Changing Seas

A/N: Hey guys. Thanks for the reviews. I've been so run down and tired I've barely had time to check so it was a pleasant surprise. Thanks tons. Hope you enjoy the update. EK!

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Previously *with Rin and Sessh*

Sesshomaru had never cried in his life and he never would, but if he ever felt so much need to do so it would have been then. He took her in his arms and with a hard pain filled kiss he held her close. Her arms snaked around his waist and she coddled his head to her bosom and several moments passed and both were a sleep frozen in a tender caress.

Chapter Twelve

Rin woke a delicious shiver of content rippled the air and she lay with her eyes closed. Her lashes laid against her cheeks. She felt the slight weight on her chest as it rose and fell. Flashes flitted there way across her mind and she realized it was Sesshomaru's head. She cracked open an eyelid and was surprised to have confirmed he was still asleep. This was a sight Rin doubted many, if any, woman had the pleasure of seeing. His arms were wrapped around her still and the only difference in his stature at all was that his head had turned inward through the night. Rin may have blushed for all her inappropriate thoughts, but simply smiled and closed her eyes to drift off again.

Seconds after sleep took her, Sesshomaru relaxed again and slowly, so as not to wake her, he extracted himself. He felt the odd happiness of knowing that Rin was comfortable with him. His gaze devoured her sleeping form. He'd drawn the covers over her and placed her in a more comfortable position. Head on pillow, arms placed on top of one another and legs curled, the heels of her feet touching her bottom. An angel couldn't have looked more divine to him at that moment.

The blustering sounds of his crew coming through the jarred window finally brought Sesshomaru back to reality. With a slightly regretful sigh he crossed to the cabin door, and quietly removed himself to the hall. His mind sharpened and his softness was lost. Crew members skirted around him and went about their daily activities as he ascended the ladder topside. The salty smell of the sea assaulted his nose and he began the rigorous task of captaincy.

Sails billowed in the wind and men climbed upward, while others raced about with barrels on their back and the remainder coiled ropes and cleaned the deck as others messed it. Sesshomaru peered the circumference of the wharf. The one sight that astonished him was his little brother barely waking from his place on deck. Apparently Kagome hadn't known about his little excursion last night.

As his sensing his brothers stare InuYasha locked eyes with him. He made an annoyed facial expression and hand motion, as if to say 'Feh'. The corners of Sesshomaru's lips turned up ever so slightly in amusement. Then a whoosh sound came from behind him and Sesshomaru instinctively ducked as a large wooden pole swept heavily through the air. Riveting his eyes to the men responsible for the offending blunder, Sesshomaru announced for them to haul in the sails and leave the real work for real men.

*******Rin Dream Sequence*******

Flowers and overwhelming scent of wild flowers. Rin didn't recognize her surroundings, but there was a sense of calm. Rolling green hills and sunflowers, daisies, lilacs, and daffodils peppered the serene scene. The sweet scent of nature swept the air with a slight breeze. Rin brushed her fingers against the fabric of her gown. It was silk. Rin looked down at herself and it was a deep indigo blue, long sleeves, square cut neck reveling the tops of her breasts, and flowing around her with an indecent number of missing petticoats.

The air shifted suddenly and her hair blew in soft strands around her. The warmth of the sun high in the sky made her tingle and when she looked up at the sky a figure was looming overhead. It was barely distinguishable, but as it descend in a fluid movement of air, Rin's mind clicked with recognition.

Standing not two feet in front of her was herself. She wasn't sure if it was a mirror, or hallucination, but it could be neither because she looked different. Older. Her hair was slightly longer, her lips fuller, her eyes held a world wise sophistication, she was taller, her nails longer, her face thinner more striking, and her waist tapering from narrowness into shapely hips and longer legs. Ethereal was the only thing adequate enough to describe her.

Reaching her hand outward, Rin touched her otherselfs own cheek and she felt it, as though she had just reached up and stroked her own. Quickly she withdrew and stared more intently at herself. She was different, but in her eyes, which she gazed at so intently there was a familiar flicker of self. In taking a deep breath Rin waited, for what she wasn't sure. A few more moments passed before the older Rin spoke, smiling with deep dimples.

"I know what you are thinking. Yes, I am you. I've come to you because your struggling with who you are. You are trying to take everything like daddy's little sailor. I feel it. The ache, the uncertainty. You're scared, you want to hid. To many people have left us. We can't love Sesshomaru because he'll leave." The older Rin had turned somber. The younger Rin stared at herself and simply shook her head.

"I am fine. I have cried. And I don't love Sesshomaru because...Because-" She didn't know why she couldn't love him, but she couldn't.

"We can't love him because he'll leave, he'll hurt us and in turn we'll hurt him." The statement hung between them. "You are scared. You love him, admit it. You're hurt, admit it." The smaller Rin hung her head and shook it defiantly. "Admit it." Rin shook, her whole body tremulous. "He loves you." Rin looked up and with a fierce and adamant denial she backed away.

"HE CAN'T!" Rin bellowed it, she wouldn't let him! He couldn't love her.

"But he does. Why can't he love us?" The older Rin stepped forward, but with too much confusion and pain the other one countered with a step back.

"Because!" It was a sharp lashing bite. She refused. Too many had tried. To many had died.

"Why Rin?" The soft calm of her own voice lilting and meeting her ears enraged her.

