"Some say there are no guarantees in life, but I disagree. With life comes many certainties, such as pain and sorrow…" -Kikyou

"Uh… Rin? It's time for you to get your meal now."

Lord Sesshomaru stared beyond a cliff during a clear, cool spring day. He placed a long, white lock of hair behind his elfin ears and looked behind. There, stood his two-headed lizard demons, Ah-Un, and the green toad demon, Jaken. Rin, his only human cohort, was behind the three, admiring the cherry blossom trees which hovered above them. She had on a striped red and white kimono that fell on her knees. Her silk brown hair was set up in a side pony-tail, covering one of her small, delicate ears.

Rin slowly turned to him and smiled. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled with life.

"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru," she replied when she bowed before him. Then she sauntered off into the dense pink and green forest, in search of some food.

Contrary to what her demeanor portrayed, Rin was not happy to leave her master. She was never happy to be without him—but she was hungry, and Lord Sesshomaru had been looking beyond the cliff for more than half an hour, sniffing out a demon—she thought. She didn't really know actually. What she could acknowledge, without a doubt, was the distinct sound of her stomach grumbling. She was sure Lord Sesshomaru had heard.

How embarrassing, she thought as she continued down the trail of cherry blossom trees. It was truly a beautiful day. The sun was just setting, causing yellow-orange rays to beam through the trees, creating pockets of light on the grass. She hopped on to the patches that were on her path—and then came to a sudden halt.

Just beyond an old, almost gray Sakura tree, she noticed the silhouette of someone against a thick, green bush. It was at a fair distance where it could not detect her presence, so she was able to observe the figure well enough to see that the being wasn't large enough to belong to a deadly demon, but it certainly was sizable enough to belong to a human.

Those beings frightened Rin. The only men she'd ever befriended were Inuyasha, Miroku and Kohaku. And they just became men. Inuyasha was estimated, through physique, to be twenty eight—at least, that's what Kagome claimed—and the monk, Miroku, was thirty.

As for Kohaku, Rin had not seen the sweetheart in years, for he became a prominent demon hunter, known throughout the clans of Japan. His occupation was rather compromising, so she could not be close to him as they once were. Though he respected Lord Sesshomaru, he made a habit of taking down demons, indiscriminately. Lord Sesshomaru did not like this, as he despised most humans who dared to attack his race. But he allowed him to continue, so long as he destroyed only the most destructive of his ilk. Past company excluded.

Rin fled from most men as if they suffered from a plague. Why? Because nothing good came out of man. They were the ones who'd killed her family for no good reason, after all.

In an effort to steer clear from danger, she spun around and rushed back to where Lord Sesshomaru would be. She hoped.

He wasn't there.

"Damn."

A cool breeze fluttered through her tresses, causing hair to fly into her mouth. She spat it out and wiped her kimono, forcing herself to stay calm and serene, breathing in and out. In and out.

"I'll have to find a new place to get food." The forest was large enough. There had to be something to eat a little further down. "I'll settle for some fish."

She went down the cliff, carefully trekking through the rocky slope. There was a river bank, filled with—what she hoped was—really tasty fish. On the other side, stood a dense, seemingly endless forest, littered with ever-green trees which appeared to touch the sky.

Rin's stomach growled.

As she made her way to the grassy surface, she stared at the river, making sure it was healthy enough to eat from. The reservoir seemed clean. No pollutants, she noted, almost as if no one ever came to drink from the precious elixir.

More fish for me, Rin thought happily, while pulling up her sleeves. She advanced toward it. Her black shoes met grass, flattening beneath her feet, and created strange crunching sounds. As soon as she came within a foot of the waters, the surface became slick and rocky. She bent down and bared her feet, dropping her shoes carelessly on to the ground. Then she took careful, tentative steps toward the shore.

That was when she heard a noise; a soft, almost imperceptible sound only one with a keen sense of hearing could have detected. She lifted her dress and snatched her dagger from a sheath that was strapped around her right leg by a small leather belt. Years ago, Jaken had taught her how to listen well in the forest, but Lord Sesshomaru taught her how to aim with a dagger.

