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Rin woke up early the next morning, some part of her still fearing that Sesshoumaru-sama would be gone. But he wasn't. He was nearby, sitting against a tree. She got up and sat down across from him. He looked at her, and she took the opportunity to stare into his odd eyes, which almost seemed to shine golden by themselves in the gray light. They sat that way for only a moment before he looked away from her and stood up. Rin soon heard noises and stood up as well, moving behind him in case something else scary was there. But it wasn't something scary, it was just a group of men walking along the path with their wagons.
Sesshoumaru-sama stopped them. They talked, though the men didn't seem to want to. All of the men seemed to be nervous about something, but Rin wasn't sure what. One of the men mentioned youkai, which made Rin think of the monster in the woods the day before. Maybe they were worried about getting caught by youkai in the woods. Suddenly, Sesshoumaru-sama told her to get some food, and the men let her. She quickly grabbed the nearest thing on the wagon, and then returned to where she had been standing, a part of her wondering why they let her have the food. No one she had met before had ever been so generous about giving food away.
Then the men left, going in the direction that the monster had been yesterday. Rin didn't want the monster to get the nice men who let her have some food. She tried to get their attention, but they were already moving and didn't see her. When Sesshoumaru-sama looked back down at her, Rin pointed at the men, worried. Sesshoumaru-sama stared at her with a puzzled expression for a moment, before an annoyed look crossed his face. But he finally warned the men about the thing by the path. Satisfied, Rin quickly began eating all that she took. She had been so hungry the last days, and the food was good, much better than what she was used to getting.
She looked up at him. But he didn't seem to notice her, and was instead waking Jaken up. She stood beside Sesshoumaru-sama as he talked to Jaken, sending him to do something. Rin wasn't really paying attention to what they said, as she was more interested in her food. Then Jaken and the dragon left, and Sesshoumaru-sama looked back at her after watching them go. After she finished her food, Rin looked up at him, ready once again to do whatever he asked.
"Come."
She walked beside him as he cut through the forest, wandering her way through the logs and underbrush as she went. She made a game of it, seeing how long she could stay beside him before she would have to move to go around some barrier. He seemed to have no trouble navigating through the woods, moving with an almost unnatural sort of grace, while she had to haphazardly scurry around. He was quiet, but the day passed quickly for Rin, since she was genuinely happy for the first time in as long as she could remember. They reached the edge of the woods by the afternoon, and Rin could see a village in the distance. Sesshoumaru-sama sat down and said that they would wait until dark.
Rin sat down across from him, once again staring at him. He looked at her, and then looked away. But she continued looking. She really never had seen anyone like him before. She wondered if this was the only reason that something told her that he was different. No, there was something else besides his looks that was different about him. Very different. She was still looking at him when he looked back at her.
"Don't you have anything else to do? Go pick flowers or something."
Rin did so, happy to have Sesshoumaru-sama talk to her, much less ask her to do something. She moved a bit away to where some flowers grew, picking only the prettiest ones. After she was satisfied with what she had done, Rin stood up and brought the flowers back over to him. She waited for a response to her efforts, but he only told her to sit down and wait. So she did.
When Rin opened her eyes, the afternoon light was fading, and the sun had already set. She must have fallen asleep. She immediately and worriedly looked to her side, relieved to find Sesshoumaru-sama sitting in the same spot that he had been earlier. He said nothing, but looked down at her before turning away. He did that a lot, she abruptly realized, looking at her almost quizzically for a moment, then looking away as if he couldn't figure something out. But she didn't care; she was glad that he was still there. At first she had followed because she had wanted to, then she followed because she had no other choice. And now that he told her to come, she was afraid of losing him. Afraid that if she lost sight of him, he might disappear and not return.
When the night was black, he stood up and told her to come. They walked toward the village and around its edge, finally arriving at a house at the back. Rin wondered what they would do there. A woman in the house talked to Sesshoumaru-sama, and he picked Rin up by the back of her shirt, holding her where she could see the woman. The woman looked nice and smiled at Rin, but when Sesshoumaru-sama moved to hand Rin to the woman, Rin began squirming and grabbing at anything she could. She didn't want to go with the woman. He said that he would be waiting, but Rin didn't want to lose him. He was telling her to do something, and she wanted to do what he wanted, but she couldn't. She had to stay with him--if she left, he might go away forever, just like everyone else had. Then she would be alone again.
It now seemed that Sesshoumaru-sama wasn't going to leave; instead, he was coming in with her. He set her on the ground, and they both followed the woman. The woman led them to a room, where she busied herself while Sesshoumaru-sama sat down on the floor, a slightly annoyed expression on his face. Rin moved next to him and sat down as well.
The woman returned. "Come here. Little girl?" She looked at Rin.
Rin looked uncertainly at the woman, but didn't move. Then Sesshoumaru-sama gave her a little push. "Go."
