InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Snow White and the Seven 'Dwarfs'...Sort of ❯ Strong Intentions ( Chapter 39 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

AN: This chapter is for all the people who are obsessed with Sesshomaru’s hair. Enjoy it. Quick question to everyone else-do you guys like longer chapters or quicker updates? You guys prefer longer chapters, then next chapter I’ll finish up Seven’s trip to Naraku in one very long segment, or I can keep doing shorter chapters but quicker updates. You guys decide.

My Name is R.C- I used to be able to stay up at that late. Now I get tired at midnight, it’s so annoying. I’m not even old. And I love Sess/Rin to!!!! I wrote a short story with them King Thrushbeard...Sort of, it was so much fun. Thanks for the review!
CutePsycoNHyper- Hmm, I wonder who helped me write such a wonderful chapter? Ugh I wish I could tell you, but I can’t remember her name...
Cat- I’m not sure if I’ll have enough time for a full lemon, but there will be some lemon flavoring. And Bankotsu is just really over-protective, trust me, I don’t have any more time for another love-triangle. And he’s serious about his job because he was the closest to her father, and doesn’t want to see his best friends daughter hurt. That’s all. (Sorry if you’re disappointed. Maybe another fic I’ll treat Rin to a nice love triangle.) Thanks for reviewing!
Robotmonkeygirl91- Thank you! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

Mediaminer

Orlandolover- Trust me, soon she’s going to get a whole lot happier. (Hehe) Enjoy the new chapter!

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha or Snow White and I’m tired of coming up with funny ways to say that.
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Rin

When Rin stepped into her room, it wasn’t the elegant wall hangings she noticed first, or the fresh bouquet of flowers emitting a pleasing scent, or even the windows that showed an amazing view of the city. What she noticed first was the single futon that laid innocently in the center of the room.

…one freakin’ futon for her and Sesshomaru.

She nervously glanced up at him, but if he had any worries about the sleeping arrangements he didn’t show it. Instead he looked almost...pleased.

She took one more glance around the room before swallowing, "Well, we’re here and we looked, lets get back to Seven." she said, trying to sound cheerful and almost bolted for the door.

Sesshomaru touched her arm, stopping her more effectively then a brick wall would. "Let’s give them a few moments to settle into their own rooms Rin." he suggested, sounding like he was trying to soothe a skittish horse.

She swallowed again, still not sure why the hell she was so nervous. So there was only one futon, surely one of them could sleep on the floor right? Or on the balcony? Hell, she would sleep on the horse if it meant she didn’t have to worry about jumping Sesshomaru in the middle of the night.

She cleared her throat. "Well, all right. I’ll give them a few minutes, but then we really need to get started." she said, quickly walking to the window to look out that instead of staring dreamily at Sesshomaru.

"Rin..." Sesshomaru said smoothly from behind her suddenly.

She yelped and spun around; amazed he had been able to come up from behind her without her noticing. "Yes?" she asked.

"While we wait, would you mind fixing my hair?" He smoothed a hand down the back of his high ponytail. "I’m not sure I did it right."

She swallowed again and forced her legs to keep from shaking. He was asking her if she wanted to touch his hair?!

Of course she did!

"Of course I will!" She said eagerly, moving to that back of him and sinking her fingers into his mass of silver hair. Oh Kami it felt so good.

Almost reverently, she untied the leather strip holding his hair together and let his hair spill over her, almost sighing when the soft strands brushed over her hands and arms.

"I believe there is a hairbrush somewhere over there if you need it." Sesshomaru mentioned, indicating with a tilt of his head to the side of the room where a low chest of drawers was.

Rin really didn’t want to let go of his hair yet, but forced herself to let the strands slide from her fingers as she left to get the brush, reassuring herself brushing his hair would give her more time to play with it.

As soon as she could she was back at his side, burying her fingers knuckle deep in his long mane. Slowly she drew the brush down his hair, wanting to make the moment last.

"How do you keep your hair so nice?" she asked without thinking and could have hit herself as soon as she said it.

He shrugged slightly, "I don’t do much with it, my hair is this texture naturally." he said causally.
Rin nodded, though he couldn’t see her, and continued to brush his hair even as she seethed with jealousy. The bastard…. Besides being handsome, strong, powerful, and rich, he had to have hair nicer then hers. Wasn’t being the hottest being, human or demon, enough for him? Why did he have to torture her with his hair to?

