Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and all the characters in the anime.

Author's note: (T.T)… So far, I only got 1 review (sobs…) I'm such a bad writer, wasn't I? I know that my grammar is not that good, but I'm trying to improve, so please forgive me for bad grammar. However, reviews are really appreciated… Anyway, on with the story… Hope you enjoy!

The Obscure Truth

Chapter 2

The Moonless Night

Rin awoke alone. Her eyes suddenly shot opened as all the memories of the morning rushed back to her. She just remembered that a ruthless demon came into her room and hit her. She wasn't sure what that demon wanted to do to her, but she was certainly frightened. Cold sweat wetted Rin's white kimono.

She used her frightened black eyes to observe where she was. She was still in her room, on her soft bed. All she saw was her white and almost vacant room. There was no sign of that horrible demon. "Phew…" Rin sighed in relief. 'But where is that demon anyway?' She stood up from her bed and walked to the window. "Oh my god! The sky is dark already? What time is it?" Rin yelled out. She rushed to the door and opened it, hoping to catch Jaken somewhere to ask him about her party, since there were no servants around her except Jaken.

Just when Rin opened the door and tried to rush out, she bumped into a muscular chest. "Ouch…" Rin mumbled as she fell back onto the ground. No hand caught her when she fell, and no hand helped her up. Rin frowned and as she stood up, was rubbing her elbows that hit the ground. She looked up at the 'thing' that bumped 'into' her, or so she thought.

Rin's eye widened after she saw what or who the 'thing' is. She quickly bowed her head and apologized. "Lord Sesshoumaru, I'm very sorry." Rin said. She had bumped into her lord, the only Lord of the Western Land. He was also the one who used Tensaiga to save her after she was killed by wolves at the age of seven.

Sesshoumaru looked at Rin with his emotionless golden eyes. His white smooth hair was hanging on his back, swinging as he came into the room. The purple moon on his forehead and the two magenta stripes on each side of his cheek only made him look more beautiful. Sesshoumaru entered Rin's room while observing her.

"If you are feeling better now, go prepare for your birthday party. It will start in half an hour." Sesshoumaru ordered. His voice was calm and emotionless.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, what happened to the demon that ran into my room without my permission?" Rin asked her lord, hoping to find out that her lord had saved her again. She was in love with her Lord Sesshoumaru, but she also knew that her love was probably one-sided, since he despised human and couldn't even stand his half-demon brother Inuyasha.

"Dead." Sesshoumaru only gave a simple one-word answer to Rin. Then, seeing Rin was fine, he turned around and was about to leave.

Rin gasped at the answer. 'Dead? How?' Rin wondered. "But Lord Sesshoumaru, how did that demon die? The last thing I remembered was being knocked out by that demon, and wasn't he one of the guest for my party? So why would he be…" She didn't get to finish the sentence when Sesshoumaru cut her off.

"Enough with the questions. I killed him. He had no permission to wonder around the castle, especially not into your room. I passed by and saw that he knocked you out, so I killed him, despite the fact that he was a guest. Now get ready for the party." Sesshoumaru explained, although his voice sounded a bit annoyed at the questions Rin was asking. Then, Sesshoumaru left to give Rin some privacy of changing and getting ready.

Rin couldn't move or say anything for several seconds after Sesshoumaru left. She was partly glad and her Lord Sesshoumaru had saved her again. She was glad that the demon didn't do anything too badly to her. But she couldn't help to feel a little sorry for that demon, even though she disliked him. Rin was also shocked by Sesshoumaru's answer. She always thought that Sesshoumaru wasn't as cruel as the rumors she heard. He was the one who saved her life. He took her with him and protected her. He even went to save her from Naraku. Then, he brought her back to the castle and prevented others from harming her. To Rin, Sesshoumaru may act cold and emotionless, but she believed that he still has a heart. Besides, she had never seen Sesshoumaru kill others. But just then, he answered her that he killed the demon, in her room! This was the first time Sesshoumaru said or did kill a creature. 'How can he sound so emotionless when he spoke about killing? He sounded like that was a normal-everyday routine he did…' Rin frowned a bit at the thought. She didn't want Sesshoumaru to be cruel and heartless, like the rumors.

"Oh, I have to get ready!" Rin yelled. She rushed to her closet and picked out another kimono, since the one she wore now was wrinkled and wet. She picked out another white kimono, with light purple flowers on it. She put on the new kimono and rushed to the table, forgetting everything bad that had happened this morning and the moment before Sesshoumaru left her room.

