Happy birthday Sapphie! I hope you enjoy my silly little fluffy fanfic of a story you'll be familiar with.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I don't own this plot, not really. This is an alternate reality of a chapter which should be up on or around April 1st 2010 for the story Special Delivery by Saphira404. This birthdayfic was written strictly for her in installments which were PMd to her on a daily basis for three or four days.

I post this story with Sappie's full permission. Any coincidence between this fanfic of a future chapter of Special Delivery is not plagiarism. Why? I have quite often predicted what's going to happen in future installments of her stories. Furthermore, as this is her universe which I'm writing in, this story actually does belong to her not only by right, but because it's a birthday present.

Special Delivery: New Faces and New Storms

Sesshoumaru glanced at the clock, he was looking forward to his trip out with Rin, Kanna and Kagura and he was quite anxious about the time. It wouldn't do to be late, 'An hour before I meet Kanna and Kagura, time to pick up Rin.' He grabbed the cinema listings from the newspaper and slipped them in his pocket along with a packet of aspirin. 'I hope the headache doesn't progress into another migraine, they're getting somewhat worse these past few weeks.'

Taking a last look around his apartment he left, sure that he had everything he'd need that day.

'Where is he?' Kanna shifted nervously from foot to foot, hovering by the door like a little spectre with Kuma-chan gripped tightly in her white-knuckled hands. "Don't worry Kanna-chan, Sesshoumaru's not going to be late."

Kagura smiled as Kanna's frown faded and her daughter turned her eyes back to the door, a little smile on her face. "You know Kanna, Sesshoumaru's going to bring a little girl along as well, I hope you two can be good friends, just like you and Shippou." Kagura started when Kanna growled quietly.

'I should have a word with Inuyasha about controlling himself when he's around Kanna, he's taught her to growl!'

"Kanna, behave yourself today okay, we're going out with Sesshoumaru to the cinema. I don't want to have to take you home and ruin our day because you're being naughty."

"The cinema?" Kanna breathed, her eyes sparkled. Shippou had told her how much fun the cinema was when Inuyasha had taken him to see Up. "What are we going to see?"

"Well," Kagura dragged out the pause, savouring her child's impatient eagerness, "I don't actually know, it's going to be a surprise for both of us. We are the guests after all," Kanna looked confused so she added "It was originally going to be just Sesshoumaru and Rin, so we have to be extra good today."

Kanna nodded and looked back at the door. How dare Sesshoumaru play with another girl?

Sesshoumaru walked up the stairs to Kagura's flat, Rin's hand held trustingly in his. "Is Kanna nice?"

"She is a very sweet girl, moreover, I think you two have a lot of things in common. This Sesshoumaru hopes you will both become good friends."

"Rin can't wait to meet Kanna-chan, she sounds like lots of fun!" Rin beamed and there was a little more added skip to her step a she began humming under her breath.

They stopped outside Kagura's door and Sesshoumaru stared at the chipped paint before taking a calming breath. The fine throbbing in his temples beat a nervous counterpart to his slow breathing. 'Now or never.' He knocked and almost instantly the door slammed open and a pale bullet slammed into his legs. "Sesshoumaru!"

"Good afternoon Kanna, how have you been?" The little girl smiled and told him about how she got to play with Shippou almost every day and how much fun she had looking at the pictures in her mother's course books. Sesshoumaru nodded and then held out his hand to the dark haired child hiding behind him, "Kanna, this is Rin. Rin, this is Kanna, Kagura' daughter."

Rin offered a shy smile and waved to Kanna who nodded back and whispered "Hi."

"Kagura, how are you?"

A warm mile answered his question as Kagura replied, "Just fine, my classes are amazing and I'm looking forward to the day out just as much as Kanna is.

"Oh, and I've decided on what we're eating later tonight, so if we swing by the usual grocery store it shouldn't take more than half an hour before we can head back home and cook up a delicious dinner for ourselves." Kagura winced inwardly as she realised her slip of the tongue, 'Well, nothing much I can do about it now. I just hope he's kept up with the cleaning.'

