SPOILERS for episodes 44 & 45.
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Sesshoumaru easily located the site of Inuyasha's battle. He found what he had expected, he supposed--a dead youkai. But upon closer inspection, it had a lingering smell of Tetsusaiga. A broken Tetsusaiga, interestingly enough. Perhaps the teeth of the thing that had broken Tetsusaiga might be of some use, when he finally found Kaijinbou. But still, there was no trace of what he had sensed from Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru pulled the head off of the thing, at which point Rin loudly expressed her disgust. She was going to have to get used to such things, at least a little bit. He told her to be quiet, at which point she, eager to please, immediately shut up.
Then they walked that way, until he and Jaken left her behind and departed for the wasteland swamps in the interior of the forest where it seemed the most likely to find Kaijinbou. It was difficult to make Rin understand the need for her to stay behind. Sesshoumaru wasn't fully sure that she did understand, but she stayed when he told her to.
"How stupid!" Jaken complained as they walked away. "Doesn't even realize she'd only die if she came! And annoying!" he continued. "Not obeying your orders like that! And questioning them!"
"Jaken?"
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Be quiet."
They walked the rest of the way in silence.
Sesshoumaru found Kaijinbou, who required no pressuring at all to make the sword for him. Then they left and returned to where Rin was while Kaijinbou made the sword.
When she spotted him coming over the hill, her face automatically lit up. Sesshoumaru was still amazed that his appearance could mean so much to someone. The time that passed as he waited went much as time had the last few days--she ate, she slept, she played with plants, she occasionally showed him something or asked him some question. Then he left again to get the sword, much to her disappointment. Still, she waited when he instructed her to. Presumably she was still doing so, probably remaining in almost the exact same spot that he had left her in, just as she had done when he had first entered the swamps.
The designated amount of time had almost passed, and Sesshoumaru was now lingering on the borders of the swamps, waiting for Jaken to return from fetching the sword. He wanted the sword as soon as possible, but saw no reason to bother with Kaijinbou again personally. So he had sent Jaken to Kaijinbou's hut alone, and was now awaiting his return. It seemed incredibly quiet Sesshoumaru, and he abruptly realized that he had become accustomed to Rin's constant noise. He thought it strange how fast he had gotten adjusted to something like that. Indeed, it was odd how quickly one got used to an idea. But instead of continuing down that line of thought, Sesshoumaru turned his attention to killing a large bug-like thing that had skittered up to him. Standing around the swamps would have been exceedingly boring, had they not been full of incredibly stupid youkai. Annihilating the small things that neared him at least passed the time, but even that was becoming tedious.
Sesshoumaru tried to find the sky through the mists and fogs, but it was nowhere to be seen. Still, his senses alone told him that more than the allotted amount of time had passed. That wasn't particularly a problem, but Jaken should have at least come back to inform him about it. Not seeing a reason not to, Sesshoumaru began walking back toward Kaijinbou's hut himself, though still slightly annoyed that he had to do so. He sensed no trace of Kaijinbou as he neared the hut, which he was a bit surprised at. He knew that Kaijinbou might double cross him, but Sesshoumaru hadn't expected him to simply take the sword for his own and leave. Apparently Kaijinbou was an idiot as well, though. Surely he must know that it wouldn't take Sesshoumaru long to hunt him down. But why hadn't Jaken returned?
Sesshoumaru found the answer lying on the floor of the hut, sliced cleanly in half. He frowned at that. If Kaijinbou wanted to kill servants, he could damn well get his own servants to kill. As it was, Jaken remained useful and loyal, and hadn't done anything severe enough to warrant his execution. Pulling out the Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru sliced at the things on Jaken. Then they left the swamps, found Kaijinbou (or lack thereof), got the sword, and had an encounter with Inuyasha that had been...interesting, to say the least.
As it was, there was no more point of them remaining there. Now they walked seemingly aimlessly, though Sesshoumaru already had a destination in mind. Seeing Inuyasha had confirmed his suspicions about what he had sensed earlier. The youkai blood had indeed emerged to the front and had been in control, but it had only remained for a moment before the hanyou had reverted to normal. What that meant, Sesshoumaru didn't know, but it was curious nonetheless. And it seemed to have something to do with the Tetsusaiga, which Inuyasha had obviously gotten fixed, though he didn't seem to be able to use it as well. Sesshoumaru had no use for the Tetsusaiga, especially not with Toukijin, which had proven to be a match for the other sword. Although he had spent years searching for the Tetsusaiga, it was useless to him, and he had no reason to further pursue it. Still, the Tetsusaiga was interesting, especially after recent developments.
