Hooray! Another Chapter! Go me! I gotta get packing…oh, didn' you know? I'm going camping for 2 weeks! Joy! But I promise, I shall write while I'm there, as much as possible! Gimme gimme gimme some smore reviews!

Chapter 8: The Darkest Room

Rin woke up, and found On, staring at her. She opened her eyes in alarm, and saw him scurry off out the door, with Un sleeping ob his brother's neck. Rin looked around confused, but shrugged and stepped onto the glass floor with black trimmings. It was cold, so Rin pulled back her feet, but knew she must get up. Reluctantly, she out her feet back on the ground, and pulled away the warm covers that shielded her from the cold of the morning. Sighing, she ventured out of her room, down to the memorized path of the garden outside. Every day she had gone there, and found that there was an end, only if she spent the entire day walking to and from the other side. Every time she went to the garden, no one would disturb her, yet when she left, there was Sesshomaru waiting to bring her back. Sometimes Rin wondered if he stayed the entire time just for her, but she knew he was much too dignified for that.

Opening the steel door, again she found the magnificent garden before her. Secretly, she had named it, for resting place. The sky was gray, and a mist circled her head, leaving dew on the flowers and plants. Her feet were soon cold, but the soft plush of the green paradise beneath her told her it was jus an illusion. Zigzagging through the path she had formed after two weeks, she reached her favorite tree. It's middle was thick, with branches slowly thinning out. It was directly in the center of the garden, blooming soft pink flowers, and a little groove in the branches that was a perfect place to sit. She climbed up, and lay down, her head resting against the trunk, legs swinging from each side of the thick branch Looking up at the outside of the castle, she found her smile get larger and larger. In the light, it was a shiny gray, bright, yet gloomy. (Demons really weren't very keen on cheerful) The castle climbed above the tops of her trees, and heightened above her eyes, were the two towers she had first seen when she arrived. There were many windows on the main floor, but on the second, where Sesshomaru hid himself, there were only three. Many places in the wall looked like it had been blown out, and then rebuilt. Two of the windows were in the towers, while the other seemed to have just appeared in the stone. There was a little light going into the room, though she could not see anything in it. She ignored them, as nothing ever seemed to be there, and concentrated on the branch between her legs. It curved upward, and then moved off to the right, branching off to block some of the right side view.

In front of her, she engraved, Rins G, and continued carving in "Garden". She sat quietly, working on the "R", when she saw something in the corner of her eyes. She looked up, and saw a shadow pass by the left window. Rin gasped, and jolted back, hitting her head on the trunk. She held her head, and looked up again at the window. Nothing was there. It was just like it always had been. She knew it must have been Sesshomaru, but she just never expected to see him on the second floor.

Then, she thought, why was he there? He had never been before, at lest while she was watching. Perhaps that was his room, but then, why had he never gone to the window before? So, it couldn't have been his room. So then, where was it? What did it look like?

Her hand had stopped carving, and she stared at the window, curiosity looming over her, as her conscious yelled clearly. He would kill her, he had promised that. However, that was a long time ago, and he had changed, grown... kinder. Besides, he probably wouldn't even see her there. So what if she went upstairs, just for a little while anyways. Just to see what he wanted to hide. Perhaps even slide down the banister….

That was it. She jumped down from the tree, landing on her feet, balancing, before standing up, and ran for the steel door.

The entire time, her conscious said, He's going to eat you… He's going to eat you… 

The air had grown warmer, and the dew started to disappear.

He's going to eat you… He's going to eat you… 

Once again, though her feet, were soaked, she yanked open the door, and prepared to run down the hall.

He's going to eat you… He's going to eat y-

She saw Sesshomaru waiting for her, and screamed, partially because of the surprise, and partially because she thought he'd eat her right then.

Sesshomaru was unphased, and stared at her expectantly. Rin breathed heavily, clutching her chest.

"ARE YOU READY TO GO TO BREAKFAST?"

Rin sighed, still a bit shaky from the surprise, but nodded uneasily, climbing up onto his shoulders. She would have to wait until after breakfast. Perhaps by then she could get rid of this crazy thought.

!

