AN: OH! My heart is so full ever since I have been able to press my little fingers against the keyboard of my laptop in efforts to finish up the draft of this next and latest update. My deepest apologies for such a long wait. I have so many drafts created for the next couple of chapters!

Side note: I started a new job. I had a birthday and traveled, (can't believe I'm no longer in my 20's - blah). My kid started school, (Mom life :)). So much more has happened over the past couple months and it is insane how much I just wanted to shut the whole world off and write my little heart away on these stories. I repeat ! I will never ever stop writing or ever abandon the work I started here because it is so my happy place and I love that it can be yours too!

This is likely the chapter you've all been waiting for! I thought about this chapter for so very long. Even since the beginning of this story's creation. Let me know your thoughts thereafter.

Happy SessRin Week 2025!

Abbreviations:

ICU: Intensive Care Unit

L&D: Labor and Delivery

Song for chapter: * The Only One - Evanescence *

"All our lives,

we've been waiting,

for someone to call a leader,

Heaven shined a light down on me!"

The newly installed amber lights on the unit were doing nothing to help her constant migraine. They had already began to flicker, further exacerbating her throbbing headache. And, unfortunately, neither was the incessant talking from one of her know-it-all colleagues. "Why is it that they wish to change things around here that aren't even broken?"

"Exactly! No one asked for it. But of course, families complained about how dim the lights were around here." Shara reminded.

"It's night shift!" Rin replied, arms crossed over her chest. "We want patients to actually sleep."

Shara smacked her lips together, rolling her eyes. "You know that never matters."

Rin stood up and placed her eyes over an opened door of her second patient's room. He was still asleep, comatose. "The only reason why I joined the ICU was to get some sort of experience in adult care. The patients are fine," she turned, eyes back on Shara, irked, and continued, "... it's always..."

"Their families," Shara replied for her. "And you want to transfer to L&D. You know you'll have to deal with parents your entire shift right?"

Rin exhaled with a sigh of annoyance and too rolled her eyes. "I know. But, I can't deny where my heart is."

"How's bed two? Do you think your John Doe will ever wake?"

Rin bit her lower lip, eyes glued to the stilled body of her patient across the nurse's station. He had already been extubated and stable but still had not regained consciousness. "I'm not entirely sure. I really want to know what happened before he was admitted."

"Hm, he's an interesting one. No neurologic or brain damage. No prior history. No trauma or defects, yet he still won't wake! He definitely has a story and we are all curious about it."

Rin sighed again, shaking her head, confounded, "Me too, me too."

Suddenly, the piercing alarm rang from bed two's heart monitor.

"The hell!" Shara said, sliding her rolling chair over toward the telemetry monitors. "His heart rate is up in the one fifties!"

Rin sprinted over, directly toward his bedside and gaped at the rapidly rising heart rhythm of her John Doe. Indeed, his heart rate had spiked up to one fifty six. "What on earth! Mister Doe, what's the matter?"

The patient shot straight up out of bed, eyes wide open, and frantically looked around. "What..., what is this place? Where am I?"

"Mister Doe, please," Rin comforted and placed her hand over his exposed shoulder where part of his hospital gown had fallen. "You're in the hospital!"

"The hos-..." he froze, staring blankly ahead and did not utter another sound.

"Mister Doe?" Rin questioned and tilted her head, meeting him eye to eye. "Are you okay?"

He had not responded. His eyes fixed straight ahead as he set there still, frozen in place.

"Mister Doe!" Rin repeated and waved her hands in front of his eyes. "Help!" she screamed, "I think he's having a seizure!"

Shara rushed in along with several other staff present. "A petit mal? Go!..." she ordered, directing her attention toward another colleague. "Get the Ativan, just in case it's prolonged."

"No!"

Everyone present turned towards the seated patient who responded in haste. His eyes had yet to leave the blank wall ahead.

He finally turned and quickly grasped Rin's wrist tightly and looked her directly in the eyes. "It's you!"

Rin gasped and vehemently shook her head, "No, y-you're not yourself Mister Doe!"

"You're Rin aren't you?" he questioned, squeezing her wrist more firmly. Ignoring the wince she uttered. "It is you!"

"How the hell does he know your name?" Shara questioned, bewildered.

Rin gaped at him and attempted to release her clutched arm from his grasp. "I'm Rin. I'm your nurse but...," her eyes darted back and forth through his. "How..., how do you know my nam-..."

"You are conspiring with the enemy. With demons!"

Shara turned toward another staff member present, witnessing the deranged patient, "Sedate him! Before he breaks her damn wrist!"

"Wait!" Rin said, eyes stilled glued to the face of Mister Doe. "What is your name? What do you know?"

