AN: Let me just start off to say that I am sorry I could not update this story sooner. To warn any of my readers ahead of time the only reason I will ever take long in my updates is usually because I will have tests during the week so I need all the time to cram and study. The test of the week…biology DX Fortunately, I studied hard so I think I passed, but then I forgot about the lab test and I forgot everything so thank goodness it was just a practice because I would have failed miserably lol

So just like Sesshomaru I exceeded in my task and gained a new arm! I-I mean I excelled in passing XD

To any new readers this story is just a continuation of the few that I have written so far, like a series I guess you can say. If you only wish to read this one or start from the very beginning or whatever you like either way it is up to you so long as you enjoy reading!

I do have most of this story already planned out, still working on the minor details but I can already see the ending, and it won't be too long a story anyway. I've had this idea in my head since I updated Lantern Lightway, but I never found the right time to put it in till now. It's definitely romance, and while I also stated it to have drama it will also a few touches of humor added which I'm sure you guys will pick up on.

As far as anything else I will just let you read and find out so hope you enjoy and plz R&R!

Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters.

~~~The Market Place~~~

Kohaku?

Honey glazed eyes scanned the surroundings; the sounds of different sized heels patting against the earthy ground. The nonstop battle between loud commotion and endless chatter that determined which noise irritated his sensitive ears the most.

That's right, another year has passed in Kohaku's life and Kagome and Sango wanted to celebrate since this year he happened to be in the village.

The colors; brown after brown was all that he could see whether it be the dusty ground he walked on, or the rows and rows of manmade huts and shops that were built with the freshest pine wood. His felt so out of place with his white attire and well built armor. His whole being was of course out of place, but when compared to all the other vibrant or dull colors clothing weak human bodies, the great icy prince felt like a single white rose blooming in a field of yellow daisies; superior yet different.

All very interesting, yet what does it have to do with me?

His keen sense of smell was more than likely on overdrive considering the amount of different scents invading his irritated nostrils. From the fresh scent of newly picked fruits and vegetables, to the grainy scent of seeds and wheat all layed out near shops or under tents. The foul odor of fish was by far the strongest scent; it filled his nose to the breaking point to where he could almost taste the scaly texture. The salty smell of the sea water made his nose itch, and his throat sizzled at the thought of all that muddy sand. The scent of salt and fish mixed with pine wood and human sweat; disgusting.

Well…I wanted my gift to be a surprise, a-and since I don't really know what men like in their possession I was thinking that maybe you could…well…

All these mortals passing by him; some decided to ignore the man with silver hair while others were not as skilled when it came to hiding their curiosity. Whether it was from the wrinkled and elderly to the small and innocent; even the generation that best matched his appearance, either way to him they were useless creatures with weak minds and an even weaker body to match. He found no interest in them or in what they did or accomplished.

What is it?

For reasons he did not wish to think about Sesshomaru detested the human species. Plain mortal beings that the dog demon truly felt they had no place in the world. To him they were simply taking up space, and just as the insects he considered them to be he would have gladly squashed them all in the blink of an eye, but if he truly felt that way about humanity...

Than what in the world was he doing in a place like this!

His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared; nothing about this place brought him any satisfaction; from the sounds to the colors and worst of all the horrific smell, if anything it only soured the scowl on his already agitated face.

"My lord?" spoke a tuneful voice sending sweet vibrations throughout his ears, dressed in her fine yellow and orange silk kimono he gave her during the summer, and emitted such a sweet floral and fresh berry scent it nearly overpowered all the other scents assaulting his nose.

Hesitantly, golden eyes looked up to melt with chocolate brown. He expected to see a frown grace her warm features; a frown filled with sadness for she must have surely known that thinking he would want to walk amongst all these humans was a waste of thought.

What he saw was indeed sadness; however it nearly amused him when she thought of hiding her true emotions behind her smile. If there was ever a difference between them; it was that he was the master at keeping his emotions hidden while Rin was not.

"It's ok my lord," Rin reassured though he could see the sadness seep out of her smile, "I understand if you don't want to be around all these humans."

She turned her head from him to stare at the market place; the intense feeling of having his eyes pierce her back was almost as unbearable as knowing that by sunset that evening she would have to say goodbye to him.

"I-I just thought that since this is to be your last day before your patrol that we would….well I guess I can't blame you," she said trying to cover up her sadness with humor, though it still did not go unnoticed, "I suppose too many people can be uncomfortable."

There was a long silence souring through the air after that; an uncomfortable feeling courses through Rin's veins; she knew if she didn't speak up the silence will continue further.

"It's," Sesshomaru, surprisingly, started off taking in every shack filled with simple tools to every hut bursting with impatient people, to every little shop smelling of silk materials or homemade food.

