Disclaimer: FEH!!! I shall not fall prey to your lawyers. I do not own Sesshoumaru or any of the Inuyasha characters.

To the second part of my marvelous update...

Guidance

Sesshoumaru rose awkwardly from his position and walked to the balcony, where he stood pensively. The sun was beginning to lower from its high position in the sky. He looked back into the room and observed as Haneto began to tend to Rin; as soon as Haneto began to undress the limp woman Sesshoumaru turned around quickly, suddenly feeling unworthy of her sight.

"Haneto, I shall be leaving the castle temporarily to call back the servants that once attended me in this castle. In these times you shall take extra care of Rin. I do not want any inconveniences while I'm gone."

"Yes Sesshoumaru." Haneto smiled sweetly and went back to her current chore.

"Also... while we have company besides us, you will address me with the proper respect this castle's master deserves." Sesshoumaru was still giving his back to the two women in the room.

"Of course... Sesshoumaru-sama."



Sesshoumaru had emerged from the north wing's door, and had halfway crossed the main room when he heard two firm knocks on the castle's huge doors. Sesshoumaru hurried to attend whoever was at the door to be able to complete the tasks he had to get done as quickly as possible to return to his dear Rin's side. He opened the doors with a swing that distressed his visitors. There 2 startled faces, a male and a female, greeted him. Also another face, slightly panicked, looked back at him. Shino. He had been so withdrawn in his own affairs that he had not taken notice of the trio that was now staring at him.

Shino bowed deeply. "G-gomen nasai, Sesshoumaru-sama!!" The other two stared curiously. The first was a human female, dressed in a yukata. Her eyes were crimson red and her hair was long until her waist, and dark green. She had freckles and had a fiery appearance. She resembled Shino very much despite the eye and hair color. The second was also a human, but this one was male. He also wore a yukata, which gave him a field worker's appearance. His hair was jet black, it measured against his ears and neck. He had jade green eyes.

"Se-Sesshoumaru-sama?!" The woman stammered for a second. Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?" Apparently the woman had managed to compose herself enough to speak.

"I am Renu; Shino's mother. Accompanying me is my husband, Lumos. We have come here with Shino because she proclaims to have your permission to stay here at the castle. Is this true m' lord?" Renu was gripping Shino's shoulder as if to scold her.

"Yes that is true. I have granted you daughter welcome into my castle."

"Then we as her parents will stay with her here or else she will not stay." Sesshoumaru saw a slight hint of a plea in Shino's eyes as she spoke.

"Very well, you shall stay here then. Now accommodate yourselves in the castle for I have business to attend to right now." Sesshoumaru walked past them as they entered the castle but Shino followed him some steps behind. Sensing this he turned around and faced her.

"Yes, Shino?"

"Umm, Sesshoumaru-sama? Are you going to bring more people to help Lady Rin?" The mention or Rin as 'Lady' stuck him as unusual again, but he now would have to get accustomed to it, for she was now his mate.

"...Yes." The answer seemingly brightened her mood even more.

"Those are good news Sesshoumaru-sama! Because she makes you happy m' lord, Lady Rin deserves to live. And with more people to help to get her to wake again, it's even better!" Shino turned around and walked merrily alongside her parents, who were apparently surveying the room.

"Because she makes you happy m' lord, Lady Rin deserves to live..." Unaware that a small smile had crept up to his face, Sesshoumaru summoned his cloud to head to the surrounding villages.



Sesshoumaru arrived to the seventh town this afternoon and it was past sunset, and, as usual the villagers had foreseen him and had taken shelter within their homes. He scanned the town's houses quickly and saw that they were still in their inhabitable state, and that for some years they would not need repairs. After a while some of the villagers had poked their heads in curiosity to see what their lord was doing. Sesshoumaru quickly grew uneasy about this and decided to speak once and for all.

"This message is for the relatives of my servants that inhabited my castle ten years ago. I demand your presence in my castle for it has been unattended for many years and needs repair. Those of you who are unable to do so are lifted from the obligation, but your relatives still have it. I shall be expecting you by midday tomorrow. That is all." Sesshoumaru turned to leave when a woman walked out from her house and stood by his way, on her knees.

"M-m' lord, Sesshoumaru-sama, is-is it true that L-Lady Rin has returned to the castle? We have heard this rumor from a nearby town. I-is it true?" The woman was shaking in fear but she remained in her position.

"..." Sesshoumaru nodded in response and summoned his cloud to leave the village, for now he was returning to his castle.

As he distanced himself from the village, he could hear a crowd forming around the woman that had spoken to him. He decided to hear their exited chattering on a nearby tree since he didn't had better to do.

"Is it true then?" An eager young woman asked. She had electric blue hair and red eyes. The woman who was once on her knees answered her.

"Yes Arilee, Lady Rin has indeed returned, my family and I are most pleased to return to the castle now." Arilee stood pensively at her comments while the others from the crowd chattered vividly.

