Two Days Later

"Jaken!" Sesshomaru roared. He was sitting on a large boulder in a field near a human village. His aversion to them gradually dissipated as Rin aged. They still invaded his sensitive nose with smells he would rather avoid, like smelly sweaty old men, and dirty children. Then there was also the smell of human food, but they weren't completely useless. Over time it had become his habit to bring a gift whenever her visited Rin. It started when she was a child to assuage her nerves and his guilt, when he left and to see her smile. She stopped smiling in the first months after he left her in the village. Her visage was replaced with silence, annoyed huffs and rolling eyes. At times she smelled of salt, and her cheeks were red. He was sure she learned the latter from Inuyasha.

The little urchin came running holding his staff Nintojo in his hand. His feet pattered annoyingly, "Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

Sesshomaru strode past him, "we go." Sesshomaru nearly crushed Jaken with his heel. He expected that Jaken had prepared everything, he needed to see Rin. He used anger to cover how he really felt. When he had seen the fear in her eyes last he saw her it shook him. She had never been afraid of him before. It needed addressing. Gone was the girl that had taken that first hug he gave her as an invitation to jump either into his legs or in his arms when he came to visit. He would shake her off in annoyance for show, but his heart lightened each time and he was reminded, he could feel more than the nothing that was there. She smiled less, and her worries seemed more as she aged. She smelled of Yokai blood and refused to explain it to him. Rin spoke less, and spent more time with humans, he was sure she had made her decision. That night though, when the luminescent full moon hung low in the sky, he wasn't sure what her choice was. They had all but avoided the topic of her rejoining him, over and over. She had asked over the years, starting when she was twelve to return to his side. He refused her over and over. Kaede adjured him, humanity was where she belonged. Half the time she was happy the other half they were at each other's throats.

The horse was his peace offering for an argument they had the month before her birthday. Rin wanted to leave the village to see the world she said, to travel like she had with him. She saw more of the world since he found her than most did in their lives but after nearly losing her in hell and to Naraku, he knew that he could no longer keep her safe. It was for his benefit that he had kept her. That smile, it had melted the stone that pulsated life in his breast, it sent warm blood coursing through his veins. When Kohaku told him Rin wasn't breathing, and his mother told him Tensaiga could not revive her again, he thought he would die. He Sesshomaru-Sama, felt what humans called tears burn in his eyes. Tears, he didn't even know he had and would not allow to flood his eyes, "nothing could be worth her life." The words echoed in his mind. She was not safe in his world. She was restless though, trapped in the confines of the village. They spent the morning that day in pleasant conversation. "Did you know Kagome-sama is having another baby?"

"No," he answered quietly as they walked along the trees. They had children quickly after her return. The first coming eight months after, and another a year and a half later.

"It's supposed to come in a few months, well maybe, it depends on how strong the yoki is, Taisho, their dark haired boy, he's still not showing any signs of having any yoki. Do you think he does?"

"Weakly perhaps," his sentences were still clipped and short.

Jaken followed along behind them grumbling about Rin asking so many questions and wasting Sesshomaru's time. "I'm to deliver the baby again," she said as he picked at a flower. There was something about her scent that day, she didn't sound happy about delivering a child. Yet he knew that was the purpose, her purpose as a human female. "Do you have children Sesshomaru-sama?"

"No," he answered.

"Do you want children?"

"One day perhaps."

"He will have fine children," Jaken boasted.

"Are you seeing someone?" She asked curiously.

"Seeing someone?" He didn't understand the meaning of that. At some point he had been forced to listen to a lecture from Kaede-sama discussing something called courting so he would understand when Rin began a relationship with someone.

"Isn't there anyone you like?"

"Like?" He was thoroughly confused.

"Ugh! You're impossible, I know you know what I'm talking about! I mean if you had children wouldn't you get married first? So you would have to like someone, isn't there some female inu yokai out there for you?"

"Of course," Jaken replied for him.

Rin's face blanched at those words.

"I'm thinking about leaving the village," and then the pleasant conversation quickly digressed as they always seemed to.

She said that often, he chose not to answer.

"I mean it this time," she prodded him. She was sitting on the fence that led to the herb garden. The sun was setting. "I want to go into the world Sesshomaru-sama, there isn't much left for me to learn here." There was something more to those words he wasn't picking up on.

