes hardened into angry lines. I expected better. Other then the tense look around the corners of his eyes and the hard set of his mouth, there was no sign of how he was reacting to this turn of events. That, he thought, was my mistake.

Jaken was on his own. He was after all a yuokai. He was a lesser demon, but he was better equiped to handle trouble than the human child. So Sesshoumaru turned his attention and his thoughts west where Rin had wandered. Rin...why am I even concerned? She is human...she is...Sesshoumaru closed his eyes for a second to find a reason that would make sense to him that he would be concerned about the welfare of a human child he had saved. It bewildered him the way he had taken her in and the way she had worked her way into becoming someone important enough to try to find when she got lost. She is....mine. He felt unsatisfied with the answers that he provided for himself but could not explain it better then that. I gave her life. That life is now my responsibility to keep safe. I chose to take her in. Now I choose to keep her. My responsibility...

The warm wind played daringly with the long strands of silver hair and ruffled the fur of the InuYoukai Lord's tail as he began the next part of his journey toward a change in his life that he never could have imagined. Rin had changed him and he knew it. Though he was not yet sure of the results or the extent of that change he could feel it inside of him. Because he was still lacking the knowledge of what was different, he felt he had lost a measure of control over himself. And the Lord of the Western Lands prized control. It was one of the things that he had achieved in himself that even his father had lacked. Inuyasha was like his father in that way...without control. And that lack of control was easy to anticipate...and so, was easy to defeat.

His amber eyes blinked slowly as he contempated his next move. I have a responsibilty to take care of Rin. I have determined that...I need to be in control at all times to be fitting for my station. Rin is a threat to my duties. How do I fullfill both obligations?

He stared into the distance where he could hear the water of a nearby steam trickle past for a minute. Then he had the answer. Mate. He looked disgusted with himself. He was young yet, for a Youkai, and had no desire to choose a mate. All the simpering Youkai women had their uses, he could admit, but he knew how quickly he would get bored of one female when he chose to take one. Even his father had the morals of, well, a dog. His father was never loyal to his mother while she lived but neither of them expected that they should be. Sesshoumaru's mother, like his father, entertained others whenever the urge took her. It wasn't until he fell in love with a human woman that Sesshoumaru saw his father act with honor toward a female. And she was human...By then, Sesshoumaru had already grown and found himself disgusted by the bonds between happiliy and unhappily mated couples. It was foolishness and it did not interest him to bind himself to one female. Besides that, where would I find a mate willing to take in a human child? He snorted at the thought. Perhaps an unwilling mate, then? I could certainly persuade the youkai women easily enough and we might even enjoy the chase... for a time......No. What other options do I have? Who would want to take care of a human child?

He continued walking until he reached an opening in the tree line that gave him a view of a peaceful hillside covered in wildflowers and tall grass that sloped down into the stream he had previously heard in the distance. He could see the stalks and a path bare of flowers that the child had followed. Her strange fasination with flowers and picking every one that she saw irritated him. That she did this did not bother him. It was that she felt that she had to give them to him. Even after all this time, she still offered him the mangled things knowing that he rarely accepted her offerings.

Suddenly, the wind changed direction and Sesshoumaru could smell...another human. He tested the air and recognized the scent. It was Inuyasha's mate, the tiny kitsune they traveled with, and the cat demon. The scent of his half-brother and the other humans was missing but he was already thinking about other things. The trail was only a day old. They have Rin. Sesshoumaru's eyes blazed red for a moment. And I fully intend to get her back. Sesshoumaru heard himself growl low in his throat. That damn Hanyou and his companions know she is mine. Inuyasha should have known better than to touch what is mine! He felt his fangs lengthen in his mouth and fought for that precious control that was slipping from him as he thought about his idiot brother and what reasons he could possibly have for taking Rin.

Sesshoumaru forced himself to calm down and face his weakness. Loss of control...This just proved to him that he would have to get used to the idea of finding a mate. Rin needed a mother.

He needed to focus on what was really important. With narrowed golden eyes, he allowed his energy to pool and shift untill it became a cloud he could ride upon and he lifted himself into the air and continued west.