Hello all! My previous username was 'Umineko-san', for those who recognize this story. I somehow lost my password and the email account linked to it was closed years ago so I can't get back in! Anyway, this was actually my first fanfic back in 2005. Yes, the writing is a bit shabby. This fanfic was quite popular back in the day *sniff*, so I've decided to make a few well-needed adjustments and put it back out there. This is just a silly story to amuse you for a while :)

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. I'm poor like that.

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Hide and Seek

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Sesshoumaru drained the last of his green tea before quietly setting the cup down onto the marble kitchen counter. He glanced in the direction of Rin's room and was relieved to see that she wasn't up yet. The kitchen clock ticked loudly as a constant reminder that it was soon time for him to leave for his usual afternoon business meeting.

He rinsed the cup and began to make his way out of his apartment when a sudden weight attached itself to his right leg. Sesshoumaru gave a deep sigh and looked down to see a tearful Rin clutching him tightly.

"No Sesshoumaru-sama! Don't leave! Rin will be sad!"

Sesshoumaru expected this would happen, but had not yet come up with a plan to solve it. "It's only for a few hours, Rin. You know that." He said as he began to walk stiffly towards the door with Rin still clinging onto his leg.

"NO! RIN DOESN'T WANT TO BE ALONE!" She yelled as she wrapped one arm around the kitchen table-leg in a final desperate attempt to stop Sesshoumaru from leaving.

"I know Rin. But you must let go." Sesshoumaru finally wrenched his leg from Rin's grasp and strode to the door; he paused and turned to Rin who was now sniffling pitifully on the floor with a hand still clutching the table leg. If he could feel any pity at all, it was when he saw Rin crying. He approached her and knelt down. "Rin, I'll only be gone for a few hours a day and on the weekend I won't even leave at all."

"You promise?" She sniffed as she rubbed her nose with her sleeve.

"Yes." Sesshoumaru assured her as he got up and turned to leave. Rin sniffed again before running up to the door and opening it for him with a smile. He took half a step when he remembered something.

"Rin, your babysitter will be here shortly. Be good to them." And with that, Sesshoumaru walked out the door, leaving her alone in the apartment. Rin waved at him until he disappeared from view. She eventually closed the door and leaned against it, her face slowly forming a mischievous grin.

"Oh, I will."

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Rin was determined to make Sesshoumaru stay home all day every day, but he would never do so unless he had no other choice. So she made it her job not to leave him one. Rin had it all planned out. If there was no one to look after her, Sesshoumaru would simply have to stay with her, right? Her obsessive thoughts were interrupted by the sudden buzzing of the doorbell, announcing the arrival of her first victim.

Rin took a deep breath and opened the door. Standing in the doorway was...Kagome. Rin smiled sweetly and Kagome bent down, supporting her weight by putting her hands on her knees.

"Oh hell-o Rin!" She said, as if speaking to a baby. Rin played along nonetheless. "Hi Kagome-chan! Do you wanna play with me?" She asked brightly. Kagome hesitated for a moment, she was half-hoping to just watch TV while Rin played on her own.

"Um, okay then! Can I come in first?" She asked. Rin opened the door wider to let her new babysitter in. Kagome set her handbag down on the kitchen counter and crouched down so that she was at Rin's level.

"So, what do you want to play?"

Rin pondered for a moment. "Mmmm…I know! Hide and Seek!" Kagome forced a smile and acted as if this was her favorite game. "Sure!"

"Ok then! You hide first!" Rin then squealed happily, spun on her heel, turned to face the wall and began counting as loudly as she could. Kagome suppressed a heavy sigh as she paced around the flawlessly-decorated white and silver apartment, looking for a good place to hide. She finally chose the closet in the spare bedroom since it was the only place Sesshoumaru wouldn't mind her being in.

"4, 5, 6…" Rin counted as she turned around slowly, peeping through her fingers. The coast was clear. "7, 8, 9…" Rin padded over to the heat control button. "10, 11, 12…" She turned it up to the maximum temperature. "13, 14, 15! Ready or not here I come!" Rin stomped noisily on the spot for a few seconds before standing dead still, listening for a clue to Kagome's whereabouts. Sure enough, she soon heard the click of the closet door being closed, the same closet where she had hid so many times before when playing on her own. Rin plopped down onto the floor and sat cross-legged, playing with her hair as she waited to see what Kagome would do next.

