A/N: I am happy to announce my return to the world of the living. I'm getting rather excited about the next bit of the story that I'll be writing, so I can only hope that it turns out as well as I think that it will. Thank you all so much for being patient and continuing to follow this story!

Rin watched in distress as Sesshomaru searched through her tiny kitchen's cupboards. The sight of him rummaging through her packets upon packets of ramen and instant rice might have been humorous if it didn't feel as if he was invading whatever privacy that Rin had left.

"Do you have anything that isn't made from this disgusting filth?" Sesshomaru's voice rang in Rin's ears, threatening to make her temper begin to flare.

"I have some leftover pork in the refrigerator if you-"

"No." Sesshomaru cut Rin off, already knowing what she was going to say. He didn't want to waste his time on listening to words that he knew were going to be said before they ever left the lips of that girl. From his peripheral vision, Sesshomaru could see that his actions and attitude was causing Rin to clench her small hands into fists. It seemed that she was unhappy with him…but that wasn't really of his concern. He required nourishment and Rin had nothing in her home that wasn't made of dried grains with chemicals infused into whatever seasoning that accompanied the rice or noodles or whatever it was…

Rin sighed from the entrance to her kitchen/dining room. "Explain to me why you're here."

Sesshomaru didn't turn as he responded. "It is because you refused to stay with Kagura."

Groaning, Rin plopped herself onto her small sofa. She couldn't believe his nerve. He was unwilling to reveal anything to her, despite what he had promised the day before. After leaving Kagura's palace in the giant tree place, the two of them had returned back to Rin's apartment. Rin had been worried and very aware about Sesshomaru informing her that he would be staying with her from that point on. And as of the first sixteen hours, he had kept true to his word. Not many words had been exchanged between them, and most of it had been Rin unsuccessfully attempting to get the demon to explain himself.

Finally, Sesshomaru gave up on the cupboards and started towards the door. Rin sat up, about to ask him where he was going when he once again replied before she had the chance to say anything.

"I am going to find genuine nourishment. Don't move until I return."

"But…" By the time Rin squeaked out her disapproving reply, he was already gone. Letting out a large, frustrated sigh, Rin fell back against the couch once more. That Sesshomaru was quite a pain…it wasn't that Rin had planned on doing anything or going anywhere, but the way that Rin couldn't foresee anything that he was going to do anymore was very much stressing Rin out. It was very…out of character for him. Rin used to be able to have a general idea of what Sesshomaru was going to say or do, but nowadays…nothing he did was predictable.

Rin was too busy daydreaming and reminiscing about the past to notice when Sesshomaru came back into the apartment. His silent movements completely eluded Rin's senses. It wasn't until he sat on her legs that she noticed him. Her face was red from the close contact and from the way that he gave her a knowing smirk as she stared at him.

"Why are you…?" Rin's voice wavered and she could feel her palms becoming rather sweaty from the nervousness building up inside of her.

"Sitting on you?" Sesshomaru's deep voice cut through the awkward silence she left behind like a knife cutting through a stick of butter. Rin slowly nodded, for it was the only movement that she could muster. "I had to get your attention. This was the most effective way, was it not?"

"I…just…get off, please…" Sesshomaru removed himself from Rin's legs a minute after she pleaded with him. Her face was still red even after he had gotten up and left for the next room. She slowly stood up, making her way to the cupboards to find herself something to eat. Sesshomaru was in her bedroom, and while she didn't like having him in there…she couldn't stop him. He wouldn't listen to her, and she couldn't physically force him to do anything. He essentially had complete control over her possessions.

Just as Rin was pulling out a packet of instant ramen, Sesshomaru returned to the kitchen and demanded that she put the dry noodles back into the cupboard.

"What for?" She protested, not willing to put the package back. Her stomach was growling and insisting that she feed it pork-flavored ramen.

"We're going out."

Rin had wanted to protest to going out in public with Sesshomaru to eat dinner, but she dared not refuse him. He was being so unpredictable as of late that Rin was afraid of what he might do to her were she to reject him. It wasn't that she was afraid that he would physically damage her, but her emotional state was being stretched thin what with all of the pushing and pulling that Sesshomaru had been doing in her life as of late.

