A/N: I meant to have this part in last chapter, but it ended up being just too long with it in there, like more than 20 pages in word. So…this is the chapter you've been waiting for. THIS IS THE CHAPTER that Sesshomaru will be exposed…

Disclaimer: Shimofuri is MINE!! lol

Last chapter: Sesshomaru left Rin after staying with her at Jouka for a few months. He told her that they are going to have a baby girl. Her pregnancy has yet to fail. He left Jouka for Naishougoto because Daken told him two things: Tsukiyume has been abducted, and by who and why they don't know. Secondly Ginrei is pregnant with Sesshomaru's daughter. Two daughters by two different women. What luck, huh? Tsukiyume was abducted by Kofum, a mongrel youkai, both dog and wolf demon. Before leaving she told Ginrei about Rin.

Sesshomaru and the Truth

Rin woke early the day after Sesshomaru had left her. Her stomach was tight, twisted in a knot. At first this made her fear that she was about to miscarry—and strange little ache or pain in her belly made her fear this—but it proved to be hunger and…something else. Intuition she would swear by it later. Her body had known that day that something was about to change her life.

Forever.

She dressed and, feeling unusually energetic, ate and drank her breakfast earlier than usual. Afterwards she retired to her room to practice writing. She enjoyed the ink brush in her hand, the deep, dark blackness of the inkwell, the slash of the darkness against the light rice paper…

Four poems in Jijo hurried into her room, dropping at once into a bow. She was breathing heavily, and when Rin acknowledged her and she sat up, fear was evident on her old, wrinkled face.

"What is it, Jijo?"

"My lady," the old woman panted, "The guards have escorted an inuyoukai into the palace. He claims to know you—he seeks an audience with you. Alone."

Rin blinked, her mind began working at once. It was improper, of course, for Rin to be called on by another male, man or youkai. For this male, whoever he was, to come seeking her, he must truly know her, or simply be out of his mind. Had the guards been forced to bring him into the palace? Had he threatened their lives?

"What is his name, Jijo?" Rin asked, gravely.

"You cannot be thinking of seeing him!" she gaped helplessly, appalled.

"His name." Rin repeated, pinching her lips together in a thin, troubled line.

Jijo bowed and answered, "He claims to be Lord Shimofuri from the Middle Lands."

Shimofuri. She remembered Tsukiyume's older brother. He was a handsome young lord, blue-black hair that shone like Sesshomaru's never could simply because of its color. And his eyes were memorable as looking like water on a cloudy day, gray and perhaps gloomy. She had always felt badly for him that Tsukiyume was taken from him as a hostage. Shimofuri had been helpless, manipulated, controlled.

Because of the politics, Rin knew she had to be wary of him. Tsukiyume had been with them for a long time, and Shimofuri hadn't been pleased with it. Sesshomaru had at last returned Tsukiyume to him, but emotions likely still festered. Could he honestly have come to take Rin as his hostage?

She didn't believe it.

Taking a deep breath, Rin pushed herself out of her desk. "Jijo, get me my outer robe, would you?" she moved, stepping toward a long, full-length, silvered mirror.

"My lady, you cannot!" Jijo was gasping, "What would Lord Sesshomaru think—!"

"I can trust Lord Shimofuri." Rin interrupted, frowning. "Fetch my outer robe. Call the maids, have them pin my hair up." She turned sideways, staring at her body, squinting. Shimofuri had the nose of an inuyoukai. He would know from the moment she entered the room that she was pregnant. He would know Sesshomaru was weakest with her in this condition…and that Rin herself would put up little of a fight…

She hesitated only for a moment, and then bit her lip, lifted her chin. "Jijo! Have the maids bring perfume as well."

Jijo walked out of the room with a grim mask spread out over her deep wrinkles.

A flock of maids descended on Rin seconds later. They wrapped her outermost robe over her, tied it decoratively, and brought out the perfumes. They doused their fingers with the perfumes, jasmines and the scents of crushed flowers, and then combed her hair with their fingers as well as with her ivory combs. They pinned her hair high on her head, curling it around itself and using the combs to keep it in place.

