A/N: okay, out of curiosity, NOT because it would change any outcome at all because in the end Rin will remain I assure you…But I was interested in having a little poll. Those of you who get to this, write in to me and tell me how you feel about Ginrei. I enjoy reader feedback a lot on new characters because I have at times, meant a character to be neutral or even good but for some reason readers instantly hate them or distrust them. Maybe I'm just a villainess so my characters end up making ppl hate them, I don't know.

But at any rate, I know I like writing Ginrei, she has potential to shake things up really badly or to remain a character that's not threatening at all. She will serve her wifely purpose, that is my plan so far, but the audience's attachment or hatred of her will partially influence how I develop her. I'm open to many variations, including one where Rin is a little psycho (like seeking revenge) after finding out. Of course I know that variation is likely not a popular one.

In the last book of the Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hearn, there is a woman who does basically this. When she finds out her husband's greatest secret (that he had a son with another woman years and years ago) she becomes so enraged she leaves with his enemies and burns down their castle and refuses to see him, speak with him, nothing. Only after he dies does she repent, and basically without her he refuses to live, he kills himself. A terrible ending. I would never do that to you guys, but I have been considering something along the lines of the powerful female figure seeking revenge and/or justice for the man's wrongdoing. When I first introduced Rin in So Much for the Hanyou's Happy Ending she was a character of great power. I feel like she's lost that with her miscarriages, her failure to become a mother. The vindictive move (as well as the running away, for which the story is named) is a way for me to reestablish Rin's power as a character…

I dunno, the English major in me is going whacko happy nuts here. Tell me what you think of Ginrei, I am always eager to listen…

Disclaimer: Nope don't own them

Sabotage

Sesshomaru waited on the small balcony overlooking the scummy little lake, early the next morning. With his family's trademark golden eyes, he watched the sun peek over the horizon in a burst of fiery reds, yellows, oranges, and gold. The lake absorbed them all and drowned them out to gray at first. But soon the light of the sunrise was too intense. The colors appeared on the still surface of the lake, but the reflection it afforded was imperfect. Where reeds and scum protruded, breaking the glassy, mirror-like surface, the image of the sunrise was disturbed. Little ripples danced over the surface.

Most of the vegetation was dead anyway. Winter's cold, icy fist was coming over the land. Snow cover was splotchy, but it was certainly coming. When Sesshomaru lifted his nose to the wind he could almost smell it spilling over that colorful horizon, coming to blot out the gray drab of dead foliage with the brilliant, smothering white of winter.

It was disquieting, even disturbing.

A maid appeared, cautiously. She laid down a tray of tea for him, steaming in the chilly early morning light. Sesshomaru caught her hand before she left him. "Bring my wife to sit with me." He ordered, "Make certain there are plenty of blankets for her."

The maid nodded and disappeared into the palace, sliding the door shut behind her to keep in the scant heat of the bedrooms inside. Sesshomaru listened with his keen ears, straining for the sounds of the household, for sounds of his "wife" getting ready. He heard moans, at first, then the cajoling of the maids as they coaxed her out of bed. The bath took a long time, with the maids bickering and bantering over her as if she were a child and not their mistress. Finally she was dressed and paraded out to him.

The maids had dressed her in the winter robe he'd given her as a gift the night before. It was a perfect choice for her. Ginrei was fair, even more so than Sesshomaru. Her hair had a darker hint to it, one more genuinely like silver, whereas Inutaisho's line had hair that was of a bleached color, seemingly without pigment at all. Ginrei's really was silver. (I've always thought Sesshomaru and Inuyasha had white hair. Apparently after some breed of Japanese dog? Imagine Ginrei's is slightly darker.) With her hair that color it matched the snowflakes embroidered to the robe. She was an ice queen, a goddess of winter.

The maids sat Ginrei down near him and then helped her shroud herself in blankets, rich white and gray animal pelts. Ginrei feebly hung onto these, staring at her delicate, clawed fingers and hands more than anything else. She avoided making eye contact with Sesshomaru, or even so much as looking his way.

