***I do not own InuYasha or any affiliated Character***

True Love is worth waiting for

~*Part 5*~

Rin woke to the sound of several servants running down the hall, blinking the sleep from her eyes she looked out the open screen onto the moonlit garden. It was late, perhaps past midnight. As Servants passed her door, there was panic evident in their hushed voices.

Rin rose to peak out the door but could see nothing. She could tell that most of the voices were in the direction of the courtyard. Why was everyone up at this hour? She wondered stepping into the hall, hoping to find out what was wrong. Perhaps it had something to do with Sesshomaru's absence these past three days.

As she rounded a corner, Jaken literally ran into her. "Rin what are you doing?" he squealed at her "Get back to your room this instance!"

"What is happening Jaken-sama why are so many up at this hour?" She asked looking beyond him to the main door that was thrown open to the night. Two servants were bent over, trying to wipe something off the floor. With a sick feeling in her stomach, she saw that it was blood. A lot of blood, and it trailed off in the direction of his room.

"Is Lord Sesshomaru back?"

"Of course, he is and in a state too!" Jaken continued unaware of the stricken look on her face.

"What happened?"

"He went to meet a challenge put against him. He was ambushed, the underhanded Demon scum, no doubt he knew he couldn't fight Milord alone and brought company!" Jaken huffed indignantly.

Rin blinked several times before his words made sense. She had not known of a challenge. He had been fighting for days?!

"Jaken-Sama is... is he severely injured." She managed to ask.

Jaken ignored the question choosing to instead praise his Lord. "Milord is the greatest Demon of all time; he won, or course. Even with a group fighting alongside that scum, Izinyaso."

Izinyaso... The bear she had shown mercy too. "No..." She whispered as guilt overwhelmed her. "Its all my fault." She had to go to him, make sure he was okay, prey that he was not hurt.

"It is none of your concern Rin. Return to your room at once!" Jaken yelled after her as she ignored him and ran towards Sesshomaru's room. "No one listens to me…" he mumbled as he watched her disappear down the hall "Stupid girl will get herself killed!"

Rin stopped at the door and saw that the blood, while less, was still on the floor in small splashes. Following the path she saw a blood mark on the frame where he had placed his hand, she hesitated before slowly sliding the door open.

Would he send her away? She wondered, but he was hurt, and she wanted to help him if she could.

Slowly she entered the room standing close to the door sliding it shut. She had never been in his room before and was surprised to see that it was on the plain side with only the bare minimum of furniture. Sesshomaru was sitting on the mat, his back to her, a basin of water at his side. His hair and kimono splashed with blood. Whether the blood was his or another she couldn't tell.

He hunched over slightly and with a swift movement and a loud tearing sound he ripped off the left sleeve of the kimono and then began to shrug out of the rest to reveal his well-formed back. He reached for the cloth and started to wipe away the blood from his chest.

Rin hurried to his side, to help him if she could, and it was probably her loud steps that saved her life.

He turned at the sound, eyes red, fangs bared and claws at the ready. Rin froze, wondering, suddenly if he was even aware that it was her. "Lord Sesshomaru I..." she stopped unsure what to say.

He looked at her for a moment, blinking several times before his eyes changed back to normal. He growled at her. Hoping he wouldn't hurt her by accident, her fists clenched in fear yet determined to help as she dared to take a step toward him.

"Rin…" he growled deep in his throat as she came closer "Go…."

"You need help. I can see the blood Ses…"

"I do Not require assistance," he said in a tightly controlled voice. "Leave!"

Rin ignored him, coming closer anyway.

"You would court death?" Sesshomaru growled angrily, backing away from her.

She suddenly understood Kagome a bit better. His demanding that she leave only made Rin more determined to stay. "Yes!" She snorted, half in jest, as she knelt at his side. He watched her, wary, not unlike he did long ago.

Long ago...

He was clearly in a foul mood. Rin was suddenly reminded of InuYasha. When he was wounded, he always became belligerent. Threatening everyone around him. Kagome always ignored him.

"Sesshomaru," she began, looking at his now bare chest, a wicked looking gash ran from his shoulder to his hip. "Let me help you?" She asked pulling the cloth from the basin. He said nothing; she took it as compliance. Wiping the blood from his side, she began cleaning the wound.

He glared at her for several moments. Taking her chin in his clawed hand, he forced her to look at him. "You do not fear me." It was a statement. Rin looked unblinking into his eyes surprised by his words. Of course, she didn't fear him. "How are you certain I will not kill you?" He demanded.

