Disclaimer - All familiar characters are Rumiko Takahashi's. All others are mine.

Notes - First I would like to say that this story is definitely one of those emotional things that deal with hard subjects. Mainly the trouble of family and friends left behind after the murder of a child. Another note to say that I do not know any of the things in this story personally, I wanted to write something that not many people may want to tackle, but some people may want to read. So, any and all mistakes in this on the media/police/court/culture side are my fault.

I used family as the second genre because that is what this story is about. It seemed right to me, though if it should be changed I will, just as long as it isn't turned to angst/drama. I think the tragedy part of the genres covers that nicely enough. It doesn't need to be stated twice.

This story has officially took over my brain, so should be updated pretty much regularly (for me). I am not abandoning Unbroken Bonds, as I am writing that too.

I used an online dictionary of Japanese to English (and vice versa) for Sesshoumaru and Rin's family name. I was looking for words that had the meaning strength in them, and this one seemed to fit the best. If wrong, I apologise.

Now, onto the story.

IYIYIYIY

Strength to Continue

"Her name is Rin," the woman on the bed panted, before closing her eyes and shivering with pain and blood loss. The tiny child that had been handed to him, just having been born began to shrilly cry, hurting his sensitive ears, but this was a noise he was now used to.

"Rin?" he asked, staring down at the slowly fading woman.

"Yes, after the first…"

He need not ask about that. He had been there, was the protector of the first, the protector of the entire bloodline down to this new Rin. The first child to take her ancestors' name.

"You will...be like a...father to her."

With a nod of his head, Sesshoumaru agreed to that, the doctors already thinking him the father. This was not true. He would never invade Rin's bloodline by mixing it with his own in that way. It didn't seem right.

Sesshoumaru spent the last remaining hours of the woman's life telling tales of the first Rin, making the time better for the both of them. He would mourn her loss, but she had passed on the bloodline to another. A baby girl. He would take good care of her, make her strong like the first, and when she is old enough be there for her children to be born.

It was all he had in this modern age. And now he held the last in his hand.

His little Rin.

IYIYIYIYIYIYIY

8 years later:

With an exaggerated sigh, Sesshoumaru looked down at the girl, tucked in her bed, the covers seeming glued to her body with how fiercely her little hands clung it over herself.

It had become a morning ritual since the beginning of this school year for them. Now in the 3rd grade, she was becoming quite a nuisance to him. He never remembered having troubles like this with the first Rin.

Yet again, the last Rin he had never cared for since birth. While the two little girls may have looked alike in certain ways, they had wildly different personalities. While the first had been rather obedient, probably due to not having much of a family for most of her childhood years until he came along, this new one seemed to think she was capable of doing anything regardless of whether or not she could do it, and seemed to think having a youkai as a father made her better than everyone else.

"Rin, it is time to get up." He poked at the lump that was trying to claim illness, and frowned. "I know you are not sick."

A shock of hair, dark brown and wild began to poke through the top of the sheets. "Do I have to go to school? I don't want to go today…"

Sesshoumaru sat on a bit of bed that wasn't currently being used by his daughter. "Are you having trouble at school?"

The girl shifted and poked her head out, before sighing softly and sat up. "No. I just don't like it. I like learning and things like that but…I want better teachers."

Keeping his grin in his mind only, Sesshoumaru pulled her to her feet and set her in the direction of the kitchen. "Go eat something, and you are going to school."

Watching as she did as he had said, he nodded slightly to himself. He had finally figured out why Rin was acting like this in the mornings. This year's teachers must be ones she didn't like.

Well, this will be an interesting year to go through. May Rin learn the life lessons it is bound to teach her. Especially the golden one that one does not always get what they want.

Soon, he was sitting at the table with Rin on his left, eating bacon. By the time he was done, Rin was laughing at the world around her, and waving goodbye from the door. He waved back and watched as she disappeared around the corner, where she usually met with some of her school friends.

He set about cleaning the house. He didn't like it being too dirty. Rin however loved to keep things as messy as possible. He didn't really have a job. He found it hard to keep one. It seemed that his manner was undesirable while speaking to bosses, and he would not be able to put up with fools around him all day to start his own business, so he got by on selling old possessions of his. Historians, museums and antique dealers loved what he could find.

