Thanks to everyone for being so patient and still reviewing even though I take so long. I know this fic is a bit weird and it's going to get even weirder in this chapter because I took an idea I had and decided to run with it. Thanks for reading this far and supporting me, it means the world to me.

Many hugs to:

Vanilfrappe, Kitsune6, AnimeFreak-TrunksPan-Lover4evr, Jayde Raine, whitehitsugaya, New Fan, sarah, FoxyFire45, Teela.akimako, LitoxShorty, HawkAngel XD, anhimals

Notes:

Kana – If you've ever studied Japanese writing before, these are the characters that you'll learn particularly in regards to "Hiragana" and "Katakana".

Hanyou – half-youkai what Inuyasha is.

More on the residual youki in Sesshoumaru's castle:

The best comparison I can make with this is to think of it in terms of the human body. I'm not a doctor but I do know that white blood cells are heavily involved in the immune system. Think of Sesshoumaru's territory as the body, with Sesshoumaru as the brain, and the left-over youki as the white blood cells which do their best to protect the body and the brain. Hence, his senses are much stronger when he is on his own turf because leftover inu-youkai youki (say that three times fast )is sending him additional info. Rin is a miko which means that her powers make her a foreign object in the body (Sesshy's lands and castle). Does the youki have a mind of its own? Yes and no, Sesshoumaru keeps it under control and as I said before, it's a part of him that brings the emotions and observations to the front that he would rather keep buried. Hope this makes sense to you.

Side Note:

I learned an interesting definition today. I've heard the word "nefarious" before and I knew that it was pretty much synonymous with evil but I decided to look up the various meanings for it and wouldn't you know it, I found out that it goes beyond simply evil. Something that is nefarious is not only evil, it is something that goes against divine law. This aptly describes how Jaken feels about Sesshoumaru and Rin getting together in this fic. :3 Of course, he's going to change in a major way during the course of the story but he has a long way to go before you'll like him, if you ever do.

Anyways, I thought this was interesting so I wanted to share it with you all and I apologize ahead of time if I have any typos. I went through the chapter again but I always wind up missing stupid mistakes. ::sigh::

Ties of Blood

Chapter 10

Inquiry

"I've assigned Keroko to attend the human Sesshoumaru-Sama," Jaken said with a tiny flourish, obviously proud to have been personally invited to Sesshoumaru's room. It was a rare privilege and he had every intention of savoring his one-upmanship on that arrogant little human girl. Of course, it was only in his mind that a rivalry had been established between himself and the girl over which of them was Sesshoumaru-Sama's favorite servant but his pride was still smarting from the way she had mouthed off to him. It stung…it really, truly, STUNG whenever he thought of the way she had threatened him with Sesshoumaru's displeasure - just who or what did she think she was?

In all honesty, he had fully expected his master to kill the little brat after she had demonstrated her lack of good breeding before the entire youkai court upon their arrival but, noooooo, she was still alive and kicking. The tiny youkai knew quite well that it was absolutely unheard of for anyone to speak or do the things to Sesshoumaru that she had and live to tell the tale. And there had been a brief moment of panic when the taiyoukai summoned him to his chambers and informed him that the girl was staying just down the hall and would require someone to assist her. It was equally unheard of for the frigid taiyoukai to allow a human anywhere near his quarters, even the human male had been firmly ensconced within the servant's quarters during his stay. Jaken, himself, dwelled a few levels down from Sesshoumaru.

It did nothing for his peace of mind to know that Rin had been given a room in the family's private wing of the castle. His paranoia over the whole situation had already caused him to have visions of himself dressed in rags and supporting his starved body with nothing but the Nintojo – the Staff of Two Heads -that had been entrusted to him by Sesshoumaru. He feared, more than anything, being cast aside by his lord in favor of a human. The distinction of being Sesshoumaru-Sama's right hand youkai was not something that he had any desire to lose and it would only add insult to injury if he lost his position to a lowly human woman.

