Disclaimer: This story is fiction, based upon the manga Inuyasha written by Rumiko Takahashi. This is intended for non-profit entertainment purposes only, and all rights to all characters are retained by the aforementioned author.

*Lemon Warning! The (tasteful) lemon is in this chapter, so if you don't like lemons, don't read any more :D . I know it's kind of early, but it felt like the right time to go for it. I am actually realizing that this may end up being quite a long story, so I do wish to warn you that it may be a while before this is all finished. Thank you all for the kind reviews, and I hope you continue to like what I write. I hope you all don't think my lemon writing is silly, because I certainly feel kind of silly while writing it :) *

Walking slowly back to her hut, Rin was inhaling the cool night air, enjoying the mild weather. The gentle breeze felt refreshing on her clean skin, and she was glad she had taken Sango's advice. Maybe she would finally get a restful sleep tonight. She hoped so, for it was the evenings when her thoughts tended to drift toward her Sesshomaru-sama, and keeping them out of her mind was as impossible as keeping a river from flowing.

She thought of all the things she admired most about him - his strength, his pride, his intelligence... and yes, she admired his beauty, too. She knew that demons were beautiful in order to attract humans to an untimely doom, but she couldn't care less. The past few times he had visited her, she had noticed it more fully - and she had begun to be aware of how it affected her physically.

Just the memory was enough to make her blush with shame - though she tried to hide it, she was certain that her lord could tell that his presence aroused her. The last time that he had visited her, as they were parting, Rin felt a flush of excitement run through her body, before she could stop it. At the exact same moment, she was certain that Sesshomaru-sama's eyes had narrowed.

Maybe that's why he hasn't come back, she thought. Maybe he knew her feelings and thought them beneath him. Obviously, she was no match for him.

It didn't mean she couldn't dream, though.

Caught in her thoughts, she didn't notice a large outcropping of rock that was sticking out on the trail. Though she walked by it every day, it seemed suddenly to reach out and grab her foot. Crying out in surprise, she stumbled, and fell toward the ground.

However, she didn't reach it. Instead of falling onto the hard, stony path, she fell into deep swaths of rich, white fabric surrounding strong, white arms that were like stone. It happened very quickly, yet it seemed to take a long time. Before she had time to realize it, she was held in a careful, yet firm embrace. As she slowly looked up to see the face of her rescuer, she felt certain that she was dreaming.

"Sesshomaru...sama? Could it really be you?" She looked at him in wonderment, her eyes suddenly filling with tears. "It is you... you finally came back..." she said, smiling happily. She then met his eyes.

And that was when she realized that she was sitting upon his lap, with his arms around her. And oddly enough, he was not letting go. And odder still, a fire burned deep within his eyes. Not quite his demon battle-gaze that she had already seen him give to his foes, but definitely something similar.

"My lord? Is something that Rin is doing displeasing to you?" She had gotten better about speaking differently to the villagers and her friends, but she always spoke as humbly as possible to her lord.

He said nothing. Instead, to her complete and absolute shock, his lips met hers.

...

I cannot wait any longer. I must have her NOW!

Sesshomaru was, for the first time in many years, completely a slave to his inner beast. He made a small, futile attempt to remain in control, but it melted completely away after he laid hands on Rin. He had been watching her carefully, waiting for the right moment to reveal himself. As she fell, he cursed her clumsiness, knowing it would be his undoing. There was no way he would let her injure herself.

As their lips met, he felt her surprise, which was to be expected. But what he didn't expect was to suddenly have her small body fall liquidly into his arms, drinking him in. As she did, he smelled her arousal, wafting through the air like a seductive perfume. At that moment, his instinct hit him like a boulder. He would take her now, though he had planned to wait. That was, unless she showed fear or resistance.

She showed neither; in fact, she surprised him with her boldness by lying back, upon the ground, pulling him to her. Instead, he took them off the path, and laid her upon a small bed of moss, below a small circle of wild cherry trees. The place seemed almost magical, somehow. Very fitting.

Struggling with every ounce of control he had left, he forced his beast inward for a moment, and spoke to her.

"Rin, are you aware of what you are asking me to do?" He wasn't quite sure how to word it; explanations were usually beneath him.

Rin turned slightly red, gazed downward, and said, "Of course, my lord. I am a midwife, after all."

He gazed at her intently. "Do you understand what this shall mean for your future? No human male will touch you after this."

Rin couldn't help herself from smiling. "My lord, no male would have touched me either before or after this. If you will not, then no one ever will." She looked at him with meaning.

It drove him nearly mad with lust.

Quickly, yet gracefully, he was upon the ground with her, their lips pressed together once again, though this time, with great urgency. He could tell by her slight hesitation, nerves, and intensity of reaction that she was indeed untouched. It only excited him even more.