Sesshoumaru smirked mildly, but made nothing of it; today was too precious for mocking. For now at least. "Shall we be off? The cinema is a fairly long walk and the movie will start soon." He jokingly offered his arm to Kagura and his small smile became a wide grin when Kagura took it.

"Guess what Kanna-chan! We're going to see The Princess and the Frog! It's about this princess, who kisses a frog! But she turns into a frog! I saw it on the TV." Rin burst out as she grabbed Kanna's hand and walked ahead of the two preoccupied adults.

Kanna frowned at Rin and jerked her hand out of Rin's, "Be quiet!" she hissed, "I don't want to know about it." Rin's smile dimmed, but she nodded and talked about her friends at school instead. "No! Shut up, I don't like you."

Stunned, Rin let go of Kanna's hand and walked a little way behind her. Her hands slipped up to her ponytail and she began twisting it anxiously, noone had ever said they hadn't liked her before. Not like that. "Did Rin do something bad?"

Kanna ignored her and walked back to hold her mother's hand.

The mostly peaceful silence, tainted only by smug nastiness for one person, lasted until they had entered the movie theatre.

Kagura clapped her hands, "Well girls, let's enjoy the new Disney film! Sesshoumaru's got one snack for each of us, so share and don't eat them all at once okay?" Rin and Kanna nodded and thanked Sesshoumaru when he handed them a small popcorn and a little bag of pic 'n' mix sweets.

Aside Sesshoumaru whispered, "Thank the gods that you came along to distract me."

"Oh shush, Disney's always amazing." Kagura giggled lightly when Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes, "Honestly, just because you're an adult doesn't mean you can't enjoy a Disney film."

He nodded absently and reached up to rub his head, hoping that Kagura's attention was focussed elsewhere. His headache was starting to get worse, and the glare from the screen in this relative darkness was going to play havoc with it.

He surreptitiously slipped another aspirin out of his pocket and swallowed it. With any luck it would stave off the inevitable pain until after the girls had been taken home.

Kanna was loving the film, the cinema, even the weird sticky smell on the floor didn't upset her. But Rin was, how could Sesshoumaru take Rin to this amazing place before he took her! She nodded to herself and embarked upon her plan.

The man in the purple shirt was singing, and it was scary. Kanna slipped her hand over to Rin and pinched her harshly on her arm. The other little girl squeaked loudly, flinching back into her seat and away from Kanna.

The two adults looked over to Rin, but she only smiled and said "The masks scared Rin, it's nothing." She didn't want to get Kanna in trouble or ruin the day out with her mentor. And she didn't want Kanna or Kagura not to like her, they were so important to Sesshoumaru, and she really liked Sesshoumaru. Rin wanted Kagura and Kanna to be her friends too. 'Rin won't tell Sesshoumaru or Miss Kagura that Kanna's pinching me, she's only little so she mightn't know it's naughty.'

Kanna kept pinching Rin despite the stoic face Rin used to hide her pain. Rin's arm got steadily more red under her t-shirt. She knew there would be a bruise there the next day.

For Sesshoumaru the film proved to be slightly more interesting than he had expected, it was probably because Kagura was sitting next to him and excitedly pointing out the shout outs to other Disney films. 'The frog acts surprisingly like Miroku too, how unusual.' Although he wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even Kagura, Kanna or Rin he was starting to like Disney films.

An unusually powerful bolt of pain lanced through his temples and the light became far harsher than it already was. He slammed his eyes shut in an effort to try to halt some of the pain, but it was futile. Excusing himself to Kagura he walked steadily to the bathroom where he almost staggered into the sink. With some consternation he noted that his eyesight was slightly blurred around the edge, frowning he took another aspirin before rinsing his face and leaning his forehead against the cool glass.

'The film should be finished in about half an hour, the same again for shopping. Just one hour to go until we get home.' He put a trembling hand to his eyes and rubbed them, he hadn't had such a bad attack since he was in his first year of college.

An attack that had had him almost begging Izayoi for the tea that eased the pain.

"Don't let it be that bad." Taking a ragged breath he walked back into the theatre and sat down.

"You took a while."

"There was a queue," he whispered back.

