Lord of the Lilies

"Hold on, Master Jaken! I'm not finished yet!"

"Well, I am, you little menace! Now let go of me!"

Jaken was running for his dignity with Rin in hot pursuit. This was not in his job description when he had given his services to Sesshomaru, and he hoped to the gods it never would be.

Quickly, Jaken reached to tear at the wretched, humiliating flower necklace, but his young ward was faster. Rin wrapped her arms around him in a bear-hug.

"Master Jaken, stay still a minute and then we can put the lovely crown upon your head!"

Jaken gave his master a doleful gaze. "Lord Sesshomaru..." he pleaded.

"Yes, Jaken?" Sesshomaru let the words hang in the air. He then leaned against a tree and started examining his talons. "What is it?" Smirking, Sesshomaru cracked his claws.

"N-nothing, my lord." Jaken sighed, surrendering himself to whatever torture the eight-year-old child had in store.

"Let's go and get you all dressed up for Lord Sesshomaru!" squealed Rin, dragging the hapless toad-demon off into the brush.

"Don't wander far, Rin," Sesshomaru droned.

"I won't!" she called back. Then, much to his chagrin, turned her full, undivided attention to Jaken.

When the sun had reached its zenith in the sky, Sesshomaru began to wonder what Rin was up to and if any misfortune had befallen her. Or Jaken.

The thought of what torment his subordinate could ne undergoing at the hands of a mere mortal girl compelled Sesshomaru to indulge himself in a rare upturning of lips. A smile.

Suddenly, the bush before him rustled, and he resumed his stoic mask. The demon, however, didn't feel any need to draw his sword as he sniffed out Rin and Jaken and ...flowers?

"Oh, c'mon, Master Jaken!" One of Rin's arms was still in the foliage, tugging at whom Sesshomaru assumed was Jaken. "I worked so hard to try to make you pretty. Don't you want to show Lord Sesshomaru?"

"NO!" was the harsh snap.

"Puh-lease?" whined Rin. "With sugar on top?"

"Not on your life, twerp!"

Rin squared her jaw, reached in with both hands, and yanked out Jaken into view for Sesshomaru and all the world to see.

As Jaken staggered to keep his footing, Sesshomaru saw why his servant wanted to remain hidden. He slipped a hand over his mouth as his amber eyes scrutinized the spectacle.

The toad-demon stood in the clearing, flushing from his natural olive-green tone to a beet-red, which actually complimented the cape of blue flowers lined with purple ones that draped over his shoulders. On top of that, Jaken donned a ring of daisies around his neck along with a crown of them around his head. Violets had been woven through his Staff of Heads and berry juice was smudged over his eyelids for makeup.

All this Sesshomaru would have been able to shrug off as he shifted his gaze to a less distracting scene, until Rin voiced his thoughts.

"Lord Sesshomaru, doesn't Master Jaken look like the Lord of the Lilies?"

Briskly, Sesshomaru whirled around and started strutting off as quickly as possible.

"Let's go," came the daiyokai's strangled response.

"See, brat?" Jaken barked, shredding the degrading vegetation. "You've mortified Lord Sesshomaru so much he can scarcely talk! Listen, he's probably muttering to himself about all the terrible nightmares he'll have from here on out!"

Rin did listen. And started to giggle. "I don't think he's speaking, Master Jaken."

Indeed, Sesshomaru wasn't mumbling about any demons that would disturb his subconscious. Rather he was doing something he hadn't in literally centuries since his father's death.

Sesshomaru laughed.