The sun set over a lake surrounded by dense forest. The scent of demon blood filled the air. Sesshomaru glanced up at his father as he fought far away in the sky in his true form, as a massive white dog, Toga, against a massive kirin demon, Kirinmaru. Being so young, Sesshomaru still wore his hair in wakashu style and donned no armor or fluff. To an unsuspecting man, outside of his facial and hand markings, he looked human.
Lightning crashed down in the distance. In the bright sunset lit sky, the two massive demons continued to fight a hard battle.
"Must they always fight?" Rion, Kirinmaru's daughter, asked. She had short bright pink hair and donned Chinese clothing. She wasn't much younger than Sesshomaru. She was told to observe her father's fights while Sesshomaru was told to mind his business and stay lakeside.
"Let them waste their time," he replied. Then turned back to the water that showed a perfect reflection of the everchanging sunset, and said, "Rion, look what I just learned how to do." He engulfed his body with his own energy and lifted himself in the air, taking flight. He only cleared a few inches off the ground.
She gasped, "Sesshomaru, I want to try!"
He extended his hands out toward her, palms up. She grabbed them tight and his energy covered her as well. She floated in the air alongside him, struggling to gain her balance she stepped on his feet.
Sesshomaru flew them both over the lake against the setting sun. It slowly turned to twlight as they smiled at each other.
As he twirled them both around, Rion demanded, "Faster! Go Faster!"
He excitedly did as she said, but their grips couldn't take it. They went horizontal as the force of the spinning pulled them apart. He couldn't slow down! The world around them was now nothing but a blur! It wasn't long before their hands ripped apart.
Rion flew one way, Sesshomaru the other. He landed face first in the dirt and sand on the farside of the lake, unable to see where Rion went as the sun disappeared behind the horizon.
As Sesshomaru sat up and spit up dirt, the scent in the air shifted unfavorably. Humans were near, and only getting closer. He looked through the trees in the dusk. Red fires burned and reflected against the dark tree trunks. He glanced away from the sunset to see his father still flying through the air, still fighting Kirinmaru in the ever-darkening sky.
I'm supposed to avoid humans, he thought to himself, Mother says they're too unpredictable and Father says they have nothing I desire. But I don't have anywhere else to go. It looks like Father's fight is going to last a while.
"Hey, look over here!" a man clad in armor carrying a sword said, "What's some little boy doing out here in the middle of nowhere alone?"
Another man said anxiously, "That no lost little boy! He's a demon! Don't go anywhere near him!" He leveled his spear and gestured for everyone to step back.
The other men around him quickly grabbed their arrows and leveled their spears, encircling him.
"Stay away from him!"
"We should get rid of him once and for all!"
"Attack when ready!"
As the arrows released, Sesshomaru tried to keep up. Some hit his arms and back as he used his claws and light whip to cut them down midair. He lunged forward and cut through their skin, loped off their heads and hands. Blood flew everywhere, covering his hands and filling the air with it's scent quickly. The fire from their lanterns hit the ground, turning into a forest fire with ease. It was working, he was winning! The humans were cowering at his power!
Suddenly, pain ripped through his spine and chest. As he fell forward he saw the point of a spear sticking out of his chest. A man had speared him from behind so hard it cut all the way through the center of his torso. He went breathless and fell foward, hitting the ground hard, chin down, eyes up. He watched as they celebrated.
"Got him!"
"He's finished!"
"Don't be stupid," another man said hastily, "it takes more than a single spear to kill a demon-even a baby one like him."
Enraged and in pain, Sesshomaru's eyes turned red. He growled as he transformed into his true dog form. Even as a puppy, his dog form was still formidable, especially against mere humans. His size was only about the height of an average man-much larger than an ordinary dog, but nowhere near the size of his parents. He turned to the man who threw the spear and lunged, ripping his head off in one bite. He threw it to the side and moved on.
Terrified, the other men continued to attack with their arrows and spears and shouted in fear. Sesshomaru dove in with his poison claws and saliva and melted them where they stood. How were there still so many left alive after he had already killed so many?
"RRRRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRRRRR!"
His father's roar from the distance was so powerful the trees and ground shook at its vibration.
"It's the great dog demon!" a man shouted in terror as he pointed at the twilight sky.
Toga flew down as quickly as he could, still in his true form. It was too late for the men as they scattered in fear. As his paws hit the ground, everyone was knocked off their feet, including Sesshomaru. Toga used his teeth to rip the spear out of Sesshomaru back, and then carefully picked him up by the scruff of the neck. Sesshomaru's true form was barely the size of his father's paw, making him easy to carry.
