A/N: My internet was dead for a long time. -_- I thought I was going to die but hey it literally just got turned back on, the verizon guy is in my living room hahaha. I'm such a bad host.

6 years later

It had been quite a time since Rin had seen Sesshoumaru but he was different now, he was if possible even more handsome and angelic looking than before. The way he carried himself was more refined more elegant. Inutaisho stood next him with his hand rested on his shoulder. A breath left his lips as he turned to speak to the nine year old before him. Her glossy raven hair had grown longer and was tied behind her back in a long braid. She could feel that he was not happy but he wasn't angry either.

"Rin, my deepest condolences for you." he said, Rin had been getting many letters and many gifts from people. Recently her mother had sacrificed her life to save the demon hunter village she was born and raised in. Rin had been devastated when she was first made aware of the sad truth. However, she was now very numb. Apparently while at court Sayuri and Yuuki had become very ill. It was Sayuri's request that she be in the country side while she recovered. Inutaisho looked tired. Sesshoumaru looked exhausted, but he was holding on. Rin looked towards his gold eyes.

"Thank you." she replied politely. Sesshoumaru noticed how the tip of his nose still tingled when he was in her presence. The same rose and vanilla creeping through his senses. A pleasant smell that he had memorized the day he left. The smell that had become a part of what he loved about this countryside. Something that he searched for wherever he was. She was in better control of her senses now, he noticed. A smile hovered on her lips for a brief moment and was gone as quickly as it had come. She was still very young, only nine years old.

"Since my schedule is going to be very full with preparations for Sayuri and Yuuki. Will you help to keep Sesshoumaru company?" Inutaisho asked.

"I will try my best. Although I don't know if I will be able to entertain him as well as you hope. I am but a country girl and don't know the lively life of court." she explained.

"I'm sure that you are much more entertaining than anyone at court." Inutaisho said seriously.

"Thank you. I will not keep you here any longer and allow you to continue with your preparations." Rin said. She was very bright for her age and very mature. Sesshoumaru watched her as she turned her back. Sesshoumaru knew that she remembered him very well. Rin could smell something on him that had always made her feel more comfortable than his own home. A brush of their hands made her look up at him. She was alone now and her mother had died.

"Sesshoumaru, should I call you lord or prince?" she asked him curiously.

"Neither, we are old friends are we not?" he asked her looking down to her hazel eyes.

"Well. It was a long time ago, a time that is hard for me to remember. I was not sure whether you would be comfortable with that or not." she told him.

"Well, should I call you Lady Rin, or Princess Rin?" he asked her.

"You can call me whatever you'd like, Sesshoumaru." she smiled at him. They were innocent as children tended to be. However, many father's at court were offering their daughter's hands to him. Sesshoumaru watched her as she ran through the garden of wild flowers. This was Rin's place of peace, she ran here when she wanted to get away from her lessons or her teachers. Rin stood there, she had inherited her mother's great power but there was something she knew. It was not something that was good. She hid it from everyone and pretended that it wasn't the truth when she could. Sesshoumaru was not bored as he watched her as he expected that he would be. He felt as if everything were fine in the world. For a moment he caught himself forgetting about the illness that plagued his mother and sister. He could not understand why when he was around her. It was insanity.

"Rin, I think my mother is going to die." Sesshoumaru found that the words left his lips easier than he expected.

"Everyone dies one day." she said, she had only lost her mother a few weeks ago, just below the mark of a month. She stopped moving in her tracks.

"I know that, but, it's not her time." Sesshoumaru said, he heard the worry in his own voice. It was hard not to be completely honest with his emotions around Rin. It was frustrating to him.

"I'm not sure, what you want me to say. Maybe you only want me to sympathize for you because I can. But I am barely coping with my own losses." Rin shouted, her eyes were watering against her will. She could feel the tears that she had been holding back start cascade down her cheeks. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened and he didn't know what he should do.

"I do not know what I expect from you." he said, she fell to her knees and began to sob. Each racked her body he did not even realize that he had taken steps towards her until his arms wrapped around her shaking frame. She dug herself deeper into his chest and cried. All he thought were the many apologies he wished he could mutter for bringing her further pain. They had spent many moments together for the next three months. His mother had seemed to be getting stronger everyday and so did Yuuki but the great dog demon still watched ever careful. The best healers and the best medicines were created for them. The young princess and the beautiful queen were told they were in the best hands. Inutaisho never left either of their sides for more than an hour.

"My love," he whispered to her.

"You cannot leave me." he told her in her ear. She smiled at him raising a frail hand to his cheek. He leaned into it.

"I am trying my best not to." she told him, she sounded so tired. This was one of the few times that Rin and Sesshoumaru were granted entry to see the two royals. Sayuri watched as her son tightened his grasp on Rin's hand. He was afraid, she could smell it. Sayuri looked at them with a smile and motioned with her other hand for them to come forward. Sesshoumaru looked at his mother. Rin stood behind him and watched as he observed his mother.

