Disclaimer: I do not hold any rights to Inuyasha in any form or way, nor do I make any profit out of writing this fic.

Reviews: As always, thank you all wonderful people who decided to review! I think I love reviews! ::is so shameless::

HikoCassidy, Jennie-san: Thank you very much and I hurry to oblige with this new and also long chapter!

SessRin Fan: I'm afraid you'll have to wait longer than that, but there will be many things happening between them on the way :). And I agree completely – emotional stupidity seems to be a family trait for Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha...

Tarwen: I usually write in bouts rather than continuously, so even if I happen to make longer pauses between chapters, it in no way would mean I'd give up on the fic! :)

SusanneTJ: I'm really glad to hear that the slow pace is not bad, since I like writing it like that. And if all goes well she will have the occasion in the next chapter ;)

Anonymous: Thank you! :D And I'm glad to know you don't mind the notes, even though I do think I often get way too long-winded... 0.0

RabidAnimeGurl: Good, good, then I won't worry about the length of the chapters so much anymore :) There are indeed many loose ends in the fic at the moment, and more will be added, but they all will join together at one point, that much I can promise ;)

Note: Another chapter that just exploded in size and pushed some of the material into further chapters, even though I cut out some already, which is why the ending might seem a bit abrupt.

Since I watch only the Japanese version and prefer to use the Japanese terminology, there are language notes at the end of the chapter.

And you should know by now what happens now...

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Cultural notes

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Days of the week: In Japanese, the days of the week were originally named after various celestial bodies (similarly as in English and many other languages I think), and thus Nichiyoubi is Sunday – the day of the Sun and Getsuyoubi is Monday – the day of the Moon. Nichirin is one of the words used for "the Sun", but since nichi can be used to refer to both "day" and "sun", it can also be interpreted as "Sun's Rin/Rin of the Sun". Just a silly pun.

Tanabata: Tanabata is "The Festival of the Stars" or just "Star Festival", celebrated on July 7th (or in August, depending on the calendar used). It had been adapted from a Chinese tradition but the main idea is still the same – it is to celebrate the meeting of the star Altair and the star Vega that are separated by the Milky Way and meet only once a year. There's of course a whole legend of two lovers added to the basic facts, but I didn't reach for it in the fic. The main way of celebrating is to – apart from dressing up in colorful yukata's or kimonos and having general fun – write your wishes on a tanzaku, a small vertical piece of paper, and hang it on a leafy bamboo branch. The branches are then either thrown into a river or burned, to make Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) fulfill your dreams. If you have ever read Ranma, you can probably remember it being used in one chapter. Many towns and cities have developed additional and unique ways of celebrating this occasion, so I felt free to add a marine accent and replace the person who fulfills the wishes with Umigami, a sea god. I'm not entirely sure when this festival first began being celebrated, but since it had been borrowed from the Chinese, it's quite likely it had been even before Sengoku Jidai.

Tono and shiro: Shiro is a "castle" meaning it's fortified and usually built on a hill, while tono is more a "mansion/palace" thing, meaning it's pretty and all that, but not as useful in case of a war. For example Naraku's castles were shiro's while the house from Episode 17 about the Hell Painter was – I think – a tono. I also think there are some other, more specific, names but sadly I have not been able to find out anything about it. The same goes for the proper ways of addressing – I know of the term tono-sama used for a lord of a mansion (or just generally a ruling noble) but I'm not entirely sure if he should be titled "–dono", like Moshimune-dono in this chapter. If anyone knows anything about it, please let me know.

Chousen and Shina: Chousen is an old name for Korea, still used but I think mostly for North Korea now. I'm not sure if that's how Korea was referred to in Japan in the 16th century, but since the word originates from a name of a Korean Dynasty, I think, then it's quite likely it was. Shina is an old name for China in Japanese. It had been in use for a long time but after the WWII the Chinese made the Japanese use Chuugoku instead, since they considered Shina to be pejorative. I'm also not sure whether Nihon was already used to refer to Japan, but it seems so to me. Similarly, I'm not sure whether Nihonkai had already been used to refer to the Sea of Japan, so again if anyone knows something about it, let me know.

Bamboo shoots: Bamboo shoots are called takenoko in Japanese, and have been eaten in Japan since really ancient times. Some of the types are somewhat poisonous and have to be cooked before eating, but I doubt whether it would mean much to a youkai ;) The shoots are up to 30 cm long (usually shorter) and should be harvested before they sprout up through the ground but already have husks and hardened base, which have to be removed for eating. And unlike canned bamboo shoots, the fresh ones are actually crisp and crunchy.

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Chapter 7

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The snow soon melted and the reminder of the winter passed quickly, swiftly giving way to spring, and everything seemed to be born anew, with fresh reserves of energy for sprouting, blooming, blossoming and procreating. Sesshoumaru felt much more alive too, he decided, having been woken up on one particularly bright morning by the gleeful chirps of some freshly hatched squealers outside. It was not that he disliked winter, not at all, he actually enjoyed the quiet peacefulness of the season and the ethereal beauty of the snow covered forest. But there was a reason why everything woke up to life in spring, and he did not remain unaffected by it either.

Perhaps, he thought, having made himself ready for the day and stepping out to the garden that was stretching towards his quarters, it was time to take care of the matter of those two human daimyou's that had established themselves in the lands during his absence. He had given them enough time to gather that he had returned, and to make the only appropriate move of formally accepting his sovereignty, but neither had, nor had the current lord of Urabe, and Sesshoumaru found it particularly offending. Still, they were human, and there was only so much that one could expect from a human.

Yes, that was definitely a good season for some general cleaning up, he concluded, and stepped back into the room to walk past it, and past the corridor, into what was now Rin's room. Entering the dimly lit room, he quickly spotted the green blob of a toad who happened to be his retainer, and who also happened to be blowing spit bubbles in his sleep at the moment, and nudged him unceremoniously with the tip of one of his black shoes. The winter chills have long since passed, but they all still remained squeezed into one room, as evidenced by Myouga's snores from somewhere nearby and the fox child's sprawled out form next to Rin. He couldn't understand their motives at all; there were more than enough empty rooms in the shiro for each of them to find privacy and yet they chose to stay crammed up in here, very often to his annoyance. The room was just opposite from his own and since the walls were rather thin – and his hearing was excellent – whenever he happened to be in his own quarters he had the misfortune of knowing exactly what was transpiring here, like for example a few days back, when they had been playing some bizarre game, which sounded to him as if they had been slaughtering each other, and he felt rather tempted to go over there and slaughter them himself, once and for all.

