Disclaimer- I don't own Inuyasha.
Author's note- Sorry for the extremely long delay. A lot of things have been going on and changing in my life. But no matter what happens I will finish my fics, unless I die of course. I would like to thank everyone for reading and reviewing. I'm very sorry for not replying individually but my time is limited. I figured everyone would rather have a chapter without replies tonight than a chapter with them sometime next week.

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Sesshomaru, who was on his way to the kitchen, heard her scream and instantly made his way to her room. Rin was sitting up in bed with her eyes closed tightly and arms wrapped around her.

"Rin."

She didn't respond so he placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her slightly.

"Rin, it's Sesshomaru. What's wrong?"

Rin finally realized that someone was calling her name so she stopped screaming. She opened her eyes and found Sesshomaru staring at her with a weird expression on his face.

"Are you okay?"

No I'm not okay. I'm in love with you.

It was at this moment that Rin felt his hand on her shoulder. She looked at it for a second and then jerked back.

"Don't touch me." she snapped. "I'm fine."

"So the screaming is normal?"

"It was a nightmare. I didn't realize I was screaming."

"You're okay then?"

"Just peachy."

Without saying anything else, he turned around and left. Rin watched him leave and then her attention returned to the shoulder he had touched. She frowned slightly and then brushed her shoulder off as if that would change anything. She got up and headed to the bathroom for a shower. What she really needed at that moment was to get away from anything Sesshomaru related. After showering and changing she went to the kitchen for some breakfast. Sesshomaru was sitting at the table reading the newspaper so instead of sitting across from him, she leaned against the counter to eat. Even though she didn't want to, she glanced over at him. I am not in love with him, she thought.

You're in denial, a voice mocked in her head.

I'm not in love with him. He reminds me of Inuyasha.

Deep denial.

Rin frowned slightly. She wasn't in denial. She didn't love Sesshomaru. She couldn't.

Explain the feelings then, the voice, which sounded suspiciously like her own, asked.

Once more for the people who didn't listen. He reminds me of Inuyasha! Think about it. They both have that beautiful silver hair.

Except Inuyasha's is wild while Sesshomaru's is soft and silky. You just want to run your fingers through it.

They both have the same golden colored eyes, Rin said ignoring the last statement.

But there's something about staring into Sesshomaru's glare that sends shivers down your spine. And not in a bad way.

They both have nice bodies.

No argument there. But Sesshomaru is tall, just like you like. Just think about those long legs.

Inuyasha always looks nice.

And Sesshomaru doesn't? Remember how he looks in a tuxedo and say he's not incredibly sexy.

He's...

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Rin instantly snapped out of her discussion with herself at the sound of Sesshomaru's voice.

"Sorry, what?"

"You were staring."

"Was I? I didn't even notice. I sort of zoned out."

Liar. You were staring at him. You find him sexy. Go ahead and admit it. You already admitted that you loved him.

Shut up!

"Are you feeling fine?."

"I'm perfectly fine." she said smiling. "I'm going out for awhile. Then I'm going to work on the mural. The sooner I'm done, the sooner I can get out of your hair."

And what fabulous hair it is.

Rin frowned slightly.

For the last time, I'm NOT in love with him!

Sesshomaru watched as Rin's frown deepened just before she stood up and left. Something was definitely wrong with her, but it really wasn't any of his business.

A few distracted hours later, Sesshomaru finally admitted that Rin was very much his business. Her odd behavior was bothering him. He wanted to do something but what? He certainly couldn't tell her that he was willing to help her with whatever was wrong. Offer her an ear or shoulder to lean on. Sesshomaru smirked. No, if he did that she'd think he'd gone psycho. Then she'd call that idiot Inuyasha. Any trace of amusement drained out of him at the thought of Inuyasha. He hated to admit that he probably was not only what was wrong with her but the only thing that would make her feel better. Sesshomaru groaned in frustration. He had better things to worry about than Rin and Inuyasha, like work. Just an hour ago Veronica had faxed him more of her ideas. He picked up the stack and looked at a few pages before he threw them back on the desk. This wasn't helping either. Veronica was another problem. She was pursuing him even though he was not interested in her. Which was strange because she had all the qualities he looked for in a woman. Beauty, intelligence, ambitiousness.

Interesting. Those are the same qualities that Rin has, and much more. You feel more relaxed around her than anyone else and she makes you laugh.

Sesshomaru let out a small sigh. Fine, Rin also had the qualities he looked for. But no matter what other qualities she has, there was one thing that overshadowed it. She was in love with Inuyasha.

