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Chapter Text

The third and final moving van arrived on a Sunday, well into the evening as to avoid the earlier earned audience of the neighborhood. It was autumn and the already gloomy night was made darker by the absence of the moon. A shade of incandescent ruby lit the pavement and traveled down the street as the large vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the house.

The men were swift but it had been the wind that had favored them up until that point, howling and whipping with a timing that bordered on too coincidental to be natural. The great gusts and moans weaved and spun between the house that lined Shonen street and allowed them more than the cover of night to move the ornate pieces of furniture from the truck and into the waiting home. The red glow was steady in its glancing as the movers traveled back and forth, their legs blocking the brake lights with their pace, but one by one the job was completed without hitch or notice.

That was until the third and final van was gone, leaving only a lone figure to ascend the small steps of the paved walkway that led to the front door. Each poised step of the patent leather Oxfords made a barely-there hiss as the imposing figure moved towards his destination.

At the halfway point he paused, statuesque, though there was not a soul up to see as a luminescent hand, so pale it bordered on silver, reached out from under his cloak to clasp the “For Sale” sign from next to the path. It was redundant now, and it was then in that moment as the new owner continued his ascension that the wind from before gave out. A sudden malace* rushed in as abruptly as the wind before it, and a hush settled over the desolate street as the man moved over the threshold and into the house.

The click of a door sliding shut woke her. The gentle tap of it somehow reaching her second-story bedroom as Rin sat up in a panic, remnants of the dream that had plagued her before lingering in the most awful and unfortunately, usual of ways.

She had woken twice prior. Each time a different angle of the sun streamed through her curtains and each time she had listened in her torpor from the confines of her bed as groups of men shouted to one another over the rumble of what sounded like a truck. Though it was not until this time after she had slept the day away, that her unyielding lethargy lifted enough for her to rise from the tangled sheets.

One wrinkled blanket dragged behind her and onto the floor as the slender girl made her way to the set of windows that faced out the side of her home. From there she could see into the house that sat directly next to her grandmother’s as well as their lawn and backyard. She was sure this was where the rousing sound had come from. The house had been empty, abandoned really, for all of Rin’s childhood. So despite her suspicions from earlier in the day, it was still a shock to see that the semi-permanent sales sign was now gone.

A fog had settled over then, ominous in its movements so that Rin had to rub her eyes to confirm. Gone were the unhindered views into the empty space that she’d often studied in her youthful solitude; it seemed they now had a neighbor. The gravity of the seemingly common-place event was lost on her, would be lost until it was far too late to change the course of fate. It would not be until the young woman returned to the nest of her bed and even longer after that, that she would come to realize. Whoever had moved in next door had roused her from a sleep to which she would never return.

…..

“I heard he’s foreign,”

“The attractive ones always are. Mari was telling me the same thing at church last Sunday. Where do you think he’s from?”

“That’s just it Arisa, I’m telling you, no one has been able to figure anything out about him. Nothing.”

“Hmmm, he’s for sure foreign then. Maybe Spain?”

“No definitely not- I swear I waited at the kitchen window every day for a week to get a glimpse. Had to pretend to wash dishes for over an hour so the hubby wouldn’t suspect. He’s too fair-skinned,”

“Naughty, naughty. So South America is out as well?”

“Definitely. He looks so suave….I bet it’s France,”

“I’ll be sure to tell Mari, maybe she’ll have some more info next Sunday. At least it’s finally interesting around here,”

“True- let me know what she says. Did you hear though?”

“About?”

“Kaede’s granddaughter is back in town,”

“The deaf one your daughter went to school with? I thought she left for college,”

“No, she’s like mute or something. Well, it must have fallen through. I saw her sitting on the porch the other day.”

“Wasn’t she like only there a year?

“I think so-if even that,”

“Heh, surprise, surprise.”

“Doesn’t work or leave the house. The girl is practically a hermit.”

….

“Oh really? That must have been so exhilarating, moving to the big city. What were you studying?”

The woman looked at Rin, expectant, from where she sat at their kitchen table. Kaede glanced at Rin to see if she was going to respond, but when the girl just gave their neighbor a shy glance and continued to snap peas she knew her granddaughter would remain silent. She’d left for school excited and talking, but had returned sometime in the summer in the same state that she had initially arrived in when she was seven. Once again as silent as the grave.

The quiet sat too long to be casual so Kaede spoke up, “She was studying horticulture, Megumi.”

Brown eyes shifted between the granddaughter and grandmother. “Right-” she coughed nervously, “I uh, have been meaning to talk to you about something though.” A lilt of excitement entered her voice again as she hurriedly moved on.

Kaede, glad for the change in topic, responded in kind, “About what, my dear?”

“About that new man that just moved in,” The woman looked around conspiratorially.

“Oh Kaede, I’ve just,” the woman took a long pull of the drink her grandmother had set before her before fanning herself in exaggeration, “I’ve just never seen anyone so handsome. Have you gone over to introduce yourself yet? The rest of us have been jumping at the bit. Surely, you’ve at least caught a glimpse or two?”

The woman took another gulp, the strength of it bobbing her neck muscles.

Kaede shifted a look over her shoulder with the eye that wasn’t bandaged before she turned back to continue rummaging for the requested herbs. The woman at their table had long forgotten her request for them, gossip taking a higher priority after she sat down. Though Rin got the distinct impression this latest choice of topic was the one she had been waiting to bring up from the start. Despite the overstay, she still showed no sign of leaving and instead now seemed to be working overtime to glean any information her grandmother had on the newest addition to their town.

The lady who lived across and diagonal, as she reminded Rin upon entry, started again, “I told Atsushi if he didn’t shape up I was going to leave him for the nameless hunk. Do you know his name?” She laughed out loud like it had been a joke.

Kaede turned back towards their kitchen table chuckling softly, herbs in hand, “I’m sorry Megumi. I can’t say I’ve ever seen the man-” her grandmother scratched her chin as she thought, “Though if I did I didn’t realize it was him.”

Rin watched the disappointment cross her features as Megumi pouted in response.

The grandmother gave her a kind smile as she packed a small jar of dashi powder for their guest, “But you certainly aren’t the first to tell me about him.”

And though her grandmother was in fact as kind as she presented, Rin could still hear the tell. The whole neighborhood had done nothing but talk of the newest addition and Kaede as the resident elder had heard all about the latest object of gossip and as consequence so had Rin.

Ever since the mysterious man had moved in next to them it seemed every woman in their neighborhood, young and old, had decided she needed to pay a visit to Kaede. A valid reason always on hand, but still, the real motivation would eventually worm its way out.

“Well, you’d definitely know if you had; the man is absolutely gorgeous. It’s been too long since we had any eye candy around here.”

Kaede drew back and placed her hands on her hips, “I’m sure he’s much too young for me anyway,” they laughed together then. “Besides, between volunteering at the rec center and the hospital, I’ve hardly been at home.”

“Of course, but still,” the woman brought a manicured hand up to grab at the bag Kaede had set out for her. “Can you keep an eye out for me? Everyone in town has been dying to know more about him. He’s just so mysterious. I’m sure Rin can-''

Rin felt the intrusive woman’s gaze before she paused her speech and fought the urge to squirm from her perch at the island’s barstools, where she still sat, silently snapping peas for their dinner. Her eyes rose just in time to see the pity-filled glance the woman was giving her before she realized Rin was staring. Face immediately tightening in a polite but small smile as she attempted to avoid the awkward faux pas.

Megumi let out a nervous laugh as she lifted from her seat. “Thank you Kaede for all the help, but I should probably get going before Atsushi gets home from work.”

Kaede lifted a hand for her to pass as she walked her out. It was an unintended consequence of acknowledging the woman but Rin wouldn’t lie and say she wasn’t relieved to see her sudden and overdue departure. When Megumi wasn’t looking her grandmother shot Rin a look as they walked by the kitchen island, a queue to follow.

In the entryway, they waited as Kaede shuffled in front to unlock the door and the woman stopped to inspect herself in the front mirror that her grandmother had beside the coat rack. Arrested by her appearance, she hadn’t noticed her silent audience, and Rin watched as she made sure her hair was still perfectly quaffed and in order before moving on to her makeup.

A single age-revealing hand up to her face before a finger moved to tidy up the eyeliner that had shifted into her foundation-covered crow’s feet. Rin remembered her as she puckered her lipstick-painted lips at herself in the mirror, ensuring even distribution. She and her family had moved in a year after Rin had come to live with her grandmother. At that time she’d had kids though, two sons, roughly Rin’s age. She briefly wondered where they were now. The woman was now in the process of lifting and pressing her cleavage together. She’d have to pass the new neighbor’s house on her way back.

Kaede pulled the front door open for them, the gentle lighting of the afternoon sun pouring in the foyer, “I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for him, Megumi. Please let me know if you need anything else.”

The woman stopped abruptly as the light from the now open door, shocked that Rin’s silent presence was there as well.

She laughed nervously before spinning around, “Of course Kaede- thanks again! You’re a doll,”

Megumi started for the door before thinking better. She turned to Rin suddenly enough that the poor girl almost gasped before grasping the small girl by her upper arms, manicured fingers wrapping around as she bent a little to be at eye level with the younger woman.

She started loudly, every word enunciated and slowed down so that Rin could see a bit of spit come out after each syllable. “And you too dear, take care of yourself, Lynn.”

Rin responded the way she had for the last half a year she had been back home, with silence. She blinked at the woman and she released her. When she turned around to make her leave, Rin brought a hand to rub at her skin, where the indent of the woman’s manicured claws remained.

A pair of mismatched eyes caught her own from behind the door and Kaede just shook her head.

After they were once again encased in the darkened foyer her grandmother shuffled past, “Come on girl. Finish the peas and I’ll let you go back to bed.”

Kaede had long given up on getting Rin to talk since her most recent return home. Any rousing and questioning on her part had yielded nothing the same as the first time Rin had shown up at her home, orphaned and mute.

Kaede did not know what could bring a young girl like Rin, who had no greater ambition than leaving the little town they resided in for college, to come crawling back in the middle of the night. Like a worker took to bed after a hard day’s labor. But she’d have to wait until her granddaughter came out with it.

Rin noticed none of this though, as her eyes accidentally shifted to the mirror Megumi had taken advantage of earlier. She studied the reflection of herself that had scared Megumi back home. And found she could focus on little more than holding gazes with the girl that stared back at her. It was awful how stark her greasy features appeared against the off-white of the foyer wall, at how clearly defined the lines of her still were….

Rin followed her grandmother then, angry that despite her best efforts, it seemed she had yet to master the art of fading completely away.

….

“He’s handsome, tall, and supposedly thirty-six,”

“What? No way. Hanna told me he has a full head of grey-probably forties, fifties max. Not that it bothers me- I love an established man,”

“I’ve seen him twice and it looks more silver than grey. She’s a looney. The man is clearly in his prime,”

“Well, if that’s the case, hopefully, he’s one of those Maruki Gentlemen. You know, the ones that date older women,”

“We should be so lucky!”

“Risa Takashi told me he’s an investment banker.”

“I’m not sure but it has to be something like that. I mean have you seen what they’ve done with that old place? The whole thing was gutted. Even has a pool now,”

“Definitely something remote; Himari said she hardly ever sees him leave for work.”

“Either way, the man has money,”

…...

He was hideous and short.

Yet they would not stop talking about him. Rin continued to throw sneaking glances up at the figure of the small man that was furiously hammering something on the woodworking table he’d set up on his porch. The same next-door porch she’d watched grow over with wisteria and dust over the years of her childhood.

The same man that had captured the imaginations of all the women in town...looked like a toad. She continued to sweep their porch and sneaking glances as the man fussed over whatever he was working on to himself from between the railing-made window of their adjacent porches.

Rin quietly decided then that Megumi was insane, something she’d long suspected, but it did not quite explain the hysteria that seemed to have encompassed the rest of their little street. And whatever meager spark of curiosity that had lit within Rin was gone in a tenth of the time it took to start.

His textured skin was a shade closer to green than natural and his eyes seemed to bulge out of the sockets.

The man stopped hammering suddenly before bulgy eyes popped up to meet her own as he realized his audience. Still stuck in her thoughts she’d hardly noticed when her glances had shifted to a steady gaze. He gave her a sneer that highlighted his beak of a nose grotesquely and sent a shiver down her spine.

Absolutely hideous.

…

“An Aston Martin?!”

“I freaking swear. Saw him the day before yesterday driving out of his garage.”

“God, so it must be true. He’s some sort of dignitary.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. Girl, when he drove by I was taking Imai for a walk in the stroller my mother bought me so I got an up-close look at him,”

“Oooh and?”

“Ahh, pure heaven. He’s positively delicious. I had to stop and pick my jaw up off the sidewalk and rush back home,”

“Jesus, that good huh?”

“They aren’t exaggerating at all.”

“Who would have thought Shirakawa would have its own superstar. Successful, rich, and handsome. If only someone could get his name and we could look him up or something,”

“I know it’s almost too weird…,”

“...I thought the same. No one comes here. Don’t tell anyone but I got the old pharmacist at the grocery to see if they had anything on him. You know, like a prescription or something, and well there was nothing.”

“Same! I even tricked my husband into asking one of his friends on the police force and still nothing. Even with their connections.”

“It’s like he came out of thin air,”

“The mystery-makes him even sexier though,”

“True- hopefully he doesn’t up and leave anytime soon. We need to have him here until at least summer if we want to see him shirtless,”

“Shhhh, don’t say such a thing!”

Knock, knock, knock…

“Knock on wood.”

…..

“I’ll just get these out of your way Kaede-sama-” the young man shouted across the lawn as his elder shuffled down her steps and towards him, a bag of sweets in tow.

“Just Kaede, son. You’re no stranger around here,” she gave a gentle smile, one good eye crinkling as she caught his eyes shifting to the girl who sat reading on her porch swing.

“Yeah of course,” he tied the bag of leaves, depositing them on the curb before taking the paper sack Kaede held in offer.

“I made those for you in thanks. You always did eat me out of house and home back in the day,” she gave him another fond smile before rolling her eyes to the girl he was still glancing at behind them.

“It’s the least I can do since my granddaughter should be doing this for me,” She looked back at the boy but he was still staring.

Eyes unmoving from her form, concern showing through, “It’s really no trouble at all Kaede. You don’t need to pay me anything. Dad won’t even know I took a detour,” he smiled at her but the old woman was quick, grabbing the bag back from the still distracted boy and peeking inside.

“This old brain of mine. I forgot to add the dango-follow me Kohaku, I’ll get you some real quick,” Kaede turned suddenly heading back for the house.

He was, despite his insistence to the contrary, going to be in trouble as it was for ditching their clients once his dad found out. Kohaku looked back at the company truck, “I uh- sure thing,” he followed slower though so that by the time he had made up his mind the old woman was already back inside. He got to the bottom of their steps before pausing in hesitation.

Rin was sitting cross-legged on the swing, a gentle breeze shifting her slightly, looking remarkably like the girl that he had grown up with and remembered from his youth. Life had cleaved them apart as swiftly as it had brought them together. He wasn’t sure what he had expected her to come back as after the last year they had been separated and the familiarity halted him.

He rubbed his hands nervously over the skin of his work jeans.

“Hey…,” Rin looked up at him as if noticing for the first time. He looked different. His skin was tanner from all the work he did outside and he looked a little older, face more chiseled than the last time they had seen each other. But it was the same boy from her youth, gangly and awkward to a fault, and the familiarity of him made her heart lurch.

He looked around nervously at her lack of response, “I uh, heard you came back from college…,”

Rin continued to look at him nervously. His calloused hands pushed into his front pockets. “Not talking again I see.”

Rin looked at him then and gave a small smile. It hurt her face. It hurt worse to realize that her heart raced a little faster in its fear for every moment the young man stayed near her porch. The porch of the home she had not left since she had returned all those months ago.

He kicked at a loose piece of gravel. She’d tried hard to move from her perch, maybe suggest a walk around the neighborhood as they had done when they were teenagers. But the thought of leaving the relative safety, even with an old friend like Kohaku, who she knew was more apt to hurt himself than her, left her shivering from more than the latent cold.

She looked beyond him and his gaze followed. The white pickup out front read, Nakamura Lawn Care and Extermination. It was a pity. He chuckled reading her from practice as he turned again to face her. “I caved Rin. Been working for the old man since you left for school,”. He and Sango must have sworn over a thousand times each that they’d never end up like their parents. Yet, their fate had crept in on them all the same. Just as it appeared Rin’s had as well. Though he’d keep that thought to himself.

“You’ll be sad to know Sango did as well,” he smiled more. Remembering the three of them hanging out and the promises they had made to each other in their youth.

Though he never thought she’d come back, he would not say the sight of her didn’t make his chest swell with something close to happiness. So he pushed forth, ignoring the hesitant look she was still giving him, the same one she’d given him when they were seven. Looking so forlorn and lost he couldn’t help but want to...

“Sango settled down too. Married some bum. I don’t know if you remember Miroku?” he scratched his chin, “probably not he was way older than us.”

Rin shook her head softly in the negative. A wayward wind shifted forcing her eyes to the side of her porch towards the neighbors. She had seen the work truck a couple of weeks ago though with his name on the side.

Kohaku eyed the newly bought house too as he made the connection, just as he had to do when they were little. “Yeah- his company helped with some of the maintenance after the sale.”

She shivered, and he laughed, still eyeing the freshly renovated home, “Heard from Miroku that they’re a bunch of weirdos. Got all this old furniture from like the medieval times.” This time she laughed too. A small twinge of desire hitting her for the first time in a long time. To tell him about all the stories she’d heard as well since every gossip in town had conveniently needed to see her grandmother for one thing or another as of late. Purely coincidence of course.

But it merely took a look at him again to waft it away. She pulled the flannel closer around her body in a protective motion that was not lost on him.

Kohaku pushed on though, just like he’d done all those years ago as a child when he’d chiseled her out of her muted state before. “He has some live-in helper, Miroku says he’s a real asshole. Talked down to them through all the installations.”

Helper? Rin’s eyes widened. Perhaps she had just seen the helper then. Her eyes unconsciously shifted to the now-empty porch where she had seen the hateful little man from before.

Kohaku was just about to seize on another opportunity to talk to her when Kaede reappeared.

“Here you go my boy,” she was twisting the bag and Kohaku moved closer to take it from her. The smile she wore was telling. It seemed her grandmother had more intentions than getting the lawn cared for when she had called Kohaku over.

“Well, I’ll leave you two out here. I still have some stuff in the oven,” Kaede made for her screen door again, tossing another conspiratorial smile at the young man that had always been so friendly with her granddaughter.

Kohaku nodded her off as he realized he too needed to get back to work. His dad was going to kill him anyway. Rin grabbed the book from where she left it on the swing and started after her grandmother.

“Rin, wait-”

He tapped his back pockets suddenly with his free hand as she paused to give him her attention again,

“I-- just wait a second-” he finally found what he was looking for and he extended his hand towards her. It was a business card. One his dad made him keep on hand for any potential clients. It had his cell listed though.

“Here. It has my number-” he watched her move to the edge of the porch slowly, flannel draping over her small frame to drag on the floorboards. “I tried calling your old one when I heard you were back but I never got through.”

Guilt rushed through her. She hadn’t bothered to turn the stupid cell phone on since she’d arrived home. It was still shoved somewhere in the folders of her long-forgotten backpack.

She stopped just short of the edge and leaned her arm as far as it could reach. It dawned on him then and he rushed to close the distance and hand her the stiff slip of paper. Try as she might she still could not make herself leave the safety of her home. Kohaku eyed her with an understanding smile. “Call me whenever, “

She took it from him without touching him and drew it back within the safety of the blanket and her body back under the cover of the porch. The shade of it filtered out the more angular parts of her face and he was once again reminded of the girl he had met all those years ago after Kaede had taken her in. Doe eyes so big they seemed to take up half her face looked down on him, and he felt himself smiling without force.

“We can do something together. Get you out of this house, “ he pulled his keys out, and with a brief hesitation and a single lingering look at his old friend he left.

Rin watched Kohaku’s family work truck turn from their street before her grandmother let her presence be known. Kaede’s voice met her ears from beyond the screen.

“If you won’t speak to me, girl, you need to speak with Kohaku.” A fragmented ache began in Rin’s chest at the voice, the guilt of shutting out her grandmother finally catching up.

“Too many ghosts here already for you to join them. First my sister. Then your mother,” and despite the shuffle she’d started away from the front door, Rin heard the last part as well.

“I won’t lose you too.”

…..

Knock, knock, knock

Rin awoke flushed and out of breath. The panic palpating in her chest.

She waited in the darkness of her room to ensure it had not been her imagination. Chocolate eyes roving over the windows on the other side of her narrow but long room. From her nest of comforters and sheets, she could just make out the fading orange glow, typical of the season, as dusk set upon them.

A soft rap set in again, confirming that someone was in fact at their front door. It was not unusual given the plethora of people that came through her grandmother’s home in request of one thing or another. The timing was off though; Rin had heard her grandmother leave hours ago. Had listened as the door opened and gently tapped shut signaling the old woman’s departure for Wednesday bingo night at the center.

Rin contemplated staying in bed but in the end, her conscience won out and she slipped from the sheets, combing her nest of greasy and wavy hair on the way down the stairs in an attempt to look better than she felt.

It wasn’t until she drew near the oaken door that she hesitated, the fear that never really left her returning with a vengeance to freeze her just shy of grasping the knob and bolt. Perhaps she should check first before opening. It seemed irrational given the inherent safety of their sleepy town, but the thoughts arrested her, heightening her already present paranoia and sending her heart fluttering in the cavity of her chest.

Knock, knock, knock

Closer, the knocks were loud enough to echo and filled her with a sense of dread so intense she had to cover her mouth. Rin stood on her toes to see through the peephole, using her hand to catch and prevent the uneven breaths that left her as if the person on the other side could hear them.

A blue eye looked back at her own as the person on the other side attempted to look through the peephole as well causing Rin to jerk back and off her tippy toes. She heard them shuffle against the door and realized they had already opened the screen. Rin stood again to take another peek. This time she could make out the head of a woman, long, red hair reflecting even in the minuscule light of dusk.

It was just a woman. Rin felt her heart start to slow and her hand move towards the bolt as she once again dropped to her normal height.

It was a mistake though. One she would not realize until much, much later. A misstep on her part that would never be rectified. One that could have perhaps been avoided had Kaede been there to warn her, superstitious woman she was, as most elderly were, of what it meant to have guests that knock in threes at that particular hour of dusk. The harbinger of ill fortune, of omen, of death, that such guests brought with them.

But as Rin pulled open the heavy door to further reveal the woman before her, it was already too late for contemplation. Little Rin, who had been trying so hard to hide from the dangers of the world for the last months, had just willingly opened the door to greet it.

The red-headed woman had positioned herself in the time it took Rin to work open the door and her long-form was now poised against the screen seductively. A poise she dropped as soon as her kohl-lined eyes narrowed on Rin’s disheveled form. She fought the urge to lay her hand over the hole in her worn and dirty t-shirt. Had it been three days or four since she last changed?

“Oh-” she whipped her head around haughtily, beautiful red locks twisting around her in a pleasing way. Her blue gems sliding back to Rin to look her up and down. Rin watched her beautiful face twitch in annoyance at the unexpected sight of her person.

Rin blushed at the starkness between them, and opened her mouth as if to speak, though per usual nothing would come forth. What was a model doing at her home? Better yet, what was she doing in this town? The body con dress she wore looked as if it had been painted on her statuesque form as it bent and shifted around her ample curves. Pouty lips opened then.

“I’m here to see Sesshoumaru-sama,” she finished staring at Rin as if she could see through her. Still confused as to why she was there, Rin racked her brain.

Sesshoumaru...sama?

Who was that? Rin racked her brain. Their town wasn’t large, everyone knew each other generally, but a Sesshoumaru? It clicked just as the woman had reached peak annoyance at Rin’s silence. A single dainty and pale hand coming out from under her flannel to point at the house next door.

The woman’s eyes followed and Rin watched the flash of realization move over her face before it settled in a contented smirk.

“Of course- I see. Thanks!” The screen was slow to close and Rin used the time to watch as the long-legged woman made her way down her lawn and up the new neighbor’s own newly renovated one. Each step of her stilettos accentuating her shapely hips and creating a steady and even staccato echo as she moved through their now completely darkened street.

Strange, Rin thought. She did not see a car or anything in front of either of their houses. Her hair shifted out of her makeshift braid as she leaned further into the now-closed screen door to look down their street. But still, there were no vehicles she could say stood out as belonging to the model visitor. A flick of light from her peripheral right side caught her attention and caused her head to swing back towards her mysterious neighbor’s home.

Rin reached over beside the door to put out their front porch light. But strangely found herself staying, cheek pressed against the screen door in front of her to better see as the beautiful woman waited under the warm light for someone to answer the door.

From here she would be able to see whoever answered. And just when she thought the model would be left again she saw the newly painted door of her neighbor’s open and a man step forward to hold it in place.

A conglomeration of snips hit her then, of all the gossip that had floated so heavily through their neighborhood as of late. Moving from house to house to invade the senses of every woman within the vicinity. She knew too much about a man she’d never met.

Probably thirties.

Successful.

Mysterious.

Devastatingly handsome.

But for all the hype she was still left woefully unprepared. His silvery mane of hair moved around his imposing form in a memorizing fashion. And even from here, she could see as the contour of muscle in his pale forearm extended as he opened the door wider for his female companion.

But the details mattered little in comparison to the whole...beautiful did not quite capture the unearthly quality he held and Rin could feel her heart palpitating without rhythm. This time for an entirely different reason. Her face pressing harder into the screen in order to better see without conscious thought. She watched the woman enter from the space he’d given her, their bodies rubbing together in the space of his entrance, and despite the way the woman had towered over Rin when she’d been at her door previously, she still appeared tiny compared to the man that now stood beside her.

“Se-shou-maru-sama”

Rin felt the aspiration leave her without comprehending, taking tangible form. The sibilance of his name leaving her lips before she could realize it had been more than a mere thought.

The woman had vanished in the home but he remained and it was only after a few moments of startling clarity that Rin realized he was looking in her direction. She could see better in her panic. Chocolate eyes widening to watch the sharp lines of his eyes zero in on her despite the distance.

Looking as if he had heard the whispered slip of the first word she’d said since returning home all those months ago...as if he could see her under the cover of darkness she now wore.

The door shook the wall as she slammed it shut, leaning against it as she bolted the lock with clumsy fingers, breath heavy and uncontrolled.

An hour later Kaede would arrive home, chiding as Rin rushed to let her in, about why she had turned off the porch light and locked the bolt.

As for Rin, despite the creeping tiredness, she laid awake until dawn, her thoughts racing, her usual pattern of sleep elusive for the first time in a long time.

Chapter Text

“But first, a news alert for you this morning-” 

Kaede shuffled around the kitchen as she made her early morning tea. 

“Deputies in the area want you to be on the lookout for this twenty-seven-year-old woman,” 

The old woman looked up in time to see the news anchor gesture at the picture of a young woman smiling in front of some sort of waterfront. Her beauty obvious despite the candid photo. 

“Her name is Shira Hitabo. Authorities say she has been missing for about a week now,”

Kaede looked away to stir her tea before bringing it up to take a small sip.

“She was last seen leaving her Ishikawa condo Wednesday evening-”

Her good eye returned to the television, something was beginning to weigh on her the longer she looked at the still flashing photo of the missing girl. 

“If you have any information in regards to this missing person, please call 911.” 

Kikyo had been the very same age when…

“Now onto our weekly weather forecast. Tomorrow you can expect-”

Heat seared her cheeks and it was with a belated pause that Kaede realized she was crying. It was unfortunate, that for all her older sister had been in life, that Kaede could not unmarry the grief she felt at the loss. Reducing her memory to nothing but a pain source had always been a shame for Kaede, who prided herself on her ability to roll with the punches life had handed her. 

She pulled a towel from one of the kitchen drawers and hurriedly pressed the material to her now wet cheeks. Starting first with her left before moving to the right to gently wipe her tears. 

Only, she had to double take on the second wipe. A ruby-red smear had saturated the linen of the towel. Kaede quickly dropped it to press her hands to her eyes. The left came back clear but the right, her bad eye….

In her haste back towards her bathroom she almost tripped, still holding her eye as it continued to silently weep blood.

And although she had been known for her calm demeanor for more than fifty years, she could not help the grip of fear that seized her in the silence of her home. 

............................

Okay, so what if she couldn’t sleep. A childish sigh left her as she flopped over onto her stomach, only to flip back on her back a moment later. 

For two weeks she struggled like this, her depressed lethargy lifting enough to keep her up at all hours of the night, in some sort of twisted retribution. And while the feeling of perpetual boredom was now creeping in on her like the slowing rising sun, Rin could not deny the unexplainable improvement in her mood. 

In the first week, as October overtook them, Rin spent every daylight hour and some of the now endless night cleaning. First her room, then the house, and eventually her dreaded backpack that had been haphazardly sitting in her closet like some sort of saggy boogeyman since she left college. 

She’d even managed a shower. After which Kaede had expressed her eternal gratitude over a mug of tea one morning before a gleam entered her eye

“I see you contacted Kohaku,” her mild smirk highlighting the roundness of her face as her self-satisfaction grew. 

Only, Rin looked over at the card she’d set on her desk from where she still laid on her bed, she hadn’t. Her uncharged phone lay next to it. 

Lost in her thoughts, Rin’s eyes slipped up and over the lines of windows across from her. All three of them were opened slightly to allow the cool to enter her otherwise stuffy room. Her tooth began a gentle gnaw on her bottom lip as she sunk further into her bed and thoughts. If she was being honest, she wasn’t completely clueless about her change in demeanor, though the truth was embarrassing enough to prevent her from ruminating on the particulars for too long. 

It had started the night she saw her neighbor….the strange interaction, well, not really an interaction now that she thought about it. Her teeth released her irritated lip as the memory hit her. Just like they had said, continued to say, he really was geo-

Gah, what the hell was wrong with her? Whatever zombie virus had infected the women of their neighborhood was slowly catching up to her. She needed another distraction. 

Rin abruptly sat up. 

Her phone took forever to charge, enough time passing for her to double coat her toenails a pretty maroon color she’d found from underneath her sink while cleaning. 

But once it was on, screen glaring, she found herself frozen. It took her another hour to sort through and delete texts from her various college acquaintances. A particular desperate one caught her eye from the girl that had been her assigned roommate. 

Rin where are you? I went to your lit class

and the teacher says you dropped out? Please

let me know-I’m really worried right now.

Followed by another more bitter one a month later: 

Whatever happened to you it would

 have been nice to get a heads up 

rather than leaving me hanging.

I thought we were friends. 

Rin had to clamp her eyes shut against the tidal wave of guilt, but she forced herself to respond. Writing and rewriting until she settled on something brief.

Her last text to her former roommate read: 

I’m sorry to have worried you.

She doubted the sincerity traveled through on the words but it was all she could say. The girl would never respond and for that Rin was grateful. It took another hour after this to sort through her emails. Systematically deleting the notices from her former professors as they expressed dismay at her abrupt dropping and departure from their classes. 

There was a voicemail from her work alerting her that she had been terminated, and to come and collect her last check, which Rin promptly deleted as well. 

And then there was nothing more. She thumbed down to find Kohaku’s missed calls and in a split-second decision, she hit the call button. A single ring sounded before Rin hung up, despite the improvement, her earlier hesitation still clawing through when it came to speaking and leaving. 

She opened a new text for him before he could try and call back. 

Kohaku? 

And though he worked a thoroughly laborious job, and in spite of the lateness of the hour, his response was immediate. 

So she speaks. Lol

Small smile lighting her face, Rin pulled herself up to pace around her room as they chatted through the night. The old friends picking up exactly where they had left off. And if he noticed that the number had been calling for months with no reply was back in commission, he chose to mention nothing. 

By the end, they had agreed to hang out Friday night after he got off, at her house of course.

Rin set her phone back where it initially laid on her desk, had just released the device to tap against the wood when she saw something from the corner of her eye. 

A sudden flash of silver from outside her window. In the house next door to be more precise. 

Chocolate eyes zeroing on the man that she had been steadily trying to ignore. Unwanted thoughts perforating the delicate lining of her brain as he walked through an outer corridor of his home. 

Rin’s heart pounded at the sight of him alone. Over the years she had lived there, her room allowing her a direct view into what had once been the empty house next door, she had unknowingly memorized the layout of the rooms closest to her side. 

So that her eyes could predict and flit from the brightly lit boxes of windows a second before he arrived.  The edges of the second story ones now had the thick outline of curtains around them but it did not stop her. Eyes following him with rapt attention as he moved through his hallway and finally out of sight. 

Moments later another light flicked on from the end of the second level. The reveal made her breath catch. Ornate banisters of what appeared to be his bed glared back at her. Well, she’d found his bedroom. 

From her third and farthest window she could see as he stepped further into the room and began removing the tie he wore. He had just started to unbutton his shirt, the pale flesh of his broad shoulders beginning to reveal themselves, when Rin whipped around faster than she could blink, her cheeks and ears blistering as they stained a bright shade of red. 

Something was seriously wrong with her. 

It was only after a few moments had ticked by, each one seemingly longer than the next, that a thought seized her without mercy. Her teeth returned to her lip and she found her hand reaching for her phone again, this time from the left. 

She hesitated over the send button before finally working up the nerve to thumb it down. She knew Kohaku probably wouldn’t respond until morning, which was in a few hours, so she set the device down, face first, and settled herself in to try and finally sleep. 

The screen remained open, bright blue light glaring to reflect a halo off the wooden desk surface. 

It read as follows: 

Do you happen to have any binoculars? 

............................

Rin found herself staring as Kaede lowered to the ground one knee at a time. A woman at church had once smacked her for the very same behavior; it was sin to watch others pray and even worse to watch them grieve. To taint the sanctity of whatever went on between the dead and those they left behind. Even so, the message was as lost on her as it was when she was little and she continued to watch as Kaede’s head bent in silent prayer. 

Roots of the ancient maple in their backyard pushed back into the soft flesh of Kaede’s knees, but Rin knew her grandmother would not care. It was her ritual, a tradition of sorts. That whenever Kaede was feeling particularly distressed, over one thing or another, Rin could always find her there. Talking to the cremated remains of her sister and late daughter that were housed under her grandmother’s tree. 

Rin knew little of her great-aunt, Kikyo. She’d died before Rin had even been a thought. Though, she often got the impression that her presence lingered in her grandmother. Tidbits of habits and stories that carried the haze of untraceable origins, as if they belonged to someone else entirely. 

Her mother was the same, and despite Kaede’s sincerity when she remarked on it, Rin had the feeling there was little left in her of the woman her mother must have been. 

There were little faint outlines of remembrance that would push at her in strange moments, like the time she had gone to her first concert with Kohaku and the opener played a song she inexplicably knew all the words to. Only to later find out it had been her mother’s favorite.  

But as the years continued on, she found herself remembering less and less as the memories faded from her consciousness. Until her mother was nothing more than a ghost in life and memory. 

It was probably just an unfortunate twist of luck on her part, or some sort of karmic debt she had incurred prior, that for every faded memory gone, the one she wanted to rid herself of the most remained. 

She swallowed thickly as said memory rushed up to greet her as if she’d chanted its name in some sick sort of evocation. 

Mother had beautiful eyes, supposedly pure black and a face so beautiful Kaede had to threaten every man in town to stay away. But in Rin’s tattered memory, the remaining one, she could see nothing beyond the protruding orbit of bones that surrounded her eye. Battered beyond recognition. Could see nothing short of a concave mess of blood that had once been her mother’s face. Her broken jaw resting at an angle as if in an unending scream. How horrible her final moments must have been… 

The people of this town, the one she had been forced to return to after the untimely murder of her mother, had remarked on Rin’s countenance over the years. People said lots of things when they believed you were deaf and mute. 

Poor thing. 

Such an odd child. 

She never speaks. 

Don’t worry she can’t hear us. 

Should have never left Shirakawa. 

Cops said it was a jealous boyfriend. 

She’s just so creepy when she stares. 

Good riddance.

…..Three days with the body until they found her. 

It had mattered little to Rin and mattered now even less now that she was an adult. They could never imagine the things she had seen. Would never fathom how earnestly she had tried to quiet herself in the hopes that underneath the churn of the world...her mother’s unremembered voice would come to speak to her, break through the crippling loneliness she had been left in. But there was nothing to be heard or had in the end except silence 

Kaede continued nonetheless heedless of her granddaughter’s unflinching gaze. Rin watched her pain seep through as prayer dissolved into sobs. A wave of guilt pressing through her at the thought that perhaps she was now another source of worry for her already frail grandmother. After all, Rin knew firsthand just how unresponsive the dead could be...as unresponsive as she had been. The mimic of her own actions placing an unbearable shame to rest on her shoulders at how she had once again shut those closest to her out 

It was a promise though, to herself, to make a sincere effort to rejoin the living. If for no one's sake but Kaede’s, a calm filled her eyes. She would do it, would do absolutely anything for her grandmother. 

Rin was abruptly brought back to reality from the scream of the teapot she’d set to boil. Kohaku was supposed to arrive any minute, and she still needed to clean up her room a bit.

With her observing cut short, Rin would not see as the branches of that old maple, the ones that had been groaning something fierce in the rough October wind, suddenly halted mid creak. Wooden prayer cards and rosaries that Kaede had tied to various branches over the years halted mid-swing to suspend in place over her grandmother’s head. All sideways and twisted in the most unnatural of ways. 

And as Kaede, who was beginning to suspect something, had her worst fears confirmed. The omen she had felt creeping over, come to life as all the holy relics, at once, dropped onto the cold and barren ground in a cacophony of clatter. 

Cut down, before their time, like her sister...like her daughter by some unknown force. 

She covered her mouth to stop the horrified gasp as her good eye shifted back towards the house, right into the kitchen window, where Rin was still preparing a cup of tea. 

Her heart twisted in her chest. 

............................

“I like what you’ve done with the place,”  dark eyes roved over her freshly cleaned room and Kohaku laughed heartily at the face she shot him. 

Rin watched him move around her space in inspection. Her nerves had been sky-high earlier at the anticipation of his arrival, but as the still rail-thin boy ran a calloused and nimble hand over her leaning bookshelf, she could not stop the giddy smile from forming on her face. 

Cool, grey, light colored her room, the brightly and stark overcast of the day was allowed unhindered access by her curtainless windows. In the clarity of the light her nostalgia came slower, all slide show projection and no flash as she continued to watch him. 

There was a low, cushioned couch that sat underneath her three adjacent windows. It was there that Kohaku decided to flop down. He made himself comfortable, a crunch of springy coils sounded as he leaned back, feet apart, all the while eyeing her playfully where she sat cross-legged, opposite to him, on her bed. Her room acclimating to him as it had done a thousand times before. 

He threw a stuffed bunny from her childhood that had been made to lay prone by his abrupt slouch. It hit her right between the eyes and she couldn’t stop the twinkling of laughter that left her upon impact. He followed shortly, chuckling it up with her. 

After a thoughtful pause, he started again, “So, are you going to tell me why you’re back here and not in school?” 

The tenor of his voice carried a note of playfulness but she knew better, her eyes drifted slowly back to catch his own as well as the genuine concern that leaked from them. 

He continued, anger at the speculation beginning to seep into his words. “Had to be something pretty awful to bring you, of all people, back here.” 

After all, it had been something awful that brought her here the first time. 

A gloom settled over her then as she contemplated her options, Rin shook her head softly before responding. He’d be upset, she knew, so she settled on something stern, for both their sakes. She wasn’t ready and so she looked away from him. 

“You shouldn’t ask things you don’t want the answer to, Kohaku.” Her voice quiet and creaking from disuse. 

There was nothing to gain. A silence blanketed them and lasted long enough to be stifling.

“Are you angry with me?” she asked hesitantly when it became too much.

She heard him scoff lightly before she looked at him, “Mad at you? I’m just pissed you didn’t bring me anything back. Would it have killed you to buy a couple of souvenirs?” teasing lilt returning to his voice as he dropped the uncomfortable topic and lifted the awkward tension that had fallen over them. 

Rin leaned down to swipe the stuffed animal he’d thrown at her. The poor thing hit the window with a swift thud and she cursed her terrible aim. He hadn’t even moved. 

Kohaku laughed heartily and Rin found a smile worming its way back onto her face. 

“Shut up-I still have a paperweight somewhere around here.” 

“Hey, I’m not the one who goes off to the big city and doesn’t even come back with a keychain to show for it.”

Rin took a minute to calm her laughing, “Well if I ever go back I’ll be sure to send you a postcard.” 

In her defense, she had in fact sent him some. Three to be exact. He’d liked the one of the beached seals, had even taped it to the corner of his bedroom mirror, but neither friend brought it up. 

Rin straightened, bright eyes lighting, lip pursing in a tease as she switched topics “So, please elaborate on this Sango situation.” 

Kohaku groaned, “What’s there to say? 

Nothing in our house has changed, save her bastard husband moving in.” 

Rin giggled, delighted at his supposed torture. “Rin, I’m serious-they literally never stop having sex. Why mom and dad let them stay and traumatize me I’ll never know. I think dad wants to merge the business with Miroku’s. Why else would he allow him to bang his daughter under his roof?” 

Kohaku shook his head in disgust. 

“Are you going to move out then? Surely, you don’t have to live there still just to keep your job.”

Kohaku snorted at her and she moved across the room, still listening, to rummage around her closet. 

He replied with rapid-fire sarcasm, “Oh yes, I completely forgot about all the prime real estate around here.” His hand came up to vaguely gesture at the windows that sat behind him

Ah-hah, there it was! Rin started a casual stroll back towards him before sitting on the edge of her couch. The newly found deck of cards thumped on the cushion as she set them down. 

Kohaku twisted around to face her as she started to shuffle. Dark eyes shooting to the side and just over the sill of her window. “Besides, the guy next door took the only available place left.” 

Rin’s breath caught imperceptibly as the boy continued. “I just don’t understand it though. Why move here? Miroku even told me the house was set to be demolished by the city until he showed up. Renovations costed more than the home. Just seems-”

Clearly, luck was not in her favor tonight as her friend broached the second topic of the night that Rin wished to avoid. She coughed awkwardly before quietly interrupting. “You’re focusing too much on that guy. Don’t tell me you also have a thing for him.”

Kohaku shot her a glare and she laughed while continuing to divvy out the cards between them.

“If so, you’ll have some stiff competition. Megumi across the street has been wearing a bunch of push-up bras and walking her dogs every day.” A flash of the recent spectacle flashed in Rin’s recollection and she laughed to herself. Hoping the jab would pull him away from the dreaded topic of the man who had plagued her thoughts for two weeks 

He continued glaring at her until she looked up at him, an innocent look plastered on her face. 

“What? Those are Megumi’s big guns. You need to watch yourself, Kohaku. That lady’s lethal,” she finished with a barely restrained giggle. 

He cut her off before she could tease further, “Rin, has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”

She tossed a wayward card at his face. This too missed the mark. Before she spoke again, uplifted by the sudden detour in conversation. 

“Well, okay so you can’t find a vacant place. Have you ever thought of moving in with someone?”

Rin eyed him playfully from over her hand of cards, “Perhaps a girlfriend?” 

Kohaku choked suddenly, a light blush dusting his freckled face. Finally, Rin thought to herself, perhaps her aim was improving after all. Excitement bubbled in her chest. 

“Tell me right now Kohaku! Oooh, what’s her name?” he shook his hands in front of him, trying to keep her at bay. Rin continued on persistently. “Who is she? Do I know her? Did she go to school with us?”

He shook his head defeated. “No, no, and no. It’s not that serious. We just talk,” a hand moved up to scratch the back of his head. A pout filled her voice at the rejection, “Kohaku, please tell me. Pretty please,” she drug out the words with a childish whine. 

“Okay-okay, I'll tell you eventually, promise. Just shut up and play-it’s your turn.” 

Detoured only slightly, Rin continued to eye him from over her cards with a grin. 

Her friend sighed audibly before an idea seized him. “Actually,” 

It was his turn to smile mischievously again. “She’s throwing a Halloween party tomorrow at her place. You could meet her then. Get all your questions out of the way.” 

A twinge of dread began to grow in her at the suggestion of leaving her home. Her response came out much less enthusiastically than her previous interrogation “I’ll think about it.” 

Kohaku smirked, satisfied with himself. Perhaps, it would take less time than the last had to get her back and running. 

They played into the night, their joy so unrestrained and so loud in its bellow that for the first time in a long time, Rin forgot to mourn the silence. 

It continued until Kohaku, tired of losing, finally stood up in parting. 

“I better get home before my dad chews me out,” he rolled his eyes before pausing. “Walk me out- I have something for you.” 

Rin’s mouth parted in surprise but she followed him out and to her porch wordlessly. 

“You stay here,” Kohaku looked down at her, “not that I expected you to leave,” he joked before separating from her to run out to his truck. He had just started to rummage around in the passenger seat when a car pulled up in front of her neighbor’s house. It came to a slow stop before the headlights stuttered out. 

Wrapped within her flannel, Rin watched as another gorgeous woman got out from the driver’s side. By this time Kohaku was heading back her way, something in his hand. Even so, Rin hardly noticed as she watched the newly-arrived woman, pace up her neighbor’s walkway and onto his porch. All heels and gauzy fabric. 

He certainly had a type...

“Rin, are you going to take them, or are you just going to let me stand here?” 

She looked down where Kohaku stood holding something out to her, still half in her distracted stupor.

“Huh,” it came as a mere stutter. 

He leaned further up the railing of her porch’s stairs.

“Don’t ‘huh’ me. It’s the binoculars you said you needed.”

Her cheeks heated as she remembered her embarrassing and hastily made request of him. Not wanting anyone to see, she quickly took the visual aide from him before pulling it under the 

safety of her flannel. 

“Ah- thanks!” Unwillingly, she found herself peeking out of the corner of her eyes to see, it was an obvious tell but Kohaku hadn’t noticed. It seemed her neighbor had been much quicker today than the last. His date was already gone, and she hadn’t even heard the open and shut of his door. 

A strange feeling started in the pit of her stomach then, moving from her gut and ever higher for every moment she thought about the beautiful woman who was now… 

Rin had to shake her head to rid the ridiculous notion. What was wrong with her? It wasn’t jealousy, but it also wasn’t nothing. It felt like disappointment, but a tad more hollow, and it made her want to go back inside. She didn’t even know him. 

Instead, in an unthinking spur, Rin turned to look down at her friend, who was about to depart for the night, and did the opposite. 

Her next words had Kohaku smirking in triumph. 

“What…” 

Was she really about to do this? 

“What do I wear to this party?” 

............................

“Kohaku,” 

Rin had only just disappeared into the house, a goofy smile still stuck on his face, when a voice called to him. He turned back towards the source. Kaede stood still behind the screen of their door and he had to look up to see her on the higher level of their porch. 

“Oh, hey Kaede-”

“Listen, boy.” A cold shift of wind accompanied the freeze that set in his body. Rin’s grandmother was never this serious with him. Had never had the air of gravity that surrounded her right now. He swallowed. 

“You need to keep a close eye on Rin for me.” 

What? He started to answer her but she cut him off before he could attempt. 

“I’m serious.” The old woman walked out and onto the porch, letting the screen close behind her before speaking again. 

“If she is away from this house, you need to be with her. I-” Kaede stopped mid-speech eyes shooting off and to the side. 

An errant wind had blown a set of chimes that hung from her porch overlay, and Kohaku watched with a growing sense of alarm as Kaede’s good eye widened frightfully. 

Chills covered his exposed arms though it was not from the cold. 

Dark eye closed tightly and held before she opened up to look upon him again, “Please. I don’t care how often you come over. Whatever you have to do, just make sure she is okay.”

And though the boy was deeply concerned with the change in his friend’s guardian, it had been a no-brainer, for Rin, he would do absolutely anything. If her grandmother, who was usually the pinnacle of calm and collected, had been frightened enough to come to him…

A determined nod left him, “Of course, Kaede-sama.” 

............................

It was the dead of night, the silent hours, the evil hours….

The witching hour. 

A bead of sweat dripped down the side of her face and the back of her neck had persperated enough to drench the underside of her hair. It was the heat that drove Rin from her sheets, tripping and stumbling on them in her haste. 

She felt so strange. 

And her body continued on, as if with a will of its own down the stairs of her home. For the rest of her trek, she found herself sliding the entirety of her body in a dazed glide against the walls of her foyer, then living room, then kitchen Just to feel the cool of them against her heated flesh. 

Anything to stop the burning inferno that was beginning to singe her skin. 

It took an eternity for her to reach the sliding glass door that led to her backyard. But the heat had worn her so far down, that despite her yearning, Rin could only weakly push it open before all at once tumbling to the grass. 

Great heaves rang in the air and down the street as she gasped desperately for the cool autumn. Breathing it in with a greedy thirst that bordered on uncontrollable. Her body twisting and turning against the cool blades of grass that lay below her, anything to lower her body temperature. She wanted to cry for help.

Instead, her body stood, taking her further into the night. Until finally she could see the great maple that rested there, as it always had. 

Despite the heaviness that sat between her eyes, and despite the unbearable temperature of her still burning flesh, she could see. 

See as a figure emerged to walk across the lowest and strongest branch of her grandmother’s tree. 

His confident steps echoing off the hollow of the carmine branch as he moved ever forward. 

Until at last, he had reached a solid place upon which to sit and wait for her. 

Her body moved closer as if compelled. 

There was no gasp, no stumble, no great show of shock as she finally recognized the figure before her. Outline of him becoming more tangible with every step she took towards him. 

Sesshoumaru. 

Each movement closer felt an oasis as the burning of her body began to subside and the ache behind her eyes began to dwindle to a dull throb. When she was close enough to have to crane her neck up, she stopped. 

Blood red eyes and a razor-sharp smile glared down at her. 

And though her mouth opened, no sound came, as she watched a clawed hand extend out to lift and sever a prayer card from the branch of the tree before flinging it to the ground. 

His smile grew more malicious with every desecration, as he cut them down one by one. 

In the end, the branches, free from their earlier enchantments, began to dance around him, withering around his form as if pulsating. 

He dropped down before her and though she should have been in fear, she found her body leaning towards him. She took a single step forward, the autumn grass grazing and stabbing at her foot as it moved. 

But at the last moment, she finally stopped, just short of his reach. Her body pleading with her to continue...

Imposing form bristled before he extended his arm and offered a clawed hand for her to take. 

“Come.” 

Rin awoke from her dream with a muted scream, gasping and clawing in the darkness of her room. 

............................

The velvet of the dress rubbed against her thighs with each step and with every step she felt the dread of leaving reach a new height. 

Kohaku had said it would be fun. 

The front door slid shut with a click, and despite the hour or perhaps because of it, there was not a trick-or-treater in sight. 

Unused to being out without her flannel, Rin found herself shivering in the heavy October air. Delicate hands came up to grasp and rub her bare arms in an attempt to warm them. The form-fitting dress had been a mistake, as had the cat ears, and makeup. 

She watched her breath materialize a couple of times before she finally acclimated. Each inhale allowed a little more of the frigid air to enter her body and settle in her blood. And the sharpness of it invigorated her senses

Thick clouds of smoke billowed out from chimneys across the way, and Rin watched as their misty bodies spread and seeped like molasses into the sky. They lingered, burning the crystallized cold of the night, before dispersing to perfume the air with their heady scent. And the strength of it comforted her as she waited for Kohaku to arrive. It was something she needed given her current state. Despite her early insistence, she was beginning to doubt her hastily agreed to plan. Perhaps it was too soon to be going to gatherings? 

The question held steady and without thought, she brought a hand up to chew on her nail. A nasty little habit she’d apparently inherited from her mother, or so Kaede had always told her.

What was taking him so long? He was supposed to be here already. She pulled her phone out from her bag to check if he had texted before moving to the edge of the stairs to glance further down their street. 

There was no great shift when he decided to announce his presence, but it shook her equilibrium all the same. The raven curls she had so generously created whipped with the movement as her head and body turned to find the source. Chocolate eyes locking on him instantly, as if drawn forcibly. And it wouldn’t be until later that she would consider the possibility that perhaps they had been...

“Are you going somewhere…?”

Her new neighbor stood upon his porch, arms crossed over the expanse of his chest, and despite his casual stance he still appeared taller than any man she had ever seen before

His voice was stabbing in its richness and it pierced through the space from where he leaned against the railing of his porch to where she stood, still as stone, on her own. 

Wide-eyed stare, flitted over his form, too scared to stay in one place for long. The angles of his clean-shaven face were shadowed in a way that only served to elevate his already attractive features, head rested on the post behind him, eyes closed to the world around. 

In fact, she was having a hard time believing he had even spoken at all. 

….. to her. Something whispered from deep within her. She remained speechless. The quiet authority he held in voice alone arresting her and stealing her thoughts as well as her tongue. 

The silence lasted too long. A gasp left Rin as his eyes suddenly caught her own, the sharpness of them sliding open seamlessly to reveal his molten, amber stare. 

The quiet intensity of it compelled her, and a wave of raven tresses obscured her vision momentarily before shifting back with the force of her head shaking out a silent, no. 

“Oh….,” His eyes took their time traveling down her body, pausing on the swell of her hip, before his brow rose, the implication clear from the motion alone. Though his handsome face remained stoic. 

The wind blew strongly then but Rin did not notice, all of her attention was focused on the man before her, as an unfamiliar heat began to spread throughout her body. An attractive blush lighting the naïve girl's face, overpowered by his presence alone.  It would prevent her from noticing the subtle flare of his nostrils that accompanied the gust as he likewise took her in. 

Rin’s lips parted as if she was going to speak, but the words left her before they could even form in her head. What did she want to say to him? Why did he need to know where she was going? But more importantly, why had she felt the need to lie about it? 

Amber eyes shut her out again, this time a faint smirk lifting his well-formed mouth. 

Embarrassment seized her then, and finally out from under the intensity of his gaze, she found her own flicking to her front door. 

He spoke again before she could act and just as before the words pinned her in place. 

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” 

Her lips parted as if to speak before she sealed them shut again. She wondered if he could see the tangible heat of her face as a fierce blush set in. Wondered if he could read her mind….or worse, could see the strange dream she’d had about him painted over her flesh. 

“I was merely asking a question.” 

Her phone buzzed then and she almost dropped it. Kohaku had texted her. 

    Rin, I’m so sorry! Something came 

                                           up and I have to head back home.

I promise I’ll make it up to you.

Relief flooded through her at the turn of change. Though she still shot off a message back to ensure Kohaku was okay. 

That still left the situation she found herself in now. One part of her begging to leave, the other tempted to stay...

When she looked back up he was staring at her again, unflinchingly, and the intensity of his eyes bore down into her own. And though a voice from the back of her head was screaming at her to go back inside, scurry to the safety of her room, another one was beginning to overtake it. One that was becoming increasingly clearer as it took shape, molding itself from some deep, dark, and lonely well within her. 

She let out a nervous laugh and her voice was soft as spoke to him, waving her phone in gesture, 

“My plans....” Rin swallowed nervously, “They uh, got c-canceled.” 

She cursed the stutter that had entered her voice and forced herself to look away from him and towards the paneling of her house, embarrassed beyond belief. 

Here she was, standing awkwardly, dressed like a cat, trying to speak to the god of a man before her. Foolish did not even begin to describe it. 

Clearly, he had options if his late-night visitors were anything to go by. Did she really think she-

“Hn,” She was abruptly pulled back by his soft acknowledgment. “How unfortunate,” there was the soft lilt of understanding pity as he spoke, so faint it bordered on mocking. He held her gaze a pause, taking her in with a level of dissection that she would never understand 

And though Rin was a young woman in figure and mind, she was still way too innocent to fully appreciate the implications of his next words. “Perhaps, you should make new ones.” 

Insinuation flying well above her as she smiled brightly at him, and his eyes followed the motion with rapt attention. “You’re probably right,” she laughed lightly, still trying to calm the rapid swirl of butterflies inside her stomach, still misunderstanding.

Feeling it was a polite and natural conclusion to their interaction, Rin started to head back towards her front door. It wasn’t until the last second, after she had pulled open the screen, that the feelings welling inside overcame her, though the result was subtle.

“G-good night,” she said soft enough for him to hear.

And just as she was about to close the front door behind her, he responded, the deepness of his voice vibrating the air softly.  

“Good night, Rin.” 

............................

Rin entered the house giddy, heart still thundering in her chest at how bold she had been. Even if it had been bolstered by the false confidence her outfit had bestowed upon her, she had still spoken to the mysterious Sesshoumaru. Girlish joy squealing through as she realized belatedly, that he knew her name.  

Her steps felt light as she made her way to the kitchen, still lost in thought. So it was a surprise to see her grandmother still up past her usual hour of retirement. Kaede acknowledged her tiredly, before setting down a mug of tea she had been nursing. 

“You weren’t gone long.” Rin took in the haggard appearance of her grandmother. Something was worrying her as of late, though she’d been less than forthcoming. It did nothing but further Rin’s suspicions that she had somehow worn her grandmother down with her depressed behavior. 

She passed her elder to make her own cup of tea, pressing a soft, comforting hand on her hunched shoulder as she went by. Anything to ease her burden. 

“Kohaku had to cancel, I basically just sat on the porch for ten minutes.” 

Rin could have sworn she heard a sigh of relief come from Kaede. But when she returned to their island to sit with her she said nothing more, no indication, just continued to watch the news stories as they flashed on the screen in their living room. 