However, there was a bright spot in the entire situation. When his master had commanded his presence he had been fearful of what his youki would pick up. Would the girl's scent perfume Sesshoumaru-Sama's quarters? Would he find the two of them sprawled out over that curious bed that the previous lord had brought over from lands far across the sea? Would Sesshoumaru-Sama yank the Nintojo from his grasp and order him to leave because he had made the girl his concubine and she wanted a lowly youkai like himself banished for being so rude to her before? His imagination had run wild with possible scenarios as he approached Sesshoumaru-Sama's door but the moment the door slid open to admit him, he had let out a sigh of relief.

Though the girl's scent was present near the entrance, Sesshoumaru-Sama's room was Rin-free and - judging by the tightness around the corners of Sesshoumaru-Sama's mouth as he spoke - the girl had displeased him somehow. Petty creature that he was, Jaken had secretly rejoiced in that knowledge. His lord was hardly the most patient of people when others began to grate on his nerves - hopefully the fool-girl would get him so angry that he would "dispose" of her and he would have job security once more. It would certainly serve her right if his lord did kill her off, the base creature.

His mind briefly turned to Keroko, whom he had ordered a passing servant to find and send to Rin's room, as per Sesshoumaru-Sama's request. She was such a sweet and fragile flower, far more appealing than that irksome human could ever be, if just a tad bit on the chatty side. The exquisite female was a true credit to their race and he sometimes thought that he wouldn't have minded having her at his side if he hadn't already sworn to serve Sesshoumaru-Sama first and foremost. She certainly knew how to cheer him up and she seemed to be the only one, sometimes, who truly understood his magnificence.

The only real flaws Keroko seemed to have were her tolerance of humans and her fixation on setting up couples. Keroko made it abundantly clear that she found humans to be absolutely fascinating and she always changed the subject when he tried to lecture her on the evils of befriending the members of such an inferior race. Jaken decided that he would have to be careful lest she take a liking to Rin and decide to make good on the nefarious rumors that were already circulating about Sesshoumaru-Sama and his new human pet. He would watch, wait, and do all things for the sake of his lord and master, come what may.

However, such musings were best put aside in favor of the here and now. His master had remained silent after his statement concerning Keroko's new appointment as Rin's personal attendant and Jaken deemed that it wasn't his place to interrupt when his master obviously had much on his mind. True, Sesshoumaru-Sama's facial expression almost never changed but he liked to think that the apathetic look on the taiyoukai's face was his "thinking" look. The corners of his mouth, which had been faintly down-turned upon his arrival, had returned to their usual position during his mental ramblings and his well shaped lips were set in a straight line.

Sensing that he was about to hear something interesting, he shuffled slightly and cleared his throat, never taking his bulging yellow eyes off of his lord as he waited for him to speak.

Silence collected in the corners of the room and Jaken felt an unusual heaviness descending upon his lord before a faint, but unmistakably weary, sigh sounded and the taiyoukai spoke at last.

"Jaken," he began in such a low voice that the little toad had to strain to catch it.

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-Sama?"

"What can you tell me of…," there was a near imperceptible pause before he completed his question, "women?"

The tiny youkai froze instantly, wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him. Was the great lord Sesshoumaru-Sama – as in the Sesshoumaru-Sama who avoided the opposite sex like the plague and was, for all intents and purposes, a frigid, asexual killing machine who showed little interest in his duty to court females and produce an heir – actually asking him about women?

'Well,' Jaken thought, puffing out his bony chest, 'well, well, well,' and his chest swelled even more with each successive "well".

'Could it be that Sesshoumaru-Sama is finally tapping into my vast reserves of wisdom?' the tiny toad thought, resisting the urge to rub his knuckles together in glee, his earlier insecurities about Rin replacing him melting away in an instant. He had begun to think, after serving Sesshoumaru-Sama for so many years, that the young lord would never consult him for anything. Therefore, it was a more than pleasant surprise for him that Sesshoumaru-Sama had chosen women as the topic to come to him about rather than keeping his own counsel – which is what the taiyoukai normally did. Granted, he wasn't the most knowledgeable on the subject because he'd been too busy in his duties towards his own people and then his subsequent induction into the position of Sesshoumaru's retainer to consider settling down with a nice she-toad and having children of his own. However, he had been around for quite a while longer than his young master and he was positive that he could teach the taiyoukai a thing or two about dealing with the fairer sex.

