Chapter IX
The next day was warm and Rin smiled to herself as she looked out the window in her bedroom. After a quick shower, she stepped out into the living and looked around; surprised that Sesshoumaru was not already awake. Shaking her head in wonderment, she made her way over to the kitchen and began making breakfast. Sesshoumaru appeared a short while later and looked at her in surprise when he saw her bustling about the little kitchenette. Rin gave him a brief smile before setting down a plate full of food on the table in front of him and sitting opposite him to begin her own meal.
They ate in companionable silence for a while, but just before the end of the meal there was a knock on the door before it opened to reveal Kohaku standing on the doorstep with an enormous grin on his face. The grin fell slightly as he took note of the companionable aura that the pair at the table seemed to radiate. Rin looked at him with a quizzical expression on her face while Sesshoumaru simply raised an eyebrow at his sudden appearance before taking a sip of his coffee and effectively ignoring the other man's presence as he returned to his meal. A tiny smile curved Rin's lips as she watched both men's behaviour but suppressed it as she decided to question her student instead.
"You're looking cheerful this morning," Rin noted with a very vague and very false smile as she sipped her drink and watched Kohaku walk into the kitchen and sit beside her.
"Everyone's going swimming at the lake today," Kohaku explained. "Are you going to come?"
"I suppose we should go," she said thoughtfully, looking over at Sesshoumaru who merely shrugged nonchalantly. "I won't swim, but I suppose I should go."
"You won't swim?" Kohaku looked crestfallen.
"I don't like bathing suits," Rin explained with another smile.
Kohaku continued to try to convince Rin to swim and Sesshoumaru simply looked on with amusement. It was obvious that she was not going to change her mind, but evidently the man just didn't seem to understand that. However, Sesshoumaru could definitely understand why Kohaku wanted Rin to swim so desperately. She definitely had a nice figure and that figure in a bathing suit would be a sight to see, but he doubted that she would change her mind.
"What time will you all be going?" Rin asked, standing up to clear away the used plates and mugs.
"We'll be leaving in about an hour."
"Alright, I'll come with you but I'll only stay for a short while."
Grinning happily, Kohaku sprang to his feet and left the pair alone. Rin shook her head and disappeared into her bedroom to fetch her shoes. She returned moments later and found Sesshoumaru sitting exactly where she had left him. He didn't look up when she came back into the room and she sighed to herself as she sat down in the seat she had occupied moments before.
"Are you going to come to the lake?" Rin asked, looking at him curiously.
"No, I've got some more work to do for the restaurant and I want to finish the menu," Sesshoumaru said quietly, meeting her gaze for the first time since Kohaku's departure. "You will be careful, won't you?"
"Be careful?" Rin queried with a baffled expression.
"Not to hurt yourself," he said with a slight frown when he realised that she didn't seem to understand that there was something about Kohaku that was not to be trusted.
"I'll be careful," she promised, smiling slightly as she gave him a brief wave and left the cabin.
As it turned out, Rin was eventually persuaded to swim with her students although she was still not pleased by the idea. She had had to relinquish her glasses, knowing that she could not swim with them, but felt very uncomfortable with her blurry vision. Eventually, students began to tire of swimming and headed back towards the cabins. Rin too emerged from the water and made her way over to where she remembered leaving her clothes and glasses. She had deliberately left them somewhere obvious so that she could find them again with her poor vision. Frowning, she stretched out a wondering hand as she searched the surface of the rock she had left her clothes on and discovered that her glasses were not there. Kneeling down, she felt around the base of the rock, thinking they might have fallen off but found nothing. Panic raced through her as she stood up and leaned against the rock. As she tried to calm herself, she pulled on her clothes as best she could and decided not to attempt the buttons on her shirt. Her shirt hung open to reveal her bikini top and she managed pull her shorts on without any difficulty.
"Is something wrong?" Kohaku asked, coming over to stand beside her when she took too long to get ready.
"Have you seen my glasses?" Rin asked with a frown, turning to look at the blurry man beside her.
"No, did you leave them here?"
"Yes, they're gone now."
"I see," Kohaku murmured before a grin curved his lips. "Shall I help you back to the cabins?"
"If you don't mind."
After spending a peaceful day in the company of his books, Sesshoumaru gazed out the window in the small living room and noticed that students were beginning to return from their swimming. Wondering when Rin would return, he got to his feet and stepped outside into the warm sunshine. Amber eyes widened when they landed on two figures just entering the clearing. One of them was definitely Rin and the other was no doubt Kohaku. Sesshoumaru felt his blood boil when he realised that the younger man had an arm wrapped around her waist and seemed to be leading the way across the clearing towards the cabin he stood in front of. Frowning, he leaned forward against the railings on the edge of the little veranda and watched them come closer. Kohaku glared at him when they arrived at the foot of the few steps that led up to the cabin and tightened his arm around her waist as though he was reluctant to let her go.