Rin had just begun to open her mouth in question, perhaps to see if Kaede had been the one to tell their new neighbor her name, perhaps to see what she thought about him…

When a particular flash on the screen caught her attention. 

The woman in the picture looked at her, seemed to see right through her, just as she had weeks ago when she stumbled upon their door by accident in search of…..him. Rin found herself speechless, breathing coming out faster than before as she watched the anchor describe the situation. 

It was for sure the woman that had accidentally stumbled upon their door, Rin was absolutely certain. A shiver ran through her as she did the math, matching time and place. 

Missing three weeks. 

Missing. 

Blue eyes. 

Red hair. 

In a moment her grip faulted and her cup slipped from her hand, remnants of her tea and the loose pieces of leaves splattering over the countertop. However, in a most peculiar fashion, the ceramic mug did not shatter upon impact. The brunt of it slamming into the wooden floor below with a dull thud before bouncing twice more…

Knock.., knock, knock

Chapter Text

She was a fucking coward. A major one. Rin brought her hands up to run them through the nest of hair that had priorly been a braid. 

There was an oscillating tide within her, a muddle of mishmashed and pieced together feelings that were as knotted as her hair currently was. 

Perhaps she was making this a bigger deal than it needed to be; she hadn’t seen anything particularly incriminating. All she had witnessed was the woman enter his home and…well that was literally it. That didn’t necessarily mean he was guilty of anything. Maybe they just, you know whatever, and then she went on her merry way home. 

Rin sighed again before tossing her head back against her pillow. 

On the other hand…

Rin shot a fearful glance at the windows across her bedroom. 

Perhaps, he had lured her to his place. Maybe he was even practiced at it, seducing victims. Innocent victims. Using his unearthly looks to just swoop in and BAM. Dead before they even knew what hit them. 

Rin shot up to a sitting position frightened by her own train of thought. No, no, she was only missing, nothing suggested death or foul play, the anchor's words repeating in her memory. 

“Get it together, Rin,” She muttered to herself. Wavy locks of hair flew around with the force of her stubborn head shake. 

The predicament remained though and as if on cue her phone lit the darkened interior of her room a pale shade of blue. Kohaku was calling again, probably worried half to death with her sudden silence over the last week, but he would have to wait. At least until she figured out what to do. 

Another thought rushed through the distressed girl. Perhaps, she wasn’t even the right woman. Maybe, in her depressed stupor, she had failed to properly register her features and the woman on the news was just a substitute for her piss-poor memory. An image flashed then of the ruby-red hair and sapphire eyes. It was certainly plausible….

Only, it wasn’t. The reports were endless in their repetition, “Last seen leaving her Ishikawa condo.” 

But if Rin was truly honest, more honest than she cared to be, a piece of her knew. Was untangling itself from the mess of her feelings and doubts to become clear. As the hollowed sound of stilettos echoed in her head on repeat. The woman was real, it had been her, and her last sighting was crossing the threshold of her neighbor’s door. 

Sesshoumaru’s door. 

It was with this final thought that Rin finally gathered the nerve, scrolling through missed calls from Kohaku to enter and hit the green-lit button. All before her brain could talk her back out of it. 

It rang twice, enough time to hang up, enough time to pretend this wasn’t a thing and to forget all about it. 

“Hello, nine one one what is your emergency?” 

There was a brief hesitation on her part, a stutter in the chest and throat as she realized what she was about to do-

“Hi, my name is Rin Akamatsu and I need to speak with someone about a missing person,” 

............................

“I’m just waiting on the detectives to contact me back,”

“Rin, you can’t be serious…,” 

She didn’t respond. Kohaku moved towards where she sat, crouched, and using the sill of her window as an elbow perch, in order to steady the binoculars she was currently looking through. Every muscle tensed as she focused on keeping tabs on the house next door. She’d been spying since her call about the missing woman, hoping to find something, anything to give them further. 

Maybe they’d even find her alive. That is if they would call her back…

A blackness overtook her vision and Rin almost had a panic attack until she realized it was just Kohaku’s hand. He’d been intent on snatching the binoculars from her but had instead settled on blocking her view. 

“Kohaku!” 

She practically shouted before swatting him away, moving further down the couch, still in her kneeling crouch, and resuming her watch on the little helper. He was on the second floor, doing some menial task. Rin’s eyes had stayed glued to him as he moved around, going out of her line of sight with a nail in between his lips and hammer in hand. 

“Is this because I messed up our Halloween plans? I told you I was sorry,”

Rin shot him a look, “Of course not-I’m telling you Kohaku, that lady from the news, I saw her going into this guy’s house. I saw her with him! What don’t you understand?” 

Kohaku backed away from her as a hand came up to rub over his face and the five o’clock shadow on it. He’d been too worried about her when he rushed over, first thing in the morning, to check on her after what felt like a thousand calls and missed texts. 

He tried to calm his nerves, but one look at her hunched and stalking as she continued to spy on them had him worked up. He’d dealt with quiet Rin, but this, this was something else entirely. 

“This can’t be healthy. Especially right now,-you just got home Rin.”

It would fall on deaf ears despite the heartfelt sincerity behind the words, despite the genuine concern. 

“I think he may have her just tied up somewhere,” Rin muttered more to herself. 

This too would fall on deaf ears. Her friend cared little, even if what she was saying was true, his main concern was her well-being. Kaede had literally just requested his help in caring for Rin in her fragile state and now this was happening. It had taken one night for a mania to seize her. 

“Or, he could have killed her already.” 

“Rin please, stop,” this time he really did take the binoculars from her. Abruptly ripping them from the small girl so she had no choice but to face him, annoyed and distraught at his unneeded distraction. 

He tried to reach for her hand, “Come on, let me take you to breakfast or something-”

It was quiet but it stopped him all the same, “No, I’m not leaving.”  

An exasperated huff left him. She was literally regressing right before his eyes. 

“Look, those detectives or whatever can still call you on your cell, even if you are away from home. Just come-”

She wasn’t listening though, her eyes were instead intently focusing on something out her window. Shallow and rapid puffs of air leaving her as the panic began to rise within her. His hair whipped around as he tried to find what was causing her distress. 

A couple was moving up her neighbor’s walkway and towards his door, hands clasped together, he recognized the woman instantly. 

“Look, Rin- that’s Kagome Higurashi,” he turned to face her again even though her eyes were still wide and horrified. 

“She’s one of Sango’s best friends. Remember? Do you think a girl like that would be entering the house of someone if she thought he attacked a woman in his home?” 

Rin swallowed, her expressive eyes shimmering with fright, “But the man, he looks like Sesshoumaru. Wh-what if they are going to attack her together? What if she needs our help? Please go and stop her Kohaku-” 

At the last sentence, she finally turned her eyes on her friend. And his heart twisted at the sight. What the fuck happened at that school? His hands fisted as a wave of anger seized him. Whatever it was, it had made Rin paranoid beyond reason. 

He looked back over as the couple disappeared inside. He had no idea who the guy with her was, had never seen or met him in his life. In fact, if he was remembering correctly, Sango had said Kagome had up and left years ago, so there was that added mystery as to why she was even back. But he had no choice- his eyes turned back to her before he spoke again. “I know him. He’s really cool. Rin, just chill out. I’m telling you if they like him you shouldn’t be this worried.” 

The lie had come easily enough even if it didn’t sit well. He watched her nibble at her lip and continue to watch as the silver-haired man and dark-haired woman moved along the edges of sight the windows allowed. He’d ask Sango about it once he got home. After all, stranger things had happened than girls showing back up in their hometown. As he had found out first hand.

The unwanted memory returned to hit him then. On Halloween night, he’d been on his way to Rin’s house when a fog overtook his truck. It seemed to have come out of nowhere. Seeping and pouring from the treeline that bordered both sides of the remote, country road that led through their town. Eerie was putting it mildly. He’d traveled through it for what felt like ages, having to slow to a crawl as the thickness of it grew. 

While the fog was not an unusual occurrence for the mountainous region, it was what happened afterward that had him weirded out. 

Kohaku had only traveled a mile, maybe more according to the dash on his truck, but when he finally cleared the mist the truck came to a sudden lurch. Completely out of fuel. 

He never ran the company truck to the fumes. In fact, he had filled the tank up less than an hour before he set out for Rin’s house. Unexplainable as it was, it was even more concerning when the gas they kept on hand for the mowers was gone. Every single container, empty. His dad had been pissed once he came to retrieve him. 

Kohaku pulled himself from his dark train of thought with a shake of his head. It would do no good for Rin if he too got swept up in some weird conspiracy theories of his own about mysterious mountain mist and its gas stealing properties. He would never tell her about this event. 

She was once again spying. A combination of his exasperation with the events and Rin made his tone too harsh.

“Rin you’re acting crazy. Stop it, right now.” 

It would cut her deep. But she would never tell him this. She found it hard to even speak after his poorly worded statement, yet she did, voice quieter than ever as it reached him over the invisible wall that was beginning to build between them again. 

“Leave the binoculars on your way out, Kohaku.” 

............................

“Hello, can I speak to Ms. Akamatsu?” 

“This is her.” 

“I’m calling in regards to a tip you left on the Shira Hitabo case,” 

Rin paused what she had been doing to take a seat on her floor as the woman continued. 

“My name is Miyu Suzuki and I am the detective in charge of the case. Would you be able to take time and schedule an interview with my partner and me sometime this week?” 

Rin’s heart palpitated at the thought of leaving-

“Well, um no,”

The woman’s clear voice met her ears like a shock of ice water, “No?” 

Rushing to clarify, “I mean, I’m just unable to leave my um home. I’m-” 

Rin stuttered as she thought over the phrasing. “I just never leave.” 

She heard the woman on the other end give a muted hum, but there was nothing understanding in the tone.  

“I see. I suppose it would make sense given how far out you live. Would you be able to make time for a teleconnection interview then? We can skype and take down the details of what you remember that way if you prefer.” 

“Yes of course,” 

Internally, Rin released a sigh of relief at not having to leave the safety of her home. 

“What date and time work best for you?” 

............................

His schedule was odd and not patterned in the least. Rin could hardly keep an eye on him before he was gone, only to arrive again a day later without cue. The man was certainly an enigma. 

Right now was different. Sesshoumaru had been home all day and it was only belatedly that Rin noted she had been watching him the entire time. Her locked knees were beginning to quietly protest and she knew she’d need a break soon. Chocolate orbs continued to take him in regardless, undeterred, as he moved about his home, seemingly unaware of his little bespectacled audience. 

He moved with a surety and grace that befit him even if the setting did not. And Rin would be lying if she said it wasn’t addicting in some way...to watch him. Someone so extraordinarily handsome doing something as mundane as reading the paper. A castle she thought to herself, that is what he needed, not a home. It looked too quaint to belong to someone so...regal. It didn’t help that his little helper, the one with the unnatural pallor, was constantly bowing lowly to him every time they crossed paths. Though it was never returned or acknowledged by the imposing man. How strange… 

At about noon he had moved up the stairs. His reappearance in the hallway that led to his bedroom caught her attention. But instead of heading towards his room, he stopped at the door just before it before opening the oak door that resembled the ones in her own home and entering. 

He did not close it and Rin sat up to better see the newly exposed space. From what she could make out through the frame of the door it was some sort of office. 

It must have been centered directly as when he sat, it was right in the frame of the door, allowing Rin an unhindered view as he worked on something on the desk before him. Three times. Only three times did he look up and off. But each time he stared into space, Rin would wait with bated breath for his next move. How it could be so riveting to her was a complete mystery. Or so she told herself. 

It merely took a recollection of Shira, the missing girl’s new report, to bring Rin back to task anyway. She had a purpose. 

Perhaps an hour or two after dusk was when a movement finally caught her attention. The darkness of the night was compounded by the barely visible moon. So when a pair of headlights, familiar ones, pulled to a stop in front of his house, Rin was able to pinpoint and recognize them in seconds. It was the woman from before Halloween. Even from her place upstairs she could hear as the rumbling of the engine was abruptly cut. 

Her exploration of her was more thorough this time despite the cover of night. Still dressed to the nines, the height of her impressive as well, Shira had probably been around the same footage, and Rin could not help but compare her own meager height to the leggy woman below. That was now heading towards Sesshoumaru’s door, every step accentuated by a clack of her heels. 

Said man had been casually making his way down since she’d arrived and before she’d even cut the engine. As soon as he opened the door, she was on him, rubbing and leaning herself flush against him, pulling at his clothes with abandon. 

A flush of embarrassment seized her as she saw a hand snake from where it had been pressed against the expanse of his chest to instead cup him between the legs. The binoculars made a thud as she put them down on the window sill. While she needed to still keep an eye, perhaps it was unnecessary to see all of this. She watched enough to see as the woman led him towards a velvet-tuffet, antique of a chair before pushing him to sit. Enough to see as the same woman used the grand, and rolled armrests to lower herself over him in a straddle before abruptly lifting herself and turning away. A hand came up to feel the heat of her face. 

She needed a distraction and break. After a brief stretch, Rin moved to sit on her bed before retrieving her phone from under her pillow, though she already knew what she would find. It wasn’t like she had a ton of friends. Kohaku’s name still glared at her, the blue light illuminating her face in the darkened room. He’d called since their little argument. 

What did surprise her though was a text from Sango. 

Rin! Kohaku was telling me you were

back! I missed you so much girly- 

When are we hanging out? I have so 

much to tell you. 

Rin tapped out of it. She wasn’t ready to have to dodge another one of her friends. Although she had always been closer to Kohaku in age and bond, Sango still showered her with an undeserved attention she seemed to reserve solely for Rin. And Rin had enough guilt as it was between her grandmother and Kohaku. 

Some time passed like this with Rin flicking through various apps on her phone, though for every hour that passed her eyes became a little heavier. And just as her exhaustion was about to overtake her, she heard it. 

A scream. 

Rin wasted no time in rushing towards her earlier spot, dropping her phone on the tattered cushion beside her in order to lift the binoculars back towards her face. 

Her messy braid swung to and fro as she frantically searched, knowing it had been the woman in his home. It took a while but a sudden movement on the ground level caught her attention. 

It was the woman and she was running. Rin’s own heart quickening in lockstep as she watched the obviously panicked woman flit out of sight. 

The time had come, she was finally getting something, but...she had not been even remotely prepared. Should she try and record it with her phone as evidence or something? The dark-headed woman reappeared, her movements jerky and erratic as she moved about. And Rin, who had set the visual aid down as she internally debated what to do, quickly brought the binoculars back up to zero in on the clearly distraught woman. 

She was in her panties and bra but nothing else. And Rin watched in growing horror as the model continued to look around as if afraid of an ambush, before suddenly darting to a door that led out and to the side of her neighbor’s deck. The glass paneling of it hid nothing as the woman frantically pulled at the handle with no success. Her breath caught at the same time that the woman became still, turning to put her back against the door, body curling in preparation to hide. 

The reason became clear as a movement on the stairs drew Rin’s gaze. Sesshoumaru was descending, shirtless, silver hair gently swaying around his long and muscled torso as he made a slow and… if Rin wasn’t mistaken, deliberate descent. And though his face was as impassive as it had been when she watched him in his home earlier, she could not help but notice the stalk. She knew he was hunting for that woman….like a predator after its prey. 

She watched until he pulled out of sight before swinging back towards the still cowering woman. 

It was deceivingly still as Rin continued to watch the silent show. She swallowed thickly as she watched the woman chance a look around the corner of the small hallway that led to the door she’d tried to escape from. It took but a moment and before Rin could blink the woman had slipped around said corner and out of her line of sight. 

Another pause of stillness followed. The dark brown and pale blur of the woman were all she saw as she made for her final destination, the front door. The next sight had Rin dropping the binoculars in a clatter that would have woken the dead. She watched as a disembodied pale arm reached out just as she was passing by a darkened cove of the living room, there was a flash as it snatched her under the cover of darkness as well. When had he even gotten there?

Rin bolted then. Out her own door, shaking as she ran down the stairs, only to trip and fall on the rug in the foyer. The material sliding further away and out from under her in her haste to lift herself back up. Before she was even to her grandmother’s door she was screaming. Chanting really. 

“Sobo, Sobo, Sobo- please wake up-please!” 

Kaede was a deep sleeper but the banging on the door was deafening as Rin scrambled towards the only person she thought could help.  

The elder whipped open her door without even covering her bad eye, “What is it, girl? What’s the matter with you? What’s happened?”

But Rin was already dragging her now alert grandmother up the stairs. 

“He got her- oh my- he’s attacking her!” 

Kaede continued a slow gait up the stairs, the fastest her old knees would allow. 

“Rin, who? Who’s attacking someone?” 

Rin didn’t miss a beat as she bounced at the apex of the stairs in wait, anxious to show her elder. She needed to call 911 as well but her phone was in the room still. Kaede reached the top just as her granddaughter bolted back through her open bedroom door to retrieve her phone. 

Where was that stupid thing? How could she be so dumb, wasting precious time like this? 

“Answer me, girl!” 

Rin was pulled from her cushion lifting to face her grandmother. Kaede took her in wide-eyed as she regarded her still frightened granddaughter. 

Still shaking, Rin spoke. “The man next door,” at this she flung a hand to point at the window behind her. “He’s got a woman in his home and he’s attacking her- I saw it!”

At this Kaede shifted her stare beyond the small girl and Rin watched as her good eye moved over the scene, the light from his home illuminating her wrinkled face slightly. 

The old woman growled, “Girl, there is nothing over there.” 

The raven waves of hair that had fallen out of her braid shook with the force of Rin’s denial. 

“No- Sobo you didn’t see it-” 

At this Kaede abruptly turned her by the arms to face the still unhindered view of Sesshoumaru’s home….It was empty. 

As it had been before, but there was one notable difference, and the sight of it lowered the galloping heartbeat in her ears enough for her to notice the rumble of an engine. Headlights lit the pavement. The car sat stationary for a few moments before pulling away. The woman...had seemingly left. 

But….,

“I-I-but I saw it-” the stammer persisted in its efforts. 

“Rin, what adults get up to in the privacy of their homes is their own business. I hoped you wouldn’t still be this naive after college. He’s a grown man for god’s sake,” 

Her head shook of its own accord as she continued to mutely take in the scene, mouth agape in disbelief. 

A thought hit her then, “Sobo, we need to go down there and-” 

“You most certainly will not be going down there, young lady. Are you out of your mind? “

Kaede whipped her back around by the arms again to face her. Even brought her in close so the aspiration of her words could bounce off her face. Just as Megumi, who believed she lacked comprehension, had done. 

“Even if there is something, you are not to leave this house. Do you understand me? You’re safe here and you’re safe with Kohaku. Stop this right now and go to bed before your imagination can get the best of you again.” 

At this she released her. Kaede cast a single, lingering look over her shoulder, but it was with her blind eye so she saw nothing. 

Not a thing as her still shocked granddaughter laid herself down as ordered. Heart rate still racing to thump against her mattress as she laid flat. 

Just as Rin would see nothing as a smatter of crimson came forth to suddenly paint the windows of her neighbor’s first-floor living room.

It would be gone by dawn. 

............................

“Rin, can I call you Rin?” 

Said girl nodded mutely at the two detectives on the screen before her. The audio was delayed but detective Miyu’s voice came through as clearly as it had on the phone. All the razor-sharp precision her job required of her, dripping through.

“Are you absolutely certain it was Shira you saw and not someone else?” 

Exasperated for the tenth time, Rin fired back the same way she had before. “Yes! I’m a hundred and ten percent sure it was the woman from the news. I saw her going into his home.” 

Her hands were grasping the edge of the chair she sat on with a white-knuckled grip. What was wrong with these two? Just like her grandmother and Kohaku, they were not taking her seriously at all. Did they truly believe she would lie about something like this? 

The female detective was about to begin again when her male companion interrupted. There was a brief look between them and it was clear from her deference to him that he was some sort of superior. He was an older man, probably in his mid-sixties. Face rough, wrinkled, and above all stern. 

“Ms. Akamatsu please confirm the date again.” 

There was no expression in the gaze he used on her. “I already told you it was October the fifteenth, sometime in the evening. She woke me up after she knocked on the door.” Her eyes narrowed in remembrance as she looked up. “It was probably arounds seven or eight at night.” 

The male detective cut right to the chase after that. “I’m going to be frank with you, Ms. Akamatsu. We have multiple and promising leads that point to Shira’s whereabouts on that night and this information directly conflicts with that timeline.” 

Rin sat stunned and silent. That was impossible, she’d seen her-

“It is a serious offense to waste the time of investigators-”

“I’m not lying! I know what I saw-there’s something not right with him. I know he did something-” 

She knew she sounded hysterical but they were about to blow her off when a potential kidnapper was lurking right next door to her. 

The man looked at her, evaluating for a minute, before reaching beyond the laptop they were using to skype with her to retrieve something. 

His hooded eyes roved over the paper he held and without looking up as he addressed her again, “Rin, your name is familiar can you confirm your age?” 

He gave her another evaluating stare, “I’m twenty.” 

Rin finished with a confused stare. What did that have to do with anything? 

The old man’s eyes seemed to pierce through her and his next words would shock Rin to the core. 

“I worked a case about thirteen years ago. A woman was found murdered in her apartment. Her daughter found her body and went on to live with relatives…,”

The implication was clear and Rin could not hide her annoyance. “And?” 

He had some nerve. She didn’t need a reminder of her mother’s gruesome fate. It was utterly irrelevant. 

The paperwork made a shuffling noise as he signed out his nose. 

“All I’m saying is that sometimes when we go through a trauma like that, we can’t help but see wrongdoing everywhere...even when there is none. Perhaps, you are reading too much into the situation. Ms. Akamatsu.”

Was he seriously suggesting…

Detective Miyu nodded at the still gaping Rin, something final in her actions as she moved to shut down the now stagnated interview. “We’ll contact you if we need any more information. Please have a good evening-”

But Rin had already slammed the laptop shut with a resounding click, imagining it was their heads she had just rammed into the keyboard. 

............................

The pause was brief. Enough time for the primal cogs of recognition to cue up and click together in her mind. Danger. 

It took her less than a second to move, feet pounding against the pavement of her campus in a dead run. Just as she had rounded the edge of the library another set of steps beyond her own began, ominous in their echo and promising in their pace. Another would join after that. And another after the one before it. 

By the time Rin thought to scream it was already far too late, her uneven and heavy heaves for air preventing her from projection. Besides, screaming never saved anyone she thought morbidly. One of many thoughts that raced alongside to keep pace as she tried to find a way to safety. 

A voice arose then to cackle, and the ringing echoes it left to bounce around the brick-lined buildings were enough to bring a panicked tear to her eye. They were going to get her…

“Girl, we just want to talk,” 

Desperate, a sob broke the air around her and it took a moment for Rin to realize it had come from her own throat. It set the three chasing her off again and another hallowed and untamed laughter met her ears. 

“Where the fuck is she going?” 

A cacophony of clamor sounded, the boys following her were nothing but excited hoots and whoops and pounding feet as they gained on her further. The sound was deafening. The roar of it expanding to scrape the walls of the campus buildings that she continued to weave through. Could no one else hear it? Would they hear it over the beat of her heart? The one so strong it shook her body to a tremble with the exertion. 

The wolves continued their pursuit. So hot on her tail that their growls resounded around the deserted corners and twists of the path a second before she even took them. One of them hollered again and another one’s voice rose in response but she would not hear it over the ever-increasing pump of blood that rushed through her ears. The anticipatory howl of a hungry pack right before the kill. 

Rin could hear nothing beyond the snarls of those behind her, could feel nothing but their hot gush of breath on the nape of her exposed neck, could see nothing more than her dismal chance of escape becoming even smaller, and could taste nothing but the undiluted fear that had bubbled up from her chest to sit on her tongue. 

Penance. It was her penance for avoiding death her first time around. She’d always been on borrowed time- to walk away unscathed from her mother’s murder….

This thought was made concrete a moment later. 

The cobblestone path between the language building and the science hall had been waiting. It had been built over the roots of an old oak at the university's opening over a century ago. But it was only now that its vengeance at being overlooked and overlaid came to fruition. A single, gnarled root lay extended and ready for just the right moment, from where it had parted and broken through the old bricks of the path to expose itself. 

And it was on this root that Rin’s foot would catch, and on this stone that she would fall, face first, prone, and helpless as the fate that had missed her the last time finally caught up 

She was roughly jerked up by her backpack and into the body of some unknown assailant who stood behind her. His arms were steel restraints over her own. 

“Did you really think you were going to get away, bitch?” 

And though they were merely boys she swore she could feel the muzzle of his snout against her neck. Ravenous. 

The pack leader circled. “Think you’re too good to talk to me you stupid slut?” 

Pure fear and the strangling beat of her heart kept her from processing the words. Kept her from processing the thousands of thoughts that swirled around her head. 

The one that had accosted her in the library moved in with something predatory in his eyes, to pull at her hair and roughly grope her breast. 

The foreign sensation and resulting revulsion forced her to act. Rin turned her head from the one in front of her, only to lean over to bite, hard, into the arm of the one that restrained her. 

Her already scraped hands and knees met the cobble-stone path for the second time that night as the one she bit roughly shoved her to the ground with a snarl. 

Before she knew it, someone was on her hand, sneaker pressing her delicate limb into the stone below as another pulled at her hair and backpack. 

There was a searing pain as one pulled hard enough to rip the straps apart and take the defending pack off of her person. Their filthy flesh caressed her own as one of them went for her shirt. Rin could do nothing but curl further into herself as the light material also began to give. 

It was then that fate would intervene for the second time tonight. Distracted in his anger at being bitten, and errant in his hurry to get at their prize, the boy would toss the offending backpack away, heedless of its trajectory. 

The pack that had weighted Rin down earlier, hit the light post with a cling before sliding down. Along the way it would tap, with just the needed amount of pressure, a button. One of the various panic buttons that the campus had installed only a month before. 

A glancing flash of bright blue shocked her attackers, rendering them stone as they looked up to see. There was a rush after that as they panicked and pushed at each other in their haste to flee. Disregard for her presence until the end, as one of the would-be wolves kicked her side during his getaway. The force of it would stun her further and push the faint breath she had left from her lungs as she found herself on her back, limbs in a haphazard order. Hands and knees bleeding. 

The light continued overhead and the night sky looked down on her in witness. When she could no longer hear their fleeing steps she shut her eyes against it. The tear tracks rewet with the action as it forced some latent tears to fall. The blue twist of light would press through the thin flesh of her eyelids before disappearing, only to return again a moment later, before repeating. 

Her soul left her then, the piece she’d reserved, vacating on the wind of the last shuttered breath she released. An eye stared at her, a bloodied face, crushed in with force, jaw broken and slack as the memory of her mother assaulted her. 

Eyelids fluttered open….

To the darkness of her bedroom. 

When Rin awoke she was already crying, adrenaline she’d had since the attack still running rampant through her veins. Pumping her heart into an unrhymed gallop. The nightmares had returned with a vengeance. 

Rin could hardly believe how foolish she had been, to believe she had found relief. She sat up to cradle her face as another rack of sobs left her unbidden. She could not remember the last time she cried like this. Intense grief washing over her as the events from school came back and the events of late caught up to her. 

No one, absolutely no one believed her….and she was starting to join them. Perhaps, she had been mistaken. Trauma-ridden brain firing up imaginary connections where there was nothing particularly extraordinary. Maybe, that girl had been different. And despite the weird happenings, maybe her new neighbor wasn’t some psychotic killer. Well, there was absolutely nothing to prove a killer, but maybe he wasn’t a kidnapper either. 

The thought did not ease the crippling loneliness nor the pain that accompanied the feeling of being utterly lost with seemingly no one to save her this time. Rin curled in on herself and continued to cry silently. 

In the morning, she will wake again in the familiarity of her childhood room, a twinkling of dawn lighting her wall in a pleasant and nostalgic way. The pillow will be heavy, practically saturated with her sadness, another familiar tradition from her youth. Kohaku, Kaede, and now….. Sesshoumaru will all be there per usual. And Shirakawa will be as it was the day before.

But the feeling will not leave her.

Something, whether it is the town or herself, she knows not, has been irrevocably changed. 

Chapter Text

For every evil under the sun

There is a remedy or there is none.

If there be one, seek till you find it;

If there be none, never mind it.

~ Mother Goose 

It was a hard pill to swallow and an even harder lesson to learn. But it came with the realization that the simplest solution was more often than not, the correct one. Rin did it nonetheless. Heeding her family and friends’ advice and following it like it was gospel. For every moment she had spent stalking and watching her neighbor, she spent double ignoring him after that. Ignoring her plague of suspicions just as her grandmother and Kohaku had done. And though it had brought her back out of her depressed shell, in a way, Rin had finally decided she was done speculating on what the man next door got up to. 

If her neighbor had guests, Rin had distractions, turning to any media she could find to keep her mind occupied and away from the binoculars that still sat on the sill of her window. If a flicker of light, or a sudden shift of movement from his home caught in her peripheral as she paced within the confines of her bedroom, Rin had plans. Everything from cooking, to cleaning, hell, even shoveling snow in the backyard if she had to, that was, everything short of actually leaving her abode. If she heard a noise, something as innocuous as a car lock to the more…sinister, like what sounded suspiciously like a plea for help...well, in those events she’d do absolutely anything to keep her mind from straying and conjuring up any more ideas about what was or what wasn’t going on next door. Even if it meant blaring her radio at full blast to drown it out. 

And if none of that worked, she would simply turn over in her bed, back to the windows of her room, and force herself to sleep. 

Two months would pass like this. 

Every day moving slower than the last as Rin sunk back into her routine, sometimes sleeping well into the evening, sometimes leaving her room only for the necessities. This seemed to please her grandmother, lines of worry-borne wrinkles had begun to disappear from her face as she realized Rin was once again returning to normal. Well, not normal, but at least she was at home and safe and most importantly not trying to accuse their new neighbor of being some sort of psycho. Whatever that meant. Kohaku seemed to agree. Resuming his visits as if they had no fight at all. As if she had not gone crazy for a period.  

It was Thursday evening and they were just getting over the vestiges of a snowstorm, common for the season. All that remained now was an occasional flake. Rin watched them accumulate on her porch while she waited for Kohaku to arrive. The book she’d brought out to read remained untouched and next to her, where she sat, cross-legged, on the hanging swing. Bundled in layers of clothes and her trusty flannel. 

Lost in more than the layers upon layers of fabric, Rin sunk deeper into her thoughts. Distracted. It was a good thing that for every day she had existed she was one day further away from her awful past. Putting the memory of university behind her and everything before it, under lock and key. It was also a good thing that her friends and family were pleased with her. And it was even better that she had decided to stop her prior antics in regards to the man next door. Besides, if even the experts were skeptical, what right did she have? They were right. She was just applying her own hang-ups to him. 

A gust came then and ushered in the chill. Her grandmother’s hanging chimes danced out an unrhymed tune as one metal body beat against the next. 

It left a hollowed-out hole in her where all the dread and fear and paranoia had once existed. Rin was once again, nothing. 

The metal had only just stilled when another sound pulled her back to reality. Another car door shut after that from somewhere behind her. Turning her head only slightly, Rin was able to see as two people made their way up her neighbors walkway and towards his porch. Her braid swung around to tap her flushed cheek with the force that she whipped back around. Wide-eyed and nervous as her orbs followed the railings of her porch. 

Oh my god-what were they doing here?

An even beat echoed as they knocked. When there was no immediate answer she heard them shuffle around, the porch planks shifting under their combined weight. 

Rin brought a pale hand up to cover her mouth. If she had time she would have run inside. But she knew the slightest movement would call unwanted attention of either the detectives or her neighbor. 

The next set of knocks were more forceful than the last. A sliver of hope traveled through her. Perhaps, he was not home.

Rin heard the door open a moment later and the hope left as her eyes resumed their nervous inspection of her porch. 

Just as before, the female detective was direct and forceful in her introduction, “Hello, I’m detective Suzuki and this is detective Ito. We’re here…,” 

The conversation was not hushed but the distance made the rest of it hard to make out. A minute had passed or maybe more before a word struck her, reaching out from the quiet exchange, to smack her in the face. 

“....Shira Hitabo….” 

They were asking him about the missing girl. Rin sunk even further in the swing, anything to hide herself from the mortifying situation that was going on behind her. A situation she was entirely responsible for. A shamed flush replaced the cold within her body. It didn’t make sense though. Hadn’t they told her they had better leads? 

How could she have been so stupid? 

Their conversation felt like an eternity but it had merely taken four minutes. There was no relief for her as she heard the male detective give a curt thanks before their steps sounded again. No relief at all, even as she heard the doors of their car shut, even as she heard their car putter down their street and out of their lives. The prior silence of the street crept back in. 

She had been a fool. Embarrassment did not even begin to describe the feeling coursing through her. A thought hit her, and she wondered if he knew that it had been her to report him. The further horror sent her spiraling. A part of her searching for reason. Surely, the detectives would keep that kind of information under wraps. Another part remembering with a grain of dread how easily the male detective had brought up her mother’s murder. Mentioning past cases like it was nothing. 

Needing to get away from the awkward situation, Rin abruptly stood, leaving her book in her haste as she scurried towards her own front door and into the warmth of her house. 

It was with great effort that she ignored the eyes boring into her back. 

............................

Rin brought out the kettle and had to bite her tongue. The clink of iron called the attention of the three people currently reclining in various spots of her living room as she set it down. Including the couple that had priorly been using one half of her couch as a makeout corner. She didn’t know if she should blush at the sight or laugh at the expression poor Kohaku was giving her ceiling. Just as her friend had explained, his sister and her new husband were certainly...amorous. 

Sango was still beautiful. More filled out, a touch more makeup, but underneath the same girl from her youth remained. Despite the great changes Kohaku insisted had taken place as soon as she met Miroku and got married. 

Sango attempted to pull and right her now skewed shirt. It had been normal when Rin left to make them all some tea. 

An excited voice broke the silence, “Oh Rin, is that jasmine?” Sango started to lean forward to a more natural position, but her husband’s arm prevented further movement. Rin nodded and looked away awkwardly as she heard the smack of her hand on his flesh. 

“ Get off you pig - that’s my favorite,” she’d started with a hiss and ended with a squeal. Poor, poor Kohaku. 

Rin turned back towards the girl that had always treated her as a younger sibling to smile at her. She had remembered it was her favorite, making her grandmother pick her up some from the grocery store after Kohaku let it slip that his sister was planning a surprise visit the week prior. Kaede had just been happy they were going to be under her roof instead of going out. 

In a great change of tune, the likes of which Rin had never seen before, her grandmother now seemed hellbent on keeping her inside and ‘safe’- whatever that meant. Rin shook her head, it was neither here nor there, and it worked out for her benefit anyway. Kaede was volunteering overnight at the hospital, leaving her granddaughter and her friends to socialize undisturbed with the jasmine tea she had graciously bought for them. 

Rin seated herself on the floor in a kneel before the coffee table, her hand had almost reached the handle of the kettle, intent on refilling her guests’ cups when another beat her to it. 

“I’ve got it, Rin-chan,” The man practically purred her name. Miroku was now leaning over from his seated position, pot in hand as he instead poured them each a cup.  She watched his tattooed hands move around the table, and recognized the imagery instantly. He shot a wink at her and Rin could do nothing but stare, wide-eyed. Sango merely shook her head in response, used to her husband’s perverted behavior. “Don’t listen to him, Rin. He means nothing by it, he’s just a dog.” 

Kohaku looked up from his phone to glare at the man as he caught up on the exchange, “Leave her alone.” 

Rin internally sighed. The impromptu get-together was going, uh, less than splendid.

Miroku simply chuckled before relaxing into the cushions again. “Hey, I was only teasing her no need to get upset. Besides, she’s practically family to you guys, that means she’s my family too now.” 

Rin’s eyebrow rose accordingly, that was certainly one way of looking at it. Kohaku was unconvinced, horribly traumatized by the newest addition to his household, his glare remained on Miroku. 

The older man spoke again, “But Sango was right,” at this a mischievous smile lit his face, “She is really cute.” 

A blush lit Rin’s face as the mortification set in. She could practically feel Kohaku seething from his spot beside her. Sango covered her mouth to cover her giggles. “Isn’t she? I was hoping we could introduce her to that friend of yours, the single one that works on Main.” 

The blush remained as the two eldest in the room continued to discuss setting her up. Sango leaned back into her husband and they resumed their earlier closeness. Miroku continued to watch her, his eyes flitting between herself and Kohaku. “Nah,” he chuckled again, “He’d eat her up.” 

At this, they both laughed. 

Kohaku, who had been done with their chill session since Sango had told him that Miroku was coming, spoke then, defensive per usual of his too quiet and often misunderstood friend, “Both of you shut up and quit bothering her.” 

“Oh, Kohaku- I can’t help it. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you little Rin. Tell me what was school like?” Sango eyed her excitedly, before Kohaku once again interrupted, protective as ever.

“She doesn’t want to talk about that stupid university. Why else would she be back?” 

Rin continued to sit awkwardly as her two friends, and their new tag along, argued over her. Sango sighed, “Well, how about since you got back to Shirakawa, what have you been up to? Kohaku was telling me about your new creepy neighbor-”

Sango stopped mid-sentence, and the exchange of looks between the siblings was less than subtle. It seemed her friend had told his sister all about her weird behavior as well. Rin fought the twinge of betrayal that pushed up from her. 

She felt Kohaku tense as well as she felt her own body do the same. Rin had done nothing...short of accusing her neighbor of being a cold-blooded killer, this they both knew. 

So, Kohaku once again took up the mantle of responding for her. There was a clash as both of the youngest members spoke at the same time. 

“Nothing much-” Rin responded softly. 

“Nothing-” Kohaku spoke abrupt enough to make his sister’s eyes lift sheepishly. His annoyance at her giving away their prior conversations about Rin shining through.  

Pushing down the feelings that Sango’s small but sympathetic smile gave her. Rin spoke then, changing the subject, anything to deviate from the horrible direction this was heading. She and Kohaku had only just reconciled. He’d probably told his sister out of desperation, at not being able to help his friend. And Rin did not want to be mad at him anymore. 

“Miroku,” she started politely, working up the nerve and addressing the newest addition directly for the first time, “your tattoos,” at this Rin gestured to the hand he had wrapped around Sango’s shoulder. 

Said hand lifted as his curious gaze focused in on the shy girl who sat on the floor, “Where did you get them?” 

He gave her a small smile, “Not here. They’re-”

“Buddhist rosary beads.” His smile grew at her softly spoken interruption, impressed. 

“Yeah, how’d you know? Not many people could guess that nowadays.” 

Rin shrugged before gesturing at the patio door behind her vaguely. “My grandmother has them out back,” she didn’t specify further. 

“Oh yeah,” he responded, “Well, they protect against all forms of evil,”

The question left her quickly, “Evil?” 

Miroku nodded. “Anything that means to harm you. Illness, tragedy, demons, everything.” 

A memory hit her then. Of glowing red eyes and the clatter of the holy symbols falling from their branches….being sliced from their branches. Rin shook her head to rid the thought before taking a sip of her tea as a distraction. 

Her voice was still soft when she spoke again, genuinely curious, “Do you believe in such things?” 

Miroku responded, serious for the first time since she’d met him, “Whole-heartedly.” 

Rin nodded her head in acceptance. “They’re pretty.” she finished politely, afraid her inquiry had bordered too close to rude. It was unusual for people around their age to care for such things. 

It was Kohaku’s turn to interrupt then. He’d been scrolling through the television looking for a movie and he’d finally found one. 

“This is the one I was telling you guys about!” 

They all looked up to see the bloodied, handprint cover of the horror film Kohaku had found. He did not wait on their approval before selecting. It felt natural to conclude there as the couple claimed the couch and she and Kohaku merely turned to watch from their seats on the floor. Before Rin knew it, they were all engrossed in the cheesy flick. 

............................

Rin awoke as the train shuddered to a halt. The sudden stop throwing her back pack out of the seat next to her and to the tiled floor. She’d barely had enough time to lift her hands and prevent her face from connecting with the back of the seat in front of her. 

For a while, there was only silence. She heard the brief break of static as a voice sounded over the intercom, the late-night conductor not even bothering to use polite honorifics. 

“Sorry folk, it looks like we will have a short delay at this station due to some technical issues. Please be patient and we will depart as soon as possible.” 

At first, she tried to relax, sinking further into her seat and attempting to return to sleep. She still had a ways to go until she arrived at Shirakawa. 

That was until the doors of the cart she was on made a hiss as the lock released. Her eyes shot open anxiously. Sitting up straight, Rin extended her head over the seat rest in front and behind her in search of any other people. But given the lateness of the hour, it seemed she was alone. 

Her body weight met the seat again as she sat back down. Now, unable to sleep. 

Another tense silence fell over and Rin began to tap her foot. She had just turned and began to unzip her backpack in search of her phone when it happened. A sharp rap of knuckles on the window beside her. 

A yelp left her unbidden as she quickly turned back to face it, leaning back over the armrest and into the seat behind her in order to put space between herself and the noise. 

Her own frightened gaze looked back at her. The window rendered into nothing more than a reflective surface. Between the fluorescent light of her cart and the night sky, she could see nothing. 

Too afraid to lean closer and cup the window, Rin waited with bated breath. Perhaps it had been the conductor running a check-

Her thoughts halted completely as she heard the cart doors hiss again, this time sliding open. A shaky breath slipped between her parted lips.

Rin lifted herself to catch a glimpse of the person entering. But as her line of sight moved over the headrest in front of her, her face twisted in confusion at the unmet expectation. 

There was no one. 

Unable to hold herself up any longer, Rin fell back into her seat silently. She leaned back and took a steadying breath. Maybe it was just a malfunction. And while she didn’t particularly like sitting in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, with the doors wide open, she could hardly justify freaking out about it. 

That was until the final sound met her ears. Four sounds to be precise. An unnatural set of clicks against the train’s tile. Alarmed but not devoid of her wits, Rin took another peek over the headrest. 

Still, there was no one. 

Her braided hair swiped at the floor as she leaned down this time in an attempt to see under the seats. It would be for nothing, the odd bits of metal that made up the underside, prevented her from seeing anything. 

There was another set of clicks. It sounded like….

Rin decided then to check it out. Wisely or unwisely, maybe she could get up there and it would be nothing. Maybe she could close the doors back up. 

The last and final set of clicks would sound as Rin moved out of her row and into the center aisle of the train. Cautiously she moved forward, past rows and rows, but it was not until she reached the second to the last, that an ominous sound stopped her in place. 

The wolf moved, and she watched horrified as the other two followed behind him and into the aisle in front of her. Its growl only grew from there. Raising until it seemed to shake the entire train cart with its intensity. They stared her down with yellowed eyes, snouts rimmed in blood and drool, waiting for her to make the first move. 

Panicked and more than happy to oblige, Rin bolted backward in a sprint for her life, not even stopping as she moved a hand to snatch her backpack on the way past. Their nails tapped in an uneven crescendo as they gained on her. 

They closed the distance quick enough. But Rin had already made it to the glass divider. She could see the empty cart beyond, all she would have to do is open and close it before they got to her and she would be safe. 

...she was not so lucky. Rin pulled at the door frantically, but the lock remained tight and unyielding. She watched horrified, through the reflection of the glass in front of her, as the beasts got close enough to pounce. Frightened eyes slammed shut as her doom closed in. 

Lips parted for a scream to leave her. She felt the jaws clasp as her flesh ripped away.

Then Rin knew no more. 

............................

In the light cast by the movie, sepia-colored eyes fluttered open as an ear-piercing scream erupted through her living room, echoing long after in the foyer. 

The bloodied and beaten woman on screen had been caught. Fleshy bits drooped and hung from the emaciated creature that was currently feasting on her neck. She couldn’t believe she’d fallen asleep to this. After, a slow zoom-in would start, so the viewer could better see its daggered fangs sink into her yielding flesh. Rin took it in a moment longer, face giving away none of her feelings. Not that she had many; her dreams put this to shame. 

She remembered the train ride home from university...there’d been no wolves. But they’d found her all the same, even if it took her dream space to allow them to do so. 

Her cheek rubbed against the floor as she set about checking on the guests she’d so rudely left unattended to nap. Miroku and Sango had resumed their earlier session, the darkened room and gentle light of the television allowing them a modicum of privacy. Not that they cared much. It was hard to decide if the noises they made or the squelching from the movie were worse. 

Rin was up and gently tugging at Kohaku. He followed, getting up from where he had been reclining on the floor, arms crossed behind the head, to sit on the other couch with her. It was much more comfortable there. So captured by the movie before him that his eyes never left the screen. 

It didn’t take long after that. Rin’s slitted eyes watched as a head rolled over the tatami mats, the eyes open and wide with residual fright. It rolled towards the camera to stop on the screen so that the victim's lifeless orbs would be looking back at the viewer. A second more and before the camera had even panned away, sleep had reclaimed her. 

............................

A gentle shake of her shoulder brought her to, “Rin,” but it was not until the second touch that her eyes fluttered open, “Rin-wake up. The movie’s over.”

Had she really fallen asleep? Mortified, she shot up. Still drowsy but gathering her senses enough to see the credits rolling on her screen. She had seriously slept through the entire film when she was supposed to be hosting. 

Waves of raven shimmied as she shook her head to get rid of the last bits of sleep, “I’m so sorry-” 

The voice had been Kohaku’s. Even sleepy she’d recognized it, but when she’d turned her head to look at where he’d been before...there was nothing. In fact, there was no one, save for Rin, alone in her living room. Their empty and tea-stained cups still sat on the coffee table below her. 

Her brow furrowed...it was unlike Kohaku to leave her like that. She shot another look at the couch she’d risen from, where he had sat. She could have sworn it was his voice. It had sou-

Knock, knock, knock. 

Who…., it had to be them. Maybe they’d just gone out to the porch and gotten locked out or something. Without further contemplation, Rin rushed into the foyer. It took her less than a second to unbolt the lock and open the front door, a rush of cold air pulling forward to greet her. Her sleep-addled brain unable to notice that her friends would have been unable to lock the bolt if they had left. 

But just as before, there was no one. Not a soul in sight. 

She reclosed the door, unsettled, but not nearly as disturbed as the situation called for, before turning to head back to the living room. 

Her voice was hesitant as she called out, “Kohaku?” 

On her way there she’d check the kitchen and call up the stairs. Still, there would be no sight of her friend, his sister, or her husband. 

The empty echo of the hallway seemed to laugh at her. 

 “Kokahu?” this time louder than before. 

Yet, still, there was no reply. As she approached the living room again, her voice became louder, a slight panic creeping in with the octave, “Where are you?” 

Silence. 

“Come on guys this isn’t funny-”  

Her foot had only just crossed the threshold of her living room and already she could see. 

Someone was sitting on her couch, dead center…

It was not Kohaku. 

His eyes were closed and his long imposing body relaxed, all upon her couch. She moved further in the room, so incredibly naive, that it bordered on the obscene. As her eyes, the ones too innocent for her own good observed the man before her. 

His strange markings, so distinct against his pale skin, that Rin could not help but trace them over….dainty finger lifting into the empty space before her to caress at a distance. 

There were the slim slivers of crimson along his face as well as the crescent of a blue moon between his silver bangs. 

She followed the line of his body, starting with the unnatural point of his ear until she finally reached his hands, he had them there too. The ruby markings seem to pulse in their movement,  the precisely drawn lines shifting to jagged edges right before her eyes. Rin could not stop the gasp that left her. The air practically crackled with the energy surrounding him. 

Her eyes stayed glued to his hands that were perched, unclenched, and atop his knees, and something began to sink in her as she watched the long digits extend and narrow into claws fit to mutilate.  

Another shift of his person caught her eye, and there were and are still no adequate words to describe the fear Rin felt as she watched his lips twist to reveal a row of pearly-white….fangs. 

She had but a moment after that, as a single claw lifted, palm up, and tilted towards her in extension. 

It happened simultaneously after that. 

Eerie crimson eyes revealing themselves to fixate on her as a deep growl shook the walls of her home in the most frightening of ways….

“Come.” 

............................

“Come on Rin-wake up. The movie’s over,” Rin gasped, waking up for real, for the second time that night. Kohaku gave her a strange look but commented on nothing.

“I’m so sorry- I can never stay awake through movies,”  the sleep had not quite left her voice. 

Sango laughed from somewhere in her foyer, Rin heard Miroku’s faint chuckle underneath it. 

“See- I told you. She’s absolutely adorable.” Sango’s voice echoed out to them in the living room and while Rin could do nothing more than blush, Kohaku was already walking through the foyer, past his giggling elders, and to the front door. 

“Both of you shut up and just get in the truck.”

Miroku moved to do as instructed, hands lifted in passive apology, when Rin entered the room as well. She faintly heard his voice give her a good-bye. Sango, not completely done, sprinted over to engulf the smaller girl in a bone-crushing hug. 

“We’re going to do something else together, right Rin?” At this, she pulled back to look upon her face. “You’re not going to keep ignoring me, right?” Sango teased. 

Rin nodded softly. Now that her mind was no longer occupied with conspiracies, she would make time for her second oldest friend, “No, I promise.” 

Sango looked over her shoulder at her still touchy brother before leaning over to whisper, “Something without the boys, ne.” 

A light laugh left Rin. How Kohaku could have accused her of changing was beyond her. The same girl she’d always remembered, sweet, outgoing, was right before her. 

Sango moved then out and past her little brother, Rin could hear her boots crunching against the snow as she moved closer to her screen. 

And was pleased to see that even Kohaku, who had been so grouchy all night, was smiling from the exchange. Happy to see bits of the old times shining through in a way he never thought would happen again, even if had come from whatever shitty circumstances Rin would still not tell him about. 

He would look at Rin for a long moment, before following his family in leave. On the way home he’d be so warm and fuzzy you would hardly have guessed. The powerful amounts of regret that would come to replace the sweet boy’s countenance as fate revealed itself to them. Regret that his friend had ever returned. 

It was the last night he would see Rin, as he remembered her...unchanged. Sango and Miroku were right about one thing, one thing only, she was the picture of innocence.

And innocence had enemies. 

............................

In the dark her eyes appeared as black jewels, minuscule amounts of light catching to shimmer back out as she peeked from underneath her duvet. Raven lashes, thick enough to tangle, lining the innocence of them. She’d heard….something. 

But, just like earlier during the film, she found herself once again dozing, the clutches of sleep too strong to resist as her exhaustion once again claimed her. Rin’s eyes shot back open, reflexive and wide for a second time. 

Knock, knock, knock. 

No way. Really? First her stupid dream and now this, twice in one night had to be a new record. Rin yanked the cover over her head. She would not answer it-no matter what. Thoughts of the hysteria that followed last time she had interacted with a nightly visitor on her porch, seized her. Her cheeks rubbed against her bedding, the shake of her head more to reassure herself. Their call would go unheeded. There would be no repeat of what happened only months prior. They would just have to go away. 

But then again...what if it was her grandmother. At the thought, Rin abruptly sat up to pull her phone out from underneath her pillow. The warmth of it seared at her now exposed hand. Kaede had always been opposed to turning up the heat, so that even in the dead of winter, Rin was reduced to shuffling about in a blanket for warmth. The blue lit her face; it was three in the morning. Her grandmother should have been home by now. 

A twinge of regret lit her still sleep-puffed face as she retracted herself from the warmth of her bed, as an afterthought she snatched her duvet to wrap herself, before starting a shuffle out of her room and down the stairs. 

Rin stood before the front door for a few minutes. When no further sound came she moved on, not even bothering to look out the peephole. By the time she reached the door of her grandmother’s bedroom a relieved sigh was already leaving her. Kaede’s snores, loud enough to wake the dead, met her ears and confirmed that her grandmother was safely asleep. 

Then….

Knock, knock, knock. 

Now, closer to the source, it dawned on Rin. The taps became more gradual but continued as she followed the sound until it led her to a front-facing window in their living room. 

Rin’s brow furrowed. Through the sheer curtains she could see nothing. No nightly visitor, no prowling creeper, no errant branch from the tree out front. In fact, it was not until she pulled closer that her eyes shifted up just in time to see a sliver of matter tap against the window. 

The curtains parted and she tilted her head to see up and through the condensation-ridden glass.

Once she had determined what it was she backed up more confused than ever. It was a prayer card. Someone had tied and taped to the sill of their window. But it had come loose and Rin watched again as its little, wooden body tapped against the window. 

Still tired, she shook her head before making a mental note to ask her grandmother in the morning. Though she noted, with some growing curiosity, that every window she passed on her way back to her bedroom had an identical tag, though these were much more secure. 

Once in the safety of her room, she started for her bed, but before she could recline an urge hit her to check her own windows. To see if they too had these mysterious cards attached to their sills. It was a mistake. But then again, everything that had come before had been as well. 

She would find none, her sills bare except for the partially peeling paint that rimmed them. Instead, her eyes would be pulled to the strange sight next door. 

Thick rivets of what appeared to be...fog, Rin rubbed her eyes. Yes, fog seemed to be seeping from the foundation of her neighbor’s home. It was an ominous sign, to say the least. But in spite of herself, she watched. As the body of it continued to pour out into the night and against the snow that had blanketed the ground and the exteriors of their homes. 

In hindsight, it would be just another sign upon the multitude of others that came before it. Clear in their warning, despite her lack of notice and failure to heed. 

It caught her by surprise, to see that her neighbor’s lights were completely off. Perhaps emboldened by the cover of the dark or perhaps by the thought that he may not be home, Rin forgot her sworn promise to mind her own business. Eyes now completely alert as they took in the exteriors of his home. Resuming her morbid and intense voyeurism as if there had been no pause at all. 

A lithe arm came out from under her entrapping duvet to reach for the binoculars she had left on her window sill. And without further thought, she lifted them to her face. Her head swung lightly as she shifted from window to window in search. Maybe...just maybe she could see something this time.

No! What was she thinking? Rin was midway to putting the things back down when something again caught her eye. It was the flick of light at the end of the second floor. By then, a steady voice had started, quiet but clear. She needed to go back to the safety of her bed. 

Temptation was an insidious thing though. Instead, the girl would lean forward to better see as a figure began to materialize from the lit interior of the room, the one she now recognized as his bedroom. Rin did a double-take.

If the other women she’d seen going in and out of his house had been beautiful, this one was by far more gorgeous than them both combined. Blonde waves of hair shifting about as she moved to hang upon a banister of his bed.  Her small hand barely able to circle around a side of the ornate anchor. Rin watched as she twirled herself on it, every move provocative, before turning her head to speak to someone Rin could not yet see. 

The binoculars came back up for the second time. This was wrong ...the duvet slipped from her shoulders as she leaned in further, sinking her knees into her couch in order to better angle herself. 

Through the binoculars she could see everything, absolutely everything, as if she was right outside his window, as if she was also inside the room…

Because of this, she could not miss what happened next. Her mouth suddenly dry as her neighbor entered her line of sight, his button-up shirt opened down the center to reveal the extent of his toned pectorals and stomach, his usually pristinely pressed slacks, loose and hanging from his narrow hips.

Rin’s face was on fire but she would be too distracted to notice her own hitch of breath. 

His walk was pure seduction, all predator, but his look...the way his eyes bore down on the woman as he made his slow trek towards her, it was all corruption. All promise.

Rin swallowed, hard. Even with her naivety, there was no mistaking what she was witnessing. There was also no excuse good enough to explain why she continued to watch, what was clearly a moment between lovers, and what was clearly not meant for her eyes. 

A flutter of guilt hit her then, sinking into the unfamiliar heat that had arisen in her body at the sight of him, and it gave her pause. The binoculars came away from her face as Rin looked down at the window sill below her, nibbling at her lip in worry. This was wrong... so, so wrong. 

Though just how wrong, little Rin had yet to comprehend….

Her hesitation lasted a moment longer before the binoculars once again pulled over her eyes. Morbid curiosity winning out once more.

They had moved. Lost in her inspection of Sesshoumaru, Rin had hardly noticed that the woman was now completely undressed. Chopped, blonde hair haphazard as she arched from where she rested, back against the large expanse of his chest. Perky, pink-tipped, breast stark against the pale of his hand that was gently teasing. His long fingers twisted at her with what looked like the barest of touches before moving to engulf the weight of it in his large palm. 

Pure euphoria. That was the only way to describe her face, eyes closed, and flushed. The look continued long after Sesshoumaru had released her, to silently stand watch over her shoulder, as her own hands came up to caress herself in his place. Rin found her own mouth gently parting to allow the shallow puffs of air to escape as she continued to take him in. Riveted. He was arresting and Rin could only imagine...

The blonde woman began resting more and more of her weight against the handsome man that stood over her. Her voluptuous curves pressing into him though he remained still. Allowing her free reign to move against him in her pleasure-filled grind. Rin watched him watch her. Stoic, except the eyes.

With rapt attention, Rin watched as he finally moved again. His motions slow and deliberate as he raked a large hand through her blonde mane. The woman turned her head into his grasp as he tightened his hold on her hair. Head following as he slowly and gently bent her neck to exposure. 

His hostage had stopped fondling after that. Her head falling to listlessly lean into his hand, expression one of calm submission. What would happen next, would change absolutely everything…

Rin watched open mouth and entranced as he started to bend his own head towards the woman’s neck. The binoculars slowly left her face as a look of horror rushed in to take their place. 

Even with the now added distance in vision, she could see as Sesshoumaru’s countenance shifted. Handsome face morphing into something sharper, into something…feral. 

