Author's Notes: [beats down writer's block with a big stick] Okay okay, sorry for the delay but a bad case of writer's block got me along with some real-life issues here and there…and, ah, I'll save ya the sob story and let you get to the fanfic…

Enjoy!

It's the little things.

I'd heard that saying a lot. It's the little things that matter in life. Or so they'd say.

But when your life consisted of working long hours at a job you hated just so your Father could yell at you, throw furniture at you and then take all your hard earned money- nothing, whether big or small mattered at all. Life was nothing but a series of events. Bland and dragging on at a slow pace.

And as strange as it seemed- my life was still moving in what seemed to be slow motion. Except now, the little things did matter.

A simple offhand comment about me dripping water on the floor or something else about my life not being of a certain man's concern. To me- those little things mattered. And they were beginning to matter a lot. Because after the life I'd led, it was those small actions and comments that made me realize that there's a whole big world outside of the dark sheltered life I'd been trapped in.

Sure, Sesshoumaru wasn't exactly the life of the party. And, he wasn't exactly 'Mr. Personality' either. But to him, the little things always mattered. Especially a small little girl named Rin who, like me, had also been thrown into his rather bland life.

Chapter 26: Three-Way Phone Call

It was a loud, brightly lit room; arcade games, blinking lights and children running about. The walls seemed to have been painted with every color of the rainbow- each nook and cranny boasting a newer, more brilliant color than the wall before it. Music, jubilant and cheerful, blared over the speaker system- immersing the room in a constant stream of sound.

In short- it was one of the last places Kagura imagined every seeing Sesshoumaru in willingly.

The morning had been hectic- emotions both good and bad flickering through Kagura's mind. Each thought so rushed and jumbled with the one before it that it wasn't easy to discern anything in specific. Closing her eyes in contemplation, she pulled the muddled thoughts apart and laid them out in the interior of her mind.

Naraku was after her. Dream or not, that one fact still held true. Knowing that as such, it felt odd to be out in public. But, it was a closed party and Rin seemed eager to have her in attendance. And Sesshoumaru would make sure nothing happened. She was certain of that; even if he didn't act for her alone he wouldn't let anything bad happen while they were there.

"Kagura."

The black-haired woman started at the voice, her eyes quickly shifting to the man beside her.

"What?"

"Stop thinking so hard."

She scowled, red eyes glaring at the one who'd spoken.

"How in the hell did he…"

"Sesshoumaru!" Rin's cheerful voice cut into Kagura's thoughts.

The small birthday girl smiled brightly as she ran to embrace the stoic man. He raised an eyebrow to regard her as she clung about his legs, the miniscule gesture being just enough for Rin to know she had the man's full attention.

"I'm so glad you came. And you brought Miss Kagura!" If possible, her smile widened more as she looked up at the black-haired woman, "I have lots of friends coming so I won't be lonely, but I thought that you might like someone to play with, Sesshoumaru."

His eyebrows furrowed at that comment, somewhat curious as to what the young girl implied by that.

But before the girl gave any indication as to what she could possibly mean by that comment, she had already begun to tug Sesshoumaru towards the decorated tables.

"Come on, Sesshoumaru. You can sit over here…"

Without a word he followed, pausing only when Rin did.

"You too, Miss Kagura," The girl reprimanded sweetly as she took Kagura's hand.

Once again, the black-haired woman was snapped from her preoccupied state of sorting out her thoughts as she stared down at the small hand clasping her own.

Rin was grinning widely as she looked up between the two adults with her- Kagura to her left and Sesshoumaru to her right. It was as if it was her subtle way of saying- 'this is how things should be'.

Kagura allowed herself to smile in return. She knew the young girl held Sesshoumaru very close to heart. He was like an older brother, father and Daddy Warbucks all wrapped into one. And as strange as it might seem, Sesshoumaru seemed to respond to her in a way he did no one else. Rin had wormed her way into his heart with nothing more than a smile- and the girl knew it.

"Despite the fact in the past she'd lost everything…she seems so…happy…" Kagura mused to herself as she looked down at the girl.

