Disclaimer: I still don't own InuYasha. If I can't get my own dog to sit how can I expect InuYasha to listen to me?

First, a thank you Alisoro for your review. I hope I don't disappoint you!

As the small mismatched band of travellers gathered around the fire that evening, Rin's sharp eyes studied her lord. She watched his graceful movements, the almost silent way he walked and tried to mimic him. Years of walking barefoot had given her incredible balance. She could nimbly scamper over the rocks in a stream with hardly a splash. It was Lord Sesshomaru's tread, the way he seemed to almost glide above the earth that had her enraptured. As they would walk she would follow quite literally in his footsteps, hoping to master his gate. When she was an awkward girl of 13 she had been studying his walk so intensely she failed to notice her lord had stopped. To her horror she had clumsily walked into his back, sending her stumbling backwards and earning a look of reproach from the youkai lord.

This night it was Lord Sesshomaru's hands that were the object of her fixation. Not the deep lavendar markings but rather the way he held them. Careful not to stare and displease her lord, Rin attempted to copy the gentle but deadly way his fingers curled. It was her hope to show the great Lord of the Western Lands that she, too, could have poise and grace. Maybe then he would also notice that she was no longer a child and see her as the woman she had become. She could never be his equal, of course. Rin was so wrapped up in her practices that she failed to notice the intense amber eyes watching her. She frowned in concentration, the tip of her pink tongue peeking between her lips.

Sesshomaru watched the girl's hands, seeing how she struggled to get her usually supple fingers to relax. What was she about? Her tiny sigh of frustration might have amused him if he found mirth in such things. From the corner of his eye, Sesshomaru watched Rin shake out her hands once again before gently laying them in her lap. What was the human musing? Imitation was the sincerest form of flattery? Why would a mortal female wish to be like him? He knew Rin well enough. She didn't covet power, wealth or status. To her those things meant danger. She had born witness to the hazards her lord's position put him in.

That same danger, however, now courted Rin as well. Word had spread over the decade plus that she had travelled with Sesshomaru. Any and all demons wishing to capture his attention, to threaten him, to force him to either yield or fight, they all knew. Have the human girl in your possession and the great Lord of the Western Lands will reveal himself. In her youth, Sesshomaru had tried to shelter young Rin from the knowledge that she could and would be used as a weapon against him. Why worry the child over such a thing? As his eyes once again flickered over the girl, Sesshomaru couldn't help but notice. She wasn't a child anymore. It wasn't just her vulnerability that brought out the demons any longer.

Blacker than a raven's wing, Rin's hair now hung to her hips...another disturbing change in his charge, this developement of a womanly form. Her skin was as soft and unblemished as the day Sesshomaru had restored life to her. The cupid's bow mouth that once would spread into a gap toothed grin had become lush, yielding, inviting. Thick lashes rested against her alabaster cheeks, both covering and accentuating piercing brown eyes that missed precious little. Above all of that, it was Rin's voice which had changed most. The crystal clear ring of a childlike tone was gone from it. Now...now her voice was more silken, a caress. When she spoke to her lord, calling him by his title, it resonated with worship and respect. And something else he could not define. Even now some part of him wished to hear her speak his name. Something deep inside the youkai lord wanted to hear her whisper in like a prayer. The dark scowl came to Sesshomaru's face before he could disguise it. It did not go unnoticed.

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

Curse her, did she have to say it now? And with such concern. Was he so base? So weak? That a human's voice could make the sure, steady and unwavering beat of his heart falter. His eyes met Rin's and written on her face was her worry. Damn her, did she have to be such the open book?

"Instead of your feeble attempts to hold your hands thusly as your lord perhaps you would be further ahead to master some degree of control of your emotions, Rin," he spoke, his voice a bit sharper than he had intended, "You give away too much."

Rin bowed her head and nodded silently. She had meant no offense in her studies to be more like her lord. Apparently she had insulted him. Well of course she had. A human daring to be like the great youkai lord, Sesshomaru? Foolish girl. Still, somewhere deep in her heart a part of Rin longed to speak back to her lord and reproach him. And silently she did.

"And you, my lord, give away nothing. Have I not given you everything? My devotion, my respect, my unwavering loyalty to you? If you would stop seeing me as that child you saved and see me as the woman I trully am now..."

With a shake of her head, Rin banished such thoughts. As a child she had always tried to reach up and grasp at the stars. Standing upon Ah-Un's back and still grasping til Jaken had scoffed.

"You foolish mortals, always reaching and grasping and trying to snatch what you cannot have. You reach beyond your means, silly child. Be happy with the twinkling fireflies you CAN capture. A star...the beauty of a star? That is no gift for a mortal such as yourself."

As cold and remote as any star in the blue-black velvet of the night sky was Lord Sesshomaru. And Rin knew. She should be content just to be in his presence. He was beyond her reach.