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"Master Jaken?" Rin asked, lying on the grass watching clouds pass overhead. "Will you play with me?"
The demon sighed.
"What are you thinking of, Rin? We must wait for Lord Sesshomaru to return!"
"I know! That's why the game is played here in one place so we can wait."
Jaken sighed again. "How do you play?"
Rin laughed happily.
"That's the spirit, Master Jaken!" she exclaimed.
"I never said I'd play," Jaken muttered grumpily.
"Well, you look up there and say what you see!"
Jaken glanced up.
"Hm...clouds," he said rather unimaginably.
"That's good, Master Jaken!" Rin cheered.
"That one's a heart, see?" she said, pointing.
"Rin, they're all clouds," Jake stated superiorly.
"I know, but-"
"Stop this sillyness at once! I have no time for games."
Jaken folded his arms, mumbling about what a nuisance the girl was.
Rin sat up, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
She stared towards the Heavens, and as she sighed, a gust of wind swept through the skies and broke her cloud-heart in two.
~()~()~()~()~
"Master Jaken?" Rin questioned a while later. "When will Lord Sesshomaru return?"
"How should I know that?" he snapped, irritable as always.
Rin shrugged and lapsed back into silence for a time.
~()~()~()~()~
"Master Jaken?"
"What is it now, Rin?"
"Do you like me being here?" she wondered aloud.
"Whaa-?" Jaken frowned, taken by surprise. "What are you talking about?"
"Because I really like being here," Rin continued, "with you and Ah-Uhn and Lord Sesshomaru."
"Strange girl," Jaken muttered.
Rin tilted her head.
"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.
"You're a human whose comfortable in the presence of demons!" Jaken explained loudly.
"Well humans are scarier than demons," she told him softly.
Jaken narrowed his large eyes.
"Do you know a human who could possibly stand a chance against the great Lord Sesshomaru?"
Rin shook her head quickly.
"I said humans are scarier, not more powerful," she clarified.
"Surely Lord Sesshomaru would be a far more terrifying opponent than any human," Jaken countered.
Rin shook her head and whispered, "Not scarier than the humans I saw."
Jaken gaped. He was about to retort when Rin continued her story.
"The bandits filled their bags with everything in the house, but it wasn't enough. I remember that they tried to take me, too."
Rin paused for a quick moment to steal a glance at the little demon who kept her company.
"Mother and Father were willing to give them everything if they just left me alive. They kept there promise and left me unharmed, but..."
She hesitated, wiping tears from her too-young-to-be-telling-this-story face.
"But they killed Mother and Father and all of my brothers. I can't even remember how many brothers there were..."
"...but I remember that they made me watch."
Rin stopped and let her head rest on her knees to hide her tears as she remembered the sound of the screams, the feeling of warm blood on her toes...
"Humans!" Jaken snorted in disgust. "They're dispicable and senseless."
Rin looked up and dried her face with a worn sleeve.
"Do you really believe that?"
"Obviously, or I wouldn't have said it. I don't lie," Jaken explained indignantly.
"Does Lord Sesshomaru?" she questioned in a small voice.
"Well, of course, Rin, except..."
Jaken paused, wondering if perhaps he shouldn't tell the girl.
But it was too late.
"Except what, Master Jaken?" Rin asked excitedly.
The demon, once again, sighed.
"Lord Sesshomaru brought you back to this world," Jaken announced proudly.
"You mean he saved me?" Rin gasped happily, spirits rising to strengthen her heart.
"Exactly right," Jaken went on. "He healed your battered body right up, and for the Great Lord Sesshomaru, such a feat was easy and..."
Jaken trailed off at Rin's glowing smile.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" she called, running towards him and wrapping her arms around his leg.
"Rin!" He glanced down sharply, but seeing her tears, there may, for a mere instant, have been a flash of compassion upon the face of Lord Sesshomaru.
"Rin," he repeated, his voice quiet but full of undisputed authority. "Control yourself."
The girl quickly disentangled her arms.
"Yes, m'Lord," she chirped, clearing her tears for the last time that night.
~()~()~()~()~
"Master Jaken?" Rin asked that night, lying on the grass watching the stars twinkle in the sky.
"What is it Rin?" he yawned, not opening his eyes.
"Will you play with me?" she whispered. "I think those stars there form a heart."
Jaken's only reply was a quiet snore.
Rin sighed and felt the wind pick up for a moment, but no gale in the universe would split her heart now.
End
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~Flower