Summary:

While Sesshoumaru kept himself busy with his duties in his land, he paid less attention to his young human companion. Rin on the other hand kept herself busy as she tried hard to deliver her heart's message through the surroundings by hoping her lord would have noticed it, but the western lord has failed in noticing the girl's efforts. What is that message that Rin tried to deliver to Sesshoumaru? Will Sesshoumaru ever understand a human's heart?

Story notes:

Honestly this story was suppose to be drabble version, but it turns out a bit longer than drabble, so I have to split it in 2 parts. So this is going to be a short story with only 2 chapters (^_^)

The story was inspired by a very "meaningful message" that I had read in Chinese article, it was suppose to be in poem style, but I have taken an initiative to elaborate it further and try to deliver the message in a story form. Hope you guys will love it.

Disclaimer: The depictions of the characters in this story are completely fictitious. In no way does this represent the views or the story arcs as envisaged by the original copyright owners of this franchise and its characters. The ownership if the characters and the original concept are sole properties of Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter notes:

As I look back on all that's happened..

Growing up, growing together, changing you, changing me

- There were times when we dreamed together, when we laughed and cried together.

As I look back on those days,

I realize how much I truly miss you and how much I truly love you.

The past may be gone forever. And whatever the future holds, our todays make the memories of tomorrow.

It is with all my heart that I send you my love, hoping that you'll always carry my smile with you, for all we have meant to each other and for whatever the future may hold.

***** Part 1 -The Meaning of My Life *****

Rin awakes to a terrible sensation surrounding her legs, her eyes widen in shock as she spots a small flame underneath her feet. She frantically starts kicking and dragging her legs as she tries to avoid contact with the flames, simultaneously she spots a group of panthers laughing whole heartedly at her reactions. One of the panthers has a bucket full of water and throws it in her direction; she is still hanging by her hands. Rin is under unbearable pain, contact with water makes the wounds all over her body sting. Especially her feet since the flames have burnt her skin and with the contact of water it's getting worse. Satisfied torturing Rin, one of the panthers closes in on Rin and she recognizes him. He was the one who abducted her in the forest while Sesshoumaru was away. He moves closer to Rin and uses his strong hand to grab her chin.

"The smell of fear and sign of pain, nothing is more enjoyable than watching your face now." The panther leader laughs out loud in joy as he turns to face his followers at the back.

"Brothers I think we should stop torturing her or Sesshoumaru will only come to retrieve a dead body." The panther adds sarcastically as he continues with another loud laugh which is enough to annoy Rin.

"Lord Sesshoumaru will slaughter you all for doing this to me, if you value your life I suggest you all to surrender before the Lord arrives, don't tell me that I didn't warn you… Oh wait if you get slaughtered then you won't be around to tell me that" Rin sarcastically insults the panther's leader as she stares at him with her eyes full of hatred. The panther leader is furious with Rin's boasts. He lets go of Rin's chin and slaps her left cheek very hard as it forms a bright red palm print on her fair skin. There is blood dripping from the print region.

"I will see how long you can live with your arrogance little bitch. Brothers, let us be off to get some food, am sure you are all hungry, am I right little bitch?" the panther raises his brow and smirks at Rin and he walks away leaving her behind. Rin watches the demons disappear to another camp as she hears her stomach grumble, she is really hungry, and she has neither eaten nor drank in 2days. Her vision starts to blur, her body is weak and her mind is tired. She does not know how long she can hold on but she refuses to give up conceding defeat to the sadistic panther demons. She is determined to witness her Lord kill those panthers for what they have done to her. Closing her eyes she beings to wonder, she was suppose to be on her way to the eastern land with her Lord to attend an annual archery event, but unfortunately this year nightmare has struck her as she is attacked by these panther demons half way in the forest, she cannot imagine how all of this could happen in such a short time. Lord Sesshoumaru what is taking you so long to reach me, do you not want to save me anymore? Could it be that he is unable to sense my presence here? Lord Sesshomaru please hurry, am so tired, I don't know how much longer I can hold on. Please my lord... please come for me... Her tears are streaming down her bruised cheek, she feels cold, weak, hungry and scared as she cries herself to sleep.