Meanwhile, in the spare bedroom Kagome was already starting to feel the heat build up inside the narrow closet. She blew up into her bangs and began to fan herself with her hand, wondering how it could've gotten so warm. Was she having hot flashes? 'There aren't many hiding places. 'It can't take her too long' she thought.

Oh how wrong she was. Rin had now tiptoed over to the spare bedroom and quietly turned the lock to seal the closet door from the outside. She then proceeded to stomp noisily around the apartment so that Kagome would think she was still looking for her. She eventually turned the heating down for her own sake, but made sure to leave it just high enough to melt Sesshoumaru's favorite wax figure of a warrior dog-demon that she had moved dangerously close to the heater.

Rin then stomped over to the kitchen counter where Kagome had left her purse and picked it up, stomping all the way to Sesshoumaru's room and stuffing it under his bed. She then returned to the couch, jumping onto it and turning on the TV, occasionally shouting things like: "Kagome where are you?" and "I'm coming to get youuuu!"

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1 HOUR LATER

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Kagome was placidly dozing on the spot when she suddenly awoke, covered in sweat. Her first reaction was to glimpse at her watch. 'Oh my gosh! Its 5:00pm! How long have I been in here?!' Kagome decided she couldn't take the sweltering heat for much longer and pushed against the closet door to get out for some much needed air. But the door didn't open. Kagome knocked sheepishly. "Um, Rin? I'm in here! Can...can you let me out, please? Rin?"

Rin had the volume quite high on the TV and as soon as she heard the knocking she turned it up even more, drowning out Kagome's pleas. Kagome was starting to panic. What if Sesshoumaru comes and finds her in here? What would he do to her?

Kagome rapped desperately on the door again. "RIN! LET ME OUT! RIIIN!"

Rin sighed heavily and hesitantly turned down the TV before getting up to unlock the closet door. "Oooh, THERE you are!" She exclaimed. Kagome stumbled out and blinked at the sudden brightness of the room. She took a moment to breathe before slowly running a hand along the wall to balance herself as she walked over to the couch and collapsed onto it, feeling weary from being on her feet for so long.

"Why did you lock the closet, Rin?" She asked apprehensively as she fanned herself with both hands, still feeling suffocated by the heat.

"I thought I heard something scary in there so I locked it." She said promptly. Kagome blinked as Rin jumped up onto the couch next to her, swinging her legs while she continued to watch TV. Kagome was beginning to look a bit flustered, but not as faint as Rin needed her to be for when Sesshoumaru arrived for the final act. It seemed that Rin needed to tire her out first.

"Kagome-chan! I'm reaaally hungry now, can you make me something to eat, please?" She blinked up at Kagome who didn't really feel like getting up. "Yeah okay, sure thing!" Kagome replied as cheerily as she could while she heaved herself off the couch and went over to the kitchen.

She placed a finger on her chin as she examined all the different white-glossed cupboards and drawers. She didn't want to disorder Sesshoumaru's pristine kitchen so she began to carefully go through each cupboard until she found the plates. Rin peered at her from the couch as Kagome quickly buttered two slices of bread and brought them over.

"Here you go!" Kagome said as she held the plate out to Rin, who glanced at it and turned up her nose. "It has crusts".

Kagome looked at her blankly and then slowly walked back to the kitchen to cut the crusts off before taking the clean-cut sandwich back to Rin, who examined it and asked: "Just butter?" Kagome sighed heavily as she went back to add a layer of jam before taking it over, this time rudely shoving the plate under the girl's nose. Rin sniffed it suspiciously. "You know, I just remembered I don't like sandwiches. I don't want it." She said primly and turned back to her cartoons. Kagome blinked at her and looked down at the plate.

"Then…then why didn't you tell me earlier?" Kagome asked, struggling to keep a pleasant attitude with Rin.

"I thought you liked being in the kitchen, Inuyasha-kun said-"

"And what exactly did Inuyasha say?" Kagome snapped, the color building up in her cheeks.