Finally having brushed all this hair, she carefully gathered it up, needing more then one hand to bring it all together and tied it to the top of his head.

She let herself stroke the long tail one more time before making herself let go. "There. It’s all done."

Sesshomaru suddenly grabbed her hand before she could step back from him and turned his head around until he could meet her eyes.

"Thank you Rin." he said, before bringing her hand up to his lips and pressing a careful kiss on one of the knuckles.

She jerked, feeling as if his touch had sent a blot of lighting through her. What was wrong with her? She had never felt like this before. ...maybe she was becoming sick?

"Rin," Sesshomaru said again, and she had never loved her name more then when it was coming from his lips.

"Yes?" she asked, hating how her voice sounded weak and breathless.

"Yo! Boss! We’re ready to- NO!" Jakotsu screamed when he popped his head in and rushed into the room.

Sesshomaru looked like he wanted to curse but controlled himself as he reluctantly let Rin go and Jakotsu jumped in between them.

"Rin." he whined. "I thought we agreed he was mine."

Rin slowly started to blush while Sesshomaru’s expression turned cold. "Jakotsu." he said as calmly as he was able to. "I am straight; I am not homosexual in any way. If you continue to assume I will change my sexuality if you pursue me, I will be forced to kill you. If Rin did not like you, you would have been rotting in a ditch weeks ago." He paused. "However, I will be more then happy to help you secure my brother if that is what you wish."

Jakotsu immediately brightened. "Ok!" he said cheerfully. He turned back to look at Rin. "Some important soldier in Naraku’s army is downstairs Boss; Bankotsu has suggested you act all cute, and flirty and womanly with him to get him to talk."

"He wants her to act how?" Sesshomaru almost hissed.

Rin glanced at him, slightly confused on why he looked a little angry. "It’s no big deal Sess, I already talked about my men about this. We need to use every advantage we can." Rin informed him, already walking for the door with Jakotsu.

"Wait a second Boss." Jakotsu stopped her and pulled at her kimono. "They guy’s a little tipsy, so if you show off some more skin he might talk a little faster." he tugged the kimono until it showed off more of her neck.

Sesshomaru’s lips tightened. "This is unacceptable." he told them coldly.

Jakotsu looked over and arched a eyebrow. "What’s the matter with you? It’s not like Rin’s your woman or anything. Why would you care Cutie?" he asked, before leading Rin out the door.

Sesshomaru stood still in the room, unable to move because of the emotions suddenly coursing through him. They screamed at him not to let Rin use herself this way, to kill anyone who would dare even look at her, and to make damn sure she knew who she belonged to.

But...she didn’t belong to him, did she? And how could he claim her, she was only a human; he needed at the very least a half-demon for his queen.

The again, he had never met anyone like Rin before, she was strong, smart, loyal, brave and so beautiful she made his eyes ache. How could anyone, even a demon, compare to her?

And he was Lord Sesshomaru, Ruler of the Western lands and the strongest living member of the House of Inu, and he’d be damned before he would ever settle for second rate.

So that settled it.

He was going to make Rin his woman before they returned back to the dwarfs and she was damn well going to like it.

And if she was going to be stubborn and try to resist? Hah. He was Lord Sesshomaru, he failed at nothing. And he wasn’t going to let her deny his and herself their future happiness.

She would just have to learn to live with it.

With one quick glance to make sure he looked perfect, he strode through the door, determined to secure Rin, and beat bloody that idiotic soldier who couldn’t keep his eyes to himself.

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The Dwarf’s

"Here Soten, try some of Kagome’s fish, its better then what they serve at the palace." Hiten’s eager voice carried all the way to the kitchen where I was boiling more rice. It was so cute how hard he was trying to make his little sister happy.

"And once lunch is over, I promise I’ll take you and Koryu for a ride, it’s the best time to fly at this time of day." Hiten continued, and I could hear how happy he was to be able to do things with Soten.

"That sounds like fun Hiten." Soten returned her voice slightly muffled. Probably from all the food he’s stuffing her with. "But I promised Shippo I would look at his drawings."

I could almost see Hiten grin, "You’re getting along with Shippo then?" he asked.

"Yeah, he’s very funny." Soten told him. "Can I go find him now?"

