Disclaimer: Okay, I'm sick of this retarded disclaimer!!!!!! This applies to ALL chapters from now on!!! I D-O N-O-T O-W-N I-N-U-Y-A-S-H-A!!!! Yeah... There we go.

Notes: Sorry about the outburst, I'm being a spaz today. Well... Here ya go. Another chapter.

"Hey, Saisyo?" Rin asked shyly during their bath in the hot spring.

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me the truth about something?"

"Of course," Saisyo replied, going over to wash Rin's hair, "What's on your mind?"

"Well..." she hesitated. "If it's not too personal, I'd like to know if you really are in love with Sesshomaru-sama,"

Saisyo was startled for a moment but then regained composure. "I thought you've already seen that for yourself, Rin."

"I have," she replied, "But I just want to hear you say it,"

Saisyo sighed and said, "Rin, I just don't know anymore. I know for sure that I have really strong feelings for Sesshomaru, and I've always felt attracted to him, but I guess I'm too afraid to tell him."

"Why?"

"I dunno, I guess maybe the fear that he doesn't feel the same way. I've faced rejection throughout my whole life, and I guess now that I found someone that I truly love... I don't want to be hurt. I'm just a coward," she explained.

"No, you're not! You're just like Sesshomaru-sama, except you are shy. You are the bravest girl I know!" Rin protested.

"Then I'm afraid you've had very poor female company..." Saisyo sulked.

Rin swam over to her. "Actually, you're the only female company I've had in a long time. I don't even remember my mother, besides her voice. It was so beautiful... My brother and I fell asleep almost as soon as she started singing when she wanted us to get rest. My father was a hard worker, but he always had time for my brother and I. Then those bandits came and killed all of my family, and I was left alone."

"Oh, Rin... I'm so sorry... If I had known I wouldn't be going on about my problems right now."

"No," she said cheerfully, "It's okay, 'cause then I found Sesshomaru-sama! He sort of took me in, and him, Jaken-sama, and you are my family, now!"

"Rin, I swear... You are the most hyper child I've ever known!" Saisyo laughed.

Sesshomaru had been listening the whole time, and he had never felt sympathy that strong for anyone before.

'They both still manage to stay so happy,' he thought.

Later that night, when everyone was asleep. Sesshomaru gently awoke Saisyo. When she asked what was the matter, he replied, "I have to talk to you."

He helped her get up without waking Rin, took her hand, and led her to a tall oak tree, where they sat next to each other on a branch.

Sesshomaru stared straight into her icy eyes with his golden ones. To her they were like pools of hypnotic liquid as they looked into her soul. Before she became completely lost, Saisyo broke the silence. "What did you need to talk about, Sesshomaru?"

He blinked and looked into the clear, navy blue sky. "Are you afraid to admit your feelings?"

Saisyo's eyes widened. "You heard Rin and I talking, didn't you?"

Sesshomaru nodded as he looked back into her eyes. "There's no need for you to be afraid, you know I would never hurt you."

"I'm just confused right now. I don't know what I'm doing, sometimes I don't know what I'm saying, and half the time I've got my stuck up in the clouds thinking about you." Saisyo said.

Sesshomaru lifted an eyebrow at her last comment.

"What? You told me that there's no reason to be afraid, so I don't have to hide my feelings anymore."

"There's another thing I was wondering," Sesshomaru said.

"What's that?"

He looked up at the gibbous moon hanging in the sky and asked, "How do you and Rin stay so carefree and happy when you have horrors in your past that others can scarcely imagine?"

Saisyo thought deeply about this question while he waited patiently. "I think it's because Rin and I believe that you can't hold on to bad memories, or else you won't be able to let them go and you'll never be happy again.

"In other words" she continued, "If Rin and I didn't have our sense of humor and our ability to not dwell in the past, we would probably be depressed. That definitely isn't normal, especially for a child like Rin."

"Rin is so full of life," Sesshomaru agreed, "Before she came along, I was just a heartless, merciless demon looking for power greater than my father's. But she gave me something to protect; something to focus on other than my dreams of supreme conquest."

Saisyo smirked at him. "Now I have a question."

"Hm?"

"What is Rin to you?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied slowly, "I haven't really thought about it... until now."

"Well, let me help. Do you love her a lot?"

"...Yes."

"Would you give your life for her?"

"...If I could do nothing else,"

"Is she like a daughter to you?"

"Now that I really think about it, yes, that what she is to me." Sesshomaru looked into Saisyo's ice blue eyes fondly. "A daughter..."

Rin smiled to herself in her sleep.
"Daddy, you don't have to be afraid for me anymore." Rin said to the ghostly image of her father.

"I know, you are in good hands... But you never will completely forget your mother, brother and I, will you, little one?"

"No, of course not!" Rin replied, giving her father a hug.