Her collarbone was tinted red and her neck had nasty scratches a sign of the demons that didn't want her there; this is why today she would do her best to hide it under a scarf. Kagome had given her that scar as a gift; even though today was not cold she needed to bear with it. Her left wrist was purple due to the blunt force used when the demon caught her tiny hand. Looking herself in front of the mirror she noticed that her kimono covered it all and the scarf would adjust nicely to conceal the rest of her bruises.

Now the pain was brutal because it was not only physical but also emotional, she didn't want Lord Sesshomaru to know because then he would decide to leave her with Kaede again. That was the deal between her precious lord and Kaede, if Sesshomaru was not able to protect her then she would be returned to the village. Her eyes turned teary when she recalled her dire situation, it all started two hours ago.

Since her lord had gone out hunting she decided to wander outside the castle to Lord Sesshomaru's village. Many of the demons acknowledged and respected her presence but others started murmuring nasty rumors about her:

-"Aww look at the nasty human Lord Sesshomaru has brought, how can he stand her smell?"

She couldn't help but get mad and tried her best to ignore the ignorant young demon with the pretext that he was obviously a boy and hence was ignorant.

-"HAHA the human brat is mad, are you going to call your lord?"

This time it was too much she would not stand such disrespect,

-"Shut up!", so being young and naïve made her threw him a stick which was obviously harmless but the demon did not take that lightly.

-"Why you!" the demon boy took her hand and squeezed it with a mighty force, then slapped and threw her on the hard ground. Other young demons enjoyed the act and surrounded her to watch.

-"Listen you disgusting human if you say any of this to Lord Sesshomaru I wear I will kill you."

Rin ran back to the castle and for the last hours has been doing everything possible to hide those bruises. The threat did not scare her because she knew that Lord Sesshomaru was much better but the fact that if he found out she wasn't safe, he would send her back to the village. Today was her tenth birthday and the excitement was much more intense than the pain.

She saw her lord from her window arrive with Jaken and Ah-Un; he looked as mighty as ever. Rin ran towards the door and when she pulled the handle to open an intense sharp pain corroded her. In her mind ran all sorts of fears and questions,

-"What will I do? It hurts so much, I can't let him see me like this, he will send me away."

Rin knowing that Lord Sesshomaru would knock her door at any given minute did the first thing that came to mind, go to bed and pretend she was just tired.

Just as she predicted her lord knocked on her door two times,

-"Rin may I come in?"

-"Y-Yes!", Rin was in her bed under her covers, she could feel him sitting beside her. The covers were her fortress right now all she had to manage was to fool him.

- "Rin are you alright?"

-"uhum I am just tired…"

Holding tightly to her only source of protection from her precious lord, her tiny hands clutched the soft fabric as if her life depended on it. The pain did not matter she would do whatever possible, but as I reading her mind Sesshomaru seized the fabric and with a finger made Rin look at him.

Tiny tears sprinkled her delicate face making more pronounced her bruise on her cheek.

-"Rin what happened?", his tone was serious and his semblance was as stoic as ever but the small girl saw something behind that disguise, concern.

Salty water drips fell on the demons fingers and the girl was more nervous worrying that he would get mad but it was the contrary. Sesshomaru portraying a gentler side alien to even himself cradled the young child in his arm and held her to his chest.

-"I want you to trust me Rin. What are you hiding?"

Rin hid her face on his haori as if that could make her disappear from the face of earth. But, she did not realize that by doing clutching so tightly the marks on her wrist had become visible or her lord.

-"Rin who attacked you?", his voice was passive but firm.

The great lord of the West was being submerged by unknown feelings, "Who had dared touch his Rin? and in his own lands, Hell would take pity of the demon that did this!"

-"Please! Don't make me tell you! I don't want to go back to Kaede. I beg you!", Rin was now breaking in sobs.

At that moment something took over him and made him react in a way he never did before,

-"Hush Hush, it's ok my dear Rin, I'm here now, I am sorry I wasn't there to protect you" with those words he stroke Rin's soft, silky hair until she fell asleep in his chest.

-"Just rest tomorrow you will be alright." His voice was soothing and almost like a lullaby, Rin's bruises still held the perpetrators scent and that's all he needed.

The next day Rin woke up to find herself cradling Sesshomaru's haori and she felt sore but much better. She looked through her window to see the setting sun and as if the skies were in need of more stars the mean demon that had hurt her flying up, up and far away to the skies and undiscovered galaxies far beyond. Rin would never see him again because her dear Sesshomaru had taken care of it.

With a poisonous glance Sesshomaru icily stared at the rest of the demons that had watched the show and said,

-" If any of you dare touch Rin EVER …AGAIN…" and with those parting words drew out his sword.

-"

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