When the maids had placed tea out before Ginrei as well, they at last parted, leaving the newly married couple alone together. Silence reigned immediately. Ginrei appeared to be staring at the scenery, but from her scent and stiff posture Sesshomaru knew she was not concerned about the sunrise, the scummy lake, or the possibility of the coming snow.

After a few minutes of silence had passed, Sesshomaru finally broke down and spoke. "Ginrei."

Her fingers twitched on the pelts, her shoulders moved as she took a breath. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

"The hanyou girl in my service, do you desire her company? Jaken will still tutor you of course." He kept his voice calm and flat, trying to expect nothing from her to avoid scaring her off.

She shifted in her blankets, her eyes seemed heavy, she kept them mostly closed. Her skin was pale, her hair pinned carefully by the maids to the top of her head. Silence was the only answer to Sesshomaru's question for a long time, but then at last Ginrei spoke quietly, openly frowning in confusion. "Hanyou?"

Sesshomaru searched her face, seeing the frown. Had this girl been so closeted away that she had never heard the term before? He repeated it slowly for her, trying to be always patient, like a father, like family. "Hanyou. Taikokajin Tsukiyume." He gave Tsukiyume's mother's name rather than her father's name because Taikokajin had been the notable parent in this rare instance.

(A/N: FYI those of you unfamiliar with this family. Taikokajin was a female ruler, the only one, from the Middle Lands. She went nuts after a monster abducted Tsukiyume in With Our Arms Wide Open. She held Kagome captive, tried to take Inuyasha and Kagome's son from them. Kagome essentially killed her. Shimofuri, Tsukiyume's older half brother, was her heir and thus now the ruler of the Middle Lands. Taikokajin murdered all of her lovers, both Shimofuri's youkai father and Tsuki's mortal monk father. So Sesshy doesn't know or care about Tsuki's human heritage, he tells only the demon side.)

Ginrei turned now, for the first time, and looked at him with shock. "Lady Taikokajin?"

Sesshomaru took in the inuyoukai girl's expression, the widened silvered eyes, the startled expression in the "O" shape of her mouth, but mixed with it was the lowering of her eyebrows, the change in her posture. He decided to be frank with her, to educate her.

"Taikokajin was a fool. She lost her mind. She should have allowed her son to replace her many years ago and retired peacefully. She allowed her emotions to control her." he paused taking in the slow tightening of Ginrei's jaw, the loss of the innocent, surprised "O" shape of her lips.

"You do not like what I am saying." Sesshomaru observed aloud, uncaringly.

Ginrei lowered her eyes and did not respond.

"You may disagree. You are my wife, not a statue. Speak." This was the close to the first time he'd seen her show some sort of response, some sort of emotion aside from anger at him for her situation, or an all-encompassing shock because of the trauma she'd suffered. He wanted to encourage it. "Speak your mind, Ginrei."

"She was strong," Ginrei whispered faintly, "She fought."

Sesshomaru tipped his head slightly, the only sign that he had heard her at all, but for him it was a major change in expression, full of meaning. He was intrigued. "She was a coward. She manipulated others to achieve her goals in the end. It was her undoing. She made too many enemies. She was a fool."

Ginrei huddled more into herself, into the blankets, and squinted against the growing sunlight. "She was a woman."

Sesshomaru's golden gaze narrowed slightly. "You admire her because of that."

Ginrei didn't answer this time. Her eyes closed and she pulled a little at the blankets around her. When she stilled she did not speak. A breeze picked up, rushing over the palace, tapping on the shutters and sliding fusuma doors. Sesshomaru smelled the staleness of the lake beneath them. He restrained a sneer at the stink and considered getting koi fish for the lake. Perhaps that would equalize the scent, though he doubted it. Chances were it would only make the lake a little less dreary to look at.

"Do you wish me to send Taikokajin Tsukiyume to stay with you?" he asked again.

