~Chapter Two~

Silver-Haired Knight

Three months passed. They crawled by like wet sand through an hourglass, one granule at a time. The first month was the hardest, with the hope that he'd return. The second month, she was bitter, angry... but now, she was simply... empty.

She became a machine really, working as the humans told her to, and then staying in her room, by herself. She kept her kimono in a trunk, and it was kept closed to keep the scent inside. It smelled like Sesshoumaru, and she never wore them, just in case. If she felt like she was going to lose control of her sanity, she would open it just enough to smell him.

The humans who looked after her were kind, she supposed. They did not beat her, that's for certain... and if any patron tried to touch her, they usually interfered. The man, Kitaka Uahara, looked always afraid when one of the patrons grabbed her arm or something, and rushed over to pull her away gently.

She no longer cried, not after that first night, but she wanted to, at times. Her fingers hurt from the new work they were forced to do, and her feet hurt in the shoes that she was forced to wear.

The worst, perhaps, was that the old couple often tried to get her to meet men. They would invite a guest over, a young man, and ask her to come out. Sometimes she ignored it... sometimes she didn't realize until she was already out in the inn's dining area.

She always left as quickly as she could, and she could tell that Tika was becoming frustrated. She once overheard the woman muttering about demon charms, and that Rin was enchanted by the demon who'd left her.

She disagreed... She wanted nothing to do with Sesshoumaru anymore. Or at least, that is what she told herself. She hardened her heart to him as much as she could, because it hurt too much to think that he didn't want her.

But she knew, deep down, where she protected herself from... she needed him.

Rin moved quickly in the night, carrying a basket. Often, she left the inn late to gather flowers or to walk in the woods, where she felt the most comfortable. She never kept the flowers... she always threw them in the river when she was done, knowing they'd remind her of Sesshoumaru.

She'd been out too late this time. Her feet were bare, her kimono plain, brown, but helped her blend in. Her long hair was no long in a ponytail, for the family had her keep it in a bun. But when she was out, she took her hair down, so the long tresses, falling almost to her butt, flowed behind her like water as she hurried into the village and around some buildings, heading towards the inn.

"My my!" A deep voice said, drunkenly. "It's the girl who refused to even talk to me! Hey you...what makes you so... important...that… that you think you can ignore me!"

Rin whipped around, dropping the basket as her eyes widened. The man was young, but was the oldest of those who'd been brought to her. He was perhaps thirty, and he lunged towards her, grabbing her wrist with speed that was likely only born from drunkenness.

Rin gasp, immediately digging her heels in like an animal would, trying desperately to be pulled free. She didn't utter a sound, reverting to her muteness.

"Come here, pretty thing... I won't hurt you... I don't think it will hurt... well... it might..." the man chortled and yanked her against his chest, making Rin trembled with anger and fear. She pushed hard against it with her free hand, but he'd raised her other hand high above her head, making her motions weaker.

"It'll... be fun... you'll see," the man slurred, grinning and sloppily kissing her neck. She went cold with fear now, freezing like an animal caught in a trap.

"That's right... just hold… still..." he gurgled happily, pushing her back against the nearby wall.

Three months it had been since he had dumped her off in the village.

And there hadn't been a day gone by that he hadn't come back to watch her.

He was pathetic, he wanted to admit it, but his damn pride wouldn't let him, not even to himself. Not even his youkai would admit that he was such a sap as to come and creep after her like a stalker. He had tried to resist the urge to not come back; had been successful for probably a week, before he had broken down and just watched her from the cover of the trees.

If he didn't know her by the way she walked, the way she smiled and the shape of her eyes, he would think that she would blend in with the other humans in the village. She wore civilian clothing now; not any of the elegant kimonos he had gotten for her, and shoes, which he knew made her feet bleed. And her long hair, hair that he rarely cut for her over the years unless it was so disgustingly knotted that she whined trying to brush it, was always pulled up tight now and tucked under a piece of cloth.

