Disbelief and Discovery

Kagome glared fiercely at her companion, disbelieving in the callous words. "Of course he's coming back for her! She's a child!"

"Look, I don't like it either, but we might have an addition to the group if he doesn't come back soon." Inuyasha returned. "Sesshomaru ain't got a heart."

Curled in Kagome's sleeping bag and still pretending to be asleep, Rin trembled, mouth screwed upward. Lord Sesshomaru didn't have a heart? Who was to say?

Through fluttering lashes, she glimpsed Inuyasha. He stood tall, proud, and stern; but what radiated plainly were his family's trademarks of gold and silver.

He could say plenty more than she could ever hope to claim.

--

Sesshomaru suppressed his first instinct to back away. Rin was acting strangely. First she was avoidant of him all morning, as if he were a diseased leper and she didn't know what to make of him. He'd returned for her hadn't he? Now, she avidly closed the distance between them.

Rin finally stopped trying to be considerate of Sesshomaru's personal space. She threw herself at him -- never doubting that he would catch her.

When his remaining arm firmly cradled her before she impaled herself on his armored spikes, Sesshomaru stifled an annoyed growl. Was she testing him? To see if he would protect her? When had Rin ever needed proof?

His evaluation changed when he saw that the purpose was simply to get closer to his person. Close enough that she could firmly press an ear against his chest.

Sesshomaru's puzzlement multiplied tenfold when he noticed that Rin smiled, nodding like a swordsmith who'd heard the desired ring of a tempered blade.

"It's there," she pronounced; then, with a happy little hop she bounded out of an unusually perplexed Sesshomaru's grasp to go about her day in peace.