Law and Disorder

I don't own Inuyasha

Chapter 10 - Case of the Ex

Rin heard the shower going as she stretched momentarily before curling back into a ball and bringing the sheets with her. As the sun filtered into the room, she pulled the sheets overhead and hugged the other pillow. She buried her nose into it, deeply enjoying the fresh spring like scent before she opened her eyes. Sesshoumaru wouldn't allow her to sleep on the couch again. She'd fought so hard too…well, not really. She was fighting harder to stay awake. The moment she hit the bed she was out. He was right. It did feel like a pillow. She had no idea how he'd willed himself to switch with her to give up the bed for the couch.

Getting up, Rin took the time to explore the spacious bedroom. It made two out of hers easily. There was nothing extravagant, simply clean and organized. He kept a bookcase in there, although smaller than the one in the front room. Many of the books were about law, a few others on general and random interests. Nothing out of the ordinary as she would have expected.

As she scanned back up to the top shelf she noticed a book that she hadn't before. It would've almost been hidden if you didn't have a good enough eye. The brown spine was blank as was the front cover. Opening the book, she found the beginnings of a journal. Immediately she panicked and closed it. She was curious but not that curious and she wouldn't have wanted him reading hers. She tried to place it back in its slot but was hindered from doing so. The space was tight but surely it should have fit back easily. Looking into the space she pulled out a picture and put the journal back. She looked at it momentarily before she turned it over and froze. Rin scolded herself for being nosy and quickly placed the picture back between the books.

Rin's heart threatened to escape her chest as she felt Sesshoumaru's presence behind her. She spun quickly, only for her heart to take another dangerous thump. His hair was still damp from the shower and he held his shirt in his hand. She forced her eyes to his face and tried to keep them there although they kept drifting to catch the line of every well defined muscle in his body from his shoulders and chest right down to his abs and back up again.

"…!"

"Good morning to you too."

"I was just looking at...the bookshelf. You have so many books"

"See anything you like?" He raised an eyebrow catching onto her roaming eyes.

"Oh, you know…nothing I haven't seen before. I'm going to freshen up."

"It's all yours."

"Oh good."

The whole shower she could see the picture. The setting was a park during the beginning of fall. The woman was leaning against Sesshoumaru as they sat in the grass. The questions kept replaying. Who was she? Was she still around? Why didn't he ever talk about her? What did he do? Did it end badly?

Rin told herself to stop. This was ridiculous. Oh sure, they'd flirted, shared a few innocent kisses here and there but she and Sesshoumaru were just friends, right? Before they started preparing for the trial, she never cared which women he was entertaining and this one was no different. The woman in the picture looked just as random and pregnant as none of the rest of them. And Save the Date meant absolutely something that didn't happen.

Sesshoumaru noticed Rin walk into the front room. She wasn't bubbly like she usually was and he started to question if he'd done or said something wrong.

"Rin, is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking."

Rin seated herself on a bar stool. She stirred the cream into her coffee and tried to concentrate on that to keep the questions from spilling out.

"About?"

"Can can I ask you something?"

"Ok."

"Have you ever been in love before?"

Sesshoumaru swallowed as he placed the cup back down and added sugar. He was trying to figure out first where the question came from and second, how to answer it.

"I…that depends on what you mean by love. Why do you ask?" Immediately he knew he was going to have to fix it. It was the kind of answer that would only prompt more questioning and he should have known better.

"When I was looking through your books this morning, I found a photo of your engagement. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have looked but you seemed so happy with her."

Rin rolled the cup back and forth between her hands hoping that he wouldn't be angry.

He nodded. It was going to come sooner or later and he might as well get it over with. "It was complicated."

"So you loved her?"

"You could say that. I'm actually mildly surprised that no one in the office told you."

"The office? What did they have to do with it?

"She was working at the firm when I started my internship."

Rin quit stirring and sat up straighter.

"In any case it was a mistake for us to start dating. When we fought, we might as well have brought the office down with us. I'm positive that if we were working anywhere else, we would have both been fired on the spot. Miraculously, when she told me she was pregnant we started planning a future together and the storms settled. We kept the engagement a secret to keep it out of the office. Not even my father knew."

"So, you have a child?"

"No. I had doubts about the child but I didn't want to accuse her without being sure. Her conscience finally caught up with her. She admitted that the child wasn't mine and left the same night…with the ring. I saw her one last time, two days later when she came to get her things from the office but we didn't speak."

All that Rin could do was apologize while she tried to understand how this happened to Sesshoumaru. She felt horrible. Of all the questions that ran through her mind she never asked what did she do? Never in her wildest imagination would she have guessed that he'd been the one on the receiving end of it all.

"I'm sorry."

Sesshoumaru shook his head, "It's life."

He sat there as if he didn't even care. In the past two years, not one soul in the office spoke a word to her about this relationship and she could only think of one reason.

"What did your ex do at the firm?"

"..."

Rin nodded in understanding, "I took her place."

"Trust me, the two of you are not comparable. You couldn't match that kind of attitude on your worst day."

His indifference here was concerning. This conversation was becoming more disappointing by the minute and Rin immediately decided that it was in need of a quick turn around.

"You mean I'm not a total monster when I'm sleepy?"

Sesshoumaru furrowed his brow. That question came out of the blue. The young woman was all of a sudden bubbly again. He didn't know what he expected her to do or say but definitely not regain this kind of mood.

"No."

"What about when I wake up?

"Not even close. Although you do kind of snore while you're sleeping and that is frightening."

"No I don't."

She noticed him look off.

"Do I really?"

"It's ok, I can't hear it when the door is closed."

"Oh no." She buried her face in her hands before he pried them loose to see her blush.

"But, I have to say that there was only one thing more enjoyable than realizing that you can snore."

"What's that?"

"Your reaction this morning."

"Oh, ha ha."

"I can't wait to see that one again."

"Funny you should say that. I get the same reaction from you with my clothes on, thank you."

"That…"

Rin complied as he pulled her to sit with him.

"…is because I know how beautiful you are already."

So, maybe they were a little more than friends. "I'll accept the compliment. But, there's one thing that still perplexes me."

"And that is?"

"Tattoos?"

She could feel the laughter that was barely audible.

"Let's leave some things to the imagination."

"What?"

""Nothing Inuyasha."" Both of them spoke in unison as he entered the room and they started to laugh.

A/N: Thanks for the continued inspiration everyone! ;-)

Chapter 11: Taking Notice