Rin smiled as her dark eyes fluttered over the gorgeous landscape belong her. It was a nice day. A perfectly nice day to be walking with her lord, her senpai, and Ah Un. A perfect, perfect day.
"You stink, human girl."
A perfect day that had to be ruined by her senpai, a little green kappa called Jaken.
"Rin does not stink!" She argued back.
Rin lifted up her arm, and sniffed it. She turned away from the horrid stench. Jaken was right. She did stink. She tried to remember the last time she bathed. It was before last night, and before the night before that, and maybe a couple days before that... Rin had established that she had not bathed for quite some time. Neither, had Jaken or Sesshomaru, now that she thought about it. In fact, she didn't remember ever seeing either one bathing.
"Master Jaken." She turned to the little green kappa. Her voice had that curious tone that only a young child could posses.
"What is it?" Jaken said in a tired, agitated tone.
"Why does Rin stink when Rin doesn't bathe, but not you or Lord Sesshomaru?" She inquired.
Jaken had to think about that one a little. For as long as he remembered, he never had to bathe and yet he always seemed to smell decent. Neither had Sesshomaru, yet a almost had a sweet smell to him. Jaken simply ended up shrugging it off, however. Smelling putrid when one did not bathe properly must be a human thing.
"That's because," He began, in a holier-than-thou manner. "Milord and I are both demons, and we not need to bathe, just like we do not need to eat. You, however, are a mere mortal, and such trivial things are necessary for your survival."
Rin stayed silent for a minute. Her ten-year-old brain was still trying to process all the huge words Jaken was so hellbent on using. She glanced over at her Lord, in all his not-stinky glory. Sometimes, as much as Rin hated to admit it, she felt as if she were burdening her beautiful lord with her uncouth human-ness. It was true that she couldn't help her species, and if she were given the choice she'd choose to be a yokai, hands down, but alas, she was not. But she'd heard from that miko that Sesshomaru hated humans. Was that true? Did he hate her, too?
Rin tried to think hard whether her lord hated her or not, and, like all times Rin tries to think hard, she stopped walking. It took a minute or so for Jaken to realize that the little girl was behind him.
"Rin! Catch up! Why are you just standing there, you little-"
"Um, milord?" Rin asked timidly, making Sesshomaru turn around and Jaken's mouth hang agape at her sudden interruption.
"Rin." Sesshomaru stated her name as his permission for her to ask him of something.
"Um, Rin apologizes for asking, but if we happen to get near a stream, may Rin bathe?" She asked, taking in the scent of her earthy and somewhat rancid-smelling clothes.
Sesshomaru nodded. "You may."
"Oh, thank you, Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin beamed, happy at the thought of ridding herself of her telltale stench.
"There is a pond nearby. You may go on ahead." Sesshomaru said, sitting down. "Jaken. Perhaps while Rin bathes you should find something for her to eat."
"But milord-"
"Now go along, Rin." Her lord finished.
Rin squealed in delight and ran through the trees, towards the sound of water. She stripped her grimy kimono off as she ran, and then plunged cannonball-style in the clear, cool water. Rin smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair, scrubbing out dirt and lice and undoing many of the painful tats that seemed to get so caught up in her hair. Rin often wondered how her hair could get messy and get lice in it, yet Sesshomaru's could remain perfect and silky. But then again, it was probably the same reason that she stunk when he always smelled sweet. He was a yokai and she, she was not.
After her hair was finished, Rin scooped some of the grit from the beach and used it to scrub her face and body thoroughly (A/N people would actually use grit way back when, because it scrubbed better than people's hands). She sniffed under each arm, and when they no longer reeked of old sweat she stood up in satisfaction.
Only to realize that the water below her was red!
Bright, blood red!
Panic cut through her like knives cut through flesh. Was she wounded?! She checked all her limbs, her stomach and back, and yet, there was no sign of injury. Was it not her blood? She looked around, but she was the only living thing at the pond. Maybe it wasn't blood at all...? Either way, she wasn't wounded, and relief washed over her. She crawled out of the pond, and began to search for her kimono. It would need at good washing, too.
Eventually she found the tattered orange garment, and began to scrub the mud and dirt off of it. When she was finished, she grabbed a nearby lily flower and rubbed it all over herself and her kimono in an attempt to make both smell nice.
She went back through the trees, and as she walked, there was a strange feeling in her legs, and the odd sensation of water running down her leg, shouldn't she be dry by now? But she shrugged it off, and made her way back to where her lord and senpai were located.
"Ah, Rin! You're back." Jaken said as he walked up to her. "Rin, you smell-"
"Like lilies? Rin tried hard to make herself smell like lilies!"
"-like blood."
Rin let out a small squeal when her mind told her again that she must be wounded! "Master Jaken! Is Rin wounded? Rin saw earlier that she was bleeding but she didn't seem injured! Can you check Rin for injuries?" The little girl pleaded.
Jaken sighed and checked each limb, her chest, her back, and then her head. No injuries whatsoever. "Hu." He said. "How strange."
Rin sighed as Jaken told her lord that she was back, and they began walking again. There it was again, that funny feeling... that, combined with the sudden urge to pee.
"Urm, milord?" She whined, holding her legs together.
"Rin."
"Uh, could Rin go bathroom?"
Then she heard Sesshomaru sigh lightly, which was rare. Oh no! Had she angered him somehow?! "You may go." He said, not sounding at all angry. But then again, this was Sesshomaru, and he rarely sounded like anything.
Rin then ran to the nearest bush to go bathroom, as asked.
And she was shocked.
It was red.
So Rin was injured on the inside! But how?! Was she dying?! Rin didn't want to die! She panicked, and ran back to her lord in a frenzy of tears and snot. "Milord!" She wailed.
Her lord narrowed his already thin golden globes at her.
"Rin is dying! Could lord Sesshomaru help Rin not die? Please?!"
"What makes you think that you are dying?" Sesshomaru asked the panicked little girl.
"Rin is peeing blood! That means Rin is bleeding! On the inside!" She screamed. Jaken gasped. This was not going to go well...
"Rin, that does not mean that you are dying. It is simply the beginning of a-"
Before Sesshomaru could say anymore, Jaken grabbed him by the mokomoko and whispered furiously to his lord. "Milord! You can't tell Rin about all that!"
"Oh? And why in Kami's name not?"
"Because!" Jaken lowered his voice another octave. "Rin is too young to know about the female cycle and," he swallowed, hard. "S-E-X."
"So then what would you like me to tell her, you impudent imp?" Sesshomaru asked, sounding rather irritated with Jaken.
"Erm..."
"I think then if you are so smart, Jaken, then maybe you shoukd inform her on why she is bleeding."
Jaken turned around to face a completely hysterical Rin. "Alright, Rin, well, ya see, because you're a girl, you've got eggs inside of you-"
"Like a chicken?"
Jaken mentally face-palmed.
This was going to be a long day.
A month later, Rin looked happily back on the silly memory. Jaken's explanation made so much sense! She was glad he told her. She was also happy because she learned a very valuable lesson that day:
Jaken and Sesshomaru were not burden by the fact that she's a human, they were burdened by the fact that she's a girl.
Alright, so, like I said, I know it's been done to death, but it's such a ridiculous idea, that scenario. I gotta wonder how it would play out in the actual anime...
Anyway, this is just a little break from Mother's Intuition, and a short, happy little oneshot for Inuvember.
I hope you enjoyed!