Chapter note: Two stories, two twists - same walls to conquer.

30 Promise

With her eyes, she traces the outline of the Prussian blue crescent on his forehead, the magenta strips at the side of his face and the markings on his eyelids. Her eyes rest on the sword Tenseiga that is secured at his waist. The crescent imprint marks his birthright, the demonic markings his inheritance as a great demon, and the sword his father's legacy for him. She may not understand entirely what does his birthright entitle him to, what does pride as a great demon entail, or his need to persist in unraveling the mystery of his father's legacy, but most of all she could never get how people could go on and on about how powerful and perfect he is, although she does acknowledge his prowess and invincibility. To her, not only he is far from perfection, his fragility is often so readily visible to her. Through her eyes, she sees how he should have shined in eminence but is instead limited by the cage he put himself in as a result of the compulsion from his birthright, inheritance and his father's legacy. When he acquired Bakusaiga, Toutousai's words to him were, "you have surpassed your father." What exactly did he mean by that? Even with her eyes closed, she can still see it: the perverseness and brokenness in him.

He needs to be cared for, she thinks to herself. Upon a shooting star, she closes her eyes and makes a silent promise to him – she is going to untwist all the twisted parts in him, mend together the broken pieces in him, and find the key to this cage for him (how, although she does not know yet).

Her biggest wish is for him to soar high and free, and become the greatness he is meant to be.

31 Chains

He has never made it a secret that he cares about her. But what is unknown is how much does he really care?

He was willing to adapt to her vulnerable needs and make adjustments to accommodate her when she first started to travel with him.

He was willing to give up the pursuit of Naraku once to go after her.

He is no longer willing to do unnecessary killings, especially in front of her.

He would protect her from any kind of harm and hostilities.

He would abandon a fight to save her when she is in danger.

He has went up against purifying holy powers and braved through hell to save her, and he would do it again anytime if he has to.

For some reason his self-loathing would kick in when she shed tears, especially when it is because of him.

He tolerates her time-to-time willfulness in a way he never puts up with anyone else's.

He gradually resumes more and more responsibility for her safety and well being that he even decides to seek out the mother that he barely knew and had for a long time despised.

He is even willing to turn a blind eye to the names that people call him behind his back for his desire to keep her by his side.

He cares about her enough to restrain himself with her – as he knows that some things are better left unsaid, some emotions better left unexpressed, and some love better left chained up deep within and never be set free.

32 Blind love

She said yes to his request, even though it was truly an absurd one and her decision to concur possibly damaging to her reputation.

Perhaps Sesshomaru has been disrespectful towards her and distant from her, she still said yes and it was not because she had no choice or that he had no one else to turn to.

Perhaps she could never bring herself to genuinely like the human girl, she still said yes because he is her son and he had asked.

Perhaps she may later come to regret her decision when confronted by the likeliness of recurring events that had took place between her late husband and a human woman many decades ago, she still would have said yes to his request because she is his mother and he, her son, had asked.

People say that there is no love as blind as one that a mother has for her child, and this might hold true even for demons.

[Written alongside one-shot "Unsaid". Drabbles #13 and 21 are backdated pieces as sideline support for the same one-shot.

33 A Dark Hair Demon

Tall and lean in build, he walks around with an air of overbearing arrogance. Like Sesshomaru, he has a crescent imprint on his forehead and demonic strips at the side of his face. Also like Sesshomaru, he is feared and his name must be addressed with the honorific suffix of "sama" (although it is for different reasons from Sesshomaru). But unlike Sesshomaru, he does not possess narrow amber eyes, a head of silver mane, a luxurious mokomoko in his humanoid form or wears white. Instead, he has unruly ash-black hair, big glaring grey-blue eyes and often appears in grayish attires.

Rin used to not liked or disliked him in particular. She understood from Jaken that he is a very distant relative of Sesshomaru and is here for some reason in relation to Sesshomaru's mother. Sesshomaru has asked her to steer clear of him. Jaken always seemed to be more nervous than usual whenever he was in the vicinity. She was just glad that he has never taken much notice of her – he has never bothered to throw her a glance or answer back when she bows her head slightly to greet him upon crossing paths.

But ever since that incident, he started to take a strange interest in her – a change that she neither expected nor welcomed. While she tried her very best to avoid him, he still somehow managed to find ways to pop up around her uninvitedly with a smirk on his face and an overly presumed close address of "Rin-chan".

34 Red Snow

She does not know how long did she pass out. She also does not remember how far did she stagger from where she was wounded. All she remembers is the unsolicited company of a particular dark haired demon in her private garden when she had willfully ran away in her grief from attending the wedding ceremony that she was expected by all, especially him, to be present.

She does not want him to find her – not because she is bitter that he has chosen to take another as his life-partner instead of her, she just does not want him to be sad were he to find her in such a sorry state. She recalls saying to herself "this should be far away enough" before losing consciousness.

It is dark. It is night. It is cold. It has been snowing. While thick layers of her kimono shields her from the cold of the ground that she has been laying on, she could still feel the coolness of the snow. Closing her eyes, she imagines herself being enveloped by a sea of whiteness. White is Sesshomaru-sama… she says softly. She smiles, as she remembers the game she used to play while waiting for him to return to her: she used to look around and collect things that are white in the forest. Even as a grown up she still keeps a look out for beautiful objects that are white.

A nauseous feeling comes to her causing her turn over to cough. She could taste blood in her mouth. I guess the snow is not white but red because of me, she muses in amusement as she imagines her wounded body staining the snow on the ground that she is laying on red. She gathers the last of her strength and turns over to lie on her back. As she lies there, she notices how the moon is crescent tonight instead of being round. She has always loved the moon to be in the shape of crescent more than anything else – it reminds her of him.

As fatigue invades every part of her body, the heaviness of her eyelids is simply too much to bear. She knows that if she were to close her eyes now, she may never open them again. To be honest, the thought scares her – "what happens after this?" she could not help but wonder. Nevertheless she consoles herself that she has cheated death one too many times because of him, and she is genuinely grateful for all the good memories he gave her over the years. Yes, perhaps the good things could not lasted forever, but then again, who needs forever? I would never trade these few years of happiness with you for anything else. Corners of her lips upturn in a smile at the thought. Nothing could be more complete than such an end, she decides as she lets her eyelids drop.

But when she realizes that she would never be able to see him again, a gush of heartache wells up in her chest. She lets out a cry as tears of regret flows from her eyes as she reaches for the deep-purple embroidered pouch that she carries close to her heart and clenches it in her fist.

It is only there and then she realizes that what is even harder than letting go – is the holding on.