Chapter 2

After returning to the village Rin had been greeted by Shippo as he walked out of the hut to go and meet with his siblings. He had gown and was now able to transform into a proper fox demon when he changed; which made traveling long distances much easier for him and for the rest of the pact when they would all travel together. Knowing that they had gone to the western lands on the order of her Lord had only served as a reminder that he still thought of her as nothing more than a child that needed to be properly looked after. But just as she was about to walk toward her own hut to pack for her own travels, Rin froze in place when she heard the young fox kit call out of her. Once he had her attention, Shippo offered Rin a warm smile before asking, "Is there anything you want me to rely to them when I see them?"

Understanding what he was truly offering her, Rin smiled in return before answering, "No, I'm sure Sango-san has already given you the letter that will in from them of my new status."

"Oka is going to be proud."

"Yes, but Inuyasha-Otu-san will not. Take care and be safe." No matter how many times she had been asked by the mated pair, Rin could not seem to find it within herself to address them as her parents or less formally.

With the biggest smile on his face, Shippo gave a short nod before replying, "I will; you just stay out of trouble until I return with Oka and Otu."

"I'll try to," she replied with a playful smile on her face.

'Shippo…please forgive me…just as I hope the others will forgive me as well,' Rin thought as she ran into her hut to quickly pack what she could easily carry with her on her long journey. She had no idea how or why but she could feel the changes in the air, in the weather as the skies darkened and prepared for the coming rain. This new ability had began just a short while after she had helped her pack defeat the evil dragon that had tried to come and devour Kagome for the power she had been given and left with when they had finally gotten rid of the Shikon jewel once and for all. Of course it was not something she had yet to tell anyone, she knew that it would only serve to worry them, and cause them to inform her Lord of the changes the evil demons blood had caused within her.

'If my Lord were to find out, I'm sure even he would be angered with Kagome-sama and Inuyasha-sama for allowing the demons blood to enter me but it was not within their power to stop such a thing. I did not even know this until after the demons blood healed my wounds.' Rin thought as she walked in and began to pack. Just as she had made sure that she had everything, Rin froze by the entrance of her hut as she was hit with the sudden urge to write her Lord a letter so that he would know why she had done what she was about to do. While the her letter would not calm his anger it would at least give him a chance to think, to make him see her as the woman she had become rather than the child he had first found and saved all those years ago. 'This way when I finally reach the western lands I'll know what to expect when he sends me away.' Rin told herself as she dropped her bag and quickly set out to make her letter. After writing her letter and leaving it on her futon, Rin slowly stood up as she tried to calm her racing heart. While a part of her told her to stay, to wait, a part of her knew that she would never have this chance at the start of her journey, her new life.

So it was as soon as the ground had been covered by the rain, Rin took in a deep breath before quickly running out into the rain. As she ran into Inuyasha' forest Rin couldn't help but notice how very little she was being affected by the weather and the lack of warmth her body had as the cold rain continued to pour all around her. 'Well…it's a good thing I saved up herbs and different types of cures.' Rin thought as she continued to run as fast as her legs would carry her. The more ground she covered now while the rain had her scent the more she felt assured that they would not find her. As she ran Rin began to feel calmer and more at peace. She had no idea for how long she had ran without a pause or where she had taken herself to, the only thing that she had just now realized was the darkening of the sky as day turned to night and of the chill the breeze began to instill in her from the hours of running in the rain.

Just as she had been about to look for somewhere dry to spend the night, for a cave that Inuyasha would not know of, Rin froze in place as she heard the roars of demons up above her. 'What's going on? Please god, please tell me that I did not just run into the middle of the fight between two very large demons.' Rin thought as she pulled her weapon free while slowly making her way over to the clearing that lay ahead of her. As she grew closer Rin realized that the two that fought were not large demons but in fact two dragons. One was a beautiful shade of green that it reminded her of spring while the other was a rich, deep, dark brown that reminded her of the mountains that lay at the side of Lord Sesshomaru's castle in the west.

'I shouldn't be here, I need to leave.' Rin thought as she froze in place by the sudden urge and need to help and protect the bright and beautiful green dragon. Before she even realized what she was doing, Rin threw her weapon as she dropped the few bags that she had brought back with her so that they wouldn't weight her down. Just as she had gotten the dark brown dragons attention, Rin jumped back and landed by a fallen tree as the dragon locked eyes with her and growled at her. With a grin on her face, Rin showed all of her teeth in a silent challenged to the beast before hissing out, "Come on then, show the future Lady of the West the true strength of the dying dragons."

Enraged by the girl's words and actions, the brown, almost black dragon charged at the human child. He would kill her and offer his soon to be mate her corpse as a gift. After all he would not allow the human child that kept him from finally marking his mate as his, for the completion of their bonding to go unpunished.

As Rin moved, almost danced, away from each of his attacks she could feel something within her trying to break free, trying to help her move in ways that would help her in her fight, in ways that only a demon or hanyou should be capable of doing so. Just as she had avoided the dragons jaws Rin let out a scream of pure pain as the dragons large claws dug into her right side. 'This wasn't supposed to happen, I wasn't suppose to die…Lord, my Lord Sesshomaru…forgive me.'