Sadly, Rin could not give up on this chance. The dragon had taken away all of their plates to the kitchen, and Rin uneasily got up, well aware of Sesshomaru's watchful eye.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" He asked, expectantly.

Rin stammered, "Uh… to the…um… garden!"

Then she hurried away before he could question her any further. Butterflies filled her stomach, as if she was on a run away horse. Arriving at theblack staircase, she glanced around, and then quietly climbed the stairs. She kept looking around, trying to go slow so no one would hear her, but fast enough that no one would see. When she was two steps away from the top, her ears picked up a sound, causing her to whip around, and her hand to squeak against the silver banister. Rin froze, and didn't move for several minutes, before realizing no one had come to investigate, so she climbed silently, panic masking her face. It was dark, and the floor was covered in dust, especially along the wall, where no one had stepped in years. She was careful not to step in it, slightly disgusted. She breathed in, and the dust caught in her nose, threatening to make her sneeze. She grabbed her nose, and tried breathing through her nose. The air tasted of ash, and made her tongue feel chalky. She tightened her lips also, and waited for the sneeze to pass. Then she took little breaths in through her nose, and out her mouth.

She and gladly shut the door behind her. It all turned dark. Slowly, her eyes became adjusted, when she realized light was coming from somewhere in the room. It was monstrous. Everything in the room was shattered and torn. Large slash marks were engraved in the walls. Parts of the floor were melted, covered up by broken odd and ends. She climbed over these, tripping a few times, before going behind some tattered drapes, and found a window. It looked as if it had just appeared. It was dirty, but it looked oddly similar to the window she had seen before. Looking outside, she found the garden, almost glowing, with her luscious tree in the center. So, she had found the room Sesshomaru was in. But, it still couldn't be his room. Maybe his "anger room" or something. This was, after all, Lord Sesshomaru she was talking about.

After tripping over odds and ends, she fell out of the room, and once again started breathing little. Staring down the hallway, she decided to go further down, instead of risking being seen by the staircase. Finding nothing in all the rooms she passed, she found herself at the end of the hallway, at the last door. It was extremely rusted, and a red chalky color fell to the floor, and mixed with the dust. She grabbed the dull crystal doorknob carefully; afraid it would fall to pieces. It was opened painstakingly slow, but Rin was sure if she went any faster, it would squeak so loud that her village could hear it. The door led into a small hallway, but looked almost like a secret passage way. The walls, the ceiling and the floor were all the same, and she wasn't sure she would be walking on the floor of the ceiling. The walls were a drippy tan, and had lights that she could not figure out where they came from. They were cold and wet, but at least there was no dust to frustrate her nostrils.

It seemed to go on forever, and then it suddenly stopped. Nothing was in there, and it made her head spin. Rin sat down, to keep herself from getting dizzy, which caused her kimono to suck in all the water on the wall. She looked at the wall in front of her. The stones were perfectly set, one row after another. But then, something caught her eye. Some of the lines were darker then the others. Much darker. It traveled up to the ceiling, and down to the floor. Tapping one with her foot, she found that it bounced a little. Suddenly, she felt very claustrophobic, and jumped on the floor urgently. The stones began to move, slowly at first, and then spun themselves around, throwing Rin off and into the mess.

Rin looked around her and then found pieces of rusted candlesticks, broken vase, shreds of dirty curtains, and a broken blue chair, along with other things she could not describe. She found the wall that she had been thrown from was turning back to the tunnel on the other side. On the other side of the wall was a large royal symbol, which made no sense to her. She got up, a little shakily, and her eyes darted around. Most of the room was dark, except for at the far end, where it shed a glimpse of the outside world. Rin walked towards the window, dogging a rotting dresser. She stared at the light, and so she did not see the lump right in front of her until her knee had smashed up against it.

Rin clamped her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming, and hopped in place from the pain. It was a bed. A fairly large one, but she thought, could never hold Sesshomaru. All the sheets had been torn off, and the feathers in the pillow were strewn about its frame. The pain had mostly subsided, or at least the desire to scream, so she limped across the narrow room, now more careful.

