Fluff and Anti-freeze
Genre: Fluff
Style: Blanket scenario/challenge
Characters: Sesshomaru, Jaken and Rin.
White upon white. It's a blizzard. The ground is so covered and the air is so full of it it's hard to tell where earth ends and sky starts. A grey swathe is cut through the snow, a sign of something traveling onward through the snow. It's two figures, one tall, almost blending into the white and another, short and standing out brightly. Another figure is further behind, even shorter than the second, a dark dot against the snow.
"It is so white! I cannot even tell where the sky ends. Lord Sesshomaru where have you gone to?" The small figure stumbles forward.
"I'm right in front of you Rin." He turns around allowing her to see him.
"You almost disappear into the snow, m'lord." She walks to his side where he's stopped.
"What's happened to Jaken?" He stares back at where they've traveled.
"Oh. He might have gotten lost without you to follow, sir. Or perhaps he's frozen. It is awfully cold." Rin huddles up trying to keep warm.
"Yes, it is most likely that he has frozen. Come Rin."
"Are we not going to get him?"
Sesshomaru pauses. He sighs. "I suppose I should get him. Wait here Rin." He trudges back along the way they've came, leaving Rin standing in the snow her arms huddled around herself.
"It is SOOO cold!" She cries out hoping that Lord Sesshomaru will be back soon.
I'm not sure why I'm even bothering to pick Jaken up. He is surely frozen and it's better if I don't move him. Though he'd be most disgruntled about being left behind. And Rin would be terribly upset. He sighs trudging through the snow. I don't know why I do all this for them. He continues trudging along until he finds Jaken standing frozen waist deep in the snow. He picks him up and starts walking back to where he's left Rin.
"Iiiitt'ssss ssssoo coolllllddd." Rin's standing there waiting for Sesshomaru. She spots a figure coming over the snow bank. "Lord Sesshomaru!" She runs up to him.
"Are you well Rin?" Sesshomaru looks at her. She's very pale and her lips are blue.
"I am fine Lord Sesshomaru!" She claps her hands and Sesshomaru sees that they're turning blue. He watches her as she walks onward. Her feet are even bluer than her hands.
"RIN! Stop!" Rin froze in mid-step. "You're not well at all." He marched over to her and picked her up. "You need warmth. I don't know why I didn't let you bring Ah and Oun with us.."
"They do not like the cold at all! I am fine!" Rin tried struggling but Sesshomaru just held onto her tighter. He put her over his shoulder with the fur, transferring Jaken to the other shoulder. Shelter, shelter, shelter. I thought the rambling old man had said there was a traveler's hut near here! The old man that had given them instructions to cross over the high mountain plain had indeed said there were regular traveler's huts along the path. "Rin! Keep your eyes open for any huts."
"Like the one back there?" She pointed over his shoulder backward. Her teeth were chattering as Sesshomaru turned his head.
"Yes." He had been so intent on looking forward he couldn't see what was off to the side.
He came to the door and set Jaken against the hut. The door was frozen shut so he had to put Rin down as well.
"What are we to do?" Rin cuddled to her source of warmth, the trailing throw of fur from his shoulder.
"We'll open this door." Sesshomaru slammed his elbow into the door then tried again with his shoulder. The hinges groaned as it cracked free from the hard ice set around it.
"In." Rin rushed in as Sesshomaru closed the door.
"Why are you leaving Master Jaken outside?" Rin huddled by the empty fireplace as he cast his eye over the hut. It was sparse and any other time it would have been most comfortable to spend the night in. In a cupboard there was an empty kettle with some bowls and dishes plus some dirty rags. In another corner there was some old matting for sleeping on and two blankets. Sesshomaru picked one up. It was a single piece of cloth, a simple summer blanket that almost tore in the cold. The other was a more padded one, one for winter.
"He can unfreeze himself once the weather is better, unlike you. Wrap yourself up in this." He tossed her the thick blanket, watching her huddle up in it. It was a shame that there was no firewood, even though without Jaken awake to light it it would have been pointless.
After a while he asked her again if she was well.
"Better I think m'lord." She was still chattering her teeth and Sesshomaru decided to check rather than take her word for it.