Both were so caught up in the moment and fight, so driven by their instincts neither had noticed or heard the now human dragoness covered in a green gown as she yelled out, "Aya! Aya no!"

He had just seen his brother and his mate off and had held court for the short while before he had had Jaken clear the rest of his day. While he sat in silence in his father's study all he could think of was Rin. His ward, she was no longer a child, while he had ignored her shortly after leaving her in his brother's village, he had seen her as she changed, trained, and became the woman she now was. Soon the young men and even older ones in his brother's village would start to seek her out since he had not seen her or written to her since his near loss of control that last spring. 'She will be brought here…to me…I will choose who would be worthy of her,' were his angry thoughts as he abruptly stood to take his leave.

He refused to allow his emotions to rule him, he refused to think of his ward with another and it was his refusal that upset him so much to no end. Just as he had stormed out of the study, Sesshomaru called for Jaken as he made his way to the court yard. 'Perhaps it is time I find a mate of my own.' Were his last, coherent, sold thoughts as he was suddenly hit with a very heart retching feeling. A feeling he had only ever felt once, a feeling that had consumed him and had devoured him the night his father had died. As soon as he heard the sound of Jaken's footsteps fall in behind him, Sesshomaru began to make his way with much more haste as he heard his loyal servant ask, "What can I help you with my Lord?"

"Remain here and look after things in my absence. I must go and make sure that my brother and his mate are alright." He ordered.

"My Lord?"

"Jake do not disappoint me. I must leave now. I've the same feeling I had when father was killed."

"Of course my Lord Sesshomaru, I will look after things in your absences."

Knowing that he could count on his loyal servant, Sesshomaru closed his eyes and allowed his aura and power to surface as he quickly took to the sky as nothing more than a small ball of light. While he had finally been able to see what it was that his father had spoken of, of someone to protect he, while he had been able to fix his broken relationship with his younger brother, a part of the great Lord Sesshomaru still hoped that this feeling that was consuming him was about his brother and/or his sister and not an omen that was trying to warn him about Rin's safety. 'She in the human village, with the monk and the Taijiya, she is safe and away from harm.'

"Inuyasha I know you want to get home as quickly as possible but I need to stop. I want to rest."

"Damn it Kagome you're a hanyou now, you should be able to handle this kind of long travel," growled her mate as he looked to his right to lock eyes with his mate as she kept her speed at his rate.

"Well first of all Inu I haven't been a hanyou for all that long. Secondly I sense our son close by and I don't want to miss him. Let's stop so that he can pin point where we are and he won't miss us," growled the miko hanyou as she locked her stern eyes with that of her mate.

"Feh, sneaky wench, I can't even sniff him out yet but whatever, let's wait." Inuyasha growled out in a slightly annoyed filled voice as he came to a stop at the next clearing that they had reached.

"Oh come no Inu, you know that I didn't mean anything by it, I just didn't want to risk the chance of him missing us and bugging Ani when he has things to do, when he has to find a way of getting the east to agree to a treaty without a marriage." Kagome pointed out as she let out a long sigh.

"I hope you told Oji that I would not agree to a marriage if he was planning on using me to get the treaty with the Land of Dragons." Shippo's deeper, demonic voice was heard as he appeared before his parents in his fox form.

"Of course we told him honey; I don't think that I'd have let your father live if he would have agreed to such a thing." Kagome answered in an overly sweet voice as she smiled at her son.

Noticing the lack of color on his father, the fox kit turned back to his humanoid form and couldn't help but laugh at his father. While they had grown closer thought the years and had started to see one another as family long ago it was still nice to overly tease his father every now and then just like the good old days knowing that his mother would protect him. But before Inuyasha could growl or make a comment, the two were snapped out of their playful mood when they heard Kagome's worried filled voice suddenly ask, "Where is she? Where did you leave Rin?"

"At the village, I know that Oji probably wouldn't have wanted me to bring her with me and I know that it was going to start raining soon by the village so I left her there. She's a full Taijiya master now. You'd be proud of her Oka."

"I'm going to kill that Taijiya." Inuyasha mumbled under his breath.

"I so proud of her, I can't wait to see what she can do on her own now." Kagome stated as she ignored her angry mates words.

"The Taijiya should have waited till this Sesshomaru was able to be present for such a thing."

"Sesshomaru, what the hell are you doing here? Did something happen after we left? Did you forget something?"

But before the Lord of the West could answer his brothers questions, all eyes turned to the ragging hanyou miko as her eyes began to bleed red and as her aura began to explode around her. Any demons that close enough to try to harm them were sure to be killed. As she griped her weapon with all her might, as she willed her power back into herself, Kagome realized that the seal and the protection she had placed upon Rin and her weapon had just been broken, her daughter, the ward she had promised to look after was badly wounded. "Rin," Kagome whispered before completely passing out.