Normally this would've sufficed, but now, as they began to finish and back away from her, Rin ordered them to apply more perfume. They pulled out fruit-smelling perfumes now and began dampening clothes with the perfumes and then pressing them to Rin's skin and her robes. The room reeked of spices and sweets when Rin was finally satisfied.

"Bring me to him." she ordered Jijo. The maids stared after her, wide-eyed and stunned. They whispered as she left the room.

Rin passed through the halls, aware of her rich robes, the heaviness of them. They were almost as elaborate as the ones she had worn when she and Sesshomaru performed an almost wedding-like ceremony to formalize their relationship. The thought of those earlier, passionate days, made Rin's face burn, and the heat of desire spread through her. She buried it as best as she could and waited as Jijo slid open the door to the meeting room.

Normally Sesshomaru was the only one that used the meeting room, although Rin had, occasionally had lessons in it as a child and adolescent. Jijo prostrated herself just inside the door while Rin waited, remaining out of sight. This little ceremony, how to enter a room properly during an audience, had been one of Rin's many lessons. But in those days it was assumed that she would be married off to a samurai lord and would come into the room not as the mistress, but as a pretty little thing to decorate the background. Even so, Rin was perfectly comfortable with the little ritual.

Jijo was introducing her. "Lady Rin, mate of the great Lord Sesshomaru." Despite Jijo's practice with such things, Rin made out the uncertainty in her voice, the small wavering there that told her, and certainly Shimofuri, that she was nervous.

Jijo scooted aside, bowing again as Rin moved elegantly past her and into the audience room. It was a bland room, rectangular in shape. The screens here were intermittent. Some were thin and allowed the sunlight from outside to enter the room. Others sections of the walls in the room were secret rooms with soldiers or guards ready to spring should their lady order it. Jouka was understaffed; it was possible that there weren't any guards to protect Rin. Shimofuri would know it better than she would; his keen ears would pick out the sounds of breathing where Rin's couldn't.

Sitting some ten feet away, a small step down from Rin's hosting platform, Shimofuri sat tensely. As she seated herself in the rustle of her robes, Rin watched Shimofuri out of the corner of her eye. The young lord dropped into a low bow—but not before she caught the twist of disgust on his face. He'd smelled her overpowering perfume, as she'd intended.

"Lady Rin." He murmured, lips nearly against the floor.

"Lord Shimofuri." She responded, gently.

He sat up, and his face was under his careful control again, stoic and cold. But not completely. In her long years with Sesshomaru, Rin had come to know their subtle emotional displays very well. In Shimofuri she could see tenseness and determination…and…sympathy? She took in his face again, scrutinizing it while trying to appear as though she were nothing but a porcelain doll, waiting for him to speak.

The compressed lips, the tightness of his jaw being clenched and then unclenched. But his eyes, they revealed tenderness in the tightening only at the edges, and the way they were bright, watery. Determination coupled with nervousness, and of course, sympathy.

She'd always known he was a caring youkai.

"Lord Shimofuri—your visit is most unexpected." She announced, beginning this meeting because he appeared hesitant.

Shimofuri dipped his head in a nod. "Yes, I apologize, my lady."

"May I ask what brings you here?"

"It is not…" he swallowed, and she saw his Adam's apple bob with the motion, "…good news that brings me to you, Lady Rin."

Rin cocked her head to one side, showing him curiosity. "Then you bring bad news?"

"I'm afraid so." His lips were thinned even more so. "I must inform you of your mate's dishonesty."

This made Rin stop. She stared at him, unblinking. Her stomach twisted and flip flopped on itself, her legs felt as though all blood had suddenly been drained out of them. This was a reaction brought on multiple levels. One was the basic fear of any woman, of any man even for that matter, of dishonesty in one's lover. The other was larger than that; the realization that one's evaluation of another is all wrong.

