To my readers: I am completely gratified that my sorry attempt at fluff was not flamed, and that I can continue this story without fear of serial killers on my trail. I thank everyone who has reviewed so far from the bottom of my heart, because without you guys I wouldn't feel guilty enough to update. As soon as I receive reviews from ten different people, I will recognize every last one of you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but if I did own Inu… inuzrule fantasy : "Yes Jeeves, place those plushies over there, on that shelf, with the manga and all the DVD's. DarkInuHanyou and I are going to watch the fourth InuYasha movie in the theater room again, so please leave us be. Oh, and reschedule my appointment with the President for tomorrow."

Okay, so it's a little far-fetched, but I bet that Ms. Takahashi has free InuYasha, Ranma, and Urusei Yatsura stuff delivered to her door. And if she doesn't have a mansion, may lightning…strike the poodle next door. (Ker-pow! YIP!)

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The Lightning Spear

Rin woke the next morning to the smell of cooked fish, and the grumbling of Leiko.

"Fish for lunch, fish for dinner, fish for breakfast. Do you people only eat fish? I'd like something different! Like wild boar, or at least pheasant!"

"Look, if you want boar so badly, go hunt it yourself! This area isn't exactly the best for hunting, so I suggest you to be grateful that you have fresh meat at all."

Rin rubbed her eyes a few times, and waited for the early morning blurriness to go away. InuYasha had said something about smelling his half-brother not too far off. Hopefully she would be able to see Sesshomaru today. She wanted to make sure he was uninjured and that he hadn't forgotten her.

Suddenly a divine image appeared: Sesshomaru was standing just a few feet away, with the morning light softening his features, and his hair rippling in the soft breeze.

"Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Hai, Rin."

The little girl squealed, and ran for her guardian, attracting the attention of her companions as she did so. She almost bounded into him, knocking the breath out of him in the process. Sesshomaru awkwardly placed an arm around her, as she hugged him with ferocity.

"I missed you so much! I almost thought that you had forgotten…"

Sesshomaru smiled only slightly, his calm and cold face barely moving a fraction of an inch. But on the inside his emotions ran rampant, mixtures of relief, happiness, concern, disbelief, and puzzlement. Questions buzzed through his brain, like a swarm of angry bees. Why was she here, Was she safe, Who was this new person with the group, Had something happened, Did she know what had happened to him, Was she worried as well?

And, most importantly, Had she been taken care of properly?

Sesshomaru let go of Rin, and strode over to InuYasha, who was wearing an angry scowl. Sesshomaru's face grew stoic in response, and in doing so sent the silent message that he was far too superior to his half-brother to let something like 'emotions' leak through his cold countenance

"I trust that Rin behaved herself. Have you treated her properly?"

Kagome interrupted before InuYasha could open his mouth and make a sarcastic remark.

"Rin was very sweet while she was staying with us."

"Very good. May I ask what you all are doing in this forest?" Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at the assembled group.

Leiko spoke up, in a voice that was meek and humble. Quite a contrast, Kagome thought compared to her real personality.

"Sesshomaru-sama, I was asked by my father, a soldier in your esteemed army, to get help. We were on our way to see you, as you might know where to find the Tai no Seigi. I thought that since InuYasha-sama is your brother, and since his reputation has been spread as an infamous demon-hunter, he would gladly help."

Sesshomaru grimaced at the honorific –sama that had been attached to the hanyou's name. It was bad enough that InuYasha had inherited the powerful sword, or that he was a legend among his servants, or that he was trying to help him, but all that was surpassed when his subjects began to think more highly of his younger, hanyou, half-brother than they did of him.

InuYasha brightened a bit at Sesshomaru's less than happy expression. He leaned against a tree, mocking Sesshomaru's pose, which only made Sesshomaru's grimace deepen. He knew that Sesshomaru was fighting the urge to bonk him on the head, and a smirk cocked on his face. He raised an eyebrow at Sesshomaru, who gave him a death glare, which promised him that his demise would be soon.

Kagome sighed at the brothers' immaturity. She pointedly ignored InuYasha, and turned to Sesshomaru.

"How can we defeat this Hana-person? He must have some sort of weakness."

Rin held back a laugh. Flower-person? Kagome-sama certainly had a strange sense of humor.

Sesshomaru looked disdainfully at Kagome. With the way she was acting, she would eventually land herself an early grave, if not at his hands, then certainly at the hands of this "flower-person".

"There is one weapon that promises to defeat Hanawanowarui. It is said to be sealed not to far from here. It's the Denkou Yari, and it's promised to 'slay all enemies with a bolt of lightning from the gods'. It's kept in an underwater cave, and protected by a barrier. If we get to it before Hanawanowarui does, then we will be able to kill him without any effort."

InuYasha snorted. If the denko thing was so good at killing, why hadn't Sesshomaru used the weapon to kill Naraku? Oh well, it wasn't like they had any other options. Besides, Sesshomaru couldn't pierce barriers, and he could. Another chunk out of Sesshomaru's shrinking pride would be necessary.

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InuYasha's sword cut easily through the barrier, as if it was nothing more than butter, and they entered the area near the lake. Kagome bit her lip apprehensively. She knew that InuYasha, Sesshomaru, Jaken, Shippo, and Leiko were demons, so it would be easy for them to swim to the cave, and she could swim as well, but what about Rin. One look at the poor girl, and Kagome could tell that she was scared stiff. She had grown pale, and her knees were shaking.