"Feet and hands." Rin poked them out of the blanket. Her feet were still blue, as were her hands. Sesshomaru checked that the blanket was warm over her back. Her clothing was soaking wet.
"How much warmer is the blanket than the room?"
"Not much m'lord." He mentally swore. He had once visited a temple where people without their arms or legs lived. Some of them had traveled through winter and had frozen their legs or arms off because of the extreme cold. They had given him advice ranging from staying away from large animals to making sure that he was wrapped up in a blanket if any part of his body turned blue.
There was something else! Something important... He rubbed his arm, trying to think. He gradually realised that it was damp. I should really take this off... That's it! Wet clothing won't help warm yourself.
"Rin, is your under kimono dry?"
"I am soaked through. Why do you ask that Lord Sesshomaru?"
"Do you wish to live as a cripple in a temple?"
"No. I wish to travel with you."
She doesn't have anything else to wear... Perhaps... Sesshomaru peeled back his sleeve. His under kimono was just dry enough. He unbuckled his armor and set it on the ground, taking care to lay it in an ordered pile unlike his decorative kimono top.
"What are you doing Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked as she watched him strip the top part of himself.
"Keeping you alive." He tossed her his under kimono. It was much like her own kimono but perhaps a bit on the large side. "Change into it."
"Why?"
"Because you are a human and much more susceptible to dying of cold. I, as a demon, am not." He sat and leaned against the floor, making a show of closing his eyes. He heard rustles and slaps like those made by dry and wet clothing. He opened his eyes when he was poked.
"And you shall not be a cripple too, Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin had wrapped the blanket around herself again, though Sesshomaru was sure his kimono was large enough to tie around her child's frame. More likely it was because she was still cold.
"I shall be fine Rin." He leaned into his throw of fur. It had grown to accommodate his resting posture.
"I will sit with you so you can check when I am better." She plopped down beside him and started staring at the wall.
"Lord Sesshomaru," Rin said after a while, "will you play a game with me to pass the time?"
"Hmm? What sort of game do you have in mind?"
"It is a word game that Master Jaken taught me." Rin told him how it was played. They played a round until Sesshomaru said a word twice, making him lose.
"Time to check hands and feet." He said a few minutes after Rin had stopped cheering. She poked them out again. They were less blue looking more of a dark purple. He touched her foot. It felt warm. It shouldn't be. Not when it's looking like that.
"Lord Sesshomaru, are you sure you are not cold?" He looked at his hand. It wasn't blue and it didn't feel numb. Two signs the cripples had told him were signs that it was dying. My feet! He hadn't thought about his feet when he had taken of his armor and kimono. They were still in their soaking wet boots. He leaned forward to take them off. Rin watched as he took them off in a great hurry. She watched as he leaned back and grimaced.
"What is wrong?"
"My feet. I forgot to take my boots off. Look at them." They were a horrible dark mottled blue. Even the maroon stripes on his ankles were covered by the blotches. "They're even worse than your feet were." Sesshomaru laughed as he arranged the fur around his feet. Me, a cripple. Because I forgot about my feet. This is even worse than when that fool Inu-Yasha sliced off my arm. He flexed the arm's still stiff fingers. They seemed stiffer than usual for the regenerated arm. Rin touched his arm as he flexed it's fingers.
"My Lord Sesshomaru! You are cold!" He glanced down at her outbreak.
"And I am a demon." He glared at her.
"You left Master Jaken outside."
"Because he can freeze when the weather's cold. When he defrosts, his body is undamaged because it makes a special liquid to keep his organs from exploding. An anti-freezing liquid."
"But you're not the same type of demon as he is." Rin stands up. "If you become a cripple, I shall not be able to travel with you anymore. It will be just as bad as me being unable to walk." She rests the blanket over his shoulders, hugging it there.
Sesshomaru stuttered as she plopped back down again, grinning at him. The blanket was warm and didn't tickle his back like the fur did. "NO! I'll heal in time. Just as my arm did." He threw the blanket off his shoulders and at her. "Just stay warm." He growled and moved to the other corner.
