Mend

Sesshoumaru was not a demonstrative person. Emotions tinted with tears of any kind made him distinctly uncomfortable. Even with Rin he had been hard pressed to still the drops that often left her eyes, from nightmares and scrapes to tiny scares and happy tears. Like this woman before him, his Rin had been an overly emotional female and like his Rin, he was unsure how to handle the situation.

He remembered nights spent beside her small white bed with its princess pink polka dot sheets, the way he rubbed his hand over her back to lull her back to sleep, as his mother had for him when he was but a pup. He hesitated, for this woman, with her scars and her tears and her overwhelming emotions, was not a child. She was not even a person he particularly cared for. Except that she was pack and one always cared for pack.

Uttering a well-worn sigh, he moved forward and with the typical masculine gruffness, settled a hand gently on her shoulder. The slender slope was smaller than he remembered, all the more fragile and all the more strong, with her tale. Turning her carefully to face him, he set his other hand carefully atop her head in one of the few soothing motions he could remember. "She should not have been there that night," he admitted quietly, meeting her eyes as his own conveyed another message, one he wasn't even aware of and his heart slowly mended another stitch.

o.O.o

Word Count: 250