A/N: it's been a while since I wrote anything. Started working two weeks ago. No time, no time. But I'm making money! Medallion Press rejected my novel. It was a hard blow, but I'll keep trying. Sigh…

Disc: Nope…not mine.

Last Chapter: IY and Kagome found themselves with Rin and Tsukiyume added to their family. Kagome took in Hyakka and Kumo, the priestesses who replaced Kaede, to treat Rin, who appears to be suffering yet another miscarriage. IY interrogated Tsukiyume. Sesshomaru decided, in his madness, that killing Ginrei would bring Rin back. He went to do it and couldn't. Instead he took Daken and sent him away on a new mission: find the people responsible for poisoning Rin and making her miscarry.

Rin's Bargain

Rin awoke in the night, to the blackness of the strange, small room, gasping and covered with sweat. A dull, deep throb inside her abdomen made her groan, gritting her teeth. Feverishly, she pawed at her face, her hair, then reached to her neck. Each time her fingers touched skin they came back dripping wet. Waves of hot and cold swept over her wildly.

Her hands groped further down her body, uncaring that she wasn't alone in the little room. Brushing past tender, swollen breasts and the lump where her latest doomed child had taken root. She groaned again, trying to block out the world. She could close her eyes, she could imagine a different room around her, but she couldn't close her ears to the voices of the strangers nearby.

"I wish there was something we could give her for pain—it must be terrible." A young woman's voice spoke, murmuring and low. What sounded like baby blubbering came from the same direction.

"Pain medicines would only stress her body further." A deeper, more mature voice answered in the same soft way. "She has come to the thick of it. We will see now whether she loses the child or if they have the strength to make it through."

Rin rolled onto her side, fighting the pain, and stretched out one hand into the darkness. "Sessho…" she called, crying, like a child. A different ache started inside her, but her mind quailed away from the harsh reality that waited in her conscious thoughts and memories. Without fully remembering why, she understood that she was without him, she was alone, stranded from her lover, mate, protector for the first time since she'd died and been saved by his sword…

The voices stopped, she heard their bodies shifting. When they spoke again it was hushed and unclear, Rin couldn't make it out and didn't try very hard to do so. She stretched with her hand again, long fingers straining and gripping at the nothingness of the air. "Sesshomaru…" she whimpered, pleadingly.

A warm touch gripped her searching hand, squeezing it tightly. "He's not here." A gentle hand brushed her forehead, smoothed her hair. It was like the touch of her mother, many, many years ago…

Rin's eyes leaked tears, but she had no energy to express the ravaging sobs that wanted to tear out of her. Everything hurt.

I'm going to die here, alone. She found herself thinking it and slipping into a darkness filled with pain, it would haunt her dreams. Please, she sent out the silent prayer, but she hardly knew what she was begging for, what she wanted to happen or didn't want to happen. In the end her prayer settled into one simple want: please, no more pain…no more pain…

She slipped into a dream where she was a child, running through a dark wilderness. Trees clawed at her, insects clamored at her face. She stumbled and fell, her limbs too heavy to move or lift. She struggled to crawl forward, feeling the dirt run over her cheek, and then the branches dig into her abdomen, deep inside it, as if she were a carcass and she was feeling the maggots, eating her insides away. Crying out for help, she saw movement, a black shape rise out of the wilderness. Her heart leapt, beating wildly.

Sesshomaru…

But the shape moved with lightening speed, slashing her back, her stomach, then pouncing on her and ripping chunks of her flesh away. At first it was a massive wolf youkai, its hair brushed her face, filling her mouth thickly when she screamed—and then the color lightened and became white as light reflected from the sea on a sunny day. Golden eyes peered at her from over her bleeding, crimson wounds. Ragged bits of flesh, skin, bone, clung around the monster's lips and chin.

She cried out, screaming—and snapped awake, still bathed in sweat and gasping anew. There was a firm grip on her shoulder, shaking her. Light had infused the room now, gray sunlight from outside, it was dawn. When Rin blinked her eyes at this waking world and glanced upward, she saw a long red haori sleeve, white hair, and…

Golden eyes.

