"In my time, we celebrate anniversaries of things like marriage," said Kagome as she stirred the radish stew she was preparing. A sly smile slid onto her face as her grey eyes slid up to meet Rin's. "And you know what's coming up Rin? The first anniversary of your marriage to Sesshōmaru."

Rin's cheeks turned a dusty shade of red as she looked down to the sleeve of her yukata. Even though Rin had been married to Sesshōmaru for nearly a year now, she was still embarrassed when it was brought up. As much as she loved Sesshōmaru, she had already been engaged when he swept her off her feet and asked for her to give her hand to him instead. Kohaku still held a grudge.

After moments passed of Rin saying nothing, eyes focused on the frayed edge of her yukata, Kagome rolled her eyes and continued.

"I think you should celebrate. Me and Inuyasha do, and I roped Miroku and Sango into it as well. It's really fun, and normally leads to lots and lots of hot sex which lead to children."

Rin's head shot up, cheeks flaming harder than ever. Wild eyed and completely embarrassed, Rin managed to look like a fish out of water as she tried to find some reply to Kagome. All Rin could think of though was the word indecent being screamed over and over in her mind. That, and the fact Kagome was looking smug and smirking.

"In my time, we celebrate giving gifts. There's this whole elaborate scheme with for each year you give them something made of a certain material. The first year is paper. I know I gave Inuyasha written permission to name our first child whatever name he wanted, and in return he actually asked Miroku to teach him how to write. Sango gave Miroku some inappropriate artwork, and Miroku wrote Sango a poem about his undying love for her."

"Do I have to?" Rin meekly said, knowing that the older shrine maiden always got what she wanted if she was determined. The question didn't really have to be answered; of course Rin would be roped into making something for Sesshōmaru.

Sometimes Rin wished that Sesshōmaru wouldn't leave her in the village when he needed to patrol his lands.

. . . . .

Before Sesshōmaru stood his half-brother. The half-demon known as Inuyasha shared the same father with Sesshōmaru, though of course not the same mother. Sesshōmaru was full demon. Many years ago, he would've made a comment about how superior he was, and how inferior Inuyasha was because of his mixed blood, but Sesshōmaru no longer cared now that he was married to a human. It would be hypocritical, and Sesshōmaru did not want to be labeled as such.

Still, he wasn't exactly friends with his half-brother, so the visit was not really a positive surprise. More like a negative one.

"Kagome made me come," was the first gruff sentence from the half-demon.

Sesshōmaru was not surprised; the half-demon's wife seemed intent on making the two brothers act more brotherly. Sesshōmaru found the shrine maiden quite annoying, but Rin seemed to like her and Inuyasha would be quite cross with his full-demon brother if Sesshōmaru killed or seriously maimed Kagome.

"Such a whipped little puppy. Do you beg for scraps at dinner time as well?" What? Sesshōmaru felt like it had to be said.

"Asshole," the half-demon muttered under his breath, glaring at his brother and crossing his arms over his chest. "She's my wife. I kind of have to do what she asks if I want to get laid. You should know how that feels, you have a wife too.

"Anyhow, Kagome just wanted me to come and say that she's indoctrinating Rin into yet another one of her modern practices. Not her words exactly, but I am supposed to explain what it is because you are supposed to participate as well." The half-demon smirked as a slight frown marred Sesshōmaru's usually emotionless face. "Something called an 'ann-i-ver-ser-ry'. It's supposed to a celebration of your marriage or something like that. You're supposed to get Rin a gift made of paper is the basic gist. Now, I'm going home because I hate you and Kagome is making dinner."

With that the half-demon was off and Sesshōmaru was left slightly confused, and slightly discontented.

. . . . .

"Okay," Rin said, a big smile on her face, the sleeves of her yukata pulled back, an apron tied around her waist, and a pair of modern scissors in hand. Kagome sat across from her in the hut that once belonged to the late shrine maiden Kaede, a smile on her face and another pair of scissors in her hand. Piles of paper rested in stacks around the two women, and both women looked completely determined. "One-thousand paper cranes here we come!"

The project started off well, paper cranes being folded nicely and put into a basket. They got to about three hundred before their stomach started growling. They had rice and fish for lunch, then continued. At about five-hundred paper cranes, Rin needed to pee so she went. At six-hundred and fifty, Sango entered and started helping. Fifty later, Sango left. At eight-hundred, Kagome needed to pee. At nine-hundred, both woman started complaining about the hand cramps that started forming around two-hundred. At nine-fifty, Kagome started complaining about Inuyasha. Finally, at one-thousand, both woman collapsed backwards and took a nap until dinner.