"You sure you didn't walk into the girl's bathroom by mistake?" she teased, "After all, there's never a queue in the men's room."

"Most amusing."

Today was going to be awful.

Little did he know Rin was thinking the same thing.

Kanna cried noisily at the end of the film; Ray had died even though there was a happy ending. Rin was a little teary too. Surprisingly, so was Kagura. "It was just a cartoon," Sesshoumaru mumbled as he knelt down to the children's level to dry their tears with his handkerchief.

"Sesshoumaru!" Kagura hissed in his ear, "They're just children." To the girls she said, "Don't worry sweethearts, Ray still got to be with his Evangeline, it's not all bad. He still had a happy ending." She gave them a small hug. "Now come on girls, it's time to go get our grocery deprived friend some food, and then we can have a delicious meal."

The girls grinned, Kanna taking her mother's hand and Rin taking Sesshoumaru's hand as they walked to the grocery store. Rin noticed that Sesshoumaru's grip was tighter than before, it was hurting her wrist; Kanna had pinched her really hard on the hand and he was starting to hurt her.

She gave his hand an encouraging squeeze and smiled up at him when he looked down at her. "It's okay," she whispered, "Rin won't tell Miss Kagura that you're nervous." A mild frown creased his brow before his eyes cleared in understanding. "Hnnn," Rin grinned brightly, happier now that she'd made her Sesshoumaru happier, and a little relieved that Kanna wouldn't be able to hurt her any more.

'What are Rin and Kanna doing?! They're only meant to be picking out one sweet for a snack.' Kagura had both her hands wrapped around the handles of the heavy shopping basket, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. What was going on with Sesshoumaru? Perhaps the two girls had turned puppy-dog eyes on the daiyoukai and were taking their time.

Sighing she stalked over to the sweet aisle. The youkai was on the warpath.

And the shopping trip had gone so well. A bit of mild flirting, Rin and Kanna had been having fun darting up and down the aisles playing Scavenger Hunt for the ingredient that Kagura needed. It had been fun. 'I've missed this.'

An angry cry from around the corner had Kagura pick up the pace, 'What kind of asshole puts the sweets so far away from the checkout?!' It was Kanna. Another one soon followed, but it was pained. "If some bastard's hurt my girl I'll kill him!"

She rounded the corner almost at a run.

Rin was trying not to cry, holding onto her arm; her eyes slipped to Sesshoumaru. He was leaning against the wall, bowed over and cradling his head with his beautiful eyes firmly shut.

Upon reflection Kagura was proud that she didn't drop the basket in shock. She ran to Sesshoumaru calling his name loudly. He flinched at her call and she shut up. She called quietly "Sesshoumaru?"

"I'm fine, just a migraine. See to the children." He waved in their direction before mumbling quietly, "Kanna hit Rin with that tin there." She looked over to where he indicated and saw a heavy looking tin of sweetcorn rocking slightly against a box. Kanna was glowering heavily, her little chest heaving up and down in angry pants.

Sesshoumaru, can you take the girls outside and wait for me. I'll pay for this stuff and then deal with it. And you." She gave Kanna a mixed look, anger and disappointment warring for the advantage before saying, "Kanna, you've been extremely naughty. We will discuss this at Sesshoumaru's.

"Rin, you and Kanna will go outside now. You will behave for Sesshoumaru, he's not feeling very well. And if either of you do anything stupid I will take you both home and you won't be allowed out together again."

Sesshoumaru hauled himself upright, took the girls by the hands and lead them to wait outside. One last concerned look at the disparate trio, then she walked over to the shortest queue at the checkout. "Stupid bloody queues." Her attention wandered to Sesshoumaru, 'Since when did he get migraines like that?'

It seemed like an eternity before the cab Kagura had hailed arrived at the apartment building. And a few minutes later they were safely ensconced in Sesshoumaru's home as Kagura bustled about with ease.

"Sesshoumaru, what's wrong? What's wrong?" Rin's voice escalated with her growing panic. Kanna too, crowded around the paler than usual daiyoukai, Kuma-chan abandoned in a heap just by the door as she clung to his leg with both hands.