Gently, but firmly, he deepened their kiss. Her excitement was getting greater, so much that he began to move his lips down her neck, slowly opening her kimono. She did nothing to stop it, only moaned. Pulling the robe apart, with the obi still tied, he exposed her left breast. As he laid his hand upon it, she gasped with surprise and pleasure.

He rolled his tongue along it, causing her to stiffen and quiver with delight. He took his time, gently stroking the sides of her belly with the tips of his claws; a feather's touch. She cried out, begging for more.

At that exact moment, he straightened his claws and with uncharacteristic impatience, slit her obi open, exposing what was beneath. Since Rin had gone to and from the spring, she had neglected to put on any undergarments, which was convenient indeed.

Very carefully, he touched that most sacred part of her, taking great care to be delicate with his claws. Though he already knew it by scent, this confirmed it; she was ready for him. He rose.

Rin, suddenly pulled from her ecstasy, looked at him questioningly. "My lord?"

Carefully and methodically, Sesshomaru removed his armor, and layer by layer, his elaborate kimono. As he reached the last layer, he hesitated slightly before removing it, leaving only the hakama on his legs. Kneeling down, he put one arm on either side of Rin, hovering over her. He looked her intensely in the eyes.

"You are sure?"

For the first time in her life, Rin looked at him squarely and said, "I have never been so sure of anything."

He removed, finally, the last layer, revealing himself completely before her. Both awed and intimidated, her eyes grew wide. Before she could feel true fear, he lowered himself atop her, poised at her entrance. He could feel her stiffen with apprehension.

He eased himself in gently, slowly, internally fighting one of the hardest battles of his life - the battle against his own instinct. But if he let his inner beast loose, Rin would likely be torn to shreds. As he reached a certain point, he felt her gasp, though she did not cry out.

"Please, my lord... more..." These words both surprised and excited him. He slowly pushed into her again, her cries of pleasure inflaming him further. As he moved, first slowly, then faster and faster, her gasping turned to cries, then shrieks of ecstasy. As he hit his climax, he instinctively bit into her neck, penetrating her flesh. She called out in pleasure, not pain.

As they came down from their climax, he held her protectively, his possessiveness kicking into a new dimension. Before, Rin had meant more to him than he ever would have admitted to anyone, even himself. Only once, when she was lost in the Underworld, did he ever truly understand that her value was his greatest treasure.

However, now that he had mated with her, his instinct demanded that he protect her above all else, even Bakusaiga. He had an intense desire to take her with him to his palace, where he knew she would be safe. His original plan was to travel with her a while in the wild, gaining further information about his inevitable (but unimportant) enemies.

Then again, the palace wasn't completely safe, itself. His mother would be there, and although she completely acquiesced to any demands he made, she had her own devious ways of flouting his decrees, while not expressly going against them. He was certain that she would see Rin as a threat to her status, and act accordingly.

Pulled out of his reverie, he lay beside Rin, holding her close. Her shock was still evident, as was to be expected. After all, this was not how master and warden commonly greeted after two years of absence.

"My lord, I-" he silenced her, laying his long finger across her lips. "Do not speak, Rin. Nothing more needs to be said that we don't already understand." He looked at her intensely.

Smiling slightly, she nodded, falling asleep in his arms.

...

Rin was surprised to wake late in the night, lying in her own bed, with her lord absent. Lying down, after realizing he wasn't there, she had a small pang in her chest. Maybe he realized he made a mistake, she thought to herself, though she knew it couldn't be true. Not with the way he held her so tightly the night before, and the way that his lips pressed against her, and the way he looked at her so intently as he lay atop her...

She was beginning to blush, thinking of their time together. Of course, she had long had dreams about such things, but she never imagined that her lord returned her feelings that way. Obviously, she had greatly misjudged his affection for her - he didn't view her indifferently, as a ward. He saw her as a woman. You were right, Kaede, she thought, thinking fondly of her beloved mentor.

She was about to stretch, and get up, when she heard a sound outside her door. Slowly, trying to minimize her own noise, she grabbed her staff, preparing to defend herself if necessary. However, the only thing that came in was a small brown Shiba dog.

"Kikou!" she called. He ran and jumped into her lap, though not before turning to the door to growl low in his throat. Sesshomaru was standing at the door, looking haughtily at Kikou.

"Kikou, hush!" said Rin. "This is my lord, who I have told you about!" Kikou looked at her with confusion plain on his face. He then turned and showed Sesshomaru his teeth.

"Kikou, NO!" He began to struggle against her embrace. "If you're going to be that way, you can go outside," she said, putting him on the other side of the threshold and closing the door.

