Kagome stood up and placed her dirty hands on her back and leaned into a good long stretch. Weeding her garden wasn't exactly her favorite chore, but it gave her a chance to sort out her thoughts. Today, she had been distracted.

True to his word, Inuyasha had indeed gone to find Sesshōmaru, and reported that he would be seeing Rin today. She was pleased that the two brothers hadn't come to blows, in any event. When her husband confirmed what she had already suspected about the girl having feelings for Sesshōmaru, all hope of getting anything constructive done today flew out the window. As far as household chores went, pulling weeds was typically very boring and time consuming, but with her mind busy, it went quickly.

She was just rounding the corner of her little home to head inside to begin preparing lunch when she nearly bumped into a red faced and tearful Rin. The girl barreled into her, completely beside herself.

"Rin! What's wrong?"

"Oh Kagome…" the girl murmured. She looked dazed and pale.

Kagome ushered the younger woman into the hut. She sat her down and quickly got her a cup of water.

Rin just stared at nothing but accepted the cup. "I told him, and now I've ruined everything!"

Kagome sat down next to the girl. "I assume you are talking about Sesshōmaru."

The girl nodded and blew her nose on her sleeve.

Kagome smiled and patted her knee. "Of course you haven't ruined everything! What did you tell him?"

Rin burst into fresh tears. Kagome allowed the girl to sob into her shoulder and rubbed her back. "Everything will be fine, Rin! You will see! Can you tell me what happened?"

She just cried harder as Kagome rocked her back and forth. She finally said through her tears, "I-I told him how I feel about him!"

Inuyasha had just lifted the door flap to come back in with more firewood but Kagome quickly and silently shooed him out. Rin was crying so hard she didn't notice him. His expression darkened like a thundercloud at the sight of the wretched girl. Kagome sighed, figuring he heard Rin's tearful declaration. He nodded at his wife and stealthily backed back out of the hut.

Kagome rolled her eyes to the heavens. Her husband was protective to a fault when it came to Rin, and if he had the idea that Sesshōmaru had anything to do with the girl's tears…She just hoped Inuyasha would start off with talking, not fighting. She wasn't so sure Sesshōmaru would take her husband's human night into account if it came to the latter.

Inuyasha absolutely hated his human night. Even though it was not quite midday, his senses were already losing their sharpness.

Seeing Rin sobbing on Kagome's shoulder filled him with protective anger. This had to be his brother's fault. His first impulse was to find Sesshōmaru and let his claws do the talking. He sighed and dumped the firewood on top of his dwindling woodpile and hefted his axe to his shoulder. Fighting with the bastard wouldn't help anyone, least of all Rin. He wondered how his wife was always right about just about everything.

He headed back into the forest and decided he'd chop down another tree. The woodpile was running low anyway, and Kaede would surely be needing more as well. Since he was typically useless around crying females, staying away from the inside of his home seemed the safest course of action at present. He tied his hair back with a scrap of cloth and removed his outer fire rat robe and got to work.

With it being the night of the new moon, it was certain that Sesshōmaru would remain in the area, regardless if Rin wanted him to or not. Inuyasha growled. He had some choice words for his brother, and he decided he'd speak up whether the big dog wanted to listen or not. With a distraught Rin inside his home at this very moment, Inuyasha knew all he had to do was wait.

The afternoon was waning by the time he'd made decent work of the tree. His dulling senses jangled with Sesshōmaru's massive aura. Inuyasha sighed and thwacked the axe head into the stump as the dog demon silently appeared.

"Rin has been with your wife for some time now."

"Yep."

Inuyasha stared hard at him, arms crossed within his sleeves. He wasn't going to give the bastard an inch. The protracted silence became almost painful.

"She is distressed."

Inuyasha snorted. "Ya think? How d'ya think she got that way?"

"I…do not know."

Inuyasha's brows rose to his hairline. Confusion was not an emotion he ordinarily associated with his brother. He smirked.

"Are you serious?"

Sesshōmaru frowned. "I do not understand Rin's...behavior."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Ya don't say…"

"Do human women often shed tears without provocation?"

Inuyasha gaped. He wondered if he were in some sort of fever dream where weird things happen out of nowhere, like Sesshōmaru asking him for advice about women. Because this shit just didn't happen in reality. Whatever it was, Inuyasha was thrown off enough by the situation to answer frankly.

"Well, it depends, honestly. There have been times Kagome was just fine one minute and the next thing I know she's crying and won't tell me why. Usually when that happens she's mad at me."

"Hn."

That grunt irritated Inuyasha. As if Sesshōmaru now had all the answers even though he had exactly none. Inuyasha didn't usually have any answers when it came to understanding his own wife, but that was beside the point. He glowered.

"What the hell did you say to Rin to upset her so much, anyway?"

"You assume I am the cause of her distress."

"Oh for gods' sake, Sesshōmaru, will you pull your head out of your ass for once in your life? She ran to Kagome in tears right after seeing you. You obviously did something to hurt her."

Before Inuyasha could blink, he found himself held aloft by his neck. Sesshōmaru's hand around his throat was like iron. His eyes flashed red and his fangs had elongated. Once again, Inuyasha cursed his own demon blood for abandoning him every month.

"Listen, whelp. I would kill myself before I would ever cause harm to Rin," he hissed. Inuyasha had never seen such a clash of emotions on his brother's face. Confusion…helplessness. He willed himself to hold still to avoid the poisonous tips of Sesshōmaru's claws from piercing his flesh.