The children were shocked into quiet as Sesshoumaru ignored them, for almost the first time since they'd known him, and collapsed in a silvery pile on the sofa. He curled up as best he could and pulled the white blanket down over his head in order to block out some light and noise. A huge fold caught around his shoulder and hung there, looking for all the world like a giant boa.

Kanna panicked and started shaking his shoulder roughly, she had never seen Sesshoumaru ill before. It was frightening. "Kanna, leave Sesshoumaru alone, he's ill! Kanna-chan!" Rin tried to pull Kanna back from him, but Kanna retaliated by pushing Rin as hard as she could.

She then got a further shock because Sesshoumaru glared at her over her shoulder and menacingly growled, "Leave this Sesshoumaru be." Before retreating back to his hideaway. Everyone stared, his eyes had gone red.

"Miss Kagura, what's a my grey?" asked Rin. Se had remembered that Sesshoumaru had said something like that back in the grocery store and it didn't sound very bad. Even a tummy ache sounded worse than a my grey.

"A migraine is a pain in your head. It can get so bad than light and noise can hurt really badly." Kagura explained as simply as she could. Then she added sternly, "You two will go to our old bedroom, and wait there quietly and without fuss or fighting while I help Sesshoumaru get to bed." She pointed to the room in question and watched as they did as she said. "And Kanna, don't think I won't talk to you about this.

"Rin, is your arm okay? Do you need an icepack?"

Rin shook her head, "Rin's okay. It's feeling better."

Kagura spoke as lowly as possible, knowing that to the extremely oversensitive ears of an inudaiyoukai with a migraine any noise would be seen as too loud. "Sesshoumaru, shall I turn off all the lights?"

The fluffy white bundle looked like it nodded so Kagura went around the home turning off all the lights she felt needed to be off, she also drew the curtains in the bedroom. On the way back to the sofa she stumbled in the mild semi-gloom and slammed into the back of the sofa. "Fuck!"

Sesshoumaru bolted upright and backwards, falling off the sofa and cracking his head on the little coffee table. Sesshoumaru yelped.

"Oh hell, I'm sorry, are you okay? How's your head?"

There was a long pause before a quiet mumble issued from the amazingly still wrapped up inuyoukai, "Anything I said would be an understatement."

Kagura blushed, "That was a stupid question wasn't it?"

"You beat Inuyasha's record."

With a wry smile Kagura remarked, "At least you're sense of humour's in tact."

Sesshoumaru huffed a laugh, but then curled into the foetal positioning, moaning quietly. 'Worst attack since I was eighteen.' With a fuzzy mind it occurred to Sesshoumaru that the floor wasn't doing much to ease his pain so he struggled to his feet and walked blindly to his bedroom.

Kagura hurried to his side and wrapped an arm around his waist, guiding his unsteady steps. 'How can fabric be so loud? It's scraping at my eardrums.'

His fingers fumbled so badly at his clothing that Kagura had to undress him. Sesshoumaru found himself mildly furious and yet thankful. He doubted he'd be able to do it without her help. 'How galling. I'm unable to dress myself.'

He truly detested his more serious attacks; it was painful enough for a human with their inferior senses, but to an inuyoukai with such delicate senses it was pure agony. His ears rang with a constant high tone, and speaking or anything else was like an earthquake or an apocalyptic thunderstorm deafening him to everything. His eyes saw little more than blurs, and every smell made him want to vomit.

'I hate my life.' He said so aloud as Kagura tucked him into his bed as if he were a child. "Can't blame you at this point in time, I know what a migraine feels like, I can't imagine how bad it is for you." She ran a hand over the back of his head and paused, "There's a bump here," she withdrew her hand and gasped, "And blood!"

She darted to the bathroom and the tap ran. She returned with a wet towel and applied it to his cut, it only made Sesshoumaru dip under the bedclothes and burrow into a little nest. "Does it hurt that badly?"

"Yes."

"Isn't there anything that made it feel better?"

"Izayoi made a tea, but the recipe's gone now." Kagura sighed quietly, running her hand along the outline of Sesshoumaru's side, wishing there was something she could do. "You never had these when we lived here."

