PS: For those readers who do not like Sess/Rin as a couple, please stay away from my stories or any other stories that have Sess/Rin romance. You don't like the paring doesn't mean it is wrong or sick. I don't like Yaoi, Yuri, or Sess/ with anyone but Rin. Although I don't like it, but I will never give them any comment because different people have different taste, and it is wrong to force them to follow YOUR taste. is for everyone, therefore there would be many types of story, Sess/Rin is one of them, and so please don't disturb it, or to force YOUR thought on us. Thanks and GB.

PURE FLOWER

Chapter 5

The Village and the Promise

Rin stirred from her sleep when she felt hands caressing her stomach and giggled when fingers went to the side of her body, ticking her. Turning around to face her mate, Rin smiled when a pair of golden eyes stared straight into her own amber one.

"Good morning, my lord. Or should I say…good night?" Rin said and raised her hands up to caress the side of Sesshoumaru's face, sighing when he leaned into her touch. In the past, she had rarely touched anyone other than her mother and the servant who served her food everyday while in the cell, but now, she just love touching her lord's soft yet muscled body. She blushed when she recalled how well toned her mate was; wide muscular shoulder, long build arms and legs, hairless hard chest, six packs and huge…… Definitely manly!

"Why is my lady blushing?" Sesshoumaru asked, although he already knew the answer when he detected her aroused scent in the air. If he had nothing important to do, he would be glad to fulfill her desire once more but too bad, he had to bring her to the village. Getting up from his laying position, Sesshoumaru stood naked, not caring about his nudity but found very amuse by the flush on Rin's cheeks when she stared openly at him.

"Where are you going, my lord?"

Picking up the kimono from the ground, Sesshoumaru then placed a hand on Rin's arm and carefully pulled her to her feet before wrapping her with the cloth. But he also could not resist staring at her beautiful attracting figure as she stood brazenly before him with only her kimono warping around her shoulder.

"We are going to the village, and you still have time take a bath before we leave, if you wish." Sesshoumaru answered and unconsciously placed his hand upon her flat stomach where his pup was cocooned in. Apparently Rin had not notice she had conceived a pup, and Sesshoumaru had no intention of telling her, not until they reached the village where he would announce the news.

"You are taking me to the village? Oh, I have never been to a village before!" Rin said excitedly and clapped her hands together to show her feeling. When she was still young, her mother had told her about villages and the people living inside those villages. She had had wanted to go to a village ever since her mother told her about that, and now her mate Sesshoumaru was going to grant her the wish.

"I want to take a bath before going. Do you want to join me, my lord?" Rin asked with a smile on her face but felt slightly disappointed when her lord declined her offer with a shake of his head.

"This Sesshoumaru has to prepare Ah-Un for the journey. Take your time, Rin. We will leave in an hour time." Sesshoumaru said while picking up his own clothing from the ground before donning it. When he was done, he gave Rin one last glance before leaving for the preparation.

THE VILLAGE

Men and women gathered around a house, listening as the village headman talked. Today, their lord would come to inspect their village and they must be in a good peaceful condition to let their lord had good impression about them. Although their lord was a demon, but he was powerful and no one, human or demon dared to go against him. With Lord Sesshoumaru as their lord, their village's safety would be secured; no war, no hunger, no bandits and no crazed demons to disturb their living.

"Lord Sesshoumaru will bring along his mate, so prepare the finest dish and seats for the both of them."

"Clear all the dirt in the house, and place flowers inside to make it smell nice."

"No onions are allowed to be around here!"

"Place cloths on the ground for them to walk upon!"

Shippo, a five-year-old fox demon gazed at the crowd with confusion in his green eyes. He did not understand why the villagers were so eager to greet the demon lord when all he knew was that the Western Lord was a cruel heartless dog demon.

"Shoo! You filthy bastard!"

One of the villagers pushed Shippo onto the ground as he passed by, not caring if his action might hurt the young demon. Most of the villagers were still reluctant to accept demons in their village, but since Lord Sesshoumaru was able to provide them what they needed, they could do nothing but to put on a happy mask while greeting the demon lord. As for those orphaned demons that had been picked up by the demon warriors and allowed them to live in the village, the people cared not if they were dead or alive for they were not beneficial to them.

Shippo glared at the person who pushed him onto the ground and stood up again before dusking himself clean from the dirt. He had only been in this village for two years and he already disliked the people living here. If his father was still alive, he would never ever set a foot in this village, but sadly, his father was killed by a crazed demon two years ago.

"Shippo…I'm hungry…"

Shippo turned around to look at a young demon child; a two-year-old white dog demon named Ryuya. He had wide golden eyes, waist length silver hair covered with dirt, and wearing a worn out grey kimono. Unlike Shippo who was brought in by the warriors, Ryuya was abandoned in the village, and Shippo was the one who discovered him; being wrapped in a red cloth and left to dead under the snowing sky, and if not for Shippo, Ryuya would be dead by now. Ever since that day, Shippo had become Ryuya's care taker even though he was a child himself.