Screaming, she clawed ferociously at her attacker, fresh tears streaming down her face. He backed away, scowling and cursing at her, and it was then that she saw the creature's ears, swiveling like a dog's atop his head. She settled weakly onto the sweat soaked bed, breathing roughly.

"What the hell!" the hanyou was blustering, pointing his finger accusingly at her. "Kagome…"

"We told you not to wake her, Inuyasha!" the woman scolded him, frowningly. She was holding a tiny child, a toddler with the same golden eyes as its father, tightly against her chest.

Rin focused on that baby, feeling very suddenly weak. Her throat, her face, and her eyes all burned with growing pressure from grief. The words of the bickering couple were lost to her as she stared at the child. It was a girl; her robes were feminine as was her hairstyle. The toddler was staring wide eyed at Rin. The upper half of her face showed astonishment or curiosity, but the lower half showed uncertainty in the set of her lips, and perhaps anger in her jaw.

Fearfully, almost holding her breath, Rin moved her hand along her body. Her own daughter, so fragile and small, was held to her by her own skin—had her baby survived? Her hand found a lump but Rin didn't trust it. There was a lingering tightness and discomfort inside her. Occasionally she felt her abdominal muscles clench up, pulsing irritably. Weakly she shifted in the bed…and felt her heart start hammering with new vigor as she realized there was no wetness, no hot, sticky blood coating her sheets…

"My lady."

Rin looked up, startled, as a new voice spoke, reaching her through the background bickering of the hanyou and his wife. It was a priestess, dressed in red and white and knelt respectfully at her bedside. The priestess bowed slightly when she saw that she had gained Rin's attention, then she lifted a small drinking bowl from in front of her knees. "Drink this."

"What…" Rin's voice croaked with disuse and she fell silent, pawing at her throat at the disturbing sound.

"It is a mixture of herbs, my lady. It will help the child."

Rin reached out with her wavering hands for the bowl. The priestess placed it into her grip carefully and helped to guide it back to her mouth. Rin swallowed the thick liquid, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she did so. In spite of her efforts to catch every drop, her clumsiness let a few short streams escape, bubbling and dripping from her jaw. The stuff was noxious and bitter, making her throat burn, but as long as the priestess pushed the drinking bowl at her, Rin took it in and swallowed as fast as she could.

As the priestess withdrew the bowl and started to get up, Rin tried to call out to her, but only succeeded in spitting a little of the medicine everywhere. Even so, the priestess noticed her attempt and halted, waiting expectantly as Rin tried to speak.

"My…baby…?"

The priestess smiled tentatively in the dull gray light and nodded her head. "You have slept for several hours and the child still lives."

Rin closed her eyes, a wave of fatigue swept over her, making her body shake. Thank you…

A male voice interrupted her fresh rush of relief. "How soon will she be able to leave?" he demanded.

The priestess answered calmly and with patience. "It will be several days at least, Inuyasha-sama."

"Dammit!" he cursed under his breath, and Rin heard and felt his footsteps as he moved through the room, heading for the exit.

"Inuyasha!" his wife hissed after him, scolding.

Slowly, Rin sighed, allowing herself to recall her surroundings, the circumstances to her arrival at her—well, essentially he was a brother-in-law. The disturbing image of her dream reappeared before her, making her cringe. She let her hand slip over her belly and turned her thoughts to the memory of the little girl sitting in Kagome's lap. Would her baby be born looking like that? Would she have Rin's appearance, and not her father's? The idea was comforting, but as Rin's abdominal muscles cramped up warningly, she bit her lip and forced her fleeting hopes away. The child had little chance of surviving to be as big as the toddler on Kagome's lap. Rin had suffered partial miscarriages before and overcome them only to lose the child a week later…

The priestess was rising to her feet, moving serenely away. Rin shook her feebleness off for a moment and tried to sit forward and clear her throat, drawing the other woman's attention. "Thank…you…"

The priestess halted and turned slightly, smiling thinly. "You are welcome my lady."

