It was around midnight. The moon was almost full and the stars shone brightly on the large manor. The lunar orb glowed and gave just enough light for the lord of the mansion to make his way through the halls of his last domain, of his castle.
The demon didn't know why he was still awake, or even why he was still at his house. Although Naraku had been defeated, there where still other demons that threatened his domain, although not necessarily him. He hated being in one place for longer than a week. It just didn't feel right.
Nevertheless, here he was, walking around in this near-empty house, with just himself for company.
And her.
He hated her. Hated her for being everything he wasn't. She was obedient, happy, innocent, pure, and loving. She could love. She did love. She loved him.
And he hated her for it.
The lord continued walking through the castle in only his white and red kimono and pants. He had shed his armor, boa and weapons a few hours ago, although his swords had been within easy reach from his cushioned pallet. His leather-clad feet made a repetitive beat through the lonely house as he slid from hall to hall.
He couldn't stop thinking about her. She was nineteen now, a full-grown woman with the innocence she had possessed when she was ten. She had blossomed into a gorgeous young woman equipped with extraordinary grace and virtue. All day she roamed the house, smiling and laughing and talking to him.
Just talking. About the weather, about the kinds of birds she had seen in the garden, of how the roses where growing so fast. And so beautiful. Everything to her was beautiful, even when there was no beauty to behold; she found something pleasing about anything. About anyone.
He stopped and narrowed his eyes. He hated her. Hated and detested and loathed. And loved.
He was her father, then her brother, now her protector and shield. He made sure she remained the way she did. Even if it tore him up inside. All for the sake of her love.
Because she did adore him, that much he could tell. The way she looked at him, the way she smiled and talked and laughed and walked. Everything about her was so full of love and joy that he was certain he was the only thing that mattered to her. The only thing.
The demon's golden eyes narrowed and he continued walking through an all-to-familiar corridor. He looked at the paper walls, now a dull gray in the dimming moonlight, and halted at a well-worn door.
Traitor feet. Taking him the one place he would do anything to erase from his memory. To erase from his life, just to be able to forget so he could get a decent nights sleep.
With downcast eyes he slowly slid open the door to her room, making sure not to make a single sound, lest she wake up and find him. He let his eyes slowly trail over the floor, coming to rest on the inky black hair on the back of her head.
So many differences between them. Chaste and tainted, loving and unloved, helpful and helpless. He almost forgot where he ended and she began, simply because of their differences. He hated her for reminding him every day of what he wasn't, of what he should be.
He leaned on the frame of her doorway, watching her breath through lazy eyes.
She was so delicate. So easily broken and beaten.
She was only human after all.
And what was he to fall so easily for a human that did nothing to deserve him? A demon? No: a coward, to believe that he would ever allow himself to love her. To be loved by her.
But she did do something to deserve him. She gave him a reason. A reason to exist, even if it was more of an excuse than anything else. She needed him. And apparently, that was enough to make him stick around this desolate house.
She needed him to protect her, needed him to be there.
He was just . . . Considered necessary. He was a constant in her life. The one thing that broke the monotony and loneliness in her life.
He didn't understand it.
She continued breathing, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
But then again, love is oftentimes hard to understand.
She sighed in her sleep and turned over slowly, stretching her muscles. The demons eyes glinted and he retreated a half step, making sure she was still lost in Morpheus' realms.
He looked at her face, the normally soft edges of her face even more muted in the moonlight. It wasn't perfect. It was nothing near perfection. Her eyes where a little too large, her face a little to round.
Although, in her own way, she was beautiful.
It was times like these, when she was asleep, when she was completely relaxed that the lord of the mansion though she was the most lovely. When her eyes fluttered in her dreams, when a few dangling bangs rose and fell with her inhale and exhale.
When she didn't realize she was being watched.
The demon didn't realize what was happening until he was already half-kneeling by the young woman's side. He swallowed and cocked his head over to the side, observing every inch of the girl less than a foot away from him.
His hand slid out from the long folds of his kimono and rested lightly on her neck. His fingers where warm but even so, he could feel her temperate pulse. She was so venerable and soft.
He couldn't help it. He leaned in towards her face his lips parting slightly, his hand still resting lightly on her neck.
The demon's breath hitched slightly, his heartbeat increasing ever so slightly. He could do whatever he wanted with her and she wouldn't be able to stop him. He could kiss her, touch her, ravish her, kill her. . . And she would just have to let him do it.
She was only human.
His eyelids fluttered as he leaned down farther and lightly brushed his lips against her forehead, a few strands of hair whispering against her cheek.
"Sweet dreams Rin," he murmured, standing up and leaving the room softly, closing the door behind him.
Inside the room the young woman smiled.
"Sweet dreams Lord Shessoumaru." she said softly.