The great dog demon turned and whipped his tail around so hard it cut the remaining men in half right where they stood. Trees and shrubs weren't spared, they were all mowed down by the sheer force of his tail and the wind it left behind. Nothing was left standing. The forest fire created by the men's lanterns quickly went out with the blast of wind that followed.
Toga gently placed Sesshomaru back onto the ground and they both transformed into their humanoid forms. "Are you alright, my son?" he asked, pulling the remaining arrows out of his skin.
Sesshomaru tried not to flinch in pain as they were torn from his flesh. "I'm alright," he answered.
"Where is Rion?" he demanded, half panicked. He knew the little girl was too shelted to take care of herself.
"I don't know," he confessed, "I didn't see where she landed."
Together they scanned the treeline through the darkness. With all the blood and smoke in the air, neither one of them could pinpoint her exact scent. Just then, a girl's scream filled the air. Toga charged toward the noise full force, using his flash step, and taking So'unga off his back.
Meanwhile, Sesshomaru no longer felt he needed to pay attention, so he didn't. Pain was beginning to overtake him as more of his blood left his body. He went over to the lake's edge to clean all the human blood off his hands. He had no idea what was happening several feet away from him in the darkness, until there was more shouting.
"Rion!" Kirinmaru called for his daughter in absolute agony.
"No!" Zero cried out.
Finally, Sesshomaru turned and looked down the shoreline of the lake. A half demon man had cut through Rion from behind. Her chest seeped blood. Toga had his blade through the man's neck. Kirinmaru pierced the man's heart. Sesshomaru wasn't worried for anyone over there, because he was sure everyone would survive whatever happened next.
"I'm sorry, Kirinmaru," the great dog demon said, filled with genuine saddess, "this shouldn't have happened. We were too engaged in our fight to realize our children were in danger. The battlefield is no place for children." He sheathed his sword and turned to see his son minding his business, although growing increasingly paler in the moonlight from bloodloss.
Sesshomaru, not fully grasping what just happened, decided to return his focus back to the water in front of him. The fish had gotten aroused from the blood coming off his hands and came to investigate. They tickled his fingers as he attempted to pet them. He couldn't help but giggle.
"Silence, you whelp!" Zero shouted.
"Zero!" Sesshomaru's father scolded.
A jolt went straight through Sesshomaru's heart. There wasn't any pain, but something was suddenly missing. He stood up and held his chest. Although there was no new blood, he could tell something happened. He felt dizzy and stumbled on his feet.
"What did you do to my son!?" Toga demanded as he stood between him and Zero.
"It's a curse," she said hastily, "he'll no longer be able to express any positive emotions in his miserable life! No joy or happiness or excitement! You'll never hear your precious son laugh again-he'll barely be able to even smile! He'll only ever feel anger, or hatred, or fear. All his positive emotions are gone, forever." She glared at the both of them.
Toga stood stunned. What a curse to put on a child.
Kirinmaru said in shock, "Zero, how could you? He's just a puppy!"
She huffed, "Sesshomaru could have done something to stop Rion's death but he did nothing! He'll pay for that!"
Toga said, "I'll find a way to break your curse, Zero."
Zero explained, "Only the demon who puts a curse on someone can take it off. Even if you kill me, it'll live on. Your son now suffers as we suffer."
Sesshomaru walked over to them, unable to stay steady on his feet. Red blood seeped through his kosode and dripped onto the ground. His father knew his condition was quickly worsening.
Meanwhile, still not fully understanding what just happened, Sesshomaru didn't know what to feel. What was wrong with Rion? Why wasn't she moving? He knew his father stopped all the humans who attacked him, but that was it. He knew he should have felt happy his father rescued him from harm, and took the spear out of his spine, but Zero was correct. He couldn't find gratefullness within him to express.
Sesshomaru finally asked, "What's wrong with Rion?"
Zero shouted, "She's dead, you brat!"
Confused, Sesshomaru said, "But she's a demon..."
"No one lives forever, Sesshomaru," his father said calmly, "the half demon you see before you, he was the leader of this group of men. He killed her. And if I hadn't gotten here in time, he was going to kill you too."
I can die? He thought to himself, still confused. Dizziness from bloodloos overcame him as his vision faded and he fainted.
Toga caught his son in midair as he collapsed. The blood seeped into his arms. He turned to Kirinmaru and Zero and said, threateningly, "I'll remember this."