"Of course you can!" Hiten exclaimed, forgetting he was the one who sent me for more food because Soten liked it so much. "You go have fun Soey."

I sighed at my half cooked rice, wondering who would eat it now.

"Oh good, your making more food, I’m starving." Inuyasha grinned, almost skipping into the kitchen, and staring at the rice and meat on the counter.

I should have known. His parents should have named him Bottomless Pit.

I slapped the meat on a plate for him since the rice wasn’t quite done and handed it over to him.

He went for a pair of chopsticks but hesitated, until he finally put the plate down and turned to face me. "Hey Kag? There’s kinda something I wanted to talk to you about." He started to say slowly.

I frowned and looked at him, wondering what it was that had him so serious. "Yes?"

He shuffled his feet nervously together. "Well, we’re really close to that final battle with Naraku and I wanted to ask you something before then just in case...well just in case."

I blinked. "Well what do you want to ask me?" I asked, slightly confused. In case of what?

He took a deep breath and looked up at me. "I wanted to know if you liked...him, if you liked...my ears!" he stuttered, looking like he wanted to hit himself at the last bit.

I giggled, surprising him and myself. "I love your ears Inuyasha." I told him, reaching up to rub one of them. "They’re one of my favorite features about you." I said, wanting to giggle when his fluttered closed and he arched into my touch.

I smiled and reached up to stroke the other one, just so it wouldn’t feel left out. He started to smile blissfully and quietly purred.

When I hit a tender spot he rested his head on my shoulder and whimpered.

I could have whimpered myself. I had thought about doing this ever since he had let me rub his ears that first time when I was a child. And with him so close to me, his hands so close to my hips and his mouth to other parts of my body I wanted to purr to.

"Kagome." he moaned and he looked up enough he could look me in the eyes but my hands were still at a comfortable height for rubbing his ears.

I swallowed. "Inuyasha..." I whispered his name back and watch as he slowly raised his head higher, his gaze fixed firmly on my lips.

This was it, I could feel it. I was going to have my first kiss with Inuyasha. I hope my breath doesn’t stink. And that I don’t have any food stuck in my teeth. He won’t cut my lips with his fangs will he? Oh Kami, I hope-

"Kagome! Inuyasha!" Shippo yelled, running into the room with Soten close on his heels.

We both yelped and jumped away. I felt my face turn red as Inuyasha’s ear’s twitched madly.

Shippo eyed us suspiciously. "You guys weren’t doing anything gross where you?" he asked warily.

I smoothed a hand down the side of my kimono, straightening a wrinkle as I fought to control my embarrassment. "No, of course not Shippo. We would never do anything like that." I said mildly and heard Inuyasha lightly grunt.

Looking relived Shippo nodded "Ok good, we’re playing hide and seek, all the dwarfs are, you guys have to play to. Soten and I are going to count to 100 and then you have to hide somewhere here or outside, ok?" He asked, making sure we understood the rules.

We both nodded, not wanting to complain and get questioned further about what we were doing.

Shippo smiled, and slapped a hand over his eyes. "Ok. One! Two! Three! Four!"

As Shippo and Soten started counting, dwarf’s were running all over the place, most going outside to hide. I sent Inuyasha a helpless smile before moving my rice off the stove and going out to the woods.

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Rin

Rin glanced one more time at Seven, hidden in various places before fixing a easy smile on her face and strolling slowly to the bar. Lord Sayo was a lieutenant in Naraku’s army and he was almost drunk. He had just spent the last few weeks training new soldiers deep in the woods, so it was likely he hadn’t seen a woman for awhile. This was the perfect time to squeeze some information out of him.

Checking one more time to make sure she had some skin showing, Rin eased into the chair next to Sayo and tried to remember what Ayame use to do to get Kouga’s attention.

"Bartender, get this fine man a drink on me please." Rin called the attention of the bartender who nodded and went to get Sayo some sake while Sayo turned to her.

"Well, that was kind of you. Now what’s the name of the person I should thank?" he asked, his speech just slightly slurred.

Rin smiled innocently and gave him a slight bow. "I am called Eri, but I’m the one who should be thanking you sir. I was told you are Lord Sayo, an important soldier in Naraku’s army. I’ve always looked up to military men; I just think they’re so brave to be willing to fight our enemies." Rin said shyly, peeking up at him from the bottom of her eyelashes.

