This is my first Sesshomaru and Rin Fanfic. I hope you like it, constructive critisim if apperciated, but please no flames! R&R
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, if I did, the last chapter of the manga would have been mindless Sesshomaru Rin fluff.
I was awoken by the smell of warm, food. Keade, the old miko who had taken me in since I came to live here sat at the fire in the middle of our small hut. She moved the food from the flames, extinguishing them with a quick flick of her wrist that sent ashes from fires past into the very send to the fire to snuff out the flames, leaving only embers of a ounce bright flame. She swiftly placed a kettle of tea atop the small mound of ashes, so that it may warm over the dying embers of the extinguished fire.
Noticing that I was awake, Keade smiled at me from across the hut, and continued to dish out the breakfast which she had prepared. Handing me a bowl, she settled herself down against the opposite wall of the small room and regarded me with calculating eyes.
"Rin, today is your sixteenth birthday, is it not?" Keade asked me, obviously ready to make some point from that fact.
"Yes Keade-sama. What of it?" I didn't like where this was going. If my intuition was correct, then she would undoubtedly want to convince me to marry some young boy in the village. She was phenomenal in her attempts to force a normal human life on me. As if that's what I wanted.
"Young Woman at your age should start thinking about marriage, it won't belong until you are considered an old-maid." Keade Finished, stirring her rice soup, oblivious to my flinch at her words. An old-maid. Had time really passed that fast. It seemed only yesterday that I was traveling with Sesshomaru-sama, that is, until he left me here, under the old woman's request. She was convinced that I did not belong with demons. She told him that I needed to learn how to live in a human village so that I could make my choice someday, and he agreed. I was only eight at the time.
She told him that this was all so that I would be able to make a wise decision regarding where I wished to live. But what choice do I have, when will they leave it up to me. I have lived in this village for eight years. I have learned well enough what it is like to live with humans. They all say that this is where I belong. Is it? Where is it that I truly belong? Or do I belong nowhere at all.
Confused by my silence, Keade looked up at me from across the embers that she was warming the tea over, and regarded me with knowing eyes. She knew how I felt about Sesshomaru-sama, and my thoughts on staying here. She seemed to be dead set against me living with Sesshomaru-sama and Jaken, as I had when I was a young child.
"Rin, you are human." Keade stated, breaking the silence that hung in the air like a crushing weight. "You will age, and you will die. Sesshomaru will not. He will live, untouched by time, and he will watch you wither away, until time finally deals it's fatal blow. You will both suffer if you stay with him. You will grow to resent every fleeting moment, for it brings you closer to your death, and he will be destroyed by the sheer fact that, in the end, he could not save you from the one foe that threatens to harm you the most. Time….It is far better for you and him both if you move on now. Do not make the same mistake that I have watched others such as yourself make." Keade drawled, voicing all my fears at one time. We sat in silence, until Kagome ducked through the small opening to our hut.
"Sorry to barge in like this, but I need Rin to help me collect some herbs." Kagome rambled, glancing between Keade and myself, she could tell that something had happened, but she didn't quite know what.
"that is all right Kagome, Rin will be happy to help." She answered, her eyes never leaving mine. Shaking slightly, I stood and followed Kagome to the herb garden that grew a few miles from the village. Silently I set to work plucking herbs and tossing then into the basket that I had been given. Hours passed, and all the while, my mind kept spinning around what Keade had said to me back at the hut. Regardless of all that she's said, true or not, it was still possible to be happy as a human, living with demons, wasn't it? Perhaps Kagome would be a better judge in this area, having seen so much more of the world in her life regarding the relationship between humans and demons than either Keade or myself.
I looked at Kagome, who sat picking herbs no more than two feet away from me. She looked up at me and smiled. I quickly gazed down at my hands. I wanted to ask her, but I was afraid of the answer I might receive.
"Rin-chan, is something wrong?" She asked, eyeing me with suspicion, causing me to jump slightly at the sudden noise. She can always tell, when something is on my mind. Though, perhaps my unusual silence is what gave me away. Either way, I shook my head and pretend to focus on the bundle of grass clutched in my hands. With a sigh, she rose to her full height, balancing the basket of herbs on her hip, and looked down at me.
