Ah, finally a familiar character appears! Rin is somewhat difficult to write, since I know little about her current personality and then one has to figure out what she would be like as she grew older. I hope I got it right. Thank you to my reviewers so far. Please continue to let me know what you think!
Have fun!
Ladymage Samiko ; )
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Of Moonlight and Honor
Part 5
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" As usual, that happy shout was the only warning Sesshoumaru got before he was smothered in a welter of cloth. He smiled and pulled back slightly from the enthusiastic embrace.
"Rin," he said, pleased. "You look well."
"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama!" She beamed at him, then looked closer. "Are you well? You look a little tired, Sesshoumaru-sama."
He sighed. "There have been some. . . unforeseen events, Rin. But they will keep for the time being. What have you been doing since I saw you last?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary," she replied. "But here, I brought someone to visit you." She turned around, revealing a sleeping child in a sling on her back. Rin held out her arms so that Sesshoumaru could carefully undo the straps of the sling. "Sachiko has been wanting to meet you."
Sesshoumaru blinked at the small creature he now held in his arms. "Was it wise to travel with her? She is very young."
"She's old enough now. Besides, with your mark on me, who would be safer on the roads?" Rin pretended to frown at the youkai. "And anyway, you haven't visited since before she was born. That was almost a year ago. It's time and past you met your 'granddaughter.'" She giggled. "Does this mean I can call you ojii-sama, now?"
"No, it does not," he told her repressively. A demon of his age with grandchildren? Perish the thought. His eyebrow lifted as he studied the slumbering child. And human grandchildren, no less. This brought his mind back to Tsukiyo and the child she carried. Soon enough he would have his own half-breed child and, after that, quarter-blood grandchildren, probably. The thought made him curl his lip in disgust, that his and his father's blood should be so debased.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin watched him, puzzled. "Are you sure everything's all right. You don't seem like yourself today. Here, let me take Sachiko."
Sesshoumaru began to hand the child back when she opened her eyes. They were large and as she stared at him, seemed to dominate her face. After a second of staring at each other, Sachiko smiled broadly at him. Taken by surprise, he could only blink as Rin took her from his arms and settled the child in her own. He watched them quietly. Sachiko was such a tiny thing and holding her had reminded him once again of the extreme fragility of human beings. Normally, this was something he scorned, but as he looked at Rin's face. . . He could see that her entire being was now centered on this all-too-easily hurt child. If something were to happen to Sachiko, what would happen to Rin? She was his ward, his responsibility.
A light tap on the door broke his reverie. "My lord?" came the quiet voice of Tsukiyo. He sighed. "Come in, Tsukiyo." The door slid open.
Tsukiyo stared at the scene before her in astonishment. Sesshoumaru-sama was sitting next to a young human woman of perhaps twenty, who held a smiling child in her arms. The woman stared back at her, apparently as surprised as she was. "I beg your pardon, my lord," Tsukiyo continued, regaining a small bit of her composure, "but Jaken informed me that you had guests and I thought you might appreciate some tea." She indicated the lacquer tray she held in her hands.
Rin didn't understand why this girl was here, but looking at her submissive form and Sesshoumaru's now-closed face, she knew she would have to take charge of the situation. "That would be delightful!" she said cheerfully. "Please come in. Join us." She watched as the girl gave Sesshoumaru-sama a startled glance to which he replied with the slightest of nods. The girl set the bowls of tea before both of them before settling down on the floor opposite. Rin noticed that she had not brought a mug for herself. "Mmm, this is marvelous. Did you make it yourself?"
"Yes, my lady," the girl replied. "My father taught me how to perform the tea ceremony. I would have invited you, but I was unaware if your business here would allow it."
"Oh, good heavens, don't call me 'my lady! Please!" Rin laughed. "I have enough of that at home. Here, I am just plain Rin, Sesshoumaru's little tag-along ward." She smiled warmly at the youkai. "And I would love to attend a ceremony, if I may. Not today, perhaps, but sometime this week? I have never heard of it performed by a woman before."
Watching her closely, Rin distinguished the small start she gave when Rin mentioned her relationship to Sesshoumaru, then the shyly pleased expression as Rin claimed interest in seeing her cha-do. "I would be most grateful for your attendance. . . Rin-san. I hope I can perform adequately. My father would not have taught me, save that I was his eldest child and talented in the art of nagging." A small smile curved her lips.
Rin's laugh once again rang out and was joined by her daughter's giggle. "Amazing how well it works, ne? If you ever ask Sesshoumaru-sama, I imagine he would tell you I was a true master of that art. I was able to sweet-talk quite a few things out of him once upon a time. I imagine Sachiko-chan will be able to in a few years as well." She gave the little girl a small hug. Was it her imagination, or did the girl look somewhat wistful? "Oh, I don't believe Sesshoumaru-sama's introduced us. As I said, I'm Rin. Sesshoumaru-sama saved my life many years ago and I've been following him ever since. For some reason, he puts up with it. I only left a few years ago when I married. This is my daughter, Sachiko."
"My name is Akita Tsukiyo," the girl replied. "I--" Her voice drifted off as she looked uncertainly at the oddly-silent lord.
Sesshoumaru put the bowl of tea down carefully. He looked up at Rin, his face as calm and cold as it had been the first time she'd ever seen him. "Tsukiyo is carrying my child, Rin," he told her levelly. Her gaze swept back and forth between the two in surprise. Why, the girl was no more than sixteen! Something here was very wrong. She knew Sesshoumaru-sama too well to think otherwise.
"This is certainly. . . unexpected," Rin replied, setting her own bowl down.
Sesshoumaru's lips twisted in a smirk. "You've learned tact, Rin. I never thought it possible."
"You're avoiding the issue," she accused him. "I know you too well for that, Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Perhaps you should ask the girl, then," he replied mildly, "as to what the circumstances are." Rin could practically see Tsukiyo shrinking into herself. She avoided both Sesshoumaru's expectant gaze as well as Rin's sympathetic one.
"Tsukiyo-san?" The girl flinched at the sound of her name.
"Yes, Rin-san?" Tsukiyo's voice was barely audible.
"The gardens are lovely this time of year. Perhaps we could take a turn through them? Together?"
"Oh!" Once again, the girl's emotions were almost palpable. "O--of course, Rin-san." At Sesshoumaru's nod of permission, Tsukiyo stood and bowed out of the room, waiting for Rin just beyond the door.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin turned to the youkai. "Would you look after Sachiko-chan for a little while? You two should become acquainted." Without waiting for his answer, she plopped the girl in his lap. Lips close to his ear, she hissed at him, "You and I will talk later."
Sesshoumaru blinked after her in surprise, watching her cheery nature reassert itself in Tsukiyo's company. He glanced down at the girl-child he now held and she stared back at him, wide-eyed.
--tsuzuku
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Cultural Notes
Ojii-sama is the most formal way of saying "grandfather." It can also mean 'uncle.' Difficult to imagine Sesshoumaru in either role, ne?
Cha-do literally means 'Way of Tea.' It's the study and practice of the tea ceremony, which was beginning to develop in this period. It was/is considered a way of life, that emphasizes simplicity and calm.
Tsukiyo's age-- I imagine some people are going to want to bawl me out for making her (and Rin, for that matter) so young. But that was how it worked in earlier times. As soon as a girl passed puberty, she was more or less considered a woman (which I sometimes think is a more sensible attitude). It is more than likely that Tsukiyo would have been married, possibly with children already, by sixteen. So, since I think in historical contexts, Tsukiyo is a responsible, consenting adult. Even if she is using a teenager's level of common sense.