The window frame was a fair sized rectangle, which looked as though it had just been thrown there into the wall. The top had stained glass, but the rest did not have any glass at all.  Rin peered out, her arms resting on the windowsill, and saw her tree down below. It sparkled in the sunlight, which now brought Rin an odd chilly feeling. Is this Lord Sesshomaru's bedroom? But why would he need that small tattered bed-She turned away, and saw a bookcase. The window light seemed to make the chestnut wood glow. What was truly strange, was that there was not a scratch mark on it, and looked as though it had been cleaned recently.

Rin inched closer, and the titles of the books became clearer. They were all handwritten, yet some were familiar to her. A lot were about ancient battles from the beginning of time. She smiled, looking for anything interesting. And then…

No! It couldn't be! She gasped, and backed away from it, keeping her eyes still on the book. Rin felt the wall behind her, but she wanted more than anything to get out of the room. She merely noticed when the wall gave way, and let her slip into a pitch-black room, and then closed once again. For a moment Rin let her eyes adjust, before she fully calmed down. There was something different in this room. Very different.

As she gazed around the room, feelings around as she went, she found that everything was in one piece. From what Rin could tell, very nicely furnished too. But what was odd, or more odd, was that it seemed to all be stored in there or something. Chairs were on tables, lamps were on bookcases, and the chandeliers were on the floor. Rin wandered through this, before hearing a cracking sound from underneath her bare foot. Picking it up, she found it to be a crystal. Though the crack she had formed, a beam of blue shot out. Amazed, she turned it over but could not understand where the light was coming from…except the crystal. She found a piece of stone that had broken off the wall from the years of deterioration. Using this, Rin cracked open the crystal enough to make a sufficient light source.

She spotted many blankets, rugs, and curtains draped over something, which looked as though it did not want to be found. She glimpsed around just in case, and then carefully pulled the stuff off, to reveal an ancient but beautiful trunk. It was an onyx black, with pure gold edging. The lock on it had used to be a metal, but it had rusted and come off.

Rin was so curious now, she was sweating. She had realized her back was dry, but now it was sticky with sweat. Lifting the lid, she found the inside to covered in either a blue or black velvet (She couldn't be sure) A bunch of papers lay in it, most crinkled and yellow. She was about to shut it once again, not finding anything interesting or understandable, when she saw a picture peeking out at her. It was of a young man.

He had a crescent moon on his forehead, and wore Sesshomaru's kimono, that was now hers. He had silky long hair, and wore some sort of fluffy thing over his shoulder. He had read markings on both sides of his face, and pointed, almost elf like ears. He was gorgeous. He reminded her strangely enough of-

The crystal was knocked fro her hand, and a deep dark shadow hung over her. Something pushed her up against the wall, making the picture fall out of her grip. It was only then she saw the red eyes, as they showed an enormous paw raised for a final attack. It was Sesshomaru.

Only now did Rin scream, not sure weather he was going to kill her, despite the fact that he should.

"I WARNED YOU NEVER TO COME HERE! I GAVE YOU MY HOME, AND YOU DEFILED ME!" He gave her a squeeze with his enormous paw.

Rin squeaked, getting the end of all of his frustration. She knew he would not hesitate to kill.

"GET OUT!" He roared, letting go for a mere moment to deliver the final blow.

Rin was fast, but she knew she could not outrun a forceful attack like that. Even so, she ducked and bolted out of the secret passageway. She half wondered if he wasn't as keen on killing her as he let on. Despite this, she tore out of Sesshomaru's room, and run down the hallway, arising the age old dust, Sesshomaru right behind her. Rin slid down the banister, and found it was not as much fun when you where in a life or death situation. Before she had even reached the bottom, she jumped off, and zigzagged through the house. Sesshomaru merely had to leap down from the second story, as the both whizzed past the dragon. Rin did not stop at the door, but kept on running into the forest.

Sesshomaru did. He glared after her ferociously, breathing hard, before realizing what he had just done. She my, would never come back. He couldn't retrieve her. He had almost just…and Jaken was dead…. but she might listen to Un and On.

"DRAGON!" He called to them.

They came slowly, extremely confused, "Yes Lord Sesshomaru?"

"FIND RIN. MAKE SURE SHE IS CALM, AND THEN BRING HER BACK." And then he leapt away.

What's going to happen next? Come on guys! Tell me your ideas! They are so awesome, because you guys are always almost always right! Is that bad? Review! miaa