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Rin quickly hurried to catch up with him, leaving the still chattering thing behind her. However, it soon caught up with her and ran in front of her, waving its staff wildly in the air.
"Stupid girl! Go away! Shoo!" It poked her with its staff, and then turned and ran down the path, calling out to the figure in front of it. "Wait! Wait for me!"
It caught up with him, and walked at his side, continually throwing her nasty glances over its shoulder. The smaller one was just like the villagers, always yelling and shoving her aside. But he hadn't turned to say anything. But since it was obvious that she wasn't wanted by one of the two, Rin settled on walking some distance behind. He hadn't said that she could come, of course, but he hadn't said that she couldn't. And Rin was not going to let the first person that had been nice to her leave her. As long as she didn't let him out of her sight, she wouldn't lose him yet.
Rin's spirits lifted as she followed him through the forest's winding path. She picked some fallen fruit on the way, eating a few pieces and stuffing the rest into her shirt. It was then that she noticed that she was covered in blood. She stopped momentarily to look at herself. Had she been injured? She couldn't remember. Maybe the wolves had bitten her, but nothing hurt and she couldn't find any wounds. She thought that they had jumped on her, but her memory was suddenly hazy and muddled. Noticing that she was falling behind, Rin quickly forgot about her dirty appearance and moved to catch up, at least as close as she would.
The two ahead of Rin were talking--or rather, the small one was mostly talking, while he said little. Rin learned that his name was Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru-sama, it seemed. Shortly, the woods began to disappear, the trees being replaced with rolling hills and plains. A wind blew through the tall grasses, making them bow and dip, moving almost like waves around her. Suddenly, she stopped. The two in front of her now had a scary looking thing with them. They had taken it without stopping, and it now followed him as well. Rin wondered if it was one of the monsters that the villagers whispered about. She looked on in hesitation. They were moving without her, and would soon be over the hill. She made up her mind and ran after them. She wouldn't leave. She couldn't.
Rin followed Sesshoumaru-sama all day, and into the cool night. She had decided that the monster wasn't as scary as she had first thought, and that it looked like what was called a dragon. She had also learned that the other one's name was Jaken. She was beginning to get tired, but she wouldn't lose him, especially not now. She had no one else, and she doubted that she could find her way back to the village by herself. For a moment, she wondered if she ever should have left. It seemed that he didn't want her, either. She had expected him to say something by now, but he hadn't even turned in her direction. His silent form walked ahead, appearing almost ghost-like in the pale moonlight. He hadn't talked to her, but he hadn't told her to go away, either.
A bit lost in her thoughts, Rin suddenly realized that they had stopped. The one called Jaken had all but disappeared from her vision, leading the dragon farther up. Sesshoumaru-sama had sat down, a signal to Rin that they were indeed resting. She found some grasses that seemed to grow thicker and lay down by them, though they did little for comfort. But she was used to making do with grass for bedding, and soon she was asleep.