Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Author's Note: Thank you to those of you who reviewed. I'm glad you like the story so far. I will try to update as much as I can. Again, I appreciated the reviews, but I would like to have more after this chapter. Thank you. On with the show.

Chapter 2

Jaken and even AhUn were glaring at him. Sesshoumaru could have felt their eyes burning through the back of his head from miles away. It had been several days since he had abandoned Rin, and they were still at it. He chose to ignore it. 'They are beneath me', he thought. 'It is none of their business what I choose to do and why I do it'. Satisfied with his self assurance, Sesshoumaru continued walking. He tried to think of something to keep his mind occupied, anything, just not Rin. He had tried to not think of her, but with his companions glaring at him so, he found it hard not to feel just a little guilty. He was beginning to become very angry with his annoying companions who decided to make it impossible for him not think of the girl. In a sudden impulse, he stopped in his tracks, whipped around to face them, and gave a low warning growl. They, however, did not seem to get the message, although Jaken did lose his face temporarily at hearing his lord's threatening gesture.

"You will both discontinue glaring at me as though I am Naraku unless you wish to experience more pain than your weak bodies can handle", said Sesshoumaru in a disturbingly calm voice. Jaken soon became frightened but then got a mental image of Rin being ripped apart by random demons in the woods and just as quickly became angry again. Jaken was going to do it. 'For Rin', he triumphantly thought. He was going to confront his lord and master, Sesshoumaru. 'And AhUn will be there to back me up', he thought, briefly glancing back at the Dragon.

Jaken took a deep breath "Y-you had n-no right", be shakily began, gathering courage as he spoke, "to abandon Rin." Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. He could not believe his ears. Jaken, his loyal retainer for centuries, was opposing him, Lord Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands, all because of that insignificant human girl.

Jaken cautiously watched his Lord's face twist into obvious disbelief, then anger. He looked behind him for backup from AhUn, but instead found that the cowardly dragon had flown to a nearby field to graze, leaving him, Jaken, all alone. He formed a sweat drop on the back of his head (anime style), and wondered how long he would last now. He was about to get on all his toady fours and beg his lord for forgiveness, but something stirred inside his heart and he knew he would never be at peace until he at least did this on the girl's behalf. Jaken would not back down. He gulped, 'Rin is worth it', he thought determinedly.

"Milord, you were in the wrong to abandon the girl. You cared enough of her to revive her from the dead, and she followed you, obeyed you, admired you, trusted you, and loved you unconditionally in a way you never deserved." Jaken said, using all his will power not to just run away. Sesshoumaru wanted nothing more than to rip the defiant toad's tongue out and shove it so far up his posterior that he could digest it and dispose of it in his own natural way. However, his mind was defying him, and caused him to listen to the toad's rambling without interruption. For some reason, a part of him actually cared what Jaken thought concerning this matter, possibly because his mind had been raging war on whether or not he was right to abandon the girl. He listened as the toad continued his rant.

"I wish to know why you would do such a thing, milord. You allowed your anger take control and now the girl is paying the price. Perhaps Lord Kiyoshi was correct in saying that you are not fit to rule the Western lands. Perhaps…"

"Enough!" Sesshoumaru roared. He would not just stand around and allow himself to be told that he was not fit to be lord, especially by Jaken. The toad would pay for his mouth. He picked up the toad, and was fully intent on smashing him into a nearby rock, but what Jaken said next stopped him.

"You have again lost control, just as you had with Rin. I do not regret what I said, and I will not take it back. I do this in Rin's honor, and I hope that with my death you will at least consider your treatment of the girl," Jaken choked out through shallow breaths. Sesshoumaru dropped the toad, and walked forward, crushing the toad beneath his boots. He would not explain his actions to the toad, nor would he waste his time to kill the thing. He would simply pretend he didn't exist, and that his little show of defiance didn't happen.

But still, had he really just lost control in the spur of the moment and made an irrational decision? No. He had been thinking the matter over in the past few days, reluctantly, and had come to the conclusion that although he had indeed done what he had done in anger, there was still good reason to leave the girl.

She had been the target of too many of his enemies. It was indeed a dangerous thing to have her around. It was her own safety that was at stake, not to mention that her presence gave his enemies an obvious advantage over him in battle, Kiyoshi proving that theory. Also, the girl had grown up. She would soon be marrying age, and he would have not been able to give her what she would have wanted. He knew he would have only ended up hurting her, for he could never lower himself to claim the girl as his mate. He probably would have just given into his basic instincts one night, and then leave her expecting a commitment that he would not have provided. He sighed. Yes, the girl would have been even more hurt had he not abandoned her when he did. Now, he had given her a chance to move on with her life.

