WANTS and NEEDS

Chapter 2

The Lady and the Half-breed

Sesshoumaru sat patiently at the conference chamber and waited for his father and the rest of the clan's elders to arrive. His golden eyes bored into the stone table before him as he recalled what had just happened a moment ago. It was not his intention to mate with Rin, but he just could not help himself when he smelled her intoxicating scent. She was too tempting, and not to mention she did eager for his loving.

Rin was a passionate woman whose passion matched his own and he also could not help but felt a little guilty since she was his father's woman even though his father no longer needed her service.

"Sesshoumaru, how long have you been arrived? Why didn't you come to see me in the family quarter?"

Looking up from the table, Sesshoumaru stared emotionlessly at his father who had just entered the conference chamber with the elders. He had been so deep in though that he had failed to notice their approaching scents.

"I think you know the reason, Father." He replied and stood up to bow respectably to his father and the elders.

InuTaisho sighed faintly. His elder son was still the same as ever, and he indeed knew the reason why his son refused to enter the family quarter; it was because of the presents of his human mate Izayoi and his youngest son InuYasha. He ran his fingers along his silver hair and sighed again. I'm foolish enough to think that he would accept them.

"Since everyone is here, then let the conference begins." InuTaisho said, looking at all the important clan members with his deep golden eyes. When his eyes rested on his son again, he mentally winced when Sesshoumaru shot him a cold look. And I'm foolish to hope that he would accept them when it is good enough that he hasn't killed them.

"The Fire Cat clan in the Eastern Land……"

THE HAREM

Rin woke up when she heard the footsteps from the outside. She winced slightly when she felt how sore and tired she was as she sat up on the messy futon, and she could even smelled the scent of the love making not only from the futon but on her as well. She had though that she could resist his charm, but she had though wrong. She did not mean to betray her lord husband, but she was too lonely, and she could not denial that she did have some feelings towards Sesshoumaru.

Picking up the fur blanket, Rin wrapped it around herself and walked towards the bath tube behind a silk curtain. She tested the water temperature with her right hand while the other held the blanket at place, and when she felt the water was warm, she knew then it was Sesshoumaru who ordered the warm water to be prepared.

Sliding the blanket off her body, she stepped into the warm water and sighed when she felt how soothing it was. She used the wooden bladder to scoop up some water to pour from her head to her body, and when it was done, she put aside the bladder and laid her back against the tube.

Sesshoumaru…

Rin felt her cheeks were heating up when she though of him, Sesshoumaru, the son of her lord husband. She closed her amber eyes as the images of him flashed in her mind and unknown to her, her ruby lips were curving into a smile. To her, Sesshoumaru was a fearless, courageous, and proud warrior. Not to mention that he was strong and handsome as well. She could still remember the time when he was wounded in the battle and refused to take any medical care; she had volunteered herself to care for him since the servants were afraid of him. At first, he had threatened to kill her but she believed that he would never do such a thing to her, a weaponless and helpless woman. After a few try, she had succeeded in earning his trust and was allowed to heal him into recovery.

Since that day, Rin would always found herself staring at Sesshoumaru although she had told herself that she was a woman with a husband, and that kind of action was unforgivable. Rin felt ashamed when her lord husband questioned about her feelings toward his son, and she had answered him that Sesshoumaru was nothing but a friend. Then the next day and onwards, Sesshoumaru started to avoid her. Whenever she saw him, he would turned away from her, or find an excuse to walk away from her present. She was hurt by his action, but knew it was the best solution for her problem.

"Lady Rin, a gift from Lord Sesshoumaru." The servant's voice outside the chamber brought her back to reality. Rising from the water, Rin wrapped her wet body with the fur blanket, ignoring the clinging wet hair on her back and called for the servant to enter. She watched from behind the curtain as the servant entered the chamber and bowed before her, a beautiful kimono in her hands.

"…Place that on the futon, and send my thanks to Lord Sesshoumaru."

When the servant did as she ordered and left the chamber, Rin stepped out from behind the curtain soaking wet. She dropped the half wet blanket onto the floor and took a fluffy towel to dry herself up before walking towards the futon where Sesshoumaru's gift was.

She kneeled down beside the futon and picked up the kimono; it was a red kimono made of fine silk with white butterfly's patterns on it. As a lady, she rarely wore kimono, mostly Juni-hito but since summer was coming, it was best to wear a lighter clothe or she would become sick even though she was a demon. She pressed the kimono against her cheek and smiled when she felt how silky smooth it was against her skin.

