He dashed to the left, bringing his sword down with a deafening blow; the sound of metal clinks vibrating in the still night air. He swooped left, hoping to strike some form of flesh but got nothing but air as his opponent dodged the attack. And then he sliced through the air once more and he was met by a satisfactory ripping, the sound of squirting liquid now replacing that of blood-curdling screams.

One down….

He sailed forward, cutting through the air and feeling a bone sever like butter, moving his katana in a diagonal sweep he was now ripping heads and limbs, weapons littering the ground with crimson glint. It was maniacal, killing spree with blood littering the sky and raining down like the heavens were crying. Crying the red sea as he continued to slice and hack, rip and tear every bit of demon that attacked him.

"Fools." He muttered deeply, continuing to rip corpse after corpse, slicing bodies five times over even before they hit the ground. More idiots had come after him just as he suspected. Good. He needed to release some anger, needed to release those petty emotions he held for that fool of a woman and return to the cold-hearted ruler he had once been.

He was Lord of the Western lands, ruled with an iron grip and killed with a more metallic strike. He would have no fools running about causing mayhem and trying their best to assassinate him while he was around. He was a fugitive to these demons, a person whose power they wanted to gain and a cruel man who stood in the way of them all. A youkai that blocked their path to power and would possibly chop their legs before they even tiptoed close.

Every enemy fallen, he stood amongst them all. Staring down he was bestrewn with blood, his hair and clothes no longer its pearly color. Now he was a crimson savage, thirsting for the blood of the not so innocent and willing to take anything that stood in his way. His eyes grew a color to match his now soiled hair, his hands gnarling and twisting to his truly demonic shape.

He was beginning to growl, snarl, not being able to control himself any longer. The emotions were taking over and running him down so low he had no idea what he would do next. Would he be forced to kill everything in his path? Would he not be the same man he had once been until he took down his own obstacle? And what was that obstacle exactly: that obstruction in his path to righteousness and revenge.

The girl…Growling deeply he pressed his grimy hands up to his head and dropped the sword beside him. Bodies stood breathless all around him but each one seemed to whisper her name, mock him for his weakness. For being as foolish as his imprudent brother… Rin, Rin, Rin, Rin…

"Shut up!" he commanded into the thickening silence, eyes bulging with their rouge tint and sending him into a frenzy of absolute madness, "This Sesshomaru shall take no more!"

He closed his eyes as he tried to block out the anger that was raging within. The image of his father brought desperate flashes in his mind, of how a weak idiot like him had fallen for that human Izayoi. How could he have been so simple?

And then his half-wit brother who had fallen for that priestess that tagged along with him. Human love was enough to make his stomach churn and lurch so that he was sick with the thought of it. Sesshomaru-sama would never do anything as foolish as to allow himself to fraternize with those that were so weak they made animals look strong. Who were willed by their emotions and were easily capable of any form of betrayal. The weak that died so easily that a simple fall could send them tumbling to their grave. And here he was, royal and majestic, practically immortal…

"I will not fall so easily!" he growled, hair splaying out around him as a snout grew from his normally perfect face. Bones cracked and stretched, morphing into a shape unknown to many. His body began to lurch into an awkward position, leaning forward so that his bones snapped so he could easily paw around on all fours. Huge ears sprouted from his enlarging body, red eyes glowing with malice.

He was now completely white once again, the blood that littered him before was now a mere speck on his back he was so large. Bounding forward he left a trembling in his wake, shaking the ground and causing a forest a destruction that almost pleased him. Satisfied him as he continued to work off his anger.

Meanwhile, a startled Rin gripped onto the nearest tree and yelped, the earth rattling beneath her feet. She had snuck out that night to get away from thoughts of Kohaku, whose deep brown eyes sent fire burning in her veins so that it was almost unbearable. She was almost trembling when she finally retired to bed that night.

Now, after listening to Wakiko snore in silence, she lifted from the room and hobbled slightly to the front door. Her leg still throbbed slightly but not as much as usual, and she was now able to walk on it with no more than a wince. Besides, she wanted to see if she could visit Jaken.

But it was that moment she was outside that the ground began to vibrate and rip out from under her legs. Terror filled her large brown eyes and soon silence gripped her throat. Other than the yelp she let out mere moments before she was completely constricted of her voice to the point where she felt like she couldn't breath. She was becoming dizzy. Sick with fear…

Because Sesshomaru-sama wasn't here, and he might not come at all… Never again.

"He's back!" she heard a terrible screech and the frantic cry of a woman from behind her. Rin's body finally reacted as her head snapped around. She listened carefully. That voice was so familiar to her but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. And it had sounded so close to her, and so very…. Frantic.

"My God my son! The demon is back! He's back for my son! Help me!"

Rin, startled, realized it was coming from within the house. And the only female voice there had to have been Wakiko. Large eyes wide with fright she dashed forward, ignoring the desperate pain that shot up her leg as if she was completely healed. The scar that had formed split and caused blood to soak at the bandage but she didn't notice much.

