A/N: Eh heh heh heh. Long time no see, huh? Sorry about the stupidly long delay. I've had some real problems of late, and have had little time to write at all lately. Sorry in advance for the short chapter, I'll try and make the next one a bit lengthier.

Goodbye is for Tomorrow

Chapter 7

"Lord Jaken! Ah-Un!" Rin exclaimed as Jaken touched down, and Ah-Un reared up in excitement to see Rin running towards him, throwing Jaken from the saddle. Rin threw herself against the dragon who grunted happily as Rin scratched his scaled necks. The dragon lazily rolled onto his side into the grass in front of the stables and groaned, and Rin kneeled at his side rubbed his stomach. Ah placed his muzzled jaws in her lap, and Rin, understanding, skillfully removed the muzzle, and Ah's long tongue snaked out and licked a long, wet streak up the side of her face.

"Ah! That's so gross."

Un raised his head and growled in a pouting way until Rin removed his muzzle as well. The dragon nuzzled Rin as Sesshomaru looked on amused.

"My Lord!" Jaken exclaimed. "Who is this disrespectful girl?" he asked angrily.

"That girl is Rin, Jaken, have your forgotten her smell?"

"What?" Jaken cried. "This girl is really Rin?" Jaken ran over and examined the girl as she and Ah-Un played. "It is!"

"Oh, Hello, Master Jaken," Rin said as she struggled to get up with Ah-Un amusing himself by pinning her down with a clawed foot.

"Rin, look how you've grown! I didn't even recognize you."

"Jaken," Sesshomaru said. "Let us leave Rin to Ah-Un, and come tell me what you've seen."

"Oh, ah—yes Milord," Jaken replied, running after Sesshomaru, who was already taking his leave, giving another passing glance to Rin.

"Let me up, Let me up!" Rin exclaimed, Ah-Un staring curiously at her as she flailed her limbs in an effort to get up. Ah-Un lifted his great claw from her and she sat up. She stretched her sutured shoulder. It pained her, and was sore, but was no longer the fresh, sharp pain of an open wound. "Do you want to go for a walk, Ah-Un?" she asked, and the Dragon snorted in approval. Rin got up and detached the saddle bags from him, and expertly hopped on his saddle and tapped her heels on his sides to signal him to fly. Ah-Un leapt into the air and they immediately were flying. Rin gripped the handles on the saddle tightly, having decided to forego the muzzle and reins. The cold wind felt in a way, so freeing and good as it burned against her face. She had missed this. She and Ah-Un had always been the best of friends when she was a child. When she was perhaps twelve, or thirteen, when the danger of Naraku had passed, she was allowed to go more or less where she pleased to pass the time in a day, and when she was feeling upset, or sometimes, even just when she was bored, she would take Ah-Un and they would fly. The sight of the never ending landscape passing beneath them had always been calming to her, and now, as an adult, it was no exception. She hadn't realized until then, how jittery and nervous she had been all week until she was able to relax. She breathed out a sigh of relief. She loved to be in Sesshomaru's company, but he was so intense about everything he did that it was hard not to feel so tightly wound when she was in his company.

Ah-Un grunted at her, sensing her disease, and Rin, as she often used to as a child, told him everything that was troubling her. She told him all about what had happened between her and Sesshomaru and she told him how unsure she was about everything. She mused aloud about what it all meant, and if it was possible for Sesshomaru to ever love her. Certainly he did care for her; of that, she never had any doubt, but could he love her? Was she not just a child to him?

"I feel like my heart is breaking because I just….I just love him so damn much."

Everything suddenly felt so silent. As if the whole world held its breath waiting for her admission of love. Ah turned his head to her and grunted sympathetically.

She looked down at her hands on the saddle in embarrassment. "Do you think it's stupid, Ah-Un?" She asked.

He shook his great head slowly. Ah-Un was so wise. He never judged Rin, and he always understood. She gazed out onto the horizon as the sun began to descend, seemingly into the earth, casting the forested landscape a brilliant shade of orange.

She sighed. "I just don't really know what to do, Ah-Un, but thank you for listening. Do you think we should head back soon?"

Ah-Un grunted I confirmation, and began a lazy circle back towards the fortress.

Rin's mind raced. What would she do? Could she even do anything? She felt so lost; as if she were adrift in the sea of her own fate, and she could no more alter that than she could tell the sun to stop shining.

…..::::….::::….::::….

Weeks passed, and just as Sesshomaru had promised, Rin's training began again. Rin learned quickly, but Sesshomaru, seeing how sluggish she was with something as cumbersome as the kogarasu-maru, quickly gave to her a much lighter, thinner, double edged straight sword, and was amazed at the progress. The transformation had been instant. With the needle like tip, and razor sharp edges, she could now be counted as dangerous. She was quick as a snake's strike, and once or twice, had come close to striking him. Of course, he could have crushed her had he been using any of his demonic abilities, but once or twice she had come very, very close to anticipating his movements and matching his speed. He secretly had relished the devilish smile on the girl's face when she too had realized what she had come so close to, but quickly pummeled her into submission.

One day, when Rin was splashing water from the pond on her face, she glanced to where he was sitting patiently, and asked, "So, would you say I'm doing well?" She hadn't dared ask him, but she wanted to know, she wanted his approval.

Sesshomaru seemed distracted, and after a second's hesitation, he replied, "Yes, very well indeed."

She couldn't help bet grin stupidly, turning from him to hide it, but she wondered what had been eating at him for the last couple of weeks. He always seemed so distracted of late. She sat back on her heels and cast him a sideways glance. "If I'm not overstepping my bounds, may I ask what has been bothering you?" she asked. She refrained, as per his request, from calling him "Lord Sesshomaru," but was still hesitant to use his name, and so of late had been trying to avoid addressing him at all unless strictly necessary.

Sesshomaru seemed to come back to reality once again and turned to look at her, mildly surprised she had asked such a thing. Perhaps he was being obvious about his moods? How unlike him, he thought to himself.

He looked away, back into the reflective surface of the pond, noting the leaves that now floated on its surface had distinct red and yellow hues to them. Autumn was upon them, and then so too soon would be Rin's anniversary of birth, he mused.

"Jaken has reported that the Northern provinces threaten war upon us," he told her offhandedly.

"What?" she exclaimed. "Why?"

"Resources, wealth, power, conquest, perhaps my Bakusaiga? What these things are usually caused over," he said, again, like it wasn't a big deal.

"What are you going to do about it?" she asked.

"I expect Mother and I will ready an army to quash any ideas of takeover before they bloom into all-out war."

Rin didn't believe the calmness with which he stated all of this. "Perhaps have you been through many wars before?" she asked him.

He nodded. "I've been alive a long time, and I have lived through many wars. This will be no different from the rest."

Rin was mildly skeptical. She ran her we hands over her braided hair, wetting away the stray hairs that had come loose.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she said, gazing into her warped reflection in the water. Rin couldn't push the feeling away that something was about to go awry. It was like this tightness in the pit of her stomach that refused to leave.

"Don't fear, Rin," he told her, "this has all been done before.

She forced a smile. "Okay."