It did not take long for Sesshoumaru to hunt down the panther tribe. He enjoyed killing those panthers; for once in his life Tenseiga seems to have shown some benefit in usage, especially in taking revenge. He loved reviving those low class demons up and continue torturing them till they pled to him for their lives. But death was a certain fate for those bastards with what they have done to Rin. As much as his heart desired to wipe out all the panther clans in this world he has to stop pursuing it as he knew that Rin is waiting for him at his fortress, he could not leave the girl behind for long, but he vowed to do it once Rin has regained her consciousness and fully recovered. Sesshoumaru took back one of the panther's bodies to his palace and had the little toad stake the body up outside his castle walls, he wanted to send a clear message to his enemies that this is the result for those who would cross and oppose the Lord of the Western Lands

Satisfied in taking his revenge, he returns to his fortress and finds out that everything is much the same as he had left it. As he reaches Rin's bed chamber Mizuno the physician that he has summoned to heal Rin hovers beside Rin's bed. Her anxious expression indicates that Rin is not conscious. As he enters Rin's bed chamber his eyes travel over Rin's still body. Ignoring the stare from the physician Sesshoumaru leans over to study Rin's face. The bruises on her face are fading; the swelling on her right cheek is retreating, and her busted lips looks almost normal. But besides her condition showing recovery, she has not awakened.

"My Lord, Lady Rin has not stirred since you left, the wound on her cheek though has started to show a little improvement but not much, I fear-"Mizuno pauses considering the impact of her words.

"I fear that my lady might not be able to handle the pain from the wound on her chest" Mizuno completes her sentences at last.

Sesshoumaru does not respond to the physician's words, but he raises his right hand and waves to Mizuno motioning to her to leave them alone. Mizuno nods as she bows a little before heading out of the room. When he hears the door shut, Sesshoumaru finally gets his private time with Rin. He sits on the mattress and studies the brave girl, he has never seen her motionless to this extent before, she has been active in her life and constantly in motion. There was a time when Sesshoumaru thought to himself that only sickness could silence the girl down, but he instantly regrets to have that thought as Rin is laying still in front of him now. Sesshoumaru trails his finger down Rin's cool cheek, as he looks tentatively over at Rin, his thoughts are brought back to the first time when he found Rin's dead body in the forest with blood pooling around her small body after being mauled by wolfs. She was brought back to life with the power of the Tenseiga, the sword with a healing ability that was made with his father's fang. The second time he had seen Rin laying dead was when she was taken to the underworld by the hell hound, during his visit to his mother's palace. Unlike the previous two, this is by far the most hopeless situation as he knows well that the Tenseiga is not going to revive her for the second time.

Sesshoumaru firmly presses his palm to her left cheek hoping it would help Rin feel his touch but there is no response. Clenching his fist till they start to bleed, Sesshoumaru regrets to have left Rin behind in the forest with the useless little toad, had he not fallen into that trap Rin would not have been taken hostage by the panthers.

. He can never forget with what he had witnessed when he arrived at the panther camp site, Rin's body was hung by her hands, he almost couldn't recognize Rin by her appearance, her face was cut and beaten, her eyes were swollen, her entire kimono soaked in blood as it had hundreds of cuts and claw marks on her body and her legs burned scarring her fair and innocent flesh. There was not a part he could see that has not been marred. The only thing that makes his heart feel a bit better and a sense of relief is that Rin's scent has not been defiled. Those low class panther demons did not destroy her honor. When he had Rin's body taken into his waiting arms, her body was cold, she smile faintly at him as murmured kill them for me before she lost her consciousness.

