Disclaimer: I don't own anything... Except Saisyo.

New longer chapters... Hopefully.

A while later, when the bamboo stalks were dried out, Saisyo was sitting under a tree beside Rin and showing her how to hollow out the flute. Against Saisyo's expectations, Rin was doing an extraordinary job for her first try. She was amazed at the young human's desire to try her best and determination.

Next, Saisyo taught her how to measure the flute with notches in a branch to see where the holes should go. Rin messed up on one hole, but Saisyo helped her fix it so it was like it was never there.

Nearby, Sesshomaru was watching the two with curiosity. He wondered what they were doing, for they'd not told him as of yet. Little did he know that Saisyo had done that on purpose, trying to surprise him with Rin's skill at playing. That would of course be after she'd tutored her.

Saisyo was aware of Sesshomaru's eyes on her, and glanced up at him with a smile. Surprisingly, it was returned with a small smirk. His eyes showed her all of his emotions, even when his face showed none. She was just beginning to realize it, but Saisyo, despite his being so distant, was beginning to take a liking to Sesshomaru.

"Saisyo, how does my flute look?" Rin asked politely, holding up her small work of art.

Saisyo marveled at how good it looked for Rin's first try. It was nearly perfect! "Wow, Rin! That looks great!" she said, while Rin beamed brightly, "Now I can teach you to play it."

She smiled wider, if that's even possible, as Saisyo placed her fingers over the right holes and held her arms in place. "Now put your mouth a little above the big hole and blow gently," she instructed.

She did as she was told and blew. It squeaked a little, but that was to be expected anyway. Though after the squeak, there was a perfect tone. Rin held that note for as long as a young human could and then stopped. "Did that sound okay?" she asked timidly.

Saisyo nodded replied, "It does need a little work, but it's nothing that you can't accomplish, Rin,"

She then began teaching Rin the notes and demonstrating on her own flute, having Rin repeat after her. She caught on fairly quick, and soon it was time to take a bath and go to bed. She and Saisyo went to find a hot spring and got in, chatting about this and that through the steam and enjoying the feel of it on their skin. All was quiet for a moment as they relaxed, suddenly Rin decided to have a splash. Saisyo gasped at having the water hit her face and splashed Rin back.

The now awake Jaken came to see what all the noise was and gasped at the sight of the sisters playing in the water and laughing. With her sensitive hearing, Saisyo heard and turned around to see the imp's eyes very wide at the sight. Her eyes began to turn red. "Sesshomaru!" she called, then looked over at Rin and said, "Hide your body under the water so he won't see you, Rin."

Okay," she replied obediently with a smile.

Sesshomaru came into view. His eyes widened as he looked from the girls, to Jaken, and back. Saisyo's eyes were still red. "Jaken," Sesshomaru said.

"Yes, my lord?"

"You may want to run before Miss Saisyo kills you for spying on her in the hot spring."

"But Sesshomaru-sama, I wasn't looking, I was just-" Jaken tried to explain, but was cut off by Sesshomaru lifting him up and flinging him in the opposite direction.

He then turned around and looked at Saisyo. "Is that better?" he asked.

She blushed a light shade of pink and replied, "Yes. Thank you, Sesshomaru,"

He nodded in their direction and turned and walked the other way.

When Rin and Saisyo washed their hair, they got out and walked together back to where the group was spending the night. Saisyo took off the outer part of her kimono top and laid it out for Rin to curl up in. She saw her start to walk away. "Are you coming to bed, Saisyo?" she asked.

"Yes, Rin, but I have to do something first." Saisyo replied.

"Okay,"

She laid her head down and closed her eyes as Saisyo walked quietly away. She walked a little further away and into a field where she stood and let the wind blow her kimono around. She thought that now might be a good time to take her hair out of the usual braid that she kept it in.

Afterwards, with her softly wavy hair blowing gently in the wind, Saisyo stood in the field looking at the crescent moon shining brightly in the night sky along with millions of tiny stars. She took out her flute and began to play a soft, slow melody. It sounded in no way sad, yet it was emotional enough to make her shed one tear as she played.

Saisyo stopped and sat down, the tear running slowly down her cheek. She heard footsteps behind her, then they stopped beside her.