Ginrei pursed her lips, appearing, for the first time, to think his question over. Yet, instead of answering him simply yes or no, she asked a question of her own: "Why did the war happen?"

Sesshomaru eyed her carefully for a moment, taking in her well formed, proud profile. Then he turned his face away. His jaw muscles flexed and tightened, the only sign of his distress at all. Answering her question would be difficult, yet it needed to be done. She was coming out with something now, exposing something, trusting him with it. She was relaxing a little, ceasing to see him as her enemy.

"I do not know. Taikokajin grew complacent. Nishiyori desired power and he sensed weakness. He planned for years and then made his move." It was as honest as he could be. It was impossible for him to tell her the truth in its entirety, that Taikokajin was powerless to resist Nishiyori's onslaught at the end of her reign, that Shimofuri was no better off, that it had only been Sesshomaru's own intervention, money, information, and troops that had won the war. So, in a roundabout way Ginrei's family had died because of Sesshomaru…

Ginrei shifted in her blankets, twisting slightly away from Sesshomaru so that her face was farther out of the direct morning sunlight. "Yes, I'll meet her."

For a moment Sesshomaru was left confused, he struggled to hide his reaction, to keep it from his face though Ginrei was not looking at him. Finally it dawned on him that she was talking about Tsukiyume. He nodded, "Then on my next visit I will bring her to you. In the meantime you will have Jaken to educate you."

Ginrei answered blandly, with a quiet voice, "Yes, Lord Sesshomaru."

There was still something odd in her that Sesshomaru wasn't sure he liked. It made him nervous, suspicious. Did she suspect his involvement? Was she truly as sheltered and naive as he'd believed her to be? If she was smarter than she appeared, clever and scheming, could he still manage to control her, tame her, and have her produce his heirs? If she was intelligent and clever, those were good traits to have passed onto his offspring, but potentially bad for his political career. Throwing her in with Tsukiyume suddenly felt like a grave mistake—except that Tsukiyume was the sister of the young lord that had waged a war and won against Ginrei's uncle Nishiyori.

Bonding with her, making her into an ally as well as a wife, perhaps through education and continued gentleness and patience, would be the only way to assure she was not a threat. Yet he didn't want to do that. She was a vessel, a creature with one purpose: to produce his pure blooded royal heirs. Urgency tainted his thoughts for a moment, tightening up his muscles, making his body stiffen with irritation, nervousness, discomfort. The longer she held out, damaged and distant, the longer he deceived Rin…

He blinked and rose to his feet swiftly, turning his back on Ginrei and facing the sliding door so that she wouldn't see his thick scowl. "I am leaving for the day. I will return to you tomorrow with Tsukiyume." The sooner he had Tsukiyume away from Rin the better. Tsukiyume was too close to Shimofuri, and Sesshomaru didn't trust the younger lord to keep his secret very long. Sooner or later it would reach Tsukiyume, and then through her Rin. Sesshomaru feared that loss of control, feared it wildly.

"Your lessons with Jaken will begin this afternoon." He told her this over his shoulder and then slid the screen door open and stepped through, vanishing into the darkness of the palace.

It was early evening when Sesshomaru returned to his castle in the Western Lands. He spent some time meeting with advisers and hearing the latest news and figures on money, crops, people. The latest skirmishes, the slow return of his troops back into the Western Lands again from fighting in the Isei province. It was quick work, dealt with fast and relatively painlessly. When this was done Sesshomaru retreated back to his personal chambers, changing out of his more formal and showy traveling robes and into more casual ones. This was a difficult task because he didn't wait for his attendants to catch up to him to help. He despised their help but usually took it because it saved time. With only one arm dressing oneself could prove to be bothersome.