"I am Touji. A savior of all man kind," he replied and drew her further towards him. "I have come so that you may reconsider your beloved mate!"

Rin quickly swiftly jerked her arm from him grasp and took a step back. "M-my mate?"

Touji pointed directly towards her covered neck, "You are marked. Marked by a demon! A killer!"

Rin stepped further back and placed her opposite fingers over the junction of her neck and shoulder, blindly mapping out the two punctures Sesshomaru had placed there. Her breath had caught in her throat and she blinked her eyes rapidly. "You are delirious! You're making no sense at all."

"I only wished to save those like you. Believe me! Your future with them will only lead to death!"

"Stop it! You're wrong!"

"Please! I must be candid with you. The dog-youkai. I am not your enemy. They are!"

She could see the anguish in his eyes. The sorrow in his soul. The desperation in his plea. "T-This, this isn't real. This can't be real."

"I have no reason to tell a lie. I am no longer of this world."

"Sir, you sit here awake and alive with us. We are only here to help you." Rin heard one of her colleagues say as he began to draw up a syringe of a thick clear colored liquid. "We will help you relax."

Rin stretched her arm out, palm up, in front of him ."Wait, let me try to calm him down."

"Rin, he's clearly agitated and out of his mind!" Shara professed. "Move out of the way."

Rin rushed over again to his bedside. "Please Touji, you have it all wrong. They are trying to help us! To save us!"

"No! No! NO!" he shook his head. His agitation now more apparent. He began to thrash about in bed, kicking and screaming.

Her attempts to reason with him was an arrant failure. He was beyond reach. Untouchable in comprehension. Lost in his delirium; fixed solely on one purpose and one purpose alone:

To read her his plight.

"Rin! I know you are new here but we do not dispute with the confused." One of her colleagues mentioned, placing a hand over her shoulder.

"David move! I have the Ativan ready." Shara said and quickly shoved them both out of her way.

"No! He's making sense. Just to-..."

"To who?" Shara questioned, darting her eyes at Rin. She had already adjusted the medication-filled syringe onto an opened access to Touji. "You think you know what you're doing here? Well, you don't!"

"Please, he's my patient!"

"You're patient, huh?" Shara questioned and presented a malicious smirk across her face. Suddenly her face morphed into one similar to Touji but somehow much more youthful in appearance. "Well, he's my father! And you shouldn't even be here!"

"No!" Rin shouted and attempted to reach Touji but was somehow frozen in place. "What..., what is this? What are you doing?" She turned her eyes toward the abated sound of the heart monitor as each beat of Touji's heart slowed in pace.

"Aoto! My son," Touji spoke now, through gasping breaths. "H-How..., could you do this? T-To me?"

"You were never worthy of this title," Aoto spoke without an ounce of remorse. "Now die!"

Rin stood there, as some sort of paralysis disabled any of her movement now. And only in her mind could she speak, 'Touji! Touji, please! No!"

"My dear," the calmness of her voice was a complete contrast to what she had just witnessed. Izayoi held her palms firmly over Rin's trembling shoulders - stilling her in place. "You must wake."

Rin's eyes swung open wide as she eyed the familiar timbre of the lady of the house. A lady, so full of unforgiving youth and yet was somehow deemed the mother. In a split second, she shook herself from Izayoi's grasp, unsure of how to distinguish between fact or fiction. "Missus..., L-Lady Izayoi. W-Where am I?"

"Rin dear," Izayoi firmly spoke, fixing her worried eyes over her. "Yet another dream it was! You are home," she leaned forward. "...and you are always safe here."

"I..., I'm home?" Rin peered around as her eyes adjusted to the semi-familiar surroundings. She was indeed in bed, in her new room at the Inu-mansion.

"I was asleep? This entire time?"

Izayoi nodded and offered her a gentle smile. "Please tell me what happened."

Rin blinked her eyes clear. "D-Do you know anything about,..."

"Touji?" Izayoi answered for her. "I heard you speak his name."

"Yes! Does his name mean anything to you?"

Izayoi nodded firmly.

"He is, or, was a threat to our family some time ago. I have not heard his name in so many years. Did you dream of him my dear?"

Rin had not felt her body jolt at the sudden intrusion of Kagome entering the bedroom but it was evident that she was still rattled by what she had saw and felt. 'How was that a dream?'.

Kagome leaped to an open spot on the bed next to her, equally as concerned as Izayoi and bewildered by the screaming that had occurred just minutes ago. "Rin! Is everything okay? It's the middle of the night! What happened?"

Rin went over in detail, every moment of the apparent dream. Somehow though, this time, she had not allowed what was said to deter her perception of Sesshomaru. "He mentioned something, um, um,... dog-youkai?"

