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She was at the wagon again. There was blood. And screams. Her family hit the ground while she stood and watched as they were killed in front of her. Then she was alone.
Rin could feel someone shaking her. It was only a dream. That happened a long time ago, she was in the village now. Suddenly she worriedly sat up. No one would bother to wake her up unless she was someplace that she shouldn't be. "Rin's sorry! Rin's leaving!" she said. Then she saw Sesshoumaru-sama. No, she wasn't in the village, either, sleeping in the back of some barn or hut. She had left that behind as well. She was lying in the grass, and the morning sky was overhead. Everything was different.
Rin smiled. "Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"What?"
"Rin's happy!"
When he said nothing, she got up and ran over to Ah and Un. "Ah! Un! It's morning!" Ah and Un turned at her approach. Sesshoumaru-sama walked in their general direction, and Rin suddenly remembered what had happened the day before. It abruptly struck Rin how completely non-human he looked in the morning light. She wondered why she didn't see it earlier--well, she saw it, she just didn't know what it meant then. But it didn't matter now and she didn't care. She climbed on Ah and Un's back and started to eat her leftover cake from the village.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"What?"
"Rin had fun at the festival! There were lots of people, and lots of games! Rin watched games, and played them, too. There were music and dancers, too. And there was lots of food for Rin to eat. Some of it was free, but Rin bought some with her coin, just like Sesshoumaru-sama said to." She paused. "And look what else Rin got with her coin!" she said, showing him the comb. "Now Rin's hair will stay nice! Rin bought food and a comb of her own with the coin! And Jaken-sama's sake with his coin, too. Now maybe he'll like Rin more!"
Done eating and finished with her story, Rin started to comb her hair. Sesshoumaru-sama went to wake Jaken-sama up, which was taking a long time for some reason. Sesshoumaru-sama came back over after a moment, with Jaken-sama following slightly behind.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Can Rin ride on Ah and Un, or does Rin have to walk?"
"Ride if you want."
Sesshoumaru-sama took Ah and Un's reins, since Jaken-sama was still behind. She called for him to hurry up, but he only told her to be quiet. Rin concentrated on untangling her hair, which had actually gotten quite knotted since it had been combed last. It took her a while to get it to the point where the comb would run smoothly through it. Then she just sat on Ah and Un and watched the countryside go by. It was mostly grasses, but small patches of trees could be seen dotting the landscape. She jumped off of Ah and Un several times to grab a handful of flowers, but found that pretty though they were, the flowers were not much good for making chains out of. So she stuck one in her hair, but let the rest fall back to the ground.
In the afternoon, Sesshoumaru-sama and Jaken-sama started talking about swords and arms. Rin didn't really understand what the two had to do with each other, but she took the opportunity to ask Sesshoumaru-sama something that she had been wondering.
"How did Sesshoumaru-sama lose his arm?"
"It was cut off in a fight," he said without turning around.
"Did it hurt?"
"Yes."
"A lot?"
"Not as much as if you'd lost your arm."
Rin touched her own arm. She couldn't imagine not having it. And it hurt bad enough when she got small cuts.
"Rin's hungry," she suddenly said.
He turned to look at her. "How often did you get your own food? Can you find it yourself?"
"Rin always got her own food. And Rin knows how to find it. Rin likes lots of things, like berries and roots, and fruit and mushrooms. And fish!"
Sesshoumaru-sama said nothing, but he stopped at the next stream that they crossed.
"Go find something to eat," he told her.
There weren't any fish in the stream, so Rin took a quick drink and then ran to find some other food. She quickly found some mushrooms growing around the bases of several trees, and picked them to take back with her. Then she noticed a piece of rotten fruit on the ground and she looked upward. Among the branches of the tree above her was a type of yellow fruit that she had occasionally seen in the village. People had always exclaimed excitedly when a merchant had had some of the rare fruit. She had only managed to get a piece of the fruit a few times, and she had never seen them on a tree before. Forgetting about the mushrooms, Rin set them down and ran around the tree, looking for any more of the fruit. But what had fallen had all gone bad. She futilely tried jumping and shaking the trunk before she knew that she wouldn't be able to get any. Rin looked at the tree somewhat regretfully for a moment more before she picked the mushrooms back up, and went back to where Sesshoumaru-sama and Jaken-sama were waiting.
