The castle

1 Week Later

Rin's POV

"Rin! Rin! Wake up child, haven't you slept enough?!" My eyes slowly opened, and to no surprise Jaken's little green face was in mine demanding I get moving.

I smiled slightly while rubbing my eyes. "Master Jaken, good morning to you as well. Must you always be so grumpy?"

Jaken rolled his eyes jumping off of A-Un. "We are here. This dreadful and long trip has finally come to an end! Now I can finally begin to fulfill my role beside My Lord ruling our empire." Jaken looked passed A-Un and I with his hands clasped together and a sparkle in his eye I'd never seen before.

I turned my head around to see what he was gazing at and the sight of what I saw caused me to gasp out loud. Never in my life had I ever seen anything so spectacular, and it was now supposed to be my new home. The castle before me was like something I'd only heard of in fairytales. The castle stretched wide and far, and the entire thing sparkled like white marble, it was almost blinding. The towers were so high they almost seemed like they were touching the clouds. Beautiful ponds, and rose bushes surrounded the entire place creating such a calming atmosphere. In the middle of my trance I felt a hand in my shoulder. I broke myself from the beautiful sight before me and turned my head back around.

"Lord Sesshomaru." I whispered

He slightly frowned with a worried look upon his face. "Is it not to your liking Rin?"

I shook my head quickly. "No, it is fine My Lord. It's just a lot to take in at once, it's magnificent, truly."

Lord Sesshomaru's frown disappeared and he put his hand out for me to take. "Why don't we let A-un enjoy his new surroundings, I'd like to talk with you alone."

As he said this his eyes averted to Jaken, causing Jaken to jump in the air. "Oh yes my Lord! I will escort A-Un around the premises!"

I took Lord Sesshomaru's hand and slid off of A-Un, petting him one last time. "You enjoy your new playground my old friend, I will see you soon." If I didn't know better I would have sworn he gave me a smile before taking off with Jaken. I felt a sad feeling seeing him walk away into the distance knowing that a life living here may mean no more nights sleeping on A-Un under the stars.

"Rin, please follow me." Lord Sesshomaru asked.

I nodded and we began walking side by side towards the beautiful castle, causing my heart to beat rapidly. "It is really a sight to behold my Lord."

He slightly smiled, his bangs swaying in the wind. "It was built to house royalty. It's fitting for us to live in."

I sighed. "I am not royalty though, you are My Lord. This is a lot to get used to, I grew up very poor and alone a lot of my life. This all seems so foreign to me."

"Rin this is your home now, and no one is more fit to live in it than you. You are my equal, and everyone that you will begin to meet as we start a life here shall treat you as such. You're no longer an orphan, you're the lady of this castle." I shyly looked down not feeling comfortable with any of the titles he was trying to give me. He sensed my hesitation stopping in his track and grabbing my hand. "Rin." He scowled. "My equal."

I reluctantly nodded. "Okay. Equal."

He let go of my hand as we finally had reached the front doors of this magical kingdom that was now mine. "Rin I made sure staff would not bother us right now, I want to take you to the most special place in this house and I'd like it to be just us. If that is okay with you." I nodded, slightly blushing. He opened the doors, and my heart dropped as I stepped in. Somehow the inside rivaled the outside, but in a much different way. The inside was quite dark compared to the outside but it was just as beautiful. The inside had lots of black and gold colors, with a hint of red here and there. The entire place seemed to be lit by candle, and every wall was decorated in beautiful paintings. Lord Sesshomaru began walking up the beautiful black staircase, with gold railings. I instinctively followed, wishing I had more time to to explore the area we were in before moving farther upstairs.

Almost as if reading my mind Lord Sesshomaru reassured me. "There is plenty of time Rin."

I awkwardly giggled. "Yes you're right."

After walking up several more flights of stairs we reached the fourth floor, and began a journey down a very long hall way. "Are we almost there." I pouted.

