InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Confrontation II: Trials and Tribulations ❯ Of Mice and Men: Part 1 ( Chapter 22 )

A/N: All characters will be walking that fine line called OOCness!! Don't curse me! You guys are just too lenient with me with the whole updating whenever I want to thing (snickers). Anyway thanks for all your wonderful amazing reviews. I'd like to say that next time I'll update sooner, but the truth is I haven't even begun to write the next chapter. Maybe I'll start it this weekend, who knows. Please enjoy and stay blessed!! Oh, and there's a lemony snippet in the beginning, so some of you may want to forego the first part of this chapter. Thanks Mama Neko for your wonderful editing. I haven't a clue as to what I'd do with out you!!

 

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership to anyone with the exception of Kanomaru, Susamajii, Joudama, Reinto, Teela, and Masotako. All others belong to the great Rumiko Takahashi.

 

Chapter 22:

 

Of Mice and Men: Part 1

 

Miroku slid the door to his and his wife's room open slowly, almost hesitantly. He couldn't believe that he was actually following Inuyasha's advice, but so far it seemed like it was really going to work.

 

`If Sango doesn't kill me,' he thought apprehensively.

 

In all the months that he'd been waiting, begging, and masturbating, he'd never thought about doing something like this.

 

`Who would've thought that Inuyasha would've had it in him?' Mentally laughing that thought off, he finished, `However, this is Inuyasha I'm talking about, poor Kagome.'

 

Sure, some of the things that the hanyou said were downright abrasive and hurtful to his pride, but outside of cheating on his wife, what other alternative did he really have?

 

Flashback

 

“She hasn't given you any…”

 

“No. It's been months since we last…” Miroku stated softly, his head hanging forward dejectedly. “Tell me what to do, Inuyasha. What else can I do besides, what I've already done?”

 

“Wh…what have you done?” the hanyou inquired, not sure if he really wanted to know.

 

Miroku swallowed, still unable to look up at his friend and companion. “I've asked, begged, pleaded, given her the silent treatment, and even tried to act like I didn't want it. Nothing works.”

 

“What the fuck do you mean you've begged? What are you, a fucking woman?” Inuyasha teased.

 

“Of course not!”

 

“Well why the fuck are you begging her?” the hanyou inquired rhetorically. “You always did give Sango too much goddamn control. Now she's telling you when you can and cannot mate with her?” He chuckled, and then finished, “I always thought she had bigger balls than yours.”

 

Miroku ran his hand down his face as if he could wipe away his embarrassment. “I…I wouldn't say that, but…”

 

Cutting him off, Inuyasha leaned forward and whispered as if he thought someone would overhear him, “Do you think she's broken? I've heard that some women just don't like to…do…it. Maybe Joudama broke something in `there'.

 

Miroku thought that over for a very brief moment before he spoke again, “No, I really don't think she's `broken'. I… When she thinks I'm not watching her, I catch her looking at me with that hunger that she had before we had Joudama. So I know she still has desires. I just don't know if it's really me she's desiring.”

 

Inuyasha sat back against the tree, his arms crossed over his chest, his face set in a deep scowl. “When you talk to her about `it', what does she say?”

 

Miroku sighed heavily. “She…she make me feel like I'm crazy. She'll…she'll start an argument with me, or say something along the lines of `suck it up'.

 

Inuyasha was visibly taken aback. “Suck it up? What does she mean by that?” he spat as if those words had insulted him.

 

The Monk shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I think she's trying to insinuate that I'm not a man or I need to act like a man. I don't know for sure, but whenever she says it, it makes me feel like she thinks I'm less than one.”

 

“I don't know what to tell you, Monk,” Inuyasha mumbled, then continued, “If Kagome told me something like that, which she never would, I'd…” he stumbled over his words. Resting his head back against the tree, he raised his knees and rested his forearms comfortably across each of them so that his hands were dangling. “It sounds like you need to take your balls back, Monk.”

 

Miroku leaned forward inquisitively and queried softly, “What…what do you mean?”

 

The hanyou snorted arrogantly. “I'd tie Kagome's ass down to something, I wouldn't care what it was and I'd show her that I was the man. She don't fucking talk to me like that.” The last part was mumble so low that Miroku almost missed it. “By the time I was done with her, she'd never say those fucking words again!”

 

“You…You're saying that you would rape her?” Miroku asked in disbelief.

