A month has passed by since she arrived at the village, and she began to settle down. She still hasn't told her friends about the darker part of her life, but she was slowly getting there. In all the time she has been here, she hasn't seen a demon or half-demon other than Shippo and Inuyasha. None of them has come near the village. Inuyasha and Miroku went to another village a few days ago to exorcise a rat demon, and even though she had asked if she could accompany them, they had refused, having told her that it was too much of a risk with her magical powers still sending wrong signals and her lack of experience with demons. However, how could she be able to gain experience if they did not allow her to encounter demons?

She had made big progress with masking her power and had discovered new aspects about them. To tell the truth, it was thanks to Inuyasha explaining it to her, and she had connected the heard with situations she had experienced. The signal her magic was sending out, depended on her mood. This meant that when she was happy and calm, her magic seemed harmless, and there wasn't as much of it coming out. In her meditation she had discovered that in that case it would curled more around her and was denser. On the other hand, when she was angry or frightened, it would appear to be more threatening and seemed to puff up like a cat, and sometimes it would also lash out. Through these observations, she was able to control the signal she gave of. To those who could sense her magic, it didn't seem to be powerful, most of the time. Unfortunately, strong feelings could still disturb that control of hers.

At the moment Rin and Hermione were searching for herbs in the nearby woods. Hermione had discovered that through her many shifts into her Animagus form, her senses have sharpened also in her human form. So, she was now using her nose to find a specific herb that was normally hard to find. It was shortly after she found it on the edge of a clearing and showed it to Rin that she picked up on something strange. She could feel a powerful aura approaching, along with two weaker ones. Standing close to Rin, she readied herself to protect the girl at all costs if the beings should be hostile. When she could also smell them, she was able to scent something scaly, similar to a snake but not a one, something undefinable that reminded her of toads and something dog like, quite similar to Inuyasha.

"Rin stand behind me there are beings coming this way. I will try and protect you, but if I tell you so, you have to run to Kagome, understood?", she told her without taking her eyes of the direction from which the scents and auras were coming.

Soon she realised that they weren't coming from the ground, but from the sky. She hoped they would fly over them, but unfortunately that hope was destroyed a moment later, when the beings landed in the middle of the clearing, facing Hermione and Rin. The weaker demon smelling scaly seemed to be an unknown towheaded dragon breed. The other weak demon didn't only smell like a toad but also looked similar to one. He was small green skinned, wearing brown robes and a black hat and had big yellow eyes. He was holding a staff with two faces. The weaker ones were on both sides of the other one but standing a bit behind him. As far as she could tell they were all male. The formation they stood in, reminded her of the way Draco, Crabbe and Goyle used to stand. She pushed away that thought and concentrated on the powerful demon.

He looked kind of familiar, now that she thought about it. He almost seemed human. He was tall, slender, fair skinned and very handsome. Straight silver hair reached his knees and he had pointy ears. A purple crescent moon was on his forehead and two magenta stripes adorned his cheeks and wrists. Long sharp claws embellished his long-fingered hands. He was wearing black ankle boots and a wide white hakama. On top he wore white kimono with red and with cherry flower crests on the collar and wide sleeves. Over it he wore a breast plate, which was spiked on the top, and attached to it was a similarly spiked shoulder piece on the left. A yellow and purple sash was tied around his waist, holding two swords; the ends hanging down in the front. On his right shoulder was a large fluffy white fur that seemed to be long enough to drag behind him. Golden eyes stared at her with slit pupils.

She swallowed hard but said nothing and stayed in a defensive pose in front of Rin.

"You filthy human! How dare you stand in my lord's way?!" croaked the toad like demon.

She flinched at those words, hearing similar words in her head in a screechy voice while having been tortured.

"Jaken," came the threatening voice from the powerful demon.

The little demon starred with wide eyes at the other one.

Before anything else could happen, Rin jumped out from behind Hermione and made her way to the demons while calling happily: "Lord Sesshomaru!"

"Rin," replied the demon a lot gentler than before.

"Has Lord Sesshomaru come to visit Rin?"

"Hn," he said and nodded, while looking down at the little girl, then he turned his gaze back to Hermione.

Seeing that, Rin looked back at the witch and then to her lord.

"Lord Sesshomaru, this is Hermione; she wanted to protect Rin, not knowing that Lord Sesshomaru would never hurt Rin. Hermione this is Lord Sesshomaru."

Hermione blinked, being surprised by the whole situation, then pulled herself together and bowed to the powerful demon saying: "Forgive me Lord Sesshomaru, I did not know it was you I was sensing. Rin has told me a lot about you. It is an honour to meet you in person."

HxS

Sesshomaru observed the woman closely. She had just said she had sensed them, but the powers she had should be too weak to do that; he could sense them too. Something was not right. On top of that, she smelled strange, it wasn't unpleasant, just strange. He discreetly smelled the air. She had this strange overpowering scent that hid the remaining nuances. It was clear that she was a foreigner, even if she was wearing traditional clothing for a commoner. She had a simple light blue kimono with a darker blue pattern, black arm and leg guards and straw sandals. Her skin was light, and she had long brown curly hair, which reached her hips and bounced around freely. All in all, she had a nice figure and was rather beautiful for a human. Deep brown eyes looked at him, and she smiled.

"Why does she smile at me?" he thought confused, but kept his face blank, "What did Rin tell her about this Sesshomaru that makes her smile at me?"

"Why did you want to protect Rin?"

"Why not? She is my friend. She helped me find the way to the village and has kept me company since. And she can't defend herself. I could at least buy her some time for her to make it to Kagome."

"This Sesshomaru is grateful, that you are looking after his ward."

He bowed his head slightly. Jaken's eyes widened seeing that and bowed deep.

"This human is strange. There is something… but I am unable to say what it is. We will keep an eye on her", Sesshomaru thought to his beast and it agreed.

He started walking toward the village, expecting the others to follow.

"Ahh, the herbs!" he heard the human say and go off to gather the mentioned herbs. Soon she caught up with them again.

"Rin, where is the half-breed? I cannot smell him."

"Miroku and Inuyasha went to exorcise a rat demon in another village a few days ago."

"Hn."

Rin then began to tell him and also Jaken and Ah-Un what had happened in the month since he last visited.

AN: Thank you for your support! I hope you continue liking the story! I am always thankful for your feedback. If everything works as planed I will post another chapter tomorrow, maybe two. So, look forward to it!

This story is now betaed by Pyo-Kiyo, I am very grateful for her help.

Thanks, and enjoy.