I've now got chapter seven up. (High-fives self) This one was a little easier to write than the last one. I have no clue why I struggled with chapter six so badly. That was a definite uphill battle.

The reason why this one's up so fast is because this was weirdly one of the first chapters I ever worked on. I'm posting it now so yay.

Read and review, guys. (If you do, I'll love you forever. No lie.)

Enjoy!

Chapter Seven

Lord of the Western Lands

Kirara managed to carry the children a few miles away from the village before the weight and the fatigue finally brought her down. She had been fighting for hours, flying in search of Rin, and again fighting. She was panting heavily, her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth, as she descended to a safe area. They were now at the base of a mountain where the forest spread up it and over the other side. It was still connected to the forest but far enough away that it would be troublesome for the demons to follow. Kirara would also hear as well as sense if they approached.

The children slid down from the cat demon's back shaking, each as terrified as the next. They huddled together like pups abandoned in the cold, their eyes watchful of everything around them. This had not been the first demon to attack, this was true, however it had not once been so desperate of times for them to be sent away. It was the fear for their parents' safety – not their own – that had the tears streaming down their cheeks.

Sesshomaru watched this all quietly from the path that cut through the mountains, close enough to the small humans that they would surely see him in a few moments. Why the female demon-hunter's pet had not sensed him, he did not know. Perhaps it had and was simply too weary to respond. Or perhaps its exhaustion was the cause of it not sensing him.

He kept his place on the path. Jaken had scoured the forest for his staff he had accidentally dropped. Sesshomaru waited out of curiosity, not out of concern, for the children to begin their shaky way up the mountain. They did so slowly, some whimpering pitifully to their siblings, others as silent as corpses, and they staggered up the path as quickly as to be expected on such short limbs.

"Lookit!" one spoke up, voice quivering. "There's someone there."

Their childish faces were turned up to him in mutual amazement. They looked at his long, silky white hair that flowed down his back like water. They studied his uncanny features that were clearly far from human, taking in his single arm and striped face. Never had they seen someone so beautiful, the only flaw his missing left arm.

"It's that man!" a little girl whispered in awe. She tapped her brother on the arm. "Ya know. The one Rin talks about all the time."

Sesshomaru's heart moved inside his chest. Rin spoke of him. Often.

"You're Lord Sesshomaru!" Akio gasped. His eyes widened when the demon began turning away from them. "Please, Lord Sesshomaru, don't go! Please help us. Inuyasha's injured and Mama can't fend 'em all off and Papa's hurt and Rin's gonna have a baby and she can't fight and they'll kill her for sure!"

Sesshomaru was no longer listening. If he had been truly paying attention, the demon would have heard all of what the boy said. His mind only focused on the words Rin and kill and the panic that overwhelmed him when he heard them.

Fluidly, he slipped his fur off of his shoulder and shoved it into the little boy's hands. "You!" he barked, sounding panicked even to his own ears. He fought to keep his voice level. "Take this and show it to a frog demon named Jaken a mile up this path. He will lead you to a safe place."

And then Sesshomaru left the children behind, his feet barely touching the ground with each of his powerful leaps. The forest could not hold against his charging body, nor could the branches on the trees or the rivers in the ground prevent him from returning to her.

Rin.

Rin.

Her name was a constant thought in his mind, blending together until it was all he could think of. Rin.

She was in danger? The reason he had let her stay in that human village was because of Inuyasha and his priestess wife, as well as the protection the demon-hunters could offer. She was supposed to be safe there. And now she had been put in danger by Inuyasha's carelessness.

In a few frenzied moments, he arrived at the village where Inuyasha lived. Immediately he could sense the demons that surrounded the area, though the smell of their blood was decidedly stronger. They were not attacking. Why? Why would they wait? What was the purpose?

He had no time to consider this, for there was another smell that took his breath away. One he recognized. Forgetting the other, second-rate demons completely, he felt his feet automatically leading him towards her scent – Rin's scent.

He longed to hold her, to feel her skin on his, to have her arms around him as they sat in front of the fire in their cave in the forest. He had not longed for anything, not truly, in his lifetime. One single female had him imagining the way his life had been and yearning for it to be that way again.

As he neared the middle of the village, a feeling he was forced to identify as relief slowed his run to a walk. Rin was speaking to the group of humans, her hands flinging around with a passion he had not seen her practice before. His half-brother, Inuyasha, put his clawed hand on Rin's shoulder and pointed a finger behind them, at Sesshomaru himself. That was when a boy dressed in demon-hunting clothing stepped in front of her.

Rin turned and the frustration with Inuyasha was replaced with anger for another.