He had almost finished picking things up off the floor in Rin's bedroom when the phone rang. Getting up, he went to answer it, wondering who on earth would be calling. To his annoyance it was the school.

"Yes?" he asked, irritation showing through his voice.

"Seiryoku Sesshoumaru? Your daughter, Rin, she didn't show up in class this morning."

He let out his breath in a rush of anger. That child…she thought she could do whatever she wanted. "I saw her go off to where she usually meets her friends who walk her to school. Is she the only one not there?"

"All the other children are here."

With a frown, Sesshoumaru wondered where she would run off to without her friends, and without telling anyone. Usually she wasn't this irresponsible. "I will speak to her when she gets home from wherever it is she has gone."

That was at least what he told the woman on the phone. Really, he would search out her scent and drag her back home. She should know better than to go running around the streets of Tokyo alone.

Before he could get the woman off the phone, someone knocked on the door. Setting the phone down with a patient "please hold" he went to answer the door. It surprised him to find police on the other end.

"What has Rin done?" he asked, sure somehow that this visit was due to her. Looking outside, he gently sniffed the air, trying to pick up her scent nearby. He could smell it on these men, but definitely not close by. Wouldn't she be with them if they were bringing her home?

Panic begun to settle iron claws into his gut.

"Where is she? Where is my daughter?!"

The police at the door looked up at him, before one of them straightened as much as he could and looked into his eyes. "Can we come in?"

It was asked as a question, yet one never really refused the police. Well, he supposed there are people who did, but he didn't want to stand around waiting all day and he got the distinct idea that they were rather uncomfortable standing there.

"Of course," he answered, waving them inside towards the lounge room, where a couch was that could seat both of them. He sat in his chair across from it, glaring slightly at the two fidgeting policemen.

The younger of the two men sprang from the couch and begun pacing. The older, watched and sighed before turning his attention back to Sesshoumaru.

"Forgive my partner. He is new to this sort of visit and it can be rather distressing to all involved."

"This kind of….." Was it just his imagination, or were they being obtuse on purpose. Why could they not just say what they are here for and get out of his home? Rin would be back soon….His breathing began to come faster. Why exactly were they here?

"There was a shooting in an alleyway earlier this morning. A child was killed. She was carrying this."

The scent of Rin about them came to him stronger now, as her wallet was pulled out of a pocket. It was in a bag, and sealed shut. He couldn't touch it to be sure…he couldn't be sure. No.

"A bag was also found, filled with school texts and writing books. They had the name Seiryoku Rin on them. You are father to Seiryoku Rin, yes?"

Sesshoumaru nodded his head, not really aware of anything other than the policeman's words and the wallet which was still being held out for him to see. It looked like his Rin's. It smelled like his Rin's… "Is it possible her things were stolen?"

"It could be possible. We will look for other prints on it later. We need to verify it is her first though. This is going to be very hard but…will you come with us please. We need you to view her body."

View the body? They didn't know if it was Rin or not. Then it could be a mistake! He held tightly onto that hope. He got up and followed the two police out the door, making sure it was locked as he exited. He forgot that the school was probably either still on the line, or hung up and trying to get in contact with him again.

All he could think, over and over as he got into the back of the car, was 'it isn't her, it isn't her, it isn't her'.

IYIYIYIYIYIYIY

The drive had seemed abnormally long for something that should have been so short, yet Sesshoumaru's mind couldn't concentrate on anything other than the mantra it had set up. Other thoughts refused to connect properly, leaving him feeling as if he had been sniffing some of that glue that Rin stuck pictures together with. It always made him feel light headed and spacey.

Slowly, he smelt the air around him, confused when he couldn't pick up much of a scent at all. Was he losing his senses? Surely he wasn't the only one to ever ride in the back of this infernal contraption. He gave his head a light shake, trying to drive the feeling that something was terribly wrong away.