He left his own chambers and passed into Rin's immediately. Word would have reached her by now that he was home. He expected her to be inside her room, reading or writing or drawing, as she usually did to practice calligraphy. If she didn't practice it was entirely likely that she would forget her characters and calligraphy. It was important to Rin that she maintained herself, partially this was because she knew Sesshomaru respected these arts and her education, but it was also because she took genuine interest in the activities. They busied her when Tsukiyume was in classes, when Jaken was busy, and when Sesshomaru was away.

Her room, however, was empty. The brazier was down to nothing but coals. The room was beginning to take on a chill. Rin had not been in this room for some time. He tried to keep the irritation from leaping to the fore of his mind but could not. Now he knew when he found Rin she would at once see his expression—though it was only within his eyes that he couldn't control the display—and she would wonder what was wrong.

The answer to that question: a lot. Currently, however, number one on his list was the physical desire to be close to Rin. Relieving frustration that had built up around the distraught, distant Ginrei made him turn on his heel and head out of her room to search for her elsewhere. In the early evenings Tsukiyume was finishing her lessons, about ready to go to her physical trainer to receive fighting lessons. Sesshomaru decided to check in the courtyard.

They weren't there. The courtyard was where training with fighting poles took place. Rin had enjoyed that type of combat; she was skilled at it—and a frequent cheat. It was a habit she developed when sparring in her adolescence with Sesshomaru himself. It was the only way she could control his speed. By jabbing him with the pole she affected a little barrier, a thing to stop him from running super speed circles around her.

Next he tried the sparring hall, an indoors area with matting, made for one on one combat with no weapons. Rin had never liked that as much, though Sesshomaru had insisted she be taught it until she could perform the various movements with her eyes closed. One could never count on having a weapon readily available.

At last, success. Rin and Tsukiyume were here, fighting one another hand to hand in loose, unflattering robes. Both women had pinned their hair back, both moved with great speed and grace, Rin more so than the hanyou girl amazingly. Tsukiyume was still young and clumsy, and hanyou were not known for their grace. Inuyasha was evidence enough of that. The floor bounced under the girls as they leapt past one another, kicking and punching, thrusting and parrying. Tsukiyume had speed on her side as a hanyou, as well as brute strength, but Rin was the more experienced of the two. Her deftness showed itself clearly.

They noticed Sesshomaru's presence the moment he slipped into the hall, despite his silent, bare feet. Tsukiyume was the first to respond, dropping onto her knees and bowing. Her ears were lying flat on her skull, tight and unmoving. It was a position that Sesshomaru noticed acutely because it was a mark of discomfort or intimidation. He knew this because it was this same ear position that Inuyasha almost always adopted when he first caught sight of his older brother. Tsukiyume had never adopted it right away before. She might id she were uncomfortable in conversation later but not upon immediately seeing him…

Rin was normal, much to his relief. She dropped into a slower, more graceful bow. "Sesshomaru-sama." She purred. Her scent came with her movement, and Sesshomaru picked it up from all around the sparring hall in her sweat. She was, yet again, fertile. Inwardly he was both aroused and repulsed. Sleeping with her now, no matter how badly he wanted to, would only serve to hurt her with more miscarriages.

He swallowed the realization and buried it deep inside. "Rin, Tsukiyume. I must speak with you both."

When they looked up at him they bore entirely different expressions. Rin's was an innocent, questioning gaze. Tsukiyume's was a wide mouthed, wide eyed gape. Rin answered for them. "Of course Sesshomaru-sama."

Despite the unsettling things he'd noticed about Tsukiyume, Sesshomaru focused on Rin. "Rin, come with me."

She got to her feet and moved to follow him at once. As Sesshomaru turned away, he saw Tsukiyume peeking up at him from the floor, orange eyes still wide and fearful, watching him as if he were a predator, some sort of snake about to strike. He felt minor irritation with her, but pressed on, changing position so that he could walk at Rin's side with his single arm pressed against her.

