Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Or Sesshomaru. Or Rin. Or… You get the picture.
A/N: As a way to give my ever-so-patient readers something until I get my computer back, I thought I'd write a little chapter about how Sesshomaru meets Rin in the Modern AU. Not sure if this is a keeper - let me know in the reviews (or pm me) if you'd like this to stay and possibly expanded upon? - but since all my work is on THAT computer *sigh* this is all I can give you.
Thank you to all of those who have left such positive reviews, have favorited and have followed this story. I am very grateful to you all.
Izakaya to Unmei
~Intermission~
Act I.
'Til We Meet Again
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.
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It had never occurred to him, not even once, that she would someday be reincarnated.
Somehow, it just seemed wrong.
Once she had asked, if when she died, he would ever forget her.
She had always been a clever girl…
Sesshomaru sighed for what felt like the thousandth time that day.
What was wrong with him?
As he stared listlessly out into his garden - his sirene oasis - memories of the girl that had been Rin, flooded his mind.
Smiles and laughter, sunshine and the heady scent of wildflowers; they had all been burned into his subconscious for the last five-hundred years…
What if..?
He stopped himself from going down that path.
Many a time, he had been foolish enough to entertain such dissatisfying and perilous thoughts.
Many a time he had begun to wish he had never met the human child at all.
In the end, she died, just as all living things do.
She had lived a very full life, and had the great-grandchildren to prove it!
He had come to her, then, and knelt down beside her shabby futon on the rough, wooden floor of her hut.
She had smiled…
And then she was gone.
Her passing had left a permanent wound; a gaping hole in his chest where his heart used to be.
'Sesshomaru-sama!'
Another wisp of a memory filtered through his brooding thoughts - of her in an endless field of tall grass and all matter of filth.
She was radiant.
Her emerald green kimono embroidered with gold, crimson and snow colored koi, and her laughter ringing out across the marsh.
It was like the sun itself had borne a daughter.
A warmth that had long been absent spread through him, bathing him in her essence.
She was the sun.
…
He was destined to be her moon.
They could never really be together, not fully, not how he knew she had wished to be.
He had seen it in her eyes.
He had felt it, in her soul.
Even as he had witnessed her last breath, he had sensed her yearning.
She had always yearned for him.
When she had just begun to flower, he had noticed the change in her.
If he allowed himself the truth, he knew he'd hesitated out of fear.
Fear of becoming too attached to a weak, short-lived mortal girl who idolized him.
Who loved him.
They never spoke of it, not once.
They were so attuned to one another that nothing needed to be said to understand the hopelessness of their association.
So...he let her go.
He let her go and she took his heart with her.
For years after, he was a ghostly shell, living off of each glimpse, each tentative touch she would afford him.
He watched her grow up and marry a simple farm lad who was only a few years older than her.
He watched as she delivered her first born child; a daughter, whom they named Michiko, and then a son named Haruta, and then the twins Juni and Yuri.
He watched her her children also grew up and fostered their own children, and then their children had their own children.
He watched as Rin's beautiful, lithe body was squashed and wrinkled - like a raisin.
He watched as she became old and sickly.
Hadn't he known this would happen?
The answer was yes, yes he did.
From the moment after she had been resurrected by Tenseiga.
He had known all along.
Yet still, he held no regrets.
Releasing the window curtain, his view of the garden was obscured.
It wasn't totally hidden.
It was still right there in front of him.
Perhaps..?
…
As he pulled onto the main road, the windows rolled down and the summer breeze whipped his hair around his face, he relished in the scent of warm soil and wildflowers.
Driving into Tokyo, he reeled in his acute senses at the sudden onslaught of smells and the typical noise of the city.
The sun started to set as he pulled up to a small park near the infamous Higurashi Shrine.
He felt it in his bones.
At first, it was a slight prick to his tightly wound nerves, a flea bite.
Then, it became a throb, his heart rate steadily climbing to a frenzied pace.
She would be here, he knew it.
After over half a millenia, he would see her again.
His Rin.
The door to the convertible clicked shut and locked as he strode towards a playground.
There were still a lot of children running around.
Here and there, the odd couple walked around a man made lake; a runner's shoes went thump, thump along the dirt track.
As the sky began to bleed a cacophony of oranges, pinks and violets, Sesshomaru sat on a wooden bench, facing the lake.
He watched as the lake's surface shimmered and rippled as the sun began to lower over the horizon and the warmth of the summer breeze turned chilly.
"Mama!" A little girl's voice cried.
An electric shock of current shot through his body.
It's..!
Yes!