"No." He answered curtly. There were too many that would use her as a weapon against him, he had hoped that his enemies would have forgotten but without fail they still came for her in vain attempts to cause him harm. Either he dispatched the demons that teemed towards the village himself, or Inuyasha and his group did. The ogres in the area knew of her, other dai-yokai also knew. Word of her existence spread faster than he had hoped. Parting company was not so simple. He had tried it once in the past, ceasing his visits for a year, all it did was cause more attacks on the village and damage his relationship with Rin.

"No?" She countered, and that sweet innocence flew from her face. Her eyes were full of fire and her lips were pressed firmly together. "You said when I was old enough I could decide, I've decided."

"No," Jaken folded his arms into his brown Kimono, "do not question Sesshomaru-sama."

"Shut up you ugly little urchin," Rin snapped, he had heard them call each other names before. This time as Rin lashed out at Jaken, Sesshomaru was equally entertained and appalled. Rin booted Jaken in the head and grabbed Nintojo, before Sesshomaru could stop her, she activated the male head aiming it straight for himself. He dodged it easily and in instant was only inches from her face ripping Nintojo from her arm and throwing it at Jaken. He picked Rin up by the neck, as carefully as he could until she was on her tiptoes.

"You don't get to tell me what to do anymore…in fact you hardly tell me anything!" Her eyes blazed red, there was a wetness by her eyes. Was she going to cry? She held on to his wrist and tried kicking at him. When she knew that wouldn't work, she did something he hadn't expected. She ran up his flexed knee then pushed off him, flipping backwards and landed on her feet out of his grasp. His eyes widened, where did she learn to do that?

"Rin," Sesshomaru's voice was deep and coarse, "you will not do that again." Something was heating Sesshomaru's heart, there was an angry lump in his throat. He attempted to walk towards her only for her to back up.

"If I choose to leave you can't stop me." Rin refused to acknowledge what he had said.

"Rin…" He cautioned her again feeling his face burn, "you will not leave and if you try I will find you and bring you back."

Rin's eyes rolled in her head. She folded her arms as she walked away. If not for his keen hearing he would have missed what flared under her breath, "I'll leave if I feel like it Sesshomaru…"

Sesshomaru…Sesshomaru…how dare she not refer to him with the proper respect. Jaken's mouth was practically on the ground. They were both dumbfounded. Lost in shock he didn't notice that someone had snuck behind him and was sitting where Rin had just moments before. "Keh, get used to it Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru regarded his half-brother hanyou no more than he would regard a flea. "Jaken, we leave." Sesshomaru walked away.

"Hey, Sesshomaru, welcome to life with teenagers!" Inuyasha's voice trailed behind him. Sesshomaru did not say goodbye then, he simply left. He did not spend the night as he had in times before. Was it hurt he felt, worry? Would she really leave without telling him? The one thing he did do, was breathe deeply the air that hovered around her before she stalked away, he took in her scent, the smell of the forest, the river and the blood of Yokai. He would know how to find her should she leave.

"Sesshomaru-sama, this Jaken cannot believe her disrespect…firing Nintojo right at you!"

This time Sesshomaru booted Jaken. "Shut-up." He snarled, was she really able to make him this angry? Where did she learn to use Nintojo? The monk, he must have been teaching her to tap into her spiritual powers.

"I hope Rin-chan is in a better mood this time." Jaken prattled as they flew towards Kaede-baba's hut. "She was happy with the new horse Sesshomaru-sama brought her last time, but she was still difficult in words. Something has changed," as the words left Jaken's mouth, Sesshomaru gave him a sharp shake to close his mouth. Something did change, that was why he was returning. Jaken ran immediately into the hut to announce Sesshomaru's arrival.

Rin was missing, she always greeted him. Something felt off immediately. The air was thick with strain and stress. The ground smelled of something foul, he found the faintest scent of human and Yokai blood in the air. Fear wafted from Kaede's hut. He strode through the door. They were all there, the Taijia named Sango, the monk, Inuyasha and his Miko, and they looked at him as if ready to flee his presence. "Where is Rin?" He let his nose explore the scents in the village, hers was already getting stale, like the taste of water that had been left in the sun for too long.

They clambered to speak, each tripping over the other like a bunch of field mice trying to find their way. "She went to a friend's house," the monk said, Sesshomaru knew that was a lie. After the death of her friend Satsu, Rin had not made many friends.

"She's in another village," Inuyasha folded his arms defensively.

"She's with Kohaku," Sango flushed.

