Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any creations of Rumiko Takahashi. This is not written for profit.

Chapter 5: A Tie to Bind

After visiting day Sesshomaru began to expect Rin's company. He would not admit to himself that he enjoyed the girl, but all the same he found himself growing restless if she did not come to their corner at the normal time. Twice now Sesshomaru had found her at his table for breakfast and had sat down with her. Each time she had finished long before himself, but she seemed satisfied he had not asked her to leave. Still, his own days were very busy, and what she did with the majority of her time was something he did not know.

Dr. Hirako had given up on finding a prosthetic for him. That therapy time was now devoted to physical training to strengthen his right arm and balance. Running, which had at first been embarrassing and hard, was now only a mental challenge. He had to remember to sway his body to compensate for his moved center of gravity. Once that though became unconscious he would be just as fast as he had been. Which was very fast. His tutor had become almost rabid with knowledge giving. Hours of English, accounting, business management, public relations, marketing, biology, chemistry, and statistics filled his mornings. Sometimes Sesshomaru worried his head would split open before his arm fell off.

He did this all for a reason. He had his own purposes. He needed to push himself to excel, he needed to prove he could do all of this. His days were long, exhausting, but he was satisfied in ways he never expected to be. He had never had to work this hard before. Everything had always come naturally to him. His studies, martial arts, his natural leadership- all thing he had taken for granted. His family was wealthy; he was intelligent, charismatic, talented and handsome. There was nothing he could not do. Now he lopped his belt through his pants the night before. As angry as he was about the loss of his arm Sesshomaru recognized that it was forcing him to work for something for the first time in his life.

"Kah"

"Kah"

Sweat dripped into his eyes. Bare feet made heavy thuds against the training mat. His arm ached. He had refused to start with the lighter shinai. He held a full length bokken, a two handed weapon, in an attack position, his arm full extended from his body. There was no opportunity to rest the weapon on his shoulder or the floor. Constant motion, his arm bearing the full weigh at all times. He swung the weapon down.

"Kah"

The sweat dripped from his face onto the floor.

Sesshomaru ran his fingers through his hair. Actually more like- ran his claws through his hair. There was no way for him to clip his own nails and he wasn't about to reduce himself to gnawing on them. His hair was the issue right now. His hair was his only vanity. Yes his face was handsome, but he did not sit up nights because of the two dark slashes that marred his left cheek. The loss of that aspect of his beauty did not bother him. But his hair. It was dark, lustrous- long enough to brush against his hips as he walked. His mother like to say "hair just like your father." It was a narcissism Sesshomaru did not relish giving up- but it was impossible to care for. He could wash it well enough in the shower, and if he did not mind the pain he could brush it- but after that it was fate. It was impossible to pull back with his one arm. Trying to knot a string or wrap an elastic around the thick mass was enough to leave him sweaty and out-of-sorts. He would have to cut it. It would be a break with tradition- all of the men in his family kept long hair styles. It was a mark of honor. Even InuYasha kept that knotted mane he called hair at a respectable length. Sesshomaru's teeth went on edge thinking about his brother. He dragged his fingers though his hair one more time. No sense in waiting. He would cut it tomorrow.

Rin watched the tall boy she had taken to following. He sat at his uncomfortable chair, not reading his book, playing with his very pretty hair. Rin liked his hair. She did not like the angry expression on his face.

The next morning Sesshomaru opened the door onto the hall to find Rin standing there. She held something crumpled in her hand. Sesshomaru had woken in a sour mood. He did not relish his plan for today; he did not want to cut off his hair. But he had made a decision, and that was that. So to see Rin here, so early in the morning, he was not inclined to be friendly.

"Yes." His tone was perhaps colder than he intended, but she managed a brief smile before turning around.

Keeping her left arm to her side she brought her right arm up, bringing the leather something she had up to her hair. She haphazardly gathered the majority of her hair into a ponytail low at the base of her skull. She wrapped the thick leather band around this and then, with some amount of difficulty pushed a toggle through a small opening in the band. With one hand she had managed to pull her hair back.

The girl turned to see his reaction to her performance. Sesshomaru forced his face to remain impassive. This was indeed a kind gift, and he wanted to say thank you and leave it at that. But his pride was hurt. Why did he need help from this child- this girl who spoke to no one and who seemed so very attached to him? He had not asked for her loyalty and he did not want to accept generosity from anyone-let alone this girl who had nothing. He, Sesshomaru, needed help from no one and here this girl kept making his life better. It was humiliating. He would fix his own problems his own way.

His face still an impassive mask Sesshomaru closed the door to his room and brushed past the small girl. He had made no reaction to her display, and seemed to forget she existed. He did not turn to watch her face fall, nor see her struggle to extract the contraption from her hair.

A/N: Updated will be slow over the next weeks. Its finals time and I'm up to my eyeballs in research papers. But after that I have almost a month off and I hope to finish this story. Thanks for reading!