A/N: holy cow! I have never received feedback so fast on a chapter of my work before! Shoutout to my fan belle'sdarkangel for her near-youkai speed! ❤

To sllmidnight, thanks for the review! The parts you requested are going to be coming up sooner than later…

Rin was overjoyed to attend the spring festival that year, though she was a bit sad that she couldn't go and visit old Kaede and the others. Sesshomaru-sama still didn't get along with his little brother, and since he had no reason to go back to the village now that Rin was with him, he refused to do so.

Rin didn't make the connection between them attending the festival that march, with him shadowing her closely to keep her safe, and the sudden addition of self-defense lessons to her tutoring schedule. It was the only class taught by Sesshomaru himself, and Rin liked the fact that she now had an excuse to spend an hour or so with him every day.

What surprised her was that he didn't teach her hand to hand combat at all. It was what she would have expected. Instead he chose to teach her swordplay, using a wooden set of blades which were weighted and balanced to be like proper blades. He used the larger katana while she got the smaller, dagger-like wakizashi. He also didn't often bother with proper forms in his lessons, after the first few. He only taught her how to block and parry and dodge, then would simply attack her, making sure to slow his reflexes to a more human level for her.

By june she had gotten rather good at fighting and was enjoying the sparring matches more than ever. She stood panting across the room from Sesshomaru, her dagger at the ready. He stood tall and unruffled as ever, his moko in place and even his armor on, a recent addition to the lessons. He wanted Rin to be able to deal with an armed and armored opponent, should she ever encounter one.

"ready?" he asked, raising his sword to the ready position.

She nodded. "ready."

He stepped forward and lunged with the wooden sword and she stepped to the side, using the flat of her dagger to deflect the incoming blow farther to the side. She stepped into him, directly into his guard where he couldn't defend himself, and struck his arm with the dagger. He stepped back and nodded in lieu of a bow. "good."

She saluted with the dagger and settled back into the ready position. The only thing he never had her do was attack- she only defended. He lunged again, but this time it was a feint, and she shifted to block on the wrong side, leaving her guard open and earning a light tap to her ribs. He could easily pull his blows to prevent any injury to her, and he always did so, for which she was grateful. Rin was certain she would be black and blue a dozen times over if he didn't.

"try again. Pay close attention." Rin nodded at his words and watched his body closely, waiting for his next attack, which was not long in coming. This time they exchanged several loud clacking blows before her dagger bounced off his armor uselessly and he lightly swiped across her throat, knocking her down.

"did you forget I was protected?" he asked, standing over her with a slight frown.

Rin scowled up at Sesshomaru, pushing herself back upright. "you weren't yesterday. It's not fair."

Sesshomaru bared his fangs momentarily, looking away and schooling his features before turning back to her. "if you are ever forced to use what I am teaching you, Rin, it will not be fair. Your opponent will be much stronger than you, ill-intentioned, and his katana will not be made of wood." She gulped at the seriousness of his tone and nodded solemnly. His gaze softened a little. "when you were younger there were many who sought your life because you travelled with me, others who thought you a tasty meal or a lure for me. As a woman, there are not so many who seek your life. But there are many who might seek you for other reasons. I want you to be safe even if you find yourself without me or Jaken beside you."

The implications of his words took their time sinking in. when they did, Rin's eyes widened. Bandits and other bad men did not only kill and steal…she gulped and raised her dagger back to the ready position, taking her stance once more. "ready."

They took a break for tea out on the front porch of the manor, enjoying the shade. The rainy season would start within the week, but for now it was sunny and starting to get hot as summer approached. "what day is it?" Rin asked, taking another sip of her tea.

"June first, I believe. The night was moonless yesterday." He had removed his armor once the day's lesson was over and was enjoying the light breeze as it ruffled his clothing freely, cooling him off. Sesshomaru knew he would have to get back to his papers eventually, but he relished the opportunity to let off a little steam when he sparred with Rin. And he certainly wouldn't pass up the chance to sit with her and enjoy the breeze before the monsoons came.

She let out a happy gasp and sat up a little straighter. "it's children's day!" he raised an eyebrow. Another festival? Did humans do nothing but celebrate? It seemed odd they had so many festivals when they had so little to actually celebrate.

"which is?"