"You're older," he'd mentioned, two years ago, when she had turned eighteen. "And you need to be able to protect yourself from demons—and men. I will not always be there for you."

How right he was.

Rin looked around, below and above for any sign of life, but she only noticed a few bugs and fishes jumping in and out of the water. No sign of men or demons.

Maybe it was only paranoia that was making her hear things. Whenever she was alone, this tended to happen.

Rin stepped deeper into the bank to stare down at the fishes scurrying beneath her. She raised her dagger high. Slowly, she began to crouch, now aiming at a fish racing toward her—but then she heard another sound from behind.

She stood up slowly and turned around.

There was a middle aged man about ten feet away from her, with broad shoulders, a bald head and a long beard. He had no clothes on, except for a brown patch of fur covering his genitals.

Rin immediately lost her appetite.

Well... Most of it.

"What do you want?" she asked him in a cool voice.

The ugly man smiled roguishly, his teeth both yellow and black, and began to walk closer to her; his flabby stomach moving side to side. "I want-" he said in a voice as deep as the ocean, but just as harsh, as though he smoked far too much "-you."

Rin lifted her chin and sent him a glare. Another thing Lord Sesshomaru taught her was how to look at someone with contempt, scorn and disgust all at the same time. Rin called it the Cold Face. Sesshomaru did it very nicely. Twenty-four-seven.

"You'll have to fight me."

"I like a challenge." The man chortled. "But now isn't the time for fighting, don't you think? After all, I've done nothing to warrant such disrespect from a young girl like you. I only came here to ask you for a favor."

She watched him as he stood there, unblinking. "And what may that be?"

"I've been away from my home for too long a time," he said in an almost sad tone. But there was an odd, murky gleam in his eyes and she didn't trust it. He continued. "I am a lonely man. Do you understand me, miss?"

Yes, she did, and the thought of touching such a man sent a wave of revulsion down her spine. She lifted her hands, with one dagger raised, clenched her fists and stood in a fighting stance to prepare herself for battle against the evil lecher. The metal blade gleamed before her, purposefully covering the lower half of the man's body from her vision.

"You will not touch me," she said. "I will not hold back on you just because you are older than me."

"And how old are you, woman?"

"Twenty, grandpa."

His face grew to an appalling shade of red. "I am not a grandpa!" he bellowed. He pointed his pink, chubby finger at Rin. "I will have you, girl. Even if it be by force."

She scoffed. "No, you will not."

He cocked his head to the side and regarded her silently. "You cannot fight me, woman. You are weak."

"Well, let's just see if that is true."

With a war cry, she ran toward the man and kicked him on his chest. He gasped and fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"Ha!" she laughed, looking down at him with her chin raised high. "I was taught by Lord Sesshomaru to protect myself. I will not let you defeat me."

"You witch!" he shouted, sitting up. "You will surely regret that."

Suddenly, three more men came out of a few bushes beside the cliff wall, all without any clothes. They had malicious smiles on their faces that fit well with their intentions.

Immediately, instinct took over. Rin calculated if she could defeat these four men with her dagger and her strength alone. She swallowed thickly.

Nope, she thought. It's impossible.

So she did what she thought was best—and she ran.

"After her!" the man ordered, and the other three followed suit.

She ran with all her strength, ignoring the scrapes and cuts she obtained from running on the dirt-floor barefoot. She jetted through the river and raced toward the forest. Behind her, the men continued to chase after her, never stopping for a breath which Rin, oh, so desperately needed. She ran far and swiftly, zig-zagging through the foliage, knowing that if she ever were to falter, she would lose more than her maidenhood.

After some time, silence followed behind her and she came to a halt. She turned to look around to see if they were near, but they appeared to have lost her. She smiled, though her breath came in great heaves. Rin knew it would do her no good to continue standing. The adrenaline which came from the run quickly depleted, so she could suddenly feel the aches and scrapes that derived from it. With a wince, she sat on a nearby branch and turned her foot. Though calloused and thick with skin, her flesh bled from debris. She groaned silently and looked up at the sky with a heavy sigh.