With thoughts of impressing Sesshoumaru with how useful he could be, he cleared his throat and began, "Ah, yes, women. Well, I won't say I'm an expert on the subject but then again…what male can ever fully understand the mind and actions of women?" he chuckled, thinking himself clever but Sesshoumaru merely stared at him with his usual impassive expression and his laughter died a swift death. He had to remember that this was Sesshoumaru-Sama he was speaking to and his lord didn't fall under the same category as other youkai let alone his fellow males.

He coughed a bit and cleared his throat again as if his laughter had been nothing more than a brief fit that needed to be gotten over. As much as he enjoyed having the taiyoukai's undivided attention it was unsettling to have those cold eyes trained on him for any length of time. How someone as emotionally frigid as Sesshoumaru could be so intense was a mystery to him but he decided that he needed to say what needed to be said before his lord tired of him and decided to toss him out on his rear.

"Well, to continue, Sesshoumaru-Sama, women can be very fickle creatures, especially human women. They are ruled by their emotions and they seem to constantly suffer from the need to talk about anything and everything. A youkai woman is fine but you must always remember that some are just as like likely to sink their claws into your back the moment you take your eyes off of them as any male would. No creature is more clever or conniving than a woman, again, this is especially the case in human women," now this last part Jaken wasn't even sure of himself since he avoided humans like the plague they were, but he wasn't about to over look the opportunity to sabotage any designs that devious human girl might have on his lord.

He was pleased to see that Sesshoumaru-Sama had tilted his head to the side slightly, an indication that he was thinking on what had been said – it had taken Jaken five years to figure that little habit of his lord's out. The youkai waited until his lord gave him a curt nod before continuing.

"So this would then lead us to the question of you finding a wife…" Jaken cut off what he was about to say when he spied the narrowing of his lord's eyes. 'Okay,' he thought nervously, 'that's not a safe subject.' He was somewhat disappointed that he wouldn't get to expound upon the virtues of choosing a youkai over a human and a subsequent list of potential candidates but he was wise enough to know that this subject was taboo as far as Sesshoumaru-Sama was concerned.

"Yes, then, er…" he stumbled over his words, trying to find something else to talk about but the taiyoukai was apparently satisfied with what he had learned and spoke at last.

"Enough Jaken. Leave me."

"Ah , but…" he still had more to say and if he could steer Sesshoumaru away from the disaster he was creating with Rin, why, that was all the better. However, his lord had had quite enough and Jaken noticed a faint green glow that appeared around his right hand when he didn't move his bony behind fast enough.

"Right, I…I'll be leaving Sesshoumaru-Sama," Jaken squeaked as he all but ran backwards, bowing profusely the entire time. His behind met the closed door with a painful thump and he turned, scrambling to open the door and slip out into the safety of the hallway.

Once outside, he let out a sigh of relief and adjusted his grip on the Nintojo, more than a little happy to be away from his master. Sometimes, he really did wonder about his lord. It was just so odd for him to avoid women the way he did when he was well aware that most other healthy, young, male youkai his age were freely sowing their wild seeds. He didn't believe that his master was attracted to men or anything but he had to wonder why it was that his lord had begun to show interest in females only when the human girl came into the picture. It was a distasteful thought, but maybe the girl was a necessary evil to get his young master thinking the way a lord should. This war they were waging against the humans didn't seem to be ending any time soon and he found himself worrying, especially after Sesshoumaru's capture, that his master would get himself killed before an heir could be produced.