The great dog demon quickly took Sesshomaru home to his mansion in the western lands. Long before Sesshomaru's mother built a mansion in the skies, she resided with Toga in his mountainside home. She was shocked to see her son in such a state and ordered her underlings to heal him.
They laid him in a room and took off most of his clothes to see how grave his injuries really were.
"Humans caused him this much damage?" his mother asked.
His father answered, "That they did. If I hadn't been so enthralled with battle, I could have stopped them much sooner." He paused. "The servants shouldn't heal him so completely. He needs to learn how to recover on his own, even while unconscious."
"He's out cold," she replied, "and he's much too young to know how to heal himself as he sleeps. If I lose this precious pup of mine I'm not making you another one just to have you kill that one too-especially from such primitive mortal weapons."
Toga didn't say anything to that. It was her choice. Instead he changed the subject and explained, "Zero has taken Sesshomaru's happiness."
Sesshomaru's mother hesitated, anxious to know what exactly her husband meant by that. She finally said, "Don't tell me you mean to say Zero put the happiness curse on him."
He nodded, "That she did. The half demon in charge of the humans who did this to our son...he killed Rion."
"And she was so young," she said sadly, looking down at Sesshomaru as he healed, "alas, it's the fault of Kirinmaru for sheltering her so much. Demons are bred from violence, so as a demon she should have known how to fight, or at least hold her ground against those weaker than use like a mere half demon. He failed her."
The great dog demon gazed at Sesshomaru still asleep and said, "He and Zero may never see it that way."
Over 600 Years Later
As Kaede prepared breakfast, Rin thought back on her simple life in the village. She was 18 now, meaning she had lived with Grannie and in an ordinary human town for over 10 years at that point. She couldn't help but remember the life she had with Sesshomaru more than a decade earlier.
She remembered turning 13 and a boy in the village climbed a tree with her. From up there they could see nearly the entire village. He wanted to know what she thought of the view. At the time she couldn't help but remember flying in the air on the back of A-Un with Jaken and Sesshomaru. For some reason Sesshomaru decided to sit on the back of A-Un with them instead of flying ahead like usual.
From so up high the people looked like ants and the houses looked like rocks among them. She could see how the rivers cut through the valleys between the mountains and the trees. That view could never compare to sitting in a branch of a tree.
"Wooooo whooooo!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Rin!" Jaken scolded, "Stop that caterwalering! You're hurting Lord Sesshomaru's ears!"
"Silence, Jaken," he commanded.
Rin couldn't help but lean ever and wonder exactly what landing in a cloud felt like. And the ground below felt so welcoming. Just as the thoughts consumed her, she lost her balance and fell off the side of A-Un. She screamed as she fell through the air, weightless.
Sesshomaru swooped in and caught her without hesitation.
Once she was returned to the back of A-Un, Jaken scolded, "Don't you ever do that again, Rin! If Lord Sesshomaru wasn't here to save you, you would have fallen straight to the ground!" He caught his breath and sighed with relief at her safety.
"Rin," Sesshomaru asked calmly, "did you fall only to see if I would catch you?"
She confessed, "That wasn't the only reason. I wondered what falling from so high would feel like." She smiled. "Now I know, I don't have to try again."
Back in Kaede's village, sitting in that tree with that boy could never compare to such a thrilling feeling. By then Rin knew expressing such feelings about living among demons was more than simply frowned upon. She was already seen as a freak by the other kids.
Instead she simply told the boy that the view from the tree was spectacular. Not a complete lie, but a lie none the less.
When Rin was 15, she knew a different boy the same age as her. He was preparing to leave and become a proper samari. He wanted to show off his sword skills and called her over to have her watch him cut a straw puppet in half.
While it was a strong move against an unwitting opponent, Rin couldn't help but remember when Sesshomaru was trapped within magasugi's body and burst out the most amazing green lightning strike she had ever seen, creating his own sword in the process. It was so magnificent, and so much better than watching a boy cut through straw.
She didn't dare say that to the boy in front of her though. Instead she told him it was impressive, and it was-for a human.
When Rin was 17, a different boy took her out to have fun together on a date. When they were finished, he went in for a hug. For Rin it felt like hugging nothing at all. She missed waking up in Sesshomaru's strong arm the few and far between times she did. Even as a little girl she knew under all that silk he had some serious muscles. Although at the time she didn't care, as a young woman she wanted them and she knew it.
Now 18 and sitting for breakfast with Kaede, she said, "Grannie, I've loved living here with you in the village."