The amount of land underneath all this carouse was quiet the impressive size, and the population of humans was the biggest that he has seen in quite a while. With all the observations he took in he could think of no other word to express the description of his location except for "large."

He heard a soft giggle spill out beside him; a sound he wasn't expecting yet still relieved to hear.

"Lady Kaede says this is the main market where villages from different areas of the country trade off," she explained before pointing her finger to the ocean far beyond the market, "And the ocean there is the main source for a lot of the exotic fish that are sent to many castles around the area so this place is the biggest market in the area."

He could tell that was a main fishing source; he could smell the raw meat all the way from here, and with his trained eye he could easily see men on various sized boats throwing nets into the ocean in hopes of making profit.

"Hmm," he grunted. It was not a pleasure to hear on how well human society was able to progress through the last one hundred years of so. If he remembered correctly, last time he was in this area there was no trace of any kind of human residency. Now prospered a well maintained trade off center where the rich and poor sold and bought goods from different sources of land.

"Interesting," he, almost reluctantly, admitted.

"Yes, this is my first time here actually so it is a sight to take in," Rin replied, "The men in the village are busy preparing their fields for the crops, and the woman of the village are usually too busy with their families to come do this."

Her sweet face turned to meet his; when she could tell that he was not…completely annoyed with the fact that she brought him here she felt the usual tug on her lips at seeing he took somewhat of an interest in their location.

"Kagome is usually the one to do this," she further added, "She and Inuyasha come here every couple of months to gather supplies for the village, but sadly Kagome has recently come down with a cold so the job was left up to me."

For a moment she paused and took an inhale of breath before she explained further. "I already promised the villagers ahead of time that I would come here to gather the supplies for everyone." Their eyes met for a second and Rin's tone dropped low, "My lord had I know that you would choose today to leave I would have asked for a later date."

Her only response was a nod to his head, and by what she could tell he didn't seem upset with any decision she made.

He understood she had a duty to fulfill, and as did he. Before his time spent with Rin during the winter he decided once the snow disappeared, and was substituted with green grass he would begin his patrols again. He was a demon true to his word, especially if it was a promise regarding himself.

Winter went by much longer than he ever remembered any winter to be, and it was a season filled with events he would not soon forget. However all good things must come to an end, and soon he noticed the snow had melted away leaving behind nothing but sunny days and cool weather. Spring was already signaling its approach by the green grass sprouting from the soiled ground and the trees becoming more colorful as the days passed.

He already chose his day of departure in advance and already sent Jaken out into the forests so the imp could catch up on any new information that was needed to be given to him. In a matter of ways he was looking forward to having weaker demons cower at his feet again. To feel the blood of another stain his sword and claws thrilled the darker, sinister part of himself. And his prided swelled at the thought of once again unleashing the full power that was bakuseiga.

Much like his father, he was never one to 'settle down'. He knew from a very young age that he could never be satisfied with just one location, and thought of his 'home'; his territory. As such he must protect it and see that it was possessed by no other but him himself.

To bath in the moonlight during the night, surrounded by nothing but large rocks and tall green fields. To shroud himself in the deepest parts of his forests, and stand on the highest peaks of his mountains. To once again obtain the feeling of authority that it was he who not only inherited, but now ruled over every square inch of these lands.

The only thing about departing would be…

That sweet tuneful voice filled his ears again, "I knew that this would be our last day till we see each other again, and I didn't want to have to say goodbye sooner than I had to."

He would have to leave her…

He will soon have to have blood substitute in for her constant sweet smile. For fighting to take the place of her gentle melodic laugh. He would soon be hearing battle cries instead of her usual humming that she did whenever she did her chores or just simple sat beside him on the roof of her hut during those cold winter nights.

This simple human female was like some 'home away from home' to him. Her presence let off a paradise that soothed the warrior in him to relax and enjoy the little things in life that she was able to show him. She showed him many things this past winter.

He will have to leave that…all behind.

"However, if you do not wish to follow me here," she said, "I understand."

To not go with her to this market would mean to say their goodbyes till the next time they meet.

That…simply will not do.

Though he knew Rin was always one to keep her word when it came to promises that she made; the same could be said about him had he not always been one to 'play dirty' at times.

To ask or even tell her to not carry out her job today would not only put her in a position where she had to choose between the village's orders and his orders, but just as she never objected to his leaving he had no right to piece her life together in the puzzle that he wanted made.

He would do it. If only just this once.

He sealed his fate in keeping her close the moment he brought her back once with the tenseiga.

He sealed his fate in keeping her close to his soul the moment he touched her face when her little eyes opened from her second death.

Now he sealed his fate in keeping her close to his heart the moment he layed his lips on her forehead.

