Just a random fact of the day: I like listening to '12 Girls Band' on Youtube when I write. They play traditional Japanese music on traditional Japanese instruments - a perfect way to get into the mood of writing a Japanese anime fan fiction. ;]

Chapter 2:

She could hear their vicious, hungry growls just behind her. Their teeth snapped at her heels and their mouths salivated at the delicious smell of her blood. She grasped her left arm tightly within her other hand, trying to staunch the blood that flowed from the jagged wound on her bicep. Her feet pounded against the ground, cutting on loose rocks and dried twigs and her breath came in heavy pants. Though her mind knew the race was over, that the wolves were just chasing her for the thrill of the hunt, her body kept pushing her forward through the dense forest.

She heard a quick, thundering bark and suddenly she was face down in the dirt, something heavy on her back. A sharp pain screamed at her leg and she let out a feeble cry. In just a few moments, everything was numb and she knew she was dying…

Rin snapped awake with a sudden, jagged scream. She sat straight up on her mat, a cold sweat running down her forehead and back. She pulled the thin, silk cover up to her chin, her fingers trembling, reminding herself over and over in her head that it was all just a dream… a horrible, horrible dream…

But it wasn't a dream! What she just woke up from was a memory. A sick, everlasting memory from the afternoon that she died, just over eight years ago. Shaken, Rin moved out of her bed and towards the door. As she walked down the dark corridor, the fingers of her right hand unconsciously moved up the sleeve of her yukata kimono to run over the embossed scar that ran across her arm, just above her small bicep. It was in a slightly crescent shape with several small tears running up towards her shoulder - a bite mark from one of those filthy wolves. Another scar, in the exact same shape and nearly the same size, marred her right calf. There were other scars that tarnished her body, huge, jagged pink scars, that were hidden under the concealing folds of her kimono, that had also come from that terrifying afternoon.

Rin stepped out into the cool night air. She moved forward towards the edge of the towering cliff that the shiro sat on and stood there, listening as the waves crashed gently along the shoreline. The moon was no where to be seen that night, but the stars happily stood in its place, twinkling and sparkling brightly in the navy blue sky.

"Rin," the voice came so suddenly that the young woman whipped around in surprise, nearly loosing her footing along the steep cliff. A pale, striped hand shot out, grabbing her forearm to steady her as her dark eyes adjusted to see who the intruder was.

Sesshoumaru stood before her in an ebony kimono, the ancient crest of his family stamped in bright red on the right side of the haori, just above his heart. He had his bone armor on and his snow white hair was tied into a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck. The Toukijin and Tenseiga were strapped faithfully at his side. "You… screamed," he stated softly as he released her arm, sure she was not in danger of slipping again.

Rin nodded her head dutifully, her eyes still studying his form. "I had a bad dream," she stated simply and at once Sesshoumaru knew what dream she was talking about. It was not abnormal for him to hear the girl wake in the middle of the night with a sudden gasp of air or a muffled cry - the memory of the night of her death plagued her often and he was used to finding her outside, letting the sounds of the waves lull her back into a dreamless rest.

"Sesshoumaru-sama," Rin began, finally lifting her eyes to meet his after studying his form completely. "Where are you going?"

He let his eyes linger on her face for a moment before he spoke. "Recently, there have been attacks on villages on the Southern border," he said as he turned his gaze away from her to look down upon the sea. The reflection of the stars winked at him from the dark waters. "I have to put an end to it."

He looked up to see nearly the same scene in Rin's eyes; there was a sparkle in those dark pools of eyes she had and he instantly knew what she was thinking. "You will stay here," he said and immediately her face dropped. Before she could open her mouth to protest, he continued, "We will be leaving at dawn so we can make it to the border by nightfall. We may be gone a few days… " his voice trailed off as he pondered why he was telling all of this to his ward.

"We?" Rin echoed, her voice inquiring.

"Jaken, Ah-Un, and myself," he stated back.

Everyone but me, Rin thought to herself sadly.

