A/N: This story will be a 3-shot! It was only going to be a 1-shot, but I decided I wanted to write more.

Butterfly Kisses

Nighttime suited him best. It was quietest then, and the starry sky was full of a peaceful majesty that made one inherently aware of the great power within the ever-expansive universe. His servant, Jaken, had fallen asleep, as had the human child who'd decided to follow him. They rested on opposite sides of the two-headed dragon, Jaken clearly not fond of the girl's presence.

It bothered Sesshomaru little. She evidently had nowhere else to go and no one to look after her if she'd been wandering about in the forest, offering food to an injured demon with such blatant disregard for her safety. Her bruises told him she wasn't welcomed in the village she came from. Perhaps she would find a more hospitable one when she grew tired of traveling.

In the meantime, there was no sense it insisting she stay behind. Whether he'd actually cared to save her or not, the Tenseiga had compelled him to do so. Though he still questioned why Father had left him such a pointless sword, wasting its power did not suit him, and the child would surely meet another gruesome end if left to fend for herself.

He glanced over his shoulder when he heard noises of distress that did not come from his servant. The girl was restless, her brow creased in distress as she clearly suffered from a bad dream. Humans were such strange creatures to be bothered by mere images conjured by the mind.

He went to her, kneeling quietly at her side and watching the expressions on her face grow more tormented. She made the most pitiful sounds, and he wondered if she was dreaming about the wolves who had killed her. She had otherwise seemed oddly fearless for a human child.

He reached out a hand to touch her, and she shot up with a shout of fright, flailing her arms in a panicked attempt to get away from whatever she believed was going to harm her. It was when he held her shoulders as he had when he'd revived her that she stopped her struggle, turning her large, startled eyes to him. She appeared close to tears, but he saw the fear slowly give way to relief.

"There's no need to be afraid."

Her body shivered as she came back to reality, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Is it the wolves that you fear?"

She hesitated, then gave a timid nod.

"It was a dream. Nothing more."

Sesshomaru didn't expect her to turn and bury her face into his arm. He should have been repulsed, but he only felt uncertain.

"What's the meaning of this?" he asked, knowing she wouldn't (or rather couldn't) respond.

He felt her take deep breaths to calm herself, and her shivering slowed until it stopped altogether. If she was regaining her composure, she should be able to return to resting.

As a demon who'd left countless dead bodies behind him, it was odd to realize that he was a comforting presence for the child. Part of him wanted to push her away, to tell her that she was being foolish and she needed to get back to sleep. Yet, Sesshomaru had nothing if not patience. Anything less was unbecoming of a Lord. And so, he let her take her time to recover from her nightmare.

When she lifted her head, her lips formed a small, grateful smile.

"Better?"

She nodded once more, sure of herself this time.

"Good. Then you should try again to rest."

Taking the hint, she moved away from him and settled back against the dragon. She kept her eyes on Sesshomaru, and he watched her until her eyelids fell closed, and she returned to peaceful slumber. Sure she would not reawaken, he stood and made himself comfortable against the trunk of a large tree. He didn't tire as quickly as Jaken and the child did, so he returned his sights to the night sky as he went back to his previous ponderings.

X-X-X

Her voice returned, much to Sesshomaru's amazement. The girl was quite resilient despite all she'd clearly been through. They learned that her name was Rin, and that her parents had been brutally murdered by bandits, leaving her an orphan. He'd thought that perhaps they'd become food for demons, however he supposed the truth made more sense since she wasn't afraid of him or the dragon she'd come to call A-Un.

Rin's bad dreams did not cease after that first night, though they lessened in severity. They were not frequent, but he noticed they usually occurred in his absence. He would often return to her and Jaken after they'd settled down for the night only to find her restless again.

Since he knew how to calm her, it seemed pointless not to. Each time he found her in distressing dreams, he went to her as he did the first time. She no longer reacted so reflexively when woken, and instead, woke with a sleepy, "Thank you."

