Chapter Thirteen

Howls in the distant, dead of night startled the raven haired woman from her dreamless slumber. Fear gripped Miho's body to the point of momentary paralysis until another howl followed seconds later. Unable to tolerate it any longer, Miho jumped free of her sheets and landed on her left ankle sideways, resulting in a series of pops that could be felt as deep as her bones. "Ouch! Damn it!" She snarled through clenched teeth as she dropped to her knees. Clutching her foot with one hand, Miho bowed her head is frustration before she released a heavy sigh to blow off her stress.

More howls echoed from outside, giving Miho's heart a jolt in her chest before she realized that the sounds were coming closer with each one. Coyotes? She inquired to herself before another howl changed her mind. It doesn't sound like a wolf…but it isn't a coyote either. Miho cringed as a deep ache took hold of her ankle and she rubbed it before getting up off the ground. A dog, maybe? Why would there be a dog running loose on the grounds? She glanced sideways out her parted window and studied the night forest, eager to spot something that may have not been there before, but nothing caught her eye. The howling stopped.

Miho raised a questioning eyebrow, then shrugged it off, not really sure why she cared if there was a stray animal running loose. As long as it wasn't something dangerous, there was no need to cause alarm for the house occupants.

Instead investigating further, she held her breath and took an agonizing step forward to test the boundaries of her sprained ankle and whimpered when the pain shot up her leg. "AH!" Miho closed her eyes in frustration, but took another step forward anyway. Damn…it's defiantly sprained and Kasumi is going to murder me for it! Alright Miho! Don't panic and everything will be fine…right?

Kasumi doesn't seem so bad. Miho's eyes widened as a foreign, yet familiar voice entered her mind. She can be a little dramatic sometimes, but she doesn't seem so bad.

Miho's jaw dropped and she fell to her knees once again. Her finger nails dug into the carpet beneath her as she responded aloud to the voice that she couldn't place. "Who…who is there? Who are you?"

The same voice answered back inside of her mind. Don't be frightened, Miho…I am Rin. We are one in the same.

Miho struggled to keep her cool but it wasn't that easy with a voice that didn't belong to her floating around inside of her brain. I am going nuts…that's it! I have finally cracked!

The foreign voice known as Rin responded again. Master Jaken would find that most amusing if it was true…but you are not losing your mind. If you were, you would most likely have jumped from your window by now, right?

The maiko was struck dumb, unable to answer back and allowed her mind to void itself of all thoughts.

What was left knocked her unconscious. The figure of a woman stepped out of the shadows in her imagination and was smiling kindly. Her body shape resembled Miho's with the exception of her face and hair. This woman's hair was black as night, and her deep brown eyes held a certain kind of light that left Miho straining to keep hold of her reality long enough to see more, but her vision faded with the sight of Rin's face transforming from kindness to sorrow. Sleep now, Miho. Come back when you remember me…She whispered before the world disappeared.

Rin took control of her new body as Miho retreated into the land of their dreams, and she rose off the ground and proceeded to walk over to the window to gaze out into the night forest for herself. I know that howl…how could I not know it? Rin grimaced as she experienced the pain of a sprained ankle for the first time in what felt like centuries rather than decades. At least it isn't broken, she thought while looking into the foliage just beyond the protective layer of the glass of her window. Where are you, my Lady? I know it was you who woke us from our sleep.

Just when she was about to give up, a single figure emerged from the coverage of thick trees and silently beckoned Rin with its powerful presence. "Demon." She whispered to no one in particular before she turned in a flash and hobbled her way as quickly as she could out of her room. Careful not to wake the occupants in the rooms surrounding hers, Rin reduced her hopping to less noisy shuffles and made it to the top of the stairs without so much as a creak from the wood flooring. With a quick calculation, she managed to find herself safely to the bottom of the stairs with very little sound once she regained her hopping motion and then went back to shuffling to reduce the risk of being heard as she made her way past Kasumi and Hisoka's quarters. Miho could have become a ninja if she wanted to, but instead, ended up as a Geisha! How my soul ever came to find itself in a world as bizarre as this, I shall never know.

Rin, by some miracle, managed to find herself outside in no time at all, and she leaped off the porch onto the cold hard earth of the Tea house garden. Unfortunately, she landed on both feet, and sharp stabs of pain shot back up her left leg and into her hip, resulting in her collapsing on the ground for a third time and letting out a sudden cry that nearly stopped her heart. Rin clapped her hands over her mouth afterward, hoping that by some miracle, her mistake would fall on deaf ears and she could escape unnoticed.

She didn't.

"Do all women here act as strangely as you?"

Rin nearly jumped free of her skin and whipped her head around back to the porch. A small figure had been sitting silently in the shadows near the steps. In her haste to get out, Rin had been completely ignorant of the fact that she had passed within a few inches of this figure without realizing he was there.

The figure was sitting still as stone for a few seconds before he emerged into the small sliver of light that was being produced by the crescent moon that hung overhead. He was a child, no more than seven years old in appearance and had long silver hair that seemed to glow despite the lack of a full moon, and he held the most mesmerizing golden eyes she had ever seen since…

Rin let out a breath and smiled past her fear of being discovered. "No, young Lord. I am the only strange woman who lives here." She bowed forward as she realized just who it was that was standing in front of her. "You must be the son of Priestess Kagome and Lord Inuyasha."

The little boy did not smile, but did not frown either. He was just simply curious as he watched her through his familiar amber eyes. "My name is Ehren." He stood taller than the average child, which made Rin believe he was much older than the age of seven she had previously guessed. "You are correct in your assumptions that I am their son."