"Enough!" Kaede raised her hand and her voice. She sat on the floor next to her table, legs crossed with a cup of hot tea. In front of her was a letter he could barely make out the words and next to that, another letter rolled into a small scroll and ties with rose colored ribbon.

What was that feeling? His heart hurt for a moment, but before he could examine the feeling in chest further Kaede passed a letter into his hand. "Rin-chan left this for you Sesshomaru-sama."

He immediately passed it to Jaken. Jaken opened it and began reading with a smile on his face. "Dear Sesshomaru-sama, I hope you are doing well. Thank you for Mesuiguru, she flies so easily when I ride her. I have left the vi…" Jaken's voice trailed off in disbelief.

Sesshomaru snatched the letter so hard that Jaken was thrown across the room.

I left the village. I told you I wanted to see the world. Don't come look for me. I think we both know it's better if we don't see each other again. Thank you for everything you did for me throughout my life. Good-bye. He read the letter a second time, then a third. She had threatened for years, he threatened back, she finally did it. A sensation crawled into his skin. It started deep within his belly then reverberated up his spine into his throat. Fear? Concern? Panic? He tried to name the sensation batting into his brain, surely it wasn't the latter. Something in the room smelled off, they all seemed concerned. His throat vibrated with a low growl, his eyes turned red. His body flew towards his hanyou dirty brother. Inuyasha was off the ground in instant and gasping for air. "Which way did she go?"

"Let go before I cut off the new one!" Inuyasha kicked Sesshomaru in the face, flipped over and landed on his feet drawing Tetsusaiga. Sesshomaru saw that move before, more thoughts were coming into his mind, more answers to questions he had, "you've been teaching her to fight?"

"Yes, for the last five years, good job picking up on it," he glared at Sesshomaru, "she didn't want you to know. She knew you would act like this."

Sesshomaru bled dokkasu from his nails in response, frustration rising in his mind. Why didn't she ask this Sesshomaru? How well prepared for battle could she be, trained by this pathetic lot?

Inuyasha dodged the poison. It turned the wall of the hut to sludge.

"I warned you, if any harm came to her, your life would be forfeit and so would your Miko's and children."

"Touch my children and you'll lose more than your arm." Inuyasha was just as angry now. He had three to protect. He raised Tetsusaiga in the air, "meido z-!"

"Stop it now, oswari!" Kagome screamed. Inuyasha hit the ground. "Gomene O-ni-Sama, I know you are upset. She left two days ago in the middle of the night and took Mesuiguru with her. She covered her tracks well, we were unable to follow her, she used something to mask her scent, we don't know what."

"Leave it to a hanyou to not be able to do something as simple as tracking."

Sesshomaru left the hut and turned towards the outdoors. He inhaled deeply, clenching his claws, he had warned her to not leave. She didn't listen, she was seventeen, she was too young, too vulnerably to be by herself. Or was she?

Before he could leave, he heard the heavy footfalls and low noises of the scarred hanyou that had taken up residence their years before. Jinenji approached Sesshomaru cautiously. Sesshomaru thought back to the first time he had seen him. It was during the first visit back to the village after he had parted with Rin.

Summer was ending when he left Rin in the village. He had noticed how her bony knees were peeking out of her orange patched kimono. On this visit he brought her a royal purple and lavender one with ivory butterflies and a simple red sash to match it. Jaken carried two extra boxes that contained a thicker coat for winter, boots and socks to keep her feet warm as the weather began to change. Humans were such fragile creatures, cold was treacherous to their systems. He brought a bag of coins with him for Kaede. Night robbers made such wonderful targets to obtain what he needed. In this way he ensured that Rin's hut would be dry and warm going into the harsh winter months. When he came she was knee deep with the Taijia and with the scarred Hanyou. She saw the flash of light as he landed next to the fence, she ran to him screaming, "Sesshomaru-sama you came!" Before he could stop her, she was glued to his leg. Her tiny fingers twisted between one leg and clung to the back of is knee. She had never dared to touch him like that before. It did something unexpected to his chest, it filled with warmth. He gently shook her off and gave her the box.

She squealed in delight, opening it and yelled, "Jinenji-san! Kagome-sama! Look what Sesshomaru-sama brought me. Will you stay for dinner?" She begged him, her voice was so full of hope. He followed her silently as she led him to their hut. It was not in his way to fill the world with words that were unneeded. He smelled boar roasting on the spit of their hearth.