Teeth elongating into fangs, jagged stripes, the same color of blood as her dream, appearing suddenly on his pale flesh, as his golden eyes melted into a terrifying shade of crimson. 

….He moved in for the kill.

A sudden yelp left Rin then, binoculars slipping from her grasp to clatter on the wooden sill below, as a hand came up to cover her mouth and prevent any further noise. 

Sesshoumaru, who had been up until this point, fixated on the woman’s neck, intentions clear as day, stopped but did not move. 

And when he finally did, his eyes were back to their normal hue. Molten amber looked up and out his window, towards her own, the last one to be specific. Even from the darkness of her bedroom, even with the distance between them, Rin could see as they looked up to zero in right on her. 

Her heart felt like it was going to explode from fright. His face was stoic as his eyes held her own hostage. It wasn’t until he removed himself completely from his companion, to walk around her and towards his window that the woman finally noticed his attention was elsewhere. Still moving with that same deliberateness from before until his imposing form was close enough to block out anything beyond him.  Rin's foot connected with the discarded duvet as she took a shaky step back. 

Their stare-off felt like it lasted for hours, with Rin trembling and locked within his gaze. It told her everything she needed to know. All of it, without denial or dispute, and without the haze of gray that usually accompanied this sort of thing..not that it was a normal occurrence by any stretch of the imagination. 

Rin had been caught. Caught in the same manner that she had just caught him, unguarded and redhanded….

A movement from below broke her stare. And she watched, horrified, as the profile of his large-knuckled hand moved up, pale and muscled arm flexing with the motion. Two fingers spread to clasp the curtains pull string, the length and nails of it so unbefitting of human beings, that Rin could only flinch at the sight. She watched the curtain slowly descend, taking his visage with it, until all that remained were the jagged stripes of crimson that lined his hand. Another moment, and that too, disappeared from her sight. 

It almost felt like a nightmare. It was like her nightmare...

He...he...he…

Rin barely felt as the ground suddenly lifted to meet her. 

............................

The words glared at her. She'd only just woken up when she made a mad dash to her phone, flicking through at lightning speed until she found Kohaku’s number. 

Rin had started the text a thousand and one times so far, but it just would not come out. No bone in her body willing to press send. Kohaku already thought she was crazy. What would he think of this?

I know you’re not going to believe this but-

Her thumb held down the backspace. Before her other fingers came forth to slide over the keyboard again. It needed to sound rational or he would dismiss her as he had done prior. She bit her lip in thought before starting again. 

I know you told me not to watch the 

neighbor but I seriously think-

The phone fell from Rin’s hand to thump on her bed as she grasped her head in agony. The front remained open, text body staring, waiting to be sent. What exactly did she think? 

Her eyes glanced at the windows across from her. The weather had abruptly changed, just as had reality as she knew it, and the cheerful sun shone through her windows just to spite her. A flash image appeared before her of his….

He….

Even the space behind her eyes was not safe enough to utter it. Rin sighed, the air leaving her as she threw herself down and further into the nest of her bed. Even worse, how was she supposed to convince her friend she wasn’t insane when the accusation was becoming more accurate by the day. 

Okay, she could do this. Maybe he had just been about to, you know, give her a little nibble. Rin blushed as her hands came to cover her face. Lovers did that kind of thing, right? It was only natural. The scene flashed again. 

Love made people do strange, strange things. It was powerful. Rin nodded to herself, drilling further into her denial. Powerful enough to say, change the contour and bone structure of a human face, make their skin and eyes change color, change the length of their nails and teeth. A shock of fear laced through her as her treacherous mind fell further. She quickly attempted to reign it in. 

Yes, yes. Love could do that to a person. 

Her phone buzzed then. Coincidentally, it was Kohaku. 

Hey, I know you are still hesitant about

       leaving but Sango is insisting we take 

        you out tonight. 

Rin was quick, desperate for some human interaction, anything to normalize all that had shifted in her world. 

What time?

He took a while to respond, probably only having time to text between jobs. 

Really? I thought you were going to fight

me on this. She said sevenish. Miroku’s 

coming again, unfortunately. 

Rin could practically feel his eye roll at the news. She had just laid the phone back down when it buzzed again. Kohaku’s text read, 

Don’t sit near him. If he does anything

awkward again just tell me and I’ll beat

the shit out of him. 

The pit in her stomach grew and her eyes flicked to her windows again. It was not Miroku that Rin needed to worry about…

She fell into a restless sleep after that, dreams more horrific than the last and when she woke, it was to the echoed howl of another wolf, as it followed from her dreams. Jaws snapping at her heels. 

It was lucky too, she was about to be late for Sango and Kohaku’s pickup. The time was 6:24 and Rin still needed a shower, desperately. Without contemplating too much she got ready, running a comb through her wavy mass of wet hair as she searched her closet for something decent to wear out. She settled on a sweater dress that complemented her pale skin nicely. Hoping the bright choice would help with the conversation she was going to try and attempt with her best friend. And the settling distracted her enough so that she would not think about the dread that was beginning to build at the thought of leaving her home. Her eyes squeezed shut. She had to do it, otherwise, Kohaku would never believe she was better and no longer having what he deemed as psychosis. 

Would never believe her when she finally told him of what she had seen last night. 

It took her more time to work up the nerve to walk down the stairs than it had for her to get ready. And on the third, shaky step down her ankle gave out, forcing her to grasp the banisters for leverage. Every step felt less real than the one before it. How she could fall asleep one way and wake up another was beyond her. The exact details lost as she went through the motions.

Surreal could only describe half of how unsettling it felt. To realize the reality before you was a mere stranger. Recent revelations, chasing at her, nipping really as she looked at everything through new eyes. Red eyes flashed behind her own on repeat.

Her grandmother was speaking to someone in the living room, but Rin was quick in her movements and too lost in her thoughts to notice anything more than the polite tone of it. She walked right by the pair in her living room and into her kitchen without a single glance. 

Observations skills, or lack thereof, still woefully on display as a pair of hands wrapped around her arms. She jumped and turned, frightened, from where she had been standing on her tippy toes in their kitchen cabinet, shifting the various tea boxes on the top row, in search of Sango’s jasmine. Someone had followed her into the kitchen…

.

.

.

.

“Girl, what are you doing? And why are you dressed like that?” Kaede’s voice was more hushed than usual as she ushered Rin out of the cabinet and towards the kitchen island to stand. Still jittery as ever. If her grandmother noticed she chose to say nothing. 

Rin lowered her pitch to match her grandmother’s, not completely understanding why they needed to whisper when she had never felt the need with other guests. 

“I need to find that tea you bought me-the jasmine. I was going to give it to Sango.”

Kaede turned towards the sink, kettle in hand, and began to fill it. 

“You’re not going out, are you?

Rin nodded as she remembered how odd her grandmother had been as of late at even the mention of her leaving. Not that she had to worry too much.

“Yeah, Sango wants to take me out. We’ll probably just end up-”

Rin thought about it, she actually didn’t know what they were going to do-surely, they were too old to hang out at the places they did as teenagers. Loitering in fast-food parking lots wasn’t generally accepted behavior from adults. But what else could they do, besides drive around? Shirakawa really did have absolutely nothing going for it. Her resolve came back then. It didn’t matter so long as she was able to safely get out without being stopped by her neighbor. As long as she could get to her friends maybe-

Kaede’s next words brought her out of her errant thoughts. “But Kohaku will be there, right?” a note of desperation entering her voice.

“Of course, Sobo.” Rin was counting on it.

She watched the elderly woman sigh with relief, but before she could contemplate the oddity of her reaction, her grandmother was shooing her out. 

“Okay, you can go out then.” She hadn’t exactly asked, but Kaede continued to fling her hands. “Now, do me a favor and go out there and keep our guest company while I make some tea.” 

She turned back towards the stove to set the kettle and Rin gave an internal sigh at having to entertain. Her thoughts were a million miles away. The pace of them making her dizzy as she turned to exit the kitchen. 

Now, how was she going to bring this up? At least by forcing herself to go out Kohaku would see that she wasn’t completely insane and she could find an opening there to try and convince him to… 

Convince him of what exactly? That her new neighbor was-

Rin’s foot crossed the threshold into the living room and her blood froze. Her breath fought for room with the scream that attempted to rush from her throat. So that nothing but a single, strangled, choke came forth. 

….sitting on her couch. Relaxed pose as alarming as it was familiar. The strange dream she had of him, sitting in the exact same spot coming up to smack her in the face. 

The kitchen door made a thud as it closed behind her, the heavy oak of it vibrating her living room wall softly. All the thoughts, every single one of them, had gone mute, all brain activity still. 

Amber orbs took their time traveling up and over her form, not even bothering to hide his inspection. Not even bothering to shy away as his gaze finally met her own. Handsome face stoic and impassive as he took her in. The weight of his gaze made her fidget. 

Yet, the innocent orbs stayed on his own. Suspicious and attentive in the same way prey often watched a predator…

His voice stunned her further. 

“Are you going somewhere?” The deepness of it seemed to still the air around them and the familiarity of his barely lilted question was not lost on her. Unable to pinpoint the feelings he brought up in her but hyper-aware of them nonetheless. Embarrassment, fear, inferiority, and something else….all bleeding into the mess of her psyche. 

Rin was at a loss, her mouth opening to let out a muted puff of air that should have carried words. It made her look as foolish as she felt. And he continued to stare, pressing back on her increasingly doe-eyed gaze. She truly was a sight. The oversized shadow of her clothes, along with the particular shade of innocence in her glazed eyes making her appear as pretty as a doll. 

Dazed eyes continued to dance over his form. And for every bit of him she moved over the pit in her stomach sunk lower. The button-up he wore went high upon his neck, pristine, and so white it made his alabaster skin and silver-toned hair look a shade darker than it really was. Such unnatural coloring; it was glaring... How had they all been so fooled? 

The icy grip of fear caused her heart to flop. He…

She still couldn’t bring herself to say it. 

His own probing inquiry aside, there were thousands of things she could have said to him. An unending multitude of questions and statements...

Why are you here?

What do you want? 

…..what….. are you?

But none of those sat well. Instead, Rin found herself opening, mouth, and tongue moving in sync even if her brain was leagues behind. 

“You-you killed them didn’t you?” It was too quiet to be accusing. But a single silver eyebrow rose in question. His long locks and bangs shifted along with the slight tilt of his head. 

His face was still impassive, voice decidedly calm despite the gravity of her accusation, 

“Who?” 

Her eyes flicked to his lap, in time to see his lengthy fingers, flex against the folded hold he had them in. 

In a show of uncharacteristic braveness, she did not miss a beat, “The-,” On the spot and under his consideration, she could not remember her name. “The redhead and the other one, with the dark hair...”

...and now the blonde. 

He let her finish though the rest faded from her mouth. When he did not speak immediately, her still mouth began to dry. He was dangerous and around him, it seemed she had no sense of self-preservation. He frowned and it was only because of her rapt attention that she was able to see the slight movement. 

“That is quite an accusation,” 

He removed his eyes briefly from her form to eye the kitchen door behind her. Out from under his intense gaze, her voice grew louder. “I saw them-”

Amber eyes seized her own for the second time and her voice grew small once again, “I saw them go into your house.” A thick swallow followed as she waited for a reaction.

Something moved through his eyes, something she would not have the slightest chance to discern before his next words eviscerated her. 

“Ohh,” his eyes once again bore intensely into her own, “Is that all you saw... Rin ?” A shameful heat rushed through her. Though they may have started divergent it seemed Sesshoumaru too wanted to cut to the chase. Rin was caught, once again off guard and red-handed as she could not find the words to deny the unstated accusation he had just laid before her. He would relish in the sight, though his face would ultimately remain the same. Save the minute shift of the corners of his lips as he watched the young woman flounder before him. 

She skipped right over his insinuation. Her voice slipped from between slightly trembling lips, barely audible to the normal ear. But then again, Sesshoumaru was anything but normal. His unnatural-colored eyes zeroed in on her even further even before she had spoken. “I know you did it.”  

Just who was this man? Or better yet…. what was he?

She took another shaky breath. Resolved at what she needed to do despite the fear….

“You need to leave-”

Before Rin could finish, the kitchen door behind her swung open as her grandmother reentered, a tray of tea and cups in tow. 

The still frightened girl was further traumatized, barely having enough time to move out of the way before her grandmother’s stern voice was echoing around them in a heated scold.

“Is that any way to speak to a guest, young lady?” 

Kaede was furious as she set a searing look upon Rin. Her granddaughter had never been very social, but this was something else. The old woman held it for a second before moving towards the couch to set the tray on the coffee table in front of Sesshoumaru. Rin internally screamed at how close her grandmother was to him but could do nothing short of watch on in horror as the elder looked up at their ‘guest’.

“I apologize, Taisho-san, my granddaughter…., she is unwell.” 

Rin could do nothing but stand off and to the side, spectator to the neighborly charade in front of her, the one her grandmother was unaware of. 

Their heated, well heated on her side anyway, conversation was cut short. But he would continue to watch her, his gaze unlingering and blank. 

Kaede looked up at her granddaughter after she had taken a seat on the couch opposite the one Sesshoumaru still sat on. Her eyes narrowed. “Rin, stop being rude and introduce yourself. Properly this time.” Kaede looked away to shake her head. And Rin, seeing no other choice, felt her body bend before him, eyes tilting down to the ground in front of his feet in a polite bow. 

The hesitancy of it speaking volumes. “I’m so sorry I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”  Kaede looked apologetically at him. 

His voice shocked her for the second time that night, “That is alright. It comes with the age.” 

Rin froze in shock as Kaede laughed cordially, “Exactly,” they continued on as if she was not there, “Kids these days just don’t understand the importance of getting to know your neighbors. Don’t even introduce themselves anymore.” 

A soft chuckle left the man that sat in their living room, calm despite their earlier interaction. It sent a shiver down her spine. Seeming to give Kaede all his undivided attention, though Rin knew the next words were meant for her alone. “With all the stories in the news, I cannot say I blame them.”

His eyes flicked up to catch Rin’s again and the motion made her sink further into the wall behind her. “Invigorates the imagination.” 

Graceful body leaned forward slightly at the waist to clasp the cup of tea Kaede had set before him. A slight and alarming smirk disappeared behind the rim of the cup as he brought it up to take a drink. 

Rin would watch, horrified, as her usually astute and overly suspicious grandmother conversed animatedly with the polite but distant man. His quiet responses giving way to her long-winded ones. Would watch as he would charm and beguile her grandmother with no effort at all. Unflustered and unbothered. As if she had not just accused him of being a cold-blooded killer. Which if anything, further proved her point. There was something not right...something unnatural about her new neighbor. Her imagination set in then. He….

Rin had not noticed when their conversation came to conclusion until the imposing man had suddenly stood, long arm extending to pick up the navy overcoat that laid over the back of their couch. Sitting down, he had been imposing, standing up, his form seemed to take up the room. And without thought, Rin found herself backing away, though there was no further distance she could add from the corner she had placed herself in. 

Kaede tried to stand as well, but her knees forced her back into a seated position. His hand came up gently in gesture. “Please, do not trouble yourself. I remember the way out.” 

Her grandmother’s next words had Rin’s heart pounding, “Of course not-” her grey braid twisted as she turned to look at her and call, “Rin.”

Said girl’s breath caught. She had done nothing to draw attention to herself up until this point, wanting nothing more than to fade away. As for Sesshoumaru, he had not looked at her since his last cryptic remarks. “She can walk you out, dear.”

Betrayed by her own kin. Rin did not have time to let the fear travel as both people in the room turned to look at her. How could Kaede not realize? Still scared out of her wits, Rin simply nodded. At least he was finally leaving. 

When they met at the arch of her living room, his hand moved forward, in a gracious gesture, allowing her to lead the way. But Rin knew better and her legs trembled as she pulled ahead of him, her priorly reluctant pace increasing to rushed in an attempt to put space between them. 

Time was fickle. And though she had traveled this very path, past the stairs, over the rug, and into the foyer, more than a thousand times before, it had never taken this long. Eternity stretching by as she moved closer to the front door, body tense and uncomfortable with the knowledge of just who was behind her. 

A flash of something projected in her mind then. Blonde hair thrown back as the woman exposed her delicate line of neck.

Her fingers shook as she struggled with the bolt, knees weaker for every second they stayed together in the darkened foyer of her home. It felt forever but as the lock gave and a cool sliver of light began to brighten her foyer, Rin found herself releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. He would be gone, out of her home, and hopefully her life, in just a matter of seconds. 

Rin turned her head away from the growing light and to the right to face the mirror that hung in the foyer, the same one Megumi had readied herself in what felt like ages ago. The memory made her ache-she hadn’t even cared about Sesshoumaru back then. Didn’t know anything about the weird proclivities he was getting up to in his home. And at this moment, she would have given anything, absolutely anything to return to it. 

The image that reflected back at her made her heart skip suddenly. He was too close, his body lording over her own and getting ever closer. It would prevent her from opening the door further. 

Without warning, he moved, untraceable to the eye, and silent. She had never stood a chance and Rin whipped her head to the left to see, his extended arm at eye level and blocking her only way of escape, less she flattened herself against the wall to the right of them. 

She felt her hair slap against his unyielding form as her head turned straight forward. Long and sinuous fingers rested in front of her face and the saving light that had begun to enter her foyer was no more. She watched his hand spread further out as his palm flattened against the wood of her front door, pressing until the heavy material gave into his will, closing it shut with a soft tap. Her heart sunk. 

Vulnerable did not even begin to describe what she felt as the silence set in. The odds of it felt better than her current predicament, felt too big to be comparable to what was currently coursing through her. So she waited with bated breath, completely at his will, at his mercy.

For his part, Sesshoumaru did not act immediately. Simply savoring the view this allowed him of her person, eyes lingering on all his favorite...parts, as he listened to the shaky breaths the girl before him released in unpatterned fashion. 

No, it would be Rin, now completely devoid of her prior bravery, who spoke first. 

A tremor shook her voice, “W-what are you doing?”

Rin watched his elbow, the one that sat a little before her head, bend as he pulled in closer. And though not a single part of him touched her, she felt the heat of him burning through her layers of clothes like a physical touch. 

“We have not finished our earlier discussion…,” A shiver traveled through her. His proximity close enough that she had felt the aspiration of his words gently lift her strands of hair to warm the cove of her delicate ear. Despite the normal volume, the richness of his baritone voice shook the tightly bound air around them. 

Rin’s eyes clenched shut against the hand that sat before her, the one she knew was a macabre cloak for his true form. It would not protect her though, as she remembered what she should have never forgotten...Sesshoumaru was dangerous. A woman flashed before her mind then, the other one, face flushed and panicked as she ran for her life across his living room floor. 

Red eyes glared at her from the confines of her mind as he desecrated her grandmother’s tree. Rin wanted to sob.  

His voice was clear but the tone was muted as Rin stood still, save her trembling, and saturated in fear. “You have not answered my question...is that all you saw?” 

Her unstable pulse was the only answer. 

Rin’s eyes snapped open and a gasp left her suddenly. It had been faint, but against the tautness of her body, it felt anything but. Even through the thick layer of sweater that separated her body from his touch, she felt acutely as his large palm slid up the curvature of her waist, to pet up her rib cage in a caress. 

A whimper left her and she felt the saltwater glaze over her eyes. 

He made a noise in the back of his throat. A soft hum and something final laced his voice, “I suppose that I have my answer now.”

Rin’s eyes had snapped back shut in a clench. Her mind far, far away as she devolved. Panicked fear overriding all of her other senses. A single tear released from her eye, shortly followed by another on the other side, until each of her supple cheeks were lined. Looking every bit the precious and innocent thing she really was. She would not see as the man behind her leaned further in to study her profile before issuing his next words. 

“I rather enjoy my privacy,” he paused a beat, Rin heard him take a breath, taking her in, “this incessant monitoring of me...of my home,” 

A fresh wave of dread moved through her at the thought that he had known all along… what she had been doing. 

“You will cease immediately. Is this understood?” 

She sucked in a heaving breath before giving an unsubtle jerk of her head. Her mind elsewhere as she gave him the confirmation he wanted. Anything, to get him to leave. Please...

He let her cry to herself in silence, simply spectating. An odd thought seized her then, so irrelevant and out of place, it was not worth uttering. But her barely-there whisper met his ears all the same as she spoke without thinking. Some last-minute declaration that people often made before the final hour came. 

“Ho-how…” a heave left her with the exertion, “How did you know my name?" 

If her abrupt turn of topic shocked him, she would not see. 

She took a steadying breath, eyes still screwed shut. “You knew it...that night…,” The night that she’d been so happy to have spoken to him. 

Rin would not elaborate further as her fear took her again. Mind devolving to mush as she imagined all the horrible things he had been up to. All the women he must have done this very thing to before. 

The sudden creak of the door had her eyes shooting open in time to see as his hand retracted out from in front of her. 

The click of the handle sounded next as he moved to reopen the door, gently pulling until Rin was forced to back away and towards the wall. He looked like he was about to move past her and out the now open door but at the last moment, he stopped. His form lit by the cool sky as her own remained shrouded behind the darkness of the foyer. 

His eyes, still amber, met her own red-rimmed ones from where she was still peering at him from around the door that now had her trapped against the wall.

Was that it?  

She watched his gaze flick over her flushed face. A strand of raven hair was stuck to her tear-stained cheek.

Before she could blink, it was suddenly off her face and tucked behind her ear. And it took her more than a second to realize it had been him to do so as his hand made a more noticeable retreat from her head.

His stoic countenance in direct opposition to her own as he finally answered her hasty question, the one she thought would be her last. One corner of his mouth tilted up slightly and when he spoke the angle allowed her to see the barest glint of a canine tooth, one that was far too long to be natural. 

“It was a lucky guess.”

She watched him leave after that, silent and calm as if he had not just scared her half to death. Screen door shutting out what had been the most terrifying event of her young life. 

There was no doubt. Nor was there room for it as Rin came back to her senses and quickly locked the door behind him. Still trembling as her mind raced. And even though it was only in the confines of her mind, the thought came forth. Untangling itself from the mess as she finally summoned the courage to contemplate it further.

All the uncanny thresholds his unearthly looks crossed. It could not be unseen. That the...man next door to her, wore a human countenance, put on their flesh, the same way people put on their clothes.

Whatever he was, Rin knew but one thing, 

...Sesshoumaru was definitely not human.  

Chapter Text

“Oh my lord, would you look at that-”

“What?”

“Just hurry up, you oaf, and get over here quick!”

“Arisa, I swear, if you are calling me to see the Yamamotos’ new hedges again-”

“No! I’m serious this time,”

“What in the…”

“See, I told you. I wonder if it’s Kaede-sama. The poor woman’s been in poor health these last 

couple of years.” 

“Well, if that was the case, where's the ambulance?”

“I don’t know-oh wait-that’s the new neighbor, the one I was telling you about,” 

“This guy again...”

“Oh shut up. You’re just jealous. Look, there she is!”

“Who?”

“The deaf girl-Kaede’s granddaughter,”

“I thought she was just slow?”

“Yeah, yeah, something like that. But oh my god, Hikaru, look!”

“Jesus!”

“What in the hell is she doing?

............................

Where to start was plain on its face. There is the moment after Sesshoumaru’s departure, in which Rin collapses in on herself in the darkened foyer of her childhood home. Scared and so tired she cannot bear to hold the weight of herself up anymore. Shoulders bending and shaking under the weight of all that the universe has laid at her door. The same one she can’t even make herself stray too far from for fear of imminent doom. It’s a real tragedy, truly. 

Or, there is the end, where...well, what to make of that remains to be seen. 

But perhaps a better start would have to be the week that follows. In which she finds herself once again isolating herself from those closest to her. Though Kaede is hardly concerned so long as Rin remains safely within the confines of her home, where she can keep a watchful eye upon the ever-shifting states of her granddaughter. 

Yes, there is good. 

Rin is tired, from lack of sleep, and from rushing around in an attempt to safeguard all she perceives to be the available openings of her home, should someone...decide to use whatever unearthly powers they possess to enter. It is mostly her room though that needs work; Kaede has covered the rest of their bases proactively, though for entirely different reasons. 

In the most underhanded fashion, her neighbor has wormed a hole into her grandmother’s usually stoic heart. 

It is in this week that follows that this would become abundantly clear to Rin. 

Said girl had just left her room for the day, only to be stopped by Kaede in the foyer as the old woman leaned over something in inspection.

“Look, child,” 

Rin looked over her grandmother’s hunched shoulder to better see. The box seemed to glare at her, it was so shiny. The lacquered surface of it listing a brand she’d never heard of before in her life, clearly expensive. 

Rin’s breath caught as Kaede removed the lid to further show her. 

Tens of little red eyes stared back at her from their immaculate milky casing, delicate and fleshy looking. White strawberries. 

Kaede continued to fawn over the little fruits. After all, she was old enough to remember when neighbors gave such kind things as custom, and old enough to remember when fruit was far rarer than it was today. 

Rin knew enough to know that this was no small feat, though they were in season, the little box of rare and luxurious fruit was quite the gift. 

Chocolate eyes watched her grandmother’s finger trace the attached message. Font neatly printed and beautiful in its perfection. It read: 

“My apologies for the lateness of this welcome gift. I hope this finds you well. 

Sincerely, 

Your neighbor-”

Rin had seen enough. Eyes rushing on ahead of her grandmother’s finger over and over until the pit of fear in her stomach had grown large enough to make her sick. He was taunting her, she just knew it. 

“Can you believe how gracious that Taisho-san is?” Kaede could not hide the awe from her voice. 

When she received no response, the old woman turned over her shoulder to find Rin walking towards the kitchen. What was wrong with her? Kids these days hardly understood neighborly decorum but her granddaughter took the cake. 

“Rin?”

She answered from over her shoulder, soft in order to hide the tremor that had entered her voice, 

“I don’t like strawberries, Sobo.” 

............................

“I can’t tell what house it’s at-”

“Well, figure it out. I’m going to see if Risa knows what’s going on.” 

“Mom, I’m right here,”

“Oh, do you see this? Wasn’t that girl in your high school growing up? I thought I saw her during parent-teacher night a couple of years in a row.”

“Yeah, but she was way older than me.”

“It’s at the Akamatsu’s house, wait-” 

“What’s her name again, Risa?”

“If I remember correctly, it’s Rin. Omg, what is she doing now-” 

“I think it’s actually at the Taisho residence.” 

“Their new neighbor? He just moved in a couple of months ago. Surely, they can’t be fighting over hedges already?” 

“Oh look, that’s him, right over there,” 

............................

Kaede looked at the duo before her, a line of worry between her thick brows, as she mulled it over. 

Thin lips were parting to speak when the girl sibling spoke, “We just want to check on her, Kaede-sama- see how she’s doing. We’ve been really worried,” her glance flicked to her desperate little brother. Kohaku had been particularly affected by Rin’s latest reticence. Even more than usual, her temperamental little brother seemed to grow more frantic for every week Rin had continued to evade them. He’d been bad enough after she ghosted them the night they were set to hang out, but now….

Her eyes shifted back to the elder woman who still sat in guard of the door. Sango cared deeply for both of them. A sternness setting upon her lightly made-up face as she resigned herself to the impending fight, they weren’t going to be turned away tonight, not again. 

The old woman looked at Sango but once again before she could speak the boy chimed in, practically pleading, “Rin hasn’t been answering any of my calls-”

“I’m telling you, she’s fine, Kohaku. Just doesn’t want to be bothered. Now, come by tomorrow and I’ll see if she feels any better” 

The oak door slanted as Kaede moved to shut it. But there would be no denial tonight that would satisfy the two before her and a loud thud halted the door in place. 

Kohaku leaned into his palm, the one that was holding her at bay so that he could hold her gaze. 

Kaede’s jaw clenched at the action, a scold bristling on her tongue until she met his eyes. Whatever she saw was enough. Her countenance cracking to allow the boy to proceed.

“Please….Kaede-sama, I need to see if she’s okay. Just a check and then we will leave...I promise.” 

The woman and boy stayed locked in that pose, staring at each other and Sango wondered but would never know the depth of exchange that went on between the two. She’d asked him to watch out for Rin, and despite what her grandmother thought about her relative safety within her home, Kohaku knew….just knew. That whatever had happened to make Rin regress like this...well, it had to be bad. 

The door gave enough for the young man to step forward and over the threshold as a yielding sigh left the old woman, 

“Fine, fine-you two can go up and see her,” They were already halfway up her stairs when she said the rest and only Sango was calm enough to pretend to heed, nodding politely as if listening. “But I’ve already told you, the girl’s fine,” Kaede finished with a flippant wave of her hand. 

Sango was a second behind her brother. But by the time she got there Rin’s door was already wide open. Kohaku stood, still as stone, in the frame. Brown ponytail shifted as she peeked around his shoulder to see what had stopped him. 

The sight that greeted her was horrendous. 

Gone was Rin’s bright and cheery room and in its place….well, Sango gulped. What the absolute hell had happened? 

Thick sheets of black covered her windows so that only the dim rays of sunlight outlined the squares. What she lacked in natural light she made up for in copious amounts of candles, that if Sango looked close enough, would show the same protective enchantments that were engraved on the numerous, hanging, prayer cards around her room. Rin had apparently found religion.

She’d moved her couch from under the windows to rest against the wall across from them. And it was there that they first saw the girl, face lit only by the glow of her laptop. Head and body encased in her trusty flannel blanket. At least this had not changed.

But Sango’s relief was short-lived as Rin looked at them from across the room. Even with the distance, she could see the haggard appearance of the sleep-deprived girl. 

Kohaku was the first to move forward and towards her. But just as he reached the edge of her windows she shouted, “No!” 

The flannel falling off to reveal her further to them, “You have to go under them.”

He continued his pause long enough that Rin came to them, walking until she met the edge of the windows before dropping on her hands and knees to crawl. In one of the strangest things, Sango had ever witnessed, to date. 

Rin pulled herself up to stand before them, “He could see you.”

Sango asked softly, afraid of what her friend may say, "Who will see us, Rin?"

She didn't even pause, “Sesshoumaru.”

The siblings turned to each other at the same time. 

............................

It was the dead of night and she was once again hot. Burning to the touch as she kicked off her sheets and duvet. 

Stumbling and tripping, she managed to safely reach the foyer but it was not until she entered the open door of the kitchen that her heated blood began to cool if only minutely. 

Moving towards the fridge with a pant, Rin was able to pull the door of it open so that she could lay her forehead against the cool surface of the interior. The light of it illuminated the otherwise pitch dark room. 

She did not know how long she stayed there, but when her eyes finally reopened she did not miss it. The box. The one full of strawberries sat right before her from where Kaede had left them so they would not rot. And without thinking her hand reached forward to grab them. Lacquered surface cool to the touch against the flesh of her hand. 

She didn’t bother to close the fridge as she turned to set them on the counter behind her. It would help her see them as she lifted the cover to once again reveal the fleshy bodies. 

The delicate surface of them so catching that Rin’s mouth parted as she momentarily forgot the fire still coursing through her veins. 

Without thinking, Rin’s hand came forward to grab at one, only to catch herself just in time, fingers retreating from where they had rested on the exterior of a particularly succulent looking piece to once again rest against her side. The motion quick as if scolded. 

They really were….tempting.

And despite her earlier claim to her grandmother, and despite her residual hesitation, Rin pushed forward again. 

Quick in the motion as if in fear of being caught. To lift one of those beautiful strawberries to rest upon her lips and take a bite. Her eyes fluttered closed. So that she would not see or hear as the only source of light was gently shut behind her. 

Pure sweetness tickled her tongue as she continued to eat. Eat, and eat, and eat. Until before she had realized, every single one of those strawberries...was gone. 

Shocked at her gluttony, Rin would not notice, and due to the darkness that encased her, would not see, until it was right before her. As a single, pale and striped, hand moved, seemingly floating against the backdrop of dark, to gently catch a translucent bead of juice from the strawberries that was making its way down the flesh below her mouth. 

She felt more than watched as the cool flesh of the hand grasped and tilted her chin. Before the thumb extended up to meet her bottom lip, running over the length of its surface and back in a caress. The sensuality of which was not lost on her. 

Rin’s lips parted further as she focused on the hand that continued to glide over her sensitive flesh. Watching as the pad of the thumb continued to swipe against her, razor-sharp nail pointed out and away from her delicate lips. 

Unthinking, her tongue came out to tentatively wet their surface only to make contact with the still there digit. Something electric moved through her and her sleepy eyes suddenly widened with the feeling. 

Her mouth closed and the hand stilled at the connecting motion. And she watched as the hand gently retreated into the darkness from which it came. 

Only moments later something else would replace the space above where it had disappeared. 

A pair of glowing red eyes appeared suddenly, as if birthed from the darkness, to catch her own.

Rin awoke with a gasp. Only to realize belatedly that it had been her phone that woke her as it vibrated with a message. 

It was Kohaku. Rin looked at the edges of her covered windows. From what she could see it was probably around mid-afternoon. She opened the text, 

We'll be over around seven for the stake out.

Miroku's coming too so you can tell us 

everything that happened. Takeout on me.

............................

They walked in unannounced and despite what information they had prepared him with, Miroku still flinched at the sight. “I love what you’ve done with the place, Rin-chan.” 

The girl for her part gave only a distracted nod in response before lifting her mug of tea for a sip and continuing her internet scrolling. 

Sango moved further into the room to set their takeout on the edge of Rin's shelf. Miroku followed his wife, ducking when they passed the windows, in mimic of her until they researched Rin’s bed to sit. 

Kohaku followed shortly with Rin’s box of food as well as his own. Ducking under her set of still covered windows for fear of upsetting her again. The couch, that Rin had moved to the edge of the room, dipped under his weight. 

An awkward silence settled in then. Only the sound of plastic utensils shoveling over as they ate and the occasional clack of Rin’s fingers over the keyboard punctuated her still smokey room. Miroku was quietly gaping at the room around him between bites, as Sango sat next to him doing the same, although less shocked at the novelty and more worried than the former. Rin had barely touched her food, and Kohaku was too busy trying to subtly shift Rin's box of food closer in the hopes that she would eat, to pretend to eat his own. 

He had hoped in vain that by the time they brought Miroku over she would be over this. 

But per usual luck was not on his side. 

Kohaku leaned over into Rin’s space to better see what she was so capturing that she’d yet to properly greet them. His frustration reached a new high as a lit-up and flickered image of Nosferatu popped up on the screen she was browsing. She’d already alluded a bit to this during their last visit, but still...

He watched a second more as she continued to scroll through the bullets of text. Twenty Ways to Identify a Potential Vampire. 

Kohaku’s overbearing nature had just begun to bubble forth when Miroku’s own casual voice interrupted, “So,”

The lean man relaxed backward, pulling Sango with him, to rest upon the wall Rin’s bed was against. As if completely undisturbed by a dangling plaque card of prayer that was currently tapping his head. As if it was a totally normal occurrence. Kohaku fought the urge to scoff. 

“Rin-ey, are you going to tell us what,” he paused and gave a pointed look about her room, “Would call for all of this?” 

And while his sister and her husband looked on patiently, Kohaku wanted to spit. He had already known it had been the creepy fucking neighbor though the details of this occurrence were still lacking. 

The man wasn’t even from Shirakawa and whether Rin’s suspicions were true or not, Kohaku wanted him to go, if for nothing more than his delicate friend’s peace of mind. 

For her part, Rin remained the picture of muteness, as if shocked she’d been asked at all. Like the question had been unexpected. 

The trio collectively leaned forward at the first sounding of her voice, soft and meek per usual, “I-I,” Kohaku watched her swallow. “He-” 

Sango interrupted then, “The neighbor, right? Sesshoumaru something?” 

Rin shot a fearful glance at the windows across the room, she’d read that some creatures had supersonic hearing….perhaps he-

Rin abruptly nodded and in turn pulled herself from her dreadful line of thinking. “He came over.” 

They all waited, on the edge of their seats, for further explanation. When there was none, Sango gently prompted the girl again, “What did he do?” 

Rin’s lips gently curved downwards, contemplative, “He-he just came over to supposedly introduce himself. My grandmother let him in.” 

This thought alone sent her heart racing. The prior website had explicitly said never, ever to do this. 

“Did he do something?” Miroku asked, something grave settling over his features. Rin flicked a look at the elder male and was beginning to shake her head in the negative when they watched a thought cross over her delicate features, “Well, not really,”

Rin had dreamt of it many times over the course of the passing weeks. Flashing images of his arms encasing and trapping her against her own front door. Had replayed the event so often it began to feel less real with every remembrance. The subtle….threat. Was it a threat? 

“I think he threatened me but I’m not sure. It sounded like a request...but-” 

People often did not request things of those they already had trapped. More importantly, Rin could have sworn there was something underlying the words...something more promising should she not have shook her head so desperately at him that day in her foyer. 

At this Kohaku felt his spine straighten. Sango shook her head and cursed at the man under her breath. Rin was weird, but she definitely didn’t need to be threatened. The girl was skittish enough as it was.  

Rin spoke this time unprompted, “He doesn’t want me to watch him anymore,” at this her gaze flickered to the binoculars on her sill. Dust was now accumulating from the disuse. 

Both siblings, having had prior knowledge of Rin’s activities, could not help and see the reason in her new neighbor’s request and so both remained silent at this disclosure. Their prior ire subsided slightly. 

Miroku, who had less knowledge and even less of a stake continued on, “But why the relics then? That still doesn’t explain your sudden religiosity.” 

Rin swallowed again before lifting her fearful gaze to meet Miroku’s. And the seriousness of his look that followed had the siblings leaning forward once again. Both suddenly less concerned about reasoning the validity of her neighbor’s request to not be spied on. 

“I-” Rin released a shaky gasp. “I saw something-”

Miroku’s mouth tightened, “The night before he came over, I saw…..” 

Unable to stop now, the words continued to leave Rin without edit. “He was just,” 

Her thin hands came up to motion around her face, almost frantic, and the change was glaring when compared to her early subdued posturing, “He...the face. His face, it like morphed or something. I literally saw it.”

At this Rin pointed to her final window, the one she had passed out in front of after catching Sesshoumaru. Kohaku interjected. “You were spying again,” it was not a question and more of an accusation. 

Rin nodded hearing the gist but not the nuance. “He was with a woman, and his face it just changed, and he was about to bite her-”

Miroku suddenly halted her, “Wait, Woah, Woah, wait-”

He suppressed a slight chuckle before trying to recapture his earlier seriousness, “You were watching him with a woman?”

Rin nodded unblinking, before responding quietly, embarrassment creeping in as she felt the room shift. His simple statement at once, seeming to suck the sudden gravity that had befallen her guests, right out of the room. “Well...I just stumbled upon them by accident-I,”

At this Sango had to cover her mouth to prevent a rush of giggles. 

Miroku nodded understandingly, pervert recognizing kindred pervert. Once again impressed with Rin, “I see.”

She heard Kohaku smack a palm to his forehead before whipping her head back to Sango as the elder girl started to speak. Calming herself from her now unconcealed giggles,  “Oh Rin-chan, your neighbor was just,” her fingers popped up in quotations that had even Miroku chuckling. “ Entertaining a female guest. Did you think that made him-”

Rin shot up from her seated position, blushing something fierce, “Why are you guys laughing? This is so not funny- my neighbor is freaking Dracula!” 

The couple looked at each other, tears forming from their mirth, as their imagined scene became more clear in their heads. Pieces clicking together like a newly solved puzzle.

Sango started, “She saw him-” 

“Oh yes-”  snort giggle followed. 

“And thought,” at this Miroku did a motion to bite the air between himself and Sango. 

“And then-”

“Dracula!” 

At this declaration they both doubled over with laughter. Rin heard Kohaku mutter to himself, decidedly done with this conversation, “...that’s why he came over.”

She turned to watch him rub a hand down his face, tiredly. They really thought that was it? That she was making something out of nothing again? She hadn’t just caught him doing that! He was...he was about to-

Rin’s gave a petulant foot stomp, “I’m serious- this is serious! Miroku, you said you believed in these types of things-”

Miroku leaned back up and wiped a tear from his eye. And despite all the sacred scenery that still lingered around them, along with the smokey gust of incense, every bit of seriousness, save for Rin’s, had been completely eradicated from her friends. Who now believed her even more naive than before. 

“Of course Rin-chan, I’m sorry. Please,”

At this, a tattooed hand came to point around her and at Kohaku, “Use my dearest brother-in-law and demonstrate what you saw.” 

Kohaku jumped up at the suggestion, ears red hot, “Miroku, you fucking- Rin no-” 

But small hands were already clasping him by the shoulders to situate him in front of her. And his family members, who were still beside themselves at Rin’s earlier disclosure, lost themselves completely at the sight of the girl standing on the tips of her toes, to snap viciously at the air around Kohaku’s neck from behind. Though she was nowhere close. 

“But his face was all crazy and striped,” she sat back on her heels as she finished her demonstration. 

The laughing continued. Continued long enough for Rin to realize how foolish she’d been to think anyone, even her friends, could believe her conclusions. 

Kohaku, despite his better instincts, recognized this and attempted to rectify it. 

“Both of you shut up, He knew they meant well but it was starting to annoy him too. He turned his head to look at his much shorter friend, trying to be as serious as possible to prevent any further embarrassment on her part. “Rin, I thought you said you thought he was a serial killer?” 

She nodded softly, “I think so…, I haven’t had much luck looking for the women I saw in his house. I only know one of their names.”

Kohaku turned to the other two in the room, who were now beginning to calm themselves, to give a stern look. Complete lack of deference despite their elder status as he gave them a clear order. 

“Well, then. That’s where we’ll start. Sango,” his gaze moved to Miroku, “Shithead, both of you start searching on the laptop for any missing girls in the area. Rin and I will use hers and see if we can find any she recognizes.” 

This bit he could indulge. The supernatural was a line too far, but at least with this small piece, he could help her, if only slightly. 

A small but still guarded smile met his own as he looked down at Rin again. 

...hopefully, this would help her see reason. 

............................

It started with a swift flash, glaring in its intensity, and the ensuing hiss and fizzle as the street light broke and echoed down the way. Leaving nothing but a glaring black hole upon the street, between where the particular one had gone out and the two adjacent ones on either side of it remained bright and buzzing. 

It was the last thing her nerves needed as Rin looked back on her winding trek through town. Legs lifting in remembrance rather than conscious effort. She was so, so tired. 

But she’d never been so grateful to be home. At least the only one she cared to remember. It had struck a nostalgic nerve as she departed the train depot. And though the timing was off, it was after all the early hours of the morning, dark and quiet save the cicadas, it hit her all the same. Relief. Safety. Reprieve.  She never thought she’d be so happy to be back. 

The conductor, who had left his post shortly after docking, had walked under an errant light, hair a little greyer than she remembered, and face a little more withered. It was the same though. The same man that had given her directions to her grandmother’s home the first time she’d come to Shirakawa at seven. He did not take note of her as he left for home from what must have been a grueling shift. 

It mattered little, she knew the way now. Knew it like she knew the delicately wrought veins on the back of her hand. But she watched him until he moved out of sight, broken-strapped backpack of her possessions slung over her arm. Even more baggage than she’d brought the first time she’d come to Kaede’s home. In more ways than one. 

But it was not until she’d passed the main parts of town, all the little shops closed and dark. Not until she’d passed the entryway to the little cul de sac, that she knew led to Kohaku’s home. Where she halfway expected, in her sleep-deprived delirium, to be greeted by the gangly boy from her youth. Speed racing Sango on his too-big-for-him bike. 

Not until she reached the end of her grandmother’s familiar street, Shonen street, one of the oldest in an already dusty town. That the lights above her began to flicker, culminating in the death of the one before her. 

She pressed on. Lights went out all the time. 

But just as her foot left the dark spot left by the post and entered the fluorescent light of the next, it too popped in a mini-explosion. Fizzling out the light above her so that she was once again shrouded in darkness. 

Still, she pressed on. 

The third made her pause. Unable to ignore the following shade that seemed to have attached itself to her. 

The cicadas stopped then, the quiet sounds of night halting at once in the eeriest fashion. 

Rin’s head whipped around with the force of her inspection and in the dead of night, the houses appeared more ominous than usual, certainly more ominous than before as an alarming tell began to work its way up her spine to raise the baby-fine hairs on her neck. 

Something moved from her peripheral, something sleek and fast, ducking in and out between the houses next to her. Another glint caught her from the opposite side of the street….

They’d once again found her. And Rin once again took off in a sprint for her life. 

A great howl sounded from somewhere in the distance and it seemed to take no time at all for all three to reach her. 

One of the great beasts quick enough to flank her and nip at the back of her leg. And her panic was so choking in its intensity that she hardly noticed. Could only focus on getting to the home she could finally see in the distance, growing closer and closer. 

Rin cut across the lawns, past the ‘for sale’ sign of the house next to her grandmother’s before dashing upon the porch. 

But it would be here, as she struggled to open Kaede’s door, that Rin would once again meet her end. 

A sear of lancing pain her last memory as the wolves ripped into her flesh. 

............................

Chocolate eyes fluttered open to the barely-there light of dawn. Rin shot up, alarmed. Kohaku stood at one of her windows, enchantments removed entirely, as he used the binoculars to scan her neighbors home. Oh my god!

“Kohaku stop!” 

Said boy turned to look at her from his perch on her priorly covered window, “What? I’m just scoping him out. Besides, that’s what we’re here for, remember?” 

He turned back to continue gazing as Rin’s fear grew. Sesshoumaru had told her not to continue watching him…

Miroku spoke then and Rin had to turn to see him. And even though he and Sango had lit some of the protective candles she’d placed on her nightstand, she still struggled to make out his form. 

“I sent you a file-” Rin moved to turn on her overhead light. Sango was gently resting on Miroku’s shoulder, sound asleep. “It has all the girls we found. Hopefully one of them will look familiar enough and we can look further into it.” 

Rin was touched that they had continued her crusade despite her falling asleep on them once again. Miroku yawned then and the motion brought Sango back to the living. “Some other time though, right now I think we need to go home and sleep.” 

Sango looked around, “What time is it?” 

They’d been there all night and into the morning, “Nine,” Kohaku replied softly. Also pulling and stretching himself as they readied to leave. 

Rin began to walk them out when Miroku, now alert, though his face spoke volumes about the all-nighter he’d just pulled for her, grabbed her wrist. 

Sango and Kohaku walked past them as he deposited something in her hand before closing her fingers over it. “I couldn’t help but notice,” he scratched the back of his head, “Your nightmares last night,”

Rin blushed. Had everyone else? Rather than let her validate what they both knew to be true, Miroku continued. Walking past her as well in mimic of his family, “Those should keep them from bothering you too much.” 

He turned over his shoulder to wink, “Or anything else that comes to bite you in the night.” and with his decidedly unfunny joke, the man proceeded to chuckle himself down her stairs and out of sight. Mocking her prior accusations against Sesshoumaru. 

Rin looked at the string of beads he’d left in her hand. Rosary beads fashioned similarly to the ones he had permanently tattooed on his hands looked back at her. 

She grabbed her flannel on the way out. 

The sun was the first to greet them. Surreal glow of it lighting the lawn and glaring into the open space of the porch. 

Rin watched from the frame of her front door as Miroku’s tattooed hands came up to cup the end of his cigarette. Watching long enough to see the hazy glow of orange ignite before stepping out on the porch to shut the front door behind her. 

It was the first time since her latest retreat from the world, and she had to pretend not to notice as Kohaku looked at her, something hopeful coloring the boyish lines of his face. Thankfully, everyone, including the newest addition to their little clique knew better than to remark on it. Acting as if was perfectly expected for Rin to walk them out to the porch and visit before they parted ways for the night. Well, morning. 

Under the light and her flannel, Rin appeared saner, countenance glowing in the way it usually did as if lit from within.

Calm, for the first time in a while, Rin’s hand lifted and moved out from under the blanket that was wrapped around her frame to inspect Miroku’s gift. Their translucent surface left streaks of pale color to splash across her palm and wrist. 

It was during this inspection that she worked up the nerve to speak, though her shy gaze never left the rosary. A barely-there utterance, soft in its sincerity, met the trio’s ears as each gave her their full attention. “Thank you, I….” 

Rin looked up and her eyes locked with Sango’s before she quickly diverted away. Embarrassed that it even needed to be said, “I don’t know what I would do without you guys.”

She was probably going to hell for all the trouble she had caused them. Even Miroku, who barely knew her still, was racking up quite the owed debt. How she’d ever repay them was lost to her as she once again took up studying his thoughtful gift. 

She knew they still didn’t fully grasp the extent of her disclosure on Sesshoumaru. But under the light of the winter sun, and in between the barely restrained smile Kohaku was shooting Sango, Rin found herself caring a little less than before. 

It was, in a word, comfortable. 

......Was right up until the car came to a stop in front of her neighbor’s house. All four tires halting at once. The sound of the brakes caught Sango’s eye, who had been standing with her back to the street at the top of the porch’s stairs. And she had to swivel her head slightly to the left to see as a woman began to exit the vehicle. 

Kohaku turned only once he saw that Miroku was too watching as the young woman flitted to her trunk to pull out a bag. Just in time to see as the woman began a sauntering walk towards Sesshoumaru’s door. Natural it seemed, but far too seductive for the hour. In their distraction, none would see the shift. 

Sango was the only one to speak, “You know, Rin, I’m starting to see what you were saying,” 

Her head started to turn back, “If he is a serial killer, that girl would def-”

The thick layers of her sweater and scarf lifted like paper in the ensuing gust of air that rushed past her. The strength of it forcing her to step back and down onto the second stair of the porch. 

Her eyes quickly found Kohaku, seeking confirmation, but would ultimately find none. The boy stood, still leaning in his earlier position against the railing of the porch, wide eyes squarely fixed upon the now limp and desolate flannel that lay puddled on Rin’s porch. A perfect outline of where she’d once been, now empty, laid perfectly demarcated by the checkered fabric. She turned to Miroku, scarf falling from her shoulder with the force. 

And it was only after following the gaze of her husband, whose lit cigarette hung precariously from his slack-jawed mouth, that everything finally clicked. There was no wind. 

After all these months, after all the coaxing, for better or for worse, Rin Akamatsu had finally left her home. Leaping off the porch and dashing for the woman that was still making her way towards Sesshoumaru’s home, like her life depended on it. 

And while it was not her very life at stake, Rin had finally found something worth vacating the safety of her bubble. 

Please, please, please…

There was nothing familiar in the face of the woman that stared at her, horrified at anticipating the banshee-like girl that was still running full force towards her. Nothing resembling anybody Rin had ever seen before, the stranger was far too beautiful. As exotic looking as the expensive car she pulled up in. The one that was still sparkling on their street, almost, not quite, but almost as out of place as the woman she drew closer to with every sprinted step. As was her neighbor’s preference. 

Despite this, Rin could not help but see the resemblance. Feminine jaw twisted in a scream, delicately sculpted features crushed in and bloody, eyes open but unseeing. Only, this time it was not a memory, not a dream, but looking right at her, unable to imagine the horrors that she was unwittingly walking into. And Rin, who would never be able to fully articulate the rush of adrenaline this connection brought out of her, could not allow it. She would stop her- no matter the cost to her person. No matter the consequences as the quietly laced warning Sesshoumaru had gifted her in her foyer repeated endlessly in the back of her brain. The part that was still making bid after bid to preserve and save her young life. 

Rin reached the woman and moved to step out in front of her, arms extended out in a blocking motion that made her appear as crazy as she felt. The stranger for her part, reacted as was expected when accosted by an arm-flinging girl who appeared less than stable. 

“What are you doing?” her voice was laced with fear and annoyance at Rin’s hindrance of her person. Something deep inside Rin rushed forward to answer. She was doing what no one had bothered to do for her mother and what Rin had been incapable of doing at the time...

I’m saving your life.

“You can’t go in there,” Rin continued to flail her arms before moving to the left, one foot off the sidewalk when the woman tried to go around her. 

“Yes. I can, and I will-oh my god! What is wrong with you?” the woman’s voice grew in volume as Rin’s shorter, yet far more frantic, form moved closer to her, invading her space. They would continue like this, the woman’s taller form attempting to weave around her own, in a dance that had Rin backing up with every shift in order to maintain her blocking position. Rin’s already panicked state skyrocketed as the loose material of the woman’s shirt shifted down to reveal a puckered and clearly defined mark upon her thin neck, a bite mark to be precise. It was in a stage of healing and the skin around his mark was colored a pale shade of  purple. 

Internally pleading, Rin began again, “Please, just-” the woman attempted another evasive maneuver and was able to successfully go around the tiny girl in front of her. 

On the turn, her heart stopped. Sesshoumaru’s porch was now occupied by the man himself as well as his creepy helper. Oh god, she hadn’t even heard them...

“What are you doing you little freak?!” The woman, loud and distraught at her new attachment, began to curse. Rin was now using her entire strength to tug and pull at the taller woman’s arm when a voice met her ears, creaking and high in pitch.

“What do you think you are doing, you foolish girl? Cease this nonsense-” the helper had addressed her but was abruptly cut off by her neighbor. Quiet authority clear in his deep voice, the one that still sent a shiver down Rin’s spine, “Silence, Jaken.” 

She could still not bring herself to look at Sesshoumaru but glanced briefly at the subdued assistant who was glaring daggers at her. It did nothing but steel her resolve as her lithe arms wrapped even further around the still shocked woman in a tight lock. 

Please just don’t go in there. You can’t go in there...

“He’s dangerous-” Rin grasped tighter to the woman as her resistance kicked up. “He’s going to kill you!” 

Please, please, please….

The woman stopped at her last declaration, the whole neighborhood did in a collective and silent gasp. 

Tired of the absurdity of the situation, Sesshoumaru’s intended guest resumed her earlier struggle before lifting her hand to bring it around. Rin had just enough time to clamp her eyes shut against the impending strike as the manicured fingers moved in, with force.  Her head turned into the woman’s arm just as Sesshoumaru’s voice once again stilled the air. The unspoken command as clear as the thunder his voice had gained. 

“Enough.” 

Rin released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding as her head turned and her eyes opened. The woman’s hand was inches from her face, palm still open in the intended swat. From between her spread fingers, Rin could see as Sesshoumaru looked down on them, a frown upon his chiseled face. 

While the woman was distracted, Rin once again took the opportunity to block her way. Releasing her arm in order to put herself between Sesshoumaru and his most recent, intended victim, arms spread out in a defensive motion, only this time she put her back to the woman and instead faced the duo before her. 

His eyes held her own, holding her defiant ones in place. And despite her resolve, she felt a slight waver under the weight of his scrutiny. His lean form remained relaxed, hands still fisted in the pockets of his casual slacks as he looked down on her. Rin had to force her strength of pose against the weakness he brought out in her mind and body. 

As if hearing her thoughts, Rin watched his piercing eyes narrow slightly on her form, as they once again resumed their unbroken staring contest from before, 

“Have I done something to offend you, Rin ?” His voice now as calm and unhurried as his power pose. 

There would be no response. He had done plenty. 

After all, Sesshoumaru was not like other people. He had done in months what college, Kohaku, her grandmother’s prayers, even what Miroku’s beads could not do. The man before her had invigorated Rin with an energy-filled purpose, that she had never felt before. Something so foreign it struck her still one moment and rapid the next. A beat of her heart, palpating so hard it brought her back to earth, shook her chest. 

Rin was finally, after years of waiting mute and weary, alive. 

Beautifully distraught eyes flicked away from the amber ones, still locked in her defensive stance in front of his guest, to take in the faces around her. Flitting over the curious gazes of those peeking from their windows to those that had stepped out of their homes to watch the commotion taking place on their usually quiet street, openly gawking, to those that still stood on her porch, stocked at their friend’s abrupt change in behavior. 

Rin was absolutely alone, no one would assist on her newest resolution. They didn’t, and would never believe, what she now knew to be true. Especially if the mark on the woman’s neck was anything to go by. And with the thought, something hopeless started to creep in along with her fearful waver on her prior resolve.  Sesshoumaru was a monster…

So, defenseless, and under the witnessing gazes of well, everyone, Rin did the only thing she could. 

The girl, who some had never even heard speak during the entirety of her existence in Shirakawa, screamed. 

............................

“Should we go and see if they need any help?”

“Maybe, let’s see what happens first though. I’m going to call Rika and see if she is seeing this too,”

“Honey, I thought you said Kaede’s granddaughter was blind?”

“I did not say that. I told you, she’s deaf. And well, I thought mute-”

“Doesn’t seem mute now, Megumi. Are you sure that’s the same girl?”

“Of course! I was just over their house the other month, at least I think it was the other month. Either way, I’d know Lynn anywhere. The poor girl just stares at you. I’ve never once heard her speak.” 

“Heh, well you have now. Though I’d hardly call it speaking in the traditional sense.”

“It’s a real shame, such a beautiful girl, and to be so...well, you know. Those slow kids often get caught up in awkward situations like this. It must be so uncomfortable for that poor man.”

“Wait, I think Kaede’s coming to get her-”

“Thank heavens,”

Chapter Text

“What on earth is wrong with you, child?” 

The wall shook with the ensuing slamming of the front door, as Kaede dragged Rin further into their home. 

They made it as far as the entrance to the stairs in the foyer before the smaller girl was able to twist herself out of the vice grip her grandmother had on her arm. 

Panting lips parted as Rin began to defend herself. But Kaede wasn’t done. 

