For most of the school year they managed to successfully avoid each other. When she was home he would spend time in the library, and when he was home she would spend her time in Kagome and Sango's dorm room. Sesshomaru actually found himself going home on the weekends more to escape her, which did not escape Shuichi's notice.
But one winter night Sesshomaru came home late to find Rin still awake. Inuyasha seemed clueless as to what to do for her because she was crying. All he could do was stare at her himself. Inuyasha, though, found this the perfect time to escape to the safety of his room. She looked up at him through tear streaked eyes and then away from him. This was the last way she wanted him to see her: weak and pathetic.
"I'm sorry. I'm keeping you from getting sleep," she said to him as she started to leave the room.
One of his hands reached out for her wrist as he held her there. "What are you hiding from me?"
"I'm not hiding anything." She tried to take her arm back from him but he held on tightly. "Don't you worry. You'll be happy to know that I won't be here for the rest of the school year starting tomorrow."
"Why?" he questioned her. She had been so adamant on finishing graduating that it seemed so unlike her to suddenly contradict it.
She pointed to a piece of crumpled paper sitting on his desk. "Izayoi said I can move in with them for the remaining three months until you can join me again." She finally managed to jerk her arm away as she left for the comfort of the patio.
Sesshomaru picked up the piece of paper and read the note. The handwriting was almost illegible, but it was clear that the writer's intention was to scare her. He knew his father would still be awake so he picked up the phone and dialed home. "You certainly got home late tonight," Shuichi commented dryly.
"I had some research to do at the library," Sesshomaru lied. "But right now that's not important. Why have you agreed to allow Rin to stay with you? You know as well as I do that it's more important for her to finish her degree than it is for me to finish my second degree."
"You should know that I was dead set against it, but she had convinced Izayoi that she would be feel like she ruined your life if she kept you from finishing school. She also used this crap about how she wouldn't need to finish her degree since she won't be able to work either."
"I can't understand why she thinks I'm not going to protect her," he explained in exacerbation.
"Probably because you don't spend any time with her."
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" he asked defensively. Great! Now he was starting to sound like Inuyasha.
"You're here every weekend and at the library late at night. It seems that you have left the protection of your wife to your brother."
Sesshomaru boiled over in anger at being caught in his own web of deceit. "I will work with the university to allow both of us to finish our degrees, and I won't need any help from you." He slammed down the phone fully knowing that his father found it to be disrespectful. But in all reality Shuichi had hoped it was a sign that Sesshomaru would actually try and do something for Rin.
He found Rin sitting out on the patio in the darkness. She didn't have night vision like he did, so he was easily able to see that she had been scared by the sound of his approach. He stood right in front of her as he announced to her, "I will talk to the university tomorrow about arranging for a way for the both of us to finish the year. We are both only three months away from graduation, and there is no reason to quit school. If I have to, I will personally accompany you to class."
"Why do they hate me?" she asked him meekly.
He knelt before her so she could see him in the poor lighting. "It is not you that they feel threatened by. You are a human, and that means that the emperor after me will be a half-demon. They are trying to preserve the species."
"The words in that letter..."
"I vowed to you on our wedding day that I would protect you."
"You also vowed that you would love, honor, and cherish me." Her voice was so void of any emotion that he found it very disconcerting.
He picked her up out of the chair bridal style and carried her back to their bedroom, where he set her gently upon their bed. "It's best that you get some sleep tonight." He left her in the room so that the both of them could get ready for bed. When he got back into the room five minutes later she was curled up into the fetal position with the covers tucked under he chin by the fists. He climbed in besides her and pulled the sheets away from her so that he could lie right next to her and to pull her close to his body. She draped her left around around his waist and held onto him tightly as if she was afraid he would suddenly leave her. He stayed awake just until she fell asleep before drifting off himself.
The next morning she woke up finding herself still in his embrace. At some point in the night she had turned over, but he had never let go of her. For the first time since they had been married she actually felt comfortable around him. As she turned over she got a good look at his face. He looked so peaceful when he slept, almost like he wasn't trying to hide who he really was. She reached out her index finger and gently traced the stripes on the cheek that was exposed and the crescent moon on his forehead. He truly was a handsome sight to behold, and strangely enough he belonged to her.
