Chapter Thirteen

Rin trailed behind Sesshoumaru, eyes fixed worshipfully on her hero. Now that he was back, she was perfectly content to remain silent and simply to be in his presence. Eventually, however, the conversation behind her caught her attention, and occasionally her gaze would stray from the youkai in front of her to the girl and hanyou who lingered towards the back of the odd procession.

"Inuyasha, what are you carrying?" Before the hanyou could even object, Kagome had reached over and lightly pulled a bit off the cloth away from the bundle in his arms, revealing the baby's sleep face, "Is that…what I think it is?" It wasn't a question that really required an answer, as she was fairly certain that it was indeed a baby.

"Keh. Of course it is. What else would it be?" Inuyasha shifted his father's position, careful not to wake the babe.

"It's adorable!" The oddity of the situation seemed to sink in a bit further as the teenager questioned further, "Why do you have a baby?" When the hanyou didn't answer right away as he was trying to formulate the best way to explain, Kagome quietly took in the silver hair and youkai ears, "Is it… Is it yours?" It was asked with a calmness the girl didn't feel.  Inuyasha was in major trouble if it was his. A thousand 'sits' didn't compare with the pain he'd feel.

"No! I mean, sorta, but it's not what you think… cuz it's not mine…" The red clad warrior stammered, his mouth moving before his brain even had the opportunity to consider intelligent speech, "Actually... It's both of ours!" One clawed finger pointed towards his brother, who had finally halted and was simply staring forward expressionlessly.

Idiot. Sesshoumaru wondered if his brother even realized how that sounded.

As if to confirm the youkai's fear,  Kagome just stared at Inuyasha with wide eyes and repeated, "Both…of…yours?"

It took Inuyasha yet another moment before his mind fully registered the implications of his blurted answer. Then he exploded, "NOT LIKE THAT!" The result, of course, was that the child in his arms was startled into waking and let loose a mighty wail.

Idiot.  Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.  The word kept repeating in Sesshoumaru's mind, but before he could respond to his brother's stupidity, Rin had crept over to examine the crying child.

"There there, don't cry!" The young girl had to be imitating some mother in the village she was raised in. Or maybe her own, but Sesshoumaru had never heard the child even reference her mother. Amazingly, Rin's tactic worked, for the babe took one good look at the one who was offering him comforting phrases, and gurgled happily.

Sesshoumaru was rather incredulous about the whole ordeal. Apparently his father's adoration of humans began early. He didn't have long to muse on the subject, as now the girl was watching her hero with hopeful eyes, a question burning in them.

Hell. Tell me she's not going to ask…

"Sesshoumaru-sama, can Rin keep him?" She pointed towards the child, as if Sesshoumaru wasn't bright enough to know who the person referenced was.

"No. The babe is merely here for the time being. We are not keeping it."

Rin looked like she'd like to protest, but she knew Sesshoumaru's tone of voice too well to do so. It was the same way he always sounded when he was near hurting something. Of course, her Sesshoumaru-sama would never hurt her, but she was too wise to make him angry. Subdued, the girl responded, "Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama," and went back to admiring the scenery and not so subtly eavesdropping on the conversation behind her.

"But why do you have a baby?" Kagome persisted, not dissuaded by Sesshoumaru's imperial air. She was ignoring Inuyasha now, not trusting the hanyou to give her a coherent answer. By his expression, he was rather displeased with the development, but remained silent.

"Rin, run ahead and inform Jaken of my arrival." Sesshoumaru's tone again brooked no disagreement, and Rin did as she was told- She literally ran the distance to the village.

You really need to learn not to use generalizations with that girl. For once, Sesshoumaru was in completely agreement with his subconscious. It was now that he bothered to spare a glance to his brother's exasperated mate. Kagome didn't care for being ignored, but before she could even comment, Sesshoumaru replied coolly, "It is my father."

"OUR father!" Inuyasha cut in again, but yet again, he was ignored by Sesshoumaru.

"But how…." Kagome began, looking increasingly confused.

