I replaced the note in the chapter six section with an actual chapter. Please be sure to read that first in case you missed it.

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The large room felt crowded with all the bodies pressed into it. Sesshomaru gazed at them all calmly before reaching out a hand smoothing and placing a finger on the map that was splayed out in front of him.

" The humans are amassing here?" He turned his gaze too a rat demon who's eyes glittered at the recognition.

" Yes my lord," the voice was surprisingly mellow, " right here. Armor, weapons of fine quality and priestesses in war readiness. There's no doubt they're planning on attacking this place."

Sesshomaru rested his hand on this thigh and pursed his lips slightly. " If we know they're there then they know that we do."

" My lord?"

" Jakken." Sesshomaru turned as the small demon came scurrying into the room. " Prepare a spy. I wish to know their true intent and I wish to know they're abilities."

A fist came down on the floor across the room. " Foolishness," a heavily armored demon snarled, " we should attack now before they bring in reinforcements. A small force of..."

As the head rolled across the tatami mats, Sesshomaru stood up from his low stool. " That is not their main force." His eyes glided across the careful neutral faces of everyone there. " As much as we mock them the priestesses may be a force to reckon with. It is in all of your best interests to know everything as you," he made eye contact with a few of them, " will be the ones facing them in battle."

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Rin pulled her robes tighter around her as she shivered against the night air. She peeked around the edge of the hut and, seeing no one, ran as lightly as possible across the clearing and into the woods towards where Ah-nun waited.

Sesshomaru-sama, I'm coming

She stopped, breathing heavily, as Ah-nun raised it's heads and blinked at her. She was much better but that sprint had still managed to knock the air out of her quite thoroughly. She sank to her knees and wrapped her arms as far around Ah-nun as she could reach.

" So where do you think you're going?"

She spun at the noise, her reaction to pinpoint the sound immediately. A flash of white.

InuYasha leaned against a nearby tree. " Going to run off to my brother and save him?"

" Of course not," she caught herself and forced herself into taking deep ordered breaths. " I just thought..."

" Thought what," InuYasha looked at her, his eyes not unkind but certainly holding steel in them. " That somehow being with him will make everything better?"

" He's going to be in a battle," she looked up at him as he walked towards her. " I just want to support him."

InuYasha flumped cross-legged on the ground in front of her. " Support him in killing humans? Is that really okay with you?"

Rin grimaced. " He never kills anyone who doesn't attack him first," she said staunchly. " He's never gone out of his way to kill humans."

InuYasha sat still for a moment before replying. " Sure, he only kills in defense...but they're still human. Do you abandon them so easily?"

" Did they care for me half so much as Sesshomaru has done? Should I weep for those who wouldn't and didn't weep for me?"

He leaned back with a cocky grin on his face. " Heh. You're too much like Kagome for me to argue with you and think I'll win. The point I'm trying to make," he leaned foreword again, " is that you are a liability and your presence will only serve to make a bad situation worse."

" But I..."

" Are a human. A human in a place full of demons when Sesshomaru is distracted, gone most of the time, and during a ripe time for an 'assassin' to sneak in and get you. That isn't even mentioning the fact that these humans would grab you in a heartbeat and try to use you against my brother."

" But my lord," she started.

" Could do nothing without losing everything. Then, when they find they can't use you they're more then likely to kill you for defiling yourself by associating with a demon."

Rin bit her lip as she twisted her fingers together. " I cannot go and support him but I surely can't stay here. It's no big secret who I am among the villagers and it's only a matter of time before the army..."

" I," InuYasha stated, " have already gotten that figured out."

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Sesshomaru sat in his bedchamber during a now rare moment of peace. He heard the footsteps long before the knocking on the wall just outside the entrance to his rooms announced Jakken's presence.

" Enter." This should be one less wait off his shoulders. Jakken should have Rin on her way to the partially completed ocean retreat and safely out of the way of any humans or demons who would see this as an opportunity to take advantage of his distraction.

" My lord," Jakken bounced from foot to foot nervously, " please forgive me I..."

" What Jakken," Seshhomaru interrupted in a smooth tone, " is it that you want to tell me?"

" Rin my lord! I couldn't find her! Your brother said he'd sent her into hiding and he wouldn't tell me where," his eyes shone with tears, " please my lord, I couldn't get him to talk. He..."

" Has interfered for the last time," Sesshomaru interrupted again, standing up and stalking past the startled Jakken and out the door.

" My lord! I will come..." Jakken rushed out the door but trailed off as he looked in both directions and saw no one.

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" You've got a visitor," Kagome announced from where she was stirring rice on the stove.

InuYasha was sitting against the wall, fiddling with a handle for a regular sword. " Yheah, he's not even trying to hide. Dumb, he should know that there's an encampment not far from here that wants his head on a platter."

The door slid smoothing open and Sesshomaru stepped inside.

" Yo," InuYasha flashed a wave at his brother.

" You will tell me where she is if you wish to live."

InuYasha scowled at him. " You really aren't a very polite guy. You ignore my wife and you make death threats when you walk into someone elses home. Jeez."

" You will tell me now."

" She safe."

Sesshomaru cracked his knuckles. " That is not a suitable answer."

" Both of you," Kagome stepped between the two of them, " calm down. InuYasha you may not like your brother but Rin isn't yours to decide when to divulge information." She fixed him with a glare before turning to Sesshomaru. " Can I get you some tea while we discuss this topic?"

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A dark shape hiding in the bushes and small tree's nearby was joined by another one.

" He's in the house?"

" Yes my lord, we saw him enter a while ago."

The soft noise of a hand rubbing leather. " A pity we cannot attack him now and end this before it starts..."

" My lord?"

The taller of the dark bodies straightened. " It would be suicide to attack him as we are. No, keep an eye on InuYasha. The odds are good that he's here to seek out his brother's aid. If that's the case we'll kill InuYasha but if not then we need to keep trying to get him to join us. Keep watch and see if you can figure out what's going on here."

" Yes my lord."