"Damn, Sesshōmaru! I'm not accusing you of physically hurting her," he gasped. He was slowly lowered to the ground but his brother still glared at him. Inuyasha felt fortunate Sesshōmaru had not allowed any poison to escape his claws in this latest outburst of anger, or he'd be in real trouble once the sun went down. With the forest darkening around them, that wasn't far off. He rubbed his neck, wincing.

Inuyasha felt something odd right then. It wasn't anger, or resentment, or any of the things he'd felt for the bastard his entire life. He felt pity. He realized Sesshōmaru might be…lonely. Inuyasha certainly understood loneliness, if anyone did.

Myoga's words came back to him: Your father was the greatest of demons, but he was also a dog. Dogs crave the society of the one to whom they feel the most loyalty. While he ruled the western domain with fairness and wisdom, it was your mother's gentleness and kind spirit that soothed his demonic nature. Her company was a balm to his soul.

Was it possible Rin did the same for Sesshōmaru?

Sesshōmaru turned his back but did not walk away. "I asked her why she refused the young human's offer of marriage."

Inuyasha was still rubbing his neck. "Well, there's your answer, genius."

Sesshōmaru turned to face him, perplexed. "She became agitated at this simple question. She then spoke words to me that did not match her demeanor or scent. Your wife is human. Explain this behavior."

Inuyasha groaned. This was really happening. Sesshōmaru had no fucking clue how to interact with a female and for some reason it was Inuyasha's rotten luck to be the one to have 'the talk' with him. The guy was totally out of his depth. For Rin's sake, he pressed on.

"Look. Her scent won't do you any good if you don't actually have a conversation with her and get to the bottom of it. Women don't always make sense, but it don't mean they're crazy. From my experience with Kagome, she gets mad or sad about things that I'd have never given a second thought about. Best way I have learned to handle it is to let her say what she needs to say, and…fuck, I dunno. I don't want her to be sad, so when she is, I listen and ask questions. She has big feelings and can't keep them to herself, and well, it beats the hell outta me why, but it makes her happy when we talk about it, especially if it's my fault she's pissed."

He scowled and crossed his arms within his sleeves. He was getting really uncomfortable being this forthright with his half brother, who had tried multiple times to brutally end him and steal his Tessaiga in the past. He knew the very reason he was having this conversation at all was because of a sweet soft hearted young woman who loved the guy for some crazy reason. He sighed again. This was for Rin.

Sesshōmaru appeared to consider this. "But I did that. I asked Rin questions, and it seemed to only make things worse."

"What else did you say, besides the first dumb question?"

Sesshōmaru glared. "I asked her if there were any other males in the village more to her liking since the first one did not suit her."

"Gods, are you serious? You don't know why she's pissed off? That girl was practically jumping out of her skin when she found out you were here, couldn't wait to see your sorry ass since you haven't bothered to visit her in forever and all you can do is ask her that? C'mon. This ain't complicated."

"She became angry and did not allow me the chance to reply."

Inuyasha growled. "Bullshit. Do you really wanna understand Rin, or are you just trying to make yourself feel better for not knowing fuck all about her?"

Sesshōmaru growled back. "I am subjecting myself to this conversation, am I not? I did not wish to influence her unduly if her desire was to marry a human. Why would asking her a practical question lead to hysterics?"

Right then, Inuyasha felt the dreaded and familiar pulse that signaled the fading of his demonic powers. He clenched his fists as the wash of energy robbed him of the physical strength and keen senses he so relied upon. It took a mighty effort of will to even stay this close to Sesshōmaru. His now dominant human instincts clamored at him to run.

Inuyasha groaned in annoyance. His half brother regarded him placidly.

"Well, isn't this just perfect," the half demon spat.

Sesshōmaru narrowed his eyes. "Your human weakness is known to me and of no consequence. You will continue to tell me what I need to know without fear."

Inuyasha went rigid with fury. How he longed to put Sesshōmaru's lights out. If he weren't a human right now, this bastard would be getting a mouth full of his fist!

"You are such a prick, Sesshōmaru! Maybe it ain't no consequence to you, but it sure as hell is to a weak human! You wanna talk about human behavior, fine! Let's go there! It took a lot of guts for Rin to turn down an offer of marriage in this village. She's an orphan with no prospects. Marrying Kenta would have given her status and security. She turned him down because of you, asshole. For some gods-forsaken reason, she's chosen you and has no way of knowing if you want her. In fact, she's convinced herself that it's not possible, probably because you're an asshole. That's a weak human, Sesshōmaru. Staying true to yourself when ya got everything to lose. I'll bet my sword she spilled her guts to you fully believing you'd reject her."

Sesshōmaru had turned away from him during his rant. The bastard was silent and motionless. Above it all. As always.

Inuyasha spat in the dirt and shook his head in disgust. "But you're more concerned about saving face with a weak human to just cut the bullshit and be honest with her back. I can tell she means more to you than you let on. But what do you do about it? You hide. It would serve you right if she marries Kenta after all. You sure as hell don't deserve her."

Inuyasha yanked his fire rat robe on without tying it. Hefting his ax over his shoulder and scooping up an armload of firewood, he began walking back home. Let Sesshōmaru muddle his own way through the mess he made. Inuyasha was done.

"Inuyasha. Wait."

Surprised, he glanced back, only to be brought up short by his brother's posture. His eyes were downcast.

"You are right, little brother. But I will deserve her. I swear it."

The half demon was too shocked to reply as he watched the ice lord silently take to the sky in a flutter of silk. He shook his head and went home.