Rin gave a toothy grin and shrugged playfully as she swung her legs. But Kagome wanted to know what ridiculous comment Inuyasha had said. Probably another of his lame "women in the kitchen" jokes.

"Rin? Could you please tell me what Inuyasha told you?" She said in her sweetest voice in an attempt to get Rin to talk. But Rin had a plan of her own and simply grinned wider.

"Okay! I'll tell you. But first I want an omelet!" Rin chirped.

"Oh. Okay fine… I guess I'll just...go do thatthen." Kagome said uneasily before making her way back into the kitchen, not sure how she felt about being blackmailed by an 8 year old.

Kagome went about making the omelet, and it wasn't before long that she started to sweat profusely as she stood by the stove, irritably rolling up the egg with a spatula. She used her sleeve to wipe the beads of perspiration that were trickling down her forehead before slipping the egg onto a plate and taking it over to Rin, who was still swinging her legs.

"There you go! A nice omelet. How about you tell me what Inuyasha said, okay?" She proudly presented the plate to Rin who peered closely at the dish. She looked up at the poor perspiring Kagome as she said "But it's so booooring! Make another one with ham and then I'll tell you."

Kagome's eye twitched as she slowly turned around and walked stiffly to the kitchen once more. Rin smiled as she noticed that Kagome's back was now drenched with sweat. Kagome was strong but Rin wondered just how much abuse the poor babysitter could take.

Kagome dumped the egg into the garbage and roughly set the pan back onto the stove as she prepared yet another omelet, this time with ham. She was starting to feel very annoyed and somewhat light-headed from both Rin's demands and the overwhelming heat she had endured for so long. The flame from the stove only fueled her discomfort as she mumbled angrily about Inuyasha and his stupid kitchen jokes. She couldn't wait to find out what that moron had said this time.

She finished the omelet and took it to Rin, who grabbed the plate and wolfed the egg down as Kagome awkwardly perched herself on the edge of the couch, fiddling with her hands impatiently as she waited for Rin to finish eating and hold up her end of the bargain.

"So…Rin, um…now how about that thing you said you would tell me?" Kagome asked eagerly.

Rin put down the plate and stared blankly at Kagome as if she had no idea what she was talking about.

"Huh?"

Kagome shifted uncomfortably, "The thing you said you would tell me if I made you an omelet?"

Rin straightened up as the memory finally hit her "Oooooh, you mean when Inuyasha said you were good at cooking?"

Kagome simply blinked. "What? That's it?"

Rin nodded vigorously and held out the empty plate. "I finished! You can wash this now."

Kagome slowly took the plate and clenched her teeth into a painful smile as she dragged herself to the kitchen. "All that for nothing! How on earth does Sesshoumaru deal with this girl every day?" She thought in disbelief as she moodily washed, dried and organized the dishes.

As Kagome put the last pan in its rightful place, she suddenly felt quite dizzy and thought it was about time she had a drink of water. She was probably dehydrated from all that sweating and cooking. Kagome wiped her hands on her skirt and reached for her purse where her water bottle was. But her purse wasn't there anymore.

"Um…Rin? Have you seen my purse?"

Rin turned her head without taking her eyes off the TV screen and said, "Yep! I hid it! You didn't find me when we were playing hide and seek so now you have to find your purse!"

Kagome felt like crying. She was really dying for a drink and didn't dare take anything from Sesshoumaru's kitchen for herself.

"Oh Rin I don't feel so good. Can't you just tell me where it is?" She asked hopefully. She truly wasn't in the mood to go through Sesshoumaru's things, and her head was really starting to hurt. This time Rin turned around to look at Kagome properly.

"Okay!" She replied happily before jumping off the couch and running down the corridor to Sesshoumaru's room. Kagome was relieved to finally get some help, but the feeling didn't last long as she stared in horror as Rin began opening drawers and throwing everything onto the floor. Kagome gasped and ran to try to put it all back in its place. Sesshoumaru would murder her if he found his room in such a state!

But Rin was relentless, she darted from one drawer to another and dropping more things onto the floor than Kagome could pick back up. This continued for a while until Rin finally crouched and pulled the yellow purse from under the bed.

"Found it!" Rin exclaimed, waving the purse in the air before giggling with delight and running out of the room.