Izayoi gasped and blinked her eyes rapidly. "Do not be afraid," she said and turned her eyes over toward Kagome and back to Rin. "This is far greater than you both. Greater than even me."

"What do you mean?" Kagome looked over to her wide-eyed, frazzled friend after not hearing a response from Izayoi. "It's true isn't it? They're dog-demons?"

"I am not supposed to be the one to confirm this with you," Izayoi replied and, in a motherly manner, placed both her hands over each of there opposite cheeks. "But know my dear ones, you are forever safe. You have been chosen, just as I was. But..., you do not have to stay. It is your choice."

Rin and Kagome equally nodded. "You're right. It is our choice."

"Well I choose to stay!" Kagome proclaimed, abruptly standing to her feet. "Nothing in my life ever made sense until I met Inuyasha! And I'd be damned if I left his side now."

Rin peered up at her standing and turned, eyeing Izayoi, who held unshed tears in her eyes. It was obvious she had not wanted to be the bearer of such news but at any rate, things were unraveling themselves by the day and for what it was, their family certainly had ever reason to be so secretive. "H-He is my heart. Dog-demon or not."

Izayoi nodded briskly as tears began falling down her cheeks. "I know it! Indeed I know all the signs. I was frightened too at once. But understand this was the normality in my day."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at that. "In your day?"

"I am his mate?" Rin's question directed at Izayoi. "I share his life-line don't I?"

Izayoi snorted and huffed, "You do!"

"And you share Toga's?" Kagome surmised.

Izayoi nodded and stood to her feet. "Come. I will share with you all I can for now. At least until they return."

Rin sat out on the cold stoned stairs of the mansion's entrance. It was still in the early hours of the morning when the sun had yet to began its brighten rise for the day. Izayoi had explained many of the mentions of their past life in Edo. The escapades of the dog-youkais. Many of their battles and victories. Even of the newly found technology they had discovered and some entail on weapons Kagome and Rin would acquire. As well as the struggle of Sesshomaru's turmoil with his aversions toward humans and his newly present affinity in them.

She, being the primary cause of it.

Her decision to stay was not an easy one. But was it not so obvious, as she had pondered, that everything in her life made all the more sense with him. Regardless if he had hated her kind before. Regardless if he was deemed a savage beast in the past. Regardless if he had hidden these truths from her for so long. In a way, he had every right to. Someone like Touji, a human just like her, wanted nothing but to end his life. Without even knowing what or who he was. What he was capable of in the realms of anything and everything righteous.

Someone worthy of saving.

He was not the enemy. Unlike what her dream-like Touji professed.

Yet, still, he was some sort of a monster in the eyes of her kind.

But humans were monsters too! They could kill. They could destroy. They could and had taken what was not theres as envy was their source of navigation. Covertness, greed, wrongful desire.

Perhaps even, humans were more monstrous than yokai.

At least the lot of them were. Supposedly that depended on their ultimate goal and who was the motivator.

"Rin?" she heard from behind. "Look at this." Kagome walked down the stoned steps and sat next to Rin. She held in her hand some sort of tome. Large and rife with dusty pages. "Izayoi says it's filled with knowledge of many ancient yokai," she turned and half-smiled. "Including dog-demons."

"You're getting some kind of thrill out of this aren't you?"

"I told you I was right about them this whole time!" Kagome exclaimed.

"You said they were vampires." Rin reminded.

"So," Kagome chuckled. "I was close!"

"Yeah right!"

"Anyways, look at this!" Kagome pointed to an opened page, directly at a large dog shaped creature that held a crescent moon over the forehead. "It looks like a girl dog."

"Let me see that," Rin reached for the tome, drawing it nearer to her and tilted her head in contemplation. "You're right. It does."

"It reads she was over seven meters high. That's about...,"

Rin gasped, "Over twenty feet!"

"T-Twenty feet?"

"Was this some sort of alternate version of them?" Rin pondered.

"It says that um..., they could transform into this true form whenever necessary. Do you think they can still become like this, like, a huge ass dog?"

"I don't know," Rin replied. "This is fascinating, yeah?"

"It's freaking cool is what it is!" Kagome rhapsodically admitted. "Look at how powerful they are," she pointed out. "They are the ones highest in the food chain. They are the ones most feared."

"So then, the snake ones don't stand a chance, right?"

"I would imagine so, unless," Kagome turned and looked Rin deeply in the eyes. "Somehow, something has changed."

Rin returned her gaze, puzzled, "B-But how?"

Kagome turned back to the large book in her lap, "I dunno," They sat there for a moment, pondering in companionable silence, until Kagome sat the book down to her side. "I need to show you something else. Something really cool but kinda weird."