It was a simple task to ease her worries, which were growing less prevalent all the time. It wasn't until they ran into the wolf demon and his pack that Rin regressed, having a nightmare akin to that first one. It took more coaxing to wake her from it, and she came to with a start.

"Lord Sesshomaru… I know it was just a dream, but it was terrible. I… I thought I…"

She looked at her hands, as if she expected them not to be there. Immediately, he understood.

"You're safe, Rin. Those filthy wolves won't bother you anymore."

"I know… I have you to look after me now."

It had not been Sesshomaru's intention to take on such a responsibility, and for the most part, he avoided having to do so. She wasn't a nuisance if she didn't follow him into danger, and she obeyed his commands to stay put without protest. While he was gone, she was perfectly able to fend for herself. She had managed to get herself into some precarious situations regardless, though it was effortless for him to step in on her behalf.

He was brought from his thoughts when Rin leaned forward and pressed her lips against his cheek before wrapping her arms around him.

"I love you, Lord Sesshomaru."

He blinked, not seeing the tree in front of him as he tried to process her gesture of affection and the words that accompanied it. He glanced down at the head of black hair that rested in the crook of his shoulder, thinking that he should pull her away, but unable to make himself perform the action.

As quickly as it happened, she pulled back and stretched with a wide yawn and an even wider smile before she returned to lying on her side.

"Well, goodnight," she said.

He couldn't say a word for several long moments, so he just watched her settle back in to sleep.

"Goodnight, Rin," he replied at last.

It was unlike him to be so caught off guard, and he didn't desire to give it any further thought. Fortunately for Sesshomaru, his search for Naraku kept him sufficiently distracted from contemplating the girl and the unsettling effect she had on him.

When he protected her, it was only because he could, not that he needed to. At least, that's what he'd been telling himself since he'd restored the breath to her body with the power of the Tenseiga.

He had begun to recognize his own excuses for saving her, as somewhere in his consciousness, he realized that he genuinely did not want any harm to befall Rin. She provided him with simple amusement, and anymore it seemed that her childish innocence had provided a salve for his soul that he hadn't known he needed. He'd become more tolerant, particularly when it came to Jaken, and his priorities had seemed to shift. Though, he wondered if the latter was because he'd largely resigned himself to the fact that he was not meant to wield the Tessaiga, no matter how desperately he coveted it.

When the sword Sounga resurfaced, so did Sesshomaru's resentment toward his father for leaving him the Tenseiga in the first place. Over and over, he asked himself, why?

He recalled Father's final question.

"Have you someone to protect?"

He hadn't. He didn't. Did he?

The three-way battle between himself, his half-breed brother, and the sword Sounga forced the question back into his awareness, only this time, he couldn't dispel it. It haunted him, and as Inuyasha attacked with the Backlash Wave, Sesshomaru looked to the barrier produced by Tessaiga's sheath under which Jaken, Rin, and Inuyasha's friends took refuge.

He couldn't have cared less for Inuyasha's friends. However he remembered all the times Rin and Jaken had called out to him—recalled their concern, their loyalty, and their dependence on him.

Not too long ago, even Jaken's life had hardly mattered to Sesshomaru. Had Rin really changed Sesshomaru that much? Did he really have a heart? Was it his heart, and not Tenseiga, that constantly called him to aid Jaken and the girl?

What a disgrace he had become.

"I, Sesshomaru, have no one to protect!" he answered his father again as he let loose Toukijin's Dragon Strike.

Yet he did not rid himself of his companions. He said nothing as they followed him from the battlefield, thankfully unharmed.

Sesshomaru ignored Jaken's ramblings, and even Rin's quick banter, as he replaced his focus back on the search for Naraku. But Rin, of course, served as the ever-present door to those thoughts he'd rather leave in the dark.

As Jaken gathered kindling for the fire that night, Rin sat down beside her Lord, a closeness he'd not gotten used to.

"Thank you for saving us today. Or I guess…any day really."

He chose not to answer, truthfully not having one.

"The whole time I was with Kagome, I kept telling her you would come to save us, and you did! Just like you always do!"