Sesshoumaru felt as if he already knew how this conversation was going to turn out so he decided to finally head to the castle.



As he entered Rin's room he found Haneto and Renu attending the mistress. She was coughing and grunting. When Renu realized the Lord's presence, she immediately left the soaked towel she was using and bowed as she exited the room. Sesshoumaru glared at Haneto as if to question her to death.

"Haneto, what is wrong with her!?" Instinctively he took one of the soaked towel Renu was using and handed it to the elder woman.

"She is only coughing up some water that she needed to drink. Apparently I gave her a bit too much—"

"NEVER let it happen again, you understand me Haneto? Never. I want her to feel no pain or suffering of any sort." Sesshoumaru looked as if he was about to fume. Haneto simply looked at him thoughtfully.

"Sesshoumaru... I find an old saying very appropriate for now; ..." She took in some air. "'Pain lets us know we are still alive.' You cannot shield her of all the pains in this world because it is impossible. But I know for certain that you will protect her from all that you can. And so shall we." Sesshoumaru definitely felt calmer after her words. He softened the tight grip he unconsciously had on the soaked towel.

"Haneto?" He asked without raising his eyes.

"Yes m' lord?" she was covering Rin with a thick blanket.

"When Rin was revived, the 'spirit' of the Shikon jewel tried to tell me something but I did not care to listen. Now this though haunts me, as those words may hold the key to why she has not awakened." He took a deep breath and waited for Haneto to speak.

"Indeed. Most certainly those words may hold the key to her sleep." She paused, but continued quickly. "But I do not fear for it." Sesshoumaru raised his eyes to her in utter confusion. "If it had been of vital importance she would have made you listen to her. You were simply too keen." She paused again then with a slight smirk continued.

"Keenness seems to run in the family..." the following she added as a whisper. "...Just like your brother, Inu-yasha." Sesshoumaru looked at her with half lidded eyes.

"I heard you, Haneto."

"Yes, I know." She smiled innocently. "Good night m' lord."

Sesshoumaru was left in the room in the room a bit startled by the old lady's words. 'Like my brother!? FEH, What does she know...'



Five nights had passed since Rin's return. Four nights since she had fallen into that deep slumber. Haneto had been staying in a room in the same hall as Rin's and Sesshoumaru in case anything happened. Quite a number of servants had arrived the day after he had visited the villages. Even more due to his extended searching. The castle was making a remarkable recovery from those ten years of gloom. Secretly, Sesshoumaru had wanted to make all repairs to the castle in the less time possible; he wanted the repairs to be done when Rin awakened.

Now, he was there in her room waiting patiently as much as he could. Since they were now mates, and masters of the castle, he decided he would sleep in the same room as her. It didn't had to be in the same bed as her, but he just wanted to be by her side as he awoke every day. Also he wanted to be the first thing she saw when she awoke.

Sesshoumaru closed the drapes, since the light that came from the balcony may disturb Rin. 'As Haneto said, I will protect from as much as I possibly can.' He had already prepared his futon to sleep, and he was standing beside her, with a sad look to his face.

"Please come back, I need your guidance."

End of Chapter Fourteen

A/N: kumi: Yes. I feel like I owe you much apology. Yes, yes. I remember saying that I would update more I the summer now that I had more free time... but apparently god proved me wrong once again, and that did not happen. But at least now I'm updating 2 chappies this time... OH HAPPY DAY!!!!!!!!!

sess: yes, and you have made a pathetic wimp of me.

kumi: err... yeah.. sorry for that... hehehe... (is very frightened by the sight of sesshoumaru's claws right now) BUUUT, wouldn't you be at least a bit mentally damaged ater seeing something like that?

sess: ...

kumi: w00t!!

Thank Yous:

keeper-of-the-triforce: heh... I'm flattered...

sikaria: hmm the shortess sometimes I can't help... but I hope this mends it... hah, yeah.

hm: weeeell... not SO sad anymore...

jessica elliot: yes, yes. That is one of my wishes too... what girl wouldn't want that!?

Zetus: weeeell you might say that it was all to prove a point... yes I know that I made a big deal about it. I'm lame and we all know that already.

animegirl007: hai hai!

The RP: domo!

Half Angel Half Demon: wee!! me likes chocolate bars!! Yes I know sess is well quite crazy and weak in this fic I already have pointed that out... BUT I have only 2 words for you... MANARIE NOW!!!

SakuyaTsuki: yes I do have a happy ending. What kind of evil being do you take me for? (pretty evil is my guess...)

UgLyDaRkFaErIe547: as I already said, it apparently was to prve a point. Lame ne? ...hmm I didn't exactly hate Nekosu... well, yes he was a bit over- obsessive, but he was a nice guy...

kaitlyn: whoa!!! gangster?? That's a whole new achievement for me!!! ...I wish I knew French...

W00T!!! RRRRRRRRRREVIEW!!!!