Rin lifted a brow at that and watched as Kagome lifted both her palms up in front of her, taking a deep breath, and slowly closed her eyes. She was silent and all Rin could hear was the rustling wind of the night and the chirping sound of crickets nearby. "W-What are you doing?" At once, Kagome's hands began to luminesce in a lavender hue. Radiating a warmth that even Rin could feel from her proximity. She gasped, "Kagome?!"

She huffed and smirked, "If I concentrate enough," suddenly the light poured from her hands and formed a thin circle around them. "I can make it grow."

"Kagome!" Rin exclaimed, looking upward as tiny little gleams of sparkling light flickered throughout the circle. "W-What is this?"

Kagome opened her eyes and she too gazed around it. "All I know is I was scared one day. Thinking about Inuyasha and out of no where my hands started to glow. And suddenly I felt safe again."

"It feels safe," Rin said exuberantly. Flickers of light sparkled in her widened eyes. "Kind of like a covering." She turned again toward Kagome. "You think Inuyasha brings this out of you somehow?"

"If you can have dreams," she turned and grinned towards her best friend. "... I suppose I can have my own kind of power too!"

They both chortled, acceptant of what is and what was happening right before their eyes. Now and for tomorrow.

A few days later, Rin and Kagome sat out on the open bleachers of SU's football stadium in support of Koga playing for the home team. Miroku and Sango sat directly in front of Rin, Kagome, and Sheensa.

"You had one job Jake, come on!" Sango shrieked, lurching forward. "You've got time!"

"I'm so bored! Why does she make us come to these?" Sheensa sighed. "What time does the party start again?"

"At ten," Rin reminded. "The game is almost over."

"Oh, come on it's not that bad," Kagome replied. "Let's go SU!"

Miroku turned around and suddenly hissed in pain. "Ow," His left hand was covering the right one as he gripped it tightly. "I'm surprised you stayed this long Sheensa."

"What's wrong with your hand Miroku?" Rin asked.

Miroku held his right hand out, stretching his fingers. "It's kind of been bothering me lately."

"I have told him for weeks he needs to see a hand specialist and he has brushed it off." Sango reprimanded. "Now he's forced to go because I scheduled an appointment myself for him. Especially being that you have become quite listless lately."

Miroku rested his head on her shoulder, dramatic. "You're too good to me Sango."

"Oh hush now!"

"That's odd," Kagome tilted her head, eyes fixed on Miroku's hand. "Something's not right."

"What? With my hand?" Miroku huffed. "Well thank you captain obvious."

"No, I mean," Kagome shook her head and looked right, towards Rin. "I mean, it's..., it's nothing."

Miroku leaned forward, "Well thank you nurse, you know, for your expertise."

Sheensa chuckled. "Don't be such an ass."

"Don't worry about me okay. I'll be fine." Miroku reassured and turned back around.

"What did you see Kagome?" Rin whispered.

"I can't tell right now," Kagome replied. "It's not something evil though, it's..., something else."

"Something else?"

Bankotsu arrived, followed by Naraku, and sat next to Rin, Kagome, and Sheensa. "Yo!"

"Bros!" Miroku greeted. "I would give you my hand but, you know."

Bankotsu shook his head, "Dude, you're fine. How are you holding up?"

"Damn thing is getting worse." he answered, presenting his hand in an upward motion.

"And we are going to see a doctor about it." Sango firmly reminded.

"You've got a good one Miroku." Bankotsu said.

Miroku eyed Sango with a nod and grin. "For sure."

Sango blushed and turned Miroku's head forward. "Eyes on the field."

"And bossy too." Naraku muttered.

Sango darted her vexed eyes behind her. "You got something to say?"

Naraku quickly shook his head, waving his hands in defense.

Bankotsu looked over to the quiet girl seated next to him. "Enjoying the game?"

"I am actually," Rin replied in a half smile. "How are you?"

"Better now." His lips quirked in a simper.

Rin huffed and turned forward, eyes on the field.

"Just throw the damn ball already!" Sango shrieked.

"I heard your friend knows her way around a good game of football," Bankotsu said humorously. "But something tells me you're just here for support."

Rin chortled. "Something like that."

"It's good to see you alive and well."

Rin turned right and presented him a genuine smile. "You as well." He only replied with a stare. Eyes glued to hers, studying her for some time. "W-What is it?"

"Your beauty is painful," he huffed. "Something you can only see but never feel," he pivoted his entire frame towards her. "...or have for yourself."

She swallowed hard and blinked her eyes clear. "You know that I am thankful for you but,..."

"Don't do that," he said at once. "I wasn't asking for sympathy or even a reply. I just wanted you to know. That's all."

Rin opened her mouth to reply but quickly closed it.