 

“Of course not, but I wouldn't be gentle and I definitely wouldn't ask her. Shit, you've been asking all this time and all she say's is no, right? So why ask? Show her ass that you're the man and that what you say goes!” Closing his eyes, Inuyasha finished with a shrug of his shoulders, “It seems like she's forgotten that shit or she's never seen you as one.”

 

Scowling Miroku stated quietly, “But Inuyasha, it still sounds like rape to me. I…I can't rape her. After what she went through with Jouyoku, she'd probably leave me and take my daughter with her.”

 

“Damn Miroku, no wonder she isn't given you any.” Sighing, the hanyou continued, “You have to tease her. You know, get her hot.”

 

“Hot?”

 

Inuyasha shook his head finding it hard to believe that the lecherous monk was actually asking him for advice about sex. “Yes, you idiot, hot. You know that point when it gets really wet down there.”

 

“Oh,” Miroku replied, looking as if a light bulb had just gone off.

 

“Exactly. You have to tease her until she's practically begging you to take her, and then you pretend like you don't want it.” Leaning forward again, Inuyasha finished, “Remember, you're supposed to be taking your balls back, so you can't… How did Kagome say it? …make love to her. You cannot be gentle with her no matter what!”

 

One eyebrow raised higher than the other, Miroku asked skeptically, “So, you've tried this with Kagome and it's worked?

 

“I've always had my balls, so I never had to,” Inuyasha replied nonchalantly.

 

“So how do you know it's going to work?”

 

“Look, you came to me for advice. If you don't want to do it, then don't try it!”

 

Staring at his friend as he allowed what he'd just heard to roll around his head, Miroku then stated more to himself than to Inuyasha, “You're saying…”

 

Not letting him finish, Inuyasha snapped, “Take it, shit! You ain't got no problem! If you wasn't so fucking soft, you would've had some a long time ago!”

 

End Flashback

 

Stepping slowly into the room, Miroku schooled his features and stared around the room.

 

He had set it up while she was bathing. He'd made sure that all of the lanterns in the room were out, so that the only light they had was the moonlight shining in through the partially open balcony doors. He'd also taken it upon himself to shift the futon over to the opposite side of the room and nearest a built in pipe of some type.

 

He'd been waiting in the corner just behind the door when she strolled in humming a song that she normally sang to his daughter. Before she could react or notice him, he pounced on her. She'd tried to fight him off, but he refused to give into her, that is until he had her laying on her back on the futon.

 

He then tied her hands over her head and used the pipe as the stationary object since he knew she couldn't break it.

 

Stepping over to his pissed off wife, who was glaring defiantly up at him, Miroku smirked as he watched her twist, turn, and growl while trying fruitlessly to get loose. With every move she made, her bathrobe was slowly coming undone, allowing him just a peek of her tender, enticing flesh.

 

“Monk, untie me now,” she hissed.

 

He snorted softly, but didn't respond as he stepped slowly towards her, while loosening the ties the held his robe closed.

 

“What? Are you going to rape me, you lech?” she queried heatedly, her eyes promising him pain the minute she was untied.

 

The Houshi looked down at her, his eyes holding something that could've easily been hurt, but he laughed it off.

 

“Damn it, Miroku, say something! I'm your wife, you…you can't do this,” she avowed, as she watched his robe fall from his shoulders to lay in a neat pile at his feet.

 

He stared down at her, his brow furrowed, his hakama riding low on his hips. He stood there watching her watch him as he showed off his well-defined abs and chiseled chest.

 

Staring up at him, Sango swallowed hard, her throat suddenly parched.

 

Miroku reached up and pulled out the tie that held his hair back.

 

Sango squirmed…twisted tried to look away, but she couldn't. “Wh…what…”

 

“Do you really not know?” Miroku inquired softly, his voice husky. He couldn't believe he'd just said that to her, but he had to admit that from the moment he'd pounced on her, he was over come with an empowering feeling that was almost intoxicating.

 

“Where's my daughter? What did you do with her?” Sango asked trying to gain control over something…anything. She couldn't explain the feeling that was coming over her, but she couldn't necessarily say she didn't like it. It was something that she hadn't felt in quite awhile. It was…fear…heat…desire.

 

Crouching down beside her so that he was balancing on the balls of his bare feet, Miroku smiled down at her as he allowed his nails to trace slowly, sensually up her calves to her inner thighs. “She's in excellent hands, as are you.”