“Do you know what you just did? Everyone in town is going to know about this before the end of the day. He’s our neighbor for God’s sake-”

Unable to hold back a shout left Rin, “He’s not our neighbor! He’s unnatural- why are you even on his side? Don’t you realize that he’s doing something to those women-” 

An image flashed in Rin’s head of the woman that was now tucked within the lion’s den next door. The woman that had been able to slither on by as soon as Kaede had intervened. What if he had already-

“Sobo, that man he’s-he’s,” she couldn't find the words, remembering the way her friends had reacted to her current working theory on the true nature of Sesshoumaru. “We just need to go over there and stop that lady-”

Rin realizing again that no one was going to help her, that they didn’t even believe her, moved towards the front door again. Determined to go back over and save the woman that was already halfway in the clutches of whatever evil he was, if her neck was anything to go by. Rin had just enough time to step from the entrance of the stairs before Kaede was moving on her, using her substantial size advantage to seize the young girl by the shoulders. 

Kaede shook her hard, eyes disbelieving at the absurdity. “Stop this! Stop it right now- you’re acting insane, Rin!” 

“I thought you wanted me to get better? Look, I’m finally leaving, going out, just like you wanted, Sobo-” Rin attempted to shift out of her grandmother’s hold but was unsuccessful. 

Kaede’s eyes narrowed with something fierce, “ I’ve changed my mind. You are not going anywhere, young lady. Even if there is something going on out there. It’s none of your concern. Don’t go needlessly putting yourself in harm's way. Do you understand me?” 

Unthinking, Rin lashed out before she could realize what she was doing, smacking Kaede’s hands from her with a resounding thwack, that echoed around the foyer and left a deafening silence in its aftermath. 

Lungs at full capacity, Rin screamed for the second time, frustration bubbling over in a way it never had before. Unable to cope with the stress of her new neighbor and her family and friend’s newly found resistance to her will.  

“No! You need to listen to me, please, just one of you listen to me! I need your help-he’s going to kill that woman, don’t you understand?” 

She took a gulping breath before beginning again, distraught and frazzled beyond recognition, “Literally kill her-just like he killed that woman on the news,” 

Kaede’s good eye widened at Rin’s continuing tirade. Unable to understand the great shift that had seized her once meek and quiet grandchild. Her next words though, spoken hastily and without consideration, would have Kaede acting again. 

“Just like my mother!” Rin’s tear-glazed eyes pleaded with Kaede to understand. 

It was a shade too far, though Rin would not realize until the haze of adrenaline had left her. She opened her mouth to plead again, 

“Please you have to-” 

“Enough.” The command was echoing and harsh. “I’ve had enough of this, Rin.” 

Rin was about to continue when Kaede’s body slumped back against the door, body crumbling under the pressure of the last few months, hand over her face, hunched shoulders speaking more than she ever could about how deeply her weariness sat. 

Rin’s mouth clicked shut and Kaede let the ensuing silence hang. 

When a great moment had finished and Kaede had finally composed herself slightly, her hand fell to reveal her face. 

The emotions were still high for Rin, complex beyond belief as she struggled, but as the silence and her grandmother’s unflinching stare continued there was one feeling that was slowly becoming overwhelming...shame. Shame at how she’d acted and shame at the ensuing results it had on her elder. 

Kaede’s voice was dripping in anger when she finally spoke, “You don’t know anything. Anything at all. If you think that inviting a woman over to your house is the equivalent of what happened to your moth-” her voice broke before she could finish the thought. 

"I can handle silence Rin, I can handle a lot. A lot more than you realize, but this-"

Grey hair shifted out from her braid with the force of her resigned head shake, and rin could see exactly what her grandmother was recalling. Could see the shock on all their faces. But more importantly, could finally see the toll her madness was taking on those around her.

"This I cannot sit idle and watch. I will not allow your mental state to deteriorate even further.”

She took a deep breath and began again, her countenance hardening further, in a way that made Rin want to sob with the finality of it.

 “You will not be going anywhere.” 

............................

It took a couple of days for Kohaku to work up the nerve to text her. 

How are you? 

Rin must have read the simple inquiry over a thousand times, going over and over it in her head, yet the answer remained the same. 

She wasn't anything. There was a bit of fear. Fear that her neighbor would make good on whatever threat she thought she had heard. Fear for women that she had failed and would continue to fail to help. It wasn’t like Kaede was going to be letting her leave anytime soon, though it hardly bothered Rin much... And if she was being honest...Fear that she had blown everything, all of it, completely out of proportion. 

Perhaps she was as crazy as the entire town now believed her to be. Her red-rimmed eyes met the ones of the girl that looked back at her from her room mirror. The lines of her small frame still so, so clear against the backdrop of her now monster-proof room. Even worse, perhaps she was crazier than they knew. 

Another emotion had begun to work its way forward, though like the fear it was muted and dull. Shame. Shame that she had embarrassed her friends and family so deeply this time. So intensely that neither group had come to find her as was usually their way. Kaede avoided her, making extra and more frequent visits to contemplate underneath her maple out back.  And her friends well, they too remained distant. 

She shook her head. Looking away from the girl she was slowly beginning to despise. 

Perhaps, if she wasn’t worth their time, it was a waste of her own to contemplate it further. And with this thought she brought herself to a stand, choosing instead to watch as her long limbs pressed up and straightened. 

As was her new habit she left her room. First making her way around all the entries to ensure they were locked, then going systematically by all the windows to ensure Kaede’s earlier protections remained. 

It was not until she was done and making herself a cup of tea that Kaede came out from her room. Sparing Rin a single glance, one that made the girl stiffen, awkward tension sitting between them still heavy in the space. 

There was nothing to say and so the two women, both so isolated despite the company, continued on, moving about the kitchen as if the other wasn’t even present. 

And when Rin got back upstairs, tea in hand, she took a moment to sigh at the interaction before setting down her mug to go inspect her windows. It was fine except the last one, the one Kohaku had removed the cover from in order to better see. 

Having no more materials to replace it, Rin did the only thing she could. Taking the beads Miroku had given her to lay them straight across the sill. It would have to do until she could get more prayer cards and blackout coverings. 

It had been the closest she had gotten to her windows in a while, and she could not help but stare. The dusky pink sky gave her eyes an opalescent gleam and for the briefest of moments, Rin wondered, what it would be like to feel the winter sun upon her flesh again. As she had done only a week ago during the fiasco. 

She watched the sun move lower for a moment, rays glancing as they struggled between the rows of distant houses, until a shadow of movement drew her eye down to her neighbor’s walkway. 

Her eyes narrowed on his form as he hobbled down the way, a large trash bag in tow that was almost the same size as himself. 

It wasn’t until he heaved the bag into the can and closed the lid, that he gave pause. Ugly, bulgy eyes, moving back and forth as if he’d felt her glare. She despised them. For all that they had ushered in, namely her paranoia. 

It hurt to look at him and so with a huff she finally turned away. Readying herself internally for a night of research and sleep aversion. Anything to keep away her ever-growing nightmares. Rin’s head turned back towards her window but not all the way, so that only a lancing ray of pink hit her supple cheek as she thought on them further. 

...she was going to figure out what he was, even if it took her forever. And once she did that...she was going to stop him. 

Unbeknownst to her, a set of amber would continue to take her in. Stoic expression giving away nothing as he watched her move away from her window. 

............................

Rin woke up to a roll of her mug as she tipped it over. Her laptop screen black and still open from where she’d left it propped in front of her. The mug was empty, only dried remnants of her tea left, so she took her time in righting it. Leaning softly from where she’d fallen asleep, in a seated position on the floor, head against her wall. 

Her body seemed to groan with the motion as she lifted her now sore body from the wooden resting place of her floor. 

Spine cracking as she stretched herself into a standing position. So much for staying awake…

Rin made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. 

The clink of the mug brought her out of her thoughts as she set it down in the sink. Turning the tap on to let it set before turning around. 

What happened next would have her stopping, mid-step, in shock. Twisting at her ear to ensure she’d actually heard something at all. 

She was just about to walk away when it sounded again. The sound of something...scratching from somewhere in the living room. 

A wave of hair obscured one side of her vision as she peeked her head out of the kitchen and into where the sound came from. But in the darkened interior she could see nothing. Pressing onto her toes, little heels leaving the wooden floor to lean forward further into the sitting room. 

Unfortunately for Rin, the darkness would see her…

A dull thud sounded to the left as something threw its weight dead against the sliding glass doors that led to her backyard.

Her hand slipped from the kitchen door and the weight of returning sent her leaning back in order to avoid a smack to her cheek. 

Three shuffling, backward, steps later it happened. 

All at once, the house returned to life with a flash of light as every in the house turned on. It gave her a moment to be stumped, as she tried to determine if their power had been off. This early in the year they would be freezing if that was the case. Rin turned her head up to the now buzzing kitchen light above her. 

Rin's mouth parted, as something took its time dancing up her spine to reach her brain, a last thought that would cost her. 

Something primal. Danger

The sound of shattering glass sent her in a run as a cacophony of snarls began to vibrate the space of her home, so loud she could not determine the source or number. So disorienting that Rin could not even begin to think clearly about her next steps as she bolted into the foyer, clatter and snarls sounding from every passing space

Shaking, her hand had just reached the knob of the front door when an abrupt slam against it forced her back. The bang strong enough to rattle the hinges. A half scream left Rin at the abruptness of the second lurch and she found herself watching horrified as the strong oak door gave in enough to allow the moonlit night to peek around the edges. Like some grotesque boogeyman wiggling his tendril-like fingers through. Before the door once again returned in place. 

Rin moved backward, tripping as the back of her foot connected with the edge of the stairs. She would continue to crawl backward and up, eyes focused and horrified, as the heavy door before her began a constant rattle as something pressed on it unyielding. 

Another yelp left Rin and her bottom met the top of the stairs with a fall as the door finally gave way. Thudding to the floor so hard it seemed to shake the whole house silent. 

It lasted a moment. Before rin saw a mud-covered paw walk forward. 

They'd found her again…

She needed to see nothing more as she twisted and scratched at the floor in a clumsy stand before running full speed towards her bedroom. 

There was one of them already hot on her heels, so close she could feel the heat of his breath. She would not see, as she flew past the unassuming photos that lined the hall, a shadowy figure move in the glass surface of the framed photos that lined the hall. Starting from a photo on the end of Kaede. As if birthing from the image of her blind and bandaged eye. Galloping in a snarl from one end of the glass-covered portrait to the next before disappearing. Only to reappear in the adjacent photo, still sprinting, still snarling, and ever closer to its prey. 

Rin slammed the door shut but heard a growl from her left that forced her to dive onto her bed. Body trembling as she shimmied under the covers in hiding. She would likewise not see, as a filthy wolf leaped forward from the framed photo on her shelf. The childhood one of her, Kohaku, and Sango as they stood in the glow of the afternoon sun.

Kohaku's boyish face was the only one facing the camera; he wore an eye smile. The moment had twisted it though, just as it had twisted the course of Rin's life. So that the boy in captured memory looked, instead, as if he could not bear to watch what was to take place before him. 

The picture would crack and fall with the force of the wolf leaping out from it. Tiny glass body made real and tangible as his bristling fur and foaming mouth manifested into reality. 

Rin had but a fleeting thought as the three conjoined on her. Echoes of their anger in a round, one right after the other, in a gut-wrenching melody of terror. 

Where else could she have possibly hidden?

They would get her...even in Shirakawa...even cowering in her bed. 

It would do nothing for her. The same amount it had done prior. As the fate, that she'd tried so hard to evade countless times before, caught up. 

They pounced at once, a single shadow of bristling bodies and lethal force, to tear and rip her sheet-covered body. Quickly but still painful enough to recount. 

Limb by limb. 

............................

She woke for real this time. 

Rin’s eyes fluttered open at the dip in weight, her bed groaning slightly with the motion. Though, with the pitch of her room, she could see nothing more than the shrouded and hunched figure of fabric that was now sitting beside her on the edge of her bed. 

Remnants of cautious fear left over from her nightmare, Rin remained still as possible, waiting for something to happen. Eyes moving back and forth and over the darkness that sat between them, where she was still laid down and where they sat with their back to her. 

“I….,” The hit of recognition was instant. Kaede’s voice was soft in the quiet that pressed upon it. In the quiet of Rin’s rapt listening. 

“I should have done something.” The elder woman sighed, as if the weight of the world had finally caught up with her. 

“I’m so sorry, Rin…..,” even softer, “my sweet Rin.” 

A pause followed and Rin found herself releasing a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding. 

“When they brought you here, I…,” she stumbled over the words before deserting them all together. “I’m sorry Rin. Sorry I got so angry. It’s just when you brought her up..” She trailed off clearly thinking over her the next words of her midnight confession. The first real time her grandmother had spoken to her since her episode and their ensuing fight. 

“Your mother…,” at this Kaede’s voice broke, to show the extent of her misery. Tendrils of decades of unforgotten and often relived pain showing in her always so resilient grandmother. A tear made its way down Rin’s cheek and onto her pillow. 

“She-” Kaede took another steadying breath. “It was not only that ugly man that took her from you-” another pause followed as a sob ripped from her grandmother. 

And when she started it was softer, and shame riddled, “It was me.” 

A stuttered breath left her to float in the room, as a silent one released from Rin. What?  

“I should have never let her leave Shirakawa. If I had it over to do again…,” another sob racked her grandmother as she continued to speak on her late daughter. The only child she had ever had and the one that currently sat as ashes. Rin closed her eyes as something began to crack at her heart. She blames herself. 

Rin could understand, now better than any time before, what guilt and fear made you do. How it could keep you up put you to sleep, make you stupid enough to confront it head-on….

She thought of her fiasco with Sesshoumaru. And as if in reminder of Kaede’s own efforts a clack of wood met her ears as one of her trust prayer cards moved in tune with the heated air leaving their vents. It made you crazy if you let it. 

Kaede had calmed herself enough to speak again, “That’s why you can’t leave. Not like this. You’re safe here, just as your mother was until I let her go to meet her end… and just like last time you stayed, no matter what happens, we’re going to get you better. Do you hear me?” 

She took another releasing breath, “The world has taken too much from me already. I will not let it have you too.” 

Rin felt her grandmother’s soft hand pet down her arm tenderly, “Never you, my sweet Rin.” 

She waited for a pause before asking finally, her voice almost fully collected though some residual sadness struck through, done with her confession. “Are you awake?” 

Rin could feel the bed dip further as her grandmother leaned over her. Chocolate eyes looked at her grandmother’s good one and covered one. But it seemed the darkness was too much for her grandmother’s poor sight and she sighed, “I suppose not.” 

She felt her lean back up into her earlier sit. “I know something happened to you at that school. I know it just as well that something always happens to my loved ones when they venture out of Shirakawa.” 

Kaede made a move to get up as she spoke for the last time in her unprompted confession, “I hope one day you’ll tell me-” 

The familiarity wrenched her heart. Was this not what she pleaded of her great aunt and daughter as she kneeled before their ashes? 

And Rin, who had been struck by the sincerity of her grandmother’s words, struck for all the guilt she felt at mistreating a woman who had endured more than Rin could imagine, opened her mouth. 

Wanting nothing more than to tell her, tell her all about the awful night that had sent her scurrying home as a basketcase. Wanting to tell her every little dream, about every little bump in the night, but even after all this time, even after speaking again, she found her voice lacking and unable. 

Unending silent sobs racked Rin in the darkness of her room and her arm moved quickly, to grab for Kaede’s in a hold. A silent tell. In the only way Rin could, to let her know that she was in fact….there. 

............................

She sent the text and waited. Chocolate-hued eyes skimming the lettering as if searching for fault. 

Are you busy?

It was the first time she had initiated a conversation with Kohaku since her episode. It took him longer than usual to respond. 

A little-what's up? 

His usually eager timing mimicked a more natural flow than the now stunted one he was providing. Despite the hit to her spur-of-the-moment confidence and the lingering reservation his lackluster response left, Rin now felt at putting herself out there, she went ahead and sent the next. 

I was wondering if you wanted to hang 

out tonight?

She didn't put the rest. Like that she was horrified at the recent turn in their relationship. How even through texts his hesitation to talk to her was not obscure but clear. 

...Or how utterly alone she felt with only her guilt and embarrassment and thoughts and all the creepy websites she had been searching through for company. 

Rin brought the phone up to begin another text, a desperation in her impatience that she would not get to act on before Kohaku finally responded. 

I'm really sorry but I have plans tonight. 

It's Valentine's and I have to take my

 girlfriend out. 

He would not offer up another time. And Rin would never see how her friend agonized over it on his end. Taking time between shifts to look at their chain and type something else before ultimately deleting it again. A quiet and undisclosed decision left unvoiced. 

He thought Rin needed a break to calm her nerves, from any stimulus until she finally felt better. A new tactic for him for sure, but one he would set on with a quiet nod of his still terribly concerned head. 

For her part, Rin would still feel the sting of rejection. And for the feeling, she would berate herself. Checking the calendar for the first time in ages to see it was in fact the day for couples. Of course he would need to spend time with his girlfriend, stupid. Maybe if I would stop being so selfish and pay attention to others I would have noticed how his newly budding relationship was growing. 

She rectified quick enough,

Omg, I'm such a ditz! You guys have fun!!!

The silence that followed as she looked about her house, with nothing further to do, was deafening. 

Even Kaede, who had recently started speaking to her again, was gone. Out with some group of friends or another. Unconcerned, now that Rin was once again a hermit and no longer jumping off the porch to attack their neighbors. 

A bird flew by the back sliding door and the blood-red feathers drew her notice. Before she realized what she was doing, she was outside, the backyard door still slid open as she basked in the apricity that welled in her, as her earlier desire to feel the sun became true. The warmth of it matched the gently melting earth around her. It seemed spring was coming early. 

The great maple of Kaede’s was almost centered in their backyard so it only took a short walk until the branches of it began to shade her. She stopped an arm's length from the trunk that had been carved, only slightly, to house the urns of her great aunt and mother. Despite her love of nature, she had never been drawn to this place before, not like Kaede. 

... had never felt the urge to mourn . 

In fact, it wasn't until she dreamed of Sesshoumaru that she had even begun to wonder about the protective and loving enchantments Kaede had tied to dangle from its branches. 

But it was not the holy objects that had her eyes this time. The urn of her mother was not fancy. Was not striking as her great aunt Kikyo's was in the shine of afternoon sun. But beside her mother's spot there had been just enough room, just enough of the carved nook, for something to sit. 

She lifted her hand to inspect her phone. The front screen still open with her last text, before gently sliding the device into the space between the carved wall of the tree and her mother's urn. 

She stared at the tree after that for a while, her sadness tangible and brittle to the touch. So that every gentle gust of wind took a little of it to color the air around her. 

It seemed Rin had lost more than just her sanity the day she chose to leave the porch and her friends were nowhere to be found. Not even the one that had clung desperately to her for all these years. 

Though it was only now, as she placed the symbolic representation of her friends with the remains of her mother, that she realized. Belatedly. Just how precious of a thing she had ruined. 

Rin would leave it there, the glass door gently sliding shut behind her as she once again returned to bed, in remembrance. 

............................

There was an ever-growing silence, the pitch of it ringing and ringing as it grew louder and more piercing. Until she could not ignore it any longer. 

Fluttering eyes opened under the minuscule and flickering light of the prayer candle next to her bed, and in the gentle glower, her eyes seemed to shimmer. The feeling was odd and unfamiliar. 

Rin sat up and lifted herself into a gentle stand. Even the ground below her felt shaky. As if ready to fall and crumble out from under her feet if she lingered too long.

She took a steadying breath and reached for the candle. Her room was darker than usual and though it was in fact her room, the recognition was lacking as the newly cast shadows twisted and altered the familiar sight of it. 

The moon would usually be shining through the trim of her windows. But even in the last one, the one Kohaku had stripped of its coverings, there was nothing except the eerie reflection of the candle flame she held and her own confused face beside it. 

Her foot stepped forward, intent to inspect the strangeness further, when something sounded from downstairs. Faint, but there all the same. She waited for a pause before another dull thud met her ears. 

Her head moved first to turn towards the entrance of her bedroom and her candle followed after. Floating through the darkness like a disembodied spirit. It arrived just in time to allow her to see as the heavy door opened slowly of its own accord. A silent beckoning she would not ignore as her feet carried her forward. This time the candle would lead the way.

Rin could barely see as she neared the top of her stairs, but the sounds…

They’d only grown. Doing what the meager light could only just as they lead her closer to the source of the disturbance. One cautious step at a time. 

There was a series of groans and creaks of wood, each one punctuated by a gentle gasping. Rin started to descend the steps. Each step slower than the last as her hesitation grew. 

It was coming from her foyer below. But just as Rin had begun to bring her foot down on the stair that would allow her to see down into the entrance of her home, a different noise sounded. This one halting her stride midstep, foot poised in mimic of its previous trajectory. 

A quaking voice, soft in its agony, desperate in its plea, rose up to caress her ears. 

"Se-shou-maru-sama" 

Rin lowered the candle and her eyes scanned the darkness the movement left her encased in. It was a woman, that much she could tell. The flush that had now warmed the entirety of her body told her more. 

Her foot gilded back to stand on the stair that the other one rested on, no longer poised to step forward. Perhaps, this had been a mistake...though what exactly the mistake was, her foggy brain had not the slightest idea. 

But something primal was trickling through her system, urging her to go retreat and run away. Tickling at the back of her consciousness. The feeling was muted and dull though compared to the whispered flurry that was going on below her. 

Instead, the accompanying uptick of her heart and quickening of breath that would usually send her scampering grew more dim and unnoticeable as she continued to listen. Ears attempting to glean the information her sight could not. 

One release and gasp after the next floated up to circle the dark space she waited in. Two people...two sets of labored breaths. Rin released a silent gasp. 

Her body kicked in, doing for her what she would not do for herself, as her foot lifted up and back to rest on the stair above. This would be the final resort as all other instincts left her, one by one. 

This meager resistance would not be enough though, as a voice spoke out then, steady despite the harsh breath that followed in a pleasured exhale. 

“Come, Rin….,” 

It took less than a second for her body to follow the beckon, going where the brave little candle was already waiting. Providing just enough to illuminate but not disturb the scene that was unfolding in her foyer.  

Her grip faltered before quickly retightening on the light source as all her muscles went slack in shock. 

Neither noticed her….

Nor the glimmering of the orbs that roved over their intertwining bodies. Moving fleetingly over the unknown woman’s pearly flesh, flushed pink and hot at the edges. Embarrassment burning her insides at the sight.

Before moving to take in the man between her legs, flesh so ethereal and snowy in color that it clashed with the woman’s more natural hue in the most striking of ways. 

Unable to look away, Rin’s wide eyes moved faster, roving to take in every aspect and conjoining of their naked bodies. 

His large hands grasped, the size of the one she could see almost covering an entire side of the supple flesh of her thighs, in a lift. His clawed and spread fingers leaving subtle indents in the woman’s soft flesh from where he gripped her, pressing and pulling her in to take every one of his rapture-inducing thrusts. 

Though the most intimate connection would remain hidden by the woman’s milky thigh as Rin watched the rhythmic pistoning of Sesshoumaru’s crimson striped hips. Watching as the thickness of his buttock shifted and clenched with every thrust into the woman he had pinned against the wall of their foyer. Even with only his lean yet towering profile visible, his dominant posture was as clear as the sweetness of her submissive one. As he continued to take her against the hard and unyielding surface behind her. 

Her flushed flesh yielding to his will as they coupled. And despite what Rin thought must have been uncomfortable, the woman’s voice told her otherwise. 

Haunting. Her voice was haunting as every thrust broke her desperate quiet whimpers and moans to leave only a shuttered gasping noise in their stead. It, along with the rough creaking of the wall behind her, punctuated the silence around them. 

The woman’s head was unable to stay still, and it twisted to and fro, messy raven tresses draped enough that Rin could not see her face. Tiny body withering in undeniable delight at his ministrations, as the almost obscenely larger man continued to rut her. His silvery hair dripping off of his muscled form and shifting with his movements as he tilted his head to rest on her shoulder. Leaving his deep sighs of pleasure to graze over her heaving chest, and tease the pert, pink-tipped breasts that bounced with every push of his narrow hips. 

Only for him to move again a moment later, lowering further to suckle one of her delicate buds into his ravishing mouth though his pace never faltered. 

And Rin would continue to watch as the woman’s voice grew frantic, pleasure reaching a new height as her arms extended out and flush with the wall she was being held against. Delicate fingers searching for purchase. Thin and small feet sliding higher up his backside, from where they rested prior, wrapped over the backs of his powerful thighs in anchor. 

The arch of her feet pressed into his still thrusting muscles at the same time as her back arched away from the wall. Her head and hips taking the brunt of his passion until he released her nipple with a gentle pop. 

Sesshoumaru moved then, large hands moving up from their grip on her thighs, light pressure bending her supple muscle to wrap tighter, and to lock her ankles together, as his hands glided up to circle the small of her waist. Still moving her petite body in the way he liked….any way he liked. 

Nimble and long fingers reaching the curve of her rib cage long before his palms did, clawed thumbs rubbing the sensitive and puckered buttons of her still bouncing breasts. 

The woman, whose sweaty and mussed hair still obscured her some, gasped then, louder than before. A desperate moan leaving her harshly as her hands moved off the wall to wrap around him pulling him even more flush against herself. Nails digging into the broad expanse of his back and the powerful muscles that resided there. 

One striped arm moved to rest on the wall beside her head, cleaving any view Rin could see of what must have been her euphoria-filled face. His other gliding up to grasp and tilt her chin down for a punishing kiss. Which silenced her momentarily as she struggled to meet his simultaneous demands. Fighting fruitlessly against the onslaught. Before at once releasing her chin to lean down and nuzzle the flesh of her delicate neck. 

And Rin would watch his head lean back, panting mouth open, as his fangs extended to glint in the hazy and meager light. Her butt made contact with the wood of the stairs as she tripped backward in fright as Sesshoumaru’s head suddenly veered in her direction. Glowing red eyes penetrated her and chained her to the spot, demonic visage on full display. His fangs peeked out from under his lips at the sin-filled smirk he gave her….

And she flinched as his head turned back and dropped forward again. Mouth swooping down to capture the woman’s neck so the dangerous points could pierce her soft and yielding flesh, pinning her further. 

The woman’s body made a desperate arch in response, in pain or pleasure Rin could not be sure,  but her head twisted away to give him more space. After that Rin could see nothing more save the back of Sesshoumaru’s glimmering head as he continued to sink his teeth into his willing prey. Thick rivets of his undone hair hanging and shifting with his still thrusting body.

That was until Rin noticed the mirror. 

She knew who Sesshoumaru had trapped against the wall, the same wall he’d trapped her before. 

A shocked gasp left her and her mouth parted in horror….as her own eyes caught her in the reflected surface. Sweaty tendrils of hair matted to the edge of her face, but Rin could not unsee as her own face looked back at her. The smooth and flushed skin of her cheeks giving way to her parted and perfectly circled mouth as she continued to pant in ecstasy. 

The girls...the same girl would continue to watch as her mirrored twin’s gaze locked in on her own, no longer cloudy and dazed in pleasure. The look she gave her was too confident, too seductive, and far too satisfied to belong to Rin. 

But it was her….

And she would watch as the girl in the mirror smiled blissfully, closing her eyes briefly with a particularly harsh thrust, before opening again to recapture Rin’s. Her mouth moved, kiss-bruised lips circling with the silently echoed beckon that she would recognize instantly. 

…..Come. 

............................

Rin woke up with a resounding gasp that seemed to bounce against her walls. Her body was warm to the touch, too warm for the frigid temperature her grandmother kept their house, and she found herself kicking the blankets off of her sweat-drenched body. 

Something foreign was thrumming low in her belly. Pulsing still with wave after wave of heat that left her flushed. 

The dream….

Rin sat up and looked around nervously as if someone lay in wait to catch her unguarded, and redhanded. 

But the motion felt ridiculous, it looked to be about dusk, and she listened further. Trying to glean any movement out from the quietness of her home. When she heard none she sighed. Kaede wasn’t even back yet. 

The sigh did not lower the race of her heart. Rin bit her lip before deciding she needed to get up and take a shower. Though, a sharp pulse would rock through her body with every step, as her thighs shifted and pressed a light pressure onto her…A light whimper left her at the unfamiliar feelings it sent flooding her system.

She wasn't completely naive to the reaction of her body. But she was chaste enough for it to paint her red. A hot blush searing her as she scurried to the bathroom and into the shower. 

The shock of water helped her enough, and she sat under the spray long enough for it to turn cold. Icy shots of it zapping her until she forced herself to move out and turn it off. 

Rin had almost wrapped the cotton towel around her when the thought struck.

The dream it had felt so…

She wiped the bathroom mirror off enough to see her head and shoulders. But when her eyes met her own in reflection, she flinched and looked away. Another blush heating her face attractively. Embarrassed in the memory of the same girl catching her once again peeking. Seeing things that she should never have been watching…

The pads of her own fingers against the soft flesh of her neck shocked her into looking back up. This time her eyes following as her fingers slid over her flesh in search of puncture. But there were none where he’d bit her in the dream. 

A knock from downstairs brought her abruptly from her musings so that she was sent tripping and sputtering into her room in search of clothes. 

When she finally made it down, she could hear better as the screen door shifted open, letting her know the unannounced visitor was still there. 

Before she could completely extend to the tips of her toes, they knocked again.

Knock, knock, knock. 

The steady echo of it gave her slight pause until she once again resumed craning her neck to see through the peephole. 

Her mouth dropped to release a long-held breath and it bounced against the oak to wash her face. Though Rin would hardly notice over the gallop of her now racing heart as she stared, one-eyed, and unflinchingly, at who stood outside her door.

............................

"What's up with the face?" Sango asked from the perch of Miroku's lap from where they sat on the bed of his truck. 

Kohaku snorted, nodding to several of the couple’s friends that still stood around them, before passing to open the driver’s side of his own door. 

"I have to go pick up Nagisa."

Sango let her displeasure show in her voice at her brother's abrupt dismissal. 

"Well, don't be too excited, she might think you're too eager and break up with you." Her sarcasm earned her a chuckle from Miroku. 

His brother-in-law spoke then, "Perhaps, it's not Nagisa that young Kohaku wants to pick up?" 

The tease was not met well. Miroku had long been convinced that he had a crush on Rin. Despite his adamant insistence that he felt nothing more than deep-seated friendship for the girl. 

Kohaku groaned. She was practically like his second sibling, the little sister Sango had begged their parents for so she could get rid of him. 

Annoyed as he usually was with the two nowadays, he threw his body into the seat but did not close the door. 

"Shut the fuck up, Miroku. You know it's not like that. Unlike you, I don't feel the need to hump all the females I know." 

Sango interjected for their husband then, catching on to who Miroku was suggesting. 

"Hey! We all agreed this is what's best for her. Rin just needs a little break from everything until she gets better and then we can-"

Kohaku's already heightened annoyance grew. He didn't need another lecture, especially from the two before him. She stopped speaking as he drew near, pushing aside Sango and Miroku’s friends to stand in front of them. 

"How can you be so sure this will work out? What if it makes her worse?"

He felt a twinge of regret at the look on Sango’s face and reeled himself back. It had been all their decisions to stay away from her. A collective agreement that Rin's health was already far too fragile for them to be coming around and encouraging her misguided beliefs and conspiracies. And Kaede had assured them she would look after her, keep her safe and inside until she finally recovered. 

Sango looked torn and mirrored his own. It seemed she too was having doubts, wanting nothing more than to run back over and camp at Rin's house until she got better. Until she became normal again…

It had been wrong of him to yell at someone he knew cared just as much for Rin as he did. 

But it would be Miroku who spoke, breaking the tension between siblings. 

"Guys, calm down," His tattooed hand came up to the space in front of Kohaku's chest. "We don't need to worry. I gave Rin the rosary. It will protect her." 

Kohaku looked at him and Sango turned to face her husband with question. They already knew about that. But what the fuck did some holy beads help with anything? 

"We don't believe in that bullshit like you do, Miroku." Kohaku started back towards his truck and away from this unhelpful conversation. Throwing over his shoulder, "Vampires, omens, and demons don't exist. And even if they did,"

Kohaku hauled himself back in the truck, "some stupid beads wouldn't save you from them."

He was just about to slam the door shut when Miroku's voice once again called out to him, stilling him. 

"They do and they would, even if you don't believe Kohaku. But that's besides the point, the beads I gave Rin aren't for those things."

At his confession, both Kohaku and Sango gave him their full attention. And in true sibling fashion responded with a simultaneous, "What?" 

Miroku shook his head, "The beads I gave her," he looked between them both, "They don't stop demons, they help strengthen the mind against attacks and mental illness, and whatnot."

He tossed his hand around, "I thought they would help her. And they're practically harmless. Like a placebo. Once you feel protected against attack, people start to improve. Just give them time to work. I saw it a thousand times when I was working with my uncle. Those things can get rid of even the most strongest hallucinations."

He snapped his tattooed fingers, still cool as could be, confident in his assertions, "Rin will be back to normal in no time. And we can go back to teasing you two mercilessly until you finally hook up."

Kohaku ignored his last jab as he contemplated Miroku's disclosure. None of them had truly believed Rin lived next to a vampire, even Miroku, who would believe in anything supernatural, was unconvinced. Perhaps, Kohaku thought hesitantly, the beads were worth a shot. 

He looked back up at Miroku, “A placebo?”

Miroku smirked at the younger man, seeing him finally start to open to the idea now that he knew it wasn’t some weird archaic belief, before nodding, “Yeah, just a harmless but helpful placebo.” 

............................

She tripped on her way back down the stairs, Miroku’s beads now safely wrapped around her hand. Rin reached above the door to finger the prayer card. Once she was content that all safety measures were in place she checked the peephole again to ensure he was still there. Her hand clasped the knob, her other beaded one fingered the bolt in preparation to open. 

Though her confidence would falter slightly as the oak groaned and parted to reveal him further. He was dressed casually, though warm. His imposing frame blocking any further view of their surrounding neighborhood. Her eyes flitting from one broad shoulder to the next as she struggled with where to rest her eyes.

He would start after a moment of eyeing her where she now stood. Partially obscured by the door and darkness of her foyer, the perfect picture of skittish. 

"Good evening, Rin …," Said girl took in the relaxed pose of her neighbor as he stood blocking the early rays of the setting sun. The dizzying glow of light that peeked from around his body did nothing to lessen the inferiority Rin felt in the presence of such a man. 

His voice was as it was the prior times they’d spoken. So deep and calm she had to fight against the lull, lest she end up like the other zombie-like women that now lurked her neighborhood at all hours in search of him. Rin tried to look saner than she felt as if she didn’t accuse him of murder and attempt to prevent his female ‘companion’ from entering his home. As if she didn’t know what he truly was….

She hoped she looked collected. But the result was something closer to a child meeting a stranger. Silence more meek than stoic and eye contact more wavering and nervous than confident. 

"I was hoping to speak with you, do you have a moment?" ……. he wanted to speak with her? 

Rin fought the urge to shake her head. Her hand with the beads remained on the knob of the door and out of sight. All she had to do was say yes. Act normal and get him to somehow touch the beads Miroku had given her. The ones that would get rid of him for good.

She’d read about them online after he’d given them to her. Rosaries were powerful. If anything remotely evil touched them….well, they’d be no more. Resigned, Rin internally gulped before shaking her head. This was her chance as terrifying as it was, she needed to take it.

"Um- sure," Awkward anti-socialness on full display. She added in an afterthought, “Sorry for the wait, I was in the shower.” 

Amber eyes gave her a once over, taking in her still wet hair, and the wet spots the tresses had left on her hastily thrown on t-shirt before nodding in acceptance. 

His head tilted and Rin mentally chided herself, fighting the urge to gape stupidly again as it further highlighted the angled contours of his handsome face, "May I come in?"

Rin’s breath caught. Like he needed to ask? He’d already wormed his way in with Kaede. Had probably even tried to enter again as the website had said could after being allowed entry the first time. But for once, Rin and her grandmother, albeit unknowingly on Kaede’s part, had put her one step ahead of him. Their purifying abilities would keep him from entering. She briefly considered dropping the bead plan and just inviting him to try and enter her door, but the thought of being trapped in a space with him alone and as his true form took over scared her back to plan A. 

Rin panicked, realizing he’d been watching her as she mulled over the simple question,

“No-” her voice was too loud, verging on a shout and a single silver eyebrow rose in response. Perhaps anticipating a repeat from the weeks before. 

She quickly started again, “I mean,” 

She laughed nervously, trying to calm herself and buy more time. “What I mean is, we can’t have anyone in the house right now.” 

Sesshoumaru’s face remained unchanged, his voice unsurprised, “Oh, is that so?” 

Rin nodded softly to make the lie she was about to tell him more believable, her still-wet raven tresses bouncing with the accompanying head turn and gesture she sent behind her,  “It’s Kaede, I’m afraid she has been incredibly sick all day and needs to be away from any people. I’m sure you understand,”

She gave a wobbly smile in apology, completely fake of course, simply happy that she was finally able to save herself for once from further embarrassment, as was typical with anything involving him. 

Yet, her heart continued to pound harder for every second he continued to let her sit there, unspeaking and looking decidedly unimpressed. 

Rin nervous with the nonresponse was just about to speak again. Something more pacifying but before she could, he spoke again. His next words freezing her blood cold. 

"I did not realize she had returned home," Rin blanched visibly, absolutely busted. Kaede had not, in fact, returned home yet. 

……….. so, so stupid.

 Another phony laugh left her, “I, um, well-I” 

He interrupted her stuttering. 

"You are frightened of me." It was not a question. He knew it, she knew it, their whole neighborhood knew it. Even now her body was fighting a tremor the longer she stood in his presence. And knowing what she knew about him, how could she be anything but terrified? 

The pause she left was deafening as she contemplated her options. This was not going anywhere near how she planned. And she still needed to get him to somehow touch the beads. 

A small sigh left her, that spoke volumes of her troubled state, it was not fake like the words that followed. "I am very sorry about the….," Accusations. 

Her embarrassed gaze flicked up to his own, to ensure they both understood. Though his face still gave away nothing. 

She shook her head, determined to continue, "And your friend…. I must have terrified her." 

She eyed the space between their feet. Eyes roving over the lines of wood planking that made up the surface. 

Rin was sorry for nothing. Nothing except that she had been unable to successfully deter the poor woman from the doom that awaited her once she entered his clutches. 

Proud of herself for being able to successfully remain calm she was finally brave enough to hold his. Returning the gaze he had not removed from her once the entirety of their exchange. 

His lips tilted up at the corners slightly and Rin had to fight the urge to swallow…

Evil for sure, but handsome did not quite encompass how distracting he was. She supposed it made sense in a way, for things like him to be so attractive to humans. So handsome they called just enough attention that their other...less than natural behaviors would go unnoticed. 

...like sinking your teeth into every neck in town. "It is of no importance, really. Think nothing of it. Your grandmother explained quite a bit to me about your situation, "

She made a face at his statement. Wondering what all Kaede had told him about her. The possibilities did not sit well. 

There was a slight lilt of amusement in his voice and it successfully brought her out of her wandering thoughts, "I did not harm her, I assure you." 

Rin blushed prettily then. A gentle flush of pink on her delicate and still shower dewy skin as she remembered her dream from this afternoon. A visual of what he must have really done to the woman who’d been ready to fight her to enter his home. No, Rin got the feeling that at least for that visit, he’d done something altogether more pleasing...

Her ears burned. She really needed to stop and focus on the task at hand. 

"Besides, it is I who should apologize for not properly introducing myself to you. Perhaps then, we may have not gotten off on the wrong foot.”

Another subtle softening of his gorgeous features had her swallowing thickly, “ I would like to rectify that if you would allow me."

Rin nodded without thinking, speaking before she could catch herself though the results would be favorable for her plan. "I think I'd like that."

There was something seriously wrong with her. 

He was about to begin again when she interrupted. A plan had seized her, 

“Wait-” she brought her unwrapped hand back and behind her neck to nervously finger the baby hairs there. 

 “We need to introduce ourselves first, right?"

He gave pause, and she waited with bated breath until his features seemed to acquiesce. Before moving her wrapped hand out in an invitation before her, her eyes for once focused and zeroed in on him as she finally set her plan into action. Watching as the imposing man before her took a moment to evaluate her lithe limb, amber eyes, as opalescent as the beads that were snug upon her flesh, with a discernment Rin would never understand. 

“My name is Rin Akamatsu…”

A forced smile tilted at her full lips, “It’s nice to meet you,” 

He took his time, eyes following the trace of her arm shoulder, then neck in an almost sensual manner. And her mouth was suddenly drier than before. 

But by the time his gaze landed on her own, the smile he had earlier had morphed, one corner of his perfectly formed mouth lifted in a barely-there smirk. 

It reminded her of her dream and the resulting flush almost made her pull her hand back. Made her want to rescind and hide away from the intensity he always seemed to bring with his mere presence alone. And it almost made her miss, almost…

As his much larger hand, gently encompassed her own, beads and all. Completely unafraid, stoic, and decidedly not on fire as he humored her, transparent plan and all. She’d been too desperate in her execution for it to be anything but. 

A panic set in replacing her earlier conviction. Shouldn’t he be reacting? 

Would she feel it? As of now, she could feel nothing but the ever-growing tingle where his flesh touched her own. Wide, chocolate eyes met amber again, breaths shallow as the realization set in, rising in opposition to the lowering rays of winter sun behind him. 

He.. he...he

He lingered but at the last moment released her hand gently. 

She thought...this couldn't be right. Had it really, all been her imagination? Some unnoticed dream?

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Rin . I hope we can get to know each other better," 

He touched the beads and nothing happened. He was normal...

She shook her head. Voice soft and stricken in distraction, "Same to you-"

Her words had almost entirely dropped off at the end as the rising tide of humiliation began to set in. 

Nonetheless, he continued to speak to her, casually, neighborly, "Your grandmother tells me you were studying horticulture. I am currently on a sabbatical but work as a professor at the University of Tokyo." His hands moved back into the pockets of his loose slacks. 

That explained the success. That was one of the most prestigious schools in all of Japan. A horror of a different type than the one she had been feeling for months set in then. Mortified beyond belief…

Oh my god, she had screamed at a professor...

Still mortified as the extent of her stupidity became clear, and seeing the man before in an entirely new light, Rin spoke, genuinely curious, "What do you teach?"

He gave a slight pause before responding, his earlier more gentle countenance returning at her politeness, "....history."

How….boring and so utterly mundane it made her want to crawl in a hole and die from embarrassment. He was a professor...of history. Like a normal human being and decidedly not a vampire. She had intruded upon the life of a professor, accused him of murder, when all he’d done is ask her to respect his privacy. The dusky sky shot a glimpse of sun and the light upon him seemed to spite her. The websites had been pretty adamant that bloodsucking prevented sun exposure. 

She was such a fool…. 

She spoke without thinking, "You look too young to be a professor-" 

Rin slapped a hand over her mouth shocked at her own inability to restrain herself around him once again. 

Gracious, he chuckled lightly, doing most of the work in continuing their conversation, "You likewise look too young to have graduated already. If I may ask, are you taking a break from your studies?"

A flash of blue assaulted her mind at the memory of just why she would never be returning to school. And she racked her brain to find a way to evade the unexpected and uncomfortable question, she shook her head, "Not exactly, I-"

She looked into his amber eyes and just as her dreams, he pinned her with the intensity of his gaze. "I decided not to continue."

A shapely, silver brow rose in question. 

And Rin hastily answered in an attempt to rectify, “I didn’t like school-” It was a lie, she’d loved it. Loved being away from the stifling walls of Shirakawa, “I mean, I just-” 

Frustrated with herself for the stumble, Rin spoke again, “I just don’t like to really talk about it.” 

Anticipating the usual response she waited, only to be shocked when something understanding entered his gaze. Unlike the others she had evaded in the past months he did not shy away at her rejection, did not guilt her or pressure her for elaboration. But instead nodded, seemingly satisfied with her quick and obvious evasion. 

Unused to the response, Rin started quickly. Perhaps as a professor, he was insulted? "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it that way-"

He interjected softly, "It's okay. You don't have to explain." 

His eyes seemed to intensify then if that was even possible, "...We all have our secrets"

He waited for a pause, the conversation finding a natural end. And when he spoke again his voice drew her from her still racing thoughts. 

"Perhaps, when Kaede feels better," He was teasing her, she realized. Deep voice echoing his muted amusement, though his handsome face remained stoic. 

Rin blushed at the subtle jab,  "You both can come over to my home for a visit."

It was funny, how the entirety of the world could right itself after a simple knock at the door. The dizzying turn in her perspective had left her as disoriented as her initial supposed discovery had. She’d answered the door convinced he was a supernatural killer and now if she wasn’t so embarrassed at the entire thing, she would have laughed at the audacity. Internally she just continued to shake her head. A vampire. How ridiculous. 

Rin could not help but stare at the handsome man before her, who stood waiting for her response. She had done...so much to him. And he was inviting her over? 

And out from underneath the spell that had clouded her judgment these last few months, there was nothing to distract her from just how...enticing the offer was when it came from him. Someone so beautiful...

She nodded softly, starstruck, "I'd like that, Taisho-san."

Rin objected to her earlier assessment. No, her new neighbor was not normal. 

He had turned away slightly but stopped to give her his full attention again, and there was nothing this time to distract her from the warm buzz that seemed to light her body at his look alone. "Please,"

Nothing to distract her from just how sinfully attractive his voice was as her dream came back to her full force. An attractive blush once again taking over her face. 

"Call me Sesshoumaru." 

Sesshoumaru-sama…

She nodded softly in understanding. And the subtle lilt of his lips he gave her in return sent her pulse racing. Rin wet her lips, and though she’d done it quickly, amber eyes followed the motion of the little pink muscle with an attention that was both alarming and riveting. 

Memorized she whispered, once again tasting his name on her tongue, "Sesshoumaru,” 

The sweetness of it unhindered for the first time by the darkened clouds of suspicion from before and the uttering of it…

Well, she’d never known a name could be so enticing.

He smirked, giving her a single lingering look before departing and Rin's knees almost buckled at the sight. 

He wasn’t normal...the man was devastating. 

Chapter Text

“The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul..."

-Carl Jung

Kaede’s good eye had seen much over the years. There had been a drought when she was about fifteen, maybe sixteen if she was remembering correctly, but she’d watched every single piece of foliage in and around Shirakawa weather into a slow death. 

She would watch it come back too. Every piece of greenery slowly growing back in, to fill the blanks it had left behind. 

When she was twenty-four she’d seen a young man, subtle as he may have thought he was at the time, check her shift schedule at work to ensure they had the same hours. Seeing then, what even her own parents could not, as he later became her husband. 

But she had never, ever, seen a morphosis like Rin’s. One so rapid she hardly had time to blink as the young woman who had been, prior to leaving for that awful college, manifested right before her eye. 

She was still odd, peculiar at best, but it was her granddaughter. And Kaede continued to watch as the young woman flitted from one side of the kitchen to the next, making her tea. Countenance unbothered, recently washed hair cocooned in a towel, flowery spring dress highlighting the glimmer of her dewy skin, 

“Rin, I invited my friends from the rec center over tomorrow to play and have some tea…,” 

Said girl nodded absently in acceptance, clearly still lost in her own world of thoughts. 

In fact, it was not until Kaede’s next sentence that her granddaughter would finally pause, finally listen as she spoke, “Taisho-san came over yesterday, while you were out back. We are all set to visit his home Saturday, March the fourteenth.” 

It pleased Kaede to see, as the young woman nodded this time more thoroughly in understanding, that she was no longer in hysterics at anything regarding the man that lived next door. 

It pleased her even more to realize she had been right. Keeping Rin safe within the confines of her home had been the best solution for her. Her mental health seeming to improve by the day under Kaede’s close and thorough watch. 

The elder gestured towards some items she had bought to bake; she was going to make a sack of goodies for their visit to the neighbor’s house. And Rin nodded again in understanding, though she would pause at the sliding door to speak one final time, chin tilted over her bare shoulder, “I’ll go and pick some flowers for him...from the garden.” 

Then she was gone, off to where she spent most of her time now, not that Kaede could blame her. A smile warmed the roundness of her face. Pleased beyond belief at the change. The one she knew would happen, just knew deep in her bones, if she kept her here. 

It would be a pity really, that for all of Kaede’s experience in life, she had not yet learned the lesson it had so often tried to teach her. First with Kikyo and then with her daughter…

Erroneously believing that danger lied only outside of Shirakawa when it merely meant to show her just how terrible she was at predicting its course. 

So blinded, by more than the loss of her eye, by a hubris that would not allow her to see. Would not allow her to see even now that it was already far too late. As the omen she’d priorly felt coming, moved in, for the finishing blow…

............................

The rays of sun entered, like an actor taking stage. Black curtains sliding up and away as Rin removed the coverings from her final window, to allow the shimmering waves of orange to light the previously shadowed corners of her room. The air seemed to breathe then. Once again giving life, to her now uncluttered, and decidedly unprotected room. 

A week had passed since Sesshoumaru’s visit and she’d spent all afternoon taking the holy relics down. Every hanging prayer card, save the ones downstairs that Kaede would not let her touch, had been removed and tucked away in the corner of her closet. 

And unlike the preceding months, the idea did not leave her shaking in fright. Rin could finally say, confidently and without doubt, that she was free. 

Chocolate eyes skimmed slowly around her space in a satisfied inspection. The couch was back under her set of now clear and uncovered windows, the ceiling, and sills free of needless relics, and for good measure, Rin had even made the bed. 

Everything, absolutely everything, was as it should be. 

In more ways than one. She smiled as she sunk into the cloud-like surface of her bed, the freshly washed coverings molding and fitting to her slender form, as she continued to take in the distant sky outside. 

She could see it in the faces of the women Kaede sometimes had over for games of cards and the like, the names of which she could not for the life of her recall. Though they all knew hers, spoke it with the surety and familiarity that was typical for the elderly. She could likewise see it in the face of her grandmother. The rising tide of curiosity as they wondered…

What could have brought about such a change? 

Unkempt and too close to crazy for comfort one moment, the pinnacle of peace and serenity the next. The turnabout face was so sudden that they’d hardly had time to blink. 

Rin ruminated on the sudden shift that had happened within her. Her eyelids suddenly heavy and lowering against the beautiful golden light that dimmed for every moment that passed as the night set upon them. 

But the thought hardly required careful consideration. It was rather simple. 

Just as the gently blooming ume trees had ushered in the early wakings of spring, so had Sesshoumaru ushered in the end of her misery. Righting the world with a simple knock on her door. Once and for all, putting to rest the unreasoned and delusional mania that had previously seized her. 

It was a blessing, truly. And for every moment that she had saved not having to look over her shoulder, or around every corner, she could feel her sanity slowly returning. Rushing in to blanket her in the perfect environment for her to finally heal, just what the doctor ordered as they would say. 

Just what she had been looking for when she returned to Shirakawa almost a year ago to date…

And it was with these final thoughts, the ones she had come to accept in the weeks that followed her mysterious neighbor’s visit, that Rin finally fell, head first, and without reserve, into sleep. 

The darkness was overwhelming, cocooning her in its depths, like a stifling blanket. From somewhere in the distance she could hear them prowling...searching for her. 

A howl reverberated and Rin released a whimper into the void that surrounded her. She knew exactly what would happen when they finally found her, how ferocious the trio that had been stalking her could be. Most of all, a tear fell from her cheek at the memory, she could remember the pain their arrival meant. 

Another howl from somewhere outside her house had her breath kicking up a notch. Her hands reached around frantic, desperate fingers grasping the blanket before pulling it over her head. The perfect image of a frightened child. Rin knew she had no choice, nowhere else to run left, as she cowered in her bed. 

Internally, she debated her next course of action. Until another noise brought her lightning-paced thoughts to an abrupt halt…

Knock, knock, knock

Her breath caught. And though she had no way of knowing the exact time, she had finally learned what she had not that fateful night, the first night, that there had been a knock in the unlucky hours of the night. A knock like that was never meant to be answered.

The cool material of her pillow caressed her cheek as she turned her head, trying to listen for any other sounds. 

But there were none. Not even the wolves had returned. She could hear nothing save the rapid intake and exhale of her own shuddering breaths. 

A sudden creak, that sounded suspiciously like her front door swinging open, had Rin sitting upright in her bed. Hand fisted over her heart in fear. The other clutching desperately at the now crumbled blanket. 

Who….

Her eyes widened against the pitch around her as she heard the front door gently click shut. Confirming what she had been dreading the most. Someone was now in her home. The thought was terrifying alone, but it was not until she heard the telltale creak of her stairs that Rin ducked, once again, under her blanket. 

Curling tighter and tighter underneath the only shield she had for every following groan of the old wood, as whoever was out there, continued to slowly make their way up the stairs and towards her room. Their heavy steps echoing in the space of her brain and heightened her already elevated heart rate as her panic quickly took over. 

The visitor would not bother to knock on her door, though she heard as they paused before it, waiting. For what, she would never know. But another whimper would leave her, unbidden, as she heard the knob finally turn. 

Rin would continue to silently plead for whoever it was to go away, leave her alone, and get out but the visitor would heed nothing. And her eyes clenched tighter along with her hands, which still held the blanket above her, when she felt the unknown assailant give a gentle tug on the material. As if to remove it from her. 

At her resistance, there was a brief pause. But the suspense would not last long, and before she knew it the person had yanked the only thing separating them away and off of her. 

A gasp left her to echo in the room as Rin’s eyes shot open in fright. Her heart was still palpitating from the unusual dream. Even in the haze of her darkened room, she could just make out a murky figure, sitting beside her on the bed. 

It was, unfortunately, still not unusual for her ever-consistent nightmares to linger though the wolves had become less and less. Her still blurry eyes looked back at the figure, this was also not an unusual occurrence anymore.

Her grandmother now made regular nightly visits to check on her, and sometimes to speak, though Rin could never find the words to properly respond to the elder’s ramblings. It was merely to occupy the silence as she looked over her beloved granddaughter, the one that seemed to be improving by the day. 

Rin sighed and closed her eyes against the darkness. Tonight was different though. 

She felt...something. Perhaps it was the remnants of her nightmare, or perhaps it was just the particular shade of moonlight that beamed through her windows to light the floorboards of her room. But before she could stop it, the utterance had left her, 

“I was at the library,” her breathing picked up momentarily with the remembrance, 

“There was….this boy-” her eyes made a zigzagged pattern in their movements and the ensuing motions could be seen through the delicate skin of her eyelids. The figure remained still however, listening. 

Her lip quivered, calm countenance beginning to crack with the awful retelling. But at the last moment, she steadied herself. A slow and deep breath pulling her back and into the present in a gentle reminder. 

That despite the nightmares, she was safe now , they could not get her here. 

Eyes still snapped shut, Rin shook her head before beginning again, “He would not leave me alone,”

She could see him now. Tall and lanky. Shaved head. Leaning over, practically hovering over her as she made her way to print. 

It had been a mistake to stay late and alone on campus but she’d had a test the next day and needed to study. She pretended for as long as possible to simply not notice as he lingered and stared. But it had not deterred him in the least. 

“He tried to talk to me…” 

She couldn’t even remember how he started. The sound of his words blending and mixing with the movements of his mouth until it was nothing more than silence. And for all the meaning they carried they might as well have been...nothing. 

Rin hedged. It was hard to remember her response as well, the one she’d given after the numerous requests for peace, all subtle and polite as was her way, It was too upsetting to try and discern, as she had in the months that followed her attack, exactly which particular softly, uttered phrase had set him off. 

“But I just wanted to be left alone to study.”

It was unfortunate, that for all the haze that surrounded the memory, she could remember with a clarity that was startling, every foul word he’d uttered in return. After he’d grown tired of her quiet rejections of his invites to accompany him. 

He’d leaned close as he passed to leave, brushing her body with an unspoken promise, close enough to whisper in her ear. 

A choked sob broke free from Rin to echo around the stillness of her bedroom. He was a foul thing. 

“I thought he’d left,” And she had watched him leave. Waiting hours afterward, unable to focus, unable to study as was her original intention. Wanting nothing more than to return to the safety of her dorms. 

Her tears continued, sobs muted as she took another shuddered breath, “But I was wrong-” 

Another sob, “He and his friends they chased me-”

Her voice was high and tight in her misery, soft in the exhale, “I tried so hard to get away,” 

A lancing blue light appeared behind her eyelids then to taunt her, “So hard, Sobo...but they caught u-up. They caught me and just-” Just attacked. 

She could still feel, like one feels the ache of a bone, their hands trapping and sliding over her body. Rin sniffled, still trying to reign in her breathing, “I’m not sure how, but something scared them off before they could go further,” The blue lancing light. 

Finally, beginning to calm slightly, Rin opened her mouth before closing it again. Eyes held shut against the dark figure that remained seated and still beside her. 

Her voice cracked again, tears returning with a vengeance as she relayed what would be the last of her confession, the first and only one she would ever give of the event. The event that had sent her scrambling back to the place she swore never to return. “I see them-”

Her sob echoed around the room, heaving breaths punctuating her next words, “All three of them..in my dreams every night,” 

The silence was deafening in the aftermath of her unexpected admission. Kaede was silent for a moment longer. 

Rin’s eyes shot open, though she could see nothing save the fabric-covered figure that hovered over her, as a hand, gentle and faint, moved over her face. Reverent and comforting. Until finally, a cool palm rested against the heated flesh of her cheek in a cup. One she would lean further into. Seeking more of the reprieve it so willingly offered. 