Sayo smirked at her. "Well Eri, it’s my duty to protect you civilians and women from invaders, one I do with the most solemn joy."

Hoping it was the sake that was making him come up with phases like ‘solemn joy’ she leaned closer.

"But aren’t they terribly dangerous?" she asked, lowering her voice to almost a whisper.

"It’s nothing for you to worry about little lady, our army is obviously the stronger of the two. We’ll have the rebel army down in less then a day." he assured her smugly.

Rin forced her eyes to go wide and blinked them, "How many people are in the army Lord Sayo?" she asked, sounding curious.

Sayo paused to drink down a cup of sake, waiting until Rin had ordered another one for him. "We have at least 10,000 fully trained soldiers and more coming. The rebels won’t know what hit ‘em" he bragged.

Rin forced herself to remain calm even as she turned cold. 10,000 soldiers? How could Kagome hope to beat that many?

"Aren’t you scared to go into battle? As far as you know this could be your last day on earth." Rin remarked, placing money on the bar counter for more sake.

Sayo looked sternly down at her. "Now little lady, I am more then prepared to go into battle. And even if I was scared-which I’m not-Lord Naraku doesn’t plan to move out for another five days, a week at the latest."

Oh Kami, how could Kagome hope to gather her entire army in less then five days? She kept her hands on her lap, afraid if she lifted them they would be trembling and nodded politely as Sayo went on about being the best solider in Naraku’s army, even if that damn cocky Oda Nobunaga wanted to think otherwise.

"Just because that kid was named after some dead king, he thinks he’s the greatest fucking thing since fire!" Sayo raged, taking another swing from his cup. "So what if he’s younger, stronger, and faster? I have more experience in war...and in the ladies." He slurred, suddenly starting to lean towards Rin.

"I haven’t thanked you yet for all this sake yet, have I little lady? Pucker up and I’ll starting paying you right now." he pursed his lips and started making kissing noises as he moved closer to Rin’s mouth.

Rin grimaced and leaned back. "Oh no! Please sir, I would much rather hear more of your fascinating stories!" She said, trying to sound eager instead of wishing she could just be boiled in oil instead.

"Oh no, no, no! I insist." He drunkenly reached out and caught hold of her wrist, pulling her lips directly onto his mouth if it hadn’t been for the large, clawed hand that suddenly covered his entire face and pushed back.

Hard.

Sayo clamped on tighter to Rin’s wrist, self-preservation telling him to hold on until Sesshomaru’s fingers easily twisted his hand and spraining it as Sayo fell back and Sesshomaru pressed Rin protectively into his side.

Sesshomaru glared down at Sayo and Rin shivered, feeling sorry for the solider, even as she was slightly thrilled to be this close to Sesshomaru.

Ignoring the bartender and Seven who had suddenly jumped out of their hiding spaces Sesshomaru calmly picked up the man’s foot and started to drag him out the door, keep Rin firmly attached to his side so he would know where she was.
Sesshomaru walked straight out of the inn and into a nearby alley when Sayo started to groan in fear. Sesshomaru finally let Rin go to grab Sayo by the lapels of his clothing and shove him against the wooden wall.

"You will answer the rest of our questions without delay and without looking at the woman." Sesshomaru ordered his cold eyes boring into the scared drunk man’s.

"You can’t force me to do anything!" Sayo swore.

Sesshomaru gently wrapped one of his hands around the man’s neck and let himself smile slightly at the way the man flinched from the heat of the venom laying just under Sesshomaru’s claws.

"You will tell me whatever I or my woman wishes." Sesshomaru informed him softly, tightening his hand ever so delicately around Sayo’s neck.

Rin blinked at the ‘my woman’ comment but decided to let it go for now when Sesshomaru turned his head towards her and arched a white brow.

She swallowed and hoped she looked tough when Sayo glared at her as well. "I want to know everything you know about the rebel army." she ordered, praying she didn’t sound like a weak, little girl.

When Sayo only continued to glare at her, Sess let his poison start to seep out of his fingers. Sayo hissed and jerked away.

"I don’t know anything, I’m not high enough to-" His words ended on a gasp as Sess pressed his claws into his skin.

"I’m sorry! I’ll tell you the truth, I promise just don’t hurt me!" Sayo chocked.