"Oh for crying out- Rin please give it to me!" Kagome pleaded weakly as she put the pillow back on the bed and stumbled out of the room after Rin.

Kagome could barely keep up now, her head was pounding, her clothes drenched with sweat and her eyes were beginning to lose focus. Rin, who was now sweating too, stopped dead in her tracks as she heard the sound of a key in the lock. Surely enough, Sesshoumaru slowly entered with a load of paperwork in his arms, swiftly closing the door with his foot.

"SESSHOUMARU-SAMA!" Rin cried as she dropped the purse and ran to hug him around the waist, sending all the paperwork flying. Sesshoumaru looked mildly irritated before his eyes found Kagome and was taken aback by her incredibly disheveled appearance. She had picked up her purse from the floor and looked as though she could barely stand on her own two feet, she squinted at Sesshoumaru to try and focus her eyes and continued to breathe heavily. He was about to ask what was the reason for her despicable state when he suddenly noticed the thick wave of suffocating heat. He loosened his tie a bit and looked down at Rin who was still clutching his waist.

"Why is it so hot in here, Rin?"

Rin released him, clasped her hands behind her back and said, "Oh, Kagome-chan said that since you were so cold-hearted she should turn up the heat so that at least your apartment would be warm."

There was complete silence. Kagome was now severely dehydrated and feeling hazier by the minute, so she simply swayed on the spot and blinked. Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow and looked around the room, his eye quickly catching sight of his favorite wax figure on the shelf, which was now horribly deformed from the heat. He walked over to it and gave it a soft poke, his finger sunk into it and the statue continued to slowly dissolve into a puddle of hot wax.

"Kagome-chan said you stole it from Inuyasha-kun and if he couldn't have it then neither could you!" Rin informed him cheerily, very much aware that the wax figure had been a birthday present from Sesshoumaru's father. Rin continued to make matters worse,

"And then she said you must have more of Inuyasha-kun's stuff hidden somewhere so she went through aaaaall your stuff looking for it. Poor Rin had to tidy everything up again!"

Sesshoumaru stiffened at the thought of Kagome touching his belongings and slowly turned to face the poor sweating Kagome who was still swaying uneasily on the spot. She blinked slowly at him, without an ounce of energy to even defend herself against Rin's blatant lies. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at her, which even in her current state was enough to let her know it was time to leave, and fast.

"You know what?" She started sluggishly, "You don't have to pay me. Just…just promise never to contact me again, okay?" She suddenly gave a shrill, nervous laugh before trampling over to the door. Sesshoumaru stood aside to let her pass and simply stared at her as she pulled the door open, swooned through the doorway and ran dazedly down the corridor.

Sesshoumaru shook his head. 'What a shame. She seemed to be the best one for the job.' He thought in disappointment. He walked over to the door and shut it quietly before bending down and picking up his papers. Rin hugged him again.

"She was so mean Sesshoumaru-sama! She said she would play with me and then she went outside so I wouldn't find her! Then I said I was hungry but she wouldn't give me anything to eat!" She looked up at him and blinked hopefully "Does this mean you have to stay with me now?"

Sesshoumaru contained a sigh and said nothing as he sent Rin off to bed. He was genuinely surprised at Kagome's behavior and would certainly not call her back to babysit. He went on with his daily task of tucking Rin into bed.

"Goodnight Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin called happily as Sesshoumaru closed her room door. He walked over to the phone-book, thinking of any possible babysitters out of his reduced circle of acquaintances. Maybe Jaken was available? No, he would be a complete pushover…Rin needed someone stronger than Kagome but who was also gentle enough to take care of her. He ran an elegant finger down the list of names and found what he was looking for; he picked up the phone and began dialing the number.

'Hmm, I wonder if Sango is available tomorrow. She does have a younger brother. Maybe Rin will get along with her…' He thought hopefully.

Rin was pretending to sleep as she overheard Sesshoumaru's short conversation with Sango and cursed silently. Sango wouldn't be so easy. She finally drifted off to sleep and smiled as she dreamt up all sorts of ways to dispose of her next victim.

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This chapter was a bit slow but I promise it gets better with every chapter! The best is Miroku's, if I may say so myself. Go read it and tell me if you chuckled at least!