"Hello. My name is Tatsuyo. Is this where Rin lives?"
Sesshoumaru looked at the boy, who looked to be healthy and most would consider handsome (for a human that is) boy around Rin's same age.
"So you are Rin's escort..." Sesshoumaru asked, narrowing his eyes and cracking the knuckles on his own clawed hand. (The other hand, which was clawed, was technically his because he ripped it off the body of his opponent, but it wasn't originally his.)
"Yes I am, sir." Sesshoumaru smirked at the boy's answer. This was the right mortal and Sesshoumaru knew there was a meadow half way down the mountain that he could take the boy in under a minute. Rin would never hear the mortal's screams as he slaughtered him and disposed of the body. Rin would only shed a few tears for being stood-up but she was an obedient girl and would quiet them when ordered. Plus Sesshoumaru knew he could have Jaken run into town for a new trinket for Rin to sooth her.
Sesshoumaru was about to leap when Rin ran down the hallway, past the front doorway. She was on her way to pick up a favorite comb she left in one of the other rooms when she paused and came to the door behind Sesshoumaru.
"Oh Tatsuyo, you are early!" Rin said, smiling. Sesshoumaru noticed, to his utmost horror, that the kimono he had picked out was no longer too big and baggy for her. In fact, the kimono seemed to look even better on her than the one he had rejected. "Let just finish putting up my hair and I'll be all done." She was about to rush off when she remembered her manners. "Oh forgive me. This is my lord, Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru-sama, this is Tatsuyo. I'll be back in a moment." Rin giggled then rushed off.
"It is an honor, sir!" The boy reverently bowed before Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru scowled. Rin knew the boy had arrived and thus he couldn't complete his original plan. He really didn't want to have to hurt Rin. Still, it didn't mean he could scare the boy.
::But how to do it subtly, so the boy gets the point without this Sesshoumaru having to lower himself to outright verbal threats of how I can rend him apart, tendon by tendon while he is still alive, and then feed his entrails to the carrion birds if he dares to even think a dishonorable thought of my follower, Rin?:: Sesshoumaru pondered to himself. His gaze then fell upon one of Rin's items that was left out on a cabinet at the back of the room. For once, Sesshoumaru didn't feel the need to reprimand her.
"Enter. Sit down." Sesshoumaru commanded to the boy (since when did he politely ask anyone anything?), pointing where Tatsuyo should sit, ignoring the distant yet familiar sounds of Jaken and Rin bickering.
"Ouch! Stop yanking my hair!"
"Then you need to sit straight and still!" (Et cetera. I can't put down Rin and Jaken's full argument. Too long.)
"Yes, sir." Tatsuyo immediately slipped out of his shoes and then entered. The greeting room was bi-level and with a couple steps running right through the middle. Tatsuyo kneeled down at the appropriate place which was right before the steps. "You want to speak to me?" He asked, a bit too eager and happy for Sesshoumaru's taste.
Sesshoumaru went to the cabinet and picked up the item Rin left behind, which was a fine metal file Sesshoumaru once had Jaken purchase for Rin. Sitting himself in front of a low table on the upper part of the bi-level room, Sesshoumaru gauged his enemy. (You weren't expecting the great Sesshoumaru to really lower himself to the same level as a mortal and have a friendly chat, did you?)
"Yes, I will speak to you. Tell me about your family and your intentions for this evening." Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes as the boy happily started to go on and tell Sesshoumaru about his family and father's position as village leader and other things Sesshoumaru really didn't give a darn about.
All the while, Sesshoumaru gracefully sharpened the nails of his poisoned claw. ::It is still a bit crude form of intimidation, but it is better than ripping his face off when Rin is expecting him.::
"So I was planning to go first to your festival, sir. This has been the tenth annual event and it's bigger than any of the previous ones! My father said they even hired acrobats all the way from-."
Sesshoumaru didn't feel listening to the details of the humans silly festival. "What do you plan to do afterwards?"
"I thought a walk along the river would be nice." Tatsuyo said, memorized by how Sesshoumaru's fingernails started to appear to be glowing bright green.
"Well I do not think that is 'nice.'" Sesshoumaru glowered, letting a couple droplet of green ichor slide along the file's edge, melting away the metal file's edge and then dropping to sizzle and eat through the table top and then through the wooden floor. "I require my retainers to have a full night's sleep so they can properly complete their duties."
(Of course, Rin's duties included such things as writing poetry for her lord and picking flowers and, occasionally, catching butterflies and thus, she could probably sleep in one day and not let her work pile up that much. But Sesshoumaru would be damned to let the boy know any facts he, himself, would not acknowledge.)
"Yes, sir. I will bring Rin right back." Tatsuyo bowed, sincere to the demon lord glaring at him.
Sesshoumaru was still debating with himself whether he should just change his mind and see if Rin could be appeased by buying a really big gift, when Rin entered the room.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, Tatsuyo." Rin said. Sesshoumaru's breath caught. She just stood there, blushingly and shyly looking down, her kimono perfectly arrayed around her. Jaken really had out done himself this time. Her long hair was a masterwork of complex twists and braids, all done up with a pearl inlaid comb Sesshoumaru recognized he had bought for her during their first trip to the area around Kyoto. She extruded innocence and purity and all those other maidenly qualities people babble about when talking about pretty girls.
In short, Sesshoumaru REALLY wanted to hurt someone who's name started with 'T' that was in the room about right then.
~*~*~
Okay, the original purpose of this fic was for the "Sesshoumaru does his version of polishing his shotgun in front of Rin's boyfriend" scene. (Yes, Sess's version basically boiled down to giving himself a manicure in front of the boy. But that's why this piece is humor.)
But if I get a lot of reviews I will continue this because Sesshoumaru doesn't seem the type to trust weak mortal boys. So that means Sesshoumaru at the festival, which will cause much more high-jinks!
So please review! (You'll thank yourself when I get to the "The Great Sesshoumaru is stuck in fast food" scene.)