G-Guys... I asked for one review and you gave me not one, not two, but fifteen!...? What a sweet, warm welcome! I love the lot of you. *huggles*


Chapter One

Thinking Out of the Box


Sesshomaru leaned over the artwork again, the smell of chocolate filling the room as he futilely chipped away with the chisel. He was working on a tiny model of Rin's dress, and it was really beginning to grate his nerves.

Kouga, his partner and friend, was working on Rin's model in the corner, and now he came over to present his work. Based on the picture, Kouga had made an albeit solemn, one-foot model of Rin. Sesshomaru looked at her for a minute, and then used his claw to adjust her mouth so she was smiling.

That looks more like Rin, he thought as he went back to work on the meticulous curls and folds of the white chocolate. He tried to melt down the chocolate to help him fold it easier. He picked up a sheet of wax paper and ended up burning his hand for at least the third time.

Damn it!

He would never admit it, but this was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. Chocolate was fun to work with if you were a patissier or a chocolatier. Sesshomaru was neither.

"Looks like it's rough." Kouga remarked. Sesshomaru glared at him, amber eyes pressing, asking quietly what it was that Kouga wanted that was so important that it was taking up his precious work time.

"Look," Kouga sat down and placed the chocolate model over the model of Rin. It immediately broke to pieces, white chocolate pieces all over the wooden desk. Sesshomaru spun, snarling at Kouga, but Kouga just raised his eyebrow.

"You're such a workaholic. Stop growling, princess, and listen to me." Sesshomaru was honestly going to kill Kouga if the wolf demon sat there even a second longer than he absolutely needed to, which was every second that passed. "Rin never said the dress had to be fully chocolate, did she?"

Sesshomaru paused for a moment and turned back to the model. He collected the broken chocolate and held it in his palm with one hand, weighing it in size with chiffon in the other.

"See? Aren't I brilliant?" Kouga grinned, well, wolfishly. "Admit it."

"Don't flatter yourself," Sesshomaru remarked, smirking. "I already had that idea in mind. Perhaps just an inkling then."

"An inkling." Kouga's sarcastic voice was marred with incredulity. "You ice princess, I'll show you an inkling. An inkling of my demonic strength."

"No need, this Sesshomaru has plenty of it himself... Mangy mutt."

"I am a purebred-"

"H'llo?" Ah, it was Rin herself. Sesshomaru walked over to the door and allowed the small woman to enter. She looked around, face in utter bliss for a few moments. Then, it evaporated into a tense mask once more as she smiled, somewhat strained, at Sesshomaru.

"H-How is it going?"

Sesshomaru held the destroyed chocolate behind his back and nodded convincingly. "Of course it's going well. This Sesshomaru never settles for less than perfect."

"Is that me?" Rin sat down across her model, her face brightening. Red settled into the apples of her cheeks and those dimples came out as she grinned. "That's so cute! Is that really me?"

Sesshomaru realized what was missing, grabbed a toothpick, and poked the dimples into her cheeks. "Now it's complete."

Rin laughed out loud. "Did you make it?"

"Yes," he lied. Kouga wouldn't care. Or maybe he would- the wolf demon was giving him a dirty look.

"It's so pretty, Takahashi-san." Sesshomaru didn't look at her. What was it about this crazy woman that both bothered and slight muddled?

"Sesshomaru." He muttered, pulling Rin's model close to his hand. His claw tangled in the soft brown wig Kouga had placed haphazardly on Rin's head, and he readjusted it so it wasn't falling. Kouga huffed as he walked behind Sesshomaru. What a baby.

"Hm?" Rin hummed as she ran her thumb over the red tinted porcelain face. Sesshomaru had requested that Kouga put in all the details of Rin's face and body, for whatever reason. He couldn't imagine Rin as the same faceless mannequin that Kouga made for the other women. Rin's tiny version beamed up at him, and the real Rin smiled as well. The only thing Sesshomaru had completed was the veil, and it had tiny chocolate roses linked together, with a net of gauze hanging downwards. He placed this headband carefully on Rin's dark brown head.

"You can call me Sesshomaru," he offered quietly.

"Is that the veil? It's so cute!" Rin leaned towards the mini chocolate roses and prodded at them. "This is chocolate?"

Sesshomaru nodded. He was incredibly talented at everything, and carving flowers out of chocolate was, while a difficult task, almost equivalent to carving things into clay. With the molds Kouga made for him, he was able to melt chocolate and let it harden into the plastic. After that, it was simply poking out the little flowers and threading them together.

"Oh, beautiful." Rin smiled, and Sesshomaru looked up at her.

"You aren't allowed to be in here," he said. "After all, the wedding dress has to be a surprise." She pouted, and he raised a swift eyebrow at the action. She had a child's attitude and playfulness, but sometimes carried the composure of a very tired old lady.

He stood up, and she did as well. Rin couldn't help but stare at him as he rose, as he took off his black overcoat, tossing it over his shoulder to expose the thin white dress shirt he was donning beneath it. He'd been wearing thin black reading glasses to properly see the roses best he could, and now he slipped them off. He snapped the hair band holding back his hair off and let the strands spill down over his shoulders, raising both eyebrows.

"Shall we head out?" How long had he been talking to her? Rin snapped out of it, stuttering slightly, a light blush dusting her cheeks. She was such a pervert. She had a fiance, and here she was, eyeing this delicious man like an idiot.

But then, she had a special dark place in her heart for just her fiance. "U-Um, yeah. Y-Yeah, l-let's-" She took one step forward before slipping straight over the silk that lay across the floor. Down she went, almost about to fall right onto the marble floors and crack her head, before Sesshomaru's arms curled around her stomach and legs. He was holding her to him like she was a drowned cat.

Rin flailed for a minute before she practically pushed him away, disentangling herself from the taller man.

"S-Sorry! Sorry!" she kept blurting out like some sort of broken record. "I'll-" her face was entirely red as she buried it into the white cloth. She held it there for a minute to cool herself off and then returned it to the rack. Sesshomaru's golden eyes were tinted with wicked amusement as he opened the door.

Rin barely managed to mutter a "thank you" as she slipped past him, and finally regain herself at the outer doors. There was a bit of an awkward silence as Rin tried to find something to say to Sesshomaru.

"Thanks for making my dress," she finally blurted out.

He just looked at her like she was an idiot.

She couldn't blame her.

It always seemed that Sesshomaru had at least a slight hint of amusement in his eyes when he looked at her, so at least she had reached 'entertainment' in his mind.

"I'm just going to... Leave." she mumbled, turning around and nearly slamming into the door. The last time she'd been this clumsy, she ended up having a concussion.

Sesshomaru watched her leave and headed back to the back-shop. He took out the chiffon and white chocolate from behind his back and tossed the chiffon at Kouga, who sputtered and barely caught it.

"What the hell was that for-?!"

"I'm not using chiffon. Or anything else."

Kouga stared at him. "How the hell else are you planning on making a dress out of chocolate?"

Sesshomaru massaged his temples as he watched Rin dance down the street, looking awfully dazed. "I don't know."

"What? Ah," Kouga smirked, his head resting against his palm. "So Princess Fluffypants admits he doesn't know something."

Sesshomaru shot the wolf demon a burning glare and sat down, drawing a gentle, sweeping dress across the large piece of sketching paper. It was a perfect imitation of Rin's dress, and he began to fill in the portions of chocolate in triangles instead of in a single curve. He admired it with a ghost of a smirk.

"I promised her a dress made of chocolate, and a dress made of chocolate is what she will receive."


Still short chapters T_T Don't worry! They will get longer, I guarantee it! After all, summer just started and I (think) I have time to do some story work! Please review!