. . . . .

He had no idea was to get Rin. Honestly, he didn't know why he was doing this. He'd returned to the sky castle that served as the Western fortress and had barricaded himself inside his study. Surrounded by paper, his still had no idea what would be special out of something so simple. He could already guess that Rin was doing something out of origami; Rin and his mother loved to make little origami dogs and leave them all over the castle to annoy and surprise him.

He was completely and utterly stumped. Modern traditions had no place in the feudal era, and this was proving it to him more and more by the moments ticking by.

Finally, his mother opened the door and entered, knowing that something was stumping her son and that maybe she could help. She brought his favorite tea with her, and some rice and miso soup because he hadn't any food in three days.

"Do you have any gift ideas," he said between bites of rice. His mother chuckled, finding it humorous that Sesshōmaru could devise war tactics in his sleep, but coming up with ideas for a gift (probably for his wife, should she add) was hard for him.

"Anything particular about this gift?"

"It has to be made of paper."

This made his mother full out laugh, even wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her kimono. Sesshōmaru glared at her, reaching for the miso soup.

"Paper flowers. It's origami, something she enjoys. She also enjoys flowers. These will be perfect."

Sesshōmaru sighed, levelling his mother with another glare. She quirked an eyebrow at him, wondering what could be so wrong with her idea, and wondering if he was just glaring at her because the idea came to her off the top of her head.

"I don't know origami."

"I'll show you," she said in breathy voice, overplaying the slight thought in her head that he was being ridiculous.

That day was spent teaching Sesshōmaru how to fold paper into a flower. At the end of it all, Sesshōmaru walked away with a slight tinge of red to his cheeks and with a brewing storm of hatred for his mother, and his mother walked away laughing, humored by the situation. Rin was good for her son, and that was that.

. . . . .

Today was the day: the first anniversary of their marriage. Rin was so excited. She hadn't been this excited since Sesshōmaru swept her off her feet and asked her to be his wife. She had been told the Inuyasha had tried to wrangle Sesshōmaru into participating, but whether or not it worked was another question. She hoped it had because her hands were still sore from folding all those paper cranes. She hoped he'd like them though, she made them with as much love as she could.

Sesshōmaru was stopping by the village to take her home, and that was when she was going to give him all the cranes. Knowing her lord husband, he'd probably raise an eyebrow, thank her, and then throw her over her shoulder and take off towards the sky castle. Still, she was super excited.

And then she could see him. The sleeves of his haori fluttered in the air as he gracefully dropped down onto the ground. The soft impact only sent up a small cloud of dirt, and showed no signs of affecting him. Rin's smile grew.

"Rin," he greeted, nodding his head. Even though he didn't say it, nor did he smile, she knew he was happy to see her. He just wasn't the expressive type, and she knew that, accepted, expected it, and love it with all her heart. She'd never try to change; she loved him just the way he was.

"Here, these are for you," she thrust the basket of paper cranes towards him, and he took them without hesitation. He looked a little surprised by how many there were, by he didn't look mad or disappointed which brightened her mood further.

"Thank you Rin," he said, nodding again before grabbing her around the waist. She latched on quickly as he took off.

She was happy. He liked her gift. Even if he didn't have one for her, he at least didn't think she was stupid or foolish for showing her love in the manner that Kagome had advised her to. And with that thought, she nestled her head into Sesshōmaru's fluff and closed her eyes, content washing over her.

. . . . .

Sesshōmaru laid his sleeping wife down on the bed. He had work to attend to, so as much as he silently wanted to lay beside her and hold her, he couldn't. Instead, he set down the basket of cranes on the chest of drawers and grabbed the paper flowers he had made for her. Setting them beside her on the futon, he left the room and headed towards his study.

. . . . .

When Rin awoke, the room was dark but there was no Sesshōmaru anywhere in sight. She assumed he was still working in his study and let a small smile grace her lips. Same old predictable Sesshōmaru. Working himself until he was falling asleep at his desk. Looking over to the side of the futon that Sesshōmaru normally slept on, there was pile of orange things she couldn't make out in the darkness. Furrowing her brows, she got up and lit a candle before looking at whatever the orange little things.

Much to her surprise, they were little paper flowers. Her smile grew and she giggled. Sesshōmaru had made her a gift too.

How sweet.