He knew too, that she disappeared in the evenings, going out until the dark swallowed her. In those times, she would take her hair down and disregard shoes. It was one of those times tonight.

Sesshoumaru was ducked in the brush, leaning back against a tree, one hair propped up on a raised knee. His golden eyes flickered over her as she darted out of the forest, bolting it back to the inn, a basket in her hand. She did this often, running, but he perked up, his hackles nearly raising up when a man intercepted her, a drunk male an grabbed at her wrist, pulling her around.

He braced his hand on the ground, ready to interfere as the male shoved her against a wall, pinning her hands above her head. She fought fiercely and he was mildly impressed by her ferocity. She had never had to protect herself in all the years she had been with him. He had always gone out of his way to save her.

In his head, his youkai growled viciously, demanding that he rush in there and separate the male from Rin. He was hesitant; the weeks of work that had gone into acclimating her to human lifestyles would be ruined in a heartbeat. But he couldn't bear the idea that she would be attacked and that he would have to live with the knowledge that he could have done something about it.

Sesshoumaru stalked into the village, moving rapidly, silently, until he stood behind the man who had her pinned to the wall.

"She is far more important than you," he said, his voice a half-growl, half sinister whisper as he reached around and grabbed the man's face, pulling him off Rin.

The man, in his drunken state, fell down to the ground, tripping on his own feet, "You… demon…" the male slurred out, attempting to rise, but stumbling and landing on his ass again.

Sesshoumaru helped him up… by his neck, dangling the human a good two feet off the ground. The man gurgled, his face slowly turning red, then purple, then blue then fading to white as the oxygen level decreased rapidly and his lungs began to labor in an effort to breathe. He made mad, desperate grabs at Sesshoumaru's hand collapsing his windpipe.

He felt nothing for this human, no compassion, no pity. Nothing. He hated humans, hated their greedy, disgusting habits that underlined everything they did. So why was it that he felt so gods-be-damned protective and possessive over the wisp of a mortal female he couldn't seem to stop thinking about?

Rin fell to her knees when the man was pulled off of her. She was almost instantly in a crouch, ready to protect herself at all cost. Her eyes were sharp and almost mad with animal-like fury, and her fingers were curled into little claws, as if she could scratch her way to freedom.

But all of her fight, all of her hissing and fury, drained away when she realized who it was.

As fast as she could, she was on her feet, facing the tall figure with glorious white hair and wonderful golden eyes... eyes that she dreamt about in her sleep.

She threw her arms around him, her front meeting his back as she buried her face into his clothes. She didn't even care that he was about to kill that wretched human. She stood, trembling slightly, as she hugged her demon lord from behind.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" she whispered into his back.

The human dropped dead to the ground when Rin suddenly hugged him fiercely, tightly, her face pressed into his back. It was a strange sensation, because it was very rarely that she touched him, that he touched her.

He could feel her body heat through his kimono, feel her breath as she sighed his name. He felt a tight squeeze somewhere in his chest, catching his breath. He had missed her more than he cared to admit, constantly looking over his shoulder for her like a bad habit he couldn't ditch.

It was why he couldn't stay here, why he couldn't take her with him, when he knew instinctively that she was going to ask, she was going to press the subject because he had left her with no answers.

"Rin..." he replied, gently prying her hands off of him and turning around to face her. Three months hadn't done much to age her; she still looked the same and he supposed that that would make it all the harder to walk away again. Before, he had the excuse of the old woman dragging her away so he didn't have to be the one to do the leaving.

This time though... this time would be different. He knew it was a bad idea to interfere.

Denial cried sharply in her chest, her body craving his body heat. She took a frantic step closer to him, closer than she ever normally got to him. She was breaking all of their rules, but her heart was pounding so fast and her adrenalin was making her head spin.

