Sesshomaru POV:

Three weeks. Rin hadn't spoken to me in three weeks. I tapped my pecil thoughtfully on the note book paper, not even listening to what my AP calculus teacher was saying. As if I cared to begin with. The bell rang a few minutes later and I stalked slowly through the halls as other students hurried to other classes. I slipped into a maintenance closet, keeping my eyes on my quarry. Rin walked by with an armful of books. The bell was due to ring within seconds, and the hall was empty. I made my move.

I opened the door silently and crept forward as softly as the wind. My hands flashed out, one arm wrapping around her torso, one around her neck. She screamed for a half a second before I clapped my hand over her mouth and she began to thrash about in a violent effort to free herself.

"Stop, Rin." I said lowly, and she froze. I released her mouth and she turned to face me, spitting out strands of hair. Anger blazed in her eyes as she looked up at me.

"It's only you." She growled and attempted to leave. I grabbed her arm.

"We need to talk."

"I'm not talking to you!"

"Then you will listen." She stopped. "Sit. This will be the longest speech you will ever hear me make, so listen well. " I commanded, gesturing to the floor. She glared at me and sat grudgingly against the wall. I sat next to her. It was time I got over my selfish pride.

Rin POV:

"You asked me why I hated my brother…" he began, and already I felt anger boiling up inside as I tugged several strings from my pocket and began to weave them into a chevron pattern. He had no idea how much his comment about half-breeds had hurt. I wanted children more than anything, and Sesshomaru's words had crushed my hopes of having a family with him. "…And I told you it was because he was a half-breed." He continued. I prepared to get up and leave so that he wouldn't see me crying, but his next words stopped me. He said it so matter-of-factly it stunned me. "I lied."

I was too shocked to reply, but I was saved that luxury as he swiftly went on. "I lied. I thought you should know, as well as why. So I will begin."

"You lost your parents at a young age, unless I am mistaken. You could say that I lost my parents at young age as well. But unlike you, I was not devastated. In fact, I was rather pleased." My heart seemed to freeze as he said this. How could you lose your family, and not even regret it? "You could say that I was born an orphan, even, because I was never wanted." I sat perfectly still to catch every one of his words.

"I was a child born only to be an heir. My parents did not love each other; In fact, their relationship only went as far as to not killing one another. My mother never wanted children, and the fact that I am very nearly an exact replica of my father did not help things." I looked at his serious profile and wondered how anyone would hate him as their child. If I had children I would treasure every one of them, no matter how many there were, or how they behaved.

"Minutes after I was born, my mother gave me to nurses who raised me. Many of them died, and I soon realized that to grow close to any one of them would only cause me more pain. So I locked away my emotions. I didn't let even my father see what I truly felt. He came to visit me occasionally, you know.

I was raised with hardly a word from my father, and none at all from my mother. I saw her only once, when I was presented as her son. I suppose you could call what they did neglect. Emotionally at least." I felt an unbearable feeling of sadness well up inside me as I looked at his perfect features. I opened my mouth, but he went on.

"When I turned fifteen, my father began to have contact with me. I was allowed to go out with him. We did things together, and I began to feel loved for the first time in my life. But then she came." For the first time, I saw his calm features contort into a mask of bitterness. "Father came to see me less and less after he met that stupid human wench Izayoi. He loved her more than he had ever loved me to be sure. Eventually he stopped visiting all together. He left home. My mother left shortly after. And I was happy." He spat the word like a curse, sarcastically.

"His last words to me were a question. 'Have you someone to protect?' I replied no. I didn't need anyone to protect. I couldn't protect anyone because in order to protect them, I would need to love them. I had locked my emotions away. I could no longer love.

Inuyasha was born and my father died for a child that was less than an hour old. He didn't abandon the child he had never met in favor for his eldest son, no, he gave himself for them. The true reason I hate Inuyasha is jealousy. Envy. It is a hateful, unworthy emotion, but it is there all the same. I envy him for having a loving mother. I envy him for having my father's favoritism. I envy him for having friends who care about him for more than his money or looks." He paused, thoughtful.

"You probably have never felt such imperfect emotions. You're pure, innocent… perfect. I thought you should know that I'm not. I'm desperately flawed, and I hate it." He fell silent at last, and I could see him staring at me through the corner of his eye. I was too shocked and overwhelmed to say anything as I thought over his words. The liquid gold of his eyes hardened into stone-like amber after a few moments. He stood angrily, and too late I realized that he took my silence for continued rage. He turned away without looking at me, and I barely heard his subtle, "Goodbye, Rin," as he closed the door to the closet, leaving me in the dark.