Sesshomaru ceased his advance, an unpleasant heat spreading underneath his skin. He saw Rin's swollen stomach. He knew that she would not have kept the child and he knew that there was an unknown boy standing protectively in front of her. A rage unlike any other he had experienced coursed through his body and his eyes flashed red.

Another man had touched his mate.

One heartbeat later, he had his fingers around the boy's throat. He had not been able to stop himself and he found he did not wish to. A delight he had never felt made his lips quirk up. He had not felt this pure satisfaction even when his enemies were dead at his feet. This close to the boy, the demon could see his features: a strong jaw, defiant, angry brown eyes, a splash of freckles that Sesshomaru recognized. It was barely a man's face. He had to be no more than eighteen, hardly a threat.

And yet he could not help but wonder the relationship between Rin and the human male. Had she touched this face? Had she tasted these lips? Images of her in another's arms fed into his fury and kindled it like a flame; his hand squeezed tighter.

Inuyasha was at his brother's side, the tip of Tetsuaiga a clear threat near Sesshomaru's cheek. "Quit it, Sesshomaru!"

The demon ignored him even when the blade nipped into his skin and a bead of blood slid down to his chin. Kohaku flicked out his sickle-shaped weapon, feeling it in his palm to make sure it would be there when it was needed.

"Kohaku, stop!" Sango cried and was stopped from interfering by Miroku's shake of his head. She was more worried for his safety than in him possibly hurting the demon lord.

Kohaku did not flail. He did not beg for his life or to be spared. He simply fixed the demon with a furious glare and spat, "You abandoned her!"

There was a silence as they waited for a reaction.

Sesshomaru almost laughed cruelly in the boy's face. He had abandoned her? She had been the one to leave. It had been her decision, not his. Kohaku knew not the hole that had formed in his heart over these months of separation. There was not an hour of the day that he did not long for her, and then be disgusted by that feeling, and long for her again. Each morning he woke to expect her beside him, her lashes flickering while she slept, only to recall that she was no longer there.

"You know nothing," he snarled.

They knew nothing – not this man-child and not Kira. They spoke as though they had lived his life, had suffered his pains, and lived inside of his skin. They berated him and lectured him like he was a child. Kira had simply been caring for her friend. However, Kohaku was defending Rin for reasons unknown. Were they already wed? Rin had been here, tainted by human ideals, for seven months – more than enough time to marry. More than enough time to have taken Rin and had her bare his child.

Again, his fingers tightened.

"I said stop!" Inuyasha bellowed. "Stop or I'll take your other arm off!"

A small hand wrapped around Sesshomaru's wrist and yanked hard enough to jolt him. Kohaku fell from his grip, coughing, and grimaced as he touched a bandage on his leg. Sesshomaru turned, honestly a little surprised that it was his brother's wife who was glaring at him as though she were the one who was a handbreadth away from hitting him.

"This isn't the time!" Kagome barked. At that instant, she sounded every bit the mother and adult woman she had grown into. Her hands on her hips, she said, "Sort your issues out later, guys."

"She's right," Kohaku admitted, choosing to back down. "We have to –"

He was interrupted by a cry so pained and confused at the same moment that they were bewildered. Inuyasha pulled out Tetsuaiga, prepared for one of the demons to attack, and Miroku did the same, reaching for his talismans. Shippo simply stared up at the sky as if looking for a bird. Only Kagome and Sango knew what that noise was, as they had made the same exact sound before, and their concerned eyes fell on Rin, who was doubled over beside them.

"Sesshomaru!" Rin screeched, clutching her stomach. She grabbed his sleeve with her free hand and tugged hard, in too much pain to care how he would react to grabbing him and not calling him by his proper title. "The baby's coming!"

They all turned to stare at her, each wearing the expression of shocked disbelief. Even Sesshomaru had been rendered quite immobile by this turn of events. Their thoughts were on the demons, on the threat that encircled their village, waiting to attack, and they knew those demons would not wait much longer.

Inuyasha threw his hands up into the air. "You have to be kidding me!"

One painful moan and they all knew that this was no cruel joke, no sick prank. It was time. Merely the thought, the idea, had the men frozen, knowing full well that they should be doing something but were at a loss as to what. Sango was the first to move, grabbing Kagome rather roughly by the arm. She could spare no time towards people's feelings, not with a baby on its way. She would deliver the child herself if she set her mind to it – having birthed so many of her own children – but she was aware how much more use she served as a fighter than a midwife.

"Kagome, take her inside!" she commanded. Then she pointed at her husband. "Miroku" – she then pointed to Rin – "help her!"