"Sesshoumaru-sama... thank you..." she told him, when her other words failed her. She was almost on her tip toes, staring up at his face. She wanted to ask him to let her come, she wanted to tell him she'd missed him, she wanted to say so much, but it all got stuck in her throat.

His closeness, his smell in her nose, his face, his eyes... it did something to her chest. She felt warm, and a flush filtered slowly, softly, against her cheeks. She parted her lips, to try and say all those words, but her gaze slipped from his eyes and down to his mouth, unexpectedly.

She stood a little higher on her toes, but somehow chickened out a little, because instead her hands came up, one to steady herself against his chest, the lightest touch of her fingertips, and the other to lightly touch his lips with two fingers, her eyes focused on her touch with a dazed expression. "I... feel strange..." she told him in a whisper.

His face was blank, his features stoic and as she leaned closer to him, touched his face, his mouth, he may have even leaned his head back a little to compensate for the closure of space.

But on the inside, she was rattling him.

He, the most powerful youkai in the whole country, was being torn apart at the seams by a sassy human female. Her smile, her scent. This little girl he had watched over had grown up and gotten under his skin and he wasn't quite sure how, when he never let anyone close enough.

She could single-handedly lead him to his destruction, just like Izayoi had led his father to his destruction.

He couldn't let this happen. This couldn't… it was why he had put her in the human village, to get away from her or else someone would come around to challenge his title and exploit her as a weakness. He wouldn't go the same path as his father; and he wouldn't subject her to the stigma that Izayoi had.

Charmed by a demon, a whore.

That knowledge would lend him the strength to walk away from her.

He brought his hand up to hers and gently removed it from his mouth, his eyes glued to hers, intense molten gold. He put her hands at her sides and leaned in close, his breath feathered over her cheek, her ear, "You still have to stay here," he whispered back, dropping her hands.

Then, he turned on his heel and walked away, left while he still could, before his resolve completely wavered and he dragged her out of the village and plopped her on Ah-Un and took her away from here.

Rin's eyes widened in shock, and it wasn't until the darkness had eaten his form that she realized what he'd said. She'd been too distracted by her warm and strange feelings, and his breath against her cheek, to realize that he was leaving her again.

"No! Sesshoumaru-sama!" She ran after him, but in the darkness, her weak human eyes stood no chance, and after twenty minutes of looking, she could find him nowhere. Sharp tears sprang to her eyes, this time from frustration, hurt, and anger. She refused to let them fall, shaking her head to dispel them as she curled her hands into fists. "How... how dare you leave me here!" she yelled out into the woods. "I'll never forgive you!"

She turned on her heel and ran all the way back to the inn. She didn't stop until she was locked into her room, her heart pounding and her fingers shaking. So many emotions swirled in her chest, anger, hurt, frustration... and determination.

Rin moved over to the bed, falling onto it with her eyes tightly shut. "Sesshoumaru... you... you can't just... dump me like garbage…" she whispered to herself, refusing to cry, refusing to feel anything. She pushed it all aside... and formulated a plan.

A/N

WHOO HOO! Another chapter!

A quick note about Rin and her "strange feelings". Being raised by Sesshoumaru since she was a small child, she never exactly got the "birds and the bees" talk. She avoided human villages so therefore she was never exposed to what affection might look like. And she ESPECIALLY has no idea what sex is. It's not like she had girlfriends to sit down with and gossip about this thing. My best guess at this is that when she hit puberty, Sesshoumaru probably explained it as briefly as he could, that she was an adult now and capable of choosing a mate and having children. Rin, being her personality, would never question him and even if she did, he wouldn't deem her an answer. Overall, the take home here is that she's had little exposure to lust, sex and affection and doesn't quite understand those feelings when they occur to her.

There, I'm done. :)

Inuyasha and Co (Sesshoumaru, Rin and sub-characters) belong to Rumiko Takahashi. The script is mine.

Credits:

Sesshoumaru: Jesachi

Rin: Goldensomething

Sub-characters: Combined effort