Summary: Sesshomaru Takahashi is arrogant, entitled, cruel, violent, and incredibly stubborn, and now he's Rin's boss. Mainly RinxSess, InuxKags.

Rin let out a groan when her phone rang, knowing it was probably Sesshomaru asking her to do yet another task for him. He was out of town, which meant Rin was stuck running errands for him.

"I'm about to leave work. Can whatever you're about to ask me wait until tomorrow?" Rin tried not to sound as tired as she was.

"No. I need you to drop the new contracts off. Leave them on the coffee table, you have a key." Sesshomaru disconnected before Rin could argue, and she resisted the urge to throw her phone across the room. After some grumbling, she finally got up and grabbed her jacket, purse, and the pile of contracts from her desk.

Rin made her way down to her car in the garage, tossing her stuff in the backseat before pulling out of her spot and heading to Sesshomaru's penthouse. Despite having a key, she'd never been there before, so she didn't mind this particular task.

It took about twenty minutes to get there, and Rin wasn't surprised to see that it was a ridiculously tall, posh building. Sesshomaru could be so predictable sometimes. She parked her car, grabbed the contracts, and made her way into the building and up to the penthouse.

When she finally entered his apartment, her mouth fell open. The first thing she noticed were the floor to ceiling windows and the gorgeous view of the city. It was a huge, two story penthouse and, from what Rin could see, was only furnished with black, grey, and white furniture like Sesshomaru's office.

Rin closed the door behind her as she started to explore. Sesshomaru told her to put the contracts on the coffee table, but he'd never told her she couldn't look around. His living room was pretty casual, with a large black sectional sofa taking up most of the room. Rin was surprised to see a grand piano sitting in the corner.

She wandered into the kitchen next, and immediately fell in love. The cabinets were all black with smooth white marble countertops. She imagined Sesshomaru cooking there, but the thought made her want to laugh. Rin found his office next, which felt like a library, considering that the walls on either side of the room were lined with bookshelves.

Rin finally made her way upstairs, ending up in what she assumed was his bedroom. The room was larger than her entire apartment. A massive king bed sat in the center of the room and Rin resisted the urge to run and jump on it. There was a sofa in one corner of the room and another fireplace. She was about to enter his closet when she heard the front door slam shut.

She exited the room and started walking downstairs, but she froze when she caught sight of Sesshomaru. His light blue dress shirt was stained with blood and he had a deep gash on his cheek. Hus sleeves were pushed up enough for her to notice the dark bruises covering his arms and probably his torso. The fact that he didn't immediately notice her presence was enough for her to know that he definitely wasn't okay.

"What the hell happened to you?" Rin couldn't hide the horror in her voice as she approached him.

"I'm fine." Sesshomaru didn't seem all that concerned, but Rin wanted to vomit.

"How is this fine?" She exclaimed, gesturing towards the cuts and bruises covering his body.

"They'll heal." Sesshomaru shrugged, though Rin still wasn't convinced. Whether he was a demon or not, his injuries looked severe.

"Fine, then I'm not leaving until they do." Rin declared. She approached him, ignoring his growl as she unbuttoned his shirt. She pushed his shirt off and quickly saw that she was right, his chest was covered in dark purple bruises. Rin's hand traced a bruise on his ribs and he growled again. "You are obviously not okay. Tell me what happened…or—or I'll call your father." Sesshomaru glared at her in response, but she didn't care.

She knew she sounded immature, but she figured threatening Sesshomaru was probably the only way to get the truth out of him. After all, he'd told her he was on a business trip all week and had obviously lied.

"I settled a score with a past enemy. He tried to kill me, so I killed him first." Rin gaped at him, not expecting him to openly admit that he had just murdered someone. What surprised her more was that she wasn't exactly upset about it, knowing that they had tried to kill Sesshomaru first.

"That's crazy." Rin exclaimed, throwing her hands up as she tried to comprehend everything that she'd heard. "You can't just go around killing people."

