AUTHOR'S NOTE

To my dear reviewers,

I want to thank all of you for reading this story. Your reviews made me really happy and inspired me to write. I hope that you'll be pleased with this chapter. Thank you, and God bless :)

..

Chapter Four

"Have you secured the gates?"

"Yes, Hiromi-sama."

Hiromi nodded. Then, with a tired sigh, he raised his gaze to the dark sky and the half crescent moon peeking from the clouds. His eyes darkened as he recalled the stricken expression on the woman's face when he said the words 'cursed' and 'die'. He felt guilty to have used such a forceful method in order to gain a bit of leverage to the demons attacking the village. That Lord Sesshomaru certainly looked powerful enough to defeat them but Hiromi's quite afraid that he had angered him in some way. Well, he's obviously irritated when he broke out the news of Rin's impending doom. Those cold eyes— he still couldn't believe how he managed to stay alive much less muster the strength to talk, not to mention that a certain small demon always cut in.

"Umm. My lord?"

Hiromi looked back at the soldier who was looking at something beyond his shoulder. He turned around and saw the small demon with the strange staff as he sat outside the room where Rin was staying. Jaken glanced at them with narrowed eyes before he looked away.

"Is it okay to have that demon around?" The soldier said with a nervous frown. Hiromi smiled at him reassuringly. "Yes, he's guarding his companion and he would protect this place as well."

The soldier gave a cursory nod but his expression didn't change. Hiromi eyes faltered, his people grew up with tremendous fear. If only Hiromi could erase that but as long as the ravens exist, they would never live in peace.

As they walked along the hallway, Hiromi stopped when they were close enough to the demon while the soldier beside him stepped away and feigned a blank face before he continued on his way to patrol the area. Jaken watched him leave until Hiromi broke the silence, "May I?" He gestured to the closed sliding doors.

The demon stared at him for few seconds before he finally turned away with a huff. "Go ahead, but remember that we, demons, have a strong sense of hearing, unlike you, weak beings, whose senses are far inferior and often times worthless in many occasions."

Hiromi nodded with a hesitant smile. This demon sure had a way with words, unlike his master who preferred glaring his will on the person rather than opening his mouth to talk. But nonetheless, his statement was a warning, and he had every intention to take it seriously.

Hiromi walked inside the room and left the doors slightly ajar before he turned around to look at the woman's back as she gazed at the scroll in the corner, her innocent brown eyes had a far away expression on them.

"Hime-sama." He said, and quickly chided himself when she glanced wearily over her shoulder. He called her princess again which obviously irked her. Ah, he only wanted to take that sad expression on her face and so he opened his mouth without thinking. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me, my lady."

Rin shook her head before she graced him with a small smile. "It's alright."

"Are you comfortable here?"

Rin blinked at him. "Ah, yes, my lord."

"Do you need something else? Food? Drink? Please, tell me and I will gladly fetch it for you."

"No, my lord. I'm fine. There's no need for you to bother."

He smiled. "Please, you may address me by my name."

Rin looked at him speculatively before her gaze roamed around the room. Before she looked back at him, however, Hiromi made a few observation of his own and noted with great interest that she had a very innocent and beautiful face. "But, it's only proper that I call you the way you're supposed to be called. Doesn't this house belong to the head of the village?"

He shook his head, noticing her silent appraisal. "No need, I'm not a noble, well, not anymore anyway. And my house is scarcely a palace nor does it look good enough. In fact, this place had been left untreated for so long. The ceilings, walls, and floors looked as if they had seen better days."

She smiled at his diffident tone. "It's okay. Your house looks fine," Then, she brushed the tips of her fingers over the arragement of flowers in front of the scroll in such a feminine way that made Hiromi even more aware of her. "And don't worry. I lived in far worse."

Hiromi breathed a sigh of relief or more like wonderment before he sat across from her. "That's right, you travelled with those two. It must be quite hard for you."

Rather than thank his sympathy, Rin looked slightly befuddled, instead. "Ah, no. That's actually before I met them."

"Really?" Hiromi stated in astonishment. "I'm quite surprised."

"Lord Sesshomaru saved me from a dreadful life." She said nonchalantly, her face was so serene that he was slightly entranced by the mere expression. He wanted to know her more and before he knew it, they were already talking about her life. She didn't hesitate when he asked her question about herself. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying herself but soon her enthusiasm made him doubtful.

