Title: Autumn Leaves
Genre: Drama
All Pairings Represented: None
Characters: Sesshomaru, Rin
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I am writing this story for no profit, only for fun as I enjoy the series so much.
Summary: Autumn is approaching and Sesshomaru is realizing that mortal children ask a lot of questions.
Author's Note: Written for the LJ "InuYashaFanfic" challenge.
The sun was setting slowly amid the trees that reached into the darkening sky. The crickets were beginning to sing as the stars slowly blinked into existence. Sesshoumaru walked without hurry on some unseen path, following the invisible trail left by the foul scent of Naraku. His feet made no sound on the leaf-strewn forest floor, unlike the stomping footfalls of his small companion behind him. Rin was leaping from one spot to the next, humming to herself and laughing each time she stepped on a particularly crunchy leaf. Her laughter bounced off the ancient trees as she landed directly behind her tall leader.
"Hah! Oh, I'm sorry, Lord Sesshomaru!" He turned to look at her, Rin's smile beaming up at him. She seemed to reflect far more sunshine than the clouds above, her large oval eyes taking him in with pure joy. Had anyone ever stared at him with such earnest trust before Rin? He couldn't recall.
Sesshomaru stared at her in fascination for a moment longer before examining their surroundings in more detail. They had come across a small patch of browning grass amidst the dark forest. "This should do for tonight."
"You think so?" Rin was rubbing her bare arm absently, "Lord Sesshomaru, it feels awfully cold here." She latched both arms around his and he couldn't help blinking in surprise. Why this young mortal was so intent on following him he would never fully understand. Nor the real reason for his protective feelings towards her. It was foolish, really, for a powerful demon such as him to have such strong feelings for a mortal girl. Human children were such fragile things. Why merely spending the night in a dark forest could lead to death.
"Come, Rin. Sit." He gestured her to a fallen tree. She obeyed immediately, her small body shivering in the darkening day. In a few moments, he had prepared a fire for her with flames that reached higher than her head.Rin moved closer to it, settling down on the grass beside him.
"Oh that's much better!" she exclaimed.
She was no longer shaking and Sesshomaru was satisfied. He could tell she was tired as she leaned against his single arm. Her eyes glittered as she watched the golden flames lickeagerly at the dark sky above. The stars scattered brilliantlyas the two sat quietly before the crackling fire.
"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked sleepily. "What do you think my parents were like?"
Sesshomaru blinked and looked down to her scalp and her long black hair as she lay against him. She seemed perfectly at ease without any strain, but he could feel the emotion in her voice. He'd only recently learned how to recognize it from her normal excitable state. "I can't say that I would know," he whispered as his gaze returned to the fluid flames before them.
Rin sighed, her disappointment evident as she huddled closer to him. She fell silent for several moments, and Sesshomaru might have believed her to be asleep if not for her steady heartbeat thrumming against his arm. "I have not the experience to tell you what they might have been like."
She giggled slightly before sitting up on her knees, her wide eyes gleaming with mirth. "That can't be true! Surely you've been around parents before!"
Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes slightly. "I don't understand how this would help me determine the nature of your parents, Rin."
Rin huffed in frustration. "Well, let's see…" She held a small finger to her lips in thought, "You're strong and brave, Lord Sesshomaru. So I would say that your parents must have been strong and brave too!"
Sesshomaru twitched slightly at this, but remained calm. She was obviously too young to understand the world around her. Too young to comprehend how very different a son can be from his parents. Or rather, how different the parents could be from a son. "You speak of nonsense, Rin."
She cocked her head to the side in confusion, her ponytail becoming slightly more skewed. "So they weren't brave or strong, Lord Sesshomaru?"
Sesshomaru nodded, averting his eyes from her disturbingly piercing gaze. "They were neither, Rin. My father was very brave but weak, making him terribly foolish in the end. A weak heart is hardly capable of belonging to a powerful ruler. And my mother…" He wasn't sure what caused him to falter, but pushed himself to continue nonetheless. "She might have been strong once, but she was a coward at heart. A coward for never fighting for him. For thinking there was never a need. And for that I can not forgive either of them."
Rin studied him hard. The fire huddled blue against the logs and crackled less viciously, seemingly afraid to continue. "Is that why you left them, Lord Sesshomaru?" Her voice was barely a whisper, but Sesshomaru heard it clearly over the popping wood. He turned toward her to see her eyes reddened from holding back tears.
He blinked in confusion. "What?"
She choked back tears before jumping up into his lap to wrap her arms around his neck, burrowing her face against his chest. "Oh… Lord…Sesshomaru!" The sobs seemed impossible to hold back as Sesshomaru remained motionless, rooted with confusion as his tunic grew moist from her tears.
"Rin. I had no intention of upsetting you."
She pushed away from him and seemed to force the words from her chest. "Will you leave me too?" Her face shone in the firelight as she started to hiccup from the sobs. Sesshomaru decided that he hated seeing her like this. It was as though someone had placed a curtain before the sun, and suddenly the forest seemed much darker and colder than it had before. Somehow, he in his foolishness had reduced this shining, innocent child into hiccups and tears.
"Surely, Rin, you know that I would never leave you." He pushed aside some of the tiny black curls that seemed determined to cling to her face. "I don't believe I am capable of it." The honesty nearly hurt him.
She sniffled loudly, "Do you really mean it, Lord Sesshomaru?"
He inclined his head, feeling a small earnest smile forming on his lips. She hugged him tightly, still clinging to his neck, her tiny heart beating as determinedly as ever. The fire seemed to find it safe enough to continue devouring the wood as one of the logs collapsed.
Fin