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Sesshomaru sat alone under the shade of a large oak tree with his eyes closed, his usual calculating gaze cut out for a time.

He sat alone because he no longer needed his companion next to him; she was off training with her prized four stones. It had been a good three weeks since they captured the ice stone. Since then Rin begged and begged him to teach her how to fight.

"I can finally repay you for all those times that I couldn't fight for myself," she said with glee in her voice and a spark in her eyes. Sesshomaru could hardly say no to her, especially when she begged him.

A small smirk played across his lips at the thought, he had gone soft. He had to have or he could easily deny her anything. Now all there was to do was see what their next move would be. Sesshomaru assumed Rin would want to gather up Jakken and Ah and Uh and their journey would proceed after that.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru you must come and see!" Sesshomaru opened his eyelids and sat upright to spot Rin running towards him.

"I killed a demon, my very first one!" she cheered and even stopped to jump up in the air in her excitement. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed at her news.

"Rin that was a very dangerous thing to do, I told you to wait until I was with you before you moved on to fighting real demons," Sesshomaru said but felt slightly guilty when her large grin fell and she turned her eyes to the floor.

"I'm sorry Lord Sesshomaru. I did not mean to go against your wishes," she answered kicking at the ground with her shoe lightly.

"It's only for your safety Rin. This time you could defeat the demon but next time you might not be so lucky," Sesshomaru warned. Rin only nodded her head still staring at the floor.

"Oh Lord Sesshomaru, don't be so cruel. Rin was amazing in her fight with the demon! Why if I hadn't known that she only been training for three weeks I would have thought she was a professional demon slayer!" Otaku praised and Rin smiled gratefully towards the sword in her hand.

"I don't know how powerful the stones and you are in her possession. I'm only thinking of her safety," Sesshomaru stated.

"You talk as if all five of us did all the work! Hardly the case I assure you Lord Sesshomaru. It was all Rin, she didn't even use any of the stones to fight off the demon," Otaku replied praise still ringing in his voice.

Sesshomaru couldn't mask his surprise; he had thought Rin's training was only on how to use the stones in combat not her own fighting skills.

"I did not know you were training your own skills as well Rin. Where is this demon?" Sesshomaru asked curiously. Rin's head turned back up and her grin was back all looks of being upset moments before were gone.

She led him down a path that was about half a mile away from his resting spot to an open field. When they stepped into the clearing Sesshomaru spotted the demon cut into multiple pieces.

Sesshomaru's protectiveness took him over when he saw how gigantic the demon was. It was a large snake demon its body could be as large as seven horses stacked on top of one another.

He could hardly believe his Rin could have done it, and without any of the stone's powers!

"She wanted to test her own strength, we trained on both calling out the stones powers and her own swordsmanship," Otaku explained, "And right when she told us that she wanted to test her strength out this demon showed up. Of course we all kept up our guard in case she may need us but she did a fine job on her own,"

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Rin couldn't tell if Sesshomaru was going to praise her or yell at her. She knew he got protective over her when it came to fighting, but she wanted to prove that she could take care of herself. She hoped then that it could prove to be another reason for Sesshomaru to keep her at his side.

He turned to her then and looked straight into her eyes, Rin had never heard him praise anyone before. He didn't say a word but Rin could see that in his eyes he was very impressed with her progress. A smile spread across her face and Rin could feel her insides do a flip.

Otaku's praise of course made her feel good about herself, but Sesshomaru being impressed by her felt much better.

She felt lighter then air on the way back to Sesshomaru's tree. That's what Rin called it since these past weeks that was where he had rested both during the day and night.

Finally they all could rest since the stones were safely placed in Otaku's sheath. Now there was no fear that the stones would gain enough power to break from their prisons and destroy everything in their paths.

This assumption surprised Rin, for all the stones seemed kind to her. She could never imagine them killing for no reason but to kill. The Ice spirit she could imagine but she had cooled down and somewhat accepted Rin. Now she was just as laid back in Otaku as the others.

