AN: Hey! I'm back! Camp was…uh…camp-ish. It seems I've been slowing down on writing this fic…probably becausei've started a Mir/San one. Don't worry…I plan to finish this even if it kills me! It just seems it gets cornier. Oh well…just had a discussion with AO about that…not important. I will be shutting up now cuz I'm sure you want to read the rest.

Disclaimer: as always, don't own the characters…

Every now and then

When I'm all alone

I've been wishing you would call me on the telephone

Say you want me back

But you never do

I feel like such a fool

There's nothing I can do

I'm such a fool for you

-----------------------------------------

Chapter 8

The Jade Tiger

"Keh. Again? How many times a week can you eat that damn pork?" Inuyasha reluctantly took his fork and put the food in his mouth, after about five minutes of complaining. Rin had really gotten to see what a family dinner was like. It was quite entertaining.

"You shouldn't talk, baby," Kagome countered, "you eat that Ramen of yours everyday for the past eight years I've lived with you. You look more and more like a cup of instant food each day!"

"Now that's not true. Take it back," he glared, standing up.

"Make me," she glared back. I wonder if it ever occurred to this family; who were the bigger kids? Meiko and her brother, Kazen, or their parents, Inuyasha and Kagome. Everyone else was minding their own business, as if this was a common occurrence, which it probably was.

"Now listen here, you two," Inutaishou cleared his throat. Inuyasha sat across from Kagome. They were now both standing up, faces inches apart, both growling. "Ahem!" They snapped their heads in his direction, now glaring at the father. Inutaishou had definitely passed his look to both sons. And as for Kagome…well…she'd been around Inuyasha way too long. "Nevermind. Continue your bickering."

"I think we will," Inuyasha retorted. "Now where was I? Oh ya…take it back you stubborn wen…" unable to finish his favorite nickname for women, due to the food that was stuffed in his mouth, compliments of his wife.

"Now, now, baby. It's not polite to talk with your mouth full," she teased, pushing him back into his seat.

"Thanks for dinner. It was great," Rin said once she finished her meal. "I enjoyed the entertainment as well."

The mother, Lady Izayoi, laughed, "You're quite welcome. So now that you've seen what most meals are like here, what happens with your family?"

The smile disappeared off her face. Rin looked at he empty plate, and said nothing for a minute. "I…don't have family dinners. I have no cousins, aunts or uncles, brothers or sisters and my parents died a while back." A look of pain crossed her eyes, but that was normal when you talk about close people who've passed on.

"I'm terribly sorry. I didn't know…"

"Don't be sorry. That's alright. I've become used to being alone now."

"Dear, life's not worth living if you're alone."

"I know. After they died, I was somewhat alone. I only had friends left. But after I went away for school…I didn't know what kept me going. Why life was worth living. I guess it was that I hoped that someday…I'd have a family to belong to." Seeing that this conversation was going downhill fast, Kagome stood up.

"Well. Enough of that. Come on, I want to show you where you will spend the night," she said whisking Rin away. Meiko bounded after the two. The rest just stared in that particular direction, and Lady Izayoi followed. Let's see…that only left the men there. So it's true. No matter how well you know a woman, you never really know her. They all just sighed…except for Kazen, who stared with his usual two-year-old blank face.

"I take it that wasn't the ideal topic, was it?" asked Kagome softly as soon as the others were out of earshot.

"It's all the same…now anyway."

This was still heading in the wrong direction. A change of subject was needed, and pretty quickly too. An awkward silence befell them. Lucky there is always little kids to reduce the tension. "Mama. Where will Auntie Rin be sleeping tonight?"

"The room across from your uncle, why?"

"No reason. I just wanted to know. Hey…isn't that that room that uncle Sesshy tells me to stay away from?" she looked up at Kagome with those big chocolate eyes that she stole from her mother. So many questions.

"That's the one."

"Who did it belong to? Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"We'll talk about that later. And my goodness! Look at the time. Off to bed now. It's nine."

