InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Eternity ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, or any characters from that show. So sad.

 

The first time Kagome remembered really getting to know Rin was a couple of years after they had defeated Naraku. InuYasha and Sesshomaru had been on good grounds—that is, they didn't try to kill each other whenever they met up. Occasionally their paths would cross, but not very often. Most of the time Kagome guessed that it was so Rin could have some human contact, especially with those her age.

 

Then suddenly, one day, Sesshomaru showed up out of nowhere, a very put-out and frazzled looking 13-year-old Rin clinging to his pelt. As Kagome was nearest, he addressed her.

 

“Miko,” he said, his voice sounding irritated to the point that Kagome stiffened defensively. “You are a woman, correct?”

 

Kagome blinked twice and then got pissed. “Well, what does it look like to you, baka?”

 

Sesshomaru didn't even register the insult. “Talk to her.” He pushed Rin forward, but not ungently. “I shall return in a week.” And with that, he took off. Rin didn't even look after him. Sango had come out of Kaede's hut by this time, and Kaede was lingering in the doorway.

 

“What's going on?” Kagome asked, and instantly wished she had said it kinder.

 

Rin began to sniffle, twisting her face. “I don't know!!! Nobody will tell me! I think… I think I'm sick! Kagome, am I dying??”

 

Kagome allowed Rin to cling to her shirt, and patted her back awkwardly. “I don't know, Rin-chan…. What seems to be the matter??”

 

Rin sniffled for a moment, and looked around. She spoke very quietly. “I'm… I'm bleeding…”

 

Kagome was about to ask where when she put it together. Rin began to sob enthusiastically. “Oh, sweetie, it's ok. It's normal, you're not dying.”

 

Sango had reached them by this time. “What seems to be the matter?” she said, always the sensitive one.

 

Kagome sighed and looked to her. “Rin here has just become a woman,” she said, the euphemism totally uncryptic to the both of them.

 

“Ah…” Sango said, and patted Rin's head. “It's a good thing Sesshomaru-sama brought you. We'll have you feeling better in no time.”

 

They turned to walk back to Kaede's hut, only to find InuYasha in the way.

 

“What's Sesshomaru's brat doing here?” he demanded.

 

Kagome was about to get mad at him for being insensitive, but Sango intervened. “Rin is going to be spending the next week or so with us girls.”

 

InuYasha opened his mouth to protest but caught wind of something. He frowned at Rin and sniffed. His eyes widened a little. “Whatever, I'll be around.” And with that he took off as if the devil himself were chasing after.

 

Sango and Kagome looked at each other, each trying not to laugh. When they got to Kaede's hut, she found the proper things and they had her cleaned up and marginally comfortable within the hour. Kagome returned to her time, but opted not to bring supplies as she didn't have much contact with Rin and it seemed better for her to get used to what they used back then. She did, however, grab her old sex-ed book and ask her mom for a few tips. She then baked a batch of really rich brownies (chocolate always seemed to help), and headed back. Rin devoured half the brownies and then sat down to read in the corner. Kagome was impressed with Sesshomaru for teaching her. She didn't know he had the time or the patience.

 

Rin studied the book for a long time. She must have read it three times, as if she were memorizing it. At last she set it down. Kagome came to sit next to her. “Any questions?” she asked, hoping against hope that she would say no.

 

“Are yokai … like humans this way?” she asked quietly.

 

Kagome flustered and looked to Sango, who came over and sat down as well. “Anatomically? More or less. The more human they appear, the more so.” There was more, Kagome could tell, but Sango saw fit not to be explicit.

 

“What about… emotionally?” Rin asked.

 

Sango and Kagome stared at each other. Sango continued. “Well, like I said, that depends on what kind of yokai. It's a little harder to tell, though. Wolf demons, like Kouga, have very similar feelings to humans, plus a little fiercer loyalties. They are life maters. Cat demons, however—”

 

“Tell me about Inu yokai,” Rin interrupted quietly.

 

Sango and Kagome looked at each other once more. Sango gave a shrug as if to say that there was no harm in her knowing.

 

“Inu Tai Yokai, which I am assuming you are referring to, are rather hard to crack. They are typically extremely loyal to their mate, and will stay with them their whole lives. However… they do tend to… uh…”

 

“Care about more than one person?” Kagome suggested, years of personal experience with this particular attribute behind her.

 

Sango nodded. “Yes. But that doesn't mean they love any of them less.”

 

“Really?” Rin seemed to brighten. “So… say if there was this… this Inu yokai… and he had liked… this other yokai… but she's not around anymore… then it's still possible he could fall in love with someone else?”

 

Kagome sighed deeply. “Rin, you would be living in Kagura's shadow.”

 

Rin blushed to the roots of her hair.

 

Sango thought a moment. “Does Sesshomaru know this?”

 

Rin shook her head fiercely. “No…”

 

Kagome frowned a little. “I'm not sure this is what you think it is…” she said kindly, but Rin just shook her head again.

 

“I know I love Sesshomaru-sama. I know it.”

 

Sango smiled. “We weren't questioning that, sweetheart, it's just it probably isn't the same kind of love…”

 

Rin continued to shake her head. “No, it's just like the book said. I can't think about anything else. When he touches me, it's like I feel … sick or something, but not in a bad way. He's everything to me. He's all I have….” She trailed off, the concerned looks on the other women's faces deterring her.