He gave a huff of denial, but he couldn't flat out tell her he wouldn't save her. He could lie to himself, but he couldn't lie to her. He couldn't hurt her feelings.

When had he started caring about her feelings? What a bother…

"I used to be afraid, but you know what? I'm not afraid anymore. You're the strongest demon ever, and you'll always come for me. You're my hero, Lord Sesshomaru."

For the second time, he was startled by the fleeting press of her lips like the wings of a butterfly against his cheek.

He had no way to respond when she followed it up with a wide-armed embrace, tucking her head beneath his chin.

Her previous affections jumped back into his awareness, and he lined the pieces up side-by-side in his mind.

He was Rin's hero, and she loved him.

Sesshomaru closed his eyes against the beautiful pain in his chest, so unfamiliar that he wanted to run from it; and yet he wanted to be nowhere else in that moment, held in the tiny arms of a child whose world revolved around him.

He lifted his hand, hesitated, then gave in, reaching over to place it on her shoulder, awkwardly returning her embrace in the only way he was able. He both enjoyed and hated the way it made him feel, and he cursed his father once more, for surely this weakness toward humans was inherited.

No other words were exchanged, and she thankfully left him when they heard Jaken returning. As they prepared their supper, Sesshomaru watched, visibly indifferent, but internally shaken as he tried again to process what he was thinking and feeling. He forced sleep he didn't actually need just to escape it, and he was grateful to return to the task of searching for Naraku the following morning.

X-X-X

He'd changed long before that night, but it seemed his metamorphosis was still incomplete. Though he could push the memories aside, they never fully left his awareness. A human child, the most innocent of creatures, had come to see him as a savior rather than a cold-blooded, power-hungry monster. Her image of him was so persistent that he'd been slowly transforming into the protector she wished for him to be. It wasn't long before he forgot what it was like not to feel.

It was only because of Rin's fear of bandits that he chose to slaughter them, not because he desired to save the worthless humans within that little village. And yet, when boldly attacked by monks, he couldn't bring himself to harm them. Where had the ruthless Sesshomaru gone, he wondered?

He'd come to find the girl's distress intolerable, and it was amazing that after hundreds of years, he'd finally learned what sympathy felt like. It was painful in a way in which physical pain could not compare.

Yet, a child should not follow a demon. So why did he allow her to do so? Why did the thought of leaving her in a human village cause protest within the heart he hadn't known he possessed?

Rin trusted demons far more than she trusted humans. It was understandable after the death of her family and the way she'd been treated by the villagers when he'd found her. Still, when she was rescued from Ongukuki by the same monks that had tried and failed to subdue him a few days prior, Sesshomaru couldn't help but wonder if the monks were right.

She was better off with humans, wasn't she? Wouldn't she be safer than she was traveling with him? Though those pathetic villagers couldn't even protect themselves, leaving Sesshomaru to deal with the wretched bandits that raided their village.

Rin didn't want to go with them, did she?

"You let me go, mister! Just you wait, Lord Sesshomaru will come for me!"

"Lord Sesshomaru you say?"

She was asking him to live up to her expectations once more, to protect her when there was no one else who could. Should he let the monk take her? Even if it would leave a hole in his own heart and hers to do so?

"I never want to go back to a village to live with humans! Lord Sesshomaru, please help me!"

"I love you, Lord Sesshomaru. You're my hero."

No. It would hurt Rin far too much. She'd already lost her family. There was a time when Sesshomaru had been a heartless wretch, and leaving her behind wouldn't have bothered him in the slightest. Now, though, he couldn't bear the thought of abandoning her.

"Lord Sesshomaru, you came!"

The difference in the tone with which she addressed him as opposed to the monk reminded him of her displays of affection, from her butterfly kisses, to all the flowers she'd given him over these last several months. The poor child would never be content in his absence.

He had no opportunity to ask the monks to leave her be before they attempted to subdue him with their pathetic spells. And there those cretins were, showing their blatant hypocrisy with their unprovoked attacks while lecturing others on the unholiness of demons.

