Jaken huddled in the bushes as the couple continued their hushed conversation.

Her cheeks were flushed, the fire of her anger heating her face and no doubt inciting the fury of the powerful youkai lord with whom she argued. 

Of course no emotion broke through that icy facade.  But he knew, Jaken knew that it was there, boiling just beneath the surface screaming for release. His master was the epitome of control and restraint.  But she had been the only one to test it. 

Jaken recognized the signs, the imperceptible flash in his molten eyes and the barely visible clenching of his jaw.  His Lord was angry, but there was something else, something he had never seen there before, something that reined in his temper and softened his eyes.  Jaken saw the flash of determination light his master's eyes the moment before he crushed the girl to his chest.

He watched wide eyed as Sesshoumaru leaned in closer to the girl, stopping to whisper something in her ear, the words too soft for him to hear.

There was something about the way he held her, firmly but innately tender, as if he wanted to cherish her.

Jaken should have known, he should have realized sooner, but he had been a fool.

All this time his Lord had been fighting, fighting a war he had not been prepared to fight.

Jaken could still remember the little girl who had picked flowers and laughed her way through life.  She had been the first human he voluntarily saved and she remained the only.

He remembered the years of her absence.  He never quite understood her sudden departure.  But now, looking once more at the image of Sesshoumaru holding the girl in his arms he understood.

It is instinctive to fear what you do not understand, and clearly his master had never understood neither her nor the effect she had on him.  So he had pushed her away, cursed her to live a life of loneliness and solitude, the same one he had lived his whole life.  His pride had blinded him to the one thing that could save him.

But it seemed fate had a different plan for these two.  The force and power of fate is undeniable and inescapable, even to one as powerful as the all mighty Sesshoumaru.

Jaken quietly walked away, sparing one last glance to the fated couple.

A small smile touched the toad's face.

Who would have ever thought that an innocent human child would be the one to humble his powerful master? 

There are times in battle when surrender becomes the only option.  It was his turn now to realize the importance of such a tactic, because Lord Sesshoumaru was fighting the first battle that he would ever lose. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*

~Last Chapter~

He leaned in, his breath feathering across her cheeks and stirring her hair.  She shivered when his mouth stopped near her ear.

"I have already chosen" he whispered seductively.  Somehow Rin knew that whoever he had chosen she wasn't inside of the room they had both walked out of and that thought terrified her.  Hope could sometimes be a terrifying feeling.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Rin closed her eyes as his words, and the implication behind them, sank into her.  She squashed the rising wave of hope that was threatening to take over her body.

NO!  She screamed in her head.  Not again, she would not allow him to break her heart again.  He would, she was certain of that.  After all he was the most powerful youkai in the land, and she was nothing more than a lowly human; undeserving and unworthy of one as him.  He would soon realize it as he once did and cast her away, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her heart and her life….again.  But this time she knew there would be no recovering.

Ignoring the desperate cries of her heart she pushed herself away from him, the suddenness and surprise of her action catching him off guard.  She spun around in a flash of green as the ends of her kimono twirled about her.  The tears were slowing spilling over now, but she would not cry in front of him.

"I will not let you go again Rin" His voice stopped her hasty retreat and she stood there, silent and unmoving.  It was over…she realized with a sudden clarity.  She had lost her heart to him and there was nothing she could do about that.  It was his, it had always been and forever would be.  There was nothing she could do to lessen the pain of future heartbreak.  But she would not leave without a fight.  She was tired of running away, tired of being afraid of what she felt and afraid of his rejection.

The glint of silver caught her eye as she glanced towards the bushes that lined one side of the garden.

A sword.  Curious she looked around, but could only dimly make out the shadowy shape of a retreating figure.

In a fluid movement she dived for the sword that lay like a beacon so close to her.  Paying no attention to the yards of emerald silk she was ruining, Rin grabbed the hilt as she executed a clean somersault and came up gracefully once more on her feet, in a fighting stance with her sword pointed at the very shocked figure of Sesshoumaru.

"And this time I will fight" She stated in a deadly calm.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed in impatience, she was not joking, she really meant to fight him.  Sesshoumaru straightened in determination and unsheathed his own sword and calmly took position, if it was a fight she wanted, then it was a fight she would get.  But he would win.

Rin seethed at the arrogance etched into every line of his body.  He thought he was going to win.

She ran towards him, fury giving her an unnatural strength as she brought her sword down in a deadly arc.  Not surprisingly it was stopped, inches from his face, by his own sword.  Their eyes met over the crossed blades, much as they had done before, but this time she was not exhausted, this time she would win.

As his golden eyes continued to bore into her she suddenly dropped to the ground.  She dropped the sword to roll between his legs.  As she did, she reached into the folds of her gown to retrieve the weapon she always carried.  Standing up behind him she waited until he turned to face her.

His silver hair flew wildly in the air, falling slowly to settle as Rin held a dagger to his throat.

"I am not weak" Rin whispered, "and I will not lose my heart to you again"

Sesshoumaru merely dropped his sword and brought his hands up to his chest.  Rin's breathing quickened in anticipation to the unexpected act.  What is he doing?

Tightening her grip on the dagger just in case, Rin could only stare as he ripped open his kimono, revealing a long, diagonal scare that marred the perfect beauty of his chest.

"Do you remember this?" he quietly questioned.

Through the cloudy haze of shock Rin's memory brought alive the last time she had fought him.  She had injured him, she remembered, she had caught him with the tip of her blade, in the chest.

Her eyes widened in shock.  Had she done that?  Had she left a scar on a youkai who had the ability instantly heal all wounds?  It wasn't possible.

"Oh but it is" He said reading the silent question in her eyes. His voice snapped her attention back to the demon lord who stood in front of her.

"Wh-wh-what does it mean?" She stammered in confusion.

"I never forgot Rin, I couldn't" He said softly as he reached for the hand that held the dagger.  Grasping her wrist gently with one hand, he used the other to discard her weapon.  He placed her hand lightly on the scar she had left.  Rin wasn't prepared for the words he spoke next and she knew they would echo in her heart forever.

"I belong to you" he said before capturing her lips in a tender kiss.

So beautiful.  That was all she could think as he held her in arms, lovingly for the first time.  The night, the words, him.  Everything was so beautiful.  Tipping her head back to look up into the face of the man she loved Rin smiled.  There would be no more tears, no more sadness, no more pain.  She had finally won.

"And I belong to you…Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru embraced her once more, a secret smile touching his face as his eyes landed on his discarded sword.  Tenseiga, the sword that had brought her to him, the one that could never harm her.

She had won the battle, but in the end, he Lord Sesshoumaru had finally surrendered to her, to Rin…his dangerous temptation.

The End