"You know I have a lot of respect for him. I just hope he's treating you right," he started shaking his head in thought. "Especially with the fact that he's always gone."

"B-But why do you care so much?"

"Why not?" he asked with a lifted brow. "You're a really nice person Rin. I guess I was too late to find that out."

"Or maybe you just want her because the most wanted guy on campus has her." Naraku intruded. "Isn't that called something?"

"Shut up!" Bankotsu barked, turning right toward Naraku. "Mind your business."

"I'm trying to save you brother, before Sesshomaru returns and lops off your head."

"Yo!" Miroku interjected, turning behind him. "I think he'd really do it too. Dude is kinda scary. Ouch! Why'd you do that Sango?"

Sango had her hand high up above the back of his head. "Mind your business also."

"No! It's okay, really." Rin pleaded and placed her palms over his lapped ones. "Thank you. You're very kind for saying that and you kicked ass that night! I'll never forget it."

"You're welcome Rin, seriously." He watched her nod in reply before turning over to Naraku who appeared to still be chastising him, off in his own conversation.

"Well aren't you a hot commodity." She heard Kagome say. Rin darted warning eyes at her. Kagome raised her hands up in defense. "I'm just saying, you really are hot."

"You pay the price of good looks Rin," Sheensa added. "When one falls the rest will surely follow. Just like the domino effect."

Rin scoffed and simply rolled her eyes at that.

Sango leaped out of her seat, "AND THAT'S A TOUCHDOWN! LET'S GO!" Others around stood, shouting cheers and hoots. "Did you guys see that? Did you see it? Koga scored at the last five seconds of the game!"

Sheensa rolled her eyes. Half-clapping, half-enthused. "Yay!"

"Oh, come on. You might hate him but the man can play a good game of football, am I right?"

Sheensa crinkled her little lips together and gave her two apathetic thumbs up.

"Come on guys, I need to change my clothes for the after-party." Sango looked over to Rin and Kagome. "You guys coming with? I really need more eyes on what to wear tonight."

Kagome turned to Rin, who already had her eyes on her, and nodded. "Sure, why not!"

"You got something in that closet for me?" Sheensa asked as they all stepped down from the bleachers, heading towards the exit of the stadium.

"Of course I do! How about you?" Sango pointed toward Rin. "You're wearing that?"

Rin shrugged her shoulders and scanned over her outfit. "What's wrong with this?"

"It's a frat party!" Sheensa bellowed. "Show a little skin."

Rin chorlted, "For what even?"

Sheensa rolled her eyes at that and ranted on of the particulars of said party until they reached the center of what students call the 'Long Walk', some yards away from the main buildings of the campus. "It's not like you're married to him or anything. Best to keep your options open just in case."

"You don't know anything. What if he wants to marry her!" Kagome defended. "What if Inuyasha wants to marry me?"

Sheensa paused and turned around, followed by Sango. "Marriage?" She questioned incredulously. "You both have only known them for what..., a couple months?"

"A man always knows though," Sango interjected. "Even in the beginning."

"You both think they see your relationships as that serious?"

"Yes!" Rin answered rather quickly.

"Pretty sure." Kagome answered confidently.

"Damn, well, I stand corrected." Sheensa realized then blinked her eyes over, somewhat lost in her own reverie. "But, I am concerned for you two. Bankotsu does somewhat have a point. They're like never here. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Remember," Sango added. "They are out there doing important things. Not everyone has time to lallygag around on campus all semester."

"I'm not even saying that, I'm just saying-..."

"What was that?" Sango announced, startled.

Kagome took in a sharp gasp and Rin darted her eyes up at her. "What is it Kagome?"

"G-Get, everyone get behind me!"

"For what? What's going on?" Sheensa questioned, skeptical. "Uh, um, w-what's with your fingers?"

Rin looked down at the light purple glow that emitted from Kagome's fingers. It began to spread past her fingers and filled out the whole of her hands. She had her eyes closed and as the light grew, it quickly encircled around them. "Something's wrong," She stood directly behind Kagome and attempted to calm her breathing. "This isn't a dream, is it?"

She saw Kagome shake her head, "No! It isn't."

Sango lurched over and stood directly behind Kagome. "Sheensa! Get your ass over here."

"Okay, okay! Fine." Sheensa quickly squeezed in between the two. "Can somebody tell me what in the fuck is going on?"

Suddenly, a minacious aura enveloped around them. Thick in its atmosphere, almost asphyxiating, and a duo of cackling sounded about around them.

"Who's there?" Sango asked.

Right in front of their eyes, two large humanoid creatures materialized. Both appeared human with the exception of their eyes and height. Slitted amber pupils with fiery red sclerae peaked around. They were sniffing the air and had yet to land eyes on the four trembling girls who fell completely silent since their arrival.