"Why do I get the feeling this is goodbye, Rin?" she asked softly.
"Because it is," she said, "once the seeding season of spring is over I plan to depart and find Lord Sesshomaru."
"I'll be sorry to see you go," Kaede admitted, "but you're your own woman now. You get to make these choices for yourself. I hope they are for the right reasons."
Rin nodded. "I know I want to be with Lord Sesshomaru." She bowed polietly. "Thank you for taking care of me so well over the years, Grannie. After my parents died I thought I would be alone forever, but with Lord Sesshomaru and your help I have so many people I can consider as part of my family. Thank you."
Once the planting season was over, Rin took off and set out to find Sesshomaru. Tracking him down wasn't easy. She knew from experience most humans didn't want anything to do with a demon, so instead of asking around for a demon she simply described Sesshomaru wherever he went. It still wasn't all that helpful.
Eventually she came across a building site in the mountains and saw a familiar face. "Kohaku?" she asked.
"Rin?" he turned around to face her, now all grown up," Is that really you?"
"Yes!" she replied, "What's all this?"
He explained, "I'm rebuilding the demon slayer village with my sister. It's the least I can do." He frowned, not wanting to get into it. He paused and asked, "What brings you here?"
Rin nodded and said, "I left Grannie's village seeking Lord Sesshomaru. Have you seen him?"
"He flies by every once in a while," he answered, "the last time I saw him was about a month ago. He headed north." He pointed down the direction Rin was already heading.
She gasped. She was already heading the right direction! Perfect! "That's great!" she said. I'm only a month behind him, she thought happily.
Kohaku condessed, "For a while now I've been hoping I can get a chance to repay him for saving my life from the evil will of the shikon jewel all those years ago."
"Repay him?" she said, "Lord Sesshomaru doesn't hold a grudge over things like that, you know that by now."
"I know," he said, "but we're both human. Our lives so short compared to his, it makes me want to make an impact on his life somehow but he'll live for so long...how to we make sure he doesn't forget us?"
Deep down, Rin had feared the same thing for herself as well. Sesshomaru hadn't come to visit her since she was 15. It had been nearly three years to the day and she had wondered why for many months. Was he forgetting her? And here Kohaku was having the same feelings.
Rin said, "I don't have the answer, Kohaku, I'm sorry."
He nodded. "I'll come up with something eventually. It was good to see you again, Rin."
"You too."
And off she went once again. Down this path, the further she walked the more people who recognized the man she was describing. Although she was beginning to wonder if she would always be one step behind him because she never seemed to keep up.
Spring turned into summer before she finally made any true progess. She stopped in a tiny village deep within the mountains. At a small shop on the edge of the town she asked the shopkeeper if she had seen a tall man with white hair with long fur.
"Actually yes," she answered, "a man with that description passed by not too long ago."
Suddenly, the ground shook violently under their feet. "An earthquake?!" Rin asked, struggling to hold her footing.
"No dear," she said, "this has been going on for a few days now. A giant white dog demon has been seen fighting the giant serpant demon. The last I saw them they flew over that mountain yesterday." She pointed to the one looming over them to the west.
Lord Sesshomaru flew over that mountain yesterday? she thought, staring at it's massive size.
Just as she wondered how she could climb over such a steep face, a large shadow blocked out the sun from that direction. In his true form, Sesshomaru rolled over the top of it and began sliding down. A giant black snake had itself wrapped around his body tight.
The villagers screamed.
"Everybody run for it!"
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin shouted at him.
Sesshomaru regained his footing right before he was about to crush the entire town in the valley. He wobbled on his feet, the giant snake unrelenting. He growled and bit into the snake hard. Then he ripped it in half and spewed it's blood in every direction. He shook his head violently, smacking the snake around like a rag doll.
Bits and pieces of the snake broke apart and landed on houses and businesses alike. As everyone ran away, Rin ran toward him. She could see he was covered in blood and injuries.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" she cut across a few yards as she watched him struggled to stay on his feet.
"Where you are you going, lady?" a man demanded, "Run away from the beast!"
She ignored him. "Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin called out, desperate. He had to hear her, he had to! She ran between the buildings as she watched him stagger forward in his dog form. The villagers fled for their lives in groups as she struggled to push through the crowds.
She watched as he fell forward and dispersed into light. He transformed back into his humanoid form as he fainted face first into the ground. She finally reached the street he was on, men and woman began forming a crowd.
"Don't just stand there!" Rin commanded, "Somebody help him!" She finally pushed through everyone to be by his side.