"Oh, my hair is messed up…" Rin whined. She took off the white ribbon she tied on her hair this morning and picked up the brush. She started brushing her long black hair and tied another white and light purple ribbon onto her hair, matching the kimono she wore. Then, seeing the tints on her face she put on with makeup was still very pretty, she only took out the really-light-pink lipstick and put that on. Rin looked into the mirror and smiled. She looked so beautiful. The happy face of a child was back on her face. She looked as innocent as she was when she was only a child, but only more mature and beautiful. "Yay, now I'm ready for my eighteenth birthday's party!"

Rin walked out of her room into the hallway. The hallway was dark and shady. In fact, her room was the only white room in Sesshoumaru's castle. Her room was also the purest looking room compared to other rooms with black or gray color. But Rin was used to it already, so she just walked straight down the hallway to the lobby where the party was to be held. She was excited and happy to attend a party. It was her first time attending any 'meetings' with other people, humans or demons. She had forgotten about the dreadful incident this morning. This was also her personality, always looked forward with a cheerful smile on her face. She didn't like to remember the sad and unhappy memories, maybe just once per year was enough…

A dark figured slipped into the kitchen. He seemed like a dog demon, probably one of the guests for tonight's party. There was no one in the kitchen since Jaken had just gathered them in another room near the kitchen, ordering them what to do on the party. Jaken was telling the part-time servants (since Sesshoumaru didn't want any servants in his castle) who to serve and what not to do in the party.

The figure walked lightly and secretively near the boiling water. The pot for the water was huge, for there were at least one hundred guests in the party today. All of the guests that Sesshoumaru invited were the leader of some demon tribes. Those guests weren't that weak, but they weren't strong compared to the Lord of the Western Land—Sesshoumaru.

The figure took out little bag containing white powder. This powder was had no smell and no color. He put the powder into the pot of boiling water, knowing that this pot of water would later be used for tea that every guest and Sesshoumaru himself would drink on the party. Just to be safe, he also poured the same white powder into the bottles of wine in the kitchen.

After every type of drinks was contaminated with the powder, the figure grinned evilly. 'Not even the great Sesshoumaru would detect this kind of powder. They have no smell and no taste. Muhahaha…' The figure laughed evilly in his heart.

Then, he quickly dodged out of the window as he heard the footsteps of the part-time servants coming towards the kitchen. He must not be seen in the kitchen. He had to go back to the lobby before Sesshoumaru or other demons became suspicious of him.

When Rin finally reached the entrance of the lobby, she saw Jaken standing outside the entrance with a look of impatience. Rin giggled at the funny looking green toad demon, especially with his impatient expressions and the stumping of his feet. The short toad demon was the only servant Sesshoumaru allowed in the castle and allowed to be in contact with Rin. Jaken also appeared to be waiting for someone.

"Hee hee… Jaken, are you waiting for someone? Is the person late?" Rin walked up to Jaken. She always liked to ask Jaken questions, sometime out of curiosity, but sometime just to annoy Jaken to see his funny reactions.

"Rin! Why are you so late?" Jaken looked annoyed at Rin. He didn't really like Rin. To him, Rin was only a human. What he didn't understand was why would Sesshoumaru save Rin and let her stay with him all these years? However, Jaken wasn't exactly despising Rin. He was only Jealous that Rin had a special place in Sesshoumaru's heart, yet she was only a human. That's why Jaken's tone was never too friendly to Rin.

"You're waiting for me, Jaken?" Rin looked surprise. She lowered her head to look at the toad, who used to be about the same height as she was as a child.

"Of course! What do you think? Now hurry up! Everyone's waiting inside." Before Rin could response, Jaken had walked into the lobby towards Lord Sesshoumaru, who was sitting at the end of the long lobby on the top of several steps of stairs. All the demon guests were sitting at the both sides of the lobby. Each demon had his own little table with food, tea or wine on top. They all sat on a pillow on the floor.

Rin was a bit hesitated. She had never seen so many demons at once. If she enters the lobby, surely every eye of those several hundred demons would turn towards her. She didn't want to extract so much attention at once. 'But this is my party… why should I feel hesitated?' Rin encouraged herself. 'Besides, Lord Sesshoumaru is here. He will protect me. What happened this morning will not happen again.' Rin put on her best and most innocent smile. When she was about to step into the lobby, Sesshoumaru's voice reached her first.

"Rin. What are you waiting for? Come in." Although his voice may sound emotionless, there was a hint of impatience in it.