Rin hugged the blanket to her chest. Sesshomaru-sama has never been this angry at me before. Have I done something wrong? Rin glanced at her beloved protector. She had always done what she had thought best and he'd never yelled at her like this. She glanced again and then snapped her head back. His arm... His right arm lay against his hakama, almost blending in with it's colour. She looked at the other arm, pale, pale blue. No! I will not lose him! Tears sprang to her eyes as her buried memories of her father unfurled from it's hiding place. He had been killed while hunting, leaving her alone with her mother's bones. Not Sesshomaru-sama!
She walked over to him holding the blanket against herself. Sesshomaru looked up and threw a warning glance at her. Rin smiled and continued walking toward him.
"NO." She just smiled again, water gathering at the corners of her scrunched up eyes.
Sesshomaru shook his head as she just stood there, smiling. Stupid girl. Rin just stood there, watching, as he let his head bend toward his chest.
Suddenly Rin plopped down on top of his crossed legs. The sudden weight made him crack his head against the wall. As he held his hand to his head, Rin whipped the blanket over his shoulders.
"We can both be warm now." She smiled back at him over her shoulder. He gazed at her in shock, surprised that she had done this.
Rin tugged the blanket so it wrapped around both of them and wriggled so she wasn't sitting right on top of his legs. Instead she was leaning against him with her knees resting on top of his feet.
"Is this not better? We can both be warm or be cripples together." She snuggled further into the cocoon.
Sesshomaru stared at the face smiling up at him. She seemed so happy at her idea to keep them both warm.
He shook his head trying to dislodge his hair from underneath the blanket.
"Rin..." He raised one arm and flicked it out, it was annoying him how it stuck to his back underneath the blanket. Rin pulled it tighter as his hair tugged loose. It swept forward over his shoulder, running down Rin's and over the blanket.
"Rin.. Thank you." He leaned back a bit but then bent forward, cradling Rin.
"For what?" Rin's voice vibrated through Sesshomaru's cheek, her breath against it, still trying to peer at his face.
"For being surprising."
Rin settled back against him, his cold legs encircling where she sat. "Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama for always being there for me." She smiled and settled down, her head leaning back against his chest. They sat there silent. Sesshomaru felt the blanket warm his back and shoulders, Rin's back against his chest, her body leaking heat through the kimono.
"I promise," he said as Rin's head rolled the other way, "I'll always be there for you." Sesshomaru wrapped his arms around her tighter, leaning forward to cradle her. His fur wrapped around Rin's feet and legs then wrapped around their bodies, binding them together.
The storm was howling outside, battering at the traveler's hut as Rin murmured into Sesshomaru's chest.
"Love you.." She nestled her head further into this warm embracing cocoon, fur covering everything not covered by the blanket.
Sesshomaru wriggled back, his head resting beside hers and his arms wrapping her tightly, tighter than the fur winding around them.
"You too." He murmurs, so deep it's almost unheard above the whistling of the wind and snow.
The snowstorm builds and builds, freezing winds blow, snows slash through the night, cold insinuating inside everything. It's freezing winds billow snow over the land, leaving carved valleys and rises, white and glittery like quartz. It whistles through these formations it's made, playing music through this ferocious night. It piles snow higher, the winds freezing it in place, making mountains of ice. The sky rumbles onward, the clouds black in the light-less night, it's snow casting it's whiteness over this pockmarked landscape, it's craters, it's mountains. Everything is frozen in place, the way the winds blow, the way the snow falls, the way the creatures struggled. Few have sanctuary in this frozen landscape. Very few.
A small traveler's hut in the middle of this icy plain. Small and almost buried, sheltered by a huge drift rising up above it. Despite this wall of snow and ice it's still half buried. Almost obscuring the figure leaning against the wall, almost covering the shutters from which breathing can just be heard.
Sesshomaru blinks awake, his neck abnormally sore.
Where am I? It's warm... He blinks again, realising that he's leaning over Rin with his fur and a blanket wrapped around them. Storm. Snow. Hypothermia. He tries to straighten up a bit and his arms break through the protection of the blanket and fur. Damn! It's still freezing. His slight movement makes Rin grumble and flutter her eyes.
"'Shomaru?" She blinks up at him groggily.