Jaken finally woke up, muttering some nonsense and grasping firmly onto the Nintoujou, but as soon as he noticed who exactly had woken him up, he dropped to all fours and began his usual ritual of humility and praise, and – also as usual – Sesshoumaru felt he was overdoing it somewhat. True, the difference in power and standing between them was overwhelming, but the toad's groveling went far beyond what Sesshoumaru considered to be the appropriate way of expressing one's respect and bordered on – no, was – plain ridiculous. But Jaken was extremely useful when it came to disposing of hordes of inconsequential humans and Sesshoumaru was foreseeing some of that activity. Jaken had also an additional use – for some odd reason his often moronic babble made people tell them what he wanted to know, and he found that not having to bother himself with talking was a great advantage.

"Jaken," he cut off the display, "we're going." The toad gurgled something incomprehensible but nevertheless tottered after him dutifully in the direction of the settlement of the first of the daimyou's.

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Following his master back towards the shiro, Jaken was feeling very satisfied, both with his own work and that Sesshoumaru-sama's lands were finally free of those pesky, arrogant humans. As if any human could ever stand against his master's power, he humphed to himself. It had taken them less than two days to appropriately dispose of the daimyou's and it only added to his satisfaction. Good riddance, he thought, recalling the image of the many weaklings who fell under the fiery breath of his Nintoujou. Although in actuality, it happened so only with the first daimyou, who had been stupid enough to try to fight after Jaken informed his guards that Sesshoumaru-sama, the Lord of the Western Lands, demanded his presence. The foolish human sent his troops against them, but it bought him but a few minutes more to live before Sesshoumaru-sama's hand was gripping him tightly around the throat and his life was instantly extinguished.

The other daimyou had been much smarter, maybe because their slow pace had given him enough time to hear what had happened to his accomplice, and went out to meet them, showing Sesshoumaru-sama the proper respect in falling into a bow and apologizing profusely for his transgression on the taiyoukai's lands. Jaken had been all in favor of disposing of him too, just for a clean measure, but Sesshoumaru-sama only told him to leave the Western Lands immediately. He shook his head in disappointment; he could never understand why his master would spare those who were pleading for their lives. In his opinion, if somebody was stupid enough to go against Sesshoumaru-sama in the first place, they were just a waste of space in the world anyway. But since he himself was not stupid, he only yelled after the retreating humans that Sesshoumaru-sama didn't want to see them here ever again and hurried to catch up with his master who was already walking away.

Sesshoumaru was feeling somewhat satisfied too, although - as always when he fought humans - he also felt that he had debased himself. Maybe he should've just send Jaken instead of going himself. He frowned, thinking back to the image of the human woman who had been in the shiro of the first daimyou, holding an infant that he assumed was the son of the lord. She started pleading for the life of her son the moment he had killed the father, assuring him tearfully that they would leave the lands at once and would never oppose him again. Sesshoumaru grimaced with distaste; as if he would ever stoop as low as to kill an infant just to prevent himself from further inconvenience. He was aware that humans were in habit of doing such things frequently, but to him it was not expedience, it was plain cowardice. What kind of a victory was it when your opponent was not only far from the peak of his power, but could hardly even talk?

But wasn't it true also for any adult human who had the misfortune of being chanced upon by him, Sesshoumaru? Compared to him all humans were as weak as infants and that was probably the reason why he felt averse to fighting against them. It was analogous to Inuyasha whipping out Tetsusaiga to battle his lice, although truth be told he wouldn't put it past his moronic brother. But the humans they had just disposed of had to be disposed of, and since he wouldn't have minded letting them off alive, as long as they left that is, killing them was the only proper thing to do when they so blatantly rejected the other option.

The only other things to do as far as cleaning up the lands was concerned, were settling the matter of that human town, Urabe, and getting rid of any rouge youkai who had been stupid enough to claim possession of some part of the territory. He wasn't all too sure what to do about the town; after all, from what he knew humans needed some kind of human authority governing them, so it was either leaving the town as it was or cleaning out all the humans in the lands, and he was well aware that the latter option was entirely pointless since humans never learnt from their mistakes and would crawl back in within just a few years. It would be best for him, he decided finally, to be particularly lenient with the current lord of the town and see what the undoubtedly mentally limited human decided to do upon hearing of the fate of the two daimyou's.

But he had no doubts what to do about the rouge youkai and within the next few days he swiftly took care of the boar youkai pack that had claimed a part of the land near the eastern border for their own and had been boasting that no dog could make them leave – he had quickly proven them very wrong – and of a shady moth youkai who had been spouting something about how Inuyasha had killed his brothers and how he would have his revenge. Honestly, thought Sesshoumaru cutting up the deranged moth with little effort, how stupid one had to be to go against him when even Inuyasha had been able to kill your siblings?

But it was of no matter; since he considered all other non-dog youkai in the lands to be a natural part of the territory, his lands had been properly taken care of – minus the town so far – and since after spending the winter in the shiro Sesshoumaru decided that he would hold on to his property for a while longer, he felt reasonably satisfied with his work, and his mood only improved upon returning to the shiro, when he managed to sidestep Rin's hug attempt and thus escape without having her smell smeared all over him.

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"Oooooh, he really looks lordly," Rin announced with awe laced through her voice, and Shippou couldn't help but agree.

It had been but a few days since Sesshoumaru had "cleaned" the lands - much to Jaken's smugness, Myouga's concern and Rin's indifference – and yet already the lord of Urabe, Moshimune was his family name as they had learnt from what his kaijo told Satoshi, who happened to be something like a kaijo to Sesshoumaru, had come with an impromptu visit and they were all peeking out from inside to watch him wait in the external courtyard for Sesshoumaru's reply to the "unexpected" call. He was dressed lavishly indeed, and although he wore no armor he had with him half a dozen or so of also lavishly armored guards, and it was significantly adding to his splendor.

"Hmph," Jaken replied to Rin's gasp of admiration, "he might look lordly all he wants, but he's still nothing compared to Sesshoumaru-sama and he knows it."

Shippou had to agree again, after all that was why that Moshimune-dono was here to begin with – because he was afraid of Sesshoumaru.

"He's a lot compared to you though, you know," he added mostly to tease Jaken in revenge for the rude awakening the toad had presented him with this morning, in bonking him heavily with his staff.

However, the remark had only earned him another bonk and soon they were engaged in their, by now customary, contest of insults and whacks, but Rin paid them no mind, too busy inspecting the lordly lord. She had never seen a daimyou or a tono-sama before, well, except for Sesshoumaru-sama, if he counted as one that is, and was curious to see if he was different from any other human. He wasn't, she decided when he was passing by them led by Satoshi-sama. True, he was very handsome, and very young for a lord in her opinion, his clothes were very rich and he had a lot of ornaments on him, even some in his hair, but compared to Sesshoumaru-sama he looked as human as can be.