It was almost enough for him to wonder if it would really be so bad if his lord chose the human girl if she interested him so much. Of course, sanity set in and he quickly banished any such thoughts. He would let wild wolves tear him apart before he sat around and allowed that arrogant human girl to put her grubby mitts on Sesshoumaru-Sama. However, if he looked at it from a different angle, he could see where he might be able to use Rin to steer his lord in the proper direction and get rid of her in one go. It would of course require the assistance of Keroko but he foresaw no problems there. She was nothing if not a loyal subject to him and he had no doubt that she would easily work her way into the human's good graces. If Rin took the female into her confidence, he was positive that he would have no trouble convincing Keroko to report to him on Rin's activities.

A smug smile formed on his thin lips and he mentally congratulated himself for being so clever. Though his disliked humans, and Rin in particular, he had no qualms about using them as a means to an end. In his mind the end justified the means and he was certain that Sesshoumaru would thank him someday for his efforts – well, as far as his lord ever thanked anyone, anyways.

He chuckled to himself as he made he made his way downstairs to the kitchens to get something eat as well as to send someone to retrieve Keroko. He refused to go anywhere near the room that Rin was staying in no matter who it had belonged to before.

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Kagome stared hard at the words written on the paper before her. Normally her writing was nice and neat with a little extra in the way of swirls wherever she could fit them in. Sometimes she would write the entire set of kana and play around with making her characters bend and twirl in different ways. If she got really bored, her writing had a nasty tendency to turn the page in front of her into a product that was more artistic expression then it was legible.

However, now wasn't one of those times. Stress and boredom were two separate animals and she was most definitely stressed rather than suffering from inactivity. Watching the blossoming animosity between her brother and sister was stressing her out. Wondering where her parents were was stressing her out. Wondering if Rin was safe with that terrifying youkai was seriously stressing her out. There were a multitude of things that kept her from sleeping and had her hands shaking as she wrote characters out on the crisp sheet of paper, but the thing that weighted the heaviest on her was her memories.

Kagome had a secret.

Kagome's secret sported shaggy, but soft, silver hair that flowed down his back and golden eyes that were frightening yet beautiful. Her secret came dressed in red and had a mouth that sported fangs and could be foul or kind depending on his mood. For a certainty her secret had some of the softest lips in all creation even though she had only sampled them once and the memory did nothing except remind her of how she had betrayed him.

Kagome's secret had loved her. He was recalcitrant and stubborn to the point of childishness sometimes. He was grumpy and smart-mouthed and a braggart who could back up what he said only about half of the time. But he was gentle with her. He would act as if he were ignoring her but then she would trip over her own feet and then he would be there, clawed fingers grasping her all-too-human hand while his strong arm wrapped itself around his waist.

"Feh," he would say, "you silly humans are so clumsy. Can't you even watch where you're going?"

The smile that touched her mouth at the memory was brief and she stared at the hand griping the brush so tightly that she could hear the wood cracking. In her mind, the longer she stared at the wood the more if began to resemble the shaft of an arrow the shaking in her hands grew word. For one second, she took a trip down memory lane and remembered the scent of rain and the lightening as it streaked overhead…and she felt it as if were only yesterday.

She remembered the feeling of taking an arrow in hand as they shared their first and last kiss and the jarring impact it had as she drove it into his chest. The young miko knew then why it was that arrows were meant to be shot from a bow instead of used in close combat. Using them from a distance meant that you didn't have to push it in so hard that there was no mistaking that you were deliberately trying to hurt another living thing, hanyou or not. It also meant that you didn't have to push it in with increasing force, drilling out a path through muscle and getting your hands bloody until there was that one moment when it slid in easily and made a faint "thunk" once it emerged from the other side and embedded itself into the wood.

Shooting the arrow from far away would have meant that she wouldn't have to feel his claws as he shoved her away from her and scrabbled at the arrow, trying to tear it out before he realized that it was hopeless. Sealing him away the way she had meant that had to watch in horrified fascination as his eyes glared at her with hurt and betrayal before they slowly closed due to the nature of her blessed arrow. It might not have been so bad if he had cursed and sworn at her, making threat on her life for doing what she had but he hadn't. No, he merely glared at her until he could no longer keep his eyes open and he drifted off into his force sleep.