In this case she was thinking of Shimofuri. She had judged him to be honest, caring, and trustworthy. Yet Sesshomaru had done things to damage their relationship. To destroy trust. Rin hadn't thought it was enough for Shimofuri to turn against Sesshomaru, but perhaps she'd been wrong, perhaps power had corrupted the young inuyoukai since she'd last seen him. He came to her now trying to convince her to turn against her mate? She would not be convinced easily.

Acutely, she felt a sense of danger. A ringing started up in her ears, her heart fluttered like a sparrow caught in midair by a cat.

"I'm afraid I have little interest in hearing lies about Lord Sesshomaru." She replied, dryly, even so, she was frustrated by how her voice sounded weak, breathless. He would know his words had affected her already just by insinuating that something was wrong. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Lord Shimofuri."

"Please." Shimofuri bowed low to her, "Please, Lady Rin. You must hear my words."

"I understand," she began cautiously, "That you may be bitter toward Lord Sesshomaru for his part in holding your sister captive. But I assure you young lord, she was well-treated here. I loved your sister dearly. I was sorry to see her leave—but she has been returned to you…"

As she'd spoken, Shimofuri had risen from his bow and made a motion to interrupt her, heatedly. She could see the fire in his eyes, the genuine anger he felt at having had his sister taken and held against him. Rin had already made up her mind to dismiss him—but his words made her pause, shocked all over again. "My sister has not been returned to me, as I'm sure Lord Sesshomaru told you."

Rin blinked, her mind moved fast, swimming through her memories. Sesshomaru held a fear of rebellion against Shimofuri. Had Shimofuri caused trouble recently that she wasn't aware of? She remembered his arrival months ago, the troubled golden eyes, his refusal to tell her anything of it…

Fear gripped her, stiffening all of her muscles. "Lord Sesshomaru would never kill Tsukiyume…"

Shimofuri's eyes narrowed with disdain, "I wouldn't put it past him, my lady. He did not return my sister to me, as you believed he had. He lied to you and took her instead to a different palace, in the Isei province of the Middle Lands."

"The war-torn province?" she asked. She knew of the war in the Middle Lands, understood that it was caused by a rebellion by Nishiyori. She also knew that with Sesshomaru's help, Nishiyori's family had been destroyed. As far as she knew, the Isei had been Sesshomaru's sole price for his aide in the war effort. Was Shimofuri bitter about that as well? The land was essentially his…

"Yes. You know that it has been annexed to the Western Lands, as outlined by Lord Sesshomaru, myself, and my uncle, Sasugainu." He was cold now, speaking like a diplomat, filling in meaningless holes so that his point, when he made it, would be clear as spring water.

"Yes. The Isei belongs to Lord Sesshomaru. Why would he bring Tsukiyume to the Isei?" Rin felt her body stiffening, preparing to suffer some sort of blow, but what it was she couldn't imagine. Why would he lie to me about Tsukiyume…? She had been distressed, Tsukiyume had not written her…

"She was to keep someone company for him." Shimofuri answered vaguely. When Rin opened her mouth to interrupt him, Shimofuri continued onward, refusing to be stopped, "I will tell you who in a moment, my lady. First you must understand something else about the war in the Isei."

Rin sat back, trying to take a few deep breaths, trying to compose herself. Her hands, in her lap, folded over her belly, trying to draw comfort from the life still growing inside her. "Go on."

Shimofuri nodded solemnly and continued. "The terms for Sesshomaru's involvement against Lord Nishiyori were that the land would be annexed to the Western Lands—and that when his family fell, our armies would spare him one inuyoukai bitch that was unrelated to him."

Rin struggled to maintain an unaffected composure, but beneath it she was starting to shake, starting to crumble. She was anything but naive, and she was beginning to anticipate where this was going…

"As you already know, Sesshomaru also took Tsukiyume from me and held her as a hostage. This was to guarantee my silence on these terms." He stared at her pointedly, "I am breaking that silence with you, my lady. My uncle has arranged for Tsukiyume's return to me. We have taken her from Sesshomaru's control. I hope you can forgive us for this."