Rin quickly bowed her head at Sesshoumaru, who was very far away from her. Then, she raised her head and walked into the lobby. At once, almost every eye of the demons shot towards her. The lobby became silent instantly. Some demons had disgust in their eyes, some had amazement of the young human girl's beauty, a few didn't even bother looking at the mere human girl, and some had lust in their eyes. Rin felt uncomfortable with all the attention she got, especially from demons since the morning incident was ugly. She still felt a bit unsafe from the demons. Even Sesshoumaru himself had amazement in his eyes. 'She's no beautiful today' He thought, without showing anyone his thoughts.

Rin walked down the long path of the lobby, which seemed to take forever. Finally, she stopped in front of her Lord Sesshoumaru's desk. "Lord Sesshoumaru… where should I sit?" Rin asked quietly, without raising her eyes.

To her disappointment, it was Jaken who answered her question. "You can sit next to Lord Sesshoumaru. This is your party, you know. So you are partially the master for today's party, hence you should sit next to the real master…" Jaken was going on and on, until Sesshoumaru glared at him. Rin didn't really listen to the rest of Jaken's 'speech' after she found out where she was to be seated. Her cheerful mood plumped down a bit at the thought that perhaps Sesshoumaru didn't even want to talk to her, a lowly human girl… It wasn't her fault to think like this. After all, Sesshoumaru had been pretty much ignoring her for the past few years. What she didn't know was Sesshoumaru actually cares about her, but he just couldn't overcome his abhor of the human race. He had been so disgusted when his father married that human woman, who was also Inuyasha's mother. After all those years of hatred towards human, it was hard for Sesshoumaru to accept mating a human girl.

"Yes…" Rin obeyed. She walked up the stairs and sat down at the white pillow prepared for her next to her lord. Now, she was facing the entrance of the lobby. She saw that there were at least one hundred demons sitting on both her right hand and left hand sides.

"My dear guests, today is Rin's eighteenth birthday. I appreciated all of you to come here. Let the dinner begins." Sesshoumaru announced with his emotionless tone. The welcoming speech from his mouth didn't sound very welcoming. In fact, a lot of the demon leaders felt a chill went through their spines, as if telling them to behave themselves at the dinner.

Rin poked Jaken, who was sitting behind her. "Jaken… I thought this is my party… Isn't there suppose to be some dancing and singing? This seems so… serious. Everyone seems so nervous…" Rin was a bit confused. Although she had never been to a real party, she heard stories about it as a child from the villagers. She heard about marriage ceremony party and birthday party. But her party seemed like a funeral, or if looked at it cheerfully, just a boring dinner.

"Shhh! What are you talking about? Don't insult the party Lord Sesshoumaru gave you!" Jaken was horrified. He was afraid that if Sesshoumaru heard what Rin just said, he might get really furious.

Their conversations were interrupted as weak demons, who were now serving as part-time servants, came into the lobby with dishes of delicious food. They went to every table and put down the plate for every demon lords. The first servant came to Sesshoumaru's table, of course. The dish included delicious meat with rice, a cup of tea, and a cup of wine.

After the servants left, the guests began to eat. Many of them just took up the piece of meat and started biting largely into the meat, while the juices flew everywhere. Then, they would stuff a mouthful of rice into their mouths and drank a large cup of tea while the rice and meat were still in their mouths. Rin was shocked at how those demon lords ate. They ate as if they had been starved for many days, or even months! Rin turned around and looked at Sesshoumaru. He was using his fork, knife, and spoon to eat, just like a gentleman. Sesshoumaru would use knife and fork to cut a piece of meat. Use the spoon to take up rice and meat and put into his mouth. After chewing, then swallowing, he would then take a sip wine. Rin smiled slightly at this. 'Lord Sesshoumaru is much better than all those messy demon lords… tee hee…' She was giggling at the superiority of Sesshoumaru when compared to all those demons during dinner.

"What's so funny, Rin? Why don't you eat your food?" Sesshoumaru asked. He had noticed that Rin's shoulder was moving slightly up and down, as if giggling about something. Then, he saw that Rin didn't start eating yet.

"Nothing, Lord Sesshoumaru…" Rin answered. She tried to stop giggling. Then, she took a spoonful of rice and put into her small mouth. "This taste delicious!" Rin mumbled while chewing. Her mood was now restored to normal happiness.

Just when she was about to put a piece of meat into her mouth, a demon with dark brown hair and red eyes stood out into the middle of the lobby, catching the attentions of every person in the lobby. He was a dog demon, with his ears on top of his brown hair. Rin put her spoon down and looked at the demon with confusion. Sesshoumaru just used his golden eyes to glare at that demon.

"I demand to know why did you kill my brother?" The demon lord directed the question to Sesshoumaru. However, he was glaring at Rin with his crimson red eyes felt with hatred. "I saw everything that happened this morning!"

