(Author's Notes)

Hello again everybody. Thank you for the positive reviews to this story so far…even if looking back on this now, Sesshy seemed a liiiiiiittttttlllleee too emotional in the 1st chapter…just a tad! ^/^ But, I plan on keeping that in check as the story progresses now. So, here is is…progression! I'm actually having a really sleepless night, so I'd update this story before I begin school again next week. And this one is easier for me to update 'cause I just have to copy and paste from a file I have on my computer from when I posted this on a different fanfiction site! XD

(Story)

It's a beautiful spring day in Tokyo right after Easter time, so kids still had a couple days left off of school. In the outskirts of the busy city, right next to one of its many parks, a villa stood next to it. While the average person saw it as a villa, a few select people know it as 'Morning Glory Children's Home", and orphanage for children. One resident of this orphanage was taking advantage of her Thursday off of school.

Fifteen-year-old Rin Gatou was sound asleep when she heard the familiar noises of people in the park and occasional honking of a car going by. Soon enough, Rin stretched underneath the covers of her twin bed, cracking joints as she did so. The lean teenager then sat up on the bed and groaned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and glanced around the room.

Because she was one of the older children in the orphanage, she had the privilege of having a room of her own. In the rare occasion that a child does not get adopted by the time their eighteen, they are required to leave the orphanage to either transfer to University dorms or move into a place of their own. These small bedrooms were like 'training rooms' for when they had to leave. Younger children prefer to stay in groups and stick together, so they got to share bedrooms.

Rin was allowed to decorate her room, but she decided to let it be for the time being. Kohaku, an orphan who'd just left the orphanage into ta place of his own, had this bedroom before she had it. He'd taped a bunch of pictures and posters on his wall; and when he had to clean to move, the tape had peeled off some of the paint off of the walls. Rin decided to repaint the walls before she continued her decorating. Besides the magazines and her own paintings spread all over the floor, the only splash of color in there was her bedset. When a child joins the orphanage, if he or she is five or older, they get to pick their own bedset and keep them throughout their time at the orphanage. Children also got to keep their bedsets as good-bye gifts from the orphanage. Rin's bedset were light green sheets with a matching green quilt to match, but the quilt had monarch butterflies scattered all over it.

Rin then fixed her black tank-top and sat up on the bed, stretching some more as she checked her watch.

10:57. Wow, I'd forgotten how great it feels to sleep in for this long!

Rin had been busy yesterday during Easter, helping set up eggs around the house before the younger kids got up and looked for their Easter baskets. She also prepared her baked pineapple for Easter dinner at the orphanage, which she had to miss because she had to work until 11:30 last night.

Mmm, that baked pineapple actually sounds really good right now!

Rin then stood up from her bed and groaned as wavy, tangled, messy, dark-brown hair draped over her shoulders toward her waist. She quickly fixed this dilemma by tying her hair back into a messy bun. She was about to open her door to exit her bedroom when she heard something. Two voices were quickly approaching her room. Rin backed away from her door just in time to avoid it being swung open at her by a six-year-old girl. The next thing Rin knew, she was staring down as a girl with tears in her large light-brown eyes that landed on her play clothes. She wiped away a few strand of her messy, medium cut hair before speaking to Rin.

"R-Rin, can you go downstairs for a minute please?" The girl asked. Rin leaned in toward the girl.

"What's wrong Miki? What happened?" Rin asked the girl.

"Well, I-I was playing with my doll with Daichi, and he took it and now he won't give it back to me! P-Please go get my doll Rin!" Miki begged Rin. Rin stood up and rubbed the girl's back, soothing her as she noticed a woman by her bedroom door. Rin glanced at the thirty-seven year old woman and saw what she was wearing.

Pink skirt covering her knees with a knit button up t-shirt with white flat shoes…it must be pretty nice weather outside today.

Rin quickly approached the door and the woman took the girl.

"I'll take her while you go look for Daichi." The woman assured Rin.

"Thank you Mrs. Higarashi." Rin replied as she swept past them, past the bedrooms, and hurried downstairs.

The woman was Kagome Higarashi, the founder of Morning Glory. She used to work at her family's temple before she found a different calling in her life. After scrounging up some money, she managed to find this villa for sale. She bought it and modified it to become the perfect children's home. Rin was actually one of the first children she took into the home, as well as the one who's stayed there the longest.