And though it had been unbidden, Rin could not ignore the undeniable weight that had lifted from her shoulders. The misery she’d kept locked away, the one that had burdened her for so long, suddenly more bearable with the disclosure. That and the hand that continued to caress her cheek gently, until Rin once again, fell into a hard-earned slumber. 

This time less fretful and without dream. 

............................

“Do you guys think I should invite her?” Kohaku’s dark eyes looked to Sango then to his brother-in-law, before they once again returned to the blue screen of his phone. 

Sango perked up, something hopeful entering her gaze, but once she turned to her husband her dejection would return. 

“I don’t think we’ve given Rin enough time to recoup,” he looked at Sango’s face before gently tapping her chin in apology, his voice was appeasing when he spoke again, “Maybe just a couple of more weeks. By then, the rosary should have done its thing and she should be good to reenter the public.” 

Sango turned back to Kohaku, also antsy and tired of waiting to see her surrogate little sibling.

“Hopefully,” She looked at her younger brother sincerely, “She’ll be back to normal and we can hang out together...like we used to..,”

The reality of their decision to avoid her had finally and resoundingly sunk in and Kohaku was done. Had been done a week ago, hell, even a month ago. The desire to see and be with his friend was now gnawing at him daily. 

This was the perfect opportunity. “But it would be a safe environment and with only a few people, what would be the harm?”

Sango took up the challenge, though her voice was still understanding of her brother’s internal struggle, “Didn’t you say that she freaked out when she saw Kagome and her new boyfriend going into her neighbor’s house? I think meeting them in person would only make her regress, Kohaku.” 

Kohaku scoffed. She was choosing Miroku’s side, per usual. 

“Sango, we don’t even know if these stupid beads of his are working,” at this, he rudely pointed at the newest addition to their family, “we especially can’t know if we can’t see her.”

Said man just shook his head sagely, not offended in the least by his wife’s baby brother. 

“They will work. Just let her relax a bit more-”

“Shut up.” Kohaku had already started the text.

Hey Rin! Long time no see. Sango is inviting

a couple of her friends over to hang out on 

Friday. You should come over too if you’re 

feeling up to it.

He hit send to spite them, his spirit lifting slightly at being able to once again reach out to his best friend. For their part, the couple waited patiently, both truly understanding the younger man’s frustration at what was going on with his friend. Though he was being less than cordial to his family about it. The boy was occupied with his phone again, sending another text as an afterthought, 

You remember the address, right?

Sango was still thinking of how best to comfort him when Miroku started again for them,

“Don’t get your hopes up if she doesn’t respond, like we said, she may just need more time-” 

But both of the elder duo paused at the look he was giving his phone. And Kohaku would not bother to tell them that Rin was responding just as fine as she had before. Or at least had been when she’d texted him last month, out of the blue. 

“What’s wrong?” Sango quickly asked. But the young man continued to stare at his screen, thick eyebrows slanted in confusion, as he typed something else without answering. 

“Kohaku, what’s wrong? Did she respond?” Sango asked again, more insistent. 

When he finished he clicked his phone off and the still curious duo only became more worried as the blue light faded away from his young and now decidedly upset face. 

Kohaku got up and began to walk away. He needed time to stew about this. Sango pulled away from her husband, “Where are you going?” 

His voice was bitter, “Out with Nagisa-” as he passed them he dropped the phone next to her on the couch.

Sango quickly picked it up from the cushion and opened it to see what had gotten her brother so upset. Even more upset than he’d been before. Rin’s response read as follows. 

No. 

There was Kohaku’s request for clarification.

No?

But it was the final text that Rin sent after that, that had the couple looking at each other in shock. 

    Leave me alone and do not ever speak 

to me again. 

............................

She could see how they looked at her, but it was the same. Eyes scanning her form for some sort of defect to explain the oddity of her often peculiar and usual behavior. A physical, tangible , ailment to help them wrap their heads around why a young woman like herself would choose to cut ties with the society around them. Mute.  

It had been the same when she was seven. The same when she was thirteen. And now on the cusp of her twenty-first birthday, it would be the same. 

And if Kaede had hoped to stem the flow of gossip surrounding her granddaughter’s unusual behavior by inviting her friends over for a game, specifically the most recent one involving their neighbor, she would be sorely put out. 

As ten sets of bespectacled eyes belonging to her Hanafuda group stopped to watch, save Kaede of course, who laughed awkwardly to distract them. Shuffling the cards harder and louder in her nerves. 

As Rin, dressed in a set of gardener’s overalls, rubber gloves, and barefoot as the day she was born, walked by and out the back door of her home. The girl would miss as one of the elderly women gaped at the flaps of what was clearly a dress and clearly not meant to be worn under the worker’s gear, slipped out and bunched at the arms of the overalls. From where she’d attempted to shove them back in to lay flat under them. 

A distracting sight indeed. But it mattered little to her as she finally closed the sliding back door with her foot. Hands already reaching for the uncleaned and still muddy tools she’d been using yesterday. 

Besides, it was officially spring and the season suited her better than any clothes she could have picked. 

The golden rays of sun gently warmed her exposed arms as she headed further towards the back of their fenced backyard, beyond Kaede’s maple. There, as she had left it when she’d left Shirakawa for school, was the garden Rin had started in her youth. She’d neglected it in the time she had been back home and it’d only been in the two weeks that followed Sesshoumaru’s visit that she’d started to tend it once again. Much had changed since his visit….

The one where he did what no one else had managed, not her grandmother, friends, or the scorn of strangers as they gawked at her behavior that fateful and eventful day. Putting to rest any and all of her irrational fears about the supernatural. The ones of a psycho killer variety too. Even her dreams of the wolves had dwindled until all at once disappearing after his visit. 

And with everything seemingly righted in what had become the topsy turvy whirl of her life...well, her fascination had only grown from there. She shook her head of the distracting train of thought though as she set about working in her garden as had become her habit. 

Though it hardly needed it, Rin would spend almost every waking hour, and some beyond that, in her priorly forgotten garden. Tending, to the delicate and newly opened buds the way other women tended to children, with a loving attention reserved for those most precious. And in return, they tended to her. 

Kaleidoscope of colors, from the hardy clover she planted in her youth, to the early blooming irises she’d planted for Kaede before leaving for school, each one had her more occupied than the next. Providing her with shade as she lazed in the sun, reading, daydreaming, or napping the hours away. 

After tending to each one, she’d remove the gear. Tossing rubber gloves in a wayward direction as she shimmied out of the oversized overalls, before laying herself down amongst them like she belonged. Eyes closed under the shade of a newly sprouting rose bush she’d planted before leaving for college. Another one for Kaede, though the buds of it would not fully open until the summer hit. 

Blissful. Wholly uncaring and ignorant to all that was going outside of her microcosm. Mind unburdened and calm for the first time in a long time. Rin found she could focus on little more than the feel of their soft green caresses against the flesh of her body. Tickling the newly exposed skin of her legs and arms as her eyes slowly began to drift shut...

The sun was directly above, and having just awoken from her nap, Rin watched from between two twines of the rose bush above her as the bright rays swam a path through the blue of the sky. 

The beauty of such a sight as she lazily stretched the sleep from her body was dream-worthy. 

Her eyes caught some movement from her peripheral but when she looked he stopped. Supple lips parting at the shock of just who stood within the winding rows of her little garden. 

Sesshoumaru’s molten gaze continued its slow dissection of her, and she watched with an ever-growing flush as his eyes moved over her still laid down form. Slow in the uptake as the orbs followed the curves of her breast, before sloping down the line of delicate neck, until at last, he met her eyes. She would blush prettily for him then…

The shade of it matching the delicate parts of her pale flesh that had gotten too much sun. Looking every bit the picture of one of those delicious-looking strawberries he’d bought for them what felt like ages ago, utterly mouth-watering…

The bright of the sky would shut out then and for what felt only a second the pitch encompassed her, eliciting a frightened gasp. Before all at once, returning. Sky bright and as blue as it had been prior. The only thing changed was that Sesshoumaru had moved. 

He now stood over her, feet to feet, almost bent at the waist in inspection. Rin pressed herself flatter against the ground beneath her as her hands came up to fist the grass around her head.

A long moment would follow then, as he continued to devour her with his eyes and Rin continued to fidget under the weight of his attention. Eyes flitting nervously from his large form to the back kitchen window that was visible even from her distanced garden. From there, should they want to, someone could see with perfect clarity whatever was to take place. 

She bit her lip as her nerves grew. Any one of those old biddies in there, at any moment could catch them…Rin’s lips parted to speak. 

And as if he read her thoughts he too shot an overt look at the aperture before sliding his gaze back to her own. Wide, innocent eyes, would watch then as he brought a slender finger to rest upon his lips. Would watch as they would purse lightly in the barest of touches to his digit. A subtle warning to her, 

“Shhhh,” 

Her eyes would only widen then, despite the second encasing of dark that suddenly surrounded her again. The bright light once again returned, after a moment’s pause, to reveal his new position. Large hands beside her own, the ones that were still twisting nervously in the soft grassy space next to her head, as he leaned over her form. 

Silver waterfall of hair trapping their faces close enough that she could feel the cool of his breath on the heated flesh of her parted lips. 

She would watch, breaths panting harder, as he tilted his head and leaned further down, before capturing her lips in a searing press. Would watch as he pulled away, teeth gently pulling at her bottom lip in a nip that caused the timid desire in her to spread, until it had eroded at all her other senses.

A particularly harsh pant left her as he continued his gentle ministrations, peppering her neck and covered bosom with kisses that seared her even through the fabric of her dress.  His large hands moving to glide down the sloping contours of her body as his mouth followed, reverently. 

Until finally, he had reached her belly. A shudder traveled through her as she kissed her for the final time, right over where the heat was strongest in her body. Right where the throbbing seemed to emanate. 

A whimper left her as he sat up, adjusting himself until he was further down her body, before grabbing an ankle and then the other, to spread them around his kneeling form. 

The motion of which made the limp fabric of her dress bunch to reveal the edges of her unmatching undergarments. As mismatched as the rest of her get-up had been before she had shimmied out of it earlier. 

He then proceeded to lift one of her pale legs up from where he still held her by the delicate ankle, giving her just enough leeway to bend at the knee as he brought her flesh close enough to press another one of his feathery kisses to her calf. Traveling up the same way he’d come, kissing closer and closer, to the spot could feel clenching and unclenching with every one of his mesmerizing movements. 

“Ahh,” the moan had left her unbidden, and in response both of her little hands moved over her mouth in a cover. Vaguely remembering she was supposed to stay quiet…

His golden eyes flicked up to catch her own, over the finger-crossed cup she still held over her perfect little mouth, to the glazed yet still nervous orbs flitting back and forth between his own in both anticipation and fear. For the sight she would be rewarded with a smirk, the motion of it searing against the flesh of her thigh, where he had paused in his torturous ministrations of her. Before he would give her a gentle nip in reprimand. 

His lips moved again, further up and for every move closer he kissed towards her ache her eyes rolled further back in her head, delicate hands pressing harder into the flesh of her mouth. 

Until finally, at last, he laid a single and feathery kiss upon the silk of her panties and right over her cloth-covered center.

A gasp left Rin as her body arched up and out of sleep. The dusky sky was the only one to greet her as she sat still, and waited, for the now-familiar ache to leave her. The one that often left her saturated and dazed for hours afterward. 

As while the wolf dreams had come to completely fade, the ones that featured Sesshoumauru had risen to take their place, almost outpacing them with their frequency and otherwise lingering effects...

Rin laid back down against the grass. Anything to cool the still thrumming heat within her body. 

............................

It was the day they were to go over Sesshoumaru’s house. And she’d spent the entirety of her morning, drip drying from her shower as she stood in front of her closet debating what to wear.

Gah, this was ridiculous . The man had seen her in dirty t-shirts and sweats for the last half a year for God’s sake. Why did she care this much? 

Rin nibbled her lip as she pulled a dress from the back of her closet before moving to stand in front of her mirror, fabric draping over her form. 

It was pretty. The button-down dress was a striking shade of blue and perfect for the weather. It was from her teenage years though, and as the silky material fell over her head and body another thought hit the already distressed girl. 

The material was tight around her hips, it seemed she had grown since then. Perhaps she looked like she was trying too hard? It wasn't like this was a date…

But the words alone sent a wave of butterflies through her stomach. She righted the thin strap of the dress up her pale arm until it laid flat on the gentle curve of her shoulder. There was something wrong with her. A month ago she was ready to have him thrown in jail and now she was worried he wouldn't like her dress. 

It wasn't like this was common for her. She'd never dreamed...a blush lit her face and chest, well, she'd never even seen anyone as handsome as her neighbor. 

A delicate hand came to pull at the material, adjusting it where it fit too snug over her newly wrought curves. Ones that she had never concerned herself with before. 

It struck her then, why she had chosen the dress. Though the thought did nothing but distress her further. Another attractive blush lighting the contours of her supple flesh. An image flashed in her head of the gauzy numbers his 'guests' had always been wearing. The shimmery fabric of her own dress was glaring and she briefly thought about removing it once again. 

Shaking her head she started to get ready. It was only a matter of time before Kaede would be calling her down to head over. 

And like clockwork, she did. Though not in the expected manner. Rin finished brushing out her mass of hair, the feel of the silky tresses on her bare upper body made the anticipation in her only grow as she skipped down the stairs. 

Kaede however, did not look ready. She looked…

"I can't go," She continued to rush around, moving from the kitchen to her bedroom and back as quick as her bad knees would allow her.

Rin opened her mouth to question, lips tinted just the lightest shade of red, but Kaede beat her.

"It's the hospital, they need me to come in as soon as possible. That cranky witch Lin called in and they had a rush of people at the desks. No one to help them-"

Kaede stopped to look sternly at her granddaughter who was still staring, mouth open. Was she really about to make her go alone? Wasn't she the one that was convinced she couldn't do anything alone?

A wrinkled hand came up as she gave her next orders, "You are still to go, young lady. Be friendly, no funny business. And make a better impression than the one you gave the neighborhood last month, do you understand me?"

Rin was still in shock. But Kaede moved for the keys and began to head out. 

"Wait, Sobo-" the girl followed her into the foyer. She couldn't do this. They needed to reschedule or something.

"No, Rin. I have to go. I missed their call and I'm already late." 

Kaede gave her a once-over, finally slowing enough to give her an encouraging smile, "You look beautiful," and she did. Resembling her late mother so acutely that it physically hurt. But Kaede moved on, "Just be the kind and sweet girl I know you are. Be friendly, make polite conversation, and then come back home. I’ll be back late so lock the doors." 

Her good eye gave her one more glance. Spring had always become her beloved granddaughter. But she had never seen her look quite as radiant...quite so at peace as she did as of recent, despite the last months of hiccups. And it was with this final thought that the elder shut the door behind her, leaving Rin alone and panicked with a resounding click. 

Rin nibbled at her already bruised lip. This was literally the worst-case scenario. It had been hard enough having to face this man that she'd embarrassed herself in front of when he came to her home. She couldn't even imagine how awkward it was going to be once she set foot in his. 

She thought back on all of their interactions. If tonight went anything like the others had gone, she would just end up not being able to preserve any pretense of dignity she had. Not only did the man take the air out of a room, he always seemed to take the caution out of Rin. 

Another mortified thought hit her. Once again lighting her features a dark shade of scarlet. In the times she had met him he always seemed to see right through her. Reading her with an accuracy that even those who knew her could not. Maybe...he would even be able to see the dreams she'd been having of him as of late. The ones so shameful she often had to shower first thing after waking up.

A shaky breath left her. Maybe he could even see her own hand pressed against the material of her panties as she's done after one particularly intense dream of him. Just to see if it would relieve….Or as she quickly snatched her hand away to fall limply next to her head. Embarrassment written all over her still tingling flesh. 

A hard head shake brought her back. She needed to stop this. He was just a man. Just her neighbor... A professor for God's sake. 

Looks aside, there was no reason for her to be acting like this. 

She moved to the front door. It was already a minute past four. Distracted, she'd almost forgotten the house gift Kaede had made for him in return of his own as well as the flowers she picked for him from her garden. So with a clack of her heels, she was turning back towards the kitchen to retrieve them.

Another deep breath. 

Here goes nothing...

............................

He could not fucking believe it. 

Kohaku moved quickly, the door of his old truck slamming shut behind him. 

She didn't want to talk to him anymore but she was going over to her neighbor's house? 

Shocked was putting it mildly as Kohaku continued to make his way, barely restraining from a full sprint, to catch up with Rin. 

The girl, who had boldly accused her neighbor of being Dracula, was now standing on his porch waiting to be let in. He'd arrived just in time to see her knock on the door. 

The final text she sent had agonized him for days. He couldn't sleep for fear of thinking he'd permanently ruined their friendship. Yet, here she was looking all beautiful and friendly for someone she had accused of murder. All they had done was not text her for a bit... and for that, he deserved to be cut from her life? 

A wave of shimmering, raven tresses shifted as her head turned to catch sight of the boy heading towards her. And Kohaku watched the unexpected joy enter her eyes, halting him momentarily. What the literal fuck? 

"Kohaku! What are you doing here?" She couldn’t stop the smile from forming on her face at the sight of her dreadfully missed friend. But as he drew nearer the smile began to fade. 

The angry hiss of his voice striking her in a momentary stun. Kohaku never got this upset with her, usually reserving his ire for his more deserving family members 

"Rin, what's the meaning of this?" He stopped next to her on the porch. Thankful that her neighbor had still not come to let her in. His mouth dropped as his eyes caught something he'd missed before, "Are those-are those flowers ?"

Stunned at his greeting, Rin could only open and close her mouth. They had not spoken in a while, perhaps he thought she was going to do something crazy again.

The reasoning helped her speak, lowering her voice so as to not be heard through Sesshoumaru’s door. "I know, I know. But I promise it's not something weird. He invited me over.., we even made amends,"

At the finish, she smiled at him brightly, normally, but he could do nothing but stare gaping. Why was she acting like she hadn't told him to basically fuck off? Cutting off years of friendship just because he didn't meet with her on Valentine's day. 

She was about to speak again when the knob of the door sounded. It opened to reveal a short and sickly-looking man. 

Kohaku made a face and Rin only managed to intervene in the knick of time, grabbing the boy's arm in a hold as she smiled cheerfully at the man she now knew was named Jaken. 

"Hello, we are here to see Taisho-san." Rin continued to give the unnaturally hued man an eye smile. Though he would only scowl in return. Her nerves got the better of her and she spoke again, Kohaku still stiff and awkward next to her. Perhaps, the helper had not realized she was invited? 

Pulling forth all her manners, Rin started again, "My name is Rin-"

Jaken interrupted, voice high and nasally, as if in a perpetual scold. It had been the same when he yelled at her all those weeks ago…

"I know who you are, foolish child."

She laughed nervously, of course he would not have forgotten. Her whole neighborhood sure hadn't. 

"The question is, why are you here?" A knobbly finger moved in to lay an inch away from Kohaku’s face. So that the boy had to step back to avoid a poke to the nose. 

Rin could feel her already tense friend getting ready. Confrontational nature slipping through in preparation. But before he could snap back, Rin tightened her hold on his arm. Silently pleading for him to ignore the rude greeting. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I should have let you guys know in advance. My grandmother had an emergency come up-"

Kohaku had been slow to catch on in his stunned anger. But seeing the helper that Miroku had bitched endlessly about react in such a way… there was no way he was letting Rin go in alone. 

What kind of emergency could Kaede have that she wouldn't accompany Rin over the neighbor's house? The neighbor they all knew she was terrified of. He shot a look down at the girl next to him…

Or at least who she used to be frightened of. She had promised to keep her safe while he had stayed away. Just what had happened since their little break? Had this man really forgiven her for straight-up calling him a murderer in front of the whole block? 

His head was already throbbing from the confusion. But he put aside his anger at her and began, slipping from her hold casually before interrupting her explanation. 

"So she invited me in her place. Is that going to be a problem?" He'd started friendly but could not help the slight challenge that entered his final words. 

There was a pause after that. The bulgy-eyed man before them looked nervous. "Well, I.., I" 

A frustrated sigh left him and he shot a glare at them both before looking over his shoulder and into the house. He let them in after that, opening the door wide enough so that Kohaku could wave Rin in first, gentlemanly even in his anger. But as he too crossed the threshold the little man moved to close the door so that Kohaku had to turn in order to enter, lest he be hit in the shoulder. 

What the fuck was this guy's problem? Rin did not catch the hateful motion that showed clearly, just how unwanted he was here. 

Kohaku once again bit his tongue as the beak-nosed man moved around them. When he turned over his shoulder, he spoke only to Rin before scurrying out of sight. 

"Please wait here. I will let Sesshoumaru-sama know of your arrival." 

Rin was already beginning to speak as the little helper walked through an arched door to the left. So she would not catch what Kohaku did, as the man muttered to himself, "....the master will be most displeased."

Rin's whispered voice brought his head back to face her own, 

"Thank you! I was really nervous to be alone-"

At this point he was livid. "Rin cut the shit."

She was talking to him like she hadn't just tried to end a decade-long friendship.

Her lips parted in shock as she watched him tap the back of his pants pockets in search of his phone. He pulled it out and scrolled to the text. The one she had sent him less than a week ago. 

He watched her still confused face grow more so as she read over the screen he now held in front of her eyes. 

"Really Rin? You write this and then want to act like we're cool right now? And I get over here and you're all paling it up with Dracula and meanwhile, I've been worried about this for days." His hand gestured at the screen before pulling it away and back into his pocket. 

"I-I.." Her innocent eyes looked at his face. She knew him well enough to hear the hurt that was underneath all that anger. "I would never say that!"

Realizing her pitch was too high, she lowered it back to a harsh whisper. Practically pleading, "I haven't had my phone in weeks-I" 

Her eyes grew glazed as she remembered just where she had last seen the darn thing. On the verge of tears at the thought of what he must have been going through. 

He had every right to be angry, but…"Kohaku, you gave to believe me. I did not send that-"

Her wide and frightened eyes looked back and forth over his face. It seemed it was now his turn to be confused.

Her innocence shining through to smack him in the face. So convincing in her denial that the anger began to drain from him instantly. He looked between the phone and his friend. Had she really…?

He shook his head. Not willing to go over the implications of it yet. To consider that she was so far gone she couldn't even remember sending a text like this? Or perhaps she had sent it in a fit of madness? 

Either way, her countenance now was the complete opposite, as she grasped at his arm, pleading and on the verge of tears. Trying to make him see just how much she still cared for him. 

He patted her shoulder and the action alone brought her down. "It's okay, it's okay. We'll talk about this later-"

Rin tried to calm herself, "You're not still angry with me, are you? I really did not write that-"

"I'm not, we'll figure it out." He flashed a smile though his heart wasn't in it. His mind still jumbled and mashed over the rapid shift in perspective. It still reassured Rin enough that Kohaku watched as the panic left her face. 

Perhaps, the beads had been a mistake after all. Kohaku was just beginning to contemplate how to murder Miroku when a voice interjected. 

The deepness of it arresting them both and drawing their gazes to the apex of the grand staircase before them. 

" Rin ," 

It seemed her neighbor had finally decided to grace them with his presence...

............................

She had seen in the outer edges of his home for the better part of a year but it was still unfamiliar. Unrecognizable really from the home she had often skimmed over in her youth. They had really fixed it up. 

It was hard to believe the spectacular curves and arches of the home were once about to be demolished as Kohaku had told her. 

But as Sesshoumaru led them through the short corridor and into what Rin would have called the living room, though he called it a parlor, she could not help but see the error in her earlier assessments. 

He fit right in. Every carved bit of wooden detailing, every shaded and antique riddled shelf, every sophisticated lamp they passed, were all Sesshoumaru.  As if in signature collection. 

Rin fought the urge to gape at every expensive-looking feature they walked by, making sure to pay enough attention to avoid stepping on Sesshoumaru's heels. As he continued to lead them through his home. 

It had been dizzying. How quickly she had to pull herself from her panicked and hushed argument with Kohaku into cordial and polite conversation with Sesshoumaru. His large form cutting through the tension to ensnare all her available attention...as per usual. 

It did not take long before he stopped and turned in gesture for them to sit at the available couches. Rin's eyes drew to the velvet chair in the far corner, the one she'd seen the woman straddle him in what felt like ages ago, and had to fight a blush. 

His quiet yet moving voice broke her thoughts, "I apologize for the wait,"

Kohaku moved around to stand farther in the room. Though Rin remained close to Sesshoumaru’s side. Taking a steadying and hopefully discreet breath to calm her nerves before starting, "I-" 

His amber orbs shifted to her own and she fought the urge to hedge. "I..um, well Kaede wanted me to give you this," At this, her arm extended to show the packed bag of goods Kaede had made for him. She watched his eyes flick down but instead of looking at the bag, they instead held steady upon the flowers. The ones she had taken from her garden. 

Her other hand moved to right and hold out the bunch of them. "And these are from me," her voice slightly softer in her embarrassment. 

Amber eyes flicked back up to her own, and though she didn't believe it possible, the molten heat of them seemed to have intensified even more than usual. Something straining within the depths of them though his face otherwise remained stoic. 

And although a heat was now steady in her cheeks it did not stop her from giving him one of her most brightest smiles. Pleased that he seemed to favor her hand-picked gift. 

"I'm sorry Kaede couldn't make it," he took the gifts from her as she spoke. The cool brush of his fingers meeting her flesh as he wrapped his own hand around the stems, just under her own, left the same tingling sensation as before. 

She almost forgot what she was going to say. 

He seemed to realize this and a corner of his well-formed mouth appeared to lift slightly. "Jaken let me know. It is most unfortunate that she could not join us…,"

She watched his eyes shift sharply to Kohaku, who had moved to inspect a centerpiece on his low seated tea table. 

Rin followed his gaze, embarrassed at having almost forgotten about her friend. She moved nearer to him and pulled him back into their sphere of conversation. Remembering her manners. "Taisho-san, please meet my friend, Kohaku Nakamura,"

Said boy was still gazing around the immaculate space but stopped as his eyes landed on the man before him. The one whose stare seemed to burn right through his own. 

"Kohaku, this is Sesshoumaru Taisho," Rin, who could only hope Kohaku would act calmly in front of the man she had priorly hyped as murderous, let out an internal sigh when said boy extended his hand in greeting. 

The two younger adults waited, and waited, as Sesshoumaru continued to look at Kohaku’s extended hand stoically, and just when the silence began to verge on ominous the servant entered. 

Jaken was carrying a tray of tea and cups. 

"Please everyone take a seat," Jaken would set the tray down before ushering them to sit on one of the couches. Sesshoumaru following suit shortly after to sit on the one across from them. 

Rin watched the little man continue to scurry around the room in preparation before he finally began to pour their tea. Remembering her manners once more she would start, "You have a lovely home, Taisho-san," 

Chocolate eyes would flicker around the corners of the room as if appraising. Not able to hold his gaze. 

"Please, call me Sesshoumaru." He reminded her. Rin blushed at the slip, 

Laughing cordially, "Ah, I completely forgot," 

She would turn slight to Kohaku then, only barely remembering his presence now that Sesshoumaru was front and center, "Sesshoumaru-sama is a professor at Tokyo University."

At this, she nodded before once again turning towards Sesshoumaru, "May I call you Sesshoumaru-sama?" She smiled shyly, "It feels too informal to refer to someone in your profession any other way."

Kohaku would shoot her a look at the request but she would not see. As she once again found herself entranced by the man who sat across from them. As the soft smirk he now wore slowly disappeared behind a cup of tea he lifted. 

When he finished, he would nod in acquiescence, permitting the more formal usage of his name. 

She started again, pleased at her newfound ability to hold small conversation with the intimidating man, “I apologize again that my grandmother could not come, it seems they were severely short-staffed at the hospital,” 

Sesshoumaru gave another small nod in acceptance, “It is quite all right. These things happen.” 

He flicked a look over at Kohaku, who was still too stunned at the polite conversation before him, to do much more than gawk. Did this guy really not remember how Rin had ran up and basically attacked his girlfriend before accusing him of wanting to kill her? 

A muscle in his jaw ticking before once again returning his attention to Rin, “You are of course always welcome here…, should you and your grandmother wish to return,” 

And while the smoldering look he gave Rin seemed to fly right over her head, the subtle implication was not lost upon Kohaku. He shot up in a stand, breaking whatever was going on between them, like the true third wheel he was. 

“Hey, uh Taisho-san, can you show me the bathroom?” the rudeness of the request was not lost on anyone as Rin fidgeted in place. Kohaku could hardly regret it though. The way he had just seen this man leer at his too naive friend was getting to him and he wanted to speak to him, alone. 

The servant, who had been busy doing one thing or another in the background, chose then to interfere, “I’ll take you, young man.” 

He looked like he was about to protest when Rin shot him a worried glance and Kohaku once again was forced to bite his tongue. 

Nodding with a straight face, regret at having his plan of action foiled, and at the fact that he would have to leave these two alone together pumping through his veins. Before being almost forcefully ushered away by Jaken he gave a lingering look to Rin. Hoping she would see the message he was trying to telepathically relay. 

But the girl would see nothing as she continued to fixate on the man before her. 

............................

Sesshoumaru had left her shortly after Kohaku, excusing himself politely with a promise to return momentarily. And she found herself wandering into the room over. To her utter surprise, it was a library, though she had never seen the towering shelves of books from the spot in her bedroom. 

It felt forever but she continued to enjoy herself, almost forgetting entirely about the rest of the world, finger sliding over the dusty spines of the books before her. Mouth moving in a read as she studied each and every one of them. All varied in subject and age, as was expected of someone as educated as himself. 

Rin had just reached a particular book of interest in pause when the thought finally seized her. Where was Kohaku? It was strange that he hadn’t returned yet-

It would be Sesshoumaru’s voice that startled and pulled her abruptly from the thought. As she turned fast enough for her hair to whip with the motion. Her hand fisting over her now galloping heart in hopes of calming it. 

His proximity was close enough that her hand grazed him in the spin. He was handsome...but up close he was something altogether more….lethal. 

"Do you like to read?"

Unable to trust her voice, Rin nodded shallowly. Lips parting as her gaze flickered from his eyes to his neck in rapid succession. The intensity of them was too much for her without the distance. 

In a move so unexpected she gasped aloud, Rin watched the length of his arm extend over her shoulder to clasp the book, whose spine she had fingered earlier. A now-familiar flush heated her at the motion and as if he knew it, he took his time. Sliding the hardcover from its dusty place on the shelf and past her head with a pace that bordered stillness.  

Her breath had hitched and it wasn't until he had finally cleared her that she released the air. She could only hope she was wrong, that he would never know the extent of her...what exactly was this feeling? These feelings really, that he seemed to elicit from her with no real action on his part. 

But as his gaze flicked back up to catch her own she once again found herself locked with its depths, it hit her then. She was attracted to him. Desperately. 

" Fairytales in Fuedal Japan, do you also enjoy history, Rin ?" 

"I enjoy old wives' tales," She giggled softly, nervous at her first attempt at conversation since the realization that she had developed a crush on him. "They remind me of Kaede."

At this one side of his perfectly formed mouth twisted up smoothly to form a light smile. Seemingly amused by her joke. 

The wooden knit surface of the book was suddenly before her as he extended it in offering, "Then you may have it," 

Her hands moved before her in rejection. How could she possibly take his book like that? "Oh no, I couldn't. You really don't have to- thank you for the offer,"

Undeterred in the slightest he continued to hold the book out to her. His voice was soft and steady when he spoke again. "I insist."

It was too generous. Perhaps she had really scarred him with her initial accusations and he saw the offer as a bribe to stop any further transgressions? It would certainly make sense, given her earlier...unreasonableness.  

Delicate hands came up to gently take the book from him and clasp it to her chest, suddenly shy at receiving the unexpected gift, she looked down, voice soft in its sincerity, "Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama,"

His name still sweetness on her tongue. 

"Think nothing of it, consider it an early birthday present,"

But it did no good, she was already thinking about it. Head racing and speculating on what such an unearned gift could mean. Did he consider her more than a neighborly nuisance now? Maybe even an acquaintance?

Her doe eyes met his own again when she responded, feminine voice once again soft against the remnants of his own, "I will read it every night," She smiled at him then. 

And with a long pause, he spoke again. His next words leaving nothing but a vibrant blush in their wake, "Oh?" He asked without question, "Then you must promise to remember who gave you it."

Her breath caught and her eyes could do nothing but lower at his blatant flirt. She wondered briefly, what he would think if he knew, she already remembered him nightly. The flush of her dreams returning to her, the ones that as of late seemed to only feature him, and him alone. 

And even as naive and wholly innocent as Rin still was. She could almost understand it now...why those women had all seemed to flock to him. When even to have a bit of his attention, uninterrupted, was so...riveting. Amber stare taking you in, practically consuming. 

She clasped the book tighter against her chest. A meager substitute for a shield.

“I promise…,” 

He smiled something wicked then, though she would not see as her shy gaze continued to flicker, pleased at her acceptance. 

It was then that she realized something she’d previously overlooked. Face twisting up to catch his own again as her mouth once again moved without thought, 

“My birthday...how did you know?” 

There was the faded ringing of alarm bells somewhere deep within her at his slip, but they would be put out for good at his next statement. An internal sigh of relief almost leaving her for real as he once again removed the lingering doubts she had about him…

“Kaede had said something about it,” 

Looking away, Rin smiled, her grandmother really did tell this man anything. Shaking her head she started again, “My grandmother is usually very reserved with strangers,” a laugh tinted her voice, “What else did she tell you?” 

He smiled softly at her amusement, “She told me about some neighbors and some of your extended family.” 

Even through her amusement, Rin was still shocked, Kaede had really laid it on him. 

Shaking her head, she spoke again, “She must really like you.” 

His voice would draw her eyes back to his own, after a brief pause over the smooth skin of his lips, “Kaede is your maternal grandmother…?”

Rin nodded, suddenly less giddy at the turn in topic. He would continue though, face still stoically regarding her. 

"Kaede had alluded as such, but she did not mention your mother. May I ask, where is she?"

Rin could hear the slight twinge of curiosity that colored his statement. She'd never once been asked about her mother..everyone in Shirakawa already knew of her parent's gruesome demise. And even if they had...she would have never told them what she was about to tell him. 

She swallowed thickly, but seemingly unable to restrain her speech around him, began again, "My mother…, she is dead." 

Rin looked down and back unsure of how to continue, unsure of the words to use when speaking about one of her most painful memories. "She was murdered when I was seven."

She would continue on, unheeded. "When I came home from school her face…" 

Rin looked at him then. Amber eyes stared unflinchingly back at her own. Her hand moved to gesture, "It was beaten so badly she was unrecognizable. So I just stayed, ended up staying for three days with her to make sure," to hope it wasn't true , "that it was really her."

Kaede knew but had never asked for details. The details of which she had just given him without pause. She looked closer at him, as he continued to take her in. Though there would never be enough time to conclusively say why she could not stop herself from telling him everything…

When he spoke, it was soft, and just for her. "I am sorry for your loss, Rin ."

But tired of the downturn in conversation, she shook her head and smiled to ease the room, "Don't be, everyone experiences loss."

He held her gaze though and she knew even from the limited time she'd been around him that he had seen through her feeble evasion easily. 

"This is true…, but some of us suffer more in the loss than others." 

The accuracy of the statement caught her. And she wondered…the way he spoke about it seemed…

"Have you...experienced loss, Sesshoumaru-sama?

Realizing belatedly how invasive the question was she opened her mouth to backtrack. But he would beat her to it, and when he did there was something….tender in the action, "I have," 

He would not elaborate more and when she looked at him she would be stunned still. As his hypnotic eyes looked at her deeply, something unspoken swimming in them that she would never be able to name. 

It reminded her of the first time they'd interacted and his parting gesture as he tucked her hair behind her ear. 

It felt...wrong to end whatever was going on between them. Especially when she wanted nothing more than to soak in the exquisite feeling that lifted through her with every one of their shared words, with every one of their increasingly lingering glances. But it felt like a natural conclusion.

If someone had told her, only a month prior, that she would be relishing in the gaze of the man before her, practically languishing, she would have questioned their sanity. Yet now, it felt a world away…

She broke their stare. "I will let Kaede know about your offer to come over again, she had been looking forward to this for weeks."

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear gently, "I'm sure she'll accept, she's quite fond of you."

At this, he gave a small smirk, and the sight of it nearly had her buckling as her knees locked. "And what of you, Rin ? Will you return as well?" 

Once again arrested by his magnetic presence she first nodded before finding her voice, "I'd like to come too."

His arm came up then to trap her against the shelves as he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, the heat of it making her turn a striking shade of red long before his words did.

There was the mimic of her own response when he spoke, though the tone of it was far different...more suggestive. "...I'd like for you to come alone next time."

Her breath was audible in the little space he's left between them as she nodded softly in acquiescence. Butterflies fluttering in her stomach unceasingly. 

This would be how Kohaku would find them. And it would only be after a pointed throat clearing that Sesshoumaru would remove himself from around Rin and take a step back to allow her passage to go. 

But it would not be until the boy spoke that she would finally remember to move. "Rin, I really have to get back. Are you going to walk me out?"

Alarmed by the scene he'd just witnessed, he would snatch her wrist as soon as she drew near pulling her without any resistance. That was, until Sesshoumaru's voice sounded for the last and final time that night, the richness of it vibrating the newly acquired distance between them,

"Remember your promise to me, Rin ."

He hadn't even needed to ask. She already thought of him every night. Book or no book. Would continue to think of him long after they left.

............................

Rin made it to her room, still dazed, and exhilarated from the energy Sesshoumaru seemed to have instilled in her. The mere thought of the man did what nobody before him had ever done. 

And her body was still buzzing from their interaction. Rin leaned against her door, using the heavy oak to cool her still feverish skin. 

It was amazing that out from under the...fear and suspicion she had regarded him with before that he could still invigorate her to such a degree. Though, now there was absolutely nowhere for all that energy to go…

Her eyes flicked over to look at her now barren windows. Although she was starting to see an outlet…

It was amazing, just how quickly fear, could shape and mold itself into attraction. Her heart raced at the thought, an attraction that she was beginning to suspect was mutual. Though her lack of experience made it hard to be sure. 

She moved towards the edge of her room, and from there, her eyes would be drawn immediately to him. Sesshoumaru, the man in question, was standing in his second-story hallway, a casual enough pose, hands fisted in his slack pockets. 

But Rin knew, just felt it…

He was watching her. Using the opening of his across-the-way windows and her own to take her in once more. 

Perhaps, he too had not wanted to end their interaction, Rin thought hopefully. 

She turned away quickly, moving out of sight as the feelings became too much for her. The steady blush she had gained again, unable to retreat under his intense gaze. 

The action would only solidify the flush though, as she accidentally caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror she'd used only hours earlier, to evaluate her dress choice. 

A young woman stared back at her, unrecognizable to Rin’s eye and she was again reminded of the strange dream she had. The first one she had of Sesshoumaru and herself in a more intimate situation.

Cheeks flushed rose, chest and bosom also flushed and slightly heaving, lips parted attractively. Was this really her? 

Rin could not yet say. But as she continued to hold her gaze, the errors became clear. The dress...it did not fit the smoldering looks of the vixen before her. Did not complement the seductive slant of her eye the way it had the bright and wide-eyed gaze of her own. 

So without thought, dainty fingers moved up. The feel of them so foreign on her flesh that a shudder left her, to pull down the straps of her dress.

The silky material tickled her on the way down her shoulders and over her arms before bunching at the waist. Still taut over the width of her hips. 

The curves of them so entrancing that Rin could not help but caress them as she pushed the rest of the garment down her legs. A gasp left her at the feeling and her eyes continued to hold the woman’s. The woman looked back at her, a flustered and dazed look now in her eyes as Rin continued to caress her supple and oh so soft body. 

The desire struck her suddenly, as the seed Sesshoumaru had planted, finally, beginning to bud…

She wanted him to see. Wanted to feel his gaze as well as she now felt her own, travel over the curves of her flesh.

The heels she still wore made a clack against the wood.  And there was a brief hesitation on her part before she took the final step she knew would bring her back into his line of sight, but it was fleeting. So completely overwhelmed by her intention. 

And she stepped forward. Into the rays of dusky sun her windows allowed in, as well as his amber gaze. 

She could only bite her lip nervously though so she turned away. Not wanting him to see the extent of her timidness…

Besides, the now growing thrum of her body was beginning to overtake once more. As a second wave of adrenaline moved over her to drown out any lingering hesitations. Her hands moved to the strapless bra she still wore, a small attempt at looking natural, had her hands slipping from the clasp as she clumsily undid it. Allowing the material to slip from her form and releasing the heaviness of her suddenly tender breasts. Nipples tight and puckered in her arousal. Just begging to be… Rin dropped her hands to her sides as if scolded. 

Before bringing the nimble things just under the rounded jut of her hips, where the lining of her panties still rested. She fingered the top of the lacy material, nibbling her lip in an internal debate. 

She would turn then, exposing herself fully, save for her slip of panties to her neighbor's gaze. Pretending to search around her room for something else to wear. 

It would not last long though, the charade, as her eyes flicked up to catch his own. Even with the distance between them, she could feel the heat of his eyes traveling over her body like a physical touch. 

A sudden throb between her legs had her knees buckling and before she knew it the floor rushed up to greet her. 

Rin would sit, now out of sight, gasping and heaving, legs akimbo, and arms just barely holding herself up. 

Exhilaration still pulsing through her veins at what she had just done. 

As her budding desires began to bloom. 

............................

Kohaku had made it to the end of Shonen Street when he decided to turn around. 

Nothing made sense. This man was a professor, probably twenty years her senior, and had been, by all accounts, violated by Rin’s behavior the last year. His privacy at the very least. Yet, the image of them together, the one he'd walked in on after freeing himself from that stupid servant's obvious distractions, would not leave him. Just what were they trying to pull here? 

And what the fuck had he made her promise him? He had figured Rin would have matured, if that was even the word for it, when she came back from college. But he knew enough to know she would not have pursued Sesshoumaru in such a manner…  Something was going on, and one way or another, he was going to figure it out. 

He knocked on Sesshomaru’s door more forcefully the second time. But his attention was divided, as he continued to watch Rin’s door for movement, to ensure she wouldn't see that he had returned alone. 

He had just finished sweeping his eyes over her porch when he turned again, prepared to knock a third time on her neighbor’s door. But a shock and a flinch left him. Sesshoumaru was standing at the threshold already and Kohaku’s adrenaline was still racing from the fright. 

He hadn’t even heard him answer …

He also had not expected it to be the man himself that opened the door. But yet there he stood, looking decidedly less cordial and neighborly than he had at the sight of Rin. Though Kohaku now knew he was a little too friendly with Rin. And that neighborly was not exactly the way he would put it as the man's overtly flirtatious gestures flashed through his head. 

"Hey...I um," the man was imposing and in his haste, Kohaku had neglected to set a concrete plan for his return. 

It struck him fast enough, years of lying for Sango as she snuck out to one place or another, finally coming in handy. "I think I left my glasses in your place, do you mind if I look for them?"

He didn't own a pair of glasses. But it was common enough and it would at least get him in the house just in case Rin decided to leave her's. Which may have seemed absurd a day ago, until he had seen it with his own eyes today. 

A single eyebrow rose in response. 

But just as Kohaku thought he would deny him entry he moved, freeing the space of his door so that Kohaku could enter and move past him. He moved to the living room first, pretending to search. He could feel Sesshoumaru’s eyes watching him from behind. It was alarming but he still needed to find an opening, a natural one, in which to question him about his intentions with Rin. 

Kohaku shot a glance at the much larger man to see him standing, leaning really, against the arch that led out and back into his foyer. Long legs stretched before him and his imposing frame relaxed. It did nothing to lessen the creeping sense of inferiority Kohaku had around him. 

Without thinking he started, it was now or never, "Did you like the housewarming gifts?"

At this Kohaku gestured vaguely to where the bag Kaede had packed for him still sat. 

But the man was clearly not interested in small talk and he continued to stare blankly at Kohaku.

Was it blank though? Kohaku fought the urge to narrow his eyes. 

Sango had called it instinct. His ability to read people, Rin had been the perfect example, he had learned quicker than any other person exactly what she needed before she started to speak again. It was one of his proudest accomplishments and in return, he got a best friend. Though, he was seeing as of late how unpredictable Rin could be when she truly put her mind to it. He shook his head slightly at the thought, he never thought he would see her leaving her house without someone again. 

He paused in his fake searching of the couch cushions, to look at Sesshoumaru again. It was eerie, despite his supposed instincts, he found he could not read the man at all. 

He continued on anyway, "We thought you'd like them," 

"I even helped pick everything as well that way it wouldn't be too girly. I'm afraid Rin snuck those flowers in though," it was a complete lie. He gave a light chuckle to ease the air, hoping it would get the still silent man talking to him. 

It did the trick. Except, true to form, Kohaku could have never predicted what the imposing man before him would say next. 

"I have seen you over there...frequently."

Kohaku stopped the fake search again to give him his attention. The stoicism of his expression would give nothing away. What did that mean?  

Deciding to go along with the only opening he had, Kohaku played it up. "Well, of course. Rin and I have been together since she returned home from college," he pretended to scratch his chin in thought, "Actually, we really started our last year in high school too...so even longer than that."

"Together?" 

A single silver eyebrow rose again in question, though the rest of his face remained unchanged. Kohaku returned his head to look at Sesshoumaru. Realizing he’d found the one topic the man seemed at least slightly interested in. 

"Rin is my girlfriend." It did not matter to Kohaku that she had introduced him as a friend when they first entered. 

He had completely stopped searching at this point as something shifted in the air around them. The tightening of it had him straightening his body...in preparation for what he had no idea… but the urge remained all the same. 

There was a crack after that seemed to echo around the large space of his living room. Though neither man would break their stare off in acknowledgment of it. The hair on the back of Kohaku's neck stood straight, the boy, after all, had...instincts. It was unfortunate though that for all his ability, his meager success at having gotten Sesshoumaru to speak had blinded him so...carelessly. 

It made him want to leave. He needed to leave. Too proud to label his fear, and too distracted with his newly found rush of adrenaline, Kohaku would not notice as the subtle flare of Sesshoumaru’s nostrils, would not notice the dilating of his oddly shaped pupils as his eyes began to steadily burn through his own in their intensity. 

Sesshoumaru would speak then, calm despite the tension that had settled in like a third guest in the room, "It's strange though, I can't recall seeing you at the Akamatsu’s the entirety of the last month."

Kohaku spoke rashly then, a mix of anger and adrenaline coursing through his young and reckless veins, "Why is that strange, Taisho-san?"

Sesshoumaru simply smirked. And the response it elicited in Kohaku was life altering as all at once he realized the gravity of danger he now found himself in. Realized, belatedly, the incongruity of their unspoken power struggle. 

...he would have to pass him on the way out. So the young man, not really a man quite yet, at least the way he had fancied himself to be prior to entering, steeled himself and began to walk.

When he pulled next to Sesshoumaru the man would speak. Finally answering Kohaku’s question. And the boy would have to fight the urge to run at the words.

"It's strange, you must truly require those… glasses,"Sesshoumaru tilted his head back, taunting as his head turned to face Kohaku. His stare and smirk more mocking by the second, "You said girlfriend, correct?"

He heard more than saw as the man exhaled slowly, smirk widening in the most frightening of ways, at Kohaku’s lack of response. Giving the boy a slow and unbothered once over from where he stood next to him, still as stone, and clearly listening. 

"To leave someone so...ripe by her lonesome,"

Kohaku turned then, though his fearful gaze was pulled down to where Sesshoumaru’s hand, which had been between his wall and back when the spoke prior held a piece of wood….a piece of his wooden archway had been snapped off in the shape of his large hand.

Kohaku’s breath hitched as his mind connected it to the earlier cracking sound. Yes, Kohaku had indeed, made a very, very grave mistake. 

He began to walk away again,, but it did not stop his ears from picking up on Sesshoumaru's last and final statement. 

"...just waiting to be plucked," the sound of his ensuing chuckle, the ominous one, would not leave him. 

Would haunt him endlessly for the rest of his life, as Kohaku’s white knuckle gripped the steering wheel, the thought played on repeat. 

Conceding for perhaps the first time in his life that another had been right. That Rin had been right.

Sesshoumaru, her new neighbor, was a fucking psycho. 

............................

“You’re home early?” It had only been a little over two hours since Kaede’s departure, yet there she stood, unpacking a bag of groceries she’d stopped to get on her way home. 

Rin moved to help her, anything to keep her nerves from flying all over the place...still jittery and flushed from what she’d done upstairs. Adrenaline still coursing through her from when she’d heard Kaede arrive back and had to scramble to put her clothes back on. 

“Aye, I got to the hospital and it wasn’t as busy as they said,” the elder woman shook her head but remained distracted. Not that Rin would notice, as they moved around each other, each woman alone in her thoughts despite the company. 

Kaede would not ever mention how she arrived at the hospital only to find out that no one there had requested her. Would not ever utter how embarrassed she felt as she tried to tell them about the message someone from the hospital had left on her phone. It was the strangest thing. And it filled her with a fear that often plagued the elderly. Perhaps, she really was losing it, mind and memory leaving her like water leaves a hole in a bucket? 

Her eye shifted to Rin as the lean girl lifted to place a box of sugar in the cabinet, “How was the visit with Taisho-san, did you stay long?” 

A thud sounded as Rin clumsily dropped the box she’d been holding. “Ehh, n-not really," she gave a nervous laugh. 

Kaede gave a brief inspecting look at her still fumbling granddaughter, before continuing to shuffle the bag of groceries in front of her. 

“Oh, well, did anything interesting happen?” 

Steeling herself, Rin spoke without looking at her grandmother, fearing another absent-minded fumble if she did, “Not that I can recall.” 

Kaede laughed then, quietly, happy to tease her granddaughter about something that was now nagging her own mind. “Well, seeing as you have the memory of a fish, I doubt that I’ll be getting any details.” 

Rin would laugh at the jab, happy with the seeming turn in topic. Calm for just a moment longer, before Kaede began again. 

Laughter still in her tone, “Miss, ‘I don’t like strawberries,’ then proceeds to eat every single one of them before her poor grandmother can even get a taste,” 

At this, the can Rin had been holding, also, slipped from her suddenly limp hand. A cold flush rushing through her to freeze the breath in her lungs. 

“What?” she turned  to face the still occupied Kaede, voice soft with disbelief. Not that the elder would notice. 

Kaede shook her head at the memory. The careless girl had even left the box in the fridge, empty and light, save the residual and still sticky imprints that lined the surface of it. “Oh yes,” she chuckled, “you also left quite the mess on the countertop too,”

Kaede finally turned to face... the now empty space where Rin had been prior. 

Chapter Text

“Awaken for a moment from your dark night."

-Dr Caligari 

Rin could slow down for nothing. Heart racing in tune with her thoughts, still reeling from Kaede’s disclosure. 

The dreams...were real. An image of a pale and specter-like arm reaching out to caress her face assaulted her mind on repeat. Oh my god, they were real. He'd-

Sesshoumaru, he'd…

She gave herself a stern head shake in a bid to keep her steadily crumbling sanity. No, no, no. It was absurd. Absolutely ridiculous, she reasoned. She'd simply imagined him in the dreams, sleep ridden mind conjuring up known and familiar faces for backdrop to her nightly disturbances.  

Yes, besides, if they had been real then she would be dead. Many times over dead. The wolves had seen to that more times than she could count. Following her from campus to home to bed until their abrupt haltings over a month ago. 

Okay, so what if she did really eat the strawberries. Rin took a steadying breath as she drew ever nearer to the tree that housed her relatives' urns. 

People slept walked all the time or at least enough for it to be commonplace. Honestly, she was working herself up for nothing.

And it was with this final sanity-saving thought that her body slowed to a walk, though she would still continue on and out towards the maple out back for her second trouble of the day. Her phone and the strange text Kohaku had received. There could be only one explanation, someone had to have taken it. 

Her face dipped, eye level and peering into the space between the wall of the tree nook and her mother's urn. But it was far too dark to see. 

It was unfortunate that for all her bids at keeping her newly found peace, Rin, like the many before her, would overlook what was most important when encountering strange and obscure phenomena. 

There was no explaining the unexplainable. 

There would never be enough reason, comprehension, or plausibility to ever fully articulate, at least, not with the conciseness that humans so often desired, the truly arcane.

Notions and occurrences so nebulous and so often ignored that they carried not the soundness of surety but the lilt of doubt and the punctuation of question. As if the unspoken questions could lie in wait between the words. 

The absurd and the ridiculous cared not for a young woman and her precious sanity. 

And so it would be as Rin pressed her delicate hand further into the narrowing space, that her newly found reason began to once again slip away. Only to be replaced by her prior doubt and suspicions. Though where these would be aimed had yet to be seen...

A gasp expelled her bated breath.

How?

Her body shook. 

How could this be? 

Fingers contracted around the device she’d just extracted. Safe, seemingly untouched, save for turning itself off, just as she left it. 

Could she really have done this?

Had she really texted her best friend something so awful?

The seed of dread, of doubt, blooming once more within her. Perhaps her seeming increase in health had been more elusive than originally thought?

The blue light looked back at her unflinching, text open and accusing. Rin closed her eyes before turning the phone off. Lifting it in her fist to rest over her chest. Mind hollow so all the thoughts could echo in a round.

Drowning in the newest revelations from Kaede and Kohaku, Rin would not notice the eyes, well, the eye that held steady on her form. 

And how could she? The gnarled fingers and face were completely camouflaged amongst the dark leaf foliage that bordered the lawns. Textured skin the exact same shade of green.

The bulgy-eyed thing of a man remained still and unblinking. Breath bated and anxious as he watched, through the hole in their shared fence, the repercussions of the havoc he had so carefully wrought. 

............................

The living room was drenched in sepia. Harsh lines shaded away into nothing as the silenced television continued on unheeded. Profile of the girl illuminated totally despite the otherwise pitch of her home. 

Rin kept her eyes closed against the intrusive light, intent on returning to sleep though her consciousness had been roused some time ago. 

Her pale arm shaded a monotone blue was half asleep under the weight of her head from where it was being used as a headrest. The rest of the long, lithe, limb left extended out and over the edge of the couch to dangle. The supple flesh of her cheek rubbed over the soft cotton of the light shirt she wore as she nuzzled further into her makeshift pillow.

Content, warm, and safe under the nightlight of the living room television, as she once again tried to resume her earlier rest. 

It would not last. Wide eyes shooting open to glance down the line of her arm, following the uncomfortable curvature down to the graceful limp of her delicate wrist, all the way to her fingers….to see nothing.

Mind slow in the recognition that something had just grazed the sensitive flesh of her fingertips. Though her body was quick. Breath quickening to raise the thin cover of hair on her exposed arm. 

Rin leaned over to see if there was anything, still too tired to comprehend the absurdity of the action. She leaned far enough for her hair to graze the floor as she searched under the couch….for what she did not know. 

Before finally resigning to turn away, this time on her other side, face towards the back of the couch, hands squished under her head as a replacement pillow. Coverless body curling tighter in on itself, determined to find her earlier peace.

But what would happen next would make the notion futile. As her heart rate accelerated and her eyes shot back open to flicker over the cushions of the couch. 

Knock, knock, knock

Her breath caught, waiting, anxious. Rin sat up suddenly, frightened to a tremble, one arm slung over the back of the couch, the other resting on the cushion below to hold her upper body up. Head whipping and eyes roving over every nook and cranny of the room around her in search. 

It had not been the door. It sounded like-

"Ahhh," a yelp left her as something grazed her calf. 

She pulled her leg up to see but once again there was nothing. Even going so far as to inspect and smack at the exposed flesh of her leg in search of something. 

Another feathered graze went over her arm that was still flung over the back of the couch. A stunned gasp would echo as her head turned just in time to see the fabric of her couch taunt and pulled as something receded into its confines. 

She shot up, still staring horrified as a ripping noise started. The cushion she had rested her body apart sliced open so that a pale and stripped hand could reach forward.

Knock, knock, knock.

Rin's head turned slowly to face the television. To see as a figure in the distance of the static moved forward and began to take shape. 

The same pale and stripped hand she now recognized on sight moved, palm up and open in beckoning. Extending until it moved through the screen and out into the opening,

"Come….,"

Rin turned to run. 

“Girl, I said get up.”

Rin pushed herself up from the floor of the living room, where she’d promptly fallen, prone and panicked at Kaede’s rude awakening. Still out of breath, heart only beginning to slow after she threw a wayward glance over her shoulder at the television behind her. A sigh of relief leaving her when there was in fact no one, save the news anchor Kaede loved to watch every morning, mouthing away on the glassy screen. The same one that had reported on Shira Hitabo...Rin shook her head of the errant memory. 

Her grandmother continued on, “What have I told you about sleeping on the couch? You have a bed for a reason. Next time I catch you sleeping out here until morning I’m going to pull your ears. You hear me?” 

The old lady did not wait for a response, shuffling back to the kitchen as she ranted further under her breath. Something more about the ungrateful and the youth. 

Tousled raven waves turned up to see the daylight streaming in from the sliding back door. She’d fallen asleep in the living room. Something she’d done for the last week in habit since returning from her visit with Sesshoumaru and the subsequent events that followed. Finding she could not comfortably stay in the room and near her windows without remembering her embarrassing exchange of show and tell she had with their neighbor. A blush started to form with the thought. It was an attempt of sorts, though it did nothing to stifle the now constant dreams she was receiving.

