Okay, I'm stressed. I am sorry bout the slowness, as usual, but school is killing me. I hate being a junior...

N.E. wayz, I was going to end the Rin(Lin)/Maru(Sesshoumaru) thing, but it's a tie! C'mon, a few more votes, peeps! I need to tilt it one way!

Rin(Lin)/Maru(Sesshoumaru) Pairing:

Yes: Two

No: Two

Six Days Later

Maru ki-yi'd as he was thrown against the wall. Baby was, as his name implied, a baby after all, and so he took awful care of the poor ex-demon. Maru was treated like an object rather than a living animal, and between Baby's abuse and horsey rides, he knew he had fractured several ribs.

"Inu-Maru, sit boy!"

Maru sat obediently. He winced as his dog stomach growled.

"Baby-sama…can I have something to eat?"

"Eat? Sure!"

The baby proffered a bowl of food to the dog, which looked rather old and unappetizing, but he dove into it ravenously, for he had not eaten in the whole time he was there.

"I forgot Baba gave the food to me, sorry," Baby said nonchalantly.

Maru rolled his eyes as he gulped the food greedily. It was much more than he could have normally eaten, but he made sure to eat every bite.

Finally, he collapsed back with a contented doggy belch. His full stomach bulged out and he had half a mind to fall asleep right there…

"Come on, Inu-Maru. I wanna see you run! Can you pull me in my wagon?"

Maru gasped.

"B-but…Baby, I must rest…please…"

The collar's electricity punished him.

"Wanna play NOW!"

The demon had no choice. He allowed the baby to harness him and leap into the giant wagon.

"Hold on," he grated, still rather irked at having to do this. He pulled with all his strength and the wagon rolled along at a steady speed of ten miles an hour.

"WHEE!" Baby yelled. It hurt Maru's ears very badly when he did that, but he kept going. When he grew tired in five minutes and rested, Baby forced him to go on with the collar.

"I cannot!" he said, starting to feel rather ill. "I do not feel well…"

His stomach twisted as if to emphasize the point. Obviously, the overripe food had not agreed with his system, and all the exertion at the moment was not helping at all, not to mention eating all the food in one sitting had been foolish. However, the collar proved Baby's point and he was forced to pull.

I feel so sick…he thought hopelessly. I cannot…I am…going…to…

With an almighty heave, Maru parted with his aged supper right on the cushioned ground. He collapsed after a few minutes in weakness, unable to move an inch. He panted hopelessly.

"PULL ME NOW!"

The brutal shock of the collar attacked him, but he not only was unable to move, but he had made up his mind not to move. The pain came again and again, sending his brain to the funny farm, but he wouldn't move.

"BABA! INU-MARU WON'T MOVE!" the baby wailed piteously. He banged on the walls and created a ruckus that stimulated the battered ex-youkai into vomiting once more before Yubaba came up to investigate.

"You filthy animal, just look at what you've done!" Yubaba snarled.

"Your…baby…did not…feed…me…" Maru groaned. "And when he did…the food made me…sick…from being so old…"

Yubaba growled. She knew she couldn't really blame it on him, no matter how much she wanted to.

"You are off this duty! It's back to tub-scrubbing for you!" she said, snapping her fingers.

Instantly, Maru was returned to his humanoid form complete with at least the moon and ears.

"Thank you, Yubaba-sama," he said, clutching his broken ribs. Those hadn't healed.

"Get out of my sight, you ruffian!"

Maru bowed, nearly crying out in agony as his ribs exploded in excruciating pain, before leaving and heading for the worker's rooms.

"Hey, Maru! Where have you been, I've been worried sick…are you okay?"

Rin didn't have much opportunity to question the ex-youkai before he fell to his knees and groaned.

"What's wrong?"

"My ribs…are injured…and I am starving…" Maru managed to say.

"Do you want a rice ball? Haku left some for you a few hours ago…"

Maru's stomach twisted sickeningly, obviously still upset from the other food he'd eaten.

"No thanks. I have eaten enough food today, if you know what I mean…"

"…Hmm…then let's get you bandaged up. Take your shirt off and I'll see how bad it is," Rin ordered. As soon as Maru pulled off his shirt, she began pressing her fingers on his flesh.

"Tell me where it hurts the most."

Maru tried to suppress his whimpers as she pressed onto several parts of his lower torso, but he cried out when she pressed a certain area on the right.

"Unh!"

"Hurts bad there, eh? Yeah, that's probably broken, cracked at best. Sorry for this in advance, but…"

With that, Rin ran her finger down the bone, causing Maru to whimper very loudly in badly suppressed pain.

"It's cracked. You're lucky it's not broken."

Continuing her diagnosis, Rin found several other cracked ribs, and a broken one right under his left pec.

"These'll sure take a while to heal. What did Yubaba have you doing?"

"Taking care of her baby."

"That must be one hell of a baby…"

"Hn."

Maru relayed his ventures to Rin as she bandaged his injured chest and covered a rather nasty gash to the head which had swollen up.

"Giant baby torture, all for a sword? That's awful. Well, rest up, Maru. You're gonna need it if you want those injuries to heal up, and you'll want them to heal so you can work. Understand?"

Maru didn't reply. He was shivering very badly and his complexion was ashen.

"I do not feel very well…" he muttered sickly. "I've never felt so much pain…I'm starting to feel really sick…"

"I keep forgetting you've got human tolerance. This is really bad pain for a human," Rin remarked worriedly. She felt his forehead.

"You don't have much of a fever, thank God for that. But you oughta rest," she said.

"H…hai," he replied, his eyes flickering. He laid down on his bed and tried to sleep through his pain…

Pretty please R&R! I know I'm a bad authoress!