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The next morning, the girl rose much as she had the day before. Long after sunrise, she started to move in her sleep, and then woke up, remaining next to him. He decided to ask her again.
"Rin."
She looked up at him.
"Why are you following me?"
"Sesshoumaru-sama was nice to Rin," she said simply. "And Rin will do whatever Sesshoumaru-sama wants."
"Go play. Or eat if you're hungry."
She got up and ran off. Sesshoumaru digested this new information. Nice to her? The girl must have been bad off if she considered his cold and distant words nice. He had barely spoken five sentences to her. But that was probably the closest thing to a kind word that she had had in years. But so much so that she would follow him tirelessly across the wilderness? She had only followed him after he had used Tenseiga on her, but then, she hadn't seen him going anywhere before that, either. Did she even know what he did? Which made him wonder something else. Her body had been near the clearing when he found it. Had she been running to him? That thought also disturbed him somewhat.
Why had he saved her in the first place? That was simple, he had wanted to test Tenseiga. He had revived the girl and walked off, assuming that she would go on her way. When he was injured, he had even been half-thinking to try it out on the next dead thing he saw. He hadn't bothered to mention that to Jaken, who had annoyed him at first with the question of why he had saved the girl. He didn't need to explain himself to Jaken, so Sesshoumaru annoyed Jaken back by answering with silence. He also didn't mention to Jaken another fact that was bothering him. It was not so much that he had revived her, but that he had turned around in the first place.
Once he saw her lying there, there seemed little else for him to do but use the sword on her. But he had smelled her blood and walked back. Why had he done that? He had wondered what became of the mysterious child that tried to help him and wasn't afraid of him. It was only curiosity, but he shouldn't have been even mildly concerned with what became of some random human girl. Sesshoumaru looked back to where she was playing in the grasses with flowers and bugs. Since he knew why she was following him now, there was no real reason to allow her to stay. Though she would still follow unless he stopped her, as Jaken had pointed out. And yet, there was still something interesting about the girl. Why would she devote herself entirely to someone, a youkai even, just because they were nice to her? Because she really has no one else, the thought echoed through his mind.
He supposed that there was no harm in allowing the girl to follow him, and she would make things interesting, at the very least. He would keep her for a while longer. Sesshoumaru watched her. Now she was playing in the stream, trying to catch fish or simply splashing around, Sesshoumaru couldn't tell. Then she spent the remainder of the morning picking flowers, laughing and talking to herself. Apparently tired out, she finally sat down next to him in the afternoon and began making a chain out of flowers. Sesshoumaru idly wondered if this was all that humans did with their time. She hummed a made up tune as she worked, and Sesshoumaru half-questioned if getting her to speak was really the most brilliant idea he had ever had. At least Jaken would have a surprise when he came back.
"Where is Sesshoumaru-sama going?" she suddenly asked.
"South."
"Why?"
"I require a sword."
She moved her head to look around him. She pointed to Tenseiga. "Sword."
"I don't like this one."
"Why not?"
"It's broken."
"Does Sesshoumaru-sama have a village to live in?" she asked after another moment.
"I don't need one."
"Rin didn't like the village. When will Jaken-sama come back?"
Jaken-sama. Where did she get that from? Jaken would have another surprise when he returned. "Later today."
"Jaken-sama doesn't like Rin," she said. "Not like Sesshoumaru-sama, like the villagers."
After that she fell silent, and concentrated on whatever was so interesting about the flowers. The rest of the day was quiet, until a sudden 'whoosh' overhead announced Jaken's return.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken called, as the dragon neared the ground. "I am back!"
Jaken then got off of the dragon, and tried unsuccessfully to bring Sesshoumaru's heavy armor over to him. Sesshoumaru stood up, and got the armor off of the dragon himself, putting it on and adjusting it.
"Is it suitable, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken asked. "And did Mazou see you?"
"Yes. We are going to find a sword smith he said might be around the southern forests. Come Rin, we're leaving."
The girl quickly grabbed the small bag that had the remaining food in it and whatever flowers she thought most important, and fell into line beside him.