It wasn't surprising that Rin chose to continue following him, the monks not having succeeded in talking sense into the child. Indeed, he still wondered if they were right, and she was better off without him, especially when she asked that question.

"If I died one day, I was wondering… Would you… Would you always remember me?"

The memory of her lifeless corpse resurfaced without warning, and he was reminded that Rin was still mortal despite her decision to stay by his side.

Of course he would remember her, the child that had changed him, but he did not wish to think of her death, natural or otherwise.

He looked away.

"Don't say such silly things."

But, not too long after the boy Kohaku began traveling with them, Rin was taken from him once more—in a test from his parents to strengthen Tenseiga no less.

"Wait, Sesshomaru! You intend to take the path to the underworld. For what? To save two human children?" insisted his mother. "You have never been prone to such foolishness."

"Nor am I prone to it now, mother," he fired back before leaping into the Meido Zangetsuha.

It was she who was the fool if she thought he would be trapped by something so trivial. He had the Tenseiga after all, and with it, he was master over death. He made quick work of the Hell hound, and he was confident that Rin would be fine since Kohaku appeared to be unharmed. What a pathetic test. He'd retrieved her and the boy, and he would complete the Meido Zangetsuha.

"Lord Sesshomaru," said Kohaku. "It's Rin… I don't think she's breathing."

He stopped cold, his confidence waning as a sudden wave of fear overtook him.

"…You're sure Rin is dead?"

"She isn't breathing, and I can feel her body getting colder and colder."

"Very well. Set her down," he said, removing the Tenseiga and calling on its healing powers. They did not come, and the fear began to grow.

'What is the meaning of this? Where are the minions of the underworld?' He begged the sword to carry out his will, but it did not respond. 'Why, Tenseiga? Answer me!'

Sesshomaru hardly heard Kohaku's apology, nor did it matter. Rin was not Kohaku's responsibility, she was Sesshomaru's. He never should have brought her with him. When he summoned Rin back from the netherworld after she was killed by wolves, he should have left her in a human village. Perhaps her life would have been spared. Or perhaps he might not have cared if she perished.

He recalled the feel of her lips on his cheek, the sweetest feeling he'd ever known. He wouldn't give up on her, not even as she was taken by the shadows. When his mother gave him a chance to escape the underworld, he couldn't take it. Rin's scent was still fresh. Perhaps if he destroyed the guardian of the underworld, he could retrieve the life it had stolen from her.

"You're my hero, Lord Sesshomaru."

'I'm coming for you, Rin,' he promised, pleading irrationally and praying that she would be okay.

He hoped beyond hope despite his desperation that cutting down the guardian would be enough as he scooped the child into his protective arm. At last, she was returned to him, but she was still so cold.

"Please Rin. You're safe now. Wake up."

Her body didn't stir, and the seconds that elapsed felt like an eternity. He prayed—prayed for her eyes to miraculously open as they had once before, and yet he could not fight the despair that was settling quickly in his chest, making him feel sick with what could only be called grief.

'She cannot be saved…?'

He let go of the now useless Tenseiga.

'I cannot save her?'

"I love you, Lord Sesshomaru."

'Tenseiga. I let her die…for something like this? Nothing I could have gained was worth losing her! Nothing at all!'

"Tell me, Sesshomaru. Have you someone to protect?"

'I did. I failed her.'

What was death to a demon that lived lifetimes unless cut down by someone stronger? There was none stronger than Sesshomaru, and thus death was not something he'd ever feared. Who would have thought that the death of another would be a far greater threat?

In that moment, he understood why his father had ignored his own wounds in order to save Izayoi. Sesshomaru would have gladly traded his own life for Rin's. He was a demon who had been responsible for much bloodshed, but such an innocent child had done nothing to deserve a premature demise. Was that the price of trying to cheat death with the power of the Tenseiga?

'I love you too, Rin. I'm sorry.'

