Dear readers,

welcome to "A Flower's Smile". This drabble collection - told from Rin's point of view - will focus on the group dynamics of the odd little troupe Lord Sesshomaru keeps around. As almost every other story I'm writing, this collection will be prompt inspired. Since this story was born at IY Unsung Heroes at Livejournal, special thanks goes to community and its members for all their support.

Warnings: Story will be rated T for mentioning of character death, violence and occasional cussing.

Prompt: Third - Word Count: 100-300. I used 300 words. Originally posted on March 4th 2011 at IY Unsung Heroes at Livejournal, where it won first place. 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any character from the Inuyasha series, Rumiko Takashi does.

And now, enjoy!

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The first time, her mother had given birth to her.

Life had greeted her with opened arms and she had embraced and cherished it. She had indulged in her mother's warmth, in her father's wisdom and had taken joy from her brothers' cheerfulness.

Now, their faces were nothing but distant shadows hunting her memories, their warmth had left her own body long ago. A cruel twist of fate had snatched them away from her, when bandits had slaughtered them in front of her eyes. A small wooden box had saved her from suffering the same demise and yet she often wished it hadn't.

The second time, the village had given her a chance at life.

It couldn't count as a real life, though. She had been nothing, but a spectre dwelling in a run-down hut at the outer village. Always close to starvation, yet the villagers did not care for the orphan's health.

The worst thing had been the loneliness. She was good at ignoring her physical needs, but her aching soul was an entirely different matter. The pain was excruciating and thus she hadn't been surprised when she felt relief as the wolves came to take her life.

However, she had been surprised earlier as she hadn't expected to open her eyes again. Instead of the foggy threshold of the netherworld, there were those golden eyes that were even more mysterious then the afterlife itself.

White strands of hair were swaying behind the ethereal creature, as he was slowly retreating into the forest. She was mesmerized, for she had never seen something this beautiful and the experience wasn't even impaired by the complaints of the small creature next to her.

Rin followed the one who had given her a third life, unaware of what the future held for her.