Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha in any way not even in my wildest dreams. It belongs to the awesome Rumiko Takahashi. Thank you for being my daily source of inspiration.
A/N: Hello everyone! After being away for several years, I am back at ff .net! I hope you enjoy my stories and don't hesitate to hit me up. Since I don't have a beta reader and my mother tongue is not English you may find errors in the way despite my best efforts to correct them all. If you do find, you already know the drill! Please review, your feedback is everything to me! Further than that, I will do my best to update each chapter as soon as possible! See you soon! Much love, Aly!
"He is the thought behind the feeling,
the swelling in my chest;
the starlight in the evening,
the yearning when I undress.
He is the sound behind the sighing,
the song of every bird;
the tears in all my crying -
the ache in every word."
- Lang Leav
Find beauty in the ordinary. After several years, Kagome's words still rang in Rin's head. Ordinary. What a pitiful word. She has seen too much, known too much, to even think about having a normal life.
With a heavy sigh, she scanned the horizon. It's been more than a year since she last saw Sesshomaru-sama and it made something ache inside her.
In the first years, he came almost every month bringing her gifts and letting her tell everything that happened while he was away. His expression never changed, but she knew he was listening. As the years went by the visits became less constant, and she fell into a comfortable routine, learning everything there was to know about human life.
She leaned back and closed her eyes remembering those first years.
Rin was up in a tree staring at the moon as if she stared enough it would spill all its secrets. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone approaching and diverted her attention from the night sky.
The demon-slayer stood at the base of the tree while carrying her baby. "Rin-chan, dinner is ready. If you don't hurry, Shippo-chan will eat all your rice."
"I will be down in a minute." She gently smiled at the woman in front of her struggling to get hold of the baby that kept fidgeting while walking back to the house. "Sango-chan?"
"Yes?" Turning around again she saw the girl's figure surrounded by shadows, the smile long gone.
"Would you teach me how to fight?" Her voice sounded more like a plea but she didn't care. If she didn't ask now, she never would.
"Fight? We live in peaceful times now, Rin." She knew there was more in her request. The girl in front of her was so small but yet she had faced great danger and succumbed more than once in the way.
"I know, Sango-chan but I want to be stronger. I want to face the unknown and know that I am no bait, and I can do it out by myself. I want to be able to protect myself and the one's I love. I want to feel like I am not a… burden." The last word came out almost as a whisper.
Sango approached and looked at the girl that now had her closed eyes while silent tears streamed down her face.
"Rin… look at me!" Slowly opening her eyes, she saw the intense gaze of her friend and could feel her disapproval. "You are not a burden. Never say that again." Rin was ready to apologize when she was interrupted. "I will teach what I know. But your first lesson is to have faith in yourself. You might be little, but you are stronger than you think." The girl slowly nodded. "Now please come down so we can go back inside? Haru is getting heavy to carry."
"Of course, and thank you, Sango-chan." With a brief hug on the demon-slayer and a fast bow, she ran towards the house, pride and happiness filling her.
After that day she trained day and night. Sango said she had a natural talent mainly while handling a sword. Later that year when Sango got pregnant, Inuyasha took over the lessons and was surprisingly patient. Who could tell that having kids could change someone like that?
It's already been eight years since she abandoned her wandering life to live in the village and she didn't regret, not even a little bit. She learned a lot and expanded her family receiving more love than she could ever ask.
She spends most of her nights in Kagome's hut. She likes the comfortable routine they have and is glad that she can help Kagome with Keiji. The 4-year-old is the cutest thing ever with his mother's hair and his father's ears. Although he has Inuyasha's energy and sometimes can drive her crazy, she loves him deeply. Their 1-year-old, Kyoko, is a copy of her mother and could make anyone smile with her big eyes and easy laugh. She wondered if she would ever have a baby of her own and how would it be. Maybe it would -
She was thrown out of her daydreaming by Kagome calling by the door. She had almost fallen asleep on the roof of the hut. "Can you help me out with dinner? Inuyasha will be back with the ingredients at any moment."
"Of course, Kagome-chan. I will be down in a minute."
The woman nodded and entered the house with Keiji fast asleep on her shoulder.
"What will you want for your birthday dinner?" Said Kagome after exiting the bedroom where her kids were peacefully sleeping. Tomorrow would be her sixteenth birthday and she couldn't wait to be considered a grown up.
Rin thought for a moment before answering with a bright smile. "Can we have miso soup? I can help you cook."
"Sure, we can!" If there was something that Kagome had a talent for was making miso soup and she knew that everyone liked it. "Don't worry, tomorrow is your day off. I am confident that Sango wouldn't mind helping me."
"Thank you, Kagome-chan." Rin smiled and got back to stir the dinner contents with a thoughtful look.
"Do you think he will come?" The girl slowly raised her head at the miko's unexpected question.
"Who?" Kagome raised an eyebrow and Rin sighed. "I don't know. It's been so long that I am not even sure he is alive."
"Baka! Of course that bastard is alive!" Inuyasha yelled from the other side of the room where he was laying, almost startling her to death. He was so quiet that she forgot he was there. "As they say, only the good die young."
"Inuyasha! Language! He is your brother!" Kagome frowned at him. Rin could swear that Inuyasha whispered half-brother but her human ears didn't catch any sound. "Look Rin..." Kagome caught her attention again ignoring the annoyed hanyou. "As far as I know, you're the first human Sesshomaru really cares. He wanted you to live among humans so you could decide for yourself when the right time comes. I just think he's been quite busy these days. Rumor has it that there was a small rebellion on the western lands, but I am sure he is okay." Kagome squeezed the girl's shoulder in a calming manner. "Now stop worrying and just enjoy yourself a little bit, would you?" She redirected her gaze back to her still annoyed husband. "Inuyasha, can you get the package in our room? It is inside the yellow backpack."
The hanyou stood up and came back seconds later holding a package with some kind of wrapping around it.
"Here, kiddo. Happy Birthday!" She stood as he handled the package with his clawed fingers to her.
"Thank you, guys! You didn't have to." She said while holding the gift close to her heart and fighting back the tears.
"Of course we did! You are family, Rin, and I wanted you to nail it tomorrow. Come on! Open up!"
She quickly undid the package and almost fell backwards at what she saw. In her hands, she held a white kimono with a red hem that would slowly fade as it approached the waist. It had a yellow and blue obi, and it was a clear inspiration on Sesshomaru-sama clothes.
She froze instantly. "This is-" She run her finger through the collar. "a crescent moon." She let a tear slip as she stared at the delicate purple moon. "It's perfect! Thank you! I love you guys so much that I can't even find the right words!" She hugged both of them and with a smile on her lips gently put her gift back in the package.
"You are more than welcome. I am happy you liked it. I worked on it for months." Kagome couldn't contain her smile while looking at the girl. "Now let's eat before Keiji awakes."
Rin couldn't contain her excitement as she talked happily about her plans for tomorrow.
Looking around at a part of her family, she wondered that maybe, just maybe ordinary was good. She didn't know how tomorrow was going to be, but she sure couldn't wait for it.