Jaken hmphed again, bonking Shippou one last time. "I don't have the time for the likes of you!" he announced regally, and dusting himself off, stuck his nose up at them and followed after Moshimune-dono, his kaijo and Satoshi to meet with Sesshoumaru-sama.

Moshimune-dono, whose first name happened to be Takuya, was trying to calm his racing heart. He was not looking forward to this, not by far. True, many stories of Touga-sama had survived in his family and he felt that had it been Touga-sama he was supposed to meet, he would've been much more intrigued and much less scared. But he was also very aware – like all of his ancestors since Touga-sama's death – that he was governing a land that in principle belonged to Touga-sama's son, a taiyoukai whose reputation of ruthlessness was well-established in the lands and whose recent act of easily laying waste to a daimyou stronghold within just a quarter of an hour only served to strengthen that reputation. Moshimune-dono felt that he was most unlucky indeed – he had inherited his position from his late father only three years ago and he wasn't even supposed to, it was his, unfortunately also late, older brother who had been destined and prepared to be the next in line, so he couldn't help but ask himself why did it have to be that of all the possible times, Sesshoumaru-sama would decide to return now and not a decade ago, or a century later, why, why?

He drew in a calming breath. He had been tense ever since they set out on this journey and the fact that the first thing he saw upon entering the shiro was a toad-like creature brawling with a fox-like creature, while next to them stood an odd little girl – with a flea on her shoulder no less – who was devouring him with her eyes, did not help his state in the slightest. But he was no idiot, he knew what it meant that Sesshoumaru-sama did not come to Urabe, despite disposing of the other two daimyou's. It was a very generous offer for him to make amends and he was prepared to do whatever it took for him, and for the town, to be spared. He had a young and beautiful wife, and a little daughter, and he badly wanted to be able to see them again. And when he finally looked into the cold golden eyes of his host, he could only hope that he would not make some horrid blunder that would render him dead before he even knew what happened.

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Since Sesshoumaru had been reasonably satisfied with him, as far as necessary evil went that is, Moshimune-dono had indeed been spared and managed to return to his family safely. But it had been hardly two months later that Sesshoumaru's thoughts wandered to the young lord again and oddly enough, it was once again after he had some sleep.

He had woken up that day with a strange sensation of being watched, and as soon as he opened his eyes and looked to his side he found that the sensation had been fully justified, since Rin was lying comfortably on her stomach next to him, her head propped up by her hands and her legs swooshing through the air leisurely, and was watching him with a very content look in her eyes.

He sighed inwardly and looked at her questioningly. Was there any particular reason why she found the activity enjoyable or was it perhaps better not to ask lest he was utterly confused?

"It's Rin's ninth birthday today," she announced happily and a wide smile grew on her face while he felt indeed confused. He could comprehend the idea of a birthday, but how it related to her watching him sleep eluded him completely.

"It's easy to tell," she continued, still smiling "because I was born on the day when the sun is in the sky the longest and Sae-sama said it was today!"

He was still lost, and raising himself up to rest on his elbow, blinked at her confusedly.

"Okaa sometimes called me 'nichirin' because I was also born on Nichiyoubi, the day of the Sun," she added, unfazed.

Sesshoumaru lowered himself back onto the bed, struck by the odd link between them. Nichirin, huh? How odd it was that he also happened to know on what day of the week he had been born, which was equally easy for him to remember as her birthday was for her. It was on Getsuyoubi, the day of the Moon, very suitably. It seemed fitting for him however that she should be of the Sun while he was of the Moon. They were definitely not of the same making, that's for sure. He focused, trying to remember the exact date of his own birth, but was surprised to discover he couldn't remember at all. It was sometime in autumn, that much he knew, but the date got somehow lost in his memory, perhaps because it was entirely inconsequential to him.

"Shippou-chan told me that in Kagome-sama's world on a birthday you have a paati, some celebration I think, and everybody is nice to you and you get a lot of pure... zento," she stumbled slightly on the odd word, "which is just a present. But Rin is happy as it is and doesn't need anything," she smiled an even wider smile than before.

He looked at her again, far beyond caring what nonsensical prattle the fox child had been feeding her. But the mention of a celebration reminded him of something the Urabe lord had said. Overall, the human – Moshimune, as bizarre as it sounded – was tolerable enough for a human and Sesshoumaru was not anticipating any problems in relation to him, yet he had made one quite moronic move, in inviting him to some human festival that was to be held in the beginning of July. Why he would ever want to attend a human gathering was something Sesshoumaru had never even contemplated before, but now, looking at her pensively, he found that such a festival could be not entirely without its uses after all.

Perhaps, he thought, she would be more willing to rejoin humans if she had some good memories of them to make her forget her fear of her own kind.

"There will soon be a festival held in the human town nearby," he informed her, deciding it could indeed be the occasion he was supposed to take, "Tanabata, I believe. You can attend it, if you like."

Rin glanced to him, her eyes wide in surprise. "With Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked excitedly and he looked back at her in equal surprise. Of course not, he was not planning on going there himself, and it would've been best if she went by herself anyway. He would just have Moshimune ensure her safety, need be.

"Because if it's not with Sesshoumaru-sama then it's not worth going," she added, her face dropping a bit and he almost groaned in frustration, trapped between having to stand such a thing and letting slip what seemed like a perfect chance of solving his dilemma concerning her. But it was the perfect chance, he felt, weighting the options carefully, and thus, very reluctantly, nodded his agreement.

She squealed delightedly and, as he had been expecting, latched herself onto him, before jumping up straight and running out, no doubt to spread the word of her happiness. He wondered whether she realized that within but a few moments she had managed to topple over his mental balance and cloud his mind yet again.

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Sae was tying a tsukehimo on Rin's new flowery kimono that she had gotten for the child recently. Rin was actually old enough to wear an obi, but Sae doubted Rin would've appreciated being thus constricted, since she seemed to enjoy the most wearing just a yukata and nothing more. Truth be told, she would've probably felt just as happy to go to the Tanabata celebration in her normal yukata – if you could call any clothing made by Chushihou "normal" for a human – but upon hearing of the rather unusual trip, Sae had consulted her newly acquired source of knowledge on humans, Miyoko, and found that dressing up was part of the appropriate custom. So she had Miyoko help her buy a suitably cheerful kimono for Rin, feeling once again glad that Touga-sama had sometimes accepted offerings from the nearby villages and that some of it had been human money. It was of no use to her, there was nothing she would need to buy from humans, but it turned out to be extremely useful when it came to taking care of a little human girl.

