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雨
ame, "rain"
On the top of a hill was a forest. Below the forest was a valley. And in the valley there was a town. It was the largest settlement they had come across for at least a month. Besides houses, Sesshomaru could detect artisans, a market, and agricultural fields.
And at the moment, Rin. Normally she sustained cheerfully on what food she scavenged during their travels, but it was safer if she could always have something stored away in times of inconvenience. She had run down the hill with a bit of coin about half an hour ago to replenish her little supply, and get anything else a young human woman would need.
Sesshomaru waited at the top of the valley. Humans didn't take kindly to him if they noticed his presence, and wiping them out would be counterproductive—He had no interest in robbing Rin her source of provisions. So he stayed well out of their way, knowing Rin would be able to find him when she needed to.
He looked up at the sky. It had been cool and gray all day. They had been spared of the rain so far, but Sesshomaru could smell it in the wind, and within a few minutes, intermittent specks of water were dusting the environment. Earthy, fresh, and clean, it was a scent that was undeniably pleasant. Rain never was a source of bother for him, until Rin. She claimed to not be troubled by foul weather and indeed seldom complained when the weather turned gloomy. But she could smile all she wanted; her kind nevertheless bore a remarkable vulnerability to the elements, with rain being one of the most frequent culprits.
Sesshomaru looked down into the valley. Lights were being lit inside the wooden structures now. By the time nearly all of the windows were glowing orange-yellow, the light sprinkle had progressed to a heavy downpour that was falling steadily from the heavens. They were fat drops of water, splashing on the rocky path upon impact and running down through the dirt in little rivulets.
Plink, plink, plink! the rain chimed as it bounced off Sesshomaru's armor.
Rin had not yet returned.
Jaken looked up at him nervously. "Should I go find her, Sesshomaru-sama?"
Sesshomaru didn't spare him a glance. "She's coming," was all he said.
He was right, but she was not coming quickly. The slippery path hindered her pace, and it was not for another fifteen minutes that Rin could finally be seen approaching up the hill. She was absolutely soaked to the skin, her hair flattened and pasted to her face, the sleeves of her yukata clinging to her arms with their wetness. Despite her waterlogged state, she still wore a bright smile that was the every opposite of the storm that now battered them.
"Well, that was an adventure!" she declared blithely. "Ah, Sesshomaru-sama, you're wet too!"
"That is of little consequence to me," he dismissed, as Rin stowed her provisions away. "Let us go."
Rin hoisted herself onto Ah-Un and snapped the reins, prompting the beast to follow Sesshomaru as he started off toward the forest. They had not traveled very far, but once they crossed the tree line, there was some relief from the rain.
"S-Sesshomaru-sama! Where are we going?" Jaken cried. The small demon was struggling to maneuver through the undergrowth, climbing over the logs and boulders with little grace. Sesshomaru ignored him and pressed on.
The forest was growing thicker. Tall leafy trees blocked the clouds so Rin could no longer feel the rain, but it was growing increasingly dark and difficult to make anything out. Below her, Jaken let out an annoyed shout when Rin squeezed a bundle of her hair and released a tiny stream of water directly on top of him.
"Oh! Sorry, Jaken-sama!" she said. "I could barely see you!"
Jaken humphed and turned away muttering, attempting to scramble ahead of Ah-Un to avoid Rin, who was now gently wringing out the sleeves of her yukata. However, Sesshomaru had stopped.
Rin peered around. "Where are we, Sesshomaru-sama?"
"Shelter," he said, nodding in front of him. Rin slid off Ah-Un's back and joined Sesshomaru. She squinted into the gloom, trying to see what he was indicating.
They were surrounded by a thicket of trees and bushes. Opposite of where Rin stood, the greenery appeared to slant upward, until she realized it was growing atop a small slope of earth and rock, a cave hollowed out underneath. With the dense canopy of leaves above them, they were spared the worst of the storm, aside from the lingering, solitary droplets that dripped from the trees.
Splat, splat, splat, they sounded when they hit the leathery foliage.
Rin regarded the cave nervously. All she could make out was its dark entrance outlined by the mottled gray, brown, and green of the stone and forest that it was carved into. Then she looked up at Sesshomaru. "There isn't anything in there, is there, Sesshomaru-sama?"
"Nothing."
His word was good enough for her. Satisfied, Rin stepped through the soggy moss floor until she could crawl just into the mouth of the cavern. Once she inched past the damp entry point, it was dry and protected. It was impossible to tell how deep the cave actually was with no light, but she felt it was very large indeed. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them in an attempt to warm herself, even though all of her was still quite soaked from her walk. Rin looked up towards her companions.
"Won't you join me?" she asked, attempting to sound pleasant in the face of her chilliness. Ah-Un plodded forward but stopped a few paces from her, unable to wedge his way into the cave. He was content enough now that they had found refuge from the constant battery of rain to lay down in front of Rin, munching away at a bush. But Sesshomaru and Jaken remained standing.
Jaken would not be the first to avail himself of a luxury, so he wisely kept his mouth shut. Sesshomaru blinked slowly. His mind seemed to turn without him speaking. He took a few leisurely steps toward Rin, paused, and then ripped a small branch from an overhanging tree. Still carrying it, he proceeded to the mouth of the cave. He was forced to stoop, but even this motion he was able to execute elegantly while holding on to the tree limb until he had seated himself an arm's length away from Rin, the branch in between them.