"I know, and I'm thinking on how to get more food…" Shippo said and continued to stare at the busy crowd. It had been days since they had had a proper meal. Ever since winter was approaching, the villagers had stopped providing foods to the demon children, giving excuses that they had to save food for winter. But now looking at the busy crowd, people were rushing to get the food out from the storage, and every cook in the village was trying to prepare the finest dishes for the demon lord. The lord is a demon, and we are demon as well…yet we are being treated differently…

Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind. His green eyes sparkled with mischief as he stared at the crowd of people, knowing very well that they would be too busy to notice his plan. If his plan succeed, not only the demon children would have food to eat, but they could also have enough food to travel away from the village.

"Ryuya, you can eat your fill later when the lord arrives…" He said and took Ryuya's little hand into his before leading him back to their living place at the edge of the village.

BACK TO RIN

Looking down from Ah-Un in the evening sky, Rin stared at the village below her with awe in her amber eyes. Houses made of dry grasses and woods were everywhere in the place, and there were also several rice fields near the houses with some weird looking sticks standing in the middle of the fields. Rin also spotted a few old looking houses at the edge of the village and she wondered why those houses looked so different from the others in the village. It was the first time she ever laid her eyes on a village, less been into one. She wondered if the people inside the village were the same as her mother had told her. When her mate Lord Sesshoumaru pulled the rein to order Ah-Un to descent onto the ground, Rin felt as if her heart was going to burst with excitement.

"Rin, you are not to go anywhere without any escort. Although this village is under this Sesshoumaru's control, some of the humans still loathed us…demons." Sesshoumaru said and dismounted from the flying beast before he helped his mate down from it. When they were almost at the gate of the village, a demon warrior came forward and took the rein from Sesshoumaru.

"We have been waiting for your arrival, my lord." The warrior said and bowed low at Sesshoumaru before leading them into the village where dozens of people and several other demon warriors were waiting to greet their lord. No one paid attention to the woman beside their lord because they were too afraid to ask any question for Lord Sesshoumaru was known as a ruthless and cruelest killer. In the past, he had had killed several of his followers for defying his orders, or constantly asking him questions. Then a man in his late forties came forward and bowed low before Sesshoumaru and Rin. He was the head man of the village, Sato.

"Welcome to our humble village, Lord Sesshoumaru. We have prepared a place for you and your mate to rest and have some meals." Sato said, knowing that the young woman beside Lord Sesshoumaru was the mate he had recently taken. Although the woman looked like a normal human wench, but he knew she was a demon because lord Sesshoumaru would never take a human as his mate. The demon lord was known as a human hater, and if not for his father Lord InuTaisho's, he would have never set a foot in the village or to provide protection for them.

"Is there any silk kimono in this village? I believe trading is the main source of income here…" Sesshoumaru said while looking at Rin. Although he did not like the idea of human silk on his Rin's body, but it was better than wearing the same kimono for days. In fact, he knew Rin was anxious to explore the village and he planed to order one of his trusted warriors to guide Rin while he had conference with the village head man.

"Yes, we have kimono made of silk. If it pleases you, I'll send one of the village women to prepare it for our lady." Sato replied and watched as the demon lord nodded his head slightly for approval. From the moment he mentioned the silk, the demon had been watching his mate with tenderness in his golden eyes that Sato had never seen before. Years ago when Lord Sesshoumaru visited the village, the demon lord had said nothing or mentioned anything to him at all. All the demon lord did was to patrol the areas around the village, making sure that no other demons were near his territories, but now…

"Lord Sesshoumaru, may I go look around?" Rin asked with her soft voice while tugging his right sleeve.

"Not now, Rin. You have to rest and eat before this Sesshoumaru could order someone to guide you around." Sesshoumaru said and followed the human to where the resting chamber was. Although he knew Rin was not tired yet, but still, she had to take a rest after the journey because she was carrying his pup.

"Promise to come with me, Lord Sesshoumaru?" She asked with a smile on her face. Although he need not answer, she already knew it.

He watched Rin as she smiled. She was the first to ever smile for him, or to be so close to him without any feeling of fear. Even his own mother was afraid of him and had tried to kill him, but before she had the chance to harm him, she was executed for trying to kill the heir to the Western Land. Did he trust Rin? Could she be trusted? Would she betray him like many did before? He did not need to think of those questions for he knew Rin was too good to commit treachery. Unlike her sister Ren, she was a woman of deceit and could not be trusted. He believed that Rin would be threatened once she set foot in the Western Castle, however, he would protect her and their unborn pup. A promise to her, and to himself.

"Ahh…promise."

A/N: My exam is finally over and so now I can begin my stories once again. I'll try my very best to update regularly now. If there is any inconvenience or misunderstanding of the story, send a message to me and I'll try to solve it. Thanks.