"Riku! The dog isn't here you dimwit," one said and slapped the other over the shoulder. "But you're right, I can smell 'em."

"Which one Kai?" Riku laughed lowly.

"Sesshomaru!"

Rin gasped sharply and wrapped her arms tightly around Kagome.

"Are those the demons?" Sheensa whispered.

"Shh!" Kagome muttered.

Riku and Kai darted their eyes forward. "Just four little human girls."

"Should we eat them or keep them?" Riku asked as if talking of the weather.

"Aw, but they're too pretty to eat," Kai said, taking several steps in front of Kagome's barrier. His eyes scanned over its' entirety then he huffed a laugh. "The hell is this supposed to do?"

Riku walked forward, looking it over as well with a lifted brow. "It's pretty. Just like her!" His eyes were wild-eyed and manic, piercing through, straight at Kagome.

"Leave us alone!" Sango demanded.

"Don't listen to him!" Kagome said, eyes still closed, shut tight.

"And what are you-, ouch!" Riku screeched after attempting to point his thick scaly finger through the barrier. "That actually hurt."

Kai turned from Riku towards Kagome. Piqued by this development. "Who are you, wench?"

"Step back!" Rin barked. "We're not the ones you want to cause trouble with."

"Oh, really?" Kai flashed her a curious brow. He then narrowed his eyes in thought. "You! There's something about you. Something about you lot and I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Let me have 'em," Riku urged. "Stupid girl burned my fing-..."

"You fools!" Another materialized in front of the group, equally as tall and insidious. His hair was bright red, long, and wavy; Spiraling down toward his calfs. Several others of the demons materialized around the field. "Can you not see who they are?"

"Dai-san, that girl has some kind of barrier that burned my finger, see!"

Dai slapped Riku's finger out of his line of vision and scowled at him. "Pathetic! You imbeciles! That is Sesshomaru's mate!" He pointed directly at Rin, who was tucked underneath Kagome within the barrier. "The fools learned to hide their scents but not their human mate's? Take them, NOW!"

Rin stepped from behind Kagome. "If you come any closer, there will be hell to pay!"

Dai released a sword from his side. His lips quirked, smirking wickedly. He walked over, close enough to not touch the barrier. He looked to be sniffing over it and furrowed his brows. "What kind of wizardry is this?"

"Don't touch it Dai-san!"

"Hold your tongue!" Dai grin mischievously and narrowed his eyes again over at Rin. "Where's Sesshomaru?"

Rin scowled at him, refusing to utter a single word.

"I will kill you and your friends. This pathetic barrier means nothing to the power of my sword. Either die here or tell me where the dog-demons are."

* The Only One - Evanescence *

Rin gazed up at Kagome who already had her eyes opened, as tears began streaming from her eyes. Rin took in a sharp breath as her eyes too began to fill. She watched Kagome shake her head in response and in that moment, a staunch mutuality sung between them like a silent opera. What was unsaid was easily felt. Easily agreed upon. It was the confirmation that heralded their destined fates.

"What say you then?" Dai spat.

"Come to think of it, doesn't this one resemble that officer we gutted some time ago, eh?" Riku mordaciously recalled, pointing towards Sango.

Sango, standing directly behind Kagome, briskly stepped forward. Her voice trembling, "M-My F-Father?!"

Kai shrugged his shoulders and Riku huffed a maniacal laugh. "Fraid so."

"SON OF A BITCH!" Sango leaped forward, far out of the barrier, and landed her fist against Riku's cheek, quickly knocking him to the ground.

"Sango! NO!" Kagome and Rin screamed.

"I can't do this! I can't be here!" Sheensa brushed between Rin and Kagome, dashing through the barrier. Before Rin could even reach for her, within a millisecond Kai darted over and extended his claws that sprung from his fingers and sliced at Sheensa's throat in a rapid motion.

"SHEENSA!" Rin yelped. Sheensa turned around, voiceless and gasping. She suddenly dropped to her knees. Rin rushed forward, out of the barrier, and caught Sheensa before she landed flat on her face. "Sheensa, NO! W-Why would you,.. why did you run?" Rin turned her over and assessed the gaping wound on her neck. Blood squirted out from the right of her wound. "He hit your carotid, I'm going to apply pressure, okay!" Rin quickly placed her hand over it and nodded," It's going to be okay, I promise! You're going to be okay." She held her eyes over hers and shook the thought of looking away. Sheensa was terror-stricken, beyond panicked, afraid to..., "You're not going to die. Not here!"

Rin heard the groan of Kagome and turned to see one of the demons lying on top of her. The barrier was gone. Sango was pinned face down onto the ground as Riku held her bound. 'Damnit! This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't-...'