After the half mile walk Rin sat beside Sesshomaru who resumed his position and closed his eyes. Rin had never seen her lord sleep so much, she assumed he was making up for nights of lost sleep. She sat and watched the clouds pass by, she wasn't sure how long she sat there with Sesshomaru but soon the sun disappeared.

Rin closed her eyes and laid back so her head rested next to Sesshomaru's chest. Even when he was asleep he seemed like he was always alert and ready if a demon should appear. The thought always made Rin feel safe, her fear of demons died a long time ago because of it.

She was about to drift off when Otaku shook against her hip that made her jump. She held still then hoping that it hadn't disturbed Sesshomaru. He seemed perfectly at peace, he didn't even flinch at the sound of her sitting up and removing Otaku.

"What is it?" Rin whispered but thought better of it and got up walking away from Sesshomaru. When she was out of the tree's shadow a good fifteen feet away from her lord she asked Otaku again.

"I sensed a demon close by. A really strong one," Otaku replied. Rin felt her body go cold, Otaku sounded worried, and with him and the four spirits being strong as they were, well the sound of a demon being even stronger sounded scary.

"How strong is it?" Rin dared to ask, though she wouldn't like the answer.

"I'm not sure, but it seems even more powerful then your lord," Otaku said. Rin's hands tightened around Otaku's sheath.

"Impossible," she murmured, "No one is stronger then Lord Sesshomaru," she added.

"I think that if you could sense this demon you would know what I was talking about," Otaku replied.

"Is he close by?" Rin asked.

"The main sense of power I get is in the tree above where Sesshomaru sleeps. I can sense that it's becoming alert, it must know that I can sense it," Otaku's voice got quieter and quieter with each word.

A second later Rin spotted a black shadow emerge from the large oak tree and jump out onto the next and the next. She fell to her knees; all her muscles had tightened until it was out of sight. When it was gone she was so relieved that she fell to her knees.

"What could it want with us?" Rin murmured.

"Does Lord Sesshomaru have any enemies that could cause him serious injury?" Otaku proceeded to ask her.

Rin thought back, the only real dangers seemed to be Naraku, Koga, and Inuyasha. She immediately took out Naraku, since he always seemed to have something to say when he appeared. If it was him he wouldn't have gone away so quickly, she also accounted that none of his insects were there either.

Koga could be a possibility but recently Koga and Lord Sesshomaru seemed on civil terms. Even though Koga boasted on how strong he was Rin was sure that deep down the wolf demon knew that he was no match for her lord.

Lastly was Inuyasha, but Rin would've at least seen his silvery hair, much like Sesshomaru's but not as beautiful. Inuyasha also, like Naraku, wouldn't just leave Sesshomaru sleeping without at least a go at him.

"Not that I can think of," Rin answered after contemplating all the enemies that she knew about.

"Hmm, then the knowledge that all the stones are collected must have traveled somehow. I knew that it may come down to this. You must be very careful from now on Rin; demons will swarm for me and the stones almost as much as they would for the Shikon Jewel," Otaku warned, "Lucky for us that we trained together Rin, for now it'll pay off for sure," he added. Rin only nodded in return but stayed awake the rest of the night in case that demon ever returned.

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Rin stared at the rising sun and gave up on the demon reappearing. Though she was incredibly tired she felt proud of herself for staying up for the night. Her lord needed the sleep and she returned him for the many nights that he stayed up to protect her.

A few moments later Sesshomaru's eyelids flickered open and he sat straight up and looked completely rested. He looked straight at her and a slight tremor of emotion crossed his face before he masked it.

"You stayed up for the whole night," it was more a statement then a question.

Rin nodded and blushed slightly hoping that he didn't disapprove of her actions.

"Why?" he asked curiously.

"Well in case that de-I mean a demon ever came around in the night. You seemed so asleep that I was worried you wouldn't hear anything," Rin looked down at Otaku who had shaken against her hip. It seemed that he did not want the news from the previous night to be heard by Lord Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru's eyebrows furrowed, "You know that I can sense any kind of demon if they were to approach us at night. There was no need for you to stay up, it was a waste of time," he scowled.

"Excuse me then milord, I am in need of a bath in the nearby stream," Rin murmured Sesshomaru's scowl weighing her every step as she walked away from his resting place.