A yawn left her. If she so much as rested her eyes for any length of time she would find herself trapped in one or another of the increasingly disturbing dreams. Now so frequent they couldn’t afford to be the same. But always...always featuring Sesshoumaru in one way or another. 

Heat flooded through her body at the thought. 

Shame at being so close to Kaede while her body was still...remembering, had Rin hastily pushing herself to a stand. But before she could even cross the living room archway for a shower upstairs, Kaede’s head was leaning in from the kitchen, voice halting her.

“Wait, you have something in here,”

By the time Rin turned, she was already gone and she used the walk into the kitchen to try and steady herself. 

It was a package. Her birthday had come and gone without too much fuss but she was still receiving the occasional package from distant relatives. Mostly socks or girly trinkets better suited to someone half her age. So there was no immediate cause for alarm as she moved forward to gently take it from the countertop that Kaede had placed it on. 

Except, this one was decidedly different. There were no signs of postmarks and stamps, nothing to indicate its origin. Instead, it was plainly wrapped, the shimmery white paper held folded together by a single and professional-looking bow.  Her sleep-addled brain was still scrambling for an explanation when Kaede finally spoke, “Taisho-san’s little butler dropped that off while you were still sleeping.” 

Rin’s fingers loosened momentarily with the jolt of trepidation that floored through her before she regripped the small box. 

Kaede stopped her shuffling of the mail before her to stop and think, “What was that little guy's name again? Jason something, or was it Jicken,”

Rin’s soft voice supplied, “Jacken.” 

A snap left Kaede, “Oh yes, yes that was it. Jacken left that. Said Taisho-san was unable to bring it over himself and that he apologizes for the tardiness of your birthday gift. Not going to lie, I like the little creep a lot less than Taisho-san,”

The elder nodded her head, content at her recall, pleased even, as she resumed her inspection of the mail. Distracted completely from the now fidgeting and shocked girl who stood gaping at the plainly wrapped box. 

Deciding to open this one in private, Rin turned to leave, but Kaede would throw one last errant thought out before she could finally exit.

One that would leave Rin’s head spinning, mind racing fast enough to dizzy,

“I hadn’t realized Tasisho-san knew it was your birthday.”

Rin swallowed as another nail moved in to wedge at the denial she’d firmly surrounded herself in. Where her dredged and casketed suspicions about the man had been laid to rest, or so she thought. Whatever it was, Rin did not want to know, did not want to press and prod at the reasons why. Recognizing the rabbit hole she had so carelessly fallen in before. The one that had cost her so much in her lunatic delirium. It did not change the facts though, 

... Sesshoumaru knew lots of things he shouldn’t. 

............................

“I don’t know, did she say how late they stay open?”

“No-it’s Shirakawa, how late do you expect them to be open, Miroku?”

Another chuckle sounded over him as the two continued to converse, “Enough time, my sweet Sango, to get you nice and liquored up-”

Kohaku, tired of the banter, spoke up finally, “Will you two shut the fuck up?” 

He’d unfortunately been loud enough for his mother to hear in the kitchen. The matriarch's shout shook the windows, “Language!” 

Kohaku shot a glare at the snickering couple before closing his laptop and heading for his room. Why he’d thought it would be a good idea to research out here he’d never know. His house, save his own bedroom, and not even then given the newlywed couple’s nightly proclivities, as well as his bedroom’s proximity to Sango’s, were all prime locations for the overbearing pair. 

And true to form they followed the boy. Miroku catching his bedroom door from slamming in his face as if it was nothing, waving his wife in graciously, before shutting the door softly behind them both. 

Kohaku rolled his eyes at the continued intrusion, “Look, you guys really just need to-”

Sango interrupted him, serious, and annoyed with her little brother’s secrecy. “No! We’re not leaving until you tell us what happened with Rin. What we really need to do is beat the shit out of you for being an ass this whole week.” 

Miroku who had been leaning against his closed bedroom door, nodding his head in agreement with his beloved wife, spoke, “More than usual she means,” 

At this Miroku pushed the mesh basketball net that was suctioned cupped to the back of the door out of his face with a whack. 

Kohaku was about to yell again, freckled face reddening angrily, before Sango started again, “What did she say? Is everything okay now? She’s not answering any of my texts,” 

The youngest member of the trio took in the clear look of distress upon his sister’s face and sighed then, resigned to the fact that he could evade them no more. 

“Everything’s fine. I-”

Sango started again, “Is she still mad at us?” 

Miroku followed in rapid succession, “What about her health, is she improving at all?” 

Kohaku sighed, what was the point in asking if they were just going to interrupt him?

He waited for a pause, then opened his mouth to begin. Sango would once again beat him though, “And what’s wrong with you, why have you been hogging the laptop all week and ditching us?” 

Annoyed, Kohaku waited for a beat, just in case they wanted to go again. When it looked clear he started, “Like I said, everything is fine. The text…,”

He had to be careful with this part, “It was just a misunderstanding. Her phone was taken or something. She’s actually doing really good-”

“Then what’s your problem, young Kohaku? If little Rin is in good health, are you not able to pursue her?” Miroku attempted to disguise his little jab but when Sango continued to look worriedly at her little brother he just pouted.

Kohaku pinched the bridge of his nose and released another fed up sigh, “As I was saying, she’s good,” at this his eyes narrowed and shifted to Miroku, “No thanks to your stupid fucking beads,” 

The boy started again after getting in his own remarks, “She didn’t send me that text. And as I have said a thousand times before, I’m not interested in Rin like that.” 

Sango looked relieved only momentarily before another worry moved over her face, “Wait, okay so someone took her phone,” she waited for Kohaku to confirm with a nod before starting again, “And you said the beads didn’t work, so what did? Was it the break from us? Can we see her again? Kohaku, you know how much I missed her. This is great news-why haven't you said anything all this time?”

This was the part he had not wanted to discuss. He wasn’t ready. He hardly had time to comprehend it himself, “It’s…, well, she’s not worried about the neighbor anymore…,” 

The couple shared a look, before Miroku put his two cents in again, “Isn’t that good? What’s with the tone?” 

Kohaku looked down at his bedspread in thought, “I just…, I can’t explain it,” he could but wouldn’t anyway. Not the embarrassing details anyway.

“I went over there and I found her going to his house and it was just a huge mess-”

Miroku was suddenly much more serious than before at his usually direct and spirited, surrogate brother’s receding voice, “Huge mess how?”

Kohaku blew out a puff of air, usually rash countenance for once hesitant as he thought over the words, “She likes him now…, the neighbor. But when I went over with her…,” he looked up at Miroku, serious. “I just can’t explain it…, but the guy I have this feeling…, the way he was with Rin...” 

Sango’s voice was soft, “Feeling?”

Still unable to find the words he took the laptop and handed it to Sango. Miroku moved in and Kohaku watched their eyes move over what he had been working on, unceasingly, for the last week. Sometimes at the expense of sleep. 

Miroku was the first to finish. He recognized the file faster than his wife, who had mostly been asleep when he put it together, of all the girls in their area who had disappeared. 

“You think this neighbor, Sesshoumaru something, is a kidnapper now too?” 

Kohaku looked down, the memory of meeting said man still fresh in his mind. But when he looked up his countenance was so glaring, so… utterly determined, that in the aftermath Sango and Miroku could do nothing but share a look. As young Kohaku picked up the mantle of inquiry that young Rin had all but deserted. Leaving them no choice other than to join in his crusade. 

“I don’t know…, but I’m going to find out.” 

............................

The dawn of summer had just arrived when Kohaku finally called. Well Sango really. Rin had barely put the home receiver to her ear before a lilting voice greeted her, 

“Rin-chan we’ve missed you so much! Are you busy this evening?” Considering she had just woken up from a nap the answer was a resounding no, yet the girl hedged all the same. Mind dreading Sango’s next words. 

“You just have to go out with us tonight-you remember Akira, right?”

Forgetting herself, Rin nodded no, though there was no one to see. 

Sango began again, “Of course you do-everyone knows him. Well, he’s having a bonfire tonight on the mountain and we’re taking you, missy. Get you out from that coup of a home-”

Rin did in fact remember the parties that teenagers and the like would hold on the mountain, but just as it had been in her youth, Rin had no desire, absolutely none to leave the safety of her home and go. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, she heard a commotion on the other end. 

A whispered argument ensued before Sango came back on, hurried and out of breath as if there had been a struggle, “Come over around six, hon, so we can get ready together-”

A deadpan voice reached her ears, “Rin,”

“Kohaku?”  

“Just hurry up and come over.” Already sensing her impending rejection of Sango, long before she had even finished asking, long before Rin had even formulated the excuse. 

And still feeling the residual effects of guilt from the text she never sent, Rin could do nothing but agree. Raven waves bobbing with the likewise, unseen motion. 

It mattered little though, also sensing her acceptance, Kohaku had already disconnected the call so that only Rin and the dial tone remained. 

Chocolate eyes flicked to the grandfather clock her grandmother kept in the foyer as she passed en route upstairs. She still had two hours until six. Enough time to bathe and get ready for whatever drunken doom awaited her.  

The dread she had been pointedly ignoring for the last month or so reaching up to clasp at her throat. With no mobile phone on her, they had not really spoken since their awkward parting from Sesshoumaru’s home. And despite the lapse in time, Rin found herself no closer to understanding what exactly led up to his receiving the hateful message. 

No thorough explanation or reason to rationalize how someone had taken her phone from the maple tree out back. And no plausible excuse, for why she would have sent the text herself, even if she had slept walked. Kaede could barely use a home phone, much more the cellphone so that was not viable.

It made less sense the more she thought about it. But the phone would remain off and safely tucked within her closet until she could trust herself around it again.

Rin shook her head but ultimately resigned herself. Guilt eating at her still along with the dread of leaving her home. When she wanted nothing more than to continue to hide away from the world around her and all the confusion it had left her in. 

She had no choice though and it was with that final thought, that Rin began her trek to get ready for the night of awkwardness that was sure to ensue. 

............................

"Do you think she'll show for real this time?" Miroku asked. 

Kohaku nodded as the three continued to pour over the reports they'd pulled for research. Missing girls. Kidnapped girls. Murdered girls. And any information they could find about Sesshoumaru Taisho.

He spoke again, "Remember Sango, to look around the Tokyo area too. The bastard supposedly works at the university there so we may have more luck," 

Sango sighed, "I'm going to get ready for the party first,"

Her brother would nod distractedly, more concerned with continuing his research than nagging her,"

Miroku took in the scene. It was strange. Incredibly strange that his young brother-in-law had yet to fully articulate the specifics of why he now suspected this man as much as Rin did prior. When he was usually so overwhelming...vocal. 

He shook his head at the stern look the younger man shot him, a silent message to get back to work, before sighing to himself. 

It looked like, party aside, he was going to be back to research and worrying. And he had so been looking forward to taking his wife to that new club they built in town. 

Tight little dress clad form grinding and dancing against his own-

A sharp pain between his eyes, had him rubbing his face, "Ow, what the hell Kohaku?"

Said boy picked up a new pen to replace the one he'd thrown at Miroku, "Stay focused, you bum."

............................

The closed shower curtains obscured the more harsh rays of her bathroom overhead and cast everything an off-white glow as Rin relaxed into her bath. 

Hair washed and skin scrubbed dewy she felt the warmth of her bath lulling her gently into a barely conscious state. 

Eyes struggling to stay open as her body slowly unwound from everything, slightly releasing the rigid grip she'd had to keep over herself as of late. 

Long dripping legs, pale and glistening, twisting over each other as she adjusted to better rest her neck over the edge of the tub, extended and on full display… not that there was a soul around to see as Rin finally just, let go. 

So gone she would hardly notice the subtle and errant waft of cool air invade her space as someone opened and closed the bathroom door without so much as a tap. There was, after all, no need to knock, they were long past that anyway…

Would not see with her usual hair-trigger adrenal response as the silhouette of a large hand clasped the edge of the curtain before silently allowing themselves in.

Still in her half-asleep state, she would only vaguely note, as the priorly still water that surrounded her supple body began to lap at the parts that were exposed,  as a thin and decidedly unnatural finger ran a trail over the gentle slope of her right thigh. 

A sweet noise left her throat as Rin felt without comprehending the tickling sensation, “Mmmmm…,” 

There was another soft caress as he moved his now wet finger to trace down the line of her little nose until finally tapping her parted bottom lip. 

Thick eyelashes, water-heavy and dark, fluttered open slowly, to reveal her sleepy orbs.

Amber stared back, unflinching, and so utterly overwhelming that Rin felt the rest of her meager power leave her at the smolder alone. After all, who could resist such a promising look? 

He would make her wait. The temperature of the steam-filled room steadily rising for every moment he held her captive under the weight of his inspection. 

Dominating the space of her senses and mind until there was no room for question. No room for anything beyond him. Desperate and achy for every minute he took looking down upon her, exactly how he liked her… 

She watched him take her in, body already thrumming with an unnamed energy, so that every pump of her little rapidly beating heart shook her bathwater with it. 

The water started a more frequent sway as her breathing picked up. Bosom heaving slightly so that the tips of her little pink nipples could almost, almost, be seen from under their sud- riddled blanket. 

Slippery legs twisting together under the water to smother the steady fire that was building between them.

A soft gasp left her suddenly as he dipped forward. And the priorly warm water heated as if in response to his proximity, the temperature of it bubbling against her already flushed form, as well as the porcelain sides of the tub. 

He stopped, imposing body lording over hers, just out of reach. Entrapping. And she would watch, as his large hands came to clasp the edges of the tub, long digits wrapped over so that the unnatural claws and stripes were on full display, as he held himself up. Long strands of his silver hair halting on the surface of her bathwater to float in an unearthly swirl. So beautiful it hurt. 

A soft whimper escaped her parted lips as she watched him give her water-covered form a lingering and slow once over from his new vantage point. So that by the time his eyes returned to her flushed and panting face he wore a wicked smirk. Deviant pleasure on full display as he continued to observe her little body wither and fight against itself. 

Well-rounded hips pressing further into the hard surface below her, little blunt-nailed fingers clawing at the sides of her tub, as her silky tresses floated around her barely concealed curves. 

“Rinnnn…,” His deep voice rumbled around her in the most tantalizing of ways and a pant left her unbidden. Unthinking, her hands began to creep out from under the water to gently skim his own where they still rested. 

Timid little fingers sliding up to trace the markings on his wrists just to see if they were raised, just to feel the cool of his flesh upon her own. And a moan left her at the sensation alone. 

Nervous but needy, her hands clasped the tops of his to tug, anything to make him touch her flesh, the power of them still and unmoving beneath her pleading presses. A soft and rich chuckle from him had her body tingling further as well as her desperation reaching a new level. A keening little whine left her lips

Please…

He tutted her. The sibilance of his gentle, “Tsk…,” lashing gently at both of her ears with small reprimand. 

 “You'll have to use your words, Rin …,"

Her lips continued to part and close though with her breaths. Unable to articulate just how much she wanted him to touch her. 

"I...I...,"

Please...

He smirked then before another look took over his handsome face. Intensity turning to stifling as his commanding voice echoed in the space around them. 

"Show me."

She obeyed without question.

There was the kiss of warm porcelain against her bare skin and the waves of bathwater gently lapped. As her legs parted to rest over the edges of the tub in a slight spread. Delicate hands moved up to skim hesitantly over her breasts. Still in her timidness, unable to shamelessly grab at herself the way she truly desired. 

“ Ahhhh, Sesshoumaru-sama,”

One dainty hand stayed to gently tease the aroused peak of her nipple as the other crept over the softness of her stomach, slow enough to elicit a shiver from her as she touched herself. Moving ever closer to where she needed the most attention. She sucked in a sudden breath as her need grew, plump lower lip sliding between her teeth in a gentle nibble with the motion. Eyes squeezing shut against the overwhelming onslaught of sensations. 

When he spoke she had just reached the tuft of hair that marked the spot and another whimper ripped from her, 

"That’s it, Rin. Show this Sesshoumaru what you want…,” 

So, so close. Until at last, she reached…

Another haunting moan floating from between her lips as her upper body arched suddenly out from under her watery concealment.

Some of the now tepid water sloshed over the edges of the tub as Rin shot up, eyes open and alert. What the literal hell? 

She snatched her pruney hand back as if scolded from where it had been resting, priorly caressing the delicate skin of her inner thigh, in preparation to…

The fierce and familiar blush set in again. What was wrong with her? They felt so real, body still thrumming with the energy of his presence. Unable to shake the feeling. Feeling that if she had opened her eyes but a second earlier she would have caught him, leaning over her, devouring and as tangible as he’d been in his home. Lingering outline of his imposing form still etched in the steam of the room. 

Her delicate hands clasped her head in frustration. 

Before releasing to give a defiant shake so that the still damp tips of her hair were left to fly this way and that with the motion. She needed to get a grip before she devolved again. 

She was already late and with a series of additional slips and sloshes, Rin was making her way in her room, towel wrapped snug around her form. 

And this time it was only with a brief hesitation that she opened the door of her room. Walking in with purpose as she pointedly ignored the windows, making sure to stay just out of sight and around the edges of the room as to avoid…

Well, the memory of her little show for Sesshoumaru was embarrassing enough without repeat. The shame of it quickening her haste as she dashed about gathering her things, and drying her hair. 

In fact, it was not until she stopped before her closet to find something to wear that Rin gave any pause of further thought at all. 

The opened box glared at her, the one that still held Sesshoumaru’s gift. Still neatly folded and pressed as it had been when she initially opened it before hastily hiding it within the confines of her closet. She tried in vain to act as if she had not noticed the parcel, stubbornly pretending to search through the items of her closet. Pretending still as she kneeled to the floor in front of her closet, as her nimble fingers opened the cardboard flaps further and pulled the delicate garment from its resting place in barely contained awe and inspection. 

Until at last the dress had been slipped over her form. Silky soft, purple material flowing and draping over her tiny form until it laid right. The summer dress was perfect. There’d been no tag for sizing or make when Rin first looked it over...but somehow it fit just right. Unlike the spring dresses of her youth that currently still sat in her wardrobe. Every flowing stitch of the expensive frock seemingly tailored to her form, so that the silky material could caress without stifling the curves of her nubile body. 

She stood and the rest of the dress followed. The silky lining of it stopping at about mid-thigh. So that when Rin pulled to stand in front of her mirror she could hardly believe, once again, the girl that stared back at her. The woman really…

The sleeves were flowing and lacy at the ends to that the tiny embroidered butterflies fell away to reveal her hand. As it moved to caress the skin of her lips. The dreams….the ones she could still barely bring herself think about for fear of losing herself again to the hysteria that had ensnared her before. 

They’d felt so real….

He’d kissed her in them. Rin had never been kissed before, had never even entertained the notion. But as her own soft finger moved over the sensitive flesh of her bottom lip she could almost recall, in the muscle memory, the pale and clawed one that had traveled there before. The still lingering desire leftover from her bath coming back to twinge low in her belly. 

She would be even more late after this. Sun setting ever further as she continued to stare at the image of herself in the mirror, a living embodiment of summer. 

In the distance, far beyond Kaede’s maple in the cooling summer grass of Rin’s backyard garden, the first rose of summer would bloom. The budding petals that had been so tightly coddled together, suddenly loosening in the dusky summer sun. Blood red body opening to reveal itself for the first time. 

............................

She was late. It was already seven. And for every hour that passed Kohaku's anxiety only grew. It was bad enough knowing she lived next to the creep. Plus now he couldn't even text her cell. 

Sango spoke then, as she walked past where he sat still researching. "Stop fidgeting. Rin-chan will get here when she gets here,"

"We should have picked her up. She's late. We aren't going to have time before it to ask her more information on the women she's seen,"

Miroku chimed in, "It's just a party, she can't be late. She's probably just getting ready and taking forever like Sango-"

"Shut up, Miroku." Said man brought a tattooed hand to his chest in feigned hurt.

"My own wife has joined in on this dismissal of me. And to think I moved my whole life to this meager town,"

He faked a deep sigh for more effect, "All the nights of clubbing, I have forsaken to help my young and ungrateful brother-in-law research a professor, all the views..," At this he sent a devious look at his wife, momentarily dropping his fake grief.

Kohaku threw another pen. 

Sango giggled before speaking, "I told you once we figure out what's wrong with Rin," She shot a careful look at Kohaku at the slip, "I mean, this weird Sesshoumaru person, you can take me dancing at that-"

Tired of the banter, Kohaku had continued to research his latest find. "You guys…, look at this."

Sango and Miroku, hearing Kohaku's serious tone, stopped to lean over his computer. 

The image before them had both halting, merriment sliding from their face,

"She look familiar?"

Sango nodded…Something eerie settling in her bones. 

Miroku spoke then, "Where did they find her?" 

............................

The keys made a hollow sound upon the planks of her porch when they fumbled from between her clumsy fingers. 

Just as it was before, even the aftershock of the man's voice was enough to scramble any sense of order within her. 

Rin found herself whipping around quick enough to shift the braid of her hair over her shoulder, voice breathy and aspirated with nerves, "I-I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Wide eyes stared back at him from where he stood upon his own adjacent porch, stance so similar to the one she'd first seen him in that she could not help but return to her initial countenance as well. So skittish and shy it bordered on painful. As if she had not been over his house for tea, as if she was not wearing a beautiful gift from him and him alone. 

Rin blushed before internally chastising herself. Like she needed another reminder that something from him sat upon her form like a second skin. 

Sesshoumaru smirked and this time, perhaps for the first time, Rin could see the glint. The promise, something she'd sensed before and earlier but had never fully grasped. It was, after all, steadily the star of her ever-growing fantasies of him. 

He repeated, "Are you going somewhere, Rin? "

Her mushy mind once again deserting her, "I-I…," 

Was she going somewhere? His lips quirked again and unlike their last encounter, he did not stay still. Long, casually-slacked, legs extending to take him closer to her side though the small distance and railings still separated them. The closer proximity of him jolted a response from her. 

"I'm going to see Kohaku…,"

He stopped then, and took his time responding.

And in the space, he left she spoke quickly to rectify so he would not get the wrong impression. As so many people did often about her and her male best friend, "And his sister-" She stumbled over the hastily thrown words, tittering, "and his family too-all of them really,"

She finished with a nervous smile. 

"I see," His amber orbs traveled down her form and the touch of them made her blush deeper. As if the slow inspection of her would reveal all the downright sinful dreams she had of him every night…

Another part of her, a more alarmed part of her spoke then before she could shove it back within the well of herself.

Or perhaps, he already knew about them?

His voice brought her back, "Do you like my gift," the intensity of his stare returned to her already flushed face, "I had hoped you would wear it upon your return visit."

He shot a glance at his home before finishing,  "The one we discussed,"

The red stain on her cheeks burned brighter.  He'd had the beautiful garment made for her so he could see her in it?

It took but a look to confirm as Sesshoumaru’s eyes continued to regard her. Steady in their intensity. 

There was an intimacy in the statement and Rin could not deny the twinge of something beginning to light in her again. Just as it had in his library before, under the hefty weight of his gaze. Just as it had in her bedroom during her feigned accidental exposure...though they both knew there was no accident in the occurrence. 

She wanted to wear it for him…

Rin nodded softly, her next words spoken quietly, gaze shy and lowered to the space between them, "I love it. Thank you very much, Sesshoumaru-sama," 

He gave a stoic nod in response but otherwise continued his exploration of her features. Taking in just how well fitted his dress was on her form…

She was just about to continue their polite conversation when he spoke again, long lean body bending slightly to he could wrap the length of his hands around his porch railings, "Perhaps, since you are dressed for the occasion, you would like to come over now…,"

The scorch of his amber eyes held her own, pinning her, tempting her . 

In the ensuing chaos that had become her mind, she could not help but feel the pull. The same girl from before, from the mirror, whispering heatedly, begging really, in her ear for her to ditch this undesirable night for something more….

Well, Rin could only imagine, could only dream, the things a man like Sesshoumaru could do for her. Her breath caught. Doe eyes wide and perched upon the flush of her cheeks. Still so terribly innocent. 

"I…," the single word quivering in her ever-growing embarrassment. 

His eyebrow rose in question, the opposite side of his smooth lips following in a lift. Masculine features sharp enough to keep her in place even though her hands continued to fidget in front of her. 

Without the cover of flirtation or innuendo, there was no mistaking, no room for misunderstanding or misinterpreting just exactly what type of visit Sesshoumaru had in mind. 

...The same invitation from her dreams.

Chocolate eye flit to take in his outfit, pristine button-up, and casual blazer, over his arm. He looked...had he been going out? 

And before her brain could catch up, she spoke, "Were you not about to head out as well, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

The question was innocent enough, genuinely curious, if a bit divergent from where he clearly had been leading them. The look he gave her was subtle. Evasion from her was still unfortunately expected.

His head tilted ever so slightly, "I had some business to attend to-"

Rin spoke before he'd finished, pushing it out before she could change her mind, "Oh well, some other time then," She smiled encouragingly. Hopeful and sweet. Sincere despite the creeping desire in her to take it back, to accept his blatant offer. 

He stared. Hard. Face unmoving. There was nothing overt about her neighbor. But in the brief pause he allowed before speaking, his displeasure read not opaque but crystal clear. "Some other time…,"

She nodded softly, happy, well not happy but pleased she could go on and get this night over with. Pleased she had successfully saved herself from getting into something she knew she could not handle, with a man who was well out of her league. 

Though another part, the deep and secret part of herself, was disappointed. Regret coloring her innards as she waved goodbye and began a slow descend down her porch steps. Outside and away.

... the last place she wanted to go

Her disappointment was more tangible with every step she took away from him. Even if it had been by her own accord that it was shut down. 

His baritone voice would carry to her, not in a shout but a rumble, and halt her in place. "The offer remains should you change your mind,"

The butterflies from before returned to tickle and caress her insides.  Though she would not be brave enough to cast a look back at him. To meet the gaze she could feel warming her flesh. 

"You will find my door is always open...for you, Rin ,” 

............................

Shirakawa was old. But it was nowhere near as old as the mountains that surrounded the little village turned town. And Rin continued to watch the darkened foliage grow and shroud around them as Kohaku drove up the unguarded mountain road. 

Quiet as her mind raced to keep pace with the passing mile markers that glittered back at them from beside the winding road. Still unable to think about anything beyond her mysterious neighbor and his less than discreet offer. 

Miroku’s voice cut the quietness of the air, well quiet save for the clicks and clacks of Sango applying her makeup next to Rin. “Woah-woah, slow down kid. I’m not trying to die tonight, Kohaku,”

A sharp curve of the road had the pickup bouncing as he took it without slowing. The boy was quick in response per usual, “Shut up. Unlike you, I’ve been driving these my whole life-” 

He shot a look over his seat at Rin and Sango, not noticing the panicked flail Miroku gave in response as he reached for the wheel himself, “Right, Rin?” 

Now used to the dynamics of their trio she could only nod in response, a slight smile in place. Sango laughed as she buffed something further into her cheek. “Chill out babe, you know we’re not from the city like you.” 

The older girl shot a wink at her as they continued to tease Miroku. The familiarity of it brought a genuine smile to her face for the first time in a while. Perhaps, tonight would not be a complete disaster. 

When they arrived the small get-together had morphed to large and was already bustling. Which was expected given the lack of alternative things for the youth to do in Shirakawa. 

Rin looked around as they got out of the truck, nerves growing more alert by the second, as drunken bodies swayed and sloshed around the fire to some thumping music that was playing from one of the vehicles. Some people milling from place to place socializing. So that the culmination of the noise echoed around them in the darkened offshoot of forest. 

And while it seemed to excite those around her, Rin could already feel the dread pooling in her stomach. She bunched and fisted her hands in the flowing lace of her sleeves. Probably not the most suitable choice for a wooded party but it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. One borne of her own hastily made desire to…

What exactly did she want again?

A rowdy partygoer ran last them, naked, and whooping in his drunken excitement, eliciting some encouraging cheers and laughs. Miroku whistled. Rin's hand reached for the door handle of the truck, intent on returning. She could just wait in there until they were done with what she was now sure would be an awful night. 

Sango grabbed her hand and began to drag her further away before she could successfully act on her antisocial plan,  “Come on, Rin-chan, I want you to meet a friend of mine,” 

Kohaku moved around in a follow, “Sango, don’t you think it’s too soon to be dragging her from person to person,” 

The boy tried to tug his friend away from his overzealous sister, “Besides, she finally agreed to leave her home. That’s good enough,”

Kohaku shot a teasing look at Rin that had her relaxing minutely. 

The older girl sighed but accepted the suggestion. Instead allowing Miroku to grab her hand as they headed, as a single group towards the fire. Seating themselves in a circle amongst the festivities. 

It was rather pleasant at first. The two siblings of their clique teasing and bantering as entertainment for Rin and Miroku. Familiar laughs and smiles exchanged over solo cup rims as they conversed amongst themselves. Save Rin who had politely declined an initial offer for a drink. 

Though at some point Miroku handed something to her, with coy insistence, “Come on Rin-chan, take a sip of that,” 

Only for the whole group to laugh at the face that followed her choking swallow of the foul liquid. For her part, she could only laugh and smile through the burn. Not angry in the least at his light hearted jest. 

She lifted a hand to wipe at her mouth, “What was that?” 

Sango laughed slightly buzzed and looking decidedly more relaxed than she had before, “Something to loosen you up so you'll finally tell us what you've been up to. Come on Rin-chan, talk to us!"

The group leaned in but before she started, Sango spoke again conspiratorially, “Kohaku told us you talk to your creepy neighbor now?” 

And unlike the last time Sango had let something slip about her and Kohaku’s private conversations in regards to her person, Rin was unable to hide the tense look that overtook her features. Kohaku’s ensuing glare at his sister was not subtle and the look she shot back was too buzzed to look sheepish. 

The revelations as of late were too raw for the abrupt change in topic. But seeing as there was little she could do, “Ehh, there isn’t much to say. He’s been really nice about...everything,” The rest of the sentence unspoken but understood. It was as far as she would elaborate though.

She was not about to tell them anything. Especially anything related to Sesshoumaru. Realizing now that unlike the last time she’d tried to elicit their help, she had absolutely no desire to share any possible revelations with the three before her. 

Kohaku scoffed before responding to the group, “I’m telling you guys he’s a prick. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the one that took Rin’s phone.”

Rin’s head swished in his direction, “That’s ridiculous, I told you I just lost it somewhere,” 

Kohaku shot back quickly, “Where?” 

Frustration growing sharply, Rin’s soft voice gained a waiver, “I don’t know.”

It felt wrong to lie to Kohaku. 

And if anyone thought to mention that it was strange, a girl who never left home had somehow managed to misplace her phone and have it stolen, they had the sense to say nothing more. Or the fact that they now knew from Kohaku that the only place she had seemingly ventured to was her mysterious neighbor's home. 

Miroku chimed in then, his statement closing and final, in an attempt to reign in the unexpected tension the seemingly simple conversation had brought about, “Well that settles that. Besides, why would he want to text Kohaku anyway.” He finished with a smile. 

Kohaku for his part kept quiet, shooting a dark look to the pitch around them, fire glowing off his face as he remembered just what he had told Sesshoumaru. He was never admitting to any of them that he had in fact claimed to be Rin’s boyfriend. 

Sensing the stagnation, the drunken Sango began again, Well, whatever happened to the research you were doing on the guy? For a while there you were really looking into it. Did you ever find anything concrete?” 

Rin for her part, would not notice as the three around her leaned in subtly again, attempting to glean something from their little friend as they finally broached the topic they’d intended all along. 

And though a part of Rin was desperately struggling to piece together the enigma that was her neighbor, her dreams, and what,  if anything, he had to do with them, she could not stop the urge that shot through her. She spoke again in defense of him, “He didn’t do anything. It was me-I was just acting crazy,”

Though as the words left her she realized how shakeable the statement was. Rin had absolutely no idea what was happening. Was nowhere near the confidence of conclusion she had just falsely given. 

And for every day that passed she became a little more distressed as her reality became more nebulous and a little less concrete, than the day before. It was awful and suddenly overwhelmed by the distressing thought, she stood up. All three of her friends looked shocked but she waved them back down before they could stand as well. Unable to keep the slight anger from her usually gentle tone, “I’m going for a walk,”

Sensing the sensitivity they had unknowingly trampled into, her friends would let her leave. Though for all their understanding, none, not a single one of them would be able to catch as the invisible wall between them grew ever more sturdy. 

There had been a choice to be made Rin realized, belatedly. Though she got the distinct impression as she walked past the multitude of writhing and sweaty young bodies that she had chosen wrong. 

A regret strong enough to pierce the haze of what had become her mind began to creep over as she moved further from where Kohaku and his family still sat in conversation. A bitter thought hit her then. They were probably talking about her.. about how crazy she was. Something she’d already suspected herself. Not that it had been viewed as a secret before. Besides, Sesshoumaru’s arrival in their small town had all but ensured that.

And as if to drive in the point, a pointed hiss of giggles caught her attention and drew it to a group that was standing off and to the side. Two of the involved girls had the decency to look away, awkward for being caught by someone they had clearly been talking about. But the one who’d made the joke about Rin and the incident that had not quite faded from the collective memory of Shirakawa’s gossip machine, continued to laugh at her. It had been foolish, on all their parts, to think that her screaming at the top of her lungs on Sesshoumaru's lawn would be so quickly forgotten. 

The hot sear of shame rushed through her burning at her chest and eyes until she began to briskly move away in the opposite direction. Eyes averted as to avoid making contact with anyone else. Tears stinging and blurring the sights around her as she moved further and further away from the now stifling environment.

What was wrong with her? 

Only once she had crossed deep enough into the woods around them that the glow of the fire and the noise became faint did she slow her pace. Wrapping her arms around herself in a bid to calm her ever-rising nerves. Nonetheless, Rin continued to move forward into the ever-increasing sounds of the forest. Cicadas comforting her until her shaky breaths became the only noise to color the barely visible darkness that surrounded her.

In hindsight, it had been a very bad idea to wander off so far, and so alone…

But in her misery, Rin would not notice until the final minute. Until it dawned that forests were never meant to be still enough to hear the quivering whimpers of a distraught girl. 

Where were the cicadas? She whipped around but in the dark, circling in search of the noise and fire she had just carelessly left, but it was futile. 

A noise halted her. Priorly heavy breaths cutting to silence so she could hear as her heart picked up the pace. 

Someone was disturbing the foliage behind her. Quiet movements unheard save for the occasional susurrus of branch and leaves they stepped over.

She whipped towards the noise, frightened eyes unable to make out anything as they roved over the pitch of the forest. 

"Who's there?" 

The noise would stop briefly in its trajectory only further proving that it was something with the capacity to understand her, and the ensuing silence would raise the baby-fine hairs that rested on Rin's neck. As her now panicked breath once again became audible. 

The noise growing and growing as it crept ever closer. So that she could better hear its nuance. 

Confusion shot through her. It didn't sound, as she had previously thought, to be a person. It sounded like…

A crackle. An acrid smell met her nose a moment later as smoke she could not see moved in the darkened niche she still stood.  

No, it was not the whispering rustle of foliage of someone walking that had followed Rin so deep into the forest...

Something sounded suddenly from her right, louder and closer than before, and she whipped towards it. 

Face and hiding spot now completely illuminated by fire. 

Open mouth and eyes glazed, staring as one of the great trees around her took blaze like a victim being burned at the stake. 

It spread quickly after that, flames licking and jumping at the adjacent patches of forest next to the one that still burned bright.

Rin scrambled then, turning to run. Only to turn and find herself surrounded. And she watched terrified as the blaze grew large enough to block out the sky above her.

Washing everything, including the reflective surface of her beautiful eyes an ominous shade of orange. Including the beautiful dress from Sesshoumaru…

A beat of sweat traveled down her face, messy braid swinging as she frantically moved, eyes roving over the now more surrounding flames, searching for safety. The tears began to heat on her face as the life-ending blaze moved in. Flames close enough to lick at her flesh. 

She opened her mouth to scream, to plead for her life, but all that would come out was a haunting screech of pain. As the flames overtook her form. 

Fire blazing in her open mouth and down her throat to sear. And though she was fully set alight she would continue to scream in agony. The pain of her beautiful dress melting into her flesh as the flames charred her bones. She would never forget it. It was not meant to be forgotten. 

The last of her dying senses could hear, along with a ringing haunting melody, a chorus of shouts and screams and sobs…

She could only just make out Kaede's creaking voice before the others rushed forward.

Oh, God Rin, my Rin 

Please save her

The forest is burning

Please save her

Get the demon

Please save her

Rin?

Please save her

...it was deep and old in the memory but it came to tumble forth all the same, soft and brittle, from her last breath. 

"...Sesshomaru-sama…"

Please save me

“Rin-chan, is that you?"

.

.

.

Rin’s eyes snapped open at the voice, hands unclenching from over her ears, breath hard and uneven as she came back and out from the horrible...dream.

She stood and whipped around, just as the girl spoke again, soft and sweet as was her countenance, “Are you okay?”

Her breath had still not calmed but Rin moved to straighten her now skewed clothes. Anything to physically pull her back to the living, though her eyes still flit over the darkened section of forest trees around them in search. Had she really just imagined that?

She could hear as the party continued, unhindered in the distance, and without thought, Rin nodded. “Y-yes I’m okay-I..,”

The girl supplied for her, “You just got lost, right? It happens. Here,”

At this she held out her hand for Rin to take, “I’ll get us back to the party, Sango and Kohaku are ready to call the search and rescue," She giggled lightly.  

The older girl reached for Rin instead when it appeared she was not about to move herself. And Rin allowed her to gently pull her back to safety, still lost and confused in more than the dark woods around then. 

Dreams…

She knew what they could do, the havoc they could cause, but this….it was something else. Rin's smaller hand grasped tighter to the girl's. 

Sensing her still present fear, the stranger spoke again, fingers flexing back to further comfort Rin, “It’s okay, we’re almost there-”

And like clockwork, the contours of the forest began to lighten and glow with the ever-closer bonfire. The one that was decidedly not out of control as Rin had priorly speculated. 

A voice cut through to meet them just as the older girl led Rin out of the darkness, “Kagome! You found her-”

The name sounded familiar to Rin. Kohaku was the first to reach them though. Pulling his little friend from Kagome's hold in order to inspect her for injury. “Rin, where were you? We were looking all over. Don’t you know better than to just walk off into the woods?” 

The boy shook his head at Sango when she too began to look her over for injury, “She’s fine-” 

Sango’s eye shadowed eyes turned back to the girl they called Kagome, and Rin could not help but follow, as it dawned upon her who the girl was. She had been the one to enter Sesshoumaru’s house what felt like ages ago. The one she’d seen with the strange man who resembled Sesshoumaru.

Rin had just opened her mouth to speak, distracted and unnoticing of how Kohaku still searched her form for signs of anything suspicious.

But stopped short of any vocalization as Kagome turned her dark gaze upon her. The familiarity struck her...she reminded her of Kaede, a younger Kaede of course. The one she'd seen in a picture or two, black and white, that Rin had happened upon in their home. 

Miroku was the one to press her forward, hand leading her gently by the shoulder, like the sane coaxed the feeble, "Come on Rin-chan, you'll come home and sleep it off at our place,"

She wasn't drunk. Everyone knew it but no one would say it. And Rin had yet to pull her stare from Kagome, who was now exchanging goodbyes with Sango. 

"She can sleep in our room," Miroku assured someone. 

"Ugh. Rin is not sleeping in that cesspool so you two can go defile some other sacred place in our home," Kohaku quipped. 

At the last second, Kagome would catch her stare again and shift to give Rin a gentle smile. An understanding smile. After all, everyone had heard how crazy Rin Akamatsu was, even girls like Kagome who had gone and returned. 

Rin would not return the sentiment. Her mind was somewhere else, though her eyes remained fixed upon where Kagome's long-sleeved crop top had moved to expose the beginning of a mark upon her thin neck. 

And even with it being half covered still, Rin would see the unfaded indentation of a bite as clear as day. 

............................

It was a dream, that much she could tell. So she continued, undisturbed, and unheeded to walk down the darkened streets of town, barefoot and seemingly wandering. Not a soul in sight. The wolves...had disappeared from her dreams a while ago but still, it was unusual for them to miss an opportunity to find Rin alone and unguarded. Fresh and vulnerable from her freak out in the woods. So unlike them to pass up the chance to rip apart her flesh...

She was however, not lost. 

No, she was on her way home, body tired and dragging against the concrete streets. The summer night was windless, but as she finally approached Shonen street, her grandmother’s street, the decaying green sign that marked it as such, moved with a creak. Rin would ignore the greeting though, would be unable to tear her eyes away, as something...more worthy captured her attention. 

Blood. A smear of it was set upon the concrete ahead as if something had been dragged down the sidewalk of her grandmother’s street. 

Rin followed beside it. Dainty feet moving one right after the other as she let the trail of it lead her further down. Until at last, it stopped. Her head shifted up, eyes following, from where they had been priorly stuck in rapture. 

Sesshoumaru’s door was only an inch from her nose. Unlocked and open, just as he’d told her. And it was without thought, a single one, that she pressed forward, turning the knob and stepping inside his home as if she belonged there.  Before once again following the now thicker trail of blood. 

The metallic iron of it assaulting her senses as it grew in size. Until the path of it was unavoidable, tiny footprints traveling through it as she moved steadily forward through the twists and turns of his house. 

Through the parlor, past the great oak shelves of the library, and through the kitchen, until finally reaching the crystal glass set of french doors that led to his back yard and back out into the dark of the night. 

Rin would continue. Past the pool and the trees, his renovating crew had so graciously plotted. Following without reason, without thought. 

Until, at last, she reached the source.

Lips parted in a silent scream at the sight. 

The fur was patchy, rotting in places, of the three wolves that had so viciously cut her down the times before. Three large stakes piercing their thick necks, evenly spaced and pinning them to the barren ground. 

Rin would watch, horrified, as the one in the center struggled against his inevitable death. Growling something low and pitiful as his fur continued to waft away in large bloody tufts. And Rin continued to watch and tremble, as his grotesque snarl faced her, realizing her presence. 

His exposed patches of flesh began to melt then, morphing and shaping. Layers and layers of flesh-colored mush moving to replace the spots there had been fur. Bones and tendons of his form shifting against each other as they snapped in place, so that his paw began to resemble a human hand. 

A tear fell to slide down her cheek as the wolf continued to change before her eyes. Muscled and furry legs, that had priorly been digging into the soil below, began to take a more lank and human shape. Whimpering and growling as he continued to fight.  Until, at last, he stopped struggling against his gruesome and painful demise. 

She recognized him instantly… the thinness of his form, the shaved head, even down to the cruel slant of his eyes and mouth. 

He had been the one to talk to her in the library…

and now he was dead.

The smell of decay had her gagging as she turned away from the gruesome sight, her stomach churning with the remnants of her last meal in preparation to-

“Girl, what have I told you about sleeping on the couch? I thought you were sleeping over at the Nakamura's. Why are you here?"

Rin could do nothing but stare as her grandmother continued her scold, unaware of the dread that was flushing her system in waves. As it dawned on her. Fear overtaking her prior hesitancy so that she could finally see. Finally admit it…

Kaede would continue, “Kohaku and Sango have been calling all morning for you-wondering where you went off to. Said they last saw you asleep in Sango’s bed and that you left in the middle of the night-” 

No shadow of doubt left within the still dazed girl. The dreams were real. She rushed past Kaede in a fumble for the bathroom, making it just in time to expel her guts and worry her already concerned grandmother further. 

As she caught her breath she heard her grandmother’s voice speaking into the receiver, “Yes, yes, I told you boy, she’s here and safe.” 

Chapter Text

Hey there Country Girl

Don’t go home

Don’t go home

Don’t go home

He says Hey Girl

It ain’t the same

They’ve all changed

It ain’t the same

Hey there Country Girl

Don’t be sad

You got what you wanted

Don’t be sad

Don’t be sad

Don’t be

Think about crying

You were a child

Way back when

You were so wild

For that kiss

You could go crying

For that kiss

You would go crying

Nothing like that way you used to feel

Don’t sulk away

misty street light

I need you to stay

Remember that promise

in the middle of the night

My heart’s on fire

when you go away

When I ask - I want you to stay

When I ask - I want you to stay

-Boy Harsher, Country Girl 

There was the cool pattering of rain as the summer storm that had overtaken Shirakawa for three weeks raged on. And the tattered sound it made continued to echo off the roof of her grandmother’s aging home, to trapeze around Rin’s room. So sonorous in its noise that the girl could no longer distinguish it from the reverberating thoughts in her head. 

And while it had been usual for her to laze about on her bed on the rain splattered days of her youth, almost as common as Rin herself ruminating on things she could not change, the length and intensity of their current downpour were as atypical as her current line of contemplation. 

Chocolate eyes slid in a rhythmic motion behind the delicate skin of her eyelids for the normalcy of the action, though she would continue to lay prone on her bed, towel wrapped from her recent shower, as her internal deliberation festered. The action itself normal though the content of said thoughts…

Well, it was daunting, to say the least. 

Sesshoumaru. 

The one who she had so badly mistreated and accused of unfounded accusations, simply, because she could not discern the twisted warp of her ever-increasing dreams. A man who not only seemingly forgave these transgressions but had in the aftermath of her seizing hysteria decided to graciously bestow upon her a series of gifts…

A blush lit her face at the memories. There were of course the tangible things like the book and the dress. As unusual as such gifts may have been considering they had only met three times, and that was just counting the pleasant occurrences. She pulled the flesh of her bottom lip into her mouth in a gnaw. Then there were the other things his presence had ushered in along with it. A shudder, though not from disgust ,  moved through her, and the girl would ignore its presence in bid to prevent her thoughts from going down that rabbit hole….the one filled with her increasingly vulgar dreams of him as well as her newfound….confidence. As if in taunt the feeling of waltzing naked in front of her windows assaulted her mind and forced a mortified little groan from her. 

On the other hand, the oddity and frequency of her increasingly reality-bending dreams were becoming constant. At least enough to not be ignored…

And Rin found she could do anything except the sort, an impossible task. The rumination she currently sat in warping and tormenting her as she considered all the pieces. 

That while it was true, dreams were dreams, the overlap with the material reality of the world was one too many to allow leniency on her part. And with this came the Janus-face Sesshoumaru of her dreams. The calculated, meticulous, sinful , killer from her dreams. Juxtaposed to the kind benevolent man he had presented himself as, if not a little forward. 

The solution had come to her before the start of the storms, arising to spite her as she emptied her guts in their bathroom, the memory of the wolves and their corpses so fresh her nostrils still burned. 

She needed to see, to confirm, if only for her own sanity, once and for all. The terrifying thought birthing her plan of action before Rin could think to scurry away from it. She needed to go to his home . Preferably alone, so that she could see if it truly housed and concealed the rotting corpses of three wolves...well the boys from her school. As her dream world exploration of his backyard had shown. 

And today, just like the three weeks before, she would oscillate. Stay sane and reasonable despite her doubts and continue in her morbidly curious torture, kept company by her ongoing fantasies that involved her neighbor, but unable to talk to him for fear of the unknown. Or….

Go quietly and without witness, to disprove her scatterbrained mind’s most recent and unyielding suspicion that her dreams were in fact real in some capacity. 

Rin groaned into her pillow before pulling her chin back up to rest, giving her now blood-filled bottom lip a break from her worrying. 

The outcomes of this plan of action were...well they hardly needed to be said. Though the more reasonable side of her was stating on repeat that more than likely, just as before, there would be absolutely nothing, further proving what she knew and what everybody else was quickly catching on to. She was crazy. 

But the twinge moved through her in a horrified flutter…. but if she did find something ….

Gahh, she needed something to stop this. A distraction maybe? But it wasn’t like she could just text Kohaku now, not with her suspicious phone activity as of late. Even letting him know she mysteriously had her phone again would probably send her friend into another accusing spiral.

But just then, the pattering of rain that had become so commonplace cut out, summer shower ceasing in a halt, for the first time in weeks to free up the sound and space in Rin’s congested mind. 

And just like that…

Rin’s eyes popped open to regard the wall of her room, the grey light of the storm-addled sky cast through her window was monotone but crystal clear. 

She had to do it. If it came between her family and sanity, or possibly getting caught and being committed, well, then there really was no choice at all. 

She was going to Sesshoumaru’s home...alone. 

............................

"Okay, I found him…,"

Kohaku slowed himself in a bid to look natural as he continued to follow the much shorter man. Taking the second aisle after him so he could watch with the shelves as a barrier. The little helper would definitely recognize him if he was caught. 

He continued to hold the phone up as Miroku's voice met his ear, "Good, now what is he doing, can you see what he's looking at?"

Kohaku narrowed his eyes through the crack of the shelf, and from under his rain-saturated jacket,  “....shovels…,” 

“How fitting-”

Sango abruptly ripped the phone from Miroku, excitable as usual,  “Just make sure to stay on him-”  She added as an afterthought, “And get a picture of him at those shovels, just in case.”

The three of them had been tailing Jaken for about a week in actuality. Though it had come after a month of trying to follow Sesshoumaru himself until finding the task practically impossible. If they did find him out and about, it was only to drive outside of the town, and one way or another he would always evade any length of stalking by them. The oddity of it was so glaring that it only further proved he was certainly...practiced at it. As most serial killers were… 

But the little helper had proved not as evasive and was always out, running some errand or another for his master. So the sleuthing trio had decided to focus on him…at least in the meantime. 

Between the dry cleaning, grocery shopping, and car detailing the current impromptu hardware visit had been the first detour in the little creep's usually air-tight schedule. And unable to pass it up, Kohaku had volunteered to follow him in, despite the deluge of water that was still pouring over their town, while Miroku and Sango took tabs from the safety of the parking garage. Cellphone-feeding them the minute details of the youngest member’s mission. 

Hopefully, this would be the break they had been waiting for and he could record the man getting anything they thought would incriminate Rin’s neighbors. So here he was snapping photos from the back as Jaken stood browsing further a rack of hammers, left hand clasping a steel shovel. Perfect for burying bodies… 

Perfect for bludgeoning young girls to death and dumping their bodies . He brought the phone back to his ear to relay the newest movement to his familial duo. 

Kohaku was just about to speak to the duo when Jaken began to move away again. Turning down and to the right in order to exit his current aisle. The little fucker had proved to be remarkably fast in his distracted pace.

 Mouth snapping shut as he sped walked to the end of his own aisle and peeked around. Unable to see at first until he pressed down some plastic-cased screwdrivers that hung at the end of it. Just in time to watch Sesshoumaru’s little helper take a sharp left near the garden supply aisle of the hardware store he had been following him around for the last hour. 

"He's heading to gardening…,"

Sango's voice responded, "Makes sense. Shovel for burying the bodies, flowers to cover the stench…,"

............................

Jacken had left hours ago. Rin had made sure, had watched for days to ensure he was still working on his latest project in the foyer. As for her neighbor, he hadn't been home in weeks, probably something to do with that earlier mentioned business he had to attend to. She was finally in the clear. And with all her ducks in a row, Rin could do nothing but resign herself to what she knew she had to do. 

The trek down her stairs felt like a mile as her nerves began to rev up. She still could not believe she was about to do this. There was literally no room for error and one could hardly put herself and tactful in the same sentence.  

But something in her steeled as she walked, in a gait she hoped looked as natural as she was trying to make it, towards his home. Cutting through the lawns, while looking out for anyone who may be out and about in witness. She didn’t need a repeat of last time.

A flinch left her when the porch creaked under her weight and his door appeared more imposing than usual as she moved to stand before it. 

Her first knock was too soft, fear turning her wrist to jelly so that she could barely form the fist. The second set was too loud, and a shaky breath left her at the echo it made in the now rainless quiet of their street. Rin bit her lip, nervously. Eyes shifting around to see if anyone was peering at her. 

Just a minute more. If no one answered she was in the clear. She sat silent and still, listening for any signs of life from the other side, something she may have missed in her earlier inspection. But when only silence met her ears, she moved.

Throwing two quick glances over her shoulders in a final inspection. But it wasn't until she verified that there were none to be seen that her hand finally and fully clasped the knob of his front door. 

She hesitated slightly, thinking in a last-second rush. Enough time to again consider all that she was getting herself into. All that she had gotten herself into so far, all the ways she had been wrong...or right. And though it was hardly time to contemplate it, she did. Gaze flickering from her hand that sat in wait upon the ornate knob, to where her porch loomed, now to the side of her and looking so unfamiliar from the angle. The handle so loose and free of tension that there was no doubt that it was unlocked. Just as she had confirmed by watching their comings and goings 

She did something then, that she had never done before, and that afterward...once the dust had settled, she would never disclose.  

The whisper left her, quiet with the sacredness of it, hollow with the mortification of doing it. Actually praying. Voice brittle with the oddity of speaking to the dead. 

“ Mama …., please give me a sign.” 

But perhaps, she thought desperately, conflict written over her beautiful face, the dead had gained some eternal knowledge that could aid her. Some glimpse into the future...

One sign and I will turn away from this Sesshoumaru and never return again.

.

.

.

Silence. 

The signs had come long ago and had long ago gone. Ignored. 

Rin opened her eyes. Shamed at the lapse in reason and before anyone could think to errantly gaze out their windows, perhaps to admire the break in what had seemed a never-ending downpour, sky clear and grey and perfect for identifying a would-be criminal…

Her hand twisted the knob and her foot crossed the threshold. 

............................

A hush and a giggle met his ear, his sister’s breathy voice, high and girly as it always was with Miroku, “Stop it,” 

But there was no force behind the words save another girlish giggle, “I said stop it-Miroku,”

Disgusted beyond belief and unable to stop himself, Kohaku would intervene, “Hey! Both of you cut it out-you’re supposed to be helping me. This freak is killing women and dumping their bodies and you two are fucking around.” 

More literally than Kohaku wanted to be aware of. 

They’d all see the news article of the girl just as they'd seen her enter his home. The one Rin had tried to stop from going into Sesshoumaru’s home, had been found dead outside of Tokyo. 

He gave another angry huff. “Plus he lives next to Rin, our Rin , a literal serial killer’s wet dream-”

He could hear Miroku in the background, grumbling, bored of being the lookout and pouty from not being able to continue with Sango, “All work and no play makes Kohaku a dull boy-”

It was becoming increasingly clear how much of a toll the sleuthing was having on the rest of his supposed team. If their little parked car hanky panky was anything to go by. He couldn't leave them alone for even an hour without distraction. Sango would intervene, speaking first to her husband in reprimand, “Shhh you pig-”

Before addressing her little brother, “You think we don’t know that? We’ll stop it, I promise. Just keep following the little creep, and get back here-”

Reminded of his original goal, Kohaku’s eyes flicked up, fully expecting to see the familiar sight of the little man’s back as he browsed. But all that would greet him was the empty space Jaken had previously occupied. Brown ponytail whipped with the force of his head swivel as he searched, moving down the aisle at a frantic pace, before ducking at the end to lean over and out the aisle in further search. 

“Well, it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to do that, Sango. No thanks to you fools-”

Dark eyes gazed out over the sea of people at the check-out lines but found no one resembling the toad-like man. 

Her voice was distracted again when it returned, clearly, back to whatever was happening between her and her husband. Though his next words would bring a soberness back into her tone. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Kohaku continued to frantically search as he made towards the parking garage, “I fucking lost him.” 

............................

It was surreal to be within his home, the foyer and grand staircase familiar, yet much more ominous without the signs of life it had prior. So stoic without the warmth of light that had lit it last time. Rin took a steadying breath to gently remind herself of her purpose. 

The desire to turn and around and leave still bubbling in her chest, sloshing around with the adrenaline and pump of blood. 

She would take her time cautiously moving through the ways she remembered from her single visit. Every surface was either shadowed or lit lifelessly by the grey of the sky that floated through the windows along the edges of his living room, to wash them steel colored. 

Until finally she arrived in the library. Her body paused for her as her gaze landed on the shelf he had accosted her at. Right to the spot that had a hollowed-out space where her gifted book previously sat. 

But she moved on, shaking her head, steps light even though there was no one around to hear as she finally arrived in a room she had not been before. At least not lucid...

The kitchen was bright as if someone had left the light on, so she made herself even quieter as she finally found what she had been searching for.

The back doors were french. Grand and ornate. Square, glass, panes outlined and rimmed by a lacquered wood stared her down, and just beyond she could make out the backyard.

It occurred to her again with a chill of something moving over her...that the house was exactly as she remembered in her dream, down to the decorative details of his wooden double doors before her. The one that had led her here in search of the final proof. 

Though the guilty part of her whispered then, or proof of innocence. Perhaps, she was, once again, making something out of nothing. 

Still, she pushed on. A dainty foot stepped out onto the path that led to his equally elegant and tiled pool, closing the door without so much as a tap behind her. Under the light of day again, through the clouds remained, it felt more sinister and brought her simultaneous guilt and suspicions into focus. 

She walked along the tile of the pool, the cool water gently sloshing in the wind, debris from the unending storm littered the top of it. 

Their mutual fence was glaring at her. Accusing as her gaze flickered to it nervously before flitting away to try and focus on her destination. She was never meant to see it from this side, and Rin could do nothing but take a steadying breath. Until at last...she found the patch of dirt from her dream. And though there were no corpses or stakes to be seen, the soil looked slightly disturbed in spots. 

He was guilty. 

Two broken ends of a shovel sat propped against the tree that served as an overhang so that the soil was not completely muddy slush. Lush summer branches still gnarled and made lifeless by the unending grey. She needed to hurry, check, put everything back in order and leave.

