A/N: Okay. In response to the reviews and several people who PM'ed me, I 100% agree that Sesshomaru was a complete fucktard in the last chapter. I don't think you'll be disappointed in the development of the story, though. I've still got a loooong way to go to the finish, so anything can happen!

I also have to take this time and send out a huge thank thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review. I've taken a look at your profiles and it amazes me that such talented people who write stories that I adore (and obsessively watch for updates) like my take on Rin and Sesshomaru. You guys spoil me with your kind words... but keep 'em coming! :D

DISCLAIMER FULL OF DISCLAIMEY-NESS: I don't own Inuyasha. Hopefully, you know that by now. I'd prefer to have Sesshy anyways. :P

:NOOOOO MATE COME BACK BRING HER BACK NOW NOW NOW MATE MATE MINE MY MATE:

Sesshomaru winced as the door slammed behind Rin. Gods, she had every reason to hate him now. There was no doubt that this would get around and that the half-breed and his wife would come for him. He could handle whatever they threw at him, but would be better equipped to do so if his demon would just be quiet.

The dog had loved every second that his hands had been on her. She was so responsive, the smallest touches wringing gasps and moans that he was sure she hadn't even known she made. Her hands, oh, her hands… his cock throbbed in memory of her delicate touch, of her slim fingers stroking him as he suckled her-

:MAAAAAATE:

Yes, I know. SHUT UP!

Sesshomaru hadn't had to fight his instincts like this since he came of age and the demon started asserting itself. Ignoring the dog's anguished howling, he pushed the piano seat back into its proper place and picked up the forgotten icepack. It was still mostly frozen and he had an absurd urge to press it to his heart. Snarling and disgusted with this display of weak emotions, he left the music room, intending on …something. He wasn't sure what he planned to do and that rattled him more than anything else that had happened. Sesshomaru was always at least three steps ahead of himself. This accursed spontaneity was completely unlike him.

It was all that damn female's fault. She was the one who kissed him. She was the one who cried on him. She was the one who had that intoxicating scent. The last thing he needed was some woman coming along and turning his entire fucking world upside down. He had been fine by himself for centuries, he would be fine for many more. And if he felt the need for a woman? That's what whores were for. The demon's rage redoubled at the thought and Sesshomaru inwardly groaned.

Quiet sobbing reached him and he followed it, the sound growing louder until he found himself outside her door. The scent of tears flooded the hallway between their rooms, proof of his hurtful words.

:MATE NEEDS US:

Hates us, you mean.

It had taken every bit of his considerable willpower to pull away from her earlier and it was almost as difficult now. His demon wailed as the bedroom door closed behind him. The thing was going to drive him insane if it didn't quit whining about the girl.

What was he going to do about her? He had told Taisho that he would watch over her, but now he was going to have to so from a distance. When she found out he was staying in the room across the hall she would probably ask to be switched and then he couldn't come to the rescue if anything happened at night.

For that matter, what was he going to do about Kagura? Open hostility wasn't her usual type of attack, so she was a complete unknown at the moment. A dull throbbing started behind his eyes and he went to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom for some aspirin. He choked down the chalky pills with a grimace. Taking them was torture, but between the demon screaming in his head and the stress of Kagura, he was on the fast track for a serious headache. If he didn't try and ward off the worst, he'd end up in bed all day tomorrow with a migraine from hell.

As he wandered back into the bedroom area, her heard the door across the hall close, followed by soft footsteps retreating. He ignored the dog's howling and sat on the bed in defiance of the urge to chase after her. Why was she affecting him like this? She was human, so her being his mate wasn't a satisfactory answer.

His mind began throwing images of her at him, one after the other. Rin laughing. Rin staring at the stars. Rin throwing Kagura's question back at her. Rin kissing him in the kitchen. Rin in the music room, her face flushed, eyes hooded with desire, lips swollen from the abuse he had inflicted, her perfect breasts and the way her nipples tasted…

No.

Sesshomaru refused to be bullied by his own brain. He forced his thoughts to the most boring thing he could possibly think of. Mentally reviewing the accounting department's presentation from a few days ago, he considered the short-term advantages versus the long-term of profit sharing for mid-level employees. In reality he couldn't possibly care less, but the final decision had been left to him.

A while later, when he had decided to allow the profit sharing, but at a reduced percentage of what the accountant presented, his stomach growled. After glancing at the clock, he decided to go down to dinner. It was nearly six, and he wanted to see if Rin was still in one piece. The impulse came from a purely chaste standpoint as her guardian-

:MATE:

-Even if his demon had other ideas.