Rin opened her mouth to speak, but found that she had somehow lost her voice. She cleared her throat and then gave up, gesturing for Shimofuri to continue.

He searched her face for a moment, perhaps wondering if it was wise to go on, but the hard look in his eyes didn't falter, the disdain remained. It was not meant for Rin, but rather it was aimed at Sesshomaru. He had abandoned the use of proper titles when referring to Rin's mate, telling Rin that there was hostility, but it was beginning to make a little too much sense.

Sesshomaru craved power. He was ruthless at times. He actively destroyed threats to himself or others. Keeping Tsukiyume as he had never had made sense to Rin. Now it was striking her as making perfect sense. She remembered years ago, right before he'd taken here as a mate, that he'd realized his offspring with her could wield Tetsusaiga. He confronted Inuyasha, telling him that as a hanyou he'd never be able to produce offspring. Unfortunately Inuyasha had found a loophole in that and fathered a son. To keep his half-brother from being a danger—and in spite of Sesshomaru's insistence to the contrary, Rin knew he had a healthy respect for his brother; the loss of his arm was a constant reminder—he'd been determined to kill Inuyasha's mate and child. Rin had begged him, sacrificing herself to stop him at last.

When they'd met again a few years later, Rin had had to stop another potential battle. Sesshomaru's pride was insulted because his little brother had managed to start a family while he, the great lord of the Western Lands, had not. By then Rin had already suffered several miscarriages. Rin had always known that, as a human, she could never produce proper heirs for Sesshomaru. She'd gone into the relationship content that eventually he would have to take an inuyoukai woman to produce his heirs. It was just a fact of life for her.

…But there was shame within her too, that she had been unable to have his children. Could his frustration, his inadvertently abused pride, have made him do what Shimofuri was describing…?

She swallowed, beginning to feel sick.

"Sesshomaru took my sister to a palace in the Isei. It's there that he keeps the inuyoukai bitch that my armies kept alive for him. He would not bargain with the clan, he makes it clear that he despises us. He has taken this unfortunate woman and kept her alive when the war killed all of the rest of her family." Shimofuri lowered his eyes, avoiding her gaze, "I was present at the wedding ceremony, Lady Rin. I was to stand in for this woman's family, because my father was from Nishiyori's clan, I was her closest relative left alive."

There was both disgust and sympathy in his voice as he spoke of this inuyoukai woman, but Rin found her head spinning wildly. She thrust out one hand onto the floor at her side, trying to stop herself from wavering. The only thing that rang through her head in his explanation was, "…wedding ceremony…"

"Lady Rin?" Shimfori asked, bringing Rin abruptly out of her haze.

She stared at him, still hearing the ringing in her ears, the press of something heavy and thick against her chest, making it hard for her to breathe. Every breath was a miracle because she took it without throwing up all over the floor. "I cannot believe you." her voice was a pathetic whimper, weakness…so like a human…

Shimofuri's face was drawn now, haggard. He was human-like; he seemed to have aged several years in the past few minutes. "I was afraid you would say such a thing, Lady Rin. That is why I brought my sister's letters to you. In them she describes the palace and Sesshomaru's secret wife." He reached inside his robes, which were dirtied and travel worn, and produced several white sheets of pretty, rich rice paper. "In these is all the evidence you should require to know that my words are not a deception."

Rin's mouth was dry, her throat burning. "Bring them to me."

Shimofuri bowed and looked to Jijo. The old woman heaved herself up off her knees and hurried forward. Her eyes were shining with tears. As she walked they slipped silently down her face, a few wetted the letters that she carried up to Rin on her platform. Rin snatched them away from her with shaking hands. She tried to read them but the world was still swimming around her, dizzyingly. A few of the words and sentences leapt out at her, like little demons, clawing at her eyes. Shimofuri was right, she recognized the handwriting as Tsukiyume's.