"Rin found mushrooms," she told Sesshoumaru-sama.
"And?" he asked.
"And Rin found a tree with really good fruit on it. But there aren't any branches to climb, and what's on the ground is bad. Stupid tree!"
Then Rin went to the stream and drank some more water while she ate what she had found. She was still hungry after the mushrooms, so she got another long drink. She saw Jaken-sama sitting on Ah and Un, and went over to him.
"Hi, Jaken-sama! What's Jaken-sama doing?"
"Trying to rest. Go away."
Rin walked away, deciding not to bother him any more. Jaken-sama did look tired. Maybe she would ask him if he wanted to ride on Ah and Un when they started walking again. A sudden feeling in her stomach reminded Rin that she was still hungry. It wouldn't have troubled her before, but now that she was used to being full, it felt different. She went to where Sesshoumaru-sama was standing. She didn't want to bother him, but she was still hungry.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"What?"
"Rin's still hungry."
"Where's this tree?" he asked.
"The fruit's too high."
Rin didn't see how going back to the tree would help, but she took him there anyway, stopping just under the edge of its longest branches and pointing to the trunk. Suddenly Sesshoumaru-sama jumped far over her head, and hit one of the branches, causing lots of the fruit to fall to the ground. Rin immediately ran over, and picked up all of the fruit that she could. She looked up at him.
"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Then Rin thought of something. "Sesshoumaru-sama can jump higher than Rin. How come?"
"Youkai."
"Oh," she said. Rin remembered when Sesshoumaru-sama had said that youkai could do things that humans couldn't. Besides people saying that youkai were scary, they never said much about what youkai could do. Apparently they could jump higher. Rin wondered what else Sesshoumaru-sama could do that she couldn't.
When they got back to where Jaken-sama and Ah and Un were, Rin took the reins in her hand.
"Does Jaken-sama want to ride on Ah and Un?" she asked.
Jaken-sama merely nodded in response, and remained sitting on Ah and Un. Rin followed Sesshoumaru-sama, and they walked that way until they stopped at night. She marveled at how far they had come. In the short time that she had been with Sesshoumaru-sama, she had gone farther away from the village than she had ever dreamed of going. They had crossed through woods and meadows, and were at the edge of an even greater forest now. Even in the dark, she could see the black forms of trees rising up against the sky. A wind suddenly blew, causing Rin to shiver.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin is cold."
"Get some firewood, then."
Rin started to move, but stopped. The night was much too dark to find sticks in. She bit her lip as she looked back at him. "But...Rin can't...."
"Can you not see?"
"No." She would just have to be a little cold tonight. It used to happen all the time.
But then Sesshoumaru-sama told Jaken-sama to go get some firewood, and he did, returning quickly with a small pile of sticks, and some more after that. Rin organized the sticks, and then began positioning them in a circular stack so that they would burn longer. She wanted to show Sesshoumaru-sama that she could do some things by herself, especially since he had made the last fire. She had watched people make fires in the village many times, and had even made a few, though she had always had trouble lighting them, no matter how well her sticks were arranged.
"Rin's not good at lighting fires," she said, once the sticks were in place. "Does Jaken-sama know how?" She would have asked Sesshoumaru-sama to do it, but Jaken-sama seemed to be feeling bad that day, and she wanted to talk to him.
"I have this," Jaken-sama said, suddenly holding up the staff that he always carried. A flame shot out of the top of it, immediately lighting the fire.
"Wow, Jaken-sama!" she said. Rin had never seen anyone light a fire like that before.
Then she sat down by the fire, as Jaken-sama and Ah and Un walked a little bit away. Sesshoumaru-sama also sat down, a short distance from her. Rin stayed by the fire until she was warm enough, and then moved next to Sesshoumaru-sama to go to sleep.