Chances Not Worth Losing

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Inuyasha.

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Finally Election Day came. As soon as the polls were open, Sesshomaru, Rin, his campaign staff, and a group of supporters went to his polling place since he was now registered in Springfield. Sesshomaru was allowed to be the first one there to cast his ballot, and the media had a field day with the photo opportunity. Afterward they went to Rin' polling place so that she could vote. Once again, the media had a field day with that.

From there, they went to a few rallies to get out the vote. By the time the evening came, they were all exhausted, but that would not stop them from watching the election returns. They sat down in a hotel suite while a party for their supporters raged on in the ballroom downstairs. For the longest time the election returns were showing a dead even tie until the numbers suddenly started showing a drop in Sesshomaru's numbers. All he could do was stare at the TV as his world crashed around him. Despite the numbness of it all, he could still feel Rin's arm around his waist and her head on his shoulder.

He suddenly got to his feet startling Rin and walked into the adjoining room. Rin followed him and closed the door behind her. He had his back to her as he talked, "I am a failure. I couldn't convince the voters that I am legitimately courting you."

"No," she said sympathetically. She stepped up behind him, put hugged him from behind, and rested the right side of her face against his back. "You are not a failure. Right now the voters want someone who stands a certain way on issues that your opponent represents better, and they want a governor who's had more political experience than they feel you have had for some unknown reason."

"I'm now jobless. My mother keeps wasting my inheritance…. I can't provide for you like I was expecting to."

"I will take care of us. I don't care if you don't have money or a job. We can always live off of my salary if worse comes to worse, but you will never have trouble finding work in this town."

"Would you wait for me?"

"I will wait for you if you want me to, but you're not going to get rid of me that easily."

She felt him take a deep breath and let it out before he started tugging on her arm to get her to move so that he could see her. He held her close and rested his forehead on hers. "How did I get so lucky to find you?"

He leaned down and was about to kiss her when he heard great rejoicing in the next room and the door open behind him. "Sorry to interrupt," Kathy's voice rang out. "But you'll find this pretty interesting."

They broke apart and walked into the room just in time to hear the announcer say, "In an interesting turn of events, Senator Takahashi has taken a commanding lead." Rin hugged him tightly from the side bringing him into a state of bliss. For half an hour he thought his dream had been shattered. He was wrong to doubt.

An hour late his opponent finally called the race. With an arm around Rin, he emerged onto the stage to address the chanting and cheering crowd of supporters and the media. The noise level in the room grew louder and then quieted enough for him to make his speech.

When he had finished he started giving credit and thanks to his staff. Then he privately asked Rin to stand by him. She was hesitant at first, but she couldn't deny him for long. She stood next to him and waved at the crowd. Suddenly they started chanting her name. Sesshomaru leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Your public approves of you. Give them a speech."

"I couldn't! This is your big day."

"Go ahead. They clearly want to hear you." He gave her a gentle push towards the podium.

The crowd cheered and then lulled. "We thank all of you for coming out to vote today." The crowd cheered again. "Tonight the people of Illinois have voted to put Sesshomaru Takahashi into the Governor's Office, and I couldn't agree with them more. I have known Sesshomaru for 19 years, and I know that he is a trustworthy man. He will continue the work of Governor Martinez, and he will work to benefit and protect the people of this great state. The State will become a better place to live and work because of voters like you." She backed up until she was standing next to Sesshomaru again. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. She could feel the heat rising in her face as she heard comments from some people about how cute they looked together.

When the other members of his party that won constitutional office races finished their speeches, their group moved upstairs to continue their celebrating. By the time the party had died down, most people were asleep sprawled out in chairs, on one of the couches, and in the beds. Kathy was the last to get to bed, and as she started turning off lights she noticed that the bedroom in the suite still had its light on and there were voices coming from it since it had no door and the walls did not reach to the ceiling.

Wanting to spy on the people in the room, she turned off the lights to the main room and crept silently to peek through the doorway. Lying on the bed was Sesshomaru and Rin. They appeared to be very comfortable as they faced each other with his head resting on his right arm as his reached over her head and stroked her hair; his left arm rubbing circles in her back; her left hand rested somewhere between them, possibly on his chest; and her right arm wrapped around his upper left arm. She had her eyes closed, but she was still awake because she kept giggling at what he was saying.

Not wanting to possibly ruin the moment, she crept to the couch she would sleep on for the night and laid down listening to their conversation.

"And my father would let me join them on the stage. When I was younger, he let me sit on his shoulders during the speech. He always insisted that I be with him and my mother and later Izayoi when we would be interviewed. Then we would party in the hotel suite all night. I would often outlast him."

Rin giggled before saying, "I think everyone went to bed. Maybe we should too." She thought about it and then said, "But I don't want to move to turn off the light. I'm so comfortable right now." She smiled at him and blushed.

"Don't turn it off then. I can fall asleep with it on."

"So can I."

"Then stay this way for now." His eyes bored into hers before she looked away and then at the bridge of his nose.

"Sesshomaru?"

"Hm?"

"If we ever mate, and if we ever have pups, I want them to enjoy election nights like you did with your dad."

"I want the same thing. It can always be a family thing." Kathy smiled thinking about how comforting it was to hear the couple talk about their future. She would be shocked and disappointed if they never mated."

"Too bad your mother couldn't be here though."

"She won't as long as we're together. That's her loss though. She will never get to know her grandpups." Rin smiled on the inside hearing that he was already assuming that they would mate and have pups. "It's probably better for them though. They shouldn't have to know what it's like to never be able to please her or to know that she hates you because she can't accept that you are a human even though you are a wonderful person."

"She should still never be alone though."

"That's her decision, and there is nothing we can do about it. Now, let's get some sleep since I'm sure that they'll want us to get up early with the rest of them." He kissed her forehead before closing his eyes.

"Good night, Sesshomaru."

"Good night, Rin."

Kathy lay there in the silence thinking about how sad it was to hear that there would some sort of obstacle in their relationship. A couple like them would never deserve such hardships.