A gift from Sesshoumaru…

The smile on her face vanished and she placed the kimono down onto the futon once again. Moving the futon aside, Rin removed a small piece of tatami from the floor then took out a small turtle shell treasure box from a hole beneath it. When the box was opened, Rin took out the item in it; a hair ornament made from silver with a ruby crystal in the shape of butterfly hanging at the end. It was also a gift from Sesshoumaru, after the incident happened many years ago in the garden.

That day, the women in the harem were planning another assassination on Izayoi, although she wanted to stop them from doing that foolish act, but she knew none of them would listen to her. Feeling extremely depressed, she went to the garden for a walk and had failed to notice the figure nearby, to make thing even worse, and she did not notice that she was in heat.

A loud crash outside her chamber interrupted her thought and she quickly put the hair ornament back to where it was hiding before pulling the futon to cover it. Then suddenly, the door of her chamber was slid opened and a small figure tumbled into the chamber with a thud. Rin wrapped the towel around her body even more securely before she stood up to see who had so rudely entered her chamber.

"Who…" Rin said but quickly silenced up when she was who it was. It was InuYasha, her lord's half-breed son. The young boy seemed not to notice her as he laid belly down on the floor, as if he was hiding from something. His pair of white doggy ears atop his silver head twitching back and forth, listening to the footsteps outside the chamber.

"WHERE IS THAT FILTHY DAMN HALF-BREED?" A woman screamed from the corridor and Rin guessed that perhaps the young boy had done something to the woman outside. When the young half-breed growled softly, she knew then the woman was near. Walking towards the child, Rin slid the door slightly opened, ignoring the gasp of InuYasha who had finally discovered her present, and glared at the woman who was stomping along the corridor.

"Lady Raira, you are disturbing my rest. Could you please return to your quarter before I call my servants to personally send you back?" Rin warned the woman. She had learned how to deal with those jealous women, although she hated to challenge them, but sometimes it was necessary in order to protect herself and her honors.

"Ah, Lady Rin. It is past noon and yet you are still resting, seems that you are tired after…whatever you have done with Lord Sesshoumaru." The woman, Raira said and glared at the young demoness.

"…Please leave my quarter, Lady Raira before I tell him about your bad behavior towards me." Rin spoke back, causing the demoness to flinch. She had not mean to say that, knowing that almost everyone in the palace was afraid of Sesshoumaru, but it was the only way to make the demoness leaves.

"…Fine. But before that, have you seen that half-breed InuYasha? He has broken my favorite vase and now he is no where to be seen."

"Leave, Lady Raira." Rin warned again and watched as the demoness reluctantly walked away from her quarter. When she was sure the woman was gone, she closed the door and turned to face the young child who was cowering at the corner of her chamber.

"She is gone. You don't have to be scared any more."

"I'm…I'm…not scared…! I'm strong to protect myself!" The young child murmured as he watched the lady before him with his wide golden eyes. He had though that this chamber was empty since he detected no scent from here, but he was shocked when she walked passed him to talk to the evil lady outside and he admitted that he was a little scare that she would tell the evil lady where he was.

Rin took the red kimono from the futon and walked behind the curtain to dress, knowing that the boy would stay in her chamber for awhile before it was totally safe to go out. Perhaps she should call her servant to tell her lord about his son's whereabouts, but then again, it would mean that she was telling Lady Raira about his whereabouts and she was afraid that the demoness would get her hands on the boy before her lord arrived. When she was properly dressed, Rin stepped out from the curtain and asked the boy to come to her with a wave of her hands.

InuYasha reluctantly obeyed and walked towards the lady, but his eyes were watching out for any sign of dangerous and that could be seen from the movement of his doggy ears.

"What…what do you want?" He asked, standing before Rin with his hands tucking into his wide red sleeves, as if he was hiding something. He stiffed when Rin touched his sleeve and immediately stepped a few steps back from her.

"…You are hurt."

"It is just a small wound, it will heal."

"Lady Raira is a poison user, it is best you let me see your wounds before you get sick, come." Rin said, sitting down onto the warm tatami and petted the empty space beside her, motioning the boy to sit down as well. She almost laughed out when she saw his ears twitching again, it meant he was nervous.

Walking back towards the lady, InuYasha could now detect a slight flowery scent, and when he felt that the lady before him would not do him harm, he sat down onto the tatami beside her and held out his hands for her inspection. He winced when the lady touched a red welt on his right palm, and he almost jump from where he was sitting when she pressed the wound with her fingers.

"HEY! THAT'S HURT!" He yelled, trying to pull his hand away but could not.