"Demon laws protect our right to kill demons who openly challenge us. He knew what he was inciting when he tried to harm me." Sesshomaru explained, though it didn't give her any comfort. She was grateful that he was actually speaking to her though, he wasn't usually the type to explain himself.

"He didn't just try, he did harm you." Rin commented, gesturing to the cut on his face and the various bruises and blood stains on him. Sesshomaru simply shrugged as Rin turned his face to look at his cut. "The cut on your cheek is deep, are you sure you don't need stitches?"

"I am fine. Leave, Ms. Sato." Sesshomaru ordered. Rin rolled her eyes, ignoring his words.

"You're the one who told me to come here, so deal with it. I'm not leaving." Rin argued. "Now go take a shower, you're covered in blood." Rin ordered him this time. She was surprised when he actually listened and went upstairs. She reluctantly followed him, waiting in his bedroom while he cleaned himself up.

Rin sat down on the sofa, leaning back and closing her eyes as she waited. It was super soft and Rin sighed in pleasure as she was finally able to relax.

"What are you doing?" Sesshomaru's voice interrupted her relaxation and she immediately sat up, quickly realizing that Sesshomaru was standing in front of her wearing nothing but a pair of dark blue sweatpants. She took her a second to comprehend the image…she had never expected Sesshomaru to wear something so casual, even at home.

"Nothing, I was just taking a break. I spent the whole day running around for you." Rin complained, standing up to look at his wounds again. Rin stroked the cut on his cheek, which already looked better than when she last saw it. "It doesn't look too bad…how long does it usually take for you to heal?" Rin asked, finally dropping her hand from his cheek.

"A few hours." Sesshomaru answered, walking around her before laying down on his bed. Rin turned and watched as he relaxed. His temperament honestly seemed to be much better when he was injured.

"I'll be in the living room." Rin announced, feeling awkward just standing in the bedroom. She went back downstairs and decided to call Kagome to cancel their plans for tonight.

"Hey Rin," Kagome's chipper voice answered.

"Hey, I think I'm gonna have to take a rain check on movie night. I'm at Sesshomaru's place." Rin plopped down on the sofa as she continued. "He asked me to drop his contracts off, and then showed up here injured," she explained.

"Woah, what happened?"

"Apparently he had a fight with a demon…and then killed him." Rin admitted, still not sure how she felt about the whole situation. Even though it was legal under demon law, it was still technically murder.

"Jeez…are you okay?" Kagome asked.

"I'm fine, he's just has a cut on his cheek and his body is covered in bruises." Rin frowned as she thought of someone trying to hurt Sesshomaru. "He's honestly being nicer than usual, though he might just be delirious from his injuries."

"So…you inspected his naked body for injuries?" Kagome's tone was playful as she changed the subject. Rin blushed at the insinuation.

"No! Just his torso. I certainly didn't see anything…below the belt." Rin reassured.

"But you wanted to?"

"Kagome!" Rin sputtered, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks.

"Fine, fine, I'm just trying to rile you up." Kagome admitted with a laugh.

"Anyways, I just wanted to tell you where I am. I'll talk to you tomorrow, I love you." Rin sighed, knowing Kagome would probably call her first thing in the morning anyways.

"I love you too. Goodnight." Kagome disconnected, and Rin tossed her phone onto the coffee table before making her way upstairs to check on Sesshomaru, who was on his laptop when she walked back in.

"Don't you know how to relax?" Rin asked, approaching him and pushing his laptop out of his grasp. Sesshomaru didn't argue. The more she interacted with him, the more she was convinced that he really did have a soft spot for her.

Rin shook the thoughts out of her head as she sat down next to him and looked at his cut. She was surprised to see that it was already closing, but she still frowned and furrowed her brows when she saw how many bruises covered his body.

"I'm fine. You can leave." Sesshomaru said again, though Rin scoffed at his words.

"I told you, I'm not leaving. Stop telling me to." Rin demanded, poking his chest. Or at least she tried to, Sesshomaru grabbed her hand before she could even touch him.