"They went away when you came." The simple whisper, muffled though it was by two or three layers of blankets stunned Kagura. 'I really made them go away? That means . . .' "Did they come back when we left?"

"Yes." A wave of guilt overran Kagura and she lowered her crimson eyes to the blanket she'd made Sesshoumaru, "What about the doctors? Have they found anything?"

"No. The best cure Suikotsu found was a vague approximation to Izayoi's tea, it's not as effective as Izayoi's tea was." Sesshoumaru tailed off, the long and slightly awkward pause afterwards indicating his reluctance to speak again and how much it hurt to speak.

A loud thud from the other bedroom had Kagura darting out of the bedroom, easing the door shut behind her and storming into the room. "Girls!" she hissed, "You will stop this now.

"What is wrong with you?!"

Kanna looked on the verge of throwing a tantrum, pale red spots blooming in her cheeks and her eyebrow were drawn into a fierce frown, she shouted "Seshoumaru's not allowed to play with anyone else! He can only play with me! He's my Sesshoumaru! Mine!" She thrust a tiny finger at Rin and continued her diatribe, "Rin's bad, she's bad. She stole my Sesshoumaru and play with him.

"Rin needed to be punished. So I hurt her."

Rin was crouching in a corner, scared and upset; she ran out of the room when Kagura looked at her. Kagura had turned almost as pale as Sesshoumaru. Kanna sounded exactly like Naraku.

She was utterly terrified.

Rin bolted into Sesshoumaru's room, shutting the door behind her and leaping into the bed.

"Rin?"

"Rin is scared. Can she stay here until it's okay?"

"Do as you wish, but be quiet." Rin slid under the blankets with Sesshoumaru and curled against him, trying her hardest not to cry. "Ssssshh, it'll be okay."

Kagura sank to her knees in front of Kanna, her eyes brimming with tears. "Why do you do such a thing? Why Kanna-chan?"

"Rin isn't allowed to be with Sesshoumaru. She's just a stupid human girl. She has no right to play with him." Kanna pouted and fisted her hands, looking for all the world as if she wanted to punch someone.

It was time to make Kanna see what she was doing. "Remember Naraku?"

"He's a bad man." Even thinking about the vile man made Kanna withdraw, hiding herself behind an impenetrable mask – 'I never realised just how alike she and Sesshoumaru were.' – "He hurt you and made you cry; I didn't like it when you cried."

"He used to say the same thing. He hurt me because he didn't like me." Kagura took a deep, shaky breath, "Kanna-chan, my heart, when I saw you standing there like that, saying those horrible words with Rin hiding in the corner – you looked and acted just like Naraku.

"You scared me baby girl." Seeing Kanna's distressed face, the tears welling up in eyes that hadn't had a reason to cry in months, it fair broke her heart. It and Kanna's previous actions were enough to make Kagura start crying too.

"This Kanna didn't want to make you cry." The litle youkai hiccuped as she gave her mummy a hug, doing her best to comfort her. "She promises she won't do anything like that again.

"She promises."

Kagura broke down and just hugged her child; rocking backwards and forwards to comfort them both.

After the storm had passed Kagura carefully wiped her daughter's face saying sombrely, "You've been very bad. You must apologise to Rin; she's precious to Sesshoumaru, just as precious as you are to him. Just as precious as you are to me.

"You are going to be grounded for a week. That means no TV or playing with any friends outside of school. You will also apologise to Sesshoumaru for hurting the girl he's looking after and for ruining their special day out." She drew another breath, unsure as to whether it would be appropriate to tell Kanna more about Rin's history.

"Do you know why Sesshoumaru plays with Rin?"

"No." Curiosity warred with sadness and the dying flames of jealousy in Kanna's eyes.

"Well, Rin is an orphan. She has no mummy or daddy or brothers and sisters. She has to live in a children's home with other boys and girls in the same situation.

"Rin was a very lonely little girl after her family died. I asked Inuyasha about Rin you know. He said that Rin didn't speak a single word after she arrived at the orphanage until Sesshoumaru came to her birthday party. The lady who runs the orphanage asked Sesshoumaru to mentor Rin. That means to be a kind of friend and counsellor to someone.

