Chances Not Worth Losing

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

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Monday morning came and Rin woke up to find Sesshomaru already awake. "Good morning," she told him before yawning. "How did you sleep?"

"Well. And yourself?"

"Among the best sleep I've gotten in years except for the naps we've gotten this weekend." She grinned at him and he smiled back at her. He had never smiled much before, but when he was alone lately it felt so natural. Of course, it would always be just between Rin and himself. "I hate to keep you from being late to work."

"I don't want to go to work. Why does the weekend have to be so short when you don't want it to?"

"We must though. Tomorrow is the inauguration after all."

"Are you getting excited?"

"I'm ready to get it done and over with."

"Really? I guess I'm excited enough for you."

"I'm more excited about coming home to you tonight." He drew her in for a kiss that was cut short by the alarm clock. He reached over and shut it off before commenting, "We really should be getting ready for work."

"Oh, alright," Rin pouted. She got up and went to the bathroom to take her shower while Sesshomaru threw on his robe and went outside to get the newspapers that had piled up over the weekend. There on the front page of the Saturday newspaper was an article announcing that he and Rin had been married in a private ceremony. Upon further reading he found an editorial from a journalist who had been skeptical about him from the start. The editorial essentially said that now that he and Rin were mated everyone could finally tell if the couple was really in love or just fooling the voters. The journalist predicted that Rin would still look the same at the inauguration since they wouldn't have bonded. He'd eat his words soon enough.

The Sunday paper was full of editorials of people giving their opinion over whether or not they had bonded. What did these people care about more: Rin and he bonding or the inauguration? It would be likely tomorrow that they would pay more attention to Rin than to him.

Rin's footsteps signaled to him that she was approaching. He threw down the paper for her to read once she entered the room. "It's all about us, isn't it?"

"Yes."

After a few minutes of reading she said, "I'm going to take away from your inauguration, aren't I?"

"They will be more interested in our relationship than in what I have to say, but that is life."

"It's not right though."

"What can we do about it? Nothing." He stood up to leave, but Rin suddenly captured him in a kiss. "What was that for?"

"For loving me, even if it means that people tomorrow will be more interested in our mating than in the real event of the day. But I bet that those who do listen to your speech will be as blown away by it as I am." He smiled at her and kissed her again before leaving her to get ready for his day.

--

Rin arrived at work five minutes early and snuck in through a side door. Thankfully no one was in the hallway, so she was able to get to her office without being spotted. The minute she opened her office she gasped at the sight of all the gifts piled up on her desk. Obviously they were wedding gifts and cards. "Anything wrong?" one of her coworkers asked.

"No. I just wasn't expecting all of this." She moved around her desk to inspect everything before moving them to the corner table in her office. Her coworker started helping with the gifts, neither of them looking at each other too closely.

When they had moved every gift and card her coworker looked up at Rin and his mouth fell open. "You look beautiful!" he complimented her.

Rin blushed slightly before regaining her normal color. "If my mate heard you say that he'd have his hands around your neck."

"I know, that's why I have to say it now while he's not around," he laughed.

"Gustav, do I really look that different?"

"It's hard to notice when someone suddenly gets younger over the weekend. Why do you ask?"

"How much time do you have?"

"I have to be at a meeting across the street in two hours."

"That's plenty of time." She sat down and he did the same. "I'm worried about tomorrow. It's Sesshomaru's big day, and everyone will be more interested in what I look like. I know that they are curious to find out if we were telling the truth about our love for each other, but I don't want that to be the focus of the day."

"He knows that too, but there's nothing really that you can do. Most times people are tired of politics, and when a politician seems more like them, they would rather hear about that. Besides, your beauty is going to send the media into a frenzy."

"Should I behave differently tomorrow, like try to avoid being seen so much?"

"I don't think that's possible. I bet even Sesshomaru will probably try to make sure they see you so that he can show you off. I certainly would be prideful of my wife if I had one and she looked as good."

"So I shouldn't worry too much?"

"No. Sesshomaru is the kind of guy who knows how to handle things pretty well."

"I guess I am over reacting." Gustav nodded his head in agreement. "Thanks for listening to me."

"Hey, no problem, especially for a beautiful woman like yourself."

"You can stop repeating that I'm beautiful. I get the picture."

"I know, but I just can't seem to get over it." He went into the hallway and told someone or some people to come in and see her.

Soon there were four people standing in her office gasping. Finally a secretary exclaimed, "Rin, you look unbelievably good! Not that I doubted that you and Sesshomaru would bond, but I didn't know what to expect you to look like." The other three agreed with her.

"Thanks. Please don't tell anyone outside of the office though. I don't want the press finding out and practically knocking down our doors." They agreed, and for the rest of the day there were only a few more comments made since she was already showing signs of being tired of hearing it.

--

Two mornings later Sesshomaru unwillingly dragged himself out of bed and went downstairs to get the morning paper. The front page did not surprise him as they had most of the page devoted to the inauguration and the inaugural balls. There was a large picture of him during the swearing into office portion of the ceremony and then a smaller one during his speech, which was widely covered in the article. The article continued on the back page and there was a picture of him dancing with Rin, but the only mention of her was that they attended the inaugural balls.

The actual talk about Rin and her new look was only discussed on the editorial page. The same editorial columnist actually had the audacity to say that Rin had plastic surgery to make her look that young. How could she possibly have plastic surgery and heal that quickly?

"Anything good in the newspaper?" Rin asked as she walked into the kitchen fully dressed.

"He thinks you had plastic surgery." He slid the paper in front of her. "Apparently you heal as quickly as a demon."

"Hm, imagine that. Would you mind if I wrote him an editorial criticizing him for this nonsense instead of talking about your inauguration?"

"Go ahead."