"My Lord, what troubles you?" questioned Rin as she peered into Sesshomaru's eyes. He glanced at her briefly then quickly looked away from her and stared into space.

"Rin, it's nothing for you to worry about. Nothing is wrong," he replied to her in a fake laugh. Rin placed her left arm on Sesshomaru's shoulder as they walked along together with Uun and Oon following close behind them.

"Rin, how long has it been since you found me injured in the woods?"

"You mean when you brought me back from the dead after being attacked by wolves? It has been ten years since then," Rin recalled.

"You were such a little child in those days. You stayed by my side soon after. After all this time, you remain with me."

"My Lord, it feels right that I remain with you. I have nowhere else to be."

"Yes, but now you are a grown woman. You have the ability now to be on your own. Yet you still remain with me. Why is that?"

"I guess it is because I don't wish to leave you. I desire to walk with you. I guess I love you, Sesshomaru."

"You love me?" Sesshomaru turned his face towards her, "But why? How? How is it that you love me?"

"I love you because ever since the day we met, you were there for me. I know I was only a child back then, but even in my youth I felt you were the one for me. I love the journeys with you, I love being by your side, and you seem to have a warm smile for me. I can feel it in your eyes and your smile that you feel the same about me."

"Rin, I have never said that to anyone nor felt that way with anyone, especially with a human. You are the first person that has ever said that to me. I don't know how to say what I feel about you because it is hard for me to express my emotions. I've never had the feelings of love and joy. Until I met you, I was always alone. 900 years ago, my mother died giving birth to me. Out of a litter of eight puppies, I was the lone survivor. Ever since then I was at my father's side. I grew up under his protection. Then about 160 years ago, he fell in love with a human woman. She was the most attractive human in the village. One night he came upon her as an attractive young man. He swayed her and soon she accepted his love. Late into the night, she opened herself unto him and they proceeded to make love. It was then that she conceived a child with him. Several months had passed and upon a moonless night, I happened by that village. I watched as she labored and brought my brother into the world. That time I thought I could touch him or hold him, but I didn't know the woman. So I left and moved on my way. Then shortly after InuYasha was born, our father got into a fight with Ryukotsusei and was killed by the wounds he received from him."

"Why do you fight your brother, Sesshomaru? You say you want him dead, but what makes you feel that desire. Do you really hate your brother that much to want to kill him?"

"Maybe it's not so much that I hate him, maybe I envy him. Maybe it was because 60 years ago he fell in love with a human, just like our father did. It was said that she was a powerful woman at that, a priestess to be accurate. Then 10 years ago he fell in love again, with that girl said to be the priestess' reincarnated self. How does he, a half-demon, find love like that and me a full demon cannot. Love has eluded me this whole time."

Sesshomaru looked back into Rin's eyes. "But my Lord, I love you." Tears poured down her cheeks. "I feel bad for you, having to go through all of this pain of being alone. For this I shall never leave you. I love you, Sesshomaru, always." She hugged him as tight as she could, kissing him on his quivering lips.

Feeling his pain in her own heart, she looked to Sesshomaru's servant. "Say, Master Jaken, could you take Uun and Oon further into this forest?" she whispered to the little toad demon, "the lord and I wish to be alone." He nodded to her without saying a word. She proceeded to a soft patch underneath the shade of a cherry-blossom tree. She took Sesshomaru's fur and laid it up against the tree. She rested herself against the ground and used the fur for comfort. She sat upon her feet, letting the skirt of her kimono drift across the ground. She ushered to the dog demon to sit with her under the shade.

"What are you doing? Why did you want to be alone with me? Do you think that I need to have you prepare a spot for me?" he asked her in hesitation.

"Sesshomaru, please rest your head upon my lap. Come on, with all the pain that your heart is burdened with, you need to rest here. How are we going to continue on this journey if you have to carry that weight?" He did as she requested, resting his weary head in her lap, as he curled into a ball on the ground in front of her.

Rin ran her left fingers across his back in a slow circulatory motion. Her right fingers combed through the hair on his head. "It's alright, Sesshomaru," she whispered to him, "you can relax now. I have you, you are safe in my arms and in my heart." She kissed him on the cheeks; tasting the salty tears starting to trickle down the dog demon's face.

"Why am I doing this now?" he asked in a choked voice, "I am a strong demon. I am not suppose to cr…" He buried his face into the skirt of her kimono. He didn't utter any words, just the muffled sound of his tearful sighs echoed in his voice. He sobbed as hard as he could into Rin's lap. The heartbreak of losing his mother and his siblings, the centuries of loneliness, the death of his father, and the centuries without a soul to love, all washed out from his troubled heart. All the while he cried, relieving the pain he had kept in his heart, Rin stroked his back, reassuring him.

For hours he wept, Rin continuously held onto him. She held him in her arms as she cradled his head and body closer towards her heart. She soothed his back with her hands; combing his hair with her fingers. He opened his eyes once more to see her comforting faces. Tears still streamed from his eyes, but he started feeling his heart becoming lighter. The black-haired woman smiled at him, wiping away the remaining tears on his face.

"Sesshomaru, how are you feeling now?"

He closed his eyes and embraced her with his arm. "Rin, I am feeling better I guess. Thank you for supporting me, holding me, and loving me. Rin, I believe I have fallen in love with you as well. From the moment we first met, I felt a deep connection with you. I guess for one thing we share something in common, we are both orphans." He chuckled half-heartedly to her. "You know before I met you I hated all humans. I wanted to see them dead. You are the one that loved me, cared for me, and today you have let me cry. That is something I wish I had done centuries ago. Thank you for that, Rin. I believe after all this time; there is no one else I wish to be with. I have faith in you, Rin, because you are the only one I feel I can open up my heart to."

Rin smiled at him, trying to keep from crying herself. "I'm glad you are able to share your feelings with me. Sesshomaru, words cannot express this love I feel for you," she began to say, as she drew her face closer to his, "but, my Lord, maybe words aren't what I need." Softly she touched her lips against his. He wrapped his arm around her body and kissed her lips. "Rin, I love you," he whispered to her, as the two each other with an everlasting kiss, on into the starry night.