It was the least he could do, saving those wretched souls after failing to save Rin's. In honor of her, Sesshomaru chose to use the Tenseiga to spare them from an eternity in Hell. He did not shed tears as he opened another Meido Zangetsuha, holding her lifeless body close to him like the most precious treasure while the boy followed sullenly.

He laid her down, trying to separate himself from the pain of losing her with no success. Uncharacteristically, he couldn't keep the sadness from his countenance, and the taunting voice of his mother tempted him to displace her head from her shoulders for causing Rin's death.

"Did you know this would happen to Rin? Did you, Mother?" he demanded.

"If I'm not mistaken, you have already used Tenseiga to revive her once, have you not? Son, Tenseiga can only call a person back from the dead once."

Only once? So that was why it would not work for him in the underworld. Even Tenseiga had its limits.

"It only makes sense. Life is not supposed to be limitless after all. It's not something that can be renewed over and over for your own convenience. Sesshomaru, had you come to believe that you were a god perhaps? That you did not need to fear death as long as Tenseiga was in your hands? You needed to learn two things; the desire to save the life of a loved one taken by death, and the sorrow and fear that accompanies that loss."

Sorrow and fear. To teach him a lesson? To make him stronger? It wasn't worth it. None of it was worth it. Without Rin, his eternal existence looked so empty.

What a fool he'd become. She was mortal. She'd have died in the blink of an eye regardless. Then what? Each day spent with Rin only made him love that little girl more. Even a hundred years wouldn't have satisfied him.

"If I died one day, I was wondering… Would you… Would you always remember me?"

'Silly girl. How could I ever forget you?'

Jaken's tearful wailing reminded Sesshomaru that he would not be the only one affected by her death.

"Little demon, why are you crying?"

"The name's Jaken my lady. It's just that Lord Sesshomaru by his very nature will never shed tears, so I must cry in his stead."

"Is that how you feel, Sesshomaru?"

He might have killed her if he didn't think it would tarnish Rin's memory. She'd be ashamed of him for turning on his own mother, though it was her fault Rin was dead.

Did he see a flicker of regret in her eyes?

She shook her head with a sigh. "This is her last chance. You understand?" She removed the Meido stone from her neck and placed it on Rin, and Sesshomaru and the others watched as it began to glow.

"What is that?" asked Kohaku.

"It's the little girl's life which was left behind in the underworld."

Sesshomaru refused to have his emotions toyed with anymore. Rin was gone, and there was no bringing her back. If this was another trick—

Her eyes opened, and the breath was nearly stolen from him. Could it be?

"Rin!" said Kohaku.

"You're back," said Jaken.

Rin coughed, the air startling to her oxygen starved lungs. She was alive, and just like that, Sesshomaru's world had regained the light it had lost. He cupped her face in his hand, and she looked up at him in wonder, her tiny fingers finding his. He allowed himself to truly smile for the first time.

"Lord Sesshomaru, you're here."

"You're okay now, Rin."

"I am," she breathed, gazing up at him with a child's boundless love.

"Excuse me, my good lady," said Jaken. "Please allow me to thank you on Lord Sesshomaru's behalf."

"Is Sesshomaru happy that I've brought her back?"

"Very happy I presume."

Happy? Was that what he was feeling? Indeed, he felt so many things it was difficult to name even one. His little girl had been returned to him, and he vowed to let no harm befall her ever again.

She sat up, and he took the Meido stone from around her neck, setting it aside. Sesshomaru stroked her cheek with his thumb as her skin regained its rosy glow.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" she said, a look of slight confusion in her eyes. He wasn't his usual unexpressive self. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine now."

"You had to save me again… I'm sorry."

He shot a look at his mother. "It wasn't your fault." He signed. "I suppose if anything, it's mine."

He felt the warmth of her innocent kiss for the third time, understanding now what a blessing it was. He turned back to her.

"All that matters is that we're together, right Lord Sesshomaru?"

"Yes, that's right," he said, pulling her to him in the first embrace the Demon Lord Sesshomaru had ever initiated in his centuries among the living.

