InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Leaving the Past ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter Four

"Rin! Rin, wait for me!"

Sango and Miroku's oldest son Ichiro ran panting after the older girl.

"Rin, please wait!"

Several yards away Rin stopped and turned around.

"C'mon, Ichiro! I promised Kagome that we'd be back with the fish before the end of the afternoon. If dinner is late Inuyasha will get cranky."

The younger boy finally caught up and crouched over with his hands on his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.

Rin smiled at him.

"Come on, the river's just ahead."

Rin had grown taller in the two years since she had come to live with Inuyasha and Kagome. Her hair and her dress had gotten longer. She was a slim but healthy girl, and in general happy with her life. Not that things had been easy. Sesshoumaru's departure had been devastating, almost as traumatic as the deaths of her parents and brother. She hardly thought of her first family anymore, the memories of her mother and father had already become blurry. She had been so young when they were killed, and her subsequent life with Sesshoumaru and Jaken so unusual and exciting that there were times now when she sadly realized that Ichiro's face had replaced that of her brother's.

She had run away three times the first month after he had left her, each time hoping that somehow she would find Sesshoumaru, or that he would find her. Each time it was Inuyasha who found her instead, patiently waiting while she cried or raged, and then leading her home when she had finally, listlessly, given up.

"Now stand very still in the water with your hands cupped. If you move even a tiny bit the fish will dart away from you."

Ichiro stood in the river, hands held still as possible, his brow furrowed and eyes squinting with concentration. I must have looked like that when she was his age. Memories of days spent fishing for dinner with Jaken.

"We should clean the fish here. Did you bring your knife?"

Ichiro hung his head.

"Sorry, Rin. I forgot. Can't we use yours?" He looked up and pointed at the dagger hanging from Rin's side.

"Of course not! This isn't a dagger for cleaning fish! It's a weapon. Besides, Lord Sesshoumaru gave this to me."

Ichiro rolled his eyes.

"Not him again."

Rin shot him a dirty look and snatched the fish away. "What do you mean 'him again'? Let's go, we'll just have to wait till we get back home."

She knew full well what Ichiro meant. She wasn't nearly as bad as when she'd first arrived, when she talked about Sesshoumaru constantly.

"Inuyasha, you were wonderful! You handled that sword just like Sesshoumaru-sama!"

"Inuyasha, do you think that Sesshoumaru-sama would chop wood like that? Do you think Sesshoumaru-sama would ever chop wood?"

"Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru-sama would never have allowed a demon to catch him off guard."

"Inuyasha, do you ever wish that you were more like Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Looking back on it, the amazing thing was how well Inuyasha had taken it. Rin had hung around him quite a bit in the beginning - he reminded her of a gruffer, scruffier, but over-all-less-enigmatic version of his older brother. And Inuyasha had been incredibly tolerant, only shouting for Kagome once after Rin had helpfully suggested that if he combed his hair more, he would look more like Sesshoumaru.

"Ichiro." Rin paused.

"What is it?"

"Lord Sesshoumaru will come back for me someday."

"Whatever you say."

"You heard me. Let's go."

Following the edge of the forest, they were nearly back at the village when they were startled by a dark shadow and the sound of something like thunder in the sky above.

"Yahhhhh!" Ichiro screamed and pointed to a monster demon soaring above them.

Rin looked up. Ichiro dropped to the ground and covered his head with his arms. Rin blinked several times, just to be sure that what she was seeing was real.

"Ah-Un!" she yelled. She threw her arms up in joy. "Ah-Un, it's you! It's really you!"

The two-headed dragon landed next to her and moaned loudly. Rin ran up to it kissed each snout. From the dragon's back a tiny figure slid down and wobbled uncertainly on the ground.

"Jaken!" She couldn't believe it. "Jaken!" she threw her arms around him.

"Rin!" squawked Jaken. He looked genuinely happy to see her. "You've gotten so much bigger!" He sniffled and quickly wiped his nose across his sleeve. "I brought some surprises for you."