Even he knew little by little things would never be the same…now was the time to find it 'not the same' meant for the better…or worse.

"Let's go."

"HUH!" she gasped; her eyes spilled out all the sadness and was than filled with shock as well as her mouth opening in wide 'o' shaped form she couldn't believed what she heard. "L-Lord Sesshomaru do you really mean that?" she asked; needed to hear him say something, anything that meant he really was going to join her on this shopping trip.

"…Come along," he simply ordered, not being one to repeat himself, and having already walked a few feet ahead.

Once realization hit Rin that he truly was going to come along her smile shined as bright as her colorful kimono. "Wait for me," she beamed happily, turning around to catch up till she was yet again by his side.

"We won't take long," she reassured, having a feeling that he did not agree to his plan whole heartedly and knew well enough that he only did this for her sake; for that she was happy. Hanging from her shoulder, she reached into the red satchel Sango had given her containing the money the village bestowed her with and brought out a scroll.

"I only need to get a few things the village needs," she said untying the string, the scroll rolled out and the ends of the paper dropped till it nearly hit the ground.

The sounds of an instrument string popped within the dog lord's head. She only needed to get a few things, he thought as he eyed the long scroll intensely hoping to burn every last word to a crisp just be his mere stare along.

"Oh and I would also appreciate any advice you would have when it comes to Kohaku's gift," she then added.

She heard the footsteps beside her come to a stop.

"Something wrong?" she asked when she turned her head to see he had yet to keep going.

"Gift?"

"Oh right," she said as she turned her body around to face him. "Like I mentioned to you before we came here, Kohaku is having a celebration with another passing year in his life. So since he was in the village this year Sango wanted to do something special for him."

She smiled and glued her eyes back on her list of items to buy.

"I thought it would be nice to get him something since I was here, but I don't really know what men like in a gift so I was hoping you could help me since you and he partake in battles and such."

Rin looked up to give her lord another pretty smile, "Of course stuff like that can wait till I get the rest of these things," she said before turning her body around; not seeing the twitch to his elegant brow or the boyish pout to his lips.

She was going to get him a gift.

She was going to get that boy…no…that man…. a gift. Without even his noticing, the canine in him growled.

Rin still couldn't believe the turn of events. She hoped with every fiber of her being that he would choose to agree to go along with her, but she also knew he was not one to associate himself when it came to humans. She never planed to force him of course; she knew she could never do that to him, and in a way she never expected him to say yes.

She thought that maybe she could just settle with the amount of time spent with him on the ride there from the village. Snuggled safe within his arms and fur; watching the sun shine bright within the sky as well as the sun kissed orbs displayed within his eyes.

Now here she was in the village, and she wasn't in this market alone like she thought she would be. This was definitely going to be an experience she hoped to not soon forget. How could she; she was going shopping with her Lord Sesshomaru!

Perhaps by the end of this experience, she thought, he will have become a little more connected with a species he claims he is not interested in.

"Ok," she started off as her eyes roamed the first few shops and tents set up that held a some good portions of grains and seeds piled high in hay bags. "I suppose the first thing we can get would be a few seeds for crops, that sound good my lord?"

"…Lord Sesshomaru?" she asked again when she didn't even hear a grunt or huff.

Rin turned her head; shocked to see a couple of village peasants standing a good distance away from Sesshomaru who, at the moment, was having an episode in his own little dark corner near a hut, and could not contain his jealous temper from sending angry waves outside his body.

"Hey…are you alright," a few of the men asked while other people came to the conclusion stating if, "he was going to explode?"

Rin felt the sweat on her head drop at the almost humorous scene.

Then again, she thought, by the end of the day he could also just end up burnig the entire market down.

AN: Dogs and their tempers, maybe it wasn't a good idea to bring him along after all lol Well I think it will make the story all the more interesting and one of the things I love to write about most is writing about a time where modern conveniences weren't available. I love stories with an old time line which is one of the reasons why I love the anime since it dates back 500 years ago so writing about a market place in such an old era sounds like a thrill to me. Adding a dog demon lord just adds spice to the mix!

I won't lie and say this was an easy chapter to write; I kept deleting and typing over and over till I was satisfied by the way Sesshomaru chose to go into the market. It wasn't easy since him going to that kind of place would seem out of character for him, but since he already went as far as kissing a human on the forehead I thought it was time to bring this story in and see how it turns out lol

So there is still much more to come concerning how Rin will handle her demon lord in a market place, and we all know how friendly and social Sesshomaru is lol as well as how Sesshomaru will handle knowing Rin is getting a gift for Kohaku. Jealous much XD

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed now if you'll excuse me it's like 5 am and I need my sleep lol Comments are welcomed I do appreciate it, and a big thanks to all my comments made to Sugar Sweet Snowflakes! Sorry I couldn't thank everyone personally through mail but my computer has been down the past week so sorry about that too. Stay alert, and till next time!