There, she thought, finishing the bow on Rin's back and looking the child over, cute as a button. Actually, Rin wasn't pretty as far as human standards went, since from what Sae knew, a pretty human girl was supposed to have smooth and sleek hair and eyes as round and even as possible, while Rin's hair was ostensibly bushy and unruly, and her eyes were visibly slanted upwards. But she had a strange charm about her, and Sae considered "adorable" to be the best word to describe it. She wondered whether it would remain when Rin grew up or would it give way to a more standard look. So far Rin had grown very little, only an inch or two, but Sae was expecting her to sprout up any moment now and was looking forward to seeing the changes.

"Take this," she said, handing Rin a small pouch with some of the human money. She knew well that Sesshoumaru would never have any, she doubted whether he had ever even touched human money, but according to Miyoko there were always various things sold at festivals, and she wanted Rin to be able to buy whatever she would want.

Rin thanked her for everything with a warm smile and, tying the pouch to her new tsukehimo, moved to leave the room, but paused in mid-way.

"Sae-sama," she asked, turning back, "are you sure you don't want to go too?" But Sae replied she was indeed very sure. As much as she was enjoying taking care of Rin, perhaps because so far she didn't have any children of her own, she had no desire to acquaint any other humans.

Watching her leave, Sae wondered what could be the cause of the surprisingly nice gesture on Sesshoumaru's part. He sometimes did nice things for others, usually when they least expected it, like when they were children and she somehow managed to break the porcelain doll Touga-sama gave her once upon returning from one of his many journeys. She must've been not even 20 then, which for her must've been equivalent to being 5 or 6 in human years, she supposed, and had been crying profusely despairing over the loss of her favorite toy, when Sesshoumaru, who had been even smaller, came over and handed her some resin to glue it back together, looking at her silently with eyes that seemed so large in his childish face.

But it couldn't be something like that this time, she decided, and not only because he had changed considerably when growing up and she doubted whether he would even be aware of a small detail like that anymore, but mostly because she knew he would never willingly agree to having to endure the company of humans, not without a higher goal that is. Yet she couldn't figure out what kind of a goal he was having in mind and had to admit that not knowing was quite irksome.

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Rin slid off Aun with practiced ease and informed the kind-hearted dragon that he was to wait for them here, and behave himself, too. It had taken them only a little while to get near Urabe, thanks to her riding Aun and Sesshoumaru-sama gliding through the air near her. Rin looked at him pensively. He looked all solid now, but when he was moving through the air – it wasn't really flying in her opinion, it was gliding – he seemed as if to dissolve and become one with the world around him. She had always found it a fascinating thing to watch and the time spent traveling seemed even shorter than it was when she was watching him do it.

Following Sesshoumaru-sama out of the forest, she wondered how did it feel to do something like that, but her thoughts were cut short when she saw the sight before her. They were standing on the edge of the forest, with some fields right in front of them, but what grasped her attention at once was a large village, a town it was called from what Sesshoumaru-sama had said, stretched over a river that was flowing into something infinitely blue and reaching as far as she could see. She wasn't sure what to look at first – the town or the blue thing. The town seemed amazing, she could see the tops of some of the buildings within the wall encircling it, and they looked more majestic than anything she had ever seen before. But the blue thing behind it easily matched the town's splendor and it was a very hard decision.

"Is that where we are going?" she asked, hoping that maybe Sesshoumaru-sama would be in a mood to talk.

He nodded in agreement. "The town is called Urabe," he said, and since she didn't ask about it and he said it on his own, she took it to mean he was indeed in a good mood for her to ask him more questions.

"And that blue thing behind it? Is that the sea?" she inquired promptly, not wanting to waste the opportunity. Sae-sama once mentioned the sea, and told her that it was basically like a large lake, avery large lake, but Rin wasn't sure if that was it.

"Yes," Sesshoumaru-sama confirmed, "that's Nihonkai, the Sea of Japan. It separates Japan from Chousen and Shina."

"Chousen and Shina?" she asked, dumbfounded by the unknown to her names.

"Countries, like Japan," he answered, and moved on towards the town. But she stood glued to the spot. There were other countries than just Japan...? It seemed unbelievable to her, wasn't Japan the world...? But she did remember the villagers mention some gaijin, outside people, before, though at the time she had assumed they were just talking about people from an outside village, not an outside country.

Sesshoumaru stopped, noticing she wasn't following him, and turned to see her stand there with her mouth wide open, looking rather unintelligent.

"What is it?" he asked, genuinely intrigued. Usually she had no problems coping with new things, be it tiny talking fleas or giant talking trees.

"There are other countries outside of Japan?" she mumbled quickly, shifting her astounded eyes to him, and he suddenly understood her odd state. After all, he had experienced similar sentiments the first time Chichi-ue showed him a map of the world – hardly accurate or complete but satisfactory enough, according to Chichi-ue – and he saw how small Japan was in comparison to the large chunk of land to the east.

"Yes, there are many," he replied patiently, remembering that it took a while to assimilate the information, "Japan is but a small part of the world."

She kept gaping at him, but he felt it was enough education for one day.

"We're going," he told her, turning back and reassuming his pace towards the town. She followed him this time, although still rather dazedly. And it seemed there was still something more she wanted to know.

"Has Sesshoumaru-sama ever been there?" she asked, catching up and looking up to him curiously, "In the other countries, I mean."

"No, but my father had," he replied. Truth be told, he saw no point in making such a journey just to "see" other places. Besides, although it could indeed be potentially interesting, there were still far too many things in Japan of which he knew too little in his opinion.

She fell silent after that, and followed him quietly towards the town.

As soon as they passed through the large town gate and entered Urabe, all thoughts about other countries and the world in general left Rin, replaced with astonishment at her surroundings. This was nothing like a village, she decided, observing how much larger and more elaborate the houses here were, and how closer together they were built, making the roads seem so much more clear-cut. She could also see a very complex and magnificent looking building nearby, which she assumed to be some kind of a temple, since there were monks outside of it. And the people seemed somehow different too, dressed better and overall just looking better, although she could also spot many who looked just like the villagers she used to live with, especially around the booths that were being set up near the temple. There were also many decorations hanging on the buildings, very colorful ones, and she wondered whether it was something normal or was it for the festival.

In her astonishment, she at first failed to notice that even though there were many people bustling about around them, the path in front of them seemed continuously clear and they didn't have to go around anyone. It was only when her attention shifted to her closer surroundings that she noticed it, and also that the people here seemed to look at them with strangely wide eyes and some even pointed to them, whispering among themselves in hushed voices. She found she didn't like being singled out like that at all. True, those people seemed nothing like bandits, or even like the villagers she used to know, but she would rather they stopped staring at her, even though she felt it was Sesshoumaru-sama that they were mostly looking at.

