InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Decisions ❯ Children ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6: Children

He was uncomfortable to say the least. He was sat on a park bench with his cashmere blend coat done up all the way to his chin to stave off the bitter January wind whilst watching Rin playing. It amazed him that she could still be so hyper when the temperature seemed to be freezing.

He noticed that the other children currently shrieking their way through the Antarctic playground were equally excited. So it wasn't a Rin thing but rather a small child thing? She did have a slightly warmer body temperature than him he supposed.

He had been in a horrible mood since Kagome had touched him and sent his thoughts into turmoil. He was Sesshoumaru Taisho and did not go into shock over something as stupid as a woman. He was acting like a goddamned virginal teenager for Christ's sake. How could he let a kiss confuse him this much?

His thoughts tailed off into a bizarre serious of rants as he tried to come up with a tally over how many women he had actually bedded in his long life.

Rin was studiously ignoring the bad vibes emanating from her guardian and steadily playing. She was used to him and his bad moods but now there was something completely different about this depression that hovered over his broad shoulders like an invisible cloud of doom.

His eyes fixed on the vast expanse of water just behind the playground that was optimistically called a duck pond. There were no ducks. They had obviously realised that swimming today was ridiculous and that sleeping huddled together was more appealing. Sesshoumaru didn't know about sleeping huddled together but he'd kill for a cup of coffee.

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his coat and watched in horror as an older girl shoved Rin away from the swings she was waiting patiently for a turn on.

She tottered backwards unsteadily and the backs of her knees hit into the low metal bar that surrounded the duck pond and she teetered into the abyss.

Sesshoumaru stood up in a hurry as he realised she was going to fall into the icy water and possibly catch pneumonia.

She fell backwards and nearly got severely drenched before a pair of child's arms caught her. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in shock as he saw the young Kelpie demon under Kagome's care emerge from the water bone dry in his human form. He was standing on the surface of the rippling water as this was a normal occurrence and for him it was.

“Ranmaru-kun!” Rin exclaimed in shock

“You should be more careful” he told her

“Where'd you come from?” she asked in confusion

“The water” he told her

“But how?” she looked at him with confusion evident in her brown eyes. His black eyes with their shifting depths rolled in a way that was scarily reminiscent of his adopted mother.

“I'm an aquatic horse demon; a kelpie” he said

“An aqu-titic... an accutatit” she looked at him in confusion after mimicking the word failed drastically “What?”

Ranmaru smiled at the younger child's mispronunciation, the word was not foreign to him as he heard it all the time but to a human child it was something new. “It means I'm a water horse demon” he simplified things for her.

“You're a horse?” she demanded turning into a fan girl as Sesshoumaru watching the exchange smiled in amusement. Rin's little girl brain had kicked in when she heard the word horse; she loved horses.

Sesshoumaru was abruptly anxious; if the child was here then surely that meant that his mother had to be nearby and this small fact made him uneasy. He hadn't seen her since she had kissed him.

“My mother is buying a coffee” he told Sesshoumaru catching that the elder Yokai's attention was occupied on other things.

“Hn” Sesshoumaru glared at the young Yokai and Ranmaru wondered if the adult was still angry at him for drenching him at Christmas.

“Are you really a horse?” Rin would have been bouncing off the walls at this time if they weren't outside.

“Yes” he said

“Can you show me?” she demanded tugging on his sleeve

Ranmaru looked down at the girl “We're outside” he said patiently

“So?” she asked confused

“I can't transform in front of people” he said

“Why?”

“They'd get scared” he said solemnly

“Are you scary?” she asked looking up at him in awe

“No” he said “but it would be unexpected and scary”

“Oh” she pouted and scuffed the toe of her trainer along the floor in disappointment

Ranmaru noticed and showed a little maturity “I'll show you sometime” he said seriously patting her on her head

“Really? Do you promise?”

“En” he promised linking his pinkie finger with hers and shaking

“Here” said a familiar voice as a coffee was thrust into his clawed hands. He sighed as the scent of summer washed over him contrasting harshly with the bitter cold he felt biting his exposed face.

“Hn” he muttered avoiding eye contact.

“Ne” she said as the two children trotted off happily to go and play in the park again “did I do something to offend you?”

He glanced at her sideways in shock. She was wearing a long light blue woollen coat that came down to her knees. Her collar was turned up and she was wearing a deep green scarf twined around her neck a few times. Her nose was hidden in her collar to stop it freezing in the cold and her cheeks were red from the harsh temperature. But he couldn't help but see her as beautiful.