Once they were a safe distance away she pulled Otaku out of the hook in her dress and held him in her hand.

"Alright tell me what's going on. Why shouldn't I have told Lord Sesshomaru what happened last night?" she asked, "He must think I'm a paranoid fool now," she added more to herself then Otaku and the others.

"I didn't want him to worry. With this new demon onto us if he worries he will only tire himself out and be no match for it. I pictured the demon's aura through the night and thought if Sesshomaru is in tip top shape he might stand a chance against it. But if he was tired in the least he will surely die," Otaku explained as lightly as he could to the girl.

"That can't be, Lord Sesshomaru can't die," the news hit Rin harder then she would've thought. Her lord was stronger then any demon in the entire world! For eighteen years she told herself that.

"You have to come to terms with it Rin. It's the truth," Rin heard Rain whisper to her mind.

"What if we fight alongside him? With Rin trained in using our powers and her own both her and Sesshomaru could surely take him down!" Tya fought.

"It sounds….possible…." Uka whispered.

"You know what kind of thing we're up against! I hardly think that if we all team up we'll still be no match. A demon that strong has to be cunning as well. It will surely separate Lord Sesshomaru and Rin before both can do any damage at all," Mika replied.

"What if the demon was just passing by last night?" Rin asked the group; though their opinion was very well needed she was kind of tired hearing more then just her voice in her head.

Otaku seemed to understand her dilemma and a second later the four stones appeared before her. Uka appeared in the nearby stream as a lobster made completely of water. Mika beside him in her snake form but much smaller due to the lack of ice around her, Tya stood before Rin as an average red furred deer. And Rain as a swan but thankfully much smaller as well.

"I hardly think that that demon was just passing by Rin," Mika stated, though Rin heard her voice the snake's lips did not move. She was much like Otaku when he spoke though he had no lips to speak from. It sounded just like a voice echoing inside her throat quite clearly.

"He had some kind of smell omitting from something on his person that put Sesshomaru into a deep slumber. The smell was so strong that his nose couldn't pick up anything else," Otaku explained. Rin realized the true horror that the demon that was there last night knew what he was dealing with!

"He could be an enemy from the past…." Rin murmured remembering Otaku's questioning on previous enemies.

"We could only assume, though he could have done that last night since I believe all demons have a good sense of smell," Rain pointed out. Rin bit her lower lip anxiously this did little good for her worry.

"If he had Sesshomaru's in a deep slumber, if it wanted to kill him I mean, couldn't the demon just have right there?" Rin asked.

"I thought that too. The only thing I could come up with is that it sensed that we were still awake. It may not know our powers yet, maybe it was uneasy that we could have killed it. I think that factor alone saved your lord last night," Otaku replied.

"So the only way that we could possibly get rid of it is by bluff alone," Rin stated the group around her nodded.

"I guess I'm going to need practice on bluffing now," Rin sighed before she put her feet into the stream to test the temperature of the water.

"I think a nice bath will calm me down for a little bit," Rin stated and thankfully her allies took the hint, each stone disappeared to Otaku.

Rin untied her kimono and took it off before she folded it and threw it onto the ground near the closest bush. She took a deep breath and pushed her whole body into the cold water before reemerging feeling cleaner already.

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Sesshomaru sat by the oak tree again and waited for Rin, what had kept her up all night? She never stayed up like that in years, when he first accepted her as his ward she was up most nights. But insecurity of his protection was the reason, she was beyond that now.

There had to be another side to her story, he hadn't missed when Otaku shook at her side. They were hiding something; Sesshomaru didn't like things being hidden from him. He let the irritation slide moments later; Rin couldn't keep something from him. In all the eighteen year they had been together not once had she kept something important from him.

Sesshomaru just assumed it was a personal thing on which Rin would be more then willing to keep her mouth shut. He sat in thought for a while longer until his ears picked up the sound of footsteps and his nose picked up the familiar scent of Rin. She must've finished her bath early. Sesshomaru stayed silent, he could sense she was holding in something that she needed to tell.

"Uh….Lord Sesshomaru? I think I lost my dress,"