There were other things Rin felt the priestess wanted to speak, things brimming just inside the edges of her lips, but Rin's strength was fast abandoning her. She shifted her weight and curled up a little, tensing with pain for a moment, and then relaxing. The priestess left the room, her long red hakama pants swishing as she did so.

With the priestess gone, Rin could hear Inuyasha and his wife bickering in the other rooms, fighting over her future—or lack thereof—within their house. Rin longed to have the strength to join their fight, to speak for herself and stop Inuyasha from running his vicious mouth. She knew he likely took great joy in his brother's misery, but he wasn't about to be instrumental in it. The hanyou was nothing if not a survivor, but the same could be said of Rin. She would not be pushed easily from Inuyasha's home, not, at least, before she was ready…

"I don't understand you Inuyasha!" Kagome hissed, so angry that she'd closed her eyes, tight enough that there were crinkles around the edges like cracks in dry ground. Akisame was snarling in her arms silently, pawing at her mother's hands viciously, angry at the shouting and heated whispers between them and determined to get away or distract them.

"Yeah, same here!" he snapped, towering over her, leaning close into her face, taking up all of her world. He lifted one hand and pointed a finger, jabbing at their guest room where Rin was sleeping fitfully. "That bitch is Sesshomaru's and she's here running away from the bastard!"

"I know that." Kagome pushed her face right back into his, stepping onto her tip toes to do it. "We can't just let her go, something could happen to her! We have to let her and her friend stay here and tell Sesshomaru that she—"

Inuyasha interrupted her, blustering wildly. "Are you fucking insane?"

Kagome pulled back, blinking at his latest outburst and scowling. "No…"

"If Sesshomaru finds out we're fucking keeping that bitch—he'll come after you!" though his words sounded angry still, Inuyasha's expression had changed, softening with worry and what might've been, though he'd never admit to it, fear.

Kagome pursed her lips, sighing. She bounced Akisame, stroking their daughter's long black hair. Akisame started to bawl then, turning and burying her face in her mother's chest. Kagome turnedaway from Inuyasha, shushing and cooing at her.

Inuyasha looked on, his facial muscles twitching, his ears folded backward. Kagome and he were at odds on Rin's appearance as well as on her fate. They could keep her with them, shelter her, and hide her away as she wanted inside their home, or they could send her away as soon as she could walk. Inuyasha of course favored the latter, and not because he was cruel or uncaring. Kagome favored the former option, pitying Rin in her situation and sympathizing with the girl. She understood what it was like to be the second woman…

"We can decide on this later." Inuyasha huffed, crossing his arms over his shoulders stubbornly. He moved forward then, reaching for Akisame. Kagome passed her off to him without hesitation and, with her arms freed; finger combed her long black hair, wishing vainly for something to tie it back with.

"She's like your sister, Inuyasha. That baby, it's your niece or nephew…" she murmured, sighing.

"Niece." Inuyasha informed her blandly. He was making a deep thrumming sound in his chest and rubbing Akisame's back. The toddler's eyelids grew suddenly heavy, her bawling ceased completely. "I'm going to put her to bed." He muttered and, with one last glare at his wife, he moved past her and toward the bedroom instead.

"Niece." Kagome repeated after him, shaking her head, astounded. "How could you…?"

"Later!" Inuyasha snarled over his shoulder at her.

When he entered his bedroom, Inuyasha saw his son curled up and staring at him from their futon. His blue eyes were wide and Inuyasha smelled the rich salty stink of tears. He sighed tiredly and strode forward, sitting on the futon and reaching out to Koinu. The boy sniffled and scooted into his father's side, snuggling into him. Inuyasha touched Koinu's cheek and brushed over his ears and his hair tenderly.

"You were fighting with Mom." Koinu murmured. The words were muffled because his cheek was squashed against Inuyasha's side. "About the woman."

"Yeah, I was Koinu. But it's okay, don't worry about it." he tweaked his son's ears, making them flick and forcing Koinu to lift one little clawed hand, batting his father's touch away.

"Daaad…" he grumbled. Koinu lifted his head and peeked with a small smile at Inuyasha, expecting to see his father's usual warmth and affection, but when he saw the hanyou's face it was twisted into a silent frown and staring straight ahead. "What's wrong?"

