Kotori opened her eyes and pushed a strand of hair from her face. The light was fading in the sky and she guessed she had been asleep for about three hours. She was feeling better than she had earlier and began to wonder when Rin was coming to see her.

As if the Gods read her mind, there was a small knock at the door.

"Come in!" she called, sitting up in the bed.

The door creaked open and a dark-haired little girl entered the room, shutting the door behind her. Rin remained still, never taking her dark eyes off the young priestess.

She slipped out of the bed and knelt beside Rin, holding out her hand for the little girl to take.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you." she said softly.

Rin smiled and moved closer to Kotori.

"So you're name is Rin?" Rin nodded, "Well that's a nice name. My name's Kotori."

"Will Kotori play with me?" she asked excitedly.

Kotori smiled, "Yes, I'll play with Rin."

Rin smiled and took Kotori's hand, "I must take you to see Sesshomaru-sama. Then we can play. Come with me."

Kotori nodded and followed her out the door. Rin lead her down the hall and down two flights of stairs. She finally stopped in front of a slightly opened door.

She cautiously looked down the hallway. Finding no one, she turned to Kotori and said, "I don't see Jaken. It's safe."

Rin walked into the room, pulling Kotori by the hand. It was a large room with three large windows, several chairs, and a large fireplace. A fire burned in the fireplace, casting flickering shadows across the room.

Sesshomaru sat in a chair beside the fireplace, the shadows danced across his face, giving him an added mysterious air about him. For the first time, she noticed that Sesshomaru was quite handsome.

"Look Sesshomaru-sama! I brought Kotori for you!"

He gave her a small smile, "Thank you Rin. You may go and play if you wish."

"I'll go out and wait for her in my room." she replied.

"That's fine. I will be sure to send her there when we're done." said Sesshomaru.

Rin smiled and gave Kotori's hand one final squeeze before she left the room.

After a few minutes of silence, Sesshomaru spoke, "Please, take a seat."

She muttered a thank you and sat in the chair across from him.

"I see Rin has taken a liking to you. She doesn't have many playmates, so it's good for her to have another human to interact with." said Sesshomaru.

"She said that you wanted to see me. What about?"

"I told her that if you felt well enough, she could take you to me and we could converse. I thought you would enjoy some friendly conversation. Was I wrong in my assumption?"

"Oh, no. You were quite right. It was quite lonely all by myself."

He chuckled, "I see. Well, how are you feeling?"

"Much better thank you."

"I'm happy to hear that."

After another pause, Kotori looked up at him and said, "May I ask you something?"

"Of course."

She hesitated before she spoke, choosing her words carefully. "Why did you take care of me? You owed me nothing."

He was surprised at her question, but said, "Call it a gift."

She looked at him and smiled, "Thank you."

He nodded and stood up, "Well, I'm sure Rin is expecting you. I'll take you to her, then you can join us for dinner."

He lead her down the hallway, his face as cold and emotionless as stone.

"I wonder why he's so cold. He can't be all bad, otherwise he wouldn't have cared for me and taken me back to his castle." she thought.

He stopped and stared at her, "What is it?"

She realized that she had been staring at him for some time now.

She blushed furiously, "I'm sorry, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing, never mind." she replied, her face turning a deep crimson.

They were silent again for a time, but Kotori let her mind wander and, unintentionally, her eyes drifted back to the demon lord.

Suddenly, Kotori, not paying any attention to where she was going, tripped on a crack in the floor and fell forward. Sesshomaru quickly turned around and caught her in his arms before she hit the ground.

They stayed like that for a few moments, her bent over his arm, him supporting her weight with his right arm and his left hand on the small of her back. The right side of her head was pressed to his chest and she could hear his heartbeat, steady and soothing.

She shifted slightly in his arms and he felt something soft caress his right arm. He realized that his arm was pushing against the underside of her breasts.

He felt the heat rise in his cheeks and he thought to himself, "Gods she's beautiful, and she smells wonderful. Wait, there's another smell. Oh Gods! She's in.... in... in heat! But why am I feeling this way? She's just a human! I shouldn't feel like this! I've never been around a human woman in heat before, so how is it going to effect me? What am I going to do?"

He was quickly brought back to reality by Kotori's soft, sweet voice, "Um, Sesshomaru, you can let me go now. I'm okay."

He blushed deeply and helped her stand up straight, "Ahem.... Sorry."

She blushed slightly too, "That's ok. I should have been looking where I was going. Thanks for catching me."

"Sure, no problem."

An awkward silence followed his words. Finally, Sesshomaru spoke again, "Well, um..... here's Rin's room. I'll have someone bring you up some new clothes and you can change before dinner."

"Okay, thank you."

"You're welcome." he replied, and he made his way back down the hall as Kotori entered Rin's room.

As he walked down the hall, he feverishly tried to figure out what was causing these odd feelings.

"What is going on? I shouldn't be having these feelings! I can't be having these feelings! She's a human and I'm a powerful demon lord! I can't, no, I won't become my father!" he decided as he opened the door to his chambers.

The scent of cherry blossoms and fresh dew flooded his nose. "Her scent." he thought.

He made his way over to the bed and sat down, tantalized by the scent of the human priestess. He was unhappy to discover that her scent was stronger on his bed.

"Well, what did I expect? She did sleep in it." he thought.

He lightly touched his pillow, the pillow where her head had rested. There was still an imprint in the bed sheets where she had lain. He ran his hands over the sheets, the same fabric that had caressed her beautiful body in a most intimate embrace. Her scent was all around him and the sweetness of it was making him dizzy.

"I can't believe this. I'm falling for that damned human!"

There was a knock on Rin's door. Kotori opened it and discovered the toad-servant, Jaken, standing on the other side, holding a beautiful ocean blue, silk kimono.

"My beautiful lady, Lord Sesshomaru has requested that you accept this gift and wear it this evening." said Jaken, holding the kimono above his head for Kotori to take.

"Um..... thank you." She carefully took the kimono from Jaken and waited for him to leave.

When he didn't move, she spoke, "Uh, is there something you wanted?"

He gazed up at her, his eyes seemingly glazed over, "Only to gaze upon you, lovely maiden."

Rin stepped in front of Kotori and glared at Jaken, "Go away Jaken! You won't bother Kotori-chan!"

Jaken glared at her, but turned and walked down the hallway. Rin smiled to herself and looked up at Kotori.

She smiled at Rin, "Thank you Rin."

"You're very welcome! I don't like Jaken. He has to go away when I say so."

Kotori patted her head and they walked back into the room. She laid the kimono out on Rin's bed and inspected it. It was made of beautiful ocean blue silk with cherry blossoms and dragonflies stitched in colored threads.

"Wow! This is amazing! I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life!" exclaimed Kotori as she ran her fingers over the fine silk.

Rin smiled at her, "Sesshomaru-sama must like you very much! He doesn't like humans, except for me! Now he likes you too!"

She blushed at the young girl's words, "Well.... uh, let's get ready for dinner. We don't want to keep Sesshomaru waiting."