"Hmph… I know. I spare your life this morning for not interrupting what I was doing. Isn't that enough?" Sesshoumaru answered. He also stopped eating. The lobby immediately became silent. A lot of the demons began to sweat coldly. They knew better than to talk to the Great Lord of the Western Land like that.

"All my brother wanted was a mate. Besides, why do you keep a lowly human girl with you? Why not just give her to some other demon as a mate?" The dog demon growled. He wanted to get revenge for his brother. Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to challenge Sesshoumaru directly. He would get his revenge from torturing Rin. Rin felt a shiver ran down her spine at the hateful stares of that crimson eyes. Unconsciously, she moved a little closer to Sesshoumaru for protection. Although she had been with Sesshoumaru for a long time, he never taught her anything about fighting. Therefore, she was still a weak human girl without the real ability to protect herself against the powerful demons.

"Yea, Lord Sesshoumaru, why not give her away as a mate to your loyal demons? You are not thinking about mating her, are you? You should know that a high ranked demon such as yourself should never mate a disgusting human girl. Why not give her to me? Hahaha…" A fat demon with long gray hair stood up into the middle of the lobby as well. His ugly rat face revealed that he was a rat demon. Rin was hurt when the rat demon said the words 'disgusting human girl.' Her eyes swelled up with tears, but she tried to hold the tears back.

Sesshoumaru stared coldly at the two demons in the middle of the room. Then, slowly, he glared at all of the demons in the lobby, one by one, as a warning. He had sent many shivers through many demons in the lobby. Then, he opened his mouth and said with an icy voice, "I shall decide who to give Rin to, and none of you have the rights to teach me what to do. All you have to do is ask for Rin, and I will consider your request." Sesshoumaru then turned to the dog demon and said with an even colder voice, "As for you, your brother deserved to die for disobeying my orders of not to wonder in the castle, especially not to go near Rin's room. If you would like to unite with your dim-witted brother in hell, I can help you." Lastly, Sesshoumaru turned to the fat ugly rat demon, "Disgusting human girl? Then why do you want Rin as a mate? You are no one to be telling me what to do with my life."

The dog demon and the rat demon immediately started to tremble. They finally realized that they shouldn't have talked to the great Sesshoumaru like that. "I'm very sorry, my lord." Both demons said at once. They bowed their head timidly and crawled back to their tables. The lobby was still silent, as all the demons dared not to make a noise. They all knew that Sesshoumaru was warning them not to lay their hands on Rin. They also knew that Sesshoumaru didn't even want to listen to their request for mating Rin, especially when Sesshoumaru glared at them slowly as a warning and spoke with such an icy tone. 'Those two idiots are fools…' Thought many demons.

However, the only one who didn't understand Sesshoumaru was Rin. Her heart sank to the bottom of darkness when she heard Sesshoumaru said he would decide who to give her to. She didn't pay attention to what Sesshoumaru said for the rest of the conversations. Her mind was clouded by sorrow and she didn't realize that Sesshoumaru was only warning the other demons not to touch her. She didn't know that Sesshoumaru wanted to keep her in the castle because he cared for her. 'He's going to give me to some ugly demon as a present or something… How could he? Don't I mean anything to him? Am I only a mere human like every demon believed? Is this party just a way to advertise me to other demons so they would ask for me as a mate? No! I don't accept that! I'm not going to accept that!' Rin thought angrily and heartbrokenly.

Rin's tears finally fall down her cheeks, which now became colorless and very pale. Every bits of happiness and cheerfulness vanished from her black eyes. She slammed the table lightly and suddenly stood up. "I'm not going to accept that!" She yelled, and than she ran down the steps towards the entrance of the lobby.

"Stop, Rin! Where do you think you are going? You are not allowed to leave until the end of the dinner." Sesshoumaru ordered. Although his voice may be emotionless, his golden eyes became worried. He saw Rin's tears and the disappointment in her eyes. "I need to talk to you after the dinner."

But Rin shook her head as she ran towards the entrance. She didn't want to listen to Sesshoumaru. 'I don't want to know who he had decided to give me to as a present…' More tears came out of her eyes, she couldn't stop crying. Her heart was hurting her badly, as if her heart had been torn into pieces.

"Jaken, go look after Rin." Sesshoumaru ordered. He couldn't leave the dinner right now. He must at least escort all these demons out of his castle. He didn't want any incident similar to this morning's incident happening in his castle because of the demon guests.

"Yes, my lord." Jaken said. He quickly stood up and then grabbed his staff. Then, he trotted after Rin out of the lobby.