-x-

Rin felt much better now. She still wasn't feeling quite up to par but she had cried herself out earlier. Acknowledging that she had made a mistake of epic proportions, she vowed to not let her libido run away with her again. No matter how ridiculously hot someone was, she wasn't about to let them tromp all over her like that. She was done with all the high school dating games and wanted something real. No way would she allow herself to be someone's doormat.

Right now, everyone was gathering for dinner and Shippo was regaling them about the time he had taken the Kitsune Ranking Exam and had tortured Inuyasha relentlessly. The hanyou looked embarrassed at the memory of having been tricked so many times but had come to see the humor in the story.

"…and then I ran away crying and he followed me. Then he set off the last trap and got smashed by a bunch of statues bigger than me!" Since the kitsune was only about four feet tall, that wasn't saying much. Inuyasha turned bright red as several people laughed.

"Feh. I was just trying to help him out, is all. I knew it was there."

Shippo snorted. "Right. That's why you came after me when you dug yourself out of that hole in the ground."

Rin had to grin at that, too. She was incredibly glad to be here, even if it was a business function. These people were like a true family. Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo had tons of stories to tell of each other and the times they had before Kagome joined their group. Afterwards, the stories usually had her involved in a big way, but Rin already knew the basics of most of those.

A second clique of friends contained Onigumo, Kikyo, Kagura, Kanna, and Kohaku. They seemed more reserved when speaking to each other in comparison to the raucous laughter emanating from the first group. Kohaku, Sango's younger brother, occasionally drifted over to her for a bit, but always returned to Kanna's side.

Bankotsu, Hojo, Koga, and Ayame went to whichever group seemed more entertaining at the moment. Currently, Bankotsu and Koga were listening to Shippo, while Hojo and Ayame were speaking quietly with Kikyo.

"That's nothing," Koga said, "You should see my friends Ginta and Hakkaku. One time we were all hiking and taking a rest next to a waterfall and Hakkaku jumped out of a bush and just about scared the fur off of Ginta. So later on, Hakkaku is sitting near the edge of the water, and Ginta jumps out at him. Hakkaku panics, grabs on to Ginta to keep his balance, and they both go over the edge!"

Amid the laughter, Bankostu spoke up and told them how one of his brothers was a chemist who inadvertently blew off his eyebrows and most of his hair because he was distracted by a pretty girl. Rin told Kaede's favorite story of her.

"When I was little, like six or seven, my neighbor had a koi pond in his backyard. My mom had mentioned wanting fish for dinner, so-" she broke off when people starting groaning prematurely.

"Oh, you've heard this one?" When they stopped chuckling, she continued. "So I took it upon myself to go get one. Well, nobody could ignore a six-year-old splashing around in their pricey lawn decorations, so he came out and scolded me. Out of nowhere, here comes this big dog. And it was gigantic to a little kid, let me tell you. The guy panics and falls into his precious pond, splashing out a few fish. I pick one up and take off because, hey, it landed right in front of me. The guy is yelling, the dog is growling, and I'm running as fast as my legs can carry me.

"I hear footsteps behind me and I think it's the dog coming to eat me, so I turn and throw the fish as hard as I can. It smacks the guy right in his face and he goes down again. When I make it back to the house, there's a different koi lying on the steps with a perfect set of fang marks puncturing it. My mom is standing in the doorway and she just looks at me. 'Rinny,' she says, pointing at the fish, 'You wouldn't know anything about this, would you?'

"Mind you, here I am, dripping in water and mud, stinking to high heaven. I just shake my head and she smiles as she picks up the fish and takes it inside. Less than a minute later, the guy is pounding on our door and demanding that we pay for the fish that hit him and died. They talk for a moment and I'm pretty sure it was about my punishment, but I didn't hear. I couldn't take my eyes from the giant dog sitting on our lawn.

"They finally notice and the guy freaks out and bolts. The dog just looks at him. My mom stands in the doorway, her and the dog looking at each other. Finally, I lean around her and say, 'Thanks for the fish, puppy!' The dog barks once and runs off."

The group just looked at her and she noticed Sesshomaru watching from the doorway. "And?" Kagome prompted, "What happened?"

Rin smiled. "We ate the koi that night and Kaede said it was the best damn fish she'd ever eaten and that we'd have to go grocery shopping in the neighbor's yard from now on."