Suddenly, a distorted roar crackled from high up above. Muffling even the inner most parts of hearing. Quickly, thereafter, followed the brightness of a sheer green light, fulgent and radiant in its' appearance, that quickly pierced through Rin's line of vision. Before she could even realize what was happening, she was knocked over, prone, by some capable power. She could hear the groans of those beasts and she slowly sat up on her knees. She coughed, expelling some airborne debris from her throat as her vision began to clear again.

High up above, amongst the smoke that obnubilated the open field, was...

"Sesshomaru!"

The brilliancy of his great power scintillated over the darkness of the night skies in perfect contrast to the scattered mess down below. He was dressed in an all white kimono. Dazzling as he was. From what she could see, he had returned not like himself, but as he had been in her dreams. A purple colored crescent moon presented his forehead, two magenta stripes on each cheek, pointed ears on each side and the power burning from him could scorch, not even in comparison to the sun itself, it seemed.

Rin looked over to Dai who was still standing, staring up at what everyone who had not been struck down by his power could see. For a moment there, even as large of a demon he was, Dai's pretentious demeanor reduced some. She quickly scanned the field, noting that the lot of those cunning beast lay obliterated on the grounds. Kagome and Sango had been released, gaping up at what they too saw. There was complete silence then and Sesshomaru held his eyes fixed over Dai's as his long silver luminescent hair flowed freely in the late night air.

Sesshomaru landed soundlessly on his feet. "What a mess you snakes continue to make."

"Well," Dai replied. "If it isn't Sesshomaru himself. I am not who you are looking for, but I can certainly bring you to him."

Sesshomaru tilted his head. His face was as still as a stone. No emotion, no alteration in his expression whatsoever. He appeared cold, deeply impassive, and indeed quite frightening. "Lead the way."

Dai let out a malevolent guffaw. "Would it really be that simple for you? Without a fight?" After he heard no reply from Sesshomaru he continued. "Well, you're not much for words. Maybe you will talk after this." Quickly he sprinted over toward Rin, who was still positioned on her knees, with the tip of his blade at her throat. She gasped by the sudden movement. "This is your little mate, isn't it?"

Sesshomaru's eyes were already on Dai but he had not moved from his place, seemingly unfazed by his threat. "Are you so bored?"

Dai scoffed, "The hell could you mean?"

"You wish to threaten these humans with your drawn out inimical prose. And you really believed they'd give you entail. Deplorable!"

"If my knowledge serves me correctly, you are no better than us!"

"We are far from comparison." His breviloquent manner of speaking was much more terse than what she had witnessed of him. He was direct, unperturbed, and as stoic as ever.

Dai flashed him an irritated frown and flicked the tip of his sword slightly, causing Rin to wince in pain. "Have you simply come to mock me?"

Sesshomaru darted straight forward, in a short burst, in front of Dai and Rin, with the legerity of a peregrine falcon, ready to protect what was his and conquer what already was not. "Lead the way to your leader." He stood there, dour and unaroused, even by the tangy fresh scent of Rin's blood.

"And it does not move you even in the least bit that your pretty little mate sits," Dai shifted his lips in a sardonic smirk and glanced down at Rin. "...at such a position on her knees..., beneath me."

"What do you want?!" Sesshomaru boomed, detestation fraught in his tone now.

"Drop the sword!"

Sesshomaru's pose was unaltered. Stance unmoved. His fiery eyes and growing red sclerae darkened. He was close enough to sense the hesitancy in Dai's aura, even while he posed as fearless, pretending to hold himself together.

He was afraid.

And so was his Rin, who, he had not taken one look at since his arrival.

He could feel her fear. Hear her racing heartbeat. Yet, it had not hurtled solely out of fear and trepidation alone. But of resolute.

Good.

She need not fear much longer. He had returned and would set the record straight.

"You're calling my bluff, aren't you?" Dai mused and then stiffened after hearing a lengthy powerful howl, seemingly heard over a great distance. It even made Rin shake some. "Is that?"

"You are surrounded." Sesshomaru proclaimed.

Kai limped over, clearly wounded from the blast before. "Dai-san, we could not sniff them out! T-That's the Great Dog General."

"Inu no Taishō!" Dai surmised. "He still lives?"

"What say you then?" Sesshomaru spat, vexed. Easily Rin could see his irritation of what had happened and was something no one, even, would want to rouse further.

"I-," Dai removed the sword from Rin's throat and resheathed it. Rin let out the deepest breath, falling forward onto her hands. His spurious claims fell dead on his tongue. "This will not be the last you see of us..., of me."

In an instant he vanished, as well as the remaining of who were still breathing, taking the heavy demonic aura with them.