Shishi-sama, I have missed you very much…Sesshomaru read my letters, I could not speak frankly with you…he will not let me write to Lady Rin…

The palace is small, ugly. I miss home; I hate the smell of the lake, like decay, like the war here in the Isei…

Sesshomaru's wife is beautiful but traumatized. She blames you, shishi-sama, for the war that killed her family. I told her that Lord Sesshomaru was just as much responsible for it, maybe more so, and she believed me. I wondered if she would kill him, but no one can kill Sesshomaru…

She is fair haired, with strange, silver eyes. His heirs will be like ghosts.

I am terrified for Lady Rin…he has not told her—and all of her lost babies…

Rin pushed the letters away as if they'd burned her. Her skin flushed first hot and then cold when she looked up at Shimofuri. His face had twisted again, but not with anger or bitterness, instead he wore an expression bordering on horror. Rin, even through the strange illness of emotion that had possessed her, could imagine what he was thinking: what have I done…?

"Lady Rin." His words were short, nervous, and clipped. "I am truly sorry to have to bring you this news…" he swallowed rather loudly and stared into his lap, as if suddenly shy. "Forgive me. I did not know until a moment ago—your scent…" he stammered, but Rin was sharp enough to understand what he was trying to say.

She'd done a good job hiding her scent with the perfume. Shimofuri had been unable to pick up her pregnancy until mere moments ago, after it was too late to stop his tale. Now he regretted telling her, fearing for her health…

I could die. Rin found herself thinking, with remarkable clarity, I could die and Sesshomaru would live with my ghost for the rest of his long days…

It was almost tempting. She could excuse herself from Shimofuri and go to her room. There were many swords and daggers that Sesshomaru had had made for her over the years. She could find one, force the maids out of the room, and plunge it through her body…it would be the most poignant ending for her. The most tragic.

But Rin was not a fan of tragedies, nor of wasted life. Sesshomaru had betrayed her; he had done this behind her back, going to great lengths to do it. She thought of this other woman, of the war that Sesshomaru had used to acquire her…

There were two choices before her. One was that she could face Sesshomaru with this knowledge; she could understand it from his side of things. She could meet his wife; she could get to know her. She could support her mate as a good—although perhaps mindless—woman should. She could stay at Jouka and bear his daughter or miscarry the child and then try, as she always had before, to conceive again. This choice made some sense—she had always known there would be another woman, an inuyoukai. But she had always thought it would be done in the open. She could imagine sharing Sesshomaru with a female she knew, even that she liked. But the deception, and the cruelty with which Sesshomaru had taken this other woman…

Her eyes refocused on Shimofuri's haggard, worried face, and the thoughts, her choices, continued to spin themselves in her mind.

There was another path. It would be a devastating one for everyone—but it would particularly annoying to Sesshomaru. Rin examined the idea at the same time her gaze scrutinized Shimofuri. She remembered a conversation she'd had with Sesshomaru months ago, regarding his lack of trust in Shimofuri, his unspoken fear of losing control of the young leader.

"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."

Shimofuri was shifting nervously under her silent stare, unable to bear the weight of it, the guilt of knowing that he had told Rin the truth as she was carrying her lover's child…he didn't know that Rin was hardening like stone, growing stronger with each passing second as she hatched a plan that was almost Naraku-worthy.

Sesshomaru, to trust is to be blind? Then I will blind you, just as you have blinded me.

"Lord Shimofuri." She spoke with a strong, albeit raspy voice. The inuyoukai lord jumped at her voice and stared, expectantly. "I assume you have come here to harm my mate by telling me about this."

He blinked, taken aback. "My lady," he bowed, "I felt you needed to know."

"You are a poor liar." She smiled, though it was cold and without warmth. "But I would prefer a poor liar to one who can deceive me as Sesshomaru has." She turned her face away briefly, feeling her body flush with heat and cold again, her limbs were shaking, as if she had just vomited. She had spoken her mate's name without the proper title. It was something she had never done before…

When she looked back at Shimofuri she saw that he understood the weight of this event. His face was grim, solemn, but there was something in his eyes, a slow, buried enjoyment.