They all chuckled, except for Sesshomaru, who stared at her as if he just saw her sprout a second head. He's probably thinking what a peasant I am, having eaten stolen koi, she thought. It sobered her enjoyment and she barely managed to smile politely.

When they all sat at the table Rin found herself between Shippo and Bankotsu, who took turns making her laugh. Bankotsu had endless stories about he and his six brother's misadventures and Shippo was an incredibly mischievous kitsune, apparently more so than most of his kin. Sesshomaru was seated at the far end of the table next to Hojo, who was speaking to him intently.

Every now and then Rin would sneak a furtive glance at him, feeling phantom fingers in her hair and ghostly lips on her neck. One more, she thought, one more glance and I'm done. When she looked at him, their eyes met and her gaze darted to the table. Feigning a cough, she hoped no one had noticed anything amiss.

Someone that callous shouldn't be so attractive. She was no longer furious at his rejection, but a deep hurt had settled in her chest. It almost felt like there was a gigantic weight pressing down on her, making it hard to think straight. Being a fairly introspective person, Rin hated this new dark shade to her thoughts. Forget about him! Everyone said he's a big jerk, anyway.

As much as she wanted to agree with the little voice, she couldn't. She was under no illusions about his demeanor, there being no doubt he could be a first-class asshole. But he had seemed so sincere when they spoke in the field. Before he stomped all over her in the music room, Rin had truly believed he desired her. Either he was the greatest actor she had ever seen or his demon part really did like her and the man was the problem.

The entire situation could be summed up in two words, a common complaint shared between women whenever they had issues with the opposite sex: Fucking men.

When she lifted her eyes again, Kagome gave her a knowing look from across the table. Great, exactly what she needed. Kagome was like the sister she had never had, but it was times like this when Rin wanted to kill her just so she would keep her mouth shut. Other than the woman witnessing her private embarrassment, the meal went rather well.

Shippo had become a fast friend and always kept the conversation moving. Bankotsu was nearly as entertaining, always having something fun to add or a witty observation to make. Kagura kept to herself, speaking softly to Kikyo and Kanna, completely ignoring Rin's presence. When the plates had been whisked away and people began drifting off, Rin caught Kagome's eye and motioned towards the living room.

She left as Kagome leaned over to say something to Inuyasha. She wasn't in the living room long before Kagome came in, followed by a waddling Sango. "Look what I found lost in the middle of a bunch of men."

The pregnant woman smiled. "They were talking stocks and all I could think of was how bad my back hurts. If I'm intruding on anything, just tell me to butt out. Otherwise, I think I'll just sink into this sinfully fluffy couch and stay here for the rest of the week."

"No worries, and I wouldn't sit quite yet if I were you. Want to go swimming? I want to, but not by myself."

"Oh, yeah! That'll take the weight off of my poor, battered spine. Now if these kids would just quit kickboxing in there, I'd be a happy girl. Kagome, you coming, too?"

"Of course."

Rin waved her hand in the direction of the stairs and mockingly half-bowed. "Well, then. Shall we, ladies?" Sango left for her first floor room, given in deference to her condition. Kagome and Rin separated at the second floor landing where Kagome turned left, Rin right.

Thankful she had taken Kagome's advice and packed what she had recommended, Rin pulled out her favorite bathing suit, a modest cover-up and a pair of sandals. After dressing and carefully wiping off her mascara, her hair went up in a messy knot on top of her head and she went back downstairs, where both women were waiting for her.

As if it was preordained, just as Rin and her group stepped out of one door to the pool area, Kagura and her crew stepped out of the other. They sized each other up for a moment before Kagura huffed loudly. "Well, I certainly don't want to soak now." She didn't move, as if she expected Rin to concede the pool without any protesting.

She didn't have to. Sango shrugged and threw a towel on the nearest lounge chair. "It's an Olympic size pool and a giant hot tub. I'm sure we can manage to share and be civil about it."

Everyone else must have agreed, because they all picked out lounges. Kagura was the only one who didn't move. After tossing her towel down, Rin turned to the woman. "Kagura, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Kagura looked just as surprised as everyone else at the request. "If you must," she said, her voice bitter. Rin walked past her and to the edge of the yard, facing away from their onlookers. Kagura followed suit, crossing her arms impatiently. "Well? What do you want?"

"Why do you hate me?"