His accusing stare still haunted her to this day and when she had time to herself, like now, it came back to her with a vengeance. Even if she did it to protect him, she had still been wrong and there was no telling what he would do to her if she went back now and broke the seal she had placed on him.

Kagome let out a sigh and laid her brush down on the paper. The moment she saw Sesshoumaru, her past had reared its ugly head and it had been a struggle to make herself move and aid Kikyou in his capture. They had most definitely caught him by surprise and if it had been any other miko with her besides Kikyou, she highly doubted that they would have lived to see another day let alone captured him. Still, there had been a moment when they first caught sight of him that she had frozen completely and could do no more than stare and it had nothing to do with how beautiful he was. Her wits had deserted her the moment she saw him with his long, shining silver hair that reminded her of Him. And when he glared at her and her sister, she had wanted to faint at the shock of seeing such familiar golden eyes set in his face. There was no doubt in her mind that Sesshoumaru was the hated half-brother that her beloved had spoken of on more than a few occasions.

It felt as if she were betraying him all over again.

The young miko shivered and pushed herself away from the table before rising. It felt as if her sins were coming full circle and, not for the first time, she wished that she had never become a miko and left her family behind. After all, hadn't it been she who had persistently urged Kikyo to come with her to the capital so that they could follow in the tradition of the Higurashi family and become priestesses? If she hadn't insisted on Kikyou coming, none of this would have happened. The head monks and miko wouldn't have noticed just how strong her older sister was which meant that they wouldn't have used her in their experiment. Her sister wouldn't be teetering on the edge of insanity because of that thing they'd embedded in her body and she wouldn't have to feel the pain of knowing that she'd betrayed the only man she loved because she wanted to protect him from Kikyou.

She truly didn't believe that her heart could take much more pummeling. Souta was being treated like a criminal and she couldn't even defend him openly lest her past actions come to light. This was a war they were in and few people would be willing to overlook the fact that she had consorted with someone who had even a drop of youkai blood running through their veins. It also didn't help that her hanyou lover was very likely the half-brother of the great Sesshoumaru who was, in turn, their most formidable enemy in this accursed war. The fact that rumors were flying about that he had escaped their clutches with the aid of a rogue miko didn't help matters and it wouldn't be long before Rin was factored into the equation.

It felt as if a trap were closing in on her as she made her unsteady way to her futon. She slowly sank down to her knees and offered up a silent prayer to Kami-Sama that things would work out before the tears began to flow.

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Rin let out a sigh and rubbed her temples. Though she liked Keroko, she could have done without the additional hour of prattling that the female had put her through. What seemed like a good opportunity to get info about Sesshoumaru and his family had turned out to be a dead end. Keroko, she discovered, had a nasty habit of relating a story as if she had actually been there. At first, Rin had thought that she was actually a servant of the castle who had come in contact with Sesshoumaru's father but the more she questioned the little toad, the more she realized that Keroko had come to the castle after Sesshoumaru came into power. It had taken a fair bit of conversational manipulation to tamp down the Keroko's enthusiasm at relating how she had left her people to follow after the ever-so-dashing Jaken-Sama. She also had to fight back her laughter whenever she saw Keroko getting moon-eyed over a bad-tempered, dried-up old toad like Jaken.

Whatever the case - after ascertaining that she wasn't going to get much more info out of Keroko except for the fact that Sesshoumaru had a half-human brother and that his father had been killed defending his human lover - she decided that she needed to do a bit of investigating on her own. This, of course, meant that she needed to get away from Keroko for a while, so she had sent her on an errand to find something to eat and a change of clothes. Rin wasn't foolish enough to let the little youkai travel with her wherever she went because she simply didn't trust anyone in Sesshoumaru's castle. Not only that, but the maid had been personally chosen by Jaken which made Keroko's credentials dubious – even though Rin highly doubted that the good-natured female would intentionally harm her.