Sesshoumaru turned to look at Rin, trying to gage her reaction, but she had already twisted back to face the sea. He could sense that she was hurt; after all, in the past eight years he had been with her, they had never been more than a day or so without seeing each other and one had never traveled without the other.

He remembered the first day he found her, or rather, when she found him and wouldn't leave him the hell alone. It was just after his humiliating battle with InuYasha, when he was still recovering from his vicious wounds, sitting under an old maple tree. She came to him with food and a warm heart, that silly girl. Even back then, her nature was to give and to help… and to love those who needed it, despite the fact that they may not have wanted it to begin with.

And then, on a silly whim, he had brought her back to life after the wolves had mauled her small, fragile human body. She was only supposed to be an experiment - a test to see if his father's seemingly useless sword was worth the fang he gave for it. And somehow, the rest became history. Yes, she may have died that afternoon to the snarling wolves, but she was also reborn into a world that offered her… so much more.

"You will slow us down," Sesshoumaru stated truthfully and he heard her subtle intake of breath.

She suddenly whirled towards him, sending her scent rushing up to meet his nose. Her dark eyes were pleading as she clasped her hands behind her back and stood to rock on her tip toes, successfully completing the pose she had used quite often as a child to get her way with Jaken. Sesshoumaru remembered watching her as she gently coaxed the little imp into submission with those big, doll eyes of hers and a small quiver of her bottom lip.

"Rin promises to not slow down her Lord Sesshoumaru," she said eagerly, even going as far to revert back to her childhood way of speaking to sway him. "Rin will be-"

But this Sesshoumaru would not be influenced in such a ridiculous manner. What he said went, no matter who the person was. Sesshoumaru held up his open palm suddenly to silence her. "This Sesshoumaru has made up his mind," he told her, turning on his heels, just slow enough to catch the look of disappointment wash over her face. He walked back towards the shiro, leaving her to listen to the sounds of the crashing waves alone.

Rin did not sleep the rest of that night. Instead, just before dawn, she sat up to peek out of her bedroom window, which overlooked the gardens and the large stable that sat just behind the shiro. There, she watched as Sesshoumaru led Ah-Un out of the large doors and out onto the dewy grass. Jaken followed quickly in their wake, hurriedly folding a large parchment of paper together to stick in his inner haori pocket - no doubt it was a map of the Western Lands.

She watched sadly as Sesshoumaru mounted Ah-Un. And just before they took to the skies, his golden eyes flicked up to her window and held her gaze for a moment before she ducked down back onto her bed, her cheeks flaming in embarrassment. Ah-Un's gentle moan filled the pink-tinted sky as they rushed away.

Morning turned to afternoon and Rin found herself idling about the household with nothing to do. Without Jaken's constant nagging, the two headed dragon Ah-Un to seek comfort in, or sharing a quiet moment with her master, she found she was utterly and completely bored in the shiro. At one point, she almost considered attending samisen lessons, but cringed away at the sound of her samisen teacher plucking away at the horrid instrument.

She wandered into the kitchen around noon to find the cooks shifting around lazily, glad their lord was off attending other matters. At the sight of her, they instantly jumped into action, asking her what delectable dish she would like for them to whip up for her. She merely waved them away, still not fully accustomed to such treatment from others. She gave them a sincere smile and reached for one of the Fuji apples that sat in a bowl under an open window

She wandered through the gardens, munching quietly on the apple as her eyes wandered the sky. While the rain had missed the Western Lands yesterday, it was sure to pour today.

How did I get to be here? Rin wondered to herself, tracing her memories back to the first time she had lain eyes on her Sesshoumaru-sama. Maybe, she thought, she should thank the wolves for what they had done to her. For without their savage ways, she would have never been taken in by the powerful taiyoukai. If they had never killed her, she would never have gotten the chance to travel with him for all those years, stand faithfully by his side, and finally end up here in this grand shiro on top of the hill.

Rin shuddered instantly at the memory of the wolves and rubbed the scar on her left arm through the fabric of her kimono sleeve. No, she was not thankful to the wolves, because what they didn't to her was beyond any type of forgiveness.