Sesshomaru loosened his grip enough Sayo could breathe somewhat comfortably. He sucked in a gasp of air before turning back to Rin. "I wasn’t completely lying when I said I don’t know anything, I’m really not that high up to know all the details. But I do know Naraku is very concerned about the comfort of three soldiers that arrived a few days ago. I’ve never seen them myself, they refuse to sleep anywhere but the palace. But I’ve heard they’re very strong and extremely...different. They’re supposed to be Lord Naraku’s secret weapons."

Rin frowned at him, something about their conversation still bothering her. "When you said you weren’t afraid to die, was that just the sake talking?" Rin asked.

Sayo looked her straight in the eyes. "I’m not afraid to die." he winched when Sesshomaru’s hands tightened again. "In battle." he added.

"Why?" Rin asked.

Sayo swallowed and his eyes flickered around her face nervously. "There have been rumors around camp Naraku has a powerful witch working for him that promised him none of his soldiers would die during battle. That’s why so many men are fighting for Naraku, they don’t want to die if they go over to the rebel’s side." he told them, sounding worried they wouldn’t believe him.

Sesshomaru looked like he wanted to roll his eyes. "A witch can not bring someone truly back to life you fool. You became her puppet, and she will use you how ever she wishes." Sesshomaru almost snarled.

Sayo shrugged, "I just want to stay alive, even if that means turning my back on who is supposedly our princess. Nothing’s been heard from her in years, the rebel is probably only using her name." he said carelessly and Rin narrowed her eyes at him.

She looked at Sess, "Do you think he knows anymore?" She asked.

Sesshomaru’s nostril’s flared as he took in Sayo’s scent. "No, he knows nothing else." he told her, before hitting Sayo sharply across the head. His eye’s rolled to the back of his head before he slummed forward and Sesshomaru dropped him to let him lie where he fell.

Rin stared at Sayo’s motionless form spread across the ground. "...he’s not dead is he?" she asked hesitantly.

Sesshomaru stepped over Sayo and moved closer to Rin. "No, his absence would have been missed had I killed him. I merely knocked him out. When he wakes up, he won’t remember the last hour or two and just assume he became very drunk." he told her, not caring much about Sayo. He gently took her chin in his hand and tilted her head up to study her face better in the light.

"Are you well?" he asked. "He did not...touch you, did he?"


"No, you stopped him before he could. Thank you for that. I’m sure Seven would have stepped in, but thank you for being first." Rin said softly.

Sesshomaru nodded once before dropping his hand and stepped back from her. "Good. Never do that again." he ordered her, spinning on his heel to leave the alley.

Rin blinked dumbly, "Do what?" she asked.

He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "Do not ever use your body to find information from a man. I will not be happy and will not be responsible for my actions towards the man." he told her bluntly, starting to walk forward again.

"Come, your men await us." he commanded and she scowled, walking quickly to catch up to him, ready to give him a piece of her mind if Seven wasn’t fuming in the inn’s doorway, waiting for her and Sesshomaru.

As soon as they stepped into the inn, Seven was on them, checking Rin over and glaring at Sesshomaru.

"You weren’t supposed to drag him out of here!" Bankotsu hissed while the others agreed. "Do you know how much attention you drew?"

Sesshomaru only looked at him. "Where you going to allow Rin to be mauled by that man before you stepped in?" he asked calmly.

Renko’s coldly glared at Sess. "We had things under control." he said icily.

"Not well enough." he returned.

Jakotsu tilted his head at Sesshomaru, almost curiously, "Why would it matter to you Lord Sesshomaru?" he asked, sounding completely serious for the first time.

Rin closed her eyes briefly, "This isn’t the place to talk about it." She reminded them. "Take us to where you’re sleeping and I’ll tell you there." Rin ordered, sweeping ahead to the front and walking ahead, fully expecting her men to catch up and point out their room.

Jakotsu grinned quickly before following her, and the rest of her men following suit. Sesshomaru only raised an eyebrow at their backs, before gliding forward slowly.

Jakotsu was still smirking slightly when he reached their door and reached out and held it open for Rin. She nodded her thanks and walked in, looking around as she waited for her men to get settled. They didn’t have any windows or flowers like in her room, but they did have four futon’s each. (Lucky jerks. Before she went to bed later she would have to remember to ask if one of her men were willing to give theirs up for her. She really didn’t want to sleep on the floor.)