"Rin is pleased to see Sesshomaru-sama again." Rin said, quietly as they walked through the halls. Gold screen doors lined the walls on either side. Silver ink had been used to paint trees, leaves, water, and birds. A few flowers decorated the screens as well, waterfalls of them spilling over a few screens and then vanishing on the next set. Unlike the other images they were painted in a deep, purple black, like a thick, severe bruise. That color was modeled more after Inutaisho's tastes. Intaisho's cheeks had had the slashes of that color, a trait that Inuyasha had inherited, but not Sesshomaru.

The silver ink was Sesshomaru's own additions, made in his youth right after Inutaisho had died. It was the same color as Ginrei's eyes.

Sesshomaru pointed his narrowed, troubled golden eyes straight ahead, barely hearing Rin through his own abrupt attack of guilt.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin touched his hand with hers gently as they walked, concerned because he had not answered her or so much as looked at her. "Is something the matter?"

Her scent knocked the guilt away, powerful and thick and arousing. Sesshomaru blinked once, the only sign he gave of having recovered. "No, Rin." He folded his clawed hand around her tiny, slender, human one, and continued walking for a time in silence. At last he drew a short breath—silently—and announced, "I have decided that Tsukiyume will be sent home to her brother."

Rin's body stiffened at his side but she didn't falter. "That would indeed please her, Lord Sesshomaru." Rin's voice had changed in a tiny way that revealed her displeasure, and Sesshomaru took note of it at once.

"You are unhappy with my decision."

"Rin has grown fond of Tsukiyume. She will miss her, very much."

Sesshomaru resisted the desire to flinch. He'd known as much, it didn't surprise him, but guilt and worry clamored strongly at the edges of his mind. He already had second thoughts. He struggled to weigh the options in his mind, even as he felt Rin staring at him from his side, trying to read him.

The silence went on too long, Rin could not contain herself. "Did Sesshomaru-sama come to this decision because of sensei Kuenai?"

Sesshomaru was startled by her question, but caught onto the significance of it at once and stifled his reaction. "Yes." If he pretended to know about whatever this was already, Rin was likely to accidentally reveal more to him. And even if she didn't, Sesshomaru was known for his silence. She would not doubt him just because he refused to discuss it with her.

"If Rin may be so bold, Sesshomaru-sama," they stopped before a flight of stairs, maids skittered to and fro, giving their lord and his lady brief glances of surprise as they passed. "Sensei Kuenai is a violent, intolerable old dog."

Sesshomaru decided to play with her. "The same may be said of me."

Rin blinked and blanched, turning away. "Sesshomaru-sama…" she knew he wasn't taking her seriously and she was frustrated, which worked to his advantage. She would reveal more to him as she struggled to get him to listen to her argument. "I will ask Tsukiyume to allow me to read the letter Lord Shimofuri sent her. I am her friend, she'll trust me." She turned back to him, eyeing him with open irritation. "Shimofuri is your ally. You can trust him I'm sure—why are you having the letter Tsukiyume sends to him opened and read?"

Sesshomaru fought the desire to scowl at her. This was horrible, terrible news. Something strengthened within him, turning hard, cold, and callous. "One can never assume one is safe in one's position. Shimofuri is young and high from his victory in the Isei. To trust is to be blind." As he stared at Rin, he realized, with a jolt, what he'd said. He was staring at the woman he loved, had saved many, many times. And yet…she should not have trusted me.

He turned away from her and began to go up the stairs. After a pause, Rin followed, her footsteps heavy with emotion. Each impact felt like a slap to Sesshomaru. He struggled not to wince. When he had reached the top he moved down the hall, still seemingly ignoring Rin behind him. The young woman moved almost as silently as he did as she tried to catch up. In a moment she was right behind him, fuming silently.

"Sesshomaru-sama, Rin wishes you would reconsider the decision to send Tsukiyume back to Lord Shimofuri."

"He is her kin." He answered blandly, "It will build a connection between myself and Shimofuri…trust." The word hurt him to say, but it needed to be spoken, it could not be avoided.

Rin's breathing had changed behind him, elevated, rougher. She was angry and her footsteps had grown heavier again, sign that she was caught by emotion rather than thinking of her training as a proper lady of the court.