"Oh, thank you! Is Sesshoumaru-sama coming too? Where is Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"He's not here. He's on an important mission to the West." Jaken looked pleased to be in his master's confidences.

Rin felt a momentary surge of disappointment. Still, here was Jaken and Ah-Un, proof that Sesshoumaru hadn't forgotten her.

Jaken! Rin couldn't resist hugging him again. "Let's go on to Inuyasha's, Kagome will fix us all dinner. I have so much to tell you! Are you well? How is Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"You still ask too many questions," grumbled Jaken, but he didn't look particularly annoyed.

Inuyasha didn't look particularly thrilled to see his brother's retainer. He sat with his arms crossed as Kagome set out their dinner and Rin chattered excitedly.

"Jaken, what did you bring me?" asked Rin, with a mischievous grin. She eyed the wicker boxes that Inuyasha had unloaded from Ah-Un's back.

"Lord Sesshoumaru sent them. Go ahead and open them," said Jaken, a little proudly.

Rin eagerly lifted the lid on the first box. Neatly folded inside were several pleasant-colored summer kimonos. She stood up and held one against her torso. It stopped several inches above her knees, at least two sizes too small.

Everyone was watching her now.

She knelt down and opened the second basket. Inside was a cloth-stuffed lady doll, with a porcelain face and black hair. Rin stared at it for a long moment.

"HOW OLD DOES HE THINK I AM?"

The little demon was wildly indignant. Kagome sprang to Rin's side. Inuyasha turned to Jaken, a strange and hopeful smile spreading across his face.

"Are you telling me that Sesshoumaru went shopping for baby dolls?"

"Of course not!" Jaken snatched the doll back from Rin. Inuyasha looked disappointed. "Lord Sesshoumaru doesn't have time for such nonsense. He ordered me to bring Rin some gifts and clothes and so I did! And if Rin didn't grow so fast, they would have fit the way they should!"

"Idiots!" He screeched, for good measure.

Rin blinked back tears. It made her feel no better to know that Lord Sesshoumaru had not sent her children's toys, she would rather have had the doll and known that it had come from him.

She had to be brave. She managed a smile for Jaken, who was clutching the doll behind his back and fuming.

"Thank you, Jaken-sama."

"Hmpf." But he was pacified. Rin wondered when the last time that he had heard "Jaken-sama" had been. Before he could object she reached out and hugged him.

"Agh! Let go of me! It's time for me to leave."

"Jaken-sama, I've missed both of you so much. Please tell Sesshoumaru-sama. Please tell him that I've missed him."

"Alright. But let me go!"

She released him and the little imp made ready to depart.

"One more thing…" Rin faltered. Ask him, ask him, ask the question.

"What is it?"

"Please ask Sesshoumaru-sama when he will come back for me."

Jaken blinked.

"You silly girl! He's not coming back for you! The great Lord Sesshoumaru has more important things to think about now than one human girl!"

Inuyasha bashed him on the head.

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

Kagome found Rin sitting in the fields.

"Hey." She sat down next to her.

Rin didn't answer.

Kagome put an arm around her.

"Kagome-chan, sometimes I wish that I was still little. I wish people didn't have to change."

"Everybody changes. That's the way of things. Living people keep moving on with their lives. Only the dead don't change." A fleeting image of Kikyo passed through Kagome's mind.

She's sad thought Rin.

"Sesshoumaru never changes."

"Er, of course he must," answered Kagome, not sounding entirely convincing, even to herself. "Rin, maybe it would be better if you tried not to think about Sesshoumaru so much."

Rin said nothing.

"Moving on hurts," Kagome continued. "You can't change the hurting, but you can learn to face it."

"Have you ever had to face something painful?" Rin looked up at her.

"Yes," she answered. She was thinking of Kikyo again. Of Inuyasha.

"Sometimes things have to painful, before something good can occur."

Both girls were silent.

"Rin? Tomorrow, why don't we go to see Kaede together. It's time you began to learn about different herbs and medicines. You could become a big help to Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku when they're on demon-exterminating missions."

Rin set her chin determinately, looked-up, and nodded.

To be continued…