"Your insubordination is normally endearing, but even I have limits." Sesshomaru growled.

"It's not insubordination, you idiot. It's concern." Rin tried to pull her hand out of his grasp, but he didn't budge. "I am concerned about you, because you showed up covered in blood and bruises, and I'm not going to leave until I know you're completely okay." He finally dropped her hand.

"Why?"

"Because I'm human, and humans have compassion. Now, give me something to wear to sleep, I wasn't lying when I said I wasn't leaving." If Sesshomaru was surprised by her words he didn't show it, but the fact that he listened and gave her a t-shirt and sweatpants said enough.

Rin went into the bathroom and changed. She had to fold over the waistband of the sweatpants a few times and the shirt was a bit long, but it was better than nothing. When she walked back into the bedroom, Sesshomaru was back on the bed and his eyes were closed.

Rin stood next to the bed and took the opportunity to admire his demon markings. The pale crescent moon on his forehead and the magenta stripes along his cheeks only made him more attractive, in Rin's opinion. Sesshomaru's eyes suddenly popped open and Rin jumped in surprise.

"Oh my god!" Rin exclaimed, shaking her head as she calmed down. "How do you feel?" The bruises on his chest looked about the same, but Rin knew they'd look better in the morning. The sight of them brought unpleasant memories to her mind.

"I can smell your apprehension." Sesshomaru ignored her question, eyeing her curiously. She sighed, not sure how this conversation was going to end.

"I have some experience with bruises like this…and I know they hurt like hell. You're a demon, but you're still allowed to feel pain." Rin admitted, crossing her arms as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Now tell me how you feel, and don't lie." Sesshomaru was silent for a moment before responding.

"I've dealt with much worse." Seeing the look on Rin's face, he reluctantly continued speaking, "Weak. I was poisoned." Sesshomaru admitted.

"You were poisoned?" Rin exclaimed, immediately standing up and pressing her hand to his forehead. He was warm, but not unusually so.

"My body's poison nullifies most others, but this was particularly potent. I'll recover." Sesshomaru assured her, though it only brought more questions to her mind.

"Wait, your body has poison?" Rin pulled away furrowing her brows as she tried to understand.

"My claws secrete a corrosive poison, giving me immunity to most poisons." Rin looked at him incredulously. She really didn't know anything about demons. She had worked for Sesshomaru for nearly two months and she still didn't know much about him. Most of what she did know had come secondhand from Kagome or Inuyasha.

"That's…actually interesting. How do you control it? Are your claws just always poisonous?" Rin asked, climbing onto his bed without thinking about it.

"No." Sesshomaru responded, gently pressing his claws into her hand as if to prove it.

"Why did you lie about being out of town?" Rin asked, knowing she was pressing her luck with her questioning, but still too curious not to ask.

"I didn't lie. I was out of town until today."

"Okay. What happened before you…killed the guy?" Rin asked slowly, still not entirely sure if she even wanted to know.

"Years ago, he attempted to assassinate my father. I was informed he was conspiring again, so he poisoned me out of fear of retaliation."

"So, you're telling me he thought he could poison you and scare you off? What an idiot." Rin commented, blushing when she saw the slight amusement on Sesshomaru's face. "Why are you suddenly being so nice? What happened to being a stubborn, scary demon?"

"Compassion." Sesshomaru didn't say anything else, ending the conversation as he leaned back and closed his eyes once more.

His response was like a light bulb in Rin's head. She suddenly understood why he constantly pushed Izayoi away, and treated Inuyasha like crap. Why he was so dark and harsh, while his father was so warm and kind.

Sesshomaru just didn't know how to be compassionate.

No one had ever shown him how.

Rin's heart clenched as she thought about it. It made perfect sense. Everyone always treated Sesshomaru like a demon who could turn on them at any second, they never treated him like a person with feelings. He had probably convinced himself that he didn't have any.

Rin watched Sesshomaru as he was lulled into sleep, and made a promise to herself then and there: If compassion is what Sesshomaru needed, then she would be the one to show it to him.