"Inuyasha used to be Shippou's mentor you know.

"So being a mentor is a very special thing; and it needs a lot of trust and friendship on both sides. So ruining their special day out can ruin their friendship.

"And Sesshoumaru trusted Rin to us, you broke that trust when you started being mean to Rin. Did you notice that even though Rin is bigger than you she didn't hurt you back. She didn't tell on you either. She was trying to be nice to you, and you just kept hurting her."

It was harsh, but she needed to impress upon Kanna what was wrong with what she had done and why. "You never have to hurt anyone, you shouldn't. If you were upset you should have told us and then we could have explained it to you. By not telling us what was wrong you upset me, Rin and Sesshoumaru."

Kanna burst into tears again, and this time Kagura just held her, humming quietly under her breath. It didn't take long for Kanna to sob herself into exhaustion. Closing her eyes sadly she stood up and walked back to Sesshoumaru's bedroom intending to keep everyone in the same room so she could keep an eye on them.

As she entered the living room she quietly called for Rin, no dark haired little girl answered her call. Kagura forced down the buzz of concern and made a beeline for Sesshoumaru's room. "Rin?"

"Sssssh Miss Kagura, Sesshoumaru's gone to sleep." A yawning Rin whispered as she popped her head above the covers. "Is everything okay now?"

"I spoke with Kanna-chan. I'm very sorry Rin, I didn't know she was bullying you."

"It's okay Miss, Sesshoumaru told Rin a little about you and Kanna. He said she was very nice, but shy; so Rin knew that Kanna-chan wasn't being Kanna today.

"Is she feeling better now?" She scrambled out onto the covers and crawled over to the edge of the bed and looked at Kanna through the gloom.

"She knows that what she did was wrong." Kagura sat on the bed and tucked Kanna up her the covers, skimming her hands over her daughter's flushed face, looking down at her with a look of regret. "She was jealous of you because you got to spend time with Sesshoumaru and she didn't."

"He misses you lots too" Was the earnest reply and Rin clambered back up to the top of the bed.

"Mmmmm," Rin's stomach rumbled.

"Sorry."

Kagura laughed lowly. "Well, I said we'd have dinner and we will. Can you look after these two in here while I make the dinner?"

"Rin will look after them! Rin is too big for naps and she's not ill so she doesn't need one!" She held out her arm proudly, "See, it's a big bruise, but it doesn't hurt." Kagura was more concerned with the bruise that was starting to form on her cheek, she laid a gentle hand on Rin's cheek and watched as Rin tried and failed not to flinch.

"I'll get you something cold for you face okay Rin. You won't get in trouble for this will you?"

"Rin doesn't think so. Miss Haruka knows Rin always tells the truth, so she will say that Kanna hurt Rin, but she didn't mean it. And if Miss Haruka asks for anything more then Rin will just explain better and say that it won't happen again because Kanna-chan was upset and angry and that she's sorry that she hurt Rin." Nodding with absolute finality the child grabbed Kagura's hand and towed her to the kitchen in search of something cold.

Kagura was left to make dinner alone in a drowsy quiet, amplified by the gloom she kept the apartment enshrouded in just in case Sesshoumaru woke up. Her tumultuous thoughts were tiring and eventually she found herself daydreaming and planning out the next assignment for her interior design class. It amused her to give Sesshoumaru's apartment repeated makeovers.

Especially the one that painted the walls in a pink so bright and garish it would have embarrassed a Barbie doll and accented it with pale lilac throws and flower stencils on the ceiling.

'My favourite has to be the ivory and pale blue version with the magenta accessories. Heh, it's a Sesshoumaru coloured home. Doesn't seem to suit him very well though. It needs brighter colours. More intensity.' She paused momentarily as she laid out the food on the plates, "I must be tired. No way in hell that made sense."

Guessing that it would be best to have dinner in bed today, if only for Sesshoumaru's ease, she paced everything on trays, thanked the gods for her waitressing skills, and took everything to his bedroom.

The door gave her a bit of trouble, but it was remedied easily enough.