 

Sango squealed and tried to clamp her legs shut. “Miroku, stop this nonsense, now!”

 

He devoured her with his eyes, as he licked his lips slowly. “You have no say so in what happens tonight, Sango.” Straddling her waist, he continued, “I've asked you nicely, I've begged, and even pleaded with you to just be my wife for one night, but you refuse. So you actually leave me know choice.”

 

Sango stared up at him, unable to believe that he was actually taking this route. Had she really pushed him this far? Surely they could talk about this!

 

“Houshi, please don't…don't do this. We…We can talk about it. I'm ready to talk, please…”

 

One eyebrow raised higher than the other, he replied, “Talk? There will be none of that tonight,” as he reached forwards and gently pushed her lithe robe away from her full breast and over her shoulders. Making sure to keep his weight well balanced, the determined husband and father gently kissed each of her shoulders.

 

“M…Miroku…”

 

“Shut…up,” he whispered as he slowly licked up the right side of her neck to her earlobe, where he allowed his tongue to gently flick out repeatedly.

 

Sango gasped, her protest dying instantaneously.

 

Placing small wet kisses along her jaw line, he suckled her chin then licked at her lower lips, but did not kiss her. Sitting back, he stared down at her closed eyes, and her pouting lips that seemed to be waiting for his.

 

Sango opened her eyes and stared up at him. `Why'd he stop? Why… No…no… I can't give into him. I…I… This is wrong… The way he's going about this is wrong!'

 

“Do you remember our first time, Sango? Do you remember how you moaned and gyrated? Do you remember what I did to make you scream my name?” he questioned his voice filled with desire.

 

Lowering his head down to hers, he nuzzled her nose as he inhaled the smell of her freshly washed skin. “My goal tonight is to make you remember, because it's obvious you've forgotten. When I'm done, you'll beg me for more,” he finished as he sat back and allowed his fingers tips to trail slowly down the side of her face to her breast where he spared a solitary moment to pluck her perky nipple.

 

Her breasts arched up towards him craving his touch, but her lips hissed, “Miroku you…bastard...”

 

“Shut…up,” he whispered as he took the same nipple he'd just plucked in his mouth and began sucking aggressively at it.

 

Simonkal of Inuy

 

Sesshomaru was caught between wanting to know and not wanting to know.

 

He'd been lying there wide-awake with his eyes closed, contemplating what could've happened to cause this change in his mate. He was quite sure that it was bigger than the asinine situation, which had occurred earlier that morning. It had to be. Rin was just not that petty and insecure, she couldn't have been, at least not in his mind.

 

After finding her withdrawn form in his son's room, he'd somewhat made his mind up that he'd confront her, but still that hadn't happened.

 

After taking Kanomaru to his half brother, he was planning on cornering her, per se, and making her tell him what her problem was, but as soon as he entered their room all thoughts of that fell from his mind.

 

When she turned to look at him, he could feel the pull of her aura towards him. She needed him desperately. That's what her eyes…her body told him and he obliged without question.

 

Still, that answered none of his questions. It did nothing but leave him with a million other questions.

 

The way she held on to him… The way she whimpered every time he pulled slightly away from her… The tears he scented as she climaxed… The look in her eyes as he stared down at her, silently begging her to tell him what was wrong… All of this did nothing but confuse the Inu Lord more.

 

He was more than sure it was well past the midnight hour by now, and still sleep refused to claim him or his mate.

 

She'd lain there next to him for hours pretending to sleep, as was he. He'd tried on countless occasions to broach the topic, but found it was harder than trying to chisel through demon forged steel.

 

How could something this simplistic…this effortless, be…feel so complicated? How could something as simple as showing just a little emotion, stop a demon of his strength and stature in his tracks?

 

`It's a sign of weakness', he thought with a grimace. `This Sesshomaru, Lord of the West, will not be seen as weak by anyone!'

 

Shortly after that thought, Sesshomaru felt her slip from his side. However, he didn't open his eyes to see where she went or what she was doing. Instead he listened as she cracked open the balcony doors and sighed sadly, and his heart…youkai whimpered, which was something that he'd never done…felt or sensed before.

 

In that brief moment, he had a flashback of his brother weeping on the beach, when he thought…found out that the vile creature, Jouyoku, had taken and killed his intended mate.

