Chapter 15

I do not own Inuyasha

"Lord Sesshoumaru!"

He heard her call his name. It was odd that she put so much faith and trust within him, even though she knew he was a demon. Of course no one could stand against his might and if he wished for anyone to live, they would, but for her to believe that he would save her only because she asked was foolish if not down right insulting.

However, if she were to die, then his pique of interest would have died with her. Sesshoumaru could smell Inuyasha and Ziah. They had to be the ones making the girl feel frightened. Sesshoumaru hurried to the girl's room, knowing that his time was short. He didn't want to, but he had to run to the girl's side in order to save her worthless life.

Rin wasn't afraid of death, so she didn't flinch or even close her eyes when Ziah came from the sky and formed one of her very deadly whips of light. Rin should have pretended to panic, but she couldn't let the demon get that sort of satisfaction from slaying her. Unfortunately, Ziah noticed how odd the girl was. 'What is wrong with this child?'

But because Rin would not close her eyes, she saw a flash of beautiful white light hover above her and a sword created from a large fang formed to block the attack.

"Lord Sesshoumaru?" Ziah was beyond baffled. A human girl was in Sesshoumaru's presence and he drew his great and beloved sword to protect her. 'What is going on here? Why would my lord save the life of a mortal?' "What is a human doing here?"

Sesshoumaru grew angry once he saw his brother bleeding and unconscious in Ziah's arms. "I think the more appropriate question would be 'what exactly happened' and 'what demon is powerful enough to defeat Inuyasha and send you fleeing to me?'"

Ziah was most curious about the mortal girl, but she could tell that Sesshoumaru was concerned and angry about the condition of his brother. "Kouga of the wolf tribe."

"Kouga?" Sesshoumaru couldn't believe that either of them were so badly defeated by a simple wolf demon. "How did he accomplish such a thing?"

"He had some sort of weapon that unleashed a power similar to the wind scar."

"Really?" Sesshoumaru became quite interested. He of course wasn't afraid, but interested.

"I got Inuyasha out of the way, but he was badly injured by the blast. If he was directly hit with it, then he'd be dead."

Sesshoumaru had seen his brother injured before, but not quite that badly. His skin was ripped, burned, and pouring blood. There was a chance that he very well could have died. 'How could you be so foolish and let this happen, little brother?' It angered Sesshoumaru to see him in such poor condition. "And is that the end of the tale, Ziah?"

"No, my lord." Ziah was ashamed, but she could not withhold so much information from her lord that was so important. "They managed to get the Shikon Jewel."

'The Shikon Jewel?' Sesshoumaru was told of the plot by Myouga. He thought Inuyasha and Ziah would be able to handle themselves. Instead of destroying the wolves, he was associating with a mortal. "Rin."

"Yes, my lord?" She had been listening carefully to their conversation, wondering when Ziah would once again try to strike her. 'There's no way she would be able to recognize me. I dulled her sense of smell and was dressed like a man. There's no way for her to know that it was me.'

"It's time to prove your worth." He didn't know that she would have any use and he still wasn't quite convinced. He would offer her the chance to prove herself. "Take care of Inuyasha. I expect him to make a full recovery."

"Yes, my lord." She bowed her head. "I will do my best!"

Ziah's mouth was hanging open from the horror of watching Sesshoumaru treat Rin like a normal servant. 'What did I miss? How is this possibly happening?'

"Ziah, follow me."

Ziah looked at Rin on Inuyasha's side and saw how she observed his wounds without panic. She didn't fear her own death or anyone else. It was rare that a human possessed such qualities. 'I have to know who she is.' Ziah had to stop with the spying appearance and followed Sesshoumaru into another room. "I am sorry that I lost the jewel."

"That was Inuyasha's responsibility. I care nothing about it." Sesshoumaru never needed the power of the jewel with the Tetsusiaga on his side. It was no wonder that other demons came seeking an edge over him. "Did Kouga only come for the jewel?"

"Yes. I think he wanted the power in order to defeat you."

"Then I'll have to disappoint him." Sesshoumaru had every intention on making Kouga pay. It wasn't only to make up for nearly killing Inuyasha, but the blatant disrespect. Inuyasha and Ziah belonged to him. An attack against them might as well have been an attack on him personally.

With no more immediate questions being asked and Inuyasha being taken care of, Ziah couldn't help but ask. "What about the girl, my lord?"

"What of her?" If Ziah of all people assumed the worst in him concerning his relationship with the girl, he was going to have to hurt someone and Jaken wasn't present.

"Why is she here?" She sounded baffled, not like she had an accusation.

"You mean you don't know?" Sesshoumaru was a bit surprised. Ziah had never tried to deceive him. She wouldn't be any good at it. So if she acted like she didn't know Rin, then perhaps she truly didn't.

