A/N: He he he so I'm trying really hard to finish this one, I promise!

Goodbye is for Tomorrow

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru inclined his head toward the girl. "Hn? What is it?"

She plucked at the grass shyly "I was wondering, if I died one day, would you always remember me?"

She didn't see the surprise register on his face. He quickly quashed the emotion. "Don't talk about such silly things," He said with false offhandedness. He thought for a moment what a human life meant. How long had Rin been following him? A year? Perhaps two? For him, it was nothing, a blink of an eye, and her lifetime, compared to his was just a short season that passed just as quickly as from summer to fall.

And yet…

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Sesshomaru's eyes rose to see the girl running over the peak of the hill, an irritated looking half demon and a miko holding a strange looking umbrella above her head to stave of the onslaught of rain that had been continuing for almost three days.

The corners of Sesshomaru's lips tilted up slightly in a rare display of happiness. My, how she had grown; he had only seen her rarely in the last two years, and now that she was eighteen years old, she mad matured into a woman. Sesshomaru had always been mildly fascinated with the rapid rate at which humans grew and then just as fast, withered away. Withered away? His Rin too, would one day wither and finally die.

Rin laughed mirthfully as she threw herself onto Sesshomaru, her arms wrapping around him, Inuyasha, Kagome, and Sesshomaru himself stood rooted to the spot with shock plain on their faces. Sesshomaru was the first to recover from the initial surprise. He placed a hand on top of her head as she looked up at him happily.

"Rin, I assume you're in good health?"

Rin smiled widely. "Of course! Inuyasha and Kagome have been wonderful hosts!" Rin suppressed the urge to laugh as her master and Inuyasha locked eyes for a minute and glared.

Kagome was the first to break the tense silence that had quickly gone from brotherly rivalry to an uncomfortable silence, during which the brothers tried to stare one another into submission. "Well let's not stand in the rain any more than necessary. Sesshomaru, wouldn't you come down to the village?"

Sesshomaru shook his head, much to Rin's chagrin. "I must be leaving right away."

Rin pulled away from him. He had said! He had said that when she was an adult, then he would come for her. Perhaps he had forgotten.

"Rin, will you be coming?" He asked then. He hadn't forgotten! "If you wish, you may stay in the human village."

Rin shook her head immediately. "No, I wish to stay with Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru nodded curtly, and then in his usual fashion, turned immediately to leave. Of course, Rin, by now, was accustomed to this, and had not assumed that two years would change this habit in him.

Kagome had also remembered this habit and handed Rin the pack she had prior prepared for her.

Rin accepted the package. "Oh Kagome, you've been kind enough to me already, you didn't need to do this." She truly did feel badly for just leaving Kagome and Inuyasha after all that they had done for her. She felt as though she owed them for everything, and was repaying them by leaving.

Kagome shook her head. "Think nothing of it Rin. Just know that you always have a place here, right, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah, course." Inuyasha relied quietly, never having been one for goodbyes.

Rin noticed that Sesshomaru was beginning to get quite far away, and turned to follow. "Thank you for everything! Goodbye Kagome, goodbye Inuyasha!" she yelled over her shoulder as she ran to catch up with Sesshomaru.

When she finally caught up to him, she walked by his side, noticing for the first time how much she had grown. She remembered that once, when she had been young, she had been running to keep up with Sesshomaru and had tripped. She had reached out and caught hold of the end of Sesshomaru's sleeve to steady herself. Now she stood as tall as his shoulder. Had it really been that long? Almost ten years since her Lord had revived her, and brought her out of the misery she had known living among humans.

Sesshomaru cast her a curious sideways glance after feeling her gaze on him. "What is it, Rin?"

Rin snapped back to reality at the mention of her name. "Oh, ah, nothing, my Lord. It's just, I noticed that I've gotten much taller since I last saw you."

He nodded. "You've changed so much."

"And you've stayed exactly the same."

Sesshomaru blinked and looked at her quizzically. "Did you expect something else? I am a demon."

"I know," she said, embarrassed, "It's just, I can't help but notice these things, sometimes."

"You should be happy you're not so small anymore," he said, offhandedly.

Rin gave him a flat look. "I'm still smaller than you."

"It would be upsetting if you weren't," he replied coolly.

Rin rolled her eyes. And walked ahead of Sesshomaru, looking up into the grey sky, the rain pelting her face. She felt a tugging on her hair, and turned to see Sesshomaru grasping a lock of her hair.

"Your hair has gotten to be so long," he started, mostly to himself.

"I always admired Lord Sesshomaru's hair as a child."

"You've certainly grown it to match mine in length," He said nonchalantly.

Rin said nothing, but turned her attention to the pack Kagome had given her in order to hide her blushing face from Sesshomaru. How silly, she had no reason to blush. She pulled a strange looking umbrella from within the pack, and opened it, falling back into step beside Sesshomaru so that he could be under the Umbrella too.

Sesshomaru eyed the strange thing suspiciously. "Don't be silly Rin, I'm not so weak as to be affected by rain," he said irritated.

"Staying dry is not silly, Lord Sesshomaru. It's just common sense."

If it was anyone else, Sesshomaru would have reminded them to watch their tongue, but instead he just teasingly tugged the girl's long hair. "Perhaps keeping your hair so long was not such a good idea, if you're not careful, it gets caught on things."

"It appears that you have picked up some of my childish habits, my Lord," she said as evenly as if she was speaking of the weather.

Sesshomaru was aghast. Surely this could not be his Rin, could it? He smiled in spite of himself, much to Rin's delight.

"Perhaps leaving you in the care of that Miko was not the best idea. Surely you didn't learn such things from my half-witted brother. I hope a silver tongue isn't the only thing that you were taught?"

"Of course not!" she replied indignantly. "Among other things, I have become quite the archer," she said, proudly brandishing the short bow she had retrieved from the pack, balancing the bag in the same arm she held the umbrella with

"Oh?" Sesshomaru asked? "I thought that you would have been instructed in another weapon.

Rin sighed, immediately sounding defeated. "I thought I would be too, but Inuyasha refused to teach me how to wield a sword. He said he was a terrible teacher."

Sesshomaru nodded. "Undoubtedly." They remained together in companionable silence as they walked for a long while before Sesshomaru spoke. "I will teach you."

"Really?" Rin exclaimed, turning to him quickly, accidentally hitting him with the umbrella. She looked on, aghast that she had hit Sesshomaru. "Ah, I'm so sorry, my Lord!"

Sesshomaru looked at her unimpressed. "Yes, really, we will begin your instruction as soon as we arrive at the western palace."

Rin smiled hugely, and Sesshomaru, for some inexplicable reason, began to feel happy himself. "Oh thank you, Lord Sesshomaru!" she said excitedly

"Think nothing of it, just try to avoid hitting me with the umbrella every time you become happy," he said evenly, taking silent pleasure in seeing Rin's face color red.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, embarrassed, ducking her head.

He took the Umbrella from her hand and held it over the two of them, causing Rin to turn a deeper shade of crimson.

Maybe this was his Rin after all.