"This will be the last dish. After you finish, the dinner is over. Everyone shall leave my castle at once after the dinner." Sesshoumaru said coldly, still staring at the two trouble-making demons. He took up the cup of wine and drank it swiftly. He didn't have the mood for anything right now; hence he didn't notice a pair of white eyes staring at him with a large, evil grin on his face after the white eyes saw Sesshoumaru drank the cup of wine…

Rin ran toward the entrance of the castle. She didn't forget Sesshoumaru forbade her to leave the castle, but she didn't care anymore. All she wanted to do now was to run away from the castle, also the cage that had trapped her in for a several years already. Rin didn't care that her tears had ruined her beautiful makeup, she just wanted to cry until she felt better.

"Rin, you must not leave the castle! You are going to be punished if Lord Sesshoumaru finds out!" Jaken was running behind Rin, trying to catch up to her. However, he was too short to run fast enough to catch up to Rin. "It's dangerous out there; there are lots of demons… Rin!"

"I don't care!" Rin screamed. All that she wanted to do now is to run away. Maybe Sesshoumaru would finally realize how important she was to him, thought Rin. She kept on running… She ran through the giant garden full of various types of flowers, but she wasn't in the mood to look at the colorful flowers. She ran passed the giant gate to the castle and into the forest. As Rin was running, she raised her head slightly and saw that there was no moon in the sky. There was no star, only dark gray clouds. The sky was dark blue, and looked like it might rain soon.

Rin stopped under an apple tree. She looked back, but her vision was blurry because of her tears. She didn't hear or see Jaken. Jaken was probably too slow to catch up to her. Suddenly, a sharp pain seized the back of her neck, as if someone smacked the back of her neck to knock her out. "Umm…" Rin mumbled. She didn't even had the chance to look back to see who knocked her out. With a light thud, Rin fell to the ground, unconscious. "Muhahaha…" There was a light but evil laughter in the forest, teasing the ill-fated human girl and the revenge he was going to get soon…

Rin was lying on the floor. Her eyelashes began to move. Slowly, Rin opened her eyes. She realized that she awoke in a dark room. There was only one window. She tried to make out what was in the room, but it was too dark. There was no moon in the sky, and hence no moonlight to illuminate the room. Rin reached to the back of her neck and rubbed it lightly, it was still hurting a little. She was now certain that someone had knocked her out from behind her neck and then brought her here.

"Anybody here?" Rin mumbled. She was a little afraid of the darkness. She didn't like the darkness because she couldn't see anything. She fumbled around the room for a few seconds, then stopped immediately out of fear. She heard panting! 'There is someone in the room!' Rin panicked. She was terrified. 'Who could it be? What did the person want from her?'

Rin backed off until she touched the wall. Then, she felt the door, which was made of iron instead of the walls made of brick. Rin quickly pounded on the door. "Help! Is anyone out there! Let me out!" Tears started to flow out of her eyes. Her beautiful eyes were now filled with horror. "There's something in here! Help! HELP! LET ME OUT!!!" Her pounding was became louder and louder, but no one answered her calls.

"Lord Sesshoumaru! Help me! Don't leave me in the dark!" More tears flowed out of her eyes again. She could hear the panting getting louder and louder, indicating that the 'thing', whatever it is, a human, a demon, or a ghost, was coming closer and closer to her.

"Ahhh!! Help me! Lord Sesshoumaru! Don't leave me here! I'm scared! I'm scared! Ahh!!!" Rin began to panic. She didn't know what to do. There was no way for her to escape. Her voice became blurry as she choked on her tears.

Suddenly, a creature grabbed her wrists and threw her onto the floor. "Ouch…" Rin mumbled. She was now a bit tired from all those pounding and screaming. "Let me go… please…" Rin was pleading the creature, even though she couldn't see who or what that creature was. The creature toppled on top of Rin. Now she was really trapped. Rin pounded on the creature's chest hard and she kicked the creature. But her struggle was only futile. All she heard was the heavy panting of the creature, and all she could do now was sob.

Zizz… Rin's kimono was being torn into pieces. Rin struggled harder and screamed harder. "Lord Sesshoumaru! H-help me… Please…" Her voice was mixed with her sobbing. Tears of fear and hopeless ran down her pale cheeks. The moon in the sky was still covered by the thick black clouds. No light penetrated into the dark room. Tonight was a moonless, and hopeless, night…

Author's note: Phew… finally finished this chapter. It was much longer than the first chapter. What will happen to Rin? Who was the mysterious figure that poured some powder into wine and tea? And who is this creature in the dark room? All of the answers will be revealed in the future, hence the title "The Obscure Truth". I hope you like the story so far… So, please review!!! Thanks!!!