 

At the time, Sesshomaru couldn't understand how the hanyou who had bested Ryuukotsusei, Naraku, Menomaru, countless other demons, and overcame a hellacious upbringing could be brought to his knees by a human woman, but now…as time passed…after the birth of his son…

 

`I will not be so weak,' he proclaimed silently, while forcing away all other thoughts that would have made him appear, if only in his mind, pathetic.

 

He wasn't sure how long he was lost in his thoughts, but he felt her draw close to him, he felt her sit gently beside him, and begin to trace the edges of his ears then his nose.

 

`Her touch…'

 

He wanted to open his eyes and look up at her, he wanted to tell her…to show her that he was awake and that if she needed to talk about anything he'd listen, but he didn't move…couldn't move, not a muscle.

 

Something buried deep inside of him spoke…whispered…hissed desperately, “She needs you.”

 

`I know that,' he replied coldly. Still, he couldn't move.

 

He wasn't sure if it was his pride fighting him or if it was something more sinister, like fear. Whatever it was, he realized rather quickly that he didn't like it one bit.

 

A thought occurred to him as he felt her soul shatter just a little bit more and his body stiffen under her gentle gaze, `Emotionally Paralyzed? Am I… Could I…' Brushing that thought away quickly, he finished, `How preposterous! One cannot win a war emotionally. He must have power, strength, and tenacity. Emotions are nothing more than a hindrance!'

 

Satisfied momentarily with his thoughts, Sesshomaru clenched his teeth as another more ominous thought occurred to him, `I am fighting no war. She is my mate. She is the mother of my heir. She…she is my equal.'

 

Why did this thought unnerve him? It was not the fact that this was his mate, no, it was more that all of the reasons he was making up for not showing emotion towards her…for not forcing her to talk to him had just gone up in a thick cloud of black suffocating smoke.

 

Sesshomaru felt the heat from her face draw closer to his and his body… his hands…his arms seemed to move of their own accord, forcing his eyes to snap open and his hands to gently grasp both sides of her face.

 

`Why?'

 

He wanted to pull his hands away, but as he looked up at her…as he stared into her distant brown eyes, he felt his youkai shy away, retreating as if it had just been violently attacked.

 

`Even you are not willing to face this,' he thought referring to his internal demon.

 

The Inu Lord silently searched her face, willing her to tell him what she was thinking. He was subconsciously begging her to open up to him, to tell him something…anything. He wanted, desperately needed her to make this easy on him.

 

He didn't want to have to ask her. He didn't want to actually lie here and hold an entire conversation with her about her feelings, but he knew if it came down to that, he would have no other choice but to do it, if only to heal what was broken within her.

 

Rin stared down at him, begging him with her eyes to understand, but she knew that he didn't…he couldn't, because she didn't fully understand herself.

 

`If only I could read minds,' he thought absently as he tilted his head slightly to the side as if that would help him understand what she was feeling a little better.

 

The protective, possessive part of him surged to the forefront as he watched her eyes begin to slowly swell up with tears. `Rin,' he thought sadly as he gently wiped a tear away with the ball of his thumb.

 

Pulling her to him so that her head was resting on his chest, he spoke softly, gently, and in a voice that bespoke authority, “My mate you are broken. Tell this Sesshomaru what he can do to fix it.”

 

He heard the voice, he'd said the words, but internally he couldn't believe that he'd just said that. What had come over him, why was he so free to tread in these waters now?

 

Pushing that aside as the scent of her tears engulfed his senses, Sesshomaru held tighter to her as she clutched his bare shoulders and began to openly weep.

 

She'd heard him and it made her heart leap because it meant that he cared, it meant that he knew she was hurting, but it also broke her already severed and bleeding heart, because she couldn't tell him what he wanted to know. She couldn't tell him a word of what he deserved to know, though she wanted to, desperately so. She just couldn't put words to what she was feeling; she couldn't repeat what Teela had said. So instead, she wept like a mother that had lost her child…like a wife that had lost her husband.

 

`Rin, what has happened to you?' he thought as he closed his eyes and tried with all his might to will away the smell of her tears, the sound of her constant sobbing, the ache that seemed to lay over her like a blanket, and the voice that told him, `if he didn't do something…say something, his world was going to be forever ruined'.

 

A few moments passed quietly between them before her weeping slowed down to mere sniffles.

 

“I can only remember a few times that you've cried, Rin, and of those times, I've always known the reason. Do you care to enlighten this Sesshomaru?”