"Kagome!" she heard Inuyasha shriek as he ran like lightening over toward her and Sango.

Sesshomaru dropped to his knees in front of Rin and firmly grasped her shoulders, pulling her forward into his arms. "Rin! I came as fast as I could."

She squeezed him tight, holding him in place for so long she was unsure of how much time had actually past. "I've missed you! I've missed you! Missed you so very much."

He pulled her away, scanning over the whole of her face. "Let me look at you."

There was relief in his eyes and that relief spread throughout his visage. His repressed emotions broke through like some sort of catharsis. Her breath caught in her throat as she set her eyes on him, as he was, for the first time. "Y-You are more beautiful than before."

"You know what I am now."

She placed a hand over his magenta stripes, feeling over the roughness of them in comparison to the softness of his skin. "Yes! You could have told me sooner. But I understand now why you waited."

She furrowed her brows up at him as his eyes shifted in concerned and he spoke, "This blood," he said and lifted her stained hands. "... it isn't yours."

"Sheensa!" Rin stood and lurched over toward the stilled body of her battered friend. "No! No! No! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Kagome rushed over, followed by Sango, and kneeled down, bawling in tears.

"Rin! W-What d-do we d-do?"

"Check her pulse!" Rin immediately placed two fingers over the lateral side of Sheensa's neck. Kagome placed two over her wrist.

Sango sat above her head and began caressing her hair. "Sheensa, please! Don't leave us like this. I'm such an idiot! It's all my fault."

"It's not your fault Sango," Kagome said whilst checking for a pulse and for any signs of breathing.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, standing directly behind her. "What happened to her?"

Toga had arrived and looked over the entirety of the scene around them. "Damn snakes! Why don't they leave these kids out of this?"

"We have to start CPR! C-C-Come on Kagome!" Rin stuttered and placed two trembling folded hands over Sheensa's chest. "Come on, damnit!"

Kagome shook her head as the bottom of her lip quivered. "S-She's g-gone, Rin."

"NO! I won't accept that! I left her here, I-..."

"STAND BACK." Sesshomaru boomed.

"NO! What for?" Rin barked and started applying compressions over her stiff chest. Rin could see the vacancy in her eyes. Could feel the coldness that crept underneath her skin. The blood that stained the grass below her. "We have a duty! Call nine-one-one, t-they can bring an AED."

"RIN!"

She stopped abruptly and gaped up at Sesshomaru in genuine aporia, doubtful. Her lower lip quivered as tears were incessant in their falling down her cheeks. "B-But,..."

Sesshomaru looked down at her sternly, in a way she had never seen of him and in an instant she was on her feet, along with Kagome and Sango. She took a hesitant step back, out of his way. He released a different sword from his hilt and held it over Sheensa's lifeless body.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sango questioned, hysterical.

"Quiet now!" Toga boomed. "Son, do you see the minions of the underworld?"

Sesshomaru nodded and in and instant he swiped left as a blue light followed after the sword. Everyone present just stood there in silence. Rin could hear the thumping of her heart in her ears. She felt her eyes widen as the jagged lacerations upon Sheensa's neck began to fade away. Rin kneeled down, attempting to obtain a closer look for herself, followed by Kagome and Sango.

"Do you see this?" Rin directed her question to the two. "T-They are..., they're gone!"

Kagome quickly looked up toward Sesshomaru. "How did you..., H-How did you-..."

Rin and Sango gasped! Sheensa's chest rose high and she began to breathe again. Coughing violently as the color returned to her cheeks.

"It can't be!" Sango exclaimed.

"The hell..., happened..., to me?" Sheensa uttered through coughs. "Dude! I thought..., I was dead."

"Sheensa!" Kagome exclaimed, embracing her tightly by the neck. "You're alive!"

"Well yeah..., clearly." Sheensa raised a brow. "Why are you guys all crying?"

Rin felt every one of her hair follicles rise on its' ends. This was impossible! Inconceivable! She lifted her eyes up at Sesshomaru again who already had his on her. He gave her a quick nod. She looked over towards Toga and Inuyasha, who both nodded the same. She turned back to Sesshomaru and mouthed, "Thank you so much."

And there it was,

Absolution!

Staring down at her. He had not sinned against her. He had not lied. For all of what he attempted to keep from her knowing. Certainly he had every right to keep her ignorant for so many months. Even now, as she was just beginning to know what he was truly capable of.

"Son!" Toga said and winked an eye at his eldest. "She is yours to protect. Now, more than ever before."

Sesshomaru stiffened.

Woah! Guys!

You do not know how excited I am to release this chapter!

Lots happened I know.

Please enjoy, and stay tuned :)

PS: No worries InuKag fans (he shall mark her soon:))