A/N: How Rin and Inuyasha got together, etc. ! An unusually long chapter (hopefully that somewhat makes up for the delay). I wanted all the chapters to be at least a little funny, but I couldn't really figure out how to get too much humor in this one - ^^;

Disclaimer: It's probably a good thing I don't own Inuyasha, it would end up ridiculous if I did.

For Keeps

Kagome was surprised how quickly anxiety faded and all that remained was comfortable familiarity. Less than 24 hours from their arrival and she and Rin sat companionably looking out through the open shoji and across the rōka* that overlooked the back garden. Breakfast had just finished and they were talking off and on about trivial things as they watched Inuyasha wrestling playfully with his sons. Sesshoumaru looked on – crouched down to Izayoi's level and responding in inaudible rumbles to the little girl's chirping commentary.

So far Kagome had been unable to figure out the best way to bring the conversation around to how Rin and Inuyasha ended up together. She cared, of course, but she didn't want it to seem like she cared. Focusing on the children seemed like a potentially mild approach.

"How old are they?"

"The twins are almost 80, and Iza just celebrated her 39th birthday."

Kagome sucked in a sharp breath. She'd expected that they were much older than they looked, but hearing it was still a bit shocking, "Shihanyou* maturation. Wow."

Rin smiled indulgently, looking out at her children, "So little is known about partial-youkai that their rate of aging is a bit of a grey area. Most hanyou mate other hanyou, or even full youkai. Hanyou-human unions are even rarer than youkai-human unions, believe it or not. Add in the fact that youkai aging tends to slow once they're out of adolescence and that different youkai have different 'standard' lifespans - it's all pretty much unpredictable."

"So, it looks like they're aging about one 'human' year for every 10 actual years?"

Rin turned away from the garden to pour herself more tea, "For now at least. In reality all three of the kids could all age at different rates. We think they are actually maturing at about the same rate Inuyasha did, even though he has more youkai blood than they do. But who knows, one day they could suddenly start aging at a normal human rate. Like I said - it's unpredictable. And, since my lifespan is now linked to Yasha's, he and I could possibly outlive them all."

"But, don't you worry about that?" Kagome blurted. She wished she could take the insensitive words back as soon as she said them.

An incredulous look crossed the other woman's face, "Of course I do. But I don't focus on it. You can't live your life on 'might's and 'maybe's - fearing what might happen tomorrow, or the next day, or ten years from now. It was difficult for us to conceive, and -" here Rin almost faltered and a brief shadow passed over her face, "– it was only with medical and health advancements in the last century that I was able to carry to term. So I'll cherish whatever time I have with my children. Even if it's relatively short."

Kagome nodded, feeling very young and out of her depth. She hadn't meant for the conversation to take such a heavy turn. "It's just so…domestic." She indicated the view before them in the garden. Aside from the fact that the participants had such eye-catching coloring, it was a stereotypical familial scene.

Rin's usual happy grin was back, "A little bit of cognitive dissonance for you, I imagine."

Kagome chuckled, "You could say that. I mean, in the past I saw them cut through monsters like they were jell-o." She pulled a face, "Actually, some of them were rather like jell-o."

Rin chuckled into her tea.

"I think the weirdest thing is seeing Sesshoumaru here, with all of this." She made an expansive gesture that included the house and the scene in the back yard. "He and Inuyasha hated each other. And I mean hated each other. And now they actually seem like real brothers. And Sesshoumaru is actually…good with your kids. I mean, not just tolerant of them, but actually good with them. And they clearly adore him." She pointed to where Sesshoumaru was calmly allowing Izayoi to tuck an early spring flower behind his ear.

A girlish giggle burbled up Rin's throat and Kagome blinked hard at the wave of nostalgia that hit her at the sound, "It shouldn't be that surprising. He wasn't the most demonstrative of father figures, true, but Sesshoumaru-sama looked after me very well. He always takes good care of what is his."

Kagome considered this. Rin had always seemed like such an odd companion for the stoic daiyoukai. What in the world would possess him to care for a little orphaned human?

"I can see the question hovering at your lips. You might as well ask" Kagome jumped at Rin's teasing comment.

"I just don't want to seem rude."

The other woman shrugged, "I knew you were going to have questions, and honestly how much do you think you'd get out of the other two as far as answers go? Ask away."

"Well, why did Sesshoumaru take you in? I mean, the first time I meet him he's going on about what a taint Inuyasha is because of his human blood, and the next time I see him he's adopted this little human orphan."

"Hmmm. At first I think it was curiosity. I wasn't afraid of him and I was an opportunity to test Tenseiga. Then I think he just got attached honestly. He's actually rather lonely," Rin said softly.

"Lonely?" the astonished disbelief was rude, but she couldn't entirely keep it out of her voice.

