Title: Conquest

Ship:Sesshomaru/Rin

Timeline: Post Naraku.

Word count: 613

Rating: M

A/N: Inu Yasha doesn't belong to me—I own absolutely nothing, and I'm making no money off this, so please don't sue me, thanks.

This is absolutely my first foray into the Inu Yasha fanfic world, and it only follows the anime canon, so Sesshomaru and Rin's characterisations are based off of that.

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Prologue

Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, was a creature of conquest.

All his life, he had set great store by the things he had won by his strength, by his control, by his power.

He glanced at the darkened mansion as he floated down to the ground. It seemed that everyone was asleep.

They would be woken soon enough, he thought, dusting off his hakama as he strode toward the place he called his home.

He raised an eyebrow as a light flickered to life in the upper window, where he knew her room to be.

Ah, yes. Another one of his conquests, albeit the strangest one so far.

It still surprised him now, that the child had been brave enough—or foolish enough—to try and help a demon. He would not have killed her, despite what Jaken thinks—he has too much self control for that—but he might have harmed her if he had been in much more pain.

He shook his head at the memory of the food she had brought for him. Even if he had been the type to eat human food, the smell of the charred fish would still have turned his stomach.

And still she had persisted.

It was the first time he had won someone over without bloodshed and swordplay.

It was the first time someone had smiled—without artifice—just for the simple pleasure of being near him.

And so it was that when he saw her lifeless little body on the road, he had taken the chance to test Tensaiga, and restore her to her smiling self, all in one stroke.

He had not expected to gain a follower.

He had spent years travelling the lands with only AhUn and Jaken for company, and the scent and the sound of her had grated on his nerves in the beginning.

He had left the decision to her, however. If the child wished to stay behind at the next human settlement they came across, he would let her.

In the end, the scent of the village had worn off, until all that was left on her was her own scent, and oddly enough, his.

It was then that he realised that she was another one of his conquests, and he could no more leave her behind than he could Tensaiga. She was a living symbol of his power, his control over such petty things as death.

Over the years, he had grown rather—well, not fond of her, but he had gotten used to having her around.

She was always just there,splashing in the river as she caught her lunch, laughing and giggling as she decorated AhUn with flowers, singing in that high pitched, annoyingly human voice…

It had long been a thing of disbelief, that he had let a humanbecome his ward.

But then, he had made his decision, and he had made sure that those who would question it had been very sorry, indeed.

He sighed as he neared the mansion. He had left her at his ancestral home with Jaken when he had gone to fight Naraku with Inu Yasha, and it had been eight years since he had seen her.

She had been a child of twelve then; she had waved happily as he had left, and now he found himself wondering if she had changed over the course of time, as he knew humans would.

The light in the upper window flickered in the corner of his eye, and he knew that she had come out to see if it was really him.

He felt a smile start in his eyes as he entered the house.

Rin.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! There is more to follow.

--Any and all concrit is very welcome :)