"Thank you," Rin said with a vague smile. "I should be alright from here."
"Are you sure you can get up the steps?"
"Yes, yes. I'll be fine."
Knowing he had no choice but to leave, Kohaku reluctantly left and Rin sighed in relief as she tried to make her way up the steps. Sesshoumaru watched her curiously, wondering if she had noticed his presence yet. Worry coursed through him as he thought of the way the younger man had spoke to her as though something was wrong. His eyes flew open when she stumbled on the steps but caught herself before falling. Something was definitely wrong. Looking at her closely, Sesshoumaru realised that she didn't have her glasses on and sighed in relief. So that was the problem.
"Rin?" he called her name, deciding to let her know of his presence.
"Sesshoumaru? Is that you?" she asked, turned her head to look in his direction.
"Yes, are you alright?"
"I just lost my glasses," she said with a sheepish smile.
"Would you like some help?"
"Please."
Rin was amazed that she felt better accepting Sesshoumaru's help than Kohaku's. Should it really make a difference whose help she accepted? Evidently it did make a difference. She sighed in relief when she felt Sesshoumaru push her down gently onto the sofa in the living room. While Rin was trying to figure out what had happened to her glasses, Sesshoumaru knelt in front of her and took a closer look at her and felt his jaw drop. He realised that her shirt hung open and gave him a very good view of what lay beneath. Truly it was a sight to behold and he couldn't pull his gaze away no matter how hard he tried. Eventually, he regained his composure and cleared his throat.
"Do you have a spare pair?" he asked, desperately looking for something to occupy his attention to keep it from going back to her chest.
"No," Rin said sadly. "I'm usually very careful with my glasses so I don't carry an extra pair."
"I wonder if there's anywhere nearby where we can get a replacement pair for you," Sesshoumaru mused, sitting back on his heels.
"I doubt it. I think it might be better just to wait until I get home."
"But you can't see now, can you?"
"No, but my glasses are very expensive. I can just stay indoors for the remainder of the trip. There's only one day until we return to the city anyway. I'm sure I can manage that long."
Although Rin had tried to smile cheerfully when she spoke, Sesshoumaru was unconvinced. Sighing to himself, he could only wonder what the next couple of days would be had in store for them.
After much stumbling around, Rin managed to dress herself the next morning but was almost convinced that she had done the buttons on her shirt up the wrong. Since she couldn't see the line of little buttons clearly enough to tell, she simply had to hope that her fears were unfounded. Heaving a sigh, she pushed herself off her bed and set off in the general direction of the door. A frustrated curse left her lips moments later when she found herself in contact with a cold wall, but since she could do nothing other than feel her way along the wall, she reigned in her growing ire.
Sesshoumaru looked up when he heard Rin's door open and was surprised to see a frown on her face as she stumbled out the door. She slowly approached and apparently sensed his presence since she smiled slightly as she sat down and accepted the cup of coffee that he pushed into her hands. He looked over and smirked to himself when he realised that her buttons were done up wrong. After wondering if he should mention it to her, he decided that he couldn't let her go about like that.
"Rin."
"Mm?" she replied in a distracted voice as she put her mug down on the table carefully.
"You've done your buttons up wrong," Sesshoumaru murmured, wondering how she would respond.
"Oh," Rin said with a sigh. "I thought I did."
Her hands lifted to the front of her shirt as she sat back in her chair as tried to find somewhere to start to correct the mistake. Sesshoumaru watched with mild amusement as she fumbled for a few minutes before he decided that he should perhaps intervene. Getting to his feet, he walked around the table and knelt at her side, turning her chair so that she was facing him. Rin's head snapped up when she felt herself being moved and glanced down to see a silver blur at her side. She relaxed slightly when she realised that it was Sesshoumaru.
"What are you doing?" she asked, pausing her fruitless attempts to correct her mistake.
"I'm going to help you," he replied calmly, pushing her hands aside gently.
Rin sighed. "I feel like such a child."
Sesshoumaru chuckled softly at that. "We both you are not a child."
Sesshoumaru had had to unbutton the whole shirt to correct Rin's mistake, but he wasn't complaining when he caught a glimpse of what lay beneath. He had been stunned by what he had seen the day before when she had returned to the cabin with her shirt hanging open, but that had simply been her bikini. This was something different entirely. What he was faced with now was her lingerie and there was no denying that he liked what he saw. The plain black bikini top from the day before had been replaced with a pale purple lace bra.
"I'm sorry you have to do this," Rin said softly, her eyes looking at him but not really seeing him.
"I don't mind," Sesshoumaru replied honestly. "We are going to be married soon anyway. It's a good opportunity for me to practice being considerate to someone."