Is she? Aren't you the one who asked her if it was romantic love?

Yes. But I've never been in love before. Who am I to say that it's not?

Sesshomaru ran his hand through his hair. He was done thinking about Rin. It was a waste of his time. With renewed determination, he picked up the papers from Veronica and began working on them. Hours later, he had finished sorting through them along with sorting through donation requests, financial statements, and other paper work to keep him busy. He decided to go home early so he got up and left. There really was no reason to stay when he couldn't give one hundred percent of his attention to his work. A part of Sesshomaru was very angry and disgusted with himself. He had always divided his life into two categories, business and other. The two never mixed. Well now thanks to a certain annoying artist they met, blended and tangled themselves into a big knot.

Welcome to being human, a voice taunted. Life is messy and complicated. Get over it.

Messy and complicated he could deal with. He was in love with Rin for god's sake. That was a complete disaster. Sesshomaru walked into his apartment and was greeted by silence. Good, he thought. I need some time away from Rin.

"You're home early."

"Rin?"

"Who else? I'm over here on the floor."

That would explain why he heard her but didn't see her. He walked further in the room and found her sitting against the couch. One of the pillows was laid on the floor under her foot. It was at that moment that he noticed that it was swollen. Without thinking about it, Sesshomaru went over and knelt by Rin.

"What happened?"

"I was getting off the ladder and my foot got caught. I twisted it slightly as I fell."

"Did you hit your head or anything?"

"No."

"Do you need a doctor?"

"No."

"Your foot is swelling."

"Good of you to notice." she said sarcastically. "I'll be fine.

Rin suddenly gasped when she felt his hands on her foot.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm going to do?"

"Don't you even thi..."

She stopped mid-sentence when Sesshomaru began softly rubbing her ankle.

OH HELL!

It actually felt good. Too damn good. This is not good, this is not good, this is not good, she kept chanting in her head. Her skin was tingling where ever his hands touched. On top of that the words personal space seemed to leave his vocabulary. He was so close that she could feel the heat coming from his body. The stupid evil cologne he was wearing just happened to be her favorite so it seemed to taunt her with it's heavenly smell. And his hair...god. Rin would never admit it but she had a slight hair fetish. Strands of his hair was brushing against her arm.

"Stop!"

Sesshomaru quickly pulled his hands away and looked at her.

"Did it hurt?"

"No."

YES!

Her insides felt like a bunch of warm goo and she didn't like it. She didn't like Sesshomaru either. He was making her feel...things. And that was TOTALLY unacceptable. He was Sesshomaru. She was supposed to loathe him, tease me, annoy him. Not lo...like him. If she did love him, hypothetically speaking of course, it wouldn't do her any good. Rin had seen the woman Sesshomaru had dated. Tall, beautiful, intelligent, sophisticated. In a nutshell, Veronica. Everything that she wasn't. So it would be idiotic of her to give her heart to someone who would never return the feeling.

And that's the main problem isn't it, a voice asked. You're afraid that he won't love you back.

Rin flinched at the accurate statement. Then to her horror and probably eternal shame, she started crying. Sesshomaru stared in shock as Rin's shoulders slumped and tears rolled down her cheeks. For once he had no idea what to do. He reached out to touch her but pulled his hand back. Something told him that she wouldn't appreciate him touching her at that moment.

"Rin, what's wrong?"

She tensed at the sound of his voice. For a minute she had let herself forget that he was there with her. Oh god, she thought miserably, I'm crying in front of Sesshomaru. Rin quickly wiped away her tears.

"Nothing. I'm tired so I think I'm going to bed now."

"Okay."

He heard her let out a small sigh of relief and knew that he had made the right decision by not pushing her about what was wrong. He stood up and started to help her but she stopped him.

"Don't. I can do it myself."

Without causing any pain to her foot, she got up and went to her room. Sesshomaru waited until he heard her room door close and pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. If he couldn't help her then he would get the one person who could.

"Inuyasha."

"What the hell do you want asshole?"

"Rin's upset about something. She needs you."

Sesshomaru hung up before Inuyasha could say anything. If his idiotic brother didn't come to see what was wrong with Rin, he was going to kill him.

For what felt like the thousandth time, Rin sighed. She couldn't believe that she had cried in front of Sesshomaru. It was all his fault. He made her think that she was in love with him. And then he made her cry because he gave her a foot massage. A massage that felt absolutely great and had her feeling thinking things that she really shouldn't.