"Didn't you already go out to eat something?" Rin asked for what was probably the fifth time. They were seated in the back corner of a small diner. They were the only customers there aside from an elderly man who was engrossed in his ever-refilling cup of coffee and the mound of newspapers stacked on the table around him.

"…I didn't go out to eat," Sesshomaru smirked, finally answering Rin. "I went out to find a place for us to share the dinner experience together."

Rin sat back in her seat, satisfied that he had finally answered her, but also left to wonder why he thought that this was better than her ramen packets at home. She may not have been athletically 'in shape,' but Rin wouldn't consider herself to be overweight by any sort. If anything, she wanted to put on a little bit of extra weight. But…perhaps eating a good meal would help achieve her goal.

Although she had temporarily accepted this fate, scanning over the menu made Rin wish that Sesshomaru had picked some other place to hold her hostage. The menu didn't seem to present anything that wasn't either smothered in gravy or whipped cream. And while Rin did enjoy both of those things, what she was really craving was a large chunk of dark red meat. Most people admitted to thinking that Rin had a nasty sweet tooth, but Rin was far more interested in meat than she was girly deserts.

Rin's eyes were still rapidly scanning over her selections when their short and colorful waitress came to the table to take their orders. But Rin wasn't paying attention, and after a few minutes of the waitress impatiently waiting over them, Sesshomaru smirked at the girl and ordered for Rin as well as himself.

"So…what looks good to you?" Rin lightly questioned minutes later. When Sesshomaru didn't answer right away, Rin looked over the top of her menu at him. A sly smirk was spread across his smooth lips and his golden eyes were alight with mischief. Skeptical, Rin slowly lowered her menu to the table. "You're not normally so expressive…what did I say?"

Sesshomaru sat back in his chair in an overly casual manor. "Your food is already on its way. I'm surprised that you didn't notice. I thought that you were just pretending to be clueless."

Rin felt her face flush in anger and embarrassment. "Why didn't you tell me that I was supposed to order?"

"It was more entertaining this way." Sesshomaru seemed to calm about this, while Rin was seething with anger. She wanted to punch him right in that gorgeous face of his. Maybe his nose would bruise, and he'd realize that he wasn't so perfect that he could just go around controlling other people's lives just because he thought that he was better than them.

"Something wrong?" His golden eyes bore into Rin's deep brown ones. As much as she wanted to take her anger out on him, she couldn't do it. She wasn't a violent person; she was just very frustrated as of late…

Taking an extremely deep sigh, Rin let her boiling anger cool down to a slight simmering annoyance. She silently cursed Sesshomaru until the waitress returned with two plates of food. She set a plate with a chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream in front of Rin, and then a plate with a grilled chicken breast in front of her, too. The waitress set a piece of paper scrawled over in purple ink down on the table before walking away past a swinging door and out of sight. Rin looked down at the food in confusion. Blinking, she asked which one had been meant for Sesshomaru.

"Neither. I choose not to eat." Rin's mouth hung open.

"So…you demanded that we both come out to eat…claiming that it was because there was nothing good in my house for your 'nourishment' or whatever… and yet here you sit with no food in front of you and force-feeding me something that I didn't even agree to."

"You make it sound like a bad thing." Rin threw her head back and rolled her eyes. She couldn't deal with him. His attitude was too much to handle. Had her stomach not been growling and demanding that she feed it, Rin would have stormed out of that restaurant then and there. Much to her great displeasure and Sesshomaru's delight, Rin furiously devoured her meal and desert. Despite how delicious the food was, Rin couldn't get over her irritation.

When she was finished, she abruptly stood up. Glaring at the man before her, Rin decided that she wasn't letting him control the rest of her day. "I'm going somewhere. You are not going to follow me. Go to my home, go back to your home, I don't care. Just don't follow me." Before Sesshomaru had a chance to respond, Rin spun around towards the exit and stormed out. Much to the relief of Rin, for the first time since she had met the demon, Sesshomaru obeyed.