"You did not kill me as a child, when I tried to help, I know that you will not do so now."

"You presume..."

"I know," she said quietly, but effectively cutting him off. She did know he wouldn't.

She sighed. She was done; his wound was clean now. She was no longer needed. Probably wasn't required in the first place.

Probably wasn't needed in the first place, she thought despairingly. He doesn't need me... But I need him.

Rin wanted so desperately to wrap her arms aground him. She stared into his unreadable face hoping there would be something, some flicker of emotion. Some hint of her place in his mind, anything that would tell her if he cared.

She closed her eyes and wished she was brave enough to ask. "You need to rest my lord," she said standing and hurrying to the door, wanting suddenly to be gone from him. He didn't stop her, did not call her back. Rin refused to look back as she slid the door shut. The silence of the hall felt heavy; the silence of Lord Sesshomaru was worse. She fled, not to her room but instead to the garden. Fewer eyes to see her cry out there. I need to just leave... She thought as she ran.

She had thought, for a time, that he welcomed her presence. Now? Rin decided, reluctantly, that she was wasting her time. Deep down she knew she needed to just ask the question or leave.

..0..

Sleep was not possible, she was so very close to him, so tempting. All he could do was remember how she had looked standing in a cascade of peach blossoms with her hand on his chest. Or he would remember her bare shoulder that night, that would start a whole train of thoughts that he quickly tried to dislodge from his mind. He had told himself that as soon as she was well he would send her away. Yet here she remained in spite of being quite obviously well.

When had he become so good at lying to himself?

In aggravation, Sesshomaru stood, stepped out into the cool moonlit night walking briskly with no destination in mind. The late night air was cold against his bare chest, forcing his mind into focus as he wondered aimlessly.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to clear his mind, which for the first time in his life was torn between his past feelings and his very present ones.

Had father had been tortured by InuYasha's mother like this? He oddly wondered. Odd that he considered the event with such a mild curiosity. When had he stopped hating his father's choice? Not that he condoned it.

No surely not that...

And yet, for the first time since his father's death, he did not condemn his parent's choice.

In frustration he began to walk faster, heading nowhere in particular as he wrestled with the torment of his mind, and so nearly missed a sound that didn't belong in the darkness of his gardens.

He froze and listened; he could hear crying in the peach grove, but he could also smell who it was that wept. Without giving his mind time to worry about what being alone in the dark might do to him, he turned to her scent and sound wishing only to stop her tears that burned his soul in ways he didn't think anything could.

Rin jumped at the light touch on her shoulder but didn't look up as she hugged her knees, wishing whatever meddling servant it was to just go away. "Leave me, please," She begged the intruder.

"Rin, why do you cry?" Jerking her head up she was stunned to see Sesshomaru crouched before her, with only his pants on he looked so different from his normal well groomed and fully clothed self. The angry looking scar that was already fading crossed along his chest showing clearly on his near perfect skin.

"I just…" She couldn't find her voice and for a moment feared that he would turn from her again. The thought of him walking away from her again made her so afraid and so very sad that her tears began to fall again.

As she wondered what the rest of her life would be like without him in it, without ever telling him that she loved him, her heart hurt. No one had ever told her that love could hurt so badly, and she knew that his arms around her would make it all ok, that he could with his touch make her heart mend or break it forever. And then she knew that at this moment in the quiet of the moonlight she would tell him or die.

Without warning her arms flew around him, her face against his heart, the moisture on her cheek cold against his bare chest. Sesshomaru suddenly wished that he had put on a shirt first. As she held him, he became acutely aware of how warm and soft as she held him tightly. Could feel her breath ragged from her crying as she held onto him.

Somewhere inside he knew he should pull away from her, that he should not let this continue. Tentatively, almost as though she might physically burn him, he reached around her to return the embrace. She stilled, her breath ragged as she held onto him though her crying had stopped.

Her head was just below his chin and with a slight incline of his head, her hair was against his cheek as he allowed his hand to rest on her shoulder. His mind noted with interest that she was only dressed in her light Yukata and that she was shivering too. He sighed and turned to pick her up determined to take her to her room and leave her there.

"Sesshomaru please I…"

"It is far too cold to be outside." He said wishing to stop the words he knew she would say. She had said it before when she did not know he listened, if she spoke those same words again his resolve would fail. Lifting her in his arms he turned to the house.

He tried not to notice that one hand lay against her thigh while the other rested just below her breast against her ribs. He made a point of NOT smelling her and of NOT paying attention to the fact that her heart was racing or that her head was lying against his shoulder allowing her warm breath to brush lightly against his neck. But then all of his NOT paying attention led him to notice that he was NOT, in fact, heading to her room but his own.