"He's a demon!" a man warned, "Don't go near him!"
Rin dove by his side and examined him. His clothing was torn up the worst she had ever seen. His armor was broken and his skin was cut through with hundreds of snake bites. Even his fur was bleeding. She pulled his arm and turned him over to face the sky. His face was covered with puncture marks and blood. "My lord..." she whispered, scared for his injuries.
"Get away from the demon!" an old woman shouted in horror, "When he wakes up he'll kill us all! We have to get rid of him!"
Rin looked around at the crowd and said, "He just saved all of you from that snake demon and that's how you'll repay him? By trying to kill him? What is wrong with you!?"
A man said, "The snake demons never bothered us before. They live in the river just north of here. He's the one who came out of nowhere and brought us this destruction." He gestured to the town of now smashed buildings and broken belongings strewn about.
"None of you are going to help him?" she asked, looking at their scared faces, "He's not even concious. What do you think he's going to do to you?"
The villagers ignored her. A young woman asked, "What should we do with the demon?"
"Pierce his heart and burn his body," an old man said, "that way he cannot come back to life and kill us all."
Rin demanded, "No! Stay away from him! Get back!" If these people weren't going to help, she wanted to get him away from all the gawkers. As they attempted to tell her off, she got behind him and grabbed Sesshomaru's fur and tossed it over her shoulder along with his long white hair. She then attempted to lift him up from under his arms, but he barely budged under her strength. His armor is so heavy I'm going to have to leave it behind, she thought, I hope no one steals it.
She set Sesshomaru down again carefully, and struggled to pull off his armor. First the spiked metal that protected his left arm and heart. Then the part that protected his torso. She had to untie and then retie his belt for that. Finally the swords had to stay behind as well. Only then was she able to pull him up and drag him away from the townspeople.
"You're all cowards," Rin said, watching them part a path for them, "every last one of you!"
She struggled to drag him to the forest cover and away from prying eyes. It took everything she had to get him as far away from the humans as possible without straining herself. She heard the roaring river ahead, likely the one the man mentioned.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" A pitiful voice called out from the surrounding trees, "Where are you? Lord Sesshomaru?"
"Master Jaken!?" Rin said, struggling to look around and keep hold of Sesshomaru. She couldn't see him.
"Rin?" he asked from behind her, "Is that you or am I hallucinating again?"
Rin managed to drag Sesshomaru to a small clearing under a tree and set him down gently in the shade. "Master Jaken, I'm here for real! What happened?" She turned and saw he laid on the ground, face down. She scurried over to be by his side and propped him upright to see he too was covered in snake bites.
"You're here?" he asked pitifully, "Oh Rin it was terrible! Just terrible! The sea serpent demons of the river nearby wouldn't let Lord Sesshomaru pass. They came out of the water in droves and attacked! Oh there must have been 10,000 of them!"
Rin said, "That's what I just saw him fighting. Some sort of giant snake demon."
Jaken warned, "Sea snake demon venum is the most deadly of all. Not even a powerful and magnificent demon like Lord Sesshomaru can withstand as much as he's already taken in."
"He can't?" she asked, terrified. She couldn't believe it. After all this time apart and so many months of wishing she could be by his side, Sesshomaru was going to die before her eyes!
"We need the antitote," Jaken said, "quickly Rin. Take the purple flowers by the river and grind them up with equal parts tall grass and algae."
Rin begged, "Don't die, Master Jaken, please! I won't let Lord Sesshomaru die either. I'll be right back, I promise!" She leapt to her feet and ran to the river.
It didn't take long to mix the concoction together in her bamboo bottle. She made sure to shake it up well and give it to both of them. She couldn't help but wonder if it was too late. Maybe all that time she had spent traveling across the countryside to find them was all for nothing if they were going to die so soon. She couldn't bare to watch if it was too late. Instead she sat in the bushes and faced away from them both as she tried to hold back tears.
Unbeknownst to her, Sesshomaru opened his eyes and was surprised to see he was back in the forest. He couldn't remember how he got there. When he attempted to move his head, his body was stiff and didn't want to move. "Jaken?" he asked, "Did you get the antidote in time?"
"It wasn't me, my lord," he said pitifully, "I still can't move."
I thought I heard Rin's voice back in the village, Sesshomaru thought, right before I passed out. I must have imagined her being in that human town. He stopped himself as he realized he had picked up her scent. "Rin?"