"I want you never to refuse your self love. Never let anyone steal your love from you." she told him. Yuuki was laying in the bed beside her mother.

"I won't." he promised.

"Inutaisho, I am so tired." she told him tears building behind her eyes, her voice was tight.

"Don't say that." he begged her. Sesshoumaru had never seen his father beg. It dawned on him that this would probably be the last time he saw his mother.

"Mother, I don't want you to go." he told her. Rin's grip on his hand was tight.

"I do not want to leave you my son." she confessed as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Inutaisho, do not live your life with out a companion once I am gone. Fall in love again." she told him.

"I can't-" he was opposing the suggestion.

"Promise me" she interrupted

"I promise you." he said with that Sayuri closed her eyes for the final time. Sesshoumaru froze. Rin wrapped her arms around him tightly, his nose catching her scent.

Sesshoumaru woke in the room that hung heavily with the scent of vanilla and roses. He could practically taste her. He had cried in his sleep down his cheeks were tear stains. His heart ached as he thought of her another bought of tears climbing from within him. He was so angry with her. He was so upset that she had never thought to tell him of what was happening to her. Sesshoumaru thought of her face, she had smiled at him before the tears came down from her eyes. He had done what had always been natural to him, he held her in his arms tightly and breathed in the scent of her hair and the sweet perfume of her skin. He remembered how she watched his eyes, with every blink, he had counted every breath she took. He had tasted her lips over and over wanting only to hold her forever. He felt so at home here surrounded by her scent as sleep took him again.

7 years after that.

Sesshoumaru was a handsome prince now. He seemed to shimmer like a god wherever he went, a cold look on his face. He despised his little brother. He despised his brother's mother even more so. A terrible anger filled him as she passed. His father had died to protect that woman. His rage seemed to grow and grow. His father had taken them away from the place where his mother died moments after her death. He hadn't seen Rin since he was twelve. He hadn't forgotten her, he had thought of her everyday for two years and slowly she began to fade from his mind. He watched as the women of court threw themselves at his feet. He was beautiful and he had a high title. Lord of the Western Lands. He had heard of Lord Satori's death. Luckily when, his father had died his step mother chose to immediately let the title go to him rather than to keep it for herself. Sesshoumaru had an extreme dislike for the woman who was now ruling the southern lands. Lady Yuuriko. There were many rumors of the southern princess joining court. For even if she was illegitimate she was the only heir to the title.

"Yes, I plan to marry her off as soon as she turns seventeen." Yuuriko said as Sesshoumaru passed her.

"And it shall not be to anyone of the west. I think that the eastern lord, will take interest in her." she continued to another woman of the eastern court. The girl was smiling at the woman, she was a princess of the eastern court her brother was the reigning lord. His name Kouga. He had always had a weakness for priestess'. It was something in their purity. He liked to take them and taint them. He liked to make them love him and then throw them away. This Yuuriko hated Rin with such passion that she would take her from her life of peace so she could watch her suffer. Sesshoumaru had always forgotten that Rin's was a place of power. She was as he was a royal. Inuyasha stumbled around on the floor beside his mother.

"It is none of my concern, I'm sure, but once the princess is of age will she not take over her duties as sole ruler of the south?" Sesshoumaru asked the sinister woman.

"She has already been promised to Lord Kouga, and I will be his chief advisor when it comes to the southern lands. That bastard child will never have claim on those lands again." Yuuriko said.

"Do you hate yourself so much for not giving your husband a child, you barren witch." Sesshoumaru said, he was struggling to keep his composure. He had not felt this rage in his life. This was much more violent than what he had for his step mother. This made him feel like an animal. An animal that should never be unleashed. This was when he knew why his nose tingled at the scent she threw off. It was because she must be his and no one else's. She belonged to him and he would never stand for another man holding her. She would never belong to anyone but him.

"If you'd like to keep the peace between the west and the south, I'd suggest you stop insulting me." she whispered to him.

"I will spare my guests, the revolting sight of your blood splashed on the walls." he said walking away. Izayoi had never seen Sesshoumaru so angry before. Almost every head turned at the threat that slipped beneath his lips. Her hand clasped tightly around the young Inuyasha's. Midoriko would have been proud of him, she and his parent's both knew of the feelings that would grow in the hearts of their children. It wasn't long before the party ended that Izayoi felt the need to talk to him. The words he had spoken to her were only when absolutely necessary.

"Sesshoumaru?" she called as she knocked on his door. His golden gaze slid to the door where the sound came from. When he did not answer she opened the door and found herself pinned against the wall silently.

"Why are you in here?" he asked her quietly. Izayoi could not help but think how like his father he looked right now. A beautiful face, but he held the grace of his mother in his features as if chiseled by god.

"Do you love the southern princess?" Izayoi asked him bravely. He unhanded her and began to laugh. He had never showed any emotion before and this was a frightening thing for Izayoi.

"I love no one…" he lied.