"All this fuss over a little human girl," his mother mused. "He's inherited one of his father's more unusual traits."

Perhaps, just maybe, his father hadn't been so foolish after all.

X-X-X

Sesshomaru kept Rin close from then on until they finally managed to defeat Naraku. The final battle brought them back to the village in which Inuyasha had been pinned to the tree more than fifty years ago, and for once, he sympathized with his brother who had lost the second human girl he'd fallen in love with.

It reminded Sesshomaru that he'd almost lost Rin for good, and he thought again about making her stay in the village. Inuyasha and his friends were there. They would never mistreat her the way her home village had. She would be safe. Besides, the old priestess Kaede was right: Rin needed to spend time around well-intentioned humans. Then she could make a much more informed decision about whether to continue following him as he set out on his mission to form an empire from the Western Lands his father had once reigned over.

Broaching the matter was difficult, and he hated the look of hurt and betrayal in her eyes when he suggested she stay.

"But…you said I could follow you if that's what I wanted."

"Rin."

"I don't want to stay behind, please Lord Sesshomaru! I-I'll learn how to fight! I'll get stronger so you don't have to protect me! I promise! Please don't leave me!"

Before that moment, he'd never been the reason for her tears. He hadn't realized how much they'd tear at his heart.

He knelt down before her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Look at me."

"Huh?"

"It's not that I don't want you with me. Perhaps I've been selfish, keeping you at my side. Now I must do what's best for you. Maybe one day you'll be better able to choose the life you want. In the meantime, you have friends here, and you'll be safe."

"But I…"

Sesshomaru pressed his lips to her forehead, a gesture she never expected from the standoffish demon lord.

"I almost lost you, Rin. Do you understand?" he murmured against her skin. "I promised to protect you."

He felt her shoulders slump. "Yes, I understand…" She leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.

"I love you, and I'm going to miss you, Lord Sesshomaru," she said through tears.

"And I love you, Rin."

Sesshomaru was no god. Even with the Tenseiga, he could not make the forces of life and death obey his every command. He'd come to understand that Tenseiga's value lie in respecting the finite rather than the infinite. Life wasn't about limitless power, it was about treasuring the little things that were special because they were fleeting.

Fleeting like the kiss she pressed to his cheek as they said their goodbyes.

"I'll visit you soon," he promised, Jaken joining them a moment later.

"What's this? We're not taking her with us?"

"She'll be fine here for the time being."

"A-are you sure, Milord?"

Sesshomaru turned from them before he broke his composure to betray the tears he felt behind his eyes for the first time in his existence.

"M-Milord…?" Jaken looked between the two of them, at a loss for words. His eyes settled on Rin, and he wasn't sure how to respond to her silent tears.

"It's okay, Master Jaken. I'll be alright," she said with a small smile. "You'd better hurry, or you'll get left behind."

"I…suppose so… I guess this is…goodbye?"

Rin nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

Sesshomaru was lost in the silence, each step further more difficult to take. It was Jaken who finally lost his composure for the both of them.

"Awe Master Jaken, I'll miss you," she said, hugging the little toad-like demon.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll miss you too, Rin! As will Lord Sesshomaru, I am sure of it!"

"Jaken."

"Yes, Milord! I'm coming…"

Sesshomaru had stopped to wait. Jaken looked up at him with timid uncertainty, seeing the sadness in his Lord's face.

"L-Lord Sesshomaru…?"

"Hang on, Jaken."

Jaken smartly said no more as he grabbed onto Sesshomaru's Mokomoko. If walking away was that difficult, then he would fly, knowing the wind would carry him back soon enough. The quicker he took his leave, the quicker he could return.

As the air tickled his skin, the bright orange of a monarch butterfly caught his eye. He watched it flutter in sporadic patterns, and he touched the tips of his fingers to his face.

It had been fleeting, yes, but it wouldn't be the last. Rin, his precious little girl, was in good hands, and she would be waiting with plenty more hugs and kisses to carry him through the days until next they would meet.