"HE'LL DIE! I can't! HE CAN'T!" Tears were pooling as her fury was roiling. Why couldn't she understand? If he loved her and she did in return he'd die like her mother, her father, like her fathers crew! She'd seen Karon! He had been her best friend and she found him DEAD! Because of her! She refused. She tried to push it out her mind like she did every time it had entered her mind. She didn't let it in, but in the farthest reaches of her mind she had hidden it.

"It's not our fault Rin. We didn't kill them. Our love didn't kill them. Mama died giving birth to us, we were only a baby. She was meant to deliver us, she loved us. Papa...papa was...he loved us and he died because he wanted to protect us. Will you dishonor his memory by closing your heart off to life. Will you deny yourself the things he wanted for you, but feared to give! Karon he was a friend and he died WITH love for life. His passion was the life of a sailor, the chance to die at any moment was his choice, and he loved it! The passion to embrace the scary things in life." Like a small child, the retreating Rin fell into her own arms, balling and rocking back and forth.

"But what if I hurt him. What if-" She sobbed and the older Rin looked down at herself and acceptance, willingness, asserted in her eyes. Embracing herself, all of herself the younger Rin held tight to the thin waist and suddenly she was complete. She stood there once again on the hills, among the wild flowers and soft winds. A small part of her was open. It astounded her how easily it was to open herself. She felt the whisper of calm and an unfamiliar part of her seemed to have come to life. Compelling her forward and the scene around her changed.

Suddenly she was in the ruins of the recently exploded building. Her heart leapt in her throat. She was still attempting to adjust to her strangling new feelings and the quickness in which they had set themselves in her. In a state of awkward awareness she deft moved onward and then among the rubble she sighted something. A tiny glint bronze, a scroll.

Perplexed Rin picked it up and held it tightly in her hand. She opened it slightly and she began to read it and her eyes widened.

...she will be stronger than any before or after her. Her lineage from that of the land and sea. A pirate king will hold her and he will be blinded by his love for her. The aseleco will find her strength in a moment of death. When it counts she will conquer, but she will be lost if...

IF? What IF? Rin was positive this prophecy was about her but the beginning was singed off and the end ripped away in haste. Another shift in the wind caused her to look up. Eyes stared at her, red and glowing. A shiver ran down her spine and then a hand clamped around her neck and she screamed, jerking upward in bed Rin awoke.

The dream replayed in her head. Had it all been a nightmare? Were her fears just daunting her in her sleep. A small whisper flowed like liquid over her mind. 'Accept it'. Clutching a hand to her chest Rin swept her gaze around the room looking for Sesshomaru. He had gone topside. She heard him through the open window. Salty sea air encompassed the room and Rin hurriedly dressed in a simple green dress and pulled her hair in a tight chignon, racing for the deck.

She fumbled her way up the ladder and toppled on deck with an unceremonious thump. Black boots came into her view as her gaze was stuck to the ground and then warm arms lifted her upward.

Rin peered into Sesshomaru's eyes and she saw clearly, as if before everything was blurred by a fog, but now she really saw him. He was looking at her with an impassive face, but his eyes bespoke his concern. Her heart wrenched and Rin embraced him, allowing her instincts to guide her.

Sesshomaru was tentative for several moments and then miraculously he returned her show of affection. Warmth flooded Rin and she tightened her grip. 'I love him.' She'd known it, thought it a few times, only to refuse it with staggering force, bent on protecting him. She wouldn't hid it any longer.

Sesshomaru studied her, gaze unrelenting. "Are you okay, Rin?" She shook her head in his chest and he tightened his hold. "What's wrong?" Rin shook her head again, but started to lead him off the ship. He followed without question. Something told him to just follow her. They ended up at the sight of the now demolished building.

Rin glanced at Sesshomaru, but just continued still holding his hands, leading him to the place Naraku's office had been. Rin saw the bronze like she had in her dream and lifted it.

"What is it?" Rin handed it to him wordlessly, not even opening it. He received it with a feeling of unease. The moment his gaze touched the mutilated paper, Sesshomaru knew it was important. "How?"

"I had a dream and...I found that." Sesshomaru fixated his eyes on her, something was horribly wrong.

"What else? Something happen, more." He didn't know why or how he knew he just did. "Tell me." His voice was soft velvet whisper, but a certain edge of steel enforced it.

Rin felt his words like a caress against her cheek, goose bumps erupted along her arms. She couldn't tell him yet. She'd let him think he knew everything, but she couldn't bring herself to say it yet.

"I saw his eyes. Red. Glowing. They were dark. He'll come for me next. It was a promise." She'd seen it in the way his eyes devoured her. He'd let her see him because he was warning her. She was next. When he came, it would end. He would either win, or she would find what she needed to find.

"Is that all?" Sesshomaru had a sneaking suspion that she wasn't telling him something. Something vital was being filtered out of the equation.

"I woke up right after that." She didn't lie, just didn't tell him the most important part. 'Coward'. It was a small taunting thought, but she'd tell him when she was ready.

"Come. I have many tasks." Sesshomaru motioned for her to move with him. She did and this time when she was near he held her to him, close enough to let everyone know she was his, but far enough to protect his heart.

A/N: Hey thanks again for the reviews. I hope you all liked the update. I worked really hard on it and hope that you enjoyed it. Please R&R. Until next time.....Egyptian Kiss!