How long I sat there, consumed with regret, surprise and pity, I didn't know. I heard the bell ring and I stood up, thinking of an excuse for my absence in Chemistry. I tugged open the door, and two slips of paper floated feather-like to the ground. I picked them up and read the top one first. It was a nurses' note claiming that I had been in the office with a bad headache during second period. This was untrue! How could that possibly be… I looked at the second sheet. There, in thin, spidery, beautiful hand writing laid my answer as to how I had been excused from second period. One word was on the white paper. Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru POV:

The bell for third period Government rang and I swept out of the room, scooping up my books as I went. Fourth period was lunch, but I had no intention of going to the cafeteria. I had no need of food to begin with, and I only went to be with Rin. Who quite obviously didn't want me there. I walked through the halls like a fish going up-stream, against the tide of students. I found the door I was looking for and slipped inside. I deposited my book-bag on the floor as I flipped a switch, dimly lighting the dark room.

A single beam of light fell upon a large, sheet-covered object, and I approached slowly, ascending the three steps up to it. I twitched the sheet of the grand piano, my grand piano, and caressed its ivory keys. I gently slid the leather covered bench out and sat down. I began to play Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' Movement 1, a melody which rather reminded me of myself. Calm, seemingly flawless to begin with, but then falling deeper into the G minor key, becoming discordant, but still beautiful. As I played a trickling down-scale, the door behind me opened and surprised me, causing me to miss a double sharp. I played on, expecting whoever it was to leave in short order.

They did not. Rather, the person came and stood right behind me, speaking my name gently.

"Sesshomaru…" It was Rin. I ignored her and played on. I wanted to finish the music. She stood there until I hit the last, soft, melancholy key and stood up. I avoided looking at her as I picked the crumpled white sheet up off the ground and spread it over the piano again. At last I could avoid it no longer and I came to stand directly in front of her. I wondered what she wanted, but I needn't wait long to find out.

She wrapped her small arms around my torso; it was the highest place on body she could reach.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered as she buried her face in my chest. I stroked her hair back away from her face.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Rin." I bent down and brushed my lips against hers in a gentle kiss. As I pulled back she did something I would have previously thought impossible. She stretched up and kissed me. This is hard to believe because I'm nearly seven feet tall, and she barely clears five feet.

Point is, she reached my face. We kissed again and she pulled back with a small grimace.

"Get down here," she complained, "it's hard work trying to get up there." I chuckled as I bent down closer to her level and she gave a sharp gasp. I stopped laughing.

"What?"

"That's the first time I've seen you laugh! It's beautiful!" I blinked at her.

"Um, I'm not following your train of thought." She shook her head.

"Never mind." She kissed me again, and this time, I wasn't sure how many minutes elapsed. It could have been one minute or ten, I couldn't tell. What I do know, is that we were interrupted by the strangest of things. Rin's stomach.

It suddenly gave a loud rumble. I pulled back away from her and smirked as she groaned.

"My mind says you're more important than food, but my stomach begs to differ!" she laughed.

"Come on you little glutton!" I said teasingly as I grabbed her hand to lead her out of the room. "I sometimes forget that you need food…" she giggled as we walked toward the cafeteria. My attention was so completely focused on her gorgeous features that I barely noticed the person coming down the hall in the opposite direction.

My shoulder bumped theirs and I heard a thud and a grunt as they hit the floor, accompanied by the metallic clatter of crutches on tile. I turned around to apologize and help whoever it was to their feet.

"I'm sorry, I…" I stopped as I saw who it was. "Never mind, no I'm not." I said.

"Stupid bastard!" My younger brother growled up at me from his position on the floor.

I turned and left him on the ground, and as I walked away with Rin clinging to my arm, for the first time in a very long while, I was happy.

Inuyasha POV:

I scrambled on the ground trying to reach my crutches. I was mostly healed from Kikyo's visit, but still tender. Walking with crutches was necessary to getting around without hurting myself worse. According to 'Suikotsu' at least.

I pulled myself up into a semi-standing position against the lockers and stretched out to reach the fallen crutches.

"D…Damn…it!" I grunted. Shippo skidded around the corner and pretty much rammed me before poking me repeatedly in the arm,

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"

"Can't… reach…" I grumbled as I continued to retrieve my crutch.

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"

"Tell me what you want so I can tell Kagome your last words after I throttle you!" I growled at the little fox. He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head.

"I forgot…" With a furious growl I put him in a head-lock.

"Gah, you little brat!" I cried. Kagome came around the corner with Sango and Miroku. I froze in the act of trying to knock Shippo unconscious.

"Oh, hi guys." Kagome stared at me and then came over to pry Shippo out of my head-lock. I let her have him.

"Miroku, can you grab my crutch?" I asked. He complied.

"Why was you crutch all the way over there?"

"My bastard of a brother came by. End of story." I growled as I hobbled away. Damn Sesshomaru.

A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter focused a lot on Sesshomaru… I find him a fascinating character. :D