"I'm sorry about that, my lord. Kikou is very wary of strangers, especially strange youkai." She got up, holding her bedclothes around her as she made tea.

"It's a good thing for you to have a dog like that around you. He will keep you safe." Sesshomaru watched Rin as she poured boiling water from the kettle onto the powdered tea leaves, patiently stirring them, and wrinkling her nose once the scent reached it. He always loved to watch this ritual of hers, one she didn't even know she had.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Rin sipping her tea, and rubbing her thumbs against the cup, while Sesshomaru sat quietly, looking ahead with his stoic gaze. Rin was trying to figure out what she ought to speak about, if anything. She found it ironic that she had been such a chatterbox as a child, but was now unable to find even a single word to say.

"My lord... about the previous evening... I know you told me not to speak, but I must. I..."

At that moment, they both felt it, as if out of nowhere.

A large, powerful youkai aura hit them like an avalanche of stones. It wasn't far away, either - maybe a mile or so north of the village. Rin was surprised to see Sesshomaru's eyes redden almost immediately.

"Stay here, Rin, and do not move from this spot," he said, his eyes immediately drawn in the direction of the disturbance.

"But my lord, I can help-"

"STAY HERE." For the first time in her life, her lord turned his gaze against her, and she was momentarily frightened. Then, the realization hit her: He sees you as his mate now. She knew, from Kagome, that dog youkai were incredibly protective of new mates. This was because immediately after first mating, another dog youkai was likely to try to compete for mating rights. Rin had a hard time understanding why, until Kagome said, "Have you ever seen Kikou with a bone? Of course, he likes it well enough, but if he saw another dog chewing a different bone, he would want it simply because someone else has it. It's the same, apparently, with dog youkai and their mates. Let me tell you, the first month of our married life was impossible. Inuyasha wouldn't even let me fetch water without following me."

Rin sat down on her bed with her teacup, as Sesshomaru walked outside the hut. She suddenly realized that he must have been carefully monitoring the borders of the village, watching after her. She was surprised, but pleased that he loved her so. At least, that was what he hoped, especially since he hadn't said as much yet...

Oh, come off it, Rin! She thought to herself. Sesshomaru, who barely acknowledged the existence of anyone but himself, actually saying the words "I love you?" Unlikely. He showed her love enough in his actions - he obviously treated her far better than he treated any other living being.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she saw a cloaked figure draw near the hut. Feeling no demonic aura, she wasn't worried, but that was no reason not to be cautious. Oddly enough, Kikou was nowhere to be seen - usually he immediately alerted her to strangers. She stayed inside the hut until the figure approached.

"Hello?" said the squeaky, weathered voice of an old woman. "Be this the house of the famous healer Kaede?" Rin tried to get a good look at the figure, but all she could see was the cloak, which completely shaded the face. The figure was tall, though heavily hunched over. Grey hair fell out through the front of the hood.

Standing cautiously, Rin walked to the side of the door and spoke. "Old woman, I hate to be the bearer of ill news, but Kaede passed this past year. I am her protegè; may I help you?" Rin, being eternally cautious, left the door closed.

"Kaede was the keeper of a rare herb that no one else has - I came here to get some for my great granddaughter's fever." There was something strange in her voice; Rin couldn't place it.

"I'm so sorry, but I have no herbs anymore - the new village priestess has them all," Rin said, nervously rubbing her fingers together. She slowly reached for her staff.

Just then, the door fell down, broken to pieces from an unknown force. Before her stood the most ugly, and yet most beautiful youkai Rin had ever seen. She had a crooked posture, a hideously scarred face, one blinded eye, and long, beautiful silver hair. But that was not her most striking feature. Her good eye - the eye that could see - was terrifying. It was violet colored, and seemed to see not only through everything, but into everything, as though it could read thoughts.

Rin took a fighting stance, but the youkai only laughed. "So the whore dares to try to fight me? Don't make me laugh," she said, though her eye had anything but laughter in it. Rin swung her staff expertly, but the she-youkai blocked it as if swatting a fly. At the next swing, she grabbed the staff straight out of Rin's hands, effortlessly. She looked at it, musing, "How sad. I was never a fighter, and even I can defeat you." Looking slowly, her eye suddenly narrowed. "And yet still he chooses YOU."

Rin, frozen to the spot, had never felt such a feeling. It was almost as if this she-youkai's hate itself were her weapon. It hit her so heavily that she was completely unable to move - almost as if it had its claws in her flesh. She tried to move her hands, her arms, her feet, anything; but it was almost as if her body had given up hope.

She could do nothing, as the she-youkai swung the staff directly at the back of her head, sending her mind to darkness.