Sesshoumaru removes his hand from Rin's cheek and gently reaches for her neck, he pulls her kimono apart to reveal the bandaged wound on her left chest. The wound appear to be a stab by a sharp object as it ripped her tender flesh apart. That is the most wounded part on her body; he believes that she is suffering with tremendous amounts of pain caused by this wound that sent her unconscious for this long. As he adjusts back her kimono neatly, sorrow rushes in deep and fills Sesshoumaru's heart. She is just a simple human girl, she has no ability to defend herself, yet she has fought touching her limits and struggled to protect herself despite the fact that she would lose against the panther demons. What strength had possessed this simple girl that she had refused to give up? Sesshoumaru has his eyes shut tightly, he feels rather pleasantly fatigued, as the strongest dog demon out there no number of battles could wear off his energy but as days have changed to weeks as weeks have given way to months watching helplessly at the girl fighting with her pain, Sesshoumaru admits he has grown weary.

A gloomy scent fills the air around the room, Sesshoumaru realizes that it is him who has caused this changes in the air as he inches himself closer to Rin. He gently combs her long raven hair with his left finger while his right hand rests on top of her head.

"Rin wake up." A tender voice calls out as Sesshoumaru attempts to wake Rin up like he used to do whenever she fell asleep. There was no answer...

"Rin if you can hear me, wake up. You don't want to sleep the spring away right? Besides you have plenty of flowers to be watered, don't let your precious plants wither out. Be a good girl now open your eyes and look at me." Sesshoumaru makes his second attempt but there is no change, Rin remains unstirred and paralyzed. The demon lord feels helpless to do anything else; he rests his forehead against her. Several drops of water fall onto Rin pale cheeks, these few precious salty tears are streaming down from the great dog demon Sesshoumaru's eyes. The western lord who has not sobbed even when his father Lord Inu Taisho passed away is now crying for the first time in his entire life in front of this human girl.

It is moments like this that reminds Sesshomaru of how important is the existence of this human girl in his life. He misses her company, her singing, her dancing holding the flowers she had picked, her voices calling for him, her delightful smile towards him and her scent lingering around his fortress that seems to become the air that he is breathing. When he calls out for the girl and he gets no response, it feels like the air that he is breathing has disappeared and that he is suffocating.

.

"Rin don't do this to me, you have brought so many things into my life, you have shown me many things that I have never seen in my entire life, and you have indirectly changed me on many perspectives. If you leave me now, I could never be complete anymore. Come back to me girl I know you can hear me." Sesshoumaru continues on to call out for Rin, but just like his previous attempts, the demon lord does not get any reply or see any movement, he is completely speechless. Like how Rin always used to say, she always has a nagging feeling like she needs to say something even if it is really nothing because when she felt silence she felt frightened. The silence between them now really frightens Sesshoumaru, he is afraid of losing Rin.

Staring at the girl hopelessly, Sesshoumaru feels the urge to do what he had wished to do for long but did not dare to make the move. He withdraws his forehead from her and gently brushes his lips across hers, feeling her soft lips against him as he takes in her sweet taste. A few drops of salty tears drop on Rin's cheek as Sessoumaru kisses Rin. Unable to control the sadness that is building rapidly inside his heart, Sesshoumaru rests his head at Rin's side while he keeps his face in contact with her cheek.

A few moments pass, as Sesshoumaru still has his head rested on her side. He feels like his thoughts are wandering elsewhere, with his tiredness and heart ache building inside him. He feels like he needs to take a nap in order to recharge his energy. Exactly in this moment he feels a hand stroking his back, he thought he was hallucinating, but then the hand moves from his back to his head, he feels a warm hand brush his hair gently and rests at the back of his neck. Unable to make the difference between dreaming and reality, Sesshoumaru does not care to open his eyes and check the unexpected but pleasant feeling. As he continues on to rest his restless mind, allowing himself to drown into the warm touch, his ear captures a low weak voice.

"Lord Sessh...oumaru..."

Chapter end notes:

I always welcome any types of reviews, as i believe the reader holds the key of an author success. Positive reviews will give an encouragement for me to move on; negative reviews will guides me to the next level. So for those who have been reviewing my first story, thank you for your support, you guys are awesome. *hugs* and *kisses* for you.

Love,

Jenni