Sesshomaru reached his chambers and paused before the screen door, aware of Rin waiting just behind him. If she entered his room they were liable to fight, to argue, and then, as a sort of resolution of their tension, they would join physically. He rather liked the thought of sleeping with her, but that usually lead to another pregnancy, another miscarriage, and months of grief or tension in between. Every baby threw Rin into a frezy of worry and excitement, and ever loss sent her spiraling downward. Whenever she recovered she became fertile again, and with great speed she fell pregnant again.

It was a cycle he was growing weary of because it only caused Rin pain, only made them both unhappy.

The frustration came again, coupled with many other, unnamable emotions with this thought: why was it that Rin was perfectly healthy, perfectly fertile, and perfectly able to conceive over and over again, but could not care a child beyond a few months? Was his seed to blame? Was her grief simply causing the repeated trouble?

It could be done. His father had done it. Taikokajin, Tsukiyume's mother, had clearly done it. Hanyou existed everywhere…why not between he and Rin?

Rin pressed closer behind him, her breath still coming fast. "Why does my lord fear Lord Shimofuri? What has he done?"

"He has done nothing. He wishes his sister to return into his household." He paused and, as he took hold of the screen door and slid it open, he decided to risk saying something foolish. "He may have a marriage intended for her, some other important purpose."

Rin snorted and then looked down at the floor, frowning openly. "Sesshomaru-sama." She murmured coldly, "Hanyou are worthless in the royalty. You have told me it many, many times."

Sesshomaru did not answer. He was treading on eggshells, and they were crackling, shattering beneath his feet. Crossing the threshold into his room he paused a few steps from the door, listening. Rin waited outside. She would not enter unless invited. Despite himself and what he knew to be right, Sesshomaru felt the idea of sharing his bed with her quite appealing. His body hummed, feeling warm. Although he could never understand how she knew it exactly, Rin could sense these changes in him. It was the only invitation she needed.

She crossed into his room and boldly shut the door behind her. When Sesshomaru turned to face her now he threw her a glare and stood stiffly, frustrated and torn in two. "I did not ask you to join me."

Rin fell to her knees in a bow, submissive at once. Incurring his wrath wasn't a good thing. They might argue and discuss, but outright, bold anger from Sesshomaru was always a bad thing. She would have to leave if he stayed that way. She had read his desire correctly, but she knew him to be contradictory and often times surprisingly in control of his more animal urges. "Rin apologizes, Lord Sesshomaru."

Her hair was still pinned up. The long ponytail spilled around one shoulder and coiled on the floor. Long, black, shiny, and smooth. It would be smooth as her skin, and likely fragranced from her last bath. Again Sesshomaru struggled with his longing.

"Does Sesshomaru-sama wish me to leave?"

He paused, considering for quite a long time. Then, despite his better judgment, he answered her, "No, you may stay Rin."

She sat up but did not look at him directly yet. "May I write to Lord Shimofuri and ask him to allow Tsukiyume to stay with us?"

Alarm shot through Sesshomaru, he was glad Rin wasn't looking at him, searching him for clues. He turned his back on her, facing his small writing table and his futon instead. "No, you may not. I have made my decision Rin, it is final."

When she answered her voice was tight, "Yes, Lord Sesshomaru."

Thickly, Sesshomaru went on: "I will be leaving tomorrow with Tsukiyume. I will be absent for a time to visit with Shimofuri and Sasugainu in the Middle Lands. You will manage in my absence?"

Rin's voice now was small, tiny, almost weak. "How long, my lord?"

Though she could not see it, Sesshomaru closed his eyes and fought the need to sigh. "A few days. When I return I will have gifts for you from the Middle Lands."

"Yes, my lord." Her words were a little cold, a little distant. She was no longer arguing, but she was certainly upset.