He was innocent. 

The dirt was soft from being churned, slightly muddy from the rain, though the tree had safeguarded it some. And she could smell nothing, save the earth as she began her search. 

There was something wrong with him...something unnatural. 

Her nail beds were stained brown as the dirt embedded under them. Tiny fingers digging in a cup. This was the spot that she’d seen…

There was something wrong with her...mind frazzled and disturbed. 

She did not notice when her breath turned to pants. Panic sneaking up on her like everything else. As she continued to dig, and dig, and dig. By the time she had worked a sweat, there was only a small hole to show for it. A haggard but almost relieved breath left her then, 

She was crazy. 

And while her mind had substantially relaxed down, her body in the strangest of fashion carried on, digging mindlessly. A ringing started in the distance, soft in pitch, at least at first. Practically unnoticeable. 

To think wolves. To think boys. There was something seriously wrong with her. That he could have killed someone...

The pitch would only grow from there. So loud and terrible that Rin would bring a mud-stained hand to swipe at her ear. Only to bring it back down and continue her now frantic search. Both hands furious as they dug further and further into the would-be grave. 

Until suddenly and without cause, the ring would abruptly stop, as had her breath. Mouth open and wide as the dawn of terror moved in on her like the shorefront watches the wave overtake it. Unable to stop what it knew was coming, all along…

A tennis shoe…

Worn and dirt covered glared back at her. The off-white band of the shoe was highlighted by the light of the sky as she further revealed it. It was connected to a jean-covered leg, that much she could say, and it was all she needed to see to confirm...everything. Though it explained none of it. 

He had killed them. 

And she knew as well as she knew the back of her hand that it would take merely another dig at the adjacent sides to the boy to find the others that had been there that night. The smell was sickly, vomit-inducing really. But it was not the stench of the corpse that had her turning suddenly, reeling away. 

No, it had been a faint thud of something. Even from the distance she stood away from his home the noise had met her. Greet her really the same way the gentle tap of his front door had woken her all those months ago…

Shaking Rin strained her ears, halting her breath to better hear for any sounds that she was in fact not alone. And so desperate and without option, she asked again. The requests that had been so fruitless in her youth and at the door. 

Mama...give me a sign. Give me a sign if someone is here, if I am in danger-

The spirits would not let her finish. And perhaps, having recently been exposed, truly presented with the unexplainable, Rin would for once not ignore it. 

The shovel pieces flew out past her as if thrown by some unearthly force, and it only took a single glance down, where the two halves rested, beside her, for her to take off in a sprint. As if called forth, a terrible bolt of lightning lit up the sky. 

Frantic but unable to climb over the now towering fence that separated her from this man’s home and the safety of her own, a frustrated cry would leave her. Spinning around just in time to see, to realize she had but one option left. A clap of thunder shook the ground, rumbling and shaking the electric tension that had suddenly overcome everything. 

The water was cold as it lapped against her exposed skin. Rin shot a nervous glance, biting her lip as she slipped her body in, holding the tiled edge of the pool in order to not make a splash and alert whoever was now in the home. The flowered fabric of her clothes lifted so that she had to pull them against her body and underneath the still surface of the water. 

The downpour began then. Drops of water disturbing the surface of the pool so that she could move around the edges, movements obscured by the tide of ripples as she wedged herself under the slight ledge, double doors to her back, and hopefully out of sight should someone decide to venture into the backyard. 

Frigid and scared, Rin would wait. Eyes clenched shut until she finally heard what she had been dreading the most. 

A chill of cold moved over her that had nothing to do with the pool water that encased her. 

Steps. Slow enough to be casual but purposeful enough to alarm her further. She could feel them moving in. Without another thought, the girl took a shallow breath, covering her nose, and quietly submerged herself. Hoping that whoever was coming closer in inspection, would see nothing, save the covering debris and ripple of pool water that now hid her. 

It was a solid plan, really. Ingenious given the hair-raising circumstances she had found herself in. 

But it did nothing, and with a yank and a splash, she was lifted from the pool and out into the open. Gasping and sputtering as the suddenness of it had startled her enough to get a mouthful of the water. The returning rain beat down on them both. A scream would echo down Shonen street but it would be that same rain that would prevent it from garnering notice. 

“I see you’ve finally decided to come…, Rin.” 

............................

Miroku took the phone at his wife’s following stutter, “Just get back here, Kohaku. We’re still parked on the second floor of the garage. We don't want him to see you snooping-” 

But Kohaku, tired of them and tired of this little creep getting away took off in a sprint. No longer worried about being seen himself, would run blindly through the store in search of Jaken. Making a last sweeping check over the registers to ensure he wasn’t there before running past an old man and his shopping cart full of lumber and entering the parking garage. Ignoring the old man’s grumble behind him as he once again pulled out his phone. Intent on having Miroku and Sango to drive to him and confirm that Jaken’s vehicle was also gone. 

He had just flicked down his calls when the impact happened, not paying attention as he frantically walked out into the way of the cars that were leaving and entering. 

Metal bumper colliding with the side of his legs to send the distracted boy, and his phone, toppling to the cement ground of the first floor of the parking garage. 

Kohaku found himself scrambling, long limbs lifting up as a single arm came out to snatch up his now cracked phone. He inspected it for a moment before turning to see who had hit him. Still standing in the way of the driver’s only path to exit.

But he hadn’t needed to in order to confirm, “Watch where you’re going, you fool.” 

Jaken’s voice was as screechy as ever and Kohaku almost dropped his phone again, as he turned to see that the little helper they had been following, had been the one to tap him with his car. Kohaku bit back a snarl but could tell from the satisfied smile that lit his unnaturally hued face, that it had not gone unnoticed. He could also tell from the beady-eyed stare that this ‘accident’ had been anything but. 

Jaken continued to watch him from his driver’s seat, small head barely over the wheel, clammy little hands grasping tight in annoyance. Kohaku decided then. He was going to get something out of this creep...even if it was the last thing he did. 

Through the cracked screen of his phone, he could see Miroku’s name flash as he tried to call him, but Kohaku would quickly reject it, before lifting the device up for Jaken’s inspection. 

“You broke my phone,” 

Jaken’s following smirk had Kohaku fighting a bristle, “That’s not my problem. Now move out from the road, before I break more than your phone.”

For emphasis, the little servant would rev his engine threateningly. And Kohaku, unable to restrain his usual temper at the action, kicked at his headlight in retaliation, “No-  why don't you come out and make me.” 

The toad-looking man’s eyes bulged further out if possible, “Why you foul little thing-I said, get! Before I-” 

“Before you what? Go and tell Sesshoumaru, you little freak?” 

Jacken, almost turning red from his lack of oxygen and the rising swell of indignant anger, would lay on the horn and the sound of it would echo around the cement garage. In response, Kohaku would take a gangly leg and kick, for the second time, a small dent appearing on his fender. 

Jaken rolled his window down further in order to scream at the car-assaulting boy, “I just might you little insolent fool!” 

Brave and as foolhardy as Jaken accused him of being, the young man would shout louder, bolder than he had been without said man present, “Go ahead- tell him and we’ll beat his ass too!” Before giving his own smirk at the man who still sat in his car. Please with his threat.

It would not last long though and Jaken’s ensuing laughter would have Kohaku gritting his teeth, thoroughly insulted by the creep’s sudden switch in demeanor from angry to amused. 

“What the fuck are you laughing at?” 

A screeching howl of laughter continued to assault his ears. And just as Miroku and Sango pulled behind Jaken’s stalled car, looking nervously at the scene Kohaku was causing, Jaken finally spoke. “You mortals,” 

Mortals? This little motherfucker. Another snorting chuckle ensued as Jaken wiped away a tear of laughter, “Beat up Sesshoumaru-sama he says-”

Kohaku flicked his gaze between his brother in law who was motioning him back and the little laughing servant who was just beginning to calm himself. “That's right. We will-”

He lifted a finger to point at Jaken, though the man still looked thoroughly satisfied, “And you tell your serial killing master to stay the fuck away from Rin, you hear me creep? We’re on to you guys and she doesn’t want anything to do with a freak like him.” 

Jaken nodded tauntingly, “Oh I’ll be sure to tell him all about this. But boy, how can you be so sure that it’s not you that is bothering the girl? Perhaps you should leave her alone and accept the loss.” 

Call it whatever but at the phrase, Kohaku’s internal alarm bells went soaring, and it was with a dawn of realization, that the boy’s eyes began to narrow. “It was fucking you- you took Rin’s phone!” 

The line of familiarity reaching up to smack him the longer he stared at the toad of a man. The stunted and awkward text he’d received before finding her going into her neighbor’s house. He was sure of it. 

And Jaken’s nervous scoff that followed only solidified the notion. “I did no such thing-now move, brat. Sesshoumaru-sama will most certainly hear about this and you’ll pay-” 

For emphasis, Jaken would push the car forward enough to once again tap Kohaku’s legs. Though this time he was able to move out of the way and quick enough to avoid the collision. 

But it would be Jaken’s final words, flung from his still-open window as he sped away from the angry boy, that would have Kohaku’s stomach plummeting with an unknown feeling…

“What Sesshoumaru-sama wants, he gets, better learn that soon boy.” 

............................

It took a furious struggle and before she could take another breath she had freed herself from him, his grip seemingly loosening enough for her adrenaline-ridden body to hit the tiled and rain-slick surface that surrounded his opulent pool. Before scrambling away on hands and knees into the grass. In the ensuing sprint back into his home, she would slip along the lacquered wood floor of his kitchen and it was only then that she realized she’d lost her shoes in the motions. 

Only barely having enough time to swing herself around the massive island counter before her before Sesshoumaru’s still stoic form followed her inside. Casual as was his tendency though she had seen it before, the purpose in his gait, as he stalked after her like a predator after his prey. 

A tremble forced its way through her when he stopped, just after entering the double doors that led to his backyard. Taking the time to extend his arms, the span of which was long enough to grasp the flung open french doors by the carefully painted edges. Long and sinuous fingers wrapping around as he pressed the glass and wood-paneled surfaces back and closed behind him. All the while never removing his eyes from her as she dripped all over his floor. Clothes sopping wet and clinging to her small shivering figure.  So utterly... devourable . 

He shifted his gaze from her as a hand moved further behind him in search of the knob, his long neck exposed more with the motion, and it gave her the nerve to finally speak though she found herself panting with the effort.

“Don’t!” 

For the panicked shout, she would be met with silence, amber eyes slicing through the thickness of the air to regard her and once again steal her breath. The pit in her stomach would only drop further as the click of the lock sounded to echo around them, ushering in the fate she’d skirted one too many times. Such a foolish little thing…she’d never truly stood a chance. Her gruesome kismet becoming more tangible with every tap of his patent-leather oxfords as he made his way towards her.  

A garish clatter sounded next as her trembling hands searched the countertop before her for anything to defend herself, the desperate motion of it knocking an assortment of items off in the process. No, no, no, please…

One of her hands connected enough to clasp the handle of an errant mug and without thought she chucked it at him. Only barely hearing, over the rush of blood in her ears and continued search, as the ceramic mug missed him entirely to shatter upon the floor. He would continue his steady gait, each step punctuated as his anticipation grew...sinful tongue coming forth move over the smooth flesh of his lips before retreating to grind against the pointed sliver of his fang. Practically salivating though his countenance remained the same. 

Rin...had made a grave mistake in confirming what she already knew, deep deep down, to be true had she not let all of her closest people detract her. Sesshoumaru was not normal..not by a longshot. 

Her voice shook, “Stop-p-” before a panicked yell left her. Both hands grasping the edges of an errant bowl of fruit that had laid in wait, colorful delicacies scattered over the island, some more far-flung pieces rolling to the floor as Rin heaved the bowl at him as hard as she could. 

It would do nothing. Silver head shifted momentarily to avoid the projectile before he once again starting, undeterred as he continued around the corner of the island moving closer and closer towards her. 

Once he was facing her, nothing further between them, her body moved for her. Fear reaching its horrifying peak as her eyes grew wider in fright, muddy little feet taking steps backward in a bid to add to the space between them. The one he was slowly and pointedly closing. Until her back hit a stop at the counter behind her. 

A harsh breath left her as she turned quickly, hands once again searching for something..... Anything to delay the inevitable. And at last, she found it. The butcher block knife made a sharp noise as she pulled it from its sharpening sheath. 

Though he would be on her before she could turn around, much larger form overtaking hers without effort. The threat died upon her lips as his arms moved to circle her and clasp her dainty wrists in his hands. His fingers long enough to overlap over the small parts of her.   

Long silver strands flowed over her in caress as he bent lower. A heated whisper traveled to warm the delicate cove of her ear and the motion sent a shiver down the length of her body. “Now…,” 

Rin continued to struggle, bending in on herself and further into his cocooning embrace as she pressed against him with all her might. Erratically pulling and tugging at the restraining hold he had on her arms and wrist.

The warmth of his baritone voice against her still saturated skin made a delicate line of goosebumps travel over her exposed flesh, “What were you planning to do with this, little one ?” 

She felt him press further into her damp tresses and ever closer to her delicate neck. Reactive. It prompted her to bend herself further to one side and away from his nuzzle, “No-” 

But he would roughly re-right her using the steel band of his arms before moving his hands as well as her own together. A gasp left her as he released her wrist and ultimately her hand, though it was not the one that held tight to her newfound weapon. The speed of him was nothing short of jaw-dropping though, and before she could even think to strike out he had her wrists pressed together and wrapped within a single one of his strong hands. So that both sets of her fingers were forced to clasp the blade.  

The simple show of power would serve its purpose. And Rin could feel the fight in her dying as he demonstrated just how utterly and completely helpless she was against him. 

Now free, his other hand would move then in a caress up the side of her rounded forearm, the feathery action enough to leave her shaking like a leaf against him.

He dipped lower over her shoulder, silky tresses tangling with her own and tickling her cheek, so that she could see his handsome profile and it would distract her momentarily as his other hand moved closer to the sharpened blade she was still gripping in a white-knuckled hold. The glint of it bouncing and shaking to match the now constant tremble of her body. 

Chocolate, tear-glazed eyes, would widen more at what he did next. A shocked and terrified scream ripping forcefully from her. Though there would not be a soul to hear it

He whispered again, “Is this what you intended to do….,” 

And Rin would continue to scream as he clasped his hand tighter around the deadly sharp edge of the knife and pressed her wrist that held it, forward to slice himself further. Watching as a gush of crimson came to drench the unearthly colored skin of his now closed fist, some of it beading to drip and leak onto the kitchen floor below them. A soft and rich chuckle that resembled the one from her dream met her unprotected ear as he released the knife to present his raw and deeply sliced palm. In response, Rin would find herself pressing further back into him and away from the bloody limb he held up for her inspection. 

That was until...

The knife would clatter to the floor as Rin’s body went still suddenly, eyes seeing everything though her mind was disconnected and unable to reason what was happening. Even with all her suspicions, she was not quite prepared…

As the supernatural flesh before her, unconcerned by the audience and seemingly of its own accord, began to mend itself before her very eyes. Taking no more than a second to return to its original state, still bloody but decidedly unharmed. She felt him gently release her and without his support, she would crumble. Knees awkward and pressed in as she slid into a kneel, eyes glued to the bloody knife she’d dropped as it began to grow an eerie neon shade of green. 

Would watch as Sesshoumaru’s corrosive blood began to eat away at the steel blade until all that remained was the handle she had priorly gripped. 

Her mind was remarkably silent for once. Despite this, another ear-piercing scream left her. Would continue to leave her as she watched the beads of his unnatural and acidic blood burn holes right through the very floor of his home. Fear overriding every single one of her senses. 

His voice would cut the air sharply and without rising, tired of the screaming pitch, “Enough.” 

And as if on command her voice cut out, though her mouth remained shaped in a silent scream of terror. 

Before she could think her body was moving. Sliding along the slippery surface of his floor until she could stand and begin a run. Sesshoumaru would watch her, though he would make no move to follow, as she attempted to flee his home.

The same rooms from before rushing past her, this time much faster and in a blur, than when she had initially arrived for her stupid plan. 

How could she have been so foolish…to doubt her own eyes

Her equilibrium was off and as she passed the tall shelves of his library she would knock her shoulder into the corner of one of their thick bodies. The ensuing pain would go unnoticed though as she turned, still in a run, to ensure Sesshoumaru was not close. The room alone enough to remind her of just how low her guard had been around him. 

How could she have trusted him…defended him even.

A heave left her as she finally made her way towards his great oak front door, the one that resembled her own so acutely the thought hurt. Accepting his gifts had been tantamount to accepting gifts from the man that killed her mother. Her breathing became erratic as she began to hyperventilate. 

He was a monster...and she was going to die by his hand.

It mattered little though as she knew...just knew, he was never going to allow her to leave, just as he hadn’t allowed the other women before her. She briefly wondered what gifts he had bestowed them, as he had done her, in order to disguise his true intentions. Still, she sprinted faster, arm extended out in order to more quickly grasp at the handle of her only hope for escape. But it would be for not. 

She would throw a final glance over her shoulder, expecting to see as he closed in on her but there was no one. Only to turn back and collide with what she instantly recognized as his button-up covered chest

Even more panicked than before she turned away once more, using her hands to press off the unmovable wall of his blocking body. But before she could fully twist away her arm was yanked by an unyielding grip, and before she could even complete her frightened yelp, she found her world spinning, literally this time.

A shocked breath would leave her at the impact of her back meeting the foyer wall.  The speed of it would stun but not hurt her as the wall gave a dull thud and rumble in response. 

Caught again, she could do nothing but gape as his much larger form pressed her further, practically smothering her entire body with his own. A single one of his powerful hands clasping and entrapping both of her own above her head. 

So close and so intimately pressed against her she would not only hear but feel as the rumble of his voice spoke, the heat of which would wash over her face in caress, “Always going somewhere…, ” 

A tremble started and her eyes continued to dart around the small spaces she could see beyond him, though the overwhelming size difference made it more than difficult. 

There was the gentle caress of his thumb against her erratically shifting pulse and the gentle motion of it gave her the courage to meet his gaze. Wavering, chocolate eyes met amber. Though the sharpness of his would only serve to remind her of her helplessness against him. And just how powerless she was, and always had been , to prevent him from acting on whatever cruel intention he had. 

Her eyes snapped shut and the motion allowed her to renew her struggle. Tiny body furiously struggling against his unmovable posturing.  Please, please, please…

It would be in vain though. As Sesshoumaru pressed himself more firmly into her, putting a halt to any of her pesky struggles. 

Silver head tilted and leaned so that he could look down on his captive prize, and the heat of his speech could wash over her crestfallen face,  “Are you so truly so desperate to get away from me, Rin? ” 

Eyes still tightly shut, she would feel rather than see as he moved closer, bending so their faces were nearly level. He made a low humming noise in his throat, in an unstated question, and when he spoke again his voice was softer in the space he’d barely left between them, so that his breath caressed her quivering lips,  “So frightened you cannot bear to look at me?” 

The feeling would have her eyes opening, though she could in fact, not bear to hold his gaze. Her neck twisted in an uncomfortable angle so that one side of her head was against the wall and her eyes could just make out the cool grey light his front door allowed to spill over the foyer floor. The situation alone was overwhelming enough to the poor girl. On the verge of tears, she could feel, like one feels a touch, as his eyes bored into her profile. Waiting patiently. 

For what hurry was there, really...when he had her exactly as he wanted her. Like the true predator he was...

And while he had more than incapacitated her in his restricting hold, his words had done nothing but send her mind racing, wildly, in search of anything. Anything at all to save her feeble life. Innocent and panicked gaze flitting, rapidly enough to keep pace with her thoughts, over the front door off and to the side. The perfect picture of a cornered and skittish animal. 

Still ruminating on his words, her own would slip from her more fragile than she intended, an unintended stutter caused by the harsh intakes and exhales of air, that she could not control,  "P-please just let me go…I-I won't say anything to anyone…"

A pause would follow as he took his time. It gave the illusion of contemplation and allowed a sprig of hope to bloom within the young woman’s chest. But it would be short lived; there had never been a decision at all, and the time for one had long, long, long ago passed. 

Her head would press harder to the wall in a flinch, as she watched him, move in from her peripheral, even closer than before. Close enough that his next words would again caress, the delicate curve of her ear. His free hand came up to softly swipe away her hair from over it so that his lips could graze the sensitive flesh and the motion had her squirming slightly. 

“No.” 

Rin felt her stomach drop to meet her muddy little feet as an intense wave of dread overtook her. Fresh helplessness creeping in to color the sudden cry that ripped from her at his denial, to echo around the darkening foyer.  

His head retreated to regard her as her head turned towards him again, teary eyes finally meeting his own. Lips quivering against the onslaught of emotions that threatened to shatter her already delicate status. Something defiant in her eyes even though she knew it was only a matter of time before…

Amber eyes took their time traveling over her face, though she could discern not a single thought from the motion, before stopping on her mouth. And her breath would catch with the sensuality of it. 

Sesshoumaru leaned forward then, sudden enough to frighten the already skittish girl as if he meant to kiss her, and the motion of it forced from her a final bid for release, 

“K-Kohaku...he knows I'm here," 

It was pathetic how flimsy the words sounded, a truly desperate last-ditch effort, but the name halted him. Even if only momentarily. And suddenly spurred by the action, Rin released a breath she had not realized she had been holding, before carrying on.

"If you don't let me go he'll know and he'll call the police-”

Sesshoumaru would hold, eyes shadowed by the length of his bangs, blurred by the tears that still sat in her eyes, unshed. And she wondered if he could smell the lie on her, and considering all the strange phenomena he had ushered in her life, the thought did not seem so far-fetched. 

Rin opened her mouth to speak once more, another idle threat, “I-ahhh-”

But Sesshoumaru would resume his previous trajectory, bending his elegant neck into a curve so he could see down the length between them. Suddenly unable to see anything beyond the wall over his shoulder, Rin would begin to again fidget. Wrists and hands pressing against the steel hold he had on them without result. 

Another reverberating hum from him would still her once again, unbothered, or so it seemed,  “Is that so…,” 

Rin's eyes continued to flit over the wallpapered surface of his foyer wall, waiting, as Sesshoumaru took his time. Though she would not see as his countenance shifted, human veneer fell away to reveal momentarily the markings she had seen in her dreams, before at once returning. Anger safely tucked away.

His voice carried the faintest mock, “And are you sure they will be enough?” 

Rin continued to pant in her fear. Strength of it slightly shifting the heavy drapes of his hair. Enough?

“En-enough?”

His lips once again, pressed against her ear, “Enough to keep me away from you…,”

Rin would not have time to contemplate his words before a faint tickle was moving steadily up her torso. The feathery sensation so light and so smooth that she could hardly feel as Sesshoumaru’s elongated nail sliced through her clothes. 

Parting the saturated fabric of her shirt and bra without so much as a snag so that a thin strip of her pale flesh was revealed to the cold damp air of his home. Breast heavy and freed from their prior entrapment though the fabric would hang limp and in place to conceal her modesty. 

She felt his free hand move under the tattered fabric to slowly pet up the curve of her waist and ribcage. The foreign caress sending a shiver down her spine. The feeling of his flesh against her own eliciting a familiar flush to rush through her body in response, unbidden. Her skin tingling even after his touch had moved on as if in remembrance.  Rin would try and speak, 

“Wha-”

Before a gasp would tear through her and over his shoulder, breath leaving her in abrupt exhale as Sesshoumaru’s thumb extended out to graze the sensitive bud of her nipple. Large hand shifting to cup and knead at her delicate flesh as he continued to watch. As her little peaks pebbled through the fabric of her shirt in arousal under his careful stimulation. Head bent over her so that his breath could ghost over the still exposed strip of her torso and cause her steadily heating flesh to prickle and tighten into goosebumps in reaction. What was he doing?

He would lean down to place a feathery kiss on the hollow of her delicate neck. And the motion had a timid whimper floating out to echo in his foyer. She felt the shift of his lips on her neck as he spoke, voice low and husky, almost accusing, "You've never been touched by a man…,” 

Never once...save the assault by the boys that laid dead in his backyard, though the motion had been fleeting and nothing like his own. Voice lowering even more, “No one but me,"

And she would not see just how pleased the realization made him as he placed another barely-there kiss higher upon her neck. 

The words left her without thought, "...you're not a man…," brittle and shamed at his accusation, dazed and flushed at his actions. 

She felt rather than saw the satisfied smirk quirk of his lips as they shifted against the sensitive flesh of her neck. 

Her body froze in its timid arousal, petrified, innocent eyes wide and pleading as he pulled further back to gaze at her. At the sight she made, so pliable and at his mercy. Amber eyes so intense they left a scorch upon her soul, bore into her again, closer than ever before so that she had no choice but to hold his stare. Handsome face still tilted down at her, a slight smirk still in place. A long finger moved to tilt her chin up so that he could better hold her gaze. 

 His deep voice shook the air around them, deceivingly soft, almost mocking, " Oh, what am I, Rin ?"

Her watery eyes wavered dazedly between his own steady ones. 

He was…he was….the beads...he touched them

A long moment passed like this, in their tense standoff.  Sesshoumaru allowing her ample time to provide her theories though she had none. When she instead continued to gaze up at him, so innocent and at his mercy that he could not help but relish in the sight. He would bend again before moving forward. Hand releasing her chin to join his other that still held her arms and wrist above her head. And still dazed, Rin’s head would remain titled up at him, gaze locked within the hypnotic depths of his unnaturally colored eyes. 

Until each of his hands once again had one of her own, before gently sliding her arms out and to the side to extend on either side of her. 

His gaze never left hers as he finally released her arms, gently pressing them into the wall in command to stay, and they would, even after his were no longer there to hold her in place. 

And she would watch, as his unnaturally lengthened hands moved to open further the flap of her torn shirt and bra, so that the material moved from her shoulders before coming to rest on her upper arms, unable to move completely off given her position. But moving enough to expose her immodesty to him. Amber eyes roaming intently as he revealed more of her supple flesh to his hungry gaze. A whimper would escape her and his eyes would slowly rise from their inspection to recapture her frightened gaze. Penetrating. As if he could read every thought and sinful desire for him painted on her virginal flesh. 

This time, Rin would finally respond, thrashing and arching herself away from the wall with a bout of shame so strong she felt her body shaking. But Sesshoumaru would use his body to once again press her to the wall. And Rin’s trembling body would crumble back further. Sliding down as if to hide herself from him. 

Sesshoumaru would recapture her arms that had risen to push him away before pressing, and ultimately trapping them, between their bodies as he wrapped her flailing form within the confines of his arms. Preventing any more obscuring of her body from his knowing gaze. 

Once again, unable to move, Rin devolved into tears. Head twisting back and forth with the force of the sobs she had been trying to keep down. Tears streamed endlessly down her face as the final shred of hope left her. So thoroughly outmatched and humiliated for it, she could do nothing but plead, 

Voice teary and punctuated by her defeat, “Please-”

Sesshoumaru would loosen his hold minutely though Rin would hardly notice, “Please don’t hurt me-please,”  Her voice little and so paper-thin that even Sesshoumaru’s supernatural hearing would strain to hear.  As she pleaded for her life… morbid remembrances of her mother’s mangled corpse flashing behind her eyes

Sobs still racking her little body she would likewise hardly notice as Sesshoumaru again bent forward to lean close to her ear. 

“Shhhh….,” Before pressing another feathery kiss to mark the spot. Afterward, working his way to her face. Tenderly peppering the feminine line of her jaw, as Rin finally stilled. "I'm not going to hurt you."

He moved to kiss her cheeks, one of his arms unwrapping from her now limp form to angle her face towards him. So that their eyes could meet. And Rin found she could do nothing more than stare into his molten gaze. As the hypnotic depths slowly roved over her face, countenance much softer than it had been before. 

Her heart flopped at the sight as all the fight left her. He didn't intend to hurt her?

Perhaps, it was naive to believe such a thing from him but she found herself clinging to his words, as he gently hushed her between his resuming kisses. Moving over one tear-stained cheek and then the next before kissing her forehead. The reverent motions of it speaking volumes. 

And when he spoke again the deep baritone of it shook against her despite the softness, despite the gentle promise, "Relax…, and I'll make everything better,"

And though Rin found herself struggling, internally of course, with the familiar and still flowering desire she had to just….give in. Another part of her would reach out, sending a fresh bout of silent tears down her face for his lips to catch as well. 

She made a choked noise on her first attempt to vocalize, the stutter of fear still present in the chest and throat. Until finally she got it out, meek and brittle though he would hear all the same. 

"W-why are you doing this?"

Her eyes would shut almost exhausted with the effort and she would miss the look he gave her just before he once again bent closer to her face, warm breath ghosting over the flesh of her inviting lips in mimic of his caresses. Silver hair tickling and moving over her already tingling…and now exposed flesh.

"Because I can…"

Chocolate eyes would reopen, shocked as his face slowly retreated to watch her. Molten eyes intense before he spoke his final declaration, possessive and unwavering in his conviction, though it would be said with his usual quiet stoicism, 

"...And because you are mine."

His? But it did not need repeating. Rin knew, deep down in the well of herself, the part of her that yearned to expose itself to him...and him alone, that this had been true. Though it was only now that he had her trapped within his embrace that she could admit it. The power he had over her…

The attention she could not stop herself from giving him…

Even now as she knew with hundred percent surety that he was not just a killer but an unnatural and undetermined being, she could not fight the pull. Perhaps...if she had never opened her door, she would have never seen Sesshoumaru Taisho. Would never even have bothered to lift herself from her self-induced lethargy. Would have allowed herself to be passively pulled away into the depths of her misery in order to better pass from this life and to the next. 

But the clarifying notion was fleeting as he moved again. Long silver hair draping over them as his hand moved to cup her face and tilt it back. To hold her in place as he too tilted slightly, before finally pressing his lips upon her own in a kiss.

The rest of her weight would buckle as his own tongue came forth to coax her…

Lapping at her until she finally yielded, legs giving out from under her through the strength of his arms continued to hold her form flush against him. 

Arm still trapped and pressed into her exposed chest, Rin could do nothing more than sink her fingers into his button-up shirt. Meticulously starched fabric, bunching in her tiny fists as her eyes fluttered closed against anything beyond the feel of him on her. Brain unable to focus on anything beyond the sensual motions of his mouth as he practically devoured her.

When he pulled away her eyes opened at the loss, lips barren and flesh exposed as his chest pulled from hers. Amber eyes took their time, gliding over her flesh. Forearms and hands pressed tight against the rounded flesh of her breasts, almost teasing in its modesty. Pink tips peeking at him from behind her meager cover as the cold rushed in the space he left to chill her skin. 

The feeling of his eyes once again taking her breath and only served to highlight the ever-growing heat that was beginning to spread low in her belly...the now-familiar one. Twisting her lower body as a whimper left her unbidden. 

The sound of it awakening him once more and he moved suddenly, mouth bending to give a languishing suck on her delicate collar bone. Before his hunger overtook him. One large hand moving between them to clasp one of her wrists and wrench her arm away. While his other one pressed her back into an arch, bringing the sensitive little tips closer to him as he continued to ravish her neck and decolletage with his sinful kisses. 

Tiny little whimpers echoing in a haunting tune around the foyer, until at last his ravishing mouth met the delicate flesh of her nipple. An unbidden moan left her as her cheeks and chest reddened with the shame of it. 

And in response, she would receive a mind-numbing throb that had her legs twisting together as he gave a particularly harsh suck before releasing her with a wet pop. 

A faint smirk, devious, would press into the flesh between her breast as he gave a lingering kiss there as well. Rin’s eyes following the motions with rapt attention as he continued upwards, holding her gaze, handsome countenance pleased with her response until he could once again press his practiced lips against her own. Hand on her back, sliding higher as he manipulated her little body to his will. Familiar and with ease like a puppeteer and his marionette on a string. 

It would distract her, timid little tongue coming out to finally meet the demand of his own. The muscle dancing and invading every part of her mouth without remorse. And why would it be, when its owner felt nothing of the sort…

He moved to her jaw again, deep baritone practically purring his pleasure, and just as the thickness of her eyelashes began to flutter shut, they opened alarm pressing through her still hazy mind. 

The unmovable arm around her waist and back tightened minutely in preparation of another struggle, separating her further from the foyer wall he previously trapped her against. Kisses more demanding in order to keep her under his spell. 

 As the other hand that still held her arm out pressed to rest her dainty limb over the broadness of his shoulder in unspoken command. Before, finally moving to stroke over the soft flesh of her belly. Sensual caress sliding over the generous swell of her hips until he reached the rim of the still wet jean shorts she wore. A nailed finger coming forth to trace where the irritating fabric held tight to her, until at last reaching the button. 

It would take him no time for his deft fingers to press the metal piece through the loop. And Rin's small noise of protest would be smothered by another heated kiss from him as he too took this from her. 

He would pull away barely to press a more tender kiss upon her lips, and another one, and another one after that. 

Not sure of what he would do next and still teetering on the edge of terror rin could not help but to speak. Inexperience and vulnerability shining through. Her voice was watery when she spoke, lips brushing against his own given the proximity, the lilt of question coloring the utterance, 

"Sesshoumaru-sama…"

And he would waste time before gently silencing her, save the little whimper that escaped between aspirations, with another one of his tender kisses. His own lips pausing momentarily to exhale over her sensitive flesh. 

"Shhhhh..,"

Rin's body would fidget as his nimble hand moved under her jeans, fingerings and tracing the lace of her unintentional choice in undergarments, before pressing under them as well. Two long fingers sliding over the tuft of hair that marked her center before gently parting her silky lips in exploration. 

A piercing gasp left her, forcefully exhaling over his shoulder as he pulled her even closer to nuzzle the sensitive space between her neck and shoulder. 

The vibration of his baritone groan along with the gentle slide his fingers had started between her legs would have her eyes fastening shut. Onslaught so much she could do nothing more than grip him with her one free hand as she rode through a particularly harsh thrum of exhilaration. 

"You're so wet, Rin, "

Practically saturated as the gravelly quality his voice had acquired sent another gush of liquid to dampen his fingers and soak the silky lining of her panties. So sensitive to the barest of touches by him, that she could hardly focus, as he relished in the evidence of her desire…her little body so pliant and inexperienced that he could barely restrain himself. 

A slippery and gentle digit pulled back the delicate folds of her before the other moved further into her sticky heat to press at her fleshy little pearl. Never touching but circling enough to have the colors of him blurring at the stab of pleasure it caused with every round. 

Sesshoumaru pulled back to watch the ecstasy filter through her still flushed face, little pants, and moans leaving her breathless, as his fingers continued their torture. Eyes rolling back in her head as bolts of electricity began a constant thrum through her veins. The culmination of every wet dream of him reviving to settle over her skin/ 

"Look at me." He ordered, voice strained but only slightly, as he reigned in the overwhelming desire to...

It was a challenge, to press through the pleasure and open her glazed eyes. Amber held her own, pinning, and so intense that Rin could only give a sweet little moan in response. Shy gaze wavering and unable to continue the hold for fear of losing herself completely. Hand clenching and unclenching into the hardness of his broad shoulder in tune with the clenching muscles of her sex. Until finally, she could resist no more and her beautifully glazed eyes slid shut once more. 

He would press harder then, nimble finger stroking her little nerve so that her still timid moans turned wanton. The haunting melody loud and echoing in his foyer. 

A growl leaving his throat to echo around them, cocooning her pleasure and eliciting another shameless response from her. 

"Let me have you, Rin ,"

Another breathy moan was his response,  "Ahhhhh..,"

Voice softer but still calm, "Give yourself to me…,"

He would wrap tighter around her as something began to build and shake the smallness of her frame. Her body tensed in preparation. Voice desperate and airy as she bit her lip before speaking again, "Please….,"

Please don't stop...

He couldn't stop, not now, every piece of her being working and riding towards something that was forming deep within her belly. Deep within her soul.

Little delicate hand now fisting and pulling at his shirt in an unspoken plea. As he served as her only remaining tether to earth, the press of his hard body the only thing preventing her from floating off. Mind mushy and lost to the torrential overstimulation that stemmed from where his hand remained buried between her legs. Working her, competing with, and ultimately dominating every single one of her senses. 

She was so, so close…

Body tensing and releasing against his own rhythmically. Another one of his fingers would move then, to tease her entrance, before pressing in. Gentle, though a feral hiss would escape him at the feel of her impossibly tight channel squeezing and sucking in his digit. 

Her mouth stayed open in a silent scream, toes curling in on themselves, as the sensation of him filling her set in. So complete and so perfect she could not stop the responding buck of her hips against him. 

A deep groan would leave him at the action as he leaned down to kiss her again. Mouth swallowing up all of her pleasured vocalizations. 

But just before the unnamed feeling could take her he stopped. Mouth moving from her own as his head turned to regard his front door. From his profile, she could see his eyes narrow, face stoic, though the telltale signs of anger remained. And she would shiver at the loss as his hand moved out from under her garments to rest on her hip, possessive. 

Glazed, chocolate eyes would follow, dazed but quickly sobering as she saw through the foggy pane of glass someone standing on the other side. Her hand came down to push at his chest and partially distracted, Sesshoumaru would loosen his hold enough for her to wiggle down, feet once again touching the floor, though she hadn't realized he lifted her at all. 

Senses and rationality returning to her in a dizzying rush to settle along with the still sizzling arousal of her body. The confusing mix serving to shame her at how quickly she had been wrapped up in his distraction as she attempted with fumbling hands to rebutton her skewed shorts. 

Sesshoumaru, as if sensing the shift, lifted his hand to rest upon the wall behind her. Arm in place to block her anticipated exit, though his face remained staring at his front door in wait, seemingly unbothered by the potential intruder. And why would he be, when he subdued the one below his so easily….

Rin gasped as the door burst opened before quickly remembering through her still frightened haze to wrap the tattered remains of her shirt together. 

............................

“Are you sure Nagisa and you don’t want to come?” Sango asked him again as he walked past where she was using their front hall mirror to put in her earrings. 

“I told you guys I don’t want to go clubbing. I’m going to check on Rin-” 

And without so much as a glance back Kohaku had made his way out of their house and to his dad’s truck. Ever since the incident earlier in the day, the one Miroku and Sango had only barely managed to talk him down from, he’d had this nagging urge to see her. The rain from earlier was just beginning to clear up and the clear moonlit the darkened streets well enough. 

Still, even as he got closer to his destination, he couldn't shake the feeling. Not even as he pulled in front of Rin’s house did it retreat, when he was so close to putting to bed all his worries. Not even as he paused, a hand fisted and prepared to knock upon her familiar front door. 

Something wasn’t right. 

Lowering his arm, Kohaku’s eyes would shoot to the next house over, Sesshoumaru’s house. And it would take less than a second for him to move. Walking through the lawns, unbeknownst to him, the same way his little friend had traveled earlier until he reached his door. 

A jolt of remembered fear rushed through him at the thought of meeting the man again, which he promptly shoved down to sit under his usual boyish bravery. But before he could knock, something would once again halt him. A muffled noise from beyond the door, echoing out to reach him.

Something wasn’t right. 

In his bones, he knew she was in there. And before he could rationalize anything, Kohaku’s hand was on the knob of Sesshoumaru’s door instead of the knocker, twisting and pressing the heavy oaken entrance open. Also, just as his little friend had done earlier in the day. 

The sight that would greet him would be one he would never forget. 

Sesshoumaru had her pinned, that much he could tell, his large, lean form lording over hers, “Rin?!” 

Side of his regal profile turning to face the boy head on, displeasure at the interruption written all over his alarmingly stoic face. Resembling something like the living embodiment of the calm before a storm.

Foolishly, Kohaku rushed over the threshold in search of something to hit the bigger man with. There was a commotion as Rin’s panicked voice reached out to him, “Kohaku don’t! Please just run-” 

“What the fuck are you doing to her you freak?” he was shouting loud enough to alert the neighbors. Just as his little friend had done not that long ago. Though it would likewise go unnoticed. 

With his grip loosened on her, Rin was able to move out from under Sesshoumaru’s still propped-up arm. Taking the single chance and bolting to grab at her foolish friend, who had just willingly walked into more danger than he could possibly imagine to save her. 

And Kohaku would allow himself to be pulled away, eyes glued to the older man as he turned to regard them vacate his home, something more than deadly sitting in his gaze as it focused on his own. Unmoving...though not for long. 

Catching on quickly, Kohaku at once took the lead, pulling ahead to lead his dazed, and he noticed with alarm and a blush, his barely dressed friend to his truck. They needed to get the fuck out of here and Rin away from him. Jaken’s earlier thrown words rising from the pit in his stomach to plunge him into the same dread. What would have happened if he had not arrived? A shudder moved through him as he lifted Rin quickly into the passenger of his dad’s truck, before practically diving in the driver’s side, keys at the ready. 

...But in the eeriest fashion, the engine would turn only once, just enough for Kohaku to see the fuel tank flash empty, before promptly sputtering out. A chill rushed through him as he noticed a now-familiar fog moving over the street, low and surrounding his vehicle. Gas stealing mist.

He did not have time to contemplate this though for fear of giving Sesshoumaru enough time to catch up. As much as Kohaku fancied himself strong, he knew from his last encounter with the man, that he couldn’t afford to be caught with him alone. He needed to get to Sango and Miroku. So without further thought, he got out, pulling along his still dazed and shoeless friend in the sprint of their lives. 

Amber eyes would watch them, seething, though his countenance remained the same as the duo ran down the street and towards the main part of town before taking a single purposeful step down from his porch to follow. 

............................

“Fuck-come on Miroku. Pick up…,”

Kohaku continued to redial, one hand holding his phone, the other clasped tightly around his friend’s slim wrist as he towed her in between the others waiting to be let in the club. Various scantily-clad partygoers stared down at them as Kohaku shoved his way to the front, too distressed to care. 

The bouncer saw him coming and had stood from his stool, the little chair creaking as his hefty body moved. Taking in the disheveled pair that did not look old enough to enter, and that were not dressed for the occasion, Rin still muddy in spots and wearing a tattered shirt that had been tied at the waist. Before Kohaku could say anything the large man addressed them, 

“Woah, woah- where are you going, kid? I need to see ID.” 

His meaty fingers bent in a curl as much as they could, given their size as he hurried him. Kohaku released Rin to slap at his pockets. Muttering a curse he looked at his shoeless friend, her still glazed eyes would meet his own and force another curse from his mouth. 

“Look man, I don’t have it on me right-”

“Then leave.” A thick hand was already shooing them off. Kohaku’s mouth opened in protest, but before he could start he felt Rin grasp his arm in a rapid tug that pulled him off-kilter. 

“Wha-” the words left him as he turned to regard her before following the direction of her frightened gaze. 

Sesshoumaru had found them. In the distance Kohaku could see as his imposing form took shape and began to emerge from the low lying fog that sat over the street. Empty save the line that led up to the newly opened club. And for every sure-footed step he made towards them, his darkened silhouette became more clear. Gaze unquestionably focused on them. 

“Shit!” He reached for Rin and she took his hand as he ran them away from the line and towards the side of the building. At the last second, he took a sharp left into the space between the club and the adjacent building. He needed to think of something and something fast...

A glimmer of light in the darkened alley caught his eye towards the back of the way they were still running on and he pulled them to a stop in front of what appeared to be a window. The abruptness of his newly formed plan had Rin bumping into his back. He shot a look around as he pocketed his phone, 

Rin watched, confused at first as he pulled a rogue garbage can under the window he stopped them at. Realizing his intentions she started to lift herself up even before he grabbed at her waist to haul her the rest of the way,

His eyes kept watch on the left side of the alley for Sesshoumaru, “Rin, see if you can get it open,”

But even as the words left him he could already hear the glass opening shifting as she pressed it further up. He removed his eyes from the opening of the alley to help her through the small space. A small thud met his ears and after casting another quick look at the opening to the alley he jumped up and pulled himself through, making sure to avoid where she was still on the tiled floor lifting herself. 

They looked around the small room that consisted of a urinal and a sink. It seemed they had found the bathroom. But it didn’t matter, Miroku and Sango were somewhere in the club. So without further thought, Kohaku was once again dragging Rin towards the door. Beyond which there was a rhythmic thumping loud enough to alter the beat of their already rapidly beating hearts. 

Kohaku shouted over it to her, “Sango and Miroku are somewhere here. We need to find them-” 

Rin was using her shoulder and hand to cover her ears but nodded nonetheless. The same dazed look still in place on her face. He turned to push forward, pressing and shoving the dancing bodies around them to make room as his head swung back in forth in search of his family. 

At least in the crowded club there were enough eyes to keep Sesshoumaru from acting on whatever plans he had tonight. 

Just as Kohaku started to lose hope a vibration started in his back pocket. He answered Miroku’s call fast, pulling Rin and himself to a more quiet and darkened corner of the floor that was made to be more of a lounge, before releasing his grip on her arm to cup his ear. It was still too loud but it was his only option. 

His voice shouted though the pump of the club dulled and almost muted completely the sound, “Miroku, where the fuck are you? I need your help-” 

............................

Rin slumped against the metal-wired column that Kohaku had left her on, briefly glancing over her shoulder to ensure he wasn’t too far away as he continued to frantically shout into his cellphone. Before turning back towards the chaos of the dance floor. 

She could not tell which was more disorienting. So Rin would alternate, focusing first on the thumping bass of the song had most of the silhouetted bodies swaying in tune, before her eyes, still glossy in the memory of all that had happened, would move to the jarring strobe of lights that kept lighting the floor in rhythmic streams. 

A dainty hand moved up her body to try and feel if her heart was still beating or if it had been replaced by the pounding song that blanketed the place, but it would halt to clasp over her chest in a fist. Her breath caught. 

It was his hair that gave him away. Silver mass of it gleaming under the lights as he moved amongst and between the writhing dancers, who seemed to part for him as if in silent command. And perhaps, she thought, maybe they had…

His steps full of purpose though his direction was not directly coming her way, or so it seemed. And her earlier spell returned as she watched him walk from one side of the club to the next never once thinking to alert her protective friend. Imposing form completely visible even in the sea of milling club goers, as he glided through the crowd until disappearing beyond her line of sight. Before she could turn to call for Kohaku he would reappear, decidedly closer as he continued to walk back to the side he started. Eyes slanted towards where she stood, nervously, gripping the column as her sole anchor. 

The thoughts left then as his eyes caught her own, rogue strobe of soft purple lighting his face, enough for her to see the amber of them, intense and predatory as he once again held her own captive. Until he once again moved beyond her line of sight. 

She watched him move again in a diagonal line, a single line of women separating them as they danced together. One of the drunken women brazen enough to lay at hand over his shirt covered pectoral in an awed caress of the handsome man, though he spared her not an ounce of attention, and instead continued to hold Rin’s gaze as he continued his steady pursuit. Before he disappeared beyond the line of sight the column allowed her. Raven waves shifted as she bent around in search of him, only to see nothing but a more blocking crowd of bodies. Her hand clasped tighter on her drawback. Anxious. 

Only for a startled gasp to leave her as he reappeared for the final time….right in front of her and from the opposite direction she’d seen him disappear as if manifesting from thin air. The possibility could not be ruled out...

Casual button-up he wore tucked over his long torso and opened at the neck still from where he’d….

Her breath left her. And though there were people completely around them, under his gaze, she could focus on nothing but him. Until the world melted away to leave them alone. What was he going to do? 

Her eyes clenched in a flinch as he moved closer to her and she found herself pressing the soft flesh of her back further into the column behind her in order to maintain the distance. Delicate fingers crossing behind her and intertwining with the metal frame of it in a frightened clasp. But after a moment of inaction, she hesitantly reopened her eyes. 

Her wide-eyed stare met his half-lidded one, calm and unbothered, before sliding slowly down to take in his hand. Palm up and extended to her in an offer... beckoning . Shivering harder for every moment that passed, her looking the picture of frightened and him, looking exactly as he had in her dreams. Exactly as he had when he’d calmly pursued her within his home. 

“Come…. Rin,” his voice came in a soft rumble that carried over all the noise. Eclipsing it in the most unnatural of ways as the words reverberated around her on repeat. The reaction it wrought in her was undeniable. Heart fluttering hard enough to drown out the thump of bass around them as if his words alone had reminded her of its presence. As if he had brought it back to life …

His pose remained, unmoving. Strobing lights moved rapidly and highlighted one angled side of his sharp face before moving to the next in a way that did nothing but further highlight his already elevated beauty. Did nothing but highlight the opposing coined image she had of him. Truly devastating...

“I-I…,” Rin bit her lip. The stutter persisting on her tongue as the muscle tapped against her teeth. Her eyes would shoot them off of him, head turning slightly as if to locate Kohaku…

He tsked softly, “They can’t help you, Rin…,” a shocked gasp left her at his disclosure. He titled his head at her, palm pressing further up in his offer, “We both know they don’t believe you…, never taking you seriously,” his voice was almost a hiss at his next words, “...mocking you.” 

She continued to shift her gaze between his hand and face, strobes of light moving fast enough to match her increasing intakes of breath as well as the oscillating tide of confusion that was beginning to overtake her again. He was evil-

“They cannot protect you..., cannot care for you,” his hand moved closer then, countenance softening, “Not like I can, Rin ...,”

His head tilted back to watch as her hand meekly pulled out from behind her, hesitant in the pace but closer nonetheless as her much smaller hand reached out tentatively to his. 

“Come to me.” 

And he would wait until her delicate limb pressed completely into his own, tiny fingers slipping between the spaces his left, before clasping tightly to lead her away. 

They would make it to the middle of the dance floor before Kohaku intercepted, flinging his arms in a spread to prevent further movement forward. Catching them in the nick of time. And though his reappearance had shocked Rin, it did nothing of the sort for her handsome captor, and before she could even realize what was happening, Sesshoumaru had Kohaku lifted. 

Foolish boy wheezing and pulling at the iron grip of his clawed and marked hand that pressed tighter into his neck. Savoring the view as the life slowly left his eyes. 

Panicked once again, Rin would drop Sesshoumaru’s hand with a scream before flinging the full weight of herself on the arm he was using to strangle her friend, pleading though the sound was drowned out by the blare of the lights and bass, for Kohaku’s life. 

But he would not budge and Kohaku would continue to gasp and struggle against his demise. 

Until in a last-ditch effort, Rin threw herself to Sesshouamaru’s feet, head bowed and pleading since she knew he would hear. 

“Please-please,” sobs ripping from her, “please let him live.” 

Lashes tangled and face tear-streaked as she looked up to find Sesshoumaru’s amber gaze upon her own, face reserved though he had still not released her friend, “For me…,”

Rin would continue to sob at his feet, kneeling legs akimbo and seemingly unnoticed by the bulk of people still withering around them in drunken delight. Before a whoosh of air and a following thud rumbled next to her as Kohaku fell hard, gasping for the sweet air he had priorly been deprived of. 

A voice echoed out from somewhere behind her and before she could blink a strong grip was pulling and escorting her out, “I told you two to stay out, punk kids.” 

Kohaku fumbled alongside the man. As the bouncer from before dragged the still dazed duo towards the roped-off doors of the entrance. Rin shot a look back to see as another and larger man stepped in front of Sesshoumaru’s still form in halt, would just barely make out the fat guard’s words as he spoke harshly to the stoic man, “You can’t be assaulting the guests-get the fuck out,”

But Rin would not see as she stumbled forward with a particularly harsh tug of the guard who still led her and Kohaku away. As Sesshoumaru’s countenance shifted...as it had before when she believed it had been a dream. As a clawed and striped hand ripped through the thick flesh of the bouncer’s chest, graceful limp bloody and pointed on the other side, before flinging, the way one flings a gnat the large man off and into the air. 

He would land face-first on the bar, and the resulting shatter of the lit glassed surface, as well as the ghastly sight, would have the entirety of the club in a panicked frenzy, the mass of people running, some not even knowing why but following the crowd of bodies that were pressing towards the doors in exit. 

Priorly dancing bodies flinging and mashing against each other as they pushed and shoved their way out to safety. The guard that had been leading them stopped, rushing quickly to see what had happened to his colleague. And just like the other people still shouting and screaming in fear, he had not seen what had caused the shift. Would never know the gruesome details of how Sesshoumaru ended him without so much as a flinch. 

In fact, there had been only one…

............................

Kohaku pulled at Rin, unable to grasp what he had just witnessed. 

The eerie glow of crimson eyes and frightening fangs as he moved in for the kill. Still struggling to breathe through his bruised and battered trachea. 

He needed to get them out of here. Anything to put distance between them and….whatever the fuck Sesshoumaru was. Rin would dazedly follow, unable to keep up with the rising tide of events that had filled the entirety of her day, as Kohaku began to lead her down the stairs that led out of the hall that to the entrance. But in the rush of chaos, his grip would loosen, a mass of people shoving with just enough force to separate the two with a simultaneous shout.

“Rin!”

“Kohaku!”

The boy would be shoved against the wall by the unmovable bulk of bodies, helpless as he watched his much smaller friend be carried off and almost crushed under the same wall of humans. 

He watched as they pushed her further along, until at last, she seemed to float, practically plucked from the crowd. It was Sesshoumaru. And Kohaku would watch with a rising tide of terror as the man pressed into the mass using his body to shield Rin, so that the still panicked and shoving crowd would be forced to shimmy their bodies around his unmovable form. Would watch with an overwhelming feeling of helplessness as his little friend clasped tighter to the monster that saved her before collapsing, passed out and exhausted, in the circle of his arms. 

Sesshoumaru would turn slowly, glare menacing as his eyes locked in on Kohaku. The message clear, as he picked Rin up and began to calmly walk out of the club. 

It would take what felt like hours for Kohaku to finally be freed from the crowd. Heaving breaths frantic as he searched around the street for his friend and her kidnapper only to find nothing. 

The vibration of his phone in his back pocket would bring him from his hazy panic and he answered with a fumble as Miroku’s name lit the screen from between the cracks of his shattered screen. 

“Kohaku! Where are you? Why did you hang up-” 

But Kohaku would not let him finish, “He has Rin! Sesshoumaru took Rin!”

An eerie flash of stinging red eyes glared . 

“He’s…

A drop of blood passing over the striped arm and ...claw…

“He’s”

The crackle of air around as he viciously impaled the large body without effort. 

“He’s not human.” 

Chapter Text

Your life is the same, day after day

Everything that you do, you do the same old way.

I can show you the world in a different light

Keep your heart to yourself, give your soul to the night.

Come to me when you’re lonely

Come to me when you need something new

Come to me when you're restless

Cause I’ve got something just for you

Just for you…

-Brad Fidel, Come to Me

There was no rush. The tepid trickle of consciousness buzzing somewhere high in the still idle parts of her brain. As Rin continued on, pleasant and limp, in her dewy sleep. Blissful and ignorant for a few moments longer before she had to return to all that had plagued her.

Though it would take but a minute, maybe more, for her mind to begin to return. Body far behind, so that there were the subtle tendrils of sensations as her limbs slowly began to wake.

She would fight against it, turning her lithe body over to snuggle further into the soft surface below her. Content in her relaxed state to forsloth the remaining day, year,.. lifetime away, if it meant she could lie a moment longer in her warm forgetfulness. So far, far away from her troubles that she did not have the capacity to care.  

A singeing warmth had been wafting in and out of the space around her and it was with a languishing rub of her cheek against the surface below her, that Rin lifted herself at the waist. The gentle motion of it stretching her spine divinely.

Her little hands pressing and fisting in what appeared to be a bear fur rug, plush, and soft to the touch as she made to open her eyes.

Only to snap them shut against the light of the fire before her. The memory of her forest exploration still fresh enough to alarm her at its proximity. She waited a moment longer before gently opening them again. Her gentle and unhurried rousing slowly overcoming the twinge of remembered fear.

Finally awake enough to notice her change in scenery, her tousled and raven locks, dyed orange by the flame, would tumble softly over her shoulder as she shifted to inspect the room around her. Still painfully unguarded and not nearly alarmed as the situation called for…

The crackling fire danced on, as undisturbed as Rin. Caressing her barely clothed and decidedly womanly figure, not that she noticed as she continued to take in the ornate room. The warmth of the flames wrapping her in an unbecoming leisure. Seemingly preventing any hint of chill from touching her delicate flesh as well as it was keeping her attentiveness from fully returning.

How had she gotten here again…

She turned more in search. Taking in, with more alertness than before to gaze around the windowless room she found herself in. A curtained bed sat against the far wall. And the girl found herself too focused on the delicate carvings of the banisters to notice the urgent lift of hair upon the back of her neck. Aware, though the owner was not, of just how intently her observer continued to keep his own set of amber orbs upon her.

But it would be the slowly widening eyes. The depth of her already beautiful eyes shaded an incandescent shade of ruby by the flickering flames, that would render the innocent girl far too sultry than she had any right to be. Irresistible and locked on the portrait that hung upon the wall for a moment before moving to the next antiquated-looking painting.

Thick lashes fluttering occasionally as she took in the image before her. A voice would interrupt her ponderance,

“Up so soon, little one, ”

Rin’s heart fluttered at the instant recognition, and a small gasp left her as her head whipped in his direction.

Sesshoumaru stood, one hand fisted in his slacks, the other graceful limb handing a glass of something …blood red. Rin watched with bated breath as his amber orbs quietly inspected the contents as he swirled them gently by the stem. Stoic appearance as well as his untucked shirt making him appear more statuesque… more devastating than any human being had the right to be….

Though Rin knew better. Had known since the very first incident, though her family and friends had almost been successful in their efforts to dissuade…Sesshoumaru was not human.