Chattering away about how excited she was, Rin slowly led to the two towards their designated seats. It was all very surreal to Kagura: the smiling face of the child, the unemotional yet attentive expression Sesshoumaru held, and the fact that now- she was a part of this strange little moment. The girl had wanted her there. Sesshoumaru, despite the fact he tried to pass it off as concern for Rin, seemed to have wanted her to come with him as well. It was just- something foreign to her senses.

To be embraced so warmly by a kind and loving family was just not something Kagura was used to.

"So what'd you get me?" Rin asked, her eyes glancing up at Sesshoumaru expectantly.

"It's to be a surprise," He said calmly in reply as he took his seat.

Kagura glanced back at the table of gifts near the door and the rather large box Sesshoumaru had brought along with the gift from Bankotsu and Jakotsu.

"What is in that box? It's too small for a pony…" She thought to herself sarcastically.

"Please…" The young girl pleaded, her face drooping into a sad, forlorn countenance.

"I believe your guests are arriving," Sesshoumaru countered, a casual nod being directed towards the children coming through the door.

With an excited 'oh!' Rin quickly scurried over towards her friends, quickly forgetting about the mystery present for the moment.

"So what is it?" Kagura questioned as she watched the girl run off.

"Do I need to define the word 'surprise'?"

Shaking her head at the usual elusive response, she shrugged, "It's not like I'm gonna tell the kid before hand."

He opened his mouth, another evasive maneuver being cut short as a shadow fell over the table.

"I see that you both made it," The elder white-haired man remarked.

Sesshoumaru just quirked an eyebrow, "And I see you did as well."

After a fleeting glance towards Izayoi, a rather disgruntled Inuyasha who was weighed down with a pile of presents and Kagome following behind him, Mr. Taiyoukai sat down at the table.

"We were bringing in the rest of the gifts."

"As if there wasn't quite enough already."

His Father laughed lightly at that, "Well I suppose the size of yours makes up for the fact there's only one."

Sesshoumaru just glared.

"Son, I do have another reason for pausing to talk to you."

He cast a sideways glance towards Kagura, an unspoken- 'Shall we move somewhere else to speak, Father?' asked without a word from his lips.

"It does pertain to her as well, so it would be best if she remained present."

Kagura leaned forward slightly at that, curious as to what the man could possibly be talking about.

"Son. I know we mentioned something in regards to remodeling your home to accommodate its newer resident."

Sesshoumaru nodded, waiting for the rest of what his father had to say on the matter.

"There's going to be some unforeseen delays."

"Delays?" Kagura piped up.

"The contractor we usually employ is currently working on something for the government, so it's not something they can put aside or postpone. Therefore…"

"We still remain with only one bedroom," Sesshoumaru finished, his voice indicating no anger over the matter. Then again, his tone didn't indicate much emotion at all.

"Until their work for the state is complete, yes."

The table fell silent as that sank in. All three digesting the meaning of it as the echoing noises of the children and music blared in the background.

"The matter is of no consequence," He finally remarked, the two other occupants of the table snapping their heads up to read his expression.

"Am I to assume you are satisfied with the current sleeping arrangements then?"

Kagura could tell his Father was hopeful. And despite her logical protests against it, she couldn't help but be a tad hopeful herself.

"He doesn't mind that…that I'm there?" She blinked as she took in his current facial expression, "Sesshoumaru, what is going on in that head of yours?"

But Sesshoumaru himself was even a bit taken back by his reply. His eyebrows furrowing as he thought over what he'd just resigned himself to.

"I suppose it could be worse. The bed is quite large enough for two grown adults to share it without reenacting scenes from one of Kaguya's favorite novels. The real question is why did I find myself so quickly replying in that manner…"

"Son?" Mr. Taiyoukai pressed, finding himself confused even further by Sesshoumaru's sudden thoughtful appearance.

"More pillows might be considered a priority," He stated, his eyes quickly diverting away towards the children running about.