She took a breathe when the men were finally standing in a half circle around her, Sesshomaru blocking the doorway.

"Sayo really couldn’t tell me much." she began, "He did say there’s at least 10,000 men, with possibly more coming and they’re planning to move out within a week. He also mentioned when Sesshomaru was there that Naraku has three warriors in his army he considers his secret weapons, but he’s never seen them himself."

Renkotsu frowned, "Three he said?"

Rin nodded.

The men frowned at each other, "It couldn’t possibly be." Renko muttered.

"Yeah, they were supposed to be dead or gone years ago." Jakotsu added.

Rin’s forehead creased in confusion. "Who couldn’t be alive or here?" she asked.

"The three Seven members who betrayed us." Bankotsu grumbled.

"Them? Do you really think they’re working for Naraku?" Rin asked, and Suikotsu quickly patted her shoulder before drawing back into himself.

Bankotsu shrugged, "Why not? They did give Taromaru up; maybe they’re working for Naraku’s army for money or power." Bankotsu said scornfully.

Rin paused for a moment. "What were they like?" She asked slowly.

Seven blinked in shock. "Ginkostu, Mukostu, and Kyotostu?" Bankotsu asked dumbly.

"If that’s their names then yes." Rin said.

They thought for a moment. "Well." Bankotsu finally began "Ginkotsu had this bright, bright red hair, but kind of wimpy. Not wimpy like he would run away from battle but he never had that many muscles, even if he worked out for hours." Bankotsu told her.

Jakotsu nodded in agreement, "Right and Mukostu was always a little on the fat side. He had an ego as huge as his stomach and tried to seduce women no matter where we went. They usually ended up insulting or hitting him and he would run to my room crying. I remember he was really into venom and poisons, so we wouldn’t have to spend as much money on metal weapons." Jakotsu added.

"Kyotostu was very short." Suikotsu said quietly. "But he was very smart. He also had one of the kindest smiles I’d ever seen."

The men fell silent, coming to the realization they were still shocked after all these years their friends, their brothers, could betray them so much.

Rin was almost afraid to ask but she opened her mouth anyway. "But they weren’t like you guys, were they?" she asked softly.

Renkotsu shook his head. "No, they weren’t like us at all. They weren’t happy with themselves. They always wanted more. And soon they were willing to do anything to get it."

Rin shivered at the dead look in his eye, realizing the ‘anything’ must have been to betray her family.

She swallowed, wishing Jakotsu hadn’t agreed not to annoy Sess so the tension in the air could be forgotten. Desperately she racked her mind for something before hit something and smiled.

"Knock, knock." she said suddenly.

The men blinked before looking at each other. ‘...who’s there?" Renkotsu asked slowly.

"I love."

"...I love who?" Jakotsu said, sounding confused.

"I don’t know, you tell me." Rin finished, smiling.

Jakotsu blinking before grinning and laughing. "I can’t believe you remembered that!" he gasped in between chuckles.

He nudged Bankotsu with his elbow. "Remember that joke? We’d ask her that and she would go on for hours about what she loved."

Bankotsu slowly smiled as the memory came back to him, before exchanging looks with the other two men before they all started laughing, as if the joke was the funniest thing in the world.

"I love children." Suikotsu said almost shyly.

"I love hot tea." Renkotsu joined in.

"I love my sword!" Bankotsu put in, gazing at the rug covered steel laying against the wall happily.

"I love men!" Jakotsu added proudly and everyone started laughing.

Sesshomaru sighed loudly from the front of the room. "If you all are finished?" he asked icily and Rin waited for her men to calm down.

"Sayo also said that Naraku promised they wouldn’t die in battle. Apparently he has them so convinced they’ll be fine they’re fighting with Naraku, even with rumors of the rebel being their princess." Rin told them, the smile fading from her face.

Renko frowned also, "10,000 soldiers who aren’t afraid of death is a very troubling force." he said solemnly.

Bankotsu nodded in agreement. "Maybe there’s some way we could get rid of some soldiers?" he suggested.

"How? We don’t have enough money for the amount of poison it would take to kill even a quarter of them." Renkotsu pointed out.

"Maybe we could spread some sort of rumor? Sayo said it was a witch who would keep them alive, maybe we should drop a few stories that the witch isn’t as powerful as they think she is?" Rin suggested.