"Bastard." she whispered.

Rin felt the tears threatening to come again so she buried her face in her hands. Her life sucked. She lifted her head when someone suddenly knocked on her door.

"Go away. I don't need anything."

"Ungrateful witch. I bring you goodies and you repay me by sending me away?"

A smile spread across Rin's face as Inuyasha walked in the door.

"What are you..." Rin trailed off. "He called you?"

"Yes." he answered as he sat on the edge of her bed. "What's wrong?"

This is why I love him. He's worried about me.

Well, Sesshomaru called him.

Rin ignored the voice and concentrated on Inuyasha.

"Nothing. I hurt my foot. It's only slightly swollen. Trust me, it looks worse than it is."

"I doubt my brother would've called me just because you hurt your foot."

"Where's my goodies?" she asked stalling.

"Kitchen. Now talk or else I'll squeeze that foot."

"She buried her face in her hands and sighed.

"I started crying."

"Why?"

"I took some pain pills that have me feeling weird." she said repeating what she told Sesshomaru.

Instead of saying anything, Inuyasha just stared at her.

"What?" she asked as she shifted slightly.

"Nothing. So how did it happen?"

Rin looked at him and frowned. He knew that she was lying and to make it worse, he knew that she knew. Her frown deepened. Sometimes it sucked having someone know her so well. Still, she was thankful that he hadn't tried to push her into telling him because she really had no idea what to say. How could she get him to understand what was wrong with her when she couldn't? Rin remembered that he had asked her a question and couldn't help but smirk.

"Let's just say that you shouldn't dance around while trying to get off a ladder. It wasn't until I tried getting up that I realized that I hurt my foot."

Rin didn't look to see if he believed her because this time she was telling the truth.

"By the way, Kagome said she hoped you felt better."

"I'm already bet...Wait a minute. How did she know that something was wrong?"

"Today's her day off so she was with me when Sesshomaru called."

"Oh. You left Kagome to come see me?"

"Yes. Why do you sound so surprised?"

"I don't."

"You are. I can hear it in your voice. You're seriously surprised that I came here. Why?"

Rin could tell that his mind was working overtime. Soon enough, he was probably going to come to the conclusion that Rin didn't like Kagome. She started laughing to distract him.

"I didn't mean to sound so dramatic. I've been watching daytime television and it's kind of addicting." she said as she pretended to stop her laughter. "What I meant to ask is why would you want to be here when I don't want to? In fact, you'd better run before I force you to watch with me."

"It wouldn't be the first time you did." he answered with a smirk. "Remember in the seventh grade you made me watch hours and hours of sappy romantic movies?"

"Yeah, but you were the one who gave me chicken pox. It's what you deserved. And how could you forget the time you..."

Rin continued on her trip down memory lane to distract him. They continued laughing but then Inuyasha got serious again.

"Rin, do you have a problem with me marrying Kagome?"

Rin couldn't help but to laugh inwardly. If ever there was a time to tell Inuyasha how she felt, it was now. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to. Aside from her romantic feelings for him, she did love him as a person and a friend. Because of that, there was no way she would hurt him by letting him know that she hated the woman he was going to marry.

"No." she lied. "Why would I?"

"You shouldn't. But then again people are irrational." he said. "Remember when you were dating that guy Brent?"

"Bryan." she corrected.

"Whatever. All I knew was that you were spending an awful lot of time with him. Time you used to spend with me. I hated that I had to share you."

"Real subtle Inuyasha." she said rolling her eyes. "But so you know, I have no problem sharing you with Kagome."

Liar, liar. Rin's pants are on fire.

"If you say so. I'm just saying that it's okay if you felt that way."

"I don't."

"Good. I guess you know what I didn't back then. That we're stuck together no matter what or who happens."

Inuyasha suddenly frowned.

"Are we in a Liftetime movie or something? Sitting around talking about feelings. Yuck. I have to do something to remedy this."

A genuine smile spread across Rin's face as he left the room. Somehow that brief talk made her feel so much better. To say he sometimes acted like an idiot, Inuyasha was very insightful. A few minutes later he came back holding a brown paper bag and movies.

"Snickers Ice cream bars and Reese's cups." he said holding up the bag.

Her favorite.

"And to combat the mushiness in this room, Die Hard and Terminator. Last but not least one of your favorite movies, which you find funny even though it really isn't, Fatal Attraction."

"We have to watch that one first." she said laughing wickedly. "Boiling the rabbit is a classic. Admit it, his reaction to the things she did was funny."