 

Sitting up, she turned away from him ashamed and embarrassed that she'd showed so much emotion to a man, that she knew could not stand emotional people. Wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands, Rin sniffled and murmured, “I…I guess I'm just emotional,” which wasn't a total lie.

 

Sesshomaru sat up, the lithe cover that was partially covering him, now barely hiding his hips. “Are you pupped?” he asked his tone serious. “The last time you used that excuse you were pupped with Kanomaru, were you not?”

 

He knew she wasn't, at least she wasn't before they made love, but he wanted her to know that even though he acted as if he wasn't, he was in tune with her emotions and to lie to him, would be futile at best.

 

She clutched the front of her robe as if trying to hide herself. `Pupped? My god…' Those words shook her to her core for two entirely different reasons. First, if she were that would mean that he…the love of her life would be burdened with another hanyou. However, on the other hand, perhaps that would've have given her more reason to go on, even if it had to be without him.

 

Shaking her head in a negative fashion, Rin replied softly, “Of course not. If I were, you would know, wouldn't you?”

 

“Then tell me, why…are…you…broken? Why do you weep as if you've lost something that you value?”

 

She stared at the open balcony doors as her mind responded to his question, `I have, can't you see that? I know, my love. I know what you have planned. I know what awaits me in the days, weeks, maybe months to come.' Quieting her mind, she stated while raising her hand so that it was covering her heart. She then turned to face him, her eyes soft. “The things that this Rin value most are here. I…I will never truly loose them.”

 

Sesshomaru reached up, taking her hand in his own. “Then tell me, why do you weep?”

 

Rin looked down at her small hand that was now enclosed within his then quickly away. She knew it must have taken a lot out of him to ask her that again, since he despised having to repeat himself to anyone. Still, she couldn't find the words to tell him what he deserved to know.

 

Finding it hard to maintain eye contact with him, since she knew the next thing to fall from her lips would be a lie, she turned to stare back out at the night sky as she stated softly…uncertainly, “I…I was just thinking that perhaps we should cancel Kanomaru's celebration.”

 

Sesshomaru stared at her, one eyebrow raised higher than the other. He had to admit that, that was the very last thing he expected to fall from her lips, but he knew that something as juvenile as that would not have her in tears. Therefore, he deduced, she was lying.

 

Releasing her hand, he queried, “Why do you start this now?”

 

Part of her knew he'd see through her fib, but the part of her that was hoping to hold on to what she had, hoped that this once, he wouldn't. “I…I…don't know what you're talking about, my love.”

 

Narrowing his eyes, his face set in a scowl, he stared at her as she got up and walked away from him and towards the balcony doors. “You have changed, Rin. How is it possible that within a day's time, you, the mate of this Sesshomaru, could've changed so much?”

 

The Inu Lord didn't' miss the way her heart rate sped up, or the way her shoulders slumped forward at his statement.

 

Sighing softly, she tried to force herself to smile…to…to be happy. “My love, I…”

 

Sesshomaru cut her off abruptly, his patience waning, “If you're going to spew `lies', I would suggest that you keep them to yourself!” This may have seemed harsh, but he absolutely loathed liars! So for the current liar to be none other than his mate, well, it really didn't' sit right with him one bit, no matter the reason!

 

His toned startled her. No, he hadn't yelled or even raised his voice one octave; it was the demanding, clipped, no nonsense way that the words flew from his mouth. It told her that he knew she was lying and she dared not do it again!

 

He knew that she was hiding something! He knew that this person…this shell of a woman that she'd become was not the same person that had awoken with him that morning.

 

All of this, every bit of it, broke her heart, causing her to fall into a low bow, ashamed that she'd displeased him. “Please, my love, I would never…”

 

Throwing his legs over the edge of the bed, he cut her off again, “And yet you continue to.”

 

Sitting back, she stared up at him with an innocent look on her face. What did he want her to do…to say? She couldn't tell him. She couldn't risk loosing the precious time she had left with him. She…she wasn't willing to risk that. “Lord Sesshomaru…”

 

He waited as she paused; looking as if she had to gather courage for what would come next. `Let's hope that it will be the truth this time,' he thought as he stood slowly to his feet, his annoyance written clearly on his face.

 

“Do you…do you love me? Have you ever loved me?”

 

Turning to look at her, he managed a low, “Hn.”