"That may help us." Renkotsu said thoughtfully. "If we leave after sunset to ‘go on the town’ we could drop a few stories to nearby soldiers."

Jakotsu grinned, "Oh! I have the perfect idea to!" he exclaimed. "Let’s tell them she seduces men as a beautiful woman who in mid-sexual act changes into an old ugly grandmother and steals their seed to make hair loss potions!" he said, proud he had come up with a good idea.

Everyone blinked and stared at him.

"...what?" Rin finally asked.

Jakotsu rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the group. "It’s three of straight men’s greatest fears. Old women raping them, loss of seed, and bald heads. They’ll be terrified." he said smugly.

"I’m terrified he has the kind of mind that would even come up with that." Bankotsu muttered.

"That sounds great Jakotsu." Rin decided to say after a long silence. "So we’ll spilt up and go around town dropping rumors and finding out more information." she told them and they nodded in agreement.

"I’m going to go then and sent the information we have to Kagome and the others then, I’ll be down later to borrow that carrier bird from you later Renkotsu." She added, as she stepped through them to the door.

Sesshomaru stepped away from the door so she could leave first and would have been close behind if Renkotsu hadn’t stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Why don’t you wait a moment here, I’m sure Rin will be fine on her way to her rooms, Seven and I would like to talk to you." he said pleasantly.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at him and shook his hand off with a small movement and looked over at Rin, "Go on Rin, I will see you in our room momentarily." he told her softly.

She hesitated on the doorway, but knowing this had been coming for a long time, shrugged and went on her way.

Suikotsu moved forward and firmly closed the door, leaning back against it as Sesshomaru turned to the other three men of Seven.

"What do you want with Rin?" Bankotsu asked him bluntly.

Sesshomaru gazed at him coolly, "What exactly do you mean?" he asked calmly.

"You know what we mean." Jakotsu broke in. "You don’t look at her like a boss looking at his underling. You look at her like how I look at Inuyasha’s cute little puppy ears. And how I looked at that hot guy’s chest in Edo. And how I looked at that hot tight roper’s ass, and how I looked at that hot horse trainer’s-”

"He gets the point Jakotsu." Renkotsu interrupted him before he could go any farther."

"Right, anyway, you know what we mean." Jakotsu said, trying to sound threatening.

"So what is your purpose with Rin?" Bankotsu continued as if Jakotsu hadn’t spoken.

"I don’t see how it concerns any of you." Sesshomaru said, looking at Bankotsu like an annoying little flea.

"It damn well concerns us!" he yelled suddenly. "We’re the closest thing she has to uncles, we were closer to her father then his own brothers were! I consider her my niece, no my daughter." Bankotsu went on as the other Seven members nodded in agreement. "I’ve failed at a lot of things in my lifetime Lord Sesshomaru" he spat out his name like dirt, "We all have. But we’ll be damned if we don’t protect Rin that way she deserves to be protected, the way he should have watched after her if we hadn’t been so worried with our own problems. And that means I have to do everything I can do to protect her from some hotshot king who would turn her into his mistress for a few months before dumping her, and I will do everything." he promised him, Seven looking like they would back his statement up completely. Even Jakotsu lacked that teasing light that was usually in his eye, he looked almost as scary as Sesshomaru when he was in a bad mood.

"If you’re planning something that’s going to get our Boss hurt, we’ll happily hurt you ten fold." Jakotsu informed him and Sesshomaru knew he meant every word.

Sesshomaru studied them carefully. These were threats he had to take very seriously since they fully meant carrying them out.

"I assure you, I am not hurting Rin intentionally." He said calmly. He slide a glance towards Bankotsu. "And it has never crossed my mind to make Rin my mistress." He really hadn’t, he only wanted to sleep with her for a few nights and then leave before he decided to make her his mate.

He turned to leave and Suikotsu stepped aside, after getting a nod from Bankotsu.

"Wait, if you don’t want her as a mistress, what do you want her for?" Jakotsu suddenly asked.

Sesshomaru turned back when he was on the threshold and looked at him, letting the silence speak his intention.

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< br> AN: Hope you guys enjoyed the faster update! Don’t forget to tell me if you like longer chapters or quicker updates and while your at it leave a nice little review for me. (Please?) Have a good week.