Rin blushed deeply, unsure as to why she was embarrassed by his statement, but something in the way that he spoke made her think of the man she had fallen in love with. "And you are the nephew of Lord Sesshomaru." She could see it now, the resemblance. It was uncanny how much this child looked so much like his father and uncle. Rin even spotted the crescent moon symbol through Ehren's ruffled bangs.

"You know of my uncle?" Ehren spoke with mild interest while he bent forward to sit down up on the porch steps. He gazed up at her quizzically.

Rin was amazed by this boy's fearlessness in the presence of a stranger, though that didn't make up for the fact that she herself was still a little frightened by having been caught in the act of slipping out of the house. To calm herself, she focused on regaining a few more memories that had been buried until now and she smiled unknowingly as she recounted the events before her death. "I knew your parents long before your birth, as well as your uncle. In fact, I am more familiar with Lord Sesshomaru than your father, but that is a tale for another time."

Ehren said nothing.

Rin continued with a smile. "I was there when your mother revealed that she was carrying you."

"Then you knew Lady Kaede?"

Rin felt her bottom jaw give away to the shock of hearing her old mentor's name, but recovered quickly and nodded. "I did. No doubt she was the one that helped you into this world, I assume?"

Ehren nodded, revealing for the first time a smile. "She passed away a few years after I had been born. She was like my grandmother in a way."

Rin's heart clenched. "I wish I had been there before she had passed. I cared for her dearly."

"I do not recognize you from that time." Ehren narrowed his beautiful eyes at her. "You are not a part of my early childhood. Who are you?"

It was only then that Rin had realized her mistake. I never told him who I was! Should I say it? Should I explain who I am and how I ended up here? Will Kagome be angry? Or Inuyasha? Or…Sesshomaru? "I…I…" I have no choice now. "I'm…Rin." She whispered her name, praying that the little boy had not heard.

But he had. Ehren's eyes widened for a moment and Rin could have sworn she had seen a glow light them up as if locating a wonderful idea in his brain. "My lady, I have seen pictures of my aunt Rin, and you do not resemble her. It is not kind to make fun of my deceased loved ones."

Rin's own eyes widened in disbelief. "Kagome didn't…tell you, did she?"

Ehren stood suddenly, shocking her with anger deep in his molten eyes. "My mother is asleep upstairs with my father. I could not sleep, so I came outside to admire the sky so that I would not awaken them. But I will if you continue to pretend to be someone that you're not that my family cared deeply for!"

"But I'm…!"

"Enough!" Ehren stopped his little foot, which made very little sound thankfully, and turned around quickly to stomp back inside of the tea house, leaving Rin speechless and shocked.

"Well…that didn't exactly go as well as I thought it would…" Perhaps I should have waited until morning to delve into those memories for a complete stranger. Maybe then Kagome's son wouldn't have gone off in a rage. Rin gulped as a sudden thought entered her brain. He's going to wake them up!

Rin summoned her strength and bit her lip as she turned quickly to take off for the entrance of the forest. Must get out of here! Ignoring the pain in her swelling ankle, she hobbled, dragged and hopped herself into the cover of the trees and managed to find herself closing in on the location of the house's hot spring. I came out here looking for the figure that I had seen from my window. It was too big to have been Ehren. This is the only way it could have gone…unless I'm just seeing things…but I can't be! The edge of the forest came into view and she spotted the rising steam in the distant night.

Rustling leaves stopped her cold just before she broke through the foliage. Rin's back snapped straight, and the air stilled from the shock. "Hello?" She whispered despite her fear. Nothing would stop her now. "I know you're out there!" More rustling came from beyond her cover leading to the spring.

Rin harnessed Miho's inner demon training and she reached down to unhook the hidden dagger strapped to her right ankle. With the grace of a wild cat about to pounce, she crouched low, paused to contemplate her situation, dove out of her cover. Rin curled into a ball, rolled out into the open air and jumped to her one good foot with her dagger poised to strike…and then she dropped it upon seeing the two figures that were standing only a few feet away from her. "L-Lord Sesshomaru? Wha…?"

Sesshomaru stood, facing Rin, as tall and mesmerizing as ever. To his left stood a woman who had her back to her, but turned just after the dagger stabbed the ground at Rin's feet.

The woman was almost as tall as Sesshomaru, but had the most beautiful long crimson hair she had ever seen. Her face was pale, even in the dark of the night. But even in the dark, she could not hide the claw like scars that painted an angle down her right eye and over her lips. Her eyes, too, glowed like liquid gold in the night…and Rin shook violently from the realization.

"Oh gods…U…U-Ura!"

Author's Note: Thank you, icegirljenni! Was this a good way for her to remember his sister? :)

It has been a hell of a few weeks where I am! I have been working non stop, my eight year anniversary was last week and let me tell you, my baby spoiled me with the most amazing gift ever! A new laptop, which I am using now! I had to get all of my writing stuff loaded in on it so that I could continue writing, but it took a while, sorry about that! Anyway, school is about to start up for me again next week, so be patient with me about updating! You all know how it is because I know that almost all of you reading this are in school too.

To those who are wondering why Ehren has the crescent moon as well, it's because I had originally thought that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha's father was the one that had passed it down, but aparently I was mistaken. It's too late to change it, but I am aware of my mistake. Just letting you all know so that no one thinks I've lost my mind. (In this story, just pretent it was their father's mark instead so I don't feel stupid.)

Thank you all for the amazing reviews, and I enjoyed reading every one of them! Have a good weekend everybody!

OliviaAR