"You let me in one minute, and the next you push me away. What is with you?" she begged, her eyes pleading with the golden orbs to offer some sort of emotion.
They remained lifeless. Untouchable.
His eyes closed, and a quiet sigh broke his silence.
They were at his home in the living room-and had just left from a party at his family's house. She was twenty-two and he was twenty-four years old, and they had been friends for years. Yet, she always felt that he had kept a piece-a very significant part of him-of himself hidden from her and the rest of the world. They had met at the ages of ten and twelve, just about the age he was when his father remarried. He had changed drastically into someone more cold and fragmented.
She did not know of the past that tormented him. She could never know.
Rin put her hands on the sides of her hips in agitation.
"I mean, you can open up to Kagura every time she asks you a question. But me, never. Why? I don't get it!"
He put a hand against his forehead in exasperation.
"Rin...I...I can't. Please...just...stop."
Her eyes widened in surprise, then in shock as his mighty shoulders began to shake.
The weight of his burden was crushing his chest. Years of abuse, torment, and agony hit him all at once.
"W-what's wrong? S-sesshomaru? H-hey!"
She caught him as he fell forwards. With her arms wrapped tightly around him, she murmured comforts in his ear.
"Hey, what's wrong? Sess? It's okay. It's just me, Rin."
His arms gripped her back tightly in the midst of his grief.
"I...am not used...to trusting people...Rin..." his voice, strangled by the lump in his throat, croaked out. "My biological mother...put me through hell. My peers in school...put me through hell. I grew up trusting no one. And when my father remarried, and finally brought me to his home, where I saw that all this time, my brother had received special treatment since birth, it drove me to the edge. I grew up keeping to myself. I have been keeping to myself for years. Can you understand...why, this is so hard? To open up to you? Sharing my innermost thoughts?"
She felt his tears against her skin. "I'm so sorry...I had no idea..." she murmured. "It's just...I see you suffering...and I cannot do anything about it. I sit and I watch you just sink further and further into a mental abyss. Remember that I will always be here for you if you need me."
She placed her hands gently on the side of his face. Bringing his head up from her shoulder, she looked him gently in the eyes. "Believe in me when I say I will and am always here for you."
His eyes widened, wrought of emotion. "Why..."
He was not comfortable in letting his emotions control his body. Emotions were meant to be packed away. They left you vulnerable to the world. One must be strong. Unconquerable. Emotionless.
Or so he thought.
She smiled. "Because I...love...you." Gently stroking the planes of his face, she leaned in closer. "And I want to be there to catch you when you fall, and love you until the end of my days. I love who you are, Sess. Even the parts that you think I can't see. It wasn't your fault for your mother's bitterness. It was hers. The important thing now is that we move on-together-and focus on the family that loves you no matter what."
His eyes remained wide in fear and vulnerability. "Say it again."
"Again? Sess-"
Lips met hers in a heated, loving kiss.
"I love you, " he breathed against her mouth. "It has taken me so long to realize it..."
She smiled in response. "And I love you."
For once in his life, he felt whole with the one he loved truly at his side.