"What is it you wished to accomplish, Lord Shimofuri?" she asked, boldly.

"I had no plans beyond exposing your mate, my lady. I…" his voice trailed off, his face colored embarrassedly.

"You wanted to hurt him." Rin finished for him. "To gain vengeance. Am I not correct?"

"It is not land I care about." Shimofuri spoke up with new force, "It is my sister. It is the woman he took without your knowledge. It is his deceit and his abuse of the clan I am concerned with."

"And so you decided to use me to hurt him." Rin added, nodding slowly. She sat back, her spine stiffening like a steel rod. "I thank you for letting me know."

Shimofuri was eyeing her warily. "What will you do now, my lady?"

"I will help you punish him." she grinned, coldly.

They reached Naishougoto late at night. Daken was fatigued, exhausted from running back and forth between the two distant palaces. He was eager, and content, to find a futon and rest a while. When one was as old as Daken was strength was sometimes hard to come by.

Sesshomaru was young, however, and antsy, eager to uncover Tsukiyume's abductor, and the reasons behind it, and then deal with the two pregnant females in his life. "Where was she taken?" he asked as they skirted around the palace's premises.

"Along the swampiest part of the lake. From her room. There was more snow a few days ago—the tracks have gone. They were upright, bipedal." Daken answered, yawning. He was so tired he couldn't even take up his characteristic smirk.

Sesshomaru moved forward, standing on the shore of the lake that Daken had identified. "What of the scents?" he asked.

"You can't smell them anymore?"

Sesshomaru made no reply, merely continued to walk, slowly, along the lake, searching for clues.

Daken finished another long yawn and then announced, "She might've gone willingly."

This news made Sesshomaru turn around and glare at Daken. "Willingly?"

"There were two sets of footprints; one of them was the hanyou girl's. She followed him after awhile."

Sesshomaru snarled, uncharacteristically, and pushed past Daken angrily. "There is no need to search any further."

Daken followed the enraged Sesshomaru at a distance, smirking nervously. "You think it was Shimofuri then, don't you?"

There was no reply from the inuyoukai lord. They passed through the moonlight, one young and shining eerily in the silvered light, the other dark and shadowy, grizzled, old, and slumped sleepily. They entered the palace, catching several human guards as they slept. Sesshomaru knocked them to either side, waking them up with a startle. He glared but said nothing as he passed by, they were humiliated enough to be caught sleeping. Sesshomaru could kill them for such a mistake.

From the second he entered the palace, Sesshomaru knew that Daken had been right. The palace reeked with Ginrei's rich, and very pregnant scent. Anger and shame warred within him at it. Anger at himself for allowing it to happen. Anger with her that she had not told him sooner. Shame that at the same time Rin was pregnant too and he had left her for Naishougoto. And, worst of all, shame that her scent spurred instinctual desire inside him, even now.

Leaving Daken behind, Sesshomaru passed up the stairs like a ghost, as silently as he was physically capable. He crossed over the floorboards, barely breathing, and down the hallway. Ginrei's room stood before him, the door was left partly open, allowing him to see inside.

His wife was awake, sitting up on her bed and staring at him quite frankly. She did not appear different at all, there was no huge change physically, but emotionally he sensed she was calm, almost unaffected by the sight of him.

The similarities between his last image of Rin, sitting up in her bed, and now his first sight of Ginrei, sitting up in her bed, unnerved him. Sesshomaru turned his back on her and began to move away. Nothing she could've said at that moment would stop him from walking on by…

"I know about your mate."

Except that.

Her whispered words froze him, keeping him in place. He waited, wondering if she would expose more.

"You love a human." There was no reproach in her words, rather the opposite, a sort of wonder. "A great, powerful inuyoukai." Ginrei went on, still quiet, still gentle. "And he loves the weakest of creatures."

Anger, brash and abrupt, swept over Sesshomaru. He turned round and glared at her with narrowed, murderous eyes. "Who told you this?"