"Why did you stop playing?" a familiar voice asked.

Saisyo looked up at him and smiled, yet the tear still lingered on her face. "I don't know." she replied.

Sesshomaru knelt down and sat beside her. He looked at her with the golden eyes that bore right through her. "Why were you crying? It didn't seem like a sad song to me; I liked it."

Saisyo looked back up at the moon. "No, it wasn't a sad song,"

"Then why are you crying?"

She didn't want to, but Saisyo let another tear slide down her cheek. "My mother taught me that melody. She used to sing it to me as I went to sleep, and sometimes she would just sing it for no reason."

Sesshomaru blinked at her and also looked at the moon, asking, "What happened to your mother?"

She held back more tears, these of anger, but accidentally let one slide. "Naraku." she said, her voice wavering, "He killed her... her and my father when I was very young."

She looked up into Sesshomaru's eyes as her's welled up with tears again. Why was she crying this much? It had never happened this much at once before. "If you don't mind me asking, would you tell me more?" he asked, a unnoticeable hint of pity in his eyes.

She nodded and looked at the ground as she talked. "My mother and father were actually human. I was the odd one out of all the children in my human village. Every time I would ask to play, they wouldn't let me and said that I was dangerous."

She hesitated a moment before continuing. "So I took to other hobbies like reading, painting, and, as you have witnessed, playing the flute. The elder of the village had always hated me and I don't know why, but one day I heard a rumor that he made a deal with someone called Naraku.

"The deals was that if he killed my parents he would give him part of the Shikon no Tama. I still don't understand completely why someone would do that to me, but I know that my village despised all demons and half-demons. In fact, there was another odd one like me, but he didn't really talk that much. He was a half-demon named Inuyasha, and no one liked him either. I approached him one day, and we became friends. he was much younger than me at the time though."

Saisyo finished her story and her eyes were still glossy. Sesshomaru looked a bit surprised at what she'd just said. "You were friends with my half-brother?"

"What?"

"Inuyasha is my brother. We'd had the same father, Inutaisho-sama, but he had a human mother." Sesshomaru explained.

"Do you not like your brother, Sesshomaru?" Saisyo asked.

He shook his head. "My father bestowed upon him the powerful Tessaiga, a sword that only works if you are protecting humans with it, and gave me the Tenseiga, a worthless sword that only revives and doesn't kill."

Saisyo looked somewhat hurt to his eyes. "You don't like humans either, do you?"

Sesshomaru opened his mouth to say 'No, they're worthless,' but , for some reason, couldn't do it. Why couldn't he say it? He'd never felt this much pity for someone before, nor had he ever not been able to say something that was on his mind.

She saw that he wasn't going to answer, so Saisyo stood up and said, "I guess I should get back to Rin,"

She got no more that a few feet before dropping to her knees and crying unceasingly. Sesshomaru, concerned got up, walked over to her, and did something he never thought he'd do. He knelt down and helped her up, then held her close to him in a comforting way. "Please don't cry, I don't hate all humans. Look at Rin, I love her as my own."

Saisyo looked up at him in surprise. "I never thought you would admit that, Sesshomaru, you're always so reclusive."

He didn't know what to say, so he acted on impulse and without thinking. He brought his lips gently down upon hers, and pulled away after a few moments, only to be pulled back into a deeper kiss by Saisyo.

After the passionate kiss was over, they looked into each other's eyes lovingly. "Sesshomaru," Saisyo said.

"What is it?"

"Do you want to not tell anyone about this for a while? Especially Jaken, because it's embarrassing enough that he saw me naked in the hot spring." Saisyo smiled and said.

"Did you forget already?" Sesshomaru asked as they began walking back to camp, "So did I."

Saisyo stopped abruptly, mouth agape and eyes wide. "Don't worry, Saisyo, I didn't see very much,"

She smiled again and blushed a deep shade of red as she ran to catch up to him. When she did, he gently put his arm around her shoulder and twirled a strand of her hair around his index finger. "No, seriously, Sesshomaru, did you see anything while I was in the hot spring?"

He smirked evilly and din't reply as Saisyo blushed even more. He even chuckled a little at the look on her face.