In a sudden, uncharacteristic fit of rage, Rin threw what was left of her apple into the gardens. It landed in an unsuspecting hydrangea bush with a satisfying snap.

Sesshoumaru could smell the stench of blood and carnage before he could even see the village. A thin, gray cloud floated above the treetops, an obvious sign of the destruction Shoichi's army had caused. Sesshoumaru nudged Ah-Un to dip down into the treetops. They would walk the rest of the way to the village.

Though the attack occurred more than twelve hours ago, the human villagers were still at a loss of what to do. The dead still laid in the streets, small huts still burned and smoldered all around, and people were still crying out for the loved ones they knew where already lost. Sesshoumaru raised a lip in disgust. What pitiful, lowly, insignificant creatures humans are, he thought to himself as he walked calmly through the village. Jaken stayed at his heels, his head held high and the Nintoujou positioned firmly in his grasp just in case one of the humans decided to get brave. Ah-Un's two heads merely roamed back in forth between the clueless villagers as he followed loyally behind his master.

At the sight of these new arrivals, a small human girl shrieked, pointing her finger in accusation at the demons that marched through her home village. Her face was bloodied and terror-stricken. An older human boy sprinted to her quickly and covered her mouth with his hand instantly, forcing her into a deep bow as he did the same. His eyes widened in acknowledgement even as they darted to the ground. "My Great Lord Sesshoumaru," he said in a low whisper, his voice trembling.

At his sudden display, the other villagers urgently dropped to their knees as well, whispering words of gratitude at his arrival. No one dared lifted an eye to look him directly in the face, save for a few idiot young children. Jaken let out a huff of a sarcastic laugh, stamping the Nintoujou on the ground. "What filthy, ignorant things humans are!" he exclaimed, not caring if the little things heard him at all, but more hoping to receive some kind of approval from his master.

Sesshoumaru ignored the old toad, but instead focused his energy on picking up the direction the army had taken only hours earlier. To his surprise, he caught no scent of youkai anywhere. The smell of human blood and sweat and tears hung in the air, thick as soup, and it clogged his senses. "Come, Jaken," he said sternly. "We must keep moving."

Nighttime fell upon the shiro almost too slowly. It seemed as though Rin had waited all day for the stars to return back to the sky; it meant that another day was coming to a close and that she was that much nearer to seeing her Lord again. The rain sprinkled down slowly from the sky, tapping Rin every once in a while on the top of her ebony head. Uncurling from the little ball she had formed herself into while listening to the croaking of the bullfrogs and the musical chirping of the crickets, Rin stretched her limbs and started making her way back to the dimly-lit shiro.

She had just stepped onto the wooden porch when the explosion sounded. The young girl fell sideways from the blast, her head knocking against the bamboo floorboards, bits and pieces of wood from the shiro breaking off to cut against her exposed skin. She tried to scream, but it seemed as though the sound couldn't escape from her throat. Her shaking hands struggled to reach her ears to try and block out the piercing ring that was sounding there. She whimpered softly and her instincts took hold of her quickly, forcing her to her feet and into a run.

The earth seemed to shake underneath her feet as another explosion blasted through the shiro. She was instantly thrown to the ground again against the cold gravel of the garden's trail. Mostly unharmed, Rin thrust herself to her feet again, her eyes darting around the garden, searching for someplace, anyplace, she could hide. Those dark eyes fell upon the comforting slope of the willow tree's branches and she all-but dove for it, reaching the shadowed enclosure just in time to shelter herself from another ear-splitting blast.

Scrambling on hands and knees, Rin moved to hide behind one of the stone benches - the same stone bench Sesshoumaru had graced only a day ago. She pulled her legs to her chest and bit into her kimono, hoping to muffle her ragged breathing from whatever dangers roamed the grounds. Above her, she could hear the rain as it began to fall from the sky more violently and land in huge drops on the small leaves of the willow tree. Despite the commotion building within the crumbling castle walls, Rin could still hear the heavy pounding of her heart. Raising her eyes to scan her hiding place, Rin felt her heart sinking when she found that someone else could hear it too…

She let out a shrill scream.