The vehicle stopped in front of the building which housed the body. The body that could be his Rin's. The body that couldn't possibly be his Rin's. Rin was on her way to school, or stopped on her way there to play in a nearby park that she liked to kick around a soccer ball with her friends. She would be on her way home soon, no doubt, worried that she would get into trouble. She would be in trouble. She knew better than to skip school, though it hadn't been something she had ever done before.

The door was opened and he stepped out, shivering slightly at a small breeze, though it wasn't cold. He looked at the sign on the door, proclaiming in big words, that this was the coroner's building. Currently there was a child in there, shot and killed earlier today. One that had stolen from his Rin.

His mind refused to believe that it could possibly be his Rin.

He followed the two detectives into the building, shivering again at the feel of death that seemed to permeate the area. He couldn't smell it. Something was definitely wrong with him. Maybe he was getting sick…

The journey to the room that he was being led to was only a few short minutes, but to his distorted sense of time, it seemed to take centuries. The younger man entered, leaving him alone outside the door, with the older of the two.

"Ready?" he was asked. With a shake of his head, Sesshoumaru took a deep breath and entered the room, regardless of his state of unease. It was then that a scent managed to get through his sense block, and it smelled a lot like Rin. It was barely there, seemed to be wafting around in the background, so he managed to relax a tiny bit, as he walked towards the metal table that held the small body.

He was sure that Rin was a bit taller than whoever it was that laid on the table.

Now that he was there and was standing in front of the sheet that would tell him or not who this victim was, he decided that he would rather be somewhere else, anywhere else, as long as it was as far away from this room as possible.

The young man waited until he gave a small nod of consent, saying that he was as ready as ever to view the body, and with that one slight movement his whole world crumbled.

Closing his eyes, he stepped away, leaning against another of the long metal tables for support, as his legs seemed ready to give out on him. Nausea wound its way through his stomach, not enough for him to throw up, but enough to leave a horrid taste in his mouth.

He needed out of this room before he did something stupid. Like touch her. He had been told in the car, but he only now remembered, that he was allowed to touch at least the sheet covering her but now he was here, he just…couldn't.

He should be able to get a scent of the killer, pick up on it himself, but he could barely smell Rin herself. Nothing else seemed to matter.

A hand on his shoulder and a nudge towards the door was all the encouragement he needed to step away from the table, making sure that his feet would carry him and not collapse under his weight, and make his way slowly out of the room.

The older one of the police again he noted as he lifted his head and looked about him seeing the world as if through different eyes. The nicer one of the two. The one that had asked if he was ready, the one who had gotten him out of that room and the sickening display he had just been shown.

"It is her?" came the gentle voice beside him, and he took in a deep breath that seemed to do nothing to get air into his lungs and nodded.

"Yes, that is her."

A lot more was said, about other family members if there were any, a few pamphlets and books were handed to him, but he didn't seem to be able to read the words though he should be able to.

Because of their need to find the killer, and his own need for whoever did this to come to justice, the body would be kept for longer than normal, and it may be two weeks before a funeral could be done.

An autopsy would be done. They were going to cut up his little girl.

He was told if he had any questions regarding the case, to just ask.

He was just glad that the nice one had stayed with him when he told blankly that Rin was all the family he had left. Someone else was there, telling him more information on things he should know he was sure, but his hearing seemed to be just as impaired as his sense of smell.

One thing did end up coming through his muddled brain and made him shudder. They asked his permission to tell the media. With people knowing what she looked like, someone may have seen someone with her and call in to give a statement.

Someone had called the police because of a disturbance. Maybe someone had seen her killer, and had gotten scared and ran from the scene. Or maybe the killer had a sense of guilt, called the police themselves and fled afterwards. Either way, Rin was dead, and he was alone.

He gave his permission, as long as he was left out, and he wouldn't be hounded by media himself. He handed over one of the small school photos from inside his wallet to them. After all, there were others who should learn of her death, he just didn't know them personally. He had other photos.

By the time he left, he was sure of two things. One, he would not be getting any sleep that night, though he was feeling incredibly tired, and two, he couldn't go home and find himself in an empty house.

He spent the night aimlessly walking through the busy Tokyo streets.