Sesshomaru sighed now at last, unable to restrain it. He moved slowly and sat on his bed. After a long moment of silence, Sesshomaru peeked at Rin cautiously. She had kept her face neutral, but the stiffness in her shoulders told him she remained tense, wild and untamed. The thought of taming her only served to arouse him. He buried the thought hurriedly in favor of self control, but he'd already given in to the desire long ago.

"Come," he gestured with his single hand at his futon, at the furs and coverings, "Join me."

Rin's face was still down turned; she would not meet his gaze. "Perhaps it would be best if Rin were to leave Sesshomaru-sama for this night…"

Now that—rejection!—just would not do! He narrowed his eyes at her, compelling her to look at him. She would melt; she would crumble if she did. She could not resist him. "Rin." He called her name in a particular, deep-throated purr that drew her attention.

They stared at one another for a moment. Rin's human brown, a deep, dark color like the earth, a symbol of fertility and beauty. Sesshomaru's bright, powerful gold, like sunlight, enough to warm and sustain, or to burn and kill.

He repeated his command. "Join me." This time she obeyed, bowing slightly and then pushing herself off the floor and moving toward him. She sat beside him, her face stony, and her body stiff. Sesshomaru ignored this and reached out to caress her ear, exposed by the hair she had pinned back to practice hand to hand combat. He used one talon, tickling gently. Those same claws could rip rival youkai to shreds. To Rin they were used to tease, to caress. She resisted a tiny bit at first, not looking at him, but then a long breath left her. Her proud shoulders sagged, a tiny, coy smile tried to play at the edges of her lips.

The battle was over, Sesshomaru had prevailed.

Early the next morning Sesshomaru left Rin, still sleeping. There were many things that needed to be done in this day, traveling, dragging Tsukiyume away from Rin and to Ginrei, keeping Tsukiyume in the secret palace confined and restrained…

And there was also the matter that had finalized his thoughts on the matter too: the strange letter that Rin had mentioned. Sesshomaru sought out his old teacher, Kuenai.

The old sensei barely slept anymore. In his old age he was obsessed with calligraphy. His small chambers on the premise were covered in kanji of multiple types, multiple styles, and even different languages. Half of it Kuenai likely couldn't read properly, but he could make the characters, that was all he cared about. To practice, in one corner of his room, the old grizzled inuyoukai kept a small rectangular box, filled with sand. He used a long stick to draw into it whichever characters he wished.

When Sesshomaru came to Kuenai's chambers early that morning, he found the old inuyoukai standing with his eyes closed over that box of sand, long drawing stick in hand. He was dozing, but when he heard the door slide open he snapped awake and turned irritably, still yawning. "You damnable maids, go away before I—" he stopped, eyes bugging out with surprise as he saw that it wasn't a maid that had disturbed him.

"My lord." He fell at once to his knees, grunting a little as he did so. Sesshomaru could hear his knees pop.

"Rise, sensei." Kuenai did so and faced Sesshomaru with a wary but respectful gaze. "Rin tells me that Tsukiyume received a letter while you were instructing her."

Kuenai cringed. "Yes—I tried, my lord, I tried to take it from her but she ran from me and my legs are not what they once were…"

Sesshomaru interrupted him, "You have reason to believe it was a letter that may have, in some way, threatened me?"

Kuenai bit his old, thinned lips. "There are many things, my lord, that I suspect threaten you."

Sesshomaru blinked once. "Explain sensei."

The old inuyoukai huffed, breathing loudly, "The hanyou girl, my lord, I believe she is a danger to you. Like a spy in our midst for her brother and uncle in the Middle Lands. I do not trust them, drawing on your resources such as they have, my lord. And…" he took a step forward, leaning in as if to whisper a secret though he and Sesshomaru were several feet from one another, "I believe Lady Rin's grief may be her fault."

Sesshomaru smiled inwardly, amused at Kuenai's conspiracy theories. It was always the habit of those with a lot of time on their hands to worry and ponder the plots and intrigues of others. "What do you mean?"