But just in case, she moved closer to Sesshoumaru-sama and grasped the folds of one of his flowing sleeves. He didn't seem to mind, she noticed, looking up to him. Nor did he seem to mind the people around them, although, she thought, squinting her eyes, there was a slight crease between his eyebrows, so maybe he did mind. She wondered why was it that the people here kept staring at them like that, although she had to admit that Sesshoumaru-sama really did stand out among them. Or maybe, she thought when they stepped on a bridge that connected the two sides of the town and a man who had been fishing from it dropped his fishing rod and gripped the railing fretfully the moment he saw them, those people were just afraid of Sesshoumaru-sama, like so many other people seemed to be. She waved to the man reassuringly, but he didn't seem reassured at all, he just grasped the left side of his chest nervously.

But the man too disappeared from her mind when they crossed the bridge and she saw that the town was even more magnificent on this side of the river. There was a large and very refined looking tono not far in front of them, and there were some other buildings like that near it, somewhat smaller but still very stylish. When they approached the gates to the tono, the guards outside seemed to go very tense, but let them through without a word. She looked up again to Sesshoumaru-sama, realizing how important he must've been to be let into a tono just like that. Feeling that perhaps it was not very becoming for somebody like him to have a child attached to his clothes, she let go of his sleeve promptly, wanting to behave her best.

They walked into the beautiful external courtyard and almost at once Moshimune-dono appeared at the entrance, welcoming Sesshoumaru-sama and expressing his joy that he decided to visit them.

"This is Rin," Sesshoumaru-sama interrupted him, gesturing down to her, "she has come to see the Tanabata festival."

Moshimune-dono looked a bit a surprised for a moment, but then smiled warmly at her. "I have a daughter around your age," he signaled a servant who was standing nearby and soon the man returned with a little girl, a bit smaller than her. "Her name is Haruko," Moshimune-dono continued, "Perhaps you would like to stay and play with her before the festival starts in the evening?"

Rin wasn't sure what to do. The girl looked very nice, Moshimune-dono seemed to be very nice too and Rin was actually curious to have a look around in the pretty tono, but... She looked up to Sesshoumaru-sama questioningly, not wanting to do something inappropriate.

"Suki ni shiro," he said, and she smiled brightly, as always when he left any decisions to her, and nodded in acceptance of Moshimune-dono's offer.

"I will come back for you in the evening," Sesshoumaru-sama told her and turned to leave, while she waved happily after him.

This was turning out much better than what he had been expecting, Sesshoumaru decided, heading to leave the town for the time being. Rin was spending time with other humans, while he didn't have to, and she didn't seem miserable about it either. Truth be told, he was somewhat surprised that she agreed to Moshimune's offer that easily. He couldn't understand her attitude to her own kind at all, not that there was much he could understand about her. On one hand she had clearly announced that she didn't want to return to humans and often acted as if she feared them, but on the other she accepted some of them without much doubt about it. And it was not just Moshimune, he could also remember that she seemed perfectly fine with Inuyasha's humans, during the whole Sou'unga affair. But it was all the better. Hopefully, he could have the issue of Rin closed and done with by the evening.

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She was having a very nice time indeed, Rin decided, stifling a laugh when the fortune-telling obaasan told her that she would find a handsome husband and have lots of children. It was funny because that obaasan was saying that thing to all young girls who came to her to have their fortunes told, as Rin had observed when she was waiting for her turn to come.

She had spent the afternoon with Haruko-chan, who was a very nice girl, and showed her the pretty toys she had and also showed Rin around the tono. Then they had something to eat with Fujita-sama, who was Moshimune-dono's wife and a very nice lady, Rin had decided when she was having trouble eating with chopsticks but Fujita-sama didn't say anything about it and just had some onigiri brought for her. But then it started to get dark and when Sesshoumaru-sama was still not coming for her, she figured that quite probably "evening" for him didn't exactly start when the sun went down, and since Fujita-sama agreed with her, she went with Moshimune-dono and his family to the temple, to write their wishes on the tanzaku and hang them on those little bamboo trees that were gathered there just for the occasion. She wrote the wish she always made when she would see a nagareboshi, to stay with Sesshoumaru-sama forever. Fujita-sama told her that at midnight the little trees with tanzaku on them will be set on the waters of the river, to be taken into the sea so that Umigami-sama could make them come true, and Rin hoped that the fact that her wish was written in hiragana – except Sesshoumaru-sama's name – would not offend Umigami-sama. But Haruko-chan also wrote hers in hiragana, so it was probably alright.

Then she wanted to go see the stalls, but Moshimune-dono was to return to the tono, along with Fujita-sama and Haruko-chan, so he had one of his guards – Shoichi-san - accompany her around for as long as she wanted. Shoichi-san was very nice too, although he seemed somehow too anxious about keeping her safe and had hinted her not to call him "sama" because it wasn't appropriate for somebody like her to call him that, whatever that meant. But he went everywhere she wanted with her, and even carried around the daifuku she bought for Shippou-chan after getting some for herself and deciding that he would probably like them too. She wished Shippou-chan had come here with her, but when she asked Sesshoumaru-sama if he could come too, Sesshoumaru-sama fixed him with a very decisive stare and Shippou-chan suddenly said he didn't want to go anyway. Still, she was having a very nice time indeed.

"Rin," she heard a very familiar voice say, and turned around to see Sesshoumaru-sama standing behind her. Soichi-san handed her the parcel with the daifuku, bowed to them and left, mumbling something mostly incoherent to Sesshoumaru-sama while Rin waved him a quick goodbye.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Sesshoumaru-sama asked her.

"Un," she confirmed promptly and proceeded to tell him all about the things she had seen and done. "Haruko-chan showed me all around the tono, and even let me play with her toys, and then we had dinner with Fujita-sama, and went to the temple to write our wishes to Umigami-sama," she said in one breath and wished Sesshoumaru-sama had come sooner, since then he too could've written his wish on a tanzaku.

"You can stay with them, if you want," he said, looking at her strangely and she frowned slightly, trying to comprehend what he meant.

But when she did, she wished she hadn't, because suddenly she was no longer having a nice time at all, the daifuku she had eaten was not so delicious anymore and she wished she had not come here at all.

Sesshoumaru was observing the child intently, trying to discern how well his plan was faring. But instead of seeing her face lit up with joy as he hoped it would, he saw her smile suddenly fade, replaced by some odd, sullen look in her eyes that he couldn't quite recognize and the fact that she abruptly dropped her head down to look at the ground did not help him catch onto it.

"Rin doesn't want to," she said quietly and when he saw her posture grow tense and her tiny hands ball into fists at her sides, he knew his design had been thoroughly thwarted. He sighed inwardly. Why couldn't he just force her to go away? Or maybe scare her away?