Inuyasha blinked when he realized Koinu was watching him and cleared his features, relaxing visibly. "I'm just worried, Koinu." His fingers found their way to his son's head again and began stroking. "Go to sleep."

Koinu took this advice, snuggling into his father's side and closing his eyes.

The days passed. Inuyasha and Kagome kept a wary eye on one another, maintaining a silent war within the household. They slept in the same room every night, but spoke little to each other, and never directly about the stranger sleeping in their guestroom. Tsukiyume they housed inside their children's room, alone. Koinu and Akisame slept with them every night, as an extra safety feature. Shippo claimed fearlessness and slept in the children's room with Tsukiyume. The kit and the hanyou girl began a truce, the only one that existed within the household.

The priestesses acted as doctors to Rin, checking in on her, medicating her, and eventually, as Rin recovered, the younger of the two priestesses Hyakka, started to bond with her. It began simply with Hyakka making certain to bring Rin her favorite meals, and then progressed gradually until the young priestess was speaking of herself, her family, her life in the village, the old priestess Kaede who'd chosen her before she'd died some years ago. She spoke of her meeting with Inuyasha as a young girl before then. She could recall as far back as Inuyasha's release from Kikyo's spell pinning him to the God tree. She could remember Kagome's first appearance with them.

Rin, for her part, encouraged the talk only slightly, but she listened to it carefully, reading between the lines, learning always. Eventually she realized that Kagome was not a native, somehow, to their lands. Hyakka never revealed the specifics, and Rin wouldn't have guessed this unless Hyakka had let it slip. Kagome was otherwise perfectly normal, she wore kimono, she had the black hair of any Japanese woman, her features were normal. She didn't look like the forigners that Sesshomaru had occasionally had word of, or that Rin had read about in scrolls from the mainland. Perhaps Kagome was Chinese? Korean? But her Japanese was flawless, though with a few strange, new words…

Eventually Rin opened up, exposing her ignorance. As Hyakka moved about the room, opening the shutters on the window to cool the stuffy air, Rin asked, "Is…" she stopped, fighting to find a correct title for Inuyasha's wife. In the end she mimicked Hyakka, saying, "Kagome from the mainland? Is that how she knew to free…" she halted again, finding Inuyasha's title as Hyakka knew him. "Inuyasha-sama from the God tree?"

Hyakka paused, her hands on the shutters. Then, slowly, she smiled and shook her head. "No, Kagome is from another world. Inuyasha-sama says it's a different era, loud and full of people."

Rin stared straight ahead, unsatisfied with this explanation. Another era? What was that? Wasn't the world they were already in full of people? She pushed her curiosity aside and listened as Hyakka went on, speaking of the evil Naraku and his downfall. Rin knew this story; it was one she had lived through, one she had witnessed from afar. It was so long ago, like another world, another era to her. It was a time before she'd known she wa sin love with Sesshomaru, when she had only followed at his side or behind him, loving and loyal and…blind…

"Please…" she interrupted Hyakka, closing her eyes. "No more. I know this story."

Hyakka blinked at her, perplexed. She moved closer to kneel at Rin's bedside. "I'm sorry; I'd believed you were too young to recall this."

Rin smiled, allowing herself to enjoy the compliment. "I was a child."

"Yes…" Hyakka murmured, "Hmn." The priestess pursed her lips and cocked her head slightly, examining Rin while the other young woman had her eyes closed and couldn't see it. "Kagome believes you are family to Inuyasha-sama." She announced, watching pointedly as Rin's eyes snapped open and narrowed into a glare. "Is this true?"

"I have no family." Rin replied, bitterly. "I was orphaned as a child."

"And yet you are rich, lady." Hyakka observed keenly, "You were not left to live life as a beggar." She stared expectantly at Rin, adding, "You were cared for by someone."

Rin averted her eyes and tried to sit up and roll to the other side of the futon, to face the wall. Stubbornly, she said nothing.

Hyakka was persistent. She had heard nothing from or about Rin really since the young, mysterious rich woman had walked into their village and into Inuyasha's home, only to nearly miscarry her child. It was only fair to have what she'd overheard confirmed by Rin herself now that she was returning to her healthy, stubborn state. "It was the lord of the Western Lands, Sesshomaru, wasn't it?"