He practically lept right off the bench and had to keep himself from breaking into a run towards the oh-so-welcome timbre of the girl's voice.
He knew he would only get a glimpse of her - from afar - so that he didn't startle her or her mother.
The ice around his once cold, dead heart began to thaw…
For a split second, his eyes met hers.
Her eyes were the color of cinnamon.
It was his Rin.
He felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him for a moment before he regained some of his composure.
She had seen him!
Their eyes had met!
Now there was no doubt in his mind who the human child was.
If only there were some way to-
"Sir?"
Sesshomaru lowered his gaze to the small little thing who was suddenly right next to him.
Rin!
"Mister?"
His Rin was now right in front of him!
She giggled.
He refocused his attention on the little girl beside him, one tiny hand pulling at his sleeve.
Finally, he found his voice.
"Girl," he uttered low and deep, "what is your name?"
Time stopped.
Everything stopped.
The little girl blinked, batting her full, dark lashes coquettishly.
"Hisakawa Saki! Nice-to-meet-you!"
She beamed up at him, obviously quite proud of her name.
He, however, couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment.
This IS Rin! It does not matter what her name is or what she looks like!
A warm glow touched his eyes in a very small, but heartfelt smile.
"Nice to meet you, too, Hisakawa Saki…"
He let the words purr and noted the distinct effect it had on the child.
Saki's almost painfully bright smile relaxed a bit, her breath catching a bit as she stared at the pretty, white man.
He's so white! Hee hee!
She thought to herself, a giggle bubbling up from inside her as she and the 'pretty, white man' had a friendly stare-off.
Blinking at the girl's resilience - for not many could ever stand looking him directly in the eye for so long, other than Rin - he looked at her quizzically as he tried to figure her out.
"Saki-chan!"
A woman's voice rang out over the park.
Sesshomaru snapped out of his little reverie and turned to face the woman who interrupted his impromptu reunion with his long-lost Rin.
Saki threw up one chubby little arm and waved maniacally until she caught the woman's attention and she began jogging over to them.
"Here, Mama!"
She cried in that adorable, tinkling voice of hers.
It was so pacifying to him that he almost didn't notice when Saki's mother reached them.
"Ah," her mother gasped, "Saki-chan! Have you been bothering this nice gentleman?"
"She has not, I assure you," came his quick reply.
The warmth he had felt from Saki's cheerfulness started ebbing out of him, his usual coldness returning.
"I'm so sorry, I should have been watching her more closely," she said, a bit sheepishly, "Saki-chan, it's time to go now. Say thank you to the nice gentleman like a good girl."
Sesshomaru cringed at being repeatedly referred to as a , 'nice gentleman.'
Saki turned to him once again and gave him another huge smile.
"Thanks, Mister White Man!"
Her little girlish voice nearly filled the whole park, she was so loud.
To his sensitive ears, anyway.
As her mother led her away, she made a pitiful effort to give him a little smile and a wave, too.
How pathetic.
A long sigh escaped him as he watched his little Rin disappear over the knoll of the hill.
In that moment, he resolved to come back to the park every chance he got, just to see her blessed, smiling face.
Rin is alive…
Rin is here!
The outer corner of his lips turned up into a smirk.
He had all the time in the world to wait for her.
All the time in the world...
P.S.- So! Like it? Don't like it? Confused?
Well you should be!
I had this little idea as I was finishing writing this up, that I hadn't yet gone into poor little Rin's backstory with Sess. And that. Made me sad. I know, you all enjoyed all the saucy bits in the last chapter. But good things come to those who wait. Or not.
Let me know if you liked or didn't like this chapter (ex. - style, content, any errors, etc.) and we'll see where can go from here... At least until I have the ORIGINAL chapter four that I was ABOUT to post.
*Double x sigh*
Rin: "Miss Author-san! Don't sigh! You're happiness will be blown away!"
Sessh: "Hn. Rin is right."
Author: "Wha-?! Like you're one to talk!"
Rin: "Miss Author-san! If you frown like that, you're face will get stuck like that for~e~ver! Right, Sesshomaru-sama?!"
Sessh: "Hn. Rin is always right. Baka-Author-san."
Author: "Huh?! Ugh... Why do I even bother..."
Rin: (suddenly distracted by flowers) "Yay! Hooray! Miss-Author-san's a BAKA!"
Author: Okay. Maybe not totally distracted. (slowly walks away, head hanging, defeated)
Rin: "Look at this pretty flower, Sesshomaru-sama! And THIS one, too, Sesshomaru-sama! Oh - and isn't this one~!"
Intermission - Act I.
~END~