'Why would I know a mortal girl? He knows how much I despise them.' She tried to think of how she could have any connection to the girl, but there literally was none to her knowledge "No, my lord. Should I?"

'That's interesting. Ziah would never lie to me under any circumstances. She doesn't recognize Rin at all, yet I know that she scratched Rin and nearly killed her. If not for me, the girl would be dead.' "If you don't know, then why did you try to kill her?"

"I was merely acting on my instincts." Ziah didn't like humans, but she was not completely irrational towards them. When she saw the girl, she was confused, not suspicious. But something inside of her told her to attack the girl. It was like she was dangerous. Of course Ziah wasn't afraid of the girl, but she knew that she couldn't trust her. "They're never wrong."

Sesshoumaru knew she was really sharp, but Rin couldn't have been any danger. She was nothing more than a weak mortal. "Are you sure you were acting on instincts and not a jealous rage?"

"What would I have to be jealous for?" Her eyes bucked and she had to stop herself from laughing. "Oh, no! Lord, Sesshoumaru! I would never believe that you would be linked with a mortal in any way. I know you. I know what we are to one another." 'Why would he ever think something like that? I bet it was that idiotic fool, Jaken. He always overreacts.' She couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, Sesshoumaru!"

He was still baffled. "Yet your instincts told you to attack this girl?"

"My initial reaction might seem irrational, but usually who I want dead needs to die. It's like I can smell the trouble on them." Ziah shrugged. She could care less about the girl personally. "I would warn you about the girl, but it's not as if anything can harm you."

"She's nothing more than a mystery to work out."

Ziah couldn't imagine how a human managed to catch his attention, considering that he was obsessed with taking the world for himself for the past two hundred years. She was a bit intrigued herself. "If you let me in on the mystery, perhaps I can help you."

"You've already helped quite a bit. I think I'd like to handle it from here on."

She didn't press the matter any further. She was in no way intimidated. "And what about Kouga?"

"Track him. Find out where his tribe is, but do not engage him. We'll wait for Inuyasha to recover."

"You can destroy them all with your sword. Why wait for your brother?"

"Because I know him well and I won't deny him the satisfaction of revenge."

Ziah actually thought that was terribly sweet of Sesshoumaru. "I will search for Kouga. I promise I will find him and once we all find them, we'll destroy them."

Rin had a lot of experience attending to wounds. She had been involved in many battles where her comrades died in her arms from loss of blood, but she had been able to save the lives of many comrades. If she had to amputate, she would do it without blinking. If she needed to dig poisonous demon teeth out of someone, she didn't have a problem. Taking care of Inuyasha wasn't going to be a challenge, especially since she knew he was more durable than a human.

Inuyasha was hardly breathing, so she had to hurry. Rin ran all across the castle trying to find bandages, water, herbs, and towels. She could have cared less for Inuyasah's life, but it was apparently important to her lord and his will dominated above all else. She worked so fast that her hands did the work without thinking too much about it. Only one thought repeated in her head over and over again. 'I cannot fail him!'

She took a deep breath once she had gotten the bleeding to stop. She had rested Inuyasha's head on a towel, but it was soaked with his own blood and she thought it was unsanitary. She lifted his head to set another towel under it, but his eyes flickered open. "Inuyasha?"

"Kagome?"

"No." 'Is he dreaming of an old lover?' Rin wasn't one for romantics, but she suddenly found an appreciation for love. "Who is Kagome?"

Inuyasha was still disorianted, but he could tell from her voice that she wasn't Kagome. It was hard to concentrate, but he focused in on her as much as he could and looked deeply into her familiar brown eyes. "You!"

Rin was shocked. 'Does he recognize me?' She reached for her weapon out of habit, but then realized she was defenseless. If she called on Lord Sesshoumaru again to save her, Inuyasha would have made her into the enemy. 'I have to do something!'

Luckily for her, Inuyasha's eyes faded out and he slipped back into a deep sleep. It was possible that he was confusing her for someone else, but Rin couldn't take that chance.

She got up and left Inuyasha in order to explore the castle a bit. There had to be weapons somewhere that she could use in order to silence Inuyasha permanently. She couldn't stroll up to her room with a sword in case Sesshoumaru spotted her, so she made a trip to the supplies room and gathered some more towels. Then after looking in a couple of rooms, she found a massive storage room with tons of familiar weapons. They all looked like they were excellently crafted, but they couldn't have been as powerful as her weapons that were made from demon corpses. She settled for a very fine, but short sword and tucked it in between two towels and tried to sneak back up to her room as quietly as possible.

"Rin."

She stopped and turned to face her lord quickly. "Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru?"

"How is Inuyasha doing?"

"I'm not sure, my lord." Rin couldn't afford to be completely honest in case she had to kill Inuyasha herself. "He seems to be stable, but he could always make a turn for the worst. His injuries were very severe."