"Fine. Some of it was funny, in a twisted morbid way. 'I won't be ig-nored Dan.'" he said mocking the woman from the movie.

Inuyasha put the movie in and got on the bed with Rin to watch it. Or at least they tried to watch it. They were to busy laughing and mocking what was going on. It was during one of these moments that Rin realized that this is what she missed most. Her and Inuyasha just hanging out, whether it was watching movies, eating out, or plotting against Sesshomaru. Just as long as they were doing something. A knot formed in her stomach as she realized where this line of thought could go. At she remembered what Sesshomaru had said about her about her feelings for Inuyasha. Could he have been right?

"Don't you ever wonder why you love my brother?"
Because Inuyasha's great. He knew her better than anyone else and she enjoyed spending time with him. He was loyal and trustworthy and there for her when she needed him. Just like a lover should be. Or, she thought swallowing hard, a friend.

"Have you ever considered that it's because he spoiled you? Inuyasha spoiled you. It's always been Rin and Inuyasha. Inuyasha and Rin."
He did spoil her didn't he? He was the perfect "boyfriend" to her. Taking her out, buying her gifts, giving her a shoulder to lean on. How many times did I get him to go to an art gallery that he didn't want to?

"He's the one person who gives you their undivided attention."
Even when my own father barely noticed me, Inuyasha did. He took an interest in the things that I liked. And he supported me through everything, even if he didn't agree.

"You called and he came running."
So true. When I needed him he was there. He never complained any of those times I called him in the middle of night to keep me company. Even tonight, he left Kagome to make sure I was okay.

"You were number one in his life until Kagome and you don't know how to react. That's why you desperately want them to break up."
No other girl lasted long enough for me to have to be his number two. Except Kagome.

"I love Inuyasha."
I really do. That will never change.

"But is it a romantic love?"
Oh god.

"Is it a romantic love?"
If she was honest with herself and it was time that she was, then the answer would be no. She wasn't in love with Inuyasha.

Rin let out a breathe that she hadn't realized she was holding. Even though part of her knew that she wasn't in love with Inuyasha, it still hurt admitting it. It probably would for a little while more. And learning to be okay with sharing him was going to be torture.

No time like the present to start.

Rin mentally groaned. She was beginning to really hate that little voice.

It's because I'm right. If you don't start cutting the strings now you'll just start denying the truth again. And in the long run that'll only make things harder for you.

She knew that it was true so she sat up and stopped the movie.

"Why don't you go home Inuyasha."

Inuyasha turned so he could look at her.

"I'm feeling better now so there's no reason to stick around."

"I don't mind staying."

"I know. But today's Kagome's day off right? So you should go spend it with her." she said.

"Rin."

"Inuyasha, go. I'm fine. You know, I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

That wasn't exactly true. She had been saying things she hadn't meant but this time she was being sincere.

"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted." he said jokingly.

Inuyasha goto ff the bed and gave Rin a quick hug.

"Don't get up. I have a key to lock the door."

"Okay. I'll call you."

"Bye."

Once he left, Rin fell back onto the bed and laughed slightly. Inuyasha was barely gone and part of her wanted to call him and tell him to come back. But she wasn't. She had other things to deal with. And on top of that list was Sesshomaru. However, that didn't mean she was going to do it right that minute. As far as she was concerned, accepting her feeling for Sesshomaru and ackowleding that she didn't love Inuyasha was a huge accomplishment. Therefore that earned her a brief relaxation period. Rin smiled to herself. Just because she wasn't in denial any longer didn't mean she couldn't put off dealing with it. She turned over and restart the movie. She was halfway into the next movie when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in Sess."

Sesshomaru opened the door but didn't make a move to come in.

"Inuyasha left?"

Actually he already knew that Inuyasha had. Before he left he had come to Sesshomaru's bedroom to thank him, by way of insults, for calling him.

"Yeah. I sent him home."

"I thought you would try your best to keep him here with you."

"If he stayed then Kagome would've come looking for him sooner or later. I didn't want to deal with her while I'm trying to recover." she lied.

Sesshomaru nodded his head but didn't say anything.

"That's all you came for?"

"Yes. And to see if you needed anything before I go to sleep."

"No."

"Goodnight then."

"Night."

The door was almost fully closed when Rin called out to him.

"Thank you Sesshomaru."

He reopened the door and looked at her.

"For what?"

"The foot rub. Calling Inuyasha. Everything."

Sesshomaru gave her a small smile.

"You're welcome Rin." he said and then left.