Sesshomaru was wandering his castle's hallways, examining how the walls were holding up. There had been rumors of some of the stones crumbling, and he needed to make sure that rumors were all they were. Suddenly, his nose twitched as he scented something most peculiar. It was coming from Rin's room, but it was unlike anything he had ever smelt. Heading towards Rin's room, though not in any particular hurry, Sesshomaru felt tension rising in his gut.
"Rin?" Sesshomaru asked, as he gently opened the door to her chambers. Odd, no sign of her, usually she was in around this time. Looking out the balcony he gazed at the silver moon. It was a crescent tonight, identical to the marking on his forehead. But that was of no matter. What did matter was that he couldn't find Rin. After a thorough investigation of her room, he still couldn't find her, only the cloyingly bittersweet sweet scent that hung heavy in the air.
"What is the meaning of this?" The dog youkai demanded as he ran from room to room, finding no scent of Rin anywhere, or that strange scent. There was only one explanation, he decided, running back to Rin's room. Someone must have left with her out the balcony. Racing back through the halls, letting dozens of doors fly by, he finally reached the one covered to the last in the sickening scent.
Rushing onto the balcony, he found the sweet scent on the breeze and jumped after it. It didn't bother him that he was about 6 stories in the air. Such things never bothered a demon such as himself. He ran across the treetops, chasing after the scent, never once faltering in his step, so great was his determination.
"I will find you Rin, where ever you are…" He muttered as he dashed after the scent.
At the local creepy mountain cave…"W-why are you doing this to me?" Rin stammered, looking around herself. She was stuck in a cage-like thing, and was guarded by a hungry looking gargoyle. It has a sickly gray hue to its hide, and in most aspects it looked like a kind of horned monkey. There was a small stone slab in a corner, with odd oil that was cloyingly bittersweet inside it.
"Because, my pretty, tonight is the night of the waxing crescent moon. I must eat a pure maiden in order to retain my immortality. It is simply bad luck that you were the first one I came across." The creature grinned, revealing two rows of yellowing, but still sharp, teeth. "When the moon is in the correct position, I will devour you."
Rin shrunk away, to the farthest corner of the cage, terrified. Looking up at the moon, which reminded her so much of Lord Sesshomaru, she regained her old childish belief that, no matter what, Lord Sesshomaru will come and save her. Her relaxed position, and slight smile unnerved the gargoyle, and he turned towards the cave entrance. None would interfere tonight.
None, perhaps, expect the Lord of the Western Lands. Just as the gargoyle had turned back to Rin, the dog youkai leaped into the cave entrance, hand already on the Toujikin. (I think that's the name of his sword…)
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin cried out, in happiness but not surprise. The gargoyle turned around fiercely, snarling at the uninvited guest.
"Leave now, before I devour you too."
"Oh is that so? I would like to see you try." Sesshomaru smirked slightly, and Rin knew that now was the time to look away. This would get messy.
Approximately 30 seconds later…The growls, sword slashes, and cries of pain had all ended, so Rin decided to look back. Well, it certainly wasn't a pretty sight, but it was quite obvious that the gargoyle was dead. Sesshomaru used the Toujikin and destroyed the cage. Rin got out, carefully stepping around the blood that had splattered onto the ground.
"Come along Rin, I'll carry you back to the castle." Her lord said, and she let him pick her up bridal style. As they returned to the castle, Rin looked up at Sesshomaru, the silver moon hitting his long, beautiful hair and lighting it with a white fire. In that instant, he was perfect. She would remember that moment for the rest of her life, and would know that that was the moment that she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she loved Sesshomaru. It was not the childish crush that she had had on him so many years ago. It was far different from that, a true love bloomed in her heart, and she smiled softly.
They reached the castle, Rin's balcony in fact. Sesshomaru gently placed her onto her bed, and started to make his leave. But as he started to walk out the door, he turned around and saw Rin, walking towards the balcony, looking radiant in the glowing lights of the torches that were always kept lit until the room's resident chose to sleep. Her dark hair looked golden-brown, and her cheeks were a healthy red. But mostly it was her eyes that made his realize, the dancing flames reflected in her brown eyes.
He waited not a moment longer. Without any hesitation or forethought, he returned to Rin, and turning her towards him, he locked her in a kiss. It was a slightly rough kiss; exactly the kind one would think would come from Sesshomaru. Rin was, for a moment, startled beyond resisting, but then relaxed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
There was nothing more to say between them, all doubts of each other's feelings vanished and for one moment, they were lost in their own world, the only thought running through their minds was of pure love and bliss. That was all there was to it.
The next few years passed relatively uneventfully between the couple, as well as the rest of the characters in the story. Kochou grew to realize just what sort of power she hoarded, Matsu started to realize how he felt about Kochou, Rin and Sesshomaru became mates; but most importantly, for a very long time, Sesshomaru's feelings for Rin overpowered all others. He was completely devoid of hatred, and found it impossible to go on fighting with Inu-yasha. The two, after much talking, finally made up, or as much as they ever would. It seemed like nothing could go wrong with the family now, or their friends.
But in the darkness, there was always lurking a creature of shadows. A creature with a rat face, and scaled legs, a creature that spent the entire time gaining power, and waiting for its chance. While the rest of the characters lived in peace for so long, the shadow imp spent the time killing and gaining power. And it waited for its chance.
Next chapter- We jump further into the future, when Kochou and Matsu are in their mid-teens. The shadow imp is nearly strong enough to fight Kochou, and it is time for Amaterasu's messenger to train the hanyou and help her hone her powers.