"You named her?" Jaken asked as they walked.
"Not exactly."
"Rin has a name, Jaken-sama," she said.
"I thought she couldn't speak, Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"Seems she can."
Jaken looked back at the girl, who smiled at him. "Jaken-sama?" he repeated.
"Rin likes Sesshoumaru-sama, and Jaken-sama! Does Jaken-sama like Rin?"
"Hmph," Jaken said, answering her for the most part with silence, though some part of him was clearly pleased at having a 'sama' attached to his name.
They walked through the country in silence. The girl had eaten the last food out of her bag for dinner at dusk, which had been hours ago. It was long past dark now, and they had been walking since the afternoon.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin is tired."
"Don't complain, girl," Jaken said.
Sesshoumaru looked at her. She never had a problem keeping up with him the first few days. But then she had been pushing herself not to lose him. Now, she knew for some reason that he didn't intend to leave without her, though he had never told her and had only barely acknowledged the fact to himself. But Sesshoumaru wasn't ready to stop for the night. He had already taken more than enough time recovering from Tetsusaiga's blast and waiting for his armor to be fixed, and he wanted to keep moving. But she probably needed to rest.
"Ride here until we stop," he said, picking her up and depositing her on the back of the dragon. She sat there happily, and even ended up naming the thing. They continued on until Sesshoumaru decided that they had gone far enough for the day. "We'll stop here."
The girl jumped off of "Ahun," which Jaken quickly led off. Sesshoumaru sat down against some rocks, curiously wondering if the girl was going to sleep next to him again. He questioned why he should even permit it. Since the girl, he couldn't remember the last time that he had touched a human when he didn't intend to kill it, not to mention the last time that a human had dared to touch him. The fact that she had no reservations or fears about it was just another thing that made her unusual. She immediately came over, and curled up at his side as she had done on previous nights. But then she sat back up. She tapped inquisitively at his armor, and then finally settled on simply lying next to him, one of her arms touching his. Armor must not be very comfortable to sleep on, he decided. It was better that she sleep this way anyway, since he did not intend to spend every night sitting motionless.
Almost immediately after she was asleep, Jaken came back. His eyes popped open and his jaw dropped.
"Not tired, Jaken?" Sesshoumaru asked, ignoring Jaken's reaction.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! The human dares to sleep that close to you? You're even letting her touch you!"
Sesshoumaru wondered how Jaken would have reacted if he had seen how the girl slept the other nights. But he didn't particularly care to have Jaken's opinion on the matter, or on any others. "I see no problem."
"But Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"What's wrong, Jaken? Did you want to sleep next to me?"
"Certainly not!"
Amused, Sesshoumaru looked at Jaken, who was beginning to ramble, obviously afraid that he had offended and not wanting to face the possible consequences.
"That is, unless you wanted me to, Sesshoumaru-sama, but you don't. You don't even usually sleep, while I do. That is, I will do whatever you command, Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Very well. And as I told you before, I do not need to explain myself to you, as I have already done so as much as I care to. It will not happen again?" It was not a question.
Jaken nodded.
"Now, why did you come back over here?"
Jaken hesitated. "I was going to ask how long she is to be with us, Sesshoumaru-sama, but--"
"I have already answered that question. However, there is something else that I wish to say."
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"You are free to leave my service if you choose. If you remain, however, you will do whatever service is needed to assist I, Sesshoumaru."
"Of course, Sesshoumaru-sama."
"That may now include watching the girl sometimes. She is for all purposes mine and will continue to be so for as long as I choose. If anything happens to something that is mine, there will be consequences."
"I understand, Sesshoumaru-sama."
When no more was spoken, Jaken went back in the direction that he came.
Sesshoumaru paused in his thoughts. He had just called the girl his. She was, of course, but something had still bothered him about it. It had seemed natural enough to snap it at Mazou, but giving it as a warning sounded different. He shouldn't care one way or the other what might happen to some pathetic human, whether she was interesting or not. But something in him did.
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