"Don't you want to know more about that mark on your body?"

She stiffened before her smile faded while his took a swift turn from mildly astonished to sympathetic upon realizing that she was actually stalling. She tried to steer the conversation away, but Hiromi couldn't blame her fretfulness. He would react the same way if he was in her shoes.

"To tell you the truth," Rin began with a bit of hesitation. "I'm actually afraid to know more about it." Then, she ended her statement with a helpless smile which took him by surprise, and he instantly regretted having said those words in such a callous way.

"I'm sorry for scaring you back then." He bent his head in supplication, referring to their first meeting.

"I'm sure you did it for a good reason."

"But!— He protested, but upon seeing the serene expression on her face, he swiftly looked away with a frown. "You don't hate me? I forced your demon companion to help me. Aside from that, I can just sacrifice you instead of our princess."

Rin chuckled, the unexpected sound made him whip his gaze back to her. "Forced?" She smiled at him. "Lord Sesshomaru do not accept anyone's bidding aside from his own. And sooner or later he will come back to save me, and if he didn't, I can always survive in my own way." She shrugged while Hiromi nearly dropped his jaw. Indeed, her simplicity amazed him, but he got the feeling that she was only saying those things to comfort him or herself.

"Alright, how about this? I will not scare you again. I will only answer whatever you wanted to know." He said with an earnest expression on his face. Well, at least he owe her that much consideration.

Rin pondered his words for a moment before she finally nodded. "Alright. Why did you call me princess?"

"You and Akemi-sama looked exactly alike. When I saw you by the river, I never thought that you're.. someone else."

"I see." She said hesitantly. "So, I'm like a duplicate of your princess."

Hiromi nodded. "Well, she's your sister." Then, he jerked back with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I promised not to answer—

Rin waved her hand in the air, "It's quite obvious. There's no need to apologize." Then, she paused for a moment, her eyes darkening. "And you said that she's missing?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"She disappeared a few days after she turned eighteen. After that the demon lord of those greedy vultures said that if we failed to give them a sacrifice by the end of the spring, they would slaughter everyone in our village and leave no one alive." He clenched his hands into fists, "We looked for her everywhere but we found nothing."

Rin looked at him with sadness and utmost concern. "You mentioned that your village's been suffering forty years? What happened?"

"Well, a man arrived in our village forty years ago. He met my grandfather's daughter, Lady Kazusa, and they fell in love with each other but it turned out that he was not a human, but rather, a powerful heir to a demon clan.." Hiromi's paused hesitantly, his eyes darkened. Then, he looked at her with such anxiety, and it instantly dawned on her that he was about to unravel the hidden part of her past.

Rin visibly stiffened in her place before she closed her eyes and strove for composure. "What happened next?"

"Are you sure?" He said.

"I don't want to hear it," She whispered before she grazed him with a soft smile. "But it's better to hear the truth than take a guess, right?"

He smiled in return. "I see your point." Folding his hands on the table, he sat up straighter and continued the story but he kept his gaze on the dark surface of the table. "Lady Kazusa became pregnant and gave birth to twins."

"..She became pregnant?" Rin repeated with a blank expression on her face.

"Yes."

"So, you're saying that I'm.."

He bent his head in anguish. "Yes."

A demon's child.

To be continued

..

AUTHOR'S NOTE

TADAAAA! Hehe. This chapter's filled with suspense, eh? I want to grant Rin's wish to be with Lord Sesshomaru forever and ever, so I turned the story this way.

(Gasp) Rin's not completely a human after all. But why didn't anyone (not even Sesshomaru) notice? Does it has something to do with the curse? And where's Sesshomaru anyway?

Alriiight. Sesshomaru's missing and to top it off, he left Rin in the company of Hiromi who's obviously enamored of her. But just like what Rin said, he'll come back and save her. Awww, she's so faithful to him. But anyways, my purpose in this chapter is to show a mature side of rin, although, I wanted to keep her innocence and very serenity and, of course, her compassionate personality.

BUT! (Hehe) In retrospect, I just wanted to write how charming she is and how she could make a man besotted with just a simple smile. And I wanted to use Sesshomaru's stoic persona in this story, because he's naturally that way. BUT! I'm sure he will not be able to remain that way for long. (devious smile, *wink* *wink*) Now that there's someone who might take Rin away from him. (Ehem *whisper* Hiromi), what would our dear demon lord do?

Please stay tune for the next chapter :)