Boy, Sesshoumaru is hard work! I have tried my best to get into the most stubborn Daiyoukai's mind; let me know how I've done with a review!

Thank you for reading.

I don't own Inuyasha.

Finally

Chapter One

Sesshoumaru was angry. No, perhaps furious would be a more appropriate word. And yet, somehow, even this fierce sounding word couldn't quite capture the nuances of his rage. A muscle jumped in his face, long fingers curled themselves into a tight fist, and he bit down a snarl. Letting out a long, slow breath, he carefully composed his face, unfurled his fingers and looked down his nose at an unperturbed Kaede.

"The lad has not done anything inappropriate or even unexpected, Sesshoumaru-sama. He is, in fact, a kind, hard working, and reliable young man. I do not see how I can do what you want me to."

He closed his eyes for patience. It would not do to kill the old miko. No, the consequences would be near-catastrophic. But he didn't know what to do.

It had been nearly ten years since he had first left Rin in Kaede's care. Never before had Sesshoumaru known time to be this excruciating. It was almost as if he planned all his other activities, travels and duties around his visits to Rin. To an ignorant outsider, his visits were staccato- with no apparent pattern. They could not be more wrong. Each visit was carefully thought out and meticulously planned. There was a system to deciding how much time had to elapse between each visit so that it did not seem as though he was visiting too much or too little. Lately, he had been trying to increase the time in between his visits, but it felt like the longer he went without seeing Rin, the more he wanted to. He still kept vigilant tabs on her though, which was how he knew that a certain village boy seemed to be spending increasing amounts of time with Rin. He was alarmed, when he came to the village and Rin came running to greet him, how much his scent seemed to cling to her. He had thus asked to speak to Kaede alone before going out for his routine walk with Rin. For some disturbing reason, she didn't seem to think that the boy courting Rin was a matter of agitation, and was quite firm that she would not send the boy out of the village, or even separate the two of them. Sesshoumaru did not know what more to say as he glowered down at her lined, tired, but resolved face of calm.

"This is not over."

And he was out of the little hut with a flourish of silk and youki.