She would live in a village, and probably mate some human male who would provide her with a family of her own. Rin always seemed to enjoy children, and he believed that she would make a good mother. However, the thought of those grimy village men touching Rin still made him angry. What if they took advantage of her? He stopped himself before he could continue his meaningless rant in his mind. He would not worry about the girl any longer. He had no say in who would lay their hands on her soft silky skin. No say in who would kiss her cherry red lips. He really needed to stop thinking of her like this. He was beginning to become aroused at his own hentai thoughts and angry at the same time imagining another male having her. This was exactly why he could not have the girl with him anymore, he reminded himself. And since he had abandoned her in such a traumatic way, she would be sure to hate him, not try to find him again, and most importantly, not miss him.

However, that still did not keep him from missing her. He mentally scolded himself. He had no reason to miss the girl, her cheerful presence that brightened his every day, her beautiful smile that made him feel good no matter how he previously felt, her…'Stop!' he thought to himself desperately. He had to stop this. He was suddenly beginning to wonder if there was indeed another reason that he had gotten rid of the girl. The thought came before he could stop it. 'Perhaps I am just afraid of becoming like my father' Sesshoumaru had had enough thinking for the day. He shook his last thought off before continuing in his travels, Jaken and AhUn wearily following behind him, all three of them wondering how Rin had faired.

The emptiness in her heart was unbearable. Rin had cried until she felt she couldn't possibly shed another tear in her entire lifetime again. Her eyes red and puffy, she painfully stood up, examining herself. She could see dried blood caked on her arms where Sesshoumaru had grabbed her, and from the feel of things she also had several bruises on her back from where he had pinned her against a tree. Just thinking of him made her heart constrict painfully, but she shook it off. Now was not the time to be thinking of him, she realized, after a rather large bolt of lightening struck a tree not too far from the clearing she stood in. She realized that she needed to get to shelter, and figured she would try to reach the village she had recently visited before any harm could be done to her person.

As she began walking, she couldn't help but think of how horrible the situation was. 'How could milord leave me like this?' she thought. She had never disobeyed him, or upset him, or really did anything to warrant his anger. She could not understand what had gone wrong. She briefly reflected upon her relationship with Sesshoumaru. All the years they had been together, she had been basically ignored by him, but did her best to try to make him happy. She began to get angry thinking of how had always dismissed her as though she had been a lowly nothing not worth his time. Perhaps she should be glad he had abandoned her. She did not need him, and she would prove it right there and then. She would find shelter, and move on with her life. If only she could get out of these dark, menacing woods, she thought. She gulped, but then heard his words in her head, 'You are ignorant, weak, and human.' She suddenly became extremely angry, all sorrow forgotten, and in her reckless state, she ran in the woods like a madwoman, not caring about anything at the moment, not even the impending branches that were scratching her skin everywhere she turned.

"I hate him!" She screamed, as she ran as fast as she could, not knowing where to, just running. "I wish I never knew him!" She yelled again into the dark sky. After running several minutes, her body finally collapsed by a large oak tree, and she panted in desperation, then, although she thought it impossible, she began to cry yet again. "I hate him", she said again, all the fire torn from her voice as quickly as it had come. "I hate him", she whispered.

Suddenly, Rin heard a noise in the bushes to her left. She gasped, and stood back up, eyes darting around in the dark frantically trying to find the source of the noise. Her heart was pounding out of control in her chest, and her breathing became ragged.

She heard noise again, except this time it seemed to be surrounding her. Her blood ran cold when she heard the loud, earsplitting howl, and the menacing growls that followed. She was literally paralyzed with fear, and began to think how perfectly ironic it was that she should be abandoned by her lord, and then killed by the same creatures that he had revived her from all those years ago. 'Except this time,' she thought, 'he won't be there to bring me back.'

She saw the wolf jump on her, saw his sharp teeth glisten in the moonlight, felt the teeth sink into her leg, felt the searing, unbearable pain that followed. She saw the other wolves approach, shut her eyes, and tried to prepare for what would follow.

She felt a splattering on her face, and heard the wolves yelp in pain, before hitting the ground in sickening thuds. She cautiously opened her eyes and looked around her to find that there were daggers placed into the hearts of the now dead wolves. She looked up, and found a figure enshrouded in shadows, before her world went black.