"You're not always considerate?"
"Some would probably say that I'm not."
"What do you think?"
"I think the people who claim I'm not considerate aren't worth my attention."
Rin giggled. "I don't think you need to practice."
"Oh?"
"No, I think it'll probably just come naturally to you."
While the pair had been talking, Sesshoumaru movements had ceased and he found himself staring into her brown eyes, feeling something akin to awe as he looked at her. He was almost certain that she wouldn't be able to tell if he was looking directly at her and using this to his advantage, he looked into her eyes. He had been unsure of what he would find when he looked, but he was pleasantly surprised. The look in her eyes was gentle and reassuring. Sesshoumaru sat and looked at her closely for a moment. It amazed him that the eyes that were looking in his direction had seen so much pain and yet were still able to give him such a gentle look.
"Are the buttons done?" Rin asked after a short silence.
"No, sorry. I was distracted," Sesshoumaru admitted sheepishly.
"Enjoying the view?" she asked teasingly.
"Yes, now that you mention it," he replied, his voice showing his amusement at the direction the conversation had taken.
Rin laughed merrily at his admission, not entirely sure if she should take his words seriously or not. As she laughed, the pair were interrupted by a couple of knocks on the door. Sesshoumaru bit back a growl of irritation, knowing that it would most likely be Kohaku. The man seemed to enjoy coming by so early in the morning for a reason Sesshoumaru couldn't understand. Suddenly, a devious plan formed in his mind and he had to fight to withhold the grin that threatened to cross his face.
Frowning, Rin looked towards the source of the knock. She had been enjoying the moment of fun she had just shared with Sesshoumaru, but now it was ruined. Sighing to herself, she knew she shouldn't be upset about it. It was most likely one of her students and even as she thought about it, she knew that there was only one student that would be outside her cabin this early in the morning. It was definitely Kohaku. Frankly, she was beginning to get tired of the constant attention he gave her. She had no desire to do anything that involved the pair of them being alone. It could cause rumours and those rumours could damage her reputation.
"Shall we get rid of him quickly today?" Sesshoumaru asked quietly, looking at the door when another knock came.
"It might be a good idea," Rin agreed. "All his attention is beginning to set me on edge."
Sesshoumaru glanced at her for a moment and thought over his idea once more, wondering if he should suggest it or not. Eventually, he decided that it was worth a try. If it didn't work then they would have to try something else to discourage to annoying man. He took Rin's hands in his own, causing her to look down at him in surprise.
"I have a plan. Will you go along with it?" Sesshoumaru asked seriously.
"If you think it'll get rid of him, then yes."
Nodding even though he knew the gesture wouldn't be seen, Sesshoumaru leaned towards her and began unbuttoning her shirt again as he explained the plan to her quietly. Rin giggled as she heard the plan but readily agreed. Her eyes widened slightly when she felt Sesshoumaru adjust his position to kneel between her legs as he continued to unbutton her shirt, but she said nothing. She knew she could trust him and knew that he would not do anything to her. Eventually, his fingers stopped moving and he sat back slightly, causing Rin to frown in confusion.
"What're you doing?" she asked.
"You'll see in a minute," Sesshoumaru replied as he slipped his shirt off and tossed it carelessly aside.
At his request, Rin moved her arms to wrap around his shoulders and she smirked as she felt bare flesh beneath her fingers. A soft gasp left her lips as she felt strong arms wrap around her waist beneath her shirt and pull her towards the edge of her seat. Sesshoumaru lowered his lips to Rin's exposed neck and nuzzled it gently, smirking to himself when her head tipped to one side to allow him greater access to the soft skin. Tightening his arms around her slender waist, Sesshoumaru inhaled her scent deeply as he placed a soft kiss against her soft skin.
The door burst open moments later and Kohaku stood in the doorway, looking around quickly as though something was wrong. Keeping true to their roles, Sesshoumaru paused and tilted his head slightly to look at the younger man as though he had interrupted something and was pleased to see a look of horror cross Kohaku's face. The dark haired man stood rooted to the spot, his eyes glued on the couple before him. It didn't take a genius to work out what was going on and he couldn't believe his eyes. Rin was in the arms of another man and apparently enjoying herself, but what irked Kohaku the most was that that man was Sesshoumaru. There had been rivalry between them from the very beginning, but he had somehow hoped that he had the upper hand since he had been Rin's student for a couple of years whereas Sesshoumaru seemed to just appear in her life out of nowhere. Disappointment raced through him as he realised that he had lost.
Hastily, he stepped out of the cabin and closed the door behind him. A frown crossed his face as Kohaku stalked across the clearing back to his cabin. He had lost this time, but that didn't mean that he was going to give up on Rin. She may have given in to whatever trick Sesshoumaru was playing this time, but she would not do so again.