"You're even stupider than I thought if you can't figure that out by now."

Rin barely refrained from rolling her eyes. "I know why you do now, I meant why on the first night? There was no reason to be as mean as you were, and from what I gather, you aren't like that usually. So, why?"

Kagura pursed her lips and looked away. Rin began to think she was going to walk away and leave the question unanswered when she opened her mouth. "I worked hard for what I have. I spent years working under some of the most odious people I have ever met in order to get where I am today. It irritates me that someone can sit down in front of a computer, spit out some half-assed story and make it big."

Rin's eyes widened. "I didn't realize you felt that strongly about artists. I work my ass off writing those books. I wasn't exaggerating when I said I write every day. I have since I was fourteen. And now, since I make my living from it, I probably work a longer day than you. This is my first break in six years, and even then, I wrote for almost four hours last night."

Kagura turned her head to look at Rin for a long moment. "I saw how he looked at you during dinner. And I saw that kiss, too."

"I know."

"Well?"

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Well, what? I can't help how he looked at me. I did kiss him, and it felt right at the time. I won't apologize when I did nothing wrong."

"Then why are we speaking?" Her eyes narrowed. "My time is a valuable commodity, and I do not take kindly to it being squandered."

Rin sighed loudly. "Geez, Kagura, chill out. If it makes you feel any better, he doesn't want me."

"Really?"

"Really." Rin closed her eyes at the painful reminder of that afternoon. He couldn't have made it plainer. "We talked about it. I'm just a human."

"Hm…" Her wistful tone brought a sad little smile to Rin's lips. Kagura didn't realize that just because Sesshomaru didn't want the human, it didn't mean that he would go for the sorceress.

"Listen, we still have a week left on this little shindig, so how about we quit provoking each other? We're going to see each other a lot, and I'd like to be able to pass you on the stairs without worrying you're going to push me down them."

When Kagura just looked at her, Rin felt compelled to continue. "Trust me, I'm not trying to be all buddy-buddy with you now. You're still a bitch. Just think of me as, I don't know, a coworker you don't like but have to work with every day."

After considering for a minute, Kagura stuck her hand out and smiled. It completely transformed her face. Rin took the hand and they shook once. "Truce."

-x-

Sesshomaru never would have believed it if he hadn't heard it from her own mouth. It defied all rational explanation and he was in total shock as he walked in on her story.

Rin was the fish girl. He had never told a soul about that day, knowing he would rue it for the rest of his long life.

He had been flying overhead when a scent drew him to the ground. It was uncomfortable and he hated doing it, but he shrunk down to the size of a very large dog and sniffed out the fragrance.

The path led to a filthy child splashing in a fountain. Sitting on his haunches, he watched as the girl tried to catch the fish that swam frantically around her grasping fingers. It was surprisingly amusing to watch her grab one and pout when it wriggled away. Then the man had come.

He was an older gentleman, with frizzy gray hair and a scowl etched into his features. He yelled at Rin to stop and she did, but he continued yelling. When her eyes started to water and her bottom lip quivered, Sesshomaru couldn't take it anymore.

Walking out of the shelter of the woods, the dog curled his lips and let out a low growl. The man turned so quickly he lost his balance and fell into the fountain. Several fish landed at the girl's feet, so she picked one up and ran, not sparing him a second glance. The man pulled himself out of the fountain and quickly scooped up the remaining fish, putting them back in the water.

He strolled towards the fountain and the man gave chase to the little girl. Sesshomaru reached in and picked out a fish, holding it delicately in his powerful jaws. Following his nose, one big heave had him soaring above the small wood that separated the man's house from the girl's.

He saw the fish smack the man in the face and let out a snort of doggy amusement. Landing lightly, he placed the fish on the back steps, scratched at the door and retreated to the far corner of the yard, making himself as unobtrusive as possible. The girl streaked through the yard just as her mother opened the door and looked at the fish in shock.

The two females spoke for a minute before the mother took both the fish and the girl inside. Not a moment later, the man entered the yard and started pounding on the door. His voice was loud and harsh to his sensitive ears, and Sesshomaru couldn't take much of it.

When he stepped out of the shadows, the woman looked at him without fear. The man turned to see what she was looking at and panicked, running back into the trees. Idiot. If Sesshomaru was a real dog, that would have only provoked him more to chase. As it was, he still had to tamp down his instincts.