The evening had darkened and it was difficult to see inside the bedroom, but Kagura could distantly make out the two girls cuddling together close to the tangled bundle of blankets that indicated a still sleeping Sesshoumaru. She could distantly make out the tips of a mass of silvery hair lying on the pillows.

"So cute." She laid the heavy trays on the chest of drawers and edged over to the bed. It looked so inviting, and the pasta dish could be eaten cold as easily as it was hot. She was tired, and a little nap couldn't hurt.

She did feel awkward about sleeping on the bed she had once made love to Sesshoumaru in, but everyone was asleep so it wasn't as if anything was going to happen. "Screw it, I'm too fucking tired to care." She scrambled onto the bed, wrapping her arms around Kanna and Rin and closed her eyes, already feeling dozy.

Sesshoumaru turned over in his sleep, sighing loudly. 'Perhaps I shouldn't be . . . eh, let sleeping dog youkai lie.'

After about twenty minutes of dipping in and out of that wonderful land where one wasn't exactly awake or asleep she felt Sesshoumaru begin to stir. Dopily opening her eyes she saw Sesshoumaru slip up to the pillows and finally unwrap himself from the blanket she'd knitted for him. "Nice to see your face again." She smiled warmly.

"Mmm," he hummed back.

"Dinner's ready if you want some."

"As much as I miss your cooking, I fear that if I eat anything in this state I will only vomit it back up. I am sorry for ruining our day out with the children."

"It's okay, it's not your fault, you can't help being ill, and the food'll keep." She stopped talking, content to watch Sesshoumaru as he struggled to think coherently, still clearly dazed from his impromptu nap and in pain from his migraine.

"Rin . . ?"

"I spoke with Kanna about her actions, she misses you terribly. She was so jealous of Rin that she bullied her throughout the entire day. Kanna cried herself to sleep after she understood what she had done – she scared me so much. Remember that thud earlier? Kanna, I think Kanna punched Rin!

"She sounded so much like Naraku.

"It terrified me. She – I don't want her to learn from what Naraku did to me." She broke off, unable to look at Sesshoumaru, the tears burning her eyes; the shame and fear too much to bear. A gentle hand caressed her face, urging her to go on, to relieve herself of her burden.

It was amazing how much comfort she found in that one gesture. "Telling her that she reminded me of Naraku broke my heart. I had just compared my baby girl, my heart's drive, to the fucking bastard who would prostitute his own child.

"It was the worst thing I've ever had to do; one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. She cried so much." She broke down again, crying silently into the messy heads of the two girls. She felt Sesshoumaru reach out an arm and wrap around her, drawing close to her and the two; offering his support even though she knew he was still hurting.

She cried heaving sobs that she tried to make as quiet as possible so as not to wake the girls or hurt Sesshoumaru's head any more. She felt him rub calming circles on her back, just as she had rubbed his side earlier.

It didn't take long for her tears to stop and she gave hi m a watery smile. "Thanks."

She blinked when she saw Sesshoumaru frown. "What time is it?"

"Nearly half seven the last I looked."

"I promised Haruka I would have Rin back by eight." He made to get up, but even that simple movement had him wincing in pain.

Kagura made her decision. "Do you have the orphanage's phone number? If you want I'll phone her and explain the situation and ask if Rin can stay over here. Considering the circumstances I don't think it should be too problematic. And if so, well, Inuyasha's nearby, he can take Rin home right?"

Nipping out to the living room Kagura swiftly phoned Haruka and explained the problem, going into full detail about the day – Sesshoumaru's severe migraine, Kanna's behaviour and ending with asking for Rin to stay over at Sesshoumaru's, "It's not like they'll be alone after all."

Although reluctant Haruka agreed and Kagura hung up after thanking her. She returned to bed and cuddled up with the children, back to watching Sesshoumaru's sleeping face, still slightly concerned as sleep disabled his defences, leaving him openly showing his pain.

Hesitantly she wrapped her arms around Kanna and Rin, this time including Sesshoumaru in the hug, and she soon fell asleep. It had been a while since she'd felt this safe and warm.

Post-story A/N: I hope you enjoyed this story, and if you've read this without reading Special Delivery I highly urge you to read it, it's amazing.