 

“I'm sorry. I…I'm sorry, I just… I want to hear you say it, just once, please,” she pleaded softly, her hands clasped in her lap as she stared up at him, her eyes begging him to grant her this one request.

 

Standing there naked as the day he was born, Sesshomaru mimicked, his face set in a deep scowl, “Love”. It rolled of his tongue as if it was a piece of rotten fruit or a chunk of decaying flesh.

 

Rin could see the disgust in his face at the mere mention of the word and it caused her heart to sink. `Maybe he doesn't love me. Maybe… I…' her thoughts were cut short by the sound of his voice.

 

“Love?” he mimicked again as he turned away and retrieved his bath kimono. “This Sesshomaru doesn't know what you are asking him.”

 

Sure, he'd heard humans say that to one another and even heard her say it to Kanomaru. Yes, he was more than sure that it was a word meaning adoration or a deep feeling towards another, but what he didn't know was what it had to do with of them. Why would she ask him such an idiotic thing? Surely, she knew that if he didn't at least feel something for her, she wouldn't be here.

 

Rin stared at him unwilling to believe that he didn't understand her question. If he didn't love her then that was fine, but to pretend that he was a simpleton, was unacceptable.

 

After tying his robe, he made his way back towards where she was kneeling and sat down before her, so that they were eye to eye, with little room between them. “Why have you asked me such a thing, Rin? Have I given you reason to doubt me?”

 

She was quiet, her head down, her hands balled into fists on her lap. Swallowing, she whispered, her eyes shadowed by her well kept bangs, “This Rin has spent so much of her life loving you, Lord Sesshomaru, that she only wishes for once to truly feel it or at the very least, hear it from you, that is all.”

 

Staring at her with a blank expression, Sesshomaru found himself wanting nothing more than to scratch his head and sigh. She was making absolutely no sense to him. One minute she was happy and content, the next she's depressed and withdrawn, then wanton and full of lust, then depressed and crying, and now she was asking him about loving her.

 

`Emotions, what a waste of time,' he thought while keeping his face schooled so that she wouldn't recognize his disgust with the entire situation.

 

Unwilling to speak those foreign words, even for her sake, he decided he would enlighten her as to what he thought of those words. Being a man of little words and all action, he began slowly, refusing to mince words for the sake of her feelings, “Those words that you wish me to say to you are merely words and nothing more. If I wished it, I could say those words to the tree out side, but does that mean I do?”

 

Rin stared at him, refusing to believe that he was stubbornly denying her this one thing when she'd already given him so much…when he knew, in her mind, that her time with him was short.

 

“Since the day that you forced your way into my life, have I not made sure that you were nourished?” he asked. He meant that exactly the way he said it, because it was true.

 

Had she not found him in the forest, had she not brought him food everyday, had she not sat with him, had she not talked nonstop, and had wolves not killed her, she wouldn't be here with him.

 

Rin swallowed as she stared at him, trying vainly to grasp what he was trying to say, but she did nod in agreement.

 

“Have you ever gone without clothing?”

 

“No, Lord Sesshomaru,” she replied softly, her heart fluttering erratically within her chest.

 

Leaning forward, he asked, his expression blank, his voice soft, “Have you ever felt…unprotected?”

 

She shook her head. `Is he trying to say that because of the things he does for me, I should know that he loves me?'

 

“Have I not given you a home and a title, Rin?”

 

She swallowed, closed her eyes, she understood clearly now. Yes, he'd given her a lot! Yes, he'd protected her! Yes, damn it, he'd retrieved her from the bowels of hell itself, but her heart, it still needed him to say it! She…needed desperately for him to say it!

 

“I understand,” she whispered dejectedly, still not satisfied, but knowing in his mind he'd just told her that he loved her more than life itself.

 

“Good,” Sesshomaru replied, hoping that she'd be satisfied with his answer, because he was really tired of all the talking and especially about this drivel. Pushing to his feet, he held his hand out for her to take, but instead of taking it, she threw another question his way.

 

“My Love, would you…would you ever…replace me?”

 

Staring down at her, unable to believe that she could ask something so…so stupid, Sesshomaru snapped irritably, “Rin, you must stop this nonsense!”

 

Until Next time…(Your .02 cents are greatly appreciated.)

 

A/A/N: This isn't meant to be a cliffy, I just felt like the chapter was long enough. So, we'll pick up right here, in both instances, next time!!