Sesshomaru noticed his ward's discomfort.

"Rin, you may stay here, with Shippo looking after you. The rest of you; follow me."

And Sesshomaru dove into the water, with the rest of the group behind, Kagome at the end of the procession.

"Watch for danger you two." Kagome smiled at both of them, and quickly hugged Rin, then gracefully dived.

The group swam for a bit, until they saw Sesshomaru stop. He had spotted something. He pulled on a small, inconspicuous stick, and it opened the entrance of the cave, which had been sealed by a large rock. They swam into the cave. Sesshomaru silently pointed upwards, and they all saw a hole in the ceiling. They climbed up and reached dry land. They were still in a cave, but they could breathe now.

"That's a relief." Kagome gasped as she tried to catch her breath again.

"Really now. Well that relief won't last for long." A dark figure emerged from the corner. It was no other than Hanawanowarui. He looked just like Leiko's description, except his eyes were cold and looked like red clay. He smirked at Kagome.

"Hm, a human. I have quite a fondness for humans…roasted to a crisp and eaten while hot, that is."

InuYasha growled, and stepped in front of Kagome, blocking her from the demon's view.

"Oh, and look here, a hanyou! I love the taste of hanyou blood. It tastes like a cross between lemon juice and freshly killed deer meat. Wouldn't you agree boys?" Two hulking demons stepped forward, both grinning maliciously.

"Yes, Boss!" they chorused in voices like gravel.

Soon the whole area was filled with demons, and they slowly closed in on the group.

"Well Sesshomaru, looks like you didn't heed my warning. Guess I'll have to kill you after all. Get 'em."

InuYasha drew his sword with a sigh. Now, how did I know that this was going to happen.

Kagome fit her bow with an arrow, and pointed it at the nearest demon. Jaken was poised with his Staff of Two Heads, and Leiko got into a fighting stance, with her claws sprung out.

The only person who hadn't drawn his weapon was Sesshomaru. He stood still for a while, then with demon agility, he sped off for the passageway, killing everyone in his path with his poison claws.

He was headed straight for the Denkou Yari, and in the ongoing battle, no one noticed his disappearance. Except for InuYasha. Since he was only half-demon his sense of smell wasn't clouded with the scent of blood, and he couldn't sense Sesshomaru's scent among the others.

Damn Sesshomaru… he thought, as he sliced another demon in half. Always making me do the dirty work!

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Rin sat on the bank of the lake, and looked into the water. To her it had seemed like ages since the group had dived into the water. She worried that something had happened to them, and they were in trouble. She looked at Shippo, but all he was doing was gathering acorns.

Rin paced and waited for a bit, but it was no use.

I have to see what's happening! If only I could swim!

She paced a bit more, then stared at the water.

Before she knew what she was doing, she preformed a cannonball into the lake.

"Rin!" yelled Shippo. "Rin! Oh, Kami! Sesshomaru's going to skin me alive! Baka, baka, baka!" The little kitsune bonked himself on the head with each 'baka'. He was in deep shit now. What if Rin drowned? It would be all his fault for letting his friend die!

"BAKA!"

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Rin blindly swam, not pausing for a millisecond. The sooner this cave was found, the sooner she could breathe.

As she swam, her yukata was snagged something. She opened her eyes, hesitantly, to find it was snagged on a stick. She pulled and tugged on it, until she jerked the stick forward. Suddenly, right in front of her eyes, a large boulder moved aside, revealing the cave to her. She entered, and looked for a trace of her friends. She spotted something on the ceiling. As she swam to examine it, it turned out to be a hole in the ceiling. She swam up through it until she broke the surface of the water.

She pulled herself up, and looked around her surroundings.

It seemed like she had entered the room while the occupants were in the midst of a battle. Wait! Was that a glimpse of bright red? InuYasha! And there's Kagome with her bow!

So where was Sesshomaru? Rin spotted a passageway, and assumed that her lord had gone farther into the crevice to find the weapon. She ran past the demons, who were thoroughly occupied with the others, and ran through the passageway, looking for Sesshomaru.

She rushed into a chamber, where she indeed found Sesshomaru approaching something lying on a shelf on the far wall.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Sesshomaru spun around and looked at Rin dubiously.

"I thought you were with Shippo."

"I decided to follow you! That's okay, right?" Sesshomaru faintly smiled, and nodded, ever so slightly.

"Please be quiet Rin."

"Hai!" Sesshomaru turned his attention from the girl, and reached for the Denkou Yari…

Only to be thrown against the other wall by some unseen force.

"SESSHOMARU-SAMA!" squealed Rin, as she ran for her fallen master. He was knocked out. Rin kneeled beside him, anxious to help.

To her surprise Sesshomaru began to change. His hair began to darken, and his claws shortened into stubby fingernails. His eyes, which were still open, but unfocused, turned into a dark brown, and his ears rounded out.

Within seconds, Rin found herself kneeling by a black-haired, brown-eyed Sesshomaru.

He had turned human.

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Notes: Hehehehe! I'm so evil to leave you hanging like that, but I couldn't resist. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chappie. I couldn't leave Sesshomaru out forever, now could I?

Oh, just one little note, Denkou Yari means Lightning Spear. I went through hell and back to come up with that name, so NOBODY MAKE FUN OF IT!