Where's that coming from? He pushed the thought firmly away and concentrated on her words.

He didn't know what to say to that last comment. He was not offended by any means; however he was confused that this human was able to evoke emotions within him that no other female ever had. After all she was just a human.

“This Sesshoumaru is not offended” he said carefully wondering if he was revealing what he was thinking by saying this.

She looked at him and brought her mouth out from inside her jacket in order to take a quick swig of her coffee “So I'm not on your hit list”

He smirked “If this Sesshoumaru had put you on his hit list you would be dead already”

She laughed and a shocked expression crossed her features “You just made a joke” she informed him

He gazed off into the sunset. So he had. What strange things this woman could make him do.

“It seems that way” he said

“Hmm” she said watching him be thoughtful and not angst ridden for once. She wondered what was wrong with him if he wasn't annoyed at her.

“How did you come across a child such as that?” he said looking over at Ranmaru

She was shocked; he was asking her, under his own free will, a question. This was progress. She smiled under the cover of her jacket and proceeded to answer in the shortest sentences possible hoping to prompt him to ask more questions. “We saved him”

“We?” he asked as they meandered over to the bench that was partially frozen

“It was summer and Inuyasha, Kikyo and I found him”

“What did you save him from?” he asked

“We holidayed at a lake” she said “there was a cosmetics company dumping into it”

“That would kill a Kelpie” he nodded “What about his biological parents?”

“They were already poisoned so badly that their prognosis was terminal” she had a faraway look in her eye

“Why did you take him?” he asked

“Kikyo wasn't exactly the maternal type back then” she chuckled “she has a way of talking to people like they're mentally incompetent”

“How does she cope with her child?” he asked

“She's different with Kyo-chan” she smiled “I think her maternal instincts took over”

“Just because people look like they can't look after a child doesn't mean they are completely incompetent” he told her coldly

“En, you look after Rin very well even though you look like you're going to end the world when you're in a bad mood”

“Thanks” he said dryly “but we weren't talking about this Sesshoumaru”

“Sure” she giggled

They parted ways as the sun disappeared. As Rin got into his car she waved at Ranmaru as he got a head start on racing Kagome home. She turned to Sesshoumaru to say goodbye.

Her heart almost stopped when he bent over to kiss her on her cheek. He smirked as he pulled back to see the young woman staring straight forward in blank shock. She thought she might be malfunctioning as she desperately tried to jam her heart back into her chest where it belonged as it was currently in her throat for some strange reason.

“Two can play at that game” he whispered in her ear before getting into his car and driving off.

Rin was looking at Sesshoumaru from the passenger seat agog with her eyes wide.

“Sesshoumaru-sama” she said “Do you like Higurashi-sensei?”

He smirked at his ward “This Sesshoumaru believes she remarked once that it was fun to annoy this Sesshoumaru, and so now is time for revenge”

Rin had no idea what he had just said but she understood one thing. Seeing Higurashi-sensei today had alleviated the depressing mood from around Sesshoumaru and she was happy for that at least.

Unseen to the child Sesshoumaru ran a finger across his lip and smirked.

Kagome cupped her cheek and watched the Ferrari drive away with wide eyes.

Huh?

Had he actually deigned to kiss her? And what did `two can play at that' mean?

Didn't he hate humans? Damn those questions that weren't supposed to be rhetorical but received no answer from her addled brain anyway.

She began to get angry, did the arrogant bastard think she was another woman easily charmed? She had to admit he was handsome but that was about all she would admit.

You like him.

The thought was unwanted and quickly shown the door as she threw it from her mind. Damn thoughts telling her what to do.

“Okasan!” her son yelled from the distance getting impatient with her just standing there hand on cheek.

“Hai, hai” she said sighing and following after him tracing a zigzag pattern on the icy pavement as she walked after her young son. There was complete confusion etched onto her pretty features.

Strange. That was what she decided as she stepped into her power shower that night after they got home. She let the water wash away her stress but the pounding jets couldn't erase her thoughts. She was sure he had kissed her because she could still feel it on her cheek even after washing.

She bounced onto her bed in her pyjamas and frowned at the ceiling. She turned onto her stomach and hugged a pillow. Who knew?

A/N: I do not own Inuyasha, please review.

With thanks to Karen-chan who makes me laugh. Hope you like this chapter too!