Sesshomaru, her mind whispered.

But it would be far too convenient for him to come searching for her here. If he wasn't here now, it meant he had gone somewhere else, far from any place from which he could sense her. She would have to fend for herself.

She wiped her sweat drenched forehead with the sleeve of her shirt, then made a move to stand.

Sure enough, a twig snapped, and in a flurry of movement, the men sprang up from behind, fury racing through their veins. Rin gasped and then made a move to run, but she was blocked from all sides.

"You bitch!" one man roared. He had a reddish-brown scar that ran down the right side of his cheek, with skin as dark as bronze. "You will regret what you have done!"

Rin stood tall, squaring her shoulders. She looked them each in their dark, soulless eyes and readied herself.

Then they attacked.

Hours later, Rin awoke with a start to the sound of a rustle from a bush beside her. Though stiff, she slowly lifted her head to view her whereabouts. Doing so, she saw a small green lizard-like creature staring at her.

She attempted to smile—and the creature immediately ran off.

"I probably look as bad as I feel," she groaned, sounding just as miserable as she felt. She tried to move around and it hurt—Lord, how it hurt—but she was determined to find shelter or, at the least, a more suitable place to rest. She was alive when she should have been dead. Shock ran through her. She had more strength than she thought, she supposed. That or she had an enormous supply of blood.

She looked around, fearful that the men would appear again to do no good. Fortunately, they were nowhere in sight, far from where she lay. She knew this for she waited for them, interminably. Once she concluded that the coast was clear, she searched for her garments, for she found that she was in the nude. Her clothes rested far from her, some parts ripped to pieces, near a patch of shrubbery. She groaned.

Lord Sesshomaru gave me that!

Successfully ignoring all that this predicament implied, since the pain overshadowed all thought, Rin took the largest piece of clothe from her kimono and placed it under her belly to keep her stomach safe from getting any more cuts. She piled the rest on her back in hopes to mayhap sew the garment back together one day. She then began to drag herself along the floor, yearning to find a source of water nearby. Her thirst seemed unquenchable. Her desire to live, unmatched.

As time progressed, she knew she was getting filthier by the second, but it was the price one had to pay to live. Heaven decided to finally grant her some luck and blessed her with a long, thick stick. Slowly but surely, she used it to lift herself up. She hopped on one foot and continued until she found the river. Tears flowed when she saw the clean water.

Once there, she awkwardly knelt down and began to clean her arms and face from all the blood. Some small cuts continued to bleed, but not as profusely as one would think. Maybe she was going to live. Clean water lay before her which served as a refreshment and healing place. And there was an abundance of fish in this river. Sure, she would have to eat it raw, but it's not like she'd never done that before. Besides, Lord Sesshomaru would come for her soon enough. He always did. She just prayed he arrived on time, before some other monsters came to beat her. Or worst.

After she cleaned what she could from her shredded kimono, she picked up the stick from the ground and moved to dry land where she lay back and covered her body with the dress.

For some time, Rin rested there with her eyes closed. Blessed sleep engulfed her once more.

There was a creature breathing harshly down Rin's cheek when she woke next. Her vision was blurry and she could hardly see anything. Neither could she hear well past the pounding in her head. Whatever was above her was a safe animal—it had to have been since its breath smelled thickly of greens.

She mumbled at the creature, "You don't want to eat me. I taste bad."

The animal groaned and she tore her hands away at the familiar sound. And then she knew—she was going insane. Jaken, ill-tempered and loud-mouthed, was looking down at her, weeping.

Well, alright, that wasn't exactly strange. Jaken cried all the time. He wept when Lord Sesshomaru left him alone—with Rin—or Ah-Un. Or when he hit his stubby feet on some rock. The toad cried a lot, period, but he always wept obnoxiously.

She observed, with a cold dread branching through her spine like shards of ice, that he merely let out a feint sniffle.

She lifted her head from the ground. "Master Jaken?" she whispered.

His eyes widened and he covered his mouth with his hands. "Rin," he muttered brokenly. "What happened to—"

She narrowed her eyes (which almost shut them completely) and looked beyond him. Ah-Un was there, staring at her with huge eyes. They groaned. Rin nearly jumped at the sight of them, but the pain of her movements held her down.