"Do not speak." Rin bit out, closing her eyes where Hyakka couldn't see the tears that were brimming in them.

"Inuyasha-sama's half brother." Hyakka finished, wonderingly. She stared at Rin's back, at the rich, silken under robe she was wearing. The priestesses had stripped her of her outer robes, rich and decorated as they were. This inner one was simple but elegant and carefully put together, a bright, shimmering peach color. The outer robes now hung at the end of the bed, and beneath them was the sword they'd taken from inside the robes where it was hidden. Inuyasha had spoken of the demonic power he could feel hidden in them…which had lead to another fight between he and Kagome over whether they would let Rin stay for any time at all.

"Don't speak." Rin repeated, and cringed at the sound of her voice, the thickness of it, the pressure in her throat and chest of unreleased tears.

Hyakka sighed lightly and rose to her feet. She gave a small bow that Rin couldn't see. "Hai." The priestess walked out of the small room, shutting the door as she left.

As soon as she was alone, Rin buried her face in her hands, breathing raggedly. She let a few of the sobs come again, tears leaking through her fingers. The sounds of footsteps in the hall made her sit up, swiping bitterly at the tears. Her strength had mostly returned and Rin was ready to leave the little room and its stuffy air. It was time for a bath, time for her to confront Inuyasha and his wife and to find Tsukiyume.

Rin snatched up her robes and struggled to put them on. Her legs were weak, shaking a little, but she ignored them. Dizziness fogged her brain, making her fingers clumsy and stars dance before her eyes. Her skin was sticky with old sweat, her hair messy and plastered to her scalp and neck. There was no doubt within her mind that it was time to go and reclaim some dignity.

She tied her obi clumsily, donning only one of her outer robes. She saw the edge of her sword, Hikitsuru, poking out from beneath her over robe, lying half on, half off the futon. They had trusted her with the weapon still inside the tiny room, right at her feet. And one of them, the kitsune boy, had seen its devastating power. Rin summoned her diplomacy teachings and knelt, brushing aside her over robe to grab up Hikitsuru's sheath. The blade made her feel powerful just holding it, and unlike most metal, it warmed at her touch at once, recognizing her as the one it had been forged for.

I could offer one of my swords to Inuyasha…I could bargain for my stay…

"What are you doing?"

Rin craned her neck around and looked at the door. It was closed, but there was a small crack, and through it Rin could see a bright green eye and reddish hair, crouched and watching her on the other side. Rin turned, kneeling, and slid Hikitsuru out from under the robe as she moved. The child on the other side of the door drew a breath sharply inward and moved away slightly. He respected the sword, and the woman handling it obviously.

Rin laid the blade out in front of her, letting him see it clearly through the crack in the sliding door. "This is Hikitsuru." She told him, gently.

"You uh," Shippo gulped, "You don't need that here…" Rin heard him shifting nervously outside the door; he didn't look in on her through the crack again. "It's a demon blade."

"Yes, like the Tetsusaiga." Rin murmured.

"I guess." The kit muttered back. He was antsy, uncertain of her and untrusting. He was ready to run away and scream for Inuyasha at any moment. But just as Rin opened her mouth to ask him to fetch the hanyou man of this household for her, the kit surprised her and took some initiative. "Sesshomaru gave it to you?"

Rin stopped, feeling her body stiffen and her heart pick up pace. The power that just his name had over her was too much. Rin frowned angrily and picked up Hikitsuru, moving it into her lap, longing for the power she'd felt just by touching it moments ago. "Yes." she answered shortly. "It was forged for me."

"Cool." Shippo responded, sounding only halfway genuine. "Why are you handling it? You know the Tetsusaiga does this thing with diamonds that can bust through anything…"

"I want you to go to Inuyasha and tell him I wish to barter for my stay here and for his protection." Rin interrupted, eyes closed, breathing deeply to maintain control.

"Okay." The kit scurried down the hall on all fours; Rin could hear his nails scratching over the flooring.