And as if to drive the point, his unnaturally shaded eyes, amber and flickering with the flames that served as their only light source, zeroed in on her. The motion of it sent her heart hammering without rhythm, breath picking up as she started to scramble further up. His voice would cut sharply, commanding and rough,  “As much as I enjoy a chase, you will not run again.”  

The finality of his order had her stilling with a tremor. What was he going to do to her?

Rin sat further up, a hand moving from what she now realized was a bear fur rug in order to clasp at her chest. The feel of her soft flesh upon her hand had her quickly glancing down and a shocked gasp would again leave her at the sight.

Gone were her tattered and barely dry clothes from before and Rin had to fight the urge to cross her arms over the low cut, satin, white dress that now dressed her form like a second skin. The only garment at all that now stood between modesty and the world. 

Her mind racing with the mortification that he had redressed her…or even worse, the little servant. A blush lit her face as she lifted her head to face him again, it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen most of her before. Still, the thought was…alarming.

“Where am I?”

It was coming back now. The break-in, the bodies, the chase, the club.

The distance between them had allowed her to steady her voice, and the question rang far too confidently from Rin. Gaze unmoving from the man that stood across the room from where she still sat, legs crossed at the ankle and to the side in order to prevent any further exposure of herself to him.

She would start strong again, though the force would leak out towards the end as Sesshoumaru’s long legs began a leisure stalk towards her, side twisting enough to show that his button-up shirt from earlier was now completely undone. The flaps of fabric holding over his body but leaving just a tantalizing peek of his unearthly flesh to greet her now roving and steadily widening eyes.

“Where’s K-Kohaku?” Her heart hammered as Sesshoumaru’s piercing orbs remained fixed on her own, even in the darkness of the surrounding parts of the room, she knew with an unsettling surety that he could see…everything.

At the name he would pause momentarily. A twitch of his masculine jaw would draw her still frightened eyes. Graceful arm unbending in extension to set his still unknown drink on the edge of one of the surrounding bookshelves. The small tap of the glass kissing the wood would echo around the otherwise quiet space. Promising. 

Why wouldn’t he answer her… She’d seen him release her friend but after that it became an indecipherable blur of scenes.

 Sesshoumaru began again, moving in her direction without another pause, the echo of his feet against the cherry-stained wood floor seemingly faster than his actual pace, and the foreboding noise of it would claw at Rin with every step. Shaky breaths rhythmed and audible in the quiet and decidedly smaller space that separated them.

Rin’s now quivering countenance would watch as his nimble feet pulled from the wood to step upon the rug, would watch as they pulled to stand before her. Eyes slowly following the long line of his legs and torso until her neck could bend no more. A pitiful noise left her throat to float from between her parted lips as their eyes met.

The shadow of flames upon his handsome face, as he looked down at her from where she sat at his feet, made him appear every bit the image of a hellish prince. Regal and stoic as ice despite the warmth that had encased everything else and warmed her body through. Though its scorch was nothing compared to the intensity of his gaze as he continued to regard her.

Rin’s now meek voice started again, “Where-”

Only to be silenced immediately at Sesshoumaru’s next actions. As each of his sinful hands moved to clasp a side of his undone shirt in parting, until the garment was completely removed from his person, and left to drop heavily upon the floor below them with a dull thud. Her eyes moved of their own accord, blush stained cheeks shimmering in the light of the fire, as they roved over the length of his pale and sculpted torso. Moving from one broad shoulder to the next until her eyes finally swept up the thick line of his neck to return to his face. 

Her ensuing gulp was audible. 

A small smirk graced his face at her ensuing stuttered exhale though Rin found she could focus on nothing more than the gallop of her now pounding heart as Sesshoumaru began to lower himself. Long limbs bending and folding until he sat before her, close enough for her panicked breaths to flutter his bangs, in a casual pose. Legs to the side and one now exposed and muscled arm propped up for him to lean upon, as he continued to stare down at her much smaller form.

Molten amber gaze pinning her and leisurely traveling over her now red-stained face, pausing only to fixate upon her parted lips, face intent and muted compared to the intensity of his eyes.

 The words would stick and catch in the sudden dryness of her mouth, and though she wished desperately to speak, Sesshoumaru would not give her a chance. He’d given her far too many as it was. Handsome face tilting quickly as he pressed forward to once again capture her lips. Picking up where they had left off as if without pause.

And Rin found she could do little more than follow. The sensual twist of his mouth upon hers warping her with a timid desire she should have seen coming. His nose grazed hers as he pulled away slightly, taking a moment to relish in her little gasping breaths against his lips, hypnotic amber eyes boring into her own watery and dazed set as he moved to lay a kiss to the corner of her already swollen lips.

He would only move from there. Laying more feathery kisses across one side of her little face, as the supple flesh of her cheeks flushed more hotly in response. He moved closer, so overwhelming that she would be unable to look as she felt his powerful but decidedly gentle hands move over her own that had remained fisted in the rug below. Closer and closer, as his hands continued to slide up the exposed flesh of her arms. His mouth had just placed another sensual kiss upon her ear, so reminiscent of the one he gave her in his foyer that Rin found her eyes closing at the feeling, before moving to the underside of her jaw. So that the silver drapes of his hair could tickle her chest in the most tantalizing of ways, regal nose nuzzling before pressing further into the space between her delicate neck and gently sloping shoulder. But most importantly, and decidedly more alarming, so the ivory of his razor-sharp fang could graze the sensitive skin of her neck...

And though her body and mind felt molten and distanced, the spike of fright shot through her like a crystal bolt of lightning. A glancing image appeared in her mind of a blonde woman, neck bent to exposure, before…

“Ahh,” Rin’s eyes shot open to regard the space beyond him, suddenly skittish and tense as her shoulders came up in a scrunch, forcing Sesshoumaru to retreat. Though he would not go far, eyes appearing before her own to stare, stern. And although his handsome face was still calm, muted even, save the slight tick at the masculine curvature of his jaw, his frustration at her childish evasion rang clear as a bell.

An unexpected twinge of, what Rin was shocked to identify as regret, began to move through her as she bit her lip. Wide-eyed, and decidedly nervous gaze still pinned in place by the intensity of his own. It was as she sat there, coltish and shaking within his sight, that it dawned upon her.

She did not want to disappoint Sesshoumaru…

She sucked in a steadying breath as he moved forward again, face lowering to line up with her own, inspection roving as if his eyes could read her thoughts. Her hands tightened within the expensive fur below her. Mind confused at the mumbled thing that had become her thoughts.

He was a killer….an unnatural one.

A gasp left her as he titled again, though he would remain poised closer, but still unmoving…waiting, willing her to submit to him. Her chin quivered at the notion and before she could reason it further the urge struck. The desire…

Her little face was angled towards his tentatively, eyes clenched shut as to avoid the penetrating stare she still felt. 

Sesshoumaru would regard her from his half-lidded stare, eyes lowered and watching as his little captive pressed her inexperienced lips against his own in a barely-there press. Allowing her timid experiment to last for a moment longer before she felt the caress of his fingers dance over her jaw. He righted her quickly, mouth slanting over her own possessively as his hand angled her properly. Once again dominating all her senses. A shiver of something began to lap at her, starting from all the places their bodies touched, pushing out to spread through the rest of her small form. 

Another gasp tore from her as he pressed his lips against the same route he traveled before, more demanding as he forged on so that a stunted breath would exhale from her at the suddenness, until at last reaching the fragile line of her neck. 

In preparation to….

........................................

 His already bloody fist hit the brick again with a sickening crunch before Sango could reach him, “Stop it, Kohaku-”

A whoosh would sound as he turned to reject her coddle, “Just leave me the fuck alone!” 

“Hey-” both siblings would stop and pause, unused to Miroku’s tone, “Don’t talk to your sister like that-we get that something happened, but that’s not an excuse-”

“You shut the fuck up too, you think you run something here? I already told you-” the breath would leave him in a pained exhale as his usually laid back brother-in-law pinned him against the brick wall of the alley they’d convened in. The same one he and his still-missing friend had taken only hours ago. 

“You haven’t told us anything, Kohaku-” 

The younger man would struggle against Miroku’s restraining hold, almost getting the upper hand a couple of times, before his still throbbing injuries from Sesshoumaru would finally catch up. The young man would speak then, beat down, defeated, and angry for the feeling, “You guys just make everything worse,” his shout was hoarse, “I-”

A pale and bloody limb would taunt him, renewing the unreal wash of fear, that try as he might, he could not shake. Boyish bravery crumbling like never before…

“I-” his eyes caught Miroku’s serious ones and the guilt was immediate. As if his own consciousness was staring him down in judgment. And as absurd as the thought was, as absurd as mistaking Miroku for an authority worthy enough to judge, he could not shake it. He had let him take her…

He shook his head stubbornly at the thought. It wasn’t over, he just needed to… What did he need to do?

Sango’s increasingly concerned face peered up at him from over her husband’s shoulder, lip quivering and on the verge of tears at the sight of her bruised and disturbed little brother. The image stilled him further and he felt Miroku loosen his hold slightly in response. 

Kohaku looked down the desolate and narrow street. The red and blue flashing lights flickered to light the adjacent brick wall as the police continued to clear the scene they’d left, the now-empty club. It rendered everything unreal, the flick and change of them. A strange thought struck him then. 

Instincts. When Sango had mentioned it, the first time, not the third, she’d been taller than him. Leaning against the dirty paneling of their house, breathless and flushed from their escape. The nostalgia of it wrenching something in his still bruised chest. 

They’d only narrowly made it home after Kohaku had told them to leave...a moment later, no, a second later and old man Hiroshi would have caught them red-handed and sneaking from his garden, watermelons in tow. His unflappable memory supplied more. Sango had wanted to bash them in the street..for fun of course. 

A shaky breath left him as the memory grounded him. 

It was a quiet declaration, and it would be something, much like the events of this night, that he would never, ever forget. Kohaku remembered too much. 

Remembered the glint of fangs, snarl rippling over Sesshoumaru’s unnatural face.

His eyes clenched in the memory...he’d watched a man die by the hands of some…

Dark eyes opened to capture Miroku’s and the desperate glint they’d acquired would not be lost on his unusually astute brother in law, “He,” Kohaku started. 

Steadying himself as his eyes remained unwavering within the gaze of his still calm surrogate brother. “Sesshoumaru killed the bouncer in there,” his hand pointed at the end of the alley in vague gesture, “I saw it…,” he took another shaky breath, “Saw him change. Just like Rin said before,” 

When none of them had believed her. A shocked gasp would rip from his sister at the disclosure. 

Another memory flashed then. Rin so little and frail, opening her mouth to speak for the first time to them, glittery eyes practically shimmering in the afternoon sun, as she looked between himself and Sango. Both kids still with the anticipation of hearing their adopted friend talk. Only for her voice to creak and stutter out before the words could leave her. 

Rin, helpless as the stampeding crowd carried her off and away. 

Much worse, Rin helpless as her monster of a neighbor took her off and into the night. Gone and without trace. Kohaku’s voice cracked as he struggled to contain his shame, “And now…, I let him take her. That fucking monster has her…,”

He looked away then, struggling and unable to hold the gazes of his family. A sob left Sango, and Kohaku was even quieter than before, “It’s all my fault…,” 

A crack of lightning lit the somber space between the three family members, but it was the ensuing rumble of thunder that would spur Miroku to release his little brother. Pulling him closer as he grabbed for his wife and began a run towards an overhang of the shop next door so they wouldn’t be caught out in the resuming rain. Angry and tired of looking at the ugly bruises that had been glaring at him from Kohaku’s neck. 

Miroku had dealt with worse, but never this close to home. “Okay both of you calm down…, I’m going to fix this. We’re going to get her back,” He locked eyes with his still distraught wife, who was now clinging to her little brother to better share in their misery, “I promise.” 

Kohaku would speak again, wiping at his face, “We will have to break in his house-I’ll try and get dad’s gun or something..,” 

Miroku fought the urge to sweatdrop. “Maybe not something quite that rash-”

But Sango would quickly interject, already preparing herself as she hastily started, rousing Kohaku further up as well,  “Yes! We can break in, shoot this prick, and take Rin back before he can drain her blood-”

“Guys!” Miroku held his tattooed palms in a passive restraint of his overzealous relatives. 

“We can’t just go in guns blazing-”

Sadness turning to indignation and frustration at his perceived delay, Sango would once again interrupt, releasing her little brother to fully face her husband, “We are not just abandoning Rin to that freak! You’ve told me about the stuff you used to do with your uncle, why are you acting like such a coward?”

Kohaku knew about Miroku’s weird religious past. But it was still mortifying to realize they were going to have to resort to some of his woo-woo weird shit to save his friend. Woo woo shit he hadn’t even believed in until...well, tonight. 

A tattooed hand waved harder, nervous chuckle skimming out at the ire he’d evoked. “No, no, no! I’m only saying, we need to figure out exactly what this Sesshoumaru is before we make our move,”

Kohaku would speak then, calmer now that he realized he wasn’t alone in the struggle,  “How do you suggest we do that? I’m telling you he looked like a freaking blood sucker-Rin was right. He’s Dracula for sure.”

Miroku sighed, “I doubt he’s such a thing,” he brought a hand up to rub over his chin in contemplation, “More like an incubus or something-”

Kohaku’s eyes bulged at the sockets, “A what?” his mortified shout scared some passing party of people that had been released from the club. 

Miroku once again found his hand up in a pacifying bid to lower the volume, “I’ve dealt with them before, we’ll be fine. Either way,” 

He would pointedly ignore the open-mouthed stare Kohaku was regarding him with. More shocked than his sister at the disclosure. “I have a plan-”

“We need to just kill-”

Miroku’s voice would raise slightly in order to drown out the interruption from Kohaku, his tattooed hand lifted to point at the street over, where the red and blue lights were still glancing, “We’re going to call the cops,” 

A thick and pointed silence would answer him as the siblings regarded him in stunned shock. 

The remaining two of the trio caught on, skepticism coloring their faces. Kohaku spoke, “We’re calling the cops…on a vampire- this is your plan?”

It was. Their only one until they could determine what the hell this guy was. And once they did…, 

Miroku nodded, “They would want to know if we’d witnessed a kidnapping,” he looked between the still quiet siblings, smiling slightly in encouragement, “Besides, I think it’s time to finally meet this Sesshoumaru, wouldn’t you say, my sweet Sango?”

Then, they would fucking kill him. 

 ........................................

Instead of his teeth, he would pull away to blow upon the sensitive area of her neck, and the motion of it had the heat of her already scorching blood pumping quicker through her little body. His teasing simultaneously relaxing and exciting her. Burning her from within as he continued to kiss his way down her shoulder and over the curve of her collar bone. Leaving her neck alone….for the moment. 

An embarrassing and timid moan left her and for the slip, her blush would burn even hotter. 

So much like her dreams… only better.

Perhaps, it was a dream…

Sesshoumaru pulled back and Rin felt the loss acutely. A delicate little gasp slipping away from her before she could close her still parted lips. Innocent and wide eyes stared as the hand that had clasped her chin slipped away to caress down her neck before stopping upon the slope of her shoulder. Taking the silky strap of the gauzy dress she wore with him, as it slid further down her delicate limb. 

Rin could not stop the twinge of remembered fear that shot through her, at the realization that he meant to once again reveal and disrobe her. Already she could feel the satiny material beginning to fall away before his waiting gaze, and so with a last-minute reflex she once again scrunched the delicate line of her shoulders. Thin arm clasping and holding the slipping material in place as to avoid any further exposure.  

Chocolate gaze now frightened and looking anywhere but at him, she would not see as Sesshoumaru straightened before leaning closer once more. Her eyes shifted to his as he pressed his forehead against her own, withering little breaths washing over his face as he forced her to look at him again, 

“Rin….,” a tremble started at the faint caress of his whisper over her lips. It was the eyes though. As the barely restrained longing that swam in the depths came up to the surface. A gaze so tender that it bordered vulnerable was enough to mute and silence her. Fight leaving her limbs slowly as her priorly tensed shoulders released. The dress would follow, one side of it slipping away to reveal a pert, rose-tipped, breast to the gentle waves of warmth that surrounded them. 

Yet, their stare would remain unbroken, both of them content to languish in the attention of the other. He would bring a finger between them, pulling back far enough to trace his clawed finger in a gentle scrape over the sensitive flesh of her lips. Amber shifted seamlessly, blatant in his desire for her, carnal promise returning to once again stare her down. Her much smaller hand moved to grasp at his, fingers moving over his knuckles almost reverently. 

He would allow this too, her timid exploration of the hand he’d used to strangle her friend, the same one he’d used bring her such intense pleasure…

She asked then, voice quiet and full of wonder as she ran her own blunted nail over the length of his unnatural one, “What are you?”

How could he warp her so…

With a flick of his wrist, he had her hand in his, grasp loose but heating her all the same. The voice he used was quiet and confident and decidedly not a question. 

“Does it matter,” the same small smirk from before returning to twist at his handsome face as he began to lead their clasped hands to her shoulder. He pressed her hand into the flesh of her still clothed shoulder, smirk falling away as he removed himself from her person to watch. Waiting. 

Rin would not disappoint. Hand moving as if it had a mind of its own to gently pull the remaining strap of the dress over and down the slope of her shoulder before letting the material fall away to bare the rest of herself to him. The blush spread to her now exposed chest, nipples puckering though there was not an ounce of cold, under his inspection. 

But before she could shy away again he would seal their lips once more. Coaxing as a nimble hand moved up and over the now bunched fabric on her belly, before sliding upon her sternum and between the heavy globes of her breast. Pressing gently until she could bend no more, and the sensual feel of the braided fur upon her now exposed flesh caused the liquid pit in her belly to burn hotter. 

He would follow. His bare chest pressing and smothering against her own. Sesshoumaru swallowed all of her delicate little whimpers with his still demanding kiss, as both of his hands moved to clasp her own, where they had remained fisted within the mass of the soft rug below them. He brought them to rest next to her head, pressing them gently, one in her silky tresses that lay askew and the other into the fur. Unspoken command to once again stay, clear as crystal, though he had not said a word. 

This couldn’t be happening.

Wonder-filled eyes watched him lean up, silver tresses moving to tickle the supple flesh of her cheeks and breast in parting. And they would stay on him, nervous flutter intensifying as he grabbed a delicate little ankle in each hand before maneuvering her into a spread before him as he kneeled between her legs. Her hands fisted into the rug and the wave of her raven hair as he leaned back to look her over. 

Drinking in her little form, as she squirmed in anxious anticipation. Her tongue came out to swipe across her suddenly parched and deliciously bruised lips before returning to her little cavern as she resumed a nervous nibbling upon her bottom one. And he would watch, eyes practically smoldering in the wavering light of the fire, practically devouring her. 

His hands moved to clasp the supple flesh of her exposed outer thighs. Sensitive, the motion would leave Rin gasping, chocolate eyes lowering to watch him instead. As his clawed hands pressed over the generous slope of her hips, taking the gauzy material of her dress with it to bunch. Only stopping once his thumbnails began to graze each other over the narrow of her waist. 

Rin would continue to watch his nimble limbs, thoughts leaving her, as his hands continued to rove over the contours of her untouched body. Unaware of just how divine a picture she made, spread out and exposed before him. A smirk quirked at the corner of his lips at the tiny gasps she let slip.

Her eyes were half-lidded and heavy as the feeling of him touching her brought about another gush of liquid warmth to ripple within her belly. 

Another simpering whimper would leave her as he brought a hand up to caress the delicate lining of her inner thigh, pale flesh quivering under the press of his palm as he moved ever higher,

His voice was low and heady when he spoke, “Have you kept your promise to me, sweet one ….have you thought of me every night?”

Rin’s mouth opened but only to release a stuttered little noise, as Sesshoumaru continued his slow torture. The truth was too embarrassing anyway... she had not stopped thinking of him. 

Not even sleep would relieve her of her blissful burden. She bit her lip. 

It would prevent nothing. And as Sesshoumaru’s thumb easily dipped between her silky and honey-drenched folds to press upon the same spot from earlier, Rin could not stop the achy moan that left her to echo around the room. Fleshy little pearl was slippery enough for him to circle and the evidence of her desire for him would have a drawn-out groan leaving the usually composed man as he savored her. 

A deep sound of appreciation would rumble from the back of Sesshoumaru’s throat.  And when he spoke again, his baritone voice was so gravely she swore it vibrated the walls. The sound traveling to stab her with another sharp wave of mind-numbing pleasure, “Hmmm…., it appears you have,”

He would reward her with an increase in pressure though his tempo remained the same. And his name would tumble from her lips on repeat, head twisting to swipe her cheeks against the furry encasing below them, eyes clenched shut, as her desperate little gasps and moans. 

“ Such a...good girl …” A possessive and clawed hand took hold of her hip, gently guiding the unrhymed buck of it as he took in the sight of his little lover withering below him. His other finger pressing further to slip easily into her tight entrance, until he could feel the thin barrier of tissue, though she would not notice as he retreated enough to continue his torture. Little sex clenching him tightly as she rode towards whatever was building within. His name sweetness upon her lips as she chanted, 

“Sesshoumaru-sama…,” Rin’s generous thighs would clench around his arm, little hands rushing up grasp onto his still flicking wrist in a bid to anchor herself as she crested wave after wave of pleasure. 

“Please….please…” She managed to plead though she lacked the capacity to articulate for what as the feelings continued to overwhelm her. Little blunt nailed fingers digging into his unbreakable flesh as she held onto him for dear life. 

Until, suddenly and without warning he would pull his hand away, stopping his pleasured exploration of her most hidden place. Shocked at the loss, Rin would finally reopen her eyes to the hazy room, lifting herself as much as possible given the wobbly state of her body in order to better see what had made him stop. 

Her elbows had only just pressed back into the fur covering below when she felt him grip her thighs, claws large enough to cover most of the sides of her voluptuous curves. A yelp left her as her back reconnected with the rug below as he suddenly pulled her closer to him. So that the fleshy and quivering parts of her rubbed against the narrow jut of his hips. Bare bottom resting on his own powerful and spread thighs in a slight lift. 

His strong hands pressing up to guide her unpracticed hips into a slow glide against him. The tepid fear that had returned, releasing slightly as she watched his hands rove over her inexperienced flesh, working her little body into a gentle rhythm that she would memorize without thought. Primal instincts kicking in enough to recognize what they were mimicking, though it was not until he joined-spreading his thighs wider to wedge himself even closer-and returned her awkward thrust with a more skilled one of his own, that her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

The rough feel of his slacks pressing against the delicate skin of her center sending a flurry of delight to rush through her with every ardent thrust. 

A sharp hand would stop its guiding and move from her hip to grasp at her chin. Angling her and forcing her eyes to open between pants. Their eyes connected as he let out a particularly guttural noise. Face feral and intense as he stared down at his little prize. 

Rin for her part would continue to moan sweetly for him as he showed her just how powerless she was against him...not that she was fighting anymore. 

Both of his large hands would leave her then, heated indents that would bruise tomorrow would remain, though their hips would continue their pleasurable give and take. She would feel the same feather-light sensation from earlier travel over her belly and the ensuing exposure of her quivering belly to the warm air around them as the now sliced dress fell from her form to leave her completely exposed. 

A shudder moved through her at the next sensation, as Sesshoumaru’s knuckles made light contact with her dripping folds. Though it was not until she heard the zip of his slacks that she realized what was happening. The noise sent a cold shock of fear to slither through her form as she watched him extricate himself from the confining space of his slacks. The daunting sight of his erect member, the first she’d ever seen, seemingly glaring at her, as proud and tall...and intimidating as its owner.  

And despite her earlier euphoria, the fear would have her heels pressing into the rug below in an attempt at escape. Back scraping against the fur as her hands scrambled and fisted for a gripping purchase in order to get away from him quicker. 

The imposing man would sit up at the move, pressing his slacks further down before once again reaching for Rin, calm despite the change of heart on her part. His voice husky and dusted with  the insatiable lust that had overcome him, a hissing tsk left him before he spoke  “Enough of this running, sweet one.” 

Muscled arms pressed under her knees in a lock, exposing more of her still sopping center to his heated gaze, as he pulled her back under him. The wet smack of her thighs against his hips echoed in the room as Sesshoumaru sunk over her, effectively locking her in place, and furthering her newly acquired panic as she felt the insistent press of something hard and hot at the soft flesh of her entrance. A little hand would come to press at the lower part of his belly in a quiet bid for him to stop, but it would do nothing. A pleading whimper leaving her as he gently took her hand into his own to bring it to rest at the space beside them.

He gave a soft hush as he leaned down to once again capture her lips in a searing kiss. Demanding and heady as he attempted to distract her from what was to come. It served its purpose, the tender press relaxing her further into the rug as she felt him sink over her more, weight enough to trap her in place. She pulled away to moan at the feel of him sliding between the silken lips of her sex, large head pressing into her clit with just enough force to have her arousal returning. Before Sesshoumaru would quickly reconnect them with another heated kiss that would have her losing herself to him once more. 

It would be final though as she vaguely felt him reach down to adjust his angle. And before she could even think to protest again, a burning pain searing through her body, as he speared her with one clean thrust. Quicker as to spare her the pain though the uncomfortable stretch would have her sobbing below him, arms wrapping over his broad shoulders to cling, blunt finger digging hard enough to cut his flesh, though the wounds would heal without effort before a single bead of blood could fall. His face twisted in a pleasure grimace at the feel of her impossibly tight clutch and the feel of her nails raking over his back would have him responding with several involuntary pumps into her little body. A pleasured exhale leaving him as her sob continued. 

In an attempt to ease her burden he would pepper her neck with more of his feathery kisses. Over and over as she panted, “Please, please, it hurts-” 

He kissed up her jaw and to her ear, releasing a pleasured exhale over the cove of it that left her shivering, “ Shhh, Relax...and I’ll make it better,” 

A timid whimper left her before he would smother the noise with another brush of his lips over her own. Distracting her as he began to slowly rock himself against her, softer than their earlier practice but enough to have a shaky sigh leaving him at the exquisite feel of her. His hips pressing harder against the slippery surface of her thighs, still lathered in her desire for him. 

A groan left him, “You’re so wet …., ” voice turning to a growl as he once again upped his pace. His words and voice sending another gush of honey to leave her as her body continued to accommodate his own. Acclimating and fuzzy as the prickling pain and budding jabs of pleasure rounded one right after the other until she could not tell where one began and the other ended. 

Until it was the perfect amount to force a tiny but decidedly wanton moan to leave her. And another one as his thrusts became even more invading. His narrow hips hitting harder into her aching thighs with every rapture-inducing thrust. She felt his hands move away to slide under the back of her thighs, gliding over the slope of her ass to caress the fleshy parts of her. The sensation so delectable that it had her hips responding to him. 

Still dazed and lost in her newfound euphoria, his hands would move to once again guide the pace of her hips. Pressing and pulling her so that she did not have to do anything but feel as his powerful body dominated her, jostling her little body as he began to rut her. Until the only sounds were the slap of his flesh against her own. The twinkling and faded noise of her now constant and breathy cries faded from notice. Her mushy mind was unable to hold on to anything beyond the feeling of him moving inside of her, hitting that sickly sweet syrupy spot that made a series of white-hot dots appear behind her closed eyelids. Body tensing as he drove her closer than ever to the bliss she had been chasing. 

Everything so unfamiliar to her young body but also so, so , good. Every bit of her was so warm and liquidy as she let the world move around her that she could do nothing more than moan and wither beneath him. 

“Sesshoumaru-sama…,” She cried before reaching to pull him down closer to her, thighs clenching his hips towards her with all her might as he continued to piston in and out of her little body. He leaned further down to capture a bouncing breast to suckle gently at a puckered nipple before releasing her with a pop. 

The clench of her sex was now constant as she felt herself fall deeper, “Sesshoumaru-sama, I-”

A deeper thrust had her jostling, breath panting and leaving her before she could finish, “I-I’mmmm, please,” a nimble hand came to press into the lean muscles of his stomach, feeling as they clenched with every push of him, “Pleas-se, don’t stop-p…” 

Her hips were moving of their own accord now, unrhymed as he moved away to grasp and part her legs further, as Sesshoumaru too began to chase his pleasure. 

It was like nothing she ever felt before…

His voice was gravely, practically growling as he watched her climb higher, finally give in and submit herself to all he was offering her, “That’s it, baby…,” 

A clawed hand clasped her chin again, and the force of it had her eyes fluttering open only to be caught within the hypnotic depths of his own. Watching as his eyes, licked by flames, took her in. It would be just the thing to send her already teetering ecstasy buzzing. And before she knew it, her whole body would squeeze, contracting as a white-hot pleasure overtook her, stilling her as a scream ripped from her throat. Toes curling in the rug below as Sesshoumaru stilled as well, Large body shaking at the feel of her vice clench and the divine sound of her first orgasm moving through her. 

A growl would leave him as he lifted up, pressing her supple thighs tighter as she felt him regain his prior pace. Eyes focused on his lover as every thrust jolted her heaving breasts and only served to prolong her tendrils of leftover pleasure. Until at last, she felt something hot and forceful invade her as Sesshoumaru stilled again, large body leaning to pant in her ear and press his nose into the sweat matted nest of her hair. His large hands coming up to cup her face as her own arms came up to clasp him to her. 

His kisses were sweet, much less demanding as he moved over her little face. Starting first with her cheeks before kissing the tip of her nose, before moving down to her neck to suck at the junction of flesh where her pulse was strongest, practically purring his pleasure. 

So tender she would barely notice as his fangs pierced easily into the flushed flesh of her neck. Thought the sting would have her eyes fluttering open, as she once again felt something hot and forceful invade her. Mixing and meshing with her blood to begin a swift trek through her veins. It was over before she could contemplate it any further and her eyes would catch his own as he retreated from her. 

…..it felt good. 

Sesshoumaru would lift her, letting her cling to his neck as he pulled them to a stand. The feeling of them disconnecting enough to force a whimper from her as she nuzzled further into his neck. 

….it felt so good. 

He set her down upon something soft, and she vaguely recalled the bed she had seen earlier, though her increasingly foggy brain would be hard-pressed to put everything together. Thick lashes lowering for every second as her tiredness once again overtook her. 

She could feel the feathery press of his hands as he smoothed the hair away from her face and not wanting to leave she would keep her slanted gaze upon him for as long as possible. But it was a losing battle and her consciousness began to leave….

So, so, good….

........................................

The scrape of ceramic against the wood made him wince.

Jaken hurried to dump the pieces he’d swept into the bin as he heard the telltale creak of wood that signaled Sesshoumaru-sama’s descent. The remnants of Rin’s flustered attempt at escape earlier in the evening would clatter into the bin noisily. 

The scurrying servant rushed to the foyer, humbling himself into a bow as the towering man moved past him to stand before their front door. Jaken was desperate to know but he would keep his curiosity to himself, only lifting his face once his master’s feet had moved away. 

Watching as his lord continued to button his fresh shirt closed over his chest, righting the collar before finally addressing the smaller man, “Jaken…,”

His response was too eager, as usual, “Yes, my Lord?”

Sesshoumaru’s gaze remained upon the oaken door before him. Waiting. 

“The boy…,” a growl was lacing the tone, though his master was too subdued to allow such an overt display, “And his family are here.”

Already bulged to capacity, Jaken’s eyes simply began a simmer. Was he really so foolish?

After all the warnings they had issued him…his lord was gracious but he certainly had his limits. 

“Would you like me to take care of them, Sesshoumaru-sama?” He would most certainly be kinder than the master in his rebuke. 

His response was immediate, “No. I require you to deal with the elder,” 

An intruding knock sounded next, and the sound of it had Sesshoumaru casting a quick glance up the stairs where their charge now laid asleep. 

His penetrating stare moved to Jaken, “Once done you are to ensure they do not disturb, Rin. Is this clear?” 

He knew what he had to do, “Absolutely, Sesshoumaru-sama. It will be done.” 

Jaken would leave then, after a single simpering bow…

The knock would follow him out of sight. 

Knock, knock, knock…

 ........................................

Kaede paced the foyer, wrinkled hand gripping the landline receiver in preparation, before pulling up to check the peephole of their front door again. Ten minutes. If her granddaughter didn’t come home in ten minutes she was going to call the police.

The tick of the grandfather clock in the foyer continued on, mocking, as Kaede bit her lip. So reminiscent of her missing granddaughter that it hardly needed mentioning. What had gotten into that child…to not even leave a note?

The grey thickness of her braid whipped with her angry turn. Decided, Kaede had just begun to squint and press when it rang. Thinking it was Rin, the elder was quick to answer.

"Rin?" 

“Hello, is this Kaede-sama?”

The recognition was not a pleasant one, though Kaede hid the disappointment well enough,

“Megumi, dear. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Why was she even calling this late? Kaede’s good eye swung to the clock face. It was already half past midnight.

“Oh it’s just awful, haven’t you heard?”

Taken aback slightly at the shift in tone, Kaede’s straying thoughts would be brought back to the present instead of on her still missing granddaughter, “What’s happened?”

“There was a murder at that new club, everyone is already talking about it-”

Kaede vaguely remembered the opening, though it was not anything of interest to herself, besides she still needed to find-

“But don’t worry, my son was able to find Kohaku and Rin-saw them leaving before waving them down,”

Kaede’s voice was frantic, “You... know where Rin is?”

Megumi laughed lightly, “Yes, she’s here asleep. It seems they had quite the night at that club before the tragedy. I hope you don’t mind if she stays over?”

Kaede tried to hide the shock. Her Rin…, at a club?

But the oddity of hearing her that usually reclusive granddaughter had been out and social was quickly overtaken. A sigh leaving her as the relief washed over her. She was safe.

“Of course, Megumi. Thank you for letting me know. That granddaughter of mine is quite forgetful when she puts her mind to it.”

An understanding laugh met her ears and Megumi would speak once more, “Yes, I'm afraid it's the same with mine. Well, I’ll talk to you soon, Kaede-sama.”

“Good night, Megumi.” 

The elder waited for the click of the phone before leaving it on the foyer table. Suddenly able to acknowledge the heavy tiredness that was beginning to overtake her. 

And so without suspicion, and without seeing the events taking place next door, Kaede would retire to bed. For a well-deserved and uninterrupted sleep. 

........................................

“I don’t think he believes us guys…,” Sango grabbed at Miroku’s arm as he pulled the emergency brake, before letting off the clutch. His truck pulled to a stop behind Kohaku’s still stalled one. The cab was quiet as they waited for the cop that had pulled in front of Rin’s neighbor’s house to collect himself and get out of the cruiser. Though once he did Kohaku had to fight the urge to punch something, his casual stroll was more than telling.

His response was a harsh mutter, “Probably thinks we’re just some fucking no goods,” before the door slammed shut behind him. 

Afraid he was going to do something rash, Miroku pulled closer to his little brother, “Just chill, remember this is a farce for us to figure out what we need and make a plan,” 

Sensing the impending backlash, he shot a look at the two that were now following him, leaning over to reach into Kohaku’s truck and pull the keys he’d left in his earlier escape, before speaking over his shoulder. “A plan that works and doesn’t involve us getting arrested,” 

They walked past Rin’s home and a somberness settled over them then. Someone would have to tell Kaede…

A creak sounded as the hefty cop stepped upon Sesshoumaru’s porch but when they made a move to follow, they found themselves halted by a stubby hand, “Please, do not interfere,” 

So they stood at the steps in wait. Kohaku felt his breath catch as the cop knocked for the first time. The sound of it echoed around and sent his heart pounding. 

There was no turning back…, 

Knock, knock, knock…

Kohaku looked around to see if anyone in the neighborhood was up, if any prying eyes were watching them from the darkened windows, as was usual with the gossip machine that was Shirakawa. 

The cop would knock again. And the ensuing silence became too much, before he could catch himself Kohaku would push past his waiting elders to yell, “Hey-” 

Miroku’s grip was unyielding though as he pulled him back, quickly muffling the impatient boy with a tattooed hand. Leaving Sango to rectify as the cop, annoyed at the interference and at what he was beginning to suspect was a huge waste of time, turned to look at them. 

But before Sango could repeat her apologies on behalf of her still antsy little brother, the click of the lock unbolting drew their attention back to the door. Freezing everyone, save the still annoyed cop, who would turn in time to see...

“Good evening sir, sorry to bother you so late,” He smiled pleasantly, though he would continue to receive the stoic stare of the man before him, as quiet as it was unwelcoming. It threw him off a bit, and a nervous cough left him as he worked up the nerve to speak again, “I’m needing to speak to Sesshoumaru Taisho?”

He asked for the sake of it. The kids behind him had explained thoroughly what the man that they claimed kidnapped their friend looked like...and there really was no mistaking the imposing man before him. 

Silver head remained tilted towards them and Sango had to fight the urge to gulp. Even with the distance she regarded him before, on the day of Rin’s apparently justified freak out, he’d been intimidating. Up close….was something different. And she found herself unable to muster her normal façade. Just as Kohaku had claimed, he certainly seemed…extraordinary.

“This is him.” The quiet authority of his voice was enough to make her shiver.

Apparently the officer they’d brought felt the same. His next words, less confident than they had started, “Ah, well…, I’m here responding to a complaint that has been filed against you, sir. There are some allegations that you kidnapped a young woman tonight, named Lynn”

The officer fumbled before gesturing towards them, Sango heard the slap of flesh against flesh from behind her, as Miroku quickly silenced another one of Kohaku’s hasty responses. She stumbled forward to rectify, though her own words would be stuttered, “Um, Rin. Rin Akamatsu-”

“Yes, Rin. What do you have to say to this?”  The officer turned back to the man before quipping.

For his part, Sesshoumaru would stay silent for a beat that lasted long enough to be awkward, and when he finally did speak his response was as unexpected as it was brief. Amber flint of his eyes cold as he stared past the cop at the three of them. Orbs focused and…was he glaring? 

The door suddenly parted wider as Sesshoumaru stepped away to allow passage, “Of course not. Please…,”

His hand motioned forward, face stoic as it finally returned to the cop, “Have a look for yourself.”

The bumbling cop would start, moving into the ornate foyer with a confidence allowed to the ignorant. "Your home is lovely, Taisho-san,"

But despite the address, Sesshoumaru would continue to silently state at the three you adults below. Daring them with his eyes alone.  Until at last Miroku took the challenge pulling both his family members forward to walk past the dangerous man and into his foyer. 

"Yes," Sesshoumaru's silver hair shifted as he closed the door behind them, the click much more ominous than the cop could realize, before turning to tilt his head in an inspection of the man's uniform, "Officer Honda,...please, feel free to search the grounds. You will find these accusations…," His glare flicked back to them and leaving the two except Miroku to flinch. "Are unfounded."

Kohaku fought the urge to scoff angrily. Looking to the still bumbling 'cop'. Was this really how they handled this scenario, leaving people with each other...in the suspect’s home no less after they had just levied such an accusation against him. One they knew to be true. 

His eye shot around in small search as the unprofessional cop made to start his own, "Yes, I'll start now Taisho-san. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter," before turning to address then as well, tone much less deferential, "You three-stay here until I get back." 

He already believed they were lying…

It took but a minute for the uniformed idiot to move from their immediate area, and Sesshoumaru would waste no time. Stepping towards them as the three began to step back to regain the distance.

This would continue, the horrifying dance until the three found themselves corralled into the large but decidedly dead-ended space of his living room.

Sesshoumaru had not removed his eyes from them. Not once. Nor would he…

Instead, he finally settled himself, hands casually fisted within the pockets of his slacks, as was usual, in the ornate arch that separated his foyer and living room. An interesting choice really, given it was the only way out. But then again, perhaps he had no intentions of allowing them to leave…

The thought was not lost on Kohaku as he wrestled with the thousands of urges running rampant through his young body. Unused to being unsure of everything. Unused to the prickle of his flesh as the fear moved through him in waves. To think he’d willing walked his friend into this monster’s lair a little over a month ago. Another memory came to him, clear as it was frightening, the clack of wood resounding in his ears on repeat. 

 His eyes shot to the spot he’d remembered Sesshoumaru breaking, though there was no sign of it now. How close he had been to him…this humanoid killer freak.

They had figured out he was dangerous...but how dangerous, well even now, it would be lost on them. 

A shiver of anger bristled through him at the same time as the pit, more like the well, of fear in his stomach grew to press upon his chest. All the horrifying possibilities became clearer for every second that Sesshoumaru stared them down. He had probably already killed Rin, probably had his servant disposing of her body while they waited for the supposedly searching cop to return to them…

He wanted to puke... he wanted to swing. 

“Sorry to you meet you like this, Taisho-san,” Miroku started, cheerful, and unexpected enough to have his two companions side-eyeing him like he was crazy, “I’ve heard much about you since your arrival in Shirakawa.” 

Kohaku’s nervous but still accusing eyes shifted back to Sesshoumaru. He’d already tried talking to the freak before. Miroku was barking up the wrong tree. 

But to his utter surprise, Sesshoumaru would respond, head cocking back enough to part his bangs, voice quiet but reverberating, “Is that so…,” 

Miroku smiled cordially, as if they didn’t all know what they now knew about this son of a bitch. As if it was perfectly normal for things like him to walk amongst the rest of civilization. 

“Yes, it seems you’ve gained quite the reputation,” 

Kohaku kept his eyes on Sesshoumaru, alert to any movement from the still man. Where the fuck was his brother-in-law going with this? 

“Though it was our friend, Rin, that first informed us...of your condition,” 

A silence followed. And Kohaku waited with bated breath as Sesshoumaru’s eyes narrowed upon them. Amber orbs slicing through the air at the mention of their little friend’s name. The air shifting in the same way it had before when Kohaku had stupidly confronted him alone the first time. 

Despite the shift, Kohaku would be pleased with Miroku’s blatant and sly taunt. Would be pleased right up until the moment Sesshoumaru smiled at them, the sight of it wicked and mocking enough to raise the hairs on the back of his neck, 

“Well, I suppose you won’t have to worry about that anymore then…, will you, monk?” 

What the fuck had he done to her….

The words left him before he could realize they had been more than a thought. 

Unable to keep himself still he felt rather than saw as Miroku’s hand came to press at his chest in a shove back. 

Sesshoumaru’s smirk would only grow from there, “Rin…, is no longer any of your concern.” 

Oh god-what had he done…

Miroku was calm, despite the interruption, though his voice had gained a hint of something Kohaku had never heard before…

“Rin-chan is worthy of our utmost concern, Taisho-san. I’m afraid you’ll have to use more than vague illusions and idle threats to keep me away..,” 

Kohaku swallowed as his brother-in-law levied his own subtle promise against the thing posing as a man. The smirk dropped slowly from Sesshoumaru’s face only to be replaced by the same stoic disposition as before. 

His baritone voice vibrated the air around them softly, “Oh, more rosaries?” 

A single silver eyebrow rose mockingly in the follow-up to his question as he continued to sear them with his unblinking gaze. He was taunting them about the stupid beads Miroku had given Rin. That part was clear. But why had Sesshoumaru called him a monk? 

Miroku’s voice was final and brought Kohaku from his questioning spiral. Apparently done with the charade of civility, “Yes. Whatever it takes to ensure the return of our friend, Taisho-san,” 

A cold settled over them then, despite the hearth that was lit and blazing within the fireplace next to them. 

Sesshoumaru’s eyes shifted, amber orbs even sharper as they sliced the air to regard them for the final time. 

A hiss to his left had Kohaku's head shifting and all at once, they found themselves in darkness. 

As the fire that had been blazing for so long extinguished itself without so much as a waft of air. The suddenness of the action so unsettling he found his hand reaching for Sango’s in a fierce grip. His head turned back as his other arm reached blindly to grab at Miroku’s hand on his chest...just to make sure. 

There was no light, save the foyer beyond Sesshoumaru’s large outline. But this was not what had him shaking…

Amber. The glow of his eyes was piercing, even in the pitch around them as he continued to glare daggers at them, revealing...once and for all, what they now knew and what Miroku had been looking for when they arrived. 

His voice gained a hiss that would elicit a scared gasp from his usually undisturbed sister, “I await your return…,” 

The sinister promise was clear. 

A creak followed and the overhanging light above them flickered on at the noise. As the lazy cop from before returned, sauntering as he moved down the stairs to step into the foyer and address them, “Taisho-san, you have my sincerest apologies,” 

He looked past him and towards the three he had trapped within his living room, not that he was astute enough to notice how the intimidating man had placed himself. His stubby hand came up, finger curling in demand, “Come you three, we need to have a serious talk,”

Sesshoumaru would turn back to regard them once more, jaw tensing and lips stretching in a barely restrained snarl, before moving towards his front door to open it for their impending exit. 

This couldn’t be it...they had to do something. 

But before he could act, Kohaku would feel as his family pulled him forward in order to follow the officer who now stood upon the creaking porch in wait. 

Kohaku was the only one to look, eyes connecting with amber in a deadlock as he continued to be led by the shoulders by his family. And he would watch as his long narrow fingers curled over the edge of the wood, hands big enough to crush his face... big enough to wrap around his neck.  

A harsh crack sounded as he bent his hand further, the unnatural bones of his knuckles jointing in a small show of the fury that lay in wait beneath his calm exterior. 

This was not over. They couldn’t just leave…

The door shut behind them with a tap and the click of the lock turned his heart to stone. This was awful. Sango would be the one to pacify the cop, they watched from Kohaku’s truck as her hands lifted in sheepish apology. Miroku turned the engine and his headlights illuminated the desolate street. The strangeness of it would be drowned by the gravity of everything that had happened. 

The surrealness of everything pressed in harder. And the older man moved around the truck to place his hand upon his shoulder. Pulling him away gently to put him in the cab of his truck. “Drive home Kohaku. We’ll be there soon,” 

But Kohaku would continue to stare at Sesshoumaru’s house from the driver’s seat. Still and unable to process it all, “We can’t leave her there...what if he kills her?” 

He would not turn until Miroku spoke, allowing his brother-in-law to reach over and buckle him in first, “He won’t kill her.” 

He looked into his eyes, the same way he had Sesshoumaru’s. “How do you know that?”

Miroku would sigh. Tired and not looking forward to what was to come, “It’s obvious that he...seems to want her in some capacity,” 

His words had made that clear, though neither man would specify what they had suspected. What Kohaku especially knew to be true, if he allowed himself to remember the strange tension he’d seen between Rin and Sesshoumaru when he’d followed her into his home. 

It didn’t matter though, death or not, he was going to hurt their friend, “He’ll turn her into whatever he is...fucking vampire freak…” 

Kohaku would turn back to the house, emotions all over the place as a twinge of anger returned. 

However, at Miroku’s next words it would be cut terribly short, “He won’t do that either…,”

Kohaku would look at him once again, but before he could question the surety of his statement, Miroku would speak, unprompted. 

“Sesshoumaru Taisho is not a vampire.” He’d seen all he needed to see tonight after his little goad. Enough to remind him of his youthful days helping his uncle. 

.

.

.

He moved to shut Kohaku’s door. Another cue for him to leave. But just before the metal could clang shut his eyes would also look to regard the ominous-looking home that belonged to Sesshoumaru. A random bolt of lightning flaring in the distance to illuminate the shadowed curves. 

“He’s a demon.” 

........................................

Rin woke with a start. Warm to the point of discomfort as the heady smell of sex overpowered her senses. The remnants of something following her from the fringes of her consciousness. And for every pleasured pulse she’d felt not but an hour ago, a painful soreness had taken root within the confines of her tiny body. She was utterly alone. 

Where was he? Rin twisted from the feathered warmth of the bed to tumble through the gauzy fabric of curtains in a wobbly stand. Though it would take no longer than a second for her body to sink to the floor in a bent and curled cry of pain. The feeling was as strange as it was familiar...as it had been in her dreams. The ones where she could not think for the unbearable flames that seem to lick at her from the inside.

Everything was burning. Liquid heat of a different, much more painful kind, was coursing through her veins. Even a steadying breath could not calm her now throbbing body and Rin would wipe fruitlessly at the sweat that continued to bead upon her forehead. Hair matted and stuck to her flesh as she continued a dragging crawl to the set of double doors on the other side of the room.

Too hot and dazed to concern herself with her nudity or the sticky and painful throb between her legs.

Please…

Why had he left her? She pulled to her knees before the door, face pressed into the cooling wood in a bid for stabilization. Her hands pressed to the thickness of her shapely thighs only to pull away as if scolded, the heat of her own flesh upon itself too much to bear.

What was happening? Her sweaty face scrunched in concentration and pain as she reached for the golden knob that loomed by her face. And a cry of frustration would fall from between her still kiss-swollen lips as she turned and twisted the metal device without result. A tear of exasperation releasing to slide along the flushed skin of her cheek and force a whimper from her. Pain upping to reach an almost unbearable level.

Her first attempt at vocalization was weak and stammered towards the end, more a moaning cry that carried her suffering, than a shout, “Sessh-ou-maru-sama….”  

She needed him…

“Sesshoumaru-sama…,” her small shout would be louder, rising slowly as her desperation continued to rise acutely.

A small fist came up to beat upon the locked door before her, only for another fist to join less than a moment later as her need grew. Knocks rapid and without rhythm until it was a constant cacophony. Endlessly pleading, head leaning close to the seam of the door in hopes he would hear and return to her quicker… please.

“Sesshoumaru-sama,”

“Sess-houmaru-sama,”

A constant stream of sobs echoed around the house as Rin continued to vocalize her misery.

“Sesshoumaru-sama!”

Jaken would eye the ceiling before turning to watch his master ascend the grand stairs, closer to where Rin was hidden within the bowels of his home, “I have taken care of the grandmother, Sesshoumaru-sama.” 

Amber eyes would flicker, clearly ignoring his little but ever-loyal servant. Jaken would notice but say nothing as his master chose to instead give his notice to their newest guest. Countenance stoic though his eyes were anything but as he continued towards their ward. 

Sesshoumaru would stay quiet at first, anticipation growing, until he finally pulled to the apex of the stairs. 

 And when he finally did speak, baritone vibrating the rain logged air of their home, it would be to no one but himself, 

“My bride awakens…,”

Chapter Text

“How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.”

― Bram Stoker, Dracula

A whimper left the small girl as she tossed and turned. Her sweat drenched flesh slick against the silky encasement of sheets that draped over her form, tangling and bunching as she panted through the excruciating pain. Until at last…

A pale specter of a hand moved in, claws pointed away as the palm pet over her face gently. 

“Sleep, little one,” 

.

.

.

Rin awoke without a sound and the familiar warmth of her flannel bundled and tucked around her form, much the way Kaede had done for her when she was young. It was the comfort of this that kept her lounging, long past the particular strike of the morning sun as it steadily rose through her bedroom windows. Her body tensed for the feel of releasing her limbs once more, absolutely relaxed. Absolutely at peace, for the first time in a long time. 

In fact, it would not be until the girl bathed and dewy clean from her shower, folded open the doors of her closet. Not until, a dainty hand reached inside the darkened encasement that glared back at her, that she stopped in the motions. Stopped to contemplate them at all. 

The closet was dark. So dark she could not even make out the randomly ordered assortment of clothes that made up the limp selection of her closet. It was wrong, though the realization came more with the cold ring of objectivity rather than the stark dawning required of such a situation. 

And Rin watched, brow furrowed but only slightly, as more of her arm disappeared under the inky covering of what should have been a shadowed but still visible closet. Would continue to watch as the thick darkness sliced away at her limb as she dug further in reach. 

Until at last her fingers met the feel of fabric. 

The memories came slow after that. Trickling in one right after the other, but unlike before, they did not fill her with an ounce of dread. It had been a dream. A nightmare…

She shot a look across the space of her room to the windows, the ones that faced her neighbor's home. 

A nightmare that was over. 

Although the thought was not as comforting as she would have liked. Her hand pulled back slowly though she already knew from the feel of it…

It was the dress, the one Sesshoumaru had gifted her, and the feel of it was as exquisite as the first time she felt it. So without thought the material was slipped over her form. 

The silky caress of it much more intimate without her usual undergarments as it laid against her petite form perfectly just as it had done the first time. She brought a hand up to right the collar but stopped just short, finger pads halted a breath away from the delicate area of her neck. Some leftover remnants of her dream coming back to bite her so that she could not make herself…

Well, no matter. She had already decided the moment the sun had greeted her. Today would be spent in her garden, the one she had been neglecting again as of late. 

The stairs barely creaked under her weight as she practically skipped down. Kaede was nowhere to be seen, probably out for the day, and so Rin continued on and out. Humming and going about as she slid the back door shut and began the dress herself for the task ahead. 

The sun was just the right amount. Illuminating without scold as she walked amongst the flowers of her garden, pulling weeds and trimming the overgrown set of rose bushes she’d planted for Kaede years ago. 

At the end of it all, after she had stripped herself of the protective gear and placed all her tools away she turned to look over her garden. A smile lit her face. Before at last, she indulged herself, laying her body between the rows of flowers. 

A joyous laugh rang clear to echo in the space, so carefree she could not even contemplate the rippling waves of pleasure that emanated from her. And before she could stop herself, before she could even think on the absurdity of it, she found herself rolling through the garden. Her flowery bed so perfect against her flesh that she pressed herself harder. So that the decaying petals of spring, the ones that had laid away for the summer lot to grow, would caress her dewy skin from between the silken eyelets of Sesshoumaru’s beautiful dress. 

This is how she would spend her day. Relaxed and at peace, eyes closed as she basked in the warmth of the sun.

So enticed by her promised euphoria that she would hardly notice the audience. As the sun turned a striking shade of amber before blinking away. 

........................................

Kaede fought the urge to wring her hands as the echo of her knock sounded down their street only to be swallowed up by the usual cacophony of cicadas, cars rushing, and kids playing in the summer afternoon. 

It was perfect. A wrinkled hand came up to once again knock. 

Only it wasn’t. She’d started the second day well, believing Rin had returned home, that she was upstairs, safe and sleeping as she often liked to do after spending any amount of time with her friends. 

But the signs…

The fresh memory flashed quickly. 

The bones she's bought from the market were fresh, the marrow rich and thick like she liked as she used her chopsticks to settle the pieces in the pot, preparing the broth for their Sunday meal as she’d done all her life. 

The amount was perfect to yield leftovers, to sustain them per usual for the following days. And Kaede so practiced in the motions hardly paid any notice as the bones boiled away on the stove, while she went about her morning chores. In fact, it was not until she had set the table in preparation to call for Rin, not until she had removed the metal lid of the pot to behold the startling sight that the ominous warnings began to settle over her. 

That the water she had measured by eye, as she had done for the majority of her life, yielded exactly half the amount it usually did. The strangeness could have been overlooked but for every moment her good eye roved over the broth’s surface something horrible began to sink lower in her stomach. A much too late hunch that something was, in fact, terribly, terribly wrong. 

The suspicion would only compound further as her ailing knees carried her slowly up the stairs towards her granddaughter’s room.. Every wooden creak of the steps bringing her closer, though the sound was only half as loud as usual. As something tense settled into the old joints of her home, just waiting to reveal itself.  

The discovery had been as shocking as it was unpleasant. Rin was not home and the panic only further settled as her good eye roved over the sun lit room. The one that looked untouched and quickly disavowed her of the notion that Rin had returned and simply left again. 

Her stumbled walk to Megumi’s had been without thought. So frazzled at the startling revelation that she’d neglected to turn off the stove and fully pull the front door closed before she was off. 

And just as the remembrance hit her, and just as she began to think about the look of it all. 

Perhaps she was in fact overreacting?

The door opened to reveal the woman herself, a single clean hand wiping the flour dusted one in a terry cloth kitchen towel. 

She smiled pleasantly, before giving a small bow to the elder, “Kaede-sama, how are you?” 

Kaede would open her mouth but Megumi would beat her to it, "Please," she opened the door further in polite gesture, 

"Come in, I was just making the recipe you loaned-"

But Kaede could wait no longer as she used her good eye to look down the now visible part of Megumi's house, the television blaring from somewhere inside, "I'm sorry Megumi, I can't stay long. I just needed to see about Rin, she hasn't called since you let me know she was here."

The silence that followed would only further the feeling. Good eye roving over the made up face of Megumi, as the contours began to shift from confusion to worry, “I’m sorry,”

A soft head shake punctuated her refute, “Rin is not here-”

Kaede was undeterred, “But you called me, the day before, you said your boy brought her to your house and she spent the night,”

The small detail followed as Kaede’s tried in vain to provide anything to jog Megumi’s memory, “You told me about that murder that happened down on Main-” 

And Kaede, who was usually quite reserved in her speech and gestures, could not hide the rising sense of desperation as all the implications set in. As Megumi’s face tightened further in confusion. 

The concern was more clearly written over the usually over involved neighbor’s face, “I’m really sorry Kaede, I don’t remember calling and Rin has not been here,” 

In fact the girl had never once been over to her home.

The woman called back to her husband, just to check. But Kaede was hardly paying attention as the situation became clear. Just as it had been when she thought she’d been called in to volunteer at the hospital. Only this time….

Oh God…

Kaede turned without bothering to respond. The signs had been so clear. Half the amount for half the presence.

Oh God…

Where was Rin? Why had she not returned home? How could she have been so careless? 

Just as her front door came back in sight. 

Not her granddaughter…

Anybody else, but her. 

Not her Rin….

She did not have the strength to climb the curb. And it would be there that the neighborhood would halt to watch as the resident elder collapsed in on herself, unable to control her breathing, unable to stop the spinning of the world around her. It shifted so fast. 

Kikyo