Ginrei was unfazed at his reaction. "Tsukiyume. Just before she was taken away." Her voice had dropped at that, saddened.

He changed the subject swiftly, demanding, "Why did you not send for me?"

Ginrei lifted her eyes to the ceiling, frowning for the first time. "Would you have come?"

Sesshomaru paused, unable to answer her. He knew the truth: no, it was unlikely. He would've ordered the guards to be doubled, for a healer to be posted and at the ready. He would've left Daken there permanently and hired someone else to pass written messages back and forth. He wouldn't have gone out to see her, to dote on her—especially not when Rin was pregnant. Rin came first.

"You wouldn't have come." Ginrei answered for him. Her voice was only slightly bitter. When Sesshomaru stared at her, even through the dark, he could see her face was calm and uncaring. "And now, I know why. I understand you more than I did before. Tsukiyume called you a monster." When Sesshomaru looked up, bristling at her relayed insult, he was startled to see Ginrei smirking at him; her fangs gleamed through the nighttime. "But I imagine, in your mind, you're doing only what you have to."

Her interpretation unnerved him. Sesshomaru was torn between trying to silence her and turning his back on her. Bother were enticing ideas. The palace slept around them; Sesshomaru could hear their breaths, their heartbeats. Daken was already snoring; Jaken was panicking in some sort of silly nightmare downstairs.

When she opened her mouth to speak again, Sesshomaru interrupted her before she could start. "Sleep, Ginrei."

Her smirk had yet to vanish. "Worried about your heir?" she cocked her head to one side, letting her long, silver hair spill over her left shoulder. "Or worried because I'm hitting a nerve?"

Worried about your heir. Her words forced Sesshomaru to remember Rin, back across the miles and the mountains, hidden away at Jouka. She would be sleeping now as well, thinking of their daughter tucked safely inside her. She could never imagine that her child already had a sibling due only a few weeks after its birth.

Ginrei was staring at him as if she could read his mind, his soul. For a moment Sesshomaru thought he should slash her with Tenseiga, just to be certain that she was not some being that actually could bewitch him and read his mind, endanger his soul.

But then she was talking again, unstoppably. "Tsukiyume told me your mate had not been able to give you children. I know from Jaken that you despise the clan. In your mind you needed heirs and a wife from the clan. You cheated them, killed my family, and took me so you could get them."

Sesshomaru at last couldn't withstand her words. He fell to defending himself from her. "Shimofuri killed your family and took you."

"You asked him to." Ginrei retorted, quietly. She was dry-eyed and serious, her gaze unwavering. She lifted her arms in an irreverent gesture and at last a little more bitterness entered her voice, letting Sesshomaru feel the interaction was more normal now. "And here I am."

Anxiously, Sesshomaru strode forward, entering her room and sliding the door shut behind him. Her scent was powerful, strong, but although his body was trying to respond, his will overpowered it. "You will be silent." He warned her, coldly.

"You don't like to hear the truth do you?" Ginrei asked. Without the light from the hallway her face was darkened and Sesshomaru could only make out the wet shine of her eyes—but he smelled tears. "I know why you did it now." she shook her head, sniffling a little, "You're not a monster—but what you did…it was wrong." Her voice rose, growing shriller. "You must see that!"

She paused, as if waiting for an answer, but Sesshomaru offered her nothing. He stayed where he was, frozen and silent, like a statue.

Ginrei sniffled again, the scent of tears thickened in the room, pushing out the other scents that risked arousing Sesshomaru. "If you had come to my father and asked for me, they would've given me to you. I would've gone to you willingly. What did you think you accomplished with slaughter?" her voice was rising higher, making Sesshomaru resist the need to wince and slap his hand over her mouth to silence her before she woke the rest of the palace. "What would your mate think of you, if she knew? Is that why you did it? To keep it from her?"