Beside and slightly behind him, Rin was questioning Jaken about where he and Jaken had been while she waited.
"Rin wishes that she could go where Sesshoumaru-sama and Jaken-sama do," she said from the back of the dragon.
"A silly human like you would've been killed!" Jaken said, looking back to answer her. "Sesshoumaru-sama told you that! There were lots of things there, plus the fogs and vapors."
"Ooh! Was it scary and dangerous, Jaken-sama?"
"Not for youkai!" Jaken said. "Still, I wouldn't want to hang around there for very long! Lots of weirdos in that swamp. Even I nearly died! I would have, too, if it hadn't been for Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Really?" she said. "What happened, Jaken-sama?"
"Why that treacherous sword maker cut me right through! But then Sesshoumaru-sama used his sword."
"The one Sesshoumaru-sama just got?"
"No, of course not, girl. The one that doesn't kill--the one that can bring back the dead. He's used it on you, too."
"Really? When?"
"After the wolves, of course."
She was quiet for a few moments.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked in a small, uncertain voice. "Rin died?"
He looked behind him. "Yes, you did."
"The wolves really did kill Rin?"
"Yes."
"And Sesshoumaru-sama did that for Rin? Brought Rin back to life?"
He paused. "Yes."
"Why?"
"Why not?" he said distantly, turning back around to face the landscape, and with any luck ending the conversation. It seemed to have worked, as she had fallen silent.
A small part of his mind registered that she really hadn't known what had happened to her, which he had wondered about several times. But Sesshoumaru wasn't interested in talking about her resurrection. Something was still annoying him about it, and the last thing that he wanted was to discuss it, even though a disappointed look had crossed her face at his answer.
He had brought her back because he had been curious and had wanted to test the Tenseiga. That was all. No. No, it wasn't. When he had seen her in the woods, lying dead and covered in her own blood, something in him didn't quite want her to be. He had felt...almost a little sorry for her? He shouldn't have--there was no reason for him to, but he had. Perhaps it hadn't just been wanting to test the Tenseiga.
Sesshoumaru glanced behind him, and saw her still sitting on the back of the dragon, her face unreadable. It wasn't the Tenseiga that made him keep her around, or keep her alive; that much he could admit to himself.
He frowned as he remembered what had happened when he had come back to where he had left Rin. That woman of Naraku's had been there. It had irritated him that she was there--waiting, watching Rin, until he had returned. And of course, Rin had been oblivious to the whole thing, not realizing the danger of any of it. The woman hadn't done anything, but it still annoyed him. Perhaps next time he had to leave, he would make Jaken stay behind with Rin. Not that Jaken could really do much, but he could at least sense what was around.
Rin had been so happy to see him return that she had followed his first instructions to her quite literally, not moving an inch until he told her to do so again. Which would have been amusing, had Sesshoumaru not had to deal with the detachment woman, who delivered no useful information whatsoever. Sesshoumaru was becoming annoyed with this Naraku character. Twice now Naraku had tried to meddle in his affairs. It seemed that Naraku had some sort of interest in him--an interest that Naraku would regret if Sesshoumaru ever got his hands on him.
Sesshoumaru heard a sudden noise, and saw Rin jumping off of the dragon. She ran to catch up to him, and walked beside him for a moment. Then she moved ahead to face him, but didn't stop, instead walking backwards in front of him. She looked up at him, the expression on her face almost serious, save for the childlike way that her eyes still shone.
"Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't have to say why if he doesn't want to," she said, before a happy smile appeared on her face.
Sesshoumaru wasn't sure what she meant by such a statement, but it seemed to warrant no reply, and she didn't seem to want one--almost as if some strange point of understanding had been silently reached. He looked at the grinning child, her arms folded behind her as she still walked backward looking up at him, almost as if awaiting her next instructions.
"It's almost dark," he said. "You must be hungry."
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama!" she exclaimed, running ahead through the grasses, laughing and twirling around in her own made up game.
Sesshoumaru watched her dancing silhouette play against the background of the sunset streaked sky. Yes, it was odd how quickly one got used to an idea.