Her husband looked uneasily at the surrounding forest. "But –"

"You have one arm, Miroku," Kagome reminded him in her strictest tone. "You're not exactly essential to the fight right now and I can't carry her myself!"

Rin groaned once more and Sesshomaru made a frustrated noise at the back of his throat. There was no time for this foolishness. He faced Rin, moving to acquire her attention.

"Put your arms around my neck," he said sternly. Surprised but ever obedient, Rin did exactly as he ordered. Lifting her, he placed his hand under her knees and pulled her up to his chest. Without another word, he spun around and walked steadily into the little house.

He moved so fast that Kagome had to run to catch up with him. Sesshomaru did not check over his shoulder, however he did pause for a split second to make sure she was following him before he resumed his brisk pace.

They went into the house and Kagome busied herself by grabbing her medical box, a few clean sheets and her pair of scissors Shippo had always found interesting. She stopped, her eyes falling on her bow. Slinging it over her shoulder, along with her quiver full of arrows, she scurried back into the main part of the house.

"Meiko!" she called as she went. "Meiko, it's time!"

An old woman appeared from behind a sliding door, a roll of more sheets already in her arms. A bucket was at her feet, ready to be filled and heated. Her eyes were wide with controlled alarm, her long grey hair tied back, and her silk kimono sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

"Your baby has chosen an inopportune time to be born," she told Rin. An amused expression crossed her wrinkled face, replaced a second later by a distressed frown. "Ishoyuki has held off his followers, waiting for this moment. He will strike now."

There were no comments made towards this.

"Sesshomaru, take her into the bedroom. There's no windows there and we'll be able to guard the door easily." Kagome watched silently as Sesshomaru stepped into the room she had ushered them into and sat Rin down on the futon. "Okay. You can go now. Thanks." Bending down, Kagome snapped open her medical box to see if she had anything that would assist a birth. Suddenly, she realized the demon had not moved. "Well?" she said, a little impatiently. "Go."

"I will stay." It was not an observation; it was an order.

Meiko's face became unusually hostile. "You will certainly not!"

"You can stay."

"Kagome!" The old woman hissed, her hands coming up as though to heave the demon lord out by her own power. She was too weak, such was obvious, to do so and Sesshomaru stared solidly back at her, his eyes daring her to try.

Kagome looked a little shocked. Who could have suspected the Lord of the Western Lands to display defiance over such a thing? But, on the other hand, she had no time to wonder at this oddity. She quickly turned to the young woman on the futon. Her hands went over the girl's. "Rin."

At the sound of her name, Rin's closed eyes blinked open. "It hurts."

"I know it hurts, Rin, but you have to listen to me." Kagome took a sheet from Meiko and began to work on shredding it into pieces to lay upon her head when the labour grew worse. "Now lie down."

Rin did as she said and dropped down. The futon was too small for her to truly lie down, but she did what she could, folding her legs up and pressing her feet against the floor. Her position made a sharp ache shoot up her spine. She tried to ignore it, tried to focus on Kagome's voice.

"And when I say push, you push."

"They're going to hurt my baby." Rin's voice portrayed her sadness and her fears. Yet, behind those feelings, there was an anguished acceptance of what was to come.

Sesshomaru frowned, anger rising in a wave in his throat. This was not the Rin from his memories. Where had she gone? This woman lying beside him was helpless and exposed. She had always been weak – such was the curse of all humans. He knew, however, since the time she had smiled at his rejecting words when she was eight years old that there was a strength inside her. Now she was tired, her hair pasted to her forehead with her sweat, her body shaking with the pains that came in sequence. Rin seemed more human, more fragile, than ever.

Kagome's heart stung at the girl's tone. "Rin, we're right here."

"Nothing will happen to you," Meiko encouraged, though her years of experience with impossibility had caused her to believe otherwise. She did not tell this to Rin.

"And my baby?" The question was so filled with new hope that Sesshomaru's hand circled around her wrist. A moment later he wondered why he done this, but he left it there.

Kagome looked at her, shoulders sinking as she drew a little into herself. The priestess's eyes were grave with a weight of a thousand worries.

"I'll do what I can," she said. "I promise."

monique. gonzalez. 543 you're still slaying me with your super awesome reviews. Keep them coming!

You got to see a whole whack of jealous Sesshomaru in this one. I've read many fanfics for Sess/Rin, but I've not often seen Sesshomaru blatantly upset that someone shows Rin some attention. I think Sesshy would oddly be a very jealous type.

(Note: This is NOT the last chapter, peeps. There's still one more and an epilogue I need to write, but we're nearing the end of our short journey. I hope you all stay with me until we're there.)