To put it simply, Keroko was too nosey for her own good and the young woman had no desire to be shackled to her for the duration of her stay here in her new "master's" castle. Just the thought of how the taiyoukai relegated her to a mere thing really annoyed her. He was too calm, too controlled, and too certain that she would do what he wanted her to do. But she was feeling rebellious and the scent of freedom was in her nostrils. Oh, she would be cautious alright, but she had no intention of leaving him to his own devices. He thought he could snatch her away to Kami-knows-where and stick wherever he pleased, making her his newest human pet since it was abundantly clear to her that that was exactly how he viewed Souta-Nii. However, Rin was not Souta and she had every intention of making sure there wasn't a speck of doubt on that score in Sesshoumaru's narrow mind before she made her escape.

'Really, he doesn't honestly believe that I'll just sit here without finding out how the rest of my family is doing, does he?' she thought to herself.

She knew that to get away from Sesshoumaru's castle would require careful planning and a clear idea of her exact location. They had been travelling for quite some time on the back of that curious two-headed dragon of his and, if she had to guess, she would say that it would take a day or two to get back to the town or whatever was left of it. Of course, her estimate meant nothing if she didn't have a mount. If she couldn't find an animal to ride, then her travel time could easily extend into a week or more which meant that she would have to find something to keep Sesshoumaru busy.

Then too, there was the threat hanging over Souta's head. There was no telling what would happen to her brother if she escaped after the taiyoukai had made it very clear that her life was his in exchange for letting Souta live. How could she possibly get away, knowing that Sesshoumaru might go after her brother to make him pay? She could leave and then come back but, from what she could tell, very little got past the young lord – well, not so young since she gathered from Keroko's words that he was very nearly two centuries old. He might have been stuck-up but no one could ever accuse him of being stupid, though she still wondered what the deal was between him and that Kuroko woman. Why he tolerated someone as contentious as that particular female was beyond her.

'I think that what I need, is to understand him and the rest of his people,' she decided. Naturally, the thought of willingly associating with youkai made her nervous but some things just had to be done for the sake of the greater good.

Rin took a deep breath and walked over to her door, sliding it open quietly and peering out the corridor. There wasn't a soul in sight and she grinned.

"Perfect," she muttered quietly before slipping out of her room and backtracking in the direction that Sesshoumaru had taken her when he first brought her up. She took care to be extra quiet as she passed Sesshoumaru's room and she was mightily pleased with herself when his door stayed closed, giving testament to her stealth. She didn't relax until she was half-way down the first set of stairs and facing a corridor that went in two directions. Peering each way, she opted to take the left which was an unfamiliar corridor and decided that her first goal on this reconnaissance mission was to find out if Sesshoumaru's castle was equipped with stables. Rin was completely unaware of that she was being followed.

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'She's left her room,' his youki informed him succinctly. Even if he hadn't heard her door open, thanks to his keen sense of hearing, the residual youki housed in his castle was inordinately attracted to her and it was as if he had "eyes" all over his domain, with the majority of them looking in on her. Her body had rejected the youki when it attempted to assimilate her into its network so it more or less tagged her as something of interest and kept close tabs on her. There were few places in the castle that she could go without him knowing exactly where she was, who she was with and , with a fair bit of concentration, what was being said - even if he was on the other side of the building.

His sharpened senses were a double-edged sword, though. In theory, he could utilize the power embedded in his lands to extend his five senses far beyond that of any human or youkai, but sorting through the resulting backwash of information would not only take a large amount of time but it would likely be draining on him as well. To accomplish such a feat, he would have to know exactly who or what he was looking for in order to strain out the excess sensory feedback and he would also need to be in a place that was free from distraction. Properly harnessing the leftover power of the inu-youkai of old would mean allowing his body to act as a conduit by which it could flow and be directed where needed. He was confident of many things but he wasn't foolish enough to attempt such a connection just to see if it could be done – the very attempt might have destroyed him.

