Some information on Rin

At roughly eight years old, Rin is a trusty young ward to Sesshoumaru - Lord of the Western Lands, Daiyoukai, son of the great Inu no Taisho, Fluffy-sama - however you want to call him, Rin's fairly lucky.

Rescued from death, Rin is often found by her protector's side (except in cases where a particularly brutal fight is imminent, in which Sesshoumaru orders Rin away). Once subjected to nothing more than rags for clothes, a dirty hovel for a home, and no one for friends, Rin now sports a pretty green-and-orange kimono, a couple of youkais as companions, and the whole world at her feet - for Rin's home is anywhere Sesshoumaru is.

Rin isn't complaining - every suffering she has endured in her first lifetime was only a means to find the home she had never expected - under the watchful eye of a powerful demon lord, rather than in the abusive gatherings of her kind. This isn't to say that Rin's trials and tribulations are far from over. A young mortal child, carefully protected by a daiyoukai with known enemies. "Hostage" could not have been stamped any clearer across her forehead.

The most important thing about Rin is that she is the only human Sesshoumaru seems to like. On the last episodes Rin is left in a village with other humans, but she finally goes with her heart and returns to Sesshoumaru's side and protection. In the manga, Rin is dead once again (due to her being sucked into the pits of hell) and cannot be revived by the Tenseiga (due to the Tenseiga having the ability to only revive humans once.) Sesshoumaru was heartbroken when he couldn't revive Rin. Sesshoumaru's mother is then seen reviving her.

Naturally, the Inu Yasha-gumi can't really seem to understand why exactly Rin is a continuing part of Sesshoumaru's entourage, given the fact that Sesshoumaru is a known human racist and thinks all humans must grovel before the feet of their superior youkai masters, and given the fact that most would easily target Rin as Sesshoumaru's Achilles' heel. Given that the Sesshoumaru-gumi and the Inu Yasha-gumi cross on fairly bad, sometimes homicidal terms - merely maintaining barely disguised contempt would make it a good meeting - none chose to enlighten the main protagonists of the reasons. Maybe it's the Tenseiga's influence, a good part of which might have been responsible for Sesshoumaru's revival of the young human child in the first place. Maybe it's - as he claims - simply a test of sorts to determine the extent of the lifegiving sword's powers.

Or maybe, Sesshoumaru's got a heart. Even an eight year old could figure that one out.

Written by Nissie. <3