But he knew neither was an option. Although he usually found that force removed most obstacles, it seemed unthinkable to use force against her. He was not in a habit of discriminating his opponents by age or gender, if they were dense enough to oppose him he saw it only fitting that they would face the consequences, regardless of who they were, but there was an colossal difference between killing an opponent, or just generally somebody too stupid to see that they had it coming, and harming Rin. She was just an innocent child whose world was full of flowers and smiles and who, unfortunately, had chosen to attach herself to him. Harming her intentionally seemed to him to be similar to killing somebody stealthily, without any warning, and he had always found such actions to be beneath what he deemed acceptable.

That was also one of the reasons for how he had ended up having her around in the first place, he thought, watching her as she still stood there in that oddly rigid and diminished pose. At first, when she kept following him despite any lack of encouragement on his part, he had contemplated just abandoning her right there and then, but all too soon realized that deserting the child in the middle of an unknown to her forest would've been equivalent to killing her with his own hands and that it was something he would not have himself stoop to. True, it was none of his business what she chose to do with her life, but... he did revive her, didn't he. So in a way, her life belonged to him, even though it had not been his intention in the slightest when he had chosen to test Tenseiga on her.

His lips thinned in frustration; why couldn't she just understand that it was for her own good? But perhaps she was just too young to be able to comprehend it, he thought, observing that she still didn't even reach his hip, although since she had started barely above his knee it was quite a growth already. Yes, he had been right in thinking that he should just leave the matter to time, he decided finally, turning to leave the town.

"Yuku zo, Rin," he told her, and she followed, even though he could see she still seemed somehow dull and sullen and remained so all the way to the shiro.

"Thank you for the nice time, Sesshoumaru-sama," she said when they finally got there, once again quietly and looking at the ground, and walked away to lead Aun to the grassy slope where the beast spent its time during summer, leaving Sesshoumaru rather confused as to what exactly had happened.

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He would tell him exactly what it was, Shippou thought, searching the shiro for any signs of Sesshoumaru on the bright morning after the taiyoukai and Rin had been to the festival. Last night, when he came to the room to catch some sleep, he found Rin curled up on the futon, looking more miserable than he had ever seen her look. Not that he had seen her sad many times to begin with, she always seemed so cheerful, and it was only making her seem more gloomy then. He asked at once what happened and in the end managed to piece the story together. He wasn't really sure why Rin was so upset about it, it wasn't like Sesshoumaru would force her to leave, Shippou was sure he wouldn't, and he told Rin so promptly. But it didn't cheer her up one bit, she just said that "It's not the same at all", and didn't want to talk about it anymore. And since her mood did not improve in the morning, Shippou felt it was his obligation as her friend to tell Sesshoumaru off for making her sad.

He wasn't worried about his safety, he had long since learnt that Sesshoumaru did not kill without a reason and that his opinions must've been well below the range of sufficient reasons since no matter what he said, he would at most get bonked, kicked or hit with a stone, but it wasn't even comparable to what Inuyasha used to do to him. Shippou shook up his fist heatedly, clenching his teeth in irritation. That Inuyasha! He might have been missing his friend, but he felt he had still not repaid the violent hanyou enough for all the times he had tortured him. Even the time when he had been "possessed" by that larva wasn't enough in his opinion!

Mumbling various curses at Inuyasha's expense, Shippou continued through the shiro and finally found Sesshoumaru sitting on the stone bench under the large maple tree that marked the center of the rather uncared for garden. Shippou paused in his tracks, surprised to see that Sesshoumaru was doing something he had never seen him do before and sometimes even doubted whether he did at all – he was actually eating. And not just any food, he was eating bamboo shoots! He felt his mouth water slightly, he loved bamboo shoots! Noticing that there was still quite a collection of the delicious sprouts lying on the bench next to Sesshoumaru, Shippou approached the older youkai quickly, hoping he would not turn out to be as stingy as Inuyasha when it came to food.

"Can I have some?" he asked, licking his lips in anticipation, and when Sesshoumaru told him to suit himself, hopped onto the bench and grabbed one of the shoots, noticing with pleasure that they had even been cleaned of the husks.

Sesshoumaru glanced down to the tiny fox, wondering why would anyone actually enjoy eating takenoko. He certainly did not enjoy it, well, not past satisfying his hunger for them. His staple food was meat, as raw as it got and preferably of a shika deer, unless he couldn't find any nearby, which did not happen often since it was rarely that he needed to eat anyway. But every once in a while he would feel irrational cravings for some very non-meaty victuals, usually takenoko or wild peaches, and the sensation wouldn't go away until he satisfied it. And since one of those silly urges had seized him last night, he had little choice but to go quite a way southwards and find some late shoots.

They ate in silence for a few moments, united by the crunching sounds of the takenoko being crushed by their sharp teeth, and it was perhaps that strange comradeship of mastication that had made Shippou feel less annoyed with Sesshoumaru for making Rin sad.

"You shouldn't have tried to send her away, you know," he said nevertheless, feeling that something had to be said about it.

Sesshoumaru's eyes slid down to him for a moment, but apparently he saw it fit not to reply since he made no comment on being thus chastised.

"You know what I think?" Shippou asked rhetorically in between bites, pointing the shoot he was holding at Sesshoumaru for added emphasis, "I think you care for her, but you're just scared to admit it!"

And that was the time when Shippou discovered that although Inuyasha was able to make bonking very painful, Sesshoumaru had made it into a higher art, and as his indignant yelps and outraged cries reverberated through the garden, he deeply regretted that Inuyasha had cut off only one of his brother's arms.

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He indeed had enough of this nonsense, Sesshoumaru thought, walking out of the shiro to see that Jaken had already managed to fetch Aun. It had been but two weeks since his unsuccessful attempt of making Rin rejoin her kind, and ever since then the atmosphere in the shiro seemed so thick that it was almost tangible. And it was not without a reason, since the fox child would constantly stick out his tongue at him in obvious resentment, Myouga would humph repeatedly and scornfully and even Sae seemed somehow angry with him and left his proximity whenever he happened to see her.

He frowned irritably, as his thoughts came to the point that was grating him the most. Although normally there would hardly be a day when he wouldn't see Rin at least once, ever since they came back from Urabe she seemed to have disappeared somewhere within the shiro. She would not come over to sleep on his futon, or just generally to be around him, she would not seek him out to show him some completely inconsequential find, and as for her clinginess, there wasn't even a trace left of it, as it seemed, since the only time he had chanced upon her in the corridor that led to both of their rooms, she quickly lowered her head and run off towards her quarters without saying even a word.