Therefore, he contented himself with allowing his youki to feed him bits and pieces of the conversation that Rin was holding with that curious servant who had tagged along with Jaken. He kept one ear on Jaken, who was stumbling over the ins and outs of women – summarily making him regret that he had ever asked the ever-bumbling Jaken about such a complicated subject. His other ear, he kept on Rin, though hearing most of what she said required that he devote half of his concentration to draw upon the youki gathered in her room. That youki brought him the majority of the conversation in the other room via a series of finely interwoven knots of youki that his ancestors had painstakingly laid down all over his castle and lands and fed from their own stores of power. It was crafted by taiyoukai for taiyoukai but its use was generally limited to the castle because of the danger presented by drawing on it too much.

It was a useful network to have but the greater the distance he was trying the reach the more overwhelming the information was that he received from the leftover youki and the greater the strain on his body became. Also, the more space between him and his objective, the greater the time disparity between what was being said and what he was hearing. In other words, at the distance he was from Rin, what he was hearing at the time was actually what she had said a second or so before.

After dismissing Jaken because he had no desire to weigh himself down with a wife and he certainly didn't appreciate his retainer bringing it up, the taiyoukai had been able to fully devote himself to listening in on the words being exchanged a few doors down. Since it was his castle, he refused to think of it as eavesdropping and his certainty that he was well within his rights to spy on Rin was reinforced by the fact that he didn't trust her and she didn't trust him. Any remorse that might have been present, if infinitesimally, had summarily been banished when he really paid attention to what was being said and realized that the two chatty females were talking about his father.

His sire, Touga, was a touchy subject on even the best of days and he had to fight the urge to make his way to Rin's new room and silence the noisy she-toad before she told the human girl too much. Having a human whore was not an uncommon practice, but being gauche enough to fight on her behalf and actually die in the process had left a black mark on the inu-youkai clan. And he didn't even want to think of the half-bred embarrassment that was his half-brother. His composure had been badly shaken the day his father died and all the sordid details of his death came to light. Youkai, especially his fellow nobility, had very long memories and he had fought long and hard to make it clear that he never had been and never would be his father. He was already considered to be a joke and a shame on account of his father's ignoble death and he didn't need the complications that might arise because his servants couldn't keep their mouths shut around a mere human girl.

He had brought Souta in to learn more about human culture and Rin was in his possession to serve as a potential weapon and a means to draw his enemies out of hiding - nothing more and nothing less. The problem, though, was with Rin herself. Her nature was unique and while he doubted that she would despise him just because she knew something about his father's disgraceful story, there was danger from another angle. Rin, clever Rin, would likely start to believe that he could be manipulated as his father had been and she had already shown herself to be adept at adapting to whatever circumstance came her way.

What if she fell in love with him?

His father had claimed to be in love, but Sesshoumaru didn't believe in any such thing. Love was a human emotion that either served as a way to get a woman into bed or made a fool out of the wisest of men. He had seen firsthand what so-called love did to his father and he wanted no part of it. He didn't need it.

No, he certainly didn't want Rin getting any ideas on that score and he had every intention of getting her to hate him if he couldn't make her fear him. Maybe then he wouldn't have to worry about his cold heart beating faster whenever she was around or feel that uncomfortable tug when she looked at him and seemed to touch the very core of him with her warm eyes. Just knowing that no one had ever looked at him the way she had in his many years of existence was enough to twist his insides into knots and expose a vulnerability that he found appalling.

It was for this reason that he told himself that he merely wanted to learn more about her. Since Jaken had proven to be of little use, he reasoned that he should take steps to arm himself accordingly the next time they clashed, which was why he waited until he heard her pad past his room and down the stairs before he followed her.

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This should be it for background story for now, sorry the past few chappies have seemed like filler, that wasn't my intent. I just hate stopping in the middle of a story to throw in a bunch of explanations and I feel it's best to get them out of the way as soon as possible so that you aren't scratching you heads and going "huh?!". I apologize because Iknow they were probably a bit on the boring side. However, most of my extraneous stuff/explanations are done for now and I can make this story progress to the good stuff ::coughcoughmoreSess/Rincoughcough:: XD

If you have a question about the weirdness or enjoyed this update, please read and review. Huggles.