Rin froze on the otherside of the bushes. Was Sesshomaru calling for her? She didn't want to believe it. She stood up and overlooked the undergrowth of the forest to see him laying against the tree almost exactly as he had when they first met. He was still wounded all over but his blood had stopped running and was quickly drying up.
"Lord Sesshomaru?" she asked, stepping forward.
"You're here, Rin," he said, surprised, "how did you find me?"
She sat by his side and explained, "I left Grannie Kaede's village weeks ago and I've been looking everywhere for you! I found you fighting that huge serpant demon and I was worried I was too late." She picked up his injured hand tenderly. She could feel his energy coursing through his veins, deperate to heal the wounds. "I'm sorry about your armor," she added, "but it was too heavy for me to lift."
Sesshomaru turned himself toward the village. He lifted his right arm and green energy shot out of his body and lit up the forest. Even from where they sat, Rin heard screams of fear from the village as Sesshomaru's armor and swords telekinetically flew towards them and back into place on his body.
I guess it was no problem after all, Rin thought, smiling to herself.
"You came all this way," he said, "just to see me?"
She nodded. "I've choosen a life with you, Lord Sesshomaru," she replied happily.
Jaken said, "Rin, you've really returned to join us once again?"
Tears came to Jaken's eyes as Rin said, "Of course! Living a human village, living an ordinary life in general was alright I guess, but it was nothing compared to spending time with the two of you taking care of A-Un." She paused, "Where is A-Un?"
"He flew off when the sea serpants attacked," Jaken said, "but I'm sure we'll find him again. He can't be too far."
Rin dug into her sleeve and said, "Before I forget, this is for you, Lord Sesshomaru." She pulled out a red silk ribbon and grabbed the Bakuseiga, scabbard and all. As she was making the ribbon she hoped that it would be long enough for her to wrap it diagonally all the way around the sword, and it was.
"You made this by hand," he said. She didn't have to tell him, he knew.
"How can you tell?" she asked.
"It's imbued with your energy," he answered, touching it carefully. Even as an ordinary mortal woman, Rin managed to put her energy inside every thread of the silk. Not just any energy, but protecting energy. Sesshomaru felt it immediately, but he knew it wouldn't do much to protect him given his prowess and how unexperienced she was in making such cloth, but still she managed to do it.
Not completely understanding what he meant, Rin said, "I made it for you, so you'd never forget me, because in recent years when you didn't visit me, I was worried you had."
Sesshomaru replied, "I did not forget you, Rin. I simply wanted you to choose your own life." While he had always hoped Rin would choose a life with him but he knew it had to be up to her to make that choice. He didn't want to coherse her, or make her feel as if she owed him.
Rin looked up at Sesshomaru's face once again, and saw almost no difference in his demenour. Surely he was happy she had traveled so far to see him and give him a handmade gift she had worked so hard on. But why didn't he smile, not even with his eyes? "Are you happy I've returned to your side, my lord?" she asked.
Jaken finally managed to stand up, overcoming the poisons in his body, and said in a condescending tone, "Of course Lord Sesshomaru is happy you're back, Rin!"
"But..." she hesitated, then confessed, "I can't tell."
Sesshomaru looked away from her prying eyes as Jaken said, "Lord Sesshomaru is too regal and sophisticated to express such chaotic emotions. That's why I, his vassal, Jaken, express them for him."
"Silence, Jaken," he said quickly, "Do not lie to Rin."
Rin looked at the both of them back and forth in confusion and asked, "What are you talking about? What lie?" In her mind Sesshomaru was far too dignified to ever be overly dramatic, so in her mind Jaken spoke the truth.
"It's from an old curse," Sesshomaru answered, finally meeting her eyes, "a woman named Zero placed on me a long ago. I don't ever feel positive emotions because of her."
"What?" she asked, horrified at the implications, "But I've seen you smile before, back when you were fighting Naraku, at least a couple of times. I'm sure there were times when you thought of killing Inuyasha you smiled."
"A smile in contempt is not the same as a smile of enjoyment," he said, "and smiling isn't impossible, only much more difficult."
Rin didn't dare say it out loud, but she thought to herself, No wonder Master Jaken speaks his inner thoughts so often. Most of the time when he silences him, what he says is true. She asked, "How can I know if you're ever happy then, my lord?"
"Jaken will answer," Sesshomaru answered, "as always." He glared at him, making him shrink in fear, before turning back to Rin and adding, "You don't have to call me 'lord.'"
She gasped. "I don't?" He nodded. "But it feels so unnatural to say 'Sesshomaru' alone." She hummed to herself for a moment. "But I can get used to it." She smiled up at him.