That is simple to rectify. He lied to himself. I can turn back now…

"Sesshomaru I love you, I always have, please don't send me away from you… please, I only want to be with you." Rin whispered against his ear, and he was sure that she did not know what she had done to him with that simple request.

He froze, literally standing on the threshold, a choice to be made. All of his reasons for not giving in somehow seemed small, weak and insignificant to Rin in his arms.

"Rin, do you know what you do to me?" He asked her and stepped quietly into his room.

Rin knew it wasn't her room they were in; the door slid shut, and darkness closed around them as she held him tighter not wanting to let go. Then he was sitting, but he didn't let her go he simply held her closer. She didn't dare speak afraid of breaking this moment afraid of him telling her to go.

He pulled his arm free of her legs so that she simply sat on his lap while the other remained on her back. Her face was hiding in his neck almost as though she was afraid of him she felt tense with fear and sorrow laced around her like a ribbon. He wanted suddenly to calm her.

"Rin." His quiet use of her name had the effect of bringing her head away from his neck and her mouth within reach of his own. For weeks, he had resisted, had tried not to give in and now in the darkness of the room with her so warm and soft in his arms he leaned into her and kissed her softly. He was, oddly nervous. something that was almost amusing to him.

He was Sesshomaru, lord of the western lands. If he desired something he took it

And so he let the resistance break. Giving in was easier than he thought possible and so rewarding. His hand came to her neck pulling her closer as he was finally able to taste her. Her lips were soft and gave under his as he offered her a small and simple kiss.

Her response was, at first, timid, afraid even. And then she was kissing him back her longing for him clear in the way her hand wrapped around his neck the other one straying into his hair.

Her taste and her smell were so delicious that he thought he could drown in her. He turned his head and ran his tongue along the edge of her lips coaxing her mouth opened. When her lips parted, he kissed her with all the passion she had caused him to feel. Their tongues danced together, and he leaned into her until she slowly lay back on the mat.

Pulling away, he heard her slight whimper of regret. He felt his blood rise at her sound at how she felt beneath him, and he suddenly wanted to taste her neck. Be began with soft kisses and then careful not to harm her he caressed her neck with his mouth and teeth playfully nibbling at her soft flesh.

"Sesshomaru…" she breathed and then he was releasing her from their kiss, and he turned his attention to her neck, she was in his arms, and he was not sending her away, he was returning her desire with his own, and she was thrilled in ways she didn't know were possible.

He was touching her, and she thought that she would melt in his embrace the pressure of his form against hers as she lay against the mat made her feel hot inside as well. His fingers were leaving trails of fire along her side and down her arms as he softly caressed her.

She followed his example and was thrilled by the response he gave as her hands explored first his chest and then around his side and down his back too. She wanted to know every part of him, and she wanted to give every part of herself to him too.

A low growl escaped his lips when her hands began their exploration of his body, he wanted her badly, and now she was not only in his arms but was returning his caresses with her own. His hands found the slash of her clothes and ran his fingers between it and her delicate flesh feeling her thigh without the rough fabric in that way made him growl again.

She gasped at his hand on her thigh, he ran his hand slowly up and around the curve of her backside and then up to the small of her back. Her body rose to his at the touch and then he was at her side again, and then the sash holding her kimono closed was soon free. His hand pushed it aside and then he was caressing her breast making a soft moan escape her lips.

"Rin." he whispered in her ear before kissing her again with such passion that Rin found it hard to think he was so warm and so soft and gentle with her making it hard to think beyond the pleasure they shared.

Pulling away, he looked down into her lovely eyes that were full of love and passion for him. "I love you Rin." He said and found that finally saying it out loud was such a relief like a dam bursting he let his feeling free from his tightly controlled heart. The look that Rin gave him at his words, however, was worth more than anything else in the world. Her eyes became so very soft and placed her hand on his cheek she smiled up at him.

"Truly Sesshomaru?" she asked

"Truly," he replied, and then he kissed her again. As their passion rose higher both his clothing and hers were suddenly a huge interference in his way, and so he took them out of the way with one swift movement she was free of hers and a moment later he was as well.

**End**

***I really hope you, the reader, enjoyed this. Sesshomaru and Rin were my favorites from the InuYasha Anime. When it was all done and complete I really felt sad that their life together was not a completed story. I ship them, always have, always will so when the series failed to give me closure I wrote it for myself***