"I'm just trying to press the poison out from your wound. You must bear the pain if you want to recover." Rin said and continued to press his wound. While she tended to his wounds, an image of wounded Sesshoumaru flashed across her mind. Unlike InuYasha, Sesshoumaru would never utter a sound no matter how painful he was feeling, instead of wincing or crying out loud, he would only glare at you with his serious golden eyes. Rin giggled when she recalled how Sesshoumaru had reacted when she accidentally wrapped the cloth too tight around his wounds; he had stiffed up and glared at her as if he wanted to kill her.

"What is so funny?" InuYasha asked, no longer care for the pain he was feeling because he knew the lady was only helping him. In fact, he found the lady interesting. Since he was a half-breed, although he not quite understood what it meant but instead of ignoring him or treating him like dirt, this lady had actually helped him. He decided he liked her, and made a mental note to tell his mother about it.

"Oh, pardon me. You remind me of Sesshoumaru when he was wounded in the battle years ago." Rin answered, but the smile on her face vanished when the boy grew solemn at the mention of his brother Sesshoumaru. She knew being a half-breed in a castle full of demons was hard for InuYasha since he was not accepted by most of them, and of course Sesshoumaru was one of them who rejected his existence although he was his very own brother.

"You are…Sesshoumaru's friend?" InuYasha asked, thinking of his scary half brother. He rarely saw him in the family quarter, but when he did; his brother would either call him a half-breed or ignore him as if he was not there. The same thing happened to his mother as well, and his father had done nothing to change that. Perhaps Father can do nothing to change his attitudes towards us…

"Well…you can say that. Did you ever talk to Sesshoumaru? He is actually a nice person if once you get to know him…" Rin said, but stopped when she saw a figure standing just outside her door. She paled slightly when she noticed who it was.

"We rarely…we never talk before. He cans ne nice to you and the rest of demons, but not to me and Mother. He hates us, and so do I." He said, failing to notice the expression on Rin's face.

"Thank you for your understanding, little brother."

InuYasha jumped and turned around only to come face to face with his half brother Sesshoumaru who was staring at him with his cold eyes. He had been so deep in his thought that he had failed to notice his scent, and now he was in deep trouble.

"Why are you doing here? This is not a place for you to come." Sesshoumaru said. When the conference was over, the human wench had came into the chamber, saying that her son was no where to be seen. Then his father ordered all his servants to search for the pathetic half-breed InuYasha before he took his human mate back to the family quarter. Sesshoumaru did not bother himself to participate in that foolish search, all he could think was to spend his time with Rin, and what he did not expect was to find that half-breed in Rin's chamber.

"…Keh! I can go anywhere I want and I don't need you to tell me about it." InuYasha said, growling softly when his brother glared at him.

"Go back to where you belong, breed. That human and Father are searching for you, and you think it is fun to waste Father's time in such foolish game of yours? Pathetic."

"Fine, I'll go! I don't want to see you anyway!" InuYasha yelled and ran away, but before he went out, he turned around to look at Rin and asked.

"What is your name?"

"I'm Rin."

"…I'll remember you, good bye."

Rin watched as the young boy ran out from the chamber and could not help but smile at the boy's energetic attitudes. When she looked at Sesshoumaru, she saw some emotion she had never seen before in his eyes as he stared at where InuYasha had left. It was not hate, but something else, something she could not verify. Jealousy…?

"Did you need something, Sesshoumaru?" Rin asked, breaking the silence in the air.

"Ahh, Father is going to deal with the Fire Cat Clan in the Eastern Land soon." Sesshoumaru replied, closing the door before he sat on the tatami beside Rin and smirked when he saw her blush on her cheeks when he touched her shoulder. Leaning near towards her, he nuzzled his nose against her neck and inhaled her refreshing scent. Not only did she smell nice, but also looked nice in the red kimono he had given her. He was pleased to know that she had accepted his gift, unlike the other, the silver hair ornament which he had never seen her wearing it.

"He won't be in the castle for a few days, and I want you to stay in my quarter, Rin."

A/N: Heh heh heh… cliffy is a wonderful thing, don't you think so. I was having trouble updating my stories because I was out of idea for this chapter. I wanted to put a flash back about what had happened in the garden but…them I changed my mind and put InuYasha in here instead of the memory. The memory part would be something like picking up the pieces, and would be explained in different chapters or paragraphs.

Why is InuYasha in the story?

He is one of the key to bring Rin and Sesshoumaru together. That would be explaining in the last chapter, perhaps in chapter 4 or 5.

Will Raira be involved?

Well, I don't plan on involving her in this story. She is just minor character.