She dashed into the room, and was surprised to see there was no demon. Though the ground died down to little more than a tremble Wakiko didn't seem to notice much. Instead she was still fast asleep, her arm clutched tightly around the blanket in a cold sweat. Upon closer observation Rin could see that the woman was indeed shivering. The girl's eyes sailed to the room Akio and Kohaku shared but no one seemed to stir within their depths, despite the wailing of absolute torture their mother was emitting.

"No, please no! Have mercy not my boy. Take me but please not my boy! Why do you need my boy?"

Rin dashed over to her, bending down and stroking the woman's graying hair from her furrowed face. She cradled her close, trying to find some way to comfort her in hopes of coaxing the woman awake. Wakiko was soaked, obviously drenched in a sweat from all the apprehension she was working up in whatever nightmare she was having. And whatever it was it obviously had something to do with Akio.

Finally the screaming seemed to stop rather abruptly, and in her arms she could feel a slight stirring. Obviously the dream had gotten to the point where Wakiko could take it no more. The woman stirred in Rin's arms then lifted up in a trance, her large blue eyes trembled as they stared into the raven-haired girl's face, as if trying to remember her.

Then finally the dream seemed to peel away and Wakiko realized where she was. And from the look on Rin's face she knew she had heard it all. It was a few moments of silence that passed by before Wakiko stirred from her spot next to Rin, all the while she seemed to be stuck in some kind of terror. Her hands still trembled as she sat. Rin's face was full of concern, her eyes glittering with a curiosity that needed to be filled. One look at Rin and the middle-aged woman knew she had to tell her darkest secret.

"I'll make some tea." Wakiko muttered after another calming second, swaying to her feet and trembling all the while as she staggered to her little kitchen. She set a bit of hot water to boil then took a seat on her mat, quietly waiting for Rin to join her. Another agonizing moment of silence passed between them but Rin made no movements of protest as she waited for the woman to take her time. Finally, with a sigh Wakiko began.

"I'm sure by now you've noticed my son is a bit… strange."

Rin said nothing but merely watched the tears that weld in Wakiko's solid blue eyes, and for the first time in a long time the woman looked incredibly old. The wrinkles in her face were deeper, and she was so ghastly pale and feeble. Even her hair seemed to become grayer with the very thoughts that floated around in the woman's head. If Rin hadn't known any better she would have assumed this woman was as old as Kaede, who was teetering on the brink of extinction herself.

"Well, he wasn't always like that."

Wakiko lifted up patiently to check on the tea and the words she whispered raced through Rin's mind. Yes, she did recall how eerie Akio had been. So strange in fact that she had wondered if the boy was indeed psychotic. He would mumble weird things to himself and others, never really talk too much and always speak like something was out to get him: to kill him.

Wakiko set a cup of boiling hot liquid in front of Rin before retaking her seat across from her. The woman sat in another bout of silence to get her thoughts back together. She seemed so very tired, but her eyes held a dead look of sadness in them.

"As you can probably tell I'm the baker for this little town. I sell bread in this village and the market over. Most of the time I'm too busy baking so I send Kohaku and Akio to do the selling in the market for me. But that's a bit beside the point I guess."

She sipped her tea.

"You see, before Kohaku even came I was extremely busy around here. I never liked sending Akio to town by himself so I would have to find some point of time to either go or avoid it all in general. But after being forced to stay in the village for so long money became scarce around here. I was beginning to get rather desperate. Then Akio approached me."

Rin could almost see everything in her mind: a younger and prettier Wakiko rushing about as she tried to provide for the family, innocent little Akio watching his mother work so hard as his father rested in the grave. It was all a bittersweet time then.

"He said, 'Look Mother. I think I'm old enough now. Please send me into the town to sell the bread. We are running out of money to keep the business going if we don't go to the district. Send me and I will return with what we need.' And I assure you at first I was reluctant, but desperate and run down by my son's constant pleas I sent him on his journey with little more than a basket of my best on his arm and hope in my heart."

Wakiko took a sip of her tea, offering a bit of bread to her companion. Rin smiled lightly and refused. Wakiko nodded and continued.

"Well night fell and as you can imagine I got worried. My only son had gone to town and did not return yet. Many of the villagers here tried to comfort me, by saying he was fine but deep down inside me I knew that they were wrong. But what more could I do but wait? And I did, and as the time ticked on I was racked with fear. Night became morning and I had barely gotten a wink of sleep. My son had not come back from selling bread. There was a possibility that something bad had happened to him and I was sick with the regret that I had sent him to his doom. I was the cause of his disappearance. But my main concern at the time was, God let my son come back to me."

