InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A new beginning, a new hope ❯ With her/ without him ( Chapter 3 )

Rin lifted her head for a moment to admire the breath taking view of the sunset over Tokyo city. The entire sky was stained with a mixture of orange and red and it blended harmoniously with the towering sky scrapers sprouting from all around. She could hear the bustling traffic and the hurried shuffling of footsteps behind her as the people were departing from their offices and heading homeward.

 

“Rin-chan, I don't feel like going home yet. Shall we go for a movie together?” Rin turned to face her chubby friend.

 

“I can't, Yumi-chan. I got to go home for dinner. Sota's coming to pick me up any moment now.” A loud grunt was immediately heard and Rin decided she needed to do a bit of sweet-talking. “How about Wednesday after rehearsal? There's a great movie that Koji and Uiru had been dying to watch and they've pestering me. So, how's that?”

 

“Ahhh, not the gay brothers again! I mean, they're fantastic musicians and I love them too but they're always commenting about my dressing, telling me that I shouldn't have matched this blouse with that skirt. I hate it when they keep nagging to me about losing weight. Rin, am I really that fat?” Yumi stood forward and did a little pirouette almost toppling over the girl while attempting the stunt.

 

“No, of course not,” Rin was being diplomatic. Moreover, Yumi was a loyal and trustworthy friend, just that she was little on the voluptuous side.

 

The light-hearted conversation was interrupted by an abrupt hooting of the car horn and Rin caught sight of the familiar figure waving to her as the maroon red MPV screeched to a halt beside her.

 

“Oh, he's here, I got to….” Rin was distracted by a tug by her friend.

 

“Hey, I bet that Sota-kun, he has the hearts for you,” Yumi giggled into Rin's ears.

 

Rin felt a sudden rush of heat through her veins up to her cheeks. “Yah, right! Stop teasing, Yumi-chan, that's not possible. Sota, he's a generally a nice guy and he treats everyone just the same…”

 

“Ha ha ha….” Yumi was holding her belly and chuckling. “You're blind as a bat, my girl. You need glasses. He's the sweet heart of all the girls at school, you know. But, my years of experience have told me….. that he only sees you.” Then she stopped, pressed her face closer and shot Rin a more serious look. “Don't come running to me for advice the day he declares his love.”

 

By now, Rin had quite enough of this senseless talk. “Yes, yes I'm so excited that I can't sleep tonight. I'll wait eagerly for that day, dear,” she feigned an enthusiastic expression causing Yumi to immediately huff at her. “Bye for now.”

 

With that, Rin hopped onto the car and waved vigorously to her pouting friend as the car started wheeling away.

 

Rin redirected her glances to her good-looking chauffeur. Sota's hazel brown eyes were concentrating on the task at hand as his straight centre-parted hair danced slightly at the on-coming breeze from the air-con vent. The orange beams from the sun were creating a rather shimmering effect on the golden streaks highlighting his dark tresses. Rin paused to reconsider Yumi's little comment made a moment back. She had to agree that there were definitely some truths in there. Sota was very popular with the girls, Rin had noticed but the thoughts of them being together, it had never once crossed her mind. Sota was very sweet and caring but Rin concluded that she was simply too busy, too occupied with learning and picking up her life up from where she had left off, wherever that was, she couldn't remember.

 

Sota was watching attentively at every little gesture of the girl from the corner of his eyes and he pondered to himself. The girl was apparently deep in thoughts, should he ask her what's on her mind or give her some space of her own? From the day the girl came into his life, he found himself constantly having to consider such options. He desired so much to lend her a helping hand, a listening ear or even a shoulder but he didn't want to come across to her as being rudely intrusive.

 

He was well-informed of the girl's past and the sensitive issues between her and the powerful demon lord through the accounts made by his sister. Well, he had never seen a real demon before and neither had he ever stepped into the warring period like Kagome. However, he vaguely recalled the incident with the spirit in that ancient mask in the shrine emerging to attack them and how his half-demon brother-in-law, Inuyasha, had arrived just in time to their aid. No doubt, those demons do exist.

 

“Gal how's your day?” he decided to ask eventually.

 

“Fine, I guess. The rehearsal went well. Then, I rushed for lessons with my violin teacher and practiced in the studio the rest of the time.” Rin tried to give Sota a brief summary of her day. “You know right? I have this performance thing during lunch time few days from now. I'm really nervous about it.”

 

“Of course, I remember. Come on, you'll be fine. You play well. You just need a little more confidence in yourself. That's all. You'll make a fine violinist one day.” Sota encouraged while lightly stroking her hair.

 

“What if no one turns up at the lunch time concert?” The girl was fidgeting somewhat anxiously.

 

“Don't be silly. Everyone needs to eat. Lunch time concerts are the most popular because they're great entertainment after food.” Sota nuzzled her chin gently then turned to focus on the road. . “And they'll love you.” like I do, he finished in his mind so softly that if he did not detect it himself.