"Jaken!"
The green imp scuttled forward. "Sesshomaru-sama! Ah!" he cried, as he realized what Sesshomaru was requesting.
The branch was no longer a branch, Rin saw, but rather a pile of thoroughly drenched sticks and twigs, courtesy of Sesshomaru's claws. Jaken approached it with his staff and held it over the pile. Hot flames poured out of one of the heads, warming the air around them but utterly useless against the wet wood. Rin beamed happily.
"Are you sure you can do it?" she teased him.
"Quiet!" Jaken screeched, and Rin complied good-naturedly, for the flames' heat was comforting against her skin. The three waited in silence. Bit by bit, the wood was desiccated back to a flammable state, at which time it finally caught a spark.
"Oh, well done!" Rin marveled. "You did it after all!"
"Of course!" Jaken boasted, and he set his staff aside.
Uncoiling herself just barely, Rin pushed the twigs into a more compact formation and scooted as close as she could bear to the flames. Despite Jaken's valiant efforts, the blaze was nevertheless a small one and Rin shook with the cold. Her kimono was a long way off from being dry again. If only she could take it off, she would dry faster. The juban she wore closest to her body felt only a little damp.
Working deftly as she could with her cold fingers, Rin reached around to her back and began tugging at the knot of her obi until it had fallen loose. She was about to pull it away when Jaken interrupted her.
"Oi, Rin! What are you doing?" he squawked, sounding positively scandalized. He had jumped up and was now brandishing his staff wildly at her as he spoke.
"My clothes are wet," Rin said stoutly, "so I can't get dry."
"How dare you show such disrespect in front of Sesshomaru-sama and act with such brazenness!" Jaken bawled, flapping his arms about. "This is not a common bath house for you to—!"
Thump. Thump.
Jaken sat down abruptly, dazed. Two separate lumps were swelling rapidly on his head.
"Go find more wood to burn through the night," Sesshomaru said.
"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," Jaken said meekly. When he had shuffled off, properly chastised, Rin did not immediately proceed with what she had been doing, distracted by what Sesshomaru had said.
"Through the night?" she repeated.
"The storm will continue for some time," he said, "and it will be late when it does. We will stay here until tomorrow."
Ah. Rin returned to her obi, whipping it away from her waist and laying it on the ground in front of the fire. She did the same with her kimono, arranging it flat so it was close to the heat and able to dry. It was a pity that she had to treat her clothes so poorly, but it couldn't be helped, Rin thought. Now dressed in her juban, she sat down once again and hugged her knees to her chest like she had before. It was a relief to not be weighed down by her wet clothes anymore, but now she was more exposed as well.
Next to her, Sesshomaru gave Rin a sidelong glance. His eyes were too keen to be deceived. As tightly as she held herself, she trembled.
"Rin."
She sat up a little at her name and faced him, nonplussed. With one fluid motion, he swept a length of his pelt to his side so that it fluttered briefly in the air and then settled on the ground in between them. Rin stared at him, her gaze darting between Sesshomaru's profile and his fur. It was as clear an invitation as she would ever receive from him, but she could not quite believe it.
"Sesshomaru-sama...?"
He was not looking at her anymore. His eyes were fixed on the fire, unmoving. Not wishing to lose another moment, Rin sidled closer so she was nearly flush with him. She had never, in all her days of traveling with him, deigned to touch it. Somehow, it had seemed forbidden to her, more so than his kimono, or armor, or even his hair.
Now that she did, she was amazed. It was with great hesitation that she brushed her hand over it, nearly gasping. Forgetting her shyness, Rin gathered more swaths of it into her palms, wanting to feel as much of it as possible. For a second, she forgot what she had meant to do and just admired the sensation between her fingers. It was the softest thing she had ever laid her hands on, downy and light like a duckling. Yet when she grew bold enough to wrap it around her shoulders and chest, she could instantly tell it was also dense and insulating just like a blanket. Curiously, it was somehow not wet. Perhaps something about his demon blood or energy made it so his body was not susceptible to these elements for very long.
She raised her eyes to him. "Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama."
He had no response for her, except for a slight tensing of his fine mouth.
Rin sighed. She was warmer now but the rain was not stopping. She could tell just by listening, even if she couldn't see much of it.
"I've always like the rain," she said quietly. "Even if it causes some troubles for people." She swiveled toward Sesshomaru to gauge his reaction and continued, "It's the only way that things can grow, after all. Without the rain, there wouldn't be any flowers or food, or anything green. So I'm always happy when it rains; it's just taking care of all the plants."
Rin dared to inch a little closer. "When I lived with Kaede-baa-chan, I would love it when it rained at night when we were getting ready for bed. I'd always fall asleep listening to it. It was like...nature's lullaby." She spoke softly. The cave's stillness was pressing about them; anything more than a whisper seemed like it would be a shout.
He turned to meet her eyes. It was difficult to read them in the dimness of the cave and with them reflecting the flickering fire. "Are you tired, Rin?"
"No, not yet." And she edged nearer still, until the gap between them was nonexistent and her leg touched his. "But I will be," Rin murmured. She curled up against him, hugging the fur around her more closely. She was sitting on the ground in a dark cave in the woods, still damp, while the rain lashed just a few feet away from them. But to be here with him was more than enough to make her feel as if it were the sunniest day imaginable.
A/N: This has been one of my favorite chapters so far! Rainy days are perfect for fluff.