Rin was just a toddler when she was abandoned with her birth certificate on the steps of the orphanage. Kagome immediately took her in and had been taking care of her ever since then.Rin went down the familiar steps in the villa until she reached the bottom and immediately went on her search for Daichi. It didn't take her very long to find him.The black Great Dane sniffed Rin coming down the stairs and bounded in between a bunch of kids and happily pounced on Rin, knocking her down onto the floor.

"Ow! Daichi! What was that for?!" Rin complained as she sat up on the floor. When she finally faced the dog, she noticed the stuffed doll hanging limp from his mouth. Rin playfully gave Daichi a stern look.

"Daiiiichiiiii…give me the doll…" Rin playfully commanded. Almost immediately, Daichi dropped the slob-covered doll into Rin's hand. She then lifted her free hand and scratched underneath the dog's chin.

"Good boy Daichi! Just don't do it again." Rin playfully commanded again. As if he understood her, Daichi barked once and then bounded off toward the group of kids calling to him in the playroom. Rin then stood up just in time to see Kagome and Miki come down the stairs.

"You got my doll back!" Miki cried out in excitement.

"Yeah, but I think that we should wash her first Miki. You know…dog slobber." Rin said, making a face of disgust while she did. Miki paused for a moment, looked at her doll, then backed away.

"Sounds ok to me!" She said, then ran off toward the playroom, leaving Kagome and Rin alone. Kagome smiled at Rin before leading her toward the laundry room in the next hall.

"Rin, you and your talent with animals! You're the only one that Daichi will listen to so meticulously around here. How do you do it?!" Kagome eagerly asked Rin as she started putting clothes in the washer.

"Mrs. Higarashi I've told you before, I don't know! I've always had this gift with animals, especially dogs! They just…just like me. It's hard to explain…" Rin replied.

"Well, in any case, I'm glad that you convinced me to let you adopt Daichi. He's may be a huge dog, but he's been such a great addition to the household. And he's great with the kids! Friendly, gentle, and a great playmate for them!" Kagome stated with a smile on her face. Rin just chuckled back and stared at the doll, thinking about the dog that'd just had it in his mouth less than two minutes ago.

Two years ago, Daichi was a seven-month-old puppy who was abandoned by his owners and left in the streets. Rin was walking home from school when she saw the dog lying in the street, about to die of starvation. She called Kagome and begged her to come and help her take the huge dog to the animal hospital. Daichi recovered and went up for adoption; but couldn't find a home that was willing to take him because of his size. Rin found out that he was having trouble getting adopted and, after talking to Kagome and the children about it, agreed to adopt him under one condition. Daichi would be adopted under Rin's name, making her his owner. Ever since then, he's served as a guardian of the villa, keeping away occasionally trespassers while maintaining his role as a playmate for the younger kids and companion toward the older kids, particularly Rin. She was soon pulled out of her thoughts when Kagome began speaking again.

"Oh Rin, did you have to go into work earlier today at all?" Kagome asked and she finished putting clothes in the washer.

"No, I don't have to go in until 4 today, and my shift ends at about 10 tonight." Rin replied as she tossed the doll on top of the clothes in the washer.

"Ok, I thought that since you were on break that you had to go in to work earlier." Kagome replied.

"No, I told them when they first interviewed me that I could only work evening and night shifts because of school and the housework. And Kohaku backed that up for me, so you know I'm safe as long as it's his word." Rin replied as she headed toward the kitchen. Kagome nodded her head in agreement as she heard Rin turn on the sink to wash her hands. A moment later, Kagome saw Daichi bound toward the swinging door.

"Daichi, you know that you're not allowed in here! Go, play with the kids some more!" Kagome heard Rin say to the dog. She then saw Daichi run out of the kitchen and searched for a group of kids to play with. Kagome could only smile and shake her head as she turned on the washing machine.

(Author's Notes)

Hope that you liked the progression. Hopefully moving forward with this story will help speed things up a bit. If there's one thing I hate about this fanfiction hobby, it's setting up the story. I feel like the story is just so slow and doesn't go anywhere. What about those of you who also write fanfiction? Any particular places in the story, beginning, middle, or end that you hate writing?