"But it's a Friday night," she complained. But it wasn't good to mess with Kagome. One stern look was all it took to send Meiko trudging back to her room, only about five doors down.

"Sorry about that…" Kagome said, opening the bedroom door, that would be Rin's for the next two nights. It was a fairly large room for the house (cuz to Rin it was huge) with long, slim windows. It was painted a brownish-red, which brought out the color on the antique furniture. The bed was an open canopy, with thin white lining. "Here it is. Now, I put one of my nightgowns out for you. It's on the bed. There are also some extra clothes for tomorrow and Sunday. Please do excuse me, I have to put the kids to bed. You can join us for some tea later if you want."

"No thanks. I wanted to take a shower, and besides, I'm really tiered." Kagome nodded her head and headed for the door. "One more thing," she added.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks, for all that you did for me."

"No big," she said walking out. So it was now just her and the room. Might as well explore a little bit. Over by the bed, Kagome had left a housecoat and the nightgown. Rin gave a small laugh. It looked like something out of the Victoria Secret catalogue or something like that. How could she wear something like this? Well, she was married, she did have two kids…okay. Bad images there. Now must clear images out of head.

She replaced the nightgown and thought a shower might clear her head of those…urg…thoughts. She stepped into the bathroom and locked the door. There was every necessity there. She got undressed and took her hair out of the bun. It was now at the middle of her back, a lot longer than when she was at school. She took a look into the mirror and sighed. There was a scar on her left shoulder, compliments of her father. She couldn't forget that day, not now, not ever. Again, maybe a shower would clear her head.

And the fifteen-minute shower did her well. She dried up quickly and put on the sorry excuse of a nightdress. She stepped out of the bathroom, and into the cooler air of the room. She looked at the clock on the nightstand; 10:00 flashed on its face. So what was there to do now? Where did Kagome say she put those extra clothes?

She looked in the closet, but other than a few old, dusty boxes, it was empty. Then maybe it was in the drawers. Sure enough, there they were. Hello? That was just the most common place to put them.

After sorting though some garments, she looked across the wooden dresser. It had some various items on it, most likely from its previous owner. Some rouge, perfume, nail polish and other cosmetics. There were also a variety of older pictures. One was a picture of a family of five. Two women, one who was Lazy Izayoi. The eldest man in the picture was definitely Inutaishou. The other two boys were a lot younger. They both had silver hair, and the youngest had two minuscule dog-ears on his head. No doubt it was a kid Inuyasha. That meant the other had to be Sesshomaru, with one difference; he was smiling. That meant… the other lady in the picture was his mother.

'I guess he smiled when she was still alive. I think…did she die? I assume so.' She replaced the picture in it's spot. As she slid her hand across the top of the dresser, a colorful box caught her eye. Curiosity getting the better of her for the millionth time in this story, she gently lifted it. Inside was a bunch of jewelry. Mostly necklaces. One that struck her was a silver chain that held a tiger, engraved out of jade. She put it on and admired herself for awhile. It was very pretty.

She walked over to the bed and lay down, staring at the ceiling for a few moments. Then slowly her eyelids got heavy. She drifted off into a peaceful slumber, completely forgetting to take the necklace off…

-------------------------------------

"Daddy! Daddy, you're home!" the eight-year-old girl exclaimed. She bounded joyfully around the tall man, who couldn't exactly walk properly. He collapsed on the couch, throwing the empty glass bottle at the wall. It shattered into pieces.

"Where's your mother?" he asked in a ruff tone. The girl said nothing. "Are you deaf? I asked where is your damn mother?" he roared.

The girl shivered, "She's…she's…working late today, Daddy. Please don't be mad."

"That bitch is supposed to cook my dinner. And I'm not fun to mess with when I'm hungry," he spat on the dusty floor. "You need to learn how to cook. That way I'll rely on you instead of that useless mother of yours."

"But Daddy, last time I used the stove, I got burned. I don't want to do that again," she huffed, but her eyes became wide, when he took the knife from the counter top.