He and the woman stared at each other. Knowing that the girl was in there somewhere kept him where he was. His demon had completely taken over in this; he would not leave until he saw her again. A small head poked around the woman's leg, shouting a thank you.

He barked once and fled, entirely too comfortable with the way his dog reacted to the girl. Part of him vowed he would keep track of her and eventually find out why he was drawn to her. The other part swore that he would never set foot within miles of her ever again.

Until this week, both vows were kept to a certain degree. He had gone back to check on her a few years later, but they had moved, and the new tenants had no idea where they had gone. And he really hadn't come close to her in all those years, either. It all made some sort of sense, if you believed in the cruel joke people called fate. Sesshomaru didn't. Fate was the thing blamed when something horrible happened and praised when a happy coincidence occurred. He was master of his own destiny, and no imaginary universal force would take that from him.

At dinner, he couldn't help but notice Rin glancing at him periodically. Several times he felt his eyes drifting toward her as well. Their gazes met once and Rin blushed furiously at being caught. She stopped looking at him after that, but he couldn't stop looking at her.

The two males on either side of her were courting their doom and didn't even realize it. Shippo was on a roll of making her laugh and Bankotsu was being entirely too charming. Sesshomaru seethed every time she looked at the blasted human, seeing her look at him through her lashes and touch her hair. The woman liked him. How dare she find a mere human attractive when he was in the same room?

After eating, everyone drifted off in twos and threes until he was the only one still at the table. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't consciously realize he was alone until one of the kitchen staff asked if he needed anything else. He left the maid to her duties and decided to seek out Inuyasha. The half-breed would surely have much to say, most of it guaranteed to annoy Sesshomaru. As much as he hated asking anyone for advice, he was navigating unknown territory completely blind when it came to emotions. Boredom, anger, disdain… these he affected well. Jealousy, longing, anything like that? Not so much.

He sniffed out the hanyou and tracked him to the poolside. Inuyasha and three humans were seated next to the small bar area and transfixed by something near the water. Sesshomaru stopped behind Miroku. "Aren't you mated?"

The man glanced back briefly before returning to the sight before them. "Yes, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the scenery."

Bankotsu nodded. "And such beautiful scenery cannot be neglected. It would be a crime against nature." Hojo made a sound of agreement.

All the women were fully utilizing the area, rotating among the pool, the Jacuzzi, and the lounge chairs. Sesshomaru's eyes followed the scent his nose had immediately sought and found Rin emerging from the hot tub. Her skin was flushed from the heat and streams of water rippled down her flat stomach. The small red pieces of fabric she wore set off her porcelain skin flawlessly. He had the sudden urge to lick every droplet from her body.

"Holy shit." The demon went crazy at Bankotsu's expression. How dare someone else look at his mate? Fisting his hands, the emerging claws ripped into his flesh. The blood scent caught the hanyou's attention and he turned toward Sesshomaru, curiosity coloring his features.

"Inuyasha, I require a moment of your time."

Understanding dawned and he smiled. "Sure. Lead the way."

Sesshomaru found the library empty and closed the door behind them. Unable to find the words to express what he wanted to say, Sesshomaru sat in the chair Rin had used when signing Izzy's books earlier. Gods, it was still the same day? The past twenty-four hours seemed like a week had passed. If this was how it always felt when you were trapped in a deluge of unfamiliar emotion, he was tempted to call it quits right now.

"Why won't you admit you've mated her already? You're just torturing yourself." Trust the half-breed to start things off with all the subtlety and grace of a rampaging bull elephant.

"I have not mated her."

"Right. And your claws came out just to say 'hello'. Please." Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at Inuyasha, but the younger man ignored him. "I know you have this whole high-and-mighty-untouchable thing going on, but you have to listen to your instincts once in a while. Sometimes they're right."

The dog howled in frustration, as if Inuyasha could hear him. Sesshomaru just winced at the mental noise, cursing the demon. "I must do nothing, except find out why she affects me so."

The hanyou scoffed. "How is it that everyone in this family knows except you?" Rubbing his forehead, he looked at Sesshomaru with an odd expression. "I know we're different because I'm not full demon, but when my demon half wants something, it only gets louder the more I resist. You're master of your own life, I get it. Did you ever stop to think that maybe, in this one instance, the dog knows better than the man?"

Sesshomaru didn't have anything to say to that. His demon wouldn't shut up and had, in fact, become noticeably louder. It had been longer than he could remember since the dog had acted anything even remotely resembling this. Actually, one circumstance came to mind, now that he thought about it.

