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Rin stood on top of a rock almost as tall as she was, and looked out at the land around her. They were on the top of a grassy hill, and meadows and trees were spread before her. Rin held her hand up to her eyes to block out the sun as she turned, looking.
"All this is Sesshoumaru-sama's? For how far, Jaken-sama?"
"For farther than the eye can see," he answered. "It goes for miles and miles in every direction!"
"Wow, Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Sesshoumaru-sama said nothing, and he seemed to be thinking about something. He was also looking at the meadows before them, though he was almost looking past them, as if he could see something that she couldn't.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked.
"Let's go," he answered.
He began to walk, and Rin jumped off of the rock to follow. Sesshoumaru-sama had told her to stay close, and she had readily agreed. There seemed to be lots of things in the places that they had been in during the last few days. She hurried to catch up to him.
"Rin," he suddenly said. "You can run around today."
"Really, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Yes."
"There's no other youkai?"
"No."
She went ahead, running through the grass, but soon returned. She went over to Jaken-sama, who was walking with Ah and Un behind Sesshoumaru-sama.
"Rin's glad there's no other youkai around. Hey, Jaken-sama, why is that?"
"Because we're in Sesshoumaru-sama's lands. They keep out because of him. Naturally there's more lower youkai hanging around the borders."
"Oh."
Jaken-sama kept talking about Sesshoumaru-sama's lands. Did youkai do that like people did? Have land? Apparently they did. Though something seemed different about it. At any rate, Sesshoumaru-sama seemed to have a lot of land. They walked all day, and Jaken-sama still said that there was more, more than she could ever see. Rin didn't intend to leave Sesshoumaru-sama, so she thought that she would see all of it eventually, but she decided not to tell Jaken-sama that.
At sunset, Sesshoumaru-sama stopped under some trees.
"Rin, there's a stream in that direction," he said, pointing slightly. "Go get some fish for your dinner."
Rin ran off, and found the stream, just like Sesshoumaru-sama had said. It was a really big stream. Parts of it looked too deep for her to even stand in without the water going over her head. She put her foot in at the edge of the bank, but pulled it out and jumped back as a big fish suddenly came partway up out of the water at her. But the fish was different. It had bigger eyes and lips, and looked...smarter.
"Human," it said.
Rin was surprised, but the fish didn't look particularly dangerous. She just nodded, but didn't move any closer to the water.
Then another fish like the first one came up to the surface. "Human wants?"
"Rin just wanted some fish."
"Let her fish?" the first one said.
"Let her fish or not?" the second echoed.
"Humans always taking."
"Humans always--the white dog."
"Here?"
"Near."
"The white dog?" Rin asked.
The fish nodded in unison.
"Land of the white dog," the first said.
"Human of the white dog!"
"Is she?"
"Must be."
"Fish she can have, then."
"Give her fish."
The first fish waved its tail, and suddenly two normal fish jumped out of the water and landed on the bank beside her. "You're giving Rin fish?" she asked.
"Because of the white dog."
"Because of the white dog."
"What's the white dog?" Rin asked, but the two fish had already gone under the water. She was a bit confused, but she wasn't going to leave the two fish that were still flopping around on the ground. She picked them up, and went back to where Sesshoumaru-sama was. She gave the fish to Jaken-sama, and then went among the trees to get some wood for a fire.
"You must be getting better at fishing," Jaken-sama said when she came back.
"Nope, Jaken-sama. The fish gave Rin the fish."
"The fish gave you the fish?" He sounded doubtful.
She nodded. "Mm-hm. 'Because of the white dog.' What's the white dog?"
"Sesshoumaru-sama is the white dog."
"Really, Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked. "What's that mean?"
"It's just a title, Rin," he said.
Sesshoumaru-sama turned around, and Rin arranged the sticks for the fire. It didn't surprise her that Sesshoumaru-sama had a title. Everyone always treated him like he was very important. And they were always giving him things. Well, they gave her things because she was with him. The men gave her food, the lady gave her clothes, and the fish had given her fish. And Sesshoumaru-sama also had land. Lots of it. Rin was beginning to think that maybe important youkai were treated more importantly that important humans. He also seemed always busy; he always had somewhere to go or something to do. She suddenly wondered where Sesshoumaru-sama was going now, so she asked him.
"To talk to someone about a sword," he said.
Sesshoumaru-sama did that a lot. He was very interested in swords, it seemed.
Jaken-sama finished the fish, and Rin went to sit next to Sesshoumaru-sama. She finished her dinner, and sat there as it got dark. It also got colder, but it wasn't that cold. Not really, really cold. And she was fine here.
"Why don't you go sit by the fire?" Sesshoumaru-sama asked her after she shivered a bit.
"Rin wants to sit next to Sesshoumaru-sama."
Sesshoumaru-sama then got up and sat down in front of the fire. She hadn't asked him to, but he did. Rin immediately moved as well, again sitting next to him. She had noticed before that Sesshoumaru-sama usually sat away from the fire.
"Why does Sesshoumaru-sama never sit next to the fire?"
"I am sitting next to the fire."
"But not before," she said.
"I don't need the fire. I don't get cold."
Youkai must not get cold. It would be nice not to get cold. And Rin remembered when Sesshoumaru-sama said that youkai could see in the dark.
"Is being a youkai fun, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"I suppose."
Rin wished that she could do some of the things that Sesshoumaru-sama could do, but she liked being human, she thought. Besides, it didn't matter as long as she had Sesshoumaru-sama to take care of her.
The next thing Rin knew, it was much darker, she was lying on the ground, the fire was almost out, and Sesshoumaru-sama was gone. She must have fallen asleep. She wondered why she had woken up, and remembered the vague impression of a dream that she couldn't recall. Rin sat up and looked around. She guessed that Jaken-sama was also asleep, but she couldn't see him; she thought she could see Ah and Un, but she wasn't sure. But where was Sesshoumaru-sama? She couldn't find him anywhere. So she sat by the remains of the fire, waiting. It was colder now than it had been. Rin pulled her knees close to her and sat that way, since it was too dark to look for more sticks.
The night was incredibly quiet. She sat for a very long time, it seemed, before she heard any noise at all. It was only a small sound, but it was almost loud in the night. Rin looked behind her.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" she said. "Where did Sesshoumaru-sama go?"
He came up. "Walking."
"Doesn't Sesshoumaru-sama sleep?"
"Not usually." He sat down. "Why aren't you sleeping?"
"Rin had a dream. And then Sesshoumaru-sama wasn't here." Rin went over to sit next to him. She guessed that maybe youkai didn't need that much sleep. Rin suddenly wondered if Sesshoumaru-sama left a lot at night. So she asked him; he said that he sometimes did. Rin wasn't sure how she felt about that, she always thought that Sesshoumaru-sama was near at night. But he always came back, so she decided that it wasn't that important.
Rin realized that she was cold. It had been cold before, but now it felt really cold. She hadn't noticed it as much before, because she had been busy wondering where Sesshoumaru-sama had gone. But suddenly she shivered.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"What?"
"Rin's cold. Can Rin sit next to Sesshoumaru-sama?"
After a moment, he gave her a barely noticeable nod. "Fine."
Rin smiled and scooted closer, lying down next to him. He was still wearing that armor, but she could get close enough to be warm.
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Note: As for the fish that Rin sees, think something similar to the fish that were in the Water God episode.