"I said, cook me dinner," he said throwing the knife harder than intentional. It struck the girl in the shoulder. She let out a loud wail. That's when the neibour looked into the window. He started screaming for a policeman, saying things like his killing the kid, which is what it looked like. A small child, with a knife sticking out of her shoulder, that her father had just removed and set back on the countertop. A cop came barging into the house at that moment. He instantly put the drunken father in handcuffs, and led him away.

The girl stared after him. "Daddy?" she said weakly before a whole bunch of people came to her aid. She passed out after that.

---------------------------------------

Rin woke with a start. She hadn't dreamt that in years. She whipped the sweat off her forehead. Maybe all she needed was a glass of cold water. The room was completely dark now; it was 1 in the morning. She put on her housecoat and walked quietly out the door, as not to wake anyone. The hallway was dark and so were all the rooms. She tried to remember where the kitchen was located. And after a few wrong turns, she finally found it.

She didn't turn on the lights, just incase she pressed the wrong button and set the alarm off, or something. She felt her way over to the fridge and took out a glass, very carefully. A nice drink of water was all she needed, that's all. She was fine…right?

A small noise made her jump, and drop the glass in fright. It turns out it was something outside, but that didn't stop the glass from shattering on the floor. Oh crap…it was just great. Here she was, there are no lights on, and she's in her bare feet. A lot of good that is when there is glass all around you and that you can't see what you step on now.

Rin bent down, and brushed the floor. She felt some of the shards, and swiped them into her other hand. It would take her forever, at that rate, not knowing where the pieces were. After a minute, she was blinded by a light. Was she dead? No, it happened to be that someone turned on the kitchen light. Why was it always him?

"A little stuck there, Smart Cookie?" he asked leaning on the doorframe. How did he always manage to be there, at that time? Was there a radar "help! I'm in trouble" or something?

"Some help would be appreciated," she replied coolly, putting the glass in her hand on the counter. He took his sweet time in lending her a hand, cleaning the many sharp pieces off the floor. "Oww. Stupid glass," she frowned, looking at her thumb.

"Got a small sliver there, Smart Cookie?" he said flatly, putting the remaining shards in the trash. She nodded, picking at it, trying to remove the tiny fragment of glass. "You'll never get it out that way," he said to the woman who was now saying things about how glass is an object from hell. "Let me see that," he said, grabbing the injured hand. "Trust me, it will hurt a lot less like this." With that, he stuck his fang into the cut, and the shard of glass fell out.

She was frozen in place. She retracted her hand quickly and observed it. The demon saliva on her finger healed the small cut instantly. She stood up and looked him straight in the eye, "Uh, thanks. I guess that was less pain than it could have been."

She brushed the hair out of her face, revealing the jade tiger that hung from her neck. He took some time to stare at it. Memories crossed his mind. Painful memories of his late mother. That was her favorite. Forgetting that she was even there, he took the small carving in his palm. It had been so long…

Rin was now more than in a state of shock. But also confusion and…well…something else that really can't be described. You have to feel it to know what I'm talking about. She finally found her voice that was buried in her throat. "Are you…alright? I'm sorry if I wasn't supposed to wear this. I'll take it off."

Sesshomaru snapped out of his thoughts. It did look like it belonged to Rin, just right there, hanging from her neck. But why? At that moment, she looked like Ayumi, his ever so beloved mother. Ever since she had passed…that was the last day he ever smiled. And it was unlikely he ever would.

They walked back down the dark hallway. Rin didn't know the exact time, but it was probably late. Before Sesshomaru entered his room, he said one final thing. "Keep it. But you have to promise to take care of it. Got it?" He didn't wait for an answer and went into his room.

"I got it, your highness." She smirked, hoping he heard her. She had wanted to say that forever!

And you know what else? He showed a gesture of kindness. I will say it again. Things never cease to amaze me. It was he, the emotionless male. The one who wouldn't give the prettiest female in the world the time of day. And here she came along. And everything changed. But for better or for worse?

-------------------------------------------------

Ok, will not say anything else other than I would like it if you review…itz so nice 2 see reviews after a month…