"Rin, I think we have enough boneset* for now, maybe we can take a break, Hm?" I nodded, hopping that she couldn't see into my basket. I have never been any good with herbs, they all look the same. So I just tossed random grasses that looked similar to the ones Kagome was picking in the basket and hoped that they were the right ones. We started walking down the trail that lead through Inuyasha's forest. As we came to the bone-eater's well, Kagome stopped and seated herself on the edge of the well's dilapidated wood. Not trusting it to stand our combined weight I settled myself in the grass and started plucking strands at random.
"Ya'know, I think that I heard Inuyasha say that Sesshomaru is going to be coming to visit you soon." Kagome mentioned, causing a sad smile to grace my lips. Perhaps she already knew what was on my mind, by the look I was receiving from her, I'd say that she knew she's hit the nail on the head. Looking for the proper way to phrase my question, I remembered the stories that Kagome had told me about her family, and the world, beyond the well. Maybe she would understand.
"Do you ever miss it?" I asked, before I could change my mind.
"Hm? Miss what?" She asked, sounding completely caught off guard.
"Your world beyond the well." I asked, understanding flickered across her face as she nodded sadly, before smiling happily at me.
"Yes, but this is where I belong." She replied. Looking at her in confusion, I decided to ask the question that had been bothering me for a while now.
"How do you know? How do you know this is where you belong?" She seemed to have to take some time to think this over, but finally decided on an appropriate answer.
"Well, this is where I feel most like myself. Don't get me wrong. I love my family, but this is where my heart is. I guess that's how you know. Where ever your heart is, that's where you belong." she finished, looking very pleased with herself.
"But what if everyone is telling you that you belong somewhere else? What if you're the only one who believes that you belong where your heart is?" I murmured, remembering Keade's words from this morning.
"Is this about Sesshomaru?" She asked, although we both knew that she could answer that one herself. "Did Keade say something to you?"
"It's not just her!" I yelled, my fists colliding with the dirt. "It's everyone! Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, Jaken, even Sesshomaru-sama! They all tell me that I belong with my own kind! And yet T\they all tell me that when the time comes, that I can chose with whom I wish to stay! But when? When do I get to chose? I am Human. My time is so short compared to Sesshomaru-sama's. And the longer I stay here, the less time I'll have with him. I'm already sixteen! I was eight when he left. These visits from him are not enough. I need to be with him! While I still have time." I finished in a whisper. My eyes stung as I looked away from Kagome's stunned face. 'She must think I'm stupid.' That was what I thought. The last thing I expected was for her arms to wrap around me I a vice like hug.
"Oh Rin!" She cried, tears leaking out of her eyes. "I had no idea!" we sat there for a moment, and when she felt that she had sufficed in squeezing the last bit of air from my lungs, she drew back and held me at arms length. "It doesn't matter what anyone says! You know where you belong. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise! It doesn't matter where fate placed you. Sometimes fate makes mistakes, only to right them later in a person's life!" She finished, tears still leaking from her eyes. It was then that I realized that I had been crying as well…perhaps sobbing was a more appropriate term to use. I felt foolish for getting so worked up over something so simple. But these emotions had been bottled up inside me for the past eight years and were finally able to come out. It felt good to share them with someone. Hiccupping, I wiped the sleeve of my kimono across my face to erase all proof of my embarrassing break down. Composing myself, I stood and helped Kagome up from the ground. As we made our way back to the village Kagome looked at me and smiled once more.
"I'll talk to Keade-sama tonight, Rin. I think it's time that you be allowed to make your decision." Smiling at Kagome, I nodded and turned my attention to the sky. Above the clouds was a small streak of sliver, that could only mean one thing.
"Guess Sesshomaru is here too, this is perfect, huh Rin?"
"Yeah, Perfect." I said breathlessly. If thing went my way, then I may be traveling with Sesshomaru-sama by this time the next day.
Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be out soon, and will be longer! Thanks so much!
Ooohhhhh, look is that a button I see below? Wow, common, press it, you know you want to! If you do you get a kitty!
( =^_^=)
"Meow!"