At that, both his Father and Kagura allowed themselves an inward victorious smile.

"He's opening up…slowly…" Their thoughts echoed as they regarded him.

The moment passed, and seeing how well he'd apparently taken that piece of information, Mr. Taiyoukai decided it was a fairly good time to try and break the rest of the 'bad news' to him.

"There is also one more matter that I needed to attend to…"

Sesshoumaru turned back towards the table, "And that matter would be?"

"Well Kaguya was so impressed with your current progress that she set the deadline for the final first draft for Friday."

"She does know I have a full-time job. Correct?"

Mr. Taiyoukai shook his head, "Reason doesn't work with her."

"Now now, why the frowns?" Izayoi questioned as she walked up to the table.

"Just discussing business matters, dear."

The black-haired woman smiled as she gently patted her husband's arm, "Let's put that aside for right now and have some fun. It is Rin's birthday after all."

"Inuyasha, did you get all the packages inside?"

The white-haired boy crossed his arms and muttered under his breath, "Keh. Yah I did."

"Thank you, dear. It was nice of you to help out," Izayoi remarked as she began to light the candles on the cake.

"Well it's not like I wanted to…" He grumbled.

"Inuyasha…." Kagome warned, "Let's just sit down and enjoy the party, okay?"

"Okay…fine…"

The young couple went to open seats at the end of the table and sat down as Rin and her guests flocked around the smaller children's table.

As they all settled down in their seats, the lights dimmed as a large cake was brought out. Eight candles flickered atop it, and Rin looked as if she would burst from excitement anymore.

Finally sitting the cake in front of her, Izayoi turned to the guests, "Okay, let's all sing now."

The children sang, Inuyasha glared while Kagome just shook her head and Sesshoumaru and his Father held identical unreadable expressions.

Kagura withheld a laugh, not really expecting anything less from the two unique men.

As the last notes of the song finished, Rin easily blew out all of the candles and the other children applauded. Looking over to the children, Kagura found herself wondering if there was ever a time in her childhood that she'd had a normal birthday.

"I can't really remember much when I was younger. I know sometimes Naraku goes a bit out of his way for Kanna…maybe he did that for me too, but…I don't know. Maybe I got a cake, but I don't remember anyone singing for me or giving me fancy presents. I was probably lucky I even got cake now and then…"

"Here," Sesshoumaru's calm tone interrupted her deep thoughts.

Kagura blinked a moment before realizing that the he was handing her a piece of cake.

It was a medium-sized piece, decorated with pink, purple and blue icing. But that wasn't what caught her attention.

Being as it was the cake made for a young girl, the adornments on it shouldn't come as much of a surprise Kagura told herself. Yet, the fact the piece of cake Sesshoumaru handed her had a small pink heart out of icing on it still caused a bit of a flutter to her own heart.

"It's just a piece of cake. Chill out, Kagura. Your imagination is making you see something that isn't there! It's something you eat- not some heartfelt endearment or anything stupid like that."

"You're supposed to eat it," Sesshoumaru muttered, taking a bite of his own cake as if to mock her.

Her slightly thoughtful and flustered state quickly shifted into one of irritation.

"It figures he would say that…"

"Are you trying to make me fat?" She snapped, not really coming up with any better retort at the moment.

Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow at that, staring at her in a state of shock- if you would consider his slightly altered expression as a "state of shock"

Slowly, he put down his fork and examined the small piece of cake that remained on his plate.

A brief moment passed as Sesshoumaru looked between the two plates. Then finally, he reached over and slid the rest of his cake onto Kagura's plate.

"Perhaps I am," He muttered casually.

Red eyes glared back for a moment before shifting their gaze to the additional piece.

It was the small corner of the slice he'd had, but some of the icing decoration was still apparent.

Namely, a half of a blue heart.

And whether he meant anything by it or not, Kagura couldn't help but smile.

Preview for Chapter 27:

If there was one thing Kagura swore she would never see Sesshoumaru doing- it was definitely dancing. And now he'd drug her into a dance competition against his brother?!