Kaede leaned over a nearing pot and stirred it, "I knew you were coming Sesshomaru-sama, Aun came right on time. I have been teaching Rin to write her own letters. Soon she will be able to send one herself to you." A sweet smell floated across the room, Sesshomaru's mouth watered slightly. Kaede smiled, "wild boar, I left one raw for you, if you were to stay. Rin-chan has been waiting, she told me it was your favorite. Rin tend to the fire I need to speak to Sesshomaru-sama for a moment."

Sesshomaru's chest filled with pride? He wondered, was that the feeling? Did she know him so well at this age? He never ate in front of her as a child, knowing that it would disturb her to see him sinking his teeth into something raw, or to drink the blood of his prey. He followed Kaede out of the hut as she walked into the forest towards the bone eaters well. "She is slowly becoming happy, she still cries at night. Sesshomaru-sama. She does not sleep at night, I am worried, she has been here for a month already, and barely sleeps. The next day she cries and refuses to be comforted."

"I see," he answered, his face did not betray the emotions that were welling in his chest, she does not feel safe here. He had not considered that she would no longer feel safe with his absence.

"Did she do the same with you?" Kaede was an interesting person to Sesshomaru. Perhaps the only person in the village he didn't want to kill when they spoke. Her one eye was knowing, replete with wisdom. Her words were not empty, they often had meaning. Thus far, she was the only he could manage to carry a conversation with..

"Only at first," he turned back towards the hut. The bamboo door flap was pulled to the side. He could see Rin tending to the fire and churning the spit. She worked it meticulously with sweat running down her soft brow. Work, he had not thought that part through either now that she was in a human village, Rin would no longer be the carefree girl that ran barefoot through the forest, she would be required to be of use to those around her. The thought sickened him, she was meant to play in the fields, laugh and giggle.

Her nightmares he knew well. From the first moment she came to him she had them. He was sure it was the same one. It started with her scent changing from the pleasant aroma of dirt and flowers to something that stung his nose. Her body would shiver in her sleep, she cried out, over and over. Most nights she woke in a fit with Jaken yelling at her to be quiet until Sesshomaru shut him up. When the panic would not leave her, he was forced to rely on human means of comfort, a hand on her shoulder. Sitting close to her while she slept. Once he even wrapped her in his mokomoko. After that he regretted it, if he happened to rest and not wander in the night hours she would find her way to the fluff and he found it difficult to say no to her.

"Did she ever tell you what the dream was?" When he did not answer her she continued, "sometimes, like a bird that has been caged for many years and released into the wind to spread its wings, a child should be encouraged to speak of a dream that never stops. She needs to know she is safe here, that you trust us, all of us."

"Trust," he responded, he knew what she meant. That he should trust the two hanyous here would not bring her to harm. He had already dealt with Inuyasha the day after he left with a simple threat, ensure her safety or I will take your life. His pathetic brother was in poor spirits because his Miko had not returned with him after Naraku's defeat.

He stalked back to the hut and called, "Rin, come with me." Perhaps it was time to confront this dream. Her scent changed as she followed him.

Rin followed nervously. "Did Kaede-sama said I did something bad? I try to do what she says. I went into the forest alone and a yokai came for me, but Inuyasha-sama came and it was gone quickly. I promised to never do it again, are you mad at me? I haven't done it again after she used the cane."

"Foolish girl," he stopped, when he knew they were alone. His stomach churned lightly, it was the way of humans to force obedience instead of demand it, expect it, the way he did. Had she really become so difficult? The sun was setting, the air was filled with the smell of meats, vegetables and milk. He didn't like the smell of human food cooking. Sunset was always peaceful in this place. The clouds puffed into purple and pink balls, the sky changed seamlessly from gold, to purple then pink. "Kaede said you are not sleeping?"

Rin nodded, "hai," her voice was dejected. She kneeled down to play with some flowers nearby. She pushed the stems back and forth, avoiding his eyes.

"Rin, the dream, tell me of the dream." He commanded.

"I can't," she whispered shaking her head. He smelled fear wash over her, pain, and tears. The mere mention of the dream broke her. He could not get used to the sound of her cry. He understood that children cried when they were scared, sad or hurt, but the sound shook his heart. It's why he attacked the monk in the forest when a demon had lured her away. He couldn't stand the sound of her screams, he was sure given the chance she would have stayed with the humans. When she called his name and begged for him to come, he couldn't stop himself. She was his.