Hikitsuru was warming in her lap, flushing with heat. Rin stroked it without opening her eyes. She waited, serene, unmoving, as slowly footsteps came from down the hallway, the kit's four-legged romp and a bipedal thumping as well. The door slid open, clattering on its track. Rin opened her eyes and saw Inuyasha there, scowling. A shadow, crouched low, revealed the kit.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. His ears flattened ominously.

Rin found herself drawn by his eyes. Honey-gold, the color of prosperity, wealth. In the highest courts the fusuma walls would be covered in gold paper and painted with ink. Gold eyes had surrounded Rin's life since Sesshomaru had rescued her from death with his sword. She had been reborn into a world of golden-eyed dogs.

She shook her head, bringing herself out of the reverie before too much time passed. Sliding Hikitsuru forward onto the floor, Rin ducked into a bow. It was a clumsy motion because of her prolonged bedrest, but Rin forced herself to rise smoothly, dragging her outstretched fingertips away from Hikitsuru, leaving it a foot away, ahead of her on the floor. "My sword, Hikitsuru." She announced.

Inuyasha glanced between her and the sword, blankly. "Yeah…?"

Rin gestured at the blade. "Take hold of it, if you would."

The hanyou knelt and reached forward tentatively. His clawed fingers paused just before they touched the blade. His attention was focused carefully on the sword, absorbed by it. He stayed in that position, fractions of an inch from grabbing the blade, but falling short, as if he were frozen in time. At last he lifted his gaze to Rin over the sword and his face rippled in a frown. "What are you trying to pull?"

Rin fought the knowing smile on her face and motioned again at the sword. "Touch it, Inuyasha."

The hanyou sneered and did as she asked, tapping his fingers against the sheathed blade. He hissed with pain when he made contact with it and ripped his fingers away, holding them in the other, uninjured hand. He glared at Rin and grumbled, "Bitch."

Rin ignored him. "Hikitsuru was forged for me alone."

"I'm not stupid." The hanyou snarled at her. He brought his injured fingers up and stared at them. The tips were bright red, burned. The blade had been red hot when Inuyasha touched it. Hikitsuru was designed to ward off others that attempted to steal it. It repelled Inuyasha's touch, just as the Tetsusaiga fended off Sesshomaru whenever he tried to touch it.

"This thing lets you and you alone hold it?" Inuyasha asked skeptically, "A human?"

Rin ducked her head, "Yes—but it is not the only sword that I have in my possession. On my horse I have many."

Inuyasha raised one eyebrow and snorted. "A little paranoid aren't you?"

Rin sat back on her heels, "Hardly. Tsukiyume and I were attacked while we were on the road. The provinces are in turmoil. There has been a great civil war in the Middle Lands…"

Inuyasha waved a hand at her, "Feh. Old news. What's your point?"

Rin took a deep breath to steady her voice. "I will trade you all the blades that you can wield in return for your protection and secrecy." She dropped into a low bow, the lowest she'd probably ever given him, "You are the only family I have, Inuyasha."

The hanyou shifted uneasily and rose to his feet. He stared down at her, scowling and torn. This was the first instance when Rin had presented herself to him in such a way, and with such an argument. When she'd arrived Inuyasha saw no benefit in it for him, nothing but his brother breathing down the back of his neck and trying to kill him, blaming him for the loss of his mate. Rin was nothing but a thorn in Inuyasha's side.

The idea of her swords was a tantalizing one. They would be powerful, like Sesshomaru's Tokijin in the past; no doubt all of them would be made with the incredible demonic power of that sword and of Hikitsuru now. Inuyasha could feel the pulse and power of the sword in front of him, between he and Rin as if it were an animal, a snake coiled and readying to strike.

And swords aside, her argument of family was one he couldn't deny. The scent of her unborn baby, his niece, was influencing him though he hated to realize it. The inuyoukai were strongly family-oriented. Though few would guess it, one of Inuyasha's greatest fears would be loneliness. Like a real dog he was unfulfilled if he wasn't apart of a pack, if he didn't have a master, someone to watch over and protect. As a child it might've been his mother, and after his terrible, lonely years as an orphan, it was Kikyo and then Kagome. Like Rin he had been an orphan, like Rin his whole world had centered on first Kikyo and then Kagome and their friends. In many ways he was similar to her…

But Rin's situation could never be allowed to endanger his own, real family.