She slowly did as she was told, but looked back to make sure that he wasn't going to leave. The woman helped Rin undress and climb into a tub. The water was warm and Rin happily splashed around. She had never had a real bath, much less one inside with hot water. The woman poured water over Rin's hair, and combed it for her. She even talked to Rin, even though Rin didn't answer back. Then the woman talked to Sesshoumaru-sama. The subject of youkai came up, which Rin thought was an odd thing to talk about. She didn't fully understand the conversation, but got the impression that Sesshoumaru-sama was maybe an important person.
Then the woman helped Rin dry off, and combed Rin's hair again. Rin noticed that her hair was no longer dirty and brown, but black, shiny, and actually very pretty. The woman even gave her new clothes to wear. Very nice clothes, nicer than Rin had ever dreamed of having. As Rin saw her old clothes lying on the floor, she once again noticed that they had blood on them, and she momentarily wondered how it had happened. Then the woman disappeared for a moment, and came back with a small bundle. Sesshoumaru-sama took it and told Rin to come, and he began to walk out of the room. Rin turned to smile and wave at the nice woman, who waved back at her.
Soon they were out of the village and back in the woods, where Sesshoumaru-sama stopped. He sat down and gave her some food out of the bundle. She finished it and looked back at him.
"Go to sleep."
He leaned against a tree and glanced at her once more, before closing his own eyes and leaving Rin by herself. But the moon and stars were bright, and she could still make things out. And she didn't feel really alone, since she could see Sesshoumaru-sama sitting by the tree. Rin wasn't tired, so she just sat. She unconsciously felt her sleeve. The fabric was soft and silky, not at all like what she had had before. Rin then ran her fingers through her hair. It was also silky. Some of the girls in the village had had hair like this, and Rin always wished that she did as well. It had never occurred to her that the other girls' hair was pretty simply because they had had the opportunity to wash it.
Rin looked at her clothes again, making her think about her day. It was the first real day that she had walked with him, and not merely followed unwanted. Sesshoumaru-sama would let her stay now, Rin realized as she thought back. He had taken the time and trouble to get her food and new clothes this day. And he was still nice to her.
Not only was he nice to her, but other people were nice to her when she was with him. Something about him made them do whatever he asked. She questioned if it had anything to do with the feeling that told her that he was different. A small part of her wondered why someone like him would care at all about someone plain like her. But since he seemed to and was letting her stay with him, it was all she could do to do whatever she could to please him.
Suddenly, Rin heard a noise in the underbrush. The sound of rustling leaves made her turn her head. She searched around for the source of the noise, but saw nothing. A few seconds later, she heard the noise again. This time Rin found a set of glowing green eyes to go along with the noise, and another pair behind the first. They were moving closer. Those things must be like the monsters that the villagers talked about. Not wanting to be alone in the dark woods with a youkai, Rin scooted closer to Sesshoumaru-sama. The eyes were still coming closer. Rin looked at Sesshoumaru-sama. He was still asleep. As the eyes moved closer again, Rin began to get scared, and she made up her mind. She tapped at Sesshoumaru-sama, trying to get him to wake up.
Before Rin had time to register what had happened, she was on the ground. Sesshoumaru-sama was over her, holding her down with one hand, his face shadowed except for glowing eyes. Then just as suddenly, he sat back up and regarded her as he always did. But Rin still continued to look at him. It was not so much what he had done--she just assumed that she had startled him, waking him up so unexpectedly. People jumped sometimes when you woke them up. But his eyes, they had done that...thing. Shining by themselves--not even golden, but a horrible red. When he was hurt, his eyes had been red like blood, but they didn't shine. For a moment, it reminded her of the eyes of the things in the woods, which she suddenly remembered. She looked back at him.
"What?"
Rin pointed into the woods, where the eyes were. He glanced in their direction, and seemed to be considering something.
"Sleep over here. They won't come this close."
Rin went over to where he pointed. As she moved, she made a split second decision to do more than that. The things weren't going away, and she was still scared that they would come nearer. She sat down next to Sesshoumaru-sama, and took his outstretched arm, pulling it around her. She curled up at his side, a small part of her wondering if he was going to let her stay. He hadn't told her to come so near, and might not want her to. But he said and did nothing, so Rin remained.
She saw that the eyes were still there, but she didn't care. She knew that the eyes wouldn't come this close to Sesshoumaru-sama; he wasn't afraid of them, just as he wasn't afraid of anything else. And since she was with him, she didn't have to be afraid, either. The eyes were still there, but Rin shut her eyes, blocking them out. She relaxed. She felt warm, and safe. Nothing would get her here. Rin suddenly realized that he was holding her again, but this time he wasn't letting go and walking away. The fact that he didn't push her away this time told her for certain that he wouldn't leave her behind now, but would instead even wait for her. And he wasn't going to disappear if she let him out of her sight, she realized. Nothing could make him leave unless he wanted to. She wouldn't be alone again.