He felt then that he had enough of the whole thing, whatever it was, and needed to take his mind away from the issue of Rin altogether. And it wasn't just Rin, he generally felt he needed to have some goal again, something that could properly structure his actions. The lands had been appropriately taken care of and would remain so for quite some time, so there was nothing here left for him to do, nothing for him to occupy himself with. It was then that his thoughts returned to the journey he had cut short so abruptly last autumn, and to the issue that had caused him to do so, the future of the youkai. To his surprise, he found that his view on it had changed since then. True, he was just as certain as before that his logic was correct and that the youkai were bound to disappear within but a few centuries, but he found that he had been too hasty in forming the conclusion on his own future, since after all, that youkai would generally disappear did not mean that all youkai had to die in the process.

Yes, the fact that the future didn't change no matter what the miko did or didn't do proved that - however it was possible - the final outcome had already been established and there was nothing he could do to change it. But, as Myouga's stipulation about the possibility that somebody else had released Inuyasha and the miko had changed that showed, it didn't mean that the path that led there was necessarily just as set. And in this case, the fact that he knew about it in advance meant that he could change his own future greatly, as long as he did not try to interfere with the overall future of the youkai that is. It had been a serious lapse in logic on his part to overlook this point before, although he felt that since the knowledge of the future had been rather astounding and otherwise completely unforeseeable he could pardon himself for his negligence.

But it meant that there was no reason why he should not follow his previously chosen life course. True, the goal of gaining power and surpassing his father seemed just as pointless and – as averse as he felt to admitting it – petty from the perspective of the future as it had last year, but he would rather not get killed in a fight against some reasonably powerful youkai only because he gave up on gaining power in anticipation of being killed anyway. That, he had concluded, would've been a grave irony indeed, and thus decided to pay that sword smith a visit after all.

Walking up to Aun, he registered some movement behind him and glancing back inconspicuously, noticed that Rin was watching him intently from the genkan, half hidden behind the door frame. She had not noticed yet that he was looking back and he took the opportunity to properly inspect that odd look in her eyes that he couldn't recognize before. Her eyes seemed somehow darkened and sullen and overall, she was looking at him as if... as if... He felt something bitter twinge within him suddenly, she was looking at him as if he had betrayed her somehow. He felt lost as to why would she look at him like that and yet somehow angry that she would. He had done nothing towards her that would warrant reprimand, to the contrary, he had done far more to ensure her well-being than could ever be expected of him.

He turned back to Aun to pick up the beast's reigns, intent on leaving. But he couldn't shake off the knowledge that she was there, looking at him with those eyes that seemed so inappropriate in her face, eyes that she should never look at him with. Frowning angrily, he realized that if he left her this way now, she would keep looking like that at him in his mind for days to come.

"I'm leaving for a few months," he said finally in her general direction. "You can come with me if you want."

From a corner of his eye he saw her gasp in surprise at having been noticed at first, but then she just kept looking at him for a few moments, and that dark look in her eyes gradually disappeared until she finally broke out into her usual bright smile.

"I'll be right back!" she announced and ran further into the shiro.

Sesshoumaru followed her with his eyes, feeling both exasperated at the delay and yet also somehow relieved, although he was not able to say why.

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Rin was weaving the pretty flowers she had found into a pretty garland, sitting on the bank of the stream they had stopped at and splashing her feet contently in the water. She was waiting with Shippou-chan and Myouga-sama for Sesshoumaru-sama and Jaken-sama who had gone to see that sword making ojiisan a little further from here, but she didn't mind having to wait since it was much easier to do with Shippou-chan around. They had even caught some fish in the stream and the perspective of having a nice meal, which was currently sizzling cheerfully over the fire and spreading around a very tasty smell, was making her feel very satisfied, although rather hungry, too.

And it was nice to just sit around with friends and wait for your meal, watching the sun slowly lower itself into the forest. She felt very content that everything was as it should be again, that Sesshoumaru-sama didn't want her to leave after all. Because if he didn't want to have her around, he wouldn't have asked her to come along, she thought, forcing some particularly stubborn flower to fit into the wreath. At first, when she finally understood that Sesshoumaru-sama meant that she could leave him and live with Moshimune-dono, she felt that she must've done something horribly bad and that Sesshoumaru-sama didn't want her to be around him anymore because of it. She frowned slightly, remembering how scared she was that Sesshoumaru-sama would make her leave him even though she said she didn't want to. He didn't in the end, but she kept feeling afraid even when they returned home. She wanted to always stay with him, even if he didn't want her to, so she tried to avoid doing anything that could make him try to have her leave again.

She paused in her activity, biting on her lip lightly. It wasn't the same though, even if he never told her to leave again, because knowing that Sesshoumaru-sama didn't want her to be around made her feel sad all the time. It had never before crossed her mind that he might not want her to stay; after all, he not only revived her, but also took care of her and was always good to her, so it wouldn't leave her thoughts at all and she kept wondering how Sesshoumaru-sama really felt about her. But he must've had some other reason for telling her that she could stay with Moshimune-dono, other than not liking her that is, she had decided finally, because he did take her with him now, and she was sure that Sesshoumaru-sama wouldn't do it if he didn't like her.

She would find out sooner or later, she thought, getting up to take the ready fish from Shippou-chan. The only thing that mattered for now was that everything was as it was supposed to be, since Sesshoumaru-sama was acting towards her as he had always been, and she was happy with him like that.

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Entering the clearing in which he had left the others, Sesshoumaru felt that he had definitely been out of luck recently. He did not consider luck to be an important factor in one's life, to be honest he thought it to be something people used as an excuse to justify their failures, but it was the only fitting explanation for the recent developments in his life. He had barely managed to pacify the situation with Rin – he still felt angry about it – when it turned out that not only Rin, but also Myouga and the fox child would be joining him for the trip. Usually he did not mind their company, Myouga stayed out of his way and the fox child was good in keeping Rin busy, but this time they kept acting as if he had been forgiven, forgiven, and it kept unnerving him beyond any measure. They had enough brains though to keep any comments to themselves, but he still had to constrain himself from sending them on their final trip in life a bit earlier than they had been expecting.

It turned out to be only the beginning of his "bad luck" however, since once they reached their destination, he had found that the sword smith had been stupid enough to get himself killed, but a few months ago at that, meaning he would've found him still alive had he taken the trip last year. It seemed that even though he had been willing to pardon himself for his lapse in good judgment, whatever fate was governing his life was not as gracious.

But even that was not enough. On his way back to pick up Rin and the others, he had to run into some dim-witted youkai who had the misfortune of having heard of him and wanted to prove how much stronger than him he was. He was not, of course, but was actually crafty enough to land a lucky blow and crumble his armor, when Sesshoumaru gave him the time to display the full range of his abilities. The youkai's time quickly ran out after that, but his armor was in pieces, once more, and he would have to visit Hataki again, even though the ease with which any half-baked youkai – or hanyou – was able to destroy his creations clearly proved that the old fool was hardly a good armorer. He could hear Jaken blabber something in the same spirit from the direction of his shoes, but his screechy voice was only adding to his annoyance and he promptly released some of it in stepping on the suitably bouncy toad.