He wraps his arms around her, comforting her and making her drop off again. As she slips back into sleep he looks at the windows for any sign of relent. We can't stay trapped for much longer. Rin will need food. As he searches a small plop draws attention to the shutters across from them. His eyes narrow as he spots a small rivulet of water creep in from outside. The snow and ice must be melting a bit. Maybe we'll be out of here. He sighs and leans back into Rin, the warmth comforting him.
Soon, soon we'll be out. His eyes droop and he falls back into sleep.
Rin wakes up. She yawns and snuggles her head back in but can't get back to sleep. She yawns and realises where she is.
Sesshomaru-sama. She stares up at him, his sleeping face right beside hers. This is the Sesshomaru-sama I love. She looked at his face, it's expression almost the same as when she had woken up after the wolves had attacked, mouth tilted downward, eyelids heavy. She yawned again, suddenly aware that her throat was dry.
"Sesshomaru? Sesshomaru-sama?" She taps his chest, waiting for him to wake.
His eyelids slowly rose at him being woken up. His still sleepy eyes met with Rin's face.
"Sesshomaru! Sesshomaru-sama!" She hugged him from her half turned position. "I am thirsty. Are you?"
He just gazed at her, still groggy from being woken up. His eyes are just like that day, too. Warm. His eyes only turned a warm gold, a glow like sun on wet rocks, when he was happy. No kind, no content. No not that. Or maybe all of them? I wonder what he is feeling?
"How do you feel Lord Sesshomaru?" She questioned as he sat back straight and woke up properly
"Sleepy. Why did you wake me up?"
"Because I am thirsty. Aren't you?"
"No, not really. It's too cold still. Go back to sleep." He glares at her in an attempt to get some sleep.
"It is not too cold, m'lord." She wriggles out of the nest of fur, blanket and Sesshomaru. "See it is not cold." He notices that her feet and hands are back to their normal colour. He pokes out his feet. They are also back to the colour they should. Rin spots his feet poking out.
"Your feet are better! We shall not be cripples!" She does a little dance, jumping up and down.
"If you are up and not minding the cold, you may get your water. There are some bowls in the cupboard and a kettle." He nods toward the closed cupboard. "Open the shutters carefully and scoop some snow into the kettle. It should melt and then you can have a drink." He sighs and leans back in contentment as Rin clatters about. He hears her open the shutters.
"Lord Sesshomaru the sun is shining! I cannot see a cloud in the sky!" He glances at her through one eye as she scoops some snow into the kettle. "It is awfully cold out there still. Oh look!" She stands at one corner of the shutter looking toward the other side.
"What?"
"I can see the top of Master Jaken's hat!" She points out of the window.
"When we can see him standing it'll be time for us to leave this hut. Or whenever he defrosts and lets us out of here."
"Do you want to moving on again?" Rin scoops more snow out.
"I want to get out of this frozen wasteland as soon as possible. It isn't good for anyone." Sesshomaru mutters out of the corner of his mouth.
"All done!" Rin closes the shutter and drags the snow filled kettle over to where Sesshomaru is.
"Don't let that kettle touch me." He shoots a warning glare toward her.
"Of course not! But I would like to get warm again please." She sets the bowl and kettle within grasp and stands in front of him again.
"Fine." Rin wriggles back into the cocoon of fur and blanket, ending back up in Sesshomaru's lap. She stares at the open kettle, watching it melt.
"It takes so long for it to melt. When will it be ready?"
He yawns. "Whenever." He yawns again and closes his eyes. "I need sleep." Rin watches as he settles back and falls asleep. She sighs and continues watching the snow melt. It's whiteness gradually changing into crystal clear grains and then melting into water...
Rin wakes up again. She glances at the kettle and sees that it's all melted. As she leans forward to pour some she wakes Sesshomaru.
"What now?" He grumbles as she sips from the bowl.
"The snow has melted. Do you wish to have a sip?" He begins to shake his head but then starts nodding.
"What does that mean?"
"It's a yes. Do you know what time it is?" Sesshomaru straightens up, blinking.
"Well it is cold again m'lord." Rin fills up the bowl again.
"It must be night again. I wonder how long.. brbblr!" Sesshomaru's words bubbled into the water Rin is holding up to his lips. He starts coughing and Rin takes the bowl away.