"Well I had become hysterical with worry and begged some of the others to help me find him. Kaede heard of my predicament and assisted in my aid of gathering some of the village men to find my beloved Akio. Days past and I was so racked with worry that I had not eaten, slept, or tried to work my business at all. Kaede allowed me to stay with her until the men had found my poor son. I was so desperately afraid that a demon had gotten him, or that he was seriously injured and on the brink of death in some ditch somewhere. Eventually Kaede was forcing me to eat as I was stuck on bed rest. I felt like I was losing my mind with worry. If it wasn't for the elderly priestess I just might have died. And then the village men came back."

Rin's tea was now her preferred temperature and she sipped her own, as did Wakiko more from condition reaction than will.

"Did they find him?" Rin questioned and Wakiko's frown told her the answer long before she replied.

"They hadn't. They told me they searched as far as they could and asked everyone in the village but they said that after he left that afternoon they had not seen him again. I was beginning to suspect the worse. I refused to eat and I just knew my son was in his grave and all I wanted to do was join him. I was barely hanging on anymore. I could feel myself losing my will to live, my soul slipping away. Everything around me was so unrealistic now; the very things I adored were now nothing more than fake enjoyments. Awed by this discovery I somehow found the strength to rouse from my spot in bed and wander. It was while I was walking past my house I could see shadows stirring nearby. Curiosity got the best of me."

"Who was it?" Rin asked, her voice almost a whisper.

She smirked at the girl. "That's what I was wondering. So when I neared by imagine my surprise to see two boys, one being Kohaku and the other my loving son. Overrun with joy I grasped the boy tightly but he did not respond. In fact, he was rather cold and stiff in my arms but at the time I was so overjoyed to have found him. So much so that I did not realize I had fainted until I woke up the next day."

She sipped the now cold tea but it didn't bug her much. Pushing the cup aside she gave a light sigh then tried to figure out how to continue the story.

"Rejuvenated by my son's arrival I had not noticed how weak I was when I left. At returning in my fainted condition—thanks to Kohaku—Kaede diagnosed me with a fever and I was forced upon bed rest for a few more days. But I had gained my will to live again now that my son was home. However as I soon began to return to my self once more I noticed that Akio was acting rather oddly. When I asked him about what happened to him he would tell me, 'A youkai…' Whenever I pressed onwards he would mutter, 'I can't tell you. He'll kill me." And left it at that. Akio began to talk to himself and would constantly seem in a wild daze. He wanted nothing to do with me, was extremely quiet and odd, often retiring to bed early. He'd have nothing to do with anyone else aside from Kohaku, and it worried me. I went to Kaede and questioned her but she said there wasn't much she could do. 'Watch him carefully and if any other strange occurrences take place, than alert me.' From the tone of her voice I could tell she was thinking of something dreadfully grave but out of her control. I could no longer turn to the priestess. I had to handle things myself."

Rin's mind returned to that day when Akio mentioned something rather odd to her.

"He's waiting for you. He told me I couldn't say a word to you, because he'll kill me. He tried to make me forget, but I remember. I remember everything."

Just remembering that sent chills running down her spine. But she didn't say anything. Instead she tried to figure out what Wakiko had meant by "handle things myself."

"Wakiko. What happened?"

Even more sorrow filled the woman's blue eyes as she continued.

"I tied him down, called upon a priest in a nearby village to help me. I suspected a youkai had taken some kind of possession of my poor son and that's what had him acting so strangely," a pause, "And to this day I still don't know if I was right. The monk performed his normal rituals but my son began to freak. He began to mumble things about the night he had gone missing. I remember when he had said, 'the man in fluff. He'll kill you if I tell you. He won't let you ruin his plans. He's going to kill me. He'll be back. He will be back. Kohaku. Oh God Kohaku. He will be back!' I thought I would die from tears. It was then that my son gave up his fight and fainted. The priest left but there was no difference in my son. That day had forever changed him, and he always lives in fear of 'the man in fluff.' I asked Kohaku about what happened but he always told me he had no idea, but he had found the boy in the woods and decided to take him back home. I've been forced to live in fear myself that the man will indeed come back with unfinished business. The youkai that cursed my son."

With that, Wakiko took the teacups and gave Rin a wide smile. "But you should get back to bed. You shouldn't let a little earthquake keep you up for the rest of the night."

Rin nodded and obediently trailed to the room, mind reeling with information. This was why Wakiko looked so dreadfully old wasn't it? To imagine… As Rin headed to the room she could see a shadow flicker down the hall and disappear. She paused, but continued to the room in silence, laying down and forcing herself to go back to sleep.

"The man in fluff…?" she muttered.

A/N: Well that's it. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry it took so long to put up but between laziness, school, and writer's block it was obviously going to take forever. But on the bright side it's a nice long chapter! Anywho, please remember to R&R for meh and I'll be sure to update soon! Ask a question and I'll try to answer. Yada, yada, yada. You guys know the drill. Thank you for ALL my reviewers I appreciate you all. WOOT RIN AND SESS! 3