He snorted viciously, ears lying flat. "You think you can bribe me into letting you stay here?"

Rin rose out of her bow and cringed, as if he'd slapped her, or was about to. "I thought it an equal exchange." She replied, smoothly, though her face was beginning to reveal panic. She tried to cover it up, but Inuyasha could see it in her eyes.

"You ran away from my brother." Inuyasha said, pursing his lips and staring at her carefully. He noted the way she averted her gaze, the way her chin and lips puckered, trembling, when he mentioned Sesshomaru, even without saying his name properly. "Why did you choose me? Why not stay with Shimo-kun? Did you think I'd be stupid enough to take you in…?"

Rin flinched at his words, biting her lips. When he had finished she pinned him with a fierce glare. "I had nowhere else to go." She muttered, her voice shaking, "Shimofuri…he didn't want me there. Sessho…" she paused, swallowing and choking on her former lover's name, "He would know I was there. I had no choice. I couldn't stay in the Middle Lands."

"Well I agree with Shimo-kun. Sesshomaru will find you here and when he does…" Inuyasha knelt, lowering himself to be on Rin's level, sitting on the floor beside the futon that she'd spent close to a week in, recovering after her near-miss. The hanyou regarded her seriously, his golden eyes dark and heavy with emotion. "That bastard will tear us apart. I don't know if you'd noticed, Lady Rin," he chewed out her name sarcastically, "But I have a family to protect. I ain't gonna let you drag me into your little fight with my asshole brother."

"It's not a little fight!" Rin spat, glaringly.

Inuyasha rose to his feet, scoffing. "You want my advice? Go back to him. Sesshomaru stops at nothing, just like our Old Man, just like me."

"I will not!" Rin hissed, but she was starting to shake. Part of her longed for him, the weakest part of her, the part of her that still cried for her loss. The rest of her was hardened and cold, perhaps even cruel. She stared at Inuyasha's hakama, thinking furiously. Her hands quivered in her lap, ready to snatch up Hikitsuru and demand that Inuyasha allow her to stay…she tried to breathe and clear her mind, to think rationally…

"Your wife will listen to me." she muttered, half to herself and half in threat to Inuyasha.

The hanyou was starting to walk away from her, he'd turned his back on her, but now he halted, holding his breath. "Kagome doesn't enter into this…"

"I believe she would disagree." Rin murmured, starting to regain her calm.

Inuyasha growled to himself and stomped out of the room, as he passed Shippo he jabbed a finger at the kit and said, "Guard that bitch. If she comes out looking for Kagome—stop her."

Shippo yelped, hobbling out of the hanyou's way as he passed and sliding into the doorway. "Yessir." The kit stared at her somberly, making his face into a cold mask. "You can't talk to Kagome."

Rin let her lips fall into a cold, mirthless smile. She leaned forward and wrapped the fingers of one hand around Hikitsuru, pulling it toward her. "If you say so, young fox…"

Shippo's green eyes widened, his mouth fell open and closed, gaping like a fish and then closing off again. "You don't need that…"

Rin rose slowly to her feet, still holding the sword, carefully sheathed. It warmed against her hands, encouraging her. "You're right; I won't need it—if you step aside."

Shippo stared at her and gulped.

A/N: Next chapter…

"Inuyasha lied to me many times about another woman, years ago." Kagome murmured, staring down at her hands clasped together neatly in her lap. "I was always sure that I came second place in his heart." Her face colored and she cleared her throat uncertainly. "I know a little of what it must feel like but I stayed with Inuyasha…"

"You believe I shouldn't have left." Rin filled in the rest of it for the miko. Her shoulders were beginning to shake; her gaze was narrowed and angry. "You can't understand my situation." All of the dead babies, all of the grief. Could you have stayed and pretended to be a saint and all the while wondered if he'd left you because you couldn't give him a child?