"Rin! Don't do that again. At least not when I'm talking." He added after seeing her hurt expression. Rin gives him the water after a few seconds. It's room temperature and tastes slightly metallic. He grimaces slightly, snow water wasn't the best.
"What is wrong my lord?" Rin takes away the bowl and fills it up again.
"It doesn't taste very good."
"I cannot taste anything. Is it a demon thing?"
Sesshomaru shook his head. "Just me."
"You are very particular, Sesshomaru-sama." Rin looked at him as she went to fill the bowl again. He nodded as she poured more water and put it up to his mouth. It must be the kettle that added the metallic taste. It smells like the water tastes.
Rin squirmed as she settled back after finishing the water.
"I do so hope we shall be out soon. I am getting bored looking at these walls."
"Do you want to play that game again?"
"The one that Master Jaken taught me?" Sesshomaru nods. "No, I shall teach you another one." She started out-lining the rules for the game and they played a couple rounds until Rin got bored.
"Can you teach me a game Lord Sesshomaru?"
"I'm not sure if any are suitable for this small space." The only ones he knew were ones where you had to move and pretend. There was only one that wasn't like those and it was an old court game. "You have to ask yes or no questions. After twenty questions you have to guess what I'm thinking about. If you get it right you win and then I ask you questions." Rin nodded at the short explanation and started asking. She got it by the sixteenth question.
"It's a plum tree! My turn!" She got bored by Sesshomaru's thirteenth question and started fiddling with his hair, winding it round her fingers in complex patterns.
"It's Naraku?"
"No." Rin stopped fiddling with his hair. "It's Master Jaken!" His hair is twined around all her fingers forming a net.
"What are you doing with my hair?"
"Playing with it. Poke your hand through the middle." Sesshomaru cautiously poked his hand through, trying not to slice through the strands with his claws. Rin let go of several of the threads running over and under causing his hand to be trapped. She then let some others go and his hand was free leaving her with a loop.
"It's cat's cradle! There are other tricks but they're difficult with your hair..." Sesshomaru gently batted the tangle of hair out of her fingers. The tugging was annoying him.
"Play that word game again?" Rin suggested seeing his slightly annoyed look.
"Very well." Rin settled back against him to play the game.
"I start! Mushroom!"
It goes on for a bit and it gets harder and harder not to say a word that's been said already.
"Rin," Sesshomaru interrupts as Rin is thinking of a word, "you don't have to always be so formal with me."
"Hot water?"
"You lose." Rin grabs the corners of the blanket dragging his arms down with it so that he's embracing her again. She smiles at him.
"Arigato gozaimasu Sesshomaru!"
"For what?" He says, slightly shocked at this extreme show of gratitude.
"Everything! Not just for being there for me." She smiles but breaks into a yawn, her eyes staying closed as it finishes.
Sleep is a good idea. He follows Rin's lead and soon falls asleep.
The breathing from the small hut is deep and slow as the sun rises, glinting off the frozen ice and snow. It gets to work, slowly melting all the snow that settled over this plain. Small rivulets trickle, warming and melting the ice, forming rivers and valleys. Again the forces landscape the world, melting rivers and canyons into the white hills and mountains. It beats down on the drifts piled high, reducing them to slush and mud. Mountains fall and drifts sink as the sun beats down, warm for this winter day. The goddess Amaterasu shines down on the snow, light radiating from her and traveling down to earth carrying warmth to a lonely traveler's hut.
The sun melted more snow from around the hut. Whereas Rin had only seen the top of Jaken's hat the previous afternoon, his upper body was visible and dripping with dew. Suddenly his arm starts twitching. It soon stops but then the other starts twitching, then his eyes, he starts wriggling about as if he is possessed, his chest rising harshly with great intakes of breath and then it stops. Everything. His eyes slowly open as his neck preens forward.
"Ahhh! Where am I? Where is my Lord Sesshomaru! Ahhhhh!"He jolts back in surprise at the brilliant white landscape in front of him, landing backward on the snow as his feet are still rooted in the ground. He grumbles over this and starts shoveling out the snow with the tip of his staff. This is a most inconvenient place to be in. He gets himself free and looks over the landscape in front of him.