About two hundred years ago, he had come upon an incredibly lovely human female in the forest. He enjoyed her company once and, quite by accident, got her with child. He moved on the next day, only returning to the area several months later to find that, not a week earlier, the woman had been stoned to death for consorting with a him. The dog went on a complete rampage, destroying the entire village down to the last animal. Sesshomaru had no feelings one way or the other about the whole debacle as he never harbored any intentions of acknowledging the child, but the demon took the destruction of his seed as a personal affront.

Only three times had the dog made its feelings perfectly clear. The woman in the forest, the fish encounter with Rin, and now. Perhaps it only had issues with females? No, that couldn't be it. Sesshomaru had been involved with women for his entire life, both personally and professionally. Those instances were the very rare exception, not the rule.

Were the forest woman and Rin at the same point in their cycles? It was widely known that demons readily responded to fertile females. No, not that, either. If that was the case, why had he never reacted to any of the other women in their fertile phase when they were around him? He was not a betting man, but he would wager a fortune that he had interacted with more than two in his long life. Besides, Rin had not yet flowered the first time he had seen her. All the information he had regarding the signs and symptoms of his condition pointed to the one conclusion he refused to accept.

Sesshomaru was an adept businessman. He had translated literally thousands of pages of nearly incomprehensible legalese and found every loophole, every false promise, every carefully worded cop-out he had set out to locate. He was a master strategist. He always planned things several stages ahead, anticipating contingency upon contingency. It was a distinct point of pride that he could poke holes in every plan he looked over.

It was absolutely killing him that he couldn't find a fault in what his half-brother was saying. The bastard hanyou had the gall to be logical!

"I refuse to believe she is my mate."

Inuyasha muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'stupid dog'. "Do you know how Kagome and I met?"

Sesshomaru shook his head, silently promising to injure the half-breed if this didn't directly relate to his problem with Rin.

"It was in college. We were in the same class and ended up paired together for a long-term assignment. At first, I couldn't stand her. She was perky, happy, and quick to tell me I was being stupid. But she smelled so damn good. Soon, I couldn't stand when the weekends came, because it meant I couldn't see her for two whole days. My instincts went completely crazy without her near me. I invented excuses to be near her, to watch out for her and try to protect her against anything that might hurt her. Overall, it took me almost two years to do something about how I felt and even then, she had to push me into it. But, let me tell you, it was the best thing that's ever happened to me. And if my nose hadn't insisted I stay with her, it would never have happened."

Sesshomaru lifted an eyebrow. "Follow my nose. That's your sage advice?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and put a hand to his forehead. "My eyes just rolled so hard it actually hurt. No, Fluffy. My sage advice is to follow your demon. It may be a damned inconvenient thing to do if you let it control you on a regular basis, but letting it have its way once in a while can't hurt."

"The dog is tota-"

"Stop," the younger man said, cutting the older off, "Seriously, just stop. Stop thinking, stop trying to control it. You're out of the boardroom, out of the office, out of responsibilities this week. It's Sunday; we don't leave until next Sunday morning. You have plenty of time to see how this goes in the meantime. You don't have to make a decision right now, but you do have to make it soon."

"And why is that?"

"Because sooner or later, probably sooner, someone is going to do or say something to her that your demon won't be able to handle, and you're going to do something unforgivable."

Sesshomaru sighed. Damn him and his logic. When had Inuyasha become grown-up? "I will take your advice under consideration."

The hanyou sighed irritably. "I should warn you that if you do decide to give this a shot, if you hurt Rin we will have a serious problem. She's my mate's sister and I won't have any harm come to her, physically or otherwise. Don't think I couldn't smell the fresh tears on her at dinner. I don't know what happened between you, but I didn't say anything because you seemed just as torn up as she did."

They stood in the same instant, Sesshomaru fighting the demon who wanted to disembowel the hanyou for suggesting he would harm his mate, Inuyasha sensing this and ready to defend himself. Gritting his teeth, Sesshomaru forced his dog into submission, a sweat breaking out on his forehead with the effort.

Seeing his brother struggling, Inuyasha decided to exit as quickly as possible. "All right, I'll just, uh, leave you to yourself." He headed to the door, only stopping when Sesshomaru called his name.

"Inuyasha." He nearly growled the words through his clenched teeth. "Thank you."

The half-breed gave a lopsided smile. "Anytime, Fluffy."