I hope everyone had a good holiday or if you don't celebrate, a good day.

Here is a belated one shot! I meant to finish and post it on Christmas but I got caught up visiting family.

Please enjoy!
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Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

A Surprise Christmas

It had only been six months since the death of Rin's family and the villagers with whom she used to live among. What happened was one of the villagers left to gather supplies from another village near the east, but left without enough mon. The man then resorted to stealing the goods which resulted in a raid between the two villages.

Everyone but young, eight year old Rin was killed. She was curled in a bundle of blankets, over looked by the ragging villagers, almost. One noticed slight movement of the blankets caused by Rin's breathing. The trespasser was about to reach for her until a tall demon with long silver hair, finished him. Rin would not have made it if it wasn't for Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands.

Lord Sesshomaru, in his own way, was nice - sort of. He was a dog daiyōkai, a more powerful demon. This power that he held made him overconfident to the point of being conceited. He was arrogant and subtle, who was always self-indulged in his work. He was the kind of man who lacked compassion.

Although he may be all of that, he still saved her - the last girl in the village, who could have been beaten to the brink of death. Rin couldn't help but smile. She knew that without his help, she would not be here today.

"Ahh," a small sigh left Rin's lips. She was sitting outside in the Western Palace gardens, underneath a sakura tree surrounded by a light blanket of snow. It was too cold for those beautiful pink buds to bloom.

The thought made Rin bring her legs up and bury her head in her knees. This would be the first time she would be spending Christmas without her parents and her brothers. After their deaths, Rin was taught by fellow servants in the Palace to forget about the past and move on, that everyone dies at some point. Rin knew that death was a way of life, however, she couldn't do it. They were her family, not the kinds of people you can easily forget.

Tears were now running down her rosey red cheeks. She didn't even know if they celebrated Christmas here at the Palace. She didn't think so. Rin and her mom would have the house decorated by now and there were no decorations to be seen here.

"Rin." The call of her name was low but stern.

Rin looked up and whipped the tears away. Lord Sesshomaru was standing at the entrance of the garden in his white kimono with his mokomoko-sama wrapped around him.

The girl continued to stare at the tall and powerful inu yōkai. She knew she was in trouble for not doing her chores around the palace this morning. Rin couldn't help but wonder why he didn't send one of the servants for her. He never left his study unless it was work related.

Lord Sesshomaru started towards Rin once the snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

Rin was nervous. She didn't want to get yelled at even though she had not completed her chores. She coward as Lord Sesshomaru was close. What surprised her though was he didn't yell. He actually unwrapped the mokomoko-sama from around his body and sat cross-legged next to her under the sakura tree.

She turned her head to the right to face him and she saw that he was looking at her, too. Not in a romantic way but in a concerned way.

His left arm was extended to his side and she took that as a sign to curl next to him so she did just that; curled up to Lord Sesshomaru with her head on his lap. When she was comfortable, Sesshomaru took the fur in his left hand and covered the eight year old girl with it.

It fell silent for a few minutes. All that could be heard was the breathing of the two bodies. Rin wanted to speak but she couldn't get the words out of her mouth. She didn't want to ruin the serenity of the peace and quiet.

With a few deep inhales and exhales, Rin spoke, "I-I'm sorry." She couldn't see his expression but she knew he seemed confused. "Are-are you not mad at me?" This was strange. Was Sesshomaru unable to speak? Rin tried again, "Se-Lord Sesshomaru, I am sorry for not doing the chores this morning. Please don't be mad."

"Hn," was all she got from Lord Sesshomaru.

He shuffled around to where he and Rin could face each other. "Rin," the looks in his voice and his eyes were not of anger. "I am not mad you did not do your chores. However, I am concerned with your well being. What is wrong?"

There was a slight bit of panic in Rin's mud brown eyes. Lord Sesshomaru had placed a hand over hers to calm her down. How did he know? Oh right, he was a inu yokai. He could smell the panic wafting from her body.

"I-I miss my family," Rin managed to say as she sniffled. "I know I should leave the p-past in the p-past but they are my family and they are no longer here. Th-they are dead." A flood of tears erupted from Rin's eyes. "Worst of all," Rin continued to say through muffled breaths, "it's Christmas!"

Lord Sesshomaru remembers the death of Rin's family. It was not pretty. He had seen many deaths so he was immune to the hurt and pain that it caused but he couldn't help but feel some remorse towards Rin. The poor girl had lost everything in an instant, almost including her life. He didn't like seeing her in this state. He was used to seeing the cheerful girl who never took anything for granted.

The cries from Rin continued as they sat out in the snow. It had began to fall heavier so Lord Sesshomaru decided it was time.

Gently lifting the weeping girl from his lap, he stood up and regained his correct posture. As he stood, a small gust of wind wisped through his silky silver hair. He did not mind the cold but knew Rin couldn't handle it the way he did.

Sesshomaru headed towards the garden's gate entrance but stopped a few feet away from Rin. "Come," he called.

Rin looked up. She had not noticed that Lord Sesshomaru left. Wiping the salted water stains from her cheeks, Rin got up and ran towards were Lord Sesshomaru stood. When she finally caught up, he continued his way toward the Palace's entrance.

Just before the door, Lord Sesshomaru stopped. "Rin, I want you to go ahead of me." Rin was confused. Sesshomaru was always supposed to walk ahead and enter door first.

"B-but," the word became flustered in Rin's mouth.

"It is okay," assured Lord Sesshomaru, stepping aside giving Rin enough room.

Before Rin moved, she gulped. The girl was beyond puzzled. What was going on? There were thousands of questions flying through her mind.

Shuffling past Lord Sesshomaru, she was at the door. She took a deep breath and opened the doors. She could not believe her eyes.

There stood all the guards, the servants, and Jaken around what looked like a seven foot tall tree. Rin's eyes widened as far as they could. She was mesmerized by the beauty. The tree was decorated with small pieces of copper, silver, and gold. The light in the Palace reflected off the ornaments that shinned brightly.

"Wow," Rin cooed in amaze. She turned and looked at Lord Sesshomaru who, for once, had a small smile on his face. "You did all this?"

Lord Sesshomaru kneeled down on one knee and was close to Rin's eye level. "Yes Rin," he paused and lightly caressed Rin's cheek with the long, slim fingers of his right hand. "I did this all for you. Jaken is my eyes and ears. He told me you were not behaving as your usual self.

"I had him keep an eye for you these past few weeks and he came back saying you were upset about the death of your parents and you would not be spending Christmas with them." He took a breath and began again, "We do not celebrate this holiday here or any holiday for that matter. However, I made one exception for you."

There were more tears running down Rin's cheeks. At least these were tears of happiness. Lord Sesshomaru wiped them away and pulled out something that was hidden in his kimono. "Here," he spoke handing Rin the wrapped gift.

Rin took the gift in her hands and took her time opening it. The gift was wrapped in a beautiful silk cloth with a silver ribbon, resembling the color of Sesshomaru's hair. As she unfolded the cloth, her face went in shock.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Cried Rin in admiration. "It-it's so pretty. No, it's beautiful. Beyond beautiful." In her hands she held a hair pin. The pin had a soft pink sakura blossom made from clay on it with little jewels in the center.

Rin quickly jumped into the Lord's arms. "Thank you so much Lord Sesshomaru!"

He was surprised from the sudden gesture. No one ever hugged him but he wrapped his arms around her in the embrace. "You are welcome, Rin-chan. Merry Christmas."