Sesshomaru's stomach clenched up, his breath became harder to draw. He fought, but his heartbeat sped up, taking off. Ginrei had composed everything his seemingly non-existent conscience—or perhaps it was just gagged—had thrown at him for months now. Sesshomaru was very good at suppressing petty things like emotion. Emotion was a weakness, it gave a creature away. Fear exposed itself to enemies, giving them an upper hand. Pain or remorse or guilt impeded one from doing what was necessary to get to the top…

"Tsukiyume told me," Ginrei was murmuring again, gently, "That you saved her when she was a little girl. If you've known her for so long—she would accept your need for heirs…" her voice cracked, "You didn't have to slaughter them…"

Sesshomaru swallowed thickly. "Stop, Ginrei." His voice was thick. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced down the bubble of pain and anxiety. Her breathing was rough, but it was not sobbing. It was a quiet, controlled crying of a mourner.

"You don't like the truth, do you, husband?" she asked, her tone mildly mocking, but mostly full of pain. "You know it is the truth…"

"Yes." Sesshomaru almost choked on the word, but when he spoke again his voice had settled. "It is."

Ginrei pressed him, "You were wrong to do what you did."

"Yes." she couldn't see his face, he was thankful for that. He allowed his eyes to close, it helped when he couldn't see the wet, shining outline of her tear-streaked face. It helped when he could only hear her voice and know this was Ginrei, not Rin.

"It can't be taken back now." Ginrei drew in a ragged breath, stuttering a little. "It can only be accepted."

Dully, Sesshomaru murmured, "I am sorry."

Ginrei snorted and then laughed harshly once. But what she said was, "Thank you."

There was a long moment of silence, and then Sesshomaru tensed when he heard Ginrei moving, crawling over her bed and setting her feet on the floor. She crossed the small room and reached out to him, touching his chest tentatively. Then she wrapped her arms around him, sighing.

Sesshomaru accepted this, uncomfortably. Cautiously, he touched her shoulder, her hair, trying weakly to offer comfort. It was awkward, but tender.

She released him then and withdrew, moving back to her bed. Sesshomaru watched her shadow cross the room and settle back on the futon, confusedly. When she spoke at last it was with new vigor and strength. "What will happen to this baby?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, warily.

"Is she mine, or yours, husband?" Ginrei clarified smoothly. "And a name?"

A daughter. Sesshomaru recalled, feeling relief swarm over him that sanity had returned once more. "We had not decided." He told her thoughtfully. "There is no hurry."

"And a name…?"

Sesshomaru resisted the frown that was trying to creep over his face, though Ginrei couldn't see it. "It is too soon for that." It might not survive…

Ginrei, apparently, was not as aware of the likelihood of miscarriage, for obvious reasons. "Hanone." She whispered. "It will fit her well if she is like you at all."

Hanone. Fang.

Her words stung him, but they were accurate. Sesshomaru turned his back on her without answering and slid open her door, slipping out of the room and into the comparative brightness of the hallway.

You don't like the truth, do you? She was right, through and through. He hated it.

You didn't need to slaughter them. Did you do it to keep it from Rin? What would Rin think of you, if she knew?

Sesshomaru paused, staring straight ahead. He had planned to sleep but…the pressure inside his chest, the bubble of anxiety…the conscience he thought he'd buried…

Turning around, Sesshomaru slid the door open to Ginrei's room and slipped into it again. "Ginrei." She was already looking up at him, alertly. "I am leaving…" he paused, feeling his throat close up, but somehow he managed a very quiet, last two words to her. "Thank you."

"You're going to your mate?" Ginrei asked, eyeing him critically.

"Yes."

She bowed on her bed, letting her silver hair spill over her shoulders messily. "I will see you again, husband?"

"Yes."

He slid the door shut and hurried—silently—through the palace, vanishing like a ghost over the moonlit, early spring land.

A/N: And just because I can…

"You, woman." Sesshomaru addressed her, rudely, "Where's Rin?"

The old woman gulped and fell to her knees in a pathetic heap of a bow. "I-I tried t-to stop her, Lord Ses—"

Sesshomaru's golden eyes narrowed. "Where's Rin?" he repeated, firmly.

"She's gone!" the old woman blubbered, bawling.