Kuenai ducked his head embarrassedly. "Your children, my lord. Lady Rin's lost children."

Sesshomaru tensed. "Do not speak of that." He ordered, glaring.

Kuenai apologized hurriedly but he would not be put off now that he had his lord's ear. "I apologize my lord, but I must say, I have seen this before in my long years. The children are lost because of sabotage."

Despite the taboo of speaking of Rin's mascarriages, a very private, painful matter, with an outsider, Sesshomaru was enthralled. Kuenai was a wise youkai, long lived and well educated. He had served under Inutaisho and seen many, many things. Sesshomaru dared not underestimate him. "Sabotage?"

The old sensei nodded solemnly. "Sabotage. Someone sprinkles a little contaminant into Lady Rin's tea, sprinkles it onto her food. Over time the tiny unnoticeable toxins kill the pups. She suffers almost no sign, but they are damaged and killed."

Sesshomaru felt a coldness sweeping over him. At first it was nothing but a small chill, then a great, icy wave. Sabotage. Tea. Toxins. He kept his voice quiet and cold, "Who do you suspect, Kuenai?"

"It would be someone close to Lady Rin, someone who prepares her meals. They may be paid by someone else—like that upstart in the Middle Lands, Shimofuri." Kuenai spat.

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed slowly as he considered this. The idea was an excellent one. It was probably right. There was only one way for him to know, and that would be to remove Rin from the castle, to keep her somewhere else to avoid the contamination and to see if there she might carry a pup to term. Then he would know for certain. Ransacking the maids and the cooks was also an excellent idea, but if one had been bought off another could certainly be taken…

So who was it that was paying the maids to poison Rin? Despite Kuenai's ideas, Sesshomaru doubted it was Shimofuri. The letter still worried him, but the poisoning had to have been going on for a long, long time. Longer than Shimofuri had had power or reason to cause trouble for Sesshomaru and Rin.

In that case, who else? Was it Nishiyori's doing continued on even after the old lord's death and conquer? His jaw tightened, his lips thinned, pressed in on themselves, the only sign of Sesshomaru's worry.

"I thank you Kuenai, you have been an excellent help. You will be pleased to know I am getting rid of the hanyou girl today."

Kuenai sighed with obvious relief. "Oh happiness my lord, it is a perfect decision on your part!"

Sesshomaru excused himself from Kuenai's chambers and moved next to where Tsukiyume's chambers were, placed further inside, closer to the royal quarters. He waited outside while the maids scurried to get Tsukiyume roused and dressed. With his keen ears he heard the hanyou girl mumbling sleepily, being dragged about and manhandled by the maids. They combed her hair, spritzed her with perfumed oils, styled her hair, and picked out fine robes for her. All this in the space of five or ten minutes while Sesshomaru waited outside the doorway.

When the sliding door was opened, Tsukiyume stood before him, with the maids backing her so she wouldn't fall over, yawning into one hand. Her kimono sleeves were long and elegant, more so than Sesshomaru would have liked considering they were going to be traveling all day. When she saw Sesshomaru standing in front of her, the hanyou girl yelped with surprise and—fear?—and fell into a clumsy, sleepy bow. "Lord Sesshomaru!"

"Tsukiyume." He acknowledged her, coldly. "Today you will be accompanying me to a small palace in the Isei. There your training will continue for a time of my choosing. When you have completed the time I require of you there, I will allow you to return to your brother, Shimofuri."

The hanyou girl was facing the floor in her bow, but Sesshomaru could see her shoulders shaking. "Yes, my lord."

"Come, we leave now."

The girl stuttered, "My things—I must say goodbye to—"

"I will have your things sent to you later. You have no time to say goodbye to anyone. Follow me." He turned and began walking away down the hall. The maids pressed in behind Tsukiyume and in a moment she was following him as well, her kimono rustling all around her, so much showier than what they usually dressed her in for classes. She should have known from the moment they woke her and dressed her in it that something strange was about to happen…