Sesshoumaru might've been not listening to Jaken, but Myouga actually was, and he quickly gathered that Sesshoumaru-sama's misfortunes with sword makers extended also to armorers. He in fact knew of a good armorer, and one that would agree to make something for Sesshoumaru-sama at that, but the man lived in Kyushu, so it would've been quite a trip. Myouga wouldn't it mind it at all however, quite to the contrary, he had fond memories of Kyushu from the time he had been there with Touga-sama, but it was already autumn and he felt that even if they hurried, they would not make it back before winter. He shuddered with displeasure; he detested winter with all his feeble might, and since he doubted Sesshoumaru-sama would be inclined to spend winter there and come back only with spring, he finally decided that spending the winter in the shiro rather than on the road and only then informing Sesshoumaru-sama of the armorer was the best plan in such circumstances.

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Language notes:

kaijo – helper, assistant, second. I have no idea whether this term is the most appropriate one here, but it seemed best of all the words of this meaning that I could find;

Okaa – one of the ways to say "mother"; I think Rin uses that one, since that's how she refers to her mother in Episode 162;

paati – party; this is an example of "Engrish" being adapted into Japanese. Kagome sometimes used such – meaningless to them – terms, like "roketto" – "rocket" or "muudo" – "mood", if I remember right;

purezento – present; same as above;

tsukehimo – a simple sash to tie a child's kimono. Traditionally, only the girls above the age of 7 could use an obi to tie their kimonos. I'm not sure when the tradition started, or when did obi as such come into use, but I found a mention about the Obi-toki (the ceremony for girls of 7 to be admitted to wearing an obi) originating from the Edo period (1603 – 1868) so it's possible it was already in practice some 50 years prior. Nowadays, Obi-toki is celebrated as a part of a larger festival, Shichi-Go-San.

gaijin – "foreigner"; literally "outside person"; it's a word that anyone who had seen Shogun would know ;). It's not very polite to use nowadays, gaikokujin is preferred, I believe, but in the 16th century countryside (foreigners only began to appear in the 16th century) gaijin would be a standard term, I think, although it could probably be also used to describe just somebody from a different part of Japan;

Suki ni shiro – "Do as you like"; another authentic Sesshoumaru line that can be heard in Episode 162 during their bizarre conversation of "Rin.", "Hai...?", "Suki ni shiro.", "Hai! :)"

obaasan – "obaasan" means "grandmother", but is also used to refer to a "female senior citizen", although then it's written with different kanji;

onigiri – rice balls, often seen in Inuyasha. I think they could also be called omusubi, but the difference between the two escapes my grasp so far;

tanzaku – small vertical card (often for a poem);

nagareboshi – shooting star;

Umigami – sea god, not any specific sea god, just any;

daifuku – soft rice cake stuffed with sweet filling;

Yuku zo – a variation of Iku zo – "We're going/Let's go". Yuku is colloquial for iku and is one of the very few colloquialisms Sesshoumaru uses in the series;

takenoko – bamboo shoot. It can be written either with one symbol or – more often – as "child of the bamboo".

shika deer – just the type of deer from Japan;

genkan – entranceway, entry hall;

ojiisan – like obaasan, this can be used either for "grandfather" or "male senior citizen", written differently for each meaning;

Kyushu – (or Kyuushuu in Japanese spelling) the southernmost island of the four main islands of Japan.

General notes:

Moshimune – I made it up from the kanji for "young" and "delicious/skillful", so he's "young and delicious" :P But "mune" is more often associated with "chest, breast", so it could also be taken to mean "young breasts" and hence Sesshoumaru's puzzlement;

Satoshi – the nanori (name) reading of a kanji for "wise/intelligent". I had a bit more in mind to put in about Satoshi, but there was no good place in this chapter for it (without making it too boring) so maybe it will get bumped into some next one;

Takuya, Haruko, Fujita, Shoichi – standard Japanese names;

Hataki - just a juxtaposition of two symbols used in various words meaning "armorer".

Sesshoumaru's "honor" – he does seem to have some sort of standards for what's "honorable" and what's not, in for example first demanding something and only resorting to force when he's refused. It's also very noticeable in Episode 104, when he immediately stops in advancing towards Mukotsu when the latter starts pleading and apologizing (falsely).

"This Sesshoumaru" – similarly with Rin's speech, I've seen some people assume that he uses it on daily basis, and that it's because of the lack of standardized personal pronouns in Japanese, but he actually uses "watashi" – a rather neutral way of saying "I". Which is quite surprising in itself since I would've expected him to use "ore" (very male "I"), like for example Inuyasha, or "ore-sama" (a seriously boastful and masculine "I"). He uses "this Sesshoumaru" (kono Sesshoumaru) as a means of putting very smug emphasis on himself, as if he was saying "I, the superior being", sometimes even in his thoughts and sometimes alternating it with "this I" (kono watashi), used in the same fashion. It's something that seems to be a traditional way of swaggering and so far I've also spotted Naraku and Jaken doing the same thing.

Rin talking to Sesshoumaru – As I have mentioned last time, she doesn't really use any special politeness towards him, but it's still problematic what to do with her using "you" when talking to him. I've seen people go around it by using "my lord" or something like that, but it implies servility and she doesn't seem to be servile towards him at all. So I decided to make her sometimes use the standard Japanese way of avoiding using "you" by addressing people by their names. And I think that if she really had to use "you" she'd probably go for the same pronoun Jaken uses towards Sesshoumaru sometimes – "anata-sama", a very polite "you". The same applies to Rin talking to Sae or anyone else she considers a "sama".

The day when the sun is in the sky the longest – in the Northern hemisphere that's June 21st. I just picked it to make a contrast between her and Sesshoumaru.

Standards of prettiness – I have no idea what was considered pretty in Japan at the time, so it could be completely wrong.

Urabe – even though I made Rin all awed at the town, I meant it to be a rather small settlement for a town, as she will discover later in the fic. But I do think that Rin would indeed be awed – same with learning that the world is not just Japan – since if her parents died when she was 4 or 5 and were just simple villagers to begin with, she probably never had a chance to learn much of the world. Same with eating with chopsticks – she had probably forgotten much of how to do it, since I doubt Sesshoumaru would provide her with such utensils...

Sesshoumaru's thoughts on keeping Rin – like in most cases when I describe a situation through his eyes, it's what he "made up" in his mind to justify keeping her around rather than what I think really happened there.