"Oh dear. How will I ever find any trace of him? Don't tell me he's abandoned me!" He starts wailing as he heads over the nearest drift. Where is my Lord Sesshomaru! I hope he has not abandoned me for that human child!
"Lord Sesshomaru!" He stands on top of the drift panting. Such a long way for his legs to run. He glances over the horizon hoping for a glance of his lord. There's a dot far away. Ah! My Lord you cannot escape me! Jaken's legs waddle quickly toward the dot, tripping down the half-melted drift. The staff gets banged on the ground several times and the heads start complaining.
"You treat us with much misfortune! Have we not serviced you in the past? Do you bear no thought for you power!" The woman's head shrieks.
"You are a fool to act rashly! You may be chasing after a wild pheasant! You may be abandoning your duties for a tree!" The man's head roars above Jaken's head. The last phrase catches him off guard and he slows down at the bottom of the drift.
"Forgive me. I should ask you to divine where the Lord Sesshomaru is." He bows his head toward the two as they mumble their acceptation of his apology. Jaken sets the point in the snow and they bow down. Back up the drift.
"I am not liking this!" He heads up the drift and then divines yet again at the top. They point toward the direction he came from, this time Jaken notices the hut. He starts rushing down the hill again.
"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru! I have found you!" He stops short of slamming into the door.
"Oh my." He stares up at the frozen door. The night before had frozen all the melted water forming an ice sheet over the door. "Oh my." He tapped it with his hand and got his knuckles stuck to the ice. After freeing his hand he tapped it with the staff, sending cracks all over but not breaking the sheet.
"I have to ask that I use you again. Yah!" He aims the stream of fire at the door, accelerating it's melting.
Rin's sleep is interrupted by some wailing.
"Master Jaken I am tired, please go away." She mumbles, half awake as the noise then fades. She settles back down to sleep again but then the noise comes back.
"Master Jaken!" She turns round to see where the demon is but as she opens her eyes she realises she's in the cabin. Her mumbling and shouting has woken Sesshomaru up, he too looks around groggily.
"What is the matter Rin?"
"I heard wailing and thought it was Master Jaken."
"I see. Perhaps it was just the wind being particularly loud." He yawns and starts to wake up. He becomes aware of a hissing sound like that of water splashed on a fire. A few moments later the door is basically broken down.
"LORD SESSHOMARU!" Jaken bursts through the open door with his arms wide open.
"My lord Sesshomaru..." He screeches to a halt and stutters. "Rin! Why are you with Lord Sesshomaru! My lord, why are you allowing this human girl to be with you! My lord!"
Rin glances at Sesshomaru. His arms are still lightly folded across her, possibly protecting her from any outburst by Jaken. He doesn't seem to make any explanation so Rin decides to.
"Rin was cold while we were walking through the snow, so Sesshomaru picked you up and then picked Rin up as well to get into this hut. Sesshomaru left you outside because he said you wouldn't get hurt being frozen, unlike Rin whose feet and hands went purple. Sesshomaru's feet also went purple and he got terribly cold so we had to share a blanket. Rin and Sesshomaru played games and Rin scooped some snow to get a drink of water. And Sesshomaru has allowed Rin to not call him lord!" Rin gushed out telling Jaken what had happened, spilling it out in two breaths.
"How dare you make all this up! My lord, are you not going to punish her for telling these lies!" He shakes his staff at her threateningly.
"Rin. Stop babbling." Rin stopped gushing about cat's cradle. "Jaken. Rin is not lying. During the snowstorm you got frozen as Rin half did. We found this hut and I left you outside knowing you would recover. Rin's hands and feet were blue with cold and her clothes were soaked. That is why she is wearing my under kimono at the moment. I gave her the blanket so she might not be so cold. And despite the fact that I'm demon this cold decided to afflict me because my boots were soaked and I had not thought to remove them. Rin got worried and decided to give me the blanket instead, I refused but then she conspired to get us both to share the blanket. As you can see her idea was to give me the blanket while she sits in between my legs. I have to say it worked quite well because the next day both Rin's feet and my own were back to normal. We have been waiting for you to open that door." Sesshomaru finished and glared at Jaken to see if he would add any remark.