Taking a note from his brother, Sesshoumaru cut her off, "It does not matter how at the moment." His gaze had taken on an icy gleam, and the sun glinted off the white of his fangs. It was a deliberate attempt at intimidation, and it worked. The teen girl fell silent, dropping back to walk next to Inuyasha and didn't try to address the youkai lord in front of her for the present.

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Sesshoumaru ignored the rather blatant stares of the villagers as he entered the village. The people were fairly used to seeing youkai, but none such as him. For a youkai to assume a human form meant he was one of great power, and for him to appear so beautiful was even rarer. Not to mention his well dressed form indicated a certain amount of affluence and class, something that was foreign to the villagers even when applied to an ordinary human. Thus it was not surprising that though the humans around remained mostly hidden and definitely out of the way, they could be seen peering out from doorways and windows and Sesshoumaru's sensitive ears could hear every murmured comment about him. Most of them were flattering, something that did not entirely displease the youkai despite his claims of indifference towards the opinion of humans.

He picked out Rin's scent from the assortment of wonderful smells that plagued the village life, unwashed bodies and manure among them, and followed it to the hut where it ended. Sesshoumaru was more than content to leave Inuyasha to explain the circumstances to his friends. In fact, he took an almost devilish glee in the interrogation that he knew his half-brother was going through. He couldn't revel in the glee too long, however, for he had his own interrogation to attend to.

The hut was as clean as one could hope for in such circumstances, though Sesshoumaru wasn't thrilled with the thought of staying in it. Rationally, it was cleaner than sleeping in the woods, but he didn't care for rationality unless it suited him. Spotting Jaken cowering in the shadows in a corner, Sesshoumaru coolly addressed the young girl, "Rin, I would like to speak to Jaken alone." When the girl looked like she would like tearfully protest, Sesshoumaru added, "You were picking flowers when I arrived, perhaps you should go continue that?"

Rin nodded cheerfully and ran out of hut. Jaken saw the opportunity and tried to seize it, "Ah! I will go help her…." He started towards the door when Sesshoumaru's voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Jaken."

"Ah…." The smaller youkai turned to regard his master, "Y….yes Lord Sesshoumaru?"

"Explain why you and Rin are in this village."

"We….we walked." Jaken wasn't stupid enough to stop there when the amber gaze watching him suddenly hardened, "Ah…It's the girl! She started here all on her own and wouldn't stop.. And… and…"

Sesshoumaru turned his back, letting out an inaudible sigh. How could  Jaken have stopped Rin when Sesshoumaru was finding it hard to stop her himself when she wanted something? His carefully planned life was spiraling out of control and he was not happy about it. He barely listened as  Jaken droned on, explaining how he had followed Rin so that she would not come to harm, and how they had reached the village and had been stopped by Inuyasha's friends. The two girls had managed to convince Rin to stay with them, and Rin, enraptured by the thought of spending time with other human females, had happily agreed. That last fact stuck in Sesshoumaru's mind. He wasn't certain that he was entirely pleased that he was so easily replaced in the girl's thoughts. She had headed out in search of him, hadn't she? Yet that girl of Inuyasha's had managed to make Rin give up her quest. Something indescribable twisted inside him, and had he chosen to examine it further, he would have found himself to be feeling something suspiciously akin to jealousy. He deliberately chose not to examine it.

Still, feeling strangely bereft, Sesshoumaru cut off Jaken's continued explanation with a snap, "That is enough, Jaken. Leave me."

He hadn't been hit, treated to a cutting remark, or even truly given the cold shoulder by his master. This puzzled Jaken exceedingly. Still, he knew better than to linger when Sesshoumaru's mood was so odd and he nodded quickly and departed, leaving Sesshoumaru truly alone.

Funny. It had never bothered him before. 

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A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. Between my computer crashing and needing to get repaired, exams, papers, and a vacation that left me with no internet access, getting this chapter written took much longer than I expected. Thank you for those who have stuck with me. I greatly appreciate the reviews left and love that people are enjoying this story. So, please continue to review and let me know what you think! In better news, I have more of a solid idea how to end the story now, though getting to that point will still take quite a few chapters. I'm not even going to give an estimation as things always end up longer than I say they're going to. I promise that I will not abandon this story, no matter how long it takes me to get new chapters up. Happy New Years!