Rin gasped as she launched up from her sleeping mate and clutched at the skin and muscle covering her heart. She was dewed in sweat though the night's temperature was more than fair and she wore a light sleeping kimono or nightgown; a gift Kagome had given her a year ago.

"What is it, Rin?" Sesshomaru asked from the tree he sat under.

He'd seen her toss and turn, constantly fidgeting in her sleep while the sweat on her temples gathered and matted the hair on her face. Her heartbeat ran spiked just before she'd jolted out of the cot and scanned her surrounding environment.

"It's nothing my Lord, I'm sorry to have disturbed you." She replied in a soft voice as to not wake Jaken, who lay comatose before A-Un.

This Rin he could recognize, her eyes grew big, her face pale and her voice meek. She was scared.

"You still dream of the wolves." He stated in bleak surprise.

Rin opened her mouth to deny it but as the brown of her eyes met the amber glow in his, she knew it was futile. The nightmare plagued her from her youth well into the years of her adolescence and would revisit her sparingly as she entered adulthood.

She tucked a handful of loose hairs behind her right ear and hung her head just slightly in silent affirmation.

"It is a thing of the past, Rin, they will never harm you again, no one will. I promise." Sesshomaru vowed.

Rin's eyes widened in shock as she acknowledged and recalled the promise he made to her almost nightly in her youth when she'd been frequented by the nightmares. She remembered how those words alone would soothe her into a sound sleep.

She smiled ever so slightly. "You remembered." She said in a hushed and flattered tone. Her voice still soft and husky from her sleep. Her hand still remained over her heart as she waited for her heartbeat to succumb to its natural rhythm.

"Of course." Sesshomaru sniffed.

Rin smiled at the slight offense she could hear behind his tone, a subtle difference that no one other than Jaken and herself could have picked up.

"I just meant that, I am surprised. I didn't think you would care to remember it. It was so silly after all, having to reassure a child every night after a nightmare." Rin explained.

Sesshomaru looked at her evenly. "Trauma is not a symptom of the weak, Rin. You need not feel shame."

"I don't." she replied quickly.

Sesshomaru arched a brow in her direction, subtle amusement crossing his features at her poor deception capabilities.

"Have you always been so obstinate?" he asked dryly.

Rin smiled and shrugged, "No but living with Inuyasha will make anyone more stubborn and defiant than they ought to have been. I'm sure."

"I see." Sesshomaru conceded.

"They're doing well by the way. Sango and Miroku are expecting their fourth child, while Kagome-chan and Inuyasha are expecting their first. They've settled quite nicely into their new lots in life."

Sesshomaru didn't reply though he was surprised that the halfbreed brother he tried often to forget about would produce an heir and with the strange priestess no less.

The child would no doubt be part demon, though how large or small that portion would be, was a complete mystery. He wondered idly if the priestess would pass on her power to the child as well, even he had to admit that the child would sure be a marvel to study if indeed he did possess the powers of a priestess and a demon. He had to give it to the rambunctious half-demon, he sure kept things interesting.

"Shippo is bigger now, he trains to become one of the strongest fox demons." Rin paused to smile. "Though I don't know that brute strength will be his compliment, he would do much better if he focused on outwitting his enemies." Rin continued as her heartbeat fell back into its normal rhythm and her face grew brighter in the joy she took in speaking of her friends.

Though Sesshomaru couldn't care in the least about the trivial information she provided, he felt no need to cease her speaking as it brought her back to the present and away from those gruesome nightmares.

"And Kohaku?" she said softly as she grinned and shook her head in mild disbelief and astonishment. This caught Sesshomaru' s attention. He could care less about the demon slayer boy who'd followed him for such a brief period of time. What he cared about was the way Rin's voice almost caressed his name while her molten chocolate warmed and then fell to the ground as if they were sharing the secrets her full lips and flushed face refused to divulge.

"I wouldn't know where to start. He's done so much, grown so much. He went back to the demon slayer village and rebuilt it, he uses it now as a shelter for children, where he teaches them to slay demons. naturally, there are adults there too who have learned from him and who run the village as no child can do so alone but the good he's done there is nothing compared to what he does now. He crosses the lands and freely gives a hand to people and villages in need. He teaches them to hunt, slay, build homes and once he is done doing what he can for one village, he moves on to the next. It's incredible." She breathed. "He even found time to train me."

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as he studied the young woman before him.

Perhaps something had happened between her and the boy, over the course of the years. She was no longer a child after all and the last time Sesshomaru laid eyes on the boy he was well on his way into adulthood. This could be why she'd refused the boy at the river the other night or perhaps why she'd yet to enter into a betrothal, when clearly there was no lack of offers. Even he could see the beauty the demons and humans had come to fawn over; her body was full and yet slight, strong but soft. There was an innocence and yet a maturity in her demeanor, and certainly the demon slayer she spoke of so affectionately would have seen this in her.

Perhaps she was truly a woman now.

He cast the thought away, he wouldn't do her the disservice of thinking so basely of her. After all, though she'd grown into something he had yet to fully understand, at her core she was still Rin; good and innocent. She would never debase herself and go unmarried or travel without her companion, if indeed he was that. No, she was still just a young maiden. Of this, he was certain.

Nonetheless, he'd never heard Rin talk about anyone with such poignant adoration. No one but him and despite the fact that this Rin was no longer his Rin; the innocent, good-natured, and brave child he had all but reared, something in him was slighted and displeased by hearing her praise.

"Have you recovered from your nightmare, Rin?" he asked pointedly though she was still prattling on about the boy.

The question pulled her up short and she smiled sheepishly.

"Yes, thank you." She replied before taking her lower lip between her teeth and smiling anyway.

She settled back into her cot and was soon sleeping soundly, her color still pooled in her face and coated in a new-found peace.

Kohaku. Sesshomaru thought with a mild annoyance. Hmph.