"But why are you still like that!"
"We are surrounded by snow and ice. And you are letting the cold in." He glares at the tiny toad demon who gulps in response.
"Very well my lord." Jaken bows and makes to close the door.
"Jaken, we shall need a fire to dry out the clothes."
"That is no problem my lord. I can set a fire without any need for fuel." He closes the door and heads to the fireplace to light it.
"Rin. Go dry your clothes." Sesshomaru grasps Rin by the waist and lifts her out of the fur.
"Shall I dry yours too Sesshomaru-sama?" She sets off to her clothes and his kimono without waiting for a reply. He watched her lay them out near the fire as Jaken stood nearby shaking out the water from his clothes.
Finally out of this forsaken place. He stretches and gets up, the fur growing back to it's normal length. He walks outside to see how cold it is still. The sun is shining and the air is thick, making him feel tired and the fur limp. It's still cold however as he touches a foot to the snow.
Too cold for Rin's feet. He heads back in and sets his boots by the fire, though they'll get soaked again. Rin checks the kimono regularly and it's Sesshomaru's one that is dry first. He puts it on the stitching rubbing against his skin without his under kimono on.
"Aren't you going to reclaim your under kimono, Lord?" Jaken glares at Rin over the fire.
"No. It is too cold out there for her to go with just her kimono on." He turns to Rin. "Put it over your kimono once it's dry. It will act like a jacket." He would have to get new clothes for them all, water damaged most clothing if left for a while.
Soon Rin's clothes were dry as well, she hummed as she turned them the right side out while Sesshomaru gathered his armor and dumped it on top of Jaken.
"Jaken, help me put my armor on outside." He shut the door firmly behind him as Rin started untying the kimono.
"Why out here milord?" Jaken asked as he picked out a piece of armor and helped Sesshomaru buckle it in place. He didn't reply but as Jaken was about to place the thick metal pieces on, he stopped him.
"I'll not wear those pieces today."
"But master? What shall I do with them!"
"Carry them." Sesshomaru headed back inside to collect his boots. They were dry but still a bit damp on the inside. He nudged them closer to the fire. Rin was watching the fire closely, observing all the patterns it made.
"Isn't it pretty, Sesshomaru?"
"Don't get too close Rin. You'll get burnt."
Jaken clanged in, dropping all of the armor on the ground. "I don't know how you expect me to carry all this m'lord. They're way too heavy. Why can't you ask Rin to help?"
"Because I can't Jaken. We'll leave soon so be ready to leave." He checked his boots again, they were dry enough and they were going to get wet again anyway. "Go ahead as we planned. We shall catch up easily enough." Sesshomaru dumped the kettle on the fire making Rin blink in surprise.
"Are we leaving now?"
"Yes. Put the kettle and bowls away, another person may need this place." He folded up the blanket as she followed his orders.
"All done m'lord! Mission accomplished!" She saluted up at him, smiling.
"Come along Rin." He hadn't quite smiled at her but enough so she wondered why.
She almost smacked into him as he had stopped right outside the door.
"What is the matter?"
"Nothing aside from the fact the snow is too cold for you to be walking through it."
"What are you doing then?" Rin's face developed a worried expression, he wasn't going to leave her there then was he?
He sighs at her expression and what he's about to do. "I'm asking you to climb on my back." He crouched down so she may hang around his neck. Instead she jumped up lightly onto his shoulders.
"Leapfrog!" She laughs and peers down at Sesshomaru's face. "Is this okay?"
He laughs and Rin almost tumbles backward as he stands up. "It is perfect." He begins walking. "But Rin, can you not wave your feet about?"
She stops waving them about and hugs the top of his head. "Of course Rin will stop them for you, Sesshomaru!"
Because you love me, as I do you.
"Onward then." He continues walking with Rin on his shoulders, over the snowy wasteland toward their destination. Over the snow and ice that had frozen their bodies but melted a heart.
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The second fic I ever finished. And it was a CHALLENGE. (Albeit a self-imposed one.) I'm quite proud of it though, looking back on it now, it seems very sugary and sweet.
Read, review, flame. I don't really care what you do to this fic. Besides flames can always go toward melting snow.