That Sunday came and Rin went out early to buy flowers to take with her. She had plenty of flowers between her flower garden in their small yard and the numerous potted flowers in the living room and her room, but this was a special occasion that called for nicer flowers.

She came home and changed into a black dress shirt, a black knee-length skirt, and a black cardigan. Afterward she found a basket and put a blanket, and picture of her parents, and the flowers in it. While she fixed lunch she called Eri. "I'm going to leave after I eat and wash the dishes."

"Are you sure you don't want me to go this year?"

"Yeah. I need to talk with them alone this year. I have quite a bit to talk about."

"I understand. You definitely need to talk to them about your marriage arrangement."

Almost as if on cue, Sesshomaru came out of his room and went into the kitchen to fix his lunch. "That's among the list of things. I have quit my job and made new friends. If nothing much happens in the next year I'll bring you again."

"I don't mind."

"Thanks. Enjoy your afternoon."

"You too." She hung up and carried her food to the table. As soon as she sat down she was eating as fast as she could. It was taking all her energy to eat and not pay attention to Sesshomaru. She didn't know exactly why she felt the need to ignore him, but she tried to rationalize it by saying that her strange behavior was due to her desire to tell her parents about him. Actually, she wanted him to be there because she always felt that the only things they say and heard about her was when she was at their grave.

She brushed the feelings aside and continued eating. As she washed and dried her dishes he was sitting down to eat. She knew that after he finished eating he would be leaving for the office, as was his usual Sunday routine.

Once she had finished, she gathered her things and headed out the door. It only took a few minutes to get to the graveyard by car. Rin went straight to the grave and laid the blanket on the ground before it. She placed the flowers on the top of the tombstone before sitting down and talking. "Mom, Dad, it has been a year since I have last visited you. Much has happened in that time. Now I'm working as a free lance writer for several newspapers and magazines throughout the country. I had to quit my job because of an arrangement I made." Rin then went on to describe her marriage and all the people she had befriended because of it.

Rin has spent 3 hours in such deep discussion that she hadn't noticed anything around her. When she was finished she sat there basking in the fading warmth provided by the retreating sun. "Rin, are you done?" a deep male voice asked her.

Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. She turned around to see Sesshomaru standing there. "Sesshomaru, what are you doing here?" She thanked God that she had only told her parents the basics about everyone as she was unsure how long he had been listening.

"I followed you."

"Why?"

"You were acting suspicious." He approached her slowly. "Are you going to introduce me to your parents?"

"Oh, yeah." She got to her feet. "Mom, Dad, this is Sesshomaru."

He bowed to the tombstone and said, "It is a pleasure." He gracefully sat down next to her. After he stared that the tombstone for a few minutes he asked, "How did they die?"

Rin could feel tears flood her eyes as the painful memory flooded her mind, but she would not allow the tears to fall before him. It was already strange enough that he followed her, waited 3 hours for her to finish, and then wanted to talk to her. "They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a convenience store robbery that went wrong."

They sat in silence, Rin reliving the death of her parents. She had been there with them, but they spared her. At the age of 18, she was left on her own. Her estranged relatives didn't even want to come to the funeral, so she no one to turn to besides her friends and Naraku. Eri was the only friend who stayed by her side, and Naraku stayed but...she didn't want to think of that at the moment. "How did your mother die?"

"Drunk driver."

He seemed reluctant to talk about it, but Rin had one more question for him, "How old were you when she died?"

"Fifteen months."

He had not been old enough to know what it felt like to lose a parent. "I often believe that people enter our lives for a certain reason." He made not one sign of acknowledgement of her words. "Perhaps I am with you at this point in your life to help you deal with the death of your father." He turned and stared at her. "Well, I could tell from your proposal that you want to make your father proud of you. I took that to mean that you love your father very much."

He turned around again and stared at the horizon. "I seek my father's approval because I am only half the man he is. If I do as he approves then I am headed in the right direction."

"In other words, you look up to him."

"I still don't approve of Izayoi or Inuyasha."

"Why is that?" He didn't answer her question, but she knew that he had felt like he was despised by Izayoi. "The son of the other wife."

She looked off towards the rapidly setting sun. The red and yellows painting the sky were becoming blues and greens. "Why did you say that we couldn't come?" she heard him ask as he looked off in the distance. She stared at him for a few seconds before answering him, "I didn't think I would be in a good mood. Why? Do you want to go?"

"No." She giggled at the promptness of his response. "Do you want to eat dinner with me?"

"Uh...sure," she stuttered out. She was in shock that he would want to continue spending time with her.

He got to his feet and then helped her get up. She folded the blanket with his help, and they walked back to their cars. "Where do you want to go?"

"How about we order in? I'm not in the mood to go out."

"Okay." They got into their cars and sped away.

Once they were both home they ordered their food and Rin changed into her pajamas. She came out of her room to find Sesshomaru sitting on the couch reading some reports. "Do you ever lighten up?" He ignored her question. She sat down on the coffee table across form him and picked up his leg. He watched her intently as she took off his socks and shoes. "You dress like how you behave: You're too uptight."

She sat down next to him and grabbed onto his tie. He reached out a hand to stop her, but she batted them away with one hand before undoing the knot. She placed the tie in her lap and then unbuttoned the top two buttons. They both got lost in each other's eyes until the knock on the door snapped them back into reality. "We should answer the door."

"Yeah." She got to her feet and volunteered, "I'll get it."

She opened the door to the delivery guy who looked her up and down. "I hope this isn't all for you."

"No, this is for my husband and I." She shoved the money into the delivery man's hand, took the bag, and slammed the door in his face. "That's one of the greatest things about being married."

"Hmm?"

"Having a decent retort to men's pick-up lines." She put the food on the table and went to the kitchen to wash her hands and get some chopsticks. "Desperate men never appeal to me." Rin walked back into the living room to find the boxes of food open and waiting for her.

"And why do you suppose he was desperate?"

"No respectable man would ever hit on me." Immediately she realized what she had said. 'Stupid! He's a respectable man and he's married to you!' "You're different though. You are doing this entirely because this is a business arrangement. If we weren't in this situation, you'd have never thought of me again."

"How can you be so confident about that?" He picked up his chopsticks and started eating, so Rin followed suit.

"When I was in college I had a boyfriend who told me when I broke up with him that I was making a mistake because I was lucky anyone was looking at me. I'm too ugly to ever get a man to look at me. They only want beautiful women they can show off. It also helps if they are easy."

"He was saying that as an attempt to get you to stay with him."

"No, it was true. He was the only man I ever dated. Only men who had spent the entire night being shot down by the ideal women hit on me at parties or night clubs."

"Men won't go to women that send off the wrong signals."

"Tell me something, have you ever been with a woman like me before?" He didn't answer. "That's what I thought."

After a few moments of silence Sesshomaru observed, "Your beauty is a different kind."

That statement stuck in her mind all night as they spent the night in a comfortable silence enjoying the presence of each other company as they got their work done.

For the next few months Rin felt less reluctant to talk to Sesshomaru. He would not say much, but he did talk nonetheless. She also noted that he would come home and without prompt start to "unloosen" his clothing as Rin had that one night. Little changes were always good Rin had concluded.