"Yes, we are here." Lord Sesshomaru stopped in front of a tall golden door, with a glass handle. He opened the door and walked inside gesturing for me to follow him. Once we were both inside he closed the door behind us. The room was gigantic, and in the center there was a very large bed with white fur blankets and what seeemed like 100 pillows. The floor was marble white, and everything in the room seemed to be made of crystals From the flower vases, to the door handles, it was beautiful. It was all very right, much like the outside of the castle. "What is this room, My Lord?" I whispered.

"It is our room Rin. I had it decorated especially for you, I wanted it to be to your liking. There's even a balcony so that you may enjoy the stars, I know that is special to you."

I turned to face him, unable to stop my tears from falling and my cheeks from beaming bright red.

"Rin what is it? Have I upset you somehow? We can change it." He stared at me blankly, but I knew he was feeling disappointed.

I stepped a few feet away from him, sitting on the beautiful fur bed that was meant to be mine. "My Lord it's beautiful, it's just that this is all happening so very quickly, and it's hard for me to hear the things you've been saying today. Much of the time I traveled with you I was a young child, and now I'm a woman, and it's still strange how quickly our relationship has changed. I admired you from afar for so long, never thinking you could ever see me the way I saw you. Now it seems that in an instant I'm in this wonderful castle built for royalty, and you're showing me a room with a bed that is meant for-" I paused briefly trying to control my blushing. "Us."

Lord Sesshormaru averted his eyes from me. "Oh. I understand what you're saying." After a few silent moments he walked towards me sitting beside me on the bed. "This is new for me as well Rin, I've never loved a woman before, or shared a bed with one. My intention has not been to make you feel uncomfortable, I just wanted you to know that things are going to be different now. Now we can sleep beside one another every night, and I won't leave you anymore. I meant what I said before, I will only fight to protect you. My life will now be here with you, every single day, as long as you'll have me."

I wiped the tears from my cheek leaning my head on his shoulders. "Oh My lord, you've not made me uncomfortable, in fact you've done everything perfect. I think I'm just scared of what the future will hold. Imagining this being our home forever, and creating children in this bed with you brings a scary thought to my mind."

Lord Sesshomaru grabbed my hand. "What is scaring you, I wouldn't hurt you Rin. I would never let that happen."

I blushed again realizing what he was talking about. "No, that's not what I mean My Lord. When I was young I had a conversation with Jaken about this very empire, and I asked him what my position would be in said empire." I took my head off of his shoulder looking into his eyes. "He proceeded to tell me I wouldn't have one because by the time you built this empire, I'd be long gone."

Lord Sesshomaru let go of my hand, his face turning into a scowl. "I'll kill him."

"No, it was long ago, but there was truth in his words that we can't ignore. I will grow old, and this beautiful life we are going to live is going to be over in the blink of an eye for you. I will be laying in this bed old, and you along with any children we could have will have to watch me die. You'll live for hundreds of years after I'm gone, and I'll be just a small part of your past."

Lord Sesshomaru wiped a tear from my cheek, then quickly pulled me into his chest tightly wrapping his arms around me. "I won't hear another word. Do you understand me Rin? We are equals, but this once I need you to do as I say, please. Never worry about this again, because no matter the outcome you will never be just a small part of my life, you will be the only thing that ever mattered in it. I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you from dying, and I don't care if you think it's ridiculous to try and do so. I'm aware that the odds are that you will be in this bed one day old and dying, but you'll still be in our bed and I'll still be here by your side until the very end. I don't care what you'll look like, and I don't care that I'll outlive you. This life with you is worth it, and whatever pain I'll have to endure when you're gone won't be anything compared to the possibility of knowing I could of had you when you were here and didn't. You don't have to worry about a thing besides living a normal human life, by my side."

I was shaking in his arms, still afraid despite him trying to reassure me. He pulled away from me so that our faces were inches apart, and leaned in kissing me gently. He tried to pull away like usual, but I leaned in deepening the kiss, begging for more. He began to kiss me back for only a few seconds before pulling away. "Rin this isn't the right time." He whispered.

"If our time is limited, I want every second to count. Please." I whined.