 

Kagome sighed deeply. “Let me tell you an old, old story, about a girl. There was this king, you see, and he had a wife and a daughter. His daughter was named Elektra. While the king was away at war, his wife fell in love with another man, and plotted to kill the king when he came home. They did, and when Elektra found out she got so angry she killed her mother and her mother's lover to avenge her father. You see, she loved her father very much.”

 

Rin nodded. “Did she really love her father?”

 

Kagome shifted uncomfortably. Leave it to Rin to be totally unfazed by a gory Greek legend. “Well, uh… there's some debate about that. But you see, that kind of feeling isn't normal for a girl to have about her father.”

 

Rin frowned a little. “But Sesshomaru isn't my father. If he was, I would look like InuYasha.”

 

Kagome almost laughed at that image. “Yes, but he raised you, sweetie. I think he looks at it that way.”

 

Rin shrugged. “Well, I'll just have to ask him.”

 

Kagome and Sango sighed in unison. This was not going to be easy…

 

***

 

When Sesshomaru returned in a week's time, Sango spoke to him for a while before they left.

 

“I think it would be wise if Rin spent more time with other people,” she suggested. “She is human, and humans need other humans. Especially at her age.”

 

Sesshomaru nodded. Sango's suggestion had been duly noted. He left with Rin, who had sufficiently calmed down, and said not a word.

 

InuYasha and Kagome watched them go. Kagome sighed.

 

“What's up?” asked InuYasha. He had steered clear of the hormonal Rin for the entire week.

 

“Rin has become very… attached… to Sesshomaru.”

 

InuYasha nodded. “I wondered if that was why he was keeping her around. I'll have to pick on him about Dad some time.”

 

Kagome shook her head, shocked. “It's not like that! Sesshomaru hasn't shown any kind of sign that he feels the same way, or anything.”

 

InuYasha leveled his gaze at Kagome. “Does Sesshomaru strike you as the kind who would?”

 

Kagome paused. “Ah. But still… she's so young…”

 

InuYasha shrugged. “Okaa-san had me when she was 16, and she'd known Chichi-ue for quite some time before. I don't know how long they were… involved… but she couldn't have been much older than Rin is now.”

 

Kagome blanched. Not only did what he say surprise her, but she was 20 now and she couldn't imagine having a child… much less all by herself.

 

InuYasha looked at Kagome, and seemed a little uncomfortable. “Anyway. Whatever.” And he walked off.

 

***

 

Rin sat amongst the flowers, weaving one last chain. She finished it, and plopped it on her head. She had stopped putting them on Sesshomaru years ago. It just didn't seem… grown up. She looked at herself, as best she could. She wore a crown, a necklace, a bracelet, a ring and a belt of flowers. For the thirtieth time that day she wondered if Sesshomaru thought she was pretty. She looked over at him. He was lounging as well, gazing intently at a blade of grass as if it held all the mysteries of the world.

 

Rin sighed loudly, and noticed Sesshomaru pretend not to notice. “I wish I had someone to give me flowers…” she said mournfully.

 

“Hn.” Sesshomaru said. “Why would you need that? There's a whole field of them here.”

 

Rin sighed, exasperated. He was so dense sometimes…. “Well, yeah. But it's much nicer if someone gives them to you, you know? Like a gift, a kind gesture.”

 

Sesshomaru let the blade of grass he was holding be taken away by the wind, and he watched it momentarily. Then, as if he did this sort of thing all the time, he plucked a single flower off the ground and tucked it behind Rin's ear.

 

Rin felt as if her heart was going to explode, and she knew she was blushing. Sesshomaru did not look away though; it almost looked like her reaction… amused him. She broke his gaze first, staring down at the flowers in her hands. “Sesshomaru-sama…” she said quietly, her heart in her throat.

 

“Yes?” he said, sounding slightly less than bored.

 

“Do you… that is…” she swallowed. “Do you think of me as your daughter?”

 

Sesshomaru considered the question. There had been a day when he thought he might answer yes, but ever since she had died that second time… it was something different.

 

“No.” he said simply.

 

Rin felt her heart skip a beat, and she somehow found the courage to continue. “Then… what do you think of me as?”

 

Sesshomaru looked away now. “You are my ward, and I am your guardian.”

 

Rin looked down again. “Nothing more?”

 

Sesshomaru paused. He did not like this conversation. It made him uncomfortable. “You are too young for anything else.” He stood up, effectively ending the conversation.

 

Rin was a jumble of emotions. So she was just his ward? To say she was disappointed would be an understatement. But there was something about way he had worded that last sentence…. A tiny bud of hope grew in her heart. She would just have to wait and grow up, that's all. That shouldn't be to hard….

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AN:

Yay fluff! Ok, seriously. It seems like gag me with a 9-iron now, but just wait. I'm not into ecchi, and I can personally say that dating an older man at the age of 13 is a BAD IDEA. So, we wait. I feel bad that I didn't actually look up Elektra's parent's names but whatever. Makes it simpler.

 

As always, tell me what you think.