Disclaimer: I disclaim all rights to Inuyasha and its counterparts, as they rightfully belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
Simply Content
The Lord of the Western Lands turned his head for a split second, and then without a thought took off swiftly through the dense woodland. Leaving the surprised squawking of his servant behind, he burst through the trees and into a clearing a few seconds later, eyes settling on the back of a human child standing in a slightly defensive yet defiant stance. He landed next to her, quickly checking her for any injuries and easing his mind when he found her unharmed. Small hands clutched protectively around something with her arms secured to her chest, the young girl sensed his presence and glanced up at him with a relieved smile.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!"
He would find out what was in her grasp later. Right now, he had a nuisance to deal with. Turning away from the child, he narrowed his eyes at the bristling and growling creature in front of him, its claws on the hilt of the sword on its waist. He had sensed its presence earlier and purposely avoided a confrontation, but it seemed the child accidentally stumbled upon the path of this particular pest anyways.
"Keh. Still letting that human brat follow you around?"
He thought about slicing the hanyou's head off, but decided to refrain from doing anything too gruesome in the presence of the child. After all, he had no desire for her to see such a horrific image and start her squealing again, regardless of how irritating the hanyou could be. And he was in a pleasant mood and had no inclination to fight, and it seemed the hanyou didn't want to start a scuffle in front of the child either. Perhaps a conflict could be avoided, as long as the hanyou hadn't done anything to upset the young girl.
"Rin."
He decided to ignore the hanyou and directed his attention to the child, but still maintaining a steady glare on the aggravated half-breed. The child understood his command, and explained to him why his stupid half-brother was standing in front of him and why that bothersome human woman was also slowly making her way to them.
"Inuyasha tried to take the star piece Rin found."
Star piece? He glanced down at her from the corner of his eyes to see her holding up a fragment of the Shikon no Tama to show him. How did she manage to find such a valuable object? Of course, the Shikon no Tama was of no value to him, but many other youkai—and hanyou—sought its immense power.
"Rin saw a star fall from the sky and came to look for it. Then Rin found this small star piece."
Ah. But she couldn't very well keep it. The human child attracted enough trouble, and if she had a Shikon shard with her too—well, he had enough problems, and one of them was still standing before him. However, he had no intentions of handing the shard over to the brainless half-breed, either. Pride and arrogance demanded that he not do so. Then what should he do with the shard? This was quite a dilemma.
"Keh. That's not a star piece, brat. It's a shard of the Shikon no Tama—which you have no use for."
Noticing the dismay on the child's face, he suppressed the urge to pound the hanyou to a bloody pulp. His half-brother was so insensitive! (He ignored the fact that he would have corrected Rin later anyways, and that realistically, he was actually much more insensitive than Inuyasha.)
"Is it really not a star piece, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
The thought of lying to her actually crossed his mind, but he never lied.
"It is not."
"Oh."
His ears twitched hearing her quiet but saddened sigh. Growling lowly, he flexed his hand as a poisonous glow seeped from his claws. He was suddenly aware of his now unpleasant mood and looked forward to tearing the hanyou to shreds. Unfortunately, the half-breed's strangely dressed woman emerged from the foliage with a frustrated frown.
"Inuyasha."
"What?"
"Sit."
He smirked mentally as the hanyou's face jerked to the ground, eliciting a painful groan from the fallen creature. He inwardly sighed in disappointment as the head lifted from the dirt.
"What the hell was that for, wench!"
"Sit!"
He resisted the twitch of his mouth, instead staring down at his half-brother in smug superiority. It seemed that the wench was useful for something.
"Damn it, Kagome! Sesshoumaru's right there!"
"Serves you right for threatening a defenseless young girl!"
"She's not so defenseless now, is she? And how do you know I was even threatening her, huh?"
"Inuyasha, I was ten feet away. I heard you screaming profanities at her."
"…"
As amusing as it was to see his half-brother scolded by a human female, he had no desire to stay around them any longer than necessary. Searching for an insult to hurl at the hanyou before he left, he stopped his mental deliberation as the child ran up to the miko and presented the Shikon shard to the strange woman.
"Kagome-sama can have this."
Handing the shard over with a smile, the child ran back to his side. At least he had one less problem to deal with now that the Shikon shard was out of the child's hands. He decided to spare his half-brother any snide comments.
"Rin. We're leaving."
"Hai!"
He left the couple that had started bickering once he turned his back, the child following obediently by his side. She was now humming happily, skipping every few steps to keep up with his longer strides. He always found it strange how her mood could change so easily. Humans are such fickle creatures.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"What is it?"
"What's a…Shikon no…Tama?"
"A jewel sought by humans and weak youkai to grant their wish."
"Oh."
They lapsed into silence, and he wondered if she was thinking that she should have kept the shard. Maybe he should have left out the small detail about granting wishes.
"Rin doesn't need it."
He offered her a quick glance, inwardly surprised at her claim. All humans were stupid and greedy, and he had not met one that did not seek the power of the Shikon no Tama. Even weaker youkai sought the powers of simply one Shikon shard.
"Because Rin has Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Hn."
Smiling brightly at him, she darted in front of him when a stammering Jaken and bored Ah-Un came into view. She scratched the dragon's rough hide and said something to his servant that instigated an argument between the two. He pondered over her statement, returning to the path they had been walking before the interruption.
"We're leaving."
"Hai!"
His servant dutifully led the dragon by the reins, walking a few paces behind his master. The child returned to her place by his side, once again humming and giggling randomly at something that fascinated her. He observed her playing happily with nothing in particular, and realized that the child never asked for nor wanted anything, simply content with traveling beside him. Sensing his eyes on her, she turned and flashed him a brilliant smile.
Sesshoumaru felt his own lips curve slightly upwards in response.
Author's Notes:
I realized I had SessRin stories in the list on my writing account, and I've only written a Kikyou narrative. Since I absolutely adore the Sess/young Rin relationship (not like that, you pedophiles) as well, I decided to write one for myself, as there are not enough of these stories around. But seeing as how the series is about Inuyasha (and he's so adorable), I had to add him in there. And you can't have Inuyasha without Kagome there to 'sit' him. Haha. Anyhow, this was the result of my boredom during my economics lecture (it would probably be interesting if my professor didn't sound so dull and tired). Well, hope you SessRin fans (or just general Inuyasha fans) enjoyed the story!
A special thanks to my sister for the creative and original title. It took us awhile to find a good title, and I think she came up with a pretty good one. It's so cute!
For those following my multi-chapters, I would have worked on the next chapters but since I've been rewriting the previous chapters, I don't know what changes I'll be making. But I'm still working on them, slowly but surely. I'm at a pretty good pace of around two chapters per week, and let's hope I can keep it at that.
