Rin laid on the bed quietly, watching the brown eyed girl move around the room, picking up random objects and observing them. "Why don't you come sit down by me?" he sat up and straightened the blankets next to him, making a place for her to sit. Her eyes widened somewhat, but she looked down submissively. She walked over, sat down, and began slowly trying to pull her mud covered shirt over her dark brunette head. He jumped back away from her, shocked. "Whoa, what are you doing?!"

She quickly put it back on. "I'm sorry. Usually that's what it means when my father wants me to sit next to him."

Rin felt sick to his stomach and got on his knees in front of her grabbing her hands with both of his and holding them in his own. "I promise I don't want that. And I promise that I won't let you go back there. I'll protect you, do you understand that? I don't want to hurt you." He looked almost as if he were pleading. She merely looked down at him, and tightened her grip on his hands. "I have to go back." His eyes widened even more, looking as if they might pop out of his skull.

"What do you mean you have to go back?! That dude's going to end up killing you! He molests you, he beats you, and based on the way you're covered in dirt he probably makes you sleep outside! Why would you want to go back to that?!"

He stopped yelling, noticing that she was shaking and she was trying to pull away from him. "I'm sorry sir...I just want to go home..." She whispered quietly. He shook his head. "No, no. I'm the one that should be sorry. Just...why do you want to go back?"

She looked down. "Well...the last time that I ran off like this, I had to come back because my mother ended up in the infirmary, and all of our animals were killed. I just...I have no choice sir."

He closed his eyes. "Call me Rin. What's your name?"

She looked away. "Ayame. Ayame Tsukune."

Yukio walked in right then and leaned his sword up against the wall. "Rin, I'm..." he trailed off when he noticed the girl. His voice suddenly became a low growl. "...back."

Rin stood slowly. "Yukio, before you say anything, she was in trouble."

"You were not supposed to leave the room!" He yelled.

"If I wouldn't have left the room, then Ayame might have been killed."

"What did you name it, or did it come that way?!"

"What is with you?! Why do you have to be such a little shit sometimes?! You haven't even met her! Leave her alone!"

Ayame was sitting on the bed, hugging her legs and rocking back and forth.

"Please don't fight. Please Yukio. I'll be leaving soon."

Yukio unsheathed his sword and walked over, holding a mere centimeter away from her throat. "Keep my name off of your lips, and me and you will do fine. I know who you are, and I know what you are going to do."

Rin pulled the blade away and Ayame was frozen in place. "What do you mean you know who she is? What is she going to do?"

Yukio pulled Rin out the door, obviously needing to speak to him in private. "Do you remember the stories that father used to tell? About the siren?"

Rin shook his head. "She isn't a siren. She's just a girl."

"It doesn't matter. The girl in the story broke us apart. You were there for what just happened in there. I've never pulled a sword on someone that you want to protect. You have to let her go home."

Rin pursed his lips. "She isn't a siren. She's an innocent teenage girl. I don't have those kinds of feelings for her anyway. I just feel like I have to protect her."

"I know you do. That's why we have to get rid of her!" He whispered urgently to Rin, just about ready to do anything to make his brother agree.

Rin sighed. "I'm sorry Yukio. That's not going to happen. I have to protect her. I'm not letting her leave. I just sort of...care about her...just not like that..." He looked back in the door, and she was sitting on the bed still, staring intently at the ground as if it were a complex puzzle. "Granted, she is beautiful. But all I want is for her to be safe. That's all. Her safety."

Yukio closed his eyes and cleaned off his glasses with his robe, before walking back into the room. "You should bathe. We have a washroom. No one is using it right now. I will bring you one of the spare kimonos. It might not be stylish, but it will be clean. Here's the key."

An elated smile spread too wide across her face, and she stood slowly. "Thank you sir. I can't thank you enough."

She took the key and walked out the door to find the washroom. Rin laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking to himself, "Now that it comes to mind, she is really pretty."