 

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Rin pushed open the screen of the front door only to be almost toppled over by a little spunky figure pouncing and clinging onto her tightly. Upon closer inspection, it was the hanyou kid.

 

“Rin, Rin, I miss you,” Keiko was now showering her with little lavish kisses all round her cheeks, making Sota, who was behind them, rather envious. Something deep inside him had secretly wished to do likewise, well, someday.

 

“Yes, yes, and I miss you too,” Kagome and Inuyasha must have come for dinner, she deduced internally.

 

She was told about the well and how Kagome would travel to and from this world to the warring era and their adventures about how they fought ferocious demons and pieced the sacred jewel back together again. She would never have believed any of it if it hadn't for Inuyasha and Keiko. Inuyasha was a half demon with silver hair and doggie ears. He's definitely not human alright! And Keiko, she looked just like a normal human, except for her inherited pale colored hair and amber eyes. She didn't take after her father's ears, that's a fact.

 

Inuyasha was a hanyou and Rin often wondered how a full-fledge demon would look like and behave, while already finding the half counterpart rather aloof and eccentric. Kagome had made it absolutely clear that demons are ruthless creatures with no compassion for human lives. However, for some peculiar reasons unknown to even herself, she felt quite at ease with Inuyasha, even though he also possessed demonic blood.

 

Since their marriage, Kagome had been residing in the warring era most of the time coming to visit only once in a while and Rin thoroughly enjoyed these times. She adored the little girl and often gathered little toys and ornaments for her while awaiting her arrival.

 

“Keiko! Stop bothering Rin-chan and come to dinner,” but little Keiko was oblivious to her mother's calling.

 

Rin set her violin case at the corner of the room and proceeded to head for the kitchen with the kid still clinging around her waist. Sota tailed behind the two. “It's alright, Kagome-chan, Inuyasha, it's great to see you guys again.”

 

“Rin -chan, how are you lately?” Kagome implored tenderly, giving the girl a quick head-to-toe examination.

 

“Okay, I guess. It's just that I've still been having those dreams about the man with the crescent moon,” Rin pulled a chair and sat down then attempted futilely to disentangle herself from the hanyou kid. She distinctly heard Inuyasha let out a soft grunt just when she mentioned the lasts words, but it was swiftly silenced by a hard shove by his wife.

 

“Inuyasha, do you happen to know something about this, I mean, the crescent moon?” Rin was curious.

 

“Nope, and neither do I have good impressions of it,” he replied gruffly.

 

“Rin has a performance coming up soon,” Sota intelligently ( and successfully ) changed the topic of this dinner table talk, despite Rin's struggles to cover his mouth. “She'll be playing for the lunch time concert in few days' time.”

 

“And we'll be there to listen to you play, Rin-chan, won't we, darling?” Kagome gave her hubby another nudge, this time lovingly.

 

“Yah…. I guess we could,” his voice still rather aloof, his attention solely on the delicious looking steak in front of him.

 

“You see gal, I got you three supporters already,” Sota gave the girl a little pat on her shoulder and a wink, seeing that the girl finally relented and heaved a soft sigh of surrender.

 

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The leaves from the protective boughs of the Goshinboko rustled subtly in the night draft as the three made their way stealthily to the well, heading purposefully back to the warring states.

 

“Rin-chan, she seemed to be doing really well,” Kagome started. “I'm glad we made the right decision of letting her stay here.”

 

“Kah…. WE didn't make that decision. The girl fell through that well herself and to be honest, it still puzzles me how she did it,” Inuyasha's gaze were directed elsewhere even as he spoke.

 

“I know. I've been thinking that it could be the power of the sacred jewel, now that it is whole again. Its powers have no limits.” The miko gave her opinion rather casually but her expression became solemn for a moment as she recalled the painful process of how the sacred jewel was return to its original form. It was not without much sacrifices and casualties, that's for sure. Before they could come to their aid, Koga, the wolf prince and Kohaku, Sango's brother had been assimilated by Nakaru in his devious attempt to regain the fragments of Shikon jewel. And even till this day, Sango would get upset with tears flooding her eyes just by the mere mention of Kahaku's name.

 

Her musings were again crudely intercepted. “I know the jewel has great powers. But even then, we've already used up half of it to grant your little wish, remember? Can it still have such abilities to bring the girl through time?” Inuyasha leaned over and placed his clawed hands over Kagome's shoulders lovingly.

 

“Well, whatever the case, it's done and it's a good thing. So, let's drop it.” Kagome's expressions were bland but her heart had warmed up at that sentence by her husband as well as his caring gesture.

 

Seeing that Keiko had hopped into the well, Kagome decided that they should follow suit and fast, knowing her own daughter's hyper-active traits.