"I have confidence in your abilities. Besides, if he dies then I have no reason to keep you here at my side."

Rin wasn't really afraid of anything, but a fear of loneliness overtook her heart and squeezed onto it tightly. "And why is that, my lord?"

"Because you promised that you could be useful to me. You can't fail on your first task." Sesshoumaru was certainly curious about her, but that didn't mean he really wanted her to stay. Everyone had to pull their own weight and he was turned off by her once she called his name for help. He was not a servant to be summoned. He wouldn't have it.

'This isn't good. I have to keep Inuyasha alive if I want to stay by his side! That means I just can't kill him right now, but I'll be killed for sure once Inuyasha reveals my secret.' "Yes, my lord."

"And clean yourself off, Rin. There's no reason to be drowning in the stench of Inuyasha's blood."

"Yes, my lord." She bowed again and rushed back up to her room. Inuyasha was indeed a problem, but so was killing him. She would have to wait until he awakened. Then she could decide if his life could be spared.

In the meantime, she did her best to clean Inuyasha's blood from off the floor and off of herself. There was a very nice bath in the castle that she took advantage of. She didn't realize how much blood was on her until she was in the water. It wasn't really anything for her to be covered in the blood of her victims and it didn't bother her. No matter what she did or who she pretended to be, she was always going to be a stone cold killer. Perhaps that's why she felt so comfortable around demons. They really weren't that different.

Rin considered trying to disguise herself by wrapping up her face while she stayed with Inuyasha, but she knew that wouldn't work for very long. Sesshoumaru would most certainly be suspicious of her if she tried to wear a disguise. She would have to simply take her chances with Inuyasha.

She watched over him, determined not to get one wink of sleep while there was a chance he might expose her. He was a full blooded demon. He would wake up soon and then she could interrogate him properly. She just needed to stop him before he spoke to his brother. She kept her short sword hidden under the towel, but she would often reach under it and grip the sword while she stared intensely at Inuyasha's throat. She was so prepared to kill him that she almost wanted to do it.

Just as the dawn began to hit Inuyasha's face from the opened balcony door, his eyes slowly began to open. He first noticed the scent of a human whom he found to be pleasant, but he could not admit that out loud. He then realized that his head was elevated on a pair of warm thighs and he almost began to blush. Then he noticed the cold steel pressed against his throat. He looked up and saw that he was staring into the eyes of the exact same demon slayer who had bested him and Ziah. "So it is you?"

"One more word, Inuyasha, and you won't live to give away my identity." She was incredibly threatening and she was obviously capable of making good on her threats.

"Fair enough." Inuyasha looked around the room. He didn't recognize it, but he did smell his brother's scent in the area. Ziah's scent was around, but he could sense that she wasn't actually there...wherever he was. "Why are you taking care of me? I thought you wanted me dead."

"Perhaps I still do, but I have been ordered by Sesshoumaru to watch over you."

Inuyasha laughed weakly to himself. "I take it he doesn't know that you kill demons for a living."

"And it will stay that way." She pressed the sword tighter to his neck to prove how serious she was.

"Why are you with him?" he asked. "He doesn't like humans."

"So I keep hearing." Rin wasn't so convinced about Sesshoumaru's hatred for humans. Whatever the problem he claimed there to be, she was certain that they could overcome it. "He saved my life. I stumbled into a village after I was poisoned and the people thought I was a sign from the gods. I was his human sacrifice."

Inuyasha laughed again, wishing he could have seen the look on his brother's face once the villagers told him they prepared a human for him. It must have been downright hysterical once he realized his human was also dying. "And so he took you because he doesn't like to do what's expected and slaughtered the entire village?"

Rin was a little surprised. "You know your brother well, Inuyasha."

"I know him very well." Inuyasha remembered that Ziah scratched her. It wasn't severe, but it didn't need to be. Ziah's poison was deadly enough to kill just about any demon. They were both sure the demon slayer would be dead in an hour tops and yet she was nursing him back to health. "Sesshoumaru could probably tell whose poison was in your body. He's probably trying to figure you out and once he does, you'll be killed. He's going to probably ask me about you."

"Then I guess I should kill you now."

Inuyasha smiled. He had never met a woman quite like her, especially a human. She was so strong and fearless that he found her to be amusing. She honestly thought she was in control. In that way, she reminded him of Kikyou. But she was much more rougher than Kikyou. Kikyou fought out of duty. This demon slayer was a true warrior. "No wonder why he keeps you around. I find you to be very intriguing."

"Sesshoumaru doesn't know about this side of me. I'm an ordinary human as far as he's concerned." She could be an ordinary woman around Sesshoumaru. That was the only way for her to be safe! No one would see her as the orphan or the freak. She would only be Rin. "The demon slayer that attacked you is dead."