"it's a festival for children," Rin explained the obvious. "and since I don't remember when my birthday is, old Kaede said it should be today that we celebrated. So I'm sixteen now!" she bounced a little happily, grinning ear to ear in excitement. Then her face fell as she realized something abruptly. "wait, if it's the first of the month, why are you still here? Shouldn't you be attending your meetings, like usual?"

Sesshomaru was a little surprised that she had so readily picked up on his habit of scheduling his meetings depending on when she got her blood, though she'd never called him out on it until now. Well, truth be told it wasn't her blood he was actually avoiding, but the days immediately prior, when she was in heat. He didn't want to tempt either of their self-control by being around her during that rather delicate time. In fact, he was more than likely tempting Fate by simply sitting near her right now…she did smell even more lovely than usual- no! focus. Answer her question.

"there were none scheduled for this month," he explained, his face giving away none of his thoughts, as usual. Not for lack of trying…I suppose I could have just gone on an extended hunt, but…oh well. It was too late now. He heard her hum in interest beside him, drinking the last of her tea and setting the cup aside.

"I was wondering," Rin began, and Sesshomaru looked over at her curiously. "when is your birthday, milord? And how old will you be when it comes around?"

His brow furrowed slightly in thought. The second question was far harder to answer than the first, accurately at any rate. "I was born during the Whelping festival," he began, and was saved answering the second question by a third.

"what's that? I've never heard of it." Rin was staring eagerly at him and leaning slightly toward him. He gave a tiny smirk at her eager curiosity.

"it's in the springtime, the middle of march," he informed her. "all InuYoukai are born then, because they are all conceived during the Running-" he held up a hand as she opened her mouth- "which I will explain later." She shut her mouth again. "the Whelping season is simply the time that all our pups are born, and as such it is a time of great celebration for us. It will be even more so on the day my own child is born, as a new heir is most precious of all." He was gazing into the distance, rather than at Rin, and missed her eager grin slipping into momentary disbelieving horror before shifting to jealousy and back to polite curiosity as she mistakenly thought he must have already found some woman before realizing he couldn't have.

"so…how old are you?" he hadn't aged since the day they met years ago, and jaken had said a hundred years was like nothing to them. But surely he couldn't be over thirty, and didn't even look that old…

"somewhere over seven hundred. It's difficult to keep track exactly." Rin was unusually silent and he glanced over to see her mouth hanging slightly open in shock. "what? You must have assumed I was older than I looked. Even my otoutou is over two hundred now." That shocked poor Rin even more. InuYasha- who never seemed older than 17, at most- was over two hundred years old?!

Sesshomaru gently reached across the space between them and put a finger lightly under Rin's chin, pushing it up to close her mouth with a bit of amusement. She jumped and looked a little guilty, quickly refilling her teacup for something to do. "and what's the running?" she asked after a moment and a calming sip of tea. She was staring at him. He looks good for over seven hundred years old…

He cleared his throat nervously, looking out into the garden to avoid her eyes again. He shouldn't have mentioned it at all. But now, if he didn't tell her, she would just pester him until he did anyway. "the Running is a festival that takes place the first week of October," he started off. The day suddenly seemed stiflingly warm to him, and the breeze was like an oven blast rather than a soothing thing. "it is a time my people come together to find mates," he pressed on. He heard Rin hum in fascination and take another sip of tea. He could feel his face growing a little warm and prayed he wasn't visibly blushing. This was a simple thing to explain- why on earth was he nervous? "anyone unmated is required to go, and those that already have mates sometimes attend anyway. During the five days of the festival, various events are held. The males and females run and hunt together, proving their strength, speed and stamina to each other. By the beginning of the fourth day, anyone unmated pairs off if they found someone they find suitable, and-" he stopped abruptly.

"and?" Rin prompted, leaning toward him in interest once more.

"and that is all you need to know." Rin scowled at his abrupt cutoff. "you weren't finished," she accused. "no one ends a story with 'and'."

"I said, that is all you need to know, Rin. Suffice it to say that the Running is held in October, and the Whelping in march. I'm sure you can infer the rest." Surely she knew what he was implying without him having to say it outright? He swallowed, still not looking in her direction.

She was silent for long enough he was able to put his face back in a mask and look over at her. "…does…does it really only take six months?" she asked at length, still more curious than anything. He simply nodded, wondering why that was the detail she'd settled on. "is it the same for hanyou?"

For that, he had no answer.