"Ah-Un," she rasped and dared to smile. She knew it didn't come out nice. "I am so glad you are here."

Jaken's countenance changed from one of worry to displeasure. He grimaced. "You are happy to see the beast, but not me?"

Rin smiled at him too, though broken and bloodied. He couldn't help himself; he smiled back—and then burst in to tears.

Ah-Un cocked both of his heads to the side and blinked at her. He then bent down one head to lick Rin's brow. Immediately, the headache she had a second ago vanished.

Out of the shadows of the forest came Lord Sesshomaru. His eyes widened when he saw Rin's broken body laid flat upon the dirt floor, half naked. She couldn't see that he was there; she was looking at Ah-Un with a queer sense of amazement. But he could see her clearly, and he hated what he saw. He was gone for no more than a day and Rin was…

She resembled a corpse. Her skin was pale and there were contusions all over her arms and legs. Her eyes—those brown eyes were nearly swollen shut.

He took a few steps toward her, making sure he made little noise. When he was beside her body, he knelt down and said, "Who did this to you?"

Rin was so shocked to hear his voice, her whole body trembled. She turned to him swiftly and he knew it pained her to do so because she cried out.

"Sessho—" She choked on her words, though he noted how labored they came.

"Who did this to you?" he said a bit louder.

She swallowed thickly. "S-some men," she rasped. "A few hours ago... I think."

His gaze ran down her arms and broken kimono. His lips formed a thin line at the sight of her garment. The garment he bought her. "How many?"

"F-four."

His golden eyes met her brown with a snap. "How did they look?"

A coughing fit erupted in her throat. He ceased his inquiries. "I will leave the questioning for later. As for now, you must rest."

She reached out and touched his thigh.

From behind, Jaken gasped, but Sesshomaru paid no mind. He felt her wrap small, precious hands around his ankle. Despite her condition, her touch was warm.

"Please do not leave me, Lord Sesshomaru."

He made a note of each bruise on her sore flesh and suddenly his body heated with rage. As she watched, he knelt down and lifted the ruined kimono off her form and trailed his fingers down her stomach. She had large cuts on her legs and contusions the size of an apple on her stomach and abs. A thin trail of blood provided a path downward.

"Milord?"

His gaze fell to a cut on her inner thigh, where bruises and a cloudy substance colored her flesh.

Suddenly, his breath came out heavy and his words harsh. "Do you remember all they did to you?"

The air surrounding them emitted various scents—scents he could search out and destroy. Death, and only death, would come to they who wounded Rin. It would be known to them only after they experienced the kind of pain bestowed upon her, tenfold.

Rin hesitated briefly. "I-I remember bits and pieces. Only fragments of it all. They hit me on my head. But after that, I lost consciousness—"

He could contain his fury no longer. A deep, menacing growl emitted from his lips, and his eyes transformed from a golden hue to a crimson color so deep, the blood now on his hands seemed pale in comparison.

"My Lord?" Rin whispered, fragile and afraid.

"Those fools!" he suddenly roared, causing Rin to flinch. A reddish, pink vapor began to swirl around his body.

He turned to Jaken and fairly snapped, "Protect her or die." The demon gulped with a nod.

Sesshomaru stood and backed away from Rin to change into his true demon form. His nose grew into a long dog snout and white fur rose from his skin. Now on all fours, he suddenly leapt toward the sky.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin cried, and he could hear the panic in her voice as it came now, strong and fervent. "Please, do not go!"

She grabbed a stick close by and lifted her body, wincing at the pain, but somehow holding it all in. Her garment slipped from her waist, but she did not seem to care.

"My lord!" She began to limp in his direction, moving down the river. "Lord Sesshomaru! Please, come—" She fell to the ground in an instant. Rin lifted her head and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" she screamed. "Lord Sesshomaru!"

Author's Note: I apologize for the fairly bleak start. Things should pick up within the next few chapters. Also, nothing is at it seems, so keep going, if possible. :)