That truly disappointed Inuyasha. He wasn't really looking forward to a fight, but he did like that she was so cunning, cruel, yet beautiful. "Ziah didn't recognize you?"

"No, though she did attack me."

"She must not have gotten a good look into your eyes." Her eyes were big, bright, but dark brown. Though on first glance they appeared innocent, it was as if Inuyasha could see her endless battles through her eyes. They might have been ordinary eyes to many people, but they were extraordinary and unmistakable to Inuyasha.

"Who is Kagome?"

Kagome wasn't anyone he had thought of for a long while. Once he used her to know if he remembered what it was like to care for someone, he let her go. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you called me her name." Rin was trying to figure out how she could possibly take advantage of the situation. "I assume it's an old lover."

"No. She's someone who looks like an old lover..." 'It's odd that I found a human who was the reincarnation of Kikyou and now I find a woman who looks very similar to Kagome.'

"A human?" she asked surprised. "You fall in love with humans?"

"Not anymore!" Humans were weak and fragile creatures who only knew how to hurt and betray one another. Inuyasha should have been able to protect Kikyou, but he did sometimes resent the fact that she couldn't save herself. Against any demon, she could survive. When it came to competing against a worthless and common bandit, she was nothing.

"How did your lover die, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha was a little bit surprised that she guessed correctly, but it wasn't a very hard thing to guess. Mortals died. Nothing could be done about it. "Bandits."

Rin could remember the day her family was taken from her. There was so much blood everywhere. She still didn't know why she survived if everyone else she knew had to die. "Bandits killed my parents and my brothers. I became an orphan and the villagers were cruel to me. One day I decided to leave and stumbled into a village of demon slayers. I had nothing to lose, so I joined the fight. Apparently I had a lot of issues to work through, because I turned out to be a natural killer."

"So why are you serving a demon now?"

"Because I realized after the villagers tried to use me as a human sacrifice, that all creatures have the capacity for good and evil. It was ridiculous to engage in a war against the demons when one saved my life and the humans tried to destroy me."

Inuyasha could relate to her all too well. "So you cast aside your humanity?"

"No. I'll always be human, Inuyasha. That's fine. I can still be who I want to be. It has nothing to do about who I was when I was born."

It seemed like such a simple thing, but Inuyasha had only heard of a few people who had ever accepted him completely for who he was and it most certainly wasn't Sesshoumaru. Rin was extremely tough, but she did have a kindness and a wisdom that reminded him of Kikyou and his mother. It would have been a shame to actually meet another decent human and have to watch her die at the hands of his brother.

"Will you agree to keep my secret, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha knew that keeping a secret from his brother could have resulted in death, but he was willing to take the risk for Rin. She would keep things interesting. "I agree."

Rin removed the sword and placed it back under the towel. 'That's one burden off my shoulders.'

But he was sad that he wouldn't be able to watch the lovely demon slayer in action. She was honestly one of the best fighters he had ever seen. "And you'll pretend to live this lie, Rin? You can give up being a killer so easily?"

'I could give up anything for Lord Sesshoumaru.' "No one must know who I was, Inuyasha. I'm starting over with this new life."

Inuyasha didn't believe her, but he was willing to play along. Perhaps it was foolish of him, but he was already growing quite fond of the new human in his life. "Okay, Rin. I won't mention anything about you being a demon slayer."

"And are you sure she was taken?"

Kohaku, Sango, and Miroku had been searching for Rin nonstop. They found a destroyed village on their journey that had her clothes and weapons. Kohaku feared the worst, but they found no body. They were able to track all of the women and children who fled, along with one man who hid when Sesshoumaru arrived and watched him slaughter everyone.

"I'm positive." The man was shaking from the thought of seeing the fierce demon destroy all of his friends. He should have died with them all, but he was too afraid to face the demon. "He took the girl with him. She was still alive at the time, but she was sick."

"I see..." Kohaku didn't know what to do, but he needed to rescue Rin somehow.

"Kohaku..." Sango placed her hand on her brother's shoulder for comfort. "I don't know how we could hope to defeat Sesshoumaru."

"It is quite the impossible task," Miroku said. "There is no demon stronger than him and no spiritual power has been enough either."

"Still!" Kohaku couldn't just leave Rin alone. He loved her with all of his being. He wished he had told her one thousand times, but he hadn't. He could only hope that he wasn't too late! "I have to save Rin. I'll do it by myself if I have to."

"Don't say such things!" Sango said. "Of course I'll help you. That's what family does."

"And I very well can't let the woman I love go off on a dangerous mission without me," Miroku said. "We'll confront Sesshoumaru together and find a way to bring Rin home."

Kohaku knew how impossible the situation was, but he smiled. "We'll bring her home, no matter what the cost. She is one of us after all."

To be continued...