When Sesshomaru did open his eyes he stared straight into Rin's eyes. She didn't seem frightened or angry at him as she always was. "We should go to campus today and talk with the administration. I want to go with you to your classes." Rin didn't know what to say. This was going to mean that he would have to spend more time with her, something he had been trying to avoid lately. "I will not allow you to quit school on account of me." There was something hidden in his voice; a deep emotion that was being held back from her detection. Somewhere inside of him he felt a possessiveness of her, of his wife. No one would touch something that rightfully belonged to him.
He reluctantly let go of Rin and prepared himself to go out in public. After Rin had gotten herself cleaned up she put on her winter coat and slung her bag over her shoulder. Sesshomaru followed suit and lead her towards the administrative building. She tried to stay near his side, but she found herself wanting to fall just behind him since she knew how proud of a man he was. As they got to the building they were immediately given clearance to speak with the president of the university. The president was a rather portly badger demon many years older than even Shuichi. "How may I help you, Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Rin?" he asked bowing slightly from the waist. He rushed to the other side of his desk as he offered them both seats.
Sesshomaru pulled out the note from his bag and handed it to President Sato, who looked it over quickly and then commented, "Oh, my! Do the authorities know about this?"
"I would rather keep it out of the public eye. But as you can see I cannot leave Rin unaccompanied on campus, so I would like permission to sit in on her classes."
"And what about your classes?"
"I would also for her to also sit in on those if I cannot get my brother to take care of her protection."
President Sato turned his attention to his computer as he pulled up their school schedules. "I think we can arrange for that. I will personally contact the heads of your departments and have them explain that you shall be attending each other's classes. I will give no specifics though."
Sesshomaru nodded his head and stated, "That is all I ask for." He stood up and put his bag back on his shoulder before reaching out his hand so as to shake President Sato's hand. "Good day to you, then." President Sato shook his hand and then escorted the young couple out of the room.
Sesshomaru took off for Rin's first class. He had made sure at the beginning of the semester to make sure he didn't have class at the same time as Rin so as to avoid her. Thanks to his planning he had now made it possible for the both of them to go to class together. Once they got to the biology building Rin took the lead. As they entered the room those already there noticed the visitor immediately as someone of great importance. Rin most often went unnoticed by them, but Sesshomaru was an entirely different person.
The entire room grew silent, which made Rin blush as she realized they were all intent on watching her and her husband. She grabbed her usual seat in the middle of the room two seats in, so Sesshomaru took the seat next to the aisle. He was not too fond of biology, especially botany, but he figured that he had three months of sitting in on her classes so he would just have to deal with it.
Slowly the other students started back with their conversations, but Rin felt no need to converse with Sesshomaru since it would only draw more attention. Besides, they never really had anything to say to each other. When the professor entered the room he nodded to the young couple but said not a word to them.
When class started Sesshomaru lost himself to his thoughts. How would he figure out the person's identity? The letter came in an unmarked envelope that had been mailed here on campus, but with 50,000 students and 25,000 employees it would be impossible to figure out who could have possibly mailed the letter. There were also another 60,000 people who lived in the town adjacent to the campus, and any one of them could have come to campus to mail it.
The questions would stay fresh in his mind since the letters started coming in nearly every few days. Each letter was more graphic than the others. Most described ways in which they would slowly torture her and eventually kill her. The torture ranged from rape to cutting her apart piece by piece. But every time Sesshomaru found a letter he would hide it from Rin's view because the last thing he wanted to do was make her more upset.
And yet despite of being thrown together, they seemed to get along better than they had before. For the most part they didn't have much to say to each other, but when Sesshomaru needed to make a decision regarding the both of them she would try to rationally discuss it with him instead of always stonewalling him.
Part of the change was Rin's understanding that she needed Sesshomaru now in order to survive, and he really was trying to do the best to protect her. She knew he was bored in her classes because she was just as bored in his political science classes, but she just tried to find ways to alleviate things in the meantime. She also suspected that he was hiding more letters from her because she never saw one but he would become even more protective every few days.