"I think that's the real reason he kept me. I didn't know anything about him. I didn't know he was the killing perfection, or that he was the lord of the west, I didn't know who his family was, who he was, anything. He was just the person who saved me. And that was the reason I loved him. It wasn't conditional on him fulfilling any ideals or achieving great things."

Kagome tried to remember all of the interactions she'd had with Sesshoumaru in the past. She did seem to remember him standing silently off to the side anytime he wasn't actively engaged in eviscerating something. Always apart from the group, always apart from humans and other youkai alike.

"I guess I can see that," Kagome admitted grudgingly.

Rin laughed lightly at her tone, "Don't tell him I said this, but he's standoffish because he feels uncomfortable socializing."

Snorting in amusement, Kagome drawled, "Only someone from that family would find it easier to tell you that they're going to cut you to pieces than ask you how your day is going."

Rin laughed outright at that and both men turned to look at the house. Rin, still grinning, waved at them.

Kagome smiled softly, "It makes me…very happy, to see them getting along."

An uncharacteristically sharp, assessing look passed over Rin's face, but it was gone in a blink, "It's hard for me to remember what they were like back then. I was still a child, and I only have a child's patchy memories of it all. Then, shortly after you left for the final time, Sesshoumaru-sama left me in Kaede's care."

"Kaede? Really?"

"Yes. I think Sesshoumaru-sama realized that it would be better for me to be raised by a human, and a female. In human terms he was only about 20 years old. An adult, but still a little young to be taking care of a 7-year-old girl. Miroku and Sango stayed in the village and started building a family so I grew up as an older sister to their children, and with Inuyasha as my protector and playmate. Sesshoumaru-sama visited often, and took me with him when he was able and knew I wouldn't be in danger if I came along."

"I feel like I'm being rude to ask – but is that how you and Inuyasha ended up getting together?"

"Pretty much. You have to remember that Inuyasha never had any stability in his life before that time. Not since he was very young and lived with his mother. Being able to stay in one place, and have a purpose and people who liked and respected him – it tempered him. We were both sort of alone, he missed having someone to protect, and I think it was always very clear how much I missed Sesshoumaru-sama. So we became practically inseparable. He played with me – and couched lessons in our games. We would play hide and seek – and doing so taught me how to move silently in the woods, how to stay downwind of him when he was seeking me out, how to track large animals. He taught me how to hunt, how to fish, how to fight. Very inappropriate talents for a proper girl. And then one day I realized that what I felt for Yasha was not what I felt for Sesshoumaru-sama."

"That must have been a shock."

Rin laughed, "I cried. The hardest and longest I have ever cried. I refused to leave Kaede's hut for three days. It sent Inuyasha into a full-out panic, poor thing. He thought something was really wrong with me because it was the first time I'd ever refused to see him. And then I still couldn't talk to him normally for several weeks."

"And he's so dense he probably couldn't figure it out for himself." Kagome couldn't get rid of her grin.

"Nope. In the end I think it was Miroku who took him aside and hinted at what was going on. One day he just came up and sat down next to me, he was almost the same color as his haori he was blushing so hard, and he asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. The rest, as they say, is history."

The two women were silent for a long time, just watching the brothers and the children play in the garden. Inuyasha, teasing grin in place, appeared to be giving his brother a hard time. Sesshoumaru scowled in response before flicking Inuyasha in the chest and sending him tumbling for several meters, much to the delight of the children.

"In a way I laid the final stone in the bridge between them."

"You did?"

"It was you, Kagome-san, who built the foundation, you who saw the chasm and hoped to span it. But it was Inuyasha bowing before his brother and asking for my hand that finally closed the gap."

"I can't even imagine it."

Rin laughed again, "No, I was pretty shocked at the time too. I thought Sesshoumaru-sama was going to cut him down right then and there. Sesshoumaru-sama was not particularly happy, but he agreed in the end." A small smile of remembrance flickered across her face, "He'd already cheated death twice for my sake. I think he finally realized that it was a way to cheat death for a third time, and keep me."

-TBC-

*shoji - sliding doors covered in thin rice paper (to let in outside light)

*rōka – wooden 'hallway' that surrounds the exterior of most traditional houses – it is covered by a deep overhang and there are usually sturdier exterior doors or panels that slide closed (or are entirely removable) to protect both the rōka and shoji from weather.

*Shihanyo – this is just a guess based on 'hanyou' (and my limited – very limited – Japanese abilities) for how they might say 'quarter demon'

*note on aging – I usually am kind of a stickler for manga canon but I admit I based this somewhat off of the 3rd movie which indicates that at the time of the series Inuyasha is around 200 years old. Even if we assume that he was in some sort of anti-aging 'stasis' when he was sealed to the goshinboku he would be still be 150 years old – and we know that he's the equivalent of in his mid-teens. Therefore in human terms he has aged around 1 year for every 10 years that pass.

*Peace y'all*