"Rin, I am not asking," he repeated himself sternly.

She shook her head. She had never been scared of him, ever. If she understood who he was, she would be, yet she had seen him at his best and almost at his worst, yet here the eight year old child remained, unafraid of the harshness in his voice.

He went from his heart being pulled for her sadness to frustration. He wouldn't be able to wrangle the answer out of her, even if he wanted to. He sighed, words, he did not use many, he would have to, in order that she would talk. "Rin, even I fear at times."

She turned to him in shock, eyes wide, the tears stopped, "of what Sesshomaru-sama. Sesshomaru-sama is never scared." She ran to his side.

"The day you were taken by the Band of Seven do you remember it? I heard the blade through the mist, but I could not get to you in time and when Magatsuhi possessed you," he sat down next to Rin and motioned for her to sit as well. She plopped down Indian style in front of him.

"You were scared for Rin?" She had taken to talking in the third person, something else she learned from him.

"Yes," he answered softly.

"But you weren't scared of that man or that spirit?"

"I fear no one."

"I do," she licked her lips nervously, and took a deep shuddering breath, "Sesshomaru-sama, when I sleep," she was swallowing hard, and her body began shaking worse than he had ever seen it. The smell of fear went from barely being noticeable to penetrating deep within his mind, "they killed my family. Thieves, they took my mother, she screamed and told me to hide. I heard her cry over and over while I hid in the barn, she kept screaming stop, let me die, and then she was quiet. My brother told me, he would be brave, he took a pitchfork, but then he was gone, and my father, they took him. I couldn't breathe. I was so scared my heart stopped, the world was black and when I awoke they were gone. I had no family in other villages. No one who cared for me…no one until," she looked up at him shuddering and stuttering through her tears. "Why did momma scream stop, stop over and over Sesshomaru-Sama?" She held her knees and her little body shook.

Me, she was alone until she found me. He thought to himself. "Rin," he put a hand on her shaking back, "you must trust that if this Sesshomaru-sama left you here, you are safe, when you wake scared in the night, you must remember that my strength is your strength." He untied his yellow obi, the one had always worn, letting his swords fall to the side. He placed it in her hands. He held the obi and her fingers in his folded fingers, feeling their delicacy, "my strength is your strength." And it truly was if she only knew. He would never have mastered Bakusaiga or Tenseiga without her company. She taught him compassion and warmth. He was no longer repulsed by the thing humans called touch. In the past he would have never let her hug him.

She used his obi to wipe her tears and together they walked back to the hut. She did not ask him, but he remained that night. When he heard her tossing in her sleep he sat down next to her thrashing body, looped his tail around her and pulled her near. "My strength is your strength," he muttered in her ear. She held tight to his obi with sweat running down her brow. Leaving in the morning would be one harder than slaying a ten-thousand demons. Before he left he melted the cane in the corner of Kaede's hut with his toxic claws and warned her against ever using another on Rin again. After that visit it became routine that he would come once a month, near evening and stay the night leaving the next day.

As he walked for the door, Jinenji approached him, "here Sesshomaru-sama, you may need this." He held a small brown package in his hand. Sesshomaru ignored him.

"Where is Kohaku?" He told himself he cared not for the boy that was now a man. Kohaku was in his twenties, an accomplished slayer. At times they had crossed paths, but not since that night, not since the full moon almost a year before.

"Hey, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha motioned him outside with a jerk of his head. They walked in silence towards Inuyasha's forest. When they reached goshinboku they stopped. Inuyasha stood defensively, with his arms crossed and a hardened look on his face, "you haven't been back in a year…did you think you could do that and not have this happen?"

Sesshomaru did not respond he turned to walk away.

"Oi! Sesshomaru! You ruined her relationship with Kohaku! Baka!" Sesshomaru continued on, ignoring Inuyasha. Inuyasha leapt in front of him, "you don't know how hard the last year has been on her. Don't find her unless you plan on…well either letting her go or asking her to stay with you."

Sesshomaru balled his fist and let it slam against Inuyasha's cheek sending him flying. "Silence," he snarled. He could feel her tickling the back of his mind. He raised his nose in the air, her scent was faint, stale, but deep underneath whatever that putrid smell was, it was there. He proceeded out of the village on foot. Jaken followed with A-Un. Sesshomaru, the great Sesshomaru was chasing after a child…but was she?