About a month before graduation she found herself becoming very bored with one of his political science classes. The classes were most often designed towards becoming local or state officials, but this particular one was designed on how to be an adviser to the emperor. Sesshomaru could pretty much teach the class since he was to become the future emperor, but he had told her before that it would look better if he attended such classes as it would make people feel confident that he would know what to look for when the time came for him to pick his advisors.
After class Sesshomaru felt the need to approach his professor about something that he had not agreed with. As the minutes rolled by Rin noticed that she needed to be heading to her next class soon. She hated to interrupt him, but today they were to have a lab that she needed to get to class early to prepare for. "Sesshomaru," she said quietly trying to get his attention. "Sesshomaru, I need to get to my lab soon."
He heard her and then apologized to the professor, "I'm sorry, but Lady Rin needs to get to her class now. I would like to discuss this in more detail with you another time."
The professor, a rather evil looking spider demon, agreed with him, "I would hate to keep the Lady Rin from getting to her class on time. I know how important it is for you to protect her. After all, one day those breasts will nurse a future emperor." Immediately alarm bells went off in Sesshomaru's head. President Sato had promised not to explain Sesshomaru's need to protect Rin. More importantly though, the letters had once detailed what they would do to Rin's breasts to keep her from nursing the future bastard half-demon emperor.
Sesshomaru's fingers on his right hand wrapped about the professor's neck. A short scream erupted from Rin's lips since the sudden movement had startled her. When her brain had processed what had happened she could see Sesshomaru holding the professor off of the ground while the fingers pressed against the spider demon's neck glowed a neon green color. The demon was flung across the room into a number of desks where he lay motionless for a few seconds.
When the demon had gained back his conscientiousness he lunged after Rin since he knew he had been found out. Sesshomaru was able to stop him before the spider could even lay a finger on a hair of Rin's head. "What did you think you would get from destroying her? If you wanted to challenge me, it would have been better for you to challenge me directly instead of threatening her. She belongs to me, and I will not allow anyone to harm something that belongs to me!"
Rin didn't know if she should feel upset that Sesshomaru thought of her as only a possession or if that was a compliment to her. But what she did know was that she needed to stay out of Sesshomaru's way by staying behind him at that moment so he could act as a shield. "She is a human. The monarchy will be destroyed by her weak blood," the spider demon spat back.
"Any children of mine with human blood in them will still be stronger than the next strongest demon to me. Even Inuyasha is not entirely worthless." He normally wouldn't give Inuyasha such a compliment, but he had to admit that even Inuyasha could have destroyed this demon without the Tesseiga. The sound of crushing bones made Rin's stomach turn. She gaged as she saw the spider demon's neck contort since the bones no longer head it up.
It was just at that point that the police rushed into the room. Someone had heard the noise in the room and had called for help. As they rushed in Sesshomaru dropped the dead body that now lie in a heap on the floor. The sights and sounds that were taken in by Rin caused her to faint into Sesshomaru's arms.
She had gotten a good rest before waking up in her room again. Sesshomaru held her in his arms as he cuddled her body. He knew not what had come over him since they had gotten home, but he just had to hold onto her. "What happened?" she asked him weakly. Her mouth had a disgusting taste in it, and she was having difficulty getting her body to wake up again.
"You fainted." Her aching head lulled back against his muscular chest. "I think he was acting alone, but I cannot be sure. But I can never leave you alone again. When you get a job we'll have to hire a bodyguard for you."
"Oh," she said rather sleepy still. Her stomach growled since she had missed dinner time.
The sound did not escape Sesshomaru's hearing, so he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the kitchen before setting her down on the counter. She sat there watching him as he expertly made her a rather nutritious human meal, which surprised her since he normally had his meals made for him. He was actually more talented than she had thought he was.
While she ate he went through the letters that he had stashed in a safe. It looked as if all of the letters had the same illegible handwriting, so he hoped that Rin was out of the clear. Yet he was not about to make that assumption fully, so he determined that he would still need to follow her around campus for that remaining month. Then she would be safely in his father's house where they wouldn't dare try and harm her.